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2024-03-31-accounts

Trustees annual report and financial statements

APRIL 2024

Registered charity number: 1198592 Harryspals.org

Table of Contents

03 Message from Chair
04 Our Vision & Mission
06 Message from CEO
08 Objectives & Activities
13 Testimonials
16 Achievements & Performance
19 Fundraising & Events
21 Future plans
25 Statement of public benefit
26 Financial review & reserves policy
27 Structure, governance &
management
28 Statement of Trustees’
responsibilities
29 Legal & administrative
information
30 Meet the Trustees
31 Independent Examiner’s Report
32 Financial statements
// HARRY’S PALS
ANNUAL REPORT 2024

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Message from Chair

Welcome

We’re pleased to present the Trustees’ Annual Report and financial statements for the period ended 31 March 2024. It has been an absolute privilege to be a Trustee of Harry’s Pals since its inception in 2022. I am inspired every day by our incredible CEO Hayley Charlesworth, who has used her own devastating life experience as a force for good.

Life-changing support

Throughout our second year, we have continued to build awareness of the charity and forged a range of new partnerships to ensure that Harry’s Pals can provide life-changing support to even more parents of critically ill or disabled children. Support that just doesn’t exist elsewhere. At a time when parents faced with devastating news about their child’s uncertain future feel there is just nowhere to turn, Harry’s Pals is uniquely placed to offer a lifeline: a guiding hand to navigate the way forward. Testimonials from families we have supported – parents often at breaking point – clearly evidence how critical our work is and the huge difference it makes.

More families desperately need our help

As you read Hayley’s story, you can feel the despair and loneliness she was facing when she received the heart-breaking diagnosis of her son Harry’s life limiting conditions. Through the support of Harry’s Pals, parents like Hayley will know that they are not alone and that there is emotional support on hand. As we build on two very successful years, we look forward to supporting even more parents in the future.

A heartfelt thank you

I am so incredibly proud of what we have achieved in our second year as a charity and want to express my sincerest thanks to everyone that has supported us.

Lynn

// HARRY’S PALS

Lynn Stubbs, Chair

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The Harry's Pals mission: to support families of severely ill or disabled children.

It is our mission to provide emotional support to help families across the country to mentally cope when they receive the heart-breaking diagnosis that their child has a life-threatening condition.

Together, we will continue to provide much-needed emotional support, community, and respite to help parents cope in the face of uncertain futures.

“To find out that your child has a severe illness or disability is every parent’s worst nightmare. When Harry was first diagnosed, it was a very lonely, scary and isolating time to say the least.

That's why Harry's Pals is so important. Inspired by my family's experience, we are here to help ensure other parents don't feel alone in navigating what can feel like a minefield you never could have anticipated."

Hayley, CEO and Founder of Harry's Pals

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Our vision: that every parent receiving a diagnosis that their child has a severe illness or disability is provided with information about Harry’s Pals at point of diagnosis.

Building on the success of our first couple of years, we plan to continue to expand our networks and maximise our fundraising efforts so that we have the support and resources available to reach out to and support every parent across the country who needs our help.

Through our ongoing community and advocacy, we envisage Harry's Pals becoming a hub of support where mums and dads can feel cared for and understood. We foresee that everyone in the country working within the field of paediatrics will have a good understanding of Harry’s Pals and know when and how to signpost to our support services.

Join our community

hayley@harryspals.org Search ‘Harry’s Pals’ on

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Meet Hayley: Founder of Harry’s Pals

“

My name is Hayley and I’d like to tell you about my son Harry, or our little “Haribo”, the boy who inspired Harry’s Pals.

Harry is now nine years old. Despite all his disabilities and all the surgeries, illnesses, and injustices that he has faced throughout his short life, he continues to be the most smiley and content little boy; filling our hearts with love, admiration, and sadness for all that he endures every single day.

It’s been a roller coaster of a journey since he was born and since his birth I have often reflected on the lack of care and compassion afforded to us as parents upon receiving his diagnosis back in 2015.

Hayley & family in 2015 shortly after Harry was born, not knowing the challenges that were to come.

Harry was just three days old when we received his diagnosis; we were ushered into a small side room in the neonatal department where a consultant thrust an MRI scan image towards us whilst explaining that Harry’s whole brain had been pretty much taken out by strokes.

The day we were told that Harry had suffered brain damage caused by strokes, was the day we waved goodbye to our old carefree selves and stepped into a world that we could never have contemplated for ourselves or our child.

The image of the MRI Scan will haunt me for the rest of my life. It was a frightening, heart breaking and despairing time, full of so many questions, worries and dread for what the future had in store for us all.

I remember asking the consultant quite soon after whether there would be any support allocated to us as parents: the response was that this wasn’t something the hospital could help with.

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The consultant suggested that we look online instead. Sadly, despite many attempts and phone calls, we just couldn’t find any charities offering emotional support and this added to our feelings of isolation and massively hindered our ability to cope.

We desperately needed to talk to a professional who could help us come to terms and understand the overwhelming emotions we grappled with. We needed advice, some time out and coping mechanisms to help us face the rocky road ahead.

Over recent years I have met and heard from so many parents who have received harrowing news about their child’s condition and have felt abandoned due to the lack of support or charities offering help to support them with their mental wellbeing.

