2025-03-31-accounts - Citizens Advice Swansea Neath Port Talbot Limited

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CITIZENS ADVICE SWANSEA NEATH PORT TALBOT LIMITED ANNUAL REPORT ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31ST MARCH 2025

Charity Number: 518825 A company limited by guarantee number 01702827 Registered Address: City Gates, 50a Wind Street, Swansea SA1 1EE

Index

Index
Chair’s Statement	2
Introduction	3-4
Our values	5
Impact report	6-11
Our funding	12-14
Research and Campaigns	15
Volunteering	16-17
Wellbeing	18
Partnerships	19
Future plans	20
Trustee’s Report	21-23
Financial review	24
Reserves policy	24
Statement of trustees responsibilities	25
Statutory auditor’s report	26-29
Statement of financial activities	30
Balance sheet	31
Statement of cash flows	32
Notes to the accounts	33-43

Chair’s Statement

In my second annual review as Chair of the Board of Trustees, I am proud to introduce our Annual Report for 2024/25 and to reflect on a year that brought both challenges and achievements for Citizens Advice, Swansea Neath Port Talbot.

Over the past year, the lingering effects of the cost of living crisis continue to be felt by our community. This is reflected in our service having supported slightly fewer clients this year than last, however our clients are now presenting with multiple issues per person, perhaps reflecting how intertwined and complex those circumstances have become. Notably, benefits and tax credits represent 40% of the increase in issues we saw in 2024/25 and continue to be the

predominant reason that clients contact us. Despite this increased complexity, our dedicated and compassionate advisers have continued to excel in delivering positive outcomes for clients, supporting clients to gain more than £4 million in income (£37,000 more than last year) and £550,000 of debts written off (£56,000 more than last year). On behalf of the board of trustees, I extend a huge thank you to every member of our team for their hard work. It’s thanks to their expertise and kindness that we were able to make a difference to so many in our community.

One of our proudest achievements was our research and campaigning work. In December 2024, we published “Disconnected: How Digital Exclusion Blocks Access to Universal Credit”, shining a light on digital exclusion arising from lack of digital literacy and access to the internet, acting as a barrier for people from accessing the support they need. Our report highlighted that 7% of adults in Wales are not online, a striking figure in the context of the continued roll out of managed migration for Universal Credit. Through this research, we called for practical changes so that the benefits system works for everyone, and we will continue to push for a more inclusive approach from policymakers, while also helping our clients bridge the digital divide through our advice services. This kind of advocacy is a vital part of our purpose.

To all of our partners and funders; our local authorities, grant funders, and the many community organisations we collaborate with: thank you for sharing our commitment to helping those in need. Your support is crucial to everything we do, and for every £1 in funding we received, we returned £9.01 in value to the people we help. Thank you.

As a trustee board, with dedicated and passionate board members, we are small yet effective, nevertheless in recognition of the need to continue this governance capacity for the future, we have agreed to recruit more trustees for 2025/26.

Looking ahead, we are continuing to adapt our services to make them more accessible, and we are preparing for a move to new premises that will provide better facilities for clients.

Whether as a board member, staff or volunteer, what we share is our commitment to our values: we are responsive, generous and inventive. We are proud to be Citizens Advice, Swansea Neath Port Talbot, and proud of the difference we make together. Thank you to everyone who continues to support us.

SONYA DOUGHERTY

CHAIR OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES, CITIZENS ADVICE SWANSEA NEATH PORT TALBOT LIMITED

Introduction

CASNPT has been assisting local people with their problems since 1939. It is a client-focussed organisation; a client will be given as much time as they need, we provide independent, confidential advice by telephone, online and in person for free.

What we do . We aim to help people find a way forward. Everything we do shares this aim. As a service we:

help people overcome their problems through advice and support;
campaign on the big issues when people’s voices need to be heard; and benefit society through the way we work.

We’re here for everyone. Our advice helps people solve problems and our advocacy helps fix problems in society. Whatever the problem we won’t turn people away.

We’re listened to and we make a difference. Our trusted brand and the quality of our research means we make a real impact on behalf of the people who rely on us.

