Medway Parent Carers Forum
**Charity Number: 1183372**
## **Annual Report and Financial Statements**
**Year ended 1[st] April 2020 – 31[st] March 2021.**
**Charity Number: 1183372**
## **Report dated January 2022.**
## **Medway Parent Carer Forum**
c/o Snapdragons, Cliffe Road, Strood, Rochester, ME2 3FF Tel: 01634 333315 (term time mornings only) or 07813 123 984 Email: **medwaypcf@googlemail.com**
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Medway Parent Carers Forum
**Charity Number: 1183372**
## **Contents**
|**Administrative information**|**Page 3**|
|---|---|
|**Mission, Aims, Objectives and Vision**|**Page 4**|
|**Ensuring our activities achieve our objects and beneft the public.**||
|**Page 5**||
|**Review of activities**|**Page 6**|
|**Future and fnancial planning**|**Page 13**|
|**Management and Membership**|**Page 14**|
|**Financial information**|**Page 15**|
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Medway Parent Carers Forum
**Charity Number: 1183372**
## **Administrative information**
## **Trustees during the reporting period**
June Patey Keith Clear Shenda Smith Anita Oxenham
## **Steering Group**
Angela Debont Jayne Pardesi Lisa Scarrott Michelle Dewar Victoria Crone-Kontemeniotis Emma Kelliher
## **Bank**
HSBC 231 High Street, Chatham, Kent, ME4 4BQ CAF Bank 25 Kings Hill Avenue, Kings Hill, West Malling, Kent. ME19 4JQ
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Medway Parent Carers Forum
**Charity Number: 1183372**
## **Vision statement**
The forum has been created to help parents and carers of disabled children to have a say in the way services are shaped and delivered in the Medway area, in Education, Social Care and Health services.
## **Mission**
Medway Parents and Carers Forum, work with (not for) the local authority, health, and local services to improve services for children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and their families, by ensuring that families’ voices are heard by planners and decision-makers.
We provide an opportunity for parents and carers to express their views and input into the planning and delivery of SEND services. Wherever possible, we aim to work in co-production.
We signpost, support, and empower families to obtain the best possible support and services for their children.
## **Our Aims**
- To have a collective voice around common issue.
- To work in partnership with those who provide services and support.
- To raise awareness of what support /services are needed.
- To raise awareness of issues faced by our children.
- To share experience and knowledge.
- To give feedback.
- To ensure that the future for our children is a good one.
To achieve these aims we need families support, our strength and effectiveness rely upon their opinions and viewpoints.
## **Objectives**
- We will continue raising common issues that affect all types of disabilities.
- Through shared knowledge, the forum will raise awareness of the groups and services available to the Medway Community.
- Work together in partnership, to gain the right outcome on policy making and service provision for all disabilities **.**
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Medway Parent Carers Forum
**Charity Number: 1183372**
## **Ensuring our activities achieve our objects and benefit the public.**
The Forum has been created to help parents and carers of disabled children to have a say in the way services are shaped and delivered in the Medway area, in Education, Social care and Health services.
We benefit the public and our members by being their combined voice in attendance at meetings and planning for services in the Medway area. We are the established and committed individuals that attend the same meetings and put across the parents and carers thoughts, feelings, frustrations, and elation. Ensuring inclusion for all and transforming services for service users.
We ensure that all our activities undertaken by the forum meet the Vision, Mission, Objects, and objectives. At the heart of the forum are Trustees that want to ensure the future of the forum and the community ties that we have already built, in coproduction and consultation. Looking to a future where coproduction is natural and inclusive. This enables our parents the autonomy, confidence and empowering their progression of dealing with the needs of their young persons. They are part of a community of like-minded individuals changing the future of services and support.
This year we have helped support various initiatives from the local authority and our parents and carers, we constantly feedback to our members about what has been achieved and to the professionals that supported parents and carers. We have received great feedback from the professionals on how they enjoyed meeting parents and carers, and that felt the sessions achieved what the session objectives were.
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Medway Parent Carers Forum
**Charity Number: 1183372**
## **Review of activities**
The forum maintains 3 different Facebook pages. MPCF Professionals page MPCF (Medway Parents and Carers Forum) Professional parents' page MPCF family page also LinkedIn Instagram Twitter
We also attend Local Authority meetings for Health, social care, and Education. Here are some of the events we attended between April 2020 and 31[st] March 2021, fully adapted to working remotely due to COVID-19. At these meetings we represent our membership of parents and carers, engage with the committees and local authority on parents and carers views, feeding back to parents and carers after also.
