Independent examiner's report on the accounts
Section A Independent Examiner’s Report
Report to the trustees/ members of
UK Boston Terrier Rescue
October 31[st] 2024
1163435 3,4 & 5
On accounts for the year ended Charity no (if any)
Set out on pages
(remember to include the page numbers of additional sheets)
Responsibilities and basis of report
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 31/10/ 2023.
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”).
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:
-
accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or
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the accounts do not accord with the accounting records
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.
- Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not apply.
Signed:
Date:
07/07/2025
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Name:
Karen Burrows
Relevant professional qualification(s) or body (if any):
Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor University of Lincoln Delivers Finance and Accounting from Level 4 to Level 7
Address:
5 Allington Drive
Great Coates, Grimsby
DN37 9FF
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).
Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose .
| Charity Name UK Boston Terrier Rescue |
N 11 |
o (if any) 63435 |
CC16a | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Receipts and payments a | ccounts | |||||
| For the period from | Period start date 1st Nov 2023 |
To | Period end date 31st Oct 2024 |
|||
| Section A Receipts and payments | ||||||
| A1 Receipts | Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ 32,600 38,912 26,875 11,219 - - - - 109,606 |
Restricted funds to the nearest £ - - - - - - - - - |
Endowment funds to the nearest £ - - - - - - - - - |
Total funds to the nearest £ 32,600 38,912 26,875 11,219 - - - - 109,606 |
Last year to the nearest £ |
|
| Adoption Fees | 32,600 | - | - | 32,600 | 22584 | |
| Fundraising Activities Donations |
38,912 | - | - | 38,912 | 31586 | |
| 26,875 | - | - | 26,875 | 21975 | ||
| Sales | 11,219 | - | - | 11,219 | 14112 | |
| - | - | - | - | - | ||
| - | - | - | - | - | ||
| - | - | - | - | - | ||
| - | - | - | - | - | ||
| Sub total(Gross income for AR) | 109,606 | - | - | 109,606 | 90257 |
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| A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). | A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). | - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 30000 - - 30000 - |
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
- - - 109606 80,297 3,452 4,758 3,795 597 1,315 - 1,000 - - 93,214 - - - 93214 93, 214 16,392 73955 - |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | ||||||
| - | - | |||||
| Sub total | - | - | ||||
| Total receipts A3 Payments |
||||||
| 90257 | ||||||
| Vet Payments & Rescue Costs Transport & Travel Printing Stationery Postage Admin Expenditure for Fundraising Insurance Purchases for Resale Charges |
**80,297 ** | 55,930 | ||||
| **3,452 ** | 4,496 | |||||
| 4,758 | 2,912 | |||||
| 3,795 | 4,659 | |||||
| **597 ** | 580 | |||||
| 1,315 | 1,816 | |||||
| - 1,000 |
- 1,000 |
|||||
| - | - | |||||
| - | - | |||||
| Sub total | 93,214 | 69,393 | ||||
| A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table) |
||||||
| - | ||||||
| - | ||||||
| Sub total | - | - | ||||
| Total payments Net of receipts/(payments) A5 Transfers between funds A6 Cash funds last year end Cash funds this year end |
||||||
| 69393 | ||||||
| 20,864 | ||||||
| - | ||||||
| 36,699 | ||||||
| 57,563 | ||||||
| Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at t | he end of the period | |||||
| Categories B1 Cash funds B2 Other monetary assets |
Details HSBC Paypal Bonds Total cash funds (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) Details |
Unrestricted funds to nearest £ 43,661 294 - 43,955 OK Unrestricted funds to nearest £ - - - - |
Restricted funds to nearest £ - - 30000 - 30000 - OK Restricted funds to nearest £ - - - - |
Endowment funds to nearest £ |
||
| - | ||||||
| - | ||||||
| - | ||||||
| - | ||||||
| OK | ||||||
| Endowment funds to nearest £ |
||||||
| - | - | - | ||||
| - | - | - | ||||
| - | - | - | ||||
