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2023-03-31-accounts

REGISTERED COMPANY NUMBER: 03731848 (England and Wales) REGISTERED CHARITY NUMBER: 1074947

REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES AND

UNAUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

FOR

CAMBRIDGE COUNCIL FOR VOLUNTARY SERVICE

Staffords Chartered Accountants Unit 1, Cambridge House Camboro Business Park Oakington Road, Girton CAMBRIDGE Cambridgeshire CB3 0QH

CAMBRIDGE COUNCIL FOR VOLUNTARY SERVICE

CONTENTS OF THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

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Page
Report of the Trustees 1 to 13
Independent Examiner's Report 14
Statement of Financial Activities 15
Balance Sheet 16 to 17
Notes to the Financial Statements 18 to 27
Detailed Statement of Financial Activities 28
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CAMBRIDGE COUNCIL FOR VOLUNTARY SERVICE

REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

The trustees who are also directors of the charity for the purposes of the Companies Act 2006, present their report with the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 March 2023. The trustees have adopted the provisions of 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).

OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

Purposes and Aims

The objects of Cambridge Council for Voluntary Service (CCVS) are set out in the Memorandum of Association and are:

Strategies for achieving objectives

Our strategy is a continual work in progress. Over the year we have developed a theory of change and a number of supporting documents that make up the deconstructed strategy. We will continue to develop this over the following year.

Aims

Our strategic aims have been written into our mission statement that has been developed over the year. These state:

CCVS works with individuals, groups and organisations in communities to help them build places where people want to live, work, and visit. We:

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CAMBRIDGE COUNCIL FOR VOLUNTARY SERVICE

REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

Significant activities

The last year has seen us finalise our mission statement that compliments the vision of 'Fair, Strong, Connected Communities'. We are in the process of aligning our work and reporting against the 5 strands of the mission plus a commitment to improve the way that CCVS works. We have looked at our values and these continue to be:

Our work falls under the following headings:

There are two new areas of work for us:

CCVS development

We have continued to look at how we develop CCVS in order to enable us to deliver our services. Over the year we have implemented several changes that have been initiated and supported by the staff team.

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CAMBRIDGE COUNCIL FOR VOLUNTARY SERVICE

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES

OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

We continue to be a recognised Real Living Wage employer and to promote this to the local sector. (We have been able to fund registrations for other charities in Cambridge this year from a carryover of council funding).

We have developed a new staff handbook and revised our staff contract with the help of an HR specialist. This has coincided with us streamlining the policies we have and updating the plan for when these are refreshed and reviewed.

We have also updated both the trustee handbook and the volunteer handbook. These documents are for internal use but are also shared as templates for member organisations to use.

As part of looking at staff terms and conditions the trustees agreed to look at working towards a four-day week. This will be a gradual process that will be closely monitored to ensure that we do not compromise our ability to deliver our work.

Despite the pandemic and working remotely, we successfully grew the CCVS team over the year. We welcomed Ayra Naeem as our community engagement worker in October 2022, initially to support on the vaccine access work but also to look at community engagement more widely. In December 2022 Sally Page was promoted to the role of deputy CEO which was part of a wider look at the CCVS staff structure. Jigna Vas Gosal joined us in March 2023 as a new development officer to take on Sally's old role. We said goodbye to Suzanne Goff who left us as in December 2022 but did return as a volunteer for a couple of months to help with the vaccine access work.

Communications

Communications remain a vital part our work, and we have continued to make improvements in our delivery of those, with a whole team approach.

Maintaining efficient internal communication within our team is key to making sure we do the best we can for CCVS, our members, and the wider community. By adopting a consistent approach, using tools such as template replies to emails and requests, ensures that we are all sharing the same message, and being clear about how we can support organisations with their own campaigns, events, and recruitment.

Our subject specific news flash bulletins are very well received, as are our Spotlight Bulletins which focus on one community organisation per month.

Project work

CCVS carries out project work that is compatible with our mission. In 2022-23, this included:

Public benefit

The trustees have complied with their duty in the 2011 Charities Act to have due regard to guidance published by the Charity Commission, including public benefit guidance. CCVS provides services to the general public of Cambridge City and surrounding areas by supporting and promoting charitable and community groups.

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CAMBRIDGE COUNCIL FOR VOLUNTARY SERVICE

REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

Volunteers and Volunteering

CCVS continued to benefit from the help of a volunteer through our Volunteer 4 All project. Our outreach events have particularly benefited from this input, with our volunteer helping co-produce and co-present some of our work, as well as writing informative blogs about her experience.

We also engaged more widely with volunteers from different partner organisations as part of the vaccine access project.

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CAMBRIDGE COUNCIL FOR VOLUNTARY SERVICE

REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

ACHIEVEMENT AND PERFORMANCE Charitable activities

CCVS continues to be an advocate for small charities and community groups. We highlight the positive impact these organisations have on local people and communities.

The following sections detail CCVS's work from April 2022 to the end of March 2023.

Provide practical support and training to build knowledge and confidence.

