# **Annual Report and Financial Statements of Lichfield District City of Sanctuary**
For the year ended 5th April 2025
Charity Commission registration number: 1194691
## **2025 Report and Accounts for Lichfield District City of Sanctuary**
## **Trustees Annual Report**
## **Trustees’ Annual Report for the year ended 4[th] April 2025**
Charity Commission registration number: 1194691
14[th] June 2025
## **1 Objectives**
Lichfield District City of Sanctuary is a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO) affiliated to the national City of Sanctuary UK and registered with the Charity Commission. Our mission is:
_To relieve the needs of refugees and asylum seekers resident in Lichfield by providing a network, services and support; and To promote equality and diversity in the public space, providing activities to foster understanding between people from diverse backgrounds and to deepen relationships between the host community, refugees and asylum seekers, and other marginalised people._
“There must be an annual general meeting (AGM) of the members of the CIO ….. AGMs must be held at intervals of not more than 15 months. The AGM must receive the annual statement of accounts (duly audited or examined where applicable) and the trustees' annual report and must elect trustees as required under clause 13.”
The trustees of the charity are aware of the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit and have had due regard to it in their administration of the charity.
The Charitable Incorporated Organisation was registered on the 6[th] July 2021 with the Registered Charity Number 1194691. The charity has now been operational for four years. This report will include: Our work and achievements for the past year;
An explanation of the structure and decision-making of the organisation; Our relationships with other bodies; Streams of Sanctuary; The Trust Board and its members; Organisation membership; Our finances; Our vision for the future.
Reporting serious incidents: Serious incident is an adverse event, whether actual or alleged, which results in or risks significant harm to the charity’s beneficiaries, employees, office holders, volunteers or to others who come into contact with the charity through its work, loss of the charity’s money or assets, damage to the charity’s property or harm to the charity’s work or reputation. The trustees are not aware of any serious incidents in the last year.
## **2 Our work this year**
Each year since the charity was established has been a year of growth. In the sixth year since forming Lichfield District City of Sanctuary, we have worked hard to achieve our two core objectives. Once again, the support of the Community Foundation for Staffordshire has been critical in funding our work with the refugee community of Lichfield District. We also gratefully acknowledge the support of Lichfield City Council and the Mayor of Lichfield, 2023-24.
Many of the Ukrainian community of over 150 individuals are now settling into their new homes. Our practical support and funding have enabled the placement of around one hundred books in Ukrainian, including many children’s books, to be placed in Lichfield Library, with over £800 raised for books at the Lichfield Fuse Festival. New Communities Resettlement Scheme funding has also allowed us to revive the Ukrainian Choir. Welcome is extended to families on alternate Saturdays (first and third of the month) at the Garrick at 12.00pm, when the growing contents of the bookcase and family games are made available.
In anticipation of a significant bid for further funding, we held a consultation for the Ukrainian community to determine needs. Language development leading to greater employability is a top priority, followed by learning about living in the UK, increasing support for mental health and access to legal advice on immigration and work visa matters.
We also continue to work on community development for all displaced people in Lichfield. Around seventy displaced adults and children joined us for a picnic and multicultural rounders courtesy of Middleton Hall. In October, a trip to Stratford-upon-Avon brought together people from Ukraine, Afghanistan, Syria, Hong Kong and elsewhere. As usual so far, the sun shone brightly on our excursions! A month later, displaced members from a variety of places met in Waterstones on a dark November evening for story-telling and bookchoosing.
More of our community are finding work – some even commensurate with their skills. Language-learning and improved fluency and understanding continue to lie at the heart of our support. We are also working more closely with our partner charity, Lichfield Garrick Theatre. Free panto tickets bring both delight and total mystification to our guests and friends. “Look Who’s Here!” was put together with hard work from a number of City of Sanctuary members and staff and volunteers of the Garrick. We estimate that 400 people at least were involved at the theatre as participants, performers, stallholders and visitors on Sunday the 13[th] April – another fine day! An LDCoS members term of office as Sheriff of Lichfield enabled members to learn about the history and traditions of Lichfield and put our communities in touch with councillors, mayors and other city notables. Her speech launching the Sheriff’s Ride in front of the Guildhall in September acknowledged the growing richness and diversity of the city.
