REGISTERED COMPANY NUMBER: 00986407 (England and Wales) REGISTERED CHARITY NUMBER: 262119 R•port of the Trustees and Audited Flnanclal S￿ements for lh• Y•ar Ended 31 D￿¢rnber 2021 BUNDAID Supporting Londoners with Sight Loss Nl *A8D5JIJT' 2Y0912022 rnupANIF.q Hni IqF A18 *340 BUNDAID Contents of the Financial Ststements for the Year Ended 31 December 2021 Page Report ol the Truste•8 1 to 20 R•port of the Indepndent Audllors 21 to 23 SL*ement of FIna￿[al Actlvllies 24 Balan￿ Sho01 25 Cash Flow Statem•nt 26 Notes to the Cash Fl¢yw Statem•rt 27 Not•$ to the Financial Statem•nts 28 to 38 BUNDAID {REGISTERED NUMBER: 009864071 Report of the Trustees for th• Yw Ended 31 December 2021 The trustees a￿ also directors of ts tharity f¢¥ the purposes of Companies Act 2006, p￿sent their port with the financial stalemenls of the tharity for the year ended 31 December 2021. The trustees h8ve adopted the provisions of Accounlirtg and Reporting by Charities.. Statement of Recommended Practice aPpI￿able to charities preparing their accounts in accordance the Finanrial ReFQrting Slandard appluble in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) {effective 1 January 2019). MISSION STATEMENT As London's oldest sigm loss charity. BlindAid vhwks to improve quafity of lrfe and promotes independeTKe for blind and ￿lsUallY impaired Lon¢Joners. We prowde indiwdualised practical and emotional support to redl￿ the s￿181 isolation that many peo* Imng ￿ sight knss can experience. OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES Obiectives The charity seeks lo alleviate lo￿lInesS arKI social isolati¢)n affecting visually-1mpai￿d people. 11 aims to empower service users to encourage and support irKlependent living. The charity also supwrts people suffering the emotional cOnsequen￿S of visual impairmenl. selv￿£s are provided free of charge. The charitls strategic obj'ectives are: - To develop the ¢hariVs Community Sight Suptx)rt ServKe to reach ￿1nd and vtsually impaired people wth support service that lakes account of their feedback. - To develop a eenlral Cc¥nmunty Project Hub at Camden Living centre. and also Online Community Programmes. - To improve the ability to identify and help those 7htho ￿ ber￿ffi1 from its seNces in the most effective way. - To implement the chari￿5 frjnding strategy to sethKe future Sou￿$ of I￿￿Me lo allow expansi(￿ of its 8cb'vilies. - To develop the infrastruclure and chariWs capacty necessary to xhieve these aims. Publ1¢ benefit The 8clivilies lo athieve the charitys 0tr4ectives are all carried out for the public benefit as de￿ribed by Ihe Charity CommissK)n. The beneficiaries of the charity are members of the public who a￿ in need because of health, disability or other problems arising from wsual impairment and the actIMt￿S of the charity seek to ensure these people can be supported by better seNces. The ch8rity sets out in this report the charitable wblic benefit of its actiwties. The Board members have complied wth the duty in section 17 of the Charities Ad 2011 to have due regard to pu￿1¢ benefit guidance published by the Charity Commission. 8UNDAID (REGISTERED NUMBER: 00986407 Report of the Trust¢es forlhe Year Errfled 31De￿Mb￿ 2021 COVIO-19 Global Pandèmlc 2020-2021 In February 2020. the senior managemenl team made essential risk assessments in relation to the impact the COVID-19 virus may have on all aspects of the charity's operations. and those risk 8ssessmenls have been continued throughout 2021. ￿1ndAld has attained more days working in the community with our service users than in 2020, bul was still disrupted. as dictated by the virus and surges in case numbers. a further lockdown period earfy in the year. and the arrival of the Omicron variant causing higher ase numbers toward the erKI of 2021. BlindAid delivers service to blind arKI visually impaired peopk age 18+ howtver. the majorrty profile of our beneficiaries is 50+: wlh a high percentage of I1￿Se Fwle also hawng more ￿rnplex health conditions in addition to 8 sKJht impaimienL Therefore, a prowrtionale number of our benefKiaries vffte themselves in51ru¢ted to shield from exposu￿ lo C-19 penotjtally. Our Community Sight Support Service nomially prowdes regular outreach visits to Ser￿Ce users in their o¥m homes. Each Sight Support Wciker has hi51orically. prior to C-19, yisiled approximately M serwce usets per day, travelling on public transport in be￿en visits. The proximity for people within those h¢)mes. no opportunities to affectlmanage conditions was determined to te high risk for both serwce user5 as well as our slaff. For 7 years Prior to March 2020. 81indAid operated three Ccrfnmunty Prgects in London I(￿atiOnS Wthin our area of operation. Service users travelled to the Communty Projects venues on pU￿1C transport or Dial-a-Ride to share classes on a variety of sutr4'ects: our Community Projects were therefore also detemiined to be high risk for servrce users. staff. bJtors volunleers and so they were closed as a direct result of the pandemic. In 2021 Blin(JAid was avrdrded funding from The City BrKlge Trust lo promde a Community Projecl hub centrally placed al Kings Cross for the next th￿e years from April 2022-2024. BlindAid has 18ken the prudent decision to only reopen additional Communty Projects if exlemal funding Can be secured lo do in the future. BlindAid operates a social project called Share London. fully trained sighted guide volunteers are matched with seNce users lo enable them to get tyJt to enjoy a variety