2025-12-31-accounts

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The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Knowle, Solihull

Charity number 1127404

Report and Accounts

Year ended 31 December 2025

	CONTENTS
Report		Page
Trustees Report:
1.	Aim and purposes	1
2.	Objectives and activities	1
3.	Achievements and performance	1
4.	People	7
5.	Financial review	7
6.	Reserves policy	8
7.	Fundraising practices	9
8.	Plans for future periods	9
9.	Structure, governance and management	9
10.	Reference and Administrative details	10
11.	Statement of Trustees’ responsibilities	11
Accounts for the year ended 31stDecember 2025		12
Independent auditor’s report to the trustees		26

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Trustees’ Report (continued)

Knowle PCC 2025 Report and Accounts

2025 Annual Report and Accounts for the Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Knowle, Solihull (Charity number 1127404)

The trustees are pleased to present their annual report together with the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31[st] December 2025.

The financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011 and Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102).

1. Aim and purposes

Knowle PCC has the responsibility of cooperating with the incumbent in promoting in the ecclesiastical parish, the whole mission of the Church, pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical. The PCC is also specifically responsible for the maintenance of the Church and nearby buildings – the Guild House, St John’s Hall and St Lawrence House – and two residential properties: St Anne’s Cottage and 46 Crabmill Close.

2. Objectives and activities

The statement of purpose of Knowle Parish Church (KPC), agreed by the PCC and endorsed by the 2015 APCM, is: ‘We are here to help people become lifelong followers of Jesus Christ’ . This statement of purpose is augmented by the Vision statement which was introduced in 2021 “A house of God’s light for all peoples and generations”; more detail is on page 4.

The PCC is committed to enabling as many people as possible to worship at our church and to become part of our church community to help resource their discipleship and equip them for service in the world. The PCC maintains an overview of worship in the church and in groups throughout the parish and beyond and makes suggestions on how our services and other activities can be for the benefit of everyone of whatever background. Our services and worship put faith into practice through prayer, scripture reading, teaching, music and sacrament.

When planning our activities for the year, we have considered the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit and, in particular, the supplementary guidance on charities for the advancement of religion. We seek to enable people to find and live out their faith in Jesus Christ in our community and beyond, and we also organise a number of activities that benefit the whole community of Knowle such as pre-school groups and a friendship club for senior citizens. We also promote practical and financial support to Christian mission beyond Knowle in the UK and overseas. To facilitate our work, it is important that we maintain the fabric of the Church and related buildings.

3. Achievements and performance

Worship and prayer

Our normal service pattern continued through 2025. Services continue to be well attended.

At the 9.30 am service, under 5s, children’s and youth groups are held most weeks, with intergenerational services held at key points during the year. During 2025, a review of the 11.15 service was conducted, which led to changes to the hymn book and service sheets. These changes will themselves be reviewed in due course.

Whole Church prayer meetings took place termly and were generally attended by around 40 - 50 people. Additional Church prayer meetings were held at key points eg to pray for Christmas services. Many other smaller groups also met to pray regularly throughout the year.

Ministry and evangelism

Throughout 2025 the Church maintained its aim of serving and reaching out to people in Knowle and beyond, seeking to reconnect with the community. We have particularly noted the regularity of new people just turning up to church or making contact with us about faith, particularly men under 25yrs old. To support this, a new group for younger adults has been formed and meets each week after the Encounter service.

Our Exploring Faith courses included Alpha in Spring 25 with 30 attenders, following on to Alive (after Easter), and then we trialled the 4 weeks of the 321 course in the Red Lion pub during the Autumn. There were lots of positive faith stories to tell throughout the year and we have been encouraged how these courses have grown in popularity. A new home group was formed following ‘Alive’ which is still going well, the majority of whom came on the recent church weekend away.

Following Alpha 2025, we launched a new ministry of ‘accompaniers’ to walk alongside those new to faith. This has been trialled in 2025 with 7 new Christians walking intentionally with a more mature member of church, and will be rolled out more widely in 2026.

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Trustees’ Report (continued)

Knowle PCC 2025 Report and Accounts

3. Achievements and performance (continued)

Ministry and evangelism (continued)

Twice in 2025, in September and again at Christmas, over 2000 pupils from Arden Academy come to KPC for a short service. This special connection between church and non-church secondary school is really significant to our life in the village and has been a stepping stone for those younger adults returning to faith later in life.

Our Friday Night Girls Night ministry has continued to thrive, under the leadership of Barbara Carstairs, with the hall full to bursting for the final, intentionally evangelistic, event of the year in late November. Following the success of 2025, 2026’s evenings have moved to the church to accommodate larger numbers.

We didn’t repeat the flurry of sporting activity of the summer of 2024 but one event that did go ahead was a cricket match at Solihull School. The highlight of which was welcoming 3 players from our connections with the local hotel housing asylum seekers. They also attended the concert put on by ‘Changing Tunes’ later in the year – see the Global Mission Committee report.

Many of our other ministries are outlined independently in the wider report but the missional edge of our Renew Café, Make, and Friendship Club are particularly noteworthy, alongside the significant outreach work of the children’s team.

Our evangelism encouragements to bless others, speak up about our faith and invite people to events continues throughout the year and our Sunday services included a preaching series on ‘Common Questions of faith.’ The clergy have also visited several home groups leading sessions on ‘how to share faith.’

Over the course of 2025, through our evangelism courses, adult baptisms and confirmations, we know of at least 8 more people that have made significant commitments to follow Jesus.

Mothers’ Union

Knowle Mothers’ Union is part of a worldwide movement of some 4 million members, with prayer at its core. Open to baptised men and women, parents or not, MU works to transform communities worldwide, promoting marriage and stable family life and encouraging parents in developing the faith of their children.

We have 72 members in Knowle and, besides monthly meetings with speakers and monthly prayer times, we have given financially to help struggling families to have a break and to fund literacy and financial education programmes overseas. We have collected items for Women’s Aid and given toys for prisoners to give to their children at Christmas, whilst KnitWits continued to knit clothes for premature babies in Birmingham hospitals. We have led prayers against gender-based violence, as well as serving in our church.

Membership is not so much about attending meetings, but living lives manifesting our MU promises. In 2026 MU celebrates 150 years since it began.

Home groups

Home groups continue to be at the heart of KPC life. They provide a forum for groups to give one another pastoral care and spiritual growth through prayer, discussion and Bible study. There are approximately 30 groups; most groups now meet face to face rather than on Zoom, meeting in the evenings from Monday to Thursday. More than 330 people regularly attend. Some groups have naturally come to an end, and some new ones have been created.

Various studies are used by the groups: our own sermon series questions, the Bible Course (Bible Society), Practicing the Way, clips from The Chosen, The God Story, and various studies on books and characters in the Bible. During the year Sue and Ian Ralph, home group coordinators, have continued visiting home groups and were much encouraged by their welcome and the care and discipleship they saw. Steve Johnson seeks to lead a home group leaders' meeting each term, although there has a been hiatus this year as a result of the extra clergy workload because of Geoff’s sabbatical. However, he did lead an informal soiree of prayer and discussion for home group leaders at his home in June.

KPC’s Mission team have continued to encourage home groups to link up with organizations and other groups outside the church, both within our mission focus and elsewhere, and a growing number of groups have developed such links. KPC continues to be blessed to have a faithful body of home groups and leaders, and we are grateful to God for their discipleship.

Children’s work

The children’s ministry team has continued as a team of 4 led by Sarah Covington, with Sarah Chapman and Clare Fillingham focussing on the under 5s and their families and then Barbara Carstairs and Sarah Covington focussing on the 5 -11s.