Last Autumn also brought an opportunity to a Community Coordinator. Her tenure was brief but productive and the funds put aside for continuation of the post have since been devoted enabling our administration officer to not only continue to keep us on a sound financial footing but also to produce the quarterly newsletters. Our Sure Store facility, on charity rates thanks to the ownership, continues to grow – although we are not yet managing to make its contents regularly available. Volunteers -as always – needed! Finally, it is important to recognise that our work, while providing only a relatively amount of need, is a part of both national and international hospitality We were only a small distance from violent potentially deadly riots aimed at refugees Many of our
international hospitality. We were only a small distance from violent, potentially deadly, riots aimed at refugees. Many of our members and other residents were terrified by the reports. The impact of such behaviour on all of us cannot be overestimated. A few months later, a gang of far-right messengers of hate marched through our city. Neither of these alarming events brought any public comments from our politicians. At City of Sanctuary, we do not believe that silence in the face of such aggression is a viable option. Indeed, our values were wonderfully represented in the memories of the late Jorge Bergoglio’s term as Pope Francis. Although we are a secular organisation, we are happy to be aligned with the work of the man who commissioned the magnificent sculpture placed in St Peter’s Square in the year of our own foundation, 2019. The inspiration for this representation of refugees from all ages crammed into a small craft comes from a line in the Bible we are happy to endorse through our little work:
"Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares"
## **3 Managing the charity**
## The Board of Trustees.
The charity has a constitution as its governing document, a Trust Deed dated 15[th] March 2021.The charity was created on that day and registered with the Charity Commission on 7[th] June 2021 as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) and as such, the charity has legal personality (the ability to enter contracts, sue and be sued, and to hold property in its own name – rather than in the name of its trustees), and its members have limited liability (their liability in the event the charity becomes insolvent is limited or nil).
## **Remuneration paid to Trustees**
None of the trustees has been paid any remuneration or received any other benefits from employment with the charity
## **Expenses paid to Trustees**
The Board carries constitutional and legal responsibility for the conduct of the charity. No Trustee expenses have been incurred during the year. It has met on four occasions since the last AGM. Attendance has been as follows:
|Trustee|23.4.24|22.6.24|15.7.24|30.9.24|17.3.25|19.5.25|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|Warren Bardsley|✓|✓|✓|✓|✓||
|Rosemary Bishop|✓|x|x|✓|R||
|Kate Bragger|✓|x|✓|✓|R||
|Diane Harrison|✓|R|||||
|Neil Kemp|x|✓|✓|✓|x||
|Ihor Shpykuliak|||✓|✓|✓||
|Alp Tageen Turani|✓|✓|✓|x|✓||
|Steve Wilkinson|✓|x|✓|x|R||
||||||||
Owing to illness and other personal reasons, we have no more than four trustees at present. For the continuity of our work, it is essential that we have a well-populated and resilient board. It is a vital role if we wish to continue as a charity. Please contact our chair, secretary or administrative officer if you know of anyone who might join us. It is not particularly time-consuming but it is indispensable. Members will be informed of those trustees who will continue in their role after the AGM and of those wishing to be nominated as trustees (this is, of course, open to any member). The trustees of the charity are appointed by the members at the AGM. Trustees may be co-opted by the members or by the other trustees in the course of the year.
