2023-03-31-accounts

Registered company number: 6837284 Registered charity number: 1128436

Age Cymru

Trustees’ report and financial statements

Year ended

31 March 2023

Age Cymru Report and financial statements Year ended 31 March 2023

CONTENTS	PAGES
Administrative information	3
Chair’s message	4
Chief Executive’s message	5
Trustees’ report	6
Trustees’ responsibilities statement	22
Independent auditor’s report	24
Statement of Financial Activities	27
Balance sheet	29
Cash flow statement	30
Notes to the accounts	31

ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Trustees John Williams Charles Carter Maria Coggins Carys Henry (resigned 5 July 2023) Diane Hughes Keith Jones Robert Mansfield Steven Milsom Cartin Davies Karen Heenan-Davies Registered Ground Floor Mariners House office Trident Court, East Moors Road Cardiff CF24 5TD Banker Natwest Bank City of London Office PO Box 12258 1 Princes Street London EC2R 8BP Auditor Crowe U.K. LLP 55 Ludgate Hill London EC4M 7JW

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Age Cymru Report and financial statements Year ended 31 March 2023

Chair’s Message

The past year has been a difficult one for many older people. Although Covid is no longer headline news, the pandemic still affects many older people. Readjusting to life after lockdown can be difficult. Mental and physical health conditions may have gone without diagnosis during lockdown. Loneliness is a real concern. Unpaid carers, many of them older people, provide long hours of care, without essential support. Older people often find it difficult to access health and social care. Dental care is increasingly difficult to access. Delayed assessments of health and social care needs impede early preventative services. Cases of elder abuse have gone undetected. Long Covid continues to blight the lives of some older people.

The cost-of-living crisis compounds the difficulties experienced. Fuel poverty, food poverty, and poor housing should not exist in the twenty-first century. Yet, for some older people, these define how they have to live their lives. Poor public transport and age-unfriendly public spaces make it difficult to enjoy social interaction, directly impacting well-being. Age Cymru is committed to working with older people and their carers to address these and other issues. We campaign to ensure that the voices of older people are heard in the public sector. We will continue influencing decision-makers, ensuring that policies and procedures respect older people's rights and promote well-being.

Tackling ageism is a crucial part of our work. We see ageism in many different situations. Older workers report experiencing ageism. Ageism may feature in public services. Casual language and stereotypical views of older people feature in our media. We are committed to eradicating ageism and will work towards a society that respects older age and promotes an intergenerational approach to the many challenges affecting all generations.

We know that many enjoy a good and rewarding later life and continue to contribute to society in different ways. Our new vision is a society which offers people in Wales the best experience of later life and that they are valued, included, and able to shape the decisions affecting their lives. This report shows that this has been the driving force behind our work over the past year.

As chair of Age Cymru, I am grateful to those who have contributed to our successes. We have an outstanding professional team committed to promoting older people's rights. I appreciate their work and constant support. Our trustees have an extensive range of skills, experience, and knowledge. Their willingness to share these qualities in a collegiate way ensures the good governance of the charity. Finally, thanks to our growing group of volunteers who were critical to our outreach work over the past year and will continue to be so. Age Cymru values your willingness.

Age Cymru’s mission is to improve the lives of older people by delivering trusted advice, support and services and using our knowledge, insight, and experience to influence policies and decisions affecting older people. I hope you enjoy reading this report and seeing how we fulfil our mission.

Professor John Williams Chair Age Cymru

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Age Cymru Report and financial statements Year ended 31 March 2023

Chief Executive’s Message

I am incredibly proud of the Age Cymru team of trustees, staff and volunteers who work together to make sure we are here for older people when they need us most.

This year we continued to work hard to improve our reach into communities so that people know how we can help. Our engagement team were out and about, providing information and listening to people across Wales in care homes, in supermarkets and community centres. We supported over 18,000 people through our range of programmes and services. Over 1,800 people used our advocacy services. We responded to 37,487 enquiries to Age Cymru Advice. We made over 9,000 friendship calls to people who were feeling isolated and supported 1,785 people to take part in our physical activity programmes.

Our amazing team of volunteers donated 26,655 hours of their time. The efforts put in by members of staff and volunteers make a real difference to the lives of older people. We hear that difference when people tell us ‘I feel better after talking to you’ or ‘I felt like I wasn’t on my own with you on board’.

We have worked at a strategic level to raise the issues that older people are experiencing with key decision makers, and this year we responded to 31 consultations and produced a number of reports.

We are proud to have worked in partnership with a range of organisations across sectors to maximise our impact for older people, including Age UK and our local Age Cymru partners and we thank them for their continued support.

As ever, I cannot thank our volunteers and our staff enough for everything they do to improve the lives of older people across Wales and I look forward to working with them on our new strategy in the coming year.

Victoria Lloyd Chief Executive Age Cymru

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Age Cymru Report and financial statements Year ended 31 March 2023

TRUSTEES’ REPORT

The Trustees are pleased to present their annual report together with the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 March 2023.

The financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011, and the "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)".

OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

The Charity's purpose is as set out in the objects contained in the Articles of Association which are to promote the following purposes for the benefit of the public and/or older people:

• Preventing or relieving the poverty of older people

• Advancing education

• Preventing or relieving sickness, disease or suffering in older people (whether emotional, mental and/or physical)

• o Promoting equality and diversity

• Promoting the human rights of older people in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

• Assisting older people in need by reason of ill-health, disability, financial hardship or disadvantage

• Promoting training, arts, culture and heritage for the benefit of older people

• Other charitable purposes for the benefit of older people as the trustees may from time to time decide

Together these promote the wellbeing of older people.

In setting plans and priorities for areas of work, the trustees of Age Cymru have had regard to the guidance from the Charity Commission on the provision of public benefit.

In particular, the trustees consider how planned activities contribute to meeting the objectives set. How Age Cymru delivers its principal charitable objectives, as set out in its Memorandum and Articles of Association, which may be summarised as improving the lives of older people, is demonstrated in the reported activities and achievements. The public benefit arising from Age Cymru's work is implicit in the charitable services delivered and assistance given to older people.

Creating an Age Friendly Wales

During 2022-23 our vision was an age friendly Wales. Age Cymru defines an age friendly Wales as one where older people have equal rights, respect, opportunities and access to services as the rest of the population our work is directed to achieve these ends and older people are central to achieving this vision.

We are committed to working in partnership to ensure that our vision is realised and we seek to design and deliver services and support that contribute to the achievement of an age friendly Wales.

Wales has an ageing population. The latest census indicates that there are more people than ever before in the older age groups in Wales; the proportion of the population who were aged 65 years and over was 21.3% (up from 18.4% in 2011).

The cost-of-living crisis is having a significant impact on the growing number of older people living on low incomes with and while as a population we are living longer, many older people continue to live with poor health.

Loneliness and isolation are daily realities for many and access to appropriate care is increasingly difficult. These issues have been compounded by the pandemic and societal responses to the pandemic.

Many older people don’t know where to turn when they need help and because older people are not a homogenous group, different solutions will be appropriate to meet their needs.

In our latest survey of 1,200 older people in Wales, 22% of respondents told us that they are not confident that they will have enough money to live on this year and 41% of people are not optimistic about the year ahead. 10% of people told us they’re not able to get out and about in their communities as a result of poor health and lack of confidence. There is a huge agenda where Age Cymru can make a significant difference to the lives of older people by ensuring they are able to maximise their income, access care and overcome the barriers.

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Age Cymru Report and financial statements Year ended 31 March 2023

The challenge for Age Cymru is to identify and deliver the actions that will have the greatest impact recognising that with limited resources we simply can’t do everything. We have prioritised working to influence the positive change that will support Wales to become an age friendly country, providing the information and advice older people need and working to create the conditions and provide support for our partners to deliver.

We seek to innovate, motivate and drive continual improvement in our operations. We will deliver in line with our values, so that we demonstrate that we are caring, determined, effective, empowering and inclusive throughout all of our work.

During 2022-23 we worked towards four goals that encompass the change we sought in creating an age friendly Wales.

1. Rights and participation

In an age friendly Wales we have the information and support we need to feel empowered to exercise our rights and to participate in all areas of society.

2. Community

We have meaningful and purposeful relationships; the transport we need to get out and about and we can live without environmental or social barriers preventing our inclusion.

3. Well-being

We have access to the care and support we need to for our well-being and to age as actively as we are able.

4. Financial inclusion

We have enough money to meet our needs and have a good quality of life.

Our activities for the year as described below demonstrate how we deliver against each of our age friendly goals in order to achieve our long-term aim of an age friendly Wales.

1. Rights and participation

In an age friendly Wales we have the information and support we need to feel empowered to exercise our rights and to participate in all areas of society.

Delivering information and advice

Throughout the year we provided confidential, impartial and high-quality information & advice to older people, their families, friends, carers and professionals throughout Wales with our bilingual service. The team delivers support via our telephone advice line, email, letter, web enquiry, social media or by referral from other services, where a call back can be requested.

We have also introduced a new channel to the service with the addition of our new chatbot, “Pam”. Over the past year we have developed the AI (Artificial Intelligence) behind Pam to enable people to self-serve, finding answers to their queries and easily navigating the resources we have without the need to speak to anyone. We are now examining possibilities of introducing a live chat facility where users will be able to continue their conversation with a member of the advice team to seek clarification or ask further questions relating to their query.

The efficiencies we have seen through a restructure of our operation in 2020, has continued to have a positive effect on the number of people we have been able to support; we answered almost 36,700 enquiries this year, double the numbers we were seeing before the restructure.

We supported over 9,700 people with a range of issues and have identified and helped people to claim over £770,000 in previously unclaimed benefits, a 50% increase on last year.

The most popular topic for our clients is welfare benefits and entitlements, which accounts for one in five of all enquiries to the Advice Line. Second, and accounting for 15% of enquiries, is community care. Healthcare issues have replaced residential care as our third most popular topic for the second year running, with a 50% increase on last year.

The service is underpinned by our suite of information guides and factsheets. We operate a rolling programme of updates for these resources to ensure they are relevant and up to date. These resources provide useful information on a range of topics, including health, care, money, wellbeing, home, travel, lifestyle, work and community. Information guides and

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Age Cymru Report and financial statements Year ended 31 March 2023

factsheets are available in print by request or electronically via email or link to our web pages. Currently, we have 37 Information Guides and 59 Factsheets. Two of our most popular guides are Wales-specific (Winter Wrapped Up and More Money in Your Pocket) and out of the 59 Factsheets, 30 are specific to Wales.

The value of Age Cymru Advice is once more highlighted by the compliments we receive throughout the year.

“I felt invisible, as if behind a glass window. I started to believe I wasn't real. You don't know how much it's meant to me that you've listened to me today.”

