2023-03-31-accounts

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RESPOND (A company limited by guarantee)

DIRECTORS’ AND TRUSTEES’ REPORT AND ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2023

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ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31[ST] MARCH 2023

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	Page
General Information	3
A message from the Chair	5
A message from the CEO	6
The Respond Model	7
Service Reports	12
Strategic Report	27
Report of the Trustees	28
Statement of Directors and Trustees Responsibilities	32
Auditor’s Report	34
Statement of Financial Activities	37
Balance Sheet	38
Statement of Cash Flows	39
Notes to the Accounts	40

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General Information

Trustees	Oliver Lewis - Chair
	Angela Hassiotis
	Alison Kahn
	Alison Naylor (appointed November 2022)
	Tahir Ayaz (appointed November 2022, resigned March
	2023)
	Jane Caldwell (resigned July 2022)
	Emma Harewood (resigned April 2022)
	Murphy Hopkins-Hubbard (resigned April 2022)
	Jenieve Knowles (resigned April 2022, re-appointed
	July 2022, resigned May 2023)
	Nasima Khatun (appointed November 2022, resigned
	October 2023)
	Charles Taylor (resigned May 2023)
Treasurer	Charles Taylor (resigned November 2022, re-appointed
	March 2023, resigned May 2023)
	Tahir Ayaz (appointed November 2022, resigned March
	2023)
Company Secretary	Alison Kahn
Senior Leadership Team	Noelle Blackman - Chief Executive Officer (CEO),
	resigned July 2023
	Rosie Creer - Clinical Director (CD)
	Georgina Hoare - Organisation Effectiveness Director
	(OED), appointed Acting Interim CEO August 2023
	Victoria Kuyela - Finance Director (FD), on maternity
	leave from February 2023
	Clifford Hurst – Interim Finance Director, appointed
	February 2023
Company Number	2337300
Charity Number	800862
Registered Office	180 King's Cross Rd,
	London
	WC1X 9DE
Auditors	Fawcetts
	Chartered Accountants and Statutory Auditors
	Windover House
	St. Ann Street
	Salisbury SP1 2DR

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Bankers CAF Bank Limited 25 Kings Hill Avenue Kings Hill West Malling Kent ME19 4JQ The Co-operative Bank plc P.O. Box 250 Skelmersdale WN8 6WT Solicitors Russell-Cooke Solicitors 2 Putney Hill London SW15 6AB

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A message from Oliver Lewis, Chair of the Board

The financial year 2022-23 was the first of Respond's three-year Strategic Plan 2022-25, and the Board were focused on ensuring that the five strategic objectives began to be fulfilled. The charity's objectives are:

1 - Increase public understanding and knowledge of the psychodynamic trauma informed approach

2 - Provide a whole system approach when supporting children, young people, and their families

3 – Improve the wellbeing and social integration for people moving out of long stay institutions into the community

4 - Reduce the risk of offending for those who may cause harm to themselves or others
5 – Reduce isolation, increase coping mechanisms, and prevent further abuse

Clusters of services are focused on the differences that the charity aims to bring about in people's lives. During 2022-23 we took steps to improve internal processes, including in human resources, and ensuing that our database was fully functioning and is able to generate reports on outcomes.

The Board is pleased to report that during the relevant period Respond provided direct therapy or advocacy services to 303 clients. Respond shared its knowledge by training 358 professionals on a trauma-informed approach to their work.

During this year Dr Noelle Blackman decided to leave her role as CEO at Respond at the end of July 2023. We thank Noelle for her twenty years’ service at Respond, with over ten years as our CEO. During Noelle’s leadership Respond has developed enormously to the organisation of today, which has a strong reputation in the field of autism, learning disability and trauma informed practice.

The board appointed the Organisation Effectiveness Director, Georgina Hoare, as the Acting CEO from August 2023.

The charity continued to operate in what is a challenging financial environment, and the trustees worked closely with the SLT to ensure financial sustainability.

The Board recruited new trustees who are experts in human resources and clinical governance, and we established a Clinical Governance and Safeguarding Committee (essentially adding clinical governance to the pre-existing Safeguarding Committee) which is overseeing policies and systems across the field of clinical governance.

On behalf of the trustees, I would like to thank Respond’s donors, funders and commissioners for their support, and the staff for their hard work in providing healing to autistic people and people with learning disabilities who have experienced trauma.

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A message from our Acting CEO, Georgina Hoare

This was the beginning of our new 3-year strategy for 2022-25, developed collaboratively between staff and key stakeholders including our beneficiaries. This first year was focussed on increasing and evidencing our outcomes and consolidating and improving our infrastructure, following a period of quick growth over the last few years. We also worked on developing our organisational design and are very grateful to Daniel Snowden from Strike Higher for his pro bono work with the senior leadership and extended management teams to create a new organisational design model to enable long-term structural redevelopment and sustainability. We will be recruiting to a Head of Development and Commissioning in 2023/2024 as part of the long-term development of our income generation plan.

Towards the end of 2022/23, we had to take the difficult decision to pause the Forensic Service. The service, which provided assessments and psychotherapy to people who were at risk of, or had harmed others, really struggled since the pandemic given that it primarily needed to be delivered in person due to the risk level of the forensic clients. Over recent years there have also been several changes in management. Unfortunately, it was not possible to recover enough to be financially sustainable to continue the Forensic service for the 2023/24 year. Given this, we will continue to consider carefully how we can continue to ensure that our thinking at Respond, with both survivors and people who may be at risk of harming others, can continue to be kept alive through new opportunities, as this is a key part of our organisation and how we work.

At the end of July 2023 Dr Noelle Blackman, the CEO for over ten years left Respond and I know that Noelle had been working with the board for several years thinking about succession planning, which included developing the Senior Leadership Team, including the role I took up as Organisation Effectiveness Director. Noelle’s passion and expertise over many years was well embedded within Respond, enabling the development of a strong organisational reputation. She shared the following kind words:

“ It has been an absolute honour to lead such an amazing organisation, I am so proud of the work that the wonderful Respond team carry out every day. We work with people who are so marginalised and forgotten by the society that we live in and through that neglect experience so many levels of trauma, it is because of this that the work we do is so important. Respond is creative and extraordinary in the support it provides, and the staff are exceptionally skilled and compassionate. I will be watching carefully as Respond continues to develop this much needed work. It is time for new leadership as Respond enters the next period of its development.”

I was appointed as Acting CEO whilst the board took time to recruit to a permanent CEO. Unfortunately, in October 2023 we experienced a sudden loss in funds including the loss in large contract. We were able to recover from this by developing an organisational recovery plan which included a significant restructure, whilst still ensuring that we could meet our key strategic aims for the remainder of this strategic period. We’re very grateful to all our stakeholders for their support during this challenging period and particularly our funders continued commitment and support of our work, without whom we would not have been able to recover.

Whilst it has been challenging to lead the organisation through this period, I’m very grateful to our passionate staff team for their continued professionalism and commitment at all times and particularly during this period of unprecedented uncertainty, continuing to support autistic and people with learning disabilities who have experienced trauma. We are fortunate to have been able to retain a robust team with skills, experience, knowledge and will also be recruiting to new roles which will support the ongoing recovery following the restructure.

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Mission Statement

To bring about positive change that enables people with learning disabilities, autism or both who have experienced abuse, violence or trauma to live richer, more resilient lives.

Core Purpose

Respond seeks to bring about positive change that enables people with learning disabilities, autism or both who have experienced abuse, violence or trauma to live richer, more resilient lives. Respond works through psychotherapy, advocacy, campaigning and other support and aims to prevent abuse from happening by providing training and consultancy and collaborating in relevant research.

The Respond Model

Psychotherapy, trauma and attachment theory underpins all of our services at Respond; we work with both the individual and with their network of supporters. In our psychotherapy services Respond uses a psychodynamic, system-focused approach that allows the intervention to take place within a safe environment while providing support and a flow of communication with the client’s family and professional network. This model is applied to all Respond services, not just psychotherapy.

The aim of the systemic component of this model is to support the network to become more able to support the client at the end of their time with Respond, enabling the full benefit of the intervention to become embedded through a more trauma informed environment. Our staff are multi-skilled, and we pride ourselves on our ability to provide unique support to autistic people and people with learning disabilities who have experienced a wide variety of traumatic experiences (who may also cause harm to others), to come to terms with their experiences and live more positive lives.

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Respond provides the following services

Respond provides support for people with learning disabilities and/or autism who have experienced trauma and abuse, including those who have gone on to abuse others. We provide psychotherapy and specialist advocacy services for adults and young people with learning disabilities, autistic people and families. Our Head Office and clinic is in central London, we also have a clinic and office in Birmingham. We also run clinics in schools in London.

Many of the people who are referred to Respond have substantial experience of abuse and/or neglect. The purpose of therapy is to focus on trying to undo some of the psychological damage caused by the trauma and therefore enable people to live more fulfilling lives. We also provide a variety of advocacy services that provide psychosocial and practical support. We provide trauma informed training, consultancy and clinical supervision which are informed by our many years of experience in this specialised field.

Forensic Psychotherapy

Our aims include increased awareness of triggers for sexually harmful behaviour, better understanding of self in the client, reduced harm to others and developing psychologically minded services around the client.

The therapeutic service we offer includes the following elements:

A specialist forensic therapist who will firstly assess the client for 3-4 sessions to ensure that we are the right service for them. If we agree to work with the client, then the service will include the specialist forensic therapist working with the client for a minimum of a year (44 sessions in total including assessment).
A second clinician would manage the case and support the identified network to care for the client adequately while therapy is ongoing, ensuring that any change achieved in therapy can be maintained.
A pre-therapy inter agency meeting where appropriate.

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A home visit at the beginning of our involvement to introduce ourselves and our services to the client and their family or network.
An induction training day for the network supporting the client that aims to introduce our model to the network working with the client and enable staff to develop their approaches with more insight into the psychological needs of the client.
While the therapy is ongoing, the network will have access to the clinician managing the case to discuss and receive support on any issues they have. This will include 2 x 2-hour consultancy sessions.
The case manager will also attend any relevant meetings as necessary.
A final report with recommendations for future support necessary.

Some referrals may need an enhanced package, and this will be discussed with referrers and priced accordingly.

Forensic Circle of Support and Accountability (COSA)

The COSA service meets the need for a non-clinical form of care which acknowledges that people with learning disabilities who exhibit harmful sexual behaviour often do so as a result of isolation, stigmatisation and unsafe living conditions. It is an adapted Circle model, based on therapeutic principles it offers a solution to supporting those with a history of sexual offending, or at risk of so doing, to live safely in the community.

A Circle of Support and Accountability (COSA) model brings together a group of 5 specially trained volunteers who help support and manage the risk of the person with the harmful sexual behaviour (“the core member”). The volunteers and the core member meet as a group weekly for a period of up to 18 months. They work from week to week under the guidance and supervision of a professional circle coordinator who liaises between the “inner circle” and other external professionals (“outer circle”) also involved in the core member’s life (i.e. social worker, psychiatrist, probation officer). The guidance given to the volunteers by the circle coordinator is informed by monthly clinical supervision with a Respond clinical supervisor where the work of each Circle is reviewed, strategies and live issues discussed.

