## Wintercomfort for the homeless
Annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2021
Overstream House, Victoria Avenue, Cambridge CB4 1EG
**Annual Report and Financial Statements to 31 March 2021**
Contents Report of the Chair of Trustees ........................................................................................................................... 2 Report of the Chief Executive Officer .................................................................................................................. 3 Strategic Report …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 4 Beneficiaries of the work of Wintercomfort for the homeless ....................................................................... 4 Trustees’ report ................................................................................................................................................... 5 Objectives and activities .................................................................................................................................. 5 Strategic Report……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………10 Achievements and Performance……………………………………………………………………………………………………………….10 Financial Review and Results for the Year…………………………………………………………………………………………………17 Statement of Trustees' Responsibilities………………………………………………………………………………………………………..20 Independent Auditor's report to the members of Wintercomfort for the Homeless…………………………………….21 Statement of financial activities for the year ended 31 March 2021................................................................ 25 Balance Sheet as at 31 March 2021 .................................................................................................................. 26 Statement of cash flows for the year ended 31 March 2021 ............................................................................ 27 Notes to the accounts ....................................................................................................................................... 28 Strategic Report (Continued)……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….43 Financial Management and Policies…………………………………………………………………………………………………………43 Governance and Management…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………44 Legal and administrative details…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..46
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**Annual Report and Financial Statements to 31 March 2021**
## Report of the Chair of Trustees
This year was a challenging time for the team at Wintercomfort. Due to the nature of rough sleeping, our service users were particularly vulnerable to the Covid-19 virus. Therefore, the need to ensure their safety and keep them fully supported during this time was our main priority. Watching the team at Wintercomfort adapt quickly to provide daily welfare and emotional support has been enormously inspiring and as ever I am extremely proud to be the Chair of Trustees of such an incredible organisation.
During the year, we worked closely with local stakeholders to ensure those rough sleeping were given temporary accommodation. Our team worked tirelessly alongside a fantastic group of local volunteers to provide over 50,000 hot and cold meals and regular emotional support via telephone and text.
Wintercomfort is now entering its 30[th] year and we continue to help those who are rough sleeping or vulnerably housed make positive changes to their lives. This is achieved through an extensive programme of specialist housing advice, education, training, work experience and paid employment opportunities within our highly successful social enterprise – Overstream Clean & Garden.
We support and bolster people’s self-confidence and wellbeing through a number of bespoke programmes including counselling, health and wellbeing, social inclusion & sports, as well as specialist support for the migrant community, particularly those with no recourse to public funds. At the beginning of 2020, we launched our new women’s service, specifically designed to support women with the many unique challenges they face especially around the area of sexual and domestic violence. This new service has been enormously successful, supporting 97 women, many of whom have experienced complex trauma.
The services we deliver have always been driven by the people we support and one of our greatest assets is that 35% of the staff now at Wintercomfort have previously benefitted from our services (“service users”) and 49% have had experience of homelessness.
The team at Wintercomfort, led by our Chief Executive Officer Sarah Halls are highly professional, compassionate, and determined to provide the best services to those in need. Sadly, reports are indicating that due to the pandemic, homelessness is set to rise even further. With your support we will continue to help hundreds of people get the advice and support they need to find a place to live and move forward with their lives.
Thank you.
## Sarah Foreman
## Chair of Trustees
“I was homeless, living on the streets. I came to Wintercomfort for food and a shower. I’ve got more than that though. Day by day the support has built my motivation and confidence. I did some work experience, now I’m back in work and I have a home. It’s changed my life.” service user
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**Annual Report and Financial Statements to 31 March 2021**
## Report of the Chief Executive Officer
In 2020/21, Overstream House remained open to rough sleepers for welfare, laundry and washing facilities. We continued to provide remote support to anyone who was vulnerably housed or placed in temporary accommodation. In 2020/21 we supported a total of 476 service users.
During this challenging time, the support and welfare of our service users remained paramount. At the beginning of the pandemic, we worked quickly to adapt all our services so that we could continue to support our service users albeit for many this was given remotely. We purchased new IT equipment to enable staff to work remotely.
As part of the ‘Everyone In’ initiative, we worked closely with Cambridge City Council and Cambridge Street Outreach Team to help identify and verify those rough sleeping and place them in temporary accommodation. Since the start of the pandemic more than 180 people have been moved into temporary accommodation.
During this time Wintercomfort provided daily hot and cold food to all those in temporary accommodation and rough sleeping. To help alleviate isolation, boredom packs were put together and for those who did not have a phone, a smart phone was provided to ensure we could carry out regular welfare checks.
“In a way, they saved my life. You know, they really did save my life. If they hadn’t given me my dignity back, I really I don’t think I know where I would be to be honest with you.” service user
Over the year we provided 25,992 hot and cold meals to those in temporary accommodation and 25,686 hot meals and snack packs were distributed to rough sleepers at Overstream House. 4,055 key working sessions took place either via phone, WhatsApp or Zoom, providing vital emotional support and practical advice. 515 counselling sessions took place with our in-house Counsellor to help with the isolation and anxiety many people were feeling. For some of our service users, we were the only contact they received during this time.
During the year we furloughed 56% of staff and both our social enterprises were severely impacted. Food4Food did not trade for the entire year and Overstream Clean & Garden achieved only 50% of its planned financial target.
As ever we are extremely grateful to the individuals, trusts, corporates and community groups who have supported our work, especially during these difficult times. We are particularly grateful to a number of trusts who donated additional emergency Covid-19 funding. Without their support, none of this work would have been possible.
Finally, I would like to say an enormous thank you to every member of the Wintercomfort team, our amazing volunteers and trustees. Their dedication, talent, commitment, and hard work has shone through. The work they do truly does make a difference and helps those in crisis get the support they need to find a place to live and become happier and more fulfilled.
With very best wishes
Sarah Halls, CEO.
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**Annual Report and Financial Statements to 31 March 2021**
## Strategic report
## Beneficiaries of the work of Wintercomfort for the homeless
Adults who are rough sleeping or vulnerably housed in Cambridge.
The pandemic has been especially difficult for the homeless. Due to their compromised immune systems and poor nutrition and hygiene they were particularly vulnerable to Covid-19. Rough sleepers and the homeless have complex needs and face multiple disadvantages. All have experienced some level of trauma. Those we help often have poor physical and/or mental health and struggle with alcohol and/or drug dependencies. Many have criminal records, low educational attainment levels and poor numeracy and literacy. Individuals are usually long-term unemployed and often have limited job skills. They are isolated, often living on the margins of society, having lost contact with friends and family. Homelessness is rarely the result of simply having nowhere to sleep. For the people who use Wintercomfort, it tends to be the result of complex and often cumulative events e.g. job loss, eviction, addiction, leaving an institution, abuse or just an inability to cope.
## **Case study – Alex’s story**
Alex first became involved with Wintercomfort as a Service User back in 2016. Although he was never street-homeless, his living conditions at the time were extremely precarious.
“I often found myself with no money for food or electricity” he explains. At this time, Alex was living with mental health issues which had led to a pattern of self-destructive behaviour involving substance abuse. Having been told about Wintercomfort by a friend, Alex began to visit the centre from time to time over the next couple of years.
Alex began working with our in-house counsellor Joe Carter who was able to help him recognise and acknowledge his drug addiction and also to support him with anxiety issues. “Until I met Joe” Alex explains “I’d never thought of myself as an addict. I just thought I made bad choices”. With Joe’s ongoing support, Alex began to access NA meetings which initially led to a period of 30 days sober. Unfortunately, though, due to having at that time been living with other addicts, he soon fell back into old habits and relapsed.
The turning point for Alex came in March 2020. As the world went into lockdown, Alex saw this as an opportunity to turn his life around. He resumed his regular counselling sessions with Joe and returned to regular NA meetings. In March 2021, he marked his 12 month-sober anniversary, a life-changing achievement. Alex is still in regular contact with Joe which he finds a vital part of his continuing recovery and improved mental health.
Supported additionally by our Sports Project Worker, Sarah Taylor, over the course of the past 12 months, Alex has also embarked upon a new career path as a fitness instructor. He has studied for and sailed through his Level 2 instructor qualifications and once restrictions allow for him to complete his practical assessment, he will complete his Level 3 accreditation. This will also allow him to provide nutritional advice to those he works with.
- “Lockdown has been so beneficial for me. It’s given me the space to really focus on turning my life around and starting to achieve my goals.” Alex – service user
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**Annual Report and Financial Statements to 31 March 2021**
Trustees’ report
## Objectives and activities
## Our Mission Statement
Wintercomfort supports those with experience of homelessness by offering essential welfare services and social, learning and work opportunities to enable them to achieve their potential.
Our charity was founded in May 1991, over 30 years ago, in response to a clearly identified need to support those who find themselves homeless and/or vulnerably housed in Cambridge. We now deliver a range of services that don’t just meet the potentially life threatening, immediate urgent needs of our service users but also strive to facilitate lasting and proactive change in their lives.
Our Service Delivery Model.
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**Annual Report and Financial Statements to 31 March 2021**
## Trustees’ report
## Objectives and activities
Wintercomfort is an advice and support hub supporting those who are homeless or at risk of losing their home. We offer vital welfare services as well as activities designed to provide learning, training and improve self-esteem; empowering those we support to move out of homelessness. We are open seven days a week. Wintercomfort provides a number of services from its city centre location.
