Registered Charity number _1093659_
Trustees’ report and Financial Statements for year ended 31March 2021
## Contents
## Page
- 2 Reference and administrative information
3 - 7 Report of Trustees
- 8 Statement of Financial Activities
9 Balance Sheet
10 - 16 Notes to the accounts
Page 1 of 16
Registered Charity number _1093659_
Trustees’ report and Financial Statements for year ended 31March 2021
## Report of Trustees for the year ended 31 March 2021
The Trustees present their annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2021 and confirm they comply with the Charities Act 2011, the Charity’s constitution and the Charities SORP (FRS102).
## **Reference and administrative information**
**Charity name**
South East London M.E. Support Group (“SELMESG”)
**Charity Registration number**
1093659
**Principal contact address** c/o Patricia de Wolfe
London SE13 7PW
## **Board of Trustees**
Steven Erselius Patricia de Wolfe Lawrence Bannister Robert Birbeck
The four trustees listed above retired and were reappointed at the AGM on 22 June 2019. The Covid-19 pandemic made it impossible to hold an AGM in June 2020, and they remain in post.
Christine Jenkins, also appointed at the AGM on 22 June 2019, resigned on 8 September 2020.
## **Membership secretary**
Eve Lang
## **Bankers**
Barclays Leicester LE87 2BB
Page 2 of 16
Registered Charity number _1093659_
Trustees’ report and Financial Statements for year ended 31March 2021
## TRUSTEES’ REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2021
## **OBJECTS**
The Charity’s objects are to relieve the suffering of people with ME/CFS in Lambeth, Southwark, Lewisham and the surrounding area and that of their carers, in particular by providing support and information, reducing isolation and offering activities beneficial to the management of ME/CFS.
## **PUBLIC BENEFIT**
The work we do in furtherance of our objects is detailed below. Although most of this work is within the group, we also have an obligation to help ME/CFS sufferers in our area who are not our members. We respond to non-members’ queries when they contact us by phone or email, and provide complimentary newsletters. All our activities and therapeutic classes are open to people with ME/CFS who are not members. We are not rigid as to the location of people who wish to join the group. Our subscription fee is low and we reduce or waive it for those unable to afford it. The Trustees have regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit in all their decision-making.
## **ORGANISATION**
The Charity is an unincorporated association of approximately 140 members. The Charity is governed by a constitution adopted on 30 March 2001, amended on 13 July 2002, 8 November 2003 and 13 June 2015 and managed by an Executive Committee (the Charity Trustees) who are elected annually at the AGM by the membership or co-opted by the Executive Committee. All paid-up members of the group are entitled to put themselves forward for nomination and the committee invites as many members as possible to do so when they are notified of the AGM.
## **RELATED ORGANISATIONS**
The Charity is an independent user-led self-help group but has contact with national ME organisations such as Action for ME, the ME Association, ME Research UK. We pass on their news of research and campaigns to our members through our quarterly newsletter.
## **GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT**
The trustees make use of the Charity Commission’s online knowledge base in order to remain aware of the governance requirements for small charities .
Our data protection policy was reviewed and updated in light of changes introduced on 25 May 2018 and is available on our website.
Page 3 of 16
Registered Charity number _1093659_
Trustees’ report and Financial Statements for year ended 31March 2021
We have been reviewing our constitution which, despite minor amendments, has remained substantially unchanged since 2001. The main purposes of the revision are to slightly extend the definition of membership; and to validate voting other than by physical presence. This will, however, make no significant difference to the purposes or day-to-day running of the Charity. A draft of the proposed new constitution will be circulated to members in advance of the 2021 AGM.
## **REVIEW OF THE YEAR**
This year has brought huge upheaval to the Charity, on two counts. First, the Covid-19 pandemic put an end to all face-to-face meetings between our members and forced gatherings online. Second, former Chair and longstanding member Linda Carvill died unexpectedly in May 2020. She was at the heart of the Charity: many of our therapeutic activities and social gatherings took place in her home; she had many friends amongst our members; and she was a trustee of the Linmara Trust who funded our transport fund. On her death, she made, via the Linmara Trust, generous financial provision for us, with a substantial gift and further monies reserved for us in future years to cover members’ transport costs.
