3 Dudley Court North, The Waterfront, Level Street, Brierley Hill, DY5 1XP Telephone: 01384 354508
E-mail: [email protected] Website: www.ageukdudley.org.uk
Twitter: ageukdudley
Registered Charity number 1084182 Company number 4026296
.
Thank you to everyone who has donated and supported Age UK Dudley over the years and any future support and
donations to the charity are greatly appreciated.
2016—2017
Annual Report and Accounts
This report covers the period from 1 April 2016 to 31 March 2017. It was a very turbulent and challenging year. The ending of our three year funding from the Big Lottery for Springboard (our activity centre project) coincided with the decision of Dudley MBC to end all grant funding, albeit some end-ing in September 2016 and some from March 2017. It was a perfect storm and had a massive impact. Inevitably we were unable to maintain all the services we offered to older people in Dudley. The Board had to make some very difficult decisions. Some services had to be closed, some reorganised and some reduced in scale. We had to make some staff redundant and oth-ers had their hours reduced. One of our two Daybreak (day care) service venues had to be closed and in the absence of any funding source we had to increase charges to fully meet the cost of providing the service. There were some bright spots throughout the year to lift the spirits. In No-vember we opened a retail shop in Stourbridge High Street. This replaced the shop we had in Mill St, Brierley Hill which proved too small. The Stour-bridge shop is doing well. We agreed a new arrangement with InTu, owners of the Merry Hill shopping centre, to run Shopmobility and we run our Infor-mation and Advice and Trading services from there too. Stepping Out foot care and Good Neighbour continue to provide much needed services and demand for both exceeds what we can provide with available funding. The Board acknowledges a debt of gratitude to the Chief Executive and all the staff and volunteers for their hard work and determination throughout the year. It is much appreciated. I believe the extremely difficult situation into which we were plunged during the year was managed well and that we en-tered 2017-2018 on a more stable and positive note than seemed possible earlier in the year. The result of all that effort is that Age UK Dudley is able to continue to offer a range of high quality services to older people in Dud-ley. All the services we offer provide opportunity for social interaction, relief from loneliness and isolation, and help support older people to keep their independence and maintain wellbeing for as long as possible. Thank you to all who have supported us this year. We need you to continue to do so as I fully expect the challenges facing Age UK Dudley will continue into the future.
Anne Whitham Chair of Trustees, Age UK Dudley
Report of Chair’s of Board of Trustees
April 2016—March 2017
Financial Report
I believe that the financial year 2016/17 was the most difficult year in the history of the charity. Due to public sector funding cuts and the loss of Big Lottery funding we saw the loss of services, staff, volunteers, buildings and of course clients. It was made particularly difficult because we knew that all the services that closed were still much needed by older people in Dudley borough. But, despite fundraising campaigns, begging letters to local industrialists and applications for grants some services closed completely whilst others were much reduced or charges to clients were increased to enable a service to still be viable. However, we have emerged a much leaner, stronger organisation with a determination to weather the storm, survive these changing times and be able to pick up the baton once more to build on what we have and grow the organisation. None of this could happen without our dedicated workforce, who have stood by the charity, and our amazing volunteers who make everything possible. We now have a few months of stability as we prepare to face new chal-lenges to come.
