2024-07-31-accounts - Bucks Students' Union

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ANNUAL REPORT AND CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

For the year ending 31 July 2024 Registered Charity Number: 1144820

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2004

OUR JOURNEY

We’re proud of our journey over the last 50 years, bringing us to where it has today, and always striving to make life better for students at Bucks.

J. Flaig elected Student societies ‘Building for Bucks SU takes SU advice as first Union President and representation introduced our Future’ plan introduced on University sport openedcentre 1977 1989 1994 1997 1999

Student volunteering department created

Buddies project Student begins Rusty finds Bucks 1st issue of The Bucks Student Union saves cateringcampus Employed 25 staff Trip to USA, where the Big Deal was dreamt up Trustee Board created lent a hand for the Freshers Helpers 1st time 2008 The BIG Deal is born! 2007 2006

Union Awards Money advice Bucks SU 1st CEO Sound impact Union takes on Investing in ‘Varsity’ with Established started service joins the union becomes a charity appointed accreditation recreational sport or ‘Sport for Fun’ Volunteers Roehampton introduced TradingBucks 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Advice Quality Standard achieved NSS ranked 12th Rusty’s Radio founded New website and demographic capabilityreporting HR function introduced NSS ranked 21st New strategic plan and SU rebrand launched Inter campus bus service begins Awarded best live music venue

2016 2015

2014

Gold Best Bar None

management system Performance established NSS ranked 11th 86% employee engagement NSS ranked 6th Shop createdUnion Job Employed 40 staff

Only Union in the UK Bucks Award

to receive 100% in introduced mystery shop

2017

2018

EDI committee NSS ranked Shortlisted for WhatUni Achieved ‘Excellent’ NSS ranked re-established five straight years in in all 12 QSU 2nd a row criterion 3rd

2019 All for a second time! Advice Quality Standard achieved Leadership ‘Excellent’ 2019-22 strategic Gold Best Academy launched Green Impact accreditation plan revealed Bar None

2021

2020

For the second time!

Granted Mindful Employer status

We became a Real Living Wage employer

Disability Confident Mindful Safe Place NSS ranked

Employer Employer Project 3rd

2022

2023

2024

BUCKS STUDENTS’ UNION ANNUAL REPORT AND CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

CHARITY NUMBER 1144820 YEAR ENDING 31 JULY 2024

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4-26 Trustees’ Report including
25 Statement of Trustees’ Responsibilities 26 Reference and Administrative Details
27-29 Independent Auditor’s Report to the Trustees 30 Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities 31 Charity Statement of Financial Activities 32 Consolidated and Union Balance Sheet 33 Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows
34-42 Notes to the Financial Statements

BUCKS STUDENTS’ UNION ANNUAL REPORT AND CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

CHARITY NUMBER 1144820 YEAR ENDING 31 JULY 2024

Presidents introduction to the Trustees’ Report and Financial Statements for the year ending 31 July 2024

From the outgoing President

I am pleased to introduce the Trustees’ Report and Financial Statements.

As my time with the Union comes to an end, I’m extremely grateful for the opportunities our Students’ Union has created for me and the support I received as both a student and as an officer. I’m proud of the organisation and what it has become and know that Bucks Students’ Union will continue to do great things for our membership.

Working with our team to develop our cost-of-living support work will be something I remember for a long time and I truly believe for this, for the unique Big Deal, for our passionate student representation and so much more, Bucks SU will continue to be widely recognised as one of the very best organisations of it’s type in the whole of the UK.

The students of Buckinghamshire New University (BNU) need and deserve a fantastic co- curricular offer, the best support and a brilliant Union. We have a wonderfully dynamic, inspiring and tenacious organisation that, above all else, is kind, accessible and welcoming to its members and that’s something that BNU should be extremely proud of.

Brandon Tester Bucks Students’ Union President and Chair of Trustees 2023-24

From our incoming President

I’ve had the pleasure holding the role Vice President Education and Welfare for Aylesbury and Uxbridge over the last 12 months and have witnessed the Union’s work having an extremely positive impact on our members’ lives and their personal journeys through University life.

It really has been a brilliant year for our Union and I’m thrilled to have played my small part in a team that has achieved so much. Throughout the year we have represented our members with authenticity, professionalism and tenacity.

Having been a beneficiary of the Union’s help and support during my time as a BNU student, it’s been extremely rewarding to give something back to an organisation that supports so many students.

It’s an honour to be elected President and I’m committed to giving my full energy to help the Union achieve even more throughout 2024-25 and to ensure that the students of BNU have an influential voice and an organisation that has their backs when they need it.

Amy Pile

Bucks Students’ Union President and Chair of Trustees 2024-25

BUCKS STUDENTS’ UNION TRUSTEES’ REPORT

CHARITY NUMBER 1144820 YEAR ENDING 31 JULY 2024

Bucks Students’ Union Trustee Board Report, 2023-24

Bucks Students’ Union is an independent, dynamic and tenacious membership organisation where our primary objective is to make life better for students at Bucks.

When considering where to focus our attention, Trustees gave regard to the Charity Commission guidance on public benefit.

Bucks Students’ Union started the academic year assured that we were in a strong position to achieve our objectives, whilst being realistic about the challenges we might face.

As reported elsewhere we have witnessed a slower than anticipated ‘return to normal’ post-pandemic, with students being less well-prepared, less confident and perhaps less resilient than we have experienced with previous cohorts. Understandably, they have needed greater levels of support and care.

With the continuing cost of living crisis, the ongoing housing crisis, societal changes that have impacted on social behaviour, and a student body enlarged by new intakes of students, our team has coped remarkably in reacting to increased demand. This has led the Union to reconsider a number of our ways of working and to adapt to our evolving environment, learning many valuable lessons along the way.

Navigating the challenges, the Union has once again grown participation in activities and programmes, encouraged more students to contribute to our wider work and seen members make the most of their time at BNU.

Coming to the end of the first year of our strategic plan, we are happy to report strong progress across our 6 priority themes:

Inclusivity and People and Resourcing and Belonging Development Responsible Governance Student Success Community and Employability and Wellbeing Sustainability and Life After University

BUCKS STUDENTS’ UNION TRUSTEES’ REPORT

CHARITY NUMBER 1144820 YEAR ENDING 31 JULY 2024

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From an extremely productive 12 months we present a selection of highlights for your attention

Bucks Students’ Union was ranked 1st for all students’ unions across the UK in the 2024 National Student Survey and ranked 3rd when considering taught students only, recording a remarkable 8th consecutive ‘Top 5’ NSS placing.

Our approval rating in the NSS stands at 84.4% against a sector average of 75.7%.

The Union was delighted to maintain Real Living Wage Employer status as we won University support to improve the pay for our highly valued student staff team. This has now put the Union in a position to work with local employers, improving the terms of students in part-time work elsewhere.

We were awarded the highest accolade in the 2023-24 Best Bar None scheme for corporate social responsibility, customer welfare and service in our social spaces and licensed trade activity and received a special commendation for our performance.

Furthermore, as part of our ongoing commitment to customer care and safety, we became a ‘Safe Place’. Taking part in an accreditation and training scheme for all the front facing staff in our commercial team, enabling us to tackle harassment, sexual violence and spiking, create a more inclusive, welcoming social environment and better equipped to protect vulnerable students.

Participation in Union run activities, services and programmes surpassed pre-pandemic levels with thousands of students building new networks, growing skills and confidences, developing a sense of belonging and enjoying a full and varied university experience.

BUCKS STUDENTS’ UNION TRUSTEES’ REPORT

CHARITY NUMBER 1144820 YEAR ENDING 31 JULY 2024

We recorded participation with Big Deal activities by over 3,000 individual members.
For overall participation in Union co-curricular activities and services we recorded participation with 5,056 individual students (4,843 in 2022-23) which represents 76% of the taught student population, based on November 2023 enrolment figures.

For the first time the Students’ Union was responsible for writing, delivering and supporting two credit-bearing modules on behalf of the University. Focusing on Leadership and Volunteering, the modules formed part of the new curriculum and enjoyed strong engagement and attendance form our cohorts, with excellent feedback and high rates of attainment.

Through tactical changes in our programming, communications and delivery we once again grew participation in Union run activities by our Global Majority student community, seeing a rise of 6% year on year.
- Growing the Leadership Academy to an active cohort to 60+ students.
@ Introducing a series of new and rebranded events into
@ For full time undergraduates, participation from our the social programme to further strengthen the offer.
Global Majority students grew to a high of 86.45% (83.82% for white students).
4 Starting the year with a restructured team within our commercial services which will help provide even greater service for students while we also develop more opportunities to expand our trading activity.
4 We were hugely proud of our Athletic Union as they greater service for students while we also develop more
won a highly competitive Varsity with our rivals opportunities to expand our trading activity.
Roehampton and retained the prestigious RoeBuck trophy for another year. @ Re-vitalising The Lounge menu, providing greater choice
- @ Re-vitalising The Lounge menu, providing greater choice and even better value to our members.
Through inclusive practices we have significantly
44 increased the diversity of our Trustee Board, student We rolled out an online strand to the delivery of RepCon leadership and staff teams.
- We rolled out an online strand to the delivery of RepCon to ensure even greater accessibility.
a We successfully launched the ‘Big Deal: International’ - @ a programme of events, cultural celebrations, orientation, development and training, to better support our members from overseas has seen a significant @ growth in participation and engagement throughout our international student community. We can now proudly report that nearly 90% of our international student community engaged with Students’ Union @
programmes during 2023-24.
Developed a plan to replace our aging fleet with safer, more appropriate, environmentally sound vehicles.
Successfully re-launched Bucks Hire, our events hire business, which alongside Bucks Printing is starting to generate important revenue to support the charity’s objectives.
We restructured our finances to enable us to build reserves for future capital projects.
Completed the preliminary work of a re-fresh of our visual brand for a 2024-25 roll out.
Shortlisted for the Whatuni Student Choice Awards Students’ Union of the Year for the 8th consecutive year.