of social outings around London.. this service also Vfds determir￿d to be high risk. and wth agreement from our funder. Big Lottery Reaching Communities. ￿ converted the project lo provide swal telephone ca115 during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and 2021 during periods vthere C-19 cases ¥￿Te considered too high lo safely continue to 5UPPOrt accompanied social outing5 in Lc¥Klon. The UK Govemment detemiined that C-19 virus was most highly transmissible indoors in enc￿Sed areas. From Monday 16 Mar¢h 2020 all ￿MMUrI1ty based BlindAid seNces were ceased. and as all staff began working from home. there was no wuirement to fudough any staff. All relevant operating policies. Job Oescriptions. Work Instnjctions were redrafted. aTrJ some new documents specifically relating to working from home during COVID-19 were issL￿d. Senior management devised a work plan and an inibal 'scripted framework. for Sight Support W0￿erS to V￿rk through as they began calling service users, during a time of nabonal pandemic. Calls were ma¢Je inrtially. a minimum of once K*r week to offer ¢omp8ny. conversation. and as much practical assistance as and %there posSib￿_ Blind￿"d m8de signrf¢3nt contributions during the lockdowns of 2020 by making a 5Trgnificanl number of safeguarding ￿POrtS to local 8uthorilies throughout ils area of operdlion. The safeguarding reports alerte(I I(￿1 8vlhorities to people who were p￿vIOuslY otherwise unknown to Social Serv￿ bul were now in immedjale need of 8sse5sment for e55enlial services to be sel up for them such as medication deliverie5. thJr team worked ti￿less1Y to connecl people lo food deliveries and for those in dire financial need to food banks and free food delivery Serw￿. ThrougtrKJut 202012021 we have cc¥ntinued to risk assess and monilor the situation carefully throughout peaks. troughs, and new surges of the virus. Regular risk assessments and all reasonable Precautions such as gloves and mask wearing for all face to face work. wll continue until BlindAid is confident that these precautions are no longer needed for the prolectrjn of our stsff. Iheir families. volunteers. including trustees. and naturally our vulnerable seNKe users. Until that time, BlindAid remains agile, adaptable, and flexible. We are keeping under review all other means of COnr￿ting with our benefiryaries to continue to deliver meaningful support for thern throughout this difficult time. The sight loss wodd is particulady ta¢tile and therefore many of our serw￿ users are experiencing additwal anxiety 5*thich we can and musl help lo mitigate. BUNDAID IREGISTEREO NUIA8ER: 00986407) Report of the Tw$tr¢$ for the Year Ended 31 December 2021 COVID-19 Global Pandemi¢ 2020-2021 {¢ortknwdJ In September 2020 BlindAid bid for and VAS awarded £100K ffftdrng by Big Lottery to develop 8 'Hybrid &ght Support Service. vthich vrds part of their COVID Response Programme. There was a stipulation that this fundirvJ should be expended the year arKI xtmties in this res￿1 are detailed in the achievemen15 section of this report. In 2020 the Sight Support w￿kerS way of *￿ing abngsKle our swvice users was largely disrupted by the C-19 pandemic. in 2021 il was disnjpted tw t￿1 to a lesser deg￿e. In addilton, and due lo the pandemic, referrals to our charity increased signifKanlly aryj because 311 stsff We￿ vrt)rkin9 from home. our Sight Support Workers were ab￿ to support substants.al numbers of additional blnd and visually impaired people who were in need. During 2021 this addib.onal capacity became an additional challenge, il wa5 8 delicate management balance to ensure we ccMJld conb.nue lo prowde servte to all the blind and wsually impaired people we al￿adY had a commthenl lo. and lo avoNI the need to wthdraw service as we made the retum to Working in the community face to face again. This took skiwul management by our Operations ￿'rectOr and our senrice le8m le￿er to achieve. tr)ut v* have carefully ￿alIgned seNce users with SSWS wth capacity and we have not needed lo vthhdraw ￿Y service atready pledged. *thich is a real accomplishment and an excellent example to teafflwork. Flnancial Mitigation: In March-April 2019 the trustees acied Frfudenlly to de4isk the Chari￿$ investments by mowng to safer inveslment funds. This action was primarily taken due lo the then finanaal climate and impending Brexit and was completed before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. It has been ar￿ continue5 to be imposgble vthilst the pandemic wntinues. to specukte on the eventual financial impact of COVID-19 on the charitys investments. SenK)r management decitletl the charty had no need to fUrI￿gh staff. and altematively Y￿ elected to totally redesign the way BlindAKJ opeolet1 due lo Ihe COVID-19 pandemic, and cOMp￿ted this huge task ahead of the UK first lockdown, moMng lo a Wofk h(xme slatus on Monday 16 March 2020. Simultaneously. we needed to focus upon making sustsine(l efforts I￿￿hOut 2020r2021 to mitigate the pandemic* financAal impact on BlindAid and we this by: 1. MakiThJ cost savings where appropriate and possib￿. 2. Not replaung staff who reliredlresigned and reallocabng duts.es to other staff. 3. Renegoliating supplier ￿traCts. 