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2023-03-31-accounts

Church Army (The) Reports and Financial Statements Year Ended 31 March 2023

Charity registration numbers: England & Wales: 226226 Scotland: SC040457 Republic of Ireland: 20152604

Company registration number: 00037169

Church Army (The) Trustees’ Annual Report (Including Directors’ Report and Strategic Report) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Page
Charity Reference and Administrative Details 1
Welcome from the Chief Executive 3
Trustees’ Annual Report (including Directors’ Report and Strategic Report) 5
Independent Auditor’s Report 33
Group Statement of Financial Activities 37
Society Statement of Financial Activities 38
Balance Sheets 39
Group Statement of Cash Flows 40
Society Statement of Cash Flows 41
Notes to the Financial Statements 42

Church Army (The) Trustees’ Annual Report (Including Directors’ Report and Strategic Report) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Patron Formerly the late HM Queen Elizabeth II
(Awaiting contact from Royal Household re future)
President The Rt Rev & Rt Hon Lord Williams of Oystermouth
Vice Presidents The Rt Rev Bruce Cameron
The Most Rev Dr Richard Clarke
The Most Revd John Davies
The Rt Rev Lord Eames of Armagh (resigned 23 July 2023)
The Rt Rev Dr Alan Harper OBE
The Most Rev Dr Michael Jackson
Dr Bill Lattimer
The Most Rev Barry Morgan
Pam Rhodes
The Most Rev & Rt Hon John Sentamu
June Simpson
The Most Revd Mark Strange
Roy Totten
The Rt Rev Michael Turnbull
The Most Rev & Rt Hon Justin Welby
Trustees and Board Chair:The Most Rev & Rt Hon Stephen Cottrell (resigned 28 November 2022
as Trustee and Chair)
Chair:The Rt Rev Guli Francis-Dehqani (was Vice Chair, appointed Chair 28
November 2022)
Honorary Treasurer:John Whitfield
The Rt Rev Alan Abernethy
Trevor Douglas (resigned 23 August 2022)
Ravi Gidoomal (appointed 18 January 2023)
The Rt Rev Dr Robert Gillies (resigned 28 November 2022)
Sister Kathy Green CA (resigned 2 March 2023)
The Rt Rev Lusa Nsenga-Ngoy (resigned 4 August 2022)
Dr Sol Osagie (appointed 18 January 2023)
The Rt Revd Joanna Penberthy (resigned 3 August 2023)
The Ven Dr Peter Rouch
Patricia Russell (appointed 18 January 2023)
Rosie Slater-Carr (appointed 7 October 2022)
Sister Karen Webb CA (resigned 28 November 2022, re-appointed 18 January
2023)
Captain Andrew Payne CA
Rev Karen West (appointed 18 Jan 2023)
Chief Executive The Ven Dr Peter Rouch
Company Secretary Robin Webb
Senior Leadership Team The Ven Dr Peter Rouch Chief Executive
The Rev Jude Davis Director of Community and Vocations
Dan Lane Director of Fundraising & Communications (appointed 15 May 2023)
Dr Timothy Ling Director of Organisational Development
Faye Popham Associate Director of Organisational Development
Robin Webb Director of Finance & Services
Captain Neville Willerton CA Director of Mission Operations

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Church Army (The) Trustees’ Annual Report (Including Directors’ Report and Strategic Report) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Registered office Wilson Carlile Centre
50 Cavendish Street
Sheffield
S3 7RZ
Telephone 0300 123 2113
Email:info@churcharmy.org
Auditor BHP LLP
2 Rutland Park
Sheffield
S10 2PD
Solicitors Cooper Burnett LLP
Napier House
14-16 Mount Ephraim Road
Tunbridge Wells
TN1 1EE
Anthony Collins Solicitors LLP
134 Edmund Street
Birmingham
B3 2ES
Bankers Barclays Bank PLC
Leicester
LE87 2BB
Unity Trust Bank PLC
Four Brindleyplace
Birmingham
B1 2JB
Actuaries First Actuarial PLC
Mayesbrook House
Lawswood Business Park
Leeds
LS16 6QY
Investment Managers Ruffer LLP
80 Victoria Street
London
SW1E 5JL
CCLA Investment Managers Limited
1 Angel Lane
London
EC4R 3AB
Charity registration numbers England & Wales: 226226
Scotland: SC040457
Republic of Ireland: 20152604
Company registration number 00037169

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Church Army (The) Trustees’ Annual Report (Including Directors’ Report and Strategic Report) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Introduction

Someone of broad vision who knows Church Army’s work well recently said to me, “The country’s on fire! People are desperate. Church Army is needed now more than ever.” The needs we encounter have indeed intensified in the last year. As I reflect on that year, I find myself both celebrating positive growth and important outcomes, and also noting the broad-based cost to people and resource budgets of remaining engaged in so much challenging work. If you live and serve close to the fire, at times you might get singed, I suppose.

Church Army is a Christian mission organisation irrevocably committed to the idea that our actions and our words belong together. The way in which we serve and what we say about our service and the lives we lead, should express the same thing – God’s unconditional welcome, and invitation to faith to all people. Our mission is constituted by actions that express in tangible ways the words that we speak. The words of our evangelism are meaningless and inappropriate without the actions that demonstrate their meaning.

As the financial year commenced, the Board of Church Army made a commitment to ongoing developments in our strategic direction. These are designed to ensure that we sustain areas of success, focus additional attention in areas deflected by the demands of pandemic life, offer direction to areas omitted from our earlier strategy, and respond positively to changes in our wider environment. We named this refreshing of our strategy 'Resetting the Compass’ and the Compass priorities include:

Centres of Mission – to ensure that growth is pursued on a fully sustainable basis, and that we use our research expertise to grow understanding of the factors that promote effective outcomes.

Key Projects – to develop a clear “theory of change” in each project to guide our work, provide meaningful measures of outcomes, and inform supporters. Additionally, to explore the potential of wider public comment on areas of concern, and also what might be offered by individual project patronage.

Fundraising – to address with energy the need to develop the scale of our supporter base and the benefit derived from a more balanced portfolio of income streams, and so deliver a step-change in fundraising performance.

These are not the sum total of our strategic objectives, but they are crucial elements intended to ensure that we deliver what our strategy is intended to achieve.

Perhaps the most widely known dimension of our work amongst churches in the UK & Ireland is our Centres of Mission. Located within some of the most challenging environments, pairs of CA Evangelists are engaged in practical service to empower local people to address life’s challenges. This quite naturally goes hand in hand with our work to build self-esteem and enable people to respond to the Christian faith. I say “naturally” because that is how it works. It is natural for people to ask why CA people have chosen to invest their lives in practical service in the kind of context that many others seek to escape. It is natural also because for this work to have integrity, CA Evangelists have to be themselves, and they are people of Christian faith. This faith dimension is never, ever a condition of the support Church Army offers, but it should never be hidden. Those who are supported by us have a right to understand our motivations so that they can be empowered to make their own life choices. This integrity is important to us, but it is also one of the ways we live out our value commitment to unconditionality in our service.

In the last year we have seen several new Centres of Mission come to life, while others have ended their terms. The net result has been a small growth which is in any case eclipsed by the ongoing catalogue of individuals and communities receiving direct material support and experiencing transformation through the work of our Evangelists. Looking forwards, even whilst we continue to manage the growth of our work with a careful eye to sustainability, plans are developing for further expansion fully supported by new funding streams.

Our Key Projects, Amber, Ruby, Ty Bronna, Waterways Chaplaincy and Marylebone span a range of social needs. They have continued to deliver strong outcomes, but done so in a most challenging environment. Taking Marylebone as an example, we continue to exceed our targets for women experiencing homelessness who are empowered to move through our work into sustainable independent living in their own homes. This year Marylebone achieved the Homeless Link, Excellence in Homelessness award. Yet this was a year in

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Church Army (The) Trustees’ Annual Report (Including Directors’ Report and Strategic Report) Year Ended 31 March 2023

which the combined pressures of general inflation and higher staff costs driven by shortages in the labour market, coupled with an extremely challenging environment for fundraising, pushed Marylebone to a significant financial deficit. Other organisations working in the sector have faced the same pressures. Some have had no option but to cut frontline services even as need increases, others have faced the almost unheard of event of staff strikes. At Marylebone our staff surveys indicate that staff satisfaction remains high, and the project has been supported through severe challenge by the strong covenant of Church Army. Nevertheless, challenge continues at acute levels and is requiring active management to minimise risks to our valuable work.

There is growing demand for the resources and expertise of Church Army in training people to engage in “Church Army style” Christian mission, which I have described above. Our Envoy programme continues to receive levels of interest and applications beyond our capacity to accommodate, and beyond the UK & Ireland, the programme has continued its oversees expansion most especially in Germany. Faith Suite, which equips individuals, local churches and wider denominational units like dioceses for Christian mission is also growing. Once again this is within the UK & Ireland with a significant growth of our work with the Church of Ireland, but noticeably beyond these islands as well. The expansion of this programme into New Zealand evidences both how we are able to collaborate creatively with charities in the Church Army network overseas, and also to use our experience, hard-won during the pandemic, to extend our training offering at distance. These developments offer a glimpse of the potential for growth already existing within the diverse portfolio of Church Army’s work.

Yet, we are in the most challenging circumstances that the UK charitable sector has faced for many years. Donated income to charitable work has fallen dramatically as the wider public has faced into pressures on incomes and the rising trends of business closure and consolidation. The contraction of frontline charitable work is a direct consequence of this.

Church Army has not contracted its frontline work and has no intention of doing so, indeed we continue to work hard at ways to grow our work. Nevertheless, the impact of adverse operating conditions is plain to see in this year’s accounts. It is important for me to comment on the ways in which we are working to address the annual deficit. This is in three ways:

  1. Measures are already in hand that will deliver a 10% reduction in our operating costs. This is not without impact, and there is work that we cannot do or will need to schedule differently in order to achieve this. Importantly however, none of this will be delivered by reducing our existing investment in frontline work.

  2. The growth and diversification of fundraising income has been an integral aspect of Church Army’s strategy, but one that has not received either the attention or investment that it needs. This is now being rectified. It will take time, but the necessary elements for success are being put in place.

  3. A significant part of the reserves of Church Army are tied up in operational assets, in land and buildings directly used in our work. We are engaged in reviewing all of our larger assets to ensure that we are using the funds we have invested in this way to drive maximum benefit for the beneficiaries of Church Army’s work.

It is both usual and important that I offer thanks from Church Army for all those who support what we do with their time, energies, prayers and funding. Without you, nothing! I also want to thank the staff of Church Army, including my senior colleagues, who work tirelessly in our mission, and those who serve as trustees. Those with a keen eye will note a significant change in the composition of our Board of Trustees. This is the result of a focused programme of refreshment, drawing into the oversight and guidance of Church Army, those who bring the skills and understanding needed for the next chapter of our life. Our trustees now hold portfolios to which they have been recruited, and are one of the most diverse and engaged boards you will find anywhere in the UK & Ireland charitable world. It is a joy to serve with you all.

Church Army exists to enable transformation in lives and communities, most especially those who are pushed to the margins of life. Those who engage in transformation must be continually transformed themselves, and I am pleased to witness to the signs of that within Church Army, which it remains an honour to lead with my senior colleagues.

Peter Rouch

CEO

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Church Army (The) Trustees’ Annual Report (Including Directors’ Report and Strategic Report) Year Ended 31 March 2023

The Trustees (who are also Directors of the charity for the purposes of the Companies Act) present their report and the audited financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 March 2023. The Trustees have adopted the provisions of the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) “Accounting and Reporting by Charities” (FRS 102) in preparing the Annual Report and Financial Statements of the charity.

The Financial Statements have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in notes to the accounts and comply with the charity’s governing document, the Charities Act 2011 and 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 the Republic of Ireland published in October 2019.

Who is Church Army?

Church Army is a mission-focused community of people who are transforming lives and neighbourhoods through the work of evangelists, staff and supporters. We are committed to sharing the Christian faith through words and action in a variety of contexts across the British Isles and Ireland. Our evangelists and staff work beyond church buildings among some of the most broken, rejected and hurting people in society. We are also committed to building new forms of Christian community to reach people who have little or no experience of church. Much of our frontline work is carried out through our centres of mission. A centre of mission is a community of evangelists working together to enable evangelism and mission across a host diocese. They have four key strands to them:

We also carry out other frontline activities including Envoy, the Marylebone Project, Cardiff Residential Services, the Amber Project and Ruby, all in fulfilment of our charitable objectives.

Our work includes:

Other key work includes:

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Church Army (The) Trustees’ Annual Report (Including Directors’ Report and Strategic Report) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Our mission:

To enable people to come to a living faith in Jesus Christ and relieving poverty and distress.

Our vision:

For everyone everywhere to encounter God’s love and be empowered to transform their communities through faith shared in words and action.

Our values:

Generous: God is generous, and we want to model that generosity to others.

Risk-taking : We have a long heritage as a pioneering movement, prepared to take risks and give colleagues permission to succeed or fail as they seek to do new things.

Accountable: We are accountable to God and others, living reliably and responsibly to high professional standards.

Collaborative: We are committed to partnership with those who share our values; we believe it enhances our work.

Expectant: We are hopeful, expecting God to do new things amongst us.

Unconditional: God loves everyone, and everyone is significant in His eyes; we will serve anyone regardless of their age, gender, race, sexuality, faith, ability, status or circumstances. Prayerful: Listening to God, being obedient to God; we want to be like Jesus in our life and witness.

Objectives and activities including achievements and performance Our DARE strategy: doing, advocating, resourcing and enabling evangelism

The following sections of this Annual Report will look at each of the four DARE objectives and how we are fulfilling them.

Objective 1: Doing Evangelism

Centres of Mission

Across 2022/23, there were 32 active Centres of Mission (CoM). Quantitative data was collected at two time-points over the course of the year - 19 CoM provided usable data at both collection points, 10 provided usable data at just one collection point, while 3 CoM were unable to provide data this financial year.

Headlines

Activity

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Church Army (The) Trustees’ Annual Report (Including Directors’ Report and Strategic Report) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Activity by type

Evangelists are asked to categorise activities into ‘social impact’, ‘faith development’ or ‘advocating and resourcing evangelism’ activities. The table below summarises the key statistics for all activities of each type combined:

Activity type Hours activity Monthly hours
activity		 People
interacted
with		 % Children % Adults
Social
impact
activities*		 13,680 1,263 15,200 53% 47%
Faith
development
activities		 6,460 692 19,450 71% 29%
Advocating,
resourcing
&
enabling
evangelism		 1,400 175 6,800 20% 80%

*Note that many (perhaps most) CoM activities fulfil both ‘social impact’ and ‘faith impact’ functions, and that ‘social impact’ is the first option that evangelists are presented with when they are completing their returns.

