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2024-12-31-accounts

Trustees’ Annual Report for the Year Ending 31[st] December 2024

Reference and Administrative details: Registered Charity Number: 232264 Trustees: S. Alcorn-Davenport – Chairperson/Website/Facebook Coordinator/Regional Representative A.M. Pegg – Assistant Secretary/Admin J. Pegg – Assistant Secretary/Fundraiser/Cat Hub Events & Admin R. Toothill – Branch Treasurer K. Hunton – Admin and Email Animal Welfare – Retired 31.12.24 L. Griggs – Cat Hub Events Representative/Admin L. Moore – Secretary/Admin/Events/Fundraiser/Education Fosterer/Volunteer coordinator/Animal Welfare Coordinator M. Nicholson – Fundraiser C. Prosser-Fereh-Membership Secretary R. Todd – Facebook/Events Branch Partnership Manager S. Mason (BPM) Principle Address: RSPCA Darlington & District Branch PO Box 200, Richmond North Yorkshire, DL10 9DN Tel: 079723 68602 (Branch answering machine) RSPCA Emergency helpline: 0300 1234 999 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1DFxXJKC9G Web: www.rspca-darlington.org.uk Email: admin@rspca-darlington.org.uk Independent Examiners: Momentum Taxation & Accountancy Ltd Harelands Courtyard Offices Moor Road Melsonby, Richmond, North Yorkshire, DL10 5NY Bankers: Lloyds Bank (General, Clinic and Cat Hub accounts) PO Box 1000, Andover, BX10 1LT Redwood Bank Ltd (Branch reserve funds) Nexus Building Broadway, Letchworth Garden City, SG6 3TA United Trust Bank, (Cat Hub reserve funds) One Ropemaker Street, London, EC2Y 9AW

The Branch Trustees hereby present their Report and Accounts for the Year Ended 31[st] December 2024

Structure, Governance and Management

Governing Document

The Darlington & District Branch is constituted as an unincorporated association, which, operates as an autonomous branch of the National RSPCA subject to its rules for branches. The Branch operates within a national network of organisations that pursue the same, objectives as the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA). The network comprises independent branches operating within a defined geographical area for the purposes of fundraising and the provision of animal care and treatment. A regional structure also exists on a national basis, which provides a team of specialist Inspectors and co-ordinates policies and objectives of the branches. RSPCA National, Regional and Branches meet regularly in pursuit of their common aims.

Recruitment and Responsibilities of the Management Committee

A standard procedure is followed in recruiting Trustees. Nomination papers are sent to every member of the Branch area, with a date for their return. The candidates must have 2 signed members of the Branch as nominees. At the AGM there must be 5 signed members elected by ballot paper for the Branch to be recognised as a committee and at least 5 members should be present at the AGM.

Trustees are elected from eligible Members, at the AGM. They are briefed, about their responsibilities and specific roles which they have been nominated for, at the meeting held after the end of the AGM. The Branch provides an Induction session to explain the role being taken on and new recruits are encouraged to attend the short, online, Induction sessions provided by the National Society which gives guidance on the organisational structure of the RSPCA.

Trustees are volunteers and do not receive any benefits from the charity.

Meetings are held at 6 – 8 weekly intervals usually, to agree the day to day running of the Branch. The Trustees are responsible for the detection and prevention of fraud and other irregular activities. They are also responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy the financial position of the Charity. Trustees actively

review operational, financial and business risks and confirm they have systems to mitigate any potential risks such as:

Financial Review :

General a/c and Clinic a/c income for 2024 - £50,492.99 - (2023 - £89.933.70) General a/c and Clinic a/c expenditure for 2024 - £46,312.72 - (2023 - £80,651.45) Cat Hub a/c income for 2024 - £219,294.69 - (2023 - £146,695.80) Cat Hub a/c expenditure for 2024 - £ 125,496.45 - (2023 - £98,882.77)

Included in the income is the RSPCA “Door to Door” collection figure for 2024 of £21,816.10 which is given by RSPCA National Society, to Branches all over the country, to help enable them to carry out the animal welfare work which they do.

