TRUSTEES, A￿NuAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 st DECEMBER 2023 This report includes infonnation requiied by the Charities [A¢counts and Reports) Regulations 2008 and the Statement of Recommended Practice - Accounting and Reporting by Charities 2019. SECTION A REFERENCE AND ADMtNISTRATION DETAILS Chingford United Refornla Church is a local church of the United Reformed Church in Great BTltain, and is a member church of the Thames North Synod and the Heath Havering and Forest Group of Churches. It was registered as a Charity on 4th May 2011 as Charity Numb¢r 1141708. The Church is situated at 2b Buxton Road, Chingford, London E4 7DP and Church officers can be contacted on ihe Church's telephone number 020 8529 8888 or by emailing urL.Lliiii ) lordlii)Iiuili)<)k.coin The members of the Elders Meeting for the time being are recognised as charity trustees. Those who Served from I st January 2023 until the date this report was approved are: Trustee Name Rcv Jonathan H de Mr Malcolm Allard Mrs Mar arct Brown Mr Duncan Crcc Mrs H¢l¢n Hai Mr Kevin Haigh MrDa Kotun Mrs Sandra Millan Mr David Nursaw Mrs Samantha Rone Mr lan Seene Mr Malcolm Smith Mrs Jo ce Whitele Office if an Minister Eldcr Secrcta Elder Elder Assislant Treasurer Elder Elder. Organist Elder Elder Pul it Su Eld¢r Elder F,Ider Elder, Actin Elder Dates acted if not for ear From I st Janu 2024 Until 31 st December 2023 Until 31 st December 2023 Until 31 st Janua 2024 Until 31 st December 2023 From I st Janu 2024 From I st Janua 2024 Hires Mana er From 1st Feb 2024 The Church premises in Buxton Road, ChingfoTd and the Manse at Beechcroft. The Green, Chingford are vesled in the Synod Trusi 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 aclivities of Chingford United RefoTmed Church are overseen by the Eld¢rs Meeting of the Church in accordance with the provision of the Strnctur¢ of the United Reforned Church deterniined by the General Assembly of th¢ United Refomied Church and supplemented by the rules of the Chingford Church. The governtng document of the re8lStered charity is a statement adopted by ihe Church Meeting on 6th March 2011. The Elders Meeting 15 responsible for the financial administration of the Church, and ihe care and mainlenance of the Church pr¢mises and Manse. The Church Meeting (of all memb¢rs wishing to attend) gives g¢n¢ral guidance on the life and work of the Church. The Members of the Elders Meeting are the Minister in pastoral charge and up to 8 members of the Chingford Church nominated and elected by members of the Church in Church Meeting. Elders ar¢ el¢ct¢d to serve for 4 years then usually retire by rotation and are eligible for re-election after one year. Apart from that there is no restriction on the number of times that individuals can be elected. The Elders are the trustees of the registered charity during their period of service as elders. As charity trustees they are responsible for complying with legislation applicable lo charities. Thi5 includes registration, keeping proper accounts and making returns to the Charity Commission as appropriate. The Elders Meeting normally meets ten times during ihe year. 11 is assistrd in the administration of the Church and its property by the ljoard of Management. established to look ￿ all premises and financial issues. The Church Mcetin¥ met on several occasions during the year. Risk and Internal Control The Trustees undertake an ongoing review of risks. Those areas with ihe highest risk