Each parent I speak to provides their own stories of the detrimental impact this had on them and their family. It’s heartbreaking to hear parents talk about the loneliness, fear and despair that they experienced since receiving their childs diagnosis and the reprocussions on their mental, physical and family wellbeing. Each mum or dad, reporting on how things could have been very different if only they could access professional mental health support.

Harry, now nine years old

I am incredibly proud of what we have been able to achieve through Harry’s Pals over the past couple of years. We have remained on track to reaching our goals, working with hospitals, hospices and other charities across the country to reach more and more parents in desperate need of support.

We know the difference our services make and are determined to get the support out to as many families as possible who otherwise wouldn’t receive any support during such traumatic, life changing and isolating times.

We have high ambitions for the years to come and are looking forward to supporting even more families who sadly find themselves in need of our help.

Hayley

Founder of Harry’s Pals

In 2022, I thought ‘enough was enough’ and launched Harry’s Pals.

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Objectives & activities

Harry’s Pals is a charity registered in England and Wales. Its objectives as defined by the governing document is to “relieve the charitable needs of people with disabilities and their family and carers.”

To do this Harry’s Pals provides two main services:

01. Counselling and therapy

We organise free counselling and therapy to help parents work through the overwhelming thoughts and feelings they are faced with so they can improve their mental health and find coping mechanisms to face the future.

02. Short breaks

We offer short respite breaks for parents and families across the UK. Many families use these much-needed breaks to create precious, lasting memories with their loved ones.

Coming up: Mentoring and community

We have plans to develop a parents mentoring group and to expand our parent-carer network of support. Allowing newly diagnosed families the ability to network with parents further down the line.

As well as these core areas of support, Harry's Pals continues to advocate for disabled people and their carers. Our campaigns for positive change include the successful Harry's Pledge, which is outlined on pages 11 and 12.

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1. Counselling

We work with a range of counsellors and therapists and are careful to ensure we have an accredited and fully qualified professional available in a range of disciplines who can best suit the needs of each parent coming to us in desperate need of support following their child’s heartbreaking diagnosis.

It is incredibly important to us at Harry’s Pals that the parents can speak to the right practitioner to meet their needs as soon as possible. Once we have established the best route of support, parents are then assigned six to ten sessions which are one-hour long.

Sometimes parents just feel the need to talk to someone detached from the situation, who can help them to make sense of their feelings, and in this case traditional talking counsellors work well.

Whereas sometimes parents are dealing with panic attacks caused by PTSD and in this instance, we would likely arrange for a therapist to help them to find coping mechanisms and tools to use to help them overcome any trauma.

After these sessions we then review whether any more are needed. We keep strong communication with parents throughout the process so that they have opportunities to provide feedback and to let us know if there are any issues or anything that needs to change so we can best support them and their needs moving forward.

Why it matters:

We feel really passionately that having the opportunity to talk to someone is so important not just for the parent-carers but also for the wellbeing of their family. Our fully trained and qualified counsellors and therapists are on hand to give Harry’s Pals parents the support they deserve.

“You have provided us with strength and resilience for the future.” - Harry’s Pals parent.

100% of families said that the counselling they received through Harry’s Pals has made a ‘dramatic difference’ to their mental health.

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2. Short breaks

At Harry’s Pals we provide short breaks for parents or the whole family to take some much-needed time out from the stresses, strains and routines that become day-to-day life when you are looking after a family member with significant needs.

We work with the family to determine what type of break would be best for them - from spa breaks, adventure weekends to accessible holiday lets. We have built relationships with holiday providers to provide truly accessible holidays and accommodation where every eventuality is planned for and every disability is considered, to help every member of the family have the best holiday together.

Financial pressures Finding accessible Respite offers and loss of salary accommodation families the mean many families can be difficult, not opportunity to can struggle to get to mention create precious, away. expensive for lasting memories. parents.

We also work with hospices so that parents can use their respite days, allowing them to either get away as a couple so they can get some time away to recharge, recoup and in many cases reconnect, or to take a break with their other children while their loved one is being cared for.

However, it has been more common than not that parents will use their break away to take time together as a whole family, making precious memories whilst they can.

“Life is so stressful, and very overwhelming as we overcome challenges in our daughter’s life. This break gave us a chance to escape and made us stop and unwind. If Harry’s Pals hadn’t offered us this we wouldnt have gone away”

Stephanie, Harry's Pals parent

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3. Mentoring & community

We plan to offer a peer-to-peer mentoring service and community hub for parents. This is one area of the charity that we are keen to spend time researching and developing this over the next year.

Over the past two years our focus has been to build our infrastructure and networks to allow us to deliver the counselling and respite support. Our next focus will be to develop a parent-carer network that can work with families who have recently received their child’s diagnosis.

We have already begun work to develop this area of support and believe that in the not too distant future we will be able to provide parents with an understanding ear, guidance and advice when they need it most from parents who have been in a similar situation. We are currently taking steps to understand what training and policies will be required to effectively deliver this support.

Campaigns & awareness

Harry’s Pals is ultimately set up to support parents of children who are severely ill or disabled.

However, as a charity we are also passionate about doing what we can to support carers and disabled people throughout society as a whole.

We support a range of existing campaigns, such as Changing Places, and have founded a specific campaign called Harry’s Pledge which has been a catalyst for positive change in the social housing sector and beyond.

