## **TRUSTEES’ REPORT AND ACCOUNTS** ## **4[th] year from 1[st] January 2023 to 31[st] December 2023** ## **GENERAL INFORMATION** Trustees John Barr David Chubb Tony Cornfield (Chair) Harry Pepper Manager Amanda Heath, IMA Cert. CIO Registration Number 1180798 FCA registration number 728612 Registered Offices The Fox, Leicester St, Melton Mowbray LE13 0PP Operational Address The Fox, Leicester St, Melton Mowbray LE13 0PP Bankers Charities Aid Foundation NatWest (Client Funds) Independent Examiner Mike Alexander, CPFA (Retired) 1 The trustees present their report and accounts for the period ending 31[st] December 2023. Reference and administrative information set out on page 1 forms part of this report. The financial statements comply with current statutory requirements and the charity’s constitution and have been prepared on the basis of section 133 of the Charities Act 2011. ## **INTRODUCTION** Melton And District Money Advice Centre (MADMAC) is an independent, local, communityfocused charity, working to alleviate poverty caused by problem debt and lack of financial capability. Our service is completely free, and we offer face-to-face advice, education, practical assistance and ongoing support to anyone who needs it, regardless of background or circumstance. Our aim is simple; to help people lift themselves out of their current difficulties and get them back on their feet. Our service is available to any adult client who is struggling with problem debt regardless of any background, ethnicity, sexuality, religion, age or any other factor. Our model is one of collaboration and partnership. We operate on a whole person basis, working with individuals and families who are typically on low incomes or unemployed, often with long term physical or mental health problems and with complex social and family issues. By working with our clients one-to-one and face-to-face where possible, we’re able to help them understand and work through the implications of the budgeting and money management advice they are being given so as to facilitate long term financial independence. Most clients make contact, or are referred to MADMAC at a point of debt crisis, where eviction is being threatened or bailiffs are at the door and they are faced with mounting debts. Being available to listen to each of their unique stories helps us build relationships which engender trust and commitment to see the process through to life changing outcomes. MADMAC can sometimes be their last hope. ## **OBJECTS AND ACTIVITIES** MADMAC’s purposes are, the prevention and relief of poverty for the public benefit in Melton Mowbray and surrounding Districts / Boroughs, by providing a free, confidential and impartial advice service concerning money and debt. MADMAC’s activities are: - a) The provision of a personalised package of care until financial freedom is gained, encouraging the reduction and occurrence of future debt problems. - b) We also provide Debt Prevention and Education training/resources to schools and colleges, both primary and secondary at class level and whole school assemblies. This training is increasingly being offered to staff at local businesses too. MADMAC’s vision is to restore dignity and hope to those in need by reducing debt poverty and improving financial capability, through the following means: - a) Advise - We aim to reduce the harmful effect of unmanageable debt on individuals and families, by providing a comprehensive debt advice service which includes casework. 2 - b) Equipping - We aim to reduce the number of individuals and families who fall into unmanageable debt, by providing education and resources on budgeting and practical day-to-day money management. - c) Encouragement - We aim to increase the number of people who feel empowered to address the wider causes of their financial difficulties, by providing training, support and guidance wherever possible. We act as advocates for our clients to ensure their voices are heard, mediating on their behalf whenever necessary. Our approach is to journey with our clients and support them each step of the way, working at their pace and adapting to their individual needs and abilities. Our open-ended support is available for as long as is needed. ## **REVIEW OF THE YEAR** ## **Funding** This is the final full year of Big Lottery grant funding, so we’ve been increasingly aware of the need to secure long term funding to support our current and future aims and ambitions. Discussions with the Big Lottery were initiated to establish whether it would be possible to achieve a future grant to take us into the next 5 years. By year end, we had reached the 2[nd] stage in the application process. Throughout the year, Amanda has continued to make enthusiastic presentations and funding applications which have yielded all the funds necessary to carry MADMAC through. Details of these are to be found in the Financial Report that follows ## **Clients** Referral numbers started the year even higher than the previous year’s, with 113 in the first quarter. With the need to work smarter rather than harder to stay ahead of these increasing numbers, it was resolved to only log a referral into the system when they first engage rather than when the referral was received. A significant number of referrals (83 over the year) never engage, so the time and energy used to set them up could thereby be saved. As a consequence referral numbers dropped in the following months: 1[st] Q 113, 2[nd] Q 90, 3[rd] Q 82 and 4[th] Q 93 resulting