## **Trustees’ Annual Report for the period**
**Period start date: 01/09/2023 Period end date: 31/08/2024**
## **Charity name: Alsager Community Support**
## **Charity registration number: 1200173**
## **Objectives and Activities**
||SORP
reference||
|---|---|---|
|Summary of the purposes of
the charity as set out in its
governing document|Para
1.17|The objects of the Alsager Community Support are,
1
The relief of those in need, by reason of youth,
age, ill-health, disability, financial hardship or
other disadvantage in the town of Alsager and
the surrounding area through the provision of
practical help, support, information and advice.
2 The prevention or relief of poverty in Alsager and
the surrounding area by providing: items and
services to individuals in need and/or charities, or
other organisations working to prevent or relieve
poverty.|
|Summary of the main
activities in relation to those
purposes for the public
benefit, in particular, the
activities, projects or
services identified in the
accounts.|Para
1.17 and
1.19|Alsager Community Support offers the following
support to the community in particular:
• A ‘drop in’ centre where visitors can obtain
information about a range of issues and/or can
be signposted to appropriate help
• Confidential appointments in which guidance can
be given on financial matters
• A school uniform and shoe recycling scheme
• Lost and found point of contact
• A transport scheme which offers elderly people
lifts to and from a local Lunch Club and to and
from medical appointments
• A Befriending scheme to support people in
isolation
• A Shopper scheme to support people who are
unable to get out
• A Helping Hands service that helps people with
small DIY projects
• Annual toyappeal|
|Statement confirming whether
the trustees have had regard
to theguidance issued bythe|Para
1.18|The trustees have taken cognisance of the guidance
issued by the Charities Commission and are confident
that all of the charity’s work is for thepublic benefit.|
Charity Commission on public benefit.
**Additional information (optional)** You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:
||SORP
reference||
|---|---|---|
|Policy on grant making|Para
1.38|The charity has a small hardship fund. The Manager
can decide whether a client should receive help from
this fund up to the value of £30. Beyond this sum,
agreement must be obtained from one of the trustees
in line with the scheme of delegation.|
|Policy on social investment
including program related
investment|Para
1.38|The charity is not involved in social investments.|
|Contribution made by
volunteers|Para
1.38|At the end of the reporting year, the charity had 68
active volunteers contributing in 4 principal areas of
activity. These are described in the summary of main
achievements section.
We would also like to say a huge and sincere ‘Thank
You’ to all our hard-working volunteers, most of
whom have been with us for many years, and without
whom our work would not bepossible.|
|Other|||
## **Achievements and Performance**
||SORP
reference|||
|---|---|---|---|
|Summary of the main
achievements of the
charity, identifying the
difference the
charity’s work has
made to the
circumstances of its
beneficiaries and any
wider benefits to
society as a whole.|Para
1.20||**ACS Annual Report Sept/23– Aug/24**
The past year has been a year of significant change for ACS.
During 2023, the trustees were successful in securing a grant
from the National Lottery Community Fund and Reaching
Communities/Partnerships programme. In autumn 2023,
recruitment processes were completed, leading to the
appointment of a full-time Manager and a part-time
Volunteer Coordinator and Project Development Officer.
Although these positions were filled in 2023, both members
of staff officially started in January 2024. The appointment of
an Administrative Assistant followed later in 2024, further
strengthening the ACS team.
Inevitably, there was a great deal for the newly appointed
staff to learn about the charity and a significant amount of
time has, and continues to be spent, working to make ACS
compliant with current best practice.