Harry’s Pledge is a commitment to do more to support carers and disabled people living and working in social housing.

By creating Harry’s Pledge, we are ensuring that those in the housing industry honour and support those who need care and the people who provide it.

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100+ organisations have signed up to

In July 2023 we met with Tom Pursglove, the Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work (pictured top right) to discuss the next steps for taking forward a parliamentary bill to improve UK legislation to create a more inclusive and supportive society for disabled people and their carers.

In June 2024 we were invited to The National Housing Conference “Housing 2024” to celebrate four years of Harry’s Pledge and to speak about issues faced by carers living and working in social housing. This gave us a great platform to raise awareness of important issues such as “What makes a carer friendly work place?” and allowed for Hayley to bring some lived experiences to the hearts and minds of people able to influence change within the UK housing sector.

Learn more at Harrys-pledge.org.uk

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Testimonials: Harry's Pals families

Emma’s story

“Through Harry’s Pals, my family have felt supported during some really tough times.

“Harry’s Pals has been a great support to my family. There is no emotional support out there for families like mine to access so it was great to find Harry’s Pals. Through their emotional support and a short break we were able to find coping strategies and enjoy quality time away together as a family. The support that we have been provided has made such a difference to our ability to cope during the most challenging times of our lives.

“Harry’s Pals are making a big difference to families like mine and helping people in heart breaking situations to get stronger and find a way through some harrowing times."

melanie’s story

“The communication from Hayley at Harry’s Pals was outstanding and comforting.

This break we received enabled both my son and I to make new memories and get away from the stress of daily life to clear our minds and focus on happier times.

From the moment we arrived we both felt relaxed and at ease. Together we started to rebuild our hearts, after such a difficult time.”

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The Charity is truly amazing.

our story

"This charity is truly amazing. Offering families who work 24-7 for children who are often poorly, to get much needed time away as a family. Many of us don’t get to work and earn money because we’re full time carers and can’t afford breaks.

The respite was invaluable and we’re so grateful. Time together is often taken up with hospital trips, appointments and filling in medical forms. We got to enjoy four quality days together enjoying the seaside, swimming pools and local attractions without thinking about medical things.

The children especially enjoyed being by the sea, it was fabulous and offered a chance to bond as a family and get a break away.

KELLY’S story “Our eldest daughter has a lot of medical needs “I found that I kept too much bottled in, due to her physical and mental disabilities and and the counsellor Harry’s Pals supported it made such a difference to have this break me with helped me to open up and speak away to look forward to. Harry’s Pals is doing about every day life. Letting it all out definitely allowed for me to feel less great work for families like mine. We had a stressed which means that I can enjoy lovely break away from the day to day routine. time with the children. The support made It provided us with a great opportunity to have such a difference. some quality time together as a family.” We really appreciate all the help Harry’s Charlotte, Harry’s Pals parent Pals have given us, me as a parent and my children.”

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Shane & Millie’s story

“This short break was the first time our whole family got to go somewhere all together. Because of Millie’s health conditions we are so restricted as to what we can do and where we can go. Especially when it comes to financially covering a break like this.

It would never have happened without all the help and support given to us.

And the short break didn’t disappoint. It all went really well from start to finish. It was just perfect. It might be all over but we still sit here scrolling through the photos and smiling at all the amazing memories and we will do for a very long time.”

Shane Joslin, Harry’s Pals parent

The memories that we created will last a lifetime, so it was absolutely life changing.

From the moment we found out it had been booked we had a wave of happiness and excitement at the thought of actually getting a short trip away.

“I needed to talk to someone outside of “H arry’s Pals has been my family and friends, everything was getting too mucamazing and has given our for me to cope with on my own. I don’t know where I would be family much hope. without the support of Harry’s Pals and the therapy I had following my son’s diagnosis.” - Harry’s Pals Parent

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Achievements & Performance

This has been an exciting year for Harry’s Pals as we build our profile and networks of stakeholders to allow us to support more families than ever before, whilst constantly working to develop and strengthen our infrastructure and resources to achieve our future goals.

We have spent time expanding our fundraising knowledge and skills by employing a consultant to help us better understand how we can maximise our fundraising potential and appeal to more potential donors.

During this year, we have been careful to not over promise and underperform, so whilst we are very keen to grow the number of hospitals, hospices and charities for referrals, we have also been careful to make sure that we have the resources available to provide support to everyone who may apply for support.

Our Second year at a glance

----- Start of picture text -----
Employed the 38 families 143 hours of 49 days of £11,700
services of counselling/ respite grants
supported
a fundraising therapy breaks secured
freelancer -
provided across the
VHM
UK
Consultancy
Established key
July 2023: met the Actor and Comedian
partnerships with hospices
Minister of Disability Dan Renton Skinner
hospitals and other
-Tom Pursglove chatities becomes our Patron
----- End of picture text -----

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Our scale and scope

As a relatively new charity, we have been cautious to not expand our service offering too quickly for fear of not being able to meet demand due to limited resources. Having said that we have made great progress in raising awareness of Harry’s Pals in hospices, hospitals and through the support from other charities.

By March 2024, we have supported 26 families with 143 hours of counselling sessions and sent 12 families on short breaks of 3 to 5 days.

