Disability Advice Service (East Suffolk) Registered Charity, No: 1152772 Trustees’ Annual Report & Statement of Financial Activity for the Year Ended 31 December 2024
v v Wage | aaa
VA v Ainsise
Contents
Reference and Administration Details ..................................................................................................... 1 Name & Registration ........................................................................................................................... 1 Address................................................................................................................................................ 1 Names of the Trustees Who Manage the Charity ............................................................................... 1 Names of Senior Members of Staff ..................................................................................................... 1 Bank ..................................................................................................................................................... 1 Structure, Governance & Management .................................................................................................. 1 Type of Governing Document ............................................................................................................. 1 Charitable Object ................................................................................................................................. 2 Trustee Selection Methods .................................................................................................................. 2 Activities .................................................................................................................................................. 2 Statutory Declaration ........................................................................................................................... 2 Achievements & Performance................................................................................................................. 2 Chairman’s Report 2024 ...................................................................................................................... 2 Outputs and Outcomes for the Charity’s Beneficiaries ....................................................................... 2 Manager’s Report 2024 ........................................................................................................................... 6 Contributing to Activities Run by Other Organisations ...................................................................... 14 Trustee Development ........................................................................................................................ 14 Financial Review ................................................................................................................................... 14 Details of Any Funds Materially in Deficit .......................................................................................... 14 Financial Reserves Policy ................................................................................................................. 14 Principal Sources of Funding and Outgoings .................................................................................... 14 Remuneration of Trustees ................................................................................................................. 14 Financial Status ................................................................................................................................. 14 Statutory Statements on Liabilities .................................................................................................... 15 Signature ......................................................................................................................................... 15 Statement of Financial Activity .............................................................................................................. 16 Independent Examiner’s Report on the Accounts ............................................................................. 16 Approval of the Board of Trustees ..................................................................................................... 20 Notes to the Accounts ........................................................................................................................ 20
Reference and Administration Details
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.
Address
14 The Square, Martlesham Heath, Suffolk, IP5 3SL
e-mail: advice@daseastsuffolk.org www.daseastsuffolk.org telephone: 01394 387070 website: www.daseastsuffolk.org
Names of the Trustees Who Manage the Charity
| Role | Appointed | Resigned | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Graham Walker | Chair | 29 November 2022 | |
| Rod Gibson | Secretary | 26 January 2023 | 6 June 2024 |
| Robin Stroud | Treasurer | 25 January 2022 | |
| Claire Hindmarsh | Trustee | 29 September 2023 | |
| Gary Morgan | Trustee | 23 November 2023 | |
| Joanne Stroud | Secretary | April 2024 | |
| Sarah Arch | Trustee | June 2024 | |
| Joseph Attah | Trustee | December 2024 |
Names of Senior Members of Staff
Steve Race, Manager
Bank
Lloyds Bank, 8 The Thoroughfare, Woodbridge, Suffolk, IP12 1AF
Structure, Governance & Management
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.
1
Disability Advice Service (East Suffolk): Trustees’ Annual Report & Financial Statements
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.
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.
Activities
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.
Achievements & Performance
Chairman’s Report 2024
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:
-
which benefits individuals are eligible for and how to apply for them
-
help with the arduous form filling for: Attendance Allowance, Disability Living Allowance, Income Support, Personal Independence Payments and Universal Credit
-
advocacy in challenging DWP decisions and representation at tribunal appeals
-
blue parking badges and RADAR keys
-
care after discharge from hospital
-
council tax, energy and water rates relief schemes
-
Industrial Injuries Disablement Benefit and Victims of Crime compensation
-
Pension 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.
2
Disability Advice Service (East Suffolk): Trustees’ Annual Report & Financial Statements
| 2023 | 2024 |
|
|---|---|---|
| Clients engaged | 2,242 | 2,316 |
| Enquiries received | 14,857 | 13,670 |
| Appeals representations | 44 | 27 |
| Success rate on appeals | 98% | 100% |
| Benefit Gain (Year One) | £2,337,410 | £2,930,227 |
| Benefit Gain (Full)* | £7,339,467 | £9,171,610 |
| Crisis clients | 185 | 153 |
| Listening Service contacts | 614 | 309 |
| Subsistence grants and food parcels to individuals | £6,286 | £3,600 |
- Some benefits have longevity beyond the first year and the full benefit calculation accounts for this.
