## AGM Royal British Legion, Claines # 24th September 2024 Worcester District Scouts Annual Report September ## Chairman’s Report – Annual General Meeting 2024 As chair of the Worcester District Scouts Council, I am pleased to present the Annual General Meeting Report 2024 on behalf of the Trustees. I would like to thank the Trustees for their dedicated efforts over the past year. I would like to present the nominations for appointed Trustees as: - Susan Ranscombe - Carol Silvester - Andy Hopkins - Owen Williams - Stuart Bowen as Treasurer - Derek Simmonds as Chair - Callum Walters And the Ex – Officio members not elected are: - Brian Jenkins as District Lead - Charles Schofield as District Youth Lead I would also like to take this opportunity to recognise those individuals that are standing down this year and thank them for their contribution. - Lucy Barkas and Ryan Griffiths are stepping away from the District Team in December - Helen Hill is taking a sabbatical as a Trustee, and we very much hope to see Helen returning in the future. - Steve Eddies is stepping away as a Trustee to further build the Network group, we look forward to watching it grow from strength to strength. As in the preceding years, copies of our annual report for 2023 are available to all. Worcester District Scouts Annual Report September ## The Year Under Review 2023/24 has been another year of growth and stabilisation in Scouts Worcester District. The overall goal is to achieve pre-covid levels of membership. - In 2020, 1194 members were registered, and in January 2024 we achieved 1237. This is a remarkable achievement and thanks to a unified leadership approach. - We celebrate welcoming 84 squirrels to the District within 5 Dreys. - 229 individuals uniformed adult memberships we recorded. Although we know many hold more than one position, we are pleased to remain stable. The goal is to continue to recruit volunteers and hold a green status in all groups. - We had a goal to bolster trustee roles and non-uniformed volunteers across the district. The work continues, but we are pleased with the progress and 146 volunteers hold these roles. Our focus was on getting data, and with the RAG status reports delivered with the help of the programme support teams, we could identify which groups needed more support. We have supported groups in opening sections, and where needed, district members took positions to keep sections open and recruit. It has been a huge time impact on the members, but we are incredibly thankful for their commitment to the groups and young people. Safety, safeguarding, and ensuring the governance in accordance with the charity commission and POR has been paramount. We are pleased that we had no significant issues and where issues arose, they were managed and rectified immediately. The district has worked tirelessly to support the volunteer experience, delivering newsletters, forums, campfire sessions, WhatsApp groups and a private Facebook group for members to connect, learn, and grow together. For young people, district events in all sections have been delivered and we learn and adapt events based on what the young members want. Top awards have remained a top priority. We gave focus to them with road shows and delivered a Duke of Edinburgh / top award provision. In total 267 top awards were achieved. Our goals are to continue to reduce waiting lists, welcome young people for IMD 1-3 and encourage young people and volunteers from minority ethnic groups. Worcester District Scouts Annual Report September ## **Finances** We achieved satisfactory financial results as turnover increased as a result of increased membership and expenditure remained steady even with the increase in National and County capitation. - Total Subscriptions £81,057 - Other income from Camps and activities was £37,541.96 - Total Income, £118,598.96 - Total capitation expenditure £67,218 - Total other expenditure was £43,824.40 - Total Expenditure £111,042.40 - Total cash balance £70,126.75 - This means we have a cash positive position of £7,556.56 - Some of the forecasts from previous year have meant less expenditure especially in areas such as the hardship grant (less take up than expected). We also dialled back our admin support position at the start of the year, which we’ve reintroduced this year. - Our district camp work was split across the two accounting years (current year 24/25 and previous year 23/24). We received all of our deposits for the camp before April when we hadn’t start booking all of our activities for the camp giving us a surplus. - We received a grant for the new rules around the management of road closures for the St George’s day parade. We