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2023-12-31-accounts

TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORTS & FINANCIAL STATEMENTS OF THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL For the year ending 31st December 2023

INCUMBENT

Rev Chris Spittle The Vicarage Church Rd Skelmersdale

CURATE

Rev Lizzy Ferguson 6 Wilcove Skelmersdale

BANK

Barclays Bank

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER

The Accounting Clinic Liverpool Business School John Moores University

Registered Charity No1128068

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Administrative Information

The Parish Church of St Pauls Skelmersdale, Church Road, Skelmersdale, WN8 8ND. Official correspondence to Parish Administrator, Parish Office at the above address.

PCC Members are:
Incumbent The Revd. Chris Spittle (Chairperson)
Curate The Revd. Lizzy Ferguson
Church Warden Mr John Taylor
Deanery Synod Reps. Mrs J Cliff (until 2026)
Mrs J Jolley (until 2026)
Mrs S Price (until 2026)
Elected Members Mrs B Curry (until 2024)
Mrs J Hughes (until 2024)
Mrs L Oakley (until 2024)
Mr K Skelton (until 2025)
Mrs D Bennett (until 2026)
Mr J Davies (until 2026)
Mrs E Kenyon (until 2026)
Mrs L Lomas (until 2026)
Treasurer Mrs J Price
Secretary Mrs L Lomas
Child Protection Officer Mrs A Taylor
Vulnerable Adults Manager Mrs A Taylor
Bank Barclays
Independent Examiner The Accounting Clinic, Liverpool Business School,
Liverpool John Moores University
Architect Mr R Wolley

Day to day management control of the church is exercised by the Incumbent and Warden, contactable via the Church Office on 01695 716439 or the Vicarage on 01695 722087.

No Trustee received a payment for being a Trustee. However, during the year ended 31[st] December 2023 some Trustees received expenses and payments for services rendered in a capacity outside their role as Trustee.

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Structure, Management and Governance.

St. Paul’s Skelmersdale PCC operates under the Parochial Church Council Powers Measure 1956. It is registered as a charity with the Charity Commission The method of appointment of the PCC members is set out in the Church.

Representation Rules. All Church members are encouraged to register on the Electoral Roll and stand for election to the PCC.

The PCC operates two subcommittees when needed:

The Standing Committee: Incumbent, Treasurer, Secretary, Church Wardens and three elected members.

The Finance Committee: Incumbent, Treasurer, Secretary, and Church Wardens plus any member of the PCC who would like to attend.

Financial Risk.

The PCC continually reviews the financial position. Although our finances are a cause for concern, particularly in light of rising prices, there is no immediate financial risk.

Health and Safety

The PCC is conducting an ongoing review of our Health and Safety procedures. All formal risk assessments are listed within the PCC’s Risk Register.

Every year the Fire Alarm is checked to make sure that it is in good working order and the fire extinguishers are also checked on an annual basis. A five yearly Electrical Inspection is undertaken. A survey of the trees in the churchyard took place in 2018.

Child and Vulnerable Adult Protection.

At St Paul’s the safety and well-being of all people, especially children and vulnerable adults, is taken seriously. We continue to follow correct procedure and policy so that all people are recruited to teams and roles using the official ‘Safer Recruitment’ procedures. We are grateful to Mrs Ann Taylor who is our Safeguarding Officer for her work and for all the people in St Paul’s who volunteer on our various teams, groups and PCC. They all have a firm commitment to a safe culture and all Disclosure and Barring Service checks are up to date. There were no formal safeguarding incidents in 2023.

3

Objectives and Activities.

The PCC (Powers) Measure 1956 states that the PCC is to cooperate with the Minister in promoting in the Parish the whole mission of the Church, this includes the Pastoral, Evangelistic, Social, and Ecumenical ministry.

At St. Paul’s we have a Mission Statement which confirms our mission to proclaim the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the doctrines and practices of the Church of England, both through the proclamation of the word and to encourage members of the congregation to put their faith into action, as we serve Christ in the Parish.

