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2023-07-31-accounts

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CONTENTS

REFLECTION ON THE 2022/23 YEAR..................................................................................................... 3 ACHIEVEMENTS WITHIN OUR STRATEGIC GOALS: ............................................................................ 8 WE BROUGHT STUDENTS ACROSS DURHAM TOGETHER ............................................................. 8 WE BUILT CONFIDENCE IN THE PURPOSE AND VALUE OF THE STUDENTS’ UNION ................ 11 WE TACKLED THE BIG ISSUES THAT HOLD STUDENTS BACK .................................................... 13 A REVIEW OF OUR FINANCES ............................................................................................................. 15 FINANCIAL STRATEGY...................................................................................................................... 15 INCOME .............................................................................................................................................. 15 CUSTODIAN FUNDS .......................................................................................................................... 16 INVESTMENT ..................................................................................................................................... 17 OUR STRUCTURE GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT .................................................................... 17 GOVERNING DOCUMENTS ............................................................................................................... 17 PUBLIC BENEFIT ............................................................................................................................... 17 APPOINTMENT OF TRUSTEES ......................................................................................................... 18 GOOD GOVERNANCE ....................................................................................................................... 18 RISK MANAGEMENT ......................................................................................................................... 18 MANAGEMENT ................................................................................................................................... 21 AUDITORS’ REPORT ............................................................................................................................. 24

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REFLECTION ON THE 2022/23 YEAR

125 years ago, Durham students from every course and College came together. They created our Students' Union to make their University better and fairer through collective action. Today, Durham SU remains the only organisation on campus to champion every Durham student, true to the vision of the students who founded us in 1899.

We bring students together because it’s at the heart of the two ways we advance education: we influence Durham University to change for the better by articulating and advocating students’ collective interests, and we hold collectively owned infrastructure for students to build and share social education for each other through societies, events, and activities.

Last year, we said we’d reflect deeply on our students, community, heritage, and future. Durham SU isn’t the same as other students’ unions, and we’ve tried to articulate why and how in our new strategy. We’re very proud of our work and grateful to all the students who helped us set out our ambitions for the next five years.

Our success will rely on how we respect student communities and think about the relationship between students and their students’ union. The point of this work is to help students to have fun, celebrate, and care for each other, not for our corporate organisation. If students don’t recognise they’re ‘engaged’ with Durham SU but, even so, are, with our help, influencing Durham University for the better or running brilliant student activities, then that has to be O K. We won’t measure the success of our work by centering the organisation over students.

Student volunteers have, over many years, given their time and efforts trying to fight our inadequate democratic structures. We can best respect their contribution by acknowledging that the problem we need to solve isn’t forcing ‘engagement’ in a bureaucratic system that is fundamentally disengaging. We don’t serve students by relying on a framework of meetings, documents, and processes, which, we know, only helps to amplify some voices. It is our responsibility to change and to meet students where they are. This approach is important because Durham SU champions all Durham students. We’re investing in significant, regular research and insight support to make sure that we guide Durham SU’s work to meet our strategic goals using our good judgment.

The Durham SU strategy, articulated this year, has three objectives: to build confidence in the purpose and value of the students’ union, but only because that helps bring students across Durham together to tackle the big issues that hold students back.

Our hard work means we’re in the best position to address the year ahead, which will undoubtedly be among the hardest for students across the UK. There are crises in climate and sustainability, student mental health, and housing. Students have less income in an ever more expensive world, and with universities in the same situation, it isn’t clear how the higher education sector comes out of the cost-of-living crisis doing all the things we cherish, which we know advance education and a fair and equal society.

As we prepare for a General Election, young people have low confidence in the value of democracy and the strength of their own power. Students’ unions are collective by design, and if we’re going to weather these challenges together, then we must be part of the solution.

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This report describes the achievements we had in the past year and the changes we intend in the coming year to help set the foundations for our strategic work. We’re looking forward to making new friends, sharing our plans, and reporting our success in making Durham University better and fairer for all students.

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Dan Lonsdale,
President,
2023/24
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Graeme
Osborn, Chair
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Gareth Hughes, Chief Executive

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Durham SU exists for the advancement of the education of students at Durham University for the public benefit by:

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eva Care and responslblllty. because our students matter more to us than anything. Imagination and collectivism, because we're grounded in our distinctive collegiate community. Ambitlon and optimism. because we believe Durham students can - and do - change the world. We're a student rights organisation, and our collectivism makes us stronger. We're trusted to make the best decisions about things that affect us. We're a students, union with a purpose, relentless in pursuit of our vision. We make change happen as students. with students. and in the student interests. We always recognise our successes while we strive to be better. Our collegiate University means we do things differently. We like that.

OUR PURPOSE AND VISION

Guided by these principles, Durham SU’s purpose is to be the champion of every Durham student. That means we care about the things that matter to them. We stand up for their rights. We bring them together. We celebrate their success.

Durham SU’s vision of the future is that Durham will be a better,

fairer, University because students make it happen.

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ACHIEVEMENTS WITHIN OUR STRATEGIC GOALS:

Durham SU has a strategy for meeting our charitable purposes, with three overarching goals, agreed in 2021/22 and developed into action plans in 2022/23. We also recognise our organisational model's continual health and development as an area of our work foundational to our strategy. We are pleased to share the work we have done in these areas.

WE BROUGHT STUDENTS ACROSS DURHAM TOGETHER

Student groups and societies: Helping students involve each other in new interests and experiences.

Events for students

Our student groups and societies started the year in style, entirely free of COVID restrictions for the first Fair since 2019. Focusing on bringing students together across campus, we worked to support not just our societies and student groups but also those | across campus to connect with more students. This partnership | approach with Durham University saw visible results. Together, we supported 9800 in-person visits to the Freshers’ Fair and Sports and Activity Fair. Students engaged with 487 varied clubs, teams, opportunities and offers at Maiden Castle. We also ran an . online Freshers Fair, with over 12500 visits. Having met and experienced groups and societies early in the term, most Durham =\ students (66%) were members of at least one of our student : L groups during the academic year, with most joining more than su } one group.

Freshers’ Fair 2022

Committed to helping students

come together and continue to reconnect with in-person activity, we also successfully reintroduced our annual Refreshers Fair and Student Group Awards.

Outstanding student groups

The hard work students and Durham SU put into recovering the skills and infrastructure of student groups lost during the pandemic was visible this year. We saw student-led events and activities occurring on a scale we haven’t seen since the pandemic. Events like Nerd Con, DurHack, Human Week, and Pink Week stood out, to name a few.

Durham SU supported excellent student journalism in 2022/23, reaching readers, listeners and viewers across the student body and the wider world. Our student radio station, Purple Radio, received a Durham SU grant to attend the Student Radio Awards, where they took home Gold for The Diversity,

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DUCK Pink Week
27 February - 5 March 2023
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Equality & Inclusion Award and Best Technical Achievement.

Palatinate, our student newspaper, won awards in three categories at the Student Publication Awards, including Best Reporter , and their broadcast arm, PalTV won Broadcaster of the Year at the National Student Television Awards for the second year running.

Communities: Students looking for people like them were active and well supported.

Speak Free events

We recognised that in addition to the challenging, connective, and learning discussions and events

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PalTV collecting their award at the Student National
Television Awards
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held by our student groups, we could benefit students by creating additional spaces for them to

discuss ideas and opinions that matter to their lives.

Speak Free event 11 November 2022

Questions such as ‘Who is responsible for the housing crisis, and what role does the University have in this?’ and ‘Should our attitude on drug consumption move towards harm-reduction or remain at zero-tolerance?’ were the sorts of topics that our Officers felt were being sidelined by polarising conversations about free speech on campus, but that students wanted to engage with their peers about. Students taking the opportunity to speak freely and engage with complex, multi-sided conversations about things that impact them was the ethos behind our ‘Speak Free’ events, launched in November, which we ran one per term in 2022/23.

