The trustees present their report and financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2021.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in note 1 to the financial statements and comply with the charity's Articles of Association , the Companies Act 2006 and "Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019)".
Elmore Community Services is a charity set up in 1989. We provide high quality, flexible services in the community to marginalised and disenfranchised people who would otherwise fall between the gaps in Oxfordshire services due to their multiple and complex needs.
Elmore’s clients are people aged 16+ with multiple and complex needs. Clients will have multiple separate support needs such as mental health issues, homelessness and rough sleeping, substance misuse, offending, difficulty in forming and sustaining relationships, physical disability, self-harm, learning difficulties, domestic abuse, sex working or experience of abuse and neglect. Elmore deals with some of the most complex clients in Oxfordshire. The lives of Elmore clients are typically punctuated by various traumatic events which have led to an inability to process emotions in a conventional fashion.
Crises and escalating difficult behaviours can punctuate people’s lives, and in times of crises, multiple agencies may be contacted by or involved in the life of an Elmore client, often at the same time. These contacts can be multiple as well as simultaneous, and without clearer communication and join-up, they can risk overwhelming agencies and, indeed, an overall system that is not designed for such behaviour.
With such needs, clients do not fit easily into services, can be hard to engage, and often they are not getting the services that they need when they need them. Elmore’s flexible approach seeks to engage with people who may have slipped through the net of mainstream services, and to make a positive and lasting impact on their lives.
Elmore clients typically benefit from longer-term interactions. Initial approaches may be rejected. The Elmore worker will persevere, trying out different tactics to engage the client and building up their trust, possibly for the first time, in an agency. The build-up of trust delivers positive outcomes for the individual and the system in the longer-term, which means work can go at a slower pace. Our impact is a ‘slower-burn’ impact of increased time needed to achieve useful outcomes with clients.
We persistently try to engage people and make all potential avenues for treatment and support open and accessible. It is routinely our distinct role to make sense of the range of agencies that might be able to offer a relevant service, and to support people to access them. We occupy a disproportionately large position in the network of agencies across Oxfordshire to define and arrange support from a range of agencies to meet the needs of our clients.
The trustees have paid due regard to guidance issued by the Charity Commission in deciding what activities the charity should undertake.
During 2020-2021, Elmore Community Services worked with 335 people across Oxfordshire. This year took in the beginning of the COVID19 pandemic and the Charity had to move to working flexibly and remotely to support clients.
The year has seen significant growth. Elmore was awarded the contract to deliver Family Solutions Plus (FSP), a partnership model being trialled by Oxfordshire County Council to improve safeguarding outcomes for children and their families, while reducing demands and costs for the council. Elmore leads the delivery of the innovative FSP domestic abuse service, working with perpetrators and victims, and is a partner of the FSP mental health service.
Elmore has delivered a High Intensity User project to provide tailored support to people who present frequently to urgent and emergency care services. This is not a homogenous group of clients, but rather a number of individuals with varied and sometimes complex issues. Funded by Oxford Universities Hospitals NHS Trust, Elmore has provided coordinated and consistent care and support to 11 people and reduced repeat presentations to the Emergency Department.
As an active member of the award-winning Oxfordshire Mental Health Partnership (OMHP), Elmore has provided mental health and complex needs floating support services for the sixth consecutive year. Elmore has supported 146 complex needs clients and 95 mental health clients.
Elmore’s Tenancy Sustainment service, commissioned by Oxford City Council to work with vulnerable tenants, has been renewed for a further year. We supported 22 clients to maintain their tenancy in 2020-21. Homelessness and rough sleeping are a national issue and Elmore’s preventive work with particularly complex clients has helped to prevent further homelessness in Oxfordshire.
Elmore’s New Beginnings Team, commissioned by Oxfordshire County Council to support adult survivors of childhood sexual exploitation (CSE), has been renewed for a further year. In 2020-21 Elmore has supported 39 clients. The effects of childhood sexual exploitation are long-lasting and can have a huge impact on people’s adult lives. Survivors often experience difficulties with their mental health, problems with relationships, an increased chance of substance misuse, and poorer physical health. The severity of the issues means clients often cannot access specific help elsewhere. New Beginnings works alongside people to offer support in making positive changes to their lives.
