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Creating Social Value 2012-2013

Page 2 Welcome

WELCOME

It is my pleasure to welcome you to FRC Group’s social value report for 2012-13. Every year we reflect on a year

of hard work, commitment from our people and meeting the challenges of being a social business. If 2012-13 had

a theme, I would say that it has been the year of social value at FRC Group. I say this not because in previous

year’s social value has been less important, but because we have really focused our energies and made some

very significant commitments to embedding social value in everything we do. You’ll read lots about this in the

report and I hope you are as excited and interested by this as we are.

Despite some very challenging circumstances, I’m incredibly proud of the difference that FRC Group has made

to the lives of all of the people we exist for. This has been a year in which we donated packages of pre-loved

furniture to 576 families and individuals; trained our Driving Change trainees to be 6 times more employable than

when they came to us and gave 185 people opportunities through the Launch Pad programme which allowed

76% of them to achieve the personal outcome they set for themselves. Through our proactive engagement with

local employers, 33 job applications were made and 12 people were successful in gaining employment.

Shaun Doran

Chief Executive Officer

Welcome ............................................................................................ 2

Acknowledgements ........................................................................... 3

Why a social value report? ................................................................ 4

About FRC Group: What we do, our values, how we work .............. 5

Methodology ...................................................................................... 9

Overview of 2012-13 ........................................................................ 10

FRC Group performance 2012-13 ................................................... 13

Chapter One: Great for People Living in Poverty ............................ 18

Chapter Two: Great for Unemployed People .................................. 28

2013/14 The year so far ................................................................... 39

Auditor’s Assurance Statement ....................................................... 40

Appendix One: FRC Group’s Stakeholder Engagement Policy ...... 43

Appendix Two: Stakeholder Engagement Summary 2012-13 ........ 48

COntEnt

Page 3Acknowledgements

Our heartfelt thanks to all the people who have played a part in producing this report:

All the people who make FRC Group a great place to work; our staff, trainees, Launch Pad

participants and volunteers including our Board of Trustees.

All the people who collect and analyse the data in the report, particularly Collette Williams,

Sam Stanford, Shirley Spofforth, Richard Yeung, Luke Rice, Natalya Cronley, Colin Davies, Tommy

Fisher, Jacqui Whelan, Jessica Radford, Dylan Dibbert, Mark Bond, Kerry Ratcliffe, Paul Jewitt,

Nathan Fogerty, Gary Fisher, Jason Dean, Owen Andrew, Mick Hart, Helen White, John Heraty,

Carol Cassidy, Laura Squires.

Adrian Henriques who assured the report. Adrian’s statement can be found on pages 40 to 42

Sarah Nolan of ADC Marketing who designed the report.

Zoe Richards of Zoe Photography who took the photographs.

Special thanks go to Verity Timmins, FRC Group’s Impact Manager who compiled the data

and wrote our Social Value report in May 2013.

ACknOWLEdgEMEntS

Page 4 Why a social value report?

As a social business and registered charity, FRC Group’s social purpose is at the centre of

everything it does. Our mission statement is to run businesses that create profits and opportunities

to change the lives of people living in poverty and unemployment. This Social Value report is the

13th public report we have produced to communicate with our stakeholders about the difference

we make.

Knowing the social value that we create, being able to make improvements to our performance

and making good decisions about how to allocate our time and resources for the purpose of social

value creation – these are the drivers for our commitment to gathering, analysing, using and report

social value data.

We firmly believe that an organisation set up to make social change happen should be both vocal

and transparent about what it achieves. We use this information to challenge ourselves to improve

and to hold ourselves to account.

This report is the public face of an embedded culture of social value measurement that touches

every part of FRC Group. At the very top of the organisation, our Board has a formal sub-

committee on Social Value which reports at each Board meeting about the results achieved and

opportunities for improvement. Each team of staff is involved in some way in data collection,

analysis and reporting. By integrating this work into everything we do, FRC Group is ensuring that

the commitment to proving the value we help to create and improving our own performance is a

permanent feature of how we work.

Why a social value report?

Page 5About FRC Group: What we do, our values, how we work

AbOut FRC gROup: What we do, our values, how we work

FRC Group is a group of social businesses run by Furniture Resource Centre, a registered charity with the mission statement “to run businesses to create profits and opportunities to improve the lives of people in poverty and unemployment”.

The businesses within FRC Group are:

Furniture Resource Centre is a one-stop shop selling furniture, appliances, carpets, window

coverings, small electrical and starter packs (bedding, crockery etc). Our customers provide

furnished accommodation for people who are in need of furniture to make their house into a

home. Our customers include Housing Associations, local authorities, charities, private care

homes and construction companies. Delivering to customers all around the UK, Furniture

Resource Centre provides a seamless project management service from interior design

and product specification to delivery and installation, and finally the removal and recycling

of packaging and any old furniture / appliances which are being replaced. The products

supplied through Furniture Resource Centre are brand new, contract standard items which

furnish properties of all shapes and sizes from individual tenancies through to communal living

premises such as sheltered accommodation units.

Bulky Bob’s is a collection, reuse and recycling service for domestic bulky household

waste. Operating contracts for local authorities, the items we collect from householders are

predominantly furniture and appliances that are no longer wanted. The Bulky Bob’s model

maximises the volume of items that are reused and recycled, to prevent good quality items and

useful materials from going into landfill.

Bulky Bob’s Furniture World is the part of Bulky Bob’s which sells great quality ‘pre-loved’

furniture and reconditioned appliances. Bulky Bob’s Furniture World is a high street store in

Liverpool and in Oldham it is located at our depot near the town centre. In both Liverpool and

Oldham, Bulky Bob’s Furniture World is also taken out ‘on the road’ when we take sales of ‘pre-

loved’ furniture out to community venues. We aim to reuse as many of the items we collect though

Bulky Bob’s as possible. Everyone is welcome to shop at Bulky Bob’s Furniture World and low-

income households are encouraged through a pricing structure which offers them discounts.

Page 6 About FRC Group: What we do, our values, how we work

What we do

FRC Group’s purpose is to bring about a positive change to the lives of people living in material

poverty and unemployment. We want to be Great for People by getting good quality furniture

to people who need it and by creating training and work experience opportunities for long-term

unemployed people and socially excluded groups.

How we do it

The way FRC Group does business is also important. We aim to be:

Great for the Planet by managing our businesses to reduce environmental harm

A Great Place to Work by listening to what our employees say about working at FRC Group

and creating an environment in which people can develop their personal and professional skills

Great to do Business with by providing first class service to all of our customers, asking for

feedback from suppliers and customers and acting on what they tell us

Our Values

Our culture is crucial to delivering positive social change and doing business in the way we

intend. FRC Group’s values – Bravery, Creativity, Passion and Professionalism – are our beliefs

in action. They are visible in the behaviour of our people and how we act as a business. We

use our values to attract, recruit and reward staff; and these values are evident in the business

decisions made by our Board, Chief Executive and Senior Management Team.

Page 7Our Stakeholders

OuR StAkEhOLdERS the people we matter to and who matter to us

Our stakeholders are all the people who matter to FRC Group and the people that FRC Group matters to.

Great for People

Our most important stakeholders are those with whom we work to make a positive change in the lives of people

living in poverty and unemployment.

• Driving Change trainees – previously long-term unemployed people on our training programmes

• “Launch Padders” (participants in our Launch Pad programme) – unemployed people with little or no work

experience, people with disabilities or ex-offenders seeking meaningful community activity on our Launch Pad

programme

• Bulky Bob’s Furniture World customers receiving discounts – people in receipt of benefits, pensioners, students,

people referred from other support agencies

• People referred to Bulky Bob’s Furniture World in Liverpool and Oldham for free of charge furniture in crisis

situations

• Social support agencies – the organisations that refer people to take part in work placements or shop at Bulky

Bob’s or access crisis furniture support

• The people who benefit from the work of the furniture reuse charities we work with – Bulky Bob’s has

relationships with other furniture and appliance reusers to ensure that as many of the reusable items as possible

are made available to people who need them.

Page 8 Our Stakeholders

We also have stakeholder groups that are more aligned with how we do business:

Great for the Planet

• People living locally to where FRC Group operations are working – general public affected by

local environmental impact from our vehicles and building and our operations and from our

reuse and recycling activities

• The global community and future generations – we are all affected by the global environmental

impacts of our business

A Great Place to Work

• Staff – permanent employees of FRC Group

• Trainees – people employed on fixed term training contracts on our Driving Change

programme

• Launch Padders - people working with us on a voluntary basis or taking part in an unpaid

work placement

• Trustees – our Board members who provide governance as volunteers

Great to do Business with

• Furniture Resource Centre customers – the Housing Associations and other customers who

buy furniture and related items from us

• The tenants who receive and use the furniture that is delivered by Furniture Resource Centre

• Bulky Bob’s customers – the local authorities that contract with us to provide collection, reuse

and recycling services for furniture and white goods

• The householders who receive the Bulky Bob’s collection service in Liverpool, Oldham and

Warrington

• Bulky Bob’s Furniture World customers – all the people who shop in Bulky Bob’s Furniture

World

• Our suppliers – the companies who supply us with goods and services

• The other furniture reuse charities that Bulky Bob’s works with by supplying them with

reusable items.

