frc%20group%20social%20impact%20report%202010 11%20(high%20res)

CHANGING LIVES:FRC Group’s Social Impact Report 2010/11

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Introduction

Methodology

FRC Group: The what and the how

People who matter

An overview of 2010/11

FRC Group Performance

Great for unemployed people

1. Salaried training programmes

2. Work placement programme

3. Working with offenders in prisons

Targets and priorities for 2011/12

Great for people living in poverty

1. Liverpool

2. Oldham

Targets and priorities for 2011/12

2011/2012 The year so far

Auditor’s assurance statement

Appendix

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4

6

8

10

12

15

16

30

34

36

37

38

48

50

52

54

56

Contents

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INTRODUCTION

Our Impact Reports are a public

statement of how well we are doing

at achieving the social impacts that

we seek to create through our social

businesses. You can read about our

financial performance in our annual

accounts but this report focuses

on whether our social businesses

are hitting the mark in delivering the

positive social change that we want

to create for people living in poverty

and unemployment.

Faced with recession, high

unemployment, reducing household

spending power and the reality of

public sector cuts, has it ever been a

better time for social businesses and

charities to be transparent about the

impacts they create? This report is for

all of the people who matter to FRC

Group and to whom FRC Group

matters. We want you to be able to

clearly see how we are performing

against our aspirations.

How have we done?

This report tells the ‘warts and all’

story of how we have performed

against our mission statement “to

change the lives of people living in

poverty and unemployment”. You

will read about the training we have

provided for unemployed people,

the placement programme we are

developing to offer additional

opportunities and our work with

offenders, as well as the many

ways we support people with little

or no money to access the essential

furniture items they need to set up

a home.

My personal highlight is that this year

we have trained more people than

ever before and in more areas of FRC

Group. Our training programmes

have given opportunities to people

to change their futures and confound

expectations – often their own

and society’s.

Shaun Doran

Chief Executive Officer

Welcome Acknowledgements

Our warmest thanks to the people

who have played a part in producing

this report:

All the people who truly make FRC

Group a great place to work: the staff,

trainees, work placement participants

and volunteers including our Board

of Trustees.

All the people who collect and

analyse the data in the report,

particularly Sam Adams, Carol Cassidy,

Colin Davies, Helen Eversley-Gibson,

Tommy Fisher, Mick Hart, Helen Halpin,

Laura Squires, Sam Stanford and

Collette Williams.

Adrian Henriques of JustAssurance

who audited the report. Adrian’s

statement can be found on pages

54-55.

Amy Stokes and all at Brava Design

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 Impact Report in August 2011.

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We met or surpassed the target

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 missed the mark and we will

try to improve our performance

METHODOLOGYFRC Group’s Impact Report is the culmination of data gathering that goes on throughout each year.

The timescale of our reports matches

the dates of our financial year, with

this report covering April 2010 to

March 2011. It brings together the

performance information we gather

throughout the year.

We collect qualitative and

quantitative information from all

parts of the organisation and we

engage with the people who matter

to us – our stakeholders. For a list

of the stakeholder consultation

that we carried out this year see

the Appendix, on pages 56-59.

This report has been written to give

a focus on the most significant

impacts that are created. In contrast

with reports from recent years, it is

a shorter document and seeks to

present the key statistics in a more

succinct and clear manner. The focus

of the report is on the social impacts

that FRC Group seeks to create

through its social businesses. On

pages 12 and 13 there is an overview

of FRC Group’s business performance

to provide a context to the impact

performance data.

The focus of the report is on our social

impact creation. We use a range of

quantitative and qualitative data to

describe the activities and impacts of

our work. The elements that we report

in each area are chosen because they

communicate the most important

features of the work. We report data

that shows the number of people that

have benefited from our organisations

work, the ways in which they have

been impacted and information from

stakeholders about their experiences.

In the past we have published the

outcomes of Social Return on

Investment analyses of some areas

of our social impact. Social Return

on Investment (SROI) is a tool that

FRC Group has been working with

since 2005 to give us a greater

understanding of the change created

by our programmes. FRC Group is

unlikely to publish the SROI ratios

from our work in its Impact Reports

in future. We are developing our

use of SROI to use it as part of our

performance management system

within the organisation by setting

‘social impact budget’ figures that

we can measure actual performance

against.

The report is published on FRC

Group’s website www.frcgroup.co.uk

which provides a lot of contextual

information about what we do. It is

also anticipated that this report could

be read alongside the 2009/10 report

if readers require more detailed

information about the activities that

are included in this report. The 2009/10

report is also available on our website.

How this report is produced

To indicate how the performance in this

report compares with our targets and

priorities for the year, these symbols

are used:

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Furniture Resource Centre Bulky Bob’s

Bulky Bob’s Furniture World

Furniture Resource Centre delivers

a one-stop furnishing service for

a range of customers that provide

furnished accommodation for

people who are in need of furniture

to make their house into a home.

Our customers include social

housing providers, 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 which furnishes homes

from carpets and curtains to

furniture and appliances, even

including cutlery, crockery and

bedding. 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.

The businesses within FRC Group

Bulky Bob’s Furniture World is

our Liverpool store selling great

quality ‘pre-loved’ furniture and

appliances. We aim to reuse as

many of the items we collect

through Bulky Bob’s as possible.

Bulky Bob’s Furniture World is not

a typical second-hand shop. It is

a good quality retail environment

where people can get fantastic

value for money.

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.

FRC GROUP: THE WHAT AND THE HOWFRC Group is a group of social businesses run by Furniture Resource Centre, a registered charity.

Mission statement

“To run businesses to create

profits and opportunities to improve

the lives of people in poverty and

unemployment.”

This is our starting point which

guides all of our activity and it keeps

us focused on what matters.

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What we do How we do it Our values

Great for people

FRC Group’s primary 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 creating training

and work placement opportunities for

people from long-term unemployment

and socially excluded groups, and by

getting good quality furniture to people

who need it.

The way FRC Group does business

is also important and we set aims

according to how the Group should

act. There are to be:

Great for the planet

by understanding the ways our

businesses impact on the environment

and managing our impacts to reduce

environmental harm.

A great place to work

by taking what our employees say

about working at FRC Group seriously

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 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.

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PEOPLE WHO MATTEROur stakeholders are all the people who matter to FRC Group and the people that FRC Group matters to.

Our most important stakeholders are

those whose relationship with FRC

Group is linked to making a positive

change in the lives of people living in

poverty and unemployment. Our work

with these stakeholders brings about

the social impacts that link to our

mission statement.

