specialist bereavement support for richmond borough
annual report 2022
Charity registered in England and Wales No: 1195114
Registered address: space2grieve, ETNA Community Centre, 13, Rosslyn Road, East Twickenham TW1 2AR
## how it all started
The idea of setting up a local bereavement service was first raised by our two cofounders Jenny Harris and Mary Parry in the Autumn of 2020. The impact of the pandemic and their many years of volunteering in the bereavement sector led them to recognise that the provision of confidential, in person support in a dedicated space was essential to the well- being of those seeking bereavement support.
They were joined by five other members of the Founding Team who all worked tirelessly to ensure that space2grieve became a reality and in doing so received funding from Hampton Fund, RPLC and the Bob Willis Fund.
An incredible team of volunteer specialist bereavement supporters were recruited and through appropriate induction and training were ready to offer bereavement support to the residents of Richmond Borough by the end of August 2022.
Our aim is to be the provider of free support for all Richmond residents who have been bereaved “no matter when, no matter how.” 1
## report of trustees
The Trustees present their report, together with the financial statement of the charity for the year ending 30 June 2022.
The Trustees have had regard to the Charity Commission's public benefit guidance when exercising any powers or duties to which the guidance is relevant.
## objectives and activities
The charity’s objective is “to relieve the distress and suffering caused by bereavment/grief for the residents of Richmond Upon Thames through the provision of one-to-one and group bereavement support sessions by expert highly trained specialists in bereavement support.”
We set out below the activities we undertake for the public benefit to help us achieve that objective.
- We have a team of highly trained Specialist Bereavement Supporters (SBSs) offering free, expert bereavement support for adults, children and young people in Richmond Borough.
- Our team of volunteers provides space for clients to talk in a series of one-to-one sessions in person or remotely by phone or Zoom. Each session will last up to one hour.
- We have 31 client-facing volunteers including 4 supervisors who, on average, have had over 6 years’ experience of working in bereavement. All have completed space2grieve’s requirements for Safeguarding, enhanced DBS (Disclosure and Barring) certification and training, and on average volunteer for 3 to 6 hours a week.
- Regular continued professional development is provided by our training team so volunteers are up to date with developments in grief theory and practice.
- Two of our volunteers wrote and produced our own bereavement training programme “Pathway to Developing Bereavement Support” which will be run annually to ensure we always have enough volunteers to meet our agreed client waiting time. 6 new SBSs were recruited and started training in our first year, ready to see clients in September 2022.
- As part of our ongoing Children and Young Persons (CYP) service, we have developed an entirely unique approach to supporting parents, called Parenting Through Grief. These sessions are an opportunity to guide the parent of a bereaved child through providing appropriate resources and information.
-
Compassionate Cuppa opened its doors at the ETNA Community Centre cafe in June 2022 and is now a regular monthly visit for all bereaved residents of the borough, whether or not they have attended sessions with our specialist volunteers. This gives an opportunity for bereaved people to share their feelings with others in the same position. 2
## seeing our clients
We know how important it is for bereaved people to be able to access help quickly and directly, and that it takes great courage to reach out to ask for help. At space2grieve clients can contact us directly and will have a swift response. We will carefully assess their needs before ensuring the right level of support from one of our experienced volunteers, which also allows us to signpost effectively and accurately if we are not the right service for their needs.
We see up to 25 clients each week for an average of 8 sessions. This is mostly in person in our room at the ETNA Community Centre.
## comments from volunteers
“I feel as if I am part of something important and get great satisfaction from helping others”
“I work full time and I make time to volunteer as a Specialist Bereavement Supporter. This is the best thing I do all week and this is how I look after my well-being.”
“I feel very privileged to sit alongside the pain and suffering of those experiencing grief
and loss..not everyone can do it…there are many things I am not able to do but I can do this! And therefore feel very grateful that in doing so can contribute to easing others pain” “What I value about being an SBS is the unique relationship I form with my clients. I learn something from every client I support. I like getting to know my CYP clients and feel privileged that clients trust me enough to share their feelings with me. I feel good knowing that I have made a difference to someone’s life.” 3
## our impact
In our first year of operation we have supported 133 clients, including children and young people, and we have provided over 600 hours of support.
Support has been provided across the Borough - see the chart below for the geographic spread of our clients.
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## client feedback
Client satisfaction is assessed through a questionnaire at the beginning and end of the client sessions. They are asked to rate a number of criteria on a scale of 0 (poor) to 5 (very good). See below for a comparison of this year’s average figures.
## evaluation comparison pre and post sessions 20/21
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4.5......................................................................................................................................
4.0......................................................................................................................................
3.5......................................................................................................................................
3.0......................................................................................................................................
