REGISTERED CHARITY NO. 221220
## **THE SWANSEA CENTRE FOR DEAF PEOPLE**
**REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025**
## **THE SWANSEA CENTRE FOR DEAF PEOPLE**
## **CONTENTS**
||**PAGE**|
|---|---|
|Officers and Professional Advisers|1|
|Report of the Trustees|2-6|
|Independent Examiners Report|7|
|Summary Receipts and Payments|8|
|Schedule to Receipts and Payments Account|9|
|Statement of Assets and Liabilities|10-11|
## **THE SWANSEA CENTRE FOR DEAF PEOPLE**
## **OFFICERS AND PROFESSIONAL ADVISERS**
**FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025**
CHARITY NUMBER 221220 PRINCIPAL OFFICE Ground Floor, Cardigan House Castle Court Swansea Enterprise Park Swansea SA7 9LA TRUSTEES Timothy N Douglas-Jones Sara Jenkins John Aylward Paul Lewis June Talbot
INDEPENDENT Bevan Buckland Ltd EXAMINER Chartered Accountants Ground Floor, Cardigan House Castle Court Swansea Enterprise Park Swansea SA7 9LA
## **APPOINTMENT OF TRUSTEES**
The Swansea Centre for Deaf People is constituted by Trust Deed.
New trustees are appointed by the Board of Management and ratified at Annual General Meeting.
1
**THE SWANSEA CENTRE FOR DEAF PEOPLE**
## **REPORT OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES**
## **FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025**
The trustees have pleasure in presenting their annual report together with financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2025.
The financial statements have been prepared on a receipts and payments basis and in accordance with the charity’s governing document, applicable law and the requirements of 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[st] January 2019).
## **REGISTERED NAME**
The name of the charity registered at the Charities Commission is The Swansea Centre for Deaf People.
## **PRINCIPAL ACTIVITY**
The aim of the charity is to provide a welfare, social and religious centre for deaf people.
## **ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE**
The charity is managed by a management committee that meets on an approximately six weekly basis and the day-to-day management has been carried out by a part time Building Development and Project Manager. The social structure is managed by the deaf members.
## **CHAIRMAN’S FOREWORD AND REVIEW OF ACTIVITIES**
Swansea Centre for Deaf people has been in existence in one guise or another for well over 100 years. The principal objects are to provide facilities to benefit the deaf community.
The trustees are very pleased to report the continuing success of the centre in that, it has been providing many wonderful services to deaf people and their families, and those with associated difficulties. However, for as long as I have been chairman, I have stated in annual my report that our funding is finite, and that the situation has been becoming increasingly critical. No institution can run without funding, as expenses come at us from every point of the compass.
It is my understanding that recently as many as twenty-two deaf centres have been forced to close.
At present, our sole source of external funding is from Kickstart which provides the salaries of the kitchen staff, and for some, but not all, food and craft materials. This is very welcome, but unfortunately this funding only covers the salaries of 3 out of our 7 part-time staff. Furthermore, this Kickstart grant is terminating in March 2027.
2
**THE SWANSEA CENTRE FOR DEAF PEOPLE**
## **REPORT OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES**
## **FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025 – CONTINUED**
We have no certainty of any funds to replace this.
- Our very able friend, Peter Bryant, has applied to the Lottery for a grant of £50,000, which, if successful, would yield £20,000 this year, £20,000 in 2027, and £10,000 in 2028.
- There is a possibility that we will be given two instalments of £15,000 each by Ennismoore, which is a registered charity; but this advance will be conditional upon the sale of the campsite at Mary Twill Lane.
- We have applied for £2,000 for what is called a “summer hub” grant from the local authority, which is for the purpose of providing shelter and warmth for the needy this summer.
Our reserves have been reducing and are now reduced to practically nothing. Whereas our expenditure is in excess of £130,000 a year, unfortunately the income that we have managed to generate (both from external grant funding and contractual funding for services supplied) is not much more than £85,000, with the prospect of the Kick Start funding expiring in less than a year.
As I have been predicting for more than twenty years, our organisation was always operating at a loss and sooner or later we would run out of assets/cash. This event was about to take place in May 2026 and as a result, I convened a special meeting of the Board of Management.
It had become starkly clear that either we closed the doors of the centre, or we had to realise our very valuable but much under-utilised asset, namely the camp site at Mary Twill Lane SA3. After a distressing meeting which lasted over two hours the Board (which consists of representatives of both adult and child deaf groups as well as disinterested, but professionally qualified, members) acknowledged the inevitability of the situation and the decision to sell the field was taken unanimously.