**Independent housing advice and support:** Drop-in clinics for housing advice and support including - HomeLink bidding and private rental applications, housing debt, applying for grants and tenancy support.
**Employment, training and volunteering:** Including CV writing, literacy and numeracy support, digital inclusion, job & volunteering applications, interview preparation and practice, practical skills training within our catering team and food hygiene accreditation, support to gain CSCS accreditation and employment opportunities within our social enterprise business Overstream Clean & Garden.
**Counselling and therapy:** In person or telephone-based sessions, specialist support for those recovering from addiction, support to cope past trauma, anxiety and help to build self-resilience and self-confidence.
**Health and wellbeing:** Assisting with GP registrations, access to dental treatment, accompanying service users to medical appointments, referrals to drug and alcohol support services, Covid-19 testing and vaccination clinic, specialist sexual health and hepatitis clinic and monthly footcare clinic.
**Women’s only service:** Independent Sexual Violence Advisor accredited 1-2-1 support for women including emotional support, accommodation help and advice, referrals to a wide range of general and gender informed services such as counselling, practical support to ensure they have the basics to maintain their dignity, such as toiletries and clean clothes, advice and guidance on how to stay safe, with access to physical and mental health support.
**Migrant support:** Including support for those at risk of exploitation and trafficking through modern slavery, support with official documentation, help with immigration services including legal advice, translation services and English language tuition.
**Social inclusion and sports** : Including a weekly reading group, museum visits, cinema trips, photography clubs, excursions and day trips and gardening. Daily and weekly sports & exercises programmes including individual fitness plans for service users.
**Welfare support:** Including provision of hot food and drinks, showers, laundry, toiletries and a clothing and footwear store.
‘‘Wintercomfort have begun quite successfully to shift their emphasis away from simply supporting people in a street lifestyle to ‘Okay, you’ve got a street background’ but now ‘What’s going to happen? What do you want? What are your aspirations? We can work with you to get employment and qualifications.’ I think they’ve done that very well.” James McWilliams, Housing Manager, Cambridge City Council
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**Annual Report and Financial Statements to 31 March 2021**
## Trustees’ report
## Objectives and activities
How did we meet our objectives?
Supporting the homeless during Covid – 19
At the end of March 2020, due to the Covid-19, we made the difficult decision to temporarily close our day centre. We knew it was critical that we continued to provide essential welfare and emotional support to our service users. Our first priority was to work closely with Cambridge City Council and the Cambridge Street Outreach Team to help identify people for them to verify and place into temporary accommodation.
Initially we worked in partnership with the Salvation Army and latterly with St Andrews Baptiste Church to ensure all those in temporary accommodation received a hot meal once a day and a cold food pack. Toiletries packs were also made up and delivered and we created a safe process for people to access the laundry facilities at Wintercomfort. Boredom packs were put together to help keep people’s minds active. For those who did not have a phone, a smart phone or tablet was given to them in order for our Project Workers to carry out regular welfare checks. Rough sleepers were still able to visit Overstream House to receive vital welfare and have access to laundry and washing facilities.
During 2020/21 we provided:
- 476 homeless or vulnerably housed individuals were supported by the Wintercomfort team.
- 14,849 hot meals were delivered to those in temporary accommodation.
- 11,143 cold food packs were delivered to those in temporary accommodation.
- 25,686 hot meals and snack packs were distributed to rough sleepers via Wintercomfort.
- 1,650 boredom packs were sent out.
- 1,650 toiletries pack were made up and sent out.
- 4,055 key working sessions took place either via phone, WhatsApp or Zoom, providing vital emotional support and practical advice.
- 515 counselling sessions took place with our in-house Counsellor.
- 250 smart phones/basic mobiles/tablets/power banks were distributed for free, to ensure our SUs were able to stay in contact and receive as much support, care and advice during this difficult time.
- 125 food vouchers and 37 fuel vouchers were distributed.
Regarding wellbeing, our Project Workers regularly monitored how our SUs were feeling and coping with the pandemic.
- 85% of our SUs self-reported an increase in their wellbeing from being placed in temporary accommodation.
- 75% self-reported an increase in anxiety and stress due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
- 85% self-reported feeling less lonely during this difficult time from having a Project Worker they can contact at any time.
- 85% self-reported that talking to one of our Project Workers has helped them to feel less anxious and scared about the future.
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**Annual Report and Financial Statements to 31 March 2021**
## Trustees’ report
How did we meet our objectives? (Continued)
Covid-19 Operations: In order for Wintercomfort to operate safely, we put plans in place operationally and practically in and around the centre. Main elements included:
- A new appointment system was created for service users to book appointments in the center with their Project Worker.
- New lone working devices for Project Workers to enable them to work safely on outreach visits/appointments at emergency accommodation.
- A one-way system around Overstream House was devised to minimise contact when in the building.
- Hand sanitizer stations were placed around the building.
- Temperature guns and masks/shields were used by all those attending Overstream House.
- Weekly Covid testing for Service Users and staff was implemented
- New signage was put up throughout the building to promote/communicate new Covid-19 secure guidelines.
- Rooms were re-arranged to ensure all social distancing rules were adhered to.
- Screens were added in traditionally high footfall areas for added precaution.
“They were letting you know that when it comes to being closed at the moment, that doesn’t mean that the doors are shut…. They were working from home and reaching out to touch base. It’s meant a lot to me.” Service user
## Social Enterprises
Overstream Clean & Garden is our cleaning and gardening business. During the pandemic we closed the social enterprise and furloughed most of the staff. The business has now reopened, and we are hopeful the social enterprise will go from strength to strength. During 2020/21, 17 people received training with Overstream Clean & Garden. We offer free cleaning training courses, teaching all aspects of the job including safe use of chemicals, manual handling and appropriate cleaning protocols for areas with differing hygiene risks. We have a number of regular cleaning and gardening contracts and are able to offer paid employment to many of our course graduates.
Food4Food is our catering social enterprise, offering people a route into catering work through training and work experience. Food4Food ceased trading in March 2020 and due to market conditions we have not reopened. A feasibility study was conducted and consequently we have made the decision to continue Food4Food as a training centre only without a commercial element. Getting people back into work is our main priority. Over the next year we aim to work with 100 service users, supporting them to learn catering skills and gain the Food Hygiene Level Two certificate.
“They said they could help me get a CSCS card (construction industry safety accreditation), you get a qualification which lasts for five years. That has been my asset, adding a string to my bow. This is what kept me going all the way through Covid. All the little bits of work here and that I’ve been able to get and feeling like I’m finally strong enough now to hold all of this by myself”. Service user
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**Annual Report and Financial Statements to 31 March 2021**
## Trustees’ report
## Objectives and activities
## Partnership working
Wintercomfort works with over 40 partner organisations to broaden our service provision, ensure we provide a holistic approach and as many opportunities for service users as possible. Partnerships and activities include:
- We worked closely with the Cambridge City Council and the Cambridge Street Outreach team to help identify rough sleepers who needed to be verified and placed in temporary accommodation during the pandemic.
- We worked with the Salvation Army to prepare and deliver daily hot meals to those in temporary accommodation and rough sleeping.
- Jimmy’s Cambridge, including their sites at East Road, Newmarket Road and new modular homes.
- • Cambridge Cyrenians and Riverside in Cambridge to ensure that robust accommodation referrals are supported for our service users.
- We work closely with Cambridgeshire Police via the Street Life Working Group.
- Working with health colleagues such as CPFT’s mental health teams including DDSP, Cambridge Access Surgery and specialist respiratory nurses on a regular basis.
- We work closely with CGL Drug & Alcohol services to ensure service users have access to recovery staff in house at Wintercomfort and in the community.
- We are a Time Credit member providing volunteering opportunities for our service users.
- Wintercomfort is a key Foodbank Distribution Partner issuing vouchers to our service users to access emergency food and fuel provision when in crisis.
“One of the things I really love about Wintercomfort is the opportunity that they give people to work. Having their own social enterprises to provide experience and paid employment is a really wonderful opportunity for people who are going to struggle getting employed in a more traditional method.” Vicky Knighton, Manager, Cambridge Street Outreach Team
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**Annual Report and Financial Statements to 31 March 2021**
## Strategic report
## Achievements and performance
## Attendance information
During this financial year Wintercomfort supported 476 people who were homeless or vulnerably housed, a reduction of 41.5% from 814 last year. This fall is explained by the closure, mid-March, of our premises due to Covid-19. Over the year, service users visited Wintercomfort 5,767 times. Service users were supported by a combination of staff from Wintercomfort as well as teams from, City Council Housing Advice, Cambridge Street Outreach and Jimmy’s Cambridge during the pandemic.
|Statistic|2016/17|2017/18|2018/19|2019/20|**2020/21**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|Total number of individuals|763|742|836|814|476|
|_% change_|_9%_|_(3%)_|_12.7%_|_(2.6%)_|_(41.5%)_|
|Total number of visits|22,292|18,811|21,427|22,007|5,767|
|_% change_|_32%_|_(16%)_|_13.9%_|_2.7%_|_(74%)_|
|0
50
100
150|2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21
Daily attendance - individuals
Max
Average
0
20
40|2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21
Daily attendance - individuals
Max
Average
0
20
40|2015/16 2016/17 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21
Daily attendance - individuals
Max
Average
0
20
40|Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun
Attendance by day - 2020/21
Max
Ave|Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun
Attendance by day - 2020/21
Max
Ave|Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Sun
Attendance by day - 2020/21
Max
Ave|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||||||||
|Number of:||Q1
2020/21|Q2
2020/21
Q3
2020/21|||Q4
2020/21|
|Individuals attending centre in
eachquarter||114|216||226|183|
|Visits to centre||439|1,800||2,016|1,512|
|Breakfasts & lunches served||8,208|7,009||6,083|4,994|
|Average dailyattendance:|||||||
|Weekdays||14|21||23|22|
|Weekends||15|17||18|12|
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Attendance by month - 2020/21
200
0
Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar
Unique individuals Daily average for month
**----- End of picture text -----**
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**Annual Report and Financial Statements to 31 March 2021**
## Strategic Report
## Achievements and performance
Access to learning & development services
In 2020/21 the continued focus on welfare, wellbeing and housing needs were a greater priority for our service users as we naviagted out of covid-19 restrictions as lockdown eased. However, many service users were focused on gaining support around employment, training and volunteering and gaining experience within our social enterpirse. Some highlights include: 61 female service users had key working sessions and 309 male service users had key working sesisons, 80 people had some for of employment related support and 58 people gained some form of experience and training within our kitchen or cleaning teams.
