Phoenix Homes Colchester
Annual Review 2020-2021
Chair: Jean Mallett
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Phoenix Homes Colchester. Registered Charity No. 1119817 and Company Limited by Guarantee No. 6205036, registered in England and Wales
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Welcome
This year has brought various challenges for Phoenix. The major challenge was the Covid 19 pandemic as we had to ensure residents received the support required while keeping them and staff safe.
Residents became more reliant on our staff as they were unable to attend support groups, visit friends or family and had very limited face to face contact with medical staff.
We were also unable to admit new residents to shared housing.
Our staff did a magnificent job of supporting residents and we would like to thank Gail, Anne-E and Tom who worked as a team to overcome challenges that arose in this unprecedented situation.
The Board faced 2 other challenges:
We needed to recruit additional Board Members to ensure continuity, as several of our members wish to retire in the foreseeable future.
We were fortunate in recruiting Adam, who is keen to get involved, and we will continue our search for additional members.
Also, we wanted to explore how we could develop the charity to enable us to support more people and secure its future. Thus, we looked to recruit a consultant to help define our Strategy for the Future.
We appointed Judith who has been doing an excellent job of providing us with a clear costed analysis of different options to help us come to a conclusion about our future direction. Thus, we hope to be able to move forward next year.
On a personal note, I am standing down as Chair and would like to thank fellow Board Members for their support during an eventful 4 years.
Jean Mallett
Chair
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What we do
Our Supported Housing project provides people with mental health and/or mild learning disabilities with a home environment that encourages and enables them to lead full and independent lives. Phoenix Homes Colchester (PHC) staff manage the houses and provide support to residents.
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Our Mission
Our mission is to promote the relief of hardship and the protection of persons with mental health issues and mild learning disabilities, through the provision of supported housing accommodation.
We provide clients with an innovative and comprehensive service in a supportive and respectful environment. We aim to encourage and empower clients and support their journey towards living an independent and fulfilled life.
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Our Vision
Our vision is that vulnerable people in North Essex are housed, and effectively supported in their pursuit of personal goals.
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Summary Statement of Financial Activities
The summarised figures on this page are extracted from the draft annual reports and financial statements. To allow for a fuller understanding of the financial affairs of the charity the full financial statements and the Independent Examiner's report on those financial statements should be consulted. Copies can be obtained from the address on
the front cover of this review.
Lesley Frearson, Company Secretary
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Supported Housing
This year has been very challenging due to the Covid pandemic restrictions and lockdowns. We had to explain to our residents the rules relating to Covid and the changes that would affect their everyday living. Some of our residents found it very difficult to follow the rules especially
in the lockdown and understandably this had an impact on their mental and physical health.
As staff members we continued to support our residents through this difficult time, with daily phone calls, getting the food shopping and collecting and delivering medication. When the vaccination age groups were introduced we arranged for those residents to get the vaccine, and gradually all the residents were vaccinated.
We were very fortunate that not one of our 15 residents or staff caught Covid.
I would like to mention and praise the work of two of our residents, one who works in retail and continued to work throughout the pandemic and another who volunteered to delivery groceries to vulnerable people in the community.
Sadly, in August 2020 a resident died (not Covid related) and he had been with Phoenix for 28 years.
Due to Covid we were unable to take any new referrals which left us with 2 vacancies by the end of the financial year.
Once restrictions were eased we were able to continue with the maintenance and refurbishment of the properties.
A massive thank you to Anne-e and Tom for all their hard work over the last year helping the residents get through this extremely difficult year.
Gail James
Housing Co-ordinator
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Financial Review
2018/19 continued to present the organisation with some financial challenges. The Alcohol Project reached the end of its funding at 31st
March 2019 and these accounts represent the final year of activity for this project. Some changes to the mix of housing stock of the Supported Housing project and a move towards more single unit accommodation has had an impact on income levels over the past couple of years and on the ability to cover support costs provided to residents. In addition to this there were some major repairs carried out on some of the properties during the year. This was funded by some legacy income that we had been holding and our Property Maintenance fund that is held for this purpose. This resulted in a deficit for the year on our normal operations of £30,364. This deficit was in line with expectations. This deficit along with that of the previous two years have had a significant impact on the general reserves of the housing project. One of our properties was sold during the early part of the year and generated a gain on disposal of £197,445. This money has been set aside for future housing provision. Work has been undertaken during 2019/20 to look at the rent we charge on each property with a view to improving the overall financial performance of the project in future years. I would once again like to thank the staff for working hard to control costs along with the finance committee.
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What we Offer
Phoenix Supported Housing provides accommodation to people struggling with long term mental health issues and mild learning disabilities. Our support enables residents to live independently and take control of their lives.
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We take referrals from individuals seeking support, as well as from agencies, partner organisations and other charities. If you know of anyone who would benefit from our services, do pass on our details.
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