The trustees present their annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025.

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in note 1 to the financial statements and comply with the charity's Memorandum and Articles of Association, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended), the Companies Act 2006 and "Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)" (effective 1 January 2019).

The charity's objectives are:

• to educate the general public as to the needs of parents and children under twelve; and

• to encourage the development of, and support, services set up in order to alleviate disadvantage in families with young children.

The objectives of the Company are met by providing quality home visiting and group support to families with young children who are under stress or experiencing difficulties.The objects of the Company are wholly charitable.

Principal activities

The principal activity of the Company has been the support of parents and young children in accordance with its Articles of Association. Home Link Family Support currently provides Group work, Family Support, Antenatal Support, and Volunteer Family Support in Edinburgh. In Midlothian, we provide the following services: Family Support, Systemic Family Counselling, School-based Therapy, Young Parents Family Support, Family Opportunities- tackling the impact of poverty, and Group work.

Achievements and Performance

Strategic Aim 1  

Improve children’s life chances through providing enhanced family learning experiences. 

Strategic Aim 2 

Enhance whole family wellbeing by supporting families to flourish and thrive, by offering support that is timely, flexible, and responsive to their emerging needs. 

Strategic Aim 3  

Deliver services across our communities which are inclusive and free from stigma and judgement. 

The year in numbers 2024-25

• 645 families were supported

• 862 children were supported

• 9 different early years groups offered with 203 families, with 216 children attending our face-to-face group work

• 15 active volunteers provided 2,526 hours of support with an economic value of £34,617

• 60,000 hours of early years support were delivered

Number of Families accessing specific services in the year

Impact for each service area

Each family and child are asked to score themselves against a set of specific service outcomes. We collate scores at the beginning and end of support.

Where our referrals have come from

Health 60%

Education 25%

Social Work 3%

Voluntary services/partners 6%

Self 6%

Reasons for referral

90% social and emotional isolation

65% children/adults with additional support needs

76% parent/child emotional distress

90% welling being concerns

50% impact of precarious housing

40% relationship breakdown- family/friends/professional

55% impact of low income

What we have achieved

We continued to ensure that our families have the best experience of support by meeting their individual needs, alleviating the impact of child poverty, and of social and emotional distress and helping parents be actively involved in their child’s learning and development. We offered the following parenting programmes throughout our Early Years services: Solihull, HENRY (Healthy Start, Brighter Future), Bookbug, PEEP (Parents Early Education Partners), Incredible Years, Play@home and Stay and Play. Our primary school-based therapy services supported children showing high levels of both social and emotional distress along with a growing number of additional support needs. We are increasingly aware of the multiple trauma experienced by the children and their families who come to us for support. This is having a significant impact upon on our service delivery: we have had to adapt our service offer to be more neurodivergent-aware, taking a longer time to deliver the core service offer so that children and families feel fully supported.

Launch of new service

In October we opened the doors to The Family Hub- a collaboration with several partners working across the City of Edinburgh to support children and their families who are not accessing an early years childcare setting. This service has enabled us to respond quickly to emerging need in each locality offering home visiting, evidenced parenting programmes and unique “pop ups” offering thematic responses to needs such is toilet training, additional support needs and afternoon learning opportunities.

Strategic influence

We have representation across a wide range of Edinburgh forums, including active roles in The Edinburgh Children’s Service Partnership; Whole Family Wellbeing; EVOC; Early Years Forum; Early Years Community of Practice, Lothian Perinatal Collaborative. In Midlothian we sit on the GIRFEC Board subgroup Whole Family Wellbeing; MCA; Single Point of Access working group. Our role is to represent the needs and experience of the families we support, to help change local policy and advocate for the important role the 3rd sector plays in improving the lives of children and young people.

We hosted the Mental Health and Wellbeing Minister Maree Todd during the year, enabling children and young people and their families to share their experiences of therapy, funded through the Community Mental Health Framework.

In the course of the year:

• We completed our line management restructuring, enabling more investment in frontline staff wellbeing.

• Salaries were reviewed with a cost-of-living award and adoption of the real living wage.

• Additional staff training was commissioned including Child Protection, Neurodivergent Consultation, Mental Health First Aid.