“I just wanted to say a huge thank-you for the caring, thorough and patient advice and guidance I received today from one of your phone advisers. I haven't felt so positive about things in a while, let me tell you.”

“Great service, thank you. So different to what I usually experience when contacting anyone in the UK. Nice to speak with someone that knows what they’re talking about.”

“This is the second time I've used your helpline and once again it's proved invaluable. I'd urge anyone currently confused by the myriad of online information you can find relating to taking care of elderly parents to just call the Age Cymru helpline instead. It'll save you hours of guesswork and worry as the advice provided helps you cut through all the noise you can find online. Just gave them a call, followed by a donation. Invaluable service delivered by caring experts in their field. Thank you.”

Later Life Planning

Age Cymru established its Later Life Planning (LLP) service in 2020 which was temporarily put on hold when the Covid Pandemic reached Wales in March 2020. Since the easing of Covid restrictions, the LLP service has been steadily building a reputation for delivering a quality assured service in line with the Charity’s values.

Our LLP service provides:

• Will Writing

• Lasting Power of Attorney

• Advance Decision / Living Wills

• Safe Document Storage (via the National Will Archive)

Recent comments received by our LLP Officers about work they have carried out:

“I found the Age Cymru Will Writing service to be extremely responsive, helpful with guidance and very quick in the production of the Will. Cannot fault the quality of this service.”

“It (the service provided) was quick and efficient and Age Cymru made the whole process simple and easy. The ladies were very polite and friendly. I have recommended the service to neighbours.”

“They (the LLP Officers) were efficient and quick in replying to us. We found them very friendly and professional, and they made my mother feel at ease.”

Opportunities to participate

Age Cymru provides a range of ways for older people to participate, through our support to older people’s organisations, through our physical activity and arts opportunities and through initiatives like Age Positive week.

We also seek to provide older people with opportunities to participate by having a voice and discussing the issues that matter to them.

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Age Cymru Report and financial statements Year ended 31 March 2023

Age Cymru has continued to connect with older people in their communities, enabling them to contribute to our policies, as well as speaking to groups across Wales on the work of Age Cymru, and asking them to identify the changes they want to see.

This year we also continued to survey older people’s experience since lockdown, encouraging responses through phone, letter and on-line. Again, we have shared this information widely with decision makers and government.

Ensuring older people’s voices are heard

We supported older people to shape and influence the development and delivery of services and policies that reflect their needs and priorities by providing comprehensive and effective secretariat and development services to: Active Wales

Cymru Older People’s Alliance (COPA) National Pensioners Convention Wales (NPC Wales) Wales Seniors Forum

We provided advice and support for the Welsh Senate of Older People and Pensioners Forum Wales through their merger to become Wales Seniors Forum, including drafting a new constitution, aims and objectives, and workplan. We supported the hybrid meetings and made initial preparations for the launch of the new organisation and re-launch of the P is for People public toilets campaign. We supported the Wales Seniors Forum to seek new member groups and to develop a workplan around a social housing campaign.

We continued to support NPC Wales’s hybrid meetings for the executive and full council meetings. NPC Wales continues its involvement with the NPC UK Connections for All digital inclusion campaign, with one of the members sitting as chair of the UK sub-committee. Members have resumed attending in-person meetings of the NPC UK executive meetings in London. We provided support for members to attend the biennial UK conference and started arrangements for the hybrid 2023 AGM to be held in Cardiff.

We continued to support Active Wales’s online executive meetings and to organise a second in-person conference for branch officers to share good practice and to develop future planning of Active Wales’s campaigns and workplan. We provided secretariat and administrative support for the annual conference and rally held in Porthcawl. We continue to support Active Wales’s ongoing work to combat isolation and loneliness in their communities.

We provided administrative and secretariat support for Cymru Older People’s Alliance’s online and hybrid Forum Representatives, Board of Trustee, and communications teams meetings. We organised an in-person AGM and conference, which also allowed for online attendance. We supported recruitment of co-opted and elected trustees. We organised the tender process to employ a consultant to carry out a research and re-branding process and supported COPA to redevelop their website, including training for members.

We enabled all organisations to contribute to the Independent Commission on the Constitutional Future of Wales by submitting a joint application for funding from its Community Engagement Fund, by developing and delivering the methodology and engaging with older people in communities across Wales, as well as the member groups, and by delivering a detailed report of the engagement project.

We redeveloped the Forum Resource Manual to enable local groups to engage with and be a full partner in Age Friendly Communities.

HOPE Advocacy

The HOPE (Helping others participate and engage) project was originally funded by Welsh Government to March 2023, this has been extended to March 2025. The project will continue to promote access to early intervention support at community level through a range of advocacy models for older people and carers across Wales, it delivers training and delivers networking opportunities to the Advocacy sector in Wales.

This year, HOPE has been able to get out into communities more and engage and support older people through our independent volunteer advocacy. This has been great for our recruitment and promotion of the project. In March 2023 we held a range of engagement events across mid and north Wales and Gwent. We worked closely with partners and invited stakeholders to come and meet older people with the focus on wellbeing and cost of living issues. Many older people

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turned up and accessed the range of services available to them. From an online perspective, we have continued to significantly increase our social media presence, and this has been a great boost to our volunteer recruitment.

We held a large in person conference in May 2022 attended by a wide range of stakeholders. The concept was to raise awareness of the issues that HOPE clients are facing on a regular basis. We had excellent feedback and have built on the relationships with new and existing stakeholders who attended.

This year we received 470 referrals into the service which resulted in 2,694 contacts. We supported people with 705 issues. We closed 335 cases and had 92 cases open at the end of the year.

The cases we have supported people with include

• Problems with utility providers and accessing customer services

• Housing issues: repairs, adaptations, change to more appropriate accommodation

• General wellbeing and loneliness

• Blue badge applications

• Digital exclusion

• Complaints

• Access to a GP or other health professionals

• Cost of living concerns

• Carer issues

• Sometimes it’s as simple as helping them to have a voice and be heard or writing a letter to someone

Referrals to the project remain more complex than originally anticipated which is often exacerbated by poor mental health, people often have multiple issues, but we are very clear that we have a remit that does not duplicate other providers or allow our volunteers to do work that should be done by a paid advocate.

We had 116 active volunteers at the end of the year, 216 Volunteers have worked on HOPE over the life of the project (100 have been active and now left), who together delivered 2,882 volunteer hours.

Volunteers are continually being recruited and trained though our robust procedures. Volunteers come to us from a range of places after seeing our adverts on Facebook, Google, Age Cymru Website, WCVA, Universities, through other Age Cymru volunteer services, Project Partners, newspaper articles and through word of mouth.

We have established a hybrid model of delivery so if a client needs a home visit we review the request, see if we have an available volunteer, complete a risk assessment and do a home visit. If one isn’t needed we carry on delivering via telephone. Our hybrid delivery model means that our pool of volunteers can work across the country so that if we don’t have any available in one area, one can be sourced from another.

Volunteers have also benefited from the lack of restrictions and in person networking and development events have been held and have been really well received. We completed the year with a total of 9 active Volunteer Ambassadors. A total of 15 Ambassadors supported us during the year. 6 Ambassadors have stepped away from their volunteering role. When we have been going out to events some of our ambassadors have joined the team and attended as well. This has proved to be very successful as they are able to give real examples of what they are doing and how they help to get real outcomes for older people.

The HOPE project has delivered 129 training or development sessions to 1,281 people.

HOPE has supported 42 advocacy network meetings over the year. The meetings have been via Zoom or Teams enabling a wider range of advocates and advocacy providers to access and attend the meetings. HOPE project staff have been attending the network meetings and have been raising awareness of the project and developing contacts with local advocacy services. HOPE project staff also ensure all networks are aware of national and cross-cutting advocacy developments.

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Age Cymru Report and financial statements Year ended 31 March 2023

During 2022-23 network meetings discussed:

• Continued impact of the COVID pandemic.

• Cost of living crisis.

• Local commissioning arrangements.

• Development of advocacy strategies.

• Review of funding and commissioning arrangements.

• Increased demand.

• Increased complexity of cases.

• Impact of increased inclusion in child care cases.

• Challenges of recruiting and retaining advocates.

• Liberty Protection Safeguards.

• Citizen Voice Body.

• Mental Health Act reforms.

• Advocacy Awareness Week.

• Big Events.

• CPD opportunities.

• Advocacy Counts 8.

• Advocacy in care homes.

• National Action Plan to Prevent the Abuse of Older People.

• Welsh Government Practitioner Guidance on Self Neglect.

• Safeguarding Training Framework.

• Guest speakers focussed on Age Cymru’s Human Rights Toolkit, Liberty Protection Safeguards, Mental Health Act reforms and Hospital Discharges and Delays.

Dementia Advocacy Project

We worked closely with the Regional Partnership Board and completed extensive reports highlighting the benefits of the project to our clients to secure the funding.

1,347 people were supported and 913 issues were identified. These included:

• Accessing services

• Hospital discharge

• Safeguarding

• Accommodation

• Planning for dementia journey

• Deputyship / POA

Successful delivery of the project has benefited from building relationships with multiple projects and organisations across Wales. We have built a network across Wales, and within the Age Cymru national charity and local area partners, of statutory and non-statutory projects to support the successes of the project.

We have ensured our team have extensive training in their field, taking each member to Level 4 Advocacy, commissioned specific training with specialist human rights law firms and developed a legal advice framework that supports our advocates in their casework, particularly when dealing with complex mental capacity issues and breaches of human rights.

The project manager has networked extensively at strategic level across Wales to increase the projects profile engaging with local advocacy and safeguarding networks, senior managers in local authority adult services teams and health boards across all regions.

Our Dementia Advocacy project has worked closely with our information, advice and guidance officers. This has ensured that when older people with memory concerns or dementia contact our advice lines with queries about their cognitive health, the process of being assessed for a care package, transition from home to a care home and a wide range of community level

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advocacy needs we deliver a cohesive service that responds to their advocacy needs, giving them vital support to have their voices heard and their needs met in a way that respects their views and wishes.

The project has also developed strong working links with our carers project, which gives informal and unpaid carers the opportunity to feedback on their experiences. Naturally this project regularly engages with people who are struggling to meet all the needs of the people they care for. The staff of our carers project regularly refer carers and their family members with dementia and memory problems for advocacy. This means that we can work strategically for carers putting forward their insight and understanding as well as providing a frontline advocacy service that alleviates pressure from carers and their loved ones.

The insight and oversight working both regionally and nationally has been put to good effect with the project playing an important part in our policy and campaigns work. The project continues to draw together meaningful lived experience from people living with dementia, their carers and wider support network in relation to hospital discharge management and care needs assessments/allocation of care packages.