BUCKS STUDENTS’ UNION TRUSTEES’ REPORT

CHARITY NUMBER 1144820 YEAR ENDING 31 JULY 2024

@@ The Union is proud to have reproduced the Budget We have, once again, achieved the status of Busting Booklet, worked with BNU to deliver heavy ‘Excellent’ for the Green Impact accreditation, discounting on food lines in our catering facilities, acknowledging our commitment and action to initiated a regular free meals programme serving ethical and environmental issues and to operating 7,674 hot meals through the Students’ Union responsibly. Lounge and delivered free recipes and selected @ We delivered a quiet hour at our Freshers’ produce in the form of the Monthly Monday Meals Fair event for a more appropriate welcome scheme.

@ We delivered a quiet hour at our Freshers’ Fair event for a more appropriate welcome and induction for our members with sensory

@ Through our collaborative approach, engaging conditions. Alongside this, we broadened our early with course teams to encourage support, we filled evening and non-licensed events offer to become well over 70% of all available course representative more inclusive for our diverse community. positions, with other mechanisms in place to @ After a robust review of the structures and support capture feedback from courses who found it for our executive officer team we have built plans difficult to elect reps. This enabled us to represent to evolve the roles into what we now call ‘Student the views of our members from a truly wellVoice Officers’. Enabling us to recruit a broad range informed base, resulting in improved performance of representatives with the lived experience of in the National Student Survey for the institution.

@ After a robust review of the structures and support for our executive officer team we have built plans to evolve the roles into what we now call ‘Student Voice Officers’. Enabling us to recruit a broad range of representatives with the lived experience of our diverse student body, provide them with the structure and support they require, offer a paid role and ultimately better amplify the student voice.

@ Our annual, comprehensive, Membership Survey structure and support they require, offer a paid role received a pleasing response rate of nearly 20% of and ultimately better amplify the student voice. the taught students, giving us exceptional insight @ A new approach to treasury management has
into our members expectations, requirements, yielded a previously unrealised source of income
aspirations and challenges.
@ A new approach to treasury management has yielded a previously unrealised source of income for the Union.
@ Our team have maintained our commitment to the Mental Health Framework, which will have a demonstrable impact on how we tackle issues surrounding mental health and how we support our members and staff. A further commitment to training has upskilled an even greater number of our team as Mental Health First Aiders.

BUCKS STUDENTS’ UNION TRUSTEES’ REPORT

CHARITY NUMBER 1144820 YEAR ENDING 31 JULY 2024

We are once again able to celebrate a fine performance in the National Student Survey – where Bucks Students’ Union was ranked in the Top 5 students’ unions in UK higher education for the eighth consecutive year – providing a top level, sector measure of our relevance and credibility amongst the membership and as a presentation of our high levels of engagement.

Sheffield Bucks West London West London West London Bucks Bucks Newman Sheffield Sunderland Sheffield London Met Surrey Glyndwr Surrey West London West London West London St Andrews Sheffield Sheffield Sheffield Bucks Bucks Surrey St Andrews Loughborough Bucks Loughborough Nottingham Trent Bucks West London West London Loughborough Loughborough Keele Sheffield Leeds Keele Bucks

NSS rankings for UK students’ unions 2017-24, within non-specialist universities

The following table provides an 8-year breakdown of student satisfaction with the Union, based on question 26 of the National Student Survey. As you can see from the table, students from a wide cross-section of demographics are consistently positive about the Union, exceeding the national average across the board, once again demonstrating how we outperform the sector and buck trends.

This data will support discussions we are having across the institution about retention, the Access and Participation Plan, attainment gaps and providing the best possible experience from September 2024. We believe this data demonstrates that working together, to promote student involvement in Students’ Union activities, can help to make a significant contribution across a wide range of strategic imperatives for the University.

BUCKS STUDENTS’ UNION TRUSTEES’ REPORT

CHARITY NUMBER 1144820 YEAR ENDING 31 JULY 2024

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2016-24 PERFORMANCE UNION NSS BUCKS STUDENTS’
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2023-24 2022-23 Bucks Students’ Union ranking in UKHE - 3rd Bucks Students’ Union ranking in UKHE – 1st	2023-24 2022-23 Bucks Students’ Union ranking in UKHE - 3rd Bucks Students’ Union ranking in UKHE – 1st	2023-24 2022-23 Bucks Students’ Union ranking in UKHE - 3rd Bucks Students’ Union ranking in UKHE – 1st
	Bucks SU Sector Diff.	Bucks SU Sector Diff.
Q26 Students’ Union satisfaction Disability reported Under 21 on entry 21-25 26-30 31 and over Black students Asian students Mixed students White students Female students Male students	83.47% 72.91% +10.56	86.25% 75.9% +10.35
	81.25% 68.48% +12.77	85.83% 67.77% +18.06
	83.68% 71.52% +12.16	88.76% 70.53% +18.23
	75.33% 74.09% +1.24	81.51% 73.55% +7.96
	79.49% 76.45% +3.04	78.31% 75.17% +3.14
	88.73% 80.46% +8.27	87.31% 79.02% +8.29
	85.84% 77.45% +8.27	88.52% 76.37% +12.15
	90.84% 75.67% +15.17	86.09% 75.04% +11.05
	76.74% 70.58% +8.39	86.84% 68.35% +18.49
	80.46% 71.48% +8.89	84.95% 70.23% +14.72
	84.12% 75% +9.12	86% 74.07% +11.93
	82.53% 69.72% +12.81	86.71% 68.44% +18.27

2021-22 2020-21 2019-20 Bucks Students’ Union ranking in UKHE – 2nd Bucks Students’ Union ranking in UKHE – 5th Bucks Students’ Union ranking in UKHE – 3rd	2021-22 2020-21 2019-20 Bucks Students’ Union ranking in UKHE – 2nd Bucks Students’ Union ranking in UKHE – 5th Bucks Students’ Union ranking in UKHE – 3rd	2021-22 2020-21 2019-20 Bucks Students’ Union ranking in UKHE – 2nd Bucks Students’ Union ranking in UKHE – 5th Bucks Students’ Union ranking in UKHE – 3rd	2021-22 2020-21 2019-20 Bucks Students’ Union ranking in UKHE – 2nd Bucks Students’ Union ranking in UKHE – 5th Bucks Students’ Union ranking in UKHE – 3rd
	Bucks SU Sector Diff.	Bucks SU Sector Diff.	Bucks SU Sector Diff.
Q26 Students’ Union satisfaction Students with specific learning disabilities Students with disabilities Mature Students Young Students Black Students Asian Students White Students Female Students Male Students	69.87% 52.55% +17.32	65.92% 53.28% +12.64	73.08% 55.99% +17.09
	62.96% 49.93% +13.03	66.67% 51.66% +15.01	69.51% 55.04% +14.47
	68.85% 48.09% +20.76	59.26% 50.37% +8.89	67.95% 52.54% +15.41
	68.03% 53.98% +14.05	63.01% 53.87% +9.14	73.78% 56.83% +16.95
	72.09% 52.05% +20.04	69.44% 53.09% +16.35	72.22% 55.73% +16.49
	79.49% 57.36% +22.13	73.99% 57.09% +16.9	79.25% 60.37% +18.88
	67.65% 59.08% +8.57	70.18% 58.43% +11.75	75.29% 60.91% +14.38
	65.89% 50.30% +15.59	62.50% 51.81% +10.69	70.71% 54.53% +16.18
	71.85% 54.35% +17.5	69.69% 56.06% +13.63	73.17% 58.30% +14.87
	65.00% 49.84% +15.16	58.26% 49.04% +9.22	72.88% 52.48% +20.4

BUCKS STUDENTS’ UNION TRUSTEES’ REPORT

CHARITY NUMBER 1144820 YEAR ENDING 31 JULY 2024

	2018-19 Bucks Students’ Union ranking in UKHE – 1st	2017-18 Bucks Students’ Union ranking in UKHE – 3rd	2016-17 Bucks Students’ Union ranking in UKHE – 5th
	Bucks SU Sector Diff.	Bucks SU Sector Diff.	Bucks SU Sector Diff.
Q26 Students’ Union satisfaction Students with specific learning disabilities Students with disabilities Mature Students Young Students Black Students Asian Students White Students Female Students Male Students	73.53% 55.66% +17.87 72.60% 55.89% +16.71 57.95% 52.57% +5.38 74.88% 55.70% +19.18 72.66% 55.65% +17.01 79.31% 60.34% +18.97 72.34% 60.86% +11.48 73.59% 54.07% +19.52 74.39% 58.00% +16.39 71.90% 52.12% +19.78	75.49% 56.47% +19.02 71.26% 56.23% +15.03 72.46% 53.59% +18.87 74.95% 56.68% +18.27 75.90% 56.40% +19.5 80.83% 61.82% +19.01 81.29% 62.12% +19.17 73.05% 54.83% +18.22 78.11% 58.67% +19.44 69.82% 53.22% +16.6	69.26% 56.79% +12.47 70.10% 57.10% +13 70.00% 53.05% +16.95 65.12% 55.13% +9.99 72.07% 57.37% +14.7 65.05% 62.03% +3.02 71.69% 62.50% +9.19 69.72% 55.12% +14.6 69.57% 59.15% +10.42 68.62% 53.39% +15.23

BUCKS STUDENTS’ UNION TRUSTEES’ REPORT

CHARITY NUMBER 1144820 YEAR ENDING 31 JULY 2024

The Big Deal programme, which enables students to participate in all activities, free of charge, is at the heart of the Students’ Union’s offer for students at BNU and is one of the unique selling points for the institution.

This unique offer delivers exceptional value and has a significant impact on satisfaction, recruitment, and retention whilst tackling challenges around equity, inclusivity, and the cost-of-living crisis.

