## Company registration number: 07186736 Charity registration number: 1135081 **Citizens Advice LeicesterShire**
(A company limited by guarantee)
Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ending 31[st] March 2024
**Free, confidential advice.**
**Whoever you are.**
**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire**
## **Contents**
|**Contents**||
|---|---|
|**Message from the Chair**|**2**|
|**Trustee Report**|**3**|
|**Our Objectives and Activities**|**4**|
|**Achievements and Performance**|**9**|
|**Financial Review**
**18**||
|**Plans for the Future**|**21**|
|**Reference and Administrative Details**|**23**|
|**Structure, Governance and Management**|**25**|
|**Statements of Trustees’ Responsibilities**|**31**|
|**Financial Statements**|**32**|
|**Independent Auditor’s Report**|**33**|
|**Statement of Financial Activities**|**39**|
|**Balance Sheet**|**41**|
|**Statement of Cash flows**
**42**||
|**Notes to the Financial Statements**
**43**||
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire**
## **Message from the Chair**
Citizens Advice LeicesterShire is a local charity, helping local people to cope with financial, health and consumer issues. We believe that knowledge empowers people to make informed decisions, gives freedom of choice and builds resilience. We are funded by local contracts and donations, with accreditation from the national Citizens Advice network.
We provide vital advice and information to people from all backgrounds. This would not be possible without the hard work and commitment of our people. I am proud of the way our employees and volunteers make every effort to alleviate pressures on local people during challenging times. Together, we make a meaningful impact in the lives of those we serve.
The cost-of-living crisis has had a significant impact on individuals and organisations. Citizens Advice LeicesterShire has not been exempt from this and our income has not kept pace with rising operating costs. Given the pressures on the Local Authorities and Charities that fund our work, we must look to build a sustainable future and continue to provide the best levels of service that we can.
The key priority is to maximise our income, followed by an expansion of the areas where we can provide help. This means identifying and exploring new opportunities to increase funding or build new partnerships. We want the organisation to continue to be here for local people by becoming fit for the future. That is why the Board of Trustees developed a new strategy in the last quarter of the financial year.
All the trustees are committed to looking for new opportunities to use and build on the expertise the organisation currently has. This is not a quick fix. The first step is to develop and implement the strategic plan - the roadmap that will enable us to enhance our services. I’m pleased to say that our new CEO, Vicky Gutteridge, is working closely with the Board of Trustees on this.
We thank Malcolm Flaherty for guiding the organisation through many changes in the 20 years he was on the Board. He stepped down as Chairman towards the end of the financial year. We also said goodbye to Vic Goodman, who was a stalwart member of the Finance and General Purposes trustee subgroup for many years.
Looking forward I, together with all my fellow trustees, are confident that it is possible to enhance our services and build on the great work that has already been done. This is an exciting time for the organisation. One full of new opportunities.
Marie-Anne Beere Chair of Trustees
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire**
## **Trustees Report**
The Trustees, who are directors for the purposes of company law, present the annual report together with the financial statements and auditors' report of the charitable company for the year ended 31st March 2024.
Towards the end of the last financial year (year end March 2023) our CEO, Richard Evans, unexpectedly passed away on 28th March 2023. This greatly impacted on the Board, staff, volunteers and the organisation. Business interruption plans were instigated, and Acting CEO cover put into place. Our newly appointed CEO joined the organisation towards the end of this financial year on 2nd January 2024.
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire Trustees Report**
## **Objectives and Activities**
## **Objects and Aims**
The Charity's purposes, as set out in the objects contained in the Company's Memorandum of Association, are to promote any charitable purpose for the benefit of the whole community of Leicestershire ("the area of benefit") by the advancement of education, the protection of health and the relief of poverty, sickness and distress.
Our aims are focused on the provision of advice people need for the problems they face and the improvement of the policies and practices that affect people's lives. Our service provides free, independent, confidential and impartial advice to everyone on their rights and responsibilities. We value diversity, promote equality and challenge discrimination.
The main area of benefit refers to the community of Leicestershire and the organisation focuses the majority of activities on Leicestershire and the City of Leicester. However, work is now accepted from other parts of the country for some services including national telephone calls and web chat. The Charity has developed its own Mission Statement to reflect more accurately the purpose and role of the organisation:
**“Citizens Advice LeicesterShire (CITAL) will continue to be recognised as the leading provider of appropriate excellent advice across the county and city. We will develop and maintain a range of provisions that meet the new and emerging challenges facing people in our area, including the prevention of homelessness and the cost of living crisis."**
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire Trustees Report**
## **Public Benefit**
Our main objectives for the year have been developing our service so it matches the needs of the clients we are trying to support whilst continuing with all bidding opportunities. We will achieve our Aim by focusing on five major objectives:
1. **People** — Ensuring clients remain central to our organisation and all our developments; ensuring motivated and engaged staff and volunteers by having effective communication systems, excellent training and support.
2. **Financial sustainability** — Ensuring the financial sustainability of CITAL. We will do this by rigorous financial management, effective monitoring of the changing environment, accessing core funding, exploiting new markets and developing social enterprises.
3. **Delivery and innovation** — Ensuring all our people deliver consistently high standards of advice-giving. We will continue to innovate to best meet the new and emerging needs of our clients including the use of developing technologies as the leading provider in Leicestershire.
4. **Local profile** — To be recognised as market leaders in the innovative work we do and develop a high profile for the organisation locally, regionally and nationally. To focus on social policy, being articulate, visible and vocal about the consequences of local and national government policy on local people.
5. **National profile** — To play an effective but robust role within Citizens Advice nationally whilst reflecting the need of the local population with our own and the funders’ aspirations.
**All our charitable activities focus on providing the advice people need for the problems** . The Board of Trustees **they face and are undertaken specifically to provide public benefit** have had due regard to the Charity Commission guidance on public benefit and have complied with the duty in section 4 of the Charities Act 2011.
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire Trustees Report**
## **Achieving our aims and objectives**
## **Guiding Principles**
- Our services will be free at the point of delivery where possible
- Services accessible to all through a diversity of appropriate routes relating to the capacity of the client
- Key priorities for face-to-face services will be for the most vulnerable
- Where we cannot provide, we will signpost to other services
The strategies employed to achieve the charity’s aims and objectives are to:
- To be the provider of choice of Information and Advice services for our local partners. We measure this by the number of services we are successful in procuring and delivering.
