Pregnancy Choices Centre Company No. NI678699 Trustees' Report For The Year Ended 30 April 2025
The trustees present their report and the financial statements for the year ended 30 April 2025.
Objectives and Activities
Aims and Objectives
The objectives of the Charity, as laid out in the governing document, are:
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The advancement of education in the subject of pregnancy and the termination of pregnancy and into the effects thereof upon women whether physical, medical or psychological.
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The preservation and protection of women's health.
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The provision of advice, counselling and assistance to women and their partners and families who are suffering from physical or mental illness, distress or poverty during or as a result of pregnancy or following an abortion, miscarriage, cot death, still birth or loss of a child or sexual abuse.
This support and all services offered are in accordance with the Christian Scriptures as set forth in the Holy Bible. For the avoidance of doubt, the system of law governing the articles of association of the charity is the law of Northern Ireland.
Public Benefit
The direct benefits which flow from purpose 1 is that women will be offered free and accurate information with regards to all aspects of their pregnancy and effects of terminations. This will be delivered by trained Practitioners in a caring and supportive environment enabling women to make an informed choice based on their individual circumstances. The direct benefits which flow from purpose 2 include improved health outcomes and reduced levels of stress and anxiety. The ultimate benefit will be a reduction in teenage pregnancies and a reduction in the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. By offering accurate information in a non- judgmental environment that respects a woman’s autonomy, allows and empowers them to make informed decisions. The direct benefits which flow from purpose 3 is improving the standard of living of individuals, reduction of confusion and distress. Clients will benefit from attending the centres as they will receive genuine support and care. This is turn will lead to a benefit to society as a whole. Support offered can be emotional and practical and can support the woman, their partner and /or families. We intend to demonstrate the above benefits from acquiring and collating research and experiences from clients and through feed back forms. In time we will be able to highlight the benefits through statistics provided by the Public Health Agency and the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency. Through careful record keeping and quotes from clients, we will in time be able to demonstrate the benefits of the counselling service and support provided. There is no harm arising from any of our purposes. The charity’s beneficiaries are primarily women, regardless of faith or no faith, age, skin colour, gender, sexual or orientation. We will in no way discriminate and our service is impartial and available for all women and their partners who are facing an unplanned or crisis pregnancy or following all types of baby loss. There is no private benefit of any form flowing from any of the above purposes. All counselling and support is provided free of charge to all clients.
The trustees confirm that they have complied with the requirements of Section 17 of the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit.
Achievements and Performance
Main Achievements
This reporting period began with us continuing our discussions with experienced practitioners who have been operating Crisis Pregnancy centres in Great Britain for decades. Working on their experience and advice we decided to develop a properly structured lesson plan to be used in secondary schools here in Northern Ireland as part of their Relationships and Sexual Education Programme.
Contact was made with a number of centres who had already developed a lesson plan and they were more than agreeable to share their material with us as an example of what might be possible. Some additional resources had to be purchased to complete a potential package for use with a school setting.
On of our Trustees, currently a teacher within secondary education, agreed to take the lead in this project. At our meeting in July she outlined the potential for a properly structured lesson plan to the other members present. Some of our practitioners are also qualified school teachers and there was general support among them for this work to move forward. The Chairman and his wife, who is a facilitator, attended the one day Annual Conference for Pregnancy Centres Network which was held in Bradford on 4th October. This was a Conference for delegates from the Northern Region. Later in October we had a request from a potential client who wished to engage in a post abortion programme. After several attempts to facilitate her with a suitable time and location the young woman decided to seek assistance from another organisation. ... CONTINUED
Pregnancy Choices Centre Trustees' Report (continued) For The Year Ended 30 April 2025
Main Achievements - continued
In January 2025 we had a request from a young woman in North Belfast who wished to speak about her unexpected pregnancy. We secured the use of suitable premises in North Belfast for a morning and our facilitator spent almost two hours covering the material contained in our Crisis Pregnancy programme. The young woman was very positive as she was leaving and expressed appreciation for the opportunity to discuss her situation openly and without judgement.
It is not our policy to ask clients to state their future intentions regarding their pregnancy.
January 2025 was a time of great excitement as another of our Trustees welcomed a second child into the world. This of course meant that her involvement with PCC was necessarily limited.
Financial Review
Financial Position
The Statement of Financial Activities set out on page 5 shows income for the year of £340.
Expenditure for the year totalled £2,651 showing a deficit of £2,311.
This brings the unrestricted funds to £1,992 at 30 April 2025.
Reserves Policy
The Directors' aim to maintain sufficient free reserves to enable the Charity to maintain its charitiable activities as its current level.
Structure, Governance and Management
Governing Document
The Organisation is a charitable company limited by guarantee, incorporated on 22 April 2021.
The charitable company was established under a Memorandum of Association which establised the objects and powers of the charitable company and is governed by these articles. In the event of the company being wound up, members are required to contribute an amount not exceeding £1.
The charitable company was granted charitable status by the NI Charity Commission on 21 September 2021 and it's charity reference is 108305.
Trustee Selection Methods
The board of trustees make-up is reviewed on a regular basis to ensure skills, knowledge and experience meets the needs of the charitable company. Any person who is willing to act as a trustee may be appointed by an ordinary resolution or by the decision of the directors.
Pregnancy Choices Centre Trustees' Report (continued) For The Year Ended 30 April 2025
Statement of Trustees' Responsibilities
The trustees (who are also the directors of Pregnancy Choices Centre 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 the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under company law the trustees must not approve the financial statement 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 the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that period. In preparing the financial statements the trustees are required to:
- e select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently; e observe the methods and principles in the Charity SORP; e make judgments and accounting estimates that are reasonable and prudent; and ¢ prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the company will continue in business.
The trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at anytime the financial position of the charitable company and to enable them to ensure that the accounts comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
The trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the charitable company's website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.
Small Company Rules
This report has been prepared in accordance with the special provisions relating to companies subject to the small companies regime within Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006.
The trustees’ report was approved by the board of trustees and signed on its behalf by:
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Oonm
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Mr Ian Stewart
Trustee 13/04/2026