• Funders and supporters of FRC Group – the organisations who provide funding, advice,

corporate engagement and pro bono support to FRC Group

Appendix 1 is FRC Group’s Stakeholder Engagement Policy which describes in detail the

relationships we have with our different groups of stakeholders. It identifies how we prioritise

engagement with different groups of stakeholders.

Appendix 2 is a summary of the stakeholder engagement activity in 2012/13.

Page 9Methodology

The timescale of our reports matches the dates of our financial year, with this report covering

April 2012 to March 2013. It brings together the data we gather throughout the year to

understand the impact we have made.

We collect qualitative and quantitative information from all parts of the organisation and

we gather feedback from the people who matter to us – our stakeholders. For a list of the

stakeholder consultation that we carried out this year see, page 48.

This report has been written to give a focus on the most significant impacts that are created.

The focus of the report is on the social impacts that FRC Group seeks to create through

its social businesses. On pages 13 and 17 there is an overview of FRC Group’s business

performance to provide a context to the social impact information presented.

The report is published on FRC Group’s website www.frcgroup.co.uk which provides a lot of

contextual information about what we do. On the ‘Proving It’ page of the website you can find

all of our previous social reports.

MEthOdOLOgy

To show how the performance in this report compares with our targets and priorities for

the year, these symbols are used to indicate:

Where there was no specific target we use these symbols to show how performance

compares with previous years

we met or exceeded our target

we improved on the previous year’s performance

we made some progress but still aim for more. For numerical targets, this symbol indicates we achieved at least 90% of the performance target

we achieved at least 90% of the performance target

we missed the mark and we will try to improve our performance

we missed the mark and we will try to improve our performance

Page 10 Overview of 2012-13

2012/13 was a year of challenges and opportunities for FRC Group and saw a number

of changes during the year to adapt to the realities of the commercial and economic

circumstances in which FRC Group operates.

The effects of reduced spending in the public sector were felt by FRC Group more starkly than

in previous years. For Furniture Resource Centre, our housing association and local authority

customers were faced with reducing budgets and the looming uncertainties of the range of

welfare reforms that are being introduced in 2013. During the year, Furniture Resource Centre’s

sales strategy was reviewed and the plan for rapid growth that had been put in place in recent

years was re-examined. This led to a restructure and refocus of FRC’s sales team to maximise

the return from our experience in the social housing sector and to focus on developing stronger,

deeper relationships with a smaller overall number of customers. In total, FRC made 3,389

deliveries of furniture during the year.

Many aspects of the welfare reform agenda create commercial challenges for housing

associations. For FRC the detail of the welfare reforms has created two positive outcomes. The

provision of furniture for furnished tenancies will remain eligible for support through housing

benefit for both existing and new furnished tenancies. This allows our housing association

customers to continue to provide furnished tenancies for their vulnerable tenants. The welfare

reform agenda is also creating a new potential opportunity for FRC to supply furniture and

appliances to people on behalf of local authorities. With the decentralisation of the former

Community Care Grant system, local authorities will be setting up their own local scheme in

2013. Many local authorities are choosing to operate a service which provides residents with the

goods they require rather than with a cash grant. This will create opportunities for FRC to deliver

furniture and appliances direct to the homes of people in urgent need.

In total, Bulky Bob’s diverted 2,331 tonnes of furniture and appliances from landfill this year.

As a result of the continuing economic stagnation, Bulky Bob’s has experienced a

reduction in both the overall quantity and quality of furniture it collects that is suitable for reuse.

During the year, Bulky Bob’s management team were able to submit tenders for two Bulky

Bob’s contracts. One was to continue our work in Oldham, where we now have a four year

contract with Oldham Council. The second was to begin working in St Helens. A consequence

of the cuts in public sector spending was that after beginning the procurement process, St

Helens Council decided to retain the activity in house and to deliver a drastically reduced level

of activity rather than procure from a third party.

As part of the development of Bulky Bob’s, the commercial service that Bulky Bob’s offers to

businesses in need of bulky waste removal and recycling was formalised this year. Bulky Bob’s

launched “Bob’s Means Business” in partnership with Liverpool Chamber of Commerce and

Liverpool City Council Business Improvement District, to offer a collection, reuse and recycling

service for bulky items from office, school, factory, hospital and other business locations. This

service operates across Merseyside, giving businesses an opportunity to use a local social

enterprise to manage their waste in a responsible way.

OVERViEW OF 2012-13

Page 11Overview of 2012-13

Towards the end of a challenging financial year, FRC Group’s commercial performance was not

showing the growth that had been projected. As a result, a review of costs across the business was

carried out, resulting in a number of efficiencies which removed some £350,000 worth of costs from

the business. This was achieved through purchasing improvements and a number of redundancies

across the staff teams. In the final quarter of 2012/13 and the first months of 2013/14, FRC Group

has met its commercial targets and has a revised strategy for business growth in place. This strategy

focuses more tightly on our relationships with key housing association customers and targets types of

work that fit best with our commercial experience.

Social Value was a high profile issue in the wider social enterprise sector in 2012/13 as well as at FRC

Group. Within FRC Group, a formal sub-committee of the Board was created to lead on Social Value.

This has ensured the continued commitment to social value creation, is leading on the use of social

value considerations within the decision making process and is working to create a more sophisticated

way of measuring and reporting on social value creation within the organisation. The emphasis is

on developing more detailed and comparable data that will allow the Board to make more informed

decisions about the creation of social value across the Group.

The main focus of this report is to share the detail of the social value that FRC Group has created

throughout the year. Chapter One looks at the work to help low-income households to have a good

quality furnished home and Chapter Two reports on the impacts of the Driving Change and Launch

Pad programmes which offer unemployed people opportunities for training, skills development and

qualifications that will lead to a future employment.

Page 12 Overview of 2012-13

Across the Social Enterprise sector, the introduction of the Public Services (Social Value) Act

2012 created a renewed interest in the potential for social enterprises to deliver public services.

The Act requires all public bodies to consider how the services they commission and procure

might improve the economic, social and environmental well-being of the area. For FRC Group,

the provisions and the spirit of the Act create an opportunity for our existing and potential

customers to demonstrate social value through their work with FRC and Bulky Bob’s. As part of

the formal launch of the Act, Chris White MP who introduced the Act as a Private Members Bill,

visited FRC Group on the day the Act came into force.

“I was very impressed with my visit to Furniture Resource Centre and I believe that FRC shows what can be done if we think creatively about delivering social outcomes. FRC was an excellent example of social value being put into action and I am confident it will go from strength to strength in the years ahead.” Chris White MP

Despite the range of challenges facing our core businesses and the levels of social value

created through our activities, FRC Group was also able to invest time in the future development

of the organisation. During the year, early stage work has been underway to develop a concept

for a new social business within FRC Group. Our ambitions for any new social business are

that it must create significant social return and be a sustainable financial model. Our new

social business concept has gained wide support from a range of critical friends and experts

in the field in which we intend to operate. It also won a prestigious place on the Deloitte Social

Innovation Pioneers programme which has provided pro bono business development support

to further progress the concept. In 2013/14, a full feasibility study will be completed and the

intention is to develop pilot operations to test the concept in different environments. Two key

supporters in this early stage of development are Calico and Trident Social Investment Group,

two housing associations who are supporting the feasibility study.

Page 13FRC Group performance 2012-13

This section of the report provides contextual information about how FRC Group does business and its legal and ethical responsibilities. This section does not report on information pertinent to our core social objectives which are covered in greater detail in the subsequent chapters.

FRC Group is developing headline qualitative measures of overall social value created by our work and

intends in future reports to be able to include this information in this top level summary. Social value

created across our core social priorities will be combined and reported alongside our target to show how

we have performed.

FRC gROup pERFORMAnCE 2012-13

Page 14 FRC Group performance 2012-13

Year Income

£

% income from grants % income from sales Unrestricted funds

Profit/(loss)*

£

Permanent Staff Carbon Footprint

(CO2 equivalent

emissions in tonnes)**

2003/04 4,758,731 7.0 93.0 (11,124)z 94 280

2004/05 4,085,568 7.0 93.0 (149,267) 81 319

2005/06 3,449,274 4.6 95.4 (205,024) 71 307

2006/07 3,324,402 4.2 95.8 (320,599) 69 298

2007/08 3,623,922 5.0 95.0 (159,881) 68 300

2008/09 4,358,064 4.4 95.6 (49,604) 62 322

2009/10 5,177,396 3.8 96.2 81,927 66 344

2010/11 5,030,577 7.7 92.373,902

restated as (56,092)57 307

2011/12 4,717,898 2.7 97.3 (266,265) 72 294

2012/13 3,968,584 2.2 97.8 (211,793) 57 210 ▲

NB 2012/13 figures are from management accounts at time of writing draft report. Audited stat account figures will be inserted prior to publishing


For the financial year 1 April 2012 – 31 March 2013, FRC Group made an unrestricted fund loss

of £202,175 (2011/12: loss of £241,565). The adverse external economic environment continues

to be the most significant factor impacting the financial performance of the Group with Furniture

Resource Centre’s sales at a lower level than in 2011/12. In addition, grant income decreased

slightly from £108,755 in 2011/12 to £88,087 in 2012/13.