The impact of this support cannot be underestimated, and we are heartened to hear just how positive and, in some cases, life-changing, this support has proven to families who are struggling.

Our second year has been incredibly encouraging, we really are making waves as we build our profile and infrastructure and we have established some great networks across the charity and healthcare sectors. We now have a network of hospices, hospitals, councils and national charities who signpost to our services. We have also reached thousands through our social media platforms, communications, campaigning and through our celebrity patron; Dan Renton Skinner.

As our profile continues to grow, the demand for our services continues to increase and we are careful to monitor this so we can balance the demand with our ability to provide the very best support and services to parents.

Our key alliances

Hospitals

Northampton General Hospital and Warwick Hospital are sharing information about Harry’s Pals with parents through their nursing and chapliancy teams. Each hospital signpost families who meet our criteria for support to our services. Peadiactric teams and SEND support services operating within these hospitals (and the local communities) are aware of the services offered and referral process and have been successful in sending families to us from the very point of diagnosis.

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Baby and Children’s Hospices

As Harry’s Pals supports parents of severely ill or disabled children, we reach out to local hospices and are proud to work with Zoe’s Place Baby Hospice in Coventry, Keech Hospice in Luton and Forever Colours Hospice in Milton Keynes and we have many more planned to support in the new year. These hospices continue to signpost parents to our services across various communications. This has resulted in a steady stream of parents getting in touch, all grateful to find an organisation who can provide emotional support.

Some of the organisations we work with:

A key benefit of working with hospices is that parents can choose to use their respite nights, where their child is cared for by the the hospice, to have a childfree break through Harry’s Pals.

Charities

By joining forces with charities supporting disabled children and their families, Harry’s Pals can offer additional services that are currently not being offered. We know the importance of emotional support for parent-carers and have joined forces with national charities such as Disabled Living, Together for Short Lives and Sense to bridge this gap and offer much-needed additional support to the families they work with.

Working with established charities is already proving successful in signposting more parents to our services and increasing our visibility in SEND communities.

Governmental

Working with councils to be added to their online SEND support directory has been really beneficial. So far councils including Cheshire West, Leicester, Northampton and Warwickshire have included Harry’s Pals information on their websites.

Want to join forces? Get in touch today: Harryspals.co.uk

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Fundraising

Aside from an initial set-up loan of £20,000 when the charity was first formed in April 2022, fundraising has been our core source of revenue.

To pay for our services such as family breaks away and counselling and therapy sessions as well as our operational costs including employing a CEO, the website, marketing materials, fundraising contractor and an accountant, we have had to fundraise throughout the year. Most of our charity funding has focused on private and corporate donations.

Public grants

This year we have been able to access £11,700 in funding from The National Lottery Community Fund, Groundwork UK, Albert Hunt Charity and the Douglas Arter Foundation.

Public donations

By building the profile of Harry’s Pals we continue to attractPublic donations su ~~pport from businesses and individuals keen to make a~~ difference. This ranges from small businesses, such as nurseries who have organised fundraising activities on our behalf, through to large organisations such as GXO who have supported us as part of their CSR objectives. We are also grateful for the continued support of individuals who organise sponsored events, or make one-off or regular donations to allow us to continue supporting families in need.

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Events ~~Events~~

ThisPublic donations year we have run many successful events including a charity ba ~~ll and auction, three comedy nights, an Edale skyline trek, tw~~ o skydives, Snowdon for Sunrise and some sponsored walks. We have also attended some great events too, such as Kidz to Adultz disability exhibitions.

Events are not only a great way for us to raise money to be able to finance our support for families, but they have also allowed us to raise awareness of Harry’s Pals and our work. By organising and attending events we have been able to create our own community and support network which has inspired people to support the charity further by organising their own fundraising activity – such as running a marathon, through to talking with their workplace about ways they can help by volunteering some of their time.

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Future plans

After another successful year, the Trustees are keen to grow further so that Harry’s Pals can support more families on a national scale.

During 2023/24 we have successfully increased our profile and are supporting more and more families, however we have been mindful to ensure that we have enough resources available to us to meet demand. During the year we have focused on improving our networks of counsellors and have made sure that we have ring-fenced enough funding before setting up a new referral partner. This year we have began working with 6 more charities and 3 more hospices including, Tree of hope and Forever Colours Hospice.

Our longer-term ambition (over the next 10 years) is to connect with the 200 hospitals across the country who have a neonatal unit so that we can be signposted at point of diagnosis. We aim to achieve our referrals mainly through hospices and hospitals as this means that we know the child is in a life-threatening situation and it helps us manage the number of families coming to us. However, this wouldn’t preclude us from helping other children and families that are not connected to hospices or hospitals.

In 2024/25 our aim is to:

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Our 6 key priorities for 2024/25

1. Provide 100 days of respite breaks

We aim to provide at least 100 days of respite breaks which equates to 25 four-day short breaks. To do this we will work again with our partner organisation Holistic Thinking Holidays as well and develop new networks so that we have a range of short break offerings to meet each families needs. We will be mindful to make sure that we have a range of accessible lets that have been tried and tested ready for families to enjoy. We have set a target of 100 days, we are confident that with our increasing referral partners we will achieve this objective in 24/25.

