Darlington Association on Disability

Darlington Association on Disability is an organisation led by disabled people, which exists to promote independence and choice. DAD supports disabled people and carers through the provision of services, support and information and by tackling issues affecting disabled people both locally and nationally.

 

Chair’s report to members

The chairman presents his statement for the year.

The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) became law in 1995. Fifteen years later it was combined into the Equality Act 2010. The Act was founded on the principles of the Social Model of Disability. Despite 30 years of legislation its intentions have not fully delivered disability equality. Disabled people of all ages are still discriminated against, many on a daily basis.

One of the major barriers to equality is the impact of lawful discrimination. Too often, statutory minimum requirements are treated as targets rather than baselines to exceed.  Darlington Association on Disability (DAD) has continued to work with the local authority, other public bodies and private companies to change this mindset.  Acting as an adviser and critical friend, DAD has been successful in many areas.

Transforming attitudes requires time, persistence, and financial resources and often this vital work goes unseen.

The demand for DAD’s services has continued to grow and to meet that demand DAD has also had to grow. This growth could not have been achieved without loyal dedicated employees and volunteers. I am tremendously grateful to them all and I thank each and every one for their commitment to the organisation and its objectives.

DAD can celebrate a very successful year thanks to the hard work of staff, the management team and support from all of our funders. This has enabled the organisation to provide further support for disabled people and carers across the organisation to meet rising demand.

I cannot overstate how appreciative I am to Chief Executive Lauren Robinson, Deputy Chief Executive Tracy Roberts and Senior Managers Stacey Allan and David Thomas who have all done an outstanding job by continuing to make DAD an organisation that is envied by other towns.  I thank them for their loyalty, dedication and excellent leadership.

I am indebted to my fellow Trustees for their support to me and their continued hard work and commitment to DAD.  I also thank them for their many hours of hands‑on work within the organisation that often goes unseen by others.   

Gordon Pybus, Chairman

 

TRUSTEES' REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

The Trustees who are also directors of the charity for the purposes of the Companies Act 2006, present their annual report together with the audited financial statements of the Charity for the year 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025. The Annual Report serves the purposes of both a Trustees' report and a directors' report under company law. The Trustees confirm that the Annual Report and financial statements of the charitable company comply with the current statutory requirements, the requirements of the charitable company's governing document and the provisions of the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS102) (effective 1 January 2019).

OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

Objectives and aims

a) to relieve the needs of disabled people and carers, for the public benefit, resident but not limited to, Darlington and the surrounding areas. In particular, but not exclusively, by the promotion of equality, diversity and independence through the provision of services, support, information and training; and

b) to direct, promote and support the efficient working of charitable organisations, voluntary bodies, and statutory bodies in their work to relieve disability ("the Objects").

 Significant activities

Darlington Association on Disability (DAD) was established in 1986 as a voluntary and charitable organisation led by disabled people. It exists to promote independence and choice of disabled people and supports disabled people and carers through the provision of services, support and information and by tackling issues affecting disabled people locally and nationally. DAD promotes the Social Model of Disability and as part of that ethos is actively involved in promoting disability equality and awareness raising. As an organisation, DAD endeavours to ensure that its services are responsive and not prescriptive.

DAD has five strategic aims that it works to achieve;

• Promote the Social Model of Disability.
• Ensure disabled people and carers are involved in all its work.
• Provide high quality services to promote independence and choice.
• Improve access to services, consultation and involvement for sensory impaired people, younger people and people from minority ethnic group.
• Ensure that DAD has a secure, sustainable and independent future.

 

These aims are met in two ways:

Firstly, DAD acts with disability groups, individual disabled people and carers to jointly tackle issues affecting them, across Tees Valley and surrounding areas, to enable involvement and consultation with service providers, voluntary, public and private sector. Secondly, DAD develops and delivers services with direct involvement of disabled people and carers.

All of the organisation's work relies on volunteers who receive ongoing support. Many disabled people act as role models and mentors for other disabled people to volunteer. Many young people volunteer to support the children and young people's service enabling them to demonstrate skills and experience to future employers.

