CRAIGOWEN HOUSING ASSOCIATION LIMITED HAIRMAN'S FOREWORD For the 8ar endèd 31 March 2024 I have great pleasure in presenting the annual report and accounts for Craigowen Housing Association for the year ended 31 March 2024. Craigowen Housing Association was established to provide and maintaln houslng accommodation for people with learning disabilities and for those who care for them. along wilh their families. We have 38 properties, 36 of which are located within the three Camphill Communities in North8rn Ireland.. Glencraig, Mourne Grange and Clanabogan, and 2 in Holywood. All offer a distlnct and caring ethos of shared living for which the Camphill Communities are renowned. Durlng the course of the year we have freshed our 8oard and welcomed 4 new Members: Chrls Thompson, Geoff Hill, Gerry Mccann and Kim Johnston. It is with regret that 4 of our longest serving Members have fulfilled their tenure and are rets.ring at the AGM. Nigel Carson. Ann Watt, Anne Smyth and Peggy Woods each served the Association diligently for over 9 years. Their commitment, know18dge and experience cannot be understated and the Association is in a very good place thanks to their efforts and dedicatlon. We are clearly a very small Housing Association and our only source of Income is from the r8nts collected from the people who live in our accommodation, our Villagers. The nature of our housing stock and the need to ensure that it meet5 the specific needs of our Villagers provides us with a number of challenges, not leasl of which is the need to set rents that are fair and affordable, but which provide sufficient income to fulfil our ongoing maintenance obligations. The Association has an established rent strategy agreed with each of the Communities and this ensures that rent charges are clearly set out equitably across each Community. Although th8r8 have been cha118ng8S to service provision during the past year due to the well-publicised cost Increases and difficulties in retaining skilled contractors, the Association was able lo deliver its extensiv8 planned and cyclical maintenance programme in full. In total we invested £409,192 on capital improvement and on p18nned and cyclical maintenanc& programm8s in the course of the year. Some 46 projects were completed and material improvement made to the quality of Villagers, homes across the Camphill Communities. The Board closely monitors the response times and quality of our response maintenance op8rations. In the course of the year we invested some £176,009 (£131,144 in 2022-2023) in responding to emergencies and the need for routine repairs. We have sel time targets for completion of these categories of repair. and l am pl8as8d to r8POrt that all our targets have b88n surpassed. We understand the priority that is attached to a good responsive maintenanc8 service by our Villagers and we will continue to work hard to maintain our S8rvic8 to these very high standards. During the year the Board set up a sub-group to consider the Strategic direction of the Assoclatlon and plans are in place to consult wlth each of our stakeholders to ensure we develop a comprehenslve strategy to continu8 to meet the needs of our Villagers. A Hamilton Chairman Date: 26 June 2024
CRAIGOWEN HOUSING ASSOCIATION LIMITED REPORT OF THE BOARD For the ear ended 31 March 2024 Th8 Board is pleasad to pr8s8nt its Report and th8 Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2024. Principal Activity The principal activities of the Association are to provlde housing and related amenities for adutts who have learning disabilities, and the staff caring for them and their dependents. The Association owns 24 properties; with 6 located in Camphill Community Glencraig, 10 in Camphill Community Mourne Grange. 6 in Camphill Community Clanabogan and 2 in Holywood. The Association also manages 14 properties which are leased from Camphill Community Trust (Nl). Housing management services at all propertiès ar8 carried out by the relevant Camphill Community who are the Managing Agents. The Association aims to provide good quality accommodation with proper levels of maintenance and investment over the long term at affordable rents. Status The Association is a registered society under the Co-operalive and Community Benefit Socleties Act (North8rn Ireland) 1969 (Ref IP 174> and is a Registered Housing Association. The Association is recognised as a charity by HMRC {Ref X01015) and became registered wlth the Charity Commlsslon for Northern Ireland on 6 July 2017 (Charity Registration Number- NIC 106082)- The Board The Board meets regularly throughout the year and ha5 four sutFcommittees with specific responsibilities for finance, audit and risk, strategic direction. staffing and Board refreshment. There were nine Board meetings during the course of the year and the attendance was as follows:. Mernber Attendances Membershlp of Sub-committ008 N Carson E Dixon Asm Awatt M Woods S Clements A Hamilton- Chair R Buchanan PFar BR, SD BR, SD SRC, BR SRC FARC, SRC, SD FARC. SRC FARC FARC SD FARC Retired 211212024 an C Thom G Hill K Johnston G Mccann son CO-O CO-O CO-O C(Fo led 2411012023 ted 2511012023 ted 2110212024 ted 1311212023 SD- Strategic Direclion sub-group FARC- Finance. Audit & Risk committee SRC Staffing & Remuneration committee BR - Board refreshment suWroup Each year one third of members retlre by rotation and are eligible for re-election. Secretary W Mccreight.
