2021-12-31-accounts

King’s Lynn Debt Centre Annual Report and Accounts for the year to 31 December 2021

Charity number 1167702

October 2022

King’s Lynn Debt Centre

Report of the trustees for the year ending 31 December 2021

The trustees are pleased to present their annual report and accounts for the year ending 31 December 2021. The report complies with Charity Commission guidance and the Statement of Recommended Practice – Accounting and reporting by Charities (SORP 2005).

Chairman’s report

We find ourselves in a place of transition and some uncertainty regarding our immediate future now that Emily has ceased being the manager of our Debt Centre, and before we have recruited her replacement. However, I feel very encouraged by the steady and impressive progress made by King’s Lynn Debt Centre. This has been evidenced in the number of people and families we serve, by the wonderful stories we have heard of lives changed for the better, and by the number of people who find themselves debt free because of the centre’s ministry. I am also very encouraged that Emily, having served so effectively as manager here, has gained such a thoroughly deserved and good promotion.

In addition to these things, I am pleased to acknowledge that the debt centre has grown to have four partner churches rather than three, and as a result we are strengthened by having two extra trustees. We are certainly in a more secure financial position than we were 12 months ago.

May I thank my fellow trustees for their commitment to the work of our debt centre. I thank Andrew for all he has given and continues to give as our treasurer, and Hilary for her very effective work as our secretary and bookkeeper.

I would also like to thank our volunteers for their commitment to the centre over the past year.

Finally, my thanks are due to Emily for her God inspired and faithful service working towards debt relief in King’s Lynn since the inception of King’s Lynn Debt Centre in 2016. Thank you to Laura for all she has done in support of Emily and for her willingness to hold the reigns until our next Centre Manager is ready to take over.

I pray that God will continue to bless our shared ministry in this place.

Our purposes and activities

The purposes of the charity are:

• (a) The relief of poverty for persons living in North-West Norfolk who are in conditions of need, hardship, or distress by reason of their financial circumstances.

• (b) The advancement of education in all matters relating to the management of personal finances.

• (c) The advancement of the Christian faith through care, compassion, practical and spiritual help.

During the year our programme of activities focused on helping people get out of debt and equipping them with the tools and confidence to take control of their finances. In planning our activities for the year, we kept in mind the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit.

Centre Manager’s report

In our latest newsletter the scripture Ecclesiastes 3:1 was shared. It declares “There is a season for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens”.

This last year has been a season of rebuilding in the Debt Centre. We have emerged out of a series of COVID-19 lockdowns, where we were only able to provide an over the phone service, to now being able to visit people once again in their own people’s homes. We remain one of the few services in the area that has resumed home visits.

In January 2022, I felt that we needed to focus on building up our volunteer teams. To start with we ran a lunch for current volunteers, where we asked them to recommit to volunteer, or discreetly chose to step down if they felt they had served their time with us. We sought new volunteers and held our first volunteer’s coffee morning. We ran Empower training for all current and new volunteers to prepared them for home appointments. We also ran a mental health and boundaries training. We now have 15 volunteers in addition to Laura (our volunteer Debt Coach). However, only 3 of these are male volunteers. We really need some more male volunteers to become befrienders.

Laura has been a Debt Coach for a year now and her support has been greatly appreciated. She has completed all the required training elements and helps to oversee the wellbeing of all our volunteers. She is looking forward to being more involved in the training of volunteers and running courses to help our clients.

Over the last few months, we have only had a few new clients. This is a surprise to us with the current cost of living crisis. One reason could be the severely negative impact that Covid19 has had on many people who were already struggling with their mental health. They have got worse and are not in a mental position to receive help, even though they desperately need it. They cannot cope so they bury their head in the sand hoping the situation will go away - we all know it won’t.

In recent months we have done a lot of work promoting the debt centre. We have had newspaper articles in Lynn News and Your Local Paper. We have been featured on BBC Look East. We have updated other charities and services through the West Norfolk Community Forum. We have spent a week at King’s Lynn Foodbank promoting our service to people coming to collect food. We have also had volunteers displaying posters and flyers in different locations across the town. Laura and I also attended a Provision Marketplace event at Job Centre Plus to promote our work with all the work coaches. Ideally, we would like to see someone volunteer 2-4 hours a week as a Community Links Co-ordinator. They would be responsible for carrying out all promotion of the Debt Centre as well as building and maintaining relationships with referral agencies in our local area.

The client’s we are helping are also struggling to engage regularly with our services. Many are living with severe mental health challenges. Laura is passionate about running drop-ins and courses like The Well-being Course in 2023 to re-engage with our clients on a regular basis.

We continue to run monthly prayer gatherings and value the support of everyone who prays for the work of the Debt Centre whether that is attending the prayer gatherings or by praying in their own time at home. Prayer is a vital component to the work we do.

