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2025-12-31-accounts

•nd SERV Herts and Beds Annual Report 1st January- 31st December 2025 Charity Number 1180326 SERV HNB Annual Report 2025 Released.dDtx 18-May-26

CHARITY NO: 1180326

SERV Herts & Beds – The Bloodrunners

Contents
Brief History of SERV Herts & Beds 3
Charity Status, Structure, Membership and Trustees 4
Financials and Legal 6
Recruitment, Assessments & Training of Volunteers 7
Processes and Procedures 8
Record of Tasks Performed January 2025 – December 2025 9
Significant Events for 2025 13
Financial Statement 2025 14

SERV HNB Annual Report 2025 Released .docx 18-May-26

2

Brief History of SERV Herts & Beds

The charity was set up in 2009 as part of the SERV Central Group, which was registered under the number 284455. The first hospital to use the services offered was Bedford. In 2015, the independent charity was set up in its own right as SERV Herts and Beds, finally gaining registration with the Charities Commission on 26[th ] October 2015. In October 2018, a further change was made as SERV Herts and Beds became a Charity Incorporated Organisation (CIO), and registered under the new number 1180326

The Objective of SERV Herts & Beds remains as:

The relief of sickness and protection of health through the provision of a courier service to transport blood, human donor milk, samples and other items used for the medical and surgical treatment of patients for doctors, hospitals, and laboratories and to co-operate with the emergency services.

All activities undertaken by the Charity are aligned with and directed towards achieving this objective.

SERV HNB Annual Report 2025 Released .docx 18-May-26

SERV Herts & Beds – The Bloodrunners

CHARITY NO: 1180326

Charity Status, Structure, Membership and Trustees

Name of Charity: SERV Herts & Beds, Charity Registration Number: 1180326. The registered address in the year being 53 Wroxham Way, Harpenden, Herts AL5 4PR.

SERV Herts & Beds is an independent registered charity and uses the SERV logotype with the agreement and permission of SERV, registered charity number 284455.

New Trustees, when required, can be recruited from the body of the membership, and may already be members of the Committee. For this Annual Report, the Committee and the Trustees were as follows:

Trustees

Chair: Peter Nunn

Deputy: Ian Hunt

Trustees: Nick Bailey, Andy Cowley, Paula Brown

Committee

Chair: Ian Hunt

Deputy Chairs: Mark Canning (also Safety), Ian Defoe (also Fleet), David Claridge Treasurer: Nick Baily

Secretary: Andy Cowley

Membership: Cem Ulutuncel

Secretary: Andy Cowley

Controller: Barbara Dalby

Milk Coordinator: John McCombe

IT: Paul Rousell

Events: Dan Collins

Recruitment and Training: Peter Nunn, Duncan Wood

Client Liaison: Ron McMurdie

SERV HNB Annual Report 2025 Released .docx 18-May-26

4

The Charity is uncomplicated in concept and operation, and Trustees recruited from amongst the Membership, a simple approval by the Committee and ratification at the AGM is considered sufficient. Trustees have been encouraged to do Trustee training available online.

The Trustees confirm that they have complied with their duty to have due regard to the guidance on public benefit published by the Charities Commission in exercising their powers or duties.

The Charity consists of around 130 Rider/Drivers who collect and deliver products. There are 40 trained Controllers who dispatch, direct and provide constant oversight of the Rider/Drivers when on a task. The structure is intentionally flat to aid operational delivery and ease and speed up decision making.

The Charity is totally dependent on its volunteers for delivery of its objective as we operate predominantly an ‘own bike/car’use model. Specifically, volunteers:

A Committee and Trustees in place during the year of this Report were elected at the 2023 Annual General Meeting and re-confirmed at the 2024 Annual General Meeting. It was re-stated that the Committee were there to run the day-to-day business of the Charity, with the Officers as listed above.

The Committee met monthly to report on and discuss the operational performance and discussion points e.g. performance for the year to date, fleet status, financial status, client engagement, fund-raising as required. Minutes of all meetings are recorded and approved each month.

Day-to-day decisions regarding the running of the Charity are taken by the Committee with each discipline area contributing as required. Other than normal operational expenditure, financial commitments with substantial financial and/or legal implications, and matters of strategic direction require approval by a majority of the Trustees.

SERV HNB Annual Report 2025 Released .docx 18-May-26

SERV Herts & Beds – The Bloodrunners

CHARITY NO: 1180326

Financials and Legal

Funding of around 1.5 times annual expenditure is held in the deposit account of the Charity as a prudent reserve to cover the irregular nature of donations. The Finance Statement is attached to this report as Appendix A. The Trustees consider the reserves held at the time of this report to be satisfactory.