When a Circle starts, goals are agreed and these are reviewed at quarterly Reviews attended by the core member, the volunteers and the relevant professionals. Over time, the Circle gets used to meeting and working together; the core member experiences regular, structured support and as a member of the group, a sense of agency and equal participation. The volunteers model positive social relationships, provide practical assistance and a non-judgmental space in which issues of risky behaviour and feelings can be addressed.

Once a referral is made, and as part of the process of setting up the Circle, a full assessment is carried out to match the needs of the prospective core member with suitable trained volunteers who are diverse in terms of gender, ethnicity, age and background.

Survivors Psychotherapy

Our specialist psychotherapy service is for young people and adults who have experienced abuse or other trauma. People may be experiencing high levels of distress, anger, anxiety or withdrawal, they may be causing harm to themselves through the relationships they are making or through other harmful behaviours. Those who have experienced trauma or abuse will be experiencing complex feelings of rage and shame which may be expressed in behaviours that challenge others or withdrawal from the world. The aim of the therapy is to increase that person’s emotional wellbeing, capacity to make sense of their experience and enable them to make healthy relationship choices. Attendance is at Respond’s clinic weekly therapy over the course of a year,

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in the same space, with the same therapist, at the same time of the week. Therapists support that person to feel safe and communicate their experience in a way that works for them. Young people and adults who have attended psychotherapy go on to make better relationships and with a better sense of self and increased emotional wellbeing.

Specialist Advocacy

This service consists of 4 types of support:

The Independent Sexual Violence Advocacy (ISVA) service provides advocacy, advice and emotional support for young people and adults who have experienced sexual violence and/or sexual assault. They may have reported to the police already or be thinking about reporting but want some more information.

The Independent Domestic Violence Advocate (IDVA) service provides advocacy and support for people who have experienced domestic violence.

The CouRAGEous service offers one-to-one support and advocacy to young women (13-25) with a learning disability, autism or both who have experienced any form of gender-based violence.

The My Life, My Relationship service raises awareness about the issue of forced marriage of people with learning disabilities. We provide training to professionals and engage with communities to promote dialogue and change.

Family Service

This service supports family members of people with learning disabilities, autism or both who have experienced loss, harm or institutional abuse.

Families of people with learning disabilities, autism or both can face many challenges including fighting to get the right support, understanding their child or family member, being let down and neglected by services.

Services include face-to-face or telephone counselling and groups in which families can meet and be supported by other families and better cope with their experiences. Families feel better understood, less isolated and more connected.

Our school-based service allows ease of access to specialist psychotherapists in a setting that our young clients know and feel safe in. We work directly with young people using creative artbased therapists and with the child’s support network, offering consultation, workshops and support to both the families and professionals around our clients through our Case Management way of working.

The Young People’s Service works closely with the Family Service. Parents of children in our Young People’s Service will often be referred for their own psychotherapy to support their own complex needs, which will also enable and support positive change.

Midlands Service

The Midlands service is Respond’s first regional hub. The Transforming care work is based here and we are gradually building up other Respond services that can be delivered from this base.

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Transforming Care

This service supports people who are moving out of hospital and provides a range of services aimed at supporting the person to remain living a good life in the community.

Our involvement begins with an in-depth exploration and understanding of a person’s life-story and experience, through reports and meetings with family, professionals and carers.

We then develop a relationship with the individual and their support teams, undertake an independent review and then design a bespoke care package for the individual and their network. Care packages will include training, supervision and/or reflective practice for staff in the hospital setting, simultaneously working in partnership with a carefully selected provider and supporting their team through recruitment, training and ongoing reflective support beyond discharge.

Circles of Support and Accountability (COSA) are another key element of our model. Circles are formed by recruiting, training and supporting a group of volunteers who assist the individual over an 18-month period during which time they will transition between services and/or relocate. Consistent collaboration with multi-disciplinary teams ensures a considered and fluid approach through clinical thinking, ongoing assessment and formulation for the best possible outcome for the person we are supporting.

Once the person has settled in their new home an assessment for one-to-one psychotherapy may be offered and, if appropriate, this would be for a minimum of a year.

We also provide continued post-discharge support across a person’s personal and professional network through training and consultancy to enable those who have managed the transition to continue developing and thriving at home.

Training & Consultancy

Respond offers a broad range of trauma informed training, clinical supervision, reflective practice and consultation to meet the needs of individuals and organisations. This includes our acclaimed Trauma Champions Course which runs over 6 months and supports groups of people to champion and embed a trauma informed approach within their area or organisation.

Respond Action Group

The Respond Action Group brings lived experience of learning disability to the heart of Respond, they are influential in Respond’s strategy and operation. They guide the Trustees and staff team in making better decisions bringing their expert experience to our work and, most importantly, our thinking. Their perspective is helpful in determining service planning, delivery and evaluation. The Group also seek to influence external stakeholders through offering consultancy services to other organisations and professionals such as researcher departments and media professionals.

Respond also:

Provides training to support our staff and volunteers.
Run lectures/seminars for universities and training organisations.
Presents papers at a wide variety of national and international conferences.

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Service Reports

The Survivors Psychotherapy Service

The Survivors service has gone from strength to strength this year. We were funded by MOPAC for 3 years to offer therapy to 24 clients who have experienced domestic abuse, sexual violence or both. We have been working in partnership with a women’s refuge in East London offering vulnerable women weekly one-to-one therapy sessions. This was also funded through MOPAC. We have also started a new group working across the Survivors and Advocacy services for women and those from the LGBTQ community.

We have continued to work with clients both online and in person and seen an increase in inperson work this year and now have around 50% of our clients working in-person in the clinic and 30% of our clients are hybrid (working both in person and online). This enabled more clients with physical disabilities to access the services as well as those located outside of London.

We are grateful to have received 3 years of funding from the Mayor’s Office for Policing and Crime (Mopac) and funding through Mopac to do partnership work with Beverley Lewis House.

What has been challenging

Meeting the demand for the service has been challenging and with this managing the waiting list with the limited capacity in the team, due to therapists working across services and the long-term nature of the work at Respond, which means that clients often remain on the waiting list for several months. Recruitment has been challenging, for example we have advertised twice for a Senior Therapist this year and had very few applicants on both occasions.

What’s gone well

We were successful in getting NHS/LA funding for 5 of our clients who finished their funded therapy in the Phoenix project, each receiving up to a year of further therapy at Respond. In addition to this we received funding from the NHS for a further 9 clients. 7 of these went on to be therapy clients after their assessments. We also have 4 privately paying clients. We have developed a good relationship with commissioners in Surrey Heartlands ICB and have now had therapy for 4 clients funded from this area.

We were supported to run our services by two volunteers this year who were counsellors or psychotherapists in training. One of these therapists graduated from her training and stayed on as an honorary. She has since applied for and been successfully recruited into a paid position, working on the Mopac project. Our other trainee from Goldsmiths, London University, joined us in October working with both Survivors and Family services clients. She will be continuing with us for a further year once she has graduated.

Who we have supported

We’ve worked with 50 clients over the year, of these 63% had learning disabilities and 71% were autistic. 72% were female, 15% male, 2% non -binary and 11% trans. Most of our clients were young people or adults (2% aged between 14-17, 18% aged18-24, 39% aged 26-34, 15% aged 35-44, 8% 45-54, 6% 55-64 and 12% over 75 ) and 64% identified as heterosexual, 2% homosexual, 4% bisexual 4% other (with 26% preferring not to say). 67% were White heritage (including White British), 13% were Black/Afro Caribbean heritage, 9% were Dual heritage (including Black Caribbean and White), 9% were Asian heritage, 2% were from other ethnic groups.

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86% of clients improved their outcome scores by the end of their therapy, including:

Improvement in their mental health and wellbeing
• Improved sense of agency and ability to make informed choices
• Improved ability to express emotions
Increased self esteem
Improvement in ability to self-regulate
Increased ability to set boundaries in relationships
Improved sleep quality
• Reduced anxiety
Reduced isolation
• Increased feelings of safety
Are better able to identify abusive relationships
Increased resilience and improved internal resources

71% of clients were less isolated than at the start of their therapy

100% of clients would recommend Respond to others

Survivors psychotherapy case study – “Andrew”[1]

Andrew is a young autistic trans man diagnosed with PTSD, ADHD and EDS (Ehlers Danlos Syndrome). He experienced trauma from a young age, being bullied at school and losing his father in tragic circumstances. Andrew was unable to leave home or attend school for the next two years. Feeling isolated Andrew reached out to online communities and was groomed; leaving home aged 17 to live with the perpetrator. The relationship was emotionally abusive and coercive, and he was sexual exploited and raped. These traumatic experiences have had a huge impact on Andrew leading him to drink heavily, use drugs and attempt suicide. He struggles to trust people and services and often feels misunderstood.

Through his psychotherapy at Respond Andrew was able to begin to explore his male alter ego, opening the discussion to identity and how he had always felt being female didn’t fit. He changed his gender during therapy (having been referred as a woman), he became non-binary and later was able to confirm his new male identity. He reports that being accepted for who he is has been a validating and empowering experience. Andrew can feel cut off from himself as he avoids the parts that don’t feel like they belong. Attending online therapy supported Andrew to build a meaningful and trusting relationship in the safety of his own home. He has reflected on how his experiences have affected him and the impact this has had on how he views himself.

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The Family Service

At the end of last year, we were commissioned by NHSE to run co-designed and co-delivered training on trauma and families to seven regions across the UK by April 2023. This was an incredibly exciting piece of work, we invited parents from across the country who have lived experience to apply, they were asked to fill out an application and if they met the criteria they were invited to join us for an interview process, we then ran a training day with the 7 family members who were successfully recruited and they have worked closely with our therapist/trainers to codesign and co-deliver the training. We contracted an external family advocate to support the management of the project. We also provided support on different levels for the trainers through clinical supervision, practical support from Bringing us Together and through pre and post sessions around each training day. The feedback from this training has been incredible with further sessions booked as a direct result of the training we delivered to a wide range of professionals. We will be continuing with this model of working with families to co-deliver further training and to work with us as consultants to input into various projects going forward.

We continue to work to a hybrid model and have 5 clients that come into the clinic to see their therapists but also have online therapy sessions for those who live a distance from London. It therefore remains an accessible service for everyone. Working online has also meant that we are able to attend many more professional meetings in one day as we are limiting the amount of time needed to travel.

Our service continues to work with the HOPE(S) project, which we began in August 2022. The HOPE(S) model is an ambitious human rights-based approach to working with people in longterm segregation developed from research and clinical practice. In partnership with Mersey Care Foundation Trust, NHS England and NHS Improvement is funding the roll out of this model across services in England. Through the HOPES project we will offer 36 families trauma informed therapeutic support over three years. By March 2023 we had supported 6 clients, our target for this year is 8 and we know that there are 2 further referrals coming through. We have regular meetings with the HOPE(S) leads and this partnership working is going extremely well.

