AYLESBURY YOUTH ACTION
TRUSTEES’ REPORT AND ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023
Registered Charity Number: 1165882
AYLESBURY YOUTH ACTION ( Registered Charity Number: 1165882)
President Keith Smith OBE Trustees Simon Rudiger (Chair) (appointed October 2023) Simon Garwood (Vice Chair) Maryam Mansoury-Edstrom (Treasurer) Stacey Barry (Secretary) Martin Oliver Dermot Kennedy Dr Howard Goodall
Jason Burton (resigned October 2023)
The Trustees’ Report and Accounts cover the year to 31[st] March 2023.
The composition of the trustee body shown above covers the full period from 1st April 2022 until the Trustees’ Report and Accounts were approved.
Office Holman Street Aylesbury Bucks HP19 9LJ
Independent Examiner
APS Accountancy Limited
The governing document is the Charity's Constitution adopted when the charity was registered on 4 March 2016.
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AYLESBURY YOUTH ACTION
Trustees’ Report
The Trustees present their report and accounts for the year to 31 March 2023.
Purposes
The principal aims of the Charity are to improve the life chances of young people aged 14 to 24 through enabling them to make a positive contribution to their community; to assist in the development of their personal awareness and to provide relief to the social needs of the elderly, infirm and the deprived in the Aylesbury Vale area. This is done by promoting youth volunteering through a variety of projects to cater for all interests, allowing for different levels of commitment, and by providing support and training.
Trustees
The Trustees are also members of the Charity as set out in the Constitution. They are elected to serve for a term of three years and are eligible for re-election at an Annual General Meeting of the Charity in accordance with the requirements of the Constitution. The Honorary Officers are appointed from among the Trustees. The Trustees meet as a management committee four times a year to review project activities and financial progress.
Review of Developments, Activities and Achievements
For AYA, 2022/23 was a year of re-building following the major disruption of the Covid-19 global pandemic. Care homes, schools, and other community spaces were very slowly opening up to visitors, our work in local schools didn’t get started until September 2022.
Fundraising continued to be challenging, with applications to many trusts and foundations over-subscribed, combined with the global economic downturn, developing cost of living crisis, there was less money available and an increasing number of charities in need.
After moving to our new premises, Quarrendon Youth Centre, in the summer of 2021, we formally opened our new space in June 2022, following refurbishment and redecoration. We welcomed young volunteers, AYA staff and trustees as well as supporters, funders, and representatives from the local community to a celebratory evening combining the official opening with the launch of our VOLUME50 magazine. This space continues to give us both administrative offices and project areas that are flexible. As well as using it for our needs, we’ve been able to share it with youth sector partners and other community groups.
The Charity continues to deliver a model throughout our volunteering projects that ensures beneficiaries are supported in two key areas:
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To engage with and provide exciting volunteering opportunities for young people through community projects for social action.
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Serve our local communities through effective and meaningful partnerships with charities and organisation that seek to make a difference and reach the most vulnerable members of society.
This has been the approach of AYA since its inception in 1971.
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AYLESBURY YOUTH ACTION
Trustees’ Report (continued)
The Charity exists to provide a platform for young people to give their time freely for the benefit of others. The Trustees’ role is to be the guardian of the Charity and to ensure its sustainability. However, it is the young people’s organisation, and we strive to be Youth-led in all we do. The Trustee Board needs to reflect a more youthful and balanced structure and we are continuing the drive for additional Trustees with a younger profile and experience of our volunteering base. The Management Advisory Committee (MAC), which consists of young volunteers, is being relaunched after a pause during Covid, this provides a fundamental role in being youth driven and is instrumental in helping drive project creation, development and delivery as well as providing guidance and stimulating input to the Trustees.
As Covid restrictions and lockdowns continued to ease, we restarted some of our volunteering programme.
These included the continuation of our Vintage Notes project, rebranded as Holman Street Press , where young volunteers could use their research and writing skills to share news, thoughts and opinions on various topics from the local area.
The start of a new Web Design project in partnership with local web design agency, Framework Digital. This project had multiple aims; providing young volunteers with an opportunity to gain valuable tech skills working on live web sites. It also enabled us to build our new AYA web site with direct input from young people. A developing area of this project is to build and support other small, local charity web sites.
We were invited to deliver a series of PSHE sessions focusing on wellbeing at a local secondary school. This enabled us to talk about the positive impact of volunteering on wellbeing and to promote the opportunities available to young people in the local area.
In addition to restarting and developing the project work, we were able to invest time and resources in establishing processes and procedures for volunteer recruitment and retention. A key part of this was recognising our limited administrative resources needed better and efficient use of technology to support our work. We purchased and installed a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system called Beacon, built to support charity administration and has very quickly allowed us to automate a number of sign-up processes and management reports.
