2023-12-31-accounts - St Luke's Parochial Trust

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Annual Report and Accounts of

St Luke’s Parochial Trust

For the year ended 31 December 2023

Registered Charity 207497

Making south Islington a better place to live, work, learn and play.

St Luke’s Community Centre, 90 Central Street, Islington, London EC1V 8AJ

St Luke’s Parochial Trust Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 December 2023

St Luke’s Parochial Trust Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 December 2023
TABLE OF CONTENTS
	Page
St Luke’s Trust and area	1
Reference and administrative details	2
From the Chair	4
Trustees’ Report
Objectives	5
Strategic plan	5
Plan for the future	6
Structure, governance and management	7
Public benefit	9
Activities: aims and achievements	10
Financial review	15
Investment policies, objectives and performance	15
Reserves policy	16
Principal risks and uncertainties	17
Statement of Trustees’ responsibilities	19
Independent Auditor’s report	20
Annual Accounts
Consolidated statement of financial activities	24
Balance sheets	25
Consolidated statement of cash flows	26
Notes to the accounts	27
Employees	47
Acknowledgements and thanks	48

St Luke’s Parochial Trust Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 December 2023

ABOUT ST LUKE’S TRUST AND AREA

ST LUKE’S OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

St Luke’s is an Islington charity that has been playing a vital role in people’s lives for many hundreds of years. Today we are a modern community hub that is engaged with the thousands of people who live, work, learn or play in our vibrant neighbourhood. Through our varied services, activities and community building we aim to improve the quality of life of those disadvantaged by poverty, poor health, social isolation and limited prospects.

We own and run a modern, large and busy Community Centre at the heart of the neighbourhood. The Centre has many uses: it provides a base from which we run our own wide range of services, a place for local people to meet, and a resource for other organisations to deliver their services to the local community. Additionally, room lettings provide a useful source of income.

What we do:

Provide a Community Centre that is a hub for local people and organisations to work, play and learn in south Islington.
Provide and enable services that are delivered to a high standard and are open to all.
Provide a direct voice for, and on behalf of, residents to ensure that the local services they identify as required are provided to meet their needs.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LOCAL AREA

The St Luke’s area of benefit is a densely populated inner-city neighbourhood in London comprising approximately 21,000 residents. The majority of residents live in social housing. The neighbourhood suffers significant deprivation typical of many inner cities, with child poverty, unemployment, premature death, poor health and isolation of older people.

HISTORY AND THE ST LUKE’S AREA OF BENEFIT

St Luke’s Parochial Trust was formed many centuries ago from various donations given to the parish by generous benefactors, the earliest of which date back to the sixteenth century. St. Luke’s is required to spend its money helping improve the conditions of life of those resident in the area of benefit, which is the ancient parish of St Luke’s, Old Street. This area now comprises the south Islington ward of Bunhill, parts of the Clerkenwell ward and St Peter’s and Canalside ward, and other small pockets of the City of London and Hackney.

St Luke’s Parochial Trust Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 December 2023

REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS

Trustees

The Trust is governed by a sole Corporate Trustee, St Luke’s Trustee Limited, itself granted charitable status in March 2011 (Reg Charity 1141334). The Directors (Trustees) of the Corporate Trustee are the governing body of St Luke’s Parochial Trust. Throughout this report, reference to the trustees/directors is to the trustees/directors of St Luke’s Trustee Limited. Identical to the period prior to incorporation, the Directors are made up of nominative, co-optative and one ex-officio Trustee. The Articles of Association allow for a Board of 18 and, in 2022, the Directors agreed to appoint to all 18 places. Those who served during 2023 and at the time of the report’s approval:

Revd David Allen Ex Officio by nomination of the Rector of St Giles’ Cripplegate with St Luke’s Old Street Cllr Valerie BossmanNominated by LB of Islington Quarshie Michael Davison Co-optative: appointed the 6[th] December 2023 Mary Durcan Nominated by the City of London Cllr Ruth Hayes Nominated by LB of Islington Don Kehoe Co-optative Wee Kii Teh Nominative Tolga Kizil Co-optative Debra Mendes Co-optative Rev Jack Noble Nominated by PCC St Giles' Cripplegate with St Luke's Old Street Cllr Rosaline Ogunro Nominated by LB of Islington Ray O'Halloran Co-optative Joseph Pak Nominative Gemma Pimlott Nominative Crispin Rapinet Co-optative RIP - 24[th] June 2023 David Vasserman Co-optative Kieran Wadia Co-optative Charmaine Yap Nominative: resigned the 23[rd] of October 2023 Principal Office 90 Central Street, London EC1V 8AJ (tel: 020 7549 8181) Charity Registration No. 207497 Auditors Sayer Vincent LLP, 110 Golden Lane, London EC1Y 0TG

St Luke’s Parochial Trust Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 December 2023

Investment Advisors	Investment Quorum Limited, Guildhall House, 85 Gresham Street,
	London EC2V 7NQ
Bankers	HSBC plc, The Helicon, 1 South Place, London EC2M 2UP
Solicitors	Kingsley Napley LLP, 20 Bonhill Street, London EC2A 4DN

St Luke’s Parochial Trust Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 December 2023

FROM THE CHAIR

St. Luke’s Community Centre will always aim to improve the quality of lives for people living in our area of benefit and break down barriers, particularly for the most vulnerable. Over 2023 we have carried out a successful restructure of services in line with our all age approach. We are now open longer hours during the week and at weekends and we continue to provide a designated Safe Haven.

Our team of dedicated people provides an exceptional service to our community in the face of the rising needs of our service users’ and it is one of my proudest achievements to continue to be the current Chair of the Trust. Our success is based on the team, including so many volunteers, which has shown, once again, what a remarkable service St. Luke’s can provide to all our service users over such a wide range of events and services.

St Luke’s Board of Trustees provided funding for many families during the year through our grants’ programme. We also provided support for local people who are striving to set up their own business. These programmes of support have been a lifeline to many people. All our Trustees are of an exceptional standard, so it is with a heavy heart that we lost one of our own, Crispin Rapinet, who will be sorely missed. We also saw Charmaine Yap step down from the board. Thank you for all your support Charmaine, and we welcome our newest Trustee Michael Davison to the board.

As we move to a new year, we at St. Lukes are looking at our Carbon Management programme and how we can reduce our current carbon footprint. Over the next few months we will be looking to identify projects to enhance this energy reduction programme and the team will make sure our service users are updated on progress.

As always, I want to pay special tribute to our many donors and corporate sponsors. They have been truly remarkable during this past 12 months. It is through their support that we have been able to continue to provide the services to the standard we do.

Finally, at our Away Day in September, the Trustees and Staff were able to again set a clear vision going forward to continue to offer essential support and assistance to our local community, through open dialogue and listening to our service users. We will continue with this support and look to improve where possible and adapt where necessary.

Raymond O’Halloran, Chair of the board

St Luke’s Parochial Trust Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 December 2023

TRUSTEES’ REPORT

OBJECTIVES

The legal objective of the charity is to improve the conditions of life for the people living in the area of benefit. St Luke’s fulfils the objective of the charity by using its income, after ensuring that the community centre building is maintained and insured and paying management expenses, in the payment of pensions, in relief-in-need grants and in the interests of social welfare, providing or assisting in providing facilities for recreation and other leisure time occupation with the object of improving conditions of life.

Strategic plan

The board has adopted a three year ‘rolling’ strategic plan. This means that each year, St Luke’s previews the next three-year period in setting the plan and budget for the forthcoming year. The agreed strategic plan has three main objectives which are detailed below. The arrival of a global pandemic during 2020 only re-enforced the main objectives and continued right through 2021 and 2022. During 2023, people were still affected by Covid-19 as well as the impact of the cost of living crisis. Future plans are based on our strategic plan and these objectives.

Vision: The trustees’ overall vision is that the St Luke’s neighbourhood is:

‘a welcoming, living, neighbourly community in south Islington for all people to contribute to working, playing and learning together for their mutual benefit and wellbeing.’

Mission: In pursuit of its vision, St Luke’s identified three mission priorities:

The need to tackle disadvantage, including supporting people with employment skills.
The need to improve the health and wellbeing of local people.
The need to build a sense of community.

Objectives: The board has set the following eight strategic objectives:

Disadvantage

Become the preferred first point of call for local people seeking advice and front-line support.
Increase closer working relationships with corporate partners, support for people into employment and accredited training courses to assist people with skills.
Address the causes and effects of local poverty.

Health & wellbeing

Put better health (and mental health) at the heart of services.
Ensure a programme of support for people on a preventative level and condition management level.

Community

Embed St Luke’s community centre as the hub of neighbourhood activity.
Develop partnerships with, and between, local groups and providers.

St Luke’s Parochial Trust Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 December 2023

Give local people a sense of where they live, work, learn and play.

Review of 2023 and Plan for the future

During 2023, the charity implemented its action points under a work plan based on its strategic plan. The actions from the strategic plan were implemented at the end of 2022 when there was still some uncertainty due to the Covid-19 pandemic. This uncertainty around the pandemic continued into 2023. This fact, coupled with the cost of living crisis, meant the organisation had to re-assess its priorities on an ongoing basis in order to respond to the needs of the local community.

Local residents are still trying to cope with the effects of inflation particularly in relation to energy costs. St Luke’s continues to be proud of the way it has been able to support the local community faced with so much uncertainty and hardship. The organisation is flexible, speedy in its response and always willing to find solutions in partnership with our local residents, the Local Authority, our corporate partners and so many other strategic partners with whom we work.

In May 2023 the Centre celebrated the coronation of the King which was a significant event for many of our service users. Despite people’s sadness at the Queen’s death in 2022, they were very reassured by the succession of the King who some viewed, as one of their own children!

During 2023, numbers of people attending the Centre have gradually increased by 11.5% on the previous year. However, this is still 75% of the figure who attended the Centre in pre-Covid times. We are also seeing different patterns in our room-hire business with larger rooms in more demand than smaller rooms. And, whereas the number of people attending the Christmas Fair at the Centre in December 2022 was over 800, December 2023 showed that 600 people attended. We can only surmise that people wanted to ‘get out and about again’ in 2022 after various restrictions in the previous years.

2023 brought lows and highs for the Centre. As our Chairman stated, we were very sad to see the passing of our Chair of Finance, Crispin Rapinet. However, he was a true example of generosity and altruism even in the middle of his illness. Side by side with this, we were able to celebrate our achievement of the Trusted Standard award by the Growth Company in collaboration with the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO). This award was a real achievement after two years of preparation. Further, during 2023, we celebrated the tenth anniversary of our Firm Futures’ Programme in collaboration with B Consultancy and our corporate partner, Slaughter and May. Over 60 budding entrepreneurs have been assisted to set up their own business as part of this programme.

The board of trustees agreed a deficit budget for 2023 in light of the cost of living crisis. This was the third year in a row that the trustees agreed such a budget due to covid and inflation. The trustees are aware that this is affecting the reserves of the charity but felt it was the right thing to do in order to support the local community in such difficult times.

