OFFICIAI
CHARITY COMMISSION
FOR ENGLAND ANO WALES
Trustees, Annual Report for the period
Period: 2011212022-0611212023
Charity name: The Year of Rest
Charity registration number: 1201396
Objectives and Activities
Summary of the purposes of
the charity as sel oul in its
governing document
The objects of the CIO, for the public benefit and
within the Christian ethos are..
The relief of those in need by reason of financial
hardship or other social or economic
disadvantage by providing such people with
support including in..
(i) Advice and advocacy setvices.,
(li} Participation in relreats to provide coaching
and support lo creating personal
strategies to move out of hardship and
disadvantage;
liiil Access to community ath'vities and
mentoring to break the social isolation
which is a consequence of hardship and
disadvanta
Summary of the main
activities in relation to those
purposes for the public
benefit, in particular, the
aclivities, projects or services
identified in the accounts.
The Year of Rest is a year-long programme
which offers support to those living on low
incomes in three main ways.. through retreat,
through advice and advocacy seNices and
finally through crealing supportive community.
Through these activities the Year of Rest work5
to 'relieve poverty, and also to 'prevent social
exclusion,.
Advice and Advocacy
Every person on the programme is in
receipt of benefitslhas no recourse to
public funds andlor living in counci5 or
supported housing. We make certain of
this during the recruitment process, in
the referral and sign-up forms which look
for multiple different indicators of
disadvantage.. In re￿Ipl of benefits, no
recourse to public funds, in
sociallsupported housing (council), has
been in care, has a physicallmenlal
disability, has a physicallmental illness,
re￿iVed free school mealslhas children
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that re￿1ve free school meals, Is NEET
(not in workjlrainingleducation), has a
criminal record, less than 5 A".C GCSES.
To support those on the programme we
offer advice and advooa¢y throughout
the year. We identify with them the
current challenges they are facing in the
areas of housinglbenefitsldebt
management and employment support
and then work with them through a
caseworker to support them to resolve
these issues. This includes running
budgeting sessions with them, helping
them to access services {e.g. benefits
and housing support} and giving
employment support (showing them how
to write Cvs and looking through job
applications with them)
This helps to both prevent and relieve
poverty. The people we work with are
often navigating mulliple public services
at once, which can be bolh confusing
and ove￿helMIng. A failure to
understand the system can leave them
without support they are entitled to. As
such immediate advice can directly
irnprove the material situation of
households. This prevents further
poverty, and can relieve poverty as well
le.g. through employment supporti.
Retreat
Retreats are a central aspect of The
Year of Rest. As stated in the initial
application, multiple studies las reviewed
by Alice Walton in the Chicago Review)
suggest that poverty related concerns
can lower IQ by using up mental
reSoUr￿S and leaving less available for
other tasks. The Year of Rest is
designed around giving support to some
of the concerns of poverty and as a
result leaving more mental capacity
amongst individuals experiencing it. This
not only alleviates one of the effects of
poverty, but it is also aimed at preventing
poverty by providing people with the
mental capacity and support to create
strategies out of poverty.
Retreats are central to this because they
allow a break from the concerns of
everyday life, a chance lo rest and reset
and then a chance lo strategise.
Retreats are organised in each third of
the year and are structured around a mix
of 1-1s and
rou
coachin
these are
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designed to enhance their wellbeing and
work with them lo come up with
individual support plans which outline the
casework needs they have addressed as
a result of sessions, and also how they
wanl lo be supported on working on their
mindsets
Retreats are completely funded,
everything from transport to food and
accommodation is included and freely
available to those registered on the Year
of Resl.
Although it is typical for many people lo
take holidays when they feel burned out
and lake time to rest and recuperate, for
many living on low incomes a chance to
get away is unaffordable. The cost of
transportlaccommodation is often too
high for individuals, and for single
parentslcarers who may need respite
from caring, they often cannot find or
afford suitable respite care so that they
can go away. This leaves people trapped
in environments which are not conducive
to rest. The place they live may nol feel
safe or restful to them, and they may
have lots of responsibilities within their
home.
In covering the costs of getting away
(from transport and food lo childcarel,
retreats also act to relieve poverty by
providing something which they would
othe￿iSe be unable to afford, bul which
has a positive impact on their wellbeing
and lives.
Community
Community is provided in two main ways
across the course of the retreats..
Community Dinners
Once a month every woman on
the programme meets to have
dinner together.
These dinners are free, and the
venue elc is paid for. At each
dinner there is a mix of socialising
and also group activities (whether
that be a craft activity or a group
coaching session).
This achieves two charitable
aims..
Firstly, because everyone who
benefits from The Year of Rest is
on a low income or living below
the poverty line, it would not be
ossible for them lo eat out and
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take some lime away from the
home in a month where they are
Se￿ed and looked after. This
offers a monthly opportunity to
socialise and leave the house, to
rest, and to enjoy an evening
together.
Secondly, because the people
who are registered on The Year
of Rest are all on low incomes (as
ascertained in the registration
process) and many have other
indicators of disadvantage
(outlined above), they can suffer
from social exclusion.
This can be due to a mix of
factors e.g. being unable to afford
social activities, suffering from
mental health issues which make
it hard for them to create new
relationships le.g. Borderline
Personality Disorder, Social
Anxiety, Depression), or caring
responsibilities which can make it
hard to socialise.
Dinners offer a chance for them
to build community with the same
group of people over the course
of the year.
It also offers a regular chance to