Elmore has continued to provide a pathway to community engagement and practical support within a Primary Care Wellbeing project, commissioned by Oxfordshire Mind (our partner in the OMHP), supporting 21 clients during 2020-21. Primary care is the front door for many patients with complex mental health problems. The Primary Care Wellbeing Project assists GPs and other primary care professionals to link people to support for social, emotional, and practical needs. Elmore works with clients in Oxford in a non-clinical, person-centred way to support them to access available support available in their community and develop tools to increase their ability to manage their own wellbeing.
During 2020-21 Elmore continued to sponsor an innovation in mental health support to young people in the form of Oxfordshire Discovery College.
Financial sustainability was identified by the Board of Trustees as a key priority, and we are pleased to report that income exceeded expenses in 2020-21.
Elmore has sought to increase the number of contracts it holds and diversify the number of commissioners of such contracts, and we can report success in this regard with the addition of the Family Solutions Plus contracts. Like most third-sector organisations, Elmore continued to depend on statutory contracts from the NHS and local government during 2020-21.
The Charity had reserves at the year-end 31 March 2021 of £1,097,272, which represents an increase from £679,357 at the year-end 31 March 2020. Reserves allow Elmore to absorb setbacks such as a decline or interruption of sources of income, mitigate risk, and to take advantage of initiatives and opportunities that may arise. The Board of Trustees reviews the level of reserves of the Charity on a regular basis, ensuring this is in line with the guidance issued by the Charity Commission and is sufficient to safeguard an enlarged number of core services for as long as possible through periods of risk or uncertainty.
2021 has seen Elmore continue to respond with significant success in a challenging environment.
Elmore continues to respond to the uncertainty of the Coronavirus outbreak, having moved staff to working from home in place of the office and the community. During the early period of lockdown Elmore moved to delivering a phone-based service in place of in-person client support, ensuring clients received food parcels and activities to do from home, while trialling video-calling with clients, including through the distribution of smartphones to digitally excluded clients.
Since year end 2021, Elmore is delivering or setting up the following new services:
A Hospital Navigator to build trust with patients who present at the Horton Hospital in Banbury with complex and multiple needs, including high-risk people and those who pose a risk of causing harm. Funded by Oxfordshire County Council and working in partnership with Connection Support, Elmore will provide support to ensure residents can be discharged from high-risk areas safely and put in place preventative measures to reduce repeat attendances.
Oxford Safe Haven (OSH), which offers out-of-hours support for adults experiencing mental health crisis, for which Elmore is supporting its extension to become 7-days a week. Elmore will work with Oxfordshire Mind to support people referred from OSH to access community-based support.
Embedded caseworkers in an Oxford-based homelessness hostel to provide intense face-face complex needs case-working support to our partner Homeless Oxfordshire, funded by Oxfordshire County Council.
A partially embedded worker to the Temporary Accommodation Team and Anti-Social Behaviour Investigation Team at Oxford City Council to support the avoidance of homelessness and ensure tenancy security, funded by Oxfordshire County Council.
You Matter, Rise & Shine; a joint service delivered with Connection Support providing community-based support for people with common mental health problems, funded by Oxfordshire County Council.
Specialist Complex Emotional Needs workers as part of the newly established NHS programme, the Community Mental Health Framework, across Oxfordshire.
These new services represent an increase in staffing and income to Elmore, with forecast income for 2021-22 of over £1.6million for the first time. Our focus is on ensuring excellent delivery of these projects in collaboration with partners, for the benefit of our clients and to put Elmore on a strong footing going forwards.
Elmore Community Services (Elmore) is a charitable company registered in England that is limited by guarantee and governed by its Articles of Association, which were last updated in March 2016. The company was incorporated on 11 January 2001 (number 04139974) and registered as a charity on 15 February 2002 (number 1090616). The principal office and registered office of the charity is 213 Barnes Road, Cowley, OX4 3UT.
