COMPANY REGISTRATION NUMBER: NI031517 CHARITY REGISTRATION NUMBER: 102592
Shopmobility Belfast Limited Company Limited by Guarantee Financial Statements
31 March 2023
Finegan Gibson Ltd Chartered accountants & statutory auditor Causeway Tower 9 James Street South Belfast BT2 8DN
Shopmobility Belfast Limited
Company Limited by Guarantee
Financial Statements
Year ended 31 March 2023
| Page | |
|---|---|
| Trustees' annual report (incorporating the director's report) | 1 |
| Independent auditor's report to the members | 8 |
| Statement of financial activities (including income and | |
| expenditure account) | 14 |
| Statement of financial position | 15 |
| Notes to the financial statements | 16 |
Shopmobility Belfast Limited
Company Limited by Guarantee
Trustees' Annual Report (Incorporating the Director's Report)
Year ended 31 March 2023
The trustees, who are also the directors for the purposes of company law, present their report and the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 March 2023.
Reference and administrative details
| Registered charity name | Shopmobility Belfast Limited | |
|---|---|---|
| Charity registration number | 102592 | |
| Company registration number | NI031517 | |
| Principal office and registered | Westgate House | |
| office | 2 Queen Street | |
| Belfast | ||
| BT1 6ED | ||
| The trustees | ||
| C Flinn | ||
| J Walsh (Chairperson) | ||
| C Toner | ||
| S Winston | (Resigned 29 April 2022) | |
| K Stewart | (Resigned 29 April 2022) | |
| D Browne | ||
| S Stewart | ||
| P Bond | (Appointed 22 June 2022) | |
| Company secretary | Julie Guilar | |
| Auditor | Finegan Gibson Ltd | |
| Chartered accountants & statutory auditor | ||
| Causeway Tower | ||
| 9 James Street South | ||
| Belfast | ||
| BT2 8DN | ||
| Bankers | AIB | |
| 11-15 Donegall Square North | ||
| Belfast | ||
| BT1 5GB | ||
| Solicitors | Culbert & Martin | |
| 7 Donegal Square West | ||
| Belfast | ||
| BT1 6JB |
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Shopmobility Belfast Limited
Company Limited by Guarantee
Trustees' Annual Report (Incorporating the Director's Report) (continued)
Year ended 31 March 2023
Structure, governance and management
Governing Document
Shopmobility Belfast is a company limited by guarantee governed by its Memorandum and Articles of Association dated 1996. Shopmobility Belfast is a registered charity with the Charity Commission for Northern Ireland. Shopmobility Belfast is a membership organisation with currently 5168 members. There were 380 new members signed up in this period.
Appointment of trustees
The Chairman and the Trustees recruit and select new Trustees as needed. New Trustees are recruited on the relevance of their professional skills, and their potential to be able to make a helpful contribution to the governance of the charity. As part of the recruitment process they are made aware of a Trustees' legal obligations under charity and company law, the content of the Memorandum and Articles of Association, the committee and decision-making processes, the business plan and recent financial performance of the charity.
Once the potential new Trustee has agreed to be considered for appointment to the role, the Trustees meet to review and to vote on the candidates' suitability for appointment. If there is unanimous agreement, their names are then proposed for appointment, to the voting Members of the Company at the next Annual General Meeting.
Arrangements for setting pay and remuneration of key management personnel
The board of directors, who are the charity's trustees, and the senior management team comprise the key management personnel of the charity in charge of directing and controlling, running and operating the charity on a day-to-day basis. All directors give of their time freely and no director received remuneration in the year.
The pay of the senior staff is reviewed annually and normally increased in accordance with average earnings. In view of the nature of the charity, the directors benchmark against pay levels in other similar sized charities run on a voluntary basis. The remuneration bench-mark is the mid-point of the range paid for similar roles adjusted for a weighting of up to 30% for any additional responsibilities. If recruitment has proven difficult in the recent past a market addition is also paid with the pay maximum no greater than the highest benchmarked salary for a comparable role.
Organisation structure and how charity makes decisions
The board of trustees, which can have up to 15 members, administers the charity. The board normally meets quarterly and there may at any time be sub-committees covering development, membership, finance and audit which would normally meet monthly. A Chief Executive is appointed by the trustees to manage the day-to-day operations of the charity. To facilitate effective operations, the Chief Executive has delegated authority, within terms of delegation approved by the trustees, for operational matters including finance, employment and direct charitable activities.
