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2022-08-31-accounts

Trustees’ Annual Report for the period

From 01.09.2021 To 31.08.2022

Charity name: Sandbach & District u3a

Charity registration number: 1105144

Objectives and Activities

SORP reference
Summary of the purposes of
the charity as set out in its
governing document		 Para 1.17 The advancement of education and, in
particular, the education of older people
and those who are retired from full-time
work by all means, including associated
activities conducive to learning and
personal development.
Summary of the main
activities in relation to those
purposes for the public
benefit, in particular, the
activities, projects or
services identified in the
accounts.		 Para 1.17 and
1.19		 Sandbach and District U3A is primarily set
up to provide opportunities for people who
are no longer in full-time employment to
further their education and/or improve their
skills and abilities in a wide range of
subjects and activities. This is achieved
mainly by the operation of subject or
activity groups which meet at regular
intervals and which are led by fellow
members on a voluntary basis.
Members benefit through their involvement
in educational, creative and physical
activities complemented by a healthy social
environment.
Statement confirming
whether the trustees have
had regard to the guidance
issued by the Charity
Commission on public
benefit		 Para 1.18 All trustees have regard to the guidance
issued by the Charity Commission on
public benefit.

Additional information (optional) You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:

SORP reference
Policy on grant making Para 1.38
Policy on social investment
including program related
investment		 Para 1.38
Contribution made by
volunteers

Para 1.38 Other

Achievements and Performance

SORP reference
Summary of the main
achievements of the charity,
identifying the difference the
charity’s work has made to
the circumstances of its
beneficiaries and any wider
benefits to society as a
whole.		 Para 1.20 The u3a is the largest membership
organisation in our district. It provides a
wide range of social, recreational and
educational opportunities for members.
These focus on a wide variety of activity
groups, including geology, walking football
and circus skills, that meet on a regular
basis. There are also less frequent events,
such as Members’ Mornings, visits to a
range of venues, short holidays, coffee
mornings and showcases.
A major benefit of u3a is enjoying new
interests and making friends in a relaxed
environment. In recent research, our
members reported amongst other things
feeling supported in new communities
when they moved house, learning new
skills, feeling valued and enjoying life.

Additional information (optional) You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:

Achievements against
objectives set		 Para 1.41
Performance of fundraising
activities against objectives
set		 Para 1.41
Investment performance
against objectives		 Para 1.41
Other

Financial Review

Financial Review
Review of the charity’s
financial position at the end
of the period		 Para 1.21 The charity is in a healthy financial position,
with substantial reserves that are in line
with our policy on reserves.
Statement explaining the
policy for holding reserves
stating why they are held		 Para 1.22 We aim to maintain financial reserves at
least half the total annual venue costs and
no more than half the total annual
expenditure to cover any sudden increases
in expenditure.
Funds above a basic working amount are
transferred temporarily from a current
account to a deposit account.
Amount of reserves held Para 1.22 £33,617.36 on 31stAugust 2022
Reasons for holding zero
reserves		 Para 1.22
Details of fund materially in
deficit		 Para 1.24
Explanation of any
uncertainties about the
charity continuing as a going
concern		 Para 1.23 There are no obvious uncertainties about
the charity continuing as a going concern.
Additional information (optional)
You may choose to include further statements		 Additional information (optional)
You may choose to include further statements		 where relevant about:
The charity’s principal
sources of funds (including
any fundraising)		 Para 1.47 Our funds come from membership
subscriptions and group attendance fees.
Investment policy and
objectives including any
social investment policy
adopted		 Para 1.46
A description of the principal
risks facing the charity		 Para 1.46
Other

Structure, Governance and Management

Description of charity’s
trusts:
Type of governing document
(trust deed, royal charter)		 Para 1.25 Constitution
How is the charity
constituted?
(e.g unincorporated
association, CIO)		 Para 1.25 Member of the Third Age Trust as an
Unincorporated Association
Trustee selection methods
including details of any
constitutional provisions e.g.
election to post or name of
any person or body entitled
to appoint one or more
trustees		 Para 1.25 All trustees are elected annually as trustees
by members of the charity at an AGM, with
up to two additional trustees co-opted by
elected trustees.

