CHARITY COMMISSION St Aidan's Day Nursery Trust Registration number: 1139082 Annual Report and Financial Statements 31 August 2024 dOdd&co St Aidan's Day Nursery Trust Contents Reference and Administrative Details Trustees, report Trustees, responsibilities Independent auditors, report Statement of financial aclivities Balance sheet 10 Cash flow ststement Notes to the financial ststements 12 St Aidan's Day Nursery Trust Reference and Administratlve Details Charity name St Aidan's Day Nursery Trust Charity registration number 1139082 Principal office Harraby Community Campus Edgehill Road CARLISLE CA1 3SL Reglstered offic Harr8by Community Campus Edgehill Road CARLISLE CA13SL Trnsteos M Murphy W Mitchinson K Dalgliesh Managar EDey Auditor Dodd & Co Audit Limited FIFTEEN Rosehill Montgomery Way Rosehill Estste CARLISLE CA12RW Page 1 St Aidan's Day Nursery Trust Trustees. Report for the Year Ended 31 August 2024 The financial statements have been prepared in accordanc£ with the accounting policies set out in the accounts and comply with tha charity's governing document the Charities Act 2011 and Accounting and Reporting by CharÉttes: Statemenl of Recommended Practice applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland. Structure Governance St Aidan's Day Nursery is registered as a charity with the Charity Commission. The charity is governed by its Trust Deed dated 20 August 2010. Trustees from September 2023 to August 2024.. Martin Murphy. Willa Mitchinson and Katherine Dalgleish. The trustees and management have revsewed the major risks to which the charity is exposed, and systems or procedures have been put in place to manage those risks. detailed in its mitigating action and status explanations in the minutes. The day to day running of the nursery is delegated to one manager who splits their time bebmeen both sites: however the deusions regatyjing the overall direction nf the charity are determined by the trustees. raini The trustees have the power to appoint new trustees and in the event of a new appointrnent, appropriate training and induction prO￿dureS are arranged. okt2LtU2£ADd Activitios The charity's objecbves are.. To advance the education of childrén below compulsory school age, by re￿Iving and &qring for such children in a day nursery and providing safe and satisfying group play and other activilies-, To encourage other activities through which parents may help the children- To do all such things as shall furtherthe Irust., To Cary out such other legal purposes for the advancement of education as the trustees shall from time to time by deed stated to be supplemental to Ihis deed with their unanimous consent declare. In determining these objectives the Trustaes have paid due regard to the Charity Commission guidan￿ on public benèfit. Activities The Victoria Pla￿ site 10-ye8r lease expired 3010912023. From 1st September 2023. a temporary, interim lease was implemented by Cumberfand Council, al a hefty increase of £10.800 per annum from the rate paid up to October 2022. This represents a 90% incre8se. Consultations and a business health check were conducted by Joan Bradley. on behalf of Cumberfand Counul on 4th Octob8r 2023. In condusion. no major efficienaes could be identified or inlroduced to improve the financial perfomiance of the site. With insurancE premiums being untenable. staff recruitmenvretention business uitical, and the site losing money, the chair of trustees wrote to Cumbertand Counal to formally give notice on 12th February 2024. to tenninate the lease and operations at the Victoria Pla￿ site from 31st August 2024. As well as notifying all affected parents in writing that same day, management taok it upon themselves to individually telephone all parents and deliver this sensitive news 8s tsctfully as possible. Due to staffing issues, nursary attendan￿ was terminated on 2nd August 2024: affected children continues attendan￿ at the Harraby site or relocated to alternative sett¢ngs. From 1st September 2024, St Aidan's Day Nursery Twst conducts operations from the Harraby site only. Page 2 St Aidan's Day Nursery Trust Trustees. Report for the Year Ended 31 August 2024 Both sites continue to be recognised as "Outstsnding" by Otsted throughout thi5 audit period. Debtors continue to be assertively, but sensitively, minimised. Over goo% of nursery fees are collected prior to the 5th of the followng month. Fees charged to parents were incr&ased by be￿een 10-110A for the period Sep 2023- Aug 2024. Blossom continues as service feature for parents to access live updates on child leaming, development and welfare until at least March 2024, rewew pending. The charity does not hold any agreements with professional fvndral$e￿ or commercial participators. Risk management The trustees have assessed the major risks to which the charity is exposed which includes the financing of the charitys operations. The trustees are satisfied that systems are in place to mitigate exposur6 to the major risks. Plans for tho Future Since announcing the ¢losure of Victoria Place nursery, efforts to buy landlpropety as a permanent replacement to the Harraby site have led to a potential site being ident'ffied. An architect 2nd commercial surv6yor are Currently advising the trustees with a view to making an offer to buy. Having outgrown the Harraby site, the new site offers