CARE UK Charity
Charity number: 1167299
Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 May 2023
CARE UK Charity
Charity number: 1167299
Trustees Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 May 2023
The Trustees present their report with the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 May 2023.
Administrative and contact details
The registered office of CARE UK Charity is:
The registered office of CARE UK Charity is: The Annexe, Walton Lodge Hill Cliffe Road Walton Warrington WA4 6NU CARE UK Charity can be contacted by email: info@careukcharity.org.uk Our website address is: www.careukcharity.org.uk/
Contact with supporters and volunteers, including requests for help in both material and practical ways, is principally achieved through our Facebook page which can be found at: www.facebook.com/groups/careukcharity/
The Trustees who have served during the period covered by this report and to date were:
Alison Collins Kate Farnell Retired April 2023 Diane Hubbard Christopher Ross Helen Speed John Stott Mohammad Abdul Waheed
Structure and Governance
The charity was first established as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation under a constitution on 31 January 2016. Charitable status was recognised by the Charity Commission on 24 May 2016.
The constitution was amended on 21 September 2019 when the name of the charity was changed from “Charity and Recycling Enterprise UK” to “CARE UK Charity”.
The day-to-day administration of CARE UK Charity is carried out by a small management team along with our highly committed team of staff and volunteers.
We are extremely grateful to our volunteers and supporters without whose generous donations of time and practical support we would be unable to achieve our objectives.
The Trustees acknowledge their duty to identify and review the risks to which the charity is exposed and ensure that appropriate controls are in place to provide reasonable assurance against fraud and error.
Objectives and Activities
The objectives of CARE UK are:
-
To prevent and relieve poverty and hardship and protect the vulnerable in such parts of the world as the Trustees shall determine by providing grants, items and services to individuals in need and/or charities, or other organisations, working to prevent or relieve poverty.
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The relief of those in need suffering hardship across the world providing such persons with goods which they could not otherwise afford.
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Such charitable purposes for the public benefit as are exclusively charitable according to the Laws of England and Wales as the Trustees may from time to time determine.
Achievements and Performance
Mission
Our principal mission remains the same – to collect items that are no longer wanted whether they be clothes, furniture, household items etc and pass these on to people in need. Where items cannot be used in this way, we sell them in our shops in order to raise funds to purchase aid. During the year we used our two shops in Warrington and until June in Northwich, to raise funds for our work and to serve as donation stations.
The year has been challenging, as has been the case for many retailers on the High Street in the United Kingdom. Following the notice to vacate our Northwich store when the lease was ended by the landlord, a further two of our major stores in Warrington came under notice to vacate in July 2023, as they were to be demolished. We continued to trade in both retail outfits and to source replacement stores and were in the process of negotiating leases at our year end.
Overseas aid.
Our ability to send containers of aid to organisations overseas supporting refugees continued to be curtailed during the year due to a combination of factors. We made the decision to draw a temporary line under overseas aid, as there were still too many unknowns.
These included the costs associated with shipping, which had risen dramatically and the effects of Brexit, which brought further complications with increased administrative paperwork and the requirement to pay significant taxes on arrival at EU countries as a third-party country. It did mean,
however, that we could focus our efforts on the work at home including the Homes Team, asylum seekers and Afghan refugees. We tried sending a container to Uganda, however, it had a troubled time reaching the intended community, as it was waylaid by people intending to steal the contents. It did eventually reach our desired recipients, but it was felt to be uneconomic and too risky to take this route again due to the uncertainties that it would arrive.
Volunteers
The charity very much depends upon our amazing team of volunteers who continued to give generously of their time and energies, to further our work. They helped us to collect and sort donations and distribute this aid including medical equipment and supplies, clothing and hygiene products, to groups and organisations requiring our help.
Although we continued to have a core body of volunteers to sort donations and work in the stores, maintaining sufficient volunteers required ongoing attention and action.
Foodbank
Our Foodbank, which was established at the start of the first lockdown, continued to provide weekly food parcels to support families whose income had dropped significantly as a result of lockdown and was particularly focused on those families who were excluded from national support schemes, such as sole traders. During the year we decided that the local Food Bank in Warrington was better equipped to offer this service to the remaining residents and a plan was developed to transfer the service to them.
