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← Life Centre Stourbridge

2025-03-31-accounts

Life Centre Stourbridge Annual Report & Accounts 1[st] April 2024 to 31[st] March 2025

“Helping people ‘do’ life”

Charity registration number: 1156191

Annual Report, Review & Accounts for Life Centre Stourbridge

Contents

Summary from the Chair ........................................................................................................................ 3 Our Mission ............................................................................................................................................ 4 What we offer ........................................................................................................................................ 4 Our Activity last year .............................................................................................................................. 5 Key Achievements .............................................................................................................................. 5 Source of Referrals to LCDA: .............................................................................................................. 6 The team ................................................................................................................................................ 6 Venues ................................................................................................................................................... 6 Client feedback....................................................................................................................................... 7 Referral Agency feedback....................................................................................................................... 7 Challenges .............................................................................................................................................. 7 Financial Review ..................................................................................................................................... 8 Statement of Receipts and Payments Accounts – all funds ................................................................ 8 Receipts .............................................................................................................................................. 9 Payments .......................................................................................................................................... 10 Reserves ........................................................................................................................................... 10 Independent Examination ................................................................................................................ 10 Governance .......................................................................................................................................... 11 Trustees ............................................................................................................................................ 11 Charity Details .................................................................................................................................. 11 Charity objectives ............................................................................................................................. 12 Independent Examiner’s Report........................................................................................................... 13 Appendix 1 – The Faithworks Charter .................................................................................................. 14

Page 2 of 14

Charity registration number: 1156191 Authorised & regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority

Annual Report, Review & Accounts for Life Centre Stourbridge

Summary from the Chair

The focus for our service has always been ‘how can we effectively help those who come to us in need of advice and support’. And secondly, to develop a team that can enhance and sustain our service. It is so encouraging to receive feedback from clients expressing their experiences of a service that has given them: -

This has been achieved through an excellent, experienced, knowledgeable, committed and hard-working team of volunteers, staff, prayer team, supporters and trustees. I take this opportunity to thank everyone involved with LCDA for all that they do and particularly those things that go unnoticed but are just as vital to the effective running and provision of our service, whether it be practical, prayerful or through financial support.

My hope and prayers are that LCDA can continue to fund, equip and sustain our service to be here for many years to come, meeting the needs of those who decide to make that first big step to ask for our help.

If, having read this report you feel you would love to be part of this work, please do not hesitate to contact one of the team, we would welcome the opportunity to speak to you.

Alan Taylor – Chair

Signed on behalf of the Board: Date: 5[th] June 2025

Page 3 of 14

Charity registration number: 1156191 Authorised & regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority

Annual Report, Review & Accounts for Life Centre Stourbridge

Our Mission

Debt is a national blight and its effects are far-reaching and destructive to our society. It affects not just those individuals who are living with debt, but their extended families, their neighbours, and eventually everyone else in the community; e.g. unpaid community debts like Council Tax.

Thankfully, there is a path out of every situation – and help, support and encouragement can be offered to those seeking and engaging with our core service – the Life Centre Debt Advice project (LCDA), affiliated to the national debt & money advice network Community Money Advice (CMA).

As the demand for the advocacy, help and support provided by the Debt Advice Sector will exceed the sector’s capacity for the foreseeable future, our Goals remain: -

  1. To alleviate deprivation and poverty in the Black Country.

  2. To promote social inclusion, inter-connectedness and engagement for public benefit.

  3. To enhance advocacy, training, coaching, referral and befriending services.

LCDA do not wish to remain focused on our immediate community but to expand our service across the Black Country. To this end, we shall continue to develop venues where we can meet clients across the Black Country by engaging with like-minded church and secular Organisations, particularly in the areas of high deprivation and poverty.

If anyone is poor among you... in any of the towns of the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hard-hearted or tight-fisted toward them...rather, be open-handed and freely lend them whatever they need. (Deuteronomy 15, 7-8)

Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 28, 19)

What we offer

To anyone, we offer, free, unconditional, confidential, face-to-face support with their personal and household finances. The topics covered are: -

In addition to the above, we also offer prayer support, encouragement and frequent pastoral contacts to help our clients ‘do life’. Many of our clients come to us with issues such as: -

Page 4 of 14

Charity registration number: 1156191 Authorised & regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority

Annual Report, Review & Accounts for Life Centre Stourbridge

Our Activity last year

Compared to 2023/24, our level of debt advice activity dropped for these reasons: -

The good news is that in the last quarter service capacity levels returned to those seen in the same quarter of the previous year when we had the benefit of the Cost of Living Funding.

Key Achievements

We aim to close a case within 18-24 months of the household’s initial engagement although support can often continue beyond this. In 24/25, LCDA closed 75 cases. On average, these households went from having a deficit of £80/month to a surplus of £80/month.