## **APRIL 2020**
17[th] Medway Voluntary Sector Covid response meeting
20[th] Planning meeting Steering and Trustees
24[th] Medway Voluntary Sector Covid response meeting
28[th] SENDIAS (Family action) meeting
30[th] Terms of reference meeting
Zoom meeting Trustees
## **MAY 2020**
1[st] Medway Voluntary Sector Covid response meeting
4[th] Coffee Meeting
7[th] HR meeting
7[th] Trustee Meeting
LA meeting Wendy Vincent
8[th] Team meeting
11th Coffee meeting
16th Trustee Finance Meeting
18[th] Coffee meeting
LA meeting Wendy Vincent
22[nd] Medway Voluntary Sector Covid response meeting
25[th] Coffee Meeting
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Medway Parent Carers Forum
**Charity Number: 1183372**
26[th] Clinical Commissioning Group meeting
## **JUNE 2020**
- 1[ST] Coffee meeting
- 2[nd] Overview and Scrutiny meeting
- 5[th] MVA Voluntary Sector Covid response meeting
- 8[th] Coffee meeting Russell
- 10[th] Liaison
- 11[th] SENDIAS (family action) meeting
- 15[th] Early help hub chat
- 16[th] DBS Lisa, Anita, Shenda
- 17[th] Overview and Scrutiny performance workshop
- 19[th] MVA Voluntary Sector Covid response meeting
Regional NNPCF meeting
- 22[nd] Workstream meeting
Coffee meeting
- 25[th] SEND Operational meeting with Local authority
- 29[th] Coffee meeting
## **JULY 2020**
- 1[st] Preparing for adulthood
- 2[nd] DARE resilience training
- 3[rd] Medway Voluntary Sector Covid response meeting
- 6[th] Coffee Meeting Russell
- 8[th] Module 4 RPC Training
- 13[th] Early Help Meeting
- 14[th] SEND Operational meeting with Local authority
- 17[th] Medway Voluntary Sector Covid response meeting
- 20[th] Coffee meeting Youth Services
- 22[nd] Liaison meeting with Clinical Commissioning group
- 23[rd] Overview and Scrutiny meeting with Local authority
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Medway Parent Carers Forum
**Charity Number: 1183372**
27[th] Coffee meeting
28[th] SEND Partnership Board with Local authority
- 30[th] Setting up CAF Account
- 31[st] MVA Voluntary Sector Covid response meeting
## **AUGUST 2020**
3[rd] Early Help meeting
Coffee meeting Andrew Oates
4[th] APP rehearsal with Steering and Trustees
- 5[th] APP meeting with Local authority
- 10[th] Coffee meeting
- 11[th] SEND Operational meeting with Local authority
- 14[th] MVA Voluntary Sector Covid response meeting
- 17[th] Coffee Meeting
- 20[th] Coffee evening
Phone call meeting with Imogen Robertson Medway Cultural Project.
- 24[th] Coffee meeting Transport
- 28[th] Medway Voluntary Sector Covid response meeting
SENDIAS (Family Action) meeting
- 31[st] Coffee meeting
## **SEPTEMBER 2020**
- 2[ND] Committee/Trustee meeting
- 3[rd] Data workshop
- 4[th] Lee Anne Farach meeting from Local authority
- 7th Coffee meeting
- 9[th] Liaison meeting
- 11[th] Medway Voluntary Sector Covid response meeting
- 14[TH] Coffee meeting with Russell from SEN Transport
- 16[th] LA meeting with Michael and Aelish from Clinical Commissioning Group
- 17[th] MHST
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Medway Parent Carers Forum
**Charity Number: 1183372**
18[th] SENDIAS (family action) meeting
21[st] Coffee meeting Russell
- 24[th] Area Hub meeting
- 25[th] Regional NNPCF meeting
- 28[th] Clinical Commissioning Group Meeting
29[th] Partnership working workshop
## **OCTOBER 2020**
- 1[st] Overview and Scrutiny meeting with Local authority
5[th] Coffee meeting
- 6[th] Liz Flaherty DFE PPP meeting from Local authority
- 7[th] Perinatal meeting
- 8[th] Preparing for Adulthood meeting with Local authority
Carer’s partnership meeting
- 9[th] Medway Voluntary Sector Covid response meeting
- 11[th] Integrated care Partnership Event 0nline
- 12[th] Coffee meeting
- 13[th] SEND Operational meeting with Local authority
SENDIAS (Family action) meeting
- 14[th] Area Hub meeting
- 16[th] Liaison meeting with Local authority and CCG
19[th] Coffee meeting
- 20[TH] Clinical Commissioning Group meeting
- 22[ND] Bill Ronan Public health social isolation and loneliness
Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders meeting
- 23[rd] Medway Voluntary Sector Covid response meeting
- 26[th] Coffee Meeting
