2022-12-31-accounts

TRUSTEES, ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 st DECEMBER 2022 This report includes infonnation required by the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 and the Statement of ReconLm¢nded Practice - Accounting and Reporting by Charities 2019. SECTION A REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATION DETAILS Chingford United Refornied Church is a local church of the United R¢fornied Church in Great Britain, and is a member church of the Thames North Synod and the Forest Group of Churches. It was registered as a Charity on 4th May 2011 as Charity Numb¢r 1141708. Th¢ Church is situated at 2b BuxtOD Road. Chingford, London E4 7DP and Church officers can be contacted on the Church's telephon¢ number 020 8529 8888 or by emailing chin ford.Lirc btconnecl.corn . The members of the EldeTS Meeting for the time being ar¢ reCO￿lSed as charity trust¢¢s. Those who s¢rv¢d from I st January 2022 until th¢ date this rcport was approved are.. Trust¢¢ Name Office if an Dates acted if not for ear Mr Malcolm Allard Mr Duncan Crcev Mr5 Helen Flai Mr Kevin Hai MrDa o Kotun Mrs Sandra Millan Mr David Nursaw Mr Malcolm Smith Mrs Mar aret Brown Mrs Samantha Rone Elder, Actin Secreta Elder Assistant Treasurer Elder Elder Or Elder Elder Pul it Su Elder F.Ider From I sl Janua From I st Janu 2023 2023 anist Until 31 st December 2022 Until 31 st December 2022 Elder The Church premises in Buxton Road, Chingford and the Mans¢ at Beechcroft, The Green, Chingford are vested in the Synod Trnst Company as trustees and held for the benefit of Chingford URC in accordance with the trusts applicable to URC properties. SECTION B STRUCTURE GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT The activities of Chingford United Reformed Church are overseen by the Elders Meeting of the Church in accordance with the Provision of the Structure of the United Refonned Church detennined by the General Assembly of the United Refomled Church and suppletnented by the rules of the Chingford Church. The governing document of the registered charity is a statement adopted by the Church Meeting on 6th March 2011.

The Elders Me¢ting is responsible for the financial administration of the Church, and the care and maintenance of th¢ Church pr¢mises and Manse. The Church Meeting (of all members wishing io attend) gives general guidance on the lif¢ and work of the Church. The members of the Elders Meeting ar¢ the Minister in pastoral charge and up to 8 members of the Chingford Church nominated and elected by membLYs of Chingford Church in Church Meeting. Elders serve for 4 years then usually retir¢ by rolation and are eligible for re- ¢l¢ction after one year. Apart from that there is no restriction on the number of times that individuals can be ¢le¢ted. The Elders are the t￿Stee9 of thc registered charity during their period of service as ¢lders. As charity trustees they are responsible for complying with legislation applicable to charities. This includes registration, keeping proper accounts and making returns to the Charity Con)mission as appropriate. The Elders Meeting nornially meets ten times during the year. It is assisted itt the administration of the Church and its property by the Board of Management, established to look at all premises and financial issues. The Church Meeting met on several occasions during the y¢ar. Risk and Internal Control The trnslees undertake an ongoing review of risks. Those areas with the highest risk r¢¢eive the most attention and steps are takcn to minimise exposure and to have effective systems in place where needed. The trustees are satisfied ihat proper controls are in place for monitoring and mitigating these risks. The main risks that the Church and lh¢ charitable organisation face are governance risks, external risks, financial risks, operational risks and compliance with laws and rcgulations, including those relating to public health. SECTION C OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES As a local congregation of the Uniied Refonned Church, Chingford United Reforn]ed Church seeks to advance the Christian religion through ils activities and the facilities offered to the community by ils building and described rnore specifically in its Mission Statement wntained in the Vision Statement and Outreach Action Plan displayed in the Church. The Elders Meeting is aware of the Charity Commission's guidance on public benefit in 'The Advancement of Religion for the Public Benefit" and ha5 regard to it in the administration of the Church. The Elders Meeting believes that the Church providcs benefit to the public by: Providing resources and facilities for public worship, pastoral car¢ and spiritual. moral and intellectual development both for th¢ COn￿gatIon and for anyone else who wishes to ben¢fit from what the Church offers Promoting Cllllstian values and service by members of th¢ wngregation to the community for the benefit of individuals and society as a whole.