Provision

Signs of Faith

More ‘formal’ signs of faith:

Funerals

Exploring and growing:

Faith commitments:

Social media videos

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Church Army (The) Trustees’ Annual Report (Including Directors’ Report and Strategic Report) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Volunteering

Background % of volunteers
Regular church-goer 57%
Occasional church-goer 11%
Historical church-goer 8%
Never church-goer 24%

The Dundee centre of Mission is led by Kerry Dixon and works in partnership with Diocese of Brechin, Signpost international and St Luke’s Downfield. Dundee is Scotland’s fourth largest city and has some of the highest rates of unemployment and drug-related deaths in the UK. In the Centre of Mission there is a focus on addiction recovery and helping people who are struggling with mental health problems. The Centre of Mission operates a recovery support group called Pirate Monks, and there are groups for men and another group for women. The groups meet weekly, have a meal, go through the 12 Steps (as used by Alcoholics Anonymous) and pray for one another. Gavin is a regular attendee to Pirate Monks having struggled with mental health problems for 25 years. Gavin says ‘Pirate Monks has helped me immensely in my faith journey and my mental health; giving me the confidence to become a mentor to others….it has helped me to understand that I am not alone – it is so welcoming…No matter what your background or where you are, you can come and be accepted….Church Army being in Dundee has had such a positive impact on me. Christ wants to help people in this area and CA is helping that to happen’. Gavin has grown and flourished as a result of coming to Pirate Monks and has now become a mentor for others who suffer from problems similar to himself.

Missional Youth Church Network (MYCN):

MYCN is a partnership set up by Church Army and the Archbishop of York’s Office. MYCN also works with Fresh Expressions UK, Dioceses, Diocesan Youth advisors/missioners and Growing Faith Foundation. It’s through partnerships, that they are be able to create and sustain the development of new missional youth churches.

A Church Army review of the work of the Missional Youth Church Network (MYCN) has shown it is making good progress towards its target of establishing 30 missional youth churches in 5 years. The Missional Youth Churches enable 11-18 year olds to build community and discover faith in Christ, and each is particular to their own context.

MYCN now has contact with more than 100 leaders across the country with an interest in the principles of building church with young people where they are. And since the Learning Community for youth leaders, clergy, pioneers and school leaders, began online in 2020, 25 MYCs have begun developing and growing.

The Church Army Review has discovered that leaders have grown the most in their confidence and capability in building community with young people, sharing faith with them, and in discipleship with young people. One youth worker said:

“I’ve found it helpful to hear stories and methods of how to move unchurched young people from relationships and drop-ins into small groups where they explore faith.”

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Church Army (The) Trustees’ Annual Report (Including Directors’ Report and Strategic Report) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Positive discussions are taking place for the next phase of growth across the whole country. The Church Army review of MYCN concludes that there is considerable potential for MYCN to contribute to the delivery of the Church of England’s ‘Vision and Strategy for the 2020s’ and to help more dioceses establish Missional Youth Churches.

Jenny Colby is an experienced CA Evangelist, having been active within the CA family for almost 50 years. She is now retired but continues to serve God in many activities using her many years of experience to benefit others. Despite being retired, Jenny is very much still involved with Church Army and feels it is deeply rooted in her heart. Jenny is passionate about growing the congregation at the family service of her local church St. Mary’s where she is working hard with leaders there to help this happen. Jenny is also keenly involved with the under-five’s group at her local parish church where she is using her experience as a CA evangelist to help the group flourish and continue. Jenny is a vocal advocate for Church Army and remains steadfast in her encouragement for others to become involved with CA by using her vast experience as a CA Evangelist.

Centres of Mission

Despite all the challenges of the past 12 months we have still managed to launch a new Centre of Mission in the 2022/2023 financial year. Kildare Centre of Mission was launched as our centre of mission in the diocese of Meath and Kildare. This centre of mission is led by Philip McKinley, with pioneer evangelist Kelly Bermingham joining the Centre of Mission.

One of the objectives of the Centre of Mission is to deliver of a range of community outreach initiatives, programmes and Pioneer Contextually appropriate Fresh Expressions of Church for all ages that enables people’s faith journey.

In launching new centres of mission, we appoint a Lead Evangelist, later appointing a Pioneer Evangelist with unique skills to work with the Lead Evangelist to identify and address the needs of the area.

Where are we doing evangelism Activities in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales

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Church Army (The) Trustees’ Annual Report (Including Directors’ Report and Strategic Report) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Church Army has long and often been involved in prison work, with CA Evangelists serving as chaplains in a number of UK prisons. Commissioned Church Army Evangelists can use their training in many fields and forms of ministry beyond roles within Church Army but where their training and evangelistic gifts are desirable and prison chaplaincy is one of these roles. CA Evangelist Gill Martin is a chaplain at HMP Eastwood Park in South Gloucestershire. The service that she and her fellow chaplains provide is an essential part of helping prisoners move beyond their past mistakes and toward a brighter future. It is a vital service that provides much-needed support to both prisoners and prison staff. It has been shown to reduce reoffending rates and improve prisoner health and wellbeing. For many prisoners, the relationship they develop with their chaplain is one of the most positive relationships they will have while in prison.

Gill says ‘I have been at this prison for almost three years now…When I was training, I did a placement at Holloway Prison and I loved it. When I began trying to pursue this calling I couldn’t find the right thing….Later, when the role of being a prison chaplain came out of the blue, I knew I was being led by God.

Whilst prisons are full of people, they are often lonely places and those feelings of loneliness become magnified when a prisoner doesn’t have anyone to visit them. As prison chaplains that is one of the things we can help with as there is a volunteer visitor scheme.

We arrange volunteer visitors, answer requests for spiritual support; this can be anything from lighting candles for anniversaries and birthdays, to providing prayer for difficult situations or pastoral support for prisoners with ill relatives or suffering a bereavement. COVID was a difficult time, visitations, group meetings and fellowship stopped. To keep contact with the prisoners we wrote weekly reflections and delivered them to cells. We reached people who wouldn’t normally visit the chapel but looked forward to receiving their reflection.

It’s a very privileged position to be in. Some of the prisoners have suffered abuse and are really broken. Our constant message is that we can’t change what happened, but we can walk with them, and support them through the next steps. Every day I am reminded that it could be any one of us in that prison and I feel blessed to be able to share with these prisoners that God loves us and loves each of us equally. There is nothing we can do to spoil his plan because he is more powerful than us. I have seen and felt God work in my life and I am not the only person whose life He can work in. I want to share that message with others who feel they are beyond God’s love because no one is. God won’t forget about them.’

Marylebone Project

This past year saw a return to a more normal pattern of work in supporting our residents and service users, following the latest Government guidance on encouraging that we all need to live with COVID-19 and return to a more normal way of life.

We did not lose sight of the need to continue to focus on the safety of all; staff, residents and service users; and have kept as many of the safety measures in place as possible as these proved to be effective in keeping everyone safe during Covid. We also did not lose sight of the fact that many of our women suffer generally from vulnerable health of illnesses, ill health and life-threatening issues due to their lifestyles and activities so keeping these safety measures in place safeguards all our women in the longer term.

We also became aware of the growing need from our residents and service users to provide them with the full range of support of face-to-face contact, group activities, wider support activities, and progression to move on and independent living. This is especially important for those women who have reached a crisis point in their life due to experiencing domestic abuse, mental health issues and/or substance abuse issues etc.

Our Social Enterprise has rebuilt its client base and worked to achieving the specific business targets set for the work of Space and Munch. One of these targets was to have at least one space room booking per week and this has been achieved for every week of the year, with many weeks exceeding this target with all rooms being booked for whole weeks. This has resulted in an associated increase in revenue for the Social Enterprise.

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Church Army (The) Trustees’ Annual Report (Including Directors’ Report and Strategic Report) Year Ended 31 March 2023

The Sanctuary

This continues to provide a 24/7 service for women in crisis and continues to see an overall changing clientele with some women moving on into independence and new women accessing the support. Due to this ever-changing picture of women accessing the Sanctuary and the needs they present, we continue to conduct regular reviews, ensuring that the service provided meets the needs of this specific rough sleeping group and we monitor the use of the Sanctuary space so that it continues to be the best service that it can be for the women it serves.

The Resettlement Team continue to support all women who have moved into independent living for a period of three months and then the women can contact the Project for any further support they may need. We are pleased to report that there remains a 100% success of women who have moved out maintaining their tenancy and accommodation and this is the sixth consecutive year that we’ve been able to report a 100% success in this service. This is testament to the compassion and commitment of the Resettlement Workers who have taken on this element of support work and is due to the consistency of support and the reassurance that there is someone available to help the women in times of further need or crisis.

We continue to work in partnership with Westminster Council in providing residential support to 25 women with complex needs and we have increased our partnership working with various health professionals to provide specialist health support to this cohort of women. The complexity of the needs of the women requires an intense support provision and occasions of exhaustive non-stop interaction with the women. We are aware that this can take its toll on front line support staff so we have set up a staff breakout and relaxation room where staff can spend time away from the intensity of situations and have some space and peace. This room has comfortable furniture and a variety of equipment and resources to help alleviate stress and restore calm.

We also provide 5 bed spaces for women with no recourse to public funds (NRPF) and these bed spaces are funded by Westminster Council. These 5 NRPF bed spaces are part of a five-year funding programme within the Westminster Council Rough Sleeping Initiative. Westminster Council also spot purchase additional NRPF bed spaces and health needs bed spaces as needed by women who present to the Council.

These continued service level agreements have ensured that our partnership with Westminster Council continues and that we remain a valuable service for homeless women in Westminster.

Every year we set ourselves a challenge to support as many women as possible into moving into independent living and this year we resettled 68 women into independent accommodation, beating our newly set target of 50 women and more than double the 36 women resettled in the previous year. The lower figure in the previous year was caused by the availability of properties from the local authority and Housing Associations and movement restrictions related to the pandemic.

This successful move on was helped by a Rent Deposit Scheme and Home Starter Pack Scheme, which is funded by Westminster Almshouses. Moving home can be stressful, complicated, and expensive – even more so if you’ve recently experienced homelessness. The Starter Pack initiative is designed to help make the transition from homelessness to more settled accommodation easier; recognising that after a period of homelessness, service users have lost many if not all their material possessions. This funding has enabled us to run a scheme where service users can move into more settled accommodation in the private rented sector and make a new start and we are working towards engaging more women to take the private rented sector route as their move-on option.

One of the biggest challenges we have faced this year has been recruitment and retention of staff. We have had numerous front-line staff leave and have struggled to recruit to fill these positions. Whilst it has been acknowledged that staff retention and recruitment within the wider health and social care sector has been difficult, it resulted in us needing to use a greater number of agency workers, which come at an increased cost. Great efforts have been made over the year, to reduce our use and dependency on agency workers and to recruit permanent staff and I am pleased to say that, towards the end of this reporting period (March 2023), a number of permanent staff have been recruited and plans are in place for all vacancies to be recruited to in the coming year.

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Church Army (The) Trustees’ Annual Report (Including Directors’ Report and Strategic Report) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Two specific resignations in January 2023; the General Manager and the Housekeeping and Maintenance Team Leader; provided the opportunity for an external management review being commissioned to identify what management structure is required for the future. As part of this management review, we have been able to appoint a permanent Operations Manager and a Services Manager who form part of the Senior Leadership Team and who will help lead the Project into the future. At the time of writing we are advertising for an Executive Manager to lead the project ging forward.

We were also successful in recruiting a Marketing Co-Ordinator with responsibility for helping to raise the profile of the Project, promote our work, increase our supporter/donor database and develop our use of all social media platforms to celebrate all that we do.

With the help of our Volunteer Co-Ordinator, we have increased our partnerships with corporate volunteers and many more groups have visited the Project to help with redecoration, upgrading décor and donating to the women. These visits are helping us give the Project a fresh feel and includes office spaces, women’s living spaces and communal areas.

Despite the challenges and changes that we have experienced this year, the remaining permanent staff team continue to be committed in offering their skills and specialist support to address the variety of challenges and demands so that the women’s lives can be transformed.

No matter how big or how small, all achievements have an impact on the lives of the women we serve so all are valued in the wider work that we do and are helping us to shape the future.

Reach and Impact

Overall during the year the Marylebone Project provided:

Although we have been able to make great developments and achievements challenges still remain within securing long term staff and staff retention and financial sustainability. Despite the challenges and changes, the staff team continue to be committed in offering their skills and specialist support to address the variety of challenges and demands so that the women’s lives can be transformed.

Please continue to journey with us so that we can continue to provide safety for our women and develop our services to make more positive changes and transform more women’s lives.

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Church Army (The) Trustees’ Annual Report (Including Directors’ Report and Strategic Report) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Semhar’s story*

Semhar was recommended to the Marylebone Project by a friend. She was residing in a night shelter at the time but needed a safe space to spend her days. Furthermore, the night shelter was due to close soon, and she was anxious and worried about the future. Semhar started coming to the Sanctuary, sometimes covering the distance between the night shelter and the Project on foot, which could take nearly 2 hours.

Semhar’s Support Worker encouraged her to join the classes and activities in the Project. Semhar was unemployed and not taking part in any education and training at the time but was keen to develop her knowledge and skills. She joined the sewing beginners’ group as she wanted to learn how to use the sewing machine. She had prior experience of doing hand stitching but wanted to refresh her skills. Not only has Semhar learnt some new skills but she has also combated social isolation by meeting a new group of women who she now attends other activities with.

Attending the sewing class has, not only resulted in Semhar learning new skills, but this has also been great for Semhar’s confidence building and helped her to reduce social isolation. Semhar has met a new group of women and the experience has inspired her to participate in other classes. Semhar is now attending our internal ICT Beginners course and is learning to type on the computer for the very first time.

Semhar is now accommodated in one of the residential beds within the Project and is looking forward to engaging with other classes and activities to help build her skills for employment and independent living. *name changed to protect identity

Financial Sustainability for the Sanctuary

Having invested in refurbishing the drop-in centre to create and launch the Sanctuary 24-7 in November 2021 we were delighted to receive a grant of £473k from Barclays via the London Evening Standard / London Community Foundation to fund the first year’s operating costs. This grant funded the Sanctuary to May 2022. Growing our fundraised income to cover the increased costs of running the Marylebone Project including the Sanctuary has been an immense challenge during the last year, with high inflation creating a cost of living crisis that made fundraising even more difficult. This led to a significant deficit for the year at the Marylebone Project which Church Army has funded and continues to provide ongoing support while we work to make the project financially sustainable.

For more information or to make a donation please visit https://www.maryleboneproject.org.uk

Church Army Ty Bronna

Ty Bronna provides residential support to 13 homeless young people aged 16 – 21 years old. The provision includes:

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Church Army (The) Trustees’ Annual Report (Including Directors’ Report and Strategic Report) Year Ended 31 March 2023

The project’s mission is:

Hospitality - Providing hospitality to all young people referred to our service.

Empowerment – Equipping all young people to make informed choices and take control of their lives and work in partnership to achieve their goals.

Accepting - all young people for who and what they are in a non-judgemental and anti-discriminatory environment.

Resettlement - Facilitating and encouraging young people to move on to independent living and enter education, training and/or employment.

It’s aims as a Supported Housing service, are to:

During the year key achievements at Church Army Ty Bronna included:

Ty Bronna continued to support young people into education, training and employment (ETE) and reached an 80% engagement target this year.

During the year Ty Bronna celebrated its 20th anniversary and staff engaged young people to create the invitations for the day, special decorations, and young people helped create a collage of Ty Bronna. A walkaround timeline was then created for all our supporters and outside agencies to become more informed as to Church Army’s beginnings back in 1882. In order for guests to access the timeline they firstly had to walk through the “Ty Bronna’s Butterfly Room.”