Members play a vital role in the organisation ensuring that DAD remains user led and anyone who is new to the organisation is encouraged to become a member in order to be able to influence the organisation, 177 people are registered and 62% are disabled people.

 Public benefit

The Charity's aims and achievements are set out within this report.  The activities set out in this report have been undertaken to further the Charity's charitable purposes for the public benefit. The Trustees have complied with the duty under Section 4 of the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to public benefit guidance published by the Charity Commission and the Trustees have paid due regard to this guidance in deciding what activities the Charity should undertake.

DAD continues to monitor, evaluate and develop all of DAD's projects to ensure that each is providing the best possible service and is supporting disabled people and carers to increase independence, choice and control.

ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE

Key Achievements 2024‑2025

It has been a year of strategic development, service expansion, and impactful delivery. DAD has strengthened our position as a Centre for Independent Living across Tees Valley, expanded our advocacy services, and deepened our support for disabled people and carers during the ongoing cost‑of‑living crisis.

Most significantly, demand for our services, in line with the picture across the voluntary and community sector, has continued to increase. Meeting this demand is made possible by an excellent team of staff and volunteers who are committed to supporting people to have independence, choice and control and are committed to supporting the organisation to achieve its aims.

Access Interest Group: The group continued to work with the Local Authority and businesses across Darlington and extended its work across Tees Valley as part of the development of infrastructure for electric vehicle charging points, advising Local Authorities and suppliers on accessibility requirements for disabled people.  Work continued with Darlington Council, working on the Towns Fund Project developments, reviewing all planning applications in relation to disability access and the Equality Act, reviewing applications for licenses for scaffolding and pavement cafes and monitoring compliance.  The Chair was appointed as one of the Voluntary Sector representatives on the Plan for Neighbourhoods Board, specifically to address the needs of disabled people.  The Durham & Darlington Police Independent Advisory Group continues to be Chaired by DAD and reviews Police support for disabled people and others from minority groups.  Access Audits and advice for local groups and businesses are also ongoing.

 

Advocacy:  Demand for all areas of advocacy has increased significantly: 

• 2,305 new referrals and 2,875 people supported.
• The transition to the new contract with People First, to support people in Tees Valley, has been successful.
• Many complex cases supported including safeguarding, housing, mental health, and culturally sensitive advocacy.
• The Henry Smith Trust extended support for self advocacy for people with learning impairments to June 2026.
• The team are preparing for the Advocacy Quality Performance Mark.
• Advocates are regularly praised for compassion, legal knowledge, and reflective practice.
• This continues to be a major area of growth for the organization.

 

 Carers Support:  Support for carers is delivered across the organisation through Information and Advice, Direct Payment Support and Advocacy. Carers breaks have continued to be available at both The Hub and DASH thanks to Better Care funding. Carers and parent carers have been a focus for the support we have provided for Cost of Living.

 

Children and Young Peoples Service (ChYPS):  

• Over 135 children and young people aged 3‑25 registered.
• DASH delivered Playschemes during school holidays at Easter, Summer, October, and Christmas.
• Weekly after school activities including Youth Group, Young Leaders and Mentoring for Independence (MFI) were delivered during term time.
• Young Leaders and MFI engaged in NHS consultations and disability history sessions.
• DAD was delighted to secure a £185,000 grant awarded from National Lottery Community Fund to support services for young people aged 13‑ 25 and work to support the development of the Youth Partnership in Darlington.
• Staff and volunteers received comprehensive training including tracheostomy and epilepsy care. 

 

 Direct Payments Support Service

• Supported over 300 people with payroll and managed accounts.
• Continued to provide support to people with managing a Personal Health budget in Darlington and County Durham.
• The service received extremely positive feedback from users in Darlington and Redcar. 78% rated the service as ‘excellent’ and 100% rated the service as either ‘excellent’ or ‘good’.
• New staff recruited: Payroll & Finance Administrator and Project Administrator.
• Skills for Care training was delivered in partnership with Disability North and People First to 346 Employers and Personal Assistants across the North East of which 150 were Darlington residents.

