Trustees' Annual Report for the period
Period start date Period end date 1 5 2020 30 4 2021 From To
Section A Reference and administration details
Charity name UK Advising and Tutoring Other names charity is known by UKAT Registered charity number (if any) 1185020 Charity's principal address York St John University Lord Mayor’s Walk YORK Postcode YO31 7EX
Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity
| 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 |
Trustee name | Office (if any) | Dates acted if not for whole year |
Name of person (or body) entitled to appoint trustee (if any) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| David John Lochtie | Chair | Members | ||
| Benjamin Wilfrid Walker |
Members | |||
| Emily Alice McIntosh |
Members | |||
| Susan Anne Smith | Members | |||
| Dionne Elizabeth Barton |
Members | |||
| Ann Lesley Bingham |
Members | |||
| Oscar van den Wijngaard |
Members | |||
Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees)
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Name Dates acted if not for whole year
Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)
Type of adviser Name Address
Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)
David Grey
Section B Structure, governance and management
Description of the charity’s trusts
Type of governing document
Constitution
(eg. trust deed, constitution) Charitable Incorporated Organisation How the charity is constituted
- (eg. trust, association, company)
Elected by Charity Members Trustee selection methods
(eg. appointed by, elected by)
Additional governance issues (Optional information)
You may choose to include additional information, where relevant, about:
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policies and procedures adopted for the induction and training of trustees;
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the charity’s organisational structure and any wider network with which the charity works;
UKAT is allied to NACADA, the Global Community for Academic Advising , a US-based non-profit organisation which supports the global higher education community, and which has similar objectives to those of UKAT.
UKAT is a registered member of the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO). Trustees are provided with access to, and asked to engage with, NCVO’s Trustee training and charity governance guidance and resources.
UKAT has followed NCVO guidance, and adopted and adopted NCVO sample policies and procedures in defining its organisational structure and procedures
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relationship with any related parties;
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trustees’ consideration of major risks and the system and procedures to manage them.
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Section C Objectives and activities
The objects of the charity are to advance the education of Higher Education students through the provision of effective personal tutoring and academic advising. Summary of the objects of the charity set out in its governing document
UKAT seeks to achieve its objectives through advancing the field of academic advising and personal tutoring, and working with key stakeholders including members, higher education institutions and their staff, and students, to enhance academic advising and personal tutoring practice. UKAT supports the sharing and dissemination of good practice, through conferences, webinars, professional development activities, professional recognition, research, resources, articles, and networking. UKAT endeavours to promote a scholarly-informed approach to personal tutoring and academic advising, and the adoption of high-impact, evidence-informed practices by individual educators and their institutions to enhance student outcomes.
UKAT provides a range of consultancy, professional development and training for personal tutors and academic advisors through webinars, Summary of the main online courses, networking opportunities and practice sharing events. activities undertaken for the The two primary professional development activities offered by UKAT are public benefit in relation to a freely available monthly webinar series open to anyone, and the UKAT these objects (include within Annual conference. this section the statutory declaration that trustees have UKAT offers advice and guidance to higher education institutions seeking had regard to the guidance to improve the provision of personal tutoring and academic advising issued by the Charity processes for their students. It does this through: Commission on public • Publications and guidance documents, including a professional benefit) standards framework • Freely available educational resources for higher education providers and individual personal tutors/academic advisors to use in supporting their students
- Consulting directly with individual higher education institutions
UKAT also supports, promotes and facilitates the dissemination of research into personal tutoring and academic advising, to enhance the publicly-available evidence base of effective practices and to encourage all practitioners to adopt a scholarly-informed approach.
The Trustees have considered the Charity Commission guidance on public benefit to satisfy themselves that UKAT’s activities meet the public benefit requirements. The Board of Trustees takes account of the public benefit guidance in considering proposals for the introduction of new activities, and changes to existing ones.
Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)
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UKAT employees one member of staff (the CEO). Apart from the contribution of the CEO, all the activities of UKAT are undertaken by experienced volunteers who are employed within UK or global higher education settings.
UKAT does not currently award grants.
You may choose to include further statements, where relevant, about:
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policy on grantmaking;
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policy programme related investment;
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contribution made by volunteers.
