## KURDS HOUSE UK Trustees’ Annual Reports and Accounts Year ended 5[th] April 2023 Charity registration number: 1173395 Address: 195 Wilmslow Road, Rushlome, Manchester M14 5AQ Trustee names: Musa Belal Jwan Ibrahim Peshang Abdulhannan 1 ## **Structure and management:** Kurds House is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) whose only voting members are its charity trustees. ## **Eligibility for trusteeship** Every charity trustee must be a natural person. No individual may be appointed as a charity trustee of the CIO: - if he or she is under the age of 16 years; or - if he or she would automatically cease to hold office under the provisions of clause 12(1)(e). No one is entitled to act as a charity trustee whether on appointment or on any re-appointment until he or she has expressly acknowledged, in whatever way the charity trustees decide, his or her acceptance of the office of charity trustee. At least one of the trustees of the CIO must be 18 years of age or over. If there is no trustee aged at least 18 years, the remaining trustees may only act to call a meeting of the charity trustees, or appoint a new charity trustee. ## **Number of charity trustees** There must be at least three charity trustees. If the number falls below this minimum, the remaining trustee or trustees may act only to call a meeting of the charity trustees or appoint a new charity trustee. The maximum number of charity trustees is 12. The charity trustees may not appoint any charity trustee if as a result the number of charity trustees would exceed the maximum. The first charity trustees are as follows, and are appointed for the following terms: Mr Musa Belal for 3 years Dr Peshang Abdulhannan for 2 years Mr Jwan Ibrahim for 1 years ## **Meetings of charity trustees** ## Calling meetings - Any charity trustee may call a meeting of the charity trustees. - Subject to that, the charity trustees shall decide how their meetings are to be called, and what notice is required. ## Chairing of meetings The charity trustees may appoint one of their members to chair their meetings and may at any time revoke such appointment. If no-one has been so appointed, or if the person appointed is unwilling to preside or is not present within 10 minutes after the time of the meeting, the charity trustees present may appoint one of their members to chair that meeting 2 ## Procedure at meetings - No decision shall be taken at a meeting unless a quorum is present at the time when the decision is taken. The quorum is two charity trustees, or the number nearest to one third of the total number of charity trustees, whichever is greater, or such larger number as the charity trustees may decide from time to time. A charity trustee shall not be counted in the quorum present when any decision is made about a matter upon which he or she is not entitled to vote. - Questions arising at a meeting shall be decided by a majority of those eligible to vote. - In the case of an equality of votes, the person who chairs the meeting shall have a second or casting vote. ## Participation in meetings by electronic means - A meeting may be held by suitable electronic means agreed by the charity trustees in which each participant may communicate with all the other participants. - Any charity trustee participating at a meeting by suitable electronic means agreed by the charity trustees in which a participant or participants may communicate with all the other participants shall qualify as being present at the meeting. - Meetings held by electronic means must comply with rules for meetings, including chairing and the taking of minutes. ## **Membership of the CIO** - The members of the CIO shall be its charity trustees for the time being. The only persons eligible to be members of the CIO are its charity trustees. Membership of the CIO cannot be transferred to anyone else. - Any member and charity trustee who ceases to be a charity trustee automatically ceases to be a member of the CIO. ## **Informal or associate (non-voting) membership** - The charity trustees may create associate or other classes of non-voting membership, and may determine the rights and obligations of any such members (including payment of membership fees), and the conditions for admission to, and termination of membership of any such class of members. - Other references in this constitution to “members” and “membership” do not apply to nonvoting members, and non-voting members do not qualify as members for any purpose under the Charities Acts, General Regulations or Dissolution Regulations. 3 ## **General meetings of members** ## Calling of general meetings of members The charity trustees may designate any of their meetings as a general meeting of the members of the CIO. The purpose of such a meeting is to discharge any business which must by law be discharged by a resolution of the members of the CIO as specified in clause 18 (Decisions which must be made by the members of the CIO). ## Notice of general meetings of members - The minimum period of notice required to hold a general meeting of the members of the CIO is 14 days. - Except where a specified period of notice is strictly required by another clause in this constitution, by the Charities Act 2011 or by the General Regulations, a general meeting may be called by shorter notice if it is so agreed by a majority of the members of the CIO. - Proof that an envelope containing a notice was properly addressed, prepaid and posted; or that an electronic form of notice was properly addressed and sent, shall be conclusive evidence that the notice was given. Notice shall be deemed to be given 48 hours after it was posted or sent. Procedure at general meetings of members The provisions in clause 15 (2)-(4) governing the chairing of meetings, procedure at meetings and participation in meetings by electronic means apply to any general meeting of the members, with all references to trustees to be taken as references to members. ## Proxy voting - Any member of the CIO may appoint another person as a proxy to exercise all or any of that member’s rights to attend, speak and vote at a general meeting of the CIO. Proxies must be appointed by a notice in writing (a “proxy notice”) which: 1. states the name and address of the member appointing the proxy; 2. identifies the person appointed to be that member’s proxy and the general meeting in relation to which that person is appointed; 3. is signed by or on behalf of the member appointing the proxy, or is authenticated in such manner as the CIO may determine; and 4. is delivered to the CIO in accordance with the constitution and any instructions contained in the notice of the general meeting to which they relate. - The CIO may require proxy notices to be delivered in a particular form, and may specify different forms for different purposes. - Proxy notices may (but do not have to) specify how the proxy appointed under them is to vote (or that the proxy is to abstain from voting) on one or more resolutions. - Unless a proxy notice indicates otherwise, it must be treated as: 1. allowing the person appointed under it as a proxy discretion as to how to vote on any ancillary or procedural resolutions put to the meeting; and 2. appointing that person as a proxy in relation to any adjournment of the general meeting to which