In order to improve financial performance whilst maintaining and improving quality of service

wherever possible, the Group successfully carried out a restructure of its cost base in February

2013, which resulted in annual savings of approximately £350,000. This restructure involved a

reduction in pay expenditure through redundancies of both operational and support staff along

with a reduction in non-pay expenditure. These cost saving measures ensured that the budget

for 2013/14 returned the Group to profitability without any increase in sales. The recent increase

in furniture sales arising from the successful development and launch of a revised sales strategy

have further strengthened the Group’s financial position.

permanent Staff team

This year, 3 people started work as part of FRC Group’s permanent staff team and in total 18

people left. The largest group of leavers were those people whose position was made redundant

due to cost saving measures. There were 11 people who left as a result of redundancy. Of the

remaining 7 people, 2 were dismissed, 3 left for a new job and 2 left without a new job.

FRC Group carries out exit interviews with people who are leaving but these are not used where

people are either dismissed or in redundancy situations. Exit interviews collect views from

staff about their experience of FRC Group as an employer. This year, three exit interviews were

completed with the three people who were leaving to go into employment elsewhere. These

three interviews gave positive feedback about FRC Group as an employer.

In 2012, FRC Group was awarded the Workplace Wellbeing Charter by Liverpool Primary Care

Trust. The process of gaining this certification highlighted one area of work that was scored

below either the “excelling” or “achieving” level. This was mental health and stress, which was a

focus for the People & Learning Team this year.

A programme of work was undertaken including training for all managers; the development and

circulation of a policy on stress; the production of a resource on stress for managers and use

of a management style indicator tool to improve the management styles operating within FRC

Group.

In October 2012, a stress survey was carried out with staff, using the HSE management

standards tool. The response rate to the survey was 62%. The results showed that in each

of the seven areas which are identified as primary causes of stress, we scored “Doing very

well” or “Good, but need improvement”. There were a number of specific answers in which we

scored below these levels. These were around the demands to work fast or intensively and the

level of support from managers and from colleagues. Four respondents said they were always,

sometimes or often bullied. We took this very seriously and our approach was to address

this further in a series of focus groups, to which every staff member attended. In the focus

groups, we talked through the results and reiterated our zero tolerance approach to bullying.

Financial performance Commentary

Page 16 FRC Group performance 2012-13

We informed staff of the route to take if they ever felt that they had been bullied at work. We also

introduced risk assessments relating to stress, which includes our position on bullying and the

routes that staff can take if they feel that they are being bullied. In the group settings, people were

shocked at the result in relation to bullying and the groups didn’t agree that this was an issue.

But of course, if people have raised it we need to take it seriously and ensure that this feeling is

eradicated from FRC Group. We will be issuing another questionnaire to see how people feel now

and if things have changed

As well as covering this issue, other areas of concern were addressed with different teams to identify

what needed to be addressed in each team. Data from the focus groups highlighted several areas in

which performance is very high:

• 100% of staff say they know what is expected of them at work

• 91% say they have the materials and equipment needed to do their job

• 89% say they have the opportunity to do what they do best every day

• 88% say they have friends at work

• 88% say their co workers are committed to doing quality work

The response to the issues raised through the stress survey and focus groups is being tailored to

each team in the business. Specific stress risk assessments are being developed for each team with

the input of the managers and team members. The risk assessments identify potential triggers for

stress and control measures to manage stress.


Carbon Footprint health & Safety

FRC Group has an Environmental Management System to control the environmental impacts

of its business activities. The most significant aspects the system controls are the carbon

footprint of our vehicle fleet and premises, waste and recycling and the impacts of the supply

chain of FRC.

Our carbon footprint is calculated from the use of gas and electricity in our buildings and the use

of fuel by our vehicle fleet. We use the standard carbon conversion factors published by Defra in

the Environmental Reporting Guidelines1.

In 2012/13, FRC Group’s carbon footprint was the lowest it has been since we began

recording it in 2003/04. There were two significant contributory factors to the reduction of 83

tonnes compared with the footprint of 2011/12. The first of these is the change in electricity use

at FRC Group’s head office. 2012/13 is the first full year in which our IT infrastructure has been

managed through a “Cloud” system with virtual servers located in a shared data centre. This

has made a significant reduction to our on site energy use. We have accounted for the energy

use relating to our data centre use. Adding to this beneficial effect, our solar panel system was

more productive in 2012/13, creating a saving of 10 tonnes of CO2 emissions in comparison

with 9 tonnes saved in 2011/12.

The second contributory factor was the reduced CO2 emissions from FRC’s national delivery

fleet. The reduced level of commercial activity resulted in 24.5 tonnes fewer emissions

associate with this part of the vehicle fleet.

Health & Safety is important to everybody who works in FRC Group – our staff, trainees and

Launch Pad placements – as well as to our customers and suppliers. This year we had 62

accidents in total, compared with 77 in 2011/12 despite having a larger number of people on

the Launch Pad programme than in 2011/12. As well as the overall number of accidents

reducing, the number of serious accidents (those which are classed as RIDDOR reportable)

reduced from 6 in 2011/12 to 5 in 2012/13.

1 https://www.gov.uk/measuring-and-reporting-environmental-impacts-guidance-for-businesses

Page 18 Chapter One: Great for People Living in Poverty

Helping low-income families to furnish their homes to a good standard was the original

social purpose of Furniture Resource Centre when it began operating as a group of

volunteers in 1988. This remains at the very centre of FRC Group today, although both the

scale and style of how we work to achieve this has changed significantly.

Within FRC Group, it is Bulky Bob’s and specifically the Bulky Bob’s Furniture World

retail operations which work primarily to achieve this social goal of getting much

needed furniture to low-income families. In this chapter we explain how we do this,

our performance and our plans for the future. We also discuss the role of the Furniture

Resource Centre business in getting furniture to people living in poverty.

Bulky Bob’s Furniture World

In Oldham and Liverpool, Bulky Bob’s donates and sells furniture to low-income families

through its Bulky Bob’s Furniture World operations. In Liverpool, Bulky Bob’s Furniture World

is a city centre store located in an area of the city that attracts many low-income shoppers.

In Oldham, Bulky Bob’s Furniture World is co-located with our main Bulky Bob’s operation

on a trading park just a few minutes walk from the town centre. In both locations, Bulky

Bob’s is open to customers to browse the stock of pre-loved furniture that is available for

both purchase and to be donated to those people who are eligible.

Bulky Bob’s Furniture World is a place where anybody is very welcome to shop. We target

low-income customers through our pricing strategy rather than by excluding higher-income

shoppers. In contrast to some charities which run second hand furniture shops to raise as

much money as possible for their cause, Bulky Bob’s Furniture World achieves its social

purpose by selling the furniture at low prices. These low prices are available to any shopper,

but we offer discounts to attract specific low-income groups, of 10% and 20% off our

standard prices, as well as free delivery to those receiving the 20% discounts.

ChAptER OnE: great for people Living in poverty

Page 19Chapter One: Great for People Living in Poverty

Bulky Bob’s Furniture World offers people in the most urgent need a free pre-loved furniture

package which is donated and delivered at no cost to the individual. To reach these people

Bulky Bob’s takes referrals from a range of trusted referral partners. These are frontline

organisations working with people in difficult circumstances. Typical circumstances in which

someone would receive a ‘crisis package’ might be a family that have fled from a domestic

violence situation, someone who has been living in furnished hostel accommodation and is now

able to move into an independent property but does not have the means to buy the furniture

they need, or someone without insurance who has lost their belongings in a fire.

This rapid response service is designed to help people avoid getting into punitive debts by using

either loan sharks or ‘pay-weekly’ furniture stores such as Bright House. Bulky Bob’s donates

a package of items suited to the individuals or family. This is done through the use of a voucher

which people can take to Bulky Bob’s Furniture World to use as ‘payment’ for their goods. The

voucher has no financial value but it allows people to visit the store, select suitable items from

the pre-loved furniture available and have a normal shopping experience. This year, Bulky Bob’s

has been successful in raising funds to support the donations of furniture through our crisis

support scheme. In total, Bulky Bob’s Furniture World in Liverpool and Oldham has donated

furniture which would have earned more than £45,000 in sales income had it been sold rather

than donated. FRC Group received contributions to this fund from three supportive funders.

In Liverpool, the Merseyside Recycling and Waste Authority (MRWA) gave £7,000 through its

Community Fund; the JP Getty Foundation provided £10,000 funding in 2012/13 and also

committed a further £10,000 for 2013/14; and two courageous members of the FRC Group

Finance Team – Jenny Scully and Laura Squires – did a sponsored skydive to raise £1171.15 to

support the donation scheme.