2.5......................................................................................................................................
2.0......................................................................................................................................
1.5.......................................................................................................................................
1.0.......................................................................................................................................
0.5.....................................................................................................................................
0.0.....................................................................................................................................
Coping Emotional Ability to Coping Physical Self care Social life
with daily wellbeing think about with work health
tasks the future
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Before sessions After sessions
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here are a few examples of the feedback we have received:
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## aims for 2022-2023
We aim to work on the foundations we’ve established during our first year, to:
- Increase the number of clients throughout the Borough
- Run our annual Pathway to Developing Bereavement Support course with an aim to train an additional 6-8 SBSs
- Develop and run a CYP programme with an aim to train 4-6 CYP specialists
- Build up Compassionate Cuppa and other group activities, for example a Walk and Talk group
- Improve spread of funders
- Strengthen our Board of Trustees with further skills/expertise and introduce sub-committees to focus on key areas.
## structure, governance and management
The charity was formed on 9 July 2021 as a foundation Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) and has been supporting clients since August that year. The charity had 5 Trustees and 2 part-time paid Service Management employees. The initial Trustees and Service Management team had all been previously involved in providing bereavement services in Richmond.
## Trustees:
Barbara Davies (9 July 2021 - present) Chair Jenny Harris (9 July 2021 - present) HR Amanda Lockyer (9 July 2021 - present) Treasurer Mary Parry (9 July 2021 - present) Safeguarding April Holden (9 July 2021 - 26 April 2022) Marketing Debbie Ramsay (10 May 2022- present) General & Marketing
## Staff:
Louise Flory Service Manager Hattie Deards Service Co-ordinator
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The Trustees and Service Management team meet as the Working Group on a monthly basis to monitor the activities of the charity. This meeting is used to update the team on clinical matters such as client assessment and evaluation, training, client numbers and referrals.
It is also used for Trustees to formally sign off the previous month’s Financial Report, to update on any fundraising activities, address any Safeguarding issues and examine the Risk Register.
Trustees meet separately to review performance progress against plan and take decisions required to ensure the efficient running of the charity and its further development.
We have a dedicated space at ETNA Community Centre in East Twickenham. This acts as our office, meeting room, training and client session space.
During the year we appointed a new Trustee and have recruited additional volunteers to help with fundraising and governance. It was established that an additional Service Administrator was needed to improve the coverage and effectiveness of the Service Management team in supporting the work and further development of the charity during the year (this role was filled in August 2022).
## GDPR and safeguarding
An external review by Blackpenny Consulting of our GDPR and Data Security policies and procedures has been completed. All staff and volunteers complete adult and child Safeguarding training and are DBS checked. Specialist Bereavement Supporters (SBSs) have enhanced DBS checks. 8
## risk assessment
The Trustees maintain a comprehensive Risk Register - those Risks considered the most critical are examined at the monthly meetings.
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Risk Mitigation Level
Funding Financial and Reserves Policy Medium
adhered to. Ensure spread of
funders. Funding application
preparation and submission
dates are communicated.
Funding committee advises
additional assistance.
Loss of key Staff Succession planning. All main Low
processes are documented.
Contracts of employment allow
for adequate notice periods
and handover
Trustee body Skills audit reviewed and Medium
and Service required skills identified.
Management Job descriptions are written for
(SM) team lacks roles, whether these be Trustee,
relevant skills/ SM, voluntary or paid for
capacity consultancy positions
Budgetary Budgets linked to charity Low
Control and objects and strategy. External
Financial expert skills used to assist with
Reporting financial reporting and
planning
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## income 2021-2022
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•
2%
•
23%
•
Gift Aid (£138)
•
2021-2022
75%
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- Restricted grants (£60,940)
- Donations (£18,835)
- Training contribution (£1,800)
## financial review
space2grieve aims to support as many people within the borough as possible and to achieve this we need to be financially secure.
## funding
We rely on grants and donations for our income but are aiming to increase the number of funders and expand our fundraising efforts over the next year. In this first year, and as we were seen as a ‘start-up’, we had the challenge of proving to funders that we were able to provide an excellent service with a robust structure. Hampton Fund (£20,000), RPLC (£19,940) and The Bob Willis Fund (£20,000) supported us from the start and continue to be our main funders.
We also received some very generous donations, in particular from Mr Roger Gahagan. Contributions from trainee SBSs were used to cover some training costs, and we claimed a small sum from Gift Aid, although a larger figure, claimed at the end of this year, was received in early July 2022.
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## expenditure 2021-2022
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6%
6%
6%
6%
2021-2022 49%
27%
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- Staff costs (£26,198)
- Training (£3,128)
- Room costs (£14,733)
- Office & admin (£3,393)
- Marketing (£3,398)
- Equipment (£3,167)
## costs detail
Our restricted funds have covered most of our core costs.