Mission Statement

Jesus Says, “Go and make Disciples”, we try to do this through:

To do this, our aims and objectives for 2023 were:

To review, renew and refresh church life in light of a vision of growth in three dimensions:

This would include:

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Achievements and Performance (including review of charitable achievements against objectives )

There has been much to celebrate and give thanks for in 2023.

In our worshipping life we have seen attendances moving towards pre-Covid levels. Easter and Christmas services were well-attended, the Christingle service was particularly full. At Easter we offered a new Way of the Cross service in Holy Week, and offering an all-age Maundy Thursday service with evening meal was a wellreceived innovation. Holding all-age services in Trinity school on a regular basis also led to increased attendances and a number of newcomers joining us. The Bright Lights worshipping community has gone from strength to strength and is now held monthly. It is not unusual for attendances to approach 100 children and adults.

The annual memorial service also drew a large number of people to give thanks for the lives of loved ones, and we hosted the commissioning service for new Spiritual directors in Liverpool Diocese. Members of the congregation also attended the installation of Bishop John Perumbalath as the new Bishop of Liverpool.

Through the year we focussed on ten Holy Habits: biblical teaching, fellowship, breaking bread, prayer, sharing resources, serving, eating together, gladness and generosity, worship and making more disciples. As well as preaching on these at both Sunday morning services we also held monthly morning and evening gatherings to discuss the habits and people really appreciated the opportunity for fellowship and discussion. An Alpha Course held in the Spring/Summer drew together a range of people, those new to the church, those on the fringes, and those exploring the Christian faith.

Another significant initiative that we gave time to in 2023 was ‘Fit For Mission’. Ormskirk Deanery was in the second cohort within Liverpool Diocese to discern whether to engage with this process of 5 Programme Actions:

2) Working to our strengths in larger teams and portfolios

There were many meetings about this through the year and in November the 13 parishes of the deanery voted whether to continue in this process. St Paul’s, along with Rainford, Halsall, Lydiate, Newburgh, Burscough and potentially Ormskirk voted to continue this process in 2024.

A second SPA weekend was held at Quinta in Shropshire. We were hugely blessed by our speakers Adrian and Bridget Plass and by Rob Westall and his worship band. A booking has been made for 2024 and we are looking forward to Mark Greenwood joining us as our speaker. The men also enjoyed another excellent weekend away at Knock Christian Centre and were pleased to welcome back Rev Ian Greenwood as our speaker.

We identified greater involvement in our community as an objective for 2023, and achieved this (among other ways) through the ongoing work of the Renew wellbeing

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café which moved from one day a week to two and launching a chaplaincy in the Concourse shopping centre under the leadership of Paul Davies, and it is encouraging to see how this has been welcomed and also that the chaplaincy team is growing and involves members from other local churches.

Initial discussions have begun for St Paul’s to become a hub for FUSS, offering free second-hand school uniform for local schools. We hope to start this new initiative in 2024. We held a number of tabletop sales in the church, enabling local small businesses and organisations to raise funds and also come to our church building. Communion is taken into local Nursing Homes, and the monthly service at Stocks Hall in particular has drawn together not only residents but their families too for much appreciated times of worship.

We have continued to be blessed in the area of Vocations and Ministry. This has been a significant movement of the Spirit at St Paul’s in recent years. Rev Lizzy Ferguson was ordained Priest in June. We have been blessed by Lizzy, Jon and Aoife being a part of the St Paul’s family and we shared their joy at the arrival of Simeon at the end of the year. Paul Davies has continued his ordination training and placement at St Paul’s. He will be ordained in 2025. We also attended the licensings of a few previous St Paul’s members and curates though the year.

We were sorry to lose Rev Dr Anne Kazich from our ministry team when she moved back to Liverpool, but Chris was able to represent St Paul’s at her licensing to the St Luke’s in the City Team in November. We enjoyed having Hannah Owen (a teenager thinking about ordination) on work experience in the parish for a week in March. The blessing of having a large ministry team at St Paul’s meant that Chris was able to have a month of Study Leave in November and also attend a course at St George’s House, Windsor Castle in January 2024.