The provision of advice and support is a key deliverable for CCVS. Since the pandemic we have delivered more of this by video call and there are very few in person queries, that said for complex issues it is sometimes better to sit with someone in person and we do still offer this. The number of people we assist is dependent on the number we contact. We actively promote our services but do not proactively contact groups as we do not have the capacity. The one exception to this is that we try to do monthly catch ups with senior managers to allow us to build relationships, get an insight into issues and activities, and to offer support and coaching.

We have continued to develop our work to ensure that we are able to provide groups with the advice and support they need. We have developed some new blogs in partnership with Support Cambs. We have also continued to provide advice and support to groups that come to us with questions.

In this period, we recorded a total of 333, 1-2-1 support sessions, either in-person, by video, phone or extended email. This represented over 430 hours of support services.

We have not been recording shorter enquiries this year but will look at how we do this going forward with the database and the development of a new monitoring strategy and plan.

CCVS delivers a comprehensive package of training based on what groups tell us is important in the annual survey, but also based on those areas where we identify that groups should consider training.

The annual survey indicated that there was an ongoing preference for online training; we have also had positive feedback from the few in-person courses we have run. Attendees welcomed the ability to make and renew connections with others but reported that there was no additional benefit for the actual training.

We have started to offer a smaller number of in-person training opportunities for those subjects that work best in that way, this has included a session on Managing Challenging Behaviour and Supervision Skills for Volunteer Managers.

We are looking at what we would need to deliver hybrid events and depending on having the necessary equipment, we will look at running a small number of hybrid sessions, for subjects that work best in that way.

Over the period we have run 69 training session or support events; 24 of these were classified as networking events, and 45 webinars or training sessions. This includes 2 volunteer fairs, and 1 meet the funders event. We have had 1,264 bookings for these events.

We have also developed 5 on-demand training modules for small groups through the Support Cambridgeshire partnership. This resource is free and available to Cambridge City groups.

We collect responses from those attending training by sending out a survey after the event. The return rate is low but from those we received we got an average score of 4.6 out of 5 for the overall quality of the courses.

"The training content was brilliant and has given me enormous amounts of food for thought and ideas for action." "Well done on providing excellent training sessions."

"Thank you I found this training session really helpful and at a perfect pace."

"Very grateful for the free training as we are a small charity, but will benefit from this workshop".

"I would recommend this to all trustees both new and existing".

Encourage those working or volunteering in and across communities to collaborate and build relationships.

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CAMBRIDGE COUNCIL FOR VOLUNTARY SERVICE

REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

We have run 25 separate online networks attended by 422 individuals. All network attendees receive follow-up emails that include additional resources and notes from the meeting. The networks include the CCVS AGM that was held online again this year. These figures do not include any of the Vaccine Access work, the Volunteer for All work (reported separately) or the volunteer fairs.

Feedback:

"Thanks for including me on the follow-up; so many amazing resources and ideas to look through!"

"Thank you very much. Another interesting and valuable session - always brilliant."

"Thank you, - this is really useful, I will certainly be looking at the mail chimp tips, and the slides for comms are just great."

We are finalising the takeover of the GET group and the work for this will start in 2023-24 once the charity has been formally wound up and the funds transferred.

We continue to build our knowledge and information around peer support, but we will not be delivering a dedicated package as there is little appetite for this. We have tried using Slack and also Facebook groups but this was not successful. We are using WhatsApp, and this is having some success.

Amplify the voices of communities and champion the work that happens there.

CCVS continues to attend meetings with statutory partners. We have continued to attend the City CRG and the CSP and also attend meetings around helping Ukrainian families and around heating and health. We have also been working with different groups and individuals to input into the transformation work that the City is undertaking. We are working with City colleagues on a new Health Equalities network and have attended several meetings around the new City Strategy. We attend other meetings as required.

At the same time we work at a county and regional level to represent the sector across a number of areas, this includes (but is not limited to) the following:

We are working closely with health colleagues at a South place level but also at a district and a local neighbourhood level. This has led us to help to start to map out how there can be greater joined up work between all the different partners wanting to work with communities and the groups that serve them.

We continue to work nationally with NAVCA, NCVO and ACEVO to produce reports on issues that are impacting the wider sector and we are the county representative on the VCS Emergencies Partnership.

We use social media to highlight issues to both local and national politicians and respond to consultations that will impact the sector.

We published research in June that gave an insight into how groups had faired during the pandemic. Read the blog about this or look at the full report on our website https://bit.ly/3Qu438m

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CAMBRIDGE COUNCIL FOR VOLUNTARY SERVICE

REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Research carried out into post COVID position in the VCS in Cambridge. Results on the CCVS website https://bit.ly/3QcO5xN. The annual survey was conducted over January and February 2023 and the results will be published in June 2023. We have also commissioned some in-depth analysis of the open data available from the Charity Commission and 360 Giving to help us understand the sector across the county. We will also be carrying out some research into the below the radar groups across the county in 2023-24.

We have worked with NAVCA and with the University of Durham on national research.

Promote safe, inclusive and engaging volunteering and the benefit it brings to all.

The support we deliver to groups to help with volunteering is included in our general support. We ensure that there are resources available on the website and best practice and other information is shared through our communications.

