Southcourt Baptist Church
Southcourt Baptist Church Trust
Report and Financial Statements Year ended: 31 March 2021
Registered Charity No: 287821
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Southcourt Baptist Church
| Contents | Page |
|---|---|
| Report of the Trustees | 3 to 11 |
| Independent Examiner’s Report | 12 |
| Statement of Financial Activities | 13 |
| Balance Sheet | 14 |
| Notes Forming Part of the Financial Statements | 15 to 22 |
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Southcourt Baptist Church
Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 March 2021
The trustees present their report with the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 March 2021. The trustees have adopted the provisions of Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2015).
REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS
Registered Charity Number
287821
Principal address 40 Penn Road Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire HP21 8HW
Trustees
Rev D Graham (Lead Pastor) J Rogers (CLT) M Rogers (Finance Vision Leader) I Nash (Children’s Pastor) C Blunden (CLT)
Custodian trustee
The Baptist Union Corporation Limited Baptist House PO Box 44 129 Broadway Didcot Oxfordshire, OX11 8RT
Bankers
HSBC, 8 Market Square, Aylesbury HP20 1TW Lloyds, Old Bank, 1 Market Square, Aylesbury HP20 1TD Nationwide Building Society, Kings Park Road, Moulton Park, Northampton, NN3 6NW
Solicitors
Carter Lemon Camerons, 10 Aldersgate Street, London, EC1A 4HJ
Independent Examiner
A J Bennewith FCA, FCPA, FFA, FFTA, FIPA, DChA, FRSA 3 Wey Court, Mary Road, Guildford, Surrey, GU1 4QU
Southcourt Baptist Church
Report of the Trustees for the Year Ended 31 March 2021
Structure, governance and management
The charity is controlled by its governing document, a deed of trust dated 1 August 1983, and is an unincorporated charity. The custodian trustee, the Baptist Union, delegates total autonomy in the governing and running of the church to the trustees, with church meeting voting taking place for important decisions.
The Central Leadership Team (CLT) are appointed by the church meeting of members of the church and together, in accordance with the church's constitution, are chosen to assist the Lead Pastor in the spiritual and operational leadership of the church. The CLT usually become trustees upon appointment and are in office for three years.
Trustees must be existing church members with specialist leadership skills often demonstrated in roles outside the church e.g. roles within the business sector. When recruiting new trustees the existing trustees must all agree upon the choice.
The church management comprises the Central Leadership Team and the trustees, which, of the latter, two members are in paid roles - the Lead Pastor and the Children’s Pastor. There are also a number of unpaid volunteers some of whom are trustees who cover all the different aspects of the operations such as administration, safeguarding, health and safety and IT.
A separate finance team is responsible for managing and budgeting the church’s financial affairs with our Finance Vision Leader, Mark Rogers having overall oversight of the finances. The annual budget and any major changes to finance policy are approved at the CLT meetings and at a church meeting of members of the church in line with Baptist tradition.
Regular meetings are held with all staff and the CLT/trustees and cover operational as well as longer term planning relating to the vision and forward strategy of the church. David Graham continues to be the Lead Pastor of the church, Iain Nash is our Children's Pastor, James Henson is our Youth Pastor, Liz Zealey is our Operations Manager, Graham Clarke is our Facilities Manager and Rachel Neal is our newly-appointed Pre-School Manager (in December 2020). Lou Clarke is our Pastoral Care Coordinator and Bridge the Gap Coordinator, the latter role being fully funded from grant monies to run our very busy food bank.
Risk Management
A risk register is operational and is on the agenda at each CLT meeting where appropriate.
Objectives and aims
The charity's object, as stated in its deed of trust, is to further the Christian gospel.
Public benefit
When planning the charity's activities for the year, the trustees have considered the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit and, in particular, the specific guidance on charities for the advancement of religion. Some of the public benefit services that we offer as a church, open to all, include Sunday worship services, children's work (including pre-school education), youth work, mother and toddler groups, seniors' groups, a food bank, debt management, Youth cafe and Community cafe. During the COVID-19 crisis, the church continued to run as best as it could with the use of videos, conferencing and other means of ensuring that the community was covered.
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Associations
The Church is a member of the Baptist Union of Great Britain and the Evangelical Alliance to which it pays an annual subscription. The Church also contributes to BMS World Mission and acts as an agent in collecting and passing on donations to the BMS World Mission and Leprosy Mission . The church does not receive any financial support from any organisations that it is associated with.