received this prior to the event and falls into the accounting year just gone and not this year when the event was held. (unlikely to receive this next year). Our financial forecasts for 2024/25 are as follows: - Plan to hire a group admin again. - Hardship fund to stay with the same budget due to Costa Rica trip. Worcester District Scouts Annual Report September ## Corporate Governance The Trustees believe that the Group generally meets the latest recommendations made by the model Constitution set out in POR Chapter 5.5 The anticipated Trustees stand at 9 which include the 2 ex officio roles. It is identified that to continue to operate effectively we could increase to a maximum number of 11 Trustees, allowing for the addition of 2 co-elected roles to fulfil any knowledge or specialism gaps, should they be required. The quorum stands at 55% of the trustees must be in attendance for a trustee meeting to take place, and a decision to be voted on. As it stands with 9 members of the board of trustees, that currently equates to 5 members to be in attendance. The trustees meet bi-monthly to ensure adherence to governance ## Progress Reports ## **District Commissioner** During 2023/24 the District Team has been consistent with three members. Changes to the team are now anticipated for the latter part of the coming year. Brian Jenkins will continue in role as District Lead. ## **Programme Team** The programme support team remains strong and demonstrate high levels of both willingness and ability, delivering purposeful outputs. The team saw the addition of Josh who has added much value. The team’s focus has been on: - Campfire circles which are leading to a lot of leader networking which is really positive. - Building and enabling a solid cycle of events that are popular with the young people in 4-14 sections. The focus for this year is to get target sports and other adventurous activities up and running to support programmes and utilise permit holders. Whilst continuing to develop leader skills through campfire circles. ## **Explorers and Firebrand** This year, Explorers have continued to benefit from the group-based model, with better retention and smoother move up of the current Scouts to Explorers and Young Leaders feeling part of the group family. Explorer units have opened in 8[th] , 2[nd] and 10[th] to bring our total up to 9 units. District Camp enjoyed a collective Explorer camping area and after-hours provision to help them feel like the older members they are. Young Leading continues to be a popular area, with many joining up with the wider County for training camps to earn their Young Leader belt top award. ## **Network** Black pair network had another great year. Along with the usual everyday adventure and regular social activities, they started regular tabletop gaming sessions, helped out with Worcester St café, planned future trips and took part in 14 network nights away (including their first international camp since before the pandemic) as well as supporting many other events as volunteers. They worked hard towards their top awards which will pay off in the year to come. They more than doubled to over 30 members at census 2024. they explored different ways to engage with older explorers, and their open day in October 2023 saw 25 attendees, the highest since 2016. They set up the Pear Tree core team to share out the work of running the Network. Looking ahead to 2024/25 they're still growing still work working on their top awards and still running an amazing programme, with an average of two to three activities each week. Having been on their lake Constance Explorer Belt expedition, King Scout Award Expeditions, Roverway and the Isle of Man Summer Camp later in 2024, they're now looking forward to the County Costa Rica trip, Denmark Explorer Belt, and World Scout Moot in 2025! ## Closing remarks The objective of 2024 and beyond is to deliver the GROWTH strategy in line with policy, organisation and rules. We are well underway in bringing Worcester District Scouts through the transformation programme. We have seen stability in finance with the treasurer in situ, and budgets have been managed effectively. In the coming years, we will remain dedicated to growing a youth led organisation, opening new groups to reduce our waiting lists, recruiting new leaders, supporting existing ones, and transitioning through the transformation plans that the Scouts Association will bring. I am confident that Worcester District Scouts will thrive and achieve its goals with the continued support of the Executive committee. ## Our Vision ## **We will continue with our existing vision for 2024/25 and build on the existing strong foundations