Treasurer’s Report
(April 2022 – March 2023)
AGM 2/10/23
Prepared by Ellen Brown
Income
The 2022 to 2023 financial year (April to March) was not a typical year for the Pre School with lower than average numbers of children. Income from fees and Free Early Education Funding totalled £53,140 which was slightly more than the previous year. Numbers have remained lower than average following the Covid-19 pandemic.
The majority of our income comes from the Free Early Education Entitlement. This is funding that is paid per child per hour for children claiming free childcare at a rate set by the Government/Cheshire East council. This funding rose by just 2.4% per child per hour in April 2022 despite costs rising at a rate significantly higher than this (e.g., the National Minimum Wage rose by 6.6%).
For the summer term of 2022, we averaged 13.9 children per session. This dropped to 9.4 children per session for the autumn term of 2022 following the departure of the older children to primary school, and rose to 13.4 children per session by the end of the spring 2023 term.
We are thankful to parents for snack donations of £372 which together with the milk grant covered over 80% of our snack costs. We are also grateful to our Pre School families, staff, trustees and the wider community for support of our fundraising activities, which brought in a further £1,876. This included £826 raised at our Easter fair, and generous donations of £746.
Total income: £55,691
Expenditure
We kept tight control of our expenditure as the increase of only 2.4% in government funding was insufficient to cover rising costs, however our main expenses are wages and rent which saw the following unavoidable increases:
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In April 2022, the National Living Wage rose by 6.6% and staff wages were increased accordingly.
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Wages included £2,398.50 agency fees which were required to cover staff absence and ensure ratios of qualified staff were met.
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Rent increased by 4.5%
Total expenditure: £65,070
Loss for the year: -£9,379
This loss had been anticipated and was largely covered by the excess reserves held.
Reserves
Our reserves policy states that we should retain £32,000 in reserves. This is based on our total cash assets in August each year once all payments have gone in/out for that academic year. With the Pre School facing a difficult year in 2022/23, the trustees agreed that some of the reserves should be used to cover the running loss for the year.
In August 2023, total cash assets were £29,582, (down from £37,780 in August 2022). We are fortunate to have strong reserves to enable us to cover years when numbers of children are lower than average.
Outlook for 2023/24
For the summer term of 2023, we averaged 14.6 children per session. The autumn term of 2023 has started with 9.4 children per session following the departure of the older children to primary school.
From September 2023, we have increased our opening hours to include Friday afternoons to enable parents who are eligible for 30 hours free childcare to take the full 30 hours with us. Although this increases our costs, we hope that it will attract new families.
The Government raised funding for 3/4 year olds by 5.6% in April 2023 and announced a further 7.3% increase from September 2023. Funding for 2 year olds has been significantly increased (33.7% increase) from September 2023. We currently have very few funded 2 year olds, however, we expect this to increase from April 2024 when working parents of 2 year olds will become eligible for 15 hours of funded childcare per week.
Whirley Pre School Group Profit and Loss Statement April 2022 - March 2023 Note: the 2022/23 figures are subject to audit - to be completed October 2023
| INCOME | 2022-23 | 2021-22 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free Early Education Funding | £39,098 | £39,373 | ||||
| Fees | £13,514 | £12,957 | ||||
| Fees: ad hoc | £528 | £233 | ||||
| Fees: registration | £110 | £90 | ||||
| WRFU Milk Grant | £206 | £87 | ||||
| Bank interest | £42 | £1 | ||||
| Snack donations | £372 | £277 | ||||
| Banking switch incentive | N/A | £1,500 | ||||
| £53,869 | £54,519 | |||||
| Fundraising: | ||||||
| September raffle | £7 | N/A | ||||
| Donations | £746 | £5 | ||||
| Christmas cards | £29 | £12 | ||||
| Christmas decoration/craft sales | £19 | £106 | ||||
| Christmas raffle/fair | £188 | £31 | ||||
| Nativity | £16 | |||||
| Toy/book sales | £26 | £18 | ||||
| Easy Fundraising / Amazon smile / payp | £20 | £5 | ||||
| Easter fair | £826 | |||||
| £1,876 | £176 | |||||
| Uniform sales | -£54 | £94 | ||||
| -£54 | £94 | |||||
| TOTAL INCOME | £55,691 | £54,789 | ||||
| EXPENDITURE | ||||||
| Wages | £48,126 | £43,532 | ||||
| Employer pension contributions | £286 | £381 | ||||
| Rent | £11,304 | £11,106 | ||||
| Waste collection | £189 | £520 | ||||
| Equipment & craft | £1,137 | £1,192 | ||||
| Snacks | £692 | £542 | ||||
| Insurance & ofsted fees | £995 | £967 | ||||
| Accountancy & payroll | £985 | £955 | ||||
| Staff training | £424 | £437 | ||||
| Disclosure & Barring checks | £46 | £48 | ||||
| Mobile phone | £22 | £0 | ||||
| Phone / broadband | £513 | £343 | ||||
| Advertising | £0 | £80 | ||||
| Misc | £232 | £221 | ||||
| £64,949 | £60,325 | |||||
| Events: | ||||||
| Leavers pencil cases | £29 | £52 | ||||
| Leavers party & sports day | £65 | £133 | ||||
| Christmas party | £27 | |||||
| £121 | £186 | |||||
| TOTAL EXPENDITURE | £65,070 | £60,511 | ||||
| NET PROFIT / LOSS | -£9,379 | -£5,722 |
CHARTERED ACCOiWTAMTS èsBusiness.4di4sers BRIGHT PARTNFR%IIIP Our Ref.. AGIRB Date 9th January 2024 Whirley Pre-school Broken Cross Meth¢xlist Church Whirley Road Macclesfield Cheshire SK10 3NR To whom it may ConM. Accounts for the year ending 31 March 2023 We have checked the books. vouchers and bank statements relating to ThIeY Pre- School and it would appear to be a correct record of the year ending 31 March 2023. Yours faithfully, Mrs A Greenwood- Client Parther Bright Partnership Ltd inlo&hrighipartner5hip.co.uk l ThM.brigh¢parttr$b1¢0.uk .'1{14MI | Pb F,dard (urt Broadheat.1I1rrha M"114 ADL latrlfsficl41 (>nitt. Ol6:.Tr4'P-, 4.bj I I ParL %trttL Mxtk5fidd Skii &SR ..WIl Rep5knd