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2023-12-31-accounts

The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual report and consolidated financial statements

Company limited by guarantee (no 225457) Registered charity (no 247647) Date: 31 December 2023

The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

Contents

VISION STATEMENT ......................................................................................................................................... 2 LEGAL OBJECTS ................................................................................................................................................ 3 STRATEGIC REPORT .......................................................................................................................................... 3 STRATEGIC AIMS AND OBJECTIVES FOR THE YEAR ............................................................................................... 3 ACTIVITIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE YEAR ..................................................................................................... 4 FUTURE PLANS ..................................................................................................................................................... 8 FINANCIAL REVIEW ............................................................................................................................................. 10 PRINCIPAL RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES .............................................................................................................. 12 STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT............................................................................................13 SUMMARY INFORMATION ABOUT THE STRUCTURE OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND ........................................ 13 ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE .......................................................................................................................... 14 DIRECTORS’ RESPONSIBILITIES ........................................................................................................................16 STATEMENT OF DISCLOSURE TO THE AUDITORS ............................................................................................... 17 APPOINTMENT OF AUDITOR .............................................................................................................................. 17 ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS ..............................................................................................................................18 ATTENDANCE OF DIRECTORS AT MEETINGS IN 2023 ......................................................................................... 19 INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF THE BLACKBURN DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE LIMITED ..........................................................................................................................................................20 STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES ...........................................................................................................23 INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT ...........................................................................................................25 BALANCE SHEET ..............................................................................................................................................26 CASH FLOW STATEMENT .................................................................................................................................27 NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS .........................................................................................................28

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The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

VISION STATEMENT

Vision 2026 is an agenda for growth and change to see ‘Healthy Churches Transforming Communities’ across the Diocese of Blackburn in our centenary year of 2026.

The Vision was launched in 2015 when the Diocese of Blackburn made a bold strategic decision to change and to grow through the priorities of: • Making Disciples for Jesus Christ • Being Witnesses for Jesus Christ • Growing Leaders for Jesus Christ • Prioritising Work Among Children, Young People and Schools.

Over the course of 2020 the Diocese engaged in a ‘Vision Update’ through which we sought to identify what is going well and where the challenges are as we seek to realise our Vision of seeing ‘Healthy Churches Transforming Communities’.

Vision 2026 sets before the churches of Lancashire a profound belief in the power of the Gospel to transform lives and communities and expresses a firm commitment to maintaining clergy numbers and investing in the mission of the local church.

Our updated Vision 2026 building blocks are:-

Making disciples of Jesus Christ

Being witnesses to Jesus Christ

Growing leaders for Jesus Christ

Inspiring children and young people

The Diocesan Vision Prayer

Heavenly Father, we embrace Your call for us to make disciples, to be witnesses, to grow leaders and to inspire children and young people. Give us eyes to see Your vision, ears to hear the prompting of Your Spirit and courage to follow in the footsteps of your Son, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

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The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

The Directors of the Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited (BDBF), who are the Trustees for the purpose of charity law, present their annual report, together with the audited financial statements, for the year ended 31 December 2023.

The directors and trustees are one and the same and in signing as trustees they are also signing the strategic report sections in their capacity as directors.

This combined report satisfies the legal requirement for:

LEGAL OBJECTS

The BDBF’s principal objective is to promote, assist and advance the work of the Church of England, primarily but not exclusively in the Diocese of Blackburn, by acting as the financial executive of the Blackburn Diocesan Synod.

The BDBF has the following statutory functions:

STRATEGIC REPORT

STRATEGIC AIMS AND OBJECTIVES FOR THE YEAR

The main role of the BDBF is to identify and manage the financial aspect of the provision of the ministry within the Diocese, so as to provide appropriate personnel and financial resources to assist the Diocesan Synod, Bishop’s Council, deaneries and parishes to further the mission and strategic priorities in the Diocese.

Vision 2026 is an agenda for growth and change to see ‘Healthy Churches Transforming Communities’ across the Diocese of Blackburn in our centenary year of 2026. The Vision was launched in 2015 and updated in 2020.

The next phase of the implementation plan is available from our website at: https://www.blackburn.anglican.org/vision-update.

The Directors are aware of the Charity Commission's published guidance on the public benefit requirement in general and, more particularly, in ‘The Advancement of Religion for the Public Benefit' and have had regard to it in their administration of the BDBF.

The Directors believe that, by carrying out these objectives and in promoting the work of the Church of England in the Diocese of Blackburn, the BDBF helps to promote the whole mission of the Church (pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical) more effectively, both in the Diocese as a whole and in its individual parishes, and that in doing so it provides a benefit to the public by:

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The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

ACTIVITIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE YEAR

Vision 2026 consists of the four major building blocks of the Vision and below are the activities planned against each and the outcomes achieved:

Making Disciples including:

In relation to our main objectives of Making Disciples of Jesus Christ we:

Being Witnesses including:

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The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

In relation to our main objectives of Being Witnesses to Jesus Christ:

Growing Leaders including:

In relation to our main objectives of Growing Leaders for Jesus Christ we:

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The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

Inspiring Children and Young People including:

In relation to our main objectives of Inspiring Children and Young people for Jesus Christ we:

Commissioned the Board of Education to enable development through:

Full details of the activities carried out are contained within Blackburn Diocesan Board of Education Trustee Report.

During 2023 the BDBF also:

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The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

contribution request, Parish Share meetings were able to reduce Share requests for a number of parishes from the parish support fund.

The actions outlined above were enabled through a range of administrative and legal functions ensuring that the priorities identified within Vision 2026 were facilitated whilst maintaining good governance.

Personnel

The Directors are thankful for everyone who contributes to the life of the Diocese and to the parishes for their continuing financial support. The directors would like to express particular thanks to all the staff serving the BDBF, to our clergy for their leadership during 2023 and to the PCCs for their ongoing commitment this last year. The Directors are thankful to God, for those parishes that continued to contribute their parish share in 2023 despite difficult economic conditions.

Related parties

The BDBF must comply with Measures passed by the General Synod of the Church of England. It pays a donation based on an apportionment system for funding national training of ordinands and the activities of the various national boards and councils, as well as General Synod. The BDBF receives a grant from funds managed by the Church Commissioners. The BDBF pays for clergy stipends through the Church Commissioners. The stipends of the Diocesan and Suffragan Bishops are borne by the Church Commissioners.

The BDBF pays retirement contributions for stipendiary clergy and some employees to the Church of England Pensions Board.

The BDBF is required by Measure to be custodian trustee in relation to PCC property, but the Company has no control over PCCs, which are independent charities. The accounts of PCCs and deaneries do not form part of these financial statements.

PCCs can influence decision-making within the BDBF at Diocesan Synod level through representations to those bodies and through the input of Deanery Synods.

Blackburn Cathedral.

The Cathedral is a separate entity to the BDBF but is engaged in many shared missional aims and activities. The Cathedral is the seat of the Diocesan Bishop

•

Blackburn Diocesan Board of Education

The Board of Education is a registered charity, which has responsibility for 190 Church schools across the Diocese and is responsible for the largest number of voluntary aided schools in the country. It provides pastoral and professional support to all its schools and has particular commitment to enhancing the quality of provision for Religious Education, collective worship and the spiritual, moral, social, and cultural development of all pupils. The Board of Education also

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The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

supports parishes on children’s work and youth work and has responsibility for chaplains in universities in the diocese.

There are three trusts that serve the diocesan church schools. These are Cidari, Learning Together Trust and The Bay Learning Trust. Each trust has members taken from corporate offices of the Church of England within the Diocese of Blackburn.

FUTURE PLANS

We will continue to work on the implementation of Vision 2026 and seek to apply for further National Church funding to support the mission and ministry of the diocese. This will include monies to transform the diocese following the missional and financial flourishing process, monies to support curacies and other funds that might meet the missional goals of the BDBF.

We will continue to support each strand of Vision 2026.

Making Disciples of Jesus Christ

The Making Disciples team will help people to move on in their spiritual formation through:

Being Witnesses to Jesus

The Being Witnesses team will encourage authentic witnesses in the following ways:

Growing Leaders for Jesus Christ

The Growing Leaders Team is committed to facilitating the supply of an abundance of theologically literate lay and ordained leaders who, with a ministry rooted in prayer and a deep love of the Lord Jesus, can support the growth of healthy churches and transform communities. The team will do this by:

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The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

Inspiring Children and Young people for Jesus Christ

We support the Diocesan commitment to Inspiring Children and Young people for Jesus Christ continuing in partnership with the Blackburn Diocesan Board of Education.

The DBE will enable and support parishes to inspire children and young people by:

Full details of the future activities are contained within the BDBE Trustees report.

Enablers

There is additional work completed by the central team on missional and financial flourishing. This focusses on work with deaneries to look for opportunities for growth and direct work with parishes through the Parish Renewal programme. The Parish Renewal programme engaged with 29 parishes in 2023, of which 17 were inducted onto the programme during the course of the year.

In addition to our general support for parishes

POST BALANCE SHEET EVENTS

The Strategic Mission and Ministry Investment Board of National Church has backed plans for a £25.5 million investment a programme of renewal in the Diocese over nine years starting in 2024, with £12 million in the first phase (2024-2026/7) and £13.5 million (agreed in principle) for further stages of work and subject to evaluation of progress.

In August 2024 there was adverse publicity for an associated charity around a historic safeguarding issue previously reported to the charity commission. This has been reported again to the charity commission due to the risk of reputational harm from the publicity.

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The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

FINANCIAL REVIEW

Financial performance

The financial performance of the Charity in 2023 was considered satisfactory.

The operational deficit on the unrestricted funds was £0.438m and was met from free reserves.

Total Income
Total Direct Expenditure
Net Income/ (Expenditure) before investments
Expenditure in / transfers to other funds from unrestricted
fund
Operational Deficit		 General
Designated
Total
Unrestricted
£'000
£'000
£'000
9,337
98
9,435
(3,828)
(162)
(3,990)
5,509
(64)
5,445
(5,589)
(294)
(5,883)
(80)
(358)
(438)

The operational deficit excludes the net movement on the group’s restricted funds (£854,000), endowment funds (£3,915,000) and net gain on unrestricted investments (£516,000) included in the group net movement in funds £3,139,000.

Parish share, the money given by Parishes to the BDBF to fund the mission and ministry of the Diocese, was again the principal source of funding in 2023. This increased by £0.25m to £7.88m (2022: £7.63m) . The Directors thank parishes for their contributions during the year, and especially those parishes able to meet their share request in full and those that make their parish share payments by monthly instalments.

The provision for outstanding parish share at the year end is £7.55m (2022: £7.42m) .

Total income for the group (including parish share) before revaluation adjustments totalled £16.35m (2022 : £16.99m) , a decrease of £0.64m. Included in the total income figure are gains on the disposal of fixed assets of £1.87m (2022: £2.17m) .

Expenditure for the group amounted to £14.83m (2022: £15.06m) , a decrease of £0.23m. Included in these figures are losses on disposal and impairment of fixed assets of £150,000 (2022: £4,000).

The group Statement of Financial Activities (SOFA) for the year shows net income of £1.52m (2022: £1.94m ) before net gains and losses on the revaluation of investments. This is a decrease of 0.42m on the previous year.

After revaluation adjustments, the net movement in total funds amounted to an increase of £3.14m (2022: decrease of £0.76m) , which results in a total fund balance of £75.57m (2022: £72.43m) .

The net movement in unrestricted funds is an increase of £0.08m (2022: a decrease of £0.81m) , which results in a general fund balance of £8.91m (2022: £8.52m) and designated fund balance of £2.67m (2022: £2.98m) . The net movement in unrestricted funds is made up of the operational deficit £0.44m and net gain on unrestricted investments of £0.52m.

Balance Sheet Position

While the net assets on the group balance sheet total £75.57m ( 2022: £72.43m ), included in this total are freehold land and buildings which are primarily used for ministry totalling £43.37m ( 2022: £40.23m ). Much of the remainder is held in restricted or endowment funds. In 2023 the defined benefit pension deficit is zero ( 2022: zero ).

Significant Property Transactions

During the year we purchased five future parsonages and five curate and associate vicar houses totalling £4.42m. Nine of the houses were purchased from the restricted pastoral fund for £4.07m and one from endowment funds for £0.34m. Sale proceeds were received for one vicarage and six curate houses total of £2.92m. The profit from the sales added £1.45m into restricted funds. One redundant church was marked for demolition, reducing its value in the accounts by £0.1m.

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The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

Investment Performance

The Charity does not receive its donations evenly throughout the year. Some donations or funding grants received are held for a period prior to them being required for expenditure. The charity utilises NatWest reserve accounts and CCLA for cash investments.

The Board requests a member of CCLA to annually attend a meeting of the Investment Committee to update them on the Board’s investment position. The Investment Committee meets at least four times a year to review policy and performance. The Board invests in the CCLA Deposit, Investment and Property Funds which again performed satisfactorily over the year in the context of comparator benchmarks for the sector. In 2023 the capital value of our investments recovered by around 15% after a significant fall in 2022. However, this is still below the value of the investments at the end of 2021. The Board also manages glebe on behalf of the BDBF.

The total value of investments and deposits (excluding cash and investment property) at 31 December 2023 was £28.12m (2022: £25.53m) and the return on investment was 3.5% (2022: 2.9%). (Income divided by average capital value).

The total value of investment property at 31 December 2023 was £1.54m (2022: £1.80m ) and the return on investment was 1.8% (2022: 1.8%). (Net rental income divided by average capital value).

