## **ANNUAL REPORT 2024 -2025** **Registered Charity No.1199385** 1 ## **Midhurst Community Hub October 2025** ## **Introduction** 1 **.** This is the third Annual Report of Trustees for Midhurst Community Hub which was established as a registered charity on 20 June 2022. This Annual Report covers the period from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, and was approved by the Trustees at a Board meeting on 15 October 2025. 2. This report is produced following the guidance of the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) appropriate to this form of charity, namely FRS102, as reflected in this link: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/prepare-a-charity- - - trustees annual report#charities sorp ## **Object of the Charity** 3.The Constitution of the Hub states that its main purpose is : _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** 4. 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** 5. At its launch the Hub had six trustees who are all local people with extensive experience of the community. The Board has since been joined by Jane Roberts as Treasurer, and by Chris Gladstone and now comprises: Chrissy Abbott (Chair) Jeanette Sutton Jane Roberts (Treasurer) Martin Roberts Laura Jandac James Yeates Mark Purves Chris Gladstone 6. 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. Safeguarding, finance and performance management – a review of client numbers/results – are now standard items on every agenda. 7. 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** 8. The registered office for the Hub is currently St Ann’s Hall, St Ann’s Hill, Midhurst, GU29 9NN. However, as and when the Hub obtains its own premises, the registered office will revert to new premises about which there are ongoing discussions with Midhurst Town Council. These are drawing to a conclusion and it is expected that the Hub will have an agreed tenancy on a new Office in the centre of the town in the very near future. ## **Our Mission** 9. 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. 10. 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. 3 ## **Our Values: "Enabling independence, building community** 11. The first aim, agreed by trustees at their very first meeting in June 2021, is to provide a personal service to clients, that follows through and resolves their issues to the best possible extent, and to their satisfaction. This is done by local volunteers helping local people, enabling their greater independence. The further aim is to build community life, by bringing local organisations together to share issues and possible actions. Trustees adopted the slogan of **“Enabling independence, Building community”** to summarise this endeavour. The trustees also adopted core values so that all the trustees, volunteers, and service providers to the Hub would undertake to being non-judgmental, and yet accountable, treating all our clients and providers with: - Kindness - Respect - Discretion - Compassion - Humility ## **Bankers** 12. The Hub banks online with the CAF Bank (Charities Aid Foundation Bank). ## **Review of 2024/25** 13.There has been a sharpening of the focus of the Hub during this year upon its two strategic aims of enabling independence and building community. ## _Enabling Independence- Advisory Service - Clients_ 14. The enabling independence Advisory Service has seen client numbers grow from 103 in April 2024 to 182 by the end of March 2025 . The Hub operates with four Teams of three volunteer advisers in each team and whilst some valued advisers withdrew in the year, new volunteers have been recruited. Ideally each team should have four volunteers to allow for absences and unavailability. The Hub’s Advisory Service continues to operate from the Grange Community Centre, but now does so adjacent to the Registrar’s Office with kind permission of the management of the Grange Centre, as unfortunately the Hub was displaced from its original location in the Library. 15. Funding was received from the Hyde Charitable Trust to improve internal procedures, the website and to reach out to the 1,000 Hyde households in the area. Flyers were hand delivered to these residents in the area, and two outreach events were scheduled. Unfortunately there was no agreement with Hyde about one of the locations and features of the event which was dropped, and the other, in Fernhurst took place on a stormy Saturday. Improvements to the Policies and procedures have been made and the website updated. 4 16. The Trustees agree a performance management framework at its meeting In October and this was implemented at the February meeting when the Board received quarterly performance management reports (QPMR) for the first three quarters (Q1,Q2,Q3). The benefit of this is reflected in the next section on Performance Management with a detailed breakdown of client issues and results. 