We also believe that the work of the institution’s Students’ Union continues to contribute to the enhancement of the University’s national reputation. This work is built on the foundations of the Big Deal which undoubtedly supports our strong performance year-on-year in the National Student Survey and at the Whatuni Student Choice Awards, amongst other nationally recognised accreditations and accolades. It also sits alongside our volunteering programmes, outreach, charity fundraising and community facing events.

Furthermore, the strength of this programme in its inclusive approach, range and breadth adds great value to the narrative the Union can provide as an independent voice in the Access and Participation Plan, the Teaching Excellence Framework student written submission and within our commitment to the Students Futures Manifesto.

It was extremely rewarding when the University’s department of Strategic Planning and Change confirmed once again this year, through analysing participation data, that students from widening participation backgrounds are participating at the same rates as their more advantaged peers, no matter their socio-economic backgrounds (IMD), which is far less likely to happen at other institutions. This goes some way to proving the Big Deal is successful in removing barriers and creating a level playing field and more inclusive environment at BNU.

Last year we redefined the principles of our unique programme to ensure we remain focused on the impactful priorities of the Big Deal.

BUCKS STUDENTS’ UNION TRUSTEES’ REPORT

CHARITY NUMBER 1144820 YEAR ENDING 31 JULY 2024

From events and entertainment, societies and sports to recreational activities and personal development, our programming is underpinned by the following objectives:

Fun - To enhance student life, bringing vibrancy to our campuses by creating a diverse and exciting extra and co-curricular experience that compares favourably with our competitors within the sector, making campus a place our students want to be.

Accessibility - To support inclusivity, celebrating our diverse student community by removing barriers to opportunity.

Belonging - To cultivate a sense of belonging through supporting and promoting a healthy community, active student groups and a University environment of which we can all be proud.

Learning - To develop and enhance opportunities that support our students’ learning and course-based activity.

Employability - To develop our learners’ confidence, transferable skills, graduate attributes and general employability through readily accessible paid employment, personal development programmes and volunteering opportunities.

Wellbeing - To enrich our members’ physical and mental wellbeing through a wide-ranging portfolio of support, activity, welfare provision and personal development.

Recruitment - To maintain an easily communicable and marketable ‘offer’ as a unique selling point for the Institution.

Satisfaction

In the Union’s Membership Survey of 2023-24, which attracted 1,253 responses from current BNU taught students, we asked our members to react to the statement ‘Bucks Students’ Union and the Big Deal makes life better for students at BNU.’ 96% of BNU students agreed.

90% of students believe ‘The Students’ Union has the power to create real change and make things happen at my university’.

results show some evidence of the success of that work.

Recruitment

From the same survey, when asked if: ‘The Big Deal, which includes free access to being part of a team or society, attending activities or going to events, additional skills sessions and trips, was a factor in me choosing to come to BNU.’

61% of students agreed that the Big Deal had a positive influence on them choosing to attend BNU. The financial implications of this are significantly positive for the institution.

Retention

In this year’s survey, students who had indicated they had considered leaving BNU were asked: ‘What role, if any, did involvement in Big Deal activities (i.e., being part of a team or society, attending activities or going to events, additional skills sessions and trips) play in your decision to remain at BNU?’

30% of students agreed that the Big Deal specifically had a positive influence on their decision to remain at BNU.

A further 33% of students agreed that other Union services had a positive influence on them choosing to remain at BNU.

In the most recent Membership Survey when asked ‘What gives you a sense of belonging at BNU?’ the Students’ Union again featured prominently.

In 2023-24, 92% of ‘young’ students who were eligible to progress at level 4 had participated in Big Deal activities.

Of those who were not eligible to progress, fewer had engaged and of those who have withdrawn from their studies there was a far less substantial participation rate of 51%.

The Union suggests that the combined positive impact of the Big Deal, alongside our wider offer, on both recruitment and retention makes the programme a significant net contributor to the University’s strong financial position.

In a series of papers written in advance of this report, the Union has identified that schools within our institution, whose students have a deeper level of involvement with Union facilitated co-curricular programmes, commonly have higher levels of institutional satisfaction in the National Student Survey. To that end, through collaborative working and constructive engagement, we have been partnering with the schools who have previously demonstrated lower levels of involvement to drive participation. We believe this year’s

BUCKS STUDENTS’ UNION TRUSTEES’ REPORT

CHARITY NUMBER 1144820 YEAR ENDING 31 JULY 2024

ENGAGEMENT AND PARTICIPATION WITH BUCKS STUDENTS’ UNION SERVICES, PROGRAMMES AND ACTIVITIES

Research conducted across the sector showed that engagement in students’ union run co-curricular activities and programmes across the sector can be as high as equivalent to 60% of the full-time student body.

Where institutions, such as BNU, are successful in supporting the widening participation agenda, this figure is more commonly around 50%. At institutions, or within faculties or schools, where there are higher instances of mature students, or where the courses are based around significant placement activity, this figure falls further.

However, thanks to the Big Deal and the breadth of our programmes, we have often outperformed the sector at BNU, with some schools showing engagement levels of over 90%, a proud record we hope to maintain and better.

Annually, we run reports which begin to explore the demographic data of students who have formally engaged and participated in Union services and activities.

We monitor such stats as one of a numerous series of temperature gauge checks to ensure we have an understanding of our reach and relevance to our entire membership. Regularly, this data comes from a range of sources, which include sign-ups and registers for recreational activities, developmental sessions and volunteering projects alongside everything from attendance and participation data from events, trips and meetings to memberships of sports teams, clubs and societies.

We can’t always measure engagement with, or the impact of, large areas of our work such as awareness campaigns and lobbying of the institution, consumption of our print media and rich digital content or participation in all of our online provision. Nor do we record individual student data for every transactional interaction through our bars, cafes, retail, freshers’ fair and other such services or events, nor individual instances of representation support and general advice, or casual consumption of activity, such as spectating at sports or society events. The data we do have does give us a reasonable ‘snapshot’ to work with, showing us where we have traction with the student body.

Beyond what we can measure, we take satisfaction levels from the National Student Survey and how we perform against the sector benchmarks amongst specific student groups as an indicator of our reach and relevancy.

As shown in the tables on pages 10-11, you’ll see evidence of Bucks Students’ Union outperforming the sector consistently over a number of years, across a range of key demographic groups. These levels of satisfaction are undoubtedly buoyed by BNU’s unique Big Deal, allowing the Union to build programmes of activity that can appeal to, and cater for, the diverse requirements of our student population.

As University life returns to normal after the impact of the pandemic has subsided, we have data for measurable instances of participation from 5,056

BUCKS STUDENTS’ UNION TRUSTEES’ REPORT

CHARITY NUMBER 1144820 YEAR ENDING 31 JULY 2024

individual students, a sample size equivalent of 76% of BNU taught students for us to work with. Many of these students used a range of Union services and engaged with multiple activities on a regular basis.

This data includes involvement from students on 459 different courses, at every level, across all schools and all modes of study. We aspire to attain even greater levels of engagement amongst individual parts of the offer but are reasonably satisfied that participation levels by demographic largely map well against the BNU student population.

Each Union department is forming plans to address any areas of under-representation in their service area and programmes in the next academic year.

From this data we can present the following breakdowns using the institution’s groupings:

Overall engagement and participation in Bucks Students’ Union programmes, services and activities

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Age Home/international Gender Ethnicity
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Young Mature UK/home International Other Male Female Other BAME White Other
(17-20) (21+)
IMD Sexuality Disability
100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
IMD 1 IMD2 LGBTQIA+ Heterosexual Known No known
disability disability
Percentage of participants from this community
Percentage of the overall student body from this community
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BUCKS STUDENTS’ UNION TRUSTEES’ REPORT

CHARITY NUMBER 1144820 YEAR ENDING 31 JULY 2024

A revised People Strategy for 2024-2026 supports our overall strategic plan and aims to:

Embed our values in everything we do
Attract the best people for our organisation
Engage our employees
Develop our people
Perform to high standards and deliver great results
Retain our talent

The objectives within each theme are aspirational and progressive as we continue to deliver sector leading best practice for our most valuable resource.

Employee Engagement

In the 2024 Employee Engagement Survey, 61 people responded to the survey out of a possible total of 69, a response rate of 88%. There was a positive engagement score of 85% which is:

5% above the peer benchmark
3% above the SU benchmark
9% above the third sector benchmark

There were many responses to be proud of in this year’s survey and the Union will endeavour to maintain this positive engagement by continuing to involve staff strategically and socially at all levels within the organisation.

95% are familiar with organisation policies and procedures that affect them
95% are confident that the leadership group is able to make the organisation successful
92% are able to work flexibly when appropriate
92% trust and respect their manager
92% believe that this organisation delivers a high-quality service to its members

The greatest improvements compared to the 2022 survey were around the areas of:

Reward + 9%, now 12% points above the Third sector.
Equality, diversity and inclusion + 5%, now 23% points above the Third sector.
Leadership + 4%, now 22% points above the Third sector.
Learning and development + 4%, now 21% points above the Third sector.

BUCKS STUDENTS’ UNION TRUSTEES’ REPORT

CHARITY NUMBER 1144820 YEAR ENDING 31 JULY 2024

Staff Recruitment and Retention

Starting the 2024-25 academic year with all career staff roles filled, for the first time in many years, should provide a more experienced and stable start to the delivery of our offer ensuring students receive the best possible service.

We have retained the following accreditations to demonstrate our commitment in continuing to be an employer of choice that understands the value and needs of its staff resource:

Real Living Wage Employer
Mental Health at Work Commitment
Mindful Employer
Disability Confident, Committed Employer

Develop and Perform

January 2025 will see the launch of our partnership with the Charity Mentoring Network providing greater opportunity for our employees to have clearer career progression within the sector as well as specialist coaching and mentoring support. It is hoped this will also benefit the organisation by providing access to a more diverse and skilled talent pool from the industry when it comes to recruitment.

