North Coast Community Transport Company limited by guarantee
Company information
| Trustees | Marie McGinnis | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Ken McCaughey | |||
| Edna Walmsley | - | Resigned 25/5/23 | |
| Andrea Elkin | |||
| Secretary | Edna Walmsley | - | Resigned 25/5/23 |
| Andrea Elkin | - | Appointed 25/5/23 | |
| Senior Management | William Moore | ||
| Emma Mullan |
|||
| Company number | NI38840 | ||
| Principal and Registered office | Ivan Wilson Complex | ||
| 277 Dunhill Road | |||
| Coleraine | |||
| Co Londonderry | |||
| BT51 3QJ | |||
| Auditors | EM Accountants, Statutory | Auditor | |
| 42A-44A New Row | |||
| Coleraine | |||
| BT52 1AF | |||
| Bankers | First Trust | ||
| Crescent Link Retail | Park | ||
| Unit 20 | |||
| Londonderry | |||
| BT47 6SA |
North Coast Community Transport Company limited by guarantee
Trustees' Report (Including Directors Report) for the year ended 31 March 2023
The Trustees, who are also the directors of the company for the purposes of the Companies Act, present their report and financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023.
The information with respect to trustees, directors, officers and advisers set out on the information page, forms part of this report. The financial statements comply with current statutory requirements, the Memorandum and Articles of Association, Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their annual accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland issued in October 2019, the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS102), The Companies Act 2006 and UK Generally Accepted Practice.
Objectives and Activities
In shaping our objectives for the year and planning our activities, the trustees have considered the Charity Commission guidance on public benefit. The principal activity of the company is to provide an affordable and accessible transport service to the rural community in the North Coast area and to support and compliment other organisations involved in community development initiatives.
North Coast Community Transport (NCCT) provides relief to those in need by reason of youth, age, ill health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantage through the provision of community led access solutions in the North Coast area. NCCT meets our charitable purposes through the provision of wholly charitable transport solutions for beneficiaries who are unable to access conventional public or private transport because of age, rural location, mobility issues and poverty. Beneficiaries include people who are: elderly, poor, disabled, people with young children, or those living in isolated areas and for community organisations, where there are no adequate public transport facilities.
NCCT secures grants and donations to support provision of subsidised transport for beneficiaries. NCCT delivers services using community minibuses and volunteer car drivers. NCCT provides information to enable people to avail of various means of travel to enable access to local services, working in partnership with other transport providers to ensure alternatives and linkages to other services.
Achievements and Performance
Three years after the Covid challenge, NCCT are now back operating at 75% compacity and continue to grow this daily. Recovering from a significant reduction in trips and volunteers we have pulled performance back up in line with current funding levels and with a successful grant application to Motability fund of £1.2 million, intend to increase these significantly, especially with disabled groups as well as increasing the vehicle fleet with 10 additional minibuses. Last year we increased our overall trips from 82,000 to 104,000. Our volunteer car driver’s increased from 25 last year to the current 32 and contributed to the delivery of more than 15,000 passenger trips.
Financial Review
The statement of financial activities for the year is set out on page 10 of the financial statements. The principal funder of the charity is the Department for Infrastructure through the rural transport fund. During the period ended 31st March 2023, incoming resources includes grant income of £384,894 from the rural transport fund. This grant has been used solely for the purposes intended and in accordance with the terms and conditions of grant. Other funding of £131,498 was received from Disability Action and £123,700 was received from National Lottery for the Wheels 2 Wellbeing project. Funding of £3,116 was also received from the Department for Employment and Learning. The amount received from Department for Infrastructure in respect of the assisted rural transport scheme was £120,296.
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North Coast Community Transport Company limited by guarantee
Trustees' Report (Including Directors Report)
for the year ended 31 March 2023
……continued
Reserves policy
The charity's policy on restricted funds is to separately record donations, grants and other sources of fundraising where restrictions are imposed that are narrower than the charity's overall objectives.