The graph below show the unique individual/service contact count over recent years by service area.
|**Statistic**|**2015/16**|**2016/17**|**2017/18**|**2018/19**|**2019/20**|**2020/21**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**Total number of**
**individuals**|408|446|422|509|448|438|
|**_% change_**||_9%_|_(5%)_|_21%_|_(12%)_|_(2%)_|
|**Total number of**
**interactions**|3,869|5,470|4,145|5,433|6,036|9,265|
|**_% change_**||_41%_|_(24%)_|_31%_|_11%_|_42%_|
In 2020/21, 438 people accessed our development and support services on 9,265 occasions (2019/20– 6,036 occasions). While we have witnessed a 2% reduction in the number of individuals accessing the learning and development service, we have been able to evidence a 42% increase in engagement of all services. This has been achieved with a refocus coming out of Covid-19 and the realisation that service users do have the opportunity to make positive steps to change their lives and move out of homelessness.
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**Annual Report and Financial Statements to 31 March 2021**
## Strategic Report
## Achievements and performance
Access to learning & development services
Basic welfare and support services and the various activities to help build independence and reduce isolation have continued to be a joint focus as we have recognised our services users need this support coming out of covid-19 as much as they need housing and employment related support:
## **Basic Welfare and Support Services**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Other welfare support
Accommodation
13%
14%
Medical & personal
hygiene
WinterWomen project
5%
11%
Other support services
7%
Sleeping bags
3%
Mobile Phones Food
4% 33%
Laundry
10%
Building Independence and reducing isolation
Other activities
15% Financial support
15%
Internal volunteering
4%
Grant support Sport Activity
4% 4%
Community Activity
2%
Keyworking
56%
**----- End of picture text -----**
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**Annual Report and Financial Statements to 31 March 2021**
## Strategic Report
## Achievements and performance
Access to learning & development services
The various activities indicated above support engagement with mainstream society and can lead to employment. Our activities to assist individuals into work are shown below:
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Accredited
qualificationOther meaningful activity
7% 4%
Jobseeking activity
Work experience 34%
16%
Education & Training
17%
Job skills workshop
Gained employment 13%
9%
**----- End of picture text -----**
In September 2020 we were fortunate to be in a positon to reopen our day centre with a number of Covid-19 precautions and restrictions in place, we were not able to fully re-instate our many group activities but were able to focus on more 1:1 support for our service users. Our support team operated in a flexible manner to include new opportunites to do our work in an outreach style. We continued our focus on housing and tenancy sustainment support as well as our commitment to digital and social inclusion work.
Our Covid-19 safe working practices remained in place and we continued to review our working practivses acoordingly. We were fortunate to be able to support the Covid-19 vaccination process in house for our service users and have taken part in weekly lateral flow tests for our service users.
## **Employees**
Wintercomfort operates an equal opportunities recruitment programme. Over the year, 49% of Wintercomfort’s staff team reported having had experience of homelessness. All frontline staff are enhanced DBS checked and trained in safeguarding of vulnerable adults (SOVA).
## **Volunteers**
Volunteers play an important role in providing Wintercomfort’s services for those who are homeless or vulnerably housed. As a charity, we know and appreciate the value, skills and experience that volunteers can bring. In the last year Wintercomfort has worked with 33 volunteers from the local community on a regular basis. All volunteers are recruited to the needs of the charity and the service users. They all have a comprehensive induction, training and on-going support from our volunteer coordinator.
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**Annual Report and Financial Statements to 31 March 2021**
## Strategic report
## Achievements and performance
During this year we carried out a survey with our regular volunteers and twenty people provided their feedback. 95% said they would recommend volunteering at Wintercomfort to family and friends. 80% of respondents said they felt valued or very valued and the two top reasons for volunteering with Wintercomfort was empathy towards the homeless and vulnerably housed and to help others.
We asked our volunteers what they enjoy most about volunteering with Wintercomfort. Here are some of their responses –
“Mixing with lots of people and learning new skills.”
“Being part of a great team and doing something really worthwhile.”
“The difference it makes to the service users. The friendly environment and support.”
“Helping people problem solve. Using my skills. Doing tasks together.”
“Seeing the positive progression in someone.”
We are so privileged to have such a wonderful team of committed and gifted volunteers who work tirelessly every week to support our service users and staff. We are committed to providing volunteers with a safe, fulfilling and rewarding experience, as well as offering the opportunity to meet new people, experience new things and help to make a real difference to the lives of homeless people in Cambridge. We could not deliver our services without our volunteers and we are immensely grateful to them all.
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**Annual Report and Financial Statements to 31 March 2021**
## Strategic report
## Fundraising aims and achievements
Wintercomfort could not provide the range of services that we deliver or help so many homeless and vulnerably housed people without the fundraising and communications work that raises our profile, increases awareness and raises funds. In 2020/21 our fundraising costs equated to 7.5% (2019/20: 9.4%) of our income which we believe is an excellent return on investment for fundraising based work.
Whilst corporate and community fundraising opportunities were severely limited during the pandemic, we nevertheless experienced a fantastic level of support from local businesses both with financial support and gifts in kind. We were delighted to be able to transform our annual sleepout in partnership with the Cambridge United Community Trust into a virtual event, raising both vital funds and awareness within the local community.
Due to Covid-19 our overall fundraising strategy was significantly reviewed. Budgets were revised and areas such as our social enterprise income, corporate, community and events income were down forecast. A Covid19 appeal was developed and we applied to a number of trusts and foundations for emergency Covid-19 funding. The appeal was successful and together with the emergency Covid - 19 funding we generated £140,000 which supported the cost of adapting our services to remote working, the additional costs of making the building Covid secure, additional cleaning costs as well as the significant additional welfare, food and support costs incurred during this time.
Due to the pandemic, we expect the fundraising landscape to become even more competitive. We intend to follow our adapted Income Generation Strategy, to ensure we continue to grow and diversify our income streams enabling us to maintain and develop our services. We will also continue to invest time and resources into our social enterprise, Overstream Clean & Garden, which we believe will be an invaluable source of income over the next few years.
Wintercomfort’s fundraising team comprises of two part time consultants who specialise in major grants funding bids as well as a full-time Fundraising and Communications Manager who works with our corporate, community and individual donors. We honour communication preferences and make a single annual fundraising appeal prior to Christmas each year and otherwise issue a quarterly newsletter to supporters for information only. We strive to reflect the values we have for vulnerable people in our fundraising practices by providing guidance whenever possible. All our fundraising activities comply with the guidelines laid down by the Fundraising Standards Board and we have not failed to adhere to the standards and nor have we received any complaints.
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**Annual Report and Financial Statements to 31 March 2021**
## Strategic report
## Fundraising aims and achievements
We would like to thank the following trusts and grant makers for their generous support:
The Albert Hunt Trust The Batterson Chivers Foundation The Betty Lawes Foundation The Britford Bridge Trust The Calypso Browning Trust Cambridgeshire Community Foundation Cambridge City Council Cambridgeshire County Council Cambridge Street Aid Charities Aid Foundation Charities Trust Ebyon Trust The Edward Gostling Foundation Ernest Hecht Charitable Foundation The February Foundation Garfield Weston Foundation Groundworks UK Good Things Foundation Groundworks UK The Guy Charitable Foundation Gwyneth Forrester Trust The Headley Trust
Help the Homeless The Henry Smith Charity Homeless Link John Coates Trust Sir Jules Thorne Charitable Trust The Leatherseller’s Company Charitable Fund Lloyds Bank Foundation for England & Wales Marsh Christian Trust Mathworks Nationwide Community Grants Programme The Newby Trust The Northwick Trust The Radley Charitable Trust The Paragon Trust The Pilgrim Trust The Polonsky Foundation The Pye Foundation The National Lottery Community Fund The Sobell Foundation The Souter Charitable Trust The Steel Charitable Trust The Strangwood Trust
and the following companies and organisations for kind donations, goods and services:
Amazon Europe Cambridge Building Society Cambridge Organic Food Company Countryside Properties UK Crash (Construction Charity) Facebook The Firepit Company
Rand Europe The Rotary Club Royal Bank of Scotland Schlumberger Speechmatics Thomas Watts Unison Cambridge
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**Annual Report and Financial Statements to 31 March 2021**
## Strategic report
## Financial review and results for the year
Wintercomfort delivered a surplus of £162,243 for the year 2020/21 (2019/20: £57,206). This will be used to continue to build our reserves toward their target levels and plan for future strategic needs.