• We reviewed our data collection tools to enable more dynamic reports to be produced that can evidence the impact of what we do. We now use QR codes to enable children and families to capture the impact of the support they receive.

• We continued to invest in developing community partnerships: our Early Years Collaboration in Edinburgh with Circle, Home-Start, Stepping Stones, Citizens Advice Bureau, Lothian Parent Infant Relationship Service (Lothian PAIRS) and Early Years Education to develop a service that provides alternatives to Early Years education in the community. We also continued to develop our involvement in the Midlothian Mental Consortium (Midlothian Sure Start, MYPAS, Play Therapy Base). We were awarded funding to continue to provide therapeutic support to children and young people experiencing distress in every aspect of their lives.

The Board of Directors have taken care to track the income and expenditure in the year and were mindful of the decline in fundraising which is needed to subsidise shortfalls in several projects.

A surplus of £55,614 (2024: surplus £73,265) was reported in the year. This was made up of a £983 surplus in unrestricted funds and a £54,631 surplus in restricted funds reflecting funds received in 2024/25 committed to spend in 25/26.

Midlothian Council continues to be Home Link Family Support's largest funder, contributing £180,603 (2024: £143,901). Home Link Family Support also received significant levels of funding from:

• £127,140 City of Edinburgh Council (2024: £125,067)

• £70,691 National Lottery (2024: £100,528)

Home Link Family Support continues to have a strong balance sheet with total reserves of £562,496 (2024:

£506,882) made up of unrestricted reserves of £186,157 (2024: £185,174) and restricted reserves of £376,339 (2024: £321,708).

We will continue to monitor the level of unrestricted reserves to ensure that the organisation is equipped to deal with the continued economic uncertainty.

The Board of Directors are comfortable that Home Link Family Support is well placed to meet the financial challenges which face all charitable organisations.

Home Link Family Support has already secured the majority of its funding, the Board will continue to scrutinise the reserve position in the coming year with key reviews of the financial positions and forecast year end position to enable decision making about sustainability of projects.

The Board's policy is to maintain unrestricted reserves equal to a minimum of three months running costs, with a target of six months over the longer term. This should allow sufficient funds to be held in reserve to cover the overall costs of closing any of the services provided should a reduced level of funding undermine the long term financial viability of the service, and provide cover for any wind up costs should there be a requirement to close the charity.

In instances where reserves are more than 10% below the agreed reserves minimum, the Finance Committee is required to investigate the variance and the explanation put to the Board by the Treasurer.

The requisite level of reserves should be determined as part of the budget process at the start of each financial year, and the policy updated on a regular basis to take into account changing needs and funding streams.

The charity's unrestricted free reserves - general funds less fixed assets - as at 31 March 2025 was £184,189 (2024: £180,344).

As the board have continued to invest in business systems and operational staff, the overhead allocation this year has increased for all projects. It is vital that front line staff have the support they need to ensure that all clients receive high quality support.

Workforce Development

We will be providing staff with additional training to help meet the changing needs of the clients we support and to promote continued professional development. We will commission a consultant to develop an approach to supporting parental wellbeing that can be delivered individually and as part of a group work programme.

We will be investing in our volunteer service, providing training opportunities with other third sector providers, to help share resources, improve networking and enhance volunteer learning opportunities.

Business Support investment

We will continue to review and improve our client management systems to help us collate meaningful data and evidence the impact we make to the children and families we support.

We will develop child-friendly evaluation tools to ensure we capture the child’s voice.

Across our Early Years Services, we will:

• continue to coordinate our Community of Practice across Edinburgh and Midlothian - bringing together colleagues to share practice, ideas and resources to meet emerging needs.

• implement the Early Years Family Hub’s model across Edinburgh.

In our Therapy Services we will:

• grow the Systemic Service across Edinburgh to expand its reach and enable more children and families to access therapy in their community.

• offer Forest Families as a group work model.

• embed the Dyadic art therapy model.

In our Group work we will:

• develop the Baby Café model.

• offer Baby Massage groups.

• provide Stay and Play in areas of need- offering food, free play, song and storytelling.

• develop our support for parent/carers with children who have ASN: we will co-produce a wellbeing programme

• expand our PEEP offer across Edinburgh.