Our pre-school ministry remains really strong, with Sarah and Clare developing a huge number of contacts through all of our groups - Bumps & Babies, Graduate Bumps, Rainbow Tots (2 sessions weekly) and Dads & Toddlers too. We are thankful to Gareth Hall who continues to lead the Dads & Toddlers sessions as a volunteer. A large number of these families attend our seasonal events that happen across the year, from Pancake Parties to Easter Celebrations to the many Christmas events once

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Trustees’ Report (continued)

Knowle PCC 2025 Report and Accounts

3. Achievements and performance (continued)

Children’s work (continued)

again held in 2025. Alongside the events, we are looking at ways to build on the relationships and find the right opportunities for deeper faith exploration, whether that be through the biweekly Mums home group, or the delivery of courses such as 3-21with a more focussed group.

2025 saw the transition of the Stepping Stones leadership from Sue Spencer as she retired at the end of the summer term, to Amy Elebe who took over in September. We are incredibly grateful for all that Sue did for Stepping Stones over her many years in the role, and similarly thankful to Amy for stepping into the role.

With 5–11s we have our Sunday groups which run most weeks, interspersed with our intergenerational services. We continue to have a core group of children and are also seeing some growth in numbers on a Sunday. Significantly, we are also seeing growth in the depth of faith of our children. Particularly significant for some was the opportunity to be part of leading the first 15 minutes of a 9:30 service. We have continued to run a series of very successful one-off events – Pancake Party, Light Party, Easter events, Summer events, Christmas etc, all of which are enabling us to build relationships and community with the families. Our work at Knowle Primary Academy has continued with us delivering Collective Worship weekly in each key stage, supporting teaching of some elements of the RE curriculum and also through the seasonal services that take place at church throughout the year. A newer development is the opportunity to lead Choral Collective Worship twice a term for the school which involves both Alex Dengate and Sarah Covington. The Jelly Beans Club for the children in Year 1 is now well established and saw approximately 30 children on average each week. A child who attended in 2025 decided that they wanted to be baptised, which has now happened, and they have brought their family along to church with them. Through the opportunities provided by the governance roles of Sarah Covington and Geoff Lanham, we have been able to develop further church-school links, and this has involved occasions where children and staff have attended some 9:30 services, such as the school choir singing for our Mothering Sunday service, and the school council talking to us about their Drop the Screen campaign. Sarah Covington also continues to provide pastoral care and support for the staff, most notably for the Principal, and wider leadership team.

Youth work

In January 2025, our Youth Minister Amy Dowdy, returned from maternity leave and promptly began engaging with the youth ministry at Knowle Parish Church. With particular focus on reconnecting and establishing relationships with the young people that utilised our various provisions, and working closely with our Assistant Youth Minister, Ros Hardy. Since January we have adapted some of our sessions to be more accommodating to our large group sizes and also for young people with a neurodiversity. Our youth groups now utilise St Johns’ Hall, Youth Office & St Anne’s Cottage with occasional use of the main church building and Lower Guild House.

We engage with approximately 50 young people over the course of an average month across our 7 different youth sessions each week. Since Amy’s return she has prioritised needs assessing the young people we currently engage with. We have a large community of Hong Kong families and young people. We also have a large community of young people who have a neurodiversity. This has made needs assessing our young people and our provisions complex. We have sought out professional support with this through SEN training, an SEN specialist consultation and a Hong Kong Enabler. This time last year our Hong Kong young people made up the majority of our groups but at present there is more diversity amongst our groups and we are seeing a higher proportion of white British young people attending our sessions which has increased the weekly attendance.

We have been able to recruit 2 new volunteers into the youth team. They come with substantial experience and a natural rapport with young people. Other activities throughout the year include youth socials, Christmas & Easter religious events, Youth Away Day, and Arden Assemblies (September & December). Alongside our Arden mentoring we have also developed a 121 mentoring system within our Knowle Parish Church youth provision. Amy’s 121’s are with years 10-13 females and Ros’s 121’s are with years 7-9 females. We have also reestablished our older youth group on Sunday afternoons for years 10-13.

In addition to this we have launched a Youth Workers Across Solihull Network, it is in early stages but the aim of this network is to meet together with other youth workers every half term and help support, encourage and inspire one another. The overall objective of this network is to collectively deliver occasional and regular youth provision for the young people of Solihull to access.

Pastoral care

The ministry of the pastoral care team, led by David Pickering and covering prayer ministry, bereavement support and visiting the sick and elderly at home and in care and nursing homes continued throughout the year. In addition, home groups, which generally meet fortnightly, offer prayer and support to their group members. The annual Memorial Service for the relatives of people who have had funerals at church in the past year took place on Sunday 16th November.

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Trustees’ Report (continued)

Knowle PCC 2025 Report and Accounts

3. Achievements and performance (continued)

KPC Vision and goals

We have continued to progress the church’s vision statement which was developed in 2021:

Letting our light shine at the village centre as

A house of God’s light for all peoples and generations .

A beating heart of worship to God; generously serving Knowle, the deanery and wider world, to help transform lives and neighbourhoods for Jesus.

In developing this vision we looked at Worship, Discipleship, Evangelism and Mission. This has led over the last three years to several new initiatives in each of the areas. During 2025 we have reviewed our main weekly services and the extent to which they effectively support this vision, continued to progress ways to support parents and younger children, and the Renew Café continues to serve the local community well which was begun in 2023.

For Future Generations - Knowle Parish Church reordering project

We launched a project in 2024 to address the ways in which the interior of the main church building could better support our Vision and Goals. In particular we identified that the fixed Victorian pews restrict the use of the church considerably, that the heating places a limit on our eco aspirations and that the lighting and general layout present a less than welcoming impression for newcomers.

Through 2024 and into 2025, extensive consultation work was undertaken with the church family, local stakeholders and also the Diocesan Advisory Committee (DAC). We held an informal meeting with the DAC after the PCC had reviewed and authorised the evaluation of options and concept stage of design from BHB (our appointed architects) in early January. This broadly concluded RIBA Stage 2. Work has progressed to refine the design following positive feedback from the DAC and the consultations.

The governance arrangements authorised by the PCC in 2024 appointed a Project Director and Project Manager and asked the Project Director to appoint a team to undertake the work. This forms the Steering Committee. The Project Director reports to the Sponsorship Group comprising the Vicar and the Church Wardens which in turn is accountable to the PCC. The Steering Group and the Sponsorship Group meet every month. The team meets with BHB each month and these professional meetings now include the specialised consultants as required and are chaired by BHB. The Steering Group maintains a comprehensive risk register which is reviewed typically every 4-6 months.

In moving forward from RIBA 2, the PCC reauthorised the project budget to proceed to RIBA design stage 3 and 4. This was at a tendered price at a percentage of the construction cost. As is normal practice, the Church has to engage various specialist reports to support the work of the architects. Estimates, were identified and approved in March 2025 by the PCC in the sum of £403,000.

The first work undertaken was an archaeological survey, including test pits, and then a woodwork survey, both mandated by the DAC. Subsequent work on civil and structural engineering, mechanical and electrical engineering have also been let following competitive tender towards the end of 2025 and early 2026. Delegations involving contract procurement and letting were approved by the PCC in October and November 2025.

Funding for the first phase of the project, RIBA 1-2 stages was provided by The Pickering Fields Trust against the fixed fee proposal from BHB. The funding for the subsequent stages was provided by gifts, bequests and donations before April 2025. All contributions before, and after, April 2025 have been encompassed in a single interest bearing CCLA Reordering account.

The Church ran a pledge day process over a week in July 2025 from which pledges in the sum of £2,393,305 were made. With Gift Aid, this amounts to £2,809,326. Once pledges are received, they are classified as gifts, bequests and donations. The Fund Raising Team is also continuing to explore external sources of grants and funds to support the project. This is alongside Fund Raising Team’s activity in the community which seeks to raise awareness through outreach and engagement as well as funding.

The pledge process has been a wonderful blessing from God clearly indicating the movement of the Holy Spirit in such generosity for future generations of mission for the Church.

Communications around the project cover a variety of media including church notice boards, website, stakeholder meetings, appropriate social media, Parish Magazine and face to face briefings as at the recent church weekend away.

