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2021-03-31-accounts

1

TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT

1[st] April 2020 – 31[st] March 2021

Celebrating 25 Years of Helping to prevent homelessness

The Office 2[nd] Floor, The Hub, Easton Street, High Wycombe, Bucks, HP11 1NJ

EMAIL: info@wycrent.org.uk TELEPHONE: 01494 528557 www.wrdgs.org.uk

Registered Charitable Incorporated Organisation - No. 1171222

1 Objectives and Activities

The Wycombe Rent Deposit Guarantee Scheme (WRDGS) is a charity set up for the relief of poverty amongst people who are homeless or inadequately housed in the Wycombe District area, in particular through the provision of rent deposit guarantees and other assistance on behalf of said persons who are in need of accommodation and who would otherwise be unable to secure accommodation in the Wycombe District.

The Scheme meets its objectives by:

  1. Providing a Guarantee as an alternative to the cash deposit normally required by a landlord taking on new tenants. The landlord can claim against the guarantee if he would be entitled to make deductions from a pre-paid deposit. This can help those who are able to pay rent, for example, if they qualify for Local Housing Allowance (LHA), but who cannot afford a deposit.

  2. Maintaining and sustaining existing tenancies by liaising with tenants, landlords, benefits agencies and other support bodies to pre-empt and address issues threatening a tenancy.

  3. Giving free, confidential advice on housing-related matters.

2 Background

The early planning stages of the Scheme were started in 1995 by a partnership between the members of The Wycombe District Council Housing Forum and The Source Group - a lay ecumenical Christian covenant community based in High Wycombe.

The Charity was registered in 1996 as a charitable trust but converted to being a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) for the year 2017-18. The charitable objects, staff and trustees remained the same but a CIO is the recommended legal structure for a small charity like WRDGS.

At WRDGS’ inception it was agreed that Wycombe District Council (WDC) would provide an annual grant to pay for on-costs (the costs of employing staff), the churches of High Wycombe would contribute towards running costs and The Guinness Partnership Limited would set aside £30,000 to cover the guarantees.

WRDGS applies for an annual grant from the Council (which is now Buckinghamshire Council as it replaced Wycombe District Council and other district councils in 2020). The Council grant has not fully covered oncosts for several years so other means of fundraising have to be employed.

WRDGS was eligible for several special grants relating to homelessness during the pandemic which was useful as many of our usual fundraising methods were not possible. We were grateful for the continued support of our regular donors.

3 Achievements and Performance

This year WRDGS celebrated 25 years of helping to prevent homelessness in Wycombe District. Our staff answered 413 calls for advice from clients. Some of these clients only contacted the Scheme once, whilst others contacted the Scheme regularly.

3

We have housed 81 households with 8 different landlords. Utilising our tenancy support service, most of our clients have renewed their tenancies without a guarantee being required, indicating that our landlords consider them to be reliable tenants.

We have helped 22 households rescue their tenancies and 37 households to sustain their tenancies thus preventing them from becoming homeless.

We have had no claims against our guarantees this year proving that, with our help, our tenants are reliable and manage their finances well.

As we offer local landlords a free professional service (the Operations Manager is a Fellow of The National Association of Estate Agents) they continue to house our homeless clients.

When the Country went into lockdown our 2 members of staff started working from home and did so throughout our financial year 2020-21. Buckinghamshire Council and a local charity, Wycombe Homeless Connection, funded emergency temporary accommodation to ensure that homeless people were able to move off the streets for their safety. Our staff worked with the Council, other local charities and support services to help homeless people to move into permanent accommodation and to claim housing benefit/universal credit in order to be able to pay their rent. New opportunities were provided to help those people in the temporary accommodation who wanted to engage with support services and Government interest in homelessness during the pandemic provided real opportunities to fight homelessness in the area.

The Scheme continues to prevent homelessness by providing ongoing benefit and housing advice at the weekly housing legal clinic hosted by Wycombe Homeless Connection.

The Scheme aims to promote and support continued cooperation and interaction with all agencies working with best practice in mind to get the task at hand resolved as quickly and as efficiently as possible.

