Northern Ireland Chest, Heart & Stroke Company Limited by Guarantee Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2023 Trustees, Annual Report The Trustees, who are also Directors for the purposes of company law, present their report and the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 March 2023. The Trustees confirm that they comply with the requirements of the Charities Act (Northern Ireland) 2008 and Accounting and Reporting by Charities.. Statement of Recommended Practice which applies to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2015}- Reference & Administrative Details Reference and administrative details are shown in the schedule of members of the Board and professional advisers on page 2 3 of the financial statements. The Directors The Directors who served the charity during the period were as follows.. Professor MPS Varma Mr J Collins - Vice-chair Mr l Lindsay- Hon Treasurer Ms Christine Donnelly Mr J Scholes Mr T Earley Mr B Gallen Dr C Wilson Prof Mike Shields Mrs T Craig (appointed 1511212022) Chair Company Secretary Mr Declan Cunnane FCA structure, Governance & Management The Charity is governed by Articles of Association which were first adopted on 17 October 2012. These Articles were revised at that time to take account of the Charities (Nl) 2008 Act and the Companies Act 2006. They were subsequently amended at the last General Meeting of the Company held on 15 December 2022 to adopt changes proposed including the number of members required for a quorum at an AGM. The Governance Board is responsible for the overall governance of the charity. Directors are either elected or co- opted and the total number of Directors may not exceed eleven or be less than five. Elected Directors may remain in office for nine years but an extension beyond this may be given if one is an office holder. Co-opted Directors are appointed by the Governance Board and shall hold office only until the next Annual General Meeting. The Board delegates the exercise of certain powers in connection with the management and administration of the charity to the Finance Committee, the Audit & Risk Committee and to the Scientific Research Committee. This is controlled by regular reporting back to the Board. so that all decisions made under delegated powers are ratified by the full Board. However, it means that the Governance Board is not compelled to analyse and discussevery decision. Recommendations from each Committee are made to the Board. The Finance Committee and Audit & Risk Committee meet every three months in addition to a quarterly Board meeting. The Scientific Research Committee meets at least On￿ a year. An operational plan and budget for 2023124 were approved by the Board on 28 March 2023. Expansion of services during 2023124 is key to the new three-year Strategic Plan {2023-26) which was also approved by the Board in March 2023, together with key milestones and success measures to demonstrate the impact of our charitable activities and the real difference these make to the lives of people in Northern Ireland. Chief Executive The Chief Executive is responsible for the day to day management of the affairs of the charity and for implementing the policies and operational plans as agreed by the Governance Board. Between meetings of the Governance Board, the Chief Executive reports to the Chairman. The Chief Executive is assisted by a group of senior managers- the Strategic Leadership Team (SLT), which includes the Deputy Chief Executive, the Director of Public Health, the Director of Care and the Director of Income Generation. -Northern Ireland Chest, Heart & Stroke Company Limited by Guarantee Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2023 Trustees, Annual Report (continued) Strategic Leadership Team (SLT) Collectively these 5 individuals are known as the Strategic Leadership Team (SLT). The performance of the 3 Directors and the Deputy CEO is appraised annually by the CEO whilst the CEO'S performance is also appraised annually by the Chairman and a small number of the other Trustees. Annual Appraisals are undertaken at the year- end but there are also regular meetings throughout the year to discuss the perf0rrnan￿ of these key personnel against agreed objectives. Salaries of all staff are aligned to the NJC Scales,'where staff will receive an annual inflationary uplift in line with the NJC Scales. Staff have the option tojoin the Company Pension plan or Nest, to save for their retirement. The Charity will make Employer contributions at varying percentage levels in addition to employee contributions. A new Salary Sacrifice scheme was introduced during the year via Royal London and most staff have availed of this pension arrangement. Group Structure The charity has two wholly owned subsidiaries.. Nl Chest Heart & Stroke Enterprises Limited This company was formed to carry out non-charitable trading activities forthe Charity, but it has not traded for several years. The Company reported a small loss of £119 (2022.. loss of £64) for some administrative costs. Nl Chest Heart & stroke Home Care Support Services Limited This company was contracted to provide home care services on behalf of Sperrin & Lakeland Health & Social Care Trust but is no longer providing these services as the Contract has ended. The Company reported a loss of £113 (2022 loss of £100) for some administrative costs. Sub Committees The 3 sub-committees of Northern Ireland Chest. Heart & Stroke are: Finance Committee Audit & Risk Committee Scientific Research Committee The Audit & Risk Committee commissions an internal audit to provide the Board and management with an independent objective opinion on risk management, control and governance. During the year ended 31 