Trustees' Annual Report and Accounts
For the period from: 1[st] June 2020 To : 31[st] May 2021.
Feline Welfare Charity No. 1084722 ‘Bo-Jangles,’ 3, Nicholson Street, Newport, Isle of Wight, PO30 5PT Telephone: 01983 521 778 Website: www.felinewelfareiow.co.uk
Charity trustees who manage the charity
Name Position Dates acted Mr Douglas Charles John Wills Acted for whole of period Mrs Elizabeth Wills Acted for whole of period Mrs Nicola Helen Hazelgrove Chairperson Acted for whole of period Ms Kathryn Rossati Acted for part of period Colin Midmore Acted for part of period Jane Cresdee Acted for part of period Ms Jenny Young Acted for part of period
Structure, governance and management
Feline Welfare is a charity governed by a constitution document based on the principles and policies of its founder Mrs Nicola Helen Hazelgrove. The charity is managed by a trust and board of trustees who implement the policies as laid down by the constitution document. Trustees are nominated and elected in accordance with the policy contained therein.
The charity is managed by the trustees who undertake the organisation and implementation of the public charitable work of Feline Welfare. The trustees also undertake the recruitment, training and management of volunteers to assist in Feline Welfare's charitable pursuits including publicity and fundraising.
The charity trustees are responsible for complying with legislation applicable to charities. This includes the registration, keeping of proper accounts and making returns to the Charity Commission as appropriate.
Objectives and activities
The objectives of Feline Welfare are to promote better welfare conditions for those cats and kittens that do not have the benefit of a loving home and to educate feline owners as to the need for the proper provision of decent living conditions and the need for neutering and spaying.
The aim of the charity is to protect, rescue and rehabilitate cats and kittens, both domestic and feral, that may have been abandoned, made homeless, neglected, injured and/or abused and in need or veterinary treatment.
The activities of Feline Welfare are foremost the rescue and rehabilitation of cats and kittens in need of help. If such cats or kittens are unapproachable because of fear or because they are feral, we will trap them using a humane trap. When a cat and or kitten(s) is taken into our care, he or she is immediately checked by a vet and treated for any injuries, infections and/or illnesses. This includes any visual medical check, X-rays and blood tests for organ damage or dysfunction, illness and routine Feline Aids and Feline leukaemia. Also, all cats in our care are neutered or spayed
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and also microchipped for easy identification.
We try to persuade as many landowners and farmers as we can to have their feral and/or outdoor cats neutered or spayed. Once the relevant permissions have been granted, we trap them and take them through our routine health check and veterinary treatment before neutering or spaying them. Once they have convalesced, they are either returned to the same site, or we find alternative outside homes for them. We only release feral cats if there is a regular source of food, suitable protected areas e.g. hay barn and with someone ensuring their welfare needs are being met.
Once a cat or kitten has been under our care, we remain responsible for its welfare and protection for the rest of its life. All cats and kittens that we re-home or release back to their usual environment must come back into our care should there be a problem or threat to their resettlement. Before re-homing any of our cats or kittens, we carry out a pre-home visit to ensure any prospective home is suitable. We also carry out follow-up visits to their new homes to ensure all is well, and offer advice when needed on an ongoing basis. We are constantly promoting more responsible pet ownership.
One of our initiatives is our Special Neutering/Spaying and Microchipping Scheme for low-income families. This is particularly significant as the cat situation becomes more demanding, and the numbers needing help rises. Many pet owners find themselves in financial difficulties following redundancy or illness and have consequent difficulties finding employment again. As such, many responsible owners are unable to meet veterinary and sometimes the general costs of keeping a cat/kitten. We help as many people as we can to the best of our ability.
Achievements and performance
The last year has been very difficult, mainly due to the covid pandemic. For the first half of the year, we were extremely busy with our usual work. We had badly injured cats brought in RTA’s cats suffering limb fractures and/or fractured jaws. Owners either didn’t come forward, or could not afford the Vet bill, so we took full responsibility and rehomed each cat when fit and well.
We neutered/spayed and released a colony of 16 feral cats at a local farm and rehomed all 8 kittens domestically. The cats released have suitable shelter with someone ensuring their welfare needs.
As soon as Covid-19 began to affect working practices, everything became difficult. People isolating due to Covid and unable to take their sick/injured cats/kittens to their Vets were asking us for help. There were cats that were home alone and needed urgent care as their owner had sadly passed away. Generally, we took them within 24 hours or less. During the first pandemic lockdown, we collected RTA cats, injured/sick strays and some owners suffering from terminal illness, signed over their cats for rehoming as they couldn’t care for their much-loved pet.
Our usual Veterinary practice ceased neutering/spaying during the pandemic, focussing on illness and emergencies only. We went to other practices that were more expensive for these surgeries not just for the cats in our care, but also for low-income families who needed financial help. Reduced neutering/spaying availability meant there was a massive increase of kittens being born, many in completely unsuitable conditions causing many welfare issues. We helped as many cats & kittens as we could and in conjunction with the Isle of Wight RSPCA Animal Home when we had filled all our available spaces. Although we continued with neutering/spaying, our numbers were down by half from previous years.
We continued offering help and advice 24 hours a day throughout. We had to prioritise with sick or injured strays due to the pressure we were under to take cats in, and not being able to rehome in the usual way. We did continue rehoming due to the high demand to take cats into our care, so we had to find space for many more. Covid restrictions made this extremely difficult. We also support 40 permanent foster cats with veterinary treatment if needed throughout their life. We promoted responsible pet ownership via our website and social media and pet owners are referred to us for advice/help via our Veterinary Surgery.
