KILCREGGAN HOMES
OFFICERS AND PROFESSIONAL ADVISERS
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
B Bennett (Chair) A Campbell (Vice Chair) E Spence (Treasurer) N Walker S Martin J Gillespie (Hon Secreatary) O Donnelly
SECRETARY
G Zebedee
REGISTERED OFFICE
Kilcreggan Homes Elizabeth Avenue Carrickfergus BT38 7UY
AUDITORS
Toner Mc Dowell The Mount 2 Woodstock Link Belfast BT6 8DD
BANKERS
Danske Bank Ltd 12 Edward Road Whitehead
SOLICITORS
JW McNinch & Son 19 Joymount Carrickfergus BT38 7DN
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KILCREGGAN HOMES
BOARD OF DIRECTORS REPORT
YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023
The Board of Directors present their report and the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023.
CONSTITUTION
Kilcreggan Homes Ltd is a company limited by guarantee, governed by the Memorandum and Articles of Association.
PRINCIPAL ACTIVITIES AND OBJECTS
Kilcreggan Homes Ltd is a voluntary organisation which promotes the social inclusion of adults with diagnosed developmental and acquired disabilities in Northern Ireland by the provision of supported living, provision or assisting in the provision of work-based learning, vocational opportunities, social enterprises, supported employment & recreational activities. The organisation registered with the Charities Commission, registration number NIC100613. Kilcreggan Homes has successful inspections from the Regulation Quality Inspection Authority (RQIA) and Supporting People (Northern Ireland Housing Executive).
SUPPORTING PEOPLE
The contract is to provide accommodation to 17 tenants. We are in continual deficit of funding contracted from Supporting People. There are a number of reasons for this deficit,
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There has been no increase in, nor inflationary increases in funding from 2008 awarded by the Supporting People programme.
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A 5% cut to the sector on 1[st] April 2018, resulting in Kilcreggan Homes having to reduce the staff team by one member that supports tenants.
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The 5% cut was returned in 2021 bringing the funding back to the level it was in 2008, meanwhile there has been significant pressures from the implementation of the increase in the minimum wage and the surge in costs in electricity, gas, and general increase in costs.
Therefore, by today’s accounting figures, this means we are operating a programme that has significant reduced funding of approximately 30% from 2008, whilst being expected to deliver the same outcomes. Kilcreggan Homes have been in discussions with the Northern HSC Trust to identify possible funding options to address this deficit that will continue to increase due to no sign of any uplifts from the Housing Executive.
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BOARD OF DIRECTORS REPORT
YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023
ON GOING DEVELOPMENT
Kilcreggan Homes continues to provide additional accommodation & services to people with diagnosed developmental and acquired disabilities in partnership with The Northern Health & Social Services Trust, Belfast Health & Social Care Trust and The South Eastern Health & Social Care Trust.
The privately purchased and built accommodation compliments the current housing stock that is provided in partnership with Choice Housing Association that is funded by the Housing Executive’s ‘supporting people’ programme.. This strategy has proved a corner stone in ensuring the financial sustainability and growth of Kilcreggan Homes. It is important to note that requests for this type of accommodation and support & care by the Northern HSC Trust and Belfast HSC Trust well out strip what we can currently provide. We are recognised as providing an excellent service and are developing a reputation in housing support for people with Autism by our partners in Health & Social Care. Its anticipated that we will purchase further properties in the next twelve months period.
It must be noted that recruiting staff has become more difficult in the past few years. To put Kilcreggan Homes in a competitive recruiting position we increased our salaries by 18.6% in this financial year.
Following on from the recommendations of our review of management structures, we appointed a Head of |Housing & Complex Needs Manager, a Day Opportunities Manager, a Deputy Head of Housing, a Complex needs Officer and a Finance Manager. This restructure allows us to grow our capacity as an organsiation.
We had identified ground to purchase & develop our own Housing stock on the main Carrickfergus site, owned by Choice Housing Association. However ,this prompted Choice Housing to investigate the potential for them to deliver the homes using HAIG funding. A business case is being prepared in partnership with the Northern & Belfast HSC Trust and Choice Housing Association to be submitted to Supporting People in July 2023 for Capital and Revenue funding for 6 bungalows and a training unit for staff.
