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2022-07-31-accounts

REGISTERED CHARITY NUMBER: 1145192

Report of the Trustees and Consolidated Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

for

WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Knox Cropper LLP Chartered Accountants and Statutory Auditors 153 -155 London Road Hemel Hempstead Hertfordshire HP3 9SQ

WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Contents of the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

Page
Report of the Trustees 1 to 39
Report of the Independent Auditors 40 to 42
Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities 43
Consolidated Balance Sheet 44
Charity Balance Sheet 45
Consolidated Cash Flow Statement 46
Notes to the Consolidated Cash Flow Statement 47
Notes to the Financial Statements 48 to 60
Detailed Statement of Financial Activities 61 to 63

WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

The trustees present their report with the consolidated financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 July 2022. The trustees have adopted the provisions of Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019).

OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES Objectives and aims

The 2021/22 academic year was another very busy one for Worcester Students' Union (WSU). As we emerged from the pandemic and resumed some normality in life, our main aim was to re-engage students in our activities in a manner which suited them and continue to innovate in this respect, to educate them on what University life was all about, and stress what support and opportunities we could provide them with. This proved challenging in many ways over the year and the overall sense we gained was of cohorts of students who were uncertain, lacking in confidence, and struggling to find their feet, as well as struggling with their mental health. The pandemic seemed to have changed people in ways we had, perhaps, feared but hoped would not be realised. The Union's team of dedicated and hard-working core staff, sessional staff and elected Officers routinely went above and beyond to live our values and do our best to welcome, support, represent, and develop our members.

The Union worked to an operational plan for the year, detailed further below, with the previous strategic planning period coming to an end in July 2021. The Trustee Board agreed that, with the backdrop of the pandemic, it was prudent to postpone development of a new longer-term strategic framework until consultation with members and stakeholders could be more effectively conducted and the world returned to some normality. A plan was agreed over the year to commence this strategic work in 2022/23.

The Union remains very grateful for the continued support from the University of Worcester's Board of Governors and senior executive team. We continue to enjoy a strong partnership where there is mutual support and scrutiny, with the common goal of an excellent student experience.

Status and Administration

The Students' Union is constituted in accordance with its constitution and is administered and managed by the Trustees. Following the Charities Act 2006 and the withdrawal of this exempt status for organisations with annual turnover exceeding £100,000, the Students' Union considered its options and was, subsequently, registered with the Charity Commission in December 2011, Charity No. 1145192.

The Executive Committee members are elected by the membership to take office in early June in the year in which they are elected and hold office for one year until the second week of the following June. Members can run for re-election for a second year on the same terms.

Charitable Objects

WSU seeks to enhance the student experience by providing representation, welfare services, social events and opportunities for student development within the Union and the wider community.

Its Objects under its Constitution are:

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WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

ACHIEVEMENT AND PERFORMANCE Achievements and Performance AIMS AND ACTIVITIES

The Union exists to enhance the student experience and provide all c.10,000 students of the University of Worcester with opportunities to make the most out of their time at University. It aims to achieve this through services offering advice and support, democracy and representation, societies and sport, volunteering, and through student-focussed entertainment and events. To provide these, the Union has established departments and consults with its student staff and members to continuously improve. Executive Officers of the Union sit on every major committee of the University and regularly meet local stakeholders to represent the interests of its members.

The Union will seek at all times to:

(i) ensure that the diversity of its membership is recognised and that equal access is available to all Members of whatever origin or orientation;

(ii) pursue its aims and objectives independent of any political party or religious group;

(iii) pursue equal opportunities by taking positive action within the law to facilitate participation of groups discriminated against by society.

When reviewing our objectives and planning our activities, we have given due consideration to the Charity Commission's general and relevant supplementary guidance on public benefit. Our Constitution (revised in 2020, following a comprehensive governance review) has been structured to give the Board of Trustees reasonable authority to manage the affairs of the Union in a professional manner. The Board of Trustees will give the utmost consideration to the views of Members. Whilst we plan for a new strategic framework for the organisation, the Union continued to work to the Vision and Values approved by the Board in 2015/16:

Our Vision Statement:

Representing and supporting students to develop and achieve.

Our Values:

Professional

We will conduct and present ourselves to our students and stakeholders in a professional manner, ensuring we have sound organisational processes and procedures, as well as internal expertise to support the student leadership.

Inspirational

We will lead by example and provide our students with inspiration to reach their full potential and try new things.

Accountable

We will ensure that our students and stakeholders know how we utilise our funds and make decisions through our democratic structure, and how they can get involved.

Student-centred

We will ensure that the services and events we deliver achieve high levels of student satisfaction and that students are integral to our continuous improvement.

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WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

Positive

We will be positive about Worcester and what it can offer students, promoting how we can help and support them.

Entertaining

We will have fun and help students have great memories of their time at Worcester.

Our Core, Strategic Goals:

The Union continued to monitor its progress against its Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) below, established in 2017/18. These will also be reviewed as part of the organisation's imminent strategic development work.

  1. Satisfaction with the Students' Union for our members increases year on year - target of 80% across all relevant University, national, and Students' Union surveys;

  2. The percentage of the student body aware of the range of services run by the Students' Union increases year

on year;

  1. The percentage of the student body filling out the Students' Union's 'Big Worc Survey' increases year on year;

  2. The percentage of the student body satisfied that we are representing them and providing them with a voice increases year on year;

  3. The number of students voting in our Leadership Elections - target of 20%;

  4. The number of available positions in our governance structures are filled - target of at least 80%;

  5. The number of ideas submitted to the Students' Union increases year on year;

  6. The number of students accessing our advice and support service increases year on year;

  7. The number of welfare campaigns delivered by the Officers year on year that meet the SU's campaign objectives;

  8. The number of students who are members of a club or society increases year on year;

  9. The number of clubs and societies increases year on year - target of 50 clubs and 60 societies;

  10. The number of volunteering hours given by students increases year on year;

  11. The percentage of students saying that being involved in the Students' Union enhanced their employability increases year on year;

  12. Worcester sits in the top 50 in the BUCS (British Universities Colleges Sport) League;

  13. The number of students attending events in The Hangar increases year on year;

  14. The Students' Union achieves at least Silver Best Bar None accreditation each year;

  15. The profitability of the Students' Union's commercial services increases year on year;

  16. The percentage of students feeling that Students' Union events had a positive impact on their student experience increases year on year.

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WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

The Union aims for excellent satisfaction rates amongst our members and to consistently defy its size in terms of local impact and national reputation. This report will cover the key areas of focus and development under separate headings. An annual Impact Report for the year will, also, be produced later in Semester 1 of 2022/23 and shared widely with the Union's members and stakeholders.

1. ACADEMIC REPRESENTATION

Throughout 2021/22, there was significant focus on ensuring that the Academic Representation (AR) System continued to engage with students and monitor their academic experience. The Union worked closely with the University, through the joint Academic Representation Oversight Group, to raise the profile of Course and School Reps and to demonstrate the impact of their commitment and involvement. Ultimately, it was a successful year with 342 reps recruited. Despite the challenges of engaging students generally post pandemic, we maintained engagement in terms of training with 74% of all reps trained, a 32% increase on 2020/21. The continuation of Rep Journals allowed Reps to raise queries or concerns and seek guidance from the Union and we continued to recognise students through 'Course Rep and School Rep of the Month'.

Forums were hosted throughout the year for Course and School Reps to attend and discuss matters with senior members of university staff. Topics included evaluating the roles and effectiveness of the University's Personal Academic Tutorship (PAT) system and how to improve general Rep engagement post Covid. All were hosted in person, and were generally well attended, creating a nice transition out of the pandemic. School Rep Forums were hosted online due to mixed preferences amongst the School Reps. The Union also focused on developing the demographic analysis of Reps to get a better understanding of the students involved in the AR system. This revealed that we have good representation from LGBTQ+ and by gender but that we need to make improvements with regards to BAME and Mature students. This is something we are determined to address in the coming years.

An important piece of work for the Academic Representation (AR) Oversight Group in 2021/22 was to improve the effectiveness of and satisfaction with the AR system, including in specific areas of the University identified from a range of survey results - the National Student Survey (NSS) completed by final year students, the University's own Course Experience Survey (CES), completed by non-final year students, and the Union's own Big Worc Survey (BWS).

Over 2021/22, the areas identified as needing targeted work continued within the School of Psychology (SoP), the Three Counties School of Nursing and Midwifery (TCSNM), and the Worcester Business School (WBS), whilst adding the School of Arts (SoA). These Schools saw survey results in 2020/21 that suggested lower levels of awareness and satisfaction with the AR system and so bespoke action plans were developed in collaboration with the University's SERCCs (Student Engagement Representation and Communication Co-ordinators) to try and raise those levels.

The various survey results for 2021/22 were, ultimately, as follows:

Course Experience Survey (CES):

Q.5.3 - I know who my Course Rep is:

Overall University: -3% to 80% SoP: + 14% to 84% TCSNM: -15% to 69% WBS: -5% to 62% SoA: -5% to 84%

Q 5.4 - Course Reps represent the interests of students on my course effectively: Overall University: -7% to 66%

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WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

SoP: +3% to 67% TCSNM: -8% to 69% WBS: +7% to 62% SoA: +6% to 84%

Q14.2 Overall I am satisfied with the services provided by the Students' Union including advice, representation, societies, volunteering, entertainment and sport: Overall University: -0.5% to 69% SoP: +9% to 81% TCSNM: - 12% to 54% WBS: +7% to 65% SoA: +6% to 79%

National Student Survey (NSS)

Q26 The students' union effectively represents my academic interests:

Overall University: -3% to 62% (sector average = 53%, top quartile 71%) SoP: -2% to 66% TCSNM: -7% to 51% WBS: This data has been supplied per department not for the overall school: Business & Management: +5% to 72% Computing: -3% to 54% SoA: This data has been supplied per department not for the overall school: Creative Arts & Design: same at 57% Media, Journalism & Communications: -19% to 54% Performing Arts: +5% to 72%

Big Worc Survey (BWS) 2022:

I know who my Course Rep is:

Overall University: +4% to 83% SoP: +11% to 79% TCSNM: -4% to 67% WBS: +10% to 67% SoA: same at 90%

Are you aware of the SU's Academic Representation System (slightly amended question so no direct comparison with previous year):

Overall University: 81% SoP: 84% TCSNM:79% WBS: 78% SoA: 89%

Through monthly meetings, the Union continued to monitor and act on student feedback and intelligence that came to us in a variety of ways, including via academic reps, student groups, the Officers, and the Welcome Desk.

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WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

2. STUDENT NETWORKS

This was the second year for our 10 Student Networks, which were created to replace the role of Part-Time Officers in a wholescale governance review of the Union in 2019/20. Their purpose is to provide welcoming and relevant student communities across the University that represent and champion the needs of different groups and cohorts. They, also, allow the Union more ways in which to consult with members to create positive change. The Student Networks are as follows:

The Networks' first year (2020/21), exceeded all of our expectations, with a total of 271 members across the groups (from 195 students). This year saw slightly lower engagement, at 243 memberships from 149 students, with student involvement being more of a challenge across many of the Union's areas. At the end of the year, the Networks achieved the following number of members each (figures in brackets indicate increase or decrease on 2020/21):

Number
of
Network Members
Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) Students' Network 8 (-23)
Commuter Students' Network 20 (+3)
Disabled Students' Network 15 (-2)
International Students' Network 21 (+4)
LGBTQ+ Students' Network 73 (-1)
Mature, Parents and Carers Network 17 (-19)
Postgraduate Students' Network 7 (-1)
Sustainability Network 25 (+1)
The Widening Participation Network 8 (-15)
Women's Network 49 (+15)

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WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

We also had more difficulty this year in filling committee positions (an experience that was replicated in other Unions who facilitate Networks). Following recruitment processes, 8 of the 10 Networks had all 3 core committee positions filled, with the BAME and Commuters Networks both still having vacancies at the end of the year. Both groups were given extra support across the year from the SU team to try and recruit members and facilitate activities. Every Network had at least bi-weekly meetings with the SU to support them with action plans, and each held Open Meetings for students. The Union also supported many of them to produce promotional videos to help boost their memberships. Despite some of these challenges, many of the Networks organised super activities and events over the year (as well as supporting national awareness days, weeks, and months) including:

3. WELFARE AND INCLUSION COUNCIL

Together with representatives from faith and cultural student societies, the Networks come together to form the Welfare and Inclusion Council, a new sub-committee of Student Council. A total of 4 meetings were held across the year and, together, the group submitted 3 polices to Student Council which were passed, including:

• A Policy for the Union to lobby the University to develop provision of accommodation for international students with dependents or support them to provide more affordable places to live

• A Policy that asked the University to work with the Union to ensure that students had input into EDI training provided to University staff ('to have a voice rather than being spoken for')

One of the key benefits of the Welfare and Inclusion Council is that one group can bring an issue or policy motion, which are discussed and, often, policy proposals are then amended to reflect the intersectional nature of the issue in question following the sharing of wider experiences.

4. STUDENT COUNCIL

Student Council, the highest student body in our structure, had a busy year and we successfully recruited to all of our student council positions. Councillors sometimes struggled with their other commitments to attend meetings, however, so by the end of the year, 3 of the 4 meetings had reached quoracy. The Council devoted a significant amount of time to the student experience post pandemic and on student welfare concerns and it also passed 9 policies (3 of which came direct to Student Council and 2 of which had previously been discussed at Education Council, 3 came from Welfare & Inclusion Council and 1 came from TeamWorc Council). This was a increase of one on the number of policies passed in 2020-21.

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WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

5. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Our Executive Committee, consisting of the 3 full time officers and supported by the Union's Senior Management Team, worked very well and met each month. Outcomes from the committee include approving 11 ideas from the Ideas Forum, discussing Bye Law changes, approving new principles for associate membership of the Union, approving applications for new clubs and societies, discussing how the Union develops its employability services, and much more. It is a very useful forum to ensure work on campaigns and policy implementation is followed up regularly and to discuss in more depth project work being undertaken by the full time Officers, as well as their interaction with University projects and developments.

6. SOCIETIES AND CLUBS

6.1 SOCIETIES

A total of 39 societies was supported over the course the academic year by the Union, with efforts made through 'Adopt a Soc' and 'Soc from Scratch' to support the development of new and folded societies. Despite these initiatives, however, by July 2022 this number had reduced to 29 as the student body still seemed to be recovering from the effects of the pandemic and lacked confidence in leading or joining groups. Many other Unions nationally reported a similar issue. We did, however, see an increase in the number of memberships from 2020/21 academic year, which was positive and something we want to build on in 2022/23.

Students were able to purchase semester and annual memberships of their chosen society. At the end of semester one, 846 memberships were held by 764 students (this was 581 and 557 respectively in Semester 1 in 2020/21). This then increased to 927 from 818 students by the end of Semester two (compared with 717 memberships from 621 students at the end of Semester 2 in 2020/21).

The new societies that were created over the year were Asian, Business, Knit n Knatter, K-pop, and Nature with our Geography society also coming back through 'Adopt A Soc'. The majority of our societies held 'Give it Go' sessions in early September 2021, encouraging new students to become members. These included the Christian Union's Scavenger hunt, Debate Soc leading a Tuesday quiz in the Hangar, Neurodivergent Soc hosting a game day, and our ACS (African Caribbean Society) hosting a cocktail night in the Union.

Over the year, we then saw many events and activities from hard-working societies, some highlights being:

Biology holding a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) event in Union Square, in collaborated with the LGBTQ+ Network. They demonstrated fun, colourful science experiments alongside raising awareness about the difficulties LGBTQ+ individuals can experience in STEM fields, raising £100 for Stonewall charity.

Education Enhancement were extremely pro-active in the delivery of extracurricular courses for their members, as well as contributing events towards RAG week and running a programme for mental health first aid training for members and non-members.

Our growing Nigerian Soc collaborated with the BAME Network and hosted a careers workshop with guest speakers to advise and inspire current students on their own career paths. Funds from ticket sales also went to the fundraising hosted by the students' Union for Ukraine.

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WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

6.2 SPORT

Club Membership

The year ended with a total of 38 sports clubs, of which 33 were affiliated (had 12 members or more) and 1275 memberships from 1139 students, an increase of almost 18% compared with 2021/22. This shows students returned to sport following the pandemic and the restrictions placed on sport and group activity. Importantly to note is that memberships bought through the University's REACH bursary scheme accounted for 50.43% of our overall memberships, with some clubs having well over 50% (and even 100%) of their memberships bought this way.

Out of the total number of clubs, 4 were formed following an 'Adopt a Club' initiative launched at the start of the academic year - eSports, Table Tennis, Volleyball and Yoga. Volleyball and Yoga have been particularly, successful. Volleyball ended the year with 31 members, created additional sessions to cater for different abilities, and are entering BUCS Men's and Women's teams next year. Yoga reached 29 members and have integrated themselves into #TeamWorc very well by hosting collaboration events with many societies and clubs including Boxing and Uni Boob Team.

We also had 3 additional new clubs. Archery have proved to be a popular club and, with the support of the Union's small Sport Development Fund and Club Development Grant they have been building up their range of equipment and are hoping to enter more members into competitions next year now they are affiliated with Archery England and the West Midlands Archery Society and have the support of a Worcestershire Archery coach. Members of Wheelchair Basketball really enjoyed competing in BUCS this year and although they were against tough competition, they came together to play in their round-robin tournaments. Moving forward, the club will now have a coach as the University is a founding member of the British Wheelchair Basketball Women's Premier League. Dodgeball was created in semester 1 by a group of first year students. The sessions were very popular and gave an opportunity for less traditional 'sporty' students to get together, keep healthy, and have fun.

BUCS

After a difficult year for sport during covid, 2021/22 saw a return to the full BUCS schedule. We entered 33 teams into various leagues across 15 sports. Our students competed in almost 300 fixtures across the season and out of 33 teams, we had 3 league champions in Netball 3's, Men's Football 3's and Women's Cricket 1's.

Netball and Football both secured promotion and Cricket went into a promotion playoff fixture with the bottom team of the premier tier to aim for promotion. Women's Football 2's were also promoted after finishing second in their league. In addition to these, we had 11 other teams finish in the top 3 of their leagues. Equestrian 1's won their mini league which saw them qualify for the regional competition for the first time in their history. Other notable successes included Women's Futsal 1's winning the Midlands Conference Cup, Women's Basketball 1's came 2nd in the National Trophy and Men's Cricket 1's qualified for the National Indoor Finals and after a strong performance ended up finishing 3rd in the country. Worcester finished the season in 61st place (out of 149 institutions with 458 points).

In addition to the BUCS leagues, we entered students into further BUCS events, sending athletes to the swimming short course championships, badminton nationals, fencing nationals, trampolining championship, tennis championship, indoor athletics, outdoor archery, and the rowing regatta.

BUCS Awards

We were very proud to have 3 shortlisted nominations for 3 BUCS Awards this year:

• Unsung Hero - Daniel Cox - Celebrates a member of staff at a BUCS member institution who has worked tirelessly to support student sport at any level in the last year.

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WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

• Dan Porter Award - Alice Hopkins and Women's Football Club - This award celebrates an individual or group who have faced and overcome adversity or disadvantage to positively impact others within university sport and physical activity. The individual or group will have demonstrated a remarkable sense of character to achieve, motivate and inspire.

• Student Volunteer of the Year - Jack Lambert - Celebrates a student volunteer who has contributed to university and/or community work. This can include working in domestic or international competitions or performance or participation driven projects and programmes.

Jack went on to be the actual winner on the night, for his efforts towards Varsity, which was wonderful for everyone concerned. https://bucs-awards.org.uk/awards., https://twitter.com/BUCSsport/status/1547888562648928257

Next Season #

As we move into next year, we will have 39 sports clubs and 2 new clubs in Hiking and Lacrosse. A total of 36 teams have been entered into BUCS for 2022/23 season. Following a decision by Sports Development Board to reduce the number of performance teams to maximise resources and success, these teams will have performance status following a decision by Sports Development Board to :

Netball 2nds and Men's Basketball 2nds will be classed as development teams and have additional support to try and get them to performance status by 2023/24.

Varsity

This year we saw our annual Varsity against Gloucester return to its full programme for the first time in 2 years. Over the course of 2 weeks at the end of March and beginning of April, 18 sports took place, and it was genuinely wonderful to see students competing and spectating once again. We battled it out with Gloucester in Athletics (mixed), Badminton (mixed), Basketball (men), Cheerleading (women), Cricket (men), Dance (mixed), Equestrian (women), Football (men and women), Futsal (women), Hockey (women), Netball (women), Rugby (men and women), Swimming (mixed), Tennis (men), Trampolining (women), Volleyball (mixed).

Across the two-weeks, we engaged over 600 athletes and 3000 spectators from both institutions. A particular highlight was our Athletics Varsity which saw over 20 volunteers from #TeamWorc travel down to Gloucester to help on the day - from measuring to officiating. We also saw athletes from all different sports such as hockey, netball, and cricket coming together to represent us in various athletic disciplines - it was a really inclusive event and had a lovely atmosphere. We were immensely proud of everyone who came to volunteer as well as participate and despite the snow demonstrated the true meaning of #TeamWorc. Another standout moment included Men's and Women's Rugby taking the double victory over Gloucestershire in front of nearly 1000 people at Sixways Stadium in another brilliant day out.

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WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

During the competition, we saw close and hard fought, as well as good-natured contests within all the sports and the overall score was up and down. After Gloucestershire Arena Day, Worcester were losing 8-4 but went on to win the next 4 events to set up a final day showdown with the scored tied at 8-8 and swimming and cheerleading to go. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be and despite only 4 points separating the teams in the swimming, we lost 10-8 overall to Gloucestershire and the trophy has been handed over to them for the year. Regardless of the result, it was a fantastic two-weeks of action and we are so proud of all the students who took part and engaged with us - it reminded us too of how much the event means to our students.

Club Events

With the reduction in restrictions, it was fabulous great to see our sports clubs putting on events either for entertainment, to raise money for charity, or to raise funds for their clubs.

Ultimate Frisbee saw the return of their annual alumni tournament that was held for the RAG charity of the year, Student Minds. The tournament was held between the current Worcester team, Worcester Alumni and University of Birmingham, which was a great experience for new members as well as a lovely end to the year for past members, whilst raising £114 for RAG.

Men's Football also brought back their inter-club cup which was borne out of the pandemic. This is a fantastic event that unites the club as all the teams are mixed, so members get to know new people. They also raised money for Student Minds by asking members to pay to play each week.

Boxing who have been one of our quieter clubs in previous years were very active this year. They organised self-defence classes which were open for all sport club members to attend, a class focusing on body positivity, and they collaborated with many different clubs and societies. They also created, organised and delivered the first ever RAG Race. Based on 'Tough-Mudder' and the Spartan Run, the event consisted of 3 different race lengths at Lakeside Campus (a Fun Run, 2.6k; a Super, 5.2k; and Fury, 7.8k). Along the route, different obstacles including military crawls, spiders web, burpees and so much more tested the 25 participants. After the event, the club hosted a celebration in the Hangar to congratulate all competitors and hand out awards to winners and for best fancy dress. In total they raised £250 for RAG.

It was wonderful to get students back into the Hangar and celebrate our Cheerleading and Dance clubs again this year. Both held showcases in semester 1 and 2 and invited students, friends and family members to perform their routines for them. Dance also held a Saints Strictly Come Dancing event where couples - each formed of a Dance member and a non-Dance student group member - performed practiced routines to compete for the Saints Glitter Ball Trophy. The event was thoroughly enjoyed and won Event of the Year at TeamWorc Awards. The Winter Ball held in the Hangar, organised by WorcSnow, was also loved by students and this will now be an annual event.

Lastly, it has been brilliant to see our clubs come together and demonstrate the meaning and ethos of #TeamWorc. We have seen our female clubs Netball, Women's Football, Women's Cricket, and Women's Rugby come together to take part in various tournaments. In addition, we've seen Worc Snow, Paddlesport & Surf, and Social Sports go on trips together such as Thorpe Park.

Society and Club Committee Training

This year we continued the mixed blend of online modules and in-person sessions. Following the feedback from the on-line modules last year, they were all reviewed and updated. We launched a new module called 'A Guide to Teams' to help committees hold virtual meetings, events, and socials to carry on being inclusive, particularly for commuter students. There were also modules designed specifically for Network members.

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WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

We asked committee members to complete their mandatory roles before their in-person training. 89% of sport club and 85% society committee members had completed their modules before in-person training.

All committee members were then invited to main in-person event. The training was conducted over 3 days and 5 sessions, 2 for societies, 2 for clubs, and 1 for Networks. Sports and Societies had 3 hours of classroom content and an hour of team building.

In total, 87 Society Committee members attended, 83 Sports Committee members and 15 Network Committee Members. As we were aware of people who could not attend the training for various reasons including isolation, one of the sessions was recorded and was made available on the website for those who were unable to attend to watch it.

TeamWorc Points

TeamWorc Points returned after a successful first year, rewarding the clubs and societies that went the extra mile to give their members and the wider TeamWorc community the best experience possible. Clubs and societies were eligible to receive TeamWorc Points through different criteria, including volunteering, fundraising, and online engagement.

At the end of the year, clubs and societies with enough points were awarded Bronze, Silver, or Gold level. In total, fifteen received Bronze, eight Silver, and three Gold:

Bronze: Athletics, Boxing, Cheerleading, Christian Union, Finnish, Men's Cricket, Nature, Nigerian, Paramedics, Pole Fitness, Rowing, Swimming, Ultimate Frisbee, Women's Rugby, WorcSnow.

Silver : Dance, Education Enhancement, Equestrian, LOCO Show Co., Netball, Poetry, Social Sports, Women's Hockey.

Gold: Biology, Uni Boob Team, Women's Football.

