**Registered Charity number 1173175** ## **Report of the Trustees of Greyhound Lifeline (CIO) and Financial Statements for the year 01/04/2020 to 31/03/2021** Trustees: Miss Lucy Quarendon Mrs Marie Harris Miss Marina Timms Mr Chris Baker Principal Address: Greyhound Lifeline 105 Crookham Road Church Crookham Fleet Hampshire, UK GU51 5NP Web site: www.greyhoundlifeline.co.uk Email: enquiries@greyhoundlifeline.co.uk Registered Charity number: 1173175 Independent Examiner: Mr Robert Arthey B.A. A.C.M.A. 6 Fullerton Close, Fleet, Hampshire, GU51 1BJ Bankers: Lloyds Bank PLC, Aldershot branch, Sort Code 30-90-09 ## **Report of the Trustees for the year ended 31-03-2021** ## **Structure, Governance and Management** The Charity is controlled by its Constitutional Document and it constitutes a Charitable Unincorporated Organisation (CIO) operating in England and Wales. Greyhound Lifeline achieved independent Charity Status on 25[th ] May 2017 being issued the Charity number 1173175. Greyhound Lifeline retain a Board of four Trustees with a requirement of between 3 and 5 Trustees at any one time. The Trustees remain the original four and they are permanent Trustees with no need for any to step down and be replaced unless any terms under sections 12 or 28 of the Constitution are invoked in which case recruitment of replacement Trustee(s) would become necessary. 1 The charity is confident that it acts at all times within its Charitable Objective which is stated below: “The objects of Greyhound Lifeline are to promote humane behaviour towards greyhounds by providing appropriate care, protection, treatment and security for greyhounds which are in need of care and attention by reason of sickness, maltreatment, poor circumstances or ill usage and to educate the public in matters pertaining to greyhound welfare in general and the prevention of cruelty and suffering among greyhounds.” The Charity is administered and managed by the Trustees. The Day to day responsibility falls with two of the Trustees, namely Lucy Quarendon and Marie Harris both of whom have joint and several responsibility for Operations and Volunteers. Lucy and Marie are ably assisted by Marina Timms and Chris Baker. Marina and Chris both have backgrounds in accountancy and dog training and both are well qualified in these dual and diverse fields. Decisions which may impact on the Charity as a whole, its reputation or its legal compliance are discussed and decided upon prior to the event at the regular Trustee Meetings (or earlier in the case of any urgent issues that may need resolution before a scheduled Trustee meeting). ## **Notes to be read in conjunction with the Receipts and Payments account:** 1. Greyhound Lifeline have incurred zero cost for wages, salaries, National Insurance or Pensions. This is because the Charity is entirely “staffed” and managed by a team of unpaid volunteers. 2. Greyhound Lifeline have incurred zero charges for telephone or internet costs as two of the charity Trustees donate these services from their own finances. 3. Zero charges have been made by Lloyds Bank for the two accounts Greyhound Lifeline hold. 4. £18.26 of gross credit interest was earned on the Charity’s savings account during the tax year ending 31.03.21. 5. During the tax year 01.04.2020 to 31.03.2021 the total value of Gift Aid claimed and paid by HMRC was nil. No claim was made during this financial year, the claim will show on next year’s financial report. 6. At year end no money or services were owed to the charity by any individual, company or organisation. 7. There were no Trustees’ remunerations paid, claimed for or expected. 8. £485.10 was paid out in respect of fuel expenses claimed by volunteers acting on authorised business for Greyhound Lifeline. 9. Total spending outside of England and Wales was £5711.97. 10. The balance of Greyhound Lifeline’s Paypal account as at 31.03.21 was nil. 11. The charity spent £4,700 purchasing a caravan. This was extremely useful during the worst of the COVID lockdown periods and it has an ongoing purpose as a volunteer tea room, stock room as well as a presentable area for advertising. 