## Southwark
## **Annual Report**
## **2023-2024**
**Registered Charity 1188121**
## **Grief Matters Southwark - Annual Report**
## **CONTENTS**
||**Pages**|
|---|---|
|INTRODUCTION|2|
|LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION|3|
|REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES 21/22|4|
|STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES|13|
## LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION
## **STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT GOVERNING DOCUMENT**
The charity is controlled by its governing document, Constitution of a Charitable Incorporated Organisation whose only voting members are its charity trustees. Registered company number 1188121
The Trustees present their report with the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 March 2022.
## **Welcome to our Annual Report of 2023-2024.**
The recent introduction of a new trainee placement scheme for counselling students at diploma level has been a work in progress. We are still providing counselling students with placements and providing the successful candidates with the counselling work hours they need to complete their course. We also offer a supervisor to write their reports should they wish for a fee of £75.
Grief Matters Southwark would once again like to say thank you to all the staff that have supported this charity past and present. It is down to the dedication of our volunteers, management and clinical teams, and the support of our donors/funders that Grief Matters Southwark continues to grow and develop despite the fact that funding and fundraising has become increasingly difficult during these times of financial crisis. Through this funding which this year was provided by Southwark Charities we are able to maintain our first-class support service for those bereaved in the London Borough of Southwark.
We continue to work remotely post-pandemic as we are now thoroughly established in this. However, we do intend to employ a volunteer that will look for free space, so that we can grow into an organisation that offers both face-to-face and remote services such as telephone counselling and video conferencing. In the meantime our virtual office provides an affordable and effective way for us at GMS counselling services to work.
We are very much centred on being a community-based team in Southwark and continue to be supported by Community Southwark, and the Southwark Wellbeing Hub.
Grief Matters Southwark remains an inclusive organisation working with diverse groups and employing a diverse team of staff including Board Members. We are committed to excellent standards in social inclusion, togetherness and anti-racism and equality.
We are proud to be the only bereavement counselling charity of its kind in the London Borough of Southwark and are pleased with the financial management of this small and young charity which helps to keep it growing.
We believe that it is our mission, vision and values that keep us safe and secure in our work and as we look towards the future with an aim to continuing to commit to our core beliefs.
**Our Mission** is to provide a first-class bereavement counselling service to the people of Southwark. In order to do this, we have recruited a highly specialised team who have worked in a professional capacity in the field of bereavement counselling for several years.
**Our vision** is that all residents in the London Borough of Southwark who are bereaved can access our specialised counselling service.
**Our values** are compassion-focused, non-judgemental, supportive and comforting. We place a high onus on respecting diversity and employ a workforce of staff that reflect the diversity of the community of Southwark.
Our six-core values ReCIPE are:
- **Re** spect – for human rights and dignity
- **C** ompetence – ensuring the counsellor provides services appropriate to their qualifications, training and experience and maintains high standards of practice
- **I** ntegrity - ensuring the integrity of practitioner-client relationships
- **P** rivacy – protecting the rights and safety of clients
- **E** quality - striving for the fair and adequate provision of services
**TRUSTEES** : Tym Soper (Chair of Board of Trustees), Chorouk El-Adib (Secretary of the Board of Trustees), Lester Thompson, Vikki Moorhhouse, Treasurer role (currently being advertised).
**OUR OBJECTIVES** : To provide low-cost bereavement counselling service in Southwark and to relieve the mental and physical distress of people suffering from bereavement or loss, who reside in Southwark or the surrounding areas, by providing bereavement counselling and support in the community.
## **OUR HISTORY**
Grief Matters Southwark was established as a registered charity on 21 February 2020. Grief Matters Southwark Bereavement Service is a specialist service that prioritises complex bereavement in adults. For detailed information see our website https://GriefMattersSouthwark.com
Most of our team of counsellors have worked in the London Borough of Southwark as bereavement counsellors previously at a well-recognised and reputable organisation ‘Southwark Carers’.
Its objectives are the promotion of charitable purposes for the benefit of the community within the London Borough of Southwark. Grief Matters Southwark is headed by the Board of Trustees, who together are responsible for the management of the organisation.
## **Report of the Chair 23-24**
My name is Tym Soper, I have been involved in charity work since the late 80's, firstly with youth services, then with children's play. I have been on several trustee boards, locally as well as on the board, and chair of the National Playbus Association.
I have been involved with Grief Matters since March 2021 and Chair since April 2023. This year the team have been working very hard and having to cope with changes both staff and with the board. But have maintained a great level of service.