Great for people

• Trainees – previously unemployed

people on our training programmes

• Work placement participants –

unemployed people with little or

no work experience, people with

disabilities or ex-offenders seeking

meaningful community activity

• 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 Liverpool and

Bulky Bob’s Oldham for free of

charge furniture in crisis situations

The impact we create

• 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 prisons we partner with

to provide training workshops

for offenders serving custodial

sentences

• 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.

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

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

• Work placement participants

– people working with us on

short-term unpaid work placements

• Volunteers – people working

in FRC Group on a long-term

voluntary basis

• Trustees – our Board members who

provide governance as volunteers

Great to do business with

• Furniture Resource Centre

customers who buy furniture

and related items from us

• The tenants who 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

• Bulky Bob’s Furniture World

customers – all the people

who shop in Bulky Bob’s

Furniture World

• Bulky Bob’s Oldham furniture

customers – all the people

who buy ‘pre-loved’ furniture

from Bulky Bob’s

• 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

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AN OVERVIEW OF 2010/11

FRC Group is working to an

ambitious five-year growth plan that

will see the scale of social impacts

we create increase as a result of

growth of the social businesses we

run. For both Furniture Resource

Centre and Bulky Bob’s there are

exciting opportunities to increase

the operations we run, and 2010/11

is best characterised as a year

of investing resources to create

that growth.

This year we appointed a Sales

Director for Furniture Resource

Centre – a new senior post to

develop a larger sales team with

a more systematic approach to

increasing the customer base for

Furniture Resource Centre. The

new post was supported by

Impetus Trust as part of our

ongoing relationship with the

venture philanthropists. Impetus

Trust associates, OC&C Strategy

consultants, supported Furniture

Resource Centre this year with

invaluable analysis of the market

and growth potential for Furniture

Resource Centre. As well as

increasing the size of the team in

this year, we also introduced a new

customer relationship management

system to provide the best information

about opportunities and progress.

This year Furniture Resource Centre

made 4,983 deliveries of furniture

to customers that provide furnished

tenancies and communal living settings

(2010 5,409).

Investing for the future

Number of furniture deliveries to customers that provide furnished tenancies and shared living accommodation

09/10 5,409

10/11 4,983

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In Bulky Bob’s we employed an

Interim Manager, funded by the WRAP

ReAlliance programme, to increase the

amount of reuse and recycling that can

be achieved through our Bulky Bob’s

operations. The project successes

included increasing the range of

materials that are recycled, improving

the efficiency of the reuse and

recycling processes and managing

the installation of a new piece of

equipment to help manage the

residual waste. We installed a waste

compactor to make storage and

transport of waste more efficient and

reduce the fuel consumption related

to moving waste to the waste

transfer station.

Bulky Bob’s has continued to

increase the percentage of the waste

stream that it collects that is diverted

from landfill by our reuse and recycling

activities. Bulky Bob’s has delivered

a pattern of continuous improvement

by refining the processes it uses and

by innovating to find new ways of

working with the materials within the

waste stream. Bulky Bob’s operations

diverted 2,475 tonnes of furniture and

appliances from landfill through its

reuse and recycling activities.

Revive, our outlet for ‘pre-loved’

furniture, relocated to a bigger and

better store and was rebranded as

Bulky Bob’s Furniture World. This

has allowed us to invest in the look

of the store and to increase the range

of items that we sell. There is more

information about these changes on

page 38.

At FRC Group’s Liverpool head office,

we invested in a solar panel electricity

system which will produce positive

environmental and financial returns for

us for the next 25 years. Our “Powering

a sustainable future” project received

funding support from Low Carbon

Buildings Programme, Community

Sustainable Energy Programme,

Liverpool City Council and NWDA

Foundation as well as investment from

FRC Group. The 112 panel system

was installed in January 2011 and

we anticipate it will reduce our grid

electricity consumption by 24% in the

first full year of operation, reducing our

carbon emissions by almost 9 tonnes.

This year we were very proud to be

recognised as leaders in two of the

arenas FRC Group works in. In May,

Helen Halpin, Bulky Bob’s Regional

Operations Manager, was named the

MAN Everywoman in Logistics Woman

of the Year. This prestigious award

recognised her commitment and

expertise in leading the Bulky Bob’s

teams. Maxine Benson, Director of

Everywoman said “Helen is a huge

inspiration to other women wanting

to work or further their careers in the

industry.”

In June 2010, the first SE100, an index

of the leading social enterprises in the

UK was published. The index, created

by Society Media and supported by

RBS highlighted the top performers in

three categories – Growth, Impact and

Trailblazer. FRC Group was proud to be

named the first Impact Champion for

its work in creating and reporting social

impact. The judging panel said “The

team at FRC is using social reporting

with a commitment, confidence and

expertise that is an example to all on

how this should be”.

Number of tonnes of furniture and appliancesdiverted from landfill

2,475tonnes

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Year

2001/02

2002/03

2003/04

2004/05

2005/06

2006/07

2007/08

2008/09

2009/10

2010/11

Income

£7,490,451

£5,045,661

£4,758,731

£4,085,568

£3,449,274

£3,324,402

£3,623,922

£4,358,064

£5,177,396

£5,030,577

% income from grants

10.0%

4.0%

7.0%

7.0%

4.6%

4.2%

5.0%

4.4%

3.8%

7.7%

% income from sales

90.0%

96.0%

93.0%

93.0%

95.4%

95.8%

95.0%

95.6%

96.2%

92.3%

Unrestricted funds profit/(loss)*

£431,299

£28,265

(£11,124)

(£149,267)

(£205,024)

(£320,599)

(£159,881)

(£49,604)

£81,927

£73,902

Permanent Staff

Data not

available

78

94

81

71

69

68

62

66

57

Carbon footprint (CO2

equivalent emissions in tonnes)** Data not

available

Data not

available

280

319

307

298

300

322

344

307

* The unrestricted funds figure is used as it shows the year to year trends in operational performance

** Figures for previous years have been recalculated using the most up to date conversion data relating

to that year in accordance with the Defra guidelines

FRC GROUP PERFORMANCE

How we do social business

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Financial performance

After returning to making a profit in

2009/10, this year FRC Group has

again finished the year in profit. We

budgeted to make a small loss this

year but actually ended the year

returning a profit. For many years

we have monitored the proportion

of our annual turnover which comes

from grants rather than from our sales

income. This year the increased

percentage of income from grants

relates to a large grant funded capital

project – the installation of the solar

panel electricity system at FRC Group’s

head office – and the receipt of a

grant from Impetus Trust to support

the recruitment of Furniture Resource

Centre’s Sales Director.

Carbon footprint

FRC Group runs an environmental

management system to control its

environmental impacts. The most

significant issues defined in the

system are carbon footprint, waste

and recycling and the impacts

of Furniture Resource Centre’s

supply chain.