Statement of Trustees’ Responsibilities

The law in England and Wales requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year, which gives a true and fair record of the affairs of the Charity, the incoming resources and application of resources for that period. In preparing these financial statements the Trustees are required to:

Reserves Policy & Investment

The policy of the Branch is to maintain 12 - 18 months unrestricted expenditure. As the Charity relies on donations and legacies, which can fluctuate year to year, it is felt prudent to maintain these reserves at this level so, to continue the animal welfare work carried out by the Branch. The committee has agreed the sum of £60,000 should be held in the Lloyds Bank account for general day to day running of the Branch and £40,000 has been invested with the Redwood Bank as reserves for the Branch. The RSPCA Cat Hub Steering Group agreed a figure of £60,000 to be held in their Lloyds Bank account for general day to day activities and a reserve of £80,000 has been invested with the United Trust Bank as reserves. These figures are discussed at Branch and Cat Hub meetings to ensure the animal welfare work remains viable

Aims & Objectives

Focusing on our work and why we do it

The main object of the Branch is to promote the work of the National RSPCA Society in promoting kindness and preventing cruelty to animals by all lawful means, within our Branch area in accordance with the policies of the Society.

The Trustees review the outcomes and achievements of the Branch objectives and activities throughout the year to ensure they remain focussed on the Charity’s aims and continue to deliver benefits to the public and animals in need. The Trustees have complied with the duty under the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to public benefit guidance published by the Charity Commission which can be illustrated as follows:

You can find our Inspectorate 2024 annual report on our RSPCA Darlington & District Branch website, after the Annual General Meeting in June: www.rspcadarlington.org.uk

Honeypot Gardens in Brompton-on-Swale, very kindly gave the Branch lots of lovely plants in 2024, to sell on our stalls to help raise funds so we could help more animals.

RSPCA Cat Rehoming Hub

Our Inspectorate rescue many cats from RSPCA Darlington Branch area and from the other 2 areas which support the Cat Hub financially. These cats/kittens are placed in the RSPCA Cat Rehoming Hub where fosterers care for them until they find a new home. There have been 95 cats and kittens in foster care during some months in the 2024 kitten season, keeping Inspectors, Cat Hub staff and volunteers very busy.

There are currently 28 active volunteers, most of whom are foster carers but others take on roles such as, driving, event organising, social media, website, home checkers and administration.

The volunteers raised £8877.61 at events during 2024 and they are gratefully thanked for their continuous work.

Our local Inspectorate

The RSPCA local Inspectorate Team covers a very large area of Durham, Bishop Auckland, Newton Aycliffe, Stockton, Middlesbrough, Barnard Castle, Sunderland, Hartlepool, Darlington and Richmond and all the villages in between. Day to day activities include rescuing, abused, abandoned and neglected animals, placing them within foster care and RSPCA centres, from which they are, rehabilitated and rehomed when the time is right for that animal.

Time given by our Trustees and Volunteers was accrued across the year by:

RSPCA Summary of Animal Welfare 2024 – RSPCA Cat Rehoming Hub & Darlington Branch

Darlington Branch area had the following uptake for welfare assistance from the general public, as well as the number of cats/kittens which were rescued by our Inspectors and taken to our Cat Hub where they are lovingly cared for until they are ready for adoption.

Dogs Cats Rabbits Other Total
Welfare Assistance 33 229 4 0 266
Welfare Neutering 33 200 0 0 233
Feral Cats 53
53
Micro-chipping 10 122 0 2 134
Home Visits 1 109 0 0 110

Future Plans

During 2025 we aim to engage in the following activities

Special Thank Yous and Acknowledgement

Thank you to Karen Hunton, our animal welfare email administrator for the past 6 years and Patrick Brown who’s collected hundreds of kilos of animal food. Both are retired now.

Thanks, as always, go to Mark Gent our Chief Inspector and his busy team, for the incredible animal welfare work they carry out on a day-to-day basis.

Our BPM Sarah Mason worked incredibly hard throughout the year giving invaluable advice and guidance to the Branch and Cat Rehoming Hub, as well as her other branches.

Thank you to our 2 Cat Hub members of staff for their dedication to the work.

We would also like to thank all Veterinary Surgeries who work alongside us for the benefit of animal welfare.

Many thanks to our Branch Trustees, Volunteers and Cat Hub Volunteers who’s unpaid work equates to 4 full time paid workers across the year. Without the help of dedicated volunteers and the generous public, branches could not carry out the animal welfare work which they do, so THANK YOU to everyone involved.