Investment Policies

The BDBF’s investment policies are based on two key policies:

Ethical investment – the BDBF seeks to pursue an investment policy consistent with the values of the Christian faith. This is achieved by investing in CCLA who follow the policies of the Church of England’s Ethical Investment Advisory Group which are kept under review by the Investment Committee. For the past few years, the Diocesan investment partner has operated a policy of not investing in industries that are directly or indirectly drawing revenue from fossil fuel activity. This policy is already in place and will continue to be going forward as we seek to meet a 2030 target.

Long-term responsibilities – the Directors are aware of their long-term responsibilities in respect of endowed funds and as a result follow a correspondingly prudent approach to investment decisions.

Investment policy for long-term funds is aimed primarily at generating a sustainable income with due regard to the need for preservation of capital value and the possible need to realise investments to meet operational needs. The glebe investments are held for the purpose of raising income to achieve the maximum contribution possible towards clergy stipends on an ongoing basis. Unrestricted and restricted funds are invested to balance income, liquidity and the reimbursement of capital.

Environmental Impact

The diocese has begun work on reducing its carbon output with the aspiration to reach net carbon zero by 2030. In line with this aspiration, the DBF will report on its annual CO2 emissions and plans to reduce its carbon footprint. The emissions for 2023 based on energy bills were as follows:

Gas (kwh) Electric (kwh) CO2 Emissions
(Tonnes Per Year)
Clayton House energy consumption 80,787 74,585 37.2
Whalley Abbey energy consumption 297,341 60,002 76.9
St Philip’s Centre - 86,000 22.8

Strategies to reduce the carbon footprint:

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The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

Reserves Policy

The Directors have reviewed the charity’s needs for reserves in line with the guidance issued by the Charity Commission. The BDBF has considerable responsibilities, including the remuneration and housing of, on average, 185 parochial stipendiary clergy and is reliant on the contributions from the parishes of the Diocese. The BDBF aims to maintain a level of free reserves for income risk of 4% of three years forecast budgeted parish share, DBF fees and rental income and at least three months’ Parish Share budgeted expenditure as working capital. This will be held within the unrestricted funds (excluding fixed assets and clergy pension deficit). This is considered sufficient to cover short-term cash outflows, cushion non-receipt of Parish Share and any reduction of income from DBF Fees and rental income. The level of free reserves required for this policy is £5.4m.

This policy is reviewed annually considering the future and risks of the BDBF in its setting.

The level of free reserves at 31 December 2023 was £7.3m this is in excess of the policy by £1.9m. This excess will to be used to fund the budgeted deficits for 2024 and 2025. In addition to this the charity has successfully bid for strategic mission and ministry investment funding from National Church in 2024. The Directors are confident in the steps taken to ensure the future going concern of the organisation.

There are several designated funds totalling £2.67m and the material ones are listed in note 24 on page 47. These funds are, in the main, held to fund future opportunities for the BDBF. They are reviewed regularly for appropriateness and levels.

The BDBF also administers a number of restricted and endowment funds that are held in specific trusts under charity law and are not available for general purposes. As at 31 December 2023 charity’s restricted funds totalled £11.72m and endowment funds totalled £49.18m. The group’s restricted funds totalled £12.34m and endowment funds totalled £51.66m. A description of each reserve, together with the intended use of the fund is set out in notes 25 and 26 of the financial statements on pages 48 to 50.

Grant making policy

Grants are made to the National Church to cover a proportion of its central costs and the cost of training for ministry (see note 10 to the financial statements). Grants are paid to other connected charities and to other charitable projects which appear to the Board to support the furtherance of the BDBF’s objectives (see note 16 to the financial statements).

Fundraising

Most of the funds raised by the BDBF are from other charities. We provide support and advice to parishes with their fundraising and raise some funds for other charities as part of the Bishop’s Harvest appeal or from the congregation at Visitations. At Ordination services funds raised for the BDBF are restricted to support those undergoing ordination training. We encourage online giving by the use of give.net. There is minimal fundraising from the public by the BDBF and this is normally at church services, not by direct marketing or using external fundraisers. We have not received any complaints from the public in relation to our fundraising activities.

PRINCIPAL RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES

The Directors of the charitable company have overall responsibility for ensuring that the Charity has an appropriate system of controls, financial and otherwise. The systems of internal control are designed to provide reasonable, but not absolute, assurance against material misstatement or loss. They include:

The Directors have a programme of risk management to assess and document business risks and implement risk management strategies. This involves assessing the types of risks the charity faces, prioritising them in terms of potential impact and likelihood of occurrence, and identifying means of mitigating the risks. This process draws on ongoing consideration of business risk, which already forms a significant aspect of the Directors’ duties, scrutiny by the Audit, Risk and Governance Committee

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The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

(ARG) and of the annual meeting with the Auditors, to discuss financial and internal control issues. There is no internal audit function as it is not considered an efficient use of the resources of the charity. The risk register has been fully restructured to ensure better monitoring of risk and cascaded responsibility for risk management by department. The risk register continues to be reviewed on a sixmonthly basis by the ARG and material changes notified to the directors.

Key Risks

The key risks, which may impact on the charitable company, include:

  1. Parish Share receipts fail to increase in line with medium term budgetary projections – the risk is that the BDBF is unable to meet its objectives due to financial constraints. This may be exacerbated by the ongoing debates around Living in Love and Faith and the threat of parishes withholding parish share in consequence.

Existing pressures are:

Existing Controls

Controls:

RWA has stabilised more in 2023

  1. Insufficient care for those who are survivors of abuse or those under investigation leading to selfharm.

Controls:

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

SUMMARY INFORMATION ABOUT THE STRUCTURE OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND

The Church of England is the established church with HM The King as the Supreme Governor.

It is organised into two provinces each led by an archbishop (Canterbury for the Southern Province and York for the Northern) and 42 dioceses. Each diocese is a See under the care of a bishop who is charged with the cure of souls of all the people within that geographical area.

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The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

A diocese is divided into archdeaconries, deaneries, benefices and parishes. Benefices may comprise single or multiple parishes and are overseen by a parish priest (usually called a vicar, rector or priestin-charge). The parish priests are responsible for the ‘cure of souls’ in their parish.

The Church of England is governed nationally by General Synod as its legislative and deliberative body. It comprises ex-officio and elected representatives from each diocese, and it agrees and lays before Parliament measures for the governance of the church’s affairs, which, if enacted by Parliament, have the force of statute law. Blackburn Diocese currently has 5 elected clergy members and 6 elected lay members of General Synod. They were elected in 2021 for a period of five years.

In addition to the General Synod, the Archbishops’ Council has a coordinating role for the work authorised by the Synod; the Church Commissioners manage the historic assets of the Church of England; and the Church of England Pensions Board administers the pension schemes for clergy and some lay workers.

Within each diocese, overall leadership lies with the Diocesan Bishop, who exercises that leadership as Bishop in the Diocesan Synod which is the statutory governing body of the Diocese.

Whilst each Diocese is a separate legal entity, with a clear responsibility for a specific geographical area, being part of the Church of England requires and enables each Diocese to seek support from and application for partnership with neighbouring Dioceses.

The Diocese of Blackburn was created in 1926. It has an area of 988 square miles and encompasses Lancashire with a few parishes in Wigan Metropolitan Borough. The overall population is approximately 1.3 million within urban and rural areas.

The Diocese of Blackburn has two archdeaconries (Blackburn and Lancaster), each the responsibility of an archdeacon. Each archdeaconry has seven deaneries with a number of benefices/parishes grouped geographically. An area dean has oversight of the deanery and each deanery has its own synod. Within each parish there is a body called the parochial church council which is made up of parish priest as chair, the churchwardens, curate and Licensed Lay Ministers if applicable, and a number of elected members. Each parochial church council is a separate charity.

The Cathedral is the mother church of the Diocese, an ecclesiastical corporation until it is certified by the Church Commissioners under the Cathedrals Measure 2021 as a charity. The Cathedral is separate from the BDBF. Copies of its trustees’ report and financial statements may be obtained from the Cathedral Offices, Cathedral Close, Blackburn BB1 5AA.

ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE

The BDBF was formed to manage the financial affairs and hold the assets of the Diocese. It was incorporated on 29 October 1927 as a charitable company limited by membership guarantees (No 225457) and its governing documents are the Memorandum and Articles of Association. The BDBF is registered with the Charity Commission (No 247647). The Charity is a limited by guarantee company and statutory accounts are filed annually with Companies House and Charity Commission.

The members of the company comprise the Diocesan Bishop, each member for the time being of the Blackburn Diocesan Synod, including sufficient co-opted lay members in order to ensure that there is a majority by one of lay membership. Many of Diocesan Synod’s responsibilities have been delegated to the Bishop’s Council and standing committee.

The members of Bishop’s Council are the Board of Trustees for the charity and in company law the Directors.

The Directors comprise six ex-officio members: the Diocesan Bishop, the Suffragan Bishops, the two Archdeacons, the Dean of Blackburn Cathedral. Four ex-officio elected positions: the Chairs and Vice Chairs of the Houses of Clergy and Laity of Diocesan Synod. Three ex-officio appointed positions: the Chair and Vice Chair of the Board of Finance and the Chair of the Property Committee. The elected members are 4 clergy, 2 from each archdeaconry, elected by the House of Clergy and 8 lay members, 4 from each archdeaconry, elected by the House of Laity. Two members may be co-opted with the approval of the directors. Elections take place every three years with the last election being in 2021 for the triennium starting 1 January 2022.

Governance and policy of the BDBF is the responsibility of the directors.

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The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

Corporate priorities and the overall financial strategy for the BDBF, in its primary object to promote, assist and advance the work of the Church of England within the Diocese of Blackburn, are agreed by the Directors and confirmed by Diocesan Synod.

The responsibility for ensuring that these priorities and strategies are delivered, is delegated to the Vision Area Leaders.

The members of the company meet once a year in the general meeting to receive the annual report and financial statements. The Diocesan Synod each year receives and agrees the parish share budget, prepared and approved by the Directors. The Directors meet during the year to formulate and coordinate policies on mission, ministry and finance.

Some role names in the company incorporate the title ‘Director’ but, for the purposes of company law, are not directors of the company.

Diocesan Synod has delegated the following functions to the Directors of the BDBF:

Statutory ecclesiastical boards and committees:

The Diocesan Mission and Pastoral Committee is responsible for the task of approving pastoral reorganisation, taking account of available clergy numbers and making use of new patterns of ministry. It is also responsible for finding appropriate alternative uses for churches which are closed for public worship.

The Diocesan Advisory Committee advises on matters affecting parishes including churches and places of worship on matters such as architecture, archaeology, art and the history of places of worship, the use and care of places of worship and their contents and the care of churchyards.

The Parsonages Board : the BDBF is designated as the Parsonages Board for the Diocese for the purpose of exercising the Parsonages Board’s functions under the Repair of Benefice Buildings Measure 1972.

The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Patronage , constituted under the provisions of the Patronage (Benefices) Measure 1986, is sole or joint patron of a number of benefices.

Non-statutory committees:

The Strategic Programme Board is responsible for the oversight of each of the Strategic Development Fund project boards. These project boards are accountable for the spend of church commissioner grant funding and diocesan funds on project activities and the impact of these projects in line with the aims and objectives. The programme board scrutinises the work of the project boards in line with the overall objectives of the diocese and diocesan vision.

Diocesan Safeguarding Advisory Panel has a Chair independent of the Directors and is an advisory body offering external oversight and scrutiny to the diocese with regard to safeguarding.

The Finance Committee is responsible for the transaction of some of the business of the BDBF. Within delegated limits it can approve grants and other support and makes recommendations to the Directors in other cases. The membership of the Committee consists of the Chair and Vice Chair of the Board of Finance, the Diocesan Bishop the two Archdeacons and the Chair of the Property Committee. The BDBF Directors can co-opt up to six members on the basis of their expertise, of whom a minimum of 3 must be members of Bishop’s Council and Directors of the BDBF.

The Property Committee is responsible for making major decisions concerning the management of parsonage and other houses owned by the BDBF, including setting the policy for their purchase, sale, repair and maintenance. The committee has delegated authority to authorise repairs within an agreed budget and to buy and sell property and land vested in the Board of Finance for diocesan purposes.

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The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

The Investment Committee meets on a regular basis to consider diocesan investments, to adjust the portfolio within parameters agreed by the Directors and to make recommendations to the Directors. It is also responsible for determining policy and making major decisions concerning the management of glebe property and investments for the benefit of the Blackburn Diocesan Stipends Fund.

The Audit, Governance and Risk Committee has a Chair independent of the Directors and is responsible for assisting the Directors in the discharge of their responsibilities for accounting policies, risk management, internal control and financial reporting, including liaison with the auditors.

The HR Committee deals with sensitive and other matters in relation to employed staff which cannot be considered by the full Board, partly because of their confidential nature and partly because of time pressures and includes two directors (one lay and one clergy) and four members co-opted for their HR expertise. It has delegated authority to approve most HR policies.

The Budget Scrutiny Committee assists the Bishop’s Budget team in drawing up the annual draft budgets for approval by the Directors prior to submission to Diocesan Synod.

Directors’ induction

Directors are given an induction file when first appointed. Explanations are given in Directors’ meetings to provide continuing training and Directors are encouraged to ask questions in order to develop their understanding of the charity. If additional information is required, it is brought to the attention of directors and the directors’ induction file updated accordingly. Directors undertake training at the start of each triennium.