Page 5 of 14

Charity registration number: 1156191 Authorised & regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority

Annual Report, Review & Accounts for Life Centre Stourbridge

Source of Referrals to LCDA:

LCDA continue to invite Referrals from a range of sources and network partners. Over the last 5 years, referrals came from:

LCDA work closely with our network partners to enhance communication and feedback, assess client needs, priorities, and commitment, to benefit client engagement rates.

The team

We now employ 5 people part-time: -

Our volunteer team comprises: -

The ratio of employee hours to the recorded volunteer hours is about 4 to 1 but we know the volunteer hours are under reported. We are aware that we need to increase the number of volunteers, particularly in the role of support workers, to ensure that all appointments have a support worker alongside the debt advisor.

Over the year, the staff and volunteers received 8 training sessions from CMA and a further 10 sessions on various aspects delivered internally.

Our Chair of Trustees stepped down at the end of the year after 11 years as a trustee. Furthermore, we expect another trustee with 11 years’ service to step down in May 2025. So we need to bring more trustees on board.

Venues

By having several venues, we make our service more accessible to those in need and to those who want to join the team.

Page 6 of 14

Charity registration number: 1156191 Authorised & regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority

Annual Report, Review & Accounts for Life Centre Stourbridge

Client feedback

Referral Agency feedback

Challenges

Going forward, LCDA faces a number of challenges to sustain our growth in capacity: -

Page 7 of 14

Charity registration number: 1156191 Authorised & regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority

Annual Report, Review & Accounts for Life Centre Stourbridge

Financial Review

LCDA ended the year in a financially strong position. The reasons are:

  1. We received grants totalling £25,550 from six different trusts; £20,000 came from the National Lottery Awards for All Fund, over 2 years, of which 25% was expended during this financial year. Other grants were awarded to fund a long overdue Technology Audit and IT upgrade.

  2. Our centre manager, reduced his hours from 32/week to 8/week from w/c June 17[th] onwards to work elsewhere and this reduced our employment costs by approx. £15,000. This reduction was partially offset by the recruitment of another staff member in early May which increased our employment costs by approx. £9,000.

During the next financial year, we anticipate these changes to our expenditure:

  1. Our employment costs will rise to approx. £73,260/year, now that the Centre Manager has returned to a 32/hrs week; salaries were increased in line with inflation, and an extra parttime staff member was recruited for 16 hours/week.

  2. Other expenditures are expected to remain stable.

Additional grant funding will be sought to reduce the need to draw on the organisation’s reserves and ensure we continue to be able to offer a timely quality service.

Statement of Receipts and Payments Accounts – all funds

This statement is for the period 1[st] April 2024 to 31[st] March 2025 for all funds.

Brought Forward 2023/24
2024/25
£55,190.23
£66,692.26
Receipts
Churches
Gift Aid
Individuals
Trusts / Foundations
Other Grants
Other Income
Satellite Income
Total Income		 £6,169.58
£5,145.00
£1,477.46
£1,396.30
£7,914.05
£6,850.00
£46,828.00
£25,550.00
£5,150.00
£350.00
£1,244.26
£1,485.50
£5,311.52
£3,818.29
£74,094.87
£44,595.09
Payments
Direct Employee
Expenses
Fees
Indirect
Employee/Volunteer
Expenses
Marketing
Other Expenses
Premises Costs
Payments for assets
Journals
Total Expenditure		 -£50,583.45
-£43,187.64
-£4,498.83
-£3,609.40
-£2,550.30
-£1,638.67
-£253.00
£0.00
-£736.84
-£699.32
-£2,803.41
-£1,454.76
-£1,167.01
-£3,508.92
£0.00
£0.00
-£62,592.84
-£54,098.71
Carried Forward £66,692.26
£57,188.64

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Charity registration number: 1156191 Authorised & regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority

Annual Report, Review & Accounts for Life Centre Stourbridge

During the year, the following grants were received:

As at 31[st] March 2025, our reserves stood at £57,188.64, of which £16,552.64 were restricted and £40,636 unrestricted. Restricted funds included funds remaining from grants.

Receipts

This chart shows the breakdown of our income streams across all funds: -

==> picture [469 x 443] intentionally omitted <==

----- Start of picture text -----
Receipts in 2024/25
Churches
9%
12%
Gift Aid
1% [3%]
3%
Individuals
15%
Trusts /
Foundations
Other Grants
57%
Other Income
Satellite Income
----- End of picture text -----

Our major source of income is from Trusts. The regular support from both individuals and churches has decreased slightly.

