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2025-03-31-accounts

DRAFT

LEAF Locally Encouraging All to Flourish (Charity Number 1194047) Trustees Annual Report for the Financial Year Ended March 31 2025.

AIMS AND PURPOSES

LEAF is a Chris�an Charity that was established in April 2021 with the core mission of improving and suppor�ng the wellbeing of the residents of Ledbury.

OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

LEAF aims to support people across all ages and has a number of workstreams with the following objec�ves and ac�vi�es:

ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE OF LEAF

The Charity is overseen by a Board of Trustees, Chaired by Peter Williamson. (The Trustees are listed at the end of the report, Page 7). The Trustees meet on a quarterly basis.

The Chief Execu�ve is supported by a Project Team that meets Monthly. The team includes the administra�ve support to the charity, in addi�on to the leads for Finance, Funding and Processes, Spiritual Well-Being, Emo�onal Well-Being, Physical Well-being, Children’s Services, Family Support, and Alterna�ve Provision.

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ACHIEVEMENTS IN 2024-25

Service Developments

Communi�es Grant (funded by Herefordshire County Council and West Mercia Police and Crime Commissioner) to deliver Early interven�on for Children and Young People. The project commenced on June 1 2024, with the total funding for the project of £78,717.84, with £60,276 received in 202425. The remaining £18,441 will be claimed by LEAF in 2025-26.

This enabled LEAF to employ a Youth Worker full �me for one year, commencing July 1 2024. LEAF was also able to fund, one day per week, alterna�ve provision for children in Ledbury Primary School, (from September 2024). The Family Worker also extended her hours and had more resources to support her work. The grant also funded 50% of the Chief Execu�ve, for his therapeu�c work in Counselling children and managing the project. This freed resources to employ two addi�onal staff members, an administra�ve post (from November 2024) and a funding and processes manager (from August 2024).

on the upper floor in the building and from October 2024 began a Youth Drop-In two nights a week in school term �me. The Hall is also rented to other users. Regular users include the Romanian Church and the Girl Guides.

Outcomes

Work with School Age Children and their Families

A tots group runs each week for parents and their children who are under school age. It is aimed at suppor�ng those parents who the school and the family worker feel might benefit from addi�onal input and support. Over the months since this has been running there has been a significant improvement in the children’s development, par�cularly socially. It has also helped build rela�onships with parents who then may be offered further support.

Families can be supported on a 1 to 1 basis, being seen weekly or fortnightly, or whenever they are in need of emergency support. The demand for this service is currently at full capacity due to high demand, with the desire to provide a regular service some�mes compromised by the need to support family emergencies.

Two paren�ng courses were completed by Easter 2024, with the feedback from par�cipants being very posi�ve. Those on the course are asked to complete a ques�onnaire both before and a�er it is completed. Both courses were a�ended by parents of children with very complex needs or with difficult home situa�ons. Ques�ons range from:

To

How well do you feel able to meet your child’s emo�onal needs?

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The average upli� on both these ques�ons was at least a 2- point increase, with average scores going from 3.75 to 5.87 on the first ques�on and 3.75 to 5.75 on the second ques�on. One Mum’s feedback from the course “I was made to feel very comfortable and relaxed enough to express my feelings. It was all very helpful; mind blowing some of the stuff I have learned. I would recommend to other people.”

The paren�ng course (and the follow- on support provided by LEAF) has been agreed as a Herefordshire Early Help acceptable paren�ng course.

9 families are currently being supported but with the need for more support high. LEAF is planning to expand this service in September 2025. Ledbury Primary School can see the value that this service is bringing to the school through improvements in children’s behaviour and has agreed to jointly support this increase in the Family Worker’s hours from September.

The work of the Alterna�ve Provision lead is also reaping great praise and is having a life changing impact on a small group of children. The Head Teacher has wri�en tes�monials about the work and the changes it is producing. A parent has also wri�en to the Head of School praising the improvement in the behaviour of her son. LEAF is exploring how to con�nue funding this work on a full-�me basis, such is the impact it is having.

LEAF provides counselling and mentoring services at 2 Primary and 1 Secondary School. Each week support is given to a total of 21 children across the 3 schools. This is enabling improved outcomes for both children and families.

