Centrepoint Annual Report and Review 2007-2008

Invest in their future.

Annual review 2007/08

Since 1969, Centrepoint has helped more than 73,000 homeless young people.

While they are with us we provide shelter and health care, teach them life skills and give them educational and employment support.

However, the real aim is to give them the power to regain control of their lives, to give them back their future.

Contents Introduction – HRH Prince William Welcome to this year’s review A year in action Concert for Diana Centrepoint overview Facts and Figures Homelessness: the big picture Putting young people first Working with young people Financial Review Thank you

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Photo Action Images

Prince William plays football with homeless young people at the FA Hat-trick project.

Annual review 2007/08

Welcome to this year’s review

Home-fullness is a sense of belonging, enabling a young person’s personal, social and economic well-being.

It is about emotions, cultural identity and aspirations, within a mutually supportive community.

Annual review 2007/08

“Homelessness can take various forms in the often chaotic and troubled lives that homeless young people face. At Centrepoint we therefore focus our work on the person not the problem and on the transitions they must make to turn things around. We work to foster homeless young people’s self respect and to secure practical, emotional and educational support so that they can realise their potential. We ensure that their voices are heard and needs are responded to, so that they can learn to live independently but also make a wider contribution, recognising the interdependent needs of others. Socially excluded and homeless young people require support, but, like all young people, also need to be challenged and empowered.

Over the last year there has been a raft of government initiatives and changes to the delivery of services that impact on the way we work now and the way we plan for the future.

The Government has set out ten-year strategies for housing, young people and skills. There are significant challenges in tackling the problem of so many young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET), and reforming benefits to meet the needs of young people.

This is a time when all the main political parties are promoting the involvement of charities, voluntary and community organisations to take on a greater role in the delivery of services. At a local level, Children’s Trusts will be commissioning integrated youth support services for 14—19 year olds and local authorities will be commissioning other services that affect how young people are supported.

Centrepoint is well placed as a charity and social enterprise to focus on the value we create for all stakeholders, including government commissioners of services as well as the benefit we bring to young people who are homeless, disadvantaged and marginalised. As we head into our 40th anniversary year in 2009, working in partnership with others, it is a very real ambition to see the end of youth homelessness and to support a society where young people are home-ful, not homeless.

We are privileged to have the support and involvement of our patron HRH Prince William, as well as the dedication of all our supporters, volunteers and staff who help make our work so successful. We would like to thank the donors who enable us to carry out our work. Finally, we would like to extend our appreciation to the young people we work with and continue to learn from, helping to improve our services and to influence national policy, securing support for young people and organisations committed to ending youth homelessness.

Michael O’Higgins (Chair)

Anthony Lawton (CEO)

Annual review 2007/08

A year in action April 2007 20 Centrepoint supporters took to London’s streets to raise £30,000 in the Flora London marathon. One supporter, Jack Lamont of Southwark, has had first hand experience of Centrepoint’s work. He said; “I have experienced homelessness myself and Centrepoint were a phenomenal support during this time and helped me to get back on my feet”.

June 2007 Refugee week gave young people the unique opportunity to experience and celebrate the rich diversity of refugees through music, food, dress and a host of creative events.

A quarter of the young people Centrepoint works with are refugees, and the week of events highlighted awareness of the courage of refugees, delivering positive messages to counter fear, ignorance and negative stereotypes.

August 2007 Young people on the Capel Manor horticulture course took part in summer residential projects. Through Centrepoint’s partnership with Capel Manor College, young people have the opportunity to learn basic skills in gardening and gain an AQA accredited qualification: Level 1 City & Guilds Horticulture skills.

September 2007 Eleven young people set sail aboard The Queen Galabriel to embark on a sailing residential taking them on a 130 mile journey around the Isle of Wight. Young people lived and worked alongside a professional crew, who helped them to improve their communication skills, learn to face challenges and develop their ability to work as a team.

