Annual Report & Accounts
April 2022 to March 2023
Lutterworth Volunteer Centre Limited
(A Charitable Company registered in England & Wales) Company No: 07798878 & Charity No: 1148255
Lutterworth Volunteer Centre Limited is a full member of The National Council for Voluntary Organisations and The Community Transport Association
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SUPPORTED BY
MEMBERS OF
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PERSONNEL
TRUSTEE-DIRECTORS:
| Chairman: | John Warren |
|---|---|
| Treasurer: | Rob Harrop |
| Secretary: | Paul Jackson |
| Jane Beaumont | |
| Lewis Freeman | |
| Paul Jackson | |
| Simon O’Donnell | |
| __________ | |
| Independent Examiners: | Crowfoot and Co. |
| __________ | |
| STAFF: | |
| General Manager: | Graeme Thomson |
| Administrator: | Nigel Essen |
| Fleet Operations Support: | Rick Allsopp |
| Transport Co-ordinator: | Inger Parsons |
| __________ | |
| Office Volunteers: | Sylvia Bills |
| Anne Cooper | |
| Pam Harrop | |
| Fiona Winton |
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MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
TRUSTEE DIRECTORS:
John Warren—Chairman
Past manager of Lutterworth Volunteer Centre for eighteen years retiring in 2015. Set up the One Stop Shop with ten organisations co-locating under one roof. A founder member and Chairman of Lutterworth and Villages Foodbank. Chair of Directors at Lutterworth College, a governor and Director for the last 30 years.
Rob Harrop—Treasurer
Rob joined Community Transport about 4 years ago as a volunteer minibus driver and became a trustee in 2018. Prior to retirement he ran several HR consultancy and business support companies. His former career with the Automobile Association comes in handy when trying to understand the complexities of running a successful and safe community transport organisation.
Jane Beaumont
Jane spent 20 years in engineering followed by 17 years teaching. She ran the Community Computer Centre at the One Stop Shop and The Enterprise Centre next door for a number of years. Currently she is the Manager of the Academy for Dementia Research and Education and leads groups of teenagers doing their Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.
Lewis Freeman
Former teacher with Lutterworth College and the Enterprise Centre, currently a Volunteer bus and car driver.
Paul Jackson
Volunteer bus and car driver since October 2019.
Simon O’Donnell
Following an extensive career in Retail Management, Simon successfully developed several businesses. He is now a Management Consultant specialising in Customer Experience.
STAFF:
Graeme Thomson - General Manager
Appointed 1 November 2021, after retiring from Leicestershire Police.
Nigel Essen - Administrator
Joined as a volunteer in 1996 assisting in the Transport office. Employed as Administrator from 1998. Becoming Co-Services Manager in 2015.
Rick Allsopp – Fleet Operations Support
Appointed June 2021, after retiring from 31 years as an electrician at Cavendish Nuclear.
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CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
This last year has seen us make further progress back to some normality after the covid pandemic. My thanks to all in helping us make good progress.
A special thank you to Graeme, Nigel, Inger and Rick, our staff team and our office volunteers Pam, Sylvia, Ann and Fiona who have kept us going on a day to day basis.
We have a great team of volunteers in community transport helping us to maintain services, without our volunteers we would not be able to support people in the community in the way that we do.
This year 3 Geoff’s have retired from volunteer driving; Manning, Fisk and Mason. A big thank you to them for years of dedicated and loyal service which is much appreciated.
It’s good that we are now recruiting new volunteers and we would certainly encourage people to join the team.
We continue to work in partnership with many other external organisations, e.g. Age Concern, Lutterworth and Villages Foodbank, Gilmorton Lunch Club, Academy for Dementia Research (ADRE) and Broughton Astley Community Transport.
I was thrilled to receive on behalf of our organisation the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Award for the contribution we have made to the community. The Deputy Lord Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hurwood DL presented us the award at an event in Lutterworth that was well attended and appreciated by all.
I would like to thank Richard Sweeting who has been our accountant for over 30 years who is stepping down from completing our annual accounts, I wish him well in his retirement.
