Annual Report and Accounts July 24/March 25 ## **ANNUAL REPORT and ACCOUNTS 23 July 2024 – 31 March 2025** ## **1. Background:** ICON has always been ‘hosted’ by a parent organisation. In 2018 this was Hampshire Safeguarding Children’s Partnership and this moved to Warrington and Halton NHS Foundation Trust in 2020 with the establishment of a new ‘executive’ strategic group (ESG). This model served ICON well as the programme was rolled out across England, engaging with CCGs, voluntary agencies, safeguarding partnerships and later ICBs. The funding model included a one off fee which afforded ICON ESG the ability to offer a secondment for a senior nurse as programme manager for a period of 3 years and employ an administrative assistant part time for the same period. A decision was made in 2023 to pursue charitable status when it became apparent that continued income would naturally start to slow down as the programme spread. Unfortunately this meant also giving notice to our team who had done such an effective job in developing products, keeping social media content live, organising an annual ‘ICON week’ and ensuring some consistency of service delivery. ## **2. ICON Charity:** ICON formally received charitable status on 23 July 2024. The necessary Board of Trustees, banking details and constitution were established. ## **2.1 Trustee Meetings:** During the reporting period Trustees quarterly meetings were held on: - 21[st] January 2025 and dates set for the rest of the year for: - 2 June 2025 - 9 September 2025 The meetings have focused on approving policy documents, exploring ideas for accreditation, innovation awards and grant capture. An unsuccessful bid was made to Albert Hunt Trust in April 2025 Each Trustees meeting is followed by an extremely well supported meeting of ICON leads throughout the country known as National Steering Group. These meetings continue to be vibrant and offer rich insight and ideas as to the continued deployment and public health approaches to the ICON message. 1 Annual Report and Accounts July 24/March 25 ## **3. Research:** A qualitative NIHR research reported in February 2025: Evaluating ICON: A mixed methods study to assess the impact of the ICON programme on coping strategies for carers of crying babies, and rates of abusive head trauma in infants aged under one year authored by: Authors MD Lyttle, M Barnes, T Redaniel, H McLeod, J Brose, J Jackson, C Sillero Rejon, J Savovic, J Mytton. The findings were very positive for the strength of the programme in terms of helping parents and supporting professionals in empowering parents. It highlighted areas for improvement such as more involvement of GPs. This was an interim report and the full report, is due later in the year. In the same month a positive study was printed: Ped TV - educational videos in the waiting area—a quality improvement project. Authored by: Hannah L Mechie Noellie Mottershead , Salima Yasmin, James Thomson, Mechie HL, Yasmin S, Thomson J, et al. Arch Dis Child Educ Pract Ed Epub ahead of print: doi:10.1136/archdischild- 2024- 328057. The findings from this project found how showing the ICON videos in a waiting area in Paediatric Emergency Departments strengthened parental confidence in coping with crying. ## **4. Charitable funding** As the annual accounts show, charitable donations were received as follows: 15 Jan 2025 P Pleydell-Pearce Bike Ride £707.31 This event and ones that followed involved our active parents ambassadors families. During this period funds were transferred over from Warrington and Halton NHS Foundation Trust. The full report can be found at Appendix One. ## **5. New Commissions:** Since being a charity and during this reporting period, the Scottish Government commissioned a ‘Once for Scotland’ approach to rolling out ICON across the country in November 2024. This brought in funds of £20,000.00 Also in November 2024, the Isle of Man commissioned ICON at a cost of £1500.00. ## **6. ICON Week:** ICON week is now becoming a regular feature and different areas are taking innovative approaches in highlighting the message to all parents and especially men. This often involves different agencies like Police and Social Care, and voluntary organisations such as Change, Grow, Live. ICON Week in September 2024 included the launch of new materials, a Friends and Family leaflet and infographics for ‘I’ (infant crying is normal) and ‘O’ (it’s OK to walk away). ## **7. Digital and social media.** MJB Digital and Design continue to provide the digital/social media service for ICON. 2 Annual Report and Accounts July 24/March 25 During the reporting period, the ICON website was updated and refreshed enabling products to be more accessible including the elearning training and translation software known as Reachdeck. A comprehensive communications toolkit was circulated to the National Steering Group for ICON week and Christmas, allowing all areas to have something to use and also encouraging areas to utilise their own comms teams and contacts to promote ICON. Social media activity during the period up to December 24 included the following highlights: - Following continues to grow across social media channels - ICON at Christmas saw large increases in social media reach and website visits `o` Top three pages visited: - Advice for parents 11,490 - Infant crying is normal 6,125  Comforting methods can help 9,926 - 2,783 people accessed the elearning - 1,090 completed evaluations - 93% rated course good - Generally positive comments - Requests continue for more practical training around touch points - Facebook followers – 3,968 (4.1% men) ▲6 - Followers – 773 (5.6% men) ▲41 ## **8. Next Steps** Our priorities for the remainder of 24/25 and for 25/26 include: - Income generation and grant applications - New materials - Engage with Wales - Quality assurance. **Signed: Date:** 26/01/2026 ## **Print: Dr Suzanne Smith PhD, Founding Trustee.** 3 Annual Report and Accounts July 24/March 25 **Appendix One: Annual Accounts 23 July 2024 – 31 March 2026** ## ICON Finance – Annual Report For the period 23 July 2024 to 31 March 2025 ## **Section A – Receipts and Payments** ## **A1 Receipts** |**1 Receipts**|||||| |---|---|---|---|---|---| |Category|Unrestricted|Restricted|Endowment|Total Funds|Last Year| ||Funds (£)|Funds (£)|Funds (£)|(£)|(£)| |NHS/Government|22,163|–|–|22,163|–| |Income|||||| |Donation|707|–|–|707|–| |Subtotal (Gross|22,870|–|–|22,870|–| |income for AR)|||||| A2 Asset and Investment Sales: None Total Receipts: 22,870 ## **A3 Payments** Category Unrestricted Restricted Endowment Total Funds Last Year (£) Funds (£) Funds (£) Funds (£) (£) Running 5,655 – – 5,655 – costs Subtotal 5,655 – – 5,655 – A4 Asset and Investment Purchases: None Total Payments: 5,655 Net of Receipts / (Payments): 17,215 A5 Transfers Between Funds: None A6 Cash Funds Last Year End: None Cash Funds This Year End: 17,215 ## **Section B – Statement of Assets and Liabilities at Period End** B1 Cash Funds: Cash at bank £17,215 B2 Other Monetary Assets: None 4 Annual Report and Accounts July 24/March 25 B3 Investment Assets: None B4 Assets Retained for the Charity’s Own Use: None B5 Liabilities: None ## **Approval** Signed on behalf of the trustees: Paul Havey Date of approval: 26/01/2026 5