Page 9 of 14

Charity registration number: 1156191 Authorised & regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority

Annual Report, Review & Accounts for Life Centre Stourbridge

Payments

The significant changes In 2024/25 were: -

  1. Our employment costs decreased

  2. We upgraded & expanded our hardware & software to improve our efficiency and enable a larger team

The breakdown for this year: -

Payments in 2024/25

==> picture [475 x 312] intentionally omitted <==

----- Start of picture text -----
Direct Employee Expenses
-3%
-3%
Fees
-6%
-1%
-7%
Indirect
Employee/Volunteer
Expenses
Other Expenses
Premises Costs
-80%
Payments for assets
----- End of picture text -----

Reserves

The Trustees have a policy to retain a level of reserves equivalent to 3 month’s operating costs. Our minimum running costs for a quarter are currently approximately £20,700, comfortably within our present level of reserves. However, we anticipate a requirement to raise further funds in the current year in order to maintain this position and absorb any additional expenditure..

Independent Examination

The accounts have been examined independently and the report is on page 13.

Page 10 of 14

Charity registration number: 1156191 Authorised & regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority

Annual Report, Review & Accounts for Life Centre Stourbridge

Governance

The Trustees and Centre Manager work together to govern the operation of the charity to the relevant standards. The Manager is primarily responsible for the quality of the Debt Advice and our compliance with the regulations and requirements of the two bodies that accredit our work, the Financial Conduct Authority and the Community Money Advice (CMA) organisation. The quality of the debt advice is externally audited annually by the CMA organisation.

In 2024/25 the Management Team (Trustees and Centre Manager) met 9 times and the Trustees once to guide the work agree new approaches, approve new employees and volunteers and any other relevant leadership decisions.

Trustees are appointed or confirmed at Trustee Meetings and may serve for a maximum of 3 years before formal re-election if appropriate, and it is recommended that they serve no more than 7 years.

The charity has an informal accountability to the Churches Together in Stourbridge (CTiS) network.

Trustees

Name Primary role End of term Alan Taylor Chair 31/03/25 Retired Julia Savage Trustee 01/06/25 Malcolm Moss Secretary & Treasurer 30/03/26 Nicola Martin Trustee 31/03/26 Chris Helsop Trustee 24/01/27

Charity Details

Charity number 115691 Charity status Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) Registered 13[th] March 2014. Registered Office The Upper Room, Bellmark House 18a Market Street Stourbridge, West Midlands DY8 1AD Telephone 01384 739757 Email info@lifecentredebtadvice.org.uk Chair until 31/3/25 Alan.Taylor@lifecentredebtadvice.org.uk Chair from 01/04/25 Independent Examiner Arthur Brown Bankers Unity Trust Bank plc Nine Brindley Place Birmingham B1 2HB

Page 11 of 14

Charity registration number: 1156191 Authorised & regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority

Annual Report, Review & Accounts for Life Centre Stourbridge

Charity objectives

The objects of the charity as set out in the constitution are: -

  1. To relieve poverty by providing ethical debt and money management advice, free of charge.

  2. To promote social inclusion for the public benefit by preventing people from becoming socially excluded, relieving the needs of those people who are socially excluded (for the purpose of this clause ‘socially excluded’ means being excluded from society, or parts of society, as a result of financial hardship) and assisting them to integrate into society in particular but not exclusively by; -

  3. a. providing advocacy services for people who are unable to advocate for themselves because of fear or lack of knowledge or lack of confidence

  4. b. providing training and guidance to develop people’s financial capability

  5. c. helping those who have been isolated from, or who are out of touch with, society to re-adjust and re-integrate by befriending them and re-building their confidence in their local community.

  6. The advancement of the Christian faith by evangelistic mission that is carried out on an entirely non-coercive and invitational basis, and in accordance with the Faithworks charter given as Appendix 1.

As followers of Jesus, we believe that prayer is the foundation of this work.

Page 12 of 14

Charity registration number: 1156191 Authorised & regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority

Annual Report, Review & Accounts for Life Centre Stourbridge

Independent Examiner’s Report

Report to the trustees of Life Centre Stourbridge (Charity number 1156191) on accounts for the year ended 31[st] March 2025 as set out on pages 7 to 11.

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 31/03/2025 .

As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”).

Responsibilities and basis of report: 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 examiner's statement: I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention 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: A Baker Date: 05/06/25

Name: Arthur Baker

Relevant professional qualification(s) or body (if any): Not given

Address: 25b Chantry Road, Stourton, Stourbridge, West Midlands DY7 6SA

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Charity registration number: 1156191 Authorised & regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority

Annual Report, Review & Accounts for Life Centre Stourbridge

Appendix 1 – The Faithworks Charter

Page 14 of 14

Charity registration number: 1156191 Authorised & regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority