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2021-12-31-accounts

Charity Registration No. 504481 Company Registration No. 1226321 (England & Wales)

The Black Country Living Museum Trust Annual Report & Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2021

www.bclm.com

Black Country Living Museum Trust

Contents

Reference & Administrative Information 2-3
Chair’s Review of the Year 4-7
Trustees’ Report 8-15
Trustees’ Strategic Report 16-26
Statement of Trustees’ Responsibilities 27
Independent Auditors’ Report 28-31
Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities (SOFA) 32
Balance Sheets 33-34
Consolidated Cash Flow Statement 35
Notes to the Accounts 36-60

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Black Country Living Museum Trust

Trustees’ Report for the Year Ended 31 December 2021

Reference & Administrative Information

The Trustees present their Annual Report & Accounts for the year ended 31 December 2021, in accordance with the Companies Act 2006 (Strategic Report and Directors’ Report) Regulations 2013. The accounts have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in Note 1 of the Accounts and comply with the Charity’s governing document, applicable law and the Statement of Recommended Practice, ‘Accounting and Reporting by Charities’, 2015. Throughout this Annual Report the Company is referred to as ‘the Museum, Museum Trust or the Charity’.

Museum Trust Established: 15 September 1975 Patron: HRH The Duke of Gloucester KG GCVO GCStJ Trustees / Directors (& Members): Christopher Ansell Jonathan Badyal (Deputy Chair) Katy Baker Duncan Bedhall Dr Paul Belford (Chair) Sally Bourner Parminder Dosanjh Cllr. Matt Follows[1 ] Victoria Jessop (Deputy Chair) Louise Jones Ruth Levesley Tarlok Singh Mander Catherine Murphy Chief Executive: Andrew Lovett OBE Charity Registration Number: 504481 Museum Accreditation Reference Numbers: 761 and 829 Company Registration Number: 1226321 VAT Registration Number (Group): 765321138 Principal Address & Registered Office: Black Country Living Museum Tipton Road Dudley West Midlands DY1 4SQ Independent Auditors: Crowe U.K. LLP Black Country House Oldbury West Midlands B69 2DG

1 Nominated by the Association of Black Country Authorities (ABCA)

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Trustees’ Report for the Year Ended 31 December 2021

Black Country Living Museum Trust

Principal Bankers: Barclays Bank PLC (Barclays Corporate)
1stFloor
Queen Square
Wolverhampton
West Midlands
WV1 1DS
Principal Solicitors: Gowling WLG (UK) LLP
2 Snow Hill
Birmingham
West Midlands
B4 6WR
Other Advisors: Anthony Collins Solicitors LLP
134 Edmund Street
Birmingham
West Midlands
B3 2ES
Company Secretary: Craig Edmondson
Telephone: +44 (0) 121 557 9643
Email: info@bclm.com
Website: www.bclm.com
Facebook: facebook.com/bclivingmuseum
Social Media: @bclivingmuseum
@bclmdirector
TikTok: @blackcountrymuseum

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Trustees’ Report for the Year Ended 31 December 2021

Chair’s Review of the Year

The last two years have certainly brought into sharp relief the need for Trustees to be fully engaged, strategic and well-informed. Good governance behaviours which we can easily take for granted – using care and skill, managing risks, and access to sound and timely information – became critical, dynamic and far from hypothetical. The responsibilities and accountabilities of being a Trustee and Chair of the Board were profound and serious.

Getting beyond COVID-19

It wasn’t until 17 May 2021 that the Museum was allowed to reopen after COVID-19 restrictions were lifted in England. It was great to be open again for visitors, albeit more than five months later than we had hoped (and budgeted for). Indeed none of us expected that we would still be bound by COVID-19 restrictions 14 months after the first national lockdown.

In this context, the financial results for 2021 are impressive. We were helped by two of the Museum’s intrinsic aspects. First is our outdoor space – providing visitors with a greater sense of safety during a time when being apart was important. Second is our core support from local, regional and national visitors – which meant that unlike many visitor attractions we were not vulnerable to the cessation of international travel. This love and value that people feel for the place meant that visitor attendance reached 207,939, or 79% of the level reached in the last normal year, 2019, over the same 33 weeks. These results were also encouraging because visitor attendance in 2020 barely reached 90,000, and we were only surviving due to taxpayer support. Relying on taxpayer support always sat uncomfortably with the ethos of the Museum and the Board, and I am delighted that this year we were able to reduce our burden on the taxpayer. Surpassing 200,000 visitors in 2021 felt like quite a milestone, and that level of attendance is reflected in the strong financial results set out in detail elsewhere in this annual report. We are definitely getting beyond COVID-19.

Beyond our boundaries

Notwithstanding the global impact of COVID-19, when putting together this kind of review, it is easy to overlook the significance of the international and national environment in which the Museum exists. The UK public policy context has been dominated by the climate crisis and levelling-up.

Surprising though it may seem, the coal-burning steam-powered element of our Museum is not one of our main contributors to climate change. Indeed the Museum has and will continue to reduce its impact on the environment, although it is obvious we have already taken the easiest steps to achieving this, and achieving greater impacts. A key aspect is the fact that 95% of our visitors currently arrive at the Museum by car. Encouraging behavioural change from our will also be easy on our own. We will rely on the wider provision of infrastructure and social change. This is one of the reasons why the Museum enthusiastically backed the expansion of the Midland Metro, from Wednesbury to Brierley Hill, via Dudley. When complete this will offer – for the first time – a viable public transport alternative for many visitors.

When the Government launched levelling-up as a major policy, the Black Country was the embodiment of the sort of place Ministers had in mind. The area has been identified as a priority by Arts Council England because of low levels of engagement. The Government has also identified the Black Country (with the exception of Wolverhampton) as an Education Investment Area – where educational attainment is weak. The statistics show that, for example, 31% of Black

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Country residents are educated to NVQ4+ levels compared with 43% nationally. And twice as many residents have no qualifications (16.7%) compared with the national average. On average, academic progress in Black Country secondary schools is also well below national averages, and even below the minimum standard expected by the Government. The health index is also very worrying for people in our region, with Dudley in the bottom 25% for England; Walsall in the bottom 10% and Sandwell and Wolverhampton in the bottom 5%.

I mention this situation because it emboldens the Museum – as a fairly large employer with a wellestablished presence and positive reputation in the Black Country, to do the very best it can for the people of our region. In this respect we are an outward-looking organisation which plays its part in securing investment, creating jobs and improving lives.

Forging Ahead - living memory once More

The Museum’s major capital development, Forging Ahead, has seen significant progress during 2021. There was a long period of little visual change during ground and foundation works – but these were of course essential on our site which is riddled with disused coal and limestone mines. Most of the buildings are now taking shape, and the layout of the town is becoming clear. Forging Ahead will create a very different looking museum. Not just because of its scale, but because it will bring us forward, once more, into living memory. In this context, you can expect to see the Cast Iron Houses set in 1968, Lea Road Infant Welfare Centre telling stories from 1961, and the Elephant & Castle Public House serving Babycham or a pint of mild in a dimpled glass to Irish immigrants and fellow drinkers from the Caribbean in the late 1950s.

Taking our story-telling forward – into living memory – keeps the Museum relevant to our audiences. We are joining up the dots of history, helping to show how events and people connect, allowing everyone to make greater sense of the world. Whilst a Museum looks to the past, engaging future generations in the Black Country story also helps to anchor their place in the future.

It isn’t entirely predictable how visitors will respond to our new developments, but I have every confidence that they will create strong emotional responses. This is one of the wonderful and unique aspects of an open-air museum, which in many ways is closer to other elements of our cultural landscape than more conventional museums. We will find out more when the Elephant and Castle pub opens in mid-2022, along with our new Visitor Centre which will be a much more community-focused space, and will also turn the Museum’s face towards Castle Hill. In total 23 historic buildings and features will open in a sequence through to mid-2024. An exciting couple of years ahead!

Of course all of this is built on detailed and meticulous research, and this is an appropriate moment to congratulate Dr Simon Briercliffe, the Museum’s Researcher, on the conferment of his doctoral degree from the University of Birmingham. I recognise – with a huge degree of empathy – that this moment represents a very significant personal and professional milestone for Simon, and a fulfilment of his intense interest in the social changes impacting local communities. Simon’s research is already creating a better understanding of how housing, poverty and immigration affects peoples’ lives. We are also very proud to have supported his recent publication Austerity to Prosperity in the Black Country, and of course, his continuing work at the Museum including for Forging Ahead.

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Strengthening Governance, and diversifying our Board

During 2021 we continued to strengthen and diversify the Board. This is a continuous work in progress, requiring constant effort and vigour. Although progress is incremental, when I look back on my eight years’ service on the Board it is incredible just how far we have come. The way we go about things now has diversity and inclusion firmly embedded – although we still have a long way to go of course, and there is no room for complacency. It is important to us that our community and stakeholders have confidence in the Board, including demonstrating we are representative of the UK – and particularly the Black Country – in the twenty-first century. We also strive to ensure the Board understands and can step-up to the challenges and opportunities before us, by which I mean we recognise that the right Trustees expand the intellectual and strategic resource and talent available to the Museum. In short it makes the Museum ever more capable. Progress has continued into 2022, and I am delighted to welcome Louise Jones and Tarlok Singh Mander to the Board.

We do our best at the Museum to ensure our governance is strategic, effective and of the highest standard. I’d like to think our instincts are good, but clear and succinct support is always welcome. As Chair, and as a Board, we have found the latest Charity Governance Code for Larger Charities (updated 2020) an extremely valuable tool. This asks charities to focus on achieving their purpose; leadership; integrity; decision making, risk & control; Board effectiveness; equality, diversity & inclusion; and openness & accountability. At the Museum we are using these themes to develop and sustain a Trustee team with a shared sense of commitment to, and pride in, the Museum’s cause, who can work together with wisdom, judgement and insight.

Our partnership with Arts Council England

During 2022 we will once again apply for investment from Arts Council England to enable us to do more, for more people. The current investment of £560,000 represents around 7% of our total annual trading revenue. As I mentioned earlier we value our financial independence, and this support is a way of increasing our resources to enable us to do more for our communities. Working with ACE, as part of their National Portfolio of organisations, has really sharpened our focus on issues such as climate change and equality, diversity and inclusion, as well as allowing us to shine a light on more instinctive characteristics such as dynamism, ambition and quality. The partnership is a hugely valuable learning process for us. We are also pleased to be here – in a priority area for levelling-up – attracting this kind of public-sector investment, for the benefit of people in the Black Country. As a major cultural organisation in the area, we feel we have an obligation to do so.

With thanks

We are now all having to live with COVID-19, and in this new reality it continues to be a great relief that we haven’t seen widespread health issues amongst staff or volunteers, although I am aware of deaths and illness in extended families and amongst friends. I offer my condolences to anyone who has suffered loss amongst their loved-ones and friends.

Once again, I want to pay tribute to the Museum’s staff, for achieving such great results for the beneficiaries of what we do, in spite of COVID-19 restrictions keeping us closed until May 2021. We bounced back very strongly; showing resilience, skill and enthusiasm.

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This was further reflected when the Museum won the Visit England National award for Resilience and Innovation, at a ceremony on 8 June 2022. The Museum was commended for the many ways it was able to connect with audiences during the difficult year it faced in 2021. This included being able to provide a space for the NHS to distribute vaccines to the local community, connecting with worldwide audiences through TikTok, and hosting the production of a number of high profile filming projects, including Peaky Blinders.

I am always extremely grateful to my fellow Trustees on the Board, and the independent members of our subsidiary trading company and our Audit Committee. Thanks in particular to Andy Holding, who is stepping down after six years Chairing the Audit Committee. We welcome Andy Comyn as the new independent Chair of our Audit Committee.

I want to take this opportunity to acknowledge the support of all our many donors, volunteers and funders and to express my very grateful thanks for their commitment and generosity to the Museum. Without them the Museum could not reach as many people as it does, or achieve all the things that it wants to achieve. Our local authority, Dudley Council, continues to be supportive, recognising the importance of the Museum to the Borough.

Special thanks go to the National Lottery Heritage Fund, Arts Council England, Black Country Local Enterprise Partnership, West Midlands Combined Authority, and the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, for the scale of funding support received during the pandemic, including, for the first time, capital funding from the UK Government through its Capital Kickstart Programme.

Finally, on behalf of the Board, I am delighted to have this opportunity to congratulate our Chief Executive, Andrew Lovett on being awarded an OBE in the New Year Honours, 2022. The award was rightly given for services to heritage, and as Chair of the Association of Independent Museums, especially during COVID-19. Andrew has said he was overwhelmed by the appreciation shown for the role he is privileged to play supporting the museum and heritage sector across the UK.

Dr Paul Belford Chair

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Governing Document

The Black Country Living Museum Trust is a company limited by guarantee (reg. no. 1226321), without share capital and governed by its Memorandum and Articles of Association dated 15 September 1975 as amended by special resolutions dated 15 December 1983, 21 July 2005, 24 September 2009, 30 May 2013 and 29 May 2014. None of the model articles in the Companies (Model Articles) Regulations 2008 applies to the Company. The Company was registered as a Charity with the Charity Commission on 10 October 1975. The Objects of the Charity are set out in this report. Throughout this Annual Report the Company is referred to as ‘the Museum, Museum Trust or the Charity’.

Trustees / Directors (& Members)

The Trustees of the Museum for the purposes of charity law are also its Directors for the purposes of company law, and throughout this report are collectively referred to as ‘the Trustees’. The Trustees are also the only Members of the charitable company. Those Trustees who served during the period of this review were:

Christopher Ansell (appointed 29 April 2021) Jonathan Badyal Katy Baker Duncan Bedhall Dr Paul Belford Sally Bourner (appointed 24 June 2021) Andrew Comyn (appointed 25 February 2021, resigned 28 October 2021) Parminder Dosanjh Cllr. Matt Follows Nicola Harding (retired 24 June 2021) Victoria Jessop Ruth Levesley Nick Loveland (resigned 29 April 2021) Catherine Murphy

Recruitment & Appointment of Trustees

The governing document allows for two ‘classes’ of Trustees, ordinary and nominated. All Trustees are appointed on the basis of their experience, skills and empathy with the Museum’s vision. The appointment of ordinary Trustees is undertaken following an open, public recruitment process. Prospective Trustees are interviewed by a panel of existing Trustees and the Chief Executive, who make recommendations to the Board. The Association of Black Country Authorities nominates one person to serve as a Trustee on the Board, albeit in a personal, rather than representative capacity. The Board recognises and accepts the need to refresh, diversify and develop the Board on a regular basis as an integral part of good governance and maintaining objectivity, utility, and succession planning. Two appointments were made in 2021. Trustees can serve for two terms of three years, unless the Board agrees a third consecutive term of up to three years.

The Museum takes account the recommendations of the report, Taken On Trust , published in January 2017 by the Office for Civil Society and the Charity Commission, which seeks to broaden the diversity of Trustees and improve levels of understanding about the role. The Museum is proud of the work it has done over the last 10 years to diversify membership of the Board.

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Trustee Induction & Training

New Trustees are provided with a wide range of information, including the Charity Commission’s publication, The Essential Trustee and have an induction meeting with the Chair and Museum Chief Executive. New and prospective Trustees are also provided with a copy of the Museum’s application pack, which sets out the duties and responsibilities of being a Trustee and the contribution they are expected to make during their term of office. The Museum has developed a Trustee development programme to enhance their understanding of the Museum and the environment in which it operates. Trustees are kept up-to-date with bi-monthly reports, through social media channels, briefings and sector newsletters about relevant issues, best practice and developments impacting the museums and cultural sectors, as well as changes to charity and/or company regulation. The Board uses an annual self-assessment questionnaire to gauge its effectiveness as the Museum’s governing body, to support and inform an individual discussion between each Trustee and the Chair of the Board. The Board has also endorsed recent best practice guidance from the Association of Independent Museums (AIM), including their Hallmarks of Prospering Museums , published in June 2015, and Golden Rules of Good Governance , as well the latest Charity Governance Code for Larger Charities.

The Board of Trustees works to ensure compliance with its legal duties to:

Governance Structure & Subsidiaries

The Museum is governed by a Board (with a maximum of 16 members and a minimum of 5) which has powers to conduct all the affairs of the Charity. The Board usually meets six times (on a bimonthly timetable) during the year to consider strategic issues, monitor the progress and performance of the Museum against budget and prior year, consider policy and significant developments and monitor organisational risks. The Board has in place committee structures to effectively govern and regulate the affairs of the Museum, including an Audit Committee (with two independent members, including its Chair (retiring in 2022), Andrew Holding, and Dinah McLannahan) and a Financial Performance Scrutiny Committee.

The Chief Executive manages and develops the Museum with his staff and is accountable and reports to the Board, in accordance with a Scheme of Delegation approved by the Board. The Museum’s Chief Executive is supported by a leadership team (Key Management Personnel) currently comprising four staff with responsibility for: (1) Programmes & Collections; (2) Development (job share); (3) Visitor Operations, Estate Management, Marketing, and People Management; and (4) Finance. A larger management team meets on a regular basis to consider management and operational issues. The Charity has in place a Staff Consultative Forum, including elected Staff Representatives, which meets on a quarterly basis and in accordance with its Terms of Reference. The Museum recognises the Community Union, for the purposes of collective bargaining for certain defined matters for its Costumed Characters, a group of about 80 workers.

The Museum is owned and operated by the charitable company (including the Locksmith’s House, a small museum (Accreditation ref. no. 829) in Willenhall, seven miles from the main site)

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including the employment of all staff. Non-charitable activities, including retailing, catering, location filming and business sponsorship, are undertaken on behalf of the Museum Trust by Black Country Living Museum Enterprises Limited (Company Registration No. 03026731). The Enterprises Company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Black Country Living Museum Trust – its immediate and ultimate parent undertaking and controlling party. A licence agreement exists which sets out the terms of the relationship between the parties.

The Enterprises Company was incorporated on 27 February 1995 in order to protect the charitable status of the Museum Trust and to have in place the most tax-efficient company arrangements, while allowing the Museum to benefit from the proceeds of commercial enterprise through an annual donation of profits from the Enterprises Company to the Museum. The Directors of the Enterprises Company, who met four times during the year, are drawn from the Museum Trust and from outside the Museum. There are currently four Directors of the Board of the Enterprises Company, including two independent Directors, Richard Fletcher and Lisa Simpson. The Museum Trust, as the sole member of the Company, is represented at General Meetings by Museum Trustee, Duncan Bedhall, who also Chairs the subsidiary. The Museum’s Chief Operating Officer, Paul Crofts, is the Chief Executive of the Enterprises Company, although not a Company Director of it.

Remuneration Policy, Gender Pay Gap Information, Employment & Casual Workers

The Museum has a well-established median pay policy, informed by Museum-wide job evaluation and market data. At the end of 2019, the Museum undertook a job evaluation of all 78 roles and as a result introduced a revised grading structure to ensure continued competitive, equitable and transparent pay rates. The median pay policy applies to all staff at the Museum, including Key Management Personnel, although the Board considers the remuneration of the Chief Executive outside this protocol. No remuneration benefits, other than those provided to all staff, are provided to Key Management Personnel. The Board of the Museum considers issues of pay on an annual basis as part of approving its annual revenue budget. The terms of recent emergency Government funding has meant the Museum has been obliged to implement pay restraint.

Normally the Museum falls under the requirements of The Equality Act 2010 (Gender Pay Gap Information) regulations 2017 to publish a report showing the organisation’s gender pay information. However, as a result of COVID-19 at the designated ‘snapshot date’ of 5 April 2021, 95% of the Museum’s employees and workers were flexi-furloughed, which meant only eleven individuals met the definition of ‘full-pay relevant employees’ and the criteria for the Gender Pay Gap calculations. For the previous two years, when comparing the mean hourly rates and the median (middle number) hourly rate for men and women, there was a difference of less than 2%. The Museum is committed to continue to develop its workforce strategy, which includes maintaining a culture of representation and inclusion to ensure equality of opportunity for all.

The Museum regularly reviews the need for casual workers, taking account of the needs of the business. The Museum also utilises annualised contracts, which provides employees with the certainty of a guaranteed number of hours, while offering the flexibility to the Museum and the individual.

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Trustee Indemnity

Professional liability insurance of £1m is in place through AXA Insurance UK plc at a cost of £971 (2020: £747).

Trustees Attendance at Meetings of the Museum Board

The table below sets out the record of attendance for Trustees and the Chief Executive, at Board meetings during 2021.

meetings during 2021.
Date of Board Meetings No. of
Meetings		 %
25/02 29/04 24/06 26/08 28/10 16/12
Chris Ansell - X 4/5 80%
Jonathan Badyal X 5/6 83%
Katy Baker X X 4/6 67%
Duncan Bedhall X 5/6 83%
Dr Paul Belford(Chair) 6/6 100%
Sally Bourner - - X 3/4 75%
Andy Comyn X X X - - 1/4 25%
Parminder Dosanjh X X 4/6 67%
Cllr Matthew Follows X X 4/6 67%
Nicola Harding X X - - - 1/3 33%
Victoria Jessop 6/6 100%
Ruth Levesley X 5/6 83%
Nick Loveland X X - - - - 0/2 0%
Catherine Murphy X 5/6 83%
Andrew Lovett
(Chief Executive)		 6/6 100%

Partnerships & Stakeholders

The Museum works with a number of partners and stakeholders to achieve its objectives, including some volunteer groups. The principal volunteer groups being: Collections & Archive Group; The Friends of President (steam narrow boat and part of the National Historic Fleet); and the volunteers from Rockspur House and Garden Pathways, who do much to help us keep our gardens and open spaces in good order and free of litter. The volunteer Transport Group was disbanded in 2020/2021; reflecting the changed operation of the Museum. The Museum also works with Dudley Canal Trust (Trips) Ltd, who operate their electric narrow boat services in the tunnels and limestone caverns adjacent to the Museum. The Marston Archive is kept at the Museum.

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The Museum also undertakes partnership working with University of Wolverhampton; University of Birmingham; Dudley College and City of Wolverhampton College; Royal Society of Chemistry; Association of Independent Museums (AIM); as well as The Black Country Society, an original campaigning group for the Museum; the Design & Technology Association; the Historic Lighting Group, and Thomas Dudley Ltd. The Museum is now a registered Anchor Point on the European Route of Industrial Heritage.

The Museum also maintains membership of a number of organisations; the major ones being: Association of Independent Museums (the Chief Executive was appointed its Chair on 25 February 2020), Association of European Open-Air Museums, Association of Living History, Farm and Agricultural Museums, Newcomen Society, Inland Waterways Association, Association of Industrial Archaeology, Society of Folk Life Studies, International Council of Museums, and Museums Association (individual memberships). The Museum is a member of the West Midlands Growth Company (with the Museum’s Chief Executive being a Director of the Company), and the Chambers of Commerce of the Black Country, and Greater Birmingham. In addition, the Chief Executive is the Deputy Chair of the National Museums Directors’ Council, a group of the UK’s leading national and regional museums.

Dudley Borough is one of seven Constituent Authorities of the West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA), led and Chaired by its elected Mayor, Andy Street. This means that the Museum has a strategic relationship with the WMCA. The relationship has been strengthened with the Museum’s Director of Programmes, Carol King, being appointed as Deputy Chair WMCA’s Cultural Leadership Board, and the Museum’s Chief Executive as Chair of its Regional Tourism Board.

The Museum’s Chef Executive is the Chair of the Dudley Towns Fund Board, a group of local civic, political, public and private sectors leaders assembled to secure Government funds to further develop Dudley.

The Museum has an important relationship with Arts Council England, from April 2015 as a Major Partner Museum and from 1 April 2018, part of their National Portfolio. The Museum also maintains an important relationship with Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council. The Council provided grant funding to the Museum until 2012, but now provides alternative financial support, including discretionary rate relief and cash flow support, if necessary. The Council owns the majority of the freehold of the Museum site, leased until 2075.

Fundraising

The Museum undertakes fundraising to support both revenue and capital needs and does so through an in-house Development Team employed by the Museum and led by the Co-Directors of Development (job share). The largest proportion of funds are sought from grant-making bodies (public and private), however, donations from individuals and business support are pursued with those who have a strong relationship or an obvious connection with the Museum.

The Museum is registered with the Fundraising Regulator and pays the voluntary annual levy, as recommended for organisations with fundraising expenditure of over £100,000. As such, the Museum demonstrates its compliance with the Code of Fundraising Practice (updated October 2019) and commitment to The Fundraising Promise that its fundraising is legal, open, honest and respectful – both can be viewed at www.fundraisingregulator.org.uk. All active fundraisers within the Development Team are members of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising and adhere to its

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Code of Conduct, which includes carrying out their duties in-line with the Code of Fundraising Practice.

Monitoring of team members and fundraising activities undertaken is carried out via regular oneto-one meetings with the Co-Directors of Development (job share), monthly team meetings where current and future fundraising activity and plans are discussed fully as well as individual Progress Discussions. Updates on fundraising activity are regularly provided to the Board of Trustees. No complaints regarding fundraising activity were received during the year.

Throughout 2021 the Development Team has continued to support the fundraising target for the Museum’s major capital development; £2.64m of £2.75m has been raised at the time of writing. Revenue support is provided via schemes including (individual) membership and Business Partners.

Whilst the majority of fundraised income consists of grants from trusts and foundations, individual support is sought through the Museum’s Patrons scheme, as well as optional donations as part of an online transaction and onsite donation points. The Museum does not undertake regular direct mail/telephone/face-to-face campaigns: in making a direct specific ask, it fully considers the recipient’s recent relationship with the Museum (such as attendance, past donation activity), their contact preferences and that they have opted-in to receiving fundraising information to ensure relevant and timely communications.

Significant Grants & Donations

The Museum wishes to acknowledge and thank all of the organisations and individuals which have pledged or given generous financial and in-kind support during the period of this review, in particular:

Arts Council England Art Fund
Black CountryLocal Enterprise Partnership Birmingham Common Good Trust
Central England Co-operative Limited Department for Digital, Media, Culture &
Sport(UK Government)
DudleyMetropolitan Borough Council Foyle Foundation
Garfield Weston Foundation The George CadburyTrust
National LotteryHeritage Fund The Owen FamilyTrust
The Patrick Foundation The SaintburyTrust
The Roger & Douglas Turner Trust Eric W Vincent Trust Fund
Mr D Greeves Mr J H Hughes
Mr & Mrs J Smith The Late Sheila Ann Tuft

Environmental Impact & Responsibilities

The Museum works with Julie’s Bicycle, an organisation specialising in environmental sustainability within the arts and cultural sector, to report on its environmental impact each year (from April to the following March) in line with Arts Council for England (ACE) requirements. Following an initial environmental review by Julie’s Bicycle in 2016, more in-depth and regular monitoring and measurement of energy, water, waste, fuel and business travel was established and the Museum has reported on its carbon emissions (CO2e) annually since April 2017. Between 2015 and 2018 the Museum achieved a substantial 46% decrease from 1,091 tonnes of CO2e in

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2015 to 503 tonnes of CO2e in March 2018, exceeding the 10% reduction target. The Museum then set a target to reduce its carbon emissions by a further 10% by April 2022.

