INDEPENDENT

2011/12ANNUAL

REPORT

PEOPLE

Chair’s ReportOnce again it has been a successful year for

1625 Independent People. We have worked

in partnership with funders and supporters to

continue to develop new services to meet the

needs of our current and future service users.

The tough economic climate continues to affect

us all, often disproportionately disadvantaging

younger people who find themselves with

fewer resources available to them to seek out

opportunities and solutions. Our work is

increasingly vital in supporting our service

users not only with housing and support

related to independent living and tenancy

sustainment, but crucially with defending and

strengthening their own economic positions

and developing new skills and opportunities.

This year we witnessed the anticipated cuts in

Supporting People funding and consequently

our income. This was an immensely frustrating

position for us given the apparent increasing

demand for our services. The cuts had far

reaching impacts for the organisation and

necessitated restructuring. The Board had

CONTENTSChair’s Report

Financial Information

Equality & Diversity Figures

Housing and Support

Case Study

On The Outside

On The Inside

The Team

Special Thanks

2-3

4-5

6-7

8-9

10-11

14-17

12-13

18

19

2

Stephen Lodge

“TRULy IS THE LEADINg PROvIDER

“

1625 INDEPENDENT PEOPLE

suPPOrT

TO yOuNg PEOPLE IN

THE SOUTH WEST

oF houSing

& ADvICE

Independent People’s Chair, Stephen Lodge, talks about last year,

the third full year of the organisation and his second as Chair

to take the tough decision to reduce staff

numbers, affecting all levels of the organisation

to reflect the reduction in our income and

protect the business. These difficult measures

have allowed us to focus the business on service

delivery while not compromising our financial

security. It is important to the Board that the

financial strength of the business remains stable

and robust enough to ensure that we can expand

our services during the leaner years ahead.

Despite the reductions in some funding streams,

we have been successful in attracting new

sources of funding, most notably £1m from the

Big Lottery Fund to whom we are extremely

grateful. The funding, through the Youth

in Focus Programme, will support young

people through transitions, joining up services

for young people leaving custody and care

so they can achieve positive outcomes.

Such new and diverse funding streams enable us

to develop new services to meet the increasing

and changing needs of our service users, now and

in the future. Fundraising remains an important

and essential focus for us. I was delighted to work

on our stand at the Bristol Balloon Fiesta last

year, an event that offered Board, staff and

service users a joint opportunity to share

the value of our work with the wider public.

Similarly we again combined forces and

worked closely with Guinness Hermitage,

to whom we remain extremely grateful, to

paddle two dragon boats in competition in

Bristol harbour, despite the torrential rain.

Such events will continue to feature in our

activities giving us vital opportunities to raise

funds and to promote our work more widely.

Our thanks as ever go to our Chief Executive,

Dom and the fantastically dedicated staff for

their relentless commitment and the sheer

hard work and passion that they have shown,

ensuring that 1625 Independent People truly

is the leading provider of housing, support and

advice to young people in the South West.

Stephen Lodge,

Chair of Independent People

“...we have been successful in attracting

new sources of funding, most notably

£1m from the Big Lottery Fund...”

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ChAiR’S RepoRt

These summarised accounts contain information extracted from the annual accounts and certain information relating to both the Income and Expenditure Account and the Balance Sheet.

They may not contain sufficient information to allow for a full understanding of the financial affairs of the organisation.

Further information and copies of the full accounts which have been subject to an audit, and the annual report of the Management Committee can be obtained from Head Office.

Statement of the Management Committee

inCoMe And eXpendituRe ACCountyEAr ENDED 31 MArCH 2012

FinAnCiAL inFoRMAtion

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2012 2011

£ £

Turnover 3,361,115 3,313,515

Less: operating costs (3,343,073) (3,119,942)

Operating surplus 18,042 193,573

other income 80,250 -

interest receivable 257 212

interest payable (10,064) (9,463)

Surplus for the financial year 88,485 184,322

transfer from / (to) restricted reserves 10,675 (30,638)

transfer from designated reserves - 303,646

99,160 457,330

Revenue reserve at start of year 466,223 8,893

Revenue reserve at end of year 565,383 466,223

the results for the year relate wholly to continuing activities.there are no recognised gains and losses other than the results for the year as set out above.