2012/13 was a challenging year for our Bulky Bob’s operations. In Oldham, Bulky Bob’s

Furniture World was in its first full year of operation following a difficult time in 2011 when our

warehouse suffered an arson attack. The results from Bulky Bob’s Furniture World Oldham show

that the first full year of running in this way was successful in reaching many more low-income

shoppers and donating more than £7,000 of furniture to people in crisis.

In Liverpool, the Bulky Bob’s Furniture World continues to be affected by the reduced amount of

suitable pre-loved furniture that arises from the collections Bulky Bob’s makes from residential

properties. A feature of the continued poor economy is that people are replacing furniture less

frequently and as such the amount of reusable furniture is lower. Despite these challenging

conditions, Bulky Bob’s Furniture World has ensured that the available furniture is reaching

people in the most need. In 2012/13 86% of shoppers at Bulky Bob’s Furniture World

were in low-income groups. This is the highest proportion for seven years of transactions being

with low-income groups and a significant increase in those which involve people in crisis and

people referred by social support agencies. These two groups are identified as those in greatest

need and the performance illustrates that Bulky Bob’s is delivering more social value for people

who need it most, despite having limited resources.

In 2011/12 we noticed an increase in the numbers of shoppers at Bulky Bob’s Furniture World

who were not classed within our “low-income” shopper categories. We monitored this during

2012/13 and have not seen the increase continue. This group of shoppers now represents a

smaller proportion of our shoppers than at any time for the past seven years.


the year in Figures Infographics showing perform ance summarised below

* = 11/12 BBFW Oldham only operational between September and March due to a warehouse fire.

PRE-lOVED ITEmS AVAIlABlE In BBFW

SAlES OF PRE-lOVED FURnITURE mADE TO BBFW CUSTOmERS AGEnCIES REFERRInG PEOPlE In CRISIS SITUATIOnS

PEOPlE In CRISIS GIVEn FREE BASIC FURnITURE ITEmS

VAlUE TO CRISIS CUSTOmERS OF ITEmS DOnATED

BBFW liverpool

BBFW liverpool BBFW liverpool

BBFW liverpool

BBFW liverpool

11/12

11/12

11/12

11/12 11/12

11/12

4638

3065

399

63 18

90*

26,346

1226*

145*

11/12

11/12

11/12

12/13

12/13

12/13

12/13 12/13

12/13

3684

2503

422

58 19

143

29,290 7,485

2007

648

12/13

12/13

12/13

12/13

BBFW Oldham

BBFW Oldham BBFW Oldham

BBFW Oldham

BBFW Oldham


The target for 2012/13 was for 3,700 sales to be made at Bulky Bob’s Furniture World outlets. This target was not achieved.

Bulky Bob’s Furniture World liverpool Customers 2012/13 Bulky Bob’s Furniture World Customers

3500

2500

1500

3000

2000

1000

50010%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

2010 - 11 2011 - 12 2012 - 13

Crisis 232 399 422

20% 83 132 170

10% 2175 2021 1569

Standard 635 513 342

Liverpool Oldham BBFW Total

Crisis 422 143 565

20% 170 0 170

10% 1569 448 2017

Standard 342 57 399

Total 2503 648 3151


Bulky Bob’s holds community events to take pre-loved furniture out to be sold at low prices in

community venues. Working in this way helps to reach areas which may find it more difficult to

access our Bulky Bob’s Furniture World outlets. These events are held either as Bulky Bob’s “On

the Road” events or we will join in with an existing community event.

This year in Oldham, Bulky Bob’s held a different sort of event. Rather than taking furniture out

for sale to one location, a promotion day was held in the busy shopping area of the town centre.

The purpose was not to sell furniture on the day but to raise awareness of Bulky Bob’s Furniture

World. The success of the event was clear from the increase in shoppers visiting Bulky Bob’s

Furniture World during the month of the event (October) and the following month. In October

and November, sales of pre-loved furniture were 50% higher than in the previous two months.

Bulky Bob’s Oldham also responded to an emergency need for furniture and support that

occurred in the Shaw area when a gas explosion caused significant damage to a large number

of properties and left many people temporarily homeless. Bulky Bob’s offered assistance to the

community in two ways. The wider community of Oldham responded by donating many items

of furniture and household equipment to which Bulky Bob’s added from the goods it collected

from bulky waste collections. Bulky Bob’s also made a third of its warehouse space available to

store all the items donated to help the families and dealt with the families in need visiting Bulky

Bob’s to select items.

This year we surveyed the referral partners in Oldham who had referred people for donations

of packages of furniture. We have found it difficult to get feedback from the recipients of the

furniture with only a small number participating in our surveys since the scheme began in 2009.

In a small number of cases, we receive unsolicited feedback through the referral agents. The

comments passed on to us this year were:

“I’m just writing to say thanks very much for Peter’s bed. It will make his life a bit better,

he’s very happy with it…”

“Both my clients are over the moon”

“Hannah said she’s have the best nights sleep in months, the bed is so comfy”

“Yousra was so happy to receive it [a bed] this morning”

We also ask for information from referral partners that gives some insight into the difference our

work makes for the individuals. This year we conducted two surveys – one with referral partners

in Oldham and one with those in Liverpool. We tried using an email survey for the first time in

Oldham and found the response rate to be low. Despite sending the survey to 74 individual

workers in the referral partner agencies, only 8 responded. In Liverpool the same questions were

asked through telephone survey with referral partners. 37 people took part in the survey out of a

total of 65 people we attempted to contact.

Community EventsWhat difference does bulky bob’s Furniture World activity make?


When asked about how Bulky Bob’s Furniture World donation scheme makes a difference to the

work they do. The responses given by the 8 respondents in Oldham and the 37 in Liverpool are

summarised in the table below:

Each respondent used their own words to explain the impact our crisis furniture donations

service has had. The quotes below come from the referral partners in Oldham who took part.

“the voucher programme has made it possible for us to give our residents more support

and reassure them that a move on to independent living accommodation is not so

stressful due to the items being given, it gives them a good start”

“It offers a way for workers to support young people buying furniture for their new home,

it speeds up the process.”

“It has meant that the most vulnerable of our clients are given hope that change for the

better can be made with the right support and that they are not alone in trying to move on

with their lives..”

“This has been very helpful in resettling clients back home with few resources.”

“It makes it easier for people to move when they need to and prevents them failing within

the first few weeks of a new tenancy.”

“makes life a lot easier going to one place”

“It has been a very useful viable option that has saved the young person money, whilst

allowed them to gain the furniture they need on a small budget”

“it’s a useful tool to use with vulnerable people”

What impact has the crisis furniture donation scheme made to the work of the

referral agencies in liverpool and Oldham?

Removes stree (for workers and clients)

Improves client’s happiness

BBFW fills a gap in other services

Tenancies more sustainable

Saves organsiations time and money

Positive impact (not specific)

Move into a house more quickly

Helps the worker do more

8

7

5

5

4

3

2

2


We also asked what difference the referral partners in both Liverpool and Oldham thought our

work had on the people who receive the furniture.

The respondents from Oldham said:

“They appear to be thrilled when they are told about the vouchers, this allows them to

purchase other items they would have had to struggle to obtain.”

“It offers the young people a good start in their new home, it means the own their

belongings. It also means that young people don’t need to borrow money or get any loans

so they start without any debt.”

“It has given them hope and made them realise that with the right support they can move

on with their lives empowering them to think in a new and positive way.”

“They have been able to invite people into their homes. In one case family members are

visiting more often mainly due to the fact that they can now sit down when they visit!”

“A big difference it gives them a sense of worth that they have basic furniture with which

to move into a tenancy.”

“A big difference as they can be stressed when they do not have things”

“They have been able to make their accommodation more like a home and feel more

settled to live in.”

“It allows them to make a better start with their tenancy”

What difference does a donation of furniture make to the people recieving it?

More cormfortable in their home

16

10

9

7

7

2

Able to make a fresh start

Increase pride

Saves client money

Huge difference (not specific)

Establish or retain contact with family


These survey results represent only a small proportion of the people involved with our crisis support

scheme and in future years we will continue to try and gain more feedback from the individuals and

support organisations involved.

Across the two surveys, 41 referral partners answered a question about the quality of the furniture that

their clients receive. 83% responded that the furniture was Excellent or Good.

What do you think of the furniture your clients recieve?

Excellent

OK

Good

Poor


In previous reports we have discussed how the mainstream work of the Furniture Resource

Centre today is outside our definition of FRC being the instigator in creating social value. When

one of our housing association customers provides furniture into a furnished tenancy or shared

living setting such as a care home, FRC is one of a number of potential suppliers of goods

and services. Our perspective is that where the provision of furnished accommodation is the

norm, it is not right for FRC to claim it has been instrumental in creating social value. However,

this year we have refocused on how we can create social value for social housing tenants. It

is true to say that during the flourishing economic years in the early 2000s, FRC’s work with

housing associations became characterised as a supplier. Before then, FRC had been vocal

in campaigning and lobbying housing associations to create furnished accommodation. In

2012/13, FRC had made it a priority to review FRC Group’s potential to instigate the creation

of more furnished tenancies. This year FRC reaffirmed its commitment to campaigning

for the creation of furnished tenancies in social housing. The aim of this work is to encourage

housing associations who do not offer any furnished tenancies to begin a programme,

and for FRC to work with housing associations with small scale furnished tenancy scheme to

expand these.

