Annual review

Annual review

This book tells you what Livability did in 2010/2011

‘I love working at Vivo Café.

It gives me the chance to serve people’ Debbie, supported by Lifestyle Choices South-East

‘Staff support me to see my girlfriend Louise’ Chris, supported by Lifestyle Choices East Midlands

‘I had fun dressing up for our opera’ Andy, Hinwick Hall College student

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What you can find in this review

a review is a look-back at what we have done

Page 4 Livability life: Louise Page 5 Welcome from Mike Smith, CE Page 6 Livability life: Chris Page 7 Livability and you Page 8 Livability life: link church Page 9 From our Chair of Trustees Paula Kerr Pages 10 and 11 What we did this year Page 12 Where our money came from Page 13 How we spent our money Page 14 Livability life: campaigning for change

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Livability life: Louise I’ve just finished three years at Hinwick Hall College.

When I first went to Hinwick, I missed seeing my mum and dad every day. But I made friends and got used to life at Hinwick – and then I was glad I didn’t have to listen to mum and dad every day! The thing I loved most about Hinwick was having my own flat because I learned to be independent. And I made really good friends – Jade was my best friend.

I learned so much at Hinwick.

I can manage my money and my shopping. I passed my ICT assessment and got work experience at an office in Bedford. I learned how to manage office tasks like photocopying, answering the phone and making the tea.

ICT assessment is a computer test My next step is taking a photography course. Then I would like to sell my pictures, and work in a camera shop or photographer’s studio. And my dream is to share a flat with friends.

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Welcome from Mike Smith This has been my first year as Chief Executive and it’s been busy and exciting. We’re proud of our services for disabled and disadvantaged people. Our youngest service user is 4 years old and our eldest is 102. Our range of services means we can make transitions as smooth as possible. This is something special to Livability and we plan to do it even better.

transitions here means a change in how you live Getting a job is the dream of many of our disabled service users but it can be hard to make it happen. This year we have set up our Enterprise Agency to help disabled people to start their own businesses. The Agency gives training and business advice.

We’re excited that important building work started this year at Victoria Education Centre.

We’ve very grateful to our generous supporters for helping with our building projects, including work at Hinwick Hall College. The finished work will make a big difference to the people who use those services.

Ups and downs in the economy, and changes in the care sector, are in the news every week.

But Livability’s work has been around for over 160 years. We have adapted to change over the decades. At heart, our work remains that of our Christian founders, Lord Shaftesbury and John Groom: to offer real choice and hope to disabled and disadvantaged people.

Mike Smith is our Chief Executive.

He runs Livability’s day-to-day work

Thank you for your support as we go forward into another year,

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Livability life: Chris

I took a big step this year and moved into my own flat for the first time. I pay for my support with a personal budget. I decided to use some of my support hours to look for a flat. Livability staff were great and helped me through the whole process. It was complicated but we did it! Now I have my own place.

See Chris and his new flat in our short film What do you want to do today? at www.livability.org.uk/ lifestylechoices

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My family helped me decorate it and I moved all my stuff in. I make motorcycle models and I’ve got lots of them on my windowsill. I’m learning to do my own cooking and cleaning, with support. It’s great because my flat is near the leisure centre and the doctor’s surgery, and my girlfriend Louise is not far away.

She’s supported by Livability too, so they support us to get together a few times a week.

My life is brilliant now and the next thing I want to do is get a job.

Livability staff are helping me look for jobs and put in my application.

Maybe next year I can tell you what my new job is like.

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 community life better.

What does Livability do?

Livability offers a wide choice of services across England, including: • accommodation with care for disabled adults – this year for over 270 people • a school and two colleges for disabled young people – we educated 200 students this year • support for people to live in their own home – we supported over 100 people this year • support for people to take part in their community – this year for 200 people • wheelchair-accessible holidays for disabled people and their families – for more than 4,000 disabled people and their families • brain injury rehabilitation – treated over 250 people this year • getting the government to listen to disabled people

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 support possible.

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.

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Livability life: link church

December 2010 was the coldest for 100 years. Tower Hamlets Community Church (THCC) in east London opened a night shelter for anyone who was homeless. They worked with 11 churches and 200 people helped.

THCC is a Livability link church that was first opened by our Victorian founder Lord Shaftesbury. Our Community Mission team works with our link churches.

The churches gave hot meals and beds to 15 homeless guests every night for three months. That’s105 beds and 210 meals every week. Some

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churches could provide showers.

The churches helped people to look for somewhere to live. They offered help with people’s spiritual needs too.

Many people moved on to somewhere they could stay for longer, instead of going back to the streets.

One guest had been sleeping on the street or at Heathrow Airport. Now he lives in a studio flat. He says: “I can build a life from here.” Tony Uddin is the pastor of THCC. He says that having a Livability building means it is possible to offer people shelter and hope.

From Paula Kerr This is my first year as Chair of Trustees at Livability. Livability is here to provide choice and independence for disabled and disadvantaged people. We want to be the very best for people who use our services. Nearly all our adult services are rated excellent or good by CQC.