to** **Grow** - To increase the size of the District to 1,500 Young People by 2025, whilst minimising the waiting list. **Recruitment** - To recruit & train over 100 new adult support members and open 2 new Groups in FY24/25 **Opportunities** - To give every Young Person the chance to try something different, to challenge their inner self, grow confidence and develop new skills. Every young person to try something new **Wellbeing** -Boost Young Peoples mental & physical wellbeing by connecting them with and through the outdoors, via camps, trips, competitions and physical based activities in the outdoors, with a huge sense of fun & worth thrown in! Recognised & rewarded with as many badges & awards as possible **Togetherness** -To unite the District, to create a greater sense of belonging, support and a culture of working together on projects that has the Young People at its core, across everything we do. **Helpfulness** - To share our experiences, share our collective support, optimise our skills across the District, share permits and kit to ensure all our Young People have every chance of developing and thriving during their time with Worcester District Scouts no matter how long and with which section. We will have prepared more young people with skills for life, supported by amazing leaders delivering an inspiring programme. We will be growing, more inclusive, shaped by young people and making a bigger impact in our communities. ## Pillars of work To meet our objectives as a movement we will focus on these three pillars of work: |Programme|People|Perception| |---|---|---| |A fun, enjoyable, high quality
programme consistently delivered
and supported by simple (digital)
tools|More, well trained, better supported
and motivated adult volunteers, and
more young people from diverse
backgrounds.|Scouting is understood, more visible,
trusted, respected and widely seen
as playing a key role in society today.| The UK plan contains many exciting initiatives under programme, people and perception which UK headquarters will start to work on. As a District our priority is to build on the work we are already doing, working towards achieving the goals we have set against the four objectives of Growth, Inclusivity, Youth Shaped and Community Impact. Our plan of action will be to focus on high quality programmes, supporting our leaders and ensuring more young people experience Scouting. ## **Worcester District Scout Group Receipts and Payments Account** |||Year start date||Year end date
**Apr-24**|| |---|---|---|---|---|---| ||**For the year**
**from**|**Apr-23**|**To**||| ||||||| |**Receipts and payments**|||||| |**Receipts**|**£**
**81,057.00**
**- 67,877.00**
**659.00**
**13,839.00**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**15.00**
**13,854.00**
**2,000.00**
**2,000.00**
**1,175.00**
**4,367.41**
**13,500.00**
**731.00**
**30.00**
**275.00**
**6,307.93**
**8,970.00**
**69.00**
**35,425.34**
**101.62**
**101.62**
**51,380.96**
**-**
**51,380.96**
**Unrestricted**
**funds**|**£**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Restricted**
**funds**|**£**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Endowment**
**funds**|**Total funds**
**£**|**Total funds**
**£**| |**Donations, legacies and similar**
**income**||||**81,057**
**- 67,877**
**659**
**13,839**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**15**
**13,854**
**2,000**
**2,000**
**1,175**
**4,367**
**13,500**
**731**
**275**
**6,308**
**8,970**
**69**
**35,395**
**102**
**102**|| |Membership subscriptions|**81,057.00**||||**-**| |Less: Membership subscriptions paid on
(National/County/Area/District)enter figures with a minus sign|**- 67,877.00**
**659.00**||||**-**| |Membership Discounts|||||| |Net membership subscriptions retained|**13,839.00**||||**-**| |Donations|**-**||||**-**| |Legacies|**-**||||**-**| |Gift Aid|**-**||||**-**| |Sundry Income|**15.00**||||**-**| |**Sub total**|**13,854.00**||||**-**| |**Grants**|||||| |Grants|**2,000.00**||||**-**| |**Sub total**|**2,000.00**||||**-**| ||||||| |Beavers Income|**1,175.00**||||**-**| |Cubs Income|**4,367.41**||||**-**| |District Camp Income|**13,500.00**||||**-**| |Duke Of Edinburgh Income|**731.00**||||**-**| |Explorers income
First Aid training income
Network Income
Scouts Income
Squirrels Income|||||| |**Sub total**|**35,425.34**|**-**