The trustees have reviewed the charity's requirements for reserves in conjunction with their analysis of the main risks for the company. At 31[st] March 2023 the charity held reserves of £1,015,333 of which £271,861 were restricted funds. They have established a reserves policy which states that the unrestricted funds not invested in Fixed Assets need to be sufficient to cover 6 months of core annual running costs and be sufficient to cover redundancy costs and vehicle commitments. This equates to approximately £730,620 in general funds. At this level, the trustees consider that they would be able to continue the current activities of the charity in the short term in the event of a significant drop in income. It would also be necessary to consider how that income would be replaced. At the balance sheet date free reserves, which amount to £559,110 do not exceed the minimum target amount.
Plans for the future
It is now more important than ever that NCCT lobby local councilors and MLA’s of all policitcal parties, work with the main stakeholders and government departments who rely on our transport to highlight the importance of our services to the isolated, elderly and disabled population in our area with a view to securing multi-year ring fenced funding. The importance of Community Transport services was recently highlighted within the Department for Infrastructures EQIA study and NCCT along with other community transport orgainisations plan to continue their campaign until we receive recognition that we deserve followed by a revised funding strategy.
Having secured funding from Motability we plan to work more closely with disabled groups and individuals within our operational area, providing training to driver’s and additional vehicle access which hopefully enables more activities for disabled clients.
Structure, Governance and Management
Organisational structure
North Coast Community Transport is a company limited by guarantee and recognised as a charity by Inland Revenue. In terms of company law, charity law and day to day activities, the company is an independent entity. The trustees meet regularly to direct the operations of the charity. The charity had 33 employees at March 31st 2023.
Governance
During the period under review the trustees met approximately every eight weeks. A panel comprised of existing trustees selects members for the board. Trustees serve for a one year period and may be re-elected for further one year periods. The trustees who served during the period to March 31st 2023 are listed on the information page.
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North Coast Community Transport Company limited by guarantee
Trustees' Report (Including Directors Report)
for the year ended 31 March 2023
……continued
Risk Management
The trustees have reviewed the major risks to which the charity is exposed and systems have been established to manage those risks.
Reference and administration details
North Coast Community Transport, is a charitable company limited by guarantee, incorporated on June 20th 2000. It is registered with the Companies Registrar under registration number NI38840. It is also recognised as a charity by the Inland Revenue, XR58093 and registered as a charity with the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland under reference NI100411. The trustees and secretary of the charity are listed on the information page. The principal and registered office of the charity is also listed on the information page together with details of the professional advisors and bankers.
Changes in fixed assets
The movements in fixed assets during the year are set out in the notes to the financial statements.
Taxation
As a charity the company is not liable for corporation tax on its other income or on capital gains to the extent that these are applied to its charitable objects.
Statement of trustees' responsibilities in respect of the annual report and the financial statements
Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements 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 that period. In preparing these financial statements, the directors are required to:
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select suitable accounting policies and apply them consistently;
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observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP,;
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make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
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state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures
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disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and
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prepare the financial statements on the 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 charity and that help ensure that the 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.
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North Coast Community Transport Company limited by guarantee
Trustees' Report (Including Directors Report) for the year ended 31 March 2023
Statement of disclosure of information to auditors
So far as each of the trustees in office at the date of approval of these financial statements is aware:
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there is no relevant information of which the charity's auditors are unaware; and
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they have taken all the steps that they ought to have taken as trustees/directors in order to make themselves aware
of any relevant information and to establish that the charity's auditors are aware of that information.
Auditors
A resolution proposing that EM Accountants be re-appointed as auditors of the charity will be put to the Annual General Meeting.
Small Company Provisions
This report has been prepared in accordance with the provisions in Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006 applicable to companies subject to the small companies regime.
This report was approved and authorised for issue by the trustees on 3[rd] August 2023 and signed on their behalf by:
Marie McGinnis
Marie McGinnis (Aug 4, 2023 10:36 GMT+1)
Marie McGinnis Director
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