1 St Saltney (St Marks) Scout group Trustees Annual Report for 1/4/2023 to 31/3/2024
Section A
Charity Name 1 st Saltney – (St Marks) Scout group Charity number 1044268 HQ registration number
Charity Address Scout Hut St Marks Church, St Marks Road Chester CH4 8DE
Trustees -1 st Saltney currently has 13 Trustees registered on the Charity Commission website.
Scouting is currently migrating from Exec Committee to Trustees boards. So, we will be updating this after the AGM.
Section B
Type of Governing Document: The Groups Governing Documents are those of the Scout Association. Thet consist of a Royal Charter which in turn gives authority to the Bye Laws of the Association and the Policy, Organisation and Rules of the Scout Association
How is the group constituted: The Group is a trust established under its rules which are common to all Scouts?
How are the Trustees appointed: The Trustees are appointed in accordance with the Policy Organisation and Rules of the Scout Association. Note the Trustees were appointed on a volunteer basis at the 2023 AGM.
Trustee / Group Management: The group is managed by the Trustee Board, the members of which are registered on the Charity Commission.
The Trustee board are primarily responsible for the Governance issues and ensuring compliance and good practice and compliance to requirements applicable to Charities.
We are responsible for Proper accounts.
The Trustees are Chair, Treasurer, Secretary, Group Scout Leaders and 3-4 Trustees. It meets once a term.
The Group Scout Leader manages the sections and support requirements to enable the programme, activities, plans for the year, equipment, fabric of the building.
Financials
1 st Saltney (St Marks) Scouts accounts Summary 2023 2024
History published on Charity Commission records.
Background
Income is up as subs went up to £13 from last year.
Everyone is now paying into the Lloyds accounts, not Santander.
We are now using a Camp account for payments for camps & activities.
We are pretty well cash less which makes our accounts more auditable.
Income
Income is £20031.52 (11.6K for 2022-23) & (8.7K for 2021-22)
This includes Subs and camps and activities.
Increased numbers and increased activities such as during 23-24 has help increase the figures.
We still have not completed the tax reclaim which should get us another 2K approximately.
Fixed Costs (Hut Costs/ insurance/ gas electricity / cleaner etc)
Fixed costs are £8414.35 K. Some of this is one of costs to kit out the new hut and kitchen. Increases include costs for gas due to the poor insulation, hence the building improvement project including insulation. Insurance premium increased after we had the hut revalued to £328K and with the increase in activity, we have commenced using a person to clean the hut once a month especially toilets and kitchen area.
Programme
We have commenced a budgeting process to support leaders, which includes activity costs for weekly programmes and badges as well as camp costs and food.
The programme Costs are 3267.59. Camps and Activities are £7197.29 Total costs are £18811.01. We are keen to ensure the focus of our money is on our young people’s programmes.
Building improvement Fund
We received £28054.74 on 12/04/2023 from CWAC. This was added by a 15K grant from Ursula Keyes foundation and £5K from another Charitable donation. This totalled £48.054.74.
Building Improvement
The building has been improved over the last year. The key elements were.
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Hall Insulation including additional wall insulation.
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Storage boxes / benches
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Splitting the small store and adding a small admin area to the kitchen
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A new Kitchen including 2 ovens, a new Fridge Freezer, a 5 ring has stove and a dishwasher.
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A new boarded out area above the garage for low use items.
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Insulation above the kitchen
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A new electrical distribution board
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Build Control has approved the improvements.
Total Income for the year was 68086.26 and Total expenditure was 45895.65.
Looking at annual income and expenditure they are £20K and spend of19K. This excludes capital and grants. (see annexe 1 for details)
Risk and Internal Control
Damage to Building, property and equipment.
The Scout group equipment is insured with the Scout Association Insurer. During the last year, the building was revalued with our Insurer to £328000. the equipment is stored in racks in the garage and little used kit is stored above the garage now.
The building is built of Brick and Blocks and materials that do not support combustion,
Mitigation: If we had a major loss of building the Scout Group would discuss the possibility of using Church Premises as an alternative location. If we lost equipment, we would consult with other groups to see if we could borrow other groups equipment.
Injury to Leaders, helpers, supporters, and members. The group through its Capitation fees contributes to the scout Association national accident insurance Policy.
Risk assessments are completed by Leaders prior to activities. For major events risk assessments require to be submitted to District in advance.
