DocuSign Envelope ID: E1D4BBFD-D49E-46FF-84EC-555F51BD8BB5
**PARENTS 1ST UK TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE PERIOD ENDED 31 MARCH 2021 Charity Number: 1186445**
DocuSign Envelope ID: E1D4BBFD-D49E-46FF-84EC-555F51BD8BB5
## **CONTENTS**
|**INTRODUCTION**|||
|---|---|---|
|Chair’s Foreword||**3**|
|CEO’s Foreword||**4-5**|
|About Us||**6-7**|
|**GOVERNANCE**|||
|Statement from the Trustees||**8 -9**|
|Structure, Governance and Management||**10-11**|
|**AIMS & ACHIEVEMENTS**||**12-15**|
|**FINANCIAL REVIEW**|||
|Risk Management||**17**|
|Reserves Policy||**17**|
|Statement of Trustees’ responsibilities||**18**|
|Independent examiner’s report||**19**|
|Statement of financial activities||**20**|
|Balance sheet||**21**|
|Notes to the financial statements|**22-27**||
This report reviews activity from our initial 17-month operating period of November 2019 – March 2021.
## **LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION**
**Trustees** B M Bond (Appointed 9 April 2019) V Emlyn (Appointed 9 April 2019) J E Robins (Appointed 9 April 2019) A Bamigboye (Appointed 11 December 2019) E Catalli (Appointed 11 December 2019) **Charity number** 1186445 **Principal address** 48 Main Street Wymondham Melton Mowbray LE14 2AG **Independent examiner** M J Bushell Ltd 8 High Street Brentwood, Essex CM14 4AB
DocuSign Envelope ID: E1D4BBFD-D49E-46FF-84EC-555F51BD8BB5
**Chair’s Foreword**
**Trustees’ Report 2020-2021 3**
**It has been quite a year for Parents 1st UK, and we are immensely proud of our achievements. Developing and launching the programme; working with new partners with different expertise, achieving registration with the Charity Commission, have all been challenging and rewarding in equal measure.**
It’s a privilege to Chair the organisation and to work with such a talented and enthusiastic team – small but perfectly formed - and with an experienced and hugely knowledgeable board of trustees. Thank you all for your perseverance in the set-up phases and your invaluable support and commitment.
Parents 1st UK is currently funded almost entirely by a single funder who has shown amazing support to the development of the open-source platform. We are very aware though of the need to maintain the viability of the organisation into the future and we are committed to keep the platform genuinely open source. Work on the challenging area of sustainability is ongoing.
Covid 19 brought many challenges and a major one for us was to make and implement the decision to move our national conference online. Having had to cancel once and then make the decision, relying heavily on the technical expertise on the board and some help from Parents 1st Essex, the conference was well attended and hugely successful – no technical hitches, excellent speeches, and engaging Q&A sessions - thanks to all the people who contributed.
Our priority is always to spread the word and share resources with the aim of expanding provision of peer support services for parents and babies that is evidence based and exceptionally effective. Along with all of you who have joined Parents 1st UK, we will continue to strive towards this aim and to support more of you to achieve excellent peer support in your area. It doesn’t take much to see the long term, lasting benefits of building confidence in parents to provide a good start as an expanding family, for themselves and their new baby.
We hope to see you contributing your expertise and experiences on the platform and at our future conferences.
## **Brenda Bond, Chair of Parents 1st UK**
The Trustees present their report and financial statements for the period ended 31 March 2021.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in note 1 to the financial statements and comply with the Charity’s Constitution, the Charities Act 2011 and “Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019)”.
DocuSign Envelope ID: E1D4BBFD-D49E-46FF-84EC-555F51BD8BB5
**CEO’s Foreword**
**Trustees’ Report 2020-2021 4**
We are proud of our achievements during our first year as a charitable organisation. We have successfully set up a dynamic online platform - the first step in our vision to enable effective peer support initiatives to flourish during pregnancy, birth and beyond. Our vision is a truly “open source” endeavour where everyone involved in planning, delivering, receiving, or simply interested can network, learn from each other, and share good practice across the UK.
Pregnancy, birth and becoming a parent is a life-changing time when people are particularly open to change. Peer support relationships can be transformational, they change lives and can be a lifeline to vulnerable parents. Parents are the most important people in children’s lives. Happy and responsive parents mean a baby’s development will flourish.
Maternity and early years professionals cannot provide the personal and informal support that many parents need. With quality recruitment, training and supervision, peer supporters can nurture confidence, wellbeing, and social connections. If well embedded alongside public services, peer support initiatives can help reach the families that could benefit from them the most.
