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2023-03-31-accounts

Fire Fighters Charity

TRUSTEES’ REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

31 March 2023

Company Registration Number: 4480058 Charity Registration Number: 1093387 Scottish Charity Registration Number: SC040096

Fire Fighters Charity CONTENTS

Page
Legal and Administrative Information 2
Trustees’ Report 3
Independent Auditor’s Report 19
Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities, incorporating an
Income and Expenditure Account 22
Charity Statement of Financial Activities, incorporating an 23
Income and Expenditure Account
Balance Sheets 24
Consolidated Cash Flow Statement 25
Charity Cash Flow Statement 26
Accounting Policies 27
Notes to the Financial Statements 32

Fire Fighters Charity

1

Fire Fighters Charity LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

PATRON

Her Majesty the Queen (until September 2022)

TRUSTEES:

John Baines, Chair Neil Gibbins, Deputy Chair Chris Bilby Shantha Dickinson (appointed 17 November 2022) Graham Floyd Michael Graham Ross Haggart Robert A Hickmott (resigned 16 November 2022) Christopher Hirst Simon Routh-Jones Roger Thomas (appointed 17 November 2022) Steve Tolan George Wood

HEADQUARTERS AND REGISTERED OFFICE: FIRE FIGHTERS CHARITY Belvedere, Basing View Basingstoke, Hampshire, RG21 4HG Tel: 01256 366566 Fax: 01256 366599 Web: www.firefighterscharity.org.uk

RESIDENTIAL CENTRES:

Ronnie Green Wing, Marine Court, Fitzalan Road, Littlehampton, West Sussex, BN17 5NF

Jubilee House, Eamont Park, Eamont Bridge, Penrith, Cumbria, CA10 2BN

Harcombe House, Chudleigh, Devon, TQ13 0DG

AUDITOR:

Fire Fighters Charity is a company limited by guarantee. Registered in England Number 4480058 Charity Registration No 1093387 Scottish Charity Registration No SC040096

James Cowper Kreston Audit, 2 Communications Road Greenham Business Park, Greenham, Newbury, RG19 6AB

INVESTMENT MANAGERS:

STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP TEAM:

Newton Investment Management Limited, 160 Queen Victoria Street, London, EC4V 4LA

Chief Executive

Jill Tolfrey

Finance Director Martin Smith

BANKERS:

Barclays Bank PLC, 4[th] Floor, Apex Plaza, Forbury Road, Reading, RG1 1AX

CUSTODIANS:

Director of Organisational Development & Corporate Governance Christine Goonan

Bank of New York, 1 Canada Square, London, E14 5AL

Director of Beneficiary Services

Sharon Bailey

Director of Health Improvement & Influencing Joss Gaynor (appointed 8 August 2022)

Director of Engagement & Fundraising Ruth Powell (resigned 20 February 2023)

Company Secretary Christine Goonan

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Fire Fighters Charity TRUSTEES’ REPORT

The Trustees are pleased to submit their Annual Report and audited financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023.

Note: The Trustees are also the registered Directors of the charitable company.

Structure and Governance

Legal and Administrative Information

The Charity was saddened by the loss in September 2022 of our Patron Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. We recognise how fortunate we were to have benefited from her patronage throughout 69 years of her 70 year reign, and we will hope to achieve similar Royal Patronage in the future.

Legal and administrative contact information is given on page 2.

Legal Status

Fire Fighters Charity (known as “the Fire Fighters Charity”) is a company limited by guarantee and a registered Charity, incorporated in England. The guarantee requires each member to contribute an amount not exceeding £1 in the event of the Charity being wound up. The Charity is governed by its Articles of Association dated 8 November 2018.

Charitable Aims, Public Benefit and Provision of Services

The Trustees have carefully considered the Aims of the Charity and how it measures up to the Public Benefit test. The Charity provides a range of services to the Fire Services Community and the Trustees are satisfied that there are identifiable benefits that meet the Public Benefit Summary Guidance from the Charity Commission.

The Fire Fighters Charity is a national Charity providing assistance and support to serving and retired members of the fire and rescue service community, including eligible dependants. The Charity works to enhance quality of life and make a positive difference to the lives of beneficiaries.

The Charity supports its beneficiaries through digital, online, telephone, community based and residential services. Support is personalised to meet the beneficiary’s unique mental health, physical health and social needs and is accessed through either a confidential helpline or web form as a selfreferral or via an advocate. Once beneficiaries (or their advocates) have contacted the Charity, practitioners will take the time to understand their needs and explore with them what support and solutions may be appropriate to address their needs.

Trustee Board defined criteria are in place for all the Charity’s beneficiary services to ensure there is both ease and equity in access to the provision of services and charitable funds are used where there is an identified need. The Charity’s services are articulated in a Board approved service delivery document and all service delivery is underpinned by a Clinical and Social Care Governance framework ensuring continuous improvement and high standards of care are maintained. Systems and processes underpin the wider clinical and social care governance framework to ensure quality in service provision. All services, and research activity are organised around a single definition of quality: That the Charity provides:

The support provided to beneficiaries by the Charity is free of charge for identified need. This enables access to services for all beneficiaries, irrespective of financial circumstances. Financial support to

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access the mainland for residential services can be provided to beneficiaries who reside on the UK islands.

Trustees receive qualitative and quantitative data to evidence the effectiveness of service provision and to identify where future service development may be required. The Charity has commissioned research to understand the health and wellbeing needs of the fire community, and this evidence informs service delivery.

Digital/Online/Telephone Support

The Charity provides digital support using a variety of Apps and a secure remote consultation platform that allows confidential consultation and the provision of physiotherapy and exercise therapy in support of primarily physical problems. Alongside this the Charity provides access to a wide variety of selfservice web-based information, resources and webinars alongside direct online and telephone counselling for those beneficiaries needing mental health support. The Charity continues to develop a wide range of resources to support improved health literacy and empower positive decision making around health and wellbeing. The Charity also purchases quality assured face to face and online mental health support from external sources, providing easier access to support for beneficiaries in geographically and socially ‘harder to reach’ groups.

Residential Services

The Charity has three residential centres which offer a range of activities and programmes of support led by a multi professional team which includes Chartered Physiotherapists, Exercise Therapists and Psychological Therapists. Residential support is available for beneficiaries recovering from injury or illness, for those with poor mental health, and those who present with long term and degenerative conditions. Our Harcombe House centre also provides support for individuals, couples and families, some of whom may simply need the opportunity to take ‘time out’, others may engage in more formal programmes of support. Facilities within each Centre include a gymnasium / fitness room, leisure pool and hydrotherapy pool. Harcombe House also has specialist facilities for families and children. Residential stays are short term and on average beneficiaries spend 4-7 days at a Centre, however there is some flexibility in the length of a stay depending on individual need.

Residential support is underpinned by a philosophy of empowerment and recovery and is tailored to meet the needs of individuals, couples and families with the multi professional team working in partnership with beneficiaries to identify solutions to meet their mental health, physical health, and social wellbeing needs. Beneficiaries may engage in different levels of activity, ranging from a residential stay that focuses on rest and relaxation to participation in a programme of structured activity. Health and wellness coaching is embedded within the support provided at the Centres, providing beneficiaries with up-to-date, evidence-based information to enable them to make informed choices around their wellbeing. Residential support may be ‘front-ended’ with digital support to maximise the benefit of the residential stay, and digital support may also be in place to promote sustained change following a residential stay.

Access to the most appropriate support is agreed in partnership with the beneficiary following assessment of need and desired outcome. Admission criteria support decision making to ensure that access to support is equitable and inclusive, and the Charity values are upheld. All support provided by the multi professional team is evidence based and adheres to best practice.

Nursing services are available at Jubilee House for beneficiaries with more complex needs who may require nursing or personal care. The Charity’s nursing services are regulated by the Care Quality Commission and delivered by a team of Registered Nurses and Clinical Assistants. A Nursing Services Lead (Registered Manager) oversees the delivery of this service. Currently the nursing provision continues to be rated as Outstanding.

The Charity also offers structured child and family programmes at Harcombe House at specific times during the year (school holidays). These programmes support the family unit to manage challenges

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they are facing in life and provide families with the opportunity to relax, enjoy quality family time and meet other families who experience similar challenges. A range of appropriate activities is also available as part of these programmes, seeking to encourage greater social interaction, communication, increased confidence and improve wellbeing.

Children’s Burns Weekends

The Charity also supports both the Northern and Southern NHS Burns Trusts by providing facilities for a supported weekend break for families with children who are recovering from burn injury. These weekends are highly praised for their positive impact on those attending.

Community Based Support

The Charity recognises that some beneficiaries may require support at home to access services in their local communities. A small team of Welfare Caseworkers offer confidential, impartial advice and information on a wide range of issues that affect and impact upon everyday life. The team will carry out face to face and telephone assessments to identify solutions to meet individual need. Home visits are carried out where required by Welfare Caseworkers or approved volunteers.

Needs are assessed within a structured framework and against financial criteria. Statutory entitlements are fully considered and match funding opportunities with other organisations explored. Solutions can include the provision of equipment, assistance with home adaptations, or financial solutions to relieve crisis such as food poverty. Solutions provided through the Welfare Service are largely short term; long term support is only provided in exceptional circumstances and is subject to annual review. Where appropriate, beneficiaries are signposted on to external organisations.

Where appropriate, health and wellbeing support can be offered remotely. This support is personalised to meet an individual’s need and may include telephone advice or consultation through video conferencing, signposting, or support to access local community groups or health / social care services. The Charity also runs ‘Living Well Groups’. These groups are delivered by volunteers with support from the Charity and focus on providing a longer term and sustainable way of keeping in touch and connected post-retirement. The groups are well evaluated and act to reduce social isolation and loneliness within our retired population. The Charity also provides a telephone befriending service that involves fully trained volunteers engaging in regular ‘telephone chats’ with a matched beneficiary, again working to reduce loneliness and social isolation.

Support Provided Directly to Fire and Rescue Services

Acknowledging the power of prevention and with the focus on improving the population health of our community, the Charity also provides wellness and behaviour change coaching direct to members of the UK Fire and Rescue Services (UKFRS), through both digital and face to face delivery, supporting members of the workforce in the development of health literacy and engaging in healthy behaviours to support mental, physical, and social health and wellbeing.

Trustee Recruitment, Appointment and Training

The Charity advertises the role of Trustee on a national basis with Trustees appointed in line with the Articles of Association, role description and person specification. There are Board approved procedures for the recruitment, selection and induction of Trustees. The process of appointment of a new Trustee includes reviewing our skills audit to determine skills gaps within the Board of Trustees which informs the recruitment focus, advertising the vacancy, issuing information and application documents, ascertaining a shortlist of applicants by using criteria based on the role requirements and interview by a panel including either the Chair or the Deputy Chair of the Board of Trustees, one other Trustee and two Company Members. The recruitment and selection procedure are regularly reviewed to enhance equity, transparency and consistency, to meet legal requirements, and to ensure effective assessment

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of the skills required. New Trustees are given an induction programme. Where a vacancy occurs outside of the annual recruitment process, Trustees may appoint to the vacancy until the next Annual General Meeting. Ongoing training of Trustees is determined by the Board and individual Trustee needs assessments.

