## **Section E – Financial Review** Accounts are prepared on a Receipts and Payments basis using the Accountancy Tools module of the Online Scout Manager application. ## **Receipts** Total income for the year ended 31 March 2026 was £30,273. Member subscriptions raised £7,965. Trustees raised the annual subscription by £15 from 1st April 2025 to £135 per year. This brings us in line with other scout groups in the area and reflects the increase in levy due to the National, County and District Scout Councils. This was the first increase since September 2018. Trustees reviewed again in January 2026 and agreed to keep subs at the same level for the next year. Gift Aid income which comes from claims on subscriptions and Christmas tree collections was £1,792. Donations in the year were £1,135 which includes donations from Berkhamsted Rotary and the Town Council for running the ‘Big Green Week’ refreshments. A regular sewing group contributed to a higher hall hire this year of £1,030. Other income, which includes events (camp) payments was £4,085. This includes the ASAP camp in September 2025 which was not attended in the previous year and the Braidwood camp planned for end of May 2026. Bank interest was £487. Fundraising during the year included the Rotary’s Santa Sleigh in December and our annual Christmas tree collections in January 2026. These are both joint ventures with VVV ESU. Net funds raised for 1[st] Berkhamsted were £6,852 (see note 2). ## **Payments** The cost of the youth programme for the Group’s members was £2,715 which includes purchase of equipment used by all sections as well as activities at evening meetings. The cost of annual membership subscription paid to the Scout Association and District (levy/census payments) increased to £4,460. Admin expenses include leader uniform, badge books, website, and card processing fees. Group expenses of £3,437 this year included £2,400 towards the World Scout Jamboree 2027 for two of our scouts as well as a new projector for the hut and our ongoing sponsorship of three Guide Dog puppies. New blinds were installed in the Shirley Den and the ivy was removed from the back of the building but there was no other significant venue maintenance this year. ## **Surplus/Deficit for the year** There was an overall surplus this year of £2,886. ## **Reserves** At 31 March 2026, reserves stood at £55,795. ## **Reserves Policy** The Group’s policy on reserves is to hold sufficient resources to continue the charitable activities of the Group should income and fundraising activities fall short. The Group executive committee considers that the Group should hold a sum equivalent to six month’s running costs, or about £3,000. ## **Investment Policy** The Group has adopted a low-risk strategy in the investment of its funds. Funds are held in cash accounts and bank deposits, using CAF bank and Shawbrook bank. This year the group also opened a Charities Deposit Fund account with CCLA Investment Managers. The Group Executive regularly monitors the levels of bank balances and considers the cash flow requirements of the charity. ## **Account Independent Examination** As the annual income is above £25,000 the trustees must appoint an independent examiner. At the AGM in July 2025 Richard Hackworth was appointed examiner for the financial year to 31 March 2026. ## Scouts England & Wales ## **Unqualified report for a non-company charity preparing receipts and payments** ## **accounts with a gross income of £250,000 or less in the relevant financial year** ## **Independent examiner’s report to the trustees of 1[st] Berkhamsted Scout Group** I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the 1[st] Berkhamsted Scout Group for the year ended 31[st] March 2026. ## **Responsibilities and basis of report** As the charity trustees of the 1[st] Berkhamsted Scout Group 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 1[st] Berkhamsted Scout Group accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the 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: 1. accounting records were not kept in respect of the 1[st] Berkhamsted Scout Group as required by section 130 of the Act; or 2. the accounts do not accord with those records. I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. Signed: Name: Richard Hackworth Relevant professional qualification or membership of professional bodies (if any): 1 Clunbury Court, Manor Street, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, HP4 2FF: Date: 1[st] May 2026 ## **Receipts and Payments** ## **1[st] April 2025 – 31[st] March 2026** ||**2025-2026**||**2024-2025**| |---|---|---|---| |**Income**|£||£| |Bank Interest|487.00||492.66| |Donation|1,135.33||1,184.29| |Events|4,000.00||1,510.00| |Events - Scouts|85.00||70.00| |Fundraising|10,612.52||11,263.51| |Gift Aid|1,791.94||2,066.86| |Hall Hire|1,030.00||400.00| |MembershipFees|7,965.00||6,230.00| |z Pass Through(Agency)1|3,166.37||2,695.28| ||||| |**Expense**|||| |ActivityEquipment|1,002.80||1,186.14| |Admin|498.98||889.20| |Badges|712.90||247.74| |Bank Fees|120.00||120.00| |CampingEquipment|192.75||8.00| |Events|2,663.10||1,600.08| |Events - Scouts|248.00||253.00| |Fundraising 2|3,760.48||3,860.36| |GroupExpenses|3,436.93||956.12| |Insurance|2,014.52||1,869.49| |Meetings - Beavers|470.93||640.36| |Meetings - Cubs|565.74||550.12| |Meetings - Scouts|482.87||457.98| |MembershipCosts|4,460.40||3,894.00| |Training|115.00||0.00| |Utilities|3,318.25||3,038.71| |Venue Maintenance|924.29||4,438.03| |z Pass Through(Agency)1|2,399.54||2,693.49| ||**2025-2026**||**2024-2025**| |---|---|---|---| ||£||£| |**Account balances**|||| |CAF General|3,122.29||867.79| |CAF Events|520.24||367.60| |Shawbrook 60 Day|41,099.94||40,813.34| |CAF Gold|986.17||10,810.24| |Expense Account3|50.00||0.00| |CCLA Deposit Account|10,016.01||0.00| ||||| |**Summary**|||| |Account balance brought forward|52,858.97||53,649.19| |Total income|30,273.16||25,912.60| |Total expenditure|27,387.48||26,702.82| |Net income|2,885.68||-790.22| |Account balance carried forward|55,794.65||52,858.97| ## **Notes** 1. z Pass Through is used to hold monies for other organisations on a temporary basis. In 2025/26 this was used when purchasing items for District and for the Jamboree fundraising. 2. Fundraising expenses include £3272 donated to VVV ESU in recognition of their help with Santa Sleigh and Christmas Tree collections. 3. Expense Account is a pre-paid purchasing card held by the beaver team. ## **Ist Berkhamsted Scout Group AGM 2026** ## **5 July 2026, Bridgewater School, Bridle Way, Berkhamsted HP4 1ES** We invite you to our Annual General Meeting (AGM), on Sunday 5 July, 2-4pm. Refreshments will be served and there will be games for the children and some campfire cooking after the meeting. ## **1. Venue and parking** The AGM will be held outside in the grounds of Bridgewater School. In the event of bad weather, we will meet in the school hall. The car park will be open. If you need to park outside the school, please be considerate of the neighbours. Thank you. ## **2. Are you interested in supporting our Group?** - 1st Berkhamsted Beavers are urgently seeking a new Lead Volunteer so that our 6-8 year olds can have the best introduction to Scouting. If you think you can help individually or as part of a group of leaders, or know someone who could, please contact Caleb Paullus (GLV@1stberkhamsted.org.uk). - We are also seeking to recruit a new Trustee. To express an interest or find out more, please contact our Chair, Jenny Jenkins (chair@1stberkhamsted.org.uk). Information here. - about the role of Trustees is available on the Scout Association website - Please speak to your section team leader if you can volunteer for a session, for camp or for our annual fundraising activity. ## **3. Proposed agenda** |1. Arrival and refreshments|1.45pm| |---|---| |2. Welcome and introducton from JennyJenkins,Chair,Board of Trustees|2.00pm| |3. Governance
3.1 Approval of2025 AGM minutes
and maters arising|2.05pm| |4. Review of the year
4.1 Caleb Paullus, Group Lead Volunteer, review of Scouts (1 April 2025-31
March 2026)
4.2 Annual Report of the Trustee Board incl statement of accounts|2.10pm| |5. Financials & Fundraising (see informaton in Annex 1 below)
5.1 Summary of fnances
5.2 Proposal to reappoint Richard Hackworth as scrutneer (for a vote)|2.25pm| ||| |---|---| |5.3 Report to parents on the Christmas tree
collecton (see Annex 2)|| |6. Appointments
6.1 TBD vote on new Trustee|2.45pm| |7. AOB,closingremarks andquestons|2.50pm| |End of AGM & showing pictures of scoutng actvity, refreshments, children’s