## Income
Income was £1,234,400 for 2020/21, which is an increase of £185,080 on the previous year (£1,049,320). Of this, £525,955 (2020: £459,322) was given for specific projects whilst the remaining £708,445 (2020: £589,998) was given or raised for unrestricted use. Whilst the income in the year is remarkable achievement in very challenging circumstances, a note of caution should be introduced when considering this result as a number of one time items are included: an Anonymous donation of £50,000, Furlough reclaims (£65,247), Legacy income (£44,497), Cambridge City Council food recharge (£6,200) and donated goods and services valued at £18,347 (2020: £12,406). The improvement in income was also helped by emergency Covid Funding and public generosity during the pandemic. Taking into account these items, the underlying performance is a deficit of £22k, against a budgeted deficit of £62k:
|**ITEM**|**Amount**||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|**Surplus for the year**
**Less one time items:**
Anonymous Donation
Furlough reclaims
Legacy Income
Cambridge City Council Food Recharge
Gifts in Kind
**Underlying Result**|**£162,243**
£(50,000)
£(65,247)
£(44,497)
£ (6,200)
£(18,347)
**£(22,048)**||||
Throughout the year coronavirus pandemic severely curtailed the activities of our two social enterprises. Income by activity over recent years is shown below:
**----- Start of picture text -----**
600,000
500,000 Income Trusts
400,000 Individuals
300,000
Social
200,000 enterprises
Council
100,000 funding
0
2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21
**----- End of picture text -----**
17
**Annual Report and Financial Statements to 31 March 2021**
## Strategic report
Financial review and results for the year
## Expenditure
Total expenditure grew by £75,162 over the previous year (£995,411) to £1,070,573. The increase was due to mainly to additional covid related expenditure:
**----- Start of picture text -----**
700,000
600,000 Expenditure
500,000
Charitable
400,000 activities
300,000 Social
200,000 enterprises
Support costs
100,000
0
2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 2019-20 2020-21
**----- End of picture text -----**
18
**Annual Report and Financial Statements to 31 March 2021**
## Strategic report
## Financial review and results for the year
## Review of investment performance
At the end of the year the value of the corporate bond investments (in the Invesco Perpetual Corporate Bond Fund and the M&G Gilt and Fixed Interest Fund) stood at £116,605 (2020: £118,189). These investments reduced by £1,584 in value over the year.
## Funds and Reserves
|The charityheld the followingfunds at 31 March(£’s)|2021|
2020|
|---|---|---|
|Restricted funds|31,025|
12,679|
|Designated funds:|265,536|
285,993|
|-
Designated strategic fund|90,000|
90,000|
|-
Designated fixed assets fund|161,615|
182,072|
|-
Designated building fund|13,921|
13,921|
|Remainingfree reserves|604,694|
440,340|
|Total|901,255|
739,012|
Restricted funds are used only for the purposes specified by the donor or grant giver. Designated funds are funds set aside by the Trustees for specific purposes according to the needs of the organisation.
The designated strategic reserve provides for major changes to funding and operational matters anticipated in the foreseeable future. Trustees have agreed this could be used as required during the Covid-19 pandemic for future proofing the organisation against a prolonged restriction on the social enterprise activities or on reduced giving levels from individuals.
The designated fixed assets fund represents the cost of the building owned by Wintercomfort and from which its services are run, and the equipment used by the charity. This is because these assets are essential to the running of the charity and the funds cannot be spent elsewhere.
The designated building fund remains to assist in funding building works and improvements to the premises. This year the main floor of Overstream House and washing equipment for service users were upgraded.
Free reserves are held by the Trustees to ensure continuity of service should the charity experience any unexpected changes in circumstances. The Trustees have considered possible risks to the organisation over the medium term in the light of the Covid-19 pandemic, one offs in the 2020/21 results (see above) as well as increased competition for a reduced amount of funds from 2021/ 22 onwards. The Trustees therefore consider that the existing Reserves Policy of six months expenditure should be increased to nine months to reflect the uncertain environment in which Wintercomfort now finds itself. It is planned to bring the fund up to target value in the next five financial years, and this goal will be balanced against the likelihood of continued increasing demand for our services and hence increased expenditure over the same period. This will be achieved by attracting corporate giving to cover current activities, freeing up unrestricted income to build reserves and protect services.
The Strategic Report is continued on page 43.
19
**Annual Report and Financial Statements to 31 March 2021**
## Statement of trustees’ responsibilities
The trustees (who are also directors of Wintercomfort for the homeless for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
Company law requires the directors to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under that law the directors have elected to prepare the financial statements in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (United Kingdom Accounting Standards and applicable law). Under company law the directors must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:
- Select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
- Observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP (FRS102);
- Make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
- State whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements;
- Prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in operation.
The trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
Insofar as the trustees are aware at the time of approving our trustees’ annual report:
- there is no relevant audit information of which the charitable company’s auditor is unaware; and
- • The trustees have taken all steps that they ought to have taken to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the auditor is aware of that information.
The Trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the charity and financial information included on the charity’s website in accordance with legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements.
## **Auditors**
Price Bailey LLP were reappointed as auditors in the year in accordance with Companies Act 2006.
These accounts have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies’ regime and in accordance with FRS 102 “The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland” (effective 1 January 2015).
Signed on behalf of the Trustees on 5[th] October 2021 by:
Christine Leonard (Secretary)
20
Annual Report and Financial Statements to 31 March 2021
## Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members of Wintercomfort for the homeless
## Opinion
We have audited the financial statements of Wintercomfort for the homeless (the ‘charitable company’) for the year ended 31 March 2021 which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities, the Balance Sheet, the Statement of cash flows and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 _The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland_ (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
In our opinion the financial statements:
- give a true and fair view of the state of the charitable company’s affairs as at 31 March 2021, and of its incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure, for the year then ended;
- have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and
- have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006.
## Basis for opinion
We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charitable company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.
## Conclusions relating to going concern
In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.
Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charitable company's ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.
Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.
21
Annual Report and Financial Statements to 31 March 2021
## Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members of Wintercomfort for the homeless
## Other information
The other information comprises the information included in the trustees annual report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. The trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the course of the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.
We have nothing to report in this regard.
## Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006
In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit:
- the information given in the trustees' report (incorporating the directors’ report) for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and
- the directors’ report has been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.
## Matters on which we are required to report by exception
In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the charitable company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the directors’ report.
We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:
- adequate accounting records have not been kept, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or
- the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or
- certain disclosures of directors’ remuneration specified by law are not made; or
- we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit **;** or
- the trustees were not entitled to prepare the financial statements in accordance with the small companies’ regime and take advantage of the small companies’ exemptions in preparing the directors’ report and from the requirement to prepare a strategic report.
## Responsibilities of trustees
As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement, the trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.
22
Annual Report and Financial Statements to 31 March 2021
## Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members of Wintercomfort for the homeless
In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using
the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.
## Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements
Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.
Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below:
We gained an understanding of the legal and regulatory framework applicable to the charity and how it operates and considered the risk of the charity not complying with the applicable laws and regulations including fraud in particular those that could have a material impact on the financial statements. This included those regulations directly related to the financial statements. In relation to the charity this included employment law, financial reporting and health & safety.
The risks were discussed with the audit team and we remained alert to any indications of non-compliance throughout the audit. We carried out specific procedures to address the risks identified. These included the following:
- We reviewed systems and procedures to identify potential areas of management override risk. In particular, we carried out testing of journal entries and other adjustments for appropriateness, and evaluating the business rationale of significant transactions to identify large or unusual transactions.
- We reviewed key authorisation procedures and decision making processes for any unusual or oneoff transactions.
- We reviewed minutes of Trustee Board meetings and agreed the financial statement disclosures to underlying supporting documentation.
- We have made enquiries of management and officers of the charitable company regarding laws and regulations applicable to the organisation.
23
Annual Report and Financial Statements to 31 March 2021
Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members of Wintercomfort for the homeless
- We reviewed the risk management processes and procedures in place including a review of the Risk Register and Board reporting in this regard.
- We have reviewed any correspondence with the Charity Commision and reviewed the procedures in place for the reporting of incidents to the Trustee Board including serious incident reporting of any such matters, if necessary.
Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or non-compliance with regulation. This risk increases the more that compliance with a law or regulation is removed from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, as we will be less likely to become aware of instances of non-compliance. The risk is also greater regarding irregularities occurring due to fraud rather than error, as fraud involves intentional concealment, forgery, collusion, omission or misrepresentation.
A further description of our responsibilities is available on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: https://www.frc.org.uk/Our-Work/Audit/Audit-and-assurance/Standards-and-guidance/Standards-andguidance-for-auditors/Auditors-responsibilities-for-audit/Description-of-auditors-responsibilities-foraudit.aspx. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.
## **Use of our report**
This report is made solely to the charitable company’s members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company’s members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charitable company and the charitable company’s members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.
