ST CATHARINE’S CHURCH
GLOUCESTER
(Charity No. 1132760)
ANNUAL ACCOUNTS FOR 2024
Financial Performance
Receipts from all accounts during 2024 totaled £202,406 compared to £164,558 received in 2023. Payments from all accounts during 2024 totaled £196,161 compared to £166,400 in 2023. Therefore in 2024 income exceeded expenditure by £6,245.
| Balance at 31/12/23 £ |
Balance at 31/12/24 £ |
Increase/ decrease for 2024 £ |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Fabric Fund – Restricted* | 19,672 | 18,676 | -996 |
| Organ Fund – Designated | 461 | 832 | 371 |
| Church Hall – Designated | 16,989 | 17,168 | 179 |
| Children’s Worker(Restricted) | 19,882 | 32,278 | 12,396 |
| Serve and Share(Restricted) | 9,541 | 7,748 | -1793 |
| Legacies Account(Unrestricted) | 24,224 | 25,193 | 969 |
| Replacement Boilers(Designated) | 479 | 167 | -312 |
| Kingsholm School Outreach | 6,600 | 4,233 | -2,367 |
| Soldo Cards(Unrestricted) | 7 | 0 | -7 |
| Sports England(Restricted) | 154 | 23 | -131 |
| Christmas Hampers(Restricted) | 180 | -1,381 | -1,561 |
| CommunityMatters(Restricted) | 0 | 2,240 | 2,240 |
| Float1(Unrestricted) | 0 | 120 | 120 |
| General Account(Unrestricted) | 9,291 | 6,428 | -2,864 |
| Totals | 107,480 | 113,725 | 6,245 |
Church Hall
The hall is a designated fund, which means that any surpluses are set aside for future improvements and repairs and maintenance to the hall. Hall letting income continues to improve following the pandemic with the number of bookings increasing. We adopted the new Hallmaster software to track bookings and invoicing towards the end of 2024. There were a few teething problems with this resulting in a slight backlog in invoicing and hence receipts. This should resolve itself in the new year with the resulting additional income showing in 2025. The net result of all of this is that even with the cost of a new kitchen the hall fund increased slightly over the year.
General Account
Receipts
The accounts have been prepared on a receipts and payments method. The church receives all of its income through the generosity of its church members (including the Gift Aid claimed back from HMRC), and some grants. A small amount is received through interest on our current account and Legacies Fund but this continues to be very modest in the light of continuing low interest rates during most of 2023.
Regular Giving
52 worshippers took part in the diocesan direct scheme during the year. 28 of these givers have signed up to annual inflation increases. Regular giving enables the PCC to plan ahead confidently. The table below reflects all the giving received during 2024.
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| No. of Givers during theyear |
No. of Givers during theyear |
Average monthly amount before Gift Aid |
Average monthly amount before Gift Aid |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 2024 | 2023 | 2024 | |
| Diocesan Parish GivingScheme | 58 | 52 | £111 | £116 |
| StandingOrders | 18 | 17 | £56 | £81 |
The church encourages everyone to consider joining the Parish Giving Scheme through the Diocese. It is a secure and simple method which has the following advantages: -
-
There is an opportunity to give annual inflation increases
-
Gift Aid is claimed by the Diocese and paid to St Catharine’s monthly
-
It results in a significant simplification of church administration
Unrestricted planned giving including the Parish Giving Scheme, Envelopes and Standing Orders including Gift Aid recovery was £21,271 higher than in 2023. Much of this was as a result of a highly successful gift day event held at the end of September.
Unrestricted cash on the plate and general donations was up by £929 compared to 2023.
Payments on the General Unrestricted Account
This account covers Parish Share and the running costs of the church building, together with expenditure on worship, prayer and outreach, children and young people’s work, staff and communications. Expenditure for the year showed an increase of £24,149 compared to 2023. This was due to higher Church running costs, in particular electricity and gas, higher expenditure on mission and evangelism and higher admin costs. We decided to continue to give more to Parish Share than the diocese request, giving £85,060. Parish Share contributes to the pay, housing and pension of clergy in the Diocese, together with expenses for training new and existing priests, support from Archdeacons, safeguarding and other central teams. St Catharine’s PCC is committed to being as generous as we can to contributing to these costs of ministry. Legacy income for the year was £5,453.
Designated Funds (funds that can be controlled by the PCC)
The Hall Fund is a Designated Fund and is accounted for separately. During 2024 the Hall generated an income of £10,909 compared to £8,708 in 2023. Hall hire rates were increased in line with inflation from the beginning of 2024 and a similar increase had been applied from the beginning of 2025. Overall expenditure for the year was £10,730 which covered the insurance, gas and electric, cleaner, hall repairs and the provision of a new kitchen.
The Organ Fund is also Designated and increased slightly to £480.