In addition to the appointment of staff to manage the charity,
ACS moved into new premises with the help of a local
businessman andphilanthropist. This was a necessarymove,|
not least to accommodate the new employees, and it has taken a lot of time and energy to make the premises suitable for the charity’s needs. Despite the many hours spent on back-office activities, ACS has continued to provide its usual range of services to the local community and, indeed, has increased its offer. Brief descriptions of the most frequently used services follow: **Enquiries: 2700 contacts p.a.** People contacted ACS by phone, email or by coming into our premises. Our volunteers deal with a very wide range of queries which vary from concerns about energy bills, to requests for help getting to appointments, to asking the whereabouts of the nearest doctor’s surgery. **Budgetary Advice: 90 contacts p.a.** Our trained volunteers are able to help clients with budget planning and can advise and help with benefit applications. As they are not regulated they are not able to provide debt advice and clients who need such help are referred to other appropriately qualified agencies. We estimate that our help has enabled clients to apply for and be awarded over £70,000 in various benefits. **School Uniform Recycling: 500+ families p.a.** We estimate that this scheme has benefitted over 700 school pupils during the year. Parents can bring their children to ACS premises to try different items. If they can, we ask each parent to make a small donation towards our costs. This scheme encourages parents to recycle items in good condition and is a significant help to families who are struggling financially. **Transport – Medical Trips: 130 p.a.** Our volunteer drivers have taken over 100 individuals to hospital and doctor appointments. Hospital appointments can take several hours but our volunteers wait for the client and return them home. **Transport – Lunch Club: 1200 p.a.** The local Lunch Club is held every Tuesday and Thursday in the Civic building. The average age of the diners is 86 and, understandably, many of them cannot get to the Club under their own steam. Ten volunteers collect and return 3 diners, meaning that 30 diners are transported to this social occasion each week. Over the year, that’s around 1200 passenger return journeys. **Befriending / Shopping: 30** On average 15 people have benefitted from our befriending service. These people are mainly elderly and isolated. Our befrienders telephone them regularly and sometimes meet with them in person. When the client needs help, our befrienders do what they can to obtain the help they need by linking back to our services.
Shoppers help a wide range of people who, for whatever reason, are unable to get to the shops. Sometimes the shopper takes the client with them, but most shoppers do a ‘top up shop’ once a week. Finally, 5 people are paired with a volunteer who acts as a befriender and shopper.
## **Additional information (optional)** You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Achievements Para
1.41
against objectives set
Performance of Para
1.41
fundraising activities
against objectives set
Investment Para
1.41
performance against
objectives
Other
**----- End of picture text -----**
## **Financial Review**
|**Financial Review**|||
|---|---|---|
|Review of the charity’s
financial position at the end
of the period|Para
1.21|The charity held £74,720 in its account at the year end.|
|Statement explaining the
policy for holding reserves
stating why they are held|Para
1.22|In 2022- 23 the charity employed one person on a half
time temporary basis in the role as a Project
Development Officer. This was the principal
commitment. From January 2024, ACS employed a
full-time Manager and a part time Volunteer
Coordinator. These colleagues were joined by a part
time administrator in May 2024. These three posts
were funded by a grant from the National Lottery
Community Fund from the Reaching
Communities/Partnerships programme and will
continue until December 2028.
Rent and energy bills were the other main outgoings.
The trustees have a policy to hold 3 months of
outgoings in reserve. Thispolicyis kept under review.|
|Amount of reserves held|Para
1.22|£11,505|
|Reasons for holding zero
reserves|Para
1.22|Not applicable|
|Details of fund materially in
deficit|Para
1.24|Not applicable|
|Explanation of any
uncertainties about the
charity continuing as a
going concern|Para
1.23|The charity had successfully submitted a bid to the
National Lottery Community Fund and Reaching
Communities/Partnerships programme. This was to
appoint a full-time Manager, a part-time Volunteer
Coordinator and a part-time Administrator. The
funding is for five years and therefore the position of
the charity is stable.
The Project Development Officer role is currently
funded by short term grants, ending December 2025.
The trustees are working on a future strategy that will
allow the charityto continue beyond 2028.|
|**Additional information (optional)**
You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:|||
|The charity’s principal
sources of funds (including
any fundraising)|Para
1.47|The charity’s main source of funding came from the
National Lottery Community Fund and Reaching
Communities/Partnerships programme. Other sources
of funding came from successful application of grants
from various bodies, e.g. Cheshire East, these grants
are the:
•
Flourish fund
•
Healthy Neighbourhood
•
Cost of living fund
Small sums were also raised bycharitable donations.|
|Investment policy and
objectives including any
social investment policy
adopted|Para
1.46|None|
|A description of the principal
risks facing the charity|Para
1.46|To secure funding to cover ongoing core costs.|
Other
## **Structure, Governance and Management**
|Description of charity’s
trusts:|||
|---|---|---|
|Type of governing document
(trust deed, royal charter)|Para
1.25|The charity’s memorandum, articles of association and
confidentiality agreements are based on a template
taken from the Charities Commission web site.|
|How is the charity
constituted?
