2024-03-31-accounts - Citizens Advice Somerset

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Citizens Advice Somerset

(Formerly South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau) (A Charitable Company Limited by Guarantee)

Annual Report and Financial Statements

For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

Company Number: 03173414 Charity Registered in England and Wales Number: 1054134

Citizens Advice Somerset (Formerly South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau) Contents For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

	Page
Reference and Administrative Details	2
Trustee Directors’ Report	3 – 25
Independent Auditors’ Report	26 – 29
Statement of Financial Activities	30
Balance Sheet	31
Cash flow statement	32
Notes to the Financial Statements	33 – 52

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Citizens Advice Somerset (Formerly South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau) Reference and Administrative Details For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

Charity Name	Citizens Advice Somerset
Trustee Directors	L Cousins
	E Goodfellow
	J Humble
	P Hunter
	D Incoll
	M Mercer
	B O’Leary
	K Wheeler
Company Secretary	A Kerr
Chief Executive	A Kerr
Registered Office	St Mary’s House
	Magdalene Street
	Taunton
	Somerset
	TA1 1SB
Auditors	Albert Goodman LLP
	Goodwood House
	Blackbrook Park Avenue
	Taunton
	Somerset
	TA1 2PX
Bankers	CAF Bank	Virgin Money
	25 Kings Hill Avenue	Jubilee House
	Kings Hill	Gosforth
	West Malling	Newcastle Upon Tyne
	Kent, ME19 4TA	NE3 4PL
	Nationwide Building Society	Charity Bank
	Kings Park Road	Fosse House
	Moulton Park	182 High Street
	Northampton, NN3 6NW	Tonbridge,TN9 1BE
Solicitors	Porter Dodson
	Telford House
	The Park
	Yeovil
	Somerset
	BA20 1DY

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Citizens Advice Somerset (Formerly South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau) Trustee Directors’ Report For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

The Trustees (who are also the Directors for the purpose of Company Law) have pleasure in presenting their annual report and the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2024. The provisions of the Statement of Recommended Practice “Accounting and Reporting by Charities” (SORP FRS 102- implemented 1 January 2019) have been adopted in preparing the annual report and financial statements of the charity.

On 1 October 2023, Citizens Advice Mendip (company number 03368452, charity number 1062605), Sedgemoor Citizens Advice Bureau (company number 02947532, charity number 1041082) and Taunton and District Citizens Advice Bureau (company number 02900368, charity number 1050297), merged into South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau (company number 03173414, charity number 1054134).

South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau changed its name to Citizens Advice Somerset on 4 September 2023.

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

Governing Document

Citizens Advice Somerset is a registered charity, charity number 1054134, and a company limited by guarantee, company number 03173414. The charity’s registered office is St Mary’s House, Magdalene Street, Taunton, Somerset, TA1 1SB. The maximum liability of each member is limited to £10. At 31 March 2024 the company had 7 members. Citizens Advice Somerset is governed by its Memorandum and Articles of Association as updated on 1 October 2023.

Recruitment, Appointment of Trustees

A Governance Committee, made up of Trustees and chaired by the Vice Chair is established to oversee the elections process for Board appointments. A separate process agreed by the Trustee Board is followed for the appointment of the Chair. The Reference and Administrative Details above identifies the constituencies that elected each of the current trustees. No other persons or bodies external to the charity were entitled to appoint persons to the Trustee Board.

The following people were directors/trustees of the charity during the year: C Counsell (resigned 1 October 2023) L Cousins A Ferneyhough (resigned 1 October 2023) E Goodfellow (appointed 1 October 2023) J Harrison (appointed 1 October 2023, resigned 18 November 2024) C Hudson (appointed 1 October 2023, resigned 9 October 2024) J Humble P Hunter D Incoll (appointed 1 October 2023) C McDonald (resigned 16 September 2023) M Mercer (Treasurer) B O’Leary (Chair) (appointed 1 October 2023) C Smedley (appointed 1 October 2023, resigned 5 August 2024) K Wheeler (appointed 1 October 2023)

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Citizens Advice Somerset (Formerly South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau) Trustee Directors’ Report For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

Induction of Trustees

Newly appointed Trustees are provided with a comprehensive induction to Citizens Advice Somerset through the provision of training courses and mentoring by established trustees.

Key Management Personnel

Operation of the charity on a day-to-day basis is delegated to the Chief Executive Officer, who in turns works with her team to deliver the work of the charity. Pay and remuneration of the Chief Executive Officer is set by the Trustees, having reference to charity benchmarking and other available information

Our Vision: Everyone has somewhere trusted to turn to for help and advice.

Mission: Delivering excellence in advice services; advertising, supporting and empowering people and advocating for social change.

We provide high quality and seamless services that meet our clients’ needs enabling them to:

1) act early to prevent a problem becoming a long-term issue (Early Help and Prevention).
2) get help to address critical issues and crises (Advice at Critical Times)
3) tackle the under-lying causes of financial distress and inequality (Tackling Disadvantage)

Purpose statement: providing advice and advocacy that helps people plan for, and manage through, key life events and change.

Outcome Framework

As a result of using our services clients will benefit from:

Greater Independence

clients gain knowledge and a better understanding of their rights and responsibilities
clients are more able to move forward and address their own issues
clients are better prepared to take action themselves to avoid problems arising in the future

Better Prospects

clients learn key life skills (to budget, problem solve, plan and manage their personal affairs)
clients become more familiar with the safe use of online help and information resources
clients are better informed and more able to make and manage welfare claims

Improved Wellbeing

clients benefit from reduced risks of crisis or harm (eviction, debt, homelessness, abuse)
clients benefit from reduced anxiety and improvements related to the wider determinants of their health and wellbeing
clients benefit from improved circumstances and income maximisation

Values

We are an inclusive and person-centered organisation that is responsive to the needs of our clients, staff, volunteers, and partners. We are committed to working in a way that promotes respect, dignity, and equality for all.

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Citizens Advice Somerset (Formerly South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau) Trustee Directors’ Report For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

Our aims and principles are aligned to our membership of the National Citizens Advice network. The National network exists to shape a society where people face far fewer problems and together we are a network that is led by people’s needs, rooted in the community, strengthened by volunteers and trusted as experts.

All Citizens Advice work to the following principles:

We provide information, advice and advocacy
We offer a free, independent, confidential and impartial service
We provide a unique feedback loop from frontline insights to policy change
We build partnerships
We prioritise the needs of marginalised communities

Chair’s Report – Barry O’Leary

As Chair of Citizens Advice Somerset, it is my privilege to reflect on a year of significant achievements, challenges, and progress. Our organization continues to serve as a vital lifeline for many, providing essential advice and support across our local communities.

Governance and Board Activity

This year, the Board has maintained its strong focus on governance, ensuring that Citizens Advice Somerset operates with transparency, accountability, and strategic oversight. While the operational delivery of services lies with our highly skilled staff and volunteers, the Board has played a key role in shaping the direction of the organization, safeguarding its values, and ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements. Regular reviews of policies, finances, and risk management have been integral to our work, enabling us to navigate the complexities of a dynamic operating environment.

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Citizens Advice Somerset (Formerly South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau) Trustee Directors’ Report For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

A Successful Merger

The past year marked the successful consolidation of four local Citizens Advice branches into a unified Citizens Advice Somerset. This strategic move has enhanced our ability to provide consistent, high-quality advice across the county. By pooling resources, expertise, and infrastructure, we have not only achieved efficiencies but also strengthened our capacity to meet increasing demand. The transition has been smooth, thanks to the dedication of our staff, volunteers, and leadership team, and the benefits of this collaboration are already evident in the improved accessibility and breadth of our services.

Challenges and the Year Ahead

As we look forward to the coming year, we are acutely aware of the challenging times ahead. Economic uncertainty, rising living costs, and the ongoing mental health impacts of recent global crises mean that the demand for our services will continue to grow. Citizens Advice Somerset is uniquely positioned to support our communities in navigating these difficulties, but this will require us to remain agile, innovative, and resilient.

Key priorities for the next year will include:

Managing the Growing Demand for Advice: We will continue to provide guidance on critical issues such as housing, employment, and debt management.
Supporting Financial and Mental Well-being: Our services will place a strong emphasis on holistic support, addressing not just immediate problems but also the longer-term impacts on individuals’ mental health and well-being.
Strengthening Our Infrastructure: We will further develop our volunteer base, invest in staff training, and explore new funding streams to ensure sustainability.

Gratitude

None of this would be possible without the dedication of our staff, volunteers, and partners, who work tirelessly to deliver advice and support that transforms lives. I would also like to thank my fellow Board members for their unwavering commitment to our governance responsibilities and their strategic vision for the future.

Citizens Advice Somerset remains steadfast in its mission to empower individuals and communities. Together, we will continue to navigate these challenging times and ensure that no one is left without a voice or support.

Treasurer’s Report – Margaret Mercer

Our income from Somerset Council increased slightly from 2023 and we secured a three year agreement from the Council to deliver the Early Help and Prevention advice service.

During the year we have received funding for additional projects including a Somerset wide Cost of Living Crisis Support Team and the Additional Capacity Project grant. The additional capacity has enabled us to develop and sustain a countywide service to help close the gap between demand and provision, to extend opening hours and to increase capacity for the anticipated increase in demand. Notability we continued to receive grants from all those funders that had previously supported the merging charities. We continue to work in partnership with the Somerset Mental Health Alliance to deliver

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Citizens Advice Somerset (Formerly South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau) Trustee Directors’ Report For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

Open Mental Health. The Open Mental Health Partnership secured a new commission for a further three to five years. This specialist work enables us to provide continued help for individuals who are struggling with their mental health; this grant ensures that people can access the right support at the right time.

The merger with Citizens Advice Sedgemoor, Mendip and Taunton was successfully completed in October 2023. During the latter part of 2023 and the first quarter of 2024 we spent time consolidating the merged organisation and attending to the processes required to close the four legacy charities.

Governance Costs

Additional, one-off, expenditure was incurred to ensure that the Shadow Board and the Board of the merged organisation received the advice and guidance necessary to administer the merger. We are grateful to the support received from Muckle LLP, Worknest and Albert Goodman.

Staff Costs

There have not been any major changes to the expenditure profile of the organisation and, as usual, staff costs remain our biggest expense, amounting this year to 69% of expenditure. Most of the paid team continue to work in accordance with our hybrid working policy.