All Trustees give their time voluntarily and receive no financial benefits from the Charity. Any expenses reclaimed are in line with Board approved policies and are set out in note 7 to the accounts.

Statement of Trustees’ Responsibilities

The Trustees (who are also directors of the Fire Fighters Charity for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the Trustees' Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

Company law requires the Trustees 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 the group and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable group for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the Trustees are required to:

The Trustees are responsible for keeping proper 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 and the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended). They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and the group and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

Provision of Information to the Auditor

The Trustees who were in office on the date of approval of these financial statements have confirmed, as far as they are aware, that there is no relevant audit information of which the auditor is unaware. Each of the Trustees has confirmed that they have taken all the steps that they ought to have taken as a Trustee to make him or herself aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that it has been communicated to the auditor.

Charity and Organisational Structure

Fire Fighters Charity is a company limited by guarantee and is a charity registered in England, Wales, and Scotland. We are governed by our Articles of Association which were last reviewed in 2018. The Articles permit up to 48 Company Members to be appointed from those who have a direct association with the fire services community. Trustees are also Company Members and are in addition to the 48 Company Members appointed from the fire services community. Our Company Members elect our Board of Trustees at our Annual General Meeting. Our Trustees are also the legal directors of the company.

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Our Trustee Board consists of between 8 and 12 individuals, the majority of whom have a direct association with the fire services community. One quarter retire at each AGM and are eligible for reelection until they have served a maximum of 8 years, in all but exceptional cases.

The Board of Trustees met 4 times for scheduled meetings in 2022-23. In addition, to support effective governance and our work, 4 Board sub committees, with the remit of Beneficiary Services, Finance and Audit, Staff and Governance, and Engagement and Fundraising operated during the year within a documented framework which includes where a devolved decision can be made. A Company Member participated in all four of the Board sub committees.

The Board of Trustees has control over the Charity and its property and funds. It directs the Charity’s operations and ensures compliance with our Articles of Association. Trustees agree and regularly review plans for achieving the Charity’s aims and the finances needed to support them.

Trustees appoint a Chief Executive who has full authority for the implementation of approved strategic plans and the daily running of the Charity. The daily operations are run with five Directors, responsible for Finance, Engagement & Fundraising (vacant from February 2023), Beneficiary Services, Health Improvement & Influencing and Organisational Development and Corporate Governance.

The Charity wholly owns two subsidiary companies; Fire Fighters Trading Limited - which provides trading and commercial services - and FSNBF Limited, a dormant company. The accounts of Fire Fighters Trading Limited are consolidated with the Charity within the Group financial statements.

An annual pay review is conducted for all employees that considers inflation, external benchmarking data and affordability. The results of the review are considered by the Staff and Governance Committee and a recommendation made to the Board of Trustees.

The Chief Executive’s salary is decided by the Trustee Board prior to a vacancy being advertised and thereafter awarded any increase given to all employees. In addition, the salary is reviewed annually by the Chair of the Trustee Board. A decision to increase the Chief Executive’s salary, other than an increase awarded to all employees, must be recommended by the Chair and then approved by the Staff and Governance sub-committee, in order for the increase to be implemented. Any changes to the management structure at the level reporting directly to the Chief Executive requires the consideration and approval of the Staff and Governance sub-committee.

Charity Staff

The Trustees place on record their grateful thanks to all the staff of the Charity. In particular, the Trustees wish to thank them for their devotion to their roles that ultimately exist to assist beneficiaries, and for their continued understanding as the Charity emerged from the ongoing challenges of the Covid 19 pandemic.

Volunteers

The Charity’s activities are supported by a large number of willing and enthusiastic volunteers who do so much, often behind the scenes, to help the Charity and its beneficiaries. While there is no mechanism available to formally calculate the value of their contribution it is undoubtedly of great value to the Charity. The Charity’s Trustees wish to record their gratitude and admiration for this effort.

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Strategic Report

Activities and Performance

Objectives

The Charity’s primary role continues to be support for those in need in the fire service community. This includes service personnel, former service personnel, works firefighters, former works firefighters, volunteers in a Fire and Rescue service, current and former Charity employees, personnel in Fire Services Youth Schemes and any dependant of any of these categories (with the exception of volunteers in a Fire and Rescue service).

Within the Articles of Association, the Trustees are given the powers to deposit or invest the monies of the Charity not immediately required for its operations, in any manner as may be thought fit. The Trustees may also delegate the management of investments to a financial expert.

At the Fire Fighters Charity, our vision is to be known as the UK fire service community’s go to provider of mental, physical, and social health support. Recognised for our caring, professional, and proactive approaches, we will deliver proven interventions through innovative means. Blending face-to-face expertise with digital, community and workplace based services, we will help the entire fire service community to live more healthily and seek to deliver personalised support to thousands and reach every corner of the UK.

Our strategic plan for 2020-21 to 2024-25 includes four portfolios of work, each of which contain several projects that will shape and define the way we work and operate over the years to come. The objectives of these portfolios and projects are focused on these two core principles:

To expand our reach : We should be a charity for every member of the fire services community, regardless of where they live or the circumstances in which they find themselves. The support we offer should therefore be accessible to all, so this plan sets out how we will remove barriers and provide services that can include all members of our community.

To deliver more health and wellbeing services to more people : Before this plan, we supported around 5,000 people a year, but we want to reach many more. Through investment in innovative new digital technologies; the development of community-based initiatives; the dissemination of health and wellbeing content and resources; close partnership working with fire and rescue services and organisations which complement our work; and major campaigns to raise awareness of who we are, what we do and how we can help, we are confident that we can transform our Charity into the nationwide provider of health and wellbeing support to the fire services community. It is our aspiration that the Charity becomes an integral part of the lives of our beneficiaries – that third space – home – work – Charity. That through our work beneficiaries feel an emotional connection with the Charity and that we sustain a lifetime of connection and support with our beneficiaries.

Inform and Prevent

Through the Inform and Prevent Portfolio and its associated projects we will inform our beneficiaries about health matters, equipping them with the skills, knowledge, and confidence to maintain and improve their mental, physical and social health and wellbeing. By providing timely, relevant information for our beneficiaries we will help prevent the impact of many common health risks and conditions.

By 2025 we will

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Respond and Recover

Through the Respond and Recover Portfolio and its associated projects we will utilise a blend of digital, community and residential services to more effectively respond to beneficiaries who reach out for support. Earlier and easier access to expert help will provide faster outcomes for beneficiaries to recover and continued support will encourage sustained health and wellbeing.

By 2025 we will

Engage and Grow

Through the Engage and Grow Portfolio and its associated projects we will engage and build stronger bonds with a growing number of beneficiaries and supporters, increase awareness amongst the fire services community and invest in lifelong associations. We will diversify and grow our income to provide the additional funds necessary to achieve our plan.

By 2025 we will

Enhance, Enable and Empower

Through the Enhance, Enable and Empower Portfolio and its associated projects we will develop our culture, enhance our processes, technology, and facilities, and further enable and empower our people to drive us forward.

By 2025 we will

Measuring Success

2022-23 was the third year of our ambitious 5-year Strategic Plan and despite the external challenges faced in the first two years, we looked forward to building on our success in those years and holding to

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the vision that our beneficiaries will see us that ‘third space’ – be that virtual or physical – a place of community and connection that enables them to mobilize around their health and wellbeing.

In line with the plan, our aim was to further enhance our support to the workforce, our families, and the retired community, increasing the number of individuals that we help to 8,000. We planned to do this through the implementation of several projects within each of the four portfolios outlined in this report, collectively enabling us to work towards achieving our aims by 2025. With a drive for activation of people to engage in health promotion and prevention of injury and illness, with a philosophy of recovery underpinning our critical response work. Our targeted outcomes for 2022-23 were:

The outcomes achieved in 2022/23 are outlined below.

22/23 Priorities

22/23 Priorities
Target Outcome Actual Outcome
Driving forward our
wellness coaching and
learning opportunities		 222 wellness workshops have been delivered across 17 different Fire
and Rescue Services to 1753 beneficiary attendees, up from 400 the
year before.
A wellbeing webinar series was delivered generating 522 registrations.
Utilising a knowledge confidence metric, 80% of poll participants felt that
they had an increased knowledge or confidence of the wellbeing subject
from attending the webinars.
For beneficiaries challenged by ‘kick starting’ positive health and
wellbeing activity, specialist residential ‘health coaching’ weeks were
delivered to meet the needs of 28 beneficiaries from 17 fire and rescue
services, positive improvements were seen across both physical and
mental wellbeing.
Expanding our reach to
more beneficiaries and
making access to
support easier		 Overall, 22/23 was a very successful year in respect to expanding our
reach. In just three years we have exceeded our 5-year plan’s ambitious
target of supporting 10,000 beneficiaries, reaching 10,367 in 22/23, this
was a 74% increase in the last year alone.
Within this growth we also exceeded our target of supporting 800
beneficiaries from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, a total of 2,200
beneficiaries were helped, representing 21% of the total number of
beneficiaries supported this year.
Access to support is now available via our website or via telephone
meaning that beneficiaries may make contact at a time and in a manner
that best suits them. We have reviewed and established a blueprint for
improving the whole beneficiary experience from the time of first contact,
ensuring the right support from the right people at the right time, working to
maintain a lifetime of connection with our beneficiaries, ensuring there is
support throughout the whole career and beyond.