Looking forward to 2024 and beyond, we remain optimistic about welcoming more and more people into the Centre. This statement is being made in the knowledge that a similar hope was expressed for the previous three years! However, we have anecdotal reasons to be so optimistic for 2024. In relation to this, we will provide a full programme of services for the year.

Our focus continues to be one of support to the local community. To this end, we will engage in more outreach activities to our residents through estate pop-ups and projects, as well as providing a full programme of activities at the Centre. We will continue to support people, as we have done over the past two years – with financial assistance through a programme of grants administered by St Luke’s in

St Luke’s Parochial Trust Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 December 2023

order to address the issues of hardship, poverty, isolation, mental health and employment. Our business plan and activities reflect these priorities.

During 2024, we will continue with our attempts to ensure the Centre becomes carbon neutral. We will build on the significant steps we have made in the past two years, in particular, and will introduce a plan of action in relation to reducing our carbon footprint even more. We have an ambitious aim to be carbon neutral by the end of 2025 – five years earlier than our original aim! We will continue with our awareness work in the local community on the issue. St Luke’s will be an example as well as creating awareness.

St Luke’s will continue to support its staff who have shown dedication and strength to our local residents. Some of our staff have been affected themselves by the issues around Covid-19, the cost of living crisis and the dreadful coverage of conflicts throughout the world but which impacts on them, their families and communities. Staff continue to respond selflessly and St Luke’s is committed to ensure the working environment is supportive, helpful and empowering.

In 2024, we will continue to be a London Living Wage accredited organisation to ensure staff receive an appropriate wage in order to live in a vibrant and diverse city.

By the end of 2024, we will have explored Level 2 of the Trusted Standard quality mark, having achieved Level 1 in 2023.

Trustees and staff met, as usual, in September 2023 for our annual Away Day. A number of action points came out of this day and these have been included in the Business Plan for 2024. These action points include the high level of activities and events for the local community, continuing to support local entrepreneurs in starting up their own businesses and providing welfare grants for families in need.

User involvement is crucial to the workings of St Luke’s and during 2023 we developed the users’ committee which had been set up the previous year. We will further develop this crucial group in a way that will give a clear voice and a strong forum for our service users from all age ranges. Through this group, they will continue to have a direct influence in planning, implementing and organising the services being provided at the Centre.

The services and activities of the charity will continue to be front-line and multi-dimensional in nature. The scope and reach of services continues to be broad. The Trust strives to build its profile and strengthen links among other groups and service providers locally, cementing its role as a community hub.

For almost four years now, we have operated with the Covid-19 pandemic. It is only in the second half of 2023 that we witnessed a change in people’s attitudes to the virus. We are hopeful that this will continue throughout 2024. We have come to accept that many people’s experiences changed during the pandemic and we are now facing a ‘new normal’ where some things will never go back to how they were pre-pandemic. However, we see this as a positive move in a ‘new’ direction.

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

Nature of governing documents and corporate structure

St Luke’s Parochial Trust is constituted as an unincorporated trust, and is governed by four schemes issued by the Charity Commissioners dated 17[th] June 1983, 30[th] December 1983, 29[th] November 1994 and 29[th] April 1998, as amended by Section 74D Charities Act 2006 Resolution of 17[th] June 2010.

St Luke’s Parochial Trust Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 December 2023

Despite St Luke’s Parochial Trust having one corporate trustee, the directors of this incorporated charity are the board and still remain known as trustees of St Luke’s Parochial Trust. They are referred to as the charity’s trustees throughout the report and accounts.

A trading company called St Luke’s Trading Limited was incorporated on the 17[th] December 2014 and began trading on the 1[st] January 2015. St Luke's Trading Limited (a company limited by share capital, company no. 9358692 [England and Wales]) is a wholly owned subsidiary of St Luke's Parochial Trust and pays all of its profits to the Trust under the gift aid scheme. The company's activities are trading operations which relate to catering, rental, room and other facility hire at St Luke’s Community Centre which were previously carried out by the charity.

Recruitment and appointment of trustees

There are currently 16 directors of St Luke’s Trustee Limited (the trustees) who have been selected for their perspective of the local area and specific skills they can offer the board. All present trustees either live, or have a keen interest in, the area of benefit and immediate surrounding areas.

One trustee is ex-officio. Five trustees are described as nominative and are external appointments by bodies such as the London Borough of Islington, the City of London and the Parochial Church Council of St Giles’ Cripplegate. The governing document allows for a further four nominative places and even though the right to appoint was waived by mutual agreement with the appointing bodies in 2006, the trustees agreed to appoint to these positions in early 2022 in order to increase the resilience of the board going forward. This increases the total number of nominative trustees to nine.

Seven trustees are described as co-optative and selected for the specific skills they can bring to the board, or from a local perspective. All terms of office are four years, and the Chair holds office for four years. Vacancies are advertised locally and open to all.

New trustees are given an induction pack comprising Charity Commission publications on the obligations of trustees, internal documents such as governance documents, meetings’ minutes and strategic plans as well as up-to-date statutory accounts, budgets and management accounts. New trustees meet with the Chair and Chief Executive and are given a comprehensive tour of services. Trustees are offered ongoing training by the charity, with regular circulars of specific training courses facilitated by outside organisations.

Sadly, one of our co-optative trustees, Crispin Rapinet, died in June 2023. Crispin had been a member of the board since 2017 and he was Chair of the Finance, Risk and Audit Committee. Crispin was a partner with one of St Luke’s corporate partners, Hogan Lovells, and is greatly missed by all at St Luke’s.

We wish to thank Charmaine Yap who resigned from the board of the Charity and the board of the Trading company during the year. Charmaine had chaired the board of the Trading company for over five years before joining the board of the Charity. We are hugely grateful to Charmaine for all the work and support she gave to St Luke’s. During 2023, one nominative position remained vacant. The appointing body to this role is the parish council of St Giles’ Cripplegate.

Organisation structure, committees, and decision-making

During 2023, the board of trustees held four meetings and an Away Day with staff. The role of the board is to take decisions to govern and guide the charity’s future strategy, and keep the regular activities of St Luke’s under review. Executive powers are delegated to the Chief Executive and the senior management team.

St Luke’s Parochial Trust Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 December 2023

The sub-committee structure of the board consists of three committees, each of which meets on a regular basis. The three committees are: i) Finance, Risk and Audit Committee, ii) Quality and Governance Committee and iii) the Remuneration Committee. The chair of each committee is ratified by the board on an annual basis.

Senior staff

The trustees consider that the senior management team of the charity, being the Chief Executive, the Director of Services and the Director of Operations, comprise the key management personnel of the charity, in charge of directing, controlling, running and operating the charity on a day to day basis.

The pay of the senior management team of the charity, as well as all staff, is reviewed annually by the Remuneration Committee which makes recommendations to the board of trustees, who then consider whether or not to approve the proposals. In view of the nature of operations of the charity, the trustees benchmark pay rates against pay levels in other similar charities. The remuneration benchmark is based on published pay grades for all staff within similar sized charities and ensures that the remuneration paid is fair and in line with that paid for similar roles in other charities.

PUBLIC BENEFIT

The trustees confirm that they have complied with their duty under the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit.

St Luke’s provides a public benefit to local residents by being a place where community activities and services take place, which improve the quality of life for local people. This is done in a variety of ways: through reducing isolation and social exclusion, being a space for public gathering, and providing services which improve lives. During the Covid-19 pandemic, St Luke’s continued to provide support and assistance to local residents by adapting its delivery of services. However, the public benefit principle was at the core of these adaptations. St Luke’s is also in active partnership with other organisations and individuals to deliver their own services which have a direct or indirect benefit to the local neighbourhood. The detail of how this is carried out can be found on pages 10-14 of this report.

Beneficiaries

Feedback is received from beneficiaries through suggestion boxes, user committee meetings, surveys, written compliments, complaints and informal comments. St Luke’s is committed to maintaining services that will maximise impact on service users. Since 2016, St Luke’s has implemented a system to measure the impact of services on its members and service users. Impact reports have continued to be produced for trustees and funders during 2023.

Wider society

St Luke’s area of benefit lies principally in the Bunhill ward of Islington. The Bunhill ward has a population of 10,786 people (post-2022 boundary changes). Up to 2022, the population of the Bunhill ward was 15,352 people. However, the overall population of St Luke’s area of benefit remains in the region of 21,000 people as it comprises pockets of Clerkenwell, St Peter’s and Canalside, parts of the City of London and parts of the London Borough of Hackney. Detailed statistics from the 2021 Census have been incorporated into the strategic plan and business plan of the organisation. The Centre also relies on statistics collated by the Oxford Consultants for Social Inclusion.

St Luke’s Parochial Trust Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 December 2023

These statistics show that in the Bunhill ward, 34.9% identify as White British (39.7% Islington), 23.4% identify as White non-British (22.5% Islington) and 41.7% identify as non-white (37.8% Islington) (Census 2021). 39% of people aged 16-74 are in full-time employment compared with 41% across Islington. 15.3% of people have a disability compared with 16.2% across Islington. 3.7% of the Bunhill ward claim Job Seekers’ allowance or Universal Credit. This is compared to 4.6% of people claiming these benefits across Islington (source: Department for Work and Pensions - DWP). The number of people receiving health-related benefits was 1.1% compared with an Islington average of 2.4% (source: DWP). 46.1% of families with dependent children are lone parent families (Islington average is 41.1%). There is a high level of residents renting properties from the Local Authority and Registered Social Landlords (44%). The area continues to be affected by high child poverty rates and, even though the percentage of people who are over 65 years of age is lower compared to other areas of Islington (8.9% compared to 9.4%), there is still a high proportion of people over 65 years who live alone. The highest demographic in the area is females between the ages of 20 and 34 years of age (24.5% of the Bunhill population). 50.8% of households are deemed as being deprived in one or more dimension (51.7% in Islington as a whole).

St Luke’s provides services which have positive effects on the issues faced by the local community as a whole. Close to 70,000 visitors came to the Centre in 2019; 20,000 visited in 2020 (due to the Covid pandemic) and 16,000 visited during 2021. Close to 44,000 people visited the Centre in 2022 and 49,000 people visited in 2023. A number of companies and firms hired rooms from the Centre and brought much needed business into the area in the form of local employment and use of catering services. Other local firms joined in partnership with St Luke’s and provided direct funding, volunteers, gifts and services in kind. This made an important difference to our income. We acknowledge their support at the end of this report.

The achievements of the business engagement team in supporting people to become ‘job ready’ is reported on page 13 of this report.

The Centre provides information and support on issues such as managing health conditions, in order to minimise attendance at GP surgeries or contacting the authorities. Whilst no specific monitoring takes place on this, it is evident that more people would be unemployed, suffering from isolation and feeling socially excluded if they did not have the services at the Centre, particularly in light of what the area, and the world, has experienced during the Covid pandemic.