2012 2011

£ £ £ £

Fixed assets

housing properties 332,749 325,735

Capital grant (71,895) (71,895)

260,854 253,840

Other fixed assets 604,457 650,879

865,311 904,719

Current assets

debtors 377,322 195,474

Cash at bank and in hand 296,315 473,398

673,637 668,872

Creditors: Amounts fallingdue within one year (283,722) (393,570)

Net current assets 389,915 275,302

Total assets less current liabilities 1,255,226 1,180,021

Creditors: Amounts falling due in more than one year (641,222) (668,477)

Provisions (13,975) -

Net assets 600,029 511,544

Capital and reserves

Called-up share capital 34 34

Revenue reserve 565,383 466,223

Restricted reserves 34,612 45,287

600,029 511,544

BALAnCe Sheet AT 31 MArCH 2012

FinAnCiAL inFoRMAtion

5

2%

eQuALitY & diVeRSitY FiguReS

6

% of young people per service

36%

26%

26%

10%

Bristol housing Services

Bristol Floating Support Services

South glos housing Services

South glos Floating Support Services

St george’s house

Key

Total number of youngpeople supported in 2011/12 824

Number of young people who left each service

Bristol housing Services 142

Bristol Floating Support Services 155

South glos housing Services 5

South glos Floating Support Services 148

St george’s house 79

Percentages of young people who had a planned/positive move on or are still maintaining their tenancy

Bristol housing Services 80%

Bristol Floating Support Services 96%

South glos housing Services 100%

South glos Floating Support Services 88%

St george’s house 74%

89%84% 100% 80%

47%

11%16% 0% 20%

53%

Bristol housing Services

Bristol Floating Support Services

South glos housing Services

South glos Floating Support Services

St george’s house

Bristol housing Services

Bristol Floating Support Services

South glos housing Services

South glos Floating Support Services

St george’s house

Bristol housing Services

Bristol Floating Support Services

South glos housing Services

South glos Floating Support Services

St george’s house

Age by Service Aged 18+ Aged 16/17

57% 62%92% 88%

74%

43% 38%8% 12% 26%

Ethnicity non BMe BMe

64% 59% 62% 63%30%

36% 41% 38% 37%

70%

Gender by Service Female Male

eQuALitY & diVeRSitY FiguReS

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houSing And SuppoRt

Housing and Support Services UpdateA summary of what’s been going on during 2011/12 It was a challenging year of absorbing funding cuts and getting ready for re-commissioning processes. The staff teams at St George’s House, South Gloucestershire, Bristol Housing and Floating Support services all showed incredible resilience, dedication and commitment. They made sure the pressure of re-structuring teams and resources did not impact negatively on the quality of services we deliver to our young people.

We continue to provide quality support which enhances independent living skills and lessens repeat homelessness for some of the most vulnerable young people. This support includes building the skills to secure and maintain long term suitable housing, overcoming emotional and personal difficulties to allow focus on long term dreams and aspirations and attending positive activities such as camping to build confidence and self esteem. This gives some the chance to get out of the city for the very first time.

It also includes assistance in navigating the world of benefits, budgeting and banking, cooking healthy food on a limited budget, the list could go on.

One of the most important things for young people following our satisfaction survey results was the quality and condition of their homes. Improving the condition of our accommodation has been one of 1625 Independent People’s ongoing key objectives within our business plan and this year has seen some fantastic joint ventures and partnerships with local agencies and businesses to help us achieve this.

Our in-house maintenance team continue to work tirelessly to provide a friendly and effective service to our residents. This year saw the following results:

100% of emergency repairs completed on time

92% of urgent repairs completed on time

92% of routine repairs completed on time.

We continue to provide quality support which enhances independent

living skills and lessens repeat homelessness for some of the most

vulnerable young people.

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houSing And SuppoRt

South Glos and Stroud College have worked with us on four properties to date as well as our young peoples activities room at Kingsley Hall to make better environments to use and live in. More properties will be worked on and improved in the autumn.

Our links with the business community are growing. This year we joined forces with teams in CAPITA, Lloyds Banking Group (LBG) and MITIE. In September a group of staff from CAPITA spent the day giving some much needed T.L.C to one of our properties. This included clearing the front and back gardens, cleaning the house from top to bottom and painting scuffed walls. They even raised funds towards nice things for the house which have since contributed to redecoration and soft furnishings such as throws.

LBG spent a day sugar soaping and painting a four-storey house which had become too daunting for the residents.