Remuneration of key management personnel

The salary scale of the Diocesan Secretary is determined by the Chair of the BDBF and the Diocesan Bishop following advice from the HR Committee. Any annual award is in line with the other employed staff salary increase.

The salary levels of other key management personnel and all further posts are set by a job evaluation system. Annual pay increases are considered and approved as part of the budgeting process. They are considered by the HR Committee prior to implementation. An adjustment, if required would be recommended to the Board of Finance.

Funds held as custodian trustee

The BDBF is custodian trustee of assets held on permanent trust by virtue of the Parochial Church Councils (Powers) Measure 1956 and the Incumbents and Churchwardens (Trusts) Measure 1964 where the managing trustees are parochial church councils and others. These assets are not aggregated in the financial statements as the BDBF does not control them and these assets are held separately to those of the BDBF.

PCC trust investment assets held by the BDBF had a market value of £16.26m at 31 December 2023 ( 2022: £15.42m ) Detailed certificates of holdings were sent to parishes (c. 1,500 accounts) and other managing trustees of the respective charities as requested at that date. Details of these investments are summarised in note 30.

DIRECTORS’ RESPONSIBILITIES

The Directors, who are also the Trustees, are responsible for preparing the Annual Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and regulations .

Company law requires the Directors to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under that law the Directors have elected to prepare the financial statements in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (United Kingdom Accounting Standards and applicable law). Under company law the Directors must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of the affairs of the BDBF and of the surplus or deficit of the BDBF for that period. In preparing these financial statements the Directors are required to:

Page 16

The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

The Directors are also responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the BDBF and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2011. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the BDBF and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

The Directors are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included in the BDBF’s website. Legislation in England/Wales governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements and other information included in Annual Reports may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

STATEMENT OF DISCLOSURE TO THE AUDITORS

So far as the Directors are aware:

APPOINTMENT OF AUDITOR

The appointment of auditors to the BDBF will be proposed at the Annual General Meeting.

Page 17

The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS

Registered Address Diocesan Offices, Clayton House, Diocesan Offices, Clayton House, Walker Office Park, Blackburn
BB1 2QE
Trustees/Directors
Ex-Officio Rt Revd P J North
Rt Revd J L C Duff
Very Revd P Howell-Jones
Ven M C Ireland
Ven D Picken
Ex-Officio elected position Mr R J Collins
Mr T D Cox (resigned 25 July 2024)
Revd P A Lillicrap
Revd Munawar Din
Ex-Officio appointed Mr D Barlow
Mr N P Aves
Revd D Porter (appointed 27 September 2023)
Elected Clergy Revd Dr R B Aechtner (resigned 10 August 2024)
Revd Canon Dr S Cox
Revd Canon A Holliday
Revd Canon A S Horsfall
Elected Lay Persons Dr A Carter
Prof R Carter
Mr M Gardner
Mr P J Ronson
Ms J M Stamper
Mr D J Wilkinson
Mrs A Wynne
Appointed after the year end but before signing the accounts
Rt Rev J Kennedy (appointed 19 July 2024)
Key management personnel and advisers
Diocesan Secretary Canon S Whittaker
Deputy Diocesan Mrs R McGaughey, Mrs C Barton
Secretaries
Head of Finance, Company Mrs R McGaughey
Secretary
Solicitors Anthony Collins, 134 Edmund Street, Birmingham B3 2ES
Insurers Ecclesiastical Insurance Office, Beaufort House, Brunswick Road,
Gloucester GL1 1JZ
Bankers National Westminster Bank,35 King William St, Blackburn BB1 7DJ
Investment Asset Managers CCLA Investment Management Ltd, 1 Angel Ln, London EC4R 3AB
Registered Auditor Haysmacintyre LLP, 10 Queen Street Place, London EC4R 1AG
Glebe and Land Agent Ingham & Yorke, Huntroyde Estate Office, Padiham, BB12 7QX

Page 18

The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited Annual Report and Financial Statements For the ear ended 31 December 2023 ArfENDANCE OF DIRECTORS AT MEETINGS IN 2023 Total 616 416 316 516 516 Ex-officio Rl Revd P J North RtRevdJLCDuff Very Revd P Howell-Jones Ven M C Ireland Ven D Picken Ex-officio elected position Mr R J Collins MrTDCox Revd P A Lillicrap Revd Munawar Din 616 416 416 316 Ex-officio appointed Mr D Barlow MrNPAves Revd D Porter 616 616 111 Elected Clergy Revd Dr R B Aechtner Revd Canon Dr S Cox Revd Canon A Holliday Revd Canon A S Horsfall 516 516 516 616 Elected Lay Persons Dr A Carter Prof R Carter Mr M Gardner Mr P J Ronson Ms J M Stamper Mr D J Wilkinson Mrs A Wynne 316 416 316 516 616 616 416 By order of the Board approving both the Directors, Report and Strategic Report P4* Mr D Barlow Chairof the Board of Finance MrNPAves V￿e-ChaIr ofthe 8oard ofFin8nce 14 September 2024 Page 19

The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF THE BLACKBURN DIOCESAN BOARD OF FINANCE LIMITED

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited for the year ended 31 December 2023 which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities - Company, Statement of Financial Activities - Group the Income and Expenditure Account, the Consolidated Balance Sheet, the Consolidated 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 in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Conclusions relating to going concern

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

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

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

Other information

The trustees are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the Annual Report. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

In connection with our audit of the financial statements, 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 audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether there is a material misstatement in the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information. 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

Page 20

The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the group and the parent charitable company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the Annual Report (which incorporates 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 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

Responsibilities of trustees for the financial statements

As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement set out on page 13 , the trustees (who are also the directors of the 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’s and the 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’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

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 extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below:

Based on our understanding of the group and the environment in which it operates, we identified that the principal risks of non-compliance with laws and regulations related to the Companies Act 2006 and the Charities Act 2011 and we considered the extent to which non-compliance might have a material effect on the financial statements. We also considered other factors such as income tax, payroll tax and sales tax.

We evaluated management’s incentives and opportunities for fraudulent manipulation of the financial statements (including the risk of override of controls), and concluded that the risk was low. Audit procedures performed by the engagement team included:

Page 21

The Bla¢kburn Dio¢esan Board of Flnaiice Limitc Annual RepDrt xnd FinAncial SlaiÈrn@nls For th ear ondad 31 December 2023 Discussions with management including consKlefation of kn¢wn or suspected instan￿S of non- compliance with laws and regulation and fraud", valuatsng management's controls designed to prevent and delecl irregularities., Identifying and tg.Sting joumals. in particular postings by unu6ual users or wth unusual descripb'ons,. and Challenging assumplioii¥ lind judgements made by management in their cnbcal accounting estimates Because ol the inherent limitslion5 of an audit. there is a risk that we will not delect all irregularities. including those leading to a maten.al misstatement In the ffnan¢ial statements or rbon-compliance with regLilalion. This risk increases tha morg that complhince with a law or regulation is removed from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements. as we will be less likety to become aware of instances ot non-compliance. The risk is also greater regarding irregularities OCCUfring due lo fraud rather than effor. as fraud invofves intsnlional con￿lMen( forgery, collusion. omission or misrepresentation. A further description of our responsibilit￿S for the audit of the financial 5talemenis is located on Ihe Flnancial Reporting Council's website al.. wwM.frc.or uklaudi orsres part of our auditor's rèport. 'Iilies. This descfiption forms Use of our report This report is made solely lo the charitable wmpany's members, as a body, in ac￿rdanCe with Chapter 3 of Parl 16 of the Companies Act 20C6. Our audit w￿k has been undertaken so that we might stale lo Ihfv e.hAritAhlp. r.nmr>any'q mÉ•mbers thos• matt•rs wg arg r•qUIr￿ to State to thom in an Auditoea roport and lor no other purpose. To the ful￿$1 exlenl permitted by law, we do not accept or assum8 responsibility lo anyone other than the charitable company and the charitable company's members as a body, for our audit work, for this reporl or for th• opinions we havo formed. Adam Halsey Isenior Slatulory Audilorl For and on behalf of Haysm&intyre LLP. St8luty Auditors Date.. 30 September 2024 10 Stroot PlAc• London EC4R 1AG Page 22

The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES - Company

for the year ended 31 December 2023

Note
Income and endowments from:
Donations and legacies
Parish contributions
Archbishops' Council and Church
commissioners
2
Other
3
Charitable activities:statutory fees,
chaplaincy and other income
4
Other trading activities
5
Investments
6
Other
7
Total Income and endowments
Expenditure on:
Raising funds
8
Charitable activities
9
Other
Total Expenditure
10
Net income/(expenditure) before
investments
Net gains/(loss) on investments
18
Net income/(expenditure) before
transfers
Transfers between funds
12
Net income/(expenditure) before other
recognised gains and losses
Other recognised gains/(losses)
Gain/(loss) on defined benefit pension
schemes
Net movement in funds
Reconciliation of funds
Total funds at 1 January 2023
Total funds at 31 December 2023		 Unrestricted funds
General
Desig-
nated
Restricted
funds
Endowment
funds
£000
£000
£000
£000
7,877
-
-
-
425
-
3,377
-
100
84
111
430
195
-
471
-
287
-
135
-
451
14
453
-
2
-
1,524
343

9,337
98
6,071
773

408
-
36
3
3,420
162
10,723
1
-
-
-
8

3,828
162
10,759
12

5,509
(64)
(4,688)
761
473
43
2
900



5,982
(21)
(4,686)
1,661
(5,589)
(294)
3,843
2,040



393
(315)
(843)
3,701
-
-
-
-



393
(315)
(843)
3,701
8,520
2,982
12,560
45,479



8,913
2,667
11,717
49,180		 Total
funds
2023
£000
7,877
3,802
725
666
422
918
1,869
16,279
447
14,306
8

14,761

1,518
1,418

2,936
-

2,936
-

2,936
69,541
72,477		 Total
funds
2022
£000
7,626
4,879
358
724
437
725
2,165
16,914
319
14,643
4
14,966
1,948
(2,536)
(588)
-
(588)
179
(409)
69,950
69,541

All activities derive from continuing activities. The notes on pages 28 to 59 form part of the financial statements.

Details of group comparative figures (2022) for the Statement of Financial Activities by fund are disclosed in note 31.

Page 23

The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES - Group

for the year ended 31 December 2023

Note
Income and endowments from:
Donations and legacies
Parish contributions
Archbishops' Council and Church
commissioners
2
Other
3
Charitable activities:statutory fees,
chaplaincy and other income
4
Other trading activities
5
Investments
6
Other
7
Total Income and endowments
Expenditure on:
Raising funds
8
Charitable activities
9
Other
Total Expenditure
10
Net income/(expenditure) before
investments
Net gains/(loss) on investments
18
Net income/(expenditure) before
transfers
Transfers between funds
12
Net income/(expenditure) before other
recognised gains and losses
Other recognised gains/(losses)
Gain/(loss) on defined benefit pension
schemes
Net movement in funds
Reconciliation of funds
Total funds at 1 January 2023
Total funds at 31 December 2023		 Unrestricted funds
General
Desig-
nated
Restricted
funds
Endowment
funds
£000
£000
£000
£000
7,877
-
-
-
425
-
3,377
-
100
84
111
430
195
-
471
-
287
-
135
-
451
14
531
-
2
-
1,524
343

9,337
98
6,149
773

408
-
35
3
3,420
162
10,796
1
-
-
-
8

3,828
162
10,831
12

5,509
(64)
(4,682)
761
473
43
(15)
1,114



5,982
(21)
(4,697)
1,875
(5,589)
(294)
3,843
2,040



393
(315)
(854)
3,915
-
-
-
-



393
(315)
(854)
3,915
8,520
2,982
13,190
47,742



8,913
2,667
12,336
51,657		 Total
funds
2023
£000
7,877
3,802
725
666
422
996
1,869
16,357
446
14,379
8
14,833
1,524
1,615

3,139
-

3,139
-

3,139
72,434
75,573		 Total
funds
2022
£000
7,626
4,879
358
724
437
803
2,165
16,992
319
14,733
4
15,056
1,936
(2,870)
(934)
-
(934)
179
(755)
73,189
72,434

All activities derive from continuing activities. The notes on pages 28 to 59 form part of the financial statements.

Details of group comparative figures (2022) for the Statement of Financial Activities by fund are disclosed in note 31.

Page 24

The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT

for the year ended 31 December 2023
2023 2023 2022 2022
£000 £000 £000 £000
Company Group Company Group
Total income 15,506 15,584 16,657 16,735
Total expenditure (14,749) (14,821) (14,962) (15,052)
______ ______ ______ ______
Operating surplus/(deficit) for the year 757 763 1,695 1,683
Net (losses)/gains on investments 518 501 (926) (961)
______ ______ ______ ______
Net income for the year 1,275 1,264 769 722
Other comprehensive income:
Net assets transferred (to)/from endowments (2,040) (2,040) 496 496
Actuarial gains/(losses) on defined benefit pension - - 179 179
schemes
______ ______ ______ ______
Total comprehensive income (765) (776) 1,444 1,397

The income and expenditure account is derived from the Statement of Financial Activities with movements in endowment funds excluded to comply with company law. All income and expenditure is derived from continuing activities.