2 ## **Serious Incidents** The Trustees declare that there were no serious incidents or other matters that Trustees should have reported to the Commission, but have not done so. ## **Other Incidents** There was one attempted bank fraud on the Charity’s Current Account during this accounting period for the sum of £43.33. The attempt was reported to Lloyds Bank and Greyhound Lifeline’s account was refunded in full the same day under the Direct Debit Guarantee Scheme. No further fraud attempt has occurred to date. This attempted fraud involved no financial loss to the Charity and was therefore not deemed to be a “Serious Incident” under Charity Commission guidance. ## **Policy on Reserves** Greyhound Lifeline retain the future plan of creating a purpose built, dedicated greyhound homing and educational centre. In order to achieve this aim, a large amount of long term saving will be required. The Charity is however still relatively new and as such the Trustees continue to believe that having liquid assets to pay for any unforeseen expenses and to ensure funding for at least the next six months of kenneling expenses is critical to support Greyhound Lifeline’s fundamental journey into the future. The Charity has seen a healthy increase in its financial assets over this 12 month period. This makes our target of one day having a bespoke kennel and training centre facility much closer to fruition than at this time last year. The Trustees continue to believe that for the foreseeable future the Charities financial reserves still need to remain easily accessible. As such funds continue to be held in accessible bank accounts. ## **Staffing, Volunteers and Organisational Structure** The daily running of the kennel site is undertaken by a team of volunteers over two shifts a day, every day of the year. The duty volunteers are under the guidance of the kennel managers and Trustees. The Trustees believe that all the duty volunteers have had sufficient training and are therefore able to run their shifts without the direct supervision of the kennel managers. In the event of an incident or emergency during a shift or out of hours the duty volunteers and/or the land owner know to contact either of the two kennel managers for support, advice or attendance in person at any time. Having a job share of the management role ensure the maximisation of support (i.e. sharing the duties between two people increases the chance of at least one of the managers being immediately available to assist) to our kennel hands. Due to the Covid 19 pandemic the day to day running of the Greyhound Lifeline kennels has necessarily been adapted in order the comply with Government regulations and to keep our team and any potential visitors/donors safe from infection. We now run on a “skeleton” team of kennels hands; most of whom work alone (or in 3 family units) to manage their shifts. Telephone or in person support however is always available from the managers in the event of any human or animal emergency. The kennel hand team this year has been reduced from around 20 people to around 12 people all of whom report directly to Lucy Quarendon and/or Marie Harris as their line managers. Each kennel shift is staffed by a person or persons who are capable of dealing with routine duties and visitors without direct management/Trustee support. In order that our resident greyhounds do not suffer any lack of attention through the forced lack of interaction with previously welcomed volunteer dog walkers the numbers of resident greyhounds has been reduced. This allows a manageable number of residents for one duty kennel hand to look after in line with our normal, high standards and every greyhound to be able to be exercised appropriately as well. Our initial response to the Covid crisis was to close the kennels and place all residents into known foster homes. This route to function at a time of uncertainty was of huge benefit to the individual dogs concerned. The majority soon ended up reserved and then adopted by their foster families. There was a negative aspect to fostering all of our available greyhounds out. It soon became apparent that foster home spaces were no longer available for any new arrivals because foster family spaces had been filled by the ex-foster hounds who are now family pets. The re-opening of the kennel site, to facilitate greyhounds in kennel residence again was discussed by the Trustees and it was subsequently agreed to re-open the kennel facility. This supported our regular trainers who had developed an excess of greyhounds needing a homing place. We re-opened as soon as an acceptable risk assessment, PPE, sanitisers and signage could be available to protect our kennel hands, customers, visitors, donors