The Charity Commission Annual Report 1 April 2022 – 31 March 2023 The Cedar Community Club
Charity registraton number: 1180889
Introduction
This year has been our first ‘complete’ year of opening since 2019, and we have been open for 49 out of the 52 weeks. After the hiatus caused by the Covid pandemic --- when we were forced to close from March 2020 to October 2021 and again in January 2022 --- this year has seen the Cedar Club firmly ‘up and running’ again. It has been a year of challenges, particularly in terms of having to find new funding sources and the need to find new staff. However, it has also been a year of great pleasure in seeing the Club recover from the upheavals of the past three years and finding new ways forward. This Report looks at these challenges and how they have been overcome, together with detailing some of the remaining challenges ahead of us.
Background
The Club was established in December 2018 to provide day-care facilities for the elderly and vulnerable in south Oxfordshire. Although based in Hinton Waldrist, Club members come from a 10-mile radius as we are the only day-care facility available between Witney and Wantage, and between Cumnor and Faringdon. We provide care, support and entertainment for the elderly and we can cater for those with mild-to-moderate dementia, as well as those with other physical and mental health issues. We provide a warm, friendly and supportive environment, and we are open every Tuesday and Wednesday, for 50 weeks of the year (9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.). Our only membership requirement is that we can adequately cope with an individual’s specific needs. Nobody is excluded on the grounds of race, creed, ethnicity or sexual orientation.
The average age of our members is 84 years, most of whom are living independently in their own homes. During the period 2022-23 members have come from 8 different villages. Membership numbers have fluctuated throughout the year, and have averaged between 6-8 on both Tuesdays and Wednesdays, which is considerably below our preCovid levels.
As well as providing care and support for our members, we also support their carers and families. One of the major roles of the Club is providing much-needed regular, safe and reliable respite care. For many carers, Club days are the only regular respite package
that they can easily and affordably access. The Club also acts as an informal information hub, signposting carers and members to other resources such as Social Services and NHS facilities, and it often helps with making the initial contact to other agencies.
As well as employing paid staff (a Manager and Deputy Manager, and more recently an additional care assistant), the Club also relies on eight local volunteers to help, and this allows members to receive one-to-one support with arts and crafts projects and games, as well as encouraging companionable conversations.
All of our staff, trustees and volunteers have been DBS-checked, and either have or will shortly be attending a Safeguarding course. They have all read and signed the Club Safeguarding policy and they know the procedure to follow if any possible Safeguarding issues arise.
Governance
The Club is a not-for-profit Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO), and there is a board of trustees who meet at least four times a year to discuss points of policy. During 2022/23 there were 6 trustees, and they had all read the government guidelines on the legal responsibilities of a trustee.
The Club is a self-funding organisation, and it relies on a combination of members’ fees (set at £20 per day), government grants, private donations and the proceeds of local fund-raising. All trustee meetings are fully minuted, and all meetings start with a Conflict of Interest declaration.
We are looking to increase the number of trustees as several of our founder members wish to retire in the near future. We have advertised in local publications, and eligibility for trusteeship is open to all as stated in Point 9(20) of our Constitution.
Challenges
1. Membership numbers
One of the main challenges we have faced was how to restore our membership numbers to pre-Covid levels. Having lost nearly half of our members during the pandemic (seven deaths and three members withdrawing into full-time residential care), it has proved very difficult to regain the confidence of the local elderly residents. Many were classified as ‘vulnerable’ during the pandemic and spent over 18 months isolating in their own homes. However, through a promotion campaign at local events (e.g. lunch clubs, local quizzes, village fetes, coffee mornings, parish council meetings, etc.), together with regular articles in the local press, we have seen membership numbers slowly increasing. Although they still haven’t regained pre-pandemic levels, they regularly hit nearly two-thirds capacity. We will be continuing and expanding our campaign to raise awareness of the Club and its activities over the coming year.
2. Staffing
Another major challenge has been how to maintain and increase staffing levels. In October 2021 we were given notice that our then Manager, who had worked at the Club and its predecessor for 27 years, wished to resign. She said that she felt ‘totally broken’ after working through the pandemic. We had already lost our previous Deputy Manager in September 2021, who had resigned on ill-health grounds, and this meant that we needed to quickly find replacements for both staff members. After one false start, we appointed two new staff members, a Manager and Deputy Manager, who both came from a domiciliary care background and both of whom had the necessary experience and qualifications regarding care of the elderly. They have both settled in well and are much liked by our members and their families, and the staff work well together.