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We are grateful for the continued support from our primary funders the County and District councils which help us maintain our good service to our community and regular customers who all value our services
John Warren
Chairman, Board of Trustee/Directors Lutterworth Volunteer Centre Limited
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GENERAL MANAGER’S REPORT
2022-23 has been a year of re-building and change in some ways, whilst some aspects have very much remained the same. The team of Nigel, Inger, Rick and our office volunteers Pam, Ann and Fiona have kept the same level of personal service to our clients that we know they appreciate. Thankfully due to Rick’s diligent work our fleet of vehicles survived the inactivity of the pandemic and have continued to run without major mishap or expense. In the background been making changes to how the charity is administered to streamline the operation and also be able to provide better information to inform future decisions.
The main changes we have made have been to our accountancy system and banking arrangements. This year our accounts have been recorded on Sage which has the advantage that income and expenditure can be allocated to each area of activity so that we will know for the future what areas are viable. This change has not been without its teething troubles and is largely responsible for the delay in producing this report. These issues now appear to be resolved for next year and we are already seeing the benefit in terms of improved information.
Recruitment remains a major focus, especially given the retirements of several stalwart volunteers after seeing us safely through the pandemic. We have been successful in recruiting 10 new volunteer drivers this year, spread across the Social Car Scheme and Minibus Driving.
Many organisations took time to recover from the pandemic, and unfortunately some that previously used our services never returned. However over the last 12 months we have worked hard to cement previous relationships and developed new ones. We support Age Concern (Lutterworth and District) with many of their activities, and make twice weekly deliveries for the Lutterworth and Villages Foodbank. Both Lutterworth College and the High School use our minibuses to support their Duke of Edinburgh programmes and for their sports teams. On a daily basis we transport the clients of the Academy for Dementia Research and Education to their sessions. Other community users include various Scout Troops, the U3A, Lutterworth RFC, Lutterworth Town FC, the Broughton Astley Volunteer Group and Rotary. The Gilmorton Lunch Club remains extremely popular and is a credit to Frank and Ann Cooper, both of whom also volunteer with us. There are some amazing people out there and we are extremely fortunate that some of them choose to volunteer with us.
Graeme Thomson
General Manager
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COMMUNITY TRANSPORT
Social Car Scheme
A comparison of this year’s activities with the previous three years:
| Passenger Journeys |
2019/20 | 2020/21 |
2021/22 |
2022/23 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P&T Journeys1 | 1,793 | 322 |
833 |
1400 |
| Hospital Journeys2 |
628 | 119 |
279 |
693 |
| Social Enterprise3 |
76 | 10 |
2 |
0 |
| Totals | 2,497 | 451 |
1,114 |
2093 |
Note
-
1- P/T (Planning and Transportation) now defined as all non-hospital trips
-
2- Hospital trips now includes trips to outpatients that are not necessarily at a hospital setting
-
3- Social Enterprise – trips paid for by Social Care agencies
Narrative
Having fallen to 18% of its pre-pandemic level in 2020/21, 2021/22 saw a slow recovery but the final outcome was still at less than 50% than expected. 2022/23 saw an 88% increase over the previous year as confidence returned, although we are still 16% down. Demand has continued to outstrip supply and we are still rationing the service to healthcare related appointments.
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Community Transport Minibuses
A breakdown of revenue associated with the Minibus Fleet
Our third party hire revenue has recovered significantly now that the schools are offering a full programme of extra-curricular activities and has provided a significant boost to our overall income. Anecdotally we have been advised that many of these activities would not take place at all due to budgetary constraints if our buses were not available at a reasonable cost. Though this is not necessarily our traditional core offering we regard this as a significant contribution to the Community as a whole. We have managed to facilitate this increase by enlisting teaching staff as volunteer drivers for their organisations rather than by placing a further drain on our volunteers in the main.
The traditional Thursday Market trips have been difficult to maintain due to driver retirements, and we have had to combine the two trips into one bus. This service was slow to recover but is now beginning to improve as confidence returns. Our regular clients really value this service as a way to get out and about and socialise even though some of them have continued to use online shopping for their main needs.
