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2023-03-31-accounts

Love For The Family Annual Report and Financial Statement

April 1[st] 2022 to March 31[st] 2023 Charity Number 1195015

Love For The Family Trustees Report and Financial Statement April 1st 2022 to 31[st] March 2023

The trustees present their second Annual report since the formation and acceptance of the constitution of Love For The Family by the Charity Commission on June 30[th] 2021.

Objectives and Activities

The objects of Love For The Family as outlined in its Constitution are

  1. The advancement of education in the subject of pregnancy and the termination of pregnancy and into the effects thereof upon women whether physical, medical or psychological

  2. The preservation and protection of women’s health by the provision of advice, counselling and assistance to women and their partners and families who are suffering from physical or mental illness, distress or poverty during or as a result of pregnancy or following an abortion, miscarriage, cot death, still birth, loss of a child or sexual abuse.

The trustees confirm that they have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commissions general guidance on public benefit when reviewing its aims and objectives and when considering and planning future activities.

Love For The Family has added to its underpinning values (GRACE) which help support and give structure to the work of the charity. These values help to ensure the ongoing nature of its work is for the public benefit. We aim to be:

GENEROUS

We were created to live in community. We all need help at times through our lives. Whilst we keep professional boundaries we aim to prove an empathetic and understating environment where our clients can feel understood and secure.

We welcome enquiries from anyone in need of help or assistance, regardless of gender, marital status, disability, ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion or belief/ non-belief, age and time of pregnancy or loss.

Trained listeners, helpers and counsellors working with Love For The Family show compassion, kindness and unconditional positive regard to all clients, regardless of why they have made contact with

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Love For The Family

Trustees Report and Financial Statement

April 1st 2022 to 31[st] March 2023

the charity, or what their life experiences have been. We want the best for all of our clients and it is the client that knows what that is. We are not here to judge or direct.

EMPOWERING

Love For The Family provides time and a safe space for women (and men individually), to consider their options regarding parenting, adoption or termination of a pregnancy, without outside pressures or biased opinion. We give time for reflection on life pressures, circumstances, wants, needs, values and desires; alongside information and education about their options regarding parenting, adoption or termination of the pregnancy. Time is given to enable clients to reflect on the effects of each choice, empowering them to make a next steps plan. Clients usually have one or two sessions.

Love For The family provides help to enable women, men or couples to recover from mental distress or illness caused as a result of the termination of a pregnancy, loss of a baby or the loss of a pregnancy at any stage. The courses and 1:1 support programmes help clients work through their trauma and grief, restoring their self-confidence and selfesteem.

Love Baby Essentials, run by Love For The Family, provides relief from poverty or the distress caused by poverty, by providing the physical baby items required by families for the first year of life, such as clothes, bedding, cot, Moses baskets, high chairs and prams.

Review of Activities

In line with the key objectives set out for the year the Charity successfully transferred Luton Baby Bank to Love Baby Essentials. The Charity has a number of volunteer helpers who are sourcing, washing and sorting donated items. These volunteers do not meet clients and come from a wide range of backgrounds including refugees and asylum seekers, as well as Hope Church and other local faith organisations. Hope Church have provided storage space as well as counselling rooms.

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Love For The Family

Trustees Report and Financial Statement

April 1st 2022 to 31[st] March 2023

Love For The Family has used its training grant to specifically train another team member with skills on Pregnancy Choices Level 3 with the PCN (Pregnancy Centres Network). It has secured a further training grant to be used within the coming year. Crisis Pregnancy, Post Abortion and Baby Loss recovery programmes continue.

The Charity has expanded its work with other Community services of Luton. These groups include:

Love For The Family partners with The Grove, Pregnancy Advice Centre in Bedford and shares experience, training and referrals as appropriate.

Love For The Family Trustees are supported by the Charity ‘Pregnancy Centres Network’ in regards to good practice, training and development of staff and trustees. In turn, Love For The Family has continued to support the development of other centres during the year. The Chair of Trustees attended the annual PCN conference for updates and developments within this specialist field.