As well as our specific training around volunteering of which we delivered 5 in the year, we delivered 2 online volunteer fairs. These consist of a number of organisations doing short presentations on the opportunities they have listened to by individuals and companies that are looking for volunteering opportunities. These had over 110 attendees. Feedback included:

"I thought it was great and we continue to have enquiries from Cambridge, so it's big thumbs up from us." (Presenter

"X (a local business) contacted me an hour after the volunteer fair, which was fantastic, and we've been in conversation since." (Presenter)

"It was a very useful event. A good way to find out a bit about several organisations in one go." (Audience)

"It was very interesting and helpful, with the added benefit that it was online, so no travel time was involved." (Audience)

We also delivered 4 volunteer managers networks that all had on average 14 attendees at each.

Our project to work with those looking to volunteer but who may face barriers, Volunteer for All, continues to be a success. The numbers below summarise the activities and advice sessions from the 1st of April 2022 to 30th March 2023.

The last year has seen an increase in already established partnerships with other organisations and statutory services. In particular, the relationship with CPFT, CHS, Red 2 Green and with the Social Prescribers have grown stronger and mutually beneficial. Referrers not only support their clients to have a 1:1 advice session, or participate in one of the events we organise, but also encourage colleagues to use our service. Networking and strong partnership with local groups has therefore become a pivotal part of the project to enable us to know, understand and screen which options would be more appropriate for each client.

Another important result is the advisory function of Volunteering for All, helping organisations not only in becoming more diverse, reaching a greater number of potential volunteers and creating a network with other organisations, but also offering guidance in situations where the volunteer coordinator might be struggling with a particular volunteer with additional needs.

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CAMBRIDGE COUNCIL FOR VOLUNTARY SERVICE

REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

We have diversified and expanded our reach thanks to social media and explored new possible partners, including the wellbeing workers in Colleges and Universities, and also the social responsibility departments in some of the business in the City. These new relationships have shown how it is important to include the Universities and private sector within our client groups: both staff and students have reported increasing level of stress and isolation as a consequence of the lockdowns and seek now opportunities to connect with the community and improve wellbeing.

Feedback:

"Your kindness, patience, conversations and suggestions went a long way to help them both." (Support worker talking about her clients)

"Wow, this is incredible! Thank you very much indeed! Thank you for your amazing support." (Social responsibility manager)

"Thank you for today's meeting - it was really interesting. What I found really useful is people talking about the process of volunteering and especially that it is flexible. Really useful for my learners to hear" (Aspirations tutor)

"I have passed on your information to my colleagues as I have found your service and support invaluable and would like to share your work with them. As ever, thanks for your support" (Social Prescriber)

"That is so great! I am so thankful for your help! I will let you now as soon as I choose one." (Ukrainian refugee and potential volunteer)

Communications

Communications remain a vital part our work, and we have continued to make improvements in our delivery of those, with a whole team approach.

Our monthly newsletters continue to achieve open rates beyond average. (Campaign monitor state that the 2022 rate for non-profits was 26.6%. Our average for this 6-month period is 34.8%).

Our subject specific news flash bulletins are also very well received, as are our Spotlight Bulletins which focus on one community organisation per month. We are operating a waiting list of organisations waiting to be featured, which is currently fully booked until November 2023.

"I just wanted to say thank you again for making us your spotlight for March. It was a fantastic bit of publicity for us and we've had a lot of engagement with the article through our social media"

Social media still plays a part in our work, by being a quick way to gain an overview of what's happening in the world, as well as a good way to engage with our members and like-minded people and organisations. We continue to regularly post and share details of our events and training, funding opportunities and items of interest. Social media changes constantly, and we've taken steps to encourage and increase engagement across our range of platforms to mitigate major changes beyond our control, such as proposed changes to Twitter. Engagement is increasing on both Facebook and Instagram, and LinkedIn remains popular among the non-profit sector.

Our 3 C's Communications network group is now well established, meeting quarterly. The group allows us to support larger numbers of people in communications roles in our community and allows them to gain valuable peer support in what remains a challenging part of their work. We cover subjects that have been highlighted as a need - such as The Trials and Tribulations of Social Media.

Feedback from 3 C's attendees:

"It's reassuring to share challenges."

"Thank you! I've never thought of that before! (Scheduling and setting boundaries for social media engagement time) A great way to set reasonable boundaries."

Over the period we have delivered

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CAMBRIDGE COUNCIL FOR VOLUNTARY SERVICE

REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

In this period the website has received 800,141 hits from 51,473 unique visitors with the volunteering and then training and events pages being the most viewed. There were also a lot of hits on job vacancy pages when they were promoted.

We continue to deliver social media mainly through Twitter and LinkedIn but also through Facebook. The total CCVS audience for all platforms is 5,841, we also manage the Support Cambridgeshire Twitter account which has a further 1300 followers.

Our Twitter account has grown to 4,138 followers which is an increase of 317 compared to the number last year.

16-18 Arbury Court

CCVS continued to manage the premises at Arbury Court. In 2022-23, offices were licensed to:

Over the year we have invested in the office to turn it into Hot Desk space for CCVS staff. Staff are able to book to use a desk when they want, and all make an effort to use it on a regular basis. At the same time all licensees have continued to deliver services from the building.

We are exploring changes to the phones and broadband but have updated the routers and the switches to ensure that the Wi-Fi works for all tenants.