We are now in our 2[nd] year of working with families through funding thanks to the Sir Halley Stewart Trust. We saw 10 families in the first year and have a further 10 families for this year. We will work with 30 families in total delivering trauma informed therapeutic support. In March 2023 we have 4 individual contracts commissioned by the NHS and 4 self-funded clients accessing our service on the sliding scale.

What has been challenging

In March 2023 we sadly said goodbye to a long-standing member of the team, and due to the amount of training we’ve been delivering this has meant there have been some capacity issues at times across the year. The team have been working incredibly hard to ensure that we are still able to reach our targets and that there is not a long waiting list. We are an all-female team and, in the future, would hope to recruit some male therapists to the team. Another key challenge is the working hours of Respond and our therapists, many of the families we work with also work so it would be good to have some flexibility around the times we can offer. We would also like to recruit a family/couple’s therapist subject to funding to support the ongoing development of the service.

What’s gone well

Working in collaboration with families for the delivery of the trauma training has been a great success. The families who have taken part in this have given us feedback that this has been a great project to take part in. From April 2022-March 2023 the service particularly benefited from one very skilled volunteer who gave 2 hours each week directly to supporting families.

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Who we have supported

As of March 2023, we have supported 35 family members, fourteen of these were new clients since January 2023 and most families will be working with us for up to 1 year or more. We work with at least 1 (sometimes more) professionals connected to each family, making a total of 35 professionals. Most of the family members that are referred to us are female/mothers, but we have seen an increase in referrals of males/fathers to 7 this year and increase in older parents referred to us. Our clients are aged between 30-80 years old, female 93% and 7% male. The majority were White British 94%, 3% from Black Caribbean or minority ethnic heritage and 3% were Asian or minority ethnic heritage.

Our Impact

Towards the end of last year, we began to use the Score 15 and ICD11 outcome forms, we do not yet have enough data to discuss the improvements seen from having therapy sessions with us but hope to by the end of this year, when many of the clients who have used this outcome form will be ending their therapy with us. We will be introducing end of therapy feedback as of this June which will hopefully give us more of an idea of how families found their time with us and any improvements that might need to be made. We know from speaking with them that they felt more supported, less isolated, and more confident in managing their situations. Parents also continue to report to us that our specialist experience in autism, learning disabilities, trauma and abuse set us apart from other organisations.

Young People’s Service

This year the Young People’s Service has continued to support children and young people within schools across London and within our clinic. Alongside this we have also provided consultations with parents & teachers as well working with other professionals such as attending multidisciplinary team meetings, signposting and providing advice. Through this we have provided 39 young people with therapy , which included starting with 17 new clients. We were able to secure a new grant from the John Lyon’s Charity, as well as continue to use funding from BBC Children in Need and our school contracts to provide this.

We have had the pleasure of hosting 2 honorary therapists on placement with us within 2 of our SEN schools. The schools have commented on how well both honoraries have settled within the school and the excellent support they have provided.

The majority of therapeutic interventions within the Young People’s Service have now returned to being delivered in-person. There is still the option for remote sessions through our clinic, however we have found that young people and families are expressing the want and need for in-person sessions. Despite sessions being delivered in-person, most professionals meetings such as Child in Need/Child Protection meetings are still taking place remotely. This can be beneficial as it gives the Respond team more time in the day as they are not travelling to these meetings. For meetings with parent/carers we offer a hybrid approach and can provide in-person or remote meetings to allow for what is most convenient and accessible for the parent and their needs.

What has been challenging

There was a period of time without a service manager, through this the team pulled together and a lead co-ordinator role was created until a new service manager was appointed in December 2022. We have also seen some of the impacts of the cost-of-living crisis and the stretch on statutory services. This has led to a reduction in some of our school contracts.

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We’ve continued to receive positive feedback from the schools we’re working in and one headteacher stated “We found that Respond understood the needs of our young person and the factors that make supporting them challenging”.

And within sessions, 75% of our clients said that they would recommend Respond as a service.

Who we have supported

We continue to reach a wide range of clients with age ranges between 5-18 years old. We saw a diverse range of young people; 4% Black African, 4% Black British, 4% Black Caribbean, 6% Black Caribbean and White, 30%: White British, 9%: other White background, 9%: Indian, 6%: Other Asian background, 2%: prefer not to say, 2% other ethnic group, 2% Pakistani, 22%: unknown.

We had 27 males and 12 females access our therapy. This seems to align with the gender split within SEN schools generally however, as a service we would like to continue to promote the importance of support for girls as we know they might be more likely to ‘mask’ within settings and not get the provisions they require.

As a service we are proud of the work that we have continued to deliver this year. We are excited about expanding our reach and future networking opportunities to show the important work that the Young People’s Service at Respond does.

Young People’s Service case study – “Ronald”

Ronald is a 15-year-old male that receives weekly therapy within their SEN school through our Young People’s Service. Ronald has a diagnosis of a learning disability and Autism. Just before the beginning of the school year Ronald's parents separated leading to his Dad moving out of the family house. Ronald’s anxiety increased during the summer, alongside suicidal ideation, and penetrative thoughts.

Ronald has received 16 sessions, that take place weekly in the school, the sessions consist of a psychodynamic child-led approach to art therapy. Ronald primarily chose to express himself verbally. However, engaging in art therapy appears to help him to explore complex feelings he sometimes has difficulty in verbalising.

Through the sessions outcomes that have been noted include;

• Outbursts at home have decreased.

• Upon filling out a well-being outcome survey Ronald expressed that he feels he is being heard and that therapy helps him cope.

Through the work we identified that his family needed additional support to manage Ronald’s needs at home. Our case manager is in touch with Ronald’s family often. Due to a language barrier his extended family are often the ones who communicate with school and professionals however, we have deliberately sought to involve parents within our meetings as we felt this was an area being overlooked and was missing. The case manager helps the family understand Ronald’s behaviours and communication and facilitates the implementation of grounding techniques.

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The Advocacy Service

We successfully secured funding for the next three years from three generous funders. Thanks to MOPAC's DA/SV and ISVA/IDVA, we were able to recruit an ISVA manager, a Senior ISVA, a Domestic Abuse Coordinator, and a DA wellbeing practitioner. Additionally, WGN The Gateway funding allowed us to recruit three new ISVAs, and WGN Courageous provided funding for our young women’s advocate. We are extremely grateful for this support and partnership, as it enables us to work collaboratively and provide assistance to those who need it most.

Our Volant funding from Oct 21- Oct 22 supported 20 clients, which amounted to more than 200 sessions. A part of the funding from the Volant Trust was used to create bespoke specialist support for 10 community organizations and statutory services which worked with our client group. Also 4 online groups were delivered to a group of 6-8 women aged between 24-40 from varied backgrounds.

The advocacy team provided 144 online sessions, which was a mixture of 1:1 support and peer group sessions. The peer group continued to be a success in reducing isolation and creating a safe space for survivors. From this group, 1 client went on to be a member of the action group, which is formed to provide key input in the organisation’s workings and policies, as people with lived experience.

The return of face-to-face work has been welcomed by our clients and we have seen a mixture of clients requesting both online and in-person support. During this period, relationships have been strengthened as professionals and personal networks have collaborated successfully to establish a unified approach towards assisting clients.

The advocacy team delivered training sessions for Lambeth. The session centred on "An Introduction to a Trauma-Informed Approach When Working with Autistic Individuals and Those with Learning Disabilities." The participants gained helpful insights and knowledge on how to work with our clients effectively.

Rape Crisis Scotland was provided with four online training sessions, each attended by an average of 8-10 individuals. All sessions were centred on the same topic, and one of them included a survivor as a co-facilitator, who brought valuable insights on power dynamics within support.

On March 29, 2023, the Victims and Prisoners Bill was introduced to give legal standing to the principles of the victim’s code. This is great news for our clients as it strengthens the support we provide. Access to ISVA/IDVA services can be crucial for some individuals, but unfortunately, some have not been given this support from the beginning. This results in people with hidden disabilities missing out on essential accommodations such as intermediaries.

We have observed that requesting a review of dropped cases and attending a NFA meeting can greatly benefit our clients. It helps them understand the reasoning behind the decisions made by the police or CPS and gives them an opportunity to review and/or move towards closure.

According to feedback from our clients, the assistance of an ISVA/IDVA has been vital in helping them navigate the complexities of the criminal justice system, making this bill a crucial step forward.

What has been challenging

We are grateful for obtaining funding for a three-year period. However, we faced significant obstacles during the recruitment process, resulting in a delay in our work's commencement.

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Despite these challenges, our team succeeded in recruiting exceptional advocates who have been gaining new skills and delivering exceptional service.

We have observed that clients who live independently have been significantly affected by the economic crisis. We made sure our clients had access to essential benefits and support to help with their cost of living. Providing them with a grocery voucher was just one way we could offer assistance that played a role in supporting their well-being, we also offered emotional support and budgeting advice to help those who may be experiencing heightened anxiety.

What has gone well

Our advocacy team has been active in running workshops in schools, provided sessions for clients on important topics such as consent, healthy relationships, sexual health, and keeping safe. They have worked tirelessly to advocate on behalf of our clients who, many times have slipped through the system. Our new joint advocacy and therapy group has been well-received by attendees. Clients have expressed that they appreciate the opportunity to have open discussions in a space that feels organic.

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Who we have supported

The advocacy service supported a total of 144 people and provided increased support to family members and carers. Of those supported, 41% were White British,10% were Black British, 10% were Asian or Asian British, 6% were Black Caribbean or minority ethnic heritage, 5% were from dual heritage, 10% were Chinese or minority ethnic heritage ,3% other and 15% preferred not to say. 1% were under 10 years of age, 2% were aged 11-13 years old, 9% were 14-17 years old, 25% were aged 18-24 years old, 36% were between 25-34 years old, 13% were between aged 35-44 years old, 9% were 45-54 years old, 4% were 55-64 years old, and 1% aged 65-74 years old.

According to feedback and support reviews from the past six months, 83% of clients who received assistance from the DA/SV Service reported improved ability to cope and build resilience, enabling them to move forward with their daily lives.

52% of our clients in the last quarter took part in an outcomes survey for the ISVA service and achieved the following outcomes:

70% of clients report improved feelings of safety. 80% of clients report an increased range of self-care strategies and positive coping patterns.

80% of clients report that they are better informed and empowered to act. 80% of clients report an increase in health and wellbeing. 80% of clients pursuing criminal just outcomes report that the ISVA helped improve their experience of this process.

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Advocacy Service Case study “Sharon”

Sharon is a 29-year-old Caribbean female with a diagnosis of autism. She was born and brought up in southeast London and lives with her mother. Sharon was referred to work with advocacy due to an incident of sexual violence, but she decided not to report the case to police as in the past she has not felt supported. We encouraged Sharon to let us know if she changed her mind and needed our support to help her report. Sharon expressed in the past police have not made her feel heard and have also said to her she does not look like she has a disability.