No one else sees so many people with so many different kinds of problems, this gives us a unique insight into the challenges people are facing today. With the right evidence, we can Influence stakeholders and persuade them as to how they can make things better for people.

That’s why we’re here: to give people the knowledge and the confidence they need to find their way forward – whoever they are, and whatever their problem.

We put people at the heart of what we do. From knowing whether to challenge an employment decision to checking an energy contract, our clients can expect the same overarching approach from us.

Our primary objective is to get the best for our clients, and it is this that determines the advice and options we give.

Negative budgets and falling living standards. While inflation was down from its double digit high, everyday essentials continued to cost more than they did the year before; and incomes, especially benefits failed to keep pace. For far too many people the sums just don’t add up any more. Across the region we continue to help people with cost of living issues every day.

That’s everything from trying to pay an energy bill, to covering the rent or getting access to a food bank voucher. These issues have exploded in the last few years with spiralling inflation and high energy bills, but many of them have roots that go much deeper. From decades of stagnant incomes to the chronic lack of affordable housing. The bottom line is we’re hearing from people every day who are finding that their income just isn’t enough to cover their bills.

Additionally, the numbers of clients we support with PIP related issues remains high showing those with disabilities are particularly impacted.

Our staff and volunteers have worked hard to meet the demand and we thank them for that. Our volunteer programme not only creates valuable opportunities for skills development but creates employment opportunities. This year two volunteers joined the paid staff team in permanent roles.

We have delivered against contractual commitments for the year and have worked collaboratively, developing partnerships adding value to our services through a client focussed approach. These partnerships help us secure specialist support clients might need.

Operating flexibly, delivering over and above that which has been expected of us has secured notable outcomes for clients. These successes underpin the foundations of this report.

Services are primarily provided through our central office location in Swansea city centre and through remote delivery across the counties of Neath Port Talbot and Swansea. In addition to generalist advice the following specialist advisory services are provided:

Specialist Welfare Benefit Advice through to support at tribunal ;
Specialist Debt provision through the undertaking of Debt Relief Order applications by Approved Intermediaries employed by CASNPT;
Remote services funded by the Local Health Board and Welsh Government;
Advice to potential benefits' claimants through the Claim What's Yours service. Energy Advice via the Warmer Wales project
Specialist advice for those with dementia and their carers in collaboration with partners Dedicated advice for those over 65 funded by Independent Age

Our continued ambition is to always provide a quality advice service for communities across Swansea, Neath, Port Talbot, providing accessible, high-quality advice, advocacy and information services, which meet the changing needs of our geographically dispersed communities. To support this we operate within the principles of our values.

Our values

We’re Inventive.

We’re not afraid of trying new things and learn by getting things wrong. We question every idea to make it better and we change when things aren’t working.

We’re Responsible. We do what we say we’ll do and keep our promises. We remember that we work for a

charity and use our resources effectively.

We’re Generous.

We work together, sharing knowledge and experience to solve problems. We tell it like it is and respect everyone.

4 45

Impact Report

Clients by gender female Mixed 2% male Black 54% 45%

Mixed Other 2% Black 3% 4%

Number of clients we’ve seen

4,551

Asian 6%

Ethnicity of clients

Number of issues

19,225

Number of cases 5,510

White 85%

Channel used to communicate with clients:

Between 1st April 2024 and 31st March 2025

Telephone Email Admin In Person Adviceline Phone Letter Other 100% 10% 80% ~~17%~~ 60% ~~20%~~ 14% 40% 20% ~~36%~~ 0%

27,365

Call attempts were made to call us by freephone

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That’s down
from 32,782 in
23/24 and
31,000 in
22/23
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% of clients

218 2,541 Quick contacts Fixed were made appointments where were checked in information was provided That’s up from That’s down 2,088 in from 469 in 23/24 22/23

459 2,541 Referrals on Fixed Refernet were appointments accepted were checked in That’s up from That’s up from 2,088 in 404 in 23/24

10% of clients failed to show up for their appointment so we introduced a cancellation button on the website