- To deliver a safe, effective and efficient service. We measure this by meeting our service Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) and by the outcomes we achieve.
- We provide impartial, accurate and quality advice and information. We measure this by maintaining our Quality of Advice standard and through internal and external audits.
- We promote equality, diversity and inclusion; for our staff, volunteers and the people we serve. We measure this by using our demographics data to ensure our staff and volunteers represent our communities and that people in the greatest need can access our services.
- Our staff and volunteers are well trained, confident and have the resources they need to perform well. We measure this through our service Key Performance Indicators, staff and volunteer supervision and feedback surveys.
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire Trustees Report**
## **Volunteers**
**“I have been a Volunteer Adviser for Citizens Advice LeicesterShire since 2013. After retiring, I had a strong urge to give something back to the community, and volunteering enabled me to do so.”** Marcia, Volunteer Adviser
In addition to approximately 56 paid staff, the organisation receives help and support in the form of voluntary assistance in offering advice to the public.
Volunteers represent an indispensable part of the organisation and without them there would not be a Citizens Advice service. Across Citizens Advice LeicesterShire, we have over 50 dedicated volunteers.
## **Within our county service, we estimate that they contribute over 160 hours weekly and 7383 hours annually. This adds up to an equivalent value of £175,937.**
However, their value is inadequately expressed in monetary terms. Indeed, volunteers bring many skills and equally; the experience gained with us helps individuals return to the labour market.
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire Trustees Report**
## **Case Study: Rising Energy Costs**
**Sarah*** , an 83-year old female client in Hinckley, who has a limited ability to hear, was anxious about the rising cost of electricity. She was unable to pay her weekly electricity bills at her local post office as her E.ON cards were damaged, meaning she had to travel a significant distance, and feared she was in arrears.
Struggling to communicate over the phone, our face-to-face service proved invaluable. One of our advisers was able to contact E.ON and discovered that she had £1,899.45 in credit on her gas account and £131.68 on her electricity. We also ordered her replacement payment cards so she didn’t have to travel far to pay her bills.
Finding out she had credit on her accounts proved to be a relief and shows how important face to face services are for people with communication difficulties. It also shows how having someone to find out information for you that seems overwhelming can have such a positive impact on reducing stress and feeling more in control of your finances.
* Client name changed to protect anonymity
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire Trustees Report**
## **Achievements and Performance**
The main areas of charitable activity are: the provision of general advice and information services; the provision of specialist advice and casework services in the debt and welfare benefits categories of social welfare law and guidance on current pension regulations. Throughout the year we have continued to offer advice and information in the following ways:
**Telephone** — we continued to operate a City and County-wide telephone triage service staffed by volunteer and paid assessors. The line is answered between the hours of 9.00am and 4.30pm from Monday to Friday.
**Face to face** — we continue to provide in person advice at Narborough, Market Harborough, Coalville, Hinckley and Leicester City. We see a preference for telephone advice continue and reserve our in-person appointments for those with the greatest need.
**Full advice** — we offer general and specialist advice through our team of trained volunteer advisers and paid staff. This was delivered by telephone, email and face to face for those that needed additional support. We also offered advice via video.
**Information and self-help** — supporting service users to become more self-reliant by accessing online information. During the year we generated 667,093 website hits, equating to a 47% increase from last year.
**Outreach** — For Leicester City clients we operate outreach services at Wesley Hall, St Barnabas Library and the Community Shop in Beaumont Leys. Across the county, we offered outreach at Coalville,
Ashby-de-la-Zouch, Melton and at food banks located in Hinckley and Lutterworth.
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire Trustees Report**
Whilst we saw a small decrease of 4% in the number of clients seen compared to last year, the number of issues handled increased by 2.6%, demonstrating the level of complexity we see for our clients who increasingly experience multiple compounding issues. The tangible value we provide by maximising our clients’ income increased by 6% compared to last year. However, the intangible benefits to our clients such as someone to listen to their concerns, finding a way forward and reducing the pressure on their mental health are immeasurable.
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire Trustees Report**
## **City social welfare and advice service**
## **Key Stats**
**18,325 people helped**
**40,344 issues**
**£7,073,624 additional income gained for our clients**
This service started in April 2019 for a five-year +1+1 contract and is funded by the City council. We provide telephone, email, in person appointments and outreach at Wesley Hall, St Barnabas Library and the Community Shop in Beaumont Leys.
We have a set of key performance indicators that are reported on a quarterly and annual basis. The service is performing well against our benchmarks in addition to maintaining excellent working relationships with our funder and partners.
This year we saw an increased number of clients referred to foodbanks (6% increase in Q4). Clients in crisis seen at York House have also increased peaking at a 92% increase in the final quarter. Telephone appointments, in person appointments and Outreach have also increased. We continue to achieve positive outcomes for the people of Leicester, maximising income through benefit checks, providing vital information to empower and supporting homeless prevention.
For Leicester, our data shows that approximately 10-12% of clients presenting to us are living on a negative budget, which is double the rate of surrounding County areas.
Nationally Leicester also is at the higher end of the national average, with some parts of inner London seeing up to 14-15 % of their clients living on a negative budget, which is the highest in England and Wales.
We have a motivated and high-performing team of 14 paid staff, consisting of supervisors, advisors and assessors. In addition to paid staff, we have a long-standing team of volunteers whose skills and commitment are greatly valued.
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire Trustees Report**
## **County generalist advice Service**
## **Key Stats**
**12,846 people helped**
**41,995 issues**
**£7,298,174 additional income gained for our clients**
We have been providing essential social welfare advice in Blaby, Harborough, Hinckley & Bosworth, North-West Leicestershire, Melton and Oadby & Wigston since 2020 for this current service. We provide information and advice by telephone, email, in person appointments and outreach.
Our service is currently funded by: Leicestershire County Council and the following district councils where we provide in person advice from their offices: Blaby District Council, Harborough District Council, Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council and North West Leicestershire District Council. We provide a telephone service only that is funded through the core County Council grant for residents of Melton and Oadby & Wigston.