At Ledbury Primary School, Head Teacher Rachel Ussher says, “LEAF is doing amazing things here, literally life changing. We invest as much as we can in pastoral support, but we would never be able to afford what we get through LEAF.”

Youth Work

LEAF is working to support young people in the town. Two drop-in sessions are held each week. Since the start of the Autumn term there have been 35 drop- in sessions at St Katherine’s Hall. A�endances have increased over the weeks and by April 2025 there were 47 young people on the register, with half of them a�ending at least 3 �mes in the Spring Term. 8 boys have a�ended almost every session since the drop in started and it has therefore been possible to build up a be�er rela�onship with them. Most of the boys are 12 to 13 years of age, with the oldest being 15 years.

The sessions provide a space for the young people to hang out with their friends. They receive refreshments, the hot dogs being a favourite. The Ledbury Listening Survey, carried out over 12 months ago to find out what the Young People of Ledbury wanted, iden�fied a need for food to be available locally in the evening and we have certainly seen how offering crumpets or sausages/bacon is welcomed.

Most important is the building of rela�onships with the young people. This takes �me and consistency, and while behaviours vary over the weeks, there are some definite improvements in the young people’s responses and engagement

Listening and Guidance

Over the year the Listening and Guidance Service saw 116 referrals from the GP prac�ce. Clients were both male and female and their ages ranged from 18 to 93 years.

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In March 2025 there was a wai�ng list of 28 people. Unfortunately, such is the demand for the service, that it was the third �me in the 12-month period that LEAF had to temporarily close the wai�ng list to new referrals.

Listening and Guidance (L&G) con�nues to provide a life changing service. It uses a na�onally recognized scale (Warwick and Edinburgh Wellbeing Score) and our average upli� over twelve months was 15 points, over 2.5 �mes the na�onal average, (6 is a significant improvement)

Examples of this change include:

a. Lady with past trauma who has improved a�er L&G with special work on trauma and her Wellbeing score has increased by 29 points

b. Lady with worsening long-term anxiety: a�er 3 sessions has turned this around already reflected in an 18-point increase in Wellbeing score.

Approximately 10% of those using the Listening and Guidance Service are referred on to either a Kintsugi emo�onal well- being course or to LEAF one to one counselling.

- Kintsugi Emo�onal Well being courses

LEAF volunteers ran two 12- week courses last year, in the Spring and Autumn of 2024. The courses had 10 a�endees on average.

Feedback from the courses is very posi�ve. They include the following: -

LEAF Adult Counselling Services

to pay. LEAF pays two counsellors, both accredited with BACP, to provide this service, as well as student counsellors on placement. There were a total of 279 client sessions over the last 12 months. At the end of December there were 11 people on the wai�ng list.

said:

Children’s services

loca�ons, including the churches and the community hall. The summer fun days were enhanced by the purchase of a plancha grill which enabled LEAF volunteers to cook over 100 burgers and hot dogs at each event. The grill had been funded by Tesco through their blue counter scheme.

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- Physical Well Being

This year’s Christmas Day lunch for single people was a huge success with 46 meals being cooked. The knit and crochet group celebrated its second birthday and con�nues to provide friendship to people in the town.

The collabora�on with LEAF befrienders and the Chris�ans Against Poverty Debt Counsellor helped to release people from the burden of over £100,000-worth of debt in the last year.

FINANCE

Background

The accounts are prepared on a cash basis and therefore report receipts and payments in year. The previous year is shown as a comparator.

Before LEAF was founded, The Chief Execu�ve had an ecumenical ministry in the town and was funded by individuals and the churches. Some of that funding has remained on the basis that it funds him personally and is therefore Restricted. Expenditure related to him is also shown as Restricted.

LEAF is funded on an ongoing basis by dona�ons from the local churches and from individuals who live in Ledbury. It con�nues to rely on the support of grant funding, in addi�on to dona�ons, to con�nue to pay the small group of staff it employs. It also has a pool of �reless volunteers to call upon. Since August 2024 receipts have included fees for hiring St Katherine’s Hall and this helps to offset its running costs.

