?F South Staffordshire Water Charitable Trust 2023/24 Annual Report
South Staffordshire Water CharitableTrust Annual Report 2023/24 Reference and Administrative Details Title The South Staffordshire Water Charitable Trust Trustees Mr John Thompson IChairmanl.....................................................................Citizens Advice South East Staffordshire and formerly Lichfield District Council Mr Bernard Cysewski {Vice Chairman).......................................................Hou5ing and Welfare. Wa15all Council Mr Richard Curtis....................................................................................................Cambridge and District Citizens Advice Adrian Eggington...................................................................................................Black Country Housing Group Gary Hyde..................................................................-.................................................Exeter Friendly Soclety Ltd lan Jones CllrTom Marshall.....................................................................................................Lichfield District Council Simon Brown (Appointed 21 st August 20231...................................._Met Office CharitableTrust Secretary Rebecca Smith (Resigned 3rd May 20231..............................................._South Staffordshire Water PLC Heidi Rowley Inée Knaptonl (Appointed 22nd May 20231 ..South Staffordshire Water PLC Gary Kinsella (Appointed 5th September 20241. ..South Stafford5hire Water PLC Registered Address South Staffordshire Water PLC Green Lane Walsall West Midlands WS2 7PD Tel: 01922 638282 Independent Examiner Dains Audit Limited 2 Chamberlain Square Paradise Birmingham B3 3AX Bankers HSBC UK Bank plc 130 New Street PO BOX 68 Bimiingham B2 4JU Registered Charlty Number 1043177 Website www.sswct.org
South Staffordshire Water Charitable Trust Annual Report 2023124 Trustees, Report Structure. Governance and Management Trustee5 TheTrustees have entered into a Charitable Trust Deed to enable them to operate independently from South Staffordshire Water PLC. It has been entered in the Central Register of Charities by the Charity Commissioners. The Registered Charity Number is 1043177. Established in 1993 under a Trust Deed dated 15th October 1993 and amended on 17th January 2000, the Trust was the first to be created for the purpose of financially helping customers experiencing difficulty in paying their water bills due to poverty, hardship or other problems. TheTrustees who held office during the year and Since the year end are listed on page 2. The support to the Trust from South Staffordshire Water PLC {"South Staffs" or.the Company"), and the personal involvement of their Interim Customer Delivery Director, Gary Kinsella, who acts as theTrust's Secretary, is much appreciated. Similarly, the input of Lorraine Griffin and Nina Mason of Echo Managed Services Limited {"Echo"} greatly assists our business. The Chairman is appointed by theTrustees and holds office for such period as they shall decide. The power of appointing Trustees is vested in the Trustee5. A new Trustee may be appointed by a resolution of a meeting of theTru5tees provided that a memorandum of such an appointment is signed as a deed by the person presiding at the meeting and attested by two other persons at the meeting. New trustees receive any necessary training and support. The CharitableTrust Secretary for the reporting period was Heidi Rowley (Resigned due to maternity leave on 7th March 2024} and handed over to Gary Kinsella from 1 st July 2024. TheTrust Secretary may be contacted at: South Staffordshire Water Charitable Trust Green Lane Walsall West Midlands WS2 7PD Telephone: 01922 638282 TheTru5tees meet formally four times a year or when considered appropriate to review Trust policies, their implementation and examine genuine requests forfinancial help.The venue for the face to face and video conference meetings is normally at the Company's office5 in Green Lane, Walsall and Cambridge Water office5 in Fulbourn Road, Cambridge.
South Staffordshire Water Charitable Trust Annual Report 2023/24 Statement of Trustees, responsibilities TheTrustees are responsible for preparing the Trustees, Annual Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards Iunited Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice). The law applicable to charities in England & Wales requires theTrustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the State of affairs of the charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources of the charity for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the Trustees are required to.. Select 5Ultable accounting policies and then apply them consistently; Observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP; Make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent; State whether applicable accounting standards have been followed; and Prepare the financial statement5 on the going concern basi5 unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in business. TheTrustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011, the Charity {Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 and the provisions of the trust deed. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities. TheTrustees are responsible forthe maintenance and integrity of the charity and financial information included on the charity's website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions. Objectives and Activities The objective of the Trust is to apply its income towards relieving those customers who are in conditions of need, poverty, hardship or other distress and are having difficulty making payment for the supply of water to their home. Preference is given to those customers who make regular payment of an amount they can afford.
