211 Parkway House, Sheen Lane, East Sheen SW14 8LS

T: 020 8487 8500 E: info@homestart-rkh.org.uk W: homestart-rkh.org.uk

Registered Charity No: 1108975

Company limited by guarantee in England and Wales No: 5386801

Home-Start

Richmond, Kingston & Hounslow

Annual Report 2017-18

@homestartrkh @homestart_rkh @homestart_rkh

Director’s Report - Karen McLean

It’s been an exciting journey uniting our work across Richmond, Kingston and Hounslow into a single

team. I am hugely impressed by the commitment of trustees, volunteers and staff in embracing the

changes involved.

This enabled us to support 324 families with 615 children across the three boroughs and establish our

support for families in Kingston. As a result of our help, a massive 90% of families felt more involved in

their child’s learning and development and 82% of families who had identified as lonely felt less isolated.

Our weekly support makes a huge difference to families in those tough, but vitally important early years.

Working across a wider area highlights the importance of our local knowledge and connections. Often we

are the first responder to families in need. Through building trusting relationships and linking families

with local services, we build support around families and help them to create connections to feel more

integrated in their community.

We feel that the work we undertook last year to streamline our operation gives us a structure which is

robust and sustainable, whilst remaining agile enough to respond to changing needs. We led the way in

implementing a new case and information management system, benefiting our work as well as piloting

this for the Home-Start London network.

Looking ahead, we are working to develop new income streams and our community fundraising work to

enable us to respond to the demand for help from families.

Chair’s Report - Louise Kerr

I am very proud to report to you from "the other side" of our amalgamation process. It was no

small feat for an organisation such as ours with no operational slack, to undertake the joining of

two charities (Home-Start Richmond and Home-Start Hounslow) and embed our extended service

in the Kingston area with all the associated legal and operational ramifications. We are rewarded

with a robust and sustainable charity which is in great shape to reach even more families in the

areas where we operate.

Although the issues of social isolation, mental health and financial pressures are common to all

the areas we serve, it has been revealing to discover too, important differences and tailor our

service to meet those needs. We are currently in the process of enriching our Board of Trustees

in part to reflect these nuances which makes us a stronger and more effective charity.

Social mobility and school readiness are topics which are often in the press. We are well placed

with our front line experience of families’ needs and our proven track record of effective, early

intervention to contribute to this wider debate and provide solutions. This will be a key focus of

our work this year.

The backbone of our organisation is of course, our staff, ably led by Karen McLean. On behalf of

all the trustees and families, I thank them for their continued professionalism and enthusiasm.

Volunteers

Volunteers are a lifeline for families with little or no local family or support network. We could

not provide this vital help without the commitment and passion from our amazing volunteers.

131 active volunteers

6757 volunteer hours given to training and

visiting families at home

13 helped fundraising, admin and events

48 new volunteers were trained

Home Visiting Family Support

In 2017-18 we supported 615 young children in 324 vulnerable families. This represents an

increase of 16% and 6% respectively on 2016-2017.

Through the home-visiting work our volunteers offered emotional and practical support to

parents with children in those critical early years before the age of 5. Many families were

affected by issues such as post-natal depression, mental health, disability, social isolation,

poverty, poor housing and bereavement.

“It was an extremely rewarding year for me,

as I felt I could really make a difference with

the family.”

Family Groups and Outings

Kindly supported by Achieving for Children’s Mortlake and

Tangley Park Children’s Centres, Hampton Fuel Allotment

Charity and Harlequins Foundation, our weekly Family Groups

in Hampton and Mortlake were attended by 68 families.

Our annual summer outing to Kew Gardens was enjoyed in

total by over 120 children, parents and staff. The day offered

our families a fun experience to enjoy together whilst

meeting other families. Thank you to Kew Gardens for their

kind support.

Treasurer’s Report - Steven Lowry

I am pleased to present the Treasurer’s report for Home-Start Richmond, Kingston and Hounslow

(“the Charity”) in respect of the twelve months to 31st March 2018.

This is the first reporting period that shows the financial results for the combined Richmond,

Kingston and Hounslow Charity. The Charity continues to use some of its reserves to support the

delivery of its charitable activities in the enlarged area of focus. The Charity continues to be

successful in attracting project specific grants and donations whilst also retaining its core funding

from Achieving for Children (on behalf of the London boroughs of Richmond upon Thames and

Kingston upon Thames) and the London Borough of Hounslow which enables the Charity to remain

financially robust.

Overall, the planned deficit of £23,145 was expected, as the focus for the year was the successful

transition and re-organisation to ensure long term sustainability and consequently fundraising was a

secondary priority. Looking forward, the budget for the current year is again anticipated to see a

slight reduction in the Charity’s reserves as they continue to be used to support our core service

provision.

The income received for the twelve months to March 2018 totalled £378,009 compared to £380,291

in the previous year. While £250,000 was received from Achieving for Children and the London

Borough of Hounslow compared to £288,456 in the prior period, charitable donations were slightly

up at £59,482.

Expenditure during the period reduced to £401,154 compared with £445,935 for the previous year

due to lower costs related to streamlined staff numbers in the combined Charity.

For the prior period these accounts aggregate the comparative amounts of the combined Charities as

explained in the notes to the accounts.

Continued thanks to all our financial supporters including Achieving for Children, the London

Borough of Hounslow, Richmond Parish Lands Charity, Hampton Fuel Allotment Charity and Barnes

Workhouse Fund. The full list of our supporters can be seen in the notes to the annual accounts.

The Charity’s total reserves decreased to £304,594 from £327,739. The Board of Trustees has again

adopted a Reserves Policy which states that the unrestricted funds held by the charity should be

equivalent to between three and six months average expenditure. This is considered an appropriate

level of reserves to protect the Charity against unforeseen changes to its financial circumstances.

The accounts have been reviewed by an independent examiner, Gavin Merchant, and have been

approved by the Board of Trustees. Our thanks go to Gavin for his work on the independent review.

My thanks go to Ann Edes for her help and support.

Thank you to our funders

Achieving for Children, Barnes Workhouse Fund, Hampton Fuel Allotment Charity, Harlequins

Foundation, Heathrow Community Fund, Home-Start UK, Hounslow CCG, Lloyds Bank Foundation,

London Borough of Hounslow, Richmond Parish Lands Charity and the Whitehall Family.

Thank you to our fundraisers and donors:

Miranda Davies and the Carol Service Committee, Carol Service Readers, Easyfundraising supporters,

Focalpoint, Gift-Aid donors, Kew Gardens, Kingston Morris Men, L.A.P. Band, Marsh & Parsons,

Richmond May Ball Committee and Sponsors, St Margaret’s Catholic Church Twickenham,

St Mary’s Barnes Church, the customers of Co-op, Tesco and Waitrose, The Mrs Smith and Mount

Trust, Torchlight Tuition and The Turk’s Head.

Special thanks to:

All of our dedicated volunteers, trustees and referrers (especially the Health Visitors), June Demont,

Joanna Jackson for donating our Christmas Card photo, Richmond Philanthropic Society for family

grants, our ambassador Julie Peasgood, auditor Gavin Merchant, Heather Mathew RCVS and

Home-Start UK.