## **Trustees’ Annual Report** 

South Marches District Scout Council annual report and accounts for the period 1st April 2024 - 31st March 2025 



## **Reference and Administration Details** 

|**Reference and**<br>**Details**|**Administratio**|
|---|---|
|Charity name|South Marches District Scout Council|
|Other names the charity is known by|Scouts South Marches|
|Registered charity number|521368|
|Charity’s principal address|Scouts’ Corner<br>Park Street<br>Hereford,HR1 2RX|



Names of the trustees who manage the charity: 

|**Name**|**Ofce (if any)**|**Dates acted if not the whole year**|
|---|---|---|
|David Owen MBE|Chair||
|Audrey Clements|Treasurer||
|Richard Frost|District Lead Volunteer||
|Mathew Bayley|Elected||
|Christopher Rufe|Elected||
|Catherine Draper|Elected||
|Neil Styles|Elected||
|Patricia Rusher|Co-Opted|From January 2025|
|Sonya Johnson|Secretary|To September 2024|
|Patricia Rusher|Elected|To September 2024|
|Lee Fletcher|District Commissioner|To September 2024|
|Peter Johnson|District Explorer Scout Commissioner|To September 2024|
|James Price|District Explorer Scout Commissioner|To September 2024|
|Joanne Burkin|Elected|To September 2024|
|Nicholas Mason|Elected|To September 2024|



Names and contacts of advisors 

|**Type of advisor**|**Name**|**Address**|
|---|---|---|
|Independent Examiner|Michael Cole|Cole & Co., 4 The Sheepcote, Monks Orchard Farm, Lumber<br>Lane, Lugwardine, Hereford, HR1 4AG|
|Architect|Mark Owen|Owen Hicks Architecture, Studio B3, Skylon Court, Hereford,<br>HR2 6JS|





## **Structure, Governance and Management** 

## **Type of governing document** 

The District’s governing documents are those of The Scout Association. They consist of a Royal Charter, which in turn gives authority to the Bye Laws of the Association and The Policy, Organisation and Rules of The Scout Association. 

## **How the charity is constituted** 

The District is a trust established under its rules which are common to all Scouts. 

## **Trustee selection methods** 

The Trustees are appointed in accordance with the Policy, Organisation and Rules of The Scout Association. 

## **Policies and procedures** 

The District is managed by the District Executive Committee, the members of which are the ‘Charity Trustees’ of the Scout District which is an educational charity. As charity trustees they are responsible for complying with legislation applicable to charities. This includes the registration, keeping proper accounts and making returns to the Charity Commission as appropriate. 

The Committee consisted of 6 independent representatives, Chair, Treasurer and Secretary together with the District Commissioners, District Explorer Scout and Scout Network Commissioners and Group Scouter’s representation until September 2024 when Scouting Rules and Regulations changed.  It now has 7 independent exofficio and elected volunteers, whose details are on page 2 of this report, meeting at least 3 times a year. 

This District Executive Committee exists to support the District Lead Volunteers in meeting the responsibilities of the appointments and is responsible for: 

· The maintenance/ insurance of District property; 

- District public occasion. 

- Compliance with both Charity and Scouting Rules and Regulations  to include overview risk assessments. 

- Appointing District Administrators and Advisors other than those who are elected. 

## **Risk and internal control** 

Damage to the building, property and equipment. The District would request the use of buildings, property and equipment from neighbouring organisations. The District has sufficient building and contents insurance to mitigate against permanent loss. 

Injury to members. The District through capitation fees contributes to The Scout Association’s national accident insurance policy. Risk assessments are undertaken for all activities. 

Reduced income. The District is primarily reliant upon income from capitation fees and fundraising. The District holds a reserve to ensure the continuity of activities should there be a major reduction in income. The Committee could raise the value of capitation fees to increase the income to the District on an ongoing basis, either temporarily or permanently. 

Reduction or loss of leaders. The District is totally reliant upon volunteers to run and administer the activities of the District. If there was a reduction in the number of volunteers there would have to be a contraction,  in the worst case scenario the complete closure of the District 

The District has in place systems of internal controls that are designed to provide reasonable assurance against material mismanagement or loss, these include 2  signatories for all payments, specific training for Executive Committee Members and comprehensive insurance policies to ensure that insurable risks are covered. 

- The administration of District finances. 



## **Objectives & Activities** 

## **Summary of the objects of the charity set out in its governing document** 

The objectives of the District are as a unit of The Scout Association. 

learn by doing; share in spiritual reflection; take responsibility and make choices; undertake new and challenging activities, and make and live by their Promise. 