2. Provide 250 hours of counselling

This past year we have focused on building a network of counsellors and therapists across the country that can work with families who need support with a range of issues. It is important to us that a range of counsellors and therapists are available to meet the needs of the parents who come to Harry’s Pals. These practitioners all have an understanding of the issues and challenges facing these individuals and are fully qualified to support parents either remotely during video calls or face to face, dependent on the individual’s preference.

In 2024/25 our goal is to deliver 250 hours of sessions. Each person is allocated on average six sessions each so around 41 parents over the next year (at least) will get help to cope with their mental health.

3. Develop a peer mentoring service

A key focus of the next year will be to further develop a parent-carer network that will become an invaluable community of support. We are already speaking with parents who are keen to be a part of this support network, which we envisage becoming an informal hub where parents can share their experiences and speak to those who are in similar situations. As being a parent-carer can be so isolating, we know the importance of finding others who can listen and share advice and support.

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4. Expand our team to focus on fundraising

Currently the CEO is responsible for pretty much everything from admin to organising large events. This equates to a large percentage of time and some of these tasks could be outsourced so that the CEO can plough more efforts into developing the services of the charity and supporting more families through more networking, campaigning and developing new partnerships.

In 2024 we aim to recruit a charity support officer to support us with organising events, developing our networks, improving our systems and processes and administrative work to free up the CEO to focus on .

5. Increase our partnerships and profile

During this year we have made great progress in developing some fantastic partnerships. In year three, we plan on expanding our remit for support as finances allow and will look to partner with more hospices and more hospitals to allow for more parents to be referred to us for support.

As well as setting up more referral partners to allow more families to access our support, a key focus will be to develop corporate partnerships so that we can have the opportunity to reach more potential donors, volunteers and parents who need our help.

Harry’s Pals will also be attending more networking and SEND-focused events to reach our target markets. Other activities will be to ensure we are signposted on relevant council websites such as county-wide hubs for parent carers and we are in as many SEND directories as possible including Disabled Living, Affinity and Contact a Family.

Alongside these activities we will be using every opportunity to increase our earned media on a local and national level. We will utilise our charity patron to help us to raise awareness amongst his vast networks of fans and we have already started to build good relationships with influential journalists, editors, presenters, etc and will continue to focus on our marketing and media efforts to increase our scope.

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6. Continue to campaign and advocate for change

At the heart of Harry’s Pals is the passion to use Harry’s family’s lived experiences to inspire change. Since Harry’s birth in 2015, Hayley, founder of Harry’s Pals, has witnessed and experienced the shortfalls in support, understanding, accessibility and inequality that disabled people and carers face. As a nation we do not do enough to support such a large proportion of our population and Harry’s Pals is determined where possible to advocate and be a voice for carers and disabled people. Parent carers are largely unrecognised and valued for their caring role by professionals or even themselves – missing out on desperately needed support. Harry’s Pals will be doing all it can over the next year to shine a light on this underrepresented section of our population.

Can you help us support even more families? We need to secure a balance of at least £142,000 to allow us to achieve these goals of supporting more families in need. If you can support our mission please get in touch at hayley@harryspals.org

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Statement of public benefit

The public benefit of the Charity’s activities is the support and wellbeing of parents of critically ill or disabled children and these are achieved principally through providing a range of emotional support services that provide a lifeline at a time of need. We provide counselling services, short breaks and mentoring services for parents as well as critical training for health professionals. We also campaign on disability and carer issues.

In delivering our services we further benefit the public by supporting parents to be able to become more resilient and cope better with the challenges that lie ahead, thus protecting the family unit and their ability to cope without lots of intervention. We also benefit the families’ wider networks making it more possible for parents to stay in employment as they spend less time off with mental health related illness such as stress and depression.

In carrying out our services, we have due regard for the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit.

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Financial review and reserves policy

During Harry’s Pals second year in operation we have:

The results for the year and the charity’s financial position at the end of the year are shown in the attached financial statements.

The Board of Trustees have no concerns about the charity's ability to continue as a going concern.

It is the policy of the charity that unrestricted funds which have not been designated for a specific use should be maintained at a level equivalent to six months’ expenditure. This equates to reserves of approximately £36,000.

The Trustees consider that reserves at this level will ensure that, in the event of a significant drop in funding, they will be able to continue the charity’s current activities while consideration is given to ways in which additional funds may be raised. This level of reserves has been maintained throughout the year.

The Trustees agree to continuously monitor this as the charity grows and develops to ensure the amount held in reserves mirrors the level of activity.

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Structure, governance and management

Harry’s Pals is a registered Charitable Incorporated Organisation (‘CIO’), registration number 1198592, and is governed by its constitution. Its only voting members are the Trustees who set the strategy of the organisation, while the Chief Executive Officer manages the day to day.

As a fledgling charity, Harry’s Pals Board of Trustees consists of the first charity Trustees appointed at incorporation, who were appointed for a three-year term. The Trustees who served during the year and up to the date of signing the financial statements were:

NE Masters (Appointed 12 April 2022) JC Doyle (Appointed 12 April 2022) C Sumner Sinfield (Appointed 12 April 2022) LM Stubbs (Appointed 12 April 2022)

An annual skills analysis will ensure the Trustees offer a suitable range of knowledge, skills and experience to support the charity. Where a skills gap is identified we will aim to recruit Trustees to bridge this gap. All new Trustees will receive a full induction to the charity and a set of key documents to enable them to gain the required information to effectively fulfil their role.

