Disability Advice Service (East Suffolk) Registered Charity, No: 1152772
Trustees’ Annual Report & Statement of Financial Activity for the Year Ended 31 December 2023
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Disability Advice Service (East Suffolk): Trustees’ Annual Report & Financial Statements
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Contents
| Contents | Contents | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Reference and Administration Details ................................................. 3 | |
| 1.1 | Name & Registration ...................................................................... 3 | |
| 1.2 | Address ........................................................................................ 3 | |
| 1.3 | Names of the Trustees Who Manage the Charity .............................. 3 | |
| 1.4 | Names of Senior Members of Staff .................................................. 3 | |
| 1.5 | Bank ............................................................................................ 3 | |
| 2 | Structure, Governance & Management ............................................... 3 | |
| 2.1 | Type of Governing Document ......................................................... 3 | |
| 2.2 | Charitable Object .......................................................................... 3 | |
| 2.3 | Trustee Selection Methods ............................................................. 3 | |
| 3 | Activities............................................................................................... 4 | |
| 3.1 | Statutory Declaration ..................................................................... 4 | |
| 4 | Achievements & Performance.............................................................. 4 | |
| 4.1 | Outputs and Outcomes for the Charity’s Beneficiaries ........................ 4 | |
| 4.2 | How the Public Have Benefitted. ..................................................... 6 | |
| 4.3 | Contributing to Activities Run by Other Organisations ........................ 7 | |
| 4.4 | Trustee Development .................................................................... 7 | |
| 5 | Financial Review .................................................................................. 7 | |
| 5.1 | Details of Any Funds Materially in Deficit.......................................... 7 | |
| 5.2 | Policy on Reserves ......................................................................... 7 | |
| 5.3 | Principal Sources of Funding and Outgoings ..................................... 7 | |
| 5.4 | Remuneration of Trustees .............................................................. 7 | |
| 5.5 | Financial Status ............................................................................. 7 | |
| 5.6 | Statutory Statements on Liabilities .................................................. 7 | |
| 5.7 | Signature ..................................................................................... 8 | |
| 6 | Statement of Financial Activity ............................................................ 8 | |
| 6.1 | Independent Examiner’s Report on the Accounts .............................. 9 | |
| 6.2 | Receipts & Payments Accounts for the FYE 31-Dec-23………………….…10 | |
| 6.3 | Notes to the Accounts ................................................................... 13 |
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1 Reference and Administration Details
1.1
Name & Registration
The Disability Advice Service (East Suffolk), or "DAS" for short, is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation, registration no: 1152772, registered with the Charity Commission on 08 July 2013. We are registered with HM Revenue & Customs.
1.2
Address
14 The Square, Martlesham Heath, Suffolk, IP5 3SL
e-mail: advice@daseastsuffolk.org telephone: 01394 387070 website: www.daseastsuffolk.org
1.3
Names of the Trustees Who Manage the Charity
| Role | Appointed/Reappointed | Resigned | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Graham Walker | Chair | 29November 2022 | |
| Roy Gilmour | Vice Chair | 25 January2022 | 20February2023 |
| Rod Gibson | Secretary | 26 January2023 | |
| RobinStroud | Treasurer | 25 January2022 | |
| SteveDoe | ViceTreasurer | 25 January2022 | |
| Michelle Eaves | Trustee | 12 March 2021 | 20 February2023 |
| ClaireHindmarch | Trustee | 28 September 2023 | |
| EmilyHook | Trustee | 09 April 2021 | 09 February2023 |
| NatashaHook | Trustee | 09April 2021 | 21 August2023 |
| GaryMorgan | Trustee | 23November 2023 | |
| Debbie O’Hara | Trustee | 11 September 2020 | 10 September 2023 |
1.4 Names of Senior Members of Staff
Steve Race, Manager
1.5 Bank
Lloyds Bank, 8 The Thoroughfare, Woodbridge, Suffolk, IP12 1AF
2 Structure, Governance & Management
2.1 Type of Governing Document
The charity's constitution is based on the Charity Commission’s Foundation Model for Charitable Incorporated Organisations, where the trustees are the only members of the charity.
