MCT Durham PCF Charity Number: 1202217 Annual Report and Financial Statement Financial Year End 31[st] March 2024
Objectives and Activities:
MCT Durham PCF CIO Objectives: To relieve the needs of children and young people, including their parents, carers and families, who have disabilities and/or special educational needs in County Durham, in order to improve their quality of life, promote their inclusion in their local communities and to help and support them to reach their full potential.
Activities: During our first year as a CIO, we have held two daytime conferences and one evening conference with speakers from Local Authority, Health, Social Care and service providers, these provided parent carers with up-to-date information on services, current issues and future plans. The conferences also allowed networking opportunities and to build relationships. We also hosted 2 SEND information events and 1 carers event. We held parent carer workshops around a variety of topics and have also attended numerous meetings online and face to face, from discussing issues raise by parents with professionals, to working with other Parent Carer Forums regionally and to being part of interviews for key SEND personnel working in County Durham. We have created newsletters for parent carers to email out to our members with tips, advice and key information.
Achievements and Performance:
Through posting conference slides and videos on our forum YouTube channel and website we have seen an increase in views and through being active on our Facebook page we have increased the number of people who visit our page, these along with word of mouth, being present at events and in external meetings have helped get our message of who we are and what we do out there, as has the rebranding of our leaflet and the methods we have taken to distribute it widely, the results have been new parents/carers and new professionals reaching out to us as a Parent Carer Forum.
Attending Regional meetings with other Parent Carer Forums in the North East of England at the MetroCentre has helped us to be better informed and to be a louder voice. It has also been a way for MCT Durham PCF to get support, information and advice from other Parent Carer Forums. These meetings have seen a variety of Forum members in attendance which has boosted their knowledge and their confidence.
We have continued to be part of 'Team Training' which has shown good coproduction between the services involved, working well with professionals, unity, support, sharing information and showing parents that their voice is listened to through updating at our conferences, asking parents for their views and feeding back to them. We have also been able to expand with new organisations joining the group this year which means more training opportunities and more people who are hearing the needs of parents/carers in County Durham.
MCT Durham PCF and its Trustees have taken the Charity Commission’s public benefit guidance into account when making any decision relating to the management of its funds.
Financial Review:
MCT Durham PCF’s sole income was a Parent Participation Grant from the Department of Education (DfE). The CIO has Restricted funds and unrestricted funds, and separate cashbook spreadsheets are held for these. An income and expenditure overview for our first financial period as a CIO (7[th] March 2023 – 31[st] March 2024) is at the end of this report.
Our Reserve policy sits within our Financial Controls Policy which is reviewed at every AGM: ‘MCT Durham PCF CIO will maintain a reserve in its accounts of £2,000 for running costs (deposits & expenses), this amount will be classed as unrestricted funds, it will be included in the bank account total and indicated as the reserve amount on the relevant MCT Durham PCF CIO cashbook spreadsheet.’
At the end of the above financial period MCT Durham PCF were financially stable whilst we waited for our new DfE Grant application to be approved.
Structure, Governance and Management:
MCT Durham PCF comprised in the 2003/2004 period of 5 Trustees and 5 Volunteers.
Our Constitution states:
‘The charity trustees shall manage the affairs of the CIO and may for that purpose exercise all the powers of the CIO. It is the duty of each charity trustee:
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(a) to exercise his or her powers and to perform his or her functions in his or her capacity as a trustee of the CIO in the way he or she decides in good faith would be most likely to further the purposes of the CIO; and
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(b) to exercise, in the performance of those functions, such care and skill as is reasonable in the circumstances having regard in particular to:
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(i) any special knowledge or experience that he or she has or holds himself or herself out as having;
and,
- (ii) if he or she acts as a charity trustee of the CIO in the course of a business or profession, to any special knowledge or experience that it is reasonable to expect of a person acting in the course of that kind of business or profession.
Our voting policy states that ‘A volunteer steering group member MUST be part of the steering group for a minimum of 9 months before applying to be a voting member or trustee.’ A trustee is a forum member formally registered with the Charity commission as a Trustee and a voting member is a member of the MCT steering group who isn’t a trustee but has the authority to vote on forum changes, policies etc. There were no voting members during 2023/2024 period, only trustees. We generally recruit for volunteers at our bi-annually conferences, although we do accept emails with expressions of interest throughout the year and have recruitment procedures in place to make sure that the best interests of MCT Durham PCF are paramount during any recruitment.
| Names of CIO Trustees who managed | the Charity in 2023/2024 period |
|---|---|
| Amy Stewart | Co-Chair |
| Sara Rawle | Co-Chair & Administrator |
| Victoria Robinson | Treasurer |
| Colleen Kirton | Safeguarding Advisor |
| Kay Thompson | Safeguarding Advisor |
Reference and Administration details:
Charity Name: MCT Durham PCF Charity principal address: C/O Lee House, Lee Terrace, Peterlee, SR8 3AB
Declaration:
The Trustees declare that they have approved the Trustees Report above.
