2021-03-31-accounts

This text was generated using OCR and may contain errors. Check the original PDF to see the document submitted to the regulator.

*L AnnuaL repowt & accounts rj l.T /¢ .X-. nct ISTI,000 DAYS Year to 31 March 2021 NEW PARENT SUPPORT

Trustees’ report	3
Strategic report	3
About us	4
Chair’s welcome	8
President’s welcome	10
Chief Executive’s welcome	11
Priority 1 – Trusted provision of antenatal educaton and infant feeding support	20
Leading the way in antenatal education	20
Breastfeeding and infant feeding support	24
Priority 2 – Growing our reputaton in digital support	35
Reaching more parents through digital support	35
Priority 3 – Protectng and re-building thriving community actvity	39
Volunteers supporting parents in their local community	39
Support from specialist practitioners	44
Perinatal programmes to tackle social isolation	46
Campaigning and infuencing for change	54
Working together to strengthen our charity	56
Ensuring a safe and sustainable re-start for in-person activities	56
The Future of Volunteering	59
Training NCT practitioners of the future	61
Migration to Salesforce	65
Our thanks	66
Financial review	68
Structure and governance	74
Independent auditor’s report to the trustees and members of NCT	80
NCT consolidated group statement of fnancial actvites including
income & expenditure account for the year ended 31 March 2021	84
NCT charity statement of fnancial actvites including income &
expenditure account for the year ended 31 March 2021	85
NCT balance sheets as at 31 March 2021	86
NCT consolidated cash fow statement for the year ended 31 March 2021	87
Notes to the fnancial statements	88

Front cover image: Mums and babies attending a volunteer-led Walk & Talk in Newham for support during lockdown.

Trustees, report

Strategic report

About us

We are NCT – the national charity for pregnancy, birth and early parenthood.

Our vision

Our vision is of a world in which no parent is isolated, and all parents are supported to build a stronger society.

Our mission

Our mission is to support parents through the first 1,000 days to have the best possible experience of pregnancy, birth and early parenthood.

We achieve our mission through three interconnected aims:

Sharing evidence-based knowledge to support parents to 1 make informed decisions.

2 Creating networks of vital support and life-long friendship. Campaigning on the issues that matter most to families 3 through their early experiences of becoming a parent.

Every year, we support thousands of expectant and new parents across the UK and Channel Islands to feel more connected and confident during this major life transition.

We provide evidence-based information, signposting and access to support and services through our website, which is visited over 9 million times a year. We support and empower over 80,000 parents every year through a variety of services tailored to meet their needs.

This includes antenatal and postnatal courses delivered by our skilled practitioners, a range of free community-based activities and events led by our fantastic volunteers, and highly valued breastfeeding and infant feeding support provided by specialist NCT breastfeeding counsellors. In addition, a range of trained peer support programmes support women and families facing specific challenges, such as social isolation, feeding difficulties or poor mental health.

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NCT community in Newham
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Strategic report

Our impact

27,284

parents attended our Walk & Talk groups, powered by volunteers giving over 7,000 volunteer hours.

70,131

parents supported through NCT classes by 468 practitioners.

7,631

calls to the Infant Feeding Line for support from a breastfeeding counsellor.

7,066

antenatal breastfeeding sessions attended by 69,604 expectant parents.

6,254

women supported at community breastfeeding drop-ins and Baby Cafes.

2,399

parents attending 172 Baby First Aid courses.

3,626

parents supported through breastfeeding peer support.

559

parents supported through our perinatal peer support programmes.

5,091,018

visits to our website for information on pregnancy, labour and birth, infant feeding and life as a parent.

Strategic report

Our community

29,202

members

5,263

volunteers providing friendly, non-judgmental community support

345

volunteer peer supporters active in their communities supporting parents

210

new peer supporters trained to support parents facing specific challenges

Regional volunteer support network of 10 Regional Coordinators

704

practitioners facilitating courses and workshops and providing skilled support

87

new practitioners completing a qualification to support the parents of the future

A practitioner representative body of 11 practitioners

180

employees

14

Trustees volunteering their time and expertise on our Board

Strategic report Volunteer 11 Walk&Talkat NCT Reading

Strategic report

Chair’s welcome

I’m delighted to introduce my first Annual Report as the new Chair of NCT’s Board of Trustees, after four years as a Trustee and at an important moment in our charity’s history for reflection, renewal and recovery.

Similarly to many charities across the UK, we faced into significant crisis at the start of the year, when Covid-19 caused a sudden shock to every aspect of our support and services for parents, as well as the way we work, train, volunteer and fundraise.

As a Board of Trustees, we took very difficult decisions to secure the future of our charity so that we could continue to be here for parents. This was done with the support of a strong and hands-on leadership team that helped us to act quickly and decisively.

A year on, I couldn’t be prouder of what we have achieved together, navigating a year like no other and being constantly available for parents when they needed us most.

The dedication and passion of the people who work or volunteer across NCT has been inspiring. Over the last year we have shown what we can achieve when we pull together as one team and focus our time, skills and energy where it matters most.

The range of support we have provided and the impact we have achieved, despite the personal, professional and organisational challenges we all faced, is simply outstanding. Thank you to everyone across NCT for the role you played in this, and to our members, supporters and funding partners for helping to sustain our work.

Looking forwards, I have full confidence in the board’s strategic vision for recovery and renewal, which has guided our decisions over the last year and given us clear alignment in terms of our focus for the future.

In particular, we know that our people are at the heart of our mission and impact, and we want everyone at NCT to feel secure, valued and supported to thrive. Our work to build an open, diverse and inclusive culture is vitally important, so that we can provide truly inclusive services and support. I appreciate the energy and engagement that our community has shown for our work on equity, diversity and inclusion throughout the year. I am committed to continuing to champion and sponsor this work.

Some of you will already know how passionate I am about the power of volunteering and the important role volunteers play. There is a significant opportunity ahead as we develop our new volunteer strategy and adapt how we offer our activities to ensure that they continue to be done in a safe and sustainable way. All this alongside continuing our campaign and influencing work to improve experiences for parents in the future.

Strategic report

I’d like to thank our outgoing Chair, Jess Figueras, for her four years of leadership and voluntary service with our Board of Trustees. We have made huge progress during that time, reviewing our governance, portfolio of services and data and systems, to help us embrace change and remain a relevant and learning organisation. We welcomed Chi Evi-Parker, Franciane Husbands-Chevot and Ema Ojiako to the board during the year, and Salima Shariff and Faran Johnson to committees. I’d like to thank them for the invaluable time, energy and expertise they have already contributed.

I’d also like to thank the outgoing members of our Executive Team, Juliet Mountford, Cate Kirkbride and Thom Harvey, who were instrumental in leading our charity through the crisis during 2020. Thanks also to members of the Regional Volunteer Support Network and Practitioner Representative Body, who stepped up to strongly support throughout this period.

We were very saddened to learn about the passing of Marsha Taylor-Daniel, who passed away in March 2021. Marsha was a former Trustee and also Chair of the NCT Trading Board, who brought significant expertise, warmth and energy to her work with us. She will be greatly missed.

Very sadly, we also said goodbye to Dr Heather Trickey this year, who stepped down as a Trustee in December 2020 and sadly passed away in July 2021. Heather was a remarkable woman and thought-leader and contributed enormously, not just to NCT, but much more broadly in the field of women’s health. As a Board of Trustees, we benefitted hugely from her support and insight, and miss her very much.

All in all, it has been quite a year, and I’d like to extend warm and heartfelt thanks from the Board of Trustees to the whole NCT community and our membership – you have gone above and beyond this year to be there for parents when they needed us most. I have such pride in our charity and the volunteers, practitioners, students and staff that make it what it is. Without us all working together for parents and babies we wouldn’t be here today with strong plans underway.

Our achievements leave me feeling optimistic about the future and I’m really excited to help lead NCT in this next stage of our work together.

Stephanie Maurel

Chair

Strategic report

President’s welcome

Well, what a year.

When I wrote my President’s message 12 months ago, I would not have believed it if you’d told me that we’d be in and out of lockdown so many times.

None of us could have predicted the incredible rollercoaster journey we’ve all been on over the past 18 months. It has been tough and, at times, exhausting. Tough for NCT as an organisation; tough for parents; tough for our staff; tough for our practitioners and student practitioners; and tough for our volunteers, including our trustees.

Yet through it all, with so many ups and the downs, we’ve seen shining examples every week of how we’ve adapted to a more virtual world, hosting online support groups, facilitating online courses, supporting families by phone and video, and running an incredible number of Walk & Talk events.

I’m so proud of every single person at NCT. It’s only been with your determination, hard work and commitment that NCT has survived and is still here to help parents navigate those first 1,000 days with more confidence and self-belief.

In my work as a practitioner, I see how much parents genuinely need the support we offer. As I reflect on the past year, I want to acknowledge and recognise that what you do is incredibly valuable, no matter your role, which means that it’s essential that you take time to focus on your own wellbeing and nourish your resilience too.

Alongside providing fantastic support, we’ve also made real inroads into our work on equity, diversity and inclusion. Our new model of education has been launched. We’ve initiated an exciting project on the Future of Volunteering. We’ve underlined our commitment to breastfeeding with the breastfeeding and infant feeding engagement project and review of the Baby Café model. And we’ve transitioned course delivery onto Salesforce.

I’m anticipating that the next 12 months will continue to be a rollercoaster but let’s hope the ups and downs aren’t so extreme. One thing is for sure, our community has shown how creative and adaptive we can be in the face of change, and this fills me with great hope for the future.

THANK YOU to everyone across the NCT community for everything you have done and that you continue to do for parents. It makes such a difference and is much appreciated.

Sherry Bevan

NCT President

Strategic report

Chief Executive’s welcome

600,000 babies were born in lockdown.

I am immensely proud of how NCT responded during 2020. Maintaining and adapting our services with agility and growing our reach and impact with new parents was no modest achievement.

Preparing this Annual Report has provided a very valuable opportunity for reflection on all the achievements of the last year. As you read, I hope you will gain a picture of what the pandemic meant for thousands of new parents and families all across the UK.

I am full of pride and gratitude at how our NCT community have pulled together as a team and continued to provide information, advocacy, support and services for pregnant women and new parents. I have witnessed our people go above and beyond to help parents and each other. Together, we found and continue to find creative ways through.

As we entered the first national lockdown last March, I was only 8 weeks into my role. Along with my Directors and Trustees – and indeed the entire charity sector – we faced very difficult decisions regarding parent services, remote working, online delivery, engagement with our NCT community, financial sustainability, furlough, reorganisation and continually responding to the shifting sands of the situation. Our preparation, and the investment we had made in recent years into important developments – tech, data, new frameworks, new approaches to education… these all served to help in our resilience and, in time, our recovery.

We rapidly established a new strategy for recovery and renewal, which provided clarity and focus. We redoubled our commitments to equity, diversity and inclusion, and made this a central part of our response. We have made significant progress against these strategic goals and towards the future.

Last March, in a matter of weeks, we paused services and pivoted our national courses delivery online. Since then, over 70,000 parents have attended an antenatal course online with us, and 9 out of 10 parents rate the experience as good or excellent. That’s a fantastic achievement and one on which we will build throughout our recovery.

NCT Walk and Talks have provided a lifeline for so many isolated, lonely and anxious parents. We supported more than 27,000 people between September and March and recruited more than 700 new NCT volunteers. I’m proud and motivated by how we have also pushed for progress on imagining a bright future for volunteering at NCT, in partnership with our volunteers. The pandemic has amplified the role of volunteers in local communities, and I believe NCT volunteers will have a key role to play in the wellbeing of parents, babies and families in the years ahead.

Strategic report

During 2020-21, our precious infant feeding line received 7,631 calls, 20% higher than during the previous year. From antenatal breastfeeding sessions and community drop-ins facilitated on Zoom, to WhatsApp support groups and our feeding line, 271 breastfeeding counsellors supported over 80,000 parents with preparation and support for feeding their babies during the year.

We’ve maintained our influencing and campaign work, including support for the #ButNotMaternity, #WhatAboutUs, #BlackMaternalHeath and other campaigns. From challenging restrictions on partners’ attendance at scans and appointments, to highlighting maternal inequalities and sharing public health messaging on pregnancy and vaccines, we have continued to influence, campaign, form alliances and be an important voice for pregnancy and birth.

We responded stridently to the 2020 report from MBRRACE-UK which highlighted a constellation of biases impacting the health and maternal outcomes for women with multiple and complex problems. Women living in the most deprived areas are three times more likely to die than those who live in the most affluent areas, demonstrating the need for broader action across community and public health, as well as maternity services. MBRRACE-UK has also shown stark inequalities for women in relation to ethnicity. Black women are four times as likely to die during pregnancy or after birth compared to white women, while mixed-race women are three times as likely and Asian women are twice as likely to die. In the last year a priority for us has been to forge and strengthen a range of important partnerships and alliances, to call for a structural and strategic response to these critical issues.

We faced significant financial challenges during the year with respect to our income and immediate and longer-term cash positions. This required a rapid response, strong focus and decisive action to ensure the charity’s survival. The actions we have taken throughout the year have left us with a strong reserves position and balanced financial forecast, leaving us well positioned to recover and rebuild as we move forward.

My sincere thanks to all of you who continue to show such passion, determination and commitment in these most challenging of times. Thank you to everyone who has adapted to and endured home working, zoom, heavier schedules, pay freezes, home schooling, furlough, self-isolation, illness, loss and much more with grace and compassion. Wellbeing has been an important focus throughout this time and I am grateful for all the support that has been evident across our community and rapidly put in place to adapt to the changing environment.

The future will certainly present us with more challenges, and opportunities, I believe. I am confident that NCT will continue to recover, build and renew itself so we can continue to be the national charity for pregnancy, birth and early parenthood throughout 2021 and beyond.

Angela McConville

Chief Executive

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Strategic report

Pregnancy in a pandemic

Covid-19 and the prolonged period of social restrictions have had a huge impact on the lives of pregnant women, their partners and families. Parents of babies born in 2020 and 2021 have experienced some or all of their pregnancy and early postnatal period in some form of lockdown, with pregnant women identified as being clinically vulnerable from Covid-19. Many have found becoming a parent in these circumstances incredibly challenging, and have struggled with loneliness, isolation and anxiety.

Hannah talks about pregnancy second-time round, how Covid-19 changed things and the difference her NCT course made.

“

When lockdown was announced, whilst I completely understood why, I couldn’t help but feel gutted. With six weeks until our due date, our support networks were suddenly snatched away from us, forcing us to get to grips with the everyday challenges of isolation. ”

Hannah and Andy with their newborn baby

Strategic report

“Heavily pregnant, not only did I feel tired, but also now anxious about the birth given the pandemic. At first, I panicked – and cried a lot.”

“For most of my pregnancy, midwife appointments ran as normal, but towards the end, things changed. I would have to wait in my car until I had a phone call, then to be greeted at the back door of the surgery by a midwife who was in a gown and mask. It all felt so surreal.”

“The appointments themselves were filled with reassurance and I came away each time feeling relieved that my pregnancy was progressing well. However, with ever-changing advice, it was important that we also stayed up to date with maternity services in our area too.”

“NCT was a great source of trusted information throughout my pregnancy. I was able to re-visit what I’d learned during the NCT course we did with our first child to help feel prepared the second time around. NCT also helped me form a great support network with other mums, which is so important.”

“I remember going for a growth scan at 36 weeks which meant stepping out of my isolation bubble for the first time. Experiencing that hospital environment, I’ll be honest, was quite terrifying at first – doing it alone, seeing midwives masked and gowned up, the black and yellow tape around to enforce the two-metre rule. It was all so odd and so clinical.”

“Yet, strangely, I actually came away from this feeling more positive. It mentally prepared me for what was ahead and I told myself to just focus on the reassuring eyes behind the masks.”

“Little did I know that because of a very quick labour and giving birth in my car with my husband, I would in fact spent very little time in a hospital anyway!”

Strategic report

The year in review

– our response to Covid-19 and strategy for recovery and renewal

“ Our vision of ‘a world in which no parent is isolated’ has never been more compelling or more essential than during Covid-19. Throughout the pandemic, everyone at NCT demonstrated their wholehearted commitment to protecting and supporting parents and each other. ”

Angela McConville, Chief Executive, NCT.

It has been a year like no other for NCT, and one in which we can feel proud of the impact we have achieved for pregnant women and new parents.

No part of our charity’s work was left untouched by the impact of the pandemic. Some services were rapidly re-imagined for online delivery. Some had to pause or cease entirely. Others were adapted to provide vital in-person support through the darkest days of lockdown. Our campaigning work made the case for compassion and responsiveness to what new parents were facing, at a particularly anxious and isolating times for many.

Strategic report

Initial Covid-19 response

We established an emergency response team early in 2020, and thanks to this preparation and strong response from NCT staff, practitioners, volunteers and students, we were able to adapt directly and responsively to the crisis as it unfolded.

Much of the work over previous years, such as developing our course frameworks, investing in technology, building communities of skilled practitioners volunteers and staff, meant we were able to adapt and keep services available throughout. Our education model adapted quickly to sustain learning for our students and future practitioners, and we maintained a safety-first and parents-first approach throughout that helped ensure focus.