Chris Szygowski Chief Executive Officer, Age UK Dudley
CEO Report
Bankers Lloyds Bank
25 Dudley Street Dudley, West Midlands,
DY3 1SA COIF Charities Deposit Funds:- Senator House, 85 Queen Victoria Street
London,EC4V 4ET Auditors
Neal and Co Business Services Ltd
Shakespeare Buildings 26 Cradley Road Cradley Heath
B64 6AG
Access In Dudley Adult Social Care Team African/Caribean Befriending Service Alzhiemers Society Blackheath Live at Home Scheme Beacon Centre for the Blind Bethel Chapel Brockmoor Community Association Cancer Support Centre for Equality & Disability CHADD Cole Street Wives Group Netherton Community Falls Service-DMBC DMBC Sheltered Housing Dudley Community Church (Elder Outreach) Dudley Macular Disease Support Group Dudley Advocacy Dudley Citizens Advice Bureau Dudley CVS Dudley Mind Dudley Stroke Association Fens Pool Centre Voluntary Organisation Gateway Health & Social Care Hanbury Hill Baptist Church Jephson Housing Association Lye/Wollescote Disabled Club Minster Care (Management) National Federation of Occupational Pensioners New Test Welfare Association Nine Locks Com/Association Oriel Care Home Ltd Over 50's Club Halesowen Pedmore Senior Citizens Club Rethink Sedgley & District Community Association Stourbridge Stroke Club Thomas Pocklington Resource Centre United Church Friendship Group Warm Homes-DMBC WEA Tandusti Project West Midlands Pensioners Convention Halesowen
West Midlands Pensioners Convention Stourbridge
Wollaston Village Community Centre
Woodside Community Association
Woodside Methodist Church
Wordsley & District Community Association
Yemeni Community Association
Trustees during the year 1st April 2015 to
31st March 2016
Anne Whitham Lesley Ward
Derek Milward Pat Harris
Mike Thomas Margaret Ward Marcia Cleaver Mike Botham
Keith Sherman
Legal and Administrative
Organisation Members
Finance Officer’s Report
Year ended 31 March 2017 This was the year when some of the lingering uncertainties around future funding - and the inevitable impact on services - became reality. In the foregoing years the charity had done whatever it was able to build and conserve its financial strength, but the impact, when it arrived, was nonetheless sudden and severe, impacting on services, clients and staff. From the half-way point of the year (post September 2016) the effects were felt particularly acutely, with a significant fall in public sector funding coinciding with a stream of lottery income coming to its conclusion. The latter, although anticipated, led to the inevitable closure of the service which had been dependent on that funding. The effects of all of this have been felt right across the organisation: services have inevitably been impacted, despite the best efforts of all concerned to mitigate the consequences; overall staff numbers have reduced; the working hours of many of those who remain have been affected. For the latter part of 2016/17 - and this continued into the current financial year and right up to the time of writing - the charity has been operating against a background of continuing uncertainty and yet, despite all of the above, there remains a determination to continue delivering the best services it is possible to provide and to ride out what we hope will be this passing storm. There have been some successes in pursuing new sources of income and some of our public sector partners have been helpful in coming up with short-term funding solutions, without which even more services would be under severe threat. This brief note is written with the new financial year at just beyond its half-way point. It is encouraging to be able to report that, despite all of the difficulties described above, a degree of short-term stability has been established and the various projects and services of Age UK Dudley - which remain many and diverse - are continuing in their attempts to deliver the best possible outcomes to our clients and service users. David Byers Finance Officer Age UK Dudley
Trading
Dementia Friends Sessions
Dementia Friends Information Sessions are part of the Alzheimer’s Society’s Dementia Friends programme. It is the biggest ever initiative to change people’s perceptions of dementia. It aims to transform the way the nation thinks, acts and talks about the condition. The sessions are run by volunteer Dementia Friends Champions.
At Age UK Dudley we have two members of staff trained as Dementia Friends Champions and deliver these sessions to AUKD staff, volunteers, clients and the general public all year round.
April 16 – March 2017 15 dementia friends sessions were held with 122 attendees becoming dementia friends
Since starting the sessions up in March 2015 AUKD has held 34 sessions with 264 attendees becoming dementia friends
Regular sessions are held at Head Office. Please call if you would like to book a place or have a local group who would be interested in having a Dementia
Friends session.
The trading Team had a good year
in 2016/17 making £83,950 in
commission. Although this was 4% below the previous year it reflected a smaller team for the second half
of the year.
All surplus’ made on Trading go to support the work of the Charity
and in particular the Information & Advice team benefitted from this in
2016/17. During the year the team reduced from a Full time Supervisor and 2
Full time Arrangers to a 30hpw Supervisor and one Full time
Arranger.
Based at Merry Hill the service is open Monday – Friday 9am – 5pm
and offers face to face and telephone contact.
Age UK Dudley Services
Head Office Principal address during the year
3 Dudley Court North, The Waterfront, Level Street, Brierley Hill, DY5 1XP
01384 354508 Leap Over 50 & Eatwell Daybreak Myles Court 01384 343535 01384 340608 Good Neighbour Scheme Stepping Out Foot Care 01384 354512 01384 267009 Shopmobility Information & Advice 01384 267007 01384 267006 Trading Services Stay Safe & Small Tasks 01384 265064 01384 267004 Charity Shop Stourbridge Volunteering 01384 210757 01384 356150
Sedgley Hub—Opened September 2017
01902 883847
Charity Shop
Age UK Dudley’s first charity shop opened in Brierley Hill
during July 2015. In November 2016 it was
decided that the charity shop should be relocated to the
busy high street in Stourbridge.