2.2 Charitable Object
As defined in Disability Advice Service (East Suffolk)’s constitution (governing document):
The charity’s object is: The relief of children and adults with disabilities and their carers in East Suffolk and nearby areas.
2.3 Trustee Selection Methods
There must be at least three charity trustees. The maximum number of trustees is 12.
In accordance with the constitution, trustees are appointed or re-appointed for a term of three years by a resolution passed at a properly convened meeting of the Management Committee.
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In appointing trustees, due consideration is given to ensuring that the trustees have, between them, the skills and experience necessary to manage the charity effectively and in accordance with charity law.
3 Activities
3.1 Statutory Declaration
The trustees of DAS confirm that they have paid due regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit in deciding what activities the charity should undertake.
4 Achievements & Performance
4.1 Outputs and Outcomes for the Charity’s Beneficiaries
The DAS mission is: "To enable those who live with disabilities to gain the same rights and quality of life opportunities as others."
We provide practical solutions to tackle the short and long-term financial issues underlying or worsening the well-being of our beneficiaries who live in Ipswich and rural East Suffolk. We support children, adults and their carers, who have a disability related problem, with free, independent advice on:
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which benefits individuals are eligible for and how to apply for them;
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help with the arduous form filling for: Attendance Allowance, Disability Living Allowance, Income Support, Personal Independence Payments and Universal Credit;
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advocacy in challenging DWP decisions and representation at tribunal appeals;
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blue parking badges and RADAR keys
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care after discharge from hospital
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council tax, energy and water rates relief schemes
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Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit and Victims of Crime compensation
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Pensions Credit
We also signpost on many other matters such as housing rights; adaptations to the home; accessible transport and leisure; and the Local Welfare Assistance Scheme.
| 2023 | 2022 | |
|---|---|---|
| Clients engaged | 2,242 | 2,182 |
| Enquiries received | 14,857 | 15,588 |
| Appeals representations | 44 | 40 |
| Success rateonappeals | 98% | 100% |
| Benefit Gain (Year One) | £2,337,410 | £2,722,472 |
| Benefit Gain (Full)* | £7,339,467 | £9,249,794 |
| Crisis clients | 185 | 469 |
| Listening Service contacts | 614 | 2,218 |
| Subsistence grants and food parcels to individuals | £6,286 | £50,696 |
- Some benefits have longevity beyond the first year and the full benefit calculation accounts for this.
As shown in the table below, in 2023 the clients we helped increased by 2.7% compared to the year before, whilst enquiries fell by 4.7%. Work content per client, however, rose as case complexity escalated. A majority of clients now have a crisis element to their enquiry and the number of transactional form-filling only cases are far fewer.
Integral to the operation is a busy Crisis Intervention Service that has helped 926 clients in the four years it has been running. These are clients in the most difficult of circumstances and invariably suffering from mental ill-health, some severely so. Numbers were lower than the
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previous year at the peak impact of the cost-of-living crisis but remained more than six times higher than pre-pandemic levels. The availability of hardship funds from the government's Household Support Fund was also much lower.
On appeals, we won all but one case. Over the past four years we have advocated and won for our clients in 219 out of 220 cases.
Benefit Gain was somewhat lower than the previous year but over the last four years our clients have received a total of £9,778,694 in the first year of their award (which translates to over £30 million when taking into account the whole term of the award).
This means that every £1 granted/donated to DAS is multiplied 10 times into financial improvement for our beneficiaries, or 30 times when considering the full length of their award.
Early in the year we organised a programme of “Community Warm Space” events which meant that 60 crisis clients could enjoy some unaccustomed creature comforts in a warm, safe space and receive tips on keeping warm economically and cooking healthy food inexpensively.