We work to quality benchmarks and performance indicators that are reported upon quarterly on a County Wide basis.
The most common issues clients came to us with were Benefits & tax credits, Debt, Charitable Support & Food Banks, Housing and Benefits Universal Credit. Rising energy costs continue to be of concern as Fuel Debts was one of the top debt issues after Other Debts.
We supported the County and District Councils in their delivery of the Household Support Fund (HSF) taking a collaborative approach with our Money Advice Service and Financial Inclusion Service. During the year we supported around 1029 applications, generating £219,353 in additional income for eligible clients.
We have a dedicated team of 7 paid staff, consisting of supervisors, advisors and assessors. In addition to paid staff, we have a large team of around 20 volunteers whose skills and commitment are greatly valued.
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire Trustees Report**
## **Specialist Services**
## **East Midlands Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia Network**
This service is funded by NHS England with the aims to increase the
direct support available for EMSTN patients, contributing to improved health and wellbeing of our clients and to work in partnership with clinicians by providing a dedicated referral pathway for patients experiencing social welfare issues.
This was our second year with the EMSTN project, during which we helped **182 clients** with **722 issues** - a **106% increase** compared to the previous year.
It works out to be an average of 4 issues per client and demonstrates that EMSTN clients access our service with more issues than in our generalist service (2-3 issues per client). During 2023/24, we achieved a projected income gain of **£563,444** .
Of the 182 clients, 92 each received a financial outcome worth a projected **£6,125** per outcome.
## **Macmillan / CAB Welfare Benefits Service Leicestershire, leicester City and Rutland**
Macmillan have been funding the Macmillan CAB Welfare Benefits Service since 2007 and have extended the contract through various forms in this time. Our team provides information, advice and advocacy to people affected by cancer living in Leicester, Leicestershire, Rutland or receiving treatment within the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust (UHL). We provide a free and confidential service to cancer patients, their families, and carers. Our advice is focused on identifying benefit entitlement and assisting service users through the claiming process to achieve income maximisation.
During 2023/24, our 7 paid staff and 2 volunteers have helped **1,140 people** with **1,058 issues** . We were able to maximise our clients’ annual income by **£3,548,829** .
We’re proud that we have such a high demand for our Macmillan service, yet we have still achieved our quality targets and most importantly positive financial outcomes for our clients.
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire Trustees Report**
## **Help to Claim (HTC)**
The project is delivered via the National Citizens Advice and selected local offices, of which we are one of the partners. The service is funded by the Department of Work and Pension for a period of 2 years.
Help to Claim service is delivered from 8am to 6pm, Monday to Friday across multi-channels to increase accessibility and meet support needs. We work in partnership with Jobcentre Plus (JCP) Leicestershire and Northamptonshire district with a view
to improving its reach into the community by targeted marketing and partnership work to increase awareness of Help to Claim.
The project is for new Universal Credit claimants only and the project covers clients within England and Wales. The main purpose of the project is to check whether a client should be applying for Universal Credit and support them to start a UC claim until the first full payment is received.
Our Help to Claim service helped **5,142 people** with **8,850 issues** , maximising our clients’ income by **£5,283,036.**
The team performs highly against strict targets, and we are proud that we are one of the top performing teams nationally and selected to deliver the HTC project for its 6th consecutive year. The top 5 issues were: Eligibility and calculation of Universal Credit, Understanding of Universal Credit payments, Advance payment, Telephone claim, and Better off calculation.
**“We are very happy that [anonymous client] has received her first payment. We would like to offer our sincere thanks to the team who helped us as they gave us the correct information. I have also passed my thanks higher up the chain of command to ensure that your service gets the accolade it deserves.”**
Feedback from partner organisation
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire Trustees Report**
## **Multiply**
Multiply is funded by Leicestershire County Council and is an adult learning numeracy project that provides one to one, tailored budgeting advice and tools for clients, supporting them to better manage their finances going forwards.
Learners must take part in at least two hours of learning, and this can be individually or group work. The purpose of the project is to increase numeracy confidence using practical life situations including budgeting, cookery and travel timetables.
We work to project performance targets that are reported monthly. This year we have supported **59 people** to feel more confident about managing their finances.
## **Leicestershire Energy Support**
Leicestershire Energy Support (LES) provides clients across the county with specialist advice around their energy usage and needs, including debt and arrears. This project is funded by the Energy Redress Scheme, and we provide quarterly reports against performance targets and case studies. This year we have helped nearly **200 people** manage their energy debt.
## **Pension Wise**
Funded by the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS), Pension Wise is a free and impartial service that we deliver to people over 50. We support people to understand the different ways you can take money from your pension. This year we have helped **1,096 people** with **2,196 issues** to make informed decisions about their pension.
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire Trustees Report**
## **Financial Inclusion Service**
## **Food banks**
We are proud to be working in partnership with The Trussell Trust across nine food banks in the Hinckley and Bosworth area. Together, we are working to maximise the income of clients using the food banks in these locations and, in turn, empower them to move on from reliance on emergency food provision.
We work to performance targets that are reported on quarterly and this year we have supported **279 clients** with **660 issues** across these outreach venues.
Going forward, we look forward to expanding this work and replicating the model into Lutterworth and the surrounding villages too.
## **Support Functions**
To run effective services and an organisation it is essential that we have strong supporting business functions, namely People Management, Resource Management, Financial Management and Learning and Development.
Staff recruitment and retention is a challenge for the not-for-profit sector, aggravated by short term contracts and stagnant funding. However, we recruited 23 new staff this year to fill vacancies or new roles. Our staff survey shows that our staff are engaged and motivated in their work.
- Recognition — Employees feel like they are rewarded for a job well done
- Support — Employees feel supported by their managers and colleagues
- Commitment — Employees feel a sense of pride in belonging to the organisation
- We recruited and trained a total of 16 new volunteers during 2023/24
- We delivered 507 hours of training for volunteers
- We trained 36 staff with a total 595 training hours
- A total of 1,102 hours of training for staff and volunteers to be able to deliver their roles.