it relates as well as the meeting itself. - A member who is entitled to attend, speak or vote (either on a show of hands or on a poll) at a general meeting remains so entitled in respect of that meeting or any adjournment of it, 4 - even though a valid proxy notice has been delivered to the CIO by or on behalf of that member. - An appointment under a proxy notice may be revoked by delivering to the CIO a notice in writing given by or on behalf of the member by whom or on whose behalf the proxy notice was given. - A notice revoking a proxy appointment only takes effect if it is delivered before the start of the meeting or adjourned meeting to which it relates. - If a proxy notice is not signed or authenticated by the member appointing the proxy, it must be accompanied by written evidence that the person who signed or authenticated it on that member’s behalf had authority to do so. ## Postal Voting - The CIO may, if the charity trustees so decide, allow the members to vote by post or electronic mail (“email”) to elect charity trustees or to make a decision on any matter that is being decided at a general meeting of the members. - The charity trustees must appoint at least two persons independent of the CIO to serve as scrutineers to supervise the conduct of the postal/email ballot and the counting of votes. - - If postal and/or email voting is to be allowed on a matter, the CIO must send to members of the CIO not less than 21 days before the deadline for receipt of votes cast in this way: 1. a notice by email, if the member has agreed to receive notices in this way under clause 21 (Use of electronic communication, including an explanation of the purpose of the vote and the voting procedure to be followed by the member, and a voting form capable of being returned by email or post to the CIO, containing details of the resolution being put to a vote, or of the candidates for election, as applicable; 2. a notice by post to all other members, including a written explanation of the purpose of the postal vote and the voting procedure to be followed by the member; and a postal voting form containing details of the resolution being put to a vote, or of the candidates for election, as applicable. - The voting procedure must require all forms returned by post to be in an envelope with the member’s name and signature, and nothing else, on the outside, inside another envelope addressed to ‘The Scrutineers for [name of CIO]’, at the CIO’s principal office or such other postal address as is specified in the voting procedure. - The voting procedure for votes cast by email must require the member’s name to be at the top of the email, and the email must be authenticated in the manner specified in the voting procedure. - Email votes must be returned to an email address used only for this purpose and must be accessed only by a scrutineer. - The voting procedure must specify the closing date and time for receipt of votes, and must state that any votes received after the closing date or not complying with the voting procedure will be invalid and not be counted. - The scrutineers must make a list of names of members casting valid votes, and a separate list of members casting votes which were invalid. These lists must be provided to a charity trustee or other person overseeing admission to, and voting at, the general meeting. A member who has cast a valid postal or email vote must not vote at the meeting, and must not be counted in the quorum for any part of the meeting on which he, she or it has already cast a valid vote. A member who has cast an invalid vote by post or email is allowed to vote at the meeting and counts towards the quorum. 5 1. For postal votes, the scrutineers must retain the internal envelopes (with the member’s name and signature). For email votes, the scrutineers must cut off and retain any part of the email that includes the member’s name. In each case, a scrutineer must record on this evidence of the member’s name that the vote has been counted, or if the vote has been declared invalid, the reason for such declaration. 2. Votes cast by post or email must be counted by all the scrutineers before the meeting at which the vote is to be taken. The scrutineers must provide to the person chairing the meeting written confirmation of the number of valid votes received by post and email and the number of votes received which were invalid. - The scrutineers must not disclose the result of the postal/email ballot until after votes taken by hand or by poll at the meeting, or by poll after the meeting, have been counted. Only at this point shall the scrutineers declare the result of the valid votes received, and these votes shall be included in the declaration of the result of the vote. - Following the final declaration of the result of the vote, the scrutineers must provide to a charity trustee or other authorised person bundles containing the evidence of members submitting valid postal votes; evidence of members submitting valid email votes; evidence of invalid votes; the valid votes; and the invalid votes. - Any dispute about the conduct of a postal or email ballot must be referred initially to a panel set up by the charity trustees, to consist of two trustees and two persons independent of the CIO. If the dispute cannot be satisfactorily resolved by the panel, it must be referred to the Electoral Reform Services ## **Activities and objectives in the year** To provide relief to those who are seeking asylum or granted refugee status in the UK and those who settled in the UK who are lacking in English cultural knowledge, by the provision of facilities to advance them in life and assist them with the adaption within the UK, with the objects of: - (1) Preserving and protecting their physical and mental health; - (2) Advancing their education and training and the provision of advice and direct assistance; - (3) Relieving them from financial hardship and unemployment by the provision of vocational and skills training, advice and support; - (4) To provide or assist in the provision of facilities in the interest of social welfare for recreation or other leisure time occupation of individuals who have need of such facilities by reason or their social and economic circumstances with the object of improving their condition of life. Nothing in this constitution shall authorise an application of the property of the CIO for the purposes which are not charitable in accordance with the law. 6 ## **Achievements and performance** Current committee: 10 members (3 trustees and 7 volunteers) - 1- COVID recovery plans and review of internal financial controls - 2 - Student Support: Ongoing support to refugee students for both under and post-graduation degrees Total number of students: 5 - 3- Plans to return social activities and online platforms revaluation 7 ## **Financial review** ## **Bank account** Balance from previous year: £1236.47 Income: £210 (donations) Outcome: £72 (Bank charges and Venue booking fee from 2020) Outstanding balance: £1374.47 ## **Paypal account** Balance from previous year: £245.63 Income: £0 Outcome: £0 Outstanding balance: £245.63 ## **Overall** Balance from previous year: £1482.1 Income: £210 Outcome: £72 Outstanding balance: £1620.1 ## **Declaration** No conflict of interest No fund held as a custodian trustee 8