2022-10-31-accounts - The Sensory Place

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The Sensory Place Report and Financial Statements Year Ended 31 October 2022

Contents	Page
Legal and administrative information		2
Report of the Management Committee		3-7
Report of the Independent examiner		8
Balance Sheet		9-10
Notes to the fnancial statements		11-13

Legal and administrative information

Board of Trustees Ann Young Amy Henderson Louise Monaghan Helen Abernethy Rebecca Follesa Craig Henderson – resigned 22.05.22 Registered Address 6 Bedford Place Silksworth Sunderland SR3 1LA Independent Examiner Kevin Bell Accountancy Direct Ltd Jeffries House South Ramshaw Blanchland DH8 9XA

Trustees Annual Report

The trustees present their report and the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 October 2022.

Structure, Governance and Management

The Sensory Place is a registered charity with the Charity Commission for England and Wales since 27 September 2021, charity number 1195932. The Sensory Place is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO)

Public benefit statement

The Trustees have complied with their duty to have due regard to the guidance on public benefit as published by the Charity Commission for England and Wales. In setting our objectives and planning activities our Trustees have given consideration to the public benefit and in particular to the relief of the needs of children and young people with additional needs and disabilities.

Objectives and Activities

The objects of the CIO is:

To relieve the needs of children and young people with additional needs and disabilities in the North East of England by providing a support network in the form of support groups, sensory friendly activities, training courses, facilities for play, sport and recreation in a safe, secure and nonjudgemental environment.
To promote social inclusion amongst parents/carers who are socially isolated or excluded as a result of their child’s condition by providing information, advice, guidance, practical support and recreational facilities in order to promote their life conditions.

Vision

Our vision is that all children no matter what their disability have the same opportunities for play, recreation and fun as their non-disabled peers and that they are free to be able to be themselves.

Mission

Our mission is to provide inclusive and accessible activities for all children with additional needs and disabilities and to give them opportunities they may not otherwise have. We also endeavour to support the whole family by providing family friendly activities and training and information sessions for parents and carers as well as opportunities for them to be relieved of the caring responsibilities even for a short period.

We will do this by:

researching appropriate, family friendly activities that are inclusive to all.
Speaking to our families to find out what they would like to do.
Recognise the contribution and sacrifices that siblings and other family members make and welcoming them to activities.
Provide safe spaces, free from judgement where families can come together to relax and make friends.
Provide a wide range of things to do. We aim to offer activities where there is something for everyone to choose from.
Remove age and location barriers to activities. Where funding dictates that certain ages or locations are specified. We will utilise other funding to ensure that families who fall out of these brackets can still attend.
Signpost families to other organisations where they can receive the support they need.
Offering activities at a subsidised rate or for free.
Providing training sessions to give parent carers information, advice and guidance on a range of subjects that will make their parenting journey easier.

The Team

The Sensory Place is supported by a team of passionate trustees and volunteers. The trustees all live and work in the areas in which they serve and also have first-hand, lived experience of raising a child with additional needs and/or disabilities. This gives trustees a unique perspective and an understanding of the challenges that families accessing the charity face as well having the knowledge to be able to provide the right type of support.

Achievements and Performance

The Sensory Place is a family friendly organisation who want to make a difference. We understand how difficult it can be for families to come together and enjoy activities when there is a child or children within the family who is unable to access mainstream activities. We believe that every child should be able to be their authentic selves and have fun in a way that is meaningful to them. With this in mind, we regularly speak to our families to find out what activities they have enjoyed in the past, what they would like to do in the future and any suggestions they can make so we can continue to improve upon what we do.

From the end of 2021 we were still adhering to Covid-19 government guidance which did make the organisation of some events a little more challenging. We ensured that venue rules were followed and passed important safety information onto families. Many people were still self-isolating as family members were still testing positive for Covid, meaning they were unable to attend events. There was also a high proportion of our medically vulnerable families who were continuing to shield as the risks of Covid to them were significantly higher. We

kept the lines of communication with these families open by completing doorstep visits and providing at home sensory activity packs and cooking packs to help relieve some of the boredom they felt by having to remain isolated.

Despite a high level of cancellations from families during this time due to testing positive for Covid, we were still able to run all of the activities that we had planned and were able to subsidise them so families didn’t have to pay a higher fee or miss out by having to cancel the activity. We were able to do this from donations received.

One of our biggest achievements of 2021 and one we are particularly proud of is our Santa’s Sensory Grotto. We had received feedback from some families that they had, in previous years, found it really difficult to visit Santa in his grotto as the grottos were either too busy, loud, bright and generally overwhelming for their children. There were also some of our families who were unable to access some grottos due to a lack of physical accessibility or facilities to change their children who had become too large for baby changing facilities. We wanted to change this so that all children had the chance to see Santa in an environment that was suitable for them and receive a gift that was matched to their needs. Over the course of two days that we ran the grotto, we had 84 children attend in small groups of no more than ten to help prevent the children becoming overwhelmed. As always, siblings were encouraged to come along so the whole family could be involved. This event was really well received and we had some fantastic feedback. Some of the feedback we received was:

“Thank you for giving us the experience of meeting Santa as a family without any of the normal pressures or upset for my little girl.”