4. Maknng signffi￿nt numbers of applicab'ons for grant fundirKJ to support our ccrfe Ser￿CeS. 5. Apptying IL￿ specific Government COV1[￿19 fijnding. (2020- £174KI. The prevailing circumstances ￿lating to the gkjbal COVIO-19 pandemic naturally remain under constant rewew by ihe board of trustees and senior management. BlindAid's approach will continue to be prudent. conservative. and caubous in its fiseal management as 814ways. bul especially throughout Ihis unprecedented and challenging lime for all organisalions. BUNDAID (REGISTERED NUMBER: 00986407) Report of thè Trustees for the Year Ended 31 Decern￿r 2021 ACHIEVEMENT AND PERFORMANCE harftablg Activities and Achievements The CO￿ activty of Ihe charity for over 188 years has been lo visit predominantly i501aled. blind and visually-impaired pecple awss ts fvlelve inner London boroughs in their own homes. Lalesl RNIB 51alisti¢s findings related to visual impaimienl and sight loss are: - Children 0-25 years = 0.2% approx 2 in every 1.000 chihdren - 48/• of all adult sight Ioss is attributable to Age Related M8¢ul8r Degeneration. In 2013 there We￿ an estimated 1.93 million people living with sight loss in the UK. - By 2050 wlh Ihe number of people living wth sight kjss irueasing year on year 1.93 millM)n will grow to 4 million. BlindAid provide5 seryice for adults aged 18+ bul the largest cO￿rt of BlindAid beneficiaries are aged 50 years and above. BlirKJAid specialises in reaching this largely hidden community of blind and visually impaired Londoners. to allewate ihe isolaiion that can resutt from ￿ght loss. Our Community Sight Support Service is free ol charge, for anyone with any type of visual impairment, re&denl in any of Ihe 12 inner London Boroughs which is BlindAid's area of operation. Beneficiaries do not r￿d to be registered lo qualify for our support. ￿1ndAl￿ is the only spwalist outreach charity based in central London offering a defined pathway of support arKI socaal connection. that priorilises Londoners who are older and isolated in the community. In previous years, each of ￿1ndAld'S Sight Support Workers ISSWSI. was responsible for supporling approximately 45-50 service users, wsiti.ng typically every fortright. The frequency ol visits may be varied lo meet indiwdual needs. SSWS M)ically focus M a part￿Ular tKJrough. for ease of logistics tyJl will also visit indiwduals in other boroughs to optimise coVer￿e. vknere capacrty pemiits. SeThice users are visited at Jme. in shdtered accOmmc*Jat￿n or re5idenb"aVnursing homes. BlindAid's ethos is to treat each Serv￿ user as an individual. prioritising Ihose who are i501ated 8nd living alone. 8nd delivering support as required and walued. The majority of service users have been diagnosed with sight loss in adullhood," Ihis can be traumati¢. and Ihe indmdual period of adjustmerbt can vary enomously depending yFrt)n personal resilience. Referrals for our support are ￿ceiVed from warious sources.. specialist sensory. sctial work and community mental health teams of local aLrthorit￿S. hospitsl eye clinics, and GPS, as v*ll as from people who experience Ioss of vision lor their friends or family). An inthal assessment visit is made lo understsnd first hand individual needs. coping abilib.es and lo detemiK* whether the charity can be of asSists￿e to meet Ihose needs. During a visit. the SSW wll offer company aTrJ conNErsatM lo help al￿￿riale lonéliness and reduce isolation: practical help and gullance will olso be Offe￿ Nvhere needed. appropriate and welcomed. The SSW will also encourage parbcipalion in. and s￿npoSI to both BlindAid Community & Online Projects and other suitable local social 8clivibes. Many servKe users who are exlremely is¢Jated have been visited consistently over many years. In some instances. the SSW ￿11 be one of the few social contacts some people have. Reaching out lo people in the communrty is therefwe Trffjry important to many seThice users and g¢xJd relationships are usually e5tabli5hed over lime. AII SSWS are empbyed by BlindAid and are carefully selected.. they an hold current ethanced Disclosu and Barring Certificates. Although many other charities use v(Aunteers lo undertake swnilar wsils, BlindAid telieves that deploying salaried. full-tÈme staff. provides greater consistency, reliability, and qLJalty of support. SSWS ￿Ceive regular v¢)cabonal training. and the level and quality of service is regLblarty monitored Ihrough supeNsion meetings as well 8s through key pertom)ance indicators aThJ annual aLbdit tetephone calls and Focus Groups with servKe users. Befv￿n 1 January and 13 March 2020 SSWS wsited Serv￿ users al home primarily fortnighlly. Thereafter. all SSWS began V•r)rking from home due 10 l¢)ckdown restricb.ons imposed by the UK Govemment and BlindAid coMpl￿d throughout 2020 and 2021 wth ihese restriclions. A5 there was no reason to furfough any staff. SSWS made regular weekly le￿Ph(￿￿ calls to all Serv￿ users in place of visils. BUNDAID IREGISTEREO NUMBER: 00986407) Report of the Trustees for the Yw Endod 31 D•c•mlJer 2021 Core Servl¢e: Community Sight Support Service: Big Lottery Rea¢hlng Communities . C-19 Response Fund Award £100K BlindAid applied lo Reaching Communilies to support our core ￿￿)￿. our Sight Support Service, and to design a new hybrid seivice slnjcture that V￿UkI facilitale BlindAhl services to be delivered during and post pandemic. A prorx)rtion of this funthng {£76K} vras avrarded speafically to support our Community Sight Support Service. Our Irained. skilled Swht Support Workers are ernP￿yed by the charily lo deliver a valuable service for blind and visually impaired Londoners. We believe our service is unique and meets a clear. otherwise unmel need in KKiety. No other charity in London pThdes the type of outreach support that