Page 25

The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited Annual Report and Financial Statements For the ear ended 31 December 2023 BALANCE SHEET at 31 December 2023 Note 2023 2022 £000 Company £000 Group £O(K) Company £000 Group Foxed Assets Tangible Assets Investments Investment Property 17 18 18 43,374 20,622 1,537 43.374 23,344 1,537 40,225 19.290 1,799 40,225 21,814 1,799 65,533 68,255 61,314 63,838 Current assets stocks Debtors 19 2.088 2,107 2,207 2,225 Deposits and Cash 81 bank and in hand 5,775 6,133 7,705 8,055 7,864 17901 8,241 17931 9.913 11,5281 10.281 11,528) Creditors.. amounts falling due within one year 20 Net current assets 7,074 6.365 8,753 Creditors.. amounts falling due after more than one ye8T 20 11301 11301 1157) 115n Iq301 11301 115n 11571 Net Assets 23 72.477 75.573 69,542 72.434 Capital and Re5er¥es Endowment funds Restricted funds Unrestiicted funds- General Unrestricted funds- Designated 26 25 24 24 49,180 11.717 8,913 2.667 51,657 12,336 8,913 2.667 45.479 12,561 8,520 2,982 47,742 13,190 8,520 2,982 72,477 75,573 69,542 The notes on pages 28 to 59 form part of the financial ststements. These financial statements were approved by the Directors and were signed on their behalf on 14 September 2024 by.. , e. Mr D Barlow Chairofthg Board of Finance MrNPAves Vice-chairof the Board of Finance The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Ltd is a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales Ino. 2254571 Page 26

The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

CASH FLOW STATEMENT

for the year ended 31 December 2023

2023
£000
Company
Net income before other recognised gains and losses
1,518
(Gains)/Losses on disposal of fixed assets
(1,791)
(Gains)/Losses on disposal of investments
8
Depreciation
126
(Increase)/decrease in debtors
(276)
(Decrease)/increase in creditors current liabilities
(267)
Movement in pension commitment
-
Cash (outflow)/ inflow from operating activities
(682)
Net income from investing activities
Purchase of tangible fixed assets
(4,432)
Proceeds of sale of fixed assets
2,921
Purchase of investments
(13)
Proceeds of sale of investments
353
Net cash inflow/(outflow) from investing activities
(1,171)
_
_
Net cash inflow/(outflow) from financing activities
Repayments of borrowing
(418)
Loan repayments received
440
New loans made
(99)
Net cash inflow/(outflow) from financing activities
(77)
_
_
(Decrease)/increase in cash in the year
(1,930)

Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year
7,705

Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year
5,775

Analysis of cash and cash equivalents
2023
£000
Company
Cash in hand and at bank
987
Short term deposits
4,788
_
__
5,775

 2023
2022
£000
£000
Group
Company
1,524
1,948
(1,791)
(2,165)
8
3
126
57
(277)
(617)
(264)
210
-
(204)


(674)
(768)


(4,432)
(1,504)
2,921
3,660
(13)
(15)
353
82

(1,171)
2,223
______
_

(418)
-
440
430
(99)
(1)


(77)
429
______
_

(1,922)
1,884


8,055
5,821


6,133
7,705


2023
2022
£000
£000
Group
Company
1,345
4,337
4,788
3,368
_____
_

6,133
7,705
 2022
£000
Group
1,936
(2,165)
3
57
(636)
210
(204)

(799)

(1,504)
3,660
(15)
82
2,223
__
-
430
(1)

429
_
1,853
6,202
8,055
2022
£000
Group
4,337
3,718
____
8,055

The notes on pages 28 to 59 form part of the financial statements.

Page 27

The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

(forming part of the financial statements)

  1. Accounting policies

The following accounting policies have been applied consistently in dealing with items which are considered material in relation to the charitable company’s financial statements.

Basis of preparation

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Companies Act 2006, the Charities SORP (Second Edition, effective 1 January 2019) and applicable accounting standards FRS102, and under the historical cost convention adjusted for the revaluation of certain fixed assets.

The consolidated financial statements incorporate those of the Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Ltd and its subsidiary undertaking The Bishop of Blackburn’s Fund for Widows and Orphans of Poor Clergy for the year ended 31 December 2023. Details of the individual subsidiary results are given in note 28.

The Directors are satisfied that there are no material uncertainties about the charitable company’s ability to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. The Trustees believe they have sufficient reserves to allow time to adjust the operations of the charitable company to meet changed circumstances relating to inflation and energy costs. Accordingly, they continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the Trustees’ annual report and financial statements.

The Directors believe that the charitable company is a public benefit entity.

Critical accounting judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty

In the application of the accounting policies, trustees are required to make judgement, estimates, and assumptions about the carrying value of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and underlying assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.

The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised if the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods if the revision affected current and future periods.

Judgements made by the Trustees, in the application of these accounting policies that have significant effect on the financial statements and estimates with a significant risk of material adjustment in the next year are deemed to be in relation to the depreciation rates of tangible fixed assets and the assumptions used in determining the value of the pension scheme deficit.

In the view of the Trustees, no assumptions concerning the future or estimation uncertainty affecting assets or liabilities at the balance sheet date are likely to result in a material adjustment to their carrying amounts in the next financial year.

Fixed assets and depreciation

Assets with a value in excess of £500 are capitalised. Depreciation is provided for on the jointly owned Diocesan Offices and Whalley Abbey Retreat and Conference House. No other depreciation is provided on the charitable company’s freehold buildings including parsonage houses (explanation regarding parsonage houses is included in note 17) as the depreciation charge is immaterial. Freehold land is not depreciated.

As it is the charitable company’s policy to maintain houses to a high standard, in accordance with a planned approach to repair and maintenance, such properties maintain residual disposal values in aggregate at least equal to their book values.

The charitable company will perform annual impairment testing of assets on which depreciation is not provided to determine whether residual values of housing properties in aggregate continue to exceed carrying value.

Page 28

The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

The Company holds all Heritage assets at an accurate valuation wherever possible. Where not possible they are held at depreciated value.

Depreciation is provided to write off the cost less the estimated residual value of other tangible fixed assets by equal instalments over their estimated useful economic lives as follows:

Leasehold property 30 years or, if shorter, the remainder of the lease term Diocesan Offices 50 years on property 20 years on remodelling Whalley Abbey Retreat and Conference House 15 years to a residual value of £500,000 Fixtures, fittings and office equipment 4-10 years Heritage asset 15 years

Fixed asset investments

Fixed asset investments are stated at market value at the balance sheet date. Movements in market value arising during the year are shown as unrealised gains or losses on fixed asset investments in the Statement of Financial Activities.

Investment properties

Investment properties are included at their fair value.

Glebe land is recognised as held for investment purposes when it is held to rent out or there is a signed developers agreement.

Stocks

Stocks are stated at the lower of cost and net realisable value.

Income

Parish contributions

Income includes amounts received from Parochial Church Councils in respect of parish share for general, stipends fund and parsonage house fund assessments. Parish share is recognised in the accounts when there is evidence of entitlement, receipt is probable and its amount can be measured reliably.

Income from Archbishops’ Council and Church Commissioners

Money from National Church Institutions is recognised when entitlement is probable.

Other donations, grants, legacies and similar income

Grants and donations receivable towards the cost of additions or improvements to freehold buildings are credited to income in the period to which they relate. Other grants are recorded as income when entitlement is probable. Other donations are recorded as income when received.

Other trading activities

The income from these sources is recognised on an accruals basis

Investment income

Investment income is recognised on an accruals basis.

Expenditure

Expenditure has been charged to the Statement of Financial Activities on an accruals basis. Expenditure relating directly to the objectives of the charity is shown as direct charitable expenditure.

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The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

Grants payable

Grants payable are debited to expenditure when the charitable company has a constructive obligation to pay.

Ministry in Parishes

Ministry in Parishes includes the stipends, NI, pensions, housing costs and any direct expenses paid by the charitable company for ministers located in parishes.

Ministry Support

Ministry Support includes the costs of the charitable company that provide either a direct service to the parishes or to the community of the parish. It also includes the National Training costs paid to National Church for the training of Ordinands and the costs of Whalley Abbey the retreat house of the Diocese.

Support and Governance Costs

Governance costs includes audit fee, trustee meeting expenses, Diocesan Synod expenses, Bishop’s Council expenses and an allocation of costs based on estimated time spent preparing statutory information and for governance/ strategic issues, by the Finance Team, Diocesan Secretary and Support Services Team.

Support includes the costs of the finance team and general management not included under Governance costs. Support costs have been allocated based on an estimate of time spent in each area.

Taxation

The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited (by guarantee) 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. Accordingly, the charity is potentially exempt from taxation in respect of income or capital gains received within categories covered by Chapter 3 Part II Corporation Tax Act 2010 or Section 256 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992, to the extent that such income or gains are applied exclusively to charitable purposes.

Pensions

The charitable company operates a defined contribution pension scheme. The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the charitable company in independently administered funds. The amount charged in the Statement of Financial Activities represents the contributions payable to the scheme in respect of the accounting period.

The charitable company also participates in the Church Workers Pension Fund and the Church of England Funded Pension Scheme (see note 15). The assets of the defined benefit pension schemes are held separately from the charitable company in independently administered funds. The pension costs charged as expenditure represent the BDBF’s contributions paid in respect of the accounting period, in accordance with FRS102. Deficit funding for the pension schemes to which the BDBF participates is accrued at current value.

Fund accounting

Funds held by the charitable company are either:

Unrestricted general funds – these are funds which can be used in accordance with the charitable objects at the discretion of the trustees.

Unrestricted designated funds – these are funds set aside by the trustees out of unrestricted general funds for specific future purposes or projects.

Restricted funds – these are funds that can only be used for particular restricted purposes within the objects of the charitable company. Restrictions arise when specified by the donor or when funds are raised for particular restricted purposes.

Endowment funds - this is capital, held in perpetuity to create income for specified purposes.

Page 30

The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

Further explanation of the nature and purpose of each fund is included in the notes to the financial statements.

Where a grant or donation is received to fund a capital item or where an asset is donated, if there is an obligation relating to the future use or retention of the relevant asset, the balance relating to that asset is held within restricted funds as long as that restriction exists. Where there is no such restriction, the income relating to the purchase of capital items is transferred to unrestricted funds in the Statement of Financial Activities.

2. Archbishops’ Council and Church Commissioners - company & group

Unrestricted fund
Restricted
Endowment
General
Designated
funds
Funds
£000
£000
£000
£000
Lowest Income Communities
Funding
-
-
1,460
-
Energy Costs Grant
-
-
-
-
Resourcing Ministerial
Education/Funding
6
-
128
-
Strategic Ministry Fund
-
-
735
-
Strategic Capacity Funding
419
-
34
-
Strategic Development Funding
-
-
1,005
-
Clergy hardship grant
-
-
-
Net Zero Funding
-
-
15
-
425
-
3,377
-		 Total
funds
2023
£000
1,460
-
134
735
453
1,005
-
15
3,802		 Total
funds
2022
£000
1,402
431
221
379
271
2,103
72
-
4,879
  1. Other donations - company & group
Unrestricted Funds
Restricted
Endowment
General
Designated
Funds
Funds
£000
£000
£000
£000
Benefact Trust
44
80
(7)
-
Donations
12
4
54
430
Other Grants
44
-
64
-
Legacies
-
-
-
-
100
84
111
430		 Total
funds
2023
£000
117
500
108
-
725		 Total
funds
2022
£000
165
65
118
10
358

Page 31

The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

  1. Charitable activities - company & group
Unrestricted Funds
Restricted
Endowment
General
Designated
Funds
Funds
£000
£000
£000
£000
Statutory fees; chaplaincy income
-
-
438
-
Church Commissioners -
Guaranteed annuities
-
-
1
-
Recharge of staff costs
23
-
32
-
Whalley Abbey Conference House
162
-
-
-
Income for training courses
2
-
-
-
Other fees/sales
8
-
-
-
195
-
471
-		 Total
funds
Total
funds
2023
2022
£000
£000
438
494
1
1
55
39
162
141
2
5
8
44
666
724
  1. Other trading activities - company & group
Unrestricted funds
Restricted
Endowment
General
Designated
Funds
Funds
£000
£000
£000
£000
Rental Income
83
-
133
-
Whalley Abbey Conference House
165
-
-
-
Accounting and Legal services
33
-
-
-
Other fees/sales
6
-
2
-
287
-
135
-		 Total
funds
2023
£000
216
165
33
8
422		 Total
funds
2022
£000
284
133
19
1
437
  1. Investment income
Company
Unrestricted funds
Restricted
Endowment
General
Designated
Funds
Funds
£000
£000
£000
£000
Dividends receivable
230
14
398
-
Interest receivable
221
-
23
-
Rents receivable
-
-
32
-
451
14
453
-
Group
Unrestricted funds
Restricted
Endowment
General
Designated
Funds
Funds
£000
£000
£000
£000
Dividends receivable
230
14
476
-
Interest receivable
221
-
23
-
Rents receivable
-
-
32
-
451
14
531
-		 Total
funds
2023
£000
642
244
32
918
Total
funds
2023
£000
720
244
32
996		 Total
funds
2022
£000
636
56
33
725
Total
funds
2022
£000
714
56
33
803

Page 32

The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

7. Other income – company and group

her income – company and group
Unrestricted funds
Restricted
Endowment
General
Designated
Funds
Funds
£000
£000
£000
£000
Gains on disposal of fixed assets
2
-
1,524
343
2
-
1,524
343		 Total
funds
2023
£000
1,869
1,869		 Total
funds
2022
£000
2,165
2,165