In 2013/14 FRC will launch a campaign using the “Furnishing Homes, Furnishing Lives” slogan.

Success of this campaign will be judged by the number of new furnished tenancies that are

created and not by FRC’s role as a social business in delivering furniture to those tenancies.

It is conceivable that under the “Furnishing Homes, Furnishing Lives” campaign, FRC may

be celebrating the creation of social value in a new furnished tenancy programme despite the

furniture being supplied by one of the private companies that also offer furniture in this market.

In the last six months of 2012/13, the social housing sector was greatly affected by the

perceived threats of welfare reforms due to be implemented in 2013/14. Specifically related

to the work of FRC, there was a lack of clarity about the future eligibility of service charge

payments for the supply of furniture in furnished tenancies. When it was announced that

these service charges would continue to be eligible for payment through housing benefit,

FRC did a lot of work with our current customers to raise awareness and understanding that

their furnished tenancy programmes would not be adversely affected.

Furnishing homes, Furnishing Lives


During 2012/13, FRC Group’s senior team have been considering future social business

opportunities which will enable FRC Group to create more social value through additional services

which will help low-income families to furnish their homes. This work began in 2011/12 and

continues into 2013/14 to test the feasibility of a new model of business for FRC Group that would

see the operations of the Group expand into a new type of operation but one that is true to the

original organisational purpose of helping low-income families to achieve a quality furnished home.

priorities for 2013/14

• 85% of Bulky Bob’s Furniture World customers to be from low-income households

• 500 people and families in crisis to receive donated furniture packages

• 3,000 customer sales in Bulky Bob’s Furniture World

• FRC to report on the creation of new furnished tenancies as a result of the Furnishing Homes,

Furnishing Lives campaign in 2013/14

• Feasibility study to be completed on the new social business concept that is in development

Future Opportunities

Page 28 Chapter Two: Great for Unemployed People

In everything it does, FRC Group looks for ways to create opportunities for long-term unemployed

people to receive training, gain work experience and build their skills and confidence so that they

are better prepared to move into employment. This chapter describes the social value that has

been created through our Driving Change and Launch Pad programmes.

These programmes offer a diverse range of opportunities for long-term unemployed people

to develop the skills, attitude, qualification and experience that are needed to succeed in the

jobs market.

The programmes continue to be refined and improved to create more social value by achieving better results and working with more people.

ChAptER tWO:great for unemployed people

Page 29Chapter Two: Great for Unemployed People

FRC Group is committed to providing a high quality experience to everyone who engages with

our training. In recent years, government policy has moved towards short term, light touch

interventions to help people into employment. This approach is at odds with FRC Group’s

demonstrable success in transforming lives through intensive and sustained contact.

An outcome of the change in government policy has been that funding for FRC Group’s training

is significantly reduced. For both Driving Change and Launch Pad, FRC Group’s revenues is

the largest source of funding. We reported last year that external funding to support the training

programme was the lowest it had been for five years. 2012/13 saw a further reduction in

funding which was 13% less than in 2011/12. This year we have received some small amounts

of funding available to employers delivering apprenticeships. This has supported the Driving

Change programme. We have also received some small grants from charitable trusts for some

of the work of the Launch Pad programme. A few Launch Pad participants have had their place

on Launch Pad part funded through the government Mandatory Work Activity programme which

stipulates that unemployed people must take part in a work experience placement. For these

places, FRC Group has received a small amount of per capita funding.

Driving Change is a 12-month programme which offers previously long-term unemployed

people a fixed term employment contract and the opportunity to obtain a range of

qualifications to prepare them for work in the logistics industry. Our Driving Change trainees

work towards a number of industry specific qualifications and also gain other qualifications

that are transferrable to any work environment. During the 12-months of the Driving Change

programme, trainees build up a record of work experience that they can demonstrate to future

employers and crucially they build their confidence in the work place. The programme has run

for more than 15 years and for each cohort of trainees, the exact nature of the programme

has varied. To measure the performance of Driving Change in a comparable way, we have

used an indicator which compares how people completing the programme perform in the jobs

market compared with people of a similar age and length of unemployment. We believe this

indicator shows that for the 2012-13 cohort, the Driving Change trainees who completed the

programme were 6 times more likely to find employment after the Driving Change programme

experience. Trainees in Oldham were 5 times more likely to find work after completing Driving

Change and those in Liverpool were 7 times more likely.

Funding our work driving Change 2012-13


Fixed term

employment contract

Real on the job training as part of the

Bulky Bob’s teams in Liverpool, Warrington

and Oldham – our trainees work everyday

with real customers and taking on

real responsibility

Salaried position paying the

market rate

Transferrable skills and qualifications:

First Aid, Health & Safety, Manual Handling,

Environmental Awareness,

Equal Opportunities, Job Search skills,

Interview Skills training

Industry specific training:

• For “Driver Trainees” who already

have a car licence: Large Goods

Vehicle Class II theory test, practical test, hazard

perception test, tachograph training and drivers

certificate of professional competence.

• For “Loader Trainees” who do not have a car licence:

Car Driving theory test, practical test

• For all trainees: Choice of specialist training – Fork Lift

Truck licences in Counterbalance and Reach, HIAB

(vehicle mounted loader crane) or

ADR (transporting hazardous goods).


developing driving Change

During this year, Driving Change developed in three significant ways. The core of the

programme remained the same, but we were able to enhance the content, offer more support to

our past-trainees and create stronger links between Driving Change and Launch Pad.

Preparation for job searching and practice of job searching skills such as completing application

forms etc has always been a part of Driving Change. By working with Liverpool John Moores’

University World of Work programme, we were able to greatly enhance the focus on interview

techniques. All of our trainees attended Interview Skills training delivered by LJMU staff and

were able to practice their interview skills and receive personal feedback to help them improve.

A further area of development was in the level of support offered to people who had finished

the Driving Change programme but not yet found work. Since the 2008 economic downturn,

a smaller number of our trainees have been successful in finding work at the end of the

programme. This year, we established a “Jobs Café” for our past trainees to continue to be

supported around searching for vacancies, making applications and practising interview

skills. Five sessions were delivered across the year and we invited ex-participants of Driving

Change and Launch Pad back to FRC Group for further jobs support. The benefit of this was

that our past trainees could be further supported by us and we were able to keep in contact

with them. Around 20 people were invited and 6 people attended. Of these, 1 was referred to

Work Programme Support through the Job Centre, 3 got jobs, and 1 was referred to a different

organisation who worked specifically with people with alcohol misuse issues

The final key development was in how the recruitment for Driving Change has created

opportunities for people on the Launch Pad programme. The combination of the maturity of the

Launch Pad programme creating opportunities for a large number of people, the commitment

and hard work shown by Launch Pad participants and a change to the funding of the Driving

Change programme, created opportunities for FRC Group to recruit people who had been

successful on Launch Pad onto Driving Change. In the design of the Launch Pad programme, it

was always intended that the experience of Launch Pad would help people prepare to take on

employment and training opportunities.

We invited past Launch Padders who had really impressed us to take part in the recruitment

drive. All those invited to apply had been unemployed for at least 6 months. To aid us with

the recruitment drive, and to ensure that we were getting the right balance of people with the

right level of ‘need’ for the programme, we introduced a need analysis tool. This tool looks at

peoples’, length of unemployment, work experience, qualifications, barriers to employment and

whether they have a driving licence or not. Candidates are scored on each of these issues, and

then ranked in order of need for the programme. This gives us the ability and to ensure that we

are recruiting people the right mix of need from across the list of applicants.

This year, 12 of the 24 places on Driving Change were given to people who had already gone

through Launch Pad and used the experience to demonstrate their passion and commitment

to finding work. A beneficial outcome of the reduction in government funding for training of

the type FRC Group specialises in, has been the freedom this has created around recruitment

criteria for our programmes.


the impacts of driving Change

nUmBER OF PEOPlE WHO TOOK PART In DRIVInG CHAnGE TRAInEES COmPlETInG THE PROGRAmmE

TOTAl nUmBER OF qUAlIFICATIOnS GAInED BY DRIVInG CHAnGE TRAInEESPERCEnTAGE OF All lEAVERS WHO WEnT InTO jOBS, FURTHER EDUCATIOn

OR TRAInInG AT THE EnD OF DRIVInG CHAnGE

AVERAGE nUmBER OF qUAlIFICATIOnS GAInED PER TRAInEE PERCEnTAGE OF ‘COmPlETERS’ WHO WEnT InTO jOBS, FURTHER EDUCATIOn

OR TRAInInG AT THE EnD OF DRIVInG CHAnGE

nUmBER OF TRAInInG POSITIOnS AVAIlABlE nUmBER OF TRAInEES

lEAVInG In THE YEAR

nUmBER OF TRAInEES

WHO WEnT InTO A jOB

(88%) WHO WEnT InTO

jOBS HAD COmPlETED

THE DRIVInG CHAnGE

PROGRAmmE

2012/13

232012/13

54%

2012/13

682012/13

62%

2012/13

3.0

2011/12

202011/12

76%

2011/12

612011/12

65%

2011/12

2.0

2010/11

662010/11

83%

2010/11

4.2

12/13

12/13 11/12

24

100%

13

8

7/8

77%

11/12 29


Measuring the social value of Driving Change is not just about statistics. Throughout the year

we spend time listening to our Driving Change trainees and hearing their stories about the

difference being on Driving Change makes to their lives. We also try to keep in touch with those

past trainees who have recently left the programme to find out how they are getting on and get

their perspective on the impact of Driving Change.

