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2025-12-31-accounts

Disability Advice Service (East Suffolk) Registered Charity, No: 1152772

Trustees’ Annual Report & Statement of Financial Activity for the Year Ended 31 December 2025

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Table of contents

Reference and Administration Details ................. 1 Structure, Governance & Management ............... 1 Activities .............................................................. 2 Achievements & Performance ............................. 2 Manager’s Report 2025 ...................................... 5 Financial Review ................................................ 13 Independent examiner's accounts .................... 15 Statement of financial activity .......................... 17

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 Resigned
Graham Walker Chair November 2025
Robin Stroud Treasurer January 2025
Steve Doe Vice
Treasurer		 January 2025
Claire
Hindmarch		 Trustee May 2025
Gary Morgan Trustee May 2025
Joanne Stroud Secretary April 2024
Sarah Arch Trustee June 2024
Joseph Attah Trustee December 2024
Diane Steadman Trustee September 2025
Nathaniel Haste Trustee September 2025

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):

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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.

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 CHAIRMAN’S REPORT 2025

4. Achievements & Performance

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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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.

2024
2025
Diff 2024 &
2025






Clients engaged 2320
2200
-120
Total no of new clients 599
547
-52
Enquiries received 13,670
12001
-1669
Appeals representations 26
23
-3
Success rate on appeals 100%
99%
-1%
Benefit Gain(Year One) £2,521,851
£2,657,473
+£135,622
Benefit Gain(Full)* £9,171,610
£11,829,083
Benefitgain appeals £232,093
£193,816
-38,277

As shown in the table above, in 2025 the number of clients we helped decreased by 120 compared to 2024[1] . The total number of new clients dropped by 52 for 2025 however cases have become more complex, resulting in greater work content per client. We are also finding the majority are reporting multiple health issues which in the main are untreated. As a result of our triage approach to handling client calls we are seeing slightly fewer face to face clients, but they are tending to be much more complex cases which take longer to resolve. Our work depends on a large extent on how quickly DWP turn round applications, which unfortunately acts as a drag on the whole operation. Integral to the operation is a busy Crisis Intervention Service that has helped 1,935 clients in the six years it has been running. These are clients in the most difficult of circumstances and invariably suffering from mental ill-health, some severely so. 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. This is reported in the 2025 accounts.

On appeals, we were successful in all cases bar one, where the client revealed information at the Tribunal that had not be disclosed to us or DWP beforehand. We are not appealing this case.

Benefit Gain was slightly higher than the previous year with a full, multi-year award total of £11,829,083 in the first year of their 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 six years ago, during the pandemic continues to make contact and speak with non-active clients (those for whom we have offered support previously). 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.

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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 customer surveys which show what a difference DAS makes to clients wellbeing and mental health, most referrals are still via Friends and Family with referrals from medics second.

Two Trustees resigned during the year, due to increasing personal and work obligations. Our strategy to diversify the Management Committee in terms of age and gender remains a priority, however results to date have had mixed success. Two Trustees were 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 centres in appropriate locations; pursuing opportunities to extend our geographic reach to areas not well provided for. Over the last year we have continued our services in Felixstowe and Leiston, and have increased our presence in Ipswich to five locations following the demise of the Ipswich Disability Advice Bureau.

• Awareness: We continue to explore means by which we can better get our message out to those in need. Our redesigned website is proving its worth in terms of attracting a greater number of enquiries, and we continue to advertise, including case studies, via digital and non-digital forms of communication with parish councils, benefice organisations, town magazines and targeted leafleting. We have continued to regularly post information on social media platforms, and launched of our Disability Working training package, with which we aim to improve attitudes towards employing people with disabilities as well as increase awareness of our service. Our 40[th] year anniversary celebration in September was well attended and provided an additional means to promote our service; with local dignitaries, including Jenny Riddell-Carpenter MP, in attendance.

• Partnerships: We actively seek to build and strengthen our partnerships, the most significant success from which have been The Triangle Church (pop up shops in Ipswich churches), and the Ipswich Housing Action Group (IHAG). The latter enables us to better engage with the homeless, and those in supported housing. We continue in our attempts to secure a partnership with Sizewell C, and were invited to complete an Accessibility assessment of their new training suite. We hope to build on that engagement going forward.