SERV Herts & Beds has appointed as its bank, CAF Bank Limited, Charity Number 26836925, Kings Hill Avenue, Kings Hill, West Malling, Kent ME19 4JQ.

SERV Herts & Beds has appointed as its Independent Examiner since 25[th ] February 2016 David Wildey, 9 Waverley Road, St Albans, AL3 5PB. David is also an active member of SERV Herts & Beds.

SERV Herts & Beds running expenditure has consistently averaged £25,000 - £27,000 per annum, with annual income generation of between £25,000 - £35,000 being typical and reasonable as a planning assumption. Income is made up of individual donations and donations from organisations, supermarket & event collections along with donation income from talks and presentations to interest groups around the charity’s region. All fund-raising activities are run by our volunteers - there is no external fund-raising organisation used.

The funds raised support training and equipping its volunteers, funding a small fleet of vehicles and providing the required insurance and liability protection for running the Charity.

SERV HNB Annual Report 2025 Released .docx 18-May-26

6

Recruitment, Assessments & Training of Volunteers

Anyone can apply for membership of the Charity, but to qualify, there are certain conditions that must be met which are based on operational, health, safety and risk assessments factors that the Committee and Trustees have determined, e.g. driving qualifications, record and experience, home location, bike type etc.

Part of the induction process for new volunteers is completing and passing both practical and theoretical examinations, e.g. a new member will undertake Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) Training, Route Training and then be accompanied on their first (and if required, second) ride by an experienced ‘Buddy’.

The purpose of the Route Training and also ‘Buddy’ rider session is to ensure that the volunteer can demonstrate confidence in handling their vehicle:

SERV Herts and Beds continually strive to recruit new members, as drivers, riders, and Controllers and/or in administrative/functional roles.

All details of those referred to above are contained within the Members Handbook.

On joining SERV Herts and Beds and once a year, all Riders and Drivers are required to make a declaration to the ‘Rules of Engagement’ agreeing among other aspects, the following:

“I declare the information given is correct to the best of my knowledge. I accept that it is my responsibility to ensure that my vehicles are road legal at all times, and have current and appropriate insurance, road tax and MOT, and that I am the holder of a current driving licence.

I understand that the final decision to undertake a task is with me as the rider/driver.“

SERV HNB Annual Report 2025 Released .docx 18-May-26

CHARITY NO: 1180326

SERV Herts & Beds – The Bloodrunners

Processes and Procedures

All regular journeys for SERV Herts & Beds collections and deliveries have a specified route and a rider/driver who is called out will join the prescribed route at the nearest point to his/her house and leave in the same manner when returning home.

Prescribed routes have been carefully selected with the safety of the rider – and the blood being carried – as the key priority. Wherever possible, routes are over main roads, which are:

All processes and procedures are written and shared in the Member’s Handbook

SERV HNB Annual Report 2025 Released .docx 18-May-26

8

Record of Tasks Performed January 2025 – December 2025

SERV have continued to provide 24/7/365 support to NHS Hospitals, local Hospices, and the Hearts Milk Bank.

There has again been a combination of growth in some areas, a drop in other areas and consistency in other areas in tasks undertaken in 2025 but that is the unpredictability of the work we undertake as it is ‘patient needs driven’. Overall, there was a slight reduction to the 2024 levels. The reduction in overall demand was due to 2 hospitals’ operational decision to out-source deliveries to a commercial organisation rather than rely on the charitable work of SERV Herts and Beds, this despite our consistent operational delivery compliance record of >98%.

A snap-shot of the 2025 tasks performed is shown below:

SERV HNB Annual Report 2025 Released .docx 18-May-26

SERV Herts & Beds – The Bloodrunners

CHARITY NO: 1180326

SERV HNB Annual Report 2025 Released .docx 18-May-26

10

Tasks: Job Start by time of night Slide shows the time window that each night job started lor those between 18..11) and07..IKI •2021 •2022 •2023 •2024 •2025 Work rate: Ave Deliveries Per Person Quartety average beingtask518rtNe mer Q42025 ql 1025 Q1￿25 ql 1025 Q4W24 QJ Z024 QI 2024 QI Z024 Q4202) Q3 2023 Q12023 ql IQR3 Q4XRR ql 1022 ql¥22 QI Z022 Q4Z421 oj zo2J oi zoii Qi 2011 63 SERV HNB Annual Report 2025 Released.dDtx 18-May-26

CHARITY NO: 1180326

SERV Herts & Beds – The Bloodrunners

Membership levels have remained constant during 2025 with the majority of volunteers having been able to support our Operations allowing us to continue delivering the vital service on which the NHS establishments and individuals rely. It is an honour to provide this service and all volunteers take much pride in what they do which is generally unseen by the general public.