Funding for Foodbank deliveries through the Pandemic was provided by a £3500 grant from Harborough District Council. We kept a bus without seats purely to facilitate this. By the end of the year we were able to say that we had made a loss of £659 in providing the service. The foodbank have made good this shortfall and this is reflected in the above figures. As Council funding has now ended, we have negotiated a rate per mile with the foodbank to continue this service. However, we no longer keep a dedicated bus for this service.
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Lutterworth Volunteer Centre Ltd Financial Statementsfortheyearended 31 March 2023 Registered number 7798878 Registered charity number 1148255 Registered Offlce Wycliffe House Gllmorton Road Lutterworth LE17 4DY Crowfoot & Co Accountants Lld Lonsdale House High Street Lutterworth LE174AD emall: enqulrles@crowfootaccountsnts.com io
LuttetWDrthVoluntoBrC•nti8Lirnlt8d Pagei ReporttotheManagementCommitteefortheyeaiendeI31 March2023 Th¢Man4gementCommitte¢ we5entsitsdii¢doisi¢portandfiDancia15t?letneDlsfortheyeaiend¢d31 Naich2023 ReleienceandadmlnlstratlvelnfNm8tlor• Chariwname TheVolunreeTCeDiie Chai1tyrÈOsiratn numbèi 114E255 Comparyregisiration number 07798878 AeosteiÈdolhce2nd Operatlonaladdre5S Wycliffe House GilmortonRoad Luttetwatth LBiEestEishireLE174DY Exec¥eC0mM1ttee JAÈeaurnont L E Freeman R Hairop PAla¢kson AGJon85 io911212022 So'oonnell JG PWÈirtn AWIllryA to281912Q22 Manu¥ei GiaemB ThDrnsOll IndependentfinoTrGlalexamlneis Crowfoot & CoAccouMants Ltd LDnsdale High Stfeet LullerworthLE174AD Bankers NATWESTBank H1CeY&RgbyÈIldIngs(lety SoU¢ltors HaNeylngrèmShakespeares 20 Newwalk LeicEstei LE16TX li
Page 2 Chartered Certified Accountants, report to the Board of Directors on the unaudited accounts of Lutterworth Volunteer Centre Limited In accordancewith the engagement letter dated 17 March 2024, and in orderto assistyou io fulfil your duties underthe CompaniesAct2006,we have compiled thefinancial statements of the companywhich comprise the Profit and Loss Account and Balance Sheet the ielated notesfrom the accounting records and information and expiantations you have given to us. This report is made solelytothe Company's Board of Directors, as a body, in accordancewith the tems of our engagement. Oui work has been undertaken Soihatwe mightcompile the financial siaiements thaiwe have been engaged to compile, ieportto the Company's Board of Directors thatwe have done so, and state those m2tieis thatwe have agreed 10 State to them In thls ieportandfoi no othei purpose. Tolhefullesteent peimilled bylaw, we do noiacceptoi assume responsibilityto anyone otherthan thecompanyand Ihe Company's Board ofDlrectors, as a bodyforourwoikorfoiihis report. We havecarfiedoutthls engagemeni Sn accordancewlth the technlc8iguSdance Issued byiheAssocl8iion of Chartered CertifiedAccountants and have complied Mth the ethicalguidance laid down by the Association teLatingto member5 undertakingthe cotnpi13Don of financi31statetnents. You haveacknowledged on the b8Lance sheetas ai 31 Mbrch 2023youi dutytoensurethatthe companyhas kept proper accountingrecordsand to prepare thefinancial statementsthatgive a true andfairwew under the Cotnpanie5Act2006.You considerthatthe cornpanyis exemptfrom the 5tatutoryrequiietnentforan audittortheyear. We have not been instucted tocarryout an audit of the linancial staterments. Forthis reason, we have not vefifiedthe accuracyor completene55 of the accountingrecords orthe inforrnation and explanationsyou have given to us andwe do not, therefore expie5s anyopinion on the financial statements. Ciovrtoot& Co Accountants Ltd Chartered CertifiedAccountants Lonsdale House Hlgh sireei Lutterworth LE17 4AD March 2024 12