17. A grant of £5,000 was also received from Chichester District Council in October towards the running costs of the Hub and for this advisory service. ## _Building Community – Forum, Projects and outreach_ 18. The Hub facilitates two meetings of Midhurst Community Hub each year, the first in 2024/25 was held on 24 May 2024. The purpose of this Forum was to provide a brief update on the progress of the main projects, but also to set the operational activity of the Hub and its many partners into a wider strategic context. In this regard the Forum was addressed by Frank Soodeen, Director of Communication and Engagement for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF). The second Forum was held on 19 March 2025 to address two issues: concerns about older people, and about children and families. The Forum was addressed by speakers respectively from Age UK (delivered by another) and by the local outreach worker from Family Support Work(FSW). The Forum agreed that both topics deserved closer attention and would be returned to at the November 2025 Forum. Reports of Proceedings of all Forums can be found on the Hub website. 19. Four current projects have been endorsed by the Forum, the first two to address the top concern about loneliness and isolation: - In Touch is a telephone befriending service - Midhurst Community Lunches are a free weekly lunch - Work Connections is a half day work readiness course aimed at those at edge of the labour market - Midhurst Uniform Shop is a new project initiated by a Volunteer Adviser and approved by the Board in October aimed at recycling Primary School clothing in collaboration with Midhurst, Easebourne and Stedham Primary Schools. The plan is to launch the pop-up shop in Spring 2025. 20. The Hub sends out a quarterly e-newsletter to partner organisations, service providers and other stakeholders, giving updates on Hub activities and information on other topics that may be of interest to subscribers. The audience for the newsletter started at 105 in 2023, and we now have a total of 177 active subscribers. 21. Several events were held in 2024/25, including a fund-raising concert on 5 July involving Midhurst Primary School Choir and the Milton Choir. The Chair again held a garden party lunch for all volunteers and further events for volunteers were held in the Summer and at Christmas funded by Hyde Charitable Trust’s Surprise Fund grant of £1,000. 5 ## **Performance Management- Outcomes** 22.The Board now receives a quarterly performance monitoring report (QPMR) at each quarterly Board meeting, and which is summarised in this Annual Report for the 2024/25 year. The structure follows the format of the outcomes intended to be achieved as agreed by the Board’s approach to performance management. ## _**Enabling independence – Advisory service**_ 23. In 24-25, the Hub helped 79 clients. It is not uncommon for each client to seek assistance with more than one issue, so the number of cases dealt with was 118 (see figure 1).The importance of the Hub working in partnership with other organisations is demonstrated by 10% of new client referrals coming from public sector bodies (e.g. Chichester District Council) and voluntary organisations (e.g. MIND). Four “returning” clients had first been referred by one of these organisations. Some 54 referrals were made to the Foodbank. Cases by type (fg 1) The 3 main reasons for clients seeking support from the Hub make up 50% of the cases dealt with. These issues are: - Benefits - including advice on entitlement and assistance with applications - Housing - including assistance with complaints to social and private landlords about maintenance issues and concerns over rent and maintenance charge issues - Blue Badge applications - including assisting with online applications and getting supporting documentation. 24.According to the National Census data for 2021, 17.7% of the population of Midhurst live in social housing (the percentage in the neighbouring parishes is lower). This is in-line with national average. However, nearly half of the Hub’s clients are currently living in social housing, a far larger proportion than would be expected looking at the breakdown of housing type alone. Some 63% of cases about housing issues brought to the Hub were presented by Hyde clients. The Hub has developed a close working relationship with the Tenancy Sustainment team at Hyde to help support their clients across a range of issues. There has been a marked increase in the number of clients who own their homes coming to the Hub for assistance up from 6.5% in 23-4 to 24% in 24-25. Of the 23 cases from clients in this category, 8 were about benefits and 6 for Blue Badge assistance. ## Housing Type (Figure 2) 7 ## Client Feedback 25. The Hub receives feedback from clients in 2 ways - testimonials given after their issue has been resolved and comments given during an informal client follow up phone call. ## **Testimonials** - _Mrs xx rang …to say she had just heard from Hyde Housing that the worrying service charge increase had just been reduced by £100 per week as the result of the Hub (MLA) taking up her case. She was very appreciative of the Hub acting on her behalf and persevering with it. She was delighted with the outcome._ - _I'm sure I speak on behalf of all the Hyde residents when I say how grateful we are for all that (the Hub) are achieving for us all, I think that 2025 is going to be even