## **REVIEW OF ACTIVITIES**
From March 2020 we moved all our social and therapeutic activities online, having in July set up a Zoom account for the Charity. This has the advantage of enabling the participation of those too ill to leave home, although it unfortunately excludes members not online or not comfortable using the internet. Our activities comprise the following:
## - **Social meetings**
These are hosted on Zoom by a member volunteer and take place fortnightly.
## - **Therapeutic Programme**
The aim of this programme is to provide activities which reduce stress, teach relaxation skills, encourage good breathing and body-awareness and provide suitably gentle exercise. Participating members tell us that these help them cope better with the illness and are conducive to the improvement of symptoms. This year we are have been offering, via Zoom, monthly classes of meditation, yoga and Qigong.
Page 4 of 16
Registered Charity number _1093659_
Trustees’ report and Financial Statements for year ended 31March 2021
## - **Outreach and Communications**
We continue to produce a **quarterly newsletter** which we gather is particularly appreciated now that members can no longer meet. Our other important link is our the monthly phone call from one of our eight uservolunteers in the **Telephone Support Team** . This, again, is especially important at a time when members cannot meet either each other or other people.
We also continue to operate an **email circulation system** and are able to keep in contact with over 80% of our members in this way. We can thus disseminate news, requests for help, information about research, and so on. This is another service which is highly valued by our members who have been left particularly isolated during the pandemic.
## - **Benefits information and help**
Reassessments by the DWP for Employment and Support Allowance (ESA) and Personal Independence Payments (PIP) have been at a much lower volume than normal this year but our volunteers continue to monitor the changes to the benefits system that are relevant to our members. They provide written guidance in our newsletter as well as telephone and email support to members in completing benefits application forms. Members express considerable gratitude for this help.
We continue to subscribe to Benefits and Work, an organisation that provides regular updates about benefits changes and that issues useful guides for claims and appeals for ESA and PIP. We also remain members of Disability Rights UK and this gives our benefits information officers access to a specialist welfare rights advisory service. We continue our policy of helping members with charges for doctors' letters to support benefits claims, although there have been no requests for these letters this year.
## - **Financial support**
Although in general we do not have the means to provide financial help to members in need, we operate a small fund, the Pipkin Pot, from which we make grants of up to £50 to members going through a difficult time, whether financially or otherwise. Linda Carvill’s gift to the Charity via the Linmara Trust included an amount earmarked for the purpose of maintaining the Pipkin Pot over several years.
Page 5 of 16
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Registered Charity number 1093659
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Trustees’ report and Financial Statements for year ended 31March 2021
## - **Website**
We are in the process of reconstructing the group website, built in 2014 with the generous help of Lottery funding, which highlights the range of activities undertaken by the group. It also contains videos of therapy classes (Meditation, QiGong, Yoga) and this enables participation by members who have difficulty joining in the Zoom events.
## **INVOLVING MEMBERS AS VOLUNTEERS AND BUILDING COMMUNITY**
The opportunities we create for members to keep in touch with each other, although currently limited, also allow feedback to the trustees (who are members themselves) as to how the group should function and move forward.
We are a user-run group and depend on those of our members who are well enough to take on vital roles such as trustee, telephone and email circulation volunteer, newsletter editor and distributor, membership secretary, transport fund co-ordinator, and (solely online this year) host for social meetings and social events. Without this user involvement the group would not exist in its current form.
User involvement is particularly important in view of our members’ poor health which often limits or prevents them from doing paid work. Finding meaningful work that can be done from home and managed around a fluctuating health condition is very difficult. The experience of volunteering may help a member back into paid employment if their health is recovering. Alternatively this experience may help our members to live as fully as is possible with a highly debilitating long-term condition.
As always, we are very grateful for the help of all our user-volunteers and family members. We are lucky to have so many people who contribute and give of themselves in so many different ways, and are often willing to respond to the needs of fellow-sufferers in crisis. Our members are concerned for those most severely affected, and often through small acts of support for them and their carers make a real difference.
## **FINANCIAL REVIEW**
## **POLICY ON RESERVES**
The trustees regularly review reserves and adjust programmes to accommodate changing funding levels. Unrestricted reserves can support the current programme of activities and services for several years.
Page 6 of 16
Registered Charity number _1093659_
Trustees’ report and Financial Statements for year ended 31March 2021
## **ONGOING SOURCE OF FUNDS**
**The Linmara Trust** has at Linda Carvill’s request very kindly undertaken to continue to support our transport fund which allows people with limited finances and poor mobility to attend the group’s activities by paying their minicab fares. We have extended availability of the transport fund to cover, within limits, members' cab fares to hospital appointments and to benefits assessments. Although the fund has barely been in use for the past year, we are very grateful for this support which will hopefully assist members in the not too distant future.