Premises and Resources

Expenses during the year included the expansion and upgrade of our IT and HR infrastructure to accommodate all personnel within a cyber secure working environment. The expenditure included system and phone license fees for the use of cloud-based office and communication systems, IT technical support, IT replacements and the provision of laptop computers to members of the Board. These are aligned to our Business Plan and are vital to ensure that we adhere to best practice in cyber security.

Other expenditure in the year reflects the cost of premises and general running costs. We are committed to offering a fully accessible service and recognise that to do so, we must allocate funds across all advice channels (telephone, digital and face-to-face) and interpretation services. During the year we opened Community Access Points in parts of Somerset to ensure parity of access across the County.

Assets

At the year-end our fixed assets were valued at £48k and it remains our policy not to capitalise on items of equipment under 1k in value.

Reserves

At year end we had reserves of £965,515 made up of designated funds of £569,025 and general unrestricted funds of £396,490. These funds are held in interest bearing bank accounts each account balance being no more than £85k to ensure the funds are protected by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. Our Reserves Policy allows investment in term deposits not exceeding six months.

CEO’s Report

As I reflect on the last financial year, I am struck by how much we achieved, none of which would have been possible without the hard work and commitment of our trustees, volunteers and staff and the continued support of our funders and partners.

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Citizens Advice Somerset (Formerly South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau) Trustee Directors’ Report For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

Our focus for the year centred around transforming advice services for the benefit of the people of Somerset. Following lengthy deliberations, the Trustees of four Somerset Citizens Advice charities (Taunton, Sedgemoor, Mendip and South Somerset) opted to restructure and agreed to merge.

This Annual Report documents the period leading up to the merger on the 1st October 2023 through to 31st March 2024. We have accounted for our work in this period as though we were a single organisation although formal closure of the legacy charities was not completed until later in 2024.

I was appointed as CEO Designate from the 1st April 2023. In this role I was tasked with supporting the Shadow Board to implement the merger, ensuring all operations underway across the four merging organisations continued as well as the development of an interim business plan to take the organisation through until the end of March 2025. Once the merger was complete my role as CEO of Citizens Advice Somerset commenced.

To ensure that we built upon the great work of the four merging Citizens Advice we set out an ambitious plan to take the service forward. In agreeing our objectives for the period, we took account of the on-going impact of the Covid Pandemic and the Cost-of-Living Crisis as both continued to cause hardship and financial distress.

We identified 3 high level priorities for the organization over the period:

1) Increase the number of people helped to ensure that as many people as possible could take early action and prevent their problems from getting worse (Early Help and Prevention)
2) Improve our support for those clients experiencing complex, multiple and critical advice needs (Advice at A Critical Time) to help them to avoid further escalation and crisis
3) Develop our capacity to help more people in future by improving the way we work, making better use of technology and forging new partnerships that help us achieve better outcomes for our clients.

The income and expenditure accounts for the year detail the funds spent on our charitable activities as well as the significant investments made in relation to our IT, Communications and HR systems. Initially we were focused on bringing all staff, volunteers and trustees into one secure operating environment. This was completed successfully, and we then moved our focus to improving integration across the teams and back- office functions. We have sought specialist support from Muckle LLP, Albert Goodman and Worknest in relation to the governance, financial administration and HR aspects of the merger. All staff were Tupe'd into Citizens Advice Somerset on the 1st October 2023. As at the 31st March 2024 we report 69 paid staff (equivalent of 55 full-time staff) and 118 volunteers (assuming each volunteer works 6 hours per week this is the equivalent of 19 full-time staff).

The investments made over the year were also considered vital to ensure that the organization can continue to develop and improve, particularly where new technologies can help us to help more clients. The foundations laid during 2023 have set us on a course for further innovation including plans to explore the use of AI in our back -office and client case administration.

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Citizens Advice Somerset (Formerly South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau) Trustee Directors’ Report For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

Alongside the investments we made to strengthen the sustainability of our organisation’s (Advice Fit for the Future) we continued to develop strategic projects. These tackle the underlying causes of clients’ advice needs and address unmet needs among under-represented client groups. We continued to work closely with the youth work sector to develop the “Young CA” programme. This programme aims to improve links to advice for young people in Somerset. During 2024 and 2025 the project will be further developed and will include a discrete project to train youth workers as Advice First Aiders. It is hoped that this will increase the number of staff and volunteers in the youth sector that can help young people with simple advice queries as well as build capacity to triage for urgent advice issues and connect young people with specialist help where needed.

Delivering our Business Plan

The 3 high level priorities presented above were refined within the 2023 – 2025 Business Plan objectives and summarized as follows:

Early Help and Prevention – to re-model advice services and improve access to advice by expanding opening hours, launching new community access points and increasing our adviceline capacity.
Advice at a Critical Time – to scale up our specialist services so that we help more people with a particular focus on those with complex support needs or those at greatest risk of crisis or financial distress (Advice At A Critical Time).

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Citizens Advice Somerset (Formerly South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau) Trustee Directors’ Report For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

Tackling Disadvantage - to deliver strategic projects that tackle the underlying causes of the problems people face including work to address the wider (social, financial and practical) determinants of health.
Improve the sustainability and impact of our work - to strengthen the future of advice services in Somerset by diversifying funding, investing in the use of technology to improve operational efficiency and investing to develop more specialism among staff and volunteers.

Throughout the year, despite the increased workload due to the merger, we remained focused on meeting our clients' needs. I am proud to report that we managed the merger without interrupting services. Within weeks of coming together we opened new Community Access Points, an evening Adviceline service and launched a new volunteer adviser training programme.

Advice Needs Trends

Demand for all our services continued at record high levels throughout the year. This was because so many people’s lives have been adversely affected by the cost-of-living crisis, energy price rises, poor health/mental health and shortages of affordable housing.

Comparing data from the legacy Citizens Advice (Taunton, Sedgemoor, Mendip and South Somerset) of the clients’ helped during the year we report that the top presenting advice needs were welfare benefits, debt and money issues, housing, family and relationships and employment.

By drilling down into that data, we can highlight several key trends. We note an increase in the number of clients presenting with debt. Specifically, we report increased levels of Rent arrears, Fuel and Council Tax debts (indicating that the costs of paying essential bills continues to be a struggle for many Somerset households).

In line with many areas of England and Wales we also recorded increased demand from those seeking advice on immigration and asylum issues. Although the numbers of people remain relatively low, we are aware that this trend is likely to continue over the coming years.

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Citizens Advice Somerset (Formerly South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau) Trustee Directors’ Report For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

The reduced demand for some benefits and tax credits advice is due to the DWP transition from “legacy benefits” as claimants move across to Universal Credit. As a consequence, we saw an increase in Universal Credit queries.

Case Study

Mary contacted us because she had received unexpected additional payments that she wasn’t expecting, and she was concerned that she was being overpaid her Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) work-replacement benefit.

Having checked the figures, the adviser was able to reassure Mary that the additional payments were legitimate and correct. However, the adviser also identified that Mary may not be receiving all possible entitlements.

A benefit check was completed which showed that Mary would be significantly financially better off claiming Universal Credit (UC) rather than ESA.

Mary was advised about the pros and cons of making a UC claim and she decided she would like to make the claim. We gave Mary advice so she could effectively make and manage her claim. Since we advised Mary, she has updated us that UC is in payment. *not real name

Early Help and Prevention - helping clients to act early to prevent a problem getting worse

We are extremely grateful to Somerset Council, Public Health Somerset, The Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group, Town and Parish Councils, National Citizens Advice and Local Donors for their contributions to our Early Help and Prevention Advice Services.

The service provided advice for clients at their first point of contact (no need to request an appointment for advice). Approximately 47% of clients helped were able to move forward independently and act upon the advice they received. Others (approximately 53%) of clients that engaged with our help required further follow-on specialist advice due to the complexity of their issues and circumstances.

66% of all clients helped during the year engaged with Early Help and Prevention. Following their initial advice some of these clients were transferred into specialist projects that are separately funded and provide more in-depth advice on the complex issues these clients faced. These are outlined in this report and include Debt Caseworker, Homelessness Casework, Litigants in Person etc.

The Early Help and Prevention Service provided a range of support offers for clients. These included self-help support and resources (enabled clients to use our website and National Citizens Advice resources), access to advice by email (with the email request form open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week), a free phone Adviceline as well as Community Access Points (advice surgeries offering in person support).

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Citizens Advice Somerset (Formerly South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau) Trustee Directors’ Report For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

At the beginning of the year, we launched The Advice When You Need IT Campaign. This set out to inform our clients and community partners about the range of access options we had available.

Since the closure of community drop-ins, because of the Covid Pandemic, many people in Somerset have made a successful transition to using telephone advice and our free Adviceline service.

However, we wanted to provide a better service to everyone that needed advice and to give clearer guidance on all the access to advice options we provide (email, in-person and phone). The Advice When You Need It leaflet, and web campaign explain how these options can help those that need advice. Often, we found that people were unaware of the fact that they could email for advice, thinking the only way to get help from us was to come to one of our offices or Community Access Points.

In the year we opened new Community Access Points for those who need to engage with us in person and extended the Adviceline service into the evening.

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Citizens Advice Somerset (Formerly South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau) Trustee Directors’ Report For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

Map of Community Access Points in Somerset

Channels of advice

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Citizens Advice Somerset (Formerly South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau) Trustee Directors’ Report For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

Yorkshire Building Society – Taunton Town

Centre Surgeries

We were very fortunate to benefit from work undertaken by National Citizens Advice that resulted in a pilot project with the Yorkshire Building Society to deliver advice surgeries in their local Taunton branch.

Over the course of the year, we advised 111 people on 298 issues through this project.

We hope to continue this successful partnership in the year ahead and value the opportunity to raise the profile of Citizens Advice services with YBS customers.

Social Value of Volunteer contributions - using established Social Value Metrics

Over the year we were supported by a team of 118 volunteers (assuming each volunteer works 6 hours per week this is the equivalent of 19 full-time staff).

Approximately 62% of clients advised in the Early Help and Prevention Service were helped by volunteers.