receive the most attention and steps are taken to minimi5e exposure and to have effective systems in place where needed. The Trustees are satisfied that proper controls are in place for monitoring and mitigating these risks. The main risks that the Church and the charitable organisation tace are gov¢rnanc¢ risks, external risks. financial Ti5ks, operational risks and omplian¢¢ with laws and regulations, including those relating to public health and health and safety. SECTION C OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES A5 a local congregation of the Uniled Reformed Church, Chingford United Reforn)¢d Church sc¢ks to advan¢¢ th¢ Christian r¢ligion through its activities and the facilities offcred to the community by the Church building and premises and describcd more specifically in its Mission Statem¢nt contained in the Vision Statement and Outreach Action Plan displayed in the Church. The Elders Meeting is aware of the Charity Commission's guidance in "The Advancement of Religion for the Public Benefit" and has r¢8ard to it in the administration ot"th¢ Church. The Elders Meeting believes that the Church provides benefit to the public by: Providing resources and facilities for public worship. pastoral care and spiritual. moral and intellectual development both for the congregation and for anyone else who wishes to benefit from what the Church offers Promoting Christian values and service by members of the congregation to the community for the benefit of individuals and society as a whole. SECTION D ACTIVITIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS At the beginning of 2023 the Reverend Jonathan Hyde became the non-stipendiary Minister of both the Chingford Church and St Jatne5 United Refornied Church Buckhurst Hill, thus filling the vacancy which had existed since the departure of the previous Minister in 2021, and his ministry, in particular some successful bible studies at varLOUS times of ihe year, has been well received, Following the closure of North Chingford Methodist Church in August 2023 several of their members have been welcomed into our Church and integrated into the congregation. Our weekly Friday coffee mornings. organised by way of outreach to the community, continued to be well attended and a successfijl fund raising Christmas Fayre was held in November 2023. During th¢ y¢ar the Chingford Church and St James Church agreed to become part of a wider Local Area Group which includes chuwhes in Chadwell Heath, Romford and Upminster and is named the Heath, Havering and Forest Local Area Group, At the end of the y¢ar Mr Kevin Haigh stepped down from his role as Organist and received Ihe Church's thanks and appreciation for the many years of loyal and dedicated service he had freely given. SECTION FtNAN IAL REVIEW The Church's income for 2023 at £104.598 was significantly higher than for the prcvious year (2022 - £83.092). The main sources of income were offerings £25,912, Gift Aid tax recovery £6,249, hiring income £48.783 and manse rent £18,51 O nel of management costs, Expenditure of £73,882 included Ministry and Mission Fund contribulions of £25,008 and Church actLVlties and premises costs of £41,685. The overall surplus for the year was £36,554 (2022= £8,715). The account5 are prepared on a cash transaction basis with no accruals. Th¢ fimd balances in hand (as at 3 1st December 2023) of £114,387 are therefor¢ all held in cash accounts. The Church's policy on reserves is to hold sufficient resources to continue