## Winchester District Scout Council Annual Report of the Trustees for the period 1[st] January 2025 to 31[st] December 2025 ## **SECTION A: Reference and administration details** The Winchester District Scout Council (WDSC), to which this report is addressed, is the charity that supports the operation of the Winchester District of The Scout Association (TSA) (‘the District)). Charity No. 302317 Scout Association Registration No. 12033 The charity’s principal address is Pinsent Campsite, Clarendon Way, Winchester SO22 5QL Names of the Trustees[1] : **----- Start of picture text -----**
Name Route to membership Dates as trustee
Richard Elected as District Chair by the AGM 1 [st] Jan 2025 to 31 [st] Dec
Mendelsohn 2024 and AGM 2025 2025
James Fraser Elected as District Treasurer by the AGM 1 [st] Jan 2025 to 31 [st] Dec
2024 and AGM 2025 2025
Robin Cook Ex-Officio (District Lead Volunteer) 1 [st] Jan 2025 to 31 [st] Dec
2025
Kama Miller- Ex-Officio (District Youth Commissioner) 1 [st] Jan 2025 to 31 [st] Dec
Gambie 2025
Bruce Martin Elected by the AGM 2024 and AGM 1 [st] Jan 2025 to 31 [st] Dec
2025 2025
David Ashby Elected by the AGM 2024 and AGM 1 [st] Jan 2025 to 31 [st] Dec
2025 2025
Oscar Lodge Elected by the AGM 2024 and AGM 1 [st] Jan 2025 to 31 [st] Dec
2025 2025
Dawn Inglis Elected by the AGM 2024 and AGM 1 [st] Jan 2025 to 31 [st] Dec
2025 2025
Ian Johnson Elected by the AGM 2024 and AGM 1 [st] Jan 2025 to 31 [st] Dec
2025 2025
**----- End of picture text -----**
|**Name**|**Route to membership**|**Dates as trustee**| |---|---|---| |Chris Floyd|Elected by the AGM 2024 and AGM
2025|1st Jan 2025 to 31st Dec
2025| |Nick Safford|Elected by the AGM 2024 and AGM
2025|1st Jan 2025 to 31st Dec
2025| The following trustee roles are vacant as of 31[st] Dec 2024: ## **Role** None The following persons had a right of attendance at trustees’ meetings: |Paul Bell|County Commissioner (Hampshire
County of TSA)|1st Jan 2025 to 31st Dec
2025| |---|---|---| |Sarah Thomas|County Chair (Hampshire County of
TSA)|1st Jan 2025 to 31st Dec
2025| The District had no advisers in terms of the administration of the charity. ## **SECTION B: Structure, governance and management** As at 31[st] December 2025 the District consisted of: - a) Twelve Scout Groups; - b) Eight Explorer Units plus a Young Leader Unit; and - c) One Scout Network Unit. The District’s governing documents are those of The Scout Association. They consist of a Royal Charter, which in turn gives authority to the Bye Laws of the Association and The Policy, Organisation and Rules of The Scout Association (TSA). The District is created and operated as an educational charity under the rules of TSA. It is an autonomous organisation holding its property and equipment and admitting people to membership of the Scout District subject to the policy and rules of The Scout Association. The District operates in accordance with the constitution provided at Rule 5c.2 of the Policy, Organisation and Rules of TSA. The District Trustee Board is responsible for the governance of the charity. Although the District Trustee Board is responsible for the charity, it is accountable to the District Scout Council. The District was led during the period by the District Lead Volunteer and managed by the Trustee Board and the Leadership Team. They were accountable to the District Scout Council for the satisfactory running of the District. 2 The Trustee Board consists of a Chair, Treasurer and nine other trustees including the two ex-officio trustees. The trustee board meets every four months. Members of the trustee board complete: - Safety and Safeguarding training within the first 30 days; - A criminal record check, initiated within the first 30 days; - An internal check; - A trustee eligibility check; - The Declarations including the Trustee Declarations within the first six weeks; - Within their first six months of joining the board, if not already completed, training on: - Data protection in Scouts; - Who we are and what we do; - Creating inclusion - Being a Scouts Trustee The District Trustee Board is a team of volunteers who work together, as charity Trustees, to make sure the District is run safely and legally. At the heart of their role is a focus on strategy, performance and assurance, working to ensure that the District is meeting The Scout Association’s overall aims and strategic goals. Effective Trustee support helps other volunteers run the Scout programme that gives young people skills for life. ## **Risk and Internal Controls** The Winchester District Trustee Board has identified the major risks to which they believe the District is exposed, and which are recorded in the District Risk Register. These have been reviewed and systems have been established to mitigate them. The main areas of concern identified are: **Injury to leaders, helpers, supporters and members:** The District, through the membership fees, contributes to the Scout Association’s national accident insurance policy. In addition, a review has been undertaken to ensure that all adults supporting the District are covered by this or