CQC checks care standards This year we have looked very carefully at everything we do. We made sure that we used our resources in the best possible way. Overall we have managed to balance the money coming into the organisation with what we spent, even though economic conditions are difficult.

We are grateful for the support of our patron HRH The Princess Royal, who provides so much encouragement for us all. So many others donate money, time or things they can do. Each and every contribution makes such a difference to our work.

Paula Kerr is Chair, or leader, of the Board of Trustees. This team makes sure Livability is run properly

As we go into next year, we will carry on being careful with our resources. This allows us to plan for some exciting changes, such as the new hydrotherapy pool and treatment centre at Victoria Education Centre. Looking further ahead, we plan to redevelop Ashley House in Bognor Regis to create a new innovative unit that will offer accommodation and supported holidays.

Livability’s founders gave us a rich Christian heritage. Because of that, we keep our service users at the centre of everything we do, and work as our founders did – to improve our service users’ place in society.

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What we did this year Our 6 aims help us to make sure our work stays on track.

We use them to see how we have done this year and to set plans for the next year. Our aims are to:

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Have the best services

This year …

We set up a Quality and Performance Unit to make sure we keep the high quality of our services. We improved some of our buildings, including an accessible playground at Victoria Education Centre.

Next year …

We will offer a wider range of services for people to become even more independent.

We will develop our Enterprise Unit and other business opportunities so we can support more disabled people to become self-employed.

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2

Change communities for the better

This year …

Our Community Mission team reached over 18,000 people through our partnership website, e-newsletter and training events. We developed new training materials, and people we trained went on to train others.

partnership means people working together Next year …

We want to become better known and work with more partners. We will develop community involvement and volunteering across Livability.

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Become even more efficient

This year …

We made sure we offered value for money.

We were pleased that our books balanced in a difficult economy.

books balanced means we did not spend more money than we had

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Have the best staff

This year …

Our staff improved their skills through our new learning and development plan.

70 per cent of our care staff gained NVQ level 2 or higher. 180 staff took management training courses.

Next year …

We will develop our staff’s management skills. We will look at how we reward our staff. And we want to cut staff turnover and sickness absence.

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Get better known for our expertise

This year …

We developed a transitions resource section on our new website, for disabled young people and their families. The site will go live in autumn 2011.

Next year …

We will work alongside disabled people to champion their needs and rights. We will make all that Livability has to offer better known, locally and nationally.

Next year …

We want to be even more efficient in areas such as purchasing. We are aiming to increase our income from supporters so that we can reach more disabled people.

purchasing here means buying stuff needed for our services

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Listen more closely to people who use our services

This year …

We asked hundreds of our service users what they thought of our service. We were pleased that our personalised services were rated very highly.

Next year …

We will develop more flexible services, as our service users have requested. We will offer training for service users in decision-making and advocacy so they can speak out for disabled people.

advocacy means speaking out for someone 11

Where our money came from We were given £40.6million last year to run our services.

Most of this money came from local authorities for… our services for disabled adults

£18.9m

our education services

£16.4m

Some of this money came from … fundraising £4.6m other sources

£0.7m

This means our money came from: fundraising

11%

education services

41%

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other sources

1%

services for disabled adults

47%

How we spent our money We spent £40.3million last year on … our services for disabled adults

£20.3m

our education services

£16.8m

fundraising £1.5m trusts and other charitable purposes

£0.9m

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

2%

community mission and linked churches

1%

governance less than

fundraising

1%

4%

education services

42%

services for disabled adults

50%

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 p16 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 28 July 2011.

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 1 Nov 2011.

By order of the Trustees 28 July 2011 13

Livability life: change Catherine, Dan (in the photo) and Tanya want change for disabled people – and they are working hard to make it happen. The three friends from John Grooms Court all volunteer with local disability rights groups. “I want to promote independence so that people with disabilities can have a life and do what they want to do,” says Tanya.

Tanya helps with administration for one group, organising meetings and making phone calls. She says: “Living at John Grooms Court gives me my independence. Staff treat me as I want to be treated, and I do the same to them.”

Dan is a trustee for two campaigning groups. An important part of Dan’s work is disability training. He often speaks to groups of nearly 200 trainee nurses. He says: “I get lots of enjoyment in meeting different people and training them.”

Dan and Catherine took part in the “Hardest Hit” march in London.

10,000 disabled people came along to protest about government cuts. “I was proud to be there,” Catherine says. “I don’t think I have ever seen so many disabled people together before. It showed me how strongly everyone felt about the cuts.”

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‘I learned to be independent at Hinwick Hall College’ Louise, former Hinwick Hall College student

‘I love coming here. I’ve done two carriage-driving exams already’ Nigel, supported by Lifestyle Choices Dorset

‘Doing my own laundry is one way I’ve gained more independence this year’ Suzanne, supported by Lifestyle Choices North

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