With over £200,000 invested in the paid employment of students, and graduates in meaningful roles throughout our organisation on an annual basis, we provide them with essential income to support their student journey as well as crucial work experience and opportunities for development. Introduction of the Real Living Wage has contributed to a significant increase in applications from BNU students this year, with applications growing by over 100% across all the roles we offer.

For the coming year we, once again, forecast our salaried staff resource (including sabbatical officers) to be less than 50% of our annual budgeted expenditure.

BUCKS STUDENTS’ UNION TRUSTEES’ REPORT

CHARITY NUMBER 1144820 YEAR ENDING 31 JULY 2024

OVER £15,000 RAISED FOR CHARITY BY OUR MEMBERS

OVER 17,900 HOURS OF VOLUNTEERING LOGGED

OVER 1,000 MEMBERS INVOLVED IN SPORTS AND RECREATION

NEARLY 600 OVER 3,000 MEMBERS MEMBERS INVOLVED IN ENJOYED SOCIETIES THE BIG DEAL

221 STUDENT REPS HAVE SPOKEN UP

4,113 HOURS OVER 1,059 OF SKILLS HOURS OF WORKSHOPS ENTERTAINMENT

MORE THAN 1,180 OPPORTUNITIES TO PARTICIPATE IN RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES

1,360 OPPORTUNITIES OVER 1,100 HOURS OFFERED TO TO ENHANCE CLUBS TO TRAIN EMPLOYABILITY AND PLAY

BUCKS STUDENTS’ UNION TRUSTEES REPORT

CHARITY NUMBER 1144820 YEAR ENDING 31 JULY 2024

Financial review of the year

During the course of 2023-24, the Students’ Union has worked closely with Buckinghamshire New University to ensure that we could continue to offer our members a first-class experience.

With increased funding from the University, and careful management of expenditure, we are pleased to be able to report net income for the year of £281,821.

A clear link has been demonstrated between student engagement with the Student’s Union and their overall success at university, yet our surveys have shown that not every student is aware of the opportunities open to them at the Students’ Union. In the latter part of the financial year we launched a project to re-brand and publicise the Union, and this will continue into 2024-25.

We also started work to re-model our dated club facilities to better appeal to our members, again this will continue into next year.

Since a proportion of funding was received towards the end of the financial year, we have been able to designate funds for future expenditure, including the projects noted above. That, together with confirmed 2024-25 grant funding, leaves the Students’ Union in a strong financial position moving into 2024-25.

The Big Deal

The Union received enhanced University funding of £755,449 for ‘The Big Deal’ project which was supplemented by £37,084 raised from ticket sales, sponsorship etc. £803,640 was spent on the activity. This funding allowed Bucks Students’ Union to offer a sector leading and unique package of benefits to its members free of charge to enhance the student experience, including:

a wide-ranging additional skills programme, training, personal development and employability enhancing activities
a network of student societies building community, confidence and providing opportunities for further development
a high quality, diverse and exciting programme of social events, entertainment and celebratory occasions designed to bring the student community together
a wider programme of recreational activities free for students enabling the student body to develop passions and extracurricular interests, develop skills and expand their comfort zones
rewarded student representatives, amplifying the student voice and helping our members influence their education

The enhanced funding enabled us to improve our offer to students in a more focused way and the positive impact of this is detailed elsewhere in the report.

BUCKS STUDENTS’ UNION TRUSTEES REPORT

CHARITY NUMBER 1144820 YEAR ENDING 31 JULY 2024

Affiliations

During the year, the Union affiliated to the following organisations in order to support its core objectives:

	2023-24	2022-23
The National Union of Students (NUS)	£11,576	£11,025
NUS Services Ltd	£456	£456
British Universities & Colleges Sports Association	£4,779	£3,416

Raise and Give (RAG)

Our members nominated and raised funds for a local charity – Stokenchurch Dog Rescue totalling £7,177. This amount forms only a part of the fund-raising activities undertaken by our students, as in some cases, such as for Movember, they deposit fund-raising monies directly with the Charity involved.

BSU Trading Ltd (trading as Bucks Hire)

The Union’s wholly owned subsidiary saw an improvement in printing work and started to expand its venue hire operations. The profit for the year was £24,668 (2023: £7,896). The company has re-launched its venue and equipment hire business and expects to be able to make another improvement to its profit in 2024.25

Reserves Position

Trustees have reviewed the reserves policy and have taken the view that free reserves should not be less than £100,000 or more than £150,000. The amount of the free reserves is based upon the historical performance of the Students’ Union in needing to access free reserves to cover unexpected events.

Following the transfers to and from the designated Fixed Asset Reserve, the Group’s free reserves on 31 July 2024 stand at £230,737 (2023: £118,723).

The increase in free reserves is largely attributable to unexpected funding received from the University of £97,000 which is budgeted to be spent in 2024.25. Setting aside this amount gives an underlying free reserve figure of £133,737 which falls within the Union’s policy.

Designated reserves stand at £142,279. New reserves have been set aside to continue the re-branding and venue projects, and a new reserve for fixed asset purchases has also been created. The special reserve for projects has been increased so as to replace transfers out during the Covid pandemic.

Restricted reserves of £163,627 include Clubs and Societies funds of £49,584. A new fund of £60,000 has been specifically restricted by the donor for new opportunities to create student belonging and cohesion in the academic year 2024-24.

Further information can be found in notes 13 to 16.

BUCKS STUDENTS’ UNION TRUSTEES REPORT

CHARITY NUMBER 1144820 YEAR ENDING 31 JULY 2024

Going Concern

The Group is in a strong financial position, holding cash in hand of £368k leading into the 2024-25 financial year (£327k going into 2023-24).

University guaranteed combined grant income for 2024-25 has been confirmed at £2.058m and the University has confirmed that funding will remain stable in the financial years succeeding 2025. This, combined with strong free and designated reserves, gives the Trustees confidence that the Union has adequate resources to be able to operate its current undertakings for the foreseeable future and therefore continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.

BUCKS STUDENTS’ UNION TRUSTEES REPORT

CHARITY NUMBER 1144820 YEAR ENDING 31 JULY 2024

Structure, governance and management

Bucks Students’ Union is an unincorporated association, governed by its Constitution adopted on 7 November 2013 and updated in March 2022 to allow for up to four Officer Trustees. It is an independently registered charity since 11 November 2011 (number 1144820).

Trustee Board

The Trustee Board is responsible for overall governance, and for the financial and strategic management of the Union.

The Trustee Board delegates the exercise of certain powers in connection with the management and administration of the Union as set out below. This is controlled by regular reporting back to the Trustee Board, to ensure all decisions made under delegated powers can be ratified by the full Trustee Board in due course. As a member driven democratic organisation, the health of our democratic accountability is of paramount concern.

Union Council

Union Council (established in October 2012) is a consultative committee and policy forum that provides an important link between the management and officers of the Union and its membership. Union Council is open to all members, with attendance in excess of 30 members per meeting. The membership can use this forum to hold the elected Officer Trustees to account, share ideas and provide feedback on their experiences.

Finance and Staffing Committee

The Finance and Staffing Committee comprises the four Officer Trustees, one Student Trustee, one Lay Trustee and key management personnel and meets monthly to oversee budgets, performance and the Union team.

Key Management Personnel

Bucks Students’ Union employs a Chief Executive, Tristan Tipping, to work closely with the Officer Trustees and ensure effective management of the charity as head of the senior management team as follows:

Deputy Chief Executive	Matthew Kitching
Head of Communications and Marketing	Simon McDowell
Head of People and Development	Sarah Jackson
Head of Finance	Lesley Favager

Remuneration of the senior management team is based on Buckinghamshire New University’s HERA points system. Each role is banded based on experience, responsibilities and qualification requirements.

BUCKS STUDENTS’ UNION TRUSTEES REPORT

CHARITY NUMBER 1144820 YEAR ENDING 31 JULY 2024

Trustees

The Trustee Board is comprised of eight elected and four appointed Trustees and is made up of three different categories:

Officer Trustees who were elected by cross campus ballot in accordance with Section 22 of the Education Act 1994 and who serve a term of one year. Following the first year of representation Officer Trustees may ballot for re-election to serve a second term, after serving a second term, Officer Trustees must resign.
Lay Trustees who were selected by an Appointments Committee and subsequently ratified by a special resolution at Union Council and who serve a term of four years.
Student Trustees who are elected by cross campus ballot in accordance with Section 22 of the Education Act 1994 and who serve a maximum term of two years. Student Trustees can only remain in post whilst they are an enrolled student of Buckinghamshire New University.

Effective partnership between Trustees and staff continues to contribute significantly to our success. To increase the effectiveness of the Trustees’ roles and responsibilities, each has a portfolio of interests which require an understanding and a responsibility for specific aspects of the Union’s work.

New Trustees receive an induction pack containing everything they need to know about the Union and its work to enable effective and informed decision-making. Trustee training sessions for new Trustees are held annually alongside strategic reviews and as and when needed for any other purpose. The Trustees continue to take seriously the legal requirements of their role and take regard of the guidance published by the Charity Commission on public benefit.

The Trustees who served during the year and up to the date of approval of the financial statements are set out on page 26.

BUCKS STUDENTS’ UNION TRUSTEES REPORT

CHARITY NUMBER 1144820 YEAR ENDING 31 JULY 2024

Principal risks and uncertainties

The Union’s business risk register is regularly reviewed by Trustees and senior managers, and is analysed in categories as follows:

Corporate and strategic

Ensuring the Constitution, strategic, team and individual plans are aligned, current, and approved. That policies and procedures are up to date, reviewed regularly and in line with governance and legal frameworks. Ensuring that communication between Trustees, senior management, staff, members and stakeholders is effective; that appropriate meetings take place with the required people to enable decisionmaking.