We have implemented several measures that we hope will reduce our environmental impact but what we can do is limited. This has included updating all lights to LED when we replace fittings and bulbs and acquiring a more efficient fridge.

The main training room has recently been refurbished after a few leaks from the flat above made it unusable. We have also updated and replaced all the emergency lighting batteries. We have a plan for future developments and improvements and will continue to move this forward as funding allows.

Support Cambridgeshire

The current contract started from December 2021. Once again the lead organisation role was taken by Hunts Forum with CCVS acting as a sub-contractor.

We have been able to revise the workplan and we will now be delivering under the following streams:

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CAMBRIDGE COUNCIL FOR VOLUNTARY SERVICE

REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

This contract has been let on a three-year basis with the option to extend by a further two years.

FINANCIAL REVIEW

Results for the year

The Accounts for the year ending 31st March 2023 have been accepted by the Executive Committee and prepared and independently examined by Staffords, Chartered Accountants and Registered Auditors. Copies are available from the CCVS office and from the CCVS website.

Reserves policy

The reserves policy is reviewed annually by the trustees. The introduction states:

"The trustees are looking to build the CCVS undesignated (free) reserves to a level that allows the organisation to manage the variations of funding that are all too common in the sector. At the same time trustees keep a close eye on the money required in order to meet the obligations of the charity in the event of closure or to ensure that the property at Arbury Court is well maintained. Along with these responsibilities the trustees ensure that all restricted reserves are accounted for in accordance with good financial practice and the will of the funders."

The trustees have set a total reserve target of £124,808. This allows CCVS to meet its commitments in terms of winding up, and also allows us to work through any years that are lean in project funding so we can properly plan programmes of activity in the first six months of every year.

The results show current unrestricted reserves of £155,782 (2022: £98,933) and restricted reserves of £20,000 (2022: £20,000). The unrestricted reserve are now above target by £30,974. The trustees are revising the reserves targets based on the increased income and also looking at using some funds to add additional staff capacity.

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CAMBRIDGE COUNCIL FOR VOLUNTARY SERVICE

REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

FUTURE PLANS

There are lots of plans for the coming year. Some of these are about how we can develop CCVS as an organisation and others are about developing new projects and pieces of work.

At CCVS we will continue to develop our strategic way forward and look at how we can integrate what we do and what we measure into our mission statement. We will be looking at what we can do under the 'Engage with communities to support them to identify and implement solutions which improve people's lives' strand of work. We will also be developing the CRM system to look at how we collect and report data that links our impact back to the mission and vision, this work will also have us look at how we report on all aspects of our work and how we tell our story more clearly. We are looking at what our staff structure will be as we plan a move to a four-day week. Linked to this we will be looking at how we can make best use of technology to make us more productive and this will include the development of a new website as well as looking at how we use tools such as teams and Microsoft 365. We are now a hybrid organisation, and we must ensure that we make the most of this without losing what is good about in person work. This will see us developing our hybrid offer and investing in new technology.

We have now had the final funding for the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Volunteer Platform, and we will be working with partners to make this a reality. Whilst we have the funds for the build and a three-year licence, we still need to find funding for the staff team that will allow us to ensure the platform is a success.

We will be working closely with Hunts Forum over the year to build on the success of the Support Fenland project funded by Lloyds Foundation. We have a clear set of recommendations and need to find the funds to start to implement these.

We want to build on our solid start of developing a more diverse training offer. This will include producing more on demand training sessions as well as looking at our wider training offer to ensure it is fit for purpose.

There will be a continued need to look at how we build relationships both in the sector and externally. We have improved our partnership work with a variety of organisations most notably with Hunts Forum. We believe that collaboration will become more important in the future, and we will continue to invest time in building trust and consensus with a wide variety of organisations.

We are excited to be taking on the work that the GET Group have been doing for so many years and building ways to promote learning and skills provision across the sector. We will look at how we can work with the combined authority and the county council to embed this work in the wider skills offer across the county.

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

Governing document

The charity is controlled by its governing document, a deed of trust, and constitutes a limited company, limited by guarantee, as defined by the Companies Act 2006.

In the event of the company being wound up members are required to contribute an amount not exceeding £1.

Recruitment and appointment of new trustees

Trustees are primarily recruited from the membership. Applicants from full member organisations have to be proposed and seconded by other members and stand for election at the AGM. No more than eight trustees are elected at the AGM, who serve for a period of two years and are subject to retirement by rotation. Trustees may be co-opted up to a maximum of four, or a third of the total number of trustees serving at any one time. Co-opted trustees may be from the membership or individuals with suitable skills that fill identified gaps in the current trustee board.

A qualifying third-party indemnity provision is in force for the benefit of the trustees.

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CAMBRIDGE COUNCIL FOR VOLUNTARY SERVICE

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

Organisational structure

The company is governed by an Executive Committee or trustee board that meets at least quarterly. Observers from the District Councils are invited to attend these meetings. The Executive Committee sets and reviews the organisational strategy, direction, staffing, structure and resources. The day-to-day running of the company is carried out by employed staff, led by a Chief Executive Officer, who has delegated authority to run operations and make expenditure up to the level of £2,000. The authorisation of all expenditure requires two signatures.

The organisation employed nine members of staff during the year.