- 29[th] catch up with Julia Cox from Local Authority
## **NOVEMBER 2020**
- 2[nd] Coffee meeting with Martha Thlon Clinical lead for school nursing
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Medway Parent Carers Forum
**Charity Number: 1183372**
3[rd] Sendiass meeting (Family Action) Monthly meeting
6th SEN Transport meeting
6[th] Medway Voluntary Sector Covid response meeting
- 9[th] Coffee meeting Bill Ronan Public Health Social isolation and loneliness
10[th] SEND Operation meeting
11[th] Integrated Care Partnership
13[th] MVA Voluntary Sector Covid response meeting
PFA meeting
16[th] Coffee evening with Hannah from Snapdragons New Neurodevelopment pathway
17[th] Sleep pathway meeting
20[th] MVA Voluntary Sector Covid response meeting
Regional NNPCF meeting
23[rd] Clinical Commissioning Group meeting
25[th] Abbey Court meeting with Russell from SEN Transport
- 26[th] Abbey Court meeting with Russell from SEN Transport
- 27[th] Abbey Court meeting with Russell from SEN Transport
- 27[th] Meeting with LA rep ref events at coffee meeting
- 30[TH] Coffee meeting Contact annual conference 30 Nov-4[th] Dec
## **DECEMBER 2020**
- 2[nd] Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders meeting
- 4[th] Medway Voluntary Sector Covid response meeting
- 7[th] Coffee meeting
- 7[th] Michelle interviewing for Local Operating Officer
- 8[th] SEND Operational meeting with Local Authority
- 10[th] Early help area meeting with CCG
- 11[th] Early help strategy with CCG
- 16[th] NELFT meeting
- 18[th] Medway Voluntary Sector Covid response meeting
- 21[ST] Clinical Commissioning Group meeting
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Medway Parent Carers Forum
**Charity Number: 1183372**
## **JANUARY 2021**
- 12[th] SEND Operational meeting
- 14[th] DFE Liz Flaherty meeting
- 15[TH] MVA Voluntary Sector Covid response meeting
- 19[th] Clinical Commissioning Group meeting
Preparing for adulthood meeting
- 21[ST] Trustees virtual meeting
- 26[TH] Whoocares Parent Support Group meeting
SEND partnership Board meeting with Local authority
- 27[th] Committee/Trustees meeting
Overview and Scrutiny data workshop
- 28[th] Steering Group meeting
- 29[th] MVA Voluntary Sector Covid response meeting
## **FEBRUARY 2021**
- 1[st] Coffee evening
- 2[nd] Whoocares Parent Support meeting
- 8[th] Coffee meeting with Wendy Vincent from local authority
- 9[th] SEND Operational meeting with Local authority
- 10[th] APP meeting with Local authority
- 12[th] MVA Voluntary Sector Covid response meeting
- 15[th] Coffee meeting
- 16[th] Clinical Commissioning Group meeting
- 26[th] Medway Voluntary Action Meeting
## **MARCH 2021**
- 4[th] Children and Young people overview and scrutiny committee meeting
- 8[th] Coffee meeting
- 9[th] Send Op meeting with Local authority
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Medway Parent Carers Forum
**Charity Number: 1183372**
Whoocares Parent Support meeting
12[th] Medway Voluntary Action Meeting
Steering Group meeting
SE Regional PCF meeting
16[th] Clinical Commissioning Group meeting
18[TH] Meeting with Local Offer Officer
Trustees meeting
22[nd] Coffee meeting with SEN Transport
25[th] Clinical Commissioning Group governing board meeting
26[th] Medway Voluntary Action Meeting
Clinical Commissioning Group meeting coproducing parent leaflet
29[th] Annual General Meeting
We ran a Halloween and Christmas art competition.
We were actively seeking volunteers and recruited a new trustee who took up the role September, Anita. Membership continued to grow.
We have engaged with a wide diverse range of other charities including Medway Voluntary Action group and other specific organisations such as Puzzles, Club Ausome and Whoocares, Music Man Project and Medway Pride.
Following on from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, we were forced into new ways of working, to support this we heavily invested in our Technology and updated our support system also.
## **Future**
Our future for the Medway Parent Carer Forum is to engage and recruit more Trustees into the forum and elevate the number of volunteers we have. Carry on with our successful coffee meetings.
