Company registration number: NI624092 Charity registration number: 102727
Carrickfergus and Larne Child Contact Centre Ltd (A company limited by guarantee) Annual Report and Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 May 2025
Community Accounting Plus Units 1 & 2 North West 41 Talbot Street Nottingham NGI 5GL
Carrickfergus and Larne Child Contact Centre Ltd
Reference and Administrative Details
Trustees
Secretary
Anthony Barclay, Chair
John Stewart Catherine Mallon Casandra Downie Dawn Hopper Karolyn K Gaston Emma Barclay
Senior Management Team
Barclay Emma, Secretary
Charity Registration Number 102727
Company Registration Number NI624092
Registered Office
Independent Examiner
13 West Street Carrickfergus BT38 7AR
Eva Stevens, employee of Community Accounting Plus Units 1 & 2 North West 41 Talbot Street Nottingham NGI 5GL
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Carrickfergus and Larne Child Contact Centre Ltd
Contents
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|Reference|and Administrative|Details|1|
|Trustees’ Report|2|to|6|
|Independent Examiner's|Report|7|
|Statement|of|Financial|Activities|8|to9|
|Balance|Sheet|10|
|Notes|to the|Financial|Statements|11|to|18|
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Carrickfergus and Larne Child Contact Centre Ltd
Trustees’ Report
The trustees, who are directors for the purposes of company law, present the annual report together with the financial statements of the charitable company for the year ended 31 May 2025.
Trustees and officers
The trustees and officers serving during the year and since the year end were as follows:
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|Trustees:|Anthony|Barclay,|Chair|
|Donna|Thompson,|Deputy|Chair|(resigned|9|June 2025)|
|John|Stewart|
|Gillian|Connolly|(resigned|13|September 2024)|
|Catherine|Mallon|
|Casandra|Downie|
|Catherine|Hunter (appointed|3|July 2024 and resigned|5|February 2025)|
|Dawn|Hopper|(appointed|3|April 2025)|
|Karolyn K Gaston|(appointed|19|July|2025)|
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Secretary:
Emma Barclay
Structure, governance and management
Nature ofgoverning document
The charity is a company limited by guarantee and registered charity. It is operated under the rules of its memorandum and articles of association dated14/04/2014 and most recently amended 16/11/2022. It has no share capital and the liability of each member in the event of winding-up is limited to £1.
Reernitment and appointment oftrustees
By public advertisement or recommendation. Potential Trustees are appointed according to identified skill needs, interview and acceptance by the Boards.
Organisational structure
During the year, paid members of staff were Mrs Emma Barclay (Manager), Mrs Naomi Marshal (contact support worker) and Ms Shannen Murray (Larne coordinator), who were ably supported by a number of greatly appreciated and valued volunteers. The Charity is an accredited member of the National Association of Child Contact Centres (NACCC), which is in turn recognised by our primary funder, the Northern Health and Social Care Trust (NHSCT). The Charity fully complies with all policies and procedures of NACCC, who have also approved the policies and procedures of CLCCC. All staff and volunteers are fully qualified by means of certificated training through NACCC training modules.
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Carrickfergus and Larne Child Contact Centre Ltd
Trustees’ Report
Objectives and activities
Objects and aims
The company’s objects are the relief of hardship and distress of children, the promotion and protection of mental and physical health and for the benefit of families suffering as a result of marital and/or family breakdown living in Carrickfergus, Larne or other townships in County Antrim and their environs, or other area within Northern Ireland as may benefit from the services provided, by associating statutory authorities, community and voluntary organisations and the inhabitants in a common effort to advance education and to provide facilities in the interests of social welfare for recreation or other leisure-time occupation, with the object of improving the conditions of life for the said beneficiaries and in particular, to maintain and manage a centre which provides a safe, comfortable, and neutral environment where children of separated families can spend time with one or both parents and/or other family members.
Carrickfergus and Larne Child Contact Centre exists to provide a safe, neutral environment where quality, supported contact can occur between a child and their parent or significant others with whom they no longer reside. Potential service users are referred to the Charity via solicitors, the family court service, or social services; the charity does not accept self-referrals, as a safeguarding issue. The charity does not directly offer, nor provide, supervised contact sessions. Services to our referred families are provided free of charge.
Public benefit
The trustees confirm that they have complied with the requirements of section 17 of the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to the public benefit guidance published by the Charity Commission for Northern Island.
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Carrickfergus and Larne Child Contact Centre Ltd
Trustees’ Report
Achievements and performance
Demand for services from all referrers continued to be strong throughout the year, with some referrals from across Northern Ireland, recognising the unique nature of our facilities and longer opening hours. Our ability to welcome supervised contact sessions via social services has also been well reflected by the number of bookings and families attending.