Relationships with related parties
None of our trustees receive remuneration or other benefit from their work with the charity.
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Shopmobility Belfast Limited
Company Limited by Guarantee
Trustees' Annual Report (Incorporating the Director's Report) (continued)
Year ended 31 March 2023
Objectives and activities
The purposes of the charity are:
To provide people with limited mobility either through permanent or temporary disablement, illness, accident or age an assistance to shop and use the social, commercial, cultural and artistic facilities of Belfast and the surrounding area. We hope to provide an alternative to the state of isolation and withdrawal from normal life experienced by people who have found themselves temporarily trapped because of illness or age-related conditions.
In shaping our objectives for the year and planning our activities, the trustees have considered the Charity Commission's guidance on public benefit.
The strategies employed to achieve the charity's aims and objectives are to:
provide all age groups with limited mobility the means to access basic services, retail and leisure facilities, by providing the necessary mobility equipment, free of charge, through its four central Belfast centres;
provide motorised scooters, powered and manual wheelchairs and physical assistance on application of a simple membership process. After becoming a member of Shopmobility our members were able to use any of our facilities through the city e.g., from Gresham Street to Ormeau Park;
train our staff to show our new members how to use the equipment on offer and when they were confident in its use encouraged our new and old members on the facilities to visit Belfast;
train and provide mobility equipment at two hospitals in Belfast to allow patients to attend clinics and visitors with mobility difficulties to get to wards. Members can use the one membership card at any Shopmobility Belfast facility from thereon in;
also train staff and volunteers to perform as advice centres to members and the general public in matters regarding disability, mobility and accessibility issues.
work with the Alzheimer's Society to promote and help those with dementia to avail of our service to reduce isolation and depression associated with memory loss. All our staff and volunteers have completed a workshop and are trained Dementia Friends.
to provide long term hire of scooters and wheelchairs. The equipment is often used for going on holiday or for patients getting out of hospital, awaiting their own scooter or wheelchair delivery.
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Shopmobility Belfast Limited
Company Limited by Guarantee
Trustees' Annual Report (Incorporating the Director's Report) (continued)
Year ended 31 March 2023
Achievements and performance
In 2022/23 we helped 7977 individuals, many of whom used the service numerous times.
Bookings were 11656 in 2022/2023, an increase from 11504 in the previous year.
We, like many organisations, are still feeling the hangover from the Covid pandemic;
GP appointments remained severely impacted - visits in person continued to be reduced and held on the phone or online; Our demographic of older and vulnerable people was still unsure about venturing out much so curtailed trips out to essentials only; Bookings and membership numbers were also impacted through lack of tourism, which contributes a lot to our long-term hire figures;
The cost-of-living crisis has made a huge impact on people coming out to the city centre and shopping centres - whereas in the past they may have gone shopping two or three times a week they were reducing that to maybe once; Not only was the cost of items increased but so was fuel, parking fees and public and private transport price increased; Shops, restaurants, cafes etc. have all been decimated in recent years - people have less to come out for if they can't use their favourite shop or go into their favourite coffee shop; On-line shopping has become the norm and many people chose this method of buying rather than going out to shop - that includes clothing, groceries and toiletries. Like many charities and businesses, since the easing of Covid restrictions, we have struggled to get staff and volunteers. This has impacted on the opening hours in some centres, whereby they may have been opened more sporadically than normal. Inclement and bad weather conditions do have an effect on our business as people don't want to come out to sit on a scooter in pouring rain. Local shows and events like Summer Rose Fair, Titanic Maritime Festival, Twilight Markets and The Big Event continued to be impacted, mainly by costs. If budgets were reduced the organisers in general, cut the mobility services for the event in order to save money. This has a detrimental effect on new memberships and bookings;
Good news is that we successfully achieved funding from the Rank Foundation for a new Fundraiser/Marketing Executive;
This position is fully funded, alongside a mentor, for three years. We are optimistic that the right person will bring in funding and allow Shopmobility Belfast to become more sustainable in the coming years;
We continue to use Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as our main social media platforms and receive enquiries and bookings through our website. Again the new Marketing role will help raise our profile on both social and traditional media and raise awareness of our service by building our brand; Julie, our CEO has continued to participate in sessions and presentations for the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust Disability Steering Group, Every Customer Counts, Belfast Public Space Management and Belfast City Airport Accessibility Forum.