Headline Survey Figures 98% of service users rated the support they get as satisfactory, good or very good

84% of service users said they found their support plan useful or very useful

98% of service users said they thought our staff had respect for young people

93% were happy with our complaints procedure

85% said the amount of time they spend with their support worker was ‘about right’. 10% wanted more support. 5% said it was too much.

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This kind of hands-on support is invaluable in times when donations are less readily available and needless to say is greatly appreciated.

Denise Tombs Operations Director

In for a penny...Next year we celebrate our 30th anniversary. Many youth organisations have come and gone in that time. We’ve been working in Bristol and South Glos longer than half the population has been alive.

Our service is funded to work with young people for a few hours a week for a maximum of two years. Does that sound a long time?

If you condensed it into full working days – it’s about three weeks. It doesn’t seem much when you look at it like that. But it’s life changing.

Not everyone needs long term support – some need a hand to get back on their own track, while others need help to find their own track. We need to be a service that works for all levels of need.

We are very conscious of not creating dependency (it’s all in the name – Independent People) but we do believe that for some, the relationship they have with our organisation doesn’t need to end just because their support plan has.

We talk about young people being at the heart of everything we do, but just being here and referring young people on isn’t enough – we want the organisation itself to be a vehicle towards independence.

We have always known that stability and continuity are key to personal growth. It is widely recognised now that housing is the corner stone on which a young person can build their life. But we’re not a letting agency – we develop trusting, supportive relationships with people, many of whom have experienced abandonment in their lives. It would seem a contradiction to cut off that support just because of a date on a file. In some cases we would be guilty of causing yet another level of abandonment. So we’ve come to realise we need to embed pathways through our own organisation that allow young people to develop beyond their Support Plan in an independent way, but still benefit from the relationships and bonds they have forged – as we all do in life.

In order to do this we have had to develop new ways of working to build on the initial statutory funding which funds the two years. We’ve created stepping stones such as the Peer Education project, volunteering opportunities and Youth Involvement Programme which give the young people skills and opportunity to develop within this trusting environment.

CASe StudY

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11

CASe StudY

Take MikeHe has known Independent People since its beginning and before that he was a service user with Priority Youth Housing which merged with Wayahead to create IP. We have supported him twice, at different times in his life, because of different circumstances (the difference in a person from when they are 16 to when they are 25 is huge!).

We don’t support Mike anymore. Mike doesn’t have a dedicated Support Worker, or key working sessions. But we’re still in touch with him regularly because Mike trained through us to become a Peer Educator in our Upfront project. Mike’s been a Peer Educator for some time now, going into schools and youth settings to talk with other young people about the realities of leaving home. He and the other peer educators are actively preventing homelessness.

Mike is a champion, yes, in the real sense, but also a Money Skills Champion. As part of the new Barclays Money Skills Champions project we’re involved in, he’s been trained to talk to other

young people about their issues handling money and finances, because let’s face it, most young people would rather talk to Mike about it than a bank manager!

Just recently he helped us promote the project by talking to his local MP, Jack Lopresti, about it at an event in South Glos. Jack was so impressed by him he gave him his card and invited him to the House of Commons.

Early in 2012, Mike not only won a South Gloucestershire Community Hero Award, but was also selected for a Lord Lieutenants Award for valued services to community life in South Gloucestershire.

We were over the moon for him, but not surprised!

Dame Janet Trotters is the Lord-Lieutenant for Gloucestershire and South Glos (the Queen’s representative in the area) and this is what she said about Mike...

“A winner of winners ... an outstanding young person who has worked against the odds to support his peers who are thinking about leaving home at a young age. This work has mushroomed and from unpromising beginnings Mike has turned his life, and many others, around.”

Mike is now studying for a Diploma in Youth Work, with some support from us. We were able to put him forward because of his commitment to volunteering and because we knew him well enough.

This is the kind of enhanced support, commitment and investment we are able to offer to young people who are interested and ready for it.

“...A winner of winners...an outstanding young person who has worked against the odds to support his peers who are thinking about leaving home at a young age.”

On the outside... The Summer of ‘11 was spent out there among the masses – both virtual and real.

We set up the “Independent People” Facebook page and joined Twitter to increase our channels of communication and connect with people in different ways.

We packed up our stand (and our wellies) and pitched our stall at some of Bristol’s biggest festivals including the Harbourside, International Balloon Fiesta and Brisfest.