and adopters as much as possible from Covid infection. Grooming, playtime, feeding and medication routines have remained uninterrupted throughout the year. After a brief pause to re-evaluate our risk assessment and to allow for adaptations for Covid compliance our resident greyhounds have also enjoyed socialisation and “all breeds” dog training by a manager “in the real world”. Our consistently reduced number of residents has additionally meant that individual dogs which need re-training prior to adoption are prioritised and they receive an increased number of experiences and guidance through introduction, correction and reward based training. Greyhound Lifeline currently have no “long stay” dogs remaining for adoption, this is an unusual and wonderful situation to be in. The Greyhound Lifeline team this past year comprised an average number of around twelve key personnel/key holders all of whom work their unpaid kennel shifts on a rota basis. 4 These key volunteers are supplemented by a team of additional volunteers holding other crucial voluntary roles. The Covid 19 Pandemic has forced many of our volunteers to become temporarily “dormant” whilst the UK remains in partial lockdown. The trustees are aware that several volunteers are keen to return to their previous roles. We hope to be able to able to welcome them again before too long. The Trustees are truly grateful to each and every volunteer on the team. Not only have this voluntary team physically run a homing kennel 7 days a week, 365 days a year which incorporates caring for, protecting and seeing to the general well-being of the dogs both physically and through mental stimulation they also help to educate the public about greyhounds and what constitutes humane behaviour. All the volunteers play a huge part in preventing suffering or cruelty toward greyhounds by publicising the breed’s relatively simple needs and their suitability as pets through their own avid interest and enthusiasm for the breed. ## **Achievement and Performance:** The work of Greyhound Lifeline continues to a high standard where all the greyhounds in the care of the Charity are looked after daily to an exemplary standard by the team of volunteers. The Original Trustees all remain as Trustees and no changes to the Board of Trustees are expected in the foreseeable future. During the period 01.04.20 to 31.03.21 73 greyhounds were received into the care of the Charity. 71 greyhounds were adopted during this period into carefully vetted homes. Veterinary costs more than doubled this year due to the significant increase in greyhound numbers admitted into our care. The Charity held 3 greyhound awareness and fundraising collections during the year. This allowed them to not only collect financial donations, but to educate the general public in respect of the welfare and care of greyhounds generally. These event, although severely limited by Covid restrictions were very well received by the public who where keen to learn about the breed and the work we do as a Charity. A Covid specific risk assessment was completed for each event. A limited number of volunteers and greyhounds were present and correct social distancing was maintained throughout. In all cases where events were held on Public land the Charity were granted appropriate permits to collect by the respective Councils prior to the event occurring. Where events were held on private land the Owner of the land provided us with detailed written consent to collect. Two volunteers regularly raised funds for the Charity by selling various donated items at a local car boot sale. They managed to raise £2,886 during the financial year. This figure forms a large part of the total raised through donated items being sold. The remaining £831 in this category was raised through our kennel based shop sales, or through sales of donated merchandise on ebay and Facebook Marketplace. £4,000 was raised by The 5 ## Greyhound shop Bournemouth. Greyhound Lifeline continue to benefit from the voluntary and unpaid services of a dedicated McTimoney animal chiropractor who although unable to attend to all residents through Covid restrictions has once again begun the routine treatment of any kennel resident who presents with a need to be seen and treated. We are greatly appreciative of such a normally cost prohibitive therapy being offered to all our home seeking greyhounds free of charge. This is especially valuable