in a total of 378 clients being helped, the same number as in 2022. Had the non-engagers been included, this would have amounted to a 20% increase over the previous year. Being aware of client’s vulnerability we understand non engagement and missed appointments and try to accommodate these by using different methods on 3 separate times to facilitate engagement to help a client come to an appointment. Recently, we created an enquiry form for those that do not need a full case to be opened, but simply require a one-off piece of work that might take 10 minutes, 30 minutes or just half a day. These are collated on the overall referral sheet for stats purposes but a different system was needed for our referral process to manage numbers and types of clients and calls we are receiving. There has been an increase in waiting times, but all those who ask for help are being supported, whether that’s with benefits, debts or bankruptcy. Social Media engagement continues to be an excellent means of raising awareness of MADMAC’s services and provides an easy way for people to investigating what MADMAC can do for them. 3 By keeping abreast of the range of services provided by other local organisations, we have been able to signpost some potential clients to others who can help them more appropriately or more quickly. This has enabled us to focus and concentrate on debt advice. ## **Stats** 215 new clients were supported in the 12 months to 31[st] December 2023 and a total of 82 cases were open at year end. ||2023|2022|2021| |---|---|---|---| |New clients|378|378|272| |Self referrals|57%|43%|42%| |Council or Housing Ass|10%|18%|19%| |Drug & Alcohol Centres|19%|11%|15%| |NHS|4%|12%|11%| |DWP|3%|8%|3%| |Other|7%|9%|10%| |Average Debt|£13,600|£9,300|£12,000| |Median Debt|£8,260|£5,400|£7,000| |Average No of Creditors|10|8|8| |Average No of Priority Debts|2|2|2| |Solely Reliant on Benefits|47%|47%|41%| Interestingly, the number of self referrals has increased significantly, in line with the decrease in referrals from statutory authorities. Both average and median debts have increased to be higher now than pre-pandemic levels ## **CharnMAC** Charnwood Money Advice Centre, a Connect Hub Centre, was started in April 2023 with the employment of a Money Mentor on a 1-year contact subject to funding. This is a satellite model, managed by Amanda Heath, the MADMAC Centre Manager. It is a 12 hours per week post which is monitored for efficacy with regard to numbers and outcomes. It is anticipated that additional hours will be required to meet the need in 2024 ## **Prevention and Education** James’s role has achieved great results with almost 8000 people having been reached, these being a combination of primary and secondary school children, community groups and a few businesses. Feedback continues to be 5-star rating. 2024 will see us needing to add to the Team as James is starting to be at capacity as he has spread over schools in Melton, Oakham, Grantham, Stamford and Bourne. The budgeting tool, Budget Planner via our website, has a total of 210 users and continues to be accessed by new people every month with numbers increasing by an average of around 8 new users a month. ## **FCA Consumer Duty** A new obligation for MADMAC came into effect in July 2023 with FCA Consumer Duty requirements. This resulted in an implantation plan being put in place to ensure that we meet the new requirements. 4 Much information and support was given by Community Money Advice to ensure centres were equipped. An acknowledgement of their hard work and dedication was expressed as they help us all with the ever increasing changes in the debt advice industry. Amanda Heath is the Consumer Duty Champion for MADMAC and she will work with the Chair of Trustees to ensure that these issues are always discussed at trustee meetings, and appropriate training is provided. ## **Volunteers** During 2023 we lost some volunteers who had been with us for over 5 years, due to health conditions. This left a huge hole in capacity to take on new clients and manage the existing ones. We had some staff do extra days and take back as TOIL to cope with workload. Losing such experienced volunteers and the added demand of FCA consumer duties has meant we will have to expand the staffing team to cope. ## **Premises** We have a rolling contract for our existing premises and some minor repairs have happened over the year but it still meets our needs well for both staff and clients. ## **Partnership** Our partnership with Melton Building Society was increased and extended for another 2 years. We also started using their newly refurbished community rooms. MBS have used our partnership when applying for various awards within their industry. Our ongoing key partnerships are with all the organisations that refer people, pointing them towards us; our funders, both large and small, without whom we would struggle to simply exist and to the Community Money Advice (CMA) network which affords us all manner of technical and managerial resources. ## **Staffing** Amanda Heath is our founder, the Centre Manager and the inspiration behind all that MADMAC stands for and represents. Hetty Simpson has an invaluable part time role as Assistant Manager, supporting Amanda and managing the Charity’s administration and payroll functions. We also have a part time Debt Adviser, Michelle Ainge who has PR and Social Media skills to add to the mix and a new part time Debt Adviser, Rose Dunn. James Sherrenham has the part time role leading