Restricted Funds (funds controlled by donors)
The Fabric Fund has two accounts. The first is a cash day to day account. This account incurred a net reduction of £1,429 during the year and the balance at the end of the year was £7,394. The second account is invested in an Investment Bank which holds a balance of £11,282. We were able to recruit a new full time Children’s and Families worker in the second half of 2024 where we believe this one of our core areas of mission. A combination of continued giving, grant income and the cost saving during the period of recruitment has meant that this restricted fund balance had increased to £32,278 at the year end.
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The Serve and Share (SAS) initiative has continued and adapted to changing circumstances and demands whilst still sticking to the core reasons why it was set up in the first place of helping to meet the needs of struggling families and refugees. The fund balance fell slightly during the year from £9,541 to £7,748.
The PCC is grateful to everyone who gave to the church through their time, prayer and money that contributes to our mission and ministry and the financial outcome for 2024.
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ST CATHARINE’S GLOUCESTER PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024
| Page | |
|---|---|
| 6 |
Independent Examiner’s Report |
| 7 |
Receipts and Payments Account |
| 8 |
Statement of Funds and Assets |
| 9 to 11 | Notes to the Financial Statements |
Ed Reed and David Nicholls Joint Church Treasurers
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Independent Examiner’s Report to St Catharine’s Parochial Church Council
I report on the accounts of the St Catharine’s PCC for the year ended 31[st] December 2024 set out on the following pages.
Respective responsibilities of the Trustees and examiner
As the charity trustees of St Catharine’s PCC you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the Act’).
I report in respect of my examination of the PCC’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
Independent examiner’s statement
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:
- accounting records were not kept in respect of the PCC as required by section 130 of the Act; or
2. the accounts do not accord with those records.
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
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ST CATHARINE’S CHURCH RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNT YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024
| ST CATHARINE’S CHURCH RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNT YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024 |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General Fund £ |
Designated Fund £ |
Restricted Fund £ |
2024 £ |
2023 £ |
|
| Incoming Resources | |||||
| Voluntary Income: | |||||
| Plannedgiving | 92,071 | - | 4,863 | 96,934 | 91,892 |
| Collections,donations and othergiving | 28,670 | 2,172 | 24,459 | 55,301 | 28,899 |
| Income Tax recovered | 28,090 | - | - | 28,090 | 27,056 |
| Legacies | 5,453 | - | 5,453 | 1,000 | |
| Activitiesforgenerating funds | |||||
| Magazine/Bookstall sales/Hall Lettings etc. | - | 10,909 | - | 10,909 | 8,209 |
| Income from other Properties | - | - | - | ||
| Annual Fete/events | |||||
| Investment Income: | |||||
| Interest & dividends | 2,441 | 18 | 1,048 | 3,507 | 2,645 |
| Incomefrom charitable activities: | |||||
| Parochial fees | 1,570 | - | - | 1,570 | 1,296 |
| Other incoming resources: | |||||
| Insurance claims | - | - | - | 2,945 | |
| Gain on disposal of fixed assets | - | - | - | - | |
| Other | 642 | - | - | 642 | 617 |
| Total Incoming Resources | 158,937 | 13,099 | 30,370 | 202,406 | 164,559 |
| Resources Expended | |||||
| Charitable activities: | |||||
| Donations/Grants to charities | -3,250 | - | - | -3,250 | -6,500 |
| Mission & Evangelism | -7,645 | - | -8,324 | -15,969 | -5,377 |
| Parish Share | -85,060 | - | - | -85,060 | -85,000 |
| Clergyexpenses | -3,101 | - | -1,500 | -4,601 | -2,284 |
| Church runningexpenses | -21,126 | -4,899 | -3,178 | -29,203 | -19,709 |
| Churchyard maintenance | -491 | - | - | -491 | -343 |
| Cost of raisingfunds | - | -1,302 | - | -1,302 | -1,640 |
| Charitable activities: | |||||
| Support costs | -10,001 | - | -1,731 | -11,732 | -16,598 |
| Administration Costs(inc. staff costs) | -21,049 | -265 | -7,848 | -29,162 | -18,723 |
| Other | -4,891 | -1,095 | - | -5,986 | -5,620 |
| Governance costs | -300 | - | - | -300 | -300 |
| Major expenditure: | |||||
| Repairs to church building | -3,306 | - | - | -3,306 | -312 |
| Repairs to otherproperty | - | -5,800 | - | -5,800 | -3,994 |
| Capitalpurchases,additions | - | - | - | ||
| Loan repayments | |||||
| Total resources expended | -160,220 | -13,361 | -22,581 | -196,162 | -166,400 |
| Net(outgoing)/incoming resources | -1,283 | -262 | 7,789 | 6,244 | -1,841 |
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STATEMENT OF FUNDS AND ASSETS YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024
| Funds | Closing Balance 31 Dec 23 |
Increase/(Decrease) | Closing Balance 31-Dec-24 |
|---|---|---|---|
| £ | £ | £ | |
| Unrestricted | 33,523 | -1,782 | 31,741 |
| Designated | 17,929 | 238 | 18,167 |
| Restricted | 56,028 | 7,789 | 63,817 |
| Total Funds | 107,480 | 6,245 | 113,725 |
| Assets | |||
| Bank balances | |||
| NatWest PCC General current account | 62,878 | 6,377 | 69,255 |
| NatWest Fabric Fund current account | 8,823 | -1,429 | 7,394 |
| CCLA Fabric Fund account | 10,848 | 434 | 11,282 |
| CCLA Organ Fund account | 461 | 19 | 480 |
| CCLA Legacies fund account | 24,224 | 969 | 25,193 |
| Soldo | 246 | -246 | 0 |
| Float 1 | 0 | 121 | 121 |
| Total Assets | 107,480 | 6,245 | 113,725 |
Other Investment Asset
The PCC has 696 shares in the Central Board of Finance Investment Fund relating to the Gransmore Trust. The historic cost was £500. These were valued at £16,093.40 at 31 December 2024 (value at 31 December 2023 £15,733). The interest/dividend receipts on these shares are credited to the Fabric Fund.