In December, Barbara Jones stood down as Mothers Union branch leader. We are exceedingly grateful for all that she brought to the role, she was a dedicated and faithful leader of the group. Currently with no-one else stepping into the leadership of the group, it is not meeting. However, work has been done in the church in the area of women’s ministry and the ladies have held and organised a number of events.

We greatly value our partnership with Trinity, our church school, and that partnership has continued to bear fruit. In December Tony Currie sadly had to retire as head teacher on health grounds, and we are exceedingly grateful for all that he brought to the school. We were very pleased that in 2024 Helen Winstanley our Deputy Head teacher was appointed to the Head’s role. That both Helen and Tony are members of the St Paul’s congregation brings significant blessing and opportunities for ministry in and with the school. Trinity school achieved an outstanding SIAMS inspection result during the year, and a number of church members are involved in school life.

The PCC would like to thank everyone who has worked through this year to make our Church a lively, loving and welcoming worshipping community. weekends away in April and September respectively.

The Electoral Roll

There were 119 on the electoral roll at the end of 2023.

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Church Buildings.

Mr. Ken Skelton continues to work as “Building Manager”. He has organised minor work that needed to be carried out on the church building. There is an ongoing programme to improve the church fabric. Important checks such as the electrics, boiler and fire appliances are all up to date.

A Quinquennial Inspection of the Church took place in 2023, which although broadly positive raised some concerns about the roof and perimeter walls. In 2023 some progress was made toward the Vestry Redevelopment. It is hoped that this will be completed in 2024.

Reserves Policy.

It is PCC policy to maintain a balance on unrestricted funds (if possible), which equates to approximately three months unrestricted payments, to cover emergency situations that may arise from time to time.

Finance

The Financial Statements can be found on pages 8 and 9.

The Trustees have carried out a review of the Parish’s internal financial controls during the year.

We can confirm that all funds designated as restricted or endowed are correctly recorded as such and are complete.

Addressing our financial challenges has been an ongoing priority for the Parish. We continue to encourage use of the Parish Giving Scheme and contactless giving using a card reader. In 2023 printed materials were produced, encouraging giving and explaining its importance.

It has been necessary, due only to the change in accounting system, to restate the prior year figures as per the table below:

Previously
stated Adjustment Restated
£ £ £
Agency Fees 0 1,121.50 1,121.50
Deficit of receipts over payments for y/e 22 -8,070.00 -1,003.00 -9,073.00
Funds as at 1 January 2022 251,022.50 -118.50 250,904.00

Signed C B Spittle Signed June Price Name Rev Chris Spittle. Name June Price Position: Trustee Position: Treasurer

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Skelmersdale, St Paul (Charity Reg. 1128068) Statement of Financial Activities

For the period from 01 January 2023 to 31 December 2023

Unrestricted Restricted Total Prior year
funds funds funds total funds
Receipts
Donations and legacies 119,053 260 119,313 94,793
Income from charitable activities 5,808 - 5,808 10,776
Other trading activities 1,140 - 1,140 27
Investments 395 - 395 123
Other income - - - 1,526
Total income 126,396 260 126,656 107,245
Payments
Raising funds 493 - 493 103
Expenditure on charitable activities 132,284 1,333 133,617 116,215
Total expenditure 132,777 1,333 134,110 116,318
Net income / (expenditure) resources before transfer (6,381) (1,073) (7,454) (9,073)
Transfers:
Gross transfers between funds - in 2,361 - 2,361 -
Gross transfers between funds - out (2,361) - (2,361) -
Other recognised gains / losses
Gains/losses on investment assets 366 - 366 -
Gains on revaluation,fixed assets,charity's own use - - - -
Net movement in funds (6,015) (1,073) (7,088) (9,073)
Reconciliation of funds
Total funds brought forward 229,218 12,613 241,831 250,904
Total funds carried forward 223,203 11,539 234,743 241,831