We have learned a lot in the last 3 years and continue to learn from our working experiences and endeavour to focus on new learning curves in order to maintain the service at a high standard. We also plan to establish a pilot scheme where we are open to seeing clients from cross-border boroughs to Southwark
We have again secured enough funding to see some clients for a zero fee for those people that are over 55-years old. We hope to secure more funding from our own fundraising initiatives and continue to support those living in poverty and the most marginalised people in the borough/s.
I hope next year we can build on this and continue to grow.
Tym Soper, Chair of the Board of Trustees
Yours sincerely
## **Chair of the Board of Trustees**
## **Availability**
Grief Matters Southwark is open for counselling from Monday to Friday and are now including Saturdays for those people that can not access the service during weekdays due to work or other commitments. Ours fees remain the same as remote counselling means that we do not have to pay for room or premises hire.
## **Accessing Our Services**
Clients are able to self-refer to our services or will be referred by organisations within a network of local referral partners. These
external agencies are set out in our original business plan. Individuals are able to refer themselves via our website.
## **Funding**
Fundraising took a bit of a back seat in the last year as there has been more of a focus on recruiting new students. Next year the onus will be on employing good fundraisers and getting back out on the streets with our own fundraising such as Christmas Gig. The implementation of new counselling students will help the charity to profit and can therefore be stream of fundraising in that we can take on more clients.
## **Staffing and Recruitment**
Our current team include 1 director, 1 counselling manager, 1 clinical assessor, 1 freelance supervisor and two volunteer administrators as well as team of 5 counsellors. Our clinical team comprises 10 part-time staff members. All staff are volunteers (with the exception of consultant/freelance roles. These paid roles include both counselling manager and supervisors). The leadership team are paid pro-rata in compliance with legal requirements around minimum wage and we will renumerate according to the national average for their roles in a charity environment, funding dependent. Counsellors will not be given more than 3 clients a week. All our counsellors must have a current DBS check before they start working as a counsellor and they must have completed the GMS Safeguarding online training that we have produced.
At the end of last year we recruited a new Counselling Manager, Deborah Binns who is a welcome asset to the organisation.
## **Trustees**
We have five Trustees. Tym Soper - Chair of the Board of Trustees, Chorouk El-Adib - Secretary of the Board of Trustees,Lester Thompson – Trustee, Vikki Moorhouse – Trustee. We are currently looking for a new treasurer.
The Board of Trustees meet several times a year and contribute to the strategic development of the organisation including pay conditions for all staff and working conditions for both paid and voluntary staff.
It is the intention of the Board of Trustees to review staff pay annually taking into account Local Government Pay Settlements, inflation and the current state of affairs of the organisation.
Funding will be focused on paying staff in the years ahead. We hope to be able all staff members eventually if we secure enough funding including the director, administrators and counsellors.
## **Overheads and Spending**
We continue to operate on a low budget due to not having high overheads. So far, we have not had to pay rent for premise and have been working remotely. This is only possible because of the dedication of the staff and volunteers that contribute their time and skills to the cause.
## **FINANCIAL INFORMATION FOR 2023-2024**
||**Income**|**Outgoings**|**Outgoings**||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|Restricted Funds|2675.00|488.85|||
|Unrestricted Funds|16,117.32|1169.88|||
|**Totals**|**£ 18,792.32**||**£ 1,658.73**||
|____________________________________________________________________________|||||
|**Income and Expenditure**|||||
|**Outgoings**|||||
|Supervision||£ 275.00||Restricted|
|Website||£ 100.80||Restricted|
|Internet/Microsoft||£|59.88|Unrestricted|
|Insurance||£|113.05|Restricted|
|ICO||£|35.00|Unrestricted|
|Staf Pay||£|800.00|Unrestricted|
|Counsellor training|£ 275.00|Unrestricted|
|---|---|---|
|**TOTAL**|**£ 1,658.73**||
|**Income**|||
|Grants and donations|||
|Fundraising carried over|£ 15487.32||
|Unrestricted|||
|Southwark Charities|£ 2675.00||
|Restricted|||
|Anonymous donors|£ 210.00|Unrestricted|
|Trading|£ 420.00|Unrestricted|
|(paying clients)|||
|**Total**|**£18,792.32**||
|**Balance**|**£17,133.59**||
## **Code of Ethics**
Grief Matters Southwark adheres to the requirements of the Code of Ethics produced by the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and we comply with their framework and requirements not only of counselling, but also of professional supervision.