Cambridge Council for Voluntary Service is a member of the National Association of Voluntary and Community Action (NAVCA) and of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO).

Induction and training of new trustees

All trustees receive an induction pack detailing their responsibilities, a Companies House 'AP01' form and copy of the Memorandum and Articles. Trustees are invited into the office (when this is possible) to meet staff and to have an opportunity to understand how CCVS works and details of current plans and projects.

Trustee remuneration

All Trustees give their time voluntarily and receive no benefits from the charity. Trustees are entitled to claim legitimate out of pocket expenses accrued through their role. Any expenses reclaimed from the charity are set out in the accounts. For this period the trustees claimed back £nil (2022: £nil).

Related parties

CCVS has close relationships with Cambridge City Council and South Cambridgeshire District Council. Both these local authorities provide essential funding. Cambridge City Council has a nominated observer who attends trustee boards, they are non-voting members and are not party to confidential discussions.

CCVS is a member of the Support Cambridgeshire partnership that delivers the county infrastructure contract. The other partners up to December 2022 were Hunts Forum (lead partner) and Cambridgeshire ACRE. After this Cambridgeshire ACRE left and the new contract was a partnership between CCVS and Hunts Forum (who remain the lead).

Risk management

The Charity Commission guidelines on managing risk state "Charity trustees should regularly review and assess the risks faced by their charity in all areas of its work and plan for the management of those risks. Risk is an everyday part of charitable activity and managing it effectively is essential if the trustees are to achieve their key objectives and safeguard their charity's funds and assets."

The charity has a comprehensive risk policy and plan that includes emergency communications plans, a business continuity plan, and a detailed action plan. This document is updated annually and is a standing item on all trustee agendas. Over the year the plan has been updated.

REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS Registered Company number

03731848 (England and Wales)

Registered Charity number

1074947

Registered office

16-18 Arbury Court CAMBRIDGE Cambridgeshire CB4 2QJ

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CAMBRIDGE COUNCIL FOR VOLUNTARY SERVICE

REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Trustees

R D L Talbot M Sanders Chair until Jan 2022 A T Cogan (resigned 23/11/2022) F Raffai Chair from Jan 2022 E C Forbes K Singh (resigned 23/11/2022) N J Glen K A Ridley (appointed 23/11/2022)

Company Secretary

M R Freeman

Independent Examiner

Matthew Pettifer FCA Staffords Chartered Accountants Unit 1, Cambridge House Camboro Business Park Oakington Road, Girton CAMBRIDGE Cambridgeshire CB3 0QH

Chief Executive

M R Freeman

CHARITY NAME

The charity is also known as Cambridge CVS and CCVS.

This report has been prepared in accordance with the special provisions of Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies.

18th October 2023

Approved by order of the board of trustees on ............................................. and signed on its behalf by:

.................................................................... F Raffai - Trustee

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INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES OF CAMBRIDGE COUNCIL FOR VOLUNTARY SERVICE

Independent examiner's report to the trustees of Cambridge Council for Voluntary Service ('the Company')

I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of the Company for the year ended 31 March 2023.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity's trustees of the Company (and also its directors for the purposes of company law) you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 ('the 2006 Act').

Having satisfied myself that the accounts of the Company are not required to be audited under Part 16 of the 2006 Act and are eligible for independent examination, I report in respect of my examination of your charity's accounts as carried out under Section 145 of the Charities Act 2011 ('the 2011 Act'). In carrying out my examination I have followed the Directions given by the Charity Commission under Section 145(5) (b) of the 2011 Act.

Independent examiner's statement

Since your charity's gross income exceeded £250,000 your examiner must be a member of a listed body. I can confirm that I am qualified to undertake the examination because I am a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, which is one of the listed bodies.

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe:

  1. accounting records were not kept in respect of the Company as required by Section 386 of the 2006 Act; or

  2. the accounts do not accord with those records; or

  3. the accounts do not comply with the accounting requirements of Section 396 of the 2006 Act other than any requirement that the accounts give a true and fair view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination; or

  4. the accounts have not been prepared in accordance with the methods and principles of the Statement of Recommended Practice for accounting and reporting by charities (applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)).

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Matthew Pettifer FCA The Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales

Staffords Chartered Accountants Unit 1, Cambridge House Camboro Business Park Oakington Road, Girton CAMBRIDGE Cambridgeshire CB3 0QH

Date: .............................................

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CAMBRIDGE COUNCIL FOR VOLUNTARY SERVICE

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES (INCORPORATING AN INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Unrestricted
funds
Notes
£
INCOME AND ENDOWMENTS FROM
Donations and legacies
3
340
Charitable activities
5
CCVS
187,190
Investment income
4
46
Total
187,576
EXPENDITURE ON
Charitable activities
6
CCVS
130,727
NET INCOME
56,849
RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS
Total funds brought forward
98,933
TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD
155,782		 Restricted
funds
£
-
141,557
-
141,557
141,557
-
20,000
20,000		 2023
Total
funds
£
340
328,747
46
329,133
272,284
56,849
118,933
175,782		 2022
Total
funds
£
-
262,753
-
262,753
220,878
41,875
77,058
118,933

The notes form part of these financial statements

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CAMBRIDGE COUNCIL FOR VOLUNTARY SERVICE (REGISTERED NUMBER: 03731848)