Our carbon footprint is calculated

based on the energy use from our

buildings (gas and electricity) and the

fuels used in our fleet of vehicles. We

use the standard carbon conversion

factors published by Defra in their

Environmental Reporting Guidelines.

There is a direct relationship between

the scale of commercial activities and

the carbon emissions that are created

as a result. This year our carbon

footprint reduced by 10% while our

sales were 3% lower than in 2009/10.

The solar panel renewable energy

system was only operational for

February and March 2011 so the

impact of this on our carbon footprint

for the reporting year is minimal. If we

had not had the solar panel system

installed we would have had a slightly

larger footprint of 308 tonnes.

Permanent staff members

FRC Group’s permanent staffing levels

have remained consistent in recent

years. In 2010/11, 14 people joined

FRC Group as permanent staff

members and 12 people left. This

compares with 11 starters and 7

leavers in 2009/10 and 6 starters and

7 leavers in 2008/09.

Exit interviews were carried out with

7 of the 12 leavers. These structured

conversations were held between

the leaver and someone other than

their direct manager. 2 of the 7

leavers interviewed gave their reason

for leaving as because they were

“Unhappy here”, with the others

leaving for better jobs, because they

wanted a change or for other reasons

such as relocation or retraining. All of

the interviewed leavers commented

on the great team of people at FRC

Group or on their personal satisfaction

in working for a company with social

objectives as well as commercial ones.

Health & safety

FRC Group’s Health & Safety

performance is important to all the

people who work in the organisation,

our customers and our suppliers. This

year we had a total of 63 accidents,

9 of which were RIDDOR reportable.

This compares with 55 accidents, 7

of which were RIDDOR reportable in

2009/10.

“This year our carbon footprint reduced by 10% while our sales were 3% lower than in 2009/10.”

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GREAT FOR UNEMPLOYED PEOPLEFRC Group seeks to change the lives of unemployed people by creating opportunities within our business activities. This chapter considers the ways we have given opportunities to unemployed people and what the outcomes have been:

Salaried training programmes

Work placement programme

Working with offenders in prisons

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SALARIED TRAINING PROGRAMMES

Since the mid-1990s FRC Group has

run salaried training programmes

that provide unemployed people with

the experience, qualifications, skills

and confidence necessary to make

a positive transition into mainstream

employment. Our main programme is

Driving Change, our logistics training

programme which prepares previously

long-term unemployed people for a

career as a professional driver. Since

the creation of the Future Jobs Fund

in 2009, FRC Group has expanded its

training provision to include additional

programmes in Warehouse training,

Retail training and Administration

training.

In 2010/11, FRC Group’s training

programmes were funded through

our contract with Department for Work

and Pensions under the Future Jobs

Fund. This source of funding will end

during 2011/12 and at that point we

will continue to deliver our Driving

Change programme which is FRC

Group’s flagship training programme.

The experience and learning from the

other training programmes that we

have run will not be lost and these

additional programmes may be run

again in the future when there is a

business requirement for growth

in staff numbers or where external

funding sources are available to

support the additional resources

required.

Training programmes are made up of

core elements that are common to all

our programmes and specialist training

relating to the different disciplines.

A step to future employment

1

AdministrationTraining

RetailTraining

Driving ChangeTraining

WarehouseTraining

Real on-the-job training: With real responsibilities

Transferable skills: First aid, health and safety, manual handling, environmental awareness, job search skills, equal opportunities, numeracy and literacy

Support: Dedicated support from People & Learning Team as well as Line Manager and on-the-job Mentors

Personal skills development: Communication, confidence, team working

FRC Group Training Programmes

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1. Driving Change training:

12 month programme working in Bulky Bob’s Liverpool, Warrington or Oldham

• Driver training: LGV Class II Theory test, LGV Class II Practical test, hazard

perception test, Drivers Certificate of Professional Competence, tachograph

training. These qualifications enable trainees to drive vehicles up to a

maximum weight of 12 tonnes.

• Loader training: Car theory test, car practical test.

• Choice of specialist training: Forklift truck licence - counterbalance and

reach, ADR licence (transporting hazardous goods), HIAB (loader crane).

2. Warehouse training:

6 month programme working in Bulky Bob’s Liverpool,

Oldham or Furniture Resource Centre

• Forklift Truck Licence - counterbalance and reach

3. Administration training:

6 month programme working in Furniture Resource Centre,

FRC Group People & Learning Team or Bulky Bob’s

• Information Technology certificate

4. Retail training:

6 month programme working in Revive Liverpool

• Retail Principles certificate

• Customer Care certificate

“This year we have trained more people than ever before and in more areas of FRC Group.”

Shaun Doran,

Chief Executive, FRC Group

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Number of people who took part in the training programmes

5409/10 6610/114508/09

Training programmes: impact in numbers

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Number of training programmes across the FRC Group

09/10

09/10

08/09

08/09

10/11

10/11

93 11Number of trainees who completed the programme

83%

81%

93%

83%

81%

93%

83%

81%

93%

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33

Number of training positions available in 10/11

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Hours of training delivered = 1359

Overall percentage of all trainees who went into jobs, further education or training at the end of the programme

52%

4.2

4.5

4.2

09/10

08/09

10/11

Average number of qualifications

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Number of trainees who left this year

Number of people who went into a job

46

24


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Driving Change trainees are 6 times more likely to find employment after completing the Driving Change programme than they were when they joined the programme.

09/10 10/11

Percentage of “Driving Change” completers who went into a job at the end of the programme

77%67%

23 of the 24 people who got jobs had completed their training programme

96% of those who went into jobs had completed the programme

Number of qualificationsgained

=

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Percentage of all completers who went into jobs, further education or training at the end of the programme


71%67%

61%

08/09 09/10 10/11

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Number of people unemployed nationally against the percentage of trainees going into jobs, further training or education

Number of people unemployednationally (millions)

% of trainees going intojobs, further training or education

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

2008 2009 20100%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

2011

This year we have trained more

people than ever before and in

a wider range of programmes. In

a very difficult employment market

we have supported 24 previously

unemployed people into jobs at the

end of their training programme. In

the most recent two years, a higher

percentage of people have gone into

a positive experience at the end of

the programme. This year, all of our

positive leavers went into a job rather

than into training or education.

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When trainees complete or leave

the programme, we carry out an exit

interview and then try to keep in touch

with them for the next 18-months to

find out how they are progressing.

For many years we have found it a

challenge to maintain contact with all

of our past trainees and it is inevitable

that some of them will not wish to

keep in touch when they move on

to the next stage of their lives.

The main approach has been to

send out paper surveys and offer

an incentive for their return, with

varying levels of success. A common

feature is that often our past trainees

move house or change their mobile

telephone number within the 18-month

period and we lose contact with them.