The principal corporate and strategic risk for the Union is our relationship with Buckinghamshire New University. Union and University staff remain in regular contact both formally and informally to develop new and existing relationships and enable communication. The Union can demonstrate the positive impact we have with our membership and strives to ensure we communicate how this supports the University.

Data, Technological and ICT

Safeguarding our data with passwords, restricting access to systems using multifactor authentication, and ensuring compliance with the requirements of GDPR. All critical systems are managed by the University and data is stored on University networked services which are subject to security and backup. The Union also reviews the IT infrastructure to ensure it is maintained, upgraded and appropriate for use.

Financial

Looking at the financial stability of the organisation and internal controls to safeguard our financial resources, ensuring that the Union is not open to financial malfeasance. Regular and timely reporting of financial information enables review and budgetary control and supports decision-making. Processes are regularly reviewed to ensure appropriate controls are in place to determine the legitimacy of financial transactions.

Our principal risk relates to the University reducing grant funding. As a result, the budgeting process is robust and includes confirmation of grants to be paid by the University. Regular contact with the University enables us to demonstrate how vital the Union is in contributing to students’ overall experience whilst at University.

Governance and legal

Ensuring there are appropriate and adequate governance structures in place so as to meet the requirements of the Charities Act, enabling Trustees to make informed strategic decisions in such a way that we remain student led and accountable to the membership.

The principal risk with governance is ensuring that the Board of Trustees understand and meet their responsibilities, providing adequate governance control and decision making. The Board includes experienced Trustees and follows a robust recruitment process. The knowledge and understanding of annual trustees is assessed individually and any training requirements are addressed.

Health and safety

Assessing and reviewing the health and safety of our operations and activities. Reliance is placed upon the University’s Health and Safety team, alongside a compulsory training programme for all employees.

In previous years, manging the risk of a pandemic was critical to our operations and we ensured guidance issued by the Government was adhered to. We remain aware of the possibility of another pandemic and effective policies, practices and procedures to support and manage staff working remotely are in place in line with the University’s policies.

BUCKS STUDENTS’ UNION TRUSTEES REPORT

CHARITY NUMBER 1144820 YEAR ENDING 31 JULY 2024

Human resources

Ensuring that our staff are appropriately qualified, experienced, trained and committed to their roles. The Union has a robust recruitment process and a timetable for regular performance reviews and appraisals. Training is made available for staff to ensure that each individual has the opportunity to develop their skills to enhance their performance.

Charity has invested in ensuring that we follow best practice as far as Equality, Diversity and Inclusion is concerned. The recruitment method has been totally reworked so that we can better reach all sectors of the population.

Operations and activities

Ensuring that we deliver opportunities that are appropriate for our membership and develop the reputation of the organisation.

The principal risk for operations, activities and health and safety is the wellbeing of our membership and staff. The Union is actively involved with reviewing and maintaining risk registers for general risks, all activities, and events. As well as ensuring club and society committee members are aware of the responsibilities, they have to safeguard their members. Health and safety training is available for clubs and societies, committee members and all staff. The Union actively ensures that appropriate insurance is in place that covers all current activities of the organisation.

Statement of Trustees’ responsibilities

The trustees 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).

Charity Law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the group and the parent charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the group for that year.

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;
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 charity will continue in operation.

The trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the group and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the group and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

BUCKS STUDENTS’ UNION TRUSTEES REPORT

CHARITY NUMBER 1144820 YEAR ENDING 31 JULY 2024

Reference and administrative details of the Charity, its Trustees and Advisors

Bucks Students’ Union is an unincorporated association and a registered charity number 1144820.

PRINCIPAL OFFICE AUDITOR Queen Alexandra Road HW Fisher LLP High Wycombe Acre House Buckinghamshire 11-15 William Road HP11 2JZ London NW1 3ER

BANKERS

Santander UK Plc Bootle Merseyside L30 4GB

TRUSTEES

OFFICER TRUSTEES (REMUNERATED)

President, Amy Pile Elected 1 July 2022 President, Brandon Tester Elected 1 July 2021 Retired 30 June 2024 Vice President, Wren Sell Elected 1 July 2024 Vice President, Jessica Bradbury Elected 1 July 2022 Retired 30 June 2024 Vice President, Harry Tomlinson Elected 1 July 2024 Vice President, Sruthi Subhash Elected 1 July 2023 Retired 30 June 2024 Vice President, Bethany Jackson Elected 1 July 2024

STUDENT TRUSTEES

Jacob Afedi Elected 1 July 2023 Dee Whyte Elected 1 July 2024 Om Dadhwal Elected 1 July 2024 Ishia Jack Elected 1 July 2024 Peter Ashgiabor Elected 1 July 2022 Retired 30 June 2024 Rita Ekokotu-Odigie Elected 1 July 2023 Retired 30 June 2024 Ratu Nailatikau Elected 1 July 2023 Retired 30 June 2024 LAY TRUSTEES Tracy Smith Appointed 1 October 2020 Jennifer Wade Appointed 18 January 2024 Christopher Smith Appointed 18 January 2024 Brandy Collins Appointed 9 May 2024 Linsey Taylor Appointed 1 January 2016 Retired 9 January 2024

This report was approved by Trustees on and signed on their behalf by: IS. 10. 2

Amy Pile President and Chair of Board of Trustees

Jennifer Wade Lay Trustee

BUCKS STUDENTS’ UNION TRUSTEES’ REPORT

CHARITY NUMBER 1144820 YEAR ENDING 31 JULY 2024

Independent Auditor’s report to the Trustees

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Bucks Students’ Union (the ‘Union’) and its subsidiary (the ‘group’) for the year ended 31 July 2024 which comprise the consolidated statement of financial activities, charity statement of financial activities, consolidated and Union balance sheet, the consolidated 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 group’s and Union’s affairs as at 31 July 2024 and of their incoming resources and application of resources, 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 Charities Act 2011.

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the group 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 group and Union’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.

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 annual report other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. The Trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and 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.

BUCKS STUDENTS’ UNION INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES

CHARITY NUMBER 1144820 YEAR ENDING 31 JULY 2024

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 require us to report to you if, in our opinion:

the information in the financial statements is inconsistent in any material respect with the trustees’ report; or
sufficient accounting records have not been kept; or
the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records; or
we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.

Responsibilities of Trustees

As explained more fully in the Statement of trustees’ responsibilities, the trustees, 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 group’s and Union’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 group or the Union or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

We have been appointed as auditor under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 and report in accordance with the Act and relevant regulations made or having effect thereunder.

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 below.

As part of our planning process:

We enquired of management the systems and controls the Union has in place, the areas of the financial statements that are most susceptible to the risk of irregularities and fraud, and whether there was any known, suspected or alleged fraud. The Union did not inform us of any known, suspected or alleged fraud.
We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory frameworks applicable to the Union. We determined that the following were most relevant: the Charity SORP, FRS 102 and Charities Act 2011,
We considered the incentives and opportunities that exist in the Union, including the extent of management bias, which present a potential for irregularities and fraud to be perpetuated, and tailored our risk assessment accordingly.
Using our knowledge of the Union, together with the discussions held with the Union at the planning stage, we formed a conclusion on the risk of misstatement due to irregularities including fraud and tailored our procedures according to this risk assessment.

BUCKS STUDENTS’ UNION INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES

CHARITY NUMBER 1144820 YEAR ENDING 31 JULY 2024

The key procedures we undertook to detect irregularities including fraud during the course of the audit included:

Identifying and testing journal entries and the overall accounting records, in particular those that were significant and unusual.
Reviewing the financial statement disclosures and determining whether accounting policies have been appropriately applied.
Assessing the extent of compliance, or lack of, with the relevant laws and regulations.
Assessing the validity of the classification of income, expenditure, assets and liabilities between unrestricted and restricted funds.
Documenting and verifying all significant related party balances and transactions.
Reviewing documentation such as board minutes for discussions of irregularities including fraud
Testing key revenue lines, in particular cut-off, for evidence of management bias
Performing a physical verification of key fixed assets
Obtaining third-party confirmation of material bank balances.

Owing to the inherent limitations of an audit, there is an unavoidable risk that we may not have detected some material misstatements in the financial statements even though we have properly planned and performed our audit in accordance with auditing standards. The primary responsibility for the prevention and detection of irregularities and fraud rests with the trustees of the Union.

A further description of our responsibilities is available on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the Union’s members, as a body, in accordance with part 4 of the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the Union’s trustees those matters we are required to state to them in an auditors’ 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 Union and the Union’s trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

HW Fisher LLP

Chartered Accountants Statutory Auditor Acre House 11-15 William Road London United Kingdom NW1 3ER

Date: …………………………………….

HW Fisher LLP is eligible to act as auditor of the Union by virtue of its eligibility for appointment as auditor of a company under section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006.