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire Trustees Report**
## **Financial Review**
It is fair to say the availability of funding in the Charity sector continues to remain difficult. The Charity's focus is on providing added value to its funders from a base of sound financial management and ensuring that our services remain relevant to the strategic objectives of stakeholders at local and national level.
Whilst we have worked hard to develop our service to enable us to deliver the most cost-effective service possible, the prospect of meeting the ever-increasing demand with significantly reduced funding resources is challenging.
In the reporting period the Charity generated an operating deficit of £24,027 from a total income of £1,640,465 and expenditure of £1,664,492. Whilst the deficit was less than our forecasted budget, this occurred in the main because of staff vacancies and rent reductions to reflect the reduced usage of premises for the period.
The number of staff vacancies carried, whilst not critical to the organisation, has presented us with some operational and management challenges. It is through the hard work and commitment of our staff and volunteers that this has had a minimal impact on the outcomes for our clients. To remain sustainable a key focus for the future is to build a high performing workforce that feels secure and valued.
## **Principal funding sources**
The total income for the year of £1,640,465 represents a decrease of £46,779 from 2022/23. The Trustees extend their sincere gratitude to Leicester City Council, Leicestershire County Council, Blaby District Council, Harborough District Council, Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council and North West Leicestershire District Council who continue to support the (core) operating capacity of the Charity.
Significant project-specific funding was gratefully received from Macmillan Cancer Support, Money Advice Service's Financial Inclusion Fund through the East Midlands Money Advice Agency in support of money advice, and from Her Majesty's Treasury in respect of the Pension Wise Service and Help to Claim. There is also a Leicestershire County Council funded services called "Multiply", our Trussell Trust funded food bank work across the Hinckley area, the Energy Redress funded Leicestershire Energy Support project and the EMSTN service funded by the NHS.
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire Trustees Report**
## **Financial risks**
## **Objectives and policies**
The Charity’s activities expose it to a number of financial risks including credit risk, cash flow risk and liquidity risk. The use of financial derivatives is governed by the Charity’s policies approved by the board of Trustees, which provide written principles on the use of financial derivatives to manage these risks. The Charity does not use derivative financial instruments for speculative purposes.
## **Credit risk**
The Charity’s principal financial assets are bank balances and cash, trade and other debtors. The Charity's credit risk is primarily attributable to its trade debtors. The amounts presented in the balance sheet are net of allowances for doubtful debts. An allowance for impairment is made where there is an identified loss event which, based on previous experience, is evidence of a reduction in the recoverability of the cash flows. The credit risk on liquid funds is limited because the counterparties are banks with high credit-ratings assigned by international credit-rating agencies.
The Charity has no significant concentration of credit risk, with exposure spread over a large number of counterparties and customers.
## **Liquidity risk**
In order to maintain liquidity to ensure that sufficient funds are available for ongoing operations and future developments, the Charity maintains sufficient funds at the bank.
## **Reserves policy**
The Trustees believe that the organisation should hold financial reserves in order to ensure that the CITAL can continue to operate and meet the needs of clients in the event of unforeseen and potentially financially damaging circumstances arising. The Trustees have a target of retaining the equivalent of three months' expenditure as financial reserves. CITAL's reserves are also held redundancy should the need arise to ensure that the organisation is able to cover contractual obligations for redundancy payments to staff and for unforeseen circumstances. This reserves policy is monitored and reviewed by the Trustees. The Trustees are aware that they have reached their target for reserves but will continue to work towards maintaining that situation.
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire Trustees Report**
## **Investment policy and objectives**
In furtherance of its objectives, and for no other purposes, the company has the power to invest or deposit funds in any lawful manner. A Charities Aid Foundation Bank investment account was opened and trialled. This has resulted in a modest income.
## **Going concern**
After making further appropriate enquiries, the Trustees have a reasonable expectation that the company has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. For this reason, they continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the financial statements.
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire Trustees Report**
## **Plans for the future**
Emerging from the Covid Pandemic and then into a cost-of-living crisis has increased demand on our services, whilst experiencing reduced or stagnant funding.
## **Never more has our service been needed.**
**Our forward strategy must address our ability to remain viable, agile and resilient in an ever-changing world so we can continue to deliver on our purpose and remain fit for the future.**
The learnings we have taken from this year are:
- Unpredictable funding impacts the way we employ, reward and invest in staff, resulting in recruitment and retention challenges. Our future strategy must address new ways to recruit, retain, develop and reward our staff so that we cultivate an engaged, productive and stable workforce.
- Increased cost of living has not only impacted our communities but also our own costs and that of our system partners. This has resulted in funding challenges for everyone. Addressing our funding portfolio through an income generation strategy must be a key focus for the future.
- A system in crisis has called for reactionary working, leaving little time or resources to focus on strategic long-term planning and investment. This perfect storm has also increased financial pressure, and hardship for our beneficiaries, ultimately widening the gap of inequality. Strategic long-term planning to promote organisational resilience, services that meet emerging needs and mutually beneficial partnership working must be a priority for our future strategy.
The appointment of a new CEO in January 2024 has resulted in a thorough review of our Charity.
Acting upon the findings of the CEO “Listen and Learn” survey completed by staff and volunteers, a set of objectives have been created until a newly developed strategy has been written and approved.