A new way of keeping in touch that

we will trial in 2011/12 is to see if

the continuity and ease of response

provided by social networking sites

such as Facebook could offer a better

solution.

During the training programme, all

trainees have a personal one-to-one

review every 6 weeks with the training

programme coordinator to discuss their

progress and any issues or queries

that may arise. These quotes are from

trainees who were on the programmes

this year:

About the programme:

“I have not had a job where so much

training is on offer which can only

benefit my future” Bulky Bob’s

Warehouse trainee

“It gets me out of the house and off

the streets it is a good company to

work for” Driving Change trainee

“Found it hard getting up early in the

morning and when you get home not

having much time left to do much”

Administration trainee

“Gaining my car license will open up

more opportunities for getting a job”

Driving Change trainee

“I found it quite challenging learning

new procedures in my admin role”


“Good place to work and good

training” Driving Change trainee

In their own words

About their financial situation:

“I can clear my outstanding debts”

FRC Warehouse trainee

“I have been able to buy a car”

Driving Change trainee

“I am able to pay my way at home

now” Administration trainee (living

with parents)

“I am better off financially since I

started the job which has enabled me

to do home improvements and have

a holiday” Driving Change trainee

“I am better off financially since starting

my job which has enabled me to save

money” Driving Change trainee

About their personal development:

“I have learnt that I can gain

qualifications and pass exams I didn’t

have the confidence to believe in

myself before” Driving Change trainee

“It was hard at the start after

being unemployed for so long”


“I now have the attitude to go out

and work” Driving Change trainee

“Can do anything if I set my mind to it”

Bulky Bob’s Warehouse trainee

“My home life is happier”


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The top three things they got out of our training programmes are:

1. Qualifications including driving licences and fork lift truck licence

2. Increased experience

3. Better relationships with peers

This year we asked 30 past trainees for feedback and 8 of them completed

the surveys we sent to them:

Found employment within three months of leaving FRC Group

Said they work better in a team and can communicate better

since being on our training programmes

Said their quality of life is better, they are more motivated

and they have higher self-esteem

63%

88%

75%

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In the spotlight

Alan – Driving Change Programme

Alan completed the Driving Change

programme in October 2010. He

was an enthusiastic and highly

motivated trainee with a great

attendance record. As part of the

Driving Change programme he

passed the Large Goods Vehicle

Class 2 licence. Alan had such

a passion and commitment to a

career as a professional driver that

he decided to put himself through

the Class 1 licence, which allows

him to drive the largest vehicles.

He used some of his holiday

entitlement and paid for his Class

1 lessons and test. He passed first

time and started using his skills in a

temporary driving job for a company

called B&M Stores. They were

so impressed with his attitude

to work that he has now secured

a permanent job driving their Class

1 wagons all over the North West

delivering goods to their stores.

The facts and figures give an overall picture of how the trainees have done but people’s own

stories of their experience really brings to life the opportunity that our programmes can present.

Christine – Administration Trainee

Christine started in September

2010 on a 6-month administration

training programme working in FRC

Group’s Furniture Resource Centre

business. She made a great start,

throwing herself in to the training

and was our “Top Trainee” in her

first month on the programme.

Christine worked really hard and

showed great professionalism, and

when a permanent vacancy arose in

the Furniture Resource Centre Sales

Administration Team, she applied.

The competition was very tough

with 10 candidates interviewed for

2 vacancies. Christine gave an

excellent interview and secured

one of the positions, starting as

a permanent member of staff in

January 2011.

Liam – Administration Trainee February 2010 to October 2010

“Before I came to Bulky Bob’s I had

no confidence and no money and

just spent my days in bed. Working

at Bulky Bob’s has opened my

mind to a career in admin and it has

changed my confidence so much

that I am a different person now.

During my time at Bulky Bob’s I

was able to go on holiday for the

first time because I saved-up my

wages. I did my driving lessons

and driving test and passed first

time, and as I am registered

Disabled – I have a car. My life has

continued to change as I am now

working for 6 months at Oldham

Council’s Waste Management

Team in Moorhey Street with the

same Council contacts that I was

speaking with whilst at Bulky Bob’s.

Bulky Bob’s (is a) brilliant scheme,

and the company gave me the

ability to live life.”

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WORK PLACEMENT PROGRAMME An introduction to work

Structured training programmes

are not the only way that FRC

Group seeks to bring about positive

change in the lives of people living

in poverty and unemployment. For

a variety of reasons, a full-time

training programme is not always

the best entry for some unemployed

people back in to the world of work.

Some people are not ready for that

stage yet, perhaps because they

are coming from a background of

homelessness, substance abuse

or are coming from the criminal justice

system. For others, paid employment

is not the aim, but instead they wish to

participate in meaningful mainstream

activities – this is particularly true of

adults who are receiving social care

and support who wish to spend their

time in purposeful alternatives to the

traditional ‘day care centre model’.

Work Placements offer a chance

to gain some practical experience,

learn about workplace behaviour, try

out skills and work as part of a team.

These opportunities have been

developed gradually since 2006/07

when 8 people undertook placements

compared to the 51 people who took

part in a work placement at FRC

Group in 2010/11.

2Key stats

5409/10

5110/11

Number of people on work placements

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Number of hours of experience gained

7,000 hours09/10

3,904 hours10/11

Placements were offered in 5 areas of FRC Group

Social impact of placement opportunities

During this year, we did not have

systems in place to collect suitable

impact measurement information in a

consistent manner from the placement

participants or from the agencies that

referred them to work with us. This

gap in our information is addressed

in the planning for a more structured

placement programme that will be

launched in 2011/12.

We do have some feedback

information from participants and

referral partners:

“I have started a placement at

Bulky Bob’s about 4 weeks ago, I

have been taught how to do manual

handling lifting and moving goods and

electrical items, I have been working

with a team on recycling. I have been

learning about logistics and mapping

procedures. I am never late because

it is important to the team that I can

be relied on to be here on time and to

do my share of the work. I enjoy being

here at Bulky Bob’s because the

people I work with are helpful and

funny and good to work with, I am

treated like a grown up and expected

to do the work of a grown up. I have

learned how to help other people who

visit the centre, by showing them

round the warehouse and viewing

the furniture available. I have more

confidence now and what I have learnt

at Bulky Bob’s will definitely help me

find full time work.” KR, Placement at

Bulky Bob’s Oldham

“The quality of the placement is always

measured by the feedback and the

attendance of the learner - if a learner

doesn’t like a placement, they don’t

turn up. Simple! But, at Bulky Bobs I

can honestly say that I am yet to hear

anything other than glowing feedback

from the learners” Joshua Mangas,

Placement Officer, North Lancs

Training Group Ltd

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This year the placement offer

was reviewed and a more

structured programme was

developed to be put into

practice in 2011/12. The review

considered why, how and where

we should create placement

opportunities that offered

people a meaningful experience

without relying on voluntary

labour or compromising the

training programme and

employment opportunities that

we can also offer. We reviewed

our capacity and expertise in

working with people from a

range of different backgrounds

to ensure that we focus our

placement programme on

people we are best placed

to support.