Additional information (optional) You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:

Policies and procedures
adopted for the induction
and training of trustees		 Para 1.51
The charity’s organisational
structure and any wider
network with which the
charity works		 Para 1.51 The Sandbach and District University of the
Third Age (u3a) is part of a national and
international voluntary movement which is
supported by The Third Age Trust.
Relationship with any
related parties		 Para 1.51
Other

Reference and Administrative details

Charity name Sandbach and District u3a
Other name the charity uses N/A
Registered charity number 1105144
Charity’s principal address c/o Sandbach Library
The Commons
Sandbach
CW11 1FJ

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20		 Trustee name Office (if any) Dates acted if not for whole
**year **		 Name of person (or body) entitled
to appoint trustee (ifany)
Stuart Naylor Chair
Linda Bilsborrow Vice Chair
Susan Jones Secretary
Richard Thorne Treasurer
Alan Casey
Paula ReillyCooper
Barrie Hacking
Alice Holmes
Kate Ashcroft From 01.11.21
Sharon Ginnis From 01.11.21
JennyHaines From 01.11.21
Linda Williams From 01.11.21

– Corporate trustees names of the directors at the date the report was approved

Director name

Name of trustees holding title to property belonging to the charity

Trustee name Dates acted if not for whole year

Funds held as custodian trustees on behalf of others

Description of the assets held in this capacity Name and objects of the charity on whose behalf the assets are held and how this falls within the custodian charity’s objects Details of arrangements for safe custody and segregation of such assets from the charity’s own assets

Additional information (optional)

Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)

Type of Name Address
adviser

Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)

Exemptions from disclosure

Reason for non-disclosure of key personnel details

Other optional information

Declarations

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Signature(s)
Full name(s)
Position (eg Secretary,
Chair, etc)
Date		 Stuart Naylor Linda Bilsborrow
Stuart Naylor Linda Bilsborrow

Chair		 Vice chair
20 November 2022
20 November 2022

u3a S•nth•ch & Oi¥trict Uw4ylx' 11115141 r Totsl Tithl 7,645.W) 71.91 .116. 7,615 .871 26.116. 11,A)C 5,W.Y) 4,714.Tr) I1.3￿) F￿.A . Fo8s. P•J Irsknx 4,714. 102a4J7 10214.3 1,670. 1.670. 2.27 7.f 64.W.13 .17 23,757 35 Ineoff 10.284 37 75.223. 23,757 3 hird A 8 Trwt 10 3,(8194 2.W32 494 8214 6.033.82 1.824. 12 3,974.(lJ .1 A.352 1 4,612n 4,612 7 13 14 1i22T. 1487 3.IrK) 24.n4 9) 24,714 15 16 9.033 15 11079 17 00) 15.10 1.385.1 19 SbMSH rt• 1%12 527.48 144.76 3)176 21 1XS.52 23 71151.37 BI.￿ 6 17.1.67 17.%167 24 6.912 24 2.PJ4 93 9.707 1 5.795 f

Sandbach and District U3A Charity |No. 1105144

Independent Examination of Sandbach and District U3A Charity as required by The Charities Act 2011 for the Year 2021-22

Introduction

For each set of annual accounts charity law requires an Independent Examiner’s report to comment on three specific things: the accounting records kept, whether the accounts agree with those records, and whether the format of the accounts is correct. The examiner is also required to comment on the accounts if they have other concerns about them.

Full guidance for the independent examination of charity accounts is given in the Charity Commissions document 'Independent examination of charity accounts: Directions and guidance for examiners (CC32)'. This independent examination therefore follows the guidance in CC32 where it is applicable to Sandbach U3A. Where Directions and text from the guidance are used in the report these are shown in Italics.

Direction 1: Check whether the charity is eligible to have an independent examination.

