2025-03-31-accounts - Bristol Parent Carers

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BRISTOL PARENT CARERS

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

31 MARCH 2025

Charity Number 1197806

CONTENTS	Pages
Report of the Trustees	1 - 8
Independent examiner’s report to the Trustees	9
Receipts and payments account	10
Statement of assets and liabilities	11

BRISTOL PARENT CARERS FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

Trustees’ Annual Report for the year ended 31 March 2025

Charity name: Bristol Parent Carers

Charity registration number: 1197806

Objectives and Activities

1. Summary of the purposes of the charity as set out in its governing document

The object of the CIO is to relieve the needs of children and young people, including their parents, carers and families, who have disabilities and/or special educational needs in the Bristol area, in order to improve their quality of life, promote their inclusion in their local communities and to help and support them to reach their full potential.

2. Summary of the main activities in relation to those purposes for the public benefit, in particular, the activities, projects or services identified in the accounts.

Bristol Parent Carers (BPC) is an inclusive pan disability Charity dedicated to assisting parents and carers of children who have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), from diverse communities within Bristol City Council or those whose children attend educational facilities within the Bristol City Council area. Our primary goal is to provide parents and carers with essential guidance, directing them to the most suitable services to meet their family's needs.

Whilst providing this signposting service we actively gather feedback from families on local SEND Services. We also passively gather feedback from parent carers when booking practitioner led sessions, using their valuable insights to shape and enhance local SEND service across Education, Health, and Social Care systems in Bristol and monitor change over time. This passive feedback focuses on 5 key areas:

Awareness and feedback on social care support
Awareness and feedback on the support offered by the health services
Awareness and feedback on how families experience inclusion, transitions and other educational issues within the city
Families' experiences of Education, Health and Care plans, Phase transfers and home to school transport
Parent Carer well being

We collaborate closely with department managers and Heads of Service in each area (Education, Health and Social Care) engaging in a cooperative process known as coproduction to drive positive change that is informed by parent carers’ experiences and preferences. This collaborative approach is governed by a local area co-production charter and local area memorandum of understanding. Coproduction can lead to more tailored and effective services that better address the specific needs of the community being served.

BRISTOL PARENT CARERS FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

Statement confirming whether the trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit

The Trustees believe that Bristol Parent Carers has undertaken the delivery of services in line with its objectives and that those objectives are aligned to the public benefit.

Achievements and Performance Summary of the main achievements of the charity, identifying the difference the charity’s work has made to the circumstances of its beneficiaries and any wider benefits to society as a whole.

Internal strengthening

As a relatively new charity, Bristol Parent Carers have been working on developing internal processes and systems to ensure the long-term strategic vision and sustainability of the organisation. In the last accounting year, we have:

Employed 7 additional staff members including a CEO and Volunteer co-ordinator, bringing the charity total to 17 and developed comprehensive HR approaches.
Strengthened our trustee board with 5 additional trustees bringing out total to 11 from a range of backgrounds and with a wealth of experience.
Worked closer with a Development and Fundraising lead to secure additional grant funding and development plans.
Increased the number of volunteers and developed a clear training and skills program to support families int he community to upskill themselves while volunteering with BPC.
Co-produced the local area SEND and inclusion strategy and continued to monitor and implement this work via three subgroups co-chairing these with strategic partners.
Co-produced a local area improvement plan with voluntary and community sector partners to support families across the city in the right way, at the right time — working together as an alliance.
Produced several case studies to support the local area’s SEND inspection and to demonstrate the strategic impact of our work to both families and funders.
Completed an audit of our data collection processes and created a video with national partner Contact to support the development of regional parent carer forums.
This data audit has led to the early development of a data dashboard to improve our ability to track impact and share learning.

BRISTOL PARENT CARERS FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

We are in the final design stage of a new website, which will help families access the right support across education, health and care services.
Developed a Communications, Equality, Diversity, Inclusion, and Strategic Development Plan to guide the charity through the next four years.
Completed a staff skills audit and developed a training programme based on identified gaps.
Carried out a staff wellbeing survey and introduced robust mental health support and signposting within the team.

