Carers Association
Southern Staffordshire
(A company limited by guarantee)
Report and Financial Statements
For the Year Ended 31 March 2015
Charity Number 1086979
Company Number 4184030
CARERS ASSOCIATION SOUTHERN STAFFORDSHIRE
(A company limited by guarantee)
Contents Page
Legal and Administrative Information 3
Report of the Executive Committee 4
Financial statements 17
Balance Sheet 20
Independent Auditors 21
Notes to the accounts 23
CARERS ASSOCIATION SOUTHERN STAFFORDSHIRE
Report of the Executive Committee for the year ended 31 March 2015
The Executive Committee presents its report and audited financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2015.
Reference and Administrative Information:
Charity Name: Carers Association Southern Staffordshire
Charity registration number: 1086979
Company registration number: 4184030
Registered office and The Carers Centre
operational address: Austin Friars
Stafford ST17 4AP
Executive Committee:
Mrs G Peddar Chair
Mr D Wilson Vice Chair
Mrs A Dair
Mrs I Davies
Mr M Creek
Mr P Edgerton Resigned Oct 14
Mrs H Dart Resigned May 14
Mrs F Cozens Resigned Aug 14
Mr C Smith Elected Oct 14
Dr I Wilson Elected Oct 14
Mrs J Rowbottom Elected Oct 14
Mrs A Brammer Elected Oct 14
Secretary:
Mrs L Cock
Senior Management Team:
Mrs L Cock Chief Officer
Ms M Rollins Deputy Chief Officer
Mrs S Hopwood Office and Finance Manager (until Jan 15)
Mrs C Boden Health and Wellbeing co-ordinator
Auditors: Richards Associates Limited,Chartered Accountants
Suites 10 and 11, Hawkesyard Hall, Armitage Road, Rugeley Staffordshire WS15 1PU
Bankers: Unity Trust Bank, Nine Brindley Place, Birmingham B1 2HB
Solicitors: Hand Morgan and Owen 17, Martin Street Stafford ST16 2LF
STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT
Governing Document
The organisation is a charitable company limited by guarantee, incorporated on 21st March 2001 and registered as a charity on 11th June 2001. 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 the Executive Committee
The directors of the company are also charity trustees for the purposes of charity law and under the company’s articles are known as members of the Executive Committee. Under the requirements of the Memorandum and Articles of Association the members of the Executive Committee are elected to serve for a period of three years after which they must be re-elected at the next Annual General Meeting.
As a charity working predominately with Carers, the Executive Committee seeks to ensure that the needs of this group are appropriately represented through the diversity of the trustee body.
Trustee Induction and Training
All individuals who are interested in serving on the Executive Committee are encouraged to be co-opted to the Committee for up to a year prior to election to ensure that they have the skills that are required and that they understand fully the role and responsibilities of being trustees. During this period they are invited and encouraged to attend training sessions offered, on the roles and responsibilities of Trustees and other training relevant to their anticipated role on the Executive Committee (e.g. SORP 2005, Health and Safety training) In some cases the ‘shadowing’ of a more experienced Trustee is appropriate. Additionally they meet with the Chief Officer who provides them with a Trustee induction pack.
Risk Management
All risks are kept under review by the Executive Committee who have considered and identified these with respect to the operation of the business as follows:
Risks to Service Delivery
The contract from Staffordshire County Council to provide the Alzheimer café service was extended for 2months until May 2014 whilst a tender process took place for a new service entitled Living Well with Dementia. CASS was successful in being awarded the 6 lots it tendered for in southern Staffordshire to be delivered until spring 2016 with the option to be extended for a further 12 months.
Three twelve month pilot projects went out to tender from Staffordshire County Council
1. Carers and employment
2. Carers end of life
3. Older Carers – learning disabilities
This was to stimulate the market for future Carers services. CASS was unsuccessful in being awarded these pilots and they were awarded other agencies with a larger remit than just Carers. The feedback was useful and helped us to prepare for other opportunities.
