Trustees' Report and Accounts unaudited for the year ended 21[st] February 2025
Saluto – The Speech Therapy Charity Registered Charity Number: 1199419 www.saluto.org.uk
Saluto – The Speech Therapy Charity Financial statements for the 12 month period ended 21[st] February 2025
Reference and administration details
| Charity Registration Number | 1199419 |
|---|---|
| Registered Address | Saluto – The Speech Therapy Charity |
| c/o The Bluecoat | |
| Upper Northgate Street | |
| Chester | |
| CH1 4EE | |
| Bank | Virgin Money |
| 40 St Vincent Place | |
| Glasgow | |
| G1 2HL | |
| Trustees | David Williams |
| Pippa Day | |
| Hannah Hawthorn | |
| Abim Akintolah | |
| Kath Hutchinson | |
| Secretary | Sam Swash |
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1. Trustees’ Report
The Trustees of Saluto – The Speech Therapy Charity – are pleased to present the Annual Report and Financial Statements. This report covers the period from 22[nd] February 2024 through to 21[st] February 2025 . This was a landmark year during which the charity delivered its first courses of Speech and Language Therapy.
Financially, the Saluto accounts show a surplus of £856.90 for this period.
2. Our Vision
Our vision is to remove the sense of isolation and internal entrapment for those with communication difficulties.
3. The Saluto Charity’s Mission Statement
Our mission is to ease the sense of isolation and internal entrapment for those with communication difficulties through the following measures:
S peech improvement through therapy and exercises.
A ugmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) device provision.
L obbying for the NHS to provide improved/longer-term SALT services.
U nderstanding, supporting and counselling those affected by communication difficulties.
T raining and educating Speech and Language Therapy students and professionals.
O riginal research into techniques which yield better outcomes.
4. Structure, governance and management
The charity is a Charitable Incorporation Organisation ("CIO") which was registered with the Charity Commission on 23[rd] June 2022 and is governed by a constitution as a Foundation CIO.
New Trustees are recruited openly and receive a full induction to the charity to enable them to gain the required information to fulfil their role. This includes being sent a set of key documents.
An annual skills analysis ensures the Trustees offer a suitable range of knowledge and skills to support the charity.
Where a skills gap is identified we aim to seek Trustees to bridge this gap.
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.
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5. Public Benefit
For children who struggle with talking and understanding words, their whole lives are affected.
They are:
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Six times more likely to fail at English tests
-
Eleven times less likely to pass maths exams.
-
Twice as likely to have mental health problems
-
Twice as likely to be unemployed as an adult.
But more than mere statistics, it is the unhappiness and sense of isolation that Saluto has been set up to tackle.
6. Impact Report
During the reporting period we delivered our first courses of Speech Therapy to children referred to us by an adoption charity and a school both of which are based in Chester.
Referring to the help received from Saluto, the school’s Special Education Needs (SEN) coordinator said “Thank you so much for the courses of Speech Therapy for our children, they have benefitted from the sessions. The communication book the therapist made for ‘Child A’ is amazing. We really appreciate your support. Please let us know if you have the funding to offer any further sessions in the future.”
Prior to the parliamentary debate entitled “Increase investment in Speech and Language Therapy” on 27th January, we lobbied the MP for Chester North and Neston, Samantha Dixon, and underlined the importance of Speech Therapy. Unfortunately, due to prior diary commitments, she was unable to attend the debate. However, she asked us to let her know if she could help Saluto in any way in the future. She said, “I can see how valuable the work you are doing is.”
7. The Year Ahead
We have been in discussions with Down Syndrome Cheshire and Petty Pool Vocational College with a view to assisting some of the children and young people they support with their communication needs during our next reporting period.
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8. Financial Summary
The Board of Trustees have no concerns about Saluto being able to continue as a going concern.
The Charity’s Operating Strategy includes the following clauses:
1. The Charity will not take on projects if we don't have the resources to fulfil them
2. The Charity will not go into debt
3. The Charity will always have enough in reserve to cover 3 months' operating costs
The Trustees will continue to review this Operating Strategy as Saluto develops.
Outgoings in Financial Period
Outgoings totaled £2,811.37
We are very pleased to report that £2,010 of this was spent on Service Delivery.
The other expenditure was IT, Telecoms, Insurance and Bank Charges.
Income in Financial Period
Income totaled £3,668.27
This includes a £1,000 donation from Essar Oil and a £1,200 donation from Chester Business Club for which we are most grateful.
Status of Financial Period
Opening Balance @ 22[nd] February 2024 = £1,983.08 Closing Balance @ 21[st] February 2025 = £2,839.98
The Financial Period had a Surplus of £856.90
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