BALANCE SHEET

31 MARCH 2023

Unrestricted
funds
Notes
£
FIXED ASSETS
Tangible assets
13
7,313
CURRENT ASSETS
Debtors
14
12,852
Cash at bank
170,289
183,141
CREDITORS
Amounts falling due within one year
15
(34,672)
NET CURRENT ASSETS
148,469
TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT
LIABILITIES
155,782
NET ASSETS
155,782
FUNDS
17
Unrestricted funds
Restricted funds
TOTAL FUNDS		 Restricted
funds
£
-
-
61,778
61,778
(41,778)
20,000
20,000
20,000		 2023
Total
funds
£
7,313
12,852
232,067
244,919
(76,450)
168,469
175,782
175,782
155,782
20,000
175,782		 2022
Total
funds
£
9,750
46,534
84,839
131,373
(22,190)
109,183
118,933
118,933
98,933
20,000
118,933

The charitable company is entitled to exemption from audit under Section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 for the year ended 31 March 2023.

The members have not required the company to obtain an audit of its financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023 in accordance with Section 476 of the Companies Act 2006.

The trustees acknowledge their responsibilities for

The notes form part of these financial statements

Page 16

continued...

CAMBRIDGE COUNCIL FOR VOLUNTARY SERVICE (REGISTERED NUMBER: 03731848)

BALANCE SHEET - continued

31 MARCH 2023

These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to charitable companies subject to the small companies regime.

The financial statements were approved by the Board of Trustees and authorised for issue on ............................................. and were signed on its behalf by: 18th October 2023

............................................. F Raffai - Trustee

The notes form part of these financial statements

Page 17

CAMBRIDGE COUNCIL FOR VOLUNTARY SERVICE

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

1. LEGAL FORM

The charity is a registered charity registered in England and Wales number 1074947 and a company limited by guarantee, having no share capital, incorporated in England and Wales number 03731848.

Its registered office and principal place of business is at 16-18 Arbury Court, Cambridge, CB4 2QJ.

2. ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Basis of preparing the financial statements

The financial statements of the charitable company, which is a public benefit entity under FRS 102, have been prepared in accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102) '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)', Financial Reporting Standard 102 'The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland' and the Companies Act 2006. The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention.

Financial reporting standard 102 - reduced disclosure exemptions

The charitable company has taken advantage of the following disclosure exemptions in preparing these financial statements, as permitted by FRS 102 'The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland':

Income

All income is recognised in the Statement of Financial Activities once the charity has entitlement to the funds, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably.

Donations are recognised on receipt. Gift Aid is recognised in the same period as the donation to which it relates.

Membership income is recognised in the period to which the membership fee relates.

Grant income is recognised in full on receipt unless there are unfulfilled performance conditions that do not allow the income to be recognised. In this case the grant is accounted for as a liability until the performance conditions have been met.

Grant income is only deferred if the grant is time-related and relates partly or wholly to a post year-end time period.

The charity is not VAT registered.

Expenditure

Liabilities are recognised as expenditure as soon as there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the charity to that expenditure, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefits will be required in settlement and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all cost related to the category. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to particular headings they have been allocated to activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources.

Allocation and apportionment of costs

Staff costs and overheads are allocated to projects and funds on the basis of time spent. The trustees view the main activity of the charity as that of provision of CVS services.

continued...

Page 18

CAMBRIDGE COUNCIL FOR VOLUNTARY SERVICE

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS - continued FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

2. ACCOUNTING POLICIES - continued

Tangible fixed assets

Tangible fixed assets are capitalised if the individual item cost exceeds £900. Items are depreciated over their estimated useful economic life:

Computer Equipment 25% on Cost

Taxation

The charity is exempt from corporation tax on its charitable activities.

Fund accounting

Unrestricted funds can be used in accordance with the charitable objectives at the discretion of the trustees.

Restricted funds can only be used for particular restricted purposes within the objects of the charity. Restrictions arise when specified by the donor or when funds are raised for particular restricted purposes.

Further explanation of the nature and purpose of each fund is included in the notes to the financial statements.

Pension costs

The company contributes to some employee's personal pension plans on a defined contribution basis. Contributions payable to the plans are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities in the period to which they relate.

Debtors

Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due after any trade discount offered. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid net of any trade discounts due.

Cash and bank and in hand

Cash at bank and cash in hand includes cash and short term highly liquid investments with a short maturity of three months or less from the date of acquisition or opening of the deposit or similar account.

Creditors and provisions

Creditors and provisions are recognised where the charity has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be estimated or measured reliably. Creditors and provisions are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts due.

Financial instruments

The charity only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value.

continued...