The Board will aim to adhere to the principles of the Charity Governance Code for Small Charities. This is an ongoing process, and we are working towards fulfilling all aspects of the Code.

Remuneration for employees is benchmarked against similar positions within the charity sector in the UK. The Trustees make a final decision on remuneration based on the year’s budget and the role of the employee.

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Statement of Trustees’ responsibilities

The Trustees are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Annual Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and regulations. Charity law requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year.

Under charity law, the Trustees must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the excess of expenditure over income for that year.

In preparing these financial statements, the Trustees are required to:

The Trustees are also responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the charity’s transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the relevant legislation. They have general responsibility for taking such steps as are reasonably open to them to safeguard the assets of the charity and to prevent and detect fraud and other irregularities.

The Trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the financial information included on the charity’s website.

In addition, the Trustees confirm that they are happy that the content of the annual review in pages 1 to 30 of this document meet the requirements of the Trustees’ Annual Report under charity law. They also confirm that the financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in the notes to the accounts and comply with the charity’s governing document, the Charities Act 2011 and the Charities SORP (FRS 102).

LM Stubbs

Chair, Signed on behalf of the Trustees

// HARRY’S PALS

ANNUAL REPORT 2024

28

Legal and administrative information

----- Start of picture text -----
Charity name Harry's Pals
Registered Charity
1198592
Number
Badby Lodge Farm, Badby Lane,
Registered Office Badby, Daventry, Northamptonshire,
NN11 3DD
Jervis & Partners,
30 Harborough Road,
Independent Examiner Kingsthorpe,
Northampton,
NN2 7AZ
----- End of picture text -----

// HARRY’S PALS

ANNUAL REPORT 2024

29

Meet the Trustees

Lynn Stubbs

Lynn sits on the Executive team of a large charitable housing provider, with responsibility for a range of central services. During her 28 years in housing, Lynn remains passionate about empowering colleagues to deliver fantastic levels of customer service. She brings a wealth of experience in business transformation and cultural change, governance and compliance, communications as well as delivery of front-line services.

Julie Doyle

Julie is Chief Executive of a large Registered Provider and registered charity with over 1,300 employees. With over 30 years’ experience in the housing sector, Julie remains committed to ensuring the Group continues to realise its ambition of being a leading developer that improves people’s lives by providing high quality housing and care and support services.

Carly Sumner Sinfield

Carly is an experienced copywriter and communications professional, currently working as Senior Copywriter at The Open University. A passionate storyteller, Carly has worked with major brands to deliver impactful multi-channel communications and believes in using the power of words to inspire positive action that transforms lives.

Norma Masters

Norma is Executive Assistant to the Chief Executive of a large Housing Association and registered charity. Norma is also a Company Director with extensive administration experience particularly within governance and compliance work.

// HARRY’S PALS

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30

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES OF HARRY’S PALS

I report to the trustees on my examination of the financial statements of Harry's Pals (the charity) for the year ended 31 March 2024.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the trustees of the charity you are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act). I report in respect of my examination of the charity’s financial statements carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act.

In carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act.

Independent examiner's statement

Your attention is drawn to the fact that the charity has prepared financial statements in accordance with 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) in preference to the Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice issued on 1 April 2005 which is referred to in the extant regulations but has now been withdrawn.

I understand that this has been done in order for financial statements to provide a true and fair view in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Practice effective for reporting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2015.

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:

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 financial statements to be reached.

Jervis & Partners

30 Harborough Road Kingsthorpe Northampton NN2 7AZ

Dated: 10 December 2024

// HARRY’S PALS ANNUAL REPORT 2024

31

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES INCLUDING INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

Notes Unrestricted
funds
2023
£		 Unrestricted
funds
2023
£		 Unrestricted
funds
2023
£		 Restricted
funds
2024
£		 Restricted
funds
2024
£		 Total
2024
£		 Unrestricted
funds
2023
£		 Unrestricted
funds
2023
£		 Unrestricted
funds
2023
£		 Unrestricted
funds
2023
£		 Restricted
funds
2023
£		 Restricted
funds
2023
£		 Restricted
funds
2023
£		 Total
2023
£
Income from:
Donations and legacies		 2 86,979 10,200 97,179 106,706 6,000 112,706
Total income 86,979 10,200 97,179 106,706 6,000 112,706
Expenditure on:
Raising funds
Fundraising and
publicity		 3 13,588 - 13,588 14,865 - 14,865
Charitable activities 4 69,984 10,200 79,184 64,428 - 64,284
Total expenditure 82,572 10,200 92,772 79,293 - 79,293
Net income
Transfer between funds
Net movement in funds		 4,407
6,000
10,407		 -
(6,000)
(6,000)		 4,407
-
4,407		 27,413
-
27,413		 6,000
-
6,000		 33,413
-
33,413
Reconciliation of
funds:
Fund balances at 1
April 2023		 27,413 6,000 33,413 - - -
Fund balances at 31
March 2024
The statement of fina
All income and expen		 ncial ac
diture d		 37,820
tivities include
erive from con		 37,820 - 37,820 27,413 6,000 33,413
s all gains a
tinuing acti		 nd losses
vities.		 recognised in the year.