Our Listening Service, also established four years ago, during the pandemic, has had 3,872 interactions with non-active clients in that time. Many of them live in rural isolation and our calls bring some unexpected light relief to their circumstances. It was not as active in 2023 as we would have liked due to the difficulty we have experienced, like many third sector organisations, in recruiting and retaining the volunteers who operate our telephones.
In addition to the financial improvements enumerated, our clients also benefit from an uplift in their well-being as a result of their interaction with the service. We measure this through our Questions of Future Well-Being Survey, this is focused on two key areas: “Improved physical health and emotional wellbeing” and “Enabled greater independence”. In both cases the results are overwhelmingly positive:
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96% 93%
Strongly Strongly
Agreed Agreed
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In 2023, we were delighted to be awarded the Advice Quality Service accreditation, the gold standard Pride In Practice mark and to become a registered Real Living Wage Employer.
As a new venture, we operated an 8mth long full outreach service for ex-offenders (over 70% of whom have at least two mental health diagnoses.) in conjunction with the East of England Probation Service in its Ipswich office. The scheme was very successful but could not continue for technical reasons.
Five trustees resigned during the year, one due to ill-health and the others, all appointed within the previous three years, citing their difficulty in fitting in trustee duties with managing family life and their jobs. Our strategy to diversify the Management Committee both in terms of age
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and gender therefore had limited success. We appointed two new trustees who both have highly relevant lived experience they can bring to bear in helping to take the charity forward.
Our strategic projects continue to be progressed in accordance with our annually updated Business Plan and Fundraising Strategy. Our operational priorities for the coming year are:
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Outreach: Bringing the service closer to our communities by establishing triage outreach centres in appropriate locations; pursuing opportunities to extend our geographic reach to areas not well provided for; and reviewing the case for reintroducing home visits on a selected basis.
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Awareness: Building on the progress made to get our message out through a better social media presence; increasing our leadership presence on networks and developing partnerships; and using non-digital forms of communication via parish councils, benefice organisations, town magazines and targeted leafleting.
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Partnerships: Building on our success in engaging with “hard to reach” groups e.g. exoffenders and LGBTQ+, where feasible developing into e.g. ethnic minority groups, refugees and food bank users, and capitalising on our efforts to get closer to NHS agencies.
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Clients and Operational Excellence: Building on our advice accreditation success by encouraging staff and volunteers to obtain recognised individual qualifications for the work they do; exploiting our IT investment in digitising all remaining processes to become as close as possible to a paperless office; and adding to the expression of our positive impact on our beneficiaries’ well-being by introducing further industry standard qualitative measures e.g. Warwick-Edinburgh.
4.2 How the Public Have Benefitted
The charity has a preference for providing paid work and volunteering opportunities to the disabled community. In addition to beneficial impact of our work directly on our clients, the service also benefits other related groups indirectly as illustrated in the chart below:
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4.3 Contributing to Activities Run by Other Organisations
The charity provides a gateway assessment service for other organisations that provide hardship funds for crisis intervention and poverty relief.
4.4 Trustee Development
Trustees are encouraged to participate in development opportunities as and when appropriate.
5 Financial Review
5.1 Details of Any Funds Materially in Deficit
The Charity has no funds which are materially in deficit.
5.2 Financial Reserves Policy
The Charity’s policy on reserves is determined by Charity Commission guidance in that having no fixed assets it maintains an amount of cash which is sufficient to discharge its obligations in the event that the Management Committee deems it necessary to close the charity plus sufficient to ensure continuity of the operations equivalent to 6-12mths operating costs.
5.3 Principal Sources of Funding and Outgoings
The principal sources of funding are grants made to the charity by small and large charitable foundations, all levels of local government and individual donations. The charity is a member of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising and adheres to its Code of Conduct.
In compliance with the Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Act 2016 all fundraising is carried out in a safe way which protects the public. We do not cold call or appeal to the public to sign up to long-term giving commitments other than providing options to do so on our website. The charity does not make payments for fundraising activity of any kind and it has never received a complaint related to fundraising activity.