Helena Wilkinson BSc FCA DChA (Senior Statutory Auditor) for and on behalf of
## **PRICE BAILEY LLP**
Chartered Accountants Statutory Auditors Tennyson House Cambridge Business Park Cambridge CB4 0WZ
17 November 2021
24
Annual Report and Financial Statements to 31 March 2021
Statement of financial activities for the year ended 31 March 2021 (Incorporating an Income and Expenditure Account)
|||Unrestricted Unrestricted|Unrestricted Unrestricted|Unrestricted Unrestricted|Unrestricted Unrestricted||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||||general|designated||Restricted|Total|Total|
||Notes||funds||funds|funds|funds|funds|
||||2021||2021|2021|2021|2020|
|Income and endowments from:|||£||£|£|£|£|
|Donations|3a||567,740||-|18,347|586,087|416,799|
|Charitable activities|||||||||
|Welfare service|3b||||-|156,192|156,192|132,947|
|Learning & Development activities|3b||||-|265,180|265,180|209,032|
|Social enterprise|3b||49,117||-|86,236|135,353|270,421|
|Other trading activities|3c||25,830|||-|25,830|16,098|
|Other income|3d||65,247||-|-|65,247|-|
|Investment income|||511||-|-|511|4,023|
||||──────||──────|──────|──---────|──────|
|Total Income & Endowments|||708,445||-|525,955|1,234,400|1,049,320|
||||──────||──────|──────|────---──|──────|
|Expenditure on:|||||||||
|Raising funds|||92,546||-|-|92,546|99,101|
|Charitable activities|||||||||
|Welfare Service|||209,269||-|156,193|365,462|263,836|
|Learning & Development activities|||160,811||-|265,178|425,989|370,842|
|Social Enterprises|||100,338||-|86,238|186,576|261,632|
||||──────||──────|──────|────--──|──────|
|Total Expenditure|4&5||562,964||-|507,609|1,070,573|995,411|
||||──────||──────|──────|───---──|──────|
|Net income before investment gains|||145,481|||18,346|163,827|53,909|
|Net losses on investments|7||(1,584)||-|-|(1,584)|
3,297|
||||──────||──────|──────|──────|──────|
|Net income for the year|||143,897||-|18,346|162,243|57,206|
|Transfers between funds|15||20,457||(20,457)|-|-|-|
||||──────||──────|──────|──────|──────|
|Surplus for the year being net movement in||funds 164,354|||(20,457)|18,346|162,243|57,206|
|Total funds at 1 April|||440,340||285,993|12,679|739,012|681,806|
||||─-─────||──-────|──────|──-────|──-────|
|Total funds at 31 March|||604,694||265,536|31,025|901,255|739,012|
||||═════||═════|════|═════|═════|
The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year. All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities. The attached notes form part of these financial statements.
25
Annual Report and Financial Statements to 31 March 2021
## Balance Sheet as at 31 March 2021
|Company number 02615905|Notes||2021||2020|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||£|£|£|£|
|Fixed assets||||||
|Tangible assets|6||161,615||182,072|
|Investments|7||116,605||118,189|
||||──────||──────|
||||278,220||300,261|
|Current assets||||||
|Debtors|8|25,327||51,695||
|Cash at bank and in hand||762,550||606,323||
|||──────||──────||
|||787,877||658,019||
|Creditors: amounts falling due within one year|
9|(63,916)||(76,868)||
|Creditors: deferred income|10|(100,926)||(142,400)||
|||──────||──────||
|Net current assets|||623,035||438,751|
||||──--────||──---───|
|Net assets|14||901,255||739,012|
||||═════||═════|
|Unrestricted funds||||||
|General funds|15|604,694||440,340||
|Designated funds|15|265,536||285,993||
|||──────||──────||
||||870,230||726,333|
|Restricted funds|15||31,025||12,679|
||||──--────||──--────|
|Total funds|15||901,255||739,012|
||||═════||═════|
The attached notes form part of these financial statements.
These accounts have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies’ regime.
The financial statements were approved by the Board of Trustees on 5th October 2021 and signed on their behalf by:
S Foreman (Chair of Trustees)
R Cantrill (Vice-chair of Trustees)
26
Annual Report and Financial Statements to 31 March 2021
## Statement of cash flows for the year ended 31 March 2021
||Notes|2021|2020|
|---|---|---|---|
|||£|£|
|Cash flows from operating activities:||||
|Net cash provided by operating activities||162,469|215,345|
|Cash flows from investing activities:||||
|Proceeds from the sale of property, plant and equipment||843|-|
|Purchase of property, plant and equipment|6|(7,085)|(40,604)|
|Net cash used in investing activities||(7,085)|(40,604)|
|Change in cash and cash equivalents in the reporting period||156,227|174,741|
|Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the reporting||||
|period||606,323|431,582|
|Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the reporting period||762,550|606,323|
|Reconciliation of net income to net cash flow from operating||||
|activities||||
|Net income for the reporting period (from SOFA)||162,243|57,206|
|Adjustments for:||||
|Depreciation charges|6|26,914|25,287|
|Losses/(Gains) on investments|7|1,584|(3,297)|
|Losses/(Gains) on disposal of tangible assets||(214)|1,018|
|Decrease/(increase) in debtors||26,368|33,663|
|Increase/(decrease) in creditors||(54,426)|101,468|
|Net cash provided by operating activities||162,469|215,345|
|Analysis of changes in net debt|At start of|Cashflows|At end of|
||year||year|
||£|£|£|
|Cash in hand|505,670|156,107|661,777|
|Notice deposits|100,653|120|100,773|
|Total|606,323|156,227|762,550|
27
Annual Report and Financial Statements to 31 March 2021
## Notes to the accounts
## 1. Accounting Policies
## Accounting convention
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019) – (Charities SORP (FRS 102)), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Companies Act 2006.Wintercomfort meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy. Wintercomfort’s legal status is shown on page 40
## Going concern
The trustees consider that despite the covid-19 pandemic, given the levels of income already secured for the following financial year together with the existing reserves and mitigating actions taken (see page 39), they have secured the immediate future of the charity. The budget for 2020/21 was revised in April 2020 and forecast trading and cashflows are monitored regularly by trustees to ensure Wintercomfort remains operational and a going concern.
## Financial instruments
The charity only has financial assets and liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value. Fixed assets are recorded at depreciated historical cost and investments are recorded at fair value, being the closing market value rate as shown in note 7. All other assets and liabilities are recorded at cost which is their fair value.
## Funds
Unrestricted funds are donations and other income receivable or generated for the objects of the charity without further specified purpose and are available as general funds. Designated funds are unrestricted funds earmarked by the Board of Trustees for particular purposes. Restricted funds are to be used for specific purposes as laid down by the grant providers and donors. Expenditure which meets these criteria is charged to the fund together with a fair allocation of management and support costs.
## Income
Voluntary income received by way of donations from fundraising activities and unsolicited gifts is included in full in the Statement of Financial Activities when receivable. Performance related grant income is recognised in accordance with performance conditions, while Income for non-performance related grants is recognised when received. Income from social enterprise sales is recognised when the service is performed. Legacies are accounted for when received or when receipt is probable, can be estimated and has been notified before the balance sheet date. Income is analysed according to the activity that produced the resources.
## Donated goods and services
Donated professional services are recognised as income when the charity has control over the item, any conditions associated with the donated item have been met, the receipt of economic benefit from the use by the charity of the item is probable and that economic benefit can be measured reliably. In accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102), the time contribution of our volunteers is not recognised.
On receipt, donated professional services are recognised on the basis of the value of the gift to the charity which is the amount the charity would have been willing to pay to obtain services of equivalent economic benefit on the open market; a corresponding amount is then recognised in expenditure in the period of receipt.
28
Annual Report and Financial Statements to 31 March 2021
## Notes to the accounts
## 1. Accounting Policies (continued)
## Expenditure
Expenditure is recognised in the period in which it is incurred and includes attributable VAT which cannot be recovered. Expenditure is allocated to the particular activity where the cost relates directly to that activity. However, the cost of overall direction and administration, comprising the salary, governance and overhead costs of the central function, is apportioned on the basis of time spent on each activity.
## Pension
Contributions to employees' personal pension plans are charged to the statement of financial activities in the year in which they become payable. The assets of the scheme are held separately from the assets of the Charity.
## Operating Leases
Rentals paid under operating leases are charged to the statement of financial activities on a straight-line basis over the period of the lease.
## Fixed assets
Tangible assets are measured at depreciated historical cost. Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write off the cost of assets over their expected useful life as follows:
Freehold property 2% on cost Property improvements 5% on cost Equipment 15% - 25% on cost
## Investments
Quoted investments are valued at the balance sheet date, at market value. Revaluation gains or losses are recognised in the statement of financial activities and attributed to the fund for which the investments are held.
## Debtors
Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due and prepayments are valued at the invoice amount which relates to future periods after the year end date.
## Cash at bank and in hand
Cash at bank and cash in hand includes cash and short term highly liquid investments with a short maturity of three months or less from the date of acquisition or opening of the deposit or similar account.
## Creditors and provisions
Creditors and provisions are recognised where the charity has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts due.
## Taxation
The Charity is exempt from taxation on its income and gains falling within the Corporation Tax Act 2010 as all income and gains are applied to charitable purposes.
In common with many other charities, Wintercomfort is unable to recover the majority of value added tax incurred on expenditure.
