2025-03-31-accounts

Christadelphian Aid to Refugees and Asylum Seekers (CARA) (Charity 1199446)

Annual Report for April 2024 to March 2025

The Trustees of Christadelphian Aid to Refugees and Asylum Seekers (‘CARA’) are pleased to present their Annual Report of the Charity, for the period to 31 March 2025.

Structure and Governance

The Charity, a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (Foundation CIO), was approved by the Charity Commission on 24th June 2022, with the registration number 1199446.

The founding Trustees of the Charity were drawn together from the UK Christadelphian community, each of them bringing direct experience of asylum seeker support, wider charity governance expertise and specific skills required to lead a new organisation.

There is now a stable group of Trustees and advisors, including refugees granted Leave to Remain in the UK. We continue to search for Trustees with lived experience as a refugee/Asylum Seeker to provide real insight and balance to our deliberations and decisions, as well as church members with talents that will enhance our Charity.

The Trustees and other committee members met as a Managing Committee once a month, to progress the development and work of the Charity. A considerable amount of work was done via email and Zoom calls between each meeting.

The Managing Committee initiated roles and responsibilities of Trustees in relation to the Charity, and to deploy skills and competencies in relation to the requirements of the Charity and current Charity Commission guidance.

The skills and suitability of applicants for future Trustee roles and committee member roles will be assessed against the anticipated strategic needs of the Charity going forward, a skills matrix and an interview with the trustees. Vacancies will be advertised via appropriate channels through the UK Christadelphian community, to maximise experience and encourage diversity. Prospective trustees and members of the Managing Committee will be encouraged to attend at least two meetings as observers, before formal commitments are made by both the individual and the Charity. Trustee appointments will be on four-year terms, and no trustee will serve more than 12 years in total, as per Charity Commission guidance.

The Trustees and other committee members give their time voluntarily and, other than reimbursement of any approved, out of pocket expenses, receive no remuneration or other benefits from their role.

Objectives and Activities

In planning our activities for the year, we kept in mind the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit. The focus of our activities is, as per our registration:

1. The provision of grants and other support to UK Christadelphian ecclesias (churches) so that they may relieve the financial hardship of refugees, asylum seekers and those granted Leave to Remain, and their families, in their locality in particular through the provision of services including but not limited to, English classes, transport costs to and from church activities, food

costs and hospitality associated with church work, purchase of basic essentials, costs of seeking accommodation including transport, a bed, cooking and cleaning materials, and advice and support on education and accessing essential public services.

1. To advance the education of the community in general about the issues relating to refugees, asylum seekers and those granted Leave to Remain, via upkeep of a website, production of bulletins, webinars and online presentations and the provision of support via phone and other media.

2. Integration has been a major objective in the year, we believe that supporting qualifications and providing grants for future employment training is essential to the integration into our church environment and the communities those granted leave to remain live in.

CARA is working to underpin the work of over one hundred ecclesia’s (churches) supporting the numbers of both members and non-members seeking asylum. CARA will focus on those churches which are starting to run short of their own resources. Most seeking asylum arrive with little, receive limited money and are not allowed to work.

Our churches, now with CARA grants in support where needed, will be able to continue to provide some basics - supplemental food, clothing, essential care, and other basic needs for those who have come to us.

CARA is also developing a digital library of resources to assist the support of refugees, and a network of skills and experience in this work to help ecclesias respond to this important work.

Achievements and performance

We are continuing have an impact on our objective to relieve the financial hardships on the daunting task of navigating a new life in a foreign land. Over the last year we have:

Developed guidance notes to assist our churches across the country on how to deal with homelessness when leave to remain acceptance has been granted at short notice to our contacts.

We continue to fund smaller churches where the ratio between members and contacts is a challenge to support with basic needs like food, Clothing, and medicine, Including school uniforms.

We have developed a new website to keep updated with the requirements of our Charity.

We continue to build relationships with our churches to make sure that they are aware that funds are available to assist when needed.

The economic and politic landscape within the UK in the upcoming year is going to be challenging for our churches and we anticipate deportation, further homelessness, and employment issues for our Asylum Seekers/ and Refugees. We are preparing ourselves as Trustees to deal with the challenges and develop plans to continue this necessary work.

