2025-06-30-accounts - Cirencester Signpost

This text was generated using OCR and may contain errors. Check the original PDF to see the document submitted to the regulator. This document is also available as Markdown.

Trustee Annual Report

Cirencester Signpost ‘Embracing Hope, Creating Community’ Creating opportunities for lives to be transformed, empowered and uplifted

01 July 2024 to 30 June 2025

Registered Charity Number 1175014

Introduction

The trustees of Cirencester Signpost present their annual report for the period from 01 July 2024 to 30 June 2025.

As part of our ongoing operational activities, we constantly monitor the ever-evolving local community in terms of agency delivery and individual needs. Having this awareness enables us to ensure we use our limited resources in a targeted and specific manner.

This report reflects our efforts to create opportunities for homeless lives to be uplifted, empowered and transformed whilst fine-tuning the delivery of our services to optimise personal outcomes for those we are supporting.

Objectives and Activities

In accordance with Christian principles, the relief of poverty for those in need with a particular focus on those who are homeless in Cirencester and the immediate surrounding area in particular, but not exclusively by:

The provision of ‘drop in’ sessions offering advocacy, a befriending service and information on other local agencies
Providing free meals to help relieve poverty
The provision of clothing, footwear and toiletries together with assistance to find housing

With a view to integrating such people into society.

Review of Activities and Achievements

Throughout the year, a multitude of new initiatives were launched across Cirencester offering access to free hot meals. As trustees we concluded that the time was right to re-model certain aspects of our operational activities, mindful of our charitable objectives, but avoiding using resources to replicate what was being done well elsewhere.

The decision was made to wind down our larger community weekly events the Well-being Café and Good Neighbour Hub launched in July 2021 and November 2022 to focus on substantive homeless support, where we add profound value that is not, in the main replicated, elsewhere.

We re-named our Good Neighbour Hub to the Pathfinder Hub welcoming those who are homeless which we define as anyone who does not have ‘a place to call home’ specifically those:-

rough sleeping
sofa surfing
living in car, van, caravan
in emergency accommodation, or
a tenant of a local homeless hostel.

We launched our mental fitness programme Talk Club supplemented by one-to-one coaching. Centred on those engaged with us acquiring skills to regain control of their lives and their choices.

Talk Club and coaching achieve this by:

improving mental fitness and resilience
providing a safe space for expressing thoughts and feelings
building confidence and skills to address/manage anxiety
fostering a sense of community and belonging; and
reducing feelings of isolation and loneliness.

Helping the homeless to integrate back into society, we provided 12 home-starter packs of key kitchen, bedding, bathroom and cleaning essentials to those moving from emergency accommodation into a new home.

On another 25 occasions we provided practical assistance as broad as provision of a shower including toiletries, clothing and footwear to securing temporary overnight accommodation where a safeguarding concern was raised.

We provided advocacy to 41 individuals in respect of homelessness prevention to coming alongside anyone on their homeless journey through to securing a tenancy and on occasions gaining employment.

Equivalent to an MBE, we received the highest award given to voluntary groups operating in the UK ‘The King’s Award for Voluntary Service’. This lifetime achievement award recognises our outstanding community impact and integrity in everything we do. The award and citation signed by King Charles III was presented by the Lord Lieutenant of Gloucestershire, Edward Gillsepie. In addition, two volunteers were invited to a Royal Garden Party at Buckingham Palace.

The Award was recognised through an Early Day Motion raised in the House of Commons by local MP Dr Roz Savage, who invited representatives of our charity to the Houses of Parliament.

The trustees have fully considered and taken into account the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit in determining the activities undertaken by the charity.

Financial Review

For the period from 01 July 2024 to 30 June 2025, our expenditure totalled £25,862 with the majority of these monies £16,128 used to provide our direct services such as the Pathfinder Hub and outreach support as detailed in our section on review of ‘activities and achievements’.

At the end of the financial year, we retained a healthy sustainability surplus. Conscious of our responsibilities to donors, as trustees we committed to undertaking an assessment in the early part of the next charitable year to determine if the time was appropriate to seek paid staff to strengthen the delivery of our homeless support and further awareness of this issue locally.