Achievements and performance
Worship and Discipleship
The church has one main service that takes place every Sunday at 10.30am. During the pandemic, this service either took place on-line only or in person and on-line depending on the relevant restrictions. We also meet together in small groups (Lifegroups) on a regular basis. This is a very important part of our community and we currently have 10 groups in operation. This is in addition to a Men Gathering , another men’s group, a women’s group (Yada), a Ladies@SBC group and a prayer group. The vision for each Lifegroup is to grow a community of people investing in each other’s lives with a common passion to seek God, grow together and reach out to others. In the past year, we have seen no new church members, baptisms or dedications of young children, mainly due to the lockdown making these in-person meetings unattainable. During the COVID-19 crisis, “services” were conducted using videos compiled by the Lead Pastor and others whilst other groups met using Facebook Live, Zoom and other conferencing facilities. The overall aim was to ensure that a sense of community and worship continued throughout the period of social distancing.
Seniors
Something Better , a group for Seniors, met monthly at the Church up to March 2020. From April 2020 face-to-face meetings ended owing to the Coronavirus epidemic. It was necessary to adapt to a new way of working with the Seniors. Paper copies of the service were sent out and these included hymns, prayers, Bible readings and a talk as well as friendship news. Friends were encouraged to spend some time during the first Tuesday of each month to read the service sheet in the comfort of their home.
In between the services each month encouraging items were sent out to our friends. These included encouraging Bible verses cards, summer postcards and a notelet for them to write a message to encourage a friend.
In August we were able to establish a telephone conferencing call facility which gave the opportunity to lead services over the telephone. This enabled many to take part in a service because they were not able to do so via the internet. For those who were not able to take part in the telephone conference facility paper copies of the service were still made available. Those who took part in the telephone service received the words of hymns, readings and prayers to enable them to take part as fully as possible. It was amazing the number of celebrity speakers, for example Canon J.John, who gave us permission to use their internet items for the talk.
A Christmas gift bag full of a variety of items was made available by a grant from the William Harding’s Trust. These were given to everyone over the age of 60 within the Church and Something Better group.
During the year, we used the telephone conferencing facility to bring friends together to study for the Lent and Advent Seasons. The Link-up system set up in February 2019 proved an invaluable lifeline to
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keep friends in contact with each other. Friends were also contacted by the leaders regularly. Therefore, the community spirit of the group was maintained as far as possible.
It was in January 2021 that the leaders, Tim and Jean Howlett after 12 years of working with this group, informed the Lead Pastor and Church Leadership and the group that they would be finishing on 6[th ] April 2021, which was the group’s Easter Service. The church is now pondering what the future might look like in terms of taking the work forward.
Tea Break is a monthly afternoon event for people within the church, local community and beyond. We particularly welcome those who are lonely or isolated for whatever reason. Tea Break gives an opportunity for people to meet together with tea or coffee and home-made cakes aplenty. The guests can play board games, catch up with each other or relax with a magazine. For jigsaw enthusiasts there is always a puzzle waiting to be completed. We have had a few special events but generally Tea Break is an informal, social occasion which is enjoyed by all. Although we have not met over the past year due to the pandemic, we look forward to being able to meet together again when it is safe to do so.
Children's Work
This year has been like no other. Never in our wildest dreams did we think we would end up having to operate under a pandemic. Quite quickly, our children’s groups had to either stop altogether or, where possible, move online. As a result, we had to quickly learn to become filmmakers and video editors as we looked to provide sessions each week for the children to watch. Some of those early videos are a bit cringe-worthy now but week on week they got better and by the end we were extremely proud of what we did.
The following groups and events stopped meeting: The Ark Parent and Toddler Group, Messy Church , We Wish You a Messy Christmas, schools’ work and our weekend trip to SPREE Central in Northamptonshire.
Lifekidz went online with a weekly 30-minute video via our Facebook, What’s App and YouTube channel and Little Lifekidz did a short 10-minute video. However, from January 2021, Lifekidz started meeting online via Zoom as we realised, as good as the videos were, the children really wanted to see each other’s faces and ours. We did have one spell where we were “back in the room” between September and November 2020, albeit socially distant and following government guidelines and parameters and are now meeting this way and looking forward to when we can have a bit more freedom to socialise without worrying about staying distant.
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Our pre-school, The Treehouse , fared well throughout the pandemic. We were able to stay open as a setting for children of key workers and we did not have to furlough any staff. We did have one period where we had to close for 10 days due to a staff member testing positive for COVID-19, but we followed advice and guidance from Public Health England and the local authority to manage the situation. We also had a number of changes among the staff, with two staff members moving on to new ventures. Our pre-school manager, Claire, also moved on to a new setting after 20 plus years of dedicated service. We were pleased to welcome three new members of staff to join the team and we also successfully recruited a new pre-school leader, Rachel, who is already proving to be a fantastic acquisition in leading the pre-school into an exciting new chapter. Cohort numbers are up, we have enquiries and waiting lists, and financially, we are looking in the best shape we have been in for years thanks to local authority (Bucks Council) grants and monies that have come in. We have also had an open day in the summer term of 2021.