(e.g unincorporated
association, CIO)|Para
1.25|Alsager Community Support is a CIO.|
|Trustee selection methods
including details of any
constitutional provisions e.g.
election to post or name of
any person or body entitled
to appoint one or more
trustees|Para
1.25|Trustees are largely recruited from our team of
volunteers. Some trustees have been recruited based
on their expertise, for example, the current
chairperson worked at a senior level in the education
sector. He brings much experience relevant to our
development as a charity. When selecting new
trustees, their skills and experience is taken into
account.
There are constitutional provisions in regard to the
appointment of trustees and the length of time they
serve on the board.|
|**Additional information (optional)**
You may choose to include further statements where relevant about:|||
|Policies and procedures
adopted for the induction
and training of trustees|Para
1.51|We have a trustee induction pack. The trustees are
offered training and can ask for a ‘buddy’.|
|The charity’s organisational
structure and any wider
network with which the
charity works|Para
1.51|Trustee board
I
Manager
I I I I
VCO AA PDO Volunteers
VCO – Volunteer Coordinator
AA – Administrative Assistant
PDO – Project Development Officer|
|Relationship with any
related parties|Para
1.51|Partnership working with:
Cheshire East Council
Plus Dane Housing
Disability Information Bureau
Fedcap
Age UK|
|Other|||
## **Reference and Administrative details**
|Charity name|Alsager Community Support|
|---|---|
|Other name the charity uses||
|Registered charity number|1200173|
|Charity’s principal address|The Pinkney Centre
19-21 Crewe Rd
Alsager
S.o.T.
ST7 2EW|
|---|---|
|||
## **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
21|**Trustee name**|**Office (if any)**|**Dates acted if not for whole**
**year**|**Name of person (or body) entitled**
**to appoint trustee(if any)**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||David Black|Chairperson||The ACS board of trustees|
||Liz Pinkney|Trustee|01/09/23 – 02/06/24|The ACS board of trustees|
||Lynne Gammon|Trustee|01/09/23 - 01/02/24
16/04/24 – 31/08/24|The ACS board of trustees|
||Sarah Fidal|Treasurer|31/07/24 – 31/08/24|The ACS board of trustees|
||Jayashri Lowe|Trustee||The ACS board of trustees|
||David Fidal|Trustee|21/02/24 – 31/08/24|The ACS board of trustees|
||Jean Shepherd|Trustee|21/02/24 – 31/08/24|The ACS board of trustees|
||Helen McCourt|Treasurer|26/08/2022-31/06/2024|The ACS board of trustees|
||||||
||||||
||||||
||||||
||||||
||||||
||||||
||||||
||||||
||||||
||||||
||||||
||||||
## – Corporate trustees names of the directors at the date the report was approved
**Director name None**
Name of trustees holding title to property belonging to the charity
|**Trustee name**|**Dates acted if not for whole year**||
|---|---|---|
|**None**|||
||||
||||
||||
||||
||||
## **Funds held as custodian trustees on behalf of others**
Description of the assets None held in this capacity Name and objects of the charity on whose behalf the assets are held and how this falls within the custodian charity’s objects Details of arrangements for safe custody and segregation of such assets from the charity’s own assets
## **Additional information (optional)**
## **Names and addresses of advisers (Optional information)**
|**Type of**|**Name**|**Address**|
|---|---|---|
|**adviser**|||
**Name of chief executive or names of senior staff members (Optional information)**
## **Exemptions from disclosure**
Reason for non-disclosure of key personnel details