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In response to the increasing demand for support, especially for mental
health, and the complexity of need, we have established partnerships with
external providers who deliver quality assured support in our name and on
our behalf. Some of this support is digital, thereby increasing speed of
access, some face to face services are more locally provided for the
beneficiary, thereby supporting ease of access.
This year we have also more than doubled both the number of our living
well groups for the retired and our family support weeks, with more growth
planned for the new year. Families were also supported by the launch of
our own Fire Service related children’s book – designed to support families
talk about concerns their children may have around working in the fire and
rescue service– a focus on emotional literacy development. In total over
10,000 books were given away to families. Evaluation is very positive and
identified that 50% of families said their children had expressed worry
about what was happening at work and this book had provided an
opportunity to share concerns and talk.
Increasing our critical
response provision,
particularly in response
to mental health		 In direct response to concerns raise by beneficiaries about the difficulties
being experienced by their older children. especially those transitioning
from school to other activity post pandemic, we now provide, through a
quality assured third party, mental health support for young people aged
16-17years.
Alongside this development, our behaviour change and wellness
coaches have been developing Trauma Impact Prevention Technique
training – these techniques are useful for individuals to implement in
limiting the mental health impact of an incident. These skills illustrate the
‘cross over’ between prevention of poor health and their use in limiting
the longer term impact of trauma when supporting post event.
In response to the increased incidence of fire personnel taking their own
lives, we have commissioned the development of a fire specific suicide
prevention and postvention framework and this will be supported by a
24/7 crisis line that will provide not only a voice at the end of the phone
but engage the caller in a series of support interventions moving the
caller to safety and providing an ongoing programme of support.
We have also commissioned alongside the National Fire Chiefs Council
and funded by the Home Office a sector wide mapping of the health and
wellbeing needs of the fire sector, seeking to identify the gaps in
provision, and how the workforce can best be supported throughout their
careers, recognising the unique mental health challenges of each career
transition as well as the impact of life events. This work will provide
further evidence on which we will base our support.
Developing our
volunteering
opportunities		 We have recruited volunteers to support various activities at our centres
and been successful in the recruitment of volunteers to run our
increased number of living well groups. Our newly established ‘Fire
Friends’ befriending line is also volunteer run and we have established
training programmes for all our volunteers. We remain reliant on our ‘in
service’ volunteers who undertake community fundraising activities for
us and overall, some 1323 volunteers support our work.

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Financial Review

The consolidated accounts for the year are set out on pages 22 to 47 and should be read in conjunction with this section of the Trustees’ report. A summary of the financial results and the work of the Charity are set out below.

The net movement in funds for the year amounted to (£2,525,562). This is represented by: -

Incoming resources

Resources expended

Net outgoing resources

Loss on investment assets

Actuarial gain on defined benefit pension scheme

 £ 9,645,327
£ (11,935,714)
£ (2,290,387)
£ (498,175)
£ 263,000
£ (2,525,562)

Capital Expenditure

The investment in capital expenditure during the year amounted to £377,211.

Incoming Resources

The total incoming resources in 2022/23 totalled £9,645,327 an increase of £84k on the amount achieved in 2021/22.

The target for 2022/23 was for income to continue to grow and to surpass the £10m income total that had been generated in the two years prior to COVID, unfortunately this did not happen. New economic challenges for donors linked to rising inflation, interest rates and energy costs created a difficult fundraising market.

Regular giving and lottery activities raised a comparable amount of income to that of the prior year with additional lottery income off setting a fall in regular giving. In total income from Regular Giving and Lottery was £4.1m, which was 43% of total incoming resources.

Corporate and other donations income continued to recover following the decline linked to Covid, income in the year reached £2.3m, an increase of £0.3m compared with 2021/22. Legacy income, which exceeded expectation in 2021/22, returned to a more expected level in 2022/23 of £0.8m, a fall of £0.3m. Collectively income from these areas, which represent 33% of total incoming resources, were also comparable to the prior year.

Trading income increased from £1.5m in 2021/22 to £1.7m in 2022/23, recycling activities accounted for most of the increase, reaching a record £921k for the year, an increase of £123k

While there has been good progress with increasing income in many areas, overall, income has not increased as targeted. To continue to support the thousands more beneficiaries that the current strategic direction has enabled, income will need to grow at a much faster pace over the coming years.

Resources Expended

Total expenditure for the year was £11,935,714 compared with £9,838,926 for the year before, a £2.1m or 21% increase, which was used to great effect to increase the scale and pace of the implementation of the strategic plan.

£1.7m (83%) of the additional expenditure was spent on Charitable activities, with approximately £0.8m extra funds spent on each of our Physical and Mental Health solutions. In total, charitable activities expenditure increased by 27% and this funded a 74% increase in the number of beneficiaries supported,

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increasing from 5,955 in 2021/22 to 10,367 in 2022/23. In 2022/23 68p of every £1 spent was on charitable activities, an increase from the 65p spent in 2021/22.

Investments

The value of investments held at 31 March 2023 was £15,523,364. In addition, cash balances of £1,313,840 were held to support normal cash flow requirements and planned cash outflows.

Investments are made up of investment property and investment funds The investment property relates to 10 flats contained within the Marine Court complex in Littlehampton, in March 2018 these were reclassified as investment property due to no longer being needed for charitable activities. These properties are commercially let outside of the Charity’s beneficiary base.

Investment funds achieved unrealised losses of £498k during the year, resulting in the total value of investments funds as of 31 March being £15,523k. The total return of the investment fund for the year was 0.89%, which was a positive performance compared with a benchmark of -2.44%. The investment fund is focused on total return and growth. Income received from listed investments was £424k. The fund incurs a management charge of 0.65%, this equated to approximately £90k in 2022-23 (£97k 202122).

The investment policy communicated to our investment managers remained unchanged from the previous year and focused on providing revenue for current operations and enhancing capital growth and income over the longer term, thereby enabling the Charity to meet current and future objectives in accordance with the objects of the Charity. The funds are invested in a Socially Responsible Investment Fund managed by the Charity’s investment managers in accordance with the Charity’s ethical policy.

Our Approach to Fundraising

The Fire Fighters Charity sets out to fundraise in an open, honest, and respectful manner. We use multiple channels to fundraise from various audiences. When developing our fundraising campaigns, we assess the impact our fundraising could have on an individual and take actions to mitigate any negative impact. When running fundraising campaigns, we welcome feedback and use this to help shape future fundraising campaigns. We always treat donor data responsibly and are compliant with all UK data protection laws. Our privacy policy is published on our website and gives details of the information we hold and how and why we process it.

We are registered with the Fundraising Regulator. When fundraising, the Charity adheres to the Code of Fundraising Practice as set by The Fundraising Regulator. For our lottery and raffles, we are also licensed by the Gambling Commission. We routinely monitor and review our fundraising activities to ensure that we comply with regulations. Our fundraising team managers regularly monitor and review performance by attending our fundraising events and talks, providing feedback to our fundraisers. For the 2022/23 business year, when conducting telephone fundraising the majority of calls were recorded and where they were, a sample of calls for each campaign were listened to. For our external face to face lottery agency, we make welcome calls to new supporters, have regular catch ups with team leaders and their managers, as well monitoring all feedback from donors about their experience. In respect of complying with the Code of Fundraising Practice, we have had no adjudications and have had no significant failures.

We record and investigate all fundraising complaints received and use this information to inform our fundraising strategy. For the financial year 22/23 we received 14 complaints related to our fundraising activity compared to 28 the previous year.

We ensure that our fundraisers follow the Fundraising Regulator’s policy on vulnerable people. We listen to our donors and take on board their feedback and change our behaviour accordingly. For example, we do not use telephone fundraising after 8pm as our supporters told us that they did not want to be called after this time. We also work in line with the best practice guidance from Institute of

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Fire Fighters Charity TRUSTEES’ REPORT

Fundraising, documented in their Guide “Treating donors fairly - fundraising with people in vulnerable circumstances”. When working with an external agency we ensure that they have a vulnerable person policy in place and do not work with agencies that do not have this. For our lottery and raffles, we also have a Social Responsibility Policy which is published on our website. All fundraisers (internal and external) have a training session to understand this policy before they promote our lottery, and they have regular refresher sessions.

Without the generous support of donors, the Charity could not provide the mental, physical, and social support to thousands of beneficiaries every year. We will therefore always set out to fundraise in an open, honest, and respectful manner.

Fire Fighters Trading Limited

2021/22 had exceeded all expectations by breaking the £1m profit barrier. 2022/23 consolidated that success and in addition increased turnover by 10% and profits by £98k to £1,127k.

Recycling activities had another successful year, increasing income in the year from £799k in 2021/22 to £921k, the prior year had been impacted by a reduced price per tonne for part of the year and so some of this growth was price related. £921k was £277k higher than the pre-covid level of income achieved in 2019/20, an increase of 43%.

2021/22 was a return to normal levels of income and activity for centre generated income following Covid, this income source had been the most affected by Covid related Government restrictions and guidance. 2022/23 achieved mixed results, with total income of £499k being just £17k higher than the amount achieved in 2021/22. Rental activity, which had benefited last year from the increase in demand for UK based holidays, did not sustain the success and income fell by £83k to £244k. Other income activities off-set this fall, with facility hire up £55k and catering activities up £29k.

Merchandise activities had a disrupted year with business operations transferring from Basingstoke to Littlehampton. Despite the challenges of such a move, income for the year increased to £221k from £206k, an increase of 7%.

Achieving a profit of more than £1m for the second year in a row is an outstanding achievement and is the result of the hard work of all the team. All the profits of the company continue to be donated each year to the Fire Fighters Charity. Looking forward, all three of these activities have the potential to grow further, recycling in particular is targeting a landmark figure of £1m turnover for the year, overall, the aim for 2023/24 an increase in profit of 13%.

Reserves Policy

The reserves policy aims to ensure that where setbacks occur, the Charity holds sufficient reserves to ensure the continuity of services to beneficiaries. It also, where opportunities exist, allows the board to identify and allocate additional reserves to support its strategic direction. It does this in the following way:

The tangible fixed assets, which are used to achieve the goals of the charity, plus the investment properties that are held for income generation purposes, are designated to recognise that these funds are not freely or easily available for any other purpose.

To enable the Charity to maintain services to beneficiaries the board have identified that an amount equivalent to between 9 and 12 months of normal operating expenditure will be held as free reserves to protect against any unforeseen loss of income or increase in costs, these reserves also ensure that Trustees can allocate additional appropriate funds when needed to support urgent beneficiary need.

Alongside this, the board will continually review the total amount of available reserves and wherever possible look to provide additional designated funds to further support the implementation of current

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14

Fire Fighters Charity TRUSTEES’ REPORT

and future strategic plans. When needed, it will also take appropriate and timely action to manage any risks associated with any shortfall in funds compared with the minimum targeted level of free reserves.

To support the ambitious aims of the strategic plan the board designated £4.6m to the strategic fund, this allowed the management team to confidently progress with plans to deliver the outcomes targeted. During the year £1.8m was allocated against this fund reducing the balance to £2.8m. With the scale of both the breadth of support provided and the number of beneficiaries supported increasing, annual expenditure is projected to increase too. At present the level of free reserves is equivalent to just over 12 months planned expenditure for 23/24, which is in line with the higher end of the free reserves target set by the policy. With annual expenditure likely to rise in the coming years holding an amount equivalent to the higher level enables future expenditure levels to increase while remaining within the boundaries set by this policy. The free reserves position in conjunction with any remaining balance on the strategic fund at the end of the year will support the development of the next strategic plan, which will be developed during 23/24.

At 31 March 2023 the reserves totalled £32,171,740. This is represented by:

Restricted Funds
Designated Funds
General Funds		 £
234,917
£
18,503,729
£
13,433,094
£
32,171,740

As at 31 March 2023 the Charity has a defined benefit pension scheme surplus of £756,000. These funds are allocated to general funds.