Successful clubs received additional funding for their clubs, special table decorations and treats at the Teamworc Awards, promotional material to help them recruit in 2022/23, and social media spotlights.

TeamWorc UNITED

Two student groups received TeamWorc UNITED accreditation this year. TeamWorc UNITED recognises groups that go above and beyond to develop their inclusive practices and ensure as many students as possible can get involved in their activities.

The Uni Boob Team have continued to worked hard to address the gap in health promotion by introducing a 'Pec Rep' onto their committee, collaborating with male dominated clubs, and working with the LGBTQ+ network to create inclusive social media promotion. The work that they do is so important, and they have succeeded in engaging more students from different groups and successfully renewed their TeamWorc United status, which they achieved last year.

Women's Football were the other group to attain TeamWorc United accreditation, having run a range of adaptive sessions, supported the Rainbow laces campaign, and raised awareness of various types of discrimination within their sport.

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WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

TeamWorc Council has been very influential this year, and, amongst other things, submitted a policy to reform the Union's club and society committee positions which will have an impact on the groups functioning next year. The rather old-fashioned positions of Treasurer and Secretary have been replaced with different Vice Chair roles that reflect more of today's job market. The aim was to increase understanding of what the roles were and what the students might get out of them. Other Unions and Universities in the region are now considering similar changes following our sharing of this at BUCS regional meetings. The Council also helped us to review and create new TeamWorc Honours Criteria for Teamworc Awards. It's been great to have the opportunity to interact with our students in person again to help to create a better experience for them.

7. RAG (Raise and Give)

The Union's members voted for Student Minds as their RAG Charity of the Year for 2021/22. Students raised £31,692 over the year, which is an incredible achievement, and we are very proud of all the groups and individuals who had a part in reaching this total. Some highlights included:

The UniBoob Team continued to exceed their annual fundraising target, raising over £1,222 from events such as a Glitterball, a 24hr Bike-A-Thon, and championing the whole of #TeamWorc throughout October for breast cancer awareness month.

Our Movember team raised £2,733 across November through charity football matches, quizzes and raffles.

A #TeamWorc 24hr CPR event, which not only raised over £800 but gave students lifesaving skills. One student Jack Lambert (who went on to win BUCS' national Volunteer of the Year Award for his efforts in our Varsity) raised a further £4,327 from a sky dive for the British Heart Foundation and Beat the Clock.

Equestrian were also front runners for fundraising this year, raising £2,660 through a clothes drive.

In December the whole of #TeamWorc came together for BUCS rainbow laces day led by the Vice President Student Activities to raise over £440 for Stonewall.

To finish a great year, our Sinners hosted an end of year showcase and managed to raise £781.

8. TEAMWORC ACTION (Volunteering)

This year we continued efforts to rebuild student engagement in volunteering through 'TeamWorc ACTION'. By the end of June, the volunteering hours (from 1st July 2021) totalled 5543, broken down as follows:

We continued to build relationships with a range of stakeholders to secure opportunities for students to help the local community, including Worcester Warriors Community Foundation (and their Dementia Café), Duckworth Trust (and a sustainability clothes swap),The Fold (at Bransford), Maggs Day Centre, Worcester Snoezelen, Shelter, and Sight Concern.

Fifteen TeamWorc ACTION days were held, including 8 canal cleans in conjunction with the Canal and Rivers Trust. Student Volunteering Week took place in February, and we used this to promote the concept and benefits of volunteering, as well as conducting a litter pick in St John's, and supporting adapted sport sessions at Worcester Warriors (with Active Hereford and Worcester). The Christian Union also joined 'forces' with the University Security team to hand out tea and biscuits to students coming out of Tramps in the early hours of the morning! Around 70 students got involved with these initiatives.

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9. WELCOME WEEK AND REFRESHERS

9.1 WELCOME WEEK

In September we welcomed all our new and returning students to the University with a variety of events and activities; the first full programme of events for two years.

Early Starter Registration Event

This took place mid-week in Union Square welcoming our international and commuter students who registered before the main intake of first year students. Union Officers and staff were on hand to welcome everyone and there were activities throughout the day including circus skills and stall activities. A barbeque, drinks, and free ice cream were also provided by Chartwells.

Sunset Session

We also held our first ever Sunset Session in our Hangar marquee on City Campus, to welcome back returning students, many of whom had spent a large part of their university lives in lockdown. The event included free food and a DJ, with over 200 tickets sold.

Welcome Fair

The Welcome Fair was, once again, held at City Campus. We worked alongside Boffy Arts and Events, as well as key partners at the University, to transform City Campus with market stalls, marquees, an impressive stage, bar, and food stalls. Over the weekend, more than 2,500 students attended the Fair, meeting our club, society, and Network committees, getting their hands on some freebies, enjoying some live music, and grabbing a drink in The Hangar Marquee.

The Hangar

Once again, The Hangar opened at two locations throughout Welcome Week - The Hangar bar in the Students' Union and The Hangar Marquee at City Campus. This was the biggest Welcome Week yet for The Hangar, with just over 2,400 students visiting us during the week.

The Hangar hosted nine events throughout the week, including a VK Welcome Party, Karaoke, Silent Disco, and the return of the ever-popular Disco Binglow. The Hangar Marquee hosted a further six events during the week, including live music nights, an outdoor cinema, and live comedy. After 18 months of lockdowns and restrictions, it was fantastic to have students back in The Hangar socialising and having a great time.

Colour Run

On the Wednesday of Welcome Week, we were delighted to be able to bring back the Colour Run after a two-year absence. Once again, the event raised money for RAG and our RAG Charity of the Year, Student Minds. A total of 180 students took part in the run around St. John's Campus, getting covered in a kaleidoscope of colours, and helping us to raise over £1,400 for RAG.

TeamWorc Showcase

Our Vice President Student Activities built on the showcase concept introduced in 2020, in an attempt to increase engagement with the TeamWorc community from student groups and individual students. Throughout the day, sessions were held at City Campus by Dance, Men's Rugby, Yoga, Women's Football, Zumba, Cheerleading, Rowing, Loco Show Co, Fencing, and the UniBoob Team, showcasing everything they have to offer. A total of 70 students attended the Showcase throughout the day.

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9.2 REFRESHERS

During Refreshers Week, we hosted a Wellbeing Day in The Hangar, providing students with information on how to boost their mental wellbeing and letting them know about the wellbeing provisions available at the Students' Union and University. In attendance were University services, charities, NHS England, and the ever-popular therapy dogs. There was also a focus on allergy awareness.

The Hangar hosted evening events to welcome students back after the break. Throughout the week, several hundred students attended seven events across the week, including live music, karaoke, live comedy, and a Saturday night rave.

10. CELEBRATION WEEK

We were delighted to, once again be able to hold in-person ceremonies for Celebration Week, and back to normal following 2 years of covid restrictions. After a year of online learning and events it was fantastic to be able to see University staff and students celebrate everything they had achieved throughout the year. The week saw us host the Students' Choice Awards in the Hangar, and the Teamworc awards (for our student groups and Reps) at Sixways Stadium, with over 300 in attendance at the latter. Following the pandemic and events taking place last year that were much more scaled down, we found we had to do a lot more to explain to students the point of the awards, what the cost covered (what they got for their money) and why they should attend. Awards given out at the events were:

10.1 THE STUDENTS' CHOICE AWARDS

To recognise and celebrate the huge impact that excellent support and teaching made to the student experience over the past year. We received almost 700 nominations from students.

10.2 TEAMWORC AWARDS

Name Winner Sports Club of the Year Women's Football Sports Team of the Year Men's Cricket 1st Sports Club Committee Member of the Year Hope Bourton - Netball Athlete of the Year Renée Powell - Netball Society of the Year Biology New Society of the Year Knit 'n' Knatter Society Committee Member of the Year Victoria Tanimowo - Nigerian Network of the Year LGBTQ+ Student Network Network Campaign of the Year Women's Student Network - WeForShe Campaign Emma Banks - Mature, Parents and Carers Student Network Committee Member of the Year Network Uni Boob Team

Network Committee Member of the Year Charity Fundraiser of the Year

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Gemma AllcottDance - Saints Strictly Come Dancing

Event of the Year WSU Special Recognition Honorary Life Membership of the Union Teamworc UNITED Volunteer of the Year WSU Student Staff Member of the Year

Drew HumphreyMia RadinovicRachel Holland Women's Football

Jack Lambert Mia Radinovic

Martha Heasman (Integrated Masters in Touring Theatre)

Course Rep of the Year School Rep of the Year

Terezá Vidrova (School of Psychology)

11. ADVICE, SUPPORT AND WELLBEING

11.1 HELP AND ADVICE SERVICE

Following 2020/21's record case numbers, the Help & Advice Service once again saw an increase in cases. The service retained best practice learnt throughout the pandemic and whilst face to face appointments are, of course, back, students continue to appreciate the option to attend meetings virtually and we continue to operate flexibly.

Due to increased number of cases the Service appointed an Assistant, and this post will be augmented from August 2022, to a full Advisor position, due to demand on resources.

Key headlines from the Service from 1st September 2021 until 31st August 2022:

Referrals

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Service Feedback

Our aim this year was to increase the level of feedback from students using the Service. In total, 35 students shared feedback regarding their experience in a monthly client survey (compared to 14 the year before). Whilst still a relatively low number, this still gives important insight into the views of clients. According to these students:

• Information and advice received helps students feel better informed 4.4 out of 5

Areas for further action:

The service achieved higher scores for helping students to manage their situation (3.9 out of 5) than for whether the service resolved an issue (3.6 out of 5). This is in line with the provision the service offers: enabling informed students to take their own action. Further marketing material will continue to demonstrate the services we provide.

The Academic and Welfare Advisor and Assistant both received positive feedback:

• 'Tom was extremely thorough and understanding of my concerns - he spent the full 30 minutes with me explaining everything in full. This was helpful especially because I sometimes find a lot of information at once overwhelming, but I felt as though his calm and reassuring manner provided the information I needed. I recommend Tom to any student struggling with finding answers to their problems, he is an asset to the Students Union Team.'

Changes have already been made over the year in response to student feedback, with plans to roll out further enhancements next academic year:

11.2 CAMPAIGNS

Mental health continues to be a very high priority for our students. Collaboration continued with the University to promote information during World and University Mental Health Days and we supported student groups to run various initiatives for Black History Month, Movember, International Women's Day, and LGBTQ+ History Month.

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Some of the campaigns we ran throughout the year were:

Drink Spiking Awareness - a poster campaign including information about how to spot drink spiking, enhance personal safety on nights out, and confirming the Hangar team's training in drink spiking awareness.

Safe Sex Express - offering free and confidential condom delivery to Worcester students. This was in the top 6 viewed H&A webpages for every month this academic year and 2690 condoms were given out (over 16x as many as 20/21)

Ending Period Poverty - providing free sanitary towels in the SU toilets. In total, 85 packets of pads,15 packets of liners and 46 packets of tampons were supplied for students.

Don't Rent Yet -this ran throughout November and December, encouraging students not to rush into commitments for accommodation for 2021/22, especially if they had not had the opportunity to form as many friendships in lockdown, and to make sure they know their rights as tenants.

Housing Fair - this took place in the Arena in January 2022 to accommodate the physical requirements of the event and the covid-19 mitigations required to run an in-person event on this scale. On the day, 60 landlords and 200 hundred students attended. To support students further, the 'Housing' section on the SU website was updated to reflect the changes in the pandemic and the kinds of queries being brought to the Help and Advice Service. The Union also assisted the University to promote the StudentPad website, giving students access to a range of accredited properties and landlords. Don't Rent Yet & the Housing Fair had 976 views on Help & Advice Housing webpages in January 2022.

#NeverOK - A campaign led by the Vice President Student Activities around consent and healthy relationships. A poster and social media campaign raised awareness around the A to Z of consent and #NeverOk was a central theme at our annual Varsity, with Gloucestershire Students' Union also supporting it. Teams had the hashtag on their kits and went on social media to explain why they supported the campaign and signed the #NeverOK pledge. In addition to this, a video was produced, 7 students attended a consent workshop, and 15 students entered a poetry open mic night themed around consent. Engagement in this campaign included: - 324 hits on the #NeverOK webpage

Mitigating Circumstances - The Union recognises the importance of a robust university procedure to support students with academic studies at difficult times. For this reason, it began reviewing the procedures and consulting students, through an on-line survey and a face to face workshop, on their views and experiences in order to provide suggestions for improvements. This work will continue with the support of the VP Education in 2022/23.

12. WELCOME DESK

From early September until late May, the Welcome Desk - the Union's main 'reception' for students and visitors - responded to 2373 enquiries. Of those, 58% were in-person visits, 31% were emails and 11% were phone calls.

By far the most common queries related to Clubs and Societies, followed by general enquiries, safe sex product requests, and advice and support. The service is staffed by students who do a great job in providing a friendly and relatable face to our members who need our help. They also often have ideas on how to keep improving the service and support do a wonderful job in supporting our core staff team with administrative and other tasks.

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13. EQUALITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION (EDI)

Following the death of George Floyd and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, the Union began of process of self-reflection, and worked with the University to do the same. We established an internal EDI Working Group, chaired by the President, with Terms of Reference and representation from across the organisation. We are very pleased with the progress made by our internal EDI Working Group this year which has drawn up an action plan of the priorities for 2022/23, as well as fulfilling our commitment to review and update our EDI Policy annually.

Some of the things achieved/worked on by the group throughout the year:

The action plan for 2022/23 to date focusses on:

The President continues to sit on the University's EDI Committee, which was created following the work of the Union President and Chief Executive in 2020, in drawing up a paper on race equity with the then Pro Vice Chancellor Students and the Director of Access and Inclusion, of which the Union is very proud.

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14. LOCAL AND NATIONAL DEMOCRACY AND POLITICS

14.1 LEADERSHIP ELECTIONS

The Union's Leadership Elections once again took place in March and saw the return of ballot stations and in person campaigning, which was great to see.

We had our highest ever number of candidates for the three Full Time Officer roles at 14:

• 4 candidates for the role of President (1 in 2021)

A total of 5169 votes were cast by 1863 individual voters (our highest ever), representing 20% of the student population, resulting in the election of:

SU President - Al Linforth Vice President Education - Gemma Allcott

Vice President Student Activities - Meg Lee

Over the last few years, the Union has been working to increase the diversity of candidates. This year saw some significant success in this area with students from a range of backgrounds and prior involvement with the Union and:

14.2 ALL STUDENT MEETING

The Union held its All Student Meeting, as it's AGM, on 15th February 2022, on-line in the hope of repeating the success of student attendance during the pandemic. A prize draw was also offered to win 3 Echo Dots. Unfortunately, this year, in line with some other online events we held, we did not reach quoracy and, in total 27, student attended. We will review this for next year and may look to return to face-to-face event.

In terms of the agenda, we had the usual items in our 2020-21 accounts, a review of our affiliations, and our annual report to members on activities delivered by the officers, as well as a question-and-answer session.

We also used the opportunity to begin the conversation with our members on what we should focus on as we begin the next strategic planning phase. We used Mentimeter as an interactive tool and gained some interesting insight. We asked students to rate the 10 student-facing areas within our operational plan in order of importance to them (what they think we should prioritise in terms of services and activities). The results were as follows:

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Following, the ASM, we repeated the Mentimeter exercise with more students, through: o Course Rep Forums

o Education Council

o TeamWorc Council o Big Worc Survey

The results were that a total of 378 students ranked the priorities in the following order:

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14.3 NUS TEACH-IN

The NUS Teach-in aimed to reimagine what many students see as our broken higher eduction system and build a New Vision For Education. NUS brought together Students and Elected Officers from across the country for a day of sharing knowledge and ideas, in March 2022.

The Officers and 7 other students joined with the University of Oxford and Oxford Brookes University to attend (sharing the cost and being more sustainable).It was a good opportunity to network with officers from around the country and share experiences.

15. MARKETING AND COMMUNICATION

Throughout the year the Union aimed to create relevant and compelling content to get as many Worcester students involved with what we do as possible. We communicated to students across a range of platforms including social media, digital channels, physical media, and face-to-face promotion.

Social Media

The majority of our social media platforms continued to grow and gain more members. It has, at times, been difficult to engage students across our digital channels. Throughout semester one, there was a noticeable decrease in student engagement, both on social media platforms and with SU events and campaigns. Communications were modified slightly during the second semester in reaction to this, with changes made such as introducing weekly 'what's on' emails and adapting the frequency and volume of social media content. Subsequently, social media and website engagement saw a small but noticeable increase during semester two.

No. of followers 2020/21 2021/22
WSU Facebook 8,650 8,900 (+250)
The Hangar Facebook
1,200		 1,400 (+200)
#TeamWorc Facebook 2,800 2,800 -
Twitter 7,200 7,200 -
WSU Instagram 3,200 3,800 (+600)
The Hangar Instagram
1,300		 1,600 (+300)

16. STUDENT EMPLOYABILTY AND DEVELOPMENT

The Union continued to invest time into training students for various roles, as well as to directly employ students as Assistants for Graphic Design, Welcome Desk, Bar, and Security.

Numbers attending training for student roles were as follows:

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ACHIEVEMENT AND PERFORMANCE

Over the year, an average of 25 students were employed with us each month supporting our bar, Welcome Desk and marketing functions, working a total of 8452 hours and earning £72,635.

The Union continues to support students through the job application process, with bespoke on-line guides on how to complete application forms, as well as a 'Guide to Interviews and the World of Work. The 'Work wit Us page of our website page the guide is hosted on received over 4,360 views across the year. We also make a point of providing feedback following all unsuccessful applications and interviews.

17. THE HANGAR

Following 2 years of disrupted trading due to COVID-19, the start to 21/22 saw an almost back to normal service for our members. Some measures remained in place including the preferred method of payment being card only (this was never fully enforced recognising many students, including Internationals, prefer to use cash as a budgeting mechanism). Welcome Week contained a variety of events as well as opening a second bar at City Campus for the duration of the week. Events included Film Nights, Live Music, Binglow, Silent Disco and a comedy night to try and appeal to a wider spectrum of students.

Throughout the year the Hangar hosted several large events, including a well-attended Winter Ball, as well as focussing more on student-led events (52 events throughout the year were led by students and raised money for RAG or for their own club or society). Whilst student-led events do reduce the takings in the bar, they are well attended events and provide students with organising and event planning as well as decision making and treasury skills, enhancing their employability. The Winter Ball proved so popular it now has its own committee with planning for 2022/23 underway. Across the various events, almost 11,000 students attended and we have now invested in more accurate attendee monitoring equipment.

Overall bar takings for 2021/22 were £175.7k, as compared to £110.4k in 2020/21. The previous COVID-unaffected year was 2018/19, with a turnover of £182.3k. So, we saw a 59% increase on previous year, but a 4% reduction compared to 2018/19. Semester 1 had the highest takings ever recorded at £98.6k, whilst semester 2 slowed considerably following widespread coverage and talk of a national financial crisis and students spending less on nights out rather than not attending at all. Also hitting bar takings in semester 2 was the lack of external bookings due to 2 years of Covid and some remaining campus restrictions for external visitors. The calendar for 2022/23 is starting to fill up and we hope to host more weddings and external events, including school proms, building on relationships with local schools.

The bar continued to expand its range of no- and low-alcohol drinks, as well as gluten free options and the premium products remained popular. We were restricted in semester 2 on some product sales, as a result of a dispute between NUS and their main supplier (who reneged on some payments), as well as an embargo on selling Russian products due to the conflict with Ukraine.

We also updated various equipment in the Hangar, including more energy efficient screens and new contactless pool tables, which remain extremely popular with students. Overall, although takings in the bar were slightly down, the increased engagement with students is a very positive metric.

18. SUSTAINABILITY

The Union achieved Very Good in the Green Impact Students Union accreditation scheme which is the second highest accreditation we can obtain. Over the year, several initiatives were undertaken by the Union's internal 'SUstainability' Committee, often working in partnership with the Sustainability Network, as well as the University's Director of Sustainability, such as:

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• Working with the University to start a campaign to improve public transport in Worcester

• Supporting the Sustainability Network's seed bomb making and fast fashion campaign

19. STAFF DEVELOPMENT

Coming out of the pandemic, staff and Officers returned to working mainly in the office with the flexibility to have work from home days. Staff breakfast mornings were introduced to support wellbeing and enable staff to meet informally in a relaxed environment.

The annual student staff induction was held virtually again, as this had worked well the previous year and was more inclusive for those who could not attend in person. The Staff Consultative Forum and the Health and Safety Committee had student staff representation too, following a year without, due to the pandemic. A number of student staff, from all departments, received recognition via the Officers' Worc Stars award, which replaced the Student Staff of the Month initiative. Worc Stars received a voucher and were featured in a new SU Newsletter.

Union staff and Officers undertook various training and attended courses over the year which included Diversity & Inclusion, Health & Safety, GDPR, Information Security Awareness, Disability Awareness, PAPYRUS Suicide Prevention, ILM Leadership training, Being a Trustee, and First Aid. As well as these, staff and Officers attended many of the annual NUS-facilitated conferences and events, most of which were held in person, following a year of mostly virtual events in the previous year.

Core staff had their Personal Performance Appraisals held annually to monitor and appraise performance. A number of core staff received reward and recognition across the year after demonstrating hard work, innovation, and going above and beyond for our members and in the delivery of events and activities.

19.1 PAY AND REWARD REVIEW

Following long-term discussions by the Trustee board and staff feedback related to pay and reward within the 2021 Employee Engagement Survey, the Union commissioned an external, independent pay and reward review by Atkinson HR 2021/22. The aim was to develop a more transparent framework for staff to understand the reasoning behind their positioning and remuneration. The following questions were considered in the review:

The scope of the review covered analysing existing documentation and job descriptions, 1-2-1s with staff members, a SWOT analysis of the organisation's current pay structure, and national and regional, as well as sector and role benchmarking. The work spanned several months, resulting in:

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19.2 EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT SURVEY 2022

This was the second year that the Union commissioned the services of Agenda Consulting, via NUS, to conduct the above with our core and student staff team. We were one of 38 SU's taking part in the survey, enabling us to benchmark ourselves against those, as well as 10 specific SUs of our choosing, and 54 third sector organisations. The overall response rate was 55% (59% in 2021)and comprised of 8 student staff (out of 22) and 14 (out of 15) core staff and officers. The survey consisted of 71 questions and covered the following areas:

The results were mixed, with some very positive responses - and a hugely positive response again from student staff, with 58% of replies having a 100% positive outcome - but with some areas from the core staff and officers' perspective for the organisation to improve on.

Positive areas included:

Areas to address included:

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• People in other departments are skilled and competent to do their jobs

• I receive a good service from other departments in the SU

Staff were, also, able to give free text comments at the end, one of which was to describe the organisation in 3 words. The word cloud below illustrates the words given:

Results were shared with the core staff/officers and student staff and actions agreed within the 2022/23 operational plan to address areas of weaker satisfaction.

It is hoped that pay and reward review, which had not been completed prior to the survey running, and some staffing changes will go a significant way to addressing some of the concerns. Overall, the picture seemed to be of a team needing to review internal relationships and workloads, with some rebuilding and learning to support and value each other again after a stressful couple of years for most of us.

Following the return to some normality, the Union was certainly affected by the national phenomena of the 'Great Resignation', with 6 members of the team moving on to new, higher paid and more senior opportunities within short succession. This reflects how much the Union progresses its employees but caused some internal challenges at the end of a very busy year, as well as a positive opportunity to bring in fresh talent and ideas. It was also an opportunity to continue to diversify the workforce with specific, external expertise commissioned for the first time in BAME Recruitment and Diversifying Group Limited. Some success in this area was, ultimately, had which is very positive.

20. OVERALL PERFORMANCE AND STUDENT SATISFACTION

The Union had a challenging year in terms of overall performance, due to operating in a pandemic, and a mixed picture in terms of student satisfaction.

With regards to the Union's 18 Key Performance Indicators, (KPIs), improvements were seen in 10 areas, performance remained the same or was not comparable (for various reasons) in 6 areas and declined in 10 (NB some KPIs saw both an increase and a decline within them, depending on the range of measures for that KPI).

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Most areas of decline were felt to be as a result of challenges in engaging a less confident and less engaged student body generally, as lingering effects of Covid-19. The table below outlines performance by KPI.