A significant development of this year was to appoint an additional member of staff to specifically develop and manage our volunteering projects and support the young people involved. We recruited a Youth Volunteer Lead, a key investment in the ongoing provision of volunteering opportunities for young people. This appointment enabled us to grow our volunteering offer and restart the Beams project, working in partnership with Aylesbury Women’s Aid and develop a new wellbeing project working with Alice’s Positive Boxes.
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AYLESBURY YOUTH ACTION
Trustees’ Report (continued)
Our plan is always to continue the projects as long as they provide young people with the opportunities to serve their local communities and develop their skills and experiences. The projects AYA run will focus on four key themes:
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Wellbeing, promoting the positive benefits of volunteering
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Mentoring, ensuring young people are supported
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Employability, continuing the skills development volunteering offers
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Creative arts, making space for the importance of art, music, poetry, theatre.
Reserves Policy
The Charity aims to hold funds to cover between 6 to 9 months of its ongoing expenses.
At 31 March 2023 funds were £59,513 (2022: £87,627). This is the equivalent of 9 months (2022: 14 months) of the expenditure incurred by the Charity over the past year
The trustees are budgeting for operational break-even in the coming year and will continue to monitor income and expenditure regularly to ensure that no unreasonable financial risks are taken.
Statement of Trustees Responsibilities
The Charities Act 2011 section 130 requires the Trustees to prepare accounts for each financial year sufficient to show and explain the Charity's transactions and which disclose with reasonable accuracy the Charity's financial position. In preparing those accounts the Trustees are required to:
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select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
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make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
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state whether applicable accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the accounts, and;
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prepare the accounts on a going concern basis unless it can be assumed that the Charity will not continue to operate as such.
The Trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose the financial position of the Charity, with reasonable accuracy, at any time. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Charity and for taking reasonable steps to prevent or detect fraud.
The Trustees have fulfilled the responsibilities as outlined above.
Accounts
The accounts are presented on a Receipts and Payment basis, amended by revaluing investments. They show a deficit of £28,114 (2022: £23,553).
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AYLESBURY YOUTH ACTION
Trustees’ Report (continued)
The budget was set by the Trustees and staff to reflect the continuing ongoing difficult climate for funding and the impact Covid restrictions/lockdowns were still having on community engagement and participation.
The charity is budgeting for operational break-even at best in 2023/24. Should funding prove more challenging our reserves will be sufficient to withstand a modest deficit in the coming year. Our potential new project ideas will be supported by full funding secured for these activities and will only be progressed when this is achieved.
Approved on behalf of the Trustees on 26 January 2024.
Signed: ……………………………………….
Simon Rudiger – Chair
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Independent Examiner’s Report to the Trustees of Aylesbury Youth Action
I report on the accounts for the year ended 31 March 2023 set out on pages eight to twelve.
Respective responsibilities of Trustees and the Independent Examiner
The charity’s trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts the Charity’s trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year (under Section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act)) and that an independent examination is required.
I report in respect of my examination of the charity’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
Independent examiner’s statement
In connection with my examination, no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:
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(a) the accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act; or
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(b) the accounts did not accord with the accounting records; or
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(c) the accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair’ view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Signed: … L Walker
Date: … 26 January 2024
Lisa Walker FCCA APS Accountancy Limited 4 Cromwell Court New Street Aylesbury Bucks HP20 2PB
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Aylesbury Youth Action (Registered Charity No. 1165882)
RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS Year to 31[st] March 2023
| Note Incoming resources Grants, donations and other income Interest and dividend income 2 6 Resources expended Charitable activities 3 Net incoming resources Gain/(loss) on revaluation of investments 6 Gain/(loss) on disposal of investments Surplus/(deficit) for the year BALANCE SHEET As at 31st March 2023 Note Current assets Investments Bank accounts 6 Net current assets Represented by: Balance at start of year Net surplus/(deficit) Total Funds 7 |
2023 £ 62,375 865 63,240 88,699 (25,459) - (2,655) (28,114) 2023 £ 1,288 58,225 59,513 87,627 (28,114) 59,513 |
2022 £ 46,683 1,673 |
|---|---|---|
| 48,356 76,853 |
||
| (28,497) 4,944 - |
||
| (23,553) 2022 £ 61,279 26,348 87,627 111,180 (23,553) 87,627 |
The financial statements were approved on behalf of the Trustees on 26 January 2024.
Signed: ………………………………………. Simon Rudiger – Chair
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Aylesbury Youth Action Notes to the Accounts For the year ending 31[st] March 2023
1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES
Accounting convention
The financial statements have been prepared on the Receipts and Payments basis, save that any gain or loss on revaluation of investments to market value is recognised at each accounting year end.
Income
All incoming resources, including interest and dividends on investments, are included on receipt.
Expenditure
Expenditure and liabilities are recognised as incurred.
Management and support expenditure is allocated to activities on the basis of the use of resources. Governance costs include any professional advice necessary to meet Charity Commission or other authority requirements.