Level of reserves

The Trustees set the reserve level for the Charity between £30,000 and £40,000. At the year end March 31 2024, LEAF had £42,022.72 in the Current Account at the bank.

Introduc�on

payments from the previous year. Total Receipts grew from £84,355 to £245,035 between 2023-24 and 2024-25. Total payments grew from £80,900 to £215,992 across the years.

At March 31 2025, LEAF had an in-year excess of receipts over payments of £29,042, resul�ng in a balance in the current account of £71,066.

Katherine’s Hall. With the need to obtain listed building planning permission before any development could take place, a decision was made to deposit these funds in a CAF 12 Month Fixed Rate Saver Account with Shawbrook Bank, with a 4.3% rate of Interest.

LEAF’s total assets on March 31 2025 were therefore £131,066.

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Receipts

largest increases came from Grants, Dona�ons and Fees.

Grants

The Grants are itemised on Page 5 of the accounts. The largest grant is the Safer Community Grant which was awarded in April 2024, with the Project star�ng on June 1 2024. The Grant award totalled, £78,717.84, with £60,276 received in 2024-25. The remaining £18,441 will be claimed by LEAF in 2025-26.

The Household Support Fund of £11,000 was paid to St Andrews Church, Malvern, under a service level agreement, to provide a Chris�ans Against Poverty (CAP) debt counsellor in Ledbury one day per week.

The Tesco funds were the outstanding funding from the previous year. Tesco withheld this sum from the total grant of £1,500 un�l they had received a formal report on the use of the grant.

money u�lised in 2024-25 was £300 for Listed Building planning advice. The remaining £3,275 will be used in 2025-26. This is an ini�al payment of a larger grant.

Several other smaller grants were awarded in March 2025 by Herefordshire Council, including those for £740 and £500. Both of these grants will be used in 2025-26, as will the £1,000 from the Local MP, which has been awarded to put a roof on the outdoor classroom built by the children and the Alterna�ve Provision Lead at Ledbury Primary School.

Dona�ons

Restricted Dona�ons were higher in 2024-25 as Ledbury Bap�st Church increased its dona�on to £25,000. The dona�on was made in November 2024 and was £15,000 above the level an�cipated in the budgets in April 20024.

Unrestricted dona�ons include Gi� Aid claimed from HMRC, for the previous three years, totalling £11,672. It was claimed near the end of the Financial Year with the inten�on of it being available for the 2025-26 budget.

Payments

In Page 3 of the Accounts unrestricted payments are analysed by programme area. Those with the biggest change from 2023-24 are the areas where there was new grant funding in 2024-25.

Restricted Payments are analysed in Page 4 of the accounts. It should be noted that the Chief Execu�ve was commi�ng 50 per cent of his �me to therapeu�c work, counselling children in the local Primary Schools.

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Looking Forward to 2025-26

LEAF is in a strong posi�on to further develop its services, par�cularly working with Ledbury Primary School where its work is highly valued and helping to change lives. From a Financial posi�on the balances at the bank mean that services can con�nue while grant applica�ons are considered.

It is hoped that St Katherine’s Hall can become a focus for local services, with partnerships being built with other well-being providers. A bid has been made to Herefordshire Council for capital funding from the Community Spaces Capital Grant.

Charity Address:

21 Biddulph Way, Ledbury. HR8 2HP

List of Trustees:

Peter Williamson (Chair)

Rev Phil Warrey Chris Hopkins Geoff Rutherford Janet Hopkins Rev Joe Simons Kate Mason Rev Keith Hilton Turvey Tim Keyes

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LEAF (LOCALLY ENCOURAGING ALL TO FLOURISH)

RECEIPT AND PAYMENT ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR ENDED MARCH 31 2025