Armed with our t-shirts for sale, donated artworks and a very addictive fairground game, we interacted with over 3000 people face to face, one-to-one, in person. The aim? To tell people what we do, let young people know we exist and drum up new supporters.

We couldn’t have managed the 12 hour days without the help of over 40 volunteers which included members of the Board, Bristol Bridge Rotary Club, service users, VIPs, staff, friends and family.

To add a bit of excitement to our stall, the lovely people from Cruise Amour in Portsmouth donated a weekend cruise for two for us to raffle off.

on the outSide

“We set up the Independent People Facebook page and joined Twitter to increase our channels of communication and connect with people in different ways.”

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UWE to the rescue In the early part of 2012 we found ourselves pitching in a different way as the annual hustle for a final year Media Student Team from UWE came up.

Lots of organisations apply to have a team of media students take on a challenge for their charity. We were delighted to hear we’d got a team and their challenge was to help us improve our online presence.

The team outdid themselves! We set a hard task to create a brilliant Facebook Welcome Page and to conduct a review of our website. They produced a 58 page report which we are implementing.

i-people December 2011 saw the launch of our new magazine “ipeople” – written by young people for young people. We needed a regular channel to be able to let young people know what has been happening and to advertise future events.

The quarterly magazine is published online and a hard copy given to every young person. It includes reviews, recipes, puzzles, current affairs and interviews.

VIP – Volunteering at Independent People

Our VIP scheme keeps on growing. We took on a “Volunteer Coordinator” to help recruit and look after our volunteers and started a “Volunteer Pool” for people who want a flexible arrangement around volunteering.

As part of our VIP scheme we have worked with teams from HBOS, the Rotary Club, DTZ and CAPITA to help set up our community garden in Eastville. The garden allows us to host “Grow Club” – gardening and building sessions for young people.

on the outSide

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on the inSide

“

“

By MEETINg yOUNg PEOPLE’S NEEDS,

EVEry yOuNg PErsON ACHIEvES A POSITIvE OuTCOME As A rEsuLT OF CONTACTINg US

Youth Board

Our Vision Statement says, “By meeting young people’s needs, every young person achieves a positive outcome as a result of contacting us.” The Youth Board is just one way we are moving towards our vision. If we can make sure young people are involved at every level of the organisation, they can tell us about young people’s needs, help us develop services that meet them and hold us to account.

In January 2012 we held our first Youth Board meeting. The Youth Board meets bi-monthly and feeds directly into the Management Board. Young people decide which issues they want to table. Around five young people, a Youth Involvement Worker, Board member and SMT have been present at each meeting.

Peer Support Steering GroupThe Youth Board have prioritised Peer Support as the single most important thing they want to have input in. They have set up a Peer Support Steering Group chaired by a young person. The Steering Group is working on an action plan for implementing Peer Support at Independent People.

“More than just a landlord” The Youth Board have also set up a sub-group to focus on the theme of “more than just a landlord”. Other priorities for development and improvement are:

moving-on options and processes

improving our properties

the complaints process and outcomes.

On the inside

on the inSide

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Soft Skills

teamwork

team building

communication skills

creative thinking

confidence/ self esteem

self worth

social skills.

Hard skills

budgeting

equal opportunities/barriers to involvement

advocating/negotiating

promotional methods

risk assessing/ health and safety

presentation skills

researching

planning and prioritising

IT skills

administration and procedures.

Youth Involvement ProgrammeThe ‘Involvement programme’ was a pilot project designed by the Independent People’s Participation service. The aims of the programme were to improve the level of engagement young people have with the service, improve the way the Participation service is delivered and to improve outcomes for young people.

The programme puts young people at the centre of providing positive opportunities to their peers, whilst furthering their own skills and personal development.

The programme ran over a 10 week period and targeted young people not in employment, education or training who were willing to commit to the full duration. It also targeted those service users who would benefit from attending a positive activity rather than being involved in the planning and delivery.

32 young people took part, either running the programme or attending activities organised by the programme.

Those young people running the programme benefited from:

What outcomes did it achieve?After the programme one young person found work, one went for a job interview, three signed up for training courses, one became a Peer Educator through our Upfront project and one starting volunteering. 16 of the young people who attended activities were introduced to and became involved in other Independent People projects like the Forum, Cookery classes, Youth Board, Recruitment Panels and Peer Support Group. We think that was a success. The programme will run again.