increased revenue opportunities, as well as better officEladministration, kitchen, staff room, restroom and outdoor facilities. The trustees are keen to be released from the shackles of a landlord and buy a pemianent, purpose-built farility to secure the future legacy of St Aidan's Day Nursery TrusL The financial position of the charity remains robust, despite unprecedented operational costs. A 10-11 % increase to nursery fees from September 2023, plus ongoing cost reduction reviews with ¢urrenVnew suppliers continue to aid finanaal performance. Staff continuity, morale and promoting from within continue to play a major role in fulfilling the charity's objectives,. advan￿ children's education & safeguard their welfare. The total unrestricted reserves at 31 August 2024 were £1,325,457 with free reserves of £1.260,625 due to £64,832 of reserves being held as tangible fixed assets. The total expenditure for the year was £1,272,723 which. when apportioned over 2 months. is £212,121 and therefore the charity's free reseTves exceeds the Current reserves policy of holding 2 months of expendituré. The charity is able, should it wish to do so, to deploy reserves to seek altemative or new premises to own, rather than lease, should a favourable location materialise. This continues to be reviewed by the trustees every 6 months. There were no funds held on 31 August 2024 that were restricted and unavailable for general pU￿OSe$. The principal sources of funding for the charity are Government Education Grants and fees paid by parents of the children in the nursery. Page 3 St Aidan's Day Nursery Trust Trustees, Report for the Year Ended 31 August 2024 Approved by the Trustees on 2 April 2025 and signed on their behalfby.. M Murphy Truslee W Mitchinson Trustee K Dalgliesh Trustee Page 4 St Aidan's Day Nursery Trust Trustees. Responsibilities in relation to the Flnancial Statements The trustees are responsible for preparing the Trustees. Report and the financial statements in accordance wth applicable18w and United Kingdom Accounts-ng Standards. The law applicable to charities in England and Wales requires the trustees to prepare financtal 5tstements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and ol the incoming resources and application of reSoUr￿S of the chaiity for that périod. 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 Charitses SORP: make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent state whether applicable accounting standards have been followed, subje¢t to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements." and prepare the financtal statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charrty will conttnue in business. The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply wth the Charities Act 2011 as amended by the Charities Act 2022, the Charity (AccDunts and Reports) Regulations and the provisions of the trust deed. They are responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hen for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregulartties. Page 5 Independent Audltors, Report to the Trnstees of St Aidan's Day Nursery Trust Oplnlon We have audited the financial statements of St Aidan's Day Nury6ery Trust (the 'chariW) for the year ended 31 August 2024. set out on pages 9 to 20 which comprise the Statement of Financial Actimties, the Balance Sheet, the Ststement of Cash Flows and the related notes. The financial reporting frameworf( that has been applied in thèir preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accountign Standards, induding Finanual Reporting Standard 102 {FRS 1021 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice). In our opinion the financial ststements- give a true and fair view of the state of the charity's affairs as at 31 August 2024 and of its incoming reSoUr￿S and application of reSoU￿s. for the year then ended.. have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally AC￿pted Accounkn"ng Practi applicable to smaller entities- and have been prepared in accordance with the requirements ofthe Charities Act 2011. Basls for opinion We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAS {UK)l and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are fjJrther described in the Auditorfs responsibilities for the audit of the financial ststements section of our report. We are independent of the charity in accordance wth the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of Ihe finanaal statements in Ihe UK, induding 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 golng ¢oncem In auditing the finanaal statements, wa have conduded that the trustee's use of the going con￿rn basis of accounting in the preparation of the finan¢i81 ststements is appropriate. Based on the wot1( we have PerfO￿ad, we have not identified any material Un￿rtaIntieS relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charity's ability to continu8 as a going cOn￿M for a period of at least 12 months from when the financial ststements are authorisad for issue. Our responsibilities and the responsibililies of the tsustees with respect to going concem are described in the relevant sections of this repo Othèr Information The other infomiation comprises the infomation included in the annual report. other than the financial statements and our auditorfs report thereon. The trustees are responsible