Structure, Governance and Management

Cirencester Signpost is constituted as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) with a constitution as its governing document, its members being the trustees. Our registered charity number is 1175014.

Charity means more than having worthy aims. A charity must be a living example of charitable conduct. It must, therefore, be good as well as do good. Our trustee group recognises that legal and regulatory compliance are the central pillars of governance ensuring that we fulfil our obligations incorporating key areas such as charity law, health and safety, financial, data protection and insurance.

As we deal with the most vulnerable in our community safeguarding is at the core of our governance. We are committed to providing a safe and trusted environment, establishing an organisational culture that prioritises safeguarding, having adequate policies, procedures and measures to protect people and ensure they are regularly reviewed and handling incidents as they arise and reporting them to the relevant authorities.

To facilitate this governance, any potential trustee must be fully conversant with our framework of policies and procedures, which includes: -

a safer recruitment process
safeguarding policy and procedures
code of conduct and good practice
roles and duties of a trustee
data protection policy; and
health and safety policy

together with signing a trustee certificate of eligibility confirming they are a fit and proper person to hold the position of trustee, declare any conflicts of interest and confirm they have read and understood the Charity Commission’s document ‘the essential trustee’.

The trustees are responsible for ensuring our safer recruitment process is adhered to and where appropriate volunteers must provide satisfactory references and be made aware of and sign up to our core polices and codes.

Beyond our policies and procedures, we recognise the need for practical application and for this reason any potential trustee and person in a position of trust must undertake an Enhanced Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS) check and pass a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) accredited safeguarding course as agreed by the trustee group. This criteria is renewable for anyone meeting this threshold every three years.

Looking Forward

We are mindful that we are a charity limited in terms of people and funding and this necessitates us applying those resources to maximum effect.

We commit to remaining vigilant to the needs of those we serve in terms of their physical, emotional and mental well-being. As referenced in our financial review section, in the early part of the next charitable year we as trustees will, taking all key factors into consideration, determine if we employ person(s) to help strengthen the delivery of our charitable objectives.

We confirm that this report complies with the requirements of the Charities Act 1993, as amended by the Charities Act 2006 and the Charities SORP 2005.

Reference and Administration Details

Charity name: Cirencester Signpost

Registered Charity Number: 1175014

Charity’s contact and principal postal address:

Mrs Juliette Harris Office 4 Betec Business Park Love Lane Cirencester GL7 1YG

Trustee Name	Date where not acted for whole year
Graham Harris
Jayne Taylor	Stepped down 03 April 2025
Juliette Harris
Charlotte Gorman
Steve Morton

Declaration

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Full name: Graham Harris A

Charlotte Gorman Position: Trustee and Deputy Safeguarding Lead Date: 06 January 2026