As shown in the table above, in 2024 the clients we helped increased by 3.3% compared to the year before, whilst enquiries fell by 8.7%. Work content per client, however, rose as case complexity escalated. A majority of clients now have a crisis element to their enquiry and we are also finding the majority are reporting multiple health issues which in the main are untreated. Due to the way we triage are calls into DAS we are seeing fewer face to face clients but they are tending to be much more complex cases which take longer to resolve.
Integral to the operation is a busy Crisis Intervention Service that has helped 1,079 clients in the five 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 previous year at the peak impact of the cost-of-living crisis but remained more higher than pre-pandemic levels. The availability of hardship funds from the government's Household Support Fund was also much lower due to the fund being closed for part of the year in the lead up to the General election. However this situation was eased, to some extent, by an increase in funding availability to be spent between mid February 2025 and 31[st] March 2025 of which DAS were awarded £5,000. The will be reported in the 2025 accounts.
On appeals, we won all cases. Over the past five years we have advocated and won for our clients in 246 out of 247 cases.
Benefit Gain was somewhat lower than the previous year but over the last five years our clients have received a total of £12,357003 in the first year of their award (which translates to over £36 million when taking into account the whole term of the award).
This means that every £1 granted/donated to DAS is multiplied by more than 10 times into financial improvement for our beneficiaries, or 30 times when considering the full length of their award. Our Listening Service, established five years ago, during the pandemic, has had 4,181 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. As during last year we would have wished to make more contacts, however this has not been possible 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:
3
Disability Advice Service (East Suffolk): Trustees’ Annual Report & Financial Statements
One Trustee resigned during the year, following a four-year term. Our strategy to diversify the Management Committee in terms of age and gender has delivered, with three Trustees appointed during the year 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 continue to be:
-
Outreach: Bringing the service closer to our communities by establishing triage outreach 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. During the last year we’ve established permanent contact with, amongst others: Orford based NHS Peninsular Practice Patient Participation Group; Sizewell C; Leiston with Sizewell Benefice.
-
Centres in appropriate locations; pursuing opportunities to extend our geographic reach to areas not well provided for. Over the last year we have established services in Felixstowe, Leiston and Ipswich at a minimum of twice monthly.
-
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. Over the past year we have redesigned our website to make it more customer focussed; Continued to regularly post information on social media platforms; Ensured publication of case studies and adverts across a range of local area magazines.
4
Disability Advice Service (East Suffolk): Trustees’ Annual Report & Financial Statements
- 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. For the latter we have been using the Warwick Edinburgh measure since March 2024, with 84 clients agreeing to complete the survey and 49 clients so far completing a follow up survey. The second survey demonstrates a positive “well-being” increase of approximately 11.8%.
Additionally, with the help of consultation funded by Lloyds Bank Foundation, we have begun the development of Disability Awareness training, which we will target towards organisations across our catchment area. As well has improving attitudes towards employing people with disabilities we anticipate increased awareness of our service, and attract additional income.
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:
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.
Trustee Development
Trustees are encouraged to participate in development opportunities as and when appropriate.
5
Disability Advice Service (East Suffolk): Trustees’ Annual Report & Financial Statements
Manager’s Report 2024
Monthly Stats comparison between 2023 and 2024
| 2023 | 2024 | Difference | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total No of Clients | 2242 | 2316 | +24 in 2024 |
| Total No of new Clients | 996 | 938 | -28 on 2023 |
| Appeals concluded | 44 | 27 | All won |
| Appeals won | 43 | 27 | All won |
| Benefit Gain | £2,337,410 | £2,578,309 | +£240,899 |
| Benefit Gain from Appeals | £330,202 | £282,150 | -£48,052 |
| Pensions Credit Benefit Gain | £12,610 | £73,393 | +£60,783 |
Some points to highlight regarding the difference between 2023 and 2024.
The Total no of clients has remained more or less static as have the number of contacts, but in 2023 we had on average 6.6 contacts per client and in 2024 this dropped slightly to 5.9, this year we have been working hard on the triage of clients to try and ensure that clients we see are the ones we can really help and not those that have been told by whoever that they are entitled to some sort of benefit. It should be noted the biggest referral source during 2024 was still Friends and Relatives (130 referrals in 2024). The closest to this was Medical Professionals with 47 referrals.