Health of our clients

60% 10% 29% of our clients have a of our clients are of our clients have long-term health condition disabled no health problems

Most common reasons for contacting us

	Issues	Clients
Benefits & tax credits	7,597	2,317
Debt	3,557	989
Universal Credit	1,927	877
Housing	1,095	535
Utilities & communications	953	463
Charitable support & food banks	634	476

Over 321 Food vouchers issued Over 127 Fuel vouchers issued

Client Outcomes

Income gained:

Debts written off:

£4,028,350 £550,659

Re-imbursements, Other: services, loans:

£200

£200 £21,283 9 Vvy<

What our clients say

“Absolutely the best service I could have received, total advice, total step by step guide to get through. I felt at all times that my best interests were being served. Amazing.”

I felt supported and more confident in handling the situation, knowing that the advice would be available, should I have further difficulties

“Completely changed my life. Excellent, expert advice.”

I have used CitA many times over the years and have always had a great experience. I needed help completing a form and the young lady was extremely helpful in it's completion. So very grateful for her help

Staff feedback

Here are some results from our People Survey:

Research and Campaigns

87%

of staff feel that CASNPT has done a good job on Research and Campaigns

Recommend work/volunteer

92%

of staff would recommend working or volunteering here to a friend/family member

Understand contribution

88%

of staff understand the contribution they are making to the local office

Skills & knowledge

97%

of staff feel they have had the opportunity to develop their skills and knowledge

Funding

Our Annual Report highlights the positive differences we have made to communities across Swansea Neath Port Talbot during the year 1st April 2024 to 31st March 2025.

We work with partner organisations within the public and voluntary sector to make a positive change in people’s lives. We contribute to Wales wide and National campaigns and undertake research on issues affecting residents of our region.

We liaise with a range of organisations and participate in local, regional, and national networks, with the aim of making a real difference to residents of Swansea Neath Port Talbot that need our help. We would not be able to do this without the support of our funders and partners to whom we would like to extend our gratitude.

Receipt of this funding enabled us to achieve significant financial value in the following categories.

Fiscal value

Financial savings to local, Welsh and the national Government due to fewer payments for out-of-work benefits, costly evictions, rehousing evicted tenants and less demand on the NHS.

£1,978,358*

Public value

£14,215,817*

When helping people have fewer problems, they have higher levels of wellbeing, participation in society and productivity.

Value to the people we help

We helped individual clients to achieve financial outcomes like getting backdated benefits, writing-off debts and refunds for consumer issues.

£12,023,821*

For every £1 of funding received we returned:

£1.48 in Fiscal Value

£10.65 in Public Value

£9.01 in Value to the people we help

*Overall value 2024-2025

Specific Values*

Savings to Local Authorities £238,172

Council Tax Arrears – payments rescheduled £27,751

Reducing use of Health Services £285,403

Department of Work and Pensions £705,232

Criminal Justice System (preventing homelessness & evictions) £27,699

*Overall value 2024-2025

Research & Campaigns

Key achievements:

•Contributed to the cross-sector steering group aimed at making Mid and West Wales a real Living Wage region

•Actively involved in promoting Anti-racism and Black History 365

•Continued our long-term study into the impact of the cost of living crisis on our clients, publishing our second report, Is This The New Normal? in May 2024

•Participated in Swansea University Law School Street Law project; Bawso Event for the National Day of Remembrance for Victims of Honour-Based Abuse Breaking Chains: Voices Unsilenced; ARA Roundtable Event on gambling harms; Spotlight on Changemakers - Diverse Cymru’s 2024 Awards; White Ribbon Day Cross-party Stakeholder Event @ Senedd; BAWSO’s Zero Tolerance to Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) event; Community Foundation Wales event.

•Published Disconnected: How Digital Exclusion Blocks Access to Universal Credit, our study into the impact of digital exclusion on those people facing managed migration on UC, in December 2024.

Volunteering

The recruitment and involvement of volunteers continues to bring a range of benefits to the organisation and 2024-2025 has seen increased activity. Volunteers are an important part of resourcing our service and we remain grateful for the commitment of all concerned.