29
Annual Report and Financial Statements to 31 March 2021
## Notes to the accounts
2. Critical accounting judgements and accounting estimates
In application of the Charity’s accounting policies which are described in note 1, the trustees are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions. Estimates and associated assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors considered relevant and are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Critical judgements having the most significant effect on amounts recognised in the financial statements are as follows:
- Recognition of charitable income: Judgement may be required to determine the point at which performance related grant conditions have been met;
- Analysis of charitable expenditure: Judgement is required to allocating charitable expenditure and the related support costs to activities as some expenditure relates to more than one activity;
- Impairment of assets: Judgement is required to determine appropriate depreciation methodology and in considering whether carrying values of assets are impaired.
## 3. Income
The following grant providers are considered government grants: Cambridge City Council, Cambridgeshire County Council and Community Adult Learning Fund. Further detail on the nature and scope of these grants is given in Note 16. All grants relate to revenue expenditure and are recognised in the periods over which the related costs are recognised. At 31 March 2021 there were no unfulfilled conditions and no amounts were carried forward. Further assistance was received from Cambridge City Council in the form of 100% relief on business rates for Overstream House.
## 3a. Income from donations
|. Income from donations
Restricted
Sleeping Bags
Donated goods: food, second-hand clothing & consumables
Donated services: professional services & advice
Total restricted
Unrestricted
Donations from individuals
Donations from companies and other organisations
Unrestricted income from trusts and foundations
Appeal donations
Gift Aid
Total unrestricted
Total Donation Income|2021
£
5,000
13,002
345
18,347
263,475
32,155
158,667
84,616
28,827
567,740
586,087|2020
£
nil
7,706
4,700
12,406
207,845
47,650
67,650
52,798
28,450
404,393
416,799|
|---|---|---|
## 3b. Income from charitable activities
Income from charitable activities is disclosed according to the various programmes for which it is given. Income from local government is restricted and was £171,341 (2020 - £135,619) including a one time Infection Control Funding Grant of £12,536 (2020 - £nil) and a Discretionary Covid Grant of £10,000 (2020 - £nil). It should be noted that Statutory Funding will be reduced by approximately £20,000 in 2022-23
30
Annual Report and Financial Statements to 31 March 2021
## Notes to the accounts
## 3b. Income from charitable activities
|For the year ended 31 March 2021
Learning & development
programme
Pathways & progression projects
Housing support
Financial Support
Foodbank
Moving forward project
Access & outreach project worker
SE supervision & training
Employment programme
Weekend welfare
Women’s project
Social Inclusion project worker
Service User Small Grants
Total restricted
Social enterprise
Total||Learning &
Social
Welfare
development
enterprise
£
£
£
46,262
107,945
17,134
48,272
72,409
21,286
9,044
13,566
-
1,118
1,676
400
600
8,000
12,000
-
3,667
5,500
-
-
-
25,000
4,000
6,000
22,816
24,322
36,484
-
6,000
9,000
-
5,107
156,192
265,180
86,236
-
-
49,117
156,192
265,180
135,353|Total
2021
£
171,341
141,967
22,610
2,794
1,000
20,000
9,167
25,000
10,000
22,816
60,806
15,000
5,107
507,608
49,117
556,725|
|---|---|---|---|
31
Annual Report and Financial Statements to 31 March 2021
## 3b. Income from charitable activities
|Notes to the accounts
3c.
Income from other trading activities
Fundraising events
Sale of other goods and services
Internal Cleaning
Cambridge Half Marathon entry fees
Food Recharge to Cambridge City Council
Miscellaneous
Total
All income from other trading activities was
For the year ended 31 March 2020
Learning & development
programme
Pathways & progression projects
Housing support
Financial support
Moving forward project
Access & outreach project worker
SE supervision & training
Employment programme
Weekend welfare
Women’s project
Arts & culture
Service user support
Equipment funding
Total restricted
Social enterprise
Other
Total unrestricted
Total|2021
£
-
-
18,024
510
6,200
1,096
25,830
unrestricted
Learning &
Social
Welfare
development
enterprise
£
£
£
35,235
82,214
13,050
25,804
38,707
43,007
9,044
13,566
-
4,470
6,704
1,200
4,000
6,000
-
10,000
15,000
-
-
-
48,870
2,933
4,400
4,600
2,000
3,000
-
3,020
4,530
-
-
3,750
-
17,794
-
-
17,607
26,411
-
131,907
204,282
110,727
-
-
159,694
1,040
4,750
-
1,040
4,750
159,694
132,947
209,032
270,421|2020
£
13,022
3,076
-
-
-
-
16,098
Total
2020
£
130,499
107,518
22,610
12,374
10,000
25,000
48,870
11,933
5,000
7,550
3,750
17,794
44,018
446,916
159,694
5,790
165,484
612,400|
|---|---|---|
|||
|
32
Annual Report and Financial Statements to 31 March 2021
|3d. Other Income
Furlough Reclaim
|2021
2020
£ £
65,247-|
|---|---|
4. Analysis of expenditure on charitable activities
|For the year ended 31 March 2021
Charitable activities
Welfare
Learning & Development
Social enterprise
Raising funds
Total
For the year ended 31 March 2020
Charitable activities
Welfare
Learning & Development
Social enterprise
Raising funds
Total|Direct
costs
£
79,360
43,218
9,662
92,546
224,786
Direct
costs
£
47,451
62,790
36,301
96,401
242,943|Staff
costs
£
198,610
297,915
159,801
-
656,326
Staff
costs
£
150,312
225,468
209,892
-
585,672|Support
costs
£
Deprec-
iation
£
58,240
10,905
71,473
13,383
14,413
2,700
-
-
144,126
26,988
Support
costs
£
Deprec-
iation
£
47,135
9,232
69,058
13,526
12,910
2,529
-
-
129,103
25,287|Donated
Items
£
18,347
-
-
-
18,347
Donated
Items
£
9,706
-
-
2,700
12,406|Total
2021
£
365,462
425,989
186,576
92,546
1,070,573|Total
2021
£
365,462
425,989
186,576
92,546
1,070,573|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||||Total
2020
£
263,836
370,842
261,632
99,101|
|||||||
995,411|
4a. Analysis of support costs
|For the year ended 31 March 2021
Welfare
£
Learning &
development
£
Social
enterprise
£
Governance (note 4b)
2,687
3,298
665
Office costs
5,425
6,658
1,343
Finance
20,139
24,715
4,984
I.T. & Telephones
4,906
6,020
1,214
Professional advice
4,215
5,173
1,043
Premises and utilities
20,868
25,609
5,164
Total
58,240
71,473
14,413|Total
2021
£
6,650
13,426
49,838
12,140
10,431
51,641
144,126|
|---|---|
Support costs are allocated on the percentage of time spent by staff on each activity. Finance costs include irrecoverable vat amounting to £14,743 (2020: £7,551).
33
Annual Report and Financial Statements to 31 March 2021
## Notes to the accounts
4a. Analysis of support costs (continued)
|For the year ended 31 March 2020
Welfare
Learning &
development
Social
enterprise
£
£
£
Governance (note 4b)
1,917
2,808
525
Office costs
4,939
7,236
1,353
Finance
11,604
17,002
3,178
I.T. & Telephones
4,909
7,193
1,345
Professional advice
3,544
5,192
971
Premises and utilities
20,222
29,627
5,538
Total
47,135
69,058
12,910
5.
Governance costs
2021
£
Audit fees
6,650
Trustee expenses
-
6,650
5a. Net movement in funds for the year
2021
£
This is stated after charging:
Depreciation on fixed assets owned
26,914
Profit on disposal of tangible fixed assets
(214)
Other operating leases - equipment (see note 12)
3,600
Audit fees
6,650
5b. Staff costs and numbers
2021
£
Staff costs were as follows:
Salaries, wages and other staff costs
604,279
Social security costs
42,818
Pension contributions
9,230
656,327|Total
2020
£
5,250
13,528
31,784
13,447
9,707
55,387
129,103
2020
£
5,250
-
5,250
2020
£
25,287
1,018
3,037
5,250
2020
£
536,952
38,547
10,173
585,672|Total
2020
£
5,250
13,528
31,784
13,447
9,707
55,387|Total
2020
£
5,250
13,528
31,784
13,447
9,707
55,387|
|---|---|---|---|
|||
129,103||
||||2020
£
5,250
-
5,250|
|5c. Full-time equivalent number of employees during the year was as follows:|||
|---|---|---|
|Charitable activities|17.5|15.9|
|Management and administration|3.7|2.5|
||21.2|18.4|
34
Annual Report and Financial Statements to 31 March 2021
## Notes to the accounts
The average headcount during the year was 34.0 (2020 – 33.7). No employee received emoluments of more than £60,000. Staff costs of the Senior Management Team (see page 46) during the year totalled £185,490 (2020 - £176,599) and £2,813 employer’s pension contributions (2020 - £3,511). During the year the board of trustees approved a settlement agreement at a cost of £8,000 for one staff member (2020: £8,000).
|6.
Tangible fixed assets
Land and
buildings
Cost
£
At 1 April 2020
378,390
Additions
-
Disposals
-
At 31 March 2021
378,390
Depreciation
At 1 April 2020
255,948
Charge for the year
7,026
Disposals
-
At 31 March 2021
262,974
Net book value at 31 March 2021
115,416
Net book value at 31 March 2020
122,442
7.