Benefit Gain
Despite how difficult it is to manage the DWP we have still managed to increase the Benefit Gain to our clients by nearly a quarter of a million pounds in a year, and as many of these awards are over multiple years that figure is amazing for a charity the size of DAS to achieve.
Appeals – we dealt with 17 fewer Appeals in 2024 but there are some caveats to note, we are waiting a lot longer for information to be forthcoming from DWP, e.g. if we ask for a Mandatory Reconsideration the DWP have told us that we can now wait for up to 6 months before receiving a decision and if we subsequently move to go to an Appeal Tribunal we can wait anywhere between 9 and 12 months for a date that might be 6 months ahead of the date of the letter. We have also had a number of appeals during 2024 cancelled either the day before or when we have already arrived at court, we then wait months for a new court date, you would hope cancelled Tribunals would get a priority for a new date, but they don’t, this does not take into account the toll it has on the client.
It is also worth mentioning that the appeals are getting more complicated and the bundles a lot larger, over 400 pages for some.
Having mentioned all this we have not lost a Tribunal and the Benefit Gain in 2023 was an average of £7,504 for each client whereas in 2024 this rose to £10,504 per client. During 2023 we withdrew from 50 cases advising Clients how to pursue their claim should they decide to do so as we were of the opinion, they had no grounds to appeal, whereas in 2024 this rose slightly to 58 cases withdrawn. It should be noted that the same amount of time is spent on each bundle regardless as to whether we pursue an appeal for a client or not. Until you have all the information you cannot make a decision, and the more complicated cases are discussed amongst the Team and opinions sought from the most experienced staff/volunteers.
6
Disability Advice Service (East Suffolk): Trustees’ Annual Report & Financial Statements
In the past the time frame from making a PIP claim to Tribunal hearing was 1 year. Now it is 1.5-2 years so completing appeals takes longer. Even if we win before the Tribunal hearing, the time frames for each step of an appeal are so much longer than in the past. The fault lies both with the DWP and Tribunal’s part.
People are getting desperate so even if we cannot represent them we do give them the best possible advice so they can pursue their own claim should they wish to do so, the other difficult issue we have had to deal with is people coming to us who were previously being helped by IDAB and after looking at their paperwork we could only advise them how to pursue their existing claim or whether they should consider starting the process again but stressed, it has to be their decision as it could amount to the potential loss of thousands of pounds if they decide to restart the process as any award is backdated to the original application date.
The Benefit Gain per client in 2023 was £1,189 and in 2024 this rose slightly to £1,2352 per client.
IDAB knock on effect.
IP1 – IP4 The number of clients we are helping from these postcodes has been steadily rising over the last 3 years with a bigger jump during 2024 when at about the halfway mark IDAB closed its service.
2022 we helped 427 clients 2023 we helped 464 clients 2024 this increased to 568, just short of the 600 + we predicted.
Following a meeting between Graham, myself and Michael Attwood of SCC we managed to secure an additional £5,000 to help fund us to the end of March 2025 when hopefully we can lobby for a larger overall sum for 2025/26.
We have also been awarded by Ropes Trust £20,00 a year for two years, this is made up of the normal £12,000 we received for help with costs but the additional £8,000 per year to help with Outreach in taking up the slack in Ipswich following the closure of IDAB.
Customer Feedback
Here are just a few of the many positive comments we received from Clients on the feedback forms.
An extraordinary, professional and compassionate service. Carrie was so lovely; all the staff were.
Judith has been wonderful. Friendly and helpful. Very professional and courteous. Judith has been very helpful - thank you. Thank you so much for your support, it means a lot. Very helpful and caring. Excellent service, Thank you. Thank you so much for your support. Would be lost without this service.
These comments illustrate how much the staff, volunteers and DAS is appreciated.
7
Disability Advice Service (East Suffolk): Trustees’ Annual Report & Financial Statements
Staffing
We currently have 12 paid members of staff, We lost Colin Cook few months back as he had decided to work full time at the prison where he teaches, he was a valued member of staff. We have managed to allocate some of his hours to Dorothy Brace and recruited a new member of staff who starts on January 13[th] . I should also mention Dorothy will be going on maternity leave in May 2025 as she will be expecting her second child, congratulations to her and her family.