## Membership
“Membership of the Charitable Incorporated Organisation is open to anyone who is interested in furthering its purposes, and who, by applying for membership, has indicated his, her or its agreement to become a member and acceptance of the duty of members.” At the time of writing we number around one hundred individual members and eight partnerships with other Lichfield organisations. We value members who join us because they support our core principles:
**All asylum seekers, refugees and migrants should be treated with dignity and respect.**
**A fair and effective process to decide whether people need protection should be in place. No one should be locked up indefinitely.**
**No one should be left sick or destitute in our society. We should welcome the stranger and help them to integrate.**
When you join us you are under no obligation to volunteer for tasks. But you will hear about our doings through our regular emails and newsletters, including a calendar of future events, and we hope you might join our meetings and attend the events we sponsor. We see ourselves mainly as an enabling organisation – making it possible for members to communicate our principles through action. If, however, you would like to volunteer to help us to manage the numerous activities we endorse, we would be delighted. If you want to help out with the occasional event or project – see below!
## Action Group
The Action Group is a team of some fourteen or so members who are involved in organising and delivering – with help when needed - the day-to-day operations of the charity. The chair is Pam Tomlinson, who would be happy to talk to you about the group. You could drop in on a meeting to see whether or not you feel you would like to contribute in this way. Thanks to Pam and all active members. Fund-Raising group
This is now a serious business. Our direct work supporting refugees has been done on a shoestring this year but it has been funded from members’ donations (THANK YOU!!) supplemented by generous donations If we are now to continue to focus on developing the
members’ donations (THANK YOU!!) supplemented by generous donations. If we are now to continue to focus on developing the employability of our beneficiaries, the need for bespoke and one-to-one work becomes more important. This kind of work is labourintensive, so we will be needing coordinators of work and deliverers of language development. Some at least of this will be paid work, if our funding applications are successful. So this is an important but rewarding group. Do join us.
## Policies
Thanks to the sterling work of our community coordinator and administrative officer, we now have a complete portfolio of policies which can be accessed via the website. It is the essential set of policies for any charity that works with vulnerable people, conducting events and projects and sending volunteers out into the community on its behalf.
## **4 Financial Statements**
The Financial Statements for the year 2024-25 and the Receipts and Payments Accounts are attached. The accounts have been signed by the chair. They meet the demands of the Charity Commission for charities of our size. Thanks to Rosemary, we continue to be scrupulous in our financial controls and are able to announce a carry-forward from 2025-26. We are, indeed, more secure in our finances than in the capacity of our human resources to continue and develop our critical work.
## **5. The future: our aspirations**
To survive as a charity with a robust board, action group and membership
To give ever better support to newcomers into Lichfield and continue the development of Lichfield and district as a welcoming community
To become better-known throughout the area
To become more innovative and inventive in the ways we work within the community To resist the encroachment of hatred and suspicion of displaced people into our local and national politics
## _Warren Bardsley (Chair)_
## **Lichfield District City of Sanctuary**
## **Financial Statements for the Year Ended 5th April 2025**
## **Receipts and Payments Account**
|**RECEIPTS**
Donations and Legacies
**3a**
Activities for Generating Funds
**3b**
Income from Investments
**3c**
Charity Activities