CRAIGOWEN HOUSING ASSOCIATION LIMITED REPORT OF THE BOARD Cont'd For the ear ended 31 March 2024 Governance During the year the Board continued with improvements in corporate governance. These improvements include: appointment of an external Consultant to conduct a Board Governance Review, additional Board and staff training, the ongoing review of risk management, ongoing review of policies, and continued compliance with Dfc regulatory standards. The Board created a SuroUp to develop the procass of Board refreshment and this process has led to the recruitment of 3 new Members in the year under r8Vi8W With a possible 2 further new Membèrs planned to join in 2025. The Board has adopted a phased approach to refr8shment ensuring that corporale know18dge is retsined and th8r8 is a seamless integration of new M8mb8rs. Impact of Covld -19 During the year, the impact of the Covid 19 pandemlc has reduced substsntially but as with all other Housing Associations and many busin8SS8s we have experienced the challenges cau58d by increases in material costs and pressures in sourcing skilled and experienced contractors. Nev8rth81ess, we have been able to work with our suppliers and contractors and fully provide the level of $8rvice required. Malntenanco The Assoclation has Strengthened its in-house malntenance team with the full-time employment of a second experienced maintenance officer and continues to provide funding to the 3 Camphill Communities for maintenance officer on each Camphill site. The provision of rnaintenance services, which was brought fully under the control of directly employed CHA staff from April 2023. is operating very efficiently as evidenced by the excellent key performance indicators reported. The Board is confident that this change will conlinue to benefit Villagers and provide greater value for money. The Board has continued with its extensive Planned maintenance programme and met all budget targets for this in the year. R88ponse Malntenance Perforniance Year ended 31 March 2024 689 Year ended 31 March 2023 715 Target Total number of repalr lobs /0 of emergency repairs completed in 24 hours Vo of urgent repairs completed in 4 days 99% 87Vo 94Yo 73Vo 80Vo Yo of routine repairs completed in 20 days 900/0 77% 80Y. The Association has significantly surpassed all its targets set for response maintenance performance. achieving an overall completion of 930kn against a target of 80°. The performance for emergency repairs was exceptional with 99 % of emergency and immediate paIrS being completed on time. Finance The Board has approvod robust finanGial olan5 to ensure that its Gharitable aimf aro gGhievabl¢ qnd sustainable in the long term and continues to review and s¢rutinise monthly and quarterly finanGial reports.
