2024-03-31-accounts - Aylesbury Youth Action

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AYLESBURY YOUTH ACTION

TRUSTEES’ REPORT AND ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

Registered Charity Number: 1165882

AYLESBURY YOUTH ACTION ( Registered Charity Number: 1165882)

President Keith Smith OBE Trustees Simon Rudiger (Chair) Simon Garwood (Vice Chair) Stacey Barry (Secretary) Martin Oliver Dermot Kennedy Dr Howard Goodall

Jason Burton (resigned October 2023) Maryam Mansoury-Edstrom (resigned June 2024)

The Trustees’ Report and Accounts cover the year to 31[st] March 2024.

The composition of the trustee body shown above covers the full period from 1st April 2023 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.

AYLESBURY YOUTH ACTION

Trustees’ Report

The Trustees present their report and accounts for the year to 31 March 2024.

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, 2023/24 was another year of building on our work, developing our existing relationships with schools, care homes, local organisations and crucially young people and their parents and carers.

Fundraising is still challenging. A large number of trusts and foundations are reporting considerable increases in the number of applications they receive, making it a very competitive process, with little feedback offered due to time constraints. During this year, we appointed external fundraising consultants to source trusts and foundations to apply to for fundraising and also support us with bid writing services. The service they provide is under constant review to ensure we get the best value for money.

We continue to make full use of our premises in Quarrendon both as an administrative base and a space for our project events and activities. We’ve run several weekly project sessions here but are also aware that there are other spaces in the local areas that can be better utilised for our work.

The Charity continues to deliver a model throughout our volunteering projects that ensures beneficiaries are supported in two key areas:

To engage with and provide exciting volunteering opportunities for young people through community projects for social action.
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.

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. We identified in the last annual report that the Trustee Board needed to reflect a more youthful demographic and have engaged with a current young volunteer with a view to recruiting them as a trustee. The Management Advisory Committee (MAC) has been rebranded as Youth Action Leaders. This consists of young volunteers taking on an advisory and developmental role to support the organisation’s aims of 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.

Holman Street Press , where young volunteers use their research and writing skills to share news, thoughts and opinions on various topics from the local area, now meets in the centre of Aylesbury at the Wellbeing Hub of Bucks New University.

Our Web Design project in partnership with local web design agency, Framework Digital continues to provide young volunteers with an opportunity to gain valuable tech skills working on live web sites. It enables us to maintain our AYA website with direct input from young people. A developing area of this project is to build and support other websites, we’ve worked on two sites for local charities.

We have continued the Grow it Cook it Eat it project, run in partnership with two local churches where young people can see where and how vegetables are grown, then explore recipes and cooking techniques to be able to enjoy eating a meal together.

We have restarted the popular Christmas Shop project, which brings together residents from local care homes and young volunteers for an evening of Christmas shopping. This is part of our Generate programme, a commitment to intergenerational work.

In addition to restarting and developing the project work, we continued to invest time and resources in establishing processes and procedures for volunteer recruitment and retention. We’ve built on our use of our Customer Relationship Management system, further integrating it into our work.

There have been some major staffing changes this year, our Chief Executive left to work for another youth-based charity in Milton Keynes, prompting us to promote our Youth Volunteering Lead to Director of Youth Volunteering.

We also secured funding to appoint two interns for a year, growing the team in numbers and also in capacity and experience to engage with young people as engaged volunteers and through our recruitment events and activities. The funding was provided by the Aylesbury and the Wendover and Villages Community Boards of Buckinghamshire Council.

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:

Wellbeing, promoting the positive benefits of volunteering
Mentoring, ensuring young people are supported
Employability, continuing the skills development volunteering offers
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 2024 funds were £40,916 (2023: £59,513). This is the equivalent of 5 months (2023: 9 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:

select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
state whether applicable accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the accounts, and;
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 in the year of £18,597 (2023: £28,114).

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 2024/25. Should funding prove more challenging our reserves will be sufficient to withstand a modest deficit in the coming year.

Approved on behalf of the Trustees on … 27th March 2025 ……………………

Signed: ……………………………………….

