Counselling for Health CIO
Annual report and Financial Statement
1[st] November 2023 to 31[st] October 2024
Charity Commission Registration Number 1193066
Address: Tumblehome, 1 Coronation Road, Salcombe, Devon TQ8 8EA
Trustees [Founding] who served from the start and up to the date of this report are as follows:
Ralph T L Bayley [Chair]
Judith M Bayley [Secretary]
Susan Flynn
A Louise Dawson
Alan Plummer
Richard S Sanders
Bankers Barclays, Leicester LE87 2BB
The organisation is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation [CIO], and registered as a Charity at The Charity Commission on 11[th] January 2021.
Constitution – Structure, Governance and Management
The CIO was established under a written Constitution in which the only voting members are its Charity Trustees. Its constitution sets out the object and powers of the charity, the decision making processes to govern the Charity and appointment of Trustees. The charity is managed by its 3 officers and supported by the 4 other Trustees. All the Trustees are appointed for varying set periods. The Charity recruits Trustees by invitation to persons who have an understanding of the role of therapeutic counselling and who can contribute with their knowledge, skills and experience to the effective running/management of the Charity.
All Trustees must agree to the appointment of any new Trustees.
Any new Trustees would, before committing to the role, have a full introduction to the work of the Charity, and be given a copy of the Charity’s Constitution, Annual Report, Annual Accounts and the guidance document from The Charity Commission “The Essential Trustee”.
All Trustees give their time voluntarily and receive no benefits from the Charity. Any expenses claimed by Trustees are set out in the annual accounts.
As the Charity ran smoothly during the year, regular minuted meetings of the Trustees were not held, but Trustees were kept up to date by newsletters sent out by Chair reporting developments and inviting comments. All Trustees attended the 4[th] AGM on 6[th] March 2025 when the accounts and reports were presented.
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The Charity’s only volunteer is its Treasurer.
Objectives and Activities
The Object of the Charity is to protect and preserve good mental health and wellbeing among people aged 16 and over by providing free short or medium term therapeutic counselling in cooperation with National Health Service General Practices.
The Trustees have had due regard to the Commission’s Public Benefit Guidance about the service provided, with a particular focus on ensuring that its activities achieve its charitable aims.
In order to provide this service, the Charity has funded therapeutic counselling at a NHS General Practice in Plymouth from 14[th] July 2021.
The Trustees review the aims, objectives and activities of the charity each year.
Achievements and Performance
As from 1[st] July 2024, Counselling for Health [CfH] provides up to 792 hours of individual therapeutic counselling per year to patients registered with an NHS Medical Practice in Plymouth following the Model for Practice Based Counselling in Primary Care that was presented to the Practice concerned and agreed with the Charity.
Counsellors are appointed and have an Agreement, renewed annually, with CfH to provide these hours of counselling. The Counsellors are Registered members of BACP. There is a Service Level Agreement [SLA] signed by CfH and the Practice, again renewed annually, to provide the service for a year at a time. This service is fully funded by CfH. The Charity also has a SLA with a Counselling Supervisor to provide regular Supervision for the Counsellors concerned. New Counsellors have an Induction to the Practice, prior to beginning to see referred patients.
There was no change of Counsellors during the year.
102 people were assessed, and 84 of these took up appointments. 710 appointments were offered and there were 32 DNAs during the process (4.5% of total Appointments offered). 65 clients were discharged and the average number of sessions of those completed counselling was 6.9, slightly up on last year.
Waiting times have been managed, there is now a limit of 12 people who can be held on the waiting list. The longest time patients were waiting to be seen is approximately 10 weeks, most are seen more quickly. The Model of Practice Based Counselling in Primary Care that underpins our service, had made it clear that long waiting times adversely affect the way patients engage with the service.
The client feedback has been very good. Almost all found their expectations of counselling met, some saying it was better than expected. Similarly all found counselling helpful or very helpful, and most commented on things they had been able to change in their lives as a result of counselling. Patient comments on improvements to the service included waiting times, more sessions, more flexibility on appointment availability, more services available, better pre-counselling contact from doctors/surgery and ability for appointments to be booked in advance on the system.
The GPs reported being very pleased with the Counselling service that CfH provides for their patients, and Doctors commented that the service provision/appropriate psychological support is exactly what patients need and that the GP doesn’t need to be involved once the patient has been referred. Patients known to the GP, who have previously presented with mental health issues, are now less likely to mention them during consultations with their GP.
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Following a referral, an acknowledgement letter is sent, including information about counselling. This means that patients know that they are on the waiting list and understand the service. This has bridged the gap between GP referral and contact from the Counsellor for their assessment session.
The Objective of the Charity has been met and the funds raised so far have matched the needs of the service.
The Charity’s Status
The Charity is free standing and is not in a wider network to provide services.
Financial Review
At the Charity’s year end, 31.10.2024, the Income for the Charity had been £31,248.75, the Expenditure £34,554.15 and the Bank Balance was £16,022.91. The Income was derived from individual donations. The Charity has received no legacies or grants from organisations or local or national government sources.
During the year the Charity’s Income remained above £25,000. Jeremy Mantle FCMA, who is the Charity’s Independent Examiner, has checked the annual accounts and found them to be satisfactory. The Charity is grateful to Jeremy for his work and he will continue to take this role.
The Charity does not intend to make any investments. Its reserves will be the balance in the Charity’s Bank Account.