We have 10 volunteers currently with vacancies for another 4, recruiting volunteers has been difficult in the last 18 months and I don’t see it getting any easier. Staff retention continues to remain high and in Colin, he went back to what was his first passion- teaching.
We have added a section on the feedback form asking if they would like to volunteer with us but no positive results yet.
Increased traffic from the new website.
Outreach
Currently we have Outreach at: The Grove - 1[st] Tuesday and 3[rd] Thursday of each month 10am-2pm Felixstowe library - Last Wednesday of each month 10am-2pm Leiston Hub - Last Thursday of each month 10am-1.30pm Steamhouse cafe- 1[st] and 2[nd] Thursday of each month 11.30am-2pm The Live Well Centre in Leiston – Once a month on a Wednesday, we have a stand at reception.
Chinwags - as a when (will be once a month at Aldeburgh, Saxmundham, Woodbridge) On the feedback sheets we are now beginning to see Outreach appear as a referral source. I am also getting very positive feedback about Jade, out Outreach staff member.
Challenges
I think the next 12 months will be just as hard as the last 12 months but we have the right staff and volunteers in place to maintain our position and reputation within the community. Whilst it was disappointing not to get the bid from Sizewell C, especially bearing in mind how they pushed us to apply, they are encouraging us to apply again so it is worth considering.
Expanding Outreach into Ipswich will be a priority and even though we have had funding from Ropes Trust IBC is worth pursuing, I just need some sort of consistent strategy from them.
The DWP will continue be a challenge and I don’t see things improving bearing in mind the current governments stance on saving money but we will continue doing what we have been doing and do what we can to help our clients through the process which is becoming more about managing expectations.
Finally, we are forty this year, what a fantastic achievement, I wonder if we could find any of the original DAS personnel and invite them to our celebration?
8
Disability Advice Service (East Suffolk): Trustees’ Annual Report & Financial Statements
| DAS Monthly Data | December 2024 |
FINAL totals for 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Total Clients this year: | 2316 | |
| running total of individuals - each counted only once no matter how often they have attended |
||
| CLIENTS | ||
| Number of clients NEW to DAS this month 27 |
938 | |
| Number of clients 268 |
4,812 | |
| Number of contacts with clients 585 |
13,670 | |
| Staff hours worked 448 |
||
| Volunteer hours 112 |
||
| Number of contacts dealt with per hour: 1.0 |
||
| APPEALS | ||
| no. of appeals concluded 3 |
27 | |
| no. of appeals won 3 |
27 | |
| appeals won prior to tribunal 2 |
20 | |
| appeals won at tribunal 1 |
7 | |
| % of appeals won 100% |
100% | |
| BENEFIT GAIN For December £181,293 |
£2,578,309 | |
| Total of BG won at appeal £29,583 |
£282,150 | |
| CRISIS WORK | ||
| Clients in crisis 11 |
153 | |
| Cash grants total to crisis clients £0 |
£3,600 |
Disability Advice Service (East Suffolk): Trustees’ Annual Report & Financial Statements
9
| Food parcels & vouchers - FIND (£80) + vouchers £0 |
£0 |
|---|---|
| ENERGY SUPPORT | |
| Clients in need 0 |
16 |
| Number of contacts with clients 0 |
36 |
| Value of grants awarded to clients £0 |
£0 |
| PENSION CREDIT SERVICE | |
| Number of clients 0 |
126 |
| Number of contacts with clients 0 |
225 |
| Benefit Gain of PC - running total £11,343 |
£73,393 |
| LISTENING SERVICE | |
| Number of clients 16 |
258 |
| Number of contacts with clients 17 |
309 |
| Referrals into DAS from Listening Service 0 |
0 |
| Referrals to other orgs from Listening Service 0 |