8. Cost of raising funds – company and group

Unrestricted funds
Restricted
Endowment
General
Designated
Funds
Funds
£000
£000
£000
£000
Project Management
63
-
-
-
Parish share
Secretariat
17
-
-
-
Archdeacons
-
-
8
-
Investment Management Costs
29
-
8
3
Whalley Abbey Rents
4
-
-
-
Rents
-
-
20
-
Fundraising Trading Whalley
Abbey
262
-
-
-
Fundraising Trading other
33
-
-
-




408
-
36
3		 Total
funds
2023
£000
63
17
8
40
4
20
262
33

447		 Total
funds
2022
£000
59
17
4
20
6
14
180
19
319

Page 33

The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

9. Expenditure on charitable activities

Company Unrestricted funds Unrestricted funds Restricted Endowment Total funds Total funds
General Designated Funds Funds 2023 2022
£000 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000
Contributions to Archbishops' Council
Training for ministry 302 - - - 302 302
National Church responsibilities 177 - - - 177 185
Grants and provisions 31 - - - 31 25
Mission Agency pension
contributions 10 - - - 10 13
Retired clergy housing costs
(CHARM) 119 - - - 119 114
Pooling of ordinand candidates
costs 25 - - - 25 7
General Synod expenses 17
 -
 -
 -
 17
 11
681 - - - 681 657
-------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- --------------------------------------
Parish ministry
Stipends & National Insurance 18 - 5,364 - 5,382 5,031
Pension contributions - - 1,232 - 1,232 1,435
Housing costs 56 - 1,888 1 1,945 1,588
Removal, resettlement and other
grants - - 230 - 230 223
Other expenses 2
 -
 54
 -
 56 66
76
--------------------------------------		 -
--------------------------------------		 8,768
--------------------------------------		 1
--------------------------------------		 8,845
--------------------------------------		 8,343
--------------------------------------
Support for parish ministry 1,847 32 183 - 2,062 1,871
Whalley Abbey Conference House 259 - - - 259 239
Redundant churches - - 236 - 236 78
Strategic Development Funding
Projects 19 - 1,118 - 1,137 2,083
St Philip’s Centre Project 39 - - - 39 51
Grants to Parishes, Individuals
and Other Charities 175
 130
 418
 -
 723
 1,052
2,339
--------------------------------------		 162
--------------------------------------		 1,955
--------------------------------------		 -
--------------------------------------		 4,456
--------------------------------------		 5,374
--------------------------------------
Expenditure on education
Grants for the work of the Board 324
 -
 -
 -
 324
 359
324
 -
 -
 -
 324
 359
Charitable activities 3,420 162 10,723 1 14,306 14,733

Page 34

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Group Unrestricted funds Unrestricted funds Restricted Endowment Total funds Total funds
General Designated Funds Funds 2023 2022
£000 £000 £000 £000 £000 £000
Contributions to Archbishops' Council
Training for ministry 302 - - - 302 302
National Church responsibilities 177 - - - 177 185
Grants and provisions 31 - - - 31 25
Mission Agency pension
contributions 10 - - - 10 13
Retired clergy housing costs
(CHARM) 119 - - - 119 114
Pooling of ordinand candidates
costs 25 - - - 25 7
General Synod expenses 17
--------------------------------------		 -
--------------------------------------		 -
--------------------------------------		 -
--------------------------------------		 17
--------------------------------------		 11
--------------------------------------
681 - - - 681 657
-------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- --------------------------------------
Parish ministry
Stipends & National Insurance 18 - 5,364 - 5,382 5,031
Pension contributions - 1,232 - 1,232 1,435
Housing costs 56 - 1,888 1 1,945 1,588
Removal, resettlement and other
grants - 235 - 235 223
Other expenses 2
--------------------------------------		 -
--------------------------------------		 54
--------------------------------------		 -
--------------------------------------		 56
--------------------------------------		 66
--------------------------------------
76
--------------------------------------		 -
--------------------------------------		 8,773
--------------------------------------		 1
--------------------------------------		 8,850
--------------------------------------		 8,343
--------------------------------------
Support for parish ministry 1,847 32 183 - 2,062 1,871
Whalley Abbey Conference House 259 - - 259 239
Redundant churches - 236 - 236 78
Strategic Development Funding
Projects 19 - 1,118 - 1,137 2,083
St Philip’s Centre Project 39 - - - 39 51
Grants to Parishes, Individuals
and Other Charities 175 130 485 - 790 1,052
-------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- --------------------------------------
2,339
--------------------------------------		 162
--------------------------------------		 2,022
--------------------------------------		 -
--------------------------------------		 4,523
--------------------------------------		 5,374
--------------------------------------
Expenditure on education
Grants for the work of the Board 324 - - - 324 359
-------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- --------------------------------------
324
 -
 -
 -
 324
 359
Charitable activities 3,420 162 10,795 1 14,378 14,733
  1. Analysis of expenditure including allocation of support costs – company and group
Company
Activities
Grant
Manage-
ment
undertaken
funding of
Admin
directly
Activities
Support
£000
£000
£000
Cost of raising funds
389
-
58
Contributions to Archbishops' Council
17
664
-
Parish Ministry
8,615
230
-
Support for Parish Ministry
2,555
1,149
752
Education
-
324
-
Other
8
-
-



11,584
2,367
810		 Total
2023
£000
447
681
8,845
4,456
324
8

14,761		 Total
2022
£000
319
657
8,341
5,286
359
4

14,966

Page 35

The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

Group
Activities
Grant
Manage-
ment
undertaken
funding of
Admin
directly
Activities
Support
£000
£000
£000
Cost of raising funds
389
-
58
Contributions to Archbishops' Council
17
664
-
Parish Ministry
8,615
235
-
Support for Parish Ministry
2,555
1,216
752
Education
-
324
-
Other
8
-
-



11,584
2,439
810		 Total
2023
£000
447
681
8,850
4,523
324
8

14,833		 Total
2022
£000
319
657
8,343
5,374
359
4
15,056

11. Analysis of support costs – company and group

Unrestricted funds
Restricted
Endowment
General
Designated
Funds
Funds
£000
£000
£000
£000
Raising Funds
50
-
8
-
Central Administration
560
-
-
-
Governance costs
Secretariat
34
-
-
-
Accounting and Finance Office
38
-
-
-
Audit & accountancy fees
27
-
-
-
Diocesan Synod costs
8
-
-
-
DBF Directors and Bishop’s
Council Meetings
14
-
-
-
Chancellor and Registrar Fees
71
-
-
-


802
-
8
-		 Total
funds
Total
funds
2023
2022
£000
£000
58
37
560
577
34
29
38
42
27
28
8
7
14
6
71
67
810
793

Page 36

The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

12. Analysis of transfers between funds – company & group

Unrestricted funds
Restricted
Endowment
General
Designated
Funds
Funds
£000
£000
£000
£000
From general fund to stipends income
fund (restricted) and housing fund
(restricted), to cover the deficits on net
expenditure of those funds
(5,563)
-
5,563
-
From Pastoral Fund to Parsonages
Fund – transfer costs of parsonages
bought
-
-
(2,281)
2,281
From Parsonages Fund to Pastoral
Fund – book value of parsonages
transferred to the BDBF for disposal by
pastoral schemes
-
-
160
(160)
From Vision 2026 fund (designated) to
general fund for the Vision Director post
15
(15)
-
-
From Diocesan Vision 2026 Strategic
Development fund to general fund and
Housing fund to cover loss of income
from houses used for projects
40
(35)
(5)
-
From Diocesan Vision 2026 Strategic
Development fund to restricted fund to
cover projects expenditure
(1)
(113)
114
-
From general fund to designated funds
for Diocesan Conference and Area
Dean costs
(80)
80
-
-
From designated to stipends income
fund to meet clergy housing
expenditure
-
(211)
211
-
From released endowment fund to
restricted funds pre-reformation church
buildings
-
-
81
(81)




(5,589)
(294)
3,843
2,040		 Total
2023
£000
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-

The funds that have been transferred have been used in line with any applicable restrictions and have been transferred to make the presentation of the expenditure more transparent. The spending of the funds has extinguished any restrictions.

13. Net income for the year – company and group

Net income for the year – company and group
2023 2022
These are stated after charging: £000 £000
Fees payable to the auditor for audit services 27 25
Fees payable to the auditor for non audit services 2 -
Whalley Abbey Conference House Site Deficit 146 78

14. Staff numbers and costs – company and group

The average number of people employed during the year was 68 (2022:56.7) .

The full-time equivalent employees during the year, including sessional workers, has been analysed by teams.

Enablers and Obligations
Growing Leaders
Making Disciples
Being Witnesses
Being Witnesses – parish workers
Area Deans Admin
Whalley Abbey Conference House		 2023
26.7
6.5
2.6
1.8
5.2
2.2
7.4

52.4
 2022
25.8
6.7
1.5
1.0
6.8
0.9
6.8
49.5

Page 37

The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

The aggregate payroll costs of all employees were as follows:

Wages and salaries
Redundancy and settlement payments
Social security costs
Other pension costs
Other benefits		 2023
£000
1,676
-
147
215
5

2,043
 2022
£000
1,387
-
126
195
7
1,715

There were 2 employees whose salary was in excess of £60,000 – one in the band £60,000 to £70,000 and one in the band £70,000 to £80,000 ( 2022: none)

Remuneration of key management personnel

Key management personnel are deemed to be those having authority and responsibility, delegated to them by the trustees, for planning, directing, and controlling the activities of the Diocese. During 2023 they were:

Diocesan Secretary: Deputy Diocesan Secretary and Company Secretary Deputy Diocesan Secretary and Company Secretary

Canon Stephen Whittaker Mrs Ruth McGaughey Mrs Carolyn Barton

Remuneration, pension and expenses for these 3 employees amounted to £251,022 ( 2022: £157,286 for 2 employees ).

In addition to the foregoing numbers of persons employed by the charitable company in 2023 there were 173.6 ( 2022: 172.6 ) full time equivalent stipendiary clergy in post in the Diocese. These may be analysed as follows:

Archdeacons
Incumbents
Curates
Lay Workers		 2023
2.0
134.9
36.2
0.5

173.6
 2022
2.0
135.3
34.3
1.0
172.6

The average number of stipendiary clergy in post during 2023 was 185 ( 2022: 183.5).

Although not employed by the charitable company the payroll costs of the above persons are met by the charitable company and are included in the financial statements. The aggregate payroll costs of the above persons are as follows:

Stipend
Redundancy and settlement payments
Social security costs
Apprenticeship Levy
Pension costs - current year		 2023
£000
4,833
140
379
22
1,232

6,606
 2022
£000
4,648
108
380
21
1,435
6,592

Page 38

The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

Trustees’ emoluments

Average number of directors
2023 2022
Directors 23 23

No trustee received any remuneration for services as Trustee. The Trustees received travelling and out of pocket expenses, totalling £16,444 ( 2022 - £17,218) in respect of General Synod duties, duties as archdeacon or area dean, and other duties as Trustees.

Trustees who are also licensed stipendiary clergy and archdeacons in the Diocese were in receipt of a stipend and housing provided by the BDBF during the year. The BDBF is also responsible for the provision of housing for the Suffragan Bishops but excluding the Diocesan Bishop and cathedral staff.

15. Pension schemes – company and group

Church of England Funded Pension Scheme

The BDBF participates in the Church of England Funded Pensions Scheme for stipendiary clergy. This scheme is administered by the Church of England Pensions Board, which holds the assets of the schemes separately from those of the Employer and the other participating employers.

Each participating employer 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 specific employers and that 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 that year, plus any impact of deficit contributions (see below).

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:

Following finalisation of the 31 December 2021 valuation, deficit contributions ceased with effect from 1 January 2023, since the Scheme was fully funded.

The deficit recovery contributions under the recovery plan in force at each 31 December were as follows:.
% of pensionable stipends
31 December 2021
7.1% payable from January 2021 to December 2022
31 December 2022
Nil
31 December 2023
Nil

An interim reduction to deficit contributions to 3.2% of pensionable stipends was made with effect from April 2022, and remained in place until December 2022.

Page 39

The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

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

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.

is set out in the table below.
2023 2022
£000 £000
Balance sheet liability at 1 January - 318
Deficit contribution paid - (187)
Interest cost (recognised in SoFA) - -
Remaining change to the balance sheet liability* (recognised in SoFA) - (131)
Balance sheet liability at 31 December - -

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
2023 2022 2021
Discount rate n/a n/a 0.0% pa
Price inflation n/a n/a n/a
Increase to total pensionable payroll n/a n/a -1.5% pa

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

Group Personal Pension Plan

The BDBF participates in a defined contribution pension scheme. The assets of the pension scheme are held separately from those of the BDBF in an independently administered fund. The pension cost charge for the year represents contributions payable by the BDBF to the fund.

Church Workers Pension Fund

The BDBF participates in the Defined Benefits Scheme(DBS) section of the Church Workers Pension Fund (CWPF) for lay staff. The Scheme is administered by the Church of England Pensions Board, which holds the assets of the schemes separately from those of the Employer and the other participating employers.

For funding purposes, the DBS is divided into sub-pools in respect of each participating employer as well as a further sub-pool, known as the Life Risk Pool. The Life Risk Pool exists to share certain risks between employers, including those relating to mortality and post-retirement investment returns.