Not
comparable,
Performance Performance N/A, or stayed
No. KPI up on 2020/21 down on 2020/21 same Comments
Satisfaction
with the
Students'
Union for our
members Performance
increases year down in NSS Q26
on year - target and CES Q14 but
of 80% across same in Big Worc
1 the board • • Survey (BWS)
The
percentage of
the student
body aware of
the range of
services run by
the SU Question not
increases year asked in BWS
2 on year • • this year
The
percentage of
the student
body filling in
our Big Survey
increases year Down by 1,062
3 on year • students
The
percentage of
the student
body satisfied Performance
that we are down in CES
representing Q5.3 by 3%and Q
them and 5.4 by 7%Down
providing them in NSS Q26 by
with a voice 3%++Question
increases year not asked in BWS
4 on year • • this year
The number of
students voting
in our
Leadership
Elections - 41% increase on
target of 20% last year - 20% of
5 of membership • membership

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The number of available positions in our governance structures are 100% of Student filled - target of Council (SC) 6 at least 80% • positions filled The number of ideas submitted to More ideas the SU increases year to more motions 7 on year • to SC The number of students accessing our advice and Increased support service numbers of increases year cases, individual on year students, and 8 • contacts The number of welfare campaigns Safe sex delivered by campaign Officers year engagement on year that increased meet the SU's significantly. campaign 9 objectives • • varied The number of students who are members Sports and of an SU club society members or society increasedNetwor increases year k members 10 on year • • decreased The number of clubs and societies increases year on year - target of 60 societies 11 and 50 clubs • Both down Number of volunteering hours given by students More hours increases year logged but by 12 on year • • less students

100% of Student Council (SC) positions filled

More ideas submitted leading to more motions to SC

Increased numbers of cases, individual students, and contacts

Safe sex campaign engagement increased significantly. Other campaigns varied

Sports and society members increasedNetwor k members decreased

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The
percentage of
students
saying that
being involved
with the SU
enhanced their
employability
increases year ++Down 5% to
13 on year • 46%
Worcester sits
in the top 50 in
the BUCS 61st out of 149
14 League • institutions
Recorded
The number of attendees down
students 360 on
attending 2020/21++BWS -
events in the up in terms of %
Hangar who had attended
increases year events up 17% to
15 on year • • 64%
The SU
achieves at
least Silver
Best Bar None
accreditation Retained Gold
16 each year • BBN
Mixed picture -
commercial
contracts up on
year before but
not at levels prior
to
The profitability pandemicMarketi
of SU ng revenue
commercial slightly upBar
services and sales well up on
contracts 2020/21 but down
increases year on budget. Very
on year good Sem 1, poor
17 • • Sem 2

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The percentage of students feeling that SU events had a positive impact on their student experience increases year 18 on year • TOTAL (NB some KPIs performed both up and down within their individual measures) 10 10 6

++Up by 6% to 74%

20.1 NSS

Q26 The students' union effectively represents my academic interests: Overall University: -3% to 62% (sector average = 53%, top quartile 71%)

The Union, unfortunately, saw scores go down or remain static in all B2 optional questions (which mirrors the University and wider SU sector results) but they remained above the sector average:

B.2.1. The Students' Union (Association or Guild) had had a positive impact on my sense of belonging to the university or college= 40% (41% in 2020/21), sector average this year of 36%.

B.2. 2. The Students' Union (Association or Guild) has had a positive impact on the local community = 45% (45% in 2020/21) sector average this year of 37%.

B.2.3. The Students' Union (Association or Guild) has helped me develop useful life skills = 33% (35% in 2020/21), sector average this year of 27%.

The Union was, very positively, positioned 18th out of 149 Unions nationally in the University's compiled NSS rankings (19th/149 in 2021 and 2020, 36th/152 in 2019 and 61st/151 in 2018).

20.2 COURSE EXPERIENCE SURVEY (CES) Q.5.3 - I know who my Course Rep is:

Overall University: -3% to 80%

Q 5.4 - Course Reps represent the interests of students on my course effectively: Overall University: -7% to 66%

Q14.2 Overall satisfaction with the Students' Union and its services/activities:

Overall University: -1% to 69%

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WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

ACHIEVEMENT AND PERFORMANCE 20.3 BIG WORC SURVEY (BWS) 2022

The Big Worc Survey returned for its fifth year but was scaled back significantly compared to previous years, with only key questions remaining to ensure effective benchmarking. The results of the survey will contribute to a wider insights project to take place in the 2022-23 academic year.

A total of 393 students completed the survey, far fewer than in previous years and a reflection of the overall challenges in student engagement seen throughout the academic year.

The overall findings of the survey are as follows:

Overall Satisfaction with the Union 2022 2021 2020
Very satisfied or satisfied 68% 68% 80%
Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied 29% 30% 17%
Dissatisfied or very dissatisfied 3% 2% 3%

Overall, the 2021/22 academic year was another extremely busy one for the Union, with the Officers, as ever, responding brilliantly to the challenges of their role. We delighted in being able to bring back in-person events and in seeing students enjoying them how they used to. It is certainly the case that the student body were changed by Covid-19 and we did our best to respond to this and engage and support them in a way they would appreciate. We did not always get it right but we kept trying. We are very proud of what was achieved during the year, with many of our initiatives being commended by NUS, WonkHE or replicated by other Unions, such as the review of our student committee roles for accessibility. The positive culture of #TeamWorc continued to embed across our functions and EDI became more central than ever to the Union's activities and services.

FINANCIAL REVIEW

Financial position

Income from all sources totalled £1,028,790 (2021: £814,921). Total expenditure of £1,004,865 (2021: £844,068) on all the students' services we provide, which left a surplus for the year of £23,925 (2021 deficit £29,147).

The General Fund balance at the year end stood at £298,228 (2021: £303,402).

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WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

FINANCIAL REVIEW

Restricted funds, which represent monies raised by the Union's various clubs and societies were £189,244 (2021: £171,496).

Reserves policy

The primary aim of the policy is to ensure that sufficient reserves are in place to provide funds for investment in the Union and its activities, thus enhancing the experience of students at this University. With a secure base of reserves, the Trustees of WSU will be exercising their duty to oversee the finances of the organisation in a prudent and proper manner and to minimise risks to the organisation's viability.

The level of reserves needed at any one time was reviewed again in-year by the Trustee Board and was agreed to be sufficient and realistic at 3 months operating costs (as defined by the annual budgeted organisational expenditure), known as the 'operating reserve'.

Reserves in excess of the required reserves are held as 'free reserves' or 'designated reserves', in accordance with the Trustee Board. If reserves fall below 3 months' operating costs for more than 6 months, the Trustees should ask the management to formulate a recovery plan to be submitted to Trustee Board for approval. If there are surplus funds available above the minimum level, the Committee should plan to utilise these within three years.

Going concern

After making appropriate enquiries, the trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. For this reason, they continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the financial statements.

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WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

FUTURE PLANS

The 2022/23 academic year will see the Union deliver upon another one-year, operational plan but commence a strategic planning process to take it through the next 5 years. All areas of the Union's strategy will be reviewed, including its mission, values and core framework. This will be done in consultation with students (including through externally sourced insight work) and through the staff and officer team working together to respond to existing priorities and doing our best to anticipate future needs. We will continue to have a focus on:

• Raising satisfaction levels with the Union amongst all of our members.

• Ensuring Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) is core to the Union's activities and work to a comprehensive action plan for the year, providing more training and guidance than ever to our members.

• Increasing the awareness of Student Council amongst the student body, as well as continuing to increase the number of students who engage in our Ideas Forum to effect positive change across the University.

• Supporting students who are studying at the University's partner colleges and those who are studying in the UK for the first time.

• Continuing to promote how involvement with the Union's portfolio develops our members' employability.

• Ensuring that all staff would recommend WSU as a good place to work, that they feel their wellbeing has been given priority, and that they have developed and grown as people when they leave WSU.

• Seeking creative and appropriate additional sources of revenue, including wider offers within the Hangar space, increasing our media sales, external partnerships, and commercial bookings.

FUTURE FUNDING

We will work with the University annually to negotiate on our annual block grant, to ensure we continue to maximise our impact and are able to develop as an organisation to meet the needs of our increasingly diverse student body. We aim to keep strengthening the Union's services, activities and reach to students, whilst minimising financial risk to the Union and securing greater financial investment. We will continue to allocate as much resource as possible to student-facing services and representation and to work hard behind the scenes to review contracts and reduce costs wherever possible. We believe it is time to strategically review the Union's space and facilities on St John's campus and elsewhere to maintain and build on student satisfaction levels and to support the University's aims around recruitment, retention and progression.

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WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT Governing document

The charity is controlled by its governing document, a deed of trust and constitutes an unincorporated charity.

Charity constitution

The University of Worcester Students' Union (hereafter referred to as 'WSU' or 'the Union') falls under the definition of a "Students' Union" in section 20(1) of the Education Act 1994, and has charitable status. The University of Worcester (hereafter referred to as the University) exercises its duty under the Education Act 1994 to take such steps as are reasonably practicable to secure that the Union operates in a fair and democratic manner and is accountable for its finances.

Since becoming a registered charity, WSU has a dedicated Board of Trustees, consisting of up to three full time officers, up to four student trustees, and up to three external trustees. The Student and Lay Trustees are selected on the basis of their appropriateness, experience and expertise by a simple majority vote of an Appointments Panel. Appointments of student trustees need to be ratified by a majority vote of Student Council. The Board of Trustees has overall responsibility for the good governance and financial stability of the Union and has been responsible for passing policies and procedures to bring the Union up to date with changing legal requirements.

The Union is a democratic organisation, with the ultimate decision making power being its membership through Student Council, which is the sovereign body. Student Council agrees the Policy of the Union, discusses wider and national issues that affect students at Worcester, guides strategic campaigns, represents the voice of students, and makes, appeals and amends the Bye-Laws, jointly with Trustees. Student Council continued to hold the officers accountable for their actions this year through a number of virtual meetings, all of which were minuted and all but one of which was quorate.

Officers are elected into position by cross campus secret ballot, for a one-year term of office to an Executive Committee. The Executive Committee oversee the day to day student-centered activities of the Union and are accountable to Student Council. All Executive Officers should receive an induction and training into their legal and administrative responsibilities, with an on-going programme of development during their term of office. The Executive Committee Members are able to run for re-election for a second year on the same terms.

The Union employs non-student professional staff to ensure effective management and delivery of its many activities and to implement the policy decisions made through the democratic process. There is delegated authority, through the Chief Executive Officer, for operational decision-making and accountability within the various areas of the Union, in accordance with agreed structures.

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WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

RELATIONSHIP WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF WORCESTER

The Union receives a Block Grant from the University and occupies buildings owned by the University, which also pays for utilities. This support is intrinsic to the relationship between the University and Union. Although the Union seeks to supplement and diversify its income through commercial and trading activities where possible, it continues to be dependent on the support of the University. The Union is confident that this support will continue for the foreseeable future as it believes it is an integral part of the University structure and strategic plans and of utmost value to the overall student experience at the University.

The Union believes it has continued to demonstrate its value and impact during difficult times nationally and globally, and has played a critical role at the University in maintaining student communities, the student voice, and the student experience. The Union remains grateful to the University for their ongoing support and looks forward to continued collaboration as it works to support its diverse membership, ensuring students can create positive, ensuring memories of their time at Worcester.

CHARITY GOVERNANCE CODE

The Union is committed to the seven principles outlined in the Code as follows:

1. Organisational Purpose

The Union continues to have strong organisational purpose and to work to its charitable objectives, laid out in its Constitution. As reported above, the Union worked to an operational plan for the year, with the previous, longer-term, strategic planning period coming to an end in July 2021. The Trustee Board agreed that, with the backdrop of the pandemic, it was prudent to postpone development of a new longer-term strategic framework until consultation with members and stakeholders could be more effectively conducted and the world returned to some normality. A plan was agreed over course of the year to commence this strategic work in 2022/23. In the 2017/18 academic year, the Union developed 18 KPIs against which it continues to measure and benchmark its development and performance. These KPIs will, also, be revisited during the next strategic planning process.

2. Leadership

The Board of Trustees works with the Chief Executive and senior management in the organisation to agree a clear strategic direction and to ensure that the organisational values are reflected and demonstrated in its work.

3. Integrity

Trustees of the organisation are expected to follow the Nolan Principles of Public Life and receive training on this. They are also expected to maintain the independence of the Union and to ensure it works to its charitable aims at all times.

4. Decision-making risk and control

The Board maintains strong oversight of the organisation, delegated where appropriate to sub-committees with defined terms of reference. Key procedures and policies of the Union, as well as organisational performance and legal compliance are reviewed on a regular basis.The trustees have a duty to identify and review the risks to which the charity is exposed and to ensure appropriate controls are in place to provide reasonable assurance against fraud and error (see risk management section below for more detail)..

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WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

5. Board effectiveness

The structure and composition of the Board, as well as recruitment to it, ensure an appropriate balance of skills, knowledge and student representation. A Skills and Experience Matrix has been created to support this process. Trustees receive training upon their appointment and an induction to the Union. The Board and its Sub-Committees meet regularly to receive information and reports and to have full and frank discussions of important issues. The Chief Executive also maintains email communication with the Board between meetings on important matters, as well as meets with the Chair and Deputy Chair at least once between full Board meetings to discuss current management priorities.

6. Diversity

The Board values diversity in all its forms and is committed to reaching out to under-represented groups when recruiting Trustees to ensure they are reflective of the membership of the Union and of society. As with staff recruitment, the Union will look to external support and expertise when recruiting future Lay Trustees. When recruiting Student Trustees from its membership, the Union will do its utmost to target promotion amongst cohorts of students which are typically under-represented. Monitoring of diversity of Board membership is undertaken alongside similar monitoring of diversity amongst staff.

7. Openness and accountability

Building trust to secure the confidence of our members and stakeholders is a key part of how the Union operates. Student Council receives updates on the work on the Board and vice versa. The Board also ensures that the Union's membership is kept informed of progress and performance through annual meetings (All Student Meetings), as well as accessible information published on the Union's website, including summary minutes of full Board meetings. A Register of Declarations of Interest for Trustees is also maintained and reviewed regularly.

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WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT Risk management

The trustees have a duty to identify and review the risks to which the charity is exposed and to ensure appropriate controls are in place to provide reasonable assurance against fraud and error.

The Board of Trustees reviews the risk factors that could affect the strategic, operational and business interests of the Union. In light of the possible risks, the Board has put in place a risk register with attendant checks and balances to ensure compliance with health and safety, employment law and financial competency. (The Union also maintains its own annual Statement of Legal Compliance, which is reviewed at by the Board at the same time each year as the risk register). The register was reviewed during the academic year and areas deemed to be of heightened risk, as we emerged from the pandemic, are listed below, with associated actions to try and mitigate or annul:

• The Union suffers a significant fall in income through a lack of sponsorships: Due to the effects the pandemic and successive lockdowns had on the hospitality industry in particular, an interim agreement was established with the Union's principal sponsor, Tramps Nightclub, for 2021/22, in order that the business was able to survive and recover as soon as possible, resulting in some but much reduced income for the Union. The approach taken with Tramps was a prudent one and negotiations for contracted income for 2022/23 towards the end of the financial year were positive, reflecting a solid business relationship and gratitude from Tramps for a human and pragmatic approach taken by the Union during a very difficult period for nightclubs. The contract with Dominos Pizza remained stable and at previous levels. Generally, contracts are re-negotiated in a timely manner by the Union's senior management, who keep the Board appraised. The Union continues to investigate ways in which it can increase income from existing commercial services and external partnerships, in way that do not create unnecessary risk or breach existing contracts.

• The Union and its staff are adversely affected by negative developments with pension providers, namely SUSS: Communication has been maintained with SUSS Trustees, AGMs attended, and questions posed regarding projections for the scheme. Advice regularly sought from Auditors and the University is being kept abreast of developments. Successive valuations suggest that the annual cost for Unions will continue to rise at a steady rate. The Union is not one of those Students' Unions affected by the legal issues uncovered by SUSS in 2018 relating to historical failings in governance of the scheme, which resulted in 'windfalls' for some members and an increase to the overall deficit (which was mitigated by some members agreeing to forego their windfall). The Union has no members affected by this.

Pay policy for senior staff

The level of remuneration agreed for senior members of staff for the academic year, was based on benchmarking with equivalent position in other Unions nationally, with an external pay and reward review for the Union conducted over several months in 2022, by Atkinson HR Limited, whilst taking into consideration the size and turnover of the Union, as well as the location of the institution and the size of the Union's membership.

REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS Registered Charity number 1145192

Principal address

Henwick Grove Worcester Worcestershire WR2 6AJ

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WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

Trustees

L.Lees - ended term of office June 2022 R.Mularczyk - ended term of office June 2022 T.Manning - ended term of office June 2022 A.Linforth - appointed June 2022 M.Lee - appointed June 2022 G.Allcott - appointed June 2022 A.Humphrey- ended term of office October 2020 M. Osborne - appointed D.Dudley - appointed March 2022 M.Payne - appointed March 2022 R. Williams - appointed October 2019, will commence second term in office October 2022 M. Jolley - commenced second term of office July 2019, term extended for a year in July 2022 M.Brittain - commenced second term of office October 2021

Auditors

Knox Cropper LLP Chartered Accountants and Statutory Auditors 153 -155 London Road Hemel Hempstead Hertfordshire HP3 9SQ

STATEMENT OF TRUSTEES' RESPONSIBILITIES

The trustees are responsible for preparing the Report of the Trustees and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

The law applicable to charities in England and Wales, the Charities Act 2011, Charity (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 and the provisions of the trust deed requires the trustees to prepare consolidated financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charity for that period. In preparing those financial statements, the trustees are required to

The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and the group to enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011, the Charity (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 and the provisions of the trust deed. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

Page 38

WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

Approved by order of the board of trustees on ............................................. and signed on its behalf by:

.................................................................... Trustee

Page 39

Report of the Independent Auditors to the Trustees of Worcester Students' Union

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Worcester Students' Union (the 'charity') for the year ended 31 July 2022 which comprise the Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities, the Consolidated Balance Sheet, the Consolidated Cash Flow Statement and notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion the financial statements:

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 Auditors' responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charity 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 charity'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 trustees are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the Annual Report, other than the financial statements and our Report of the Independent Auditors thereon.

Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

In connection with our audit of the financial statements, 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 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.

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Report of the Independent Auditors to the Trustees of Worcester Students' Union

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

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

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the Statement of Trustees' Responsibilities, the trustees are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements which 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 charity'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 charity or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

We have been appointed as auditors 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 a Report of the Independent Auditors 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.

The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below:

• The Group is required to comply with charity law and, based on our knowledge of its activities, we identified that the legal requirement to accurately account for restricted funds was of key significance.

• We gained an understanding of how the charity complied with its legal and regulatory framework, including the requirement to properly account for restricted funds, through discussions with management and a review of the documented policies, procedures and controls.

• The audit team, which is experienced in the audit of charities, considered the group's susceptibility to material misstatement and how fraud may occur. Our considerations included the risk of management override.

• Our approach was to check that all restricted income was properly identified and separately accounted for and to ensure that only valid and appropriate expenditure was charged to restricted funds. This included reviewing journal adjustments and unusual transactions.

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council's website at www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our Report of the Independent Auditors.

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Report of the Independent Auditors to the Trustees of Worcester Students' Union

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charity's trustees, 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 charity'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 charity and the charity's trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Knox Cropper LLP Chartered Accountants and Statutory Auditors 153 -155 London Road Hemel Hempstead Hertfordshire HP3 9SQ Date: .............................................

Page 42

WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

Notes
INCOME AND ENDOWMENTS FROM
Donations and legacies
2
Charitable activities
Student activities
Bar
Other trading activities
3
Investment income
4
Total
EXPENDITURE ON
Raising funds
6
Charitable activities
7
Representation
Advice and welfare
Student activities
Bar
Affiliations
Total
NET INCOME/(EXPENDITURE)
Other recognised gains/(losses)
Actuarial gains/(losses) on defined benefit
schemes
Net movement in funds
RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS
Total funds brought forward
TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD		 Unrestricted
funds
£
604,950
-
156,379
93,398
197
854,924
81,099
103,974
62,565
309,357
266,454
25,298
848,747
6,177
-
6,177
(76,673)
**(70,496) **		 Restricted
funds
£
-
173,866
-
-
-
173,866
-
-
-
156,118
-
-
156,118
17,748
-
17,748
171,496
189,244		 2022
Total
funds
£
604,950
173,866
156,379
93,398
197
1,028,790
81,099
103,974
62,565
465,475
266,454
25,298
1,004,865
23,925
-
23,925
94,823
118,748		 2021
Total
funds
£
616,888
59,799
97,964
39,681
589
814,921
73,116
111,449
56,364
304,559
251,244
20,690
817,422
(2,501)
(26,646)
(29,147)
123,970
94,823

The notes form part of these financial statements

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WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Consolidated Balance Sheet 31 July 2022

Unrestricted
funds
Notes
£
FIXED ASSETS
Tangible assets
12
14,383
CURRENT ASSETS
Stocks
14
8,623
Debtors
15
3,361
Cash at bank and in hand
308,062
320,046
CREDITORS
Amounts falling due within one year
16
(36,202)
NET CURRENT ASSETS
283,844
TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT
LIABILITIES
298,227
PROVISIONS FOR LIABILITIES
17
(368,724)
NET ASSETS
(70,497)
FUNDS
18
Unrestricted funds
Restricted funds
TOTAL FUNDS		 Restricted
funds
£
-
-
-
189,244
189,244
-
189,244
189,244
-
189,244		 2022
Total
funds
£
14,383
8,623
3,361
497,306
509,290
(36,202)
473,088
487,471
(368,724)
118,747
(70,497)
189,244
118,747		 2021
Total
funds
£
16,983
9,361
12,903
472,602
494,866
(36,952)
457,914
474,897
(380,075)
94,822
(76,674)
171,496
94,822

The financial statements were approved by the Board of Trustees and authorised for issue on ............................................. and were signed on its behalf by:

............................................. Trustee

The notes form part of these financial statements

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WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Charity Balance Sheet 31 July 2022

Unrestricted Restricted
funds
funds
Notes
£
£
FIXED ASSETS
Tangible assets
12
14,383
-
Investments
13
1
-
14,384
-
CURRENT ASSETS
Stocks
14
8,623
-
Debtors
15
3,361
-
Cash at bank and in hand
308,062
189,244
320,046
189,244
CREDITORS
Amounts falling due within one year
16
(36,202)
-
NET CURRENT ASSETS
283,844
189,244
TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT
LIABILITIES
298,228
189,244
PROVISIONS FOR LIABILITIES
17
(368,724)
-
NET ASSETS
(70,496)
189,244
FUNDS
18
Unrestricted funds
Restricted funds
TOTAL FUNDS		 2022
Total
funds
£
14,383
1
14,384
8,623
3,361
497,306
509,290
(36,202)
473,088
487,472
(368,724)
118,748
(70,496)
189,244
118,748		 2021
Total
funds
£
16,983
1
16,984
9,361
12,903
472,602
494,866
(36,652)
457,914
474,898
(380,075)
94,823
(76,673)
171,496
94,823

The financial statements were approved by the Board of Trustees and authorised for issue on 2022 and were signed on its behalf by:

............................................. Trustee

The notes form part of these financial statements

Page 45

WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Consolidated Cash Flow Statement for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

Notes
Cash flows from operating activities
Cash generated from operations
1
Net cash provided by operating activities
Cash flows from investing activities
Purchase of tangible fixed assets
Interest received
Net cash (used in)/provided by investing activities
Change in cash and cash equivalents
in the reporting period
Cash and cash equivalents at the
beginning of the reporting period
Cash and cash equivalents at the end
of the reporting period		 2022
£
26,625
26,625
(2,118)
197
(1,921)
24,704
472,602
497,306		 2021
£
53,279
53,279
-
589
589
53,868
418,734
472,602

The notes form part of these financial statements

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WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Notes to the Consolidated Cash Flow Statement for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

1. RECONCILIATION OF NET INCOME/(EXPENDITURE) TO NET CASH FLOW FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES

Net income/(expenditure) for the reporting period (as per the
Statement of Financial Activities)
Adjustments for:
Depreciation charges
Interest received
SUSS Pension deficit movements
Decrease/(increase) in stocks
Decrease in debtors
Decrease in creditors
Net cash provided by operations		 2022
£
23,925
4,718
(197)
(11,351)
738
9,542
(750)
26,625		 2021
£
(2,501)
61,284
(589)
(6,796)
(1,602)
6,671
(3,188)
53,279

2. ANALYSIS OF CHANGES IN NET FUNDS

At 1.8.21 Cash flow At 31.7.22
£ £ £
Net cash
Cash at bank and in hand **472,602 ** **24,704 ** 497,306
**472,602 ** **24,704 ** 497,306
Total **472,602 ** **24,704 ** 497,306

The notes form part of these financial statements

Page 47

WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Basis of preparing the financial statements

The financial statements of the charity, which is a public benefit entity under FRS 102, have been prepared in accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102) 'Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019)', Financial Reporting Standard 102 'The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland' and the Charities Act 2011. The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention, with the exception of investments which are included at market value.

Income

All income is recognised in the Statement of Financial Activities once the charity has entitlement to the funds, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably.

Other income is recognised in the period in which it is receivable and to the extent the goods have been provided or on completion of the service.

Expenditure

Liabilities are recognised as expenditure as soon as there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the charity to that expenditure, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefits will be required in settlement and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all cost related to the category. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to particular headings they have been allocated to activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources.

Fundraising costs are those incurred in seeking voluntary contributions and do not include the costs of disseminating information in support of the charitable activities. Support costs are those costs incurred directly in support of expenditure on the objects of the charity and include project management carried out at Headquarters. Governance costs are those incurred in connection with administration of the charity and compliance with constitutional and statutory requirements.

Allocation and apportionment of support costs

The bases on which support costs have been allocated is set out in note 8 of the accounts.

Tangible fixed assets

There is no set de minimis level for the capitalisation of tangible fixed assets and each case is dealt with on an individual basis.

The policy with respect to impairment reviews of fixed assets is that reviews will be carried out if events indicate that the carrying value of any fixed asset may not be recoverable. Impairment losses are recognised in the SOFA.

Tangible fixed assets are stated at cost less depreciation. Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write off the cost of fixed assets, less their estimated residual value, over their expected useful lives on the following bases:

10 to 20% per annum straight line and 20% reducing Retail fixtures and fittings - balance Administration fixtures & fittings - 20% per annum reducing balance Improvements to premises - 10% per annum straight line and 20% reducing balance

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WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Notes to the Financial Statements - continued for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES - continued

Stocks

Stocks are valued at the lower of cost and net realisable value, after making due allowance for obsolete and slow moving items.

Taxation

The charity is exempt from tax on its charitable activities.

Fund accounting

Unrestricted funds can be used in accordance with the charitable objectives at the discretion of the trustees.

Restricted funds can only be used for particular restricted purposes within the objects of the charity. Restrictions arise when specified by the donor or when funds are raised for particular restricted purposes.

Further explanation of the nature and purpose of each fund is included in the notes to the financial statements.