Engaging with volunteers:

Helps us reach a wider range and increased number of clients

Increases the diversity of our staffing resource helping us be more representative of our client groups

Creates opportunities for volunteers to connect with others, learn new skills and gain confidence

Brings new opinions, ideas and approaches to our work

Helps increase the social value of our activities

We currently engage 35 volunteers who conduct a range of roles, the longest serving having been with us for over 18 years.

Key volunteer statistics 2024-2025

•Oldest volunteer 86 – youngest 16

• 34% of volunteers are between 15-24 , 16% are between 65-75, 14% are 75+

• 27 new volunteers joined in 2024-2025

•Between them our volunteers contributed 6,160 hours to supporting service delivery

• 3298 hours of training completed by volunteers

•Between them our volunteers supported 2053 clients

•Of those that left in 2024-2025 52% progressed into employment

Ethnic origin of our volunteers - working to represent the community we serve

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20
15
10
5
0
17
White - BritishBlack or Black-British - AfricanWhite - WelshAsian or Asian British - ChineseAsian or Asian-British – IndianAsian or Asian-British - Bangladeshi Canadian Ukrainian Turkish
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Staff

At CASNPT the overall mental, physical, emotional, and economic health of our employees is paramount and we aim to support these in any way possible. Investing in our teams ultimately leads to a better service for our clients.

What we’ve done in 2024/25

Aimed to create a work culture in which employees can develop supportive relationships with their colleagues

Ensured all roles are paid at least the Real Living Wage

Subscribed to an Employee Assistance programme providing 24/7, 365day access to compassionate support whatever challenges are faced

Provided up to 6 sessions of structured counselling when needed

Provided mental health awareness training for all employees within their first year of employment

Provided a wide range of aids, adaptations, equipment and changes to people’s working days to meet the needs of staff

Partnerships

Joint working with a range of partners from the public, private and third sector enables us to reach a broader range of people than we could alone. Collaboration has benefits for us and our partners as we get to capitalise on each other’s’ expertise, reputation and reach. And of course, of greater importance are the additional outcomes we are collectively able to achieve for more clients.

Our partnerships involve referring clients to dedicated services to help with specific issues, such as mental health, domestic violence and in-home adaptations for the infirm. These can help improve resilience and confidence when dealing with these issues in the future.

In addition, we deliver several projects that focus on a specific issue, or are designed to help certain client groups. Examples included distribution of goods provided by the multi bank or delivery of energy advice.

Future Plans

Looking forward to the next year it is important for us to focus upon funding and sustainability, collaboration, partnerships, people and infrastructure; this will all underpin CASNPT’s ambition to increase our capacity to help local clients, without compromising on the quality of our services.

We aim to:

·Incorporate changes to the service delivery model to meet emerging changes in client demand resulting from cost of living pressures; ensuring that our infrastructure and back office processes are fit for purpose.

·Understand hidden demand and identifying how to meet client requirements with static resources.

·Increase and diversifying our sources of longer-term funding, whilst sustaining existing contract income.

·Broaden our relationship with compatible groups and organisations; to support funding applications and ability to meet client needs.

·Continue to develop a strong internal management and governance structure.

increased demand and, a wider portfolio of projects

·Understand the impacts that new ways of working will have on our future premises’ requirements before expiry of the current lease.

·Champion Equity, Diversity and Inclusion and actively increase diversity within our teams.

Trustees' report for the year ended 31 March 2025

Reference and administrative details of the charity, its trustees and advisors

The trustees during the financial year and up to and including the date the report was approved were:

Name Position Sonya Dougherty Chair from April 2023 Geoffrey Lee Chris Mann Treasurer from April 2024 Nita Sparkes Steve Jenkins Appointed April 2024 Victoria Holland Appointed April 2024 Gemma Monk Appointed March 2024 Dr. Richard Baylis Treasurer to April 2024 - Resigned April 2024 Chief Executive Officer Caroline Newman Charity number 518825 Registered in England and Wales Company number 01702827 Registered in England and Wales

Registered and principal address

Second Floor, City Gates, Wind Street, Swansea SA1 1EE

Statutory Auditors

Bevan Buckland LLP

Bankers

CAF Bank Charities Official Investment Fund (COIF)

Structure, governance and management

The charity is a company limited by guarantee and was formed on 25 February 1983. It is governed by its memorandum and articles of association, as amended on 19 May 2022. It was registered as a charity on 30 June 1987. The liability of the members in the event of the company being wound up is limited to a sum not exceeding £1. At 31 March 2025 the company had 16 individual members (2024 - 15).