**3d**
Other
**3e**
**Total Receipts**
**PAYMENTS**
Raising Funds
**4a**
Charity Activities
**4b**
Other
**4c**
**Total Payments**
**Excess of Receipts over Payments**
Transfer between Funds
**Net Movement for the year**
**Cash at Bank and In Hand at 06th**
**April 2024**
**5**
**Cash at Bank and In Hand at 05th**
**April 2025**
**5**|**Unrestricted**
**Funds**
**£**|
**Designated**
**Funds**
**£**|
**Restricted**
**Funds**
**£**|
**Endowment**
**Funds**
**£**|
**Total**
**Funds 2025**
**£**|**Total**
**Funds 2024**
**£**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||||||||
||12,863|-|21,252|-|34,115|36,113|
||-|-|-|-|-|-|
||0|-|-|-|0|8|
||-|-|-|-|-|-|
||-|-|-|-|-|-|
||||||||
||12,863|-|21,252|-|34,115|36,121|
||||||||
||||||||
||84|-|-|-|84|-|
||887|-|14,315|-|15,202|21,332|
||8,210|-|2,796|-|11,006|13,491|
||||||||
||9,181|-|17,111|-|26,292|34,823|
||||||||
||3,682|-|4,141|-|7,823|1,298|
||||||||
||-|-|-|-|-|-|
||||||||
||**3,682**|**-**|**4,141**|**-**|**7,823**|**1,298**|
||||||||
||3,279|-|2,540|-|5,819|4,520|
||||||||
||**13,642**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**13,642**|**5,818**|
6
**Lichfield District City of Sanctuary Financial Statements for the Year Ended 5th April 2025**
## **Statement of Assets and Liabilities**
|**Statement of Assets and Liabilities**||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**Cash Funds**
**5**
**Other Monetary Assets**_(due to LDCOS)_
**Liabilities**_(owed by the LDCOS)_|**Unrestricted**
**Funds**
**£**|
**Designated**
**Funds**
**£**|
**Restricted**
**Funds**
**£**|
**Endowment**
**Funds**
**£**|
**Total**
**Funds 2025**
**£**||**Total**
**Funds 2024**
**£**|
|||||||||
||**13,642**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**13,642**||**5,818**|
|||||||||
||**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**||**-**|
|||||||||
||**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**||**-**|
The notes on the following pages form part of these accounts
7
**Lichfield District City of Sanctuary**
**Financial Statements for the Year Ended 5th April 2025**
## **1 Notes to the Accounts**
The financial statements of Lichfield District City of Sanctuary PCC have been prepared using the Receipts and Payments basis.
There may be minor discrepancies in the totals as the pence are not being shown.
## **2 Description of Funds**
**Unrestricted funds** are income funds of the charity that are available for spending on the general purposes of the charity, including amounts designated by the trustees for fixed assets for its own use or for spending on a future project and which are therefore not included in its "free reserves" as disclosed in the trustees' annual report.
**Restricted funds** comprise of two elements :-
a) income from trusts or endowments which may be expended only on those restricted objects provided in the terms of the trust or bequest
b) donations or grants received for a specific object or invited by the charity for a specific object. The funds may only be expended on the specific object for which they were given. Any balance remaining unspent at the end of each year must be carried forward as a balance on that fund. The charity does not usually invest separately for each fund. Where there is no separate investment, interest is apportioned to individual funds on an average balance basis.
8
## **Lichfield District City of Sanctuary**
## **Financial Statements for the Year Ended 5th April 2025**
|**RECEIPTS**
**3**
**Donations and Legacies**
**_Voluntary Receipts_**
**3a**
Regular giving (gift aided)
Regular giving (non gift aided)
All other giving and voluntary receipts including
special appeals
Gift Aid Recovered
Other(internal tfs)
Grants (recurring and one-off)
**_Activities for Generating Funds_**
**3b**
Other Fundraising Activities
**_Receipts from Investments_**
**3c**
Bank Interest
**_Charity Activities_**
**3d**
Other trading activities (magazine, bookstall etc)
**_Other Receipts_**
**4e**
Other
**Total Receipts**|**Unrestricted**
**Funds**
**£**|
**Designated**
**Funds**
**£**|
**Restricted**
**Funds**
**£**|
**Endowment**
**Funds**
**£**|
**Total**
**Funds 2025**
**£**|**Total**
**Funds 2024**
**£**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||||||||
||||||||