Pension costs and other post-retirement benefits

The Union participates in the Students' Union Superannuation Scheme (SUSS), a defined benefit scheme which is externally funded and contracted out of the State Second Pension. The fund is valued at least every three years by a professionally qualified independent actuary with the rates of contribution payable being determined by the trustees on the advice of the actuary.

The most recent valuation of the Scheme was carried out as at 30 June 2019 and showed that the market value of the Scheme's assets was £119,100,000 with these assets representing 46% of the value of benefits that had accrued to members after allowing for expected future increases in earnings. The deficit on an ongoing funding basis amounted to £140,900,000.

The 2019 valuation recommended a monthly contribution requirement by each participating Union intended to clear the ongoing funding deficit ending in 2035, increasing by 5% each year.

The scheme operates as a pooled arrangement, with contributions paid at a centrally agreed rate. As a consequence, no share of the underlying assets and liabilities can be directly attributed to the Union.

Under FRS 102, where a scheme participates in a multi-employer defined benefit pension scheme that is in deficit and the employer has entered into an agreement to fund the deficit the entity shall recognise a liability for the contributions payable that arise from the agreement. As the agreement runs until 2035, a discount rate of 3.8% has been applied in determining the net present value of the contributions made in the period.

The union also contributes to the Aegon Pension Scheme. The annual contributions payable are charged to the income and expenditure account.

Going concern

After making appropriate enquiries, the trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. For this reason they continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the financial statements.

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WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Notes to the Financial Statements - continued for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

2.
DONATIONS AND LEGACIES
Grants
Other grants
CJRS grant
Grants received, included in the above, are as follows:
University of Worcester
3.
OTHER TRADING ACTIVITIES
Marketing
Other
NUS Extra
Commissions receivable
Varsity income
Events income
4.
INVESTMENT INCOME
Deposit account interest		 2022
£
600,000
4,950
-
604,950
2022
£
600,000
2022
£
58,425
26
1,020
3,245
16,809
13,873
93,398
2022
£
**197 **		 2022
£
600,000
4,950
-
604,950
2022
£
600,000
2022
£
58,425
26
1,020
3,245
16,809
13,873
93,398
2022
£
**197 **		 2021
£
540,000
5,700
71,188
616,888
2021
£
540,000
2021
£
29,364
317
1,341
2,529
6,130
-
39,681
2021
£
589		 2021
£
540,000
5,700
71,188
616,888
2021
£
540,000
2021
£
29,364
317
1,341
2,529
6,130
-
39,681
2021
£
589

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continued...

WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Notes to the Financial Statements - continued for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

5.
INCOME FROM CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES
Activity
Student Activity
Membership
Student activities
Bar
Bar
BII insurance claim
Bar
6.
RAISING FUNDS
Raising donations and legacies
Staff costs
Telephone
Postage and stationery
Marketing costs
Legal fees
Other trading activities
Bad debts
Aggregate amounts		 2022
£
173,866
156,379
-
330,245
2022
£
68,909
158
(100)
12,132
-
81,099
2022
£
-
81,099		 2021
£
59,799
93,062
4,902
157,763
2021
£
63,591
381
100
9,294
100
73,466
2021
£
(350)
73,116

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continued...

WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Notes to the Financial Statements - continued for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

7. CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES COSTS

Representation
Advice and welfare
Student activities
Bar
Affiliations		 Direct
Costs
£
-
45,235
344,174
162,485
25,298
**577,192 **		 Support
costs (see
note 8)
£
103,974
17,330
121,301
103,969
-
346,574		 Totals
£
103,974
62,565
465,475
266,454
25,298
923,766
8.
SUPPORT COSTS
Governance
Management
costs
£
£
Representation
67,737
36,237
Advice and welfare
11,290
6,040
Student activities
79,025
42,276
Bar
67,733
36,236
225,785
120,789
Activity
Basis of allocation
Management
Based on estimated usage of resources
Governance costs
Based on estimated usage of resources		 Totals
£
103,974
17,330
121,301
103,969
346,574

9. TRUSTEES' REMUNERATION AND BENEFITS

TRUSTEES' REMUNERATION AND BENEFITS
Trustees' salaries
Trustees' social security		 2022
£
61,680
4,649
66,329		 2021
£
55,170
4,148
59,318

Each of the Executive Committee's sabbatical officers received remuneration of £18,349 as authorised in the Union's governing document, for the representation, campaigning and support work they undertake as distinct from their trustee responsibilities.

Trustees' expenses

Trustees' expenses 2022
£
311		 2021
£
35

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WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Notes to the Financial Statements - continued for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

10. STAFF COSTS

Wages and salaries

Social security costs
Other pension costs

The average monthly number of employees during the year was as follows:
Full time
Students - Semester only
No employees received emoluments in excess of £60,000.
11.
COMPARATIVES FOR THE CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL
Unrestricted
funds
£
INCOME AND ENDOWMENTS FROM
Donations and legacies
616,888
Charitable activities
Student activities
-
Bar
97,964
Other trading activities
39,682
Investment income
589
Total
755,123
EXPENDITURE ON
Raising funds
73,116
Charitable activities
Representation
111,449
Advice and welfare
56,364
Student activities
267,199
Bar
251,244
Affiliations
20,690
Total
780,062		 2022
£
522,793
34,606
32,866
590,265
2022
18
22
40
ACTIVITIES
Restricted
funds
£
-
59,799
-
(1)
-
59,798
-
-
-
37,360
-
-
37,360		 2021
£
488,327
31,911
16,119
536,357
2021
17
23
40
Total
funds
£
616,888
59,799
97,964
39,681
589
814,921
73,116
111,449
56,364
304,559
251,244
20,690
817,422

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WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Notes to the Financial Statements - continued for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

11.
COMPARATIVES FOR THE CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES -
continued
Unrestricted
Restricted
funds
funds
£
£
NET INCOME/(EXPENDITURE)
(24,939)
22,438
Transfers between funds
56,744
(56,744)
Other recognised gains/(losses)
Actuarial gains/(losses) on defined benefit
schemes
(26,646)
-
Net movement in funds
5,159
(34,306)
RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS
Total funds brought forward
(81,832)
205,802
TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD
(76,673)
171,496
12.
TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS
Group and Charity
COST
At 1 August 2021
Additions
At 31 July 2022
DEPRECIATION
At 1 August 2021
Charge for year
At 31 July 2022
NET BOOK VALUE
At 31 July 2022
At 31 July 2021
Total
funds
£
(2,501)
-
(26,646)
(29,147)
123,970
94,823
Fixtures
and
fittings
£
907,503
2,118
909,621
890,520
4,718
895,238
14,383
16,983

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continued...

WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Notes to the Financial Statements - continued for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

13. FIXED ASSET INVESTMENTS

FIXED ASSET INVESTMENTS
Unlisted
Charity investments
£
MARKET VALUE
At 1 August 2021 and 31 July 2022 1
NET BOOK VALUE
At 31 July 2022 1
At 31 July 2021 1

There were no investment assets outside the UK.

14.
STOCKS
Group and Charity
Stocks
15.
DEBTORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR
Group
2022
2021
Trade debtors
1,694
9,285
Other debtors
1,667
2,037
VAT
-
1,581
Inter company
-
-
3,361
12,903		 2022
2021
£
£
8,623
9,361
Charity
2022
2021
1,694
9,285
1,667
2,037
-
1,281
-
300
3,361
12,903

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continued...

WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Notes to the Financial Statements - continued for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

16. CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR


Trade creditors
Taxation and social security
Other creditors
Inter company		 Group
2022
2021
7,398
9,032
10,504
8,118
18,300
19,802

-
-
36,202
36,952		 Charity
2022
2021
7,398
9,032
9,304
8,118
18,300
19,502
1,200
300
36,202
36,952		 Charity
2022
2021
7,398
9,032
9,304
8,118
18,300
19,502
1,200
300
36,202
36,952
36,952

17. PROVISIONS FOR LIABILITIES

Provisions 2022
£
368,724		 2021
£
380,075

The above provision relates to the deficit funding contributions the Union is required to make to SUSS (see notes 1 and 19).

18. MOVEMENT IN FUNDS

Net
Transfers
movement
between
At 1.8.21
in funds
funds
£
£
£
Unrestricted funds
General fund
303,402
20,620
(25,794)
Pension deficit
(380,075)
(14,443)
25,794
(
(76,673)
6,177
-
Restricted funds
Clubs and societies
171,496
17,748
-
TOTAL FUNDS
94,823
23,925
-		 At
31.7.22
£
298,228
368,724)
(70,496)
189,244
118,748

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continued...

WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Notes to the Financial Statements - continued for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

18. MOVEMENT IN FUNDS - continued

Net movement in funds, included in the above are as follows:

Unrestricted funds
General fund
Pension deficit
Restricted funds
Clubs and societies
TOTAL FUNDS		 Incoming
resources
£
854,924
-
854,924
173,866
1,028,790		 Resources
expended
£
(834,304)
(14,443)
(848,747)
(156,118)
**(1,004,865) **		 Movement
in funds
£
20,620
(14,443)
6,177
17,748
23,925

Comparatives for movement in funds

Unrestricted funds
General fund
Pension deficit
Restricted funds
Clubs and societies
Capital grant
TOTAL FUNDS		 At 1.8.20
£
278,393
(360,225)
(81,832)
149,058
56,744
205,802
123,970		 Net
movement
in funds
£
(7,684)
(43,901)
(51,585)
22,438
-
22,438
(29,147)		 Transfers
between
funds
£
32,693
24,051
56,744
-
(56,744)
(56,744)
-		 At
31.7.21
£
303,402
(380,075)
(76,673)
171,496
-
171,496
94,823

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continued...

WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Notes to the Financial Statements - continued for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

18. MOVEMENT IN FUNDS - continued

Comparative net movement in funds, included in the above are as follows:

Unrestricted funds
General fund
Pension deficit
Restricted funds
Clubs and societies
TOTAL FUNDS		 Incoming
resources
£
755,123
-
755,123
59,798
814,921		 Resources
expended
£
(762,807)
(17,255)
(780,062)
(37,360)
(817,422)		 Gains and
Movement
losses
in funds
£
£
-
(7,684)
(26,646)
(43,901)
(26,646)
(51,585)
-
22,438
(26,646)
(29,147)

A current year 12 months and prior year 12 months combined position is as follows:

Net Transfers
movement between At
At 1.8.20 in funds funds 31.7.22
£ £ £ £
Unrestricted funds
General fund 278,393 12,936 6,899 298,228
Pension deficit (360,225) (58,344) 49,845 (368,724)
(81,832) (45,408) 56,744 (70,496)
Restricted funds
Clubs and societies 149,058 40,186 - 189,244
Capital grant 56,744 - (56,744) -
205,802 40,186 (56,744) 189,244
TOTAL FUNDS 123,970 (5,222) - 118,748

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continued...

WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Notes to the Financial Statements - continued for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

18. MOVEMENT IN FUNDS - continued

A current year 12 months and prior year 12 months combined net movement in funds, included in the above are as follows:

Unrestricted funds
General fund
Pension deficit
Restricted funds
Clubs and societies
TOTAL FUNDS		 Incoming
resources
£
1,610,047
-
1,610,047
233,664
1,843,711		 Resources
expended
£
(1,597,111)
(31,698)
(1,628,809)
(193,478)
(1,822,287)		 Gains and
losses
£
-
(26,646)
(26,646)
-
(26,646)		 Movement
in funds
£
12,936
(58,344)
(45,408)
40,186
(5,222)

19. EMPLOYEE BENEFIT OBLIGATIONS

The Union participates in the Students' Union Superannuation Scheme, which is a defined benefit scheme whose membership consists of employees of students' unions and related bodies throughout the country. Benefits in respect of service up to 30 September 2003 are accrued on a "final salary" basis, with benefits in respect of service from 1 October 2003 accruing on a Career Average Revalued Earnings (CARE) basis. With effect from 30 September 2011 the Scheme closed to future accrual.

The most recent valuation of the Scheme was carried out as at 30 June 2019 and showed that the market value of the Scheme's assets was £119,100,000 with these assets representing 46% of the value of benefits that had accrued to members after allowing for expected future increases in earnings. The deficit on an ongoing funding basis amounted to £140,900,000.

The assumptions which have the most significant effect upon the results of the valuation are those relating to the rate of return on investments and the rates of increase in salaries and pensions.

The following assumptions applied at 30 June 2019:-

• The investment return would be 4.3% per annum before retirement and 2.3% per annum after retirement.

• Present and future pensions would increase at rates specified by scheme rules with appropriate assumptions where these are dependent on inflation.

The 2019 Valuation recommended a monthly contribution requirement by each Participating Employer expressed in monetary terms intended to clear the ongoing funding deficit over a period of 15 years from 2019/20 and will increase by at least 5% each year.The deficit funding period was also increased by nearly two years.

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WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION Notes to the Financial Statements - continued for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

19. EMPLOYEE BENEFIT OBLIGATIONS - continued

These contributions also include an allowance for cost of the ongoing administrative and operational expenses of running the Scheme. These rates will be formally reviewed following completion of the next valuation due with an effective date of 30 June 2022. Surpluses or deficits which arise at future valuations will also impact on the Union's future contribution commitment. In addition to the above contributions, the Union also pays its share of the Scheme's levy to the Pension Protection Fund.

The liability provided for in respect of the SUSS pension deficit amounted increased to £368,724 (2021: £380,075) at 31 July 2022(see note 17).

The Union also has members in the Aegon Pension Scheme which is a defined contribution scheme.

The total contributions due to the Schemes by the Union in respect of eligible employees for the year ended 31 July 2022 are disclosed in the staff costs note.

20. RELATED PARTY DISCLOSURES

The union is in receipt of a recurrent grant from the parent body to cover salaries and overheads. The amount received for the year ended 31 July 2022 was £600,000 (2021: £540,000).

At the year end the total due to the union from the University of Worcester was £xxxx.

21. ULTIMATE CONTROLLING PARTY

The union is controlled by the executive committee which is subject to democratic election by the voting membership of the union. The ultimate control of the union is vested under the constitution in the membership in General meeting. As such no single person or entity controls the union.

Page 60

WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Detailed Statement of Financial Activities for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

INCOME AND ENDOWMENTS
Donations and legacies
Grants
Other grants
CJRS grant
Other trading activities
Marketing
Other
NUS Extra
Commissions receivable
Varsity income
Events income
Investment income
Deposit account interest
Charitable activities
Bar
BII insurance claim
Student Activity Membership
Total incoming resources
EXPENDITURE
Raising donations and legacies
Wages
Social security
Pensions
Telephone
Postage and stationery
Marketing costs
Legal fees		 2022
£
600,000
4,950
-
604,950
58,425
26
1,020
3,245
16,809
13,873
93,398
197
156,379
-
173,866
330,245
1,028,790
62,677
3,745
2,487
158
(100)
12,132
-
81,099		 2021
£
540,000
5,700
71,188
616,888
29,364
317
1,341
2,529
6,130
-
39,681
589
93,062
4,902
59,799
157,763
814,921
57,494
3,651
2,446
381
100
9,294
100
73,466

This page does not form part of the statutory financial statements

Page 61

WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Detailed Statement of Financial Activities for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

Raising donations and legacies
Other trading activities
Bad debts
Charitable activities
Wages
Social security
Pensions
Insurance
Telephone
Sundries
Other costs
Clubs and Societies costs
Ball expenditure
Union awards
Bar purchases
Equipment maintenance
BUCS representation
Transport subsidy - BUCS
NUS
Event costs
Varsity costs
Equipment purchases
Depreciation of plant & machinery
Support costs
Management
Wages
Social security
Pensions
Insurance
Telephone
Postage and stationery
Travel expenses
Consultancy costs
Conferences and training
Computer costs
Legal and professional
Miscellaneous cost
Bank charges
Carried forward		 2022
£
-
214,397
13,961
6,832
4,771
68
-
9,429
156,210
-
360
72,830
1,450
12,635
26,187
13,868
24,155
12,906
2,415
4,718
577,192
153,462
9,592
22,023
17,916
(2,013)
636
628
1,283
2,252
7,501
5,835
1,828
1,992
222,935		 2021
£
(350)
213,446
13,378
6,436
4,071
-
50
4,268
37,360
303
492
46,382
1,355
7,669
1,240
13,863
7,931
7,166
2,830
4,542
372,782
82,607
4,793
6,545
17,945
3,136
649
419
2,193
6,570
5,173
2,092
1,426
18,580
152,128

This page does not form part of the statutory financial statements

Page 62

WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Detailed Statement of Financial Activities for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

Management
Brought forward
Recruitment
Fixtures and fittings
Governance costs
Trustees' salaries
Trustees' social security
Trustees' expenses
Wages
Social security
Pensions
Auditors' remuneration
Sundries
Conferences and training
Institute reps honorariums
Campaign costs
Total resources expended
Net income/(expenditure)		 2022
£
222,935
2,850
-
225,785
-
-
311
92,257
7,308
1,524
9,975
659
1,638
4,800
2,317
120,789
1,004,865
23,925		 2021
£
152,128
330
56,742
209,200
55,170
4,148
35
79,610
5,941
692
9,250
33
-
5,850
1,595
162,324
817,422
(2,501)

This page does not form part of the statutory financial statements

Page 63

REGISTERED CHARITY NUMBER: 1145192

Report of the Trustees and Consolidated Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

for

WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Knox Cropper LLP Chartered Accountants and Statutory Auditors 153 -155 London Road Hemel Hempstead Hertfordshire HP3 9SQ

WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Contents of the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

Page
Report of the Trustees 1 to 39
Report of the Independent Auditors 40 to 42
Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities 43
Consolidated Balance Sheet 44
Charity Balance Sheet 45
Consolidated Cash Flow Statement 46
Notes to the Consolidated Cash Flow Statement 47
Notes to the Financial Statements 48 to 60
Detailed Statement of Financial Activities 61 to 63

WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

The trustees present their report with the consolidated financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 July 2022. The trustees have adopted the provisions of Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019).

OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES Objectives and aims

The 2021/22 academic year was another very busy one for Worcester Students' Union (WSU). As we emerged from the pandemic and resumed some normality in life, our main aim was to re-engage students in our activities in a manner which suited them and continue to innovate in this respect, to educate them on what University life was all about, and stress what support and opportunities we could provide them with. This proved challenging in many ways over the year and the overall sense we gained was of cohorts of students who were uncertain, lacking in confidence, and struggling to find their feet, as well as struggling with their mental health. The pandemic seemed to have changed people in ways we had, perhaps, feared but hoped would not be realised. The Union's team of dedicated and hard-working core staff, sessional staff and elected Officers routinely went above and beyond to live our values and do our best to welcome, support, represent, and develop our members.

The Union worked to an operational plan for the year, detailed further below, with the previous strategic planning period coming to an end in July 2021. The Trustee Board agreed that, with the backdrop of the pandemic, it was prudent to postpone development of a new longer-term strategic framework until consultation with members and stakeholders could be more effectively conducted and the world returned to some normality. A plan was agreed over the year to commence this strategic work in 2022/23.

The Union remains very grateful for the continued support from the University of Worcester's Board of Governors and senior executive team. We continue to enjoy a strong partnership where there is mutual support and scrutiny, with the common goal of an excellent student experience.

Status and Administration

The Students' Union is constituted in accordance with its constitution and is administered and managed by the Trustees. Following the Charities Act 2006 and the withdrawal of this exempt status for organisations with annual turnover exceeding £100,000, the Students' Union considered its options and was, subsequently, registered with the Charity Commission in December 2011, Charity No. 1145192.

The Executive Committee members are elected by the membership to take office in early June in the year in which they are elected and hold office for one year until the second week of the following June. Members can run for re-election for a second year on the same terms.

Charitable Objects

WSU seeks to enhance the student experience by providing representation, welfare services, social events and opportunities for student development within the Union and the wider community.

Its Objects under its Constitution are:

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WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

ACHIEVEMENT AND PERFORMANCE Achievements and Performance AIMS AND ACTIVITIES

The Union exists to enhance the student experience and provide all c.10,000 students of the University of Worcester with opportunities to make the most out of their time at University. It aims to achieve this through services offering advice and support, democracy and representation, societies and sport, volunteering, and through student-focussed entertainment and events. To provide these, the Union has established departments and consults with its student staff and members to continuously improve. Executive Officers of the Union sit on every major committee of the University and regularly meet local stakeholders to represent the interests of its members.

The Union will seek at all times to:

(i) ensure that the diversity of its membership is recognised and that equal access is available to all Members of whatever origin or orientation;

(ii) pursue its aims and objectives independent of any political party or religious group;

(iii) pursue equal opportunities by taking positive action within the law to facilitate participation of groups discriminated against by society.

When reviewing our objectives and planning our activities, we have given due consideration to the Charity Commission's general and relevant supplementary guidance on public benefit. Our Constitution (revised in 2020, following a comprehensive governance review) has been structured to give the Board of Trustees reasonable authority to manage the affairs of the Union in a professional manner. The Board of Trustees will give the utmost consideration to the views of Members. Whilst we plan for a new strategic framework for the organisation, the Union continued to work to the Vision and Values approved by the Board in 2015/16:

Our Vision Statement:

Representing and supporting students to develop and achieve.

Our Values:

Professional

We will conduct and present ourselves to our students and stakeholders in a professional manner, ensuring we have sound organisational processes and procedures, as well as internal expertise to support the student leadership.

Inspirational

We will lead by example and provide our students with inspiration to reach their full potential and try new things.

Accountable

We will ensure that our students and stakeholders know how we utilise our funds and make decisions through our democratic structure, and how they can get involved.

Student-centred

We will ensure that the services and events we deliver achieve high levels of student satisfaction and that students are integral to our continuous improvement.

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Positive

We will be positive about Worcester and what it can offer students, promoting how we can help and support them.

Entertaining

We will have fun and help students have great memories of their time at Worcester.

Our Core, Strategic Goals:

The Union continued to monitor its progress against its Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) below, established in 2017/18. These will also be reviewed as part of the organisation's imminent strategic development work.

  1. Satisfaction with the Students' Union for our members increases year on year - target of 80% across all relevant University, national, and Students' Union surveys;

  2. The percentage of the student body aware of the range of services run by the Students' Union increases year

on year;

  1. The percentage of the student body filling out the Students' Union's 'Big Worc Survey' increases year on year;

  2. The percentage of the student body satisfied that we are representing them and providing them with a voice increases year on year;

  3. The number of students voting in our Leadership Elections - target of 20%;

  4. The number of available positions in our governance structures are filled - target of at least 80%;

  5. The number of ideas submitted to the Students' Union increases year on year;

  6. The number of students accessing our advice and support service increases year on year;

  7. The number of welfare campaigns delivered by the Officers year on year that meet the SU's campaign objectives;

  8. The number of students who are members of a club or society increases year on year;

  9. The number of clubs and societies increases year on year - target of 50 clubs and 60 societies;

  10. The number of volunteering hours given by students increases year on year;

  11. The percentage of students saying that being involved in the Students' Union enhanced their employability increases year on year;

  12. Worcester sits in the top 50 in the BUCS (British Universities Colleges Sport) League;

  13. The number of students attending events in The Hangar increases year on year;

  14. The Students' Union achieves at least Silver Best Bar None accreditation each year;

  15. The profitability of the Students' Union's commercial services increases year on year;

  16. The percentage of students feeling that Students' Union events had a positive impact on their student experience increases year on year.

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The Union aims for excellent satisfaction rates amongst our members and to consistently defy its size in terms of local impact and national reputation. This report will cover the key areas of focus and development under separate headings. An annual Impact Report for the year will, also, be produced later in Semester 1 of 2022/23 and shared widely with the Union's members and stakeholders.

1. ACADEMIC REPRESENTATION

Throughout 2021/22, there was significant focus on ensuring that the Academic Representation (AR) System continued to engage with students and monitor their academic experience. The Union worked closely with the University, through the joint Academic Representation Oversight Group, to raise the profile of Course and School Reps and to demonstrate the impact of their commitment and involvement. Ultimately, it was a successful year with 342 reps recruited. Despite the challenges of engaging students generally post pandemic, we maintained engagement in terms of training with 74% of all reps trained, a 32% increase on 2020/21. The continuation of Rep Journals allowed Reps to raise queries or concerns and seek guidance from the Union and we continued to recognise students through 'Course Rep and School Rep of the Month'.

Forums were hosted throughout the year for Course and School Reps to attend and discuss matters with senior members of university staff. Topics included evaluating the roles and effectiveness of the University's Personal Academic Tutorship (PAT) system and how to improve general Rep engagement post Covid. All were hosted in person, and were generally well attended, creating a nice transition out of the pandemic. School Rep Forums were hosted online due to mixed preferences amongst the School Reps. The Union also focused on developing the demographic analysis of Reps to get a better understanding of the students involved in the AR system. This revealed that we have good representation from LGBTQ+ and by gender but that we need to make improvements with regards to BAME and Mature students. This is something we are determined to address in the coming years.

An important piece of work for the Academic Representation (AR) Oversight Group in 2021/22 was to improve the effectiveness of and satisfaction with the AR system, including in specific areas of the University identified from a range of survey results - the National Student Survey (NSS) completed by final year students, the University's own Course Experience Survey (CES), completed by non-final year students, and the Union's own Big Worc Survey (BWS).

Over 2021/22, the areas identified as needing targeted work continued within the School of Psychology (SoP), the Three Counties School of Nursing and Midwifery (TCSNM), and the Worcester Business School (WBS), whilst adding the School of Arts (SoA). These Schools saw survey results in 2020/21 that suggested lower levels of awareness and satisfaction with the AR system and so bespoke action plans were developed in collaboration with the University's SERCCs (Student Engagement Representation and Communication Co-ordinators) to try and raise those levels.