I am delighted to say that Speak Free was an overwhelming success. We had an excellent turnout, with the dining hall full of thought-provoking and exciting conversation. A wide range of students were invited, covering a spread of Colleges, levels of study, Associations, societies, and more. Opportunities like this, where students from across campus can come together, sit down, and have passionate discussions about meaningful topics with thoughtful responses... This was a chance for students to demonstrate what the culture of debate should be like in Durham, and they did just that.”

Laura Curran, Welfare and Liberation Officer 2022/23

Sustainability Fair

We acted as hosts for a Sustainability Fair for the first time, enabling students to find groups and activities to help them pursue cares and interests in sustainability. Twenty-four groups from across the University community came together in our building to engage students and connect them with others who share their interests.

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Spaces: online and across campus were accessible and high-quality.

Lobbying for improvements

Our Officers worked to improve facilities across campus. This included:

When Durham University needed to bring students back into residence in the College of St Hild and St Bede, which had been taken out of use due to the aging facilities and inevitably poorer experience, we stood with student representatives from the Junior Common Room and briefed and trained them to speak up on behalf of students. They helped students receive better terms and lower costs for their accommodation and the best experience possible in the circumstances.

Making the most of Dunelm House

Unfortunately, Durham SU’s own home, Dunelm House, which Durham University owns, has continued to degrade. Uncertainty about the building's future and listed status pose a barrier to clear planning with the University. Despite this, in the 2022/23 academic year, we committed to making the most of the space as it is for students, guided by research we’d conducted with them the previous year. We heard students wanted more opportunities to try new things and meet people across campus through organised activities. And they needed more space for this.

We used staff hybrid working to reduce office space and worked in partnership with the University to improve the quality of these rooms so they could provide teaching space. We freed up one large and four medium-sized rooms for students to book for student activity.

We knew that students being able to save money by bringing their own food and having a space to spend time for free was both important and lacking across the city. We also heard from students that the Riverside Bar and Café wasn’t working well as an enjoyable bar and café space, so we repurposed it as a student lounge to give students a better cafe experience upstairs and more free indoor space to use downstairs in what is now the SU Lounge. Re-opening our Kingsgate Bar and Cafe was a highlight, and we were proud to have worked with the University to provide free breakfast constituents in the Lounge to support students impacted by the cost of living.

. Jack Ballingham, Opportunities Officer,[2] 2021-23

“Teaching space on campus is stretched making timetabling hard, and with knock-on effects on students and student activities. On top of that, our academic representatives work yearly with the University to try and increase the supply of ever more precious study spaces around campus. And this year, students are facing soaring living costs. Finding somewhere comfortable and free to socialise, spend time or study will be more of a priority than ever, especially as winter arrives.

Dunelm House is listed, so while there are limits on how creative we can be, with hybrid working we were confident more space could be freed up for student use. We took the challenge of rethinking priorities for the space to students, and I cannot say how grateful I am that so many of you took the time to give your thoughts, either online or in a focus group.”

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Making SU services more accessible

At the end of the year, we decided to restructure our student-facing services under a single point of access, creating the ASK (Advice, Support and Knowledge) team and service. This new service will be rolled out to students in 2023/24 with the goal of providing them with a more streamlined, accessible and student-fronted way of accessing the broad range of services we offer.

These changes led us to review our online student-facing spaces. As a result, we have committed to rationalising key areas of our systems and data relationship with the University and to resourcing improvement in our student-facing digital tools over the coming years.

WE BUILT CONFIDENCE IN THE PURPOSE AND VALUE OF THE STUDENTS’ UNION

Students: supported the collective organisation for them and by them.

Common Room Presidents supported the new Student Consultation Framework

Working with Durham University and the Common Room Presidents Committee, we created a refreshed student consultation framework. The Student Consultation Framework sets out minimum standards of consultation with students that should occur when decisions that will impact students' lives are being made. This was a successful partnership work, where we are confident our collaborative leadership has led to a tool that will see more students involved in making decisions that affect them.

Students voted to determine SU industrial action position

In December, Durham SU’s trustees called a preferendum to give all students the chance to choose between different potential SU positions on industrial action. It was clear that industrial action on campus could impact all students - undergraduate, postgraduate, taught and research - and there were clearly different views and competing student interests on the matter. It was a positive step to give the entire student body a chance to resolve this question democratically. Four positions were proposed, with the position ‘I support all industrial action’ receiving the most votes, with 1498 students having their say.

Student organisations: thrived in their distinct roles, different but complementary to Durham SU

Common Rooms

In the summer, we ran PresRes, our residential training program for Common Room Presidents and SU Officers. The University Deputy Vice-Chancellor introduced the institution’s strategy and priorities, there were briefings on higher education policy and a chance to develop campaign plans and skills. This was the first time this had been run since 2019, with strong feedback from attendees on the value of the event itself and the collaborative space with their peers. We are confident that this set the tone for a strengthening relationship with Common Rooms this year and enabled our other positive collaborative work together.

This included helping Common Rooms raise issues impacting their students and gain support. Most notably, in April, we worked with Junior Common Room (JCR) leaders who wanted to demonstrate the strength of student support for the University to get serious about sustainability. JCRs are funded by student membership fees and some grants from Durham University, but

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neither income source has increased as much as costs. The University hasn’t understood the scale of the challenge this presents to JCR sustainability.

247 students petitioned Durham SU to run a referendum on the question ‘Durham University should support Common Rooms' financial sustainability, including the ability for each JCR to have at least one sabbatical officer without the financial burden falling on the shoulders of the students.’

2123 students participated in our first successful attempt at winning direct democratic legitimacy for a student priority, as we set out in our strategy.

We also coordinated peer delivery of active bystander training across 16 colleges, with approximately 600 students trained to speak up or intervene to support their peers from harassment or harm. We supported, prepared, and paid 11 students to be the peer facilitators delivering this training across colleges before the induction period.

Durham Union Society

We challenged the Durham Union Society to do better on their culture for students. They worked with us, committing to a framework for improvement that we believe will enable them to achieve sustainable improvement for students. We are proud of avoiding a simply adversarial position with the organisation, which would not have any benefit to our students.

Supporting independent student campaigns

This year Durham SU laid the groundwork for supporting external groups of students in their work to campaign on issues that support students. Reaching out to external groups like Eco DU and Durham Student Protest and innovating our risk management tools and guidance to support these non-SU student groups has been an innovative step. We are confident in the benefit this porous approach to using our resources to benefit all students will have on future student action.

Durham University: was committed to and acted in partnership with its SU

This year saw notable successes in partnership work with Durham University on behalf of students through embedding student voice within structure and strategy to strengthen students in future partnerships.

We started work on our new strategy by agreeing a new partnership with Durham University, based on assertive constructive challenge. We developed a theory of change as part of our strategy, which clearly shows that we need a productive and mutually supportive working relationship, as well as a mature understanding of our respective red lines and how we behave when something isn’t possible or acceptable.

We agreed a Memorandum of Understanding between the Council of Durham University and the Durham SU Board of Trustees, and led the Strategic Collaboration Group, which is jointly chaired by the Durham SU President and a Durham University Pro-Vice-Chancellor. We refreshed and reissued a sector-leading Student Consultation Framework through this group.

From this foundation, we contributed authoritatively on behalf of students to the refresh of the University strategy, ensuring that the institution’s vision, values, and priorities are aligned to students’ ambitions.

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We were unsatisfied that the University’s strategic work didn’t definitively state any ambition for student voice, despite our representations – and we’re certain that omission will hold the entire University back – but the experience helped us think about how we’ll prepare for work on the new University strategy soon.