BUCKS STUDENTS’ UNION INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES

CHARITY NUMBER 1144820 YEAR ENDING 31 JULY 2024

Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities For the year ended 31 July 2024

Notes Income from: Donations and legacies University and other grants 2 Other trading activities Raising funds Charitable activities for students Communications Campaigns and affiliations Representation Bars, shops and catering Events and entertainments Societies and clubs Orientation and development Transportation (incl intercampus bus) Investment income Total Incoming Resources Expenditure on: Raising Funds Charitable activities for students Communications Campaigns and affiliations Advice Representation Bars, shops and catering Social activities and belonging Societies and clubs Provision of space and facilities Volunteering Orientation and development Transportation (incl Intercampus bus) 3 Total Resources Expended Net income for the year Transfer between funds 15 Net movement in funds Reconciliation of Funds Fund balances brought forward Fund balances carried forward	Year ended 31 July 2024 Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Total 2024 £ £ £ 1,428,551 921,949 2,350,500 75,337 - 75,337 173 212 3,625 250,380 - 7,895 - 466,834 - 1,517 - - 26,407 46,747 - - 173 1,729 3,625 250,380 26,407 54,642 - 466,834 729,119 74,671 803,790 7,804 - 7,804 2,240,811 996,620 3,237,431 44,669 - 44,669 232,369 39,186 143,957 261,771 376,776 - 27,104 166,614 38,131 185,312 488,754 17,127 3,815 10.658 31,321 31,554 449,019 272,024 11,830 668 121,296 1,655 249,496 43.001 154,615 293,092 408,330 449,019 299,128 178,444 38,799 306,608 490,409 1,959,974 950,967 2,910,941 2,004,643 950,967 2,955,610 236,168 45,653 281,821 (18,511) 18,511 -	Year ended 31 July 2023 Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Total 2023 £ £ £
		1,168,651 789,149 1,957,800

		59,451 - 59,451
		2,251 - 4,975 276,144 - 6,695 5,822 337,720 - 568 - - 34,403 38,433 - - 2,251 568 4,975 276,144 34,403 45,128 5,822 337,720
		633,607 73,404 707,011

		- - -

		1,861,709 862,553 2,724,262

		45,555 - 45,555
		206,729 40,113 171,033 239,213 343,884 - 26,606 171,866 29,813 158,502 358,208 16,119 2,115 13,414 32,157 26,869 382,804 253,605 12,829 486 80,950 1,607 222,848 42,228 184,447 271,370 370,753 382,804 280,211 184,695 30,299 239,452 359,815
		1,745,967 822,955 2,568,922

		1,791,522 822,955 2,614,477
		70,187 39,598 109,785 (14,299) 14,299 -
	217,657 64,164 281,821 155,359 99,463 254,822 373,016 163,627 536,643	55,888 53,897 109,785 99,471 45,566 145,037
		155,359 99,463 254,822

All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities

BUCKS STUDENTS’ UNION FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

CHARITY NUMBER 1144820 YEAR ENDING 31 JULY 2024

Charity Statement of Financial Activities For the year ended 31 July 2024

Notes Income from: Donations and legacies University and other grants 2 Charitable activities for students Communications Campaigns and affliliations Representation Bar, shop and catering Events and entertainments Societies and clubs Orientation and development Transportation (incl Intercampus Bus) Other income Management fees Donation from BSU Trading Ltd Investment income Total Incoming Resources Expenditure on: Charitable activities for students Communications Campaigns and affiliations Advice Representation Bars, shops and catering Social activities and belonging Societies and clubs Provision of spare and facilities Volunteering Orientation and development Transportation (incl Intercampus Bus) Total Resources Expended 3 Net income for the year Transfer between funds 15 Net movement in funds Reconciliation of Funds Fund balances brought forward Fund balances carried forward	Year ended 31 July 2024 Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Total 2024 £ £ £ 1,428,551 921,949 2,350,500 173 212 3,625 250,380 - 7,895 - 466,834 - 1,517 - - 26,407 46,747 - - 173 1,729 3,625 250,380 26,407 54,642 - 466,834 729,119 74,671 803,790 6,000 9,299 7,804 - - - 6,000 9,299 7,804 23,103 - 23,103 2,180,773 996,620 3,177,393 232,369 39,186 143,957 261,771 376,776 - 27,104 166,614 38,131 185,312 488,754 17,127 3,815 10,658 31,321 31,554 449,019 272,024 11,830 668 121,296 1,655 249,496 43,001 154,615 293,092 408,330 449,019 299,128 178,444 38,799 306,608 490,409 1,959,974 950,967 2,910,941 220,799 45,653 266,452 (18,511) 18,511 - 202,288 64,164 266,452 146,083 99,463 245,546 348,371 163,627 511,998	Year ended 31 July 2023 Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Total 2023 £ £ £
		1,168,651 789,149 1,957,800
		2,251 - 4,975 276,144 - 6,695 5,822 337,720 - 568 - - 34,403 38,433 - - 2,251 568 4,975 276,144 34,403 45,128 5,822 337,720
		633,607 73,404 707,011
		6,000 15,349 - - - - 6,000 15,349 -
		21,349 - 21,349

		1,823,607 862,553 2,686,160
		206,729 40,113 171,033 239,213 343,884 - 26,606 171,866 29,813 158,502 358,208 16,119 2,115 13,414 32,157 26,869 382,804 253,605 12,829 486 80,950 1,607 222,848 42,228 184,447 271,370 370,753 382,804 280,211 184,695 30,299 239,452 359,815
		1,745,967 822,955 2,568,922
		77,640 39,598 117,238 (14,299) 14,299 -
		63,341 53,897 117,238 82,742 45,566 128,308
		146,083 99,463 245,546

All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities

BUCKS STUDENTS’ UNION FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

CHARITY NUMBER 1144820 YEAR ENDING 31 JULY 2024

Consolidated and Union Balance Sheet As at 31 July 2024

		2024	2024	2023	2023
		Group	Union	Group	Union
	Notes	£	£	£	£
Fixed assets
Investment	9	-	1	-	1
Tangible fixed assets	10	62,293	62,293	67,241	67,241
		62,293	62,294	67,241	67,242
Current assets
Stocks		34,074	31,797	31,061	27,870
Debtors	11	282,036	279,892	110,211	113,126
Cash at bank and in had		367,963	341,212	326,980	309,508
Total Current assets		684,073	652,901	468,252	450,504
Current liabilities
Creditors: amounts due within one year	12	(209,723)	(203,197)	(280,671	(272,200)
Net current assets		474,350	449,704	187,581	178,304
Total net assets		536,643	511,998	254,822	245,546
Represented by
Restricted funds
Students’ societies and club funds		49,584	49,584	46,015	46,015
Other restricted funds		114,043	114,043	53,448	53,448
	13	163,627	163,627	99,463	99,463
Unrestricted funds
General funds		230,737	206,092	118,723	109,447
Designated funds	14	142,279	142,279	36,636	36,636
		373,016	348,371	155,359	146,083

Total reserves		536,643	511,998	254,822	245,546

This report was approved by Trustees on

Abeta Amy Pile President and Chair of Board of Trustees

and signed on their behalf by:

ASN Jennifer Wade Lay Trustee

BUCKS STUDENTS’ UNION FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

CHARITY NUMBER 1144820 YEAR ENDING 31 JULY 2024

Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows For the year ended 31 July 2024

Notes Net cash provided by operating activities 19 Cash flows from investing activities Purchase of tangible fixed assets 10 Net cash used in investing activities Change in cash and cash equivalents in the year Cash and cash equivalents brought forward at the start of the year Cash and cash equivalents carried forward at the end of the year	2024 £ 59,607 (18,624) (18,624) 40,983 326,980 367,963	2023 £ 118,253
		(46,277)
		(46,277)
		71,976 255,004
		326,980

BUCKS STUDENTS’ UNION FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

CHARITY NUMBER 1144820 YEAR ENDING 31 JULY 2024

Notes to the financial statements

1. Accounting policies

Accounting convention

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the charity’s constitution, the Charities Act 2011 and “Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice appicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and the Republic Ireland (FRS 102) effective January 2019”.

The Union meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102.

Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value.

The Union is a qualifying entity for the purposes of FRS 102, as a member of a group which prepares publicly available consolidated financial statements which are intended to give a true and fair view of the assets, liabilities, financial position and profit or loss of the group. The Union has therefore taken advantage of exemptions from the requirements of Section 7 of ‘Statement of Cash Flows’ of FRS 102 which would otherwise have required the separate disclosure of the Union’s own cash flows.

The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the charity. Monetary amounts in these statements are rounded to the nearest £.

Going concern

The Union is in a strong financial position and with consolidated cash in hand of £368k leading into the 2024-25 financial year (2023: £327k). Further guaranteed university grant income of £2.058m (2023: £1.816m excluding funding for capital expenditure) has already been approved and the University has confirmed funding will remain stable in the financial years succeeding 2024.

At the time of approving the financial statements for the year 2023-24, the Trustees are confident that they have a fair and reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to be able to operate in its current undertakings for the foreseeable future. The Trustees therefore continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.

Incoming resources

All income and capital resources are recognised in the financial statements when the Charity is legally entitled to the income and the amount can be quantified with reasonable certainty. The University grant of free serviced accommodation on the campus is accounted for as income and expenditure of the year at an estimated value to Bucks Students’ Union by reference to the alternatives available on the commercial market.

Resources expended

Expenditure includes irrecoverable VAT. Charitable expenditure comprises the direct and indirect costs of delivering public benefit. Governance costs are those incurred for compliance with constitutional and statutory requirements, such as the annual audit, annual elections and training for Trustees. Overheads, including the value of free serviced campus accommodation is apportioned on the basis of the total costs of each project or activity undertaken.

Tangible fixed assets

Fixed assets are stated at cost less accumulated depreciation. Assets costing below £1,000 per item are not capitalised. Equipment, fixtures and fittings are included at cost. Depreciation is provided at the following annual rates in order to write the cost of assets off over their estimated useful lives:

Building improvements 3 to 8 years Motor vehicles 5 years Fixtures and fittings 1 to 5 years Office equipment 3 to 5 years

BUCKS STUDENTS’ UNION FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

CHARITY NUMBER 1144820 YEAR ENDING 31 JULY 2024

Notes to the financial statements

1. Accounting policies (cont)

Pension costs

Some of the permanent staff of the Union are employees of Buckinghamshire New University and as such are covered by the defined benefit pension scheme operated by that body. No share of the underlying assets and liabilities can be directly attributed to the Union. Under the terms of FRS102, in these circumstances contributions are accounted for as if the scheme were a defined contribution scheme based on actual contributions paid through the year.

The Union also operates a defined contribution pension scheme and the pension charge of this scheme represents the amounts payable by the Union to the scheme in respect of the year. Differences between contributions payable in the year and paid are shown as accruals or prepayments in the balance sheet.

Stock

Stock is valued at the lower of cost and its net realisable value.