We worked with Sharon for 2 years and the support has entailed supporting Sharon with a CICA application, in addition to support with attending psychiatric reviews. Along with providing emotional support we supported Sharon to begin psychotherapy at Respond. She experienced a mental health breakdown a year ago and came out of hospital in November 2022. Sharon has recovered and finished her master’s course and recently started a new job. Sharon has said having an ISVA has enabled her to regain her independence to allow reintegration into the community upon discharge.

Circles of Support and Accountability (COSA) Service

When a Circle starts, goals are agreed and these are reviewed at quarterly Reviews attended by the core member, the volunteers and the relevant professionals. Over time, the Circle gets used to meeting and working together; the core member experiences regular, structured support and as a member of the group, a sense of agency and equal participation. The volunteer’s model positive social relationships, provide practical assistance and a non-judgmental space in which issues of risky behaviour and feelings can be addressed.

Respond’s COSA service has received several enquiries and referrals from new agencies across the Greater London area. Many of these referrals are for young men who have not yet entered

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the criminal justice system. The professionals understand a COSA to be a preventative measure for those at risk of sexual offending.

The COSA service delivers all its services face to face and strongly believes in the benefits for its beneficiaries that come from having in-person interactions. Many of them are on the autistic spectrum and professionals working with them reported having noticed improvements in their social and communication skills following their involvement with the service.

The COSA service secured a new grant from the AB Charitable Trust in July 2022. This is a new funder which had not previously offered any grant to the service and has expressed significant interest in Respond’s ways of working during the application process.

Challenges we have faced

While the delivery of COSAs to our beneficiaries has continued throughout the year, it is apparent how cuts in social funding have impacted statutory agencies’ own ability to meet the needs of their clients. This often translates into a fragmented approach to meeting their needs which also has a detrimental impact on the COSA service’s own ability to effectively support its beneficiaries.

Securing enough charitable funding for the service’s activities to continue in the future has proven particularly challenging, and this has meant that the service has been unable to recruit a new COSA coordinator, following the departure of the previous coordinator in November 2022.

What has gone well

Over the past year, we trained a further 10 volunteers and we currently have a pool of 25 volunteers who are either in a Circle or waiting to be allocated to one. Many of those who have previously completed a Circle with our service have also expressed interest in joining another one in the future.

Following the completion of their COSAs, professionals working with them have started to look into more opportunities for them to engage in activities in their local communities, a sign of the effectiveness of the service in reducing the risks and isolation of its beneficiaries.

Who we have supported

This year the COSA service supported 5 clients in total. Of those supported, 4 were male and 1 was female; 60% of these clients were autistic; 80% had a learning disability; 60% were white British, 20% black African, and 20% would be classified as White Other (since the person identifies as Jewish, not white). The average age was 26.5 years.

100% of clients have not reoffended whilst in their circle. They have also reported all feeling a reduction in isolation.

Professionals have all reported that 100% clients have improved emotional literacy and ability to manage difficult feelings.

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COSA service case study “Mark”

Mark is a 45-year-old man with a moderate learning disability who was a survivor of childhood sexual abuse by a family member. He had spent a decade in both prison and a secure psychiatric unit as a result of his sexual offending. He was also a father himself with two children who were young adults.

The Circle met for an hour each week and consisted of 5 specially trained volunteers. The work of the Circle was guided from week to week by the Circle Coordinator informed by clinical supervision. The Circle Coordinator worked closely with Mark’s professional network.

Having spent so long incarcerated, Mark appreciated the regularity and consistency of the Circle meetings as well as the opportunity to build relationships with the volunteers. He shared that his childhood had been characterised by isolation and loneliness and his fear of unfamiliar social situations. The Circle was able to counter Mark’s negative feelings about friendships and to reflect together about the importance of trust, honesty and open communication in all relationships. The volunteers using examples from their own lives where they had experienced difficulties with social engagement. The process of normalising these feelings was very reassuring for Mark and helped him to experience inclusion rather than exclusion. The Circle worked on practical strategies for solving where he conflicts with other residents in his hostel, negotiate the early stages of an intimate relationship supported by his professional network, think about consent and build rapport with his adult children. Mark continues to live an offence free life.

In assessing the role of the Circle in helping Mark to live without putting others at risk, his hostel manager said

“The Circle helped Mark to learn the value of honesty. And in learning to be honest with the Circle, he learned to be honest with himself”.

Transforming Care and Midlands Clinical Services

This year we have continued with the ongoing development of Transforming care framework and have increased our learning with what works best for the clients we support and the networks around them. At present, none of the clients accessing the Transforming Care service have reached a point where they are ready to access support in the form of a COSA; however, we are hopeful that we will be able to deliver this bespoke support and way of working to a number of clients accessing the service when their placements in the community are steady and their therapy journey with Respond is nearing an end.

We have seen an increase in the need for bespoke ‘Trauma Awareness’ training for hospitals specifically relating to autistic patients and the difficulties that have arisen in a busy hospital environment. We have delivered training to one new hospital and have offered reflective practice support to another – both of which have been gratefully received.

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Our clinic base in the center of Birmingham is well established and has good community transport links which enables easy access for Respond clients. The clinic operates across three days throughout the week and a total of 13 clients have accessed therapy and/or assessment at the Midlands clinic throughout this year. The continuation of hybrid and online working has enabled a wider reach of Respond to networks across the Midlands region in circumstances where face to face Training and reflective practice for teams has not been possible.

Our existing contract with the Black Country Foundation Trust has enabled us to work with a variety of providers across the region and new funding opportunities are currently being explored with Birmingham and Solihull ICB to further develop our range of services in the Midlands.

What has been challenging

We continue to face challenges in terms of recruiting specialist psychotherapists into the Senior forensic therapist roles and see the ongoing impact of Covid and changes of ways of working throughout the voluntary sector. In addition to this, the cost-of-living crisis has impacted both clients and the sector alike – affecting staff retention within hospital and provider teams, which has reduced the availability of staff to access the support offered by Respond. We have addressed this by offering direct support to team managers where possible so that they are able to disseminate thinking, strategies and knowledge amongst their teams.

We are hopeful that working together with BILD to host a conference in June 2023 will broaden our reach in the Midlands area and will attract specialists in psychotherapy to the work of Respond.

What’s gone well

In May 2022 we welcomed our new Senior Forensic therapist to the Midlands team. The successful appointment to this role enabled us to complete 2 assessments for therapy and deliver therapy to 1 forensic client. This has also enabled a host of opportunities for the team in terms of sharing experiences which has had a positive impact on learning and development.

Alongside using our own measuring tools, we have invested in an ‘Outcomes star’ license. This certified and recognised tool is used broadly throughout the Midlands area by Local Authorities and commissioning bodies, and we are excited that this investment will strengthen our ability to showcase the positive outcomes of the work that we do.

Much focus this year has been on supporting those who have successfully transitioned out of hospital to continue living a ‘good life’ within their new homes in the community. One client has successfully moved to a new community placement and experienced a positive ending to their support from Respond - ensuring a thorough handover to their community team which included bespoke Trauma Awareness Training focusing on the client and her individual needs.

We have received one new referral into the service at a point when their transition to a new community placement was imminent. Unfortunately, due to complexities within the network and difficulties with funding – this placement did not continue and is now on hold. Through the relational model of working and regular visits to the client in hospital, Respond and the client have successfully built rapport and trusting relationship, despite her loss of faith within services. We hope to build upon this trust to support her transition to a community placement and access to therapy over the next coming year.

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Who we supported

We have worked with and supported 8 different providers and 3 different hospitals to support the 20 people in total (8 women in Transforming Care and 12 adults in Midlands Clinical Services) who have accessed the service throughout this year. This provision has been provided in the form of weekly therapy, access to regular trauma training and reflective practice sessions alongside case management and systemic thinking within the network. The increase of face-to-face delivery has strengthened relationships with hospital staff and provider teams which has enabled a more joined up approach to working.

5 of the 7 women we provide support directly to this year as part of the block contract have successfully remained in the community. 1 is in active transition stage to a new community placement and the other has newly entered the service and is in hospital. 2 clients have successfully moved on; one to a new placement in the community and another to move back to the family home in preparation of the arrival of her baby. In both circumstances, Respond have been able to support their journey to new providers by delivering bespoke Trauma Awareness Training; centred around the individuals and their needs to the team to enable a smooth transition and handover of care.

3 clients have accessed weekly therapy with Respond and we are ready to offer therapy to the other remaining clients when their transition is stable. We continue to provide support to the team and network of the 2 women indirectly accessing the service and hope to start direct contact with them when assessment has been completed to ascertain their ability to therapeutically engage with Respond. The Transforming Care service has delivered training across 6 provider Teams and 5 family members were referred to our family service.

80% of clients have an increased capacity to cope through receiving 1:1 therapy and relational visits alongside training, case management support and Reflective Practice for staff teams.

85% of clients have reported a reduction in isolation

100% clients would recommend Respond to others

Transforming Care Service – Case Study “Alex”

Alex is a white British 20-year-old transgender male. Alex has a diagnosis of Autism, Emotionally Unstable Personality Disorder, depression, and anxiety and has experienced trauma relating to parental emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. He historically made multiple suicide attempts and self-harms through cutting and restricting his diet and was verbally and physically bullied through-out his education. He was previously detained under Section 3 of the Mental Health act due to imminent risk to self and others but has since transitioned to a trauma specialised provider within the community.

Alex was referred to Respond for psychotherapy and has engaged well. The psychotherapy has provided him with a consistent safe space and he has explored themes including; low self-esteem, identity, suicidal ideation, anxiety, and depression, experiencing flash backs, self-harm, substance misuse and

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difficulties in maintaining relationships with professionals and support staff in relation to his care.

Respond is currently supporting Alex’s network through monthly reflective practice sessions which includes both support staff and management. This is to maintain a consistent, person-centered approach focused on trauma-informed interventions, and for the professional to be able to discuss challenges, areas that need improvement, and progress in relation to Alex’s presentation.

Respond has offered help and worked with Alex’s mother to liaise with social services in order to have a mental health social worker allocated to his case.

Alex is only part way through his psychotherapy and support with the networking, but since engaging in psychotherapy he has increased his capacity to reflect and explore his current experiences in relation to his interpersonal relationships with his support staff and management which has enhanced his communication with his community provider around his needs for creative engagement throughout the week through weekly planned activities. Alex has also improved his emotional communication through his ability to identify certain feelings although exploring these at times can still be difficult. More recently Alex has also increased his ability to trust other professionals through maintaining contact with his case manager at Respond and his recently allocated Social Worker.

Forensic service

In the year, 10 clients received an intervention from the Forensic Service, 10% were aged 1417, 24% were 18-24, 38% were 35-44, 3% were aged between 45-46, 7 % 55-64 years old and 17% were over 75. 59% were Autistic, and 65% had a Learning Disability. 5% were Black Caribbean, 5% were Black Caribbean and white, 5% Pakistani, 48% White British and 37% unknown. We noticed that there was an increase in case complexity in terms of referrals (higher levels of risk and co-morbidity). The Forensic Service worked collaboratively with the Midlands Service on several forensic cases.

