2023-12-31-accounts - Harborough Community Bus

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		Trustees' Annual Report	Trustees' Annual Report	Trustees' Annual Report	Trustees' Annual Report	Trustees' Annual Report	for theperiod	for theperiod	for theperiod
		From	Period start date			To	Period end date
			1st	Jan	2023		31st	Dec	2023

Section A Reference and administration details

Charity name

Harborough Community Bus

Other names charity is known by Registered charity number (if any) 1167030 Charity's principal address 86 St Mary’s Rd Market Harborough

HCB

Leicestershire

Postcode LE16 7DX

Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity

Trustee name	Office (if any)	Name of person (or body) entitled to appoint trustee (ifany)
Robin Ager	Assistant coordinator	\|
Phil Baildon	Vehicles officer	\|
Robert Bourne		\|
HarryBuchanan		\|
Martin Doyle	Chief Vehicles officer	\|
John Feavyour QPM	Chair	> The Charitytrustees
GerryKempe	Vehicles officer	/
David Lander		/
Neil MacDonald	Trainingofficer	/
Ian Milne	Chief Coordinator	/
Kevin Millard		/
Mick Squirrell	DrivingLicence officer	/

Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees)

	Name	Dates acted if not for whole year
	None

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Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)

Type of adviser	Name Address	Name Address
Independent examiner	Lee Reynolds FMAAT	Business Services (Leicester) Ltd
		The Manor, Main St, Tur Langton, LE8 0PJ


Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)
None

Section B Structure, governance and management

Description of the charity’s trusts

Constitution dated 15th Feb 2016 with no amendments Type of governing document (eg. trust deed, constitution) Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) How the charity is constituted (eg. trust, association, company) Appointed by existing trustees for a three-year period and available for Trustee selection methods reappointment (eg. appointed by, elected by)

Additional governance issues (Optional information)

The trustees meet on a quarterly basis to transact the business of the
You may choose to include charity. The constitution and copies of all minutes are publicly available on
additional information, where the HCB website at www.harboroughcommunitybus.uk
relevant, about:  policies and procedures The minibuses are all subject to annual MOTs, 10-week safety inspections in accordance with national guidance, monthly checks by designated
adopted for the induction and ‘vehicle officers’, and daily checks by drivers before they use the vehicle.
training of trustees; During the year, the operations manual was added to the HCB website.
the charity’s organisational structure and any wider Trustees regularly review their policies and 2023 included consideration of network with which the charity the displays in their lock up garage to recognise it as a ‘workplace’ under works; H&S legislation, the preparation of a fire risk assessment for the garage,
relationship with any related and GDPR awareness training for trustees. parties;
trustees’ consideration of major risks and the system and procedures to manage them.

Section C Objectives and activities

Summary of the objects of the charity set out in its governing document

The object of HCB is the provision of a charitable transport service for community groups from the Market Harborough area, or individuals living in that area, who are in need of such a service because of age, sickness, disability or poverty.

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HCB is a local charitable transport organisation. Charitable transport has been the only activity undertaken by the charity.

HCB uses three minibuses with 13 – 16 seats. Each vehicle is adapted to carry wheelchair passengers by having a hydraulic lift or ramp at the rear of the vehicle and removeable seats to allow for different configurations depending on the passenger needs. These adaptations are routinely used for disabled or less mobile, mainly elderly passengers, without which they would be unable to access transport.

Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit in relation to these objects (include within this section the statutory declaration that trustees have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit)

The charity operates under a Section 19 Permit whose conditions are identical to the object of HCB set out above. As such it cannot carry members of the general public but instead has a membership of over 50 local community groups e.g., disability groups, residents’ associations, youth and church groups, clubs, schools, as well as aged or disabled individuals. The trustees are satisfied that this is a sufficient section of the public to meet the public benefit test of a charity.

The Trustees confirm that they have complied with their duty in Section 4 of the Charities Act 2006 to have due regard to the public benefit guidance published by the Charity Commission in determining the activities undertaken by the charity.

Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)

In simple terms, the charity operates three minibuses driven by volunteer drivers to transport community groups – and particularly those elderly and infirm who, in the absence of the charity, would struggle to get out at all.

You may choose to include further statements, where relevant, about:

policy on grantmaking;
policy programme related investment;

The volunteer drivers are routinely thanked for their efforts as without them, there would be no service. All contributions by membership groups and all donated funds are set against the expenses of running the minibuses i.e. insurance, fuel, safety checks and maintenance.

The volunteer drivers are supported by other volunteers who administer the Charity in the form of call handling, bookings coordinators, vehicle maintenance, invoicing and banking. There are no paid staff.

contribution made by volunteers.

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Section D Achievements and performance

Summary of the main achievements of the charity during the year

There were 503 bookings for 2023 which was a rise of 25% on the previous year and reflected continued growth in community usage which continued a trend after the post-covid recovery in 2022.

The number of members using the charity also continued to rise. Volunteers and trustees felt able to meet the demand, but there was an emerging concern that the primary objective was being watered down with the potential for bookings by more able-bodied community groups to impinge on the use by disabled and elderly members.

In early 2024 this came to a head and trustees introduced restrictions on use by schools to preserve capacity for use by ‘priority members’. Trustees have been clear that where demand exceeds supply of either vehicles or volunteer drivers, priority will be given to the disabled and elderly.

The Operations Manual developed in 2022 was refreshed and published on the charity’s website as for the information of users, and to support the resilience of the charity.