Investments
Corporate bond fund investments:
Market value as at 1 April
Revaluation
Market value as at 31 March
Investments are UK based and comprise:
Invesco Perpetual Corporate Bond
M&G Gilt and Fixed Interest Fund
Historical cost
8.
Debtors
Trade debtors
Other debtors
Prepayments|Plant and
machinery
£
130,833
7,085
(942)
136,976
71,203
19,888
(314)
90,777
46,199
59,630
2021
£
118,189
(1,584)
116,605
54,006
62,599
116,605
100,000
2021
£
17,721
3,824
3,782
25,327|Plant and
machinery
£
130,833
7,085
(942)
136,976
71,203
19,888
(314)
90,777
46,199
59,630
2021
£
118,189
(1,584)
116,605
54,006
62,599
116,605
100,000
2021
£
17,721
3,824
3,782
25,327|
|Total
£
509,223
7,085
(942)
515,366
327,151
26,914
(314)
353,751
161,615
182,072
2020
£
114,892
3,297
118,189
50,811
67,378
118,189
100,000
2020
£
36,849
6,734
8,112
51,695|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||
||
||
|||
||
|
35
Annual Report and Financial Statements to 31 March 2021
## Notes to the accounts
|9.
Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year
Trade creditors
Taxation and social security
Other creditors and accruals
10. Creditors: Deferred income
At 1 April
Received during the year
Released to income during the year
At 31 March|2021
£
9,044
19,663
35,209
63,916
2021
£
142,400
218,084
(259,558)
100,926|
|2020
£
16,391
14,695
45,782
76,868
2020
£
69,095
232,634
(159,329)
142,400|
|---|---|---|---|
Deferred income relates to performance-based trust and foundation grant income given for the delivery of specific projects.
## 11. Pension commitments
The Charity operates a defined contribution pension scheme. The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the charity in an independently administered fund. The pension charge represents contributions payable by the charity to the fund.
Total employer contributions paid for the year were £9,517 (2020 - £10,173). Contributions totalling £933 (2020 - £882) were payable to the fund at the balance sheet date.
## 12. Operating leases
|2. Operating leases
The Charity has commitments under non-cancellable operating
leases for office equipment which expire:
Within one year
In two to five years|2021
£
3,600
3,600|2020
£
2,467
-
2,467|
|---|---|---|
## 13. Related parties
Trustees received no remuneration in the year (2020 - £nil). During the year expenses amounting to £nil were paid to trustees (2020 - £nil). In the same period the trustees donated a total of £6,000 including gift aid (2020- £12,500). There are no other related party transactions to note.
36
Annual Report and Financial Statements to 31 March 2021
## Notes to the accounts
## 14. Analysis of net assets between funds
|As at 31 March 2021
Fixed assets – tangible assets
Fixed assets – investments
Net current assets
As at 31 March 2020
Fixed assets – tangible assets
Fixed assets – investments
Net current assets|General
Designated
Restricted
funds
funds
funds
£
£
£
-
161,615
-
116,605
-
-
488,089
103,921
31,025
604,694
265,536
31,025
General
Designated
Restricted
funds
funds
funds
£
£
£
-
182,072
-
118,189
-
-
322,151
103,921
12,679
440,340
285,993
12,679|Total
funds
£
161,615
116,605
623,035
901,255
Total
funds
£
182,072
118,189
438,751
739,012|
|---|---|---|
37
Annual Report and Financial Statements to 31 March 2021
## Notes to the accounts
## 15i. Movement of funds in year to 31 March 2021
|Learning & development
programme
Progression project
Moving forward project
Housing support service
Women only service
Foodbank
Access & outreach project
worker
Social enterprise supervision &
training
Social inclusion project worker
Financial support
Employability programme
Support activities
Covid Emergency & Weekend
Service
Driving lesson fund
Donated goods & services
Total restricted funds
Designated funds
Designated strategic fund
Designated fixed assets fund
Designated building fund
Total designated funds
General funds
Total unrestricted funds
Total funds|1 April
2020
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
12,202
-
477
-
12,679
90,000
182,072
13,921
285,993
440,340
726,333
739,012|Income
£
171,341
141,967
20,000
22,610
60,806
1,000
9,167
25,000
15,000
2794
10,000
5,107
22,816
-
18,347
525,955
-
-
-
-
708,445
708,445
1,234,400|Expenditure
£
(171,341)
(141,967)
(20,000)
(22,610)
(60,806)
(1,000)
(9,167)
(25,000)
(15,000)
(2,794)
(10,000)
(5,107)
(22,816)
-
(507,609)
-
-
-
-
(562,964)
(562,964)
(1,070,573)|Transfers
/Gains &
Losses
£
31 March
2021
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
12,202
-
-
-
477
-
18,347
-
31,025
-
90,000
(20,457)
161,615
-
13,921
(20,457)
265,536
18,873
604,694
(1,584)
870,230
(1,584)
901,255|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||||||
Restricted fixed asset funding relates to amounts provided to purchase a vehicle. Once the asset is purchased the asset transfers to the designated fixed asset fund.
Local government income is shown under note 3b
38
Annual Report and Financial Statements to 31 March 2021
## Notes to the accounts
## 15ii. Movement of funds in year to 31 March 2020
|Learning & development
programme
Progression project
Moving forward project
Weekend welfare
Housing support service
Women only service
Access & outreach project
worker
Social enterprise supervision &
training
Social enterprise training
Financial support
Employability programme
Support activities
Equipment funding
Arts & culture project
Vehicle replacement
Driving lesson fund
Donated goods & services
Total restricted funds
Designated funds
Designated strategic fund
Designated fixed assets fund
Designated building fund
Total designated funds
General funds
Total unrestricted funds
Total funds|1 April
2019
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
3,873
-
-
3,720
477
-
8,070
90,000
167,773
25,000
282,773
390,963
673,736
681,806|Income
£
130,499
107,518
10,000
5,000
22,610
7,550
25,000
25,000
23,870
12,374
11,933
17,794
44,018
3,750
-
-
12,406
459,322
-
-
-
-
593,295
593,295
1,052,617|Expenditure
£
Transfers
£
31 March
2020
£
(130,499)
-
-
(107,518)
-
-
(10,000)
-
-
(5,000)
-
-
(22,610)
-
-
(7,550)
-
-
(25,000)
-
-
(25,000)
-
-
(23,870)
-
-
(12,374)
-
-
(11,933)
-
-
(9,465)
-
12,202
(44,018)
-
-
(3,750)
-
-
(3,720)
-
-
-
-
477
(12,406)
-
-
(454,713)
-
12,679
-
-
90,000
-
14,299
182,072
(11,079)
-
13,921
(11,079)
14,299
285,993
(529,619)
(14,299)
440,340
(540,698)
-
726,333
(995,411)
-
739,012|
|---|---|---|---|
|||||
Notes to the accounts
39
Annual Report and Financial Statements to 31 March 2021
15iii. Movement of funds:
|Restricted funds|Explanation|
|---|---|
|Social Inclusion Project Worker|To provide support for vulnerable adults.|
|Arts & culture project|An arts, culture and music programme.|
|Driving lesson fund|The provision of driving lessons for Service Users|
|Employability programme|To enable project workers to providing job skills workshops.|
|Employment & volunteering Project|To help individuals who have experienced homelessness to undertake|
|Worker|volunteering and work placement opportunities.|
|Equipment funding|To provide a variety of vehicles and equipment for the social|
||enterprises.|
|Women only service|A variety of support services focused on women.|
|Financial support|To help individuals better understand and manage their money.|
|Fundraising|Contribution towards fundraising costs to leverage income and thereby|
||improve service provision.|
|Housing support service|Housing advice service supporting people to maintain their tenancies|
||and provide assistance to those moving from homelessness to housing.|
|Learning and development|To support delivery of welfare, learning and personal development|
|programme|activities. Our agreement requires us to:|
||Offer a welfare and learning and development service a minimum of 5|
||days or 35 hours per week, of which 10 hours must be welfare-based.|
||Offer activities aimed to build self-esteem, and a strong focus on|
||preparation for employment with annual targets for employment.|
|Moving forward project|This project supports migrant service users with outcomes around|
||employment and training, legal advice, language skills and|
||accommodation.|
|Progression and Pathways projects|The Pathways project ended in September 2018 and in January 2019 it|
||was replaced by the Progression Project. The Progression Project|
||focuses on outcomes on basic skills, volunteer work experience,|
||employment and substance misuse. The Pathways project supported a|
||structured pathway of learning, volunteering and work experience|
||opportunities leading to employment.|
Social enterprise training A programme to provide meaningful training and work opportunities within the cleaning sector.
