Annual review

This book tells you what Livability did in 2011/2012

What you can find in this review

a review is a look-back at what we have done

Page 3 Welcome from Paula Kerr

Page 4-5 Livability and you

Page 6-7 What we did this year

Page 8-9 A great year for … lifelong learning

Page 10-11 A great year for … personal independence

Pages 12-13 A great year for … taking part

Page 14-15 Our money

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Paula Kerr is Chair, or leader, of the Board of Trustees. This team makes sure Livability is run properly

Welcome from Paula Kerr

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This year has been a tough one for many charities, but we are celebrating some wonderful achievements at Livability.

We reached our goal of raising £2.8 million for Phase 1 of the Sparkle Appeal. Work has now begun on Victoria Education Centre and Sports College’s new hydrotherapy pool and therapy centre. We will carry on raising money for Phase 2 of this project. We are so grateful to all our supporters for their help. We want to thank Lord Shaftesbury as Patron of the appeal, and Mrs Samantha Cameron, who hosted a reception at Downing Street for us.

Our service users’ network spoke up loudly for disabled people this year when they took part in the government’s Fulfilling Potential consultation. Over 30 service users met in London to talk about changes they want in society for disabled people. Their findings will feed directly into the government’s new disability policy.

I want to thank our Patron, Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal; our President, Baroness Howarth of Breckland; our CEO Mike Smith and all our staff and supporters. You have made it possible for the disabled and disadvantaged people we serve to live life to the full.

Inspired by our Christian faith, we will aim to reach out to more people in the future.

Fulfilling Potential means making the most of your life

consultation means asking what someone thinks about an issue

Livability and you

All kinds of people use Livability’s services. We work with disabled children and adults. Some have physical disabilities and some have learning disabilities. We also work with churches that are trying to make life better in their community.

What does Livability do?

Who uses Livability?

Livability offers a wide choice of services in England. Our main areas of work are:

• Lifelonglearning:weoffermanyeducation and employment opportunities. See pages 8 and 9 for more on this.

• Personalindependence:ourservicessupport people to be as independent as possible. This includes supporting people in their own home or in a shared home. See pages 10 and 11 for more on this.

• Takingpart:weopendoorsintothewider community for people of all ages and types of disability. See pages 12 and 13 for more on this.

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We are proud of our high standards and want our service users to get the very best support. The Care Quality Commission (CQC) rates all our registered care services as excellent or good.

Our service users often say how wonderful our staff are. We make sure our 1,600 staff are well-trained so they can give the best service. This year, 75 per cent of our staff in our CQC-registered services have gained or are working towards qualifications.

Our staff

Our standards

Livability’s work is inspired by our Christian values and ethos. We work with disabled and disadvantaged people so they can have real choice and independence. We believe every person is equally important. We work with people of any faith or no faith.

Visit our website www.livability.org.uk for more information about our work.

What makes us tick

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What we did this yearOur six aims helped us to make sure our work stayed on track. Our aims this year were to…

Change communities for the better

• volunteernumbersgrewby12percent.People from many different backgrounds are involved with our work

• ourCommunityMissiontrainingeventswere rated very highly by delegates. Two recent evaluations rated Livability’s input as ‘invaluable’

Have the best staff

• 75percentofstaffatourserviceshavegained or are working for a qualification

• wecelebratedtheoutstandingworkofourstaff with the Princess Royal Livability Awards

• wemadeplanstoemploymoredisabledstaff and further empower our service users

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Have the best services and open new ones

• welaunchedourEnterpriseAgencytotrainpeople to run their own business

• ournewLifestyleChoicesNorthLondonishelping disabled adults to get involved in their communities

• oureducationcentresareofferingbroaderlearning to a wider age group

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Get better known for our expertise

• weheldourfirstnationalconsultationongovernment policy for service users. They want the government to improve transitions, and information and advice

• wehadtwiceasmanymentionsinthepress as last year, making disability and our service users more visible nationally