4 People Helped by the Scheme in 2020-21

By the end of 2020/2021, the Scheme had HOUSED 1675 households, a total of 1845 adults and 756 children housed. Of these, 81 households (85 Adults and 1 child) were new to the Scheme and 27 households (27 Adults and 0 children) renewed their tenancies with the help of the Scheme. By the end 2020/21, the Scheme had RESCUED 645 clients’ tenancies. Of these 22 were new in 2020/21. We have also helped to SUSTAIN 37 tenancies in order to keep clients in their accommodation who would have been at risk of becoming homeless.

Scheme Applicants

413 households looking for property registered with the Scheme in 2020/21 and the following chart shows the reasons why they needed help.

4

2020/2021 SCHEME APPLICANTS – REASON FOR HOMELESSNESS

----- Start of picture text -----
Overcrowded
Poor conditions
Other reason
Refused/not known
Loss of tied accommodation
Evicted from hostel
Move on from hostel
WHC night shelter
NFA/sofa surfing
Sleeping rough
Intentionally homeless
Leaving hospital or prison
Leaving N.A.S.S. Housing
End of AST
Rent arrears
Mortgage arrears
Harrasment/domestic violence
Relationship breakdown
Relatives/friends can't accommodate
Parents can't accommodate
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
----- End of picture text -----

The figures below show breakdowns by household type and ethnic origin of people housed and advised by the Scheme this year.

HOUSED HOUSEHOLD BREAKDOWN Couples 03 Families 01 Single Females 11 Single Males 66 Single-Parent Families 00

5

Ethnic Breakdown of Clients Advised
WhiteBritish
Irish
Any other Background		 176
00
02
Black or BlackBritish
Caribbean
African
Any other Black Background		 37
01
00
Asian BritishIndian
Pakistani
Bangladeshi
Chinese
Any other Asian Background		 02
08
01
00
01
MixedWhite and Black Caribbean
White and Black African
White and Asian
Any Other Mixed Background		 06
01
01
08
Other Ethnic Groups 00
OtherNot known
Prefer not to say		 165
04

6

Typical clients and how we helped

The following case studies are based on real people, although names and details have been changed to preserve anonymity. Much of the work that we do is more complicated than simply housing someone.

Dave had been residing in a local hostel for over the permitted 18 months, so he was referred to us. We spoke to one of our local landlords who had just offered us a self-contained studio flat and arranged a viewing. Dave loved the property, so we negotiated with the landlord to reduce the rent of £750.00 pcm, to a more affordable amount, otherwise Dave would have his benefit capped and the tenancy wouldn’t be sustainable. We paid the rent in advance of £706.00 and issued a Deposit Guarantee Certificate. This in turn freed up a room at the hostel for clients being housed in temporary accommodation due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

A long-term rough sleeper was verified and due to the Government’s COVID19 “Everyone In” initiative, was placed in short term accommodation. There was a vacancy at a hostel, but due to rent arrears from a previous stay he was unable to move in. We repaid his arrears and paid his upfront costs enabling him to move in. He settled in well and is engaging with recovery and resettlement services. This will enable us to work with him in the future when he is ready to sustain a private sector tenancy.

A couple had been given notice to move due to overcrowding issues. The Council asked if we knew of any properties, as the clients had been searching themselves, but not found anything they could afford whilst on benefits. We knew of a large, self-contained flat, that had been empty for some time and needed bringing up to a good standard to pass an Environmental Health inspection. We liaised with the Landlord and his contractors to get the work completed. Environmental Health inspected and approved the property. We negotiated with the landlord and he was happy to reduce the rent to an affordable amount. We paid their rent in advance of £745 and covered their deposit enabling the clients to move in. We also helped them apply for Universal Credit, so they could pay their rent and Council Tax Reduction to help with their Council Tax costs.