South Staffordshire Water Charitable Trust Annual Report 2023/24 Achievements and Performance The Trust The South Staffordshire Water CharitableTrust provides financial help to those customers who are unable to payfor the supply of water to their home, such as the elderly, sick or some families claiming State Benefits or on very low incomes or experiencing transitional difficulties for household customers supplied by South Staffordshire Water PLC in both the South Staffordshire and Cambridge regions. Nominations for potential beneficiaries are received from a broad range of sources.This includes direct applications from customer5, but also from representatives of the Company's billing and collection team, local councils (social services, housing benefit etc.), the Citizen's Advice Bureau {"CAB"l and other registered help agencies. The Trust Secretary acts as the channel for receiving requests for potential beneficiaries. Nominations are dealt with in complete confidence. Each application is examined by a senior manager of the Company's customer contact, billing and collection contractor, Echo, against the Trustees, predetermined set of criteria. Applications falling into these criteria are approved by Echo without further delay. A summary report is made available at each meeting of theTrustees on the action taken by Echo allowing the Trustees the opportunity to review any case at random to ensure the agreed criteria are being followed. Cases that are outside the guidelines are reviewed by the Trustees. TheTrustees also review appeals from customers. When an application is received from a potential beneficiary, further enforcement action by the company in respect of the unpaid charges is suspended forthe time being. Facts and individual financial circumstances of each applicant are reviewed in an impartial and confidential manner, An assessment is made without bias as to whether the case is one of true hardship or simply default before a decision is taken whether to make a part or full payment of the customer's unpaid water bill. The payment given is in the form of a credit on the customer's water bill for both the South Staffordshire Water and Severn Trent Water charges. A cheque is not sent to the customer, but it is sent to the Company on the customer's behalf. All payments made in the year have been in respect of individual household customers. TheTrust is funded by South Staffordshire Water PLC through cash donations to match charitable expenditure and gifts in kind to meet costs of grant making and governance. South Staffordshire Water PLC approve the cash is available to make the payments.
South Staffordshire Water CharitableTrust Annual Report 2023/24 The key risk to the Trust is the withdrawal of this support,. the Trust does not commit to any expenditure until the support is assured. TheTrustees have had regard to the Charity Commission guidance on public benefit. Targeting Assistance TheTrust operates in a manner that avoids simple hand out-outs to those who request assistance. Instead, the focus is on issuing grants to those that need temporary help. Grants are only paid out to Customers that demonstrate a commitment to pay at least some of their charges, where the customer is clearly experiencing financial hardship. If a customer is in transitional hardship, perhaps through personal circumstances or a recent redundancy, then the grants are a means of helping them overcome this period of difficulty. Grant support works was updated following the cost-of-living situation that many households find themselves in. In collaboration with some of the advice agencies we work with, the policy was changed to reflect the current financial climate. From September 2022, a l 00 % grant will be paid if the grant applicant has made at least £1 O towards their payments in the 3 months prior to their application to theTrust.Those that have not been making regular payments will be required to pay £1 per week for a period of l O weeks, upon successful completion of this plan, a 1 OOOh grant will be made. Prior to this date the grant payment was made in the following way.. 50% of the grant paid after 26 weeks of regular payments and the remaining 50 % of the grant paid after 52 weeks of regular payments. Prior to 2021, the eligibility criteria was that l 00% of the grant would be paid upon 52 weeks of regular payments. Revisions to eligibility criteria will be reviewed regularly to ensure the potential for theTrust to assist as many customers as possible. With this approach we target assistance to encourage customers to pay their charges, by supporting them for a period when they most need help to get back on track. This way the assistance goes to those who want to return to paying their charges, rather than those wishing to use theTrust as a permanent substitute to paying. Customers who make a Trust application that are eligible for a Trust application that are eligible for aTrust grant who are not already receiving Assure (social tariff ) support are given that as515tance thereby reducing their current bill. TheTrust does in cases of exceptional need, hardship or financial problems make grants without the normal requirements of establishing a regular payment.