for the other infomiation. Our opinion on the financial stalements does not cover the other information and we do not express any fom of 8ssuran conclusion thereon. In connection with our audit of the financial statements, our responsibilty is to read the other infomiation and, in doing so, consider whelher the other infonnation is Tnaterially inconsistent wth the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or othetwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to detemiine whether there is a material misstatement in the financtal statements or a material misstatement of the other infomation_ If, based on the work we have performed, we condude that the￿ is a material misstatement of this other informab"on, we are required to report that fact. We have nothing to report in this regard. Page 6 Independent Auditors, Report to the Trustees of St Aidan's Day Nursery Trust conlinu8d Matters on vthlch we are requlred to report by exceptlon In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the Charity and its environment obtained in the course of the audi( we have nol identified matarial misststements in the Trustses, Annual Report. We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters where the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion.. the infonnation given in the Financial Statements is inconsistent in any malerial respect with the Twstees, Report; or sufficient accounting records have noi been kèpt: or the Financial Ststements are not in agreementwith the a¢¢ounling records and retums- or we have not received all the infomiation and explanations we require for our audit. Our objectives are to obtsin reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misststement5, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditorfs retX)rt that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assuran￿ but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAS {UK) will always detect a material misstalement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are conSide￿d material, if individually or in aggregate, they could reasonably be expectéd to Influen￿ the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements. A fijrther déscription of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Réporting Council's website at www.froorg.uklauditresponsibiliti8s. This description fonns part of our aUdit0￿S reporL Responsibllltles of trustees As explained more fully in the Trustées, Responsibilitiés Ststemenl set out on page S, tha trustees are responsible for the preparation of the Financial Slatements which give a true and fair view, and for such internal ontrol as the trustées detem)ine 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, Ihe trustees aré responsible for assessing the charity's abilily to continue as a going concem. disclosing, as applicabl8, matters related to going concern and using the going concem basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the company or to Cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so. Our re8ponsibilltles for the audit of the flnanclal statemonts We identify and assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements. whether due to fraud or error, and then design and perfom) audit procedures responsive to those risks, including obtaining audit evidence that is sufficient and appropriata to provide a basis for our opinion. In identifying and assessing risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and nOn-￿mplIanC8 wlh laws and regulations, we Considered the following.. the nature of the industry and sector, control environment and charity's perfomiance,. results of our enquiries of management about their own identr'fication and assessment of the risks of irregularities.. any matters we identified hawng obtained and reviewed the charity's documentation of their. policies and procedures relating to.. identifying, evaluating and complying with laws and regulations and whether they are aware of any instanc£s of non-compliancE', Page 7 Independent Auditory&' Report to the Trustees of St Aidan's Day Nursery Trust . continued detecling and responding to the risks of fraud and whether they have knowledge of any actual, suspectsd or alleged fraud., the internal controls established to mitigate risks of fraud or non-complian￿ ¥Mth18ws and regulations- The matters discussed among the audit team regarding how and where fraud might occur in the financial statements and any potential indicators of fraud. As a result of these procedures, we considered the opportunities and in￿ntiveS that may exist within the organisation for fraud and identified the greatest potential for fraud to be in relation to revenue recognition and management override which, in common wth all audits under ISAS (UKI, we are required to perfomi specific procedures to respond to this risk_ We also obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory framework that the charity operates in, focAJsing on provisions of those laws and regulations that had 3 direct effect on the determination of Material amounts and disclosures in the financial ststements. The key laws and regulations we considered in this context was the Charities ACL As a result of performing the above, in response to the risks identified, we did not identify any key audit matters related to the potential risk of fraud or non