Throughout the Driving Change programme, our trainees have one-to-one reviews to discuss

their progress and raise any queries or issues. We listen to our trainees’ stories, their aspirations

and challenges. This information helps to put the statistical data in context. From the feedback

from trainees, there are three areas that have been very important to them:

Having a better financial situation

”…allowed me to take care of my families in the way I wanted to - financially and emotionally”

“I am better off but I have financial commitments to my ex-partner and children”

“I can go on holiday…go out on weekends…go out on trips”

“…[I’m] saving up for a camper van”

“…[I’ve] saved for a car”

“…[it’s a] better life than on £50 a week”

“… [I can] buy stuff and have more disposable money…enjoy myself and go places I

couldn’t before”

Feeling more positive about the here and now

“I’m stronger than I think I am and my confidence has grown”

“ [I} enjoy being in work and doing the job and like to be out in the fresh air”

“ I enjoy coming into work”

“ [I’m] enjoying the job….and working with the lads”

“It’s given me my self-esteem back”

“[I’m} very happy…it’s uplifting for me to have this job, I feel a lot more positive in myself”

looking to the future

“ [I] now have better skills and experience”

“[It’s] a good opportunity to gain qualifications which help you get a better career”

“[I want} to save for a mortgage”

Each trainee has their own personal story, here are a couple of examples:

Graham made the progression from being on the Launch Pad programme to gaining a

place on Driving Change. He had been out of work for a year before joining Driving Change

and was originally referred to FRC Group through the Job Centre’s “Get Britain Working”

programme which placed people for 8 week work experience opportunities. Graham won the

place on Driving Change as a result of his commitment and work ethic during the Launch Pad

programme. During his time on Driving Change, Graham showed real professionalism and

dedication to his training. He worked hard to become a respected member of the Bulky Bob’s

team and also committed himself to his training. Graham particularly developed his customer

service skills. He went on to work as a taxi driver.

in their own words

Page 34

Launch pad

Chris joined Driving Change through the Merseyside Apprenticeship Programme. Having

been out of work for 2 months, he had the shortest period of unemployment of our trainees.

He needed to work hard to develop the maturity and team working skills that are required in

the work place. Chris found Driving Change to be a very challenging experience but he was

committed and completed the programme gaining a Forklift truck licence and a car driving

licence. He also gained the NVQ qualification and was employed at the end of the programme,

working for Merseyrail. Chris learned how to get along with all sorts of different people during his

time at FRC Group

Over the past two years, FRC Group has tried to use Facebook as a tool to gather feedback and

information from our past trainees about their progress after they leave us. This was introduced

as we found postal surveys gave a low return rate and that we had trouble keeping in touch

with our past trainees who might change their address and phone number relatively quickly

after leaving. By using Facebook we have connected with many ex-trainees but it has not been

hugely successful as a way of getting information from them about their progress. We found that

there was no response to questions posed to the whole group and that information had to be

requested from each person individually using the private messaging function. As a result this

was very time consuming and the information we gathered was rather superficial. In 2013-14 we

will continue to use Facebook but will also use a more traditional follow up survey as well.

Launch Pad is a flexible programme which offers people from a range of backgrounds

the opportunity to gain skills and experience in a real work environment. The Launch Pad

programme developed out of informal work placement opportunities that FRC Group has

offered since 2006. In 2011 the programme was formalised, named “Launch Pad” and a full

time coordinator was appointed to run the programme. 2012/13 was an exciting year for the

Launch Pad programme, it was the first full year of the programme running with a dedicated

and experienced member of staff to lead it.

Launch Pad programme components listed below

Chapter Two: Great for Unemployed People

FRC Group identifies tasks for Launch Pad opportunities using criteria that we believe provide participants with useful skills and experience. We do not use unpaid labour to carry out core tasks which are essential to the running of our organisation

Structured placement opportunities to gain experience in warehousing, recycling, retail and administration

Launch Pad opportunities are designed to give the individual practical work experience either as a stepping stone towards employment or as a meaningful

way to spend time for people who are not aiming to go into work

Participants are volunteers or completing a work placement as part of a wider programme of activity designed to help them into work

Flexible work placements across FRC Group

Page 35

What are Launch padders achieving?

What do people want to get out of launch Pad

Figures show positive responses

Learn new skills

Improved chance of finding work

Improved confidence

Being involoved in something

On the job work experience

Learning what work is like

Improved communication skills

Improved team working

65

45

72

22

42

22

41

43

nUmBER OF PEOPlE WHO TOOK PART In lAUnCH PAD

TOTAl HOURS WORK ExPERIEnCE GAInED

12/13 185

11/12 74

AVERAGE nUmBER

OF DAYS WORKED

PlACEmEnTS OFFERED In

AREAS OF FRC GROUP

22.5 8

2012/13

24,9612011/12

10,368

Chapter Two: Great for Unemployed People


lAUnCH PADDERS WHO SAID THEY WERE WORKInG TOWARDS EmPlOYmEnT

76% OF lAUnCH PADDERS ACHIEVED

THE PERSOnAl GOAl THEY SET FOR

THEmSElVES

96% OF THOSE WHO WERE SEnT TO

lAUnCH PAD AS PART OF A mAnDATORY

PROGRAmmE FElT THEY GAInED

SOmETHInG FROm THE ExPERIEnCE

2012/13

62%2011/12

63%

76% 96%

AVERAGE ImPROVEmEnT In PERSOnAl GOAlS

12/13 11/1224% 30%


The statistics about Launch Pad give an overview of the programme as a whole, but for each

participant their own experience is very different. These are two examples of the experiences of

Launch Padders.

Tony originally joined Launch Pad as part of a mandatory work activity programme. During

this four week mandatory attendance period, he showed an excellent work ethic and chose

to continue on Launch Pad as a volunteer. It came to light that Tony was ‘sofa surfing’

with friends and relatives and through the Launch Pad Coordinator, he was referred to a

homelessness support organisation who in turn helped Tony access a tenancy of his own.

Bulky Bob’s provided a crisis furniture package to help him get settled, and Tony continued

to make great progress at FRC Group. Through the Employer Engagement work, Tony was

put forward for a job with Veolia as a recycling operative. He had a successful interview and is

awaiting a start date.

Kerry is a young woman with learning disabilities who came on the Launch Pad programme to

increase her confidence and develop her skills. She joined the team at Bulky Bob’s Furniture

World and has gained experience in retail and customer service. Her confidence and self-

esteem have increased dramatically during her Launch Pad journey. Kerry’s home life has

also changed significantly and increased her independence. She has moved out of her family

home into supported accommodation and is developing her own social networks and her

cooking skills.

Through regular reviews with Launch Padders, we hear about how they are progressing and

what is important to them:

“I never thought I would be able to work in a team, but I am”

“I feel like I’m part of a big family, and I get goose bumps [being here]”

“It gave me a regular routine, getting up and going to work at a certain time”

“I’ve learned to walk away and keep my emotions under control”

“I’ve enjoyed the camaraderie”

“I am capable of getting up in the morning, capable of going a job, having a routine”

“I have been sown respect by everyone…boosted my confidence”

“I’ve enjoyed staying busy”

“I’ve realised I can do more than I thought”

“Nice to be part of a business”

“I’ve most enjoyed the exercise, its helping with my health problems”

in their own words


Employer Engagement

People are referred to Launch Pad via numerous agencies that are working with them either

to help find training or employment, or who are offering longer term support for their individual

needs. We asked three of the agencies for feedback about the Launch Pad programme and the

difference it makes to the people they refer:

“…you have offered a structured and safe working environment where we have seen our

learners grow in confidence and move on to more permanent positions” LT, Greenbank College

“…Shirley Spofforth has been very reliable when it comes to securing work placements and

always helps any of our young people over the period of placements…” KP, Princes Trust,

Merseyside Fire Service

“Feedback received from the clients that we have put with you is that they feel as though they

are part of a team and that they are valued as a person rather than a number” LJ, JHP Training

Our People & Learning Team actively engage with employers to find out about vacancies that

people on the Launch Pad and Driving Change programmes can apply for. We support the

individuals to make their applications and help them prepare for interviews.

In total, we engaged with 44 local employers throughout the year. From the connections that

were made, 33 applications for jobs were submitted. In total, 12 people were successful in

gaining employment. 4 of these people were from the Driving Change programme and 8 were

from Launch Pad.