We have been approached by the Northern HSC Trust to identify an additional therapeutic farm space in the Ballymena area. Space has been identified in the Ecos centre area, and we have been working with the Department of Communities and the Mid & East Antrim Borough Council to get the ground transferred or leased to Kilcreggan Homes to develop. The process is slow but we are hopeful that it will deliver on its potential.
Properties we currently own are:
Number 55 & 60 Barn Road, Carrickfergus Number 1 Charles Legg Drive Number 22 & 24 Elizabeth Avenue Number 8 & 12 Granville Drive Number 15,16 & 17 Kilcreggan Farm Building 1 Farm building 2 59A Castledawson Road, Magherafelt
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BOARD OF DIRECTORS REPORT
YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023
CARRICKFERGUS URBAN FARM & GARDEN CENTRE
The Farm provides day opportunities and volunteering opportunities to Kilcreggan Homes tenants and continues to develop its potential to offer this service to clients who reside in the community and purchase day opportunity placements through a direct payment.
The garden centre has now two full-time qualified horticulturalist alongside a number of volunteers. Two tenants continued to be employed to work as horticultural assistants. We continue to increase our sales and range of stock.
THE DANCING GOAT CAFÉ
Had a much-improved sales performance which was a result of rebranding the Urban farm as ‘Carrickfergus Urban farm & Garden Centre’. Our social media and signage was relaunched under this brand. However, we have to consider the continuing increase in stock purchases, electricity and gas prices, and how this will impact going forward as well as the increase in the cost of living which effects our customers.
DROP IN CENTRES
The Drop In Centres continue to provide services in Carrickfergus and Larne, in partnership with the Northern Health & Social Services Trust. These services are now fully operational following covid.
MID ULSTER SANCTUARY
This is a partnership with the Northern Health & Social Services Trust to offer day opportunities to service users who have been using traditional building-based services and are displaying challenging behaviours or have been unable to access traditional day services. The evaluation report was completed and shared with service users, their families/carers and partner organisations where it outlined significant successful outcomes for this type of service. The service continues to increase its daily numbers and it is planned for the service to double its sessional output in the next twelve months.
TRAINING
Staff training is key to developing the skills of our team, it contributes to the skills and knowledge base of our staff and enables the organisation to have a confident, competent workforce who feel equipped to undertake the demands of their role. Staff have been motivated to develop and have undertaken a broad range of academic and vocational qualifications alongside CPD courses and activities in this period.
Head of Housing & Complex Needs successfully graduated with a post graduate certificate in Autism Studies from MIC University of Limerick. Our Complex Needs Officer has entered her final year of Masters in Autism at QUB and will be undertaking research specifically into Supported Living for Autistic Adults in NI. Clare Berry has completed her Level 5 in Leadership and Management. Chloe Park has completed a level 6 course, Strength-based Practice Leadership Programme being delivered by the University of Birmingham and the Social Care Institute for Excellence.
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BOARD OF DIRECTORS REPORT
YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023
3 Support staff have completed levels 2 and 3 NVQ in health and social care. 3 completed Level 4 NVQ with 2 continuing to undertake Level 5 which is ongoing.
In addition to the mandatory training staff are required to complete in safeguarding and Health and Safety , Kilcreggan Homes staff have used external providers ARC NI, Medi Care , NAS and the TILLI group completed a variety of courses including – Positive Behaviour Support , Autism , Human Rights , Mental Health and Learning Disability , Loss and Bereavement, Building Resilient teams, Person Centred Practices , Supervision, Medication Management, Quality Improvement and introduction to LD.
In house training, Kilcreggan Homes have developed training resources bespoke to the needs of our tenants who require intensive support on PBS, Complex Need and Trauma, MAPA , Crisis Intervention, Safeguarding and Medication management are delivered internally by senior staff. Senior management are involved in a number of activities that promote their continued professional development representing Kilcreggan at Regional Level within the sector.
Kilcreggan Homes remains committed to building capacity within our workforce to deliver quality services to our tenants and service users.
INVESTMENT
We transferred the mortgages we had with Danske Bank Ltd to Community Finance Ireland due to providing a competitive interest rate for registered charities.
Our financial advisor, S.R.G. Ltd, continues to be engaged through the year to ensure corporate governance in relation to the reserves and to ensure the monies invested would maintain capital preservation.
We have had a surplus this year. This is to our credit at a time where we implemented organisational pay rises in very difficult times for Charities.
RESULTS
The operational surplus for the year was £
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