**Northamptonshire ACRE** **Trustees Annual Report And Accounts 2020 – 2021** Northamptonshire ACRE is a registered charity (no. 1080038) And a Company limited by guarantee (no. 03937576) **Trustees Annual Report 2020 – 2021** ## **Mission Statement Strategic Aims** Northamptonshire ACRE, an independent charitable organisation, works with rural communities to improve their quality of life, especially for the disadvantaged. We help rural communities to help themselves, to value diversity and to work to create a vibrant, sustainable future. - To encourage and support community-led planning such as neighbourhood plans and rural community action. - To facilitate the identification of rural needs, particularly for the disadvantaged through community consultation and engagement - To raise awareness of rural issues, lobby and influence policy - To support the provision of affordable, accessible rural services - To work in partnership with others, encouraging co-operation and influencing the allocation of resources - To monitor our performance and provide value for money to our funders - To encourage the development of staff and those working on behalf of the organisation Board of Directors Northamptonshire ACRE (Action with Communities in Rural England) Northamptonshire ACRE is a Rural Community Council, one of 39 members of the ACRE Network **Page 2** **Charity Commission – TAR** **Trustees Annual Report 2020 – 2021** ## **Contents** |THE OFFICIALS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE ACRE
4| |---| |THE STAFF OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE ACRE
6| |VOLUNTEERS WITH NORTHAMPTONSHIRE ACRE
6| |REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES
7| |REVIEW OF TRANSACTIONS AND FINANCIAL POSITION
8| |INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES OF| |NORTHAMPTONSHIRE ACRE
11| |STATEMENT OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS RESPONSIBILITIES
12| |STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES 2020 - 21
13| |BALANCE SHEET
14| |NOTES FORMING PART OF THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE| |YEAR ENDED 31
ST MARCH2021
16| |_NOTE 1: SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES .................. 16_| |_NOTE 2: ACTIVITIES ........................................................................................... 18_| |_NOTE 3: INCOME FROM CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES ....................................... 18_| |_NOTE 4: TOTAL EXPENDITURE ........................................................................ 20_| |_NOTE 5: RESOURCES EXPENDED INCLUDES:- ............................................ 20_| |_NOTE 6: FIXED ASSETS .................................................................................... 21_| |_NOTE 7: DEBTORS ............................................................................................. 22_| |_NOTE 8: CREDITORS ......................................................................................... 22_| |_NOTE 9: FUND ANALYSIS.................................................................................. 23_| |_NOTE 10: CONTROL RELATIONSHIPS ............................................................ 24_| **Page 3** **Charity Commission – TAR** **Trustees Annual Report 2020 – 2021** ## **THE OFFICIALS OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE ACRE** Northamptonshire ACRE (Action with Communities in Rural England) is an independent voluntary organisation, registered charity ( **no. 1080038** ) and company limited by guarantee ( **no. 3937576** ) working to support rural communities and community groups throughout the County. ## **President** James Saunders Watson, Lord Lieutenant for Northamptonshire ## **Vice-Presidents** The Right Reverend Donald Allister Bishop of Peterborough Lord Boswell of Aynho Canon Paul Rose (retired) Mr Gordon Shorley Mr Jeffrey Greenwell Mr David Laing ## **Independent Examiners** Messrs Jervis & Partners ## **Board of Directors Chair** Mr Gareth Lugar-Mawson ## **Vice-Chair** Mr Ken Christy ## **Members** Mr Bernard Lock Mr David Scudamore Mr Richard Hollingum Mr Cameron Waldron Mrs Rachael Boyd (resigned 24[th] September 2020) Mrs Miranda Prentice (appointed 30[th] April 2020) ## **Observers** From District & Borough Local Authorities and Voluntary Sector Agencies ## **Bankers** Yorkshire Bank plc **Page 4** **Charity Commission – TAR** **Trustees Annual Report 2020 – 2021** **Principal Address** The Hunsbury Hill Centre Harksome Hill Northampton NN4 9QX Telephone (01604) 765888 Email: acre@northantsacre.org.uk Website: www.northantsacre.org.uk Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/northantsacre/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/NorthantsACRE **Page 5** **Charity Commission – TAR** **Trustees Annual Report 2020 – 2021** ## **THE STAFF OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE ACRE** **Chief Executive** Elaine O’Leary **Village Halls Adviser** Frances Harris **Rural Officer** Jennifer Hedges **Project Administrator** Natasha Jimenez Sanchez **Communications Administrator** Charlene Browne ## **Administration Officer NACRE** Sarah Clarke **Site Caretaker** James Davidson (Resigned 25[th] June 2020) **The Hunsbury Hill Centre Ltd. Events Team Manager** Elaine O’Leary **Events Co-Ordinator** Sarah Clarke ## **VOLUNTEERS WITH NORTHAMPTONSHIRE ACRE** **Best Village Volunteers** Village of the Year Judges **Other volunteers** Good Neighbour Volunteers **Page 