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Section D Achievements and performance
Summary of the main achievements of the charity during the year
The period covered by this report has been a successful one in which there has been a growth in demand for the support that UKAT provides. The COVID pandemic, and the move to remote online teaching, has resulted in higher education institutions relying on their personal tutoring/academic advising provision to help students develop a sense of cohort cohesion and belonging to an institution and academic community which they may not have physically visited. The educational experience of many higher education students, especially first year students, has been very different this last 12 months, and the nature of the issues and challenges faced by students has also been different. In most cases, personal tutoring/academic advising has also needed to be conducted remotely and online and many tutors have felt unprepared to support students in this way.
UKAT has responded to the challenges of the pandemic by increasing the number of resources and guidance publications it provides, covering an increased range of topics of particular relevance to practitioners at this time. A particular focus was given to choosing webinar topics that were particularly pertinent to equipping tutors/advisors to support their students remotely through the pandemic and the number of webinars offered was increased. Attendance at webinars remains strong, with every webinar this year reaching its 100-person registration limit.
The 2020 UKAT Annual Conference was scheduled to occur on 6/7 April 2020 but was postponed until September 2020 and rearranged to occur as an online conference running over four days instead of two. Additional content was added to offer a focus on supporting students remotely and using technology effectively. 120 delegates registered to attend the conference. The 2021 Annual Conference took place in March 2021 and was also an online conference. Even though this occurred only 6 months after the previous conference, it was UKAT’s most successful conference to date, with over 170 delegates attending, reflecting a renewed interest in the importance of personal tutoring/academic advising in the HE sector. Many delegates sent messages of thanks to the organising team, noting that it was one of the most useful, friendly and engaging conference they have attended, either physically or online. UKAT offered a two-for-one offer on delegate registrations for the 2021 conference in recognition of the financial constraints affecting HE institutions as the result of the pandemic. This was also useful in increasing delegate numbers and increasing the number of HE institutions engaging with us. Online conferences have lower overheads than physical events and holding two online conferences within the period of this report has strengthened UKAT’s financial position, enabling us to survive the pandemic without having to furlough staff or seek any form of financial aid. For the 2021 conference we also offered free student delegate registrations for student representatives from member institutions, and we were delighted that 10% of our delegates this year were students registered on higher education courses. Growing the direct student representations within the organisation is a key objective for UKAT and this was one initiative to help meet that goal. UKAT also hosted a student intern from Sheffield Hallam University to work on publicity and conference organisation. It was a successful placement; the intern worked with UKAT one day a week for five months and helped make the conference a great success. He also hosted a student focus group at the conference to help us better understand the needs of contemporary students so that we can support personal tutors/academic advisors to support their students more effectively.
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Section D Achievements and performance
The effects of the pandemic have been felt in every nation and affected students and advisors/tutors around the world. Over the last 12 months UKAT has deliberately worked with other associations around the world to bring together members to share practice and experiences to help them support students more effectively. In December 2020 we joined forces with LVSA, the Dutch study advisors’ association, to hold a symposium focused on helping advisors/tutors recapture their passion for supporting students. In March 2021, we connected the LVSA and UKAT conferences online, sharing some sessions and hosting a second joint symposium reflecting on the lessons learned from supporting students through the pandemic and identifying effective practices that should be continued into the future. The partnership with LVSA continues to grow, with further joint activities planned for the autumn of 2021. Within the UK we collaborated with AMOSSHE and Action on Access to offer webinars and resources focused on effectively supporting vulnerable and disadvantaged students. Further joint activities are planned with both organisations.
UKAT membership continues to increase with 23 UK universities (~1/6 of mainstream UK universities) taking out institutional membership. An Advisory Board of membership institutions was created to offer advice and guidance on UKAT’s strategy, the ways in which it serves its institutional and individual members, and the value that it brings to them. The Advisory Board recommended that UKAT seek student representation amongst the organisation, as a result of which all member institutions were invited to bring a student representative to the annual conference free of charge. From January to May 2021, UKAT hosted a student intern from Sheffield Hallam University through a one-day per week placement. This intern supported the organisation and delivery of the conference, including hosting a student focus group and presenting a student voice webinar, as part of the drive to increase student voice and representation in the association.