## **Summary of the main activities in relation to these objects** 

Scouting actively engages and supports young people in their personal development, empowering them to make a positive contribution to society. 

This is achieved when young people, in partnership with adults, work together based on the values of Scouting and enjoy what they are doing and have fun; take part in activities indoors and outdoors; 

## **Public benefit statement** 

The District meets the Charity Commission’s public benefit criteria both the advancement of education and the advancement of citizenship or community development headings. 

## **Achievements & performance** 

The charity has continued to support Scouting throughout South Marches as well as operating Explorer Scout and Scout Network Units. 

## **Financial Review** 

## **Overview** 

The District’s income during the year was £271558 with expenditure of £263774 resulting in a cash surplus of £7784. The net current assets of the District as at 31st March 2025 were £104209, of which £99301 were unrestricted funds, £4908 restricted funds. We currently hold cash reserves of £86775, stock valued at cost of £17434. 

## **Reserves policy** 

The District's policy on reserves is to hold sufficient 

resources to continue the charitable activities of the District should income and fundraising activities fall short. The District Executive Committee considers that the District should hold a sum equivalent to 12 months running costs and to meet unexpected expenditure on the District’s freehold assets including a significant contribution to cover the new build final payment, circa £38000. The District held sufficient cash reserves against this at year end. 

## **Investment policy** 

The District has adopted a risk averse strategy to the investment of its funds. All funds are held in cash using only mainstream banks or building societies. 

## **Declaration** 

The trustees declare they have approved the above Trustees’ Annual Report. Signed on behalf of the trustees: 

|**Signature:**<br>**Full name:**<br>**Position:**<br>**Date:**|**signed**|**signed**|
|---|---|---|
||**David Fraser Owen**|**Matthew David Bayley**|
||**Chair, Trustee**|**Trustee**|
||**10th July 2025**|**10th July 2025**|





SOUTH MARCHES DISTRICT SCOUT COUNCIL 

## **INCOME** 

|**2024**||**2025**|**Total**|
|---|---|---|---|
|**£**||**£**|**£**|
|48,326|**Membership Capitation Receipts**||51976|
|250|**Capitation debtors**||0|
||**Explorer Scouts:**|||
|5,884|Subscriptions / Gift Aid|7531||
|7,382|Activities / Fundraising|2908|10439|
|5,765|**District Activities Sections**||10106|
|0|**Network**||0|
||**District**|||
|0|St. Georges Day|0||
|11,836|Gang Show|13453|13453|
|0|**District Equipment Hire**||0|
||Sales|1000|1000|
|5,653|**Badge Account-- Sales**||5916|
|1,500|**Badge Account Donation**||1000|
|0|**Uniform Donation**||7000|
|13,107|**Uniform Scout Shop - Sales**||11803|
|640,763|**Donations - Restricted A/c**||147388|
|0|**Donations/Gift Aid and Grants**||616|
|847|**Bank Interest**||519|
||**Closure Kington Group**||2683|
|0|**Scouts Corner**||7659|
|**741,313**|**TOTAL INCOME**||**271558**|





SOUTH MARCHES DISTRI￿ SCOUT COUNCIL

SOUTH MARCHES DISTRICT SCOUT COUNCIL 

## **EXPENDITURE** 

|**2024**|||**2025**|
|---|---|---|---|
|**£**||**£**|**£**|
|37,536|**Membership Capitation**||41296|
|734|**Marden Site Costs**||1879|
|13,784|**Explorer Scouts**||8486|
|5,586|**District Activities Sections**||10394|
||**OtherActivities**|||
|562|Camps / Events|||
|390|St. Georges Day|860||
|6,402|Gang Show||18977|
|0|**Network**||860|
|547|**Web Site**||873|
|912|**Leominster:  Operational**||264|
|0|**Scouts Corner: Operational**||8649|
|0|**Equipment Purchases**||399|
||**District Costs**:||0|
|1,384|Rent|||
|743|Training|228||
|1,695|Admin./Travel|767||
|810|Insurances|869||
|165|District Days|6||
|0|District Awards|||
||**Donations**|0|1870|
|0|Support Group/District Start Ups|||
|100|Restricted||0|
|50|Welfare|||
|25|Other|||
|8,168|**Uniform  Purchases**||7234|
||**Transfer from Uniform Account**||7000|
|3,988|**Badge Account Purchases**||4458|
|1,500|**Transfer from Badge Account**||1000|
|0|**Capital  Exp. Scouts Corner**|||
|0|**Leominster**||0|
|0|**Transfer from Uniform account**|||
|695599|**Scouts Corner Cap. Ex.restricted**||150135|
|**780680**|**TOTAL EXPENDITURE**||263774|
|**-39367**|**NET RECEIPTS / (EXPENDITURE) FOR YEAR**||**7784**|