WE TACKLED THE BIG ISSUES THAT HOLD STUDENTS BACK We worked on making housing for Durham students high quality, affordable and secure

Driving partnership in housing crisis response

Housing, always an area of concern for Durham students, reached a crisis point. There were more students and fewer affordable houses and the cost-of-living crisis meant students had less money for accommodation and greater financial stress. Against this backdrop, students queuing outside letting agents in the early hours of the morning made the news. Our President and Welfare and Liberation Officer championed students’ experiences across local and national media, which added motivation to our partners in this issue – students, landlords, Durham University and our MP, Mary Foy. Laura Curran, our Welfare and Liberation Officer, worked hard to harness student experiences by building a ‘portfolio of evidence’ with students, capturing the issues of cost, availability, experience with landlords, impacts on studies and mental health.

Reinventing renting

Meanwhile, our Opportunities Officer Jack Ballingham explored and reported to students the potential of alternative student accommodation models in Durham. The ‘Reinventing Renting’ report identifies three potential models: students’ union letting agencies, students’ union-managed accommodation, and student housing co-operatives. It is an invaluable stepping stone to future student leaders seeking to tackle the complexity of Durham’s student housing issues.

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Cut the Rent Housing Protest on Palace Green 28 January 2023
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We laid the groundwork to ensure access and participation to and in Durham will advance the ambitions of excluded students

Costs

After several years of campaigning for the University to ensure student staff are paid a real living wage, Durham University announced they would seek living wage accreditation. Students, University staff, staff unions and support from Citizens Advice all contributed to this campaign, with student leaders consistently raising case studies to demonstrate the impact on student staff.

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Josh Freestone, UG Academic
Officer campaigning with students for
the Living Wage, November 2022
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The cost of food shouldn’t be a barrier to students study and good student life. Recognising that the rising cost of living was making this more and more likely for students, Durham SU launched our student foodbank, which was well received and continued to serve students throughout the year.

Planning for strategic change

To enable us to make sustainable and long-term contributions to how students access and participate in student opportunities at Durham and in Durham education itself, we created a new staff role focused on this area of delivery. With the University’s beginning to focus on its next Access and Participation plan, our work here is still developing, but we’ve taken a big step to maximise the opportunity for impact.

We set our goals for transforming induction at Durham so it prepares every student to do well as a learner and citizen in our University community

This year was about establishing this work as the key link to improving culture at Durham, and recognising the power of induction to set students up to contribute to shaping a University where they feel they belong. While a range of our work, from active bystander training to Freshers’ student group support contribute to the induction experience at Durham and aim to tackle barriers that can exclude some students, our strategic focus here was still foundational. However, the embedding of our decolonisation interns in departments and sustaining our support for them beyond the pilot year was our first concrete step towards strategically shaping the induction students receive, in line with our new strategy.

Scaling and directing our work more broadly in this new area of our strategy remains challenging. But we firmly believe that what makes it hard – the need for it to be highly collaborative with Durham University departments – is also fundamental to its success. In this way, the success stories from the decolonisation intern programme and its learnings have been productive foundation blocks placed in this year.

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A REVIEW OF OUR FINANCES

FINANCIAL STRATEGY

The trustees agreed a new strategy for Durham SU in the year and, as part of this work, also agreed new financial objectives for the students’ union. Achievement of these objectives will provide a sustainable base from which to achieve strategic priorities.

Durham SU has two principal income streams: a grant from Durham University, which provides for all delivery of services to members, and trading, which helps us build a small annual surplus. Within trading, digital sales provide profit, but venues-based trading out of Dunelm House operates at a managed deficit because the principal reason for providing this service is making space and refreshments available to students.

Higher education faces increased financial pressures, and there is little likelihood of substantial increases to the grant, although inflationary increases are assumed within the financial plan. Durham SU will pursue project funding as appropriate, but this is not a usual way of operating at Durham, and no assumptions are made about success.

Durham SU is financially sustainable, having no pension deficit to cover and no long-standing debt or liabilities. There are close to two months of operating costs in free cash reserves, and good financial controls to arrest any unexpected budget deficit. There is a good expectation of another multi-year grant agreement with Durham University soon, although on less generous terms, in line with the institutional financial strategy.

Strategically, Durham SU will prioritise the reduction of corporate costs through sharing activity with other partners to deploy resources into student-facing delivery. There is no expectation that Durham SU will put any capital investment in Dunelm House, with the expectation that the students’ union’s facilities will continue to degrade, with a negative impact on our work.

INCOME

Grant income

Durham University supports the Durham SU strategy and has confidence in the students’ union. A three-year funding agreement was negotiated in 2021/22, with annual RPI increases for the next two years. This gave us greater confidence to plan in the longer term than a one-year agreement allows, and we look forward to a positive outcome from discussions on a new agreement in Spring 2024. The block grant for 2022/23 was £1123000.

Commercial activity

The first year after the pandemic had been difficult financially, and we had seen almost a total loss of income through Freshers, advertising, and events. In 2022/23, we entered a new relationship with Native, an event management and advertising platform, to seek new market partners. This provided a reliable, guaranteed source of income in the year and is a valuable boost to our overall commercial activities, and we intend a long-term contracted partnership.

Over the summer of 2022, we evaluated our trading services based in Dunelm House. We had sought to open trading in Riverside, but, as is widely acknowledged, it proved exceptionally difficult to recruit and retain good staff on the external market to run a venue from such dilapidated premises. The market behaviour of students has also changed across students’ unions in the UK, particularly regarding bar sales, and income remains depressed. The cost-of-living crisis that started early in 2022 (and only recently started to ease) undoubtedly had a further impact here.

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Riverside is no longer a viable trading space, and the decision was made to close it and give the space over to general student social use. Kingsgate café has become our only retail trade space.

The trustees have noted that Kingsgate cannot make a financial profit and operate the venue because it provides a service that encourages students to use the space in Dunelm House for their collective social education, further to our charitable objectives, and provides a good source of student employment.

In 2022/23, commercial activities lost £39567. Still, the majority of this was an unexpected loss following a decision by Durham University to end a commercial contract on their part, which also accrued benefit to Durham SU. We were surprised and disappointed by that decision, as we had been kept out of relevant discussions and had no notice or ability to understand the decision. This behaviour by Durham University was not consistent with its professed desire for a mature and honest relationship with Durham SU. Although we cannot replace that loss, the actions we have taken mean we are budgeting for a breakeven commercial outcome in 2023/24.

CUSTODIAN FUNDS

Durham SU acts as custodian trustee for funds for more than 300 different student groups which are created and retired on a rolling basis. These groups have no distinct legal personality separate to Durham SU.

Durham SU distributes grants to student groups, in line with a published grant procedure. There had been £22823 left over from the previous year’s pot held in restricted reserves, and grants of £16181 were made. The grant budget has been topped-up at year-end to £22877 because of previous years’ unused grants and dissolved student group balances.

Student groups that raise funds themselves have these balances separately identified in the finance system. At year-end, the balance of these funds was £435096, which was a small increase of £36162 on the previous year.

Student Group Fundraising

Durham SU raises charitable funds from the public through student volunteers who each receive an induction on good practice in fundraising and the students’ union’s expectations of their good conduct while fundraising. The student fundraisers have a defined portfolio of activities, including ‘street’ fundraising of RAG (raise-and-give) raids and bucket-shaking, endurance activities which are often sponsored athletic events, challenges such as skydives, or ticketed events such as balls and fashion shows. The single largest event was the Durham University Charity Fashion Show, which raised funds of £273000, similar to the previous year.

Fundraising costs were £88471 with total donations made in the year of £187944. At the year end, there was £245973 in the DUCK (Durham University Charity Kommittee) account, the largest part relating to the Fashion Show, and £178000 of this was disbursed to Rainbow Trust in early 2023/24.