// HARRY’S PALS

ANNUAL REPORT 2024

32

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITIONS

AS AT 31 MARCH 2024

Notes 2024
£		 2023
£
Current assets
Cash at bank and in hand		 53,429 54,097
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year 9 (259) (484)
Net current assets 53,170 53,613
Creditors: amounts falling due after more than
one year		 10 (15,350) (20,200)
Net assets 37,820 33,413
The funds of the charity
Income funds
Restricted funds
Unrestricted funds		 12
13		 -
37,820		 6,000
27,413
37,820 33,413

The financial statements were approved by the Trustees on December 19th 2024

LM Stubbs

Trustee

// HARRY’S PALS

ANNUAL REPORT 2024

33

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

1 Accounting policies

Charity information

Harry's Pals is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation, registered in England.

1.1 Accounting convention

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the charity's [governing document], the Charities Act 2011, FRS 102 “The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland” (“FRS 102”) and the Charities SORP "Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)" (effective 1 January 2019). The charity is a Public Benefit Entity as defined by FRS 102.

The charity has taken advantage of the provisions in the SORP for charities not to prepare a Statement of Cash Flows.

The financial statements have departed from the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 only to the extent required to provide a true and fair view. This departure has involved following the Statement of Recommended Practice for charities applying FRS 102 rather than the version of the Statement of Recommended Practice which is referred to in the Regulations but which has since been withdrawn.

The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the charity. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention. The principal accounting policies adopted are set out below.

1.2

Going concern

At the time of approving the financial statements, the trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Thus the trustees continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.

1.3

Charitable funds

Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of their charitable objectives.

Restricted funds are subject to specific conditions by donors as to how they may be used. The purposes and uses of the restricted funds are set out in the notes to the financial statements.

Endowment funds are subject to specific conditions by donors that the capital must be maintained by the charity.

// HARRY’S PALS

ANNUAL REPORT 2024

34

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

1 Accounting policies (Continued)

1.4 Income

Income is recognised when the charity is legally entitled to it after any performance conditions have been met, the amounts can be measured reliably, and it is probable that income will be received.

Cash donations are recognised on receipt. Other donations are recognised once the charity has been notified of the donation, unless performance conditions require deferral of the amount. Income tax recoverable in relation to donations received under Gift Aid or deeds of covenant is recognised at the time of the donation.

Legacies are recognised on receipt or otherwise if the charity has been notified of an impending distribution, the amount is known, and receipt is expected. If the amount is not known, the legacy is treated as a contingent asset.

1.5

Expenditure

Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to transfer economic benefit to a third party, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefits will be required in settlement, and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably.

Expenditure is classified by activity. The costs of each activity are made up of the total of direct costs and shared costs, including support costs involved in undertaking each activity. Direct costs attributable to a single activity are allocated directly to that activity. Shared costs which contribute to more than one activity and support costs which are not attributable to a single activity are apportioned between those activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources. Central staff costs are allocated on the basis of time spent, and depreciation charges are allocated on the portion of the asset’s use.

1.6 Cash and cash equivalents

Cash and cash equivalents include cash in hand, deposits held at call with banks, other short-term liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less, and bank overdrafts. Bank overdrafts are shown within borrowings in current liabilities.

Basic financial assets

Basic financial assets, which include debtors and cash and bank balances, are initially measured at transaction price including transaction costs and are subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest method unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the transaction is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial assets classified as receivable within one year are not amortised.

// HARRY’S PALS ANNUAL REPORT 2024

35

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

Accounting policies (Continued)

Basic financial liabilities

Basic financial liabilities, including creditors and bank loans are initially recognised at transaction price unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the debt instrument is measured at the present value of the future payments discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial liabilities classified as payable within one year are not amortised.

Debt instruments are subsequently carried at amortised cost, using the effective interest rate method.

T rade creditors are obligations to pay for goods or services that have been acquired in the ordinary course of operations from suppliers. Amounts payable are classified as current liabilities if payment is due within one year or less. If not, they are presented as non-current liabilities. Trade creditors are recognised initially at transaction price and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.

Derecognition of financial liabilities

Financial liabilities are derecognised when the charity’s contractual obligations expire or are discharged or cancelled.

Employee benefits

Termination benefits are recognised immediately as an expense when the charity is demonstrably committed to terminate the employment of an employee or to provide termination benefits.

Retirement benefits

// HARRY’S PALS ANNUAL REPORT 2024

36

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

2 Donations and legacies

Donations and
2		 legacies
Unrestricted
funds
2024
£		 Restricted
funds
2024
£		 Total
2024
£		 Unrestricted
funds
2023
£		 Restricted
funds
2023
£		 Total
2023
£
Donations and gifts
Grants
Donated goods and
services		 65,776
5,000
16,203		 -
10,200
-		 65,776
15,200
16,203		 66,480
10,600
29,626		 -
6,000
-		 66,480
16,600
29,626
86,979 10,200 97,179 106,706 6,000 112,706
3
Raising funds		 Unrestricted
funds
2024
£		 Unrestricted
funds
2023
£
Fundraising and publicity
Staging fundraising events
Grant fees
Fundraising and publicity		 12,800
788
13,588
13,588		 14,865
-
14,865
14,865