when such positive visible improvements are seen in the comfort and mobility of the dogs in our care as a result. ## **Public benefit:** This financial year has been very restrictive in the form of what we can to as a Charity to benefit the public. The Covid pandemic caused an abrupt stop to our very successful and hugely rewarding care home visits which grew exponentially last financial year. These visits remain “on hold” until Covid 19 infection risks are sufficiently reduced to allow us access with carefully selected greyhounds into care homes once again. We look forward to being able to brighten the days of elderly and/or infirm residents once again. Greyhound Lifeline’s “Guide on Safe Handling of Dogs” which was written by two of the Charity’s qualified dog behaviour expert Trustees has been reviewed. It still forms a vital educational tool in Greyhound Lifeline’s Volunteer Kennel Hand Training Program and team refresher sessions. Volunteer Dog walking at Greyhound Lifeline which up until this year had been an “open to the public” daily event has necessarily been stopped until further notice. This is to minimise Covid infection risks to our team and the public in general. Covid transmission risks were risk assessed as being too high to continue this popular and public benefit activity due to multiple people handling the animals, their associated equipment and indeed the timber gates and buildings we work with. All of these items are very difficult, if not impossible to sanitise before or after each use. Reduced numbers of greyhounds on site would also make welcoming daily walkers currently very difficult since many people arriving would be disappointed by not having a dog available for them to walk. Volunteer dog walking remains under review. Greyhound Lifeline have utilized just one regular adult, work experience, person as an assistant to our kennel hand team throughout the year. This volunteer particularly benefits from the one to one support and mentoring we’ve been able to offer. Greyhound Lifeline are actively seeking ways in which we can re-establish the public benefit aspects of being a charity whilst minimising infection risks. We hope to be able to report on the success of these possibilities in next year’s report. 6 Gre hound Lifeline 1173175 Fleceipts and Payments Accounts for the Period from 01.04.2020 to 31.03.21Y21 I RECEIPTS: Funds lo the nearest £ LAst year to the nearest £ Monetary Donatlons £31,305 £50,135 tk)natod Items Sold £7.717 £5.291 Fundraislng Events Sal8 of Good$ £25 £3.385 £13.269 £10,972 Pet Plan Commisslon £1.374 £874 ,' Credit Interest Earned £18 £28 Gift Ald Recelpts TOTAL RECEIPTS £1,106 £72.538 £52,961 pAYmE￿S. Funds lo the nearest £ Last year to tho near8St £ Utslit]es. Repairs and Mwnt8nance Insurance £848 £987 Kennelling and Adoptlon Costs £9,623 £8.190 Veterinary and Medical Stock pu￿haSed £18.908 £8.871 £15,140 £9,443 , Professional Costs Consumables and Expenses Advertising, Postage. Publicity and Pnnting Event Oullay Purchase of Assets £50 £255 £505 £23 £266 £211 £0 £442 £4.792 £0 TOTAL PAYMENTS £50,132 £28.422 Total Receipts 1.420 to 31.3.21 Tolai payments 1.4.20 to 313 21 Total net ￿elPl￿(paYments1 lor thls period Net Receipts from Tax Year endlng 310320 £72.538 1£50.1321 £22.406 £24.611 Cash In hand 86 Cash In bank £95.054 Cash In Paypal account TOTAL CASH FUNDS FOR YEAR ENDING 310321 £91.353, TOTAL MONEfARY ASSErs LIABILrriES.' As al 3103.21 Uabllrtl￿ Totalled Pleas6 note that all the emounts at)ov8 compn'se unfestncted funds. Zero restnct&J funds or endowments were receive)J, held or spent durlng the whole of the accounting period. JI f)gures have been rounded to the nearest pourKI. Slgnad by two ol the Tntstees on behalf ol all ol th8 Trustees L Quarendon ..M Harrls Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Indepen(lent IA4ffl1n•r'• Report Report io the Irusieesl MeMt￿lS ol Gieyh(MJTrJ Lil( kn• On accounts lor the y ende iIOY2021 Charty no 1113115 Set oui on ￿g*s I ftpon io the IruslQQS on my exam*r￿￿on ol xc(xmts of Ihe above charr Cts Trusn loi ty)e year en(*d 31￿31202L Responsibilillts and basls As Ihe charivs lThslees, are respon*blt l(Y Ihe wepafalicffj ol ty ol rpport act￿￿5 In Ac￿01￿ce with tho ivqu4ienwNs ol Ch&iibes 20U Acn I fepcxl YI fespeci ol nyy eXaM￿aTrOn ol the TnLsib acc￿nts camed rxrt %eciffi 145 ol Ihe 2011 Aci and In cwryryno my examinawi. 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