However, by the middle of the year it was becoming obvious that the trustees needed to consider employing a third member of staff. Many of our Club members were new and needed help to settle in. Also, a higher percentage of our new members were now presenting with ‘moderate’ dementia compared with our pre-Covid members where only 50% or so had ‘mild to moderate’ dementia. This change in the Club demographic meant that staff were required to do more one-to-one support throughout the day. In order to ensure that all members felt fully supported, the trustees decided to employ a third member of staff, a Care Assistant (who started work in October 2022) to provide one-to-one help with activities and with personal care where needed. This decision has worked well, and together with the additional help from our volunteers, we feel that we provide an excellent staff:member ratio for our Club activities.
3. Financial Challenges
The downside to employing a third member of staff has been the increase in our financial deficit each month. The trustees feel it is impossible to provide good quality daycare for the elderly that is solely funded by membership fees. We charged £20 per day [this increased to £25 per day in April 2023] but we know that the more we increase our fees, the more members we might lose as they struggle to afford Club attendance. We have set up a Club Bursary scheme this year to offer ‘discreet’ help with the fees for any member struggling financially but know there is great resistance to applying for what is perceived as ‘charity’ no matter how we present it.
The Club is lucky to have financial reserves --- see the attached financial accounts – but these will require careful shepherding to support us through the coming years. Our monthly shortfall this year has averaged £1800. Although we charged £20 per day attendance fee, we have calculated that the ‘true’ cost of attending is nearer £50 per day, and this leaves us with a significant shortfall. The trustees apply for any relevant public funding
opportunities (at county, district and parish level), and we also apply to other local charities for financial support --- see the attached Financial statement. The Club was awarded a grant of £15,000 in February 2023 from Oxfordshire County Council via the Oxfordshire Community Foundation, and this will help limit our financial deficit during 2023/24. Although we are in the fortunate position of holding sufficient reserves to ensure our viability for several years, we know that we have to continue to find alternative funding streams in the future given the reduced availability of public funding at both county and district level. Sourcing funding will continue to be a major challenge for the Club in forthcoming years.
Valery Rose
Chair of Trustees
Independent examiner's report on the accounts
Section A Independent Examiner’s Report
Report to the trustees/ Charity Name members of Cedar Community Club On accounts for the year 31 March 2023 Charity no 1180889 ended (if any) Set out on pages 1, 2 and 3 (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 31/03/2022.
Responsibilities and As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation basis of report 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 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 (other than that disclosed below *) in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:
-
accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or
-
the accounts do not accord with the accounting records
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn 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: 26 January 2024 Signed: Name: Ryan Lewis Relevant professional Chartered Accountant (ICAEW) qualification(s) or body (if any): Address: First Floor, Tourism House Pynes Hill Exeter, Devon
CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Cedar Communlty Club 1180889 Receipts and payments accounts CC16a For the period from 01 Aprfl 2022 To 31 March 2023 Section A Receipts and payments Unrestricted funds Restricted funds End0vInnt funds Total funds Last ar ttsthe nearest ttst nea$1£ to the nearest £ tothe nearest£ to the nearest £ A1 Receipts Members fees Donations Grants Interest 13,327 2,259 25,999 886 13 J27 2,259 25999 886 4,410 10,769 14,000 Gift aid 3,764 3,065 HMRC Furlough receipts Sub total (Gross income for AR) 42A72 42A72 36P08 A2 Asset and investrnt sales. (see table). Sub totsl 42.472 42A72 36.008 A3 PaynEnts Emplosfnent¢05ts Food and actimttrs Insuran¢& Madia and marktrtng Stationeryand postsg8 Other member associated costs Minor assets Telephone Training Computer expenses Rent Other miscellaneous 22,357 2.761 584 22J57 2.761 584 1851 2.7S2 547 30 49 4.500 4.500 540 192 670 155 192 192 484 7,868 114 484 7,868 114 1,760 26246 Sub total 38,859 3859 A4 Asset and investsrnnt urchases, see tsble Sub total 38,859 38059 25.246 Net of receipts/(payments) A5 Transfers betV4Een funds Cash funds last Jtar end Cash fvnds this year end 3,612 3,612 10,762 87,830 91,442 87,830 91,442 87,830
Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
| Categories | Details | Details | Details | Unrestricted funds |
Restricted funds |
Endowment funds |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| to nearest £ | to nearest £ | to nearest £ | |||||||
| B1 Cash funds | Current account | 37,720 | - | ||||||
| Savings account | 53,723 | - | |||||||
| - | - | - | |||||||
| Total cash funds | 91,442 | - OK |
- | ||||||
| (agree balances w ith receipts and payments account(s)) |
OK | OK | |||||||
| Unrestricted funds |
Restricted funds |
Endowment funds |
|||||||
| Details | to nearest £ | to nearest £ | to nearest £ | ||||||
| B2 Other monetary assets | - | - | - | ||||||
| - | - | - | |||||||
| - | - | - | |||||||
| - | - | - | |||||||
| - | - | - | |||||||
| - | - | - | |||||||
| Details | Fund to which asset belongs |
Cost (optional) | Current value (optional) |
||||||
| B3 Investment assets | - | - | |||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| Details | Fund to which asset belongs |
Cost (optional) | Current value (optional) |
||||||
| B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use |
Computer | Unrestricted | 1,115 | ||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| Details | Fund to which liability relates |
Amount due (optional) |
When due (optional) |
||||||
| B5 Liabilities | - | ||||||||
| - | |||||||||
| - | |||||||||
| - | |||||||||
| - | |||||||||
| Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees |
Signature | Print Name | Date of approval |
||||||
Independent examiner's report on the accounts
Section A Independent Examiner’s Report
Report to the trustees/ Charity Name members of Cedar Community Club On accounts for the year 31 March 2023 Charity no 1180889 ended (if any) Set out on pages 1, 2 and 3 (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 31/03/2022.