ACTIVITIES

COMMUNITY CENTRE

St Luke’s Community Centre is based around a historic, but modern building, a 17,000 square foot Community Centre that is vibrant and welcoming and offers a wealth of activities and services for the benefit of people living in the area. St Luke’s also provides free space for local people and other organisations to provide services and activities that benefits local residents.

The charity’s measurable objectives for providing, managing and maintaining the community spaces are that the building remains well-used, safe, inviting and accessible to everyone in the community. In addition, St Luke’s also occupies a 1,600 square foot annex located next door, which is the base for St Luke’s Wellbeing Hub and Food Hub and a large community garden terrace and food growing area, which offers tranquil outdoor spaces that are used by local residents.

Room hire continues to be an important income stream for St Luke’s, and the charity is proud of delivering this service to a high standard with many returning clients. The income is reinvested in our building and the services that we provide.

St Luke’s Parochial Trust Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 December 2023

Footfall 2023

St Luke’s welcomed 49,000 visitors in 2023. Each quarter shows an increase in numbers visiting the Centre. Quarter one shows 10,156 visits. Quarter two shows 11,736 visits. Quarter three shows 12,477 visits and Quarter four shows 14, 624 visits. This is an increase of 11.5% on 2022.

Environmental - St Luke’s carbon negative target

St Luke’s will continue to look into solutions to reduce our carbon footprint and have set the goal of becoming a carbon negative organisation by 2025 (5 years earlier than originally planned!). We can achieve this by continuing to invest in green energy and green building equipment within the centre and by influencing local residents, clients and suppliers. St Luke’s works closely with its staff to find solutions and develop ideas on how the organisation can be sustainable. For example, we have continued the redistribution of food through our food hub and catering service, offer regular upcycling and clothes swapping events and provide training and awareness sessions. We will always aim to involve and educate our local residents and take them with us on St Luke’s journey to become a carbon negative organisation.

COMMUNITY SERVICES

St Luke’s continues to be a thriving and inspiring community organisation delivering a range of innovative services that make a real difference to the lives of residents living in south Islington. Facilities are accessible, contemporary and of a high quality. Service users and customers remark on the friendliness of the Centre, and it is satisfying to be recognised as a place that truly responds to the needs of the community. The following headings provide highlights for some of the more significant services delivered during 2023:

St Luke’s Membership Scheme

At the end of 2023, St Luke’s had 1,713 registered members of all ages living in the charity’s area of benefit. Members enjoy access to the community centre 7 days a week. There is also an extensive programme of services, events and activities that tackle disadvantage, improve health and wellbeing and build a sense of community.

Over 55s Programme

Throughout the year, St Luke’s has continued its support for older members, providing a vital transport service for up to 10 members each day with limited mobility, while the Lunch Club consistently attracted an average of 39 older members daily. The Club Room has been a hub of activity, hosting book launches, parties, exercise and engaging corporate volunteers for regular activities. Successful Christmas events, a Men’s Shed music partnership with LSO St Luke’s, engagement in the local Remembrance Day service and sold-out summer trips to the coast showcase St Luke’s commitment to diverse and engaging activities.

The King’s Coronation weekend was a highlight with older members coming together to watch the service as part of 3 days of celebrations including themed entertainment, activities and lunch. Partnership working has been a priority and included collaborations with Arsenal in the Community, Islington Green Spaces and House of Illustration. St Luke’s also continued to value the support of a wonderful team of local volunteers whose commitment and generosity of time contributed to the well-being of older service users.

St Luke’s Parochial Trust Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 December 2023

Regular feedback from older members indicated high levels of satisfaction, with 87% of older users reporting St Luke’s made a positive impact on their wellbeing and 94% reporting their engagement at St Luke’s had helped them connect with new friends.

“Since I discovered St Luke’s it feels like I have another home. Today was very special.” – an older member

St Luke’s Wellbeing Hub

Demand for the Food Hub was once again consistently high during the year as households continued to be impacted by the increase in the cost of living. In partnership with food donation partners, the Centre provided disadvantaged households with a healthy range of good quality food for up to 8 weeks. The Hub was also able to purchase weekly supplies to supplement donations, ensuring fresh fruit was on offer as well as vegetables and essential toiletries. In 2023, almost 64 tonnes of food was distributed to 323 local households which has benefitted 812 residents of all ages. In partnership with 2 local organisations, donated food was shared with 300 local children and their families.

In addition to providing essential food supplies, the Food Hub also offered beneficiaries the opportunity to explore longer term support to help resolve underlying food poverty issues. During the year, referrals were made for benefit checks, debt and legal advice, employment support, grants and wellbeing activities. The St Luke’s Food Co-Op has also become an excellent resource for residents to access low cost food when their membership to the Food Hub comes to an end.

During 2023, the Wellbeing Hub awarded over £20,000 of St Luke’s Welfare Grants supporting local households in financial difficulty and Cloudesley welfare grants were awarded to residents with health conditions. In addition, residents have benefited from a range of wellbeing activities including Poetry of the Mind sessions which focussed on mental health awareness, mindfulness classes, print-making workshops, Made of Money courses teaching money management, stress management and health checks.

In November, a popular Surviving Winter Information Event was delivered with 15 partners to support residents with the cost of living crisis. A highlight of 2023 was the celebration of World Mental Health Day at which participants came together to write and perform their own inspirational poems.

“Attending the wellbeing workshops has taught me to be a stronger and resilient person.” – Wellbeing Hub user

Cookery School

The cookery school was busy teaching healthy cookery skills, building confidence in the kitchen and tackling food poverty. Activities and classes included a children's Bake Off, four-week Family Kitchen programmes delivered in collaboration with Islington Council, a monthly weekend cookery club promoting communal learning and socialising and a weekly adult sessions and after school Junior Chef classes.

In response to local health needs an allergen-free cookery class was delivered as well as a for those with type 2 diabetes. In response to the cost of living crisis, an innovative microwave cookery course was offered. Saturday Community Lunches, at which volunteers prepared free meals for local residents, have been very popular and receive positive feedback from all who attend.

Fun and innovative food related activities have enhanced many of St Luke’s community events including decorating cookies at the Coronation Weekend, making fruit sundaes at the Summer Festival and yule

St Luke’s Parochial Trust Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 December 2023

logs at the Christmas Fair. The partnership with Islington Forum Plus also continued to flourish with regular cook and dine nights for the local LGBTQ+ community.

During the year, the cookery school delivered a total of 158 free cookery classes and events, shared 1,667 meals and welcomed a total participant footfall of 2,255. 79% of participants stated their confidence in cookery had improved and 83% agreed they had learned how to cook healthy affordable meals.

“I was one of the volunteers who helped at the Saturday Community Lunch. Such great camaraderie, fun, learning new skills and a delicious meal enjoyed by us and many happy local residents” – cookery school volunteer

Business Engagement

A growing team of corporate partners continued to generously support St Luke’s work in various ways including corporate giving, pro bono support and donations of food, furniture, and equipment. Additionally, the corporate volunteer programme led and supported some of St Luke’s key community services and events. Throughout the year, St Luke’s worked with 25 corporate partners, and corporate volunteers contributed a total of 2,140 voluntary hours.

In 2023, Firm Futures, St Luke’s collaborative project supporting start-up businesses with bursaries, workshops, mentoring and marketing, celebrated its 10[th] year anniversary. This significant achievement was marked with a celebratory film and event enjoyed by past and current beneficiaries. Residents seeking employment also benefited from St Luke’s Job Club, at which corporate partners volunteered their time to provide specialist support, including CV preparation, interview skills, training and confidence building.

The PC Pals Project, a digital inclusion programme delivered by corporate volunteers, offered weekly oneto-one IT support for local residents, including older people and Job Club members, to connect online. As a successful new partner of the Data Bank initiative, St Luke’s was able to share free mobile devices and internet packages with job seekers and those on low incomes.

Business partners regularly supported the befriending clubs for older people. They also assisted with the Cost-of-Living Crisis Clinic, a free service helping diverse clients with crisis grant applications, income maximization and referrals to other forms of support.

Ten business partners were engaged and contributed to the Steps to Success events – inspirational career events for students from local primary and secondary schools. Local girls also benefited from a summer exercise programme and an after-school fitness club delivered by a corporate partner who also provided regular community health checks.

“Being part of the Firm Futures Programme and seeing participants take their businesses forward is really exciting. We see first-hand the difference our funding has, and mentoring the entrepreneurs through the process is a fantastic opportunity for our people to be a part of.” - St Luke’s corporate partner

Community Engagement

2023 was a busy year for the Women’s Multicultural Group who benefited from dance classes resulting in public performances around the Borough. The group also organised a fashion show of upcycled clothes at the St Luke’s Day event, delivered a celebration with over 80 attendees for International Women’s Day and created a Story Book sharing their experiences of being part of this much valued and active community group.

St Luke’s Parochial Trust Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 December 2023

Family and children’s activities continued to be led by the Community Engagement Team and included after school clubs, summer programmes and outings. The Centre continued to host the Whittington Health NHS Mum & Baby Group, the First Clerkenwell Brownies and Guides and, in partnership with The Peel Centre, delivered popular children’s clothes swap events. The second year of the LBI Bunhill Heritage Project resulted in an installation by a St Luke’s resident artist at Bunhill Fields. The artwork incorporated work from St Luke’s members and was unveiled at a ceremony attended by the Mayor of Islington, local councillors and guests.

New partnerships during the year included Ben Kinsella Trust who provided parent workshops on knife harm and gang exploitation, Bright Futures advice sessions for families and the Safer Neighbourhood Team who delivered weekly community drop-ins. St Luke’s was also delighted to distribute Cripplegate Catalyst Family grants and Islington Giving grants to local disadvantaged households.

At the beginning of 2023 the ‘St Luke’s Community Champions’ project was launched which supported and funded members to deliver their own community event or service. Seven ‘Community Champion’ grants were awarded and these popular user-led activities included a weekly ESOL Cake & Conversation club, an inter-generational mother/toddler get-together, elders’ sessions and an older men’s New Age Kurling club. Other events that engaged with local residents included a Summer Festival, Black History Month celebrations and a Christmas Fair – all of which were extremely well attended and of a high quality. As ever, St Luke’s also supported community events including the King Square Gardens Christmas party, the Whitecross Street Party and Christmas Lights switch on.

“I can’t thank St Luke’s and all its amazing staff and volunteers enough… it has opened a new exciting world for me” – St Luke’s Community Champion

Volunteering

Local people who registered as volunteers once again contributed enormously to the delivery of key services and events. St Luke’s is most appreciative of their dedication and commitment. During 2023 49 volunteers donated a total of 2,955 voluntary hours. Volunteers helped to plan and deliver community events, looked after the chickens, supported older members with activities or a helping hand and helped to keep the Food Hub open by sorting and distributing the food donations. A Thank You event took place during the 2023 Volunteer Week and St Luke’s was delighted to host the 2023 Camden and Islington Volunteer Fair.

Thanks must also go to the St Luke’s User Committees, a group of local residents who meet regularly to feedback on current activities, consider local needs and share ideas to address them. In addition, the group of Junior Ambassadors continued to be a valuable resource as support was extended for local children and their families. Junior Ambassadors meet regularly and their ages range from 8 to 12 years old.