Year Ended Original calculation
criteria
(Tonnes CO2e)		 Including Audience Travel
(Tonnes CO2e)
31 March 2018 503 n/a
31 March 2019 497 n/a
31 March 2020 401 544
31 March 2021 253 424
31 March 2022 365 851

From April 2019 the Museum started to include the impact of visitors travelling to the Museum (Audience Travel) in its assessment using default data for museums provided by Julie’s Bicycle. The table above reports the Museum’s CO2 emissions both using the original criteria and including Audience Travel. For the current year, the Museum has begun to capture Audience Travel data itself, providing a more accurate figure.

Including Audience Travel, the total amount of emissions for 2021/22 was 851 tonnes, but without including Audience Travel it was 365 tonnes. This is 27% lower than the 2017/18 level calculated under the same criteria. Some of the reduction will be due to operating at slightly lower levels due to COVID-19. If it wasn’t for the reduced operating levels, emissions would have been similar to 2019/20 levels which showed a 20% reduction.

Going forward the Museum will re-baseline its position in relation to environmental responsibility and begin to capture data and improvements outside the reporting requirements for ACE and Julie’s Bicycle. Emissions from Audience Travel will be given specific focus.

Reserves Policy

The Museum recognises that its reserves are the part of the Charity’s unrestricted funds that are freely available to spend on any of the Charity’s purposes, and that this excludes tangible fixed assets. When considering what would be an adequate level of reserves, the Board, taking account of organisational risks, considers the level of unrestricted free cash which would be required, to allow the Museum to review its activities in the event of a significant and sudden reduction in trading revenues, or other major occurrence, so as to avoid the cessation of the Museum and the resultant loss of the public benefit it provides to its beneficiaries. As a result of COVID-19 the Board’s consideration now also includes taking account of the increased risk of the Museum having to close its doors as a result of a non-insured event. Encapsulating all these criteria, the Board has set the recommended minimum level of unrestricted free cash balances to be £1.25m. The Board will continue to keep under review the appropriate level of reserves including the circumstances when it might be appropriate to use these reserves to protect the purpose and beneficiaries of the Museum.

At the balance sheet date, the Group had a General Fund balance of £2.58m (2020: £2.47m) which equated to a non-committed unrestricted cash balance of £2.1m (2020: £1.47m). The Trustees have designated £222,000 of this for future developments and so the unrestricted free cash balance at the year-end equated to £1.88m. The Museum is a business with significant seasonal variances, and the balance is appropriate to ensure that the Museum’s unrestricted free

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cash balance remains above £1.25m throughout the financial year, even at a time when the cash position is at its lowest.

Going Concern

The Trustees are satisfied that the Museum will be able to manage any residual uncertainties arising from COVID-19 over the next 12 months and they do not create a material uncertainty that casts significant doubt on the Museum’s ability to continue as a going concern.

Therefore, the Trustees have concluded that there are no material uncertainties about the Trust’s ability to continue as a going concern and Financial Statements are drawn up on the going concern basis.

On behalf of the Trustees

Dr Paul Belford Chair

Dated: 30 June 2022

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Charitable Objects

As a registered (incorporated) charity, the legal Objects of the Museum Trust are:

Vision & Mission

The Museum’s vision:-

Our staff live in the Museum to welcome you into the inspiring stories of real people, their streets and homes, work and daily lives, so you too can see, taste, feel, smell, hear and join in 300 years of Black Country history.

This vision makes real the Museum’s mission of Inspiring Your Discovery of the Black Country .

Strategic Aims

The Museum developed six strategic aims, as part of its latest Strategic Plan:

Strategic Aim One – Develop Our Distinctiveness and Brand

Amplify how we set ourselves apart by focussing on our own unique way of doing things to create a distinctive visitor offer, undeniably differentiating the Museum from the mainstream to build a matchless brand.

Strategic Aim Two – Safeguard, Enrich and Use Our Collections

Strengthen and better use our Designated Collections, intensifying the spotlight on living interpretation, working demonstrations and making things, as the principal and best means of engagement, to create an emotional response from our visitors.

Strategic Aim Three – Transform the Visitor Journey

Design and build a dramatic re-visioning, from beginning to end, of how visitors explore and experience our open-air site to choreograph an unrelenting and immersive visit.

Strategic Aim Four – Increase Visitor Attendance

Achieve greater resilience and underpin our long-term future by increasing visitor attendance.

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Strategic Report for the Year Ended 31 December 2021

Strategic Aim Five – Achieve National and International Impact

Broaden the appeal and value of the story of the Black Country, way beyond its regional boundaries.

Strategic Aim Six – Grow and Diversify Our Income

Further develop our culture of enterprise and self-reliance to maximise and diversify sources of revenue, making full use of our assets and resources.

There are complex inter-relationships between these objectives. They support each other, and success in one objective supports success in the others.

The Museum’s Origins

The Museum grew out of community pressure and the foresight of Dudley Council, as early as 1950 and more substantially in the late 1960s (with the first land purchased in 1973 by Dudley Council) to ensure that the culture and traditions of the Black Country might be preserved and over forty years on it has accumulated a wide range of material – from entire buildings and transport infrastructure, down to pots and pans – which records and exemplifies the particular contribution of the Black Country to the origins of the Industrial Revolution and also the impact of industrialisation on the regional landscape and society. The Black Country Society (founded in 1967) was an early and effective campaigner for establishing the Museum.

In the very early days, Keith Hodgkins drew the original sketches of the site in c1972, and Richard Traves, latterly Keeper of Science & Industrial Archaeology at the Borough Council of Dudley from 1972, was an influential figure, before Ian Walden OBE was appointed as the Museum’s Founding Director in 1975. The late Desmond Halahan was the first Chair of the Board for a period of 13 years, between 1975 and 1988. The first structures were brought to the site in 1976, with Broad Street Bridge, relocated from Wolverhampton and Darby Hand Chapel, from near Netherton, two of the earliest to be completed. The Museum now extends to 26 acres and is one of the largest and most-visited open-air museums in the UK, having welcomed over 10.4m people since it opened; comparable with the UK’s other large open-air museum sites of Beamish in County Durham (1970); Blists Hill, Ironbridge, Shropshire (1973); St Fagans, South Wales (1948); and Weald & Downland, West Sussex (1968), and indeed, amongst the many European open-air museums.

The Museum opened on a permanent basis in 1978, within the same era as the UK’s other large open-air museums, but almost 90 years after Skansen, Stockholm in Sweden opened in 1891 – the world’s first – by museum pioneer, Arthur Hazelius. So was born the translocation of whole buildings and structures to form a new and very distinct type of museum; often as much about expressing national identity, as saving heritage at risk. Today, even a cursory look at the map of Europe shows some 60 major open-air museums, stretching from Suzdal in Russia in the east, to the Ulster Folk Museum, north of Belfast, to the west, and as far north as Jamtli, Sweden, and ETAR, Bulgaria in the south. Not to mention the central and eastern states of America, including Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, and Sovereign Hill, Ballarat, Victoria, Australia.

The Museum still takes inspiration from Elihu Burritt’s famous description of the area, when, as the American Consul to Birmingham in 1868, he said, “The Black Country, black by day and red by night, cannot be matched for vast and varied production, by any other space of equal radius on

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the surface of the globe.” It is the story of a turning point in Britain’s national story that we continue to tell and celebrate at the Museum, while all the time striving to articulate its relevance today. We exploit the fact that people visit museums – particularly open-air museums – precisely because we aren’t a classroom, but nevertheless, offer hugely valuable opportunities for learning. Our greatest responsibility is to help make sense of the world, while our greatest potential is to enable people, our visitors, to think about something they perhaps haven’t thought about before, to gain a deeper understanding of their own place in the world and what the future might hold.

Over time the Museum has placed more emphasis on lively story-telling with Costumed Characters (as opposed to staff who wear a costume), using the land and streetscapes as a stage upon which stories are told, rather than regarding it as a museum of buildings.

Designated Collections

The Museum’s entire collections were Designated by Arts Council England in February 2012, recognising their quality and national significance. The Museum now holds a resource of considerable value, for authenticating the sense of regional identity and also for placing the full historical and cultural significance of the Black Country in a national context. Buildings, machines and other ‘things’ hold stories which attest to the national and international significance of the Black Country, chiefly spanning the period 1800–1950. The current expansion of the Museum will see this time period extend into the 1960s.

It is through the completeness and coherence of the reconstructed site, therefore, that the Museum has established itself as the ‘last word’ on the Black Country, a reference point for anyone today needing confirmation of – or searching for – Black Country identity. In some histories, the role of the Black Country has been subsumed in the concept of ‘Birmingham and the Midlands Hardware District’ – a term coined in the mid-nineteenth century. Today, outside the Midlands, there are many who see the entire region as a ‘Greater Birmingham’ and so, the true significance of the Black Country to national life as a distinct region with its distinctive character, culture and traditions is sometimes eclipsed. Here the Museum has played a prominent role in helping to place it on the map as a place apart from Birmingham and the rest of the West Midlands, albeit with close ties.

Achievement of Public Benefit

As a charity, the Trustees recognise their legal duty to report on the Museum’s public benefit in their Annual Report, as part of a requirement – given particular emphasis by the Charities Act 2011 – to clearly demonstrate that the Objects of the Charity are for the public benefit. In this context, the Trustees accept that being a registered charity is a privilege, not a right. In setting out, in this Annual Report, how the Charity currently meets this requirement and is reflected in its future plans, the Trustees assert that the Charity is compliant with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011; having due regard for the public benefit guidance published by the Charity Commission.

The Trustees acknowledge and accept that there exists a kind of covenant between charities and society: charities bring public benefit and, in their turn, are accorded high levels of trust and confidence, as well as the benefits of charitable status. The Museum Trust continues to welcome an explicit reporting of public benefit and how it is aligned with the Objects of the Charity, and believe that this will help maintain and grow public trust in the activities of the charitable sector, not least the charitable activities of the Black Country Living Museum.

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The Museum gives expression to the accomplishment of public benefit throughout this Annual Report and especially when reporting below on its performance against objectives and other achievements.

The Museum identifies the most significant benefits to the public that arise from its Objects, as:

With visitor attendance consistently split fairly equally across the two socio economic types (49% ABC1 and 51% C2DE according to market research results from summer 2016), BCLM has seen some success in breaking down the perceived barriers to visiting museums that often exist amongst a broad socio-demographic audience.

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Although the Museum has created the conditions of the 19[th] and 20[th] Centuries, using original buildings and other features and often reflecting their original streetscape, with changes in level and uneven surfaces, great attention has been paid to ensuring good physical access. To this end, many adjustments have been made to provide level access and adapted transport and freely available wheelchairs are provided to serve visitors with restricted mobility.

The Museum charges for admission and undertakes regular benchmarking to remain competitive and to retain its reputation for value, as well as offering a range of discounted rates and concessions in order that these charges do not unreasonably prevent wide public access to the Museum. In 2021, the Museum charged a price for adults of £19.95 (2020: £19.95). Discounted rates were provided for people over the age of 65, students, families, young people and unwaged visitors. Children under the age of three and essential carers are admitted for free. All groups (of 15+) received discounted rates. Since 2015 the Museum has operated an annual pass scheme, UnChained. This provides unlimited access to the Museum (subject to certain conditions) and for the price of a standard day-ticket, offers extraordinary value, especially for visitors living within easy reach of the Museum. The Museum also offers Membership for a range of priced categories, linked to a package of benefits, including discounts and priority booking for special events.

Providing loans of objects to other accredited museums and other related organisations continued to be an important part of our public benefit, although this was not possible during the pandemic.

Performance Against Objectives & Achievements During the Year

The performance and achievements of the Museum are set-out throughout this report.

The year commenced with the Museum being closed to the public due to the second full COVID19 lockdown. However, as a result of financial support through the Government’s Culture Recovery Fund and increased flexibility of the Job Retention Scheme, the Museum was able to keep a significant proportion of staff working allowing activity to continue including the planning and preparation for re-opening and progression of the BCLM: Forging Ahead capital development project.

The Museum re-opened to the public on 17 May 2021, at step 3 of the Government’s roadmap out of lockdown. By using the Museum site to its maximum potential, bringing our characters and collections outside, and providing new content, performances and demonstrations we ensured our visitors had an enjoyable yet safe experience. 8,652 visitors were welcomed over May half term week. With the delay of Step 4 of the Government’s roadmap until 19 July, the Museum’s 1940s weekend was able to take place, but with restrictions on capacity.

The summer holidays proved positive and provided a much-needed boost with 54,650 visitors attending during August – twice as many visitors as in August 2020. Five Summer Lates held on Fridays throughout July and August also proved popular with three of the events selling out.

Our autumn and winter events programme created strong demand in the second half of the year. The Peaky Blinders Nights returned with six evenings in September and a further two in November, attracting 11,402 visitors and a testament to the continued popularity of the event despite no new season of the TV series airing since 2019. The October half-term drove significant levels of attendance through our Adventures in Sci-Fi theme during the daytime and through the three sold-out ‘Monsters vs. Aliens’ Halloween events in the evenings.

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Strategic Report for the Year Ended 31 December 2021

The year ended in a buoyant manner despite the emergence of the COVID-19 Omicron variant through our Christmas programme which included three special events: Christmas Nights (two dates), An Enchanted Christmas (four dates), and Santa Hunts (nine dates).