Working across Wales we have been able to guarantee service standards and opportunities for all people who are experiencing the challenges of living dementia and problems with memory. When we deliver an innovation or identify an opportunity for improvement at local level it is scaled across Wales to ensure we deliver an equitable service. Working as national team with regional insight has meant we can bring local learning, and all its benefits, to every person living with dementia across Wales who uses our service.

2. Community

We have meaningful and purposeful relationships; the transport we need to get out and about and we can live without environmental or social barriers preventing our inclusion.

• Combatting loneliness and isolation

• Friend in Need

• Handyvan

• Project 360

• Carers Project

• Influencing positive change

Combatting loneliness and isolation

Loneliness and isolation continues to be a key theme for much of the work that we do. All of our programmes work to mitigate the impact of loneliness and isolation, by providing advice on where to go for support or opportunities to participate in a range of activities throughout Wales.

Friend in Need service

Our Friend in Need service has continued to grow and provide invaluable support to older people. The service provides free telephone friendship calls for people in Wales who are 70 or over.

One of our service users told us

“I don’t know what I would have done without my phone calls from Age Cymru, I have been feeling very under the weather, and quite frankly felt as if I could not go on. But I get a phone call, and as soon as I hear the voice, I begin to smile. She makes me laugh, and I know that she is reliable as clockwork re the telephone calls – thank you Age Cymru for putting a bit of light back into my life”.

By the end of March 2023 there were 157 volunteers actively supporting older people with weekly calls and a further 18 volunteers taking part in the induction and training process.

Our volunteers have told us

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Age Cymru Report and financial statements Year ended 31 March 2023

‘Volunteering is very rewarding; I think it completes the jigsaw in my life. I've learnt new skills, it's really improved my communication skills and it's great from a social side too’

This year 196 people had accessed the service and a total of 9,021 calls were made.

HandyVan

The HandyVan service is an incredibly important, popular and well-regarded handy person service delivered throughout Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan, helping older people stay safe and secure in their homes for longer. The service is run operationally by Care and Repair Cardiff and the Vale and we have continued to support our partnership with Care and Repair Cardiff and the Vale through awareness raising and fundraising. We successfully exceeded targets as part of Age UK and Eon’s Warm Homes program for the fifth year running and are in the process of securing funding for a sixth year.

Influencing positive change

Age Cymru works hard to influence change on a range of levels from public campaigning to working with Governments.

We respond to consultation, we provide evidence to enquiries, we develop and share our own briefings, reports and positions.

This year we responded to 31 consultations for a range of organisations regarding policies and issues affecting older people.

We also used opportunities to influence through the Ministerial Advisory Group for Older People, Third Sector Partnership Council, HIW Stakeholder Advisory Group, the Cross-Party Group on Older People and Ageing, the DWP Stakeholder Board and meeting with the Deputy Minister for Health and Social Care.

We held an event ‘A spotlight on employment and older workers’ at the Senedd Cymru which had over 70 people attended from a cross section of MS’, businesses and third sector organisations across Wales, and we hosted a session for MPs in Portcullis House.

We were also invited to provide evidence to the Health and Social Care Committee inquiry into the impact of the waiting times backlog on people in Wales who are waiting for diagnosis or treatment, and to give evidence to the Health and Social Care Committee inquiry on access to dentistry.

Carers Project: Developing person-centred service models to identify, and better meet the needs of older carers and carers of people with dementia

Our joint project with Carers Trust Wales is funded by the Welsh Government for five years through the Sustainable Social Services Grant fund. It aims to support the early identification of older carers, provide timely and person-centred information and advice, and to enable older carers to influence policy, service design, delivery and decision making.

A survey of over 530 older carers was conducted in 2022, and a report on findings published on Carers Rights Day (24th November). It highlighted the current experiences of older carers in Wales. A presentation on the Report was given to the to the Unpaid Carers Ministerial Advisory Group meeting of 16 March 2023.

We held 1-2-1 interviews with older unpaid carers over the course of the year, online, by telephone and in person, and further listening and information events with older carers at engagement sessions throughout Wales, with the Carers Policy Officer attending sessions in Bangor, Llangefni, Monmouth and three areas of Cardiff. Additionally, the Carers Policy Officer met with Older Carers during three days at the Eisteddfod at Tregaron and at other locations throughout Wales.

In response to information gathered we updated our ‘One-Stop-Shop Guide for Older Carers in Wales’ guide, which includes information about carers’ rights, contact details for their local authority, and local and national organisations to support them. The guide has been distributed on-line and in hard copy formats. We will continue to update and share the guide in line with carers’ needs.

During October and January, we held online sessions for unpaid carers of individuals living in a care home and care staff to coproduce changes to the “Making relationships count” guide. Once the updated guide had been produced we held two workshops for care home staff during February. These were attended by staff of those homes, plus staff of others in the region. We have distributed nearly 100 printed copies of the “Making Relationships Count” guide to 18 care homes in

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Age Cymru Report and financial statements Year ended 31 March 2023

North and South Wales with further copies of the guide has sent out to our Activity Coordinator network and commissioning teams electronically. The new edition of the guide is also available on our website.

We will continue to engage with older unpaid carers across Wales, gathering carers’ stories, ensuring that they know their rights and signposting them to relevant organisations. We will continue to use the intelligence gathered to help with our influencing work, and to shape the development of information and support resources.

Human Rights

During 2021-22 we were funded by Welsh Government to deliver a project to raise awareness of human rights, and to embed the message that older people are citizens and participants in society who should expect to have their human rights upheld. This included the development of a film to be used as a tool for information and engagement, and a “toolkit” supporting a human rights approach to advocacy, aimed at both older people and their friends and family.

Although the Human Rights project came to an end the work and materials have been embedded into our wider engagement work. The Human Rights Advocacy Toolkit and printed materials have been distributed at engagement events across Wales. We have reached over 350 people through these events. We have also presented to organised groups, such as the WI and Parkinson’s UK groups. In August Age Cymru staff, the Deputy Minister, and project participants attended the Eisteddfod to talk about human rights. In October, toolkits were sent to Libraries Wales to support their Age Well With Welsh Libraries project.

Members of staff in different teams are engaged in this work and continue to embed it in what they do. Other teams, such as the Advocacy and Policy teams, have said that they have used our Toolkits in their work and have found them helpful.

In order to build upon this, we are working to train a cohort of Human Rights Ambassadors. We have recruited seven older people and the training is being provided. Our Ambassadors will host meetings in their communities to raise awareness of human rights and empower older people to feel confident talking about human rights, and to claim them. We have been successful in recruiting volunteers from underrepresented groups, such as Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic communities, LGBT communities, and people with disabilities.

3. Well-being

We have access to the care and support we need to for our wellbeing and to age as actively as we are able.

• Supporting good social care

Social care and the implementation of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act continues to be a major focus of our influencing work.

We continued to deliver on-line support sessions and peer support for Care Home Managers.

We also published a report on the delays in access to social care ‘Why are we waiting?’ and met with the Deputy Minister for Social Care to discuss the recommendations, along with other key stakeholders.

• Arts and creativity

Gwanwyn Festival 2022

Gwanwyn Festival 2022 was the first year of the new model of operation, with no grants scheme, but promoting the many creative ageing events and activities happening within our network.

For the festival, there was target of listing 50 events and 500 participants, and we were delighted to promote 227 events, with an estimated 4,504 participants.

By promoting events such as Knit and Natter groups in libraries, as well as more challenging arts workshops, like those organised by the Glynn Vivian Gallery, meant that there were opportunities for older people with a wide range of experience and confidence levels to get involved in creative activities.

Feedback from one organiser, Creative Lives:

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Age Cymru Report and financial statements Year ended 31 March 2023

We reached 30 new participants, and all took part in the creative activities. It was also interesting delivering sessions in a pub, at a quiet – and therefore underused – time. One of our priorities is to open up new spaces for creative activity, and we will be working with more pubs as part of this.

We have been asked back to deliver further sessions. A few members reported that they would start / recommence a regular creative activity after taking part. One participant, who has dementia, said: ‘I think this is a brilliant idea, because it’s easier to talk when you’re all making something’.

Culture Club

As of the end of March 2023, we have 9 volunteers, with several more going through the induction process after successful Facebook advertising. These volunteers have facilitated 24 meetings so far, in cafes, parks, green spaces and museums across Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan, with activity drastically slowing down in the winter, mostly due to participants health conditions.

We have run two Culture Club taster events in partnership with Amgueddfa Cymru at the National Museum in Cardiff, and in St Fagans, as an opportunity to bring together existing volunteers and participants, and for those interested in the project to learn more. The event at the National Museum proved more popular, attracting 12 attendees, and resulting in the recruitment of 3 new volunteers.

Recruitment for both volunteers and participants is on-going, with a focus on referral pathways for participants.

This is Older Image Library

The This is Older Stock Image Library was launched on St Davids day, the 1 March 2023, on the Getty images affiliated Unsplash platform. The images are royalty-free and available world-wide, and we are encouraging anyone who uses the images for commercial use to make a donation to the charity.

Since the image library launched, 58 images have attracted nearly 40,000 views and 262 downloads.

Feedback from our own networks so far:

‘I absolutely love your photo project that you’ve put out for creatives to use, the pictures I’ve seen are so gorgeous.’

‘Just wanted to say these are FAB Kelly, huge well done to the team. Sight for sore eyes- no blue lighting or sad faces anywhere!’

‘… these are extremely valuable to us! We utilise the Centre for Ageing Better’s image library… but having an obviously Wales centric photo bank is amazing. We will be hammering it!’

And feedback from one of the models:

‘It was a privilege to have been chosen for this project and we hope that it could help people to see us 'old folks' in a different light’.

Arts in Care Homes

After 6 years of funding from Arts Council of Wales and the Baring Foundation, the current phase of cARTrefu has come to an end. This area of work has been re-branded as Arts in Cares homes on the Age Cymru website to reflect any future work in care homes that emerges.

This year we were funded by Arts Council of Wales to organise and host ‘Creativity in Care Wales/Finland Roundtable’ with 16 attendees interested in arts in a social care setting.

Arts Council Wales and Baring agreed to a proposal to use cARTrefu Phase 3 unspent funds to work with stakeholders following on from the Finland Roundtable, to create a policy paper around arts in care homes. An Arts in care homes policy panel was held in December 2022 attended by 15 stakeholders.

Spring Forward Gold

Age Cymru in partnership with community arts organisation Tanio, was successful in a bid to Natural Resources Wales Resilient Communities Fund to run a series of well-being sessions for the over 50s using creative skills within the natural

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Age Cymru Report and financial statements Year ended 31 March 2023

environment in Bridgend County. Tanio delivered taster sessions using specially trained forest arts practitioners throughout March 2023.

Two 12 week courses will run through 2023, and a toolkit on best practice will be developed. Age Cymru provided Tanio staff with Age Awareness training, and the initial 12 week programme was sense-checked by Culture Club volunteers.