We have referred clients for on-going support to:

5 Organisations who referred Clients to WRDGS during 2020-21

Buckinghamshire Council Housing Options Team

Buckinghamshire Council Customer Service Centre

Buckinghamshire Social Care

Connection Floating Support – Bucks

Chiltern Adult Mental Health Team

Citizens Advice Bureau

GP Surgeries

H.M. Prison & Probation Service

Job Centre Plus

Oasis Partnership Old Tea Warehouse

P3 Housing Support Service

Padstones

Private Sector Landlords

Saunderton Lodge Thames Valley Police

Wycombe Homeless Connection

Wycombe Women’s Aid

Youth Enquiry Service

YMCA

8

6 Financial Review

Guarantee Funds

Total guarantees written 1996 to 31 Mar 2021 £ 417,367.19 Claims against guarantees 1996 to 31 Mar 2021 £ 4,863.26 Outstanding guarantee liability 31 Mar 2021 £ 8,854.81 The Scheme’s average claim rate = 1.17%

Review of the Charity’s Financial Position at the end of the Period

During 2020-21 the Scheme’s operation was financed by:

WRDGS has the following funds ear-marked for specific uses. These are documented on the Balance Sheet of the annual accounts.

This fund was set up in 2018-19 as a result of receiving a grant of £20,000 from Wycombe District Council for this purpose. This fund was topped up by a further grant of £20,000 from Wycombe District Council in 2019-20 and £6,686 remained in the fund at the end of the year.

9

Funding for the Future

It is estimated that WRDGS will need £79,450 to run during the year 2021-22 (including money required to top-up its statutory liabilities for possible redundancy and sick pay).

Before the end of 2020-21, WRDGS had secured a grant from Buckinghamshire Council of £62,500 for 2021-22.

£20,813 of unrestricted reserves was brought forward into 2020-21 from 2019-20.

Further funds will be raised from donations from local churches, private donors and grants.

WRDGS was noted as a key partner in Wycombe District Council’s Homelessness Strategy and has collaborated with Buckinghamshire Council as it did with Wycombe District Council.

Policy for holding reserves and amounts at end of 2020-21

WRDGS has the following reserves:

7 Structure, Governance and Management

WRDGS is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) whose governing document is a constitution. As well as individual people applying to be trustees, the following organisations can nominate trustees for the charity:

The Scheme is managed by a steering committee comprising the trustees, its two members of staff and a member of Buckinghamshire Council Housing Benefit Department.

The Scheme’s Steering Committee during 2020-21

Catriona Plummer Trustee nominated by Churches Together High Wycombe (Chair of trustees) Cllr. Paul Turner Trustee nominated by Buckinghamshire Council (Treasurer) Robert Thoms Trustee (Secretary) Nancy Bradshaw Trustee

10

Clive Bradshaw Trustee Eddie Maguire Trustee Linda Dean Housing Benefits Advisor Phil Thomas Operations Manager (paid member of staff) Tracey Thomas Client Servicing Officer (paid member of staff).

8 Acknowledgements and thanks

The trustees would like to thank our two members of staff who have continued to provide an excellent service to our clients in this particularly difficult year.

The trustees would like to thank the following people who donated their services free of charge:

Anthony Pearmain – Web site design & IT Consultant @ StratMetrix

Sharon Marshall - Keeping Books 4 U

Steven Potts – Independent Examiner of End of Year Accounts

Thanks also to those who provided grants:

We are very grateful to our many donors during 2020-21 who continued to support us in spite of the difficulties arising from lockdowns and COVID19 restrictions.

Thanks also to:

*All the Landlords and Landladies who have housed our clients.

*Hillingdon Law Centre

Connection Support Wycombe Homeless Connection *Wycombe Housing Options

*The team at Wycombe Housing Benefit

THE WYCOMBE RENT DEPOSIT GUARANTEE SCHEME

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES FOR THE Period Ended ENDED 31st March 2021

INCOME AND EXPENDITURE
Note
INCOME
Donations
3
BC Grant
5
Other Income
4
COIF Deposit Interest
Bank Interest
Gift Aid Tax Refund
3
TOTAL INCOME
EXPENDITURE
Salaries & On-costs
Printing, Postage & Stationery
Telephone / IT
Travel & Parking
Subscriptions
Bank Charges
Rent
Insurance
PPE Equipment
Miscellaneous
NET SURPLUS FOR THE YEAR		 Total
31-Mar-21
18,798
62,500
10,000
12
32
95
91,438
68,292
208
1,183
241
265
76
3,600
903
315
66
75,148
16,290		 Total
31-Mar-20
13,408
62,500
61
61
106
108
76,244
66,271
288
1,945
189
265
0
3,510
965
0
53
73,485
2,759

The notes on page 3 and 4 form part of these accounts.