In total we welcomed 207,939 visitors over the 33 weeks the Museum was able to open, which was 79% of the level reached in the last normal year, 2019, over the same period.

Alongside the priority to move forward following the severe impacts of COVID-19 the Museum’s work for 2021 focused on the following five objectives:

1. Develop and diversify our team. Benefits

Progress

A new Progress Development Programme was launched to all staff across the Museum.

The Museum adopted Art Council England’s Inclusivity & Relevance Investment Principle and developed an Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) Action Plan, which was approved by the Board of Trustees in June. From this the Museum has established an internal EDI Working Group and has established the basis for an EDI Focus Group, of external individuals, which will be recruited to in 2022.

Three new Trustees joined in 2021 as part of the Museum’s commitment to continually develop and refresh the Board to ensure that is has an appropriate spectrum of diversity.

  1. Develop, maintain and use our collection, in its broadest sense, to support inclusive storytelling.

Benefits

Progress

We completed the research relating to the physical design of the new historic buildings being constructed as part of BCLM: Forging Ahead.

We supported the publication of ‘BCLM: Forging Ahead: building a new urban history of the Black Country’, written by Researcher, Dr Simon Briercliffe.

We continued (in partnership with University of Wolverhampton) to further develop and deliver the Black Country Studies Centre events programme which included a series of events commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Festival of Britain and its impact in the Black Country and the ‘Hush Now’ series which supported inclusive storytelling onsite and skills

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development in inclusive and sensitive storytelling for University of Wolverhampton Drama students.

As part of the BCLM: Forging Ahead project, Woodside Library in Dudley, was dismantled, brick by brick, and transported to the Museum ready to be rebuilt as part of the 1940-60s Historic Town.

  1. Build engagement with audiences to increase representation and enable active participation. Benefits

  2. Our visitor experience is increasingly relevant.

  3. Black Country heritage is protected and shared.

  4. The collection connects the Museum and our community to our unique stories.

  5. Progress

Despite the continuing restrictions arising from COVID-19 the Museum delivered a varied events programme, from when it was able to open in May, throughout 2021. This included a new daytime family orientated Christmas event, ‘Enchanted Christmas’ for which each of the four days were sold out with over 2,000 people attending each day and a Festival of Light, linked to Diwali. The ‘ Enchanted’ event was targeted at attracting new family audiences and succeeded in doing so, as 69% of visitors to this event had not previously attended a Christmas event at BCLM.

The Museum continued to produce creative content for online engagement and whilst physical attendance has been impacted, the Museum’s social media audiences have continued to grow. We began using TikTok in August 2020, and this continued throughout 2021, showcasing the Museum, its characters and stories by creating viral videos. By tapping into Tik-Tok trends, e.g. juxtaposing history with a modern soundtrack, the platform has enabled us to bring the Black Country’s history to life in eye-catching ways in spaces where young people are digitally experiencing culture. Museum-wide collaboration has been key: a small working group of research and programming staff provide historical accuracy, as well as direction on narrative, and a variety of historic characters have been created to feature on screen. We have focused on subject matters of interest to a younger audience, specifically themes of social justice and women’s history. We became an official TikTok partner via the #tiktoklearning campaign and in May 2021 featured in ‘museum moments’ – a live event by 23 museums across 12 countries.

As a result of its activity during 2021 the Museum won ‘Best Use of Social Media’ Award at the Museums + Heritage Awards 2021 and the “Being Social” category at Arts Council England and the Digital Culture Network’s Digital Culture awards.

Having had our previous website for nine years, August saw the launch of phase one of a new website which better reflects how audiences interact with BCLM and which will help encourage greater engagement, in both digital and ‘real-life’ experiences.

Developments in digital engagement continued in summer 2021 with the launch of Adventures Through Time – an Art-Fund supported series of monthly animated educational videos and podcasts aimed at children between 8 and 16 years. The series was borne out of the popular History At Home online activities which were in response to the initial lockdown in spring 2020.

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  1. Innovate to ensure the Museum is strategically aligned for our sustainable future. Benefits

  2. Our revenue is grown and diversified.

  3. The Museum is valued and relevant to our audiences.

  4. The Museum has efficient and effective operations.

  5. Progress

We continued explore how we could increase the opportunities for external hire including filming and photography and during the year the site was used for two large-scale filming projects – Sky Cinema’s The Colour Room (biopic of 20th century ceramicist Clarice Cliff) and Peaky Blinders season six.

We undertook a review of on-site trading, so the activity better aligned with programme which helped, along with the Government’s reduced VAT rate for the hospitality sector, the average spend per head increase to £8.75 from £7.50 in 2020.

  1. Use our influence and strengthened reputation to effect positive change for our communities.

Benefits

Progress

We continued to play a role in the regeneration and changing perceptions of Dudley, the Black Country and wider West Midlands by working with Black Country Local Enterprise Partnership (BCLEP), Dudley MBC and West Midlands Combined Authority (WMCA) contributing to their strategic plans for culture. Carol King, Direcor of Programmes, was elected as the Deputy Chair for the West Midlands Regional Cultural Leadership Board, and in December Andrew Lovett, CEO, was appointed the new Chair of the Regional Tourism Board, as well as to the Board of the West Midlands Growth Company.

The Museum team provided support for this significant undertaking which opened in the Museum’s two large conference halls at the end of January 2021. Black Country & West Birmingham NHS CCG confirmed that 125,000 jabs were delivered to the local community between January and June 2021.

Throughout the year we also continued to develop the partnership with Creative Black Country and its delivery of ACE’s Creative People & Places programme to provide arts and culture opportunities for people in Dudley. During 2021 BCLM supported their Creative Connections commissioning strand for socially distanced/lockdown activities that could bring fun, joy and creativity to local people in the Black Country and keep them connected. 17 diverse projects have been commissioned as part of this process ranging from Life From our Doorstep photographic competition to Conquérir dance project with Deaf women in Dudley borough.

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Strategic Report for the Year Ended 31 December 2021

Financial Review

The financial performance of the Museum for the year under review and the financial position at the Balance Sheet date are set out in this report. In particular the Statement of Financial Activities (SOFA), which includes both unrestricted and restricted funds, shows the performance of the group during the year.

For a second consecutive year the Museum was impacted by COVID-19 and the national restrictions. Consequently, visitor attendance was restricted to around 60% of the levels recorded in the two years prior to COVID-19 and consequently income from admissions and retail sales were 30% lower than in 2019.

As a result of COVID-19 and the national restrictions the Museum was closed until 16 May 2021 and during this time the Museum continued to make use of the Government’s Job Retention Scheme and the financial support from Culture Recovery Fund which the Museum was awarded in 2020. These helped to mitigate the deficits in the first five months of the financial year.

After opening on 17 May 2021 and throughout the remainder of the year, performance was good. Visitor attendance during this period was in-line with budget, albeit set lower than previous years, and only 20% lower than in 2019. However, the Museum saw much higher secondary spend by visitors than in a normal year, and this together with the cost saving measures which had been introduced at the start of the year, resulted in trading surplus of £834k.

The Group net worth at 31 December 2021 stands at £27.82m (2020: £14.04m); the sharp increase being as a result of restricted funds received for BCLM: Forging Ahead. Over the next two financial years the restricted fund balance will continue to increase, reflecting the income received for the project with the matching expenditure being mostly capitalised in the form of the newly constructed buildings and features.

Restricted Funds stand at £23.59m (2020: £11.72m) and Unrestricted Funds at £4.23m (2020: £2.32m) comprised of Designated Funds of £3.17m (2020: £2.63m), General Funds of £2.58m (2020: £2.47m) and Pension Reserve (deficit) of £1.53m (2020: deficit of £2.78m).

Net Trading Surplus
Accounting Adjustments and Non-recurring Costs included in Expenditure:
Culture Recovery Fund investment into cash reserves
Movement in the accounting accrual for holiday pay
Loss in disposal of assets
Income directly designated for BCLM: Forging Ahead
One-off Investments
Depreciation charge on Unrestricted Funds
Contribution to BCLM: Forging Ahead
Actuarial adjustment (pensions)
Net Income/(Expenditure) after taxation (as shown in SOFA)		 2021
2020
£
£
834,011
(20,739)
-
1,250,000
34,269
-
(46,284)
-
183,780
65,734
(43,654)
(13,164)
(74,722)
(74,722)
(237,704)
(209,509)
(106,000)
(65,000)
543,696
932,600

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Strategic Report for the Year Ended 31 December 2021

Risk Management

The Museum acknowledges the risks inherent in its ‘business’, and is committed to managing risks that pose a significant threat to the achievement of its business aims and financial strength. The Board has adopted a Register of 11 Key Risks, which is supported by operational and project risk registers. The Register of Key Risks is a standing item on the agenda for meetings of the Leadership Team and Senior Management Team and is available to Trustees at all Board meetings. As part of its duties, the Museum’s Audit Committee has oversight of the process of the management of key risks.

Primary Risks & Uncertainties

The Museum operates in a market and charges admission with over 95% of the Museum’s unrestricted income derived from visitor-driven sources. In this context there will always be a risk to the Museum of not achieving forecast visitor attendance and associated sales revenue but it is an issue which the Museum monitors on a daily and active basis, and is managed by cost control and seeking alternative income sources.

The Museum’s Register of Key Risks lists 11 risks, including: a major event within or outside of the control or influence of the Museum which impacts the operations of the Museum (the COVID-19 pandemic is an example of this); failure to deliver and manage BCLM: Forging Ahead; inadequate management of legislative compliance including health and safety; inadequate financial planning and levels of free cash reserves; poor reputation and stakeholder relationship management; serious detrimental incident on site.

Due to its size and the extent of its potential risks, BCLM: Forging Ahead has its own risk register which is monitored by the BCLM: Forging Ahead Project Board.

The Museum, as reported at Note 31, has a potential defined benefit pension liability of £1.53m (2020: £2.78.m). This will not crystallise in the short or medium term, and if the Museum woundup, any pension liability would be underwritten by Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council, as guarantor.

Investment Policy

The Museum, when able to do so, takes advantage of short-term cash flow surpluses by placing funds with regulated financial institutions approved by the Board, which will primarily be in deposit accounts with mainstream banks. It is not the policy of the Museum to delegate investment management to an agent of the Charity. In making any investment decisions the Board has due regard to Charity Commission guidance.

Future Plans

During the next 12-months the Museum will focus on its existing 5 stated objectives, alongside specifically:

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On behalf of the Trustees

Dr Paul Belford Chair

Dated: 30 June 2022

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Black Country Living Museum Trust

Statement of Trustees’ Responsibilities

The Trustees, who are also the Directors of Black Country Living Museum Trust for the purpose of company law, are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Annual Report, including the Strategic Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

Company law requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under that law the Trustees have elected to prepare the financial statements in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (United Kingdom Accounting Standards and applicable law). Under company law, the Trustees must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Charity and the profit or loss of the Charity for that period.

In preparing these financial statements, the Trustees are required to:

The Trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the Charity’s transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Charity and to enable them to ensure that these financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

In so far as the Trustees are aware:

The Trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the charitable company’s website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

On behalf of the Trustees

Dr Paul Belford Chair

Dated: 30 June 2022

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Independent Auditors’ Report to the Members of Black Country Living Museum Trust for the Year Ended 31 December 2021

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Black Country Living Museum Trust (‘the charitable company’) and its subsidiary (‘the group’) for the year ended 31 December 2021 which comprise the statement of financial activities, the group and charity balance sheets, the consolidated cash flow statement and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion the financial statements:

Basis For Opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the group in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Conclusions Relating To Going Concern

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

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

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

Other Information

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

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Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Opinions On Other Matters Prescribed By The Companies Act 2006

In our opinion based on the work undertaken in the course of our audit:

Matters On Which We Are Required To Report By Exception

In light of the knowledge and understanding of the group and charitable company and their environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the strategic report or the directors’ report included within the trustees’ report.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2011 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

Responsibilities Of Trustees

As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement set out on page 27, the trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

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Auditor’s Responsibilities For The Audit Of The Financial Statements

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

Details of the extent to which the audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations are set out below.

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.

Extent To Which The Audit Was Considered Capable Of Detecting Irregularities, Including Fraud

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We identified and assessed the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements from irregularities, whether due to fraud or error, and discussed these between our audit team. We then designed and performed audit procedures responsive to those risks, including obtaining audit evidence sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory frameworks within which the charitable company and group operates, focusing on those laws and regulations that have a direct effect on the determination of material amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. The laws and regulations we considered in this context were the Companies Act 2006, the Charities Act together with the Charities SORP (FRS 102). We assessed the required compliance with these laws and regulations as part of our audit procedures on the related financial statement items.

In addition, we considered provisions of other laws and regulations that do not have a direct effect on the financial statements but compliance with which might be fundamental to the charitable company’s and the group’s ability to operate or to avoid a material penalty. We also considered the opportunities and incentives that may exist within the charitable company and the group for fraud. The laws and regulations we considered in this context for the UK operations were General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Health and safety legislation and employment legislation.

Auditing standards limit the required audit procedures to identify non-compliance with these laws and regulations to enquiry of the trustees and other management and inspection of regulatory and legal correspondence, if any.

We identified the greatest risk of material impact on the financial statements from irregularities, including fraud, to be within recognition of income, and the override of controls by management. Our audit procedures to respond to these risks included enquiries of management, and the Audit Committee about their own identification and assessment of the risks of irregularities, sample testing on the posting of journals, designing audit procedures over income, reviewing accounting estimates for biases, reviewing regulatory correspondence with the Charity Commission, and reading minutes of meetings of those charged with governance.