Value of volunteers’ time donated (as a salary proxy) £ 859,000 Value of the skills development and employability for volunteers £ 45,000 Health and Wellbeing benefits to volunteers £ 224,000 Total social value of volunteering £1,128,000

Volunteer voices

We asked our volunteers why they volunteer for Citizens Advice Somerset; they told us:

“Hearing the tone of a client's voice change when you have helped them.”
“It's an open, friendly and supportive environment.”
“Achieving a positive outcome for a client.”
“Helping clients achieve peace of mind when under debt pressures.”
“It helps me to look after my mental and physical health.”

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Citizens Advice Somerset (Formerly South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau) Trustee Directors’ Report For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

Advice at a Critical Time - help to address critical issues and crisis

10,423 clients were supported to overcome the critical challenges they faced

These services provided follow-on, specialist advice and caseworker (where a client needed more than a one-off intervention) to fully resolve their issues. The objective for the year was to increase the number of clients supported with specialist advice and to improve access to help for those most at risk of experiencing financial distress or crisis.

These specialist services were funded by a variety of organisations and charitable trusts. We would particularly like to thank the following funders for their support over the year; the Henry Smith Foundation, The Corton Hill Trust, The Charles Hayward Foundation, Wessex Water, Western Power Distribution, Macmillan Cancer Support, the MS Society, Elysium Healthcare, Cygnet Healthcare, The Yorkshire Building Society, Somerset NHS Foundation Trust and Somerset Community Foundation.

Money Advice and Debt Casework

The work of our specialist debt team is funded by the Money and Pension Service (MaPs). This project offers advice on the full range of debt options available to our clients and is tailored to the needs of each individual client. The caseworkers specialise in identifying the best options for each client to support them to become debt free.

2023 / 24 was a difficult year for many of our clients with pressures arising from the Cost-of-Living Crisis continuing. One of the biggest challenges our clients faced was in relation to a deficit budget, this is where there is not enough money coming into the household to cover their essential costs. In these circumstances there were very limited options for those affected and this increased the pressure on both clients and advisers.

Our team continued to deliver excellent advice and gave all our clients the time and support they needed to understand and act on their debt advice. By adopting a holistic approach to their advice, the Team were able to provide advice on welfare benefits, income maximisation and housing alongside the range of debt options. In this way we achieved the best possible outcomes for our clients. All clients were provided with financial capability support to ensure that they were better able to manage their budgets moving forward.

The Team worked flexibly and provided a mixture of face to face, telephone and e-mail advice.

“the adviser that has been advising me and working on my case has gone above and beyond to help me deal with my issue. I highly recommend the service”

“the lady that helped me with my debt was unbelievably helpful, I can’t thank her enough for all her help and advice, she was so clear in her instructions and her advice and help has helped myself and my children so much”

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Citizens Advice Somerset (Formerly South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau) Trustee Directors’ Report For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

Outcomes from Debt Casework Service Income gain £ 58,000 Debts written off £711,000 Repayments rescheduled £ 26,000 Other £ 66,000

Homeless Reduction and Specialist Housing and Debt Advice

Over the year we delivered several projects that helped those at risk of homelessness or those experiencing homelessness. Some of this work was focused on a specific part of Somerset in response to the Hinkley C Build and the associated pressures on affordable housing in the area. Other aspects of our work were available across the County or District Council areas and were delivered in close association with Somerset Council and Districts’ Housing Options and Housing Officer teams.

Housing Associations and Council officers referred clients or tenants to us who were at risk of homelessness. These clients presented with multiple and complex needs. Our specialist team worked intensely with each client to address their presenting issues and wherever possible sought to stabilize their housing situation and improve their finances. The service provided a blend of housing and debt casework as required.

These services sought to increase clients’ housing security. Our work included applications with creditors for debts to be written off along with work to maximisation each client’s income.

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Citizens Advice Somerset (Formerly South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau) Trustee Directors’ Report For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

Prior to the creation of Somerset Council Unitary Authority each District of the County had separate Housing Teams and local approaches to their Homelessness Reduction statutory duties. We worked with officers from Somerset Council to agree a collaborative approach to the Housing and Debt service to ensure that we were able to offer as many residents as possible a tailored and responsive blend of debt, budgeting and housing advice.

“If I hadn’t got in touch with Citizens Advice I would more than likely have lost my house which would have been even worse for my health as I was recovering from 2 heart attacks.”

707 clients advised. Homelessness prevented, delayed or averted for 34 clients. OO National Grid Partnership (Western Power Distribution) Although there have been fluctuations in energy prices over the year most households continued to struggle to afford their energy costs. Many had not been able to manage the increases from the previous year had built up significant debt. Although prices did come down, they were significantly higher than previous years.

The partnership with The National Grid has enabled us to provide additional support to clients with mental health support needs who were experiencing fuel poverty. This funding allowed us more time to spend with clients exploring their debt options and assisting the clients as we secured solutions for them.

We helped 67 households with additional support over the year including assisting one client to identify a fault in supply which once rectified resulted in a credit balance on the account.

Wessex Water

For several years, we have received funding from Wessex Water to help and advise customers who struggle to pay their water bills.

This service was exceptionally busy over the year and the team supported applications for people who were struggling financially to secure a more affordable payment arrangement for them. For clients that had fallen into debt we were able to support them to apply for the Wessex Water the Re-Start Scheme allowing the debt to be written off after a period of regular payments.

To secure support for these customers from the Wessex Water Schemes we provided clients with assistance to prepare a household budget and advised on any other debts as appropriate.

Citizens Advice Somerset (Formerly South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau)

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Trustee Directors’ Report For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

We supported 278 people to access one of the Wessex Water schemes.

Pension Wise

Following the pension changes in 2015 Pension Wise was created to be a first port of call for consumers, offering free and impartial information and guidance to people with a defined contribution pension approaching retirement. The Money and Pensions Service (MaPs) engaged Citizens Advice Somerset to provide a service locally.

On average over the year our Guiders provided 16 appointments a week. Trussell Trust Taunton, Highbridge, Burnham, Cheddar and Bridgwater Foodbanks

The Trussell Trust identified that many people presenting for help at foodbanks also needed advice and support. We were delighted to have the opportunity to partner with the Trussell Trust and ran advice surgeries in their foodbanks throughout the year.

The advice provided was varied and holistic and often involved income maximisation and benefit claims to support the individual to avoid the need for emergency help in the future.

Our advisers attended the Highbridge and Burnham, Bridgwater, Taunton and Cheddar foodbanks and ran advice surgeries alongside the Foodbank sessions. This dedicated provision has been made possible through funding from the Trussell Trust and has been very well received by clients and foodbank volunteers.

We advised 277 clients across the five locations.

Some of these clients were in very desperate situations and we worked with a number of partner organisations to secure improved circumstances.

Case study

While collecting a food parcel Paula* spoke with a foodbank adviser who established that Paula had debts but didn’t feel able to address this. Paula had a learning disability (with limited literacy and numeracy), mental ill health and some physical health issues she hadn’t discussed with her GP. Paula was vulnerable.

Citizens Advice Somerset (Formerly South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau)

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Trustee Directors’ Report For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

We focused on maximising Paula’s income and considered Personal Independence Payment. It transpired that Paula had tried to apply but had not been successful, she had scored 0 daily living or mobility points.

We helped Paula to appeal the decision and gather supporting evidence. She received a nearly 200-page appeal bundle, which we explained. We advised her about what to expect at the tribunal hearing.

Paula was awarded the enhanced rate of both components of PIP, receiving £19,000 of arrears, which enabled her to clear her debts. The continuing payments of £184 a week will ensure she doesn’t accrue further debt.

The Corton Hill Trust

Thanks to the ongoing support of the Trust, we were able to provide intensive support to clients identified by our Early Help and Prevention team as vulnerable clients at risk of financial distress. The funding allowed us to continue to develop our advice by email services as a way of increasing our capacity to help more clients. With the support from the Trust, we were also able to provide clients with further follow-on and specialist advice where this was needed and helped them by acting on their behalf to fully resolve their issues.

We helped 247 clients. ~~OO~~

Advice at a critical time - addressing the wider determinants of Health and Wellbeing

Open Mental Health

Somerset Open Mental Health is an alliance - of local voluntary organisations, statutory organisations and people with lived experience of mental health - working together to improve the way people in Somerset receive support with their mental health.

Citizens Advice is a founding member of Open Mental Health and a lead partner delivering services to address the issues identified as being wider (social, financial etc) determinants of health. The team worked with clients who were in treatment as well as with those who were living independently in the community. Our Open Mental Health team helped 977 people across Somerset, providing advice and casework to address the wider issues impacting mental health. We gained £907,000 income for these clients. ao Citizens Advice Somerset (Formerly South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau)

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Trustee Directors’ Report For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

In-patient advice services

Funded by two private mental health hospitals, Cygnet Healthcare and Elysium Healthcare, the inpatient advice work complements the Open Mental Health service.

We delivered inpatient advice and casework support to ensure that advice issues were dealt with alongside treatment for acute mental ill health. This assists recovery and contributes to a timely discharge.

Our specialist adviser worked in the hospitals one day a week and advised 101 clients between April 2023 to March 2024.

Macmillan Cancer Support

The National Charity Macmillan Cancer Support has worked with us for many years and provided funding for a dedicated Advice Service for those living with cancer and their families.

The team work across the County offering appointments within cancer treatment centres, cancer clinics, at our offices or by phone. Many of the clients that used this service told us how important it was that we were able to meet them on their terms and fit in around their treatment schedules and changing health.

Six in seven people living with cancer face increased costs as a direct result of their diagnosis. These range from paying for travel to and from hospital to increased energy bills and reduced income through having to take time off from paid work.

Most of our Macmillan clients are referred to us by cancer specialist nurses or support workers at Musgrove Park Hospital and Yeovil District Hospitals. We work collaboratively to ensure clients get fast and effective advice and support.

Macmillan Cancer Support Worker (Haematology) testimony

I just wanted to let you know that the Macmillan adviser really went above and beyond to help one of our mutual patients this week… When I spoke to him, he was on the bus but hysterical and I couldn’t understand him. The adviser managed to speak with him, calm him down… He was so thankful for her calm advice and kindness that he visited her when she was here yesterday (Cancer Treatment Centre) and gave her some flowers.

We also work closely with St. Margaret’s Hospice staff to ensure that clients are supported during end-of-life care.

Citizens Advice Somerset (Formerly South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau)

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Trustee Directors’ Report For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

Our Macmillan team supported 1,681 people affected by cancer.