Our Placement Programme manifesto

A structured approach for the future

This piece of work culminated in a set of recommendations that were approved

by FRC Group’s Board about how we would develop a structured placement

programme in the future. The key features of the Work Placement Programme

will be:

• A programme designed around the impacts that will be experienced by the

work placement participants, focusing on personal development as well as

preparation for employment in the future.

• A defined set of work placement opportunities with clear task descriptions.

• Placement tasks to be identified using set criteria to ensure that tasks provide

meaningful experience and skills but do use unpaid labour to carry out core

tasks that are essential to running the business.

• Reviewing referral partners to ensure work placement participants come

from the excluded groups that we are experienced in working with:

Long term unemployed people aged 18+

People with physical disabilities

People with learning disabilities

People with mild mental health issues

Ex-offenders

People serving a prison sentence

Participants will have support for personal development delivered

by a dedicated Placement Coordinator to be recruited into the People

& Learning Team

• Systematic collection of quantitative and qualitative data that will

demonstrate the impacts created by the placement programme.

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The primary consideration for

the development of FRC Group’s

Placement Programme is to find

the right balance between providing

meaningful opportunities that will

enhance the skills, confidence and

employability of the participants with

FRC Group’s commitment that we

will not exploit the free labour provided

by the participants.

From an ethical perspective FRC

Group is not comfortable to run its

business activities on voluntary labour.

We have identified work placement

opportunities where the tasks that

are carried out are things that are not

part of our core business operations.

However, we believe that there is

a strong link between the potential

success of work placement

participants in finding employment

and the type of experience they

gain during their placement. The

constant tension in our Placement

Programme will be in providing the

most meaningful experiences to the

participants without taking advantage

of their voluntary labour.

2011/12 will be a year of significant

development for the Work Placement

programme and in next year’s report

we will be able to give more and better

quality information about the impacts

that are created through the Work

Placements.

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WORKING WITH OFFENDERS IN PRISONS An opportunity to gain skills and qualifications

Prison workshops offer offenders

an opportunity to gain skills and

qualifications and provide a worthwhile

activity for people serving custodial

sentences. In 2009, FRC Group and

HMP Liverpool worked together to

set up the “Bulky Bob’s Upholstery

Workshop” in the prison, offering

prisoners an opportunity to gain skills

and experience in upholstery and

refurbishing products that would

not immediately meet the required

standard for Bulky Bob’s to sell them

on to low-income shoppers.

Prison workshops

3

5210/11

Number of prisoners who worked in the upholstery workshop between April 2010 and February 2011

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The majority of opportunities are for people to gain upholstery skills.

One or two places at a time are for general housekeeping in the workshop.

Our work with Liverpool Prison

resulted in a number of other prisons

contacting us to discuss potential

opportunities to work with their

prison workshops. These early stage

conversations are on-going with a

small number of prisons. Work with

HMP Styal women’s prison in

Manchester, has progressed very

well and a joint workshop will be

opening there in early 2011/12.

Partnering with the existing industrial

cleaning training course and the

painting and decorating training

course, a new space has been

identified in which the women can

not only gain accredited qualifications

in these disciplines but do this by

working on products that have been

collected by Bulky Bob’s across the

North West. The industrial cleaning

of soft furnishings and the repainting

of wooden items will greatly improve

the quality of the items Bulky Bob’s

can sell to low-income shoppers.

Working on real items and facing

different challenges with each piece

also provides a different dimension

to the training that is provided.

We are hopeful that we can also

develop opportunities to work with

the prisoners once their sentence

has finished and they return to the

community. This could be by offering

work experience placements to assist

with building skills and experience in

a more mainstream work environment

and also by working with the prisoners

to support them to develop

self-employment opportunities using

the skills they have gained in the

prison workshops.

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TARGETS AND PRIORITIES FOR 2011/12

15 training positions across FRC Group

65% of all leavers to go into a job or further training or education

30 people trained overall

75% of all those who complete the training programmes to go into a job or further training or education

60 people to undertake work placements

Increase the number of prison workshop places available

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GREAT FOR PEOPLE LIVING IN POVERTYFRC Group started life in 1988 as a local charity focusing on getting furniture to low-income families in Liverpool, families in need of the basic furniture items to improve the quality of their lives. Today our focus is the same but our social businesses do this on a larger scale and over a larger area. This chapter reports on how we are getting furniture to people in Liverpool and Oldham through our Bulky Bob’s operations and the levels of social impact that we are creating.

Liverpool

Oldham

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LIVERPOOLFrom Revive to Bulky Bob’s Furniture World

In last year’s report we identified the

link between our Bulky Bob’s service

in Liverpool and the Revive store.

These two operations are part of the

same chain of social value creation

with Revive selling and donating to

low-income families the ‘pre-loved’

furniture that is collected and

refurbished through Bulky Bob’s.

In 2010/11 we solidified this link by

relocating and rebranding the Revive

store as “Bulky Bob’s Furniture World”.

The site on which Revive stood

was scheduled for redevelopment

and relocating the store was an

appropriate time to rebrand it in

line with Bulky Bob’s. Our previous

approach had been to keep the

collection activity separate from

the sale and delivery of ‘pre-loved’

furniture by using two different

brand names – Bulky Bob’s for the

collections from householders and

Revive for the sale of furniture. When

the relocation created an opportunity

to review the name of the store, we

consulted with our customers about

changing the name and found that

it was not something that our

customers were concerned about,

particularly once we had reassured

them that the deliveries of furniture

bought in the store would not be done

in a vehicle marked Bulky Bob’s.

The Revive store had been located in

a bargain shopping area of Liverpool,

close to a number of discount furniture

retailers and with convenient public

transport access. We managed the

relocation to retain these advantages

Bulky Bob’s Furniture World

The impacts we seek to create are that

our customers can furnish their home

quickly and get good value for money

by buying low-cost but high quality

‘pre-loved’ furniture rather than buying

expensive poor quality pieces from the

high street or going into debt through

expensive credit sources.

We want to provide a shopping

experience that de-stigmatises the

idea of ‘second-hand’ furniture by

giving great customer service in a

well-appointed and attractive retail

setting, in contrast to the typical

charity shop experience which

reduces people’s self-esteem.

by finding a suitable unit on the same

street. The new unit also has the

additional benefits of more window

display area and a more convenient,

slightly larger layout.

