Trustees' Annual Report for the period
Period start date Period end date Day Month Year Day Month Year From 19 11 2020 To 31 12 2021
Section A Reference and administration details
Charity name Merseyside County RAYNET Other names charity is known by Merseyside RAYNET Registered charity number (if any) 1192411
Charity's principal address 90 Plymyard Ave Bromborough Wirral Postcode CH62 6BR
Names of the charity trustees who manage the charity
| 1 2 3 |
Trustee name | Office (if any) | Dates acted if not for whole **year ** |
Name of person (or body) entitled to appoint trustee (ifany) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mr R J Welch | Chairperson | 10/12/2020 - 31/12/2020 | ||
| Mr L J T Boylan | Treasurer | 10/12/2020 - 31/12/2020 | ||
| Mr S A Wood | Secretary | 10/12/2020 - 31/12/2020 |
Names of the trustees for the charity, if any, (for example, any custodian trustees)
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)
Section B Structure, governance and management
Description of the charity’s trusts
Type of governing document
Constitution 19 November 2020.
(eg. trust deed, constitution)
Charitable Incorporated Organisation - Association How the charity is constituted
(eg. trust, association, company)
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Trustees are appointed or reappointed annually at the Annual General Meeting held in April.
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;
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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.
Merseyside County RAYNET is a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) with voting members other than its charity trustees and was first Registered on 19 November 2020.
The day to day running of Merseyside RAYNET is overseen by the Merseyside County RAYNET Committee and the Committee seeks the views of all RAYNET members on Merseyside. Full Membership of the Committee is at the discretion of the Committee and is open to persons aged 18 or over, having demonstrable interest in furtherance of the Committee’s objects.
Merseyside RAYNET is a member of the Merseyside Local Authorities’ Local Resilience Forum (LRF) Telecoms Working Party, and the LRF Voluntary and Faith Sector Forum (V&FSF), through which we plan and coordinate our services . RAYNET can also be called upon at any time by any of the emergency services and is an integral part of the Merseyside Resilience Forum UNITY Plan.
RAYNET members are registered members of RAYNET-UK and are subject to RAYNET-UK codes of conduct. RAYNET-UK also provides members insurance cover for Public Liability and Personal Accident.
Section C Objectives and activities
Summary of the objects of the charity set out in its governing document
The objects of the Group are the protection of human life and property for the public benefit, by providing an additional source of communications for emergencies or disasters or the prevention thereof.
We provide a freely accessible Merseyside wide communication system for civil emergencies, search and rescue, and community events.
In planning our activities for the year we kept in mind the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit.
Our main purposes and activities are as follows:
(i) To assist organisations that provide activities in the interests of social welfare for recreation and other leisure time occupations with the object Summary of the main of improving conditions of life, health and wellbeing, and public safety; by activities undertaken for the supplementing existing communications or providing alternative forms of public benefit in relation to communications. these objects (include within (ii) To assist the Local Authorities’ Resilience Forum, the emergency this section the statutory services, and other organisations involved in rescue services and in declaration that trustees have protecting human life and property in the event of a local or national had regard to the guidance emergency, or public event, by supplementing existing communications issued by the Charity or providing alternative forms of communications. Commission on public (iii) To provide: (a) a team of trained and equipped volunteers/radio benefit) operators to undertake the purposes of Merseyside RAYNET; (b) a Merseyside wide PBR Repeater system, and flexible communication facilities, to undertake the purposes of Merseyside RAYNET. (iv) To promote such other charitable purposes as may from time to time be determined by the Merseyside County RAYNET Committee.
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The direct benefits flowing from our organisation’s purposes are:
The particular relevance of our role where the communications of the frontline emergency services, and the public, have become compromised such as for instance at major events or emergencies when the mobile phone network fails and/or becomes overloaded.
An improvement in the efficiency and effectiveness of charities, and organisations whose purposes are charitable, in direct pursuit of their objects by the provision of resilient communications and ancillary services.
Event organisers that do not have their own communications expertise or equipment are able to ensure public safety and security at their activities in a flexible, cost effective, and sympathetic way.
The direct public benefit that flows from our purposes (i) and (ii) is the increased efficiency and effectiveness of the community and voluntary groups and organisations that use the facilities, resulting in enhanced outcomes and service delivery, and consequently, improved quality of life for those who benefit from the work of these groups and organisations.
Some of the organisations would be unable to operate their activities, or activities on such a scale, without our support. Therefore an indirect public benefit is increased opportunities to engage in new activities that bring people together, leading to greater social cohesion and fulfilment, enhanced active citizenship, and involvement in community life.