BlindAid does for its beneficiaries. The balance of this lund4ng 1£24K) was speciftslly awarlled lo ￿lMagine the ways have prevK)usly provided support and to design our Hybrid Sight Supwrt Service. We Ihis significant support in September 2020 and we were required to expend the fijnding before the year end. ￿1ndAld is a small tharity and the timing of this win presented addIt￿nal ChaI￿nge$ for the management team in resourcing both this imp)rtant project whilst at the same lime. dealing wilh the huge spike of general operational activity produced as a result of the C-19 wrus. When worked ￿ the design of Ihe new HybrKI Sight sup[￿ Serwce. as alvrdys. w¢ consulted with our service users. as well as our staff team deliver the sermce. We organised 14 online Focus Groups and each group made up of seNce users from all the 12 Boroughs fft vthich we work. Groups consisted of betsveen 8 and 20 people and each group V￿re asked a detsiled selection ol questions about our previous, current, Wished for and future seNces. In total we consulted wth approximatdy 300 beneficiaries. Our service useT5' responses were illuminating. informatwe, and honest. Most imp(Mtsnlly , wort(ing together we defined a new way of operats.ng more fftexibly whth has alloved us lo ￿a¢h more people than ever. It also assists us lo remain agile and to dol upldovm our outrea¢h communtty vrt)rt(. whith benefits us because we are able to respond in an agile to the wrus as it peaks and troughs. The Ser¥￿e users, bright ideas for how our service could be re-shaped were collated and are now built into our r￿W service model. We also held online consultstions with our staff team to feedback service users opinions and aspirations, encouraging open dialcgue and welcoM￿g staff opinions and idea5 wthich are also inctxwrated inio ow wnproved seThice model. The Big Lottery COVID-19 Respvise Funtling, was expended 7Mthin the six m￿th allocated deadline and oduced a new st￿e service that we know is 8 futu￿ asset for BlirKJATrd. 81indAid's Hybrid Sight Support ServLe has been operaling through¢yJl 2021 as a pilol. the ex¢eplion of lockdown January- March 2021. Due to the Omicron variant of the C-19 ￿rus, in December 2021 Blindth'd d not operate its outreath se￿e due kn the very high transmission numbers for safety reasons. The C-19 virus is not yet over. and so are stsll working with ¢)ur staff team as well as It51ening to the V0￿e$ our tenefici8ries as we finesse our new seNce to enswe that this hybrid seNKe Ffomdes the best overall performance outcomes possible for beneffioaries. Our gratitude and thanks ￿ to Ihe Bi9 Lottery Reachiry Communities grant panel Ntho assessed our btd and awarded this subslanlial funding that enabled ￿1ndAld lo revolutionise our core semce. This key funding helped to sustain our vital core service throughout a tru￿ drfficull period and ha5 helped BlindAid lo reach more people than ever before. The drfferen￿ in our operating praclices runs Ihroughout our entire seNce process from ¢he first assessment meeting. ensures we are mindfully reassessing our inlervenlions. and we have develope(l a greater agility in OLsr practice Nthich delivers increased capabilily to meet all the challenges the C-19 wrus brings. Reduction in Resources 2019-2020 and 2021: Increase in SeNice Provision: For comparison. pre-pandemic. in 2019 BlindAid Sight Supwrt Workers totalled 17.. 14 full time and 3 part time workers. Al the end of December 2019 one fvll time SSW retired. In 2020 we recorded 2 further part time staff rets"remenls and one full lime re￿gnatiOn from our SSW team. leawng a total of 13 full time SSWS and 1 part time. None of the roles were replaced to save costs due to the ur￿ertaInty of the pandemic. Fortunately, Ihe beneficiaries who We￿ supwrted by the members of staff ￿ left BlindAid. were absorbed by all other members of the le8m and ￿ did rK)l %Mlhdraw any support al￿adY allocate(l. This was made possi￿8 because all staff were woM"ro from home initialty and there were no joumeys beh¥een seNce users. BLINDAID (REGISTERED NUMBER: 00986407) R•port of the Trustees for th• Yèar End¢d 31 December 2021 Throughout the COVID-19 pandern￿. BlindAid continued toth purp)sefvlly and successfiJlly to increase in the charity's reach. by developing the new Hybn'd seThice stsndards. which has optimised visiting logistics. by reassessing all serw¢e users and agreeing wth Ihem Iheir need for Msits at home. In this way we have reduced the number of days spent wsiting in the community each week, whilst in addition maintaining smaller number of benefici8ries being c81W by an experienced SSW. vhy) can also be connected wrth a Share London volunteer for social outs.ngs rf they ch005e. We have also ￿￿eWed wr initial assessment procedure and introduced key milestone re-assessments to ensu￿ V•E are delivering seNce mindfully. We continue to review all seThKe Pro￿sseS to optimise ￿an activity. For comparison.. P￿ COVID-19.. In 2019 BlindAid's Sight Supp)rt Semce made c13.O¢XI individual Msits to serwce users al home, with each SSW sukyirtin9 c48. Ser￿Ce users. v*hich had been a hHJh capacity standard we have maintained acros5 the past few years. In 2020 Msiting service users was conststenl up until 16.03.2020. when stsff stsrted from home and seNce users wEre 5UPPOrted by th*r SSW weekly cals and therefore each SSW was supporting c65 people. In 2021 we rolled our new Hybrid Si9ht Support Serwce and Ihe number of 5eNice useT5 being supported by each SSW was defined at 70 people per SSW %thich is manageable due to more agile Wa￿ of ¥K)rking. The lotal number of COVID-19 sp￿lfi¢ xtiwties undertaken 20217•Yas 4.624. In 2021 the lolal number of conts¢ts made thtyth service users was a total of.. 36.502 (Staff: 30,555 and Volunteers.. 