The Charity does not hold any funds on behalf of others, does not own any property and does not employ any staff. There are no policies for grant making or social investment.
Linda Christian became the Charity’s Treasurer in January 2024 and the Trustees are grateful to her for agreeing to take on this role.
Financial Risk
At 31.10.2024 the balance at the Charity’s Bank account is £16,022.91.
The Charity has an SLA with the Supervisor, and Agreements with each of the Counsellors which run until 30[th] June 2025.
The Charity is in a good financial position to meet its obligations.
Other Risks facing the Charity and its service provision
The Medical Practice could merge, close or relocate. If necessary the Charity would then endeavour to find a similar NHS General Practice to which the service could be relocated.
The SLAs between the Charity and the Medical Practice and the Agreements between the Charity and the Counsellors and the Counsellors’ Supervisor remain contiguous. The Charity has taken steps to ensure that SLAs between the Charity and this or any body or persons cover the full period of the agreements.
National Health Service Regulations or Provision with regard to Mental Health Services could change significantly and adversely affect the Charity’s ability to provide the present service. The Charity would have to adapt to the changes, but the SLAs would be honoured to ensure that the service would continue up to the end date of existing agreements and that work with any clients would finish in a timely way.
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Death of major donors. This has been covered by codicils to wills of these donors with the aim of sustaining funding for the Charity at its present level for a further 3 years.
Major Incidents
There have been no major incidents involving the Charity, the Practice or contractors to the Charity.
Declarations
The Trustees declare that they have approved the Trustees’ report above.
Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees
| Signature(s) Full name(s) Positon (eg Secretary, Chair) Date |
R. T. L. Bayley | J.M.Bayley |
|---|---|---|
| Ralph Timothy Lowndes Bayley | Judith Mary Bayley | |
| Chair | Secretary | |
| 21.03.2025 | ||
| 21.03.2025 |
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| Counselling for Health | Counselling for Health | No (if any) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1193066 | |||
| Receipts andpayments accounts | CC16a | ||
| For the period from |
01.11.2023 | Period end date To 31.10.2024 |
Section A Receipts and payments
| A1 Receipts | Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ 24,999 6,249 - - - - - - 31,248 - - - 31,248 35 20 96 68 31,964 2,371 - - - 34,554 - - - 34,554 - 3,306 - - - 3,306 |
Restricted funds to the nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
Endowment funds to the nearest £ |
Total funds to the nearest £ 24,999 6,249 - - - - - - 31,248 - - - 31,248 35 20 96 68 31,964 2,371 - - - 34,554 - - - 34,554 - 3,306 |
Total funds to the nearest £ 24,999 6,249 - - - - - - 31,248 - - - 31,248 35 20 96 68 31,964 2,371 - - - 34,554 - - - 34,554 - 3,306 |
Last year to the nearest £ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Donations | 24,999 | - - - - - - - - - |
24,999 | - | ||
| Gift Aid Refunded | 6,249 | 6,249 | - | |||
| - | - | - | ||||
| - | - | - | ||||
| - | - | - | ||||
| - | - | - | ||||
| - | - | - | ||||
| - | - | - | ||||
| Sub total(Gross income for AR) |
31,248 | 31,248 | - | |||
| A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). |
||||||
| - | - - - |
- | ||||
| - | - | - | ||||
| Sub total | - | - | - | |||
| Total receipts A3 Payments |
||||||
| - | 31,248 | - | ||||
| Registration with ICO | 35 | - - - - - - - - - - |
35 | - | ||
| Administration of DBS Check | 20 | 20 | - | |||
| Insurance | 96 | 96 | - | |||
| Travel | 68 | 68 | - | |||
| Counsellors | 31,964 | 31,964 | - | |||
| Supervision | 2,371 | 2,371 | - | |||
| - | - | - | ||||
| - | - | - | ||||
| - | - | - | ||||
| **Sub total ** | 34,554 | 34,554 | - | |||
| A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table) |
||||||
| - | - - - |
- | ||||
| - | - | |||||
| **Sub total ** | - | - | - | |||
| Total payments Net of receipts/(payments) A5 Transfers between funds A6 Cash funds last year end Cash funds this year end |
||||||
| - | 34,554 | - | ||||
| - 3,306 | - | - | - 3,306 | - | ||
| - | - | - - |
- | - | ||
| - | - | - | - | |||
| - 3,306 | - | - | - 3,306 | - |
CCXX R1 accounts (SS)
21/03/2025
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Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
| Categories Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees B5 Liabilities B3 Investment assets B2 Other monetary assets B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use B1 Cash funds |
Details Details Total cash funds (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) Barclays Bank Account Details Details Details Signature R. T. L. Bayley |
Unrestricted funds Restricted funds to nearest £ to nearest £ 16,022 - - - - - 16,022 - Agreement Error OK Unrestricted funds Restricted funds to nearest £ to nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) - - - - - Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) - - - - - - - - - Fund to which liability relates Amount due (optional) - - - - - Print Name Ralph TimothyLowndes Bayley |
Endowment funds to nearest £ |
|---|---|---|---|
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| OK | |||
| Endowment funds to nearest £ |
|||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| Current value (optional) |
|||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| Current value (optional) |
|||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| When due (optional) |
|||
| Date of approval |
|||
| R. T. L. Bayley | Ralph TimothyLowndes Bayley | 21.03.2025 | |
CCXX R2 accounts (SS)
21/03/2025
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