The informal and unique characteristics of peer support makes an important contribution to positive outcomes during the 1001 critical days:
- Nurtures emotional wellbeing and resilience
- Assists parents to prepare for labour and birth
- Shares reliable, evidence-based information with parents
- Promotes healthier lifestyles during pregnancy
- Offers practical and emotional support during labour and birth
- Nurtures warm and confident parenting
- Enables isolated parents to build local social support networks
- Assists parents to navigate maternity, mental health, early years services and other Voluntary and Community Sector support
- Enables disengaged parents to communicate more effectively with professionals
So why is it still the norm that many of these important peer support initiatives struggle to survive? It can be due to a variety of reasons – poor planning, investment, implementation or not being embedded alongside the local system. Staff and volunteers delivering initiatives work in isolation with few networking opportunities. Parents 1st UK has been created to change this. We understand the barriers (time, resource, knowledge) that can get in the way of developing a successful peer support initiative.
## **Our vision is a dynamic online and face-to-face community where practitioners, volunteers, parents, professionals, and funders connect, share, campaign, network and learn about “what works”.**
During our first year we have started the process by sharing our 30 years’ experience of delivering an effective “Community Parent” peer support model in disadvantaged communities. We know from experience, and also informed by implementation science, that five core stages underpin the development of quality peer support initiatives:
DocuSign Envelope ID: E1D4BBFD-D49E-46FF-84EC-555F51BD8BB5
**5**
1. Visioning (often overlooked): the goals and local context need careful consideration to build firm foundations
2. Designing: it is vital to clearly define what the initiative needs to look like and how it will work in practice
3. Setting up: proper lead-in time and done in the right way
4. Delivering: the practicalities e.g., volunteer recruitment, training, supervision; engaging with vulnerable pregnant women; managing referrals; record keeping, safeguarding
5. Reviewing and improving: collecting data to understand what’s making a difference, why and how to improve
Our new online platform has step-by-step guides relating to each of these five stages, with hundreds of free resources and more - a space where anyone can find out how to plan, develop, implement, and improve a quality peer support initiative to help people make a smooth transition to parenthood and give their babies the best possible start in life.
Other organisations are also joining our “open source” strategy and sharing their knowledge and experience too. These have included the Royal Foundation, the For Baby’s Sake Trust, It Takes a Village, One Plus One, Neesie, the Australian Centre for Social Innovation, Prosperitys, Mothers in Mind, NCT Parents in Mind, various Home-Start schemes, New Baby Network CIC, Hearts & Minds, Birth Companions, Solace Peer Support, Baby Basics, Small Steps Together with the Ormiston Families, The Village London, Action for Post-Partum Psychosis, and Hey Mama. Together we are raising awareness of the unique contribution of peer support to achieving positive outcomes for parents and babies. Looking to the future, we will be encouraging more organisations to collaborate and share their learning on the platform.
**Celia Suppiah, CEO Parents 1st UK**
DocuSign Envelope ID: E1D4BBFD-D49E-46FF-84EC-555F51BD8BB5
**Trustees’ Report 2020-2021 6**
## **About Us**
Parents 1st UK is a leading charity that enables effective volunteering and peer support to flourish during pregnancy, birth and early parenthood. We believe in early prevention and sharing what works. Every parent deserves the unique and valuable, informal support and encouragement that peer support can give, and every baby deserves the best possible start in life.
We have created a unique, dedicated online community for anyone and everyone interested in quality perinatal peer support and volunteering. We use the Made Open online community platform to create a central, free, dedicated space to connect with peers and experts, exchange knowledge and new research, access free tools and resources, and be guided through a quality process.
Through this dedicated “community of practice” we enable quality peer support to nurture the emotional wellbeing of mothers, partners and babies, and build strengths in communities.
## **Beneficiaries include:**
- Peer Support Programme Leaders
- Funders of VCSE organisations
- Commissioners of early years services
- Academics
- Field practitioners
- Parents
- Volunteers
- Statutory providers
Our aim is to inspire, share knowledge and resources, spread best practice, and use the power of the online community to spread knowledge further. This includes “Community Voices” that bring real life stories from parents, volunteers, and professionals about how peer support has made a difference to their lives.
We want the unique contribution of quality perinatal peer support to be recognised and valued by frontline NHS, early years and social care services and commissioners. Through cooperation and partnership working, peer support initiatives can enable marginalised parents to access services available to them and give their views.
DocuSign Envelope ID: E1D4BBFD-D49E-46FF-84EC-555F51BD8BB5
**7**
## **How our new, online platform has been used**
We currently have 307 (as of 31 March 2021) members registered on our online platform including peer support programme managers, midwives, volunteer coordinators, academics, early years workers, commissioners, health visitors, charity directors, organisational groups, parents, charity trustees, peer support workers and researchers. These members have been interacting with other members of the site and setting up their own activities and group spaces.