I have immediately engaged a firm of architects to carry out an arboreal survey, a topographical survey and the prepare plans for the construction of three executive dwelling houses. It is anticipated that the grant of planning would immediately place a value upon the field possibly in excess of £1.4m.
We had been trying to hold out for the expiration of a forty-year clawback (of 30% of the net proceeds of sale) in favour of the Glyn Vivian beneficiaries. However, this does not expire for another ten years, and we cannot afford to delay any more.
There remains therefore a critical deficit (at least pending the sale of the campsite), despite the income from those who are using the facilities.
In response to this:
- We are going to increase the rent to the Polish school.
- The Young at Heart group will be paying more, although they already contribute money from their raffle, their café and bonus ball once a month.
- We currently continue to run British BSL classes. And we have a new batch starting in September. This will provide £10,000 per annum from Powis Council, and it will be paid at the rate of £916 monthly.
- As from September of this year, nobody will be able to use our centre for free.
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**THE SWANSEA CENTRE FOR DEAF PEOPLE**
## **REPORT OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES**
## **FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025 – CONTINUED**
The umbrella charity SCFPD has facilitated an increasing number of projects. These have materialised as a result of the provision of the facilities themselves, combined with huge enthusiasm, vision, and hard work from our dedicated staff, and those running the satellite organisations, which flourish under our banner. We continue to make good progress, but we are very troubled by the inability to match our income to our outgoings, and it is right to say that we are in a critical position.
In the last year that we have carried out the following improvements:
- we have had the front walls waterproofed,
- general maintenance,
- repair to the boiler,
- tackling of leaks,
- replacement of lights,
- the urinal now has a push button, which hopefully will save water rates.
The Board of Management remains concerned that we must preserve our limited assets in perpetuity for future generations, and although we have husbanded our limited capital with great care and endeavour, we are now at a critical point.
At present, the groups who occupy our building provide preschool groups to offer support, sign language courses, social networking, social activities, as well as trips, and we are a meeting place for young mums who find themselves in a similar predicament, namely, with a deaf child/children without perfect hearing. We bring adolescent deaf people together, where they are taught many life skills, which the hearing community take for granted. Additionally, we provide facilities to the adult sports and social club so that they can meet up and socialise generally.
I have always stressed the need for potential benefactors to remember our charity, specifically, to ensure that funds remain local. Please bear this in mind, if you know anybody who has funds which might be usefully applied towards us.
I continue to hope that adult deaf people will actively volunteer their different life skills in order to help deaf children and adolescents in their transition from childhood into adulthood and help them to be prepared for this journey. The attendances at the centre continue to be strong.
Some of the regular bookings are as follows:
- Craft classes. Which provide some funding on Wednesdays and Thursdays.
- The Polish school on Saturdays during school term time
- BSL, Mondays, Wednesdays, Thursdays, in the evening, bringing in 20 to 50 people.
- Talking hands on Fridays at 6 PM to 8 PM. Usually involving about 10 families. Young at heart, involving 25 to 30 people on a Tuesday from 930 until 2 or 3 PM.
- Sports and Social
- Independent meetings occasionally.
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**THE SWANSEA CENTRE FOR DEAF PEOPLE**
## **REPORT OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES**
## **FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025 – CONTINUED**
I should like to thank our wonderful volunteers, and I particularly include in this number Peter Bryant because without them, we would be in great difficulty.
My thanks also extend to our wonderful staff, because although they are notionally part time, a number of them put in many more hours than those for which they are remunerated, and without this incredible support, we would be in difficulty. Helen of course remains the rock on which the whole organisation is built.
I remind everybody that our successes have brought about the King's Award for Voluntary Services (2024). We were the first organisation in Wales, and it is a wonderful achievement.
For the future, a men's shed is going to be set up, this will be for both sexes, and hopefully it will be to provide hobbies and life skills to the community.
We are actively in discussion to convert our registered charity into a charitable incorporated organisation, which will involve an update to the Constitution, and has certain advantages, because it limits the liability of the trustees and board of management to the assets of the association.
With particular thanks to our staff, volunteers, interpreters and especially at this very stressful time, our board of trustees.
## **RISK MANAGEMENT**
The trustees consider risk management on a regular basis and consider the need for:
- The establishment of systems and procedures to mitigate those risks identified; and
- The implementation of procedures designed to minimise any potential impact on the charity should those risks materialise.