## **Local Demographics**
Southwark is one of the most densely populated and diverse boroughs in the country, with a young, growing and mobile population. According to the 2018 Joint Strategic Needs Assessment, just over 314,200 people live in Southwark, up from 256,700 in 2001. This represents an increase of more than a fifth over that period Southwark is an ethnically diverse borough, varying markedly across age groups and with the population under 20 much more diverse than other age groups. Southwark has one of the fastest growing populations in South East London, with the population projected to grow by nearly 20% by 2030; equating to an extra 60,000 residents.
In (2018) Southwark had the second highest murder rate in London, with 7 deaths attributed to gang-related crime. Many of the victims and perpetrators of violent crime in Southwark are young people, in the 16-
26 age group. A range of services and organisations are working in the local context to tackle the devastating and wide-ranging effects of violent crime involving loss of life.
Such incidents affect whole families and communities, and the existing psychological support available through mainstream services is not well placed to deal with the complicated grief often associated with violent or traumatic loss. Indeed, and due to budgetary pressures brought about by cuts, the bereavement counselling service once offered by Southwark Carers had to close. Moreover, Southwark is the only London borough that does not have a local Cruse bereavement service or any other specialised bereavement service.
## **Gender Intake**
The client gender ratio for all client enquiries for 2021-2022 is as follows:
**Males: 13.6 % Females: 86.4 %**
## **Client ethnicity**
The clientele of Grief Matters Southwark reflects the community of Southwark which is rich in diversity. We are proud of our social inclusion and diversity records and have a good mix of people from all walks of life.
The percentage of clients that are in the age bracket 25-44 the diversity in relation to ethnic backgrounds is as follows:
- White/Caucasian **50%**
- Black/Afro-Caribbean **40 %**
- Asian/Middle-Eastern **10%**
The percentage of clients that are in the age bracket 45 + the diversity in relation to ethnic backgrounds is as follows:
- White/Caucasian **75%**
- Black/Afro-Caribbean **16.7 %**
- Asian/Middle-Eastern **8.3%**
## **Volunteers**
Not only our clients, but our volunteers reflect the community in Southwark and we endeavour to remain inclusive and follow equal opportunities guidance in employing our staff.
## **Volunteer Training**
We have recently looked at new training for staff which will focus on suicide, criminal acts that cause bereavement and other traumatic focused bereavements. This training will provide continuous professional development (CPD) for staff and will be ongoing over the year.
## **Monitoring and Feedback**
We use Clinical Outcomes Routine Evaluation (Core-10) forms to monitor our clients well-being, clinical issues, risk and day-to-day functioning throughout their sessions. We use these at the beginning of the session work, at midway review, and at the end of the sessions. This information which covers wellbeing, can give us relevant information to assess and review our work as well as make our observations on client issues periodically.
## **HOW YOU CAN HELP GMS**
## **DONATIONS**
Our organisation is reliant on donations however big or small. Some of the funding that we receive is restricted for specific purposes, therefore, we need unrestricted funds to spend on things we need that are not specified in other grants. Your donations help us to survive as an organisation and give us flexibility in our spending. Our spending is recorded and updated regularly so you can see what we spend your money on (please see financial income and outgoings at the end of this report. You can make donations to us via contacting us on GriefMatters2019@outlook.com
## **VOLUNTEERING**
Grief Matters Southwark is always looking for volunteers. We recruit: counsellors, fundraisers and administrative staff. Most of our vacancies are for part-time volunteers. If you feel like you have something to offer our small team or just want to alert us to your services you can send in a CV, please contact Julie via email: GriefMatters2019@outlook.com
## **ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS**
We would like to thank all of our volunteers and supporters, our Patron and all donators, funders and any person or organisation that has helped us to set-up our small charity over the years including churches such as St Peter’s Church, Walworth & St Giles Church, Camberwell and especially to those that offer their time continuously to keep us going
## **Trustees & Other Grant-Giving Bodies**
London Catalyst (Peabody), Patron Jo Brand and The Albert Trust & Grief Matters Southwark Board of Trustees past and present including Vicki Badham our team Superstar fundraiser .
## **Board of Trustees 2020**
The Trustees who acted during the period are set out at the beginning of this document. Election and re- election of Trustees is carried out according to the procedures set out in our Constitution, which is our governing document. Trustees are recruited through: advertising via the Grief Matters Southwark website, local advertisements and other sources. Potential trustees may send in their CVs for us to keep on file in the event that a suitable role comes up that they may apply for. We will keep your information private and confidential under the Data Protection Act and contact you if we see a compatible fit. Applicants that may be considered will be interviewed by a combination of staff. Potential Trustees will be interviewed by 2 trustees and then the full Board of Trustees are informed of the interview outcomes before a decision is made. Other staff and volunteers are interviewed by a combination of the following list: director, managers, trustees. Once this process is complete references, DBSs and other credentials will be checked Once the monitoring processes have been completed and the person employed by us at GMS we will offer training and inductions to the new member of staff.
At Grief Matters Southwark the Trustees take responsibility of the running of the charity in areas of strategy, planning, finance and develop. The day-to-day running of the charity falls on the director and management team. Our clinical team are also authorised to make organisational decisions for GMS if related to clinical issues.
All Trustees and the Director take their responsibilities seriously under UK charity law which requires the Board of Trustees to prepare financial statements that give a transparent and accurate view of their financial affairs. We have prepared our first financial statements for 2020/2021 and endeavour to outsource some of the accountancy work to accounting professionals when appropriate. The Trustees will make the final decisions on which external agencies to use and will have full input into
the accounting policies each time they are reviewed. Up to 3 Trustees including the new Treasurer and the director will be part of this planning and implementation process.
The Trustees alongside the director are responsible for the keeping of proper accounts with reasonable accuracy within any given timeframe that may be disclosed to the relevant authorities and in compliance with the rules and regulations of the Charity Commission. Responsibility towards GMS finances, finance controls and prevention of fraud also falls on the director and the Board of Trustees. Any irregularities should be identified and brought to the director and the Board of Trustees for explanation.
Grief Matters Southwark financial statements have been prepared by the Director of Grief Matters Southwark.
## **Public Benefit**
It is a legal requirement on charities is that the Trustees must have regard to Charities Commission guidance on public benefit in deciding on the activities a charity undertakes and must report on those public benefits. As a charity Grief Matters Southwark must provide a description of identifiable benefits in relation to their daily activities and functions of the charity. The Board of Trustees are in agreement that the director and the management teamwork towards their aims and objectives as set out in their governing papers, Constitution of a Charitable Incorporated Organisation. On review of the operational work of Grief Matters Southwark by our Board of Trustees, they are happy that the activities of Grief Matters Southwark are in line with our designated aims and objectives that our organisation provides one-to-one counselling to adult residents of the LB of Southwark. The services are provided at a low-cost fee and are open to all residents of the London Borough of Southwark. For further detail on the activities we undertake and the nature of the public benefit provided see the detailed project reports on our website.
Grief Matters Southwark is dedicated to Equal Opportunities good practice and will only take on fully paid staff after going through a robust and fair recruitment process which aims to employ staff on merit. The GMS employment policy seeks to ensure that no-one receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of all of the protected characteristics:
## **Risk management and internal control**
Our Board of Trustees work alongside the director reviewing, monitoring and checking all our working policies. The director, working alongside the Board of Trustees has produced a risk register that serves the organisation as a remote virtual office. This is monitored and reviewed regularly due to the pandemic. We follow Government guidelines in relation to the pandemic and comply with governmental guidance.
The Trustees oversaw the risk register produced and are satisfied that the arrangements for managing these risks combined with the annual review of financial controls and the reserves policy, will ensure that sufficient resources are available to maintain services for the foreseeable future.
The organisational structure and control system:
1. There is a clear organisational structure, with a working chain of command that outlines responsibilities and appropriate levels of accountability and reporting lines.
2. Our Trustees have specialist expertise in: Strategy and planning, law, finance, IT, policy-making.
3. The Trustees are regularly updated with financial reports and are able to request on demand should they need it for any of their work.
4. Grief Matters Southwark is committed to staying up-to-date with UK law and in particular, employment law and good management practice.
As set out in our original business plan we have achieved the main aims and objectives of Grief Matters Southwark which is to serve the community of the London Borough of Southwark as an adult bereavement counselling service. We intend to recruit more staff in the future to help with local fundraising (post-pandemic) and more Trustees with furnish us with different skills and experience. We may employ financial experts/and or services as our organisation grows.
## **Financial Performance**
This is our second year as a small charity and we have managed to stay above board financially. Our finances are healthy and growing. Please see breakdown below.
## **Maintaining Service Delivery**
Due to the size and newness of Grief Matters Southwark and because GMS has no guaranteed income, but relies on fundraising, grants and donations, we aim to keep a balance in our ‘General Fund’ which at a minimum would keep the charity going for 1 month. This is to cover unpredicted events. It also helps cover us if we should have to plan an ‘Exit Strategy’. In order to do this we have reviewed our funds and worked out what we need to cover payments to self-employed staff, for insurance, ICO registration and any other annual payment.
Grief Matters Southwark have both a General Fund (as mentioned above) and Restricted Funds which are the funds that were offered to GMS for specific use. Should an ‘Exit Strategy’ take place we would pay back the restricted funds to the original funders.