**-**
**-**|||**-**| |**Investment income**|||||| |Bank interest|**101.62**||||**-**| |**Sub total**|**101.62**||||**-**| |**_Total Gross Income_ **
**Asset and investment sales, etc.**
**_Total receipts_ **|||||| |||**-**||**51,351**|**-**| |||**-**||**-**|| ||||||**-**| ||||||| ||**51,380.96**|**-**||**51,351**|**-**| ## **Worcester District Scout Group Receipts and Payments Account** Year start date Year end date ||**For the year**
**from**||**To**||| |---|---|---|---|---|---| ||||||| |**Receipts and payments**|||||| |**Payments**||**0**
**£**
**£**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**#REF!**
**#REF!**
**#REF!**
**#REF!**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**#REF!**
**#REF!**
**Restricted**
**funds**
**Endowment**
**funds**||**Total funds**
**£**|**0**
**Total funds**
**£**| |**Charitable Payments**||||**603**
**514**
**32**
**241**
**60**
**1,452**
**8,907**
**1,986**
**377**
**1,844**
**744**
**18,676**
**706**
**766**
**3,030**
**260**
**372**
**2,438**
**819**
**43,824**|| |Accountancy software|**602.90**||||**-**| |Achievement Badges and Rewards|**514.06**||||**-**| |Adult support and training|**32.00**||||**-**| |AGM and trustees expenses|**240.58**||||**-**| |Bank Charges|**60.00**||||| |Container Rental|**1,452.00**||||**-**| |District camp costs|**8,906.85**||||**-**| |District Events|**1,985.50**||||**-**| |Donations Made|**376.99**||||**-**| |Equipment Purchases|**1,843.91**||||**-**| |First Aid Courses|**744.00**||||**-**| |Group costs|**18,675.51**||||**-**| |Growth For new Groups|**705.60**||||**-**| |Hire of Premises|**766.10**||||| |Insurance|**3,029.72**||||**-**| |Payment Fees|**260.18**||||**-**| |Permit costs|**372.19**||||| |Secretary Support|**2,437.50**||||| |Uniforms|**818.81**||||**-**| |**Sub total**|**43,824.40**||||**-**| ||||||| |||||**43,824**|**#REF!**| ||||||| |||||**5,401**
**Transfer error**
**62,568**
**#VALUE!**|**#REF!**| ||||||**-**| ||||||**-**| ||||||**#REF!**| ## **Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the year** |**£**
**Cash funds**
Bank current account
**49,041.95**
CAF
**19,086.81**
Stripe
**115.93**
Osm Cards
**1,882.06**
**-**
**70,126.75**
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Total cash funds**|**£**
**Cash funds**
Bank current account
**49,041.95**
CAF
**19,086.81**
Stripe
**115.93**
Osm Cards
**1,882.06**
**-**
**70,126.75**
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Total cash funds**|**Xst X**
**£**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Restricted**
**funds**|**200Z**
**£**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Endowment**
**funds**|**Total funds**
**£**
**49,042**
**19,087**
**116**
**1,882**
**-**
**70,127**|**Xst X 200Y**
**Total funds**
**£**| |---|---|---|---|---|---| |**Cash funds**|||||| |Bank current account|**49,041.95**|**-**|**-**|**49,042**|**-**| |CAF|**19,086.81**|**-**|**-**|**19,087**|**-**| |Stripe|**115.93**|**-**|**-**|**116**|**-**| |Osm Cards|**1,882.06**|**-**|**-**|**1,882**|**-**| ||**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**|**-**| |**Total cash funds**|**70,126.75**|**-**|**-**|**70,127**|**-**| **Contingent liabilities and future obligations** **The above receipts and payments account and statement of assets and liabilities were approved by the Trustees on Xth X 200X (the date of the Executive Committee meeting that approved the accounts) and signed on their behalf by** |Signature|Print Name| |---|---| ||Chair| ||Treasurer| CHARITY COMMISSION FOR ENGLAND AND WALES Independent examiner's report on the accounts Soction A Independent Examlnefs Report Report to the trusleesl members of WorTrsler District Scout Council On accounts for the year ended 31 March 2024 Charity no (if any) 524644 Set out on pages Receipt and Payments Accounts I report to the Irustees Dn my examination of the accounts Df the above charity { Ihe Trusl ) for the year ended 3110312024. RospDnsibilities and As the charity Iruslees of the Trust, you are responsible for the preparation basis of report of Ihe accounts in accordance with Ihe requirements of Ihe Charities Acl 2011 (-the Act"). I report in respecl of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examinalion, I have followed Ihe applicable Direclions given by the Charity Commission under section 14515Mbl of the Act. I have completed rny examination. I confimi that no material mallers have coTne to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause lo believe that in, any material respecl.. accounting records were not kept in accordance wilh section 130 of the Act or the accounts do not accord with Ihe acwunling records Independent examiner's statement I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in Connection wilh the examination lo which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper un(Jerstanding of the accounts to be reached. Signed: Date: 3010912024 Name: David W FaEbrother BsclHons) BFP ACA Relevant professional qualificalionlsl or body (if any): ICAEW Address: Kendall Wadley LLP Granta Lodge, 71 Graham Rd, Malvern WR14 2JS