As a result of our advice we were able to secure increased income of £4,408,000 for these clients through welfare benefit entitlements, Macmillan grants and other income maximisation options.

Mendip Health Connectors

This programme of support was funded by a partnership of Mendip Integrated Health and Wellbeing GP practices up to 31st December. The funding made provision for face-to-face advice appointments for clients referred by a Mendip Health Connector. These clients were prioritised due to their difficulties using telephone services (needing a face-to-face appointment) or their need for additional support to access and act on advice. Appointments were provided in Frome, Shepton Mallet, Wells and Glastonbury.

Approximately 70% of the advice provided included welfare benefit advice although most clients presented with a range of other problems alongside their benefit issues.

We helped 115 clients and achieved £77,000 in income gains for these clients.

Multiple Sclerosis

Prior to the Citizens Advice Somerset merger there were three small MS advice projects in Somerset each funded by a separate local MS Society branch. During the year we worked closely with those groups to establish a county-wide advice service.

The project provides a fast and individually tailored advice service for those whose lives are affected by affected by Multiple Sclerosis. The advisers on this team completed MS awareness training so they better understood the challenges and impact of a MS diagnosis.

We helped 74 clients and achieved £99,000 in income gains for these clients.

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Trustee Directors’ Report For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

Henry Smith Priority Support

A high number of clients (327) were helped via this project which was to support clients post-covid to manage their financial distress. It was clear many households were experiencing negative budgets and struggling to stay afloat financially. Many of these clients came to us feeling very uncertain about their future and worried by the fact they will be facing long term difficulties.

£789,000 of income was secured for these clients which enabled them to stabilise their income and bring their budgets back into balance.

86% of clients helped said that their financial confidence was improved. Of the 121 clients who said they often felt anxious and unable to cope before we advised them 46% told us that following their advice and support, they felt able to cope and did not feel anxious.

“I would like to give massive compliments to the adviser for her hard work and kindness. Without her support I would have been lost”

Litigants in Person

This unique and highly specialised service was funded by The Henry Smith Charity and Charles Hayward Foundation. The Litigant in Person (LiP) service provided advice, casework and support at court for survivors of domestic abuse who were involved in legal action against their perpetrator/abuser but were unable to get legal aid or afford legal representation. The Service aims to ensure that every domestic abuse survivor in Somerset has access to high quality advice that will secure their long-term safety.

Our holistic approach enabled people going through a traumatic a period in their lives to gain independence and self-reliance. Our LiP clients completed anonymous feedback surveys and over 90% or respondents reported improved self-esteem, wellbeing and felt better able to move forward.

“Thank you so much for your help, kindness and expertise since we first spoke when I was in tears and very desperate and traumatised… You have given me hope which has made me stronger for me but more importantly has helped my children who needed their mother to be strong, fight for what is right and the energy for life that was taken away from me.”

“Your help, support and advice over this horrendous time has been invaluable and I'm incredibly grateful to you for all that you have done. Thankyou.”

Our litigants in person service helped 236 survivors of domestic abuse with a variety of complex legal advice issues including: child arrangement orders, occupation orders, financial remedies.

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Trustee Directors’ Report For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

Young Citizens Advice

The economic and social impact of Covid-19 particularly affected young people, especially in terms of work and health/wellbeing outcomes. Advice services often find that young people are under-represented in overall client numbers. The Young Citizens Advice research and engagement project (April 2022 to March 2024) existed to review and develop better access to advice and support for young people.

Young Citizens Advice had four key aims:

Improve Young People awareness of Citizens Advice – we promoted CA widely and advised 1,400 young people, with 6,100 advice issues.
Upskill advisers when supporting young people – upskill training was given to staff and volunteers.
Provide resources for organisations supporting young people – we linked up and shared our Young CA newsletters with a large number of organisations
Increase young people partnership working – working together we identified the main advice areas that concern young people in Somerset, we then created advice factsheets about their rights.

The Young Citizens Advice project has identified some key learning which we will be carrying forward in 2024-2025. In partnership with Somerset Youth Work Alliance we will be ‘Embedding advice in youth work’ by delivering bespoke ‘Advice First Aid’ training to youth workers across Somerset.

During the life of this project 1,400 young people received advice on 6,100 advice issue

Social Value

We estimate the value of our advice using a Treasury approved model developed by New Economy (now merged with Greater Manchester Combined Authority).

For every £1 invested in Citizens Advice Somerset in the financial year 2023/24, we generated:

£3.79 Fiscal Value - Financial savings to local and national Government due to fewer payments for out-ofwork benefits, costly evictions, re-housing evicted tenants and less demand on the NHS.

£27.31 Public Value - When people have fewer problems they have higher levels of wellbeing, participation in society and productivity. Our calculation of public value also includes the value of a volunteer run service.

£13.42 Personal Value - We help individual clients to achieve individual financial outcomes like getting backdated benefits, writing-off debts and refunds for consumer issues.

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Trustee Directors’ Report For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

Research & Campaigns

During 2023-24 we participated in a significant amount of campaign work around the Cost-of-Living Crisis and negative budgets, including print articles, radio news and in-person events.

Using evidence of our clients’ experiences we contributed to several policy consultations during the year, including:

Deductions to Universal Credit
Accessing and navigating DWP Services when mentally unwell
Review of the Civil Legal Aid scheme

We participated in several national Citizens Advice awareness campaigns: Scams Awareness week, Energy Savers week, Debt Awareness week, and Consumer Campaign week’.

Fundraising

The Fundraising Strategy and activities aim to ensure that Citizens Advice Somerset achieves income diversification. Most of the fundraising activity is focused on raising funds through Trust and Grant applications. A small programme of community events fund raising takes place each year. These activities are led and delivered by staff with support from volunteers and none of these activities involved a professional fundraiser or commercial participator.

The CEO is responsible for oversight and control of all income generation and fundraising activities including the protection of vulnerable people and other members of the public. Citizens Advice Somerset are not subject to or bound by any voluntary scheme for regulating fund-raising activities. There have not been any complaints received in relation to fund-raising activities carried out by Citizens Advice Somerset.

Financial Review

As noted elsewhere in this document, these accounts have been prepared using merger accounting, therefore combining the results of the merged entities into a singular result for the charity for the current and comparative year. For the year ending 31 March 2024 the combined charity generated income of £2,375,105, of which £1,340,337 was restricted, and £1,034,768 unrestricted (2023: income of £2,464,320, of which £1,243,973 was restricted and £1,220,347 unrestricted). Expenditure in the year to 31 March 2024 for the combined entity was £2,857,613 of which £1,680,336 was restricted and £1,177,277 unrestricted (2023: expenditure of £2,622,709, of which £1,425,843 was restricted and £1,196,866 unrestricted).

After taking account of an extraordinary cost in relation to a lease settlement of £100,000, and transfers between funds, the net result for the year ended 31 March 2024 was a deficit of £582,508 of which £275,991 was restricted and £306,517 unrestricted (2023: deficit of £158,389 of which a deficit of £161,227 was restricted and a surplus of £2,838 was unrestricted).

A full breakdown of the split between merged entities is available in note 18 to the accounts.

As at 31 March 2024, the charity had funds carried forward of £965,515, and cash in the bank of £1,476,638. Taking into account future budgets and forecasts, the Trustees therefore consider it reasonable and appropriate to prepare the accounts on a going concern basis.

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Trustee Directors’ Report For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

Reserves policy

As at 31 March 2024, the charity had reserves of £965,515, all of which is held in unrestricted funds (2023: £1,272,032 held in unrestricted funds and £275,991 held in restricted funds). The Trustees have approved a reserves policy that puts aside specific funds for contractual liabilities, moving costs and IT upgrades and renewals, which is shown as a balance of £569,025 within designated funds.

After allowing for these designated funds, the policy of the charity is to hold general reserves of £500,000 – £550,000, which approximates to 3 months running costs.

As at the year end, free reserves after excluding fixed assets, were £348,008, which is below the reserves target. The trustees acknowledged from the outset that the merger would be costly in the short term, with the aim of longer term benefits and therefore consider it an appropriate use of funds to enact the merger successfully. It is hoped that over the coming 2-3 years, the benefits of the merger mean that reserves will return to the intended level.

Statement of Trustees’ Responsibilities

The trustees (who are also directors of Citizens Advice Somerset for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the Trustees Directors’ Report (incorporating the directors’ report) and the financial statements in accordance with 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).

Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of the income and expenditure of the charitable company for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:

(a) select appropriate accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
(b) observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP;
(c) make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent,
(d) state whether UK accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements, and
(e) prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charitable company will continue in operation.

The directors are also responsible for keeping adequate accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and to 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.

This report has been prepared in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice – Accounting and reporting by Charities and in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies regime.

Approved by the board and signed on their behalf by:

B O’Leary Chair Date: 03 December 2024 Citizens Advice Somerset (Formerly South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau)

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Independent Auditors' Report to the Members and Trustees For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Citizens Advice Somerset (the 'charitable company') for the year ended 31 March 2024 , which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities, Balance Sheet and Notes to the Financial Statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice, 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 2024 and of its incoming resources and application of resources 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.

Emphasis of matter – departure from accounting standards

We draw attention to note 1.3 in the financial statements, which explains that there has been a departure from Financial Reporting Standard 102 in relation to merger accounting, in order that the financial statements give a true and fair view of the position.

Our opinion is not modified in this respect.

Conclusions relating to going concern

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustee’s 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 entity’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least 12 months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the directors with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

Other information

The trustees are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the Trustees’ Report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. 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.

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Independent Auditors' Report to the Members and Trustees For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

In connection with our audit of the financial statements, 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 audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether there is a material misstatement in the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information. 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.

Opinion on other matter 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, which includes the Directors' Report prepared for the purposes of company law for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and
the Directors' Report included within the Trustees’ Report have been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

In the light of our 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 included within the Trustees’ Report.

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters where the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

adequate and proper 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 trustees’ remuneration specified by law are not made; or
we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.
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 Trustee Directors’ Report and from the requirement to prepare a Strategic Report.

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the Statement of Trustees' Responsibilities set out on page 25, 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.

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.

