The Parent Hood of Harlow CIC's core aims remain to champion women-led business, support maternal mental wellbeing, and improve early years outcomes for families in Harlow and the surrounding area. Over the year ending 31 January 2026, the company continued to deliver against these aims through the following activities and achievements. When our landlord took the decision to sell our previous premises, the local council was instrumental in helping us secure a suitable alternative, reflecting the reputation The Parent Hood of Harlow CIC has built within the community. We were able to source, negotiate, and refurbish the new space, ensuring there was no interruption to any of our services for the families who rely on them. We secured multi-year funding from Sport England to continue delivering low-cost postnatal yoga sessions to Harlow residents, giving the programme a stable footing for the years ahead. We also collaborated with another local women-led business to launch holiday clubs, supporting them through their application for HAF (Holiday Activities and Food) funding, an example of our continued commitment to mentoring and strengthening other women-led enterprises in the community. We secured short-term funding to launch a school readiness programme for local toddlers, developed in alignment with the local council's own school readiness initiative, and secured funding from two separate sources to launch low-cost antenatal classes for expectant parents in the area. We also strengthened our links with local health services this year, building connections with midwives across Harlow. We now attend their pregnancy circles and postnatal circles on a monthly basis, helping to embed The Parent Hood of Harlow CIC within the wider local pathway of maternal support and ensuring more families are aware of and able to access our services at an early stage. Our regular programme of sessions ran weekly during term time and remained free or very low cost throughout, ensuring accessibility for local families. Over the year, we reached 48 people across 7 courses of Postnatal Plus, welcomed 218 attendances at our peer support groups, and delivered 340 bookings for our family dance classes, 152 bookings for Rainbow Ready, and 343 bookings for Mothers Moving. Throughout the year, we continued to offer our space to local women-led businesses at below market value, supporting their growth and sustainability alongside our own programme delivery. Each of these activities relates directly back to our core aims, and together they reflect our ongoing role as a trusted mentor and resource for women-led businesses and families across Harlow.

The Parent Hood of Harlow CIC places continual stakeholder engagement at the heart of how it develops and delivers its services. We gather feedback directly and in person from service users throughout each course, and formally collect feedback at the end of every course we run. This ongoing dialogue with the families we support ensures we have a clear and current understanding of their needs, and directly informs decisions about which programmes we continue, adapt or introduce. It was through this feedback that we identified a clear demand from local parents for an antenatal course. While delivery of the course itself will be reflected in next year's report, funding to launch it was secured within this financial year as a direct result of the feedback we gathered. We also consult with local midwives to ensure our services complement rather than duplicate NHS provision. Matrescence Plus was developed specifically to complement the service provided by the hospital, reflecting our commitment to working alongside, rather than in competition with, other local health providers. Combining direct feedback from service users with ongoing consultation with professional stakeholders such as midwives ensures The Parent Hood of Harlow CIC continues to shape its services around genuine community need while working collaboratively within the wider local support network.

For the Jan 2026 financial year 1 director received remuneration of £11,184.

No transfer of assets other than for full consideration