6** **Charity Commission – TAR** **Trustees Annual Report 2020 – 2021** ## **REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES** **“Working with rural communities to improve the quality of life for all”** Northamptonshire ACRE (Action with Communities in Rural England) is a countywide, independent charitable organisation. We work with rural communities to improve their quality of life, especially with the disadvantaged. We’re one of 38 Rural Community Councils working across England, which makes up the ACRE network. Our national body, ACRE, works to make sure that government bodies listen to the needs and voices of rural communities. - Our focus is on community development and engagement. If your village or parish wants to carry out any form of community planning, including Neighbourhood Plans, ACRE is there to help and advise. This includes assisting you with accessing funds for projects. - We work with local communities to reduce rural isolation and vulnerability and help to make life more affordable for those living in rural areas. - We help to deliver improved services for these communities. This can be through better communications links, strong community facilities or more accessible education and health services and supported by a range of training courses. - We support and advise rural community groups on a wide range of issues and encourage local action and participation in decision-making. - We campaign to ensure that the interests of people living in rural Northamptonshire are taken into account in policy making and strategic planning affecting the County. Our Chief Executive is Elaine O’Leary and we are based at the Hunsbury Hill Centre, which offers facilities for conferences and social events, including civil weddings and receptions, in a delightful and tranquil setting. The last year has been particularly difficult for everyone as the Coronavirus Pandemic has had a severe impact on all our lives. At the beginning of the pandemic, the charity’s staff moved to home working and have continued to work at home throughout all of 2020 and much of 2021. During this time, we have focussed on 3 key areas of service: - Supporting all our Village Hall and Community centre members - Supporting the many Covid-19 groups that set up during the pandemic and enabling a number of them to become Good Neighbour Schemes - Working with rural communities to evidence food insecurity within rural areas. More information about the work we carried out during 2020 can be found in - - our Annual Review: https://www.northantsacre.org.uk/our annual review Due to the Covid-19 pandemic all the weddings scheduled for 2020 through our trading arm, The Hunsbury Hill Centre Ltd, were either moved to 2021 or **Page 7** **Charity Commission – TAR** **Trustees Annual Report 2020 – 2021** 2022 or were cancelled. The lack of weddings during the year has had a significant impact on the income of the trading arm and has meant that this year the Hunsbury Hill Centre Ltd has been unable to make a donation to the charity for 2020-21. Due to the financial situation of HHC Ltd, the Trustees of the charity also decided to waive the annual rent and operating costs made by HHC Ltd to Northamptonshire ACRE. ## **REVIEW OF TRANSACTIONS AND FINANCIAL POSITION** ## **Strategic Aims** Northamptonshire ACRE is a company limited by guarantee (company number3937576) and registered charity (charity number 1080038). Northamptonshire ACRE’s aims are: - To encourage and support community-led planning such as neighbourhood plans and rural community action. - To facilitate the identification of rural needs, particularly for the disadvantaged through community consultation and engagement - To raise awareness of rural issues, lobby and influence policy - To support the provision of affordable, accessible rural services - To work in partnership with others, encouraging co-operation and influencing the allocation of resources - To monitor our performance and provide value for money to our funders - To encourage the development of staff and those working on behalf of the organisation Northamptonshire ACRE has a strategic business and implementation plan, which is reviewed and revised regularly. The reviews look at the success of each key activity carried out by the charity and the benefits they have brought to the groups of people with whom we work. These reviews also help us ensure that our aims, objectives and activities remain focused on our stated purposes. We have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commissions General Guidance on Public Benefit when carrying out our review and in planning our future activities. The main activities and achievements of the charity from April 2020 to March 2021 are detailed in the 2020 – 2021 Trustees Annual Report, which is available to download from our website: http://northantsacre.org.uk/ and the Charity Commission. ## **Retirement and Recruitment of Trustees** During the year Mrs Rachael Boyd resigned as a trustee and Mrs Miranda Prentice was appointed as a trustee. Northamptonshire ACRE has an established process for the recruitment, appointment, induction and training of new trustees and continually works to encourage suitable applicants to apply. There is trustee documentation specific to recruitment and appointment and each new trustee is provided with a comprehensive trustee handbook and induction course. **Page 8** **Charity Commission – TAR** **Trustees Annual Report 2020 – 2021** ## **Application and source