1.1 The U3A income is made up of £64939.13 main activities and £10284.37 social activities, giving a total income of £75223.50. This income is less than £250,000 maximum for income without formal audit and an Independent Examination is therefore appropriate.

1.2 Is an audit required for any other reason?

The Inspection is required solely for the annual accounts and there is no other reason for an audit/inspection.

1.3 Confirm that the charity is eligible for independent examination. Notwithstanding the fact that this is a small charity the accounts have always been prepared on an accruals basis to give better financial control.

However, Charity Commission Appendix 5 of GUIDANCE - Independent examination of charity accounts: Directions and guidance for examiners (CC32) seems to indicate that accountancy qualifications are expected for accruals accounts.

For accruals accounts the examiner should have a good understanding of accountancy principles, accounting standards and knowledge of the applicable SORP.

Trustees who have had the charity’s accounts prepared on an accruals should select a person who is a member of one of the accountancy bodies listed in the 2011 Act as amended by the 2015 Order .

However the requirement for a member of one of the accountancy bodies is qualified by the CC's definitions of 'should' and 'must. ‘Must’ means something is a legal or regulatory requirement or duty that the independent examiner must comply with or must follow in the conduct of their examination.

‘Should’ means guidance that is good practice which the Commission expects the independent examiner to follow when carrying out their examination.

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Sandbach and District U3A Charity |No. 1105144

‘Recommended’ or ‘May’ means a recommendation or practice that the Commission believes that independent examiners may find helpful in carrying out their independent examination. The examiner has discretion to exercise their own judgment and follow different practices where they consider that these are more suitable for the charity’s circumstances.

For the 2018 - 2019 Independent Inspection clarification was sought from the then Treasurer [Louise Adams] and Chairman of the U3A [Arnie Laing], who in turn sought clarification from Kevin Traynor Finance Manager at the U3A National Trust Office, who confirmed in an eMail to Arnie Laing of 1st October 2019 that 'Unless your income exceeds £250,000 you do not need to have a qualified accountant audit the accounts. Up to that level any independent examiner can review and sign off the accounts. These eMails were attached at Refs.1 and 2 to the 2018 - 2019 Inspection Report and are not repeated here.

1.4 If the charity has one or more subsidiaries confirmed that group accounts are not required by law. The charity has no subsidiaries.

Direction 2: Check for any conflict of interest that prevents the examiner from carrying out their independent examination

2.1 Confirm that there are no close personal relationships with the trustees that compromise independence.

I have no family , business or other close relationships with the trustees or day to day involvement with the administration of the charity. I provide no services to the charity other than this independent examination and as far as I am aware there are no circumstances that I judge would reasonably lead to the perception that as the examiner I am not independent.

2.2 Consider whether sufficiently skilled to carry out the examination and, where required, confirmed membership of a listed body.

I am a Chartered Engineer, have a BSc (Hons) in Civil Engineering, and am a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers and a former HM Inspector of Nuclear Installations. I have also been Treasurer of the Rotary Club of Sandbach Crosses for about ten years so have some experience of keeping club accounts.

Direction 3: Record your independent examination

3.1 Direction 3 lists the records to be kept by the Independent Examiner. This report, it's attachments and references and retained working documents fulfil the requirements of Direction 3.

Direction 4: Plan the independent examination.

In order to plan the specific examination procedures appropriate to the circumstances of the charity, the examiner must review:

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Sandbach and District U3A Charity |No. 1105144

4.1 The Guidance requires the examiner to have an understanding of what the charity is aiming to do and how it goes about doing it and that examiner should know about the structure and objectives of the charity and the activities undertaken. I have reviewed the Constitution of the Sandbach U3A, Ref.1, and can confirm that the current year activities as detailed in the accounts, fully meet the Constitution's objectives of 'The advancement of education and, and in particular, the education of older people and those who are retired from full time work by all means, including associated activities conductive to learning and personal development'.

The advent of the Covid 19 pandemic and the introduction by the Government of rules restricting social gatherings and social interaction stopped or heavily curtailed the majority of U3A activities in the financial year 2020-21. However, since the lifting of restrictions, group in-person activities have resumed almost to pre Covid levels.