Fundraising practice

Durham SU does not yet subscribe to any standard or code for fundraising practice and has not authorised any professional or commercial fundraising organisation to act on its behalf. We strive to act in line with the Fundraising Code of Practice, and we are now taking the time to complete a comprehensive guide to fundraising for use by students and staff before the trustees formally decide to subscribe to the Code.

The trustees received no complaint from the public in relation to the raising of funds but had to respond to a concern from the Rainbow Trust in connection with the donation made to them. A management investigation found that the donation made was proper but, from an abundance of

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caution, the trustees chose to notify the Charity Commission of the concern raised. The investigation found that there would be benefit in undertaking improvement actions to do with communication with charity partners, and the trustees have authorised the management team to respond appropriately.

INVESTMENT

Reserves policy

The trustees reviewed and restated the reserves policy in the year and have agreed that Durham SU should build up three months of unrestricted reserves over five years. This is consistent with the objectives of the financial strategy.

We began the year with unrestricted reserves at £158322, lower than our revised reserves policy target of £267000. This was because the first pandemic year had used £99000 of reserves to support services to students. We are pleased that we made some progress towards bringing our unrestricted reserves back in line with the target, with a surplus in the year of £40045, bringing current reserves up to £198367. This was achieved through a combination of higher-than-expected non-trading income, and lower overall costs in staffing across the year due to vacancies carried forward.

Treasury management

Treasury management was removed from the Strategic Risk Register in 2018/19 after a tender exercise for banking services allowed for a move of day-to-day banking to Lloyds, and then enabled funds to be held across three accounts with separate banks with individual banking licences, to enable reasonable protection from the Finance Services Compensation Scheme. Durham SU continues to benefit from this arrangement. With the Bank of England using higher interest rates to control the cost of living, it was possible to use our three current banking facilities and ancillary deposit accounts (including judicious use of overnight accounts) to make some gains in interest received, in the amount of £7025 in the year.

OUR STRUCTURE GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

GOVERNING DOCUMENTS

Durham SU, in its current form, was incorporated on 1 July 2011, as a successor to a nonincorporated charitable organisation dating back to 1899. Durham SU is a company limited by guarantee. Durham SU’s governing document is the Articles of Association, approved by students in a referendum, the Board of Trustees, and the Durham University Council. Standing Orders are created by the Board and by Assembly to provide a framework for the delivery of Durham SU’s objectives.

The trustees have agreed to consider opportunities to seek popular support for a better set of Articles, which will be reviewed in 2023/24. The poor drafting of the current Articles and Standing Orders creates some difficulties in the day-to-day governance of Durham SU, and the trustees have identified this as a strategic risk.

PUBLIC BENEFIT

The trustees have given consideration and believe that they have complied with the duty in section 4 of the 2006 Act to have due regard to guidance on public benefit when exercising any powers or duties to which the guidance is relevant. The trustees also believe that this report demonstrates the benefits provided are wholly charitable.

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The Board of Trustees

The Board of Trustees is responsible for the governance and strategic management of Durham SU. The Board consists of five Durham SU Officers, four students, and five lay trustees.

The Board has two Committees which have delegated authority in particular areas of strategic management. The Committees are reviewed each year and are:

The trustees are stewards of a thriving democratic culture, and the trustees accept that they are required to act as the ultimate authority to oversee Durham SU’s democratic activity within the parameters of an agreed risk policy.

APPOINTMENT OF TRUSTEES

Durham SU’s Officers and student trustees are elected in cross-campus ballots of the entire student membership for a term of office of one year. The election rules are established in the Articles of Association and the Standing Orders.

The lay trustees are appointed by the Board, on the recommendation of the People and Culture Committee, and require the ratification of the Assembly. Appointments are made following wide advertisement and through a competitive process which considers how best to complement the diversity and skills profile of the continuing Board. The lay trustees are appointed to a term of up to three years and may be reappointed once, so no person may serve more than a total of six years.

GOOD GOVERNANCE

The trustees annually report to Durham University’s Council on their compliance with the relevant expectations of the Education Act (1994). A working group of the Durham SU Board and the Durham University Council redrafted the Code of Practice which demonstrates how Council assures the good governance of Durham SU in 2020, which has formed the basis of reporting from 2020/21

The trustees undertook a thorough self-assessment against the Charity Governance Code in 2019, adapted for students’ unions, and believe Durham SU is, in general terms, a well-governed organisation. The Code was refreshed in 2021/2022, and the trustees are engaging with the new version of the Code through an agreed process of prioritised appraisal.

The trustees ensure an appropriate induction for all new members of the Board, including their legal obligations and responsibilities, the objectives and strategy, and the culture and priorities of Durham SU. The Officer and student trustees are acknowledged to require a more intensive induction and support framework, and specific training on board-level finance, human resources, scrutiny, and good governance are included.

RISK MANAGEMENT

The trustees review and approve a Risk Policy each year, which describes their approach to the assessment and address of risk. The trustees consider risks, individually and then collectively, and this supports them to articulate a risk appetite for Durham SU’s work.

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Day-to-day management of risks is delegated to a named member of senior staff, who provides regular updates to the trustees on work against the Strategic Risk Register, and insight into emergent risk.

This framework allows the trustees to confirm that they have appropriately considered and addressed the principal risks to Durham SU. The principal risks which form the Strategic Risk Register, as currently assessed at the time of publication of this report in March 2024, are:

1. Clarity of authority

Durham SU’s success relies upon a sophisticated understanding of who has authority to make certain decisions, who has influence on those decision-makers, and who will be impacted by those decisions, and the difference between all of these people. Insufficient clarity in the past has prevented the students’ union from delivering on its priorities and meeting its responsibilities. This has been a strategic risk for some time, as there is a high threshold for resolving some of these confusions beyond doubt, and it has not been easy or possible to do so within other priorities. The trustees have an opportunity in the year to settle the question of their own authority, and intend to fully address the strategic risk.

2. Political leadership

The Durham SU Officer team are the paid, elected, student leadership team who advocate student interests to Durham University. The structure and culture of the team, over time, had been understood as offering limited, restricted, opportunities for the development of future leaders, was an increasingly unattractive graduate opportunity, and did not meet the strategic ambition to increase member confidence in the representation of academic interests supported by the students’ union. The previous Durham SU President initiated a review, which was accepted in the current year, and created a more outward-looking leadership team.

There is acknowledged considerable risk in such a change, understood both as both seizing opportunity as well as reducing adverse impact, and the trustees will carefully monitor and manage the process over the coming years.

3. Regulatory context

The Office for Students now directly regulates Durham SU on certain matters. The trustees are alert to the risk of new expectations that the students’ union may not meet due to unfamiliarity with the regulator and regulations; in this example, the OfS also has a poor understanding of students’ unions which increases the risk of regulatory action, which will distract from delivery. The trustees are also mindful that there is no clarity from OfS or the Charity Commission as to how they would wish the students’ union to reconcile competing regulatory expectations.

There will be a General Election in the United Kingdom in the year, and a Mayoral election in the North East of England including County Durham. The trustees have particular regard to the expectations of regulators in respect of political and campaigning activity. Students’ unions are likely to receive particular scrutiny in the coming year, and the trustees are determined to meet their various responsibilities in this matter.

4. Performance management

The trustees have supported the management team in creating a framework of performance standards and management information systems, which are necessary to assure Durham SU’s ‘business as usual’ functions, as the foundation for delivering on the agreed organisational strategy. The comprehensive framework is new, and it is important to build and maintain

19

confidence in this way of managing services, and key to this is focussing on ‘what gets done’ without disproportionate emphasis on creating data that isn’t useful just because it’s possible.