South Staffordshire Water Charitable Trust Annual Report 2023/24 Achievements TheTrust has been able to assist a significant number of customers of South Staffs Water who had difficulty in paying their water bills because of financial hardship or distress.TheTrustees have met on three occasions during the year.TheTrust has made grants totaling £211,700 in respect of 480 customers. TheTrust had a total of £242,010 available funds to be utilised towards grants payments Within the year, consisting of £98,768 available funds from previous financial years being carried forward, and £124,356 being made availablewithin thefinancial year. £18,886 was donated by South Staffordshire Water PLC Customer Forum afterthe end of the financial year of this report.The availablefunds are made bysouth Staffordshirewater PLC to the charity which 15 held in South Staffordshirewater PLC accounts a5 a ringfenced fund until required.The closing balance as of 31 st March 2024forthe available funds accessible tothe charity is £30,309. TheTrustees have seen no appeals referred to theTrust in the year 202312024. TheTrust has received 65 1 of applications from customers directly, O % of applications via the Assure tariff, 2 % of applications from CAB, l% of applications from Watersure and 32% of all other applications from elsewhere, The Company also have a social tariff Assure, which can help customers on a low income or who are Struggling to pay their water charges,. It aims to reduce water poverty and make bills more affordable. Customers With a household income of less than £19,050, (excluding income from Disability Living Allowance, Personal Independence Payment and Attendance Allowance), may qualify for a discount of up to 6096 for one year and in the second year by 40 % on their water charge. In addition, the Company have focused on providing an inclusive service which involves direct referrals to the CharitableTrust following the completion of an Assure application. Since the creation of theTrust, over 14,709 grants have been made. Whilst the Company's water charges remain amongst the lowest in the industry, we believe that there are a significant number of customers who still face genuine difficulty paying their water bills. In January 2017 the Company began building a Community EngagementTeam which focuses on developing relationshipswith 3rd party organisations such as Local Authorities and Charities, the key focus being on those customers who are considered'hard to reach: Work has continued to increase the awareness of theTrust and this will continue into 202312024. Since the introduction of the company's Social Tariff known as Assure customers who meet the eligibility criteria receive a reduction on their bill which assists those on low incomes. This will potentially result in a reduction in a reduced level of customer debt. If it appears from an Assure application that a customer may be eligible for assistance with their water debt they are advised to consider making an application to theTrust. The £19,050 was increased to £20,050 on I st April 2024.
South Stafford5hire Water Charitable Trust Annual Report 2023124 Fig l. Charifable Trust Grant5 819 2. Value ofgrant aid made Il. I 1,133. 27. 37 749 64*10 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 2021/22 2022/23 2023/24 Fig 3. Comparison of application sources 97% 89.7% 5.7% 65% 0.3% ',ll2 22/23 23124 23/24 Assure Warer5tsre 32% 0.7% 3.5% 21/2 22/23 23/24 21,'?2 22/23 23/24 22/23 23124 Cusromer CAB Other The total number of application forms issued during 2023/2024 was 646, with 419 replies received from customers directly.
South Staffordshire Water Charitable Trust Annual Report 2023124 Plans for future periods TheTrustees are pleased that South Staffordshirewater PLC acknowledges the ongoing problems associated with unpaid water bills and that it sees it as a continuing concern and acknowledges the Company will extend the help it provides during 2024125 through their continued use of the Social Tariff and implementation of its affordability strategy. TheTrust needs to ensure South Staffordshire Water PLC customers are aware of the help the Company can directly provide and the assistance theTrust can provide.This continues to be an important factor for 2024125. In reviewing its strategy on debt recovery, the Company continues to promote a socially responsible approach to those customers who have a real problem in paying due to hardship.The Charitable Trust will continue to be supported. TheTrustees continue to believethat theTrust provides real assistance and reassurance to customers in genuine need where applicable, for those who are prepared to try to maintain payments, Where possible, at an affordable amount, theTrust will consider assisting in respect of past water debt. Financial Review While aiming to use its available resources to apply its income towards relieving those customers who are in condition5 of need, poverty. hardship or other distress, the charity ensures that positive net assets and cash balances are maintained at any point in time. TheTrustees do not consider it necessary to retain reserves as all grants are funded before being committed to. After making enquiries, theTrustees have a reasonable expectation that the Trust has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Accordingly, they continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the annual report and accounts. Trustee Certificate 29 J3nuary 2025 Approved by the Trustees on ............ . and signed on their behalf by.. John Thompson Chairman
South Staffordshire Water CharitableTrust Annual Report 2023124 Independent Examiner's Report to theTrustees of South Staffordshire Water CharitableTrust I report to the Trustees on the accounts of theTrust for the year ended 31 st March 2024 comprising the statement of financial activities, the balance sheet and the related notes I to 6. Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner The charity's trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the Charities Act 2011. The charity's trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144(1) of the Charities Act 2011 (the 201 l Act) and that an independent examination is needed.The charity is preparing accrued accounts and l am qualified to undertake the examination by being a qualified member of Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales. It is my responsibility to examine the accounts under section 145 of the 207 1 Act; follow the procedures laid down in the General Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145151{b) of the 2011 Act; and state whether particular matters have come to my attention. io