In March 2020, within 24 hours of social distancing being announced, we moved our first antenatal classes online and saw an incredible community response to support parents from across NCT. This was achieved through the dedication and passion of everyone at NCT – our practitioners, staff and volunteers – all of whom ensured we were there for pregnant women and new families up and down the country.

By the end of March 2021, over 70,000 parents had accessed online courses and workshops, over 27,000 parents had attended volunteer-led Walk and Talks, over 18,000 parents had been supported with feeding their babies and we had seen over 5 million visits to our online information centre.

Walk & Talk at NCT Peterborough

Governance

Our Board of Trustees quickly established new ways of working in response to the threats imposed by the pandemic. Covid-19 presented some very real and near-term risks to the charity’s future. The board established a Covid Oversight Group (COG), which met twice weekly with senior management to ensure we were making good, robust decisions, within much reduced timeframes.

We saw dramatic pressures on our delivery models, a rise in demand for our online and support line services, and a call for continued campaigning and advocacy for new parents. At the same time, we saw immense pressure on our income forecasts and had to move fast to ensure we could sustain a healthy cashflow to keep the charity safe. Trustees worked incredibly hard and engaged throughout the week during this period to ensure we were safeguarding the future of our organisation and support for parents.

At the same time, the Board of Trustees redoubled the charity’s commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion and strongly advocated for an approach that recognised that the pandemic would further deepen health and maternal inequalities.

Strategic report

Strategy for recovery and renewal

The impact of Covid-19 for our charity and our beneficiaries caused us to rethink and reconfirm our priorities. We did this through the rapid development of a new strategy for recovery and renewal. This strategy ensured that we put high impact services at the heart of our work, while ensuring financial sustainability. Decisions were informed by rapid engagement across the NCT community – where we found encouraging alignment on what to protect or pause and on what opportunities might arise out of a challenging situation.

The strategy focused on three key priorities. It identified our antenatal course provision and infant feeding support as essential for national impact and financial sustainability. It set out commitments to being a digital-first organisation, recognising the great strides we had made as a charity in the rapid development of online products and services. It confirmed that protecting and, in time, re-building thriving volunteer-led grassroots and community activity remained a top priority.

This has been an important guiding light for us throughout Covid-19. In particular, we used the Government’s exemption for parent support groups in England to launch NCT Walk & Talk, which has grown to be a national programme supporting over 27,000 parents to access vital support during the Autumn and Winter.

Our recovery and renewal strategy puts our people at the heart of our impact and recognises that we need to create an open, inclusive, empowered culture, which speaks out and challenges bias and discrimination, if we are to truly realise our vision of supporting all parents, whoever they are, and whatever their situation.

Managing through the year

It was a particularly tough year for everyone at NCT, who faced personal loss, illness, home-schooling, and continuing disruption to ways of working and volunteering. For our staff team, this included the challenges of the government’s furlough scheme and, a major reorganisation which led to almost a third of our workforce being made redundant.

Given pressures on our income and cash, we made an early decision to re-organise our teams, so we could safeguard the charity’s future. Regrettably, we needed to reduce the charity’s staff costs by one third (£1m per year) to ensure NCT’s survival. This was a challenging and emotional time for our team, as we said goodbye to those leaving us and celebrated their contributions to our work and mission over many years.

With change came the opportunity to align our charity’s structure with our renewal priorities. We reduced the size of our Senior Leadership Team, creating fewer, more integrated directorates, with greater accountability in our priority areas of impact, inclusion and income. We created a new People, Education and Inclusion directorate, to reflect our commitment to people at the heart of our impact.

The workload and pace of work has been high throughout the year. In response, we have developed agile ways of working. Our practitioners and volunteers worked tirelessly and creatively to find solutions to keep our services available and locally responsive.

We committed to engaging transparently with our NCT community on the impact of the pandemic and implications for our charity’s work. This led to frequent communications and online gatherings, where we could share our priorities, plans and choices, as well as ensuring a shared understanding of the risks and financial pressures. These are continuing as part of how we engage with our community and share information on the challenges we are working through together.

Strategic report •ArL" 19

Strategic report

Priority 1 – trusted provision of antenatal education and infant feeding support

Leading the way in antenatal education

At the start of the pandemic, we immediately switched our antenatal courses online to make sure parents could still connect with other parents in their area and get the support and information they needed.

The switchover was an enormous team effort. The central staff team worked tirelessly to reschedule thousands of sessions and communicate changes to parents, while practitioners bravely adapted at speed to develop new approaches, facilitate online and learn together.

We maintained a strong focus on parent experience, recognising that this was a time of heightened anxiety when expectant parents needed us more than ever.

During those early weeks and months of the pandemic, parents told us just how grateful they were that our support continued – when so much else was not accessible. We heard from partners that it was one of the only ways they felt involved in the pregnancy, due to the restrictions on attending antenatal appointments and scans.

Feedback from parents over the course of the year has been incredible, with many people praising the flexibility and dedication of their NCT course leaders.

Impact

This financial year we supported over 70,000 parents through our antenatal or postnatal courses. Of the parents who attended our antenatal courses:

93% said the course helped prepare them for labour and birth

91% said it helped prepare them for feeding their baby

90% said it helped them know where to look for support

“ “ Our facilitator was incredibly dedicated Our course instructor went and caring. It was so impressive that she above and beyond to make us was able to take the course online so feel comfortable, informed and quickly and help us bond as a group. part of a support network. ” ”

Strategic report

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Expectant parents on an NCT Antenatal course
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“

A fantastic experience that has undoubtably helped prepare us for the arrival of our baby. I was initially unsure of how effective the classes would be online, but if anything, it proved more convenient, and just as personable. Loved it, and would highly recommend to any first-time parents. ”

The course has put our minds at ease in current situation. Fantastic knowledge, guidance and understanding from our course leader helped us realise we are not alone in this horrible pandemic and ensured we felt NHS and NCT are here to help! Also, I absolutely loved how much the course included partners and how it emphasised their role leading up to labour and during labour itself. Both of us are mind blown and my husband genuinely can’t wait for his own skin-to-skin time with the baby! ” Expectant parents attending NCT Antenatal courses.

Prior to the pandemic, we were already working towards a single NCT Antenatal course based on a refreshed course framework, so that we could promote a clear offer to parents and give them a consistently fantastic experience.

In July, we launched the first version of the new NCT Antenatal course framework, an up-to-date and comprehensive balance of themes and topics - informed by parent research and co-produced with practitioners.

We simplified the parent booking journey and continually refreshed our approach to marketing and promotion – demonstrating the value of online courses for parents to maximise reach and impact and secure this key source of revenue for our charity.

Our sharp focus on parent experience, combined with the skill, determination and creativity of our practitioners, meant that we could evolve as the pandemic progressed to meet parents’ needs.

Strategic report

Support at a time of heightened anxiety

Priya talks about how her anxiety increased because of Covid-19, how she looked after herself and her tips and advice for other mums-to-be.

“

I’ve never been anxious before but, during my pregnancy, my anxiety skyrocketed purely because of the uncertainty caused by the pandemic. I managed to control it by taking up hypnobirthing; it has been my saviour. And also having Lou, my NCT teacher – being able to ask questions and feel reassured by her is such a relief. ”

Priya with her newborn baby

Strategic report

“Being pregnant is an amazing experience but there are difficult times too so having a positive mindset helps. You learn so much doing an NCT class and you’re in a group of parents-to-be in and around your area who are expecting babies around the same time. The WhatsApp group was amazing, sharing stories, what can help and having the teacher on there made it more reassuring too.”

“Even though the classes were on Zoom, it still made a massive impact on me and NCT has been a good support system for me. The guidance during Covid-19 has been incredible. The breastfeeding class was amazing too. I had no idea about latching, baby’s feeding position or how to feed using a bottle properly.”

“Pregnancy is tough, and it can make you feel alone, but after a call with my NCT teacher, I felt light as rain! I am still in touch with my NCT group, it’s amazing what you can learn from one another so I will always be grateful for that. I have met some lifelong friends via the classes and will always recommend to my friends when they become parents.”

Strategic report

Breastfeeding and infant feeding support

At NCT, we know just how important it is that new parents can access timely, skilled and specialist support with feeding their baby. That’s why we are committed to continuing to train specialist breastfeeding counsellors and skilled breastfeeding peer supporters, and to support them to provide a range of accessible and timely services for families.

In the early stages of the Covid-19 pandemic, community drop-ins were forced to close, health visiting services were disrupted, or even re-deployed, and social distancing restrictions meant that family and friends couldn’t provide practical and emotional support in the home.

We heard how new parents were finding it incredibly hard to access breastfeeding support and that this was impacting their feeding experiences, compounding feelings of anxiety and isolation.

Specialist support from NCT breastfeeding counsellors

We prioritised breastfeeding and infant feeding support as a key component of our response to the pandemic – maintaining our infant feeding line and supporting services to shift online where possible.

NCT’s breastfeeding counsellors adapted quickly to continue to provide invaluable specialist support by phone, video and online, and saw a significant increase in demand for their services.

From antenatal breastfeeding sessions and community drop-ins facilitated on Zoom, to WhatsApp support groups and our infant feeding line, 271 breastfeeding counsellors supported over 75,000 parents with preparation and support for feeding their babies in 2020-21.

Strategic report

Supporting women with care and kindness

“

Working during the pandemic as an NCT Breastfeeding Counsellor has been eye opening and sad. The pandemic has really highlighted how fragile our maternity systems and health visiting services are in the UK. At the start of the pandemic, women were getting less home visits and support due to fear of Covid-19 transmission, but over time it shifted to a general sense of social isolation and now many having to self-isolate.

The calls we have taken on the infant feeding line over the last year have included the typical requests for support, for example for babies struggling to latch, but also an increase in mothers experiencing mental health issues, often due to loneliness, financial worries and lack of support. This is a complex situation and women in general seem disproportionately disadvantaged. I’m glad we’ve been there for them, to listen and support, and help them access what other support was available. ”

Hannah Ashford, NCT breastfeeding counsellor.

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Vital support on the NCT infant feeding line

NCT’s infant feeding line provides free support from 8am until midnight every day of the week, all year round. NCT breastfeeding counsellors use their person-centred counselling skills to support callers by listening and offering relevant information and signposting – whether parents are breastfeeding, formula feeding or a bit of both.

During 2020-21, 7,631 calls were made to the infant feeding line – 20% higher than during the previous year. We ran an appeal during early stages of the pandemic, raising £40,000 to help us to continue to fund the service during what was a very challenging time for the charity financially.

“ I feel tonnes better now as I didn’t have a clue what I was doing and I kept asking Dr Google but it’s so much better to talk to someone who knows something about this. ”

“ You’ve been a bit of a lifesaver. I feel like I know what I’m doing now. ”

“ It is so reassuring to know that we can call so late at night as things get stressful at that time. ”

Parents supported on the NCT Infant Feeding Line.

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Strategic report

Community support for breastfeeding

NCT breastfeeding counsellors adapted quickly to shift their usual community drop-ins or one-to-one support online.

In a matter of weeks, over 30 Baby Cafés or branch drop-ins across the UK adapted their regular in-person services to provide high quality, specialist support remotely, going on to support over 5,000 parents during the year.

Ten of the drop-in services were able to secure grant funding to either set-up or continue running community breastfeeding or postnatal services. National Lottery Awards for All has been an invaluable source of grant income, along with other local community grant providers, some of whom provided Covid-19-specific funds.

Parents were able to attend through a mix of online group support sessions and one-to-one calls. This varied and flexible support has continued, with parents sharing their appreciation for the support.

“ I had my second baby at home in the midst of lockdown. He was extremely tongue-tied but using the techniques you taught me I managed to make it through and he continued to gain weight until his tongue tie was fixed. Thanks for having me in the group. I long for the days of support groups and meeting other new parents but, for now, the online world and sense of community really helps. ” Mum who attended NCT Malvern Hills Branch breastfeeding drop-in.

“ Such a great support and helped me to continue feeding. Great to have a safe space to say breastfeeding is hard and then be supported to keep going. ”

Mum attending NCT breastfeeding drop-in in Northern Ireland.

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Within our commissioned Baby Cafés in Southampton and Hounslow specifically, there are strong partnerships with other health care professionals who all work together to provide support to parents. These strong working relationships have thrived and strengthened during the pandemic, despite support being delivered remotely.

“ The service provided was invaluable for me, and she has continued to support me and my baby (and thus our wider family) throughout the first six months of breastfeeding. Her empathy, understanding and deep experience of her profession are so very apparent – and to have her as a support for me as new mothers is something I will always be grateful for. ”

Mum attending NCT Twickenham and Hounslow breastfeeding drop-in.

“

On behalf of the Health Visiting Team in Hounslow, I would like to express our thanks to the NCT Baby Café Team for the excellent work you provide. Your breastfeeding counsellors at the Children’s Centres especially, have been a support and asset to the Health Visiting Team.

The past 14 months have been extraordinarily difficult and challenging for everybody trying to work safely whilst supporting mums and babies to the best of their ability. Our Health Visiting team are delighted to continue to support you with this fantastic work. ”

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Breastfeeding counsellors at NCT
Twickenham and Hounslow
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Clinical Service Manager – Hounslow Health Visiting Team.

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Breastfeeding peer support

Alongside statutory and specialist support, trained breastfeeding peer supporters play an important role in supporting mothers through active listening, offering evidence-based information and signposting, and creating networks of social support.

We are grateful to local councils in Southampton, Bradford and Peterborough for funding breastfeeding peer support services for families, and to the Scottish government for funding the service across Lothian and Glasgow. During 2020-21, these projects supported 3,626 women with feeding their baby.

In Bradford, women who consent antenatally receive proactive postnatal telephone support from NCT Bradford Breastfeeding Buddies service. At 6-8 weeks, 78% of women contacted were still giving breastmilk, considerably higher than the 49% for the district in general.

These services are in addition to breastfeeding peer support services funded through local NCT branches, including a new cohort of breastfeeding peer supporters trained in Yeovil during Autumn 2020 - thanks to funding from National Lottery Awards for All.

“

I’ve been given confidence in my feeding by the group and am so grateful to be feeding/comforting my little boy as I type this after his vaccinations today. I hope other new mums are aware that this fantastic support is available. I was a bit nervous about the zoom meeting initially, but everyone was really approachable. A big thank

I’ve been given confidence in my Thanks for organising this – it’s great feeding by the group and am so to have online classes etc but this was grateful to be feeding/comforting the first interactive zoom I had with my little boy as I type this after his new mums and great to have the vaccinations today. I hope other support from you, the peer supporters new mums are aware that this and the health visitor! Great to have fantastic support is available. I was my questions answered as they came a bit nervous about the zoom up! I recommended the group to meeting initially, but everyone was another mum who I met while I was in really approachable. A big thank hospital and I think she is still hoping you from me and my baby boy. to join tomorrow! ” ”

Mum who attended Lothian Breastfeeding Buddies.

Mum who attended an online session in Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

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Unlocking in-person community breastfeeding support

In the second half of the year, we were able to restart some in-person breastfeeding support, in line with national guidance and exemptions for parent support. We developed Covid-19 safe operating procedures and activity-based risk assessments, implementing a booking system to manage group sizes and social distancing.

Though the requirement for social distancing and mask wearing meant that support couldn’t be provided with usual ease, women attending really appreciated the opportunity for in-person support and breastfeeding counsellors and peer supporters reported a strengthening of services by being able to provide a blend of in-person and online support.

NCT peer supporters heading on to a postnatal ward in NCT Lothian

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Opening up access to community breastfeeding support

During the early stages of the pandemic, NCT Baby Cafés and breastfeeding drop-ins delivered breastfeeding support remotely. Recognising the need for in-person support alongside the digital offering, we prioritised these services in our phased programme of unlock, developing safe operating procedures to re-open community support from November 2020 and supporting breastfeeding counsellors to restart at a time that felt comfortable for them and their local community.

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Venue site visit before returning a Southampton Baby Café to in-person delivery
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“ It’s lovely to see other mums and babies locally again especially after we had interacted (online) so much because of lockdown. Thank you. ”

New Mum attending Aberdeen City & Shire Branch Early Days Drop-in.

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“

It’s been great to be able to support parents in-person again, this is so valuable for the most common issues around positioning and attachment. Parents have been really appreciative and have also enjoyed the opportunity to meet other new parents in person. Support from the central staff team meant that I felt confident that we’d done what was needed to make it as safe as possible. ”

Megan Stephenson, NCT Breastfeeding Counsellor, NCT Cambridge Branch.

“

In the spring 2021 I started unlocking the breastfeeding support group in Petersfield. I followed the NCT Safe Operating Procedure, making sure the venue was covidsecure with a risk assessment and then assessing how many parents and babies I could safely welcome into the space. It felt amazing to be in person and I’m glad to say that the room layout and one-way system all worked well. I had been worried about facemasks being a barrier to communication but actually, conversation flowed because people were so pleased to see each other! I have had a branch volunteer present each week and it has proved invaluable in welcoming people when I’ve been providing feeding support with a mum. Word is definitely out now and it’s getting more regular attendees. I have also found it an enormous support for my work with breastfeeding mums as being able to offer them a chance to see me in person has helped a lot. ”

Polly Baynham-Hughes, NCT Breastfeeding Counsellor, NCT Petersfield & Liss Branch.