• Physical activity

The aim of our Physical Activities programme is to increase activity in older people, reverse physical decline and frailty and help people live independently as they get older. We seek to educate and empower people with the skills and knowledge to understand the benefits of being active as well as including the social element, which is equally important to general wellbeing. All of this is done in a safe, fun and community setting and makes a huge difference to the lives of older people across Wales. Both in terms of the physical benefits but also the social aspects of coming together on a regular basis. We have maintained close and regular communication with all our volunteers and groups throughout the year. We have offered support and ensured all our volunteers and participants are engaged, happy and safe at all times.

• Nordic Walking

Nordic Walking is one of Europe's fastest growing forms of physical activity and is a great way of staying healthy. Participants walk using a pair of specially designed, lightweight poles that provide additional support meaning they get more from the exercise. Nordic Walking provides a variety of benefits above that of normal walking. It exercises 90% of muscles increasing strength in legs, arms, shoulders, chest and back. Nordic Walking is less tiring than normal walking and it can increase participants’ heart rate by up to 13% meaning greater benefit can be achieved through less effort. All walks and events have time built in for social interaction.

This year we delivered 22 participant courses. We have 17 walks recommenced across Wales with 432 individuals taking part.

Participants’ course feedback:

“I just wanted to get in touch to say thank you so much for the opportunity to learn Nordic walking with Laura O’Beirne. Laura was a great teacher, she is enthusiastic and supportive and it is such a great way of keeping fit and maintaining balance and posture. I think everyone in the group will be keen to continue.”

New Volunteer Feedback:

“I had the privilege of leading my first walk yesterday under the watchful eye of Bob Morgan. These are the names of the people who joined the walk – all signed in and back safely I am glad to report.”

• Low Impact Functional Training (LIFT)

LIFT is a series of activities and games designed to get older people taking part in physical activity in their local community. The sessions are fun and enjoyable using safe seated and standing exercises so participants can work at a level that is comfortable for them. The sessions are designed specifically for the over 50s. It is a physical activity that can help improve health and wellbeing in a safe and sociable environment.

We have 31 LIFT classes running. 661 older people participated in LIFT Classes.

Course feedback :

“Thank you so much for a great course. The volunteers all loved it and can’t wait to start the classes.“

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Age Cymru Report and financial statements Year ended 31 March 2023

• Tai Chi

Tai Chi Qigong Shibashi helps to improve mental health and physical wellbeing. Qigong means 'energy exercise' and Shibashi means 18 movements. It is a discipline that involves the mind, breath and movement to create a calm, natural balance of energy. It helps to loosen and strengthens joints and muscles, rejuvenates body, mind and spirit, improves concentration and intuitive abilities as well as helping with blood pressure problems and improving balance. The gentle rocking and stretching movements helps toward improving circulation and digestion, the chest exercises and controlled breathing are good for lung conditions and asthma with the overall effect of helping to improve core strength and thus helping to reduce the risk of falls among older people. The programme can provide both standing and seated versions of Tai Chi.

We have 36 weekly classes running. 621 older people participated in Tai Chi Classes.

Feedback

“I thought you would like to hear one of my success stories. One of my ladies has bronchiectasis and has had it for many years. She has regular check-ups in the chest clinic. At her recent appointment they told her there has been a significant improvement in her results with an improving trend over the past 4 years. She has been coming to my class since the beginning, more than 4 years. They asked her what she had been differently, and she told them about the Tai Chi class. They were very impressed and told her to continue. Not only have her results improved clinically but she feels a lot better as well. This is a fantastic outcome. Another of my ladies told me she also goes for regular chest assessments and hers have also improved. I am so pleased that my class is providing positive outcomes for my ladies.” Tracey (Carmarthen)

We have continued to provide our training via zoom and have had some lovely feedback:

“Absolutely loved my training with Mabli, she was so patient and so much knowledge. Thank you so much.” “Can’t wait to complete my first class at the dementia café, I will let you know how goes.” “I have had a waiting list for my class for a few months so by upskilling to level 2 it has allowed me to start another class just for the level 2 participants so I have more space in my first class for new people to join. I would eventually like to do the level 3.”

• Walking Groups

Older people in Wales have seen their health affected in a negative way by lockdown and many face a challenge to return to the same standard of physical and mental health that they were experiencing before the Pandemic.

This programme benefits older people who might already have the confidence and ability to walk a short distance and who would enjoy the benefit and encouragement of walking in a group. We provide safe, guided walks, led by a trained walk leader who will be on hand to provide encouragement and support, and make sure no one is left behind.

We have 10 active volunteers who delivered 6 regular weekly walks with 52 participants.

“I was extremely nervous attending my first walk as I had very much lost my confidence, but the instructor was so patient, and we sat on benches along the way when I needed a rest. I am so pleased to say now I can do the whole walk without sitting down. I also attend the Tai Chi class which I also thoroughly enjoy”.

• Walk and Talk

This programme benefits older adults who have seen a decline in their ability to get out and about during the pandemic. They may lack confidence or have other barriers that they feel they need to overcome.

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It’s a one-to-one service for people who might be nervous to go out by themselves. Volunteers are matched with a suitable participant and will work with them over a 12-week period to achieve a goal that the participant sets. The volunteer and participant work together to set a realistic, achievable goal using a motivational interviewing model. The volunteer supports the participant to overcome their fears and provides much needed encouragement and support as well as social interaction.

In addition, the volunteer offers the participant a range of exercises to aid core strength, general fitness levels and help with confidence taken from the Age Cymru LIFT programme. The exercises are very simple with no equipment needed and could take place in the participant’s home. We will then encourage the participant to continue them on a regular basis and also when the 12 weeks has ended.

We have 12 volunteers trained and 19 older people have taken part.

Example of progress made with participant:

• ➢ Initial assessment and barriers to walking – poor mobility, lost confidence, health problems, fear of tripping and falling.

• ➢ Participant’s goals after 12-week programme – “I would like to be able to walk to the bus stop on my own.”

• ➢ Week 1 – Margaret admits to feeling low and not confident or motivated to go out.

• ➢ Week 6 – “I enjoy getting out of the house and chatting to Jessica while we walk.”

• ➢ Week 12 – “Walks are going well; I really look forward to them”. Margaret can walk to the bus stop unaided.

• ➢ Ongoing – Jessica has given Margaret information about suitable exercise classes in her local area and Margaret is keen to join a class, improver her mobility and fitness further, as well as enjoy the opportunity to socialise more.

Totals

The total volunteer hours across all activities for this period is – 7,723 The total number of interactions for this period is – 27,948 Total number of active volunteers – 130

Health Initiatives

We have continued to support the work of the National Falls Prevention Task Force and have participated in the Falls and Fragility Fracture Audit Programme Steering Group throughout the year.

We worked with colleagues from Care and Repair Cymru and Age Connects to develop and deliver Falls Awareness Week, which was wide reaching with 9,252 social media impressions and a potential reach of 531,892.

We produced a new edition of our bilingual Winter Wrapped Up Guide which is has been available for download via our website and through Age Cymru Advice for those wishing a hard copy. It has also been made available for distribution via our local partners. We partnered with NEST on the production of the resource, who distributed the guide with 30 of their local partners across Wales. In total 6,000 physical guides have been distributed and a further 1,700 have viewed the electronic version on our website.

We continued to promote the Spread the Warmth winter wellbeing messaging via our web pages for 2022 and planned a series of social media messages. We produced and distributed a Winter Wellbeing edition of our newsletter, Age Matters, which was distributed on-line and in hard copy in December 2022 repeating the winter messages. The Campaign was launched on 10 November 2022 and to March 2023 we achieved: 1,008 web hits and 11,320 social media impressions. We promoted a series of eight press releases and, in December, our winter messages were featured by BBC Radio Wales (twice), BBC Radio Cymru (twice), S4C, Wave Radio and ITV Wales News.

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Age Cymru Report and financial statements Year ended 31 March 2023

4. Financial inclusion

We have enough money to meet our needs and have a good quality of life.

The keyway we support the financial inclusion of older people is through our advice service. Approximately a third of our enquiries relate to benefits and during the year we provide accurate, relevant and up to date advice on money issues. One of the key tools for this is our bilingual More Money in Your Pocket guide which we updated and distributed widely.

We have also worked alongside Welsh Government and the Older People’s Commissioner in Wales to encourage uptake of pension credit.

5. Organisational development

During the period, we continued to work with our local Age Cymru partners to implement the Wales Brand Partnership Agreement (WBPA). This tripartite agreement with Age UK and local Age Cymru partners sets out the local and national facing relationships. We supported additional regular meetings of the Chief Officers of local Age Cymru Partners and the Information and Advice Network to take place remotely. We also worked with our colleagues within the Age UK Network to plan for our future network agreement.

We continued to support Age Alliance Wales, hosting the Secretariat function. Victoria Lloyd is the current Chair of the Alliance and leads the steering group.

Volunteers

The Age Cymru charity was supported by a range of volunteers during the year all of whom made a huge contribution to the effective operation of the Charity. Our new programmes of activity meant that volunteer numbers increased significantly during the year.

At the end of March 2023, we had 442 volunteers an increase of 79 on the previous year. Volunteers contributed over 26,650 hours to the Charity across a range of programmes.

Our Trustees are also volunteers and give at least 56 hours each per annum, with the Chair and Deputy giving significantly more. As the board composition is based on skills mix many trustees give further voluntary time up on an ad hoc basis.

Our Consultative Forum is made up of volunteers who work with us to ensure that the work of the Charity is informed by the views and perspectives of older people from communities across Wales. The Age Cymru Consultative forum met remotely during the year to discuss issues of key concern to older people, to provide Age Cymru policy positions and to give advice to assist Age Cymru trustees shape decision making within the Charity.

Fundraising

We are registered with the fundraising regulator. Our approach to fundraising is set out in our fundraising charter, the key points of which are summarised below:

• we do not undertake any fundraising door-to-door activity

• we do not share personal data beyond the Age Cymru Network

• we do not sell personal data

• we do not ‘cold call’ people for fundraising purposes

• we only phone people with whom we have an existing relationship or who have already given us permission to contact them

• every communication from us to members of the public will always include information on how to opt out of future communications

• we always stop direct debits received from donors if a third party (e.g., family and friends) advise us that the donor is vulnerable in some way; if we are satisfied that such third party is entitled to act on the donors behalf

• we will keep our fundraising practices under review, and we will work with others with the aim of improving practice across the charity sector

The Charity protects vulnerable people through adherence to the fundraising charter. Additionally, the central services team monitor the fundraising action plan and report to both senior management and the board of trustees.

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The Charity do not use professional fundraisers.

No complaints in relation to fundraising activities were received in the period.

Our fundraising objectives combine individual, corporate and legacy donations and our target for the year was exceeded through legacy income.

