Hertford Community Church Trust
Annual Report and Accounts Twelve months ending 31 August 2021
Charity Number 1082292
Hertford Community Church Trust
Trustees Report
Twelve months ending 31 August 2021
Trustees and Church Leadership
Trustees and church leaders serving throughout the year and since year end are:
Trustees
Ian Tyler Ross Hartwig Jacqui Pattison Cathy Sebborn (Treasurer)
Leadership Team
Jess Hartwig Ian Tyler Ross Hartwig Alison Tyler
Structure, Governance and Management
Hertford Community Church Trust is constituted by a trust deed dated 30 January 2000, as amended by supplemental deed dated 2 July 2000 and is a registered charity number 1082292
The powers of appointment or removal of Trustees rests with the Trustees with due reference to the Church Leadership Team. New Trustees are selected from the members of the Church since this means that the Trustee body is whole-heartedly involved in seeing the mission of the Church worked out in practice. On being Appointed, new Trustees spend time with the existing Trustees to ensure they understand the responsibilities and the legal and financial framework in which the Church operates.
Hertford Community Church targets to have at least two Trustees who are not members of the Leadership and two who are. This is in order to achieve a healthy balance of spiritual and legal governance. Directions relating to the charitable trust are made by the Trustees, in consultation with the Leadership, who are responsible for governing the life and teaching of the Church. Day
to day decisions on expenditure and activities are decided by the staff and volunteers in charge of-different departments within the Church, with budgets set and monitored by the Trustees.
Hertford Community Church is a member of the Pioneer Network of churches.
Objectives and Activities
The Trust has the objective to advance the Christian faith in Hertford and across the world, to relieve poverty or hardship and advance education and training. The church is built on the belief that this is achieved through works in the community.
The main activities of the church are based in Hertford and these also include two separate operations under separate banners:
-
Pines Pre School – a pre-school group held at Pinehurst Community Centre for up to 26 children. This is funded primarily from local government grants. This employs 8 part time staff and benefits from 5 volunteers
-
Street Pastors, Hertford and Ware – this is a group of volunteers from local churches that regularly go out late at night in Ware and Hertford, to help keep the streets safe for those that are vulnerable due to an excess of alcohol and/or other drugs
Achievements and Performance
In the core church giving and donations increased modestly enabling a small increase in both donations and expenses. The Trustees took the decision to continue to pay rent for halls even though we weren’t using them some of the year, in order to support them through these difficult times.
The pre-school did amazingly well to come through the financial year with a small surplus as it was a tough year due to the ongoing Covid pandemic and the age demographic which made keeping full occupancy throughout the year impossible.
SPH&W activities have also been significantly impacted by COVID as the local night-time economy has been severely affected and also in order to protect the health of some of the older and more vulnerable volunteers. However, the financial impact of this is quite modest as SPH&W is an entirely volunteer run activity.
Financial Review
This financial year we have reinstated full comparisons to the prior year.
| Church Activities 35 28 7 9 |
Street Pastors 1 2 (1) 0 |
Pre School 56 55 1 1 |
Total | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Incoming resources Resources expended Net 2021 Net 2020 |
||||||
| 92 85 |
||||||
| 7 10 |
The income and expenditure were both up for the church but the net surplus for the year decreased from £9k to £7k. The numbers for the pre-school were practically identical for the third year in a row, but this was after c. £8,500 of Covid related support from the Council and furlough payments. As expected, the activity of SPH&W is relatively modest in financial terms and whilst there was a small deficit for the year this largely reflects the difficulty in raising contributions from supporting churches due to Covid.
The Trust has a target to maintain reserves at between one months and two months expenditure in order to manage unexpected fluctuations in income and meet liabilities as they arise. The reserves at the end of 2021 were equivalent to over 9 months expenditure, which is the highest cover ever and reflects the further surplus for the year.
Public Benefit
In planning its activities, the Trustees have given regard to the Charity Commission's Public Benefit guidance (Reg 40 (2)(c)(ii)) and particularly the guidance for charities whose objects are the advancement of religion.
Hertford Community Church provides Public Benefit in numerous ways which include Christian witness, being active in our local communities to all in need regardless of faith and donation of resources to both local and international communities.
