## **Splott Community Volunteers’ Trustees’ Report 2023 - 2024**
## **Summary of the objects of the charity set out in its governing document:**
The prevention and relief of poverty in the Cardiff area by providing free meals, food pantry facility and advice to disadvantaged individuals. Provision of volunteering opportunities for members of the local community.
## **Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit in relation to these objects:**
Splott Community Volunteers is a community-based poverty alleviation charity that provides vital services and resources from its base at the STAR Community Centre in Splott, Cardiff, for those in food, fuel and social poverty.
The charity provides a hot meal and fresh food to take away at a weekly Breakfast Club, runs winter warm clubs and social mornings for older adults, offers energy efficiency and debt management advice through partner organisations, and hosts cookery, craft and digital skills sessions, improving quality of life for beneficiaries, together with generating long-term employment and confidence building opportunities for our volunteers.
Each week, a team of 25-30 volunteers work together to collect food donations from local supermarkets, cook a hot breakfast and prepare essential food bags to give out to an average of 80 people a week. The breakfast club not only feeds people, it connects the community, decreases loneliness and isolation and gives people purpose through volunteering opportunities.
Breakfast Club also provides families with a place where children and parents/carers can have a hot, nutritious meal with their neighbours and access a supervised play area within the centre. Parents bond, find new friendships and build supportive parenting networks.
Additionally, Breakfast Club provides people with an opportunity to build social networks and enables people from different cultures and backgrounds, who may not otherwise meet, to come together and form solid connections and friendships, thus strengthening the community in which they live and bringing about ongoing positive impact.
## **Summary of activities**
2023 - 2024 was a momentous year for Splott Community Volunteers with the hiring of staff for the very first time and a move to a new, full-time premises and higher service user levels than ever.
286 individuals were provided with a hot cooked breakfast and a bag of shopping during the year. In total, 1,135 breakfasts were prepared and delivered by volunteers.
34 people regularly volunteered with Splott Community Volunteers in the year 2023-24. In total, 879 regular volunteering opportunities were created during the year. Additionally, we engaged more than 20 corporate volunteers.
Over the course of the year, volunteers logged more than 2,700 hours of volunteering at Breakfast Club and other fundraising events.
Through donations, fundraising events and grant funding, Splott Community Volunteers raised just over £44,000 in 2023-2024 to support its charitable activities and benefitted from over £60,000 Lottery Funding.
In 2023-2024, Splott Community Volunteers worked in partnership with Tesco, Lidl, Aldi, Greggs, Cooperative, Fareshare, Cardiff Food Bank and Pengam Community Allotments to redistribute over 18 tonnes of food.
## **Governance**
Trustees meet quarterly to review organisational progress, financial management, health and safety, safeguarding and overall governance of the charity.
We use a combined HR and health and safety management system to assess risks, train staff, meet legislation and log activities. This is reviewed at trustee meetings. Safeguarding is a standing agenda item and staff and relevant volunteers have DBS checks as required.
During the 2023-2024 financial year, we employed two members of staff, funded by the National Lottery Community Lottery Fund, and employed an accountancy agency and a HR and H&S agency to help us meet our obligations as employers.
Staff members, supported by volunteers, deliver one breakfast club and 3 warm clubs a week, plus other events. We work closely with the Trussell Trust, Fareshare Cymru, Neighbourly, Food Cardiff and other organisations tackling food poverty. We also work closely with organisations such as Cardiff Council, National Energy Action and other local community groups.
## **Brief statement of the charity’s policy on reserves**
The Board is responsible for reviewing and updating the charity reserves policy, on an annual basis, to ensure there are no going concern issues and the charity has sufficient unrestricted funds (free reserves) to meet its future commitments.
The Reserves Policy and amount of funds (restricted and unrestricted) are subject to and part of the annual audit review. The free reserves held by the charity should exceed the minimum amount of £26,500 required to provide a minimal level of service for three months whilst focusing on securing additional funds. The calculation of the minimum running costs includes the cost of salaries plus overheads for unrestricted activities.
Reserves represent the capital of the charity and are made up of the net amount of the charity’s assets and liabilities.
The charity holds reserves for several reasons:
- To continue to meet its aims to develop and improve its service delivery.
- To enable the replacement of capital items (e.g. kitchen equipment) in a planned and efficient manner.
- To enable the provision of moderate one-off expenses required for the development of the charity’s overall operation.
- To maintain an adequate cashflow to continue its activities, especially when managing projects reliant upon income from defrayed costs.
- To protect the charity from reasonable recognised risks, for example a reduction in revenue funding.
- To protect the charity from unforeseen events.
Our current level of unrestricted reserves is designed to meet our reserves policy and also to protect the charity from unexpected change in our accommodation circumstances. In February 2023, we were fortunate to be offered by Cardiff Council a space to rent within the old STAR Leisure Centre on Splott Road and have operated out of this facility ever since. However, the land which the centre occupies has been earmarked for development and the centre is likely to be demolished by the end of the decade.
We have a fantastic relationship with Cardiff Council, who value our work and contribution to community, and hope that a more permanent accommodation solution be eventually found. However, we may be faced with having to move to another Cardiff Council premises at short notice, or to find an alternative ourselves, which may involve up-front rental costs and refurbishment costs, hence our higher-than-average reserves at this moment.