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Independent Auditors' Report to the Members and Trustees For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

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:

The extent to which the audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities including fraud

Our approach to identifying and assessing the risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations, was as follows:

the engagement partner ensured that the engagement team collectively had the appropriate competence, capabilities and skills to identify or recognise non-compliance with applicable laws and regulations;
we identified the laws and regulations applicable to the company through discussions with management, and from our commercial knowledge and experience of the charity sector;
we focused on specific laws and regulations which we considered may have a direct material effect on the financial statements or the operations of the company, including the Companies Act 2006, Charity SORP FRS 2019, employment, data protection and health and safety legislation;
we assessed the extent of compliance with the laws and regulations identified above through making enquiries of management and inspecting legal correspondence; and
identified laws and regulations were communicated within the audit team regularly and the team remained alert to instances of non-compliance throughout the audit.

We assessed the susceptibility of the company’s financial statements to material misstatement, including obtaining an understanding of how fraud might occur, by:

making enquiries of management as to where they considered there was susceptibility to fraud, their knowledge of actual, suspected and alleged fraud; and
considering the internal controls in place to mitigate risks of fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations.

To address the risk of fraud through management bias and override of controls, we:

performed analytical procedures to identify any unusual or unexpected relationships;
tested journal entries to identify unusual transactions;
assessed whether judgements and assumptions made in determining the accounting estimates were indicative of potential bias; and
investigated the rationale behind significant or unusual transactions.

In response to the risk of irregularities and non-compliance with laws and regulations, we designed procedures which included, but were not limited to:

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Independent Auditors' Report to the Members and Trustees For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

agreeing financial statement disclosures to underlying supporting documentation;
reading the minutes of meetings of those charged with governance;
enquiring of management as to actual and potential litigation, claims and breaches of relevant legislation; and
reviewing correspondence with the Charity Commission and other relevant regulators including the company’s legal advisors and insurers.

There are inherent limitations in our audit procedures described above. The more removed that laws and regulations are from financial transactions, the less likely it is that we would become aware of noncompliance. Auditing standards also limit the audit procedures required to identify non-compliance with laws and regulations to enquiry of the directors and other management and the inspection of regulatory and legal correspondence, if any.

Material misstatements that arise due to fraud can be harder to detect than those that arise from error as they may involve deliberate concealment or collusion.

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council's website at www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor's report.

Other matters

In forming our opinion on the financial statements, which is not modified, we note the prior period financial statements were not audited. Consequently, International Standards on Auditing (UK & Ireland) require the auditor to state that the corresponding figures contained within these financial statements are unaudited.

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 and trustees 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 and the charitable company’s trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Michelle Ferris BSc (Hons) FCA DChA (Senior Statutory Auditor) for and on behalf of Albert Goodman LLP Goodwood House Chartered Accountants Blackbrook Park Avenue Statutory Auditor Taunton Somerset TA1 2PX Date: 17 December 2024

Citizens Advice Somerset (Formerly South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau)

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Statement of Financial Activities (including an Income and Expenditure account) For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

----- Start of picture text -----
Unrest- Unrest-
Rest-ricted Rest-ricted
ricted Total ricted Total
Notes Funds Funds 2024 Funds Funds 2023
£ £ £ £ £ £
Income from:
Donations and general grants 2 683,835 66,101 749,936 614,496 89,130 703,626
Charitable activities 3 294,653 1,274,236 1,568,889 545,810 1,154,843 1,700,653
Investment income 4 56,280 - 56,280 60,041 - 60,041
Total income 1,034,768 1,340,337 2,375,105 1,220,347 1,243,973 2,464,320
Expenditure on:
Charitable expenditure 5 1,177,277 1,680,336 2,857,613 1,196,866 1,425,843 2,622,709
Total expenditure 1,177,277 1,680,336 2,857,613 1,196,866 1,425,843 2,622,709
Net income/(expenditure) before
(142,509) (339,999) (482,508) 23,481 (181,870) (158,389)
transfers
Extraordinary item 6 (100,000) - (100,000) - - -
Transfer between funds 12 (64,008) 64,008 - (20,643) 20,643 -
Net movement in funds (306,517) (275,991) (582,508) 2,838 (161,227) (158,389)
Reconciliation of funds
Fund balances at 01 April 2023 1,272,032 275,991 1,548,023 1,269,194 437,218 1,706,412
Fund balances at 31 March 2024 12 965,515 - 965,515 1,272,032 275,991 1,548,023
----- End of picture text -----

The results for the year derive from continuing activities and there are no gains or losses other than those shown above.

The statement of financial activities incorporates the income and expenditure account.

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Citizens Advice Somerset (Formerly South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau) - Company Registration Number: 03173414 Balance Sheet As at 31 March 2024

----- Start of picture text -----
Notes 2024 2023
£ £
Fixed assets
Tangible fixed assets 8 48,442 89,964
Current assets
Debtors 9 37,800 126,351
Cash at bank and in hand 10 1,476,638 2,093,892
1,514,438 2,220,243
Creditors
Amounts falling due within one year 11 (597,365) (762,184)
Net current assets 917,073 1,458,059
Net assets 965,515 1,548,023
Funds
Unrestricted funds
General funds 12 396,490 1,021,254
Designated funds 12 569,025 250,778
965,515 1,272,032
Restricted funds 12 - 275,991
Total charity funds 965,515 1,548,023
----- End of picture text -----

These accounts have been prepared and delivered in accordance with the special provisions relating to small companies within Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006 and the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102).

Approved by the Board of Trustees for issue on 03 December 2024 and signed on their behalf by:

B O’Leary Chair

M Mercer Treasurer

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Citizens Advice Somerset (Formerly South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau) Cash flow statement For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

Notes Cash flows from operating activities Net movements in funds for the year Adjustments to cash flows from non-cash items Depreciation and amortisation 8 Loss on disposal Finance income 4 Working capital adjustments (Increase)/decrease in debtors 9 Increase/(decrease) in creditors 11 Net cash flow from operations Cash flows from investing activities Interest received 4 Acquisitions of tangible assets 9 Net increase/(decrease) in cash and cash equivalents Reconciliation of net debt Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the reporting period Net increase/(decrease) in cash and cash equivalents Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the reporting period	Total 2024 £ (582,508) 14,271 27,251 (56,280) (597,266) 88,551 (164,819) (673,534) 56,280 - (617,254) 2,093,892 (617,254) 1,476,638	Total 2023 £ (158,389) 15,947 - (60,041)
		(202,483) 56,234 121,264
		(24,985) 60,041 (2,114)
		32,942
		2,060,950 32,942
		2,093,892

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Citizens Advice Somerset (Formerly South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau) Notes to the Financial Statements For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

1 Accounting Policies

1.1 General information and basis of accounting

Citizens Advice Somerset is a company limited by guarantee incorporated in the United Kingdom under the Companies Act. The maximum liability of each member is limited to £10. The address of the registered office is given on page 2. The nature of the charity’s operations and its principal activities are set out in the Trustees report on pages 3-25.

The financial statements have been prepared in £ sterling on the historical cost basis and 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)) and the Companies Act 2006.

The charity 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.

1.2 Merger disclosure

South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau changed its name to Citizens Advice Somerset on 4 September 2023.

The financial statements have been prepared using charity merger accounting under section 27 of the charity SORP and have been presented as if it had always been on entity. In order to apply this, the assets and liabilities of both entities have been retained at carrying value and not restated and comparatives have been adjusted accordingly. Please see note 18 for more details.

The use of merger accounting by a company is considered a true and fair override of financial statements. The Trustees consider that such an override is necessary to provide a true and fair view of the position of the charity as disclosed below

1.3 Material departure from accounting standards

As a result of the application of merger accounting, there is a material departure from the requirements of the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102). FRS 102 does not permit for merger accounting to be applied, however the trustees believe that the adoption of the merger accounting is required in order for the accounts to provide a true and fair view of the position of the charity.

The trustees confirm that in all other respects other than the application of merger accounting, FRS 102 has been complied with. FRS 102 would require that the merger of the four entities as disclosed in accounting policy 1.2 above to be accounted for as an acquisition by the “acquiring” entity, which would result in a donation being shown in these accounts, equivalent to the net assets at the date of the transaction.

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Citizens Advice Somerset (Formerly South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau) Notes to the Financial Statements For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

The trustees believe that the combination of the entities meets all criteria set out in the SORP which would otherwise require the combination to be accounted for as a merger – namely that no party to the combination is portrayed as either acquirer or acquiree, either by its governing body or management or by that of another party to the combination, that all parties to the combination, as represented by members of the governing body, participate in establishing the management structure of the combined charity and in selecting the management personnel (and that this decision is made on the basis of a consensus between the parties to the combination, rather than purely by exercising voting rights), and that there is no significant change to the class of beneficiaries of the combining entities or the purposes of the benefits provided as a result of the combination.

As a result, the trustees believe that to account for the combination as an acquisition would be sufficiently misleading that it would conflict with the requirement to give a true and fair view and therefore the decision has been taken to account for the combination as a merger.

1.4 Income

All income is included in the Statement of Financial Activities when the charity is entitled to the income and the amount can be quantified with reasonable accuracy. The following specific policies are applied to particular categories of income. The valuation of donated services is not quantified within the Statement of Financial Activities.

Donation income is received by way of general grants, donations and gifts and is included in full in the Statement of Financial Activities when receivable.

Income from grants, relating to specifically the provision of goods or services as part of charitable activities or services to clients are included in full in the Statement of Financial Activities when receivable and in the period in which they relate to. Grants are deferred when the monies have been received in advance of the period in which they relate to.

Other trading activities income includes income relating to fundraising and is included in the Statement of Financial Activities when receivable.

Investment income is included when receivable.

1.5 Government grants

Government grants are accounted for when unconditionally due and reasonable assurance can be gained that it will be received. Where funds are received in advance, for a specified period, these funds are deferred and recognised in the period to which they relate. Where funds have not been received in a specified period, these funds will be accrued in debtors and recognised in the period to which they relate. Not all grants received have conditions and performance indicators attached, where this is the case, the income is included within donations. Performance related grants are included within Charitable Activities income.

1.6 Donated services

In accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102), unpaid volunteer time is not recognised in the financial statements. Please refer to the Trustee Directors’ Report and note 7 for more information about their contribution.

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Citizens Advice Somerset (Formerly South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau) Notes to the Financial Statements For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

1.7 Expenditure

Expenditure is recognised on an accruals basis as a liability is incurred. All expenditure is gross of VAT which cannot be recovered and is reported as part of the expenditure to which it relates.