The platform homepage is a space where our members can make everyone aware of any upcoming **events** they may be hosting. They can also start **conversations** with others, add **community listings** to make others aware of what support is available in a specific area, and add their **volunteering opportunities.** We have listed 30 **events** on the platform of particular interest to members. These included a landmark research webinar by the Royal Foundation; events organised by the For Baby’s Sake charity to shine a spotlight on challenges during the pandemic; and online peer support sessions for charity leaders by the Institute for Voluntary Action Research.
## **Conversations** and **blogs** have included:
- Our involvement in a roundtable with The Duchess of Cambridge to discuss parentto-parent support. Her Royal Highness has had a keen interest in maternal mental health for many years and was keen to learn more about perinatal peer support.
- The Parent People Boosts Project – a collaboration led by Home Start UK and Shift to acknowledge the often unrecognised support to parents given by thousands of volunteers, advocates, champions, neighbours across the country.
- Free design and digital training offered by Beyond (a community of over 600 charities).
- Learning from the NSPCC about adapting their Baby Steps programme in response to COVID-19.
- The Little GoodDeed Campaign encouraging people to do a COVID-safe good deed for a family with a baby or young child.
There have been 17 **Community listings** over the year including:
- One Plus One – a free course to help families cope with stress and alcohol.
- Maternal Mental Health Alliance – a call for evidence for a rapid review of the impact of COVID-19 on maternal mental health and services.
- Birth Companions – advertising a job opportunity for a Coordinator.
- Parents 1st Essex – promoting their events for expectant parents.
## **Volunteering opportunities** have included:
- Glasgow Caledonian University – inviting fathers to join a research study about paternal mental health.
- University of Cambridge - CoCoPIP – appealing for volunteers to take part in an online study about the impact of COVID19 on pregnancy, infancy and parenting.
Fourteen **Group Spaces** have also been set up on our platform involving 130 members. Our group spaces can be either private or public and used for project management, training or simply a central, safe and confidential space for members with similar goals and interests to meet up and chat using our instant messaging functionality. They can also share documents securely and set tasks.
DocuSign Envelope ID: E1D4BBFD-D49E-46FF-84EC-555F51BD8BB5
**Trustees’ Report 2020-2021 8**
## **Statement from the trustees**
## **Objectives and activities**
The trustees confirm that in compiling this report they have had due regard to guidance on public benefit issued by the Charity Commission in compliance with the duty set out in section 17(5) of the Charities Act 2011.
Parents 1st UK’s charitable objects are to advance the education and promote and protect the health of parents, by promoting and developing volunteering and peer support during pregnancy, birth and being a parent.
Evidence is compelling that quality peer support focusing on early prevention (starting in pregnancy) has a unique and valuable contribution to make to improving the health and wellbeing of parents and babies. It can reduce stress during pregnancy, enable a more positive birth experience, and supports vulnerable parents to prepare for and cope with the challenges that parenthood brings.
Evidence is compelling that the first 1001 critical days (pregnancy to age 2) is a significant and influential phase in infant development – important groundwork needs to take place to support children’s emotional wellbeing, resilience, and adaptability. Services are typically reactive rather than preventative.
However, we know that many practitioners who are planning, developing or already delivering perinatal volunteering initiatives work in isolation with few opportunities to learn and collaborate. The work and resources needed for an initiative to become operational can be considerable (creating operational resources e.g., volunteer training programmes, policies and procedures, evaluation tools). Furthermore, despite excellent outcomes, it is still the norm that these important initiatives struggle to survive financially.
There is a need to increase awareness, influence better investment, and support the development of new and existing initiatives.
**----- Start of picture text -----**
DocuSign Envelope ID: E1D4BBFD-D49E-46FF-84EC-555F51BD8BB5
**----- End of picture text -----**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
9
**----- End of picture text -----**
## **The outcomes we expect from Parents 1st UK’s activities are:**
- Those planning and delivering perinatal peer support initiatives access useful, free resources and guidance to help avoid common pitfalls and problems
- Practitioners and volunteers share learning, new ideas, good practice, and solutions to day-to-day challenges
- Parents and volunteers are empowered to share their experiences of giving and receiving peer support and the benefits this brings to their health and wellbeing
- Commissioners procure more sustainable peer support initiatives
- Funders make realistic and more long-term investments so that practitioners can concentrate on what they do best – operating peer support initiatives
- Sharing evidence of ‘what works’ far wider: users will improve it and freely share knowledge
- Practitioners, peer supporters and parents share new ideas and tools to operate initiatives more effectively and benefit parents and families
- Stronger partnerships are developed with other organisations delivering similar work, who share our ethos and vision
In addition, the functionality of the Parents 1st UK online platform will enable members to:
- Share and manage their own information and what’s going on with their initiatives – they can add, manage, and promote their own peer support activities and events for free
- Find, add, and manage information about services, events and community activities
- Share and manage their own information through unique URLs and associated subpages
- Generate, develop, and communicate new ideas to the issues that are important to them, voting on and fast-tracking the best ideas within group spaces
- Solve problems by using collaboration tools such as group chat, task lists, file sharing, Survey Monkey and Trello boards
- Set their own questions and carry out polls to identify favourite ideas
Looking to the future we will explore the Timebank feature which allows people to earn, spend and donate credits within the online platform depending on their individual strengths and needs e.g., supporting another peer support initiative with coordinating or training skills.