Since moving to Stourbridge the charity shop has gone from strength to strength with building up a local customer base and has been able to expand its
stock range as a larger shop than currently at Brierley Hill.
The charity shop has 6
wonderful volunteers who help in the shop weekly.
We would welcome people to pop in and visit our fantastic
shop, meet the team and have a look through some of our high quality items. Every
purchase or donation will goes towards benefiting older
people in the Dudley Borough.
We will gratefully receive any
unwanted clothing, hand bags, shoes, books and bric-a-brac at the shop.
The new shop is raising
funds to support the work of Age UK Dudley to benefit older people living in the
Dudley Borough.
Volunteers
People who engage in volunteering with AUKD report a greater
sense of purpose and meaning in their lives. Our volunteers have
continued to give their time and help older people in the communi-
ty and enable them to live healthy and rewarding lives. On average
volunteers spend around 3 hours each week providing volunteer
support to projects.
Volunteering with Age UK Dudley have opportunities for people to
learn new skills and boost employment
prospects. In fact two of our volunteers
have now been taken on as members of
staff and one retired staff member has
now become a volunteer.
We even have our four legged volunteer.
Even though we fell on hard times this
year losing a significant amount of fund-
ing for our projects, we have maintained
a very healthy volunteer
base and have
continued to recruit
consistently.
New volunteers roles are
continually being developed in line with
activities and services and we look
forward to further opportunities in the
coming year
Stay Safe & Small Tasks
Staysafe offers advice and practical assistance in reducing the risks of a fall or other accidents in and around the home, helping older
residents in Dudley to maintain their independence and wellbeing at home.
Dudley MBC Trading Standards Service in conjunction with Age
Uk Staysafe Team has the responsibility for producing the
annual edition of the Fix A Home directory. In 2016/17 a total of 9,000 copies were printed and
circulated giving older residents of Dudley the confidence to
employ traders to undertake work in their homes.
Staysafe’s Small Tasks handy person service carries out small DIY and maintenance tasks for older people within the borough
to help make homes fit for purpose and to adapt to changing circumstances
associated with older age.
In 2016/17 the Small Tasks service was provided to 284 clients with in excess of 500
tasks being completed. 100% of those receiving the
service were very satisfied with the work carried out.
Staysafe’s falls prevention ser-
vice carried out 298 home as-
sessments for older residents
concerned about falls, and
gave talks to 36 groups on
how to stay safe from falls.
92% of home assessment
clients and talk attendees
responding to a follow up
questionnaire reported
Increased confidence and
knowledge following a visit
from the Staysafe team
Daybreak
Out & about Trips Clients were also able to go on trips on our 15 seater mini bus with one of our escorts. Clients have visited The Vineyard at
Bobbington, the Crooked House pub, garden centres and pubs
and Christmas Shopping at Merry Hill. The mini bus takes a small group out on most days to
enjoy the local area.
Clients at both centres enjoyed activities and events
throughout the year. From quizzes, bingo, sing-a-longs to exercise, ball games and craft
sessions. There were also themed events with
entertainment to celebrate Halloween, Christmas,
Valentines Day and St Davids Day.
Daybreak moved to new premises at Myles Court, Brierley Hill in April 2016 from their old base in Bromley. Myles Court is run by Housing and Care 21 and residents there now have the opportunity to buy meals from Daybreak and also join in with activities. It is a partnership that benefits all. Due to funding cuts from Dudley Council the charges at Daybreak were significantly increased to enable the service to continue. This meant losing some clients with others reducing the number of days they attended. The cuts also meant that the Daybreak Cen-tre in Sedgley had to close and at the end of March 2017 clients were encouraged to move to Myles Court so that they could still attend a centre.
Daybreak is open Monday - Friday 9am—4:30pm
Before the price increase Daybreak had between 18-40 clients a day across each centre. They now have an average of 15 attend each day
at a cost of £35 per day.
Leap over 50
During 2016 – 2017 LEAP over 50 has evolved with many new activities.
LEAP joined Good Neighbour & Eat Well to link together as our Health &
Wellbeing Hub.
Healthy Footsteps Walks Our number of walkers continues to increase, with many new members joining our regular Monday & Tuesday walks. Our dedicated volunteers provide a welcoming and supportive environment for those wishing to experience the outdoors as well join in for a cuppa and chat.
We now have 243 active registered walkers with 2098 attendances over the period 16/17.
