2022-09-30-accounts

SWAY WELFARE AID GROUP

Annual Report and Accounts For the Year Ending 30[th] September 2022

Registered Charity Number 261220

SWAY WELFARE AID GROUP

Reference and Administrative Details

Name of Charity:	Sway Welfare Aid Group
Alternative Name:	SWAG
Charity Registration Number:	261220
Contact Address:	Mr J R Stevens
	Driftway
	Mead End Road
	Sway
	Lymington
	Hampshire
	SO41 6EH
Trustees:	Jonathan Hartley (Chairman)
	Jeremy Stevens (Treasurer)
	Pat Fleat
	Jane Self
	Dr Sally Smith
	Sue Cornwell
	Sharon Millett (from 23/05/2022)
Bankers:	CAF Bank Ltd
	25 Kings Hill Avenue
	Kings Hill
	West Malling
	Kent
	ME19 4JQ
Independent Examiner:	Sandra Williams ACMA
	3 Moser Grove
	Sway
	Lymington
	Hampshire
	SO41 6GA

2

Page

SWAY WELFARE AID GROUP

Structure, Governance and Management

The Sway Welfare Aid Group was established by constitution dated 28th October 1970, to serve the needs of the civil parish of Sway and its immediate neighbourhood.

The trustees manage the charity on behalf of all the residents of Sway to whom they report annually at a general meeting in November.

Trustees, and other officers, are appointed by election at the annual general meeting and serve for one year, renewable annually. All new trustees are made aware of their responsibilities under the Charities Act.

During the year the trustees take all executive decisions. At any of the public meetings during the year residents of Sway are entitled to propose possible areas of benefit for the trustees to consider.

The trustees serving during the year under review were Jonathan Hartley (Chair), Jeremy Stevens (Treasurer), Pat Fleat, Sally Smith, Jane Self, Sue Cornwell and Sharon Millett (from 23[rd] May 2022).

Sway Welfare Aid Group is affiliated to the Good Neighbours Network (GNN) funded by Hampshire County Council and local clinical commissioning groups. SWAG benefits from central public and employer’s liability and personal accident insurance policies taken out by GNN on behalf of all affiliated groups.

Objectives and Activities

The objectives of the Sway Welfare Aid Group (SWAG) are the relief of the sick, needy, disabled or aged within Sway and its immediate neighbourhood. The charity makes grants to both individuals and local organisations within these constraints. In this connection SWAG works closely with many local organisations to ensure that it reaches out to as many people as possible in meeting its objectives.

The charity also organises a free transport service, manned by volunteer drivers, to take sick, elderly or infirm people to attend hospital and other medical appointments where they cannot provide, or are not capable of using their own transport. Mileage expenses of the drivers are met by the charity.

In addition, the charity runs a twice-monthly lunch club service for the elderly living alone. Volunteers cook the meal and the participants pay only a nominal charge for the food; all other expenses are met by the charity.

In addition, the charity runs a weekly Community Café to provide a focal point for social interaction and to improve well-being among people in the village. The café runs on a “donations only” basis.

The trustees have paid due regard to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit and consider that the activities of the Sway Welfare Aid Group during the year are fully in accord with the objectives of the charity and are to the public benefit.

SWAG runs an annual Christmas appeal within the village of Sway to raise funds for its activities and also benefits from voluntary donations from clients of its transport service and community café.

The trustees are grateful to all our volunteer officers who organise much of the charity’s work.

3

Page

SWAY WELFARE AID GROUP

Achievements and Performance

Against a background of significant change and uncertainty in our operating environment, SWAG has again completed a successful year due to the efforts of our volunteers and trustees.

Grants

Once again, the charity has concentrated its resources on individuals and families. Grants have been made for all requests for help that have been received.

The amount of the traditional heating grants was increased to £680 per year in December 2021 due to the predicted increased costs of both gas and electricity following the global economic recovery from the Covid pandemic. Thirteen residents of the village benefitted from heating grants this year. In addition, in December we launched the highly versatile small fuel grants scheme which benefitted several villagers. In 2023, we hope to promote this source of assistance more widely to villagers who need help in meeting their home energy bills.

There was an increased demand on our normal hardship grant programme and this year the charity disbursed £9644, benefitting eleven families in the village under this programme. The charity continues to help single parent families with small children to attend pre-school classes, which allows the parent to work during this period.

Our local primary school continues to benefit from the earlier grant that we made, specifically to provide assistance and relief to children of under-privileged families. This year the school was able to help 18 children from 14 different families using these funds.