DocuSign Envelope ID: E1D4BBFD-D49E-46FF-84EC-555F51BD8BB5
**Trustees’ Report 2020-2021 10**
## **Structure, overnance and mana ement g g**
During the decade before the creation of Parents 1st UK, Strengths in Communities CIC (trading as Parents 1st Essex) developed a perinatal peer support initiative in South Essex. This became a NESTA Social Action Innovation Project and inspired the development of new initiatives, based on the same model, in Derby and Tower Hamlets. The directors of Strengths in Communities CIC wanted to share the learning but were acutely aware of isolated practice – peer support initiatives typically competed for funding. Furthermore, many initiatives started with the best intentions but did not survive for a variety of reasons. The directors decided to pioneer a new “open source” approach to address these issues – their firm belief is that all initiatives should collaborate for the benefit of parents and babies, not compete.
Parents 1st UK CIO was created to fulfil this vision and was registered on the 19th of November 2019, governed by a constitution. Strengths in Communities CIC managed the accounts on behalf of the charity for the period from November 2019 to the end of March 2020.
The trustees serving during the year and since the year end are as follows:
B M Bond (Appointed 9 April 2019) V Emlyn (Appointed 9 April 2019) J E Robins (Appointed 9 April 2019) A Bamigboye (Appointed 11 December 2019) E Catalli (Appointed 11 December 2019)
## **Trustee selection process**
Recruitment of trustees is conducted by the Chair and CEO and is based on an evaluation of the skills required to govern the charity.
Newly appointed trustees receive a letter of appointment and a pack of information about the charity, their fellow trustees and their responsibilities as trustees. They are invited to away days and additional training is provided as needed. Trustees are elected for a three year period and may be re-elected for further 3-year periods.
## **Operational team:**
## **Celia Suppiah, CEO**
(Specialist Community Public Health Nurse, MA Public Health)
**Mandy Evans** Open Source Administrator and Moderator
**Nicole Ranaweera** Open Source Marketing Manager
DocuSign Envelope ID: E1D4BBFD-D49E-46FF-84EC-555F51BD8BB5
**----- Start of picture text -----**
“
**----- End of picture text -----**
**The resources on the website were exceptional and really, really useful**
DocuSign Envelope ID: E1D4BBFD-D49E-46FF-84EC-555F51BD8BB5
**Trustees’ Report 2020-2021**
**12**
## **Aims & achievements**
## **Aim 1: Create a free, online space dedicated to sharing good practice about peer support that nurtures the wellbeing of mothers, partners and babies, and builds strengths in communities.**
Launching the Parents 1st UK online “community of practice” was our key priority at the beginning of 2020. Our core aim is to truly embrace an “open source” approach dedicated to sharing and learning about ‘what works’. We purchased the Made Open social connecting platform to start creating a unique, online “community of practice” to enable quality perinatal peer support initiatives to flourish.
## **Achievements**
- The platform shares 30 years’ experience of delivering the Parents 1st “Community Parent” evidence-based peer support model. All our learning and implementation resources are available to others free of charge.
- We have created five detailed ‘Guides’ on the platform to help people to plan, set up and deliver an effective and sustainable perinatal peer support initiative. The main page in this section had 1,258 Page views during our first full year of operation.
- We have created “Community Voices” pages where those who receive peer support and those who deliver it, tell inspiring, real-life stories about how peer support helps.
## **The resources on the website were exceptional and** “ **really, really useful**
(Delegate at London Maternity & Midwifery Meet the Expert event who recently set up a perinatal peer support programme in Birmingham)
## **Aim 2: To raise awareness of the online platform and how members can benefit**
Our online platform uses functionality specifically designed to activate communities and networks as a force for good. The features allow members to make connections, share resources and work together based on the things that matter to them. We aimed to raise awareness that this dedicated, safe, free, online space was available and how members could use the functionality to share their work and connect with others.
## **Achievements**
- We ran a 2-day virtual conference to officially launch www.parents1st.org.uk in October 2020. Ninety participants attended including 23 VCS initiatives operating across England. We shared our vision and introduced participants to the platform and how to use it to connect with others. Speakers from a range of organisations joined us to share latest research, best practice and how they adapted to the Covid-19
DocuSign Envelope ID: E1D4BBFD-D49E-46FF-84EC-555F51BD8BB5
**13**
restrictions. These were interspersed with inspiring case studies from parents and peer supporters, underlining the importance of peer support and the difference it can make. Attendees were encouraged to register on the platform to be able to learn, share and connect, with the goal of working together to ensure quality peer support flourishes across the UK. The platform gained 203 new members following the conference and 78 members joined the conference group space for further information.