A particular success in our employer engagement work has been in the relationship we have

established with Staffords Ltd, a service and repair company for office equipment. In 2010,

one of our Driving Change trainees gained employment with the company. Paul became a

valued employee and rise to a supervisory position. Since then, we have built relationships

with Paul and also with the company’s Chief Executive. The outcome has been that Staffords

have recruited 5 further ex-Driving Change trainees for positions within their service teams and

warehouse. This relationship has been successful because our past-trainees have demonstrated

the quality of the training they receive and have created a great impression on the employer.

8 gained employment from

Launch Pad

4 gained employment from

Driving change programme

33 applications submitted

Page 392013/14 The year so far

• 11 Driving Change places available during the year – this number is reduced for 2013/14.

As a result of maternity leave in the People & Learning Team, the next recruitment of

trainees will take place in early 2014/15 rather than in the last quarter of 2013/14.

• 80% of people completing Driving Change will go into employment, training or further

education

• 200 Launch Pad participants during the year

• 80% of Launch Padders achieve their personal outcomes

• 40 employers engaged with to recruit Driving Change and Launch Pad participants

Following a difficult year commercially and a programme of cost efficiencies, 2013/14 has begun with everyone at FRC Group working very hard to ensure we achieve the targets that have been set.

The results in the first two months show that our business and social value performance is on target.

Furniture Resource Centre has exceeded its targets in the first two months and in

addition to its core business activity with housing associations, has begun supplying

goods on behalf of local authorities who are developing local schemes to replace the

former Community Care Grant that was managed nationally.

Bulky Bob’s is performing well in its contractual activity and is working with a range of

organisations in Liverpool to become involved in a number of community initiatives.

FRC Group’s new social business development has received a huge investment of

resources from a corporate partner who will be providing an expert resource to work on

the feasibility study in 2013/14.

2013/14 the year so farpriorities for 2013/14

Page 40 Auditor’s Assurance Statement

FRC Group2 commissioned Henriques & Co. Ltd3 to undertake independent assurance of its

2012/13 Social Report (‘the Report’). Henriques & Co. Ltd was paid £4,500 for this work and

has no other relationships with FRC Group that might compromise its independence.

The assurance process was conducted in accordance with AA1000AS (2008). Type 2

moderate4 assurance was provided, covering:

• evaluation of adherence to the AA1000APS (2008) principles of inclusivity, materiality and

responsiveness (the Principles)

• the reliability of key performance claims.

The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Quality of Information Principles were used as Criteria for

evaluating performance information.

Responsibilities of the directors of FRC group and of henriques & Co. Ltd

The directors of FRC Group have sole responsibility for the preparation of the Report. This

statement represents an independent opinion and is intended to inform all FRC Group’s

stakeholders including management. A balanced approach was adopted towards all FRC

Group stakeholders.

The work was performed by Adrian Henriques5.

The work was designed to gather evidence with the objective of providing assurance as defined

in AA1000AS (2008).

To prepare this statement, I reviewed the scope of the Report, visited the Atlantic Way

and London Road sites in Liverpool, assessed areas of risk, interviewed management and

scrutinised underlying data and documents, checked claims within the Report, considered

the efficacy of the management systems and reviewed the consistency of the Report with

supporting information. I provided some feedback to FRC Group on aspects of drafts of the

Report and where necessary, changes were made.

I am satisfied that I have been allowed unhindered access to the financial accounts,

documentation and reports covering FRC Group’s activities and stakeholder engagements and

to its managers and staff.

AuditOR’S ASSuRAnCE StAtEMEntScope and objectives basis of opinion

2 ‘FRC Group’ here refers to Furniture Resource Centre Ltd.3 See: www.henriques.info4 There are two levels of assurance: High - where sufficient evidence has been obtained to support a statement that the risk of our conclusion

being in error is ‘very low but not zero’; Moderate - where sufficient evidence has been obtained to support a statement that the risk of our

conclusion being in error is reduced, but not reduced to ‘very low’.5 Further information about competencies can be found at www.henriques.info

Page 41Auditor’s Assurance Statement

The Report’s core focus is on areas central to its social mission where FRC Group believes it can

‘create social value’, particularly trainees, placements and those in housing-related crisis. FRC

Group believes these are the areas in which it is making a difference that other organisations could

not have made.

On the basis of the work done and in relation to the scope of the Report, I believe the Report clearly represents FRC Group’s stakeholder relationships, impacts on its stakeholders and responses to their concerns.

Observations

Without affecting my assurance opinion I also provide the following observations.

Inclusivity concerns the participation of stakeholders in developing and achieving an

accountable and strategic response to sustainability.

The report clearly sets out the stakeholders that FRC Group acknowledges and the consultation

process planned for each one. Those stakeholders directly relating to its core focus are consulted

thoroughly. However staff are also consulted on key issues annually and there is a plan for the regular

consultation of other stakeholders. In those few cases where consultations were not productive, the

Report acknowledges the fact.

Findings & Opinion

Page 42 Auditor’s Assurance Statement

Material issues are those which are necessary for stakeholders to make informed

judgments concerning FRC Group and its impacts.

It is welcome to see a statement of the rationale and process by which issues are deemed

material and therefore within the scope of the report. This year’s Report deals fully with furniture

for low-income households, placements and trainees which are those stakeholders that are the

most vulnerable and also central to FRC Group’s mission. However it would be helpful for future

reports to document more fully the existing process for the way judgments are made on the

sensitive issue of how the balance between avoiding exploitation of placements while ensuring

they undertake meaningful work.

Other material issues, including those related to the environment, staff, and the furniture

business receive little attention, yet these areas form a significant part of FRC Group’s activities.

However the actual performance in these areas is exemplary. For example, environmental

performance has improved and while a significant number of redundancies had to be made in

2012/13, the handling of the process was as supportive as possible for those made redundant.

Responsiveness concerns the extent to which an organisation responds to

stakeholder issues

The Report is very clearly written and well-structured. There are plans to incorporate new

methods of measurement and techniques to capture the social value created by FRC Group,

which will add significantly to the value of the report. However it would enhance the reliability of

future reports to document the underlying procedures and protocols.

The Report also provides a deeper analysis of the impact of the receipt of vouchers than

previous years’ reports. However the measurement of the proportion receiving discounted

furniture, one of the key measures of the social value delivered by Bulky Bob’s Furniture World,

needs to be reviewed to ensure that it properly reflects the recipients’ true status.

It is commendable that during 2012/13 FRC Group successfully worked to create new furnished

tenancies with social landlords and so to create additional social value. In addition, following

the feedback on the lack of attention paid to managing stress, FRC Group undertook a very

thorough programme of work to address the issue.

Overall, it is very encouraging in a difficult commercial time to see the continued commitment to

reporting and the accountability which that implies.

Adrian Henriques, Henriques & Co. ltd

london, September 2013

Page 43Appendix One

This document describes FRC Group’s approach to understanding, measuring and

reporting the social value that is created by the work we do. It also explains the

relationships between our stakeholder groups and how we both engage and communicate

with them.

The purpose of this statement is to provide a transparent description of how FRC

Group sets the scope of it’s reporting on social value, how we have come to define our

relationships with stakeholders, and to document how we will engage with them.

introduction

FRC Group has published information about the social and environmental impacts of its

work since 1998. These reports have drawn on the techniques and principles of social

accounting and social return on investment, as well as using other methods such as Local

Multiplier and Carbon Footprint.

The scope of our early reports had a great commitment to transparency and were

comprehensive reports covering all areas of activity within FRC Group. This approach

treated all stakeholder groups equally and ensured an even coverage of each part of the

organisation. However, this approach lacked clarity about the levels of importance of the

different things that happen at FRC Group and the relationships with different types of

stakeholders. This contributed to “mission creep” in which we considered everything we

did to have intrinsic social or environmental impact. The broad scope of these reports

resulted in confusion about what are our priority areas.

These priorities are the parts of our activity which are directly linked to the fulfilment

of FRC Group’s social objectives. Having reviewed the ways our earlier reports were

structured, FRC Group has, since 2009 produced public reports which focus on the

social impacts that we create. These are the principal objectives of the organisation as

described in our mission statement – “FRC Group runs businesses that create profits and

opportunities to change the lives of people living in poverty and unemployment”.

Post 2009, our focus in reporting has been driven by our social mission. This is not to

say that the other elements of how we run our businesses are not important. FRC Group

manages its activities to meet its aims to be ‘great for the planet’, ‘a great place to work’

and ‘great to do business with’. FRC Group engages with stakeholders relating to all these

aspects of the organisation, can show improved performance in each area and gives

importance to these elements of how we do business.

The focus on our areas of social impact is to highlight the mission-related performance

of what we are here to do. By making our priority the strands of work through which we

achieve our social aims, we have increased the level of stakeholder engagement in this area;

increased the detail to which we measure the social value that is created; brought about

improvements in the way we run our social value activities to produce better results for

people and improved our systems for capturing, measuring and reporting social value data.

AppEndix OnE: FRC group’s Stakeholder Engagement policy

Page 44 Appendix One

Social Value & Stakeholder groups

FRC Group’s stakeholders are those people to whom FRC Group matters and who matter to

FRC Group. Our stakeholders include individuals, organisations, communities of location and

interest. FRC Group identifies its stakeholders not only by group and by their relationship with

FRC Group, but also by their connection to our social mission and creation of social value.