A direct public benefit from our involvement in supporting the Local Authorities’ Resilience Forum, the emergency services, and other organisations involved in rescue services and protecting human life and property is that the additional capacity, the interoperability our systems offer, and the resilience of our systems enhance the effectiveness of the emergency response and can help provide a more beneficial outcome for members of the community affected. Some of the voluntary emergency responders benefit from relying on our communication systems, either entirely, or as a supplementary resource.
Specifically:
Purpose (iii): A direct benefit is that the lead organisation for a community event, and the emergency services in the event of a local emergency, can delegate less urgent/routine activities allowing more of their resources to be deployed to front line more urgent tasks.
Purpose (iv): Many of the events we support raise money for specific charities and over the years we have helped to raise millions of pounds for good causes. Even with the exceptionally reduced number of events in 2021 due to COVID we have helped raise over £60,000.
Additional details of objectives and activities (Optional information)
You may choose to include further statements, where relevant, about:
All trustees, other members of the Committee, and RAYNET members, give their time voluntarily and receive no remuneration or other benefits.
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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
Throughout 2020 and 2021 our MEARL Community Repeater system Summary of the main continued to provide 24/7 full operation communications facilities for achievements of the charity Merseyside Search and Rescue as well as standby communications for: during the year St John Ambulance Merseyside; the local authorities; and the voluntary organisations involved in the Merseyside Resilience Forum UNITY Plan. The MEARL System was remotely monitored and operationally tested several times a week throughout 2020 and 2021 to ensure 24/7/365 readiness, and members own equipment was maintained at Standby Status Green - ready to go, charged and readily accessible. All the major community events that we were due to provide communications for were cancelled in 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions and only six ran in 2021 - either as virtual events or with reduced numbers resulting in only four events requiring our support during the year. However related virtual development activities were undertaken by ourselves in both years.
Our virtual interactive GOOGLE map continued to be developed/updated covering all regular events and the location information is in the process of being updated to include What 3 Words as this has now been adopted by the North West Ambulance Service call centres. Our original 2020 COVID Preparedness Statement, and revised Risk Assessment, were again updated in 2021 as circumstances changed. The scheduled physical quarterly Merseyside County RAYNET Committee meetings continued to be replaced with virtual meetings in 2021 and were again augmented with monthly intermediate meetings. Training exercises with our MRF partners in preparation for emergencies had been put on hold by the Merseyside Resilience Forum during 2020/2021 due to pressures from COVID. However during 2021 we were able to use two of the community events that we supported to gain increased skills and knowledge deploying our portable repeater in difficult terrain with poor to non-existent mobile phone coverage - as might be required during a Search and Rescue Operation. We also designed and undertook a major two part interactive “ learning from home ” virtual exercise in which all our members could participate at their own pace between January and April 2021. This was designed to present a basic introduction to the Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Principles (JESIP) via an imaginary Major Incident drawing on elements of both: the MRF 2018 COMAH (Control of Major Accident Hazards) Exercise scenario, and the Exercise UNITY Phase 3 inter agency Desktop Exercise discussions that we took part in in 2019. Towards the end of the year work was started on an improved Welcome Pack/Experience for new members and the development of a fund raising appeal to replace our 32 year old Mobile Control Vehicle before it becomes too expensive to maintain, or reaches the end of its useful life.
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Section E Financial review
Brief statement of the
charity’s policy on reserves
Cash at the bank at 31/12/2021 was £2791 in unrestricted funds. The main financial risk to the charity is loss of funding from the Local Authorities and reduced donations.
Sufficient funds are held to cover each 12 month operational programme costs in the event of a loss of income and to meet any unforeseen expenditure that may occur.
Details of any funds materially in deficit
Not applicable
Further financial review details (Optional information)
Our principal sources of funds this year have been the regular annual grant of £1575 from the Merseyside Local Authorities. Income from the usual community and charitable events that we provide services for has been reduced due to COVID restrictions causing events to be cancelled or run virtually and not requiring our services. However expenditure was proportionally less, and some income owed from previous years was received, resulting in the cash reserves being up at the financial year end compared with the previous year end.
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 The major expenditure this year has been the upkeep of the Mobile
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of the charity; Control Vehicle and our OFCOM area wide repeater radio licence.
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• investment policy and objectives including any ethical investment policy adopted.