Student Placements

• We plan to offer student placements in the following disciplines: Art Therapy and Systemic Family Practice. We believe in supporting the new workforce and providing an enriching learning experience.

Diversifying our income streams

• We recognise the growing pressures on grant makers, trust funders and local authorities to provide funding to keep up with the demand for services. We will seek to develop corporate sponsorship and develop a model for delivery of commissioned private therapy.

• We will build upon the success of the Introduction to Systemic Practice training we delivered to one of our partners and provide this to the children and families network to enhance workforce development.

Home Link Family Support is a company limited by guarantee (No.SC229797) and a recognised charity (No. SC001360) governed by its Articles of Association.

The trustees, who are also the directors for the purpose of company law, and who served during the year and up to the date of signature of the financial statements were:

Lynne Spiteri - Chair

Victoria Gibson - Vice Chair/Secretary

Ross McEwan - Treasurer

Jacqueline Agnew

Murray Ferguson

Rhona Gunn

Francis Lake

Zainuddin Sheikh

Christine Brown (Resigned 12/12/24)

Elizabeth Notarangelo (Resigned 24/10/24)

Senior Management

Paula Swanston

HR Advisor

Karen Logan    

Charity Number (Scotland)        

SC001360

Company Number        

SC229797

Principal and Registered Office

1 Dalkeith Road Mews

Dalkeith Road

Edinburgh

EH16 5GA

Auditor                

Thomson Cooper Accountants

22 Stafford Street

Edinburgh

EH3 7BD

Bankers                

CAF Bank Ltd

25 Kings Hill Avenue

West Maling

Kent

ME19 4JQ

The Board of Directors and other interested individuals comprise the members of the Company. The minimum number of Directors is six and the maximum twelve. Admission to membership is at the discretion of the Board.

Directors may be appointed at any time by resolution of the directors, following the procedure outlined in the Articles. Directors shall be eligible to serve for an initial three-year term from the date of their appointment at which point they shall resign but may be eligible for re-appointment for a second three year term. Following the second term, Directors must retire for at least one year, following which he or she will be eligible for re-election for a third and final term.

Home Link's work is focused on vulnerable young children and their families, and as such the Directors seek to ensure that the needs of such children are appropriately reflected through the inclusion on the Board of individuals with social work and early years backgrounds, business, legal and human resources skills. Home Link maintains a 'Person Specification', detailing both the 'essential' and the 'desirable' qualities sought in Board members. New Board members are not required to meet all of the 'desirable' specifications, but the specifications must be represented by the Board as a whole.

New Board members are invited to a Board induction to familiarise themselves with the charity and the context in which it operates. These inductions are led jointly by the Chair of the Board and the Manager of the charity and cover: the obligation of board members; the main documents which set out the operational framework of the charity, including the Articles of Association; resourcing and the current financial position as set out in the latest published accounts; and future plans and objectives.

The Directors meet six times each year and decisions are based on a majority vote of those present Day-to-day management of the charity is delegated to the Manager.

The trustees, who are also the directors of Home Link Family Support for the purpose of company law, are responsible for preparing the Trustees' Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

Company Law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that year.

In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:

- select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;

- observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP;

- make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;

- state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and

- prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in operation.

The trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended) and the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

In accordance with the company's articles, a resolution proposing that Thomson Cooper be reappointed as auditor of the company will be put at a General Meeting.

Each of the trustees has confirmed that there is no information of which they are aware which is relevant to the audit, but of which the auditor is unaware. They have further confirmed that they have taken appropriate steps to identify such relevant information and to establish that the auditor is aware of such information.

The trustees' report was approved by the Board of Trustees.

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Home Link Family Support (the ‘charity’) for the year ended 31 March 2025 which comprise the statement of financial activities, the balance sheet, the statement of cash flows and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion, the financial statements:

give a true and fair view of the state of the charitable company's affairs as at 31 March 2025 and of its incoming resources and application of resources, for the year then ended;

have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and regulation 8 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006.

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor's responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charity in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees' use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charity’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

Other information

The other information comprises the information included in the annual report other than the financial statements and our auditor's report thereon. The trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the course of the audit, or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

the information given in the financial statements is inconsistent in any material respect with the trustees' report; or

proper accounting records have not been kept; or

the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records; or

we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.