Financial Instruments

The Union has elected to apply the provisions of Section 11 ‘Basic Financial Instruments’ and Section 12 ‘Other Financial Instruments Issues’ of FRS 102 to all of its financial instruments.

The charity only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. These financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value.

Fund accounting

Bucks Students’ Union administers and accounts for a number of charitable funds:

i. Unrestricted funds representing unspent income which may be used for any activity/purpose within the Union’s objectives at the Executive Committee’s own discretion.

ii. Designated funds set aside by the Executive Committee to be spent on a specific purpose at its own discretion.

iii. Restricted funds raised and administered by Bucks Students’ Union are for specific purposes as determined by students, such as club and society accounts, as well as grants received for purposes specified by the donor and also any small grants received from the University.

Taxation

No provision is made in these financial statements for corporation tax due to the Union’s charitable status, relevant tax relief and exemptions.

Termination benefits

Termination benefits are accounted for where there is a commitment under legislation, or by contractual or other agreements with employees to make payments (or provide other benefits) to employees following the termination of their employment.

Leased assets

Rentals payable under operational leases are charged as expenditure on a straight line basis over the period of the lease.

Valuation of investments

Investments in subsidiaries are measured at cost.

Critical accounting estimates and judgements

In the application of the charity’s accounting policies, the Trustees are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying amount of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and associated assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.

There are no critical accounting estimates or judgements during the year.

Government grants

Government grants are recognised, under the performance model, at the fair value of the amount received or receivable when there is reasonable assurance that the grant conditions will be met and the grants will be received.

BUCKS STUDENTS’ UNION FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

CHARITY NUMBER 1144820 YEAR ENDING 31 JULY 2024

Notes to the financial statements

Unrestricted 2024 £ 607,608 - - 820,943	Restricted 2024 £ - 104,000 755,449 62,500	Total 2024 £ 607,608 104,000 755,449 883,443	Unrestricted 2023 £ 567,857 - - 600,794	Total 2023 £ 567,857 104,000 647,149 638,794
1,428,551	921,949	2,350,500	1,168,651	1,957,800
	Cost of sales £ - - - - 82,708 316 1,494 - - - -	Staff costs £ 148,200 - 110,129 198,912 148.418 122,237 117,814 101,262 29,108 184,291 -	Other costs £ 37,332 36,640 4,681 20,831 74,764 306,621 167,692 32,998 7,196 68,273 375,714	Total 2024 £ 249,496 43,001 154,615 293,092 408,330 449,019 299,128 178,444 38,799 306,608 490,409
	84,518	1,160,371	1,132,742	2,910,941
	Cost of sales £ - - - - 89,591 - 2,816 - - 4,755 -	Staff costs £ 127,880 2,054 131,307 183,095 109,473 93,402 107,142 101,150 23,613 132,515 -	Other costs £ 34,091 34,329 2,478 16,608 70,208 270,502 158,703 35,094 4,850 52,082 259,725	Total 2023 £ 222,848 42,228 184,447 271,370 370,753 382,804 280,211 184,695 30,299 239,452 359,815
	97,162	1,011,631	938,670	2,568,922

BUCKS STUDENTS’ UNION FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

CHARITY NUMBER 1144820 YEAR ENDING 31 JULY 2024

Notes to the financial statements

4. Support costs [included in note 3] 2024 Charitable activities for students Communications Campaigns and affiliations Advice Representation Bars, shops and catering Social activities and belonging Societies and clubs Provision of space and facilities Volunteering Orientation and development Transportation (incl Intercampus Bus) Total costs	Staff costs Rent and services Other costs Governance costs £ £ £ £ 14,618 1,454 9,097 17,614 23,412 19,845 12,128 10,098 570 14,903 109,926 17,127 1,703 10,658 19,344 27,429 - - 11,830 668 13,585 1,655 9,259 920 5,762 10,458 14,827 - - 6,396 361 7,344 895 22,960 2,284 14,288 25,933 36,772 - - 15,860 896 18,212 2,219 233,665 103,999 56,222 139,424	Total 2024 £ 63,964 6,361 39,805 73,349 102,440 19,845 12,128 44,184 2,495 54,044 114,695
		533,310

Governance costs includes the audit fee of £19,000 and the Sabbatical officers’ total salary costs of £113,971.

Support costs [included in note 3] 2023 Charitable activities for students Communications Campaigns and affiliations Advice Representation Bars, shops and catering Social activities and belonging Societies and clubs Provision of space and facilities Volunteering Orientation and development Transportation (incl Intercampus Bus) Total costs	Staff costs Rent and servics Other costs Governance costs £ £ £ £ 15,582 1,496 12,968 19,125 25,975 18,900 11,550 12,402 470 15,168 95,574 16,119 1,548 13,414 18,697 26,869 - - 12,829 486 12,431 1,607 8,640 829 7,190 10,023 14,404 - - 6,876 260 6,663 862 20,536 1,972 17,090 23,822 34,233 - - 16,344 620 15,838 2,047 229,210 104,000 55,747 132,502	Total 2023 £ 60,877 5,845 50,662 71,667 101,481 18,900 11,550 48,451 1,836 50,100 100,090
		521,459

Governance costs includes the audit fee of £18,200 and the Sabbatical officers’ total salary costs of £110,645

5. Net income for the year


5. Net income for the year Net income for the year is stated after charging Depreciation Loss of disposal of fixed assets Auditor’s remuneration Auditor’s remuneration for tax services 6. Staff costs Wages and salaries Social security Pension costs	2024 £ 18,062 5,510 19,000 850 2024 £ 1,314,298 100,810 92,899 1,508,007	2023 £ 23,798 18,200 800 2023 £ 1,166,221 89,599 95,666
		1,351,486

During the year ending 31 July 2024 one employee earned over £70,000 and less than £80,000 per annum (2023: one employee earned over £70,000 and less than £80,000).

Average staffing Salaried staff - number of full time equivalents Students - number of full time equivalents Students - number of full time equivalents	2024 30 19 49	2023 29 15
		44

BUCKS STUDENTS’ UNION FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

CHARITY NUMBER 1144820 YEAR ENDING 31 JULY 2024

Notes to the financial statements

7. Key Management Personnel

President Brandon Tester Vice President for Achievement and Belonging Jessica Bradbury Vice President for Education and Welfare (Uxbridge & Aylesbury) Amy Pile (president from 01.07.24) Vice President for Education and Welfare (High Wycombe) Sruthi Subhash Vice President for Achievement and Belonging Wren Sell (replacing Jessica Bradbury) Vice President for Education and Welfare (Uxbridge & Aylesbury) Bethany Jackson (replacing Amy Pile) Vice President for Education and Welfare (High Wycombe) Harry Tomlinson (replacing Sruthi Subhash) Chief Executive Officer Tristan Tipping Deputy Chief Executive Officer Matthew Kitching Head of Communicatinos and Marketing Simon McDowell Head of People and Development Sarah Jackson Head of Finance Lesley Favager

	2024	2023
	£	£
Total employee benefits of key personnel	468,886	447,971

8. Trustee Remuneration and Expenses

The Trustee Board’s Officer Trustees named in note 7, received remuneration of: £25,048 per year served (2023: £24,418), as authorised in the Union’s governing document, for the representation, campaigning and support work they undertake as distinct from their trustee responsibilities. This work includes voicing student opinion with the institution and local community, defending and extending the rights of students through petitions, discussion with MPs and also organising and supporting student volunteers and service provision for them. The total salary and NI costs for the Officer Trustees amounted to £105,295 (2023: £108,339) and pension costs of £1,546 (2023: £2,431), which is included under governance costs in note 3.

There were no other trustee benefits for the year (2023: £nil).

Members of the Trustee Board were reimbursed a total of £nil (2023: £nil) for the year in respect of personal travel and subsistence expenses.

9. Union investments

Net book value as at 31 July 2024 Net book value as at 31 July 2023 Trading Subsidiary - BSU Trading Limited Turnover Cost of sales Gross profit Administrative expenses (incl £6k management fee from Charity) Surplus for the year	Subsidiary investment £ 1 1 2024 £ 75,337 24,091 51,246 26,578 24,668	Total £
		1

		1
		2023 £ 59,451 25,693
		33,758 25,862
		7,896

The Union controls 100% of the agreed investment in BSU Trading Limited, a registered company in England and Wales (08505399) that undertakes commercial activities outside the scope of the Union’s constitution. The registered office of BSU Trading Limited is Queen Alexandra Road, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, HP11 2JZ. At the year ending 31 July 2024 the company had assets of £33,066 (2023: £24,230), liabilities of £8,421 (2023: £14,954) and capital and reserves of £24,645 (2023: £9,276).

BUCKS STUDENTS’ UNION FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

CHARITY NUMBER 1144820 YEAR ENDING 31 JULY 2024

Notes to the financial statements

Notes to the	financial statements
10. Tangible Fixed Assets Cost at 1 August 2023 Additions Disposals Cost at 31 July 2024 Depreciation at 1 August 2023 Charge for the year Disposals Depreciation at 31 July 2024 Net book value As at 31 July 2024 Net book value As at 31 July 2023	Building improvements Motor vehicles Fixtures and fittings Office equipment Total BSU Trading Ltd Group £ £ £ £ £ £ £ 113,152 - (15,593) 57,271 - - 222,753 18,624 (60,590) 5,073 - - 398,249 18,624 (76,183) 4,589 - - 402,838 18,624 (76,183)
	97,559 57,271 180,787 5,073 340,690 4,589 345,279
	(102,004) (2,696) 10,083 (57,271) - - (167,533) (14,666) 60,590 (4,200) (700) - (331,008) (18,062) 70,673 (4,589) - - (335,597) (18,062) 70,673
	(94,617) (57,271) (121,609) (4,900) (278,397) (4,589) (282,986)

	2,942 - 59,178 173 62,293 - 62,293

	11,148 - 55,220 873 67,241 - 67,241

Assets held by BSU Trading Ltd fall into the category of ‘Office Equipment’

During the course of the year, the bar’s beer garden was re-furbished and the old seating units were scrapped, with a loss on disposal of £5,510.