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire Trustees Report Plans for the Future (Continued)**
|**Objectives for 2024/25**|**Objectives for 2024/25**|
|---|---|
|**Theme**|**Objective**|
|Develop a 5-year living
strategy|●Undertake a Staff and Volunteer survey
●Hold a Trustee / leadership team strategic planning day
●Board approval for our future strategy and objectives|
|Diversified Income
Streams|●Review our current funding portfolio (away day)
●Explore future initiatives (away day)
●Appoint a Head of Income and Partnerships
●Developan incomegeneration strategy|
|Reward and
Recognition|●Review our current roles and salary structure
●Initiate a reward and recognition working group
●Approve an equitable pay structure approved by the board|
|Performance|●Identify key metrics for a performance dashboard
●Develop strategic objectives linked to our strategy
●Develop a 2–3-year business plan linked to our strategy
●Develop and implement service operational plans linked to
our strategy
●Develop and deliver a leadership development programme|
|Infrastructure|●Review information technology needs for the future
●Appoint an IT partner
●Create an organisation wide shared information system
●Maintain Cyber Essentials accreditation|
|Purpose and culture|●Review and refresh our purpose statement and values
●Appoint an Income and Communications Officer
●Build our brand by telling powerful stories
●Hold a staff conference to improve connection and
communication|
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire**
## **Reference and Administrative Details**
Trustees
M. T. Flaherty – Chair — Resigned 31 March 2024 M-A. Beere – Treasurer — Resigned 31 March 2024 and appointed as interim Chair 31 March 2024
P. J. G. Symonds — appointed interim Treasurer 31 March 2024
- J. Walters
V. T. Goodman — Resigned 23 May 2024
N. L. B. Waghela
- Z. Feghali
- D. Scruton
Company Secretary
- V. Gutteridge – Appointed 29 July 2024
- R. Evans – Resigned 9 June 2023
Central Management Team
- V. Gutteridge - CEO
- R. Evans — Resigned 9 June 2023
- A. E. Steiner (Acting CEO April —December 2023)
- H. Matthews (Acting CEO April — December 2023)
- L. Hegarty
- J. Thomas
Principal Office
Clarence House
46 Humberstone Gate
Leicester
LE1 3PJ
Clarence House Registered Office 46 Humberstone Gate
Leicester
LE1 3PJ
The Charity is incorporated in England and Wales
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire Reference and Administrative Details**
|Company Registration Number|07186736|
|---|---|
|Charity Registration Number|1135081|
|Solicitors|Lawson West|
||4 Dominus Way|
||Meridian Business Park|
||Leicester|
||LE19 1RP|
|Bankers|The Co-operative Bank plc|
||1 Balloon Street|
||Manchester|
||M60 4EP|
||Unity Trust Bank|
||4 Brindley Place|
||Birmingham|
||B1 2JB|
||CAF Bank Ltd|
||25 Kings Hill Avenue|
||Kings Hill|
||West Malling|
||Kent|
||ME19 4JQ|
|Auditor|The Rowleys Partnership Ltd|
||Chartered Accountants, Statutory|
||Auditor|
||Charnwood House|
||Harcourt Way|
||Meridian Business Park|
||Leicester|
||LE19 1WP|
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire Trustees Report**
## **Structure, governance and management**
## **Organisational structure**
CITAL is governed by its Trustee Board, which is responsible for setting the strategic direction of the organisation and the policy of the Charity. These policies are implemented by the Chief Executive. The Trustees carry the ultimate responsibility for the conduct of CITAL and for ensuring that the Charity stratifies its legal and contractual obligations. The Board has developed an induction procedure, in order to carefully select and induct new members onto its board. Trustees meet as a minimum each quarter and delegate the day-to-day operation of the organisation to senior management. The Trustee Board is independent from management.
CITAL operates from five branches at Narborough, Market Harborough, Coalville, Hinckley, and Leicester. It also operates at three outreach venues in the city, two in the county and across nine foodbanks in Hinckley and Bosworth and has staff and volunteers working from home. The Melton Mowbray branch is closed permanently to the public due to a funding cut. However, reduced funding is still in place so residents of the Borough can access the services by telephone and email. The branch in Oadby and Wigston closed due to the loss of a local tender. However, a telephone service still operates in the Borough.
CITAL is a member of National Association of Citizens Advice, which provides a framework for standards of advice and casework management as well as monitoring progress against these standards. The organisation also co-operates and liaises with a number of other advisory services, local charities and social services departments on behalf of clients.
## **Organisational Chart**
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire Trustees Report**
## **Nature of governing document**
Citizens Advice LeicesterShire (CITAL) is a registered Charity and was incorporated as a company by limited guarantee on 11 March 2010 under the name “South and West Leicestershire Citizens Advice Bureau”. The name was changed on 1 January 2012 following the merger of the organisation with Citizens Advice Leicester, at which date the assets and liabilities of Citizens Advice Leicester were acquired. The name changed again, on 21 July 2016, following the rebranding of the organisation to Citizens Advice LeicesterShire. Its objects and powers and other constitutional matters are set out in its Memorandum and Articles of Association.
A new Memorandum and Articles of Association was approved at an EGM in 2020 on the advice of Citizens Advice National. No major changes were included in the update except for clarifying that volunteers involved with service delivery could not also act as Trustees. The updated Articles of Association also clarified the AGM process.
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire Trustees Report**
## **Recruitment and appointment of Trustees**
The Charity is governed through a Trustee Board. Trustees who have held office during the year are listed on page 23. The Articles of Association provide for a minimum of six and a maximum of twelve Trustees.
Trustees are elected to the Board and are appointed by a resolution of its members at an AGM. The Board has powers to co-opt members who shall retire at the following AGM and may offer themselves for re-election.
Board meetings are held predominately in person on a quarterly basis with a standing agenda. This includes a CEO report and management accounts with an emphasis on strategic planning. However, when specific issues need to be discussed away from the main Trustee Board meeting, smaller and specific meetings have been called often involving wider representation from the paid staff group.
## **Induction and training of Trustees**
New Trustees are briefed on their legal obligations under Charity and company law, the content of the Memorandum and Articles of Association, the committee and decision-making processes, the business plan and recent financial performance of the Charity. They also meet key employees and other Trustees. Trustees are encouraged to attend appropriate external training events where these will facilitate the understanding of their role.
## **Pay policy for senior staff**
The senior leadership and management structure is shown on page 25 and the remuneration for these posts are reviewed annually by the board alongside the forecasted budget. Pay increases are made in line with inflation where the budget allows. Salaries are benchmarked against the Citizens Advice Network and the wider not for profit sector and we aim for the mid-point of these ranges.
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire Trustees Report**
## **Major risks and management of those risks**
## **Corporate risk**
CITAL has completed a Corporate Risk Management exercise and maintains a risk register that is regularly reviewed. This process cannot entirely eliminate all risks but provides reasonable assurance that problems are identified on a timely basis and their impact mitigated and managed. Major risks to which the Charity are exposed have been reviewed and systems put in place to mitigate those risks. The board will continue to review the corporate risk register and ensure that action plans are in place to mitigate its key risks.