However, the Forensic service was hit very hard during the lockdown period in the covid pandemic, and it has been difficult to get it back to a financially stable point. Despite best endeavours we did not achieve that for this year and we were unable to forecast sufficient income for the 2023/24 financial year within this service.

We anticipate being unable to take on any direct Forensic client facing work specifically for psychotherapy or forensic risk analysis until early 2024/25. Therefore, we will be safely concluding any ongoing Clinical work directly with individuals. On a case-by-case basis Respond continues to offer consultancy and training to teams. Our COSA service continues to take referrals, this is a psychosocial group intervention for adults and young people with learning difficulties and autism, who sexually offend or display harmful sexual behaviour.

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Forensic Service Case study – “Peter”

Peter was referred with an initial diagnosis of borderline learning disability and sensory impairments with autism, with reasons for referral including excessive use of pornography and incidents of inappropriate and harmful sexualised behaviour towards family members and professionals including a previous therapist.

Peter engaged well in his therapy in a meaningful way, which was primarily online due to the impact of the pandemic. However, initially Peter struggled to acknowledge the reasons for referral, but this gradually changed as Peter progressed into therapy and began to talk about his history of sexual abuse and bullying. Consequently, Peter began to reflect and recognise how his early traumatic experiences had impacted his understanding of sex, boundaries, what is safe and appropriate in different types of relationships and how these are directly linked to his history of harmful sexualised behaviour.

Peter used the therapy mostly positively and worked hard on trying to find ways of understanding his early experiences of trauma as well as accepting his current reality and vulnerabilities. However, following a violent incident in his supported living accommodation, Peter struggled to engage and commit to therapy for a period of time. Eventually he was able to recognise the importance of continuing in therapy to reflect on and work further on his past inappropriate and harmful sexualised behaviour as well as taking into consideration Respond’s concern about his capacity to self-regulate and manage the risks of re-enacting prior abuse.

After eighteen months of therapy Peter made significant progress in his capacity to think about and hold in mind the possible impact and consequences on himself and others if he chose to re-enact his harmful sexualised behaviour. He was able to develop a better understanding of the difference between having sexual thoughts and feelings and acting them out. He also began to show a willingness to change and manage his behaviours differently and most importantly recognise that neither his progress in therapy nor changes in his life outside of therapy are possible without his involvement and engagement. This is an extremely positive development for Peter as he is beginning to develop a greater sense of agency, and the capacity to take more responsibility and make informed as well as independent choices.

The ending of the work included recommendations that social care should continue providing support and assessing support needs as appropriate, particularly related to his recent diagnosis of autism and long-term support from social care to continue to be safe. This is particularly important, as the process of managing the risks of possible compulsive re-enactment of his past harmful sexualised behaviour, requires consistent protective factors to be in place and on-going systemic support for both Peter and his family.

The Respond Action Group

The action group is a group of people with lived experience of autism and learning disabilities who work with us in co-production to support the development of our services. This group was impacted considerably by the pandemic despite our best efforts to equip each member with a tablet and some guidance as to how to use Zoom and Teams for video calls, therefore, the group stopped meeting regularly and are only just getting back to meeting in person. This means that

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the membership was still at a reduced level in this year with only 4 regular members. During a review of their experience in the group all members stated that they felt that their contributions were valued and that working in co-production with Respond staff members they were contributing towards ongoing developments and improvements of the services for clients. We anticipate recruiting increased members in 2023/24 and redeveloping our terms of reference to ensure that we continue to collaboratively and pro-actively benefit from the expertise of our action group members.

External training programme

The development of our external training programme is a key part of our strategy 2022-25 to increase the understanding and knowledge of Respond’s trauma informed approach which is systemic and psychodynamic. We continued to provide bespoke trauma-informed training programmes to a range of providers and delegates across the year, training 358 people in total. Delivering our training in co-production with people with lived experience (particularly family members) was something we focused on this year and 16% of training was co-delivered.

80% of training delegates increased their understanding of the trauma informed approach following their training with us, with a further 73% stated they would continue to use a trauma informed approach in their work

95% training delegates would recommend Respond to others

External training delegates feedback

Senior Leader in the NHS “Today has given me the opportunity to reflect on practice currently and how together as a team we can make changes/improvements for everyone. Although as a ward I thought we were supportive and understanding towards parents, carers, and patients, it has helped me to understand as a whole and in fact there are gaps that need to be implemented to support. It has also given me a lot of knowledge and ideas on how we can approach and support our staff team”.

“This was truly excellent training really hope that there is a lot more of this so that I can put colleagues forward”.

“I am definitely more aware of the impact of trauma and also, the terminology - I am able to put this into practice in my everyday environment”. “I am better informed about how trauma impacts individuals and their circle of support. I’m equipped with a better understanding to influence my work and understanding going forwards”. “I enjoyed taking time to reflect and learn about the impact of the system on trauma informed care and the discussion of frameworks to put in place to support a trauma informed approach”.

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Strategic Report

The trustees, who are directors for the purposes of company law, present their strategic report for the year ended 31 March 2023, in compliance with S414C of the Companies Act 2006.

Fair view of the business

The last financial year was a year of transition for Respond as lockdown restrictions from Covid were eased and we embarked on the first year of our 2022-25 strategy, a key part of which was putting in the investment in infrastructure to support the recent growth of the organisation.

Principal risks and uncertainties

The trustees have a risk management strategy which comprises:

A quarterly review of the principal risks and uncertainties that the charity faces.
The establishment of policies, systems and procedures to mitigate those risks identified in the reviews, and
Procedures designed to minimise or manage any potential impact on the charity, should those risks materialise.

Given the context within which Respond works, the principal risks are:

Service Delivery: achieving, maintaining and supporting appropriate staff levels to ensure high quality delivery of Respond’s services is challenging due to the skilled level of staff required and the traumatic nature of the work. Respond has invested in the period in improving its HR processes to build greater resilience in the organisation.
Income generation is key to the organisation with most of Respond’s income coming from grant funding or service contracts often with 1 to 3 years duration or shorter. Income is regularly reviewed by the SLT and Board and has led to the difficult decision to pause the Forensic service at the end of the financial year.
Maintaining adequate cash balances and reserves. These are essential to ensure the financial solvency of the organisation. The finance function has been strengthened by the recruitment of a new post, that of Finance Director, in January 2022 and financial controls and reporting have improved as a result. Investing in the organisational infrastructure required to support the charity following its recent growth while maintaining financial solvency is a delicate balance and the Board has had to make difficult decisions such as the pausing of the Forensic service.

The strategic report was approved by the trustees of the Charity on 21[st] December 2023 and signed on its behalf by:

Oliver Lewis

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Report of the Trustees

The Trustees present below the Trustees’ and Directors’ report for the year ended 31[st] March 2023.

Structure, governance and management

Governing document

Respond is registered under the Companies Act 2006 as a company limited by guarantee and not having a capital divided by shares.

The company was incorporated on 23 January 1989 and registered as a charity constituted as a limited company under the Memorandum and Articles of Association on 31 January 1991. The charity registration number is 800862 and the company registration number is 2337300.

Recruitment and appointment of Trustees

As set out in the Articles of Association, the chair of the Board of Trustees/Directors is nominated by Respond. The Directors of the organisation are also the charity Trustees for the purposes of charity law.

The Board of Directors has the power to appoint additional Directors as it considers fit to do so.

The Trustees in office in the year are set out on page 2. They have no beneficial interest in the company other than as members. The Trustees are also the directors of the company. All of the Directors are members of the company and guarantee to contribute £1 in event of winding up.

Trustee induction and training

New Trustees/Directors are provided with the Respond Trustee Induction Pack, along with the governing documents (Memorandum and Articles of Association), minutes of last meeting, latest accounts, business plan, copies of all publications and budgets. Trustees are encouraged to attend appropriate external training events.

A skills audit has been carried out by the Board of Trustees to ensure that the Board has the appropriate mix of relevant skills, knowledge and experience amongst the Trustees to ensure good governance and to lead Respond through the coming year to a sustainable financial future and to develop the services for the benefit of our clients. This has enabled the Board to be clear of where there are gaps and to recruit suitably experienced trustees when vacancies arise. This financial year, we appointed four new trustees but have seen four of our trustees decide to step down in the financial year and three after it, all for different reasons. The post of Treasurer is currently vacant, and our CEO left in July 2023. The Board has appointed an Acting CEO and will, once a permanent appointment is made start recruiting new trustees to the Board. The recruitment process will be informed by the skills audit.

Organisation

The Board of Trustees sets Respond’s strategy with the Chief Executive and Senior Leadership Team and ensures governance of this through regular reports from the CEO and Directors. The Senior Leadership Team (SLT) develops operational and business plans that sit under the strategy and set Key Performance Indicators by which to measure progress. This is monitored

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through the organisational line management structure and regular meetings with the team of managers.

The decisions for the day-to-day operations of Respond are made by the Chief Executive/Acting Chief Executive Officer in consultation with the Senior Leadership Team, with major decisions affecting the future of the organisation discussed and planned with the Board of Trustees who make the final decision.

Related parties

The charity works closely with other similar organisations as detailed in the achievements and performance section of the Directors' and Trustees’ Report below.

Pro bono support

Respond has been fortunate over the year to have the pro bono support of excellent individuals and organisations. For example, through the Lloyds Enhance Programme we have been fortunate enough to receive pro bono coaching for a number of staff members. We are very grateful to Daniel Snowden from Strike Higher for his pro bono work with the senior leadership team and our extended management team to create a new organisational design model to enable long-term structural redevelopment and sustainability. We would also like to thank our Action Group who help us shape the delivery of our services.

Risk Management

The Trustees have examined the major strategic, business and operational risks which the charity faces and confirms that systems have been established to enable regular reports to be produced so that necessary steps can be taken to lessen these risks. Quarterly risk register reports are provided for the board and the SLT also raise any emerging risks for discussion.

Volunteers

Thanks go out to all the amazing volunteers who have supported the team at Respond over the financial year through the COSA project, Young People’s project, Transforming Care service, Survivors service and family support service. Our volunteers come from all walks of life and bring in different perspectives, knowledge and skills to support and broaden the support we offer our clients. Their commitment, thoughtfulness and collaboration are greatly appreciated.

Public Benefit statement

The Trustees consider that they have complied with Section 17 of the Charities Act 2011 with regard to the guidance on public benefit published by the Charity Commission. The paragraphs below demonstrate the public benefit arising through the Charity’s activities.

Fundraising and Income Generation

The majority of funds have been raised from existing donors, which are a mix of trusts, foundations, and government institutions. Respond has strict policies and guidelines in place which govern our approach to fundraising, including compliance with GDPR. Over the last financial year we contracted one part-time, self-employed fundraiser who was supported by members of the Senior Leadership Team who closely monitored for compliance with these policies and guidelines.

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Respond received no complaints related to fundraising in any way over the year. Respond takes all due care to ensure that any communication that is sent out from Respond is wanted by the recipient.