actvites|3.00pm| ## **Annex 1** - **Financial Review** Accounts are prepared on a Receipts and Payments basis using the Accountancy Tools module of the Online Scout Manager application. ## **Receipts** Total income for the year ended 31 March 2026 was £30,273. Member subscriptions raised £7,965. Trustees raised the annual subscription by £15 from 1st April 2025 to £135 per year. This brings us in line with other scout groups in the area and reflects the increase in levy due to the National, County and District Scout Councils. This was the first increase since September 2018. Trustees reviewed again in January 2026 and agreed to keep subs at the same level for the next year. Gift Aid income which comes from claims on subscriptions and Christmas tree collections was £1,792. Donations in the year were £1,135 which includes donations from Berkhamsted Rotary and the Town Council for running the ‘Big Green Week’ refreshments. A regular sewing group contributed to a higher hall hire this year of £1,030. Other income, which includes events (camp) payments was £4,085. This includes the ASAP camp in September 2025 which was not attended in the previous year and the Braidwood camp planned for end of May 2026. Bank interest was £487. Fundraising during the year included the Rotary’s Santa Sleigh in December and our annual Christmas tree collections in January 2026. These are both joint ventures with VVV ESU. Net funds raised for 1st Berkhamsted were £6,852 (see note 2). ## **Payments** The cost of the youth programme for the Group’s members was £2,715 which includes purchase of equipment used by all sections as well as activities at evening meetings. The cost of annual membership subscription paid to the Scout Association and District (levy/census payments) increased to £4,460. Admin expenses include leader uniform, badge books, website, and card processing fees. Group expenses of £3,437 this year included £2,400 towards the World Scout Jamboree 2027 for two of our scouts as well as a new projector for the hut and our ongoing sponsorship of three Guide Dog puppies. New blinds were installed in the Shirley Den and the ivy was removed from the back of the building but there was no other significant venue maintenance this year. ## **Surplus/Deficit for the year** There was an overall surplus this year of £2,886. ## **Reserves** At 31 March 2026, reserves stood at £55,795. ## **Reserves Policy** The Group’s policy on reserves is to hold sufficient resources to continue the charitable activities of the Group should income and fundraising activities fall short. The Group executive committee considers that the Group should hold a sum equivalent to six month’s running costs, or about £3,000. ## **Investment Policy** The Group has adopted a low-risk strategy in the investment of its funds. Funds are held in cash accounts and bank deposits, using CAF bank and Shawbrook bank. This year the group also opened a Charities Deposit Fund account with CCLA Investment Managers. The Group Executive regularly monitors the levels of bank balances and considers the cash flow requirements of the charity. ## **Account Independent Examination** As the annual income is above £25,000 the trustees must appoint an independent examiner. At the AGM in July 2025 Richard Hackworth was appointed examiner for the financial year to 31 March 2026. ## _**Annex 2**_ Christmas Tree Collections – January 2026 We oversaw the organisation and execution of the annual tree collection for 1[st] Gossoms End, 1[st] Northchurch, 1[st] Potten End, 1[st] Little Gaddesden, and 1[st] Berkhamsted/VVV ESU. This involved managing bookings, payments, and the design and distribution of leaflets and posters. We collect from almost 19% of addresses in our area of Berkhamsted. ## Website and Publicity Online bookings open officially 1[st] December and closed 2[nd] January. In total, we processed 1,761 bookings online on behalf of the groups. Numbers were slightly lower than last year and this was partly due to the early collection date. Several customers said they were booking elsewhere this year but would be back with us next time. One of our scout parents kindly designed the leaflets and posters, with all printing costs fully sponsored by TPC and Lovelo. This generous support meant that none of the groups incurred any printing expenses. Leaflets were distributed to scouts at the start of December, providing ample time for delivery. We saw more volunteers signing up to help than there were available delivery routes. Shops were