||||||||
||1,455|-|-|-|1,455|1,601|
||485|-|-|-|485|215|
||231|||-|231|6,411|
||516|-||-|516|674|
||2,220|-|6,300|-|8,520|10,562|
||7,956|-|14,952|-|22,908|16,650|
||**12,863**|**-**|**21,252**|**-**|**34,115**|**36,113**|
||||||||
||-|-|-|-|-|-|
||**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|
||||||||
||0|-||-|0|8|
||**0**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**0**|**8**|
||||||||
||-|-|-|-|-|-|
||**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|
||||||||
||-|-|-|-|-|-|
||**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|
||||||||
||**12,863**|**-**|**21,252**|**-**|**34,115**|**36,121**|
9
## **Lichfield District City of Sanctuary**
## **Financial Statements for the Year Ended 5th April 2025**
|**PAYMENTS**
**4**
**Raising Funds**
**4a**
**_Costs of Generating Funds_**
Costs of Fund Raising
**Charitable Activities**
**4b**
**_Refugee Support_**
Refugee Support - training
Refugee Support - chattels
Refugee Support - utilities
Refugee Support - trips/events/groups
**_Charity Running Expenses_**
Bank charges
Administration/Salaries
Insurance
Volunteer travel exps
**Other Payments inc donations**
**4c**
**Room Hire/storage/refreshments**
**Marketing/advertising/printing**
**CAPEX**
**Other inc int tfs**
**Total Payments**|**Unrestricted**
**Funds**
**£**|**Designated**
**Funds**
**£**|**Restricted**
**Funds**
**£**|**Endowment**
**Funds**
**£**|
**Total**
**Funds 2025**
**£**|
**Total**
**Funds 2024**
**£**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||||||||
||||||||
||||||||
||84|-|-|-|84|-|
||**84**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**84**|**-**|
||||||||
||||||||
||350|-|600|-|950|13,650|
|||-||-|-|2,650|
||-|-|-|-|-|-|
||96|-|11,460|-|11,556|4,240|
||||||-||
|||-|-|-|-||
|||-|2,255|-|2,255|-|
||373|-|-|-|373|356|
||68|-|-|-|68|436|
||**887**|**-**|**14,315**|**-**|**15,202**|**21,332**|
||||||-||
||50||||50|12,240-|
||983|-|297|-|1,280|1,251|
||370||||370||
||299||||299||
||6,508||2,499||9,007
**11,006**||
||**8,210**|**-**|**2,796**|**-**||**13,491**|
||||||-||
||**9,181**|**-**|**17,111**|**-**|26,292|**34,823**|
10
## **Lichfield District City of Sanctuary Financial Statements for the Year Ended 5th April 2025**
## **5 Cash at Bank and in hand**
|Lloyds Current Account
Petty Cash
**Total**|**Unrestricted**
**£**|
**Designated**
**£**|
**Restricted**
**£**|
**Endowment**
**£**|
**2025 Total**
**£**|
**Total 2024**
**£**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||6,564|-|7,078|-|13,642||
|||-|-|-|-||
||**6,564**|**-**|**7,078**|**-**|**13,642**|**-**|
## **6 Loans**
LDCoS does not have any loans.
## **7 Summary of Fund Movements**
|Unrestricted Fund
Designated Funds
Restricted Funds
Endowment Funds
**Total Funds**|**Balance at**
**06th April**
**£**|
**Receipts**
**£**|
**Payments**
**£**|
**Transfers**
**£**|
**Balance at**
**05th April**
**£**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||||
||**2,882**|**12,863**|**(9,181)**|**-**|**6,564**|
|||||||
||**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|
|||||||
||**2,937**|**21,252**|**(17,111)**|**-**|**7,078**|
|||||||
||**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|
|||||||
||**5,819**|**34,115**|**(26,292)**|**-**|**13,642**|
11
**Independent Examiner’s Report on the Accounts – Report to the trustees of Lichfield District City of Sanctuary (registered charity number 1194691) on the accounts for the 12 month period ended 31 December 2024**
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the above charity for the year ended 31 December 2024.
As the charity trustees of **Lichfield District City of Sanctuary** , you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (‘’the Act’’).
I report in respect of my examination of the Charity’s accounts carried out under section145 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.
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:
- Accounting records were not kept in accordance with section130 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 to be reached.
Colin Booker, ACMA, BA (hons)
HMRC Senior Criminal Investigation Officer (Retired)
45, Stowe Street, Lichfield WS13 6AQ 19/05/2025