ANNUAL REPORT 2015-16 CONTENTS Foreword 3 Report of the Board of Management 5 Independent Auditor’s Report to the Trustees 24 Statement of Financial Activities 27 Balance Sheet 28 Statement of Cash Flow 29 Notes to the Financial Statements 30 – 45 2 | www.children1st.org.uk FOREWORD In recent years, the Annual Report from Children 1st has highlighted three fundamental themes. The first is the “A child without childhood is like continuing need for the charity’s services. a rainbow without colour. You The second is the continuing pressure on our ability to provide those services know something wonderful and through funding constraints. The third beautiful is missing, and it will – and hugely positive – theme has been the ability of the charity’s management, keep hurting for a whole lifetime.” staff and volunteers to adapt, do things differently and to continue to help those Adult Survivor of Abuse in great need. This year is no exception. It is unfortunately the case that the support we can give to children, young people and families in the most difficult of circumstances was in ever-increasing demand in 2015-16. Ideally, it would be possible to pinpoint the underlying causes which give rise to the need for our services, but there is no single villain. Those in need are not to be classified in any neat way, whether according to geography, economics or personal background. However, it is possible to point to a number of influences. Poverty remains the prevailing, debilitating reality for far too many families in Scotland in 2016. Domestic violence, sexual abuse and the impact of trauma are malevolent forces. As is drugs and alcohol misuse. But a further influence is the simple reality that many parents find parenthood difficult, sometimes lacking help from within their own families, often trying to defend children against the difficulties brought by poverty, violence or substance misuse. This is not easy but it is where the people of Children 1st can help. That’s why the deceptively simple description of “working with families” is so important. This help is often essential at the time but is also the early intervention which prevents far more serious problems in later years. The increasingly difficult funding backdrop through public spending cuts is well- documented and all I can do in this report is to ask that those tasked with making those decisions are as fully aware of the implications as they can be. I have no doubt whatever about the integrity of those in command of these decisions; it is unenviable to be asked to prioritise limited resources between competing demands which are highly deserving. But I am biased. The welfare of our children and young people is such a fundamental part of society’s well-being that any decision which damages that welfare must be very carefully taken. Children 1st is redoubling its efforts to compensate for public funding shortfalls with increased income from other sources. The positive effect of our services fits well with the objectives of many trusts and with companies who see it as part of their mission to support the communities in which they do business. Throughout 2015-16 there has been heightened scrutiny by government, the media and the public about fundraising practices of large UK-wide charities. It is the case that Children 1st has always adopted fundraising practices which are donor led and we will continue to adhere fully to all regulations. Our 3 | www.children1st.org.uk new branding, with the determination that each child in Scotland has reasons to smile, captures the ethos of Children 1st and our aspirations for the children and young people in this country of ours. With the continuing support of our many funders, from the public and private sectors, organisations and individuals, from all over Scotland, we will keep working to ensure that each child has reasons to smile. This is my last Statement on behalf of the Board before I hand over to my successor, Ken Cunningham, at our AGM in September. It has been a privilege to serve this outstanding charity for nine years, through some very difficult times. I’ve mentioned the first two of three prevailing themes above, but it is the third that is in many ways the most powerful. The work done by our staff and volunteers to bring positive outcomes to children, young people and families in such difficult circumstances, their ability to find light in the gloom, to adapt to the needs of the families they work with and to the resources available, is truly inspiring. The reality is that there will not be any easier times ahead, but with supportive funders, an outstanding new Chair, Board members and management team, and such dedicated and skilled staff and volunteers, I am absolutely confident that Children 1st will be a huge force for good in the lives of children, young people and families in Scotland for many, many years to come. Finally it was with great sadness that we learned of the passing of Allan Doig at the beginning of June. Allan was a great colleague and a man who put Scotland’s children first. For twenty eight years Allan was a leading figure in the delivery of the Touch of Tartan Ball, one of our largest and most successful fundraising events and for the past two years Allan has been a member of the Children 1st Board playing a key role in our governance. The thoughts of all of us at Children 1st are with Allan’s family and friends and on behalf of all the children and families Allan helped us to support and champion we remember him with great respect. He will be hugely missed. On behalf of the Board of Management Graeme Bissett BA CA Chair 4 | www.children1st.org.uk REPORT OF THE BOARD OF MANAGEMENT The Board of Management presents the annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2016. The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in note 1 to the accounts and comply with the charity’s governing document 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 (FRS102) (effective 1 January 2015). OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES The objects of the Corporation as set out in the Royal Charter are: 1. To prevent abuse and neglect of children and 2. To assist the recovery of children from abuse and neglect. In furtherance of the foregoing objects the Corporation shall work: (i) To build the strengths of children who are vulnerable. (ii) To enhance the lives of such children by supporting parents. (iii) To champion the rights and interests of such children. (iv) To do all such other lawful things as are considered expedient for or consistent with the attainment of the objects of the Corporation. The Children 1st strategic plan for 2013-2018 has two aims: • To provide excellent services which promote the safety and wellbeing of vulnerable children and young people. • To be a strong public voice for vulnerable children and young people to positively influence public policy and opinion. The organisation has refreshed its strategic plan during the year introducing a logic model to clearly show the resources, activities, outputs and outcomes of the charity and enable more robust planning and evaluation. 5 | www.children1st.org.uk 6 | www.children1st.org.uk Children 1st measures and evaluates its work against the Scottish Government’s health and wellbeing indicators - Safe, Healthy, Achieving, Nurtured, Active, Respected, Responsible and Included (SHANARRI). ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE We help Scotland’s families to put children first with practical advice and support in difficult times. When the worst happens we support survivors of abuse, neglect and other traumatic events in childhood to recover. We listen to Scotland’s children and families. When government or society fails to hear them or respect their rights we speak out. We help Scotland’s communities to play their part in looking out for and protecting children. We cannot succeed alone. We work in partnership with local organisations and agencies including childcare professionals, the government, police and community groups – whoever shares our aim to put children first. We also work with other charities combining our expertise with theirs to better support and speak out for children and families at a local and national level. Our aim is to work with as many of Scotland’s vulnerable children as we can. Previously we have been able to reach more children through our valuable group work in schools. However due to changes in our funding over the past year we have had to reduce this work. Accordingly this year we have worked with 10,500 children, young people and their family members. During the year Children 1st continued to deliver services in 17 local authority areas. In addition we continued to run five national services,ParentLine Scotland, National Kinship Care, Family Decision Making (to October 2015), Safeguarding in Sport and the National Safeguarders Panel. The main reasons individuals and families were referred to our services were: • for support to develop positive parenting (26 percent); • to strengthen family relationships (21 percent); • to prevent, and support recovery from, abuse and trauma (19 percent); • to reduce the impact of substance misuse (12 percent) and • t o promote children and young people’s participation in decisions that affect them (9 percent). We have two key strategic aims: • T o provide excellent services which promote the safety and wellbeing of vulnerable children and young people.