Organisational Structure

Citizens Advice Swansea Neath Port Talbot Limited (CASNPT) is governed by its trustee board which is responsible for setting the strategic direction of the organisation and for monitoring and scrutinising its progress and performance against agreed objectives. The trustees carry the ultimate responsibility for the conduct of CASNPT and for ensuring that the charity satisfies its legal and contractual obligations. Trustees meet at least quarterly and delegate the day-to-day operation of the organisation to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and a senior management team. The trustee board is independent from management.

Trustees' report (continued) for the year ended 31 March 2025

Structure, governance and management (continued)

Organisational Structure (continued)

A group of trustees, known as the 'Officers' Group', comprising the Chair, Vice Chair and Treasurer and another trustee on rotation, meets in between each board meeting and reports back recommendations for consideration on issues delegated to it by the trustee board on specific areas of the organisation's business. The Officers' Group has Terms of Reference which are regularly reviewed.

Recruitment and Appointment of Trustees

The trustees are elected from the local community and must either reside, work or have an interest in the areas covered by the service. A selection panel comprising trustees and the CEO, and chaired by the Chair of trustees, undertakes the interviewing of all potential new board members. A separate process agreed by the trustee board is followed for the election of Chair, which may include co-options from outside of the board itself. Each panel then reports its recommendations for co-option or election at the following trustee board/AGM for approval. No other persons or bodies external to the charity is entitled to appoint persons to the trustee board.

Induction of Trustees

Newly appointed trustees are provided with an induction to CASNPT through meetings with staff and the Chair, and mentoring by established trustees. All trustees have access to Citizens Advice online services and information, and are encouraged to attend national Citizens Advice meetings and conferences and to partake in training.

Related Parties

CASNPT is a member of Citizens Advice, the operating name of the National Association of Citizens Advice Bureaux, which provides a framework for standards of advice and casework management as well as monitoring progress against these standards. Operating policies are independently determined by the Trustee Board of CASNPT in order to fulfil its charitable objects and comply with the national membership requirements.

The charity also co-operates and liaises with a number of other advisory services, local charities and local authority departments on behalf of clients. Where one of the trustees holds the position of trustee/director of another charity, they may be involved in discussions regarding that other charity but not in the ultimate decision-making process.

Risk management

CASNPT operates a corporate risk management process, with a risk management strategy and risk register agreed and regularly reviewed by the trustee board. The trustees recognise that any major risks to which the charity is exposed need to be reviewed and systems put in place to mitigate those risks. To that end CASNPT continually monitors and manages its risk, reviewing the corporate risk register and ensuring action plans are in place to mitigate clearly defined risk areas.

A major external risk is that of the loss of funding. The effects of this are mitigated by the procedures in place, including diversification of funding streams. Internal risks are minimised by the implementation of procedures for authorisation of all transactions and projects and to ensure consistent quality of delivery for all operational aspects of the charitable company. These procedures are periodically reviewed to ensure that they still meet the needs of the charity.

Trustees' report (continued) for the year ended 31 March 2025

Objectives and activities

The charity's objectives

The Charity’s objectives are to promote any charitable purpose for the public benefit by the advancement of education, the protection and preservation of health and the relief of poverty, sickness and distress in particular, but without limitation, for the benefit of the community in the City and County of Swansea and Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council and surrounding areas (the ‘area of benefit’).

The charity's main activities

CASNPT provides free, confidential, impartial and independent advice and information as part of meeting the two service wide aims:

to provide the advice people need for the problems they face, and
to improve the policies and practices that affect people's lives.