look at the women's support
plans and catch up on any
additional casework needs that
they want support with.
Mentoring
Each person on the programme is
paired with a mentor. Mentors
receive training lin both coaching
skills and safeguarding
pr0￿dUreS) and regular check-
ins with the Programme Director
after mentoring sessions.
Mentors work with individuals
registered on The Year of Rest
towards the personal goals that
they identify on the retreats in
their support plans.
Mentors meet once a month with
their mentees, and in doing so
provide emotional support.,
developing resilience and raising
aspirations, alongside providing
them with social connection.
All of this supports those on The
Year of Rest to make good
choices in all areas of their lives
financiall Irelationall lemotionall
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Many of those living on low
incomes feel like they live life
moving from one crisis to another.
mentoring allows regular time to
take stock of what is happening
and make proactive plans rather
than simply reacting to situations.
In Ihe complex mix of issues that
can cause poverty, this helps to
build a strategy and a strategi
way of thinking which gives
individuals on the programme the
tools lo address the long-term
roots of living on low incomes and
the resilience to make positive
decisions for long-term change.
Statement confirming
whelher the Iruslees have
had regard to the guidance
issued by the Charity
Commission on public
benefit
Vvhen writing the constitution, the trustees
referred to the guidance issued by the Chanly
Commission on public benefit.
Additional information loptionall
You ma
choose lo include further statements where relevant about..
Although we primarily have had t￿0
volunteers over the course of the year, they
have been a significant support. Offering
around 6-8 hours of mentoring a month and
also attending retreats.
Contribution made by
volunteers
Achievements and Performance
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Our aim over the course of the year is to work
with a small group of women to build
community, individual resilience and break
down their barriers to rest.
This year we worked with 10 women, 7 of
whom completed the programme al the end
of the year. The women we worked with were
all either in receipt of benefits or wrth no
recourse lo public funds, this means that it
would be challenging for them to afford time
away. Over the year they had 3 fully funded
retreats, monthly dinners, mentoring sessions
and access to advocacy services.
We supported with debt relief, housing
applications, repairs and accessing ID such
as passports.
We use a resilience scale (the Conor
Davidson Resilience Queslionnaire) to mark
the change in their resilience, this year the
women all increased by an average of 10
points. This data can be compared to data
used against different groups, and brings their
scores into line with the general populalion
rather than with groups who have faced
significant trauma.
The effect of this is shown in the barriers to
rest, each woman identified al least one
barrier to rest, all of which they noted a
omplete Ghange or significant improvement
with over the ear.
Summary of the main
achievements of the charity,
identifying the difference the
charity s work has made lo
the circUmstan￿S of ils
beneficiaries and any WKler
benefits to society as a whole.
Financial Review
Review of the charity's
financial position at the end
ofthe period
At the end ofthe year, we were left with
£2219, we spent more than our income over
the year bul this was part of a plan to spend
down some reserves.
Aim not to hold too large a reserve al the
end of the year but enough for a couple of
month's costs.
£2219
Statement explaining the
policy for holding rese￿e8
statin
are held
Amount of reserves held
Details of fund materially in
deficil
Additional information (optional)
You ma
choose to include further statements where relevanl about..
Our principal and sole source of funds is
individual donations.
The charity's principal
sources of funds {including
any fundraising)
Structure, Governance and Management
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Description of charity's
trusts".
Type of governing document
cio
Our goveming document is a written
constitution outlining the objectslpurposes
and structure of the CIO
The charity is a CIO registered with the
charity commission. We are governed by our
Gonstitution.
(a) Every charity trustee must be a
natural person.
(b) No individual may be appointed as a
charity trustee of Ihe CIO.
if he or she is under the age
of 16 years: or
if he or she would
automatica15y cease to hold
office under the provisions of
clause112{1)le)l.
(c) No one is entitled to act as a charity
trustee whether on appointment or on
any re-appointment until he or she
has expressly acknowledged, in
whatever way the charity trustees
decide, his or her acceptance of the
office of charity trustee.
(d) At least one of the trustees of the
CIO must be 18 years of age or over
If there is no trustee aged at least 18
years, the remaining trustees may
only act to call a meeting of the
charity trustees, or appoint a new
charity trustee
How is the charity
constituted?
Trustee selection methods
including details of any
constitutional provisions e.g.
election to post or name of
any person or body entitled
to appoint one or more
trustees
I l } Apart from the first charity trustees,
every trustee must be appointed for a
temi of three years by a resolution
passed at a properly convened
meeting of the charity trustees.
i ?) In selecting individuals for
appointment as charity trustees, the
charity trustees musl have regard to
the skills, knowledge and experience
needed for the effective
administralion of the CIO.
Additional information (optional)
You may choose to include further slatemenls where relevant about..
Reference and Administrative details
Charit
name
Other name the charit
uses
Re
islered charit
number
The Year of Rest
NIA
1201396
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Charity's principal address
Flat B201
134 Spa Road
SE16 3AE
Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity
Trustee name
Rachel Gray
Paul Whittlesea
Caragh Bennel
Elizabeth Blacknell
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Declarations
The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees, report above.
Signed on behalf of the charity's trustees
Signaturels)
Full name{sl
Position leg Secretary,
Chair, etc}
Rachel Gray
Chair of Trustees
Paul Vvhittlesea
Trustee
Date
2511012024
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**The Year of Rest 1201396 Receipts and payments accounts CC16a** 20/12/2022 31/12/2023 **For the period To from** 