## **MEMBERS’ SUBSCRIPTIONS AND DONATIONS**
We are grateful to the members who have supported our work through donations to group funds. We continue to subscribe to Localgiving.com, which has enabled us to collect Gift Aid on donations. Our subscription remains at £7 per year for full membership, except for those who cannot afford this fee.
## **FUTURE PLANS**
The Covid-19 pandemic and the consequent lockdown that began in March 2020 made it necessary to suspend social meetings and monthly lunch club gatherings for a period that still remains unforeseeable at the time of writing. We very much hope that physical reunions will soon be safe. However, it seems likely that the therapeutic activities, and possibly some social meetings, that have moved online will remain online. This is because Linda’s Carvill’s home, the venue for many of these events, is no longer available to us.
It was not be possible, for reasons of safety, to hold an AGM in June 2020 as planned. We feel that it is imperative for an AGM to be held this summer, if necessary online. The situation will be reviewed as and when the lockdown is eased but we need to bear in mind that many of our members are vulnerable to infection. Meanwhile, four of the five trustees, Steven Erselius, Lawrence Bannister, Patricia de Wolfe and Robert Birbeck, who were appointed at the AGM in June 2019 will remain on the Committee, Christine Jenkins having resigned in September 2020. The trustees have been meeting online since March 2020 and continue to administer the group.
Page 7 of 16
Registered Charity number _1093659_
Trustees’ report and Financial Statements for year ended 31March 2021
## Statement of Financial Activities for the year ended 31 March 2021
|Unrestricted
Funds
£
Restricted
Funds
£
21,661
10,100|Total
Funds
2021
£
Total
Funds
2020
£
31,761
6,305|
|---|---|
|**21,661**
**10,100**
(123)
-
(2,459)
(783)
(299)
-|**31,761**
**6,305**
(123)
(176)
(3,242)
(5,327)
(299)
(347)|
|**(2,881)**
**(783)**|**(3,664)**
**(5,850)**|
|**18,780**
**9,317**|**28,097**
**455**|
|7,709
3,414
-|11,123
10,668|
|**26,489**
**12,731**
**39,220**
**11,123**||
The Statement of Financial Activities includes all gains and losses in the year. With the exception of the gift from the Linmara Trust (see note 3), all income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.
Page 8 of 16
Registered Charity number _1093659_
Trustees’ report and Financial Statements for year ended 31March 2021
## Balance Sheet at 31 March 2021
|Note
2021
£
**Fixed assets:**
Tangible assets
**Current assets:**
Debtors
7
-
Cash at bank and in
hand
39,770
**Total current assets**
**Liabilities:**
Creditors falling due
within one year
8
**Net current assets**
**Net assets**
**The funds of the**
**charity:**
Unrestricted income
funds
9
26,489
Restricted income funds 9
12,731
**Total charity funds**|2021
£
2020
£
-
11,423
**39,770**
(550)
**39,220**
**39,220**
7,709
3,414
**39,220**|2020
£
-
|
|---|---|---|
|||**11,423**
(300)|
|||**11,123**|
|||**11,123**|
|||
|
|||**11,123**|
The notes on pages 10-16 form part of these accounts.
Approved by the trustees and signed on their behalf by:
Patricia de Wolfe Committee Member May 2021
Page 9 of 16
Registered Charity number _1093659_
Trustees’ report and Financial Statements for year ended 31March 2021
## Notes to the accounts
## **1. Accounting policies**
The principal accounting policies adopted, judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty in the preparation of the financial statements as follows:
## **(a) Basis of preparation**
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with FRS102 Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland – “Charities SORP (FRS102)”.
## **(b) Fund accounting**
Unrestricted income funds comprise those funds which the trustees are free to use for any purpose in furtherance of the charitable objects. There are no designated funds where the trustees, at their discretion, have set aside resources for a specific purpose.
Restricted funds are funds which are to be used in accordance with specific restrictions imposed by the donor or the terms of a specific award.
