CareTech Foundation Trustees’ Report and Financial Statements

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• CareTech Foundation Trustees’ Report – For the year ended 30 September 2021 (PDF – 6MB)

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• Reference and Administrative Details of the Company, its Trustees and Advisers
• Trustee Biographies
• Chairman’s Statement
• CEO’s Statement
• Trustees’ Report
• Independent Auditors’ Report To The Members Of CareTech Charitable Foundation
• Statement Of Financial Activities
• Balance Sheet
• Statement of Cash Flows
• Notes to the Financial Statements

Reference and Administrative Details of the Company, its Trustees and Advisers

Trustee Biographies

Chair of Trustees’ Statement

As great as these numbers are, we care most about the positive difference we are making to individuals’ lives. Like the 359 young people who now have employability skills and qualifications thanks to the partners we have supported. Or the 173 people now employed in the health and social care sector. Or the almost 42,000 people in Pakistan who have been able to access mental health support.

I am particularly proud of the support that we have been able to provide to individual CareTech Holdings plc staff members and their families facing significant financial hardship through no fault of their own. The small grants funds have been a particularly important part of the Foundation’s continued response to the COVID-19 pandemic, providing a financial lifeline to 105 staff members and their families in the last year alone as well as wider community support.

None of these achievements would have been possible without our dedicated group of trustees, whose steadfast support coupled with constructive challenge is a model of effective governance and accountability. We are delighted and honoured that, in just over three years since the Foundation was founded, the board of trustees was recognised with the Charity Times Awards 2021 Trustee Board of the Year Award. It is a particular pleasure that two of our trustees were recognised with honours this year: Adrienne Kelbie with a CBE for her contribution to the nuclear sector and diversity and Farouq Sheikh with an OBE for his contribution to specialist social care.

We are blessed with a brilliant staff team, who give their all to our work each and every day. Our CEO Jonathan Freeman was acknowledged in the Social Care Top 30, which recognises the national influential leaders within the social care sector. We were also delighted that Jonathan received his MBE for services to charity.

This last year has been anything but normal yet we have resolutely continued with the brilliant work of the Foundation. The Annual Report sets out, I hope, an honest assessment of what we have learned this last year, including what we have not done so well, as well as the achievements we have secured.

I absolutely know that we are still in the foothills of scaling the challenges we set our targets on but I couldn’t be more proud of the progress we have made. Nor could I be any more excited about the next stage of our journey!

Haroon Sheikh
Chair of Trustees
Date: 2 February 2022

CEO’s Statement

All of us who have been involved in the Foundation’s development have felt the weight of expectation on our shoulders to make good the company’s investment in our work. But we have always known that we could always count upon the company to help us on our journey – and what a journey it has already been!

We have a fabulous group of partners in place, delivering brilliant programmes that are making such a difference on the issues about which we care so much. The EY Foundation’s new Beyond Your Limits programme, co-developed with us, is shifting the dial on the employability prospects for care-experienced young people. British Asian Trust’s mental health programme in Pakistan goes from strength to strength in creating a robust framework for tackling the huge mental health challenges of this wonderful country. Birkbeck University of London’s world-first ToddlerLab to research the early signs of autism and related conditions is now built and operating. Birmingham Disability Resource Centre’s provision of individually-tailored pathways for individuals with disabilities is delivering a step change in respect of education, volunteering and employment for their beneficiaries.

We have some incredibly exciting new partnerships coming to a conclusion this year, such as the exciting Barnardo’s new digital resource for care leavers that promises to transform the support available to some of the most challenged of young people.

We also have some fantastic new partnerships coming on stream, such as The Prince’s Trust’s new Health and Social Care programme that aims to get 10,000 young people into health and social care jobs. The Foundation is thrilled to be the very first social care organisation to commit funding to this vital programme.

As the Foundation has developed, we have increasingly found our voice. As has been rather too painfully apparent during the COVID pandemic, the value and importance of the social care sector has been woefully under-estimated and under-valued. The commissioning of the Social Care Leaders Scheme feasibility study is an excellent example of how we can contribute to the development of the sector.

Beyond our financial support, however, the Foundation is increasingly able to help champion the cause of the social care sector. No more is this apparent than in our hosting of the cross-sector Championing Social Care initiative. I am personally honoured to be Vice-Chair of this important initiative and we are so excited to be delivering such a powerful new set of programmes alongside so many partners and supporters across the sector and beyond.

With the support of our brilliant trustees, our colleagues at CareTech plc, partners across the social care sector and beyond, as well as the fantastic commitment and expertise of our staff team, the Foundation is well set for continued strong progress. I can’t wait!

Jonathan Freeman MBE
Chief Executive Officer