We ran our first ever Parenting for Faith course just before the pandemic hit. We had 8 people for our first course, with a mixture of mum’s, dad’s, children’s workers and grandparents attending, with other couples completing the course at home. The course was 8 weeks every Monday evening, and the attendance remained steady throughout. The feedback we had was that the course was an enormous blessing to those who attended and gave practical tools to those looking for ways to share and demonstrate faith to their children/grandchildren.
So… where do things go from here? What does the future look like? In some ways, we have no idea whether things will ever be the same again but actually, what we have been through has perhaps, in some ways provided an opportunity to take stock, re-think and in some cases, start again with groups. We are hopeful that we will be able to gradually re-introduce those groups and events that have had to stop but maybe in a slightly different way.
The overarching theme for the children’s work for the year was “Deep Roots and Growth”. We think that, regardless of all that has happened, the children have found ways to draw closer to God and start putting down strong roots in him and see their faith grow when they have needed him the most. It is also testament to just how strong our groups are that they have survived throughout this past year whether they have run or not. There is still demand for these groups to continue, mostly because children and families have missed and are craving community. In other words, they just need as much opportunity as possible to “be together” again!
Young People
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Southcourt Baptist Church
What a strange and challenging year this has been for us all hasn’t it? Up and down the country churches and youth ministries have worked so hard to continue to get alongside young people in many new ways, whether it's zoom hangouts, YouTube talks, livestreams and even some youth events being able to be in person!
Back in March 2020, when the first lockdown was announced, we moved as much of our youth ministry as possible online. With the help of our amazing teams we were able to still provide content for young people to stay connected, supported and keep their faith fresh. Sadly, however, there have been some key parts of our youth ministry that haven’t been able to run due to the virus.
Alongside losing the ability to meet in person each week we lost out on going away in the summer as a whole youth group. August 2020 was supposed to be the first summer we went to Limitless Festival together but sadly that was postponed along with many other summer events.
But it’s not all been doom and gloom, we have still seen a core group of our young people gather together each week online to meet together, play games and explore faith with each other.
One of our really exciting new ventures was being part of a new event with other church youth groups around Aylesbury. Central Cell online is the online gathering for young people from various church youth groups across Aylesbury to hang out and look in the Bible together.
We are very excited for what September ’21 will hold as we hope for no restrictions on our groups and can get back to working on building community.
Neighbourhood
At the end of March 2020 the Covid pandemic took its toll and Bridge The Gap went from a twice-monthly event to a twice-weekly, much-needed food bank, a safe place for those who are facing challenges and are in particular need in the community. Our cafe was closed to adhere to social distancing rules but we are still very active with food parcels, money management and words of encouragement for those in need, signposting them to other agencies where required. As the year progressed generous funding has been gratefully received. Donors include Aylesbury Crown Court, Neighbourly, The Rothschild Foundation, Aylesbury Garden Town and Heart of Bucks. It enabled us to obtain a container and freezer so that we are able to provide fruit, veg, eggs and freezer food. At Christmas, we partnered with Chiltern Toybank & distributed toys, books and gifts to our families. For Easter, we created “love in a bag” packed full of toiletries for our adults and distributed Easter Eggs for the children. We are now in the process of introducing our Redeeming Our Communities Aylesbury mentoring scheme and hope to reach out, empower and encourage families in our local community. We are looking at how we can restructure our Saturday events in the future.
The advent of Covid 19 has necessitated a complete change of approach to the work of our Money Management Centre 's service. It has no longer been possible to meet clients face to face, so all communication has been by Zoom, WhatsApp, telephone, email or letter. Whilst this has been a slower format it has generally worked well, other than where there have been new clients that it has not been possible to meet face to face. This is not ideal.
It is estimated the service has helped around 80 people in the past year with one or two quite difficult and complex cases which take considerable time. The service has dovetailed well with Bridge the Gap and a number of new clients have come as a result, mostly with debt and Universal Credit issues. There have been 26 either new clients or people whose cases had previously been completed but have returned to seek additional help. 11 Clients do not need further help at present. The service continues to
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get a number of very positive comments. One client recently wrote as follows: "I want to thank you so much for all your help with my financial issues and doing everything you can to help my life in these most difficult of times. I most certainly would have fallen apart without your support, care and time."
David Finn, Sandi Latimer and Michael Hulcoop continue to meet monthly by Zoom to reflect on the work and look forward. We plan to continue the service as it is for the time b eing at least. We remain grateful for the continuing financial support of the Thomas Hickman Trust for our work, without which it would be difficult to continue to provide this much needed service to the disadvantaged of Aylesbury.
Bertha’s Cafe was launched in September 2019 with opening times of Mondays and Fridays, term time only, from 9.30am -12.30pm.
We have had many great compliments about the cake, coffee, tea choices, prices, atmosphere and the building itself. The whole thing feels like a really God-blessed place and we are looking forward to seeing what happens next. Well all of that was true and then Covid happened....Of course we needed to close, as all cafe's did. However we did get a chance to open again in September-October and a few weeks in December all between lockdowns. Those months were great, we were busier than before, people seemed to be very happy to come back despite it not being quite like normal.