Due to Covid19, we struggled in many ways but still successfully rehomed just under 100 cats/kittens.
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Financial review
Pre-Covid -19, we raised funds in our usual way, from the many kind donors with standing orders, cash and online donations, as well as our Summer and Winter fayres and boot sales. However, when Covid restrictions came into force, fund Raising could not be carried out in the usual way so we relied completely on social media which, worked very well. We did online raffles with donated prizes and various appeals particularly when we had badly injured cats needing extensive surgery or treatment for complex conditions, this helped us greatly to meet very sizeable Veterinary Bill's.
Despite difficulties with practical day to day running of the charity due to the restrictions, people were extremely generous and we maintained a healthy bank balance and paid all expenses. Due to Covid-19 safety issues, our overheads and administration costs went up marginally. We had to purchase PPE equipment and pay for some online fundraising events, though it was still only around 3% of our expenditure, leaving 97% of donations to be spent on feline welfare needs.
As Feline Welfare is primarily a rescue and rehabilitation charity, it does not have any material assets. All income is used on consumable and medical purchases and any permanent equipment used is generally the personal possessions of either trustees or volunteers. The charity needs no land or buildings of its own. Any goods sold at Feline Welfare organised fund-raising events are the property of the individual seller, who has offered to sell their goods at said event and then kindly donated some or all of the proceeds to Feline Welfare. In this way, the charity limits financial liabilities in order to focus on the objectives of the charity.
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Annual Accounts Period from 1[st] June 2020 to 31[st] May 2021
Section A - Receipts and payments
| Section A -Receipts and payments | Section A -Receipts and payments | Section A -Receipts and payments | Section A -Receipts and payments | Section A -Receipts and payments | Section A -Receipts and payments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 Receipts | Unrestricted funds |
Restricted funds |
Endowment funds |
Total funds | Last year |
| To the nearest £ |
To the nearest £ |
To the nearest £ |
To the nearest £ |
To the nearest £ |
|
| Donations | 35,177 | 0 | 0 | 17,557 | |
| Legacies | 0 | 0 | 0 | 20,000 | |
| Fundraising | 24,763 | 0 | 0 | 17,031 | |
| Subtotal (Gross income) | 59,940 | 0 | 0 | 54,588 |
| A2 Asset and investment sales | |||||
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Subtotal | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total receipts | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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A3 Payments
| A3 Payments | A3 Payments | A3 Payments | A3 Payments | A3 Payments | A3 Payments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| VetsFees-General | 36,599 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17,959 |
| VetsFees-SpecialScheme | 5,509 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4,327 |
| Prescriptions | 2,268 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1,533 |
| Microchips | 229 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Food | 6,153 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5,112 |
| Cat Litter | 3,827 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1,715 |
| Fundraising expenses | 348 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Advertising &Publicity | 84 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 326 |
| Equipment | 786 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 382 |
| General Expenses | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 107 |
| Insurance | 420 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 337 |
| Maintenance | 76 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Bankcharges | 32 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 32 |
| Subtotal | **56,331 ** | 0 | 0 | 0 | 32,060 |
| A4 Asset and Investment purchases | A4 Asset and Investment purchases | A4 Asset and Investment purchases | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unrestricted funds |
Restricted funds |
Endowment funds |
Total funds | Last year | |
| To the nearest £ |
To the nearest £ |
To the nearest £ |
To the nearest £ |
To the nearest £ |
|
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Subtotal ** | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Total payments | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Net of receipts/(payments) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| A5 Transfers between funds | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| A6 Cash funds last yearend | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Cash funds this year end | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
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Section B - Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
| Category | Details | Unrestricted funds |
Restricted funds |
Endowment funds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| To the nearest £ |
To the nearest £ |
To the nearest £ |
||
| B1 Cash funds | Balance of receipts | 3,609 | 0 | 0 |
| Cash funds | 49,295 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total cash funds | **52,904 ** | 0 | 0 | |
| B2 Other monetary assets | Not applicable | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| B3Investment assets | Not applicable | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| B4Assets retained for the charity's own use |
Not applicable | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| B3Liabilities | Not applicable | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Independent examiner's report on the accounts
Section A - Independent Examiner’s Report
Report to the trustees/ Charity Name members of FELINE WELFARE
On accounts for the year 31st May 2021 Charity no 1084722 ended (if any)
Set out on pages 5 & 6 of Trustees' Annual Report and Accounts
11(remember to include the page numbers of additional sheets)
Respective responsibilities of The charity's trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The charity’s trustees and examiner trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 (the Charities Act) and that an independent examination is needed. It is my responsibility to:
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examine the accounts under section 145 of the Charities Act,
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to follow the procedures laid down in the general Directions given by the Charity Commission (under section 145(5)(b) of the Charities Act, and
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to state whether particular matters have come to my attention.
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Basis of independent My examination was carried out in accordance with general Directions given by the Charity
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examiner’s statement Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from the trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a ‘true and fair’ view and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.
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Independent examiner's In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention (other than that disclosed below *)
statement
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which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in, any material respect, the requirements:
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to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act; and
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• to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the Charities Act have not been met.
| Signed: | Date: 12-02-2022 |
|
|---|---|---|
| Name: | Alan Rossati | |
Relevant professional No professional qualifications but formerly self-employed and responsible for
qualification(s) or body (if bookkeeping, tax and VAT returns. any):
Address: 17, Westway, New Road, Newbridge, Isle of Wight, PO41 0TP
Section B - Disclosure
NO MATERIAL PROBLEMS
Give here brief details of any NO ITEMS TO DISCLOSE items that the examiner wishes to disclose .
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