// HARRY’S PALS

ANNUAL REPORT 2024

37

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

4 Expenditure on charitable activities

Direct costs Counselling
and short
breaks
costs
2024
£		 Counselling
and short
breaks
costs
2024
£		 Counselling
and short
breaks
costs
2024
£		 Counselling
and short
breaks
costs
2024
£		 Support
costs
2024
£		 Total
2024
£		 Counselling
and short
breaks
costs
2023
£		 Counselling
and short
breaks
costs
2023
£		 Counselling
and short
breaks
costs
2023
£		 Counselling
and short
breaks
costs
2023
£		 Support
costs
2023
£		 Total
2023
£		 Total
2023
£
Staff costs
Family Support
Counselling
Short Breaks
Website
Printing & stationery
Sundry
Legal and professional
Accountancy
Loan interest
Bank charges
Insurance
Advertising and Marketing
Travelling		 -
8,000
5,565
5,091
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 53,240
-
-
-
-
1,200
-
2,800
1,240
400
-
222
1,026
400
3,693		 53,240
8,000
5,565
5,091
-
1,200
-
2,800
1,240
400
-
222
1,026
400		 -
-
2,715
978
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 40,212
-
-
-
6,500
916
151
12,000
500
200
70
186
-
-
18,656 60,528 79,184 3,693 60,735
64,428
-
64,428
3,693
-
3,693		 60,735
-
60,735		 64,428
-
64,428
Analysis by fund
Unresticted funds
Restricted funds		 8,456
10,200
18,656		 60,528
-
60,528
79,184
ANNUAL REPORT 2024
// HARRY’S PALS
38
5 Trustees
None of the trustees (or any persons connected with them)
received any remuneration or benefits from the charity
during the year.

5 Trustees

None of the trustees (or any persons connected with them) received any remuneration or benefits from the charity during the year.

// HARRY’S PALS

ANNUAL REPORT 2024

38

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

6 Employees

The average monthly number of employees during the year was:1

Employment costs 2024
£		 2023
£
Wages and salaries
Other pension costs		 51,712
1,728		 39,000
1,212
53,240 40,212

There were no employees whose annual remuneration was more than £60,000.

Remuneration of key management personnel

The remuneration of key management personnel was as follows:

7 Taxation

The charity is exempt from taxation on its activitis because its income is applied for charitable purposes.

8 Loans and overdrafts

Loans and overdrafts
Other loans
Payable after one year		 2024
£		 2023
£
15,350 20,200
15,350
20,200

// HARRY’S PALS

39

ANNUAL REPORT 2024

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

9 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

2024
£		 2023
£
Other taxation and social security - 484
Accurals and deferred income 259 -
484
259

10 Creditors: amounts falling due after more than one year

2023
£		 2024
£
Borrowings 15,350 20,200

11 Retirement benefit schemes

Defined contribution schemes

Charge to profit or loss in respect of defined contribution schemes

The charity operates a defined contribution pension scheme for all qualifying employees. The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the charity in an independently administered fund. The charge to profit or loss in respect of defined contribution schemes was £1,728 this year compared to £1,212 in 2023.

// HARRY’S PALS

ANNUAL REPORT 2024

40

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (CONTINUED) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

12 Restricted funds

The restricted funds of the charity comprise the unexpected balances of donations and grants held on trust subject to specific conditions by donors as to how they may be used.

At 1 April
2023
£		 At 1 April
2023
£		 At 1 April
2023
£		 Incoming
Resources
£		 Incoming
Resources
£		 Resources
expended
£		 Transfers
£		 At 31 March
2024
£
6,00 0 -
10,20		 0 (10,200) (6,000) -
At 1 Apri
2022
£		 i
 Resources
expended
£
-		 Transfers
£
-		 At 31 March
2023
£
6,000

13 Unrestricted funds

The unrestricted funds of the charity comprise the unexpected balances of donations and grants which are not subject to specific conditions by donors and grantors as to how they may be used. These include designated funds which have been set aside out of unrestricted funds by the trustees for specific purposes.

General funds At 1 April
2023
£
2741		 At 1 April
2023
£
2741		 At 1 April
2023
£
2741


Incoming
Resources
£
Your paragraph text		 Resources
expended
£		 Transfers
£		 At 31 March
2024
£
2741
86979		 (82572) 6000 37820
,
,		 , ,
Previous year:
General funds		 At 1 April
2022
£
-		 Incoming
Resources
£
106,706		 Resources
expended
£
(79,293)		 Transfers
£
-		 At 31 March
2023
£
27,413

// HARRY’S PALS

ANNUAL REPORT 2024

41

14 Analysis of net assets between funds

Unrestricted
funds
2024
£		 Restricted
funds
2024
£		 Total
2024
£
Fund balances at 31 March 2024
Current assets/(liabilities)
Long term liabilities		 53,170
(15,350)		 - 53,170
(15,350)
37,820 - 37,820
Unrestricted
funds
2023
£		 Restricted
funds
2023
£		 Total
2023
£
Fund balances at 31 March 2023
Current assets/(liabilities)
Long term liabilities		 47,613
(20,200)		 6,000
-		 53,613
(20,200)
27,413 6,000 33,413

15 Related party transactions

There were no disclosable related party transactions during the year.

// HARRY’S PALS ANNUAL REPORT 2024