It seems we can be self-sufficient which is great and are in no need to take away from the church finances despite being so much cheaper than town-centre coffee shops. Of course we have had to be closed again since before Christmas but we are very much looking forward to being able to open again on the 17th of May. We have had several people asking when we can open again. So it seems we will have people happy to come back again and hopefully we can get a full year of no lockdowns for people to enjoy and to see what can happen in the area because of it.
The English Conversation Group was formed in February 2019 with the aim of providing support to those from our community for whom English is not their first language. Meeting once a week, we aimed to provide free friendship, refreshment and conversation, to assist in improving their spoken English and integration into the community. Over 40 ladies from a wide variety of original homelands have attended since inception.
By April 2020, we were all in the grip of the Covid pandemic and so our meetings were of necessity suspended. Between the first and second waves, we did meet informally for a time, within the national guidelines, at Bertha’s Café but again had to close in early 2021. We have however been able to restart ‘virtually’ on the first of February 2021, by means of Zoom. It is difficult with this method to cater for many participants and so at present we have only four or five regular visitors and about five helpers/leaders.
Once meeting restrictions are relaxed, we plan to reopen fully and will contact the remainder of our previous visitors and also publicise the Group more widely.
We have been contacted by the Deputy Chief Executive Directorate of Buckinghamshire Council complimenting us on our efforts to promote community cohesion and expressing a wish to work with us on promoting this activity.
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The Covid-19 pandemic meant that the General Fund budget agreed by church trustees and members bore little resemblance to what actually happened in the 2020/21 financial year. However, although there was some concern about what the impact of the pandemic may have been on the church’s finances, the year ended with the finances in a good position.
The General Fund budget set for 2020/21 was for a deficit of about £26,400 but the church trustees approved the budget on the basis that we had sufficient reserves to cover the deficit.
Total income for the general fund was below budget mainly due to the loss of building rental income as the church building had to close for the majority of activities during the pandemic. What was great news though, was that even though we went through such a difficult year, donations from individuals were almost £2,000 above budget. However, this was more than offset by the £18,000 reduction in building rental against what was budgeted. The positive side of closing the building, although we would rather not have done so, was that our expenditure was very much reduced, especially around cleaning, heating and lighting. So, at the end of the year, we ended up with our expenditure being over £27,000 below budget. Overall, the General Fund experienced a deficit of £6,400 which was amazing considering the year we have been through and the loss of building rental income.
Even throughout the pandemic, the church has continued to receive generous donations from its members, regular attendees, income from hiring rooms and through grants for specific community work, especially Bridge the Gap. The trustees are grateful for all donations received.
There have been no major refurbishment projects this year although some cosmetic work has been carried out and new toilets are planned for the coming year. The pastor’s manse received a new boiler which was the major maintenance expense of the year.
The Treehouse Pre-School budget was set for the year to March 31st 2021 to achieve a deficit of just over £5,000. In reality, the year-end position showed a surplus of around £9,000. This was achieved through receiving higher than expected fees from Buckinghamshire Council and a couple of Covid-19 recovery grants.
The Finance Team and trustees continue to monitor the Charity's financial position through the production of quarterly Income & Expenditure statements and the bank account and fund balances against the Reserve Policy range each week. This acts as an early warning mechanism to identify any tightening of cash flow and prompt remedial action before pressure is experienced on the Charity's liquidity.
The General Fund Reserve Policy has been reviewed in the last year with a new methodology for working out the most appropriate reserve level by looking at the greatest risk to the church finances including a loss of major donors and large maintenance costs. The policy shows trigger points which, if met, will lead to action considerations by the trustees. This new methodology has led to a slight lowering of the Reserve Range which will stand at £19,000 - £28,000 for the 2021/22 financial year. The
Treehouse Reserve Range was similarly reviewed using the same methodology and changed to £11,500 - £23,000. The Trustees recognise their responsibility to keep the finances of the Charity in a healthy state and expect that to be the case over the coming year.
Plans for the future
As the Covid-19 pandemic situation shows signs of gradually easing, church activities are slowly returning to some sort of normality, but it is a slow process. However, we have seen Potters House
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Church (who replaced Faith Alive Church) and Slimming World return to the building to provide the church with rental income. This will hopefully increase as more organisations get back to face-to-face meetings but that will very much depend on how the pandemic develops. The budget for the new financial year has shown a conservative income figure, due to the uncertainties of the pandemic, so expenditure will need to be regularly monitored by the finance team and trustees. However, the reserves are continuing to look healthy as this is published.
Approved by order of the board of trustees on ............................................. and signed on its behalf by:
.............................................
M Rogers - Finance Vision Leader
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Southcourt Baptist Church
Independent Examiner's Report to the Trustees of Southcourt Baptist Church
I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of Southcourt Baptist Church for the year ended 31 March 2021.