## **Grief Matters Southwark – Accounts FROM April 2023 TO April 2024**
|**Date**|**Money in**|**Money Out**|**Payee**|**Recipient**|**Balance**|**Restricted**|**Unrestricte**
**d**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|03/04/2023|5.00||Milne SR45||15,487.32||Unrestricted|
|13/04/2023|15.00||Giwa TA
SR37||15,502.32||Unrestricted|
|25/04/2023||25.00||Supervision
SK|15,477.32|Restricted||
|28/04/2023||5.40||Microsoft Bill|15,471.92|Restricted||
|28/04/2023|30.00||MartinSR44||15,501.92||Unrestricted|
|03/05/2023|30.00||MartinSR44||15,531.92||Unrestricted|
|05/05/2023|5.00||JBaines||15,536.92||Unrestricted|
|05/05/2023||100.00||D Binns CM
pay|15,436.92||Unrestricted|
|30/05/2023||5.40||Microsoft Bill|15,431.52|Restricted||
|30/05/2023||50.00||Supervision
SK|15,381.52|Restricted||
|30/05/2023||100.00||D Binns CM
pay|15,281.52||Unrestricted|
|31/05/2023|30.00||MartinSR44||15,311.52||Unrestricted|
|06/06/2023||100.80||WordPress|15,210.72|Restricted||
|06/06/2023||113.05||PolicyBee|15,097.67|Restricted||
|08/06/2023|200.00||Anonymous
donor||15,297.67||Unrestricted|
|14/06/2023||35.00||ICO|15,262.67||Unrestricted|
|19/06/2023||25.00||Supervision
SK|15,237.67|Restricted||
|23/06/2023|20.00||RookSR47||15,257.67||Unrestricted|
|26/06/2023||75.00||Supervision
SK|15,182.67|Restricted||
|28/06/2023|15.00||RookSR47||15,197.67||Unrestricted|
|30/06/2023||5.40||Microsoft Bill|15,192.27|Restricted||
|14/07/2023|15.00||MartinSR44||15,207.27||Unrestricted|
|19/07/2023||50.00||Supervision
SK|15,157.27|Restricted||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|19/07/2023||150.00||D Binns CM
pay|15,007.27||Unrestricted|
|20/07/2023|30.00||RookSR47||15,022.27||Unrestricted|
|26/07/2023|15.00||MartinSR44||15,052.27||Unrestricted|
|31/07/2023||5.40||Microsoft Bill|15,046.87|Restricted||
|02/08/2023|15.00||RookSR47||15,061.87||Unrestricted|
|02/08/2023|15.00||RookSR47||15,076.87||Unrestricted|
|18/08/2023|15.00||RookSR47||15,091.87||Unrestricted|
|**Date**|**Pay In**|**Pay Out**|**Payee**|**Recipient**|**Balance**|**Restricted**|**Unrestricte**
**d**|
|24/08/2023|15.00||RookSR47||15,106.87||Unrestricted|
|29/08/2023||5.40||Microsoft|15,101.47|Restricted||
|31/08/2023|15.00||MartinSR44||15,131.47||Unrestricted|
|04/9/2023||275.00||SK Training|14,736.47||Unrestricted|
|18/09/2023||150.00||D BinnsPay|14,706.47||Unrestricted|
|27/09/2023|30.00||RookSR47||14,856.47||Unrestricted|
|02/10/2023||5.40||Microsoft|14,731.07|Restricted||
|06/10/2023|15.00||RookSR47||14,746.07||Unrestricted|
|09/10/2023|50.00||Howley SR48||14,796.07||Unrestricted|
|18/10/2023|15.00||RookSR47||14,811.07||Unrestricted|
|31/10/2023||5.40||Microsoft|14,805.67|Restricted||
|31/10/2023||100.00||D BinnsPay|14,705.67||Unrestricted|
|03/11/2023||25.00||Supervision
AW|14,680.67|Restricted||
|09/11/2023|25.00||Howley SR48||14,705.67||Unrestricted|
|29/11/2023||5.40||Microsoft|14,700.27|Restricted||
|18/12/2023||100.00||DB Pay|14,600.27||Unrestricted|
|28/12/2023||25.00||Supervision
SK|14,575.27|Restricted||
|29/12/2023|2,675.00||Southwark
Charities
Donor||17,250.27|Restricted||
|02/01/2024||5.40||Microsoft|17,139.47|Restricted||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|17/01/2024||100.00||DB Pay|17,144.87||Unrestricted|
|30/01/2024||5.40||Microsoft|17,244.87|Restricted||
|06/03/2024||5.88||Microsoft|17,133.59|Restricted||
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