The current timeline for the project would allow for submission of pre-application planning approval and Faculty permission from the Chancellor from autumn onwards. There would then be a 4-6 month pre-tender and tender period with a start on site no earlier than spring 2027, with works probably taking just over a year. This is the most optimistic trajectory given the challenge of DAC Faculty permission. We will also require SMBC Planning Permission for the annex, hopefully obtained in parallel to the DAC Faculty.

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Trustees’ Report (continued)

Knowle PCC 2025 Report and Accounts

3. Achievements and performance (continued)

For Future Generations - Knowle Parish Church reordering project (continued)

The project is supported by an active prayer ministry team who readily engage with team and church family members and attend critical meetings.

Church attendance and membership

Attendance at Sunday services averages around 384 adults and 38 children and young people.

At the time of the 2025 Annual Meeting in May, following a complete revision of the Church Roll, there were 481 people on the Church Roll, of whom 282 lived in the parish and the remaining 199 outside the parish. Many additional people have links with the church in a less formal way.

During 2025, 6 Baptisms and 2 thanksgiving services were held and 9 marriages and 1 service of blessing took place. 34 funerals took place in the church. A further 10 funeral services took place at the crematorium and 24 interments or burials in the KPC churchyard.

Deanery Synod

Knowle Parish Church is in the Yardley and Solihull Deanery of Birmingham Diocese. There are nearly 30 churches in the Deanery, which stretches from Ward End in the north to Knowle in the south. In general the Deaneries spread out from Birmingham centre like spokes on a wheel, to ensure a good demographic mix of churches in each Deanery. Therefore, although we are physically close to St Phillip’s, Dorridge, that church is in a different Deanery (Shirley). Other churches in the Deanery with which we have links are St John’s Sparkhill (home of the Narthex Project), and St Christopher’s Springfield, and we also have links with local rural churches in our Oversight Area.

Deanery Synod met three times last year, in February, June and October. Subjects discussed included Conflict Resolution, Safeguarding, Mission, Transforming Church, and Birmingham Diocese’s (ultimately successful) bid for central CofE funding to support Leadership, Parish Growth and Church Planting / Revitalisation.

Ecumenical relationships

Our clergy met during the year with the clergy and leaders of other churches in Knowle and Dorridge.

Eco Church

The Eco Group continues to promote and develop Eco action at KPC in line with C of E net-zero targets. This year we have built upon last year’s Creation Care sermon series and secured funding to host a series of outside speakers for our 2026 Lent talks, titled Understanding Creation Care. In support of our role as a resourcing church, these talks are open to all local Christian churches, churches in our oversight group and other churches in the diocese as well as the wider community.

We have continued with our popular Eco events such as our annual green fair in order to connect with our local community. We have organised a large litter pick in conjunction with Solihull Council. We continue to work with other local environmental groups including Knowle Society and Warwickshire Wildlife Trust. We have engaged with Knowle Primary Academy and helped with their Eco work and run a poster competition for the children.

In November we ran a successful pilot for a Repair Café and are looking at options for how we make this a more regular event.

The Hong Kong Men’s group has joined with us to tackle and maintain the area at the back of the kitchen with weeding and planting. We have taken part in a hedgehog survey with Warwickshire University and installed a small camera in the churchyard to film a nest.

We continue to make small eco improvements to our buildings and environment and sustainability is a key part of the For Future Generations project.

We are still looking for a small group of individuals who can support our work in prayer as well as praying specifically for the Climate Emergency at a local, national and international level.

Global Mission Committee

In 2025 the Global Mission Committee has pursued its strategic aims as outlined below and is encouraged that the sense of what Mission might mean for individuals and groups is growing in our church. We have established a rhythm of two, whole Sunday Mission themed days for all four services with an emphasis on one UK and one international partner for each Sunday.

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Trustees’ Report (continued)

Knowle PCC 2025 Report and Accounts

3. Achievements and performance (continued)

Global Mission Committee (continued)

January 2025 was hearing from Rev Toby Crowe about St John’s Church, Sparkhill and in July 2025 we heard from Bishop Walter Toro and the Tarija church in Bolivia with live and recorded material from Tarija.

Peter Coggan has developed the prayer co-ordination such that there is material for prayer requests available for alternate Sundays in all services.

We also started to meet and support some of our 32 home groups to explore how their group might choose a mission project or partner and then pray for and develop a relationship with the partner. 13 groups are actively involved with a partner now.

Whilst continuing to support various historic partners at home and overseas through prayer, relationship building and finance we also continued our discernment process of who and why we support our existing and emerging partners. There were no big changes in the last 12 months other than 2 projects closed and we reinstated Birmingham City Mission to replace one of them as that was such a strong hope from the survey of our congregation in 2023. We are now engaged with the three regional churches, two emerging partners and nine other partners (was twenty-six). We continue a commitment to Bolivia and its Bishop, Walter Toro, his nation’s needs and with his specific church in Tarija. A home group prays for and communicates by translated Zoom calls with the Tarija church.

We continue to host an annual concert for Changing Tunes, and are exploring other options for engagement especially with a view to children and young people’s special needs inside the criminal justice system in the West Midlands.

We continue to explore a business opportunity for an International Ecological partner together with Claire Carter’s ECO & Climate group. This is in a pilot phase presently.

We supported a small number of individuals with mission questions.

The GMC made grants and donations at our discretion from the 2025 budget of £37.5K.

The Committee, chaired by Bruce Richard, continues to meet every 6 to 8 weeks, with 5 members, plus Rebecca Hailes as our PCC link.

Fabric

In 2025, the PCC Fabric committee comprised Nick Brown (Chair), Gareth Roberts-Davies (Facilities and Systems Manager), Liz Welton, Ian Kay and Ian Best. The Committee meets monthly, discussing maintenance, repairs and matters including the churchyard and trees. The group reviews progress, commissions work, determines priorities and plans future works subject to approval by PCC. Gareth retired at the end of 2025. Ian Best stood down at the beginning of the autumn. The group would like to place on record their thanks to Gareth and Ian for their contributions.

Mark Prescott is the new Facilities Manager and Tony Lumb will join the group from early 2026.

Mark reports to Helen Allen (Operations Manager), who receives all papers.

The fabric of the church buildings continues to remain in satisfactory condition. The Quinquennial architect is James Phillips of APEC architects.

Status of works on KPC buildings:

i. Church

There are no material issues currently with the Church. The quinquennial inspection raised no items of significance. Our attention was drawn to likely future costs of repair to the south aisle roof though this is not anticipated to be during the life of this 5 year inspection. Restoration work following the archaeologists’ excavations has been undertaken to a very high standard. The restoration of the ancient chests, dating back to the 15[th] century have been cleared of worm and beetle and the hinges and clasps restored by a professional conservator. We will be renewing the heating controls due to unreliability of the old system. Efflorescence has reappeared in the vestry. This is again being dealt with more broadly to try to dry out the stonework in that area.

ii. St John’s Hall

The endemic problems of the hall floor expansion continue. Whilst this has been offset by the use of dehumidifiers in the summer months, we are looking at a more semi-permanent dehumidifying solution. In seeking expert architectural and heating advice on the hall floor we have been told that the cost of replacement would be likely in the order of £250k. At this stage it

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Trustees’ Report (continued)

Knowle PCC 2025 Report and Accounts

3. Achievements and performance (continued)

Fabric (continued)

would not be economic or affordable, and the PCC determined that we would not replace the floor until after the main reordering is concluded. Hence, pursuing an approach that used semi-permanent de humidifiers to prevent the floor expanding. The partition screens whilst safe, are awkward to use and work is in hand to rectify their “stickiness” in early February. Electrical inspection will be carried out in February 2026.

iii. Guild House

The floor of the Guild House has been very effectively restored and looks amazing now and has no loose blocks. The damp in the entrance has been dealt with although there is more damp work to be done in the toilet and decorative on the hall and stairway.

iv. Churchyard

The cycle of inspection and maintenance continues with work programmed as and when needed.