5. Freedom of Speech

The Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act (2023) is new legislation that imposes a specific, unfunded, regulatory burden upon students’ unions. Durham SU is likely to be particularly highly scrutinised in respect of compliance with the expectations of the Act. The law is widely recognised as poorly conceived and drafted, and it sits awkwardly alongside the trustees’ other legal and regulatory obligations. The Durham SU Officers and career staff are actively seeking to find the best way to balance the students’ union’s responsibilities.

The new expectations, and the difficulty in meeting the unclear expectations of the regulator, increase the likelihood and adverse impact of the legislation on Durham SU’s work. The trustees acknowledge the significant resource required to prepare for, and meet, the expectations of the new legislation, and the impact this will have on other responsibilities.

6. Fundraising

Raise and Give (RAG) fundraising from the public, for donation to other charities, has a long tradition in students’ unions. Durham SU has long been a sector leader, usually raising around £250k in each academic year, with the majority being from the Durham University Charity Fashion Show. Fundraising is a regulated activity, although Durham SU is not required to register with the regulator. An incident in 2023 exposes Durham SU to unacceptable risk.

The trustees are confident that all activity is consistent with the students’ unions regulatory obligations, but recognise that post hoc action distracts from strategic priorities. The trustees have decided that fundraising practice must be assured to be excellent.

7. Commercial

Trading services that rely on space in Dunelm House are managed to an agreed deficit, because the trustees believe that servicing the space contributes positively to strategic goals. Durham SU also receives commercial income from media sales and events activity, achieved reliably at low cost and low risk; this income is not directly associated with Dunelm House. The net contribution to Durham SU’s budget from trading services is positive.

There is risk associated with a lack of long-term planning for trading from Dunelm House, and an inadequate understanding of the investment necessary to maintain an agreed deficit which may lead to a creep into unsustainable losses. This may, in turn, limit the risk appetite for investing in growth. The trustees know that these are challenges facing many private, public and voluntary sector organisations who add to their income through consumer trading, but the long-term neglect of Dunelm House, with no plan for improvement from Durham University in the near future, means that decisions will need to be made in the year ahead about the risk associated with Durham SU’s commercial portfolio.

8. Student groups

There are some 300 student groups registered with Durham SU, and they are the principal vehicle for students to design and deliver social education for each other. Durham SU’s student groups are often platforms for students to demonstrate excellence in the development and use of creative and entrepreneurial skills, and to grow a positive culture on campus, based on mutual care.

20

Many of the strategic risks identified to Durham SU have a particular significance for student groups: they’re often the context where authority is contested and their autonomy and the trustees’ oversight are in tension, and a particular environment where new regulators have interest, because of their delivery of activities which engage the new freedom of speech duty. The trustees have articulated a particular framework for student group risk within the Risk Policy, and acknowledge that their operations maintain particular oversight by the management team.

9. Student satisfaction

The trustees have set the recent strategy recognising that student engagement and satisfaction in the corporate organisation is differently understood than, for example, with student group membership. There is continued evidence that Durham SU has some of the highest student engagement in the United Kingdom but this is poorly understood alongside the publicly promoted performance metric of the National Student Survey. There will continue to be deep reflection on the extent to which Durham SU is able to influence its NSS score, given the local policy context, significant organisational underfunding over decades, and institutional neglect of student facilities. The trustees will also continue to develop other examples of Durham SU’s excellent service quality and representation of its members.

MANAGEMENT

The trustees delegate the day-to-day management of Durham SU to the Chief Executive, who reports on the effective delivery of the objectives and strategy.

All staff, including the Chief Executive, work within a common review and remuneration framework. Every employee has their performance discussed and supported throughout the year, against the expectations of their core role, against core behaviours, and against annual objectives. All staff posts are on a common salary grade system and individual salaries are reviewed annually. Incremental salary awards may be authorised by People and Governance Committee if resources allow and performance merits consideration.

REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS

Durham Students’ Union (also known as Durham SU or DSU) is a charity registered in England and Wales (1145400) and a company limited by guarantee (07689815), and its principal address is Dunelm House, New Elvet, DURHAM, County Durham, DH1 3AN.

PROFESSIONAL ADVISORS

Auditor

Haines Watts North East Audit LLP, 17 Queens Lane, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 1RN.

Bankers

Lloyds Bank, 19 Market Place, Durham, DH1 3NL.

HSBC, 1 Saddler Street, Durham, DH1 3NR.

Solicitor

Womble Bond Dickinson, The Spark, Draymans Way, Newcastle Helix, Newcastle Upon Tyne, UK, NE4 5DE.

21

TRUSTEES

to 31 July 2023

from 1 August 2023

Officer Trustees President Joseph McGarry Daniel Lonsdale Undergraduate Joshua Freestone William Brown Academic Officer Postgraduate Aditya Lathar (14 Frederick FosseyAcademic Officer September 2022 to 21 Warren (joined as October 2022 only) student trustee only from 1 March 2023) Opportunities Officer Jack Ballingham Skye Carroll Welfare and Liberation Laura Curran Deborah Acheampong Officer Student Trustees Dhillon Shenoy Anna Robinson Qiandong Zhou Haf Sarajee Charles Lawrence Dylan Jones Deborah Acheampong Ben Thomas

Lay Trustees Graeme Osborn (from 1 August 2021). Hannah Sketchley (from 1 August 2021). Clare Powne (from 8 November 2018). Caragh Aylett- Bullock (resigned 31 July 2023). Rachel Taylor (from 1 March 2023 resigned 10 September 2023). Liam Isaac (from 15 September 2023).

SENIOR STAFF

Chief Executive Gareth Hughes Director of Services Kirsty Morrison Director of Campaigns Rebecca Henderson Director of Communications and Strategy Georgina Lambert

TRUSTEES’ RESPONSIBILITIES

The Trustees, who are the directors of Durham Students’ Union for the purposes of company law, are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Annual Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practices).

Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year, which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure of the charitable company for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:

22

The trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

AUDITORS

Haines Watts were appointed auditors of Durham Students’ Union for a three-year period commencing in 2018, extended by two years to 2023 in 2021.

Approved by the Board of Trustees on 28 February 2024 and signed on its behalf by

..........................................................

Graeme Osborn Chair

23

DURHAM STUDENTS’ UNION

INDEPENDENT AUDITORS’ REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES OF DURHAM STUDENTS’ UNION FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2023

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Durham Students Union (the ‘charitable company’) for the year ended 31 July 2023 which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities, the Balance Sheet, the Statement of Cash Flows and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion the financial statements:

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the auditor responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charitable company 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 charitable company's ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

Other information

The other information comprises the information included in the trustees' annual report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. The trustees are responsible for the other information. 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. Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the course of the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated.

24

DURHAM STUDENTS’ UNION

INDEPENDENT AUDITORS’ REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF DURHAM STUDENTS’ UNION (Continued) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2023

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.

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit:

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the charitable company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the directors’ report included within the trustees' report.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement, the trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the charitable company’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 charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

25

DURHAM STUDENTS’ UNION

INDEPENDENT AUDITORS’ REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF DURHAM STUDENTS’ UNION (Continued) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2023

Auditor responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below. We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory framework applicable to both the company itself and the industry in which it operates. We identified areas of laws and regulations that could reasonably be expected to have a material effect on the financial statements from our sector experience and through discussion with the directors and other management. The most significant were identified as Charities Act 2011, Companies act 2006, UK GAAP (FRS 102) and relevant tax legislation. We considered the extent of compliance with those laws and regulations as part of our procedures on the related financial statements. Our audit procedures included:

A further description of our responsibilities is available on the FRC's website at: https://www.frc.org.uk/auditors/audit-assurance/auditor-s-responsibilities-for-the-audit-of-the-fi/description-ofthe-auditor%E2%80%99s-responsibilities-for This description forms part of our auditor’s report.