Annual review 2007/08

October 2007 Centrepoint hosted an open day at its Ealing services during National Care Leavers Week, and produced a Roll of Honour detailing the achievements of 30 young care leavers who had been nominated by support workers for making a significant step towards improving their lives. The focus of the week was the need for continued help and support for young people making the transition from care to adulthood.

May 2007 Sara Cox, Radio 1 DJ and supporter of Centrepoint, launched ‘Lifewise’, a programme designed by Centrepoint which aims to equip young people with the skills they need to live independently by tackling their personal, social, educational and training needs.

‘Lifewise’ also offers young people the opportunity to gain AQA accredited certifications.

November 2007 Forty Centrepoint supporters volunteered to spend a night sleeping out on the streets to raise funds for Centrepoint and awareness of the ongoing issues of youth homelessness. Those sleeping out included prominent supporters from business.

November also saw Centrepoint Salters’ Foyer celebrate its tenth anniversary.

July 2007 Centrepoint joined Princes William and Harry at the ‘Concert for Diana’ to celebrate Diana’s birthday and commemorate her work supporting charities, including Centrepoint.

The concert saw 60,000 of Diana’s supporters come together with a television audience from 145 countries around the world.

December 2007 EAT, the sandwich and soup company, launched the ‘Full Works’, a special Christmas sandwich to help raise funds and awareness of youth homelessness over the Christmas period. The sandwiches were sold across EAT’s 80 London-based shops.

January 2008 Centrepoint was awarded funding from the BIG Lottery fund to conduct a three year programme in partnership with The Family Planning Association to improve young people’s awareness of sexual health and relationship issues.

February 2008 Budding builders in the North East took to the work site of the Easington Youth build project to learn skills in construction which will open the doors to future employment.

Putting into practice what they learnt, the group renovated properties in Sunderland that will be sold to young people at affordable rates, benefiting the whole community.

Photo Luminar

Centrepoint diary

March 2008 Prince William bade farewell to two young people and a member of staff from Centrepoint, as they set off on a mammoth month-long expedition across rural Africa, cycling 1,200 miles to benefit community and conservation projects run by Tusk Trust.

Concert for Diana

A Brighter Future for Homeless Young People at the Concert for Diana. On July 1st 2007 Centrepoint young people, staff, supporters and celebrities took part in the Concert for Diana. They donned white T-shirts and orange sunglasses to represent the 800 young people who are given a brighter future by the charity every day.

“ Throughout her life Diana, Princess of Wales, was a passionate champion for the rights of disadvantaged people. She was an active supporter and patron of Centrepoint’s work with homeless young people. It was with great pride that Centrepoint was nominated by HRH Prince William as one of the charities to benefit from the Concert for Diana. This incredible concert was full of the spirit and energy of Diana, and reflected the passion we shared with her for ensuring a brighter future for homeless young people.” Anthony Lawton, Chief Executive

Annual review 2007/08

Centrepoint overview

Realising their potential. The young people Centrepoint works with have a present life as well as a future. We help them to build a ‘home’, be fulfilled, have a sense of achievement, be included and contribute here and now. In short, to be ‘home-ful’.

Youth Homelessness in the UK: A decade in progress was commissioned by Centrepoint and funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. This research, conducted by York University, assessed the scale and profile of youth homelessness over the past ten years, and the impact of policy developments on those vulnerable to becoming homeless.

Six detailed local authority case studies were undertaken and a national consultation was carried out with policy experts and young people to identify future policy and practice.

Local services In our direct work with young people, Centrepoint provides a range of accommodation based services, including emergency night shelters and short stay services, foyers and supported flats and peripatetic support services. We run specialist projects for care leavers, as well as for ex-offenders and young single parents.

Our work is informed by our distinctive support and development approach which responds to young people in a holistic way, but also attends to particular issues of housing and home, income, learning and health.

Home Office funded ‘Work It Out’ project, helped 130 young refugees into the labour market by supporting them to access work experience placements, volunteering and jobs. This work helps provide a greater understanding of how the system in Britain works to support refugees to find work.