SECTION D ACTIVITIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS With the passage of time and the easing of restrictions previously arising from Coronavirus the holding of services and g¢neral activities on the pr¢mises resumed and rett]rned to 2019 l¢v¢ls. Towards the end of the year a joint meeting of the Chingford Church and St James United Refonned Church Buckhurst Hill voted overwhelmingly to accept an offer from Rev Jonathan Hyde to become the non-stipendiary Ministcr of those two Churches as from January 2023, thus filling the vacancy which had existed since the departure of the previous Minister in 2021. Our weekly Friday wffee mornings and occasional prayer meetings. organised by way of outreach to th¢ community, continued to be well attended and a successful fund raising Autumn Fayre was held in November 2022. SE ION E FtNANCIA REVIEW With the premises being fully open the Church's income for 2022 at £82,847 was significantly highcr than for the previous year (2021 = £62,205). The main sources of income were offerings £25,277, Gift Aid tax recovery £5,472, hiring income £31,598 and manse rent £17,231 net of management costs. Expenditur¢ of £73,882 included Ministry and Mission Fund contributions of £31,980 and Church activities and premises costs of £41,902, giving an overall surplus of just under £9,000 (2021 = a deficit of £3,560). The acoounts are prepared on a cash transaction basis with no accruals. The fund balance5 in hand (as at 31 st December 2022) of just over £78,000 are therefore all held in cash accounts. The Church'5 policy on reserves is to hold sutyicient resources to continue the activities of the Church. The Church is in a reasonable financial position as the cash reserve of £78,000 is more than enough to cover the annual cost of the ministry of th¢ Church, at least in the short terni. The Church does however need to keep ils financial position under review in order to cover ongoing expenditure, in particular repairs and maintcnanc¢ of the Church premis¢s, including the Manse. A drive to fftaximise the use of the Church premises by extemal hirers ha5 generated a $i￿1ficant uplift in income. Investment Polic The Church's Incom¢ and Expenditure is significant, but sury)luses are not likely to be retained for lon8 periods. As a consequence the Church does not have sU￿1Clent sums to invest in longer terni inv¢stmentS Such as stocks and shares. The ChuT¢h has therefore adopted a low risk strategy for the invcstm¢nt of its funds. All funds are held in cash using only banks and financial institutions regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Church officers regularly monitor the levels of bank baIances and interest rates received to ensure the Church obtains maximum value and income from its banking and investment arrangements. This currently involves using an account that requires a period of notice before funds can be withdrawn and in doing so the Board of Management considers c&sh flow requirements.

SECTION F PLANS FOR FUTURE PERIODS Our aspirations are set out in our Church Life Review. We recognise that we do not always have the resources to progress everything at the same time. On the other hand we have excellent facilities in our buildings and opportuniti¢s for outreach among the hundreds of people who potentially will com¢ into our premises each week for the activities which take place there. We therefore continue to seek to improve our relationships with the organisations that use our buildings to encourage their members to becom¢ more involved in church s¢rvices and activities. We recognise that we need to maintain the profile of our Church through communication and advertising of servic¢s, activities and ev¢nts and we continue to promote those via external Nolicc boards and the Forest Group websil¢. We also recognise that we need to find more people to tRke part in the administration of the Church as the existing church officers are finding it increasingly difficult to Cope with all their responsibilities, particularly with the reduction in the number of S¢Tving Elders (from 12 to 8). SECTION G DECLARATION This report was approved by the Elders meeting on 7th September 2023 and is signed on its bchalf by two of the Eld¢rs nature Full Name Position Date Vhj Elder ¥b géf MAkndoLM %. ALLAkb Elder &P 8022

