OpenCharities

This text was generated using OCR and may contain errors. Check the original PDF to see the document submitted to the regulator.

2023-03-31-accounts

ANNUAL REPORT 2022 -2023

(covering period Nov 2022 – March 2023)

Approved by the Trustees 26 Jan 2024

Registered charity no.1199385

1

Midhurst Community Hub

Annual Report 2022-23 January 2023

Introduction

1 . This is the first Annual Report of Trustees for Midhurst Community Hub which was established as a registered charity on 20 June 2022, and covers the period from that date to March 2023. This Report was approved by Trustees on 26 January 2024

  1. This report is produced following the guidance of the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) appropriate to this form of charity, namely FRS102.

Object of the Charity

To promote social inclusion for the public benefit by preventing people in the Midhurst Area from becoming socially excluded, relieving the needs of those people who are socially excluded and assisting them to integrate into society, in particular by:

1. Providing advice and assistance to people who are excluded from society, as well as the development of projects aimed at reducing exclusion.

2. Referring those individuals who are socially excluded to partner organisations. 3. Establishing a Midhurst Community Forum bringing together the multiplicity of charities, local trusts, local authorities and others all serving the wider Midhurst area so that common issues and concerns can be shared.

For the purpose of this clause ‘socially excluded’ means being excluded from society, or parts of society, as a result of one of more of the following factors: unemployment; financial hardship; youth or old age; ill health (physical or mental); substance abuse or dependency including alcohol and drugs; disability; poor educational or skills attainment; relationship and family breakdown; poor housing (that is housing that does not meet basic habitable standards)'.

Notes: “The Midhurst area” comprises the town of Midhurst and the fifteen rural parishes in the north-west of Chichester district within the County of West Sussex.

Form of Governance-CIO

  1. The Hub is constituted as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) and is one of the forms of charitable organisation recommended by the Charity Commission.

2

The Trustees

  1. At its launch the Hub has six trustees who are all local people with extensive experience of the community, namely:

Chrissy Abbott (Chair) Jeanette Sutton Laura Jandac Martin Roberts Mark Purves James Yeates

  1. The board meets on a regular basis with formal agendas, papers, and minutes in accordance with best practice. The secretary/administrator to the Board is Mike Abbott.

  2. The formal constitution allows not less than three trustees and not more than nine. Trustees are elected for a period of three years initially.

Office

  1. The registered office for the Hub is St Ann’s Hall, St Ann’s Hill, Midhurst, GU29 9NN. However, as and when the Hub finds its own premises, the registered office will revert to new premises about which there are ongoing discussions with Midhurst Town Council. In the interim period the Hub will continue to operate from the Library at the Grange Community Centre with permission of West Sussex County Council and pro bono.

Bankers

  1. The Hub has an account with the CAF Bank (Charities Aid Foundation Bank).

A Brief History

  1. The Hub’s founders had many years of experience with Midhurst Foodbank. That experience led them to conclude that food poverty is simply a manifestation of wider, more complex issues. However, in recent years most of the direct faceto-face services to the area have been withdrawn, obliging people with needs to access services in Chichester, Bognor Regis and Worthing, or do so impersonally by phone or online. Not everyone has a computer or the skills to access services online. Moreover clients with complex problems may be obliged to approach several different public authority services, which are organised on a single function basis, when so often their needs cross-cut multiple organisations.

3

  1. The first meeting of trustees took place on 15 June 2021, when the values of the Hub were agreed. In this set up phase, four meetings were held in 2021. In 2022 a further seven meetings were held to guide the submission to the Charity Commission and to establish:

  2. the operating policies and procedures for the Hub

  3. secure start-up funding and bankers

  4. establish an operating base

  5. obtain computers and phone systems

  6. establish links with partner organisations.

  7. set up website and public facing access – marketing

  8. recruit and train volunteers

  9. The Hub was approved as a Registered Charity on 22 June 2022.

  10. The Hub was launched by the local MP, Gillian Keegan on 22 November 2022 and became fully operational on 7 January 2023.

Our Mission

  1. The mission of Midhurst Community Hub is to enable local people in need to access integrated help at a single one-stop-shop advice centre. doing so in conjunction with partner organisations that are specialists in their field. These needs are likely to be complex, and include issues pertaining to poverty and debt, housing need, caring issues, mental health and wellbeing, family support, unemployment/seeking work, and loneliness.

  2. The Hub does not claim any particular specialist expertise but, with the written consent of the client, and in compliance with GDPR, undertakes to work with over thirty partner organisations who are specialists in their field.