“ **I’ve had a look at the platform, it looks fantastic! It is going to be incredibly helpful, especially as we will be welcoming a new staff member soon, a peer support coordinator due to new funding!**
(conference attendee)
- Following the conference, we held multiple virtual website tours to give people opportunities to find out more about how they can benefit from using the platform. These 1-hour sessions provided personalised, small group opportunities for people to explore how they could benefit from using the functionality to benefit their particular needs – such as “starting a conversation” about a topic of interest, creating their own private or public group space or posting a new activity.
**I really enjoyed the tour - amazing! I have now** “ **registered and will find time to explore the website and resources.**
(Virtual tour attendee)
## **Aim 3: To support collaborative working**
The Parents 1st UK online platform aims to connect the perinatal peer support community, encourage members to share learning, best practice and allow members to easily work together to solve common issues.
## **Achievements**
- We used the platform functionality to help rapidly move to remote support for pregnant women and their partners through Covid-19. The group space feature supported virtual information sessions run by Parents 1st Essex using the chat, document uploads and task setting functions.
- During our first year of operation, the Parents 1st UK website had 56,697 Page views, and 13,330 Users. New members registering on the site included professionals delivering maternity services (midwives), parents, voluntary sector organisations (both employees and volunteers), health visitors, early years services and researchers.
- We were 1 of 18 charities who collaborated on the Parent People Boosts Project (funded by Nesta and Catalyst) which aimed to offer recognition for the hard work of people who have supported parents throughout 2020.
DocuSign Envelope ID: E1D4BBFD-D49E-46FF-84EC-555F51BD8BB5
**14**
## **Aim 4: Help new initiatives get started**
We aim to help new perinatal peer support programmes to create a sustainable initiative that is funded to succeed through quality planning, design and implementation.
## **Achievements**
- We have recognised the need to be able to understand usage of our ‘Guides’ in more depth and so have put in place systems to allow us to record the number of downloads of resources and track specific actions of platform users (non-sensitive data only) to fully understand our impact in this area. This data will be available for future annual reports.
“ **Looking forward to an initial zoom meeting tomorrow with a group of amazing women interested in volunteering with us. First step in developing a #peersupport service. We’ll be using guidance from @Parents1st available on their brilliant website.**
(Becoming Families CIC, Worcestershire)
## **Aim 5: Raising awareness about the unique contribution peer support can offer**
The unique contribution of quality perinatal peer support needs to be better understood and valued by frontline NHS staff, early years, social care services and commissioners. Evidence is clear that embedding peer support initiatives alongside statutory services is important. Professionals can enable parents to access peer support at an early stage before difficulties become entrenched. Reduced escalation of need through well thought through, informal, non-judgemental grass-roots community initiatives can also reduce workload pressures on professionals.
## **Achievements**
- Parents 1st UK was amongst 8 organisations invited to a virtual roundtable with The Duchess of Cambridge to discuss parent-to-parent support. Keen to learn about the different types of peer support available throughout the nation, Her Royal Highness invited experts in the field to share the impact their work has on parents’ health and wellbeing.
- The inspiring Community Voices section on our platform shares case studies from parents and peer supporters. Their willingness to share their personal stories has allowed us to provide insights to a much wider audience about the real difference that quality peer support can make – especially to the isolation experienced by pregnant women during lockdown.
DocuSign Envelope ID: E1D4BBFD-D49E-46FF-84EC-555F51BD8BB5
**15**
- Multiple blogs and articles in professionals journals have been published throughout the year to announce the launch of the platform and to raise awareness of the benefits of peer support within the perinatal period. These include published articles for: International Journal of Birth and Parent Education, British Journal of Midwives, NESTA, and the Queen’s Nursing Institute
- We presented at various events, including the London Maternity & Midwifery Festival and the International Social Prescribing conference.
## **Aim 6: Further development**
We are constantly seeking ways to further improve the functionality and content of the platform for the benefit of our members. Made Open make regular improvements to the functionality that our platform offers that have created new community networking opportunities. We have also achieved some significant new developments.
## **Achievements**
- We have started to set up systems to track and understand the impact the Parents 1st UK platform is making. For example, we are now using Tag Manager to track non sensitive user actions to gather information about which resources are downloaded or used the most. In addition to this, the platform functionality produces quarterly reports that enable us to understand how users are engaging with the platform: the top actions that users take, how much of their profile they complete, how they network etc.
- Chatrooms within the ‘Group spaces’ have been upgraded to instant messaging. Users can now see and reply to messages in ‘real-time’.