Amy’s KitchenHer aim was to help us find out the best way to use food to promote independence. Our brand new kitchen at Kingsley Hall was funded by the Funding Network and is fantastic. It’s such a huge improvement on what was there before and is well used.

24 young people took part in Amy’s research. Amy taught and showed them round the kitchen,

on the inSide

At the end of March 2012, Amy, a student studying Food Management

with the organisation Slow Food came to Independent People to conduct

some research with our service users.

produced healthy, easy and fun food – many of them enjoyed it so much they would now consider a career in catering but that wasn’t her aim.

Amy spent weeks researching the best ways for an organisation like ours to use our facilities. Should we start a business? Should we get young people running a market stall? Should we get outside catering training?

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The OutcomeIn the end her recommendation was to use it in-house to teach young people how to cook for themselves, do it in groups and use the whole process as a therapy.

Get together, learn, cook, plan, bond, eat, socialise. Keep it simple. 100% of participants expressed improved understanding of healthy eating.

A majority of participants expressed benefiting from:

improved confidence in budgeting and meal preparation

improved dietary habits post cooking session

gaining ideas for the future

trying something new

having fun

finding a new interest

meeting new people

breaking boredom

gaining confidence

learning about team-work

gaining motivation.

All that just from making some simple good food.

on the inSide

“Our brand new kitchen at Kingsley Hall was funded by the Funding Network and is fantastic.”

“

“OF HEALTHy EATINg

OF PArTICIPANTs EXPrEssED100% IMPROvED UNDERSTANDINg

Get out of bedBarny Haughton is a chef, restaurateur, food educator and teacher. He runs the Square Food Foundation in Bristol and teaches at the University of Gastronomic Sciences in Pollenzo, Italy. He once said – “What’s the first thing you have to do if you want to make an omelette? Get out of bed.”

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Senior Management Team 2011-2012Chief Executive Dom Wood

Operations Directors Denise Tombs and Howard Symonds

Service Improvement Director Jamie Gill

Volunteer Board of Management 2011-2012Chair Stephen Lodge

Vice Chair Karen Ross

Treasurers Meirion Rushworth and David Clowes

Board Members Nat Selman, Ann Thorne, David Morgan, Barbara Berryman, Donna Johnson and Sally Cordwell

Permanent Position Volunteers 2011-2012Display Co-ordinator Duwayne Douglas

Marketing and Events Volunteer Emma Loui

Volunteer Coordinators Leonna Chambers and Sarah Golding-Keanne

ipeople Magazine Donough O’Malley

Marketing Volunteer Kit Kafele

the teAM

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Finally, A Big Thank YouFor services/donations/acts of kindness between April 2011 - end March 2012

Look Again Photography

Lush

Me Time Beauty

Mendips Raceway Ltd

Merlin Housing

Minuteman Press

MITIE

Nemesis Paintballing

Old Market Community Association

Osbourne Clarke

Places for People

Prince’s Trust

Quartet Community Foundation

Solon South West Housing Association

Solsoft

Southern Brookes

South Gloucestershire Council

South Gloucestershire and Stroud College

South West Consortium

Studio 2 Printers

The Funding Network

The Sofa Project

Trinity Arts

Tuffin Ferraby Taylor

University of the West of England

Urban Outfitters

Wellbeing Service

Young Peoples Substance Misuse Service

Youth Justice Board

Aardman

Art Express

At Bristol

Avon and Somerset Police – Beat Team

Barclays Bank

Big Lottery Fund

Bluefin

Bristol Bridge Rotary Club

Bristol Charities

Bristol City Council

Bristol City Football Club

Bristol Rugby Club

Bristol University

BSDAS Transitions Service

Business in the Community

Burges Salmon

CAPITA

Caring at Christmas

Charities Information Bureau (CIB)

Cruise Amour

DTZ

Fareshare

Frank Buttle Trust

Help! Counselling

HBOS

i.e. Intelligent Marketing

Jephson Housing

Knightstone Housing Association

Learning Partnership West

Lloyds Banking Group

SpeCiAL thAnKS

Kingsley Hall, 58-59 Old Market Street, Bristol BS2 0ER0117 317 8800www.1625ip.co.uk

The leading provider of housing, support and advice to young people in the South West of England

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