While this involves providing advice and information to members of the public, an essential aspect of the role of Citizens Advice is to exercise a responsible influence on the development of policies and services and to ensure individuals do not suffer through a lack of knowledge or an inability to express their needs effectively, through research, media and campaigning work.

Public benefit statement

The trustees have paid due regard to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit in deciding the activities undertaken by the local Citizens Advice service during the year. The trustees are satisfied that the information provided in the report and accounts meets the public benefit reporting requirements.

The principal activity of CASNPT remains the provision of free, confidential, independent and impartial advice and information for members of the public. This is provided through one central office location in Swansea city centre and through remote delivery across the counties of Neath Port Talbot and Swansea. In addition to generalist advice the following specialist advisory services were provided:

i) Specialist Welfare Benefit throughout Wales through the medium of telephone;

ii) Specialist Debt provision through the undertaking of Debt Relief Order applications by Approved Intermediaries employed by CASNPT;

iii) Remote services funded by the Local Health Board and Welsh Government;

iv) Advice to potential benefits' claimants through the Claim What's Yours service.

v) Income maximisation support for those over 65, funded by Independent Age.

Advisory services are provided through telephone consultations, video calls and email throughout the area of benefit. Face-to-face consultations have been re-introduced gradually since June 2022, and we have worked steadily to reach communities by regular attendance at outreach venues.

Trustees' report (continued) for the year ended 31 March 2025

Financial Review

The net deficit for the year was £2,003, including a net surplus of £72,711 on unrestricted funds and a net deficit of £74,714 on restricted funds, after transfers.

At 31 March 2025, total reserves were £862,618, of which £51,702 represented balances on restricted funds (2023/24: £864,621 total of which £126,416 were restricted funds).

Reserves Policy

It is the charity's policy that funds not presently committed or invested in tangible fixed assets should be maintained at the equivalent of a minimum of four and a maximum of six months' expenditure in general unrestricted funds in order for CASNPT to continue to pursue its activities should there be a period of reduced income. This is also considered prudent in the light of funding which is received in arrears.

The charity's free reserves, excluding fixed assets, at the year-end were £810,916 (2023/24: £735,567). Trustees have previously resolved to designate £40,000 towards the future relocation of its Swansea premises. At 31 March 2025 therefore, free unrestricted reserves amounted to £770,916. This amounts to around 5.75 months' budgeted expenditure, which trustees consider to be a reasonable position particularly in view of the ongoing uncertainties in relation to the planned office relocation.

Trustees' report (continued) for the year ended 31 March 2025

Statement of trustees' responsibilities

The trustees (who are also the directors for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the Trustees report and the financial statements in accordance with the applicable law and UK Accounting Standards.

Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial accounts for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for the year. In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:

select suitable accounting policies and apply them consistently;
observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP;
make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
state whether applicable UK accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements;
prepare the accounts on a going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charitable company will continue in operation.

The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and to enable them to ensure that the financial accounts 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.

This report has been prepared in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities (Charities SORP (FRS102), and in accordance with the special provisions of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies.

Signed on behalf of the board of trustees on 20 August 2025

Name: Sonya Dougherty (Chair)

Report of the Independent Auditors to the Trustees of Citizens Advice Swansea Neath Port Talbot Limited

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Citizens Advice Swansea Neath Port Talbot Limited (the 'charitable company') for the year ended 31 March 2025 which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities, the Balance Sheet, the Cash Flow Statement and notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion the financial statements:

give a true and fair view of the state of the charitable company's affairs as at 31 March 2025 and of its incoming resources and application of resources, for the year then ended;
have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice;
have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006.

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 Auditors' responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charitable company 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 trustees' 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 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. The other information comprises the information included in the Annual Report, other than the financial statements and our Report of the Independent Auditors 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.

(continued) Report of the Independent Auditors to the Trustees of Citizens Advice Swansea Neath Port Talbot Limited

Other information (continued)

In connection with our audit of the financial statements, 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 the audit:

the information given in the Report of the Trustees for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and
the Report of the Trustees has been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the charitable company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the Report of the Trustees.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters where the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

adequate accounting records have not been kept or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or
the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or
certain disclosures of trustees' remuneration specified by law are not made; or
we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the Statement of Trustees' Responsibilities, 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.