| - | - | - |
| Unrestricted | Restricted | Endowment | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Categories | Details | funds | funds | funds | |||||||
| to nearest £ | to nearest £ | to nearest £ | |||||||||
| B1 | Cash funds | HSBC | |||||||||
| 43,661 | - | - | |||||||||
| Paypal | |||||||||||
| 294 | - | - | |||||||||
| Bonds | 30000 | ||||||||||
| - | |||||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||||
| Total cash funds | 43,955 | 30000 | - | ||||||||
| - | |||||||||||
| (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) | OK | OK | OK | ||||||||
| Unrestricted | Restricted | Endowment | |||||||||
| funds | funds | funds | |||||||||
| to nearest £ | to nearest £ | to nearest £ | |||||||||
| Details | |||||||||||
| B2 | Other monetary assets | - | - | - | |||||||
| - | - | - | |||||||||
| - | - | - | |||||||||
| - | - | - |
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| - | - | - | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | - | - | ||||||
| Details | Fund to which asset belongs |
Cost (optional) | Current value (optional) |
|||||
| B3 Investment assets | - | - | ||||||
| - | - | |||||||
| - | - | |||||||
| - | - | |||||||
| - | - | |||||||
| Details | Fund to which asset belongs |
Cost (optional) | Current value (optional) |
|||||
| B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use | - | - | ||||||
| - | - | |||||||
| - | - | |||||||
| - | - | |||||||
| - | - | |||||||
| - | - | |||||||
| - | - | |||||||
| - | - | |||||||
| - | - | |||||||
| Fund to which | Amount due | When due | ||||||
| Details | liability relates | (optional) | (optional) | |||||
| B5 Liabilities | - | |||||||
| - | ||||||||
| - | ||||||||
| - | ||||||||
| - | ||||||||
| Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the | ||||||||
| trustees | Signature | Print Name | Date of approval | |||||
| SimonO'Rourke | 20thJune2025 | |||||||
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UK Boston Terrier Rescue AGM Minutes
Date & Time: 24 April 2025 at 19.00hrs Location: Zoom Present:
Anne Robinson (Chair) Beth Bartlett (Secretary) Simon O’Rourke (Treasurer) Moira Mosley (Trustee) Rose Hunt (Trustee) Any Read Emma Swift Sarah de Roek Susan Davis Apologies:
Agenda Items:
Minute of previous AGM – confirmed as true and accurate by Trustees present.
1. Election of Trustees
Anne advised that Simon O’Rourke is standing down as Treasurer and Trustee and thanked him for his hard work over the last seven years.
Anne proposed that the following Trustees are re-elected:
Moira Mosley (Rehoming Coordinator) Beth Bartlett (Secretary) Anne Robinson (Chair) Rose Hunt (Treasurer)
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Anne proposed the election of the following as new Trustees: Emi Richards (Volunteer Coordinator) Emma Swift (Social Media Coordinator) Amy Read (Fundraising Lead) Kate Ettie (Foster Coordinator)
No objections raised – all appointed as above.
2. Chair’s report - Anne Robinson
Anne welcomed everyone and thanked them for attending the AGM for our financial year November 2023 to October 2024.
Anne apologised for having to rearrange the date of the AGM and advised this was due to a slight delay with our accounts.
At the last AGM we had four new trustees coming on board, however two of them couldn’t go ahead due to personal circumstances. We did not progress with adding any new trustees on at that time but we are now in a position to welcome new trustees, and they have been voted on. Welcome!
The rescue continues to grow and we continue to be very successful in helping and rehoming our breed. The number of dogs we help continues to increase and we are in a lucky position that we are still able to cover preexisting medical conditions for the dogs we adopt to new homes. This is largely due to the fundraising efforts, and we pass our thanks to Rose for her never-ending efforts and welcome Amy who is looking forward to her role in fundraising.
We have still to apply for our membership of the Association of Dogs and Cats Homes. They only open applications at certain points of the year and they are only open for a short period of time. Thank you to Beth who has taken this task on and carried out a lot of work in reviewing our policies and procedures.
