## **Brewood & District Voluntary Car Scheme Annual Report for Financial Year 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025** 

Brewood Voluntary Car Scheme provides passenger travel to three local parishes, covering the villages of Coven Heath, Coven, Brewood, Bishop’s Wood, Lapley, Stretton, Wheaton Aston, Blymhill, Calf Heath and Weston-under-Lizard. 

A total of  704  passenger journeys,  were undertaken during the 2024/2025 financial year, covering a total of 10,467 fare miles. 

The majority of the journeys were for elderly / disabled people (who find public transport inaccessible) to attend mainly medical appointments, at an affordable cost. 

There are currently only 12 Voluntary Drivers registered to drive for the Car Scheme. (It should be borne in mind that the availability of the Drivers varies greatly. Whilst some are free to undertake 5 trips a week, others only take on 1 trip a month).  8 of the drivers are from Brewood, 2 from Coven Heath, 1 from Wheaton Aston and 1 from Codsall. We really need drivers from Bishops Wood, Wheaton Aston, Westonunder-Lizard and Blymhill to meet the demands of passengers in these areas and reduce the amount paid in light miles to drivers, but despite various appeals, non have come forward. 

Brewood & District Voluntary Car Scheme can report that for the 2024/2025 financial year there has been a surplus in income over expenditure of £1316.88 

_Funds received from donations form a financial buffer that greatly assist any cash flow problems the car scheme may incur during the period between applying for and receiving grants, they unfortunately cannot be relied upon, and therefore cannot be taken into consideration when budgeting for the car schemes financial future._ 

Donations and bank account interest, are receipts that are not guaranteed annually, therefore should not be included in financial forecasts. 

Without these receipts the surplus of income over expenditure for the financial period from 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, would total: 

Surplus of income over expenditure 2024/25 £1316.88 Less: Donations £1441.75 

Deficit £124.87 (NB  It  should  be  noted  that Brewood  and  Coven  Parish  Council  have  not  yet submitted their annual invoice to the car scheme). 

## **Hospital Parking and Disabled Badges:** 

The Car Scheme no longer have possession of Disabled Parking Badges.  The drivers were allowed to use the Badges at their discretion when providing transport to passengers with disabilities, making the drivers’ role a lot easier, especially where car parking is restricted. This is a major issue for the scheme with the amount of drivers that we have that do daily journeys and the parking restrictions enforced at the main Hospitals that we travel to. Where we can, we do try and get our users to bring their own disabled badges but this isn’t always possible. 



## **Grants:** 

The Car Scheme depends upon grants from local Parish Councils to finance the Car Scheme Co-ordinator Salary. 

The following grants were received during the financial period 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025: 

|Lapley, Stretton & Wheaton Aston Parish Council<br>Blymhill and Weston-under-Lizard Parish Council|£1000<br>£  200|
|---|---|
||£1200|



Once again, we did not receive a grant this financial year from Hatherton Parish Council. 

The deficit between grants received from the Parish Councils and the co-ordinator’s salary paid is absorbed by Brewood & Coven Parish Council, who provide grant assistance to the Car Scheme to cover this deficit. 

End of year accounts finalised by Mrs S Phillips. Brewood & Voluntary Car Scheme 

End of year accounts audited by Mrs Valerie Turner 



## **BREWOOD VOLUNTARY CAR SCHEME INCOME AND EXPENDITURE STATEMENT 1 APRIL 2024 TO 31 MARCH 2025** 

## **Income** 

|Lapley, Stretton & Wheaton Aston Parish Council Grant<br>Blymhill & Weston-under-Lizard Parish Council Grant<br>Client receipts for passenger journeys<br>Donations -<br>direct from client journeys<br>direct to office<br>Bank Adjustment<br>Interest on Bank Accounts<br>Total Income<br>**Expenditure**<br>Mileage payments to drivers<br>Insurance/DBS<br>Telephone calls<br>Advertising<br>Christmas<br>Surplus of income over expenditure<br>2024/2025|1,000.00<br>200.00<br>£6,463.05<br>£1,201.75<br>£240.00<br>£18.00<br>£9,122.80|£316.43|
|---|---|---|
|||£9,439.23|
|||£6,828.41<br>£760.66<br>£323.28<br>£30.00<br>£180.00|
|||£8,122.35<br>£1,316.88|



## **GRANTS FOR SALARIES** 

## **Accountability:** 

Salary grants were not transferred from the Brewood Voluntary Car Scheme account to the Brewood Parish Council account, this year, the Parish Council did not invoice the scheme. 

(This is the normal agreed payment towards the Car Scheme Co-ordinator salary, which is paid via the Parish Council's payroll). 

## **Breakdown of Grants given:** 

|Lapley, Stretton & Wheaton Aston Parish Council<br>Blymhill & Weston-under-Lizard Parish Council<br>Donation direct to office|1,000.00<br>200.00<br>240.00|
|---|---|
||1,440.00|