## **(c) Income**
All income is recognised once the charity has an entitlement to the resources, it is certain that the resources will be received and the monetary value of incoming resources can be measured with sufficient reliability. The following specific polices are applied to particular categories of income:
Income received by way of donations and membership subscriptions is included in full in the Statement of Financial Activities when membership is renewed or when donation received. Monies from Localgiving.com in respect of their collection of related Gift Aid on respective donations via their website is recorded as and when received, this being the only date sufficiently reliable.
Grants, where entitlement is not conditional on the delivery of a specific performance by the charity, are recognised when the charity becomes unconditionally entitled to the grant.
Income from grants, where there are performance or service deliverables required by the terms, are accounted for as the charity earns the right to payment through its performance.
Page 10 of 16
Registered Charity number _1093659_
Trustees’ report and Financial Statements for year ended 31March 2021
## Notes to the accounts continued
The value of services donated by volunteers has not been included in these accounts, due to these not being reliably and reasonable valued except where the services provided are in the nature of professional services and delivered to professional standards and levels of service where a fee would otherwise be charged, in which case the donated service is valued at their chargeable rate.
## **(d) Expenditure**
Liabilities are recognised as and when there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the charity to the expenditure. All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all costs related to the category.
## **(e) Irrecoverable VAT**
Irrecoverable VAT is charged against the category of resources expended for which it was incurred.
## **(f) Allocation of overhead and support costs**
Support costs include administrative office functions, and have been allocated to activity cost categories on a basis consistent with the use of resources, typically a measure of use but if the Trustees consider another basis more appropriate then they will apply their discretion.
## **(g) Costs of generating funds**
Costs of generating funds are those costs incurred in attracting income, or incurred in activities undertaken to raise funds.
## **(h) Expenditures on charitable activities**
Charitable expenditure comprises those costs incurred by the charity in the delivery of its activities and services for its beneficiaries. It includes both direct costs and support costs relating to those activities.
## **(i) Governance costs**
Governance costs include those costs associated with meeting the constitutional and statutory requirements of the charity, and include insurance, inspection fees and costs linked to management of the charity including trustee expenses.
## **(j) Tangible fixed assets and depreciation**
All assets costing more than £500 are capitalised at historic cost. Fixed assets are stated at cost less accumulated depreciation.
Page 11 of 16
Registered Charity number _1093659_
Trustees’ report and Financial Statements for year ended 31March 2021
## Notes to the accounts continued
## **(k) Remuneration and pensions**
The charity does not and has never employed permanent staff and does not and has not ever provided pension benefits to temporary workers.
## **(l) Going concern**
The main uncertainty is the ability of the current trustees to continue the stewardship of the charity. The trustees and members volunteer their time for free, without which the charity would be unable to function. As both groups suffer long term chronic illness and are very limited in function, small changes in health could render them unable to assist. The charity is very much run on a “cash basis”, with minimal time intervals between commissioning and subsequent payment for said goods and services. The main asset is cash with minimal liabilities and there is therefore no substantive difference between “going concern” valuation and dissolution value.
## **2. Related party transactions**
Trustees have been determined as the only related parties. While many members contribute and may have previously been trustees, as is common with chronic illness support groups, they do not have significant influence over the charity stewardship.
The trustees all give freely their time and expertise without any form of remuneration or benefits in cash of kind (2020: £nil).
Trustee expenses for travelling or incurred on behalf of the charity are reimbursed. The charity has no employees nor external administrative support services and because of this trustees will regularly have to purchase goods and services on behalf of the charity.
Page 12 of 16
Registered Charity number _1093659_
Trustees’ report and Financial Statements for year ended 31March 2021
## Notes to the accounts continued
Expenses for which trustees were reimbursed are as follows:
|Unrestricted
funds
£
Restricted
funds
£|Total
2021
£
Total 2020
£|
|---|---|
|96
405
-
- 33
126
123
-|96
-
405
274
33
126
24
123
103|
|**750**
**33**
**783**
**401**||
## **3. Income from subscriptions & donations**
|Note
Member subscriptions
Donations
Donations: Linmara
Transport fund
Pipkin Pot
**Total**|Unrestricted
funds
£
Restricted
funds
£
657
1,004
-
100
20,000
-
5,000
5,000|Total
2021
£
Total
2020
£
657
1,104
777
3,885
20,000
5,000
1,500
5,000
920|
|---|---|---|
||**21,661**
**10,100**|**31,761**
**7,082**|
In June 2020 the charity received a gift of £30,000 from the Linmara Trust, a charitable organisation. This consisted of unrestricted funds in the amount of £20,000; £5,000 designated for the Pipkin Pot; and £5,000 designated for the Transport Fund (see note 9).