Homes Team
Our Homes Team continued to help and support those in need in our community who were referred to us by Social Services, the Probation Service and other charities. This formed a major part of our offering to the community. The number of referrals gradually started to increase again to prepandemic levels. We were able to provide furniture and household goods to help those who have been provided with accommodation but had little or no material possessions.
Examples of Homes Team support during the year were:
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420 referrals- involving 504 adults and 496 children
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89 with nothing, 80 needed quite a lot of items, rest just a few items
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225 beds, bedding for 243 and quilts for 210
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105 sofas, 57 two ring burners and 116 microwaves
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180 wardrobes or hanging rails and rugs to 30 families
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37 fridges/freezers
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27 washing machines and 16 TV’s
Refugees
Refugees continue to be housed in local hotels and those of neighbouring Cheshire. Our service to the refugees continues to include Pop Up Dignity Shops, where refugees are given vouchers so that they can choose clothes and hygiene goods for themselves and advocacy support to improve services within the settings in which they are housed.
Our mission statement is: "providing essentials to improve the lives of others" and we continue to strive to use our resources to achieve our mission
Financial Review
The following statements set out the financial position of CARE UK Charity for the year ended 31 May 2023.
The closure of our retail store in Northwich in June 2022 presented our retail operation with a major challenge. However, our two remaining stores in Warrington traded very successfully, with turnover up in each store on the previous year, and we were able to achieve a net profit from retail for the year of £126,292.
Unfortunately, our donations and other charitable income was down on the previous year which was quite likely caused by the challenging economic climate as people have less disposable income to donate to support good causes.
As we were no longer in a position to send containers of donated aid abroad as was explained above our expenditure in this area was considerably less than in previous years. However, the requests to support those in need closer to home rose significantly.
Our Homes Team spent considerably more helping individuals referred to us by Social Services and other agencies and the costs of supporting refugees and asylum seekers housed in local hotels also increased. Consequently, our charitable expenditure was only slightly less than in the previous year.
The net result was that we sustained a deficit on our general fund of £15,849. Thankfully we had built up reserves in previous years and were able to cover this deficit from our accumulated reserves.
During the year we continued to support the work of Becky’s Bathhouse AMKE, which is a Greek registered charity, based in Lesvos. This is from funds that were received specifically for this purpose and we have accounted for these funds separately as a restricted fund. The remaining funds were paid to Becky’s Bathhouse AMKE during the year.
We also held some funds specifically to help victims of flooding in the Warrington area and again these funds have been moved into, and accounted for separately in, a restricted fund. Significant payments were made out of these funds during the year.
The Trustees have adopted a Reserves Policy to maintain cash reserves equal to approximately three months of the running costs of the organisation. This is currently deemed to be £100,000.
The Trustees want to ensure that our surplus funds are put to good use in helping those in need.
Our general reserves at the year end amounted to £181,290.
Although this figure was significantly higher than the amount to cover three months expenditure it was clear at the at the year that there would be significant challenges to our finances in the following year. This was partly due to having to vacate our Warrington properties at the end of July 2023 and locate our retail operation, sorting centre and depot into new premises. In addition, the number of requests that we were receiving for assistance was also increasing placing increased demands on our resources.
The Trustees felt that it was prudent to maintain the level of reserves going forward into the next year as there would be significant demands on our funds, which has turned out to be the case.
The Trustees declare that they have approved this report and financial statements for the year to 31 May 2023.