SERV HNB Annual Report 2025 Released .docx 18-May-26

12

Significant Events for 2025

2025 was a year for continued operational stability and building organisational stability. Recruitment remained positive and our skill sets grew.

The following are points of note for 2025.

● The decision to out-source initially day and night blood and sample deliveries by 2 hospitals to a commercial organisation did negatively impact on our work load and adversely impacted on our members motivation and reasons for doing what we did (to save money for the NHS), however with good communication with both members and the hospitals in question, part of the night time work did returned to SERV

● The unpredictability, and at times severe weather conditions did impact on our ability to use motorcycles (both members own and fleet) which put a greater demand on car use

NABB Membership

The unanimous decision taken in 2023 to leave the Nationwide Association of Bloodbikes (NABB), remained extant for the same reasons which have been described in previous Annual Reports.

SERV Herts and Beds still very much support the principle of a single body to support all groups, and the hope is that one day, there is operational and strategic alignment and coordination that embraces the varied nature of the work undertaken across the UK. The Chair has remained in communication with NABB’s new Committee and the decision to consider rejoining remains open in 2026.

SERV HNB Annual Report 2025 Released .docx 18-May-26

CHARITY NO: 1180326 Financial Statement 2025

SERV Herts & Beds – The Bloodrunners

SERV HNB Annual Report 2025 Released .docx 18-May-26

14

Section B StJTement ot Jssets Jna ri.itrilit￿es ai the end of Ihe period T¥oCws D¥•d 74.Q&. IL SERV HNB Annual Report 2025 Released.dDtx 18-May-26

SERV Herts & Beds – The Bloodrunners

CHARITY NO: 1180326

SERV HNB Annual Report 2025 Released .docx 18-May-26

16

•nd SERV Herts and Beds Annual Report 1st January- 31st December 2025 Charity Number 1180326 SERV HNB Annual Report 2025 Released.dDtx 18-May-26

CHARITY NO: 1180326

SERV Herts & Beds – The Bloodrunners

Contents
Brief History of SERV Herts & Beds 3
Charity Status, Structure, Membership and Trustees 4
Financials and Legal 6
Recruitment, Assessments & Training of Volunteers 7
Processes and Procedures 8
Record of Tasks Performed January 2025 – December 2025 9
Significant Events for 2025 13
Financial Statement 2025 14

SERV HNB Annual Report 2025 Released .docx 18-May-26

2

Brief History of SERV Herts & Beds

The charity was set up in 2009 as part of the SERV Central Group, which was registered under the number 284455. The first hospital to use the services offered was Bedford. In 2015, the independent charity was set up in its own right as SERV Herts and Beds, finally gaining registration with the Charities Commission on 26[th ] October 2015. In October 2018, a further change was made as SERV Herts and Beds became a Charity Incorporated Organisation (CIO), and registered under the new number 1180326

The Objective of SERV Herts & Beds remains as:

The relief of sickness and protection of health through the provision of a courier service to transport blood, human donor milk, samples and other items used for the medical and surgical treatment of patients for doctors, hospitals, and laboratories and to co-operate with the emergency services.

All activities undertaken by the Charity are aligned with and directed towards achieving this objective.

SERV HNB Annual Report 2025 Released .docx 18-May-26

SERV Herts & Beds – The Bloodrunners

CHARITY NO: 1180326

Charity Status, Structure, Membership and Trustees

Name of Charity: SERV Herts & Beds, Charity Registration Number: 1180326. The registered address in the year being 53 Wroxham Way, Harpenden, Herts AL5 4PR.

SERV Herts & Beds is an independent registered charity and uses the SERV logotype with the agreement and permission of SERV, registered charity number 284455.

New Trustees, when required, can be recruited from the body of the membership, and may already be members of the Committee. For this Annual Report, the Committee and the Trustees were as follows:

Trustees

Chair: Peter Nunn

Deputy: Ian Hunt

Trustees: Nick Bailey, Andy Cowley, Paula Brown

Committee

Chair: Ian Hunt

Deputy Chairs: Mark Canning (also Safety), Ian Defoe (also Fleet), David Claridge Treasurer: Nick Baily

Secretary: Andy Cowley

Membership: Cem Ulutuncel

Secretary: Andy Cowley

Controller: Barbara Dalby

Milk Coordinator: John McCombe

IT: Paul Rousell

Events: Dan Collins

Recruitment and Training: Peter Nunn, Duncan Wood

Client Liaison: Ron McMurdie

SERV HNB Annual Report 2025 Released .docx 18-May-26

4

The Charity is uncomplicated in concept and operation, and Trustees recruited from amongst the Membership, a simple approval by the Committee and ratification at the AGM is considered sufficient. Trustees have been encouraged to do Trustee training available online.