Our Values: "Enabling independence, building community "

  1. The aim agreed by trustees at their first meeting is to provide a personal service to clients that follows through and resolves their issues to the best possible extent and to their satisfaction. so that we enable their independence, and in so doing build community life, by local volunteers helping local people. Trustees adopted the slogan of “Enabling independence, Building community” To this end the values of the trustees, volunteers, and service providers to the Hub include being non-judgmental and accountable, and treating all our clients and providers with:

  2. Kindness

  3. Respect

  4. Discretion

  5. Compassion

  6. Humility

Policies and Procedures

  1. The Board has approved policies relating to:

4

Achievements and impact

19.In these first four months (Nov 22- March 23) the Hub assisted 34clients. The range of issues was quite wide, but the principal issues were:

“10/10 for the help provided by the Hub”

“We are extremely grateful to you and the Midhurst Community Hub for all the help you gave us. I have no doubt that without your intervention we would still be struggling to contact our energy provider…..you and your colleagues do a great service. Sometimes when looking for solutions to a problem just finding a sympathetic ear is a huge relief.”

“(The client) rang me today to say thank you very much for the work you carried out…she was very pleased with it. Thank you so much.” From client referrer.

Finances

  1. The Hub is a small charity that operates with volunteers and at pro bono premises at the Library in the Grange Community Centre (Saturday mornings

5

and Monday afternoons) and with a telephone, email and web presence. The Hub’s core operating expenses are thus kept very low. In this period of July 2022-March 2023, the Hub received start -up income totalling £12,478.

24.The details of Receipts and Payments accounts are included in the Annual Return to the Chairity Commission.

Risk

25.The Trustee Board receives a regular quarterly monitoring report at each meeting addressing the key areas of the Hub’s activities including client numbers, volunteers, finance, office base, and policies and procedures. Trustees are aware that having established the Hub in just eighteen months (June 2021November 2022) some of its procedures need refinement.

26.The financial procedures have been agreed by trustees at meetings but not yet codified into a single document.

  1. A priority is securing DBS clearances for trustees and volunteers, though most have valid DBS from other roles in work, church or school.

28.Similarly the training of volunteers will be put on an established basis by holding monthly Microsoft Teams (recordable) training sessions, particularly on safeguarding, and involving external partner speakers.

29.Trustees are also aware that the Board should include someone who has life experience representing that of the Hub’s beneficiaries or clients and is actively seeking someone who might bring that perspective to the Board.

Ongoing development 2023/24

  1. It is proposed to convene two meetings of Midhurst Community Forum in 2024, to appoint a Treasurer and to address processes and procedures relating to safeguarding and the keeping of client records.

  2. In short if 2022/23 was a start-up year, 23/24 is, and will be, a development year!

Chrissie Abbott, Chair of Trustees. 26 January 2024

6

rb
CHARITY COMMISSION
FOR ENGTANDANDWALES		 rb
CHARITY COMMISSION
FOR ENGTANDANDWALES		 Midhurst Community Hub 11 99385
Recei and ments accounts CC16a
For theperiod
from		 01to7t2022 To 31t03t2023
Unrestricted
funds		 Restricted
funds
Endowment
- ;;;;;--		 Totalfunds Lastvear
to thenearest€ to the nearestf to the nearest€ to the nearestf to the nearest€
AlRecei
Grants 7,900 7,900
Donations 4,568 4,568
Bank lnterest 10 10
tncome
AR) 12,478 12,478
Total receipts 12,478 I
nlr,al
Administration 183 183
Advertising 817 817
Bank Charges 40 40
Communications 335 335
Event Catering 255 255
Office Supplies 412 412
Printing 222 222
Refreshments 35 35
Set up costsphones& laptops 602 602
Website 397 397
Subtotal 3,298 3,298
A4Asset andinvestment
nrrrchases{sec fahle}
Mobile ohones 1,716 1,716
LaDtoDs 1,800 1,800
Subtatal 3,516 3,516
Totalpayments 6,814 6,814
Netofreceipts/(payments) 5,664 5,664
A5Transfersbetween funds
A6Cashfundslast year end
Cashfundsthis yearend 5,664 5,664
Unrestricted Restricted Endowment
Cate6tir"!** Details funds funds funds
tonearest€ tonearest€ tonearest€
B{Cashfunds 5,66,4
Total cashfunds 5,664
(agree balances withreceipts andpayments
account(s))
Unrestricted Restricted Endowment
funds funds funds
tonearest€ to nearest€ tonearestf
82Other monetary assets
Details Fund towhich Cost (optional) Current value
83lnvestment assets
Details Fund towhich Gost (optional) Current value
84 Assets retainedforthe 4x Apple iphones Unrestricted
charity'sownuse 4xAsus Ryzen laptops Unrestricted
Fundtowhich Amount due When due
Details
B5Liabilities
Signedbyone ortwotrusteeson
behalf ofallthe trustees		 Signature Print Name Dateof
CnRtsTi*E ABRe>T"i &4/or/at
4nxtpPoBFP{S ,g'fo, 2t+