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Priority 2 – growing our reputation in digital support

Reaching more parents through digital support

Trusted information brought to life with lived experiences

During the year, we saw over 5 million visits to the information centre on our website from expectant and new parents seeking trusted information on pregnancy, birth and early parenthood – with traffic doubling during the first 3 months of the pandemic.

We responded continually to keep our website up to date with the latest Covid-19 related content and saw increased engagement on our social media channels as parents engaged with us on the issues they were facing. Sharing real life experience through our ‘pregnancy in a pandemic’ series helped bring our content to life.

As the pandemic progressed, we responded to the different issues and themes that emerged. In May, new research demonstrated that women from Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds were more likely to be hospitalised with Covid-19, and we shared public health messaging to raise awareness and encourage women to seek support or information. We also developed content on coronavirus and employment rights during pregnancy and maternity leave, as the reality of the furlough scheme and risk to employment became apparent.

We helped parents navigate legislation changes, so they understood the support they could access and what exemptions were available to them. Towards the end of the year, attention shifted to the vaccination programme, and we have supported public health campaigns to provide evidence-based content to support informed decision-making.

A ‘go to’ place for trusted information

In January 2021, we launched an exciting new development – Parent Hub, an exclusive digital platform for parents attending NCT Antenatal courses. Informed by parent and practitioner insight, the new Hub presents our trusted, evidence-based information and signposting in one easy-access place, mapped against the themes of our antenatal course.

Early feedback from parents has been fantastic, demonstrating how this digital resource has provided the ‘go to’ place for trusted information, helped to answer their questions, consolidate discussions and enhance their learning.

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“ I think all the additional information is absolutely fantastic, it gave us time to look at it and digest without having to look at things straight away and so we could absorb what was going on in the sessions. ”

“ It is simple and easy to use and understand. Sections are clear and can find what you are looking for easily. ”

“ Has all the information you might need and saves you googling all the horror stories/mixed

information on the web. ”

Parents accessing information on the new NCT Parent Hub.

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Digital innovation

In April 2020, our partnership with Peppy Health and Lactation Consultants of Great Britain secured NHSX ’Techforce19’ funding to trial peppy, a digital platform matching perinatal support to vulnerable expectant and new parents during lockdown.

Engagement

10,000 applications to participate were received in three days

1,075 parents supported during the two-week pilot

Average user feedback rating of 8.8/10

Net promoter score of 60

£916m potential annual saving to the NHS based on self-reported usage of their services

NCT breastfeeding counsellors and postnatal practitioners involved in the pilot were quick to get going on this fast-paced project, offering chat support, video consultations and facilitated small group sessions to parents via the app. Of participants with a mental wellbeing score corresponding to ‘possible depression or anxiety’, 48% had moved into the ‘normal/moderate’ range once the pilot was complete.

“ It was an enormous privilege to deliver such care and support to new and expectant parents during the COVID19 crisis. The impact we have seen is beyond all expectations. We simply couldn’t have done this without our project partners, NCT and LCGB, and most importantly the incredible practitioner community – you mobilised at speed, adapted your normal ways of working and provided vital support and love that made the pilot the success it was. Thank you so much! ”

Max Landry, Mridula Pore and Evan Harris, founders of Peppy Health.

Over the last year, we learnt a lot about how the skills and experience of NCT practitioners can support parents on digital platforms to overcome some of the barriers to support – particularly in the early postnatal period.

We see significant opportunity to build on this learning to really embrace digital and take a more blended approach in the future.

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Outdoor parent support at NCT Chester
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Priority 3 – protecting and re-building thriving community activity

Parents working together in their local communities to support other parents is one of the most impactful, far-reaching aspects of our work. Being a voice for parents and influencing policy, especially for vulnerable parents, is how we drive change nationally and for parents in the future.

Volunteers supporting parents in their local community

NCT’s network of over 5,000 volunteers represent and support communities of parents all over the UK and Channel Islands. Through a range of local activities, events and services, they help parents to feel part of a supportive community and improve their wellbeing. Their community fundraising activities support the work of the charity both locally and nationally. They are passionate advocates for parents, families and our charity.

During Covid-19, NCT volunteers demonstrated their creativity and commitment in adapting to continue free community support online, recognising the sudden and significant isolation that new parents were experiencing. The regional volunteer team stepped up to support volunteers in their parent support and fundraising efforts, while raising the profile of the value of volunteering during this time.

Without the usual network of community groups and activities, or practical and emotional support from friends and family, parents appreciated the online provision that quickly emerged – from online Bumps & Babies groups, evening socials and craft sessions, to postnatal and breastfeeding support groups with specialist NCT practitioners.

We are incredibly grateful for the invaluable support we received from The National Lottery, local councils, supermarkets and community grant organisations who financially supported our community response.

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NCT Walk & Talks – a lifeline through the most challenging months

By September 2020, it was clear that the impact of the pandemic and lockdown restrictions on new and expectant parents was huge. Though online activities were filling a gap, we knew that we needed to find a way to enable parents to meet safely to boost their wellbeing.

Building on the existing idea of volunteer-led walks, we launched NCT Walk & Talk. A simple way for parents to meet outdoors, connect and share their experiences of the pandemic and parenthood.

Nothing could have prepared us for quite how quickly Walk & Talk would grow. Within a couple of weeks, it was clear what a lifeline the groups were to new parents. We knew that we had to find a way to make them accessible to as many parents as possible.

Overnight we developed a new volunteer pathway which made it possible to recruit volunteers in areas where we did not have an existing local team. These volunteers were supported by our central staff team to implement Covid-specific safe operating procedures to mitigate risks and keep everyone safe. Walks were able to continue throughout Winter 2020 and the challenging early months of 2021, under specific guidance or exemptions for parent support in England and Scotland. Over 27,000 people attended walks from the launch in September 2020 to March 2021.

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Walk & Talk at NCT Hastings & Rother
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“ As a new parent facing a harsh winter and at the height of restrictions, there was not a lot of support around. There were no baby classes and not a lot of ways to make new local friends. I stumbled across the walks on a community FB page. They were a lifeline, I made 4 great friends and we now meet regularly. They’ve been so supportive and live locally which has been really important. ”

Kat, mum attending a Walk & Talk in London.

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“

I can’t put into words the difference and impact these walks had on my mental health. As a first time mum having my son at the beginning of the pandemic, I’d had many struggles. Simply having an hour of time with other parents outside was amazing. ” Cassandra, attending a Walk & Talk in Manchester.

“ Helped me stop panicking about so many things as I felt that only I was experiencing the same problems, challenges with bringing up a baby for the first time. I now have someone I can share experiences with, good and bad. Don’t feel like I’m facing the challenges alone. ”

Rebecca, attending a Walk & Talk in Huddersfield.

After parents joined a Walk & Talk, 93% felt less isolated, 94% felt their mood had improved, 70% felt less anxious and 89% felt part of a community.

In the wind, rain, snow and sunshine, our volunteers have been there to welcome over parents with warm, non-judgmental support. This includes over 700 new volunteers, many of whom were new to NCT and leading walks in areas where we hadn’t previously had any presence.

“ I volunteered as I wanted to support local parents. I had noticed there wasn’t much activities or groups for young children and parents to attend, especially that were free and suitable for parents of more than 1 child under school age. ” “ As a single parent, with little to no help from the dads, I rely on emotional support from peers, it really helps to know you’re going through similar struggles and can have a friend to chat with. Going to groups/meet ups helps widen that social bubble, to help parents feel less isolated. I also believe it helps children with speech development, social skills and many more, to be around other children. ”

“ This is the reasons why I felt it would be beneficial to start up a local group where I could get some parents together along with their children to have a little chat and well-paced stroll to help parents feel less isolated. ”

Amanda, volunteer leading Walk & Talks in Cornwall.

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Preston mum revives local NCT branch

It has been fantastic to see new volunteers setting up NCT events in areas where we hadn’t been active for many years, motivated by their experiences as a new parent in a pandemic.

Anna Sky Hulton, along with several other Preston-based volunteers, has revitalised her local NCT branch which had been dormant for four years. Anna Sky talks about what motivated her to volunteer with NCT and the difference they are now making locally:

“

We decided to relaunch the Preston branch after meeting on an NCT course in 2020. Despite being on Zoom many of us kept in touch and strong friendships formed. We wanted other parents-to-be and new parents to benefit from a support network and we already have lots of activities planned, including Walk and Talks, which are available to anyone and free.”

“Early on in my pregnancy I knew I wanted to do an NCT course. A few friends had recommended it to me and met lifelong pals through it. Although I have a number of friends in the area, most had older kids so I liked the idea of meeting others due to have their first child. Our course was moved online due to the pandemic but the group bonded really well.”

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Anna Sky with her baby
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“We had a WhatsApp group set up via our practitioner which allowed us to talk through concerns outside of the classes and, when restrictions allowed, we met up in person. We found ourselves opening up about childbirth and the ups and downs of being a new parent.”

“We come from all walks of life, professions, and backgrounds, but we all have one thing in common and I feel very lucky to have met everyone.

”

The Preston branch is setting up a Baby Bundles scheme for local families and has been awarded £1,000 from Anwyl Homes Lancashire to help.

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Helping parents access essential items

Sadly, the pandemic meant that the demand and need for our Baby Bundle services has been huge. Currently operating in 14 areas across the country, NCT Baby Bundles provide much needed essentials to families in need through close working with referral partners and professional agencies.

Our incredible volunteers adapted quickly to implement new safe operating procedures to keep services open and operating safely. Many sling and nappy libraries also continued during the pandemic, helping parents access to essential items to help manage with a new baby at home during a challenging and isolating time.

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NCT West Sussex Coastal
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Little Bundles Baby Bank Chichester & Arun

In 2020, the NCT West Sussex Coastal volunteer team received and responded to over 325 referrals.

“

Thank you so much for all your kindness. My health visitor done a referral for me and she has just dropped the stuff over and to say I cried when she left would be an understatement. I am truly thankful for the generous and lovely items I received xxx.”

“Thank you will never be enough from me. I reached out for a shoebox, and you gave me Christmas. I don’t have the words to express my gratitude to you all. Today I realised how much I miss hugs. I want to squeeze you all so much. I really just cannot believe the level of everyone’s generosity. You have changed my life, you really have. Knowing I have such kindness surrounding me, from strangers no less, has helped me through a dark few weeks and has now made Christmas in our new home extra special. Along with the gifts, you have given me the strength and hope. I will try to pass on this kindness where and when I can. I will pay it forward, I promise. Merry Christmas.”

Mums supported by the NCT West Sussex Coastal Baby Bundles project.

“The team have been amazing, they have ensured that we have a constant stock of “kit” for women who are vulnerable and may not be able to afford the basic essentials for coming into hospital and having a baby. The bags of goodies they provide have been shared with women unable to provide for themselves, including teenage mums, women fleeing domestic abuse and asylum seekers. As well as women who just need an overnight bag as they were not expecting to stay in hospital.

The team from baby bundles have continued to support throughout the pandemic and have gone out of their way discussing their service with our staff. ”

Head of Midwifery, Worthing & St Richards Hospitals, NHS University Hospitals Sussex.

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Support from specialist practitioners

We were pleased to work in partnership with Royal Berkshire, Countess of Chester and Shropshire and Telford NHS Foundation Trusts to adapt our commissioned Preparation for Birth and Beyond antenatal courses to virtual facilitation. This helped 3,296 more parents access free antenatal education and alleviated the pressure on NHS colleagues busy managing the impact of the pandemic on maternity services.

“ The content was really engaging and focused on some really key areas that I had been unclear on before. I had the opportunity to ask questions which is something I don’t feel I can do with any other professional at the moment, everything is so rushed and impersonal. The practitioner was friendly, approachable and very knowledgeable and enthusiastic, it was great to have that time with her – also made a wonderful change from google! ”

Mum attending an online antenatal course at Royal Berkshire.

We embraced digital to offer Introduction to Solids workshops in new locations and to more parents, seeing growth in this service and positive feedback about the online format.

We also worked with postnatal practitioners to adapt our Early Days courses to an online format. Parents attending have had a really positive experience, appreciating the safe space for support and information during the early weeks and months with their new baby.

“ This course has been so beneficial for me as I start my journey into motherhood. The fact it continued at this stressful time has been invaluable. Now more than ever, it has been a lifeline to chat to other mums with young babies. Having the sessions online works, as our babies are in their own environment – and we haven’t forgotten that

change of clothes or lost a hat on our way! ”

Mum attending an online Early Days course.

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Having had to take the difficult decision to pause our baby massage and yoga services at the start of the pandemic, we were delighted to work with the specialist practitioners involved to design and re-launch these services under a new affiliate brand. This gives greater flexibility for practitioners to promote and deliver their fantastic services locally, in a way that works for them and local parents.

The NCT doula service was also paused for most of the year, though many doulas continued to provide invaluable support through their private practice, often in a voluntary capacity. Our Education Team also supported 15 student doulas to complete their qualification with the University of Worcester. The nature of this service, involving a variety of settings and closer contact, made it more complex to restart in person. However, we were pleased to have been able to develop a safe operating procedure and approach to risk mitigation to enable several of our student doula practitioners to attend births are part of their training and development. We’re looking forward to seeing more services resume as restrictions start to ease in 2021.

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Perinatal programmes to tackle social isolation

Birth and Beyond Community Supporters

Running in Peterborough & Fenland, Lincolnshire and Hounslow, Birth and Beyond Community Supporters (BBCS) is a peer-support programme for new and expectant mothers experiencing particular challenges, including women who are seeking asylum, fleeing domestic violence or facing financial hardship. The services support families who are traditionally less likely to use statutory services and are at greater risk of social isolation. Volunteers are trained and supported to build trusting relationships with women, to help them access social support and wider services, and positively influence their confidence, self-esteem and emotional wellbeing.

We have been able to continue to support families during the pandemic, thanks to a grant from BBC Children in Need and funding from Hounslow Council’s Thriving Community fund.

In 2020 to 2021, 162 families have been supported through the service supported by 52 volunteer peer supporters, with 45 new volunteers trained to sustain and expand the reach of the service as local communities continue to feel the impact of the pandemic.

Peterborough, Wisbech, Fenland and Lincolnshire

Services across Peterborough, Wisbech, Fenland & Lincolnshire were already difficult to access prior to the pandemic due to the rurality of some areas and barriers relating to poverty and language that are experienced by many local families. The pandemic compounded these issues with increasing feelings of isolation, fear and loneliness.

By mapping local provision and identifying gaps, the BBCS team were able to provide one-to-one and group support to parents most in need. This included volunteer-led Walk and Talks, attended by 59 new families and their 67 young children, which have reduced isolation and provided much needed social and emotional support. Volunteers are trained in active-listening and signposting, increasing parents’ confidence and helping them to access health services, foodbanks, women’s refuges and financial advice – so that they get the support and care they need.

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“

Knowing I have had you here if I have needed to talk, with having postnatal depression with my first, I think knowing I’ve had that person to talk to if I needed has helped my mental health a lot even more so with Covid-19 and not being able to go and see friends and family. Or no baby groups on. So thank you very much for being there for me. ”

Mum accessing Birth and Beyond Community Support in Lincolnshire.

“

I used the BBCS service during my pregnancy. I was struggling with daily life, was overcome with anxiety and always focusing on the ‘what if’. Having someone to talk to, along with support from the local Mental Health Team helped me to overcome my issues and improved my wellbeing. Having a peer support volunteer gave me someone to talk to when I felt like I had no one else, they never gave an opinion on my situation nor told me what to do. Instead they just listened. I was so lonely and if it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t have left the house. ” Mum accessing Birth and Beyond Community Support in Peterborough.

Almost half of referrals to the BBCS service come from health professionals looking for trusted additional support for local families.

“

A new referral for your service and also appreciation that you are operating as a service during this time. It is wonderful to be able to share your service and what you do to support mums during this challenging time – thank you. ”

Practitioner in Lincolnshire referring a family to the BBCS service.

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Parents in Mind

Parents in Mind (PiM) provides one-to-one, group and digital peer support to new and expectant mothers experiencing mild to moderate mental health issues. The volunteer peer supporters are all local women with lived-experience of mental health issues, who are trained to support others through active-listening, social support and signposting. An independent evaluation has demonstrated a statistically significant reduction in anxiety and depression levels for women supported through the service.

Services supporting women across our three sites in Newham, Halton and St. Helens, and Coventry and Warwickshire, have continued during the pandemic thanks to the local Clinical Commissioning Groups and Councils who have commissioned the service – working in close partnership with local community organisations and referral partners.

In 2020 to 2021:

397 women were supported by 101 Parents in Mind peer supporters

62 new volunteer peer supporters were trained to sustain and expand the reach of the service

100% of services users felt ‘there is someone I can talk to who understands me’

99% of services users felt ‘less isolated and alone’

96% of women felt they had a ‘better understanding of where to get help if I need it’

95% of women felt that Parents in Mind ‘had helped me access the services I need’

96% of women said that ‘generally feel more positive’ after accessing the support.

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“ The ability to be open and honest with no judgement... I’m relieved once I have spoken to PiM. ”

Isabelle, mum supported through Parents in Mind Halton and St Helens.

“ Having a safe space to talk and feel supported …It’s taught me to find myself again. ”

Sam, mum supported through Parents in Mind Halton and St Helens.

Growing our perinatal peer support services

We have an ambition to further develop and expand our perinatal peer support services to support many more families in the future. This is part of our strategic priority to grow thriving and inclusive communities of parents supporting parents.