We communicate with those charged with governance regarding, among other matters, the planned scope and timing of the audit and significant audit findings, including any significant deficiencies in internal control that we identify during our audit.

Use of our report

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

Craig Henderson (Senior Statutory Auditor) For and on behalf of Haines Watts North East Audit LLP Statutory Auditors

27 March 2024 17 Queens Lane Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 1RN

26

DURHAM STUDENTS’ UNION

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES (INCLUDING INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2023

Unrestricted Designated Restricted
Total
Total
Funds
Funds

Funds

2023
2022
Notes
£
£

£

£
£
Income from:
Donations 4 1,377,220
-

76,499
1,453,719 1,248,777
Charitable activities 5
140,216
-

875,239
1,015,455 1,096,019
Other trading 6 81,861
-

-

81,861
48,858
_ _ _ _ _
Total income 1,599,297
-

951,738
2,551,035 2,393,654
_ _ _ _ _
Expenditure on:
Raising funds 124,556
-

-

124,556
156,596
Charitable activities 1,434,696
19,969

924,213
2,378,878 2,289,376
_ _ _ _ _
Total expenditure 7 1,559,252
19, 969

924,213
2,503,434 2,445,972
_ _ _ _ _
Net income 40,045 ( 19,969)
27,525

47,601 ( 52,318)
Transfers between funds 17 -
-

-

-
-
_ _ _ _ _
Net movement in funds 40,045 ( 19,969)
27,525

47,601 ( 52,318)
Reconciliation of funds
Total funds brought forward 158,322
39,358

653,544

851,224
903,542
_ _ _
__ _____
Total funds carried forward 198,367
19,389
_ _

681,069
_

898,825
851,224
_ _

All amounts derive from continuing activities. All gains and losses recognised in the year are included in the Statement of Financial Activities.

27

DURHAM STUDENTS’ UNION

BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31 JULY 2023

2023 2023 2022
Notes £ £
£
£
£
£
£
Fixed assets
Tangible assets 12 114,231 114,231
134,353
134,353
Current assets
Stocks 13 6,057 6,057 7,763
Debtors 14 35,763 35,763 37,448
Cash and bank balances 798,931 798,931 726,730
_ _
_
_
840,751 840,751 771,941
Current liabilities
Creditors: amounts falling
due within one year 15 ( 56,157) ( 56,157) ( 55,070 ) ( 55,070 )
_ _
_
_ _
Net current assets 784,594 784,594
716,871
716,871
_ _ _
_
_
Net assets 898,825 898,825
851,224
851,224
_ _
Funds
Unrestricted funds 198,367 198,367
158,322
158,322
Designated funds 19,389 19,389 39,358
Restricted funds 681,069 681,069
653,544
653,544
_ _ _
_
_
17 898,825 898,825
851,224
851,224
_ _

These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies regime.

Approved by the Board on 28[th] February 2024 and signed on its behalf by:

..............................................

Graeme Osborn

Chair

Company Registration Number. 07689815

The notes on pages 30 to 44 form part of these financial statements

28

DURHAM STUDENTS’ UNION

STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS AS AT 31 JULY 2023

Notes
Cash inflows/(outflows) from operating
activities
23
Cash flows from investing activities
Purchase of fixed assets
Cash provided by (used in) investing activities
Change in cash and cash equivalents in the year
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year
Cash and cash equivalents consist of:
Cash at bank and in hand
2023
£
96,567
( 24,366)
_
( 24,366)
_
72,201
726,730
_
798,931
_
798,931
_

2022

£
( 2,680)

-
_

-
_
( 2,680
729,410
_
726,730
_
726,730
_

29

DURHAM STUDENTS’ UNION

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2023

1. General Information

Durham Students’ Union is a registered charity in England and Wales, with the charitable object of advancing the education of students at Durham University.

The charity is a private company limited by guarantee, with the registered office and principal address at Durham House, New Elvet, Durham, DH1 3AN.

2. Accounting Policies

2.1 Basis of preparation

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with 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) issued in October 2019, the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102), the Charities Act 2011, the Companies Act 2006 and UK Generally Accepted Practice.

Durham Students’ Union meets the definition of a public benefit under FRS 102. The financial statements are prepared under the historical cost convention or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy note(s). The financial statements are prepared in Sterling which is the functional currency of the charity and rounded to the nearest £.

The significant accounting policies applied in the preparation of these financial statements are set out below. These policies have been consistently applied to all years presented unless otherwise stated.

2.2 Going concern

The financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis. The Trustees have reviewed and considered relevant information, including annual budgets and forecasts in making their assessment. Based on these assessments, given the measures that could be undertaken to mitigate the current adverse economic conditions, the current resources available and amounts already confirmed for the next financial year the Trustees have concluded that they can continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the annual report and financial statements.

2.3 Fund accounting

General funds are available for use at the discretion of the Trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the Union.

Restricted funds – these are funds that 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.

30

DURHAM STUDENTS’ UNION

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (Continued) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2023

Designated funds – these are unrestricted funds earmarked by the board of trustees for particular purposes.

All income and expenditure is shown in the Statement of Financial Activities. Incoming resources and resources expended have been presented differently this year to better reflect a true and fair view of the union’s activities.

2.4 Incoming resources

Block grant received is taken to income on receipt, with the exception of amounts received relating to future periods which are taken to deferred and recognised in those accounting periods.

Incoming resources subject to donor imposed conditions that specify the time period in which the expenditure of resources can take place are recognised over the time period imposed.

The amount of block grant is agreed year on year and the Union has no contractual entitlement to this.

Other revenue income is taken to income when the conditions of entitlement, probability and measurement are met.

Donated facilities are recognised as income when the charity has control over the item, any conditions associated with the item have been met, the receipt of economic benefit from use by the charity of the item is probable and economic benefit can be measured reliably.

The Union receives donated resources from Durham University in the form of accommodation on the campus. The value of these services is recognised each year and increases at CPIH inflation levels.

2.5 Resources expended

Resources expended are accounted for on an accruals basis.

Cost of raising funds comprise the costs of marketing and venue rental and their associated support costs.

Expenditure on charitable activities includes the cost of bars, events, membership services, DUCK and Student Societies undertaken to further the purposes of the charity and their associated cost.

Support costs are those costs incurred indirectly by the charity and are allocated to charitable activities on the basis of usage.

Governance costs are those incurred in compliance with constitutional statutory requirements, such as the annual audit.

The Union is partially exempt for VAT purposes and expenditure is shown gross of the irrecoverable proportion of VAT where applicable.

31

DURHAM STUDENTS’ UNION

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (Continued) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2023

2.6 Tangible fixed assets and depreciation

Fixed assets are stated at cost less accumulated depreciation. Assets costing more than £500 are capitalised and carried in the balance sheet at historic cost.

Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write down the assets to their estimated residual values over the course of their anticipated working lives.

The annual rates of depreciation used on the straight line basis are as follows:

Building 10% Computer equipment 20% - 33.33% Plant and machinery 20% Furniture and fittings 20% - 40%

2.7 Stock

Items of bar and vending stock are stated at the lower of historical cost and net realisable value.

2.8 Debtors

Short term debtors are measured at transaction price, less any impairment. Loans receivable are measured initially at fair value, net of transaction costs, and are measured subsequently at amortised cost using the effective interest method, less any impairment.

2.9 Cash and cash equivalents

Cash is represented by cash in hand and deposits with financial institutions repayable without penalty on notice of not more than 24 hours. Cash equivalents are highly liquid investments that mature in no more than six months from the date of acquisition and that are readily convertible to known amounts of cash with insignificant risk of change in value.

2.10 Creditors

Short term creditors are measured at the transaction price. Other financial liabilities, including bank loans, are measured initially at fair value, net of transaction costs, and are measured subsequently at amortised cost using the effective interest method.