## **Loss of funding**
The effects of this in the short term have been minimised by maintaining reserves, and a very active programme of seeking and securing funds from a variety of sources. The Charity continues to seek to further diversify its funding sources.
## **Internal risks**
Internal risks are minimised by the implementation of financial procedures for authorisation of all transactions and projects and to ensure consistent quality of delivery for all operational aspects of the charitable company. These procedures were reviewed by an independent qualified accountant in the spring of 2013 and continue to be reviewed annually. The Board accepted all the recommendations for further improvements to the system made in the regular three to six monthly reviews of the risk register.
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire Trustees Report**
## **Disclosure of information to auditor**
Each Trustee has taken steps that they ought to have taken as a Trustee in order to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the charity’s auditor is aware of that information. The Trustees confirm that there is no relevant information that they know of and of which they know the auditor is unaware.
## **Reappointment of auditor**
A review of our auditors is due to take place for the next financial year by a competitive tendering process. An Auditor will be appointed before the end of the 28-day period after the accounts are circulated in accordance with section 485 of the Companies Act 2006.
The annual report was approved by the Trustees of the charity on 12th November 2024 and signed on its behalf by:
**M.A Beere Chair of Trustees**
**P. J. G. Symonds Treasurer**
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire Trustees Report**
## **Statement of Trustees’ Responsibilities**
The Trustees (who are also the directors of Citizens Advice LeicesterShire for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
Company law requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year. 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 incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the Trustees are required to:
- Select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
- Observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP 2019 (FRS 102);
- 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
- Prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charitable company will continue in business.
The Trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that 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 also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
In so far as the Trustees are aware:
- There is no relevant audit information of which the charitable company’s auditor is unaware; and
- The Trustees have taken all steps that they ought to have taken to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the auditor is aware of that information.
Approved by the Trustees of the charity on 12th November 2024 and signed on its behalf by:
**M.A Beere P. J. G. Symonds Chair of Trustees Treasurer**
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire**
## **Financial Statements**
Independent Auditor’s Report
Statement of Financial Activities for the Year Ended 31 March 2024
Balance Sheet as at 31 March 2024
Statement of Cash Flows for the Year Ended 31 March 2024
Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 March 2024
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire**
## **Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members of Citizens Advice LeicesterShire**
## **Opinion**
We have audited the financial statements of Citizens Advice LeicesterShire (the ‘charitable company’) for the year ended 31 March 2024, which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities, Balance Sheet, Statement of Cash Flows, and Notes to the Financial Statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 _The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland_ (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
In our opinion the financial statements:
- give a true and fair view of the state of the charitable company’s affairs as at 31 March 2024, and of its incoming resources and application of resources, including 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 (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the auditor 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 Trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate. Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the 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.
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members of Citizens Advice LeicesterShire**
## **Conclusions relating to going concern (Continued)**
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 other information comprises the information included in the Trustees’ report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. The Trustees are responsible for the other information. 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 course of the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.
We have nothing to report in this regard.
## **Opinion on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006**
In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the 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 the light of the knowledge and understanding of the charitable company and its environment obtained in the course of the 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 accounting records have not been kept, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members of Citizens Advice LeicesterShire**
## **Matters on which we are required to report by exception (Continued)**
- 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; or
- The Trustees were not entitled to prepare the financial statements in accordance with the small companies’ regime and take advantage of the small companies’ exemptions in preparing the directors’ report and from the requirement to prepare a strategic report.
## **Responsibilities of Trustees**
As explained more fully in the Trustees’ Responsibilities statement (set out on page 31), 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.
Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed on the following page (p36).
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members of Citizens Advice LeicesterShire**
## **Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements (Continued)**
- We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory frameworks that are applicable to the charitable company and determined that the most significant which are directly relevant to specific assertions in the financial statements are those related to the financial reporting frameworks (UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practice, the Companies Act 2006, the Charities Act 2011) and the relevant tax compliance regulations in the jurisdiction in which the charitable company operates;
- We enquired of management, whether they were aware of any instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations or whether they had any knowledge of actual, suspected or alleged fraud;
- We assessed the susceptibility of the entity's financial statements to material misstatement, including how fraud might occur;
- We assessed the appropriateness of the collective competence and capabilities of the engagement team by understanding the practical experience with audit engagements of a similar nature and complexity, plus ensuring the team had appropriate and relevant training of the financial reporting framework and the relevant tax compliance regulations specific to the entity;
- We reviewed the financial statements and tested the disclosures against supporting documentation;
- We communicated relevant matters to all members of the audit team to ensure they understood the risks specific to the entity and the audit procedures planned to mitigate these;
- Our testing considered unusual or unexpected journal entries on a sample basis;
- We evaluated the assumptions and judgements used by management within significant accounting estimates and assessing if these indicate evidence of management bias; and
- We tested significant transactions, in particular the evaluation of the business rationale for any which appear unusual or outside the charitable company’s normal course of business.
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members of Citizens Advice LeicesterShire**
## **Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements (Continued)**
Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or non-compliance with regulation. This risk increases the more that compliance with a law or regulation is removed from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, as we will be less likely to become aware of instances of non-compliance. The risk is also greater regarding irregularities occurring due to fraud rather than error, as fraud involves intentional concealment, forgery, collusion, omission or misrepresentation.
A further description of our responsibilities is available on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members of Citizens Advice LeicesterShire**
## **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.
Mrs L G Parkes FCA FCCA (Senior Statutory Auditor) for and on behalf of The Rowleys Partnership Ltd Statutory Auditors Chartered Accountants Charnwood House, Harcourt Way Meridian Business Park Leicester LE19 1WP
Date:
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire**
## **Statement of Financial Activities for the Year Ended 31 March 2024 (Including Income and Expenditure Account and Statement of Total Recognised Gains and Losses)**
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire**
**Comparative Statement of Financial Activities for the Year Ended 31 March 2023 (Including Income and Expenditure Account and Statement of Total Recognised Gains and Losses)**
All of the charity’s activities derive from continuing operations during the two periods.
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire**
## **(Registration number: 07186736)**
## **Balance Sheet as at 31 March 2024**
The financial statements on pages 39 to 57 were approved by the Trustees, and authorised for issue on 12th November 2024 and signed on their behalf by:
## **M.A Beere Chair of Trustees**
**P. J. G. Symonds Treasurer**
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire**
## **Statement of Cash Flows for the Year Ended 31 March 2024**
All of the cash flows are derived from continuing operations during the above two periods.
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire**
## **Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 March 2024**
## **1 Charity status**
The charity is a charitable company limited by guarantee and consequently does not have share capital. Each of the Trustees is liable to contribute an amount not exceeding £1 towards the assets of the charitable company in the event of liquidation.
The address of its registered office is:
Clarence House 46 Humberstone Gate Leicester LE1 3PJ
## **2 Accounting policies**
## **Summary of significant accounting policies and key accounting estimates**
The principal accounting policies applied in the preparation of these financial statements are set out below. These policies have been consistently applied to all the years presented, unless otherwise stated.
## **Statement of compliance**
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with 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) (effective 1 January 2019) – (Charities SORP (FRS102)), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102). They also comply with the Companies Act 2006 and Charities Act 2011.
## **Basis of preparation**
Citizens Advice LeicesterShire meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy notes.
## **Going concern**
The Trustees consider that there are no material uncertainties about the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern nor any significant areas of uncertainty that affect the carrying value of assets held by the charitable company.
## **Judgements**
Estimates and judgements are continually evaluated and are based on historical experience and other factors, including expectations of future events that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances.
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 March 2024**
## **Judgements (Continued)**
The Charitable company makes estimates and assumptions concerning the future. The resulting accounting estimates will, by definition, seldom equal the related actual results. The estimates and assumptions that have a significant risk of causing a material adjustment to the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities within the next financial year are that a selection of support costs are subject to an estimated allocation split between the funds.
## **Income and endowments**
All income is included in the statement of financial activities when the Charitable company is entitled to the funds and the amount can be measured with reasonable certainty. Income is deferred only when the Charitable company has to fulfil conditions before becoming entitled to it or where the donor has specified that the income is to be expended in a future period.
Voluntary income is received by way of grants, donations and gifts, including gift: aid income where applicable, and is included in full in the statement of financial activities when receivable. Income from grants, where related to performance and specific deliverables, are accounted for when it is probable that the income will be received, and the amount can be measured reliably and is not deferred.
## **Deferred income**
Deferred income represents amounts received for future periods and is released to incoming resources in the period for which it has been received. Such income is only deferred when: - The donor specifies that the grant or donation must only be used in future accounting periods; or
- The donor has imposed conditions which must be met before the charity has unconditional entitlement.
## **Donated services and facilities**
Donated services and facilities are included at the value to the Charitable company where this can be quantified and is material. The value of services provided by volunteers has not been included in these accounts.
## **Expenditure**
All expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to that expenditure, it is probable that settlement is required and the amount can be measured reliably. All costs are allocated to the applicable expenditure heading that aggregate similar costs to that category. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to particular headings they have been allocated on a basis consistent with the use of resources, with central staff costs allocated on the basis of time spent, and depreciation charges allocated on the portion of the asset’s use. Other support costs are allocated based on the spread of staff costs.
All resources expended are inclusive of irrecoverable VAT.
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 March 2024**
## **Charitable activities**
Charitable expenditure comprises those costs incurred by the charity in the delivery of its activities and services for its beneficiaries. It includes both costs that can be allocated directly to such activities and those costs of an indirect nature necessary to support them.
## **Support costs**
Support costs includes all those overhead costs of office and bureau accommodation, utility services, and other services and costs, which are in support of the activity. They also include those costs not associated with the other two headings and includes costs of meeting the constitutional and statutory requirements of the Charitable company, the audit fees and costs linked to the strategic management of the Charitable company. They have been allocated to activity cost categories on a basis consistent with the use of resources, e.g. staff costs by time spent and other costs by estimated usage.
## **Taxation**
The Charitable company is considered to pass the tests set out in Paragraph 1 Schedule 6 of the 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 of the 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.
## **Tangible fixed assets**
Individual fixed assets costing £2,000 or more are initially recorded at cost, less any subsequent accumulated depreciation and subsequent accumulated impairment losses.
## **Depreciation and amortisation**
Depreciation is provided on tangible fixed assets so as to write off the cost or valuation, less any estimated residual value, over their expected useful economic life as follows:
## **Asset class Depreciation method and rate**
Furniture and equipment 33.3% straight line
## **Trade debtors**
Trade debtors are amounts due from customers for services performed in the ordinary course of business.
Trade debtors are recognised initially at the transaction price. They are subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method, less provision for impairment. A provision for the impairment of trade debtors is established when there is objective evidence that the charity will not be able to collect all amounts due according to the original terms of the receivables.
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 March 2024**
## **Cash and cash equivalents**
Cash and cash equivalents comprise cash on hand and call deposits, and other short-term highly liquid investments that are readily convertible to a known amount of cash and are subject to an insignificant risk of change in value.
## **Trade creditors**
Trade creditors are obligations to pay for goods or services that have been acquired in the ordinary course of business from suppliers. Trade creditors are classified as current liabilities if the charity does not have an unconditional right, at the end of the reporting period, to defer settlement of the creditor for at least twelve months after the reporting date. If there is an unconditional right to defer settlement for at least twelve months after the reporting date, they are presented as non-current liabilities.
Trade creditors are recognised initially at the transaction price and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.
## **Fund structure**
Unrestricted income funds are general funds that are available for use at the Trustee’s discretion in furtherance of the objectives of the charity.
Restricted income funds are those donated for use in a particular area or for specific purposes, the use of which is restricted to that area or purpose.
## **Pensions and other post retirement obligations**
The Charity operates a defined contribution group personal pension plan for its employees. Payments are charged to the statement of financial activities in the period in which they are incurred.
## **Financial instruments**
## _**Classification**_
Financial assets and financial liabilities are recognised when the charity becomes a party to the contractual provisions of the instrument.
Financial liabilities and equity instruments are classified according to the substance of the contractual arrangements entered into. An equity instrument is any contract that evidences a residual interest in the assets of the charity after deducting all of its liabilities.