March 2023 the Internal Auditors (ASM) undertook a detailed look at both Income Generation and Communication & Marketing functions and both areas were satisfactory. ASM have been appointed for a 3-year term and they will review other specific areas over the next year to report on the management controls and risk management in place. The Audit & Risk Committee currently consists of five people, three Board members and two non-Board members who are independent from the Governance Board. Trustee Selection, Appointment & Competence When a vacancy exists on the Boardlcommittees, the office bearers and the Chief Executive identify the skill gaps and seek to identify an individual who can meet those needs. Discussions have been held by members of the Board and interested individuals to ensure that potential new appointments are made, and sUc￿Ssion issues kept under review. Trustees (other than the 3 office bearers) must resign after 9 consecutive years in office and Ms Christine Donnelly offers herself for resignation at this year's AGM having served that length of time on the Board. When a new Board Member is co-opted onto the Board they can attend meetings and observe before being formally appointed at the next AGM as a Director and Trustee. New Trustees have an Induction process where they receive the key documents ofthe Charity and meetwith the CEO and other Board members to start to getfuller understanding of the Charity and what their role involves. Competencies The Directors include individuals with expertise in cardiology, stroke and respiratory disciplines. In addition, there is a senior director from the private sector in an engineering environment, and a chartered accountant. Tara Craig was recently appointed to the Board to support the Communication. & Marketing activity. There are 2 Independent members who sit on the Audit & Risk sub-committees but are neither Trustees or Directors. Northern Ireland Chest, Heart & Stroke Company Limited by Guarantee Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2023 Trustees, Annual Report (continued) Scientific Research Committee Nearly every year, we award Research Grants to local Universities and the assessment of the quality and value to NICHS of the various research projects is undertaken by the Scientific Research Committee. We were delighted that Prof Martin McKee agreed to Chair this Committee during 2022 and we are very proud of the quality of members on this Committee which continues to support our interest in Research. Role of the Council The Council constitutes the members of the organisation who are responsible for electing the Governance Board, for receiving the annual report and accounts of the organisation from the Governance Board and for electing the auditors. There are currently 15 individual Council members (who include the 10 Directors of the Company). External Audit Moore {N.I) LLP act as our External Auditors following their successful appointment after a tender process. They will act for at least the tender period, which commences with the year ended 31 March 2020 audit, and runs out after the year ended 31 March 2024 audit. Internal Audit ASM were appointed to provide an internal audit seNice for the 3 years commencing 31 March 2021. To date they have undertaken two Internal Audits and both have been satisfactory. As Internal Auditors. ASM perform an internal risk assessment which will assess the inherent risk and strength of the ontrol environment. ASM then prepare the internal audit plan each year based on the risk assessment and consultation with relevant members of management and the Audit & Risk Committee. Each year there is a Risk Management Workshop which helps identify the key risks facing the Charity. The annual internal audit plan is prepared using a rotation-based approach where auditable units are subject to internal audit annually or less frequently based on risk. The internal audit risk assessment and plan is submitted annually to the Audit & Risk Committee for approval. The internal audit risk assessment and plan may be varied based on ASM findings, events or management requests and after consultation with relevant members of . management or the Audit & Risk Committee to consider all pertinent matters. The Internal Audit work will be performed in accordance with the ASM internal audit methodology, which is aligned to the I nstitute of Internal Auditors International Standards for the Professional Practice of Internal Auditing. Following execution of each Internal Audit assignment, ASM will issue a draft and then a final written report which will include a rating for each finding based on the audit findings assessmentframework. The final Internal Audit reportwill include management's comments and plans for addressing audit findings. A tracking process and following up of actions to address findings will also be undertaken. Investments Portfolio The investment portfolio is managed by Evelyn Partners (fomerly known as Smith & Williamson) who have been advised that the charity's primary aim is to preserve the capital value of investments against inflation with income generation and capital gain, being of secondary importance. Consequently, the Trustees and Evelyn Partners have agreed a low to medium risk spread of investments. The Trustees have also instructed their advisors not to invest in any company, organisation or fund with links to the tobacco or petro-chemicals industry. The Investment Policy & Strategy is updated annually following discussion with the Finance Committee and this was most recently updated on 23 May 2023. The performance of the investments is monitored quarterly by the Finance Committee through comparison with a range of standard indicators. Members