• 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.

2. How the Public Have Benefitted

In addition to the above, 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

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indirectly as illustrated in the chart below:

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. Trustee Development

Trustees are encouraged to participate in development opportunities as and when appropriate.

5. Manager’s Report 2025

Manager’s Report 2025

Monthly Stats comparison between 2024 and 2025

2024 2025 Difference
Total No of Clients 2242 2200 -42 in 2025
Total No of new Clients 592 547 -45
Appeals concluded 26 23 -3
Appeals won 26 22 -4
Benefit Gain £2,337,410 £2,657,473 +£320,063
Benefit Gain from Appeals £330,202 £171,083 -£159,119
Pensions Credit Benefit Gain £73,393 £59,427 -£13,066

Some points to highlight regarding the difference between 2024 and 2025.

The Total no of clients has remained more or less static but in 2024, this year we have been working hard on the quality of 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 whomever that they are entitled to some sort of benefit. It should be noted the biggest referral source during 2025 was still Friends and Relatives (130 referrals in 2025). The closest to this was Medical Professionals with 47 referrals.

It should also be noted that we lost two excellent members of staff during this time, Judith left to travel round with her husband who had retired, they were starting in Europe in a camper van. Dorothy Brace who went on maternity leave, as far as we can establish this is our first baby in DAS Mum and child doing well and we hope to welcome Dorothy back in early 2026.

Benefit Gain

Despite how difficult it is to manage the DWP we have still managed to increase the Benefit Gain to our clients by over £320.000 pounds this a year compared with 2024 and as many of these awards are over multiple years that figure is amazing for a charity the size of DAS to achieve.

Pension Credit

Whilst we helped fewer clients in 2024 their awards were considerably larger than the awards this year but on average in 2025 we still managed to get an average back of nearly £5,000 each.

Appeals

We concluded 3 fewer Appeals in 2025 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 continue to tell us that we can now wait for up to 6 months before

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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 2025 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 much more complicated and the bundles are a lot larger, over 400 pages is becoming common.

Having mentioned all this we did lose one Tribunal, at the hearing the client disclosed information that neither we nor the DWP were aware of, we are not appealing the decision. During 2025 we withdrew from 44 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. 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 before deciding which route to take. 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.. I have written to our MP, Jenny Riddell-Carpenter to highlight our issues to see if she can bring any pressure to bear which in turn will benefit our clients, among the most vulnerable in society.

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 2025. 2022 we helped 427 clients. 2023 we helped 464 clients. 2024 we helped 565 clients.

2025 this increased to 606 clients – up another 41 clients, so the trend continues upwards. I have been in contact with Jayne Phoenix who replaced Michael Attwood at SCC and put forward a case for not only continuing the award but looking to increase it again, I also sent Jayne recent relevant figures to support our need for continuing funding and justifying additional funding.

I have also been in contact with Sarah Lungley, Community Engagement Officer, from Ipswich Borough Council about applying for funding from them, I have asked for a Teams call when she returns to work later in January 2026.

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. The latest payment was received in December 2025.

IT

Our current equipment is old and no longer dependable so we replaced the computers we have, We got a grant from ESC which paid for the lions share.

We will see what other monies we can use from the budget along with grants we can apply for and get the new equipment ASAP.

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Windows 10 is no longer supported and the equipment we are using will not run Windows 11 so it would seem the optimum time to sort this out.

Customer Feedback

Here are just some of the positive comments we received from Clients on the feedback forms.

A great weight off my mind having someone's support. Thank you. Excellent service, very grateful to Carrie. Very efficient staff and helpful. Thank you for your caring hep and support. Judith was extremely helpful and understanding, thank you. Excellent Service

Judith is so pleasant and caring and I feel she shows great empathy and understanding of my chronic condition. She goes over and beyond to help. Thank you

Carrie has really great understanding of my concerns and life with my child. We want what is best for him.

Always warm, friendly, and approachable staff. Quick to answer queries and signpost to other agencies. Very grateful for your help.

Very helpful and clear interview. My disability was taken into account and understood.