Charitable expenditure comprises those costs incurred by the charity in the delivery of its activities and services to its clients. Direct costs are allocated to such activities and those costs of an indirect nature necessary to support them are shown as contributions to core expenditure.

Other support costs include those costs associated with meeting the constitutional and statutory requirements of the charity.

1.8 Fixed assets

Depreciation is calculated to write off the cost of fixed assets over their estimated useful lives at the following rate:- Leasehold improvements – 20% per annum straight line basis

Office equipment – 20% per annum straight line basis

Furniture and equipment – 20% per annum straight line basis

Fixed assets are valued at cost less depreciation. No assets are capitalised under £1,000. Fixed assets are reviewed annually for impairment.

These accounting policies have been adjusted to be consistent as a result of the merger. This is considered a change in accounting estimate with an immaterial impact on the financial statements as disclosed in note 1.19.

1.9 Debtors

Accrued income comprises amounts due from funders and is recognised when the charity is entitled to the grant, receipt is probable and the amount can be measured reliably. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid.

1.10 Cash at bank and in hand

Cash at bank and in hand comprise cash on hand and call deposits, and other short-term highly liquid investments that are readily convertible to a known amount of cash and are subject to an insignificant risk of change in value.

1.11 Creditors

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 recognised at their settlement amount.

1.12 Taxation

The company is a registered charity and is therefore not liable to corporation tax to the extent that income and gains are applied to the charitable objectives of the charity.

1.13 Pension contributions

The charity operates a defined contribution pension scheme. The scheme and its assets are held by independent managers. Contributions are recognised in the Statement of Financial Activities in the period in which they become payable in accordance with the rules of the scheme.

1.14 Allocation of costs

A pre-determined amount of overhead expenditure on each project is calculated and transferred from the project to overheads as a contribution.

Page 35

Citizens Advice Somerset (Formerly South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau) Notes to the Financial Statements For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

1.15 Fund accounting

General funds are unrestricted funds 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 Trustees for particular purposes.

Restricted funds are to be used for specific purposes as laid down by the donor. Expenditure which meets this criterion is charged to the fund, together with a fair allocation of management and support costs.

1.16 Operating leases

Leases in which substantially all the risks and rewards of ownership are retained by the lessor are classified as operating leases. Rentals payable under operating leases are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities as incurred over the term of the lease. The charity has an operating lease for the premises in which they operate, as well as photocopier and telephone leases. The title of the leased premises and equipment remains with the lessor.

1.17 VAT

The charity is not VAT registered and therefore all costs are inclusive of VAT.

1.18 Financial instruments

The charity only holds basic financial instruments as defined in FRS 102. The financial assets and liabilities of the charity and their measurements are as follows:

Financial assets – trade and other debtors are basic financial instruments and are debt instruments measured at amortised cost. Prepayments are not financial instruments.

Cash at bank – is classified as a basic financial instrument and is measured at face value.

Financial liabilities – trade creditors, accruals and other creditors are financial instruments, and are measured at amortised cost. Taxation and social security are not included in the financial instruments disclosure definition. Deferred income is not deemed to be a financial liability, as the cash settlement has already taken place and there is an obligation to deliver services rather than cash or another financial instrument.

1.19 Change in accounting estimates

As a result of the application of merger accounting, accounting policies for the combining entities have been aligned. This has resulted in an adjustment to depreciation rates as follows:

	Previous rate	Adjusted rate
Leasehold improvements	Over life of lease	20% straight line
Fixtures and fittings	25% & 33% straight line	20% straight line
IT costs	33% straight line	20% straight line

In line with accounting standards, this adjustment has not been applied retrospectively, and it has not resulted in a material impact on the financial statements.

Page 36

Citizens Advice Somerset (Formerly South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau) Notes to the Financial Statements For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

2 Donations and general grants

Rest-ricted funds £ - - 36,101 -	Unre- stricted funds £ 387,817 96,201 34,260 -	Rest-ricted funds £ 38,000 - 21,130 -	Total 2023 £ 425,817 96,201 55,390 -
36,101	518,278	59,130	577,408
- 30,000	38,354 57,864	- 30,000	38,354 87,864
66,101	614,496	89,130	703,626
66,101 - - - -	614,496 - - - -	89,130 - - - -	703,626 - - - -
66,101	614,496	89,130	703,626

Where grants are received in advance, for a specified period, these funds are deferred and recognised in the period to which they relate.

denotes amounts received from government. See note 16 for more information.

Page 37

Citizens Advice Somerset (Formerly South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau) Notes to the Financial Statements For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

3 Incoming resources from charitable activities

----- Start of picture text -----
Unre- Unre-
stricted Rest-ricted Total stricted Rest-ricted Total
funds funds 2024 funds funds 2023
£ £ £ £ £ £
Abri - - - - 33,154 33,154
Additional Capacity 40,903 12,278 53,181 25,096 24,556 49,652
Assist Mental Health - - - - 32,250 32,250
Awards For All - 8,760 8,760 - - -
Clinical Commissioning Group 88,096 - 88,096 142,930 12,250 155,180
Covid Response - - - 25,000 - 25,000
Cygnet Healthcare - 6,039 6,039 - - -
Elysium - 4,800 4,800 - - -
Foodbank Project - 59,487 59,487 - 10,131 10,131
General Advice 26,577 - 26,577 107,592 26,752 134,344
Hate Crime Reporting - - - - 7,000 7,000
Health Connectors - 23,238 23,238 - - -
Henry Smith PCPSP - 32,383 32,383 - 26,500 26,500
Homelessness Prevention Grant - 46,466 46,466 - 19,000 19,000
Homelessness Reduction Act - 36,285 36,285 - 36,285 36,285
HPC CIM fund - - - - 60,000 60,000
HPC Debt - 35,556 35,556 - 44,444 44,444
LiP - ATJ - - - - 12,196 12,196
LiP - Charles Hayward Foundation - 14,583 14,583 - 25,000 25,000
LiP - Henry Smith - 17,292 17,292 - - -
Macmillan - 176,716 176,716 - 176,717 176,717
MaPS - 130,080 130,080 - 16,499 16,499
MDC Housing Options - - - - 46,446 46,446
Mental Health Alliance - 238,941 238,941 - 211,363 211,363
Money & Homelessness 97,500 - 97,500 97,500 22,866 120,366
MS Society - 6,313 6,313 - 13,909 13,909
One Team - 32,000 32,000 - - -
Pensionwise - 79,498 79,498 - 82,034 82,034
Somerset Community Foundation - - - 18,865 12,371 31,236
Somerset County Council - LAS 41,577 - 41,577 36,087 - 36,087
Somerset Unitary Authority CoL - 283,688 283,688 - 15,307 15,307
SWTC - - - 92,740 40,418 133,158
Talking Money - - - - 127,795 127,795
Western Power Distribution - 6,800 6,800 - 4,600 4,600
Yorkshire Building Society - 8,033 8,033 - - -
Young Citizens Advice - 15,000 15,000 - 15,000 15,000
294,653 1,274,236 1,568,889 545,810 1,154,843 1,700,653
----- End of picture text -----*

Page 38

Citizens Advice Somerset (Formerly South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau) Notes to the Financial Statements For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

3 Incoming resources from charitable activities (continued)

----- Start of picture text -----
Unre- Unre-
stricted Rest-ricted Total stricted Rest-ricted Total
funds funds 2024 funds funds 2023
£ £ £ £ £ £
The income is made up of:
Received in year 98,736 1,413,004 1,511,740 760,855 1,152,216 1,913,071
Deferred income brought forward 222,399 19,616 242,015 1,300 84,750 86,050
Deferred income carried forward - (122,921) (122,921) (222,399) (19,616) (242,015)
Accrued income brought forward (32,332) (51,202) (83,534) (26,278) (113,709) (139,987)
Accrued income carried forward 5,850 15,739 21,589 32,332 51,202 83,534
294,653 1,274,236 1,568,889 545,810 1,154,843 1,700,653
----- End of picture text -----

Where grants are received in advance, for a specified period, these funds are deferred and recognised in the period to which they relate.

denotes amounts received from government. See note 16 for more information.

4 Investment income

Income from investments Other income	Unre- stricted funds £ 36,030 20,250 56,280	Rest-ricted funds £ - -	Total 2024 £ 36,030 20,250 56,280	Unre- stricted funds £ 14,344 45,697	Rest-ricted funds £ - -	Total 2023 £ 14,344 45,697
		-		60,041	-	60,041

Page 39

Citizens Advice Somerset (Formerly South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau) Notes to the Financial Statements For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

5 Charitable expenditure

----- Start of picture text -----
Unres- Unres-
Res-tricted Total 2024 Res-tricted Total 2023
tricted tricted
£ £ £ £ £ £
Staff costs
Staff salaries 906,441 1,076,376 1,982,817 950,877 894,980 1,845,857
Recruitment expenses 2,102 - 2,102 2,631 4,968 7,599
Subsistence & refeshments 6,951 1,185 8,136 2,981 710 3,691
Staff development & training 6,359 2,373 8,732 9,436 1,502 10,938
Travel 12,710 8,295 21,005 11,250 4,894 16,144
Other staff costs 5,198 100 5,298 19,868 1,610 21,478
Advice giving services
Reference material &
subscriptions 33,855 1,565 35,420 35,763 934 36,697
Direct project costs 536 - 536 4,538 1,208 5,746
Partner payments 13,391 144,942 158,333 34,002 220,621 254,623
Office services
IT maintenance & infrastructure 170,926 5,562 176,488 48,088 - 48,088
Office equipment & supplies 6,090 - 6,090 25,481 633 26,114
Stationery & office
consumables 21,534 372 21,906 23,476 3,047 26,523
Telephone call charges 87,418 2,351 89,769 68,062 1,326 69,388
Consultancy 10,389 - 10,389 18,216 - 18,216
Premises & buildings
Rent and rates 126,943 288 127,231 101,224 1,016 102,240
Repairs & maintenance 12,512 - 12,512 14,657 - 14,657
Electricity & gas 13,803 - 13,803 21,435 - 21,435
Office insurances 13,594 - 13,594 11,504 - 11,504
Other support charges
Bank charges 428 - 428 592 - 592
Depreciation 14,271 - 14,271 15,946 - 15,946
Loss on disposal 27,251 - 27,251 - - -
Accountancy & audit fees 16,180 - 16,180 15,808 - 15,808
Legal & professional fees 102,273 - 102,273 28,688 - 28,688
Governance costs 2,045 33 2,078 16,742 60 16,802
Miscellaneous expenses 866 105 971 3,593 342 3,935
1,614,066 1,243,547 2,857,613 1,484,858 1,137,851 2,622,709
Contributions to core
(436,789) 436,789 - (287,992) 287,992 -
expenditure
1,177,277 1,680,336 2,857,613 1,196,866 1,425,843 2,622,709
----- End of picture text -----