Through our work with consultants at Spring Impact, we have developed a roadmap to replicate our peer support model and scale up our programmes, in partnership with local community organisations. During 2021, we have been working closely with Manchester settlement, a local charity who are committed to using their skills and resources to create cycles of community change, to provide peer support training and establish the service to support women in North Manchester.

Thanks to funding from St. Helens Clinical Commissioning Group, we have also been able to innovate and expand the Parents in Mind service to support dads and partners too. The NCT service delivery team and peer support trainers have worked with dads’ mental health campaigners Mark Williams and Kieran Anders from Dad Matters to inform the new training and service, based on experiences of becoming a parent and the impact on partners’ mental health.

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Parents in Mind partners

Catherine Briars, Parents in Mind Project Manager for Halton and St. Helens talks about the opportunity to expand the Parents in Mind service to support partners too.

“ In 2016, with funding from the Department of Health and Social Care, NCT’s Parents in Mind service was developed for pregnant Catherine Briars and some peer supporter dads women and new mums, delivered by peer supporters who had struggled with their own emotional wellbeing as a new parent. The service blossomed, referral rates increased, local reputation grew and it was wonderful to see some of our service users go on to volunteer themselves.”

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Catherine Briars and some peer supporter dads
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“After huge encouragement for our work from commissioners in St Helens, we approached them to see if they would fund a two-year pilot programme of mental health peer support for partners and, aware of the definite local gap for such a service, they agreed.”

“We set to work to re-design our peer support training for partners and started training a first cohort of dad peer supporters in May. We’ll be offering a blend of remote and face-to-face support from September delivered by a group of game-changing dads who want to shake up some of the stale perceptions of fatherhood and mental health.”

“We want to highlight how common new dads’ mental health problems are and encourage men not to suffer in silence. Becoming a parent is an emotional rollercoaster, bringing with it significant challenges and we want all parents and their partners to feel safe sharing their difficulties.”

“The dads in the group have been awe-inspiring: honest, courageous and resilient and will be great supporters of local fathers. It’s important we sow the seeds of this work more widely, and develop support for more parents across the UK. ”

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Rob Dillon is a local steelworker and a football coach in his spare time.

“

When I first became a dad, you were expected just to get on with things. You’d often come home tired from work, then look after your wife and baby, then go back to work. I started to struggle emotionally but bottled everything up because that’s what you did in those days. I now realise that’s how mental health problems can worsen. ”

“

Thankfully, things are changing for the better. The Parents in Mind training has been great and it’s paying off already. A relative has a four year old daughter and I’ve encouraged him to open up because I know he’s struggling mentally with the pressure of being a dad. Parents need to know they’re not on their own and there is support out there. ” Ian Houghton is a project manager from St Helens who has two daughters, one two years old, the other eight months.

“

It’s not always easy being a dad. Especially if you’re tired and anxious and trying to keep up with work. So you try and put on a brave face and pretend you’re 100% in control. ”

“

I struggled with anxiety and depression but I managed to get through it and I want to help other dads in a similar position. I’ve really enjoyed the training through the project, we’ve formed a very supportive group and we look forward to working with other dads in the community. ”

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In January 2021, we were delighted to be awarded a £471,000 grant from the Department of Health and Social Care’s Starting Well fund for Newham Nurture – a new community partnership with Alternatives Trust, The Magpie Project and Compost London. The partnership is co-producing and expanding perinatal support for women from low income, migrant and marginalised backgrounds in the London Borough of Newham.

Newham Nurture – coproduction at its heart

The Newham Nurture programme builds on our well-established Parents in Mind project in the borough, to expand perinatal support through the provision of drop-in antenatal education, breastfeeding and postnatal support, and counselling and family link services, alongside the existing perinatal peer support service.

The programme has a strong focus on co-production, accessibility and inclusion to ensure a meaningful response to the specific barriers and challenges that marginalised women experience in gaining support and engaging with perinatal services. The programme includes access to psychological support, recognising that many of the women have complex needs and have experienced trauma, including those who are survivors of trafficking, domestic violence, seeking asylum or experiencing homelessness.

Three generations at NCT Newham

With coproduction at its heart, the programme’s steering group comprises of local women from Black, Asian and minority ethnic and migrant backgrounds with lived experience of local perinatal services. Our coproduction approach permeates through all aspects of the service ensuring the service is inclusive, accessible and person-centred, and builds on the strengths of existing community networks and cultural assets.

“ There are many people in our community who have no-one to turn to due to language barriers, social issues or poor mental health who just need a friend to hear and understand them. ”

Bulon, peer supporter for Newham Nurture and Parents in Mind.

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“

To work with our steering group of eleven women in recent months has been extremely valuable and rewarding, both for our team and the design of the service. I’ve seen a heartfelt openness amongst the women to acknowledge their own trauma and hardships, and share their diversity of experiences within their perinatal care. This has been testament to their commitment to seeing positive improvements made so that women in our community don’t have to overcome the same unacceptable barriers that they faced. Their lived experience and rich insight have shaped every aspect of the programme, with learning implemented across the design of the services, as well as staff training and peer support training. ”

Belinda Ngugi, Newham Nurture Perinatal Programme Manager, NCT.

“

Since inception, NCT has worked collaboratively with Newham’s Maternity and Children’s Health Services, supporting partner agencies to connect with and support families. We deeply value the role that our voluntary and community sector partners play in meeting the needs of our community. We see NCT and their consortium of partners as a significant player in helping us realise our ambition to make Newham the best place for children and families. ” Jason Strelitz, Director of Public Health, London Borough of Newham.

Alternatives’ holistic and therapeutic work with vulnerable women around pregnancy and birth has shown us the extent of the unmet need for perinatal education and support in Newham. We are delighted to be collaborating with these excellent partners on this new project. It has the potential to make a huge impact on the wellbeing of women in our borough who do not currently have access to services and give their children a healthy and secure start in life. ” Elizabeth Booker, Director, Alternatives Trust East London.

We are over the moon to have the opportunity to work with NCT and local partners Alternatives and Compost London to bring vital perinatal services to mums from migrant or marginalised backgrounds. We are excited by the prospect of a bespoke, targeted and meaningful response to the specific barriers and

challenges they face gaining support around childbirth and early motherhood. ” Jane Williams, CEO and Founder, The Magpie Project.

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Campaigning and influencing for change

We’ve maintained our influencing and campaign work throughout the year, making the case for parents’ rights and needs during an incredibly challenging time. We have amplified parents’ voices by working in partnership, including our One Voice alliance alongside the Royal College of Midwives, Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, and other important alliances for pregnancy, maternity, breastfeeding and babies.

During the early stages of the pandemic, we worked hard at national level on the response to Covid-19 in relation to maternity services and support for expectant and new parents.

Working closely with the Pregnancy and Baby Charities Network, we had significant input to discussions and efforts to protect and support women and their families at a time of heightened anxiety and re-organisation of services. We were also part of NHS England’s campaign to let the public know that the NHS is still there for them, concerned that people weren’t attending services when they needed to. We pushed for change in Wales, where guidelines were particularly restrictive for new parents and leading to significant isolation.

We worked with colleagues at NCVO, ACEVO, the Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England to build the case for the charity sector at large, and for pregnancy and new parenthood as a particularly vulnerable time.

Throughout the year, we maintained a strong focus on highlighting inequalities, influencing externally and working with others to bring about better experiences and more equitable outcomes. MBRRACE-UK reports have demonstrated stark inequalities for women of Black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds, and that our health and social care system does not work well for women experiencing challenging and complex circumstances. To drive action to end these inequalities, we are working as members of the RCOG’s Race Equality Taskforce, supporting Birthright’s racial justice inquiry and amplifying FiveXMore’s campaign and advocacy work.

Our work as part of the MHRA Medicines in Pregnancy and Breastfeeding consortium was particularly important this year, in relation to the Covid-19 vaccination, giving us opportunity to highlight the anxieties and pressures that pregnant women were experiencing and the urgent need for clear evidence and information. We have also added our voice to the call for urgent action and funding to recover overstretched workforces in maternity and health visiting services and called for wider commitments in relation to postnatal care.

Through roundtables and ongoing discussion with the Royal Foundation, we informed their landmark Big Change Starts Small report and the launch of the Centre for Early Childhood. As a member of the First 1001 Days movement, we have campaigned on the need to protect babies and their parents from harm during the pandemic, highlighting the baby blindspot and appealing for the government to invest in catch-up funding for babies.

The significant impact of the pandemic for women, parents and babies, as well as for the services supporting them, means that our voice and influencing work is as important as ever.

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Hidden Half campaign re-visited

In March 2021, we revisited our Hidden Half campaign to see if new mums were getting the six-week check they that was promised, after we successfully secured funding in England for a dedicated GP maternal postnatal check.

We surveyed women in England who’d had a baby in the last 12 months and were disappointed to find that a quarter of the mums we talked to were still not being asked about their emotional or mental health at their six-week GP check-up, with the focus increasingly on the baby. We will be continuing to highlight this issue through our communications and policy work to raise awareness of the issue and ensure dedicated time and space for this crucial appointment.

Kate Silverton, a first-time mum from Poole, Dorset, who helped with our #HiddenHalf campaign, shares her experience of the postnatal check.

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Kate Silverton with her baby
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“

I had a difficult birth and, as it was lockdown, there was very little help with recovery. A midwife came round to my home but, as she talked over me, I didn’t feel very comfortable with her.”

“I did have an appointment with my GP after about six or eight weeks. The doctor asked: ‘You’re okay aren’t you?’, then it felt like I was being shoved out of the door! No-one asked me about my mental health or checked my c-section scar or my weight.”

“I felt quite traumatised after my labour. Luckily I could talk to my husband and I’d like to think I was clued up enough about mental health to be able to recognise if I was becoming ill.”

“I saw the NCT post on Facebook, asking for people’s experiences of their six-week postnatal check-up with their GP. I didn’t even know such a thing existed until I saw the post!”

“I think it would have been extremely helpful to have been asked about my mental health at this point. It would have enabled me to open up and discuss the concerns I was having and help with my anxiety.

“My story was used on the Huffington Post website and also in a Guardian article. I was really happy to help out with the #HiddenHalf campaign and, hopefully, my experiences can help to improve services for other women in future. ”

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Working together to strengthen our charity Ensuring a safe and sustainable re-start for in-person activities

At the start of the year, little did we know how long the pandemic would go on for or quite what the future impact would be for our communities and the way we deliver services.

In the summer of 2020, following the announcements of easing of restrictions, we set out our approach for re-starting services in a safe and sustainable way. This approach has withstood the test of time, enabling us to navigate numerous guidance updates and varying levels of restriction and lockdown.

At every decision point we continue to take a number of factors into account:

Guidance and legislation – we’re continually reviewing this across the UK and Channel Islands. We regularly talk to colleagues at the Royal College of Midwives and Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology to discuss how guidance is evolving specifically for pregnant women and new parents.

Safety - this is our number one priority, for parents and for staff, students, volunteers and practitioners. In particular, women in their third trimester were identified as clinically vulnerable at the start of the pandemic.

Support – we need to be confident we can provide volunteers, practitioners and staff with the safe operating procedures, activity-based risk assessments and support they need to be able to offer support in a way that feels safe and acceptable. This has meant focusing on doing a few high impact activities well, before moving on to the next.

Sustainability – we need to be confident we can keep everything running smoothly and safely and respond quickly to any change in guidance or outbreaks of Covid-19. This helps us to avoid stopping and starting services, but instead focus on restarting those activities where we have greatest confidence in the longevity of our operational approach.

Informed by emerging evidence on transmission and the risks of Covid-19, we focused first on contactless high impact activities for example Baby Bundles for families experiencing financial hardship and outdoor social support activities, before moving on to support and services taking place at home or indoors.

Clear communications and support for our volunteers, practitioners and staff has been critical, to ensure everyone felt confident and comfortable in their role.

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Shared learning across the sector

We were pleased to work with the Breastfeeding Network, in collaboration with an alliance of supporting organisations and in consultation with Public Health England, to develop a guide to re-starting support services for expectant and new parents during Covid-19. The guide provides a set of principles and considerations for organisations to work through so that they can decide when and how to restart their face-to-face support services safely and with confidence.

This work recognised the commitment and capability across the third sector to ensure community support thrives, and that collaboration and shared learning is more important than ever.

We are grateful to all of the individuals and organisations who contributed to the principles set out in this guide.

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Equity, diversity and inclusion

Core to our new strategy for recovery is the explicit aim of becoming a more inclusive, open and empowering charity so that we can support all parents, whoever they are, and whatever their situation.

We are committed to equity, diversity and inclusion across all that we do – in our support and services, employment practices, volunteering, fundraising, communications and policy work. We know that to meet this commitment and to drive real change, we need to face into the reality that inequality, discrimination and racism are systemic. We have a responsibility to our beneficiaries, and everyone at NCT, to examine our own culture, practices and policies, while highlighting inequalities and working with others to bring about more equitable outcomes.

In July 2020, Trustees approved a reinvigorated equity, diversity and inclusion plan, and we subsequently appointed brap as an independent inclusion advisor and learning partner. brap is a charity transforming the way we think and do equality, supporting organisations, communities, and cities with meaningful approaches to learning, change, research, and engagement. A new Directorate focused on People, Education & Inclusion has been established and the NCT Diversity Network has been set up to help inform and drive action. Thank you to everyone who has been involved so far in this important work.

We made good progress during the year, reviewing our recruitment practices and pursuing a positive action programme to further diversify our governance and leadership make up and practices; developing anti-racism and anti-discrimination training for our people; embedding a focus on anti-discriminatory practice, including a specific module, in our new model of student education; and setting up a review of our quality and feedback processes from an equity and inclusion perspective.

We have also committed to undertake the charity’s first comprehensive all-community Diversity Audit to provide strong baseline data from which to further develop our equity, diversity and inclusion priorities over the next 3-5 years.

NCT Perinatal Link Worker and Senior Counsellor in Newham with multi-lingual books donated by UK Reads

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The future of volunteering

The development of a new volunteer strategy was approved by Trustees as a key strategic project for 2021, as part of our strategy for recovery and renewal. Recognising the impact of Covid-19 on our volunteer-led parent support and community fundraising activities, as well as trends in volunteering nationally, we wanted to take the opportunity to re-imagine how we best support parents in local communities.

In February 2021, we commissioned Tayo Medupin and Amelia Woods of Hello Brave to work with us on the Future of Volunteering project, powered by an Action Team of ten staff and volunteers.

The team set out to develop a vision for volunteering to engage and inspire volunteers across the UK and Channel Islands, and to develop an actionorientated strategy to help prioritise investments of attention, time and money over the next 6 to 18 months.

The fast paced and high-quality work of the Action Team involved speaking to people from across our community, including parents, volunteers, staff, trustees and practitioners.

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A young volunteer at NCT Worcester & Droitwich
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The work shone a spotlight on the impact that NCT volunteers can have for parents by building strong, inclusive networks that boost wellbeing through warm, non-judgmental support. The recommendations of the project were clear; to unlock the power of volunteering we need to start with the foundations, and the changes that make a difference to volunteers and parents on the ground.

It also highlighted the barrier that our requirements of mandatory membership were causing to volunteer recruitment and inclusion. That is why we are delighted to have already put the first Future of Volunteering recommendation into action and removed all membership requirements for volunteer roles.

In the next phase of work, we are looking forward to building on the team’s inspiring mix of collaboration and coproduction to explore how we can develop volunteer roles that make it easier for volunteers to sustain and scale safe quality support for parents. We’ll also review the support we offer volunteers right across NCT, to help power local volunteering every step of the way.

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Future of Volunteering Action Team

The Future of Volunteering project was powered by an Action Team, bringing together ten volunteers and staff to plan, research and analyse, and make recommendations for change. Adilla shares her experience of working with the team.

“

I cannot thank you enough for choosing me to be part of the Future of Volunteering action team. It was an exciting and worthwhile experience for both NCT and myself. Not only did I meet passionate people who care about NCT and our role in supporting parents, I also learnt a hell of a lot. I believe the team also learnt a lot from each other.

Working with Hello Brave ensured we were on track, and they encouraged the ideas to come from us, giving us all autonomy, which worked perfectly – their ways of working were first class.

We all know teamwork is important and essential to accomplish overall objectives and goals, and working with this team was no exception. The diverse perspectives enabled us to come up with Adilla winning innovations and ideas. The vast experience across the team ensured I learned a lot along the project timeline and contributed heavily towards the end strategies.

I can honestly say in all my time working in the corporate world, this has to be the most meaningful project I have worked on, as volunteering helps parents feel good about themselves and know they are not on their own. ”

Adilla, Volunteer Action Team member.

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Training NCT practitioners of the future

NCT partners with the University of Worcester to train and develop the practitioners of the future. All of our teaching and learning for student practitioners moved online at the start of the year, with NCT tutors doing an outstanding job to support 205 students to continue their studies and to welcome 67 new students to our courses.

From tutorials, study days and drop-in sessions to online assessments and exams, students responded brilliantly to the challenges of year, balancing studying against the wider impact of the pandemic on their personal and professional lives.

