A Charitable Company Limited by Guarantee

A Charitable Company Limited by Guarantee

Company Number: 07630170

Registered Charity Number: 1143532

Annual Report and Financial Statements

For the Year Ended 31 March 2015

SAFE! Support for Young People Affected by Crime Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statement

For the Year Ended 31 March 2015

Contents

Administrative InformationPage 3

Trustees’ ReportPage 4

-Overview of the YearPage7

-Achievements and PerformancePage 8

-Future PlansPage14

-Financial ReviewPage15

SAFE! SupportersPage 17

SAFE! Management BoardPage 18

Independent Examiner’s ReportPage20

Statement of Financial ActivitiesPage 21

Balance SheetPage 22

Notes to the Financial StatementPages23to25

Reference and Administrative Information

Charity Name: SAFE! Support for Young People Affected by Crime Limited

Charity Registration Number: 1143532

Company Registration Number: 07630170

Registered Office: Unit 9 – Standingford House

26 Cave Street

St Clements

Oxford

OX4 1BA

Trustees: Jo Brown (Secretary)

Karen Cushing

Mike Watkinson (Treasurer)

Linda Darrall

Linda Cameron

Peter Patrick

Gordon Richardson

Peter Wallis (Chair)

Liz Jones

Matthew Lister

Shellie Keen

Special Advisers: Tina Brandon

Nick Hindley

Michelle Plaisted-Kerr

Michelle Butterworth

Staff: Chloe Purcell (Director)

Colette Morgan (BRF Coordinator)

Laura Duffy (Administrator) – resigned August 2015

Independent Examiner: Stephen Dexter FCA

Bankers: The Co-operative Bank Plc.

PO Box 250

Delf House

Southway

Skelmersdale

WN8 6WT

Trustees’ Report

The Trustees present their report together with the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2015.

Structure, Governance and Management

Governing Document

The organisation is a charitable company limited by guarantee, incorporated on 11 May 2011 and registered as a charity on 24 August 2011. The company was established under a Memorandum of Association which established the objects and powers of the charitable company and is governed under its Articles of Association. In the event of the company being wound up members are required to contribute an amount not exceeding £1.

Recruitment and Appointment of Trustees

The directors of the company are also charity Trustees for the purposes of charity law and under the company’s Articles are known as Trustees. At every annual general meeting, one third of the Trustees retire by rotation and, if eligible, may offer themselves for re-election.

The Board of Trustees is made up of individuals with an interest in the work of the charity and/or particular skills to offer the charity. The Board is substantially made up of the original subscribers to the Memorandum of Association who met on several occasions before the charity was formed.

Trustee Induction and Training

Trustees are recruited for their knowledge and expertise. This may relate to the criminal justice system, especially in respect of youth justice, or to charity law and practice. Potential Trustees are approached informally about joining the Board of Trustees. They are made aware of the obligations of charity Trustees and referred to the guidance provided by the Charity Commission on the responsibilities of charity Trustees. They are then invited to attend a meeting of Trustees as observers and if the potential Trustee still wishes to be a Trustee of the charity and the existing Trustees are in agreement about their appointment, they are invited to become members of the Board of Trustees.

Trustees are encouraged to remain informed about their duties as Trustees and will be circulated with Charity Commission communications on issues that pertain to the good governance of the Charity.

Organisational Structure

The Board of Trustees currently comprises eleven members with a variety of backgrounds and experiencerelevant to the work of the charity. It meets as a full Board every three months and is responsible for the strategic direction and policy of the charity. The Board has also appointed fourexperienced practitioners in fields relevant to the work of the charity as Special Advisers. They may be asked to give advice from time to time when approached by members of the Board or at meetings of the Trustees which they are invited to attend as observers.

A system of delegation is in place and day to day responsibility for the provision of services rests with Director, Chloe Purcell. The Director,working closely with the Chair of Trustees, is responsible for ensuring the work of the charity is carried out in line with the strategic direction determined by the Board of Trustees.

During the financial year 2014-15 there have been several changes to the Board of Trustees. Dave Parry resigned from the board in August 2014. Liz Jones and Matthew Lister were appointed to the Board in March 2015. Shellie Keen was also reappointed as a Trustee in March 2015. Linda Darrall became a full Trustee in March 2015, having previously been a Special Advisor.

Risk Management

The Trustees recognise and accept their responsibility for ensuring that risks to which the charitable company is exposed are reviewed and steps taken to mitigate potential damage by the use of appropriate preventative controls and corrective action. The Trustees are aware of the requirement under the Statement of Recommended Practice 2005 to regularly assess operating strengths and weaknesses. At their meetings, the Trustees ensure that they address potential areas of risk for the charity. In the year ahead they willestablish a more formal system to review the risks that the charity may face. This will involve establishing systems and procedures to mitigate any risks identified and implementing practices designed to minimise any potential impact on the Charity should any of those risks materialise.