Amazing service and staff, would not cope without them. Carrie was very professional helping me with AA form. She showed great understanding and was very helpful and caring. Thank you so much. Excellent, very helpful. Thank you so much for the help and support with everything. A very good service. Very happy with the help I have been given, all good. Just thank you. I'm very pleased with everything. Thank you. Made to feel comfortable and relaxed. A most pleasant experience from the start. All questions from me have been answered at the time in an understandable way. Thank you. Thank you for your help. Without DAS I'm not sure I could have coped. Excellent service, very friendly. I don't know how I could manage without DAS. Very knowledgeable and helpful staff, concerned about my situation and problems. The advisor was so professional in her duty. She was lovely, patient, kind and explained things well, she is an asset to DAS. We could never have managed to complete the PIP form without Carrie's help. Excellent Service, very helpful and understanding. Very good advisor Charles was very calm and kind. Really happy thank you! These comments illustrate how much the staff, volunteers are appreciated.

Staffing

We currently have 12 paid members of staff. Dorothy Brace went on Maternity leave and is currently due back in February 2026, although she may take some additional unpaid leave. We also lost Judith Goldsmith whose husband retired, and she is now in a camper van touring Europe, she has been missed. We then allocated her hours towards Advisors to keep pace with the increase in the number of appointments we have.

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We did recruit two members of staff eventually; one lasted a day and the second lasted 4 weeks but she was causing a lot of disruption.

We have recruited an excellent addition to the staff though, Kacy Robinson who has picked up how to carry out appointments very well and is making great inroads. We are due to have a new Outreach staff member start in February 2026 to take on some of the workload Jade has been taking on.

We have still have 10 volunteers and but we will lose Julie Duxbury who will be leaving us after 6 years to spend her retirement with her husband, she will be missed. Sue spencer another volunteer has decided to partially retire and so will be dropping down from 2 days to one at the end of January 2026. We will place adverts in the new year on Indeed and with the local Job Centre who found us our Outreach applicant.

Outreach

Currently we have Outreach at: (Asked Jade to confirm) The Grove – twice a month and special occasions Leiston Hub – once a month Steamhouse cafe- twice a month The Live Well Centre in Leiston – once a month Top up shops – Triangle Church, Ipswich Minster Felixstowe Job Club – once a month Wellbeing Café – once a month IHAG (Ipswich Housing Action Group) once a month (just started recently) Chinwags - as a when (will be once a month at Aldeburgh, Saxmundham, Woodbridge) Smile Cafe – once a month

On the feedback sheets we are now beginning to see Outreach appear as a referral source. Jade continues to do a great job.

40 Years Young

In September we celebrated 40 years working for the benefit of those with a disability, and we held a celebratory afternoon at Kirton and invited a number of guests to join us, among which were Henny Riddel-Carpenter MP and Corrine Franklin Mayor of Felixstowe.

We also used the opportunity to launch the Training that has been put together by Rosie Walker, this was well received and further discussions are taking place as I understand it. It must also be mentioned that Louise Liddell provided a homemade cake complete with illustrations and Tam Govender created and prepared the food, both of which were very well received by everyone!

Challenges

I think the next 12 months will be just as hard if not harder than the last 12 months with possible significant changes that might be made by the DWP but we have to wait and see, but we have the right staff in place to maintain our position and reputation within the community but we do need to find some additional volunteers.

Expanding Outreach into Ipswich is going well and we have contacted SCC and IBC regarding funding through 2026, we have also recruited another Outreach staff member to cover the eastern side of our area but will no doubt assist in the Ipswich area too.

The DWP continue be a challenge and I do not 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. As mentioned above I have contacted our MP Jenny RiddellCarpenter to let her know about our difficulties with DWP.