SOUTH MARCHES DISTRICT SCOUT COUNCIL 

|**2024**|**ACCOUNTS AND PAYMENTS SUMMARY**||**2025**||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|**£**||**£**|**£**||
|741,313|Total receipts for year||271558||
|(780,680)|Total payments for year||-263774||
|(39,367)|**Net receipts / (expenditure) for year**||7784||
|0|**Depreciation of fixed assets**||0||
|361,728|**Balance brought forward**||322,361||
|831|**Badge Stock Adjustment**||934||
|7,130|**Uniform  Stock**||7130||
|22,000|**Landat  Marden Net Value***||22000||
|286,000|**Insurance Valuation Leominster**||286000||
|666,000|**Additional valuation Scouts Corner**||716000||
|1,304,322|||1362209||
||**STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES**||||
|1,208,000|**Fixed Assets - Freehold and buildings ****||1258000||
||**Current Assets**||||
|50|Cash in hand|50|||
|75,716|Bank accounts - Unrestricted|81327|||
|4,908|Bank accounts - Restricted|4908|86285||
|487|**Debtors**||490||
|8,031|**Stock Badges**||8134||
|7,130|**Stock  Uniform**||9300||
|1,304,322|||1362209||
||**BANK BALANCES**||||
|1,369|Badges||1783||
|13,620|District||26967||
|7,317|Explorers||9269||
|1,735|Network||1735||
|10,391|Gang Show||4867||
|8,621|Uniform Account||3812||
|2,593|District Activities Section||2305||
|34,978|District Savings a/c (Gang Show)||35497||
|80,624||||86235|
||Contingent liabilty  final payment||||
||Scouts Corner £22280.86||||





SOUTH MARCHES DISTRICT SCOUT COUNCIL 

||* Sale agreed £26000 deducted||
|---|---|---|
||estimated sale costs||
||**Summary Fixed Assets ****||
|900,000|Scouts Corner Build costs|950000|
|286,000|Leominster Insurance Valuation|286000|
|22,000|Marden|22000|
|1,208,000|Total Fixed Assets|1258000|
||**Designated Account**||
||Kington Group Closure|2683|





## **Independent Examiner's Report to the Trustees of the** 

## **SOUTH MARCHES DISTRICT SCOUT COUNCIL** 

## **Registered Charity Number 521368** 

I report on the accounts of the District for the year ended 31[st] March 2025 which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities, the Balance Sheet and related notes set out on pages 1 to 4 

This report is made solely to the trustees in accordance with Section 145 of the Charities Act 2011. My work has been undertaken so that I might state to the charity’s trustees those matters I am required to state to them in an Independent Examiner’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, I do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charity and the charity’s trustees for my examination work. 

## **Respective responsibilities of Trustees and Examiner** 

The District’s trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. They consider that an audit is not required for this year (under Section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 (the Charities Act)) and that an independent examination is needed. 

It is my responsibility to: 

- Examine the accounts (under Section 145 of the Charities Act); 

- To  follow  the  procedures  laid  down  in  the  General  Directions  given  by  the  Charity Commissioners  (under Section 145(5b) of the Charities Act); and 

- To state whether particular matters have come to my attention. 

## **Basis of Independent Examiner's report** 

My examination was carried out in accordance with the General Directions given by the Charity Commissioners. An examination  includes  a  review  of  the  accounting  records  kept  by  the District  and  a  comparison  of  the accounts  presented  with  those  records.  It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeking explanations from you as trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do  not  provide  all  the  evidence  that  would  be  required  in  an  audit,  and  consequently  no opinion  is  given  as  to whether the accounts present a ‘true and fair’ view and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below. 

## **Independent Examiner's statement** 

In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention: 

1. which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in, any material respect, the requirements 

   - to keep accounting records in accordance with Section 130 of the Charities Act ; 

   - and to  prepare  accounts  which  accord  with  the  accounting  records  and  comply  with the  accounting requirements of the Charities Act have not been met; or 

2.  to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached. 

Name:   Michael Cole 

Signed   Michael Cole 

Qualification:   FCCA 

Address:   Cole & Co., 4, The Sheepcote, Monks Orchard, Lumber Lane, Lugwardine, Hereford, HR1 4AG Date: 28[th ] April 2025