the Prevention and Education agenda and Sarah Weaver works 12hrs a week for CharnMAC ## **Future Plans** - To sustain future funding to cover all posts and expenses - To recruit and train additional volunteers for low level administration to support the work of the rest of the team - To expand the work of CharnMAC - To gain funding through the sale of money management courses ## **STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT** MADMAC is a registered Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) which is governed by a Board of Trustees who are either recruited by the Centre Manager or appointed by the 5 existing trustees. All new trustees receive an induction to their role and the work of MADMAC. All trustees give their time voluntarily and receive no benefits from the charity. The day-to-day management of MADMAC is delegated to the Centre Manager, supported by part-time staff members and volunteers. ## **FINANCIAL REVIEW** Total incoming resources for the period amounted to £175,164 and resources expended on charitable activities were £143,600. Unrestricted funds amounted to £99,864 at the year end. No employee earned more than £60,000 during the year. The number of employed staff at year end was 6 (3.6 FTE) ## **Reserves Policy** In this our fifth year of existence, we have resolved to set aside 25% of expected annual expenditure. We will be opening an appropriate separate savings account for this purpose. The Trustees believe that this provides sufficient flexibility to cover temporary shortfalls in income, allowing MADMAC to continue its work whilst alternative plans are implemented. ## **CLIENT STORY** A couple came to us in desperate need of help. They had just under £40,000 worth of debt between them. When they first came to us, we discovered a slight addiction to gambling and they allowed us to check their bank statements where we discovered they had spent over £1,000 in one month on Tombola online gambling. This really helped them see in black and white how easily 79 pence per go adds up so she cancelled the app straight away! They worked really well with us and they both went through an Insolvency solution to clear their debts. Within a couple of months a very old debt of the husband came into play for nearly £30,000 for a house that was repossessed. The implications of this meant that this would revoke the DRO and that all debts would become live again and we'd have to find £680 to go through a bankruptcy to clear all the debts due to the new debt balance limit. We pleaded with the company that the client was insolvent and if they did not write the debt off then they still wouldn't get anything, as he is still insolvent and it would just be a matter of time before he goes through a bankruptcy. After months of negotiations, they agreed to write the debt off which meant the client remains debt free. They are so grateful that we have taken them from a place of indebtedness to being able to budget each month and now look to moving forward in their lives. 6 CHARIIY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES 11UPJ Receipts and payments accounts CC16a 01K¢1r 31112f2023 Unrestricted Restri¢Led Endowment Total fuwjs Last y¢4r A1 Recel ¢ourse5 D(rttions- Forc1￿￿% 7.$13 7,St3 77• 953 19$ 1.71$ 28.•33 DonabMS-L*ganisab Gtsnts 10. 131,263 1,715 8&999 312 Syb total(Gn)ss in(xJme for 17&164 144637 tsblol. 90.63Z 531 171164 144,657 813 AdV￿￿*r￿j 204 197 10A45 390 id Debts0￿j1 Edutathts) 14,281 421 710 647 suranca (KherA*nin Irr &S*uarthryl Pr¢mw¥ 5.942 2.812 1114.010 5.197 Sdanes Slati￿ery. Pfinl4VJ & Pl Sundry Ex[￿4￿e$ 7.125 06.955 235 424 10 75 Trainiry Trav V￿u￿teer Eypenw5 Vdunleei Wewa 7T9 1.093 27 .731 116259 purchases. l*È table ui 1111 Sub totsl 57,731 143,6D 117.B43 Netofyewptsl(pa￿ts) A5 Transfers b8tWogn funds Afj ¢ash fund5 la5t)wr end Cash lund5 Ihis yearend Ji 1.337 31 28.794 109.Y7 141.510 e3.153 109y7 41.547 CCXX R1 acwJnts ISSI Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period Unr8sknCted Restricted fvnts Endowmelrt funds Categor1tr8 DetsÉls tsDb3fESI£ tt* r•*roStf Bl Cash funds 41m7 Tolal cash furtds 41.647 nds fund$ Detsil$ ona Detsll$ Details B4 Assets retsined for the charivs own use Oetsils B5 Liabilltles Dal8 of PriniName bthstr0f￿ the trU¥tees CCXX R2 ac(wts ISSI CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examinerfs report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner's Report FtoA ? DisJrcc* C S K 2oLS Charlty no (If any) ended 118079& I rep(xt to th8 trustee8 m my exanlnatton ofthe accounts of the above charlty <￿ for ts year end8d 3 1/ i i /zrJ3S R68poMlbllHle• and AB the IT￿ ofts Tru8t. y(w fDrthe weparatlon bul• rf rnport of the a￿￿nts in acuydw￿ th8 requirements ofth8 Charities Aca 2011 fthe Acr). Sedion 145 ollhe 2011 Art aThY #i carryirwJ my axaminatlon. I hav• fol(ra*d ts 014)IKth Drecti￿￿ O¥on ty tho Charly Commi58Son urKler 8érAion 145(5Mb) ofthe A(£ Indepondent I have comwed my exwnr￿IOn. I confirm that no matters have oxamlnerf• *tatomont eom8 to my attenlion {other than that (hsclosod b&ky4V') in connoction with theAdor th tho 8xamwwtiM to attenti￿ BIK￿ld b8 tkawn in ordar to onatts a proper urKIer*a￿IYg Of1￿ ac¢wnt8 to bè reac1￿d. Slgn•d: Rélevant wof•88lonal qualttlcation(81 or body lff any): PF fv AddroM: kn) Leics LSI IER October 2018 Sectioi) B DisclosLI re Only corn￿8te rf the examiner wJ8 to hghligm matter8 of concem (see CC32, exarrww8). Glvo hern brfet d•taH8 of any lton￿ that the oxamlnorvA8lws to dlsclose. IER October 2018