There may be minor discrepancies in the totals if the pence are not being shown

(17 July 2024 10:50 am) Page 1 of 1

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Skelmersdale, St Paul (Charity Reg. 1128068)

Statement of Assets and Liabilities (by code) As at: 31 December 2023

Class and nominal code General (Unrestricted)
Designated Restricted
Endowment
Total Last year
Fixed Asset - Investments
6440: Shares & CBF investments - 334S
3,233
-
-
-
3,233
2,952
6441: Shares & CBF investments - 206S
994
-
-
-
994
908
Total
4,227
-
-
-
4,227
3,861
Fixed Asset - Tangible Assets
6421: House (Wilcove)
-
160,000
-
-
160,000
160,000
Total
-
160,000
-
- 160,000
160,000
Current Asset - Cash At Bank And In Hand
6501: Barclays current account (711)
2,051
25,173
12,380
-
39,604
47,573
6561: NS&I investment account 842
-
30,580
-
-
30,580
30,346
6581: LDBF (CBF) Deposit account (312D)
1,172
-
-
-
1,172
1,172
Total
3,223
55,754
12,380
-
71,357
79,091
Liability - Agency Accounts
6699: Agency collections
-
-
841
-
841
1,122
Total
-
-
841
-
841
1,122
Net total assets
7,450
215,754
11,539
- 234,743
241,831		 3,233
-
-
-
3,233
2,952
994
-
-
-
994
908
Represented by
General (Unrestricted)
7,450
-
-
-
7,450
14,631
Designated - DeepRes
-
30,580
-
-
30,580
30,346
Designated - FixedAssets
-
160,000
-
-
160,000
160,000
Designated - GiftDay
-
16,426
-
-
16,426
5,681
Designated - SPA-PrshWnd
-
0
-
-
0
(687)
Designated - VestryDev
-
8,747
-
-
8,747
19,247
Restricted - CS
-
-
10
-
10
-
Restricted - EcumenicalCentre
-
-
3,146
-
3,146
3,376
Restricted - Fabric
-
-
1,103
-
1,103
978
Restricted - Flowers
-
-
524
-
524
528
Restricted - GiftDay
-
-
6,000
-
6,000
6,000
Restricted - KingsKids
-
-
1
-
1
17
Restricted - LetThereBeLight
-
-
248
-
248
440
Restricted - SPY
-
-
196
-
196
285
Restricted - VestryDev
-
-
312
-
312
988
Total
7,450
215,754
11,539
- 234,743
241,831		 7,450
-
-
-
7,450
14,631
-
30,580
-
-
30,580
30,346
-
160,000
-
-
160,000
160,000
-
16,426
-
-
16,426
5,681
-
0
-
-
0
(687)
-
8,747
-
-
8,747
19,247
-
-
10
-
10
-
-
-
3,146
-
3,146
3,376
-
-
1,103
-
1,103
978
-
-
524
-
524
528
-
-
6,000
-
6,000
6,000
-
-
1
-
1
17
-
-
248
-
248
440
-
-
196
-
196
285
-
-
312
-
312
988

(17 July 2024 10:51 am) Page 1 of 1

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Independent examiner's report on the accounts

Section A Independent Examiner’s Report

Report to the trustees
On accounts for the year
ended
Set out on pages
Responsibilities and
basis of report		 The Parish Church of St Paul’s Skelmersdale The Parish Church of St Paul’s Skelmersdale The Parish Church of St Paul’s Skelmersdale
31stDecember 2023 Charity no
(if any)		 1128068
8 and 9
(remember to include the page numbers of additional sheets)
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above
charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended31 / 12 / 2023.
As the charity's trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the
accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011
(“the Act”).
I report in respect of my examination of the Trust’s accounts carried out
under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I
have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission
under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have examiner's statement come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Date: 24/07/24

Signed: Name: The Accounting Clinic Relevant professional qualification(s) or body (if any): Address: Liverpool Business Clinic, Liverpool John Moores University, L3 5UG

Oct 2018

1

IER

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Section B Disclosure

Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight material matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners).

Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose .

Oct 2018

2

IER

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