Peer Support and Practitioner led sessions

This year we again expanded our peer support offer across the city. We introduced new event in East Bristol (to completement North and South community Venues) with a focus on Emotionally Based School Avoidance (EBSA), and launched a monthly online peer support session to improve accessibility for families unable to attend in person.
We also began inviting local organisations to attend community sessions, helping families connect directly with the services and support available in their area.
In the previous (23/24) accounting year we supported 486 parent carers in 121 school sessions and 63 parent carers at 14 community peer support events.
In this accounting year we supported 565 parent carers in 137 school session and 128 parent carers at 24 community peer support events.
97% of parent carers who come to the peer support sessions say they feel better supported as a result of attending and would recommend it to a friend.
School staff feedback is also gathered with 99% of staff saying they would rebook for a second peer support session for their school community.
Next year, we aim to increase participation and raise awareness of our school- and community-based offer, including practitioner-led guidance and support sessions.
We will also focus on strengthening links with organisations that support families with younger children, ensuring families can access the right information and guidance as early as possible in their SEND journey.
In addition, we are committed to increasing engagement from seldom-heard groups and improving our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) offer, so that all families feel represented, welcomed and supported.

BRISTOL PARENT CARERS FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

We've delivered 37 practitioner led guidance and support sessions in this accounting year (we delivered 34 sessions in the last accounting year). These sessions are tailored to parent carers and cover a wide array of topics such as ADHD, financial planning, EHCPs, school transitions, and supporting children's behaviour.
The selection of sessions is based on feedback from the parent carer community, our collaboration with Friends of the Forum, and alignment with our co-production project planner to ensure that events complement our co-production sessions.
A total of 1,419 parent carers registered to attend our sessions this year (compared to 2,109 last year). Sessions were delivered in both online and in-person formats to maximise accessibility. Where possible, recordings were made available for two weeks after each session to ensure families could access the content at a time that suited them.
The slight decrease in registration numbers reflects our focus on delivering a number of more targeted, specialist sessions this year — designed to support smaller groups of families whose children have more complex needs.
Notably, our practitioner led guidance and support sessions serve a diverse audience, with 22% of attending families having a child diagnosed with Autism, while the remaining 80% encompass other needs.
32% of parent carers who registered to attend our practitioner led guidance and support session belong to global majority groups and 36% belong to seldom heard groups. The term 'seldom-heard groups' refers to under-represented people who are less likely to be heard by social service professionals and decision-makers.
93% of parent carers who attended a practitioner led guidance and support session said they found the sessions extremely or very informative and 93% said they found the sessions extremely or very supportive. 96% of attendees said they’d recommend the session to a friend.

Engagement and Representation

We are thrilled to report significant progress in engaging our community and ensuring diverse representation:

Our mailing list has seen a 15% increase in family sign-ups.
A substantial 28% of our members belong to Global Majority groups, reflecting our commitment to inclusivity.
At our peer support sessions, 31% of attendees represent Global Majority groups.
In our parent carer information workshops and family events, 33% of participants belong to Global Majority groups, ensuring a broad spectrum of voices.
Our events cover a wide range of needs, with 20% of attendees reporting a diagnosis of

BRISTOL PARENT CARERS FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

Autism, while the remaining 80% representing other areas of SEND such as Down Syndrome, Tourette's, visual impairment, ADHD, hearing impairment, learning disabilities and many others.

These achievements underscore our dedication to fostering engagement and promoting inclusivity within our community.

Our work with strategic partners

Co-production and Strategic Influence

This year, we were actively involved in 28 co-production projects across the city, in line with our Co-production Charter and Memorandum of Understanding. We worked closely with education, health and social care services to ensure families’ voices were central to shaping local provision.

We helped develop and implement both the SEND Strategy and the Bristol Inclusion Strategy — the latter including 54 commitments to parent carers in Bristol, focused on improving the systems and services families access.

We also created a series of case studies to demonstrate the impact and effectiveness of our co-production work, providing evidence of meaningful collaboration at every level.