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Stats for 2025

DAS: Monthly Data December
2025		 FINAL totals for
2025
Total Clients this year: 2200
running total of individuals - each counted only once no
matter how often they have attended
CLIENTS
Number of clients NEW to DAS this month
21		 615
Number of clients
297		 4,493
Number of contacts with clients
730		 11,991
Staff hours worked
429
Volunteer hours
90
Number of contacts dealt with per hour:
1.4
APPEALS
no. of appeals concluded
3		 23
no. of appeals won
3		 22
appeals won prior to tribunal
3		 12
appeals won at tribunal
0		 10
% of appeals won
100%		 100%
BENEFIT GAIN For December
£147,326		 £2,657,473
Total of BG won at appeal
£4,131		 £171,083
CRISIS WORK
Clients in crisis
9		 131
Cash grants total to crisis clients
£0		 £615

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Food parcels & vouchers - FIND (£80) +
vouchers
£0		 £0
ENERGY SUPPORT
Clients in need
0		 14
Number of contacts with clients
0		 52
Value ofgrants awarded to clients
£0		 £0
PENSION CREDIT SERVICE
Number of clients
10		 165
Number of contacts with clients
10		 184
Benefit Gain of PC - runningtotal
£7,373		 £59,427
LISTENING SERVICE
Number of clients
25		 168
Number of contacts with clients
27		 211
Referrals into DAS from Listening Service
4		 66
Referrals to other orgs from ListeningService
7		 42

Extras

Defibrillator

During 2025 we were fortunate enough to obtain a new Defibrillator and cabinet free of charge which has been installed to the left of the door leading to no 14, this will be a great benefit to the local community, and hopefully it will never be required.

The landlord paid for the cabinet to be installed along with the mains power feed to the cabinet and device.

New phone system

After a number of years trying to make keep the old phone system working it was decided to replace it with a new system. It saves us a significant amount of money each month, one of the additional features is the voicemail, when a message is left it automatically sends the recording to the Advice Inbox where it can be played back and the sound quality is very good and gives the advantage of a number of staff can access this inbox making our response times even better than before.

New IT equipment

The current equipment is becoming unreliable, we have been robbing parts from old laptops to keep the others running, we also know that support for Windows 10 has ceased and our machines are not capable of running windows 11, so we are trying to raise funds to purchase 20 laptops and units to allow dual monitors to be used.

We have now purchased 20 new laptops and they have been installed.

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Website activity

The new website Miranda created for us is effective, I know the staff are reporting a greater number of messages from the website via the contact facility. Fund raising report for 2025.

Written by Malcolm Clark.

Annual Funding Report Financial Year 2025

Executive Summary

DAS achieved exceptional financial performance in 2025, raising £318,996 by November 2025 —exceeding our budget by £49,329 (18.3%) and coming within £4,500 of our annual target. Major contributions from the National Lottery, Access to Justice, and East Suffolk Council, combined with £65,800 from new funding sources , have positioned DAS for sustainable growth and expanded service delivery.

Key Performance Indicators

Funding Outlook and Strategic Considerations

Long-term Security

The National Lottery Fund commitment continuing until 2027/28 provides essential long-term stability for our core operations. However, the Access to Justice grant concludes this year, requiring immediate attention to secure replacement funding to maintain current service levels.

Evolving Funding Landscape

Shift toward Project-Specific Funding

Funders are increasingly prioritising project-specific bids over unrestricted core funding. In response, we are developing targeted relationships with priority demographics we already serve but do not systematically track, including:

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Digital Inclusion Opportunities

We currently assist clients with completing online forms and applications. With strategic development, we could formalise this into a comprehensive digital inclusion service—creating a new revenue stream aligned with government priority initiatives.

AI Impact on Competition

Artificial intelligence tools have dramatically increased bid application volumes across the sector. Funders report difficulty reviewing the increased number of submissions, leading to rejections based on volume rather than quality. This heightened competition requires us to ensure our applications stand out through compelling evidence and clear impact demonstration.

Operational Improvements

Grant Management and Reporting Systems

Critical Priority: Our project and grant monitoring systems require enhancement to ensure:

Current Gap: We do not systematically monitor how project grant funds are spent. Several grants awarded this year will require reports soon, and without robust tracking systems, we risk:

Evidence of Importance: We recently secured additional funding following submission of a comprehensive end-of-grant report, demonstrating that strong reporting directly contributes to continued funder confidence and support.