During this period the main CASS contract for Carers services also went out to tender, this was for a three year contract (initially) to be delivered in Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent, to commence Oct 1st 2015 introducing a significant change to the services we were currently providing and extending our geographical reach. This posed a significant risk to the organisation as it was an open competitive tender likely to be pursued by national organisations and well as other local organisations that had a desire to provide Carer services in the future.
The current service continued to be provided whilst extensive work was undertaken to submit a competitive tender.
During this time efficiency savings had to be made as there were reductions in the contributions made by some Clinical Commissioning Groups. CASS was able to minimise the impact this had on Carers by innovatively stream lining some systems and working extremely hard.
Risks around Health and Safety
Procedures are in place to ensure compliance with health and safety of staff, volunteers, clients and visitors to the Carers Centre and also when staff and/or volunteers are out on home visits or delivering events in the community etc.
Financial Risks
The Board and management team regularly considers the financial position of the organisation. Every effort is made to identify funding from a broader group of agencies to minimise the risks associated with reliance on one main source. Over the past 12 months, however, this has been difficult due to the downturn in the economy and the subsequent effect on funders. Competition for funding via The Big Lottery/Children in need and other similar opportunities is very fierce.
CASS has a policy of limits of signing powers with respect to cheques and BACS payments. Longer term investments are regularly reviewed. Monies are moved to maximise investment income.
The organisation has a policy on the level of its reserves (see later in the report).
Risks to Service Quality
A quality improvement plan overtook the work of the Quality group to give greater focus to priority areas of work. CASS continues to measure itself against PQASSO [Performance and Quality Assurance System for small businesses] and was successful in attaining level 2 in January 2014 which is externally assessed.
CASS also commenced working towards The Centre of Excellence quality mark awarded by The Carers Trust.
Our award for Investors In People is still current and we adhere to its principles.
CASS has always placed great importance in being externally assessed for quality standards and always strives to improve.
Organisational Structure
CASS has an Executive committee of between 6 and 9 members that meets quarterly and is responsible for the strategic direction and policy of the charity. The Company Secretary also sits on the Committee but has no voting rights. Additional meetings are convened as necessary to support the running of the business which include both staff and trustees.
Ad hoc Task and Finish groups are also set up to undertake work outside of the main responsibilities of the CASS Board. Each sub group has its own Terms of Reference and delegated powers. The Business development group has included contributions from Carers to inform the development of the future business plan.
Efforts were made to recruit a bid writer/fund raiser and although two appointments were offered, applicants declined to commence their position at the eleventh hour. Recruitment is recognised as a costly and time consuming process and unfortunately our contract situation did not offer much security to potential employees in the long term.
The day to day responsibility for the provision of services rests with the Chief Officer, with specific responsibilities delegated to the Deputy Chief Officer; Office and Finance Manager and the Health and Wellbeing coordinator. The Chief Officer is responsible for ensuring that the charity delivers the services specified; that monitoring requirements and key performance indicators are met; and has line management responsibility for six staff. The Office and Finance Manager has responsibility for the day to day financial and administrative functions, as well as supervision and line management of the Admin team. Unfortunately, this post became vacant early 2015 and due to the tendering process CASS decided to contract out our payroll and accounts to a local third sector organisation until the outcome of the bid was known.
The Young Carers Team leader took maternity leave, returned and then unfortunately left, duties for this post were covered internally by the Deputy Chief Officer and the post was the recruited to in April 2015.
Related Practices
The charity is guided by local and national policy complementary to the charity’s objects and by the identified needs of Carers within its catchment area. The organisation’s Business plan, 2013 – 2015 is utilised alongside the Business Action Plan
Carers’ feedback is regularly utilised to inform developments. Services are commissioned by Staffordshire County Council and local Clinical Commissioning Groups. The organisation is present and contributes on a range of multi-agency partnership boards and local forums which results in improved links and relationships with both statutory and voluntary sector agencies.
OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES
The company’s objects and principal activities are :
§ To provide advice, information and support to Carers
§ To ensure that the capacity and quality of the service to Carers is of the highest possible standard
§ To raise awareness of Carers and their needs
· To provide opportunities for Carer involvement in service planning and delivery
· To give Carers choice and control in order to improve lives and opportunities
The main objectives and activities for the year continued to focus on the provision of one-to-one support to individual Carers; representation of their needs to service commissioners and providers; and the provision of opportunities for Carers to maintain their own health and well being . To achieve these, a range of services were provided both by the organisation alone and in partnership with other agencies.
We have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit [the Charities Act 2006] when reviewing our aims and objectives and in planning our future activities. In particular, the trustees consider how planned activities will contribute to the aims and objectives they have set.
ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE
The Health and Wellbeing Team are responsible for the Carers Locality Links [CALLs] providing Carers with bite size information sessions to supplement its ongoing delivery of additional opportunities to promote Health and Wellbeing in its broadest sense. Thus enabling Carers to access a varied programme of events in 8 different localities regularly throughout the year and we saw an increase of 7% attendance. These included activities introducing complimentary therapy tasters, art/craft activities, relaxation techniques, coping with stress, healthy eating and confidence building to name but a few.
A comprehensive programme of workshops and learning activity sessions has also been delivered promoting positive preventative health action and lifestyles particularly aimed at Carers.
This included -
Contingency Planning
Sleep
Wills and Power of attorney
Cancer advocacy
Telecare
Visits by partner organisations such as Healthwatch provided opportunities for Carers to take part in consultation on various topics throughout the year
The CASS café at Penkridge provided an alternative to the CALL in that it specifically welcomed for the cared for as well as the Carer this proved to be a popular group which has increased the opportunities for peer support which continue outside of CASS activities.
Outcomes for Carers achieved by the Health and Wellbeing team include
Increased confidence
Increased knowledge
Increased ability to deal with stress
Reduced social isolation
The Accounts and Admin Team have made some significant improvements in working practices in the last 12 months, including developing more detailed frameworks to assist with budgeting , providing more timely information and improving our decision making. There has been a drive to reduce paper documentation and increase use of electronic methods for administrative tasks and improvements to bookings for Carer courses and Staff holidays have been introduced. A major declutter of the whole office was undertaken at the end of 2014. This is in line with our environmental policy and to reduce costs and increase productivity.
Volunteers have greatly supported admin tasks this year and are valued members of the admin team.
Advice, Information and Emotional Support
The use of the Advice Line [Telephone service] continues to increase overall and has reduced waiting times for Carers to access assistance, it is the first point of contact for Carers referring themselves to the service where they are assessed and then support commences.
The predominate themes of callers are
Emotional support [a friendly listening ear is welcomed by Carers],
Information on welfare benefits, - this has resulted in £378,066 of welfare benefit being attained by Carers and their families
How to take a break
General caring issues.
The additional ‘after hours’ service provides greater access especially to working Carers with its late night and weekend opportunities although this is still underused.
During the 12 months ending 31 March 2015, 806 new Adult Carers accessed support via the advice Line. If the Carer requires more in-depth or lengthier support the Advice line will engage the locality worker to undertake this. Advice Line Staff are highly skilled in listening to what Carers are not saying and can pick up on issues that may be difficult for Carers to talk about. Telephone support cannot rely on visual clues such as body language to understand how people are feeling.
The Adult Locality workers continue to provide the individual case work support to Carers. The service is based on a needs led assessment and new tools have been trialed to better understand outcomes achieved and measuring the journey of travel following our interventions. Carers have the opportunity to meet face to face with the locality worker from their district at the CALL or where necessary in the Carers own home (301 Home visits were undertaken to support those who were unable to access community venues). Carers continue to receive additional support at CASS group activities from familiar, trusted staff who are experienced in delivering high quality information, advice and emotional support. The retention of Adult locality Workers enables CASS to deliver the positive aspects of the named/key worker model.