of Funds** The core rural work undertaken by Northamptonshire ACRE is funded by funding from DEFRA, consultancy and membership work, from project income (management/overheads/support fees) and rent, staff-cost contributions, and any donations from The Hunsbury Hill Centre Ltd, the charity’s trading arm, also known as The Barns at Hunsbury Hill. These funds are used to raise awareness of issues affecting people living in rural communities throughout the county and supporting community groups, including village hall committees and parish councils, on issues relating to sustainable development, transport, fund-raising and rural service provision. Under restricted funds are the income and expenditure relating to a number of specific projects including the Northamptonshire Village Awards, Daventry Citizens Advice Empowered for Life project and South Northants Good Neighbour schemes. From April 2020 it also includes our National Lottery Good Neighbour Schemes project, which is a 3 year programme to deliver 30 Good Neighbour schemes across North Northamptonshire and ongoing work with the Rural Wellbeing Service across the whole of the county. The breakdown of unrestricted expenditure between cost of generating funds, charitable activities and governance costs is based initially on the nature of the expense and whether it falls directly in to one of these categories. Should it fall across several categories it is allocated based on either an individual staff member’s percentage allocation or the overall staff percentage allocation. ## **Assets** Northamptonshire ACRE’s key asset is the Hunsbury Hill Centre. The Centre provides office accommodation for Northamptonshire ACRE’s staff. It provides the community and us with an affordable and unique setting in which to host events. The Centre was professionally revalued in 2018 at £1,262,000. Further details of the revaluation are covered in Note 6 Fixed Assets. ## **Reserves Policy** The Board established a policy where the unrestricted funds not committed or invested in tangible fixed assets (‘the free reserves’) held by the charity should ideally be equivalent to approximately three months of the resources expended. In addition, the Board established a Dilapidation (Reserves) Fund in the 2017-18 financial year, which would be used to build up reserves to cover future major repair and maintenance costs of the Hunsbury Hill Centre buildings. The charity agreed that funds would be added to the Dilapidation Fund as applicable, depending upon the current economic situation. The Dilapidation Fund stood at £25,000 as at 31[st] March 2020. The charity intends to continue building up the Dilapidation Fund each year as the economic situation permits until the Fund reaches a limit of £50,000. **Page 9** **Charity Commission – TAR** **Trustees Annual Report 2020 – 2021** ## **Risk Management** Northamptonshire ACRE has conducted its own review of the major risks to which the charity is exposed and has put in place a Risk Management Policy and systems devised to mitigate those risks. External risks to funding have been mitigated by diversification of funding and activities including a robust approach to discussions with funders with the aim of covering infrastructure costs i.e. full cost recovery. Internal risks are minimised by the devising and implementing of procedures for authorisation of all transactions and projects. These procedures ensure consistent quality of delivery for all operational aspects of the charitable company as well as the refinement and improvement of Human Resources and Health and Safety policies. The procedures and policies are periodically reviewed to ensure that they still meet the needs of the charity. ## **Financial Dependence** The key funders of Northamptonshire ACRE’s core unrestricted activities are DEFRA, Parish and Community Facilities members, donations from the Hunsbury Hill Centre Ltd and Bulk Oil members. ## **Independent Examination** A resolution proposing that Jervis & Partners be re-appointed to conduct an independent examination of the Charity was passed at the 2021 Annual General Meeting. ## **Approval** This report was approved by the Board of Directors on Friday 17[th] December 2021 and signed on their behalf: Gareth Lugar-Mawson Chair **Page 10** **Charity Commission – TAR** **Trustees Annual Report 2020 – 2021** ## **INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES OF NORTHAMPTONSHIRE ACRE** We report on the accounts of Northamptonshire ACRE for the year ended 31[st] March 2021, which are set out on pages 13 to 24. ## **Responsibilities and basis of report** As the charity 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 ourselves 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, we report in respect of our examination of your company’s accounts as carried out under section 145 of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the 2011 Act’). In carrying out our examination we have followed the Directions given by the Charities Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act. ## **Independent examiner's statement** We have completed our examination. We confirm that no matters have come to our attention in connection with the examination giving us cause to believe that in any material respect: - accounting records were not kept as required by section 386 of the 2006 Act; or - the accounts do not accord with those records; or - 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 - 