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Annual R eport 2015

Annual Report 2015

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Chairs Statement

People Matters had another year of change during 2014-2015. Things have turned

out really well but it was hard to know what to do. The Teens and Twenties project

finished which meant that more staff you knew left us. During the summer and

autumn in 2014 we had to think hard about what to do next. The board of

directors that you appointed at the last AGM had to meet loads of

times with Tina. They were all involved in looking for new ideas and

ways to find money so we could afford to carry on.

I know Tina spent a lot of time writing down ideas and getting in

touch with different people who might be able to help. Some of this

worked and other things didn’t. We were really pleased to start delivering Active

Matters with a new grant from Health Amaze CIC. We also had to make sure we

carried on looking after our staff as well as we could.

We are very pleased that good things happened during the year too. We had

a fantastic summer barbeque and Christmas party. We carried on doing lots

of classes at Barkston House and other places in Leeds. More new people

started doing things with People Matters for the first time.

At least one person comes to the end of their time as a director each year.

Sometimes they get to do another 3 years. At this AGM the director saying goodbye

to the board is Paul. Paul is a member and has said that he will enjoy carrying on

doing activities with us. Alan one of our advisers can’t carry on helping the board

either because he is really busy at work. Thank you to both, their work has been

really important to us.

We have looked round the people who are members of People Matters because we

needed a new volunteer to be a director. Jonathan uses the People Matters

community support service. We haven’t had a director from this service before. It

would be good to have a director from a different part of People Matters. We are also

looking for a new adviser to replace Alan. We want someone who is an

expert on marketing or developing new business to help us get started with

more new things. Tina tells me that she needs this sort of help.

I have really enjoyed my first year as chair of People Matters. There are lots of things

going on now. Finally, I would like to thank Tina, Sally, Elissa, Lucy and the rest of

the team for their hard work. Thank you too to the other directors for what they have

done this year. Most importantly, I would like to thank you as the members and

people who use People Matters for your patience and support during this year of

positive change. The future is looking much better.

Charles Ward, Chair

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Chief Executives Report

Well, what a year 2014-2015 turned out to be. The board of directors asked me to

work on lots of different things. We were so busy. Some of the things we did needed

finishing off as funding stopped. This meant we had to find new things to do

as well. Here is some of the news.

• We worked really hard to put in reports to the Big Lottery about Teens and Twenties at the end of the grant. It was fantastic looking at the stories from across the 5 years.

• We wrote new applications for grants to the People’s Health Trust and the Big Lottery. Our Active Matters project got started in January. • We need to say thank you to the staff again. New people arrived like Elissa who has been managing the outreach service. There are new support workers and tutors too who have been working hard. • We started to work with Leeds City Council Children’s Services for the first time

Other jobs we have done that the directors asked for.

• Let you know about news. We carried on with telling you what is happening

on Facebook & sending out messages on twitter too. We put the minutes of

directors meetings on the website now as well.

• Make sure you have more chances to tell us what you think. We started new

steering groups for the Thursday night group and Active Matters. People on

courses got the chance to give us ideas and tell us how things were going too.

• Make it easier for you to find out useful information from us. We put lots

more on our website. You can find on the People Matters website things like

how to;

apply to adult social services for support

make a complaint or give someone who works with you a compliment

keep safe with us

understand what we think about everyone being treated equally

find out where you can get financial advice if you need it

We know we have lots to do still on making sure that we tell you

things in ways you can read. The latest new thing is our members

guide.

• Keep in touch with people with the young people from Teens and

Twenties. We organised newsletters, reunions and produced our ‘Teens

and Twenties Story’ booklet with members.

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• Work with other people and organisations. We did lots,

by taking part in Learning Disability Week

being involved in Tenfold and the Learning Disability Partnership Board

doing courses with partners, we worked with Wilf Ward Family Trust and

then found other new partners too

• Improve how we worked with you. We started to develop new

guidelines for staff to help them work well with you

There is always a lot more to do. The directors keep me busy. This

year they want us to;

• Design a big plan for what People Matters is going to do for the next three years • Make People Matters stronger and grow so it can offer more support and opportunities for members • Start working on something new to help find new members and support people with learning disabilities to get jobs or volunteer if they want to. • Have more volunteers and make sure they have good opportunities to contribute and stay with us So this year is another busy year. Do look out for more news and tell more people about what we do.