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Church Army (The) Trustees’ Annual Report (Including Directors’ Report and Strategic Report) Year Ended 31 March 2023

There were 885 butterflies created altogether by young people, staff, and volunteers and perhaps most specially by the young people in a centre of mission in St. David’s, Pembrokeshire. Each butterfly represented one young person who has passed through Ty Bronna since its opening in 2002. Previous to the day itself Ty Bronna connected with Cardiff Scan Club who came and supported Ty Bronna to retrieve timecapsules planted back in 2002. It was remarkable in that everything stored in the capsule was kept in mintcondition for all this time and below is what was discovered in the capsule. We also purchased new timecapsules which were to be planted for the next 20 years. Young people came up with a range of items which were important to them and what they wanted the future generations of young people at Ty Bronna to be aware of in 20 years’ time. Peter Rouch (Church Army, CEO) buried the new time capsule and Neville Willerton (Church Army, Director of Mission Operations) planted a magnolia tree in the garden.

Cali’s story*

Cali had undiagnosed learning difficulties, due to not being encouraged to attend school by her parents, where she could have been provided with a Statement of Education Need (SEN) for her future. Consequently, this went on to affect all aspects of Cali’s life, as family around her could not cope with her low cognitive function and services became unaware of Cali after she legally left school.

Cali became unhappy at home and a friend’s mother supported Cali to present as homeless where she was referred into Ty Bronna. Whilst living at Ty Bronna, it was quickly observed by staff that Cali had no money management skills and was possibly being financially exploited by her own family.

A local trust fund organisation was sourced to support Cali to ensure she had rights over her own money and could manage this safely. This permitted Cali to have her Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment paid into her bank account each week in small instalments by the trust, to reduce the possible temptation and exploitation from her family of accessing her money.

Cali had no self-care or living skills and so staff worked very slowly with Cali to take the time she needed to learn why looking after herself and her home were important.

The service then referred Cali into local dogs’ charity as Cali had a passion for dogs and wanted to help them. Cali is now an established and trusted member of the volunteer team and enjoys the hours she donates each week with the dogs. Cali said that at home the only thing to understand her was her dog, Kim. So, this was why she wanted to help other dogs as she could no longer see Kim anymore at the family home.

When Cali took control over her finances, her family withdrew any form of contact with her. The service understood that Cali needed more time to adjust to independent living and so has lived with the service for almost 2 years. Cali has grown in confidence during this time and Ty Bronna is now preparing Cali to live in one of its Church Army’s training flats.

Cali always said her family didn’t think she would have anything in life as she wasn’t clever enough. Additionally, living at Ty Bronna was the first time in Cali’s life where she had access to her own money, chose what shopping she could buy and what clothes to wear and how she spent her time. However, with a bit of patience and encouragement, Cali has proven herself to be just as deserving and capable as any other young person who walked through Ty Bronna’s door.

Cali’s Church Army Visiting Support Worker is aware of Cali and her vulnerabilities so will be providing Cali with additional support in the community, for Cali to achieve what she is capable of. *name changed to protect identity

An ex-resident called Chris, who lived with Church Army Cardiff Services over 20 years ago, spoke of his time at the project and how Church Army had helped him. Chris spoke of a CD which had been recorded by young people at the project, which had music and poems on and which supported young people process their emotions. This CD was discovered in the time-capsule and became a very meaningful and emotional moment for Chris and all those who shared his story.

A recent residents survey provided the following feedback:

✓ 91% Felt they had a warm welcome.

✓ 81% Felt they had access to activities and learning.

✓ 91% Felt that their physical well-being was addressed.

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Church Army (The) Trustees’ Annual Report (Including Directors’ Report and Strategic Report) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Ruby - serving vulnerable women in South Yorkshire

Our team works with vulnerable women in a trauma informed way to build a relationship of trust, to help fight with them for their ultimate freedom from chaotic lifestyles, drug addiction and abuse. As we seek to achieve the long-term goal of social justice for the women, we work with patience and hope, within realistic expectations of what changes are possible. Our staff team is relatively small (1 full time worker and 3 part time) with a few dedicated volunteers and we actively support around 50 women at any one time. We run a drop in, offer in community support and street outreach.

Our drop-in provides a safe space to access, to experience respite from a chaotic and unstable lifestyle. We have recently made some changes at the drop in; we are the only female only washing space in our city for homeless women so we provide something that is really valued by the women. We have moved the clothes bank to make it a space women can look for clothes. One of the women after the changes commented it felt like a boutique and it was special for her to come to it. Several of our women have commented on how it brings them dignity. Women can wash their clothes (which means they are able to hold onto their belongings this is something that is really hard when you don’t have stable or safe housing, you experience so much loss, if we can help women keep hold of some of their stuff then it helps for emotional and mental well being) we also have some lockers for other important belongings. We offer food parcels: joint working with the food bank we are able to give out food parcels to our women, we also give out snack bags (for women who have no stable/ safe accommodation so no access to cooking facilities). The house is also a sanctuary - a place to explore faith, receive prayer and enjoy fellowship.

We are experiencing a surge in demand and our drop-in is being accessed more than ever before. We have had a real increase in women who experience domestic violence and so having a safe space to come to which is women only has been invaluable to many.

Tam’s story – from the perspective of one of the Ruby project staff

I was particularly impacted by how important our love for the women is through a recent outreach interaction. A reflection of the love of God for us. We hadn’t seen this woman for a long while because she had been very poorly (suffering from psychosis) and she was very cautious approaching us. We greeted her warmly, reinforcing how wonderful it was to see her and emphasizing how much we had missed her. She described how rubbish she had felt, and how being so poorly had caused her to feel embarrassed about engaging with us. Looking out the car window, I could see how much she had deteriorated, she looked so different to months ago when we had helped her to appointments and helped her move into a new house. Due to physical health decline and years of trauma her mental health dramatically declined. I explained that she could come to us anytime, good day or bad; whether she was well or not didn’t change our love for her. She was obviously struggling with this idea, so we asked her whether knowing that we were poorly would change how she felt about us? “Oh no”, she said, “I would still love you a lot”.

“Exactly” we said, and went on to explain that this was how we felt about her, that her being poorly hadn’t changed how much we loved and cared for her. It was at this point that she welled up; she made the connection and understood the illustration. I wonder if this woman has ever been loved like this or when was the last time? Unconditionally, without exception, regardless of whether it’s a good day or a bad day, or whether she’s well or not. We have seen her twice at the drop-in since this interaction, and really believe that God is doing something in her heart and life.

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Church Army (The) Trustees’ Annual Report (Including Directors’ Report and Strategic Report) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Jackie’s story*

“I was assaulted last night at where I live so I ended up walking the streets all night. No money, no phone - I only have what I am standing in, I can’t go back to get my stuff. I was waiting for it to get light because I knew I could go to the drop-in, they would help me. I was greeted and went into the warm. I knew I would get a hot drink and some food. I was bundled in blankets and was able to get it off my chest what had happened last night as I tried to make sense of it. Over the next 2 days they helped me - report to police and sort out temporary accommodation.”

*Name changed to protect identity

The Amber Project

As The Amber Project celebrated its 20th birthday earlier this year, we are reflecting on what has undoubtedly been our most challenging year to date. One of the unfortunate legacies of Covid is what has been termed ‘a post pandemic mental health tsunami’ which has led to significant rise in young people referring to the project with issues around self-harm. Currently more than 200 young people on the waiting list to access the project.

Young people are presenting with increasingly complex issues which in turn impacts on the degree of support they need, the project works by offering young people safe space, a community within which they can gradually develop skills that they will continue to use long after they have left the project.

We want to express our thanks to Caryl Stock who has led this amazing project for over 20 years until she retired in August 2023. Earlier this year we interviewed and appointed Tim Crahart as the new operations Manager for Amber.

…. I was very suicidal when I was referred, deep in self harm and bulimia, struggling with keeping the secret that I had been groomed online a few years earlier. I wasn’t seen as worth anyone’s time. CAMHS said I didn’t have any problems, the school just shouted at me for self-harming in the toilets, my family didn’t understand and made me feel alone, and I lost all my friends. I was the weird girl that cut herself. And I was hiding such deep pain. So much self-hatred. The Amber project gave me a place to connect with others. I was accepted. Cared for. Included. I will forever be grateful for that. I really do believe it saved my life. ( shared with consent).

Objective 2: Advocating Evangelism

Our second objective is Advocating Evangelism. Simply, this is being champions for the spreading the Gospel. As advocates for evangelism we encourage and promote the sharing of the message of salvation through Jesus and encouraging individuals, churches and leaders to share their faith with those around them, whether through personal relationships or evangelistic outreach opportunities.

As part of Advocating Evangelism we promote living life in such a way that others can see Christ in us and be drawn to Him. It requires being intentional about sharing the good news of Jesus with others and being willing to step out in faith and trust God with the results.

There are a few ways that we do this:

Our Communications Team is a key player in promoting evangelism, using various platforms such as print, online videos, websites and social media. Through sharing stories of lives transformed, the diverse range of work we do, and creating new avenues for interactive engagement, Church Army's Communications Team are responsible for giving our work a platform to external audiences, as well as our large internal network. Our evangelists are also making a local impact by utilising online communication to share their amazing work, including the impactful projects we fund.

Inspiring church leaders

Our DARE strategy relies on church leaders embracing evangelism, which is essential. Our Senior Leadership, Research, and Training teams have actively participated in a myriad of events across the United Kingdom

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Church Army (The) Trustees’ Annual Report (Including Directors’ Report and Strategic Report) Year Ended 31 March 2023

2021/22 2022/23
Page Views 154k Page Views 193k +25%
Users 41k Users 60k +46%
New Users 41k New Users 59k +44%
**Device Type ** Desktop54% **Device Type ** Mobile 51% +10%
Mobile 41% Desktop44% -10%
Tablet 5% Tablet 5% 0%
Top 3 Pages Home Page 28K Top 3 Pages Home Page 30K +7%
Jobs 13K Jobs 16K +23%
Not Found 8.5K MyCA 7.1K

and Ireland. We have been honoured to speak at conferences, theological colleges, and diocesan events, spreading the message far and wide.

Encouraging the wider church: Church Army speaking engagements

Our Evangelist's captivating speaking engagements empower churches across the UK and Ireland. These engagements, held at Sunday morning services and other weekly events, are crucial for increasing financial and prayerful support. They provide a unique opportunity to share the importance of our Evangelist's Kingdom work, inspiring and encouraging other Christians in various settings. Each year, we reach approximately 100 platforms, spreading our impactful message far and wide.

Our new website facility continued to expand and produce increased engagement with visitors – up 25% by page views and up 46% by users on the previous year:

Platform Project Reach Reactions
(Likes &
Comments)		 Shares/
Retweets		 Click-
Throughs		 New
Followers		 Total
Followers
(As of
31/3/23)
Facebook Church
Army		 509,372 5,274 935 10,845 328 4,091
Twitter Church
Army		 500,700 5,476 628 896 217 10,246
Instagram Church
Army		 44,062 4,836 314 229 2,190
Facebook Centres of
mission		 303,636 1,054 6,064
Instagram Centres of
mission		 2,050 136 136
Facebook Key
Projects
(MBP,
MIM)		 36,600 100 880
Twitter Key
Projects
(MBP,
MIM)		 46,099 -3 3,398
Instagram Key
Projects
(MBP,
MIM)		 21,561 165 2,064
Facebook WCC 29,690 30 369
Instagram Wilson’s
Café		 2,456 41 252

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Church Army (The) Trustees’ Annual Report (Including Directors’ Report and Strategic Report) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Facebook Wilson’s
Café		 667 13 75
Facebook LEAD 716 40 72
Twitter LEAD 15,275 487 547
Facebook Envoy 5,759 8 81
Twitter Envoy 2,496 13 74
Instagram Envoy 551 124 4 9 181
Meta Paid
Ads
All		 617,447 1,357 111 17,070
Totals All 2,139,137 17,067 1,674 29,129 +2,727 30,720
vs 2021/22 -17% +11% -33% +52% +5% +10%
Facebook
(organic)		 All 886,440 +1,573
Twitter All 564,570 +714
Instagram All 70,680 +415

Objective 3: Resourcing Evangelism

The Research Unit

The Research Unit continues to resource evangelism by working to show how God is active in mission and increase understanding in why churches' participation may falter or flourish. This is done by conducting excellent and innovative research and consultancy whilst growing the team’s network and partnerships with churches and dioceses across the British Isles and Ireland.

For more information, please visit www.churcharmy.org/research

During the year, the Research Unit produced two high profile national reports:

The research team have also worked on external research projects for a range of clients including:

The team are also conducting increasing amounts of internal research for Church Army. Over the past year, this has included:

Towards the end of the reporting period (March 2023), the team also commenced a major new research project on effective evangelism. This represents the introduction of a third strand of work for the research team (alongside internal and external research) over the years ahead.

Church Resources and Leadership Development

We have continued to Resource and Enable Evangelism through the development and implementation of our Church Resources and Leadership Development offer.

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Church Army (The) Trustees’ Annual Report (Including Directors’ Report and Strategic Report) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Over the last year our core Faith Suite of resources, i.e. Pictures, Shared, Empowered, have undergone further development taking into account feedback from evangelists and users. Following this process of refinement, we have started to explore how to significantly grow our user groups.

Faith Empowered facilitator training has been delivered to five English dioceses and one Welsh diocese, with a further fifteen having ongoing conversations as to how it could fit into their lay training scheme. We are also exploring how it could be used in the Church of Ireland to train lay pioneers.

We have begun development of a network of Faith Empowered Facilitators, gathering them in WCC for a 24 hour conference in September. Over the course of our time together we gathered their thoughts and reflections on the resource, challenges they are facing in rolling it out, and gave space for them to offer support and advice to one another. This was well attended and received, and will be repeated in September 2023.

We are also delivering Faith Empowered to a cohort in the Diocese of Christchurch, New Zealand. Facilitated monthly online by our resources team, it is a chance to engage a new audience with the resource, as well as help our resources team further refine the content.

A fourth component of the Faith Suite is in development, building on the previous apologetics resource ‘Why on Earth?’. Titled ‘Faith Questions’, it is based on the structure of Faith Shared, and will be released in the next year once development and testing are completed.

Following on from a successful Lent 2022 resource development, Lent 2023 was planned to grow engagement, building on the cross-team learning that took place.

LEAD is Church Army’s online leadership development resource for growing leaders. In April 2022 LEAD online learning portal and website was officially launched. As part of this official launch we have developed our offer to Evangelists, and CAMC members. We continue to offer a rolling programme of online learning groups.

In September 2022 we also launched a Reflective Supervision offer to our Evangelists to complement our Leadership Development offer. This very quickly became fully subscribed.

The Wilson Carlile Centre (WCC)

The Wilson Carlile Centre in Sheffield has been the home of Church Army for the past ten years. Located in the heart of the city, the building is a modern looking, multi-purpose centre offering: a café; a theological library; 30 en-suite bedrooms; a spacious three-bedroom apartment; day and residential conference facilities; a chapel; garden and city centre parking.

Highlights from the last financial year include:

Accommodation:

Conference & Catering

Café

To find out more, visit www.wilsoncarlilecentre.org.uk

Flexible working

The new ways of working forced upon us by Covid have been embraced, but we have also recognised the significant benefits of in person working for collaboration and expression of our community and values as

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the home of Church Army. Building community and developing culture have been at the heart of our discussions as we’ve continued to navigate the next steps of our journey in this area.