The various survey results for 2021/22 were, ultimately, as follows:

Course Experience Survey (CES):

Q.5.3 - I know who my Course Rep is:

Overall University: -3% to 80% SoP: + 14% to 84% TCSNM: -15% to 69% WBS: -5% to 62% SoA: -5% to 84%

Q 5.4 - Course Reps represent the interests of students on my course effectively: Overall University: -7% to 66%

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SoP: +3% to 67% TCSNM: -8% to 69% WBS: +7% to 62% SoA: +6% to 84%

Q14.2 Overall I am satisfied with the services provided by the Students' Union including advice, representation, societies, volunteering, entertainment and sport: Overall University: -0.5% to 69% SoP: +9% to 81% TCSNM: - 12% to 54% WBS: +7% to 65% SoA: +6% to 79%

National Student Survey (NSS)

Q26 The students' union effectively represents my academic interests:

Overall University: -3% to 62% (sector average = 53%, top quartile 71%) SoP: -2% to 66% TCSNM: -7% to 51% WBS: This data has been supplied per department not for the overall school: Business & Management: +5% to 72% Computing: -3% to 54% SoA: This data has been supplied per department not for the overall school: Creative Arts & Design: same at 57% Media, Journalism & Communications: -19% to 54% Performing Arts: +5% to 72%

Big Worc Survey (BWS) 2022:

I know who my Course Rep is:

Overall University: +4% to 83% SoP: +11% to 79% TCSNM: -4% to 67% WBS: +10% to 67% SoA: same at 90%

Are you aware of the SU's Academic Representation System (slightly amended question so no direct comparison with previous year):

Overall University: 81% SoP: 84% TCSNM:79% WBS: 78% SoA: 89%

Through monthly meetings, the Union continued to monitor and act on student feedback and intelligence that came to us in a variety of ways, including via academic reps, student groups, the Officers, and the Welcome Desk.

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2. STUDENT NETWORKS

This was the second year for our 10 Student Networks, which were created to replace the role of Part-Time Officers in a wholescale governance review of the Union in 2019/20. Their purpose is to provide welcoming and relevant student communities across the University that represent and champion the needs of different groups and cohorts. They, also, allow the Union more ways in which to consult with members to create positive change. The Student Networks are as follows:

The Networks' first year (2020/21), exceeded all of our expectations, with a total of 271 members across the groups (from 195 students). This year saw slightly lower engagement, at 243 memberships from 149 students, with student involvement being more of a challenge across many of the Union's areas. At the end of the year, the Networks achieved the following number of members each (figures in brackets indicate increase or decrease on 2020/21):

Number
of
Network Members
Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) Students' Network 8 (-23)
Commuter Students' Network 20 (+3)
Disabled Students' Network 15 (-2)
International Students' Network 21 (+4)
LGBTQ+ Students' Network 73 (-1)
Mature, Parents and Carers Network 17 (-19)
Postgraduate Students' Network 7 (-1)
Sustainability Network 25 (+1)
The Widening Participation Network 8 (-15)
Women's Network 49 (+15)

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We also had more difficulty this year in filling committee positions (an experience that was replicated in other Unions who facilitate Networks). Following recruitment processes, 8 of the 10 Networks had all 3 core committee positions filled, with the BAME and Commuters Networks both still having vacancies at the end of the year. Both groups were given extra support across the year from the SU team to try and recruit members and facilitate activities. Every Network had at least bi-weekly meetings with the SU to support them with action plans, and each held Open Meetings for students. The Union also supported many of them to produce promotional videos to help boost their memberships. Despite some of these challenges, many of the Networks organised super activities and events over the year (as well as supporting national awareness days, weeks, and months) including:

3. WELFARE AND INCLUSION COUNCIL

Together with representatives from faith and cultural student societies, the Networks come together to form the Welfare and Inclusion Council, a new sub-committee of Student Council. A total of 4 meetings were held across the year and, together, the group submitted 3 polices to Student Council which were passed, including:

• A Policy for the Union to lobby the University to develop provision of accommodation for international students with dependents or support them to provide more affordable places to live

• A Policy that asked the University to work with the Union to ensure that students had input into EDI training provided to University staff ('to have a voice rather than being spoken for')

One of the key benefits of the Welfare and Inclusion Council is that one group can bring an issue or policy motion, which are discussed and, often, policy proposals are then amended to reflect the intersectional nature of the issue in question following the sharing of wider experiences.

4. STUDENT COUNCIL

Student Council, the highest student body in our structure, had a busy year and we successfully recruited to all of our student council positions. Councillors sometimes struggled with their other commitments to attend meetings, however, so by the end of the year, 3 of the 4 meetings had reached quoracy. The Council devoted a significant amount of time to the student experience post pandemic and on student welfare concerns and it also passed 9 policies (3 of which came direct to Student Council and 2 of which had previously been discussed at Education Council, 3 came from Welfare & Inclusion Council and 1 came from TeamWorc Council). This was a increase of one on the number of policies passed in 2020-21.

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Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

5. EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

Our Executive Committee, consisting of the 3 full time officers and supported by the Union's Senior Management Team, worked very well and met each month. Outcomes from the committee include approving 11 ideas from the Ideas Forum, discussing Bye Law changes, approving new principles for associate membership of the Union, approving applications for new clubs and societies, discussing how the Union develops its employability services, and much more. It is a very useful forum to ensure work on campaigns and policy implementation is followed up regularly and to discuss in more depth project work being undertaken by the full time Officers, as well as their interaction with University projects and developments.

6. SOCIETIES AND CLUBS

6.1 SOCIETIES

A total of 39 societies was supported over the course the academic year by the Union, with efforts made through 'Adopt a Soc' and 'Soc from Scratch' to support the development of new and folded societies. Despite these initiatives, however, by July 2022 this number had reduced to 29 as the student body still seemed to be recovering from the effects of the pandemic and lacked confidence in leading or joining groups. Many other Unions nationally reported a similar issue. We did, however, see an increase in the number of memberships from 2020/21 academic year, which was positive and something we want to build on in 2022/23.

Students were able to purchase semester and annual memberships of their chosen society. At the end of semester one, 846 memberships were held by 764 students (this was 581 and 557 respectively in Semester 1 in 2020/21). This then increased to 927 from 818 students by the end of Semester two (compared with 717 memberships from 621 students at the end of Semester 2 in 2020/21).

The new societies that were created over the year were Asian, Business, Knit n Knatter, K-pop, and Nature with our Geography society also coming back through 'Adopt A Soc'. The majority of our societies held 'Give it Go' sessions in early September 2021, encouraging new students to become members. These included the Christian Union's Scavenger hunt, Debate Soc leading a Tuesday quiz in the Hangar, Neurodivergent Soc hosting a game day, and our ACS (African Caribbean Society) hosting a cocktail night in the Union.

Over the year, we then saw many events and activities from hard-working societies, some highlights being:

Biology holding a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) event in Union Square, in collaborated with the LGBTQ+ Network. They demonstrated fun, colourful science experiments alongside raising awareness about the difficulties LGBTQ+ individuals can experience in STEM fields, raising £100 for Stonewall charity.

Education Enhancement were extremely pro-active in the delivery of extracurricular courses for their members, as well as contributing events towards RAG week and running a programme for mental health first aid training for members and non-members.

Our growing Nigerian Soc collaborated with the BAME Network and hosted a careers workshop with guest speakers to advise and inspire current students on their own career paths. Funds from ticket sales also went to the fundraising hosted by the students' Union for Ukraine.

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6.2 SPORT

Club Membership

The year ended with a total of 38 sports clubs, of which 33 were affiliated (had 12 members or more) and 1275 memberships from 1139 students, an increase of almost 18% compared with 2021/22. This shows students returned to sport following the pandemic and the restrictions placed on sport and group activity. Importantly to note is that memberships bought through the University's REACH bursary scheme accounted for 50.43% of our overall memberships, with some clubs having well over 50% (and even 100%) of their memberships bought this way.

Out of the total number of clubs, 4 were formed following an 'Adopt a Club' initiative launched at the start of the academic year - eSports, Table Tennis, Volleyball and Yoga. Volleyball and Yoga have been particularly, successful. Volleyball ended the year with 31 members, created additional sessions to cater for different abilities, and are entering BUCS Men's and Women's teams next year. Yoga reached 29 members and have integrated themselves into #TeamWorc very well by hosting collaboration events with many societies and clubs including Boxing and Uni Boob Team.

We also had 3 additional new clubs. Archery have proved to be a popular club and, with the support of the Union's small Sport Development Fund and Club Development Grant they have been building up their range of equipment and are hoping to enter more members into competitions next year now they are affiliated with Archery England and the West Midlands Archery Society and have the support of a Worcestershire Archery coach. Members of Wheelchair Basketball really enjoyed competing in BUCS this year and although they were against tough competition, they came together to play in their round-robin tournaments. Moving forward, the club will now have a coach as the University is a founding member of the British Wheelchair Basketball Women's Premier League. Dodgeball was created in semester 1 by a group of first year students. The sessions were very popular and gave an opportunity for less traditional 'sporty' students to get together, keep healthy, and have fun.

BUCS

After a difficult year for sport during covid, 2021/22 saw a return to the full BUCS schedule. We entered 33 teams into various leagues across 15 sports. Our students competed in almost 300 fixtures across the season and out of 33 teams, we had 3 league champions in Netball 3's, Men's Football 3's and Women's Cricket 1's.

Netball and Football both secured promotion and Cricket went into a promotion playoff fixture with the bottom team of the premier tier to aim for promotion. Women's Football 2's were also promoted after finishing second in their league. In addition to these, we had 11 other teams finish in the top 3 of their leagues. Equestrian 1's won their mini league which saw them qualify for the regional competition for the first time in their history. Other notable successes included Women's Futsal 1's winning the Midlands Conference Cup, Women's Basketball 1's came 2nd in the National Trophy and Men's Cricket 1's qualified for the National Indoor Finals and after a strong performance ended up finishing 3rd in the country. Worcester finished the season in 61st place (out of 149 institutions with 458 points).

In addition to the BUCS leagues, we entered students into further BUCS events, sending athletes to the swimming short course championships, badminton nationals, fencing nationals, trampolining championship, tennis championship, indoor athletics, outdoor archery, and the rowing regatta.

BUCS Awards

We were very proud to have 3 shortlisted nominations for 3 BUCS Awards this year:

• Unsung Hero - Daniel Cox - Celebrates a member of staff at a BUCS member institution who has worked tirelessly to support student sport at any level in the last year.

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Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

• Dan Porter Award - Alice Hopkins and Women's Football Club - This award celebrates an individual or group who have faced and overcome adversity or disadvantage to positively impact others within university sport and physical activity. The individual or group will have demonstrated a remarkable sense of character to achieve, motivate and inspire.

• Student Volunteer of the Year - Jack Lambert - Celebrates a student volunteer who has contributed to university and/or community work. This can include working in domestic or international competitions or performance or participation driven projects and programmes.

Jack went on to be the actual winner on the night, for his efforts towards Varsity, which was wonderful for everyone concerned. https://bucs-awards.org.uk/awards., https://twitter.com/BUCSsport/status/1547888562648928257

Next Season #

As we move into next year, we will have 39 sports clubs and 2 new clubs in Hiking and Lacrosse. A total of 36 teams have been entered into BUCS for 2022/23 season. Following a decision by Sports Development Board to reduce the number of performance teams to maximise resources and success, these teams will have performance status following a decision by Sports Development Board to :

Netball 2nds and Men's Basketball 2nds will be classed as development teams and have additional support to try and get them to performance status by 2023/24.

Varsity

This year we saw our annual Varsity against Gloucester return to its full programme for the first time in 2 years. Over the course of 2 weeks at the end of March and beginning of April, 18 sports took place, and it was genuinely wonderful to see students competing and spectating once again. We battled it out with Gloucester in Athletics (mixed), Badminton (mixed), Basketball (men), Cheerleading (women), Cricket (men), Dance (mixed), Equestrian (women), Football (men and women), Futsal (women), Hockey (women), Netball (women), Rugby (men and women), Swimming (mixed), Tennis (men), Trampolining (women), Volleyball (mixed).

Across the two-weeks, we engaged over 600 athletes and 3000 spectators from both institutions. A particular highlight was our Athletics Varsity which saw over 20 volunteers from #TeamWorc travel down to Gloucester to help on the day - from measuring to officiating. We also saw athletes from all different sports such as hockey, netball, and cricket coming together to represent us in various athletic disciplines - it was a really inclusive event and had a lovely atmosphere. We were immensely proud of everyone who came to volunteer as well as participate and despite the snow demonstrated the true meaning of #TeamWorc. Another standout moment included Men's and Women's Rugby taking the double victory over Gloucestershire in front of nearly 1000 people at Sixways Stadium in another brilliant day out.

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Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

During the competition, we saw close and hard fought, as well as good-natured contests within all the sports and the overall score was up and down. After Gloucestershire Arena Day, Worcester were losing 8-4 but went on to win the next 4 events to set up a final day showdown with the scored tied at 8-8 and swimming and cheerleading to go. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be and despite only 4 points separating the teams in the swimming, we lost 10-8 overall to Gloucestershire and the trophy has been handed over to them for the year. Regardless of the result, it was a fantastic two-weeks of action and we are so proud of all the students who took part and engaged with us - it reminded us too of how much the event means to our students.

Club Events

With the reduction in restrictions, it was fabulous great to see our sports clubs putting on events either for entertainment, to raise money for charity, or to raise funds for their clubs.

Ultimate Frisbee saw the return of their annual alumni tournament that was held for the RAG charity of the year, Student Minds. The tournament was held between the current Worcester team, Worcester Alumni and University of Birmingham, which was a great experience for new members as well as a lovely end to the year for past members, whilst raising £114 for RAG.

Men's Football also brought back their inter-club cup which was borne out of the pandemic. This is a fantastic event that unites the club as all the teams are mixed, so members get to know new people. They also raised money for Student Minds by asking members to pay to play each week.

Boxing who have been one of our quieter clubs in previous years were very active this year. They organised self-defence classes which were open for all sport club members to attend, a class focusing on body positivity, and they collaborated with many different clubs and societies. They also created, organised and delivered the first ever RAG Race. Based on 'Tough-Mudder' and the Spartan Run, the event consisted of 3 different race lengths at Lakeside Campus (a Fun Run, 2.6k; a Super, 5.2k; and Fury, 7.8k). Along the route, different obstacles including military crawls, spiders web, burpees and so much more tested the 25 participants. After the event, the club hosted a celebration in the Hangar to congratulate all competitors and hand out awards to winners and for best fancy dress. In total they raised £250 for RAG.

It was wonderful to get students back into the Hangar and celebrate our Cheerleading and Dance clubs again this year. Both held showcases in semester 1 and 2 and invited students, friends and family members to perform their routines for them. Dance also held a Saints Strictly Come Dancing event where couples - each formed of a Dance member and a non-Dance student group member - performed practiced routines to compete for the Saints Glitter Ball Trophy. The event was thoroughly enjoyed and won Event of the Year at TeamWorc Awards. The Winter Ball held in the Hangar, organised by WorcSnow, was also loved by students and this will now be an annual event.

Lastly, it has been brilliant to see our clubs come together and demonstrate the meaning and ethos of #TeamWorc. We have seen our female clubs Netball, Women's Football, Women's Cricket, and Women's Rugby come together to take part in various tournaments. In addition, we've seen Worc Snow, Paddlesport & Surf, and Social Sports go on trips together such as Thorpe Park.

Society and Club Committee Training

This year we continued the mixed blend of online modules and in-person sessions. Following the feedback from the on-line modules last year, they were all reviewed and updated. We launched a new module called 'A Guide to Teams' to help committees hold virtual meetings, events, and socials to carry on being inclusive, particularly for commuter students. There were also modules designed specifically for Network members.

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We asked committee members to complete their mandatory roles before their in-person training. 89% of sport club and 85% society committee members had completed their modules before in-person training.

All committee members were then invited to main in-person event. The training was conducted over 3 days and 5 sessions, 2 for societies, 2 for clubs, and 1 for Networks. Sports and Societies had 3 hours of classroom content and an hour of team building.

In total, 87 Society Committee members attended, 83 Sports Committee members and 15 Network Committee Members. As we were aware of people who could not attend the training for various reasons including isolation, one of the sessions was recorded and was made available on the website for those who were unable to attend to watch it.

TeamWorc Points

TeamWorc Points returned after a successful first year, rewarding the clubs and societies that went the extra mile to give their members and the wider TeamWorc community the best experience possible. Clubs and societies were eligible to receive TeamWorc Points through different criteria, including volunteering, fundraising, and online engagement.

At the end of the year, clubs and societies with enough points were awarded Bronze, Silver, or Gold level. In total, fifteen received Bronze, eight Silver, and three Gold:

Bronze: Athletics, Boxing, Cheerleading, Christian Union, Finnish, Men's Cricket, Nature, Nigerian, Paramedics, Pole Fitness, Rowing, Swimming, Ultimate Frisbee, Women's Rugby, WorcSnow.

Silver : Dance, Education Enhancement, Equestrian, LOCO Show Co., Netball, Poetry, Social Sports, Women's Hockey.

Gold: Biology, Uni Boob Team, Women's Football.

Successful clubs received additional funding for their clubs, special table decorations and treats at the Teamworc Awards, promotional material to help them recruit in 2022/23, and social media spotlights.

TeamWorc UNITED

Two student groups received TeamWorc UNITED accreditation this year. TeamWorc UNITED recognises groups that go above and beyond to develop their inclusive practices and ensure as many students as possible can get involved in their activities.

The Uni Boob Team have continued to worked hard to address the gap in health promotion by introducing a 'Pec Rep' onto their committee, collaborating with male dominated clubs, and working with the LGBTQ+ network to create inclusive social media promotion. The work that they do is so important, and they have succeeded in engaging more students from different groups and successfully renewed their TeamWorc United status, which they achieved last year.

Women's Football were the other group to attain TeamWorc United accreditation, having run a range of adaptive sessions, supported the Rainbow laces campaign, and raised awareness of various types of discrimination within their sport.

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TeamWorc Council has been very influential this year, and, amongst other things, submitted a policy to reform the Union's club and society committee positions which will have an impact on the groups functioning next year. The rather old-fashioned positions of Treasurer and Secretary have been replaced with different Vice Chair roles that reflect more of today's job market. The aim was to increase understanding of what the roles were and what the students might get out of them. Other Unions and Universities in the region are now considering similar changes following our sharing of this at BUCS regional meetings. The Council also helped us to review and create new TeamWorc Honours Criteria for Teamworc Awards. It's been great to have the opportunity to interact with our students in person again to help to create a better experience for them.

7. RAG (Raise and Give)

The Union's members voted for Student Minds as their RAG Charity of the Year for 2021/22. Students raised £31,692 over the year, which is an incredible achievement, and we are very proud of all the groups and individuals who had a part in reaching this total. Some highlights included:

The UniBoob Team continued to exceed their annual fundraising target, raising over £1,222 from events such as a Glitterball, a 24hr Bike-A-Thon, and championing the whole of #TeamWorc throughout October for breast cancer awareness month.

Our Movember team raised £2,733 across November through charity football matches, quizzes and raffles.

A #TeamWorc 24hr CPR event, which not only raised over £800 but gave students lifesaving skills. One student Jack Lambert (who went on to win BUCS' national Volunteer of the Year Award for his efforts in our Varsity) raised a further £4,327 from a sky dive for the British Heart Foundation and Beat the Clock.

Equestrian were also front runners for fundraising this year, raising £2,660 through a clothes drive.

In December the whole of #TeamWorc came together for BUCS rainbow laces day led by the Vice President Student Activities to raise over £440 for Stonewall.

To finish a great year, our Sinners hosted an end of year showcase and managed to raise £781.

8. TEAMWORC ACTION (Volunteering)

This year we continued efforts to rebuild student engagement in volunteering through 'TeamWorc ACTION'. By the end of June, the volunteering hours (from 1st July 2021) totalled 5543, broken down as follows:

We continued to build relationships with a range of stakeholders to secure opportunities for students to help the local community, including Worcester Warriors Community Foundation (and their Dementia Café), Duckworth Trust (and a sustainability clothes swap),The Fold (at Bransford), Maggs Day Centre, Worcester Snoezelen, Shelter, and Sight Concern.

Fifteen TeamWorc ACTION days were held, including 8 canal cleans in conjunction with the Canal and Rivers Trust. Student Volunteering Week took place in February, and we used this to promote the concept and benefits of volunteering, as well as conducting a litter pick in St John's, and supporting adapted sport sessions at Worcester Warriors (with Active Hereford and Worcester). The Christian Union also joined 'forces' with the University Security team to hand out tea and biscuits to students coming out of Tramps in the early hours of the morning! Around 70 students got involved with these initiatives.

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9. WELCOME WEEK AND REFRESHERS

9.1 WELCOME WEEK

In September we welcomed all our new and returning students to the University with a variety of events and activities; the first full programme of events for two years.

Early Starter Registration Event

This took place mid-week in Union Square welcoming our international and commuter students who registered before the main intake of first year students. Union Officers and staff were on hand to welcome everyone and there were activities throughout the day including circus skills and stall activities. A barbeque, drinks, and free ice cream were also provided by Chartwells.

Sunset Session

We also held our first ever Sunset Session in our Hangar marquee on City Campus, to welcome back returning students, many of whom had spent a large part of their university lives in lockdown. The event included free food and a DJ, with over 200 tickets sold.

Welcome Fair

The Welcome Fair was, once again, held at City Campus. We worked alongside Boffy Arts and Events, as well as key partners at the University, to transform City Campus with market stalls, marquees, an impressive stage, bar, and food stalls. Over the weekend, more than 2,500 students attended the Fair, meeting our club, society, and Network committees, getting their hands on some freebies, enjoying some live music, and grabbing a drink in The Hangar Marquee.

The Hangar

Once again, The Hangar opened at two locations throughout Welcome Week - The Hangar bar in the Students' Union and The Hangar Marquee at City Campus. This was the biggest Welcome Week yet for The Hangar, with just over 2,400 students visiting us during the week.

The Hangar hosted nine events throughout the week, including a VK Welcome Party, Karaoke, Silent Disco, and the return of the ever-popular Disco Binglow. The Hangar Marquee hosted a further six events during the week, including live music nights, an outdoor cinema, and live comedy. After 18 months of lockdowns and restrictions, it was fantastic to have students back in The Hangar socialising and having a great time.

Colour Run

On the Wednesday of Welcome Week, we were delighted to be able to bring back the Colour Run after a two-year absence. Once again, the event raised money for RAG and our RAG Charity of the Year, Student Minds. A total of 180 students took part in the run around St. John's Campus, getting covered in a kaleidoscope of colours, and helping us to raise over £1,400 for RAG.

TeamWorc Showcase

Our Vice President Student Activities built on the showcase concept introduced in 2020, in an attempt to increase engagement with the TeamWorc community from student groups and individual students. Throughout the day, sessions were held at City Campus by Dance, Men's Rugby, Yoga, Women's Football, Zumba, Cheerleading, Rowing, Loco Show Co, Fencing, and the UniBoob Team, showcasing everything they have to offer. A total of 70 students attended the Showcase throughout the day.

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9.2 REFRESHERS

During Refreshers Week, we hosted a Wellbeing Day in The Hangar, providing students with information on how to boost their mental wellbeing and letting them know about the wellbeing provisions available at the Students' Union and University. In attendance were University services, charities, NHS England, and the ever-popular therapy dogs. There was also a focus on allergy awareness.

The Hangar hosted evening events to welcome students back after the break. Throughout the week, several hundred students attended seven events across the week, including live music, karaoke, live comedy, and a Saturday night rave.

10. CELEBRATION WEEK

We were delighted to, once again be able to hold in-person ceremonies for Celebration Week, and back to normal following 2 years of covid restrictions. After a year of online learning and events it was fantastic to be able to see University staff and students celebrate everything they had achieved throughout the year. The week saw us host the Students' Choice Awards in the Hangar, and the Teamworc awards (for our student groups and Reps) at Sixways Stadium, with over 300 in attendance at the latter. Following the pandemic and events taking place last year that were much more scaled down, we found we had to do a lot more to explain to students the point of the awards, what the cost covered (what they got for their money) and why they should attend. Awards given out at the events were:

10.1 THE STUDENTS' CHOICE AWARDS

To recognise and celebrate the huge impact that excellent support and teaching made to the student experience over the past year. We received almost 700 nominations from students.

10.2 TEAMWORC AWARDS

Name Winner Sports Club of the Year Women's Football Sports Team of the Year Men's Cricket 1st Sports Club Committee Member of the Year Hope Bourton - Netball Athlete of the Year Renée Powell - Netball Society of the Year Biology New Society of the Year Knit 'n' Knatter Society Committee Member of the Year Victoria Tanimowo - Nigerian Network of the Year LGBTQ+ Student Network Network Campaign of the Year Women's Student Network - WeForShe Campaign Emma Banks - Mature, Parents and Carers Student Network Committee Member of the Year Network Uni Boob Team

Network Committee Member of the Year Charity Fundraiser of the Year

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Gemma AllcottDance - Saints Strictly Come Dancing

Event of the Year WSU Special Recognition Honorary Life Membership of the Union Teamworc UNITED Volunteer of the Year WSU Student Staff Member of the Year

Drew HumphreyMia RadinovicRachel Holland Women's Football

Jack Lambert Mia Radinovic

Martha Heasman (Integrated Masters in Touring Theatre)

Course Rep of the Year School Rep of the Year

Terezá Vidrova (School of Psychology)

11. ADVICE, SUPPORT AND WELLBEING

11.1 HELP AND ADVICE SERVICE

Following 2020/21's record case numbers, the Help & Advice Service once again saw an increase in cases. The service retained best practice learnt throughout the pandemic and whilst face to face appointments are, of course, back, students continue to appreciate the option to attend meetings virtually and we continue to operate flexibly.