Tina Turnbull, Chief Executive

About us Our registered address: 68a Barkston House, Domestic Street light Ind Est, Leeds, LS11 9RT Our Directors over the period: Robert Rae, Paul Jackson, Becky Farren (retired Jan 2015) Charles Ward (appointed Jan 2015) Rowena Herbert (appointed Jan 2015) Susan Moreland (appointed Jan 2015) Our Company Secretary: Tina Turnbull, Our Bank: Co-operative Bank, PO Box 250 Delf House, Skelmersdale WN8 6WT Our Insurers during the period: Zurich Insurance, Zurich House, Stanhope Road, Portsmouth, PO1 1DU Our Accountants: Rothwell and Co

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Our values are that we

Put you first

We are flexible and inclusive,

everything about our people

and each other matters to us.

Work together

We collaborate to build our

teams, communities,

friendships and how we

engage with you.

Have integrity

You can trust us to be

honest, treat you

equally, respectfully and

with empathy.

Are determined to see

potential thrive

Our commitment means we

stay with you and take pride

in your success.

Are enterprising

We solve problems,

adapt to your needs and

take care with your

money.

Create opportunities for people with learning and other disabilities to be more

independent and enjoy life in the same ways, and in the same places, as anybody

else.

Our aim is to

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1. Members are supported to achieve things that help them to be

independent

We do this through both the adult learning courses and supporting people in groups and 1

to 1 to be out in the community or at home

2. New and growing services deliver what members need

Putting in applications for new projects and working with the council means that we started

doing new things like Active Matters and more people now get their 1 to 1 support from us

3. Staff and volunteers are skilled and supportive

Sally and Elissa have worked hard to make sure that the people who support you do much

more training, are supervised and that reviews happen more often

4. Quality is really important to us

We have spent a lot of time making sure that staff have a lot more guidance to refer to if

they need it. Thinking about how the team works and making changes so we can do

things better has also been important during the year

Our priorities

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Spring – We delivered lots of

community leaning classes and our

Spring prospectus advertised 15

different courses. The partners we

worked with were Wilf Ward Family

Family Trust, Hamara and ENE Homes.

Summer – Our 5 year Teens and

Twenties project finished during the

summer. Everyone was disappointed

the project had come to an end. The

reports we wrote, sent in to the Big

Lottery and shared made us look at

the difference the project made.

There were some great stories.

Autumn – Elissa our support manager

arrived at People Matters. After Elissa

arrived she spent time getting to know

members and staff in the service. There

was a lot to do to make sure that

everything worked well. We also spent a

lot of time looking for new funds so we

could do things with members.

Winter – We got a new grant to start

our Active Matters project. Groups of

members decide what they want to do

and they focus on improving their

well-being. Our Christmas Party was

held at Moortown Rugby Club.

What happened in 2015

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14 – 15 was another big year for community learning with the introduction of new

tutors and new subjects.

For the first time IT courses were introduced to the programme. Other new courses

included Sign Language, Managing Emotions, First Aid and the very popular

Exploring Animals.

Learners have been busy making Christmas lunch pies, writing newsletters,

producing work for exhibitions, taking photographs at a fashion show and meeting

Ian a 2.5m long Royal Python.

We have worked with new partners this year, Paperworks, Slate, Hamara, Men in

Sheds, Oblong Woodhouse Community Centre, ENE Homes and Morley Exotic

Animal Rescue. Over 150 learners enrolled on courses creating even more

opportunities.

97% of learners said they would recommend their course to someone else

89% of learners said they felt more confident after completing a course

98% of learners rated courses as good or excellent

99% achievement rate (learners reaching their course outcomes)

Community Learning

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Our new project funded by the People’s Health Lottery got off to a fantastic start with

all groups full. We even had a waiting list. Members were able to work with Amy to

create a varied and very active programme. Activities included games in the park,

dance, yoga, smoothie making, massage, visits to the gym and sensory room.