Objective 4: Enabling Evangelism

Initial Training Programme

Initial Training is a key part of our DARE strategy, enabling more people to be resourced and equipped as CA Evangelists. At the end of March 2023, we had 34 Evangelists-in-Training (EiTs) to be Commissioned and 1 diocesan sponsored candidate. The September 2022 entry of new EiTs numbered 14 (of these, 1 deferred training for a year, 1 is on maternity leave, and 1 is no longer working with Church Army). We welcomed 8 people starting their training in September 2023. In July 2023 we Admitted and Commissioned 14 new Evangelists, and we anticipate we will Admit and Commission 7 more in July 2024. Alongside this we have started planning to train Church of Ireland Pioneers from September 2024.

Envoy

We are excited about the work of Envoy across the UK and Ireland. Church Army rebranded Envoy as the evolution and merging of 10 years of coaching in evangelism (we already have over 80 members), which is a stunning development. The Envoy community remains committed to equipping the church to share the good news of Christ effectively. An Envoy member said these words:

‘Envoy gave me an opportunity to discover the breadth of evangelism. To recognise that there is not a 'one size fits all model'

Mission Community

The Church Army Mission Community was established over 10 years ago and continues to develop and understand its identity. During the past year the Church Army Mission Community has continued to grow in number and activity. The small ‘clusters’ of evangelists and supporters meeting together to encourage each other, learn more, and pray for the work of Church Army have established new patterns of meeting after the disruption of the pandemic. New groups of evangelists working in similar contexts (such as prisons, or healthcare environments) have begun to meet to share good practice and support each other in their ministry. A new programme of ‘Discovery Days’ and ‘Discovery Evenings’ has ensured a steady flow of new members to the community and the work of Church Army being profiled to a wider audience. The Church Army Mission Community continues to support and uphold all the people and work of Church Army in prayer.

Public benefit statement

The Trustees have considered the Charity Commission guidance on public benefit and are satisfied that both the aims of the Society and what it delivers meet the public benefit test.

Church Army meets the criteria through:

Church Army does not discriminate between those who profess a Christian faith and those of no faith. Our work is open to those of all faiths and no faith. Examples of how we do this can be found on pages 5 to 21.

Objectives for the coming year

Many of these objectives build on the success of the last year. We have already started working on reaching these objectives in the year ahead.

Doing evangelism

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Church Army (The) Trustees’ Annual Report (Including Directors’ Report and Strategic Report) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Measures

Advocating evangelism

Measures

Resourcing evangelism

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Church Army (The) Trustees’ Annual Report (Including Directors’ Report and Strategic Report) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Measures

Enabling evangelism

Measures

Financial review

The review below covers the financial position for the year from 1 April 2022 to 31 March 2023.

This has been a very challenging year with major external factors affecting people and organisations across the UK and the world, including:

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Church Army (The) Trustees’ Annual Report (Including Directors’ Report and Strategic Report) Year Ended 31 March 2023

We started the year planning for an operating deficit of £3.0m as we continued to invest our reserves in growing our work, while we also started developing plans to work towards longer-term financial sustainability. The difficult external environment had a significant impact on income and costs, and this led to a higher than planned operating deficit of £3.91m for the year.

The economic challenges and turbulence in the financial markets resulted in us seeing losses on our investment properties and just nominal gains on our financial investments increasing the overall deficit for the year to £4.44m. This is a significant change from previous years when we benefited from strong gains (2022: £2.14m, 2021: £2.13m) to help fund our operating deficit.

High inflation has continued into the new financial year and while it has started to ease at the time of writing this review (in the summer of 2023) increasing the cost of all supplies and the higher cost of living has created a very difficult environment as we work to increase our fundraised income.

There was only a nominal change in the liability relating to our defined benefit pension scheme this year, compared to a £613k benefit last year.

Here are some of the key points from our accounts:

Income - total income reduced to £6.12m down £0.25m from the previous year (2022: £6.37m).

Donations – reduced to £2.06m (2022: £2.41m) – in the previous year we benefited from £373k of a £473k one-year grant from Barclays / Evening Standard / London Community Foundation to enable the new Sanctuary, our 24 hour a day drop-in centre at our Marylebone homeless project which opened in November 2021, to set up and run for the first year. Finding ongoing funding has proved very difficult.

Legacies - income dropped for the second year in a row to just £260k (2022: £428k), well below the average of the last ten years. The timing of legacy receipts is outside of our control, but this is an income stream which continues to reflect Church Army’s historic connections; a rich heritage and blessing which has clearly left a mark on people’s lives.

Income from our partners for Charitable Activities – increased slightly to £2.89m (2022: £2.79m). This was principally a result of increased housing benefit income at our homeless projects £1.68m (2022: £1.54m). Research income from external clients - reduced to £45k (2022: £63k) as the team had a greater focus on internal Church Army projects during the year.

Income from other trading activities – bounced back above pre-Covid levels to £400k (2022: £179k) with record levels of occupancy and income delivered from the accommodation at the Wilson Carlile Centre.

Non-charitable trading: SPACE & MUNCH – Social Enterprise activity at our Marylebone Project was slower to restart, as we took a cautious approach to protect our vulnerable residents, but it has been good to see activities resuming and new bookings coming in with income levels rising during the year.

Expenditure

Costs of Raising funds increased to £1.50m (2022: £1.28m) primarily due to increased direct costs of trading activities (up £0.17m) reflecting the higher levels of activity and income, filling vacancies in the fundraising team and increased costs (up £60k) invested in our fundraising for the Marylebone project through our contracted fundraising consultancy to help sustain the Sanctuary 24-7 project after the initial one-year funding expired.

Spend on Charitable activities increased by £1.0m to £8.48m (2022: £7.42m) primarily due to higher costs in our Marylebone homeless project with total spend on homelessness up £0.71m to £3.67m (2022: £2.96m). Part of this was a full year of additional costs running the Sanctuary, and £0.26m was due to the higher costs of agency staff used to cover roles where we struggled to recruit permanent staff. Spend on Centres

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Church Army (The) Trustees’ Annual Report (Including Directors’ Report and Strategic Report) Year Ended 31 March 2023

of Mission rose £0.22m as we opened new centres. Also included in the increase is the cost of settling the WITH contingent liability (£0.15m) described under contingent liabilities on page 27.

Apart from the above, overall expenditure remained well controlled, despite pressures on all cost areas due to higher inflation, with monthly management accounts reviewed by every budget holder and the Management Group to ensure an effective and efficient use of financial resources.

Re-measurement gain on the defined benefit pension plan – For many years up to and including March 2021, the balance sheet carried a liability being the actuarial shortfall of the assets of Church Army Pension Scheme (CAPS) Defined Benefit pension plan to meet future liabilities. As a result of investment actions and future arrangements agreed by the Board working with CAPS trustees, the scheme moved to surplus, and the 2022 accounts included a reversal of earlier provisions. There is now no liability in the Balance Sheet. There are more details in note 23 to the accounts.

Although the market volatility in the autumn of 2022 and rise in gilt yields affected many pension funds, the arrangements in place for the CAPS scheme were robust. The value of the investments held by CAPS was affected but so was the value of liabilities, reducing the overall funding deficit. The 2023 updated valuation shows that the fund remains in surplus.

The changes that have been made over the past two years mean that Church Army results and spending plans are no longer affected by unpredictable fluctuations in the CAPS financial position.

Major capital works

No major capital works were undertaken during the year.

Investment policy and performance

Church Army’s investments comprise properties which are rented out for income and funds invested with investment managers with the primary goal of capital growth. Investments are liquidated from time to time to provide the cash needed to fund the planned deficits.

The total return on investments, (dividends, rental income and capital growth) was a loss of £77k (2022: gains of £2.637m), comprising income of £467k (2022 £502k) and losses on investments of £544k – a very different result to the previous year when we saw exceptional capital gains of £2.135m. The continuing cost of living crisis, record high inflation and bank interest rates has depressed the property market and current forecasts indicate limited capital gains in the next 2 years.

Investment properties

Church Army’s investment properties were previously used as accommodation by employed and retired evangelists. Rental income reduced to £451k (2022: £458k) due to the sale of several properties during the year. At each year end the investment property portfolio is revalued - the revaluation at 31 March 2023 resulted in the value decreasing by £675k (2022: increase £1,580k), reflecting the decline seen in the housing market nationally.

Funds with specialist charity investment managers

The Church Army general investment portfolio is placed with two high performing funds, one run by Ruffer LLP and the other by CCLA, both specialists in charity fund management. The Investment Sub-Committee receive quarterly updates and meet the managers each year to review results, investment strategies and prospects. They also make use of charity investment comparators, including the quarterly Multi-Asset Charity Fund Review published by ARC Research Ltd. The Investment Sub-committee then provide guidance to the board when they consider that change is required.

Church Army Funds with Ruffer are invested in the Charity Assets Trust, a cautious that aims to preserve capital and deliver positive growth. Church Army funds with CCLA are invested in the CBF Church of England Investment Fund which aims for consistent dividend returns. In the past year’s review by ARC of the Charity Assets Trust was the top performer and the CBF CofE Investment fund the third best out of 21 charity funds. The comparative returns between Ruffer and CCLA are shown below together with the benchmark for the per group.

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Church Army (The) Trustees’ Annual Report (Including Directors’ Report and Strategic Report) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Year ended: 31 March 2023 31 March 2022 31 March 2021
Ruffer – Charity Assets Trust 1.2% 8.2% 24.1%
CCLA – CBF Church of England
Investment Fund		 (0.8%) 11.4% 24.3%
ARC Balanced Asset Charity Index (4.5%) (3.4%) 17.4%

Balance of Investment portfolio

The Investment sub-committee met in August 2022 and took advice from the fund managers and the property manager. The allocation of the portfolio between property and investment funds is being rebalanced better to cope with the need to liquidate investments on a regular basis to fund working capital, current uncertainties in the markets and forthcoming rental property regulations.

An active ethical investment policy

In 2019/20 the Board adopted the investment policies set by EIAG – the Ethical Investment Advisory Group of the Church of England. That policy not only sets out areas where there should be no direct investment (e.g. tobacco, gambling, non-military firearms, or high interest rate lending) but also expects the investee “to manifest sustainable environmental practice, fair treatment of customers and suppliers, responsible employment practices, conscientiousness with regard to human rights, sensitivity towards the communities in which they operate and best corporate governance practice”. The policy, which is considered to be a leader in this area, requires investors to be active, engaging with investee companies to seek improvement in ethical standards in these areas.

The CCLA CBF Church of England fund is compliant with EIAG. The Ruffer Charity Assets Trust fund's responsible investment policy has been shaped by the concerns of many charities. It imposes strict restrictions on investment in alcohol, armaments, gambling, pornography, tobacco, oil sands and thermal coal. It also follows a proactive voting and engagement approach with companies held within the fund. The fund is monitored against UN Global Compact principles, MSCI’s ESG Metrics and the managers also monitor the fund’s carbon metrics.

Reserves (Funds) policy

At the year end the Unrestricted Free reserves of the Charity had reduced to £6.5m (2022: £9.4m) reaching our target figure. These unrestricted free reserves are held to provide a contingency in the event of an unexpected shortfall in income or significant uplift in costs and represent less than 7 months operating costs.

During the year we continued to invest in growing our work, pursuing our DARE strategy and used a further £1.3m of our DARE Designated Reserve to fund this work, reducing this fund to £4.9m. This fund continues to be used to support the growth of our work:

The free reserves include unrestricted investment property (which is non-liquid in nature) of £11.8m (2022: £12.8m). The Trustees are aware of this and arrangements are in place to convert the investment property into liquid funds.

Restricted Funds , given for specific purposes reduced to £6.9m (2022: £7.2m) as the monies were used for the purposes for which they were given.

26

Church Army (The) Trustees’ Annual Report (Including Directors’ Report and Strategic Report) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Operational Properties (including our Marylebone Homeless project and Wilson Carlile Centre) comprise £7.3m of our total reserves – we cannot access these funds without selling the properties and so these are identified separately in our reserves summary below.

In total, these reserves come to £25.6m, but as outlined above £14.2m are tied up in Restricted funds and Operational Properties. £4.9m is designated for our ongoing investment in growing our work while we move towards financial sustainability – and having set a deficit budget of £3.5m for the current financial year this will see over half of this designated reserve used up in the current year. The Unrestricted Free Reserves represents less than 7 months operating costs and provide a contingency to cover any unexpected shortfall in income or uplift in costs.

The following table gives a summary of the funds we hold:

Target Actual 2023 Actual 2022
Restricted Funds 6.9 6.9 7.2
Operational Properties (buildings used for our work) 7.3 7.3 7.2
Designated for investment in DARE strategy and step
changein Fundraising		 4.9 4.9 6.2
Unrestricted Free reserves 6.5 6.5 9.4
Total 25.6 25.6 30.0

Contingent liabilities & assets

In 2019 Church Army provided support to a venture seeking to establish a Community and Retreat centre for young people using the buildings of a former convent. As part of this support Church Army employed the staff and signed the lease for the site, with the expectation that these would be formally transferred across to the new charity once it became established. While refurbishment of the buildings commenced as planned, Covid had a significant impact on the wider plans for the venture and in the spring of 2022 the Trustees of that venture decided to close-down the project. The 2022 Trustees Report recognised a contingent liability of £356,000, being a claim made by the freeholder of the site. The matter has now been settled with the freeholder at £150,000 which is included in the year end results. Church Army expects to reclaim some funds from the WITH charity towards this cost, but the amount is not known at the date of signing these accounts.

Fundraising activities

Church Army has fully embraced the protocols established by the Fundraising Regulator and laws which came out under General Data Protection Regulations in 25 May 2018.

Church Army has always maintained a highly competent and professional approach to what is now a strictly regulated sector, balancing the need to generate funds while at the same time, fully respecting the position of both our existing and potential donors. Church Army has adopted a very robust approach to ensure full compliance with the requirements of the Fundraising Regulator and the 2018 GDPR legislation. This is particularly so in the area of donors in vulnerable circumstance, where working practices have been established to respect and protect their position.

Church Army first published a clear policy on donor relationships over five years ago. This has been strengthened to reflect more clearly our relationship with the Fundraising Regulator to state:

27

Church Army (The) Trustees’ Annual Report (Including Directors’ Report and Strategic Report) Year Ended 31 March 2023

The complete text can be found on the Church Army website: https://churcharmy.org/ways-ofgiving/fundraise-for-us/our-pledge

We received one complaint from an existing donor. The complaint related to the wording of our Spring Appeal, which turned out to be simply a misinterpretation of the wording intention. Since this was resolved the donor has made his first four-figure donation for five years.

We continue to work hard with existing warm individuals, parishes and trusts and foundations to maintain and grow our income, as well as pursuing new opportunities. Funding from businesses and corporates is still an area we want to push into in the future.

Trust income was adversely affected by being one trust fundraiser down for much of the year. We recruited a replacement towards the end of the financial year. However, in the circumstances we still saw a solid performance.

Major donations were received from The Roland Callingham Foundation and Jerusalem Trust for general funds and to support our centres of mission; other significant major donations were received from London Community Foundation, The Julia and Jans Rausing Trust and Mrs S Walker supporting our work at the Marylebone Project. We are extremely grateful for the generosity of these and all our loyal donors.

We’d also like to recognise and thank grants given by:

Individual donors remain our most loyal and long-standing contributors and we continue to look for creative and innovative ways to maintain and grow this critical support group. We tested a fresh approach to donor acquisition using an external marketing and fundraising agency. This was largely unsuccessful for various reasons but there has been learning for us in the process. We will use this learning to inform our work in future.

It has continued to be difficult to engage churches following the COVID-19 pandemic, with many churches but we have begun to increase the number of speaking engagements with 28 during the year. Many traditional churches struggle with attendance and finance and this affects their ability to give at previous levels. However, we still have a huge opportunity to grow income from churches by raising our profile to engage more churches as well as diversifying our approach in future to other denominations.

We had planned a fundraising challenge campaign in September to commemorate 140 years of Church Army but this was cancelled following the death of our Patron, Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Church Army uses professional external fundraising for the Marylebone Project and the business involved is signed up to the same working practices that we adopt ourselves.

For further information about the Fundraising Regulator visit www.fundraisingregulator.org.uk

Going concern

The trustees agreed a deficit operating budget of £3.5m for 2023-24 as it moved forward with plans to recruit a Director of Fundraising and Communications to lead the development of a strategy to deliver a Step-Change in Fundraising income over the next 3 years. The new Director of Fundraising was appointed in May 2023 and brought forward plans for significant investment in Fundraising and Communications to deliver the planned step-change in income. These plans were agreed by the Board in September 2023, alongside plans from the Senior Leadership Team to reduce operating costs by 10% to reduce the annual deficit and provide time for the investment in Fundraising to deliver the anticipated results.

The Board has reviewed finance models forecasting the impact on reserves over the next 5 years and having reviewed the plans and reserve models, the Board believes sufficient reserves are in place to support the continued investment in the organisation’s DARE strategy and the planned investment in delivering a step-

28

Church Army (The) Trustees’ Annual Report (Including Directors’ Report and Strategic Report) Year Ended 31 March 2023

change in fundraising over the next 3 years with the aim of moving towards operational financial sustainability by 2027.

In continuing to spend its reserves the Trustees acknowledge that continuing sales of its investment properties will be required to fund working capital and a plan is in place for these disposals and the Board plans to make use of borrowing if needed to bridge the sale of investment assets.

After making these appropriate enquiries, the Trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. For this reason, they continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing these financial statements.

Structure, governance and management Constitution

The Society is both a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee governed by its Articles of Association, which specify that its legal objects are “to bring people to a personal faith in Jesus Christ” by: (i) providing trained evangelists and lay agents to assist the advancement of the Christian religion

The Society is registered with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator and the Republic of Ireland and is applying for registration in Northern Ireland.

Appointment, induction and training of Trustees

The Board of Trustees comprises people with relevant expertise including Church Army evangelists. Trustees are co-opted by the Board, following a search based on filling identified gaps in skills and experience and must be elected by the membership at the next Annual General Meeting. Good governance is vital to the effectiveness of the organisation and so training and induction programmes for new Trustees are tailored for each individual.

Following the planned departure of trustees during the year, the results of a skills audit were used to inform a trustee recruitment programme using an external agency which led to the appointment of 4 new trustees to the Board bringing skills in key areas, including Digital, PR and Media, Legal and Finance. Each of these trustees comes from a unique background as well as the specific skills and experience they bring.

Board diversity

The Board is delighted to have achieved a more diverse membership with 50/50 female/male elected trustees (plus the CEO), a 30% representation from GMH backgrounds and 40% aged under 40. Recruitment of a further trustee with Fundraising expertise is close to completion at the time of signing this report.

Organisational structure and decision-making

The Board carries overall responsibility for every decision made within the Society and has delegated certain powers to the following committees:

The Finance Committee:

The Investment Committee monitors and reviews the policy and performance of the Society’s investment managers and property portfolio.

29

Church Army (The) Trustees’ Annual Report (Including Directors’ Report and Strategic Report) Year Ended 31 March 2023

The Senior Leadership Team is responsible for implementing Board decisions throughout the Society and the executive management of its operations and resources through its Management Team.

The Marylebone Project Board formulates and implements strategy and oversees all operational matters relating to the Marylebone Project for homeless women on behalf of the Portman House Trust and Church Army as sole Trustee.

The Society also has a President and Vice-Presidents, who have no formal powers but act in an advocacy role within the wider church. They are listed on page 1.

Church Army International

Church Army continues to support a collective group of societies in Australia, Barbados, Canada, Denmark, Jamaica, New Zealand, the Unites States of America, various countries across Africa and Vanuatu. Each of these is separately constituted and independent of the others. There is mutual support and regular contact between the leaders as part of the International Leaders, chaired by the UK CEO.

Pay policy for senior staff

During the financial year in review there was no formal remuneration policy for any group of employees, beyond the commitment to pay at least the living wage under The Living Wage Foundation criteria.

Subsequent to the year-end the Board, through the Treasurer, has undertaken a benchmarking exercise for senior staff and set a remuneration framework, based on that review, to reflect the market forces within the sector. The resulting level is adjusted to recognise both the need to recruit and retain staff with the appropriate skills and experience.

Risk management and internal controls

The Board has overall responsibility and regularly reviews all aspects of risk management to ensure that the Society has appropriate systems of internal control, whether strategic, operational, financial, or with regard to legal compliance. Systems of internal control are designed to provide reasonable, but not absolute, assurance against material misstatement or loss. They include:

Risk Response
Structural budget deficit continues •
Ongoing review and shaping of budgets and costs in the
light of income and available reserves
•
Board has committed to significant investment to
deliver a step-change in fundraised income over the
next 3 years
•
Rolling 3-year financial model in place to manage
reduction of any operating deficit in line with reserve
policy targets
Safeguarding risks through failure to
protect the vulnerable and
marginalised		 •
Culture of Safeguarding embedded across whole of CA
•
Policies and procedures exist in all CA projects to
establish good practice

30

Church Army (The) Trustees’ Annual Report (Including Directors’ Report and Strategic Report) Year Ended 31 March 2023

•
Safe recruitment of all CA staff and volunteers working
with vulnerable adults or children
•
Safeguarding training mandatory for all staff and
volunteers with specialist training for specific frontline
roles
and
those
with
Safeguarding
leadership
responsibility
Inability to recruit & retain the right
people especially for Centres of Mission
Loss of key staff / institutional memory		 •
We are running leadership development training

programmes and identifying potential leaders and
evangelists among members of key programmes at an
early stage in their journey with Church Army
Sustainable funding not achieved for
Marylebone Sanctuary 24-7 project		 •
Increased investment in external fundraising
consultancy to drive higher income
•
Plans being developed for large scale acquisition of
new donors from general public

In addition to the Board review, each year there is a formal review of the risks to which Church Army is exposed and systems established by our Senior Leadership Team to mitigate them are updated or added as appropriate.

Financial records at Portman House Trust (PHT)

PHT is a subsidiary charity of Church Army and operates the Marylebone Project.

During the second half of the year, we became aware that the rent accounting system used at the project to record rent income due and Housing Benefit and Personal Share receipts was not being maintained effectively, leading to uncertainty regarding actual rental income. Church Army’s Finance Manager undertook significant work in partnership with key staff at Marylebone to rebuild the records and debtor ledger to produce robust income and debtor figures for the year end. The issue we had identified was reported to the auditors in the audit planning stage and the work was completed during the audit process enabling the Board and the auditor’s confidence in the year-end figures.

We are aware this is a matter which the auditors have included in their report, but we are confident that the work undertaken has provided robust figures for this report and a sound basis for the current financial year. A new Finance Administrator has now been appointed to the project and the Church Army Finance Manager continues to work closely with them to ensure correct records are maintained going forward. The Church Army Finance Committee has also agreed to implement a programme of internal audit starting in the final quarter of the financial year to provide additional assurance to the Board and to the Board of Church Army.

Plans for future periods

Church Army continues working to a rolling five-year forward plan. Detailed budgets are prepared for one year in advance and extended into the following 2 years to create a 3-year financial model. Church Army is consciously budgeting an operating loss for the next 3 years drawing on both Designated and Free reserves to support current activity and investment in new work as it pursues its strategy, and at the same time has committed to significant investment in fundraising to deliver a step-change in income over the next 3 years to move us towards financial sustainability.

31

Church Army (The) Trustees’ Annual Report (Including Directors’ Report and Strategic Report) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Trustees’ responsibilities

The Trustees (who are also Directors of Church Army for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Annual Report including the Strategic Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

Company law requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year, which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charity for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the Trustees are required to:

The Trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and the group and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

Disclosure of information to the auditor

In so far as the trustees are aware:

In approving the Trustees' Annual Report, we also approve the Strategic Report included therein, in our capacity as company directors.

On behalf of the board on 27 September 2023:

+Guli Chelmsford

+Guli Chelmsford (Nov 22, 2023 16:37 GMT)

John Whitfield Trustee

The Right Rev Guli Francis-Dehqani Trustee

32

Independent Auditor’s Report to the Trustees and Members of Church Army (The)

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Church Army (the ‘parent charitable company’) and its subsidiary (the ‘group’) for the year ended 31 March 2023 which comprise the Group and Parent Charitable Company Statement of Financial Activities, the Group and Parent Charitable Company Balance Sheet, the Group and Parent Charitable Company Cash Flow Statement and notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 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:

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 and parent charitable company 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 and parent charitable company’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.

33

Independent Auditor’s Report to the Trustees and Members of Church Army (The)

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 trustees’ 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 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.

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit:

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In the light of our knowledge and understanding of the group and parent charitable company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the strategic report and the directors’ report.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 require us to report to you if, in our opinion:

Arising from our knowledge and understanding of the entity and its environment obtained during the course of the audit sufficient accounting records were not kept and a satisfactory system of control over certain income and certain debtor transactions was not maintained.

For Portman House Trust (subsidiary 67), during the period from October 2022 to 31 March 2023 (and ongoing after date) income was accrued as an estimate for each month within this period and monies received from and overpayments returned for housing benefit and personal share income were posted into a debtor nominal ledger with no reconciliations or identification of which individuals the monies related to. Therefore, a detailed debtor’s listing showing the balance owed per individual service user was not maintained.

In July and August 2023, records were retrospectively generated from information available at this time. A debtor listing at 31 March 2023 showing amounts due per individual was produced and these debtors were agreed to after date receipts, after date requests for overpayments or to a bad debt provision. Accordingly, the amounts in the financial statements have been proven and therefore, there is no qualification to our audit report.

34

Independent Auditor’s Report to the Trustees and Members of Church Army (The)

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement set out on page 28, the trustees (who are also the directors of the parent charitable company for the purposes of company law) 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 parent charitable company’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 charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Auditor responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

We have been appointed as auditor under section 44(1)(c) of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and under the Companies Act 2006 and report in accordance with regulations made under those Acts.

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.

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 specific procedures for this engagement and the extent to which these are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below:

We assessed the susceptibility of the entity’s financial statements to material misstatement, including obtaining an understanding of how fraud might occur, by:

35

Independent Auditor’s Report to the Trustees and Members of Church Army (The)

To address the risk of fraud through management bias and override of controls, we

In response to the risk of irregularities and non-compliance with laws and regulations, we designed procedures which included, but were not limited to:

There are inherent limitations in our audit procedures described above. The more removed that laws and regulations are from financial transactions, the less likely it is that we would become aware of noncompliance. Auditing standards also limit the audit procedures required to identify non-compliance with laws and regulations to enquiry of the directors and other management and the inspection of regulatory and legal correspondence, if any. Material misstatements that arise due to fraud can be harder to detect than those that arise from error as they may involve deliberate concealment or collusion.

A further description of our responsibilities is available on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: https://www.frc.org.uk/Our-Work/Audit/Audit-and-assurance/Standards-and-guidance/Standards-andguidance-for-auditors/Auditors-responsibilities-for-audit/Description-of-auditors-responsibilities-foraudit.aspx. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charitable company’s members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006, and to the charitable company’s trustees, as a body, in accordance with Regulation 10 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company’s members and 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 charitable company, the charitable company’s members as a body and the charitable company’s trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Jane Marshall (Nov 27, 2023 14:05 GMT)

Jane Marshall (Senior Statutory Auditor) for and on behalf of BHP LLP Chartered Accountants Statutory Auditor 2 Rutland Park Sheffield S10 2PD

Date: Nov 27, 2023

BHP LLP is eligible to act as an auditor in terms of section 1212 of the Companies Act

36

Church Army (The) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Group Statement of Financial Activities (Including an Income and Expenditure Account)

Unrestricted Restricted 2023 2022
Funds Funds Total Total
Note
£000		 £000 £000 £000
Income and endowments from:
Donations and legacies 2
1,062		 1,255 2,317 2,834
Charitable activities 3
371		 2,520 2,891 2,785
Other trading activities 4
366		 34 400 179
Investments 5
447		 20 467 502
Other 6
18		 24 42 73
Total income and endowments 2,264 3,853 6,117 6,373
Expenditure on:
Raising funds 7 1,317 184 1,501 1,276
Charitable activities 8 3,122 5,357 8,479 7,421
CoE pension scheme movement 23
-		 (23) (23) (5)
Other 10
67		 - 67 30
Total expenditure 4,506 5,518 10,024 8,722
Net expenditure for the year
before investment gains/(losses) (2,242) (1,665) (3,907) (2,349)
Net (losses)/gains on investments (509) (35) (544) 2,135
Net expenditure for the year (2,751) (1,700) (4,451) (214)
Transfers between funds 19
(1,412)		 1,412 - -
Other recognised gains/(losses):
Gain on revaluation of fixed
assets 11 - 11 95
Re-measurement gain on
defined benefit pension plan 23
-		 2 2 613
Net movement in funds (4,152) (286) (4,438) 494
Reconciliation of funds:
Total funds brought forward 19 22,817 7,193 30,010 29,516
Total funds carried forward 19 18,665 6,907 25,572 30,010

All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.

The Statement of Financial Activities includes all gains and losses recognised during the year.

37

Church Army (The) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Society Statement of Financial Activities (Including an Income and Expenditure Account)

Unrestricted Restricted 2023 2022
Funds Funds Total Total
Note
£000		 £000 £000 £000
Income and endowments from:
Donations and legacies 2
1,062		 591 1,653 1,896
Charitable activities 3
371		 757 1,128 1,148
Other trading activities 4
366		 - 366 173
Investments 5 447 20 467 502
Other 6
18		 23 41 63
Total income and endowments 2,264 1,391 3,655 3,782
Expenditure on:
Raising funds 7 1,317 107 1,424 1,129
Charitable activities 8 3,122 2,171 5,293 4,838
CoE pension scheme movement 24 - (23) (23) (5)
Other 10 67 - 67 30
Total expenditure 4,506 2,255 6,761 5,992
Net expenditure for the year
before investment gains/(losses) (2,242) (864) (3,106) (2,210)
Net (losses)/gains on investments (509) (35) (544) 2,135
Net expenditure for the year (2,751) (899) (3,650) (75)
Transfers between funds 19
(1,412)		 1,412 - -
Other recognised gains/(losses):
Gain on revaluation of fixed assets 11 - 11 95
Re-measurement gain on
defined benefit pension plan 24 - 2 2 613
Net movement in funds (4,152) 515 (3,637) 633
Reconciliation of funds:
Total funds brought forward 22,817 5,294 28,111 27,478
Total funds carried forward 18,665 5,809 24,474 28,111

All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.

The Statement of Financial Activities includes all gains and losses recognised during the year.

38

Church Army (The) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Balance Sheets

Note
Fixed assets
Tangible assets
14
Investments
15
Current assets
Debtors
16
Cash at bank and in hand
Creditors: amounts falling due
within one year
17
Net current assets/(liabilities)
Total assets less current liabilities
Creditors: amounts falling due after
more than one year
18
Net assets excluding pension
liability

Defined benefit pension liability
23
Net assets
21
Charity funds
General funds
Designated funds (including revaluation
reserve £8,890,000 (2022: £9,962,000)
Restricted funds
Total funds excluding pension reserves
Pension liabilities
Total charity funds
19		 Group
2023
£000
8,677
16,396
25,073
399
719
1,118
(619)
499
25,572
-
25,572
-
25,572
6,500
12,165
18,665
6,907
25,572
-
25,572		 Group
2022
£000
8,707
20,786
29,493
607
924
1,531
(1,009)
522
30,015
(5)
30,010
-
30,010
9,372
13,445
22,817
7,245
30,062
(52)
30,010		 Society
2023
£000
7,262
16,396
23,658
665
719
1,384
(568)
816
24,474
-
24,474
-
24,474
6,500
12,165
18,665
5,809
24,474
-
24,474		 Society
2022
£000
7,234
20,786
28,020
517
924
1,441
(1,345)
96
28,116
(5)
28,111
-
28,111
9,372
13,445
22,817
5,346
28,163
(52)
28,111

Signed on behalf of the Board of Trustees on 27 September 2023.

John Whitfield
Trustee		 The Rt Rev Guli Francis-Dehqani
Trustee
+Guli Chelmsford (Nov 22, 2023 16:37 GMT)
+Guli Chelmsford

The notes on pages 38 to 63 form part of these financial statements.

Company registration number: 00037169

39

Church Army (The) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Group Statement of Cash Flows

Note
Cash flow from operating activities:
Net cash flow used in operating activities
22

Cash flow from investing activities:
Payments to acquire tangible fixed assets
Payments to acquire investments
Receipts from sales of investments
Interest received
Dividends received
Rents received from investment properties

Net cash flow from investing activities

Net (decrease)/increase in cash and cash equivalents
Cash and cash equivalents brought forward
Cash and cash equivalents carried forward
Cash and cash equivalents consist of:
Cash at bank and in hand		 2023
£000
(4,640)
(275)
-
4,243
-
16
451
4,435
(205)
924
719
719
719		 2022
£000
(2,777)
(28)
(9)
2,829
1
43
458
3,294
517
407
924
924
924

40

Church Army (The) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Society Statement of Cash Flows

Note
Cash flow from operating activities:
Net cash flow used in operating activities
22

Cash flow from investing activities:
Payments to acquire tangible fixed assets
Payments to acquire investments
Receipts from sales of investments
Interest received
Dividends received
Rents received from investment properties
Net cash flow from investing activities

Net (decrease)/increase in cash and cash equivalents
Cash and cash equivalents brought forward
Cash and cash equivalents carried forward
Cash and cash equivalents consist of:
Cash at bank and in hand		 2023
£000
(4,640)
(275)
-
4,243
-
16
451
4,435
(205)
924
719
719
719		 2022
£000
(2,777)
(28)
(9)
2,829
1
43
458
3,294
517
407
924
924
924

41

Church Army (The) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Notes to the financial statements

1 Accounting policies

(a) Basis of preparation

The financial statements 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 issued October 2019, the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102), the Companies Act 2006 and UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practice.

Church Army 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. The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the charity and rounded to the nearest £’000.

The Statement of Financial Activities (SoFA) and Balance Sheet consolidate the financial statements of the company and its subsidiary undertakings. The results of the subsidiaries are consolidated on a line by line basis.

The company (referred to as the Society) includes the results of Church Army, its linked charities and special trusts as disclosed in note 20 to these financial statements.

(b) Funds

Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the Trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the charity and which have not been designated for other purposes.

Designated funds comprise unrestricted funds that have been set aside by the Trustees for particular purposes. The aim and use of each designated fund is set out in the notes to the financial statements.

Restricted funds are funds which are to be used in accordance with specific restrictions imposed by donors or which have been raised by the charity for particular purposes. The cost of raising and administering such funds are charged against the specific fund. The aim and use of each restricted fund is set out in the notes to the financial statements.

(c) Income recognition

All income is included in the SoFA when the charity is legally entitled to the income after any performance conditions have been met, the amount can be measured reliably and it is probable that the income will be received.

For donations to be recognised the charity will have been notified of the amounts and the settlement date in writing. If there are conditions attached to the donation and this requires a level of performance before entitlement can be obtained then income is deferred until those conditions are fully met or the fulfilment of those conditions is within the control of the charity and it is probable that they will be fulfilled.

No amount is included in the financial statements for volunteer time in line with the SORP (FRS 102). Similarly, no value is attached to gifts in kind that although graciously acknowledged, are not material for separate calculation or inclusion.

42

Church Army (The) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Notes to the financial statements

For Legacies, entitlement is the earlier of the charity being notified of an impending distribution with probate granted or the Legacy being received. At this point income is recognised. On occasion, Legacies will be notified to the charity, however it is not possible to measure the amount expected to be distributed. On these occasions, the Legacy is treated as a contingent asset and disclosed.

Income from trading activities includes income earned from fundraising events and trading activities to raise funds for the charity. Income is received in exchange for supplying goods and services in order to raise funds and is recognised when entitlement has occurred.

The charity receives government grants under Supporting People funding operating within our homeless projects in London and Cardiff and No Recourse to Public Funds grants to support people in our homeless project in London. Income from government and other grants is recognised at fair value when the charity has entitlement after any performance conditions have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably. If entitlement is not met then these amounts are deferred.

Investment income is earned through holding assets for investment purposes such as shares and property. It includes dividends, interest and rent. Where it is not practicable to identify investment management costs incurred within a scheme with reasonable accuracy the investment income is reported net of these costs. It is included when the amount can be measured reliably. Interest income is recognised using the effective interest method and dividend and rent income is recognised as the charity’s right to receive payment is established.

Other income includes gains on disposals of tangible fixed assets and CJRS income which has been recognised in the period for which the claim was made.

(d) Expenditure recognition

All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all costs related to the category. Expenditure is recognised where there is a legal or constructive obligation to make payments to third parties, it is probable that the settlement will be required and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably.

Irrecoverable VAT is charged as an expense against the activity for which expenditure arose.

Grants payable to third parties are within the charitable objectives. Where unconditional grants are offered, this is accrued as soon as the recipient is notified of the grant, as this gives rise to a reasonable expectation that the recipient will receive the grants. Where grants are conditional relating to performance then the grant is only accrued when any unfulfilled conditions are outside of the control of the charity.

(e) Support costs allocation

Support costs are those costs that assist the work of the charity but do not directly represent charitable activities include office costs and administrative payroll costs. They are incurred directly in support of expenditure on the objects of the charity and include project management carried out centrally. Where support costs cannot be directly attributed to particular headings they have been allocated to cost of raising funds and expenditure on charitable activities on a basis consistent with use of the resources. Premises overheads have been allocated on a headcount basis and other overheads have been allocated similarly.

Fundraising costs are those incurred in seeking voluntary contributions and do not include the costs of disseminating information in support of the charitable activities.

43

Church Army (The) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Notes to the financial statements

(f) Tangible fixed assets

Tangible fixed assets are stated at cost or valuation less accumulated depreciation and accumulated impairment losses. Cost includes costs directly attributable to making the asset capable of operating as intended. Assets with a cost of less than £5,000 are not capitalised.

Depreciation is provided on all tangible fixed assets, at rates calculated to write off the cost, less estimated residual value, of each asset on a systematic basis over its expected useful life as follows:

Freehold and long leasehold land Nil Freehold buildings 75 years Leasehold buildings 75 years or lease term if shorter Freehold improvements 10 to 20 years Other fixed assets 3 to 7 years

(g) Investment properties

Investment properties are measured at fair value at each reporting date with changes in fair value recognised in ‘net gains/(losses) on investments’ in the SoFA.

(h) Investments

Fixed asset investments are a form of financial instrument and are initially recognised at their transaction cost and subsequently measured at fair value at the balance sheet date, unless fair value cannot be measured reliably in which case they are measured at cost less impairment. Investment gains and losses, whether realised or unrealised, are combined and shown in the heading ‘net gains/losses on investments’ in the Statement of Financial Activities. Other investments are measured at cost less impairment.

Current asset investments are short term highly liquid investments and are held at fair value. These include cash on deposit and cash equivalents with a maturity of less than one year.

(i) Debtors

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

(j) Cash at bank and in hand

Cash at bank and in hand includes cash and short term highly liquid investments with a short maturity of three months or less from the date of acquisition or opening of the deposit or similar account.

(k) Loans and borrowings

Loans and borrowings are initially recognised at the transaction price including transaction costs. Subsequently, they are measured at amortised cost using the effective interest rate method, less impairment. If an arrangement constitutes a finance transaction it is measured at present value.

(l) Creditors and provisions

Provisions are recognised when the charity has an obligation at the balance sheet date as a result of a past event, it is probable that an outflow of economic benefits will be required in settlement and the amount can be reliably estimated. Creditors and provisions are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts due.

44

Church Army (The) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Notes to the financial statements

(m) Leases

Rentals payable and receivable under operating leases are charged to the SoFA on a straight-line basis over the period of the lease.

(n) Foreign currency

Foreign currency transactions are initially recognised by applying to the foreign currency amount the spot exchange rate between the functional currency and the foreign currency at the date of the transaction.

Monetary assets and liabilities denominated in a foreign currency at the balance sheet date are translated using the closing rate.

(o) Employee benefits

When employees have rendered service to the charity, short-term employee benefits to which the employees are entitled are recognised at the undiscounted amount expected to be paid in exchange for that service.

Redundancy benefits are payable when employment is terminated before the normal retirement date, or whenever an employee accepts voluntary redundancy in exchange for these benefits.

(p) Pensions

The charity operates two defined contribution plans for the benefit of some of its employees. Contributions are expensed as they become payable.

The charity operates a defined benefit plan (CAPS) for the benefit of some of its employees. A liability for the charity’s obligations under the plan is recognised net of plan assets. The net change in the net defined benefit liability is recognised as the cost of the defined benefit plan during the period. Pension plan assets are measured at fair value and the defined benefit obligation is measured on an actuarial basis using the projected unit method. Actuarial valuations are obtained at least triennially and are updated at each balance sheet date.

The charity also contributes to a defined benefit plan (CEFPS) for the benefit of some of its employees. A liability for the charity’s obligations under the plan is recognised net of plan assets. The net change in the net defined benefit liability is recognised as the cost of the defined benefit plan during the period.

(q) Tax

The charity is an exempt charity within the meaning of schedule 3 of the Charities Act 2011 and is considered to pass the tests set out in Paragraph 1 Schedule 6 Finance Act 2010 and therefore it meets the definition of a charitable company for UK corporation tax purposes.

(r) Going concern

The trustees have agreed a deficit operating budget of £3.5m for 2023-24 and has agreed significant investment into delivering a step-change in fundraising income in future years as part of our strategic plans to move towards financial sustainability. In addition to an annual budget the Board reviews and agrees a 3-year financial model that forecasts income and expenditure, taking into account strategic plans.

Reserves are in place to support the continued investment in the organisation’s DARE strategy and the planned investment in delivering a step-change in fundraising over the next 3 years with the aim of moving towards operational financial sustainability by 2027.

45

Church Army (The) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Notes to the financial statements

(r) Going concern – continued

After making these appropriate enquiries, the Trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. For this reason, they continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing these financial statements.

(s) Financial instruments

The Society holds a variety of basic financial instruments as part of its day-to-day activities, principally investments, bank deposits and accounts, and trade creditors and debtors. The investment managers at times use hedges as part of a cautious investment strategy to reduce the underlying risks in the portfolio, but do not actively seek to invest in hedge funds. The Society has no significant exposure to credit risk, liquidity risk or cash flow risk, and its price risk exposure largely relates to the value of investments. Investments are monitored by an investment committee and cash flow is monitored as part of the financial management of the Society’s operation.

(t) Judgements and estimations policy

Estimates and judgments are continually evaluated and are based on historical experience and other factors, including expectations of future events that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances.

Critical accounting estimates and assumptions:

The charity makes estimates and assumptions concerning the future. The resulting accounting estimates and assumptions will, by definition, seldom equal the related actual results. The present value of the pension schemes both depends on a number of factors that are determined on an actuarial basis using a variety of assumptions. The assumptions used in determining the net cost/income for pensions include the discount rate. Any changes in these assumptions will impact the carrying value of the pension liabilities.

Other key estimates are property values and depreciation. The useful life and residual value of an asset is subject to judgement. Property values are also subject to judgement on their state of repair, future rental yield and estimated cost to sell.

2 Income from donations and legacies

Donations
Legacies		 Group
2023
£000
2,057
260
2,317		 Group
2022
£000
2,406
428
2,834		 Society
2023
£000
1,393
260
1,653		 Society
2022
£000
1,468
428
1,896

In 2023, of the total Group income from donation and legacies, £1,062k (2022: £1,359k) was to unrestricted funds and £1,255k (2022: £1,475k) was to restricted funds. Of the total Society income from donation and legacies, £1,062k (2022: £1,359k) was to unrestricted funds and £591k (2022: £537k) was to restricted funds.

46

Church Army (The) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Notes to the financial statements

3 Income from charitable activities

Group
2023
£000
Fees for services (Housing Benefit)
1,683
Contractual payments
697
Performance related grants (Supporting People)
466
Other statutory grants
-
Research and Training
45
2,891		 Group
2022
£000
1,543
712
455
12
63
2,785		 Society
2023
£000
171
697
215
-
45
1,128		 Society
2022
£000
168
712
205
-
63
1,148

In 2023, of the total Group income from charitable activities, £371k (2022: £394k) was to unrestricted funds and £2,520k (2022: £2,391k) was to restricted funds. Of the total Society income from charitable activities, £371k (2022: £394k) was to unrestricted funds and £757k (2022: £754k) was to restricted funds.

4 Income from other trading activities

Accommodation
Room hire
Catering
Other trading		 Group
2023
£000
282
49
69
-
400		 Group
2022
£000
144
8
27
-
179		 Society
2023
£000
282
25
59
-
366		 Society
2022
£000
144
6
23
-
173

In 2023, of the Group income from other trading activities, £366k (2022: £173k) was attributable to unrestricted funds and £34k (2022: £6k) to restricted funds. All of the Society income from other trading activities, £366k (2022: £173k) was to unrestricted funds.

5 Income from investments – Group and Society

Listed investments
Bank interest
Rental income		 Total
2023
£000
16
-
451
467		 Total
2022
£000
43
1
458
502

In 2023, of the total Group and Society income from investments, £447k (2022: £478k) was to unrestricted funds and £20k (2022: £24k) was to restricted funds.

47

Church Army (The) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Notes to the financial statements

6
Other income
COVID grants
Other		 Group
2023
£000
-
42
42		 Group
2022
£000
42
31
73		 Society
2023
£000
-
41
41		 Society
2022
£000
42
21
63

In 2023, of other Group income, £18k (2022: £53k) was attributable to unrestricted income and £24k (2022: £20k) restricted. Society income, £18k (2022: £53k) was attributable to unrestricted funds and £23k (2022: £10k) to restricted funds.