“ I feel useful. I am contributing something to the community and it has increased my self-esteem” - Food Hub Volunteer

Finsbury Wards’ partnership

St Luke’s works with the local wards’ partnership on hosting and publicising meetings on a variety of themes. Because of the pandemic, two meetings took place online during the year.

St Luke’s Parochial Trust Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 December 2023

FINANCIAL REVIEW

In response to hardship in the local community caused by Covid-19 and the cost of living crisis, and despite the challenging economic conditions, the trustees retained their commitment to maintain as many services as possible with the expectation that an operating deficit would be generated. They consider that an appropriate use of the charity’s reserves and ultimately the group deficit generated by operations was less than that budgeted. The trustees consider that to be a good result in the context of the currently difficult economic environment, and particularly its impact on the trading subsidiary business, and the Charity’s ambition to meet the increasing needs of its expanding client base.

The Charity also agreed a buyout of its final salary pension scheme in July 2023, incurring a one-off cost. The scheme was bought by Just insurance company who, from that point, became responsible for all financial liabilities related to the scheme.

Income increased from £1.16 million in 2022 to £1.52 million in 2023 reflecting increases in most income streams but most significantly in investment and trading income. The increase in investment income was the positive result of the Trustees’ decision to adjust SLPT’s investment strategy in response to market conditions and invest more for income generation than capital gains. The increase in trading income continued the recovery from Covid-19 disruptions and the Trustees are optimistic that the recovery will continue into 2024 and beyond.

Investment income and income for St Luke’s Trading Ltd (the trading subsidiary) were the largest sources of income, contributing 38% (2022: 30%) and 36% (2022: 42%) of all income respectively. St Luke’s is committed to increasing its grant and donation income.

Expenditure increased from £2.16 million in 2022 to £2.80 million in 2023 with the one-off cost of the pension buy-out accounting for £0.30 million of that increase. As a result a deficit of £1.28 million (2022: £988,302) was generated before gains on investments.

Investment values increased by £0.55m over the year, making good some of the previous year’s £3.68m loss. After setting those gains against the loss from operations the total annual loss became £725,075 (2022: £4.68m) including a loss on the general funds, those funds considered to be the free reserves, of £0.49m (2022: £1.58m).

At the year end, all funds totalled £24,959,881 (2022: £25,684,956) of which £4,684,282 (2022: £4,796,073) took the form of tangible fixed assets (St Luke’s premises and equipment) and £19,907,222 were investments (2022: £21,095,252). Of the investments, £14,307,123 (2022: £14,225,809) were permanent endowment funds. Net current assets (including cash), being St Luke’s funds available for spending, totalled £368,377 (2022: £248,370).

INVESTMENT POLICIES, OBJECTIVES AND PERFORMANCE

In accordance with the charity’s governing instruments and the Trustee Act 2000, the trustees have the power to invest in such stocks, shares, investments and property as they see fit. The trustees’ investment policy adopted a total return approach from 1 January 2020. The decision by the trustees to move to a total return policy, whereby they seek to maximise total returns regardless of whether those returns accrue by way of income or capital growth, continues to give much needed stability to the finances, and specifically the cash flow, of the organisation throughout the year.

St Luke’s Parochial Trust Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 December 2023

The policy was reviewed during 2023 and is applied as follows:

St Luke’s trustees hold investments to maintain their permanent endowment and to produce income to fund its operations. As a means of adhering to the general principles of trust law, and ensuring that the charity maximises its effectiveness, the trustees seek to maximise returns on investments whilst maintaining capital values over time.
The trustees wish to ensure that: a) the capital values of investments maintain their real values against inflation as measured by the Retail Price Index on the average value over 3 previous years and b) the investment portfolio yields a minimum 4% pa.

During 2023, investments have been affected by the volatility in the global markets which is reflected in the financial statements. Investment Quorum, appointed by the board in 2015, are independent financial advisers, who oversee and advise on the Trust’s investment portfolio in order to continue to achieve its policy aims. Since 2019, Investment Quorum has discretionary powers to invest in the best interests of the organisation.

Total return investment

The trustees considered a valuation of £8.29 million on 31 December 2008 to be the earliest reliable valuation on which to base the value of the original endowment. In order to maintain the real value of the core endowment, an annual uplift in line with increases in the Consumer Price Index is made to it from income and gains generated by the endowment investments, otherwise referred to as the unapplied total return. The annual inflationary uplifts had increased the value of the core endowment to £13.01 million at 31 December 2023.

As permitted under the Charity Commission’s total return regulations, an annual transfer has and will in future years be made from the unapplied total return to general funds in order to provide working capital for the Trust. In 2023 a transfer of £660,000 (2022: £605,000) was made.

Ethical investment policy

St Luke’s portfolio is invested in collective funds, not direct equities. Whilst there is no formal exclusion policy in place, the trustees are in regular communication with their investment managers and encourages them to give due consideration to the environmental, social or governance (ESG) credentials of the underlying holdings and to consider investing in funds and managers which display, promote or integrate ESG characteristics.

RESERVES POLICY

The charity funds comprise a mixture of permanent endowment (£14.38m), restricted funds (£37k) and unrestricted funds (£10.53m). Of the unrestricted funds, £4.68m are represented by fixed assets comprising mostly the community centre.

The majority of the remainder has been designated as follows:

Cyclical Maintenance Fund (£1.18m). This fund is formed to fund community centre lifecycle costs of items with a lifespan of less than 10 years. The trustees took professional advice to ascertain the correct size of this fund over an expected 30 year building lifecycle, and are augmenting the fund with annual ‘sinking fund’ transfers from the general fund. The fund is used to pay for forecast building lifecycle expenditure. During the year, £51,147 was spent from the fund on essential maintenance works (2022 balance = £1.19m).

St Luke’s Parochial Trust Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 December 2023

Extraordinary Repair Fund (£0.78m). This fund is formed to fund community centre lifecycle costs of items with a lifespan of greater than 10 years. The trustees took professional advice to ascertain the correct size of this fund over an expected 30 year building lifecycle, and are augmenting the fund with annual ‘sinking fund’ transfers from the general fund. They utilise the fund to pay for forecast building lifecycle expenditure. £3,433 was spent from the fund during the year (2022 balance = £0.80m).

Planning Deed Fund (£1.87m). This commitment is part of Town and Country Planning Act 1990 Section 106 deed of planning agreement dated 1[st] November 2013, which created a 30-year obligation to 2043. This fund is to meet the requirement to pay a commuted housing sum to Islington Council if trustees decide not to operate as a community centre of similar scale and function in the immediate vicinity until 2043. The full amount repayable in this scenario would now be £1.9m (index linked), annually reduced by £0.1m (index linked) so that in 19 years from now the liability is zero. The trustees were confident that there would be no situation where they would not operate a community centre in the area for at least the first ten years so only provided for the final twenty years of the period. The pandemic highlighted the vulnerabilities of operating a building-based facility and so, in prudence, the trustees have decided to maintain the full reducing provision to 2043. As this reserve provision is released over the next twenty years it is the trustees’ intention to ear mark the funds towards a number of initiatives. One of those initiatives will include meeting our ecological and environmental aspirations.

Care and Grant Fund (£0.21m). This fund has been set aside to ensure that the charity can always meet the long-term commitment it makes to a number of the most vulnerable older users of the charity’s services – about 80 individuals. These individuals would suffer the most if the charity was suddenly forced to withdraw its services to them. The support is given in the form of pensions, grants and help with care costs. The amount has been calculated on the basis of 10 years’ annual present-day costs. During the year, £68k was spent on maintaining services to vulnerable clients (2022 balance = £0.28m).

General Fund. This fund, totalling £1.83 million (2022: £2.32m), is the balance of the charity’s unrestricted funds after the above designations, and is considered to be the free reserves of the charity. Of these funds, £339,741 (2022: £278,546) is held in cash. The current balance represents 9 months (2022: 12 months) of unrestricted expenditure in normal operating conditions (£207k pm). It is the trustees' aim to grow and maintain the general fund at 12 months of annual budgeted unrestricted expenditure in order that it might be able to meet volatility in income and expenditure, as well as take advantage of opportunities.

Fundraising for St Luke’s is carried out by its staff members who abide by the Code of Conduct as set out by the regulator. St Luke’s does not use paid professional fundraisers and the organisation directs its fundraising activities towards charitable trusts and funders. St Luke’s does not solicit funds from its members, particularly those who may be vulnerable people. During 2023, there were no complaints in relation to fundraising and there were no non-compliance incidents in relation to the Code of Conduct.

PRINCIPAL RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES

The trustees receive reports and examine the major risks which the charity faces and confirm that systems have been established to enable regular reports to be produced so that the necessary steps can be taken to manage these risks. The board considers the major risks at meetings, whilst other risks are considered as part of normal day to day management processes.

During the year, the trustees regularly considered over 40 risks to the charity. Having reviewed these risks during 2023, the trustees consider the risks listed below as the main risks faced by the charity. Whilst in 2022 (2020 and 2021) the overriding risk was the impact of Covid-19, this has abated in 2023. However, it is still very much on the horizon of risks within the organisation. Other risks listed below are

St Luke’s Parochial Trust Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 December 2023

similar to previous years, with the exception of the deficit payments on the defined benefit pension scheme. As has already been noted in the financial review of the year, this scheme was bought out by an insurance company in July 2023. As part of the management of the risks, trustees have put in place control measures to ensure the mitigated risks are at acceptable levels.

1) Covid-19 was still on the horizon during the year. We watched, with bated breath, at the predictions, forecasts and the actuals in relation to the virus. We continued to prioritise the safety of staff and service users and erred on the side of caution when outbreaks occurred. Whilst individuals contracted the virus, there was no major outbreak during the year. By year end, people were satisfied that it did not present the threat it had presented in previous years. On a financial level, income has been reduced because of a change in people’s requirements for room hire. We are hopeful that, during 2024, income will increase once again.
2) Income from investments is seen as a key risk, particularly in light of the changed world since the beginning of the pandemic. In order to advise the board on this risk, in 2015, St Luke’s engaged a firm of independent financial advisers, Investment Quorum, on an ongoing basis. They review and monitor the investments and follow the investment policy as agreed by trustees. In 2019, Investment Quorum were given discretionary powers over the portfolio on the allocation of investment assets and the income from them. During 2023, global markets have continued to be unpredictable and the unrealised gains made during 2023 must be understood in that context; they are not secure and cannot be guaranteed to be retained.
3) Trustees continue to regard safeguarding as one of the main risks within an open public building. To this end, trustees have put in place comprehensive policies on child protection and safeguarding adults. Staff are trained in safeguarding and safer recruitment. Service users are made aware of the issues. CCTV has been installed in various parts of the centre, and all staff are vigilant in respect of protecting children and adults who are vulnerable.
4) Trustees are conscious of the need to retain and develop high quality staff. To ensure this happens, they regularly review terms and conditions and remuneration of staff. Staff are offered personal development as part of their annual appraisal and are encouraged to develop their skills. Trustees benchmark staff remuneration with staff roles in other similar sized charities. During 2023, a report was commissioned to test this and it was found that St Luke’s offers competitive rates compared with similar charities. The next report will be commissioned in 2024.
5) Cyber Attacks: with the ongoing awareness of cyber attacks on all organisations, the trustees have put in place a robust strategy on IT and cyber attacks. In previous years, the charity had penetrative testing carried out by an external IT company who reported back that, apart from some minor licencing issues, the processes in place are adequate to combat such cyber attacks. However, trustees continue to ensure the organisation is fully aware of the need to be cautious in all transactions. To this end, the organisation achieved Cyber Essentials in 2023 which is a basis set by the computer industry. In 2024, St Luke’s will be investigating Cyber Essentials Plus to ensure we continue to protect our electronic files and systems.
6) The liability arising from deficit payments to the defined benefit pension scheme (addressed in note 15 to the accounts) has now been neutralised by a buyout of the scheme by an insurance company as reported elsewhere in this report. As a result, this risk will now be removed from the risk register and future annual reports.