SWAG was happy to support the Parish Council by providing a grant to enable the PC to replace the Jubilee Pavilion defibrillator, which had become weather damaged.

On learning earlier this year that several villagers had opened their homes to refugees from the war in Ukraine, SWAG engaged with host families, offering help. In practical terms, this consisted of the provision of phone sim cards to refugees to assist them in settling in to life here, under a scheme offered by Vodafone. Additionally, we have provided help to Ukrainian families with their medical transport needs.

Community Café

The Community Café completed its first full year of activities following its renaissance under the SWAG umbrella in 2021. Led by the Café’s two enthusiastic Coordinators, Sue Cornwell and Grete Steen, and supported by a committed team of helpers, the Café was able continue opening during the period of Covid restrictions, thanks to outdoors facilities provided by our room hire venue at the St. Luke’s Church rooms. The Café continues to provide a highly valued social engagement opportunity for a loyal group of Swaybased clients, many of whom live alone, and runs on a voluntary donation basis.

Lunch Club

Due to the dedication and enthusiasm of the two Coordinators, Jane Pitts and Deborah Walker, the Lunch Club was able to start up again after a long period of suspension during the Covid pandemic restrictions.

4

Page

SWAY WELFARE AID GROUP

We were very fortunate to attract new volunteers to the group of helpers who keep this highly appreciated community service going.

Medical Transport Service

2022 has been a year when the medical transport service came under some considerable stress. This resulted from a combination of reduced driver availability, and a noteworthy increased demand from clients, itself a function of the NHS striving to make inroads into the Covid-induced backlog of Consultant’s appointments and check-ups, and the additional demand created by the national vaccination programme. The trustees’ thanks are due to the small volunteer team of coordinators led by Mike Green who give up their free time to run the service, in addition to themselves acting as volunteer drivers. We have been very fortunate to attract a number of new volunteer drivers this year, which has enabled us to maintain our driver strength at approximately the same level as the year before. My thanks go to all our volunteer drivers, whose efforts are so appreciated by the residents who rely on this service to be able to get to their medical appointments.

Future Outlook

As the UK and the wider world recovers from the human and economic impact of the pandemic, made worse by the stresses and economic impacts of the war in Ukraine, it seems inevitable that many residents of Sway will experience some harmful impact to their lives and those of their families, be that medically, financially and emotionally. In such an environment, your trustees anticipate a rising demand for our help during these difficult times ahead.

One increasingly evident pressure point from it is the dramatic rise in energy costs. At this stage it is impossible to predict if this is a short-term issue or whether it will continue in the longer term.

Thanks to donations from so many people over the years, and the prudent management of our invested reserves, SWAG has during 2022 been in a position to continue to support our local community in Sway during these exceptional times.

In closing, I must echo the words of our former Organiser David Golby, in paying tribute here to all our volunteers who, despite the many pressures on their own lives and those of their families, have continued unselfishly to give of their time, energy and enthusiasm, the critical commodities which are fundamental to the future of the charity.

Special mention must be made of the debt of gratitude which SWAG owes to our Treasurer, Jeremy Stevens, who is stepping down after sixteen years of service in that function, and has kindly consented to continue as a trustee in order to ensure a smooth transition of this critical function to his successor.

5

Page

SWAY WELFARE AID GROUP

Financial Review

Funds

SWAG has three funds, an Unrestricted Fund that provides for all the charity’s activities, an expendable Endowment Fund that is invested to provide interest and dividend income for the Unrestricted Fund and a Restricted Lunch Club Fund, the income for which comes from the subscriptions paid by lunch club members for their meals.

Donations and Fundraising

This year the charity was fortunate to benefit from a £5,000 legacy from the estate of the late Peggy Ingleby and from donations totalling £903 from friends and families in memory of two deceased residents of the village.

Aside from these exceptional donations overall donations this year increased by 11% after Gift Aid was added. Donations from clients of the medical transport service amounted to £5388, a 13% increase, but there was a 6% fall in donations from the Christmas appeal which raised £3773. This was the first full year of operation of the new Community Café and donations from clients of this service contributed £941 including recovered Gift Aid.

The charity did not run any fundraising events this year.

Charitable Activities

The trustees took the decision to terminate the special Covid-19 grant scheme as it had largely fallen out of use. In its place, and in response to the rapidly rising fuel prices, a Small Fuel Grant scheme was started to provide fixed grants of £200 to help families struggling to cope with unexpectedly large fuel bills. Strangely there has been little uptake on this, only three such grants being made since initiation.