5.9471 which indudes Share London a¢tiMtss ¢onduded by vdunteers. This ￿markable uplift was aC￿MpliShed With signfficanuy fewer re￿rCeS in 2021 and during C-19 in addition to.. An increase in the nunber of referyals for ow sefwices of 38812020 256). Working Differently in 2021: Rolllng the New Hybrid Sight Support Servi￿. ResourC￿g.. There Y￿￿ 3 SSWS fevo than in 2020 plus a 2 month gap in seThioe provision in one Borough due to the need for a recruiiment campaign. 1.644 visits were made lo service user5 vknen wthing in the community to December 2021 except for the ckdown regulations ￿en the Omicron valiant cau5e(I numbers of cases of COVID-19 to sF4ke, and stsff temporarily worked from home once again. In 2021: 28.891 regular SLPPOrt calls ￿Tre made to SerW￿ usef5. The lolal of contacts with servKe users ihrcwghrArt 2021 vras 30.555. a pro(lU￿1vIty increase of 6%. 4,613 instances.. providing Infmti¢￿ about govemment C-19 guidelires and vawnalions programme {2020 4.0621. 2,548.. referrals to other appropriate I￿81 organisations12020 2.645). 80 referrals lo food banks or registered for new food sources signfficanl decrease {2020 4061. 878 referrals lo social requested by beneficyaries12020 7681. 1,001 contact with housing dep￿a$S￿latiOns requested by beneficiaries a significant iruease12020 7271. 128 a¢Jdilion81 beneficiaries referre(l and sefftd by Ihe Sight Sw)port Pathway and 1.115 people were supported in 2021. Across all serwces 1.212 people were supported by BlindAid in 2021. BUNDAID (REGISTERED NUMBER: O(1980407) Report ol the Twstees forlhe Year Ended 31 De¢ember 2021 Vocation81 Tralnlng: BlindAid remains keen to xtively (ievel¢)p a t￿ad specialist th"Il base for all SSWS lo ensure maximun benefit for our beneficiaries. ￿1nd￿d invests in ts empbyee5 and therefore, the charity offers staff four full day training sessions each year. The curriculum offers a variety ol relevant vocational training programmes prowding SSWS wlh the practical tools they need lo enjoy and fulfil their roles to the best of their abilities WKI lo ensure that service users dwive tangible benefits. Corn Serrflce: Community ProJ•¢ts: In March 2020, the charity's well knovm netYK*rk of three WEII established Community Projects were all closed due lo the COVID-19 pandemic. il was decided that the charity could no longer afford to fund these projects from its reserves 90ing forward. For blind and visually impaifed people Community Projects are a vital stage in regaining and strengthening their personal re&lience and confidence to get out into society. They also offer crilical social contact wilh the ability to eslabltsh a netsvork of friends and *Jditional support. Unfortunately. they are expensive lo ¢yrate. costing betsveen £30.WO lo £50.000 per annum, this difference being the cost of renting space frfym local authorrties. The curriculum of courses offered have alwajs inc￿ed healthy eatsng and safe-cooking skills,. yoga or other exercise Glasses: art and craft- creative vffiling arKI importantly IT training al both beginner and intermediate leve15. The dasses typically njn over 16-week terms and participants are encouraged to attend for a minimum of one full day each ￿￿k. There is a strong soaal focus to the actimbes lo encourage parts'cipants to gel to know each olher both during dasses arKI over lunch. It is an intended OLrtcome thal people fonn independent peer support groups and continue to meet and communicate after their courses have ended. All three COMM￿lty projects V*Ere open to WindAid Servi￿ users. also *ekomed other people wth sight loss vtho V￿re ￿feffed by local avlhority. NHS (K other I￿al services or charities. BlindAid has always encouraged attendees lo travel independenuy to the centres and has promded sighted gutde support, from travel points lo Ihe project hubs. We have consislenlly V￿rked in partnership wlh Dial-a-Ride for many years. to ryovide Iransp)rt h%there independent travel is not possible. Ouring Cov1￿19 202012021 81indA*J converted dasses that had been available at community based projects. Several pikjt classes were made available initially to seN¢e users online including yoga and mindfulness. ereative writing.. and art. The pilot da5ses Niere so successful that BlindAid has alreaty determined that post COVID-19 will retain online classes. because the servKe users attending online sessions, for the first time. induded a cohort of people who have been previously excluded due lo extremely limited mobility and who were not a￿e lo travel lo in person dasses. Our 2020 arl project was called Slefognosis 8nd was sponsored by John Lws_ At the end of 2020 we were delKJhted lo host an online Art Exhibition entitled 'Blue Postcards.. 