St Luke’s Parochial Trust Trustees’ annual report For the year ended 31 December 2023

STATEMENT OF TRUSTEE’S RESPONSIBILITIES IN RELATION TO THE ACCOUNTS

The Trustee is responsible for preparing the trustees’ report and accounts in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

The law applicable to charities in England and Wales requires the Trustee to prepare accounts for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the group and charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources of the group for that period. In preparing these accounts, the Trustee is required to:

select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
observe the methods and principles in accounting and reporting by Charities Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable to the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102);
make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
state whether applicable United Kingdom Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the accounts; and
prepare the accounts on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in operation.

The Trustee is responsible for keeping proper accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the charity’s transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable it to ensure that the accounts comply with the Charities Act 2011, the Charity (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 and the provisions of the Trust Deed. It is also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the group and charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

Approved by the trustees on: 5[th] June 2024

Raymond O’Halloran, Chair of the Board of Trustee

St Luke’s Parochial Trust Independent auditor’s report To the trustee of St Luke’s Parochial Trust

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of St Luke’s Parochial Trust (‘the parent charity’) for the year ended 31 December 2023 which comprise the consolidated statement of financial activities, the group and parent charity balance sheets, the consolidated statement of cash flows and the notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including FRS 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion, the financial statements:

give a true and fair view of the state of the group and parent charity’s affairs as at 31 December 2023 and of the group’s and parent charity’s incoming resources and application of resources, for the year then ended;
have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and
have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011.

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the group in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Conclusions relating to going concern

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the group’s or parent charity's ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

Other information

The other information comprises the information included in the trustees’ annual report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. The trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. Our responsibility is to read the other

St Luke’s Parochial Trust Independent auditor’s report To the trustee of St Luke’s Parochial Trust

information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the course of the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 require us to report to you if, in our opinion:

the information given in the trustees’ annual report is inconsistent in any material respect with the financial statements
sufficient accounting records have not been kept; or
the parent charity financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or
we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the statement of trustees’ responsibilities set out in the trustees’ annual report, the trustees are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the group and the parent charity’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the group or the parent charity or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so..

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

We have been appointed as auditor under section 145 of the Charities Act 2011 and report i in accordance with regulations made under section 154 of that Act.

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

St Luke’s Parochial Trust Independent auditor’s report To the trustee of St Luke’s Parochial Trust

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud are set out below.

Capability of the audit in detecting irregularities

In identifying and assessing risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations, our procedures included the following:

We enquired of management and the audit and risk committee, which included obtaining and reviewing supporting documentation, concerning the group’s policies and procedures relating to:
Identifying, evaluating, and complying with laws and regulations and whether they were aware of any instances of non-compliance;
Detecting and responding to the risks of fraud and whether they have knowledge of any actual, suspected, or alleged fraud;
The internal controls established to mitigate risks related to fraud or non-compliance with laws and regulations.
We inspected the minutes of meetings of those charged with governance.
We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory framework that the group operates in, focusing on those laws and regulations that had a material effect on the financial statements or that had a fundamental effect on the operations of the group from our professional and sector experience.
We communicated applicable laws and regulations throughout the audit team and remained alert to any indications of non-compliance throughout the audit.
We reviewed any reports made to regulators.
We reviewed the financial statement disclosures and tested these to supporting documentation to assess compliance with applicable laws and regulations.
We performed analytical procedures to identify any unusual or unexpected relationships that may indicate risks of material misstatement due to fraud.
In addressing the risk of fraud through management override of controls, we tested the appropriateness of journal entries and other adjustments, assessed whether the judgements made in making accounting estimates are indicative of a potential bias and tested significant transactions that are unusual or those outside the normal course of business.

St Luke’s Parochial Trust Independent auditor’s report To the trustee of St Luke’s Parochial Trust

Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or non-compliance with regulation. This risk increases the more that compliance with a law or regulation is removed from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, as we will be less likely to become aware of instances of non-compliance. The risk is also greater regarding irregularities occurring due to fraud rather than error, as fraud involves intentional concealment, forgery, collusion, omission or misrepresentation.

A further description of our responsibilities is available on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the parent charity’s trustees as a body, in accordance with section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 and regulations made under section 154 of that Act. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the parent charity’s trustees those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the parent charity and the parent charity’s trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Joanna Pittman (Senior statutory auditor)

05 Juy 2024

Sayer Vincent LLP, Statutory Auditor

110 Golden Lane, LONDON, EC1Y 0TG

Sayer Vincent LLP is eligible to act as auditor in terms of section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006

St Luke's Parochial Trust Consolidated statement of financial activities (including consolidated income and expenditure account) For the year ended 31 December 2023

Notes Unrestricted Funds £ Income from: Donations and legacies 2 42,686 Charitable activities 3 Community centre 20,000 Community services 77,652 Other trading activities 4 St Luke's Trading Limited 553,466 Investment income 5 176,342 Total income 870,146 Expenditure on: Raising funds 6 St Luke's Trading Limited 488,264 Investment management costs 18,922 Fundraising 50,139 Charitable activities 6 Community centre 781,704 Community services 839,799 Employer's pension buy-out 15 306,054 Total expenditure 2,484,882 Net (expenditure) income before net gains or losses on investments 7 (1,614,736) Net gains (losses) on investments 10 155,592 Net (expenditure) income for the year (1,459,144) Transfers between funds 18 660,000 Net movement in funds (799,144) Reconciliation of funds Total funds brought forward 18 11,343,886 Total funds carried forward 10,544,742	Restricted Funds £ 12,502 - 240,913 - -	Endowment Funds £ - - - - 396,238	2023 Total £ 55,188 20,000 318,565 553,466 572,580	2022 Total £ 37,900 20,000 270,010 487,006 344,575
870,146	253,415	396,238	1,519,799	1,159,491
488,264 18,922 50,139 781,704 839,799 306,054	- - - 2,400 266,668 -	- 42,661 - - - -	488,264 61,583 50,139 784,104 1,106,467 306,054	413,985 67,064 47,961 715,144 913,639 -
2,484,882	269,068	42,661	2,796,611	2,157,793
(1,614,736) 155,592	(15,653) -	353,577 396,145	(1,276,812) 551,737	(998,302) (3,684,639)
(1,459,144) 660,000	(15,653) -	749,722 (660,000)	(725,075) -	(4,682,941) -
(799,144) 11,343,886	(15,653) 53,148	89,722 14,287,922	(725,075) 25,684,956	(4,682,941) 30,367,897
10,544,742	37,495	14,377,644	24,959,881	25,684,956

All of the above results are derived from continuing activities. There are no other recognised gains or losses other than those stated above.

The notes on pages 27 to 46 form part of these financial statements.

St Luke's Parochial Trust Balance sheets For the year ended 31 December 2023

Group Notes 2023 £ Fixed assets Tangible assets 9 4,684,282 Investments 10 19,907,222 24,591,504 Current assets Debtors 12 294,427 Cash at bank and in hand 377,236 671,663 Liabilities Creditors: amounts falling due within one year 13 (303,286) Net current assets 368,377 Total assets less current liabilities 24,959,881 Net assets (excluding pension liability) 24,959,881 Defined benefit pension scheme liability 15 - Net assets 24,959,881 Represented by: Funds and reserves 18 Endowment fund 14,377,644 Restricted funds 37,495 Unrestricted funds Designated tangible fixed assets fund 4,684,282 Designated revenue funds 4,033,322 General funds 1,827,138 10,544,742 24,959,881	Group 2022 £ 4,796,073 21,095,252 25,891,325 225,870 331,694 557,564 (309,193) 248,371 26,139,696 26,139,696 (454,740) 25,684,956 14,287,922 53,148 4,796,073 4,226,030 2,321,783 11,343,886 25,684,956	Charity 2023 £ 4,684,282 19,907,223	Charity 2022 £ 4,796,073 21,095,253
		24,591,505 326,074 311,552	25,891,326 223,919 271,947
		637,626 (269,250)	495,866 (247,496)
		368,376	248,370
		24,959,881	26,139,696
		24,959,881 -	26,139,696 (454,740)
		24,959,881	25,684,956
		14,377,644 37,495 4,684,282 4,033,322 1,827,138	14,287,922 53,148 4,796,073 4,226,030 2,321,783
		10,544,742	11,343,886
		24,959,881	25,684,956

Approved by the Trustees on 05 June 2024 and signed on their behalf by:

Raymond O'Halloran Chairman of the Board of Trustees

The notes on pages 27 to 46 form part of these financial statements.

St Luke's Parochial Trust Consolidated statement of cash flows For the year ended 31 December 2023

Notes 2023 £ 19 (2,213,315) Cash flows from investing activities: Interest, rent and dividends from investments 572,580 Purchase of tangible fixed assets (53,490) Purchase of investments (13,935,735) Proceeds from the disposal of investments 15,175,676 Cash provided by investing activities 1,759,031 Change in cash and cash equivalents in the year (454,284) Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year 1,566,192 Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year 20 1,111,908 Net cash (used in) operating activities	2022 £ (1,339,275) 344,575 (40,521) (2,471,525) 3,571,215
	1,403,744
	64,469 1,501,723
	1,566,192

The notes on pages 27 to 46 form part of these financial statements.

St Luke's Parochial Trust Notes to the accounts For the year ended 31 December 2023

1 Accounting policies

a Basis of accounting

The accounts have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102 - effective 1 January 2015) - (Charities SORP FRS 102).

St Luke's Parochial Trust meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy or note.