In 2020 to 2021, 87 students completed qualifications to support parents:

43 antenatal practitioners

34 breastfeeding counsellors

21 postnatal practitioners

9 yoga for pregnancy teachers

9 mother and baby yoga teachers

15 doulas

15 baby massage teachers

In July, NCT Education received a glowing External Examiner’s report, noting the quality of learning and assessment, as well as the detailed and constructive feedback provided to students to support their learning. Our tutors clearly provide an excellent educational experience that we feel very proud of.

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“ There is a focus on reflection, communication and practical skills which ensures students will be well equipped to be practitioners, rather than just understanding theory. ”

Amy Brown, Professor of Public Health at Swansea University, External Examiner for NCT training pathways at the University of Worcester.

In December, we were delighted to see our education partner, the University of Worcester, win the inaugural Times Higher Education award for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. The judges were impressed with “the University’s sustained, whole institutional approach to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, which places students at the centre”.

We’re looking forward to continuing to work with the University of Worcester on our shared commitment to providing education pathways with a strong focus on accessibility, inclusion and anti-discriminatory practice.

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The new NCT Perinatal Education and Practice Certificate in Higher Education

Alongside this ongoing teaching and learning, we restarted work to develop our new model of education, having paused for six months while we focused on responding to Covid-19.

Our Board of Trustees had previously approved a Level 4 Certificate in Higher Education pathway with the University of Worcester to train future practitioners to facilitate NCT Antenatal. We took the opportunity to review our previous assumptions and recommendations based on learning from the pandemic, strengthening elements of blended learning to ensure a good balance of online and face-to-face learning.

In January 2021, we were delighted to launch student recruitment for this new course, titled the NCT Perinatal Education and Practice Certificate in Higher Education – a comprehensive, cohesive and vibrant training programme, with a strong in-practice element to bring the learning to life. A key focus is on anti-discriminatory practice, embedded both within the modules and through a specific unit co-developed with our inclusion and learning partner, brap.

The course was validated by the University of Worcester with the Chair of the validation event – Richard Woolley, Professor of Education and Inclusion at the University of Worcester – outlining areas of notable good practice worthy of commendation and dissemination.

Our collaborative and team approach was praised, along with our creative and innovative approaches and our ‘passion, vision and clear philosophical outlook’. Our colleagues at the university also spoke highly of the quality and strength of our course and our teaching, and the dedication of tutors to their students.

Recruitment to the course was in full swing by the end of the year and we’re looking forward to welcoming our first cohort of students to the new course in September 2021.

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Knowledge, skills and qualities to plug the postnatal gap

We have also made good progress with the second stage of work on our model of education, to develop a training pathway for practitioners providing one-to-one support postnatally and with breastfeeding.

The one-to-one training pathway is being developed to have an accessible and flexible structure, to enable practitioners to take different routes through our model of education as they develop their practice. This flexible structure will support new and existing practitioners to add one-to-one breastfeeding and/or postnatal support to their portfolio, as well as enabling those who have trained in one-to-one support to add facilitation training.

Development of the pathway is underway, with a pilot planned for September 2021 focusing on one-to-one breastfeeding support, in preparation for launching the training pathway with a full cohort in September 2022.

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Migration to Salesforce

This year we completed the first phase of work to update our technology platforms and transform the way we manage our data, migrating our course booking, financial and administration data to Parentforce – our customised version of Salesforce. The transition to Parentforce has not been straightforward, with teams needing to unpick many years of layered complexity within existing systems.

This work is critical to making it easier to manage our bookings, data and people, meet our data compliance obligations, and address the costs and risks associated with our legacy systems.

Careful attention was paid to testing and assurance in all aspects of the transition, to ensure continuity of the course booking journey for parents and to maintain the integrity of our data.

The data migration workstream proved challenging and migration was delayed into the Autumn to allow for further testing and development.

We were delighted to see Parentforce Go Live in November 2020, with a smooth and supported transition for practitioners and our team of parent service administrators, and no disruption to the parent booking journey. Extensive training was provided for all users in advance of going live, including short video modules and user guides, and regular opportunities for support.

Being on Parentforce has already enabled us to develop, trial and implement a ‘Quick Book’ process for parents where they can book courses directly online. We have also been able to offer additional value to corporate partners, thanks to improved audience segmentation on the new platform.

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Our thanks

We’d like to say a special thank you to all our supporters, volunteers and practitioners who have helped us reach, connect and support parents throughout their pregnancy, birth and early parenthood.

Our community

The NCT Diversity Network.

The Affinity Support Network.

All our volunteers and peer supporters.

Members of the Future of Volunteering Action Team.

Regional Volunteer Support Network – Chair, Fiona Doyle, Deputy-Chair, Caroline Legg, and all members of RVSN.

All our practitioners.

Practitioner Representative Body (PRB) – Co-chairs, Noreen Hart and Hannah Ashford, Vice Chairs, Ros Vinall and Susy Broekhuizen, and all members of the PRB.

In recognition (significant awards, deaths, retirements)

Everyone who has fundraised for NCT, locally and nationally, to help sustain our support for parents.

Everyone at NCT, who faced illness, bereavement and personal loss during the pandemic, in a very challenging year personally and professionally.

The many staff colleagues who we said goodbye to during the year, who made a very significant contribution to our work and mission over many years.

Heather Trickey, former Trustee, Honorary Secretary, research manager and breastfeeding counsellor, who passed away in July 2021, having made a significant intellectual contribution to NCT and more broadly in the field of women’s health.

Marsha Daniel-Taylor, former Trustee, Trading Board Chair, who passed away in March 2021, having brought significant experience, expertise and energy to the NCT Trading Board.

Margaret Willock, NCT Harrow Bumps & Babies volunteer, who passed away in March 2021, having welcomed parents to the group with a hot cup of tea for over twenty years.

Thank you to Sarah McMahon, outgoing Chair of the Practitioner Representative Body.

Thank you to Elgan Owen, outgoing Regional Coordinator for Wales and former Chair of the Regional Volunteer Support Network.

Congratulations to our education partner, University of Worcester, for winning the inaugural Times Higher Education award for Equality, Diversity and Inclusion.

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Our Partners

Joy Warmington, Diane Rutherford, Manisha Patel, Ghiyas Somra and the team at brap.

Tayo Medupin and Amelia Woods at Hello Brave.

Organisations, alliances and networks that we have worked with during the year : Royal College of Midwives; Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists; Institute of Health Visiting; the Breastfeeding Network; Pregnancy and Baby Charity Network; First 1001 Days Movement; One Voice partnership; Breastfeeding Alliance; Maternal Mental Health Alliance; Alliance for Maternity Rights; Peppy Health, Birthrights, FiveXMore, Black Mothers Matter, Maternity Action, BPAS.

Stakeholder and programme boards that we contribute to : NHS England and Improvement Maternity Transformation Stakeholder Council; Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency; National Maternity and Perinatal Audit clinical reference group; Scottish Government ‘The Best Start’ Implementation Programme Board; Healthcare Inspectorate Wales (HIW) national review of maternity services; MBRRACE-UK Third Sector Stakeholder Council.

Our service delivery partners: Alternatives Trust; Magpie Project; Compost London; British Red Cross.

Our corporate partners: Anglian Water Services Limited; Body Clock Healthcare Limited; Childs Farm Limited; Jennis Fitness Limited; John Lewis Plc; Lidl Great Britain Limited; Mamas & Papas Limited; Seraphine Limited

Our funders and commissioners : BBC Children in Need; Bradford District Care Trust; Bradford Metropolitan Council; Countess of Chester Hospital Trust; Coventry City Council; Department of Health and Social Care Starting Well Fund; Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS); Halton CCG; Hounslow CCG; Leeds City Council; London Borough of Hounslow; Manchester Settlement; Medway Community Healthcare; Middlesbrough Council; Milton Keynes Community Foundation; National Lottery Community Fund; Newham & Tower Hamlets CCG; NHS Lothian; NHSX TechForce 19; Northern Ireland Public Health Agency; Paddington Development Trust; Peabody; Peterborough City Council; Peterborough Local Maternity System; Redcar & Cleveland Council; Richmond Council; Royal Berkshire NHS Trust; Scottish Government; Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin Local Maternity System; Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin CCG & NHS Trust; Southampton City Council; Southwark Council; St Helens CCG; Stockton-on-Tees Council; Swindon Borough Council; Thriving Community Fund; Twins Trust; Venture Community Association; Wandsworth Council; Warwickshire County Council; Wiltshire Council.

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Financial review

Overall summary

The effects of Covid-19 began before the beginning of the financial year and led to a challenging year, which saw the numbers of antenatal bookings drop significantly, affecting income. All services that could were transitioned to online delivery and some services, such as our face-to-face volunteering activities and community fundraising events had to be paused due to social distancing. Income reduced by 26% from £14.0m to £10.4m.

We received support through the government furlough scheme of £0.4m, which affected 57 staff. Despite this support, in July 2021, when the future availability of government support and the return to face-to-face activities were uncertain, we undertook an organisational restructure in order to secure the future of the charity. The restructure resulted in 42 staff redundancies and was necessary to ensure our future operating model was sustainable.

Despite the challenging year, we made significant headway on a number of critical risk mitigation projects including going live with our Salesforce ‘Parentforce’ course management system, planning our new model of education and working towards a new single NCT Antenatal course framework.

We measure operating surplus as the reported operating surplus / deficit before investment income, strategic investment and exceptional costs. This is our key financial target. During the year, the group delivered a reported operating surplus of over £900k before non-operational spend of £300k for reorganisation costs and £600k planned investment in the completion of our Salesforce system migration.

Course delivery direct to parents

Delivery of antenatal and other courses to parents is one of NCT’s key activities. Income in this area exceeds expenditure. The courses surplus funds the education and development of current and future NCT practitioners, supports our commissioned contracts in the health sector, policy, research, campaigns, content and information work.

Income of £7.2m represents a £3.1m reduction on the prior year (2020: £10.3m). This reflects both a reduction in bookings and also course price, which was discounted to pass on to parents savings made by the charity in delivering the courses online during the social distancing restrictions.

Total costs decreased to £5.3m from £8.2m in 2020, which reflects the reduction in direct costs of delivering our courses online, and also a decrease in allocated support costs from our Salesforce systems project.

NCT education and practice

This year saw both a reforming of NCT’s model of practitioner education, with a new model ‘Cert HE in Perinatal Education & Practice’ starting for the academic year 2021-22, and also a change in the delivery of the current education model to online.

Slightly fewer students has seen a corresponding decrease in NCT education and practice income from £0.75m to £0.71m. Costs have decreased because a significant proportion of costs pre-pandemic were as a result of face-to-face delivery (venues, travel etc).

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Programme delivery contracts

Our programmes deliver free at point of access services to parents, and are largely commissioned contracts supported on behalf of the National Health Service and Local Authorities, as well as government departments, Trusts and Foundations. Income has risen by 36% to £0.6m (2020: £0.5m). Costs attributed to this work amount to £1.1m and are lower than the prior year (2020: £1.4m), including £0.3m of expenditure on restricted projects. Although most individual projects cover the direct costs of delivery, this income is not generally sufficient to cover the full costs of the contract management team or support cost allocations.

Donations (including NCT membership)

Total donation income has increased 1% to £1.5m (2020: £1.4m). Grants receivable has grown from the prior period, however this included £0.4m from the government furlough scheme and there was a reduction in membership and other donations. This had been anticipated as part of a longer-term trend and also affected by the reduced course booking levels impacting the number of parents choosing membership when choosing a course. We continue to work to develop an attractive, relevant and engaging membership proposition for parents and supporters.

Other trading activities

Community fundraising income has fallen by 91% due to the effect of Covid-19 on community fundraising events, activities and partnerships that would have taken place in a more typical year. We are committed to continue to work with our branch volunteers to safely unlock activities and develop a sustainable operating fundraising model, as restrictions lift and into the future.

Investment income

Income received as a result of interest on cash balances and investment portfolio returns amounts to £77k. The £78k reduction on the prior year is a result of lower funds held in our investment portfolio during the year.

An unrealised gain on the investment portfolio of £394k was recorded at 31 March 2021 partially reversing the loss of £424k in the prior year. Market performance in March 2020 was heavily impacted by the Covid-19 crisis. These funds are held as long term investments and it is anticipated their value will be restored over time. The charity will monitor this closely and continue to take regular advice from its investment managers.

Going concern

Significant consideration has been given by the board to the appropriateness of the going concern basis for accounting, as a result of the Covid-19 crisis and our ability to unlock services back to face-to-face as we move forward. During the year, NCT was required to adapt quickly and has shown resilience through staff, practitioners and volunteers to adapt and respond. Lower income levels during and post Covid-19 led to the summer 2020 restructure which significantly increased NCT’s resilience and current modelling is considered sufficient to respond to a range of outcomes. The plan and budget are set to operate within the acceptable risk levels and within the risk reserve level. Management accounts

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re-forecast the yearly outcome monthly which allows quick and appropriate responses to changes in our operating model and demand for our services. On this basis and in light of the strong reserves position the board are satisfied that the charity is well positioned to respond to a reasonable worst-case scenario, acknowledging that in the most severe scenarios further cost reductions are likely to be necessary.

Investment policy

The investment policy is reviewed by the Audit, Risk and Scrutiny Committee regularly. Under this policy NCT considers that it holds a mixed motive investment in NCT Trading Limited. This is because the investment has two aims: firstly, to provide funding which will generate a financial return for NCT; and secondly to contribute to NCT’s charitable purpose by promoting goods and services that are beneficial to prospective and new parents. This will assist the charity in achieving its strategic objective of providing new parent support.

The investment in NCT Trading Limited has been made through holding 100% of its issued share capital at a cost of £100.

Reserves policy

As at 31 March 2021, the group reserve level was £4.6m, £4.5m unrestricted and £0.1m restricted reserves, the unrestricted reserves make up risk reserves and strategic reserves. The reserves policy provides a dynamic framework for determining available reserves by identifying the three components of NCT’s risk management reserve, which comprise the costs of winding down, funds to protect against uncertainty identified in the risk management process and cash flow requirements. Any surplus funds beyond these considerations represent the strategic development reserve.

The board have determined a target risk management reserve level of £4.4m, comprising the costs of winding down, £2.0m, funds to protect against uncertainty identified in the risk management process, £1.4m, and cash flow requirements, £1.0m.

At 31 March 2021, the risk management reserve level amounted to £4.5m (2020: £4.0m). This means that the charity holds sufficient funds to perform an orderly wind up if needed and manage risks as they arise.

The board plan to reduce the target level of risk reserves by addressing key risks. They plan to maintain a breakeven operating position but apply investment income and gains to the risk reserve in future periods.

The strategic development reserve was £0.1m (2020: £nil).

The policy also addresses what form each element should be held in. The Fixed Asset Fund represents assets which cannot be converted to cash in the short-term including property and equipment; given their illiquid nature these funds are allocated to the element of the risk management reserve which would cover the costs of winding up the charity. At 31 March 2021 the fund amounted to £1.3m (2020: £1.4m).

Financial position

The Group balance sheet at 31 March 2021 shows total funds of £4.6m (2020: £4.1m) of which £0.1m (2020: £0.2m) is restricted and £1.3m (2020: £1.4m) is designated as the fixed assets fund. Restricted funds, analysed in Note 15, comprise donations and grants subject to donor-imposed conditions. The balance of the group general funds, representing the ‘free reserves’, of the group at 31 March 2021 was £3.1m (2020: £2.6m).

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Risk management

Our risk management process helps us identify the uncertainties or events that could stop us achieving our strategic objectives. This work is a key driver of our one and three-year plans.

Trustees acknowledge their responsibility for ensuring effective risk management systems and procedures at NCT. The board works closely with the Senior Leadership Team in the identification and mitigation of risk.

As a board, our focus is on ensuring that the most significant risks are being identified and managed effectively. We participate in periodic workshops designed to identify and analyse individual risks and to articulate organisational risk appetite. The charity risk register is reviewed at four of our meetings of the Board of Trustees throughout the year.

The Audit, Risk and Scrutiny Committee has delegated authority from the board to review risk management systems and procedures and to advise the board as to the principal risks faced by the NCT Group. The committee drives continued improvement in the sophistication and impact of our risk management processes, as well as scrutinising the Senior Leadership Team’s analysis and response to risks identified through regular reviews of the risk register at each meeting. In addition to this the committee receives a deep dive review of at least one key risk from the Senior Leadership Team at each meeting.

Each risk is owned by a member of the Senior Leadership Team, who work to implement actions and report on their impact.

Through the risk management policy, NCT aims to recognise the level of gross risk in our current and proposed activities and seeks to reduce this to an acceptable level of net risk.

For each identified risk we identify likelihood and impact. Risks are then categorized by velocity, which is a measure of the time they would take to fully manifest. Over the year we have begun to formalise our approach to risk tolerance by assigning each risk to a group, such as strategic, people, finance, market or technology. This allows the charity to express a risk appetite for each broad category and the responses to individual risks to be developed in light of this intention.

At 31 March 2021 the three most significant risks to our strategy were identified as:

Public Health Crisis

From its emergence in March 2020, Covid-19 has presented an existential threat to NCT. Operationally it has been possible to respond to the impact of social distancing measures by the introduction of online course delivery, home working and remote delivery of other services and activities. However, in addition to material reductions in our primary course income stream, the majority of our branch parent support and fundraising activities were paused. The current year stabilised the financial underpinning of the charity, however the risk of another public health crisis or the deepening of the current one is possible. A focused business plan and budget for the year ahead is in place and teams are working across the charity to deliver on this.