The division of the DBS into sub-pools is notional and is for the purpose of calculating ongoing contributions. They do not alter the fact that the assets of the DBS are held as a single trust fund out of which all the benefits are to be provided. From time to time, a notional premium is transferred from employers’ sub-pools to the Life Risk Pool and all pensions and death benefits are paid from the Life Risk Pool.

The scheme is a multi-employer scheme as described in Section 28 of FRS 102. It is not possible to attribute the scheme’s assets and liabilities to specific employers, since each employer, through the Life Risk Pool, is exposed to actuarial risks associated with the current and former employees of other entities participating in the DBS. This means that contributions are accounted for as if DBS were a defined contribution scheme. The pensions costs charged to the SoFA in the year are contributions payable towards benefits and expenses accrued in that year 2023: £27,545 ( 2022: £24,422 ).

If, following an actuarial valuation of the Life Risk Pool, there is a surplus or deficit in the pool, further transfers may be made from the Life Risk Pool to the employers’ sub-pools, or vice versa. The amounts

Page 40

The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

to be transferred (and their allocation between the sub-pools) will be settled by the Church of England Pensions Board on the advice of the Actuary.

A valuation of the DBS is carried out once every three years, the most recent having been carried out as at 31 December 2019. In this valuation, the Life Risk Section was shown to be in deficit by £7.7m and £7.7m was notionally transferred from the employers’ sub-pools to the Life Risk Section. This increased the Employer contributions that would otherwise have been payable. The overall deficit in the DBS was £11.3m.

The next actuarial valuation is due at 31 December 2022. The calculations for this are under way.

Following the 2019 valuation, the Employer entered into an agreement with the Church Workers Pension Fund to pay a contribution rate of 45.2% of pensionable salary and expenses of £3,200 per year.

The joint movement in the provision is set out below:

The joint movement in the provision is set out below:
Joint Movement 2023 2022
£000 £000
Balance sheet liability at 1 January - -
Deficit contribution paid - -
Interest cost (recognised in SoFA) - -
Remaining change to the balance sheet liability*(recognised in SoFA) - -
Balance sheet liability at 31 December - -

This liability represents the present value of the deficit contributions agreed as at the accounting date and has been valued using the following assumptions, set by reference to the duration of the deficit recovery payments:

payments:
December 2023 December 2022 December 2021
Discount rate N/A 0.00% 0.00%

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

Parsonages Board Retirement Benefit Schemes

The Parsonages Board Retirement Benefit Schemes contains one scheme with one member. It is a defined benefit scheme with the Ecclesiastical Insurance Group.

The scheme is not considered material within the assets of the Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance and due to the cost to the charity of obtain information on the scheme the Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance have not complied in full with the requirements of FRS102.

The deficit was recognised at 1 January 2014 based on the triannual valuation (2013) of £94,200. The SOFA has been charged with the future service contribution rate with the past service deficit reducing the balance sheet liability in the intervening years. The balance sheet deficit has been adjusted on receipt of the latest triannual valuation report (June 2022). The deficit recognised at 31 December 2023 is £0.

Page 41

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

16. Analysis of grants made

Company
Grants to
Individuals
Grants to
Institutions
Included Within
£000
£000
Contributions to Archbishops' Council
-
664
Parish Ministry
First appointment and resettlement grants
230
-
Support for parish ministry
Ordinands
140
-
Harvest appeal charities
-
30
Parishes
-
906
Area Deans (parish)
-
21
Continuing ministerial education
8
-
Churches Together in Lancashire
-
6
Clergy hardship grants
14
-
Inter Diocesan Counselling services
-
10
Emmanuel Theological college
-
10
Other
-
4
Education
-
324

Total Grants Payable
392
1,975

Group
Grants to
Individuals
Grants to
Institutions
Included Within
£000
£000
Contributions to Archbishops' Council
-
664
Parish Ministry
First appointment and resettlement grants
235
-
Support for parish ministry
Ordinands
140
-
Harvest appeal charities
-
30
Parishes
-
906
Area Deans (parish)
-
21
Continuing ministerial education
8
-
Churches Together in Lancashire
-
6
Retired clergy and clergy widows
67
-
Clergy hardship grants
14
-
Inter Diocesan Counselling services
-
10
Other
-
4
Emmanuel
-
10
Education
-
324

Total Grants Payable
464
1,975		 2023
Total
£000
664
230
140
30
906
21
8
6
14
10
10
4
324
2,367
2023
Total
£000
664
235
140
30
906
21
8
6
67
14
10
4
10
324
2,439		 2022
Total
£000
646
223
173
16
872
6
3
6
53
7
-
1
359
2,365
2022
Total
£000
646
223
173
16
872
6
3
6
88
53
7
1
-
359
2,453

Page 42

The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

17. Tangible fixed assets – company and group

Parsonages
Non
Parsonages/
Land
£000
£000
Cost or valuation
At beginning of year
26,907
14,170
Additions
2,710
1,706
Disposals
(160)
(969)
Impairments
-
(100)
At end of year
29,457
14,807
Depreciation
At beginning of year
-
979
Charge for year
-
17
Disposals
-
-
At end of year
-
996
Net book value
At 31 December 2023
29,457
13,811
At 31 December 2022
26,907
13,191		 Total
Freehold
land and
buildings
Fixtures,
fittings and
office
equipment
£000
£000
41,077
315
4,416
16
(1,129)
(13)
(100)
-


44,264
318


979
188
17
36
-
(12)


996
212


43,268
106


40,098
127		 Total
£000
41,392
4,432
(1,142)
(100)

44,582

1,167
53
(12)

1,208

43,374

40,225

Parsonage houses are legally vested in the incumbent (an “ecclesiastical corporation sole”) as freeholder during his incumbency. Three features of the incumbent’s freehold have significantly influenced the accounting treatment adopted in these financial statements. Firstly, the freeholder is not free to dispose of the house for personal benefit and is not responsible for maintaining the house. Secondly, proceeds of any sale, following a pastoral reorganisation which makes the house surplus, normally revert to the Diocesan Pastoral Account or Diocesan Stipends Fund. Thirdly, the Diocese is responsible for repair and maintenance, a responsibility which is currently carried out by the Diocesan Property Committee. The Diocese therefore carries both the benefits and obligations of ownership, and accordingly the financial statements include the parsonage houses together with other Diocesan land and buildings.

Parsonage houses and other Diocesan residential houses have been included in tangible fixed assets at cost, or valuation where cost was not available for houses purchased prior to 1998. The valuation attributed to each house was the mid-point (low point for the top two bands) of the council tax valuation banding applied to the house. The aggregate value of the houses valued in this way amounted to £19,129,000 (2022: £19,413,000 ) .

Heritage Asset

Whalley Abbey was bought from the Diocese of Manchester in 1926. It comprises substantial remains of a Cistercian Abbey founded in 1296 and dissolved in 1537.

The Abbey of St Mary the Virgin, also known as Locus Benedictus de Whalley was founded by Henry de Lacy, third Earl of Lincoln on the 4[th] April 1296. The Abbey had moved from the unfavourable site of Stanlaw into the Parsonage and other temporary buildings at Whalley in 1283, when there were 20 monks.

Excavation has uncovered the outlines of the church, surviving as foundations, as does the eastern claustral range and the polygonal Chapter House.

The standing Abbey buildings and Conference House

The following notes are extracted from the Conservation Plan prepared in 2002.

The Conservation Plan was compiled under the direction of John Prichard (Lloyd Evans Prichard), architect accredited in building conservation, with architectural history advice from James Anderson and Clare Hartwell (Architectural History Practice), and archaeological advice from Jason Wood (Heritage Consultancy Services).

Page 43

The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

North-East Gatehouse

The North-East Gatehouse dates to circa 1480, and was constructed to provide an impressive entrance to the Abbot’s Lodging and Clausum , the sacred precinct. It echoes the earlier North-West Gatehouse with its two entrance ways, but is embellished with diagonal buttresses, crenelation, and a statue niche.

Courtyard North Range

The Courtyard North Range may include some medieval content, but the present structures are principally seventeenth century, with nineteenth-century additions, and substantial late twentieth-century alterations to create the tea room, kitchen, and exhibition room. It is excluded from the scheduling.

The Conference House

The Conference House is excluded from the scheduling, but it deserves its Grade I status and is of national significance. The individual components are considered below, and elements of significance discussed.

The central block includes original medieval fabric, such as the arch adjacent to the chapel, as well as medieval stonework which has probably been re-used from demolished structures, such as the window between the Dining Room and the kitchen. The nineteenth century interiors are a very good example of Gothic Revival/Arts and Crafts work; particularly noteworthy is the roof and fireplace in the Great Hall and the staircase decorated windows.

The East Wing

The East Wing extends south from the chapel and comprises inter alia the Paslew Suite and the Peter of Chester room on the ground floor, and seven bedrooms on the first floor. The Paslew Suite and Peter of Chester room may incorporate medieval material, but they, and the bedrooms immediately above, were substantially rebuilt in the late sixteenth century, as evidenced by the mullioned windows in the east wall, the date stone (not always a true indicator and the dating of Forrest Historic by English Heritage during the 21stC refurbishment works. An extension was added in the mid-nineteenth century, with bedrooms above.

The West Wing

The West Range was added in the 1860s, and was well designed externally to blend with the late seventeenthcentury gabled north extension, and the remains of the Abbot’s Kitchen and Long Gallery Range on the west.

The BDBF recognises its responsibility to preserve the heritage asset and is currently looking to raise funds to be able to undertake work on the ruins. It does not intend to acquire other heritage assets. Whalley Abbey grounds are open to the public to view the ruins but access is restricted to the buildings on the site.

The current asset value for Whalley Abbey is £0.9m after a major refurbishment of the house in 2004. The asset is being depreciated over 15 years to £0.5m. The depreciated value represents the value in the accounts of the whole site and is based on an indication made by a local surveyor. It is difficult to obtain an accurate valuation for the site as the ruins represent a continued liability for their maintenance and upkeep which considerably reduces the value of the asset if sold in its entirety.

Page 44

The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

18. Investments and investment property

Company Investment Unlisted CBF Others Total
Property investments investments investments
£000 £000 £000 £000
At valuation
At beginning of year 1,799 19,281 9 21,089
Additions - 13 - 13
Disposals (285) (76) - (361)
Increase (decrease) in market value 23 1,395
 - 1,418
At end of year 1,537
 20,613
 9
 22,159
At historic cost 507
 10,642
 9
 11,158
Group Investment Unlisted CBF Others Total
Property investments investments investments
£000 £000 £000 £000
At valuation
At beginning of year 1,799 21,799 15 23,613
Additions - 13 - 13
Disposals (285) (76) - (361)
Increase (decrease) in market value 23 1,593
 - 1,616
At end of year 1,537 23,329
 15 24,881
At historic cost 507 11,186 15 11,708

Investment property is Diocesan glebe land vested in the DBF under the Endowments and Glebe Measure 1976 that is held for the purposes of producing income for clergy stipends. The glebe land is measured at fair value at the year end by an independent RICS registered valuer. The valuation has been undertaken in accordance with International and RICS Valuation Standards and has been based upon the valuer’s experience in the valuation of agricultural, institutional and amenity land within the Lancashire and wider north-west region.

Unlisted investments are made up of Central Board of Finance investments in Church of England Investment Fund shares, Property Fund shares and Fixed Interest Securities.

19. Debtors

2023
£000
Company
Amounts receivable within one year
Prepayments and accrued income
788
Other debtors
1,189
Amount owed by related parties (Cidari Education)
-
Loans to related parties (Emmanuel Theological College)
-
Loans to parishes
24
2,001
Amounts receivable after more than one year
Loans to parishes
87
87		 2023
2022
£000
£000
Group
Company
807
665
1,189
1,072
-
6
-
10
24
440

2,020
2,193

87
14

87
14		 2022
£000
Group
683
1,072
6
10
440
2,211
14
14

Page 45

The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

20. Creditors

2023
£000
Company
Amounts falling due within one year
Trade creditors
172
Other creditors (taxation and social security)
60
Other creditors
434
Accruals
124
Amounts owed to related parties (BDBE)
-
CCLA loan
-
790
2023
£000
Amounts falling due after more than one year
Due to Churches Conservation Trust
130
130		 2023
2022
£000
£000
Group
Company
172
548
60
53
434
88
127
186
-
235
-
418
793
1,528
2023
2022
£000
£000
130
157
130
157		 2022
£000
Group
548
53
88
186
235
418
1,528
2022
£000
157
157

The long term loan from CCLA is a flexible loan facilities subject to a maximum repayment term of 10 years. The loan has been repaid in 2023.

The amount owed to Churches Conservation Trust is due on disposal of five redundant church buildings.

21. Commitments – company & group

Commitments at 31 December 2023, for which no provision has been made in these accounts, were as follows:

Authorised, but not contracted:
Parish Vision Fund
Pre-reformation Church Buildings Fund
Lower Income Communities Fund
Benefact Grant Fund
Clergy Housing Fund		 2023
£000
233
131
82
-
436
882		 2022
£000
128
-
65
6
544
678

22. Called up share capital

The charitable company is limited by guarantee, registered in England and does not have an authorised or allotted share capital.