During 2023, the trustees ordered a new minibus to replace their oldest vehicle which was 12 years old, not least because at 12 years of age, DfT guidance increases the 10-week check to a 6-week schedule with the added costs and logistics that entails. Consideration was given to an electric vehicle, but a cost-effective solution proved to be unavailable.

A new minibus was delivered in January 2024 at a cost of £42k, a purchase made possible with a grant of £30k from Market Harborough & The Bowdens Charity CIO.

On the face of it, the Charity runs a simple service – collecting members from their homes, schools etc., transporting them to social events or other venues and bringing them back home. This belies a complex governance requirement to cover:

Section 19 permit (DfT community transport permit)
Driving licence checks
Driver induction training & refresher training
Vehicle safety checks and maintenance
Telephone & email-based bookings
Driver coordination & allocation
Invoicing and banking
Insurance for vehicles & public liability
Fundraising for new vehicles

The trustees estimate the value of volunteer time given to the Charity during the year to be in excess of £35,000.

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Section E Financial review

HCB has one fund of restricted reserves – a benevolent fund is Brief statement of the maintained, and the balance is kept separate from general reserves. An charity’s policy on reserves operational contingency is maintained equivalent to three months’ expenditure and a major breakdown reserve is also maintained. The remaining balances are savings towards a replacement minibus – a process requiring several years surpluses to achieve.

Details of any funds materially in deficit

None

Further financial review details (Optional information)

You may choose to include additional information, where relevant about:

the charity’s principal sources of funds (including any fundraising);
how expenditure has supported the key objectives of the charity;

The principal source of funding is collections from members. The trustees have adopted a charging policy to contribute to fuel, insurance and maintenance costs. The fuel costs are further ameliorated by the government’s bus service operators grant.

Ad hoc donations and applications to grant making bodies are relied on to build reserves for vehicle replacement.

investment policy and objectives including any ethical investment policy adopted.

Section F Other optional information

None

Section G Declaration

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Signature(s) Agreed by email and approved at a trustees’ meeting Full name(s) John Feavyour QPM Position (eg Secretary, Chair, Chair etc) Date 12.08.24

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	Harborough Community Bus	Harborough Community Bus	Harborough Community Bus	1167030	CC16a

	Receipts andpayments accounts
	For the period from	01/01/2023	To	31/12/2023


Section A Receipts and payments
	Unrestricted funds	Restricted funds	Endowment funds	Total funds	Last year
	to the nearest £	to the nearest £	to the nearest £	to the nearest £	to the nearest £
A1 Receipts
Collections	22,352	-	-	22,352	15,577
Fuel Grant	1,665	-	-	1,665	721
Interest	656	-	-	656	131
Donations	100	30,000	-	30,100	1,365
Lottery	191	-	-	191	235
Other Income		-	-	-	-
	-	-	-	-	-
	-	-	-	-	-
Sub total(Gross income for AR)	24,964	30,000	-	54,964	18,029

A2 Asset and investment sales.
Sale of VW minibus	12,000	-	-	12,000
	-	-	-	-	-
Sub total	12,000	-	-	12,000	-

Total receipts	36,964	30,000	-	66,964	18,029

A3 Payments
Insurance	3,463	-	-	3,463	2,395
Fuel	5,474	-	-	5,474	3,589
Vehicle mechanics	5,198	-	-	5,198	5,515
Other	514	-	-	514	1,132
	-	-	-	-	-
	-	-	-	-	-
	-	-	-	-	-
	-	-	-	-	-
	-	-	-	-	-
Sub total	14,649	-	-	14,649	12,631

A4 Asset and investment purchases.
New bus	11,878	30,000	-	41,878
	-	-	-	-
Sub total	11,878	30,000	-	41,878	-

Totalpayments	26,527	30,000	-	56,527	12,631

Net of receipts/(payments)	10,437	-	-	10,437	5,398
A5 Transfers between funds	522	- 522		-	-
A6 Cash funds lastyear end	38,846	2,005		35,453	40,851
Cash funds thisyear end	49,805	1,483	-	51,288	46,249

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Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period

Categories	Details	Unrestricted funds	Restricted funds	Endowment funds
		to nearest £	to nearest £	to nearest £
B1 Cash funds	CAF Current A/C	16,178	-	-
	CAF Savings A/C	33,627	1,483	-
	Petty Cash	-	-	-
	Total cash funds	49,805	1,483	-
	(agree balances with receipts and payments account(s))	OK	OK	OK
		Unrestricted funds	Restricted funds	Endowment funds
	Details	to nearest £	to nearest £	to nearest £
B2 Other monetary assets	None	-	-	-
		-	-	-
		-	-	-
		-	-	-
		-	-	-
		-	-	-

	Details	Fund to which asset belongs	Cost (optional)	Current value (optional)
B3 Investment assets	None		-	-
			-	-
			-	-
			-	-
			-	-

	Details	Fund to which asset belongs	Cost (optional)	Current value (optional)
B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use	3 minibuses	Unrestricted	-	-
	Garage	Unrestricted	-	-
			-	-
	Assets not valued		-	-
			-	-
			-	-
			-	-
			-	-
			-	-

	Details	Fund to which liability relates	Amount due (optional)	When due (optional)
B5 Liabilities	None		-
			-
			-
			-
			-

Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees	Signature	Print Name		Date of approval
	Approved at trustees meeting	John Feavyour QPM		12.08.2024
		Chair of trustees

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