YAWN Life continues to provide day opportunities for adults with learning disabilities and support for their parents and carers. Day Opportunities 45 adults with learning disabilities have benefitted from our day opportunity service during this year. According to their assessed needs and wishes they attend between one and five days every week, in total resulting in on average 146-day sessions/week throughout the year. All of our Clients access community activities within our local area and sometimes further afield. Activities include Tennis, Gym, Swimming, Dancing, Aqua Fit, Shopping outings and other community-based sessions. Some of these are tailored for our clients needs and others are regular public groups. For example a group of our ladies regularly attend a weekly scheduled Line Dancing and Zumba session. They can do this because they are all capable of doing the dancing and our staff member supports their other needs. We’ve continued to develop our own allotments; they are now thriving and the clients working on them deserve to feel very proud. The produce is used within our cookery sessions and shared amongst our clients’ families and other contacts. An area of the allotment is being developed and set aside for pollinator attracting flowers with the dual benefit of encouraging other clients to experience gardening – this has been very successful this year with clients who are often reluctant to engage being very keen to attend each week. Links with our neighbours and local businesses continue. We take pride in our local neighbourhood and teams of volunteers tidy and weed our street and the grounds of local businesses, benefiting our local community in a very direct way. Our partnership with Little Bramingham Farm care home has gone from strength to strength and been successful to all involved. Our clients have taken a real pride in their work and enjoy sharing their time with the elderly people. The six large beds grew well this year despite challenges from pests and weather, a wide variety of vegetables were produced and used by the care home in their kitchens. Their chef loves being able to go straight from garden to plate in a few hours and of course there is a cost saving. One bed has been planted with shrubs and flowers which the elderly clients can enjoy and share their expertise with our clients. We have also been involved in local projects related to Britain in Bloom – contributing to some Gold awards and achieving a third place in a decorate a wheelbarrow competition. Clients have good levels of engagement in activities. Everyone continues to benefit from the opportunity for contact with their peers and staff. Clients have opportunities to socialise and interact with their peers building those very important social, behavioural and confidence skills. However, encouraging some to be more active continues to be a challenge. Our cabin on-site gym continues to enable everyone to have regular gym opportunities, including those who face barriers that prevent them from accessing community facilities. Staff provide the necessary support and it continues to make a huge difference to some clients who find it difficult to be motivated to move. Being able to take part little and often has led to huge increases in some peoples activity levels. Regular daily use even for 5/10 mins has seen improvements in stamina. From a staff perspective it has been very rewarding. The range of opportunities onsite continues to include individual art and craft, group craft projects and lots of group activities such as quizzes, drama games, hangman etc. We continue to encourage everyone to be active with relaxed stretching, keep fit, dancing, music dancercise, group games and much more. Benefits of this broad range of activities to clients are apparent every week. Health and fitness, confidence, self esteem, sociability and skills are improved and maintained. Friendships have become sources of self-support; opportunities to share anxieties with each other and staff prevents them becoming overwhelming. In addition, we have continued to be a reliable source of information for clients, their families and the wider community. As a small organisation we continually respond quickly to change and need without lengthy administrative procedures. Our directors are hands on, working within the service and being parent/ carers means we are in touch with and understand the needs and anxieties of everyday life and issues that impact our clients and community. The importance and benefit of a continuing service balanced against staying safe is still a consideration as are continuing other issues arising from the cost-of-living crisis which are also impacting our clients. Clients disposable income is reduced and this restricts the number of activities they can afford to participate in. Social care budgets are changing and clients are expected to contribute more towards their packages. This has sadly led to some clients leaving the service – and raises concerns over their future wellbeing. Costs of the organisation continue to rise. Our local councils have been supportive, agreeing to rises in our rates which were necessary due to rising payroll costs and other bills. Recruitment of staff is more challenging than ever with staff rates of pay needing to increase substantially to keep pace and ensure our staff are rewarded appropriately. Further rises in the National Living Wage and NI contributions have added to this pressure. Our fleet of cars are becoming more expensive to maintain as garages face increasing costs and parts supply issues. Despite this, we continue to subsidise most external activities to keep them affordable for clients and we provide many on site activities for free or a minimal contribution. This is achieved by low expenses for consumables through use of Community Recycling/Donation Schemes, prudent buying and top ups to the social care funding we receive with fundraising and donations. Carer Support YAWN Life recognises that the best outcomes for people with learning disabilities are obtained if their carers are also supported. Carers benefit whilst their cared for person is with us. They are enabled to pursue other aspects of their lives independently of their need to provide care. This allows some to work, meet up with friends, do a regular leisure activity or just have a rest! The service operates 49 weeks of the year providing good continuity of care. Closure weeks are scheduled well in advance allowing families to plan. Social care and other professionals value the support we provide to clients and the wider family which is valuable preventative work. Through this we can often identify potential issues or behaviours, reassure and sign post to the right support to prevent escalation. Carers of our clients value the understanding that our support workers can provide. As a service led by parents/carers of adults with learning disabilities there is a shared empathy through personal experience. They particularly value the information and support we are able to provide on top of the care, and meaningful activities offered to the person they support. Carers seek support for a variety of challenges. Whether it’s reviewing their benefits, financial reviews, growing old, issues around behaviour or health etc. They are confident to approach us and we will listen, help directly or point them in the direction of the right support.