To relaunch the store we held a

community health and well being

themed event, offering people an

opportunity to come in and look at

the new store and to get involved in

activities such as massage, beauty

treatments, health MOT checks, advice

services and to see performances

such as Liverpool’s Town Cryer and

a performance from an older people’s

dance group. The day was well

attended and we spoke with the

visitors to gather their comments:

“…nice, more spacious…”

“…good, good bargains…”

“Very good, you can see what

you’re buying”

“Everything’s displayed better”

“Seems to be less space

– no downstairs”

“Prefer the old shop, not sure why,

maybe just don’t like change”

Creating social impact

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Creating social impact

Selling 'pre-loved' furniture at affordable prices: Bulky Bob’s Furniture World prices items to make them affordable to the shoppers we want to attract. While other charities may sell furniture to raise funds for their cause, our purpose is to make furniture available cheaply to people on limited incomes.

Selling low cost 'pre-loved' furniture to low income households at 10% discount: The majority of our sales are to people who receive a 10% discount off our standard prices. These are people who are in receipt of benefits, older people and students.

Working with referral agencies to give 20% discount and free delivery to customers in more need: A small number of customers come to us through referrals from social support organisations. These customers receive a free delivery as well as 20% discount.

Help-Shop giving access to advice and guidance services: Using a small meeting room, off the shop floor, Bulky Bob’s Furniture World has partnered with advice and guidance organisations such as Citizens Advice Bureau, to offer space for them to hold drop in advice sessions for our customers, particularly around welfare rights issues, debt, employment and housing.

Crisis response for people in urgent need of basic items and no means to pay for them: People living in Liverpool City Council area who are in the most urgent need of basic furniture items and have no means of buying them are supported by our crisis intervention. Trusted referral agencies identify people who have no access to finance to buy the basic items they need. These customers are given a voucher to bring to the store listing the items they are able to get for free. Typical situations that would make someone eligible for a voucher include: a family fleeing domestic violence, a family living in unsuitable conditions for their children and a person or family who are offered an independent tenancy due to living in a hostel.

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Number of pre-loved furniture items sent to Bulky Bob’s Furniture World to be sold

7,26109/10

6,62510/11

Impact in numbers

Value to crisis customers of items donated

10/11 at full sales value09/10

£11,000 £15,329 £18,395

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Number of sales made to Bulky Bob’s Furniture World customers

3,152 09/10

3,125 10/11

164 hours of drop-in advice available through the Bulky Bob’s Furniture World Help Shop

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Number of agencies referring people in crisis situations

09/10

10/11

33agencies

232 people in crisis situations

10agencies

117 people in crisis situations

Impact in numbers

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Percentage of customers from low-income and non low-income families and the discounts they receive

70% of customers are from low-income households and receive 10% discount

All customers

3% of customers are referred by social support agencies and receive 20% discount and a free delivery

7% of customers are crisis referrals and receive 100% discount on basic items and a free delivery

20% of customers are from non low-incomehouseholds receiving no discount

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The focus this year was to consult

with the network of trusted referral

agencies who make referrals for

people in need of our crisis furniture

voucher. We carried out this

consultation in three ways:

1. A focus group was held with

representatives of 5 agencies

2. Surveys were completed by 16

representatives from 8 agencies

3. 9 of the recipients of support

completed a survey

From the survey with referral agencies,

we learned about the perception of the

furniture that is donated.

What our stakeholders tell us

What do you think of the furniturethat your clients receive?

Excellent

Good

OK

Poor

10/11

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“It has made our client’s life

more bearable in the first stages

of their support”

“Some of my clients have felt a

little upset... when they have gone

to pick their furniture... down to the

staff comments when showing them

what they can and can’t have... I

addressed the situation and the

misunderstanding was resolved”

“Knowing they have a sofa to sit on

or table to eat a meal on, it gives

them a degree of normality”

“This service is great without this

could you imagine the impact it

would have on some one who is

told to move into a property right

away with nothing”

“Approximately a year ago the

furniture was of a much better

standard and a great help”

“For some families they (crisis

vouchers) are the only thing that

enables them to move out of

the hostel”

“Freecycle can be good but there are

problems getting a van and driver”

“... (people) can focus on other things

because they’re not worried about

where the furniture is coming from”

“All our clients reiterate the same

experience they have had from staff

which is a positive one, friendly,

helpful and resourceful”

“Although the furniture is sometimes

a bit dirty I feel the service is

generally amazing and provides a life

line to many families that I work with.”

“I feel that the response time

from referral to receipt of voucher

is exceptional”

The feedback about the service from the focus group and the agency surveys was about the quality of

items and about the difference it makes to the people they work with and to them as support agencies:

“All feedback from our clients has

been positive”

“Makes my job easier to assist

our clients in reassuring them that

they will have a positive start in their

new home”

“A massive difference! Basically

without the vouchers they would have

no settee to sit on or a bed to lay in”

“My clients are on low income and

would not be able to afford the

furniture without going in to debt”

“Mattresses were sub-standard and

had to be replaced”

“It is an invaluable service that has

been helpful for me and especially

the young people I work with”

“They are able to settle into their

home in a better environment rather

than just bedding down in sleeping

bags and using the floor as furniture”

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We asked referral agencies to help us

with feedback from clients and trialled

a short survey to be completed after

they had received the furniture. The

response rate was very low – only

9 were returned. A paper survey,

completed after the event and relying

on a third party agency to get it done

all contributed but we didn’t want to

put the customers under pressure by

doing the survey in the store at the

point of sale.

What our stakeholders tell us

Crisis customer feedback

Excellent

What do you think of the furniture your clients receive?

What sort of servicedid you receive fromthe shop staff?

What sort of servicedid you receive fromthe delivery drivers?

0

2

4

6

8

10

1

3

5

7

9

Good

OK

Poor

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The furniture recipients also

gave some information about the

difference that having furniture

had made to their lives:

“I have a nice house: sleep in a bed”

“I have a house with furniture in

it for the first time in years”

“It made me a proper home”

“I had nothing when I moved from

NASS (National Asylum Seeker

Service) accommodation into a

private tenancy... I was very sad...

as it was bare but it made me feel

better when I got the furniture”

“It made a great difference to me

and my family we could eat family

meals together”

“I would have been lost without this

service as I would have had nothing

to sit on or even sleep on”

“This made my life a lot easier as

I have been through a lot with the

upset in my life and I am only 17”

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OLDHAM

In Oldham, Bulky Bob’s provides

‘pre-loved’ furniture directly to the

public by selling or donating it from

the Bulky Bob’s depot. The volume

of collections are fewer than in

Liverpool and so the number of

items made available is smaller too.