Reduction in demand for antenatal education

Changes to new parent behaviour, a shift in the competitive landscape and a c.10% reduction in live births in the United Kingdom since 2012 present a threat NCT’s ability to operate at the current level. The resultant reduction in delivery (and operating margin) could reduce NCT’s ability to increase the reach and expand the scope of its work. In parallel, NCT faces the risk of being unable to match the supply of practitioners to parents’ geographically-distributed demand. Work is underway to safeguard practitioner availability, ensure positive engagement with practitioners and the charity is committed to having a sustainable education programme in place to develop future generations of practitioners.

Strategic report

Retaining key people and skill

Reductions made to staffing levels in the year have reduced the capacity within the staffing team, impacting the support that can be given centrally to parents, practitioners and volunteers. There are a number of roles that are single points of contact holding key skills, responsibilities and knowledge. When the income of the charity improves, we plan to rebuild these areas of the team to reduce reliance on the single points of contact, increase support and rebuild resilience within the teams.

Safeguarding the physical and mental wellbeing of our people, including staff, practitioners, students and volunteers throughout lockdown and the easing of restrictions has been an organisation priority this year, and we have established new teams, approaches and programmes to help promote wellbeing and good mental health, including a newly established mental health first aid team.

Public benefit statement

We believe that we have complied with the duty in Section 17 of the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to public benefit guidance (as published by the Charity Commission in its guidance documents PB1 “Public benefit, the public benefit requirement”, PB2 “Public benefit: running a charity and PB3 “Public benefit: reporting”), because our charitable services provide value to the public in general and new parents in particular.

Structure and governance

NCT (The National Childbirth Trust) is a registered charity. It is a company limited by guarantee governed by its Articles of Association as adopted on 26[th] September 2015 and amended on 18 October 2018.

NCT is governed by a Board of Trustees who are the directors of the charity for the purposes of the Companies Act. The names of trustees at the date at which the accounts were approved, or who served during the period, are given below. The board is very grateful for the work and commitment of trustees who have served NCT and stood down in 2020-21. We also welcomed three trustees to the board in this period.

Name	Date of most recent appointment	Date of resignation
Chi Evi-Parker	Elected 11 December 2020	—
Clarissa Ayo-Dele Smith	Elected 13 October 2018	Resigned 11 September 2020
David Shanks (Vice Chair – to 26 May2021)	Appointed 7 August 2021**	—
Elaine Lambe	Elected 4 November 2017	—
Ema Ojiako (Honorary Secretary – from 21 April 2021)	Appointed 8 March 2021	—
Franciane Husbands-Chevot	Elected 11 December 2020	—
Heather Trickey (Honarary Secretary – from 23 July 2020 to 11 December 2020)	Elected 13 October 2018	Resigned 11 December 2020
Jessica Figueras (Chair – to 31 July2021)	Appointed 8 October 2020 ***	Resigned 31 July 2021
Joanne Powell	Elected 16 November 2019	—
Peter Brown	Elected 13 October 2018	—
Richard Smothers (HonoraryTreasurer)	Appointed 5 February 2020*	—
Sarah Brown (Honorary Secretary to 20 July 2020/ Vice Chair – from 27 May2021)	Elected 4 November 2017	—
Sherry Bevan (President)	Elected 16 November 2019	—
Stephanie Maurel (Chair – from 1 August 2021)	Appointed 7 August 2021**	—

Second appointment, initial appointment 5 February 2016

** Second appointment, initial appointment 7 August 2017

*** Second appointment, initially elected 8 October 2016

The charity is a membership charity. Members are organised locally into 333 branches. Many members and volunteers carry out the work of the charity at a local level.

Structure and governance

Recruitment and appointment of trustees

The Board of Trustees may have up to eight member-elected trustees and four appointed trustees. Any member may stand for election as a trustee, provided they gain the nomination of two other members, are not disbarred from being a trustee and support the aims and objectives of the charity.

Member-elected trustees are elected to coincide with the Annual General Meeting, whilst appointed trustees may be appointed during the course of the year. Any member-elected trustee vacancies arising during the year may also be filled by the board.

Elected and Appointed Trustees have a term of four years and the President has a term of five years. An individual may serve a maximum of two terms as an Elected Trustee, two terms as an Appointed Trustee and two terms as President.

The Nominations and Remuneration Committee of the board has the responsibility for maintaining and enhancing the mix, diversity and balance of NCT’s trustees. To this end it keeps under review the vacancies and likely vacancies available on the board and the skills, experience, diversity profile and other qualities the board needs.

Prior to the Annual General Meeting the Committee notifies members of the number of elected trustee vacancies available and the skills and experience being sought at the time, and invites nominations. Roles are advertised on the charity’s website where a downloadable candidate information pack is available. Opportunities are offered for those expressing an interest to discuss, with current trustees, the role and how they could contribute to the work of the board.

The board, usually upon the recommendation of the Nominations and Remuneration Committee, may fill any vacancy for an Elected Trustee by making a temporary appointment lasting up until the next AGM.

Induction and training of trustees

Induction for new trustees currently consists of comprehensive written briefing about trustees’ responsibilities, the work of the board and the charity’s strategy, policies, and governance. In addition, new trustees have induction meetings with the Chair, Chief Executive and other members of the Senior Leadership Team.

Training is also provided during the year for trustees as required on topics relevant to the board’s current work and strategy.

The Board of Trustees

The Board of Trustees is ultimately responsible for the governance of the charity to ensure that it acts in the best interests of all parents, who are the charity’s beneficiaries. The Board of Trustees sets the strategy, policy and financial framework for the charity and has the responsibility for its overall direction and control. Additionally, the board has responsibility for ensuring the charity complies with the law and the safeguarding of the charity’s assets, including its money, property and reputation.

Authority for the day-to-day management of the charity within that framework is delegated to the Chief Executive, supported by the Senior Leadership Team. Together they formulate strategy, policy and financial plans for the board’s approval, ensure delivery of required performance, and oversee the charity’s day-to-day operations.

Each year the board reviews past performance and sets plans within a three-year planning horizon. As part of that review and planning process the trustees consider how future plans and performance relate to our aims and vision, and thus to our charitable purpose.

The trustees are committed to ensuring NCT’s governance and constitutional framework reflect current thinking on best practice. The Board of Trustees are committed to the principles of the Charity Governance Code.

Structure and governance

Board committees

The Board of Trustees is supported in its work by committees. There are two board committees:

Audit, Risk and Scrutiny – covering the adequacy of financial control, external reporting of performance, and budget and risk management.
Nominations and Remuneration – covering people issues, equity, diversity and inclusion, trustee recruitment and the remuneration policy for senior management and other key groups.

In addition, a number of task and finish and / or advisory groups across NCT’s work enable internal and external stakeholders to be involved in decision-making.

Trustees can take on ‘lead trustee’ roles in relation to a key strands of NCT’s duties and projects to provide additional support, scrutiny and oversight. The full board maintains collective responsibility for all these areas and receive update reports from lead trustees at board meetings.

Independent committee members are individuals who bring additional skills, experience and perspectives to the work of our sub-committees. They are not trustees.

Committee membership and lead trustee roles as at 31 March 2021 are detailed in the table below.

Name	Role	Committee membership	Lead trustee role
Chi Evi-Parker	Trustee	—	—
David Shanks	Trustee / Vice Chair	—	—
Elaine Lambe	Trustee	Audit, Risk & Scrutiny	—
Ema Ojiako	Trustee	Nominations & Remuneration (Chair)	—
Franciane Husbands-Chevot	Trustee	Nominations & Remuneration	—
Faran Johnson	Independent Committee Member	Audit, Risk & Scrutiny	—
Jessica Figueras*	Trustee / Chair	All ex-offcio	—
Naomi Horsfall	Independent Committee Member	Audit, Risk & Scrutiny	—
Joanne Powell	Trustee	Audit, Risk & Scrutiny	—
Peter Brown	Trustee	Nominations & Remuneration	—
Richard Smothers	Trustee / Honorary Treasurer	Audit, Risk & Scrutiny (Chair)	—
Salima Shariff	Independent Committee Member	Nominations & Remuneration	—
Sarah Brown	Trustee / Honorary Secretary	Nominations & Remuneration	—
Stephanie Maurel	Trustee	Audit, Risk & Scrutiny	Safeguarding

*The Chair sits ex officio on all committees.

Structure and governance

Key relationships

NCT wholly owns one active commercial company, NCT Trading Ltd, which gift aids its profits to the charity. The board of NCT Trading Ltd is responsible for its activities, which during 2020-21 consisted of commercial partnerships and sponsorship.

Charity Commission guidance makes it clear that the Board of Trustees is responsible for establishing the overarching principles within which its subsidiary’s trading activities must take place. Trustees have established a comprehensive Commercial Activities Policy within which the Trading Board is required to operate.

Trustee benefits

Under the terms of its Articles, the charity is able to pay trustees for the provision of services to achieve its objectives, subject to certain safeguards. This includes the requirement that a majority of the trustees must have received no payments from NCT either as employees or for goods and services supplied to NCT. This year no member of the Board of Trustees received any remuneration in respect of their services as trustees (2020: None). Expenses and other payments to trustees are detailed in Note 9.

Statement of the board’s responsibilities as trustees

The trustees (who are also directors of NCT for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

Company law requires trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of the affairs of the charitable company and the group and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable group for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:

select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently
observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP
make judgments and estimates that are reasonable and prudent
state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards, including FRS102, 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 trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006 and the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006, as amended by the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Amendment (No. 2) Regulations 2014. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and the group and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

Structure and governance

The trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the company’s website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

In so far as the trustees are aware:

there is no relevant audit information of which NCT’s auditor is unaware
they have taken all steps that they ought to have taken to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the auditor is aware of that information.

Employees and volunteers

The Board of Trustees would like to thank all NCT staff, volunteers, NCT practitioners, members and supporters for their commitment to the vision and work of NCT.

During 2020-21, NCT (including NCT Trading Limited) employed an average of 117 (2020: 141) full time equivalent salaried staff.

At the end of March 2021, NCT had 29,202 (2020: 37,292) members. In addition, the charity had 5,263 (2020: 5,576) registered volunteers, 704 (2020: 760) trained NCT practitioners (antenatal course leaders, breastfeeding counsellors and postnatal leaders) and 272 (2020: 205) students.

Remuneration policy

NCT recognises that pay is part of a wider employment offer to staff, which also includes the satisfaction of working for a charity, personal development, family-friendly policies and working practices and a range of other benefits including access to the charity’s pension scheme.

NCT operates a benchmarked market rate system, using reputable and appropriate data. NCT aims to pay employees between plus/minus 10% margin of the market median salary for most roles. Employees will not normally be paid less than the lower decile or higher than the higher decile for any role. NCT will take into account the following factors when benchmarking pay and benefits including comparing against charities of similar size, employee numbers and income, workplace location and competitors. Additionally, a specialist consultancy will be commissioned to independently review the market rate for the salaries of the Senior Leadership Team every three years.

Each year NCT will consider whether to uplift all employees by the cost of living. This will take into account the Consumer Price Index, Retail Price Index and the national average increase in earnings. Any decision will be based on affordability and are at the board’s discretion.

Structure and governance

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

NCT is committed to equity, diversity and inclusion across all that we do – service delivery, programmes, volunteering, communications, fundraising and in our employment practices.

We aim to ensure that no parent, volunteer, student, contractor, practitioner, supplier or employee receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of race, colour, national or ethnic origins, sex, sexual orientation or perceived sexuality, marital status, disability, class, age, politics, religion or beliefs.

Core to our new strategy for recovery is the explicit aim of becoming a more inclusive, open and empowering charity so that we can support all parents, whoever they are, and whatever their situation.

A reinvigorated action plan was approved by the board in summer 2020, and an independent inclusion adviser was subsequently appointed. A new Directorate focused on People, Education & Inclusion has been established and the NCT Diversity Network has been set up to help inform and drive action.

We made good progress during the year, including taking positive action programme to further diversify our governance and leadership make up and practices. We are also undertaking the charity’s first comprehensive all-community Diversity Audit to provide strong baseline data from which to further develop our equity, diversity and inclusion priorities over the next 3-5 years.

Appointment of auditors

Moore Kingston Smith LLP have indicated their willingness to continue in office and are deemed reappointed in accordance with section 487(2) of the Companies Act 2006.

The strategic report, which forms part of the Trustees’ Annual Report, is approved by the trustees in their capacity as directors of the company. The Trustees’ Report is approved by the Board of Trustees and signed on its behalf by:

Stephanie Maurel Chair 14 October 2021

Structure and governance

Independent auditor’s report to the trustees and members of NCT

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of The National Childbirth Trust (NCT) for the year ended 31 March 2021 which comprise Group and Parent Charitable Company Statements of Financial Activities (incorporating the Summary Income and Expenditure Account), the Group and Parent Charitable Company Balance Sheets, the Group Cash Flow Statement and the related notes, 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).

In our opinion the financial statements:

give a true and fair view of the state of the group’s and the parent charitable company’s affairs as at 31 March 2021 and of the group’s and the parent charitable company’s incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure, 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 Companies Act 2006, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 (as amended) and regulations 6 and 8 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended).

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.

Structure and governance

Other information

The other information comprises the information included in the annual report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report 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 strategic report and the trustees’ annual report for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and
the strategic report and the trustees’ annual report have been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the group and parent charitable company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the strategic report or the trustees’ annual report.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters where the Companies Act 2006 or the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended) require us to report to you if, in our opinion:

the parent charitable company has not kept adequate and sufficient accounting records, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or
the parent charitable company’s 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 trustees’ responsibilities statement set out on page 23, the trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company 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 group and parent 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 group or parent charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Structure and governance

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

We have been appointed as auditor under Section 44(1)(c) of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and under the Companies Act 2006 and report to you in accordance with regulations made under those Acts.

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 an auditor’s report 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 aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of 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 is detailed below.

Explanation as to what extent the audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud

The objectives of our audit in respect of fraud, are; to identify and assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements due to fraud; to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence regarding the assessed risks of material misstatement due to fraud, through designing and implementing appropriate responses to those assessed risks; and to respond appropriately to instances of fraud or suspected fraud identified during the audit. However, the primary responsibility for the prevention and detection of fraud rests with both management and those charged with governance of the charitable company.

Our approach was as follows:

We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory requirements applicable to the charitable company and considered that the most significant are the Companies Act 2006, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 (as amended), regulations 6 and 8 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended), the Charity SORP, and UK financial reporting standards as issued by the Financial Reporting Council.
We obtained an understanding of how the charitable company complies with these requirements by discussions with management and those charged with governance.
We assessed the risk of material misstatement of the financial statements, including the risk of material misstatement due to fraud and how it might occur, by holding discussions with management and those charged with governance.
We inquired of management and those charged with governance as to any known instances of non-compliance or suspected non-compliance with laws and regulations.
Based on this understanding, we designed specific appropriate audit procedures to identify instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. This included making enquiries of management and those charged with governance and obtaining additional corroborative evidence as required.

As part of an audit in accordance with ISAs (UK) we exercise professional judgement and maintain professional scepticism throughout the audit. We also:

Identify and assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to fraud or error, design and perform audit procedures responsive to those risks, and obtain audit evidence that is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion. The risk of not detecting a material misstatement resulting from fraud is higher than for one resulting from error, as fraud may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal control.

Structure and governance

Obtain an understanding of internal control relevant to the audit in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purposes of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the group and parent charitable company’s internal control.
Evaluate the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of accounting estimates and related disclosures made by the trustees.
Conclude on the appropriateness of the trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting and, based on the audit evidence obtained, whether a material uncertainty exists related to events or conditions that may cast significant doubt on the group and parent charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern. If we conclude that a material uncertainty exists, we are required to draw attention in our auditor’s report to the related disclosures in the financial statements or, if such disclosures are inadequate, to modify our opinion. Our conclusions are based on the audit evidence obtained up to the date of our auditor’s report. However, future events or conditions may cause the group or parent charitable company to cease to continue as a going concern.
Evaluate the overall presentation, structure and content of the financial statements, including the disclosures, and whether the financial statements represent the underlying transactions and events in a manner that achieves fair presentation.
Obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence regarding the financial information of the entities or business activities within the group to express an opinion on the consolidated financial statements. We are responsible for the direction, supervision and performance of the group audit. We remain solely responsible for our audit report.

We communicate with those charged with governance regarding, among other matters, the planned scope and timing of the audit and significant audit findings, including any significant deficiencies in internal control that we identify during our audit.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charitable company’s members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006 and to the charitable company’s trustees, as a body, in accordance with Section 44(1)(c) of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company’s members and trustees those matters which we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report addressed to them and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to any party other than the charitable company and charitable company’s members as a body, and the charity’s trustees, as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Andrew Stickland (Senior Statutory Auditor)

for and on behalf of Moore Kingston Smith LLP, Statutory Auditor 15 November 202114 October 2021

Devonshire House 60 Goswell Road London EC1M 7AD

Moore Kingston Smith LLP is eligible to act as an auditor in terms of Section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006.