11 was a siM￿e bul powerful concept." each service Ljser was given a postcard size canvas logelhef with only blue paint. The stsndard and sheer variety of wyyk was both inspired and excellent. The artist arKI course tutor. Scott. narrateLI an audio description lor the 50 people who attended online. The artists were inwted lo talk about their individual pieces of art, the comradery be￿een arbsts was tangible. as was the positswty aboul the ￿￿klY art sessions. We acknovAedge the talent of our tutor, who rapidly adapted h￿ leathing style. most remarkably to V*vrk ￿th blind and visually impaired people via an online ￿atrOm7. genty guiding and encouraging our senKe users emerging artistsc talents. Pre COVID-19 pa)demic: All BlIn￿d C(mmunty based ProJ"ects we managed by 8 project manaoèr and superv15ed day lo day by project cwrdinator based at each of the community venues. Classes were delivered by qUalif￿d subject tutors together with several dedicated volunteers vtho were on hand to asstst Servi￿ users vthere needed. Some of the thariws volunteers are them5elve5 visually-impaired who. having joined the projects as service users. have Chosen lo retum as volunteers to offer peer support for newcomers to the Proiects subsequenljy. The charity listens 10 Service user5, voirE5 regulady durir¥J the lime they are attending Community Projects. We create three strLthred purposeful engagements with service users allowing for feedback and the measU￿rnent of progress for all stskeholders. ServÉce Users asprations antl abilrbes a￿ noted during a pre-progiamme assessment., benchmarke(18gain mN1temi ar%1 again finally before they leave the Project. SeNice users. opinions, therefore. are fed into BlInd￿"d'S ￿anning. preparation and inform the final choice of dasses offered. helping the charity to meet the needs of Ihe people attending as dosely as possible. BUNDAID (REGISTERED NUMBER: 00986407) Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 December 2021 During the seven years our Community Projects have been part of core servTrce programme, all th￿e project locations ¢weraled al full capacity. During the first three months of 2020 all three of the Chariws Cornmunity Projects ￿e exlremety popu18r and oversubscribed as awdys. Some online classes piloted in 2020 and have successfully continued throughout 2021. These proved very popular and defined another agile way of vK>rking lor BlindAid in the provision of online dasses vthich appealed lo an extended cohort of BlIn￿d seTrice usefs. Fee(Iback from p8itpanls' have attended BlindAid COMM￿lty Projects in prewous years has remained con5151ently and ovethelmingly posib"ve,' sirKe 2014 and again in this year lo date 1¢)0¥0 ol service users have mevconnecled wth al ￿ast one new fn.end that they maintain connection with from attending our classes. The lolal cost of the provision of ￿Jr Community Proiec15 frcrfn inception lo date has t4en b¢)me by BlindAid from its reserves. During 2021 BlindAid su¢¢essfully applied for a grant to fund one centrally based Community Prqect and was successful. The City Bridge Twsl avrarded BlindAKI £81.300 to fuThJ a three year projed Nthi¢h *ill be available from 22 April 2022 lo¢ated at The Centre which is a community hub located in the Francis Crick Inslilule in Oussulton Street NW1 1 DF. close to KHigs Cross Station. BlindAid is gralefvl to The Cty Brityge Furby for their financi81 support of this vital C8m¢Jen Community Proect, an¢J we a￿ also grateful for the team al the Living Centre fof hostsng our project free of charge. BlindAid apweciate5 the e￿ernal ackno￿edgmefit of the intn"n5ic value our Community Proiects offer blind and MSLtrally impai￿d Londoner5. We believe these organisats.ons recognise the need for this tsngiue support for our beneficiaries 15 a vital part of our Sight Supwt Pathway." 81indAid 15 now actively seeking third party financial support to enable these valuable actiwties to continue, expand and benefii a wider cohort of Londoners V•ith lived experience of soht loss. Additional BllndA5d Support S8rvlces: Telephon8 Support Sop*lce: The charity offers a telephone support Servi￿ for. - service user5 who prefer lo have a regular Social call in place of a ￿$lL - service user5 who are on the wailing list ￿ the Community Sight Support Sewe. - service users who which to Part￿1pate in peer support on the telephone. In the past Mr• years ￿1ndAld has made Tele￿one Support MO￿ widely avarlable to service users by delivering this wa an ever-gfowing number of volunteers. and the ¢t￿bined number of volunteers registered in the past th￿e years is just over 300. BlindAbJ has t>ys of vokjnleers: 1. Vdunteers are themselves experieneing rthr sKJhl. registered seveoly sight impaired or blind. 8nd so deliver peer to peer telephone support and guidance. The charity has a good number of sefvice users ho are competent and wlling to offer peer suppcwt for others. Volunteers are primarily matched wth people share similar interests arKI fry they are V￿11 *ed to offer a regU￿r Social and support call. 2. 81indAid uses a bespoke ￿b-baSed Telephone contr￿ SyBtem that faolitates a safe telephone connection that ensu￿$ confidenliality for tM)th volunteers and seNce vsers. Volunteers received a short training on how to use the soffv48re as part of their inducth"on. and both cl￿13¢1 numbers a￿ recorded in the softsvare. The volunteer is Itw) a￿e lo call the seryice user ￿lthOU1 either Ferson sharing personal telephone numbers for safeguarding purposes. For comparison.. During 2019 ihe number of service users enioyiry our tslephone ser¥i¢e was 67. During 2020 the number of seNice users enjoyiw our telephone supp￿1 was 110. Duiing 2021 the number of service Ljsers enjowNJ our telephone supwt was 120. BUNDAID {REGISTERED NUMBER: 00986407) Report of the Twstees for th• Year Ended 31 De￿rnber 2021 In part due lo the COVID-19 pandemic 8 parlieular 'Cur￿A¢Y of kindness. was more p￿valent throughout 2020 8nd 2021. As a result. BlindAid experienced a muth higher number