Trustee Date
Hertford Community Church Trust
Statement of Financial Activities
Twelve Months Ended 31 August 2021
| Notes |
Un- restricted funds £’000 45 - 45 38 38 |
Un- restricted funds £’000 45 - 45 38 38 |
Restricted funds £’000 - 47 47 47 47 - - - |
Total 2021 £’000 45 47 92 85 85 |
Total 2021 £’000 45 47 92 85 85 |
Total 2020 £’000 34 54 88 78 78 10 47 57 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Incoming resources Incoming resources from generated funds . Voluntary income 1 Incoming resources from charitable activities 2 Total incoming resources Resources expended Charitable activities 3 Total resources expended Net incoming resources Funds at the start of the year Funds at the end of the year |
||||||
| 7 57 |
7 57 |
|||||
| 64 | 64 |
Hertford Community Church Trust
Balance Sheet
At 31 August 2021
Notes Current assets Debtors 5 Cash at bank and in hand 6 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year 7 Net current assets Total assets less current liabilities Represented by: Funds and reserves Unrestricted funds |
2021 £’000 1 63 64 - |
2021 £’000 64 64 |
2021 £’000 64 64 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 64 | |||
| 64 | |||
Approved on: 06 January 2022
Hertford Community Church Trust
Cashflow
Twelve Months Ended 31 August 2021
A Adjustment of net incoming resources before transfers to net cash inflow/(outflow) from operating activities
| Net incoming resources before transfers (Increase)/Decrease in Debtors Increase in Creditors Net cash inflow/(outflow) from operating activities |
2021 £’000 7 1 - 8 |
2020 £’000 |
|---|---|---|
| 10 5 |
||
| 15 |
B Analysis of changes in net debt
| Cash at bank and in hand Total |
At 1 Sept 2020 £’000 55 55 |
Cash flows £’000 8 8 |
At 31 Aug 2021 £’000 63 63 |
|---|---|---|---|
Principal Accounting Policies
Basis of accounting
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention. Applicable United Kingdom Accounting Standards and the Statement of Recommended Practice “Accounting and Reporting by Charities” (SORP 2005), have been followed in the preparation of these financial statements.
Incoming resources
All income is credited to the statement of financial activities on a receivable basis.
Donations are credited to the statement of financial activities in the year in which they are received as receipt is the earliest point at which entitlement is considered certain.
Restricted grants and awards are included once the amount is reasonably certain to be received. The income is matched to the period of expenditure for grants extending beyond the financial year.
Resources expended and the basis of apportioning costs
Expenditure is charged to the statement of financial activities on an accruals basis.
Governance costs are negligible and no separate cost has been identified.
Fund accounting
The Restricted Funds are monies raised for, and their use restricted to, a specific purpose, or donations subject to donor imposed condition.
The General Fund represents unrestricted and undesignated monies used to fund working capital and which the organisation may use in furtherance of the charity’s objectives.
1 Voluntary income
| 1 Voluntary income |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Donations Grants Other income Gift Aid |
Unrestricted funds £’000 30 0 9 6 45 |
Restricted funds £’000 - - |
Total 2021 £’000 30 0 9 6 45 |
Total 2020 £’000 |
| 27 0 1 6 |
||||
| 34 |
2 Incoming resources from charitable activities
| Government grants Fees |
Unrestricted funds £’000 - - - |
Restricted funds £’000 41 6 47 |
Total 2021 £’000 41 6 47 |
Total 2020 £’000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 52 2 |
||||
| 54 |
3 Cost of charitable activities
| Staff costs Contributions to outside activities Accommodation Project costs Administration and general |
Unrestricted funds £’000 3 13 4 12 6 38 |
Restricted funds £’000 46 0 1 0 0 47 |
Total 2021 £’000 49 13 5 12 6 85 |
Total 2020 £’000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 49 12 5 7 5 |
||||
| 78 |
4 Staff costs
| 4 Staff costs |
||
|---|---|---|
| Total staff costs | 2021 £’000 49 |
2020 £’000 |
| 49 |
It has not been possible to quantify the monetary value of the services of approximately 25 volunteers who give their time freely, providing a wide range of support and activities to children, youth, OAPs, local residents and staff.
The average number of actual employees was as follows:
| Part time - FTE equivalent of 2.5 Full time |
2021 8 0 8 |
2020 |
|---|---|---|
| 8 0 |
||
| 8 |
5 Debtors
| 5 Debtors | ||
|---|---|---|
| Gift Aid Due | 2021 £’000 1 1 |
2020 £’000 |
| 2 | ||
| 2 |
6 Cash at bank and in hand
| Current accounts | 2021 £’000 63 63 |
2020 £’000 |
|---|---|---|
| 55 | ||
| 55 |
7 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
| Other creditors | 2021 £’000 - - |
2020 £’000 |
|---|---|---|
| - | ||