 

The Independent Living Hub

• The Hub continued to support on average 42 disabled people to attend regular sessions to develop new skills, have access to education, leisure and social activities.
• Health and wellbeing has been a focus of individual plans with people taking up swimming, participating in peer led cooking sessions and learning about healthy eating.
• Information sessions on how to vote in the General Election and NHS campaigns promoting health information raised awareness of important issues.
• The DAD accessible vehicle continued to provide essential transport to enable people to access the service. Plans are being developed with the support of Motability funding to increase the availability of accessible transport.

 

 Information Provision and Cost of Living Support:  Support for the Cost of Living crisis has been the key focus to support people to access information. This includes:

• DAD has continued to be a key partner in Darlington Connect, a partnership of voluntary sector organisations working to support mental health and wellbeing from a shop front in the town. DAD’s role is to support people who experience barriers accessing the Town Centre or needing home visits.
• Over 470 people provided with support and information
• CAB appointments are delivered at The Independent Living Hub for easy access and support. This support has generated an additional  £300,000 of income for disabled people during the year.
• Food and fuel vouchers distributed via The Household Support Fund in partnership with The 700 Club and First Stop.
• Funding from The Energy Saving Trust to support disabled people and carers with energy saving measures and accessible information.
• Funding from Smart Energy GB to support access to smart meters
• Introduction of Better off Calculator, an online tool to support people to assess if they are entitled to additional income or how increased earnings will affect existing income.
• DAD is the only local organisation providing access to Fuel Bank vouchers.

 

Self‑Advocacy ‑ DAD's support for self‑advocacy includes:

• Delivery of national Oliver McGowan mandatory training for health and social care providers delivered by accredited trainers with lived experience.
• People’s Parliament, as the voice of people with a learning impairment in Darlington, receives support from DAD with the facilitation of the meetings.
• Learning Impairment Network, bringing together people with lived experience and organisations to co‑produce solutions.
• Young Leaders, developing young people’s skills and confidence to raise awareness of issues affecting young disabled people.
• The Henry Smith Foundation funded self‑advocacy project supported 178 individuals on a 1 to 1 basis to develop self‑advocacy skills. Research by the Foundation demonstrates that every £1 invested in this work delivers £12 of added value for health and social care organisations.

 

 Transport:  Following the pandemic Trustees identified transport barriers as a key issue facing disabled people. Lack of confidence, loss of independent living skills, lack of accessible taxi service were all raised as key issues. To try and tackle this strategically DAD has:

• Invested reserves and an unrestricted grant from Ballinger Trust fund to purchase an additional accessible car to support the provision of DAD services.
• Worked in partnership with the Good Life Collaborative to secure funding from Motability for travel training to support adults with learning impairment’s to develop or regain independent travel skills.
• Applied to Motability Foundation to fund the costs of extending our transport services to people who do not use DAD services to access the community, including the purchase of a minibus.
• Focus on co‑production in relation to transport issues to reduce barriers by working with transport providers.
   

Volunteering:  Thank you to the many volunteers who give their time, skills and knowledge very generously to support our work. We were delighted to be successful as a partner with Citizens Advice Bureau, St Teresa’s Hospice and wider voluntary sector groups securing one of only 15 national grants for Volunteering for Health. The project will develop a new infrastructure for volunteers in Darlington where DAD will support co‑production with people who experience barriers to volunteering including people from minority communities, young people and disabled people.

High Quality Services and Support:

• High standards of governance are maintained, improved and demonstrated through CHAS, an accreditation and safety scheme
• DAD was delighted to maintain the Investors in People award.
• The Advocacy Service is working towards the national quality scheme accreditation.
• Following a four year search, the organisation relocated its head office to more suitable premises

 

FINANCIAL REVIEW

Review of financial activities and affairs

The financial affairs of the Association were managed by a Trustee sub‑committee which met throughout the year and reported to the Trustees.