the activitles of the Church. The Church would appear to be in a good financial position as the cash reserve of £114.000 is more than enough to cover the annual cost of the ministry of the Church, at least in the short tern]. In particular a drive to maximise the use of the Church premises by external hirers has 8¢nerated a significant uplift in income, however the Church does need to keep its financial position under review in order to cover significant forthcoming expenditure, especially Tepairs and maintenance of the Church premises (in¢luding the Manse) planned to be carried out during 2024. Investmenl Poli¢ The Church's Income and Expenditure is significant, but surpluses are not likely to be retained for long periods. As a consequence the Church does not have sufficient reserves to invest in longer terni securities such as stocks and shares. The Church has therefore adopted a low risk strategy for the investment 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 balances and interest rates received to ensure the Church obtains m&ximum value and income from its banking and investment arrangements. This CU￿entlY involves using an account that requires a period of notice before funds can be withdrawn and in doing so the Board of Management considers cash 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 ¢verything at the same time. On the other hand we have excellent facilities in our buildings and OPkX)rtunities for outreach among the hundreds of people who potentially will come into our premises each week for the activities which take place there. We therefore continue to seek to improve our r¢lationships with the organisations that use ow buildings to ¢ncourage their members to become more involved in church services and activities. We recognise that we need to mainlain the profile of our Church through Communication and advertising of s¢rvices, activities and ev¢nts and we continue to promote those via external Notice boards and the Church website. Wc also recognise thal we need to find more people to take part in the day to day running of the Church as the existing church officers continue to find it increasin8ly dI￿l¢U1¢ to Cope with all their responsibilities, but the influx of new members of the congregation (as referred to in section D) has gone some way towards allevialing the situation. SECTION G DECLARATION This Teport was approved by the Elders meeting on 23rd June 2024 and is signed on its behalf by two of the Elders nature Full Name Position Date Elder Elder £4 Chority Nurnb¢¥ 1141708 ANNUAL AccouNrs 31 21tt3 The ￿￿esS of the Charity 18 2B Buxton Rowj, Chtng Londoffj E4 7DP. The8e aDnU81 a￿lUllts sh¢)uld be rtthl io L¥)Jyjunrtion with the TTus¢vs Annual Rqmjrt. The8e re￿￿% the flTwKial trw**ions T9￿1deAl on a Receipts and PaYm￿ts b&sis. StBtanthi of fir&￿181 QL#ivitie B818ntt Shed Notts to Firt*eid St8temeDts 3.4,5 Page 2 2023 2022 Note tNCOMtNG RESOURCES from zeneTrtt41 voluat￿ Jnwme CKants reitivo ALtivities for generntiDg fJ]nds Inv¥tm¢nt 14t00￿￿% rn4Durce5 - unreJtrlcted Ro5tt1cted donadons Tffdv Incmln% resourcos- lotAI 32.161 30,500 70,269 2,168 104.598 1,369 105,967 51.781 811 83.092 1,683 84.775 RESOURCES EXPENDED Charftsble artivities URC Millistty & Mi58ion Fund WoTship (y)sts Cost of thurth **ivities Grats payable Governar￿ eosts R￿ourceS 25,008 1.351 41.685 31,980 1.160 41.237 68,044 1.369 69,413 74.377 2,683 77.060 Re5triL*LYI doD¥tion5 p*s1￿ REsvurrt5 expended - totsl Net InwDJlng {oul¥ol*K) ullrnts%¢fed