Owing to the inherent limitations of an audit, there is an unavoidable risk that we may not have

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Black Country Living Museum Trust

Independent Auditors’ Report to the Members of Black Country Living Museum Trust for the Year Ended 31 December 2021

detected some material misstatements in the financial statements, even though we have properly planned and performed our audit in accordance with auditing standards. For example, the further removed non-compliance with laws and regulations (irregularities) is from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, the less likely the inherently limited procedures required by auditing standards would identify it. In addition, as with any audit, there remained a higher risk of non-detection of irregularities, as these may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal controls. We are not responsible for preventing non-compliance and cannot be expected to detect non-compliance with all laws and regulations.

Use Of Our Report

This report is made solely to the charitable company’s members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company’s members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charitable company and the charitable company’s members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Kerry Brown Senior Statutory Auditor For and on behalf of Crowe U.K. LLP Statutory Auditor Black Country House Rounds Green Road Oldbury B69 2DG

Dated: 13 July 2022

31

Black Country Living Museum Trust

Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities including Income and Expenditure Account for the Year Ended 31 December 2021

Notes
Income
Donations and Legacies:
Charitable donations
3
Charitable Activities:
Admission to the Museum
4
COVID-19 support funding
5
Grants (Arts Council England)
6
Other Trading Activities:
Retail income (subsidiary trading company)
7
Ancillary enterprises
8
Investment Income
9
Other Income
10
Total Income
Expenditure
Raising Funds:
Retail (subsidiary trading company)
Development and fundraising costs
Charitable Activities:
Opening and operating the Museum
Developing the Museum
National Leadership Programme
Total Expenditure
11
Net Income/(Expenditure) before taxation
Tax receivable
Net Income/(Expenditure) after taxation
Other Recognised Gains and Losses:
Actuarial gain/(loss) on defined benefit pension
Net Movement in Funds
Reconciliation of Funds:
Total Funds brought forward 1 January 2021
Total Funds carried forward at 31 December 2021		 Unrestricted
Funds
Restricted
Funds
Total
2021
Total
2020
£
£
£
£
19,022
12,084,176
12,103,198
5,188,521
3,135,325
-
3,135,325
1,072,941
1,642,720
-
1,642,720
4,318,748
560,120
-
560,120
560,120
1,819,670
-
1,819,670
669,645
416,948
-
416,948
133,179
303
-
303
3,071
50,938
-
50,938
49,336
7,645,046
12,084,176
19,729,222
11,995,561
1,709,394
-
1,709,394
1,074,671
198,042
-
198,042
185,558
4,515,987
210,367
4,726,354
4,227,795
677,927
-
677,927
1,634,465
-
-
-
30,699
7,101,350
210,367
7,311,717
7,153,188
543,696
11,873,809
12,417,505
4,842,373
-
-
-
-
543,696
11,873,809
12,417,505
4,842,373
1,355,000
-
1,355,000
(1,298,000)
1,898,696
11,873,809
13,772,505
3,544,373
2,326,496
11,717,329
14,043,825
10,499,452
4,225,192
23,591,138
27,816,330
14,043,825

The Statement of Financial Activities (SOFA) also complies with the requirements for an income and expenditure account under the Companies Act 2006. All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.

32

Black Country Living Museum Trust

Group (Consolidated) Balance Sheet as at 31 December 2021

Notes
Fixed Assets:
Tangible assets
17
Heritage assets
18
Total Fixed Assets
Current Assets:
Stocks of goods for resale
20
Debtors
21
Cash at bank and in hand
30
Total Current Assets
Creditors: amount falling due within 1 year
22
Net Current Assets
Total Assets less Current Liabilities
Creditors: amount falling due after 1 year
23
Net Assets (excluding pension liability)
Defined benefit pension liability
31
Total Net Assets
The Funds of the Charity:
Restricted funds
26
Unrestricted funds:
Designated funds
27
General funds
Pension reserve
31		 £
98,283
5,243,585
4,850,268		 2021
£
16,383,731
4,807,284		 £
88,451
1,789,663
3,705,317		 2020
£
6,787,468
4,972,593
21,191,015
8,245,013		 11,760,061
5,195,245
10,192,136
(1,947,123)		 5,583,431
(388,186)
3,174,405
2,578,787
(1,528,000)		 2,634,997
2,468,499
(2,777,000)
29,436,028
(91,698)		 16,955,306
(134,481)
29,344,330
(1,528,000)		 16,820,825
(2,777,000)
27,816,330 14,043,825
23,591,138
4,225,192		 11,717,329
2,326,496
27,816,330 14,043,825

The Annual Report & Accounts were approved and authorised for issue by the Board of Trustees of the Museum on 30 June 2022 and signed on behalf of the Board of Trustees:

Dr Paul Belford Chair

Dated: 30 June 2022

33

Black Country Living Museum Trust

Parent (Museum) Balance Sheet as at 31 December 2021

Notes
Fixed Assets:
Tangible assets
17
Heritage assets
18
Investments
19
Total Fixed Assets
Current Assets:
Debtors
21
Cash at bank and in hand
30
Total Current Assets
Creditors: amount falling due within 1 year
22
Net Current Assets
Total Assets less Current Liabilities
Creditors: amount falling due after 1 year
23
Net Assets (excluding pension liability)
Defined benefit pension liability
31
Total Net Assets
The Funds of the Charity:
Restricted funds
26
Unrestricted funds:
Designated funds
27
General funds
Pension reserve
31		 £
5,260,546
4,693,073		 2021
£
16,383,731
4,807,284
1,000		 £
1,959,175
3,568,776		 2020
£
6,787,468
4,972,593
1,000
21,192,015
7,519,133		 11,761,061
5,175,211
9,953,619
(2,434,486)		 5,527,951
(352,740)
3,174,405
1,853,907
(1,528,000)		 2,634,997
2,449,465
(2,777,000)
28,711,148
(91,698)		 16,936,272
(134,481)
28,619450
(1,528,000)		 16,801,791
(2,777,000)
27,091,450 14,024,791
23,591,138
3,500,312		 11,717,329
2,307,462
27,091,450 14,024,791

The net result reported in the Statement of Financial Activities of the parent charity for the year was £13,066,659 (2020: £4,137,448).

The Annual Report & Accounts were approved and authorised for issue by the Board of Trustees of the Museum on 30 June 2022 and signed on behalf of the Board of Trustees:

Dr Paul Belford Chair

Dated: 30 June 2022

34

Black Country Living Museum Trust

Consolidated Cash Flow Statement for the Year Ended 31 December 2021

Notes
Cash Flow from Operating Activities:
Net cash flow from operating activities
29
Cash Flows from Investing Activities:
Interest from investments
Proceeds from the sale of tangible fixed assets
Purchase of tangible fixed assets
Net Cash Used in Investing Activities
Cash Flows from Financing Activities:
Repayment of borrowing
Net Cash Used in Financing Activities
Change in Cash and Cash Equivalents in the year
Cash and cash equivalents at start of the year
Cash and Cash Equivalents at end of the year		 £
303
-
(8,783,623)		 2021
£
9,971,941
(8,783,320)
(43,670)		 £
3,071
-
(1,577,156)		 2020
£
3,288,177
(1,574,085)
(42,687)
(43,670) (42,687)
1,144,951
3,705,317		 1,671,405
2,033,912
4,850,268 3,705,317

35

Black Country Living Museum Trust

Notes to the Accounts for the Year Ended 31 December 2021

1 Accounting Policies

1.1 Basis of Preparation

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice, ‘Accounting and Reporting by Charities’, issued in 2015 and Financial Reporting Standard 102 (FRS102) and the Companies Act 2006.

The financial statements have been prepared to give a ‘true and fair’ view and have departed from the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 only to the extent required to give a ‘true and fair’ view. This departure has involved following the SORP rather than the Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice effective from 1 April 2005, which has since been withdrawn.

The Museum meets the definition of public benefit under FRS102. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy note(s).

The Statements of Financial Activities (SOFA) and Balance Sheet consolidate the financial statements of the Museum and its wholly owned subsidiary undertaking. The results of the subsidiary are consolidated on a line by line basis. A separate SOFA and Income and Expenditure Account for the Charity has not been presented as permitted by Section 408 of the Companies Act 2006.

1.2 Going Concern

The Trustees are satisfied that the Museum will be able to manage any residual uncertainties arising from the COVID-19 pandemic over the next 12 months and they do not create a material uncertainty that casts significant doubt on the Museum’s ability to continue as a going concern. Therefore, the Trustees have concluded that there are no material uncertainties about the Trust’s ability to continue as a going concern and Financial Statements are drawn up on the going concern basis.

1.3 Key Sources of Estimation Uncertainty

The key source of estimation uncertainty with a significant effect on the amounts recognised in the financial statements is summarised below:

Defined Pension Liabilities

The Charity recognises that its liability to its defined benefit contribution scheme involves a number of estimations as disclosed in Note 31.

Voluntary Income

The Charity is party to a Deed of Gift which undertakes to make a donation of £500,000 to the Museum. The Deed outlines that the donation is to be made in four annual instalments. In the Charity’s judgement, although the Deed of Gift is technically legally binding the income should be treated as a voluntary donation and has been accounted for when received.

36

Black Country Living Museum Trust

Notes to the Accounts for the Year Ended 31 December 2021

1.4 Income

Income from admission to the Museum (including the associated Gift Aid) is recognised on the date the ticket is purchased, except for special events when the income is recognised on the date the event takes place.

Income from charitable donations and grants, both of a capital and revenue nature, are recognised when the Charity has entitlement to the funds and it is probable that the income will be received. They are accounted for gross when receivable, including gifts in kind at estimated valuation. Donations and grants with conditions attached to them are credited to restricted funds and any unspent amounts are shown on the balance sheet as restricted funds. Where the restricted income is to fund capital expenditure the restricted fund balance matches capital value and the restricted funds are released in the Statement of Financial Activities over the expected useful lives of their relevant assets.

Income from commercial trading activities is recognised as earned. Trading income represents income from a variety of retail activities on the Museum site, exclusive of VAT.

Income from parking, location filming and concessions, and investment income is recognised on a receivable basis.

1.5 Donated Services

The Museum aims to involve volunteers across the organisation from costumed engagement with visitors and collections care to retailing and finance. With one exception, people now volunteer as individuals, as opposed to as part of a volunteer group. Because of the pandemic, volunteer activity was continued to be restricted, with a reduced level of hours (9,651) recorded. The Museum uses the standard National Lottery Heritage Fund multiplier of £50 per day for unskilled, £150 per day for skilled and £350 per day for professional volunteer roles this equates to a value of £135,311 (2020: £112,395).

1.6 Expenditure

All costs are allocated between the expenditure categories of the Statement of Financial Activities on a basis designed to reflect the use of resources. Costs relating to a particular activity comprise both costs that can be allocated directly to such activities and support costs; being those costs of an indirect nature necessary to support them.

Fundraising costs are those incurred in seeking voluntary contributions and do not include the costs of disseminating information in support of the charitable activities.

Direct charitable expenditure includes the direct costs and depreciation related to activities undertaken by the Museum.

Support costs are shared across more than one activity undertaken by the Museum and include governance costs, payroll administration, human resources and information technology. The basis on which these costs have been allocated is set out in Note 11.

37

Black Country Living Museum Trust

Notes to the Accounts for the Year Ended 31 December 2021

1.7 Fixed Assets

(a) Operational Assets

Tangible fixed assets other than freehold land are stated at cost less depreciation. Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write off the cost less estimated residual value of each asset over its expected useful life, using the straight-line method, as follows:

Freehold land - not depreciated Freehold buildings - over 50 years Expenditure on long leasehold property - over 40 to 60 years Fixtures, fittings, plant and equipment - over 4 to 10 years Motor vehicles - over 6 years

(b) Intangible Assets

Intangible assets are stated at cost less amortisation. Amortisation is charged so as to allocate the cost of intangible assets less their residual values over their estimated useful lives, using the straight-line method, as follows:

Computer software - over 4 to 10 years

(c) Heritage Assets

Whilst regarding its Heritage Assets (in other words, with a few exceptions, its accessioned collections) as inalienable, held in perpetuity and mostly irreplaceable, in 2009 the Museum Trust chose to capitalise the few such assets for which original cost valuations were known. The reality of this is that the financial statements only include a very small number of the Museum’s 60,000 items in its collection, as further reported in Note 18. Establishing valuations for the entirety of the Museum’s collection is considered unrealistic, prohibitively expensive and contrary to the Museum’s duty of care to the public for the long-term stewardship of culturally significant material. In some instances, Heritage Assets have been purchased with restricted or conditional grants, and the Museum is not free to dispose of them without incurring significant penalty. For the identified items, expenditure on these assets (maintained principally for their contribution to the knowledge and culture) is capitalised as incurred. Where such assets have a finite ‘economic life’, depreciation will be provided at rates calculated to write-off the cost less the estimated residual value of each asset over its expected ‘economic life’. Expenditure on Heritage Assets is written off over much of the remaining period of the lease of the Museum site.

The Designated Collections constitute a comprehensive record of industrial activity and society in the Black Country, chiefly spanning the period 1800–1950. They include four original industrial features on site, including two mine shafts, limekilns and a canal arm representing a microcosm of the classic Black Country industrial landscape. To this core over seventy buildings as well as engineering structures and items of street and canal furniture, all with regional provenance, have been relocated to the Museum.