Page 19

CAMBRIDGE COUNCIL FOR VOLUNTARY SERVICE

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS - continued FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

3.
DONATIONS AND LEGACIES
Donations
4.
INVESTMENT INCOME
Deposit account interest
5.
INCOME FROM CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES
Activity
Charges for services
CCVS
Rents received
CCVS
Grants
CCVS
Grants received, included in the above, are as follows:
Cambridge City Council (Support Projects)
South Cambs District Council
Cambs Police and Crime Commission Network (NAVCA)
Cambs County Council - Support Cambridge
Cambridge City Council - Volunteering
Cambridge City Council: Digital skills training programme
Cambridge City Council COVID19 Grant
Cambridge City Council Living Wage Project
Cambs County Council Digital Service Support Contract
Support cambridgeshire - Community Engagement
Lloyds Grant - Hunts Forum
Cambs Constabulary
Cambridge City Council COVID Research
Cambs Youth Panel
Cambridge City Council: Stronger Communities
Support Cambridgeshire: Fenland Enhanced Support
NAVCA Ukraine Support
NAVCA Cost of Living Support
United with Ukraine
Cambridge City Council Digital Service Support Contract		 2023
£
340
2023
£
46
2023
£
27,811
34,800
266,136
328,747
2023
£
40,000
14,000
-
-
28,000
3,000
-
-
10,000
45,699
-
-
54,557
3,000
30,000
8,250
14,647
10,000
1,983
3,000
266,136		 2022
£
-
2022
£
-
2022
£
16,891
32,425
213,437
262,753
2022
£
40,000
14,000
1,500
26,948
28,000
4,000
13,604
5,000
24,385
24,750
11,250
20,000
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
213,437

The charity has also benefitted from charitable rate relief on its premises.

continued...

Page 20

CAMBRIDGE COUNCIL FOR VOLUNTARY SERVICE

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS - continued FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

6.
CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES COSTS
CCVS
7.
DIRECT COSTS OF CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES
Staff costs
Rates and water
Insurance
Telephone
Post, printing, stationery & advertising
Other costs
Staff recruitment, travel & training
Events costs
Consultants & Trainers
IT Costs
Support for Groups
Rent
Premises Costs
Membership & subscriptions
Depreciation
Refurbishment costs
8.
SUPPORT COSTS
CCVS		 Direct
Costs (see
note 7)
£
270,310		 Support
costs (see
note 8)
Totals
£
£
1,974
272,284
2023
2022
£
£
190,833
164,026
710
201
1,468
1,389
3,618
3,475
1,107
1,704
167
171
3,030
2,078
455
48
4,514
1,516
7,820
8,495
26,752
8,578
22,000
20,167
4,530
3,806
452
363
2,437
2,686
417
339
270,310
219,042
Governance
costs
£
1,974

continued...

Page 21

CAMBRIDGE COUNCIL FOR VOLUNTARY SERVICE

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS - continued FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

8. SUPPORT COSTS - continued

Support costs, included in the above, are as follows:

SUPPORT COSTS - continued
Support costs, included in the above, are as follows:
2023 2022
Total
CCVS activities
£ £
Accountancy and legal fees 1,974 1,836

9. NET INCOME/(EXPENDITURE)

Net income/(expenditure) is stated after charging/(crediting):

2023 2022
£ £
Depreciation - owned assets 2,437 2,685
Independent Examiner's fee 1,980 1,896

10. TRUSTEES' REMUNERATION AND BENEFITS

There were no trustees' remuneration or other benefits for the year ended 31 March 2023 nor for the year ended 31 March 2022.

Trustees' expenses

There were no trustees' expenses paid for the year ended 31 March 2023 nor for the year ended 31 March 2022.

11. STAFF COSTS

Wages and salaries
Social security costs
Other pension costs		 2023
£
169,775
9,718
11,340
190,833		 2022
£
147,112
7,552
9,362
164,026

Key Management Personnel remuneration totalled £85,774 (2022: £47,434). This has increased from 2022 due to the creation of an additional Deputy CEO role in 2023.

The average monthly number of employees during the year was as follows:

Development workers
Administrative workers
Managerial		 2023
2
3
2
7		 2022
3
3
2
8

No employees received emoluments in excess of £60,000.

continued...

Page 22

CAMBRIDGE COUNCIL FOR VOLUNTARY SERVICE

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS - continued FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

12.
COMPARATIVES FOR THE STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL
INCOME AND ENDOWMENTS FROM
Charitable activities
CCVS
EXPENDITURE ON
Charitable activities
CCVS
NET INCOME
RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS
Total funds brought forward
TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD
13.
TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS
COST
At 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023
DEPRECIATION
At 1 April 2022
Charge for year
At 31 March 2023
NET BOOK VALUE
At 31 March 2023
At 31 March 2022		 ACTIVITIES
Unrestricted
funds
£
146,368
124,493
21,875
77,058
98,933
Short
leasehold
£
138,067
128,317
2,437
130,754
7,313
9,750		 Restricted
funds
£
116,385
96,385
20,000
-
20,000
Computer
equipment
£
5,797
5,797
-
5,797
-
-		 Total
funds
£
262,753
220,878
41,875
77,058
118,933
Totals
£
143,864
134,114
2,437
136,551
7,313
9,750		 Total
funds
£
262,753
220,878
41,875
77,058
118,933

continued...

Page 23

CAMBRIDGE COUNCIL FOR VOLUNTARY SERVICE

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS - continued FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

14. DEBTORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR

Trade debtors
Prepayments and accrued income		 2023
£
6,768
6,084
12,852		 2022
£
31,890
14,644
46,534

15. CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR

Trade creditors
Social security and other taxes
Other creditors
Accrued expenses		 2023
£
8,277
2,092
7,971
58,110
76,450		 2022
£
536
2,092
5,736
13,826
22,190

Trade creditors are paid within supplier terms, typically within 30 days. Social security and other taxes are paid by the 19th of the following month. Other creditors (accruals) are payable when the invoice relating to the accrual is due.