We implemented new software, Animal Shelter Manager, in February 2024, which allows us to record every dog that comes into rescue, in one place with full information from forms to expenses, microchip, medical issues etc. The system holds all our volunteers data as well. We can pull off reports, send adoption paperwork etc., and we have it set up so that all surrender forms, home check, foster assessments etc. all come directly to the system and are allocated to the relevant dog. A huge thanks to Rose who has been our trainer and kept us all in line with what we have to do.
Anne welcomed Sarah who joined the team as our transport coordinator. She does a wonderful job, arranging country wide transport. Keira is our post adoption home check coordinator and she ensures all the adopted dogs get their follow up check. Anne thanked Keira and Sarah for all their hard work.
Kate has been part of our rehoming team but has now become a trustee and taken on the role of Foster Coordinator. Anne thanked Kate for all her hard work.
Anne passed her thanks to everyone who is involved in the rescue, from fellow trustees to all the wonderful volunteers who help with the day to day running of the rescue, acknowledging that we really would be lost without our homecheckers, assessors and transporters. The rehoming team were given a huge thank you for dealing with what sometimes feels like never-ending surrenders. Anne thanked Moira for taking all the calls from people who are quite often crying when surrendering their dogs.
Again Anne thanked Simon for being part of the rescue for many years and his hard work and dedication in the role of treasurer and wished him all the best for the future.
Within the financial year November 2023 to October 2024, we saw an increase to 60 dogs surrendered, which is 29 more than the previous financial year. Some of those dogs didn’t come in as their owners changed their minds. Three are forever fosters and one is in rehab. The rest were adopted.
Our busiest months for surrenders were: July – 9 dogs
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Sept – 12 dogs Oct – 10 dogs
As always we have seen dogs being surrendered for a variety of reasons, from aggression, change in personal circumstances, financial costs etc. We had a dog surrendered as she was pregnant. Four puppies were born in foster.
We currently have three dogs undergoing rehab within the Birkett-Smith Sanctuary. Sadly, all three have complex needs, two have a risk of biting so are difficult to rehome. The third continues to make improvements but it is a long road ahead for her.
We continue to be busy with calls, e-mails and surrender forms from people who are considering surrendering their dogs but decide not to for a variety of reasons. Every person who makes contact with us receives a phone call and on some occasions one of our volunteer behaviourists will speak to them to offer advice.
Anne thanked Kerry and Renee who pick up our requests for behaviourist help and welcomed Jamie, another behaviourist who has been a wonderful help.
Anne also thanked to our foster homes who continue to help our dogs by taking them into their home and caring for them.
Moving forward, the rescue continues to be busy with more and more of our beloved breed being surrendered and we will continue to do what we can to help the dogs.
3. Fundraising Report – Rose Hunt
2024 saw an amazing year for Fundraising
Our weekly Auction saw a 24% increase in sales in 2024.
Rose gave a massive thank you to our supporters who donate each week items to auction and of course all of our supporters who bid and buy each and every week
Our Monthly Teddy and Ball Draws continue to be a huge fundraiser for us with approx. £1,000.00 each month raised.
Rose extended a huge thanks to Cath Lumley for all of her support over the years and extend our love and thanks and condolences on GusDog, the little hero that started the draws and helped us over so many years.
Rose thanked Kate and Kelly for taking on the Balls and Teddy Draws when Gus retired and doing such an amazing job.
Last year we applied for Grants for the first time and were lucky enough to be granted £3,000.00 from Animal Friends and £2,000.00 from the Animal Foundation - these grants help us in so many ways and we can’t thank them enough for their generosity
Being our 10[th] Birthday we had a few extra fundraising items in the Calendar with a variety of Boston Meets organised by our fabulous supporters, a Tea Party or two and a wonderful raffle which raised £340.00
2024 saw a lot of events, all raising money for UKBT. Cosmic Keith Rockabilly night, Tim Doust and his amazing sponsored swim, Monthly Raffles with amazing prizes donated from Dawn, JR Pets, Ellie Bo, Perfect Fit, Kews Treats, Tag you’re it, Nanny Eggs (who also has a collection tin in her lovely tea shop), Bellas Pet Boutique and so many others.
And of course, the monthly Boston Meets around the UK - we love seeing the photos and thank you all so much for your donations.