The Trustees confirm that they have complied with their duty to have due regard to the guidance on public benefit published by the Charities Commission in exercising their powers or duties.

The Charity consists of around 130 Rider/Drivers who collect and deliver products. There are 40 trained Controllers who dispatch, direct and provide constant oversight of the Rider/Drivers when on a task. The structure is intentionally flat to aid operational delivery and ease and speed up decision making.

The Charity is totally dependent on its volunteers for delivery of its objective as we operate predominantly an ‘own bike/car’use model. Specifically, volunteers:

A Committee and Trustees in place during the year of this Report were elected at the 2023 Annual General Meeting and re-confirmed at the 2024 Annual General Meeting. It was re-stated that the Committee were there to run the day-to-day business of the Charity, with the Officers as listed above.

The Committee met monthly to report on and discuss the operational performance and discussion points e.g. performance for the year to date, fleet status, financial status, client engagement, fund-raising as required. Minutes of all meetings are recorded and approved each month.

Day-to-day decisions regarding the running of the Charity are taken by the Committee with each discipline area contributing as required. Other than normal operational expenditure, financial commitments with substantial financial and/or legal implications, and matters of strategic direction require approval by a majority of the Trustees.

SERV HNB Annual Report 2025 Released .docx 18-May-26

SERV Herts & Beds – The Bloodrunners

CHARITY NO: 1180326

Financials and Legal

Funding of around 1.5 times annual expenditure is held in the deposit account of the Charity as a prudent reserve to cover the irregular nature of donations. The Finance Statement is attached to this report as Appendix A. The Trustees consider the reserves held at the time of this report to be satisfactory.

SERV Herts & Beds has appointed as its bank, CAF Bank Limited, Charity Number 26836925, Kings Hill Avenue, Kings Hill, West Malling, Kent ME19 4JQ.

SERV Herts & Beds has appointed as its Independent Examiner since 25[th ] February 2016 David Wildey, 9 Waverley Road, St Albans, AL3 5PB. David is also an active member of SERV Herts & Beds.

SERV Herts & Beds running expenditure has consistently averaged £25,000 - £27,000 per annum, with annual income generation of between £25,000 - £35,000 being typical and reasonable as a planning assumption. Income is made up of individual donations and donations from organisations, supermarket & event collections along with donation income from talks and presentations to interest groups around the charity’s region. All fund-raising activities are run by our volunteers - there is no external fund-raising organisation used.

The funds raised support training and equipping its volunteers, funding a small fleet of vehicles and providing the required insurance and liability protection for running the Charity.

SERV HNB Annual Report 2025 Released .docx 18-May-26

6

Recruitment, Assessments & Training of Volunteers

Anyone can apply for membership of the Charity, but to qualify, there are certain conditions that must be met which are based on operational, health, safety and risk assessments factors that the Committee and Trustees have determined, e.g. driving qualifications, record and experience, home location, bike type etc.

Part of the induction process for new volunteers is completing and passing both practical and theoretical examinations, e.g. a new member will undertake Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) Training, Route Training and then be accompanied on their first (and if required, second) ride by an experienced ‘Buddy’.

The purpose of the Route Training and also ‘Buddy’ rider session is to ensure that the volunteer can demonstrate confidence in handling their vehicle:

SERV Herts and Beds continually strive to recruit new members, as drivers, riders, and Controllers and/or in administrative/functional roles.

All details of those referred to above are contained within the Members Handbook.

On joining SERV Herts and Beds and once a year, all Riders and Drivers are required to make a declaration to the ‘Rules of Engagement’ agreeing among other aspects, the following:

“I declare the information given is correct to the best of my knowledge. I accept that it is my responsibility to ensure that my vehicles are road legal at all times, and have current and appropriate insurance, road tax and MOT, and that I am the holder of a current driving licence.

I understand that the final decision to undertake a task is with me as the rider/driver.“

SERV HNB Annual Report 2025 Released .docx 18-May-26

CHARITY NO: 1180326

SERV Herts & Beds – The Bloodrunners

Processes and Procedures

All regular journeys for SERV Herts & Beds collections and deliveries have a specified route and a rider/driver who is called out will join the prescribed route at the nearest point to his/her house and leave in the same manner when returning home.