2.11 Financial instruments

The charity only enters into basic financial instruments that result in the recognition of financial assets and liabilities like trade and other accounts receivable and payable, loans from banks and other third parties, loans to related parties and investments in non-puttable ordinary shares.

32

DURHAM STUDENTS’ UNION

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (Continued) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2023

2.11 Financial instruments (Continued)

Debt instruments (other than those wholly repayable or receivable within one year), including loans and other accounts receivable and payable, are initially measured at present value of the future cash flows and subsequently at amortised cost using the effective interest method. Debt instruments that are payable or receivable within one year, typically trade payables or receivables, are measured, initially and subsequently, at the undiscounted amount of the cash or other consideration, expected to be paid or received. However if the arrangements of a short-term instrument constitute a financing transaction, like the payment of a trade debt deferred beyond normal business terms or financed at a rate of interest that is not a market rate or in case of an out-right short term loan not at market rate, the financial asset or liability is measured, initially, at the present value of the future cash flow discounted at a market rate of interest for a similar debt instrument and subsequently at amortised cost.

Financial assets that are measured at cost and amortised cost are assessed at the end of each reporting period for objective evidence of impairment. If objective evidence of impairment is found, an impairment loss is recognised in the Statement of Financial Activities.

For financial assets measured at amortised cost, the impairment loss is measured as the difference between an assets carrying amount and the present value of estimated cash flows discounted at the asset’s original effective interest rate. If a financial asset has a variable interest rate, the discount rate for measuring any impairment loss is the current effective interest rate determined under the contract.

For financial assets measured at cost less impairment, the impairment loss is measured as the difference between an assets carrying amount and best estimate, which is an approximation of the amount that the company would receive for the asset if it were to be sold at the balance sheet date.

Financial assets and liabilities are offset and the net amount reported in the Balance Sheet when there is an enforceable right to set off the recognised amounts and there is an intention to settle on a net basis or to realise the asset and settle the liability simultaneously.

2.12 Pensions

The pension costs charged in the financial statements represents the contributions payable by the Union during the period in accordance with FRS102.

An explanation of the pension scheme run by the Union and details on payments in the period can be found on note 16 to the accounts.

2.13 Tax

The charity is an exempt charity within the meaning of schedule 3 of the Charities Act 2011 and is considered to pass the tests set out in Paragraph 1 Schedule 6 Finance Act 2010 and therefore it meets the definition of a charitable company for UK corporation tax purposes.

33

DURHAM STUDENTS’ UNION

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (Continued) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2023

2.14 Judgements in applying accounting policies and key sources of estimation uncertainty

The charity makes estimates and assumptions concerning the future. The resulting accounting estimates will, by definition, seldom equal the related actual results. The Trustees do not consider there to be any significant estimates or judgements in preparing the financial statements, however, those which have an impact are as follows:

(i) Useful economic lives of tangible assets

The annual depreciation charge for tangible assets is sensitive to changes in the estimated useful economic lives and residual values of the assets. The useful economic lives and residual values are reassessed annually. They are amended when necessary to reflect current estimates, based on technological advancement, future investments, economic utilisation and the physical condition of the assets. See note 12 for the carrying amount of the property plant and equipment and note 2.6 for the useful economic lives for each class of assets.

(ii) Impairment of debtors

The company makes an estimate of the recoverable value of trade and other debtors.

When assessing impairment of trade and other debtors, management considers factors including the current credit rating of the debtor, the ageing profile of debtors and historical experience. See note 14 for the net carrying amount of the debtors.

34

DURHAM STUDENTS’ UNION

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (Continued) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2023

3. Statement of financial activities for the prior year

Unrestricted Designated Restricted
Total

Total
Funds
Funds

Funds

2022

2021
Notes
£

£

£

£

£
Income from:
Donations 4 1,242,902
-

5,875
1,248,777 1,347,985
Charitable activities 5
139,903
-

956,116
1,096,019
298,690
Other trading 6 48,858
-

-

48,858

9,066
_ _ _ _ _
Total income 1,431,663
-

961,991
2,393,654 1,655,741
_ _ _ _ _
Expenditure on:
Raising funds 156,596
-

-

156,596

216,661
Charitable activities 1,374,453
19,967

894,956
2,289,376 1,295,466
_ _ _ _ _
Total expenditure 7 1,531,049
19,967

894,956
2,445,972 1,512,127
_ _ _ _ _
Net income (99,386)
(19,967)

67,035

(52,318)

143,614
Transfers between funds 17 -
-

-

-

-
_ _ _ _ _
Net movement in funds (99,386)
(19,967)

67,035

(52,318)
143,614
Reconciliation of funds
Total funds brought forward 257,708
59,325

586,509

903,542

759,928
_ _ _
______
_
Total funds carried forward 158,322
39,358

653,544

851,224

903,542
_ _ _ _ _
4.
Donations and legacies
Unrestricted Restricted 2023
2022
£
£
£
£
University Grant 1,123,000
76,499
1,199,499 1,005,875
Grant of serviced accommodation 247,019
-
247,019 232,161
Other grant 7,201
-

7,201
10,741
_ _ _ _
1,377,220
76,499
1,453,719 1,248,777
_ _ _ _

35

DURHAM STUDENTS’ UNION

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (Continued) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2023

5. Income from charitable activities

5. Income from charitable activities
Unrestricted Restricted
Funds
Funds

2023

2022
£
£

£

£
Bars 122,805
-

122,805
136,786
Membership services 17,411
-

17,411

3,117
DUCK -
273,000

273,000
295,815
Student groups -
602,239

602,239
660,301
_ _
______
_
140,216
875,239
1,015,455 1,096,019
_ _ _ _
6. Other trading income
Unrestricted Restricted
Funds
Funds

2023

2022
£
£

£

£
Venue rental 24,795
-

24,795

22,220
Marketing 57,066
-

57,066

26,638
_ _ _ _
81,861
-

81,861

48,858
_ _ _ _
7. Resources expended
Activities
undertaken
Support

Total

Total
directly
costs

2023

2022
£
£

£

£
Raising funds 124,556
43,454

168,010
156,596
Charitable activities for students
Commercial 149,776
18,146

167,922
145,300
Membership services 907,814
209,734
1,117,548 1,201,961
Designated fund activities 19,969
-

19,969
19,967
DUCK 276,415
36,998

313,413
208,904
Student groups 642,575
73,997

716,572
713,244
_ _ _ _
1,996,550
338,875
2,335,424 2,289,376
_ _ _ _
2,121,106
_

382,329
_
2,503,434
_
2,445,972
_

36

DURHAM STUDENTS’ UNION

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (Continued) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2023

8.
Support costs
Accommodation
Staff related costs
Facilities
Equipment and licences
Administration charges
Travel and conferences
Finance expenses
Professional expenses
Depreciation
Governance costs

Governance costs
Auditor’s remuneration
Trustee expenses


9.
Net income/expenditure for the year
Net income for the year is stated after charging:
Depreciation

10.
Auditor’s remuneration
Fees payable to the charity’s auditors of the charity’s annual accounts
2023
£
247,019
77,539
434
11,141
22,994
5,611
12
5,963
3,766
7,849
_
382,328
7,849
703
_
8,552
_
2023
£
44,488
_
2023
£
7,920
_

2022

£
232,161

70,930

303

13,920

20,025

7,367

636

1,418

5,356

-
_
352,116

5,662

2,425
_

8,087
_

2022

£

43,731
_

2022

£

5,662
_

37

DURHAM STUDENTS’ UNION

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (Continued) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2023

11. Analysis of staff costs, trustees remuneration and expenses and the costs of key management personnel

Staff costs were as follows:

osts were as follows:
2023
2022
£
£
Wages and salaries 917,777 879,754
Social security costs 68,994
67,149
Pension costs 48,069
48,622
Other staff related costs 31,297
34,096
______ _
1,066,137
_
1,029,621
_

The average number of employees based on head count during the period was:

Full-time
Casual

2023
£
27
3
_
30
_

2022

£

28

3
_

31
_

The emoluments of one member of staff, including benefits in kind, are within the range of £70,000 to £79,999 (2022: one in the range £70,000 to £79,999).