The 2024 Rally saw nearly £1000.00 raised and we are pleased to say we will be having a Rally this year in a new venue. We hope to see you all there
A special thanks was given to Grampian Lights for supporting us again in 2024 with proceeds from their light shows. Over £500.00 was donated from them - thanks Rob and Gail.
A special thank you to our socials and graphics team; Emma for all of her hard work on our Socials Pages, Amy for all things Graphics and to Christine for her endless work making sure our Website is up and running and updated with our dogs comings and goings.
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4. Socials update - Emma Swift
The year has seen an increase in followers on both Instagram and Facebook, with the numbers increasing from 2,176 in November 2023 to 3,136 in October 2024 on Instagram and 12,544 to 13,491 on Facebook. ‘Forever Friday’ posts detailing successful adoption stories continue to be popular and the ‘Primrose Pups’ post brought us more foster applications, with volunteer applications increase significantly when appeals go on our social media accounts. Rehoming posts also boost web sales.
5. Financial/Treasurer’s Report – Simon O’Rourke
Simon confirmed that he will be stepping down as treasurer once the current set of accounts have been audited and submitted to the Charity Commission.
Simon has been treasurer since 2018 and said it has been a pleasure to be involved with such a great charity. He became a trustee when the charity was facing a number of issues and his first involvement was to help bring stability to the organisation’s work and its governance. The charity has since gone from strength to strength and it is great to see the current group of trustees continuing that development and driving the charity to even greater heights.
The accounts for the financial year 2023/2024 are attached for approval at the AGM, the accounts always slightly overlap two years rather than just reflect the last calendar year.
There are a few points Simon made about the figures and also given the direction of travel of the charity some points for consideration going forward.
-
As in almost all the years of Simon’s involvement with the accounts our annual expenditure has again increased and the bulk of this expense is associated with Vet Bills. Two observations on these expenses; firstly yet again we are seeing an increase in behavioural rather than physical treatment but at the moment we don’t separate these out when recording payment, going forward this might be something to consider. There is also an increase in Vet payments through volunteers who then claim the fee back through expenses, and whilst this does allow swift responses to support vulnerable dogs it should be used as an exception and as much as possible payments should come directly from the charity as this demonstrates control and protects the charity.
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The good news is that our income has also increased and this year’s figure is our highest ever annual income. This is in no small part down to the efforts of our fundraising team particularly Rose. We are seeing a big increase in donations through Wonderful.Org both simple donations but also people using the app to create an event webpage to collect sponsorship. Rose has given more details of these in her report. We are also now seeing more grants being applied for and received. All these changes lead to the suggestion that we separate sources of income to a higher level than we currently do to allow a better analysis of the efficacy of different fund-raising activities.
-
At the last meeting we discussed the potential use of some form of investment account only keeping “working capital” within our current account. This was agreed and in this year’s account end our funds show a total of £30,000.00 in United Trust Bonds which is now accruing interest. This will need to be reflected in future accounts within carried forward funds.
Simon then had a few thank yous of his own.
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Firstly he registered his appreciation for all the work that GusDog did for the charity with both his financial contribution and also the publicity associated with the various draws that he and his wonderful owner Cath Lumley created on FaceBook. GusDog will be sorely missed by all his fans and all our hearts went out to Cath and Catriona when he crossed the rainbow bridge, from where he continues to post!
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Simon also thanked all the students from Coventry University who have made the charity the recipient of so many of their fundraising activities over the years of his tenure and that thanks extends to Lara, Simon’s wife, both for supporting their activity and also supporting Simon and the charity for the last seven years.
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Since 2022 Karen Dean has performed the function of checking our accounts and signing them off for the Charity Commission. She has continued to do this despite some health problems and Simon is immensely grateful for all her work.
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Finally Simon thanked Beth, who has been a trustee for all of his time with the charity and Chair for much of it, for all her support it.
The accounts were shared and approved. Simon will let Rose know once they have been lodged with the Charities Commission, at which point Simon can formally step down and the new trustees registered with the CC.
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6. AOB – all
.Next AGM date TBC Thank you to all who have attended, meeting closed.
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