The upkeep of the ancient and more modern church estate remains a considerable challenge. Over the last year we have been able to address some more of the issues that have presented over the years. The reordering project will enable some of the structural issues to be addressed but that will give benefit over the longer term.

4. People

The work of the Church was undertaken by a wide group of people including Clergy, Staff, Readers and very many members of the Church. The principle of ‘every member ministry’ remains strong in the life of the church. Volunteers continue to play a central role in the work of the Church and are at the heart of most activities.

Amy Dowdy returned from maternity leave in January 2025.

Charlotte Barber joined us as Organist and Choir Leader in January 2025.

Catherine Robinson retired in November 2025. We appointed Susan Adams to take on the role of Magazine Editor and Joanna Hamilton to be Communications Officer. We thank Catherine for her contribution to the life of the church; during her time on staff she has overseen several large projects including production of the new church logo, design of the new KPC website and a revamp of the church’s weekly newsletter. We wish her well for her retirement.

Geoff Lanham took a 3-month sabbatical from September to November 2025. He was appointed an Honorary Canon of Birmingham Cathedral.

Our grateful thanks are due to everyone who gives of their time and energy to enable KPC to do all that it does, and to all who pray for the many things which go on.

5. Financial review

The PCC is pleased to report that General Fund reserves remain at a healthy level, ending the year at £93k (2024: £100k) compared to the revised policy level of £80k (2024: £75k).

The General Fund, which covers the normal running expenditures of the church, showed a deficit of £20k in the year, compared to a deficit of £12k in 2024. The £20k deficit for the year is after charging depreciation of £33k, but before transferring £20k to the Designated Property Repair Fund; so net current assets, or reserves, decreased from £100k to £93k. This level of reserves is above the revised policy level of £80k and provides a level of flexibility in readiness for increased costs in 2026.

Restricted funds have increased very significantly to £1,610k (2024: £152k) because of the gifts and grants received towards the church reordering project.

The Treasurer and the PCC as a whole warmly thank church members and others for their continued financial support, without which we would not be able to carry forward the ministry of Christ in Knowle.

Going concern

The trustees have considered the financial outlook for the charity in the context of the charity’s plans and general economic conditions. While costs increased in 2025, reserves have been maintained at a healthy level. Although costs are expected to increase further in 2026, the PCC considers that reserves will continue to be maintained at or above the policy level of £80k for a further 12 months. Accordingly, the PCC has determined that the current conditions do not create a material uncertainty that casts significant doubt upon the entity’s ability to continue as a going concern for at least twelve months following the date of signature of the balance sheet.

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Trustees’ Report (continued)

Knowle PCC 2025 Report and Accounts

5. Financial review (continued)

Income

Total income increased by £1,526k to £2,411k mainly as a result of a £1,482k increase in income for the “For Future Generations” project to reorder the church interior. Other increases of £57k in donations and grants were offset by decreases in income from activities (£8k) and unrestricted legacies (£5k).

Income to General Funds increased by £42k to £738k. An increase of £40k in donations by church members was supplemented by a £2k increase in fees for weddings and funerals.

Income to Designated Funds decreased by £9k to £87k. Gifts, grants and legacies to designated funds decreased by £1k. Income to the affiliated groups declined by £8k, principally because of lower income in the Stepping Stones pre-school group.

Income to Restricted Funds increased by £1,493k to £1,585k. Reordering Fund income increased by £1,482k to £1,537k including gifts and associated Gift Aid from individuals of £1,365k, a grant from Pickering Fields Trust of £150k and deposit account interest of £22k. Other Restricted donations and grants totalling £17k (2024: £6k) included a £4k grant from Scientists in Congregations towards the cost of the Lent course “Understanding Creation Care”, a £3k grant towards youth work and gifts of £10k from church members towards church maintenance and other church activities. Knowle United Charity (KUC) made grants of £27k (2024: £26k) towards youth and children’s workers’ salaries and towards a newly created Organ Scholarship. The PCC is very grateful for KUC’s ongoing support over many years. Interest income of £4k (2024: £5k) was allocated across other restricted funds.

Expenditure

Contributions to the Diocesan Common Fund of £208k (2024: £193k) were in line with the amount requested; of this, about £20k (2024: £50k) was a voluntary gift to support other parishes. The PCC also made contributions to the Church’s wider ministry by continuing the policy of giving 5% of voluntary General Fund income to outside organisations, which amounted to £41k (2024: £42k) and also made gifts and grants from designated and restricted funds totalling £1k (2024: £1k) making a total of £62k (2024: £94k) towards mission and ministry work beyond Knowle. In 2024, retiring collections and other mission payments not included in the main church accounts totalled £9k (2024: £10k).

Total expenditure in 2025 increased by £82k to £992k.

General Fund expenditure increased by £50k to £759k. Salaries increased by £27k as all vacancies were filled and there was a pay increase to meet the increased costs of living. There were also increases in Common Fund payments (£15k), audit costs (£4k) and general expenditure (£4k). The audit cost increase results from a change to a full audit which is necessitated by the increased income levels for 2025.

Designated Fund expenditure decreased by £9k to £105k principally because of reduced costs of property and churchyard repairs that were met from the Designated Property Repair and Churchyard Funds. Energy costs of £3k (2024: £3k) were met from the designated grant from the Church Commissioners for this purpose.

Restricted Fund expenditure increased by £41k to £128k. Expenditures in 2025 included costs on the reordering project of £84k (2024: £45k) and £15k (2024: £18k) on other projects. Payroll costs of £29k (2024: £24k) were met from restricted grants, principally from Knowle United Charity.

Financial Risk and Uncertainty

The principal area of risk and uncertainty is the responsibility for the upkeep of an ancient listed building, which can give rise to large and sometimes unexpected expenditure. This risk is mitigated by the maintenance of a Designated Property Repair Fund.

6. Reserves policy

The PCC has reconfirmed its policy to maintain a balance on General Fund reserves (net current assets, which excludes fixed assets) of a least 10%, or 5 weeks, of annual payments from the Fund. Because of the general increase in the activity and cost levels in the church, this value has now been increased to £80,000 (2024: £75,000) and is as low as is prudent bearing in the mind the time taken to obtain tax refunds, and the amount of income that still comes as one-off donations. This does, however, mean that any money given to the Church will be put to good use immediately! The actual balances of net current assets in the General Fund at the year-end of £92,815 (2024: £100,036) are therefore in line with PCC policy.

The PCC also maintains a Designated Property Repair Fund to cover the costs of major repairs; the balance on this fund of £116,716 (2024: £102,599) is expected to be sufficient for any works necessary in 2025.

The Designated Legacies Fund, created to hold the balances of legacies received but not yet allocated to specific purposes by PCC, stands at £80,232 (2024: £80,232).

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Trustees’ Report (continued)

Knowle PCC 2025 Report and Accounts

7. Fundraising practices

The church invites voluntary donations from the public which, together with the associated Gift Aid, comprise the majority of the church’s income. The PCC has reviewed its fundraising activity to ensure compliance with the latest Charity Commission guidance. The church does not use any commercial fundraiser or commercial participator. Although the church does not subscribe to particular fundraising standards or to any scheme for fundraising regulation, it follows guidelines for fundraising set by the Church of England. Fundraising activities are normally limited to invitations by the Clergy and/or Treasurer for church members to prayerfully review their giving to charitable activities including the church, supported by information leaflets and presentations which set out the financial position of the church, normally given on “Stewardship Sunday”. Particular care is taken to ensure the protection of vulnerable people and other members of the public from behaviour which is an unreasonable intrusion on a person’s privacy, is unreasonably persistent, or places undue pressure on a person to give money or other property. No complaints have been received by the church related to its fundraising activity.

8. Plans for future periods

Our aim and purpose will remain as stated in 1 above. The Trustees will continue to work to develop and implement our goals under our 2021 vision statement. We will run and develop our programme of worship services, groups, activities and special events, with changes to meet needs and initiatives as they arise. Our motivation remains that, as KPC, ‘We are here to help people become lifelong followers of Jesus Christ’ and to be ‘A house of God’s light for all peoples and generations’.

