2025-10-31-accounts - Counselling For Health

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Counselling for Health CIO

Annual report and Financial Statement

1[st] November 2024 to 31[st] October 2025

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 [Vice-Chair]

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 4 officers and supported by the 3 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. Five Trustees attended the 5[th] AGM on 7[th] May 2026 when the accounts and reports were presented.

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 an 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 an 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.

Full statistics were not received during the year so CfH is not certain of the accuracy of some of these figures. 71 people were assessed, down from 102 the previous year, a 30% decrease. 58 of those people took up appointments, down from 84, a decrease of 22%. 802 appointments were offered. 81 clients were discharged, an increase of 24%. It was not possible to be certain of the average number of appointments and so the balance between longer term work [6-12 sessions] and short term work [1-6 sessions] could not be estimated. There were 56 DNAs during the year, 6.9% of the total appointments offered, a slight increase from 4.5% the year before. Telephone consultations had increased during the year to a total of 142, or 17% of the total number of consultations, compared with 10% the previous year. The Agreement that Counsellors have with CfH states that the Counsellor shall be based at the Practice and will see patients referred at the Practice premises. It is anticipated that if face to face work is not possible, the Counsellors will make use of the video technology at the Practice to consult with patients.

Although there was a limit of 12 people who can be held on the waiting list, introduced the previous year, the waiting list was closed for new referrals for all but 6 weeks [9[th] May to 24[th] June] between 18[th] December 2024 and 1[st] October 2025. 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. It appeared that a number of patients were being rereferred, reducing the ability of GPs to refer new patients for counselling during the year. CfH introduced a restriction in October 2025 that only patients who had never been seen by the CfH counselling

service could be referred, and that referral was to be made by a GP. A new numbering system for referrals was introduced. This restriction on new only referrals will be reviewed after 6 months.

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. Patients reported more motivation, being more aware of thoughts, having less anxiety, being less likely to react in the moment, feeling more able to bring up problems as they occur, being more assertive and having more belief in themselves.

The GPs reported that there was extremely poor access to Mental Health Services for their patients elsewhere in Plymouth. Patients referred into the MHT could be offered online CBT. The GPs are very pleased with the Counselling service that CfH provides for their patients.

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, 31.10.2025, the Income for the Charity had been £31,256.41, the Expenditure £30,409.76 and the Bank Balance [Current and Savings Accounts] was £16,869.56. 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 remains the Charity’s Treasurer and the Trustees are grateful to her for her work.

Financial Risk

At 31.10.2025 the balance at the Charity’s Bank account is £16,869.56.

The Charity has an SLA with the Supervisor, and Agreements with each of the Counsellors which run until 30[th] June 2026.

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.

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 full year.

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

Charity Name No (if any) Counselling for Health 1193066 Receipts and payments accounts CC16a For the period Period start date Period end date To from 01.11.2024 31.10.2025

Section A Receipts and payments	Section A Receipts and payments
A1 Receipts	Unrestricted funds to the nearest £	Restricted funds to the nearest £	Endowment funds to the nearest £	Total funds to the nearest £	Last year to the nearest £
Donations	25,000	-	-	25,000	-
HMRC Gift Aid Refund	6,250	-	-	6,250	-
Interest	6	-	-	6	-
	-	-	-	-	-
	-	-	-	-	-
	-	-	-	-	-
	-	-	-	-	-
	-	-	-	-	-
*Sub total*(Gross income for AR)	31,256	-	-	31,256	-

A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table).
	-
	-				-
*Sub total*	-				-
*Total receipts* A3 Payments
					-

ICO Registration	47				-
Trustees Insurance	156				-
Counsellors	29,581				-
Supervision	625				-
					-
	-				-
	-				-
	-				-
	-				-
**Sub total **	30,409				-

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*
					-

	847				-
	-				-
	-				-
	847				-

CCXX R1 accounts (SS)

5/24/2026

Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period

Barclays Bank Current Account Barclays Bank Savings Account Details Details *Total cash funds* (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) Details	Unrestricted funds to nearest £ 4,863 12,006 - 16,869 Agreement Error Unrestricted funds to nearest £ - - - - - - Fund to which asset belongs	Restricted funds to nearest £ - - - - OK Restricted funds to nearest £ - - - - - - Cost (optional)	Endowment funds to nearest £
			-
			-
			-
			-
			OK
			Endowment funds to nearest £
			-
			-
			-
			-
			-
			-
			Current value (optional)
		-	-
		-	-
		-	-
		-	-
		-	-
Details	Fund to which asset belongs	Cost (optional)	Current value (optional)
		-	-
		-	-
		-	-
		-	-
		-	-
		-	-
		-	-
		-	-
		-	-
Details	Fund to which liability relates	Amount due (optional)	When due (optional)
		-
		-
		-
		-
		-
J M Bayley Signature R T L Bayley	Print Name Ralph Timothy Lowndes Bayley Judith Mary Bayley
			Date of approval
R T L Bayley	Ralph Timothy Lowndes Bayley		24.05.2026
J M Bayley	Judith Mary Bayley		24.05.2026

CCXX R2 accounts (SS)

5/24/2026

Independent examiner's report on the accounts

Section A Independent Examiner’s Report

Report to the trustees/ members of

Charity Name Counselling for Health

31[st] October 2025 1193066

On accounts for the year ended Charity no (if any)

Set out on pages

1 and 2

(remember to include the page numbers of additional sheets)

Responsibilities and basis of report

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 31/10/2025.

As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”).

I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent examiner's statement

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:

accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or
the accounts do not accord with the accounting records

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not apply.

Signed:

J S Mantle 24.05.2026

Date:

Name:

Jeremy Stuart Mantle

Relevant professional qualification(s) or body (if any):

BA FCMA

October 2018

IER

Address:

The Retreat, Onslow Road

Salcombe

Devon TQ8 8AG

Section B Disclosure

Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners).

Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose .

October 2018

IER