Customers can come and buy

furniture from the warehouse and

either collect the items themselves

or arrange a delivery from Bulky

Bob’s. Bulky Bob’s Oldham does not

categorise its customers in the same

way that Bulky Bob’s Furniture World

in Liverpool does. The circumstances

of how we sell and who we sell to are

quite different and we believe that all

of our customers in Oldham would

be classed as being low-income

shoppers.

Bulky Bob’s in Oldham

Some customers who are referred

through local organisations receive

additional support by having furniture

items donated to them. Either the

customer or the referral agency will

pay the delivery costs associated

with the donation.

This year there was a change of

personnel in the two key roles at Bulky

Bob’s Oldham and this affected the

consistency of data capturing systems.

We have robust information for the

latter seven months of the year but

have decided not to report information

from the first part of the year as the

data is not reliable.

A positive development this year

was that Oldham Council agreed

to let Bulky Bob’s make collections

from inside properties towards the

end of the year. We expect that this

development will improve the number

of items that are suitable for reuse by

allowing more pieces of furniture to

be protected from weather damage

that occurs when uncovered items

are left in gardens and alleys prior

to collection.

Bulky Bob’s main outlet for

‘pre-loved’ furniture in Oldham is

to sell and donate it to customers

straight from the warehouse at the

depot. The Oldham service is not as

large as the Liverpool operation and

less reusable furniture is available.

So far it has not been appropriate to

have a town centre store in the same

way that we do in Liverpool.

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Bulky Bob’s On The Road

To extend the reach we have into

the community, Bulky Bob’s held

a “Bulky Bob’s On The Road” sale.

These community events are held

in different areas of the town to

enable customers to have access

to great ‘pre-loved’ furniture.

Following the successful sale we

did in the Glodwick area of Oldham

last year, we ran another event in

the Derker area at the East Oldham

Methodist Church.

Approximately 40 people visited

the On The Road sale, 12 of them

bought a total of 43 items of

‘pre-loved’ furniture.

Partnering to increase reuse

In May Bulky Bob’s Oldham

established a partnership with Viridor

to collect reusable bulky items that

are dropped off by residents at the

Household Waste Recycling Centre

in Arkwright Street, Oldham. Bulky

Bob’s and Viridor worked together

to raise awareness with residents that

reusable furniture brought to the site

would be made available to people

in the community. The project was

originally a 6-month pilot and has now

been extended, providing access to

more furniture of a higher standard.

198September-March

Number of customers

Number of furniture items from September - March

605

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TARGETS AND PRIORITIES FOR 2011/12

3,300 customer sales in Bulky Bob’s Furniture World Liverpool

76% of these customer sales to be to people on low-incomes who receive 10% discount on standard prices

4% of these customer sales to be to people on low-incomes who receive 20% discount on standard prices

6% of these customer sales to be to people in crisis need who receive free of charge furniture items

360 customers to buy or receive furniture from Bulky Bob’s Oldham

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FRC Group’s commercial activities

through Bulky Bob’s and Furniture

Resource Centre are performing

well and meeting the targets in our

business plan which will see our social

impact creation reach a greater scale

as a result of the growth of our social

businesses.

Bulky Bob’s continues to perform to

a very high standard on its contracts

with Liverpool City Council, Oldham

Metropolitan Borough Council

and Warrington Council. Work is

progressing well towards an additional

Bulky Bob’s operation which should

be up and running in early 2012/13.

Bulky Bob’s has introduced a

new service to run alongside its

core business of collecting, reusing

and recycling bulky household waste

through local authority contracts.

An additional service is being

developed to reuse and recycle

waste for a wider range of customers.

We have established a pilot working

in partnership with Halton Council

to manage all of the bulky household

waste that is collected by their

in-house waste teams. Bulky Bob’s

had previously held a contract with

Halton to collect, reuse and recycle

bulky household waste from 2003

to 2006 but when Halton council

introduced an expensive charge for

residents, the number of collections

dropped to a level that was no longer

viable. We have retained excellent

relationships with Halton and this

new development will provide a

high level of reuse and recycling

for the small amounts of bulky waste

they now collect.

Furniture Resource Centre continues

to provide a great service to our

customers and the improvements

in the operational capacity and

systems that have been made in

recent years have been successfully

embedded to create an even better

operation. Furniture Resource Centre

has also invested in the sales

resources as part of our business

plan for growth. The infrastructure

of the sales team has been improved

with the introduction of a new

Customer Relationship Management

system and two additional Area Sales

Manager positions have been created.

An exciting development has been

to implement a new IT system across

FRC Group which brings both business

and environmental benefits. The

existing IT infrastructure at FRC Group

has been replaced by a ‘Cloud’ system,

bringing system efficiencies, superior

business continuity support and energy

use savings that come from a large

scale system. The system went live in

the summer of 2011 and in our 2011/12

report we will have more information

about the outcomes.

Our social businesses are the

‘means’ to FRC Group’s primary ‘end’

– making positive change happen in

the lives of people living in poverty

and unemployment. This year we are

focusing on developing a key area

of our impact agenda – our Work

Placement Programme. On pages

The year so far

32-33 of this report we outlined our

plans for this programme. To deliver

our commitment to a high quality

structured placement programme,

a new post “Placement Coordinator”

has been created in the People &

Learning Team. We have successfully

recruited a very experienced person

to develop and run the programme.

2011/2012

2011/2012 TH

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53

Being great for unemployed people

• 15 previously unemployed people

are on our “Driving Change”

programmes

• Work Placement Programme

Coordinator in post

• 11 people have been on work

placements so far

• Having completed our own Future

Jobs Fund work, FRC Group was

able to step in and support 4 people

whose Future Jobs Fund places

with other employers had failed.

We provided training places in the

Bulky Bob’s warehouse to enable

these people to complete their six

month programmes.

• A second workshop has been

opened creating more meaningful

training for offenders – this

workshop is at HMP Styal,

a women’s prison

Being great for people living

in poverty

• 1,410 people have bought great

quality ‘pre-loved’ furniture in

Oldham and Liverpool

• 197 people in crisis situations have

been provided with basic essential

furniture items free of charge

• The range and quality of furniture

available through Bulky Bob’s

Furniture World has been increased

and improved by the products

coming through the prison

workshops at HMP Liverpool

and HMP Styal

AU

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Scope & objectives

FRC Group1 commissioned

justassurance2 to undertake

independent assurance of its

2010/11 Social Report (‘the Report’).

justassurance was paid £5,000 for

this work. justassurance has no other

relationships with FRC Group that

might compromise its independence.

The assurance process was conducted

in accordance with AA1000AS (2008).