Responsibilities and basis of report
As the charity trustees of the charity you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 ('the Act').
I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out under section 145 of the Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
Independent examiner's statement
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:
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accounting records were not kept in respect of the Charity as required by section 130 of the Act; or
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the accounts do not accord with those records; or
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the accounts do not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a true and fair view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.
I confirm that there are no other matters to which your attention should be drawn to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
A J Bennewith FCA, FCPA, FFA, FFTA, FIPA, DChA, FRSA
3 Wey Court Mary Road Guildford Surrey GU1 4QU
Date: ...............................
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| Statement of Financial Activities as at 31 March 2021 | Statement of Financial Activities as at 31 March 2021 | Statement of Financial Activities as at 31 March 2021 | Statement of Financial Activities as at 31 March 2021 | Statement of Financial Activities as at 31 March 2021 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Notes | Unrestricted Funds £ |
Restricted Funds £ |
Year ended 31.03.21 Total funds £ |
Year ended 31.03.20 Total funds £ |
|
| Income and Endowments from: | |||||
| Donations | 125,091 | 54,348 | 179,439 | 174,579 | |
| Income Tax Recoverable | 26,046 | - | 26,046 | 24,458 | |
| Premises Hire | 11,770 | - | 11,770 | 31,273 | |
| Investment | 95 | - | 95 | 467 | |
| Treehouse Pre-school | 8&9 | 111,057 | 7,500 | 118,557 | 123,475 |
| Total | 274,059 | 61,848 | 335,907 | 354,252 | |
| Expenditure on: | |||||
| Charitable Activities: | |||||
| Leadership | 36,911 | - | 36,911 | 37,174 | |
| Worship & Discipleship | 4,319 | - | 4,319 | 5,317 | |
| Neighbourhood | 628 | 31,276 | 31,904 | 14,829 | |
| Seniors | 541 | 362 | 903 | 4,855 | |
| Site Operations | 65,412 | 2,500 | 67,912 | 84,588 | |
| Repairs to church | 8,492 | - | 8,492 | 13,206 | |
| Generation Next | 40,184 | 2,516 | 42,700 | 48,447 | |
| Outreach | 11,946 | - | 11,946 | 15,611 | |
| Treehouse | 8&9 | 106,966 | 2,666 | 109,632 | 114,067 |
| Depreciation | 4,000 | - | 4,000 | 4,000 | |
| Total | 279,399 | 39,320 | 318,719 | 342,094 | |
| Net Income/ (Expenditure) |
(5,340) | 22,528 | 17,188 | 12,158 | |
| Transfer between funds | 5,742 | (5,742) | - | - | |
| Net movement in funds | 402 | 16,786 | 17,188 | 12,158 | |
| Reconciliation of funds: | |||||
| Total funds brought forward |
242,928 | 16,047 | 258,975 | 246,817 | |
| Total funds carried forward |
243,330 | 32,833 | 276,163 | 258,975 | |
| Continuing Operations All income and expenditure has arisen from continuingactivities. |
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| Balance Sheet as at 31st March 2021 | |||||
| Notes | Unrestricted Funds £ |
Restricted Funds £ |
Year ended 31.03.21 Total funds £ |
Year ended 31.03.20 Total funds £ |
|
| Fixed Assets: | |||||
| Tangible Assets | 2 | 143,000 | - | 143,000 | 147,000 |
| Current Assets: | |||||
| Debtors | 4 | 3,706 | - | 3,706 | 5,471 |
| Cash at bank and in hand |
106,989 | 32,833 | 139,822 | 117,867 | |
| Total Current Assets | 110,695 | 32,833 | 143,528 | 123,338 | |
| Liabilities: | |||||
| Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year |
5 | 2,395 | - | 2,395 | 1,920 |
| Net Current Assets | 108,300 | 32,833 | 141,133 | 121,418 | |
| Total Assets less Current Liabilities |
251,300 | 32,833 | 284,133 | 268,418 | |
| Provision for liabilities after one year |
6 | 7,970 | - | 7,970 | 9,443 |
| Total Net Assets | 243,330 | 32,833 | 276,163 | 258,975 | |
| Funds | |||||
| Restricted funds | 8 | 32,833 | 16,047 | ||
| Unrestricted funds | 9 | 243,330 | 242,928 | ||
| Total Funds | 276,163 | 258,975 | |||
| The financial statements were approved by the Board of Trustees on................................. and were signed on its behalf by: M Rogers - Finance Vision Leader |
The financial statements were approved by the Board of Trustees on................................. and were signed on its behalf by:
M Rogers - Finance Vision Leader
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Notes Forming Part of the Financial Statements as at 31 March 2021
1. Accounting Policies
a) Basis of preparing the financial statements
The financial statements of the charity, which is a public benefit entity under FRS 102, have been prepared in accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102) 'Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2015)', Financial Reporting Standard 102 'The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland' and the Charities Act 2011. The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention.
b) Incoming resources
Donations are recognised as incoming resources when received.