Improving Communication and Access to Support

We co-produced a Home to School Travel leaflet to help families and services understand recent changes, ensure children and young people’s needs are met, and support the local authority in meeting its statutory duties.
We supported the recommissioning of the local SENDIASS service to ensure it better reflects the needs of families.
We worked with Bristol City Council to improve communication with families experiencing delays in the EHCP process.

Health and Neurodevelopmental Pathways

We developed and distributed several health-focused resources, including on commissioning independent autism assessments and working with Educational Psychology services.
We led on key areas of digital transformation connected to the Autism and ADHD pathways and supported the pilot of a Neurodevelopmental Profiling Tool for use in schools.

Supporting Complex Needs and Inclusion

We supported the publication of a new guide for families of children with complex needs, written by a local parent carer.
We part-funded a fellow SEND charity to run Navigating and Nurturing sessions — providing both medical advice and peer support to families of children with complex

BRISTOL PARENT CARERS FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

needs.

We commissioned the same group to deliver mental health and therapeutic support specifically for Somali families and single parents.

Engagement, Training and Capacity Building

Through our nationally recognised PINS (Partnership for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools) project, we delivered training into 13 schools, bringing £3,750 of additional funding into each local school in collaboration with the DfE and NHS England.
We supported schools with resources to help them build peer support networks around neurodivergent children.
We launched a MELSA (Mental and Emotional Literacy Support Assistant) pilot in partnership with local educational psychology services, supporting 15 families over a five-week programme with three follow-up sessions.

Leadership and Accountability

We held three cross-sector events with senior leaders from education, health and social care, providing families with direct updates on local area work and the opportunity to ask questions and raise concerns.
We took part in the audit of local EHCPs to improve quality, consistency and statutory compliance.
We contributed to the commissioning process for local childcare sufficiency, supporting families to move into appropriate settings.

Financial Review

The year ended 31 March 2025 has seen our charity continue to grow, with income of £245,432 compared to £166,614 in the previous year. The budget for 25/26 is increased, due largely to a new increased 2 year grant awarded by Bristol City Council. Increased expenditure has been on new projects as well as on strengthening the charity with the appointment of a chief executive and other additional staff members, and the planned lease of a larger office space which will become the charity’s permanent base.

As at 31 March 2025 the unrestricted reserves were £115,059 (2024: £44,310) which equates to just above 4 months’ expenditure of our 2025/26 budget of £341,000. This is in line with our reserves policy to hold 3-6 months’ expenditure in reserve.

BRISTOL PARENT CARERS FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

Supporters

The Trustees thank all the organisations and individuals who have supported our charity this year. In particular we would like to thank:

NHS BNSSG ICB Department for Education Bristol City Council Garfield Weston Quartet Community Foundation National Lottery Community Fund The Nisbet Trust

Structure, Governance and Management

Bristol Parent Carers is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation with wider membership. At the end of the accounting period there were 11 Trustees. New trustees are voted in by the wider membership at a general meeting.

Reference and Administrative details

Charityname	Bristol Parent Carers
Other name the charityuses	Bristol Parent Carer Forum
Registered charitynumber	1197806
Charity’s principal address	c/o Burton Sweet, The Clock Tower, Farleigh Court, Old Weston Rd, Flax Bourton, Bristol BS48 1UR

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity

The trustees in the accounting year were:

Hayley Hemming (Chair – resigned as Chair and as Trustee January 2025) Elizabeth Newton (Acting Chair from January 2025) Claire Scaife (Treasurer) Zainab Wahid Alice Marshment Claire Arnott Emily Williams Rachel Cartwright (Appointed 14 October 2024, vice chair from January 2025) Muna Ahmed (Appointed 14 October 2024) Naomi-Jane Garlick (Appointed 14 October 2024) Rod Mayall (Appointed 14 October 2024) Kaisha Powell (Appointed 14 October 2024)

BRISTOL PARENT CARERS FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

Independent examiner: Josh Kingston ACA, BSc. Burton Sweet Limited The Clock Tower 5 Farleigh Court Old Weston Road Flax Bourton Bristol BS48 1UR

15 September 2025 Signed on behalf of the trustees on ………………………………

……………………………………… Claire Scaife, Trustee

BRISTOL PARENT CARERS FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

Independent examiner’s report to the trustees of Bristol Parent Carers

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of Bristol Parent Carers (the Charity) for the year ended 31 March 2025.