72 |
10
Disability Advice Service (East Suffolk): Trustees’ Annual Report & Financial Statements
| DAS - Average monthly figures 2024 ~~BS~~ |
DAS - Average monthly figures 2024 ~~BS~~ |
DAS - Average monthly figures 2024 ~~BS~~ |
DAS - Average monthly figures 2024 ~~BS~~ |
DAS - Average monthly figures 2024 ~~BS~~ |
DAS - Average monthly figures 2024 ~~BS~~ |
DAS - Average monthly figures 2024 ~~BS~~ |
DAS - Average monthly figures 2024 ~~BS~~ |
DAS - Average monthly figures 2024 ~~BS~~ |
DAS - Average monthly figures 2024 ~~BS~~ |
DAS - Average monthly figures 2024 ~~BS~~ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total Clients |
Total Contacts |
Contacts Working days in the month |
days in the Avge daily no. of clients |
of clients Avge daily no. of contacts |
Avge daily No. of contacts per hour |
Total staff+vol hours |
||||
| January | 406 | 1257 | 18 | 23 | 70 | 2.2 | 560 | |||
| February | 434 | 1240 | 17 | 26 | 73 | 2.2 | 560 | |||
| March | 394 | 1199 | 16 | 25 | 75 | 2.1 | 560 | |||
| April | 381 | 1190 | 16 | 24 | 74 | 2.1 | 560 | |||
| May | 439 | 1267 | 18 | 24 | 70 | 2.3 | 570 | |||
| June | 363 | 1025 | 16 | 26 | 64 | 1.8 | 570 | |||
| July | 408 | 1216 | 19 | 21 | 64 | 2.2 | 560 | |||
| August | 442 | 1031 | 16 | 28 | 64 | 1.8 | 560 | |||
| September | 445 | 1204 | 17 | 26 | 71 | 2.2 | 560 | |||
| October | 440 | 1435 | 19 | 23 | 76 | 2.6 | 560 | |||
| November | 390 | 1021 | 16 | 24 | 64 | 1.8 | 560 | |||
| December | 268 | 585 | 12 | 22 | 49 | 1.0 | 336 |
11
Disability Advice Service (East Suffolk): Trustees’ Annual Report & Financial Statements
Service Stats 2019 - 2024
| Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Total clients in year* |
Total contacts* |
||
|---|---|---|---|
| Clients | 2025 | ||
| contacts | |||
| Clients | 406 434 394 381 439 363 408 444 445 440 390 268 4812 |
||
| 2024 | |||
| Contacts | 1,257 1,240 1199 1190 1267 1025 1216 1031 1185 1435 1021 585 |
13,651 | |
| clients | 2023 | 449 468 451 379 473 391 434 445 397 420 401 244 4,952 1538 1345 1452 1055 1188 1355 1413 1442 1052 1172 1226 619 |
|
| contacts | 14857 |
||
| clients | 2022 | 350 390 436 478 517 440 432 415 421 453 458 343 5,133 963 1167 1498 1328 1566 1330 1337 1393 1491 1224 1414 877 |
15588 |
| contacts | |||
| clients | 2021 | 149 118 193 146 194 232 204 195 247 179 237 264 2358 422 321 604 573 517 815 694 627 817 645 822 732 |
7589 |
| contacts | |||
| clients | 307 271 182 85 136 214 163 143 270 203 229 158 2361 |
4581 |
12
Disability Advice Service (East Suffolk): Trustees’ Annual Report & Financial Statements
| contacts | 2020 | 460 676 380 132 213 317 413 338 455 410 437 350 |
|---|---|---|
| clients | 2019 | 288 245 214 221 246 283 309 268 256 239 243 148 2960 5141 512 446 376 437 406 429 537 462 440 354 460 282 |
| contacts |
13
Disability Advice Service (East Suffolk): Trustees’ Annual Report & Financial Statements
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.
Trustee Development
Trustees are encouraged to participate in development opportunities as and when appropriate.
Financial Review
Details of Any Funds Materially in Deficit
The Charity has no funds which are materially in deficit.
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.
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.
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.
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.
14
Disability Advice Service (East Suffolk): Trustees’ Annual Report & Financial Statements
Statutory Statements on Liabilities
The trustees declare that:
The charity has given no guarantees where potential liability under the guarantee is outstanding at the date of this statement; and
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.