Financial Review

In the period ended 31[st] March 2025 the Charity received income of £32,563 and made expenditure of £9,660.

As of 31st March 2025, the Charity held net assets of £107,941 represented by bank balances.

Declaration

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees report set out above.

Signed on behalf of the Charity’s Trustees

Andrew Wood

Chair

Date 7[th] December 2025

CHRISTADELPHIAN AID FOR REFUGEES AND	CHRISTADELPHIAN AID FOR REFUGEES AND	CHRISTADELPHIAN AID FOR REFUGEES AND	1199446
ASYLUM SEEKERS(CARA)
Receipts and payments accounts				CC16a
For the period from	01/04/2024	To	31/03/2025

Section A Receipts and payments	Section A Receipts and payments
A1 Receipts	Unrestricted funds to the nearest £ 30,844 1,719 - - - - - - 32,563 - - - 32,563 9,032 88 540 - - - 9,660 - - - 9,660 22,903 - 84,588 107,491	Restricted funds to the nearest £ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -	Endowment funds to the nearest £	Total funds to the nearest £ 30,844 1,719 - - - - - - 32,563 - - - 32,563 9,032 88 - 540 - - - - - 9,660 - - - 9,660 22,903 - 84,588 107,491	Last year to the nearest £
DONATIONS	30,844		- - - - - - - - -	30,844	42,336
BANK INTEREST	1,719			1,719	1,144
	-			-	-
	-			-	-
	-			-	-
	-			-	-
	-			-	-
	-			-	-
Sub total(Gross income for AR)	32,563			32,563	43,480
A2 Asset and investment sales, (see table).
	-		- - -	-
	-			-	-
Sub total	-			-	-
Total receipts A3 Payments
			-	32,563	43,480
GRANTS(UK)	9,032		- - - - - - - - - -	9,032	5,551
BANK CHARGES	88			88	82
INTERNET CHARGES				-	46
WEB DESIGN	540			540	2,400
TRANSLATION COSTS				-	39
				-	-
	-			-	-
	-			-	-
	-			-	-
**Sub total **	9,660			9,660	8,118
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
			-	9,660	8,118
	22,903	-	-	22,903	35,362
	-	-	- -	-	-
	84,588	-		84,588	49,226
	107,491	-	-	107,491	84,588

CCXX R1 accounts (SS)

15/12/2025

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
Categories Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees B4 Assets retained for the charity’s own use B1 Cash funds B2 Other monetary assets B5 Liabilities B3 Investment assets	Signature Details Details Details Details Total cash funds (agree balances with receipts and payments account(s)) BANK ACCOUNTS Details	Unrestricted funds Restricted funds to nearest £ to nearest £ 107,491 - - - - - 107,491 - 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 RICHARD CHERRY	Endowment funds to nearest £
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			-
			-
			-
			OK
			Endowment funds to nearest £
			-
			-
			-
			-
			-
			-
			Current value (optional)
			-
			-
			-
			-
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			Current value (optional)
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			When due (optional)
			Date of approval
		RICHARD CHERRY	20/10/2025

CCXX R2 accounts (SS)

15/12/2025

2

CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examinerfs report on the accounts Section A Independent Examiner s Report CHRISTADELPHLAN AD FCR REFUC￿&s AND ASYLUM SEEKE￿ ICARAI On accounts for the yo 31¥t March 2025 1199446 {tt any) I reFth to the trustees ￿ my eXwnir￿K1n of the acc(xJnts of the atrf)ve basis of report of the accwnts with the wuirements of the Charilres Act 2011 (Ihe Act"). 145 crf the 3)11 Act aKI n cffjrKJ my I Iwe fdkJYed the ap[I￿ati1e DIrectic￿S gprfen by the Charity Commissi trthr sectm 145(5)(b) of Ihe ACL kndependent respoct. s￿ned. IVGIL £ urckn Relevant professional quallficatlon(s) or body (if ¥ry)= of ifvglj n4TE OF CFfA-farYrknL- A(LJ2 Li NJ irnl ￿1 (rLA￿A .IwlJ IILVZ RL nJ¥vcnTr IER October 2018