alternative insurance. Risk Assessments are undertaken and appropriate risk reduction measures are put in place before all activities take place in accordance with TSA Policy, Organisation and Rules. ## **Damage to buildings, property and equipment:** - a) The District has its own property, buildings and equipment at its Pinsent Campsite and Activities Centre. Sufficient insurance is maintained through TSA insurance and other commercially sourced insurance to address all third- party responsibilities and continuation of service provision in the event of damage; 3 - b) From time to time the District hires or borrows other buildings and equipment on a commercial or charitable basis. In such transactions, the District ensures that a sufficient level of insurance is in place against damage or loss on a case by case basis. **Reduction or loss of youth members:** The District and Groups provide activities for all young people aged between 4 to 24. If there was a significant reduction in membership in a section of a particular Group then there would have to be a contraction, consolidation or closure of that section. In a worst-case scenario the complete closure of a Group might be necessary. This reduces the District’s, and its Group’s, ability to fulfil its aims that every young person in the area who wishes to take part in its activities is able to do so and that those activities will be wide ranging and of a high standard and educational value as expected by TSA. This risk is addressed through seeking to provide a wide-ranging programme of activities of a high standard and educational value in all sections; **Reduction or loss of leaders:** The District relies totally upon volunteers[2] to run and administer the activities in the District. If there was a reduction in the number of leaders to an unacceptable level in a particular section or a Group as a whole, then there would have to be a contraction, consolidation or closure of a section. In the worst-case scenario, the complete closure of the District. This negates District, and its Groups, ability to fulfil its aims as above. This risk is addressed through seeking to maintain sufficient adult support for every section through continuous attention to recruitment, with Groups assisted by a District Growth and Development Team. **Reduced income from fundraising:** The District relies primarily upon income from membership subscriptions and fundraising. The District holds reserves to ensure the continuity of activities should there be a major reduction in income. The Trustee Board could raise the value of its membership subscriptions so as to increase the income to the District on an ongoing basis, either temporarily or permanently. **Improper or uncontrolled expenditure:** The District continually monitors its expenditures against its annual budget. Financial controls are in place which are designed to protect against unauthorised expenditure by any individuals who undertake scouting or other related activities on behalf of the District which necessarily incur costs. The District also has in place a system of internal controls which are designed to provide reasonable assurance against material mismanagement or loss, which include two signatories for all payments, and comprehensive insurance policies to ensure that insurable risks are covered. 4 ## **SECTION C: Objectives and activities** The objectives of the District are as a unit of the Scout Association. Scouting exists to actively engage and support young people in their personal development, empowering them to make a positive contribution to society. Scouting takes place when young people, in partnership with adults, work together based on the values of Scouting and: - enjoy what they are doing and have fun, - take part in activities indoors and outdoors, - learn by doing, - share in spiritual reflection, - take responsibility and make choices, - undertake new and challenging activities, - make and live by their Promise. In addition, the District aims that every young person in the area who wishes to take part in its activities should be able to do so, and that those activities will be wide ranging and of a high standard and educational value as expected by TSA. The District maintains three charitable funds to support those people who would otherwise be unable to participate in normal scouting activities enjoyed by the majority of members: - 1. The RBR Fund for young people in Winchester District who are members of the Scout Association, who want to take part in activities which are appropriate to them but who, through financial circumstances, find themselves unable to take part. It also supports those who need financial assistance to become or to remain members of a Section within the District. Access to the fund is not available to Leaders or other adult supporters. 2. The Mike Green Fund for supporting people in training to run adventurous activities but who, through financial circumstances, find themselves unable to partake of appropriate training. 3. The International Fund for assisting young people in Scouting to attend international Scouting events. The District meets the Charity Commission's public benefit criteria under both the advancement of education and the advancement of citizenship or community development headings. ## **SECTION D: Achievements, performance and objectives** Scouting in Winchester continues to thrive and the challenge remains to meet the demand from young people wanting to become Scouts and to increase that demand by providing better activities. 5 Overall the year in 2025: saw many activities undertaken and Group and District level throughout the year, notably: - District Squirrels activity day at Pinsent; - District Beaver day trip to the RAF Museum in London; - District Beavers, Cubs and Scouts all had section camps at Pinsent; - District Scouts undertook the annual Antler competition organized by the Explorers; - District Scouts and Explorers enjoyed a walking weekend in the Brecon Beacons; - Explorers were also active on their Bronze, Silver and Gold Duke of Edinburgh; - More Groups had Group or family camps. At 1404 young members (under 18), the January 2026 census was a disappointing fall (1.75%) from the January figure of 1429. However, a new District Development Officer has been appointed and should assist in reversing the trend. The Joining List remains high. This represents an unsatisfied demand and is unsatisfactory because those young people on the Joining List will only be young people for a limited time and are missing out. The aim is for a zero Joining List while stimulating more young people to want to join through a wide range of high-quality activities and publicity that encourages others to take part. The key to satisfying the demand and improving activities is to recruit more adults. In accord with national needs, good progress has been made on the validation of leader competence against the required training modules with all adults achieving safety, safeguarding and DBS while First Aid is improving significantly. The late completion the remainder induction activities still needs more effort to make late completion a historical issue. Leaders are also starting to achieve Wood Badges under the new system Of the twelve Groups, all but thee had Group Lead Volunteers (GLVs) at the end of 2024. Of these, one had a new GLV appointed in January 2026 but two remain under temporary leadership. Unfortunately: - The 4[th] Winchester (Pilgrims) Group was finally closed; - The 16[th] Winchester (Littleton and Sparsholt) Group closed due to lack of adult support. Scouting relies on adult volunteers. The census shows a significant increase in adult volunteers from 2025. However, this is likely to be an accounting anomaly as it is not apparent when reviewing Groups. It is expected that the new DDO will assist in growing the level of adult support. 6 In addition, the DLV stepped down at the end of 2026. A new team DLV with four members has been set up to start in May 2026. ## **SECTION E: Financial review** 2025 was a good year financially for the District. It is the policy of the District to maximise its cash reserves for the benefit of the young people within the district. As a result of moving funds into interest bearing accounts, £7k was earned against £4k the previous year. The funds are diversified amongst a number of Notice interest bearing accounts. The investments has enabled the district to reduce District fees to groups, which has been welcome. This is reflected in the Net subscriptions retained. The District reserves that are not currently allocated to sub-accounts stand at £45k which represents 2.6 times the District’s normal general expenditure. This figure is within our parameter of no greater than 3x times. Gift Aid has increased in line with increased membership numbers of Explorers Overall, the district had a surplus of £19.8k over the year. This was primarily accounted for by decreased spending on infrastructure; the Activity Barn being completed last year. Plans are being formulated for a new infrastructure project at Pinsent. The £3k income for the Barn project is the transfer from Pinsent Activities to the general district to account from the subsidy the district provided to the Barn to complete it. Pinsent Activities are run on a self-funding basis. Badges last year made a surplus of £2k. This tend to be cyclical. Youth programmes and activities are showing a decrease in expenditure across all headings except Explorers and Pinsent Activities. ## **SECTION F: Plans for future period** Our overall plans and priorities set out in our previous report continued unchanged at the start of 2025. Emphasis remains what we had set out in order to grow the District: - a) Active recruitment of Squirrel and Beaver Scouts and new adult volunteers; - b) Further improving the welcome for new adults; and - c) Continuing engaging and stimulating programmes. A new emphasis has been injected into the new building at Pinsent although this is still discussion with the architect engaged. Emphasis continues to be placed on maintaining and developing the close relationships with our local communities and with City and Hampshire Councillors and Council Officers. The need for new Scout buildings and land swaps continues to be urgent. These, as ever, will only be achieved with local community and local 7 authority supporL The key to funding new building construction remains to be achieved with community use by day - most likely by the very young or eLderly. Scouting in Winchester continues to embrace TSA'S Strategy for 2018-23 with its continued focus on the following four objectives: Growth - Scouting changes lives. Youngsters who want a pLace should have one. Inclusivity- we are working to ensure more girls and more additionaL needs. Youth shaped-young people should be able to shape their Scouting experience. Community impact- Scouting makes a difference notjustto the individual but aLso to wider society and we wantto increase that positive impact Preparations are also Under￿aY to complete the construction of the new revised Campsits Facility building which has been held up now for several years. SECTION G: Declaration The Trustees declare that they have approved the trustees. report above. Signed on behalf of the charity's trustees:_ Signatur eand date Names Richard Mendeisohn Chair Robin Cook District Lead Volunteer (2025) Positions ## **Winchester District Scout Council** ## **Receipts and Payments Account** ## **For the year from 1st January 2025 to 31st December 2025** |**Receipts and Payments**||| |---|---|---| |Unrestricted funds
Restricted funds
Total funds
£
£
£
**Receipts**
**Donations, legacies & similar income**
Membership subscriptions
110,081
0
110,081
Less: Membership subscriptions paid on
87,182
0
87,182
Net Membership subscriptions retained
22,899
0
22,899
Donations (other)
50
0
50
Gift Aid
5,628
0
5,628
Interest
7,360
0
7,360
**Sub total**
35,937
0
35,937
**Barn Project**
Barn Project
3,000
0
3,000
**Sub total**
3,000
0
3,000
**Youth Programme and Activities**
Activities
11,162
0
11,162
Beavers
7,902
0
7,902
Cubs
4,620
0
4,620
Scouts
4,972
0
4,972
Network
0
0
0
Explorers
50,048
0
50,048
**Sub total**
78,704
0
78,704
**Pinsent Campsite**
Bookings
13,050
0
13,050
Other
1,178
0
1,178
**Sub total**
14,228
0
14,228
**Other District activities**
Badges
13,467
0
13,467
RBT Transfer
0
0
0
Other
78
0
78
Candover holding
3,789
0
3,789
**Sub total**
17,334
0
17,334
**Investment income**
COIF - Winchester District Scout Council
267
0
267
COIF - RBR Fund
0
153
153
COIF - Jamboree
0
28
28
**Sub total**
267
181
448
**Total Gross Income**
149,470
181
149,651
0
**Asset sales**
0
0
0
**Total Receipts**
**149,470**
**181**
**149,651**
**2025**|Unrestricted funds
Restricted funds
Total funds
£
£
£
110,081
0
110,081
87,182
0
87,182
22,899
0
22,899
50
0
50
5,628
0
5,628
7,360
0
7,360

35,937
0
35,937
3,000
0
3,000

3,000
0
3,000
11,162
0
11,162
7,902
0
7,902
4,620
0
4,620
4,972
0
4,972
0
0
0
50,048
0
50,048

78,704
0
78,704
13,050
0
13,050
1,178
0
1,178

14,228
0
14,228
13,467
0
13,467
0
0
0
78
0
78
3,789
0
3,789

17,334
0
17,334
267
0
267
0
153
153
0
28
28

267
181
448
**2025**|**2024**
Total funds
£
106,936
75,955| |||30,981| |||6,603
5,377
3,945| |||46,906| |||59,187| |||59,187| |||9,070
15,399
6,382
7,387
0
46,492| |||84,730| |||13,329
3,020| |||16,349| |||10,784
0
0
1,156| |||11,940| |||305
175
251| |||731| |||| |||
219,843| |||0| |||**219,843**| ## **Winchester District Scout Council** ## **Receipts and Payments Account** **For the year from 1st January 2025 to 31st December 2025** |**Receipts and Payments**||| |---|---|---| |Unrestricted funds
Restricted funds
Total funds
£
£
£
**Payments**
**Charitable Payments**
District Commissioner's expenses
162
0
162
Training / Conferences (District Team / Executiv
321
0
321
AGM and District Conference
126
0
126
Badges
11,269
0
11,269
Poppy Wreath
0
0
0
Publicity
366
0
366
District Resources (incl. Training materials)
0
0
0
St George's Day
0
0
0
New Unit Grants
250
0
250
District Development Officer
4,465
0
4,465
Other
3,495
0
3,495
**Sub total**
20,454
0
20,454
**Youth Programme and Activities**
Activities
9,184
0
9,184
Activity equipment
0
0
0
Beavers
6,564
0
6,564
Cubs
10,936
0
10,936
Scouts
3,184
0
3,184
Explorers
56,168
0
56,168
Candover Holding
777
777
Network
0
0
0
Training Activity
0
0
0
RBR payments
0
580
580
Jamboree payments
0
0
0
**Sub total**
86,813
580
87,393
**Pinsent Campsite**
Utilities
1,060
0
1,060
Insurance
285
0
285
Maintenance / Improvements
2,318
0
2,318
Projects
10,010
0
10,010
**Sub total**
13,673
0
13,673
**Total Gross Expenditure**
120,940
580
121,520
**Asset purchases**
8,243
0
8,243
**Barn Project**
0
0
**New Build Expenditure**
0
0
0
**Total Payments**
**129,183**
**580**
**129,763**
**Net of receipts/(payments)**
**20,287**
**(399)**
**19,888**
**Transfers between funds**
0
0
0
**Cash funds last year end**
267,295
(5,044)
262,251
**Cash funds this year end**
**287,582**
**(5,443)**
**282,139**
**2025**||**2024**
Total funds
£
12
190
123
10,856
0
289
0
250
120
0
2,706| |||14,546| |||24,273
2,600
13,936
8,594
7,625
45,801
48
0
0
900
0| |||103,777| |||1,109
455
7,594
7,915| |||17,073| |||| |||135,396| |||5,931
128,647
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