of semce users being referred to the charity for support, and also people self•referring. independently reaching out for support during exceptionally d¢fficult ts"mes. Al the same bme higher numbers ol rM¥ volunteer5 were contscling the charity wanting to promde help and support for our C￿mMUn￿. The￿fore. we were able lo recruiL train and match a significandy increased number of volunteers. and so total numl)er of Calls to service users recorded in 2021 was 5.947. Almost 811. Isolated seNce users have been rer*iviTrJ regular Meekly soual calL8 during th8 pand8mic from their peer group volunteer. Some V￿￿nteers have also supported more than one seNce user. During periods of reStr￿￿"On$ and I￿kdOwn$. when our Share London Volunteers were not able to SOCl81ise and take ServI￿S users out to enjoy the City. they trxj called their serwce users each V+tek to ensure that no service users was isolated through￿1 those diffKull times. BlindAid intends lo continue to promote our telephone supFx)rt seryice lo continue to grow the number of semce usefs who can enjoy this Valuab￿ source of contscl. Share London Pro5ect- funded by &9 Lottery Reaching comm￿ltieS in 2019 BllndAid was awarded £99.250 In lale 2019 &indAid launched a new purely social project cal￿d Share London. which h85 oper8led thrcwJghout 2020-2021 and is funded through until Oclober 2022. Share London was designed by 81indAid to recruit 240 volunteers a(xoss three-year lrfe of the project and to recruit. induct. train and match them V•ilh likeminded blind and wsually impaired Londonets to experience social aclimlies and Ir(erally 'Share London, together. This project ensures that service users can enjoy 811 the culture, open SPa￿s. galleries. and other Inte￿$ting experiences Ihat London offers N the security of 8 trained svJhted guide alongside them. This unique social project offers beneficiaries a powerful combination of the confidence to leave home knowing their sighted guide will provide support if drfhcutties are encounte￿ during the outing. as well as someone to share their interests 7Mth. In the first year (Share LorKlon altracted over 132 new volunteers who applied to I￿n the project and BlInd￿d recorded a total of 682 12019) Ydried activities undertaken by volunteer and service user partnerships. The nature of actimlies varied V*idely and included outings such as sits lo museums arKI galler￿. a walk n the part. wir¥J for a coffee or a trip to Ihe theatre. In 2020. external outings took place bets￿en 01.01.2020 and 16.03.2020. when swal outings using si￿ted guide volunteers were suspended due lo the COVID-19 pandem￿. Due to COVID-19 pandemic the Share LoThJon Project vras not able to operate in the usual way in matching volunteers servKe user5 face lo face, and to allow them to enjoy the varied Tange of activities London has lo offer together. The woiect is funded by Big Lottery Reaching Communities, vtho reached out to BlindAid e8dy in 2020 to offer us an opportunity lo repurpose our project. wthout loss of funding already awarded or funding due to be paid in 2021122. 81indAid is grateful to Big Lottery for this opportunity as our volunteers stepped up aThJ wasted r¥) thances to suppjrt the seNLX users that they h*J been matched th throughout 2020 and 2021. In 2020 BlindAid's Vdunteer Specialist, recxuited. traned a￿1 deF4oyed the remaning 108 volunteers needed lo attain the lotsl of new V￿UnteerS we were aimiNJ to recnjtt at the start of this project. Our 240th volunleef was reglstered one year and three months ahead of our proiect tarw. BlindAid Ihanks each of the wonderful Volunteers who stepped forward during an extremety diff￿￿tt year to gtlt their time in providing support for BlindAid seryice u5er5 as this year you all achieved so much for our beneficiaries have found themselves in need of new frierKls. Our volunteers co1￿ctive1Y achieved a tolal during 2020 of 5.055 individual social contact ￿11$ with serwce users. some volunteers offering lo make 8 b￿ger difference and call rn0￿ than one person ea¢h **ek. BUNDAID (REGISTERED NUMBER: 00986407) Report of the Twstees for the Year Ended 31 D•wnb•r 2021 81indAid's Annual Celebration: The charity's Annual Celebration had been hdd for many years priLY lo Ihe COVID-19 pandemK. 11 was the largest soc181 event for people ¥￿th sight loss in Ihe ￿Untry. and very sadly our last Annual Celebration was held in September 2019 as il was cancelled in 2020 due to C-19. This wonderful event previously gathered over 40Q seNce u5eT5 from 8¢ross all 12 inner London BLYoughs Ihal the charity serve5. We were graciously offered the Grand Hall at Westminster Central Hall for many year5 free of charge. %thi¢h we have always fully appreciated. arKI we are enormously graleffiJl that the senior team at this prestigious venug have oxlgnded their offer to host our e¥tnt in Ihe futwe wthen it is safe to do so. Social E¥•nts and Activiti•s: Prior lo the COVltk19 Mnjs pandemic. BlindAid was particularfy fortunate to have been ¥x)nsored to provide many wonderful soaal events, ￿1¢h were I￿e of charge for our beneffi¢iaries. which were incredibly popular and well allended. Corporate Sponsor: Ernst & Young (EY} based ai More LoThJon on Tooley Street. which 15 very Ictal lo our head office in Bermondsey Street SE1 3UB. have enjoyed a warm 8-year relationship". Collaboratively ￿ have organised suth events as.. Annual Chrislmas Shopping Trips." those seNce users woukl otherwise not be able to sh¢Jp Independen￿y. over 8 years over 1.000 service users have enjoyed this special day out, shopping wth EY volunleefs arld having refreshments befo￿ bery tsken home. River Walks.. From Lond¢M Bridge to the Royal Festival Hall. So many service users have enjoyed Walking along the Soulhbank. with their EY volunteer alongsKYe them, a￿110 describing the buildings either side of the River Thames 8$ well as what was happening on Ihe river itself. Many serwce users especially like lo slop %there there is a shordine to listen to the waves. We have trained c41>50 annually in SMJhted Guiding techniques and issued them certificates. Approximately. 