Policy and Influence

Respond continues to influence government, communities, and public attitudes towards people with learning disabilities or autism who been affected by trauma or sexual abuse through participation at national levels of advisory groups, commissioning groups, NHS England consultations and other disabilities campaign groups.

Funders and Donors

Respond is extremely grateful to the following organisations that have provided financial support:

BBC Children in Need Charles Hayward Foundation Esmée Fairbairn Foundation Henry Smith Charity John Lyon's Charity The Three Guineas Trust Lloyds Bank Foundation The Volant Charitable Trust MOPAC AB Charitable Trust Sir Halley Stewart Trust Hobson Charity Solace Women’s Aid

Financial Review

Respond’s total income for the year was £1.77m. This was 14% higher than the prior period (£1.55m). Respond’s income position grew considerably due to additional multi-year funding that was secured in the year.

In terms of expenditure, during the year Respond spent £1.96m (prior year: £1.55m) as it invested in organisational development to support its growth.

Expenditure on raising funds was £0.05m (prior year: £0.04m) which represents 2% of total expenditure (prior year: 3%).

We will continue to look for suitable Trusts and Foundations to apply for funding to cover various grants coming to an end and to ensure that funding gaps are avoided or mitigated where possible.

In assessing the going concern position for Respond for the next 12 months, the Trustees have prepared detailed financial income and cash flow forecasts and are confident that there will be sufficient cash available to meet the liabilities as they fall due. These forecasts include income from several grants, contracts and partnership fees which have been secured, as well as a conservative projection of income streams not yet fully secured.

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Investment powers and policy

The Memorandum and Articles of Association authorise the Trustees to make and hold investments using the general funds of the charity. The trustees have the power to invest in any way that they see fit.

Remuneration policy for key management personnel

Respond’s pay policy is to offer fair pay to attract and keep appropriately qualified and skilled staff to lead, manage, support and deliver the charity’s aims in line with comparable organisations. Respond last undertook a pay review in 2020 with an external HR professional to benchmark and review all roles.

Reserves policy

Respond’s reserve policy is to maintain 1 month’s forward-looking costs, plus the contractual costs of closing down, plus a variable sum as identified by the board to represent expected future costs. At the end of March 2023, the unrestricted reserve target was £0.44m, and the unrestricted funds not designated or invested in tangible fixed assets held by the charity were £0.43m (2022: £0.62m)

Over the last few years Respond has had a deliberate financial strategy focussed on widening the range of diverse income streams. These include trust and foundation grants, sales of service and block contracts. This has successfully enabled us to build reserves that will enable investment in developing a resilient organisational structure. These non-designated reserves were used in the financial year for the initial funding of new posts that were identified as needed to further develop the infrastructure of Respond now that it has become a larger organisation.

Future Plans and Development

The last financial year was the first year of Respond’s 3-year strategic period. We are proud of our main achievements as highlighted within this report.

Respond has launched its new strategy for the period 2022 to 2025 with a business plan to support the following strategic aims:

Increase public understanding and knowledge of the psychodynamic trauma informed approach.
Provide a whole system approach when supporting children, young people, and their families.
Improve the wellbeing and social integration of people moving out of long stay institutions into the community.
Reduce the risk of offending for those who may cause harm to themselves or others.
Reduce isolation, increase coping mechanisms and prevent further abuse.

(A company limited by guarantee)

Statement of Directors and Trustees’ Responsibilities

The Trustees (who are also directors of Respond for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the Annual Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and regulation.

Company law requires the Directors to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under that law the Directors have elected to prepare the financial statements in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (United Kingdom Accounting Standards and applicable law). Under company law the Directors must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they that give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the company and of its income and expenditure for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the Directors are required to:

Select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently.
Observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP.
Make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent.
State whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements.
Prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charitable company will continue in business.

The Directors are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the company’s transactions, disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

Statement of Disclosure to Auditors

So far as the trustees are aware, there is no relevant audit information (as defined by Section 418 of the Companies Act 2006) of which the company's auditors are unaware, and each Trustee has taken all the steps that he or she ought to have taken as a trustee in order to make himself or herself aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the company's auditors are aware of that information.

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the provisions of the Companies Act 2006 applicable to small companies, the Charities Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP), Accounting and Reporting by Charities FRS102 effective from 1 January 2015 and the Memorandum and Articles of Association of the charity.

In preparing the above report, the Trustees have taken advantage of special exemptions applicable to small companies.

Auditors

A resolution will be proposed at the Annual General Meeting to appoint auditors of the charity for the ensuing year.

(A company limited by guarantee)

APPROVED BY THE BOARD AND SIGNED ON ITS BEHALF BY:

………………………………………………. Oliver Lewis - CHAIR

DATED: 21[st] December 2023

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RESPOND REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT AUDITORS

TO THE TRUSTEES OF RESPOND

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Respond (the ‘charitable company’) for the year ended 31 March 2023 which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities, the Balance Sheet, the Statement of Cash Flows and notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 “The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland” (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

give a true and fair view of the state of the charitable company's affairs as at 31 March 2023 and of its incoming resources and application of resources for the year then ended;
have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and
have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006.

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charitable company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Conclusions relating to going concern

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charitable company's ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

Other information

The other information comprises the information included in the Report of the Trustees (including Strategic Report), other than the financial statements and our Report of the Auditors thereon. The Trustees are responsible for the other information. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

In connection with our audit of the financial statements, our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether there is a material misstatement in the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit:

the information given in the Report of the Trustees, which includes the Report of the Directors and the Strategic Report prepared for the purposes of company law, for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and
the Strategic Report and the Report of the Directors included within the Report of the Trustees have been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

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RESPOND

REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT AUDITORS

TO THE TRUSTEES OF RESPOND (CONTINUED)

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In light of the knowledge and understanding of the company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the Strategic Report or the Report of the Directors included within the Report of the Trustees.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

adequate accounting records have not been kept, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or
the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or
certain disclosures of Trustees' remuneration specified by law are not made; or
we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.

Responsibilities of Trustees

As explained more fully in the Statement of Trustees’ Responsibilities, the Trustees (who are also directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law and trustees of the charity for the purposes of charity law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the Trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, the Trustees are responsible for assessing the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the Trustees either intend to liquidate the charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue a Report of the Auditors that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

Identifying and assessing potential risks related to irregularities

Irregularities, including fraud, are non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures, in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud, are detailed below:

In identifying and assessing risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and noncompliance with laws and regulations we consider the following:

the nature of the charity sector, control environment and financial performance;
results of our enquiries of management about their own identification and assessment of the risks of irregularities;
any matters we identified having obtained and reviewed the charity's documentation of their policies and procedures relating to:
identifying, evaluating and complying with laws and regulations and whether they were aware of any instances of noncompliance;
detecting and responding to the risks of fraud and whether they have knowledge of any actual, suspected or alleged fraud;
the internal controls established to mitigate risks of fraud or non-compliance with laws and regulations
the matters discussed among the audit engagement team regarding how and where fraud might occur in the financial statements and any potential indicators of fraud.

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RESPOND REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT AUDITORS TO THE TRUSTEES OF RESPOND (CONTINUED)

Identifying and assessing potential risks related to irregularities (continued)

As a result of these procedures, we considered the opportunities and incentives that may exist within the organisation for fraud and identified the greatest potential for fraud in the following area: revenue and resource recognition. In common with all audits under ISAs (UK), we are also required to perform specific procedures to respond to the risk of management override.

Audit response to risks identified

As a result of performing the above, we identified revenue recognition and allocation as a key audit matter related to the potential risk of fraud. Our procedures to respond to risks identified included the following:

• reviewing source documentations of grants and donations to ensure accurate disclosure into restricted and unrestricted categories;

• reviewing the financial statement disclosures and testing to supporting documentation to assess compliance with provisions of relevant laws and regulations described as having a direct effect on the financial statements;

• enquiring of management concerning actual and potential litigation and claims;

• performing analytical procedures to compare against expectations and based on past experiences and management forecasts to identify any unusual or unexpected relationships that may indicate risk oof material misstatement due to fraud;

reading minutes of meetings of those charged with governance;

• enquiring of those charged with governance to confirm the charity's ability to remain a going concern for a period of not less than 12 months from the date of this audit report and

• in addressing the risk of fraud through management override of controls, testing the appropriateness of journal entries and other adjustments; applying parameters designed to identify entries that were not within our expectations; and evaluating the charity's rationale of any significant transactions that are unusual or outside the normal course of business.

We also communicated relevant identified laws and regulations and potential fraud risks to all engagement team members and remained alert to any indications of fraud or non-compliance with laws and regulations throughout the audit.

Owing to the inherent limitations of an audit, there is an unavoidable risk that we may not have detected some material misstatements in the financial statements, even though we have properly planned and performed our audit in accordance with auditing standards. For example, the further removed non-compliance with laws and regulations (irregularities) is from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, the less likely the inherently limited procedures required by auditing standards would identify it. In addition, as with any audit, there remained a higher risk of non-detection of irregularities, as these may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal controls. We are not responsible for preventing non-compliance and cannot be expected to detect non-compliance with all laws and regulations.

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our Report of the Auditors.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charitable company’s trustees, as a body, in accordance with Part 4 of the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company’s trustees those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charitable company and the charitable company’s trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Simon Ellingham BA FCA DChA (Senior Statutory Auditor)

for and on behalf of Fawcetts LLP, Chartered Accountants & Statutory Auditors Windover House, St Ann Street, Salisbury, SP1 2DR

Date:……………………… 21 December 2023

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RESPOND STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES (including the Income and Expenditure account)

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

----- Start of picture text -----
2023 2022
Income and expenditure Unrestricted Restricted Total Total
Note £ £ £ £
INCOME AND ENDOWMENTS:
Donations and legacies 2 1,447 110,154 111,601 116,888
Charitable activities 2 972,311 682,698 1,655,009 1,434,136
Other trading activities 2 5,124 - 5,124 1,750
Total income 978,882 792,852 1,771,734 1,552,774
EXPENDITURE ON:
Raising funds 3 48,584 - 48,584 39,292
Charitable activities 3 1,120,839 792,676 1,913,515 1,506,685
Total expenditure 1,169,423 792,676 1,962,099 1,545,977
NET INCOME/(EXPENDITURE) (190,541) 176 (190,365) 6,797
Transfers between funds - - - -
NET MOVEMENT IN FUNDS (190,541) 176 (190,365) 6,797
RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS:
Total funds brought forward 617,200 2,122 619,322 612,525
TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD 426,659 2,298 428,957 619,322
----- End of picture text -----

The above results are derived from continuing activities. There were no other recognised gains or losses other than those stated above.

The notes form part of these financial statements

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RESPOND BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31 MARCH 2023

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2023 2022
Note £ £
Fixed assets
Tangible fixed assets 8 29,050 33,458
Current assets
Debtors 9 533,194 420,027
Cash at bank and in hand 271,149 573,909
Total current assets 804,343 993,936
Liabilities
Creditors: Amounts due within one year 10 (404,436) (408,072)
Net current assets 399,907 585,864
NET ASSETS 428,957 619,322
Funds
Unrestricted funds: 14 426,659 617,200
Restricted income funds 14 2,298 2,122
TOTAL CHARITY FUNDS 428,957 619,322
----- End of picture text -----

These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies' regime within Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006.