Edward Stubbs
Chair
Splott Community Volunteers
||**Splott Community Volunteers**
**Charity Name**|**Splott Community Volunteers**
**Charity Name**|**Splott Community Volunteers**
**Charity Name**|**1177771**
**No (if any)**|**1177771**
**No (if any)**|**CC16a**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**For the period**
**from**|01/02/2023
Period start date|**To**|31/01/2024
Period end date|||
||||||||
|**Section A Receipts and payments**|||||||
|**A1 Receipts**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**18,499**
**2,889**
**307**
**1,972**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**23,667**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**23,667**
**2,376**
**12,376**
**-**
**3,976**
**-**
**1,623**
**252**
**1,091**
**1,636**
**1,429**
**128**
**-**
**24,887**
**3,889**
**-**
**3,889**
**28,776**
**- 5,109**
**- 5,582**
**68,259**
**57,568**|**Restricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**-**
**64,451**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**64,451**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**64,451**
**-**
**-**
**31,637**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**31,637**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**31,637**
**32,814**
**5,582**
**-**
**38,396**|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**|**Total funds**
**to the nearest £**
**18,499**
**67,340**
**307**
**1,972**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**88,118**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**88,118**
**2,376**
**12,376**
**31,637**
**3,976**
**-**
**1,623**
**252**
**1,091**
**1,636**
**1,429**
**128**
**-**
**56,524**
**3,889**
**-**
**3,889**
**60,413**
**27,705**||**Last year**
**to the nearest £**|
|Donations|**18,499**|||||**24,653**|
|Grants|**2,889**|||||**23,100**|
|Interest|**307**|||||**7**|
|FundraisingActivities|**1,972**|||||**-**|
|Charitable Activities|**-**|||||**-**|
||**-**|||||**-**|
||**-**|||||**-**|
||**-**|||||**-**|
|**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for_
_AR)_|**23,667**|||||**47,760**|
||||||||
|**A2 Asset and investment sales,**
**(see table).**|||||||
||**-**||||||
||**-**|||||**-**|
|**_Sub total_**|**-**|||||**-**|
|**_Total receipts_**
**A3 Payments**|||||||
|||||||**47,760**|
||||||||
|Consumables|**2,376**|||||**7,756**|
|Charitable Activities|**12,376**||||||
|Staff Costs|**-**||||||
|OperatingCosts|**3,976**||||||
|Rent|**-**|||||**3,000**|
|Motor Expenses|**1,623**|||||**1,787**|
|Staff Entertainment|**252**|||||**752**|
|Insurance|**1,091**|||||**1,093**|
|Subscriptions|**1,636**|||||**1,625**|
|Professional Fees|**1,429**|||||**788**|
|SundryExpenses|**128**|||||**291**|
||**-**|||||**-**|
|**_Sub total_ **|**24,887**|||||**17,092**|
||||||||
|**A4 Asset and investment**
**purchases, (see table)**|||||||
|**Plant & Machinery**|**3,889**|||||**1,912**|
||**-**||||||
|**_Sub total_ **|**3,889**|||||**1,912**|
|**_Total payments_**
**_Net of receipts/(payments)_**
**A5 Transfers between funds**
**A6 Cash funds last year end**
**_Cash funds this year end_**|||||||
|||||||**19,004**|
||||||||
||**- 5,109**|**32,814**||**27,705**||**28,756**|
||**- 5,582**|**5,582**||**-**||**-**|
||**68,259**|**-**||**68,259**||**39,503**|
||**57,568**|**38,396**||**95,964**||**68,259**|
28/11/2024
CCXX R1 accounts (SS)
1
|**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**||
|---|---|---|---|
|**Categories**
Signed by one or two trustees on
behalf of all the trustees
**B1 Cash funds**
**B2 Other monetary assets**
**B4 Assets retained for the**
**charity’s own use**
**B5 Liabilities**
**B3 Investment assets**|Signature
Accrued Rent
**Details**
Griddle
Shutters for the pantry and charity shop
Washer drier and dishwasher
Current Account
Savings Accounts
Cash
**Details**
**_Total cash funds_**
(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))
Prepayments
**Details**
**Details**
**Details**
Generator
Bain Marie|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Restricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**to nearest £**
**55,770**
**-**
**1,026**
**38,396**
**772**
**-**
**57,568**
**38,396**
OK
OK
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Restricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Cost (optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Cost (optional)**
Unrestricted
**1,000**
Unrestricted
**468**
Unrestricted
**444**
Unrestricted
**3,144**
Unrestricted
**745**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Fund to which**
**liability relates**
**Amount due**
**(optional)**
Unrestricted
**2,500**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
Print Name|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||OK|
||||**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**Current value**
**(optional)**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**Current value**
**(optional)**|
||||**600**|
||||**280**|
||||**266**|
||||**2,515**|
||||**596**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**When due**
**(optional)**|
||||**May-2024**|
|||||
|||||
|||||
|||||
|||||
||||Date of
approval|
|||||
|||||
28/11/2024
CCXX R2 accounts (SS)
2
## **Independent examiner's report on the accounts**
**Section A Independent Examiner’s Report**
**Report to the trustees/** Charity Name **members of Splott Community Volunteers**
|**On accounts for the year**
**ended**
**Set out on pages**|31 Jan 2024|**Charity no**
**(if any)**|1177771|
|---|---|---|---|
|||||
||(remember to include the page numbers of additional sheets)|||
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 31[st] January 2024.
**Responsibilities and** As the charity's trustees, you are responsible for the preparation of the **basis of report** 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** I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have **examiner's statement** come to my attention in connection with the examination 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._
**Date:** 28 Nov 2024
**Signed: Name:** Peter Chapman ACMA CGMA **Relevant professional** CIMA Chartered Institute of Management Accountants. Practicing **qualification(s) or body** Certificate Holder **(if any):**
**Oct 2018**
1
**IER**
**Address:** Chapman & Co (Penarth) Ltd
31 Coleridge Avenue Penarth, CF64 2SQ
## **Section B Disclosure**
Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight material matters of concern (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** .
**Oct 2018**
2
**IER**