Volunteer Enquiries

If you would like to help us in any way please contact: Email: admin@rspca-darlington.org.uk Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1DFxXJKC9G

Our 2024 Branch Annual Report and Accounts, the RSPCA Cat Hub Report and Accounts and Durham & Cleveland Inspectorate Annual Report will be available to view in June on our website. www.rspca-darlington.org.uk

On behalf of the Trustees, I would like to thank everyone for their ongoing support. L. Moore. RSPCA Darlington & District Branch.

RSPCA CAT REHOMING HUB ANNUAL REPORT 2024

Introduction to the RSPCA Cat Rehoming Hub

The RSPCA Cat Rehoming Hub (Cat Hub) formed in April 2018 and is now in its 6th year of operation. The Cat Hub takes cats and kittens rescued by RSPCA Officers from the areas that fund the project.

Why we do it

The Cat Hub is a project developed to meet a need in the Tees Valley, Darlington and South Durham and North Yorkshire areas. Numerous cats were being rescued by our national RSPCA Inspectors and placed into private boarding establishments when the animal centres were full, and there they stayed unable to be rehomed. To try and improve the situation of these cats, local RSPCA branches came together to fund the development of a Cat Hub.

The Cat Hub is funded by three local branches of Middlesbrough and Teesside, Northallerton and Thirsk and Darlington and District branch who also take on the administration role of the Cat Hub on behalf of all the three contributing branches. During 2024 the Cat Hub also received funding from the National RSPCA for the first 90 days of a cat or kittens’ stay with us.

Since it began in September 2018, the Cat Hub has rehomed 1879 cats and kittens and in 2024 264 cats and kittens have been rehomed. All being well, if we continue to rehome at a similar rate each year, the Cat Hub will reach a fantastic 2000 cats and kittens rehomed by the end of 2025!.

In 2024, the Cat Hub admitted into foster care a total of 264 cats, of those 116 cats were from Darlington, 53 from Middlesbrough, 66 from North Tees and 40 from Northallerton. Sadly, 10 were euthanized following Veterinary advice and one died.

What we do

The Cat Hub takes cats and kittens in that are collected by RSPCA Officers. The range of cats include those who have been abandoned including owners who have moved away and left their cats behind and those who have died, injured stray cats, welfare cases and those that have been signed over by their owners who have been unable to meet their health and welfare needs.

Cats and kittens received into the care of the Cat Hub have health checks completed by local vets and appropriate treatment is carried out along with regular flea and wormer treatments and vaccinations to ensure that the cats are in the best health they can be. Occasionally some cats require life long treatments for some illnesses and in those cases agreement is sought from the funding branches to continue to pay for that treatment when the cat is rehomed.

The Cat Hub also helps branches with Trap Neuter and Release (TNR) programmes for feral cats. In 2024 the Cat Hub helped 49 feral cats. 47 were returned to site or relocated to be fed and monitored by people in the local community. One was euthanized following Veterinary advice and one died.This can be broken down as 8 from Middlesbrough Branch area, 3 from North Tees branch, 18 came from Northallerton branch and 20 came from the Darlington branch area.

The charts show us that although not many cats came in via the Inspectorate from Northallerton in 2024, the branch was actually very active with TNR due to its more rural area. Also although the majority of cats came in from Darlington, the branch were also very active at TNR to hopefully reduce these figures in the future.

How we do it

Initially, the Cat Hub rented pods in a cattery just outside of Darlington and had 5 foster carers for those cats that did not do well in a cattery environment. For a number of reasons including financial constraints and the impact of covid, the Cat Hub moved from being cattery focussed

care to foster focussed care. This is better for the cats and kittens as they become socialised in a normal family setting, in line with best practice.

During 2024, the Cat Hub had 48 volunteers registered with them although due to personal commitments etc, not all were fully active at the same time. The volunteers can be broken down into:

The volunteers are supported by two employees. One is a full time Cat Rehoming Coordinator and the other a part time driver. The driver delivers food and litter to the foster carers and transports cats between their foster homes and vet clinics, for appointments. They also collect donations from the public from the collection bins placed in local supermarkets and veterinary clinics.

Home checking

The Cat Hub continues to conduct virtual home checks, using online facilities, to rehome the cats and kittens in their care. There is still an option for home visits to be conducted, for those that request it due to IT problems etc. In total 264 home checks were completed in 2024 by our volunteer home checker.

The home checking role is integral to the successful rehoming of cats. The information gathered during the process is fed back to the Rehoming Coordinator and is reviewed to ensure that the home meets the five basic welfare needs of the cats and kittens and to ensure that people are fully aware of the responsibility of adopting a cat.

Our lead home checker, who is also a volunteer, has put a training pack together to train up other volunteers who are keen to take on the role in the future. We currently have 3 volunteers trained as home checkers.

Volunteer Recruitment

We continue to recruit volunteers to carry out a variety of roles within the Cat Hub including fosterers, (we particularly need fosterers for our older cats), drivers, event helpers, home checkers and volunteers to help with our social media platforms.

Social media activities

We continue to regularly post about cats available for adoption on both Facebook and Instagram, using as much content as the fantastic foster carers provide us with.

Our media posts are a mix of adoption updates, “thank you’s” and pleas for donations, event promotion, calls for more fosterers and fundraising posts. We also actively engage with the followers on our page and by doing so hope to increase the outreach of our page and cats.

In 2024, the social media team consisted of three volunteers.

Please pay us a visit on www.catHub.co.uk Facebook.com/rspcacatrehoming www.instagram.com/rspca_cat_Hub www.tiktok.com/@rspca_cat_Hub

Fundraising activities

To supplement the funding provided by the four branches, volunteers from the Cat Hub also engage in other forms of fundraising for example:

In 2024 the events team attended 24 community events raising a total of £2349.08 from tombolas, raffles and preloved items. The community events took place across all of the geographical areas of the funding branches.

We also introduced our monthly Pop Up Cafe at Northallerton Town Hall, which raised £4243.

During 2024, £907.97 was made from selling donated items via media platforms such as ebay and market place.

Our online fundraising activities have also raised £10,444.58 during 2024. This has been achieved through Crowdfunder and Just giving appeals, easy fundraising, One lottery and DONR.

A grant of £10,000 awarded by Pets Foundation was used to pay vet fees for the cats and kittens in our care.

Donations

As well as financial donations, we also received donations of food, litter, treats and non food related items. These donations were made at one of our many donations points including:

In 2024 we received donations to the value of £9,678

As well as donations of food from members of the public, some of our fosterers donated by providing food and litter to the cats and kittens in their care at no cost to the Cat Hub. During 2024, the fosterers had donated to the value of £2473.14 in food and litter.

Pets at Home VIP vouchers received via RSPCA Darlington and District Branch also contributed £3,000 worth of food and litter for the cats and kittens in our care.

The Cat Hub would like to say a big Thank You to everyone who supported, donated and contributed to its’ success in 2024.

Plans for the future

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United Trust 80000 80000
Cash atBank 836837921128893 224497 2A251?,
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Tradecreditors -3176 -31?6 -3882
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CollectionBoxes 313 313 727
DonationsGeneral 5594 5594 4089
Door Grant 21816 21818 23094
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613

432A
589
lnvestment lncome 1612 1612 10s6
Legacy
Cat Hub
trnn 500 7131
500
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41713 41713 41505

Vet's &lfllelfareCharges 6917 6917 12225
lnsurance 823 823
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Audit&Accountancy
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158
151
Budget expenses 2423 4nrtr 3048
Shildon '1605 4An(
Fostering 1484
Officecosts 777 777 1455
Donations 22464 22464 15551

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Lottery
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4474
30000
447*

71000
4383
Boarding
Adoption
Fundraising
loJu6
8542
26308
8842

632s
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2571
Grant 10000
Other income 130
CareContributionFund 1 18145 118145
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Vet'sCharges 39455 39455 36646
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Boarding
Office costs
Accountancy
38025
14824
3552
3700
3802534605
10824sB77
3552
1716
3700
3138
Roomhire 135
Marketing
ProfessionalFees
Volunteer expenses
385
1335
22*4
385
1335
22*4
334
3484
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99479 99479 87555
$uRPLUST{DEFICTT}FORYEAR 120585 5023S