We remain very grateful to the Northern Health and Social Care Trust for their ongoing support and funding, and recognition that all KPIs have again been exceeded. Funding was strongly supported this year by the Albert Hunt Trustand the Tesco Stronger Starts Programme, administered by the Groundwork Trust through the ‘blue token’ scheme. We are very grateful to our funders, as well as the local community’s support through the blue token scheme. Special mention has to be made of Kenny Marshal, who undertook a sponsored six-hour static cycle ride outside our centre — a brave challenge, well supported by the community. Another popular fundraiser this year was our new ‘borrow our Santa’ scheme, which was very well received and exceeded availability. Santa attended a number of venues including schools, church groups, elderly persons homes and sports facilities where he proved very popular indecd. In return for ‘borrowing’ our Santa, organisers donated to the charity, resulting in approx. £1,000 raised — and a very tired Santa!
Our Larne satellite centre, which we took over from Ballymena CCC in 2017, has continuously lacked funding, relying on careful funding application to ensure the continued operation of the facility. This year, demand for the Larne centre dropped to an all time low, with only one family in attendance, and no referrals (however an increase in referrals to our main facility at Carrickfergus again reflected the quality of the Carrickfergus centre). Due to the lack of demand, combined with the ongoing difficulties in funding the Larne centre, the Trustees opted to close the Larne centre in March. A single family in attendance transferred to our Carrickfergus centre, successfully moving to community contact a short time later.
We could not operate as successfully as we do, and support as many families, without the support of our staff (Emma, Shannen and Naomi), as well as our superb volunteers who bring a wealth of experience and are valued beyond mere words. Recognition of our Trustees, all of whom provide governance support to the charity on a voluntary basis, is also due. In particular, the Trustees wish to recognise the extensive service and support provided by Donna Thompson, who had to take a leave of absence due to serious illness — happily Donna has come through the other side and continues to thrive.
Financial review
Funding has always been a challenge, even before we moved to our own bespoke facility. The closure of the Larne satellite centre has eased the challenge to some degree, and allowed us to focus on ensuring sufficient funding is in place for our main facility. Careful management of funds, combined with both restricted and unrestricted grant funding has enabled us to provide the very best service possible. The Third Sector as a whole continues to be challenged in terms of funding, with charities large and small making substantial changes or closing entirely. We are very careful in applying for funding, recognising the unprecedented demands upon funders, and utilise such funding carefully and appropriately. Constant coast awareness and ensuring good value for money has resulted in changes to utility suppliers and other providers, ensuring best use of available funds. The change of banking facility has also proved beneficial, with interest now accruing on our reserve fund — whilst small, this is still welcome. The change of banking facility has also provided improved access to our accounts and ‘live’ balances, with increased and reliable security measures in place. We began our year facing a substantial deficit in incoming funding, and ended the year with a surplus, reflective of the good practice in place in managing our resources. Our manager continues to develop her skills in grant applications, reflected in the successful awards made this year.
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Carrickfergus and Larne Child Contact Centre Ltd
Trustees' Report
Policy on reserves
The charity maintains a reserve fund to cover approx. 3 months of operating costs. The policy is reviewed on an annual basis, and the Trustees are pleased to confirm that the reserve fund remains untouched this year, and has actually grown slightly due to the interest received. It is the policy of the Trustees to maintain the reserve account for ‘emergency’ use only, and to aim to maintain a balance equal to a minimum of three months operating costs, including staff salaries and other contractual obligations.
Principal risks and uncertainties
Financial risk
The greatest challenge to our continued operation remains funding. Whilst we remain very grateful to our primary funder, the NHSCT, the Trustees recognise the need to raise fimds by other means, and support our manager in suitable applications to third party grant funders, as well as community funding. Our manager is very proactive in securing funding from various sources, including the use of the rooms in the former house, now used as office spaces on a donation basis. We anticipate that we will need to continue to seek external funding from other sources including community fundraising in future years, and continue to be as innovative as we can be to maximise opportunity and return.
Small companies provision statement
This report has been prepared in accordance with the small companies regime under the Companies Act 2006.
Statement of Responsibilities
The trustees (who are also the directors of Carrickfergus and Larne Child Contact Centre Ltd 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), including FRS 102 "The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland”. The report and accounts have been prepared in accordance with the provisions in the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies. Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under company law the trustees must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:
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select suitable accounting policies and apply them consistently;
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- observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP:
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make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
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- state whether applicable accounting standards, comprising FRS 102 have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements: and
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prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charitable company will continue in business.
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Carrickfergus and Larne Child Contact Centre Ltd
Trustees’ Report
The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that can 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 2006and Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2008. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable companyand hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
The trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the charitable company's website. Legislation governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.
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The annual report was approved by the trustees of the charity on feof and signed on its behalf by:
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