11. Debtors

11. Debtors
Trade debtors Other debtors Amounts owed by group undertakings Prepayments and accrued income	Group 2024 Union 2024 Group 2023 Union 2023 £ £ £ £ 233,530 10,947 - 37,559 229,492 11,630 1,211 37,559 45,662 17,002 - 47,547 43,901 15,956 6,482 46,787
	282,036 279,892 110,211 113,126

12. Creditors - Amounts due within one year

12. Creditors - Amounts due within one year
Trade creditors Social security and other taxes Other creditors Accruals and deferred income	Group 2024 Union 2024 Group 2023 Union 2023 £ £ £ £ 74,632 9,265 7,232 118,594 73,380 9,265 7,232 113,320 195,149 12,686 9,123 63,713 190,543 12,686 8,648 60,323
	209,723 203,197 280,671 272,200

BUCKS STUDENTS’ UNION FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

CHARITY NUMBER 1144820 YEAR ENDING 31 JULY 2024

Notes to the financial statements

13. Restricted funds Big Deal Fixed Asset depreciation fund - Big Deal Fixed Asset depreciation fund - Social spaces Clubs and Societies Student Opportunities Projects Other restricted funds Big Deal Fixed Asset fund - Big Deal Fixed Asset fund - Social spaces Clubs & societies Other restricted funds	As at 1 August 2023 Incoming resources Resources expended Transfers As at 31 July 2024 £ £ £ £ £ 11,049 2,068 39,831 46,015 - 500 792,533 - - 36,070 60,000 108,017 (803,641) (4,590) (4,125) (32,501) - (106,110) 387 17,200 1,424 - - (500) 328 14,678 37,130 49,584 60,000 1,907
	99,463 996,620 (950,967) 18,511 163,627
	As at 1 August 2022 Incoming resources Resources expended Transfers As at 31 July 2023 £ £ £ £ £ - - - 45,066 500 688,109 - 38,000 31,875 104,569 (677,060) (10,400) - (30,926) (104,569) - 12,468 1,831 - - 11,049 2,068 39,831 46,015 500
	45,566 862,553 (822,955) 14,299 99,463

The Big Deal is a funded programme of free skills development, sporting, recreational and social based activities for Union members. The scheme also rewards students who give their time to be representatives.

The Big Deal fixed asset fund represents the net book value of its assets against which depreciation is expensed.

In 2023, the Union received funding from the University to refurbish the Outside Social space at the Union, with income restricted to this area. The funds were spent on umbrellas which were subsequently capitalised.

A restricted fixed asset fund for social spaces has been created to represent the net book value of fixed assets held, against which future depreciation will be expensed.

In 2024, the Union received additional funding from the University to enable us to develop new opportunities to create student belonging and cohesion in the next academic year 2024/25.

Clubs and societies refers to fundraised balances held on behalf of student run clubs and societies that are part of Bucks Students’ Union.

The £500 balance on ‘Other restricted funds’ in relation to the ‘Underpass project’ was transferred to special projects in 2024 following refurbishment of the underpass by the local council.

Other restricted funds include:

Rent and Services in Kind (notional income and expenditure) £104,000 (2023: £104,000)

Other small grants received for specific purposes - income £4,017 (2023: £569)

14. Designated funds 2024 Fixed Asset depreciation fund Fixed Asset purchases fund Rebranding Project Redevelopment of Venue Designated fund for Special Projects Designated funds 2023 Fixed Asset depreciation fund Designated fund for Special Projects	As at 31 July 2023 Incoming resources Resources expended Transfers As at 31 July 2024 £ £ £ £ £ 25,342 - - - 11,294 - - - - - (14,857) - - - - - 30,000 20,000 30,000 40,500 10,485 30,000 20,000 30,000 51,794
	36,636 - (14,857) 120,500 142,279
	As at 31 July 2022 Incoming resources Resources expended Transfers As at 31 July 2023 £ £ £ £ £ 44,762 11,294 - - (11,995) - (7,425) - 25,342 11,294
	56,056 - (11,995) (7,425) 36,636

The designated fund for special projects is a fund set aside to allow the Union to fund additional project opportunities in order to enhance our members’ experience.

BUCKS STUDENTS’ UNION FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

CHARITY NUMBER 1144820 YEAR ENDING 31 JULY 2024

Notes to the financial statements

15. Transfers between Funds		Year	ended 31 July 2024
		General	Designated	Restricted
		£	£	£
Transfer balance on ‘underpass fund’ to special projects		-	500	(500)
To increase the fund for special projects		(40,000)	40,000	-
To designate funds for rebranding project		(20,000)	20,000	-
To designate funds for development of the Venue		(30,000)	30,000	-
Transfer on general fund to cover deficit on Big Deal fund		(17,587)	-	17,587
To create a fund for the purchase of fixed assets		(30,000)	30,000
Transfer cost of capital to capital fund		(1,424)	-	1,424
		(139,011)	120,500	18.511
		Year	ended 31 July 2023
		General	Designated	Restricted
		£	£	£
To re-assign carried forward assets to the Big Deal restricted fund		-	(12,468)	12,468
To correct opening value of fixed asset fund to be Union only		1,403	(1,403)	-
Transfer from general fund to cover deficit on social space fund		(1,831)	-	1,831
Transfer cost of capital to capital fund		(6,446)	6,446	-
		(6,874)	(7,425)	14,299
16. Consolidated analysis of net assets between funds
Year ended 31 July 2024	General	Designated	Restricted
	funds	funds	funds	Total
	£	£	£	£
Fixed assets	-	10.485	51,808	62,293
Net current assets	230,737	131,794	111,819	474,350
At 31 July 2023	230,737	142,279	163,627	536,643
Unrestricted funds include net funds from BSU Trading Limited of £1.
Year ended 31 July 2023	General	Designated	Restricted	Total
	funds	funds	funds
	£	£	£	£
Fixed assets	-	25,342	41,899	67,241
Net current assets	118,723	11,294	57,564	187,581
At 31 July 2023	118,723	36,636	99,463	254,822
Union analysis of net assets between funds
Year ended 31 July 2024	General	Designated	Restricted
	funds	funds	funds	Total
	£	£	£	£
Fixed assets	-	10,485	51,808	62,293
Investment	1	-	-	1
Net current assets/(liabilities)	206,091	131,794	111,819	449,704
At 31 July 2024	206,092	142,279	163,627	511,998
	General	Designated	Restricted
Year ended 31 July 2023	funds	funds	funds	Total
	£	£	£	£
Fixed assets	-	25,342	41,899	67,241
Investment	1	-	-	1
Net current assets	109,446	11,294	57,564	178,304
At 31 July 2023	109,447	36,636	99,463	245,546

BUCKS STUDENTS’ UNION

CHARITY NUMBER 1144820 YEAR ENDING 31 JULY 2024

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Notes to the financial statements

17. Related Party Transactions

For all Universities situated in the United Kingdom, including Buckinghamshire New University, Students’ Unions are constituted under section 2 of the Education Act 1994.

The Union is in receipt of a recurrent grant from the University of £607,608 (2023: £567,857).

In addition, the Union received Big Deal grant of £755,449 and held for charitable activities (2023: £647,149) from the University relating to sporting and recreational activities, course representation and entertainments. Other grants of £883,443 (2023: £638,794) for specific operational costs, capital expenditure and projects were also received.

A further amount of £466,400(2023: £337,720) was received to fund the provision of the intercampus bus service. This contracted service is shown as income under unrestricted Charitable Activities. Transactions throughout the year resulted in a consolidated trading balance as at 31 July 2024 of £188,934 owed by the University to the Students’ Union (2023: £13,710 owed to the University).

The Union have been given the use of university premises whose rental value is assessed at £104,000 (2023: £104,000). The university re-assessed the cost during 2023 and the cost is based on the total costs of these services for the entire High Wycombe Campus prorata to the relative proportion of the Campus the Union currently occupies.

BSU Trading LTd is wholly owned by the Union (see note 9) .

During the year management fees totalling £6,000 (2023: £6,000) were received from BSU Trading Ltd. At 31 July 2024 BSU Trading Ltd owed Bucks Students’ Union £1,211 (2023: £6,482).

18. Pension Costs

Defined benefit scheme

The Union has contributed to the pension scheme operated by Buckinghamshire New University for staff members seconded to the Union. Full details of the pension arrangements are set out in the financial statements of Buckinghamshire New University.

The contributions paid into the scheme in respect of eligible employees by BSU amounted to £63,543 (2023: £67,660).

Defined contribution schemes

The Union operates an auto-enrolment scheme with NEST. Contributions are set at 6% for the employer and a minimum of 6% for the employee. The Union cost of contributions amounted to £30,247(2023: £28,006).

19. Reconciliation of net movements in funds to net cash flow from operating activities

Net surplus for the year Add back depreciation charge Disposal of fixed assets Decrease in stocks (Increase)/decrease in debtors (Decrease) in creditors	2024 2023 £ £ 281,821 18,062 5,510 (3,013) (171,825) (70,948) 109,785 23,798 - 783 765,368 (781,481)
	59,607 118,253

20. Analysis of changes in Net Funds

The charity had no debt during the year.

==> picture [174 x 63] intentionally omitted <==

Bucks Students’ Union

HW Campus - North Wing, Queen Alexandra Road, High Wycombe, Bucks, HP11 2JZ

Tel: 01494 601 600

UXB Campus - first floor, 106 Oxford Road, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB8 1NA

Tel: 01494 605 180

Email: union@bnu.ac.uk Website: bucksstudentsunion.org Bucks Students’ Union is a registered charity – no. 1144820