FINANCIAL REVIEW

Overview of financial performance

Age Cymru generated a surplus on unrestricted funds in the year of £46k and a deficit on restricted funds in the year of £205k, after transfers. The net operating deficit was £159k in the year to 31 March 2023, representing a £53k increase on the equivalent figure in the prior year.

Total income was £2,341k in the current year which decreased from the prior year at £2,686k. Charitable expenditure has decreased in the current year by £302k from £2,782k to £2,480k due to the timing of costs incurred in relation to restricted funding received and the Charity’s successful delivery of restricted projects to elderly people.

The defined benefit pension scheme had an actuarial loss of £19k due to changes in assumptions. Total charity funds (and its net assets) decreased by £156k year-on-year; increase in unrestricted funds net a decrease in restricted funding due to the delivery of restricted projects and a review of closed projects releasing £99k of restricted funding to unrestricted (see finds note 10). In the balance sheet, cash held in Age Cymru bank accounts decreased from £2,915k to £1,392k due to settling of liabilities, predominately part-settling the intercompany loan with parent Age UK, which decreased from £1,872k to £109k year-on-year.

Remuneration of Key Management Personnel

The remuneration of key management personnel is set in line with Age UK’s remuneration policy and is approved annually by the Age Cymru board of trustees.

Going Concern

The Trustees have assessed the Charity’s ability to continue as a going concern. In making this assessment the Trustees have considered several factors when forming their conclusions including a review of updated forecasts to 31 March 2025 and a consideration of key risks.

The cost of living crisis has had a significant impact on the Charity’s operations but careful management of its finances enabled it to grow free reserves in the year. The Charity is funded through unrestricted and restricted income from funders from a variety of sources, including statutory bodies, trusts and foundations, corporates and individuals. Age UK also provides an unrestricted grant each year. There is no impact on the going concern regarding the Charity leaving the Age UK Group on 1[st] April 2023.

The Trustees prepare annual budgets and forecasts in order to ensure there is adequate funding in place to deliver charitable activities for the coming year. Forecasts for a further two years have also been prepared. Regular communication has been maintained with Age UK and donors and the charity has reviewed planned unrestricted expenditure over the period of review.

In their review of the budgets and forecasts, the Trustees have been mindful of the continued risks of costs of living and the impact that the current inflation and energy price rises will have on Cymru’s operations. Consideration has also been given to the increased demand for our services brought about both the cost of living crisis which continues to impact the lives of elderly people in Wales.

Having reviewed the financial position of Age Cymru the trustees conclude that the going concern basis of the accounts’ preparation is appropriate.

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Reserves Policy

Age Cymru’s reserves policy is reviewed annually and is based on a free reserves approach. Free reserves are defined as unrestricted funds which have not been earmarked and may be used generally to further the charity’s objectives. Under this policy, Age Cymru takes a twelve-month forward view (2022: twelve-month forward view) of free reserves, factoring in commercial and other risks. This enables Age Cymru to determine the reserves range required for the Charity to cover planned charitable expenditure over the following twelve months under two adverse scenarios. This calculation resulted in Age Cymru maintaining a free reserves range of between £450,000 and £534,000. At 31 March 2023, Age Cymru’s free reserves were £1,575k well in excess of this range. The free reserve excludes Fixed Asset reserves. Age Cymru trustees are comfortable with a position above the reserves policy as it continues to operate in a challenging environment. The higher reserves level gives additional resources to respond to the cost of living crisis currently impacting the lives of elderly people.

Age Cymru was a subsidiary of Age UK until 1 April 2023.

Grant & loan making policy

Age Cymru awards grants and loans to local Age Cymru partners and other organisations, to support initiatives agreed by the Board of Trustees, support activity that contribute to the charity’s strategy aims and objectives and that form part of the Wales Brand Partnership Agreement.

Plans for future periods

The agreement between the Charity and Age UK, under which Age UK was deemed to be the ultimate parent undertaking and the controlling related party, was terminated effective 1[st] April 2023 and therefore the Charity ceased to be a subsidiary of Age UK on this date.

During the year trustees undertook a significant piece of work review Age Cymru’s strategy and priorities for the future. This was informed by the views of older people, staff and volunteers.

For 2023-24 the board has set the following priorities

• Ensure older people know who to turn to and have access to impartial and reliable information and advice.

• Deliver valued, effective and sustainable funded advocacy services.

• Influence policy and practice to improve the quality of life for older people in Wales.

• Work across Wales with the local Age Cymru partnership.

• Work with corporate partners to create mutual benefit.

• Operate a sustainable infrastructure that enables efficient and effective delivery for older people.

These priorities are to ensure older people achieve the following outcomes

• Our voices are heard when decisions are made about us and our communities.

• Our contributions to society are valued and make a difference.

• We know our rights and how to exercise them.

• We have improved health and wellbeing.

• We are more financially secure.

• We are connected and visible within our communities.

• We are safe from abuse and neglect.

• We live in inclusive communities .

RISK

Risk policy

The trustees regularly monitor the major risks affecting the charity. Identified risks will be mitigated through effective policies and procedures covering all areas of operational practice and detailed financial controls which will be reviewed regularly.

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Key risks

The organisational risk register is reviewed by the management team at their monthly meeting and by trustees at each board meeting where the key risks and mitigating actions are discussed. The areas of greatest risk continue to be the potential that insufficient unrestricted funds are generated to deliver core Charity functions and priorities, this is mitigated through income generation plans and monitoring of both income and expenditure; that systems, software and data are compromised or fail impacting our failure to communicate and deliver services which are mitigated through robust security policies and measures and business continuity plans; that there is a failure to comply with safeguarding policies and procedures, mitigated through robust policies and monitoring.

Partnership working is vital to Age Cymru’s work. Trustees have identified the reputational and organisational risk of any failures in our partnerships, this is mitigated through the emphasis we place on maintaining good relationships with our partners through effective and ongoing communication.

Trustees also monitor risk around legislative compliance, safeguarding, cyber security, competition and reputation. They receive reports at each board meeting to ensure they are advised of any concerns and understand associated remedial activity to ensure that risk is minimised.

Trustees

The membership of the Board is set out below. All served on the Board throughout the year unless otherwise stated:

John Williams (Chair) Charles Carter Maria Coggins Catrin Davies Karen Heenan-Davies Carys Henry (Resigned 5 July 2023) Diane Hughes Keith Jones Jack Mansfield Steven Milsom

Indemnity insurance up to the value of £5m is provided for Trustees, the premiums are paid centrally for the whole group by Age UK, the parent of Age Cymru. The premiums are not broken down by individual parts of the group, so Age Cymru’s portion cannot be determined. During the period, total indemnity insurance paid by Age UK in relation to Trustees was for the financial year ending 31[st] March 2023 was £14,888 (2022: £11,624).

Disclosure of information to auditor

Each of the persons who is a trustee at the date of approval of this report confirms that, so far as each trustee is aware, there is no relevant audit information of which the Charity’s auditor is unaware, and the Trustees have taken all steps that they ought to have taken as Trustees in order to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the Charity’s auditor is aware of that information.

Statement of Trustees' responsibilities in respect of the trustees’ annual report and the financial statements

The trustees are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Annual Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and regulations.

Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under that law they have are required to prepare the financial statements in accordance with UK Accounting Standards and applicable law (UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practice), including FRS 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland .

Under company law the trustees must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of the excess of income over expenditure/expenditure over income for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:

• select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;

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• make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;

• state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and

• assess the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern; and

• use the going concern basis of accounting unless they either intend to liquidate the charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

The trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the charitable company’s transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are responsible for such internal control as they determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and have general responsibility for taking such steps as are reasonably open to them to safeguard the assets of the charitable company and to prevent and detect fraud and other irregularities.

The trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the charitable company’s website. Legislation in the UK governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions

The report has been prepared taking advantage of the small companies exemptions within the Companies Act.

---

Professor John Williams Chair

Ground Floor Mariners House, Trident Court, East Moors Road, Cardiff, Wales, CF24 5TD

13 September 2023

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Age Cymru Report and financial statements Year ended 31 March 2023

Independent Auditor’s Report to the Trustees and Members of Age Cymru

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Age Cymru (‘the charitable company’) for the year ended 31 March 2023 which comprise Statement of Financial Activities, Balance sheet, Cashflow statement 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 charitable company’s affairs as at 31 March 2023 and of its income and expenditure, 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 requirements of the Companies Act 2006

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 charitable company 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 trustee's 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 charitable company'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 trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

Other information

The trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. The other information comprises the information included in the annual report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, 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 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.

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

In our opinion based on the work undertaken in the course of our audit

• the information given in the trustees’ report, which includes the directors’ report prepared for the purposes of company law, for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and

• the directors’ report included within the trustees’ report has been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In light of the knowledge and understanding of the charitable company and their environment obtained in the course of the

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audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the directors’ report included within the trustees’ report.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

• adequate and proper accounting records have not been kept; or

• the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or

• certain disclosures of trustees' remuneration specified by law are not made; or

• we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement set out on page 23, the trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) 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 trustees 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, the trustees are responsible for assessing the charitable company’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 trustees either intend to liquidate the charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Auditor ’ s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

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.

Details of the extent to which the audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud and noncompliance with laws and regulations are set out below.

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.

Extent to which the audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We identified and assessed the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements from irregularities, whether due to fraud or error, and discussed these between our audit team members. We then designed and performed audit procedures responsive to those risks, including obtaining audit evidence sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory frameworks within which the charitable company operates, focusing on those laws and regulations that have a direct effect on the determination of material amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. The laws and regulations we considered in this context were the Companies Act 2006, Charities Act 2011 together with the Charities SORP (FRS 102). We assessed the required compliance with these laws and regulations as part of our audit procedures on the related financial statement items.

In addition, we considered provisions of other laws and regulations that do not have a direct effect on the financial statements but compliance with which might be fundamental to the charitable company’s ability to operate or to avoid a material penalty. We also considered the opportunities and incentives that may exist within the charitable company for fraud. The laws and regulations we considered in this context for the UK operations were General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Taxation legislation and Employment legislation.

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

We identified the greatest risk of material impact on the financial statements from irregularities, including fraud, to be within the timing of recognition of income and the override of controls by management. Our audit procedures to respond to these risks included enquiries of management, and the Board of Trustees about their own identification and assessment of the risks of irregularities, sample testing on the posting of journals, reviewing accounting estimates for biases, reviewing regulatory correspondence with the Charity Commission, and reading minutes of meetings of those charged with governance.