FF I N , AL A C T I V I T I	FF I N , AL A C T I V I T I
T D	E				2022				2021
		Note			£				£
I N C O M I N G RESOURCES from generated funds Voluntary Income					30,500				32,864
Grants received Activities for generating funds					51,781 Bil				28,710 631
Investment Income
Incoming resources - unrestricted Restricted donations received		4			83,092 1,683				62,205 1,000
Incming resources - total			o	e	84,775 a				63,205
RESOURCES E X P E N D E D Charitable	activities
URC Ministry & Mission Fund Worship costs		6 7			31,980 1,160				29,268 2,360
Cost of church activities		8			41,237					34,137
Grants payable
Governance costs
Resources expended-unrestricted Restricted donations passed on		9			74,377 2,683					65,765 15
Resources expended - total					7 , 0 6 0		"		68,780.
Net incoming (outgoing) unrestricted resources:					8,715 69,118					-3,560 72,678
Total funds b/f 1 January
Unresrticted resources ¢/f 31 December					77,833					69,118
Net incoming (outgoing) restricted resources: Total funds b/f 1 January Resrticted resources e/f 31 December					«1,000 1,000 0					985 15 1,000
				_				_
T O T A L RESOURCES 31 D E C E M B E R					77,833					70,148
B A L A N C E S H E E T AS AT.31 D E C E M B E R					2021				2021
B A N K AND C A S H B A L A N C E S					£					£
Lloyds TSB Current account -unrestricted Lloyds TSB Current account -restricted Redwood Bank Ltd					10,169 0 67,604 0					10,265 1,000 58,793 0
Charities deposit fund (COIF)					60					60
Cash
T H E FUNDS O F T H E C H A R I T Y					77,833					70,118

		NOTES TO THE STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES -cont?	NOTES TO THE STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES -cont?			£	2022	2022	2022	2022			£	2021	2021
2		VOLUNTARY INCOME Freewill/plate offerings				25,084							21,144
		Special offerings! donations/legacies												6,000
		Income tax refunds/ Gift Aid					5,416							5,720
						3 0		,	5	0 0				a S
3		G R A N T S R E C E I V E D - n o grants were received i n t h e	year	?		?				0					0
4		ACTIVITIES FOR GENERATING UNRESTRICTEDFUNDS
		LettingofChurch and Halls				31,598								10,054
		LettingofManse				17,725								16,905
		Fairs and sales						1,319						1,231
		Other fundraising						1,139							520
		Miscellaneous			s					0 e			)2 8		0
		RESTRICTED DONATIONS RECEIVED "Commitment for life"							1,300					1,000
		Individual charities								383					0
									1,683					1,000
	5	I N V E S T M E N T I N C O M E Bank Interest								811					631
	6	M I N I S T R Y & M I S S I O NF U N D
		The Church contributes to the central U R C costs of training andprovidingministers
		(including the centralised payment of stipends, pension contributions and otherbenefits
		for ministers), running the denomination, and the wider mission of the national			Church.
	7	W O R S H I P COSTS The Church shares its minister with churches in the Forest Group and some		payments				are made				b y
		the Forest Group. Ministerial Costs arethe sharepaid b y ChingfordU R C
		Share of Ministerial costs paid to ForestG r o u p								0					1,032
		Pupit supply								820					930
		Organist, CCLI licence & other			?	?			?	340 1,160 ?					398 2,360
				_
		8 C O S T S O FC H U R C H A C T I V I T I E S , C h u r c h &	m a n s ec o s t s
		Church Administrator								12,994					15,750
		Cleaning								6,465					4,267
		Gas & Electricity								8,442					4,896
		Building maintenance & equipment								3,012					3,460
		Manse expenses, inc refurbishment and insurance								1,771					1,210
		Insurance of Church								2,893					2,734
		Water& refuse								4 , 1 0	5
		Sub total carriedf o r w a r d								39,682					32,317
		Communications ; Newsletter & posters									0					0
		Telephone & intemet								1,408					1,663
		Reform magazine								0 1,408					0 1,663
		Coffee, flowers & lunches				a				147						157
		COST OF ACT IVITIES								41,237					34,	137