We were engaged to provide Type 2

moderate3 assurance, covering:

• evaluation of adherence to the

AA1000APS (2008) principles

of inclusivity, materiality and

responsiveness (the Principles)

• the reliability of key performance

claims

We used the Global Reporting Initiative

(GRI) Quality of Information Principles

as Criteria for evaluating performance

information.

Responsibilities of the directors of

FRC Group and of justassurance

The directors of FRC Group have sole

responsibility for the preparation of the

Report. Our statement represents our

independent opinion and is intended

to inform all FRC Group’s

stakeholders including management.

We adopt a balanced approach

towards all FRC Group stakeholders.

We were not involved in the

preparation of any part of the Report.

We have no other contract with FRC

Group and this is the eighth year that

we have provided assurance.

The work was performed by Adrian

Henriques4.

1 ‘FRC Group’ here refers to Furniture Resources Ltd.

2 ‘justassurance’ here refers to Just Assurance Network Ltd, trading as justassurance. Two

Tomorrows Group Limited provides assurance services to justassurance. Two Tomorrows

is a licensed AA1000AS assurance provider and oversees justassurance’s assurance work

using AA1000AS (2008).

3 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’.

4 Further information about competencies can be found at www.twotomorrows.com

Our work was designed to gather

evidence with the objective of

providing assurance as defined in

AA1000AS (2008).

To prepare this statement, we reviewed

the scope of the Report, visited the

Atlantic Way site 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. We provided

some feedback to FRC Group on

aspects of drafts of the Report and

where necessary, changes were made.

We are satisfied that we 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.

Basis of our opinion

AUDITOR’S ASSURANCE STATEMENTFRC Group, 2011

AU

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55

The Report’s core focus is on areas

where FRC Group believes it can

‘create social value’: trainees and

placements, prisoners and those

in housing-related crisis.

On the basis of the work we

have done, we believe the Report

adequately represents FRC Group’s

stakeholder relationships, impacts

on its stakeholders and responses

to their concerns.

Without affecting our assurance

opinion we also provide the following

observations.

Inclusivity concerns the participation

of stakeholders in developing and

achieving an accountable and

strategic response to sustainability:

While the Report has identified and

consulted with FRC Group’s principal,

and more vulnerable, stakeholders

relating to its core focus, the level

of stakeholder engagement relevant

to other normal business activities

remains relatively low. There are also

plans for innovative approaches to

consulting ex-trainees in the future.

Material issues are those which are

necessary for stakeholders to make

informed judgments concerning FRC

Group and its impacts:

This year’s Report again deals in detail

with those stakeholders which are most

vulnerable and also central to FRC

Group’s mission. Other material issues,

including the environment, staff, and

the furniture business generally, receive

less attention. An area of impact and

risk on which the Report is silent is the

supply chain.

While no other significant issues are

omitted, the balance of the Report

would benefit from greater emphasis

on performance data from non-core

areas, and particularly from the

furniture business which comprises

a significant part of FRC Group’s

activities.

Findings & opinion Observations

In future the Report would also

benefit from an explicit statement of

FRC Group’s strategy for addressing

sustainability.

Responsiveness concerns the extent

to which an organisation responds to

stakeholder issues:

The overall number of trainees, for the

year of the Report, was greater than

for any previous year at FRC Group.

However given the economic climate,

it is perhaps not surprising that the

proportion securing jobs after training

was slightly lower than the previous

year.

Reasonable targets have been set

for the core areas of focus, although

targets for performance outside the

core area have not been stated.

Nevertheless actual performance in

a number of non-core areas, including

diversion from landfill and the social

and environmental impacts of furniture

sourcing, remains very good.

Just Assurance Network Ltd

London, September 2011

Adrian Henriques, Auditor,

justassurance, London;

September 2011

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Our stakeholders and how we consulted with them in 2010/11

APPENDIX Stakeholder engagement

Cre

atin

g s

oci

al im

pac

tH

ow

we

do

bus

ines

s

Gre

at f

or

peo

ple

Gre

at f

or

the

pla

net

Number of stakeholders consulted 66

9

8

No formal feedback collected

6

9

16 people from 8 agencies


No formal feedback was

collected from the recipients





Total number

66

66

Confidential

51

c.3,000

231

Unknown

198

Unknown

52

Unknown

c.6.7 billion

Trainees: Previously unemployed people

Ex-trainees: People who have been on the

training programmes in the past

Work placement participants: Young people,

ex-offenders, homeless people, people with a history

of substance abuse, people with disabilities

Bulky Bob’s Furniture World customers receiving discounts: People in receipt of benefits, pensioners,

students, people referred from other support agencies

People in crisis: who receive essential furniture items

Staff from support agencies: referring people for crisis support

People referred to Bulky Bob’s Oldham: for free of

charge furniture in crisis situations

People who benefit from the work of the furniture reuse charities we work with

Prisoners: working in the Bulky Bob’s prison workshops

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

AP

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57


9

8


6

9



No formal feedback was

collected from the recipients





How All have regular reviews (approximately every 6-8 weeks) and leavers have

leaving / exit interviews

Took part in a focus group as part of our social return on investment research

Took part in a survey by telephone or post

Comments were recorded at the Bulky Bob’s Furniture World launch day

Post-delivery satisfaction survey

Post-delivery satisfaction survey

Took part in a focus group

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Our stakeholders and how we consulted with them in 2010/11

Ho

w w

e d

o b

usin

ess

Ho

w w

e d

o b

usin

ess

A g

reat

pla

ce t

o w

ork

Gre

at t

o d

o b

usin

ess

wit

h


1

6

Confidential

Formal feedback not collected

3




Informal feedback is gathered

in one-to-one meetings with

key suppliers


Total number

57

1

6

Confidential

Total number

of tenants not

collated

3

84,000

c.3,000

198

Total number

of suppliers

not collated

Confidential

Staff: Permanent employees of FRC Group

Volunteers: People working in FRC Group on a long-term

voluntary basis

Trustees: Our Board members who provide governance

as volunteers

Furniture Resource Centre customers: the social housing

providers who buy furniture and related items from us

The tenants who receive and use the furniture supplied 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 collection service from Bulky Bob’s Bulky Bob’s Furniture World customers: all the

people who shop in Bulky Bob’s Furniture World

Bulky Bob’s Oldham furniture customers: all the

people who buy ‘pre-loved’ furniture from Bulky Bob’s

Our suppliers: the companies who supply us with

goods and services

Furniture reuse charities we work with to supply reusable items

AP

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1

6

Confidential

Formal feedback not collected

3




Informal feedback is gathered

in one-to-one meetings with

key suppliers


How Feedback gathered through staff performance appraisal “Look Both Ways”

which all staff completed

Included in the “Look Both Ways” process

Informal feedback collected throughout the year

Telephone surveys

Regular contract meetings

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