## **Other optional information**
## **Declarations**
**The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees’ report above.**
**Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees**
**Signature(s) Full name(s) Position (eg Secretary, Chair, etc) Date**
|~
CHARITYCOMMISSION|~
CHARITYCOMMISSION|~
CHARITYCOMMISSION|Cll,ill'yName|Cll,ill'yName|||||No (f111yl|No (f111yl||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|~
FORENGLAND|ANDWALES||**Alsager**Community|||Support|||1200I/3|||
|||||**Receiptsand**||||**·mentsaccounts**|||**CC16a**|
||||For the period
from||||||To
PP.r,• l_;,~rJ_d'>'
Aug-24|||
|Section A Receipts||and payments||||||||||
||||Unrestricted
funds|||Restricted
funds|||Endowment
funds|Total funds|Last year|
||||to|the**nearest**
£||tothe**nearest**£|||tothenearest£|tothe nearest £|tothenearest £|
|A1Receipts||||||||||||
|Donations||||6,066|||14,645|||20,711||
|Grants|||||||97,042|||97,042||
|Incomefromcharitableactivities||||4,011|||.|||4,011||
|Fundraising||||200|||.|||200||
|Investments/roomhire||||1,500|||.|||1,500||
|Otherincome||||196|||...|||196
.||
||||||||.|||.||
|_rossincomeror_
_AR)_|||11,974
.______.||||111,687|||123,661||
|investment sales,||||||||||||
|1|_Subtota,I_|||:1§§§§||||||||
|_Total receipts_|||(|~I||
111,sa111|||·II|
123,661**JI **|
-I|
|A3Payments
...||||||||||||
|Raisingfunds||||101|||.|||101||
|Expenditureoncharitableprojects||||1,032|||1,992|||3,024||
|EmploymentCosts||||7,448|||40,147|||47,595||
|RunninQCosts||||4,876|||13,597|||18,473||
|Governance||||142|||.|||142||
|Otherexpenditure||||870|||.|||870||
||||||||.|||.||
|||||.|||.|||.||
||_Sub total_|||14,468|||55,737|||70,205||
|A4 Asset and Investment||||||||||||
|,.....,..
_/coo_t"hlo\|
_Sub total_|||135.
135|~
~|||
~
t==::j||
2,7:9~
2,769t::::::j||
|_Total payments_|||(|14,602**j**|(||58,371**J**|**I**|
**-]I**|
72,974**l**I|
-I|
|_Netofrecelptsl(payments)_
ASTransfers between funds
ASCash fundslastyear end|||
'-|2,629
14,145|53,316
1----"""""'r,c-i|||~-
•||50,6~7~-
24,044
-||
|_Cash funds this_|_year_|_end_'||11,517|||||•|74,732|-|
|Section B Statement|ofassets and liabilities at|ofassets and liabilities at|the endofthe period|the endofthe period|the endofthe period|the endofthe period|the endofthe period|the endofthe period|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||**Unrestricted**||||**Restricted**||**Endowment**|
|Categories|Details|||**funds**||||**funds**||**funds**|
|||||to**nearest£**||||**tonearest£**||to**nearest£**|
|**81Cashfunds**|Cash inBank|||||||**63,215**|||
||PettyCash|||~
**192**||I
|||||
|||||-|||||||
||Moneyduefromcardpayment
**_Totalcashfunds_**|||11,s1~
2I I||||
63,21~|I_||
||**(agree**balanceswithreceipts|andpayments|||||||||
|||account(s))|_01\_||||'.)I<|||OK|
|||||**Unrestricted**||||**Restricted**||**Endowment**|
|||||**funds**||||**funds**||**funds**|
|**82Othermonetaryassets**|Details|l|I|**tonearest£**
• I I||||**tonearest£**
**tonearest£**
·1a|||
|**83Investmentassets**|Details|11||**Fundtowhich**
**~m~oag•**|
|11|
**Cost(optional)**||I|
**Currentvalue**
8|
||Details
- -··--|||**Fundtowhich**
**assetbelOJ!Q$_**
-- --|||Cost (optional)|||Current value
{®tional)|
|**84Assetsretainedforthe**|Laptopsfor staffandadvisor||NLCommunity
IC,,~,.,||||||||
|**charity'sownuse**|Printer||NLCommunity
le:
,,.,||||||||
||Printer||General||||||||
||Phoneformanager||General||||||||
|85Liabilities|Details||1|Fundto which
**'"'"'>re•m**|
Amountdue
Whendue
**188**||||||