Signature
Signed on behalf of the trustees
15
Disability Advice Service (East Suffolk): Trustees’ Annual Report & Financial Statements
Statement of Financial Activity
Independent Examiner’s Report on the Accounts
Disability Advice Service (East Suffolk): Trustees’ Annual Report & Financial Statements
16
Disability Advice Service (East Suffolk) 1152772 Annual accounts for the period
01-Jan-24 To Period end date 31-Dec-24
~~CSC~~ Section A Statement of financial activities
| Recommended categories by activity |
Guidance Notes | Unrestricted funds |
Unrestricted funds |
Restricted income funds |
Endowment funds |
Total funds | Prior year funds |
Prior year funds |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £ | £ | £ | £ | £ | £ | £ | |||||
| Incoming | |||||||||||
| resources (Note | |||||||||||
| 3) | F01 | F02 | F03 | F04 | F05 | ||||||
| Income and | |||||||||||
| endowments | |||||||||||
| from: | |||||||||||
| Donations and legacies —_ FOR ENGLAND AND WALES |
S01 S02 S03 S04 S05 S06 S07 |
4,301 - - 4,301 4,564 - - - - 1,499 - - - - - 16,474 - 16,474 9,282 - - - - - 81,801 339,253 - 421,054 344,801 102,576 339,253 - 441,829 360,146 ~~=====~~ |
|||||||||
| S08 | - | - | - | - | 600 | ||||||
| Charitable | |||||||||||
| activities | S09 | 169,931 | 169,931 | 142,647 | - | 312,578 | 286,668 | ||||
| Separate material | Charitable | ||||||||||
| item of expense | activities | - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| Other | Other trading activities |
- | - | - - |
- - |
- - |
- | ||||
| Total | Investments | 142,647 | - | - 312,578 |
287,268 | ||||||
| Separate material | |||||||||||
| item of income | |||||||||||
| Net income/(expenditure) before | |||||||||||
| investment gains/(losses) | Other | 196,606 | - | 129,251 | 72,878 | ||||||
| Net gains/(losses) | |||||||||||
| on investments | Total | S14 | - | - | - | - | - | ||||
| Resources | |||||||||||
| expended | |||||||||||
| Net income/(expenditure) | (Note 6) | 196,606 | - | 129,251 | 72,878 | ||||||
| Extraordinary | |||||||||||
| items | Expenditure on: | - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| Raising | Raising | ||||||||||
| Transfers between funds | funds | - | - | - | - | ||||||
| Other recognised gains/(losses): | |||||||||||
| Gains and losses on revaluation of fixed | |||||||||||
| assets for the charity’s own use | S18 | - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| Other | |||||||||||
| gains/(losses) | S19 | - | - | - | - | - | - - |
- | |||
| Net movement in funds | S20 | -67,355 | 67,355 | 196,606 | - | 129,251 | 72,878 |
17
Disability Advice Service (East Suffolk): Trustees’ Annual Report & Financial Statements
| Reconciliation of | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| funds: | |||||||
| Total funds brought forward | S21 | 159,600 | 150,039 | - | 309,639 | 236,761 | |
| Total funds carried forward | S22 | 92,245 | 346,645 | - | 438,890 | 309,639 | |
| - | - | - | - | - | - - |
18
Disability Advice Service (East Suffolk): Trustees’ Annual Report & Financial Statements
Disability Advice Service (East Suffolk): Trustees’ Annual Report & Financial Statements
19
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
Name & Role Joanne Stroud
Secretary to the Management Committee Date: 20 March 2025
Notes to the Accounts
- a) Accounting Policies
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Charities Act 2011 Section 145, using the accruals basis.
- 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
Payments 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
20
Disability Advice Service (East Suffolk): Trustees’ Annual Report & Financial Statements
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, Suffolk County Council and Ipswich Borough Councill. We would also like to acknowledge the great support of the Suffolk Community Foundation and the Rope Trust.
Of the charitable organisations that provided financial support this year the following are recognised below for grants of £1,000 or more for which we are enormously grateful:
Access to Justice £68,111 Bailey Thomas £4,000 Lloyds Foundation £25,000 National Lottery Comm Fund £30,852 Mrs. L D Rope 3rd Char. Set. £32,000 D & J Simpson £3,000 Strangward Trust £1,000 Three Guineas Trust £25,000 Tudor Trust £15,000
21
Disability Advice Service (East Suffolk): Trustees’ Annual Report & Financial Statements