Interest in the UKAT Professional Recognition scheme, a scheme designed to develop tutors/advisors as reflective practitioners who focus on their own ongoing professional development, continues to grow. Staff from 16 universities (post-92 and Russell group) have participated in the scheme over the last year, with 153 individuals registering to participate in the scheme and 60 achieving recognition for their experience in personal tutoring/academic advising. The UKAT Professional Development Committee has also spent the last year planning a ‘curriculum’ of online professional development offerings for advisors/tutors which is designed to complement the professional recognition scheme and scaffold their professional development throughout their career. The first phase of this online professional development curriculum is focused on supporting new academics to be effective advisors/tutors and is due to be made available before the end of 2021. The development of this curriculum is a collaborative effort between UKAT members, and representatives of UK higher education institutions, Action on Access, NACADA and the National Science Foundation ASPIRE Alliance for inclusive learning and teaching in the US.
UKAT has continued to advance the scholarship of personal tutoring/academic advising through the work of its Research Committee. Since 2019 this Committee has, in conjunction with US and Dutch collaborators, been editing a Special Edition of the Frontiers in Education online journal focusing on “Academic Advising and Tutoring for Student
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Section D Achievements and performance
Success in Higher Education: International Perspectives”. The Special Edition was completed and formally published in February 2021. The completed collection includes 14 manuscripts from international authors and, to date, the collection has been viewed by over 32000 readers from across the world.
UKAT continues to advise specific UK universities on enhancing their student advising processes, largely through bespoke training workshops for staff. During the last year UKAT has provided this support to five UK universities.
The governance of the organisation has been strengthened over the past year with the introduction of two new sub-committees of the Board of Trustees. A Finance Committee has been created, chaired by a suitably qualified Trustee, to maintain oversight of UKAT’s finances, and to review and document appropriate financial controls, the procedures used for authorising payments, reconciling bank accounts and ensuring that all membership dues are received.
A Membership Committee has also been created to regularly review and update the categories of membership, the rights and benefits which these concur, and the procedures relating to membership and the collection of membership dues.
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Section E Financial review
Brief statement of the charity’s policy on reserves
UKAT does not currently have a reserves policy. The Board of Trustees will discuss and approve a reserves policy for introduction in the 2021 financial year.
Details of any funds materially in deficit
None
Further financial review details (Optional information)
You may choose to include additional information, where relevant about:
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the charity’s principal sources of funds (including any fundraising);
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how expenditure has supported the key objectives of the charity;
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investment policy and objectives including any ethical investment policy adopted.
UKAT’s turnover for the 12-month period to end of April 2021 is £83637, very close to the mandatory VAT registration mandatory of £85,000 of taxable turnover. Based on their reading of the relevant VAT Notices, the Trustees are not clear that all of UKAT’s income would be considered for VAT, and thus contribute to taxable turnover. Many of UKAT’s activities constitute education and training which are considered VAT exempt, and it is not clear whether other sources of income, such as the payment of membership fees, would be liable for VAT. The Trustees, through the UKAT Treasurer, have consulted HMRC’s VAT specialists for clarification regarding the VAT liability of each of UKAT’s activities to determine whether VAT registration is mandatory for the organisation at this time and the activities on which VAT would need to be charged if this proves to be the case. This enquiry was lodged with HMRC on 21 April 2021. Despite several attempts to follow up this enquiry, no response has yet been received from HMRC.
At the time of writing, UKAT’s total turnover is close to, but has not exceeded, the VAT registrations threshold of £85,000. The Treasurer and Finance Committee will continue to seek clarification from HMRC and monitor UKAT’s turnover with reference to the mandatory VAT registration threshold. The organisation will register for VAT in accordance with HMRC requirements as soon as the Trustees are satisfied that the registration requirements have been met.
The Trustees will also consider whether it would be prudent for UKAT to voluntarily register for VAT and, if so, when this should be done. The Trustees should also consider the various VAT payment schemes available to decide which one would be most appropriate for UKAT to adopt whenever it does register for VAT.
Section F Other optional information
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Section G Declaration
The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.
Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees
Signature(s) Full name(s) David John Lochtie Ann Lesley Bingham Position (eg Secretary, Chair, Trustee etc)[Chair ] Date 21 September 2021
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| UK Advising and Tutoring (UKAT) | 118502 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Receipts andpayments accounts | CC16a | ||
| 01/05/2020 For the period from |
To | 30/04/2021 |
| Section A Receipts and payments | Section A Receipts and payments | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 Receipts | Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ 23,671 40,438 10,080 4,000 - 349 5,348 83,886 - - - 83,886 34,807 3,959 821 - 208 1,494 2,850 63 83 101 401 44,786 - - - 44,786 39,099 - 20,748 59,848 |
Restricted funds to the nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
Endowment funds to the nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
Total funds to the nearest £ 23,671 40,438 10,080 4,000 - 349 5,348 83,886 - - - 83,886 34,807 3,959 821 - 208 1,494 2,850 63 - 83 101 401 44,786 - - - 44,786 39,099 |
Last year to the nearest £ |
|
| Membership | 23,671 | 7,960 | ||||
| Conference | 40,438 | 5,777 | ||||
| Consultancy | 10,080 | 10,080 | ||||
| Sponsorship | 4,000 | 1,000 | ||||
| Training | - | - | ||||
| Sales | 349 | 49 | ||||
| Professional Recognition | 5,348 | 73 | ||||
| Sub total(Gross income for AR) |
83,886 | 24,940 | ||||
| A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). |
||||||
| - | ||||||
| - | - | |||||
| Sub total | - | - | ||||
| Total receipts A3 Payments |
||||||
| 24,940 | ||||||
| Salary | 34,807 | 12,267 | ||||
| Pensions | 3,959 | 3,346 | ||||
| Conference | 821 | 502 | ||||
| Travel | - | - | ||||
| Insurance | 208 | - | ||||
| Publications | 1,494 | 1,494 | ||||
| IT & Software | 2,850 | 841 | ||||
| Subscription | 63 | - | ||||
| Volunteer/Employee Expenses | - | |||||
| General Expenses | 83 | 32 | ||||
| CurrencyConversion Fees | 101 | 79 | ||||
| Payment ProcessingFees | 401 | 90 | ||||
| Sub total | 44,786 | 18,651 | ||||
| A4 Asset and investment purchases, (see table) |
||||||
| - | ||||||
| - | ||||||
| Sub total | - | - | ||||
| Total payments Net of receipts/(payments) A5 Transfers between funds A6 Cash funds last year end Cash funds this year end |
||||||
| 18,651 | ||||||
| 39,099 | - | - | 39,099 |
6,289 | ||
| - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 20,748 | - | - | 20,748 | 20,748 | ||
| 59,848 | - | - | 59,848 |
27,037 |
CCXX R1 accounts (SS)
14/06/2021
1
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 B5 Liabilities B3 Investment assets B2 Other monetary assets B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use B1 Cash funds CCXX R2 t SS |
Details Details Total cash funds (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) Current Account PayPal Account Stripe Account Details Details Details Signature |
Unrestricted funds Restricted funds to nearest £ to nearest £ 59,534 - 314 - - - 59,848 - OK OK Unrestricted funds Restricted funds to nearest £ to nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) - - - - - Fund to which asset belongs Cost (optional) - - - - - - - - - Fund to which liability relates Amount due (optional) - - - - - Print Name DJ Lochtie |
Endowment funds to nearest £ |
|---|---|---|---|
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| OK | |||
| Endowment funds to nearest £ |
|||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| Current value (optional) |
|||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| Current value (optional) |
|||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| - | |||
| When due (optional) |
|||
| Date of approval |
|||
| DJ Lochtie | 13/06/2021 | ||
CCXX R2 accounts (SS)
2
Independent examiner's report on the accounts
Section A Independent Examiner’s Report Report to the trustees/ members of UK Advising and Tutoring (UKAT) On accounts for the year Charity no 1185020 ended[30 April 2021 ] (if any) Set out on pages I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity (“the Trust”) for the year ended 30/04/2021 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. Date: 20 June 2021 Signed: Name: Douglas Meikle Relevant professional Member of Chartered Institute of Management Accountants qualification(s) or body (if any): Address: 37 Rowntree Wharf, Navigation Road, York YO19XA
- 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.
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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 .
n/a
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Oct 2018
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