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Medway Parent Carers Forum
**Charity Number: 1183372**
Carry on meeting the needs of our members, by being their voice at local authority and charity meetings. Ensure training is available to our members for subjects they feel they need support in. Enlist the help of more professionals for our Meet the professionals Coffee Meetings. Ensure that co-production carries on between ourselves Health, Education and Social care. Keep our membership growing, whilst retaining our current members, whilst safeguarding our young people. Engaging and networking with other charities to support the voice of our parents and carers.
## **Financial planning**
Over the past few years, we have worked tirelessly to coproduce with both the Local Authority and Health to help shape Children’s services. Coproduction is well known to increase both cost efficiency and consumer satisfaction. The fulfilment of what is for the authority a legal requirement, (that underpins both the Children and Families Act and the Care Act) has however financial implications on the Forum, and we have been becoming increasingly stretched to coproduce whilst still covering our everyday activities. It is now usual, in most authorities for the LA to match the Department for Education funding to Forums to allow them to coproduce effectively. We have put together a business plan for the next year.
We apply for a grant from the Department of Education yearly, via Contact. Which we have been successful in receiving for the last 13 years.
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Medway Parent Carers Forum
**Charity Number: 1183372**
## **Management**
The trustees are responsible for the overall management and control of the Medway Parent Carers Forum and meet 4 times a year. The work of implementing most of the policies is carried out by the members of the Steering Group and meet at least 6 times a year. The Steering Group prepare the papers, manage the accounts and the review of any matters arising. They also deal with the day to day running of the Forum, including but not exhausting social media, emails, telephone enquiries and running of the office.
All trustees give of their time freely and no remuneration or expenses were paid in the year. No trustee or person connected with a trustee received any benefit from the Medway Parent Carers Forum.
Statement of Trustees responsibilities The Trustees are responsible for preparing a Trustees 'Annual Report and Financial Statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards. Medway Parent Carer Forum has income below £250,000 and has therefore elected to prepare the financial statements on a Receipts and Payments basis in line with the Charities Act 2011. The Trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
## **Membership**
A member may be an individual, a corporate body, or (an individual or corporate body representing) an organisation which is not incorporated. Membership of the CIO is open to anyone who is interested in furthering its purposes, and who, by applying for membership, has indicated his, her or its agreement to become a member and acceptance of the duty of members.
We currently have around 350 members recorded, having completed a membership application form. These members have full voting rights.
We also have members divided amongst our Facebook pages, The Professional page has 87 members, The Professional parent page has 62 members, and the Family page has 1158 members. This has been steadily increasing, via word of mouth, information days, Charity events, Facebook advertising on other groups, and through the children’s centre at Snapdragons. These members do not have voting rights until they have completed a membership application form. We have updated our membership and have encouraged all members to fill in new forms and supported this with a new membership card.
The pages enable our members to interact with each other, support and encourage and share information. This is always encouraging to see members
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Medway Parent Carers Forum
**Charity Number: 1183372**
supporting each other and helping us to change the future of services for our young people.
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Medway Parent Carers Forum
**Charity Number: 1183372**
|||
|---|---|
|**Medway Parents and Carers Forum**
**CIO**||
|**Financial Statements**||
|Income and Expenditure 1st April 2020 - 31
March 2021||
||**2021**
**2021**
**2021**|
|Notes|**Unrestri**
**cted**
**funds**
**Restrict**
**ed funds**
**Total**
**funds**|
|1||
|**Receipts**||
|Grants DfE|-
15000
15000|
|Grants Medway Council|-
-
0|
|**Total Receipts**
2|0
15000
15000|
|**Payments**||
|Parent Carer Expenses
3|1084
1084|
|Laptops|3594
3594|
|Mobile Phone|239
239|
|Storage Unit|983
983|
|Insurance|387
387|
|Meetings and Events|0|
|Training|0|
|Promotional Items|2194
2194|
|Uniform|0|
|DBS Checks|106
106|
|Software licences
Microsoft|1353
1353|
|Zoom|144
144|
|IT Support|947
947|
|Telephone|314
314|
|Ofce Costs ink stationery etc|950
950|
|Website|28
28|
|4|0
12323
12323|
|**Net Surplus/(Defcit) for the**
**Period**|2677
2677|
|Cash and Bank balance brought forward|20463
9829
30292|
|Cash and bank balance transferred from||
|unincorporated organisation
5||
|**Cash and bank balances carried**
**forward**|20463
12506
32969|
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Medway Parent Carers Forum
**Charity Number: 1183372**
Medway Parents and Carers Forum CIO 1183372
Charity No
Notes to the Financial statement
For the period ended 31 March 2021
Notes
1 Basis of preparation
This Financial Statement has been prepared on an income and expenditure basis in line with our DfE grant monitoring return administered by Contact
2 Grants
2021 2021 2021 2020 2020 2020 Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Total funds Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Total funds Department for Education 1500015000 11189 11189 Medway Council - - 7500 7500 - 15000150001868918689
Department for Education Grant is restricted for the purpose of facilitating parent participation through the development of the Forum and associated running costs. Any underspend must be returned. Medway Council Grant is restricted to the tasks defined in an agreed business plan.