Page 46

The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

23. Net assets analysed by fund
Company Tangible Fixed Fixed Asset Net Current Long term Net assets as at
Assets Investment Assets Creditor 31 December
2023
£000 £000 £000 £000 £000
General Fund 1,637 6,999 277 - 8,913
Designated Funds - 503 2,164 - 2,667
Total Unrestricted Funds 1,637 7,502 2,441 - 11,580
Pastoral Account 8,168 - 2,947 (130) 10,985
Other Restricted Funds - 21 711 732
Total Restricted Funds 8,168 21 3,658 (130) 11,717
Parsonage Houses Fund 29,457 1,147 - - 30,604
Stipends Capital / Housing 4,112 11,160 970 - 16,242
Fund
Other Endowment Funds - 2,329 5 - 2,334
Total Endowment Funds 33,569 14,636 975 - 49,180
Total 43,374
 22,159
 7,074
 (130)
 72,477
Group Tangible Fixed Fixed Asset Net Current Long term Net assets as at
Assets Investment Assets Creditor 31 December
2023
£000 £000 £000 £000 £000
General Fund 1,637 6,999 277 - 8,913
Designated Funds - 503 2,164 - 2,667
Total Unrestricted Funds 1,637 7,502 2,441 - 11,580
Pastoral Account 8,168 - 2,947 (130) 10,985
Other Restricted Funds - 266 1,085 1,351
Total Restricted Funds 8,168 266 4,032 (130) 12,336
Parsonage Houses Fund 29,457 1,147 - - 30,604
Stipends Capital / Housing 4,112 11,160 970 - 16,242
Fund
Other Endowment Funds - 4,806 5 - 4,811
Total Endowment Funds 33,569 17,113 975 - 51,657
Total 43,374
 24,881
 7,448
 (130)
 75,573

Page 47

The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

24. Unrestricted funds

Unrestricted funds comprise those funds which are available for application for the general purposes of the charity as set out in its governing document. Movements on this fund are as follows:

At 1
General Fund
At 1
Designated Funds
Office Assets Fund
Parsonages Fund
Parish Vision 2026 Grant and
Loan Fund
Diocesan Vision Strategic
Development Fund
Diocesan Vision 2026 Fund
Allchurches Trust Grant Fund
Other Designated Funds		 January
2023
£000
8,520

January
2023
£000
439
323
863
553
464
238
102
______
2,982
 Income Expenditure
Gains and
losses
Transfers
At 31
December
2023
£000
£000
£000
£000
£000
9,337
(3,828)
473
(5,589)
8,913





Income Expenditure
Gains and
losses
Transfers
At 31
December
2023
£000
£000
£000
£000
£000
14
-
43
-
496
-
-
-
(211)
112
4
(54)
-
-
813
-
(76)
-
-
477
80
(32)
-
(163)
349
-
-
-
-
238
-
-
-
80
182
__
_


___
98
(162)
43
(294)
2,667

Designated Funds

Fund

Application/purpose

Income for specific purposes Designated to provide income to specific purposes in the parish share budget

Office Assets Fund Designated for repairs, renovation or for buying a new building in the future.

Parsonages Fund For repairs and disability adaptation on parsonages in excess of parish share budget

Parish Vision 2026 Loan Fund Designated to provide some of the loans to parishes to continue their mission projects

Diocesan Vision Strategic Designated to provide match funding necessary for Strategic Development Fund Development Funding applications Diocesan Vision 2026 Fund Designated to contingencies for the development of the diocesan vision Allchurches Trust Grant Fund The fund assists with funding the cost of diocesan projects, building administration costs, education, parish mission projects and major building works.

Page 48

The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

25. Restricted funds

The income funds of the charity include restricted funds comprising the following unexpended balances of donations, grants and investment income held on trust to be applied for specific purposes:

At 1
Diocesan Pastoral Account
Diocesan Stipends Fund
Income Account
Social Responsibility Projects
Parish Vision 2026 Grant
Fund
Bishops Ordination Fund
Resourcing Ministerial
Education (RME) Fund
Bishop’s Harvest Appeal
Bishop’s Clergy in Need Fund
SDF Funded Projects
Lower Income Communities
Funding
Parish Pastoral Fund
Other Restricted Funds
Subtotal Funds – Company
Bishops Clergy Widows Fund
Total Funds - Group		 January
2023
£000
11,701
-
69
38
152
161
20
37
17
-
184
182
__
12,561

629
____
13,190
 Income Expenditure
Gains and
losses
Transfers
At 31
December
2023
£000
£000
£000
£000
£000
1,534
(313)
-
(2,121)
10,801
1,815
(8,744)
-
6,929
-
1
-
-
-
70		 Income Expenditure
Gains and
losses
Transfers
At 31
December
2023
£000
£000
£000
£000
£000
1,534
(313)
-
(2,121)
10,801
1,815
(8,744)
-
6,929
-
1
-
-
-
70		 Income Expenditure
Gains and
losses
Transfers
At 31
December
2023
£000
£000
£000
£000
£000
1,534
(313)
-
(2,121)
10,801
1,815
(8,744)
-
6,929
-
1
-
-
-
70		 Income Expenditure
Gains and
losses
Transfers
At 31
December
2023
£000
£000
£000
£000
£000
1,534
(313)
-
(2,121)
10,801
1,815
(8,744)
-
6,929
-
1
-
-
-
70		 Income Expenditure
Gains and
losses
Transfers
At 31
December
2023
£000
£000
£000
£000
£000
1,534
(313)
-
(2,121)
10,801
1,815
(8,744)
-
6,929
-
1
-
-
-
70
5 (44) 1 - -
3 (11) - - 144
129
(136)
30
(27)
2
-
1,047
(1,114)
1,460
(304)
-
-
45
(66)
__
_
6,071
(10,759)


78
(72)

___
6,149
(10,831)

 -
-
-
-
-
__
1

(16)
____
(15)
 -
-
-
107
(1,156)
-
84
__
3,843

-
____
3,843
 154
23
39
57
-
184
245
__
11,717

619
____
12,336

The specific purposes for which the funds are to be applied are as follows:

Fund

Diocesan Pastoral Account

Application/purpose

Purposes are laid down in Section 78 of the Pastoral Measure 1983, the main purposes being:

Diocesan Stipends Fund Income Account

Subject to any charges imposed by the scheme or order the fund shall be applied to:

Social Responsibility Projects

The Social Responsibility section received funding for specific projects and for its general costs relating to those projects. Project funding was restricted to the project it had been requested for and approved expenditure is applied against the funding in accordance with the funders rules.

Parish Vision 2026 Grant Fund

The Grant Fund exists to enable parishes to fulfil mission opportunities, normally through the appointment of lay workers.

Page 49

The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

Bishops Clergy Widows Fund The Bishop’s Clergy Widows Fund is used to help clergy widows and retired clergy in cases of financial hardship, particularly with housing costs. It funds the cost of social events and the cost of the Diocesan Officer and Bishop’s visitors. Bishops Ordination Fund The Ordination Fund is used to assist with meeting the costs of Ordinands in training.

Bishop’s Harvest Appeal Each year the Bishop selects a charity to benefit from his Harvest Appeal. Parishes, Schools and individuals within the Diocese collect money in support of this charity and the monies are distributed by the Diocese in accordance with the appeal. Bishop’s Clergy Fund The fund was established by transfer of some of the Extra Mission and Ministry funds received from the Archbishops’ Council 2008 – 2010. Grants from the fund are awarded at the discretion of the Bishop, to serving clergy in the Diocese.

Resourcing Ministerial Education Specific funding for Ordinands in training from National Church (RME) Fund

Strategic Development Fund, Specific funding for the Outer Estates project and Preston Resourcing Funded Projects parish from National Church Lower Income Communities Fund Funding to promote the growth of churches in Lower Income Communities

Parish Pastoral Fund This fund reflects monies ring fenced from the sale of a vicarage in a parish where no scheme for pastoral re-organisation is currently in place. The monies must be held until either a vicarage is purchased, or a scheme is put in place.

26. Endowment funds

The endowment funds are held on trust to be retained for the benefit of the Charity as a capital fund. Where the whole of the fund must be permanently maintained it is known as permanent endowment. Where there is power of discretion to convert endowed funds into income, the fund is classified as expendable endowment.

expendable endowment.
At 1 January
2022
£000
Diocesan Stipends Fund Capital
Account
15,292
Parsonage Houses Fund
27,953
Other Permanent endowment
Maintenance of the Ministry
314
General purposes
391
Whalley Abbey
171
Other endowments
84
Stipends
1,274
Subtotal Funds - Company
45,479
Bishops Clergy Widows Fund
2,263
Total Funds - Group
47,742		 Income
Expenditure
Gains and
losses
Transfers
At 31
December
2023
£000
£000
£000
£000
£000
343
(18)
625
-
16,242
430
-
100
2,121
30,604
-
-
30
-
344
-
-
37
-
428
-
-
16
-
187
-
6
-
(81)
9
-
-
92
-
1,366


773
(12)
900
2,040
49,180



-
-
214
-
2,477


773
(12)
1,114
2,040
51,657
49,180
2,477
51,657

The Diocesan Stipends Fund Capital Account

This fund represents the value of glebe property and investments at the balance sheet date and is a permanent endowment fund.

The account is governed by the Diocesan Stipends Fund Measure 1953 as amended by the Endowments and Glebe Measure 1976, the National Institutions Measure 1998, and the Miscellaneous Provisions Measure 1992.

Page 50

The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

Income arises from the sale of glebe assets, the transfer of parsonage sale money, transfers from the DSF Income account, as well as gifts, bequests and donations.

The main function of the fund is to produce income for the stipends, but it may also be used for other purposes including: acquiring glebe property, investing in a subsidiary, developing and protecting glebe amenities, investment, discharging loans and levies on glebe, improving parsonage houses and discharging any loans made by the Church Commissioners under the Endowments and Glebe Measure 1976.

Parsonages Houses fund

This fund represents the value of benefice houses at the balance sheet date, together with the Parsonages Building Fund held by the Church Commissioners and investments held by the Parsonages Board. The houses are used to provide accommodation for the parochial clergy.

The Diocese is not free to dispose of the houses except in accordance with the appropriate measure. There is provision for the net proceeds of sale to be applied to either the Diocesan Pastoral Account or Diocesan Stipends Fund Capital once a disposal has been effected.

The Parsonage Houses fund is an expendable endowment.

Other Permanent endowments

The permanent endowments are established under a variety of trust deeds and documents which require the funds to be held in perpetuity. The income of the funds is to be applied to the Bishops Clergy Widows fund, Maintenance of the Ministry fund, General purposes fund, Diocesan Stipends Income fund, Whalley Abbey fund and other smaller endowment funds.

27. Related parties’ transactions – company and group

During the year the company shared office space with the Blackburn Diocesan Board of Education and Cidari Education Ltd. Shared and staff time expenditure has been recharged at cost.

2023 2023 2022 2022
Recharges Grants Recharges Grants
(excl. VAT) made to (excl. VAT) made to
related related
parties parties
£ £ £ £
Blackburn Diocesan Board of Education 27,867 324,061 24,314 359,360
Cidari Education Ltd 10,006 - 10,492 -
Blackburn Cathedral 14,631 - 8,038 999
Emmanuel Theological College 3,360 10,000 9,700 -

During the year £133,246 has been paid to Emmanuel Theological College for training of readers and ordinands ( 2022: £164,462 ).

At the year end the balances due from related parties were as follows:

Outstanding Outstanding Outstanding Outstanding
Trade Loan Trade Loan
Balances at Balances at Balances at Balances at
31/12/2023 31/12/2023 31/12/2022 31/12/2022
£ £ £ £
Cidari Education Ltd - - 11,126 -
Blackburn Cathedral - 7,340 5,110 425,340
Emmanuel Theological College 720 - - 10,000
Blackburn Diocesan Board of Education 1,700 - - -

At 31 December 2023 there was a balance due from the Blackburn Diocesan Board of Education of £1,700 ( 2022: a balance of £169,926 was due to the Blackburn Diocesan Board of Education ).

During the year donations received from trustees amounted to £4,769 ( 2022: £4,494). No donations have been received from key management personnel ( 2022: £nil ).

Page 51

The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

28. Subsidiary undertakings

The Bishop of Blackburn’s Fund for Widows and Orphans of Poor Clergy (“the fund”) is a subsidiary of the Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance on the basis of common control. The purpose of the fund is to help clergy widows and retired clergy in cases of financial hardship, particularly with housing costs.

The results for the year to 31 December 2023 and the assets and liabilities at this date are:

Net
Gains and
Movement in
Income Expenditure Losses
Funds
£000 £000 £000
£000
The Bishop of Blackburn’s Fund for Widows
and Orphans of Poor Clergy
Charity number: 505091 78 (72) (16)
(10)
Fixed Assets Deposits Total Net
Investments Debtors
and Cash
Creditors
Assets
£000 £000 £000 £000
£000
The Bishop of Blackburn’s Fund for Widows
and Orphans of Poor Clergy
Charity number: 505091 2,722 19 358 (3)
3,096
Financial instruments
Company 2023
2022
£000
£000
Financial assets measured at fair value 22,159
21,089
Financial assets measured at amortised cost 7,864
9,913
Financial liabilities measured at amortised cost 790
1,528
Financial liabilities measured at fair value 130
157
Group 2023
2022
£000
£000
Financial assets measured at fair value 24,881
23,612
Financial assets measured at amortised cost 8,241
10,281
Financial liabilities measured at amortised cost 793
1,528
Financial liabilities measured at fair value 130
157
Financial assets measured at fair value comprise investments.

29. Financial instruments

Financial assets measured at amortised cost comprise cash, trade debtors, other debtors and receivables and parish loans.