Page 1

THE WYCOMBE RENT DEPOSIT GUARANTEE SCHEME BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31st March 2021 Note 31-Mar-21 31-Mar-20 CURRENT ASSETS Cash at Bank COIF Deposit BOSHIDPS Account Debtors & Prepayments 43,735 10,000 8,587 28,920 10,000 22,713 10111 62,322 81,633 CURRENT LIABILITIES Creditors & Accruals 1,858 1,858 3,099 3,099 NET CURRENT ASSETS 60,464 58,534 NET ASSETS 80,484 58,534 FUNDS Guiness Restricted Fund Redundancy Reserve SSP Reserve DPS Fund BOSH RIA Fund BC Fund BC Cllr Funds x2 Unrestricted Reserves 2,000 26,486 2,493 1,778 123 6,686 767 20,151 60,464 2,000 24,385 2,451 1,778 123 20,813 10 12 13 6,984 58,534 Approved by the Board of Trustees on . ItsTvw. 24 and signe¢J on its behalf by Chairman Page 2 The notes on pages 3 and 4 form part of these accounts.

THE WYCOMBE RENT DEPOSIT GUARANTEE SCHEME

NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS FOR THE PERIOD ENDED 31st March 2021

1) ACCOUNTING POLICIES

General

These accounts have been prepared under the historic cost convention and in accordance with applicable accounting standards and the Statement of Recommended Practice on Accounting by Charities

2) ANALYSIS OF NET ASSETS BY FUND

Restricted Fund (Guiness)
Redundancy Reserve
SSP Reserve
BOSH RIA
DPS Fund
BC Scheme
BC Councillors Fund x2
Unrestricted Fund		 31-Mar-21
31-Mar-20
£
£
2,000
2,000
26,466
24,385
2,493
2,451
123
123
1,778
1,778
6,685
20,813
767
0
20,151
6,984
60,463
58,534

3) DONATIONS (Incl Lotto)

J Briggs
anonymous
S Connolly
anonymous
C. & W. Bunting
N Bradshaw
anonymous
Deacon P Priestley
Tesco (Groundwork UK)
S Priestley
G & H Dodgson
Anonymous - Charities Aid Foundation
Postcode Lottery Grant
Virgin Money
anonymous
anonymous
Bucks HA
Amazon Europe
P Hogwood
St Peter's Church
anonymous
W. & C. Plummer
BC Lotto
Gift Aid Received 2020/21		 DONATIONS
2020 - 2021
£
172
10
62
26
120
15
120
110
500
120
60
225
15,778
0
45
500
28
10
240
415
10
130
102
18,798
95
18,893

4) OTHER INCOME

Notebook Sales
Homeless Link Grant		 31-Mar-21
31-Mar-20
£
£
0
61
10,000
0
10,000
61

The Homeless Link Grant was received to offset in-year running costs in response to Covid.

page 3

5) BC GRANT

Grant to pay for staff salaries, on-costs and some running costs.

6)
MOVEMENT IN RESERVES
O/Bal 31 March 2020
movement in year surplus/(defict) before movement to reserves
Payments for Deposits/Rent In Advance from Reserves
BC Cllr Funds Covid Grant 20/21
BC Cllr Funds Grant Q4 19/20
Purchase of Office Furniture
to SSP Reserve
to Redundancy Reserve
C/Bal 31 Mar 2021		 £
£
£
£
£
£
£
Restricted
Profit & Loss
SSP
Redundancy
BOSH, BC &
BC Cllr
Reserves
Total
Reserve
Reserve
DPS Funds
Funds
Guinness
6,984
2,451
24,385
22,714
0
2,000
58,534
16,290
16,290
(14,126)
(2,000)
(16,126)
2,000
2,000
(1,000)
1,000
0
(233)
(233)
(42)
42
0
(2,081)
2,081
0
20,150
2,493
26,466
8,588
767
2,000
60,464
Designated Reserves

The movement in the BOSH, DPS and BC Funds represents the payments for Rent Deposits and Rent in Advance made during the year and further grants received.