- Catalyst funded us to develop an AirTable template to assist organisations to manage the volunteer recruitment, training and supervision journey, in a user-friendly and efficient way.
Docusign Envelope ID". E1 D4BBFO-D49È-46FF-84EC-555F51BD8BB5
DocuSign Envelope ID: E1D4BBFD-D49E-46FF-84EC-555F51BD8BB5
**Trustees’ Report 2020-2021 17**
## **Financial Review**
These accounts show activity from our initial 17-month accounting period of November 2019 – March 2021. Although we were registered from November 2019, we were at that time hosted by another organisation – Strengths in Communities CIC. This arrangement came to an end on the 31st March 2020 and therefore our accounts cover financial activity from April 2020 onwards.
Parents 1st UK considers itself to be in a healthy financial position. Total income for 2020 – 2021 was £304,773. As noted in the accounts, we are currently largely funded by a grant from the Christie Foundation, with some small amounts of additional grant income from Catalyst and the National Lottery Community Fund (digital project), conference fees and donations. The Christie Foundation has allowed us to spend the grant flexibly to support the operation of our online Made Open platform. At the time of writing, we are writing a proposal for further funding to expand the scope and reach of the online platform.
Unrestricted funds at 31st March 2021 were £1,208. Restricted funds at 31st of March 2021 were £303,565.
## **Risk management**
Responsibility for risk management lies with trustees. A risk register has been established and is regularly reviewed, with controls in place to manage the minimal risks that occur.
The impact of the pandemic on our physical working environment was minimal as our staff team was 100% home working with regular check-ins prior to lockdown. The role of peer support during the pandemic was crucial for lonely isolated pregnant women and parents post birth. The development of our online platform was very timely to enable practice developments during the pandemic to be shared.
## **Reserves policy**
The trustees have agreed a Reserves Policy. As a new charity, we are aware of our responsibilities and aim to build our reserves fund actively and responsibly. We aim to hold six months of the running costs of the organisation. The key reasons for holding reserves are to:
1. Cater for unforeseen emergencies or other unexpected need for funds.
2. Cover unforeseen day-to-day operational costs.
3. Meet commitments that cannot be met by future income alone.
4. Fund any short-term deficits in our cash budget.
Risks are identified on our risks register and reassessed regularly.
Parents 1st UK’s policy is that all surpluses from income generating activities and donations are used to enhance Parents 1st UK’s charitable activities. We will allocate any surplus to Unrestricted Reserves.
DocuSign Envelope ID: E1D4BBFD-D49E-46FF-84EC-555F51BD8BB5
**18**
## **Statement of Trustees’ responsibilities**
The Trustees are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
The law applicable to charities in England and Wales requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources of the Charity for that period.
In preparing these financial statements, the Trustees are required to:
- select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
- observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP;
- make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
- state whether applicable accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and
- prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in operation.
The Trustees are responsible for keeping sufficient accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011, the Charity (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 and the provisions of the Constitution. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
## **Public benefit**
The Trustees confirm that they have complied with the duty in Section 17(5) of the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit: “Charities and Public Benefit”.
The Trustees’ report was approved by the Board of Trustees.
B M Bond Trustee
Dated:
28 October 2021
DocuSign Envelope ID: E1D4BBFD-D49E-46FF-84EC-555F51BD8BB5
**Independent Examiners Report**
**Trustees’ Report 2020-2021 19**
I report to the Trustees on my examination of the financial statements of Parents 1st UK (the Charity) for the period ended 31 March 2021.
## **Responsibilities and basis of report**
As the Trustees of the Charity you are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act).
I report in respect of my examination of the Charity’s financial statements carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act. In carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act.
## **Independent examiner’s statement**
Since the Charity’s gross income exceeded £250,000 your examiner must be a member of a body listed in section 145 of the 2011 Act. I confirm that I am qualified to undertake the examination because I am a member of ICAEW, which is one of the listed bodies.
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:
1. accounting records were not kept in respect of the Charity as required by section 130 of the 2011 Act; or
2. the financial statements do not accord with those records; or
3. the financial statements do not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a true and fair view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the financial statements to be reached.
