2023-03-31-accounts - Community, Advice, Support And Education

This text was generated using OCR and may contain errors. Check the original PDF to see the document submitted to the regulator.

Community Advice Support and Education

STATEMENT OF ACCOUNTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDING 31[st] MARCH 2023

8%8288 fry es r Lrl ry Lfs r4Q 4 r4 Qi P4 vi P4 e4 88888 oti 8888 fvi

Professor John Drury 15 Furze Hill Court Hove BN3 1PG

To whom it may concern,

CASE: Charity registration no. 1161466

I have been asked to examine the accounts of Community Advice Support and Education (charity reg. 1161466) for the year ending 31[st] March 2023, and write a brief report. I have examined the accounts, and to the best of my knowledge, there is nothing:

which causes me to believe that any material aspect of the requirements to keep accounting records in accordance with Part 8 s. 133 of the Charities Act 2011 and to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the Act have not been met, or
to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Professor John Drury

Date 3 July 2023

Trustees' Annual Report for the year ended March 31[st] 2023

The trustees present their report and financial statements for the year ended 31[st] March 2023. In accordance with Section 4 (6) of the Charities Act 2006 and the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 the trustees have given due regard to the guidance on public benefit issued by the Charity Commission when exercising their powers and duties during the period.

Reference and administration details

Charity name: Community Advice Support and Education Charity Registration Number: 1161466 Address: CASE Central, 4 Crestway Parade, Brighton, BN1 7BL

Bank details: Unity Trust Bank, Account 20353054, Sort Code 608301 (current account); East Sussex Credit Union, Member Account 8095 (reserve account).

Trustees

Adi Archer (Treasurer), Felton Shortall (Chair/Secretary), Adrian Rumney , Natalie Coomber, Pip Tindall, Ernesto Granese, Stella McHugh, Sanjeedah Choudhury and Jess Owen.

Structure, governance & management

Community Advice Support and Education was registered as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation on 29 April 2015. Trustees are elected from the membership in accordance with the charity's constitution.

Independent Examiner

Professor John Drury, 15 Furze Hill Court, Hove, BN3 1PG .

Trustees’ responsibilities

The trustees have overall responsibility for ensuring that the charity has appropriate systems of controls, financial and otherwise. They are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the appropriate regulations. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

Aims and Objectives

The objects of the Community Advice Support and Education are:

The prevention and relief of poverty and the relief of need amongst individuals and families on low incomes (whether due to low wages, irregular employment, unemployment, sickness or disabilities) in the City of Brighton and Hove and surrounding areas, regardless of race, gender, age, nationality or sexual orientation, in particular but not exclusively through:

The provision of advice, representation and support to those on low incomes concerning welfare and employment rights and entitlements.
The provision of small emergency grants, food, clothes and other everyday necessities.
The provision of information regarding access to other services which may complement our advice and support.
The organisation of educational, cultural and recreational events for those in need in order to build capacity to overcome the social and cultural barriers that cause or exacerbate poverty through:
The facilitation of mutual skills sharing.
The organisation of free educational, cultural or recreational outings, activities and events for families and individuals on low income.
The administration of both vocational and non-vocational educational classes, including courses of English for Speakers of Other Languages for individuals on low income.
The promotion of an understanding of European matters and culture amongst European migrant workers, and potential migrants workers, who are on low incomes; by providing information on the laws and constitution of the European Union and its member states, and by facilitating the mutual exchange of experiences of living and working across the European Union.

Financial Review

The financial year 2022-23 began with the final lifting of Covid restrictions and ended in the midst of the 'cost of living crisis'. By the end of the Summer with general price inflation already running at 10% and the prospect of fuel prices more than doubling, it was clear that many households on low income would be facing a very difficult winter. In response to this we were able to secure £3,520 from grant making Trusts and Brighton& Hove City Council, which allowed us to supplement the food and basic necessities we receive from Fareshare, Harvester and the Brighton & Hove Emergency Food Project to meet the increased need over the winter months. We also received a further £4,320 to continue this support for households on low income into the Spring and Summer of 2023.

Of course, we also faced the financial impact of a substantial rise in our own fuel costs. However, we were able secure £2,700 from the Julia and Hans Rausing Trust to help cover the our gas and electricity costs for the first six months of 2023.

We thought it was important that, following the end of Covid restrictions, we restore our full programme of Summer and Christmas events for families on low income in order to promote the mental well being of both parents and children as well as family cohesion in these difficult times. We therefore held three free outings over the Summer holidays and held our first children's Christmas party for two years, as well as two outings to see pantomimes over the Christmas period. Among our guests we had a few Ukrainian refugee families, who appreciated our work and felt welcomed and supported, in very hard times for them, and who are happy to attend our future events.

An important part of funding comes from small donations from grant making trusts that help fund both our events and outings and some of our general running costs. During the Covid crisis there was a significant fall in this funding . It is still unclear how far this has been due to a permanent change in the priorities of these grant making trusts or a temporary result of the Covid crisis. With much of this funding coming in the form of cheques we experienced serious delays - and perhaps missing payments - due to the postal strikes in the Autumn.

Like most small charities we face particular difficulties in raising money to pay for core costs. However we were able to secure a £3,500 Resilience Community Grant from Brighton & Hove City Council to pay half of our rent. In addition, this year our three year grant from TUUT expired. However, not only TUUT renewed the grant but increased it from £3,600 to £5,000 a year for the next three years. Thus providing our finances with much greater resilience.

Summary

As the accounts show, over the financial year 2022-23 our total income was £35,237.63, while our total expenditure was £34,111.08. We therefore ended up with small surplus of £1,126.55, which is in fact fully restricted for projects in 2023-24.

The total balance on April 1st 2023 stood at £28,323.62. Of this £13,470 was restricted reserves and £14,853.62 were unrestricted reserves. Our reserve policy is to keep the equivalent six months of total expenditure as unrestricted reserves, which is £17,055. We were therefore £2,201 short of our unrestricted reserve target.

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank: Ceza DaLuz from the Hollingdean Community Development Trust , our local MP Caroline Lucas and Lynne Gash-Quantrell, East Sussex Branch Organiser for the PCS, for their continued support for CASE and its activities. We also thank our local community for donating clothes books and toys, all our donors, including in particular Sussex Community Foundation, the Ernest Kleinwort Charitable Trust, the Julia and Hans Rausing Trust, and T.U.U.T., without whose generous help we would not be able to offer our services, and, last but not least, our volunteers, whose commitment and enthusiasm has been essential in sustaining CASE and its work over the past year.

Declaration

The trustees declare that they have approved the Trustees' Report above.

Signed:

Name: Felton Shortall Position: Trustee (Chair/Secretary) Signed on behalf of the Trustees on 3 July 2023