Risk Management

There is a Board approved Operating Procedure for Risk Management. Processes are in place to enable Trustees to examine major strategic and operational risks. Risk Management is part of the working lives of staff and volunteers and is an integral part of performance management. Risk assessment has been introduced as part of many policies and procedures. Strategic risk registers are reviewed by the Finance and Audit Committee at each meeting and the full board annually. The Trustees confirm that the major risks that they have identified to which the Charity is exposed have been reviewed, and systems and procedures have been established to manage those risks. The current strategic risks identified include the challenge to secure new funds from fire service, public and corporate donors to deliver our strategic plan, whether our engagement with our beneficiary population will be sufficient and/or effective enough, that we fail to provide easily accessible support for all our beneficiary population, that our centres do not fully utilise the resources provided, that we do not achieve sufficient credibility to be the lead provider of health and wellbeing support for our beneficiary population and the impact of the ‘cost of living crisis’ on; employees, business costs, beneficiary welfare, supporter donations and tenants, which cumulatively impacts the charity’s capability and effectiveness.

Safeguarding

We will not tolerate the abuse of adults in any of its forms and we are committed to safeguarding adults with care and support needs and ensuring that all our services are delivered within a safe and effective framework.

We respect the rights of all service users to live their chosen life with privacy, dignity, independence, choice and fulfilment. Responsibility for working preventatively, safeguarding and protecting service users’ privacy, dignity and respect does not lie with one individual or group but with all our employees at every level. Safeguarding and respect are not additional elements of our service / care provision, but integral to the delivery of high-quality and safe and effective services.

Fire Fighters Charity

15

Fire Fighters Charity TRUSTEES’ REPORT

We are committed to working collaboratively and in partnership with other agencies to ensure service users access their human right to live a life that is free from harm, neglect and exploitation.

Environmental Statement

We understand our moral and legal obligations to reduce our impact on the environment and have implemented an industry recognised methodology (ISO 14001) to measure our environmental impact against activities in specific areas of our Charity. These include properties, fundraising and trading.

We are continuing development of our Environmental Management System which is a tool to measure our impact on the environment. The impact scores are recorded and allows for specific areas to be targeted to aid in the reduction of our carbon footprint, e.g. alteration to delivery processes for our catering supplies, reducing the number of journeys made and reducing our delivery emissions impact. For example in the area of digital sustainability, we can estimate that each ‘click’ creates 2.67g of CO2e. The same tool allows us to evaluate and state that the amount of energy created by the solar panels at our centres enables the carbon offsetting of 32, full time home workers.

We procure our electricity from renewable sources and also purchase UN carbon offset natural gas, by doing this, we were able to reduce our energy carbon footprint by 72.7%. We have also developed an environmental legal register which outlines the different areas of legislation we much comply with.

Our Head of Estates and Facilities and Estates and Facilities Managers have all achieved the accredited standard in the NEBOSH Environmental Management Certificate, which is a globally recognised qualification.

Harcombe House, our 300-acre site at in Devon, uses re-claimed rainwater for much of the maintenance required to keep the grounds in a well-kept state. In addition, petrol vehicles used around the grounds have been changed for electric powered buggies. We also works closely with the RSPCA to monitor and care for the wildlife in the grounds, ensuring that they have suitable surroundings to thrive. We have developed links with the Forestry Commission, whose land borders ours, to ensure the acres of woodland that covers both properties are well maintained, safe and promote the growth of wildflowers across both areas.

We continue to work closely with the Environment Agency at both Harcombe House and Jubilee House in Cumbria. Both properties have either a river running through the land or bordering it.

We offer our employees flexible working arrangements where possible, and meetings are held via video conferencing where appropriate; one benefit of both is the reduction of travel.

All our sites recycle, and we encourage our guests to consider recycling by providing collection facilities for different waste products. For the second year in a row, over 80% of our waste generated at our centres was diverted from landfill and recycled.

We have implemented a very successful clothing recycling scheme across the UK, helping to reduce the amount of material that goes to landfill while at the same time generating valuable income which helps fund our support of beneficiaries. Since 2009 the campaign has recycled over 35,500 tonnes of clothing, generating in excess of £6.2M of income.

The environment is important to our employees, volunteers, beneficiaries, supporters and funders. Our work to understand and improve our impact on the environment will in turn help attract and retain those who are aligned to our ethics.

Future Plans

2023/24 will be the fourth and now final year of our ambitious 5-year Strategic Plan. Despite the external challenges faced in the first three years, we have done incredibly well to deliver on that ambition, transforming our services and supporting over 10,000 beneficiaries in the last year. Having achieved

Fire Fighters Charity

16

Fire Fighters Charity TRUSTEES’ REPORT

our major goals faster than planned and due to the external environment having changed so much in the last few years, it has been decided to finish the plan a year early. This now final year will be used to consolidate the progress made and most importantly consolidating the repositioning the Charity as:

Auditors

A resolution to reappoint James Cowper Kreston Audit, Chartered Accountants as auditor will be put to the Members at the annual general meeting.

On behalf of the Trustees

John Baines Chair of the Board 26 July 2023

Company Registration Number: 4480058

Charity Registration Number: 1093387

Scottish Charity Registration Number: SC040096

Fire Fighters Charity

17

Fire Fighters Charity INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT

Independent Auditor’s Report to the Trustees and Members of Fire Fighters Charity

We have audited the financial statements of The Fire Fighters Charity (the 'parent charitable company’) and its subsidiaries (the 'group') for the year ended 31 March 2023 set out on pages 22 to 48. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 'The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland' (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion the financial statements:

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor's responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the group and parent charitable company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the United Kingdom, including the Financial Reporting Council's Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Conclusions relating to going concern

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the Trustees' use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the group's or the parent charitable company's ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the Trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

Other information

The Trustees are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the Annual Report, other than the financial statements and our Auditor's Report thereon. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

In connection with our audit of the financial statements, our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements, or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether there is a material misstatement in the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information. If based on the work we have performed,

Fire Fighters Charity

18

Fire Fighters Charity INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT

we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Opinion on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit:

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In the light of our knowledge and understanding of the group and parent charitable company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the Trustees’ Report.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended) require us to report to you if, in our opinion:

Responsibilities of Trustees

As explained more fully in the Trustees' Responsibilities Statement, the Trustees are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the Trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, the Trustees are responsible for assessing the group's and the parent charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the Trustees either intend to liquidate the group or the parent charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Auditor's responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

We have been appointed as auditor under section 44(1)(c) of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and under the Companies Act 2006 and report in accordance with the Act and relevant regulations made or having effect thereunder.

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an Auditor's Report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or non-compliance with regulation. This risk increases the more that compliance with a law or regulation is removed from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, as we will be less likely to become aware of instances of non-compliance. The risk is also greater regarding irregularities occurring due Fire Fighters Charity 19

Fire Fighters Charity INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT

to fraud rather than error, as fraud involves intentional concealment, forgery, collusion, omission or misrepresentation.

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below:

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council's website at: www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our Auditor's Report.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charitable company’s trustees, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006, and to the charitable company’s Trustees, as a body, in accordance with Regulation 10 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended). Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company’s members those matters we are required to state to them in an Auditor’s Report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charitable company and its members, as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Alexander Peal BSc (Hons) FCA DChA (Senior Statutory Auditor) for and on behalf of

James Cowper Kreston Audit

Chartered Accountants and Statutory Auditor 2 Communications Road Greenham Business Park Greenham Newbury Berkshire RG19 6AB

Date: 15 August 2023

Fire Fighters Charity

20

Fire Fighters Charity

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES, INCORPORATING AN INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT Year ended 31 March 2023 Company Registration Number: 4480058

Note
Unrestricted

Funds
£
INCOME FROM:
Donations and legacies
1
5,471,744
Other trading activities
2
3,483,655
Investments
4
443,719
Charitable activities
130,473
Other income
-


TOTAL INCOME
9,529,591


EXPENDITURE ON:
Raising funds
5
3,782,272
Charitable activities:
Physical Health
5
4,400,027
Mental Health
5
2,864,642
Social Health and Wellbeing
5/6
766,665
Other expenditure
4,772
Total expenditure on charitable activities
8,036,106
TOTAL EXPENDITURE
11,818,378
Net (expenditure)/income before investment
gains and losses
(2,288,787)
Net gains/(losses) on investments
11
(498,175)
NET INCOME/(EXPENDITURE)
(2,786,962)
Transfers between funds
-
OTHER RECOGNISED GAINS & LOSSES:
Actuarial gains/(losses) on defined benefit
pension scheme
8
263,000
NET MOVEMENT IN FUNDS
(2,523,962)
RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS
Total funds brought forward
34,460,785
TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD
31,936,823		 Restricted
Funds
£
115,736
-
-
-
-


115,736


-
11,884
55,452
50,000
-
117,336
117,336

(1,600)

-
(1,600)

-
-

(1,600)
236,517

234,917
 Total to
31 March
2023
£
5,587,480
3,483,655
443,719
130,473
-



9,645,327



3,782,272

4,411,911
2,920,094
816,665
4,772


8,153,442


11,935,714

(2,290,387)

(498,175)

(2,788,562)

-
263,000

(2,525,562)

34,697,302


32,171,740
 Total to
31 March
2022
£
5,819,556
3,201,254
404,060
130,854
5,441

9,561,165

3,422,305
3,612,210
2,169,651
634,760
-
6,416,621
9,838,926
(277,761)
1,119,135
841,374
-
43,000
884,374
33,812,928
34,697,302

All activities are continuing.

The Statement of Financial Activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year. The comparative figures for restricted funds are shown in the notes to the accounts.

Fire Fighters Charity

21

Fire Fighters Charity

CHARITY STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES, INCORPORATING AN INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT Year ended 31 March 2023 Company Registration Number: 4480058

Note
Unrestricted
Funds
£
INCOME FROM:
Donations and legacies
1
5,471,744
Other trading activities
2
1,831,951
Investments
4
2,040,984
Charitable activities
130,473
Other income
-


TOTAL INCOME
9,475,152


EXPENDITURE ON:
Raising funds
5
3,252,410
Charitable activities:
Physical Health
5
4,400,026
Mental Health
5
2,864,642
Social Health and Wellbeing
5/6
766,665
Other expenditure
4,772
Total expenditure on charitable activities
8,036,105
TOTAL EXPENDITURE
11,288,515
Net (expenditure)/income before investment
gains and losses
(1,813,363)
Net gains/(losses) on investments
11
(498,175)
NET (EXPENDITURE)/INCOME
(2,311,538)
Transfers between funds
-
OTHER RECOGNISED GAINS & LOSSES:
Actuarial gains/(losses) on defined benefit
pension scheme
8
263,000
NET MOVEMENT IN FUNDS
(2,048,538)
RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS
Total funds brought forward
33,919,893
TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD
31,871,355		 Restricted
Funds
£
115,736
-
-
-
-


115,736


-
11,884
55,452
50,000
-
117,336
117,336

(1,600)


-
(1,600)


-
-

(1,600)

236,517

___

234,917
 Total to
31 March
2023
£
5,587,480
1,831,951
2,040,984
130,473
-



9,590,888



3,252,410

4,411,910
2,920,094
816,665
4,772


8,153,441


11,405,851

(1,814,963)

(498,175)

(2,313,138)

-
263,000

(2,050,138)
34,156,410


32,106,272
 Total to
31 March
2022
£
5,819,556
1,703,987
1,120,485
130,855
5,441

8,780,324

2,953,147
3,612,210
2,169,651
634,760
-
6,416,621
9,369,768
(589,444)
1,119,135
529,691
-
43,000
572,691
33,583,719
34,156,410

All activities are continuing.