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:

accounting records were not kept in respect of the Charity as required by section 130 of the Act; or
the accounts do not accord with those records; or
the accounts do not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.

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.

Josh Kingston ACA, BSc. Burton Sweet Limited The Clock Tower 5 Farleigh Court Old Weston Road Flax Bourton Bristol BS48 1UR

Date: 15 September 2025

BRISTOL PARENT CARERS YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025 RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNT

_______ RECEIPTS Grant income Donations Bank Interest Received Other Income Total Receipts PAYMENTS Cost of sales Listening events Practitioner-led sessions Family Voices Coffee mornings Annual Event Costs Schools support and equipment Production of literature / resources Signposting material Direct Expenses Administrative Costs Staff/Volunteer Travel & Subsistence Equipment Fees, Accountancy & Auditing Fees, Consultancy, Professional, Legal Freelance Fees - CEO Fundraising Translation Insurance Meetings Printing, stationery and office sundries Marketing and promotion Rent & Storage Staff Costs inc recruitment Subscriptions Telephone, mobile Salaries Staff/Volunteer training IT software IT support Promotional merchandise Volunteer coproduction payments Trustee expenses Organisation coproduction payments TOTAL PAYMENTS Cash funds at the beginning of the year NET RECEIPTS/(PAYMENTS) Transfers Cash funds at the end of the year	_____ Unrestricted Funds Restricted Funds 72,500 148,683 252 - 2,459 - 21,538 -	_______ Total Funds 2025 221,183 252 2,459 21,538 245,432 8,652 14,685 181 1,856 22,217 8,602 2,151 451 28 2,796 4,805 840 9,930 8,913 5,060 310 289 1,005 3,145 2,066 1,210 102 483 109,101 3,943 4,705 3,665 1,912 828 99 159 224,189 124,365 21,243 - 145,608	____ Total Funds 2024 153,720 148 811 11,935 166,614 1,802 5,106 - 970 2,478 - 3,880 452 - 486 5,093 1,500 1,320 520 120 258 144 500 511 640 274 35 228 31,424 676 3,306 92 3,409 190 7 - 65,420 23,171 101,194 - 124,365
	96,749 148,683
	- 8,652 1,110 13,575 - 181 1,856 - 11,471 10,746 - 8,602 1,386 765 217 234 - 28 1,864 932 2,151 2,654 - 840 4,882 5,048 - 8,913 - 5,060 - 310 147 142 486 519 78 3,067 1,647 419 740 470 102 - 453 30 37,479 71,622 297 3,646 271 4,434 3,412 253 1,912 - 201 627 99 - - 159
	72,261 151,928
	44,310 80,055 24,488 (3,245) 46,261 (46,261)
	115,059 30,549

BRISTOL PARENT CARERS YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025 STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES

Unrestricted Funds Restricted Funds 2,424 - 570 -	Total Funds 2025 2,424 570 2,994 145,608 1,559 8,699 10,258 8,169 7,539 9,000 24,708 Expenditure Transfers (72,261) 46,261 (17,500) - (43,013) - (765) - (6,732) - (10,000) - (5,000) - (2,954) - (64,396) (46,261) (1,568) -	Total Funds 2024 2,691 1,139
2,994 -		3,830
115,059 30,549		124,365
1,559 - 8,699 -		225 -
10,258 -		225
8,169 - 7,539 - - 9,000		- 840 -
15,708 9,000		840
At 1 April 2024 Income 44,310 96,749 - 17,500 24,680 18,333 2,000 - - 20,000 - 10,000 - 5,000 - 10,000 51,807 67,850 1,568 -		At 31 Mar 2025 115,059 - - 1,235 13,268 - - 7,046 9,000 -
80,055 148,683	(151,928) (46,261)	30,549
		145,608
124,365 245,432	(224,189) -

15 September 2025 Signed on behalf of the trustees on …..............................

………………………….

Claire Scaife, Trustee