9. Structure, governance and management

The PCC is a corporate body established by the Church of England governed by the Parochial Church Council (Powers) Measure 1956 and the Church Representation Rules. It is a registered charity with the Charity Commission (no. 1127404).

The trustees of the charity are the PCC members. The method of appointment of PCC members is set out in the Church Representation Rules. At KPC, the membership of the PCC consists of the incumbent and other appointed clergy, members (including churchwardens) elected by members of the congregation who are on the Electoral Roll of the church.

Those who regularly attend services and participate in church activities are encouraged to register on the Electoral Roll. Only those on the Electoral Roll are eligible for election to PCC.

Members of the PCC are one of (i) co-opted, (ii) directly elected by the APCM, or (iii) members of our church who have been elected to Diocesan Synod to represent our Deanery.

As at the year-end, following the APCM on 14th May, there were:

3 elected members with Deanery Synod membership

10 elected members without Deanery Synod membership.

Any member of the Church may offer themselves for election to PCC at the APCM provided they qualify under the Church Representation Rules. Appropriate nomination forms may be obtained from the PCC Secretary via the Parish Office. Nominees to PCC can obtain appropriate information from the PCC Secretary on both the role of the PCC and the role of members.

The policies and procedures for the induction and training of trustees are as follows:

Prior to the PCC elections, prospective PCC members receive an information leaflet setting out the role of the trustees and particularly drawing attention to conflicts of interest. After election, PCC members receive the Charity Commission’s “Essential Trustee” booklet, the Church of England booklet “Trusteeship – An Introduction for PCC Members” and an internallyproduced document setting out the constraints on payments to PCC members or connected persons. Part of the PCC meeting which follows the PCC election is dedicated to trustee training.

The PCC members are responsible for making decisions on all matters of general concern and importance to the parish including deciding on how the funds of the PCC are to be spent.

The PCC held 8 business meetings during the year. There are 9 permanent sub-committees: – Standing, Fabric, Finance, Health & Safety (who undertake risk reviews on behalf of the PCC), Environment and Climate Action, Global Mission, Human Resources (Paid Staff), Stepping Stones Pre-school Management and Re-ordering Project Delivery Group.

The key management personnel of the charity is the Standing Committee, made up of the clergy, the churchwardens, the secretary, the treasurer and the operations manager. The Standing Committee may conduct urgent PCC business that arises from time to time between PCC meetings, in accordance with the Church Representation Rules. Of the key management personnel, only the operations manager (being an employee) receives remuneration from the charity.

All sub-committees report to the PCC on a regular basis and provide recommendations to the PCC. All matters of policy and finance are determined by the PCC, and are not delegated to sub-committees; however, detailed implementation of PCC decisions may be delegated to specific sub-committees from time to time as determined by the PCC. Membership of the subcommittees is approved by the PCC. Other groups exist on an ad-hoc basis to deal with specific matters.

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Trustees’ Report (continued)

Knowle PCC 2025 Report and Accounts

9. Structure, governance and management (continued)

Safeguarding

The council has complied with its duty under section 5 of the Safeguarding and Clergy Discipline Measure 2016 to have due regard to House of Bishops’ guidance on safeguarding children and vulnerable adults. The PCC has appointed a Parish Safeguarding Co-ordinator. Safeguarding is a standing item on the agenda at every PCC business meeting. Regular safeguarding reviews are held and updating of course attendance throughout the year.

10. Reference and Administrative details

The registered name of the charity is The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Knowle, Solihull, registered charity no. 1127404. In this report, for ease of reading, the charity is also referred to as “the PCC”, “Knowle Parochial Church Council”, “the Council”, “Knowle Parish Church” and “KPC”.

Knowle Parish Church is situated beside High Street and Kenilworth Road, Knowle. It is part of the Diocese of Birmingham in the Church of England. The correspondence address is Knowle Parish Office, St Lawrence House, 1717 High Street, Knowle, Solihull, B93 0LN.

The following members served on the council for all or part of the year; those serving in more than one capacity may appear more than once:

Incumbent: Revd Geoffrey Lanham (Chairman) Associate Vicar: Revd Steve Johnson Curate: Revd Amy Tan Churchwardens: Liz Welton (lay deputy chair) Rod Street Elected Member of Diocesan Synod: David Pickering Elected Representatives to Deanery Synod: Carol Kay David Pickering Susi Carter until 14.5.2025 Warren Tan from July 2025

Elected members to PCC: 2025- 2026

Claire Carter until 14.5.2025 Rebecca Hailes from 14.5.2025 Steve Mort (treasurer) until 14.5.2025 Jennie Lumb (Treasurer) from 14.5.2025 Leo Kwok from 14.5.2025 Warren Tan from 14.5.2025

Kate Boyall (Secretary) James Thorne Hugh Rollinson Hannah Bull Nick Houghton Kelly Purdey Roxanne Cheung

Helen Allen and Sarah Covington attended PCC meetings in a non-voting capacity.

Bank: HSBC Bank plc, 34 Poplar Road, Solihull, B91 3AF Auditors: Thomas & Young 266 - 268 Stratford Road, Solihull, B90 3AD

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Trustees’ Report (continued)

Knowle PCC 2025 Report and Accounts

11. Statement of trustees' responsibilities

The trustees 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).

The law applicable to charities in England & Wales 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 charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources of the charity for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:

select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP;
make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
state whether applicable 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 inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in operation

The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011, the Charity (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

In accordance with applicable law, we certify that:

so far as we are aware, there is no relevant audit information of which the Charity’s auditors are unaware; and
as the Board of Trustees, we have taken all the steps we ought to have taken in order to make ourselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the Charity's auditors are aware of that information.

Auditor

Thomas and Young was appointed by the Board of Trustees to provide audit services for the period commencing 1.1.25.

Report approved by the PCC and signed on its behalf by

Revd Geoffrey Lanham (incumbent)

15[th] April 2026

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Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2025 Knowle PCC 2025 Report and Accounts

Docusign Envelope ID: D052EE5E-192D-8E62-8201-8619A87F438E

Approved by the Parochial Church Council on 25[th] March 2026 and signed on its behalf by:

Revd Geoff Lanham: Chair

Liz Welton: Vice Chair

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Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2025 Knowle PCC 2025 Report and Accounts

Note - The Charity had no material debt during the year.

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Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2025 Knowle PCC 2025 Report and Accounts

1. Income analysis

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Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 31 December 2025 Knowle PCC 2025 Report and Accounts

2. Expenditure analysis

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Notes to the Financial Statements

for the year ended 31 December 2025 Knowle PCC 2025 Report and Accounts

2. Expenditure Analysis – continued

. Expenditure Analysis – continued
The net movement in funds is stated after charging/(crediting):	2025 £	2024 £
Feespayable for the audit of the charity's financial statements	7,500	-
Feespayable for the independent examination of the charity's financial statements	-	3,600
Depreciation of owned tangible fixed assets	33,265	36,133
Operatinglease charges	774	918

3. Accounting Policies

3.1 Basis of Preparation

The accounts include all transactions, assets and liabilities for which the PCC is responsible in law. They do not include the accounts of church groups that owe their main affiliation to another body nor those that are informal gatherings of Church members. The accounts include a number of church organisations that operate their own finances, as required by the Charities Act 2011; these organisations are listed at Note 6.

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Church Accounting Regulations 2006 governing the individual accounts of PCCs, and with the Regulations' 'true and fair view' provisions, together with FRS 102 (2019) as the applicable accounting standards and the 2019 version of Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice - Charities SORP (FRS 102).

Knowle PCC meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy notes.

The financial statements are prepared in GBP, which is the functional currency of the charity, and are rounded to the nearest £1.

