Annual Report of the Trustees From 1[st] April 2022 to 31st March 2023
Registered Charity No. 1156672
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Contents
- Background and Details ....................................................................................................................... 3 2. Structure, Governance and Management ........................................................................................... 4 3. Objectives and Activities for the Public Benefit .................................................................................. 5 4. Activities and Performance ................................................................................................................. 6 5. Financial Review .................................................................................................................................. 7 6. Other Information ............................................................................................................................... 8 7. Financial Accounts ............................................................................................................................... 9 8. Declaration ........................................................................................................................................ 11
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1. Background and Details
Charity Name: Careers Springboard West Berkshire
Charity Number: 1156672
Careers Springboard West Berkshire (CSWB) is a volunteer-led support organisation that offers help and advice to out-of-work managers and professionals, especially older and more experienced workers. It started operating in September 2006, taking over the work of the Newbury Executive Job Club. CSWB became a registered charitable incorporated organisation (CIO) on 14[th] April 2014.
CSWB is a founder member of The Foundation for Job Seekers (Charity No. 1136534), a network of four job clubs in the Thames Valley.
Trustees and Officers
Under the terms of our constitution one third of our trustees retire in rotation but are eligible for reelection. At our AGM on 27[th] July 2022 Adrian Foster-Fletcher and David Skyrme retired but was reelected. At the same AGM James Gardiner and Dorothy Nesbit were elected as trustees. The trustees of the Charity at the end of the year were therefore:
| Name of Trustee | Rôle | Date of Appointment |
|---|---|---|
| Adrian Foster-Fletcher | Chairman | 14-Apr-2014 |
| David Skyrme | Treasurer | 14-Apr-2014 |
| Charles Fowler | Trustee | 8-Aug-2017 |
| Ian Vickerage | Trustee | 25-Jul-2018 |
| Peter Adams | Trustee | 29-Jun-2021 |
| James Gardiner | Trustee | 27-Jul-2022 |
| Dorothy Nesbit | Trustee | 27-Jul-2022 |
Address
Although most communications with the charity is via email or phone, postal correspondence can be sent to our face-to-face meeting address which is:
c/o Broadway House 4-8 The Broadway Northbrook Street NEWBURY RG14 1BA.
This is retrieved only periodically. Therefore please use the contact details below and on our website.
Email: enquiries@careerswestberks.org.uk
Website: www.careerswestberks.org.uk
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2. Structure, Governance and Management
CSWB started as an unincorporated association in September 2006. It was registered as a CIO (Charitable Incorporated Organisation) on 14[th] April 2014. The governing document is its Constitution based on the CIO model constitution for a membership organisation. The date of the Constitution is 7[th] April 2014.
Trustees are elected by its members (our volunteers). One third retire in rotation at the AGM, though are eligible for re-election. Our Trustees themselves are all volunteers, most of them involved on our our weekly job seeker meetings.
The trustees and volunteer members receive no remuneration, advances, credit or guarantees. The Charity employs no staff and does not own real estate. Our administration is decentralised and uses a cloud-based platform (membermojo.co.uk) through which our volunteers can update records. This resulted in a significant reduction in administration costs from its previous level.
Day-to-day oversight of the operations of the Charity takes place through regular communication via email, phone or Zoom.
The Charity’s trustees have a risk management policy, which is reviewed annually. The ongoing risks identified and discussed at the AGM were the same as in the previous year:
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Surge in job seekers - high risk, high impact (initially due to due to COVID-19 impact, but more recently threat of recession); we developed plan of running 2 session a week; in fact our job seeker numbers declined and remain low.
-
Succession planning – high risk, medium impact; David Skyrme has given notice of his intention to resign in August 2023; his many tasks will be distributed amongst the remaining trustees and volunteers; most of David’s roles have been re-allocated.
-
Lack of volunteers – medium risk, medium impact; plans to recruit former job seekers. During the last two years our three new trustees and volunteers all innitally registered with us as job seekers.
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3. Objectives and Activities for the Public Benefit
From Clause 3 of our Constitution:
"The primary objective of CSWB is to the relief of unemployment for the public benefit in such ways as may be thought fit, including the provision of support, advice and assistance on job-seeking and career-change skills, primarily for managers and professionals in West Berkshire."
The main activities that CSWB undertake in pursuit of its public benefit are:
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running of weekly meetings that include workshops to help job seekers acquire and improve their job-seeking skills
-
provision of help and support on a 1-to-1 basis to help job seekers succeed in their next career move
-
provision of guidance material on specific job-seeking topics, including CV writing, career choices, networking, using LinkedIn to get a job, and making direct approaches to potential employers.
In delivering these services the Trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit. The benefit to those out of work is that our services help them reenter the workplace, start earning and contribute to the economy sooner than they might otherwise have done without the support and the improvement in skills received through their participation in CSWB activities.
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4. Activities and Performance
Meetings held from March 2020 to Spring 2022 were mostly held on Zoom. We hoped to run a hybrid programme with some meetings face-to-face and others via Zoom, especially as one of our volunteers has moved to another part of the country. However, the number of job seekers during the first two terms was low (see table).