Almost 50% of our costs were for our 2 part-time staff who covered our service delivery, including referrals, administration and a multitude of tasks that keeps space2grieve running well for all our volunteers and clients.
Our room costs take up just over 25% of costs. We rent a room at ETNA which is used for supporting clients, service delivery and meetings. We also hire the community kitchen once a month for our Compassionate Cuppa meetings, and rooms for client support when necessary.
The rest of our costs covered marketing ourselves to the residents of Richmond, training new volunteers and buying vital equipment such as laptops for the smooth running of the charity. Unrestricted funds, which came mostly from donations, were used for building up our reserve, and for sundry items, such as a small thank you party for our volunteers and funders. 11
## reserves policy
The Trustees have a target of ensuring that there are sufficient funds from unrestricted funds to allow the charity to run for 3-6 months, if necessary, without impacting our service to existing clients. The minimum amount of reserve is £18,000 with the aim of building this to £30,000 from unrestricted funds within the next two years. Unrestricted reserves as at 30 June totalled £18,891 and restricted reserves held for specific purposes totalled £8,804.
## future funding
We intend to mitigate the funding risk and reliance on our current funders by broadening the spread of financial support. We have formed a Funding and Communications Sub-committee which will look at both local and national opportunities, and who will report to the Trustees.
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## thank you!
In order to deliver our service, we are fortunate to have a team of dedicated volunteers and staff who have an understanding of, and commitment to, the aims and values of space2grieve. We are hugely grateful to all our volunteers who give their time so generously, not only to see clients, but also to attend training and supervision sessions. We also depend on volunteers to assist with IT, fundraising, legal requirements and governance.
We would like to thank everyone who has supported our first year of operation
We could not have got this far without our generous funders and donors, including :
Hampton Fund RPLC The Talent Fund Roger Gahagan Lauren Clark William Grant & Co Waitrose Dignity Productions The Residents of Heath Gardens, Twickenham Jocelyn & Bernard O’Keefe
And others who have given so generously of their time:
John Harris Rob Houghton David Matthews Debby Metcalf Howard Miller Kate Heywood Paul Saunders, Blackpenny Consulting Andrew White Martin Daly Dr Jonathan Cornthwaite Sophie Russell-Ross Shauna Mackenzie Kim Leech Lin McGarry Charlotte Airey Vanessa James, Ivana Puchlova and the rest of the ETNA Community Centre team Kathryn Williams, Julie Gavin, Heather Matthews and all at RCVS The Worshipful Company of Marketors
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…..and our families who’ve helped out in a myriad of ways.
## report
The Trustees declare that they have approved the trustee’s report above.
Signed on behalf of the Charity’s trustees by
Barbara Davies Chair
Date approved 03-02-2023 Accountant: Debby Metcalf 22 Trowlock Ave Teddington TW11 9QT
External Examiner: David Matthews 1 Blenheim Place Teddington TW11 8NZ
Bank: Lloyds Bank 25 Gresham Street London EC2V 7HN
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## independent examiner’s report
Independent examiner’s report to the trustees of space2grieve
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of space2grieve (the Charity) for the year ended 30 June 2022.
Responsibilities and basis of report
As the charity trustees of the Charity 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 Charity’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all 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 giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:
1. accounting records were not kept in respect of the Charity as required by section 130 of the Act; or
2. the accounts do not accord with those records.
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Signed:
David Matthews Chartered Accountant
03-02-2023
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## the figures
space2grieve receipts & payments account year ended 30 june 2022
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unrestricted restricted total
funds £ funds £ funds £
Grants recieved - 60,940 60,940
-
Donations including Gift Aid 18,973 18,973
Training contributions - 1,800 1,800
Total receipts 18,973 62,740 81,713
-
Staff costs 26,198 26,198
-
Counselling costs 14,733 14,733
Marketing - 3,398 3,398
-
Training 3,128 3,128
Office & Admin 82 3,312 3,394
-
Equipment 3,167 3,167
Total Payments 82 53,936 54,018
Net receipts & cash funds at end of year 18,991 8,804 27,695
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The above receipts & payments account does not include amounts owing to or by the Charity at the year-end. £3,914 was owing to the Charity at the year end in respect of Gift Aid on donations in the period. The Charity owed £1,056 to suppliers for goods and services received in theperiod.
The Trustees declare that they have approved the Receipts & Payments account above. Signed on behalf of the Charity’s trustees by:
Amanda Lockyer Treasurer
Barbara Davies Chair
Date approved 31-01-2023
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