of the Finance Committee also meet with Evelyn Partners a year to review the Portfolio performance. Northern Ireland Chest, Heart & Stroke Company Limited by Guarantee Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2023 Trustees, Annual Report Icontinued) Achievements & Perfomiance During this financial year 2022123 we agreed a new Strategic Plan for the Charity for the 3 years ended 311312026. The Strategic Plan is aimed at expanding ourcharitable activities primarily within our Care Services and Public Health . Departments. The demand for our services and the need for our work has never been greater as there are 470,000 people in Northern Ireland living with chest heart & stroke conditions. Our activities continue to rely predominantly on donations from the public and for this we are very grateful. During the year ended 311312023 we supported almost 24,000 people and organisations with our wide range of Care and Health Promotion services. Care Services Over the past year, we have helped almost 3,000 people and their families to adjust to life with a chest, heart or stroke condition. We have enabled them to improve their independence, confidence and overall quality of life by supporting them in their individual rehabilitation journey. In summary 1,042 people were referred to our stroke services, 282 people to our respiratory services, 204 people with heart conditions and 120 carers were supported on our Carers, Education Programme. 1,643 families were visited under Family Support, 345 people attended our Post Rehab Exercise Programme (PREP) and 219 attended our Taking Control Self-management Programme. All these Care ServI￿s are provided to help people on their own individual recovery journeys. Unfortunately, the demand for our Care services continues to increase and we have had to recruit more staff to try to meet this increasing demand. We engage with people and their families in communities and are there for people to support their recovery pro￿sS. Health Promotion and Prevention Services Im act We provided targeted services to workplaces, communities and schools to help detect early signs of chest, heart & stroke illness and empower individuals to make healthy choices. In total 20,913 adults and children benefitted from our targeted health promotion services. During 2022123 we delivered Health Checks to 6,447 people encouraging the recipients to make healthy lifestyle changes and signposted some of them to their GP., Health Promotion in the Workplace to 7,943 employees across 60 workplaces and in so doing trained 145 Health Champions" Health Promotion in 57 Schools where 5,891 parents and young people benefitted from our health education programmes,. Our Health & Homelessness Service where 38 hostels were supported. This also benefitted 374 staff and residents of the hostels. Research Research is vital to the work we do in the fight to prevent chest, heart and stroke conditions. There are currently 14 live Research projects. After a pause in our Research Grant allocation during the 2021 Covid pandemic year, we provided funding for9 new projects totaling £638,522 following the submission of high quality research projects during the year ended 311312022. Prior to making a funding offer these projects need to be peer reviewed and there is a detailed quality led selection process required in assessing all funding applications. A special thanks to the members of our Scientific Research Committee who reviewed the various grant applications. Cam ai nin & Lobb in Some ofthe areas that we have continued to lobby local representatives and Government to introduce health policies and changes in legislation on, include the reform of Stroke Services, childhood obesity, airquality and hospital waiting lists. We finally saw a ban on smoking in cars carrying children brought into force. Plans for future periods NICHS'S Strategic Plan (2023- 2026) sets out how we want to make a positive differen￿ and impact on the lives of people in Northern Ireland. While our priorities have not changed, our Strategic Plan for the next 3 years (2023-2026) will provide detail on how we plan to increase our service offering to meet the local needs. We still aim to Northern Ireland Chest, Heart & Stroke Company Limited by Guarantee Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2023 Trustees, Annual Report (continued) contribute to a 25 % decrease in the numberof deaths from preventable chest heart & stroke illnesses in Northern Ireland., double the number of people who will benefit from our care and prevention services. Volunteers Volunteers within Northern Ireland Chest Heart and Stroke are immensely important in the delivery of our services. As such they are involved in every aspect of what we do and are crucial to connect us to local communities. Roles are diverse and include a wide variety such as Governance Board members, care services support and fundraising ambassadors. NICHS ambassadors exist to raise awareness of NICHS within local communities and office-based volunteers support departments with various administration tasks. After the difficult Covid-19 year, it was great to see many of our dedicated volunteers returning to help us deliver our face to face care services in the community and support our events including our Red Dress Run which attracted over 800 people on the day. Without their support we could not deliver what we do, and we are very grateful for this much needed help. Supporters The generosity of individuals and companies across Northern Ireland.continues to be the cornerstone of our income generation at NICHS. We would like to thank each and every one of our supporters. Your commitment lo supporting our life enhancing services and life-saving