As explained more fully in the statement of trustees' responsibilities, the trustees, who are also the directors of the charity for the purpose of company law, are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error. In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the charity’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

We have been appointed as auditor under section 44(1)(c) of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and report in accordance with the Act and relevant regulations made or having effect thereunder.

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor's report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud, is detailed below.

We considered the opportunities and incentives that may exist within the organisation for fraud and identified the greatest potential for fraud in the following areas: existence and timing of recognition of grant income and the posting of transactions to the correct funds. We discussed these risks with management, designed audit procedures to test the timing and existence of donations and grant income, including reviewing of grant paperwork and terms and conditions, reviewing the allocation of costs against the correct funding and reviewed areas of judgement for indicators of management bias.

We identified areas of laws and regulations that could reasonably be expected to have a material effect on the financial statements from our sector experience through discussion with the officers and other management (as required by the auditing standards). We focused on specific laws and regulations which may have a direct material effect on the financial statements or operation of the charity, including the Charities and Trustees Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and regulation 8 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended).

We assessed the extent of compliance of the laws and regulations identified above by inspecting any legal correspondence and making enquiries of management.

We reviewed the laws and regulations in areas that directly affect the financial statements including financial and taxation legislation and considered the extent of compliance with those laws and regulations as part of our procedures on the related financial statement items.

With the exception of any known or possible non-compliance with relevant and significant laws and regulations, and as required by the auditing standards, our work in respect of these was limited to enquiry of the officers and management of the company.

We communicated identified laws and regulations throughout our team and remained alert to any indications of non-compliance throughout the audit. However, the primary responsibility for the prevention and detection of fraud rests with the trustees. To address the risk of fraud we identified internal controls established to identify risk, performed analytical procedures to identify unusual movements, assessed any judgements and assumptions made in determining accounting estimates, reviewed journal entries for unusual transactions and identified related parties.

Owing to the inherent limitations of an audit, there is an unavoidable risk that we may not have detected some material misstatements in the financial statements, even though we have properly planned and performed our audit in accordance with auditing standards. We are not responsible for preventing non-compliance and cannot be expected to detect non-compliance with all laws and regulations.

These inherent limitations are particularly significant in the case of misstatement resulting from fraud as this may involve sophisticated schemes designed to avoid detection, including deliberate failure to record transactions, collusion or the provision of intentional misrepresentations.

A further description of our responsibilities is available on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: https://www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor's report.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charitable company's members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006 and to the charity’s trustees, as a body, in accordance with Section 44(1)(c) of the Charities and Trustees Investment (Scotland) Act and regulation 10 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charity's trustees those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor's report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charity and the charity’s trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Investments

Raising funds

The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year. All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.

Investments

Raising funds

These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies regime.

Home Link Family Support is a private company limited by guarantee incorporated in Scotland. The registered office is 1 Newington Business Centre, Dalkeith Road, Edinburgh, EH16 5GA.

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the charity's Memorandum and Articles of Association,the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended), the Companies Act 2006, FRS 102 “The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland” (“FRS 102”) and the Charities SORP "Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)" (effective 1 January 2019).

The charity is a Public Benefit Entity as defined by FRS 102.

The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the charity. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention. The principal accounting policies adopted are set out below.

At the time of approving the financial statements, the trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for at least 12 months. Thus the trustees continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.

Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of their charitable objectives.

Restricted funds are subject to specific conditions by donors or grantors as to how they may be used. The purposes and uses of the restricted funds are set out in the notes to the financial statements.

Cash donations are recognised on receipt. Other donations are recognised once the charity has been notified of the donation, unless performance conditions require deferral of the amount. Income tax recoverable in relation to donations received under Gift Aid or deeds of covenant is recognised at the time of the donation.

Income from government and other grants, whether capital or revenue in nature, are recognised when the charity has unconditional entitlement to the funds, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably. Unconditional entitlement will be achieved once any performance or other conditions attached to the grants have been met, or fulfilment of those conditions is wholly within the control of the charity.