The Statement of Financial Activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year. The comparative figures for restricted funds are shown in the notes to the accounts. Fire Fighters Charity 22

Fire Fighters Charity BALANCE SHEETS As at 31 March 2023 Company Registration Number: 4480058

Note
FIXED ASSETS
Tangible assets
10
Investments
11
Investments in group companies
12
CURRENT ASSETS
Stocks
13
Debtors
14
Cash at bank and in hand
21
CREDITORS: AMOUNTS
FALLING DUE
WITHIN ONE YEAR
15
NET CURRENT ASSETS
TOTAL ASSETS LESS
CURRENT LIABILITIES
Defined Benefit Pension scheme
8
NET ASSETS
FINANCED BY:
Restricted funds
16
Designated funds
16
General funds
16		 Group
2023
£
13,594,116
15,523,364
-
29,117,480
58,033
1,604,926
1,313,840
2,976,799
(678,539)
2,298,260
31,415,740
756,000
32,171,740
234,917
18,503,729
13,433,094
32,171,740		 Charity
2023
£
13,594,116
15,523,364
4
29,117,484
9,921
1,518,073
1,222,588
2,750,582
(517,794)
2,232,788
31,350,272
756,000
32,106,272
234,917
18,503,729
13,367,626
32,106,272		 Group
2022
£
13,840,754
17,021,539
-

30,862,293
54,172
1,529,942
2,488,377

4,072,491
(724,482)

3,348,009

34,210,302

487,000

34,697,302

236,517
20,540,754
13,920,031

34,697,302		 Charity
2022
£
13,840,754
17,021,539
4
30,862,297
7,070
1,373,732
2,037,495
3,418,297
(611,184)
2,807,113
33,669,410
487,000
34,156,410
236,517
20,540,754
13,379,139
34,156,410

Approved and authorised for issue by the Charity Trustees on 26 July 2023 and signed on their behalf by:-

John Baines – Chair

Fire Fighters Charity

23

Fire Fighters Charity CONSOLIDATED CASH FLOW STATEMENT Year ended 31 March 2023

Note
NET CASH INFLOW
PROVIDED BY OPERATING
ACTIVITIES
20
CASH FLOWS FROM
INVESTING ACTIVITIES
Dividends, interest, and rents
from investments
4
Purchase of property, plant and
equipment
10
Proceeds from sale of
equipment
Disposal of property, plant,
vehicles and equipment
Proceeds from sale of
investments
11
NET CASH GENERATED BY /
(USED BY) INVESTING
ACTIVITIES
CHANGE IN CASH AND
CASH EQUIVALENTS IN THE
REPORTING PERIOD
Cash equivalents at the
beginning of the reporting
period
CASH AND CASH
EQUIVALENTS AT THE END
OF THE REPORTING PERIOD
21		 £
443,719
(377,211)
-
1,000,000		 2023
£
(2,241,045)
1,066,508
(1,174,537)
2,488,377
1,313,840		 £
404,060
(121,365)
5,441
-
-
 2022
£
(147,833)
288,136
140,303
2,348,074
2,488,377

Fire Fighters Charity

24

Fire Fighters Charity CHARITY CASH FLOW STATEMENT Year ended 31 March 2023

Note
NET CASH (OUTFLOW) /
PROVIDED BY OPERATING
ACTIVITIES
20
CASH FLOWS FROM
INVESTING ACTIVITIES
Dividends, interest and rents
from investments
4
Purchase of property, plant and
equipment
10
Gift Aid payment from
subsidiary
4
Proceeds from sale of
equipment
Disposal of property, vehicles,
plant and equipment
Proceeds from sale of
Investments
11
NET CASH GENERATED BY
INVESTING ACTIVITIES
CHANGE IN CASH AND
CASH EQUIVALENTS IN THE
REPORTING PERIOD
Cash equivalents at the
beginning of the reporting
period
CASH AND CASH
EQUIVALENTS AT THE END
OF THE REPORTING PERIOD
21		 £
438,371
(377,211)
1,602,613
-
1,000,000		 2023
£
(3,478,680)
2,663,773
(814,907)
2,037,495
1,222,588		 £
403,500
(121,365)
716,985
5,441
-
-
 2022
£
(1,208,180)
1,004,561
(203,619)
2,241,114
2,037,495

Fire Fighters Charity

25

Fire Fighters Charity NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Year ended 31 March 2023

PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING POLICIES

The Statements of Financial Activities and Balance Sheets have been prepared in accordance with applicable accounting standards under the historical cost convention, except for investments, which are stated at market value.

The Statements of Financial Activities and Balance Sheets reflect the requirements of the Statement of Recommended Practice ‘Accounting and Reporting by Charities' (SORP), issued in 2019 (which is applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with Financial Reporting Standards applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland [FRS102]) and the Companies Act 2006.

The Fire Fighters Charity constitutes a public benefit entity as defined by FRS 102.

DONATIONS

Donations and gifts are recognised in the Statements of Financial Activities and Balance Sheets as soon as there is entitlement, probability of receipt and an ability to measure the value.

LEGACIES

Income from legacies is recognised when the legacy has been received or when the Charity has been notified of entitlement of the legacy prior to the year end and it is probable that the legacy will be received, defined when:

LOTTERY INCOME

Lottery income is recognised based on the number of tickets included in each monthly draw. Any tickets purchased for future draws are deferred until that draw takes place.

CENTRES’ INCOME

This represents ancillary income generated at the Charity's rehabilitation and recuperation centres and is recognised on receipt.

GRANTS RECEIVABLE

Grants are recognised on notification when there is entitlement, likelihood of receipt is probable, and the amount can be measured.

GOVERNMENT GRANTS

Government grants, including Covid 19 related grants, are credited to the Statement of financial activities as the related expenditure is incurred.

DEFERRED INCOMING RESOURCES

Income received in advance is included in deferred income.

Fire Fighters Charity

26

Fire Fighters Charity NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Year ended 31 March 2023

GIFTS IN KIND

Incoming resources in the form of gifts in kind are included in the Statements of Financial Activities when they are seen as having a value in excess of £1,000. Assets given for use by the Charity are recognised as incoming resources and within the relevant fixed asset category of the Balance Sheet when received.

An amount equal to the donation’s income recognised on gifts in kind and goods or services received free of charge is included within the most relevant category of expenditure to which the donation relates.

INVESTMENT INCOME

Dividends are recognised in the Statements of Financial Activities and Balance Sheets when they are receivable.

Bank interest is included in the Statements of Financial Activities and Balance Sheets when receivable.

TRADING INCOME

Trading income is recognised as services or goods provided or despatched.

EXPENDITURE

The value of purchase invoices not paid until after the year-end but relating to the year has been included in the Statements of Financial Activities and Balance Sheets.

Liabilities are recognised as soon as there is a legal or constructive liability committing the Charity to pay out resources.

Charitable expenditure is allocated against the core beneficiary need areas supported by the Charity.

IRRECOVERABLE VAT

Irrecoverable VAT is not separately analysed and is charged to the Statements of Financial Activities and Balance Sheets when the expenditure to which it relates is incurred and is allocated as part of the expenditure to which it relates.

GRANTS

Grants are paid and expensed as they are authorised, and the recipient is notified of the grant award and a legal or constructive obligation is created.

FUNDRAISING COSTS

Expenditure, inclusive of any irrecoverable VAT, is accounted for on an accruals basis as liabilities are incurred. Where appropriate, costs are deferred so as to permit recognition in the same accounting period as related income.

INVESTMENTS AND INVESTMENT GAINS AND LOSSES

Stocks and shares quoted on the London Stock Exchange are included in the Balance Sheets at their market value as at the yearend date.

Investment management fees are charged as part of a managed fund and deducted before income is distributed. The fund incurs a management charge of 0.65%, this equated to £90k in 2022-23 (£97k 2021-22).

Fire Fighters Charity

27

Fire Fighters Charity NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Year ended 31 March 2023

BASIS OF CONSOLIDATION

The group accounts consolidate the accounts of the charitable company and its subsidiary companies. Intra-group balances and transactions are eliminated on consolidation. The results of the subsidiary companies are consolidated on a line-by-line basis.

CAPITALISATION AND DEPRECIATION OF TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS

Expenditure on tangible fixed assets is capitalised if the cost of the asset, or a group of related assets, is £5,000 or more. The cost of tangible fixed assets is their purchase cost together with any incidental expenses of acquisition. Tangible fixed assets are stated at cost net of depreciation. All tangible fixed assets, other than freehold land and assets in progress are depreciated using the straight-line method over their estimated useful lives as follows:

Freehold and long-leasehold property 30-50 years
Building improvements 5-25 years
Furniture and equipment 3-10 years
Plant and machinery 5-7 years
Motor vehicles 4-7 years

Assets in the course of construction are not depreciated until brought into operational use. Any assets that are impaired in value are written down to their recoverable amount.

STOCKS

Stocks are stated at the lower of cost and net realisable value. Net realisable value of stocks for re-sale is derived from the estimated selling prices of the stock less direct selling costs. Consumable stocks are valued at cost, unless it is anticipated that the stocks will not be used in the foreseeable future. In the latter case, the stocks are not valued.

DEBTORS

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

CASH AT BANK AND IN HAND

Cash at bank and 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 company 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 measured or estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts due.

Fire Fighters Charity

28

Fire Fighters Charity NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Year ended 31 March 2023

FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS

The Charity only enters into basic financial instruments transactions that result in the recognition of financial assets and liabilities like trade and other accounts receivable and payable, loans from banks and other third parties, loans to related parties and investments in non-puttable ordinary shares.

LEASES

Amounts due under operating leases are charged to the Statements of Financial Activities and Balance Sheets on a straight-line basis over the term of the lease.

Equipment purchased under finance leases is capitalised as if purchased outright with depreciation charged to the Statements of Financial Activities, interest is charged equally over the length of the lease.