2024-25
Restricted
Other
Total
£
£
£
RECEIPTS
Grants
10,000
90,407
Collections
1,486
Donations
27,590
101,288
Interest
129
Fees St Katherine's Hall
10,942
Other
3,194
TOTAL
37,590
207,445
245,035
Ledbury Primary School’s contribution to the salary of the Family Worker.
PAYMENTS
Payments
47,930
108,062
155,992
Invstment in savings a/c
60,000
60,000
TOTAL
47,930
168,062
215,992
EXCESS OF RECEIPTS OVER PAYMENTS
10,340
-
39,383
29,043
FUNDS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE YEAR
42,023
FUNDS IN CAF BANK AT MARCH 31 2025
71,066		 2023-24
Restricted
Other
Total
£
£
£
10,000
21,815
564
12,600
32,649
114
867
5,745
22,600
61,755
84,355
41,839
39,060
41,839
39,060
80,900
19,239
-
22,695
3,455
-
Page 1 of 5
LEAF (LOCALLY ENCOURAGING ALL TO FLOURISH) LEAF (LOCALLY ENCOURAGING ALL TO FLOURISH) LEAF (LOCALLY ENCOURAGING ALL TO FLOURISH)
STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES
MARCH 31 2025 MARCH 31 2024
£ £
ASSETS
Restricted Funds -
Unrestricted Funds 131,066 42,023
MADE UP OF
CAF current a/c
Shawbrook savings a/c		 71,066
60,000		 42,023
TOTAL 131,066 42,023

Page 2 of 5

LEAF (LOCALLY ENCOURAGING ALL TO FLOURISH) ANALYSIS OF GENERAL PAYMENTS

LEAF (LOCALLY ENCOURAGING ALL TO FLOURISH) ANALYSIS OF GENERAL PAYMENTS

2024-2025
£
Emotional Well Being<
10,470
Spiritual Well Being>
16,576
Physical Well Being
46
Children
2,874
CAP
11,734
Family Support
10,114
Youth Work
21,469
Alternative Provision
3,880
St Katherine's Hall
13,122
Other
17,776
TOTAL		 2023-2024
£
10,266
10,186
812
1,450
10,582
3,448
2,315
108,062
*		 39,060

Listening and Guidance Service (GP Chaplaincy)

Page 3 of 5

ANALYSIS OF RESTRICTED EXPENDITURE
2024-25
£
Wages "
45,017
Admin Expenses^
1,201
Expenses as therapist*
1,399
Other
313
TOTAL
47,930		 2023-24
£
39,516
1,290
891
143
41,839

" Gross, including tax and pension contributions ^Includes mileage and telecomms

*Includes supervision, training, insurance and professional fees

It should be noted that 50% of these costs are for counselling services, the other 50% of time as CEO.

Page 4 of 5

ANALYSIS OF GRANTS

Restricted
Hereford Diocese
Unrestricted
Safer Communities Grant, Herefordshire Co Council
Ledbury Town Council, 3 year grant, (Year 3)
Ledbury Town Council Youth Listening Survey
Herefordshire Council Household Support Fund*
Tesco Blue Counter^
Herefordshire Community Fund - Warm Spaces!
Herefordshire Talk Community WOW!
Ellie Chowns, constituency fund!
Herefordshire Talk Community Training
S106 Capital funding for St Katherines Hall floor$ TOTAL		 2024-25
£
10,000
60,277
10,440
500
11,000
375
740
500
1,000
2,000
3,575
90,407

*The Household Support Fund awarded to support a debt counsellor

^The Tesco funds were the outstanding funding from the previous year grant which totalled £1,500 !Funds received in March 2025 to be spent in 2025-26

$Only £300 used in year remaining to be spent in 2025-26

Page 5 of 5

CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trusteesl members of iEAfi CLoogLL% fo ) On a¢¢ounts for the year ended 31- &coS Charity no (if any) Set out on pages .7C I report to the truslees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity 1.the Trust") for the year ended 31 [031202S Rèsponslbilitles and As the charty tru51ees of the Trust. you are responsiblè for the preparation basis of report of thè accounts In accordance with the requirements of the Charilies Ad 2011 (-th8 Acl"). I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carrled out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commlssion under sedion 145(5)(b) of the Act. I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come lo my altention {other than that disclos8d below ') in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe Ihat in, any material respect: accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or the accounts do not accord wth the 8ccounting records Independent examinerfs statement I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with Ihe examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. ' Pl8ase delete the wonls in the brackets il they do not apply. Dato: 3- 7*a¢)2S Signed: Name: Relevant professional qualificationls) or body lif any): Address: HffiLS VieTpAA ￿￿£? k4R8 cgl>b IER October 2018