Prescribed routes have been carefully selected with the safety of the rider – and the blood being carried – as the key priority. Wherever possible, routes are over main roads, which are:

All processes and procedures are written and shared in the Member’s Handbook

SERV HNB Annual Report 2025 Released .docx 18-May-26

8

Record of Tasks Performed January 2025 – December 2025

SERV have continued to provide 24/7/365 support to NHS Hospitals, local Hospices, and the Hearts Milk Bank.

There has again been a combination of growth in some areas, a drop in other areas and consistency in other areas in tasks undertaken in 2025 but that is the unpredictability of the work we undertake as it is ‘patient needs driven’. Overall, there was a slight reduction to the 2024 levels. The reduction in overall demand was due to 2 hospitals’ operational decision to out-source deliveries to a commercial organisation rather than rely on the charitable work of SERV Herts and Beds, this despite our consistent operational delivery compliance record of >98%.

A snap-shot of the 2025 tasks performed is shown below:

SERV HNB Annual Report 2025 Released .docx 18-May-26

SERV Herts & Beds – The Bloodrunners

CHARITY NO: 1180326

SERV HNB Annual Report 2025 Released .docx 18-May-26

10

Tasks: Job Start by time of night Slide shows the time window that each night job started lor those between 18..11) and07..IKI •2021 •2022 •2023 •2024 •2025 Work rate: Ave Deliveries Per Person Quartety average beingtask518rtNe mer Q42025 ql 1025 Q1￿25 ql 1025 Q4W24 QJ Z024 QI 2024 QI Z024 Q4202) Q3 2023 Q12023 ql IQR3 Q4XRR ql 1022 ql¥22 QI Z022 Q4Z421 oj zo2J oi zoii Qi 2011 63 SERV HNB Annual Report 2025 Released.dDtx 18-May-26

CHARITY NO: 1180326

SERV Herts & Beds – The Bloodrunners

Membership levels have remained constant during 2025 with the majority of volunteers having been able to support our Operations allowing us to continue delivering the vital service on which the NHS establishments and individuals rely. It is an honour to provide this service and all volunteers take much pride in what they do which is generally unseen by the general public.

SERV HNB Annual Report 2025 Released .docx 18-May-26

12

Significant Events for 2025

2025 was a year for continued operational stability and building organisational stability. Recruitment remained positive and our skill sets grew.

The following are points of note for 2025.

● The decision to out-source initially day and night blood and sample deliveries by 2 hospitals to a commercial organisation did negatively impact on our work load and adversely impacted on our members motivation and reasons for doing what we did (to save money for the NHS), however with good communication with both members and the hospitals in question, part of the night time work did returned to SERV

● The unpredictability, and at times severe weather conditions did impact on our ability to use motorcycles (both members own and fleet) which put a greater demand on car use

NABB Membership

The unanimous decision taken in 2023 to leave the Nationwide Association of Bloodbikes (NABB), remained extant for the same reasons which have been described in previous Annual Reports.

SERV Herts and Beds still very much support the principle of a single body to support all groups, and the hope is that one day, there is operational and strategic alignment and coordination that embraces the varied nature of the work undertaken across the UK. The Chair has remained in communication with NABB’s new Committee and the decision to consider rejoining remains open in 2026.

SERV HNB Annual Report 2025 Released .docx 18-May-26

CHARITY NO: 1180326 Financial Statement 2025

SERV Herts & Beds – The Bloodrunners

SERV HNB Annual Report 2025 Released .docx 18-May-26

14

Section B StJTement ot Jssets Jna ri.itrilit￿es ai the end of Ihe period T¥oCws D¥•d 74.Q&. IL SERV HNB Annual Report 2025 Released.dDtx 18-May-26

SERV Herts & Beds – The Bloodrunners

CHARITY NO: 1180326

SERV HNB Annual Report 2025 Released .docx 18-May-26

16

(HARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report Report to the trustses SERV HERTS AND BEDS On accounts for the year ended 31°, DECEMBER 2025 Charlty no (if any) 1180326 Set out on pages 14and 15 I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of Ihe above charity {'the Trust") for the year ended 31 St December 2025. 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 oul my examination, I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145{5)Ib) of the A¢t. Independent I have completed my examinalion. I confimi that no material matters have examlner's statement come to my attenlion 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 a¢¢ounts did not accord with the accounting records,. or the accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements Con￿rning the fom and content of accounts set out in the Charities {Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 otherthan any requirement that the accounts give a 'trLAe and fairf view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination. I have no concems and have come across no other matters in conne¢tion with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proFer understanding of the accounts to be reached. Slgned: Date: 28th May 2026 Name: P N Hockett Relevant professional qualificationls) or body lif any): Chartered Management Accountant Address: 3 Tumberry Drive, Fornham St Martin, Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, IP 28 6TP IER Oct 2018