TotaL fvods blf l Jalluary Unmrtleted rE8ovrw df 31 36.554 77.833 114,387 8.715 69.118 77,833 Net (oufyoIn￿ rngtri¢trd rnurtes: Total fi]nds blf l Janu -i.O(M) Rurlicttd rtmurcu elf 31 D￿Dber TOTAL RKSOURCES 31 DECEMBER 114,M7 77,833 BALANCE SH SAT31DE 2023 202I BAM( AND CASH BALANCES Lloyds TSB Cwr¢DL WTrUllt. UtiTesthL#•J Lloyds TSB Cut￿1 XL¥)UDt - ￿strict￿j RLxJwood Ltd Charilies dq)08it fimd (COIF) 29.554 10.169 84.773 67.604 60 THI FUNDS OF THE CHARITY 114.387 77,833 APPROVED by the Church MEetinB hdd o and Sign￿ on its bddf by El 28XL -YJJ 2D2+ Th¢ not¢8 P#8es 2 w 4 fomi pwt of these fin￿LiA1 stateTh•ts Page 3 IYOTES TO THE STATEMENT OF FINANCL4L ACTIVITIES I ACCOUNfiNG POLiaxs la Bas1$ of Acmuntlng The fiD*wial statanents bave been in w)rdall￿ with the Charitie5 Act 2011 SeA*Ton 133 United R¢forn)uJ ChuY¢h 8uidanc& The &*ount8 prtseDtal on a RttEipts and Pwnfflts ba415. lThe principle xtsunting policies set out below dye *pli&l 0)nsist￿lly. Ib FuJhdiDg Acmuntin8 UJyestriLtcd fvDds ar¢ milthlt foruse at th¢ disqEtirn of the chutth in fjJrtberdtsc¢ of its cJwita)le i)bj￿tiv&g. Rtstrictcd fjjnds are gubj&# to Lf8triction8 on their expendituff irnposol by the doDor. orcontain8J in the ittms of ihe gMI. Ic T8mglbl¢ Fl%•J A8Jds FTaold Propaty: The TDJstees of tlLe L*AUtth and mwse buildings aT¢ the URC 71)￿ Nortb Tnjst ￿ hold than on tn]st for PUryM)S¢8 with Cbingford URC. Exp￿dit￿re on thc thu￿11 aThJ manse ig writtaL off th it 19 inoyr&l. Id Thc cost of etDployillg a ChU￿h Athuitiistrator ￿ looks afiu the prellLiSÈ8 aNI the hiTV8 of the space5 is th￿8￿1 wiihin Cost of Church ALtivities. le T￿￿tion As I￿rt of th¢ Unittyj Refonlla Ch￿dI, th¢ Cburth is thuity within tbe e8Aing of the T&xe8 Ms. Aru)tdingly it is potentially excmpi fiDm laxation itt spox of io¢x)Thbe LVitA ￿1Ved to the extent that suth iuwme ot gaitt8 are applioj to ot¢lusiveJy charitable PUTPOs￿. Th¢ Chunth bas tbc Register of Clwities with eff￿ from 4 Mw 2011 with n￿n￿ 1141708. Page 4 NOTES, STATEL￿£￿￿ OF FINANCIAL ACflVITIES- wne 2023 2 VOLiJNfARY II¥COME F￿l1vP1*¢ offuings Spexyal offtring&l donaticfflW1￿teS tnLYTrme tsx Gift Aid 25.912 25.084 6.249 32.161 5,416 30,500 3 GR￿s RECEIVED- no gtantg wtte ￿e1Ved in tb¢ y 4 ACTIVITIES FOR GENERATING UNRESTRICfED FUNDS Ld¢ing of Cbutch and Halls L￿l￿g of m￿9¢ F8its and sales C#h¢r fund rdisiDg 48,783 18.5lO 1.430 1.456 90 31.5 17,725 1,319 1,139 70.269 51,781 REST]UCTED DONATIONS RECEIVED 'fommitmetLt for lif Individud dwities 1,000 36 1,369 1.3(KJ 383 1.683 5 ￿sT￿ENy IThcoME B8[￿ Inteftst 2,168 811 6 MINISTRY & MISSION FUND The Church contributes to the URC rmts of tiaim.ng ami providing minista5 cluding the centTriiwl pa)rntht of stip￿￿, patsion Q)titiib￿7ons w)d beu¢fits for ministftsx nwDing thc d￿0M1￿*10￿ and the wider mission of the n*i<)n81 Cbut 7 WORSHIP COSTS The Chutth sbaT¢6 its ministcr with thutcbe5 in the FoTrst GTW and sO￿e pa￿￿￿ts wue mad¢ by the Forest GTOUP in the P￿t, to ChingfoTd URC Refi￿d of of mitiistaial (x)sts paid to Fortst Growp Pupit supply <￿@9￿1St, CCLI li(%N* & oth -159 725 820 340 785 1,351 8 COSTS OF CHURCH AcrI￿lEs, eosts Resiththl (x)sts for ChuTth Adminislrztor Cltaniug & El&*icity Buildin8 maintcDw & eqUiPllL￿t MaDse Lxpen5es. thishmurt St￿ illsur Insurance of Chu 1.065 9,304 10,141 10,954 4,443 3.268 891 12.994 6,465 8.442 3.012 1.771 2.893 4.105 39.682 Sub total ¢aTri8J forwwd Communi(ations . Nvwsldtff & Telepholle & int¥net 40.066 1.529 1,408 1.529 90 41,685 1.408 147 Coffe< flowus & lunthe5 