Objectives and Activities

The Charity has the general objective of relieving the distress and suffering of children (over eight years of age) and young people up to the age of 25 years of age who are victims of crime by provision of appropriate support. This is done primarily by offering young people affected by crime the opportunity to meet with a trained professional, usually for up to six meetings (up to 12 in cases involving sexual abuse), who will help that young person cope with and recover from the negative impacts of the crime that gave rise to the original referral. Such support is provided in an environment in which the person affected by crime feels comfortable and can be terminated by that person at any time.

The Trustees have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit when reviewing the charity’s aims and objectives and in planning its future activities. In particular, the Trustees consider how planned activities will contribute to the aims and objectives set out above. During the past year, the Trustees have met the Charity’s objectives by offering support to any young person referred to the charity for help. No charge is made to the young person for the services provided and many of the young people referred to the Charity are from disadvantaged backgrounds and may have associated mental health issues, caring responsibilities or learning difficulties.

How the Charity’s Activities Deliver Public Benefit

The main activities of SAFE! are to relieve distress and suffering of young people affected by crime. All of our charitable activities focus on improving the situation of these young members of the general public and are undertaken to further SAFE!’s charitable purposes for the public benefit. No charges are made for the support provided and all young people referred are offered access to the Charity's services unless it is felt that the needs of the young person may be better served by another organisation, in which case, we do our very best to signpost clients to other organisations.

Overview of the Year

Numbers of young people supportedAges of young people supported

Types of referrals receivedNumber of one-to-one sessions

Sources of referral Where we provided support

Achievements and Performance

Making a difference for young victims

Data from the referral forms and evaluations for work completed in 2014-15 clearly show the impact that crime has on the young people supported by SAFE!

• 57% of those supported reported having missed education or employment as a result of the incident of crime.
• 11% of the young people supported identified as NEET (not in education, employment or training), 33% of these as a direct result of the incident.
• 45% of service users had experienced repeat victimisation.

Working with our team of experienced Project Workers, our clients’ evaluation of our services showsan improved sense of safety, confidence and happiness, at the same time that their anger and fear about a recurrence of their experience of crime is reduced. Parents of our clients also notice the positive changes in their children. The benefit that SAFE!’s support has on the wider spheres of the young person is also being recognised with schools and partner organisations, which are increasingly recognising the value of our work. Data returned at the end of the interventions showsmarkedimprovements in outcomes for young people who have engaged in support sessions with SAFE! Collated data from evaluations of sessions held in 2014-15 show the following outcomes for young people:

• A 35% decrease in fear that something similar will happen again
• A 24% increase in feelings of safety in the community
• A 33% decrease in feelings of anger
• A 29% increase in their happiness at school
• A 30% increase in confidence
• A 35% increase in their ability to identify support networks

Parents showed clear concern for their children as a result of the crime and reportedimprovements following the SAFE! intervention:

• 92% were worried about their child's mood at the start of SAFE!'s intervention. This had reduced to 24% by the end
• 40% were concerned that their child would get into trouble as a result of the crime. This had reduced to 11% by the end
• 76% felt that the incident was affecting their school or work. This had reduced to 32% by the end
• 40% said that their child was avoiding parts of their neighbourhood. This had reduced to 16% by the end

A growing organisation

Grant funding from the Thames Valley Police and Crime Commissioner(PCC) helped us to grow significantly as an organisation and to explore creative and new ways of supporting young victims and their families. This funding allowed anincreasein the hours of the Project Manager and the employment of an Administrator. SAFE! has been transformed from an organisation employing one half-time coordinator using Oxfordshire County Council desk space into a fully independent organisation with a central Oxford office housing three employees. Funding went towards setting up the office through the purchase of IT equipment, furniture and decoration. In November 2014 we moved into the new office which is very centrally located in Oxford in the New Road Baptist Church in Bonn Square. The office required some work and has been offered at a low rent as the Church is very supportive of the work that we are doing.

An IT overhaul

The growth in the organisation and transition to a fully independent charity has meant a complete overhaul of our IT systems. This has meant a significant improvement in systems for case recording and storage of data. We are now working on a secure online system which is accessible by all our sessional workers,with the result that there is no longer a need for storage of hand-written notes and the consequent risk of paperwork being misplaced[OCC1].