These accounts were approved by the Board of Trustees/Directors and were signed on its behalf by:

………………………………………………..……..	………………………………………………..…….. 21 December 2023
Oliver Lewis (Trustee)	Date

Company registration number: 2337300

The notes form part of these financial statements

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RESPOND

STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

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2023 2022
Notes £ £
Cash provided by operating activities a (290,516) 74,345
Cash flows from investing activities:
Purchase of tangible assets (12,244) (19,234)
Net cash provided by/(used in) investing activities (12,244) (19,234)
Increase/(decrease) in cash and cash equivalents in the year (302,760) 55,111
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year b 573,909 518,798
Cash and cash equivalents as at the end of the year b 271,149 573,909
a) Reconciliation of income/(expenditure) to net cash flow from operating activities
2023 2022
£ £
Net income/(expenditure) for the year as per the
Statement of Financial Activities (190,365) 6,797
Adjusted for:
Depreciation 16,652 14,060
(Increase)/decrease in debtors (113,167) 144,227
Increase/(decrease) in creditors (3,636) (90,739)
Net cash (used in)/provided by operating activities (290,516) 74,345
b) Analysis of cash and cash equivalents
2023 2022
£ £
Cash at bank and in hand 271,149 573,909
----- End of picture text -----

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RESPOND NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES

The significant accounting policies applied in the preparation of these financial statements are set out below. These policies have been consistently applied to all years presented unless otherwise stated.

a) Basis of preparation of the accounts

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention and in accordance with applicable Accounting Standards in the United Kingdom, the accounting regulations issued under the Companies Act 2006 and the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) FRS102 "Accounting and Reporting by Charities".

Respond meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102.

b) Going concern

The Trustees assess whether the use of going concern is appropriate i.e. whether there are any material uncertainties related to events or conditions that may cast significant doubt over the ability of the Charity to continue as a going concern. The Trustees make this assessment in respect of a period of one year from the date of approval of the financial statements.

The Trustees consider that there is sufficient funding anticipated to cover the year following the date of approval of these financial statements and that the going concern basis of preparation is therefore considered to be appropriate.

c) Fund accounting

Unrestricted funds are general funds that are available for use at the trustees’ discretion in the furtherance of the objectives of the charity.

Restricted funds are those donated, or raised, for use in a particular area or for a specific purpose. The purposes and uses of the restricted funds are set out in the trustees report. Purchases of fixed assets with restricted funds are deemed to be satisfied once the purchase has taken place and therefore these restricted fund balances are released to unrestricted general funds unless the restriction is deemed to be on a permanent basis.

All funds are reviewed annually and transfers between funds undertaken as determined by that review.

d) Income

Voluntary income including donations, gifts and legacies and grants that provide core funding or are of general nature are recognised where there is entitlement, certainty of receipt and the amount can be measured with sufficient reliability.

Income from charitable activities includes income received under contract or where entitlement to grant funding is subject to specific performance conditions is recognised as earned (as the related goods or services are provided). Grant income included in this category provides funding to support performance activities and is recognised where there is entitlement, certainty of receipt and the amount can be measured with sufficient reliability.

Income is only deferred when the donor specifies that the grant or donation must only be used in future accounting periods or the donor has imposed conditions which must be met before the charity has unconditional entitlement.

e) Volunteers and donated services and facilities

The value of services provided by volunteers is not incorporated into these financial statements. Further details of the contribution made by volunteers can be found in the trustees’ annual report.

Where services are provided to the charity as a donation that would normally be purchased from our suppliers, this contribution is included in the financial statements at an estimate based on the value of the contribution to the charity.

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RESPOND NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES (continued)

f) Resources expended

Expenditure is recognised when a liability is incurred. Contractual arrangements and performance related grants are recognised as goods or services supplied. Other grant payments are recognised when a constructive obligation arises that result in the payment being unavoidable.

Charitable activities include expenditure associated with the main objective of the charity and include both the direct costs and support costs relating to these activities.

Support costs have been allocated on the basis of staff time relating to each activity.

g) Pension costs

The charitable company operates a defined contribution pension scheme for employees. The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the charity. The annual contributions payable are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities.

h) Leasing and hire purchase commitments

Rental payments under operating leases are charged as expenditure as incurred over the term of the lease.

i) Irrecoverable VAT

All resources expended are classified under activity heading that aggregate all costs related to the category. Irrecoverable VAT is charged against the category of resources expended for which it was incurred.

j) Taxation

The Charity is a registered charity and, therefore, is not liable for Income Tax or Corporation Tax on income derived from its charitable activities, as it falls within the various exemptions available to registered charities.

k) Tangible fixed assets and depreciation

Tangible fixed assets (excluding investments) are stated as cost less depreciation. The cost of minor additions or those costing less than £500 are not capitalised. Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write off the cost or valuation of fixed assets, less their estimated residual value, over their expected useful lives on the following basis:

Computer 33.33% on Office equipment 25% on reducing balance Fixtures and fittings 15% on reducing balance

l) Debtors and creditors receivable/payable within one year

Debtors and creditors with no stated interest rate and receivable or payable within one year are recorded at transaction price. Any losses arising from impairment are recognised in expenditure.

m) Financial Instrument

The Charity only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value.

Debtors are measured at their recoverable amount.

Creditors and provisions are recognised where the Charity has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts due.

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RESPOND NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

----- Start of picture text -----
2. INCOME Unrestricted Restricted 2023 2022
£ £ £ £
INCOME FROM DONATIONS AND LEGACIES
Grants - 110,154 110,154 110,500
Donations 1,447 - 1,447 6,388
1,447 110,154 111,601 116,888
INCOME FROM CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES
Survivors Services
Grants - 159,790 159,790 98,066
-
Therapy Income 96,415 96,415 52,312
Forensic Services
Grants - 8,333 8,333 25,000
- -
Therapy income 18,429 18,429
Forensic Services - - - 41,574
Learning and Development Services
-
Training and Consultancy Income 105,748 105,748 103,505
Young People's Therapy Services
Grants - 57,667 57,667 63,787
-
Therapy Income 38,804 38,804 42,057
- -
Training and Consultancy Income 1,690 1,690
COSA Project
Grants - 52,500 52,500 60,000
Other Income 15,000 - 15,000 11,000
Family Support Services
Grants - 20,000 20,000 37,500
Contract income - - - 71,720
-
Therapy Income 71,645 71,645 78,227
-
Training and Consultancy Income 33,440 33,440 27,895
Other Income - - - 11,000
West Midlands
Contract income 480,000 - 480,000 480,000
-
Therapy income 32,667 32,667 19,000
- - -
Training and Consultancy 10,896
Other Income 73,424 - 73,424 9,836
Advocacy Services
Grants - 384,408 384,408 167,061
- -
Training and Consultancy 2,249 2,249
Other income 2,800 - 2,800 23,700
972,311 682,698 1,655,009 1,434,136
INCOME FROM OTHER TRADING ACTIVITIES
Other Income 5,124 - 5,124 1,750
-
5,124 5,124 1,750
Total 978,882 792,852 1,771,734 1,552,774
Total 2022 990,860 561,914 1,552,774
----- End of picture text -----

Further information on grants is provided in note 14.

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RESPOND NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

3. EXPENDITURE Direct staff Direct Support costs costs costs £ £ £ Raising funds 27,134 12,599 8,463 Charitable activities Survivors Services 145,733 25,773 69,876 Forensic Services 86,822 17,776 52,950 Learning and Development Services 62,687 21,589 31,625 Young People's Therapy Services 78,861 17,363 58,573 COSA Project 69,767 12,327 42,204 Family Support Services 124,424 41,245 36,580 West Midlands 254,376 84,055 132,291 Advocacy services 230,024 51,480 119,540 Policy, Campaigns & Leadership 14,910 879 4,676 1,067,604 272,487 548,315 Total 1,094,738 285,086 556,778 Total 2022 975,342 154,112 389,719 Analysis of support costs: Management salaries Administration salaries Premises costs Communication costs Information Technology Legal and professional costs Depreciation Miscellaneous expenses Bad debts Support costs have been allocated on the basis of staff time relating to each activity. Analysis of governance costs: Management salaries Legal and professional costs Miscellaneous expenses Audit fees Recruitment	Governance Costs £ 388 3,200 2,425 1,448 2,682 1,933 1,675 6,058 5,474 214 25,109 25,497 26,804	2023 £ 48,584 244,582 159,973 117,349 157,479 126,231 203,924 476,780 406,518 20,679 1,913,515 1,962,099 1,545,977 2023 £ 250,125 74,594 80,601 5,597 23,636 74,702 16,651 30,872 - 556,778 2023 £ - - - 9,600 15,897 25,497	2022 £ 39,292 209,000 119,247 61,987 198,519 121,696 152,590 368,067 256,926 18,653 1,506,685 1,545,977 2022 £ 109,697 50,260 66,477 8,137 15,882 84,865 14,060 18,195 22,146 389,719 2022 £ 18,163 2,494 146 6,000 - 26,803

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RESPOND NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

4. NET INCOME/(EXPENDITURE) This is stated after charging: Depreciation of fixed assets Auditor's remunerations Operating lease rentals - property Operating lease rentals - equipment	2023 £ 16,652 9,600 190,300 -	2022 £ 14,060 5,980 53,576 1,428

5. STAFF COSTS AND NUMBERS Wages and salaries Social security costs Pension costs	2023 £ 1,261,875 132,573 25,009 1,419,457	2022 £ 1,033,554 97,722 22,186 1,153,462

The average number of people employed by the charity, including part-time staff during the period was as follows:

2023 Average number of employees 37 2023 No. £50,001 to £60,000 1 £60,001 to £70,000 - £70,001 to £80,000 2 £80,001 to £90,000 1 £90,001 to £100,000 - £100,001 to £150,000 - The number of employees whose emoluments for the year fell within the following bands were:	2022 41 2022 No. 1 1 - - - -

The key management personnel of the charity are listed on page 2. The total amount of employee benefits (including employer pension contributions) received by the key management personnel for their services was £286,175 (2022: £193,671).

6. TRUSTEES EXPENSES AND REMUNERATION

Trustees are not remunerated and 1 trustee was reimbursed £81 for travel expenses in the year (2022: £Nil).

7. RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

There were no related party transactions during the year (2022: £Nil).