Simon Rudiger – Chair

Independent Examiner’s Report to the Trustees of Aylesbury Youth Action

I report on the accounts for the year ended 31 March 2024 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:

(a) the accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act; or
(b) the accounts did not accord with the accounting records; or
(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 March 2025

Lisa Walker FCCA APS Accountancy Limited 4 Cromwell Court New Street Aylesbury Bucks HP20 2PB

Aylesbury Youth Action (Registered Charity No. 1165882)

RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS Year to 31[st] March 2024

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 2024 Note Current assets: Investments Bank accounts 6 Net current assets Represented by: Balance at start of year Net surplus/(deficit) Total Funds 7	2024 £ 78,565 63 78,628 97,225 (18,597) - - (18,597) 2024 £ 1,351 39,565 40,916 59,513 (18,597) 40,916	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

The financial statements were approved on behalf of the Trustees on ... 27th March 2025 .....................

Signed: ………………………………………. Simon Rudiger – Chair

Aylesbury Youth Action Notes to the Accounts For the year ending 31[st] March 2024

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 is 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.

Aylesbury Youth Action Notes to the Accounts

For the year ending 31[st] March 2024

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 Co-op Clare Foundation Other donations and fundraising Restricted Fairhive Shanly Foundation Heart of Bucks Groundwork UK Bucks Council Bromford Housing Florence Nightingale Hospice Charity Other donations and fundraising TOTAL		2024 £ 20,000 - 6,000 10,000 - - - 2,997 2,900 3,274 45,171 - - 7,576 - 23,287 1,302 1,129 100 33,394 78,565		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

Aylesbury Youth Action Notes to the Accounts For the year ending 31[st] March 2024

3 RESOURCES EXPENDED Overheads - Salaries & NI Recruitment Staff training, conferences and travel Fundraising contractors Office costs Insurance IT & maintenance Governance costs Other expenses Direct project costs – non-staff Direct project costs – salaries & NI Project supplies TOTAL	2024 £ 63,384 - 996 6,587 7,060 972 2,795 1,789 196 83,779 156 11,354 1,936 97,225	2023
		£
		56,638 321 24 - 4,923 900 2,295 1,468 150
		66,719
		6,120 8,970 6,890
		88,699

4 TRUSTEES’ REMUNERATION AND BENEFITS

There were no trustees’ remuneration, expenses or other benefits (2023: Nil).

5 STAFF COSTS Wages and salaries Social security and pensions	2024 £ 73,182 1,556 74,738	2023
		£
		63,814 1,794
		65,608

The average monthly number of employees during the year was 4 (2023: 2). No employees received remuneration in excess of £60,000 (2023: Nil).

6 INVESTMENTS (CHARITABLE OFFICIAL INVESTMENT FUNDS (“COIF”)) Value of income units at year start Proceeds upon sale of units (Loss)/Gain on investment Value of income units at year end COIF deposit fund Investments	2024 £ - - - - 1,351 1,351	2023
		£
		60,856 (58,201) (2,655)
		-

		1,288
		1,288

Aylesbury Youth Action Notes to the Accounts For the year ending 31[st] March 2024

7 FUNDS

	Unrestricted Funds £	Restricted Funds £	Total £
Receipts 2022/23 Grants and donations Interest and dividends	45,127 865	17,248 -	62,375 865
	45,992	17,248	63,240

Payments 2022/23
Direct project costs Employment costs Overheads	- 56,638 8,449	13,010 8,970 1,632	13,010 65,608 10,081
	65,087	23,612	88,699

Net (deficit)/surplus 2022/23	(19,095)	(6,364)	(25,459)

Balance as at 1 April 2022	54,770	32,857	87,627
(Loss)/Gain on Investments Transfers	(2,655) -	- -	(2,655) -
Balance as at 31 March 2023	33,020	26,493	59,513
Receipts 2023/24 Grants and donations Interest and dividends Payments 2023/24 Direct project costs Employment costs Overheads Net (deficit)/surplus 2023/24 Balance as at 1 April 2023 (Loss)/Gain on Investments Transfers Balance as at 31 March 2024	45,171 63 45,234 - 49,443 20,395 69,838 (24,604) 33,020 - - 8,416	33,394 - 33,394 2,092 25,295 - 27,387 6,007 26,493 - - 32,500	78,565 63
			78,628 2,092 73,979 20,395
			97,225 (18,597) 59,513 - -
			40,916

8 RELATED PARTIES

There were no related party relationships to report (2023: none).