greater still with our community coming together to support each other_ - _This client had been caring for her mother for years in the family home and undertaken work to do so that meant that in theory she had excess paid employment hours which had the effect of disqualifying her from being eligible for a PIP. In reality her hours of care far exceeded her working hours but nevertheless she was ineligible for PiP. So as her mother became more infirm she decided to reduce her working hours and take the risk of applying for a PIP. She needed Hub assistance in completing the application form which was successful and the PIP awarded. She is delighted with the help received._ - _This client had been caring for a family member who sadly died. She was coping with the stress of bereavement and mistakenly ticked the wrong box on a PIP renewal form and her PIP was withdrawn. The DWP offered to conduct a telephone interview with her about her circumstances but she couldn't face this additional stress. The Hub contacted the DWP on her behalf, and so after multiple phone calls arranged for her case to be dealt with by paper only to avoid further stress for the client. The Hub provided the necessary evidential details to the DWP. The client then came in to express her thanks to the Hub for, to its credit, the DWP not only reinstated the PIP but did so at a higher level, for a longer period of two years, and backdated the payments. The client was immensely grateful and relieved that she no longer had this worry at least._ 8 ## **Follow up phone calls** 26.Around 10% of clients whose issues were resolved during the year are randomly selected for a follow up phone call to seek their views on being supported by the Hub and what difference it has made. Ten clients were identified for contact, but despite multiple phone calls only 4 respondents were reached. Their comments were uniformly positive: - _“…(the adviser)_ was brilliant and did lots of chasing and following up. I’m so grateful – they went above and beyond in making referrals etc. The Hub were lifesavers when I didn’t know where to turn. My issues would not have been resolved without them” - _“…(the adviser)_ was lovely – so helpful and patient with us. We really appreciated their kindness and helping us through the process.” - _“_ - • As soon as the adviser stepped in, everything started to happen. I don’t - know what they did, but it was like magic! I had been getting nowhere and within days there was positive action and the problem has been resolved. The Hub are a godsend!” - “The Hub were very helpful and I am 100% happy with what they did for my parent, who was also very pleased. It was a fantastic level of service.” ## _**Building community - social connectivity**_ ## Improved Employment Prospects 27.In May 2024, a workshop was held with the Midhurst Business Partnership and Chichester District Council’s Choose Work team to provide readiness for work training for clients. It was a limited success. A further workshop is planned for October 2025 **.** ## Reducing loneliness and isolation 28. The Midhurst Community Lunches have proved to be an outstanding success in providing a free cooked lunch to guests every Monday. The lunches are funded by grants, including a new grant in March 2025 of £5,250 from the Sussex Community Foundation, and by donations. The Lunches are funded in a Restricted account. The average number of clients increased from 23 at the beginning of April 2024 to 38 at the end of March 2025. The highest number of clients served lunch at one sitting was 40 in March 2025. The highest total number of lunches served at one sitting (including guests and volunteers as well as clients) was 61, also in March 2025. 9 **----- Start of picture text -----**
Community Lunches - numbers of lunches
served 2024 - 25
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
TOTAL HEADS 380 557 648 664
GUESTS 248 387 442 445
TOTAL HEADS GUESTS
**----- End of picture text -----**
- “Total heads” includes volunteers, visitors from partner organisations and other guests, in addition to the lunch clients. **----- Start of picture text -----**
Community Lunches - volunteer hours 2024 - 25
1000
900
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
TOTAL 557 779 879 921
**----- End of picture text -----**
- Volunteer hours include the purchasing and collecting of food and preparing the meals, as well as looking after clients and guests, cooking and serving the meals, and clearing up. The total number of volunteer hours in 24/25 was 3136, at an average of 64 hours per lunch. 