Where a restricted grant has conditions attached to its use, for instance time-imposed or performance-based conditions that are not yet met, the grant is recognised as a liability in the balance sheet and released to income once those conditions are met.

Income from other trading activities includes income earned from both trading activities to raise funds for the charity and income from fundraising events and is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, it is probable that these will be received and the amounts can be measured reliably.

Interest on funds held on deposit is included when receivable and the amount can be measured reliably by the charity. This is normally upon notification of the interest paid or payable by the bank.

Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to transfer economic benefit to a third party, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefits will be required in settlement, and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably.

Expenditure is classified by activity. The costs of each activity are made up of the total of direct costs and shared costs, including support costs involved in undertaking each activity. Direct costs attributable to a single activity are allocated directly to that activity. Shared costs which contribute to more than one activity and support costs which are not attributable to a single activity are apportioned between those activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources. Central staff costs are allocated on the basis of time spent, and depreciation charges are allocated on the portion of the asset’s use.

Expenditure on raising funds includes all expenditure incurred by the charity to raise funds for its charitable purposes.It includes the cost of all fundraising activities and events together with those costs incurred in seeking donations, grants and legacies and investment management costs.

Tangible fixed assets are initially measured at cost and subsequently measured at cost or valuation, net of depreciation and any impairment losses.

Depreciation is recognised so as to write off the cost or valuation of assets less their residual values over their useful lives on the following bases:

The gain or loss arising on the disposal of an asset is determined as the difference between the sale proceeds and the carrying value of the asset, and is recognised in the statement of financial activities.

At each reporting end date, the charity reviews the carrying amounts of its tangible assets to determine whether there is any indication that those assets have suffered an impairment loss. If any such indication exists, the recoverable amount of the asset is estimated in order to determine the extent of the impairment loss (if any).

Cash and cash equivalents include cash in hand, deposits held at call with banks, other short-term liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less, and bank overdrafts. Bank overdrafts are shown within borrowings in current liabilities.

The charity has elected to apply the provisions of Section 11 ‘Basic Financial Instruments’ and Section 12 ‘Other Financial Instruments Issues’ of FRS 102 to all of its financial instruments.

Financial instruments are recognised in the charity's balance sheet when the charity becomes party to the contractual provisions of the instrument.

Financial assets and liabilities are offset, with the net amounts presented in the financial statements, when there is a legally enforceable right to set off the recognised amounts and there is an intention to settle on a net basis or to realise the asset and settle the liability simultaneously.

Basic financial assets, which include debtors and cash and bank balances, are initially measured at transaction price including transaction costs and are subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest method unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the transaction is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial assets classified as receivable within one year are not amortised.

Basic financial liabilities, including creditors and bank loans are initially recognised at transaction price unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the debt instrument is measured at the present value of the future payments discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial liabilities classified as payable within one year are not amortised.

Debt instruments are subsequently carried at amortised cost, using the effective interest rate method.

Trade creditors are obligations to pay for goods or services that have been acquired in the ordinary course of operations from suppliers. Amounts payable are classified as current liabilities if payment is due within one year or less. If not, they are presented as non-current liabilities. Trade creditors are recognised initially at transaction price and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.

Financial liabilities are derecognised when the charity’s contractual obligations expire or are discharged or cancelled.

The cost of any unused holiday entitlement is recognised in the period in which the employee’s services are received.

Termination benefits are recognised immediately as an expense when the charity is demonstrably committed to terminate the employment of an employee or to provide termination benefits.

Payments to defined contribution retirement benefit schemes are charged as an expense as they fall due.

Grants for distribution

Investments

Raising funds

Premises Costs

Running and IT Costs

Motor and Travel Costs

Legal and Professional Fees

Clinical supervision and staff training

Home Link were approved partner of LACER and Children’s lottery fund to enable staff to make emergency payments to families facing the pressures of the cost of living crises. In the year to 31 March 2025 Home Link Family Support received £14,604 and remitted £14,083 in funds for third parties.

Board Meeting costs

The average monthly number of employees during the year was:

The pension charge represents contributions due from the charity and amounted to £19,713 (2024 : £17,647). At the year end £3,996 was due in respect of pension contributions (2024 : £3,517).