Our 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 a Report of the Independent Auditors 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.

(continued) Report of the Independent Auditors to the Trustees of Citizens Advice Swansea Neath Port Talbot Limited

Our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements (continued)

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below:

Extent to which the audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud.

We identify and assess the risks of material misstatement of the Financial Statements, whether due to fraud or error, and then design and perform audit procedures responsive to those risks, including obtaining audit evidence that is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

We discussed our audit independence complying with the Revised Ethical Standard 2019 with the engagement team members whilst planning the audit and continually monitored our independence throughout the process.

Identifying and assessing potential risks related to irregularities.

In identifying and assessing risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and noncompliance with laws and regulations, our procedures included the following:

(i) enquiring of management, including obtaining and reviewing supporting documentation, concerning the Charity's policies and procedures relating to:

identifying, evaluating and complying with laws and regulations and whether they were aware of any instances of non-compliance;
detecting and responding to the risks of fraud and whether they have knowledge of any actual, suspected or alleged fraud;
the internal controls established to mitigate risks related to fraud or non-compliance with laws and regulations;

(ii) discussing among the engagement team how and where fraud might occur in the financial statements and any potential indicators of fraud.

(iii) obtaining an understanding of the legal and regulatory frameworks that the Charity operates in, focusing on those laws and regulations that had a direct effect on the financial statements or that had a fundamental effect on the operations of the Charity. The key laws and regulations we considered in this context included the UK Companies Act and relevant tax legislation.

Audit response to risks identified

In addition to the above, our procedures to respond to risks identified included the following:

reviewing the financial statement disclosures and testing to supporting documentation to assess compliance with relevant laws and regulations;

enquiring of management concerning actual and potential litigation and claims; performing analytical procedures to identify any unusual or unexpected relationships that may indicate risks of material misstatement due to fraud;
reading minutes of meetings of those charged with governance;
in addressing the risk of fraud through management override of controls, testing the appropriateness of journal entries and other adjustments;
assessing whether the judgements made in making accounting estimates are indicative of a potential bias; and
evaluating the operational rationale of any significant transactions that are unusual or outside the normal course of operations.

(continued) Report of the Independent Auditors to the Trustees of Citizens Advice Swansea Neath Port Talbot Limited

Audit response to risks identified (continued)

We also communicated relevant identified laws and regulations and potential fraud risks to all engagement team members and remained alert to any indications of fraud or non-compliance with laws and regulations throughout the audit.

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 Report of the Independent Auditors.

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 auditors' 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.

…………………………… Sa AOR OORT AR. aoe

Michael Jones (Senior Statutory Auditor)

for and on behalf of Bevan Buckland LLP Chartered Accountants and Statutory Auditors Ground Floor Cardigan House Castle Court Swansea Enterprise Park Swansea SA7 9LA

4/9/2025

Date………………….

Statement of Financial Activities (including summary income and expenditure account) for the year ended 31 March 2025

Balance sheet as at 31 March 2025

For the year ending 31 March 2025 the charitable company was entitled to exemption from audit under section 477 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies.

The members have not required the charitable company to obtain an audit of its accounts for the year in question in accordance with section 476. The trustees (who are also the directors for the purposes of company law) acknowledge their responsibilities for complying with the requirements of the Act with respect to accounting records and the preparation of accounts.

These accounts have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies’ regime and with FRS 102 (effective January 2019).

Sonya Dougherty (Chair) 24/11/2025

Statement of cash flows for the year ended 31 March 2025

Notes to the accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025

1 Accounting policies

( a) Basis of accounting

These accounts have been prepared under the historical cost convention with items recognised at cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant note(s) to these accounts. The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019) and with the Charities Act 2011.

The charity constitutes a public benefit entity as defined by FRS 102. There has been no change to the accounting policies since last year. No changes have been made to the accounts for previous years.

(b) Going concern

The trustees are satisfied that there are no material uncertainties about the charity's ability to continue.