3.2 Funds

Unrestricted funds represent the funds of the PCC that are not subject to any restrictions regarding their use. The PCC at its discretion has elected to designate certain unrestricted funds for a particular purpose. The practical operation of the funds is as follows:

The Parish General Fund

The PCC is responsible for all church funds, but this is the fund where income is received for the PCC to decide how it is best deployed to achieve the church’s Christian charitable objectives. The General Fund balance is effectively unspent income and is retained as a cushion against uncertainties.

Designated Funds

Designated funds for Property and Churchyard repairs and renovation are maintained by the PCC to separately manage the high and irregular costs involved. Gifts for fabric repairs or renovation are taken to the designated Property Fund if they can be related to costs incurred during the year. If a gift is for a specific fabric related purpose which is not carried out in the current year, then they are allocated to the Restricted Property Repair Fund. A Designated Legacy Fund has been established to hold the balance of unrestricted legacies received until the PCC allocates them to a specific purpose. Designated funds also include the funds of the church organisations that operate their own finances; most of the income of these funds is payment for the provision of charitable activities. The designated funds are listed at Note 6.

Restricted Funds

Restricted Funds are funds which are to be used in accordance with specific restrictions imposed by donors or which have been raised by the charity for specific purposes. The restricted funds are listed at Note 6.

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Notes to the Financial Statements

for the year ended 31 December 2025 Knowle PCC 2025 Report and Accounts

3. Accounting Policies (continued)

3.3 Income

All incoming resources are included in the Statement of Financial Activities (SoFA) when the charity is legally entitled to the income, the amount can be measured reliably and it is probable that the income will be received.

Voluntary income and planned giving are recognised when received by or on behalf of the PCC. Income tax recoverable on gift aid donations is recognised when the donations are received.

Most non-donation income is treated as income from charitable activities as the income derives from the provision of charitable (or Christian) services to local parishioners in pursuit of the Christian objectives of the church.

The amount of purely fundraising activity is small and normally consists of rental income from church facilities and residential property when these are not needed for church purposes.

Sales of books and other material from the bookstall and sales of the Parish Magazine are accounted for gross.

Rental income is recognised according to the period to which it relates and is shown gross, even though some of the rental income comes from other PCC funds such as the Stepping Stones pre-school.

Dividends and interest from investments are accounted for when receivable except that interest on deposits with CCLA (CCLA Investment Management Limited) is accrued.

Grants, legacies and donations to the PCC are accounted for as soon as the PCC is notified of its legal entitlement and the amount can be reliably estimated.

Government grants are recognised at the fair value of the asset received or receivable when there is reasonable assurance that the grant conditions will be met and the grants will be received.

A grant that specifies performance conditions is recognised in income when the performance conditions are met. Where a grant does not specify performance conditions it is recognised in income when the proceeds are received or receivable. A grant received before the recognition criteria are satisfied is recognised as a liability.

Realised gains or losses are recognised when investments are sold.

Unrealised gains or losses are accounted for on revaluation of investments at 31 December.

3.4 Expenditure

Expenditure is recognised when there is a legal or constructive obligation to make payments to third parties, it is probable that the amount will be paid and the amount can be measured reliably. The charity is not registered for VAT purposes and expenditure is shown inclusive of VAT. Grants and donations by the PCC are accounted for when paid over, or when awarded, if that award creates a binding obligation on the PCC. The Diocesan Common Fund is accounted for when paid.

Expenditure on Raising Funds is the directly attributable cost of renting out church facilities and residential property when these are not required for church purposes, plus an allocation of costs associated with administration. In practice for church facilities, this involves estimating the variable costs per session of operating the facilities and expressing this as a percentage of the average rental charge. For residential property that is normally held for clergy or staff housing, only those outgoings specifically related to the rental activity are identified as fundraising costs.

3.5 Fixed Assets

Consecrated and beneficed property

Consecrated and beneficed property is excluded from the accounts by Charities Act 2011 s.10 (2)(a). No value is placed on movable church furnishings held by the churchwardens on special trust for the PCC and which require a faculty for disposal since the PCC considers this to be inalienable property.

Land and Buildings

Land and buildings are stated at cost (or deemed cost) less accumulated depreciation. Straight line depreciation lives are applied to components as follows:

Building and roof structures 100 years
Roof surfaces 70 to 80 years
Windows, doors plumbing and cabling 40 to 50 years
Internal facilities and integral equipment 15 years
Land is not depreciated
Grade II Listed buildings 900 years

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Notes to the Financial Statements

for the year ended 31 December 2025 Knowle PCC 2025 Report and Accounts

3. Accounting Policies (continued)

3.5 Fixed Assets (continued)

Fittings, Furnishings and Equipment

Furnishings and equipment acquired after 1.1.2024 are capitalized where the cost is above £5,000. Prior to 1.1.2024, acquisitions over £1,500 were capitalized and these items will continue to be depreciated over their useful lives. Lower value items, of immaterial value in total, may also be capitalized where the related records provide a control over the use and deployment of the assets (e.g., laptops). Straight-line depreciation is applied, with lives determined specifically to each type of asset, up to 10 years with computer equipment and related software at 5 years.

3.6 Investments

Investments are valued at market value at 31 December. Realised and unrealised gains or losses on investments are dealt with in the Statement of Financial Activities.

3.7 Financial instruments

The charity only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value. Amounts owing to the PCC as at 31 December in respect of fees, rents or other income are shown as other debtors, net of any provision for amounts that may prove uncollectible. Short-term deposits include cash held on deposit either with the CCLA CBF Church of England Funds or at the bank or small balances of petty cash.

Creditors and accruals in respect of parochial activity comprise Trade Creditors of £13,712 (2024 - £5,902) and Accruals of £47,163 (2024 - £14,835). The increase in trade creditors mainly comprises invoices for professional services related to the reordering project, and the increase in accruals arises principally from deposits held for the church weekend away in February 2026.

3.8 Pension Schemes

The church provides defined contribution pension arrangements for auto-enrolment of staff via the Diocesan Scheme set up in compliance with current pension legislation. The assets of the schemes are held separately from those of the charity. The contributions payable are charged to the statement of financial activities.

4. Fixed Assets, Investments and Net Debt

4.1 Fixed Assets

The majority of the fixed assets by value comprise the five freehold properties beneficially owned by the PCC as follows:

Residential properties – 46 Crabmill Close
Offices and meeting places – St John’s Hall, St Lawrence House, St Anne’s Cottage and the Guild House.

Title to all the land on which the buildings are situated is held by Birmingham Diocesan Trustees Registered as custodian trustees, on behalf of the PCC because the PCC is not permitted by law to be the registered owner of land.

On the implementation of FRS102 the residential properties were valued at open market prices as at 31[st] December 2014 and the offices/meeting places at depreciated current replacement cost at the same date. The valuation of the Guild House included an impairment appraisal that wrote down to zero the structure of this medieval building that is very expensive to maintain and where the NPV of the related excess costs over a modern equivalent is equal to or greater than the undepreciated replacement cost of a modern equivalent.

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Notes to the Financial Statements

for the year ended 31 December 2025 Knowle PCC 2025 Report and Accounts

4. Fixed Assets, Investments and Net Debt (continued)

4.1 Fixed Assets (continued)

Land and Buildings

Included within Land and buildings is £300,000 (2023: £300,000) of freehold land which is not depreciated. There were no additions in the year.

Fittings, Furnishings and Equipment

There were no additions or disposals in the year.

4.2 Investments

Investments of £1,849 represent shares in the CBF's Investment Fund at market value as at 31 December 2025 (2024: £1,873). The historic cost of these shares was £1,053 (2024: £1,000).

4.3 Net Debt

The Charity had no material debt during the year.