South Staffordshire Water Charitable Trust Annual Report 2023/24 Independent examiner's statement In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention: l. which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements: to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the 2011 Act; and to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and to comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities {Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a'true and fair'view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination have not been met; or 2, to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in orderto enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. This report is made solely to the charity's trustees, as a body, in accordance with Part 4 of the Charitie5 {Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008. My work has been undertaken so that I might state to the charity's trustees those matters l am required to state to them in an independent examiner's report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, I do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charity and the charity's trustees as a body, for my work, for this report, or for the opinions I have formed. Andrew Morris FCA for and on behalf of Dains Audit Limited Birmingham
South Staffordshire Water CharitableTrust Annual Report 2023124 Statement of Financial Activities Incorporating the Income and Expenditure Account 2024 2024 2023 2023 Incoming resources Donation5 Gift in kind 211,700 28,122 272,437 25,594 239,822 298,031 Resources expended Charitable activities Support cost5 {211,7001 128.1221 (272,4371 {25,5941 1239,8221 1298,0311 Net resources 12
South Staffordshire Water CharitableTrust Annual Report 2023124 Balance sheet as at 31st March 2024 2024 2024 2023 2023 Current assets Cash at bank 70 70 Net asset5 70 70 Represented by: Unrestricted funds as at I st April 70 70 Profit for the year Unrestricted funds as at 31 st March 70 70 Trustee Certificate 29 january 2025 and signed on their behalf by: The accounts were approved by the Trustees on ................... John Thompson Chairman 13
South Staffordshire Water Charitable Trust Annual Report 2023124 Notes to the Accounts l. Accounting Policies The principal accounting policies are summarised below and have been applied consistently throughout the year and the preceding year. Accounting Convention The financial statements are prepared under the historical cost convention and in accordance with the best practice as laid down in the Statement of Recommended Practice"Accounting and Reporting by Charities" ISORP FR5102 effective 1 January 2019) and the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland IFRS 102), and the Charities Act 2011. The financial statements have been prepared to give a'true and fair'view and have departed from the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 only to the extent required to provide a'true and fair view,. This departure has involved following Accounting and Reporting by Charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland IFRS 102) effective l January 2019 ratherthan the Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice effective from I April 2005 which ha5 since been withdrawn. South Staffordshire Water CharitableTrust meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRSI02. As explained on page 9, the financial statements are prepared on a going concern basis. Income and Expenditure Income is accounted for in the period in which the charity becomes entitled to it, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount of income receivable can be measured reliably. Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to transfer economic benefit to a third party, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefits will be required in settlement and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Grants payable are accounted for when the Trust is committed to the expenditure. Donated Services Where South Staffordshire Water PLC, or one of its subsidiary undertakings, provides the services of employees and other services to the Trust, the cost of providing such services is treated as a donation receivable by theTrust and a cost of grant making or governance of the Trust. This gift 15 valued based on the payroll costs of individual employees and the amount of time allocated to The Trust's activities. 14
South Staffordshire Water CharitableTrust Annual Report 2023124 Cash at Bank Cash at bank represents deposit5 With financial institutions repayable without penalty on notice of not more than 24 hours. Fund Accounting Unrestricted funds are accumulated funds available for use at the discretion of the Trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the Trust. 2. Trustees, Remuneration No Trustees are paid a fee for providing their services and no expenses have been reimbursed. 3. Examiners, Remuneration The remuneration of the examiners is £1,650 {2023: £1,500) which has been borne by South Staffordshire Water PLC. 4. Resources Expended 2024 2023 Grants to individuals Claims administration Secretary expense Treasury services Administration services Insurance Governance Financial reporting services Banking charges Total 211,700 23,718 222 272,437 21,110 255 443 1,881 1,615 243 509 1,848 1.540 272 60 239,822 298,031 5. Statement of Funds Brought forward Incoming resources Resources expended Transfers in Ilout) Carried forward Unrestricted funds 70 239,822 {239,8221 70 6. Related PartyTransactions There are no related party transactions during the year (2023 - £nil}. 15