The groups got to share their wellbeing message with local communities when they

performed at and took part in the fashion show this was hosted by the Get Me Better

Champions and Leep 1 during Learning Disability Week. They also ran a stand at

the Hunslet Gala challenging visitors to a fitness test.

One member has even returned as a volunteer to share her new knowledge and

skills with other members.

“I like head massage

and would do it

more”

“I am more fit,

energetic and I don’t

get out of breath”

“I made new

friends”

“Excellent”

“The tutor is

simply the

best”

Active Matters

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The Thursday adults group met regularly all year with nearly 20 members. Staff working

with the group changed with Adam and Lucy both handing over to new people.

8 people have moved on from Teens to join this group. 3 members of the group built their confidence and have now moved on and found work. Most people in the group have also taken at least one course in our community learning. Some now have the confidence and skills to meet up separately or travel together.

Our Teens and Twenties groups enjoyed meeting until the end of the project and were

sorry when sessions stopped. Some people got involved in telling the Teens and

Twenties Story. We did several reports. One was for professionals and people

completed a survey or had interviews with someone from Sheffield Hallam University. In

another people worked with Tom to do a graphic book which everyone told us they

liked. We went to a big exhibition in Sheffield to share our story with lots of people from

across the North of England.

Social Groups

Did you know that in the Teens Project: • 92 young people have been involved across the five years • 6 young volunteers and 2 assistant support workers with disabilities supported other members in the last year of the project • Members and parents scored the project at 4 out of 5 for the difference it made for friendships, positive behaviours, taking account of others & confidence • One previous member of the project said that it had helped him to have the confidence to leave home and get a place of his own • Another person said they moved from being a member, volunteer, and became a

member of staff and now have a full time job in another organisation

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Support in the community

2014 - 2015 was an exciting year for support in the community

Elissa arrived in Sept 2014 to manage the service and spent time getting to know all the

members and the staff working in the service.

The service has grown steadily in the last year;

• The Sept 2014 figure for number of hours delivered in the month was 501

• Sept 2015 total for the month was 780 hours!

• In the last year we have said goodbye to 4 of the people we were supporting but

introduced 10 new members. So now we are supporting 21 people in and around Leeds

We were successful in getting on the Leeds City Council Childrens Services framework for

‘Independent Support Workers’ in January 2015 and have been supporting 3 young people on

the service since then. Our focus is supporting young people in high school. This is so they can

become more independent as they get closer to being an adult.

We have introduced more regular person centred reviews for our members if they receive 1 to1

support. These are chaired by an independent person. This was so people could be supported

have the confidence to speak out about any changes they need or want. More people are being

referred to us who are on the autistic spectrum too.

Feedback about our support workers and the difference they make:

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Balances Unrestricted £82,301 Restricted £18,540 Total £100,841

We spent £35, 031 less than we earned this year. We were all really careful so we could build our bank balance

up again after we spent too much in the last two years. We can’t spend this all this money however we want

though. ‘Restricted funds’ is money from grants. This is where we have to follow the rules of the funder. We can

only spend this type of money on what they say like from Health Amaze CIC for Active Matters.

Unrestricted funds are money from contracts. We are free to spend any extra on our social purpose like helping

the Thursday night group to carry on. (No money can be just given to any person or external group though. This

is in the People Matters rules in our ‘memorandum & articles of association’).

It is very important that we have a good balance at the bank to help our cashflow. This means we can pay our

costs like staff wages, insurance, rent, telephone and electricity each month before our income arrives.

Sometimes we have to wait a long time for money to arrive. We have also been saving because we want to plan

something new in 2016/17 and have to save up.

You can find more information on how we spend our money in our full financial accounts. These have been

checked by an independent accountant. They are available to any member or their family/main carer.

People Matters (Leeds) CIC 2013/14

Financial Report

68A Barkston House, Domestic Street, Light Industrial Estate, LS11 9RT tel: 0113 2346896

People Matters (Leeds) CIC is a community Interest Company and a Company limited by guarantee.

Reg. No. 4437728

www.peoplemattersleeds.co.uk facebook.com/peoplemattersleeds

People Matters 2014/15 Income and Expenditure

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