16. LEASING AGREEMENTS

Minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases fall due as follows:

Within one year
Between one and five years		 2023
£
22,000
51,333
73,333		 2022
£
22,000
73,333
95,333

Lease payments totalling £22,000 were made in the year (2022: £20,167).

17. MOVEMENT IN FUNDS

Unrestricted funds
General fund
Restricted funds
County Volunteering Platform Fund
TOTAL FUNDS		 At 1/4/22
£
98,933
20,000
118,933		 Net
movement
in funds
£
56,849
-
56,849		 At
31/3/23
£
155,782
20,000
175,782

continued...

Page 24

CAMBRIDGE COUNCIL FOR VOLUNTARY SERVICE

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS - continued FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

17. MOVEMENT IN FUNDS - continued

Net movement in funds, included in the above are as follows:

Unrestricted funds
General fund
Restricted funds
Cambridge City Council Community
Development
Cambridge City Council - Supported
Volunteers
Cambridge City Council - Digital Access
Cambridge City and Cambridgshire
County Digital Partnership
Community Vaccine Project
TOTAL FUNDS
Comparatives for movement in funds
Unrestricted funds
General fund
Restricted funds
County Volunteering Platform Fund
TOTAL FUNDS		 Incoming
resources
£
187,576
40,000
28,000
3,000
13,000
57,557
141,557
329,133
At 1/4/21
£
77,058
-
77,058		 Resources
Movement
expended
in funds
£
£
(130,727)
56,849
(40,000)
-
(28,000)
-
(3,000)
-
(13,000)
-
(57,557)
-
(141,557)
-
(272,284)
56,849
Net
movement
At
in funds
31/3/22
£
£
21,875
98,933
20,000
20,000
41,875
118,933

Page 25

continued...

CAMBRIDGE COUNCIL FOR VOLUNTARY SERVICE

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS - continued FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

17. MOVEMENT IN FUNDS - continued

Comparative net movement in funds, included in the above are as follows:

Unrestricted funds
General fund
Restricted funds
Cambridge City Council Community
Development
Cambridge City Council - Supported
Volunteers
Cambridge City Council - Digital Access
Cambridge City and Cambridgshire
County Digital Partnership
County Volunteering Platform Fund
TOTAL FUNDS		 Incoming
resources
£
146,368
40,000
28,000
4,000
24,385
20,000
116,385
262,753		 Resources
Movement
expended
in funds
£
£
(124,493)
21,875
(40,000)
-
(28,000)
-
(4,000)
-
(24,385)
-
-
20,000
(96,385)
20,000
(220,878)
41,875

Restricted Fund information

Cambridge City Council Community Development Fund is funds restricted for the organisational development and support for Cambridge city voluntary and community groups.

Cambridge City Council Supported Volunteers Fund is funds restricted for developing skills and providing equipment to enable Cambridge city voluntary organisations to reach more beneficiaries.

Cambridge City Council Digital Access Fund is funds restricted for a digital skills training programme to Cambridge city voluntary and community groups.

Cambridge City Council and Cambridgeshire County Council Digital Partnership Fund is funds restricted to contribute to the costs of setting up and running Cambridgeshire Digital Partnership.

County Volunteering Platform Fund is funding received from the Cambridgeshire Constabulary towards a county volunteering platform.

Community Vaccine Project Fund is funding received from Cambridge City Council to support the delivery of the community vaccine champions programme.

Page 26

continued...

CAMBRIDGE COUNCIL FOR VOLUNTARY SERVICE

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS - continued FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

18. RELATED PARTY DISCLOSURES

There were no related party transactions for the year ended 31 March 2023.

Page 27

CAMBRIDGE COUNCIL FOR VOLUNTARY SERVICE

DETAILED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

INCOME AND ENDOWMENTS
Donations and legacies
Donations
Investment income
Deposit account interest
Charitable activities
Charges for services
Rents received
Grants
Total incoming resources
EXPENDITURE
Charitable activities
Wages
Social security
Pensions
Rates and water
Insurance
Telephone
Post, printing, stationery & advertising
Other costs
Staff recruitment, travel & training
Events costs
Consultants & Trainers
IT Costs
Support for Groups
Rent
Premises Costs
Membership & subscriptions
Depreciation of tangible fixed assets
Refurbishment costs
Support costs
Governance costs
Accountancy and legal fees
Total resources expended
Net income		 2023
£
340
46
27,811
34,800
266,136
328,747
329,133
169,775
9,718
11,340
710
1,468
3,618
1,107
167
3,030
455
4,514
7,820
26,752
22,000
4,530
452
2,437
417
270,310
1,974
272,284
56,849		 2022
£
-
-
16,891
32,425
213,437
262,753
262,753
147,112
7,552
9,362
201
1,389
3,475
1,704
171
2,078
48
1,516
8,495
8,578
20,167
3,806
363
2,686
339
219,042
1,836
220,878
41,875

This page does not form part of the statutory financial statements

Page 28