The directors consider the managers the key management personnel of the charity. The total remuneration including employer's national insurance and pension contributions for the year was £52,081 (2024 : £88,235).

The charity is exempt from taxation on its activities because all its income is applied for charitable purposes.

Deferred income is included in the financial statements as follows:

The charity operates a defined contribution pension scheme for all qualifying employees. The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the charity in an independently administered fund.

The restricted funds of the charity comprise the unexpended balances of donations and grants held on trust subject to specific conditions by donors as to how they may be used.

Midlothian Befriending Service and Family Support Fund

Represents sums received from Midlothian Council to fund early years family support service and the befriending service in Midlothian. The befriending service closed in June 2023 with families moving to staff based support.

Edinburgh Befriending Service and Family Support Fund

Represents sums received from City of Edinburgh Council and Garfield Western to fund the befriending service and family support in Edinburgh.

Volunteer Officer Fund

Represents funding from small grants and City of Edinburgh Council to co-ordinate volunteer family support in Edinburgh

Systemic Family Counselling in Midlothian

Represents sums received from Midlothian Council and The Robertson Trust for delivering counselling services in primary schools.

Early Years Fund (Big Lottery)

Represents sums received from Big Lottery and the Volant Trust to fund the Early Years Service in Edinburgh.

Antenatal Project

Represents sums received from the Big Lottery and the Volant Trust to fund antenatal family support in Edinburgh.

Systemic Mental Health

Funds received under partnership formed with MYPAS, Midlothian,Sure Start and Play Therapy Base. The partnership received funds from the Community Mental Health Framework to offer children, young people and their families experiencing wellbeing and mental health issues, therapeutic support including systemic family counselling and art therapy.

Midlothian Young Parents' Support Service

Represent funding received from the Henry Smith Trust and The People's Postcode Lottery to fund the Young Parent's Service in Midlothian.

Family Practitioner

This post is fully funded by Midlothian Council to provide children and their families with family learning opportunities through home visiting and community engagement to improve access to early years education.

Art Therapy

This is funding received from Midlothian Council, to provide art therapy to children living across Midlothian.

Stay and Play

Community-based groups with funding from Awards for All.

Families Opportunities Worker- Midlothian

Funding from Midlothian Council for a post that alleviates the impact of poverty on children in their early years.

Back on Track

Funding from Community Health Framework to work in partnership with Crossreach to deliver therapy services in the high school catchments of Liberton and Gracemount; addtional funding was received from RS Macdonald Trust to provide art therapy.

LACER Fund

Funding from Midlothian Council for grant distribution of emergency payments to families facing the pressures of the cost of living crisis.

Scottish Children’ Lottery

Grant from Scottish Children’s Lottery for grant distribution of emergency payments to families facing the pressures of the cost of living crisis.

ELTF

Grant from Edinburgh and Lothian Trust Fund to for grant distribution of emergency payments to families facing the pressures of the cost of living crisis.

Aberlour

Grants from Aberlour for grant distribution of emergency payments to families facing the pressures of the cost of living crisis.

Edinburgh Early Years Hub Whole Family Wellbeing Fund (NHS)

Funding received from City of Edinburgh Council through Whole Family Wellbeing Fund to deliver transformational change in the delivery of early years services. The partnership involves Circle, Home Start Edinburgh, City of Edinburgh, NHS CAE and Stepping Stones.

Adult Mental Health (Midlothian Voluntary Action)

Funding to support the development of a peer support network for parent/carers who have a child under 5 who have additional support needs (ASN). The peer network provides wellbeing support through recognising the challenges faced caring to a child with ASN

Midlothian Whole Family Wellbeing Fund

Funding received to provide art therapy support to children experiencing distress. Working in partnership with the Family Wellbeing Team and Team around the child pathway.

The unrestricted funds of the charity comprise the unexpended balances of donations and grants which are not subject to specific conditions by donors and grantors as to how they may be used. These include designated funds which have been set aside out of unrestricted funds by the trustees for specific purposes.

At the reporting end date the charity had outstanding commitments for future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases, which fall due as follows:

There were no related party transactions during the year (2024 - £1,000 was donated from RMM Associates, an organisation owned by a trustee of the charity).

The charity had no material debt during the year.