The financial statements have been prepared to give a ‘true and fair’ view and have departed from the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 only to the extent required to provide a ‘true and fair’ view. This departure has involved following the Accounting and Reporting by Charities Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) as applicable from 1 January 2019.

b Group accounts

The accounts consolidate the results of the charity and its wholly owned trading subsidiary, St Luke's Trading Limited, on a line by line basis. Total income for the unconsolidated charity for 2023 was £1,513,645 (2022: £1,153,635) and net expenditure, after gains on investments, was £725,075 (2022: net expenditure, after losses on investments, of £4,682,941).

c Going concern and significant estimates

The trustees consider that there are no material uncertainties regarding the Trust's ability to continue as a going concern for a period in excess of 12 months from the reporting date. In reaching that conclusion the trustees have considered a number of scenarios that could occur over that period, all of which demonstrate on-going solvency, and are confident that the strength of the Trust's balance sheet - specifically the level of its unrestricted funds - will ensure its ability to continue as a going concern.

No key judgements have been required to be made by the Trust which have a significant effect on the accounts.

The trustees do not consider that there are any sources of estimation uncertainty at the reporting date that have a significant risk of causing a material adjustment to the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities within the next reporting period

St Luke's Parochial Trust Notes to the accounts For the year ended 31 December 2023

1 Accounting policies (continued)

d Funds structure

The endowment fund is a permanent endowment. Section 4 of the Trusts (Capital and Income) Act 2013 amended the Charities Act 2011 to give permanently endowed charities in England and Wales the power to adopt a total return approach to investment. Trustees resolved to adopt total return accounting from 1 January 2020. The earliest best estimate of the real value of the original endowment is considered to be the valuation of £8.294m made on 31 December 2008. The trust for investment (core endowment) is increased annually using the consumer prices index (CPI) measure of inflation to maintain its real value over time. Under total return accounting, the charity is permitted to allocate from the total return element of permanent endowment to unrestricted funds such sums as it thinks appropriate in furtherance of its work. In making these transfers, the charity will seek to be evenhanded between current and future beneficiaries and to maintain the balance of the unapplied total return at an appropriate level considering the volatility of investment markets.

The restricted funds are monies raised for, and their use restricted to, a specific purpose, or donations subject to donor-imposed conditions.

The unrestricted funds comprise funds designated for specific purposes by the trustees (and under Scheme direction), and the general fund which represents the working capital required for the efficient running of the Trust’s activities.

e Income

Donations and the £5 fee for life membership of St Luke’s are credited to the statement of financial activities in the year in which they are received. Distributions from investments are credited to income on the dates on which the holdings are first quoted ex dividend. Grants received as income from charitable activities are credited to income when they are receivable, unless they are for activities that relate to a specific future period, in which case they are deferred to that period. All other income is accounted for on an accruals basis. The value of goods donated for use by the charity, such as foodstuffs for redistribution, is not recognised in the accounts due to the impracticality of reliably measuring their fair value.

f Expenditure and irrecoverable VAT

Expenditure, and the recognition of a liability, is included in the statement of financial activities when incurred and includes any attributable VAT which cannot be recovered.

Expenditure is classified as follows:

Expenditure on raising funds comprises the fees charged by the investment managers and expenditure of St Luke's Trading Limited, the wholly owned trading subsidiary.

Expenditure on charitable activities comprises costs of the community centre, community services and grants and pensions to individuals. Associated support costs are included (note 7).

g Allocation of support costs

Support costs are those functions that assist the work of the charity but do not directly undertake charitable activities. Support costs include the cost of the Chief Executive, Director of Services, Executive Assistant and Finance Staff as well as governance and general office costs. Support costs relating to Charitable Activities have been apportioned based on staff time expended. The allocation of support costs is analysed in note 7.

St Luke's Parochial Trust Notes to the accounts For the year ended 31 December 2023

1 Accounting policies (continued)

h Provision of space

The Trust does not include in the accounts the value of community room space donated to other organisations delivering their services to local residents.

i Volunteers and placement students

The Trust does not show in the accounts the value of the time volunteers and Placement Students give to community services.

j Staff pension commitments

Under the definition set out in Financial Reporting Standard 102, the Cripplegate Foundation Pension and Assurance Scheme was a multi-employer, defined benefit plan. In 2023 a buyout of the Scheme was completed and any scheme deficit ceased being a liability of the Trust. In previous years the Trust was unable to identify its share of the underlying assets and liabilities of the scheme on a reasonable and consistent basis and so, in compliance with FRS 102, was accounted for as if it were a defined contribution plan. The liability arising from St Luke's payments under a ten year recovery plan to fund the scheme deficit was reported in full in the accounts.

k Fixed assets - property, equipment and vehicles

Fixed assets are included at cost. All assets costing more than £5,000 and with an expected useful life exceeding one year are capitalised. Depreciation has been calculated on a straight-line basis on cost in order to write off each asset over its estimated useful life which is shown below.

--	Freehold buildings	50 years
--	Leasehold property	50 years
--	Fixtures, fittings and equipment	3-10 years
--	Minibus	5 years

Freehold land is not depreciated.

Depreciation is charged on building works from the date of completion, being the point at which they are fully available for use.

l Fixed asset investments

Freely tradable investment assets are included on the balance sheet at their market value at the end of the financial period. Unrealised gains and losses are credited, or debited, to the statement of financial activities in the year in which they arise.

The trustees adopted total return accounting for investments on 1 January 2020. From that date unrestricted and endowment funds have been held in separate portfolios with investment managers’ fees and revaluation gains being attributed directly to the relevant funds.

m Debtors

Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due after any trade discount offered. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid net of any trade discounts due.

n Creditors and provisions

Creditors and provisions are recognised where the charity has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts due.

St Luke's Parochial Trust Notes to the accounts For the year ended 31 December 2023

2 Income from donations and legacies

£ 42,686 Unrestricted	£ 12,502 Restricted	2023 Total £ 55,188	2022 Total £ 37,900
42,686	12,502	55,188	37,900
36,530	1,370	2023 Total £ 20,000	2022 Total £ 20,000
Unrestricted £ 20,000	£ - Restricted
20,000	-	20,000	20,000
20,000	-	70,424 52,252 92,166 530 32,500 36,000 24,693 10,000	54,798 14,400 119,500 419 40,846 5,271 13,776 21,000
20,424 32 44,166 530 2,500 - - 10,000	50,000 52,220 48,000 - 30,000 36,000 24,693 -
77,652	240,913	318,565	270,010
73,560	196,450
97,652	240,913	338,565	290,010
93,560	196,450

St Luke's Parochial Trust Notes to the accounts For the year ended 31 December 2023

4 Income from other trading activities

Income from other trading activities
St Luke's Trading Limited Total income from other trading activities Total income from other trading activities 2022	Unrestricted £ 553,466	£ - Restricted	2023 Total £ 553,466	2022 Total £ 487,006
	553,466	-	553,466	487,006
	487,006	-

St Luke's Trading Limited (a company limited by share capital, company no. 9358692 (England and Wales) is a wholly owned subsidiary of St Luke’s Trustee Limited (the sole corporate trustee of St Luke’s Parochial Trust). As such it constitutes a wholly owned subsidiary of St Luke's Parochial Trust and pays all of its taxable profits to the Trust under a deed of covenant. The company's activities comprise those operations of a trading nature which relate to catering, rental, room and other facility hire at St Luke’s Community Centre. The summary financial performance of the subsidiary company is:

Unrestricted £ 176,342	Endowment £ 396,238	2023 £ 553,466 (22,605)	2022 £ 487,006 (46,050)
		530,861 (465,659)	440,956 (367,935)
		65,202 (65,202)	73,021 (73,021)
		-	-
		275,811 (275,810)	168,218 (168,217)
		1	1
		1	1
		2023 Total £ 572,580	2022 Total £ 344,575
176,342	396,238	572,580	344,575
114,192	230,383

5 Income from investments

St Luke's Parochial Trust Notes to the accounts For the year ended 31 December 2023

6 Analysis of expenditure

Cost of raising funds	Cost of raising funds		Charitable activities	Charitable activities		Other	2023 Total £ 1,513,085 45,035 23,869 120,066 61,857 71,178 320,762 165,129 89,798 13,934 4,261 61,583 306,054	2022 Total £ 1,300,542 31,283 28,241 119,938 40,108 75,991 228,681 160,870 85,905 16,792 2,378 67,064 -
St Luke's Trading Ltd £ 340,178 253 - - - 2,575 119,074 - 22,605 3,579 - - -	Investments and Fundraising £ 50,139 - - - - - - - - - - 61,583 -	Community Centre £ 129,577 252 1,043 5,699 32 12,143 177,160 159,143 - - - - -	Community services £ 593,751 17,503 437 74,271 61,825 42 788 5,986 67,193 - - - -	Governance costs £ - - - - - - - - - 10,355 4,261 - -	Support costs £ 399,440 27,027 22,389 40,096 - 56,418 23,740 - - - - - -	Pension buy-out £ - - - - - - - - - - - - 306,054
488,264 - -	111,722 - -	485,049 277,285 21,770	821,796 262,901 21,770	14,616 28,924 (43,540)	569,110 (569,110) -	306,054 -	2,796,611 - -	2,157,793 - -
488,264	111,722	784,104	1,106,467	-	-	306,054	2,796,611	2,157,793
413,985 - -	69,779 - 45,246	712,957 2,187 -	671,076 242,563 -	Total 1,867,797 244,750 45,246
413,985	115,025	715,144	913,639	2,157,793

St Luke's Parochial Trust Notes to the accounts For the year ended 31 December 2023

7 Net (expenditure) income before net gains or losses on investments

This is stated after charging	2023	2022
	£	£
Depreciation	165,129	160,870
Loss (profit) on disposal of fixed assets	152	-
Operating lease rentals:
Equipment	748	374
Auditor's remuneration:
Audit fees
Current year	16,000	15,419
(Over) under provision in previous year	(3,161)	-
Other	1,095	1,373

8 Analysis of staff costs, trustee remuneration and expenses, and the cost of key management personnel

Staff costs were as follows: Salaries and wages Social security costs Employer’s contribution to defined contribution pension schemes Redundancy and termination costs Life assurance Agency costs	2023 £ 1,265,731 115,405 77,858 29,066 25,025	2022 £ 1,117,205 95,524 72,718 - 15,095
	1,513,085 45,035	1,300,542 31,283
	1,558,120	1,331,825

The following number of employees received employee benefits (excluding employer pension) during the year between:

£60,000 - £69,999 £80,000 - £89,999 £90,000 - £99,999	2023 No. 2 - 1	2022 No. 2 1 -

The total employee benefits including employers' national insurance and pension contributions of the key management personnel were £269,758 (2022: £263,967).

The charity trustees were not paid and did not receive any other benefits from employment with the Trust or its subsidiary in the year (2022: £nil). No charity trustees received payment for professional or other services supplied to the charity (2022: £nil) and none were reimbursed expenses during the year (2022: £nil).

Professional Indemnity insurance was taken out, at a cost of £1,433 (2022: £1,898), to protect the Trust from loss arising from claims made against it by reason of any negligent act, error or omission committed by the charity, its employees or any other person, firm or company director appointed by and acting on behalf of the charity. It includes Executive Liability, providing cover for Trustees. The limit of indemnity is £1,000,000 per claim.