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 (FRS102). We 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. Jervis & Partners Chartered Accountants 30 Harborough Road Kingsthorpe Northamptonshire NN2 7AZ Date: 17/12/2021 **Page 11** **Charity Commission – TAR** **Trustees Annual Report 2020 – 2021** ## **STATEMENT OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS RESPONSIBILITIES** Company Law and Charity Law requires the trustees/directors 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 incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for the year. In preparing these financial statements, the directors are required to: - select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently; - make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent; - state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; - prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charitable company will continue in operation. The trustees/directors are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and 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. By order of the Board of Directors Gareth Lugar-Mawson Chair **Page 12** **Charity Commission – TAR** **Trustees Annual Report 2020 – 2021** ## **STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES 2020- 2021 (Incorporating an Income & Expenditure Account)** |||||||**2020/21**|**2020/21**|**2020/21**||**2019/20**|| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |||||**Note**||**Unrestricted**
**Funds**|**Restricted**
**Funds**|**Total**||**Total**|| |||||||**£**|**£**|**£**||**£**|| ||**Income**||||||||||| |||From Generated Sources|||||||||| ||||Hunsbury Hill Centre|||0|0|0||70,406|| ||||
Generated income|||78,763|0|78,763||14,650|| ||||Office Accommodation|||2,300|0|2,300||2,300|| ||||Donations|||35|0|35||15,055|| ||||Covid Gov grant|||10,000|0|10,000|||| |||||||91,098|0|91,098||102,411|| ||||||||||||| |||From Charitable Activities||3||40,280|117,170|157,450||51,136|| ||||||||||||| ||**Total Income**|||||**131,378**|**117,170**|**248,548**||**153,547**|| ||||||||||||| ||**Expenditure**||||||||||| |||Cost of Raising Funds|||||||||| ||||
Hunsbury Hill Centre|||18,246||18,246||£20,506|| ||||
Fundraising & Publicity|||36,493||36,493||£41,013|| ||||||||||||| |||||||54,739|0|54,739||£61,519|| ||||||||||||| |||Charitable Activities||||46,508|8,231|54,739||£61,519|| ||||||||||||| |||Other Costs||||36,493||36,493||£41,013|| ||||||||||||| ||**Total Expenditure**|||**4**||**137,739**|**8,231**|**145,970**||**£164,051**|| ||||||||||||| ||**Net Income**|||||**(6,361)**|**108,939**|**102,578**||**(10,504)**|| ||||||||||||| ||Transfers between Funds|||||43,806|(43,806)|0||0|| ||||||||||||| ||**Net Income after transfers**|||||**37,445**|**65,133**|**102,578**||**(10,504)**|| ||||||||||||| ||Other Recognised Gains / (Losses)||||||||||| |||
Unrealised gain on property valuation||||0||0||0|| ||||||||||||| ||**Net Movement in Funds**|||||37,445|65,133|102,578||(10,504)|| ||||||||||||| |||Revaluation in year||9||0||0|||| |||
Total Funds Brought forward prior year||9||1,287,804|10,717|1,298,521||1,309,025|| ||||||||||||| ||**Total Funds carried forward atyear-end**|||||**1,325,249**|**75,850**|**1,401,099**||**1,298,521**|| ||||||||||||| ## **Continuing Operations** All income and expenditure has arisen from continuing activities. The Statement of Financial Activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year. **Page 13** **Charity Commission – TAR** **Trustees Annual Report 2020 – 2021** ## **BALANCE SHEET As at 31st March 2021** ||||**Note**||**As at**
**31/3/21**||**As at**
**31/3/20**| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| ||||||£||| ||**Fixed Assets**||||||| |||Tangible Fixed Assets|6||1,262,000||1,262,000| ||||||||| |||Investment in Subsidiary|6||1||1| ||||||||| ||||||1,262,001||1,262,001| ||**Current Assets**||||||| |||Debtors|7||50,326||15,686| ||||||||| |||Short Term Deposits|||20,991||20,556| ||||||||| |||Cash at Bank & in Hand|||158,838||18,417| ||||||||| ||||||230,155||54,659| ||||||||| ||Liabilities: amounts falling due within one year||8
||91,057||18,139| ||||||||| ||Net Current Assets / (Liabilities)||||139,098||36,520| ||||||||| ||**Assets Less Current liabilities**||||1,401,099||1,298,521| ||||||||| ||Liabilities: amounts falling due after one year||8||0||0| ||||||||| ||**Total Net Assets**||||1,401,099||1,298,521| ||||||||| ||Funds||||||| |||Unrestricted - General/dilapidation|9||133,428||95,984| ||||||||| |||Unrestricted - Capital|9||1,191,820||1,191,820| ||||||||| |||Total Unrestricted|||1,325,248||1,287,804| ||||||||| |||Restricted|9||75,851||10,717| ||||||||| ||**Total Funds**||||1,401,099||1,298,521| ||||||||| **Page 14** **Charity Commission – TAR** **Trustees Annual Report 2020 – 2021** ## **BALANCE SHEET (CONTINUED)** The directors’ statements required by Section 475(2) and (3) are shown below, which form part of this balance sheet. In approving these financial statements as directors of the charitable company we hereby confirm: - (a) That for the year stated above the charitable company was entitled to the exemption conferred by Section 477 of the Companies Act 2006; - (b) That no notice has been deposited at the registered office of the charitable company pursuant to Section 476 requesting that an audit be conducted for the year ended 31[st] March 2021; and - (c) That we acknowledge our responsibilities for: - a. Ensuring that the charitable company keeps accounting records which comply with Section 386 and 387 of the