The trustees responded to the fuel price increases this year by increasing the charity’s regular heating grants paid to needy beneficiaries in the village to £680, paid in two £340 instalments. Thirteen families benefitted from this scheme.

Requests for help under the normal hardship grant scheme increased significantly this year with eleven families receiving assistance. This led to an increase in expenditure under this scheme of 135%.

Organisations to benefit from SWAG grants in the year under review were:

• £1500 to Sway Parish Council for the installation of a public defibrillator

• £750 to New Forest Basics Bank

• £500 to Sway Over Sixties Club (now renamed Thursday Afternoon Club) for hire of the room for their meetings.

The trustees organised a tea party to thank volunteers this year in celebration of the charity’s 50[th] anniversary. The cost of this was £1593 and this cost has been split equally between the three activities that make use of volunteers, namely the medical transport service, the Lunch Club and the Community Café. For this reason, support costs for these activities are unusually high this year and therefore the comparisons with last year that follow have been made excluding this exceptional cost of £531 in each case.

The cost of the medical transport service increased this year by 74%. The costs of this service are largely the money paid to SWAG drivers for their petrol and are directly related to the miles driven on the charity’s behalf. The increased cost reflects the much-increased workload on this service now that the

6

Page

SWAY WELFARE AID GROUP

NHS is trying to catch up with its backlog and the ongoing Covid-19 vaccination programme. In addition, there was a backlog of driver skills assessments this year. SWAG pays Hampshire County Council for these assessments and the service was suspended last year due to the pandemic. The increased mileage also led to increased donations from clients, but these did not quite keep up with costs, so the service had an overall operating cost to the charity of £188 this year.

The apparent large increase in the cost of the Lunch Club this year is not representative. Normal Lunch Club activities were suspended during most of the year 2020/21 due to the pandemic. In this period the charity was providing a delivered lunch service and consequently no room hire costs were incurred. Normal Lunch Club activity only resumed in the year under review.

This year saw the first full year of operation of the new Community Café. The overall cost of this service was £891but against this must be set the donations that it generated, which were £941 including Gift Aid. The café therefore had an operating surplus of £50 for the year.

No trustee has claimed expenses for their work for the charity in the period under review.

There were no related party transactions in the year.

Investment Performance

It is unfortunate that the charity’s year-end fell just seven days after the new government’s “mini” budget. The dramatic effect that the budget proposals had on the market has been reflected in the year-end valuations. The value of the Endowment holdings fell by 11%, wiping out last year’s gain. The effect on fixed interest (bond) holdings was more severe and the invested part of the Unrestricted Fund, which is entirely in bonds, fell by 23%. Around half of these falls were in the last quarter, and mostly in the last week. It will take a while for the bond market to recover, and the trustees will be watching the situation closely together with the fund manager to see if there are better long-term investment options in the future now that interest rates are rising once more.

The yields were 3.3% for both the Endowment and Unrestricted fund investments.

Overall Position

At the year end, income exceeded expenditure resulting in a surplus of £5147. Total funds ended the year 11% lower than last year, largely due to the poor equity performance. Total reserves in the Unrestricted Fund were £53,772 after accrued liabilities.

Although the charity is in a good position to meet any needs in the coming year there are some concerning indicators to watch. The donations from the medical transport service, which usually comfortably exceed the costs of the service, underperformed this year, and this may be an early indication of the effect that the current cost of living increases will have on the charity’s future donations. Also, £34,465 of the reserves in the Unrestricted Fund are held in bonds and it would be desirable if possible to avoid drawing on these whilst the valuation is low, as to do so would crystalise the loss.

Page 7

SWAY WELFARE AID GROUP

Approval

This report and the associated accounts were approved by the members on 29[th] November 2022 and signed on their behalf.

(signed) (signed)

Jonathan Hartley Chair

Jeremy Stevens Treasurer

Page

8

SWAY WELFARE AID GROUP

Independent Examiners Report

I report on the accounts of the Sway Welfare Aid Group for the year ended 30[th] September 2022, which are set out on pages 10 to 13.

Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner

The charity’s trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The charity’s trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 (the Charities Act) and that an independent examination is needed under the Act. It is my responsibility to:

• examine the accounts under section 145 of the Charities Act;

• follow the procedures laid down in the general directions given by the Charity Commission (under section 145(5)(b) of the Charities Act); and

• state whether particular matters have come to my attention.

Basis of independent examiner’s statement

My examination was carried out in accordance with the General Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the Charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from the trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a “true and fair” view and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.