NCT consolidated group statement of financial activities

Including Income & Expenditure Account for the Year Ended 31 March 2021

Unrestricted Funds £’000 7,207 714 – 551	Restricted Funds £’000 – – – 10	Total 2021 £’000 7,207 714 – 561	Unrestricted Funds £’000 10,258 753 – 515	Restricted Funds £’000 – – – 4	Total 2020 £’000 10,258 753 – 519

8,472 696 30 414	10 – – 369	8,482 696 30 783	11,526 945 34 82	4 – – 339	11,530 945 34 421
1,140 71 231 6	369 – – –	1,509 71 231 6	1,061 800 312 28	339 – – –	1,400 800 312 28
308 1 76	– – –	308 1 76	1,140 9 146	– – –	1,140 9 146
77 37	–	77 37	155 120	–	155 120
10,034 5,283 1,582 822 1,288	379 133 – 270 –	10,413 5,416 1,582 1,092 1,288	14,002 8,169 2,685 1,174 2,440	343 124 – 261 –	14,345 8,293 2,685 1,435 2,440
8,975 275 183 37	403 – – –	9,378 275 183 37	14,468 691 174 120	385 – – –	14,853 691 174 120
495 478	– –	495 478	985 628	– –	985 628
9,948	403	10,351	16,081	385	16,466
86 394	(24) –	62 394	(2,079) (423)	(42) –	(2,121) (423)
480 3,972	(24) 162	456 4,134	(2,502) 6,474	(42) 204	(2,544) 6,678
4,452	138	4,590	3,972	162	4,134

All of the group’s activities derived from continuing operations during the above two financial periods. The group has no recognised gains or losses other than those shown above. The movement in reserves is shown above.

NCT charity statement of financial activities

Including Income & Expenditure Account for the Year Ended 31 March 2021

Unrestricted Funds £’000 7,207 714 – 551	Restricted Funds £’000 – – – 10	Total 2021 £’000 7,207 714 – 561	Unrestricted Funds £’000 10,258 753 – 515	Restricted Funds £’000 – – – 4	Total 2020 £’000 10,258 753 – 519

8,472 696 69 414	10 – – 369	8,482 696 69 783	11,526 945 159 82	4 – – 339	11,530 945 159 421
1,179 71 6	369 – –	1,548 71 6	1,186 800 28	339 – –	1,525 800 28
77 1 76	– – –	77 1 76	828 9 146	– – –	828 9 146
77 46	–	77 46	155 145	–	155 145
9,851 5,283 1,582 822 1,288	379 133 – 270 –	10,230 5,416 1,582 1,092 1,288	13,840 8,169 2,685 1,174 2,440	343 124 – 261 –	14,183 8,293 2,685 1,435 2,440
8,975 275 37	403 – –	9,378 275 37	14,468 691 132	385 – –	14,853 691 132
312 478	– –	312 478	823 628	– –	823 628
9,765	403	10,168	15,919	385	16,304
86 394	(24) –	62 394	(2,079) (423)	(42) –	(2,121) (423)
480 3,972	(24) 162	456 4,134	(2,502) 6,474	(42) 204	(2,544) 6,678
4,452	138	4,590	3,972	162	4,134

All of the NCT’s activities derived from continuing operations during the above two financial periods. The charity has no recognised gains or losses other than those shown above. The movement in reserves is shown above.

NCT balance sheets

as at 31 March 2021

2021 Group £’000 – 1,343 3,427	2021 Charity £’000 – 1,343 3,427	2020 Group £’000 – 1,410 3,976	2020 Charity £’000 – 1,410 3,976

4,770 552 76 2,304	4,770 583 76 2,243	5,386 1,064 75 1,549	5,386 1,103 75 1,430
2,932 (3,112)	2,902 (3,082)	2,688 (3,940)	2,608 (3,860)
(180) 4,590 138 3,109 1,343	(180) 4,590 138 3,109 1,343	(1,252) 4,134 162 2,562 1,410	(1,252) 4,134 162 2,562 1,410
4,452	4,452	3,972	3,972
4,590	4,590	4,134	4,134

Approved by the Board of Trustees and signed on its behalf

Stephanie Maurel Chair 14 October 2021

Company Number: 2370573 (England & Wales)

NCT consolidated cash flow statement for the Year Ended 31 March 2021

Cashflows from Operating Activities

Cashfows from Operating Activities
Net surplus / (defcit) for the reporting period (Gains)/ Losses on investments Depreciation and amortisation charge Loss on disposal of fxed assets Investment income Interest receivable (Increase) / decrease in debtors Increase / (decrease) in creditors Net cash provided by operating activities Cash fows from Investing Activites Payments to acquire tangible fxed assets Purchase of Investments Proceeds from the sale of Investments Dividends received Interest receivable Net cash from investing activities Cash fows from Financing Activities Payments for fnance leases Net cash from fnancing activities Change in cash and cash equivalents in the reporting period Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the reporting period Cash and cash equivalents at end of the reporting period	2021 £’000 456 (394) 68 - (76) (1) 512 (824)	2020 £’000 (2,544) 423 122 - (146) (9) 287 72

	(259)	(1,795)
	- (572) 1,473 76 1	(10) (408) 1,072 146 9
	978 (5)	809 (10)
	(5)	(10)
	714	(996)
	1,762	2,758
	2,476	1,762

Analysis of cash and cash equivalents Cash at bank and in hand Short term deposits Cash held by investment managers Total cash and cash equivalents		2021 £’000 2,304 76 96		2020 £’000 1,549 75 138

		2,476		1,762

Notes to the financial statements

1 Principal Accounting Policies

a) Basis of accounting

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies below and comply with the charity’s governing document, the Charities Act 2011 and Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland published on 16 July 2014, the Charities Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 as amended in 2014. The charity is a public benefit entity for the purposes of FRS 102 and a registered charity. The charity has therefore also prepared its individual and consolidated financial statements in accordance with FRS 102’ (The Charities SORP (FRS 102).

The financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis and on the historical cost basis, except for the measurement of investments and certain financial assets and liabilities at fair value with movements in value reported within the Statement of Financial Activities (SOFA). The principal accounting policies adopted are set out below and have been applied consistently throughout the year.

The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the charity. Amounts included in the financial statements are rounded to the nearest thousand pounds.

b) Preparation of the accounts on a going concern basis

The trustees have adopted the going concern basis in preparing these accounts after assessing the principal risks and having considered the impact of long unlock period after COVID-19. The major variables are the comfort of parents and practitioners during unlock.

The trustees considered the impact of the current environment on the business for the 12 months following signature of the financial statements, the viability period and the longer term considering the impacts on income, expenditure and cash flow and consider the charity can absorb and adapt to the environment.

On this basis the trustees have concluded that there are no material uncertainties that impact the use of the going concern basis and that the charity will be able to settle its debts as they fall due for a period of at least 12 months from the date of approval of these financial statements. Accordingly the going concern basis has continued to be adopted in the preparation of the financial statements.

c) Basis of consolidation

The statement of financial activities and balance sheet consolidate on a line-by-line basis the financial statements of the charity and all its subsidiary undertakings made up to the balance sheet date. Immaterial subsidiaries are not consolidated. The decision on consolidation is based on the degree of control that, in substance, NCT has power to control each undertaking and the extent to which it operates on a unified basis with the parent undertaking.

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

d) Income

Incoming resources are recognised in the period in which the charity is entitled to receipt, the receipt is probable and the amount can be measured reliably. Income is deferred only when the charity has to fulfil conditions before becoming entitled to it or when the donor or funder has specified that the income is to be expended in a future accounting period. Legacies are included in the statement of financial activities when the charity is advised by the personal representative of an estate, that payment will be made or property transferred and the amount involved can be measured reliably. Grants, including government grants, have been included as income from charitable activities where these amount to a contract for services or a grant for specific costs. NCT affiliate courses are included in full within incoming resources.

e) Expenditure

Expenditure is included in the statement of financial activities when incurred and includes any attributable VAT, which cannot be recovered. Resources expended comprise the following:

Expenditure on raising funds is categorised into membership only. Membership expenditure comprises the costs of the department that services members and prospective members and the team that provides support to members and Branches.
Other trading activities is categorised into community fundraising, commercial fundraising, and retail trading.
» Community fundraising , which comprises the community fundraising support team, the costs of Branch fundraising activities, and costs associated with the administration of Branches. Many of the fundraising events held by the branches have two objectives, to raise funds for the charity, as well as meeting the aims of the charity in terms of providing postnatal support for families. There is no meaningful way of apportioning the costs of Branch fundraising events between fundraising costs and charitable activities.
» Commercial fundraising is the cost of obtaining and managing the sponsorship of activities and events and undertakes other business activity on behalf of NCT by NCT Trading Limited.
» Trading comprises the costs of branch newsletters.
Charitable activities , which comprises expenditure on the charity’s primary purposes and are categorised as NCT Courses, Education and Practice, Programme Delivery, and Policy, Research and Information.
» NCT Courses comprises the costs of providing courses, for parents and prospective parents where the participant generally books the course.
» Education and Practice comprises the costs of providing training and support for NCT Practitioners who deliver NCT courses.
» Programme Delivery comprises the costs of delivering services procured under a contract for services or a grant.
» Policy, research and information comprises the cost of the research team, the library, communications, marketing and providing specialist helplines and journals.

f) Basis of apportioning support costs

Support costs, which includes governance costs represent indirect charitable expenditure. In order to carry out the primary purposes of NCT it is necessary to provide support in the form of human resources, financial operations and management, information technology, general management and administration and office services. These costs are apportioned to the other activities within the charity based on the average number of full-time equivalent employees utilised by the activity.

g) Gifts in kind

Assets donated to the charity for its own use, are included in the incoming resources and resources expended at their value to the charity as at the time of the gift.

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

h) Tangible and intangible fixed assets

All assets costing more than £1,000 and with an expected useful life exceeding one year are capitalised. Leasehold properties used for the work of the charity are included in these accounts at the cost of acquisition. Software development is capitalised when there is future economic benefit to the charity and ongoing lease costs are not required to use the developed software. Fixed assets are capitalised and depreciated at the following rates per annum, based on cost, in order to write them off over their estimated useful lives:

Category	Asset Group	Rate per annum
Property	Leasehold	2%
	Leasehold improvements	Lease length, minimum 2%
Equipment	End user computer equipment and software	33%
	Computer and telecoms network infrastructure and software	20%
	Furniture	20%
	Other equipment	33%

At the end of each reporting period residual values and useful lives are reviewed and adjusted as necessary. Assets are also reviewed annually for impairment.

i) Fixed asset investments

Listed equities are included in the financial statements at fair value as at the balance sheet date. Investments in subsidiary undertakings are held at cost less impairment. Realised and unrealised gains (or losses) are credited (or debited) to the statement of financial activities in the year in which they arise.

j) Stocks

Stocks represent goods for resale and are stated at the lower of cost and net realisable value.

k) Fund accounting

Restricted funds are monies raised for, or their use restricted to, a specific purpose, or contributions subject to donor imposed conditions.

The fixed assets fund represents the net book value of the tangible and intangible fixed assets used in the day-to-day operations of NCT. The value of this fund is not available for working capital.

General funds represent those monies, which are freely available for application towards achieving any charitable purpose that falls within the charity’s charitable objects.

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

l) Leased assets

Rentals applicable to operating leases where substantially all of the benefits and risks of ownership remain with the lessor are charged on a straight-line basis over the lease term.

Rental applicable to finance leases where the terms of the lease transfer substantially all the risks and rewards of ownership to the lessee are recognized as assets at the lower of the assets fair value at the date of inception and the present value of minimum lease payments. The related liability is included in the balance sheet as a finance lease obligation. Lease payments are treated as consisting of capital and interest elements. The interest is charged to the Statement of Financial Activity so as to produce a constant periodic rate of interest in the remaining balance of the liability.

m) Branches

Branch transactions are considered transactions of the charity.

n) Employee benefits

The costs of short-term employee benefits are recognised as a liability and an expense, unless those costs are required to be recognised as part of the cost of stock or fixed assets. The cost of any unused holiday entitlement is recognised in the period in which the employee’s services are received. Termination benefits are recognised immediately as an expense when the company is demonstrably committed to terminate the employment of an employee or to provide termination benefits.

o) Pension costs

The charity as an employer contributes to personal pension plans of its employees. The contributions are set at up to 5% of gross salary and are available to all employees whose contracts are permanent and who have completed three months’ service with the charity.

p) Financial Instruments

The National Childbirth Trust 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 amortised cost using the effective interest method. Financial assets held at amortised cost comprise cash at bank and in hand, together with trade and other debtors. Financial liabilities held at amortised cost comprise trade and other creditors.

q) Cash and cash equivalents

Cash and cash equivalents include cash in hand, deposits held at call with banks, other short-term liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less, and bank overdrafts. Any bank overdrafts would be shown within borrowings in current liabilities.

r) Irrecoverable VAT

All expenditure is charged to the SOFA on an accruals basis including the charge for VAT which is not recoverable.

s) Accounting judgements and estimation uncertainty

In preparing financial statements it is necessary to make certain judgements, estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts recognised in the financial statements. The following judgements and estimates are considered by the board to have most significant effect on amounts recognised in the financial statements.

Tangible fixed assets are depreciated to their estimated residual value over their estimated useful economic life as detailed above.

Accrued course expenditure is estimated at the year end date using algorithmic modelling based on contracted hours and pre-agreed rates and anticipated venue costs.

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

2 Commercial trading operations

The National Childbirth Trust owns the entire called up ordinary share capital of four companies incorporated in the United Kingdom:

NCT Trading Limited, which has two principal activities; the promotion of the work of NCT and profit generation;
NCT (Maternity Sales) Limited which did not trade during the period of these accounts;
NCT Publishing Limited which did not trade during the period of these accounts;
First 1,000 Days Foundation which did not trade during the period of these accounts.

NCT Trading Limited has a deed of covenant to distribute its taxable profit to NCT. A summary of the results of the trading subsidiary for the period are given below.

Proft and loss account – NCT Trading Ltd		2021 £’000 231 – 231 (192) 39 – 39 31 March 2021 £’000 69 (69) –	2020 £’000 312 –
Turnover Cost of sales Gross proft Administrative expenses Operating proft before interest Interest payable Comprehensive income for the period Balance Sheet – NCT Trading Ltd
			312 (187)
			125 –
			125 31 March 2020 £’000 207 (207)
Current Assets Amounts falling due within one year Net Assets
			–

The above figures exclude any consolidation adjustments for inter-group profits/losses, which have been reflected in the consolidated statement of financial activities. The accounts figures have been consolidated on a line-by-line basis.

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

3 Income: programme delivery contracts

Group and Charity		Unrestricted Funds £’000 307 219 – 25		Restricted Funds £’000 10 – – –		Total 2021 £’000 317 219 – 25		Unrestricted Funds £’000 280 203 2 30		Restricted Funds £’000 – 4 – – 4	Total 2020 £’000 280 207 2 30
National Health Service Local Authorities Baby Café Other
		551		10		561		515			519

4 Income: grants receivable

Group and Charity		Unrestricted Funds £’000 – – 52 – – – 362		Restricted Funds £’000 – – 66 73 183 47 –		Total 2021 £’000 – – 118 73 183 47 362		Unrestricted Funds £’000 7 – 75 – – – –		Restricted Funds £’000 – 19 133 97 90 – – 339	Total 2020 £’000 7 19 208 97 90 – –
Parents in Mind NESTA Grants to branches BBCS Scottish Health Newham Nurture Furlough Grant
		414		369		783		82			421

5 Expenditure: NCT courses

Group and Charity		Unrestricted Funds £’000 2,717 81 781 1,704		Restricted Funds £’000 – – 133 –		Total 2021 £’000 2,717 81 884 1,704		Unrestricted Funds £’000 5,240 295 720 1,914		Restricted Funds £’000 – – 124 – 124	Total 2020 £’000 5,240 295 844 1,914
Antenatal Postnatal General Parental Support Apportioned support costs
		5,283		133		5,416		8,169			8,293

6 Expenditure: community fundraising

Group and Charity		Unrestricted Funds £’000 161 114		Restricted Funds £’000 – –

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

7 Support cost allocations

Support costs are allocated to the expenditure headings in the Statement of Financial Activities, on the basis stated in Accounting Policies (note 1), as stated in the tables below:

Group	Group	Group	Group	Group	Group	Group	Programme Delivery £’000 Policy, Research & Information £’000 123 137 6 7 23 25 18 20 7 8 27 30 111 126 315 353 777 935 1,092 1,288 Programme Delivery £’000 Policy, Research & Information £’000 143 152 14 15 33 35 40 43 8 8 53 57 264 282 555 592 880 1,848 1,435 2,440 Programme Delivery £’000 Policy, Research & Information £’000 123 137 6 7 23 25 18 20 7 8 27 30 111 126 315 353 777 935 1,092 1,288	Policy, Research & nformation £’000 137 7 25 20 8 30 126	Total 2021 £’000 1,315 68 243 190 73 286 1,200
Staff costs Depreciation Premises and equipment Offce supplies Insurance Irrecoverable VAT Other Support Costs Direct Costs Total Costs Group
								353 935	3,375 6,976
								1,288	10,351
									Total 2020 £’000 1,277 124 293 361 70 477 2,362 4,964 11,502 16,466 Total 2021 £’000 1,315 68 243 190 73 286 1,200

			– 174
			174


	58 420	166 109		34 3	1,705 3,711	744 838	315 777		3,375 6,793
	478	275		37	5,416	1,582	1,092		10,168