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Notes to the Financial Statements

for the year ended 31 December 2025 Knowle PCC 2025 Report and Accounts

5. Staff Costs, Numbers Employed, Trustee Benefits and Expenses

Parish workers and clergy received £30,704 (2024: £25,414) by way of reimbursement of expenses whilst on PCC business. In addition, clergy housing costs amounted to £35,939 (2024: £31,633). Of the clergy accommodation costs, £22,740 (2024: £22,740) was paid to Pickering Fields Trust for the rental of a property on Newton Road which normally houses the Associate Vicar and £7,555 (2024: £0) related to major redecoration of the vicarage paid for from the Restricted Donations Fund.

The average head count during the year was 19 (2024: 20). No employees received employee benefits of more than £60,000.

The key management personnel of the charity is the Standing Committee, made up of the clergy, churchwardens, the secretary, the treasurer and the operations manager. Of the key management personnel, only the operations manager (being an employee) receives remuneration from the charity and their employee benefits in 2025 totalled £33,628 (2024: £32,495) including employers pension contributions of £798 (2024: £765) but not including employers National Insurance contributions of £3,951 (2024: £3,123).

Clergy are not employees of the charity.

None of the trustees (or any other persons connected with them) received any remuneration or benefits from the charity during the year.

One or more of the trustees has claimed expenses or had their expenses met by the charity.

the total amount of expenses reimbursed to trustees or paid directly to third parties was £8,473 (2024: £6,510).
the nature of those expenses was for travel, accommodation and subsistence, books and purchases of items in the course of clergy duties or running activities as volunteers.
the number of trustees reimbursed for expenses or who had expenses paid by the charity was 8 (2024: 5).

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Notes to the Financial Statements

for the year ended 31 December 2025 Knowle PCC 2025 Report and Accounts

6. Fund Details

Restricted Funds

The restricted funds arise where donations have been made for a specific purpose and funds are retained awaiting disbursement. In 2025, approximately £26,000 (2024: £8,000) of deposit account interest has been generated on the restricted fund balances, of which approximately £22,000 (2024: £3,000) relates to the Reordering Fund which has a dedicated deposit account with CCLA. The interest is included in the “incoming” column for major funds in the table below.

The RACK Roof Fund consists of donations received many (30+) years ago towards major roof repairs which are being held for the future. The income and gains/losses arise from investments related to the fund.

The Restricted Legacies and Donations Fund consists of various gifts and legacies where the donor has specified a specific use. The balance on the fund now comprises:

on the fund now comprises:
	~~£~~
Remainder of a 2018 grant from a legacy trust, given with a bias towards youth work	24,065
A gift towards new chairs for the church	11,922
Gifts to the Local Support Fund for help with the Cost-of-Living Crisis	6,799
Balance of a 2021 gift not to be used to meet regular expenditure, but to be held at
the discretion of the PCC for identifiable projects. During 2025, £7,555 has been	3,836
used for major redecoration of the vicarage and £1,800 to update office computers.
A grant from Scientists in Congregations towards the cost of the Lent course “Understanding Creation Care” in February/March 2026	3,632
Weekend Away Hospitality Fund	2,798
Others	1,210
Total	54,262

The Local Support Fund, included within the Restricted Legacies and Donations Fund above, started the year with a balance of £7,288. Further income of £401 was received in 2025 and 5 grants totalling £890 were made to individuals. There is therefore a balance available of £6,799 for further grants to be made when appropriate.

The Property Repair and Renovation Fund consists of restricted donations received towards major property repairs. From 1.1.2024, donations and expenditures related to the Church Reordering Project have been separated out from this fund into the Reordering Fund.

The Reordering Fund was separately established on 1.1.24 to keep separate the income and expenditure related to the proposed reordering project “For Future Generations” for the main church building. During 2025, Pickerings Field Trust kindly made a grant of £150,000 (2024: £30,000); gifts from individuals, with the associated Gift Aid, totalled £1,365,197 (2024: £21,875); and interest of £21,982 (2024: £3,216) was earned on deposit balances. Expenditure of £83,748 (2024: £45,330) comprised architect’s fees and the cost of associated surveys and reports.

The Pontifex Clock Fund consists of accumulated donations from the Knowle Church Clock Trust (a separate charity), also known as the Pontifex Clock Trust, towards repair and maintenance of the Knowle Parish Church clock and weathervane and for their eventual replacement.

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Notes to the Financial Statements

for the year ended 31 December 2025 Knowle PCC 2025 Report and Accounts

6. Fund Details (continued)

Restricted Funds (continued)

The Organ Fund consists of restricted donations received towards major renovation and repairs to the organ which are being held for the future.

The Choir Fund consists of restricted donations received for the Choir, and also monies received from weddings in excess of the amounts distributed to choir members, and is available for choir activities.

The Soldiers Chapel Fund arose from a major project in c.2010 to restore the decorated plasterwork in the Soldiers Chapel, situated at the north-east corner of the nave in the church. Generous donations were gratefully received towards this project from a number of sources including the Royal British Legion. The fund now consists of the excess of donations received over the cost of the project and is being held over to fund any further restoration work that may be required in the future.

Grants to employ Children and Youth workers include a grant of £25k (2024: £26k) by Knowle United Charity towards payment of salaries which has been retained in the fund towards salaries in 2026. Additionally in 2025, the charity made an additional grant of £2k (2024: £0) to provide funding for a newly created Organ Scholarship.

The Restricted Gifts and Grants for Youth Activities Fund, formerly called the Youth Charity Fund, has been used to account for the dedicated gifts and fundraising income, and the costs incurred, for the mission trips which occurred in previous years; the remaining balance from these trips of £8,160 is being held over towards future trips or similar activities.

Designated Funds

*There are several church organisations that operate their own finances. The Charities Act 2011 requires their figures to be included and they include Stepping Stones, Bell Ringers, Friendship Club, Youth, Wedding & Funeral Fees, and the Flower Guild.

The Property Repair Fund has been designated by the PCC for major work to the church’s properties. In 2025, notable expenditures included replacing the bell ropes and mufflers in the tower and repairs to the Guild House floor. The Tower Bell Ringers made a gift into this fund to cover the cost of the ropes and mufflers. In view of further work that is planned for the coming years and the need to maintain the fund at a level which can sustain unexpected costs, the PCC transferred £20k (2024: £20K) from General Fund into this fund in 2025.

The Churchyard Fund has been designated by the PCC for any non-routine work that may be required in the churchyard. In 2025, expenditure of £5,332 (2024: £6,464) was made in relation to tree surveys and the removal of dangerous trees. The fund is now exhausted, and further expenditures will be made from the Property Repair Fund.

In 2022, a grant of £9,180 was received from the Archbishops’ Council, via Birmingham Diocese, towards exceptional energy costs. The grant has been offset against energy costs over the three-year period 2023-2025 and therefore £3,060 has been applied to energy costs in 2025 (2024: £3,060) leaving a zero balance on this fund at 31.12.2025.

The Designated Legacies Fund was created in 2021 to hold the balances of unrestricted legacies received but not yet allocated to specific purposes by PCC. No unrestricted legacies were received in 2025.

Unrestricted Funds

Included with unrestricted funds is £386,923 of non-distributable reserves which arose on the revaluation of land and buildings on the implementation of FRS102.

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Notes to the Financial Statements

for the year ended 31 December 2025 Knowle PCC 2025 Report and Accounts

7. Outside Giving & Retiring Collections

This year the church supported other charities, mission work and individuals to a total of £42k (2024: £44k). Within the grants, £2k is a share of the gross receipts of the “Cobbles” Saturday morning informal café, where the Cobbles leadership nominate a different charity every few months. In addition, £9k (2024: £10k) was given directly to other charities and mission work through the organisation of retiring collections and fundraising events for specific charities. This latter “pass-through” income was excluded from the accounts but included here to provide a more complete picture of the fundraising activity of the church. Details of these payments are shown below.

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Notes to the Financial Statements

for the year ended 31 December 2025 Knowle PCC 2025 Report and Accounts

8. Contingent Liabilities

No contingent liabilities have been identified.