also targeted, and the posters and leaflets were prominently displayed in many locations along the High Street. The publicity campaign also included Facebook, press releases sent to magazines, and emails to local schools, churches, Berkhamsted council, and the Dacorum website, ensuring broad community awareness. ## Volunteers We had a strong turnout of volunteers this year, with most registering their interest ahead of the Christmas period. The majority of volunteers arrived well-prepared for their roles, and both the quality of pins and the accompanying photos were generally of a high standard. The majority of foot team leaders and van crew made a point of attending the Saturday briefing, ensuring everyone was up to speed on their responsibilities. It takes a significant amount of time to balance the teams to ensure an even spread of experienced adults and young people but many enjoy meeting others from different sections of scouts. There are 93 households affiliated with 1[st] Berkhamsted/VVV, including leaders. A small proportion of these households are dedicated to assisting other groups, while 36 households did not volunteer for any activities. Several households supported more than one aspect of the event (e.g. leaflet deliveries, market stall, tree day, missed collections). The smooth running of the event continues to depend significantly on the commitment of VVV explorers, former members, leaders, trustees, and their families. On tree day itself, we had a total of 100 volunteers actively participating. An additional 5 volunteers would have helped reduce the pressure on teams that were assigned two routes. ## **Tree weekend** The weather at the market stall on Saturday was extremely cold this year. We received approximately ⅓ fewer bookings at the market compared to the previous year, which may have been due to a combination of the weather and the absence of the fruit stall this year, as well as repeat bookings online. Although in-person bookings were down, we did receive some general donations, and maintaining a presence at the market remains valuable for advertising for the group and accommodates those unable to book online. A small team of volunteers started collections and loading at Hall Park (Route 05) on Saturday. This route is challenging and icy so the decision to collect this route early worked well. Ten teams covered the remaining fifteen routes on Sunday morning, with most routes taking about an hour. All foot crews, even those covering two routes, finished by 10.30am, with van collections concluded by 1pm. Approximately 11 missed trees were collected on Monday or Tuesday. Due to roadworks near the station, HQ was relocated to the hut. A hot breakfast at the hut was well received and provided an opportunity to socialise across the group. Waitrose, M&S, and Tesco all kindly contributed some food for the volunteers. Overall, feedback was very positive, with several people commenting how much they’d enjoyed themselves. _**“Always a fun morning!! And thank you for the opportunity to give something back and help those of you who turn up every week for our Explorers. You are very much appreciated!**_ 🤗 _**”**_ _**“I had a lovely time, thanks all.**_ 🤞 _**for lots of money raised.”**_ _**“My son said that’s his favourite day of the year collecting trees**_ 🌲 _**”**_ ## Final Totals In total 1173 trees were collected this year, which raised **£9,560.38** for **1st Berkhamsted Scouts** after expenses. This total was slightly lower than the previous year because the Gravel Path route had been given to Potten End Scouts who we are building a closer relationship with. This transfer doubled their overall takings, and reduced logistical pressure on the 1st Berkhamsted group. Acknowledgements Many thanks to all the families who volunteered and especially to the dedicated Tree Team for their hard work and support in making the event run smoothly: - Overall planning, coordination and leadership – Hilary - Website – Benjamin - Mapping – Stephen - Leaflet sponsorship, printing and vans – Mike - Leaflet and poster distribution – Victoria and Emma - Graphic design – Lisa - Press – Jenny - Market stall – Paul and Jackie - Catering (and food donations) – Andrew ## And to our sponsors: - TPC, Lovelo and Gomm Gomm Design – publicity - XDells – James and Carl, van - Berkhamsted School – Steve, vans, HQ and parking