Companies Act 2006; and - b. Preparing financial statements which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company as at the end of the financial year and of its result for the year then ended in accordance with the requirements of Section 394 and 395 and which otherwise comply with the provisions of the Companies Act 2006 relating to financial statements, so far as applicable to the charitable company These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the special provisions of Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies. The financial statements were approved by the Board of Directors on Friday 17[th] December 2021 and signed on its behalf by: Gareth Lugar-Mawson Chair **Page 15** **Charity Commission – TAR** **Trustees Annual Report 2020 – 2021** ## **NOTES FORMING PART OF THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31[st] March 2021** ## **NOTE 1: SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES** ## _**a) General information and basis of preparation**_ Northamptonshire ACRE is a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee registered in England. In the event of the charity being wound up, the liability in respect of the guarantee is limited to £1 per trustee of the Charity. The address of the registered office is given in the charity information on page 5 of these financial statements. The nature of the charity’s operations and principal activities are given in the report of the Directors/Trustees on pages 7 – 10. The charity constitutes a public benefit entity as defined by FRS 102. The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) issued on 16 July 2014 (as updated through Update Bulletin 1 published on 2 February 2016), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102), the Charities Act 2011, the Companies Act 2006 and UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practice. The charity has applied Update Bulletin 1 as published on 2 February 2016 and does not include a cash flow statement on the grounds that it is applying FRS 102 Section 1A. The financial statements are prepared on a going concern basis under the historical cost convention, modified to include certain items at fair value. The financial statements are presented in sterling, which is the functional currency of the charity. The significant accounting policies applied in the preparation of these financial statements are set out below. These policies have been consistently applied to all years presented unless otherwise stated. ## _**b) Fund accounting**_ General funds are unrestricted funds which are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the Charity and which have not been designated for other purposes. Designated funds comprise unrestricted funds that have been set aside by the trustees for particular purposes. The aim and use of each designated fund is set out in the notes to the financial statements. Restricted funds are funds which are to be used in accordance with specific restrictions imposed by donors or which have been raised by the Charity for particular purposes. The cost of raising and administering such funds are charged against the specific fund. The aim and use of each restricted fund is set out in the notes to the financial statements. **Page 16** **Charity Commission – TAR** **Trustees Annual Report 2020 – 2021** ## _**c) Income**_ All incoming resources are included in the statement of financial affairs (SOFA) when the Charity is legally entitled to the income and the amount can be quantified with reasonable accuracy. For legacies, entitlement is the earlier of the Charity being notified of an impending distribution or the legacy being received. Gifts in kind donated for distribution are included at valuation and recognised as income when they are distributed to the projects. Gifts donated for resale are included as income when they are sold. Donated facilities are included at the value to the Charity where this can be quantified and a third party is bearing the cost. No amounts are included in the financial statements for services donated by volunteers. ## _d)_ _**Expenditure**_ All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all costs 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 the resources. Fundraising costs includes the expenditure costs of disseminating information in support of the charitable activities. Support costs are those costs incurred directly in support of expenditure on the objects of the Charity and include project management carried out at Headquarters. Management and administration costs are those incurred in connection with administration of the Charity and compliance with constitutional and statutory requirements. ## _**e) Tangible fixed assets and depreciation**_ Tangible fixed assets are capitalised at cost including any incidental expenses of acquisition Depreciation is provided on all tangible fixed assets at rates calculated to write off the cost on a straight line basis over their expected useful economic lives as follows: - |Description|Depreciation Period| |---|---| |HunsburyHillCentre (freehold)|Nil| |Office equipment|Over2to 10 years| |Trophies|Nil| |ITequipment|100%inyearofpurchase| |Fixtures & fittings|Over 5 to 10 years| As detailed in note 6, certain fixed assets have been re-valued in previous years. These valuations have been adopted as the historical costs. Depreciation is not charged on the buildings at the Hunsbury Hill Centre, as the residual value is considered to be not less