The movement from Profit & Loss to designated reserve relates to a grant received in Q4 2019/20

THE WYCOMBE RENT DEPOSIT GUARANTEE SCHEME

NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS FOR THE PERIOD ENDED 31st March 2021

7)
RESTRICTED & DESIGNATED RESERVES
Guiness Trust to settle g'tee claims
Redundancy Reserve
SSP Reserve
DPS Fund
BOSH RIA Fund
BC Fund
BC Cllrs Fund x2
8)
DEBTORS
9)
CREDITORS
HMRC Mar 21
Expenses
10) BOSH DONATION
£10,938 received into the Current Account and
transferred to dedicated account in 2014.
Money is being used as payments of rent in advance
to landlords for single homeless people
Y/e 2014
9 payments
Y/e 2015
5 payments
Y/e 2016
4 payments
Y/e 2017
3 payments
Y/e 2018
2 payments
Y/e 2019
2 payments
Y/e 2020
0 payments
11) DPS DONATION
£10,000.00 received into the Current Account and included
in the BOSH bank account to be used as payments for
rent in advance
Y/e 2016
1 payment
Y/e 2017
3 payments
Y/e 2018
2 payments
Y/e 2019
11 payments
Y/e 2020
4 payments
12) BC Grant Scheme
£20,000 received in 2018/19 as a grant to fund further
Rent in Advance and rent Deposits
a further £20,000 received in 2019/20
Y/e 2019 6 Payments
Y/e 2020 24 Payments
Y/e 2021 28 Payments
13) BC Cllr Fund
£2,000 received Q1 2020/21 re Covid emergency funding.
£1,000 received Q4 2019/20 re Cllrs Ward Budgets
Y/e 2021 4 Payments
Covid
Y/e 2021 Office Furniture
ward budgets
page 4		 £
2,000
26,466
2,493
1,778
123
6,685
767
40,313
£
0
0
£
1,695
162
1,857
£
4,120
1,630
1,268
1,580
1,248
968
0
10,815
£
300
1,003
649
3,596
2,674
8,222
£
3,895
15,294
14,126
33,315
2,000
233
2,233

CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examinerfs report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trust0￿1 membors of Wycombe Rent Deposit Guarantee S¢h6me On accounts for tho year ended 31 March 2021 Charlty no (If any) 1171222 Sot out on pages I report to th8 trust8es on my axamination of tho accounts of the abovo chartty (￿e Trusf) ft)r the year ended 3110312021. Rasponslbllttles and basls of report As the charivs trustges, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordar￿6 wtth th8 r8quirem8nts of th8 Charities Act 2011 (Ihe Acr). I report In respect of my 8xaminatlon of the Trust's a(xounts carrled out under section 145 ofthe 2011 A¢t and in carrying out my examinallon, I have followèd all th8 applicabl8 Directions given by the Charity Commlsslon under Secti￿ 145{5)(b) of the Act. Inde￿ndent I havè compbted my 8xaminatlon. I confim that no materfal matters have examlnerfs statement come to my attention in connection with the examination (other than that dlsclosed bek)w ') whl¢h gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect: the accounting record8 wero not kept In acc(irdanca with sactlon 130 of the Charflles kt; or the a¢¢ounts did not actord WFth the accounting records,. or Ihe a¢xounts did not Comply with the applicable requirements ¢onceming the fom and content of accounts set out in th8 Charitles (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any r8quirem8nt that the accounts give a 'tN8 and faiff view which is not a matter onsider8d as part of an ind8pendent examination. I have no (￿n￿rns and have come across no oth8r matters In connectlon with tt)e examinaticKt to which att8ntFon should bo drawn in thls report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to b8 reached. . Please del8te the words in the brad(ets rf they do not apply. Slgned: Name: Steven Robert Potts Relevant Pfofesslonal qualificatlon(s) or body (If any): FCCA Address: 15 Hylton Road. Hlgh Wycombe. Bucks HP12 4BZ IER Oct 2018

Section B Disclosure Only complete if Ihe examiner needs to highlight malerial matters of concern (see CC32. Independent axaminatron of tharity a￿OUnts: dir&ctions and guidan￿ for examiners). Glve hern brlef detalls of any Items that the examlner wlshes to dlsclose. IER Oct 2018