Our aim is to improve the effectiveness of homeless organisations and support local authorities in tackling youth homelessness across the country, and help such networks develop local provision in line with best practice. Through our Centrepoint Partnering programme we work in partnership with local providers to deliver direct services to young people (see page 19).

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National influence Over the past year, our policy work has concentrated on four major projects to help shape and inform government policies and services for homeless young people: National Youth Homelessness Scheme (NYHS) was commissioned by the Department for Communities and Local Government and conducted jointly by Centrepoint with YMCA. This established ‘centres of excellence’ in each of the nine government office regions as well as a web-based knowledge resource to share good practice in preventing youth homelessness and working to support homeless young people.

Joint study, FOR-HOME, on the resettlement of single homeless people carried out by the University of Sheffield. This ambitious study will continue until 2010, analysing resettlement in terms of sustained tenancy, ‘settledness’ and well-being for homeless people of all ages. Centrepoint helps manage and guide the research as the only organisation involved that works solely with young people.

Our work is rooted in the experiences of the young people who use Centrepoint services.

We have learned from and used that experience to mobilise support nationally to shape policy and provision for homeless young people. This is underscored by our joint work with YMCA for Communities and Local Government in the National Youth Homelessness Scheme.

Centrepoint’s Foundations for Life partnership with LandAid, the property industry’s charity, also formed an alliance with the Prince’s Trust, who offer homeless young people training in life-skills, education qualifications and work-based apprenticeships.

Facts and figures

How many people does Centrepoint help?

2002—03

In 2007/08 Centrepoint worked directly with 1622 young people in our accommodation related services. Almost half (45%) of the young people Centrepoint worked with over the past year were known to have slept rough.

909

2003—04

1452

2004—05

1485

2005—06

1553

2006—07

1622

2007—08

1622 We work with homeless young people aged 16 to 25 providing direct accommodation and support services in London and the North East, and work in partnership with organisations in other areas to tackle youth homelessness.

Just over a quarter (27%) of the young people we work with are asylum seekers or have leave to remain in the UK. Nearly one in five (18%) young people using Centrepoint services have spent time in the care system.

Gender Male (57%) Female (43%)

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Age 16—19 years (54%) 20—25 years (44%) 26+ (2%)

Ethnicity BME (74%) White UK (21%) Other (5%)

A quarter (26%) of young people entering Centrepoint during 2007/08 had no qualifications.

During the year, we supported 282 young people to start training or education, and 126 to gain employment. At the end of the year nearly half of young people using our services were in education, training or work.

The Centrepoint Health team worked with 834 young people over the year, which was a 95% increase on the previous year.

Almost two-thirds (62%) of young people made a ‘positive move’ from Centrepoint services to new accommodation in a planned and structured way.

Of the three quarters (76%) of young people who responded to our annual satisfaction survey, 86% were satisfied or very satisfied with Centrepoint services.

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Homelessness: The big picture

We focus on the individual. Our ultimate goal is to bring an end to youth homelessness within a socially inclusive society.

We always begin with young people themselves, focusing on the person, where they’re starting from, and the transitions they must make to turn things around, build firm foundations for life and realise their full potential. It is important we understand and build on what has been successful, and change what has not worked.

In October 2006, Centrepoint commissioned York University to undertake a major review of youth homelessness across the UK, funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. This was the first major study for ten years. The study confirmed that income poverty and worklessness are strongly associated with homelessness, leading to many young people not in education, training or employment.

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The research found there were 75,000 young people who experienced homelessness in the UK (2006/07), based on the numbers of young people in contact with services. The full report was published in May 2008.

In 2007 the Department for Communities and Local Government commissioned Centrepoint and YMCA England to develop the National Youth Homelessness Scheme. This included a web-based knowledge resource to be used by local authorities and their partners, addressing housing and wider needs of homeless young people or those at risk of becoming homeless. The web resource was publicly launched in May 2008.

Homelessness: The big picture

Sharing knowledge is essential.

Centrepoint responded to government strategies and legislative proposals for housing, education, skills and employment, youth support services and welfare reform.