The following persons served as Directors throughout the year unless otherwise stated below. They are also Trustees under charity law, and have a beneficial interest in the charitable company.
The Trustees guarantee to contribute an amount not exceeding £1 to the assets of the charitable company in the event of winding-up.
Elmore’s governance is the responsibility of the Trustees and the sole Members of the company. The term of the Articles of Association specify a minimum of three Trustees and no maximum, though we aim for 8-12 Trustees to be an effective working group while also providing sufficient capacity, diversity, skills and knowledge.
The Board of Trustees has traditionally met six times per year (regular quarterly meetings plus two strategy meetings) and there is a Finance Subcommittee which meets in between the quarterly meetings.
Other working groups take place as required, focusing on topics such as Strategy, Quality, Co-production or other specific work to be undertaken with the support of Trustees.
Authority from the Trustees is delegated to a Chief Executive who is also the company secretary, and is responsible for the day to day running of the charitable company. In 2019-20 the Chief Executive has been supported operationally by a Service Manager, three Team Managers, and an Administration Manager, who together co-ordinate the team who undertake the direct charitable activities.
The trustees, who are also the directors of Elmore Community Services for the purpose 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 which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that year.
In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:
- select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
- observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP;
- make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
- state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and
- prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in operation.
The trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
In accordance with the company's articles, a resolution proposing that Shaw Gibbs (Audit) Limited be reappointed as auditor of the company will be put at a General Meeting.
The trustees' r eport was approved by the Board of Trustees.
Opinion
We have audited the financial statements of Elmore Community Services (the ‘charity’) for the year ended 31 March 2021 which comprise the statement of financial activities, the balance sheet, the statement of cash flows and the notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including FRS 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice) .
In our opinion, the financial statements:
We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor's responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charity in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.
In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees' use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.
Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charity’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.
Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.
Other information
The other information comprises the information included in the annual report other than the financial statements and our auditor's report thereon. The trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the course of the audit, or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.
We have nothing to report in this regard.
We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 require us to report to you if, in our opinion:
the information given in the financial statements is inconsistent in any material respect with the trustees' r eport; or
sufficient accounting records have not been kept; or
the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records; or
we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.
We have been appointed as auditor under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 and report in accordance with the Act and relevant regulations made or having effect thereunder.
Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor's report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.
Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud, is detailed below .
At the planning stage of the audit, we gained an understanding of the laws and regulations which apply to the charity and how the trustees seek to comply with those laws and regulations. This helped us to plan appropriate risk assessments.
During the audit, we focused on relevant risk areas and reviewed the compliance with the laws and regulations by making relevant enquiries from the trustees and undertaking corroboration, for example by reviewing trustees’ minutes and other documentation.
We assessed the risk of material misstatement in the financial statements including as a result of fraud and undertook the following procedures but were not limited to:
Reviewing the controls set in place by the trustees;
Making enquiries of the trustees as to whether they consider fraud or other irregularity may have taken place, or where such opportunity might exist;
Challenging the trustees’ assumptions with regard to accounting estimates;
Identifying and testing journal entries, particularly those which appear to be unusual by size or nature.
A further description of our responsibilities is available on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: http s ://www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor's report.
Use of our report
This report is made solely to the charity’s trustees, as a body, in accordance with part 4 of the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charity's trustees those matters we are required to state to them in an auditors' report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charity and the charity’s trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.
The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year.
All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.
Elmore Community Services is a private company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is 213 Barnes Road, Cowley, Oxford, OX4 3UT.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the charity's governing document, the Companies Act 2006 and "Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019)". The charity is a Public Benefit Entity as defined by FRS 102.
The financial statements are prepared in sterling , which is the functional currency of the charity. Monetary a mounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention, modified to include certain financial instruments at fair value. The principal accounting policies adopted are set out below.
At the time of approving the financial statements, the trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Thus the trustees continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.
Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of their charitable objectives.
Restricted funds are subject to specific conditions by donors as to how they may be used. The purposes and uses of the restricted funds are set out in the notes to the financial statements.