Page 40

Citizens Advice Somerset (Formerly South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau) Notes to the Financial Statements For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

5 Charitable expenditure (continued) Analysis of expenditure on charitable activities - 2024

Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Additional Capacity Awards 4 All Clinical Commissioning Group Corton Hill Cost of Living Response Cygnet Healthcare Elysium Foodbank Project Health Connections Help Through Hardship Henry Smith PCPSP Homelessness Reduction HPC CIM HPC Debt LiP - ATJ LiP - Charles Hayward Foundation LiP - Other LiP - Henry Smith MacMillan MaPS MDC Housing Options Mental Health Alliance MS Society One Team Open Mental Health PensionWise SCC Fundraiser Project Wessex Water Western Power Distribution Yorkshire Building Society Young Citizens Advice Total restricted funds Total funds	915,207 107,516 8,024 37,552 19,047 224,869 4,858 3,730 42,759 18,777 27,402 22,430 40,515 13,595 30,656 12,196 18,750 245 7,495 122,495 76,827 19,512 185,033 5,345 40,604 10,994 55,647 12,370 27,545 6,800 3,924 36,035 1,243,547 2,158,754 Activities undertaken directly	- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Grant funding activities	362,070 14,617 5,639 3,730 10,953 74,126 1,181 1,181 18,784 10,090 1,098 9,953 18,984 7,671 4,869 - - - 9,797 54,438 53,259 8,811 50,057 3,657 28,708 4,603 23,851 - 8,556 - 4,109 4,067 436,789 798,859 Support costs (including contribution to core costs)	1,277,277 Total
				122,133 13,663 41,282 30,000 298,995 6,039 4,911 61,543 28,867 28,500 32,383 59,499 21,266 35,525 12,196 18,750 245 17,292 176,933 130,086 28,323 235,090 9,002 69,312 15,597 79,498 12,370 36,101 6,800 8,033 40,102
				1,680,336
				2,957,613

Page 41

Citizens Advice Somerset (Formerly South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau) Notes to the Financial Statements For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

5 Charitable expenditure (continued)

Analysis of expenditure on charitable activities – 2023

Unrestricted funds Restricted funds 400K Project Abri Assist Mental Health Clinical Commissioning Group Corton Hill Cygnet Healthcare Elysium Foodbank Project Hardship Fund Head Above Water Hate Crime Help Through Hardship Henry Smith PCPSP Homelessness Reduction HPC CIM HPC Debt HRA Debt LiP - CHF LiP - TWA LiP - Other MacMillan MaPS Mental Health Alliance MDC Housing Options MS Society One Team Open Mental Health PensionWise SCC Fundraiser Project SSDC Private Renters Talking Money Wessex Water Western Power Distribution Young CA	1,043,599 201,775 27,367 22,232 10,053 23,650 1,063 3,078 6,799 2,743 - 7,000 6,613 22,044 30,897 44,243 35,198 1,560 18,895 1,891 8,370 137,004 12,144 175,605 38,271 11,285 18,688 31,184 60,392 14,293 19,000 111,204 23,095 4,600 5,617 Activities undertaken directly	- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Grant funding activities	153,267 30,970 5,787 10,018 2,197 6,350 1,437 1,096 2,949 2,257 1,472 - 2,887 4,456 5,388 15,896 9,277 5,573 1,938 - - 42,317 5,423 19,141 20,502 4,660 14,406 12,265 21,642 7,586 - 16,591 10,309 - 3,200 Support costs (including contribution to core costs)	1,196,866 Total
				232,745 33,154 32,250 12,250 30,000 2,500 4,174 9,748 5,000 1,472 7,000 9,500 26,500 36,285 60,139 44,475 7,133 20,833 1,891 8,370 179,321 17,567 194,746 58,773 15,945 33,094 43,449 82,034 21,879 19,000 127,795 33,404 4,600 8,817

Total restricted funds Total funds	1,137,853 2,181,452	- -	287,990 441,257	1,425,843
				2,622,709

Page 42

Citizens Advice Somerset (Formerly South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau) Notes to the Financial Statements For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

6 Extraordinary items

----- Start of picture text -----
Unres- Unres-
Res-tricted Total 2024 Res-tricted Total 2023
tricted tricted
£ £ £ £ £ £
Property costs 100,000 - 100,000 - - -
100,000 - 100,000 - - -
----- End of picture text -----

7 Employees and employment costs

----- Start of picture text -----
2024 2023
£ £
Wages and salaries 1,771,768 1,663,462
Employer’s NI 144,722 112,173
Pension contributions 66,327 70,222
1,982,817 1,845,857
----- End of picture text -----

During the year, one employee was paid between £70,000 - £80,000 and one paid between £60,000 - £70,000 (including salary and one-off additional payments due to merger) (2023: No employees paid over £60,000).

No remuneration was paid to any Trustees during the year (2023: none). No expenses were reimbursed to the Trustees by the charity during the year (2023: none).

The key management personnel of the charity are considered to be the Chief Executives of the relevant charities prior to the merger and the Chief Executive and Deputy Chief Executive after the merger. The total costs to the charity of employee benefits for the key management personnel were £167,643 (2023: £251,231).

The average monthly head count was 82 staff (2023: 87 staff).

Volunteers contribute unpaid time to administration, advice services, reception, grant applications, research campaigns and fundraising activities. The estimated volunteer time for the year has not been included in the financial statements as in accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102).

During the year, a termination payment was made to an employee, totalling £9,850. The amount was a full and final settlement and no amounts were outstanding at the year end (2023: none).

Defined contribution pension scheme

The charity operates a defined contribution pension scheme. The pension cost charge for the year represents contributions payable by the charity to the scheme and amounted to £66,327 (2023: £70,222). There were no contributions payable to the scheme at the end of the year (2023: £nil).

Page 43

Citizens Advice Somerset (Formerly South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau) Notes to the Financial Statements For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

8 Tangible fixed assets Cost As at 01 April 2023 Additions Disposals As at 31 March 2024 Depreciation As at 01 April 2023 Elimination on disposal Charge for year As at 31 March 2024 Net book value As at 31 March 2024 As at 31 March 2023 9 Debtors	Office Equipment £ 24,510 - - 24,510 17,390 - 3,999 21,389 3,121 7,120	Total £ 256,171 - (33,138) 223,033 166,207 (5,887) 14,271 174,591 48,442 89,964








Accrued income and other debtors Prepayments	2024 £ 21,589 16,211	2023 £ 107,750 18,601
	37,800	126,351

Page 44

Citizens Advice Somerset (Formerly South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau) Notes to the Financial Statements For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

10 Cash at bank and in hand		2023 £ 2,093,757 135 2,093,892 2023 £ - 387,118 11,988 121,063 242,015
Cash at bank Petty cash	2024 £ 1,476,386 252 1,476,638


11 Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year Trade creditors Other creditors PAYE/NI control Accruals Deferred income Deferred income Deferred income at 01 April 2023 Released from previous years Resources deferred in the year Deferred income at 31 March 2024	2024 £ 463 391,149 3,637 79,195 122,921 597,365 2024 £ 242,015 (242,015) 122,921 122,921
		762,184
		2023 £ 94,858 (94,858) 242,015
		242,015

Where grants are received in advance, for a specified period, these funds are deferred and recognised in the period to which they relate.

Grants deferred in the year relate to projects which specified the amounts as being for 2024/25. These were received from Litigants in Person, Henry Smith, Taunton Foodbank, Yorkshire Building Society and Spark Somerset.

Page 45

Citizens Advice Somerset (Formerly South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau) Notes to the Financial Statements For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

12 Statement of funds

Balance 01.04.23 £ 120,692 32,000 38,696 54,390 5,000	Income £ - - - - -	Expenditure £ - - - - -	Transfers £ 395,333 - (17,696) (54,390) (5,000)	Balance 31.03.24 £ 516,025 32,000 21,000 - -
250,778 1,021,254	- 1,034,768	- (1,277,277)	318,247 (382,255)	569,025 396,490
1,272,032	1,034,768	(1,277,277)	(64,008)	965,515
109,855 - - - 111 383 28,500 - - - - 18,701 (31) 12,196 4,167 - 245 211 - - 8,873 2,690 37,312 - 15,307 12,370 - - - 25,101	12,278 8,760 30,000 6,039 4,800 59,487 - 32,383 23,238 46,466 36,285 - 35,556 - 14,583 17,292 - 176,716 130,080 - 238,941 6,313 32,000 79,498 283,688 - 36,101 6,800 8,033 15,000	(122,133) (13,663) (30,000) (6,039) (4,911) (61,543) (28,500) (32,383) (28,867) (41,282) (59,499) (21,266) (35,525) (12,196) (18,750) (17,292) (245) (176,933) (130,086) (28,323) (250,687) (9,002) (69,312) (79,498) (298,995) (12,370) (36,101) (6,800) (8,033) (40,102)	- 4,903 - - - 1,673 - - 5,629 (5,184) 23,214 2,565 - - - - - 6 6 28,323 2,873 (1) - - - - - - - 1	- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
275,991	1,340,337	(1,680,336)	64,008	-
1,548,023	2,375,105	(2,957,613)	-	965,515

Page 46

Citizens Advice Somerset (Formerly South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau) Notes to the Financial Statements For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