4.2. The examiner is required to vouch some transactions as a way of testing whether the accounting records have been kept to the required standard (see my response to Direction 5 below) and to check that one or more significant items shown in the accounts agree with the accounting records kept (see my response to Direction 6 below).

Direction 5: Check that accounting records are kept to the required standard.

  1. 1 The examiner must ensure that accounting records have been kept in compliance with the relevant legislative requirements The trustees are responsible for maintaining adequate accounting records to fulfil their legal obligations. The records of the charity must include those of any branch that is part of the charity. The examiner must review the accounting records to identify any material failure to maintain such records in accordance with the trustees’ legal duty.

5.2 The accounting records. I have reviewed a sample of the accounting records kept by the charity, References, 2, to 7, and can confirm that;

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Sandbach and District U3A Charity |No. 1105144

5.3 For membership fee payments and groups' income and expenditure, the accounts are computerised and managed by the SWISH system ['Sandbach WebIntegrated Support & Help']

5.4 Membership Income

Membership fees are collected and recorded in three ways;

5.6 Flow diagrams showing the processes for membership income and activity groups income are shown at Appendix 1.

5.7 Financial records including vouchers (invoices, receipts, claims and similar paperwork) have been kept by the charity to support the accounts (see Direction 6). The Trustees have ensured that the accounting records kept are a complete record by use of the SWISH system which can be interrogated to provide management reports.

5.8 Social Activity Income and Expenditure

Social activity income and expenditure is recorded in the SWISH summary.

5.9 Clarification on the treatment of the social income/expenditure within the accounts was sought in 2019 by the Trustees from the U3A National Office and the accounts are normally prepared in line with U3A National Office guidance.

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5.9 VAT

For VAT purposes trading income does not involve membership fees, donations, and Gift Aid. The relevant turnover this year falls well below the VAT threshold of £85,000.

5.10 Accounting Records Conclusions

Whilst not intended to identify every omission or insignificant error in the keeping of accounting records this examination of a sample of the records has found no significant failure to maintain records in a manner consistent with the legal requirements. The accounting records are well-kept and well organised, capable of ready retrieval.

Direction 6: Check that the accounts are consistent with the accounting records .

The examiner must compare the accounts of the charity with the charity’s accounting records in sufficient detail to reasonably conclude that the accounts are not materially inconsistent with the accounting records.

6.1 I have compared the accounts with a sample of the underlying accounting records to establish whether the accounts have been prepared properly and show what income the charity has received and how it has spent its charitable funds. I have checked that the accounting records kept include source documents such as invoices, purchase orders, Gift Aid records etc.

6.2 I have compared a number of transactions , to check the accuracy of the transactions entered against the source record or documentary evidence. I have reviewed the accounting record for all payments for the month of February 2022 with additional spot checks in other months, see References 4 to 6, to compare;

The only possible error I have found in my review of the February accounts relates to a likely double payment of £72 to Sandbach Town Council for Ballroom Hire on 25/2/22 for the hours 10am to 12pm. This is being followed up by the treasurer and a refund will be sought from the Town Council if a double payment is confirmed. With regard to my random review of invoices over the year I sought clarification of an invoice in November 2021 for £80 from Conquest Plants Nursery. The Treasurer confirmed that this was for a speaker fee for a talk to the gardening group although not identified as such.

In addition to the income and expenditure statement and the balance sheet at 30th September 2022 the accounts include monthly summary tables showing the breakdown of Subscriptions, Yearly Bank Reconciliation, NatWest Bank Reconciliation, PayPal income/transfers, Admin Expenses to be paid, Income and Expenditure. I have not reviewed in detail the makeup of these summaries but the output from each summary can be seen to support the individual entries in the final Income and Expenditure statement.

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Sandbach and District U3A Charity |No. 1105144

Direction 7

If the accounts are prepared on an accruals basis and one or more related party transactions took place the examiner must check if these were properly disclosed in the notes to the accounts.