The Museum has extensive collections of equipment, tools and manufactured articles relating to a wide range of the region’s industries. Particularly strong are the holdings relating to the production of hardware, edge tools and domestic goods of cast-iron and

38

Black Country Living Museum Trust

Notes to the Accounts for the Year Ended 31 December 2021

brass. The collection of locks is the largest in Britain and is centred on the Hodson family business, now the Locksmith’s House Museum at Willenhall. Other important industries represented include electrical engineering, brick making and fireclay goods, food and drink processing and chemical industries. The Museum holds the largest collection of road vehicles of Black Country manufacture in the country, including trolley buses, motor cars and thirty six motorcycles of pre-1939 vintage.

It also holds sixteen canal boats of local provenance together with a fully equipped reconstructed boat dock. Representing everyday life are large collections of domestic furnishings, retail businesses and community life.

The object collections are supported by an extensive archive including business records, trade catalogues, photographs, prints, drawings, oral history recordings and family papers much of which relates to the structures and equipment on the two sites. The Museum library includes the collection of books, photographs and papers of the noted industrial historian, Keith Gale.

As part of being an Accredited Museum (as ratified by Arts Council England) the Museum manages its collections in accordance with a suite of policies, submitted to ACE and approved by the Board of the Museum. These policies cover all aspects of collections management including, care and conservation, acquisitions, disposals, access, documentation, professional standards of curation, environmental sustainability and adherence to the Code of Ethics, published by the Museums Association.

The Board of Trustees will keep its policy on the financial treatment of Heritage Assets under review, to reflect changing views on such matters in the museums sector, including changes to the recognised Code of Ethics for museums, as prepared under the auspices of the Museums Association.

1.8 Remuneration Policy

The Museum has a well-established pay and grading structure and median pay policy. Annual reviews of salary are carried out and where an award is made, it is targeted at staff furthest below the median rate of pay for their role, by applying the largest percentage increase. The policy applies to all staff at the Museum, including Key Management Personnel. The Key Management Personnel received no additional remuneration benefits to those provided to all other staff. The Board determines the remuneration of the Chief Executive outside this protocol.

1.9 Stock

Stock is valued at the lower of cost and net realisable value. Cost is based on the cost of purchase on a first-in-first-out basis. At each reporting date, stocks are assessed for impairment and impairment losses are recognised immediately.

1.10 Debtors

Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due after any trade discount offered. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid net of any trade discounts due.

39

Black Country Living Museum Trust

Notes to the Accounts for the Year Ended 31 December 2021

1.11 Creditors

Creditors and provisions are recognised where the Charity has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts due.

1.12 Financial Instruments

Other than financial investments, the Museum Trust has only financial assets and financial liabilities that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value with the exception of bank loans, which are subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.

1.13 Pensions

The Museum is an admitted body as part of the West Midlands Pension Fund (WMPF). The WMPF was set up under the Superannuation Act 1972 for UK-wide local government employees. The permanent staff of the Museum (although not local government employees) became eligible for membership, under the auspices of Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council (who act as guarantor) when the Museum was first established in September 1975. This means that in the event that the Museum is wound-up, Dudley Council will be liable for any continuing defined pension liabilities, and as such, this represents a very significant level of support from the local authority. The WMPF provides a pension scheme for certain employees of the Museum, currently providing benefits based on career average revalued salary and length of service on retirement. It is constituted as a trust fund whose assets are held and managed separately from those of the Museum. Contributions are set every three years as a result of the actuarial valuation of the Fund, the last one being as at 31 March 2019 which set contributions for the period 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2023.

The value of employer’s liabilities have been assessed by rolling forward the value of the liabilities calculated at the last full funding valuation using financial assumptions that comply with Financial Reporting Standard 102. The asset share has been calculated by rolling forward the assets allocated to the employer at the last full funding valuation allowing for investment returns (estimated where necessary), contributions paid into and estimated benefits paid from the fund by and in respect of the employer and its employees.

As required under FRS102, the projected unit method of valuation has been used to calculate the service cost. Actuarial gains and losses are recognised in full in the Statement of Financial Activities in the period in which they occur. The defined benefit pension liability in the Balance Sheet comprises the total of the present value of the defined benefit obligation (using a discount rate based on high quality corporate bonds), less any past service cost not yet recognised and less the fair value of plan assets of which the obligations are to be settled directly. Fair value is based on market price information and in the case of quoted securities is the published mid-market value. The value of a net pension benefit is restricted to the sum of any unrecognised past service costs and the present value

40

Black Country Living Museum Trust

Notes to the Accounts for the Year Ended 31 December 2021

of any amount the Museum expected to recover by ways of refunds from the plan or reductions in future contributions.

In line with the requirements of Financial Reporting Standard 102, the Museum’s defined benefit pension scheme liability and related costs are included in these financial statements. Further information is contained in Note 31.

After 31 March 2011, the Museum closed the defined pension scheme to new entrants and made available a separate defined contribution pension scheme provided by Friends Life and Aegon for existing staff who do not have other pension provision, as well as for new employees. Contributions are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities in the period in which they are payable. There is no liability under the scheme other than the payment of those contributions.

1.14 Funds and Reserves Accounting

The Museum maintains four types of funds and reserves as follows.

1.15 Related Party Transactions

Black Country Living Museum Trust is the ‘Parent Company’ within a group that prepares consolidated financial statements. Details of related party transactions between the Parent Company and its subsidiary are shown in Notes 32.

The Museum Trust (established 15 September 1975) is a Company limited by guarantee (reg. no. 1226321) registered in England & Wales, without share capital and governed by its Memorandum and Articles of Association, last amended on 29 May 2014. It is also a registered charity (reg. no. 504481). The Company’s principal address and registered office are provided elsewhere in this report.

41

Black Country Living Museum Trust

Notes to the Accounts for the Year Ended 31 December 2021

3 Summary of Charitable Donations

Unrestricted Restricted Unrestricted Restricted
Funds 2021 Funds 2021 Funds 2020 Funds 2020
£ £ £ £
Grants 16,905 12,072,277 - 5,076,528
Donations 2,117 11,899 48,670 53,323
Legacies - - 10,000 -
19,022 12,084,176 58,670 5,129,851

Grants includes £4.99m receivable from National Lottery Heritage Fund and £6.21m receivable from Black Country Local Enterprise Partnership relating to BCLM:Forging Ahead. The Museum thanks all of the organisations and individuals who have given generously during the year and the details of the major contributors are acknowledged on page 13 of the Annual Report. Details on how the restricted income has been applied can be found in Note 26.

4 Visitor Admission to the Museum

Admission (Museum & Locksmith’s House)
Gift Aid from donated admission charges*
Events Programme
Membership
Learning Programmes & Courses
Visitor Attendance (number)		 2021
2020
£
£
2,061,992
900,743
294,032
130,068
2,356,024
1,030,811
723,100
-
48,947
40,031
7,254
2,099
3,135,325
1,072,941
207,939
89,338

5 COVID-19 Support Funding

Culture Recovery Fund (UK Government)
Emergency Response Fund (Arts Council
England / UK Government)
Job Retention Scheme Grant (Furlough)
Other Grants		 2021
2020
£
£
655,000
1,904,805
-
1,175,000
584,635
1,222,541
403,085
16,402
1,642,720
4,318,748

42

Black Country Living Museum Trust

Notes to the Accounts for the Year Ended 31 December 2021

6 Arts Council England (National Portfolio Organisation Funding)

2021 2020
£ £
Arts Council England 560,120 560,120

From 1 April 2018, the Museum became a National Portfolio Organisation. A four-year funding agreement is in place until 31 March 2022. This was extended in 2020 for a further year to 31 March 2023, due to COVID-19.

7 Results of the Museum’s Subsidiary Trading Company

The Museum (Parent) wholly owns a trading subsidiary which is incorporated in the UK and has the same registered office as the Museum. The subsidiary undertaking, Black Country Living Museum Enterprises Limited (Company Registration No. 3026731) operates the ancillary commercial activities connected to the activities of the Black Country Living Museum. The trading company donates its taxable profit to the Museum as unrestricted funds. A summary of the results is set out below. Separate audited accounts have been filed with the Registrar of Companies, with the same accounting reference date as the Museum Trust.

Profit & Loss Account
Retail Sales income
Cost of sales, including staffing
Gross profit
Administrative expenses (inc. Group charges)
Operating profit
Other operating income
Profit for year before and after taxation		 2021
2020
£
£
2,131,837
766,221
(1,455,128)
(878,274)
676,709
(112,053)
(192,587)
(119,606)
484,122
(231,659)
237,806
262,910
721,928
31,251

8 Ancillary Enterprises

Parking charges
Business sponsorship
Hire & Hospitality
Dudley Canal Trips commission
Licensed on-site concessions
Filming rights and charges		 2021
2020
£
£
113,562
55,982
12,181
12,194
198,606
40,594
8,101
2,032
6,381
3,276
78,117
19,101
416,948
133,179

43

Black Country Living Museum Trust

Notes to the Accounts for the Year Ended 31 December 2021

9 Investment Income

Interest received 2021
2020
£
£
303
3,071
303
3,071

10 Other Income

Rent from leased freehold property
Other		 2021
2020
£
£
45,293
45,000
5,645
4,336
50,938
49,336

11 Analysis of Expenditure

Raising Funds
Subsidiary trading company
Fundraising costs
Total Cost
Charitable Activities
Opening and operating the Museum
Developing the Museum
Total Cost
Total All Costs		 Staff Costs
Other Costs
Support
Costs
Total
2021
£
£
£
£
756,903
740,428
212,063
1,709,394
145,799
11,394
40,849
198,042
902,702
751,822
252,912
1,907,436
2,495,710
1,521,318
709,326
4,726,354
258,923
346,461
72,543
677,927
2,754,633
1,867,779
781,869
5,404,281
3,657,335
2,619,601
1,034,781
7,311,717

Support costs are allocated on the basis of direct expenditure.

12 Analysis of Support Costs

Governance
Chief Executive’s office, Finance and HR
Information Technology		 Staff Costs
Other Costs
Total
2021
Total
2020
£
£
£
£
-
9,864
9,864
9,852
484,869
321,259
806,128
712,620
55,883
162,906
218,789
185,028
540,752
494,029
1,034,781
907,500

44

Black Country Living Museum Trust

Notes to the Accounts for the Year Ended 31 December 2021

13 Analysis of Governance Costs

Trustees expenses
Legal and professional fees
Audit and accountancy charges		 2021
2020
£
£
369
132
245
720
9,250
9,000
9,864
9,852

14 Net Income/Expenditure for the Year

2021 2020
£ £
This is stated after charging:
Operating leases 40,069 30,075
Depreciation 263,385 264,078
Bank loan interest 3,887 5,178
Auditor’s remuneration:
Audit fee 12,750 12,250
Accountancy and tax services 1,475 700

15 Trustees (Directors and Members)

None of the Trustees (or any persons connected with them) received any remuneration or benefits during the year. Two trustees were reimbursed out-of-pocket expenses totalling £344 (2020: two totalling £132).

16 Employees

The average monthly headcount of contracted employees during the year was 149 (2020: 157) and the average full-time equivalent (FTE) number of employees and casual workers during the year were as follows:

Direct (front-line) charitable activities
Management, specialists and administration
Of which:
Contracted employees
Casual workers		 2021
2020
FTE
FTE
117
107
44
44
161
151
118
120
43
31
161
151

45

Black Country Living Museum Trust

Notes to the Accounts for the Year Ended 31 December 2021

16 Employees (cont.)

Employment Costs:

Wages and salaries
National Insurance costs
Pension costs		 2021
2020
£
£
3,796,759
3,642,897
258,092
243,845
143,236
141,901
4,198,087
4,028,643

Employment costs include payments and payments in lieu of notice in relation to redundancy amounting to £36,013 (2020: £27,615) paid to five individuals (2020: two).

The number of employees with annual emoluments of £60,000 or more:

2021 2020
(number) (number)
£60,000 - £70,000 2 1
£90,000 – £100,000 1 -
£100,000 - £110,000 - 1

There are five posts considered as paid executive Key Management Personnel of the Museum (as defined by FRS102), comprising the Chief Executive, Chief Operating Officer, Director of Development (job share), Director of Finance, and Director of Programmes. The employee benefits of Key Management Personnel amounted to £399,759 (2020: £390,156).

46

Black Country Living Museum Trust

Notes to the Accounts for the Year Ended 31 December 2021

17 Tangible and Intangible Fixed Assets

Group and Company
Cost
At 1 January 2021
Additions
Disposals
At 31 December 2021
Depreciation
At 1 January 2021
Charge for the period
On disposal
At 31 December 2021
Net book value
At 31 December 2021
At 31 December 2020		 Intangible
Fixed
Assets		 Tangible Fixed Assets
£
23,064
-
-		 Land and
buildings
freehold
Land and
buildings
leasehold
Fixtures,
fittings and
equipment
Motor
vehicles
Under
Construc-
tion
Total
£
£
£
£
£
£
1,521,227
6,015,569
1,302,511
78,075
1,287,989
10,205,371
-
-
-
15,891
9,724,732
9,740,623
-
-
(141,577)
-
-
(141,577)
23,064 1,521,227
6,015,569
1,160,934
93,966
11,012,721
19,804,417
23,064
-
-		 160,683
1,924,278
1,260,130
72,812
-
3,417,903
21,751
111,938
7,427
3,244
-
144,360
-
-
(141,577)
-
-
(141,577)
23,064 182,434
2,036,216
1,125,980
76,056
-
3,420,686
- 1,338,793
3,979,353
34,954
17,910
11,012,721
16,383,731
- 1,360,544
4,091,291
42,381
5,263
1,287,989
6,787,468

Freehold land and buildings of both the Group and Parent includes land (being the Museum’s new car park) with a net book value of £495,000 which is not depreciated.