## **FINANCIAL REVIEW**
The total receipts of £86,746 (2024: £102,750) were spent on direct charitable expenditure totalling £109,537 (2024: £95,591), fund raising expenses of £6,468 (2024: £4,046), publicity expenses of £6,468 (2024: £4,046), support and administration of £9,012 (2024: £7,324) and the purchase of fixed assets of £2,675 (2024: £2,519).
This resulted in a net excess of payments over receipts of £47,414 (2024: £10,776).
The general fund covers the receipts and payments of the charity in carrying out its role in respect of its objects.
Restricted funds represent the Kickstarter Project funded by the National Lottery Community Fund. At the end of the year a total of £17,131 (2024: £17,861) of the grant remained unspent.
All assets are held to achieve the objectives of the charity.
5
**THE SWANSEA CENTRE FOR DEAF PEOPLE**
## **REPORT OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES**
## **FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025 – CONTINUED**
## **RESERVES POLICY**
The trustees consider it prudent to maintain the reserves of the charity at a minimum of three months normal expenditure to ensure that unforeseen events will not prevent the charity continuing its activities. Based on the unrestricted expenditure in the year, the unrestricted reserves target is £26,608. At the end of 2025 the charity’s unrestricted reserves represented by its monetary assets were £15,141.
The trustees are committed to increasing reserves by:
- Increasing fees for facility users
- Continuing to apply for funding from various grant providers
- Selling land held (Mary Twill Lane SA3)
## **PUBLIC BENEFIT**
The charity provides a religious, welfare and social center for deaf people.
## **TRUSTEES**
The Trustees who held office during the year were as follows:
Timothy N Douglas Jones (Chair) Paul Lewis June Talbot Julia Terry (resigned October 2025) Sara Jenkins John Aylward
No trustee has any financial interest in the charity.
The charity is governed by its charitable rules and is restricted to carrying out activities within its charitable objectives.
By order of the Board:
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**INDEPENDENT EXAMINERS' REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES OF**
## **THE SWANSEA CENTRE FOR DEAF PEOPLE**
## **FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025**
I report on the accounts for the year ended 31 December 2025 set out on pages eight to eleven.
## **Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner**
The charity's trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The charity's trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year (under Section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act)) and that an independent examination is required.
It is my responsibility to:
- examine the accounts under Section 145 of the 2011 Act
- to follow the procedures laid down in the General Directions given by the Charity Commission (under Section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act); and
- to state whether particular matters have come to my attention.
## **Basis of the independent examiner's report**
My examination was carried out in accordance with the General Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts and seeking explanations from you as trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a 'true and fair view ' and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statements below.
## **Independent examiner's statement**
In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention:
- (1) which gives me reasonable cause to believe that, in any material respect, the requirements
- to keep accounting records in accordance with Section 130 of the 2011 Act; and
- to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and to comply with the accounting requirements of the 2011 Act
- have not been met; or
- (2) to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Michael Jones F. C. C. A Bevan Buckland Ltd Ground Floor, Cardigan House Castle Court Swansea Enterprise Park Swansea SA7 9LA
7
## **THE SWANSEA CENTRE FOR DEAF PEOPLE**
## **RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNT**
## **FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025**
|**GRANTS AND DONATIONS RECEIVED**
Donations
Warmer Hubs and Safer Places
Kickstart
**Total grants and donations**
**OTHER INCOME RECEIPTS**
Investment Income
Deposit Account Interest
FIT receipts
Cafe Takings
Sign Language Courses
Miscellaneous
Room Hire
Rent Received