Staff numbers

The average number of employees (head count based on number of staff employed) during the year was 47 (2022: 43).

St Luke's Parochial Trust Notes to the accounts For the year ended 31 December 2023

Freehold land and buildings £ 6,598,632 - (200)	Leasehold £ 280,303 - -	Fixtures, fittings and equipment £ 184,484 53,490 (11,577)	Motor vehicles £ 29,930 - -	Total £ 7,093,349 53,490 (11,777)
6,598,432	280,303	226,397	29,930	7,135,062
2,138,517 131,973 (48)	35,505 5,606 -	99,310 21,564 (11,577)	23,944 5,986 -	2,297,276 165,129 (11,625)
2,270,442	41,111	109,297	29,930	2,450,780
4,327,990	239,192	117,100	-	4,684,282
4,460,115	244,798	85,174	5,986	4,796,073

The freehold buildings consist of the St Luke’s site at 90 Central Street, London EC1. Freehold land and buildings are shown at cost.

The leasehold asset is a 150 year leasehold on a unit adjacent to the community centre completed in October 2016.

All tangible fixed assets are used for charitable purposes.

St Luke's Parochial Trust Notes to the accounts For the year ended 31 December 2023

10 Fixed asset investments

Fixed asset investments	Fixed asset investments	Fixed asset investments	Fixed asset investments	Fixed asset investments
2023 2022 2023 2022 £ £ £ £ Listed investments (note a) 19,857,222 21,045,252 19,857,222 21,045,252 Social investment (note b) 50,000 50,000 50,000 50,000 Investment in subsidiary company (note c) - - 1 1 19,907,222 21,095,252 19,907,223 21,095,253 a Listed investments Unrestricted Endowment 2023 2022 £ £ £ £ Analysis of movement of investments Opening market value at start of year 6,553,555 13,257,199 19,810,754 24,595,083 Additions at cost 3,836,432 10,099,303 13,935,735 2,471,525 Disposals at market value (5,183,532) (9,992,144) (15,175,676) (3,571,215) Realised (losses) (10,280) (35,643) (45,923) (545,600) Unrealised gains (losses) 165,872 431,788 597,660 (3,139,039) 5,362,047 13,760,503 19,122,550 19,810,754 Cash instruments and cash held for reinvestment 188,052 546,620 734,672 1,234,498 5,550,099 14,307,123 19,857,222 21,045,252 Historical cost 17,954,375 18,530,291 Unrestricted Endowment 2023 2022 £ £ £ £ Opening balance 265,888 968,610 1,234,498 893,851 Net (withdrawals) additions (58,580) (379,284) (437,864) 408,756 Investment management fees (19,256) (42,706) (61,962) (68,109) 188,052 546,620 734,672 1,234,498 Group Movement in cash instruments and cash held for reinvestment The investments comprise eighteen UK mutual funds and five UK exchange traded funds (2022: twenty-six UK mutual funds and one UK exchange traded fund). Charity
	188,052	546,620	734,672	1,234,498

b Social investment

On 26 September 2018 the charity invested £50,000 in the London Capital Credit Union (LCCU) in the form of a 10 year interest free loan. The loan was made in order to support the work of LCCU in providing affordable finance to financially disadvantaged people .

c Investment in subsidiary company

The charity beneficially owns the entire share capital, being 1 share of £1, of St Luke's Trading Limited, its trading subsidiary. The holding was acquired on incorporation of the company on 17 December 2014. Relevant financial information regarding St Luke's Trading Limited is summarised in note 4.

St Luke's Parochial Trust Notes to the accounts For the year ended 31 December 2023

11 Permanent endowment fund

Core endowment £ 12,518,355 - - - -	Unapplied total return £ 1,769,567 396,238 (35,643) 431,788 (42,661)	2023 £ 14,287,922 396,238 (35,643) 431,788 (42,661)	2022 £ 17,161,674 230,383 (356,425) (2,097,464) (45,246)
- - 492,074	749,722 (660,000) (492,074)	749,722 (660,000) -	(2,268,752) (605,000) -
492,074	(402,352)	89,722	(2,873,752)
13,010,429	1,367,215	14,377,644	14,287,922
13,010,429 -	1,296,694 70,521	14,307,123 70,521	14,225,809 62,113
13,010,429	1,367,215	14,377,644	14,287,922

The trustees adopted total return accounting for the permanent endowment from 1 January 2020. The core endowment element represents the best estimate of the real value of the original endowment, based on a valuation of £8.294m on 31 December 2008 uplifted in line with subsequent increases in the Consumer Price Index. In 2023 a transfer of £492,074 was made from the unapplied total return to the core endowment to maintain its real value (2022: £1,190,818)

£660,000 was transferred to general funds from the unapplied total return in the year (2022: £605,000).

St Luke's Parochial Trust Notes to the accounts For the year ended 31 December 2023

12 Debtors

Trade debtors Prepayments and accrued income Other debtors Amount owed by trading subsidiary	2023 2022 £ £ 159,983 103,445 126,674 106,871 7,770 15,554 - - 294,427 225,870 Group	2023 2022 £ £ 1,267 28,814 126,674 106,871 2,215 15,554 195,918 72,680 326,074 223,919 Charity	2023 2022 £ £ 1,267 28,814 126,674 106,871 2,215 15,554 195,918 72,680 326,074 223,919 Charity
	294,427	326,074	223,919

13 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

Trade creditors Taxation and social security Accruals and deferred income Other creditors	2023 2022 £ £ 81,429 85,066 31,776 28,697 176,781 156,912 13,300 38,518 303,286 309,193 Group	2023 2022 £ £ 69,504 71,627 31,776 28,697 95,312 73,441 72,658 73,731 269,250 247,496 Charity	2023 2022 £ £ 69,504 71,627 31,776 28,697 95,312 73,441 72,658 73,731 269,250 247,496 Charity
	303,286	269,250	247,496

14 Taxation

The charitable company is exempt from corporation tax as all its income is charitable and is applied for charitable purposes.

St Luke's Parochial Trust Notes to the accounts For the year ended 31 December 2023

15 Pension scheme

The Trust participates in the Cripplegate Foundation Pension and Assurance Scheme (the “Scheme”), a pension scheme providing defined benefits based on final pay. The Scheme was closed to future accrual in 2006. The assets of the Scheme are held separately from those of the employers participating in the Scheme, and are invested in exempt investment funds. The Trustee of the Scheme is required to act in the best interest of the Scheme’s beneficiaries.

The Scheme is a non-segregated multi-employer scheme. The assets are comingled for investment purposes and the benefits are paid out of total Scheme assets.

The Trustee of the Scheme commissions a formal funding assessment every three years. The main purpose of this funding assessment is to determine the financial position of the Scheme in order to assess the level of future contributions required, so that the Scheme can meet its pension obligations as they fall due.

The most recent tri-annual funding assessment was carried out as at 5 April 2020 for the Trustee of the Scheme by a qualified independent actuary. As at that date, the fair value of the Scheme’s assets was £10.7m and the present value of funded obligations was £12.6m giving a deficit for the Scheme as a whole of £1.9m as at 5 April 2020. The next funding assessment was due as at 5 April 2023 but was put on hold due to the purchase of a buy-in policy, as mentioned below. Until purchase of the buy-out policy the different employers’ share of the underlying assets and liabilities could not be identified on a consistent and reasonable basis. In compliance with FRS 102 the assets and liabilities were not included as part of St Luke’s Parochial Trust’s accounts.

On 10 July 2023, the Trustee secured all members’ benefits by the purchase of a buy-in policy with Just Group plc. The policy is currently held under the name of the Trustee and will meet future pension benefits of members. The participating employers made a combined cash payment of £1,818,000 to the Scheme to enable the Trustee to meet the cost of purchasing the policy. St Luke’s share of those costs was £614,334. The sum in excess of the existing liability has been charged in full to the Statement of Financial Activities. The policy is expected to be converted into a buy-out policy in 2024 with individual pension policies issued to members, after which the Scheme would wind up.

16 Analysis of group net assets between funds

a Current year

a Current year
Tangible fixed assets Investments Cash at bank and in hand Net current (liabilities) assets Net assets at the end of the year	General funds £ - 1,566,777 339,741 (79,380)	Designated funds £ 4,684,282 4,033,322 - -	Restricted funds £ - - 37,495 -	Endowment funds £ - 14,307,123 - 70,521	Total funds £ 4,684,282 19,907,222 377,236 (8,859)
	1,827,138	8,717,604	37,495	14,377,644	24,959,881

b Prior year

Tangible fixed assets Investments Cash at bank and in hand Net current (liabilities) assets Defined benefit pension liability Net assets at the end of the year	General £ - 2,643,413 278,546 (145,436) (454,740)	Designated £ 4,796,073 4,226,030 - - -	Restricted £ - - 53,148 - -	Endowment £ - 14,225,809 - 62,113 -	Total £ 4,796,073 21,095,252 331,694 (83,323) (454,740)
	2,321,783	9,022,103	53,148	14,287,922	25,684,956

St Luke's Parochial Trust Notes to the accounts For the year ended 31 December 2023

17 Unrealised gains

The total unrealised gains (losses) as at 31 December 2023 and included in note 10 constitutes movements on revaluation and are as follows:

Unrealised gains included above: On investments Total unrealised gains at 31 December Reconciliation of movements in unrealised gains (losses) Unrealised gains at 1 January Less: in respect to disposals in the year Add: net gains (losses) arising on revaluation arising in the year Total unrealised gains at 31 December	2023 £ 1,168,175	2022 £ 1,280,463
	1,168,175	1,280,463
	1,280,463 (709,948)	6,047,835 (1,628,333)
	570,515 597,660	4,419,502 (3,139,039)
	1,168,175	1,280,463

St Luke's Parochial Trust Notes to the accounts

For the year ended 31 December 2023

18 Movements in funds

18 a Movements in funds (current year)

Permanent Endowment Restricted funds Community Centre Community Services Over 55s services Meals and food hub Lunch service Food hub National Lottery Community Fund Other Community engagement activities Business Engagement Business Engagement team Firm Futures Cookery School Welfare grants Total restricted funds	Balance at 1 Jan 2023 £ 14,287,922	Incoming resources £ 396,238	Resources expended £ (42,661)	Transfers £ (660,000)	Gains and losses £ 396,145	Balance at 31 Dec 2023 £ 14,377,644
	- 8,750 - - - 7,245 11,689 16,321 - 9,143	2,400 50,000 19,400 27,820 13,902 31,200 48,000 - 36,000 24,693	(2,400) (46,250) (19,400) (27,820) (12,323) (38,445) (49,306) (12,357) (36,000) (24,767)	- - - - - - - - - -	- - - - - - - - - -	- 12,500 - - 1,579 - 10,383 3,964 - 9,069
	53,148	253,415	(269,068)	-	-	37,495

St Luke's Parochial Trust Notes to the accounts For the year ended 31 December 2023

18 a Movements in funds (current year, continued)

Balance at 1 Jan 2023 £ 4,796,073	Incoming resources £ -	Resources expended £ (165,281)	Transfers £ 53,490	Gains and losses £ -	Balance at 31 Dec 2023 £ 4,684,282
1,189,775 796,461 1,964,000 275,794	- - - -	(51,147) (3,433) - (68,000)	38,899 (10,827) (98,200) -	- - - -	1,177,527 782,201 1,865,800 207,794
4,226,030	-	(122,580)	(70,128)	-	4,033,322
2,321,783 -	316,680 553,466	(1,643,555) (553,466)	676,638 -	155,592 -	1,827,138 -
2,321,783	870,146	(2,197,021)	676,638	155,592	1,827,138
11,343,886	870,146	(2,484,882)	660,000	155,592	10,544,742
25,684,956	1,519,799	(2,796,611)	-	551,737	24,959,881

Purpose of endowment funds

The endowment fund represents endowments made to the fund since its inception together with the unapplied total return on those funds. The endowments were permanent endowments and their core value is to be retained indefinitely in the fund. The unapplied total return comprises income and gains generated by investment of the funds that the trustees have chosen to retain in the fund. A transfer of £660,000 was made from the unapplied total return to general funds to provide working capital for St Luke's charitable activities (2022: £605,000).