than the carrying value. **Page 17** **Charity Commission – TAR** **Trustees Annual Report 2020 – 2021** ## _**f) Investment**_ The Charity owns The Hunsbury Hill Centre Limited, which was incorporated on 26th March 2013. The investment represents the entire share capital of that company. ## **g)** _**Going Concern**_ The financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis, which assumes that the Charity will have sufficient resources to continue its charitable activities for the foreseeable future. ## **NOTE 2: ACTIVITIES** The activities of this organisation, which is a registered Charity (registered no. 1080038), continue to be the support of the rural communities of Northamptonshire through the provision of advice and support on issues affecting them. **NOTE 3: INCOME FROM CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES** |||**Unrestricte**
**d Funds**|**Restricted**
**Funds**|**Total**
**2020/21**||**Total**
**2019/20**|| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |||**£**|**£**|||**£**|| ||DEFRA - ACRE|40,280||40,280||40,280|| ||NLCF GNSproject||89,234|89,234||0|| ||NVA||0|0||4,330|| ||Empowered for Life||0|0||3,371|| ||SNC GNSproject||3,000|3,000||3,155|| ||Defra LA food fund||24,936|24,936|||| |||40,280|117,170|157,450||51,136|| ||||||||| The Empowered for Life (EfL) project is run by Daventry Citizen’s Advice and is aimed at providing support and advice about debt and benefit to people in the Daventry District, particularly those who are unable to visit the office and may be suffering from poor mental wellbeing. Northamptonshire ACRE is working with Daventry CA as part of the project, linking the EfL fieldworkers to Good Neighbour schemes in the district in order to deliver debt and benefit support to people in rural areas. This is an on-going project over 3 years but had to be put on hold for 2020-21 due to the pandemic. Prior to April 2020, Northamptonshire ACRE was funded by South Northants Council to help set up 7 Good Neighbour schemes within the district. This involved providing support, mentoring, a toolkit and template policies to community groups wishing to start a scheme. They were also helped to access funding from SNC council for start-up costs. Due to the success of this work, South Northants Council funded Northamptonshire ACRE to set up a further 3 Good Neighbour schemes in the district by 31[st] March 2021. The additional 3 schemes are set up and now active. **Page 18** **Charity Commission – TAR** **Trustees Annual Report 2020 – 2021** The Northamptonshire Village Awards (NVA) replaced the Best Village Competition for 2019 and was sponsored by CPRE (Campaign to Protect Rural England). CPRE intended to sponsor the 2020 Northamptonshire Village Awards but this had to be put on hold during the pandemic as it was not possible to visit villages and communities. The NVA was replaced by the Covid-19 Community Champions Awards during 2020. 76 community groups, parishes and individuals sent in their stories, photos and videos of the support they provided to the more vulnerable members of their community and these details of their amazing work has been collected into a Covid-19 Community Champions booklet. This booklet is available to download at: - - - https://www.northantsacre.org.uk/covid 19 community champions The next Northamptonshire Village Awards will take place in 2022 and CPRE has confirmed they will sponsor the awards. We are very grateful for CPRE’s sponsorship and look forward to working with them again next year. The National Lottery Community Fund Good Neighbours project is a 3 year programme, which began on 1[st] April 2020. The funding from The National Lottery Community Fund distributes money raised by National Lottery players for good causes - it is the largest community funder in the UK. This funding allows for two fieldworkers to be employed by the charity. The fieldworkers will be responsible to helping to set up 30 Good Neighbour schemes in North Northamptonshire from April 2020 over a 3 year period. These schemes are run by local volunteers providing day to day low level support to fellow residents in their community to meet individual local needs. GNS support may involve informal general help, befriending or activities, either on an occasional or regular basis. In addition the fieldworkers will continue to provide our Rural Wellbeing Service across the whole of the county, offering advice, information and resources as well as signposting people to other organisations and services in order to access the support they need. The DEFRA Local Authority food fund is to provide food parcels and support to residents in North Northamptonshire. Work commenced on this in April 2021. Northamptonshire ACRE will purchase food parcels through the Daylight Centre in Wellingborough and will distribute the parcels to local community groups in the north who can then allocated to any resident in their community who has a need. Two of the community groups Northamptonshire ACRE will distribute the parcels to new Good Neighbour schemes, which were recently set up in the north of the county as part of the NLCF project (see above). **Page 19** **Charity Commission – TAR** **Trustees Annual Report 2020 – 2021** ## **NOTE 4: TOTAL EXPENDITURE** |||||||||| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| ||**Fund**
**raising**|**Charitable**
**Activities**|
**Governan.**
**other costs**|**HHC**|**Total**
**2020/21**||**Total**
**2019/20**|| ||**£**|**£**|**£**||**£**||**£**|| |||||||||| |Staff Costs|25,373|38,059|25,373|12,686|101,490||96,761|| |Premises|1,180|1,770|1,180|590|4,720||10,882|| |Insurance|3,313|4,970|3,313|1,657|13,252||12,582|| |Professional Services|2,073|3,110|2,073|1,037|8,292||17,502|| |Telephones|795|1,193|795|398|3,181||3,423|| |Postage, Printing &
Stationery|40|60|40|20|159||1,029|| |