Centrepoint highlighted the needs of vulnerable young people, and called for: • Supported accommodation as part of the housing mix for three million new homes by 2020, reinforcing the role that Registered Social Landlords can play; • Initiatives that target ‘hard to reach’ young people, especially those from BME communities, and Supporting People funding; • A recognition of non-formal education for life skills as well as expansion of vocational training and apprenticeships; • Improved information, advice and guidance to access quality services and financial education for income and benefits management; • An end to the ’16 hour rule’ which restricts the number of hours young people can study whilst claiming benefits.

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We welcomed the Government’s commitment that, by 2010, no 16 and 17 year olds will be placed in bed and breakfast accommodation, but continued to press for the removal of the single room rent restriction for under 25’s that restricts housing benefit to the average local rent for shared accommodation.

During the year, Centrepoint worked successfully with Westminster City Council to demonstrate the benefits of commissioning a longer-term agreement to reflect the three-year government settlement. From April 2008, the Government introduced a three-year grant allocation for local councils. For a charity like Centrepoint, longerterm funding arrangements enable us to provide young people what they want, need and benefit from: consistency over time, continuing support from the same key trusted adults, and sustained routes for education, training and employment.

Putting Young People First

Centrepoint is an organisation about young people and for young people. Our award winning support and development approach helps young people to create positive relationships, expand their social and life skills, and gain education and training.

Each young person is helped to develop a plan that covers all aspects of life and assists them to make a successful transition into independent adulthood. We also involve young people in our policy work, rooting our policy and practice in their experiences. Some of our work from 2007—08 is highlighted below.

Rent Deposit Guarantee Schemes Many young people are at risk of homelessness because of their family circumstances or because they are about to leave prison or care. They have very little money and find it impossible to save for a deposit and their first months rent in private accommodation. Centrepoint’s rent deposit guarantee schemes in London and the North East provide young people with a loan to pay the deposit and first months rent and

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a small grant to buy essential items. The loan is repaid over a period of months, and a rent deposit worker supports the young person to manage their tenancy and relationship with their landlord. This work has been generously supported by The Northern Rock Foundation. “ The support I have received from Centrepoint has been fantastic. I found it really difficult when I didn’t have a home. I’ve been in social services care in the past but even when I had their support I couldn’t get a place of my own because of a criminal conviction I got when I was younger. Centrepoint listened to me, gave me advice and helped me negotiate with my current landlord to secure my home.” Kerry (aged 22)

“I feel lighter and calmer.

Happier, I guess…

This therapy taught me how to ‘play’ with new experiences and ideas, and that is what has made me stronger. Life feels a lot more as something to enjoy and learn from… not necessarily something to be dreaded.”

Kim (aged 20)

Mental Health Support Homeless young people are particularly susceptible to mental health problems in relation to experiences such as abandonment, isolation and loneliness. When young people arrive at Centrepoint, they are at a very low place in their lives – angry, disaffected and lacking in self-esteem. Left unchecked, this can quickly escalate into serious and enduring mental health conditions. Centrepoint provides specialist mental health support to help

homeless young people tackle their mental and emotional health needs. At a basic level, this can mean counselling to help young people come to terms with their circumstances and work towards building confidence, motivation and self-esteem. At a more complex level, it can mean working intensively to control and contain existing mental health conditions. Our mental health work with homeless young people is generously supported by Comic Relief.

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Skills and Training Centrepoint believes in giving young people the opportunity to try new experiences that could lead to education, training and employment. We are working in partnership with Capel Manor Horticulture College to offer a City & Guilds Certificate in Basic Horticulture. This qualification and the practical hands on experience prepares young people for accessing employment opportunities in landscaping and horticulture.

The programme is supported by The London Development Agency’s Opportunities Fund.

In 2007, Centrepoint launched Life Wise, a programme to give young people increased confidence about living on their own. It provides a range of life skills training, including debt management and healthy living, and is accredited by the Assessment and Qualifications Alliance Awards (AQA).