||CC16a
01-Jul-24
30-Jun-25
1175014
Cirencester Signpost
Receipts and payments accounts
Period start date
Period end date
To
For the period
from
~~—————||~~|CC16a
01-Jul-24
30-Jun-25
1175014
Cirencester Signpost
Receipts and payments accounts
Period start date
Period end date
To
For the period
from
~~—————||~~|CC16a
01-Jul-24
30-Jun-25
1175014
Cirencester Signpost
Receipts and payments accounts
Period start date
Period end date
To
For the period
from
~~—————||~~|CC16a
01-Jul-24
30-Jun-25
1175014
Cirencester Signpost
Receipts and payments accounts
Period start date
Period end date
To
For the period
from
~~—————||~~|CC16a
01-Jul-24
30-Jun-25
1175014
Cirencester Signpost
Receipts and payments accounts
Period start date
Period end date
To
For the period
from
~~—————||~~|CC16a
01-Jul-24
30-Jun-25
1175014
Cirencester Signpost
Receipts and payments accounts
Period start date
Period end date
To
For the period
from
~~—————||~~|CC16a
01-Jul-24
30-Jun-25
1175014
Cirencester Signpost
Receipts and payments accounts
Period start date
Period end date
To
For the period
from
~~—————||~~|CC16a
01-Jul-24
30-Jun-25
1175014
Cirencester Signpost
Receipts and payments accounts
Period start date
Period end date
To
For the period
from
~~—————||~~|CC16a
01-Jul-24
30-Jun-25
1175014
Cirencester Signpost
Receipts and payments accounts
Period start date
Period end date
To
For the period
from
~~—————||~~| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |Section A Receipts and payments|||||||||| ||Unrestricted
funds||Restricted
funds||Endowment
funds||Total funds||Last year| ||to the nearest £|to the nearest £|to the nearest £||to the nearest £||to the nearest £||to the nearest £| |A1 Receipts|||||||||| |Donations|52,866||-||-||52,866||39,816| |Grants|1,500||1,500||-||1,500||9,560| |Gift Aid|2,274||-||-||2,274||2,721| |Investment Income|326||-||-||326||330| ||-||-||-||-||-| ||-||-||-||-||-| |Sub total(Gross income for_|(Gross income for||||||||| |AR)|AR)55,466||1,500||-||56,966||52,427| |A2 Asset and investment sales,
(see table).
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Sub total -
-
-
-
-
Total receipts 55,466
1,500
-
56,996
52,427
~~———=~~|||||||||| |A3 Payments|||||||||| |Provision of communitymeals|3,575||||-|-|3,575||8,921| |Outreach support|11,053||1,500||-|-|12,553||9,154| |Hire/rental costs|4,143||-|-|-|-|4,143||4,422| |Insurance|312||-|-|-|-|312||284| |Admin/marketing/training|5,279||-|-|-|-|5,279||2,249| |Sub total|24,362||1,500||-|-|25,862||25,030| |A4 Asset and investment
purchases, (see table)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Sub total -
-
-
-
-
Total payments 24,362
1,500
-
25,862
25,030
~~—-——~~|||||||||| |Net of receipts/(payments)
A5 Transfers between funds
A6 Cash funds last year end
Cash funds this year end |31,104
-
-
31,104
27,397
-
-
-
-
-
70,942
2,000
-
72,942
72,942
70,942
-
-
104,046
~~===>~~|||||||||

CCXX R1 accounts (SS)

25/01/2026

Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period	Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period	Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
		Unrestricted Restricted	Endowment
Categories	Details	funds funds	funds
		to nearest £ to nearest £	to nearest £
B1 Cash funds	104,046 - - - - - - - - 104,046 - - Santander account *Total cash funds* (agree balances with receipts and payments ~~SSS~~
	account(s))
		Unrestricted Restricted	Endowment
		funds funds	funds
	Details	to nearest £ to nearest £	to nearest £
B2 Other monetary assets	- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ~~—_—~~
B3 Investment assets	Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) Current value (optional) Deposit Fund - - - - - - - - - - Details CCLA A/cs 348580001C and 34858001T ~~ee~~
B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use	Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) Current value (optional) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Details Catering equipment Lockable storage cabinets ~~meee~~
		Fund to which Amount due	When due
Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees B5 Liabilities CCXX R2 accounts (SS)	liability relates (optional) (optional) - - - - - - Date of approval 23/12/2025 Print Name Juliette Harris Signature Lease of office in Love Lane to 28/2/27 Details 2 25/01/2026 ~~—~~

CCXX R2 accounts (SS)

(HARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trustees Cirencester Signpost On accounts for the year ended 30 June 2025 Charity no (if any) 1175014 Set out on pages I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity ("the Trust") for the year ended 3010612025. Responsibilities and basis of report As the charity's trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 ("the Act"). I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act. Independent IThe charity's gross income exceeded £250,000 and l am qualified to examiner's statement undertake the examination by being a qualified member of linsert name of applicable listed bodyJ]. Delete [ ] if not applicable. I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination (other than that disclosed below ') which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect: the accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act; or the accounts did not accord with the accounting records., or the accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a 'true and fair, view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination. I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Please delete the words in the brackets if they do not apply. Signed: Date: Name: K¥rS Q (4 QLAt Relevant professional qualification{s) or body *-rlOtr IER Oct 2018

(if any): Address: Ci'l L•Qr Section B Disclosure Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight material matters of concein (see CC32, Independent examination of charity accounts.. directions and guidance for examiners). Give here brief details of any items that the examiner wishes to disclose. IER Oct 2018