The Founder and Chair of Trustees has had the opportunity to speak at Hope Church and continues to study to be a qualified counsellor. She works for the charity as its Centre manager on a voluntary basis.

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Love For The Family

Trustees Report and Financial Statement

April 1st 2022 to 31[st] March 2023

All sessions are run on a voluntary basis and no charges are made for the services that Love For The Family offers. Clients are free to make a donation for the services that they have received. Presently, Hope Church has given space for counselling and storage without charge.

Achievements and Performance

Between April 22 and March 31[st] 2023, there were 25 enquiries for psychological support from Love For The family.

Clients who engaged with the psychological support programmes reported benefitting from the sessions they had received. Clients, when assessed, were found to be less anxious and depressed following their recovery sessions and able to re-engage in work and family life in a more relaxed and fulfilling way. Clients also reported feeling empowered to make

decisions because of a new understanding of their feelings and defence mechanisms. Clients reported an increase in self-awareness.

242 people made contact with Love baby Essentials , some in distress and in need of equipment due to poverty, some because they were asylum seekers, others had been a victim of modern slavery or domestic abuse.

Key Performance Indicators

Love Baby Essentials provided equipment to distressed mothers throughout Luton. This included:

39 Moses baskets and stands with sheets/ blanket bundles. 37 Care bundles

54 New born Clothes bundles

52 0-3 month clothes bundles

17 Baby Baths

20 Baby chairs

15 cots

8 cot beds

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Love For The Family

Trustees Report and Financial Statement

April 1st 2022 to 31[st] March 2023

9 travel cots 20 High Chairs 20 Prams 12 baby carriers

There is one trained, and four part trained volunteers who have completed Module One (Ethos, Values and general counselling skills) and have undertaking Module Two (Crisis Pregnancy). Another part trained Listener/ Helper is currently study Level 3 Pregnancy Choices with the PCN. All volunteers in training have a good understanding the ethos, values and aims of the charity. There are six Home Volunteers who are supporting Love Baby Essentials by sorting, preparing bundles and cleaning items.

Future Plans

The Charity is looking to recruit further volunteers who will support Love Baby Essentials. It is hoping to set up a drop in service for mums and young children (Rest and Recharge) to come and choose clothes, further empowering them. This will run at the same time as a drop in at Hope Church ensuring that the mums have access to free refreshments and a light meal.

Further volunteers are needed to expand the counselling services and to train as helpers/ listeners, or volunteer counsellors, as well as an administrator to co-ordinate the work. The Charity has a further grant to help with training.

Love For The Family is able to provide secondary education classes and discussion sessions for students and young adults on the subject of pregnancy via an educational programme ‘The Stress Test’. Future aims include the facilitation of this programme in secondary schools and colleges in Luton to support the new curriculum requirements and equip students to discuss pregnancy in a more relaxed and informed way.

The charity has been asked by Women’s Aid if it could provide a recovery course for women who have had their children or babies taken into care. Love For The Family is hoping to prepare a pilot course to start once there is a suitably trained counsellor in place.

Clients continue to talk about the difficulty in finding psychological support after baby loss and for post abortion depression or anxiety. There is a need for Love For The Family to expand its advertising to ensure

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Love For The Family

Trustees Report and Financial Statement

April 1st 2022 to 31[st] March 2023

potential referrers are aware of our facilities, but taking into consideration present capacity constraints.

Financial Review

The accounts have been prepared in accordance with the Charity Commissions Statement Of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting By Charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the financial reporting standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (Second Edition 2019) (FRS 102). Love For The Family is considered a small Charity and followed these recommended guidelines. As such the accounts did not require auditing.

Love For The Family has had a limited ability to organise fundraising events and has relied on donations from supporters and volunteers. Some of the donations have come from The Baby Bottle Scheme where supporters are given a Baby Bottle to fill with change. It is hoped to extend this scheme in the coming year.

The unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the Trustees in order to further the aims of Love For The Family. Trustees give priority to ongoing Insurance and subscription costs that are essential for the continued work of the charity.

The charity has been supported by Hope Church Luton with free use of storage and counselling rooms.

The restricted funding grant was given towards Level 3 training and will be used within the next year.