Income tax recoverable on donations under the Gift Aid scheme is accounted for in the period in which the underlying donation is received.
Funds received where the charity is acting as agent for independent causes are matched to outgoings and any difference is carried forward to the next period.
Gifts in kind, where material and capable of being valued, are treated as income.
No value has been placed on the rental equivalent of the use of the church premises and property, which are occupied free of charge by the church.
Grant income is credited to the Statement of Financial Activities in the year in which it is receivable. Deferred income represents amounts received for future periods and is released to incoming resources in the period for which it has been received.
c) Resources expended
All expenditure is included on an accruals basis and is recognised when a legal or constructive obligation exists. The charity is not registered for VAT and accordingly expenditure shown is inclusive of irrecoverable VAT.
Certain expenditure is directly attributable to specific activities and has been included in those cost categories. Certain other costs, which are attributable to more than one activity, are apportioned across cost categories according to the nature of the cost.
d) Tangible fixed assets
Tangible fixed assets are stated at cost less accumulated depreciation. All fixed assets costing more than £5,000 are capitalised.
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Depreciation is provided at the following annual rates in order to write off each asset over its estimated useful life:
Buildings -2% on cost Computer & sound equipment -25% on cost
Freehold land is not depreciated as the trustees consider the useful economic life of the land owned by the charity to be so long as to render any charge for depreciation immaterial to the truth and fairness of the financial statements.
e) Fund accounting
Funds held by the charity are either:
Unrestricted funds - these are funds which can be used in accordance with the charitable objects at the discretion of the trustees.
Restricted funds - these are funds that can only be used for particular restricted purposes within the objects of the charity. Restrictions arise when specified by the donor or when funds are raised for particular restricted purposes.
Designated funds - these are funds set aside by the trustees for specific purposes. They form part of the unrestricted funds of the charity.
f) Pensions
The church makes contributions to two defined contribution schemes. Pension contributions payable to these schemes are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities in the period to which they relate.
The church also makes contributions to a multi-employer defined benefit scheme. It is not possible for the church to identify the assets and liabilities attributable to the church. In accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102), the scheme is therefore accounted for as a defined contribution scheme. See note 13 for further details about the pension schemes.
2. Tangible Fixed Assets
| Freehold Computer land and and sound buildings equipment Total £ £ £ Cost At 1 April 2020 203,000 26,530 229,530 Additions - - - At 31 March 2021 203,000 26,530 229,530 |
|---|
| Depreciation At 1 April 2020 56,000 26,530 82,530 Charge for year 4,000 - 4,000 At 31 March 2021 60,000 26,530 86,530 Net book values At 31 March 2021 143,000 - 143,000 At 31 March 2020 147,000 - 147,000 |
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The cost of land and buildings is represented by: £ Freehold manse at 293 Tring Road, Aylesbury (70% share) 200,000 Land purchased for car park at Penn Road, Aylesbury 3,000 Total 203,000
3. Non-monetary assets held for the church’s use
The church is the beneficial occupier (subject to the relevant trust deeds) of the following assets, the legal titles to which are held by the church's custodian trustee, the Baptist Union Corporation Ltd:
| 2021 | 2020 | |
|---|---|---|
| £ £ Church premises at insured value 2,907,477 2,742,902 Church contents at insured value 334,305 318,381 Total 3,241,782 3,061,283 |
||
| 4. Debtors and prepayments | ||
| 2021 2020 £ £ Income tax recoverable on gift aid 2,004 2,279 Prepaid Insurance 1,702 1,698 Dishwasher debtor - 1,494 Total 3,706 5,471 5. Creditors: amounts falling due within one year |
||
| 2021 2020 £ £ Accrued expenses 1,920 1,920 Other creditors 475 - Total 2,395 1,920 6. Provision for liabilities after one year 2021 2020 £ £ Pension (Scheme 1) (see note 13) 7,970 9,443 |
7. Staff costs
None of the church's employees received emoluments of over £60,000 during the current or previous years. The average number of employees during the year was 16 (2020:16), which included full time and part time workers. On a full-time equivalent basis, the average number of staff members was 11 (2020: 11), employed in the following areas:
| Numbers 2021 2020 Pastoral care 2 2 Administration and maintenance 2 2 Children, Youth and community 3 3 |
|---|
| Pre-School 10 9 Total 17 16 |
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Southcourt Baptist Church
One member of staff has two roles - in Pastoral Care and Children, Youth and Community - hence the difference between the average number in the text and in the table.