| Apr-Jul 2022 | Sep-Dec 2022 | Jan-Mar 2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jobseekers at start | 5 | 0 | 2 |
| New registrations | 0 | 2 | 10 |
| Leavers into Jobs | 2 | 0 | 4 |
| Leavers (other reasons) | 3 | 0 | 2 |
| Active jobseekers at end | 0 | 2 | 6 |
| Average jobseekers/meeting | 1.6 | 0 | 2.4 |
| Average age new joiners | - | 44 | 52 |
As a result, most of the meetings we held were on Zoom. For the last term any meetings we held did not follow the formal programme of topics but were tailored to the few job seekers who attended. During the whole period our maximum number of job seekers at any meeting was six, which was on 29[th] March 2023 as the number of new job seekers suddenly started to increase. A summary of our meetings is shown in the table below:
| Apr-Jul 2022 | Sep-Dec 2022 | Jan-Mar 2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Planned meetings | 12 | 13 | 12 |
| No Face-to-face | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| No. on Zoom | 2 | 0 | 9 |
| Cancelled | 7 | 13 | 3 |
In summary, the job market was buoyant meaning that for most of the time, there were only a handful of job seekers actively looking for jobs. This changed during Spring 2023 when numbers suddenly increased, no doubt due to the prospects of a recession. As a result we ran many fewer meetings than we have in previous years, and all but three of these were held on Zoom. In addition to the reduced number of meetings actually held (14 in total out of a planned 37), we continued to provide ongoing 1-on-1 support, including reviewing CVs, LinkedIn profiles and also holding individual advice sessions.
The number of our volunteers remained at 8 during the year.
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5. Financial Review
The accounts for the financial year 2022-23 are shown in section 7 below.
Normally we receive grants from The Foundation for Job Seekers, but none were received during the financial year.
Our expenditure for the year was up compared to the previous year when all our meetings were on Zoom. As before our professional indemnity insurance accounts for a significant chunk of our expenditure. The renewal quote from our existing supplier was 15% higher than the previous year, so we shopped around and got similar, though slightly reduced cover, for a saving of over £100.
Our reserves policy is to have reserves that will cover at least two years running costs. Our projected rate of expenditure is likely to increase to around £2,000 a year due to more face-to-face meetings in future. Even without a resumption of grants from the Foundation for Job Seekers, it is estimated that we could operate for about another five years. Therefore, seeking additional sources of funds is not a priority for the trustees for the foreseeable future.
The Trustees believe that the financial statement gives a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and that appropriate accounting policies have been applied.
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6. Other Information
In normal times CSWB uses facilities provided by The Greenham Trust, a West Berkshire based charity that uses funds generated by rents at Greenham Business Park to support local charitable and community causes. They offer such organisations facilities at their building Broadway House in central Newbury at a favourable rate. As a result of moving our meetings to Broadway House in September 2014, CSWB reduced its expenditure for meeting room hire from over £4,500 to around £1,500 in a normal year.
We send out a leaver’s survey to job seekers who leave us, whether that is for a new job or for other reasons. Data from these surveys provide useful feedback on the usefulness and quality of our services. This feedback is used to adjust content and format of meetings.
During the year, we were well supported by our volunteers. We are grateful for their hard work and dedication to helping our job seekers. We continue to receive thanks and appreciation from job seekers whom we have helped back into work.
We believe that the current meetings programme and ongoing 1-on-1 support provides our older job seekers with the skills and resources they need to successfully re-enter the workplace and contribute their extensive experience to the vibrancy of the local and regional economy.
Further information on the activities of Careers Springboard West Berkshire can be found on our website at:
www.careerswestberks.org.uk
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7. Financial Accounts
| Careers Springboard West Berkshire | Careers Springboard West Berkshire | Careers Springboard West Berkshire | Careers Springboard West Berkshire | Careers Springboard West Berkshire | Careers Springboard West Berkshire | Careers Springboard West Berkshire | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Balance Sheet- 31 March 2023 | ||||||||||
| Note | 31 Mar 2023 | 31 Mar 2022 | ||||||||
| £ | £ | |||||||||
| ASSETS | ||||||||||
| Bank Account - current | (110.08) | 115.56 | ||||||||
| Bank Account - savings | 10,451.83 | 11,028.68 | ||||||||
| TOTAL ASSETS | 10,341.75 | 11,144.24 | ||||||||
| LIABILITIES | ||||||||||
| Accrued Expenditure | 1.07 | 78.13 | ||||||||
| Creditors - amounts fallingdue within oneyear | ||||||||||
| TOTAL LIABILITIES | 1.07 | 78.13 | ||||||||
| NET ASSETS | 10,340.68 | 11,066.11 | ||||||||
| CSWB FUNDS | ||||||||||
| Unrestricted Funds -prioryear | 11,066.11 | 11,612.73 | ||||||||
| Surplus - currentyear | (725.43) | (546.62) | ||||||||
| TOTAL FUNDS | 10,340.68 | 11,066.11 | ||||||||
| Income and Expenditure- 1 April 2022 to 31st March 2023 | ||||||||||
| 2022-3 | 2021-22 | |||||||||
| INCOME | £ | £ | ||||||||
| Grants | Received | - | - | |||||||
| Donations | - | - | ||||||||
| Bank Interest | 23.15 | 1.07 | ||||||||
| Other Income | - | - | ||||||||
| TOTAL INCOME | 23.15 | 1.07 | ||||||||
| EXPENDITURE | ||||||||||
| MeetingExpenses | 1 | 390.47 | 118.74 | |||||||
| Administration & Office Services | 2 | 40.00 | 40.00 | |||||||
| Stationery,Supplies & Postage | 0.68 | - | ||||||||
| Website and Publicity | 3 | 43.16 | 12.59 | |||||||
| Insurance | 4 | 273.20 | 376.36 | |||||||
| Bank charges | 1.07 | - | ||||||||
| 748.58 | 547.69 | |||||||||
| SURPLUS(DEFICIT) | (725.43) | (546.62) | ||||||||
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Notes to the Accounts 2022-23
1 Room rental, Zoom subscription, consumables etc.
2 Subscription for online membership system
3 Web hosting and domain renewals
4 This is for public liability, trustees liability and professional indemnity. It does not cover equipment.
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8. Declaration
The trustees declare that they have approved the Trustee's report and accounts above.
Adrian Foster-Fletcher Chairman
On behalf of the trustees.
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