British Cave Rescue Council
Charity registration number : 1137252
Trustees’ Annual Report and Accounts
1 February 2021 to 31 January 2022
Objectives and Activities
The objectives of the British Cave Rescue Council (BCRC) are to relieve suffering and distress amongst persons and animals endangered by accidents or natural hazards by co-ordinating and providing support for member underground search and rescue organisations and individuals representing the Council in the British Isles and abroad.
The BCRC acts as the co-ordinating and representative body for its sixteen volunteer member teams who provide underground search and rescue services throughout the UK and Ireland. Its officers represent the interests of its member teams and their services with numerous relevant national and international organisations. BCRC is a member of United Kingdom Search and Rescue (UKSAR) – the Government sponsored forum for all bona fide national bodies, statutory or voluntary, that are involved in search and rescue.
BCRC brings together its member teams to share ideas, training and best practice. It also administers a national “peer review” scheme through which teams help each other to assess and improve their capabilities and ability to meet operational needs. The Council also assists teams by advising on and coordinating grant applications and occasionally it organises and funds or part funds national equipment design projects and purchases.
The BCRC trustees continue to have due regard to the Charity Commission’s guidance on “Public Benefit” in everything it does.
Policy on Grant Making
The BCRC does not usually make grants to individual member teams. It does however occasionally grant aid equipment development and help to finance acquisition of equipment or resources of benefit to all teams.
Volunteers
Everybody involved with BCRC from national trustees and officers to the nine hundred or so members of its sixteen member teams is an unpaid volunteer. All current BCRC trustees and officers also serve as active volunteers on a member team.
Achievements and Performance
During the year 2021/22 the Council’s officers have continued to successfully maintain relations with, make representations to and work with a wide variety of organisations in the interests of the underground search and rescue teams and their service as a whole. These include United Kingdom Search and Rescue, National Police Chiefs Council, Mountain Rescue England and Wales, Association of Lowland Search and Rescue, British Caving Association and the European Cave Rescue Association.
In the year 2021/22 BCRC member teams were mobilised 31 times. This is slightly below average. However, one of these incidents, in November 2021, was the UK’s longest and most difficult underground rescue for decades. A caver fell some 10 metres in a long, complicated and difficult cave system and was seriously injured. The rescue involved over 250 volunteers drawn from most of BCRC’s
member teams. He was eventually brought safely to the surface after a 3.5 kilometre underground stretcher journey which took a total of 54 hours.
Fundraising Performance
BCRC’s only guaranteed income is the annual levy on member teams which is intended to cover basic administrative costs. This is currently £100 per team per annum.
Most of the expense of providing underground search and rescue services is incurred by BCRC member teams in and around their primary operational areas. All teams are charities and raise money locally to cover their costs. BCRC do not wish to adversely affect these efforts and so direct BCRC fund raising is only actively pursued when rare opportunities arise that would not prejudice team fund raising efforts.
Financial Review
For many years BCRC’s income was dependent on the annual levy on member teams and on occasional donations from caving organisations and members of the public. Income rarely exceeded the low thousands.
Then, in 2018, BCRC sent a team of specialist cave divers to participate in the search and rescue effort of thirteen boys trapped in a flooded cave in Thailand (Tham Luang). Their success in finding and rescuing the boys as part of a large and protracted international operation led to a huge influx of donations to BCRC from all over the world. These had dried up by the year 2020/21 but increased once again in 2021/22 as the result of a number of books and films being released about the rescue. Consequently, at the end of January 2022 BCRC’s cash assets had risen to a total of £79,350. Hopefully 2022/23 will be another relatively good year but then it is anticipated that annual income will reduce to historic levels again.
The increased but “one off” income due to the Thailand rescue has already enabled the Council to do more for its members and will enable it to continue to do so in years to come. However, the Council has to be prudent and make its windfall last for many years. The likelihood of a repeat windfall is vanishingly small and cannot be relied on in planning for the future.
Reserves
In addition to providing for a higher level of support for teams for as long as possible after the Tham Luang windfall BCRC reserves have to cover a number of areas.
Total expenditure in 2021/22 was £3,974. Currently £22,500 is earmarked as a reserve to cover normal annual outgoings and another £3563 is set aside to cover current ongoing plans regarding a couple of equipment design and supply projects.
The remaining £53,287 is earmarked as a general reserve to keep current levels of support going for as long as possible, to provide emergency funding for future major rescue efforts and to help teams in immediate financial trouble following possible uninsured operational equipment losses.
Risks and Uncertainties
As already mentioned, BCRC faces long term funding problems. The windfall income following the Tham Luang rescue will hopefully put off financial problems for some years but nonetheless fundraising is a problem that looms on the horizon.
BCRC and its member teams benefit from associate membership of Mountain Rescue England & Wales – our larger sister charity supporting mountain rescue. The main current financial benefit is that MREW pays for much of BCRC’s insurance. However, there is no guarantee that this will continue and BCRC and its teams need to be prepared for changes.
Structure, Governance and Management
The BCRC is an unincorporated charity, governed by its constitution and charity law. It was originally formed as the Cave Rescue Council in 1967 and was reconstituted as the British Cave Rescue Council in 1981. It became a registered charity in April 2003 and its constitution was last amended in 2020.
Trustee selection
The Council’s member teams elect the BCRC national officers at its annual general meeting in April each year. The membership must elect a chairman, secretary and treasurer and they may also elect a president, vice chairman, assistant chairman, training officer, equipment officer, conference secretary, communications officer, medical officer, diving officer, information officer and legal advisor. Collectively these officers compose the executive committee.
If officer positions remain vacant at the end of an AGM, the executive committee may co-opt officers to fill those positions.
Reference and Administrative details
| Charity name : | British Cave Rescue Council (BCRC) |
|---|---|
| Registered charity number : | 1137252 |
| Correspondence address : | Old Forge House, Hampton Loade, Bridgnorth WV15 |
| 6HD | |
| E-mail address : | secretary@caverescue.org.uk |
| Website : | www.caverescue.org.uk |
The charity trustees managing the charity 1 February 2021 to 31 January 2022 are as follows:
| Dr Peter Dennis | Chairman | elected at AGMs in April 2020 and 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| Richard Whitehouse MBE | Vice chairman | elected at AGMs in April 2020 and 2021 |
| Gary Mitchell | Assistant chairman | elected at AGMs in April 2020 and 2021 |
| Emma Porter | Secretary | elected at AGMs in April 2020 and 2021 |
| Heather Simpson | Treasurer | elected at AGMs in April 2020 and 2021 |
| James Davis | Training Officer | elected at AGMs in April 2020 and 2021 |
| Michael Clayton | Equipment Officer | elected at AGMs in April 2020 and 2021 |
| Toby Hamnett | Legal Advisor | elected at AGMs in April 2020 and 2021 |
| Dr Brendan Sloan | Medical Officer | elected at AGMs in April 2020 and 2021 |
| Christopher Jewell QGM | Diving Officer | elected at AGMs in April 2020 and 2021 |
| Anthony Haigh | Communications Officer | elected at AGMs in April 2020 and 2021 |
| Roger King | Information Officer | elected at AGMs in April 2020 and 2021 |
Accounts
Note : The accounts for the year ended 31 January 2022 have already been received by the Charity Commission and appear on their website. However, because the total gross income (£25.25k.) exceeded £25,000 a Trustees’ report is required (as above) together with an Independent Examiner’s report on the accounts. For the year ending 31 January 2020 this was provided by Jackie Milton (AAT level 4/CIMA Cert. Management Accounting)
BRITISH CAVE RESCUE COUNCIL
Charity No: 1137252 Receipts and Payments Account Year
ended 31 January 2022
| 31/01/2022 31/01/2021 UNRESTRICTED RECEIPTS Levies received Late levies received General donatons I Peachy related donatons Natonal Geographoc/Dogwood Diver & ofcer talks re Thai rescue 'Thirteen Lives' flm Amazon Smile Payroll giving Paypal Giving - Humble Bundle Benevity Unspent 2019 grants returned by CAF BCRC expenses redonated Gifaid and interest VAT refund - 2020 & 2021 Donaton for spare laptop Recharged equipment Badge & stcker sales Interest on deposit account UNRESTRICTED/UNDESIGNATED PAYMENTS Travel & subsistence: Representng CR/teams (ESS, ECRA & 13 lives) Printng postage, statonery & phone IT costs (Incident reportng hostng costs) 300 sew-on badges, 100 car stckers & 1,000 lapel badges Hi-Viz natonal Cave Rescue vests Rechargeable team costs GCRG - medical weekend 50%/£500 equipment grants for teams see Donatons received for teams Paypal fees ICO - Annual Data Protecton fee Mountain Rescue England & Wales - one-of 50+ insurance ECRA membership fee 2021, 2022 & 2023 Mountain & Cave Rescue Benevolent Fund donaton Charites Tax Group subscripton General Surplus/(Defcit) |
to date £ 1,600 100 1,755 1,500 15,000 505 406 107 122 63 7 1 - 258 403 623 60 - 304 6 22,818 1,035 3 431 747 - - 239 Eq reserve see 10 45 35 - 320 100 100 3,064 19,754 |
HMS 11/03/22 Year £ 1,400 200 514 - - 90 - 87 - - 3 8 143 99 113 - - 251 - 20 2,928 199 71 - - 359 233 - Eq reserve - 21 35 2,500 - 100 100 3,618 (690) |
|---|---|---|
BRITISH CAVE RESCUE COUNCIL Charity No: 1137252
DRAFT Receipts and Payments Account Year ended
31 January 2022
| DESIGNATED FUNDs - Team Equipment Equipment donatons - (Diver's talks 2019) Teams - 50%/£500 grant 5 teams (y.e Jan 2021 - 9 teams) DESIGNATED FUNDs - CasBag reserve Restricted grant - SubBrit Restricted grant - SubBrit - for jackets - separate reserve Transfer from equipment reserve Material for 10 test jackets Zips for CasBags 3 prototype CasBags Alpenheat pads Batery boxes for CasBags 10 x BCRC and SubBrit logos -4,311 RESTRICTED FUNDS Income & Exp. Donaton for Charity Tax Group Paid over April 2020 with BCRC donaton/subscripton |
31/01/22 £ - -2,467 (2,467) 31/01/22 2,700 -1,200 - - -452 -606 -2,628 -510 -115 -2,811 50 -50 - |
31/01/21 £ - -4,309 (4,309) 31/01/21 - 3,650 -700 - - - - 2,950 - - - |
|---|---|---|
BRITISH CAVE RESCUE COUNCIL
CASH FUNDS Year ended 31 January 2022
| CURRENT ASSETS Lloyds current account Nat West Lloyds savings account Paypal account Cash CURRENT LIABILITIES RESERVES General reserve Risks reserve Designated - team equipment & Advs Underground Designated - CasJackets for teams Designated - Casbag/jackets development Restricted reserve - CTG |
31/01/22 £ 3,249 1,953 72,378 1,770 - 79,350 - 79,350 53,286 22,500 724 1,200 1,639 - 79,350 0 |
31/01/21 £ 1,987 1,508 57,772 2,406 - 63,673 - |
31/01/21 £ 1,987 1,508 57,772 2,406 - 63,673 - |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 63,673 35,032 22,500 3,191 - 2,950 - 63,673 0 |
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| Section A I |
ndependent Examiner's Report | ||
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| Report to the trustees | |||
| BritishCaveRescue Council | |||
| Onaccountsforthe year ended |
31January 2022 | Charityno (ifany) |
1137252 |
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