| Costs 2021 2020 £ £ Wages and salaries 208,427 201,840 Other Benefits 7,249 7,066 Employer’s National Insurance 7,764 7,844 Current Staff Pension costs 4,048 3,846 Total 227,488 220,596 |
|---|
8. Restricted funds
| Incoming Resources £ |
Resources Expended £ |
Net incoming/ (outgoing) resources £ |
Transfer between funds £ |
Funds brought forward £ |
Funds carried forward £ |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SomethingBetter | - | 362 | (362) | - | 1,224 | 862 |
| Bridge the Gap | 46,347 | 30,026 | 16,321 | (5,742) | 11,718 | 22,297 |
| Treehouse Support | 7,500 | 2,666 | 4,834 | - | - | 4,834 |
| Money Management Support |
- | 1,249 | (1,249) | - | 2,707 | 1,458 |
| Youth Cafe | - | 16 | (16) | - | 398 | 382 |
| Refurbishment | 3,000 | - | 3,000 | - | - | 3,000 |
| Covid Recovery | 5,000 | 5,000 | - | - | - | - |
| Total | 61,847 | 39,319 | 22,528 | (5,742) | 16,047 | 32,833 |
9. Unrestricted funds
| Incoming Resources £ |
Resources Expended £ |
Net incoming/ (outgoing) resources £ |
Transfer between funds £ |
Funds brought forward £ |
Funds carried forward £ |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Premises Refurbishment |
95 | 727 | (632) | - | 4,225 | 3,593 |
| Premises Development |
120 | - | 120 | - | 508 | 628 |
| Treehouse | 111,057 | 106,966 | 4,091 | - | 30,245 | 34,336 |
| SomethingBetter | - | 110 | (110) | - | 110 | - |
| Women's Ministry | - | - | - | - | 490 | 490 |
| Youth | 1,376 | - | 1,376 | (1,376) | - | - |
| General | 157,537 | 171,107 | (13,570) | 7,118 | 205,343 | 198,891 |
| Bridge the Gap | 3,841 | 83 | 3,758 | - | 1,414 | 5,172 |
| Bertha’s Cafe | 34 | 407 | (373) | - | 593 | 220 |
| Total | 274,060 | 279,400 | (5,340) | 5,742 | 242,928 | 243,330 |
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Southcourt Baptist Church
10. Designated Funds
Funds are held for the following purposes:
Church Premises Refurbishment Fund - can be used for substantial internal and external refurbishment of our existing buildings.
Church Premises Development Fund - for expenses related to substantial building development.
Treehouse Fund - to fund the ongoing provision of pre-school education.
Something Better - to fund the meetings and excursions of senior people.
Women's Ministry - to support the well-being of women in and outside the church.
Youth Fund - to support the children and youth work.
Bridge the Gap fund - to support the work of our twice-monthly food bank and community lunch project.
Bertha’s Cafe fund - to fund the setting up of a new cafe within the church including the refurbishment of the kitchen in the main church auditorium.
11. Trustees’ remuneration and expenses
Two members of the Trustee Board Rev D Graham and Mr I Nash were employed by the Southcourt Church Baptist Trust in the positions of Lead Pastor and Children’s Pastor respectively (2020: five members of the board).
Rev D Graham received a remuneration package of £39,628 (£38,489 previous year) and a pension contribution of £1,619 (£1,617 previous year). Mr I Nash received a remuneration package of £19,012 (£19,012 previous year) and a pension contribution of £383 (£386 previous year).
Expenses of £760 (2020: £1,508) were also paid relating to their duties as employed members of staff and included payment for travel, hospitality, meetings and ministry costs.
Payments to trustees were made under the legal authority of the church's governing documents.
12. Net Income/Expenditure
The net movement in funds is stated after charging/(crediting) the following:
2021 2020 £ £ Independent Examiner’s remuneration: 1,920 1,920 Government Grants received: Food Bank (2,000) (6,000) Covid 19 support (7,336) - Total (9,336) (6,000)
13. Pensions
There are three schemes in operation, the first being a multi-employer defined benefit pension scheme with The Pensions Trust on behalf of one former employee and trustee.
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Southcourt Baptist Church
Scheme 1 - TPT Retirement Solutions – The Growth Plan
The church participates in the scheme, a multi-employer scheme which provides benefits to some 950 non-associated participating employers. The scheme is a defined benefit scheme in the UK. It is not possible for the church to obtain sufficient information to enable it to account for the scheme as a defined benefit scheme. Therefore it accounts for the scheme as a defined contribution scheme.
The scheme is subject to the funding legislation outlined in the Pensions Act 2004 which came into force on 30 December 2005. This, together with documents issued by the Pensions Regulator and Technical Actuarial Standards issued by the Financial Reporting Council, set out the framework for funding defined benefit occupational pension schemes in the UK.
The scheme is classified as a 'last-man standing arrangement'. Therefore the church is potentially liable for other participating employers' obligations if those employers are unable to meet their share of the scheme deficit following withdrawal from the scheme. Participating employers are legally required to meet their share of the scheme deficit on an annuity purchase basis on withdrawal from the scheme.