18 Heritage Assets

Heritage Assets
Group and Company
Cost
At 1 January 2021
Additions
Disposals
At 31 December 2021
Depreciation
At 1 January 2021
Charge for the period
On disposal
At 31 December 2021
Net book value
At 31 December 2021
At 31 December 2020		 £
6,244,044
-
(68,811)
6,175,233
1,271,451
119,025
(22,527)
1,367,949
4,807,284
4,972,593

Heritage Assets include land at the Locksmith’s House at Willenhall, with a net book value of £50,000 is not depreciated.

47

Black Country Living Museum Trust

Notes to the Accounts for the Year Ended 31 December 2021

18 Heritage Assets (cont.)

Purchases and Additions
Marston Collection
Locksmith’s House
President Narrow Boat
Workers’ Institute
Oldbury Buildings
Hobbs Fish & Chip Shop
Folkes Park
Conway Garage
Bradburn & Wedge
Newcomen Engine
Birchill’s Narrow Boat
Kildare Narrow Boat
Tram 5
Tramway
Racecourse Colliery
Anchor Forge/Steam Hammer
Patrick Collection Vehicles
Depreciation
Marston Collection
Locksmith’s House
President Narrow Boat
Workers’ Institute
Oldbury Buildings
Hobbs Fish & Chip Shop
Folkes Park
Conway Garage
Bradburn & Wedge
Newcomen Engine
Birchill’s Narrow Boat
Kildare Narrow Boat
Tram 5
Tramway
Racecourse Colliery
Anchor Forge/Steam Hammer
Patrick Collection Vehicles		 2021
2020
2019
2018
2017
Pre-
2017
Total
£
£
£
£
£
£
£
-
-
-
-
-
341,865
341,865
-
-
-
-
-
150,000
150,000
-
-
-
-
-
103,612
103,612
-
-
-
-
2,459,592
2,459,592
-
-
-
-
-
1,051,715
1,051,715
-
-
-
-
-
1,155,115
1,155,115
-
-
-
-
-
194,564
194,564
-
-
-
-
-
71,203
71,203
-
-
-
-
-
2,120
2,120
-
-
-
-
-
92,497
92,497
-
-
-
-
-
68,468
68,468
-
-
-
-
-
34,795
34,795
-
-
-
-
13,033
83,279
96,312
-
-
-
-
-
73,346
73,346
-
-
-
-
131,266
5,456
136,722
-
-
-
-
20,726
26,581
47,307
-
-
-
96,000
-
-
96,000
-
-
-
96,000
165,025
5,914,208
6,175,233
5,698
5,698
5,698
5,698
5,698
49,857
78,347
1,454
1,454
1,454
1,454
1,454
25,862
33,132
1,757
1,757
1,757
1,757
1,757
13,691
22,476
42,395
42,395
42,395
42,393
42,393
370,743
582,714
17,750
17,750
17,750
17,750
17,750
142,036
230,786
19,252
19,252
19,252
19,252
19,252
168,455
264,715
3,254
3,254
3,254
3,254
3,254
27,820
44,090
1,187
1,187
1,187
1,187
1,187
10,386
16,321
35
35
35
35
35
307
482
1,652
1,652
1,652
1,652
1,652
7,487
15,747
1,264
1,264
1,264
1,264
1,264
3,980
10,300
653
653
653
653
653
1491
4,756
1,836
1,836
1,836
1,836
1,836
2,666
11,846
1,387
1,387
1,387
1,387
1,387
2,582
9,517
2,730
2,730
2,730
2,048
105
105
10,448
947
947
947
631
-
-
3,472
9,600
9,600
9,600
-
-
-
28,800
112,851
112,851
112,851
102,251
99,677
827,468
1,367,949

48

Black Country Living Museum Trust

Notes to the Accounts for the Year Ended 31 December 2021

19 Fixed Asset Investments

Company

Company £
Market value at 1 January 2020 and at 31 December 2021 1,000
Historical cost at 31 December 2020 and at 31 December 2021 1,000

The Museum holds 100% of the issued Ordinary Shares of Black Country Living Museum Enterprises Ltd. This wholly-owned subsidiary undertakes on-site trading to support the charitable activities of the Museum. At 31 December 2021 its net assets and shareholder’s funds amounted to £725,878 (2020: £20,034).

20 Stock

Group Parent
2021 2020 2021 2020
£ £ £ £
Stock 98,283 88,451 - -

21 Debtors

Group Parent
2021 2020 2021 2020
£ £ £ £
Trade debtors 34,534 2,518 24,163 1,037
Owed by subsidiary Trading Company - - - 227,852
Other debtors 147,018 87,511 186,022 90,059
Prepayments and accrued income 5,062,033 1,699,634 5,050,361 1,640,227
5,243,585 1,789,663 5,260,546 1,959,175

Accrued income includes £4,990,000 (2020: £ 595,378) of grant income due from National Lottery Heritage Fund.

22 Creditors: Amounts Falling Due Within One Year

Bank loan
Obligations under finance leases and hire
purchase contracts
Owed to subsidiary Trading Company
Trade creditors
Taxes and social security costs
Other creditors
Accruals		 Group
Parent
2021
2020
2021
2020
£
£
£
£
39,346
39,185
39,346
39,185
4,022
5,070
4,022
5,070
-
-
537,906
-
952,340
43,838
944,200
39,733
78,150
59,741
78,150
59,741
29,230
930
29,230
930
844,035
239,422
801,632
208,081
1,947,123
388,186
2,434,486
352,740

49

Black Country Living Museum Trust

Notes to the Accounts for the Year Ended 31 December 2021

23 Creditors: Amounts Falling Due After More Than One Year

Group and Company
Bank Loan
Obligations under finance leases and hire purchase contracts
Group and Company
Analysis of Bank Loan
Not wholly repayable within 5 years
Included in the current liabilities
Group and Company
Loan Maturity Analysis
Debt due in 1 year or less
In more than 1 year, but not more than 2 years
In more than 2 years, but not more than 5 years		 2021
2020
£
£
91,698
130,459
-
4,022
91,698
134,481
2021
2020
£
£
131,044
169,644
(39,346)
(39,185)
91,698
130,459
2021
2020
£
£
39,346
39,185
40,319
40,185
51,379
90,274
131,044
169,644

The bank loan is repayable by March 2025 with interest charged at 2.45% above the bank’s base rate. It is secured by a legal charge over the Museum’s freehold land at Tipton Road, Dudley (Title No. WM414023) and an unlimited guarantee from the Museum’s subsidiary trading company, Black Country Museum Living Enterprises Limited.

24 Obligations Under Leases and Hire Purchase Contracts

The Group and Company use finance leases and hire purchase contracts to acquire certain items of fixtures, fittings and equipment. Renewals are at the option of the leasee. Future minimum lease payments due under finance leases and hire purchase contracts:

Group and Company
Amounts payable
Within 1 year
In more than 1 years, but not more than 5 years
less: finance charges allocated to future periods		 2021
2020
£
£
4,183
5,444
-
4,183
(161)
(535)
4,022
9,092

50

Black Country Living Museum Trust

Notes to the Accounts for the Year Ended 31 December 2021

24 Obligations Under Leases and Hire Purchase Contracts (cont.)

Future minimum rentals of the consolidated Group payable under non-cancellable operating leases are as follows:

operating leases are as follows:
Less than 1 year
Between 2 and 5 years
Over 5 years		 2021
2020
£
£
18,792
33,378
68,096
69,864
478,800
507,224
565,688
610,466

25 Financial Instruments

Financial assets that are debt instruments measured at amortised cost
Financial liabilities measured at amortised cost		 2021
2020
£
£
10,031,591
5,386,093
1,960,672
462,926

Financial assets measured at amortised cost comprise cash at bank, trade debtors, other debtors and accrued income. Financial liabilities measured at amortised cost comprise bank loan, trade creditors, other creditors and accruals.

26 Restricted Funds (Movement in Funds)

The restricted funds set out in these accounts represent, in the main, funds allocated to develop the Museum over a number of years, including a number of Heritage Assets. In these cases, the fund is transferred to the appropriate asset heading to match the carrying value of the asset. As the carrying value of the asset depreciates, a matching amount is released (transferred) to general reserves. In more recent times, restricted funds have also included funds received to deliver programmes and for the procurement of services.

Group and Company
Tangible Assets
Operational Fixed Assets
Freehold Property
Rolfe Street Development
Moving the Black Country
Brook Entrance & Facilities
Folkes Park Play Equipment
Assets under Construction		 Balance at 1
January
2021
Incoming
Funds
Resources
Expended
Transfers
Balance at
31
December
2021
£
£
£
£
£
723,676
-
(30,035)
-
693,641
190,083
-
(2,550)
-
187,533
2,196,400
-
(57,348)
-
2,139,052
679,895
-
(14,438)
-
665,457
386,053
-
(7,149)
-
378,904
20,937
-
(3,490)
-
17,447
1,287,989
-
-
9,724,732
11,012,721
5,485,033
-
(115,010)
9,724,732
15,094,755

51

Black Country Living Museum Trust

Notes to the Accounts for the Year Ended 31 December 2021

26 Restricted Funds (Movement in Funds) (cont.)

Group and Company
Heritage Assets
The Workers’ Institute
The Locksmith’s House
Conway Garage
Folkes Park
Old Birmingham Road
Hobbs Fish & Chip Shop
Newcomen Engine
President Narrow Boat
Marston Motorcycles
Birchill’s Narrow Boat
Kildare Narrow Boat
Tram 5
Anchor Forge/Steam Hammer
Racecourse Colliery
Other Items
Anchor Forge/Steam Hammer
Racecourse Colliery
The Locksmith’s House
Folkes Park Development
Improving Accessibility
Learning Projects
Stour (boat) Restoration
President (boat) Restoration
Collections Projects
Staff Award (training)
St James’s School
Visitor Benches
Maintaining the Collection
Unpacking the Past
Adventures Through Time
BCLM:Forging Ahead Capital
Development Project		 Balance at 1
January
2021
Incoming
Funds
Resources
Expended
Transfers
Balance at
31
December
2021
£
£
£
£
£
1,424,827
-
(31,478)
-
1,393,349
118,322
-
(1,454)
-
116,868
13,585
-
(287)
-
13,298
153,730
-
(3,254)
-
150,476
384,537
-
(8,139)
-
376,398
402,975
-
(8,529)
-
394,446
62,387
-
(1,322)
-
61,065
82,893
-
(1,757)
-
81,136
269,216
-
(5,698)
-
263,518
50,525
-
(1,074)
-
49,451
27,834
-
(592)
-
27,242
33,690
-
(717)
-
32,973
44,783
-
(947)
-
43,836
116,486
-
(2,465)
-
114,021
3,185,790
-
(67,713)
-
3,118,077
796
-
-
-
796
22,296
-
-
-
22,296
8,917
-
-
-
8,917
11,072
-
-
-
11,072
1,000
-
-
-
1,000
7,158
400
(185)
(27)
7,346
13,130
-
-
-
13,130
30,457
10,049
(10,960)
-
29,546
14,310
-
(360)
-
13,950
3,210
1,000
(962)
-
3,248
2,632
-
-
-
2,632
162
450
-
-
612
90,000
30,000
-
-
120,000
32,500
13,000
(15,080)
-
30,420
12,021
-
(97)
-
11,924
2,796,845
12,029,277
-
(9,724,705)
5,101,417
3,046,506
12,084,176
(27,644)
(9,724,732)
5,378,306
11,717,329
12,084,176
(210,367)
-
23,591,138

52

Black Country Living Museum Trust

Notes to the Accounts for the Year Ended 31 December 2021

27 Designated Funds (Movement in Funds)

Group and Company
Future developments – FA
Future developments – other
Fundraised income
designated to Forging Ahead
Heritage asset reserve		 Balance at 1
January
2021
New
Designations
Utilised
funds
Transfers
Balance at
31
December
2021
£
£
£
£
£
747,113
412,887
-
-
1,160,000
-
222,000
-
-
222,000
101,080
2,117
-
-
103,197
1,786,804
-
(51,312)
(46,284)
1,689,208
2,634,997
637,004
(51,312)
(46,284)
3,174,405

Designated funds are unrestricted funds, but nevertheless designated by the Trustees for the particular purposes of a Heritage Asset capital reserve and future funding of the BCLM:Forging Ahead capital development project and other Museum developments.