Signed on behalf of the Charity’s Trustees
John A Stott Treasurer and Trustee 28 March 2024
CARE UK Charity
Profit and loss account for retail activity for year ended 31 May 2023
| Year ended | Year ended | |
|---|---|---|
| 31 May 2023 | 31 May 2022 | |
| £ | £ | |
| Income | ||
| Shop sales | 400,276 | 481,151 |
| Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme | - |
2,695 |
| Total income | 400,276 |
483,846 |
| Expenses | ||
| Property expenses | 46,122 | 82,981 |
| Wages and pensions | 192,635 | 214,924 |
| Vehicle and transport costs | 14,906 | 7,424 |
| Finance charges | 4,195 | 4,301 |
| General expenses | 12,208 | 19,801 |
| Depreciation | 3,918 |
3,482 |
| Total expenses | 273,984 |
332,913 |
| Net profit from retail activity | 126,292 |
150,933 |
CARE UK Charity
Income and Expenditure account for the year ended 31 May 2023
| Income Profit from retail activity Donations from individuals Donations from groups and organisations Gift Aid claimed Fundraising activities Recycling of goods Other income Bank interest Total income Expenditure Aid for refugees overseas Donations to aid organisations overseas Container costs and shipping Support for refugees and families in UK Homes team costs Food Bank Flood relief Vehicle and transport expenses Premises costs Wages and pensions General expenses Depreciation (Note 1) Total expenditure Net surplus / (deficit) for the period Accumulated surplus brought forward Transfer to Restricted Funds Net reserves at 31 May 2023 |
Year ended 31 May 2023 Year ended 31 May 2022 Unrestricted funds Restricted funds Unrestricted funds Restricted funds £ £ £ £ 126,292 29,799 13,642 1,323 8,475 16,783 1,876 586 - - - - - - - - 150,933 36,849 4,841 2,116 5,987 19,561 22,713 19 - 150 - - - - - - |
|---|---|
| 198,776 - 243,019 150 |
|
| 7,141 4,750 - 63,547 44,578 3,936 - 9,778 613 69,012 7,328 3,942 - 28,602 - - - - 11,999 - - - 204 - 24,726 6,260 12,934 43,928 31,191 2,908 - 6,748 323 75,757 10,118 3,425 - 77,226 - - - - 1,968 - - - 189 - |
|
| 214,625 40,805 218,318 79,383 |
|
| (15,849) (40,805) 24,701 (79,233) |
|
| 197,139 44,853 190,452 106,072 - - (18,014) 18,014 |
|
| 181,290 4,048 197,139 44,853 |
CARE UK Charity
Balance sheet at 31 May 2023
| Balance at | Balance at | |
|---|---|---|
| 31 May 2023 | 31 May 2022 | |
| £ | £ | |
| FIXED ASSETS | ||
| Motor vehicles (Note 1) | 6,525 | 10,467 |
| Fixtures & fittings (Note 1) | - | 3,918 |
| CURRENT ASSETS | ||
| Trade debtors | 4,002 | 2,111 |
| Prepayments | 1,208 | 4,658 |
| Other debtors | 335 | - |
| Bank current accounts | 15,090 | 57,619 |
| Bank deposit accounts | 223,733 | 175,156 |
| PayPal account | 1,355 | 58 |
| Cash in hand | 1,033 | 3,278 |
| VAT repayable | 1,605 |
3,994 |
| TOTAL ASSETS | 254,886 |
261,259 |
| CURRENT LIABILITIES | ||
| Accruals | 19,548 | 19,267 |
| Long term loan |
50,000 |
- |
| TOTAL LIABILITIES | 69,548 |
19,267 |
| TOTAL NET ASSETS AT 31 MAY 2023 | 185,338 |
241,992 |
| Represented by: | ||
| Unrestricted Funds | 181,290 | 197,139 |
| Restricted Funds | 4,048 |
44,853 |
| TOTAL NET RESERVES AT 31 MAY 2023 | 185,338 | 241,992 |
CARE UK Charity
Notes to the accounts for year ended 31 May 2023
1. Fixed Assets
| Fixed Assets | ||
|---|---|---|
| Motor vehicles | Fixtures & fittings | |
| £ | £ | |
| COST | ||
| As at 1 June 2022 | 16,600 | 7,400 |
| Additions during the year | - | - |
| Disposals during the year | - |
(7,400) |
| As at 31 May 2023 | 16,600 | - |
| DEPRECIATION | ||
| As at 1 June 2022 | 6,133 | 3,482 |
| Charge for the year | 3,942 | 3,918 |
| Disposals during the year | - | (7,400) |
| As at 31 May 2023 | 10,075 | - |
| NET BOOK VALUE | ||
| As at 1 June 2022 | 10,467 | 3,918 |
| As at 31 May 2023 | 6,525 | - |
Depreciation on motor vehicles is provided at an annual rate of 25% on a straight-line basis to write off the asset over its estimated useful life.
Depreciation on fixtures and fittings is provided over their anticipated useful life.
2. Trustee remuneration
During the year, no Trustee received any remuneration. No members of the Board of Trustees received reimbursement of travel or subsistence expenses during the year.
3. Related party transactions
During the year there were no related party transactions.