This year we have seen a huge demand for emergency aid. CAP Head Office have an emergency aid fund available to our clients. Each client can apply for assistance. Some of these things include food shops, electricity/gas top-ups, mobile phone top-ups, school uniform, interview clothes etc. We also use ACTS 435 to request funds for items that clients may need. We can also issue Foodbank vouchers.

This summer we provided Summer Hampers to all our families to help them through the summer. These included food cupboard staples such as pasta, rice, tins, as well as kids’ snacks, and children’s activities to keep them busy in the holidays.

The King’s Centre held a Family Fun Day- each for our families and four families come along. This was greatly encouraging.

All our CAP families will also receive help from The King’s Centre’s Community Impact School Uniform project to help relieve the burden of the extra costs to spend out on school uniforms.

For me, this is my final Centre Manager’s report. I have been in the post since February 2016, launching the Debt Centre in April 2016. This September I began a new role within Christians Against Poverty as Area Manager of East of England (North). It has been a privilege and honour to serve with this ministry to help people in our local community find financial freedom and more importantly to display the love of God to people. I know God isn’t finished with the Debt Centre here in King’s Lynn and he will take it from strength to strength. I look forward to hearing more about what God continues to do through the work of Christians Against Poverty King’s Lynn Debt Centre.

Over the last 6 ½ years we have seen (statistics on 25/08/2022)

> 41 households have gone Debt Free. > 154 adults’ lives impacted

> 133 children’s lives impacted

I want to thank everyone who has supported me and the debt centre over the last 6 and a half years. Whether you have said a prayer, volunteered your time, or served as a Trustee, each of you has had a valuable part to play in the working of the Debt Centre. Thank you for whatever part you have played to make this Debt Centre the success it is today.

Emily Hart

Debt Centre Manager (February 2016-August 2022)

Reference and administrative details

Charity number: 1167702 Principal Office: King’s Centre, Wellesley St, King's Lynn PE30 1QD Bank: HSBC, 23 New Conduit Street, King's Lynn, PE30 1DE

Trustees

Canon James Nash Chair (elected 2 March 2016) John Currey (elected 2 March 2016) Neil Hubbard (elected 2 March 2016) Rachel Osborne (elected 24 January 2022) Clare Mallet (elected 24 January 2022) Chester Noble (elected 27 June 2022) Vera Harsant (elected 24 January 2022) Terry Harsant (elected 24 January 2022) Trustees removed because of resignation or retirement on 24[th] January 2022 David Tate (elected 2 March 2016) Kenneth Hubbard (elected 2 March 2016) Kevan Crane (elected 2 March 2016) Mark Willetts (elected 2 March 2016)

Debt Centre Manager

Currently vacant

Governance

King’s Lynn Debt Centre is a registered charity with the Charity Commission of England and Wales. It is governed by a constitution adopted 2[nd] March 2016. The charity is constituted as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO). Trustees are appointed or reappointed annually at the Annual General Meeting in October.

The trustees are responsible keeping proper accounting records that disclose, with reasonable accuracy, at any time, the financial position of the charity. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

Financial review

Reserves policy

Cash at bank at 31/12/2021 was £15,661 in unrestricted funds. The main financial risk to the charity is the loss of grant funding and a fall in donations. Funds are held to cover 3 months operational costs in the event of a loss of income and to meet any unforeseen expenditure that may occur.

Funds

Our main source of funds this year has been donations from partner churches, other churches, and individuals. We received grants from Diocese of Norwich, Yorkshire Building Society, and the Leatherworkers Company. The major expenses were staff costs and the subscription to CAP Bradford.

The Revd. Canon James Nash (Chair)

10 October 2022

NOTES

• 2021 saw an increase of grant income from £1,500 (received in 2020) to £10,950. This meant we ended the year with a surplus of £7994, a carry forward from 2020 of £7667 and total funds of £15,661.

• The major items of expenditure were salary costs and the contribution to CAP Bradford.

• The partner churches of Cornerstone King's Lynn Baptist, the Church in the Wootton's and King's Lynn Evangelical Church were joined by the King's Church.

• Gifts came from other churches including the Church of the Nazarene, King's Lynn Minster, and St Faith's Gaywood. Many personal donations were received, including an anonymous gift of £5000.

• Many charities have experienced financial difficulties in 2021 due to the coronavirus and its impact on our economy. During 2022 we hope to increase our profile across the area and our pool of volunteers and donors.

• • We are very grateful to the staff and volunteers who have served so selflessly throughout this difficult period. We would also like to thank the local churches and individuals for their regular support.

• We are particularly grateful to the Diocese of Norwich, Yorkshire Building Society, and the Leatherworkers Company for their generous grant.

A Frere-Smith Treasurer, King's Lynn Debt Centre

These accounts were approved by the Trustees on the 27th of June 2022 and signed on their behalf by

Revd Canon James Nash Chair of Trustees

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