Bid Writing Service Review

Not For Profit Growth C.I.C—Contract Termination Recommended

We suspended our contract with Not For Profit Group in late 2024. After resuming services in early 2025, they produced approximately 12 professionally written bid drafts, which we approved and supported with evidence for submission. They have now been asked to refund the fee however this may need further intervention.

Recommendations

  1. Immediate: Launch replacement funding search for Access to Justice grant

  2. Q1 2026: Implement comprehensive grant tracking and reporting system

  3. Q1-Q2 2026: Develop formal service offerings and data collection protocols for veterans and ex-offenders

  4. Q2 2026: Explore digital inclusion service development and associated funding opportunities

  5. Ongoing: Resolve Not For Profit Growth contract and financial recovery

Disability Advice Service (East Suffolk): Trustees’ Annual Report & Financial Statements Page 4 of 13

Disability Advice Service (East Suffolk): Trustees’ Annual Report & Financial Statements

Page 5 of 13

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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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5.7 Signature Signed on LEhalf of the ln￿tee$ ..JLst0 Date: 30 March 2026 Name & Role Joanne Stroud Secretary to the Management Committee 14

Independent examiner's report on the accounts

Report to the trustees/
members of
On accounts for the year
ended
Set out on pages		 Charity Name
Disability Advice Service (East Suffolk)		 Charity Name
Disability Advice Service (East Suffolk)		 Charity Name
Disability Advice Service (East Suffolk)
31stDecember 2025 Charity no
(if any)		 1152772
2
(remember to include the page numbers of additional sheets)

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 31/12/2025

Responsibilities and As the charity 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.

Independent I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have examiner's statement 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:

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.

Signed:

Date: 27 January 2026

Name: Daniel Jennings

Relevant professional ICAEW – membership no. 3924877 qualification(s) or body (if any):

Address: 9 Cauldwell Avenue

Ipswich

IP4 4EB

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).

~~15~~

[Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight matters of concern (see CC32, ] Independent examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for examiners).

here brief details of

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Tax payable

6.1 Statement of financial activity

-

Disability Advice Service (East Charity No 1152772 Net gains/(losses) on investmen Net gains/(losses) on investmen Net gains/(losses) on investmen Net gains/(losses) on investmen
Suffolk)
Company Net
No income/(expenditur
Annual accounts for the e)
period Extraordinary items
1st. January 2025 To 31st. December 2025
Transfers between
funds
~~Other recognised~~ ~~gain~~
Gains and losses on revaluation
Section A Statement of financial activities (including
charity’s own use
summary income and expenditure account) Other gains/(losses)
Recommended categories by activity Gu
ida		 Unrestrict
ed funds		 Restricted
income		 Endowme
nt funds		 Total
funds
Prior year
Net movement in
funds
nc funds
e
No
te		 Reconciliation of
funds:
£ £ £ £
£
Total funds brought forward
Income (Note 3) F01 F02 F03 F04 F05
Income and endowments from: Total funds carried for
Donations and legacies S0 - -
1 1,777 1,777 4,301
Charitable activities S0 - - -
-
-
2
Other trading activities S0 - - -
-
-
3
Investments S0 - -
4 20,188 20,188 16,474
Separate material item of income S0 - - -
-
-
-
5
Other S0 -
6 371,057
5,000		 376,057
421,054
Total S0 -
7 393,022
5,000		 398,022
441,829
Expenditure (Notes
6)
Expenditure on:
Raising funds S0 - - -
-
-
8
Charitable activities S0 - -
9 304,093 304,093
312,578
Separate material expense item S1
0
Other S1 - - -
-
-
1
Total S1 - -
2 304,093 304,093
312,578
Net income/(expenditure) before tax
for the reporting period
S1
3		 393,022 -
299,093		 -
93,929		 129,251
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6.2.4 Approval of the Board of Trustees The trustees declare that they have approved the atK)ve Annual Report & Statement of Financial Activity. Signed on behalf of the trustees Name & Role Joanne Stroud Secretary to the Management Committee Date: 30 March 2026

6.3 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 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 Annie Tranmer Trust D&J Simpson Trust Harwich Haven Lloyds Foundation Mrs. L D Rope 3rd Charitable Trust National Lottery Pargeter Trust Simon Gibson Trust Three Guineas Trust

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