Independent examiner’s statement

In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention:

• (1) which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements:

• to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the Charities Act; and

• to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the Charities Act have not been met; or

• (2) to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

(signed)

Sandra Williams ACMA Independent Examiner

Date: 14[th] November 2022

Page

9

SWAY WELFARE AID GROUP

Statement of Financial Activities for the year ended 30[th] September 2022

Notes Income and Endowments from: Donations and legacies 2 Charitable activities Investments Total Expenditure on: Raising funds 3 Charitable activities 4 Total Net Gains/(losses) on investments Net income/(expenditure) Transfers between funds Net movement in funds Reconciliation of funds: Total funds brought forward Total funds carried forward	2022 Unrestricted Fund Restricted Lunch Club Fund Endowment Fund Total Funds £ £ £ £ 19,553 30 19,583 1,843 1,843 15,713 15,713 35,265 1,873 37,138 178 178 28,942 2,871 31,813 29,119 2,871 31,991 (10,192) (48,141) (58,333) (4,046) (998) (48,141) (53,185) (1,312) 1,312 0 (5,357) 313 (48,141) (53,185) 59,129 198 427,546 486,873 53,772 511 379,404 433,688	2021 Total Funds Last Year £ 12,312 427 14,987
		27,726
		111 25,604
		25,714
		44,253
		46,265
		46,265
		440,608
		486,873

Page 10

SWAY WELFARE AID GROUP

Balance Sheet at 30[th] September 2022

Note Fixed assets: Investments - Endowment 6 Investments - Unrestricted funds 7 Current assets: Debtors 8 Deposit account Cash at bank and in hand Liabilities: Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year 9 Net assets or liabilities The funds of the charity: Endowment fund Unrestricted fund Lunch Club fund Total charity funds	2022 £ 379,404 34,465 1,296 18,218 1,405 (1,101) 433,688 379,404 53,772 511 433,688	2021 £ 427,546 44,657 911 13,637 680 (558)
		486,873
		427,546 59,129 198
		486,873

The notes on pages 12 and 13 form part of these accounts.

Approved by the trustees on 19[th] October 2022 and signed on their behalf by:

(signed)

Jonathan Hartley – Chair of Trustees

Page

11

SWAY WELFARE AID GROUP

Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 30[th] September 2022

1. Accounting policies:

• a) The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with SORP2016, the

• Financial Reporting Standards FRS 102 and the Charities Act 2016.

• b) Donations are credited to income when received.

• c) Income from investments is credited to income when received.

• d) Investments are stated at their market (bid) value at the balance sheet date.

2. Donations:

2. Donations: Donations received In memoriam Peggy Ingleby legacy GiftAid recovery Donations in the Previous Year: Donations received GiftAid recovery	2022 Appeal Transport Lunch Club Café Other Total £ £ £ £ £ £ 3,128 4,525 30 753 3,027 11,463 903 5,000 645 863 188 521 2,217 3,773 5,388 30 941 3,548 19,583 3,352 3,865 200 155 2,853 641 894 39 314 3,993 4,759 200 194 3,167	2021 £ 10,425 1,888
		12,312

3. Costs of fundraising: Appeal Publicity and Draw	2022 £ 54 123 178	2021 £ 56 55
		111

4. Charitable activities: Hardship grants to individuals Heating grants to individuals Small Fuel Grants scheme Covid-19 grants to individuals Grants made to organisations Transport service Lunch Club Community Café Total costs of charitable activities	2022 Direct Support Total £ £ £ 9,644 258 9,902 8,160 8,160 600 600 2,750 2,750 4,731 1,376 6,107 2,218 653 2,871 863 559 1,422 28,967 2,846 31,813	2021 £ 4,205 6,160 9,800 770 3,213 1,188 268
		25,604

General support costs are divided among the various activities in proportion to the share of the total direct costs made by each activity (see below). This year the £1593 cost of the 50th anniversary volunteers' tea has been shared equally between the three actuvities that make use of volunteers.

12

Page

SWAY WELFARE AID GROUP

Notes to the Financial Statements (continued)

Allocation of Support Costs: Grant making Transport service Lunch Club Community Café 6. Investments - Endowment: Carrying value at start of period Additions at cost Unrealised gain/(loss) on investments Carrying value at end of period 7. Investments - General Funds: Carrying value at start of period Unrealised gain/(loss) on investments Carrying value at end of period 8. Debtors: GiftAid refund due Uncredited cheques / vouchers Pre-payments: Room hire charges Deposit for volunteers tea Postage in hand 9. Creditors: Accrued mileage costs Email setup charge

2022

Page 13