Piloting SAFE! in Buckinghamshire

SAFE! has also piloted work acrossBuckinghamshire since October 2014, which has been made possible throughgrant funding by the PCC. Work has mainly been focused on building relationships with referring agencies through meetings, mail-outs and the commissioning of a scoping and development report, which was written by Maxine Myatt, former Assistant Chief Probation Officer for Thames Valley. The Project Manager and Maxine Myatthave had face to face meetings with many organisations, in both the statutory and voluntary sectors spanning Buckinghamshire. We have now recruited and trained four new Project Workers based in Buckinghamshire who have started picking up referrals in the county. Between April 2014 and March 2015 SAFE! received 16 referrals for the Buckinghamshire area, with referrals from the following agencies:

• Thames Valley Police
• Victim Support
• Family Resilience Service
• Children and Family Practice
• Barnados

Although referrals from Buckinghamshire were slightly lower than we had aimed for, they were spread across the county from High Wycombe andAylesbury to Milton Keynes. Embedding a new service in a new county requires time and persistence. Connections have been made with a large number of organisations who now hold our referral information.

SAFE! Residential – August 2014

In early August 2014 we took a group of seven young victims on a weekend’s residential to the Lodge Hill Activity Centre in West Sussex.There was a mix of activities, including consultation workshops, a games room, arts activities, jewellery making, a bonfire, times for reflection and one-to-ones, and outdoor activities put on by the centre. These included archery, crate stacking, an assault course and abseiling. The activities were designed to get progressively harder, and each involved an element of risk-taking, trust building and team work. At different times over the weekend each of the young people came out of their shell and shone, experiencing a new activity for the first time (some had never previously sat round a bonfire[OCC2]). One girl who initially said she wouldn’t do the abseiling said afterwards that it was ‘the best thing ever’. During the workshops the young people were asked to reflect on a range of questions and issues relating to the experience of victimisation and the services that young victims need. We used this consultation to form the basis for our future planning of services. It was a very positive weekendand we hope to build on its success for future residential trips.

Introducing support for parents

Our increasing concern about the impact of parental anxiety on outcomes for children affected by crime has led us to request funding for parent support groups. During the residential,the young people reported that they felt responsible for their parent's anxiety and stated that it made their recovery difficult following the incidents that they had experienced. The young people overwhelmingly felt that had their parents received support following their experience, it would have made things easier for them. In light of this consultation, SAFE! set out to run a pilot Parent Support Group. Invitations were sent out to 15 parents who had expressed an interest in the group. We experienced some difficulty in finding a convenient location and time to suit all of those who were interested.An initial group involving three parents has started whichhas metthree times to date. Although small, the group has been well received and will continue to meet on a monthly basis. The mums who attended are keen to develop the group further, and would like to support more parents to join.

Increasing awareness of Domestic Abuse issues

Funding from the PCC also allowed SAFE! to train staff in an innovative new programme looking at Domestic Abuse Awareness for young people. The DAY Programme uses a multi-media approach to address young people’s understanding of behaviours in abusive relationships, as well as reflecting on healthy relationships. In total nine SAFE! Project Workers have completed the two day DAY Programme training and were all extremely positive about the experience:

Following the training,our Project Workers have gone on to use the programme in their work with individual young people, including those who have been victims of domestic violence as well as those who experienced sexual assault and rape.

Developing our Group-work Model

In the past year SAFE! has significantly increased its delivery to young people through group work. In addition to the residential (see above) SAFE! has run three events for young people focusing on consultation for both our own and Victim Support’s online platforms. In February 2015 we ran two sessions attended by 11 young people. The first session was co-delivered by Victim Support to consult young people on the potential benefit of mobile phone apps which are specially designed for young victims. We also ran a small trip to London as a thank you to those who had been involved in the consultation, visiting the London Eye.

Building Respectful Families

Building Respectful Familiesis a pilot programme to tackle Child on Parent Violence (CPV) in Oxfordshire which has been funded by the PCC through a grant paid to SAFE! in September 2014, with further funding from Oxfordshire Community Foundation, the YJS and the Southall Trust. Building Respectful Familieswas modelled on Break4Change (B4C), an innovative and successful CPV groupwork programme in Brighton.Colette Morgan was appointed in December 2014 to develop and coordinate the programme, and she recruited a team of facilitators to deliver the sessions. The initial 10 week programme was delivered in Oxford duringApril – June 2015, referrals to the pilot group came from the Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub (MASH), Thriving Families, Social Care, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAHMS), CAN, Education, and Early Intervention Hubs. Seven families attended the group, with a 94% attendance rate. Feedback from the pilot programme has been positive, with parents’ mental health improving and incidents of violencedecreasing sharply. An evaluation report from Bedfordshire University is pending.