The table below describes our stakeholders and the relationship we have with them:

SOCIAl mISSIOn RElATIOnSHIP THEmATIC lInK TO FRC GROUP AImS STAKEHOlDER GROUP RElATIOnSHIP TO FRC GROUP

Creating Social Value Great for People Trainees

previously long-term unemployed people.

Take part in “Driving Change” programme to gain skills,

experience and employment in the logistics industry.

Ex-trainees

people who have been on the training programmes

in the past.

After “Driving Change”, ex-trainees find employment or

receive further support from FRC Group to find work.

launch Padders

unemployed people with little or no work experience and

people with physical or learning disabilities who are seeking

personal development opportunities.

Take part in “Launch Pad” a flexible volunteering

programme which provides basic skills and experience

of the world of work. Launch Pad also offers meaningful

activity in a mainstream diverse environment to people with

physical or learning disabilities.

Bulky Bob’s Furniture World customers

receiving discounts

people in receipt of benefits, pensioners, students, people

referred from other support agencies.

Customers buy good quality ‘pre-loved’ furniture from

Bulky Bob’s Furniture World. They receive discounts in a

tiered pricing structure which offers best value to those in

lowest income groups.

People in crisis receiving essential furniture items Customers receive free packages of pre-loved furniture

delivered to their homes.

Page 45Appendix One


Staff from support agencies referring people for

crisis support

Social support agencies such as homelessness

organizations, domestic violence charities and Citizen’s

Advice Bureaux make referrals for donations of pre-loved

furniture packages.

People who benefit from the work of the furniture

reuse charities we work with.

Bulky Bob’s passes excess furniture to other furniture reuse

organisations. Their customers benefit from the use of

these items.

How we do business Great for the Planet People living locally to where FRC Group

operations are working

general public affected by local environmental impact from

our vehicles and building and our operations and from our

reuse and recycling activities.

FRC Group’s activities have the potential to impact on local

communities and businesses.

The global community and future generations

we are all affected by the global environmental impacts

of our business.

FRC Group’s activities contribute to global environmental

concerns.

How we do business A Great Place to Work Staff

permanent employees of FRC Group.

FRC Group plays a significant role in the lives of its

employees. We aim to be a great place to work where

people are valued, rewarded and recognised for their

efforts. Everyone at FRC Group contributes to the work

of the organization and the social and financial value that

is created.

Volunteers

people working in FRC Group on a long-term voluntary

basis.

FRC Group provides opportunities for people to

volunteer their time and skills. These people contribute

to FRC Group’s achievements.

Trustees

our Board members who provide governance

as volunteers.

FRC Group provides opportunities for people to volunteer

their time and skills. Our trustees play a role in providing

strong governance and contribute to FRC Group’s

achievements.

Page 46 Appendix One


How we do business Great to do Business with Furniture Resource Centre customers

the social housing providers who buy furniture and related

items from us.

FRC’s customers receive great service, quality products

and good value from FRC.

The tenants who receive and use the furniture supplied by

Furniture Resource Centre.

Social Housing tenants benefit from the use of the good

quality furniture that FRC delivers. They receive excellent

service from our delivery staff.

Bulky Bob’s customers

the local authorities that contract with us to provide

collection, reuse and recycling services for furniture and

Local authorities receive a first class service from Bulky

Bob’s for collection, reuse and recycling of domestic bulky

waste.

The householders who receive the collection service from

Bulky Bob’s.

Bulky Bob’s gives excellent service to householders.


all the people who shop in Bulky Bob’s Furniture World.

Our customers receive excellent service in the store and

from our delivery crews.

Our suppliers

the companies who supply us with goods and services.

FRC Group builds strong relationships with suppliers.

Furniture reuse charities we work with to supply

reusable items.

FRC Group works with a number of furniture reuse

organisations to provide them with excess reusable

furniture. This supplements the furniture they already

collect.

Funders and supporters of FRC Group who provide

funding, advice, corporate engagement and pro

bono support.

FRC Group maintains long-term relationships with

organisations that have supported our development.

Page 47Appendix One

How we engage with stakeholders to find out their priorities and views varies according to the

different groups. Resources to carry out engagement activities and the pace of change in our

interaction with different groups also have an impact on the pattern of interaction.

Certain groups within our stakeholders are seen as a higher priority for regular engagement.

They are defined by a number of characteristics:

• The significance of the role FRC Group’s work has in their lives

• How the groups relate to FRC Group’s charitable objectives or to how we do business

• The practicality of and resources involved in engaging with them

Beginning in 2013/14, FRC Group will put in place an annual schedule of stakeholder

engagement to ensure that all groups have a regular opportunity to contribute. The distinction

between those groups to be engaged with annually and those to be engaged with once every

three years reflects the priority attached to certain groups as discussed above.

AnnUAl EnGAGEmEnT THREE YEAR ROTATInG EnGAGEmEnT CYClE

Driving Change Trainees –

those on programme during the year and trainees who were on programme in the past three years

Launch Pad participants – those on programme during the year

Crisis Furniture Referral Partner agencies –

to be consulted in their own right as a stakeholder group and as a proxy for the crisis furniture recipients

Crisis Furniture Recipients

FRC Group’s Staff and Volunteers

Year 1 (2013/14)


FRC Group Board of Trustees

Local authorities contracting with Bulky Bob’s

Year 2 (2014/15)

Furniture Resource Centre customers

Residents using the Bulky Bob’s service

Neighbourhood and community groups local to FRC Group’s premises and Bulky Bob’s operations

Year 3 (2015/16)

Suppliers of goods and services to FRC and Bulky Bob’s

Furniture reuse organisations working with Bulky Bob’s

Social housing tenants receiving furniture through Furniture Resource Centre

Page 48 Appendix Two

AppEndix tWO: Stakeholder Engagement Summary 2012-13

SOCIAl mISSIOn

RElATIOnSHIP

THEmATIC lInK TO

FRC GROUP AImSSTAKEHOlDER GROUP

TOTAl nUmBER

OF STAKEHOlDERS

nUmBER OF

STAKEHOlDERS COnSUlTEDmETHOD

Creating Social Value Great for People Trainees

previously long-term unemployed people.

23 23 All have regular one to one reviews

and exit interviews

Ex-trainees

people who have been on the training programmes

in the past.

13 trainees left during

the year

12 Activity on our Facebook page

launch Padders

unemployed people with little or no work experience

and people with physical or learning disabilities who

are seeking personal development opportunities.

185 118 had one to one reviews

36 past participants took part with in a telephone survey


receiving discounts

people in receipt of benefits, pensioners, students,

people referred from other support agencies.

2,176 No formal feedback was

collected

People in crisis receiving essential

furniture items

576 4 These people proactively contacted us

via their support agency

Staff from support agencies referring

people for crisis support

77 agencies in total used

Bulky Bob’s

45 Took part in a survey conducted using

“Survey Monkey” online tool and

telephone survey

People who benefit from the work of the

furniture reuse charities we work with.

Unknown No formal feedback collected

Page 49Appendix Two

SOCIAl mISSIOn

RElATIOnSHIP

THEmATIC lInK TO


TOTAl nUmBER

OF STAKEHOlDERS

nUmBER OF


How we do business Great for the Planet People living locally to where

FRC Group operations are working

general public affected by local environmental impact

from our vehicles and building and our operations

and from our reuse and recycling activities.

Unknown No formal feedback collected

The global community and future generations

we are all affected by the global environmental

impacts of our business.

c. 7 billion No formal feedback collected

How we do business A Great Place to Work Staff

permanent employees of FRC Group.

57 57 were consulted through “Look Both Ways” appraisals

40 responded to stress management survey

Volunteers

people working in FRC Group on a

long-term voluntary basis.

1 1 Included in the “Look Both Ways”

process

Trustees

our Board members who provide governance

as volunteers.

6 6 Informal feedback collected

throughout the year

How we do business Great to do Business with Furniture Resource Centre customers

the social housing providers who buy furniture

and related items from us.

Confidential No formal feedback collected

The tenants who receive and use the furniture

supplied by Furniture Resource Centre.

Not collated No formal feedback collected

Page 50 Appendix Two

SOCIAl mISSIOn

RElATIOnSHIP

THEmATIC lInK TO


TOTAl nUmBER

OF STAKEHOlDERS

nUmBER OF


How we do business Great to do Business with Bulky Bob’s customers

the local authorities that contract with us to provide

collection, reuse and recycling services for furniture

and white goods.

4 4 Regular contract meetings

The householders who receive the collection

service from Bulky Bob’s.

c. 84,000 No formal feedback collected

Bulky Bob’s Furniture World

liverpool customers

all the people who shop in Bulky Bob’s

Furniture World.

3,151 No formal feedback collected

Our suppliers

the companies who supply us with goods

and services.


Furniture reuse charities we work with to supply

reusable items.


Funders and supporters of FRC Group who

provide funding, advice, corporate engagement

and pro bono support.


[Title will be auto-generated]

Documents

year of social value

frc groups social value

people opportunities

unemployed people

frc group performance

social business

previous years social

year of hard work