Owing to the inherent limitations of an audit, there is an unavoidable risk that we may not have detected some material

25

Age Cymru Report and financial statements Year ended 31 March 2023

misstatements in the financial statements, even though we have properly planned and performed our audit in accordance with auditing standards. For example, the further removed non-compliance with laws and regulations (irregularities) is from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, the less likely the inherently limited procedures required by auditing standards would identify it. In addition, as with any audit, there remained a higher risk of non-detection of irregularities, as these may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal controls. We are not responsible for preventing non-compliance and cannot be expected to detect non-compliance with all laws and regulations.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charitable company’s members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company’s members 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 charitable company and the charitable company’s members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Nicola May Senior Statutory Auditor For and on behalf of Crowe U.K. LLP Statutory Auditor

London

Date: 29 September 2023

26

Age Cymru Annual report and financial statements Year ended 31 March 2023

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES for the year ended 31 March 2023

				2023			2022
	Note	Unrestricted Funds	Restricted Funds	Total	Unrestricted Funds	Restricted Funds	Total
		£	£	£	£	£
Total Income from:
Donations and Legacies		221,521	60	221,581	197,611	5,106	202,717
Charitable Activities		422,907	1,692,564	2,115,471	375,468	2,108,105	2,483,573
Investment and Interest Income		4,043	-	4,043	186	-	186
Total Income	3	648,471	1,692,624	2,341,095	573,265	2,113,211	2,686,476
Expenditure on:
Charitable Activities		(682,316)	(1,798,289)	(2,480,605)	(508,353)	(2,274,177)	(2,782,530)
Total Expenditure	4	(682,316)	(1,798,289)	(2,480,605)	(508,353)	(2,274,177)	(2,782,530)
Net (expenditure)/ income before other gains and losses	recognised	(33,845)	(105,665)	(139,510)	64,912	(160,966)	(96,054)
Transfer between funds	10	99,316	(99,316)	-	16,256	(16,256)	-
Other recognised gains and losses
Loss on disposal of fixed assets		(801)	-	(801)	-	-	-
Loss on sale of investments		-	-	-	(2)	-	(2)
Actuarial loss on defined benefit pension scheme		(19,000)	-	(19,000)	(10,000)	-	(10,000)
Net movement in funds		45,670	(204,981)	(159,311)	71,166	(177,222)	(106,056)

27

Age Cymru Annual report and financial statements Year ended 31 March 2023

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES for the year ended 31 March 2023 (Continued)

Note Reconciliation of funds Total funds at 1 April Net movement in the year Total funds at 31 March	2023 Unrestricted Funds Restricted Funds Total £ £ £ 1,529,586 205,545 1,735,131 45,670 (204,981) (159,311) 1,575,256 564 1,575,820	2022
		Unrestricted Funds Restricted Funds Total £ £ £ 1,458,420 382,767 1,841,187 71,166 (177,222) (106,056)
		1,529,586 205,545 1,735,131

The results above all arose from continuing operations.

The notes on pages 31 to 47 form part of these financial statements.

28

Age Cymru Annual report and financial statements Year ended 31 March 2023

BALANCE SHEET as at 31 March 2023

	Notes	2023	2022
		£	£
Fixed assets
Tangible assets	5	1,677	15,254
Investments	6	2	2
		1,679	15,256
Current assets
Debtors	7	403,597	807,900
Cash at bank and in hand		1,392,038	2,915,039
		1,795,635	3,722,939
Creditors: amounts
falling due in less than one	8	(179,269)	(1,963,784)
year
Net current assets		1,616,366	1,759,155
Total assets less current liabilities		1,618,045	1,774,411
Provisions for liabilities
and charges
Defined Benefit pension scheme liability	12	-	-
Other	15	(42,225)	(39,280)
		(42,225)	(39,280)
Net assets		1,575,820	1,735,131
Funds
Restricted funds		564	205,545
Unrestricted funds:
General reserve – excl. pension liability		1,575,256	1,529,586
Pension reserve		-	-
Total unrestricted		1,575,256	1,529,586
Charity funds	10	1,575,820	1,735,131

The accounts have been prepared in accordance with the provision applicable to companies subject to the small companies regime.

The financial statements were approved and authorised for issue by the board of trustees on 13 September 2023 and were signed on its behalf by:

Professor John Williams

Chair

Registered number: 6837284 England and Wales The notes on pages 31 to 47 form part of these financial statements.

29

Age Cymru Annual report and financial statements Year ended 31 March 2023

CASH FLOW statement for the year ended 31 March 2023

Net cash provided by operating activities Cash flows from investing activities: Dividends, interest, and rents from investments Disposal of investments Purchase of property plant and equipment Net cash provided by investing activities Change in cash and cash equivalents in the reporting period Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the reporting period Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the reporting period Reconciliation of net (expenditure) to net cash flow from operating activities Net (expenditure) for the reporting period (as per the SOFA) Adjustments for: Depreciation charges Losses on disposal of fixed assets Losses on disposal of investments Loss on defined benefit pension schemes Difference between pension charge and cash contribution Dividends, interest, and rents from investments Decrease in debtors (Decrease)/Increase in creditors Increase/(Decrease) in provisions Net cash provided by operating activities Analysis of cash and cash equivalents Cash at bank and in hand Total cash and cash equivalents	2023 £ (1,527,044) 4,043 - - 4,043 (1,523,001) 2,915,039 1,392,038 2023 £ (159,311) 12,777 800 - 19,000 (19,000) (4,043) 404,303 (1,784,515) 2,945 (1,527,044) 1,392,038 1,392,038	2022 £ 1,747,258 186 (2) -
		184
		1,747,442 1,167,597
		2,915,039
		2022 £ (106,056) 14,049 - 2 10,000 (19,446) (186) 144,999 1,719,413 (15,517)
		1,747,258
		2,915,039
		2,915,039

30

Age Cymru Annual report and financial statements Year ended 31 March 2023

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS for the year ended 31 March 2023

1 Accounting policies

The Charity is a company limited by guarantee. Age UK is the sole member of the Charity. In the event of the Charity being wound up, the liability in respect of the guarantee is limited to £1 per member of the Charity. The Charity was created by a merger between Age Concern Cymru and Help the Aged in Wales, both charities worked for older people in Wales. The merger took place on 1 April 2009.

The company has taken advantage of the exemption granted under Section 400 of the Companies Act 2006 not to prepare consolidated accounts. Consolidated accounts are prepared by Age UK. Accordingly, the company's financial statements present information about it as an individual undertaking and not about its group.

The principal accounting policies are summarised below.

Basis of preparation

These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP), Financial Reporting Standard 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS102), together with the reporting requirements of the Companies Act 2006 and the Charities Act 2011. The presentation currency of these financial statements is sterling.

The accounting policies set out in note 1 have been applied in preparing the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023 and the comparative information presented in these financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2022.

Going concern

The Trustees have assessed the Charity’s ability to continue as a going concern. In making this assessment the Trustees have considered several factors when forming their conclusions including a review of updated forecasts to 31 March 2025 and a consideration of key risks.

The cost of living crisis has had a significant impact on the Charity’s operations but careful management of its finances enabled it to grow free reserves in the year. The Charity is funded through unrestricted and restricted income from funders from a variety of sources, including statutory bodies, trusts and foundations, corporates and individuals. Age UK also provides an unrestricted grant each year. There is no impact on the going concern regarding the Charity leaving the Age UK Group on 1[st] April 2023.

The Trustees prepare annual budgets and forecasts in order to ensure there is adequate funding in place to deliver charitable activities for the coming year. Forecasts for a further two years have also been prepared. Regular communication has been maintained with Age UK and donors and the charity has reviewed planned unrestricted expenditure over the period of review.

In their review of the budgets and forecasts, the Trustees have been mindful of the continued risks of costs of living and the impact that the current inflation and energy price rises will have on Cymru’s operations. Consideration has also been given to the increased demand for our services brought about both the cost of living crisis which continues to impact the lives of elderly people in Wales.

Having reviewed the financial position of Age Cymru the trustees conclude that the going concern basis of the accounts’ preparation is appropriate.

Incoming resources

All incoming resources are included in the Statement of Financial Activities (SOFA) when the Charity is legally entitled, the receipt is probable and the amount is measurable. The following specific policies apply to categories of income:

• Donations and all other receipts generated from fundraising are reported gross on a receivable basis.

31

Age Cymru Annual report and financial statements Year ended 31 March 2023

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS for the year ended 31 March 2023 (Continued)

• Grants receivable income, where related to performance and specific deliverables, is accounted for as the Charity earns the right to consideration by its performance. Where income is received in advance of performance, its recognition is deferred and included in creditors. Where entitlement occurs before income is received, the income is accrued.

• Legacies are accounted for as income once the receipt of the legacy becomes probable and quantifiable and entitlement criteria are established. For pecuniary legacies this will generally be at the point probate is granted. For residuary legacies this will generally be when a copy of the will and an Assets and Liabilities Statement has been received from the executor and probate has been granted.

Resources expended

All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all costs related to that category. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to particular headings they have been allocated to activities on a basis consistent with use of resources.

Grants payable are charged in the period when the offer is conveyed to the recipient except in cases where the offer is conditional, such grants being recognised as expenditure when the conditions are fulfilled. Offers subject to conditions which have not been met at the period-end are noted as a commitment, but not accrued as expenditure .

Support costs are allocated to different activity categories based on a judgement of the percentage the specific activity represents in relation to the total non-support expenditure. Support costs include management, finance, human resources, information technology and some elements of fundraising. Governance costs other than those disclosed specifically in the notes to these accounts are included within support costs and allocated on the same basis.

Tangible fixed assets

Tangible fixed assets under the cost model are stated at historical cost less accumulated depreciation and any accumulated impairment losses. Historical cost includes expenditure that is directly attributable to bringing the asset to the location and condition necessary for it to be capable of operating in the manner intended by management.

Depreciation is charged so as to allocate the cost of assets less their residual value over their estimated useful lives, using the straight line method.

Depreciation is provided on the following basis:

Short leasehold property	10%
Plant and machinery	25%
Furniture and equipment	10% to 33%
Motor Vehicles	25%
Computer equipment	33%

The assets' residual values, useful lives and depreciation methods are reviewed, and adjusted prospectively if appropriate, or if there is an indication of a significant change since the last reporting date.

Gains and losses on disposals are determined by comparing the proceeds with the carrying amount and are recognised in the Statement of comprehensive income.

Financial Instruments

Age Cymru 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 the present value of future cash flows (amortised cost). Financial assets held at amortised cost comprise cash at bank and in hand, short term cash deposits and the charity’s debtors excluding prepayments. Financial liabilities held at amortised cost comprise the charity’s short and long term creditors excluding deferred income and taxation payable. No discounting has been applied to these financial instruments on the basis that the periods over which amounts will be settled are such that any discounting would be immaterial.

32

Age Cymru Annual report and financial statements Year ended 31 March 2023

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS for the year ended 31 March 2023 (Continued)

Pensions

The Charity contributes to a group personal pension plan operated by Zurich as well as an occupational money purchase scheme. A pension plan is available to all employees over the age of 18. The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the Charity. The annual contribution payments are charged to the SOFA.