We continue to fulfil contracts with ten countryside parks, the Titanic Experience, Game of Thrones Tour, Newcastle leisure centre, George Best City Airport and both the Belfast and South Eastern Health and Social Care Trusts.
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Shopmobility Belfast Limited
Company Limited by Guarantee
Trustees' Annual Report (Incorporating the Director's Report) (continued)
Year ended 31 March 2023
Financial review
Audited accounts at the end of 22-23 show a deficit of £23,780.
Grant funding by the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) has continued and there has been no further renewal of contract with Belfast City Council (BCC). The Trustees confirm the grant provided by the Department of Infrastructure through the Transport Programme for People with Disabilities (TPPD) has been used solely for the purposes for which it was provided. We continue to receive funding from the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust (BHSCT) and the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust. (SEHSCT).
The trustees, having regard to the liquidity requirements of the charity, have kept available funds in an interest-bearing deposit account and seek to achieve a rate on deposit which matches or exceeds inflation measured by the retail prices index.
Reserves policy and going concern
Reserves are needed to bridge the timing gap between spending and receiving of income and to cover unplanned temporary shortfalls in income should they arise. Holding adequate reserves safeguards the provision of our services in the event of unexpected significant financial pressures. The trustees consider that the ideal level of reserves would be between three to six months expenditure which for the year ended 31 March 2023 would be between £74,130 and £148,860.
Unrestricted reserves freely available to spend, therefore excluding fixed assets, restricted reserves and designated reserves amounted to £75,207. The trustees believe this represents a sufficient level of reserve to ensure that the going concern assumption is appropriate.
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Shopmobility Belfast Limited
Company Limited by Guarantee
Trustees' Annual Report (Incorporating the Director's Report) (continued)
Year ended 31 March 2023
Plans for future periods
Shopmobility Belfast will continue to provide its core services with a free daily hire service of mobility equipment to our users both within the Belfast City Centre area and in outlying shopping centres and parks. We will also continue to provide a meet and greet service to both the Europa and Laganside Bus and Train stations and a long-term hire service for those who require it including people going on holiday and tourists staying in local hotels;
We will endeavour to forge new and continue old relationships with local groups and organisations and carry out demonstrations and information events at community centres, open days and various events to promote our service;
We will actively seek out new contracts and opportunities to work with stakeholders and statutory agencies to increase income and sustainability;
There will be a continued emphasis on marketing the services at the Royal and Ulster Hospitals;
We will continue to promote our service at shows and events across Northern Ireland providing equality and accessibility for all;
We also continue to participate in and support the Age Friendly Belfast projects and events. We have an on-going relationship with the Alzheimer's Society and engage with them through training sessions for our staff and volunteers;
With a new Fundraiser/Marketing Executive we aim to acquire funding to expand and add value to our service with the possible addition of a repair and delivery service;
We also hope to engage with hotels, the cruise ships and local airports to aid travellers and tourists to access Belfast in a more inclusive way;
All these activities will be carried out with recourse to Government guidelines and primarily with regard to the health and safety of our members and staff.
Trustees' responsibilities statement
The trustees, who are also directors for the purposes of company law, are responsible for preparing the trustees' report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
Company law requires the charity trustees to prepare financial statements for each year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, for that period.
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Shopmobility Belfast Limited
Company Limited by Guarantee
Trustees' Annual Report (Incorporating the Director's Report) (continued)
Year ended 31 March 2023
In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:
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select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
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observe the methods and principles in the applicable Charities SORP;
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make judgments and accounting estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
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prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in business.
The trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the charity's transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
The trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the charitable company's website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.
Auditor
Each of the persons who is a trustee at the date of approval of this report confirms that:
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so far as they are aware, there is no relevant audit information of which the charity's auditor is unaware; and
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they have taken all steps that they ought to have taken as a trustee to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the charity's auditor is aware of that information.
Small company provisions
This report has been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies entitled to the small companies exemption.
The trustees' annual report was approved on 3[rd] August 2023 and signed on behalf of the board of trustees by:
J Walsh (Chairperson) Trustee
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