Responsibilities and As the charity trustees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation basis of report 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 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 (other than that disclosed below *) in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:
-
accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act or
-
the accounts do not accord with the accounting records
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn 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: 26 January 2024 Signed: Name: Ryan Lewis Relevant professional Chartered Accountant (ICAEW) qualification(s) or body (if any): Address: First Floor, Tourism House Pynes Hill Exeter, Devon
CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Cedar Communlty Club 1180889 Receipts and payments accounts CC16a For the period from 01 Aprfl 2022 To 31 March 2023 Section A Receipts and payments Unrestricted funds Restricted funds End0vInnt funds Total funds Last ar ttsthe nearest ttst nea$1£ to the nearest £ tothe nearest£ to the nearest £ A1 Receipts Members fees Donations Grants Interest 13,327 2,259 25,999 886 13 J27 2,259 25999 886 4,410 10,769 14,000 Gift aid 3,764 3,065 HMRC Furlough receipts Sub total (Gross income for AR) 42A72 42A72 36P08 A2 Asset and investrnt sales. (see table). Sub totsl 42.472 42A72 36.008 A3 PaynEnts Emplosfnent¢05ts Food and actimttrs Insuran¢& Madia and marktrtng Stationeryand postsg8 Other member associated costs Minor assets Telephone Training Computer expenses Rent Other miscellaneous 22,357 2.761 584 22J57 2.761 584 1851 2.7S2 547 30 49 4.500 4.500 540 192 670 155 192 192 484 7,868 114 484 7,868 114 1,760 26246 Sub total 38,859 3859 A4 Asset and investsrnnt urchases, see tsble Sub total 38,859 38059 25.246 Net of receipts/(payments) A5 Transfers betV4Een funds Cash funds last Jtar end Cash fvnds this year end 3,612 3,612 10,762 87,830 91,442 87,830 91,442 87,830
Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period
| Categories | Details | Details | Details | Unrestricted funds |
Restricted funds |
Endowment funds |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| to nearest £ | to nearest £ | to nearest £ | |||||||
| B1 Cash funds | Current account | 37,720 | - | ||||||
| Savings account | 53,723 | - | |||||||
| - | - | - | |||||||
| Total cash funds | 91,442 | - OK |
- | ||||||
| (agree balances w ith receipts and payments account(s)) |
OK | OK | |||||||
| Unrestricted funds |
Restricted funds |
Endowment funds |
|||||||
| Details | to nearest £ | to nearest £ | to nearest £ | ||||||
| B2 Other monetary assets | - | - | - | ||||||
| - | - | - | |||||||
| - | - | - | |||||||
| - | - | - | |||||||
| - | - | - | |||||||
| - | - | - | |||||||
| Details | Fund to which asset belongs |
Cost (optional) | Current value (optional) |
||||||
| B3 Investment assets | - | - | |||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| Details | Fund to which asset belongs |
Cost (optional) | Current value (optional) |
||||||
| B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use |
Computer | Unrestricted | 1,115 | ||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| Details | Fund to which liability relates |
Amount due (optional) |
When due (optional) |
||||||
| B5 Liabilities | - | ||||||||
| - | |||||||||
| - | |||||||||
| - | |||||||||
| - | |||||||||
| Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees |
Signature | Print Name | Date of approval |
||||||