5.4
Remuneration of Trustees
All trustees act in a voluntary capacity and receive no remuneration or other material benefits from their services to the Charity.
Out-of-pocket expenses necessarily and reasonably incurred by trustees in promoting the purposes of the Charity are reimbursed at cost.
5.5
Financial Status
Though modest, the charity’s current resources are sufficient to meet its outgoings in accordance with its Financial Reserves Policy and all the indications are that this will remain the case for the foreseeable future.
Total net assets at the end of the financial year were £309,639 representing less than 12 months of operating costs based on our 2024 budget.
5.6
Statutory Statements on Liabilities
The trustees declare that:
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✓ The charity has given no guarantees where potential liability under the guarantee is outstanding at the date of this statement; and
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✓ The charity has no debt outstanding at the date of this statement which is owed by the CIO and which is secured by an express charge on any assets of the CIO.
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5.7 Signature
Signed on behalf of the trustees
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Name & Role Rod Gibson Secretary to the Management Committee
Date: 28 March 2024
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6 Statement of Financial Activity
- 6.1 Independent Examiner’s Report on the Accounts
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6.2 Receipts & Payments Accounts for the FYE 31 December 2023
6.2.1 Balance Sheet
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6.2.2 Statement of Financial Activities
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6.2.3 General Account
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6.2.4 Approval of the Board of Trustees
The trustees declare that they have approved the above Annual Report & Statement of Financial Activity.
Signed on behalf of the trustees
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Name & Role Rod Gibson Secretary to the Management Committee
Date: 28 March 2024
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6.3 Notes to the Accounts
a) Accounting Policies
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Charities Act 2011 Section 133, using the Receipts and Payments basis available to small charities and the charity’s own simple accounts spreadsheet.
b) Cost of Fundraising
No payment was made for costs related to raising funds.
c) Reimbursement of Out-of-Pocket Expenses
Out-of-pocket expenses incurred necessarily, reasonably and incidentally in the course the charity’s activities are reimbursed at cost.
No trustees received any reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses in the financial year.
d) Salaries & Professional Fees
No trustee receives any payments for the services they provide to the charity.
In the current financial year, the charity employed staff but no paid external contractors.
e) Fixed Assets
The charity has not purchased or disposed of any fixed assets in the current financial year.
f) Creditors & Debtors
Cheques for goods or services purchased, or invoices for goods or services delivered, which are issued prior to the end of the financial year but not appearing in the end of financial year bank statement are reported as outstanding creditors or debtors respectively.
g) Rounding Discrepancies
All amounts are recorded to the penny, but in these accounts are shown as digitally rounded to the nearest pound. This can occasionally result in a total apparently not being the sum of its constituent amounts. All individual amounts, and their totals, are nevertheless correct.
h) Grants Received
We are grateful for all donations and grants upon which we are almost entirely dependent to enable us to continue to deliver our services for our beneficiaries and the public benefit. This includes many tier 1&2 councils and councillors, but we are particularly grateful for the grants and other long term support we receive from East Suffolk Council and Suffolk County Council. We would also like to acknowledge the great support of the Suffolk Community Foundation.
Of the charitable organisations that provided financial support this year the following are recognised below for grants of £2,000 or more for which we are enormously grateful:
David & Jill Simpson Fund £2,000 Nationwide Building Society £12,346 David Family Foundation £5,000 Pargiter Fund £3,130 Equity In Mind Fund £23,697 People's Postcode Trust £18,054 Garfield Weston Foundation £15,000 Port Community Fund £2,000 Hughes-Hallett Fund £2,000 Suffolk Giving Fund £2,000 John Horseman Trust £5,000 The Forrester Family Trust £14,098 Lord Belstead Char Settlement £2,000 Tudor Trust £15,000 Mrs L D Rope Third Char Set £14,011 Tudwick Foundation £2,000 National Lottery Comm Fund £105,679 Woodroffe Benton Foundation £2,000
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