The last financial year continued to see a significant rise in demand and rapid growth for DAD. Driven by demand, Trustees agreed to allocate reserves to be able to respond effectively to the Cost of Living crisis. Additional support was secured from funders to ensure those disabled people and carers most impacted could be offered some support.

Partnership working has also been a key factor of the organisation’s growth and enabled the organisation to build capacity and share skills and knowledge. We would like to thank all of our partners in The Good Life Collaborative, Darlington Connect, People First, Disability North, the developing Youth Partnership, Volunteering for Health, The 700 Club and First Stop.

We are immensely thankful to all our funders including: Ballinger Charitable Trust, Citizens Advice Darlington Redcar and Cleveland, Darlington Borough Council, The Energy Saving Trust, The Henry Smith Foundation, Inclusion North, The Motability Foundation, The National Lottery Community Fund, The NHS North East and Cumbria Integrated Care Board, Point North, Redcar & Cleveland Borough Council, Skills for Care, Smart Energy GB, The 700 Club and VONNE.

The incoming resources for the 12 month period amounted to £2,069,693 of which £503,961 was for restricted projects and £1,565,732 was attributable to general funds before expenditure. 

Reserves policy

The Trustees established a policy whereby the unrestricted funds not committed or invested in tangible fixed assets ('the free reserves') held by the charity should be between 3 and 6 months of the resources expended in general funds. This is the level assessed by Trustees that would enable the organisation to manage risks associated with a sudden loss of funding. Trustees agreed that a Designated Fund be established to support unmet need and essential development. The level of free reserves at the year end is £596,827.

Future forecast

Our strategy of operating as a Centre for Independent Living across Tees Valley is a key focus of our Business Plan to support disabled people across the area. The Energy Saving Trust is funding work across Tees Valley to provide Cost of Living Support connecting DAD via the Bread and Butter Thing distribution centres across Tees Valley to disabled people and carers.

The provision of Advocacy across Tees Valley is now embedded through the new subcontract to deliver high quality support. The staff team is being developed and continues to grow to meet demand.

Oliver McGowan national mandatory training will continue to be delivered to NHS and social care staff.  The training aims to provide the workforce with the right skills and knowledge to provide safe, compassionate and informed care to autistic people and people with a learning impairment. The training was named after Oliver McGowan, whose death shone a light on the need for health and social care staff to have better training. DAD has recruited and trained new staff as co‑trainers who have lived experience to deliver the training to meet demand. DAD is very proud that our staff team includes some of our previous Young Leaders.

Our Direct Payments Support is well established, and we will continue to support people across Darlington, Redcar and Cleveland with a wide range of support including supporting Employers with recruitment, payroll and Managed Accounts. Work to support people with Personal Health Budgets who wish to be Employers is also continuing.

The Access Interest Group has been advising on the major capital improvements to Darlington Railway Station which will be ongoing in 2025. Because Darlington has been identified by Government to benefit from Long Term Plan for Towns investment, DAD will be actively involved to represent disabled people.

DAD continues to play an active role in the Voluntary and Community Sector Strategy Group in Darlington and will be working to develop the Volunteering for Health project with CAB, St Teresa’s Hospice and the wider sector.

Access to transport will be a key area for development over the coming year, developing travel training and raising awareness of issues.

Developing our capacity to support co‑production and engagement of disabled people, to ensure people have a voice, will be critical to addressing the changes to Welfare Reform that are now being raised, alongside many other issues affecting disabled people.  

DAD wish to thank all funders and supporters of the organisation.  In particular our amazing staff team and the many people who give hours of their time, expertise, skills and knowledge to ensure that DAD continues to be a successful organisation. Volunteers work at all levels of the organisation. As a User Led Organisation, disabled people and carers volunteer as Trustees and others work across the projects which DAD operates. Volunteers are the backbone of the organisation and our thanks and appreciation go to all of them.

DAD will continue to ensure that the organisation has a strong presence going forward, promoting the organisation as a Centre for Independent Living available to support all disabled people and carers.

 

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