**Total other income**
**TOTAL RECEIPTS**
**LESS: PAYMENTS**
Fundraising Expenses
Publicity Expenses
Support and Administration Expenses
Charitable Activity Expenses
**NET SURPLUS FOR THE YEAR**
**PURCHASE OF FIXED ASSETS**
Computer equipment
Fixtures and fittings
**NET CASH FLOW**
**Cash balances at 1 January 2025**
At bank and in hand
**Cash balances at 31 December 2025**
At bank and in hand|**2025**
**£**
**£**
**£**
**Unrestricted**
**Restricted**
**Total**
7,654
-
7,654
13,992
-
13,992
-
27,000
27,000
**21,646**
**27,000**
**48,646**
828
-
828
414
-
414
2,582
-
2,582
13,772
-
13,772
14,463
-
14,463
223
-
223
4,650
-
4,650
1,168
-
1,168
**38,100**
**-**
**38,100**
**59,746**
**27,000**
**86,746**|**2024**
**£**
**Total**
1,334
8,333
35,553|
|---|---|---|
|||**45,220**|
|||808
814
712
6,459
30,970
-
3,767
14,000|
|||**57,530**|
|||**102,750**|
||6,468
-
6,468
6,468
-
6,468
9,012
-
9,012
84,482
25,055
109,537
**106,430**
**25,055**
**131,485**
**(46,684)**
**1,945**
**(44,739)**
**-**
**576**
**576**
**-**
**2,099**
**2,099**
**-**
**2,675**
**2,675**
**(46,684)**
**(730)**
**(47,414)**
**61,825**
**17,861**
**79,686**
**15,141**
**17,131**
**32,272**|4,046
4,046
7,324
95,591|
|||**111,007**|
|||**(8,257)**
1,409
1,110|
|||**2,519**|
||||
|||**(10,776)**|
||||
|||**90,462**|
||||
|||**79,686**|
8
## **THE SWANSEA CENTRE FOR DEAF PEOPLE**
## **SCHEDULE TO RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNT**
## **FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2025**
|**FUNDRAISING EXPENSES**
Staff Salaries
Travel expenses
Stationery postage and telephone
**PUBLICITY EXPENSES**
Staff Salaries
Travel expenses
Stationery postage and telephone
**SUPPORT AND ADMINISTRATION EXPENSES**
Staff Salaries
Rates
Repairs and maintenance
Light, Heat and Water
Stationery postage and telephone
Insurances
Travel expenses
Cleaning
Miscellaneous
**CHARITABLE ACTIVITY EXPENSES**
Staff Salaries
Rates
Repairs and maintenance
Cafe Costs
Light, Heat and Water
Stationery postage and telephone
Insurances
Signing Interpreter
Travel expenses
Sign Language Courses
Cleaning
TV licence
Professional Fees
Audit Fees
Room Hire
First Aid courses
Volunteer Expenses|**2025**
**£**
6,389
-
79
6,468
6,389
-
79
6,468
6,389
122
491
1,433
79
418
-
80
-
9,012
44,723
1,098
4,419
7,387
12,899
553
3,758
373
-
28,202
724
753
-
960
1,582
606
1,350
109,537|**2024**
**£**
3,876
32
137|
|---|---|---|
|||4,046|
|||3,876
32
137|
|||4,046|
|||3,876
120
708
1,543
137
392
32
71
445|
|||7,324|
|||40,049
1,082
6,406
961
13,888
1,088
3,525
659
226
21,668
637
505
2,750
900
846
400
-
95,591|
9
## **THE SWANSEA CENTRE FOR DEAF PEOPLE**
## **STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES**
## **AS AT 31 DECEMBER 2025**
## **MONETARY ASSETS**
|**Bank and Cash Balances**
Bank Current Account – Lloyds Bank (Restricted)
Bank Current Account – Lloyds Bank (Unrestricted)
Bank Deposit Account – Lloyds Bank
Cash
**Debtors and Prepayments**
Insurance prepaid
**Liabilities**
**Accruals**:
Water
Classes
Room Hire
**Creditors**:
Trade creditors|**2025**
**£**
17,131
3,911
10,789
441
**32,272**
**£**
2,528
2,325
962
150
2,521|**2024**
**£**
17,861
57,438
4,134
252|
|---|---|---|
|||**79,686**|
|||**£**
2,438|
|||-
359
51
5,398|
10
**THE SWANSEA CENTRE FOR DEAF PEOPLE**
## **STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES**
## **AS AT 31 DECEMBER 2025**
## **NON-MONETARY ASSETS**
|**NON-MONETARY ASSETS**|||
|---|---|---|
|**Investments at Cost**
Old Mutual Income Fund
2,239 units
Prudential
1,250 5p shares
Murray International
1,300 Ord 25p shares
BT Group
595 5p Ord shares|**2025**
**£**
5,997
2,588
5,242
1,505
**15,332**|**2024**
**£**
5,997
2,588
5,242
1,505|
|||**15,332**|
The market value of these investments at 31 December 2025 was £178,471 (31 December 2024: £224,088).
|**Fixed Assets**
Furniture and Equipment Cost Estimated
Fixtures and Fittings Cost
Computer Equipment Cost|**2025**
**£**
2,100
3,209
1,985
**7,294**|**2024**
**£**
2,100
1,110
1,409|
|---|---|---|
|||**4,619**|
## **Land and buildings used by the charity**
The Charity’s land and buildings at Hafod, Swansea were purchased in 2007 for £131,184 including associated costs. A substantial extension is being built at the rear of the main building and expenditure incurred on this up to the end of the year was £496,774 of which £219,000 has been contributed by a grant from The Big Lottery.
The charity owns a field at Mary Twill Lane, Caswell, Swansea. It is not practical to value this property.
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