Direction 8

Check the reasonableness of the significant estimates and judgments and accounting policies used in accounting for the types of fund held and in the preparation of the accounts.

8.1 The two separate funds of the charity, [Main Activities and Social Activities] have been correctly accounted for and reported correctly in the accounts.

8.2 The estimates or judgments that have been made in preparing the accounts are considered to be reasonable.

8.3 Fixed assets are treated as expenses and are charged within the year of acquisition.

8.4 To the best of my knowledge the accounting policies adopted in preparation of the accounts on an accruals basis are consistent with the applicable Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities (SORP) and are appropriate to the activities of the U3A.

Direction 9

The examiner must check whether the trustees have considered the financial circumstances of the charity at the end of the reporting period and, if the accounts are prepared on an accruals basis, check whether the trustees have made an assessment of the charity’s position as a going concern when approving the accounts.

Where accruals accounts are prepared, the examiner must ensure that the disclosures about going concern required by the applicable Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) are made and that the trustees’ assessment of going concern is reasonable given the available information. In particular the examiner must check if any material uncertainties related to events or conditions that cast significant doubt on the charity’s ability to continue as a going concern are disclosed in the notes to the accounts.

Where either receipts and payments or accruals accounts are prepared, the examiner must consider whether the trustees have assessed what invoices, bills and commitments remain outstanding at the end of the reporting period and whether the trustees have identified if they can settle these as and when they fall due.

9.1 The charities funds come from membership subscriptions and group attendance fees. The charity aims, as a reserves policy, to maintain financial reserves level at least half the total annual venue costs and no more than half the total annual expenditure to cover any sudden increases in expenditure.

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Sandbach and District U3A Charity |No. 1105144

To compensate members for the lack of activity in the 2020-21 year the Charity reduced the subscription fee from £10 to £5, for the 2021-22 year only. The Treasurer estimated a loss of circa £12,000 albeit with increased activity charges to members. In fact the loss has out-turned at £9,707, within the estimate by virtue of an unexpected bequest of £2000 and a Bank compensation payment of £250 for a banking error. However, comparing the reserves at £18,257 with half the venue costs, £17,263, as required by the Charities' declared reserves policy shows no room for future demand on the reserves if the policy is to be maintained. This is not of concern now that the membership fee is returned to the full, and increased figure.

9.2 Because the Charities funds come from membership subscriptions and group attendance fees, and nearly every group's fee income covers its venue and activity costs, the groups are essentially self financing. If an activity group's income becomes consistently less than expenditure the mismatch is highlighted by the Treasurer at management committee meetings and the activity fee adjusted to ensure the group breaks even. If an activity does not take place the loss of activity fee income is usually matched by a much reduced or zero venue cost. The self financing aspect of group activities and trips and outings in the 2020-21 year of Covid shutdown meant that even when confronted an almost complete stoppage of U3A activities there was no recourse to the reserves.

The charity is therefore able to settle its bills and meet its liabilities in a timely way and in the ordinary course of events without recourse to the reserves. For this year only, some recourse to the reserves was been agreed by the trustees who remain alert to the need to balance venue costs with income to ensure that activity income will at least break even with expenditure to limit any further demand on the reserves.

9.3 The trustees consider that they have adequate reserves and I have found no material discrepancy between the accounts and the level of reserves referred to in the trustees’ annual report. Accruals accounts have been prepared on a going concern basis and the level of reserves and provision for bills as they fall is considered adequate.

David Twidale Independent Examiner 1/11/21

Appendix 1 Chart showing Membership income flow in SWISH and Activity Groups income flow in SWISH.

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Sandbach and District U3A Charity |No. 1105144

References

  1. Constitution of Sandbach U3A

  2. U3A Annual Accounts for the year ended 31st August 2022.

  3. U3A Annual Accounts for the year ended 31st August 2021.

  4. Check of invoices v payments for month of February 2022.

  5. Random check of invoices v payments, all months

  6. Check of Cash at Bank.

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Sandbach and District U3A Charity |No. 1105144

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