A full actuarial valuation for the scheme was carried out at 30 September 2017. This valuation showed assets of £794.9m, liabilities of £926.4m and a deficit of £131.5m. To eliminate this funding shortfall, the Trustee has asked the participating employers to pay additional contributions to the scheme as follows:
Deficit contributions
From 1 April 2019 to 31 January 2025: £11,243,000 per annum (payable monthly and increasing by 3% each on 1st April)
Unless a concession has been agreed with the Trustee the term to 31 January 2025 applies.
The recovery plan contributions are allocated to each participating employer in line with their estimated share of the Series 1 and Series 2 scheme liabilities.
Where the scheme is in deficit and where the church has agreed to a deficit funding arrangement the church recognises a liability for this obligation. The amount recognised is the net present value of the deficit reduction contributions payable under the agreement that relates to the deficit. The present value is calculated using the discount rate detailed in these disclosures. The unwinding of the discount rate is recognised as a finance cost.
Present value of provision: 31 March 2021 £7,970 31 March 2020 £9,443 31 March 2019 £11,456
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Southcourt Baptist Church
Reconciliation of opening and closing provisions:
| Period Ending 31 March 2021 (£) |
Period Ending 31 March 2021 (£) |
Period Ending 31 March 2020 (£) |
Period Ending 31 March 2020 (£) |
Period Ending 31 March 2020 (£) |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Provision at start of period | 9,443 | 11,456 | |||||
| Unwinding of the discount factor (interest expense) |
212 | 144 | |||||
| Deficit contribution paid | (1,958) | (1,901) | |||||
| Remeasurements - impact of any change in assumptions |
273 | (256) | |||||
| Provision at end of period | 7,970 | 9,443 | |||||
| Income and Expenditure Impact: | |||||||
| Period Ending 31 March 2021 (£) |
Period Ending 31 March 2020 (£) |
||||||
| Interest expense | 212 | 144 | |||||
| Remeasurements – impact of any change in assumptions |
273 | (256) | |||||
| Costs recognised in income and expenditure account |
485 | (112) | |||||
| Assumptions: | |||||||
| 31 March 2021% per annum |
31 March 2020 % per annum |
31 March 2019 % per annum |
|||||
| Rate of discount | 0.66 | 2.53 | 1.39 |
The discount rates shown above are the equivalent single discount rates which, when used to discount the future recovery plan contributions due, would give the same results as using a full AA corporate bond yield curve to discount the same recovery plan contributions.
Scheme 2 - The Pensions Trust - Growth Plan Series 4
There is also a defined contribution scheme established with The Pensions Trust and operated as an Auto-enrolment Scheme. Contributions to this scheme are charged to the SOFA in the period to which they relate.
Scheme 3 - Liverpool Victoria - Personal Pension Plan
Finally the church makes contributions to a defined contribution Personal Pension Plan on behalf of the Lead Pastor, in accordance with the terms of his contract of employment.
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Southcourt Baptist Church
14. Comparatives for the SOFA
| 14. Comparatives for the SOFA | 14. Comparatives for the SOFA | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Statement of Financial Ac�vi�es as at 31 March 2020 | |||
| Unrestricted Funds £ |
Restricted Funds £ |
Year ended 31.03.20 Total funds £ |
|
| Income and Endowments from: | |||
| Dona�ons | 150,205 | 24,374 | 174,579 |
| Income Tax Recoverable | 24,458 | - | 24,458 |
| Premises Hire | 31,273 | - | 31,273 |
| Investment | 467 | - | 467 |
| Treehouse Preschool | 116,475 | 7,000 | 123,475 |
| Total | 322,878 | 31,374 | 354,252 |
| Expenditure on: | |||
| Charitable Ac�vi�es: | |||
| Leadership | 37,174 | - | 37,174 |
| Worship & Discipleship | 5,317 | - | 5,317 |
| Neighbourhood | 4,635 | 10,194 | 14,829 |
| Seniors | 3,381 | 1,474 | 4,855 |
| Site Opera�ons | 84,588 | - | 84,588 |
| Repairs to church | 13,206 | - | 13,206 |
| Genera�on Next | 48,345 | 102 | 48,447 |
| Outreach | 15,611 | - | 15,611 |
| Treehouse | 107,067 | 7,000 | 114,067 |
| Deprecia�on | 4,000 | - | 4,000 |
| Total | 323,324 | 18,770 | 342,094 |
| Net Income/(Expenditure) | (446) | 12,604 | 12,158 |
| Transfer between funds | - | - | - |
| Net movement in funds | (446) | 12,604 | 12,158 |
| Reconcilia�on of funds: | |||
| Total funds brought forward | 243,374 | 3,443 | 246,817 |
| Total funds carried forward | 242,928 | 16,047 | 258,975 |
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