Due to increased number of cases the Service appointed an Assistant, and this post will be augmented from August 2022, to a full Advisor position, due to demand on resources.

Key headlines from the Service from 1st September 2021 until 31st August 2022:

Referrals

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Service Feedback

Our aim this year was to increase the level of feedback from students using the Service. In total, 35 students shared feedback regarding their experience in a monthly client survey (compared to 14 the year before). Whilst still a relatively low number, this still gives important insight into the views of clients. According to these students:

• Information and advice received helps students feel better informed 4.4 out of 5

Areas for further action:

The service achieved higher scores for helping students to manage their situation (3.9 out of 5) than for whether the service resolved an issue (3.6 out of 5). This is in line with the provision the service offers: enabling informed students to take their own action. Further marketing material will continue to demonstrate the services we provide.

The Academic and Welfare Advisor and Assistant both received positive feedback:

• 'Tom was extremely thorough and understanding of my concerns - he spent the full 30 minutes with me explaining everything in full. This was helpful especially because I sometimes find a lot of information at once overwhelming, but I felt as though his calm and reassuring manner provided the information I needed. I recommend Tom to any student struggling with finding answers to their problems, he is an asset to the Students Union Team.'

Changes have already been made over the year in response to student feedback, with plans to roll out further enhancements next academic year:

11.2 CAMPAIGNS

Mental health continues to be a very high priority for our students. Collaboration continued with the University to promote information during World and University Mental Health Days and we supported student groups to run various initiatives for Black History Month, Movember, International Women's Day, and LGBTQ+ History Month.

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Some of the campaigns we ran throughout the year were:

Drink Spiking Awareness - a poster campaign including information about how to spot drink spiking, enhance personal safety on nights out, and confirming the Hangar team's training in drink spiking awareness.

Safe Sex Express - offering free and confidential condom delivery to Worcester students. This was in the top 6 viewed H&A webpages for every month this academic year and 2690 condoms were given out (over 16x as many as 20/21)

Ending Period Poverty - providing free sanitary towels in the SU toilets. In total, 85 packets of pads,15 packets of liners and 46 packets of tampons were supplied for students.

Don't Rent Yet -this ran throughout November and December, encouraging students not to rush into commitments for accommodation for 2021/22, especially if they had not had the opportunity to form as many friendships in lockdown, and to make sure they know their rights as tenants.

Housing Fair - this took place in the Arena in January 2022 to accommodate the physical requirements of the event and the covid-19 mitigations required to run an in-person event on this scale. On the day, 60 landlords and 200 hundred students attended. To support students further, the 'Housing' section on the SU website was updated to reflect the changes in the pandemic and the kinds of queries being brought to the Help and Advice Service. The Union also assisted the University to promote the StudentPad website, giving students access to a range of accredited properties and landlords. Don't Rent Yet & the Housing Fair had 976 views on Help & Advice Housing webpages in January 2022.

#NeverOK - A campaign led by the Vice President Student Activities around consent and healthy relationships. A poster and social media campaign raised awareness around the A to Z of consent and #NeverOk was a central theme at our annual Varsity, with Gloucestershire Students' Union also supporting it. Teams had the hashtag on their kits and went on social media to explain why they supported the campaign and signed the #NeverOK pledge. In addition to this, a video was produced, 7 students attended a consent workshop, and 15 students entered a poetry open mic night themed around consent. Engagement in this campaign included: - 324 hits on the #NeverOK webpage

Mitigating Circumstances - The Union recognises the importance of a robust university procedure to support students with academic studies at difficult times. For this reason, it began reviewing the procedures and consulting students, through an on-line survey and a face to face workshop, on their views and experiences in order to provide suggestions for improvements. This work will continue with the support of the VP Education in 2022/23.

12. WELCOME DESK

From early September until late May, the Welcome Desk - the Union's main 'reception' for students and visitors - responded to 2373 enquiries. Of those, 58% were in-person visits, 31% were emails and 11% were phone calls.

By far the most common queries related to Clubs and Societies, followed by general enquiries, safe sex product requests, and advice and support. The service is staffed by students who do a great job in providing a friendly and relatable face to our members who need our help. They also often have ideas on how to keep improving the service and support do a wonderful job in supporting our core staff team with administrative and other tasks.

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13. EQUALITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION (EDI)

Following the death of George Floyd and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, the Union began of process of self-reflection, and worked with the University to do the same. We established an internal EDI Working Group, chaired by the President, with Terms of Reference and representation from across the organisation. We are very pleased with the progress made by our internal EDI Working Group this year which has drawn up an action plan of the priorities for 2022/23, as well as fulfilling our commitment to review and update our EDI Policy annually.

Some of the things achieved/worked on by the group throughout the year:

The action plan for 2022/23 to date focusses on:

The President continues to sit on the University's EDI Committee, which was created following the work of the Union President and Chief Executive in 2020, in drawing up a paper on race equity with the then Pro Vice Chancellor Students and the Director of Access and Inclusion, of which the Union is very proud.

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14. LOCAL AND NATIONAL DEMOCRACY AND POLITICS

14.1 LEADERSHIP ELECTIONS

The Union's Leadership Elections once again took place in March and saw the return of ballot stations and in person campaigning, which was great to see.

We had our highest ever number of candidates for the three Full Time Officer roles at 14:

• 4 candidates for the role of President (1 in 2021)

A total of 5169 votes were cast by 1863 individual voters (our highest ever), representing 20% of the student population, resulting in the election of:

SU President - Al Linforth Vice President Education - Gemma Allcott

Vice President Student Activities - Meg Lee

Over the last few years, the Union has been working to increase the diversity of candidates. This year saw some significant success in this area with students from a range of backgrounds and prior involvement with the Union and:

14.2 ALL STUDENT MEETING

The Union held its All Student Meeting, as it's AGM, on 15th February 2022, on-line in the hope of repeating the success of student attendance during the pandemic. A prize draw was also offered to win 3 Echo Dots. Unfortunately, this year, in line with some other online events we held, we did not reach quoracy and, in total 27, student attended. We will review this for next year and may look to return to face-to-face event.

In terms of the agenda, we had the usual items in our 2020-21 accounts, a review of our affiliations, and our annual report to members on activities delivered by the officers, as well as a question-and-answer session.

We also used the opportunity to begin the conversation with our members on what we should focus on as we begin the next strategic planning phase. We used Mentimeter as an interactive tool and gained some interesting insight. We asked students to rate the 10 student-facing areas within our operational plan in order of importance to them (what they think we should prioritise in terms of services and activities). The results were as follows:

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Following, the ASM, we repeated the Mentimeter exercise with more students, through: o Course Rep Forums

o Education Council

o TeamWorc Council o Big Worc Survey

The results were that a total of 378 students ranked the priorities in the following order:

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14.3 NUS TEACH-IN

The NUS Teach-in aimed to reimagine what many students see as our broken higher eduction system and build a New Vision For Education. NUS brought together Students and Elected Officers from across the country for a day of sharing knowledge and ideas, in March 2022.

The Officers and 7 other students joined with the University of Oxford and Oxford Brookes University to attend (sharing the cost and being more sustainable).It was a good opportunity to network with officers from around the country and share experiences.

15. MARKETING AND COMMUNICATION

Throughout the year the Union aimed to create relevant and compelling content to get as many Worcester students involved with what we do as possible. We communicated to students across a range of platforms including social media, digital channels, physical media, and face-to-face promotion.

Social Media

The majority of our social media platforms continued to grow and gain more members. It has, at times, been difficult to engage students across our digital channels. Throughout semester one, there was a noticeable decrease in student engagement, both on social media platforms and with SU events and campaigns. Communications were modified slightly during the second semester in reaction to this, with changes made such as introducing weekly 'what's on' emails and adapting the frequency and volume of social media content. Subsequently, social media and website engagement saw a small but noticeable increase during semester two.

No. of followers 2020/21 2021/22
WSU Facebook 8,650 8,900 (+250)
The Hangar Facebook
1,200		 1,400 (+200)
#TeamWorc Facebook 2,800 2,800 -
Twitter 7,200 7,200 -
WSU Instagram 3,200 3,800 (+600)
The Hangar Instagram
1,300		 1,600 (+300)

16. STUDENT EMPLOYABILTY AND DEVELOPMENT

The Union continued to invest time into training students for various roles, as well as to directly employ students as Assistants for Graphic Design, Welcome Desk, Bar, and Security.

Numbers attending training for student roles were as follows:

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ACHIEVEMENT AND PERFORMANCE

Over the year, an average of 25 students were employed with us each month supporting our bar, Welcome Desk and marketing functions, working a total of 8452 hours and earning £72,635.

The Union continues to support students through the job application process, with bespoke on-line guides on how to complete application forms, as well as a 'Guide to Interviews and the World of Work. The 'Work wit Us page of our website page the guide is hosted on received over 4,360 views across the year. We also make a point of providing feedback following all unsuccessful applications and interviews.

17. THE HANGAR

Following 2 years of disrupted trading due to COVID-19, the start to 21/22 saw an almost back to normal service for our members. Some measures remained in place including the preferred method of payment being card only (this was never fully enforced recognising many students, including Internationals, prefer to use cash as a budgeting mechanism). Welcome Week contained a variety of events as well as opening a second bar at City Campus for the duration of the week. Events included Film Nights, Live Music, Binglow, Silent Disco and a comedy night to try and appeal to a wider spectrum of students.

Throughout the year the Hangar hosted several large events, including a well-attended Winter Ball, as well as focussing more on student-led events (52 events throughout the year were led by students and raised money for RAG or for their own club or society). Whilst student-led events do reduce the takings in the bar, they are well attended events and provide students with organising and event planning as well as decision making and treasury skills, enhancing their employability. The Winter Ball proved so popular it now has its own committee with planning for 2022/23 underway. Across the various events, almost 11,000 students attended and we have now invested in more accurate attendee monitoring equipment.

Overall bar takings for 2021/22 were £175.7k, as compared to £110.4k in 2020/21. The previous COVID-unaffected year was 2018/19, with a turnover of £182.3k. So, we saw a 59% increase on previous year, but a 4% reduction compared to 2018/19. Semester 1 had the highest takings ever recorded at £98.6k, whilst semester 2 slowed considerably following widespread coverage and talk of a national financial crisis and students spending less on nights out rather than not attending at all. Also hitting bar takings in semester 2 was the lack of external bookings due to 2 years of Covid and some remaining campus restrictions for external visitors. The calendar for 2022/23 is starting to fill up and we hope to host more weddings and external events, including school proms, building on relationships with local schools.

The bar continued to expand its range of no- and low-alcohol drinks, as well as gluten free options and the premium products remained popular. We were restricted in semester 2 on some product sales, as a result of a dispute between NUS and their main supplier (who reneged on some payments), as well as an embargo on selling Russian products due to the conflict with Ukraine.

We also updated various equipment in the Hangar, including more energy efficient screens and new contactless pool tables, which remain extremely popular with students. Overall, although takings in the bar were slightly down, the increased engagement with students is a very positive metric.

18. SUSTAINABILITY

The Union achieved Very Good in the Green Impact Students Union accreditation scheme which is the second highest accreditation we can obtain. Over the year, several initiatives were undertaken by the Union's internal 'SUstainability' Committee, often working in partnership with the Sustainability Network, as well as the University's Director of Sustainability, such as:

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• Working with the University to start a campaign to improve public transport in Worcester

• Supporting the Sustainability Network's seed bomb making and fast fashion campaign

19. STAFF DEVELOPMENT

Coming out of the pandemic, staff and Officers returned to working mainly in the office with the flexibility to have work from home days. Staff breakfast mornings were introduced to support wellbeing and enable staff to meet informally in a relaxed environment.

The annual student staff induction was held virtually again, as this had worked well the previous year and was more inclusive for those who could not attend in person. The Staff Consultative Forum and the Health and Safety Committee had student staff representation too, following a year without, due to the pandemic. A number of student staff, from all departments, received recognition via the Officers' Worc Stars award, which replaced the Student Staff of the Month initiative. Worc Stars received a voucher and were featured in a new SU Newsletter.

Union staff and Officers undertook various training and attended courses over the year which included Diversity & Inclusion, Health & Safety, GDPR, Information Security Awareness, Disability Awareness, PAPYRUS Suicide Prevention, ILM Leadership training, Being a Trustee, and First Aid. As well as these, staff and Officers attended many of the annual NUS-facilitated conferences and events, most of which were held in person, following a year of mostly virtual events in the previous year.

Core staff had their Personal Performance Appraisals held annually to monitor and appraise performance. A number of core staff received reward and recognition across the year after demonstrating hard work, innovation, and going above and beyond for our members and in the delivery of events and activities.

19.1 PAY AND REWARD REVIEW

Following long-term discussions by the Trustee board and staff feedback related to pay and reward within the 2021 Employee Engagement Survey, the Union commissioned an external, independent pay and reward review by Atkinson HR 2021/22. The aim was to develop a more transparent framework for staff to understand the reasoning behind their positioning and remuneration. The following questions were considered in the review:

The scope of the review covered analysing existing documentation and job descriptions, 1-2-1s with staff members, a SWOT analysis of the organisation's current pay structure, and national and regional, as well as sector and role benchmarking. The work spanned several months, resulting in:

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19.2 EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT SURVEY 2022

This was the second year that the Union commissioned the services of Agenda Consulting, via NUS, to conduct the above with our core and student staff team. We were one of 38 SU's taking part in the survey, enabling us to benchmark ourselves against those, as well as 10 specific SUs of our choosing, and 54 third sector organisations. The overall response rate was 55% (59% in 2021)and comprised of 8 student staff (out of 22) and 14 (out of 15) core staff and officers. The survey consisted of 71 questions and covered the following areas:

The results were mixed, with some very positive responses - and a hugely positive response again from student staff, with 58% of replies having a 100% positive outcome - but with some areas from the core staff and officers' perspective for the organisation to improve on.

Positive areas included:

Areas to address included:

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• People in other departments are skilled and competent to do their jobs

• I receive a good service from other departments in the SU

Staff were, also, able to give free text comments at the end, one of which was to describe the organisation in 3 words. The word cloud below illustrates the words given:

Results were shared with the core staff/officers and student staff and actions agreed within the 2022/23 operational plan to address areas of weaker satisfaction.

It is hoped that pay and reward review, which had not been completed prior to the survey running, and some staffing changes will go a significant way to addressing some of the concerns. Overall, the picture seemed to be of a team needing to review internal relationships and workloads, with some rebuilding and learning to support and value each other again after a stressful couple of years for most of us.

Following the return to some normality, the Union was certainly affected by the national phenomena of the 'Great Resignation', with 6 members of the team moving on to new, higher paid and more senior opportunities within short succession. This reflects how much the Union progresses its employees but caused some internal challenges at the end of a very busy year, as well as a positive opportunity to bring in fresh talent and ideas. It was also an opportunity to continue to diversify the workforce with specific, external expertise commissioned for the first time in BAME Recruitment and Diversifying Group Limited. Some success in this area was, ultimately, had which is very positive.

20. OVERALL PERFORMANCE AND STUDENT SATISFACTION

The Union had a challenging year in terms of overall performance, due to operating in a pandemic, and a mixed picture in terms of student satisfaction.

With regards to the Union's 18 Key Performance Indicators, (KPIs), improvements were seen in 10 areas, performance remained the same or was not comparable (for various reasons) in 6 areas and declined in 10 (NB some KPIs saw both an increase and a decline within them, depending on the range of measures for that KPI).

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Most areas of decline were felt to be as a result of challenges in engaging a less confident and less engaged student body generally, as lingering effects of Covid-19. The table below outlines performance by KPI.

Not
comparable,
Performance Performance N/A, or stayed
No. KPI up on 2020/21 down on 2020/21 same Comments
Satisfaction
with the
Students'
Union for our
members Performance
increases year down in NSS Q26
on year - target and CES Q14 but
of 80% across same in Big Worc
1 the board • • Survey (BWS)
The
percentage of
the student
body aware of
the range of
services run by
the SU Question not
increases year asked in BWS
2 on year • • this year
The
percentage of
the student
body filling in
our Big Survey
increases year Down by 1,062
3 on year • students
The
percentage of
the student
body satisfied Performance
that we are down in CES
representing Q5.3 by 3%and Q
them and 5.4 by 7%Down
providing them in NSS Q26 by
with a voice 3%++Question
increases year not asked in BWS
4 on year • • this year
The number of
students voting
in our
Leadership
Elections - 41% increase on
target of 20% last year - 20% of
5 of membership • membership

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The number of available positions in our governance structures are 100% of Student filled - target of Council (SC) 6 at least 80% • positions filled The number of ideas submitted to More ideas the SU increases year to more motions 7 on year • to SC The number of students accessing our advice and Increased support service numbers of increases year cases, individual on year students, and 8 • contacts The number of welfare campaigns Safe sex delivered by campaign Officers year engagement on year that increased meet the SU's significantly. campaign 9 objectives • • varied The number of students who are members Sports and of an SU club society members or society increasedNetwor increases year k members 10 on year • • decreased The number of clubs and societies increases year on year - target of 60 societies 11 and 50 clubs • Both down Number of volunteering hours given by students More hours increases year logged but by 12 on year • • less students

100% of Student Council (SC) positions filled

More ideas submitted leading to more motions to SC

Increased numbers of cases, individual students, and contacts

Safe sex campaign engagement increased significantly. Other campaigns varied

Sports and society members increasedNetwor k members decreased

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The
percentage of
students
saying that
being involved
with the SU
enhanced their
employability
increases year ++Down 5% to
13 on year • 46%
Worcester sits
in the top 50 in
the BUCS 61st out of 149
14 League • institutions
Recorded
The number of attendees down
students 360 on
attending 2020/21++BWS -
events in the up in terms of %
Hangar who had attended
increases year events up 17% to
15 on year • • 64%
The SU
achieves at
least Silver
Best Bar None
accreditation Retained Gold
16 each year • BBN
Mixed picture -
commercial
contracts up on
year before but
not at levels prior
to
The profitability pandemicMarketi
of SU ng revenue
commercial slightly upBar
services and sales well up on
contracts 2020/21 but down
increases year on budget. Very
on year good Sem 1, poor
17 • • Sem 2

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The percentage of students feeling that SU events had a positive impact on their student experience increases year 18 on year • TOTAL (NB some KPIs performed both up and down within their individual measures) 10 10 6

++Up by 6% to 74%

20.1 NSS

Q26 The students' union effectively represents my academic interests: Overall University: -3% to 62% (sector average = 53%, top quartile 71%)

The Union, unfortunately, saw scores go down or remain static in all B2 optional questions (which mirrors the University and wider SU sector results) but they remained above the sector average:

B.2.1. The Students' Union (Association or Guild) had had a positive impact on my sense of belonging to the university or college= 40% (41% in 2020/21), sector average this year of 36%.

B.2. 2. The Students' Union (Association or Guild) has had a positive impact on the local community = 45% (45% in 2020/21) sector average this year of 37%.

B.2.3. The Students' Union (Association or Guild) has helped me develop useful life skills = 33% (35% in 2020/21), sector average this year of 27%.

The Union was, very positively, positioned 18th out of 149 Unions nationally in the University's compiled NSS rankings (19th/149 in 2021 and 2020, 36th/152 in 2019 and 61st/151 in 2018).

20.2 COURSE EXPERIENCE SURVEY (CES) Q.5.3 - I know who my Course Rep is:

Overall University: -3% to 80%

Q 5.4 - Course Reps represent the interests of students on my course effectively: Overall University: -7% to 66%

Q14.2 Overall satisfaction with the Students' Union and its services/activities:

Overall University: -1% to 69%

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ACHIEVEMENT AND PERFORMANCE 20.3 BIG WORC SURVEY (BWS) 2022

The Big Worc Survey returned for its fifth year but was scaled back significantly compared to previous years, with only key questions remaining to ensure effective benchmarking. The results of the survey will contribute to a wider insights project to take place in the 2022-23 academic year.

A total of 393 students completed the survey, far fewer than in previous years and a reflection of the overall challenges in student engagement seen throughout the academic year.

The overall findings of the survey are as follows:

Overall Satisfaction with the Union 2022 2021 2020
Very satisfied or satisfied 68% 68% 80%
Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied 29% 30% 17%
Dissatisfied or very dissatisfied 3% 2% 3%

Overall, the 2021/22 academic year was another extremely busy one for the Union, with the Officers, as ever, responding brilliantly to the challenges of their role. We delighted in being able to bring back in-person events and in seeing students enjoying them how they used to. It is certainly the case that the student body were changed by Covid-19 and we did our best to respond to this and engage and support them in a way they would appreciate. We did not always get it right but we kept trying. We are very proud of what was achieved during the year, with many of our initiatives being commended by NUS, WonkHE or replicated by other Unions, such as the review of our student committee roles for accessibility. The positive culture of #TeamWorc continued to embed across our functions and EDI became more central than ever to the Union's activities and services.

FINANCIAL REVIEW

Financial position

Income from all sources totalled £1,028,790 (2021: £814,921). Total expenditure of £1,004,865 (2021: £844,068) on all the students' services we provide, which left a surplus for the year of £23,925 (2021 deficit £29,147).

The General Fund balance at the year end stood at £298,228 (2021: £303,402).

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WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

FINANCIAL REVIEW

Restricted funds, which represent monies raised by the Union's various clubs and societies were £189,244 (2021: £171,496).

Reserves policy

The primary aim of the policy is to ensure that sufficient reserves are in place to provide funds for investment in the Union and its activities, thus enhancing the experience of students at this University. With a secure base of reserves, the Trustees of WSU will be exercising their duty to oversee the finances of the organisation in a prudent and proper manner and to minimise risks to the organisation's viability.

The level of reserves needed at any one time was reviewed again in-year by the Trustee Board and was agreed to be sufficient and realistic at 3 months operating costs (as defined by the annual budgeted organisational expenditure), known as the 'operating reserve'.

Reserves in excess of the required reserves are held as 'free reserves' or 'designated reserves', in accordance with the Trustee Board. If reserves fall below 3 months' operating costs for more than 6 months, the Trustees should ask the management to formulate a recovery plan to be submitted to Trustee Board for approval. If there are surplus funds available above the minimum level, the Committee should plan to utilise these within three years.

Going concern

After making appropriate enquiries, the trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. For this reason, they continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the financial statements.

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WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

FUTURE PLANS

The 2022/23 academic year will see the Union deliver upon another one-year, operational plan but commence a strategic planning process to take it through the next 5 years. All areas of the Union's strategy will be reviewed, including its mission, values and core framework. This will be done in consultation with students (including through externally sourced insight work) and through the staff and officer team working together to respond to existing priorities and doing our best to anticipate future needs. We will continue to have a focus on:

• Raising satisfaction levels with the Union amongst all of our members.

• Ensuring Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) is core to the Union's activities and work to a comprehensive action plan for the year, providing more training and guidance than ever to our members.

• Increasing the awareness of Student Council amongst the student body, as well as continuing to increase the number of students who engage in our Ideas Forum to effect positive change across the University.

• Supporting students who are studying at the University's partner colleges and those who are studying in the UK for the first time.

• Continuing to promote how involvement with the Union's portfolio develops our members' employability.

• Ensuring that all staff would recommend WSU as a good place to work, that they feel their wellbeing has been given priority, and that they have developed and grown as people when they leave WSU.

• Seeking creative and appropriate additional sources of revenue, including wider offers within the Hangar space, increasing our media sales, external partnerships, and commercial bookings.

FUTURE FUNDING

We will work with the University annually to negotiate on our annual block grant, to ensure we continue to maximise our impact and are able to develop as an organisation to meet the needs of our increasingly diverse student body. We aim to keep strengthening the Union's services, activities and reach to students, whilst minimising financial risk to the Union and securing greater financial investment. We will continue to allocate as much resource as possible to student-facing services and representation and to work hard behind the scenes to review contracts and reduce costs wherever possible. We believe it is time to strategically review the Union's space and facilities on St John's campus and elsewhere to maintain and build on student satisfaction levels and to support the University's aims around recruitment, retention and progression.

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WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT Governing document

The charity is controlled by its governing document, a deed of trust and constitutes an unincorporated charity.

Charity constitution

The University of Worcester Students' Union (hereafter referred to as 'WSU' or 'the Union') falls under the definition of a "Students' Union" in section 20(1) of the Education Act 1994, and has charitable status. The University of Worcester (hereafter referred to as the University) exercises its duty under the Education Act 1994 to take such steps as are reasonably practicable to secure that the Union operates in a fair and democratic manner and is accountable for its finances.

Since becoming a registered charity, WSU has a dedicated Board of Trustees, consisting of up to three full time officers, up to four student trustees, and up to three external trustees. The Student and Lay Trustees are selected on the basis of their appropriateness, experience and expertise by a simple majority vote of an Appointments Panel. Appointments of student trustees need to be ratified by a majority vote of Student Council. The Board of Trustees has overall responsibility for the good governance and financial stability of the Union and has been responsible for passing policies and procedures to bring the Union up to date with changing legal requirements.

The Union is a democratic organisation, with the ultimate decision making power being its membership through Student Council, which is the sovereign body. Student Council agrees the Policy of the Union, discusses wider and national issues that affect students at Worcester, guides strategic campaigns, represents the voice of students, and makes, appeals and amends the Bye-Laws, jointly with Trustees. Student Council continued to hold the officers accountable for their actions this year through a number of virtual meetings, all of which were minuted and all but one of which was quorate.

Officers are elected into position by cross campus secret ballot, for a one-year term of office to an Executive Committee. The Executive Committee oversee the day to day student-centered activities of the Union and are accountable to Student Council. All Executive Officers should receive an induction and training into their legal and administrative responsibilities, with an on-going programme of development during their term of office. The Executive Committee Members are able to run for re-election for a second year on the same terms.