Taxation
Aylesbury Youth Action is a charitable institution with exemption from UK taxation under section 505 of the Income and Corporation Tax Act 1988.
Fund Accounting
Funds held by the Charity are either:
Unrestricted funds – funds which can be used in accordance with the charitable objects.
Restricted funds – funds received on condition that they are expended on specific activities.
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Aylesbury Youth Action Notes to the Accounts For the year ending 31[st] March 2023
2 GRANTS, DONATIONS & OTHER INCOME
| 2 GRANTS, DONATIONS & OTHER INCOME |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unrestricted William Harding Charity National Lottery Community Fund Bucks Council Rothschild Foundation The Talent Fund Arnold Clark Community Fund Matthews Wrightson Charity Trust Heart of Bucks Anson Charitable Trust Clare Foundation Donations and fundraising Restricted Fairhive Shanly Foundation Heart of Bucks Groundwork UK Bucks Council Donations and fundraising TOTAL |
2023 £ 15,000 9,182 8,000 8,333 2,500 1,000 600 - - - 512 45,127 9,173 2,500 1,575 1,000 - 3,000 17,248 62,375 |
2022 £ 20,000 - - - - - - 4,608 3,000 5,000 375 |
||
| 32,983 | ||||
| - - - - 13,700 - |
||||
| 13,700 | ||||
| 46,683 |
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Aylesbury Youth Action Notes to the Accounts For the year ending 31[st] March 2023
| 3 RESOURCES EXPENDED |
2023 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|
| £ | £ | |
| Overheads - Salaries & NI | 56,638 | 43,382 |
| Recruitment | 321 | 600 |
| Staff training, conferences and travel | 24 | 36 |
| Office costs | 4,923 | 4,039 |
| Insurance | 900 | 1,301 |
| IT & maintenance | 2,296 | 900 |
| Governance costs | - | 150 |
| Other expenses | 1,618 | 1,225 |
| 66,719 | 51,633 | |
| Direct project costs – non-staff | 6,120 | 13,922 |
| Direct project costs – salaries & NI | 8,970 | 7,253 |
| Project supplies | 6,890 | 4,045 |
| TOTAL | 88,699 | 76,853 |
| 4 TRUSTEES’ REMUNERATION AND BENEFITS |
||
| There were no trustees’ remuneration, expenses or other benefits (2022: Nil). | ||
| 5 STAFF COSTS |
2023 | 2022 |
| £ | £ | |
| Wages and salaries | 63,814 | 49,561 |
| Social security and pensions | 1,794 | 1,074 |
| 65,608 | 50,635 | |
| The average monthly number of employees during the year was 2 (2022: 3). | ||
| No employees received remuneration in excess of £60,000 (2022: Nil). | ||
| 6 INVESTMENTS (CHARITABLE OFFICIAL INVESTMENT | 2023 | 2022 |
| FUNDS (“COIF”)) | ||
| £ | £ | |
| Value of income units at year start | 60,856 | 55,913 |
| Proceeds upon sale of units | (58,201) | - |
| (Loss)/Gain on investment | (2,655) | 4,943 |
| Value of income units at year end | - | 60,856 |
| COIF deposit fund | 1,288 | 423 |
| Investments | 1,288 | 61,279 |
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Aylesbury Youth Action Notes to the Accounts For the year ending 31[st] March 2023
7 FUNDS
| 7 FUNDS |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| Receipts 2021/22 Grants and donations Interest and dividends Payments 2021/22 Direct project costs Employment costs Overheads Net (deficit)/surplus 2021/22 Balance as at 1 April 2021 (Loss)/Gain on Investments Transfers Balance as at 31 March 2022 Receipts 2022/23 Grants and donations Interest and dividends Payments 2022/23 Direct project costs Employment costs Overheads Net (deficit)/surplus 2022/23 Balance as at 1 April 2022 (Loss)/Gain on Investments Transfers Balance as at 31 March 2023 |
Unrestricted Funds £ 32,983 1,673 34,656 - 43,382 8,251 51,633 (16,977) 66,803 4,944 54,770 45,127 865 45,992 - 56,638 8,449 65,087 (19,095) 54,770 (2,655) - 33,020 |
Restricted Funds £ 13,700 - 13,700 17,967 7,253 Not allocated 25,220 (11,520) 44,377 - 32,857 17,248 - 17,248 13,010 8,970 1,632 23,612 (6,364) 32,857 - - 26,493 |
Total £ 46,683 1,673 |
| 48,356 17,967 50,635 8,251 |
|||
| 76,853 (28,497) 111,180 4,944 |
|||
| 87,627 | |||
| 62,375 865 |
|||
| 63,240 13,010 65,608 10,081 |
|||
| 88,699 (25,459) 87,627 (2,655) - |
|||
| 59,513 |
8 RELATED PARTIES
There were no related party relationships to report (2022: none).
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