Page 13 of 16
Registered Charity number _1093659_
Trustees’ report and Financial Statements for year ended 31March 2021
## Notes to the accounts continued
## **4. Analysis of Expenditure**
|Unrestricted
funds
£
Restricted
funds
£
1,025 -
889
-
345
-
-
35
-
748
-
200
-|Total
2021
£
Total
2020
£
1,025
1,050
889
760
345
231
35
2,178
748
625
-
20
200
-
180
283|
|---|---|
|**2,459**
**783**
**3,242**
**5,327**||
## **5. Taxation**
The Trustees are of the opinion the charity is exempt from tax on income and gains as all activities are conducted in accordance with the constitution for charitable purposes.
## **6. Staff costs**
There were no employees during the year and no costs. (2020 – £ nil)
## **7. Debtors**
|**7. Debtors**|||
|---|---|---|
|Note
Prepayments|Unrestricted
funds
£
Restricted
funds
£|Total
2021
£
Total
2020
£|
||-
-|-
-|
Page 14 of 16
Registered Charity number _1093659_
Trustees’ report and Financial Statements for year ended 31March 2021
## Notes to the accounts continued
## **8. Creditors falling due within one year**
||Unrestricted
funds
£
Restricted
funds
£|Total
2021
£
Total
2020
£|
|---|---|---|
||(550)
-|(550)
(300)|
|||Transfer
£
Fund
c/fwd
£|
|7,709
21,661
(2,881)||-
26,489|
|1,679
5,000 (35)
735
5,100
(748)
1,000
-
-||- 6,644
- 5,087
- 1,000|
|3,414
10,100 (783)||- 12,731|
Page 15 of 16
Registered Charity number _1093659_
Trustees’ report and Financial Statements for year ended 31March 2021
## Notes to the accounts continued
## **Restricted funds** are to be used only for specific purposes
## Transport fund
This fund is to facilitate members attending events by assisting with travel costs, specifically to help those living on low incomes and not well enough to use public transport. This fund is provided by the Linmara Trust, a charitable organisation.
## Pipkin
A fund hitherto supported by private anonymous donors, and from June 2021 by a £5,000 grant from the Linmara Trust, to provide small grants to beneficiaries on an ad hoc basis at the discretion of an appointed representative, with approval from a trustee.
## Art
This fund is to be used for art classes when unrestricted funds have ceased to be available for classes.
## **Cessation of charity**
In the event of the charity ceasing, the constitution specifies that balances on remaining funds be transferred to similar charities.
Page 16 of 16
CHARITY COMMISSION
FOR ENGLAND AND WALES
Independent examinerfs report on the
accounts
Section A
Independent Examiner's Report
Report to the trusteesl
members of
On accounts for the year
ended
Charity no
(rf any)
xoai
ID93L59
Set out on pages
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above
charity (Ihe Trusn forthe yearended31 /03/Ao31
As the d)aritys trustees, you are responsible for Ihe preparation of the
accounts in accordan with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011
fthe ACV).
I report in respect of my examination of the Trusfs a¢cJ)unts carried out
under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I
have followed all the applicab Directions given by the Charity Commission
under section 145(5){b) of the Act.
Responsibilities and
basis of report
Independent
examinerfs statement
Qppho. Debte [ ] if not applicable.
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have
me to my attention in connection with the examination (4lk*h#
b•") whith gives me cause to believe that in, any material
respect:
the accounting records were not kept in ac(x)rdance with section 130
of the Charities Act., or
the accnunts did not accord the accounting records,. or
the accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements
conceming the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities
{Accounts and Reports) Regub.OnS 2CK)8 other than any requirem8nt
that the accounts give a 'true and faiv view Nthich is not a matter
considered as part of an independent examination.
I have no ¢oncems and have come across no othef matters in connection
with the examinatirJn to which attention should be drawn in this report in
order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
. Please d81ete the w0S in the brdckets if they do not apply.
Signed:
Name:
Relevant professional
qualification(s) or body
HoNs
IER
Oct 2018
(11 any):
Secrion B
Disclosure
Only complete rf the examiner needs to hithlFtht Ma7 trotters of c((n
(see CC32, Indepdent examination of d)arity threCn$
guidan for examiners).
arry It8 that the
examinerwishes to
disclose.
Oct 2018