Equipment & Materials|628|942|628|314|2,512||2,730|| |Advertising|700|1,050|700|350|2,801||4,159|| |Catering|0|0|0|0|0||0|| |Other Expenses|901|1,352|901|451|3,604||7,866|| |Subscriptions inc. ACRE|1,490|2,235|1,490|745|5,959||7,117|| ||36,493|54,739|36,493|18,246|145,970||164,051|| |||||||||| Total expenditure on Charitable Activities includes expenditure from restricted funds. Refer to Note 9 for breakdown of expenditure from restricted funds. Staff costs include the costs spent on core NACRE staff as well as the expenditure on salaries for restricted projects (i.e. National Lottery Good Neighbour scheme project, Daventry Empowered for Life, South Northants Good Neighbours and Northants Village Awards). ## **NOTE 5: RESOURCES EXPENDED INCLUDES:-** No employee had emoluments in excess of £60,000 in the year or preceding year. |||**2019/20**||**2019/20**| |---|---|---|---|---| |The average number of employees calculated on a full
time equivalent basiswas:-||4||5| |**NACREStaffCosts**||**2020/21**||**2019/20**| |---|---|---|---|---| |||**£**||**£**| |Salaries||95,667||88,290| |EmployersNational Insurance||2,751||3,076| |Payrollprovisioncosts||144||144| |PensionContribution||1,830||1,593| |Training||372||200| |Travel mileage allowance||0||548| |Travel -othercosts (train, parking)||0||0| |Recruitment costs||0||1,083| |||100,764||94,934| **Page 20** **Charity Commission – TAR** **Trustees Annual Report 2020 – 2021** |**Other Expenses**||**2020/21**||**2019/20**| |---|---|---|---|---| |||**£**||**£**| |The director/trustees receive no emoluments but were paid
expenses||728||1,827| |||||| |Independent Examiners Fee||3,060||870| ## **NOTE 6: FIXED ASSETS** ||||**HHC**||**F&F**|**Office Equip **|**Office Equip **|**Office Equip **|**Trophies**|**Total 2020/21**||**Total 2019/20**|| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| ||||**£**||**£**||**£**||**£**|**£**||**£**|| ||||||||||||||| |**Cost/Valuation**|As at 1 April 2020||1,262,000||3,072||11,639||4,531|1,281,242||1,281,242|| ||Additions||0||0||0||0|0||0|| ||Disposals||0||0||0||0|0||0|| ||Revaluation in theyear||0||0||0||0|0||0|| ||As at 31 March 2021||1,262,000||3,072||11,639||4,531|1,281,242||1,281,242|| ||||||||||||||| |**Depreciation**|As at 1 April 2020||0||3,072||11,639||4,531|19,242||19,242|| ||Provided in Year||0||0||0||0|0||0|| ||Disposals|||||||||0||0|| ||As at 31 March 2021||0||3,072||11,639||4,531|19,242||19,242|| ||||||||||||||| |**Net Book Value**|As at 1 April 2020||1,262,000||0||0||0|1,262,000||1,262,000|| ||As at 31 March 2021||1,262,000||0||0||0|1,262,000||1,262,000|| ||||||||||||||| - 1) All the above assets are used for direct charitable purposes - 2) The historical cost of the fixed assets is £89,422. - 3) The Hunsbury Hill Centre and its surrounding site is professionally revalued every five years. The site was valued in November 2018 by Godfrey Payton Chartered Surveyors, with the valuation as at the 1[st] April 2018. The Centre and site was valued at £1,262,000 at the 1[st] April 2018. The property is due to be revalued in 2023. - 4) The trustees consider that the current values are not less than the value as stated in the accounts. |||||||| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| ||**Investments**|||||| |||||**As at**
**31/03/21**||**As at**
**31/03/20**| |||||**£**||**£**| |||Investment
in
the
wholly
owned
subsidiary
company||1||1| |||||||| **Page 21** **Charity Commission – TAR** **Trustees Annual Report 2020 – 2021** Northamptonshire ACRE owns the whole of the issued share capital of the Hunsbury Hill Centre Limited, a company incorporated in England. The company’s principal activity is the provision of event facilities. In the financial year to 31[st] March 2021 the Hunsbury Hill Centre Ltd made a deficit of £64,714 due to the cancellation of all weddings and events in 202021 as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Trustees of Northamptonshire ACRE decided to waive the annual rent and operating costs that HHC Ltd would normally make to the charity because of the deficit made by the trading arm. ## **NOTE 7: DEBTORS** ||**2020/21**||**2019/20**|| |---|---|---|---|---| ||**£**||**£**|| |Controlaccount|326||686|| |Amounts duefromsubsidiary|0||15,000|| |HHCLoanaccount|50,000||0|| ||50,326||15,686|| |||||| For more details about the HHC Loan account refer to Note 8. ## **NOTE 8: CREDITORS** ||||**2020/21**||**2019/20**|| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---| ||||**£**||**£**|| ||Creditors control account||340||2,004|| ||Receipts in advance||10,180||3,925|| ||Accruals||1,850||1,850|| ||PAYE creditors||0||0|| ||Pension creditors||357||360|| ||Deferred income||0||0|| ||Amounts due to Subsidiary||28,330||10,000|| ||Yorks. Bank|Bounce Back Loan|50,000