We have developed Mindful Nature Walks for those experi-
encing the early onset of Dementia. In partnership with the
Countryside team at Saltwells, we are offering a leisurely
walk through the Nature reserve. Both clients and carers are
gaining considerable benefits and enjoyment, enhancing their
wellbeing.
Walks with a Difference
We continue to develop a variety of interest walks. Our History walk/talks have been popular with walks at Haden Hill, the Black Country Museum and Saltwells Nature reserve. Our Photography, Nature walks and Picture Safaris have also had a great deal of interest and been well attended.
Quotes from clients Saltwells Nature Walk “This is an excellent provision, made possible by the dedication of staff & volunteers. It is a great benefit to anyone, particularly over 50’s. Activity most enjoyable, excellent way to explore Saltwells Na-ture Reserve and meet like-minded people”
With our local libraries we run our monthly Walk & Talk book club - Books on the Move. This is a fun, friendly and informal group which has developed and rotates round the various libraries in the borough.
.
Stepping Out Foot Care
Over the year Stepping Out had
5118 appointments and ran a total of 201 sessions at Brierley Hill,
26 at Sedgley and 25 at Halesowen
totalling 252 clinic sessions in total
across the Dudley Borough.
With 484 enquiries for other services
provided by Age UK Dudley and signposting to other services outside of Age
UK Dudley.
Stepping Out has continued providing foot care across the Dudley Borough and remains to be a popular service. We have been developing ongoing improvements to our main base over the past few years to bring it up to the required standard and this year it resulted in the need for two new podiatry chairs, which at the end of the financial year and to keep in line with Health and Safety requirements, we were able purchase these to be able to continue to operate with improved comfort and safety for both the client and the staff or volunteer providing the treatments.
Table of Year Outcomes
Enquiries for/about foot care 271
Referrals received from NHS Podiatry
15
5 Assessment clinics held with 79 people attending
Clients registered for foot care 811 clients registered for foot care. ( Reduced since last report due to database cleansing)
Number of Stepping Out volun-teers
5 foot care and 4 admin support
.
Springboard… to health & wellbeing
Springboard sadly closed at Christmas 2016 after a very successful six years of operation. We thank the Big Lottery for funding the project for so long and it was
inevitable in the current financial climate that continuation funding from them would be unlikely.
The service on average took in 350 clients per week to enjoy a range of activities
and took part in trips throughout the year including a trip to parliament.
Obviously clients volunteers and staff were very sad to see this project close, however alternative funding could not be found and closure was the only option.
We again thank the volunteers and staff for their understanding during that
difficult period. Here is a taster of some Springboard activities:-
Stitch In Time Group raised £119. 20 by making and selling
crocheted poppies for the British legion in November 2016.
Morrison's Kingswinford donated food and drink for the Springboard Christmas
parties at the centre.
Costa Coffee donated coffee and cakes for a volunteer coffee afternoon
Mike Wood MP visited Springboard and joined in
with the activities.
Cycling
Our cycle rides run every Tuesday, weather permitting, with our commit-ted volunteers leading and support-ing the rides at various locations. They cater for all levels of ability and we encourage new cyclists to get back on their bikes and join our friendly group. Just to give that little bit of extra energy there is always a café stop enroute for a cuppa and a piece of cake!
Sports Activities
We have had great interest in both the Indoor Bowls which is running at Wall Heath Community Centre as well as the Crown Green Bowls at Priory Park, Dudley. Members have expressed their enjoyment of the sessions as they cater for all experience and are run as a friendly and informal group with everyone welcome.
Alongside these we’ve maintained our partnerships with organisations to offer Badminton, Swimming , Tennis, Volleyball and Rowing with development of other new activities for the future.
Over the year
16/17 we had
53 cyclists
registered
and 407
attendances
on our rides.
Self Management Programme
We have delivered free 6 week courses for those experiencing long-term health conditions such as Diabetes, Heart Disease, High Blood Pressure, Arthritis, Stress, Anxiety or those who may be carers. The course has helped participants take more control of their health
by learning new skills to help them manage their health and
wellbeing on a day to day basis. It has given the opportunity to meet
new people, share tips and ideas.
Community Groups/Activities by Postcode
We have started work to help set up self-sustaining groups in the local community as part of our support for those experi-encing loneliness and isolation. These can be groups of any variety and those recently started or about to set up include a Craft group, Book/reading group, Pilates, Women’s Guild, Ballroom dancing and Bowls group.
