Annual review
This book tells you what Livability did in 2011/2012
What you can find in this review 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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a review is a look-back at what we have done
Welcome from Paula Kerr 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.
Paula Kerr is Chair, or leader, of the Board of Trustees. This team makes sure Livability is run properly
Fulfilling Potential means making the most of your life consultation means asking what someone thinks about an issue
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.
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Livability and you Who uses Livability?
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?
Livability offers a wide choice of services in England. Our main areas of work are: • L ifelong learning: we offer many education and employment opportunities. See pages 8 and 9 for more on this. • P ersonal independence: our services support 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. • T aking part: we open doors into the wider community for people of all ages and types of disability. See pages 12 and 13 for more on this. 4
Our staff
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 standards
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.
What makes us tick 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.
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What we did this year Our six aims helped us to make sure our work stayed on track. Our aims this year were to…
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Have the best services and open new ones
• w e launched our Enterprise Agency to train people to run their own business • o ur new Lifestyle Choices North London is helping disabled adults to get involved in their communities • o ur education centres are offering broader learning to a wider age group
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Change communities for the better
• v olunteer numbers grew by 12 per cent. People from many different backgrounds are involved with our work • o ur Community Mission training events were rated very highly by delegates. Two recent evaluations rated Livability’s input as ‘invaluable’
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Have the best staff
• 7 5 per cent of staff at our services have gained or are working for a qualification • w e celebrated the outstanding work of our staff with the Princess Royal Livability Awards • w e made plans to employ more disabled staff and further empower our service users
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Get better known for our expertise
• w e held our first national consultation on government policy for service users. They want the government to improve transitions, and information and advice • w e had twice as many mentions in the press as last year, making disability and our service users more visible nationally • o ur in-depth work with churches increased by over 40 per cent, to 50 churches • w e trained over 1,000 health professionals in Asia, in brain and spinal injury rehabilitation
Our aims for next year We will focus our work on … • p utting our service users at the heart of everything we do • u sing our resources as the biggest Christian disability charity to transform lives • k eeping the charity’s finances as healthy as possible • m aking sure the whole organisation works even more efficiently
rehabilitation means making your health better
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Become even more efficient
• w e made sure fees for our services were competitive • w e made sure our income covered the cost of running our services • w e checked that our fundraising is as effective as possible
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Listen more closely to people who use our services
• w e launched our Service User Partnership Board, chaired by a Livability trustee • t his Board has carried out a survey of service users. 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 7
A great year for… lifelong learning
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: • w e educated over 200 students at our school and two colleges • m ore students took part in work experience and learning in the community • o lder students – up to 25 years – were offered new courses • 1 00 clients learned about running their own business with our new Enterprise Agency • o ur brain injury centre treated over 300 people who are relearning how to live as independently as possible • o ur overseas work meant health workers in Asia could share best practice in brain and spinal cord injury rehabilitation • t he new hydrotherapy pool and therapy centre at VEC will make a big difference to students’ health. This means they miss fewer lessons
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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
Spot the difference for… Ross, work experience
Ross from Hinwick Hall College got work experience at a local garden centre. At first he didn’t always want to do what his boss told him. And Ross found it hard to finish a job if he didn’t like it. But over a year, Ross learned how to do his job properly from the moment he arrives at work. He now listens to his boss and works steadily to finish the job. He knows his way around the garden centre and helps customers to find what they need. His boss says: ‘Ross works well with our staff and other students. He can now follow instructions and solve problems on his own.’ 9
A great year for… personal independence
Giving people meaningful choice about the way they live is key to Livability’s services. This year we … • b uilt five state-of-the-art rooms and a new lift at John Grooms Court in Norwich • c ampaigned successfully, with our service users, against the government’s plans to change the Disability Living Allowance (DLA) • l aunched our Partnership Board to train and support service users to be advocates for their peers • supported over 100 people to live in their own homes • p rovided accommodation with care for over 260 disabled adults • h elped 4,000 disabled people and their families to enjoy stress-free, wheelchair-accessible holidays • offered more services in Gloucestershire
Spot the difference for… Ian, getting a job
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… Louise, leaving home
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.’
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A great year for… taking part
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: • s upporting a group of service users to take part in a major government consultation on disability. The group spoke about how they want to be more involved in their communities, and the barriers they have to overcome • g rowing our Lifestyle Choices services. This means over 200 clients have got out of the house to take up a new interest or life-skill, or to have fun socially • t raining over 600 Christian community workers and working with over 50 churches. Community Mission’s work has equipped some 8,000 people who can make their communities better places to live 12
Spot the difference for… Kay, getting out 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 more confident. And this year, Kay went to London with Livability to take part in a government consultation about disability.
Spot the difference for… Essex church, community life 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.’ 13
Where our money came from We were given £39.4million last year to run our services. Most of this money came from local authorities for… 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: other sources
2%
fundraising
10%
education services
42%
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services for disabled adults
46%
How we spent our money We spent £38.2million last year on … 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: trusts and other charitable purposes
1%
community mission and linked churches
1%
governance less than
1%
fundraising
3%
education services
45%
services for disabled adults
49%
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 Meeting on 13 Nov 2012. By order of the Trustees 26 September 2012
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Central office: Livability 50 Scrutton Street London EC2A 4XQ www.livability.org.uk Phone Email
020 7452 2000 info@livability.org.uk
Patron HRH The Princess Royal Charity registration no. 1116530 Company registration no. 5967087 Livability is the new face of John Grooms and the Shaftesbury Society