APPORTIONMENT OF EXPENDITURE

Expenditure is apportioned under the guidance of Financial Reporting Standard 102 and analysed between costs of generating funds, charitable activities, and governance costs:

The method of apportionment is as follows:

  1. Costs attributable solely to one activity are allocated to that activity

  2. Costs that contribute directly to the output of more than one activity are apportioned on a reasonable, justifiable, and consistent basis,

  3. Support and governance costs are apportioned based on the following criteria:

General Management Time allocated
Marketing & Communications Time allocated
Customer Services Total number of employees
Finance Total number of transactions
Databases Time allocated
IT Total number of IT supported employees
HR Total number of employees
Volunteer Management Time allocated
Legal & Governance Total number of employees

FUNDS

Restricted funds are those funds received which have been donated based on of the Charity using those funds for a specific purpose as outlined by the donor. Descriptions of the restrictions placed on those donations are provided in note 16 to the accounts.

Designated funds are created out of unrestricted funds for specific purposes. Funds are released once the purposes have been fulfilled or when the Trustees are of the opinion that circumstances no longer warrant the designation of funds. The value and purpose of each designated fund can be found in note 16 to the accounts.

General funds are the accumulated unrestricted funds of the Charity, which have not been designated for a specific purpose. There is a specific minimum amount the Trustees require to be held as general funds; this is outlined in the reserves policy on page 15.

Fire Fighters Charity

29

Fire Fighters Charity NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Year ended 31 March 2023

RETIREMENT BENEFITS

For defined benefit schemes the amount charged to resources expended in respect of pension costs and other post-retirement benefits is the estimated regular cost of providing the benefits accrued in the year, adjusted to reflect variations from that cost. The interest cost and expected return on assets are included within resources expended.

Actuarial gains and losses arising from new valuations and from updating valuations to the Balance Sheet date are recognised in the Statements of Financial Activities and Balance Sheets as actuarial gains and losses on defined benefit pension scheme.

Defined benefit schemes are funded, with the assets held separately from the group in separate trustee administered funds. Full actuarial valuations, by a professionally qualified actuary, are obtained at least every 3 years, and updated to reflect current conditions at each Balance Sheet date. The pension scheme assets are measured at fair value. The pension scheme liabilities are measured using the projected unit method and discounted at the current rate of return on a high-quality corporate bond of equivalent term and currency. A pension scheme asset is recognised on the Balance Sheets only to the extent that the surplus may be recovered by reduced future contributions or to the extent that the Trustees have agreed a refund from the scheme at the Balance Sheet date. A pension scheme liability is recognised to the extent that the group has a legal or constructive obligation to settle the liability.

For defined contribution schemes the amount charged to Statements of Financial Activities in respect of pension costs and other post-retirement benefits is the contributions payable in the year. Differences between contributions payable in the year and contributions actually paid are shown as either accruals or prepayments in the Balance Sheets.

LIQUID RESOURCES

Liquid resources are represented by monies held by the Charity's investment managers for investment purposes. These funds are held as cash deposits.

JUDGEMENTS IN APPLYING ACCOUNTING POLICIES AND KEY SOURCES OF ESTIMATION UNCERTAINTY

The preparation of the financial statements requires management to make judgements, estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported for assets and liabilities as at the balance sheet date and the amounts reported for revenues and expenses during the year. However, the nature of estimation means that actual outcomes could differ from those estimates. The following judgements (apart from those involving estimates) have had the most significant effect on amounts recognised in the financial statements.

Tangible fixed assets (see note 10)

Tangible fixed assets are depreciated over their useful lives taking into account residual values, where appropriate. The actual lives of the assets and residual values are assessed annually and may vary depending on a number of factors. Residual value assessments consider issues such as the remaining life of the asset and projected disposal values.

GOING CONCERN

The trustees are of the opinion that there are no material uncertainties about the Charity’s ability to continue as a going concern.

Fire Fighters Charity

30

Fire Fighters Charity NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Year ended 31 March 2023

1 DONATIONS AND LEGACIES

GROUP AND CHARITY
Unrestricted
Funds
Regular giving donations
2,317,384
Corporate and other donations
2,283,381
Gifts in kind
12,577
Legacies receivable
839,601
Grants
18,801
5,471,744		 Restricted
Funds
£
-
11,324
-
4,056
100,356

115,736		 Total
Funds
2023
£
2,317,384
2,294,705
12,577
843,657
119,157

5,587,480		 Total
Funds
2022
£
2,449,485
1,972,535
19,736
1,186,457
191,343
5,819,556

In 2022, the income from donations and legacies was £5,819,556 of which £5,585,310 was unrestricted and £234,246 was restricted.

In 2023, no restricted grant income was received from the UK government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (2022: £66,615).

Income includes aggregated unconditional donations from 3 trustees (2022: 7 trustees) totalling £162 (2022: £537).

We are grateful to volunteers who assist our Charity in a variety of roles including co-ordinating fundraising activities, raising awareness of our services and supporting beneficiaries through the provision of welfare visits, living well groups and befriending. The aggregate time given by all volunteers in 2022-23 was in excess of 100,000 hours annually and such activity provides a significant contribution to the continued success of our organisation. In accordance with FRS 102 and the Charities SORP (FRS 102), the economic contribution of these volunteers is not recognised in the accounts.

2
OTHER TRADING ACTIVITIES
Lottery
Centres income
Trading income		 Group
2023
£
1,821,991
9,960
1,651,704
3,483,655		 Charity
2023
£
1,821,991
9,960
-

1,831,951		 Group
2022
£
1,679,577
24,410
1,497,267

3,201,254		 Charity
2022
£
1,679,577
24,410
-
1,703,987

£17,507 of lottery income has been deferred as it relates to draws that have not yet taken place. £29,266 was released to income in the current year from amounts deferred in 2022.

In 2023 and 2022 all the income from other trading activities was unrestricted.

Fire Fighters Charity

31

Fire Fighters Charity NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Year ended 31 March 2023

3 NET INCOME FROM TRADING ACTIVITIES OF SUBSIDIARIES

The wholly owned trading subsidiary, Fire Fighters Trading Limited, a company incorporated in England & Wales (company number 3816625), undertakes selling products branded with the Fire Fighters Charity logo and non-charitable trading activities held at the Charity’s rehabilitation and recuperation centres.

The non-charitable net income of the subsidiary is as follows:

Trading turnover
Cost of sales
Gross profit
Administrative expenses
Other operating income
Operating profit
Other interest receivable
Profit before and after taxation		 2023
£
1,651,704
(313,653)

1,338,051
(230,914)
14,706

1,120,843
5,348

1,127,191
 2022
£
1,497,267
(271,341)
1,225,926
(216,195)
18,378
1,028,109
560
1,028,699

As at 31 March 2023, the company's net assets comprised current assets of £348,776 (2022: £668,731) and current liabilities of £283,303 (2022: £127,836). The profit is gifted to the Charity.

The financial information for this company has been extracted from the company's financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023. The audit report on these financial statements was unqualified.

4 INCOME FROM INVESTMENTS

Income from listed investments
Interest
Gift Aid payment from subsidiary
 Group
2023
£
424,963
18,756
-
443,719		 Charity
2023
£
424,963
13,408
1,602,613
2,040,984		 Group
2022
£
400,704
3,356
-

404,060
 Charity
2022
£
400,704
2,796
716,985
1,120,485

In 2022 and 2023 all the income from investments was unrestricted.

Fire Fighters Charity

32

Fire Fighters Charity NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Year ended 31 March 2023

5 ANALYSIS OF EXPENDITURE ON RAISING FUNDS AND CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES

GROUP

Direct
Costs
Support
Costs
Total
2023
COSTS OF RAISING FUNDS
£
£
£
Raising funds
1,206,948
715,5961,922,544
Fundraising trading costs
1,434,726
335,3261,770,052
Investment management costs
89,676
-
89,676
2,731,350 1,050,9223,782,272

COSTS OF CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES
Physical Health
3,361,970 1,049,9414,411,911
Mental Health
2,280,284
639,8102,920,094
Social Health and Wellbeing
597,465
219,200
816,665
Other expenditure
4,772
-
4,772

6,244,491 1,908,9518,153,442


Total Resources Expended
8,975,841 2,959,87311,935,714

CHARITY
Direct
Costs
Support
Costs
Total
2023
COSTS OF RAISING FUNDS
£
£
£
Costs of generating voluntary income
1,206,948
715,5961,922,544
Fundraising trading costs
904,865
335,3251,240,190
Investment Management Charges
89,676
-
89,676

2,201,489 1,050,9213,252,410

COSTS OF CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES
Physical Health
3,361,969 1,049,9414,411,910
Mental Health
2,280,284
639,8102,920,094
Social Health and Wellbeing
597,465
219,200
816,665
Other expenditure
4,772
-
4,772

6,244,490 1,908,9518,153,441


Total Resources Expended
8,445,979 2,959,87211,405,851

Included with the costs above are:
Depreciation
Operating leases – land and buildings
Operating leases – other
Auditor’s remuneration (Charity only: £19,700 (2022: £18,060))
Governance costs		 Direct
Costs
Support
Costs
Total
2022
£
£
£
1,050,152
592,7801,642,932
1,425,438
256,5981,682,036
97,337
-
97,337

2,572,927
849,3783,422,305

2,679,608
932,6023,612,210
1,602,346
567,3052,169,651
463,635
171,125
634,760
-
-
-

4,745,589 1,671,0326,416,621


7,318,516 2,520,4109,838,926

Direct
Costs
Support
Costs
Total
2023
£
£
£
1,050,152
592,7811,642,933
956,280
256,5971,212,877
97,337
-
97,337

2,103,769
849,3782,953,147

2,679,608
932,6023,612,210
1,602,346
567,3052,169,651
463,635
171,125
634,760
-
-
-

4,745,589 1,671,0326,416,621


6,849,358 2,520,4109,369,768

2023
2022
£
£
619,077
568,719
112,391
263,308
5,053
5,053
23,100
21,315
44,089
35,762

Fire Fighters Charity

33

Fire Fighters Charity NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Year ended 31 March 2023

5 ANALYSIS OF EXPENDITURE ON RAISING FUNDS AND CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES (continued)

ANALYSIS OF SUPPORT COSTS
GROUP AND CHARITY
Staff costs

Office costs
Depreciation
VAT irrecoverable
Volunteer costs
Travel costs
Other costs


 2023
£
1,555,330
487,481
66,938
178,648
6,320
39,959
577,091

2,991,767
 2022
£
1,440,045
441,826
59,211
116,130
1,065
22,934
439,199
2,520,410

Support costs, including governance costs, are allocated between activities on the basis set out on page 30.

In 2022, the expenditure on charitable activities was £6,416,621 of which £6,244,029 was unrestricted and £172,592 was restricted.

In 2022, the expenditure on raising funds was £3,422,305, of which £3,416,403 was unrestricted and £5,902 was restricted.