Signed on behalf of the Trustees:
Signature:
Full Name: Sara Rawle
Position: Co-Chair
Date: 23/01/2025
MCT Durham PCF Income and Expenditure for 7[th] March 2023 – 31[st] March 2024
----- Start of picture text -----
MCT Durham PCF
7th March 23 - 31st March 23
Income April May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb March TOTAL
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
£0.00
Total Income £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00
Expenditure April May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb March TOTAL
Events £1,410.00 £1,410.00
Meetings £0.00 £0.00
Hard to Reach £0.00 £0.00
Infrastructure £10.99 £10.99
Develop Info & Resources £0.00 £0.00
Web Development £0.00 £0.00
Parent Carer Expenses £915.63 £915.63
Parent Carer Remuneration £0.00 £0.00
Other £0.00 £0.00
£0.00
£0.00
Total Payments £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £2,336.62 £2,336.62
Net cash flow £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 -£2,336.62 -£2,336.62
Opening balance £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £13,165.34 £13,165.34
Closing balance £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £0.00 £10,828.72 £10,828.72
----- End of picture text -----
| MCT Durham PCF | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st April 2023 -31st March 2024 | |||||||||||||
| Income | April | May | June | July | Aug | Sept | Oct | Nov | Dec | Jan | Feb | March | TOTAL |
| DfE Grant(Restricted) | £8,750.00 | £8,750.00 | £17,500.00 | ||||||||||
| £0.00 | |||||||||||||
| £0.00 | |||||||||||||
| £0.00 | |||||||||||||
| Total Income | £0.00 | £0.00 | £8,750.00 | £8,750.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £17,500.00 |
| Expenditure | April | May | June | July | Aug | Sept | Oct | Nov | Dec | Jan | Feb | March | TOTAL |
| Events | £0.00 | £427.05 | £4,806.75 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £750.00 | £0.00 | £3,144.00 | £500.00 | £925.00 | £693.00 | £1,616.41 | £12,862.21 |
| Meetings | £143.88 | £100.00 | £217.40 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £250.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £260.25 | £1,195.29 | £2,166.82 |
| Hard to Reach | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 |
| Infrastructure | £200.00 | £40.34 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £36.00 | £35.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £177.39 | £448.47 | £937.20 |
| DevelopInfo & Resources | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £99.99 | £99.99 |
| Web Development | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £70.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £84.99 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £154.99 |
| Parent Carer Expenses | £301.61 | £154.46 | £302.54 | £348.19 | £0.00 | £435.48 | £146.73 | £0.00 | £639.14 | £402.79 | £89.09 | £431.33 | £3,251.36 |
| Parent Carer Remuneration | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 |
| Other | £200.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £0.00 | £200.00 |
| £0.00 | |||||||||||||
| £0.00 | |||||||||||||
| Total Payments | £845.49 | £721.85 | £5,326.69 | £418.19 | £0.00 | £1,185.48 | £182.73 | £3,429.00 | £1,224.13 | £1,327.79 | £1,219.73 | £3,791.49 | £19,672.57 |
| Net cash flow | -£845.49 | -£721.85 | £3,423.31 | £8,331.81 | £0.00 | -£1,185.48 | -£182.73 | -£3,429.00 | -£1,224.13 | -£1,327.79 | -£1,219.73 | -£3,791.49 | -£2,172.57 |
| Opening balance | £10,828.72 | £10,828.72 | £10,828.72 | £10,828.72 | £10,828.72 | £10,828.72 | £10,828.72 | £10,828.72 | £10,828.72 | £10,828.72 | £10,828.72 | £10,828.72 | £10,828.72 |
| Closing balance | £9,983.23 | £10,106.87 | £14,252.03 | £19,160.53 | £10,828.72 | £9,643.24 | £10,645.99 | £7,399.72 | £9,604.59 | £9,500.93 | £9,608.99 | £7,037.23 | £8,656.15 |
The above income and expenditure spreadsheets were agreed and authorised by the Trustees to be included in the CIO’s annual return for the period ending 31[st] March 2024 on 23[rd] January 2025 and signed on before of the Trustees by:
Signature.. Position= Co Chair