( c) Incoming resources

All incoming resources are included in the Statement of Financial Activities (SOFA) when the charity becomes entitled to the resources, it is more likely than not that the trustees will receive the resources and the monetary value can be measured with sufficient reliability.

Grants receivable

Grants and donations are only included in the SOFA when the charity has unconditional entitlement to the resources. Grants received for a specific purpose and subject to conditions specified by the donor are treated as restricted funds. Revenue grants are credited directly to the Statement of Financial Activities (SoFA). Capital grants are released over the life of the assets in line with the depreciation policy. Where grants are related to performance and specific deliverables, they are accounted for as the charity earns the right to consideration by its performance.

Bank interest

Bank interest is include in the SoFA on a receivable basis.

Other income

Sales of services are included in the SoFA in the period to which they relate. Other income, including donations, gifts and covenants, is included as it is received.

Gifts and intangible income

In addition to the above, the charity also receives help and support in the form of voluntary assistance in advising the public. This help and support is not included in the financial statements, but its value to the charity is acknowledged and disclosed in the trustees' report.

Deferred income

Grants received in advance of the period to which the funder requires the expenditure to be applied are reflected in deferred income within the balance sheet. Income is released to the SoFA in the reporting period in which the conditions which limited recognition are met.

(continued) Notes to the accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025

1 Accounting policies (continued)

( d) Expenditure and liabilities

Expenditure is recognised on an accrual basis as a liability is incurred. Liabilities are recognised where it is more likely than not that there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the charity to pay out the resources and the amount of the obligation can be measured with reasonable certainty

All expenditure related to the provision of advice services is included within charitable expenditure.

Costs allocated between expenditure categories are on a basis designed to reflect their resource usage. Some costs are allocated directly to activities; other costs are apportioned, for example by staff time spent on the activity, or another equitable usage measure.

(e) Taxation

As a charity the organisation benefits from rates relief and is generally exempt from corporation tax but not from VAT. Irrecoverable VAT is included in the cost of those items to which it relates.

(f) Tangible fixed assets

Tangible fixed assets costing more than £2,000 are capitalised and included at cost including any incidental expenses of acquisition. Gifted assets are shown at the value to the charity on receipt.

Depreciation is provided on such tangible fixed assets at rates calculated to write off the cost on a straight line basis over their expected useful economic lives as follows: Computer equipment: over 3 years Website: over 3 years

(g) Pensions

The charity operates a defined contribution scheme for the benefit of its employees, compliant with autoenrolment legislation. The costs of contributions are recognised in the year they are payable.

(h) Fund accounting

Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the charity.

Designated funds are unrestricted funds earmarked by the trustees for particular purposes. The use of such funds is at the trustees' discretion.

Restricted funds are subjected to restrictions on their expenditure imposed by the donor or through the terms of an appeal.

Further explanation of the nature and purpose of each fund is included in the notes to the accounts.

(continued) Notes to the accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025

1 Accounting policies (continued)

(i) Leases

Rental costs under operating leases are charged on a straight line basis over the lease term or to an earlier date if the lease can be determined without financial penalty.

(j) 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.

(k) Cash at bank and in hand

Cash at bank and cash in hand includes cash and short term highly liquid investments with a short maturity of three months or less from the date of acquisition or opening of the deposit or similar account.

(l) Creditors and provisions

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.

(m) Financial instruments

The charity has elected to apply the provisions of Section 11 'Basic Financial Instruments' and Section 12 'Other Financial Instruments Issues' of FRS 102 to all of its financial instruments.

Financial instruments are recognised in the charity's balance sheet when the charity becomes party to the contractual provisions of the instrument.

Financial assets and liabilities are offset, with the net amounts presented in the financial statements, when there is a legally enforceable right to set off the recognised amounts and there is an intention to settle on a net basis or to realise the asset and settle the liability simultaneously.

(continued) Notes to the accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025

(continued) Notes to the accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025

(continued) Notes to the accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025

Statement of Financial Activities including comparatives for all funds (including summary income and expenditure account) for the year ended 31 March 2025