29.Although the success of the lunches can be seen through the statistics, the real impact is seen from client testimonials. Here are just a few: - _A very good welcome, good company, conversation, without forgetting good food_ 10 - _We try to get here every week, the volunteers are super kind and funny. The food is outstanding and plentiful, amazing all round._ - _Welcome sense of community and friendship, complimenting the high standard of homely catering_ - _They make Mondays worth getting up for . You are all wonderful as is the food._ - _To eat with people rather than just on my own. Being on UC it is nice to know I will always have at least one full meal. The most important part is the social side rather than being by myself_ - _Having lived in Midhurst for about 7 years and not knowing anyone we started coming to here and the afternoon tea on Thursday. We have met numerous people and find that walking through the town we meet people that we have met through these gatherings. Thank you._ ## In Touch 30. The In Touch project launched in April 24, with the intention that volunteers would make weekly calls to clients who would welcome a chat. The project was promoted to the local community and partner organisations through leaflets, posters, our newsletter, website and social media and briefings e.g. to Parish Councils. Take-up has been lower than anticipated. Two-thirds of the clients were referred to us either by the CDC Social Prescriber or by MIND. A review of the project will be started in May 25. ## **Finance & Grants** 31.The “business model “ of the Hub is to minimise core costs by using volunteers and having pro bono premises. The 2024/25 Accounts are appended to this Annual Report. The year closed at 31 March with a total of £18,200 in the Hub’s bank account. assisted by the Restricted grant from Surrey Community Foundation of £5,520 32. Funding derives mainly from successful grant bids and the Hub is most grateful to grant donors and to the individuals who make monthly donations which are gift aided. During this year grants were received from: - Hyde Charitable Trust - £2,866.40 (Unspent grant from 2023/24 c/f to General Account by agreement - Chichester District Council - £5,000 - Sussex Community Foundation - £5,250 (Restricted for Community Lunches) 11 ## **Safeguarding** 33.The Hub maintains a single central record that lists the roles and names of posts requiring DBS clearance. This includes all Trustees, all Volunteer Advisers helping clients in the Advisory Service and the In Touch volunteers. The record is checked by the Trustee responsible for safeguarding before every Board meeting and the subject is a standard item on the Agenda. In October 2024 the Board adopted the policy that all Trustees and Volunteer team leaders should all undertake an excellent “Gateway to Safeguarding” online training course run by the Hub’s professional safeguarding advisers Thirty-one Eight (31.8). The achievement of this is now incorporated into the Central Record. ## **Looking Forward to 2025/26** 34. The Hub’s ambition is simply to grow organically and improve its service to clients by keeping its operational procedures under review and making improvements to its processes. Its focus begins and ends with helping clients, but effective procedures are needed to achieve this. 35. The Hub is crucially dependent on its volunteers who number some 35 (12 volunteer advisers, 8 In Touch volunteers, and a team of some 15 cooks and helpers for the Lunches). Ideally more volunteer advisers need to be recruited so that each of the four teams has four volunteers in each one. 36. A Forum is planned for March 2025, focussing on issues affecting older people with a speaker from Age Uk, and also on issues affecting children and families with a speaker from Family Support Work. 37. However the main change in 2025/26 is likely to be the successful conclusion of work undertaken to create the Hub an office in the Old Library in Knockhundred Row subject to agreement on terms with the Midhurst Town Council as landlord. This will give the Hub a new office base in the centre of the town at a peppercorn rent, and will be a “ game-changer” for the Hub. Exciting news! 12 13 CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES 1199386 Recei tsand ents accounts CC16a Forthè pwlod To 0IW2ff24 3110312025 Section A Receipts and payments Unrtstriet Rt*trleted Eb)dowment funds funds fund¥ tothe w•r¥•t e knth• r*ar•Bt£ Totsl funds L￿t￿r to im rwrmte lo th# rt¥￿t £ A1 Recol Grants Gr*)t. C￿n¥j Bank Intere51 115 &126 0.520 Luncths 170 3,219 Donatons DOnat￿n&. Ccrnuru Hyde Surwye FurnlYLg Events 219 1.100 1.180 ARJ 19.70 21.126 an • t*bl• . nv•• Total rocelpts 19,768 m•nt• min Con8uhwi mlnlstrab ¥￿tisIng Bank Charo commun￿*￿￿5 Community Lurth Even Office su￿1•• Pnnling Hyde Surp75• LILgc Cthg9 WebFAte 2,190 Z7S 80 1.SSS 070 797 278 129 887 381 541 1.01• 1,01# Sub total 17.798 19.120 A4 Asset arKI InveBtment 330 Sub total 17.796 1.324 19.1 8,678 Net ofrn¢W'p￿fp•yrnents} AS Translèrs balw￿n lunds A6 Cash funds last year end Cash funds this y￿r end 12.4150 .114 18.762 5,664 18.114 148 CCXX R18Ctounts ISS} 07D)512025 Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Unrestrictsd nds ) I￿restE Re$trlcted funds to nBire5t£ Endowment fundB newost £ B1 Ca#h funds Total cash funds 15.895 2.887 sl) OK UnrMtrfct•d funds R••trlct•d fvnd¥ Endowment funds to £ Dgtsl to n•arnBt e Fund to¥Jhkh Co•tit¥thn Cum)nt v•lu• on D•tsll• B3 Invo•tm•nt Fund lo *thl¢h Curf•Rt¥•lu• onal Dota118 B4 A68•ts r•taln•d for th• ¢h•rlty'8 own u80 FuThJ Amount du• Vth•h du Detalls 86 Uabllttl SKJnod by of tru8* on 8hallof all fv truslee Prnl Name Dale of IOV81 @rs 07.os. i Ei&ilJdE A CCXX R2 acrounts ISSI 07105r2025