## **Section A Receipts and payments** 

|**A1 Receipts**|**Unrestricted**<br>**funds**<br>**to the nearest      £**<br>**7,865**<br>**6,255**<br>**379**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**14,499**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br> <br>**-**<br>**14,499**|**Restricted**<br>**funds**<br>**to the nearest £**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**|**Endowment**<br>**funds**<br>**to the nearest £**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**|**Total funds**<br>**to the nearest £**<br>**7,865**<br>**6,255**<br>**379**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**14,499**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**14,499**|**Last year**<br>**to the nearest £**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|One-Off Donations|**7,865**||||**-**|
|Monthly Donations|**6,255**||||**-**|
|Other Income|**379**||||**-**|
||**-**||||**-**|
||**-**||||**-**|
||**-**||||**-**|
||**-**||||**-**|
||**-**||||**-**|
|**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for AR)_|**14,499**||||**-**|
|||||||
|**A2 Asset and investment sales, (see**<br>**table).**||||||
||**-**|||||
||**-**||||**-**|
|**_Sub total_**|<br>**-**||||**-**|
|**_Total receipts_**||||||
||**14,499**|**-**|**-**||**-**|





## **A3 Payments** 

|**A3 Payments**|||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|Retreat Costs|**9,113**||**-**||**-**||**9,113**||
|Fundraising|**800**||**-**||**-**||||
||||||||**800**||
|Advocacy|**12,840**||**-**||**-**||**12,840**||
|Community|**1,711**||**-**||**-**||**1,711**||
|Admin Costs|**829**||**-**||**-**||**829**||
||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||
||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||
||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||
||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||
|**_Sub total_**|**25,293**||**-**||**-**||**25,293**||



**A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table)** 

|||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||||
||**_Sub total_**|||||||||||
|||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||
||**_Total payments_**|**25,293**||**-**||**-**||**25,293**||**-**||
||**_Net of receipts/(payments)_**|**-                10,794**||**-**||**-**||**-                10,794**||**-**||
|**A5**|**Transfers between funds**|**-**||**-**||**-**||**-**||**-  **||
|**A6**|**Cash funds last year end**|**13,013**||**-**|<br>|**-**||**13,013**||**-**||
||**_Cash funds this year end_**|**2,219**||**-**||**-**||**2,219**||**-**||



**Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period** 



|**Categories**<br>**B1 Cash funds**<br>**B2 Other monetary assets**<br>**B3 Investment assets**|**Details**<br>2,219<br>**_Total cash funds_**<br>(agree balances with receipts and payments<br>account(s))<br>**Details**<br>**Details**|**Unrestricted**<br>**funds**<br>**to nearest £**<br>**2,219**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**2,219**<br>OK<br>**Unrestricted**<br>**funds**<br>**to nearest £**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**Fund to which**<br>**asset belongs**|**Restricted**<br>**funds**<br>**to nearest £**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>OK<br>**Restricted**<br>**funds**<br>**to nearest £**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**Cost (optional)**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**|**Endowment**<br>**funds**<br>**to nearest £**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||OK|
|||||**Endowment**<br>**funds**<br>**to nearest £**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**-**|
|||||**Current value**<br>**(optional)**|
||||**-**|**-**|
||||**-**|**-**|
||||**-**|**-**|





||||||||**-**||**-**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||||||||**-**||**-**|
||**Details**|||**Fund to which**<br>**asset belongs**|||**Cost (optional)**||**Current value**<br>**(optional)**|
|**B4 Assets retained for the**|||||||**-**||**-**|
|**charity’s own use**|||||||**-**||**-**|
||||||||**-**||**-**|
||||||||**-**||**-**|
||||||||**-**||**-**|
||||||||**-**||**-**|
||||||||**-**||**-**|
||||||||**-**||**-**|
||||||||**-**||**-**|
|||||**Fund to which**|||**Amount due**||**When due**|
||**Details**|||**liability relates**|||**(optional)**||**(optional)**|
|**B5 Liabilities**|||||||**-**|||
||||||||**-**|||
||||||||**-**|||
||||||||**-**|||
||||||||**-**|||
|Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of<br>all the trustees||Signature||Print||Name|||Date of<br>approval|






|Rachel Gray||31/10/2024|
|---|---|---|
|Paul Whittlesea||31/10/2024|