## _**Recognition and measurement**_
All financial assets and liabilities are initially measured at transaction price (including transaction costs), except for those financial assets classified as at fair value through the statement of financial activities, which are initially measured at fair value (which is normally the transaction price excluding transaction costs), unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction. If an arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, the financial asset or financial liability is
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 March 2024**
## _**Recognition and measurement (Continued)**_
measured at the present value of the future payments discounted at a market rate of interest for a similar debt instrument
Financial assets and liabilities are only offset in the statement of financial position when, and only when there exists a legally enforceable right to set off the recognised amounts and the charity intends either to settle on a net basis, or to realise the asset and settle the liability simultaneously
Financial assets are derecognised when and only when a) the contractual rights to the cash flows from the financial asset expire or are settled, b) the charity transfers to another party substantially all of the risks and rewards of ownership of the financial asset, or c) the charity, despite having retained some, but not all, significant risks and rewards of ownership, has transferred control of the asset to another party.
Financial liabilities are derecognised only when the obligation specified in the contract is discharged, cancelled or expires.
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 March 2024**
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 March 2024**
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 March 2024**
## **9 Trustees remuneration and expenses**
No Trustees have made any transactions with the charity during the year.
No Trustees, nor any persons connected with them, have received any remuneration from the charity during the year.
No Trustees have received any other benefits from the charity during the year.
56 (2023 - 57) of the above employees participated in the defined contribution pension schemes.
Contributions to the employee pension schemes for the year totalled £65,742 (2023 - £79,033).
The number of employees whose emoluments fell within the following bands was:
**2024 2023 No No** £60,001 - £70,000 1 1
The total employee benefits of the key management personnel of the charity were £198,504 (2023 - £229,624). The Trustees consider key management to be the central management team as described on pages 23 and 25.
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 March 2024**
## **11 Taxation**
The charity is a registered charity and is therefore exempt from taxation.
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 March 2024**
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 March 2024**
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 March 2024**
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 March 2024**
## **16 Funds (continued)**
Transfers from the general to restricted funds are done so to meet overspends on restricted projects or to correct previous period transfers made in error.
The specific purposes for which the funds are to be applied are as follows:
Leicester City Council — to provide general and specialist advice to the residents of Leicester City.
Universal Credit — in line with the service level agreement for 2017/18, £2,094 was the final payment for meeting targets. The balance was unused funding which is not subject to clawback as per the service level agreement.
EBDX — the funder has authorised a transfer to unrestricted funding.
MESO — funding to provide specialist advice to sufferers of mesothelioma.
Seven Locks — this underspend applied to deficits accrued over the life of the service which encompassed two periods in line with the service level agreement "any underspend can be used with the agreement with Seven Locks". This went towards the previous period overspend.
Macmillan — part of countywide funding received from Macmillan Cancer to offer advice to those living with cancer, their careers and family.
Pension Wise — the Bureau was appointed as a delivery centre for the Government’s Pension Wise Guidance Service. The Bureau delivered the service across the County from 2016 as part of a consortium of Local Citizen Advice.
Money Advice Service — EMMA is the lead contractor in the East Midlands for the Government’s Money Advice Service (MAS) and provides funding for three full time equivalent specialist Money Advice caseworker roles.
Martin Lewis — the funder has authorised a transfer to unrestricted funding.
BESN — the funds has authorised a transfer to unrestricted funding.
Help to Claim Service — Part of a national service supporting people to make a Universal Credit claim and supporting them through that process until they receive their first full payment.
CSF — Funding for recruitment, training and support to enable volunteers to deliver advice remotely.
Market Harborough — the balance on the fund was spent on IT and office equipment incurred in 2019/20 and 2020/21, and subsequently released.
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 March 2024**
## **16 Funds (continued)**
Leicestershire Communities Fund — Funding in response to Covid-19 for additional laptops to enable advice services to be delivered remotely.
General Advice Coalville — Contains funding for work done for residents in North West Leicestershire at risk of homelessness.
AMSS — Holistic support for people with debt, budgeting and money management issues.
Soft Phones — Adviser softphone and equipment package to provide generalist advice support.
EMSTN — Providing free advice on a range of social welfare issues to anyone in the East Midlands area who is affected by Sickle Cell or Thalassaemia — including patients and their families.
Hinckley Foodbank — In collaboration with Hinckley Area Food Bank and Falcon Support Services providing advice and ongoing casework to people accessing the Hinckley Area Foodbank to tackle the issues that have led to their need for emergency food support.
Money Max Budgeting Expert — Providing practical money management skills to anyone under 19 years old who are residents of Leicestershire and do not have a Level 2 maths qualification.
Cost of Living — to support and/or increase direct service delivery capacity and support clients through the cost-of-living crisis
LES — Leicestershire Energy Support (LES) aims to improve wellbeing and confidence for vulnerable energy consumers by providing advice and referrals which will help to mitigate the impact of the increased cost of energy.
Multiply — a practical numeracy programme to enable adults aged 19+ who do not have a level 2 maths qualification to gain increased confidence with numbers and improve their ability to manage their money.
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**Citizens Advice LeicesterShire Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 March 2024**
## **19 Related party transactions**
During the year the charity made the following related party transactions:
## **Citizens Advice (UK)**
CITAL is a member of Citizens Advice, the national Charity (Charity Number: 279057) which sets out a framework for standards of advice and case management and supports with an information system, training and other services.
Costs for accountancy support, administrative and other services were £Nil (2023 - £Nil). Costs for membership were £11,159 (2023 - £10,096).
At the balance sheet date the amount due from Citizens Advice (UK) was £263 (2023 - £Nil).
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## **Free, confidential advice. Whoever you are.**
We help people overcome their problems and campaign on big issues when their voices need to be heard.
We value diversity, champion equality, and challenge discrimination and harassment.
We’re here for everyone.
## **citizensadviceleicestershire.org.uk**
Published November 2024
Citizens Advice LeicesterShire is an operating name of LeicesterShire Citizens Advice Bureau. Registered charity number 1135081
Company Limited by guarantee. Registered number 07186736
Authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Firm Reference Number (FRN): 617648.
Registered office: Clarence House, 46 Humberstone Gate, Leicester LE1 3PJ.