Clients, parents, carers and staff are encouraged to provide their feedback, ideas etc. on an ongoing basis. On a daily basis informal consultation with clients and their parents/carers and staff is on going. We listen to their aspirations and things they would like to do and achieve and usually arrange our future activities and their timetables accordingly. Following consultation with clients and other learning disabled people in the area on fitness activities we discovered and highlighted some interesting barriers some of which we have overcome in the year with our own gym equipment. We also continue working with BeActive to highlight some of the barriers with Active Luton who run most of our local leisure facilities. Feedback, ideas and suggestions from clients and parents are encouraged on an ongoing basis and incorporated into our current offer and future plans. Our organisation, staff, directors and clients are very involved in our local disabled community both personally and professionally. Attending other events and social activities, usually enables us to consult others, obtain feedback and gain a wider understanding of developing needs and wants. Many of the pre Covid forums have still not returned and we miss these close links with Socialcare management and policy makers. But we have continued our links with the social care teams and are trying to build new ones to address issues we face as an independent organisation. The Directors continue to be hands on members of the staff team, working daily to deliver services as well as leading the development and strategic direction of the company. This provides first hand opportunities to observe what works well for all our stakeholders and take any necessary action. In particular, close relations have been built with clients and their families and carers leading to an ongoing and open dialogue. As a result of this we are able to respond rapidly to the changing needs which continues to be vital as availability of social care provision changes. Our staff continue to be one of our most valued stakeholders. They play a crucial role being aware of and feeding back clients feedback as well as their own. Last year “mainstream” Aqua Fit and Line Dancing were added to our timetable as a result of clients aspirations being known by staff. This has proved to be extremely successful both from our clients perspective but also in breaking down and changing public perceptions and stereotypes. Cookery sessions have evolved to include particular favourites of clients and an increasing range to meet various dietary needs without cooking separate dishes. Demand from social care continues to exceed capacity but working closely with social workers has enabled us to offer places to priority cases best suited to our service. We will continue to look for innovative ways to develop our service to meet the changing needs of social care support. In addition we will continue to direct those who would be better supported elsewhere, to what is available for them; and highlight unmet needs to social care. This year we welcomed a team from Healthwatch who were doing an independent “Enter & View” exercise on behalf of Luton Council. Their report was very positive, their summary stated "Yawn Life presented as a positive and inclusive day service, supporting individuals to engage in meaningful activities, develop independence and maintain social connections.” It was useful to have a complete outsiders viewpoint. We have incorporated some suggestions into our practice. And the positive feedback was a great moral boost for all.

Director’s remuneration for the year totalled £91,888. We confirm there were no other transactions or arrangements in connection with the remuneration of directors, or compensation for director’s loss of office, which require to be disclosed.

No transfer of assets other than for full consideration