9. Related Parties

Charities are required to report donations to the charity from a trustee or a related party if the donor has attached conditions which would, or might, require the charity to alter significantly the nature of its existing activities if it were to accept the donation. There have been no such donations in 2025 (2024: £nil). Charities must also provide an aggregate disclosure of the total amount of donations received from trustees without conditions; these totalled £516,445 in 2025 (2024: £100,197). Additionally, Gift Aid claimed on these donations was £66,172 in 2025 (2024: £13,920).

At each meeting of the PCC the council members are required to declare any conflicts of interest that may arise or have arisen and where there is such a conflict then that member will not vote on any proposal involving the related party. There are two related parties of significance in 2025:

Pickering Fields Trust (PFT) which, with the Church, shares the vicar and two churchwardens as trustees. However, as Knowle PCC has approximately 20 members, there is not common control, as defined in the legislation.
Knowle Church Clock Trust (also known as Pontifex Clock Trust - Registered Charity Number 514954) which, with the Church, shares the vicar and two churchwardens as trustees. However, as Knowle PCC has approximately 20 members, there is not common control, as defined in the legislation.

Pickering Fields Trust has the official name ‘Charities for Ecclesiastical and Other Purposes’ - charity number 238492. Apart from a small amount of investment income, it derives all its income from the rental of its house to Knowle Parish Church for clergy use (see note 5) which amounted to £22,740 in 2025 (2024: £22,740). It, in turn, at the discretion of its 3 trustees and within its objectives, generally pays all its donations to the church, in support of renovation and fabric repair projects and the charitable work of the church. In 2025, the Trust made grants of £150,000 (2024: £30,000) towards the church reordering project, £15,000 (2024: £7,500) towards the cost of the curate and £6,000 (2024: £13,200) towards the cost of the expanded children’s ministry team. Group accounts have not been prepared since neither the trustees of Knowle Parish Church nor the electorate of Knowle Parish Church have powers (i) to direct the decisions of the PFT trustees or (ii) to appoint or dismiss the PFT trustees.

Knowle Church Clock Trust’s principal activity and achievement is the donation of the whole of the annual income from its investment funds to Knowle Parochial Church Council, which has the legal obligation of the upkeep of the church clock and weathervane. In 2025, the Trust made a donation to Knowle Parish Church of £75 (2024: £74).

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Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Knowle, Solihull

Independent Auditor’s Report

To the Trustees of The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Knowle, Solihull

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Knowle (the ‘charity’) for the year ended 31 December 2025 which comprise the statement of financial activities, the balance sheet, the statement of cash flows and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. 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:

give a true and fair view of the state of the charity’s affairs as at 31 December 2025 and of its incoming resources and application of resources, for the year then ended;
have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and
have been prepared in accordance with the Charities Act 2011.

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 charity in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’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 charity’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 with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

Other information

The other information comprises the information included in the annual report other than the financial statements and our auditor's report thereon. The trustees’ are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. 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

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Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Knowle, Solihull

Independent Auditor’s Report

To the Trustees of The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Knowle, Solihull

course of 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 this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, 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.

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

the information given in the financial statements is inconsistent in any material respect with the trustees' report; or
sufficient accounting records have not been kept; or
the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records; or
we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the statement of trustees' responsibilities, they 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 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, they are responsible for assessing the charity’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 either intend 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 144 of the Charities Act 2011 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.

The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud, is detailed below.

Our approach to identifying and assessing the risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations, was as follows:

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Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Knowle, Solihull

Independent Auditor’s Report

To the Trustees of The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Knowle, Solihull

the engagement partner ensured that the engagement team collectively had the appropriate competence, capabilities and skills to identify or recognise non-compliance with applicable laws and regulations;
we identified the laws and regulations applicable to the charity through discussions with trustees’ and other management, and from our knowledge and experience of the charity.
we focused on specific laws and regulations which we considered may have a direct material effect on the financial statements or the operations of the charity.
we assessed the extent of compliance with the laws and regulations identified above through making enquiries of management and inspecting correspondence.

We assessed the susceptibility of the charity’s financial statements to material misstatement, including obtaining an understanding of how fraud might occur, by:

making enquiries of management as to where they considered there was susceptibility to fraud, their knowledge of actual, suspected and alleged fraud; and
considering the internal controls in place to mitigate risks of fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations.

To address the risk of fraud through management bias and override of controls, we:

performed analytical procedures to identify any unusual or unexpected relationships.
tested journal entries to identify unusual transactions.
assessed whether judgements and assumptions made in determining accounting estimates were indicative of potential bias; and
investigated the rationale behind significant or unusual transactions.

In response to the risk of irregularities and non-compliance with laws and regulations, we designed procedures which included, but were not limited to:

agreeing financial statement disclosures to underlying supporting documentation; and
enquiring of management as to actual and potential litigation and claims.

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Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Knowle, Solihull

Independent Auditor’s Report

To the Trustees of The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Knowle, Solihull

There are inherent limitations in our audit procedures described above. The more removed that laws and regulations are from financial transactions, the less likely it is that we would become aware of non-compliance.

Auditing standards also limit the audit procedures required to identify non-compliance with laws and regulations to enquiry of the directors and other management and the inspection of regulatory and legal correspondence, if any.

Material misstatements that arise due to fraud can be harder to detect than those that arise from error as they may involve deliberate concealment or collusion.

A further description of our responsibilities is available on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: https://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 charity’s trustees, as a body, in accordance with Part 4 of the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charity’s trustees 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 charity and the charity’s trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Mark McLean FCA (Senior Statutory Auditor) For and on behalf of Thomas and Young Limited, Statutory Auditor Chartered Accountants Carleton House 266-268 Stratford Road Shirley Solihull

B90 3AD

DATE 21 April 2026

Thomas and Young Limited is eligible for appointment as auditor of the charity by virtue of its eligibility for appointment as auditor of a company under section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006.

The Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Knowle, Solihull

Charity number 1127404

Report and Accounts

Year ended 31 December 2025

CONTENTS

2025 Annual Report and Accounts for the Parochial Church Council of the Ecclesiastical Parish of Knowle, Solihull (Charity number 1127404)

1. Aim and purposes

2. Objectives and activities

3. Achievements and performance

Worship and prayer

Ministry and evangelism

3. Achievements and performance (continued)

Ministry and evangelism (continued)

Mothers’ Union

Home groups

Children’s work

3. Achievements and performance (continued)

Children’s work (continued)

Youth work

Pastoral care

3. Achievements and performance (continued)

KPC Vision and goals

A house of God’s light for all peoples and generations .

For Future Generations - Knowle Parish Church reordering project

3. Achievements and performance (continued)

For Future Generations - Knowle Parish Church reordering project (continued)

Church attendance and membership

Deanery Synod

Ecumenical relationships

Eco Church

Global Mission Committee

3. Achievements and performance (continued)

Global Mission Committee (continued)

Fabric

Status of works on KPC buildings:

i. Church

ii. St John’s Hall

3. Achievements and performance (continued)

Fabric (continued)

iii. Guild House

iv. Churchyard

4. People

5. Financial review

Going concern

5. Financial review (continued)

Income

Expenditure

Total expenditure in 2025 increased by £82k to £992k.

Financial Risk and Uncertainty

6. Reserves policy

7. Fundraising practices

8. Plans for future periods

9. Structure, governance and management

3 elected members with Deanery Synod membership

9. Structure, governance and management (continued)

Safeguarding

10. Reference and Administrative details

11. Statement of trustees' responsibilities

Auditor

1. Income analysis

Notes to the Financial Statements

2. Expenditure Analysis – continued

3. Accounting Policies

3.1 Basis of Preparation

3.2 Funds

The Parish General Fund

Designated Funds

Restricted Funds

Notes to the Financial Statements

3. Accounting Policies (continued)

3.3 Income

3.4 Expenditure

3.5 Fixed Assets

Consecrated and beneficed property

Land and Buildings

Notes to the Financial Statements

3. Accounting Policies (continued)

3.5 Fixed Assets (continued)

Fittings, Furnishings and Equipment