Centrepoint also established an alliance with the Prince’s Trust to increase the opportunities and network of support for many vulnerable young people, specifically in preventing youth homelessness, and developing the personal and social skills for homeless young people to sustain education, work and training.

Healthy Lifestyles The health of homeless young people is significantly poorer than that of other young people. This health inequality is caused by poor diet, poor lifestyle and poor access to and understanding of statutory health services.

Centrepoint’s Healthy Lifestyles worker provides a range of workshops, group activities and one to one advice to help homeless young people live healthier lives. They run cookery workshops to improve diet and nutrition and offer health assessments and arrange trips to the gym to encourage exercise and fitness. We also help young people to register with a GP and dentist, advise on alcohol and drug use, and refer young people to sexual health clinics. Our healthy

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lifestyles work is supported by Westminster Primary Care Trust and The Rayne Foundation. “ I have found the services useful as I work full-time. Since working with Dominic, I have felt more positive about improving my diet.

I meet Dominic every Thursday and I have learnt to make quick, easy and healthy meals for home and work.” Sarah (aged 19) Focus on Refugees Twenty-seven per cent of the homeless young people that live with Centrepoint have refugee status - that’s nearly 200 young people every night. They originate mainly from East Africa, Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Without tailored specialist support young refugees can find it difficult to adjust to British culture and society, and find it impossible to enter education, training or employment. Centrepoint works directly with young refugees, advising on immigration status, arranging translation services and helping to build links with community groups and refugee agencies. To assist with integration, the refugee advisor supports young refugees to access Centrepoint’s health, learning and work opportunities. This work is crucial in building trust with young refugees who have often had horrendous experiences in their country of origin and have a fear of authority. The ‘Work It Out’ project also helped support staff in services who are working with ‘difficult’ immigration cases and assisted 130 young refugees to access work. This project was supported by funding from the Home Office. “ I left Eritrea when I was 16. It was the first time I’d ever left my family, I was so terrified. I spoke no English and I had no friends or family in the UK. I don’t even like thinking back to that time. What I like about Centrepoint is that they care about all aspects of your life, not just where you live.

They support you emotionally as well as with practical things like getting a college course and sorting out benefits.” Ruth (aged 19)

“Getting a Life Wise award makes me feel like I’ve achieved something, and makes me really proud” SAM (AgeD 19)

Working with young people Foundations for Life The Foundations for Life programme is a partnership between Centrepoint and Land Aid, the property industry charity. Over the next four years Land Aid will be raising up to £4.5m to support the development of suitable facilities and resources to develop young people’s skills for life, work and study. In February 2008, we started developing our first Foundations for Life provision at Berwick Street in Westminster and Haberdashers House in Lewisham. A Foundations for Life hub will be opened in 2009 at our Bruce House Foyer, offering a wide range of support to young people living in Centrepoint services across Westminster.

Centrepoint secured significant further funding

through the Government’s Places of Change programme which aims to help rough sleepers make a permanent move away from the streets through funding revamped hostels that include training facilities. The grant of £1.15 million will enable Centrepoint to undertake a complete refurbishment of Berwick Street and improve the facilities at the Stamford Street service. “ This investment will contribute to our on-going strategy of providing high quality accommodation where vulnerable young people can attain life skills and qualifications to enable them to secure a brighter future.”

Michael O’Higgins, Chair of Centrepoint

Centrepoint works with one of the most disadvantaged groups in society: homeless young people.

Our award-winning support and development approach can be tailored to provide the right level of support at the right time for each young person that Centrepoint works with.

In our work with young people, we aim to empower them to help shape and improve our services. By partnering with other organisations, we use our experience to support other agencies, including local authorities and smaller charities who work with and for young people. We help such networks and organisations to develop local provision in line with best practice.

Centrepoint’s Youth Educators Project empowers homeless young people to shape our services. The training that the young people receive supports their role in decision-making processes and enables better communication between staff and young people. Young people are then able to train staff, giving them a real insight into a homeless young person’s perspective. The youth educators develop increased confidence, motivation and

self-esteem. They gain skills and a nationally recognised qualification. Most significantly, the young people are empowered to bring about real change by influencing Centrepoint’s culture of working with young people.