All monetary donations are included in full in the statement of financial activities when receivable, provided that there are no donor-imposed restrictions as to the timing or the related expenditure, in which case recognition is deferred until the pre-condition is met.
Revenue grants are credited as incoming resources when they are receivable, provided conditions for receipt have been complied with, unless they relate to a specified future period, in which case they are deferred.
Expenditure, which is charged on an accruals basis, is allocated between:
Expenditure incurred directly to the fulfilment of the charity's objectives
Expenditure incurred in supporting the activities that directly fulfil the charity's objectives
Expenditure incurred in the management and administration of the charity.
Tangible fixed assets are initially measured at cost and subsequently measured at cost or valuation, net of depreciation and any impairment losses.
Depreciation is recognised so as to write off the cost or valuation of assets less their residual values over their useful lives on the following bases:
The gain or loss arising on the disposal of an asset is determined as the difference between the sale proceeds and the carrying value of the asset, and is recognised in net income/(expenditure) for the year.
Fixed asset investments are initially measured at transaction price excluding transaction costs, and are subsequently measured at fair value at each reporting date. Changes in fair value are recognised in net income/(expenditure) for the year . Transaction costs are expensed as incurred.
At each reporting end date, the charity reviews the carrying amounts of its tangible assets to determine whether there is any indication that those assets have suffered an impairment loss. If any such indication exists, the recoverable amount of the asset is estimated in order to determine the extent of the impairment loss (if any ) .
Cash and cash equivalents include cash in hand, deposits held at call with banks, other short-term liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less, and bank overdrafts. Bank overdrafts are shown within borrowings in current liabilities.
The charity has elected to apply the provisions of Section 11 ‘Basic Financial Instruments’ and Section 12 ‘Other Financial Instruments Issues’ of FRS 102 to all of its financial instruments.
Financial instruments are recognised in the charity's balance sheet when the charity becomes party to the contractual provisions of the instrument.
Financial assets and liabilities are offset, with the net amounts presented in the financial statements, when there is a legally enforceable right to set off the recognised amounts and there is an intention to settle on a net basis or to realise the asset and settle the liability simultaneously.
Basic financial assets, which include debtors and cash and bank balances, are initially measured at transaction price including transaction costs and are subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest method unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the transaction is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial assets classified as receivable within one year are not amortised.
Basic financial liabilities, including creditors and bank loans are initially recognised at transaction price unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the debt instrument is measured at the present value of the future p aymen ts discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial liabilities classified as payable within one year are not amortised.
Debt instruments are subsequently carried at amortised cost, using the effective interest rate method.
Trade creditors are obligations to pay for goods or services that have been acquired in the ordinary course of operations from suppliers. Amounts payable are classified as current liabilities if payment is due within one year or less. If not, they are presented as non-current liabilities. Trade creditors are recognised initially at transaction price and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.
Financial liabilities are derecognised when the charity’s contractual obligations expire or are discharged or cancelled.
The cost of any unused holiday entitlement is recognised in the period in which the employee’s services are received.
Termination benefits are recognised immediately as an expense when the charity is demonstrably committed to terminate the employment of an employee or to provide termination benefits.
Payments to defined contribution retirement benefit schemes are charged as an expense as they fall due.
In the application of the charity’s accounting policies, the trustees are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying amount of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and associated assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.
The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised where the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods where the revision affects both current and future periods.
Support
Research
Support
Research
Client welfare
Client support
Office costs
Direct costs
Direct costs
Insurance
Direct costs
Office costs
Direct costs
Governance costs includes payments to the auditors of £ 10,67 0 ( 2020 - £5,500 ) for audit fees.
None of the trustees (or any persons connected with them) received any remuneration or benefits from the charity during the year.
The average monthly number of employees during the year was:
At the reporting end date the charity had outstanding commitments for future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases:
Unrestricted
Restricted
Unrestricted
Restricted
The auditor's report was unqualified.
The remuneration of key management personnel is as follows.
The charity had no debt during the year.