This works in conjunction with
our Activities by Postcode,
which is our directory of
community organisations
offering a whole range of
different activities, whether that be Lunch clubs,
Art, Flower arranging, Model Boat clubs, Tai Chi,
Gentle Exercise classes or Woodwork. We are
developing the directory to enable us to give
people a greater choice of activities which may be
of interest and in the area which they live
Health & Wellbeing Activities
Community classes within the Dudley
Borough and collated from our
activities delivered or
organised by Age UK Dudley there
were 47,000 attendances to
various activities during 2016/17.
Social Prescribing
From March—December 2016 the service was scaled down for a planned handover of ongoing cases to the Integrated Plus Team, Dudley Coun-cil for the Voluntary Services. This went well and they continued to provide this service across the Borough.
The Social Prescribing Service was commissioned by Dudley Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).
Social Prescribing enabled Primary Care services to refer patients
with a social, emotional or practical need to a range of local, non-clinical services within the voluntary and
community sector. This included social groups or activities, practical support in the home, counselling and financial advice.
Shopmobility
Shopmobility underwent many changes in the last 6 months of 2016/17 . We have had a new team of both staff and volunteers and have introduced new services and enhanced existing ones to encourage more customers to use Shopmobility.
Our database consists of 2,985 clients.
Since April 2016 we have gained 403 new members, 42 Daily
members and 2 Organisational members.
Over the next 12 months we hope to organise at least one event every quarter to promote both Shopmobility and other Age UK Dudley projects. Our last event proved very successful and Intu have stated that they would be very keen to be involved with our next venture.
Eat Well!
Linking together with LEAP over 50 and Good Neighbour during 2017, the Eatwell
Project has supported and helped those living in the Dudley Borough to gain
understanding and make more informed choices on their health & diet.
Community Fit Club . Community Fit Club We ran our 6 week weight loss programmes incorporating nutritional advice and exercise. Many partici-pants have bene-fited with positive lifestyle changes and were happy with their weight loss. Quotes from clients
“Exercise sessions very useful
and rewarding”. “Nutrition ses-
sions very interesting and used
more often in shopping trips and
selecting products off the shelf”.
Feedback from participants over-
all were that their attitude to
healthy eating and exercise had
changed as a result of this pro-
gramme.
Get Cooking We have run our FREE 6 week Get Cooking courses over 2016/17 with participants enjoying the opportunity to develop their skills and gain more understanding and awareness about healthy eating. It has helped to bring about change by people choosing healthier affordable meals.
We delivered 8 courses with 50 people in attendance during 16/17
Carry On Cooking Following on from the above, people then progressed onto our Carry on Cooking course to learn more about healthy cooking and learn new practi-cal skills. The sessions are based on different food themes using a range of food preparation skills, cooking methods and incorporating fresh and seasonal ingredients to produce healthy and tasty meals.
We ran 2 courses with 14
Masterclasses Our Masterclasses are 2hour sessions to give cooking demonstrations with a focus on different topics such as seasonal cooking, cooking for one and a healthy heart. We had a step back to the 1940’s to share recipes, memories and cuisine from that time.
Good Neighbour Scheme
Our Good Neighbour Scheme offers support to people who are housebound, or less mobile and who live alone, by offering friendship in their own home, From April 2016—March 2017 good neighbour had 156 clients with an average number of Good Neighbour volunteers at 82. The volunteers range from 17 years of age up to 83 years old and visit their good neighbour client at least once a fortnight. A courtesy call is also made by a volunteer on a Monday to clients who are awaiting a volunteer visitor.
Telephone Buddy This service is offered to older people in the community who can not get out of their homes and enables them to talk to one of our phone buddies on a weekly basis. The phone buddy service is increasing and now provides calls on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays by 4 volunteers.
Information and Advice
A free, independent and confidential information and advice service is provided for people aged 60 and over who live in the
borough. In 2016/17 this was delivered by 2 specialist staff and 4volunteers providing a four day service. During the year we collaborated with
Age UK Wolverhampton to deliver this service.
In addition I&A staff attended outreach events to signpost older people to AUKD services.
Between April 2016 and March
2017, the I&A service responded
to 1,356 queries,
providing information and
advice on 1,735 issues.
The service helped
older people in Dudley
successfully claiming welfare
benefits of
£435,000
Advice was provided on a range
of topics, disability and general
benefits were the main enquiry
areas
