# **Community Advice Support and Education** ## **STATEMENT OF ACCOUNTS** **FOR THE YEAR ENDING 31[st] MARCH 2024** fn m co rythP4 ¢* rx r Ln Ln OLno o rq c4i rfj othTh th N f¥WJ > rfj mo 8888 888 8g{ ioo rfj tfj ri Ln rri 8888 o a o w o o o c c o o o C c c 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 2024, and write a brief report. I have examined the accounts, and to the best of my knowledge, there is nothing: 1. 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 2. 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 ## **Trustees' Annual Report for the year ended March 31[st] 2024** The trustees present their report and financial statements for the year ended 31[st] March 2024. 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, Tracey Nye 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. 4 ## **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. 5 ## **Financial Review** The financial year 2023-24 saw the continuation of the 'cost of living crisis' for most of our beneficiaries. Although gas and electricity prices fell substantially during the year, they still remain more than 40% above the level they were in the winter of 2021. At the same time, although the general rate of price inflation (as measured by the Consumer Price Index) fell from 10.1% in March 2023 to 2.3% in March 3.3% in February 2024, the rise in food prices continued to rise twice as fast as the general rate of inflation. With the price of food and fuel making up a much larger proportion of low income household's expenditure than that of the average household, price inflation for such households has been significantly higher than the general rate of inflation. However, the up rating of welfare benefits each year is based on the general rate of inflation and a a consequence has not covered increase in the cost of living experienced by those on Universal Credit and other benefits. If this was not bad enough, rents in Brighton & Hove have risen by nearly 10% over the year.[1] In order to alleviate the impact of the cost of living crisis on low income households we continued to buy food and basic necessities to supplement the amount and range of food we receive from Fareshare and Harvester. This was funded by a Household Support Fund grant of £5,000 and £4,320 grant from the NPC. We also thought it was _important that we maintain 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 school Summer holidays, and at Christmas we organised two outings to see Pantomimes and a Children's Christmas Party _._ The 'cost of living crisis' has not only had an impact of on our beneficiaries but also on our own finances, particularly the high prices of gas and electricity. Our total spending on gas and electricity over the past six years is as follows: 2018-19 - £1,515 2019-20 - £2,058 2020-21 - £627 2021-22 - £655 2022-23 - £2,716 2023-24 - £4,078 As can be seen our energy bill pre-Covid was between £1500 to £2000 a year. This fell during Covid due to the fact that we had to restrict our opening times. With the cost of living crisis and longer opening times our energy costs have risen to more than £4000. During the financial year 2022-23 we were able to secure a grant of £2,700 from The Julia and Hans Rausing Trust, which covered that years energy costs. Like most small charities we face particular difficulties in raising money to pay for core costs gas and electricity and we were not able to secure any further grants to cover these extra costs over the course of the Financial year 2023-24. Along with rising costs we have also seen a substantial fall in donations that are not restricted to buying food and basic necessities. > 1 Figures taken from Office of National Statistics 6 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 . This has source of funding has not fully recovered and 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. In addition, like most local authorities, Brighton & Hove City Council is in an acute financial crisis and as a result cut our Resilience Community grant from £3,500 - which paid for six months of the rent on our premises - by a third to £2,333. ## **Summary** As the accounts show, over the financial year 2023-24 our total income was £36,222.62, slightly above the previous year's income of £35,237.63. However, our expenditure rose substantially to £41,537. We therefore ended up with deficit of £5,315.87, which has led to a considerable fall in our unrestricted reserves. The total balance on April 1st 2024 stood at £21,683.44 (down from the total balance of £28,323.62 on April 1st 2023). Of this £11,300 was restricted reserves and £10,383.44 was unrestricted reserves. Our reserve policy is to aim have the equivalent six months of total expenditure as unrestricted reserves. As a result of both the deficit and due to the significant increase in our expenditure, our unrestricted reserves has fallen to three months of our expenditure. 7 ## **Acknowledgments** We would like to thank: Shirley Connor from the _Hollingdean Community Centre_ , 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_ **,** 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 9