CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examinerfs Report Report to the trusteesl members of Leicestershire Search & Rescue On accounts for the year ended 31 January 2024 Charity no (if anyl 1150100 Set out on pages I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity {"the Trust.) for the year ended 3110112024. Responslbllltles and As the Charty trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation basis of report of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 ("the Act.). I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act. I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention (other than that disclosed below ') in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect: accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or the accounts do not accord with the accounting records Independent examiner's statement I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. . Please delete the words in the braGkets if they do not apply. Signed: P.A. Date: (I Name: Philip Anthony Glyn-smith Relevant professional quallfication(s) or body {if any): FCA Address: HSP Tax & Accounts Lld Vvhiteacres, Cambridge Road *Vhetstone, Leicestershire, LE8 6ZG IER October 2018
Section B Disclosure Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight matters of concern (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners). Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose. IER October 2018
Thq Quwn'5 Aw•rd IoTVoluntsryS•r¥ic• Leicestershire Search and Rescue Treasurerfs Report th AGM Tuesday 19 Nov 2024 Introduction This report is for the financial year from 1st February 2023- January 31st 2024 and is in conjunction with the Income and Expenditure statement which you all have a copy of. These accounts were produced by Phil Glyn - Smith FCA | Director, who will be signing them off and submitting them to the Charities Commission. In addition, there has been the usual internal audit carried out of our financial transactions by Russell Frost, and everything was found to be satisfactory. We are very grateful to Russell for continuing to provide this additional check. Income This report has to begin by mentioning the incredibly generous donation we received 6 days into the start of this financial year of £25,000. This was a donation from a private individual who did not want any publicity. Our budgets are set at the end of the previous financial year and total income was projected to be just over £46,000, but as you can see from the statement our actual income was nearly £71,000. Putting aside the £25,000, this was a good year for donations. We received further sizeable donations from the Freemasons, a relation of a team member and another private individual who donated towards the cost of a new drone. Our income was also significantly boosted by securing event cover at two new large events, generating additional unbudgeted income of £4,500. In addition, income from Grants came in very close to the budgeted figure. The £9000 received in grants from 2 sources were both for the Water team, which enabled all the required equipment to be purchased for the newly qualified Swift water team.
This expenditure, along with our new drone and some more investment in ICT equipment meant a larger than expected VAT refund from HMRC. Unfortunately Fundraising still struggles, only generating £4,300 of income, less than 50Yo of the budgeted figure. Refunds, Account transfers and team payments for our Xmas meal have all been allocated to Miscellaneous receipts for ease of accounting. NB. For the current financial year we have added Miscellaneous receipts/social as an Income category and Team welfare/social as an Expense category for more accurate accounting. enses The expenditure for this year reflects the increase in our income due to the large donation. As mentioned above the expenditure on swift water equipment was totally funded by the two grants. The other big expense was the purchase of a new drone which was included in the budget. In addition, we improved our medical equipment specifically for providing first aid at events, significantly upgraded our MX Sarman software and invested in additional ICT equipment. The figure shown against vehicle maintenance and tax is again as a direct result of the large donation, as it enabled us to buy an additional 4x4 vehicle with a much-improved spec to our existing vehicle. The donor is aware of this purchase, he has seen photos and is very gratified at being kept informed. An acknowledgement of their donation will be added to the livery. If we discount the purchase price of this vehicle, happily we spent very little on vehicle maintenance over the year, in fact only slightly over 50Yo of the budgeted figure for this category.
Other expenses such as insurances, uniform purchases and fuel remain
fairly static costs which can be accurately budgeted for. This was the case again this year, with the exception of insurance which was higher than the budgeted figure due to quite a significant increase in the value of our assets.
It was anticipated that we would be awarded grant funding to send a number of members on the FRE3 course throughout the year but unfortunately, we were not successful. As a result, even though we did finance a portion of this training cost ourselves the expenditure on training was significantly below the budgeted figure. NB we were successful with some grant funding for this in 2024. Sundry expenses are largely made up of costs relating to team welfare, social events (for which members reimburse us) and general maintenance. As I said previously these have been added as categories for this current year for more transparent accounting. Summar To summarise. our Income and Expenditure statement is a total contrast to last yearfs very sobering report. To be in a financial position to make the investments needed to further develop the team's skills is very gratifying. With a fully trained, fully equipped swift water team, and a drone that is of the same calibre as the Police drone, our capabilities make us one of the strongest SAR teams in the country. In addition, the investment in medical training and equipment is already paying dividends. The addition of 2 new lucrative events that we covered this year and are now expanding year on year, along with the Ashby 20 would not have been possible without the additional investment. All in all, a very good year for the team. As usual, an independent examiners report will be submitted to the Charity Commission, along with our accounts and this report. We are very grateful to Phil Glyn-smith for continuing to provide this service free of charge each year.
The Queen's Award for Volunt•ry Se*¥i¢e From Date 01-Feb-23 To Date 31-Jan-24 LEICESTERSHIRE SEARCH & RESCUE. Income & Expenditure Statement IAII values reported In GBP Sterling) Turnover Balance bought forward from previous year: £23,223.63 Fundraising, donations & membership subs Grants Event cover VAT refund Uniform sales Equipment sales Miscellaneous receipts £43,918.08 £9.014.00 £9,759.00 £6,320.79 £474.93 £1,371.43 Totsl Income for year £70,858.23 Less Expenses Equipment Fundraising event expenses Professional feeslsubscriptions Stationery l Office Vehicle Maintenance & Tax Insurances Unrforms Fuel Training mobilesata Sundry expenses £26,371,62 £254.98 £884.00 £381.40 £16,346.05 £8,810.40 £6,292.85 £1,754.42 £4,086.98 £960.50 £1.731.21 Totsl Expenses for year £67.874.41 Surplus of income over expenses £2,983.82 Surplus brought forward £23,223.63 Surplus carried fOard £26,207.45