12 Statement of funds- prior year

Balance 01.04.22 £ 120,692 32,000 36,696 63,457 5,000	Income £ - - - - -	Expenditure £ - - - (9,067) -	Transfers £ - - 2,000 - -	Balance 31.03.23 £ 120,692 32,000 38,696 54,390 5,000
257,845 1,011,349	- 1,220,347	(9,067) (1,187,799)	2,000 (22,643)	250,778 1,021,254
1,269,194	1,220,347	(1,196,866)	(20,643)	1,272,032
318,046 - - - - - 285 - - 1,472 - - - - 18,840 - 3,715 - - 1,891 8,615 2,815 1,069 8,341 94 2,590 38,406 - - 344 - - - 11,777 - 18,918	24,556 33,154 32,250 12,250 30,000 2,500 4,000 10,131 5,000 - 7,000 38,000 26,500 36,285 60,000 44,444 3,418 12,196 25,000 176,717 16,499 234,230 46,446 13,909 32,000 82,034 15,307 20,252 12,370 19,000 127,795 21,130 4,600 15,000	(232,745) (33,154) (32,250) (12,250) (30,000) (2,500) (4,174) (9,748) (5,000) (1,472) (7,000) (9,500) (26,500) (36,285) (60,139) (44,475) (7,133) - (20,833) (1,891) (8,370) (179,321) (17,567) (238,196) (58,772) (15,945) (33,094) (82,034) (21,879) (19,000) (127,795) (33,404) (4,600) (8,817)	(2) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (1) 4,498 12,232 2,136 - - - 1,283 - - - 497 - -	109,855 - - - - - 111 383 - - - 28,500 - - 18,701 (31) - 12,196 4,167 - 245 211 - 8,873 - 2,690 37,312 - 15,307 - 12,370 - - - - 25,101
437,218	1,243,973	(1,425,843)	20,643	275,991
1,706,412	2,464,320	(2,622,709)	-	1,548,023

Page 47

Citizens Advice Somerset (Formerly South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau) Notes to the Financial Statements For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

12 Statement of funds (continued)

The origin and purpose of the material funds are as set out below:

The designated funds have been set aside by the Trustees in line with the descriptions set out above.
Contractual liabilities and moving costs – designated by the trustees to cover contractual liabilities and provision for moving at the end of the current lease.
Non- contractual liabilities – designated by the trustees to cover approximately 3 months’ running costs.
The general unrestricted fund represents the unrestricted funds of the Bureau at the year end.
Additional Capacity grant – £400,000 funded by Somerset County Council. The grant was to develop and sustain a County-wide advice service to help close the gap between demand and provision and to extend opening hours on Adviceline.
Clinical Commissioning Group – grant funding for the provision of advice tackling the wider determinants of health aligned to the CCG (and the ICB) social prescribing priorities.
Corton Hill – a grant via Somerset Community Foundation to enable increased capacity to help those affected by the Cost of Living Crisis including through expansion of the email advice service.
Foodbank projects – grants from Foodbanks to provide advice and support to clients using the foodbanks to advise on income maximisation and other issues and to prevent future need for food parcels.
Help Through Hardship – a one off grant from South Somerset District Council for the provision of additional advice services to meet the increasing demand because of the Cost of Living Crisis.
Henry Smith PCPSP – grant funding to provide vulnerable clients at greatest risk of financial distress with intensive support from a dedicated caseworker to alleviate financial distress.
Mendip Health Connections – funding from the Mendip Integrated Health and Wellbeing Group of GP practices to provide clients referred by Mendip Health Connectors with advice and casework.
Homelessness Prevention – a grant for the provision of specialist debt and housing casework as part of a programme of support to prevent homelessness.
Homelessness Reduction – a grant for the provision of specialist debt and housing casework as part of a programme of support to prevent homelessness.
HPC CIM – funding received from the Hinkley Point C Community Impact Mitigation Fund to provide advice and casework for clients in the geographic area.
HPC Debt – funding for money advice and financial capability advice to support people impacted by the availability and affordability of housing for the communities affected by the build on the HPC power station.
LiP – grants from the Henry Smith Charity and The Charles Hayward Foundation towards the costs of a Litigant In Person Service for supporting survivors of domestic abuse in court proceedings.
MacMillan – grant funding from Macmillan Cancer Support to cover the costs of a specialist team of caseworkers providing welfare benefits and general advice to those living with cancer and their families.

Page 48

Citizens Advice Somerset (Formerly South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau) Notes to the Financial Statements For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

12 Statement of funds (continued)

MaPS – funding from the Money and Pension Service for the provision of specialist debt casework.
Mental Health Alliance – funding to provide advice and specialist casework to clients experiencing mental ill health who are living independently or who are in treatment or in recovery.
MDC Housing Options – funding for the provision of specialist debt and housing casework as part of a programme of support to prevent homelessness.
One Team – grant funding to work in Halcon and Priorswood areas of Taunton and in Wellington to provide debt and financial capability advice to clients in the areas.
Pension Wise – funding from the Money and Pension Service under contract with Citizens Advice Plymouth to ensure that people who are approaching retirement are offered guidance on how to make informed decisions on the use of their defined contribution savings in their retirement
SCC Cost of Living Response – a one off grant to expand services and set up new provision in order to meet additional demand from clients experiencing financial distress because of the Cost of Living Crisis.
Wessex Water – grant funding to support the provision of specialist money and debt advice for Wessex Water customers experiencing financial difficulties.

13 Analysis of net assets between funds

----- Start of picture text -----
Unre- Unre-
stricted Rest-ricted Total stricted Rest-ricted Total
funds funds 2024 funds funds 2023
£ £ £ £ £ £
Tangible assets 48,442 - 48,442 89,964 - 89,964
Current assets 1,391,517 122,921 1,514,438 1,914,005 306,238 2,220,243
Current liabilities (474,444) (122,921) (597,365) (731,937) (30,247) (762,184)
965,515 - 965,515 1,272,032 275,991 1,548,023
----- End of picture text -----

Page 49

Citizens Advice Somerset (Formerly South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau) Notes to the Financial Statements For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

14 Financial commitments

At 31 March 2024 the charity was committed to making the following payments under non-cancellable operating leases:

----- Start of picture text -----
2024 2023
Land and Land and
buildings Other buildings Other
£ £ £ £
Less than 1 year 40,213 2,026 55,425 4,113
1 – 5 years 93,750 - 133,963 2,026
Greater than 5 years - - - -
133,963 2,026 189,388 6,139
----- End of picture text -----

15 Related parties

During the year, L Russ (who was a trustee of Citizens Advice Sedgemoor prior to the transfer), was paid a total of £5,004 for accountancy services. This payment is permitted by the charity’s governing document and no amounts were outstanding at the year end (2023: £1,993).

16 Government grants

Income from government grants comprise grants made by local authorities to fund the principal activities and objectives of the charity via core funding and funding for specific restricted projects. No performance related grants recognised in income have had any unfulfilled conditions or any other contingencies attaching to them. See note 2 and 3 for more information. Government grants received during the year amounted to £1,189,284 (2023: £1,041,673).

17 Company limited by guarantee

The company was incorporated as a company limited by guarantee and has no share capital. The guarantee to the company is £1 per member on the winding up of the company. At 31 March 2024 the company had ten members and the total amount guaranteed is therefore £10.

18 Merger disclosures

On 1 August 2023 a merger deed was signed to merge the activities of Citizens Advice Mendip (company number 03368452, charity number 1062605), Sedgemoor Citizens Advice Bureau (company number 02947532, charity number 1041082) and Taunton and District Citizens Advice Bureau (company number 02900368, charity number 1050297) into South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau.

The resultant charity changed its name from South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau to Citizens Advice Somerset on 4 September 2023. The merger took place on 1 October 2023. These accounts present the combined entity as if it had always been one entity.

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Citizens Advice Somerset (Formerly South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau) Notes to the Financial Statements For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

18 Merger disclosures (continued)

Analysis of principal SoFA components – 2024

Taunton & South Sedgemoor District Somerset Citizens Citizens Citizens Citizens Advice Advive Advive Advive Mendip Bureau Bureau Bureau (pre-merger) (pre-merger) (pre-merger) (pre-merger) £ £ £ £ Total income 163,926 247,463 280,819 829,520 Total expenditure (367,314) (354,310) (305,788) (729,703) Net movements in funds (203,388) (106,847) (24,969) 99,817	Citizens Advice Somerset (post- merger) £ 853,377 (1,200,498) (347,121)	Combined Total £ 2,375,105 (2,957,613)
		(582,508)

Analysis of principal SoFA components – 2023

----- Start of picture text -----
Taunton & South
Sedgemoor District Somerset
Citizens Citizens Citizens Citizens
Advice Advive Advive Advive Combined
Mendip Bureau Bureau Bureau Total
£ £ £ £ £
Total income 394,216 541,147 579,455 949,502 2,464,320
Total expenditure (648,583) (505,217) (574,812) (894,097) (2,622,709)
Net movements in funds (254,367) 35,930 4,643 55,405 (158,389)
Total funds brought forward 511,792 308,368 480,132 406,120 1,706,412
Total funds carried forward 257,425 344,298 484,775 461,525 1,548,023
----- End of picture text -----

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Citizens Advice Somerset (Formerly South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau) Notes to the Financial Statements For the Year Ended 31 March 2024

18 Merger disclosures (continued)

Analysis of net assets at date of merger

----- Start of picture text -----
Taunton & South
Sedgemoor District Somerset
Citizens Citizens Citizens Citizens
Advice Advive Advive Advive Combined
Mendip Bureau Bureau Bureau Total
£ £ £ £
Net assets 81,289 237,452 459,773 547,301 1,325,815
Respesented by:
Unrestricted funds 64,821 237,452 405,378 547,301 1,254,952
Restricted income funds 16,468 - 54,395 - 70,863
Total funds 81,289 237,452 459,773 547,301 1,325,815
----- End of picture text -----

Significant adjustments as a result of the merger

As a result of the merger, accounting policies have been aligned

This has resulted in the depreciation rate for all classes of assets being amended. This has not resulted in any material adjustment to the figures and is treated as a change in accounting policy. Please see accounting policy 1.6 for more detail.

The alignment of accounting policies has also altered the way in which contributions to core costs are accounted for. In Taunton & District Citizens Advice Bureau accounts prior to the merger, contributions to core costs were included as a reduction to restricted income and an increase in unrestricted income, however in South Somerset Citizens Advice Bureau and the merged entity, contributions are reflected as a reduction in unrestricted expenditure and an increase in restricted expenditure. This has resulted in unrestricted income for the prior year decreasing by £93,834, restricted income increasing by £93,834, unrestricted expenditure increasing by £93,834 and restricted expenditure increasing by £93,834.

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