Financial liabilities measured at amortised cost comprise accruals, other creditors, the Clergy Pension Scheme liability and amounts held for other bodies.

Financial liabilities measured at fair value comprise value linked loans.

Page 52

The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

30. Funds held as custodian trustee – company and group

The BDBF is custodian trustee of assets held on permanent trust by virtue of the Parochial Church Councils (Powers) Measure 1956 and the Incumbents and Churchwardens (Trusts) Measure 1964 where the managing trustees are parochial church councils and others. PCC trust investment assets held by the BDBF have been summarised below at market value:

CBF Church of England Deposit fund
CBF Church of England Investment fund
CBF Church of England Fixed Interest fund
CBF Church of England Property fund
Other
Cash at bank
Total assets held as custodian trustee		 2023
£000
4,768
11,131
255
58
44
8

16,264
 2022
£000
4,586
10,459
257
61
44
11
15,418

The BDBF also acts as custodian trustee in relation to Parochial Church Council (PCC) property. These assets are held separately to those of the BDBF.

Page 53

The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

31. Prior year comparative Statement of Financial Activities

Income and endowments from:
Donations and legacies
Parish contributions
Archbishops' Council and Church
commissioners
Other
Charitable activities: statutory fees,
chaplaincy and other income
Other trading activities
Investments
Other
Total Income and endowments
Expenditure on:
Raising funds
Charitable activities
Other
Total Expenditure
Net income/(expenditure) before investments
Net (loss)/gains on investments
Net income/(expenditure) before transfers
Transfers between funds
Net income/(expenditure) before other
recognised gains and losses
Other recognised gains/(losses)
Gain/(loss) on revaluation of fixed assets
Gain/(loss) on defined benefit pension
schemes
Net movement in funds
Reconciliation of funds
Total funds at 1 January 2022
Total funds at 31 December 2022		 Unrestricted funds
General
Designated
Restricted
funds
Endowment
funds
£000
£000
£000
£000
7,626
-
-
-
255
-
4,624
-
115
136
107
-
190
-
534
-
216
-
221
-
275
13
515
-
-
-
1,908
257


8,677
149
7,909
257


301
-
18
-
3,139
78
11,516
-
-
-
-
4


3,440
78
11,534
4

5,237
71
(3,625)
253
(866)
(58)
(37)
(1,909)


4,371
13
(3,662)
(1,656)
(5,305)
(64)
5,865
(496)


(934)
(51)
2,203
(2,152)
-
-
-
-
179
-
-
-
(755)
(51)
2,203
(2,152)
9,275
3,033
10,987
49,894


8,520
2,982
13,190
47,742		 Total
funds
2022
£000
7,626
4,879
358
724
437
803
2,165
16,992
319
14,733
4
15,056
1,936
(2,870)
(934)
-
(934)
-
179
(755)
73,189
72,434

Page 54

The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

32. Prior year comparative Archbishops’ Council and Church Commissioners

Unrestricted fund
Restricted
Endowment
General
Designated
funds
Funds
£000
£000
£000
£000
Lowest Income Communities Funding
-
-
1,402
-
Energy Costs Grant
-
-
431
-
Resourcing Ministerial Education Block
Grant
-
-
221
-
Strategic Ministry Fund
-
-
379
-
Strategic Capacity Funding
255
-
16
-
Strategic Development Funding
-
-
2,103
-
Clergy hardship grant
-
-
72
-

255
-
4,624
-		 Total
funds
2022
£000
1,402
431
221
379
271
2,103
72
4,879

33. Prior year comparative Other donations

Unrestricted Funds
Restricted
Endowment
General
Designated
Funds
Funds
£000
£000
£000
£000
Benefact Trust
45
120
-
-
Donations
21
16
28
-
Other Grants
39
-
79
-
Legacies
10
-
-
-

115
136
107
-		 Total
funds
2022
£000
165
65
118
10
358

34. Prior year comparative Charitable activities

Unrestricted Funds
Restricted
Endowment
General
Designated
Funds
Funds
£000
£000
£000
£000
Statutory fees; chaplaincy income
-
-
494
-
Church Commissioners - Guaranteed
annuities
-
-
1
-
Recharge of staff costs
-
-
39
-
Whalley Abbey Conference House
141
-
-
-
Income for training courses
5
-
-
-
Other fees/sales
44
-
-
-

190
-
534
-

ior year comparative Other trading activities
Unrestricted funds
Restricted
Endowment
General
Designated
Funds
Funds
£000
£000
£000
£000
Rental Income
63
-
221
-
Whalley Abbey Conference House
133
-
-
-
Accounting and Legal services
19
-
-
-
Consultancy services
-
-
-
-
Other fees/sales
1
-
-
-

216
-
221
-



 Total
funds
2022
£000
494
1
39
141
5
44
724
Total
funds
2022
£000
284
133
19
-
1
437

35. Prior year comparative Other trading activities

Page 55

The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

36. Prior year comparative Investment Income

Unrestricted funds Restricted Endowment Total funds
General Designated Funds Funds 2022
£000 £000 £000 £000 £000
Dividends receivable 231 13 470 - 714
Interest receivable 44 - 12 - 56
Rents receivable - - 33
 - 33
275 13 515 - 803

37. Prior year comparative Other income

Unrestricted funds Unrestricted funds Restricted Endowment Total funds
General Designated Funds Funds 2022
£000 £000 £000 £000 £000
Gains on disposal of fixed assets - - 1,908 257 2,165
Gains on disposal of investments - - - - -
Loan interest - - -
 - -
- - 1,908 257 2,165

38. Prior year comparative Cost of raising funds

Unrestricted funds Restricted Endowment Total funds
General Designated Funds Funds 2022
£000 £000 £000 £000 £000
Project Management 59 - - - 59
Parish share
Secretariat 17 - - - 17
Archdeacons - - 4 - 4
Investment Management Costs 20 - - - 20
Whalley Abbey Rents 6 - - - 6
Rents - - 14 - 14
Fundraising Trading Whalley Abbey 180 - - - 180
19 - - - 19
Fundraising Trading other
301 - 18 - 319

Page 56

The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

39. Prior year comparative Expenditure on charitable activities

Contributions to Archbishops' Council
Training for ministry
National Church responsibilities
Grants and provisions
Mission Agency pension contributions
Retired clergy housing costs (CHARM)
Pooling of ordinand candidates costs
General Synod expenses
Parish ministry
Stipends & National Insurance
Pension contributions
Housing costs
Removal, resettlement and other grants
Other expenses
Support for parish ministry
Whalley Abbey Conference House
Redundant churches
Strategic Development Funding Projects
St Philip’s Centre Project
Grants to Parishes, Individuals and Other
Charities
Miscellaneous Expenses
Expenditure on education
Grants for the work of the Board
Charitable activities		 Unrestricted funds
Restricted
Endowment
Total funds
General
Designated
Funds
Funds
2022
£000
£000
£000
£000
£000
302
-
-
-
302
185
-
-
-
185
25
-
-
-
25
13
-
-
-
13
114
-
-
-
114
7
-
-
-
7
11
-
-
-
11
657
-
-
-
657
-
-
5,031
-
5,031
-
-
1,435
-
1,435
45
-
1,543
-
1,588
-
-
223
-
223
-
4
62
-
66
45
4
8,294
-
8,343
1,839
32
-
-
1,871
239
-
-
-
239
-
-
78
-
78
-
-
2,083
-
2,083
-
-
51
-
51
-
42
1,010
-
1,052
-
-
-
-
-
2,078
74
3,222
-
5,374
359
-
-
-
359
359
-
-
-
359
3,139
78
11,516
-
14,733

Page 57

The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

40. Prior year comparative Analysis of expenditure including allocation of support costs

Activities
Grant
Management
undertaken
funding of
Admin
directly
Activities
Support
£000
£000
£000
Cost of raising funds
282
-
37
Contributions to Archbishops' Council
11
646
-
Parish Ministry
8,120
223
-
Support for Parish Ministry
3,397
1,225
752
Education
-
359
-
Other
4
-
-
11,814
2,453
789		 Total
2022
£000
319
657
8,343
5,374
359
4
15,056

41. Prior year comparative Analysis of support costs

Unrestricted funds Restricted Endowment Total funds
General Designated Funds Funds 2022
£000 £000 £000 £000 £000
Raising Funds 33 - 4 - 37
Central Administration 577 - - - 577
Governance costs
Secretariat 29 - - - 29
Accounting and Finance Office 42 - - - 42
Audit & accountancy fees 28 - - - 28
Diocesan Synod costs 7 - - - 7
DBF Directors and Bishop’s Council
Meetings 6 - - - 6
Chancellor and Registrar Fees 67 - - - 67
789 - 4 - 793

42. Prior year comparative Net assets analysed by fund

Tangible Fixed Fixed Asset Net Current Long term Net assets as at
Assets Investment Assets Creditor 31 December
2022
£000 £000 £000 £000 £000
General Fund 1,677 6,526 317 - 8,520
Designated Funds - 446 2,536 - 2,982
Total Unrestricted Funds 1,677 6,972 2,853 - 11,502
Pastoral Account 7,656 - 4,387 (157) 11,886
Other Restricted Funds - 281 1,023 - 1,304
Total Restricted Funds 7,656 281 5,410 (157) 13,190
Parsonage Houses Fund 26,906 1,047 - - 27,953
Stipends Capital / Housing
Fund 3,986 10,821 485 - 15,292
Other Endowment Funds - 4,492 5 - 4,497
Total Endowment Funds 30,892 16,360 490 - 47,742
Total 40,225
 23,613
 8,753
 (157)
 72,434

Page 58

The Blackburn Diocesan Board of Finance Limited

Annual Report and Financial Statements For the year ended 31 December 2023

43. Prior year comparative Unrestricted funds

At 1
General Fund
Designated Funds
Office Assets Fund
Parsonages Fund
Parish Vision 2026 Grant and
Loan Fund
Diocesan Vision Strategic
Development Fund
Diocesan Vision 2026 Fund
Allchurches Trust Grant Fund
Other Designated Funds		 January
2022
£000
9,275

484
323
822
578
478
265
83
______
3,033
 Income Expenditure
Gains and
losses
Transfers
At 31
December
2022
£000
£000
£000
£000
£000
8,677
(3,440)
(687)
(5,305)
8,520





13
-
(58)
-
439
-
-
-
-
323
56
(15)
-
-
863
-
(25)
-
-
553
80
(11)
-
(83)
464
-
(27)
-
-
238
-
-
-
19
102
__
_


___
149
(78)
(58)
(64)
2,982
_
 __

44. Prior year comparative Restricted funds

At 1
Diocesan Pastoral Account
Diocesan Stipends Fund
Income Account
Social Responsibility Projects
Parish Vision 2026 Grant Fund
Bishops Clergy Widows Fund
Bishops Ordination Fund
Resourcing Ministerial
Education (RME) Fund
Bishop’s Harvest Appeal
Bishop’s Clergy in Need Fund
SDF Funded Projects
Lower Income Communities
Funding
Parish Pastoral Fund
Other Restricted Funds		 January
2022
£000
9,430
-
101
97
676
152
123
16
37
(24)
38
190
151
______
10,987
 Income Expenditure
Gains and
losses
Transfers
At 31
December
2022
£000
£000
£000
£000
£000
1,923
(148)
-
496
11,701
1,579
(8,063)
-
6,484
-
19
(51)
-
-
69		 Income Expenditure
Gains and
losses
Transfers
At 31
December
2022
£000
£000
£000
£000
£000
1,923
(148)
-
496
11,701
1,579
(8,063)
-
6,484
-
19
(51)
-
-
69		 Income Expenditure
Gains and
losses
Transfers
At 31
December
2022
£000
£000
£000
£000
£000
1,923
(148)
-
496
11,701
1,579
(8,063)
-
6,484
-
19
(51)
-
-
69		 Income Expenditure
Gains and
losses
Transfers
At 31
December
2022
£000
£000
£000
£000
£000
1,923
(148)
-
496
11,701
1,579
(8,063)
-
6,484
-
19
(51)
-
-
69		 Income Expenditure
Gains and
losses
Transfers
At 31
December
2022
£000
£000
£000
£000
£000
1,923
(148)
-
496
11,701
1,579
(8,063)
-
6,484
-
19
(51)
-
-
69
6
(62)		 (3) - 38
78 (90) (35) - 629
4
(4)
-		 - 152
221
(183)
20
(16)
-
-
2,101
(2,082)
1,402
(301)
-
(6)
556
(528)
__
____
7,909
(11,534)

 -
-
-
-
-
1
______

(37)

 -
-
-
42
(1,139)
-
(18)
______
5,865
 161
20
37
37
-
184
162
______
13,190

45. Prior year comparative Endowment funds

At 1
Diocesan Stipends Fund
Capital Account
Parsonage Houses Fund
Other Permanent endowment
Bishops Clergy Widows Fund
Maintenance of the Ministry
General purposes
Whalley Abbey
Other endowments
Stipends		 January
2022
Income
Expenditure
Gains and
losses
Transfers
At 31
December
2022
£000
£000
£000
£000
£000
£000
16,213
257
(4)
(1,174)
-
15,292
28,589
-
-
(140)
(496)
27,953
2,562
-
-
(299)
-
2,263
356
-
-
(42)
-
314
443
-
-
(52)
-
391
194
-
-
(23)
-
171
94
-
-
(10)
-
84
1,443
-
-
(169)
-
1,274


49,894
257
(4)
(1,909)
(496)
47,742

Page 59