Finance
Loss of Income
The scout group has grown significantly over the last few years. Increased numbers of members along with the increase in fees to £13 a month payment has increased income. We track costs closely.
In 2023 -24 the Trustee board planned to set up a Reserves Policy, which was a decision to hold £5K in general reserves for major building costs and £5K for running costs.
Camps and Activities have a separate account to keep in and out expenses for camps separate from annual costs.
Budgets are set annually and tracked through the year with periodic meetings to monitor progress.
The group benefited from 48K grants in 2023-2024 for the Building Improvements.
There is currently some dialogue with St Marks Preschool who wish to expand their hours for 4 days a week. This means there is the potential for additional income, but the trade-off is less access to the Hut as a resource.
People
Reduction or Loss of leaders
The group is reliant on volunteers to run and administer the group. Loss of leaders would potentially lead to a contraction of sections. The Group Scout Leader monitors the sections with regular meetings. In addition, all sections are encouraged to rotate the leading of evening programmes so there is back up in the skills to run the section.
Reduction or loss of members
This is not considered likely, as the organisation has waiting list. Scouting is popular currently and when the scout group was in the papers we had a number of enquiries.
Health and Safety ~~ere~~
Safe Premises
The Group has reviewed the Scout Association Safe premises document. This includes items such as Fixed Wire Inspections, Gas Safety checks, fire checks, PAT checks, Fire risk Assessment etc, The Hut is compliant with a few small items to be closed out.
Accidents
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1 st Saltney treats any member sustaining an injury at scouting. Looking at the records many of these are during games. We maintain records of all accidents that take place. (see annexe 4)
Scouting requires leaders to have first aid training.
No Scouting accidents were reported to Head Quarters during 2023-2024, however a couple of parents children were treated who had injuries on Scout premises. These required a precautionary check at Hospital and were reported to Scout Headquarters as per procedures.
Risk assessment.
Scouting is increasing their focus on Safety.
All major activity requires risk assessments to be submitted in advance for verification.
Safeguarding
Scouting aims to provide a safe and supportive and caring culture for all who participate in Scouting Activity.
It takes Safeguarding seriously and all volunteers undertake mandatory training which requires regular refreshment.
For camps, all attendees are required to be DBS cleared.
No Formal Safeguarding investigations took place in 2022.
The group had one safeguarding enquiry. Following an investigation no further action was required.
No requests were made for advice to District.
GDPR
Annex1 Accounts
Annexe 2 Balance Sheet
| Balance sheet | Balance sheet | |
|---|---|---|
| B1 Cash funds Cash) | 0 | |
| B1 Cash funds(Banks accountgeneral) | 18834.01 | |
| B1 Cash funds(Banks account)- camps | 3841.41 | |
| B1 Cash funds(Banks account)- santander | 1435.86 | |
| B2 Other monetary assets | ||
| B3 Investment Assets | ||
| B4 Assets retained for charities use | ||
| Building (estimate) | 385000 | |
| Camping equipment in Store | 12739 | |
| B5 Liabilities | 0 | |
| Total | 421850.28 | |
Annexe 3 St Mark’s Church by Cat Stinson – St Mark’s Church Youth Worker
Since starting my role as youth worker at St Mark’s, one of the key areas I have enjoyed investing my time in has been the links we have with you at 1[st] Saltney St Mark’s Scout Group. For me it is a beautiful moment where my own experience as a Cub leader elsewhere and being St Mark’s Church youth worker collide, to work out how we can strengthen our relationship and support you with your badges and activities as well as your links with St Mark’s Church.
It has been brilliant seeing these links in action. Most noticeably seen on Parade Sundays when you fill the Church with your brightly coloured uniforms and flags. For me, it was particularly lovely to join with you and your families at Harvest for breakfast, Harvest Service, and activities outside. I also enjoyed taking part in one of your Squirrels sessions earlier this year and I am looking forward to taking up the invitation from Beavers to join you for a session in May.
I look forward to building on these relationships as we continue to work together. Please know that you are always welcome to join us on a Sunday and the other activities that we run throughout the year, we will continue to keep you updated with these as we organise them. Some dates to highlight are: October: Harvest Breakfast, Service and Activities November: Remembrance Sunday December: Christingle and Christmas Services February: Founders Day April: Easter Sunday Breakfast and Service
Annexe 4 Accident reports 2023- 2024 &&&&&& I l ££ Il%ill
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