Defined benefit plans

A defined benefit plan is a post-employment benefit plan other than a defined contribution plan. The entity’s net obligation in respect of defined benefit plans (and other long term employee benefits) is calculated by estimating the amount of future benefits that employees have earned in return for their service in the current and prior periods; that benefit is discounted to determine its present value. The fair value of any plan assets is deducted. The entity determines the net interest expense (income) on the net defined benefit liability for the period by applying the discount rate as determined at the beginning of the annual period to the net defined benefit liability taking account of changes arising as a result of contributions and benefit payments.

The discount rate is the yield at the balance sheet date on AA credit rated bonds denominated in the currency of and having maturity dates approximating to the terms of the entity’s obligations. A valuation is performed annually by a qualified actuary using the projected unit credit method. The entity recognises net defined benefit plan assets to the extent that it is able to recover the surplus either through reduced contributions in the future or through refunds from the plan.

Changes in the net defined benefit liability arising from employee service rendered during the period, net interest on net defined benefit liability, and the cost of plan introductions, benefit changes, curtailments and settlements during the period are recognised in profit or loss.

Remeasurement of the net defined benefit liability/asset is recognised in other comprehensive income in the period in which it occurs.

Defined contribution scheme

A defined contribution plan is a post-employment benefit plan under which the Charity pays fixed contributions into a separate entity and will have no legal or constructive obligation to pay further amounts. Obligations for contributions to defined contribution pension plans are recognised as an expense in the SOFA in the periods during which services are rendered by employees.

For defined contribution schemes the amount charged to the SOFA for pension costs and other postretirement benefits is the contributions payable in the year. Differences between contributions payable in the year and contributions actually paid are shown as either accruals or prepayments in the balance sheet.

Funds

Restricted funds

Restricted funds are funds subject to special conditions imposed by the donor, or with their authority (e.g. through a public appeal). The funds are not therefore available for work performed by Age Cymru other than that specified by the donor.

Unrestricted funds

Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the Trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the Charity.

Taxation

Age Cymru is considered to pass the tests set out in Paragraph 1 Schedule 6 Finance Act 2010 and therefore it meets the definition of a charitable company for UK Corporation tax purposes. Accordingly, the Charity is potentially exempt from taxation in respect of income or capital gains received within categories covered by Chapter 3 Part 11 Corporation Tax Act 2010 or Section 256 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992, to the extent that such income or gains are applied exclusively to charitable purposes.

33

Age Cymru Annual report and financial statements Year ended 31 March 2023

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS for the year ended 31 March 2023 (Continued)

2 Key sources of estimation uncertainty and judgements

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with generally accepted accounting practice requires management to make estimates and judgements that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities as well as the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the balance sheet date and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period.

Judgements

There are no significant judgements.

Key sources of estimation uncertainty

Assumptions made in the actuarial pension valuation.

34

Age Cymru Annual report and financial statements Year ended 31 March 2023

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS for the year ended 31 March 2023 (Continued)

3 Income analysis

Income analysis
Donations Legacies Donations & legacies Grants Corporate Charitable Other Charitable activities Interest income Total	Unrestricted £ Restricted £ 2023 Total £ 40,962 60 41,022 180,559 - 180,559 221,521 60 221,581 315,680 1,669,700 1,985,380 76 - 76 18,670 - 18,670 88,481 22,864 111,345 422,907 1,692,564 2,115,471 4,043 - 4,043 648,471 1,692,624 2,341,095	Unrestricted £ Restricted £ 2022 Total £ 19,881 5,106 24,987 177,730 - 177,730
		197,611 5,106 202,717 290,729 2,089,714 2,380,443 90 - 90 14,551 - 14,551 70,098 18,391 88,489
		375,468 2,108,105 2,483,573 186 - 186
		573,265 2,113,211 2,686,476

35

Age Cymru Annual report and financial statements Year ended 31 March 2023

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS for the year ended 31 March 2023 (Continued)

4 Analysis of total resources expended and support costs

Grants Direct staff costs Other direct costs Support costs Total	Wellbeing Health & Care Information & Advice Campaigns & Research Support the Network 2023 £ 75,246 2,246 2,246 2,246 13,676 95,660 849,936 94,578 561,443 116,333 245,521 1,867,811 76,432 1,962 35,902 5,482 6,830 126,608 155,723 43,580 98,947 37,788 54,488 390,526
	1,157,337 142,366 698,538 161,849 320,515 2,480,605

Support costs 2023

Support – Admin Support – Building Support – IT Support – Operations Total	Other office costs Governance Depreciation 2023 £ 158,194 - 12,777 170,971 113,562 - - 113,562 29,164 - - 29,164 61,488 15,341 - 76,829
	362,408 15,341 12,777 390,526

Prior year analysis: Total resources expended and support costs

Grants Direct staff costs Other direct costs Support costs Total	Wellbeing Health & Care Information & Advice Campaigns & Research Support the Network 2022 £ 75,230 174,089 1,024 1,024 9,054 260,421 883,855 38,270 444,194 147,649 115,471 1,629,439 69,646 313 50,693 17,462 11,737 149,851 306,429 93,577 159,358 108,507 74,948 742,819
	1,335,160 306,249 655,269 274,642 211,210 2,782,530

Support costs 2022

Support – Admin Support – Building Support – IT Support – Operations Total	Other office costs Governance Depreciation 2022 £ 264,751 - 14,049 278,800 156,562 - - 156,562 19,471 - - 19,471 268,384 19,602 - 287,986
	709,168 19,602 14,049 742,819

36

Age Cymru Annual report and financial statements Year ended 31 March 2023

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS for the year ended 31 March 2023 (Continued)

Governance Cost
	2023	2022
	£’000	£’000
Governance costs: statutory audit	13	20

Fees for tax services totalling £2,325 were also payable to the external auditor in the year (2022: £nil).

The Trustees received no remuneration for their services.

The aggregated amount of expenses reimbursed to ten trustees during the period was £888 (2022: 2 trustees, £254).

Indemnity insurance up to the value of £5m is provided for Trustees, premiums are paid centrally for the whole group by Age UK, the parent of Age Cymru. The premiums are not broken down by individual parts of the group, so Age Cymru’s portion cannot be determined. During the period, total indemnity insurance paid by Age UK in relation to Trustees for the financial year ending 31[st] March 2023 was £14,888 (2022: £11,624).

Employee Information

Key Management Personnel are defined as the CEO and the Management Team. Remuneration in respect of key personnel, including pension costs and employer national insurance was, £288,177 of which £27,080 was employer's national insurance contributions (2022: £180,963 of which £16,397 was employer's national insurance contributions).

The average number of employees of the charity during the year was: Staff costs for the above persons were: Wages and salaries Social security costs Pension costs	2023 Number 60 £ 1,595,327 147,488 124,996 1,867,811	2022 Number 58
		£ 1,395,913 123,622 109,904
		1,629,439

There were no redundancy cost for 2023 (2022: £1,923). No redundancy payments (2022: £ nil) were outstanding at year end. Termination payments are comprised of voluntary and compulsory redundancy and settlement payment schemes. Payments are recognised in staff costs once they are quantifiable and upon communication of intention to pay.

One employee received remuneration over £60,000 in this year (2022: one). In the current year the employee was within the range of £70,000 to £80,000 (2022: within the range of £60,000 to £70,000).

At 31 March 2023 there were 59 staff members enrolled in the defined contribution schemes (2022: 58).

37

Age Cymru Annual report and financial statements Year ended 31 March 2023

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS for the year ended 31 March 2023 (continued)

5 Tangible Fixed Assets Cost At 31 March 2022 Disposals At 31 March 2023 Depreciation At 1 April 2022 Charge for the year Disposals At 31 March 2023 Net book value At 31 March 2023 Net book value At 31 March 2022 6 Investments Cost and net book value at 1 April Disposals in the period Cost and net book value at 31 March		Plant and Equipment Total £ 79,650 79,650 (26,262) (26,262) 53,388 53,388 64,396 64,396 12,777 12,777 (25,462) (25,462) 51,711 51,711 1,677 1,677 15,254 15,254 2023 2022 £ £ 2 4 - (2)
		2 2

In the year end 31 March 2022 £2 shares in the subsidiary 'Age Cymru Enterprises Limited' were disposed of following the dissolution of the undertaking on 8th March 2022.

At 31 March 2023 the charity held investments in the following subsidiary undertakings

Name	Country of incorporation	Nature of business	Class of share held	Proportion of shareholding
Age Cymru Trading Limited	United Kingdom	Trading subsidiary (dormant)	Ordinary	100%

38

Age Cymru Annual report and financial statements Year ended 31 March 2023

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS for the year ended 31 March 2023 (continued)

7 Debtors

Due within one year Trade debtors Other debtors Prepayments and accrued income*	2023 £ 35,845 123 367,629 403,597	2022 £ 41,327 - 766,573
		807,900

*Accrued income contains £333k & £5k of income received in FY22/23 from the Welsh Government & Age UK respectively, pertaining to grants for this financial year (2022: £588k & £270k respectively). Also included in accrued income is £23.7k of accrued legacy income (2022: £172.1k).

8 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

Accruals and deferred income VAT Payable Amounts due to group undertakings Other creditors	2023 £ 17,208 16,035 108,788 37,238 179,269	2022 £ 47,044 6,943 1,872,734 37,063
		1,963,784

9 Analysis of charity net assets between funds

Fixed assets Current assets Debtors Cash at bank and in hand Liabilities Current liabilities Provisions	Un-restricted Restricted 2023 Total £ £ £ 1,679 - 1,679 70,653 332,944 403,597 1,683,462 (291,424) 1,392,038 (138,313) (40,956) (179,269) (42,225) - (42,225) 1,575,256 564 1,575,820	Un-restricted Restricted 2022 Total £ £ £ 15,256 - 15,256 220,301 587,599 807,900 3,264,517 (349,478) 2,915,039 (1,931,208) (32,576) (1,963,784) (39,280) - (39,280)
		1,529,586 205,545 1,735,131

39

Age Cymru Annual report and financial statements Year ended 31 March 2023

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS for the year ended 31 March 2023 (continued)

10 Movement in Funds

	10 Movement in Funds
		01-Apr-22	Income	Expenditure	Transfers	31-Mar-23
	Restricted Funds by Pillar Information and advice Wellbeing Campaigning and research Support the network Health & Care	54,310 109,341 12,333 28,500 1,061	420,228 1,032,313 278 164,639 75,166	(468,434) (1,054,185) (5,748) (193,695) (76,227)	(6,104) (86,349) (6,863) - -	- 1,120 - (556) -
	Total restricted	205,545	1,692,624	(1,798,289)	(99,316)	564
	Other reserves Unrestricted reserves - excluding pension Pension reserve	1,529,586 -	628,670 -	(682,316) -	99,316 -	1,575,256 -
	Total unrestricted	1,529,586	628,670	(682,316)	99,316	1,575,256
	Total funds	1,735,131	2,321,294	(2,480,605)	-	1,575,820

There were no restricted funds that had a balance above £50k at the year end.