|||| ||||91,057||18,139|| |||||||| Receipts in advance (RIA) of £10,180 cover monies received in the current financial year for services due in 2021/2022 in the following areas: Village Halls and Parish Council subs paid early, donations to the charity, fees from entrants to the Northamptonshire Village Awards 2021/22 and other services. The amount of £10,000 due to the subsidiary in 2019-20 was an internal loan to the charity from HHC Ltd without interest. The Trustees repaid the £10,000 to HHC Ltd in the current financial year 2020-2021. **Page 22** **Charity Commission – TAR** **Trustees Annual Report 2020 – 2021** The Amounts due to Subsidiary of £28,330 in 2020-21 reflects the amount waived by the charity for rent and salaries paid by HHC Ltd to Northamptonshire ACRE in the financial year and which is due to be paid back to HHC Ltd. Northamptonshire ACRE applied for a £50,000 Yorkshire Bank Bounce Back Loan, which was taken out on 12[th] May 2020. The first 12 months of the loan were interest free (the Government covers the first 12 months of interest) and no repayments were required for the first 12 months. Interest is charged at 2.50% and the loan is for a term of 6 years. The Bounce Back Loan was provided by Northamptonshire ACRE as a loan to the Hunsbury Hill Centre Ltd. The Hunsbury Hill Centre Ltd will be responsible for the interest and capital repayments to Northamptonshire ACRE when the first payments are due. The first capital repayment is due on 12[th] June 2021 and the first interest repayment is due on 1[st] June 2021. ## **NOTE 9: FUND ANALYSIS** ||||||||||||| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| ||||**b/forward 1**
**April 2020**|**Incoming**
**Resources**|**Outgoing**
**Resources**|**Revaluation**|**Incoming**
**Transfers**|**Outgoing**
**Transfers**|**Net**
**Transfers**|**Balances**
**c/forward 31**
**March 2021**|| ||||**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|| ||||||||||||| ||Unrestricted Funds||||||||||| |||General fund|70,984|131,378|137,739||43,806|0|43,806|108,428|| |||Capital Fund|1,191,820|||0|0||0|1,191,820|| |||
HHF|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|0|| |||Dilapidation/Reserves Fund|25,000||||0||0|25,000|| ||
Total Unrestricted||1,287,804|131,378|137,739|0|43,806|0|43,806|1,325,248|| ||||||||||||| ||Restricted Funds||||||||||| |||Best Village Competition|3,539|0|0|0|0|1,211|(1,211)|£2,328|| |||
Nat Lottery GNS project|0|89,234|7,231||0|33,416|(33,416)|£48,587|| |||
Daventry EFL|5,448|0|0|0|0|5,448|(5,448)|£0|| |||
SNC GNS|1,731|3,000|1,000||0|3,731|(3,731)|£0|| |||DEFRA food fund||24,936|0||0|0|0|£24,936|| ||Total Restricted||10,717|117,170|8,231|0|0|43,806|(43,806)|£75,851|| ||||||||||||| ||Total Funds||1,298,521|248,548|145,970|0|43,806|43,806|0|1,401,099|| ||||||||||||| ## **Fund Analysis Explanation** ## _**Unrestricted Funds**_ The General Fund represents the free funds of the charity, which are not designated for particular purposes. The General Fund is used to cover the charity’s core costs. The General Fund is made up from several sources including membership fees from our Parish Council and Community Facility members, a yearly grant from DEFRA (made through the national ACRE network), the donation from **Page 23** **Charity Commission – TAR** **Trustees Annual Report 2020 – 2021** the trading arm, office rentals and the bulk oil membership scheme that Northamptonshire ACRE runs for off gas rural communities. This is a standalone scheme using an online system called Olive. The system is maintained on behalf of the charity by eSmartMetrics. This company is also responsible for negotiating prices for the oil delivery with various oil companies and ordering the oil deliveries. Northamptonshire ACRE receives a small commission on each oil order. In 2020/21 the scheme received £3,002 in commission. The Hunsbury Hill Centre is an established event venue and was incorporated as a trading arm, The Hunsbury Hill Centre Limited, to take over the nonprimary activities of the charity. The trading arm is marketed as The Barns at Hunsbury Hill. Unfortunately due to the coronavirus pandemic, there were no weddings held at the centre between 1[st] April 2020 and 31[st] March 2021. This had an impact on the income of the Hunsbury Hill Centre Ltd and meant that it made a deficit for the year. The trading arm was not in a position to make a donation to the charity at year end. Hunsbury Hill Centre Limited pays Northamptonshire ACRE rent for office accommodation and pays a proportion of the combined operating costs, i.e. insurance, utilities and managerial staff time. However, in light of the deficit made by HHC Ltd for 2020/21, the charity decided to waive payments for rent and operating costs for the year. The Capital Fund represents the fixed asset revaluation fund for tangible fixed assets that were re-valued as required by the Companies Act of 2006. The reserve reflects the amount by which the fixed assets exceed their historical cost. As at 31st March 2021 the Dilapidation (Reserves) Fund was in surplus by £25,000. The reserve will be capped at £50,000. As at 31st March 2021, the General Fund was in surplus by £108,428 which is an increase on the previous surplus of £70,984 at 31st March 2020. In total, the unrestricted funds carried forward at 31[st] March 2021 is a significant increase on the previous amount at 31[st] March 2020 and is testament to all the hard work and effort all the staff put in during the pandemic with the support of the Trustees of Northamptonshire ACRE. ## _**Restricted Funds**_ These are funds received by the charity to deliver a specific project. Refer to Note 3 for details about the restricted funds the charity received and the projects delivered during 2020 and 2021. ## **NOTE 10: CONTROL RELATIONSHIPS** The charitable company is controlled by the Board of Directors/Trustees. **Page 24** **Charity Commission – TAR**