Warwickshire Search and Rescue Trustees Report and Accounts For the year ended 31st March 2025
Warwickshire Search and Rescue Trustees Annual Report for the Year ended 31st March 2025 Charity No 1167079
| Charity Address | Bankers | Independent Examiner |
|---|---|---|
| Unit 70 | The Co-Operative Bank | Benjamin Lancashire |
| 5th Street | PO box 101 | 124 Woodside Avenue Sth |
| Stoneleigh Park | 1 Balloon street | Coventry |
| Kenilworth | Manchester | |
| CV8 2LG | M60 4EP | |
| Current Trustees | ||
| Ian Malins - Chair | ||
| John Haselden - Vice Chair | ||
| Paul Middleton - Treasurer | ||
| Stevan Brown - Secretary | ||
| Phil Hewish | ||
| Wendy Clarke | ||
| Nicholas Cole |
Structure, Governance and Management
Constitution
WarkSar (the charity) is an unincorporated association. It is governed by its constitution, which was adopted on 18 May 2013 and last amended on 8 February 2016. WarkSar is a registered charity, with charity number 1167079
Trustees
The trustees of Warksar are pleased to present their report together with their financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025
At 1st April 2024 Warksar's trustees comprise the Chair, the Vice Chair, the Secretary, the Treasurer and a trustee without portfolio. During the year, at the Annual General Meeting the number was increased to include 2 further trustees. Any member is eligible to become a trustee, Trustees are elected at the Annual General Meeting , held every year in or around June. Under the constitution there must be a minimum of three trustees, although there is no maximum number.
Management
The trustees are responsible for the strategic direction and governance of Warksar, whilst the day to day running of the charity's operational activity is delegated to the management group. Members of this group may be invited to attend trustee meetings to discuss progress and development
Objectives and Activities
Charitable purpose
Warksar's charitable purposes are twofold;
to protect and preserve good health and safety of human life in an emergency by the provision of trained volunteers to assist organisations involved in the search and rescue of missing persons; and, to advance the education of the public in all matters relating to Lowland search and rescue.
Warwickshire Search and Rescue Trustees Annual Report for the Year ended 31st March 2025 Charity No 1167079
Activities
Warksar works directly for the police, providing valuable search management services and physical resources to search on land and inland waterways. The charity provides a team of qualified volunteers available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to support in the search for vulnerable missing persons in Warwickshire, Coventry and south west Birmingham. Warksar also assists other lowland rescue search teams in the surrounding counties, and are available to assist the emergency services, local councils, and other agencies in the event of a major incident. Volunteers regularly interact with the public during local events, visits to local schools and societies and fundraising activities and use this time to provide information about Warksar and search and rescue in general, and to answer any questions about search and rescue that the general public have.
The trustees have had due regard to the guidance published by the Charity Commission on public benefit.
Achievements and Performance
This has been another very busy year for the charity. Having moved from its home of 6 years to a new home, within the Stoneleigh Park complex, further work has been done by its volunteers using the skills Last year Warksar were awarded the King's Award for Charity which is the highest award a charity can attain. This was achieved by the high standards set by the volunteers.
Warksar's volunteers continue to maintain their high standard through thousands of hours of searching, training and fundraising. They have participated in searches not only in Warwickshire, but assisting in searches in all of the surrounding counties.
Warksar have continued to utilise all of it's assets in our kayak, foot, bank search and drone teams. Our powered watercraft to further enhance the search capability of Warksar and also to assist in other major incidents such as flood relief.
Financial Review
During the year our main source of income continues to be grant income and fundraising efforts. This supplements the donations received from attending events. Grants in the year were £27,834 and fundraising raised £21,121. Other forms of income from donations, subscriptions, gift aid received and subscriptions amounted to £14,720, giving total income of £63.675
Reserves Policy
Due to the uncertainties surrounding the levels of Warksar's future donations income, and the highly cyclical nature of Warksar's other income streams, the trustees’ policy was to maintain unrestricted reserves sufficient to cover the basic running costs of WarkSar, along with any other foreseeable expenses, for approximately 12 months. During the year the Trustees agreed to increase this reserve to up to 36 months income. In this way, trustees can be comfortable that the Charity can meet its commitments and cover any unexpected expenditure. With the new premises and vehicles and our new activities, this cost has risen to around £26,000 at March 2024. Available, unrestricted reserves at the end of the year (excluding any amounts already owed to suppliers) were £32,619
Plans for Future Periods
The Trustees and Management Team intend to continue to develop the team, both in terms of qualified Search Technicians, but also in terms of the Water team, by increasing our capability of our swift water response technicians and continuing to invest in our drone search team and Search Dog teams . This has been made achievable with the receipt of specific grants.The Charity will also continue to work with local communities to raise awareness of, and the profile of, the team.
Approved by the Trustees and signed on their behalf:
Ian Malins Chair
Paul Middleton Treasurer
Warwickshire Search and Rescue Income and Expenditure Account For the year ended
| Income Grants (Non Specific) Grants (Specific) Donations Fundraising Equipment sales Gift Aid Course Fees Received Subscriptions Income Expenditure Grants (Specific) Building Costs Equipment Purchases Equipment Replace/Repair Vehicle Costs Insurance Medical Telecoms/Internet Subscriptions (inc D4H) Courses Legal and Professional Stationery Bank Charges Miscellaneous Expenditure Surplus/Deficit Transferred to Funds Transferred to/From General Funds Transferred To/from Restricted |
12 Months to 31/03/2025 7,485 20,350 7,484 21,121 1,639 2,511 791 2,295 63,675 26,116 - 8,582 - 5,208 - 282 - 3,564 - 7,942 - 2,629 - 564 - 556 - 2,890 - 559 - 35 - 1,098 - 60,025 - 3,650 9,417 5,767 - 3,650 |
12 Months to 31/03/2024 820 64,695 1,384 26,297 17,987 1,847 1,665 |
|---|---|---|
| 114,696 74,159 - 13,902 - 4,221 - 650 - 8,070 - 7,131 - 1,261 - 832 - 1,765 - 1,281 - 35 - 223 - 265 - |
||
| 113,797 - |
||
| 899 | ||
| 10,363 9,464 - |
||
| 899 |
Funds Statement for the year ended 31st March 2025
| General Funds Restricted Funds |
Brought Forwards In Year Transfer Between Funds Carried Forwards 23,203 9,417 32,619 6,174 5,767 - 408 |
|---|---|
| 29,377 3,650 - 33,027 |
Warwickshire Search and Rescue Balance Sheet For the year ended
| Cash at Bank General Funds Restricted Funds |
12 Months to 31/03/2025 38,254 32,619 408 33,027 |
12 Months to 31/03/2024 29,377 |
|---|---|---|
| 23,203 6,174 |
||
| 29,377 |
Independent Examiners Report Warwickshire Search and Rescue Charity No. 1167079 For the year ended 31 March 2025
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts set on pages 3 and 4, of the above charity, for the year ended 31st March 2025
Responsibilities and basis of report
As the charity's trustees you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirement 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 all 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 to the examination which gives me cause to believe that in any material respect;
-
the accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act; or
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the accounts did not accord with the accounting recors; or
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the accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of the 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 the 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.
Ben Lancashire
31st January 2026