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Medway Parent Carers Forum
**Charity Number: 1183372**
- 3 Parent Carer expenses
No remuneration, either directly or indirectly, has been paid to the Trustees during the accounting period.
This category includes travel expenses for volunteers and parent carers paid at HMRC approved rates.
4 Payments £2,550 Medway Council funding £9,773 DfE £12,323
- 5 Cash and Bank Balance
Medway Parents and Carers Forum registered as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) on 13th May 2019.
Prior to registration it was operating on an unincorporated basis. All assets and liabilities of the unincorporated group were transferred to the CIO on this date.
During the financial year 20/21 MPCF open a new bank account with CAF Bank and are in the process of moving all funds to these accounts
- 6 Fixed Assets
Medway Parents and Carers Forum maintain a register of fixed assets. Fixed assets were transferred from the unincorporated group, valued at £1969.
Items have been purchased during the year are now valued as follows
Items New Transferred Purchases Iphone6 280 laptop x 6 3057 ipads x 5 1196 Samsung phone 209 Value March 21 £1,476 £3,266 £4,742
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Medway Parent Carers Forum
**Charity Number: 1183372**
7 Taxation Medway Parents and Carers Forum is not registered for VAT or Gift Aid
## **Medway Parents and Carers Forum CIO Charity Number 1183372**
Statement of Assets and Liabilities As of 31 March 2020,
|**CIO Charity Number 1183372**
Statement of Assets and
Liabilities
As of 31 March
2020,|||
|---|---|---|
|Notes|**2021**|**2020**|
|**Current Assets**|||
|Current Account
HSBC|30969|30292|
|CAF|2000||
|_Comprising_|||
|_Unrestricted_
_Funds_|20463|20463|
|_Restricted Funds_|12506|9829|
||32969|30292|
|**Fixed Assets for the**
**charity's use**
6|4742|1969|
|**Total Assets**|37711|32261|
|**Current**
**Liabilities**|||
|Creditors|nil|nil|
|These fnancial statements were approved by the committee on__________20thApril
2021|||
|and signed on its behalf by:|||
|She
nda
Smi
th|||
|Shenda Smith Chair of Trustees|||
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Medway Parent Carers Forum
**Charity Number: 1183372**
||||
|---|---|---|
|Bank balance as of 31 March
2019|22821.
51
877
restrict
ed
1482
restrict
ed
20463
unrestricted
22822
-3811
2934
-1482
**20463**||
|DfE grant underspend 2018/19|||
|outstanding invoices for monitoring
period 2018/19|||
|Reserves|||
||||
|Spend pre-CIO|||
|Portion of DfE grant to cover pre-CIO
costs|||
|Invoices for 2018/19|||
|Balance to transfer|**20463**||
||31-|31888.||31-||33206.|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|HSBC|Mar-20|04|HSBC|Mar-21||85|
|Items relating to||||||1881.8|
|2019/20||1594.2|Items|relating to|20/21|6|
|||||||312.5|
||Opening|30293.|||||
||balance|84||||40|
|||||||2234.3|
||Dfe|15000||||6|
||Medway spend|-2548|||||
||Transfer to CAF|-2000|||||
||Dfe||||||
||Spend|-9773|||||
|||30972.||||30972.|
||Mar-21|84||||49|
|CAF|||||||
|Gold||1000|||||
|CAF|||||||
|Cash||1000|||||
|||32972.|||||
|||84|||||
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Medway Parent Carers Forum
**Charity Number: 1183372**
## **Declaration**
The Trustees of the charity are pleased to present their report together with the accounts for the period ended 31 March 2021. The accounts comply with current statutory requirements, the governing document, and Charity Commission guidance.
Approved by the Trustees and signed on its behalf by:
## Shenda Smith
Shenda Smith Trustee Date 20[th] January 2022
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