## **Ian Warwick ACA FCCA**
M J Bushell Ltd 8 High Street Brentwood Essex CM14 4AB
01 November 2021 Dated:
DocuSign Envelope ID: E1D4BBFD-D49E-46FF-84EC-555F51BD8BB5
**Trustees’ Report 2020-2021 20**
## **Statement of Financial Activities**
**Including income and expenditure account For the period ended 31st March 2021**
|||**Unrestricted funds**|**Restricted funds**|**Total**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|||**2021**|**2021**|**2021**|
||**Notes**|**£**|**£**|**£**|
|**Income from:**|||||
|Donations and legacies|**2**|125|35,845|35,970|
|Charitable activities|**3**|1,083|267,720|268,803|
|**Total income**||1,208|303,565|304,773|
|**Expenditure on:**|||||
|Charitable activities|**4**|96|106,183|106,279|
|**Net income for the year/**|||||
|**Net movement in funds**||1,112|197,382|198,494|
|**Fund balances at 9 April 2019**||-|-|-|
|**Fund balances at 31 March 2021**||1,112|197,382|198,494|
The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the period. All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Total
Income
Total
Expenditure
**----- End of picture text -----**
DocuSign Envelope ID: E1D4BBFD-D49E-46FF-84EC-555F51BD8BB5
**Trustees’ Report 2020-2021 21**
## **Balance Sheet**
As at 31st March 2021
|**Notes**
**Current assets**
Debtors
**9**
Cash at bank and in hand
**Creditors: amounts falling due within one year**
**10**
Net current assets
**Income funds**
Restricted funds
**11**
Unrestricted funds|**2021**
**£**
**£**
2,748
199,788
202,536
(4,042)
198,494
197,382
1,112
198,494|**2021**
**£**
**£**
2,748
199,788
202,536
(4,042)
198,494
197,382
1,112
198,494|
|---|---|---|
||||
|||197,382
1,112|
|||198,494|
The financial statements were approved by the Trustees on
28 October 2021
**----- Start of picture text -----**
.............................
**----- End of picture text -----**
............................... ............................. B M Bond V Emlyn Trustee Trustee
DocuSign Envelope ID: E1D4BBFD-D49E-46FF-84EC-555F51BD8BB5
**Trustees’ Report 2020-2021 22**
## **Notes of the Financial Statements**
For the period ended 31st March 2021
## **1. Accounting policies**
## **Charity information**
Parents 1st UK is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation established by Constitution on 9 April 2019. The current Constitution by which it is governed is dated 14 November 2019.
These are the Charity’s first financial statements covering the period from establishment to 31 March 2021, which is a period of more than one year.
## **1.1 Accounting convention**
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Charity’s Constitution, the Charities Act 2011 and “Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019)”. The Charity is a Public Benefit Entity as defined by FRS 102.
The Charity has taken advantage of the provisions in the SORP for charities applying FRS 102 Update Bulletin 1 not to prepare a Statement of Cash Flows.
The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the Charity. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention. The principal accounting policies adopted are set out below.
## **1.2 Going concern**
At the time of approving the financial statements, the Trustees have a reasonable expectation that the Charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Thus the Trustees continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.
## **1.3 Charitable funds**
Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the Trustees in furtherance of their charitable objectives.
Restricted funds are subject to specific conditions by donors as to how they may be used. The purposes and uses of the restricted funds are set out in the notes to the financial statements.
## **1.4 Income**
Income is recognised when the Charity is legally entitled to it after any performance conditions have been met, the amounts can be measured reliably, and it is probable that income will be received.
Cash donations are recognised on receipt. Other donations are recognised once the Charity has been notified of the donation, unless performance conditions require deferral of the amount.
DocuSign Envelope ID: E1D4BBFD-D49E-46FF-84EC-555F51BD8BB5
## **1.5 Expenditure**
Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to make a payment to a third party, it is probable that settlement will be required and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably.
Expenditure is allocated to particular activities where the cost relates directly to that activity. Support costs comprise costs relating to the overall direction and administration on each activity, including salary, and overhead and governance costs of the central function. Support costs are apportioned to activities on the basis of usage.
## **1.6 Cash and cash equivalents**
Cash and cash equivalents include
cash in hand, deposits held at call with banks, other short-term liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less, and bank overdrafts. Bank overdrafts are shown within borrowings in current liabilities.
## **1.7 Financial instruments**
The charity only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value.
## **1.8 Employee benefits**
The cost of any unused holiday entitlement is recognised in the period in which the employee’s services are received.
Termination benefits are recognised immediately as an expense when the Charity is demonstrably committed to terminate the employment of an employee or to provide termination benefits.
## **1.9 Retirement benefits**
Payments to defined contribution retirement benefit schemes are charged as an expense as they fall due.