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

Charity	Membership £’000 18 2 4 5 1 7 33	NCT Courses £’000 493 47 113 140 27 184 911	Education and Practice £’000 351 34 80 99 19 131 649 1,363 1,322 2,685	Programme Delivery £’000 143 14 33 40 8 53 264	Total 2020 £’000 1,277 124 293 361 70 477 2,362
Staff costs Depreciation Premises and equipment Offce supplies Insurance Irrecoverable VAT Other Support Costs Direct Costs Total Costs
	70 558	1,915 6,378	1,363 1,322	555 880	4,964 11,340
	628	8,293	2,685	1,435	16,304

8 Net movement in funds

	Group 2021 £’000 2020 £’000 68 122 4,416 5,324 123 157 46 39 2 2	Charity 2021 £’000 2020 £’000 68 122 4,374 5,239 123 157 40 34 1 1
	2021 £’000 68 4,416 123 46 2
Net movement in funds is stated after charging: Depreciation/amortisation of fxed assets Staff costs (excluding agency staff) Operating lease rentals Auditors’ remuneration: audit services Auditors’ remuneration: non-audit services

9 Staff costs and remuneration of the Board of Trustees

Staff costs during the period were as follows:

costs during the period were as follows:
	Group Total 2021 £’000 Total 2020 £’000 3,691 4,673 245 81 289 352 191 217 4,416 5,323 3 15 4,419 5,338		Charity Total 2021 £’000 Total 2020 £’000 3,654 4,600 245 81 286 345 189 213 4,374 5,239 3 15 4,377 5,254
	Total 2021 £’000 3,691 245 289 191 4,416 3 4,419		Total 2021 £’000 3,654 245 286 189 4,374 3 4,377
Wages and salaries Redundancy costs Social security costs Other pension costs Payments to agency staff
		5,323 15 5,338		5,239 15 5,254

Staff costs by function were as follows:

costs by function were as follows:
	Group Total 2021 £’000 Total 2020 £’000 428 513 120 205 3,871 4,620 4,419 5,338	Charity Total 2021 £’000 Total 2020 £’000 428 513 78 121 3,871 4,620 4,377 5,254
	Total 2021 £’000 428 120 3,871 4,419	Total 2021 £’000 428 78 3,871 4,377
Raising funds Other trading activities Charitable activities

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

Higher paid employees:

	Group		Charity
	Total	Total	Total	Total
	2021	2020	2021	2020
£60,000 – 69,999	4	5	4	5
£70,000 – 79,999	1	2	1	2
£80,000 – 89,999	–	1	–	1
£90,000 – 99,999	1	1	1	1
£100,000 – 110,999	–	–	–	–
	6	9	6	9

The pension cost for these employees, was £24,697 (2020: £35,327), which included the Chief Executive/s who received total salaries of £99,000 (2020: £101,308) and pension contributions of £3,959 (2020: £3,839).

The headcount including part-time staff, analysed by function was:

	Group Number 2021 Number 2020 2 2 6 12 153 186 19 20 180 220	Group Number 2021 Number 2020 2 2 6 12 153 186 19 20 180 220	Charity Number 2021 Number 2020 2 2 5 12 153 184 19 20 179 218	Charity Number 2021 Number 2020 2 2 5 12 153 184 19 20 179 218
	Number 2021 2 6 153 19		Number 2021 2 5 153 19 179
Raising funds Other trading activities Charitable activities Support
	180	220		218

The average number of full time equivalents, analysed by function was:

Raising funds Other trading activities Charitable activities Support		Group FTEs 2021 FTEs 2020 1.7 1.7 5.9 11.4 91.9 108.4 17.7 19.0 117.2 140.5	Group FTEs 2021 FTEs 2020 1.7 1.7 5.9 11.4 91.9 108.4 17.7 19.0 117.2 140.5		Charity FTEs 2021 FTEs 2020 1.7 1.7 4.9 11.4 91.9 106.4 17.7 19.0 116.2 138.5	Charity FTEs 2021 FTEs 2020 1.7 1.7 4.9 11.4 91.9 106.4 17.7 19.0 116.2 138.5
		FTEs 2021 1.7 5.9 91.9 17.7 117.2			FTEs 2021 1.7 4.9 91.9 17.7 116.2

The key management personnel of the charity comprise the trustees and the executive team. The total employee benefits of the key management personnel of the charity were £441,386 (2020: £394,774).

Expenses were reimbursed to 3 (2020: 9) members of the Board of Trustees during the year. Their expenses amounted to £nil (2020: £4,235) in respect of expenses incurred as a trustee in attending board and related meetings, and £18,046 (2020: £13,059) in respect of expenses incurred for branch support and fees as practitioners or breastfeeding counsellors. No trustees were remunerated in the current or prior year.

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

10 Intangible fixed assets

Group and charity Cost or valuation At 1 April 2020 Additions Disposals At 31 March 2021 Amortisation At 1 April 2020 Charge for period On disposals At 31 March 2021 Net book values At 31 March 2021 At 31 March 2020		Software £’000 163 – – – 163 – – 163 – –	Total 31 March £’000 163 – –

			–
			163 – –
			163
			–
			–

11 Tangible fixed assets

Group and charity

Group and charity Cost or valuation At 1 April 2020 Additions Disposals At 31 March 2021 Depreciation At 1 April 2020 Charge for period On disposals At 31 March 2021 Net book values At 31 March 2021 At 31 March 2020		Property £’000 1,504 – –		Equipment £’000 394 – (29) 365 342 37 (29) 351 15 52	Total 31 March £’000 1,898 – (29)

		1,504			1,870
		146 30 –			488 68 (29)
		176			527
		1,328			1,343
		1,358			1,410

Property relates to a leasehold building.

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

12 Fixed asset investments

		Charity 2021 31 March £ 2020 31 March £ 6 6 100 100 2 2 – – 3,427,840 3,975,622 3,427,948 3,975,730 606,898 807,693 582,952 634,905 172,610 – 165,759 152,400 132,650 144,068	Charity 2021 31 March £ 2020 31 March £ 6 6 100 100 2 2 – – 3,427,840 3,975,622 3,427,948 3,975,730 606,898 807,693 582,952 634,905 172,610 – 165,759 152,400 132,650 144,068
2021 31 March £ – – – – 3,427,840		2021 31 March £ 6 100 2 – 3,427,840 3,427,948 606,898 582,952 172,610 165,759 132,650

3,427,840	3,975,622		3,975,730
	979,557 634,905 – 152,400 144,068		807,693 634,905 – 152,400 144,068

On 7 August 2013, the ‘First 1,000 Days Foundation’ was formed as a company limited by guarantee (registered in England and Wales 864816) with the sole member as The National Childbirth Trust. The Company has been dormant since incorporation. Investments in NCT (Maternity Sales) Limited, NCT Trading Limited, and NCT Publishing Limited represent the entire called up share capital of the companies, all of which are incorporated in England.

	Registered Company Number 01291517 02488491 03017833 08641816		2021 31 March £’000 3,838 572 (1,473) 394 3,331 2,724 607 3,331 96 3,427 Reserves at 31 March 2021 £ 6 – 2 –	2020 31 March £’000 4,925 408 (1,072) (423) Reserves at 31 March 2020 £ 6 – 2 –
Managed investment funds Group and Charity Investment in Group undertakings: NCT (Maternity Sales) Limited NCT Trading Limited NCT Publishing Limited First 1,000 Days Foundation
Market value at 1 April 2020 Acquisitions Disposals Net investment gains/ (losses) Market value at 31 March 2021 The Market value is represented by: Equities Bonds Cash held by investment managers Total Investment fund
				3,838

				2,858 980
				3,838 138
				3,976

The charity’s actively managed investment fund is revalued annually at the balance sheet date. The increase or decrease in value as a result of this valuation is recognised as an unrealised investment gain or loss.

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

13 Debtors

	Group 2021 31 March £’000 2020 31 March £’000 – – 354 598 189 457 9 9 552 1,064	Group 2021 31 March £’000 2020 31 March £’000 – – 354 598 189 457 9 9 552 1,064	Charity 2021 31 March £’000 2020 31 March £’000 40 127 346 598 188 369 9 9 583 1,103	Charity 2021 31 March £’000 2020 31 March £’000 40 127 346 598 188 369 9 9 583 1,103
	2021 31 March £’000 – 354 189 9		2021 31 March £’000 40 346 188 9 583
Amounts due from subsidiary undertakings Prepayments and accrued income Trade and branch debtors Tax recoverable
	552	1,064		1,103

14 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

	Group 2021 31 March £’000 2020 31 March £’000 – 5 584 729 97 110 2,085 2,499 346 597 3,112 3,940	Group 2021 31 March £’000 2020 31 March £’000 – 5 584 729 97 110 2,085 2,499 346 597 3,112 3,940	Charity 2021 31 March £’000 2020 31 March £’000 – 5 584 729 97 110 2,063 2,425 338 591 3,082 3,860	Charity 2021 31 March £’000 2020 31 March £’000 – 5 584 729 97 110 2,063 2,425 338 591 3,082 3,860
	2021 31 March £’000 – 584 97 2,085 346		2021 31 March £’000 – 584 97 2,063 338 3,082
Obligation under fnance lease Expense creditors Social security and other taxes Deferred income Accruals
	3,112	3,940		3,860

Deferred income relates to sponsorship, training courses and grants.

15 Restricted funds

The income funds of the charity and the group include restricted funds comprising the following unexpended balances of donations and grants held on trusts to be applied for specific purposes:

Group and Charity	At 1 April 2020 £’000 133 1 28 –	Movements in Funds:	Movements in Funds:	At 31 March 2021 £’000 66 44 28 –
		Incoming Resources £’000 66 193 73 47	Outgoing Resources £’000 (133) (150) (73) (47)
Grants and donations received by branches Glasgow Service Delivery BBCS Newham Nurture
	162	379	(403)	138

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

16 Unrestricted funds

Group	At 1 April 2020 £’000 2,562 1,410	Incoming Resources £’000 10.034 –	Outgoing Resources £’000 (9.948) –	Unrealised Investment Gains £’000 394 –	At 31 March 2021 £’000 3,109 1,343
General Funds Fixed Assets Fund Charity
	3,972	10,034	(9,948)	394	4,452
	At 1 April 2020 £’000 2,562 1,410	Incoming Resources £’000 9,851 –	Outgoing Resources £’000 (9,765) –	Unrealised Investment Gains £’000 394 –	At 31 March 2021 £’000 3,108 1,343
General Funds Fixed Assets Fund
	3,972	9,851	(9,765)	394	4,452

17 Analysis of net assets between funds

Fund balances at 31 March 2021 are represented by:

Unrestricted Funds:

Group	General Funds £’000 – 3,427 (318)	Fixed Asset Fund £’000 1,343 – –	Restricted Funds £’000 – – 138	2021 Total £’000 1,343 3,427 (180)
Fixed assets Investment assets Net current assets Total net assets Charity Fixed assets Investment assets Net current assets Total net assets
	3,109	1,343	138	4,590
		Fixed Asset Fund £’000 1,343 – –	Restricted Funds £’000 – – 138	2021 Total £’000 1,343 3,427 (180)
	General Funds £’000 – 3,427 (318)

	3,109	1,343	138	4,590

100

Notes to the financial statements (continued)

18 Taxation

The National Childbirth Trust is a registered charity and therefore is not liable to income tax or corporation tax on income derived from its charitable activities, as it falls within the various exemptions available to registered charities. Each year subsidiary companies, which do not have charitable status, may Gift Aid any taxable profits to The National Childbirth Trust. The charity and group is not able to reclaim all VAT suffered on expenditure due to the partial exemption regulations.

19 Operating lease commitments

At 31 March 2021 the group’s future minimum operating lease payments were as follows:

	Group 2021 31 March £’000 2020 31 March £’000 – 157 – – – 157	Group 2021 31 March £’000 2020 31 March £’000 – 157 – – – 157	Charity 2021 31 March £’000 2020 31 March £’000 – 157 – – – 157	Charity 2021 31 March £’000 2020 31 March £’000 – 157 – – – 157
	2021 31 March £’000 – –		2021 31 March £’000 – – –
Expire Within one year Between one and fve years
	–	157		157

20 Financial Instruments

The financial statements include the following in respect of items held at fair value at the balance sheet date

Group 2021 31 March £’000 2020 31 March £’000 3,332 3,838 319 615 (899) (1,159) 2,751 3,294	Group 2021 31 March £’000 2020 31 March £’000 3,332 3,838 319 615 (899) (1,159) 2,751 3,294	Charity 2021 31 March £’000 2020 31 March £’000 3,332 3,838 311 527 (853) (1,026) 2,790 3,339	Charity 2021 31 March £’000 2020 31 March £’000 3,332 3,838 311 527 (853) (1,026) 2,790 3,339
2021 31 March £’000 3,332 319 (899)		2021 31 March £’000 3,332 311 (853)

2,751	3,294	2,790	3,339

21 Related party transactions

NCT Trading Limited is a subsidiary of The National Childbirth Trust and its shares are 100% controlled within the group.

During the year the National Childbirth Trust purchased services from NCT Trading of £7k (2020: £7k) on normal commercial terms. The National Childbirth Trust supplied services to NCT Trading of £16k (2020: £32k).

At the 31 March 2021 NCT Trading Limited owed The National Childbirth Trust £40k (2020: £127k).

No members of the Board of Trustees (2020: Nil) had a beneficial interest in contracts with the charity. No member of the board (2020: Nil) had a beneficial interest in a contract with a wholly owned subsidiary of The National Childbirth Trust during the period. At the date of signing the accounts, no (2020: no) trustees were also Directors of NCT Trading Limited.

There are no other related party transactions to disclose other than set out elsewhere in these accounts.

101

Reference and administrative information

Charity Registrations:

The National Childbirth Trust (‘NCT’) Company Registration: 2370573 (England & Wales) Registered Charity: 801395 Charity Registered in Scotland: SC041592 VAT: GB 115 0789 24

Auditors:

Moore Kingston Smith LLP Devonshire House 60 Goswell Road London EC1M 7AD

Registered Office:

Brunel House 11 The Promenade Clifton Down Bristol BS8 3NG

Bankers:

Lloyds Bank plc. 39 Threadneedle Street London EC2R 8AU

Investment Advisors:

Board of Trustees:

Chi Evi-Parker David Shanks Elaine Lambe Ema Ojiako (Hon. Secretary) Franciane Husbands-Chevot Jessica Figueras Joanne Powell Peter Brown Richard Smothers (Hon. Treasurer) Sarah Brown (Vice Chair) Sherry Bevan (President) Stephanie Maurel (Chair)

Directors Group:

Angela McConville, Chief Executive

Caroline Star, Director of Courses and Income Sarah McMullen, Director of Impact and Engagement Jennifer Wells, Interim Director of People, Education and Inclusion

Company Secretary

Rathbone Brothers PLC 8 Finsbury Circus London EC2M 7AZ

Solicitors:

Bates Wells & Braithwaite London LLP 10 Queen Street Place London EC4R 1BE

Kemp Little Cheapside House 138 Cheapside London EC2V 6BJ

Subsidiaries:

First 1,000 Days Foundation (limited by guarantee, dormant)

NCT Trading Limited NCT (Maternity Sales) Limited (dormant) NCT Publishing Limited (dormant)

Grace Dalley

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© NCT is a trading name of The National Childbirth Trust. Limited company registered in England and Wales: 2370573. Registered address: Brunel House, 11 The Promenade, Clifton Down, Bristol BS8 3NG. Registered charity in England and Wales: 801395 and Scotland: SC041592.

Contents

About us

Our vision

Our mission

Our impact

27,284

70,131

7,631

7,066

6,254

2,399

3,626

559

5,091,018

Our community

29,202

5,263

345

210

704

87

180

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Chair’s welcome

Stephanie Maurel

Chair

President’s welcome

Well, what a year.

Sherry Bevan

Chief Executive’s welcome

600,000 babies were born in lockdown.

Angela McConville

Pregnancy in a pandemic

The year in review

Initial Covid-19 response

Governance

Strategy for recovery and renewal

Managing through the year

Priority 1 – trusted provision of antenatal education and infant feeding support

Leading the way in antenatal education

Impact

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Support at a time of heightened anxiety

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Breastfeeding and infant feeding support

Specialist support from NCT breastfeeding counsellors

Supporting women with care and kindness

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Vital support on the NCT infant feeding line

Community support for breastfeeding

NCT breastfeeding counsellors adapted quickly to shift their usual community drop-ins or one-to-one support online.

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Breastfeeding peer support

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Unlocking in-person community breastfeeding support

Opening up access to community breastfeeding support

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Priority 2 – growing our reputation in digital support

Reaching more parents through digital support

Trusted information brought to life with lived experiences

During the year, we saw over 5 million visits to the information centre on our website from expectant and new parents seeking trusted information on pregnancy, birth and early parenthood – with traffic doubling during the first 3 months of the pandemic.

A ‘go to’ place for trusted information

Digital innovation

Engagement

Priority 3 – protecting and re-building thriving community activity

Volunteers supporting parents in their local community

NCT Walk & Talks – a lifeline through the most challenging months

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Preston mum revives local NCT branch

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Helping parents access essential items

Little Bundles Baby Bank Chichester & Arun

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Support from specialist practitioners

Perinatal programmes to tackle social isolation