No trustee receives any fee or expenses for any of their work. One trained Trustee volunteers as the Centre Manager, trainer and Helper/ Adviser, another trustee, pays for the mobile phone contract. Future funding for projects and the expansion of the Charity are required long term but there are sufficient funds and support to ensure ongoing insurances and subscription costs will be covered.

There is a volunteer treasurer who works alongside the Finance trustee. Gift Aid will be collected for eligible donations.

Starting Balance 1[st] April 2022 £2,021.06 Final Balance 31 [st] March 23 £1, 832.74

Income April 1[st ] 2022 – March 31st 2023

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Love For The Family Trustees Report and Financial Statement

April 1st 2022 to 31[st] March 2023 Donations Charity Community Account 2 £495.00 PCN Training Grant (Protected Funds) £300.00 Total Income £795.00

Expenditure April 1[st ] 2022 – March 31st 2023 Insurance £581.07 Subscriptions £157.25 PCN Training Grant (Protected Funds) £245.00 Total Expenditure £983.32

Structure, Governance and Management

Love For The Family is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation whose only voting members are its trustees. Its governing document is its Constitution which was approved by the Charity Commission on 30[th] June 2021. Prior to this it had been a Community organisation. All previous assets and monies have been transferred to the Charity. If wound up the Trustees, or members, have no personal responsibility for the settlement of debts and liabilities beyond the amount they are liable to contribute, which is up to £5.

Love For The Family has four trustees who were its founding members. The minimum number of trustees by Constitution is three and the maximum seven. Trustees are appointed because of the knowledge and skills they bring to the Charity and their understanding of its ethos and aims. Love For The Family is not a political organisation and its counsellors and volunteers work without prejudice. Any trustee or individual working or volunteering for the charity is expected to understand and respect this. No trustee has received any payment for their services or expertise this year. One Trustee (Mrs S Draper) resigned from her position in January 2022 due to moving abroad. The Trustees are in the process of recruiting further trustees.

New Trustees will be recruited following invitation; due to skills requirement, or application because of interest. All perspective trustees will be interviewed by the voting members. Trustee appointments are dependent on the needs of the Charity and the skills required to ensure its continued growth. Trustees must have a full understanding of the ethos of the charity, it’s political neutrality, and an understanding of grace:

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Love For The Family

Trustees Report and Financial Statement

April 1st 2022 to 31[st] March 2023

unconditional positive regard, kindness, value and acceptance of clients regardless of past history, sexual orientation, faith/ religion or belief/ no belief, disability, gender identity, marital status, age, ethnicity, culture or duration of pregnancy as demonstrated by Jesus Christ.

On appointment trustees receive copies of the constitution, financial statements and copies of a year’s previous minutes of trustee meetings. Charity Commission guidance is available. Their work is supported by the other trustees. Further help and guidance is available from Pregnancy Centre Network and Thirtyone: Eight, the charities safeguarding organisation.

Trustees delegate the day to day running of the charity to Trustee and Centre Manager Mrs J Reynolds. Trustees meet to discuss and agree policies, procedures and developments of Love For The Family, including key finance decisions, as set out in the Financial Management and Accounting Policy. They review objectives a minimum of six times a year.

Risk Management

Love For The Family’s work is dependent on its reputation and ability to ensure its services are provided without prejudice or bias. The trustees are satisfied that they have suitable training and safeguards in place to ensure this continues through training and recruitment policies and procedures, ongoing supervision and training, as well as client assessment and feedback.

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Love For The Family Trustees Report and Financial Statement April 1st 2022 to 31[st] March 2023

Reference and Administrative Details

Charity Name Love For The Family Charity Number 1195015 Trustees Mrs Jane Reynolds

Mrs Jane Reynolds Mrs Elizabeth Argent Mrs L Pswarayi

Registered Postal Address

Bank

c/o 6 Alexandra Avenue Luton Bedfordshire LU3 1HG England Barclays Bank 28 George Street Luton Bedfordshire LU1 2AX

Exemptions From Disclosure

There are no exemptions from disclosure in this year.

Funds Held As Custodian Trustee On Behalf Of Others

No other Funds are held.

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