In Su Sayer’s final year as chief executive of United Response, the charity she founded 40 years earlier posted record income of £77m and had reserves of £14.2m.
Since its launch with a single service in West Sussex in 1973, United Response has enabled thousands of people to live independently or with appropriate support, receive training, find work or volunteering opportunities, manage their finances, pursue hobbies, and speak up for their rights.
The charity supports children, young people and adults with learning disabilities, physical disabilities, mental health problems, autism, acquired brain injury, dementia, and those with complex needs. It now provides services in more than 300 locations throughout England and Wales.
The charity’s founder Su Sayer stepped down from the role of chief executive after 40 years last summer, but has agreed to stay on in the part-time role of founder director for the next three years. An experienced interim CEO, Shan Nicholas, is overseeing the post while a permanent successor is sought.
Last week the charity published its annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 March 2014, its 40th anniversary year. It admitted in the report that achieving financial stability was more challenging than ever before but the planning and budgeting that had been done previously had “stood us in good stead”.
The charity finished the year with a £400,000 surplus – a bit lower than in previous years – but overall income grew slightly to £77m, from £76.8m the year before. Direct charitable expenditure increased by 3.1 per cent to £64.9m, due mainly to rising staff costs as a more competitive jobs market led to a greater reliance on agency staff.
United Response employs more than 3,200 people and during the year many of these voiced dissatisfaction over pay levels. “We know that times are tough and that this is a real issue for many staff,” the annual report stated. “The cuts we have faced in recent years have reduced our income significantly which in turn has made it very difficult to reward staff as much as we would like. We do however know that pay is a major issue for many staff and we are looking very seriously at how we can address this.”
Nonetheless, the charity was proud to report that 78 per cent of its employees strongly agreed that they had a good work/life balance.
Unrestricted fundraised income was £110,000, £11,000 ahead of target and the charity said that it plans a new focus on fundraising going forward.
The organisation invested in a strategic IT overhaul and appointed a new IT director on a two-year contract to lead the project. A new HR and payroll system will be scoped and processes streamlined.
At the end of the year the charity had general reserves of £14.2m, 13 per cent above the minimum target set by its trustees.
The charity withdrew from the defined benefit pension plan administered by the Pensions Trust on 31 May 2013, with a full and final settlement of £402,803 on 31 July 2013. There are no further outstanding liabilities from the membership of this plan.