Lutterworthvolunteer Centre Llmlted Stslementof FincanclalActlvhles Page 3 2023 2022 Restricted Unrestricted funds fund5 Notes Total Incoming resources Grants & donations 117,386 117,386 95,412 Comtnunitytranspoi 25.364 25.364 14.540 Interest received 389 389 171 143,139 143.139 110,123 Expenditure Communityiransport expenses Staff payroll costs Staff recruitment Premises costs Office costs Publicity Professionalfees Miscellaneous Depreciation 27,491 64,893 270 27,491 64,893 270 24.394 79.618 768 8,041 6,900 2,676 1,205 925 8,041 6,900 2,676 1,205 925 11.161 4.688 4.146 638 2.698 12,362 140,473 12,243 12,243 124,644 124,644 SurplusllDeficitl forthe period 18,495 18,495 30,350 Funds brought lOard 162,369 162,369 180,864 180,864 192,719 162,369 The statementof financial activities includes allgains & losses in the period. Ali incoming resources and resources expended derive from continuingactivities. 13
rthv I nt ntr Llm Page4 Note5 2023 2022 Fixed 4s5ets 72,173 Currentassets Bank DebtDrs 145,106 3,125 148,231 111,583 2,395 113,978 Creditors Netcurrentas5et5 6.297 2.782 141,934 111,196 201.864 IPA,369 Unrestricted fund5 General funds Designatedfunds li 47,197 154,667 28,702 154,667 201,864 I,369 201,864 I,269 These accounts have been prepared in accordancewith the special provisions relatingto small companies withiTr part 15 of the CotnpaniesAct 2006 and with the FIancial Reportingstandard forstnaller Entitie5 (effective April 20081 Forthe financialyearended 31 March 2023, the companywas entitled to exernptionfrorn audr( under section 477 Companie5 Act 2006and that no notice has been dep051ted under section 476. The manaEement ¢Otnmittee a¢knowledEetheir responsibilities forensuringthat the cornpany keeps a¢countlnE recordswhich cornplywith section 386 of theActand preparing account5 which give atrue and fairview of the state of atfalrsof Ihe¢ompanyas ai the end of Iheyear and of Its proflt or lossfoilhe financialyear In a¢¢ordance with the requirements ofthe CompaniesAct 2006so f8r as is applicabletothe company Signed on beh81f ofthe exeeurive committee A24rrefi . Approved bythe executlveeommittee 20 March 2024 14
Lutteorth Volunteer Centre Llmlted Page5 toTthe year ended 31 March 2023 l ACctIn¥PDttlt$ The p¢1paLac(QuntIngPlicIEs are5Utnmarised beiow.TheaccountingpuliciB5 havebeeDapplredcon515tenlly Ihroughoutlhe period. a Bèslsof accountlng Thefinancialsiatements have been prepared untterthehisioriccost convention and In accordancewith Ihe CDmpaniesAcl 2006and Ihestatefflenl of RecummendedPractice.-Accountingand Reportlngbycharitses Issued Maich 2005. b Fund accountinK Unrestricied lundsare avaiiableforuseatthediscretionollhe execuiive In lutheranceof theEeneraltsbjectwesof DesigDaledlund5areunieslnctedTunds eatmarkedtylheExeculweCotnmitteeforpartKuiarpuTpose5. Restrictedlundsaresubipctedlo re5tTicII0n50ntheirexpenditulrnp0Sed bythedonor. c IncornlnKfBsoufc05 AllincominEresourcesare Included Inthe slaternentollinancialaciltShentknecha1itYISentitLedto, andwrtually ¢ertaln 10 recee. the In¢omeandlheam¢uni ¢an be quantlNed With ieasonable a¢¢uYa¢y.Thelollowlnepollclesaie apoiedlo partlcular¢ategoriesol income.. Income recelved bywayolgrants anddonationiandlsinciuded In full in the StatementolFinanelal performance bythe charity, arerecognisedwhenthecharitybecornes uncond1tionallyemit iothe Incomeliomthepyowslon ofCommnItyt[n5portseDAce5IS lec0&sedenthe seNlce1ssupplled. Investment incomeis Included whenrecewed. IncomlngresourceslromErants,whereYeiatedtopertorm3nce and specKlcdellverables,areaccountedfor £sthe¢haiityÈarn$ih$ light to¢on$id$ratittn by its pert¢mian¢¢. d Resoureesexpended Expenditure Is recognised DnanaCcTualb1sasa liabilrtyis incurred. Expendrture includesVATwhich rannotbe recovered and iSrepOrted partoftheexpendilure ioY4hich li Felates. Cornmunitytransport Costs Gomprisethevehicle c05t53ndvolunteerexpen5es In prowdlngtransp0rtseryce5. e Flxedass¢ts F¥Ked assets are 5tatedatcost less accumulateddepreclation.The costof minoradditionscostingbelow£i,uoo are Gapilalised. Depreciation isprovided al Falescalcuiatedtowrileoff thecosl ofexh &seiovei Ils expected usefullrfe.Vehicles purchased newareexpectedto haveauselul lifeol7ars.Ihee5t1MhteduSeIU1Ilfe0f a $e¢ond handvehiclei5 reduEed apptripriately. ITnpaiimenl rewew5are cariiEdoutasandwhen ewdEnceGume$ lo Iighlthattherecoverableamountotaftxedasset Is belowils net bookvalueduelodamageorolherreievant lacitsrs. 2 GraM5&donatlon5 2023 2022 Restylcted Unrestylcted 60,470 22,323 28,075 5,518 117,3B6 60.470 23,323 28.075 5.518 117.368 89.470 2,300 Harborough DIstrlellncl1 OG? Donatsons& olherincome 3.642 95.412 15
Luttetworthvolunteercentre LlmRed Noie$forrnlngpart of the Flnantlaisiaiements Page6 2023 Fares•¢ 25.364 4 NrtlncDmlTrgr•wJrui Oepte¢lati¢n 12.243 12.362 Theè¥eragenumbeTOfemwtyeesduTiwtheyearwas 5 R•iatÈd PaYtyTtansat¥ot NDmember5oftheExecutiveCrnee receriedanyreThuneibtlDnduiingtheperiod. NDmember5DfthpexeceMrtteeO[Othe1per5USIeIedtothPCa[rtyhadn¥PeIinteeStlnatvtraCtDrtla5actio enterediffltobyth8charity. Asacharity.Lutt&worthV0nt*@rcnlreLtd Iséxempttromcorwationtaxoffl Incom&a gaifflsts1nBtttipart iiofth QpOltion1XaCf2oIoo1S2SSth1hP13xatlQn0fChaOP£bie8In5AC11210[hPo1teltthEya1PèpPknedlD itsthaiitableDbieclives. Notaxchaoeshaveariseninihecharity. 7 I4bleAEdASy¢1S At IWi12022 167.241 At31Maich2D22 167.247 Depreciation At IW12022 AddÈdttsiyear C15PP5I At31Mai¢h2D23 95.074 I?.13 107.317 Npt BOOkVae At31M4ich2023 59.930 72.173 At21Marth2D22 D¢bt• 2023 FareS&buShireinwme 1125 2.395 1125 2.395 16
Page7 2023 2D22 9 CredlknsfaUlngdue%*tthln IyEar 12È Socialsecumy Otheicieditors &a¢ciuais 5,269 9)0 6.297 2.782 2,782 10 Analyslsof netassots betsyttnfunds Restricted Unre5tiicted Totsl TongiblEIiY8dgsselS S9.930 3,125 6.297 56,758 3,125 6,297 56,758 Netassets ai 31 Narch 2023 11 Movementlnfunds 8ruught lorwaid Outgoing Yesouyces iesouices At31 Mai¢h 2023 Therewereno re51rictedlundsdurin Designated lund5 Vehicleieplacemenlfund 154.667 154667 154,667 28.702 182.369 154,667 47.197 201.864 Geneialfunds 14&139 143,1 124.644 124.644 Totalfund5 183.3 &1 124.644 201.864 12 Purp05eof restrldedfunds None 18 Purp05eof de5ignatedfunds To repiacevehicles attheendoltheir usefullife. 17
Treasurers Report 2022-23
Our income during this financial period was challenging, with a slower than expected return to normal operations. We continued to be supported by Leicestershire County Council and Harborough District Council, plus additional income from our work with the Foodbank. We also had a gradual build up of our operational income, but this was still short of pre COVID levels. We also received outstanding payments from HDC for the previous year.
Leicestershire County Council grant has remained static at £60470 pa now since 2018/19 and is in fact below the level from 2013/14, where £62560 was paid.
Harborough District Council funding of £23323 during this year was exceptional due to our maintenance grant for the previous year of £7000 not being paid until the 22/23 year and a payment of £3500 in respect of COVID funding for foodbank deliveries from the previous year also being delayed. The grant of £3500 continued, but will not continue into 23/24. Next year’s core grant of £7000 will be reduced by 30% due to HDC budgetary constraints.
A new arrangement whereby the foodbank pay directly for deliveries has been negotiated.
Our income had also been inflated this year due to a £27000 grant from Leicestershire County Council being received in respect of the proposed purchase of a second electric wheelchair adapted vehicle. This purchase is on hold due to lack of availability of vehicles. It is intended that the remainder of the purchase price will be funded through a grant from the Local Area Community Fund.
Our operational income recovered somewhat with a 109% increase over 21/22 level as the recovery from COVID continued. However, this is still down compared to the pre COVID levels of 2019/20 (£45000).
Office costs are set to rise with a 12.9% increase in rent and a 20 year rise in service charge of £750 pa to pay for a new roof. In the meantime significant savings are proposed as we change IT supplier, with a current cost of £2000 pa, to a self-administered system. Software licences have been obtained for free and a consultant engaged to provide ad-hoc support.
In the past our funding from LCC and HDC went a long way to cover our staffing and office costs, but with inflation high, costs rising and funding reducing in real terms, we need to make savings wherever we can.
We are currently running a fleet of 4 minibuses and 1 Wheelchair adapted vehicle. We have been keeping one of our older minibuses equipped as a van solely to service the demands of delivering for the foodbank. Cost
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analysis has revealed that this bus was costing £4000 per annum to keep on the road (including fuel and insurance) and it appears that we have capacity to use other vehicles for the foodbank. We intend to sell this vehicle in the very near future and reduce our fleet to 3 minibuses and 1 WAV, pending the arrival of a second fully funded electric Wheelchiar Accessable Vehicle.
We had some difficulties in producing our accounts for 22/23 due to the imminent retirement of our accountant and the difficulty in locating a replacement. I’m pleased to say that we have now appointed Richard Crowfoot and look forward to a strong, professional relationship going forward. I would also like to thank Richard Sweeting for the accountancy work he has done for us in the past and wish him a long and happy retirement.
RESERVES POLICY
As part of their responsibility for the management of the charity, it is acknowledged by the Trustees that funding is reviewed annually by the providers. Consequently, as a result of this inherent uncertainty that could impact on the charity’s ability to continue its various services and projects and/or meet its obligations, a minimum level of funds is required in reserve. This level is considered by the Trustees to be a minimum of six months expenditure for general operations and a greater level to ensure long-term continuity of specific projects.
In addition and in accordance with their ongoing policy of maintaining and improving the services and resources provided, the Trustee recognise the need for designated reserves in respect of specific capital expenditure.
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CONTACT DETAILS:
General Manager: Graeme Thomson
Tel: 01455 555571 Email: graeme@luttct.com
Administrator: Nigel Essen
Tel: 01455 555571 Email: admin@luttct.com
All correspondence to:
Lutterworth Community Transport Wycliffe House Gilmorton Road Lutterworth Leicestershire LE17 4DY
www.luttct.com
Opening Times: Monday to Friday 9:00 am to 2:00 pm
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