“I would love to come to other activities that you run. It made a lovely change to be in an environment where you don’t feel judged for your child acting how they do because of their disability.”

“The whole experience was amazing and both children thoroughly enjoyed it. It would be amazing if this relaxed Santa visit could take place every year.”

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Throughout the year we have also been able to offer a wide range of activities due to the generosity of people who have donated money to us through fundraising and the receipt of a number of grants. We are extremely grateful to all funders and people who have donated to us to enable us to be able to carry out our objectives. We have been able to provide forest schools, science sessions, cooking sessions, animal therapy and handling sessions, play and crafts, watersports, sensory sessions as well as activity packs for children to enjoy at home. Below is an example of some of the activities we have offered which show how much our children and families enjoy what we have to offer.

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Independent Examiner's Report

Report to the trusteesl members of THE SENSORY PLACE On accounts for th• year ended 31ST OCTOBER 2022 Charlty no Irf any) 1195932 Sat out on paggs 1to2. I report to the Itustees on rny examination of the accounts of the above charty llhe Trusfi for the year ended 3111012022. Responsibilities and As the Gharity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation basis of report of the awounts in ac(x)rdance wrth the requirements ol the Charities Act 2011 llhe Acri. I report in respect of my examination of the Ttust's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examinab"on, I have followed the applicable Dlrections given by the Charmy Commisslon under seGtion 145(5llbl of the Act. I have completed my examination. I confirrn that no material matters have come to my attentK)n lother than that disclosed below"I In connectlon with the examinalKJn whth gNes me cause to believe that in, any material respect: accounb.ng reo)rds were not kept in acc(*rdance with section 130 of the Act or the accounts do not accord with the 3ccounUng records Independent examiner's statement I have no concems and have come auoss no other matters in connection with the examination to which 3ttentK)n should be drawn In order to enable 3 woper undeislanding of the aGGounts to be reaGhed. Signed.. Dat•: 1210712023 Name.. K BELL ACCOUNTANCY DIRECT LTD Company Nam•'. Addr&ss.' JEFFRIES HOUSE SOUTH, RAMSHAW, BLANCHLAND, DH8 9XA Accounts

Receipts and Payments Accounts

From 01/11/21 – 31/10/22

Statement of Assets and Liabilities From 01/11/21 – 31/10/22

The notes on pages 11-13 form an integral part of these accounts.

These financial statements were approved by the board of trustees on 13/07/23 and are signed on it’s behalf by:

Helen Abernethy Treasurer

Notes to Accounts

1. Legal Status of the Charity

The charity is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) and the liability of trustees is limited.

2. Accounting Policies

Basis of Preparation

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention. The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the 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 (FRS 102) and the Charities Act 2011.

These financial statements are prepared in Sterling which is the functional currency of the charity. Monetary amounts are rounded to the nearest £1.

Preparation of accounts on a going concern basis

The trustees have reviewed the cash flow forecasts and there is a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue its operations for at least the next twelve months and on this basis the trustees consider that the charity is a going concern.

Fund accounting – Unrestricted and restricted funds

Unrestricted funds are donations and other income received or generated for the objects of the charity without further specified purpose and are available as general funds.

Restricted funds are given for a specific and further details are provided in the notes below.

General funds are unrestricted funds which are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance oof the general objectives of the charity and which have not been designed for other purposes.

Reserves

The purpose of the reserve policy is to ensure the stability of the ongoing operations of the charity by providing an internal source of funds should there be an unanticipated loss in funding, an unbudgeted expense or an unexpected increase in expenses.

The Reserves Policy is to retain enough unrestricted funds at any given time to support six months core costs. This is estimated to be approximately £2500.

The trustees have also designated £5000 towards a future project that the charity is continuing to fundraise towards.

This leaves approximately £2700 in free reserves to be used for any purpose to help the charity achieve its aims.

Trustees Remuneration

Trustees did not receive remuneration in any form during the year and were not paid for or claimed any expenses.

3. Analysis of Income

i) Grants - Restricted

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Amount
Name of Grant Received
Asda 1000
Spacehive 4431.29
British Science
Association 500
County Durham
Community
Foundation
(Made by Sport) 2021
Barbour 1500
County Durham
Community
Foundation (Arts and
Theatre) 3120
Grocer's Charity 3500
Community
Foundation 1500
Woodward Trust 1000
Groundworks 1958.50
Tesco Community
Fund 750
Total £21,280.79
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ii) Other Donations - Unrestricted

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Name Donation
Amount
Lakeside Darts and £2700
Dominos Team in
name of Ada Simpson
Margaret Rodda £444.15
Memory
Val Storey Memory £80
Other donations £1395.26
Total £4619.41
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iii) Income from Charitable Activities

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Name Amount
Events and Activities £6458
Memberships £890
Total £7348
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