The Union employs non-student professional staff to ensure effective management and delivery of its many activities and to implement the policy decisions made through the democratic process. There is delegated authority, through the Chief Executive Officer, for operational decision-making and accountability within the various areas of the Union, in accordance with agreed structures.

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WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

RELATIONSHIP WITH THE UNIVERSITY OF WORCESTER

The Union receives a Block Grant from the University and occupies buildings owned by the University, which also pays for utilities. This support is intrinsic to the relationship between the University and Union. Although the Union seeks to supplement and diversify its income through commercial and trading activities where possible, it continues to be dependent on the support of the University. The Union is confident that this support will continue for the foreseeable future as it believes it is an integral part of the University structure and strategic plans and of utmost value to the overall student experience at the University.

The Union believes it has continued to demonstrate its value and impact during difficult times nationally and globally, and has played a critical role at the University in maintaining student communities, the student voice, and the student experience. The Union remains grateful to the University for their ongoing support and looks forward to continued collaboration as it works to support its diverse membership, ensuring students can create positive, ensuring memories of their time at Worcester.

CHARITY GOVERNANCE CODE

The Union is committed to the seven principles outlined in the Code as follows:

1. Organisational Purpose

The Union continues to have strong organisational purpose and to work to its charitable objectives, laid out in its Constitution. As reported above, the Union worked to an operational plan for the year, with the previous, longer-term, strategic planning period coming to an end in July 2021. The Trustee Board agreed that, with the backdrop of the pandemic, it was prudent to postpone development of a new longer-term strategic framework until consultation with members and stakeholders could be more effectively conducted and the world returned to some normality. A plan was agreed over course of the year to commence this strategic work in 2022/23. In the 2017/18 academic year, the Union developed 18 KPIs against which it continues to measure and benchmark its development and performance. These KPIs will, also, be revisited during the next strategic planning process.

2. Leadership

The Board of Trustees works with the Chief Executive and senior management in the organisation to agree a clear strategic direction and to ensure that the organisational values are reflected and demonstrated in its work.

3. Integrity

Trustees of the organisation are expected to follow the Nolan Principles of Public Life and receive training on this. They are also expected to maintain the independence of the Union and to ensure it works to its charitable aims at all times.

4. Decision-making risk and control

The Board maintains strong oversight of the organisation, delegated where appropriate to sub-committees with defined terms of reference. Key procedures and policies of the Union, as well as organisational performance and legal compliance are reviewed on a regular basis.The trustees have a duty to identify and review the risks to which the charity is exposed and to ensure appropriate controls are in place to provide reasonable assurance against fraud and error (see risk management section below for more detail)..

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WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

5. Board effectiveness

The structure and composition of the Board, as well as recruitment to it, ensure an appropriate balance of skills, knowledge and student representation. A Skills and Experience Matrix has been created to support this process. Trustees receive training upon their appointment and an induction to the Union. The Board and its Sub-Committees meet regularly to receive information and reports and to have full and frank discussions of important issues. The Chief Executive also maintains email communication with the Board between meetings on important matters, as well as meets with the Chair and Deputy Chair at least once between full Board meetings to discuss current management priorities.

6. Diversity

The Board values diversity in all its forms and is committed to reaching out to under-represented groups when recruiting Trustees to ensure they are reflective of the membership of the Union and of society. As with staff recruitment, the Union will look to external support and expertise when recruiting future Lay Trustees. When recruiting Student Trustees from its membership, the Union will do its utmost to target promotion amongst cohorts of students which are typically under-represented. Monitoring of diversity of Board membership is undertaken alongside similar monitoring of diversity amongst staff.

7. Openness and accountability

Building trust to secure the confidence of our members and stakeholders is a key part of how the Union operates. Student Council receives updates on the work on the Board and vice versa. The Board also ensures that the Union's membership is kept informed of progress and performance through annual meetings (All Student Meetings), as well as accessible information published on the Union's website, including summary minutes of full Board meetings. A Register of Declarations of Interest for Trustees is also maintained and reviewed regularly.

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WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT Risk management

The trustees have a duty to identify and review the risks to which the charity is exposed and to ensure appropriate controls are in place to provide reasonable assurance against fraud and error.

The Board of Trustees reviews the risk factors that could affect the strategic, operational and business interests of the Union. In light of the possible risks, the Board has put in place a risk register with attendant checks and balances to ensure compliance with health and safety, employment law and financial competency. (The Union also maintains its own annual Statement of Legal Compliance, which is reviewed at by the Board at the same time each year as the risk register). The register was reviewed during the academic year and areas deemed to be of heightened risk, as we emerged from the pandemic, are listed below, with associated actions to try and mitigate or annul:

• The Union suffers a significant fall in income through a lack of sponsorships: Due to the effects the pandemic and successive lockdowns had on the hospitality industry in particular, an interim agreement was established with the Union's principal sponsor, Tramps Nightclub, for 2021/22, in order that the business was able to survive and recover as soon as possible, resulting in some but much reduced income for the Union. The approach taken with Tramps was a prudent one and negotiations for contracted income for 2022/23 towards the end of the financial year were positive, reflecting a solid business relationship and gratitude from Tramps for a human and pragmatic approach taken by the Union during a very difficult period for nightclubs. The contract with Dominos Pizza remained stable and at previous levels. Generally, contracts are re-negotiated in a timely manner by the Union's senior management, who keep the Board appraised. The Union continues to investigate ways in which it can increase income from existing commercial services and external partnerships, in way that do not create unnecessary risk or breach existing contracts.

• The Union and its staff are adversely affected by negative developments with pension providers, namely SUSS: Communication has been maintained with SUSS Trustees, AGMs attended, and questions posed regarding projections for the scheme. Advice regularly sought from Auditors and the University is being kept abreast of developments. Successive valuations suggest that the annual cost for Unions will continue to rise at a steady rate. The Union is not one of those Students' Unions affected by the legal issues uncovered by SUSS in 2018 relating to historical failings in governance of the scheme, which resulted in 'windfalls' for some members and an increase to the overall deficit (which was mitigated by some members agreeing to forego their windfall). The Union has no members affected by this.

Pay policy for senior staff

The level of remuneration agreed for senior members of staff for the academic year, was based on benchmarking with equivalent position in other Unions nationally, with an external pay and reward review for the Union conducted over several months in 2022, by Atkinson HR Limited, whilst taking into consideration the size and turnover of the Union, as well as the location of the institution and the size of the Union's membership.

REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS Registered Charity number 1145192

Principal address

Henwick Grove Worcester Worcestershire WR2 6AJ

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WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

Trustees

L.Lees - ended term of office June 2022 R.Mularczyk - ended term of office June 2022 T.Manning - ended term of office June 2022 A.Linforth - appointed June 2022 M.Lee - appointed June 2022 G.Allcott - appointed June 2022 A.Humphrey- ended term of office October 2020 M. Osborne - appointed D.Dudley - appointed March 2022 M.Payne - appointed March 2022 R. Williams - appointed October 2019, will commence second term in office October 2022 M. Jolley - commenced second term of office July 2019, term extended for a year in July 2022 M.Brittain - commenced second term of office October 2021

Auditors

Knox Cropper LLP Chartered Accountants and Statutory Auditors 153 -155 London Road Hemel Hempstead Hertfordshire HP3 9SQ

STATEMENT OF TRUSTEES' RESPONSIBILITIES

The trustees are responsible for preparing the Report of the Trustees and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

The law applicable to charities in England and Wales, the Charities Act 2011, Charity (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 and the provisions of the trust deed requires the trustees to prepare consolidated financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charity for that period. In preparing those financial statements, the trustees are required to

The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and the group to enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011, the Charity (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 and the provisions of the trust deed. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

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WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

Approved by order of the board of trustees on ............................................. and signed on its behalf by:

.................................................................... Trustee

Page 39

Report of the Independent Auditors to the Trustees of Worcester Students' Union

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Worcester Students' Union (the 'charity') for the year ended 31 July 2022 which comprise the Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities, the Consolidated Balance Sheet, the Consolidated Cash Flow Statement and notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion the financial statements:

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 Auditors' responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charity 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 charity'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 trustees are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the Annual Report, other than the financial statements and our Report of the Independent Auditors thereon.

Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

In connection with our audit of the financial statements, 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 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.

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Report of the Independent Auditors to the Trustees of Worcester Students' Union

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

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

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the Statement of Trustees' Responsibilities, the trustees are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements which 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 charity'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 charity or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

We have been appointed as auditors 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 a Report of the Independent Auditors 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.

The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below:

• The Group is required to comply with charity law and, based on our knowledge of its activities, we identified that the legal requirement to accurately account for restricted funds was of key significance.

• We gained an understanding of how the charity complied with its legal and regulatory framework, including the requirement to properly account for restricted funds, through discussions with management and a review of the documented policies, procedures and controls.

• The audit team, which is experienced in the audit of charities, considered the group's susceptibility to material misstatement and how fraud may occur. Our considerations included the risk of management override.

• Our approach was to check that all restricted income was properly identified and separately accounted for and to ensure that only valid and appropriate expenditure was charged to restricted funds. This included reviewing journal adjustments and unusual transactions.

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council's website at www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our Report of the Independent Auditors.

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Report of the Independent Auditors to the Trustees of Worcester Students' Union

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charity's trustees, 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 charity'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 charity and the charity's trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Knox Cropper LLP Chartered Accountants and Statutory Auditors 153 -155 London Road Hemel Hempstead Hertfordshire HP3 9SQ Date: .............................................

Page 42

WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

Notes
INCOME AND ENDOWMENTS FROM
Donations and legacies
2
Charitable activities
Student activities
Bar
Other trading activities
3
Investment income
4
Total
EXPENDITURE ON
Raising funds
6
Charitable activities
7
Representation
Advice and welfare
Student activities
Bar
Affiliations
Total
NET INCOME/(EXPENDITURE)
Other recognised gains/(losses)
Actuarial gains/(losses) on defined benefit
schemes
Net movement in funds
RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS
Total funds brought forward
TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD		 Unrestricted
funds
£
604,950
-
156,379
93,398
197
854,924
81,099
103,974
62,565
309,357
266,454
25,298
848,747
6,177
-
6,177
(76,673)
**(70,496) **		 Restricted
funds
£
-
173,866
-
-
-
173,866
-
-
-
156,118
-
-
156,118
17,748
-
17,748
171,496
189,244		 2022
Total
funds
£
604,950
173,866
156,379
93,398
197
1,028,790
81,099
103,974
62,565
465,475
266,454
25,298
1,004,865
23,925
-
23,925
94,823
118,748		 2021
Total
funds
£
616,888
59,799
97,964
39,681
589
814,921
73,116
111,449
56,364
304,559
251,244
20,690
817,422
(2,501)
(26,646)
(29,147)
123,970
94,823

The notes form part of these financial statements

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WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Consolidated Balance Sheet 31 July 2022

Unrestricted
funds
Notes
£
FIXED ASSETS
Tangible assets
12
14,383
CURRENT ASSETS
Stocks
14
8,623
Debtors
15
3,361
Cash at bank and in hand
308,062
320,046
CREDITORS
Amounts falling due within one year
16
(36,202)
NET CURRENT ASSETS
283,844
TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT
LIABILITIES
298,227
PROVISIONS FOR LIABILITIES
17
(368,724)
NET ASSETS
(70,497)
FUNDS
18
Unrestricted funds
Restricted funds
TOTAL FUNDS		 Restricted
funds
£
-
-
-
189,244
189,244
-
189,244
189,244
-
189,244		 2022
Total
funds
£
14,383
8,623
3,361
497,306
509,290
(36,202)
473,088
487,471
(368,724)
118,747
(70,497)
189,244
118,747		 2021
Total
funds
£
16,983
9,361
12,903
472,602
494,866
(36,952)
457,914
474,897
(380,075)
94,822
(76,674)
171,496
94,822

The financial statements were approved by the Board of Trustees and authorised for issue on ............................................. and were signed on its behalf by:

............................................. Trustee

The notes form part of these financial statements

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WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Charity Balance Sheet 31 July 2022

Unrestricted Restricted
funds
funds
Notes
£
£
FIXED ASSETS
Tangible assets
12
14,383
-
Investments
13
1
-
14,384
-
CURRENT ASSETS
Stocks
14
8,623
-
Debtors
15
3,361
-
Cash at bank and in hand
308,062
189,244
320,046
189,244
CREDITORS
Amounts falling due within one year
16
(36,202)
-
NET CURRENT ASSETS
283,844
189,244
TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT
LIABILITIES
298,228
189,244
PROVISIONS FOR LIABILITIES
17
(368,724)
-
NET ASSETS
(70,496)
189,244
FUNDS
18
Unrestricted funds
Restricted funds
TOTAL FUNDS		 2022
Total
funds
£
14,383
1
14,384
8,623
3,361
497,306
509,290
(36,202)
473,088
487,472
(368,724)
118,748
(70,496)
189,244
118,748		 2021
Total
funds
£
16,983
1
16,984
9,361
12,903
472,602
494,866
(36,652)
457,914
474,898
(380,075)
94,823
(76,673)
171,496
94,823

The financial statements were approved by the Board of Trustees and authorised for issue on 2022 and were signed on its behalf by:

............................................. Trustee

The notes form part of these financial statements

Page 45

WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Consolidated Cash Flow Statement for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

Notes
Cash flows from operating activities
Cash generated from operations
1
Net cash provided by operating activities
Cash flows from investing activities
Purchase of tangible fixed assets
Interest received
Net cash (used in)/provided by investing activities
Change in cash and cash equivalents
in the reporting period
Cash and cash equivalents at the
beginning of the reporting period
Cash and cash equivalents at the end
of the reporting period		 2022
£
26,625
26,625
(2,118)
197
(1,921)
24,704
472,602
497,306		 2021
£
53,279
53,279
-
589
589
53,868
418,734
472,602

The notes form part of these financial statements

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WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Notes to the Consolidated Cash Flow Statement for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

1. RECONCILIATION OF NET INCOME/(EXPENDITURE) TO NET CASH FLOW FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES

Net income/(expenditure) for the reporting period (as per the
Statement of Financial Activities)
Adjustments for:
Depreciation charges
Interest received
SUSS Pension deficit movements
Decrease/(increase) in stocks
Decrease in debtors
Decrease in creditors
Net cash provided by operations		 2022
£
23,925
4,718
(197)
(11,351)
738
9,542
(750)
26,625		 2021
£
(2,501)
61,284
(589)
(6,796)
(1,602)
6,671
(3,188)
53,279

2. ANALYSIS OF CHANGES IN NET FUNDS

At 1.8.21 Cash flow At 31.7.22
£ £ £
Net cash
Cash at bank and in hand **472,602 ** **24,704 ** 497,306
**472,602 ** **24,704 ** 497,306
Total **472,602 ** **24,704 ** 497,306

The notes form part of these financial statements

Page 47

WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION Notes to the Financial Statements for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Basis of preparing the financial statements

The financial statements of the charity, which is a public benefit entity under FRS 102, have been prepared in accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102) 'Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019)', Financial Reporting Standard 102 'The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland' and the Charities Act 2011. The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention, with the exception of investments which are included at market value.

Income

All income is recognised in the Statement of Financial Activities once the charity has entitlement to the funds, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably.

Other income is recognised in the period in which it is receivable and to the extent the goods have been provided or on completion of the service.

Expenditure

Liabilities are recognised as expenditure as soon as there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the charity to that expenditure, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefits will be required in settlement and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all cost related to the category. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to particular headings they have been allocated to activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources.

Fundraising costs are those incurred in seeking voluntary contributions and do not include the costs of disseminating information in support of the charitable activities. Support costs are those costs incurred directly in support of expenditure on the objects of the charity and include project management carried out at Headquarters. Governance costs are those incurred in connection with administration of the charity and compliance with constitutional and statutory requirements.

Allocation and apportionment of support costs

The bases on which support costs have been allocated is set out in note 8 of the accounts.

Tangible fixed assets

There is no set de minimis level for the capitalisation of tangible fixed assets and each case is dealt with on an individual basis.

The policy with respect to impairment reviews of fixed assets is that reviews will be carried out if events indicate that the carrying value of any fixed asset may not be recoverable. Impairment losses are recognised in the SOFA.

Tangible fixed assets are stated at cost less depreciation. Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write off the cost of fixed assets, less their estimated residual value, over their expected useful lives on the following bases:

10 to 20% per annum straight line and 20% reducing Retail fixtures and fittings - balance Administration fixtures & fittings - 20% per annum reducing balance Improvements to premises - 10% per annum straight line and 20% reducing balance

Page 48

continued...

WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Notes to the Financial Statements - continued for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES - continued

Stocks

Stocks are valued at the lower of cost and net realisable value, after making due allowance for obsolete and slow moving items.

Taxation

The charity is exempt from tax on its charitable activities.

Fund accounting

Unrestricted funds can be used in accordance with the charitable objectives at the discretion of the trustees.

Restricted funds can only be used for particular restricted purposes within the objects of the charity. Restrictions arise when specified by the donor or when funds are raised for particular restricted purposes.

Further explanation of the nature and purpose of each fund is included in the notes to the financial statements.

Pension costs and other post-retirement benefits

The Union participates in the Students' Union Superannuation Scheme (SUSS), a defined benefit scheme which is externally funded and contracted out of the State Second Pension. The fund is valued at least every three years by a professionally qualified independent actuary with the rates of contribution payable being determined by the trustees on the advice of the actuary.

The most recent valuation of the Scheme was carried out as at 30 June 2019 and showed that the market value of the Scheme's assets was £119,100,000 with these assets representing 46% of the value of benefits that had accrued to members after allowing for expected future increases in earnings. The deficit on an ongoing funding basis amounted to £140,900,000.

The 2019 valuation recommended a monthly contribution requirement by each participating Union intended to clear the ongoing funding deficit ending in 2035, increasing by 5% each year.

The scheme operates as a pooled arrangement, with contributions paid at a centrally agreed rate. As a consequence, no share of the underlying assets and liabilities can be directly attributed to the Union.

Under FRS 102, where a scheme participates in a multi-employer defined benefit pension scheme that is in deficit and the employer has entered into an agreement to fund the deficit the entity shall recognise a liability for the contributions payable that arise from the agreement. As the agreement runs until 2035, a discount rate of 3.8% has been applied in determining the net present value of the contributions made in the period.

The union also contributes to the Aegon Pension Scheme. The annual contributions payable are charged to the income and expenditure account.

Going concern

After making appropriate enquiries, the trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. For this reason they continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the financial statements.

Page 49

continued...

WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Notes to the Financial Statements - continued for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

2.
DONATIONS AND LEGACIES
Grants
Other grants
CJRS grant
Grants received, included in the above, are as follows:
University of Worcester
3.
OTHER TRADING ACTIVITIES
Marketing
Other
NUS Extra
Commissions receivable
Varsity income
Events income
4.
INVESTMENT INCOME
Deposit account interest		 2022
£
600,000
4,950
-
604,950
2022
£
600,000
2022
£
58,425
26
1,020
3,245
16,809
13,873
93,398
2022
£
**197 **		 2022
£
600,000
4,950
-
604,950
2022
£
600,000
2022
£
58,425
26
1,020
3,245
16,809
13,873
93,398
2022
£
**197 **		 2021
£
540,000
5,700
71,188
616,888
2021
£
540,000
2021
£
29,364
317
1,341
2,529
6,130
-
39,681
2021
£
589		 2021
£
540,000
5,700
71,188
616,888
2021
£
540,000
2021
£
29,364
317
1,341
2,529
6,130
-
39,681
2021
£
589

Page 50

continued...

WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Notes to the Financial Statements - continued for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

5.
INCOME FROM CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES
Activity
Student Activity
Membership
Student activities
Bar
Bar
BII insurance claim
Bar
6.
RAISING FUNDS
Raising donations and legacies
Staff costs
Telephone
Postage and stationery
Marketing costs
Legal fees
Other trading activities
Bad debts
Aggregate amounts		 2022
£
173,866
156,379
-
330,245
2022
£
68,909
158
(100)
12,132
-
81,099
2022
£
-
81,099		 2021
£
59,799
93,062
4,902
157,763
2021
£
63,591
381
100
9,294
100
73,466
2021
£
(350)
73,116

Page 51

continued...

WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Notes to the Financial Statements - continued for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

7. CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES COSTS

Representation
Advice and welfare
Student activities
Bar
Affiliations		 Direct
Costs
£
-
45,235
344,174
162,485
25,298
**577,192 **		 Support
costs (see
note 8)
£
103,974
17,330
121,301
103,969
-
346,574		 Totals
£
103,974
62,565
465,475
266,454
25,298
923,766
8.
SUPPORT COSTS
Governance
Management
costs
£
£
Representation
67,737
36,237
Advice and welfare
11,290
6,040
Student activities
79,025
42,276
Bar
67,733
36,236
225,785
120,789
Activity
Basis of allocation
Management
Based on estimated usage of resources
Governance costs
Based on estimated usage of resources		 Totals
£
103,974
17,330
121,301
103,969
346,574

9. TRUSTEES' REMUNERATION AND BENEFITS

TRUSTEES' REMUNERATION AND BENEFITS
Trustees' salaries
Trustees' social security		 2022
£
61,680
4,649
66,329		 2021
£
55,170
4,148
59,318

Each of the Executive Committee's sabbatical officers received remuneration of £18,349 as authorised in the Union's governing document, for the representation, campaigning and support work they undertake as distinct from their trustee responsibilities.

Trustees' expenses

Trustees' expenses 2022
£
311		 2021
£
35

Page 52

continued...

WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Notes to the Financial Statements - continued for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

10. STAFF COSTS

Wages and salaries

Social security costs
Other pension costs

The average monthly number of employees during the year was as follows:
Full time
Students - Semester only
No employees received emoluments in excess of £60,000.
11.
COMPARATIVES FOR THE CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL
Unrestricted
funds
£
INCOME AND ENDOWMENTS FROM
Donations and legacies
616,888
Charitable activities
Student activities
-
Bar
97,964
Other trading activities
39,682
Investment income
589
Total
755,123
EXPENDITURE ON
Raising funds
73,116
Charitable activities
Representation
111,449
Advice and welfare
56,364
Student activities
267,199
Bar
251,244
Affiliations
20,690
Total
780,062		 2022
£
522,793
34,606
32,866
590,265
2022
18
22
40
ACTIVITIES
Restricted
funds
£
-
59,799
-
(1)
-
59,798
-
-
-
37,360
-
-
37,360		 2021
£
488,327
31,911
16,119
536,357
2021
17
23
40
Total
funds
£
616,888
59,799
97,964
39,681
589
814,921
73,116
111,449
56,364
304,559
251,244
20,690
817,422

Page 53

continued...

WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Notes to the Financial Statements - continued for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

11.
COMPARATIVES FOR THE CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES -
continued
Unrestricted
Restricted
funds
funds
£
£
NET INCOME/(EXPENDITURE)
(24,939)
22,438
Transfers between funds
56,744
(56,744)
Other recognised gains/(losses)
Actuarial gains/(losses) on defined benefit
schemes
(26,646)
-
Net movement in funds
5,159
(34,306)
RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS
Total funds brought forward
(81,832)
205,802
TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD
(76,673)
171,496
12.
TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS
Group and Charity
COST
At 1 August 2021
Additions
At 31 July 2022
DEPRECIATION
At 1 August 2021
Charge for year
At 31 July 2022
NET BOOK VALUE
At 31 July 2022
At 31 July 2021
Total
funds
£
(2,501)
-
(26,646)
(29,147)
123,970
94,823
Fixtures
and
fittings
£
907,503
2,118
909,621
890,520
4,718
895,238
14,383
16,983

Page 54

continued...

WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Notes to the Financial Statements - continued for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

13. FIXED ASSET INVESTMENTS

FIXED ASSET INVESTMENTS
Unlisted
Charity investments
£
MARKET VALUE
At 1 August 2021 and 31 July 2022 1
NET BOOK VALUE
At 31 July 2022 1
At 31 July 2021 1

There were no investment assets outside the UK.

14.
STOCKS
Group and Charity
Stocks
15.
DEBTORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR
Group
2022
2021
Trade debtors
1,694
9,285
Other debtors
1,667
2,037
VAT
-
1,581
Inter company
-
-
3,361
12,903		 2022
2021
£
£
8,623
9,361
Charity
2022
2021
1,694
9,285
1,667
2,037
-
1,281
-
300
3,361
12,903

Page 55

continued...

WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Notes to the Financial Statements - continued for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

16. CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR


Trade creditors
Taxation and social security
Other creditors
Inter company		 Group
2022
2021
7,398
9,032
10,504
8,118
18,300
19,802

-
-
36,202
36,952		 Charity
2022
2021
7,398
9,032
9,304
8,118
18,300
19,502
1,200
300
36,202
36,952		 Charity
2022
2021
7,398
9,032
9,304
8,118
18,300
19,502
1,200
300
36,202
36,952
36,952

17. PROVISIONS FOR LIABILITIES

Provisions 2022
£
368,724		 2021
£
380,075

The above provision relates to the deficit funding contributions the Union is required to make to SUSS (see notes 1 and 19).

18. MOVEMENT IN FUNDS

Net
Transfers
movement
between
At 1.8.21
in funds
funds
£
£
£
Unrestricted funds
General fund
303,402
20,620
(25,794)
Pension deficit
(380,075)
(14,443)
25,794
(
(76,673)
6,177
-
Restricted funds
Clubs and societies
171,496
17,748
-
TOTAL FUNDS
94,823
23,925
-		 At
31.7.22
£
298,228
368,724)
(70,496)
189,244
118,748

Page 56

continued...

WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Notes to the Financial Statements - continued for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

18. MOVEMENT IN FUNDS - continued

Net movement in funds, included in the above are as follows:

Unrestricted funds
General fund
Pension deficit
Restricted funds
Clubs and societies
TOTAL FUNDS		 Incoming
resources
£
854,924
-
854,924
173,866
1,028,790		 Resources
expended
£
(834,304)
(14,443)
(848,747)
(156,118)
**(1,004,865) **		 Movement
in funds
£
20,620
(14,443)
6,177
17,748
23,925

Comparatives for movement in funds

Unrestricted funds
General fund
Pension deficit
Restricted funds
Clubs and societies
Capital grant
TOTAL FUNDS		 At 1.8.20
£
278,393
(360,225)
(81,832)
149,058
56,744
205,802
123,970		 Net
movement
in funds
£
(7,684)
(43,901)
(51,585)
22,438
-
22,438
(29,147)		 Transfers
between
funds
£
32,693
24,051
56,744
-
(56,744)
(56,744)
-		 At
31.7.21
£
303,402
(380,075)
(76,673)
171,496
-
171,496
94,823

Page 57

continued...

WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Notes to the Financial Statements - continued for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

18. MOVEMENT IN FUNDS - continued

Comparative net movement in funds, included in the above are as follows:

Unrestricted funds
General fund
Pension deficit
Restricted funds
Clubs and societies
TOTAL FUNDS		 Incoming
resources
£
755,123
-
755,123
59,798
814,921		 Resources
expended
£
(762,807)
(17,255)
(780,062)
(37,360)
(817,422)		 Gains and
Movement
losses
in funds
£
£
-
(7,684)
(26,646)
(43,901)
(26,646)
(51,585)
-
22,438
(26,646)
(29,147)

A current year 12 months and prior year 12 months combined position is as follows:

Net Transfers
movement between At
At 1.8.20 in funds funds 31.7.22
£ £ £ £
Unrestricted funds
General fund 278,393 12,936 6,899 298,228
Pension deficit (360,225) (58,344) 49,845 (368,724)
(81,832) (45,408) 56,744 (70,496)
Restricted funds
Clubs and societies 149,058 40,186 - 189,244
Capital grant 56,744 - (56,744) -
205,802 40,186 (56,744) 189,244
TOTAL FUNDS 123,970 (5,222) - 118,748

Page 58

continued...

WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Notes to the Financial Statements - continued for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

18. MOVEMENT IN FUNDS - continued

A current year 12 months and prior year 12 months combined net movement in funds, included in the above are as follows:

Unrestricted funds
General fund
Pension deficit
Restricted funds
Clubs and societies
TOTAL FUNDS		 Incoming
resources
£
1,610,047
-
1,610,047
233,664
1,843,711		 Resources
expended
£
(1,597,111)
(31,698)
(1,628,809)
(193,478)
(1,822,287)		 Gains and
losses
£
-
(26,646)
(26,646)
-
(26,646)		 Movement
in funds
£
12,936
(58,344)
(45,408)
40,186
(5,222)

19. EMPLOYEE BENEFIT OBLIGATIONS

The Union participates in the Students' Union Superannuation Scheme, which is a defined benefit scheme whose membership consists of employees of students' unions and related bodies throughout the country. Benefits in respect of service up to 30 September 2003 are accrued on a "final salary" basis, with benefits in respect of service from 1 October 2003 accruing on a Career Average Revalued Earnings (CARE) basis. With effect from 30 September 2011 the Scheme closed to future accrual.

The most recent valuation of the Scheme was carried out as at 30 June 2019 and showed that the market value of the Scheme's assets was £119,100,000 with these assets representing 46% of the value of benefits that had accrued to members after allowing for expected future increases in earnings. The deficit on an ongoing funding basis amounted to £140,900,000.

The assumptions which have the most significant effect upon the results of the valuation are those relating to the rate of return on investments and the rates of increase in salaries and pensions.

The following assumptions applied at 30 June 2019:-

• The investment return would be 4.3% per annum before retirement and 2.3% per annum after retirement.

• Present and future pensions would increase at rates specified by scheme rules with appropriate assumptions where these are dependent on inflation.

The 2019 Valuation recommended a monthly contribution requirement by each Participating Employer expressed in monetary terms intended to clear the ongoing funding deficit over a period of 15 years from 2019/20 and will increase by at least 5% each year.The deficit funding period was also increased by nearly two years.

Page 59

continued...

WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION Notes to the Financial Statements - continued for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

19. EMPLOYEE BENEFIT OBLIGATIONS - continued

These contributions also include an allowance for cost of the ongoing administrative and operational expenses of running the Scheme. These rates will be formally reviewed following completion of the next valuation due with an effective date of 30 June 2022. Surpluses or deficits which arise at future valuations will also impact on the Union's future contribution commitment. In addition to the above contributions, the Union also pays its share of the Scheme's levy to the Pension Protection Fund.

The liability provided for in respect of the SUSS pension deficit amounted increased to £368,724 (2021: £380,075) at 31 July 2022(see note 17).

The Union also has members in the Aegon Pension Scheme which is a defined contribution scheme.

The total contributions due to the Schemes by the Union in respect of eligible employees for the year ended 31 July 2022 are disclosed in the staff costs note.

20. RELATED PARTY DISCLOSURES

The union is in receipt of a recurrent grant from the parent body to cover salaries and overheads. The amount received for the year ended 31 July 2022 was £600,000 (2021: £540,000).

At the year end the total due to the union from the University of Worcester was £xxxx.

21. ULTIMATE CONTROLLING PARTY

The union is controlled by the executive committee which is subject to democratic election by the voting membership of the union. The ultimate control of the union is vested under the constitution in the membership in General meeting. As such no single person or entity controls the union.

Page 60

WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Detailed Statement of Financial Activities for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

INCOME AND ENDOWMENTS
Donations and legacies
Grants
Other grants
CJRS grant
Other trading activities
Marketing
Other
NUS Extra
Commissions receivable
Varsity income
Events income
Investment income
Deposit account interest
Charitable activities
Bar
BII insurance claim
Student Activity Membership
Total incoming resources
EXPENDITURE
Raising donations and legacies
Wages
Social security
Pensions
Telephone
Postage and stationery
Marketing costs
Legal fees		 2022
£
600,000
4,950
-
604,950
58,425
26
1,020
3,245
16,809
13,873
93,398
197
156,379
-
173,866
330,245
1,028,790
62,677
3,745
2,487
158
(100)
12,132
-
81,099		 2021
£
540,000
5,700
71,188
616,888
29,364
317
1,341
2,529
6,130
-
39,681
589
93,062
4,902
59,799
157,763
814,921
57,494
3,651
2,446
381
100
9,294
100
73,466

This page does not form part of the statutory financial statements

Page 61

WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Detailed Statement of Financial Activities for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

Raising donations and legacies
Other trading activities
Bad debts
Charitable activities
Wages
Social security
Pensions
Insurance
Telephone
Sundries
Other costs
Clubs and Societies costs
Ball expenditure
Union awards
Bar purchases
Equipment maintenance
BUCS representation
Transport subsidy - BUCS
NUS
Event costs
Varsity costs
Equipment purchases
Depreciation of plant & machinery
Support costs
Management
Wages
Social security
Pensions
Insurance
Telephone
Postage and stationery
Travel expenses
Consultancy costs
Conferences and training
Computer costs
Legal and professional
Miscellaneous cost
Bank charges
Carried forward		 2022
£
-
214,397
13,961
6,832
4,771
68
-
9,429
156,210
-
360
72,830
1,450
12,635
26,187
13,868
24,155
12,906
2,415
4,718
577,192
153,462
9,592
22,023
17,916
(2,013)
636
628
1,283
2,252
7,501
5,835
1,828
1,992
222,935		 2021
£
(350)
213,446
13,378
6,436
4,071
-
50
4,268
37,360
303
492
46,382
1,355
7,669
1,240
13,863
7,931
7,166
2,830
4,542
372,782
82,607
4,793
6,545
17,945
3,136
649
419
2,193
6,570
5,173
2,092
1,426
18,580
152,128

This page does not form part of the statutory financial statements

Page 62

WORCESTER STUDENTS' UNION

Detailed Statement of Financial Activities for the Year Ended 31 July 2022

Management
Brought forward
Recruitment
Fixtures and fittings
Governance costs
Trustees' salaries
Trustees' social security
Trustees' expenses
Wages
Social security
Pensions
Auditors' remuneration
Sundries
Conferences and training
Institute reps honorariums
Campaign costs
Total resources expended
Net income/(expenditure)		 2022
£
222,935
2,850
-
225,785
-
-
311
92,257
7,308
1,524
9,975
659
1,638
4,800
2,317
120,789
1,004,865
23,925		 2021
£
152,128
330
56,742
209,200
55,170
4,148
35
79,610
5,941
692
9,250
33
-
5,850
1,595
162,324
817,422
(2,501)

This page does not form part of the statutory financial statements

Page 63

WORCESTER STUDENTS’ UNION

AUDIT SUMMARY FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST JULY 2022

WORCESTER STUDENTS’ UNION AUDIT SUMMARY FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31[ST] JULY 2022

In accordance with our normal practice, we have set out in this report those matters arising from the audit which we are required to bring to your attention in accordance with International Auditing Standard 260. We have also provided a brief commentary on the financial statements along with a draft of the Trustees’ representations on which we are placing reliance for the purpose of our audit.

As you will appreciate, our audit procedures are designed primarily to enable us to form an opinion on the accounts as a whole. Our procedures include such tests of the accounting records and internal control systems as are, in our opinion, necessary for audit purposes. Consequently, whilst our procedures may identify certain weaknesses, they should not be relied upon to reveal all systems weaknesses which may exist.

This report has been prepared for your sole use and we assume no responsibility to any other party in respect of its contents. The report should not be disclosed to any third party without our prior written consent.

In conclusion we would like to take this opportunity of expressing our appreciation to all your staff, particularly Rob, for his assistance and co-operation during the course of our audit.

If you have any queries on any of the points in this letter, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Yours faithfully,

Knox Cropper LLP

https://www.knoxcropper.com/

2

WORCESTER STUDENTS’ UNION AUDIT SUMMARY FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31[ST] JULY 2022

Contents

Contents
Audit Overview 4 - 5
Key Audit Risks And Conclusions 6 - 7
Internal Control Matters 8 - 10
Emerging Issues 11 -12
Commentary On The Accounts 13 - 15
Draft Representation Letter 16 - 18

https://www.knoxcropper.com/

3

WORCESTER STUDENTS’ UNION AUDIT SUMMARY FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31[ST] JULY 2022

Audit Overview

General

The purpose of our audit is to gather sufficient evidence to allow us to conclude that the transactions and balances disclosed in the accounts are unlikely to be materially misstated, to establish that disclosures reflected in the accounts comply with the requirements of legislation and relevant accounting standards, to assess whether the accounting policies adopted are appropriate and consistently applied and to assess whether judgements exercised and estimates made in the preparation of the accounts were both prudent and even handed.

Audit Report

We have completed the audit to our satisfaction and intend to issue an unqualified audit opinion on the accounts. The text of the audit report is in accordance with the standard text for unqualified audit reports issued by the Financial Reporting Council.

Audit Adjustments

No significant adjustments arose from our audit work. Minor adjustments resulting for our work have been discussed with management and appropriately reflected in the financial statements.

We confirm that no misstatements were detected during the audit which remain uncorrected in the financial statements other than matters which are both individually and cumulatively clearly trifling.

Accounting Policies and Disclosures

The accounting policies adopted by the Charity are consistent with those adopted in previous years and are appropriate to the Charity operations.

We also report that adequate consideration was given to the potential impact of changes in legislation and accounting standards which arose during the year. No changes arose during the current year which affected the accounts and therefore the form and content of the accounts are consistent with the preceding year.

https://www.knoxcropper.com/

4

WORCESTER STUDENTS’ UNION AUDIT SUMMARY FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31[ST] JULY 2022

Audit Overview (continued)

COVID-19

As part of our audit we have considered the impact on the charity of COVID-19. Discussions have taken place with management and we are satisfied that the impact has been adequately disclosed in the accounts and that no further adjustments to the balance sheet are necessary.

Professional Ethics and Independence

We confirm our compliance with Ethical Standards issued by the Financial Reporting Council and there are no matters in relation to our audit engagement which we consider should be brought to your attention.

https://www.knoxcropper.com/

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WORCESTER STUDENTS’ UNION AUDIT SUMMARY FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31[ST] JULY 2022

Key Audit Risks And Conclusions

Risk

Audit Approach

Conclusion

Classification of income

Income received by the Charity could be subject to restrictions and therefore income may need to be treated as restricted income.

We will review the underlying documentation supporting income to ascertain whether restrictions apply, and if applicable, review expenditure from these funds to ascertain whether the imposed restrictions are being adhered to.

This was tested as part of our income testing. Appears to be fairly stated in the accounts.

Payroll expenditure

Payroll expenditure is a substantial part of total expenditure therefore this is an area that will be thoroughly reviewed due to its materiality.

We will review salary costs on a proof in total basis by agreeing the payroll reports to the accounts. We will also perform substantive testing on a sample of employees, including checking contracts of employment.

There were no issues noted during our audit testing. Payroll expenditure appears to be fairly stated in the accounts.

Control issues

The small complement of staff at the Charity could result in controls being overridden.

Expenditure will be tested to ensure that it is valid and authorised. Reconciliations will be reviewed to ensure they are regularly prepared.

No issues found. Controls are appropriate and adhered to and reconciliations are prepared regularly.

Related party transactions

Identification of all related party transactions conducted throughout the year.

We will review and assess the controls in place to identify and disclose related party transactions and look out for related party transactions during our review of the accounting records.

This was tested as part of our income and expenditure testing. We requested that related party declaration forms were completed by all trustees and senior management. No issues noted were noted.

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WORCESTER STUDENTS’ UNION AUDIT SUMMARY FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31[ST] JULY 2022

Key Audit Risks And Conclusions

Risk

Audit Approach

Conclusion

VAT

Risk that VAT has been incorrectly accounted for.

During our income and expenditure testing we will perform substantive tests, which will include checking the accuracy and the treatment of the VAT recorded.

We did not find any issues during our audit work. However, we have included a point in the internal control matters section below recommending that a VAT review is considered.

SUSS Pension deficit provision

The assumptions and calculations used may be inappropriate and may cause a material misstatement.

Check the calculations and assumptions used for the pension deficit provision.

The assumptions used for the SUSS pension deficit calculation are appropriate and the calculation performed has been agreed. The SUSS pension deficit liability appears to be fairly stated in the accounts.

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WORCESTER STUDENTS’ UNION AUDIT SUMMARY FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31[ST] JULY 2022

Internal Control Matters

We are required to report to you in writing, significant deficiencies in the internal control environment that we have identified during the course of our audit. These matters are limited to those which we have concluded are of sufficient importance to be reported to you. Our audit cannot necessarily be expected to disclose all matters that may be of interest to you and, as a result, the matters reported may not be the only ones which exist.

We have categorised the internal deficiencies noted via a colour-scale rating system. The key to which follows:

We do not consider there to be a risk of material loss from these risks

These controls should be strengthened but we do not consider these to be an urgent priority

We consider this to be of critical importance and would recommend that it is addressed as a matter of urgent priority

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WORCESTER STUDENTS’ UNION AUDIT SUMMARY FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31[ST] JULY 2022

Internal Control Matters – Current Year

The Current Year Risk rating

Observation

Recommendation

Managements response

VAT Review

We did not find any issues in relation to VAT during our audit and the Union appears to be adhering to its current methodology. However, the Union has not had a VAT review for a few years. VAT in the charity sector is complex and any changes to the Union’s activities or changes in VAT regulations could impact on the VAT compliance of the Union.

Given the complex nature of VAT within the charity sector, we recommend that the Union considers having a VAT review undertaken.

We are pleased to report that the accounting records were well maintained. No significant weaknesses were identified during the audit.

Internal controls were generally appropriate for the size of organisation and our compliance testing indicated that they were operating effectively in practice.

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WORCESTER STUDENTS’ UNION AUDIT SUMMARY FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31[ST] JULY 2022

Internal Control Matters - Prior Year

Risk rating Observation Recommendation Managements response

We are pleased to report that the accounting records were well maintained. No significant weaknesses were identified during the audit.

Internal controls were generally appropriate for the size of organisation and our compliance testing indicated that they were operating effectively in practice.

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WORCESTER STUDENTS’ UNION AUDIT SUMMARY FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31[ST] JULY 2022

Emerging Issues

New Charities Act

The Charities Bill received Royal Assent and passed into law as the Charities Act 2022 (the Act) on 24 February 2022. The primary purpose of the Act is to reduce the administrative burden on charities through the implementation of the recommendations made by the Law Commission in its report of 2017. The provisions of the Act are due to be implemented in a phased way, over a period of 18 months, which will give the Charity Commission sufficient time to update its guidance. A key point to note is that the Act does not impose any additional obligations on charity trustees. Instead, it simplifies the administrative steps which trustees are required to take when making certain decisions. The key provisions of the Act are summarised on our website.

Guidance from the Charity Commission on Investing charity funds

The existing guidance. The existing guidance, which is set out in the Charity Commission publication CC14, is currently subject to a consultation with a number of changes proposed. Charity trustees had frequently raised concerns that their responsibilities to maximise income precluded them from having an ethical investment policy or a policy to invest in social investments.

The proposed changes. The consultation paper proposes to change the term “ethical” investment to “responsible” investment and makes it more explicit that Trustees can approve investment policies which include investing ethically and supporting social investments where these policies reflect or further the charity’s charitable purposes.

Cyberfraud

Cyberfraud is a growing issue for all organisations, including charities. As part of Charity Fraud Awareness Week in October 2021, charities have been asked to sign a pledge to work actively to prevent fraud in their organisations. This initiative is supported by the Fraud Advisory Panel and the Charity Commission. The website includes a wealth of information including case studies, about fraud risk and preventative tools.

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WORCESTER STUDENTS’ UNION AUDIT SUMMARY FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31[ST] JULY 2022

Emerging Issues (continued)

Charity Financial Statements

New consultation framework. The next update of the Charities Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) is expected to be published in Autumn 2023 to come into effect in 2024. The consultation process is already underway, involving a wide range of stakeholders (through volunteer engagement partners). One theme of the consultation is the simplification of financial statements for smaller charities.

Charity Commission Guidance

Five Minute Guides. The Charity Commission has published simple five minute guides for trustees covering the following areas:

a)Charity purposes

b)Managing charity finances

c)Managing conflicts of interest

d)Making decisions

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WORCESTER STUDENTS’ UNION AUDIT SUMMARY FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31[ST] JULY 2022

Commentary On The Accounts

General

The consolidated accounts have been drawn up on the basis of generally accepted accounting principles (Charities SORP 2019 - FRS 102) and relevant legislation. The accounts consist of:

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WORCESTER STUDENTS’ UNION AUDIT SUMMARY FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31[ST] JULY 2022

Commentary On The Accounts (continued)

Statement of Financial Activities

Net movement in total funds for the year showed a surplus of £23,925 in comparison to a deficit of £19,147 last year.

Total Income increased from £815k to £1,029k. The increase in income is the result of the following:

  1. Income from Student Activities increased from £60k last year to £174k this year. This income represents funds raised by the various clubs and societies of the Union. These funds can only be spent for the benefit for the club or society it was raised for, consequently, this income is restricted income. The Student Activities have increased due to the removal of the COVID-19 restrictions this year.

  2. Income from the bar increased from £98k to £156k. The Union bar was closed during periods of the previous year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

  3. Other trading activity income also increase this year from £40k to £93k. This includes Advertising income and Varsity income, which increased during the year. There is also Events income this year of £14k, which was nil last year because of the COVID-19 restrictions.

  4. Donations and legacies have decreased slightly this year from £617k last year to £605k this year, which is because there was no CJRS grant income received this year. CJRS income was £71k last year. This has been offset slightly by an increase in the grant received from the University from £540k to £600k.

Expenditure for the year also increased from £817k to £1,005k. The main reasons for the increase are explained below:

  1. Student activities costs increased from £305k to £465k. This is made up of restricted expenditure (from the clubs and societies self-raised funds) and unrestricted expenditure (expenditure by the Union). Restricted expenditure increased from £37k to £156k and unrestricted expenditure increased from £267k to £309k.

  2. Bar expenditure has increased from £251k to £266k.

  3. Included within expenditure is wages, which have increased this year from £536k to £590k.

  4. All other expenditure was broadly in line with the previous year.

The Student Union Superannuation Pension Scheme (SUSS) liability has decreased this year as a result of the deficit funding payments made during the year being greater than the unwinding of the discount. There were no actuarial gains or losses this year because the discount rate used stayed at 3.8%.

As a result of the above, the total unrestricted reserves at the disposition of the Charity have increased by £6k. Unrestricted reserves, therefore, are now in deficit by £70k. Restricted reserves increased by £18k to £189k.

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WORCESTER STUDENTS’ UNION AUDIT SUMMARY FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31[ST] JULY 2022

Commentary On The Accounts (continued)

Consolidated Balance Sheet

Net book value of fixed assets has decreased from £17k to £14k. There was £2k of additions and no disposals during the year. The depreciation charge for the year was £5k.

Net current assets, the principal balance sheet measure of short to medium term solvency, has increased from £458k to £473k. There is a sound margin of solvency with unrestricted cash and bank balances alone being sufficient to cover Creditors by a factor of 8.5:1 .

The stock figure of £9k relates to stocks held by the bar. This is the same as last year.

Debtors have decreased slightly from £13k to £3k.

Cash and bank balances have increased from £473k to £497k. £485k of this was held in the Union’s deposit account. The balance represents the current account and various floats held by the bar or in the safe.

Creditors have decreased slightly to £36k from £37k. Other creditors have decreased from £20k to £18k this figure mainly relates to accruals of £14k. Trade creditors have decreased slightly to £7k from £9k. The balance is made up of Tax and social security of £11k, which has increased slightly compared to last year.

Provisions for liabilities’ represents the calculated deficit funding contributions the Union must make in respect of the SUSS scheme. This has decreased from £380k to £369k. The decrease represents the unwinding of the discount, of £14.5k, which are net off against the contributions made to SUSS of £25.5k.

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WORCESTER STUDENTS’ UNION AUDIT SUMMARY FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31[ST] JULY 2022

Draft Representation Letter

Worcester Students’ Union

Knox Cropper LLP 153-155 London Road Hemel Hempstead Hertfordshire HP3 9SQ

Henwick Grove Worcester Worcestershire WR2 6AJ

We confirm, to the best of our knowledge and belief, and having made appropriate enquiries of other trustees and officials of the Institution, the following representations given to you in connection with your audit of the Charity’s financial statements for the year ended 31[st] July 2022.

1. GENERAL

We fulfilled our responsibilities as trustees under the Charities SORP for preparing financial statements which give a true and fair view and for making accurate representations to you. We confirm the financial statements are free of material misstatements, including omissions. We also acknowledge our responsibility for the design and implementation of internal controls to prevent and detect error and fraud.

2. RECORDS

All the accounting records have been made available to you for the purpose of your audit and all the transactions undertaken by the Charity have been properly reflected in the accounting records. All other records and related information, including minutes of trustees’ meetings have been made available to you. We confirm that, so far as each trustee is aware, there is no relevant audit information of which you have not been made aware.

3. GOING CONCERN

We believe that the Charity’s financial statements should be prepared on a going concern basis on the grounds that current and future sources of funding or support has been considered for the next twelve months and working capital will be more than adequate for the Charity’s needs. We believe that no further disclosures relating to the Charity’s ability to continue as a going concern need to be made in the financial statements.

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WORCESTER STUDENTS’ UNION AUDIT SUMMARY FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31[ST] JULY 2022

Draft Representation Letter (continued)

4. LAWS AND REGULATIONS

We confirm that we are not aware of any possible or actual instance of non-compliance with those laws and regulations which provide a legal framework within which the Charity conducts its operations. The Charity has complied with all aspects of contractual and other agreements that could have a material effect on the financial statements in the event of non-compliance. There has been no communication with Regulatory Authorities during the year or subsequently concerning non-compliance with financial and regulatory matters.

5. INTERNAL CONTROL

There have been no irregularities or allegations thereof involving trustees or officials who have a significant role in internal control or others that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

6. POST-BALANCE SHEET EVENTS

There have been no further events since the balance sheet date which necessitate revision of the figures included in the financial statements or inclusion of a note thereto. Should further material events occur, which may necessitate revision of the figures included in the financial statements or inclusion of a note thereto, we will advise you accordingly.

7. CONTINGENT LIABILITIES

We are not aware of any litigation pending at 31[st] July 2022 or other matters giving rise to potential liabilities or guarantees.

8. LOANS AND ARRANGEMENTS

The Charity has not had, nor entered into at any time during the year, any arrangement, transaction or agreement to provide credit facilities for trustees nor to guarantee or provide security for such matters. No remuneration or reimbursement for expenses was paid to the trustees except as disclosed in the financial statements.

9. TRANSACTIONS WITH RELATED PARTIES

We confirm that we have disclosed to you all related party transactions relevant to the Charity and that we are not aware of any related party matters that require disclosure other than matters set out in the financial statements.

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WORCESTER STUDENTS’ UNION AUDIT SUMMARY FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31[ST] JULY 2022

Draft Representation Letter (continued)

10. SIGNIFICANT ASSUMPTIONS

Significant assumptions used by us in making accounting estimates are reasonable. We confirm that we believe that a discount rate of 3.8% is appropriate for the calculation of the Charity’s deficit funding contribution to SUSS.

11. ASSETS AND LIABILITIES

We have no plans or intentions that may materially alter the carrying value or classification of assets and liabilities reflected in the financial statements.

12. TITLE TO ASSETS

The Charity has satisfactory title to all assets, and there are no liens or encumbrances on the assets except for those disclosed in the financial statements.

Yours faithfully

............................................................. …………………………. Signed on behalf of the Board of Trustees Date

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