7 Expenditure on raising funds

Costs of generating voluntary income
Costs of generating trading income
Investment and investment properties
management costs		 Group
2023
£000
431
922
148
1,501		 Group
2022
£000
384
750
142
1,276		 Society
2023
£000
427
849
148
1,424		 Society
2022
£000
281
706
142
1,129

In 2023, of Group expenditure on raising funds, £1,317k (2022: £1,034k) was unrestricted and £184k (2022: £242k) restricted. Society expenditure on raising funds, £1,317k (2022: £1,034k) was unrestricted and £107k (2022: £95k) to restricted funds.

8 Expenditure on charitable activities

Activities
Group
Undertaken
directly
£000
Centres of Mission
1,833
Fresh expressions
47
Other field evangelism
247
Homeless projects
3,280
Training
427
Dean of Community
271
National Operations
297
6,402
2022
5,615		 Support
costs
£000
956
10
189
387
257
143
135
2,077
1,806		 Total
2023
£000
2,789
57
436
3,667
684
414
432
8,479
7,421		 Total
2022
£000
2,563
135
423
2,956
620
362
362
7,421

Of the above costs £3,122k (2022: £2,748k) were attributable to unrestricted funds and £5,357k (2022: £4,673k) were attributable to restricted funds.

48

Church Army (The) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Notes to the financial statements

8 Expenditure on charitable activities (continued)

Activities
Society
Undertaken
directly
£000
Centres of Mission
1,833
Fresh expressions
47
Other field evangelism
247
Homeless projects
123
Training
427
Dean of Community
271
National Operations
268
3,216
2022
3,032		 Support
costs
£000
956
10
189
387
257
143
135
2,077
1,806		 Total
2023
£000
2,789
57
436
510
684
414
403
5,293
4,838		 Total
2022
£000
2,563
135
423
373
620
362
362
4,838

Of the above costs, £3,122k (2022: £2,748k) were attributable to unrestricted funds and £2,171k (2022: £2,090k) were attributable to restricted funds.

9 Allocation of support costs – Group and Society

Senior management

Communications
Administration
(finance/personnel/volunteering/IT)
Strategic development
General unrestricted costs
Welfare
Housing
Total		 Total
2023
£000
343
374
965
155
209
18
13
2,077		 Total
2022
£000
229
245
937
217
154
8
16

1,806

The allocation of support costs is in line with the accounting policy in note 1(e).

10 Other expenditure

Trustee expenses
Auditor’s remuneration		 Group
2023
£000
22
45
67		 Group
2022
£000
5
25
30		 Society
2023
£000
22
45
67		 Society
2022
£000
5
25
30

In both years all the total Group and Society other expenditure was on unrestricted funds.

49

Church Army (The) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Notes to the financial statements

11 Net income/(expenditure) for the year

Net income/(expenditure) is stated after charging/(crediting):
2023 2022
£000 £000
Depreciation of tangible fixed assets 254 274
Auditor’s remuneration – audit 35 18
Auditor’s remuneration – non-audit 10 7

12 Trustees' and key management personnel remuneration and expenses

All 11 (2022: 13) members of the Board who are not Church Army employees (including the Chair) provide their services free of charge, but incurred expenses totalling £8,289 (2022: £4,492) for filing fees, travel costs and residential training costs. As permitted by the Society’s Articles of Association, during the year 3 (2022: 3) members of the Board who are, or were, Church Army employees received emoluments (including benefits in kind but excluding pension contributions) of £154,886 in total (2022: £123,594). 3 Board members benefited from contributions of £18,191 (2022: £15,961 for 2 Board members) to a defined contribution scheme.

The total amount of employee benefits received by key management personnel is £362k (2022: £331k). The Trustees consider its key management personnel compromises of the Senior Leadership Team made up of the Chief Operating Officer, the Director of Mission Operations, the Director of Community & Vocations and the Director of Learning and Development who are salaried employees.

The CEO is also a member of the board so his emoluments and pension contributions are included in both disclosures above.

50

Church Army (The) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Notes to the financial statements

13 Staff costs and employee benefits

The total staff costs and employees’ benefits were as follows:
Wages and salaries
Employer’s NI
Employer’s pension costs
Agency staff costs		 2023
£000
3,850
478
298
4,626
1,234
5,860		 2022
£000
3,783
393
318
4,494
684
5,178

The number of employees who received total employee benefits (excluding employer pension costs of more than £60,000 is as follows:

2023 2022
Number Number
£60,001 - £70,000 - -
£70,001 - £80,000 1 2
£80,001 - £90,000 1 -

Total redundancy and termination payments amount to £30,432 (2022: £25,686).

The average monthly number of employees and full time equivalent (FTE) during the year was as follows:

Raising funds
Charitable activities
Support		 2023
Number
38
152
15
205		 2023
FTE
19
101
7
127		 2022
Number
40
157
18
215		 2022
FTE
20
89
13
122

The above FTE numbers include 3.1 commissioned officers who are employed by the diocese in which they work but are partly or wholly funded by the Society. Part-time or part-funded staff are counted as appropriate fractions of a full-time or fully-funded post.

51

Church Army (The) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Notes to the financial statements

14
Tangible fixed assets
Group
Cost or valuation:
At 1 April 2022
Additions
Revaluation
Transfers to investment property
At 31 March 2023
Depreciation:
At 1 April 2022
Charge for the year
Revaluation
At 31 March 2023
Net book value:
At 31 March 2023
At 31 March 2022
Society
Cost or valuation:
At 1 April 2022
Additions
Revaluation
Transfer to investment property
At 31 March 2023
Depreciation:
At 1 April 2022
Charge for the year
Revaluation
At 31 March 2023
Net book value:
At 31 March 2023
At 31 March 2022		 Land and
Land and
buildings
buildings
Freehold Other fixed
(at cost)
(valuation)
improvements
assets
Total
£000
£000
£000
£000
£000
7,285
976
2,705
1,139
12,105
-
275
-
-
275
-
11
-
-
11

-
(62)
-
-
(62)
7,285
1,200
2,705
1,139 12,329
971
-
1,294
1,133
3,398
97
-
155
2
254
-
-
-
-
-
1,068
-
1,449
1,135
3,652
6,217
1,200
1,256
4
8,677
6,314
976
1,411
6
8,707
Land and
Land and
buildings
buildings
Freehold Other fixed
(at cost)
(valuation)
improvements
assets
Total
£000
£000
£000
£000
£000
5,943
976
2,320
460
9,699
-
275
-
-
275
-
11
-
-
11

-
(62)
-
-
(62)
5,943
1,200
2,320
460
9,923
790
-
1,216
459
2,465
79
-
117
-
196
-
-
-
-
-
869
-
1,333
459
2,661
5,074
1,200
987
1
7,262
5,153
976
1,104
1
7,234

52

Church Army (The) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Notes to the financial statements

14 Tangible fixed assets (continued)

The group has adopted a policy of revaluation for certain classes of tangible fixed assets within land and buildings. They have been valued at the balance sheet date at open market value and on an ‘existing use’ basis based on publicly available data and expertise through our property consultants Bruton Knowles. The Directors have adopted this basis of valuation.

The net book value of land and buildings comprised:

Group
2023
2022
£000
£000
Operational properties (included above)
Freehold
6,777
6,650
Long leasehold
640
640
7,417
7,290
Investment properties (included in investments)
Freehold13,451
14,126
13,451
14,126		 Society
2023
2022
£000
£000
5,634
5,489

640
640
6,274
6,129
13,451
14,126
13,451
14,126

The historic cost equivalent of land and buildings (including investment properties) included at valuation are as follows:

Cost
Depreciation
Net book value		 Group
2023
2022
£000
£000
8,277
7,789
(1,909)
(1,880)
6,368
5,909		 Society
2023
2022
£000
£000
8,277
7,789
(1,909)
(1,880)
6,368
5,909

53

Church Army (The) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Notes to the financial statements

15 Fixed asset investments

Cost or valuation:
At 1 April 2022
Additions
Disposals
Revaluation
Transfer from tangible fixed assets
At 31 March 2023		 Group
Society
2023
2022
2023
2022
£000
£000
£000
£000
20,786
21,355
20,786
21,355
248
9
248
9
(4,156)
(2,713)
(4,156)
(2,713)
(544)
2,135
(544)
2,135
62
-
62
-
16,396
20,786
16,396
20,786

Investments at fair value comprise:

Listed investments
Investment properties		 Group
2023
2022
£000
£000
2,945
6,660
13,451
14,126
16,396
20,786		 Society
2023
2022
£000
£000
2,945
6,660
13,451
14,126
16,396
20,786

Investment properties are revalued every year at the balance sheet date to reflect market value. They have been valued at open market value and on an ‘existing use’ basis based on publicly available data and expertise through our property consultants Bruton Knowles. The Directors have adopted this basis of valuation.

The cost of fixed asset investments is £7,505,636 (2022: £10,824,312).

Principal subsidiaries

Portman House Trust operates the Marylebone Project and Church Army is the sole Trustee. The Trust is a Registered Provider of Social Housing registered with the Tenant Services Authority and registered with the Charity Commission through Church Army (registered number 226226, subsidiary 67).

Waterways Chaplaincy is a registered charity (registered number 1200492) and Church Army is the sole trustee.

The Society has two other subsidiary companies which have been dormant since incorporation and which have no paid-up share capital.

The financial results of the active subsidiaries for the year were:

Name Income Expenditure Profit(Loss) for Net assets
the year
£000 £000 £000 £000
Portman House Trust 2,409 (3,233) (824) 1,075
Waterways Chaplaincy 53 (29) 24 24

54

Church Army (The) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Notes to the financial statements

16
Debtors
Group
2023
2022
£000
£000
Trade debtors
235
271
Other debtors
8
21
Prepayments and accrued income
156
315
Amounts owed by subsidiary undertakings
-
-
399
607
17
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
Group
2023
2022
£000
£000
Trade creditors
189
522
Other tax and social security
118
111
Amounts owed to subsidiary undertakings
-
-
Amount due to Church Army Pension Scheme
(124)
(29)
Other creditors
208
97
Accruals and deferred income
228
261
C of E pension scheme (note 23)
-
47
619
1,009
Deferred income
Opening deferred income
Resources deferred during year
Amounts released from previous years
Closing deferred income
Deferred income relates to grant income received in advance.
18
Creditors: amounts falling due after more than one year
Group
2023
2022
£000
£000
C of E pension scheme (note 23)
-
5
-
5		 Society
2023
2022
£000
£000
207
183
6
19
156
315
296
-
665
517
Society
2023
2022
£000
£000
186
494
118
111
-
364

(124)
(29)
208
97
180
261
-
47

568
1,345
Group
Society
2023
2023
£000
£000
37
37
64
20
(37)
(37)
64
20
Society
2023
2022
£000
£000
-
5
-
5

55

Church Army (The) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Notes to the financial statements

19
Charity Funds – current year
1 April 2022 Income Expenditure Transfers Gains/(losses) 31 March 2023
Unrestricted funds £000 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000
Designated funds
Operational property and other
fixed assets 7,234 - (254) 282 - 7,262
DARE strategy 6,211 546 (1,231) (623) - 4,903
Total designated funds 13,445 546 (1,485) (341) - 12,165
Free reserves 9,372 1,718 (3,021) (1,071) (498) 6,500
Total unrestricted funds 22,817 2,264 (4,506) (1,412) (498) 18,665
Restricted funds
Portman House Trust 1,898 2,409 (2,878) (354) - 1,075
Waterways Chaplaincy - 53 (29) - - 24
Special trusts including linked charity:
Discretionary Grant Fund 952 - (18) - 10 944
Gurney Trust 2,106 - - - 7 2,113
Ketterson 193 - - - (6) 187
Tebbs 169 - - - (4) 165
Other restricted funds including
linked charity:
Retirement fund 1,758 20 (8) - (42) 1,728
Greenwich Centre of Mission 29 - - - - 29
YSRF Small Grant 12 4 (12) - - 4
Amber/Hussey fund - 248 - - - 248
Frontline activities - 751 (2,230) 1,479 - -
Other 128 368 (393) 287 - 390
7,245 3,853 (5,568) 1,412 (35) 6,907
CAPS pension liability - - (2) - 2 -
CoE pension liability (52) - 52 - - -
Total restricted funds 7,193 3,853 (5,518) 1,412 (33) 6,907
Total funds 30,010 6,117 (10,024) - (531) 25,572

56

Church Army (The) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Notes to the financial statements

19
Charity Funds – prior year
Unrestricted funds
Designated funds
Operational property and other
fixed assets
DARE strategy
Total designated funds
Free reserves
Total unrestricted funds
Restricted funds
Portman House Trust
Special trusts including linked charity:
Discretionary Grant Fund
Gurney Trust
Ketterson
Tebbs
Other restricted funds including
linked charity:
Retirement fund
Greenwich Centre of Mission
Frontline activities
Other
CAPS pension liability
CoE pension liability
Total restricted funds
Total funds		 as restated
as restated
1 April 2021
Income
Expenditure
Transfers
Gains/(losses)
31 March 2022
£000
£000
£000
£000
£000
£000
7,327
-
(204)
111
-
7,234
6,670
725
(1,184)
-
-
6,211
13,997
725
(1,388)
111
-
13,445
9,297
1,732
(2,424)
(1,034)
1,801
9,372
23,294
2,457
(3,812)
(923)
1,801
22,817
2,038
2,590
(2,386)
(353)
9
1,898
885
-
(8)
-
75
952
1,964
-
-
-
142
2,106
157
-
-
-
36
193
145
4
-
-
20
169
1,606
20
(15)
-
147
1,758
29
-
-
-
-
29
-
1,240
(2,516)
1,276
-
-
138
62
(60)
-
-
140
6,962
3,916
(4,985)
923
429
7,245
(636)
-
23
-
613
-
(104)
-
52
-
-
(52)
6,222
3,916
(4,910)
923
1,042
7,193
29,516
6,373
(8,722)
-
2,843
30,010

57

Church Army (The) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Notes to the financial statements

19 Charity Funds (continued)

Reserves
Income and expenditure account
Revaluation reserve
Pension reserve
 Group
2023
2022
£000
£000
8,520
11,483
17,052
18,579
-
(52)
25,572
30,010
 Society
2023
2022
£000
£000
7,422
9,584
17,052
18,579
-
(52)
24,474
28,111

The designated funds comprise the amounts tied up in fixed assets (net of any related borrowing) plus an amount set aside for commitment to the DARE strategy.

Portman House Trust, a subsidiary, operates the project for homeless women at Marylebone.

The Discretionary Grants Fund is an amalgamation of various restricted funds for the welfare of current and retired officers and staff.

The Gurney Trust is for the benefit of women in need, and the income from its investments provide additional income for the Marylebone Project.

Ketterson Trust is historically linked with work in Northern Ireland.

Tebbs trust is an historic fund established to support ‘general religious purposes’.

The retirement fund is to support retired officers and widows of commissioned officers, the fund is made up of properties bequeathed to Church Army or subsequent properties purchased with the proceeds, and a small cash holding.

Greenwich Centre of Mission, Frontline activities (money given specifically for frontline activities) and other restricted funds are used to fund specific projects in accordance with the instructions of the donors, settlors or Trustees.

Waterways Chaplaincy activities were acquired from EPI Ltd t/a Workplace Matters on 1 Jan 2023 and integrated them into Church Army - the activities are run through a separate charity of which Church Army is the sole trustee.

YRSF Small Grant is funding received from the Welsh Government to safeguard an Amber Project Support Worker post.

Amber/Hussey fund is a residential property which was donated to Church Army. The income from which is restricted to support the work of the Amber project, although in the event of that project ceasing the monies can be used to support young people in need.