Notes to the accounts
40
Annual Report and Financial Statements to 31 March 2021
15iii. Movement of funds: (continued)
|Restricted funds|Explanation|
|---|---|
|Support activities|The provision of small grants (generally under £250) to individuals for|
||specific items from various sources such as CCF, CEA, MEAM, Staywell,|
||Street Aid.|
|Designated funds|Explanation|
|Designated building fund|This represents funds accumulated towards the cost of significant|
||building improvement works required to be undertaken in the next|
||three to five years.|
|Designated fixed assets fund|This fund represents the book value of Overstream House and the|
||equipment owned by the charity|
|Designated strategic fund|This fund provides for major changes to funding or operational|
||challenges.|
41
Annual Report and Financial Statements to 31 March 2021
## Notes to the accounts
## 16. Analysis of statement of financial activities figures to 31 March 2020
|||Unrestricted Unrestricted|Unrestricted Unrestricted|Unrestricted Unrestricted|Unrestricted Unrestricted||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||general||designated||Restricted|Total|Total|
||Notes||funds||funds|funds|funds|funds|
||||2020||2020|2020|2020|2019|
|Income and endowments from:|||£||£|£|£|£|
|Donations|3a||404,393||-|12,406|416,799|329,643|
|Charitable activities|||||||||
|Welfare service|3b||1,040||-|131,907|132,947|124,950|
|Learning & Development activities|3b||4,750||-|204,282|209,032|216,571|
|Social enterprise|3b||159,694||-|110,727|270,421|220,454|
|Other trading activities|3c||16,098||-|-|16,098|13,530|
|Investment income|||4,023||-|-|4,023|2,636|
||||──────||──────|──────|──---────|──────|
|Total Income & Endowments|||589,998||-|459,322|1,049,320|907,784|
||||──────||──────|──────|────---──|──────|
|Expenditure on:|||||||||
|Raising funds|||96,401||-|2,700|99,101|89,988|
|Charitable activities|||||||||
|Welfare Service|||120,838||4,494|137,004|263,836|224,910|
|Learning & Development activities|||161,475||6,585|204,282|370,842|297,276|
|Social Enterprises|||150,905||-|110,727|261,632|229,884|
||||──────||──────|──────|────--──|──────|
|Total Expenditure|4||529,619||11,079|454,713|995,411|842,058|
||||──────||──────|──────|───---──|──────|
|Net income before investment gains|||60,379||(11,079)|4,609|53,909|65,726|
|Net gains on investments|7||3,297||-|-|3,297|117|
||||──────||──────|──────|──────|──────|
|Net income for the year|||63,676||(11,079)|4,609|57,206|65,843|
|Transfers between funds|16||(14,299)||14,299|-|-|-|
||||──────||──────|──────|──────|──────|
|Surplus for the year being net movement in||funds|49,377||3,220|4,609|57,206|65,843|
|Total funds at 1 April|||390,963||282,773|8,070|681,806|615,963|
||||─-─────||──-────|──────|──-────|──-────|
|Total funds at 31 March|||440,340||285,993|12,679|739,012|681,806|
||||═════||═════|════|═════|═════|
42
Annual Report and Financial Statements to 31 March 2021
## Strategic report (continued)
## Financial management and policies
## Reserves policy
The Trustees of Wintercomfort aim to oversee and manage a prudent level of reserves in order to meet the current and future needs of our beneficiaries, and to do this by establishing reserves for designated matters and free reserves as explained in the strategic report on page 19.
## Investment policy
The Trustees have decided to retain short term funds in cash reserves which are risk free, provide for seasonal fluctuations in operating cash flows and cover nine months expenditure and to hold medium term investments in corporate bonds and gilt edged securities.
## Governance and management
## Governing document
Wintercomfort, a company limited by guarantee, is governed by its memorandum and articles of association. Liability of the members in the event of the company being wound up is limited to £1 each.
## The Board
The board of trustees is responsible for the strategic governance of the charity and all act in their capacity as trustees as unpaid volunteers. Members of the board who are directors for the purpose of company law who served during the year are set out under legal and administrative details on page 46.
The board meets bi–monthly and receives written reports on all aspects of the charity’s work at each meeting. Trustees regularly review the skillsets that would strengthen the board’s overall effectiveness. The board operates an equal opportunities recruitment policy and trustees are recruited to provide specific or general skills. New trustees follow an induction process and are required to spend some time experiencing the different aspects of the charity’s activities to gain an understanding of all aspects of the work of Wintercomfort and to meet key members of staff. All trustees are required to understand their legal obligations in taking on the role of Trustee. All Trustees are SOVA trained.
At every annual general meeting (AGM) one third (or the number nearest to one third) of the trustees retire by rotation, being those who have been longest in office since their last appointment or reappointment. If at the meeting at which a trustee retires by rotation, the vacancy of the retiring trustee is not filled he /she shall, if willing to act, be deemed to have been reappointed unless at the meeting it is resolved not to fill the vacancy or unless a resolution for the reappointment of the trustees is put to the meeting and lost. At the AGM in December 2020, Sarah Foreman, Christine Leonard and Rod Cantrill were the longest in office since the election of trustees at the last AGM, they retired at this meeting and were duly re-elected.
43
Annual Report and Financial Statements to 31 March 2021
## Strategic report
## Governance and management
## Management
Decisions about matters of procedure, policies, finances and changes to the way the charity is run are made by the trustees at bi-monthly board meetings (on a majority vote with a quorum present of three or one third whoever is the greater). The board delegates certain areas of governance to the finance committee. This comprises of the chair, the treasurer and other trustees with relevant financial experience. The finance committee meets bi-monthly or more often should the need arise.
The day to day running of the charity is delegated to the chief executive officer (CEO) who is responsible for the delivery of the agreed strategy and for ensuring that the charity’s policies are adhered to. The pay of the CEO and the other members of the senior management team (SMT) is reviewed by the chair and finance committee and benchmarked against equivalent roles in similar sized UK charities, taking into account geographical variations in cost of living. The CEO and SMT are listed in the legal and administrative section of these financial statements and their employment costs are disclosed in note 5 to the accounts.
## Staff remuneration and the living wage
From 1 April 2020 all staff except those on probation periods in the social enterprises were paid a minimum of £9.30/hour, with this figure increasing annually in line with the Living Wage Foundation’s determination of cost of living. The Living Wage is higher than the government’s National Living Wage which came in to force in April 2016.
## Pensions
Wintercomfort provides pension arrangements for staff using the National Employment Savings Trust (NEST) plan which was chosen as it caters to small organisations such as ours and provides staff with flexibility and control over their arrangements. Wintercomfort contributes the equivalent of 3% of basic salary for all permanent staff.
44
Annual Report and Financial Statements to 31 March 2021
## Strategic report
## Risk and safeguarding
## Risk
The trustees have a risk management process to assess risks to which the charity is exposed. This process identifies the types of risks the charity faces, prioritises them and identifies mitigation strategies. Risk management forms an integral part of all of the charity’s strategic management thinking and decisions. All projects and services are risk assessed at the outset as well as being regularly updated. Overall responsibility for ensuring that this process is carried out lies with the board of trustees and the chief executive officer. Each month progress against strategic objectives is measured and reviewed and the most significant risks to meeting strategic goals are identified and reported to the board.
The coronavirus pandemic has had a major impact on the way we provide services and impacts on the first two risks identified below. Initially, the income generated by the social enterprise activities was severely curtailed and subsequently the lockdown measures announced by the Government forced us to temporarily close our premises. In response to these challenges we adjusted our service delivery which has involved closer working relationships with the local authorities and other external agencies which is on-going. We launched a Covid-19 appeal and increased fundraising efforts to fund revised working practises, enabling both service users and support staff to maintain contact remotely by phone or electronically. We have continued to provide laundry services by appointment and to prepare nutritious food from our premises for delivery by volunteers to those in temporary accommodation or for collection by those sleeping rough and we will continue to develop our response in partnership with these agencies. In addition, Government assistance through the coronavirus job retention scheme has mitigated the financial impact of the loss of income from our social enterprises. The trustees consider that the most significant risks currently facing the charity and their mitigating factors remain as follows:
|Risk|Mitigating factors|
|---|---|
|Failing to raise the income required to deliver
services.|Financial planning, scenario planning, management of
reserves, risk mitigation strategies.|
|Failure to provide appropriate care for service
users / abuse of service users.|Safeguarding best practice, policy, procedures, training for
staff, volunteers and trustees.|
|Failure to comply with human resource
procedures and / or employment regulations.|Ensure all policies and procedures reflect statutory
requirements and good practice and are regularly
reviewed.|
## Safeguarding
Wintercomfort works with vulnerable adults and the policies and procedures that have been implemented to ensure the safety and protection of service users include:
- Safe recruitment policies for staff and volunteers working with service users including enhanced DBS (Disclosure & Barring Service) checks for all staff and volunteers.
- Safeguarding training for staff and volunteers commensurate with their roles and responsibilities and all Trustees– regularly repeated every 3 years.
- Clear procedures so that staff are aware of how to report concerns.
- Robust risk and safeguarding assessment practices.
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Annual Report and Financial Statements to 31 March 2021
## Legal and administrative details
## Wintercomfort for the homeless (limited by guarantee)
Registered office Overstream House, Victoria Avenue, Cambridge, CB4 1EG. Company registration number 02615905 Charity registration number 1003083 Trustees Sarah Foreman (Chair) Rod Cantrill (Vice-chair) Graham Day (Treasurer) resigned 07/08/2020 Christine Leonard (Secretary) Joanne Crellen Jane Dominey Anne Pollintine Tim Tyndall Jo Kibble (started 08/12/2020) Chief Executive Officer Sarah Halls Senior management team Colin Christy - Finance Manager (retired 10/07/20) Chris Goldsmith – Finance and Business manager (appointed 30/03/20) Donna-Louise Cobban - Services Manager Melody Brooker – Fund Raising and Communications Manager (appointed 07/09/2020) Bankers Royal Bank of Scotland 28 Trinity Street Cambridge CB2 1TB Auditors Price Bailey LLP Tennyson House Cambridge Business Park Cambridge CB4 0WZ
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