6

SOCIAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING
GROUP AND CHARITY
One-off solutions
Islander travel
Wreaths
Other direct costs
Administration costs		 2023
£
247,229
602
458
349,177

597,466
219,200

816,666
 2022
£
96,611
210
336
366,478
463,635
171,125
634,760

All grant payments are made to individuals and no grant funding from third parties has been received in relation to them.

STAFF COSTS, TRUSTEE REMUNERATION AND EXPENSES AND THE COST OF KEY 7 MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL

GROUP AND CHARITY
Wages and salaries
Social security costs
Pension costs		 2023
£
5,141,391
489,795
516,596

6,147,782
 2022
£
4,365,118
390,238
399,843
5,155,199

Fire Fighters Charity

34

Fire Fighters Charity NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Year ended 31 March 2023

STAFF COSTS, TRUSTEE REMUNERATION AND EXPENSES AND THE COST OF KEY 7 MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL (continued)

The number of employees whose emoluments amounted to over £60,000 in the year was as follows:

£70,001 - £80,000
£90,001 - £100,000
£110,001 - £120,000		 2023
Number
3

1

1
 2022
Number
3
1
1

During the year, pension contributions of £44,032 (2022: £38,978) were paid in respect of the above employees to defined contribution pension schemes.

The key management personnel of the Group comprise those of the Charity and the key management personnel of its wholly owned subsidiary the Fire Fighters Trading Limited. The key management personnel of the trading company comprise its Directors and of the Charity, comprise the Trustees and the Strategic Leadership Team as detailed on page 2. The total employee benefits of the key management personnel of the Group and the Charity were £519,208 (2022: £493,193).

The Trustees were not paid or received any other benefits from employment with the Charity or its subsidiary in the year (2022: Nil). Travel, accommodation, and subsistence expenses totalling £3,207 (2022: £919) were reimbursed to 8 Trustees (2022: 6).

There were 2 redundancy payments made in the year totalling £9,633 (2022: £nil to 0 employees). No ex gratia payments were paid during the year (2022: Nil).

The average number of staff employed during the year was 203 (2022: 182).

Numbers employed, calculated on a full-time equivalent basis, analysed by function were:

Charitable activities:
Physical Health
Mental Health
Social Health & Wellbeing
Costs of generating funds
Support		 2023
Number
26
22
16
17
24

105
 2022
Number
29
23
7
16
22
97

Fire Fighters Charity

35

Fire Fighters Charity NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Year ended 31 March 2023

8 PENSION COSTS

AMOUNTS RECOGNISED IN THE BALANCE SHEETS
Fair value of employer assets
Present value of funded liabilities
RECONCILIATION OF DEFINED BENEFIT OBLIGATION
Opening defined benefit obligation
Current service cost
Interest cost
Contributions by members
Changes in assumptions
Estimated benefits paid
Closing defined benefit obligation
RECONCILIATION OF FAIR VALUE OF EMPLOYER
ASSETS
Opening fair value of employer assets
Interest income
Contributions by members
Contributions by the employer
Return on assets excl. amounts included in net interest
Benefits paid
Closing fair value of employer assets		 2023
£'000
1,647
(891)
__
756

1,278
13
34
2
(361)
(75)

891

1,765
47
2
6
(98)
(75)

1,647
 2022
£'000
1,765
(1,278)
__
487
1,372
14
27
2
(84)
(53)
1,278
1,815
36
2
6
(41)
(53)
1,765

Fire Fighters Charity

36

Fire Fighters Charity NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Year ended 31 March 2023

8 PENSION COSTS (continued)

THE MAJOR CATEGORIES OF PLAN ASSETS AS A
PERCENTAGE OF TOTAL PLAN ASSETS
Equities
Bonds
Property
Cash
Total
PRINCIPAL ACTUARIAL ASSUMPTIONS
Pension increase rate
Salary increase rate
Discount rate		 2023
52%
32%
14%
2%

100%

2023
3.00%
4.50%
4.75%		 2022
50%
34%
15%
1%
100%
2022
3.20%
3.70%
2.70%

As at the date of the most recent valuation, the duration of the Employer’s funded liabilities is 12 years.

MORTALITY

Life expectancy is based on the Fund’s VitaCurves with improvements in line with the CMI 2021 model, with a 10% weighting of 2021 (and 2020) data, standard smoothing (Sk7), initial adjustment of 0.25% and a long-term rate of improvement of 1.5% p.a. Based on these assumptions, the average future like expectancies at age 65 are summarised below:

Males Females
Current pensioners 21.9 years 24.7 years
Future pensioners* 22.4 years 26.8 years

COMMUTATION

An allowance is included for future retirements to elect to take 50% of the maximum additional tax-free cash up to HMRC limits for pre-April 2008 service and 75% of the maximum tax-free cash for post-April 2008 service.

The Charity operates a defined contribution scheme for which the charge in the year was £523k (2022: £400k). £44k was unpaid at the year-end (2022: £40k).

9 TAXATION

There was no taxation charge for the period. Taxable profits are dependent on the extent to which subsidiary company profits are distributed to the Charity by way of Gift Aid.

Fire Fighters Charity

37

Fire Fighters Charity NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Year ended 31 March 2023

10 FIXED ASSETS
Assets in
Fixtures,
Freeholdthe course of
fittings &
GROUP AND CHARITY
propertyconstruction
equipment
COST
£
£
£
At 1 April 2022
16,292,089
-
4,692,018
Additions
67,939
-
281,323
Transfers
-
-
-
Disposals
-
-
(762,853)
Reclassification to
investments
-
-
-
_
_
_____
At 31 March 2023
16,360,028
-
4,210,488
DEPRECIATION
At 1 April 2022
3,813,828
-
3,335,502
Charge
319,488
-
290,863
Disposals
-
-
(758,081)
Reclassification to
investments
-
-
-
_
_
__
At 31 March 2023
4,133,316
-
2,868,284
NET BOOK VALUE
At 31 March 2023
12,226,712
-
1,342,204
At 31 March 2022
12,478,261
-
1,356,516		 Motor
vehicles
£
21,914
27,949
-
(126)
-
_
49,737

15,937
8,726
(126)
-
_
24,537

25,200

5,977		 Total
£
21,006,021
377,211
-
(762,979)
-
_
20,620,253
7,165,267
619,077
(758,207)
-
_
7,026,137
13,594,116
13,840,754

The net book value at 31 March 2023 represents fixed assets used for:

DIRECT CHARITABLE
ACTIVITIES
Physical & Mental Health
Social Health & Wellbeing
FUNDRAISING AND
SUPPORT ACTIVITIES
Head office & other assets		 Assets in
Fixtures,
Freeholdthe course of
fittings &
property
construction
equipment
£
£
11,237,911
-
1,258,728
972,936
-
17,833
12,210,847
-
1,276,561
15,865
-
65,643
12,226,712
-
1,342,204		 Motor
vehicles
£
25,200
-

37,728
-

25,200		 Total
£
12,521,839
990,769
13,512,608
81,508
13,594,116

Fire Fighters Charity

38

Fire Fighters Charity NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Year ended 31 March 2023

10 FIXED ASSETS (continued)

The net book value at 31 March 2022 represents fixed assets used for:

Assets in Fixtures,
Freehold the course of fittings &
Motor
property construction equipment
vehicles		 Total
£ £ £ £
DIRECT CHARITABLE
ACTIVITIES
Physical & Mental Health 11,474,833 - 1,240,580 5,977 12,721,390
Social Health & Wellbeing 987,094 - 23,293
 -
 1,010,387
12,461,927 - 1,263,873 5,977 13,731,777
FUNDRAISING AND
SUPPORT ACTIVITIES -
Head office & other assets 16,334 92,643
 -
 108,977
12,478,261 - 1,356,516
 5,977
 13,840,754
11 FIXED ASSET INVESTMENTS GROUP AND CHARITY
2023 2022
£ £
Market value at 1 April 2022 17,021,539 15,902,404
Reclassification from fixed assets -
 -
17,021,539 15,902,404
Disposal proceeds (1,000,000) -
Unrealised (loss)/gain on revaluation at 31 March 2023 (498,175)
1,119,135
Market value at 31 March 2023 15,523,364
 17,021,539
Historical cost as at 31 March 2023 8,776,183 9,360,283
All investments are listed on recognised exchanges and no individual investment exceeds 5%
of the total fund.
ANALYSIS OF INVESTMENTS £ £
Unit trusts 13,423,364 14,921,539
Investment Property 2,100,000
 2,100,000
Market value at 31 March 2023 15,523,364
 17,021,539

Fire Fighters Charity

39

Fire Fighters Charity NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Year ended 31 March 2023

12 INVESTMENTS IN GROUP COMPANIES

The Charity holds shares in two wholly owned subsidiary companies incorporated in England at a cost of £2 each. A summary of their activities and financial position is as follows:

Fire Fighters Trading Limited
(Sells Fire Fighters Charity branded goods and
other similar merchandise as well as non-
charitable trading activities held at the Charity’s
rehabilitation and recuperation centres.)
FSNBF Limited(Dormant)
13
STOCKS
Group
2023
£
Goods for resale
48,112
Consumables
9,921
58,033
14
DEBTORS
Group
2023
£
Trade debtors
191,924
Other debtors
46,975
Prepayments & accrued income
1,366,027
Amounts owed by subsidiary
undertakings
-
1,604,926		 Turnover and
other operating
income
Net profit
before tax
£
£
1,666,410
1,127,191
-
-
Charity
Group
2023
2022
£
£
-
47,102
9,921
7,070

9,921
54,172

Charity
Group
2023
2022
£
£
2,000
136,286
46,975
49,549
1,346,542
1,344,107
122,556
-

1,518,073
1,529,942		 Net
assets
£
65,473
2
Charity
2022
£
-
7,070
7,070
Charity
2022
£
506
49,519
1,323,707
-
1,373,732

Fire Fighters Charity

40

Fire Fighters Charity NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Year ended 31 March 2023

15
CREDITORS – amounts
falling due within one year
Trade creditors
Other taxation & social security
Other creditors
Accruals and deferred income
Amounts owed to subsidiary		 Group
2023
£
199,491
191,242
91,107
196,699
-
678,539		 Charity
2023
£
197,549
119,370
91,107
109,768
-
517,794		 Group
2022
£
285,451
171,932
97,597
169,502
-

724,482		 Charity
2022
£
276,116
109,811
97,567
113,122
14,568
611,184

16 STATEMENT OF FUNDS

Year ended 31 March 2023

GROUP
Restricted Funds
Charitable activities
Unrestricted Funds:
Designated Funds
Fixed asset fund
Investment Property
Strategic Plan des’n
Total Designated Funds
General Funds
Free reserves
Pension fund surplus/(deficit)
Total General Funds
Total Funds		 Balance
b/fwd.
£
236,517
13,840,754
2,100,000
4,600,000		 Incoming
resources
£
115,736
-
-
-		 Outgoing
resources
Transfers
£
£
(117,336)
-
-
(246,638)
-
-
-
(1,790,387)		 Balance
c/fwd.
£
234,917
13,594,116
2,100,000
2,809,613
20,540,754
13,433,031
487,000