St Luke's Parochial Trust Notes to the accounts

For the year ended 31 December 2023

18 a Movements in funds (current year, continued)

Purpose of restricted funds

Over 55s services

Grants from Cloudesley and the Dulwich Almshouse Charity to support over 55s services and activities.

Community Centre

A grant from the Greater London Authority for a feasibility study for the installation of a heat pump system to replace gas boilers. Lunch service

Grants from the London Borough of Islington and St Sepulchre United Charities to provide a daily lunch club service for people over 55 years of age.

Food hub

Donations and grants from supporters, including from the Community Organisations Cost of Living Fund delivered by The National Lottery Community Fund, Derwent London Community Fund, London Borough of Islington and Islington Giving to provide food for households living in poverty in the area.

Community engagement activities

Donations and grants from London Borough of Islington to fund activities under SLPT's community engagement initiatives. Business Engagement team

Donations from Hogan Lovell LLP and Slaughter and May to support the work of the Business Engagement Team.

Firm Futures

A grant from Slaughter and May to support budding local entrepreneurs through bursaries.

Cookery school

A grant from the London Borough of Islington to fund the community cookery programme. Welfare grants

A grant from Cloudesley and Islington Giving to provide welfare grants to Islington residents.

Purpose of designated funds

Funds have been designated for specific purposes by the trustees and under Scheme direction. The purpose of each fund is detailed in the Reserves Policy section of the Trustees' Report.

St Luke's Parochial Trust Notes to the accounts For the year ended 31 December 2023

18 b Movements in funds (prior year)

Permanent Endowment Restricted funds Community Services Over 55s services Meals and food hub Lunch service Food hub Community engagement Wellbeing hub Activities Women's activities Business Engagement Business Engagement team Business Engagement hub Firm Futures Cookery School Horticulture/Gardening Community gardening Engaging gardens for residents and children Welfare grants Total restricted funds	Balance at 1 Jan 2022 £ 17,161,674	Incoming resources £ 230,383	Resources expended £ (45,246)	Transfers £ (605,000)	Gains and losses £ (2,453,889)	Balance at 31 Dec 2022 £ 14,287,922
	7,500 - 3,172 17,500 - 580 8,332 4,315 9,000 - 17,500 31,317 862	52,500 14,400 500 - 37,774 - 53,870 - 20,000 5,000 - - 13,776	(51,250) (14,400) (3,672) (17,500) (30,529) (580) (52,202) (2,626) (12,679) (5,000) (17,500) (31,317) (5,495)	- - - - - - - - - - - - -	- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -	8,750 - - - 7,245 - 10,000 1,689 16,321 - - - 9,143
	100,078	197,820	(244,750)	-	-	53,148

St Luke's Parochial Trust Notes to the accounts

For the year ended 31 December 2023

18 b Movements in funds (prior year, continued)

Balance at 1 Jan 2022 £ 4,940,598	Incoming resources £ -	Resources expended £ (185,046)	Transfers £ 40,521	Gains and losses £ -	Balance at 31 Dec 2022 £ 4,796,073
1,184,817 771,000 1,964,000 343,794	- - - -	(32,435) (4,775) - (68,000)	37,393 30,236 - -	- - - -	1,189,775 796,461 1,964,000 275,794
4,263,611	-	(105,210)	67,629	-	4,226,030
3,901,936 -	244,282 487,006	(1,090,535) (487,006)	496,850 -	(1,230,750) -	2,321,783 -
3,901,936	731,288	(1,577,541)	496,850	(1,230,750)	2,321,783
13,106,145	731,288	(1,867,797)	605,000	(1,230,750)	11,343,886
30,367,897	1,159,491	(2,157,793)	-	(3,684,639)	25,684,956

St Luke's Parochial Trust Notes to the accounts For the year ended 31 December 2023

19 Reconciliation of net movement in funds to net cash flow from operating activities

Net movement in funds Depreciation Interest, rent and dividends from investments Gains on investments Loss on the disposal of fixed assets (Increase)/decrease in debtors (Decrease) in creditors Net cash (used in)/provided by operating activities	2023 £ (725,075) 165,129 (572,580) (551,737) 152 (68,557) (460,647)	2022 £ (4,682,941) 160,870 (344,575) 3,684,639 24,176 (87,905) (93,539)
	(2,213,315)	(1,339,275)

20 Analysis of cash and cash equivalents

Cash at bank and in hand Cash held by investment managers Total cash and cash equivalents	2023 £ 377,236 734,672	2022 £ 331,694 1,234,498
	1,111,908	1,566,192

21 Operating lease commitments

Total future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases for each of the following periods are as follows:

Less than 1 year 1 - 5 years	2023 2022 £ £ 748 748 561 1,309 1,309 2,057 Equipment	2023 2022 £ £ 748 748 561 1,309 1,309 2,057 Equipment
	1,309	2,057

22 Connected charities

St Luke’s Parochial Trust is governed by a sole corporate Trustee - St Luke’s Trustee Limited (Reg Charity 1141334). The Directors of the latter are the Board of Trustees and governing body of this charity.

St Luke’s Parochial Trust has nomination rights to appoint 1 trustee to the Dulwich Almshouse Charity, which gave grants totalling £6,000 to the charity during the year (2022: £9,000).

St Luke's Parochial Trust Notes to the accounts For the year ended 31 December 2023

23 Related party transactions

Don Kehoe is a trustee of St Luke's Parochial Trust and a director of London Capital Credit Union.

St Luke's holds investments totalling £50,877 in the London Capital Credit Union as follows:

Corporate share account: £877 is held in a corporate share account. No withdrawals or deposits were made in 2023 (2022: none).

Concessionary loan: £50,000 is held as a social investment in the form of a 10 year, interest free concessionary loan to support the provision of affordable finance to the financially disadvantaged. The loan matures on 27 September 2028.

Crispin Rapinet was, and Michael Davison is, a trustee of St Luke's Parochial Trust and a partner at Hogan Lovells.

Hogan Lovells donated £18,000 and provided volunteer support to the charity during the year (2022: £18,000).

Valerie Bossman-Quarshie, Rosaline Ogunro and Ruth Hayes are London Borough of Islington (LBI) councillors and were trustees of St Luke's Parochial Trust in 2023. Ray O’Halloran is also a trustee of St Luke's Parochial Trust and is married to the executive member of Islington Council responsible for the Voluntary and Community Services (VCS) Team.

St Luke’s received grant and contract income from LBI totalling £155,606 during the year (2022: £77,519).

EMPLOYEES (at date of publication)

Fiker Anliey (User engagement co-ordinator) Paul Bambury (Deputy Director of Operations) Zuhre Bektas (Chef) Deniz Bellikli (Reception Manager) Mahmuda Begum (Kitchen Assistant) Jose Bucho (Kitchen Assistant) Lisa Burrell (Senior Communications Manager) Kelley Byrne (Receptionist) Cathy Carpenter (Deputy Director of Services) Sarah Caldwell-Watson (Business engagement co-ordinator) Rufus Clarke (community organiser/driver) Aissata Fofana (Finance Assistant) Ella Frampton (Activities & events co-ordinator) John Garces (Business Engagement Manager) Alan Gorringe (Finance Manager) Hardip Kaur (Community Organiser) Joanne King (Services’ Manager) Thomas Lans (Director of Operations) Louie Mears (Communications Officer) Carol-Ann McArdle (Community Engagement Manager) Jose Mendes (Kitchen Assistant) Tsedal Menghistu (Health and Wellbeing Manager) Maurizio Morelli (Catering Manager) James Morley (Facilities’ Assistant) Daniel Nitzani (Facilities’ Assistant) Regis Nwofa (Facilities’ Manager) Luke Polie (Facilities’ Assistant) Graham Reeves (Older Men’s Development Officer) Michael Ryan (Chief Executive) Scarlett Silva (Food Hub Assistant) Nezahat Simsek (Chef) Sharon Simpson (Services’ Administrator) Jane Spong (Business Engagement Officer) Katherine Ulloa (Finance Assistant) Alberto Varela (Kitchen Assistant) Sarah Verrinder (Executive Assistant) Ying Wang (Finance Assistant) Aziz Watili (Chef) Agnieszka Wcislo (Community Chef) Alexis White (Community Engagement Officer) Keren Wiltshire (Director of Services) Alan Wong (Kitchen assistant)

THANK YOU

During the course of any year St Luke’s receives the support of hundreds of volunteers who donate their time freely. They may be local residents or people working for businesses based nearby. We also receive a wide range of generous grants and donations, ranging from gifts of food products for the cookery school and furniture to use in the centre, to sums of money, both small and large. We are grateful to the following organisations in particular for all their help in 2023.

Allford, Hall, Monaghan, Morris Architects Allianz Global Investors Age UK Islington B Consultancy Berkeley Homes Britannia Pub British Museum Brown Dog Trust Bunhill Heritage Project Cheapside Business Alliance City & Islington College City Harvest City Law School City University Clermont Hotel Management Ltd Cloudesley CMS Law Cripplegate Foundation Derwent London Dulwich Almshouses Charities East London Business Alliance (ELBA) Felix Project Henry Smith Charity Higgins Partnerships HIT Training Hogan Lovells LLP

Islington Food Partnership Islington Local History Centre Islington People’s Rights J Coffey Construction Kreston Reeves Laing O’Rourke Linklaters LLP London Borough of Islington Mace Group Bishopsgate Team McCormacks Law Nuffield Health Barbican Octopus Community Network Old Street District Partnership Procure Plus Holdings Ltd Quaker Social Action RGA UK Services Limited Sadler’s Wells Theatre Slaughter and May Smart Works Spacecraft St Paul’s Cathedral St Sepulchre (Finsbury) United Charities The Peel Institute The Worrall and Fuller Exhibition Fund Thirty Three Westway Trust