• ourin-depthworkwithchurchesincreasedby over 40 per cent, to 50 churches

• wetrainedover1,000healthprofessionalsin Asia, in brain and spinal injury rehabilitation

Become even more efficient

• wemadesurefeesforourserviceswerecompetitive

• wemadesureourincomecoveredthecostof running our services

• wecheckedthatourfundraisingisaseffective as possible

Listen more closely to people who use our services

• welaunchedourServiceUserPartnershipBoard, chaired by a Livability trustee

• thisBoardhascarriedoutasurveyofserviceusers. It found that 97 per cent of service users felt they were involved in making decisions about their lives. And 97 per cent also felt they were treated with respect and dignity

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rehabilitation means making your health better

Our aims for next yearWe will focus our work on …

• puttingourserviceusersattheheart of everything we do

• usingourresourcesasthebiggest Christian disability charity to transform lives

• keepingthecharity’sfinancesas healthy as possible

• makingsurethewholeorganisation works even more efficiently

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Livability supports its service users to keep on learning and developing as much as they can. This year we supported people to learn in lots of different ways:

• weeducatedover200studentsatour school and two colleges

• morestudentstookpartinworkexperience and learning in the community

• olderstudents–upto25years–were offered new courses

• 100clientslearnedaboutrunningtheir own business with our new Enterprise Agency

• ourbraininjurycentretreatedover300peoplewhoarerelearninghowto live as independently as possible

• ouroverseasworkmeanthealthworkers in Asia could share best practice in brain and spinal cord injuryrehabilitation

• thenewhydrotherapypoolandtherapy centre at VEC will make a big difference to students’ health. This means they miss fewer lessons

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A great year for… lifelong learning

Spot the difference for… Ross, work experience

Spot the difference for… Dave, graphic designer

Dave looked hard for a job for three years. He has a degree in digital animation and has work experience from design studios. They told Dave his work was good. Although he got job interviews, he wasn’t given the job. Setting up his own graphic design business seemed to be the next step. Dave heard about Livability’s Enterprise Agency and he signed up for the eight-week course on setting up your own business. ‘I found the course very helpful, especially the talks on writing a press release and on tax when you’re self-employed. If you’re thinking about going on the course, I would say definitely go for it for support, advice and meeting other people.’ Dave is delighted that his business is growing and his cash flow is even better than his forecast. See Dave’s business at www.davescates.com

Ross from Hinwick Hall College got work experienceatalocalgardencentre.Atfirsthedidn’t always want to do what his boss told him. AndRossfoundithardtofinishajobifhedidn’tlike it. But over a year, Ross learned how to do his jobproperlyfromthemomenthearrivesatwork.He now listens to his boss and works steadily to finishthejob.Heknowshiswayaroundthegardencentreandhelpscustomerstofindwhatthey need. His boss says: ‘Ross works well with our staff and other students. He can now follow instructions and solve problems on his own.’

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A great year for… personal independence

Giving people meaningful choice about the way they live is key to Livability’s services. This year we …

• builtfivestate-of-the-artroomsandanewliftatJohn Grooms Court in Norwich

• campaignedsuccessfully,withourserviceusers,against the government’s plans to change the Disability Living Allowance (DLA)

• launchedourPartnershipBoardtotrainandsupportservice users to be advocates for their peers

• supportedover100peopletoliveintheirownhomes

• providedaccommodationwithcareforover 260 disabled adults

• helped4,000disabledpeopleandtheirfamiliestoenjoy stress-free, wheelchair-accessible holidays

• offeredmoreservicesinGloucestershire

Louise is another Livability client who is proud of what she has achieved this year. She left home and moved into her own flat in Northamptonshire, with support from Livability. ‘The best thing about it is being independent,’ Louise says. ‘I can cook with support and my favourite thing to cook is pasta carbonara. I’m getting better at cleaning the house because I do it every day. I do my own washing now too.’ Louise is not stopping there: ‘What I would like to do next is go on a course. I’m looking into that at the moment.’