28 Analysis of Net Assets between Funds

Group
Fund balances at 31 December 2021 are represented by:
Tangible fixed assets
Net current assets
Creditors: amounts falling due after more than one year
Defined benefit pension liability
Company
Fund balances at 31 December 2021 are represented by:
Tangible fixed assets
Net current assets
Creditors: amounts falling due after more than one year
Defined benefit pension liability		 Unrestricted
funds
Restricted
funds
Total
£
£
£
2,978,183
18,212,832
21,191,015
2,866,707
5,378,306
8,245,013
(91,698)
-
(91,698)
(1,528,000)
-
(1,528,000)
4,225,192
23,591,138
27,816,330
Unrestricted
funds
Restricted
funds
Total
£
£
£
2,979,183
18,212,832
21,192,015
2,124,743
5,378,306
7,503,049
(91,698)
-
(91,698)
(1,528,000)
-
(1,528,000)
3,484,228
23,591,138
27,075,366

53

Black Country Living Museum Trust

Notes to the Accounts for the Year Ended 31 December 2021

29 Reconciliation of Net Income/(Expenditure) to Net Cash Flow from Operating Activities

Net income/(expenditure) for the year (as per
the Statement of Financial Activities)
Adjustments for:
Depreciation charges
Interest received
Non-cash donations
Loss of disposal of assets
(increase)/Decrease in stocks
(increase)/Decrease in debtors
(Decrease)increase/ in creditors
Pension scheme non-cash movements		 2021
2020
£
£
12,417,505
4,842,373
263,385
264,078
(303)
(3,071)
(250,000)
-
46,284
-
(9,832)
44,234
(3,453,922)
(1,358,371)
852,824
(566,066)
106,000
65,000
9,971,941
3,288,177

30 Analysis of Cash and Cash Equivalents

Cash in hand
Current account
Total Cash and Cash Equivalents		 2021
2020
£
£
31,613
23,363
4,818,655
3,681,954
4,850,268
3,705,317

31 Pension Scheme and Other Post-Retirement Benefit Commitments

The Museum is an admitted body as part of the West Midlands Pension Fund (WMPF) providing benefits based on pensionable pay to certain members of Museum staff. The WMPF has 764 active scheme employers and 343,000 scheme members, and total managed assets of £18.7bn. The permanent staff of the Museum (although not local government employees) became eligible for membership, under the auspices of Dudley Metropolitan Borough Council (who act as guarantor), when the Museum was first established in September 1975. 13 members of staff remained as active members at the year end. This statutory scheme is administered locally by Wolverhampton City Council, on behalf of the participating organisations, in accordance with the Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations 1997, as amended in 2014, and is part of the national pension scheme for certain public service employees. The assets of the fund are held and managed separately from those of the Museum. Further information about the WMPF can be found at www.wmpfonline.com.

After 31 March 2011, the Museum closed the defined pension scheme to new entrants and made available a separate defined contribution pension scheme provided by Friends Life and Aegon to new employees and for existing staff who did not have other pension provision. From 1 June 2014, this was supplemented by an auto-enrolment scheme provided by Aegon which is available for all eligible staff.

54

Black Country Living Museum Trust

Notes to the Accounts for the Year Ended 31 December 2021

31 Pension Scheme and Other Post-Retirement Benefit Commitments (cont.)

Defined Contribution Pension Scheme

2021 2020
Defined Contribution Pension Scheme £ £
Contributions payable by the Museum 80,392 79,978

Defined Benefit Pension Scheme

An actuarial valuation of the WMPF was carried out in accordance with the Regulations as at 31 March 2019 and set contribution rates for the next four years until 31 March 2023. The key Financial Reporting Standard 102 assumptions used for the WMPF are set out below, along with the fair value of assets, the present value of the FRS102 liabilities and the deficit of assets below the FRS102 liabilities (which equate the gross pension liability). The liability at the period end was £1,528,000 (2020: £2,777,000). It is important to note that the liability represented by this value (being based on actuarial assumptions) will alter in response to changes to the future funding and structure of the pension scheme (as well as to economic and investment market conditions) and does not crystallise in the short or medium-term.

Present value of funded obligations
Fair value of plan assets
Defined Benefit Pension Liability
Included in staff costs within total expenditure:
Service costs
Net interest cost
Administrative expenses
Total Pension Costs
Actual return on plan assets
Actual return less expected return on pension scheme assets
Other actuarial losses on assets
Change of financial assumptions
Change of demographics assumptions
Experience loss on defined benefit obligation		 2021
2020
£
£
8,505,000
9,100,000
(6,977,000)
(6,323,000)
1,528,000
2,777,000
2021
2020
£
£
129,000
100,000
35,000
28,000
4,000
4,000
168,000
132,000
794,000
437,000
2021
2020
£
£
716,000
316,000
-
73,000
303,000
(1,335,000)
144,000
(242,000)
192,000
(110,000)
1,355,000
(1,298,000)

55

Black Country Living Museum Trust

Notes to the Accounts for the Year Ended 31 December 2021

31 Pension Scheme and Other Post-Retirement Benefit Commitments (cont.)

Changes in the present value of the defined benefit obligation are as follows:

Opening defined benefit obligation
Current service cost
Interest cost
Contributions by scheme participants
Change in demographic assumptions
Past service costs, including curtailments
Experience loss on defined benefit obligation
Change in financial assumptions
Benefits paid
Changes in fair value of plan assets are as follows:
Opening fair value of plan assets
Interest on assets
Return on assets less interest
Other actuarial gains
Administration expenses
Contributions by employer
Contributions from scheme participants
Benefits paid
Asset allocation:
2021
2021
£
Equities
4,233,000
61%
Gilts
587,000
8%
Other bonds
406,000
6%
Property
500,000
7%
Cash
277,000
4%
Other
974,000
14%
6,977,000
100%		 Opening defined benefit obligation
Current service cost
Interest cost
Contributions by scheme participants
Change in demographic assumptions
Past service costs, including curtailments
Experience loss on defined benefit obligation
Change in financial assumptions
Benefits paid
Changes in fair value of plan assets are as follows:
Opening fair value of plan assets
Interest on assets
Return on assets less interest
Other actuarial gains
Administration expenses
Contributions by employer
Contributions from scheme participants
Benefits paid
Asset allocation:
2021
2021
£
Equities
4,233,000
61%
Gilts
587,000
8%
Other bonds
406,000
6%
Property
500,000
7%
Cash
277,000
4%
Other
974,000
14%
6,977,000
100%		 2021
2020
£
£
9,100,000
7,372,000
129,000
100,000
113,000
149,000
13,000
15,000
(144,000)
242,000
-
-
(192,000)
110,000
(303,000)
1,335,000
(211,000)
(223,000)
8,505,000
9,100,000
2021
2020
£
£
6,323,000
5,958,000
78,000
121,000
716,000
316,000
-
73,000
(4,000)
(4,000)
62,000
67,000
13,000
15,000
(211,000)
(223,000)
6,977,000
6,323,000
2020
2020
£
3,724,000
59%
630,000
10%
243,000
4%
457,000
7%
378,000
6%
891,000
14%
6,977,000
100%		 6,323,000
100%

56

Black Country Living Museum Trust

Notes to the Accounts for the Year Ended 31 December 2021

31 Pension Scheme and Other Post-Retirement Benefit Commitments (cont.)

Principal actuarial assumptions at the Balance Sheet date (expressed as weighted averages):

2021 2020 2019 2018 2017
CPI increases 2.95% 2.50% 2.35% 2.40% 2.60%
Discount rate at 31
December		 1.85% 1.25% 2.05% 2.80% 2.50%
Future salary increases 3.95% 3.50% 3.85% 3.90% 4.10%
Future pension increases 2.95% 2.50% 2.35% 2.40% 2.60%
Assumed life expectations from age 65:
2021* 2020 2019 2018 2017
Retiring today - Male 21.7 22.0 20.9 21.9 21.8
Retiring today - Female 24.0 24.2 23.2 24.4 24.3
Retiring in 20 years – Male 23.5 23.8 22.6 24.1 24.0
Retiring in 20 years – Female 25.9 26.0 25.1 26.7 26.6

Assumed life expectations from age 65:

*Adjusted for Continuous Mortality Investigation’s model, CMI_2020

Guaranteed Minimum Pension (GMP) Equalisation

The valuation assumption for GMP is that the Fund will pay limited increases for members that have reached SPA by 6 April 2016, with the Government providing the remainder of the inflationary increase. For members that reach SPA after this date, it has been assumed that the Fund will be required to pay the entire inflationary increase. Therefore, the assumption is consistent with the consultation outcome and so the Fund does not believe it needs to make any adjustments to the value placed on the liabilities as a result of the Government’s Guaranteed Minimum Pension Indexation consultation.

32 Related Party Disclosures

The Museum owns the whole of the issued share capital of Black Country Living Museum Living Enterprises Limited. During the year, the Museum charged the Company £152,371 (2020: £69,391) for rents and services and the Company donated its profits, through Gift Aid, of £16,084 (2020: £624,330). At the year end the Museum owed to the Enterprises Company £553,990 (2020: £227,852 debtor). These were the only related party transactions during the year.

57

Black Country Living Museum Trust

Notes to the Accounts for the Year Ended 31 December 2021

33 Comparative Funds Notes

Restricted Funds

Group and Company
Tangible Assets
Operational Fixed Assets
Freehold Property
Rolfe Street Development
Moving the Black Country
Brook Entrance & Facilities
Folkes Park Play Equipment
Assets under Construction
Group and Company
Heritage Assets
The Workers’ Institute
The Locksmith’s House
Conway Garage
Folkes Park
Old Birmingham Road
Hobbs Fish & Chip Shop
Newcomen Engine
President Narrow Boat
Marston Motorcycles
Birchill’s Narrow Boat
Kildare Narrow Boat
Tram 5
Anchor Forge/Steam Hammer
Racecourse Colliery		 Balance at 1
January
2020
Incoming
Funds
Resources
Expended
Transfers
Balance at
31
December
2020
£
£
£
£
£
464,544
-
(30,035)
289,167
723,676
192,633
-
(2,550)
-
190,083
2,253,748
-
(57,348)
-
2,196,400
694,333
-
(14,438)
-
679,895
393,202
-
(7,149)
-
386,053
24,427
-
(3,490)
-
20,937
-
-
-
1,287,989
1,287,989
4,022,887
-
(115,010)
1,577,156
5,485,033
Balance at 1
January
2020
Incoming
Funds
Resources
Expended
Transfers
Balance at
31
December
2020
£
£
£
£
£
1,456,305
-
(31,478)
-
1,424,827
119,776
-
(1,454)
-
118,322
13,872
-
(287)
-
13,585
156,984
-
(3,254)
-
153,730
392,676
-
(8,139)
-
384,537
411,504
-
(8,529)
-
402,975
63,709
-
(1,322)
-
62,387
84,650
-
(1,757)
-
82,893
274,914
-
(5,698)
-
269,216
51,599
-
(1,074)
-
50,525
28,426
-
(592)
-
27,834
34,407
-
(717)
-
33,690
45,730
-
(947)
-
44,783
118,951
-
(2,465)
-
116,486
3,253,503
-
(67,713)
-
3,185,790

58

Black Country Living Museum Trust

Notes to the Accounts for the Year Ended 31 December 2021

33 Comparative Funds Notes (cont.)

Group and Company
Balance at 1
January
2020
Incoming
Funds
£
£
Other Items
Anchor Forge/Steam Hammer
796
-
Racecourse Colliery
22,296
-
The Locksmith’s House
8,917
-
Folkes Park
11,072
-
Improving Accessibility
1,000
-
Learning Projects
6,386
1,600
Stour (boat) Restoration
13,130
-
President (boat) Restoration
5,083
25,374
Collections Projects
6,786
8,624
Staff Award (training)
2,460
1,500
St James’s School
2,632
-
Visitor Benches
162
-
Maintaining the Collection
60,000
30,000
Unpacking the Past
-
32,500
Adventures Through Time
-
40,500
Forging Ahead
390,446
4,989,753
531,166
5,129,851
Group
Fund balances at 31 December 2020 are represented by:
Tangible fixed assets
Net current assets
Creditors: amounts falling due after more than one year
Defined benefit pension liability
Company
Fund balances at 31 December 2020 are represented by:
Tangible fixed assets
Net current assets
Creditors: amounts falling due after more than one year
Defined benefit pension liability		 Balance at 1
January
2020
Incoming
Funds
£
£
796
-
22,296
-
8,917
-
11,072
-
1,000
-
6,386
1,600
13,130
-
5,083
25,374
6,786
8,624
2,460
1,500
2,632
-
162
-
60,000
30,000
-
32,500
-
40,500
390,446
4,989,753		 Resources
Expended
Transfers
Balance at
31
December
2020
£
£
£
-
-
796
-
-
22,296
-
-
8,917
-
-
11,072
-
-
1,000
(828)
-
7,158
-
-
13,130
-
-
30,457

(1,100)
-
14,310

(750)
-
3,210
-
-
2,632
-
-
162

-
-
90,000

-
-
32,500

(28,479)
-
12,021
(1,006,198)
(1,577,156)
2,796,845
531,166
5,129,851		 (1,037,355)
(1,577,156)
3,046,506
Unrestricted
funds
Restricted
funds
Total
£
£
£
3,089,238
8,670,823
11,760,061
2,148,740
3,046,505
5,195,245
(134,481)
-
(134,481)
(2,777,000)
-
(2,777,000)
2,326,497
11,717,328
14,043,825
Unrestricted
funds
Restricted
funds
Total
£
£
£
3,089,238
8,670,823
11,760,061
2,129,705
3,046,505
5,176,210
(134,481)
-
(134,481)
(2,777,000)
-
(2,777,000)
2,307,462
11,717,328
14,024,790

59

Black Country Living Museum Trust

Notes to the Accounts for the Year Ended 31 December 2021

33 Comparative Funds Notes (cont.)

Designated Funds

Group and Company Balance at 1
January
2020		 New
Designations		 Utilised
funds		 Transfers Balance at
31
December
2020
£ £ £ £ £
Future developments – FA 718,000 29,113 - 747,113
Future developments – other 147,500 - (13,164) (134,336) -
Fundraised income
designated to Forging Ahead		 64,459 36,621 - - 101,080
Heritage asset reserve 1,838,116 - (51,312) - 1,786,804
2,768,075 65,734 (64,476) (134,336) 2,634,997

34 Capital Commitments

At 31 December 2021 the Museum had capital commitments of £12.48m (2020:£nil).

60

BLACK COUNTRY LIVING MUSEUM TRUST TIPTON ROAD, DUDLEY, WEST MIDLANDS, DY1 4SQ UK TEL: +44 (0)121 557 9643 www.bclm.com info@bclm.com

Private Company Limited by Guarantee Registered in England Company No. 1226321 and Registered as a Charity No. 504481

61