Travel expenses of £703 (2022- £2,425) were reimbursed to Trustees during the year.

The trustees are made up of external trustees and sabbatical officers; external trustees were not paid or received any other benefits from employment in the year (2022 - £nil), sabbatical trustees were paid £91,067 (2022£106,868) as permitted by the Students’ Union’s Ordinance and Regulations. No trustee received payment for professional or other services supplied to the charity (2022 - £nil).

The key management personnel of the charity comprise the Chief Executive Officer, Director of Services, Director of Campaigns and Director of Communications and Strategy. The total employee benefits of the key management personnel of the charity were £213,030 (2022 - £195,110).

38

DURHAM STUDENTS’ UNION

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (Continued) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2023

12. Tangible fixed assets

Leasehold Plant & Computer Furniture &
Improvements machinery equipment
fittings
£ £
£
£
Costs
As at 1 August 2022
96,730 3,500
50,821
228,607
Additions 1,498
- 22,867 -
Disposals
-
-
-
-
_ _______ ________ ________
As at 31 July 2023
98,228
3,500
73,688
228,607
_ _ _ _
Depreciation
As at 1 August 2022
27,024 3,500
44,909
169,871
Charge for the year
10,248 -
6,285
27,955
_ _ _ _
As at 31 July 2023 37,272
3,500 51,194
197,826
_ _ _ _
Net book value
As at 31 July 2022
69,706 -
5,912
58,735
_
_ _ _
As at 31 July 2023
60,956
-
22,494
30,781
_
_ _ _
Total
£
379,658
24,365
-
_
404,023
_
245,304
44,488
_
289,792
_
134,353
_____

114,231
_

At 31 July 2023 Durham Students’ Union had no capital commitments.

13. Stocks

Stocks
Goods for resale
Debtors
Trade debtors
Prepayments
Accrued income
2023
£
6,057
_
2023
£
16,958
6,501
12,304
_
35,763
_
2022
£
7,763
_

202
£
7,123
6,984
23,341
_
37,448
_

14. Debtors

39

DURHAM STUDENTS’ UNION

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (Continued) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2023

15. Creditors – amounts falling due within one year

Trade creditors
Accruals and deferred income
Social Security and other taxes
2023
£
11,285
21,400
23,472
_
56,157
_
2022
£
9,576
13,901
31,593
_
55,070
_

16. Pension

Durham Students’ Union participated in a defined contribution group personal pension scheme which was opened to the members during the financial period to 31 July 2023. Under the scheme the Union contributed 6% of earnings and employees each contributed 5% of earnings.

Pension costs for the year ended 31 July 2022 amounted to £48,069 (2022 - £48,622). Pension costs are funded from unrestricted income.

40

DURHAM STUDENTS’ UNION

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (Continued) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2023

17. Funds analysis

For the year ended 31 July 2023
Balance at
1 August
2022
Income Expenditure
£
£
£
Unrestricted funds
158,322 1,599,297
(1,559,252)
Designated funds
Capital Fund
39,358
-
(19,969)
_ _
_
197,680 1,599,297
(1,579,221)
Restricted funds
DUCK
249,388
273,000
( 276,415)
Student Groups
398,934
678,738
( 642,576)
Other funds
5,222
-
( 5,222)
_ _
_
653,544
951,738
( 924,213)
_ _
_
Total funds
851,224 2,551,035 ( 2,503,434)
_ _
_
Balance at
31 July
Transfer
2023
£
£
-
198,367
-
19,389
_ _
-
217,756
-
245,973
-
435,096
-
-
_ _
-
681,069
_ _
-
898,825
_ _

41

DURHAM STUDENTS’ UNION

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (Continued) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2023

17. Funds analysis (Continued)

For the year ended 31 July 2022
Balance at
1 August
2021
Income Expenditure
£
£
£
Unrestricted funds
257,708 1,199,502
(1,298,888)
Designated funds
Capital Fund
59,325
-
(19,967)
_ _
_
317,033 1,199,502
(1,318,855)
Restricted funds
DUCK
126,881
295,815
(173,308)
Student groups
374,810
666,176
(642,052)
Other funds
84,818
-
(79,596)
_ _
_
586,509
961,991
(894,956)
_ _
_
Total funds
903,542 2,161,493
(2,213,811)
_ _
_
Balance at
31 July
Transfer
2022
£
£
-
158,322
-
39,358
_ _
-
197,680
-
249,388
-
398,934
-
5,222
_ _
-
653,544
_ _
-
851,224
_ _

Designated funds

The Capital fund relates to amounts received from the University for refurbishment undertaken during 2019/20, and trustees elected ring fence this as a designated fund. Depreciation is allocated against this fund over the expected life of the assets purchased.

Restricted funds

Student group funds represent balances held by individual societies and are spent at their discretion subject to the Union’s rules.

DUCK funds represent balances raised by students for charitable purposes. These are paid to charitable organisations subject to the Union’s rules.

Other funds represent an additional amount received from the University carried forward from 2021/22, the balance of £5,222 being disbursed in support of academic society membership.

42

DURHAM STUDENTS’ UNION

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (Continued) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2023

18. Analysis of net assets between funds

For the year ended 31 July 2023

Unrestricted funds
Designated Funds
Restricted funds
For the year ended 31 July 2022
Unrestricted funds
Designated Funds
Restricted funds
Fixed Net Current
assets
assets
£
£
94,412 103,955
-
19,389
19,819 661,250
_ _
114,231 784,594
_ _
Fixed Net Current
assets
assets
£
£
134,353
23,969
-
39,358
-
653,544
_ _
134,353
716,871
_
_
Fund
balances
£
198,367
19,389
681,069
_
898,825
_
Fund
balances
£
158,322
39,358
653,544
_
851,224
_

19. Capital commitments

At 31 July 2023 there were no capital commitments (2022 - £nil).

43

DURHAM STUDENTS’ UNION

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS (Continued) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2023

21. Related party transactions

Durham University owns the building occupied by Durham Students’ Union; a peppercorn rent is charged on this lease.

At the year end, the University owed the Union a balance of £0 (2022 - £0).

At the year end, the Union owed the University a balance of £0 (2022 - £589).

Transactions with Related Parties

The Charity conducts business transactions on a normal commercial basis with, and receives a number of services from the following related Companies:

NUS Students’ Union Charitable Services, NUS Services, and NUS Media, are related parties due to Gareth Hughes being a Director in common.

During the year, £23,890 was paid to NUS Services. £22,000 of this related to the annual subscription fee and the remaining payment was for conference fees.

During the year, £4,039 was paid to NUS Charity for advertising, market research and strategic conversation training.

At the year end, NUS Services owed the Union £0 (2022 - £1,128).

At the year end, the Union owed NUS Media £0 (2022 - £24).

22. Controlling party

Control of Durham Students’ Union is considered to be in the hands of its membership, and consequently there is no controlling party.

23. Reconciliation of net income/(expenditure) to net cash flow from operating activities

Net movement in funds
Adjustments for:
Depreciation
Decrease/(increase) in stocks
Decrease/(increase) in debtors
(Decrease)/increase in creditors
Net cash provided by operating activities
2023
£
47,601
44,488
1,706
1,685
1,087
_
96,567
_

2022

£
( 52,318)

43,731

348
( 4,321)

9,880
_
( 2,680)
_

44