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RESPOND NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

8. TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS

Office equipment £ Cost At 1 April 2022 6,541 Additions - Disposals - At 31 March 2023 6,541 Depreciation At 1 April 2022 3,864 Charge for the year 669 Eliminated on disposals - At 31 March 2023 4,533 Net book value At 31 March 2023 2,008 At 31 March 2022 2,677 9. DEBTORS Grant and contract income debtors Other debtors and accrued income Prepayments 10. CREDITORS: amounts falling due within one year Trade creditors Other taxes and social security costs Deferred income (note 11) Accruals Other creditors	Fixtures & fittings £ 11,782 - - 11,782 3,652 1,220 - 4,872 6,910 8,130	Computers £ 94,366 12,244 - 106,610 71,715 14,763 - 86,478 20,132 22,651 2023 £ 357,003 163,856 12,335 533,194 2023 £ 37,461 37,608 241,530 41,674 46,163 404,436 & IT systems	Total £ 112,689 12,244 - 124,933 79,231 16,652 - 95,883 29,050 33,458 2022 £ 154,320 247,441 18,266 420,027 2022 £ 39,834 34,238 302,757 30,458 785 408,072

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RESPOND NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

11. DEFERRED INCOME

Total deferred income at 1 April Additions during the year Released to income Total deferred income at 31 March	2023 £ 302,757 480,883 (542,110) 241,530	2022 £ 379,402 441,446 (518,091) 302,757

Deferred income represents contract and grant income relating to the proportion of funding for 2023/24 services.

12. OPERATING LEASE COMMITMENTS

As at 31 March 2023 the charity had total future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases are as follows:

Less than 1 year Between 2 and 5 years In 5 years or more	2023 £ 139,500 - - 139,500	2022 £ 180,700 129,900 - 310,600

13. SHARE CAPITAL

The company is limited by guarantee and does not have a share capital.

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RESPOND NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

14. MOVEMENT IN FUNDS

Survivors Services The Three Guineas Trust MOJ Critical Support Fund DA/SV Fund Forensic Services Charles Hayward Foundation YP Therapy Services BBC Children in Need John Lyon's Charity COSA Esmee Fairbairn Foundation The Henry Smith Charity A B Charitable Trust Family Support Services The Three Guineas Trust Sir Halley Stewart Trust Core Grants The Three Guineas Trust Lloyds Bank Foundation Hobson Charity Esmee Fairbairn Foundation DA/SV Fund Advocacy Services Volant Solace (Ascent) The Three Guineas Trust WGN Gateway WGN CouRAGEeous DA/SV Fund IDVA/ISVA Total Restricted Funds Unrestricted General Funds Total Funds	Balance at 01.04.2022 £ - - - - 2,122 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 2,122 617,200 619,322	Income £ 45,239 15,750 98,801 8,333 34,334 23,333 15,000 30,000 7,500 - 20,000 75,000 13,750 2,500 5,000 13,904 8,750 12,500 29,761 157,091 52,350 34,040 89,916 792,852 978,882 1,771,734	Expenditure £ (45,239) (15,750) (98,801) (8,333) (34,334) (23,333) (15,000) (30,000) (7,500) - (20,000) (75,000) (13,750) (2,500) (4,824) (13,904) (8,750) (12,500) (29,761) (157,091) (52,350) (34,040) (89,916) (792,676) (1,169,423) (1,962,099)	Transfers £ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -	Balance at 31.03.2023 £ - - - - 2,122 - - - - - - - - - 176 - - - - - - - - 2,298 426,659 428,957

DocuSign Envelope ID: E15AA878-B517-43AC-89FC-B369C7AE6938

RESPOND NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

14. MOVEMENT IN FUNDS (continued)

Comparative statement of funds for the year ended 31 March 2022:

Survivors Services The Three Guineas Trust City of London Corporation Forensic Services Charles Hayward Foundation YP Therapy Services BBC Children in Need John Lyon's Charity Dept of Health and Social Care COSA Esmee Fairbairn Foundation The Henry Smith Charity Midlands Service HMRC Furlough Core Grants The Three Guineas Trust Lloyds Bank Foundation Hobson Charity The London Community Fund The Edward Gostling Foundation City of London Corporation Dept of Health and Social Care Total Restricted Funds Unrestricted General Funds Total Funds	Balance at 01.04.2021 £ - - - - - 6 - - - - - - - - - 6 612,519 612,525	Income £ 37,500 60,566 25,000 33,787 30,000 30,000 30,000 37,500 75,000 33,000 2,500 6,250 10,000 98,044 52,767 561,914 990,860 1,552,774	Expenditure £ (37,500) (60,566) (25,000) (31,665) (30,000) (30,006) (30,000) (37,500) (75,000) (33,000) (2,500) (6,250) (10,000) (98,044) (52,767) (559,798) (986,179) (1,545,977)	Transfers £ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -	Balance at 31.03.2022 £ - - - 2,122 - - - - - - - - - - - 2,122 617,200 619,322

DocuSign Envelope ID: E15AA878-B517-43AC-89FC-B369C7AE6938

RESPOND NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

14. MOVEMENT IN FUNDS (continued)

Transfers

There were no transfers during the year (2022: £Nil).

Purposes of Restricted Funds:

Survivors Services

The Three Guineas Trust, MOJ Critical Support Fund and DA/SV Fund - the grants were used towards the cost of a specialist team of Independent Sexual Violence/Domestic Abuse advisors and advocates to support people with learning disabilities who have experienced sexual violence or other domestic abuse, and to offer advice and training to other service providers.

Forensic services

Charles Hayward Foundation - this was used to contribute towards the funding of the Forensic service. The overall aims of the project is to improve the mental health of people with learning disabilities involved in the criminal justice system or likely to come into contact with it, thereby reducing offending and reoffending.

Young People's Therapy Services

Funding from the BBC Children in Need and the John Lyon's Charity are used to provide services to support young people with learning disabilities who have experienced trauma, and those who display sexually harming behaviors. These include psychotherapy services at Respond's Euston clinic and in seven special and mainstream schools across London boroughs. Funding was also used towards the Harm Prevention project which supports young people in schools to help them understand positive relationships.

Circle of Support and Accountability (COSA) Project

Esmee Fairbairn Foundation - this was used towards the running costs including staff salaries for the continuation of Respond project to provide COSA to young people and adults with learning difficulties.

The Henry Smith Charity - this was used towards the running costs including the salary of the Project Coordinator of the COSA project for adults and young people from London with learning disabilities who have displayed sexually harmful behavior.

A B Charitable Trust - this is used towards the delivery of Circle of Support and Accountability (COSA) for people with learning disabilities and autism, and associated core costs.

Families services

Sir Halley Stewart Trust - this was used to support disadvantaged families with learning disabilities and/or autism to resolve conflcit and recover from complex trauma and abuse together.

Core Grants

The Three Guineas Trust, Lloyds Bank Foundation, Hobson charity, Esmee Fairburn Foundation and the DA/SV Fund - this was used to support infrastucture and support costs within Respond in order to enable and/or improve its delivery of trauma informed services to people with learning disabilities, autism or both who have experienced abuse, violence or trauma.

Advocacy Services

Volant, Solace (Ascent),The Three Guineas Trust, WGN Gateway, WGN CouRAGEous, DA/SV and IDVA/ISVA funds - the grants were used towards the cost of a specialist team of Independent Sexual Violence/Domestic Abuse advisors and advocates to support people with learning disabilities who have experienced sexual violence or other domestic abuse, and to offer advice and training to other service providers.

DocuSign Envelope ID: E15AA878-B517-43AC-89FC-B369C7AE6938

RESPOND NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

14. MOVEMENT IN FUNDS (continued)

Support Costs

The Edward Gostling Foundation - Funding of Salary costs to enable Respond to connect up digitally to create an online peer network and continue to operate during the covid-19 pandemic

Hobson Charity - This grant was a contribution towards the purchase cost of a database system.

The London Community Fund on behalf of MOPAC - Funding of incurred additional costs due to the COVID 19 pandemic.

The Three Guineas Trust - the grant was used towards Respond's core costs specifically the salaries of the chief executive, an administrator, a fundraising manager and a freelance fundraising consultant.

Lloyds Bank Foundation - the grant was used to fund and support staff in the leadership team and the operations manager.

15. ANALYSIS OF NET ASSETS BETWEEN FUNDS

Tangible fixed assets Net current assets Net assets at the end of the year	Unrestricted £ 29,050 397,609 426,659	Restricted £ - 2,298 2,298	Total £ 29,050 399,907 428,957

Comparative analysis of net assets between funds for the year ended 31 March 2022:

Tangible fixed assets Net current assets Net assets as at 31 March 2022	Unrestricted £ 33,458 583,742 617,200	Restricted £ - 2,122 2,122	Total £ 33,458 585,864 619,322

DocuSign Envelope ID: E15AA878-B517-43AC-89FC-B369C7AE6938

RESPOND NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

16. Statement of financial activities - comparative balances as at 31 March 2022

Income and expenditure INCOME AND ENDOWMENTS: Donations and legacies EXPENDITURE ON: Raising funds Charitable activities Charitable activities Total income Other trading activities TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS: Total expenditure NET INCOME/(EXPENDITURE) Transfers between funds NET MOVEMENT IN FUNDS Total funds brought forward	Unrestricted £ 6,388 982,722 1,750 990,860 39,292 946,887 986,179 4,681 - 4,681 612,519 617,200	Restricted £ 110,500 451,414 - 561,914 - 559,798 559,798 2,116 - 2,116 6 2,122	2022 Total £ 116,888 1,434,136 1,750 1,552,774 39,292 1,506,685 1,545,977 6,797 - 6,797 612,525 619,322

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31[ST] MARCH 2023

(A company limited by guarantee)

CONTENTS

General Information

A message from Oliver Lewis, Chair of the Board

A message from our Acting CEO, Georgina Hoare

Mission Statement

Core Purpose

The Respond Model

Forensic Psychotherapy

Forensic Circle of Support and Accountability (COSA)

Survivors Psychotherapy

Specialist Advocacy

Family Service

Midlands Service

Transforming Care

Training & Consultancy

Respond Action Group

Respond also:

Service Reports

The Survivors Psychotherapy Service

What has been challenging

What’s gone well

Who we have supported

The Family Service

What has been challenging

What’s gone well

Who we have supported

Our Impact

Young People’s Service

What has been challenging

Who we have supported

Young People’s Service case study – “Ronald”

The Advocacy Service

What has been challenging

What has gone well

Who we have supported

Advocacy Service Case study “Sharon”

Circles of Support and Accountability (COSA) Service

Challenges we have faced

What has gone well

Who we have supported

Transforming Care and Midlands Clinical Services

What has been challenging

What’s gone well

Who we supported

Forensic service

The Respond Action Group

External training programme

External training delegates feedback

Strategic Report

Fair view of the business

Principal risks and uncertainties

Report of the Trustees

Structure, governance and management

Governing document

Recruitment and appointment of Trustees

Trustee induction and training

Organisation

Related parties

Pro bono support

Risk Management

Volunteers

Public Benefit statement

Fundraising and Income Generation

Policy and Influence

Funders and Donors

Financial Review

Investment powers and policy

Remuneration policy for key management personnel

Reserves policy

Future Plans and Development

Statement of Disclosure to Auditors

Auditors

APPROVED BY THE BOARD AND SIGNED ON ITS BEHALF BY:

DATED: 21[st] December 2023

RESPOND REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT AUDITORS

TO THE TRUSTEES OF RESPOND

Opinion