Spot the difference for… Louise, leaving home

This year has been special for Ian because he has become much more independent. He moved to a Livability residential home and has tried lots of new things – including getting two jobs. ‘Me and my support worker applied on the internet for me to work at HMV,’ says Ian. ‘I was a bit nervous at first but I got used to it. I fold boxes and put price stickers on the DVDs. I do useful work and my boss tells me I do a good job.’ Ian also volunteers at a local charity shop. ‘Now I catch the bus on my own – I never did that before. I get the timetable and find the right bus. I like going shopping in Pontefract or Doncaster.’

Spot the difference for… Ian, getting a jobA great year for… personal independence

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A great year for… taking part

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Our founders, John Groom and Lord Shaftesbury, wanted to see disabled and disadvantaged people live as valued members of their community. This vision remains at the heart of our work. This year we helped this to happen by:

• supportingagroupofserviceuserstotakepartinamajorgovernmentconsultation on disability. The group spoke about how they want to be more involved in their communities, and the barriers they have to overcome

• growingourLifestyleChoicesservices.Thismeansover200clientshavegotout of the house to take up a new interest or life-skill, or to have fun socially

• trainingover600Christiancommunityworkersandworkingwithover50churches.CommunityMission’sworkhasequippedsome8,000peoplewho can make their communities better places to live

Spot the difference for… Essex church, community life

A great year for… taking part Kay loves being part of a Livability social

group in Plymouth. ‘It’s brilliant! We get a newsletter once a month with dates for everything. We go for coffee at the Theatre Royal, and I went to the musical Grease which was very good. I’ve signed up to go to Paignton Zoo this month.’ Kay is glad that Livability asks the group what they want to do and lets them make decisions. She says the group has helped her to be moreconfident.Andthisyear,KaywenttoLondon with Livability to take part in a government consultation about disability.

Spot the difference for… Kay, getting out

Restore Community Church in Debden wanted to launch a community drop-in centre. They contacted Livability’s Community Mission team who helped them to set up a consultation day for local people. Over 160 people came along, and a local councillor said it was the best consultation she had been to. Restore leader Judy said: ‘I was impressed with the time and trouble that Livability took on our behalf and their passion to see a Christian response to poverty.’

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Where our money came from

our services for disabled adults £18.0m

our education services £16.4m

Some of this money came from …

fundraising £4.2m

other sources £0.8m

This means our money came from:

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We were given £39.4million last year to run our services. Most of this money came from local authorities for…

services for disabled adults46% education

services42%

fundraising10%

other sources2%

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How we spent our money

our services for disabled adults £18.6m

our education services £17.2m

fundraising £1.3m

trusts and other charitable purposes £0.3m

community mission and linked churches £0.5m

governance (making sure Livability is run properly) £0.3m

This means our money was spent like this:

We spent £38.2million last year on …

This information is from our audited accounts. They have been checked by people who do not work for Livability. You can find our full accounts at www.livability.org.uk/publications or we can send you a printed copy. See page 16 to find out how. The Trustees confirm that the financial information above is taken from the full set of financial statements, comprising the Trustees’ report and accounts, which were approved on 26 September 2012. This summarised financial information may not contain sufficient information to allow a full understanding of the financial affairs of Livability. For further information, the Annual Report and Accounts should be consulted. A copy of this document, upon which the Auditor has reported without qualification, will be delivered to the Charity Commission and Companies House after Livability’s Annual General Meetingon13Nov2012.

By order of the Trustees26 September 2012

services for disabled adults 49%

education services 45%

fundraising 3%

trusts and other charitable purposes 1%

community mission and linked churches 1%

governance less than 1%

Centraloffice:Livability 50ScruttonStreetLondonEC2A 4XQwww.livability.org.uk

Phone 02074522000Email info@livability.org.uk

Patron HRH The Princess Royal

Charityregistrationno.1116530Companyregistrationno.5967087

Livability is the new face of John Grooms and the Shaftesbury Society