Section F Other optional information
Future Plans
The provision of loan handsets, and a supervised mobile event repeater system, will be developed further next year to meet our clients’ changing expectations and requirements. In particular feedback from event organisers has shown that provision of “ one to all ” radio communications for the event staff and volunteers has proved far more effective than their previous reliance on mobile phones. At the same time we are reviewing our own communication channels used to provide the organisers with situation awareness, safety reports, and a back-up system during the event. Closer liaison is planned with Merseyside Search and Rescue and other emergency agencies regarding increasing interoperability. Our provision in local authority key premises will be reviewed and augmented in the light of the proposed forthcoming replacement of Airwave with the ESN. We intend to develop closer relationships with local Amateur Radio Clubs with the aim of increasing recruitment of new members.
Section G Declaration
The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.
Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees
| s trustees | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Signature(s) Full name(s) Position (eg Secretary, Chair, etc) Date |
||||
| Stanley Alexander Wood | Lee James Thomas Boylan | |||
Secretary |
Treasurer | |||
| 14/04/2022 | ||||
| 14/04/2022 |
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Charity Name No (if any) Merseyside County RAYNET 1192411 Receipts and payments accounts CC16a
For the period Period start date from 19/11/2020
Period end date To 31/12/2021
| Section A Receipts and payments | Section A Receipts and payments | Section A Receipts and payments | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 Receipts | Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ 200 1,575 420 8 - - - - 2,203 - - - 2,203 966 415 250 195 633 6 13 - - - |
Restricted funds to the nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
Endowment funds to the nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - |
Total funds to the nearest £ 200 1,575 420 8 - - - - 2,203 - - - |
Last year to the nearest £ |
||||
| Events | 200 | 100 | |||||||
| Grants | 1,575 | 1,575 | |||||||
| From Groups to County | 420 | - | |||||||
| Misc Income | 8 | 4 | |||||||
| Donation Ref FT8900 St Helens | - | 250 | |||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| Sub total(Gross income for AR) |
2,203 | 1,929 | |||||||
| A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table). |
|||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| - | - | ||||||||
| Sub total | - | - | |||||||
| Total receipts A3 Payments |
|||||||||
| 2,203 | 1,929 | ||||||||
| 966 415 250 195 633 6 13 - - - - - - - 2,478 - - - 2,478 - 276 |
|||||||||
| 2020 Vehicle Insurance,Tax,MOT | 966 | - | - | 966 | - | ||||
| MCV RunningCosts | 415 | - | - | 415 | 616 | ||||
| OFCOM Licence | 250 | - | - | 250 | 250 | ||||
| Fittingout of LA EVX5300 Kit Part 1 | 195 | - | - | 195 | - | ||||
| Insurance | 633 | - | - | 633 | 553 | ||||
| 2021 Bank Charges - Total for 2021 | 6 | - | - | 6 | 40 | ||||
| Misc Expenditure | 13 | - | - | 13 | 158 | ||||
| Fittingout of LA EVX5300 Kit Part 2 | - | - | - | - | 546 | ||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| - | - | - | - | - | |||||
| **Sub total ** | 2,478 | - | - | 2,478 | 2,163 | ||||
| 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 |
|||||||||
| 2,163 | |||||||||
| - 276 | - 276 | - 234 | |||||||
| - | - | - | |||||||
| 3,066 | 3,066 | - | |||||||
| 2,791 | 2,791 | - 234 |
CCXX R1 accounts (SS)
15/04/2022
1
| Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period | Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period | Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period | Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Categories B1 Cash funds B2 Other monetary assets B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use B5 Liabilities B3 Investment assets |
n/a Details Details Mobile Control Vehicle and its equipment Two MEARL Systems Two EVX5300 Transceivers 23 x Vertex EVX531 Bank Balance Details Details Total cash funds (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) n/a Details n/a |
Unrestricted funds to nearest £ 2,791 - - 2,791 OK Unrestricted funds to nearest £ - - - - - - Fund to which asset belongs Fund to which asset belongs Unrestricted Unrestricted Unrestricted Unrestricted Fund to which liability relates |
Restricted funds to nearest £ - - - - OK Restricted funds to nearest £ - - - - - - Cost (optional) - - - - - Cost (optional) - - - - - - - - - Amount due (optional) - - - - - |
Endowment funds to nearest £ |
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| OK | ||||
| Endowment funds to nearest £ |
||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| Current value (optional) |
||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| Current value (optional) |
||||
| 2,085 | ||||
| 590 | ||||
| 280 | ||||
| 2,461 | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| When due (optional) |
||||
| n/a | - | |||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| - | ||||
| Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees |
Signature | Print Name Lee James Thomas Boylan |
Date of approval |
|
| Lee James Thomas Boylan | 14/04/2022 | |||
CCXX R2 accounts (SS)
15/04/2022
2