Transfers have been made between funds for the following:

58

Church Army (The) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Notes to the financial statements

20 Special trusts and linked charities

Over many years, Church Army has been appointed to, and continues to administer a number of special trusts, many of which have now expired, but some still exist and are managed in furtherance of the purpose under which they were established.

Within these trusts are two that are linked charities per The Charity Commission website. The Hearn Fund (included within the retirement fund) and The Patterson Holiday Fund (included within the discretionary grant fund). These linked charities and special trusts are combined within the Church Army’s results and are accounted for as a component of restricted funds. Separate accounts are not maintained but are recorded so they can be isolated for monitoring and reporting purposes.

The activity and funds held by each linked charity are as follows:

The Patterson
The Hearn Fund Holiday Fund
£000
£000
Funds at 1 April 2022 205
184
Income -
-
Expenditure -
-
Gains/(losses) 2
2
Funds at 31 March 2023 207
186

21 Analysis of net assets between funds

Unrestricted Restricted
Current year Funds Funds Total
£000 £000 £000
Fixed assets 7,262 1,415 8,677
Investments 12,655 3,741 16,396
Current assets (1,053) 2,171 1,118
Creditors due within one year (199) (420) (619)
Creditors due after more than one year - - -
Total 18,665 6,907 25,572
Unrestricted Restricted
Prior year Funds Funds Total
£000 £000 £000
Fixed assets 7,234 1,473 8,707
Investments 16,175 4,611 20,786
Current assets 342 1,189 1,531
Creditors due within one year (934) (75) (1,009)
Creditors due after more than one year - (5) (5)
Total 22,817 7,193 30,010

59

Church Army (The) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Notes to the financial statements

22 Reconciliation of net income/(expenditure) to net cash flow from operating activities

Group
Net income/(expenditure) for the year
Rents received from investment properties
Income from investments
Depreciation of tangible fixed assets
Losses/(gains) on investments
Donated investment property
Profit on disposal of investments
Movement in defined benefit scheme funding
Movement in CoE pension scheme
Decrease in debtors
Decrease in creditors
Net cash flow used in operating activities
Society
Net income/(expenditure) for the year
Rents received from investment properties
Income from investments
Depreciation of tangible fixed assets
Losses/(gains) on investments
Donated investment property
Profit on disposal of investments
Movement in defined benefit scheme funding
Movement in CofE pension scheme
(Increase)/decrease in debtors
Decrease in creditors
Net cash flow used in operating activities
Analysis of changes in net debt – Group and Society
At 1 April
2022
£000
Short term borrowings
-
Total liabilities
-
Cash at bank
924
Total net debt
924		 Group
Net income/(expenditure) for the year
Rents received from investment properties
Income from investments
Depreciation of tangible fixed assets
Losses/(gains) on investments
Donated investment property
Profit on disposal of investments
Movement in defined benefit scheme funding
Movement in CoE pension scheme
Decrease in debtors
Decrease in creditors
Net cash flow used in operating activities
Society
Net income/(expenditure) for the year
Rents received from investment properties
Income from investments
Depreciation of tangible fixed assets
Losses/(gains) on investments
Donated investment property
Profit on disposal of investments
Movement in defined benefit scheme funding
Movement in CofE pension scheme
(Increase)/decrease in debtors
Decrease in creditors
Net cash flow used in operating activities
Analysis of changes in net debt – Group and Society
At 1 April
2022
£000
Short term borrowings
-
Total liabilities
-
Cash at bank
924
Total net debt
924		 2023
£000
(4,451)
(451)
(16)
254
544
(248)
(85)
-
(52)
208
(343)
(4,640)
2023
£000
(3,650)
(451)
(16)
196
544
(248)
(85)
-
(52)
(148)
(730)
(4,640)
Cash At
Flows
£000
-		 2022
£000
(214)
(458)
(44)
274
(2,135)
-
(116)
(23)
(52)
51
(60)
(2,777)
2022
£000
(75)
(458)
(44)
216
(2,135)
-
(116)
(23)
(52)
58
(148)
(2,777)
31 March
2023
£000
-
-
924		 -
(205)		 -
719
924 (205) 719

60

Church Army (The) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Notes to the financial statements

23 Pensions and other post-retirement benefits

Church Army Pension Scheme (CAPS)

Church Army operates the Church Army Pension Scheme (the Scheme), a UK registered trust based pension scheme that provides defined benefits. Pension benefits are linked to the members' final pensionable salaries and service at their retirement (or date of leaving if earlier). The Trustees are responsible for running the Scheme in accordance with the Scheme's Trust Deed and Rules, which sets out their powers. The Trustees of the Scheme are required to act in the best interests of the beneficiaries of the Scheme.

There are three categories of pension scheme members: Active members: currently employed by the Church Army and accruing benefits in the Scheme Deferred members: former active members of the Scheme who are not yet in receipt of a pension Pensioner members: in receipt of pension.

The Trustees are required to carry out an actuarial valuation every 3 years. The last actuarial valuation of the Scheme was performed by the Scheme Actuary for the Trustees as at 31 March 2020. This valuation revealed a funding shortfall of £657,000.

With effect from 1 April 2021, Church Army agreed to pay annual contributions of £50,000 - split as: £37,500 in respect of the deficit in the Scheme; and 30.6% pensionable salary (expected to average £12,500 per annum over the period of the Recovery Plan) to meet the cost of future accrual of benefits for the remaining active member.

These contributions are expected to be paid until 30 September 2028. Church Army has also agreed to contribute additional payments of £50,000 per annum to meet the expenses of administering the Scheme and the cost of levies, where such expenses are met from the Scheme assets. Church Army therefore expects to pay a total of £100,000 to the Scheme during the accounting year beginning 1 April 2023. A formal actuarial valuation is being carried out for the Trustees as at 31 March 2023.

Church of England Funded Pensions Scheme (CEFPS)

Commissioned staff are members of the Church of England Funded Pensions Scheme administered by the Church of England Pensions Board which holds the assets of the schemes separately from those of the Responsible Bodies. The total contribution to this scheme during the year was £210k (2022: £240k).

Stakeholder Scheme provided by Clerical Medical

The stakeholder scheme was established to meet statutory legislation ruling at the time and provide pension provisions for new and existing employees who were not eligible to join the CEFPS or CAPS schemes. The total contribution to this scheme during the year was £18k (2022: £19k).

Auto-enrolment scheme provided by People’s Pension (B&CE)

The auto-enrolment scheme was established to conform to current legislation regarding the provision of pension opportunities to all qualifying employees. The total contribution to this scheme during the year was £70k (2022: £59k).

The defined contribution expenses are allocated to activities per staff allocation and all expenses and liabilities are allocated to restricted funds.

61

Church Army (The) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Notes to the financial statements

23 Pensions and other post-retirement benefits – continued

Church Army Pension Scheme (CAPS)

The total cost recognised in the period was as follows:

Past service cost
Current service cost
Admin costs, past introductions, changes, curtailments and settlements
Net interest (income)/expense
Recognised in net income/expenditure
Recognised in other (gains)/losses
Total cost recognised
The surplus/(deficit) at the balance sheet date is as follows:
Fair value of plan assets
Present value of funded obligations
Net pension surplus/(deficit)		 2023
£000
6
15
81
-
102
(2)
100
2023
£000
8,017
(7,505)
512		 2022
£000
-
15
50
12
77
(613)
(536)
2022
£000
10,115
(9,581)
534

The net pension surplus in the current year, in accordance with FRS 102, is not recognised in the balance sheet as the company is unable to recover this surplus from the pension scheme.

Changes in the fair value of the pension plan assets were as follows:

Opening plan assets
Interest income
Actual return on plan assets (excluding interest income)
Administration expenses
Contributions by charity
Contributions by scheme participants
Benefits paid
Closing plan assets		 2023
£000
10,115
253
(1,901)
(81)
100
3
(472)
8,017		 2022
£000
9,584
179
693
(50)
100
2
(393)
10,115

62

Church Army (The) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Notes to the financial statements

23 Pensions and other post-retirement benefits – continued

Changes in the present value of the defined benefit obligations were as follows:

Opening defined benefit obligation
Current & past service cost
Interest expense
Contributions by scheme participants
Benefits paid
Actuarial (gains)/losses
Closing defined benefit obligation		 2023
£000
9,581
555
253
3
(472)
(2,415)
7,505		 2022
£000
10,220
15
191
2
(393)
(454)
9,581

The amount that each major class of pension plan assets constitutes of the fair value of the total plan assets was as follows:

Bonds
Cash
Pooled investment vehicle
Liability driven investments
Diversified credit funds
The return on plan assets was as follows:
Interest income
Actual return on plan assets (excluding interest income)
Total return on plan assets
The principal actuarial assumptions used were as follows:
2023
Discount rate
4.7%
RPI inflation
3.2%
CPI inflation
2.8%
Expected rates of salary increases
2.5%
Expected rates of pension increases RPI linked
3.2%
Expected rates of pension increases CPI linked
2.8%
Expected rates of pension increases (5% or RPI if less)
3.1%
Expected rates of pension increases (5% or CPI if less)
N/A		 2023
£000
635
47
3,241
1,704
2,390
8,017
2023
£000
253
(1,901)
(1,648)		 2022
£000
813
(39)
5,015
1,932
2,394
10,115
2022
£000
179
693
872
2022
2.7%
3.8%
3.3%
3.1%
3.8%
3.3%
3.7%
3.2%

63

Church Army (The) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Notes to the financial statements

Mortality after retirement 100% S3PMA_H/100% S3PFA_M 100% S3PMA_H/100%S3PFA_M CMI_2021_M/F [1.25%] (yob) CMI_2021_M/F 1.25% (yob)

Mortality before retirement As per post retirement

As per post retirement

Life expectancy for a current individual aged 65: Males 19.8 (2022: 19.7) Females 23.8 (2022: 23.8)

Church of England Funded Pension Scheme (CEFPS)

The total movements recognised in the period were as follows:
Net interest income/expense
Deficit contribution paid
Re-measurement of the balance sheet liability
Total		 2023
£000
-
(29)
(23)
(52)		 2022
£000
-
(47)
(5)
(52)

Church Army participates in the Church of England Funded Pensions Scheme for stipendiary clergy, a defined benefit pension scheme. This scheme is administered by the Church of England Pensions Board, which holds the assets of the schemes separately from those of the Responsible Bodies.

Each participating Responsible Body in the scheme pays contributions at a common contribution rate applied to pensionable stipends.

The scheme is considered to be a multi-employer scheme as described in Section 28 of FRS 102. This means it is not possible to attribute the Scheme’s assets and liabilities to each specific Responsible Body, and this means contributions are accounted for as if the Scheme were a defined contribution scheme. The pensions costs charged to the SoFA in the year are contributions payable towards benefits and expenses accrued in the year and were £210k (2022: £240k), of which £29k (2022: £47k) were towards the scheme deficit.

A valuation of the Scheme is carried out once every three years. The most recent Scheme valuation completed was carried out at as 31 December 2021. The 2021 valuation revealed a surplus of £560m, based on assets of £2,720m and a funding target of £2,160m, assessed using the following assumptions:

64

Church Army (The) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Notes to the financial statements

Church of England Funded Pension Scheme (CEFPS) continued

Following the 31 December 2018 valuation, a deficit recovery plan was put in place until 31 December 2022 and the deficit recovery contributions (as a percentage of pensionable stipends) were as set out in the table below. An interim reduction to deficit contributions to 3.2% of pensionable stipends was made with effect from 1 April 2022. Following finalisation of the 31 December 2021 valuation, deficit contributions ceased with effect from 1 January 2023, since the Scheme was in surplus.

As at 31 December 2020 and 31 December 2021 the deficit recovery contributions under the recovery plan in force were as set out in the table below.

For senior office holders, pensionable stipends are adjusted in the calculations by a multiple, as set out in the Scheme’s rules.

% of pensionable January 2018 to
January 2021 to
stipends December 2020 December 2022
Deficit repair contributions 11.9% 7.1%

Section 28.11A of FRS 102 requires agreed deficit recovery payments to be recognised as a liability. However, as there are no agreed deficit recovery payments from 1 January 2023 onwards, the balance sheet liability as at 31 December 2022 is nil. The movement in the balance sheet liability over 2021 and over 2022 is set out in the table below.

Opening balance sheet liability
Deficit contribution paid
Interest cost (recognised in SOFA)
Remaining change to the balance sheet liability* (recognised in SOFA)
Closing balance sheet liability
Split of liability:
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year (note 17)
Creditors: amounts falling due after more than one year (note 19)		 2023
£000
52
(29)
-
(23)
-
2023
£000
-
-
-		 2022
£000
104
(47)
-
(5)
52
2022
£000
(47)
(5)
(52)

*Comprises change in agreed deficit recovery plan and change in discount rate and assumptions between year-ends.

65

Church Army (The) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Notes to the financial statements

Church of England Funded Pension Scheme (CEFPS) continued

This liability represents the present value of the deficit contributions agreed as at the accounting date and has been valued using the following assumptions. No assumptions are needed for December 2022 as there are no agreed deficit recovery payments going forward. No price inflation assumption was needed for December 2021 since pensionable stipends for the remainder of the recovery plan were already known:

December December December
2022 2021 2020
Discount rate n/a 0.0% pa 0.2% pa
Price inflation n/a n/a 3.1% pa
Increase to total pensionable payroll n/a -1.5% pa 1.6% pa

The legal structure of the scheme is such that if another Responsible Body fails, Church Army could become responsible for paying a share of that Responsible Body’s pension liabilities.

24 Operating lease commitments

At 31 March 2023 the group had lease agreements in respect of various properties, for which the payments extend over a number of years. The total future minimum lease payments are as follows:

Not later than one year
Later than one and not later than five years
Later than five years		 2023
£000
19
-
-
19		 2022
£000
45
6
-
51

The lease payments recognised as an expense in the year were £51k (2022: £152k).

25 Capital commitments

There are capital commitments of £12k for refurbishment at the Sheffield premises as at 31 March 2023 (2022: £nil).

26 Contingent assets

As at the reporting date, it is probable that an additional legacy of approximately £10k is to be received. This has not been included within accrued income, as although the income is probable and the charity has entitlement, the amount has not yet been confirmed.

A balance is also probable from WITH Community relating to part payment of balances owed, however this distribution has not yet been confirmed. This balance may range from £Nil to £90k.

A further amount is also likely to be received from the previous charitable organisation who ran the Waterways Chaplaincy before it become a new subsidiary charity of Church Army. The maximum amount of this distribution may be £35k but the amount has not yet been agreed and therefore not included within these financial statements.

66

Church Army (The) Year Ended 31 March 2023

Notes to the financial statements

27 Related party transactions

Trustee and key management personnel transactions are disclosed in note 12.

Transactions with the Church Army Pension Scheme (CAPS) are disclosed in note 23. At the year end a balance is due to the scheme of £nil (2022: £nil).

Church Army acts as sole trustee to Portman House Trust and also landlord for two of the three properties which make up the project. The rent for the properties is negotiated on an arm’s length basis using third party professional valuations and on a five yearly review cycle, in the year 2022/23 rent amounted to £234k (2022: £234k). Church Army also apportions some of its own administrative and management costs to the Portman House Trust covering services such as building management, health and safety, accounting and payroll which are calculated on a time basis as is senior management. Group incurred insurance is apportioned based on employee costs. The total of these recharges for the year was £120k (2022: £120k).

67