Centrepoint Partnering is our capacity building programme that works directly with smaller local youth homelessness charities.

Through Centrepoint Partnering, we offer smaller charities the opportunity to develop our support and development approach in their workplace. We provide specialist infrastructure support to help build their capacity to tackle youth homelessness. To date we are working with eleven charities across five of the nine government office regions, helping deliver better outcomes for homeless young people.

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Financial review

Centrepoint’s ability to help homeless young people rests on our financial strength. We remain grateful to every person and organisation that contributed to our funding.

Our total income for the year was £16.6m, compared to £16.2m the previous year. All income categories saw a slight increase over the year and we have worked hard to keep costs under good control. The surplus for the year was £209k (1.3% of income). We strive to retain a small surplus each year in order to set aside enough in reserves to keep helping young people in the event that our income suffers a temporary shortfall. At the end of March 2008, we had £2.5m of general reserves.

Where our income came from Grants and contracts Rents and charges Donations and gifts Investment and other income

£9.3m £4.0m £2.9m £0.4m

56% 24% 18% 2%

£16.6m

How we used it to help young people Centrepoint direct services £13.1m 80% Supporting other providers £1.6m 10% Influencing public policy £0.9m 5% Raising funds and other costs £0.8m 5% Amount spent on young people for every pound raised: Surplus return:

£13.1m

0.89 1.3%

Centrepoint is a registered charity. Full financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2008 are published by Centrepoint Soho.

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Thank you. We would like to thank everyone who supported Centrepoint’s work over the past year, including the following generous donors:

Abbey Charitable Trust • Albert Hunt Trust • Annette Duvollet Charitable Trust • BBC Children In Need • Beatrice Laing Trust • Big Boost • Bruce House laundry appeal • Camelot Foundation • Carpenters’ Company • Capital Radio Healthy Living appeal • Castle Baynard Educational Foundation • Charities Advisory Trust (Good Gifts Catalogue) • City Bridge Trust • City of London Drug and Alcohol Action Team • City Parochial Foundation • Comic Relief • Coutts Charitable Trust • Dolphin Square Foundation • Dulverton Trust • Eveson Charitable Trust • ESH Charitable Trust • Forsters LLP • Framestore CFC • Friends Provident Foundation • Gap • Hawthorne Charitable Trust • HBOS Foundation • Help a London Child • Hyde Park Place Estate Agents • Inner London Magistrates Court Poor Box Charity • Joseph Rowntree Foundation • Lambeth Endowed Charities • Land Aid • London Housing Foundation • Lloyds TSB Foundation for England and Wales • N G Ping • Northern Rock Foundation • Paul Hamlyn Foundation • Peter Minet Trust • Rank Foundation • Rayne Foundation • RD Turner Charitable Trust • Richard Reeve’s Foundation • RL Glasspool Charity Trust • Rose Foundation • Sherbourne Trust • Sir James Knott Trust • Slaughter and May Charitable Trust • Sports Relief • St Clement Danes Parochial Charities • St Mary Le Strand Charity • Story of Christmas • The Freemasons Grand Charity • Westminster Amalgamated Charity • Worshipful Company of Arbitrators • Worshipful Company of Girdlers • Worshipful Company of Information Technologists • Worshipful Company of Ironmongers • Worshipful Company of Salters • Worshipful Company of Skinners • Worshipful Company of Tallow Chandlers • Worshipful Company of Vintners

40 years of supporting homeless young people.

If you would like to support Centrepoint’s work please visit our website or call the free donation line on: 0800 23 23 20

Design by Morning Photographs by Claudia Janke except where credited otherwise Centrepoint Head Office Central House 25 Camperdown Street London E1 8DZ Tel 0845 466 3400 Fax 0845 466 3500 www.centrepoint.org.uk Charity Number 292411 Registered as Centrepoint Soho Š Centrepoint 2008 The names of some young people have been changed to protect their privacy.