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1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with United Kingdom accounting standards, the statement of recommended practice, (SORP 2005) and the Church of England accounting regulations. The historical cost convention and the receipts and payments basis for accounting were used in 2024. The principal accounting policies have been applied consistently.
The accounts include transactions for which the PCC can be held responsible. They do not include the accounts of other church groups such as Mothers’ Union and Girls’ Friendly Society which have affiliations to their own parent bodies.
2. FUNDS
-
(a) Endowment Fund – Gransmore Trust
-
The capital in this Fund must be maintained. Only receipts arising from the investment of the endowment may be used. The receipts from the Gransmore Trust are used for maintenance of the church fabric.
-
(b) Restricted Funds – Fabric Fund, Chancel Re-ordering Fund and part General Fund. These funds represent donations and receipts raised for specific works and objects. There are also restricted funds in the General Account. These are donations where the donor has specifically restricted its use.
-
(c) Designated Funds – Church hall and Organ Fund.
-
These are funds set aside out of general funds for specific designated purposes.
-
(d) Unrestricted Funds – PCC General and Legacies fund.
-
These are general funds which can be used for the PCC’s ordinary purposes.
3. RESERVES POLICY
The PCC has set a policy of retaining at least 33% of its annual payments budget as free reserves. This is still broadly the current position.
4. LEGACIES
A Legacy of £5,453 was received during 2024.
5. EVENTS DURING 2024
There was a Barn Dance which raised money for Christmas hampers and a Christmas concert which did the same. There was also an organ recital.
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6. PAYMENTS TO CHARITIES
| 2024 £ |
2023 £ |
|
|---|---|---|
| CMS for Yanez family | 0 | 2,000 |
| Jane Ingle(Wycliffe)Work in Cameroon | 1,000 | 1,000 |
| Josh King | 250 | 0 |
| Other overseas missionaries | 0 | 1,000 |
| Gloucester CityMission | 500 | 0 |
| GARAS | 500 | 0 |
| Gloucester Vineyard | 500 | 0 |
| K Ingleby | 0 | 1,000 |
| Roots | 500 | 500 |
| Wycliffe Home missionaries | 0 | 1,000 |
| Total | 3,250 | 6,500 |
7. CLERGY EXPENSES
It is the policy of the PCC to reimburse Clergy for out-of-pocket expenses in full. The amount paid to the Vicar is largely reimbursing costs of items purchased for the church.
| 2024 £ |
2023 £ |
|
|---|---|---|
| Amountpaid to Vicar | 4,601 | 1,984 |
| Amountpaid to Curate | 0 | 88 |
| Reader’s travellingallowance | 300 | 300 |
8. FEES PAID TO EXAMINER OF ACCOUNTS
| 2024 £ |
2023 £ |
|
|---|---|---|
| Amountpaid to David Matthams | 300 | 300 |
9. PAYMENTS TO EMPLOYEES
| 2024 £ |
2023 £ |
|
|---|---|---|
| Youth and Children’s Worker | 7,848 | 4,516 |
| ClergyAssistant incl. bonus | 13,793 | 12,829 |
| Church Cleaner | 2,409 | 1,964 |
| Total | 23,050 | 19,309 |
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10. PAYMENTS TO PCC MEMBERS (OR CONNECTED PERSONS)
| 2024 £ |
2023 £ |
|
|---|---|---|
| Total | 0 | 0 |
11. CHURCH HALL TRADING ACCOUNT
| 11. CHURCH HALL TRADING ACCOUNT | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2024 £ |
2023 £ |
|
| Receipts: | ||
| Hire of hall receipts | 10,909 | 8,587 |
| Other income | 1,610 | |
| Total Receipts | 12,519 | 8,587 |
| Expenses: | ||
| Church Hall repairs and maintenance | -6,065 | -6,121 |
| Cleaning (includingmaterials) | -1,302 | -1,640 |
| Insurance | -1,095 | -990 |
| Utilities | -3,877 | -2,118 |
| Total Expenses | -12,339 | -10,869 |
| Surplus/Loss on Church Hall | 180 | -2,282 |
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