research is inspirational. Some Corporates have also supported us during the year to provide gifts in kind and again we would like to acknowledge Balloo Hire for their continued generous support. Income Voluntary income recovered well during 2022123, with a noted increase in donations from community, and corporate sources. The number of legacy gifts were also considerably up on previous year, with 94 gifts left in wills, accounting for over half of total income. Almost 90 % of our services are funded by public donations so we are extremely grateful to the public for their commitment and ongoing support. During the year we also received funding from several Trust and Foundations whom we would like to acknowledge including The Lightbody Foundation, ARN Foundation, Ardbarron Trust, The Magill Foundation, NIE Networks Staff and Pensioners Charities Fund, The Lorimer Trust, Lady Dunleath Charitable Trust, Ardfoyle Trust, Darragh Foundation, Black Santa Sit out appeal and Talent Trust. Other Income The charity continues to receive valuable rental income from an advertising screen and ATM machine at the premises on Dublin Road, Belfast. Unrestricted Reserves The charity's reserves policy is to maintain a level of resources which matches the needs of the organisation both at the current time and in the foreseeable future. The reserves required should be sufficient to cover funds invested in land and buildings plus six months unrestricted expenditure. Our reserves as at 31 March 2023 exceed this level by £3,587,599 (2022.. £3,750.149) mainly as a consequence of better than expected receipts from legacies during the last few years. The Trustees have agreed to increase our charitable expenditure over the next 3 years in a measured and targeted fashion, in line with the priorities set out in our Strategic Plan and costed in our annual budget. Our Impact Framework Model assists us in ensuring that expenditure is targeted at areas that create the biggest impact. The Trustees are also conscience of the geographical spread throughout Nl of our services and that we are reaching the areas of greatest demand. We cover three distinct disease areas and appreciate that providing invaluable setvices in the communities continues to be unique. Investments The charity engages Evelyn Partners (formerly Smith & Williamson) to manage a discretionary investment portfolio. 10 Northern Ireland Chest, Heart & Stroke Company Limited by Guarantee Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2023 Trustees, Annual Report (continued) As at 31 March 2023 the market value of investments had increased to £5,024,923 {2022'. £4,166,393). During the year there was an overall loss in value of investments but there are no current plans to realise this loss. It is anticipated that over the next 3-5 years this value will recover. No investment is made in any company or organisation which has links to the tobacco and petro-chemical industries or which is otherwise in conflict with the ethos and aims of the charity. During 2022123, further funds were transferred into the investment portfolio as the return was anticipated as being more than the funds held on deposit with banks. The approximate gross annual income from the portfolio is £98,536 {2022'. £73,325). This portfolio provides a steady annual income stream, but the main purpose is the preservation of capital. Pensions The charity operates a defined contribution pension scheme for the benefit of its permanent staff who wish to participate in it. The assets are administered by insurance companies in personal pension plans and are held independently from those of the charity. The Charity also provides a NEST scheme which staff may wish to participate in. Contributions are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities in the period to which they relate. The Charity is auto enrolment compliant. Results The results for the year and the charity's financial position at the end of the year are shown in the attached financial statements. Responsibilities of the Directors The Directors are responsible for preparing the Directors, Annual Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and regulations. Company law requires the Directors to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under that law the Directors have elected to prepare the financial statements in accordance with United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice). The financial statements are required by law to give a true and fair view of the of the charity and of the surplus or deficit of the charity for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the Directors are required to- Select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently., Make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent., Prepare the financial statements on the going con￿rn basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in operation. The Directors are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and which enable them to ensure that the financial ststements comply with Coinpanies Act 2006. The. Directors are also responsible for safeguarding. the assets of the charity and hen￿ for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud or any other irregularities. In so far as the Directors are aware.. There is no relevant audit information of which the charity's auditors are unaware., and The Directors have taken all steps that they ought to have taken to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the auditors are aware of that information. Auditor A resolution to appoint auditors following a competitive process will be proposed at the Annual General Meeting. BY ORDER OF THE DIRECTORS DECLAN CUNNANE FCA COMPANY SECRETARY Date: 11