COST OF ACTivfTIES 41,237 Page 5 NOTES. STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES - 9 GK4NTS PAYABLE AND RKSTRicfED DONATIOIYS PASSED O CommitM￿t for Lif¢ Othtt te8tiiooJ gifts 2023 2022 2,3(KJ 383 369 1,369 2,683 10 RESTRicfED FUNDS 10.1 Throughout 2023 no otwisaLton hdd fjJndB oll irboif of the Ch￿￿lL 10.2 The Churth ￿bU0tS includ¢ a Restiicted Fund whoE the moDies 01 only be J for the s￿]fiC putpos¢ for wbickn they ￿e ent￿￿1￿ to the Churth Tbese monies are not at the ¢Jispos81 of th¢ Cburth for 80y pu￿0￿¢ and [W5￿t Sp￿4r1e Gifts - thnations are invit￿ monthly for wific chariti¢s and attnual ii&tiODS for Christian Aid aud Commitment Lifr. The Cburch aims to pay OV￿ mon1￿ rais￿1 duving ihe ye& in which they aT¢ I￿¢1v￿. Any unpaid moDit5 thje to Ch￿iti&% a￿ sboThn R￿til￿tAl Fuud5. ASSISTAKf TREASURER'S STATEMENT I have ihe fi0￿cIal statements on pAge8 1 to 4 for tlje yw 31 D&￿ber 2023 Andrni G WisemJD Datoj 23td January 2024 INDEPENDENT EXAMTNER'5 Rq>ort ¢0 th¢ Trnslet8 of Chlnlford Unitsj Rdonned ChDTth. I report on the aLTouTts of the chu￿￿ kn ihe y￿[ eDdal 31st Drfember 2023. on pa8e5 2 to 5 Re5pedive responslbllltle4 of trnstea *nd ex*D￿ller The churth's ints ￿ rfspon8ible (QT the prq)w&ion of the aLXY)unts. Th¢ thurth's tnL8tt co￿SId￿ thtt an wjdit 15 Ilot Twir￿ for this Y￿ under s)Xion 144(2) of th¢ ChatitTr¢5 A¢t 2011 (the 2011 Adll alld arA indepothi eKaMin￿l00 is o¢thl. It IJ my re5pon6ibility to: • ￿lmITre the &trMJnts swtion 145 of the 2011 Actk . to follow the procaJuffe8 loid dovrn in the Gald Di1￿*10￿& 8ivffl by the Chwity Coounissiontr6 (urtdff s&tiot1 145(SXb) of the 2011 Act). *yJ ' ro state whdher Pffil￿Iar have to my alteDtioD. B#sli of I￿d￿￿dellt T￿ort My ex8tninAtion w&8 eanial out ID ￿gl)rdan& with the gend DI[￿tionS given by ch￿tY Commission. kn er￿n1￿•t100 indudes a Thi¢w of the ￿untIng kq)t by the Ch￿ltY d a comwdrison of the acLvunis pff5eftt￿ wi¢h those ￿5. It J150 incltyJe8 o)n8iiJ¢rarion of ry Un￿8￿81 items OT disd05Utrs ID th¢ wo)uDts. and seiKiDg explanation5 fiom you as trusieus conceming amy such rn&ttas. The pyocajures Ullthak￿ do not prnvidc ￿1 th¢ evideJKe that would be wirryj in an ￿dit aud {￿nSeqUa￿lY w oplnion 18 Bivai as to vknethtr ih¢ ptwt fiir viort ¢0 th¢ Trnslet8 of Chlnlford Unitsj Rdonned ChDTth. I report on the aLTouTts of the chu￿￿ kn ihe y￿[ eDdal 31st Drfember 2023. on pa8e5 2 to 5 Re5pedive responslbllltle4 of trnstea *nd ex*D￿ller The churth's ints ￿ rfspon8ible (QT the prq)w&ion of the aLXY)unts. Th¢ thurth's tnL8tt co￿SId￿ thtt an wjdit 15 Ilot Twir￿ for this Y￿ under s)Xion 144(2) of th¢ ChatitTr¢5 A¢t 2011 (the 2011 Adll alld arA indepothi eKaMin￿l00 is o¢thl. It IJ my re5pon6ibility to: • ￿lmITre the &trMJnts swtion 145 of the 2011 Actk . to follow the procaJuffe8 loid dovrn in the Gald Di1￿*10￿& 8ivffl by the Chwity Coounissiontr6 (urtdff s&tiot1 145(SXb) of the 2011 Act). *yJ ' ro state whdher Pffil￿Iar have to my alteDtioD. B#sli of I￿d￿￿dellt T￿ort My ex8tninAtion w&8 eanial out ID ￿gl)rdan& with the gend DI[￿tionS given by ch￿tY Commission. kn er￿n1￿•t100 indudes a Thi¢w of the ￿untIng kq)t by the Ch￿ltY d a comwdrison of the acLvunis pff5eftt￿ wi¢h those ￿5. It J150 incltyJe8 o)n8iiJ¢rarion of ry Un￿8￿81 items OT disd05Utrs ID th¢ wo)uDts. and seiKiDg explanation5 fiom you as trusieus conceming amy such rn&ttas. The pyocajures Ullthak￿ do not prnvidc ￿1 th¢ evideJKe that would be wirryj in an ￿dit aud {￿nSeqUa￿lY w oplnion 18 Bivai as to vknethtr ih¢ ptwt fiir vi