for the Period Ended 31 August 2024
| Balance sheet | |
| Additional notes | |
| Balance sheet notes | |
| Community Interest Report |
As at
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| Current assets | |||
| Debtors: | 3 |
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| Cash at bank and in hand: |
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| Total current assets: |
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| Creditors: amounts falling due within one year: | 4 |
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| Net current assets (liabilities): |
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| Total assets less current liabilities: |
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| Members' funds | |||
| Profit and loss account: |
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The notes form part of these financial statements
The directors have chosen not to file a copy of the company's profit and loss account.
This report was approved by the board of directors on
and signed on behalf of the board by:
Name:
Status: Director
The notes form part of these financial statements
for the Period Ended 31 August 2024
Basis of measurement and preparation
for the Period Ended 31 August 2024
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| Average number of employees during the period |
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for the Period Ended 31 August 2024
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for the Period Ended 31 August 2024
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In the space provided below, please insert a general account of the company’s activities in the financial year to which the report relates, including a description of how they have benefited the community. RAMA has nearly 5,000 clients from 137 countries. We have up to 900 client interactions a week across our office base and groups and activities. If we also extend this number to our project work it rises to as many as 850 interactions a week. We work in North East Essex for the majority of our work but have had to extend to cover Greater Essex for the vulnerable migrant work as there is nobody else doing this work across the county. (This accounts for some of our longest held and most complex cases). We deliver advocacy and casework for asylum seekers living in initial and dispersed accommodation across NE Essex. This involves working with the council to make sure accommodation is suitable, ensuring all Home office payments are in place when people arrive and linking them to a legal aid lawyer, and support for a range of therapeutic activities and groups. We also have projects to prevent destitution which have also been identified as preventing exploitation and crime. For those who are granted Refugee status we follow up with benefits applications, employment support and have recently employed a new person to make additional benefit applications for those with disabilities. Our 94 volunteers (we were recently awarded the Kings award for voluntary service) run all our groups, a befriending project, support people with lifts and travel and currently run our reception and food services. Last year we gained an OISC accreditation and are now able to take on complex cases related to immigration - human rights cases, domestic abuse cases, Windrush and EU resolution cases - many of which take people from no recourse to public funds conditions to having status and funds. This work is undertaken across Greater Essex as there is no other service available. Our partnerships across health, Council, voluntary sector, local government and many other groups support us in delivering impactful training and increasing understanding of our client’s needs. We are a by and for organisation so are able to provide valuable and unfiltered feedback on what works for our clients either through our staff with lived experience or by supporting clients to engage themselves.
We do not use the term integration. Instead, we use community building. Integration implies ‘come on over here and join us in what we do’. Community building acknowledges the many things we can all share and learn from each other. It creates equity. We ran a therapeutic community project with EU funding for 6 months and although that is over it has left a lasting commitment to the power and positive influence of being part of a community. We do not see them and us, we see ‘no them, only us’.Our massive volunteer body run all our activities and groups, every one of our groups include local people attending and bods are formed which last outside the groups. We have a peer volunteer programme which allows clients to safely volunteer – making sure there is no conflict of interest for them or other clients. We do a huge range of training and research support where our clients are able to give lived experience to support strategic change and greater understanding to schools, universities, DWP, ICB, NHS, Police, CPS, councils, trainee GP’s practise managers, arts sites and many others. This all manages people’s expectations around each other and informs positive interactions. Its another part of forming robust and supportive community. Community to our clients is a safe place, where you can be sure of understanding if you are having a bad day and where you can also offer support to new friends – feeling a sense of purpose. It can also be a place where people know your rights and can help you access them, somewhere you are able to find a place to pray, find food and warmth. Following on from our therapeutic community work we often share meals with clients, are cooked for by them, and also accompany them on excursions where we are all visiting new places. We become their first community when they arrive and through our groups and activities they find many more local places where they are welcomed. So far 5 organisations in this area have become places of sanctuary through the city of sanctuary scheme. All Essex Libraries, our sixth form college, our Arts centre, the Mercury Theatre, and the council all have places open and welcoming to our clients and others in need. We also employ many of our peer volunteers once they have permission to work, sourcing our staff from those with lived experience so that we create an environment where people can see themselves. This means our staff speak 15 languages between them. Alongside our volunteers we have 19 languages. This is an aspect that creates a sense of community – while English is the one common language its wonderful to have varying languages spoken.
Remunerations were received by directors and are displayed in the accounts.
No transfer of assets other than for full consideration
This report was approved by the board of directors on
29 August 2025
And signed on behalf of the board by:
Name: Maria Wilby
Status: Director