13,920,031

34,697,302		 -
9,529,591
-

9,529,591

9,645,327		 -
(2,037,025)
`
(12,322,553)
2,037,025
269,000
-


(12,053,553)
2,037,025


(12,170,889)
-		 18,503,739
12,677,094
756,000

13,433,094

32,171,740

Fire Fighters Charity

41

Fire Fighters Charity NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Year ended 31 March 2023

16 STATEMENT OF FUNDS (continued)

CHARITY
Restricted Funds
Charitable activities
Unrestricted Funds:
Designated Funds
Fixed asset fund
Investment Property
Strategic plan des’n
Total Designated Funds
General Funds
Free reserves
Pension fund surplus/(deficit)
Total General Funds
Total Funds		 Balance
b/fwd.
Incoming
resources
£
£
236,517
115,736
13,840,754
-
2,100,000
-
4,600,000
-		 Outgoing
resources
£
(117,336)
-
-
-		 Transfers
£
-
(246,638)
-
(1,790,387)		 Balance
c/fwd.
£
234,917
13,594,116
2,100,000
2,809,613
20,540,754
-
12,892,139
9,475,152
487,000
-

13,379,139
9,475,152
34,156,410
9,590,888		 -
(11,792,690)
269,000
 (2,037,025)
2,037,025
-

2,037,025

-		 18,503,729
12,611,626
756,000
13,367,626
32,106,272
(11,523,690)
(11,641,026)

The tangible fixed assets, which are used to achieve the goals of the charity, plus the investment properties that are held for income generation purposes, are designated to recognise that these funds are not freely or easily available for any other purpose.

To enable the Charity to maintain services to beneficiaries the board have identified that an amount equivalent to between 9 and 12 months of normal operating expenditure will be held as free reserves to protect against any unforeseen loss of income or increase in costs, this reserves also ensure that Trustees can allocate additional appropriate funds when needed to support urgent beneficiary need.

To support the ambitious aims of the strategic plan, in 2020/21 the board designated £4.6m to the strategic fund, this funds allows the management team to confidently progress with plans to deliver the strategic outcomes targeted.

Fire Fighters Charity

42

Fire Fighters Charity NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Year ended 31 March 2023

16 STATEMENT OF FUNDS (continued)

Year ended 31 March 2022

GROUP
Restricted Funds
Charitable activities
Unrestricted Funds:
Designated Funds
Fixed asset fund
Investment Property
Reserves Policy des’n
Strategic Plan des’n
Total Designated Funds
General Funds
Free reserves
Pension fund surplus/(deficit)
Total General Funds
Total Funds
CHARITY
Restricted Funds
Charitable activities
Unrestricted Funds:
Designated Funds
Fixed asset fund
Investment Property
Reserves Policy des’n
Strategic plan des’n
Total Designated Funds
General Funds
Free reserves
Pension fund surplus/(deficit)
Total General Funds
Total Funds		 Balance
b/fwd.
£
180,765
14,288,108
-
14,534,982
3,529,035		 Balance
b/fwd.
£
180,765
14,288,108
-
14,534,982
3,529,035		 Incoming
resources
£
234,246
-
-
-
-




Outgoing
resources
gains and
losses
£
(178,494)
-
-
-
-		 Transfers Balance c/fwd.
£
£
-
236,517
(447,354)
13,840,754
2,100,000
2,100,000
(14,534,982)
-
1,070,965
4,600,000		 Transfers Balance c/fwd.
£
£
-
236,517
(447,354)
13,840,754
2,100,000
2,100,000
(14,534,982)
-
1,070,965
4,600,000
32,352,125
837,038
443,000

1,280,038

33,812,928
Balance
b/fwd.
£
180,765
14,288,108
-
14,443,951
3,428,038		 -
9,326,919
-

-
(8,542,297)
44,000

(8,498,297)

(8,676,791)
Outgoing
resources
£
(178,494)
-
-

-		 (11,811,371)
20,540,754
`
11,811,371
13,433,031
-
487,000


11,811,371
13,920,031


-
34,697,302
Transfers Balance c/fwd.
£
£
-
236,517
(447,354)
13,840,754
2,100,000
2,100,000
(14,443,951)
-
1,171,962
4,600,000
9,326,919
Incoming
resources
£
234,246
-
-
-
32,160,097
799,857
443,000
1,242,857

33,583,719		 -
8,546,078
-

-
(8,073,139)
44,000

(8,029,139)

(8,207,633)		 (11,619,343)
11,619,343
-

11,619,343

-		 20,540,754
12,892,139
487,000
13,379,139
34,156,410
8,546,078
8,780,324

Fire Fighters Charity

43

Fire Fighters Charity NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Year ended 31 March 2023

17 ANALYSIS OF NET ASSETS BY FUND – As at 31 March 2023

GROUP
Restricted
Funds
Designated
Funds
£
£
Tangible Fixed Assets
-
13,594,116
Fixed Asset Investments
-
15,523,364
Net Current Assets
234,917
(10,613,751)
Long term assets (includes pension
asset)
-
-
Net Assets
234,917
18,503,729
CHARITY
Restricted
Funds
Designated
Funds
£
£
Tangible Fixed Assets
- 13,594,116
Fixed Asset Investments
- 15,523,364
Net Current Assets
234,917 (10,613,751)
Long term assets (includes
pension asset)
-
-


Net Assets
234,917 18,503,729
ANALYSIS OF NET ASSETS BY FUND – As at 31 March 2022
GROUP
Restricted
Funds
Designated
Funds
£
£
Tangible Fixed Assets
-
13,840,754
Fixed Asset Investments
-
17,021,539
Net Current Assets
236,517
(10,321,539)
Long term liabilities (includes pension
liability)
-

Net Assets
236,517
20,540,754		 General
Funds
£
-
-
12,677,094
756,000

13,433,094

General
Funds
£
-
4
12,611,622
756,000

13,367,626

General
Funds
£
-
-
13,433,031
487,000

13,920,031		 2023
Total
£
13,594,116
15,523,364
2,298,260
756,000
32,171,740
2023
Total
£
13,594,116
15,523,368
2,232,788
756,000
__
32,106,272

2022
Total
£
13,840,754
17,021,539
3,348,009
487,000
34,697,302

Fire Fighters Charity

44

Fire Fighters Charity NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Year ended 31 March 2023

17
ANALYSIS OF NET ASSETS BY FUND
CHARITY
Tangible Fixed Assets
Fixed Asset Investments
Net Current Assets
Long term liabilities (includes pension
liability)

Net Assets

18
DEFERRED INCOME
Hotel Ledger
Lottery
Total		 – As at 31 March 2022 (continued)
Restricted
Funds
Designated
Funds
General
Funds
£
£
£
-
13,840,754
-
-
17,021,539
4
236,517
(10,321,539)
12,892,135
-
-
487,000


236,517
20,540,754
13,379,139
As at 1
April
2022
Released
in the Year
Deferred in
the Year
£
£
£
52,525
(52,525)
66,547
29,266
(29,266)
17,507

81,791
(81,791)
84,054		 – As at 31 March 2022 (continued)
Restricted
Funds
Designated
Funds
General
Funds
£
£
£
-
13,840,754
-
-
17,021,539
4
236,517
(10,321,539)
12,892,135
-
-
487,000


236,517
20,540,754
13,379,139
As at 1
April
2022
Released
in the Year
Deferred in
the Year
£
£
£
52,525
(52,525)
66,547
29,266
(29,266)
17,507

81,791
(81,791)
84,054		 2022
Total
£
13,840,754
17,021,543
2,807,113
487,000
__
34,156,410

As at 31
March
2023
£
66,547
17,507
84,054
84,054

The previous year deferred income was released in 2022-22.

Hotel Ledger deferred income relates to rental accommodation paid for in advance, which will be released when the rental occurs.

Lottery deferred income relates to payments made in advance of future lottery draws, which will be released when those draws occur.

Fire Fighters Charity

45

Fire Fighters Charity NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Year ended 31 March 2023

19
COMMITMENTS – GROUP AND CHARITY
OPERATING LEASES – LAND AND BUILDINGS
At 31 March 2023 the Group was committed to total payments
in respect of operating leases which expire:
After more than five years
Between two and five years
Within 12 months
OPERATING LEASES – OTHER
Between two and five years
Within 12 months		 As at
31 March
2023
£
-
-
112,391

-
5,053
 As at
31 March
2022
£
-
112,846
150,462
-
5,053

20 RECONCILIATION OF NET INCOMING RESOURCES TO NET CASH INFLOW FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES

Group Charity Group Charity
2023 2023 2022 2022
£ £ £ £
Net income /(expenditure) (2,788,562) (2,313,138) 841,374 529,691
Losses/(gains) on investments 498,175 498,175 (1,119,135) (1,119,135)
Dividends from investments (424,963) (424,963) (400,704) (400,704)
Interest received (18,756) (13,408) (3,356) (2,796)
Gift Aid payment from subsidiary - (1,602,613) - (716,985)
Movement in defined benefit pension (6,000) (6,000) (1,000)
 (1,000)
(2,740,106) (3,861,947) (682,821) (1,710,929)
Depreciation 619,077 619,077 568,719 568,719
Decrease/(increase) in stocks (3,861) (2,851) 10,431 (2,304)
Decrease/(increase) in debtors (74,984) (144,341) (318,660) (275,510)
(Decrease)/increase in creditors (45,943) (93,390) 279,939 217,285
Loss/(profit) on the sale of fixed assets 4,772 4,772 (5,441)
 (5,441)
NET CASH INFLOW/(OUTFLOW)
FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES (2,241,045) (3,478,680) (147,833) (1,208,180)

Fire Fighters Charity

46

Fire Fighters Charity NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS Year ended 31 March 2023

21
ANALYSIS OF CHANGES IN NET CASH
GROUP
Cash at bank and in hand
CHARITY
Cash at bank and in hand		 1 April
2022
Cash flows
£
£
2,488,377
(1,174,537)
2,488,377
(1,174,537)
1 April
2022
Cash flows
£
£
2,037,495
(814,907)
2,037,495
(814,907)		 31 March
2023
£
1,313,840
1,313,840
31 March
2023
£
1,222,588
1,222,588

22 CAPITAL COMMITMENTS

At 31 March 2023 the Charity had capital commitments totalling £17,291. The amount outstanding at 31 March 2022 was £16,813.

23 RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

The Charity has taken advantage of the exemption in Financial Reporting Standard 102 from the requirement to disclose transactions with group companies on the grounds that consolidated financial statements are prepared.

Donations totalling £162 have been received from 3 trustees (2022: £537 - 7 trustees).

Fire Fighters Charity

47