Restricted funds contain funds that can only be used for a specific purpose.

An exercise was carried out in the year to reconcile historic funds to donor reporting. This resulted in the identification of a further £99,316 of restricted spend which had not been recorded against restricted funds.

Movement in Funds (prior year)

	Movement in Funds (prior year)
		01-Apr-21	Income	Expenditure	Transfers	31-Mar-22
	Restricted Funds by Pillar Information and advice Wellbeing Campaigning and research Support the network Health & Care	56,635 310,399 15,733 - -	425,743 1,128,055 105,771 188,112 265,530	(440,665) (1,293,318) (106,294) (169,431) (264,469)	12,597 (35,795) (2,877) 9,819 -	54,310 109,341 12,333 28,500 1,061
	Total restricted	382,767	2,113,211	(2,274,177)	(16,256)	205,545
	Other reserves Unrestricted reserves – excl. pension Pension reserve	1,467,868 (9,448)	563,263 -	(508,353) -	6,808 9,448	1,529,586 -
	Total unrestricted	1,458,420	563,263	(508,353)	16,256	1,529,586
	Total funds	1,841,187	2,676,474	(2,782,530)	-	1,735,131

The transfer of £16,256 from restricted funds to unrestricted funds in the prior year pertains to the receipt from a vehicle that was previously sold and there were no restrictions over this income .

40

Age Cymru Annual report and financial statements Year ended 31 March 2023

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS for the year ended 31 March 2023 (continued)

11 Financial Instruments
	2023	2022
	£’000	£’000
Financial assets measured at amortised cost	1,790	3,723
Financial liabilities measured at amortised cost	(163)	(1,956)

12 Pension Scheme

The disclosures below are in respect of the Age Concern Section of the Age UK Retirement Benefits Scheme (the “Scheme").

The level of benefits provided by the Scheme depends on a member's length of service and their salary at the date of leaving the scheme. This Section of the Scheme closed to future accrual on 30 November 2008.

A full actuarial valuation of the Scheme as at 31 March 2022 is in progress and the initial results of this valuation have been updated to 31 March 2023 by a qualified independent actuary. The expected Employer contributions for the year ending 31 March 2024 are £25,000. These contributions include an allowance for administration expenses and Pension Protection Fund levies.

The initial results of the latest funding valuation at 31 March 2022 have been adjusted to the balance sheet date, taking account of experience over the period since 31 March 2022, changes in market conditions and differences in the financial and demographic assumptions. The present value of the defined benefit obligation was measured using the Projected Unit Method.

The principal assumptions used to calculate the liabilities under FRS102 are set out below:

Principal actuarial assumptions at the balance sheet date:
Main financial assumptions	31 March 2023	31 March 2022
Inflation assumption (RPI)	3.25	3.6
Inflation assumption (CPI)	2.45	2.8
Rate of increase in salaries	n/a	n/a
Pension increases
Rate increase in payment, pre 2006 pensions	3.7	3.6
Rate increase in payment, post 2006 pensions	2.1	2.5
Discount rate	4.85	2.8

41

Age Cymru Annual report and financial statements Year ended 31 March 2023

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS for the year ended 31 March 2023 (continued) 12 Pension Scheme (continued)

Main demographic assumptions Mortality Life expectancy for male currently aged 65 Life expectancy for female currently aged 65 Life expectancy at 65 for male currently aged 45 Life expectancy at 65 for female currently aged 45 Cash commutation Scheme asset allocation Equities Diversified growth fund Infrastructure Matching assets (including Gilts and Bonds) Cash Total

31 March 2023 31 March 2022 100% of S3PMA base tables for males and 100% of S3PFA_M base tables for females projected by year of birth assuming future improvements in line with CMI 2021 projections (with parameters Sk = 7.0, A = 0.25% and w2020/w2021 =10%) and a long-term rate of improvement of 1.25% pa. 95% S3P base tables projected by year of birth assuming future improvements in line with CMI 2021 core projections with a long- term rate of improvement of 1.0% pa 21.8 years (age 86.8) 22.1 years (age 87.1) 23.8 years (age 88.8) 24.5 years (age 89.5) 23.1 years (age 88.1) 23.1 years (age 88.1) 25.2 years (age 90.2) 25.6 years (age 90.6) Allowance has been made for all members to exchange 70% of the maximum cash allowance available upon retirement Allowance has been made for all members to exchange 80% of the maximum cash allowance available upon retirement 31 March 2023 31 March 2022 £000s % £000s % 92 9.1 210 16.7 48 4.8 158 12.5 131 13.0 120 9.5 707 70.2 753 59.9 30 2.9 15 1.3

1,008 100.0 1,256 100.0

None of the Scheme assets are invested in the Employer’s financial instruments or in property occupied by, or other assets used by, the Employer.

42

Age Cymru Annual report and financial statements Year ended 31 March 2023

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS for the year ended 31 March 2023 (continued)

12 Pension Scheme (continued)

Reconciliation of funded status to balance sheet Fair value of assets Present value of funded defined benefit obligations Funded status Unrecognised Asset Liability recognised on the balance sheet	31 March 2023 £000s 31 March 2022 £000s 1,008 1,256 (946) (1,176)
	62 80
	(62) (80) - -

The surplus in the annual valuation of the pension scheme cannot be withdrawn from the Scheme until the end of the pension, therefore the valuation in the Balance Sheet is recorded at a no-surplus, no-deficit position .

Amounts recognised in income statement

Amounts recognised in income statement
Operating costs: Administration expenses Pension expense recognised in profit and loss Amounts recognised in Other Comprehensive Income (OCI) Asset (losses)/ gains arising during the year Liability gains/(losses) arising during the year Change in effect of the asset ceiling Total amount recognised in OCI Changes to the present value of the defined benefit obligation during the year Opening defined benefit obligation (DBO) Interest expense on DBO Actuarial (gain)/loss on Scheme liabilities Net benefits paid out Closing defined benefit obligation	Year Ended 31 March 2023 £000s Year Ended 31 March 2022 £000s 6 6
	6 6 Year Ended 31 March 2023 £000s Year Ended 31 March 2022 £000s (247) 36 210 34 18 (80)
	(19) (10)
	Year Ended 31 March 2023 £000s Year Ended 31 March 2022 £000s 1,176 1,224 32 25 (210) (34) (52) (39) 946 1,176

43

Age Cymru Annual report and financial statements Year ended 31 March 2023

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS for the year ended 31 March 2023 (continued)

12 Pension Scheme (continued) Changes to the fair value of Scheme assets during the year Opening fair value of Scheme assets Interest income on Scheme assets Gain/ (loss) on Scheme assets Contributions by the Employer Net benefits paid out Administration costs incurred Closing fair value of Scheme assets Actual return on Scheme assets Interest income on Scheme assets Gain/(loss) on Scheme assets Actual return on Scheme assets

Year Ended 31 March 2023 £000s Year Ended 31 March 2022 £000s 1,256 1,215 32 25 (247) 36 25 25 (52) (39) (6) (6) 1,008 1,256 Year Ended 31 March 2023 £000s Year Ended 31 March 2022 £000s 32 25 (247) 36

(215) 61

13 Company limited by guarantee

The liability of all members of the Charity is limited by guarantee to £1 each.

14 Contingent liabilities and capital commitments

There were no contingent liabilities as at 31 March 2023. (2022: Nil) There were no capital commitments at 31 March 2023. (2022: Nil)

44

Age Cymru Annual report and financial statements Year ended 31 March 2023

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS for the year ended 31 March 2023 (continued)

15 Other provisions for liabilities and charges

Provisions at 1 April Charged to statement of financial activities Utilised in year Provisions at 31 March Provisions due within one year	2023 £ (39,280) (42,225) 39,280 (42,225) (42,225) (42,225)	2022 £ (54,797) (39,280) 54,797
		(39,280)
		(39,280)
		(39,280)

The balance represents the holiday pay provision at 31 March 2023.

16 Operating lease commitments

The group has total commitments at the year end under operating leases expiring as follows.

Within one year Within one to five years After five years	2023 £ 54,399 90,062 79,726 224,187	2022 £ 67,432 36,777 -
		104,209

17 Parent entity

As at the balance sheet date, 31[st] March 2023 the Trustees considered the ultimate parent undertaking and controlling related party of the company to be Age UK, a charitable company limited by guarantee and registered in England: registered office address 7th Floor, One America Square, 17 Crosswall, London, EC3N 2LB, company number 6825798, and registered charity number 1128267.

Consolidated accounts for the Age UK Group can be obtained at the following address:

Age UK, 7th Floor, One America Square, 17 Crosswall, London, EC3N 2LB.

Age UK has the power to appoint the chair and trustees of Age Cymru.

45

Age Cymru Annual report and financial statements Year ended 31 March 2023

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS for the year ended 31 March 2023 (continued)

18 Grants payable

46

Age Cymru Annual report and financial statements Year ended 31 March 2023

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS for the year ended 31 March 2023 (continued)

19	Grant Income	over £50k
Organisation		Description	Amount
Welsh	Government	Older Carers	£145,125
		Developing person-centre models to better identify and better meet
		the needs of older carers and carers of people living with dementia
Welsh	Government	Tell Me More	£74,479
		Support the well-being of people living in care homes during the
		transitional period out of the pandemic.
Welsh	Government	HOPE	£631,514
		Helping others to participate and engage through peer advocacy
Welsh	Government	Age Alliance	£172,467
		Supporting Age Alliance Wales and Engagement with Older People
Welsh	Government	Ageing Well	£227,642
		To increase activity in older people, reduce frailty and help people
		live independently as they get older
Welsh	Government /	Dementia Advocacy Project	£420,228
Aneurin Bevan Health board		Delivery of advocacy to older people living with dementia
Age UK		Core Grant	£216,000
Age UK		TAM Payments	£53,952
Various Donors		Other income	£43,973
		Total	£1,985,380

20 Related party transactions

The charity received £311,492 (2022: £277,182) in grant payments from the parent entity, Age UK in the period.

At the year end the charity owed the following amounts to other group entities:

Age UK (parent) 108,775 Age Cymru Trading Ltd (subsidiary) 13

21 Post balance sheet events

The agreement between the Charity and Age UK, under which Age UK was deemed to be the ultimate parent undertaking and the controlling related party, was terminated effective 1[st] April 2023 and therefore the Charity ceased to be a subsidiary of Age UK on this date.

47