360 EY empkjyees have another significant skill because of their involvement with BlindAid. In 2020 and 2021 EY corporate sponsorship team have donated to BlindAid in ￿ace of holding in person evenls due to C-19. We plan to organise new events in 2023. Corporate Spons¢x'. Wllliams Granl Dlslilleries: We have also trained many of WG employees in &ghted Guidir¥J techniques to date and we have collabc¥8ted in organiyng some exciiing swal events i￿ludIng such as: An early evening cocktsil event. vknere speually designed clxktsils and mo¢ktails ￿Te available for service users and volunteer5 to try. Part ol the cocktsil experience u5ualfy how they look visually, an¢J so our drinks were designed lo be e5peaally aromab'c arKI have sounds (popping candy) a5 well a5 multi-level flavours. An evenirvj wlh WG kNand ambassadors. are shovAneAlwomen arkd partKularly Skilled at their crafts. This proved to be a very popular event our seThice users. were in￿led to laste Vari￿jS spirits and leam the slories of how they are distilled. Earfy in 2020, prior lo COVID-19 pandemic lod(dovms: M collatx)r81ion wth Williams Gr8nt Distilleries, we Co-hosted a Sound Meditation session at Sound of Mind Studios in sho￿dI1¢h bthich was enriching. Over 30 service users benefitted from this event and our gr8tilude goes to Williams Grant for wholly funding these eXperien￿S for BlindAid beneficiarie5. During the fir51 lockdown of 2020 Williams Grant produced hand sanitiser and graciously promded hvo large boxes for use by 81indAid staff free of charge. 81indAid are very grateful to Williams Grani for making annual donations to the charity ￿ pla￿ of eventslactiwties during Ihe past ts¥o years. 10 BUNDAID (REGISTERED NUMBER: 00986407) Report of the Tfustees for the Year Ended 31 D¢¢embw 2021 Infomiation and Advl¢e: The collation and disseminati¢)n of relevant Informatic￿ for our beneficiaries has always been an important and integral part of all the charity's 8cb"viti'es aThJ seNces. Community Sight Support Workers have a￿￿y$ offered Ihe provision of advice and guidance for ser￿￿ users daity during their work. This may incIL￿e information relating tr) spe¢thc eye conditsons as well as details of other ServI￿S available in their local area including social or sportin9 activities_ In 2020r2021 this connectK)n became a vital service for our beneficiaries especially in relat￿n to the COVIO-19 pan¢Jemic and we began tracking the SSWS activtties particularfy in this respect and so in 2021 we recorded 4,42612020 4,C62) instan￿S of information provrsion relating lo C-19 pandemic and vaccine roll4yJt. This ￿"ng a lolal of 8,488 individual engagements with service users specrficalty to inforM*￿n relating to the pandwnic wj equals an increase of over 6 additional calls made by each Sight Support Worker. As a result, BlindAid has eamed a ￿pulat￿ for solid unbiased quality irrfoTmation relating lo many aspects of the pandemic and this feedback was gifted to us from many of the individual services users who participated in our 14 F(￿$ Group calls undertaken in Octotw and November 2020 and included be￿en 8 and 20 service users in each group who were reprE5entsbve of all BoToughs in the charity'5 area of operation. In February and March 2020, SSWS called every service user wistered with BlindAid lo ascertain Iheir person81 situation relating lo Ic¥)d and medic*ion arrangements. SSWS registered those service users who had never prevtously registered themselves for supemiawkel home deltveries of food as prioitty customers. SSWS also registered those 5ervrE user5 in financial dthculb.es with free food delivery services and food banks where necessary. SSWS registered seNcE users had nol prevKJusly had their medication regularly delive￿￿ to them al home their local NHS phamiacy to ensure thal there was r￿ hiatus in them ￿¢81￿n9 the medication they needed throughout numerous lockdowns. In 2021 this work has continued with in relation to new benefioaries being ￿ferred to BlInd￿"d for supFort. Since 2020 and Ihro¥Jghoul 2021, the UKS vaccinat￿n programme has been a key subject of conversation for seNce users and SSW5 have been able to ensure that all semce users had adequate access to NHS sources of information to ￿S￿re were reading or being read the most appropriate SOUT￿S of InformalKJn to support them in their Per￿al decisi￿ making about a vawnation where al all possible. BlindAid asssts peOp￿e sight loss to obtsin IcKal authority and other statutory %Yvices or concessions lo which they are entilled, and addilionalty acts as a broad information and advFce hub for all visually impaired people who contact the tharity. For callers. resident elsevthere in the UK the charity will make referrals lo other local sight loss charities through our membership of Visionary. an umbrella organisation for all small sight loss charilies across the UK. BlindAi¢J has also provide