## **2. Donations and legacies**
||**Unrestricted funds**|**Restricted funds**|**Total**|
|---|---|---|---|
||**2021**|**2021**|**2021**|
||**£**|**£**|**£**|
|**Donations and gifts**|125|35,845|35,970|
DocuSign Envelope ID: E1D4BBFD-D49E-46FF-84EC-555F51BD8BB5
## **3. Charitable Activities**
|Sales within charitable activities
Performance related grants
**Analysis by fund**
Unrestricted funds
Restricted funds
**Performance related grants**
Christie Foundation
CAST|**Online platform**
**development**
**Sharing practice**
**experiences**
**Total**
**2021**
**2021**
**2021**
**£**
**£**
**£**
-
1,083
1,083
267,720
-
267,720|
|---|---|
||267,720
1,083
268,803
-
1,083
1,083
267,720
-
267,720|
||267,720
1,083
268,803
260,000
-
260,000
7,720
-
7,720|
||267,720
-
267,720|
## **4. Charitable activities**
|**Notes**
Staff costs
Website development
Accreditation services
Consultancy
Conference costs
Other direct costs
hare of support costs
**5**
e of governance costs
**5**
Analysis by fund
Unrestricted funds
Restricted funds|**Online platform**
**development**
**Sharing practice**
**experiences**
**Total**
**2021**
**2021**
**2021**
**£**
**£**
**£**
79,932
-
79,932
8,400
-
8,400
4,560
-
4,560
3,424
-
3,424
938
96
1,034
1,705
-
1,705|
|---|---|
||98,959
96
99,055|
||2,817
-
2,817
4,407
-
4,407|
||106,183
96
106,279|
||-
96
96
106,183
-
106,183|
||106,183
96
106,279|
Share of support costs Share of governance costs
DocuSign Envelope ID: E1D4BBFD-D49E-46FF-84EC-555F51BD8BB5
## **5. Support costs**
|IT costs
Insurance
Bank charges
Office related costs
Independent Examiner’s fees
Legal and professional
Accountancy
Analysed between
Charitable activities|**Support**
**costs**
**Governance**
**costs**
**2021**
**Basis of allocation**
**£**
**£**
**£**
697
-
697
Time on activities
869
-
869
Time on activities
181
-
181
Time on activities
1,070
-
1,070
Time on activities
-
2,760
2,760
Governance
-
63
63
Governance
-
1,584
1,584
Governance|
|---|---|
||2,817
4,407
7,224|
|||
||2,817
4,407
7,224|
## **6. Independent examiner’s remuneration**
The analysis of independent examiner’s remuneration is as follows:
|**Fees payable to the Charity’s independent examiner and associates**|**2021**|
|---|---|
||**£**|
|Independent examination of the Charity’s annual accounts|2,760|
## **7. Trustees**
None of the Trustees (or any persons connected with them) received any remuneration or benefits from the Charity during the period, nor were any expenses reimbursed to them.
## **8. Employees**
The average monthly number of employees during the period was:
|**Employment costs**
Wages and salaries
Social security costs
Other pension costs|**2021**
**Number**
3|
|---|---|
||**2021**
**£**
74,448
4,552
932|
||79,932|
There were no employees who received remuneration over £60,000 per annum during the period.
DocuSign Envelope ID: E1D4BBFD-D49E-46FF-84EC-555F51BD8BB5
## **9. Debtors**
## **10. Creditors**
|**Amounts falling due within one year:**
Prepayments and acrrued income
**Amounts falling due within one year:**
Other taxation and social security
Other creditors
Accruals and deferred income|**2021**
**£**
2,748|
|---|---|
||**2021**
**£**
563
180
3,299|
||4,042|
## **11. Restricted funds**
The income funds of the charity include restricted funds comprising the following unexpended balances of donations and grants held on trust for specific purposes:
## **Movement in funds**
|Christie Foundation
CAST
Donations|**Balance at**
**9 April 2019**
**Incoming**
**resources**
**Resources**
**expended**
**Balance at**
**31 March 2021**
**£**
**£**
**£**
**£**
-
260,000
(62,618)
197,382
-
7,720
(7,720)
-
-
35,845
(35,845)
-|
|---|---|
||-
303,565
(106,183)
197,382|
## **Christie Foundation**
Purpose of the grant: to develop an online ‘Open Access’ platform to share good practice in perinatal peer support.
## **CAST**
Project name: Catalyst and the National Lottery Community Fund COVID-19 Digital Response
Purpose of the grant: we worked with a digital partner to explore solutions to a common challenge experienced by 3 voluntary sector organisations: how to keep track of volunteer recruitment processes using digital, data and design.
DocuSign Envelope ID: E1D4BBFD-D49E-46FF-84EC-555F51BD8BB5
## **12. Analysis of net assets between funds**
|Fund balances at 31 March
2021 are represented by:
Current assets/(liabilities)|**Unrestricted funds**
**Restricted funds**
**Total**
**2021**
**2021**
**2021**
**£**
**£**
**£**
861
197,633
198,494|
|---|---|
||861
197,633
198,494|
## **13. Related party transactions**
## **Remuneration of key management personnel**
The remuneration of key management personnel is as follows
.
||**2021**|
|---|---|
||**£**|
|Aggregate compensation|30,442|
DocuSign Envelope ID: E1D4BBFD-D49E-46FF-84EC-555F51BD8BB5
## **Parents 1st UK**
**48 Main Street, Wymondham, Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, LE14 2AG**
**/parents1st @Parents1st /company/parents1st**
**Registered Charity No: 1186445**
**www.parents1st.org.uk**