## Hertford Community Church Trust
Annual Report and Accounts Twelve months ending 31 August 2025
Charity Number 1082292
## **Hertford Community Church Trust**
## **Trustees Report**
## **Twelve months ending 31 August 2025**
## **Trustees and Church Leadership**
Trustees and church leaders serving throughout the year are:
## **Trustees**
Ian Tyler Ross Hartwig Jacqui Pattison Cathy Sebborn (Treasurer)
## **Leadership Team**
Jess Hartwig Ross Harting (until Feb 25) Alison Tyler Jacqui Pattison (from Feb 25)
## **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 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 in part 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
- 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
## **Financial Review**
This financial year we have reinstated full comparisons to the prior year.
|
|Church
Activities
22
21
1
(7)|Street
Pastors|Street
Pastors|1
2
(1)
0|Pre
School
81
71
10
6
|Total|104
94
10
(1)|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**Incoming resources**
**Resources expended**
**Net 2025**
**Net 2024**||||||||
|||||||||
|||||||||
|||||||||
The church showed a surplus of £1k for the year if we include the increase in the amount owed by HMRC from £3k to £7k. This improvement largely reflects cost saving measures taken mainly in 2024. The pre-school’s financial performance was the best ever with a surplus of £10k helped by a one-off grant and the
donation from Morgans preschool when it closed. Street Pastors for the first time spent more than it received but the net deficit was only £688 and this still left almost £6k in the bank as reserves.
The Trust has a target to maintain reserves at between one months and two months expenditure to manage unexpected fluctuations in income and meet liabilities as they arise. The reserves at the end of 2025 were equivalent to 3.5 months for the pre-school and considerably longer periods for the church and Street Pastors.
## **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.
**----- Start of picture text -----**
,,,,,, Trustee
**----- End of picture text -----**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
8/6/2026………. Date
**----- End of picture text -----**
## **Hertford Community Church Trust**
## **Statement of Financial Activities**
## **Twelve Months Ended 31 August 2025**
|Notes
|Un-
restricted
funds
£’000
24
6
30
20
20
|Un-
restricted
funds
£’000
24
6
30
20
20
|Restricted
funds
£’000
-
74
74
74
74
-
-
-
|**Total**
**2025**
**£’000**
**24**
**80**
**104**
**94**
**94**
|**Total**
**2025**
**£’000**
**24**
**80**
**104**
**94**
**94**
|**Total**
**2024**
**£’000**
**35**
**70**
**105**
**106**
**106**
**(1)**
**48**
**47**
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**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**|||||||
|||||
|||
||||||||
|||10
47||
|**10**
**47**||
|||57|||**57**||
## **Hertford Community Church Trust**
## **Balance Sheet**
## **At 31 August 2025**
|
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|**2025**
**£’000**
**7**
**50**
**67**
**-**|
|**2025**
**£’000**
**57**
**57**
**57**|
|---|---|---|---|
|||||
|||||
|||||
Approved on: 8 June 2026
## **Hertford Community Church Trust**
## **Cashflow**
## **Twelve Months Ended 31 August 2024**
## **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**|**2025**
**£’000**
**10**
**(4)**
**-**
**6**|**2024**
**£’000**|
|---|---|---|
|||**(1)**
**4**|
|||**3**|
## **B Analysis of changes in net debt**
|Cash at bank and in hand
**Total**|At
1 Sept
2024
£’000
44
44|Cash
flows
£’000
6
6|**At**
**31 Aug**
**2025**
**£’000**
**50**
**50**|
|---|---|---|---|
## **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 except Gift Aid which is accrued.
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
23
0
1
0
24|Restricted
funds
£’000
-
-|**Total**
**2025**
**£’000**
**23**
**0**
**1**
**0**
**24**|**Total**
**2024**
**£’000**|
|||||**31**
**0**
**1**
**3**|
|||||**35**|
## **2 Incoming resources from charitable activities**
|Government grants
Fees|Unrestricted
funds
£’000
-
6
6|Restricted
funds
£’000
74
74|**Total**
**2025**
**£’000**
**74**
**6**
**80**|Total
2024
£’000|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||62
8|
|||||72|
## **3 Cost of charitable activities**
|Staff costs
Contributions to outside activities
Accommodation
Project costs
Administration and general|Unrestricted
funds
£’000
7
5
5
2
1
20|Restricted
funds
£’000
61
0
3
2
8
74|**Total**
**2025**
**£’000**
**68**
**5**
**8**
**4**
**9**
**94**|**Total**
**2024**
**£’000**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||**64**
**10**
**7**
**19**
**6**|
|||||**106**|
## **4 Staff costs**
|**4**
**Staff costs**|||
|---|---|---|
|Total staff costs|**2025**
**£’000**
**68**|**2024**
**£’000**|
||||
|||**64**|
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 2.8 (3 in 2024)
Full time|**2025**
**11**
**0**
**11**|2024|
|---|---|---|
|||11
0|
|||11|
## **5 Debtors**
|**5 Debtors**|||
|---|---|---|
|Gift Aid Due|**2025**
**£’000**
**7**
**7**|2024
£’000|
|||3|
|||3|
## **6 Cash at bank and in hand**
|Current accounts
|**2025**
**£’000**
**50**
**50**|2024
£’000|
|---|---|---|
|||44|
|||44|
## **7 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year**
|Other creditors|**2025**
**£’000**
**-**
**-**|2024
£’000|
|---|---|---|
|||-|
||||