2024-03-31-accounts - Town Pastors (Ipswich)

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TOWN PASTORS (IPSWICH)

Trustees Annual Report For The Year Ended 31[st] March 2024

Charity Number: 1126406

Company Registration Number: 6709704 Registered Office: 13, Camberley Road, Ipswich, IP4 5QH

Aims and Objectives

Town Pastors (Ipswich) is a service offered on selected nights by Christians drawn from the churches of Ipswich to care for people on the streets of Ipswich, initially in the bar and club area of the town centre. In particular Town Pastors seek to:

Look out for and support vulnerable people, providing assistance where appropriate.
Provide a presence of friendliness and care so that people can enjoy their night out.
Defuse potentially aggressive situations. Be available to people as listeners.
Encourage safe behaviour for all.
Foster good relationships between the public, the police, the local authorities and voluntary agencies.

Town Pastors operate within a Code of Conduct and a code of practice defined by their Core Values.

TRUSTEES

Trustees who held office during the financial year were as follows:

Mr P. Laughlin

Mrs A. Law

In addition the following served on the Management Committee:

Mr P. Wood (Company Secretary and Administrator/Co-Ordinator) Mrs. V. Dufour

Mrs Barbara Willingham (Treasurer)

Mr David Morris

The company is limited by guarantee. A guarantee of £1 has been given by each of the Trustees. Apart from this none of the Trustees have any shares or participating interests in the company.

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

Charitable Status and Governing Document

The company is a registered charity, number 1126406, and is governed by a Memorandum and Articles of Association.

Appointment of Trustees

The appointment of Trustees rests with the trustees as a body.

The trustees seek to find people to join as a trustee when the need arises, and endeavor to nominate a person with appropriate skills but who also accepts the Christian faith which is central to the charity’s objects and purpose.

Organisation

The Trustees administer the Charity. The Trustees meet every 2 to 3 months to review the operation of the Charity, the financial situation and future developments in order to ensure the Charity’s objects are being fulfilled. There have been no material changes in the policies since the last report.

Risk Management

The Trustees have a risk management strategy which comprises:

Continual review and assessment of the risks the Charity may face
The establishment of procedures to mitigate risks identified and minimize the potential impact

This process is ongoing and includes a Child Protection Policy, health and safety matters, training and insurances

ACTIVITIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS DURING THE YEAR

Town Pastors (Ipswich) began in May 2006 and was incorporated as a Private Company, limited by guarantee on 29[th] September, 2009.

Town Pastors operate on the streets of Ipswich at times when the night time economy is at its busiest, typically from 10.00 pm to 03.00 am on Saturday nights throughout the year. In addition extra patrols were undertaken over the Christmas/New Year period. The work is carried in close liaison with working partners – the police, Council, paramedics and door staff – and good relationships have been developed with each of these groups.

Pastors are volunteers, drawn from churches of various denominations from across Ipswich. There are currently approximately 13 Town Pastors, from over 12 different churches. In addition a further 16 people are involved in praying for the work on a rota basis during the course of each night making a total number of volunteers to almost 30.

The work involves providing assistance to those in need; helping to get people safely home in the early hours of the morning; working with other agencies, including the police, ambulance service and CCTV, to provide medical and pastoral assistance; helping to calm volatile situations so as to reduce crime and removing dangerous items (such as glass bottles etc) from the streets. Monthly and annual statistics are provided to the Council and Police & Crime Commissioner on the number of incidents dealt with in each of these categories.

Although no longer responsible for the organisation and running of Fesival Pastors in July Ipswich Town Pastors supplied 4 volunteers to once again assist in welfare matters at the Latitude Festival held at Henham Park. Along with other Town Pastors schemes across Suffolk the volunteers were on site for the duration of the Festival, Thursday to Monday.

Since the work started in Ipswich in 2006, several new Town Pastors schemes have been established across Suffolk. The Town Pastors (Ipswich) Management Team have been involved in helping these groups with recruitment, procedures and training, and ongoing support links have been established.

FINANCIAL POSITION

Resources used are controlled to match anticipated income based upon the previous year and any expected changes.

Incoming resources for the last financial year ended 31[st] May are shown on the attached Financial Statement.

RESERVES POLICY

Expenditure is controlled to match anticipated income based on annual budgets.

The Trustees aim to build the reserves up to a level representing about six months of the financial commitments of the organisation, when the financial resources permit.

VOLUNTARY HELP

The charity is indebted to numerous people who provide voluntary help in administration, events and other activities, without whom the charity could not properly function.

STATEMENT OF TRUSTEES’ RESPONSIBILITIES

The trustees (who are also directors of Town Pastors (Ipswich) for the purpose of company law) are responsible for preparing the Trustees Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

Company law requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial period which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of its financial activities for that period. In preparing those financial statements the Trustees are required to:

Select suitable accounting policies and apply them consistently
Observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP
Make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent
State whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements
Prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is in appropriate to assume that the charitable company will continue in operation

The Trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the company and to enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 1985 and the Charities Act 1993. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud or other irregularities.

AUDITOR

Under advice it was agreed that TOWN PASTORS (IPSWICH) would take advantage of exemption from audit under section 249A (1) of the Companies Act 1985 and no member or members have requested an audit pursuant to Section 249B (2) of the Act. Independent examination of the accounts has been carried out by Mr Derek Austin.

SMALL COMPANY RULES

These accounts have been prepared in accordance with the special provision of the Part VII of the Companies Act 1985 relating to small companies and in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard for Smaller Entities (effective January 2007).

P.J.Wood

Signed on behalf of the Trustees

P. J. Wood, Company Secretary

Date: 19[th] April,2024

- Town Pastors Ipswich From April 1st 2023 to 31st March 2024

	2022/23	2023/24 5100.00 18000.00 1379.14 1090.77 0.00
	£.p 7000.00 0.00 1415.30 321.74 0.00
	8737.04	25569.91
	4715.75 0.00 2552.38 277.00 603.50 1000.00 499.80 186.76 602.00 3000.00 0.00 0.00 3.40 81.88 50.00 18.40 13.00 45.00	5151.25 0.00 2704.99 682.57 67.50 1000.00 511.00 176.07 543.00 4000.00 0.00 0.00 42.75 4.59 60.00 18.80 13.00 52.60 35.00
13648.87		15063.12

-4911.83		10506.79
0.00 80922.63		6000.00 85402.22
80922.63		91402.22
0.00 -245.00		-217.80
80677.63		91184.42
85589.46 -4911.83		80677.63 10506.79
80677.63		91184.42

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT TO THE DIRECTORS/TRUSTEES OF TOWN PASTORS IPSWICH.

I report on the accounts for the year ended 31*t March 2024, which are attached.

Respective Responsibilities of the Trustees and the examiner.

The charity’s trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act) and that an independent examination is needed.

It is my responsibility to:

Examine the accounts under section 145 of the 2011 Act;

Follow the procedures laid down in the General Directions given by the Charity Commissioners section 145(5) (b) of the 2011 Act; and

State whether particular matters have come to my attention.

Basis of this report

My examination was carried out in accordance with the General Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the company and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes considering any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts and seeking explanations from the management committee concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in a full audit, and consequently I do not express an audit opinion on the view given by the accounts.

Independent examiner’s Statement

In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention:

l which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements
to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the 2011 Act; or

to prepare accounts, which accord with the accounting records have not been met; or

2 to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Signed D J Sheehy Ain

Date: § ~-lo- aL

Name and address D- n- A UST)

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