CRAIGOWEN HOUSING ASSOCIATION LIMITED REPORT OF THE BOARD Cont'd For the ear ended 31 Mar¢h 2024 Staffing The Board believes that the optimum staffing level is four members of staff: General Manager. Finance Officer and two Maintenance Officers. The Association currently retains thi5 stsff complement. Tenant Partlclpatlon Tenant participation remains a crucial element to th8 servlces provided by the Association. Th8 Tenant Participation Strategy is continually monitored to ensure tenants are involved in the design, d81ivery and continuous improvemenl of services. Tenant satisfaction survey5 are r8gularly und8rtaken with a comprehensive survey across all 3 communities having been undertaken in July 2023. Rlsk Management The Board has carried out a review of major risks to which the Association is exposed and put in place systems and controls to mitigate the effects of these risks. This includes an assessment of the implications of kay risks if th8y are not managed appropriat81y, th8 controls in place to manage the identified risks and the identification of further actions planned to minimise the risks. This system has been in place during the course of the year under review and is regularly review8d by the Finance, Audlt and Risk Committee and made available for Board revlew at each Board meetlng. Durlng the year the Internal Auditors undertook a comprehensive revlew of the Assoclation's Risk management procedures and concluded that the existing systems were sound and provid8d satisfactory assurance to th8 Board. The Association has a150 contlnued with Its programme of revlew of existing policies regarding Finance and Risk Management. Health and Safety, Property Maintenance and Dev81opm8nt and Employment and Communication. Results and Financial Rgview The Statement of Comprehensive Income shows that the Association generated £1.460,898 (2023 £1,002,730) of income from collection of rents, Special Needs Management Allowanc8 and amortisation and Incurred expenditure of £1,483,891 (2023 £1,073,188) on the maintenance and management of its properties, incurring an overall deficit of £198.027 (2023 £59.725) in the year after accounting for exceptional non-recurring expenditure of £200.000. At the balance sheet date, the Association had total r8S8rv8s of £2,100,721 (2023- £2,298,748) includlng revenue reserves of £1.036,036 (2023 - £1,234,063). The Association continues to carry out a programme of maintenance and r8pairs lo its properties and the total expenditure for the year was £412.905. with a further £86,148 of additions made to properties. Golng Concern After making enquiries. the Board has a reasonable expectation that thè Association has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. For this reason, they continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the financial ststements.
CRAIGOWEN HOUSING ASSOCIATION LIMITED REPORT OF THE BOARD Cont'd For the ear ended 31 March 2024 Statémènt of Board Members, Responsibllitlas The Cfroperative and Community Benefit Societies Act (Northem Ireland) 1969 and registered housing association legislation require the Board to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the stale of the affairs of the Association and of the surplus or deficit of the Association for that period. In preparing these the board is required to: Selèct suitable accounting policies and apply them consistently: Make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent., Stale whether applicable accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departur8s disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and Prepare the financlal statement5 on the golng concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that th8 Association will continu8 to OP8rate. The Board is r8sponsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Association and enable it to ensure that the financial stataments comply with the Co-operative and Community Benefit Socielies Act (Northern Ireland) 1969 and the Registered Housing Associations (Accounting Requirements) Order (Northern Ireland) 1993. It has general responsibility for taking reasonable steps to safegu8rd the assets of the Association and to prevent and detect fraud and other irregularities. Internal Control The Board has overall responsibility for the Association's systems of intemal financial control and for reviewing th8 8ff8Ctiven8ss of Ihe systems. Such systems are design8d to manage rather than eliminate the rlsk of failure to achieve business objectives, and can only provide reasonable, and not ab501ute assurance against material misstatement or loss. The process for identifying, evaluating and managing the significant risks faced by the Association is ongoing. The Board has reviewed the eff8cliveness of the Association's systems of internal control, this review has included the commission and participation in detailed review of existing internal control procedures and the business risks faced by the Association. The key elements of the system which the Board has established to provlde effectlve Internal control include: Th8 8Stablishment of a Finance, Audit and Risk Commlttee whlch regularly reviews th8 overall financial position and lh8 key risks facing the Association. The Committee updates the Board regularly on its review of matters re18ting to intemal control and reports from the internal auditors. Detailed budgets are prepared which are reviewed In detsil by the Committ88 and approved by th8 Board. with appropriate action taken vthen variances are identif18d. The estsblishment of a system of KPI'5 to monitor monthly performance of the provision of maintenance services. The Board maintains responsibility for overall strategy and the approval of all major expenditur8.
CRAIGOWEN HOUSING ASSOCIAnoN LIMITED REPORT OF THE BOARD Cont'd 24 Stat•m•rt ol DIKlo8ur• of Infomiallon to Audltor8 So far as each of the mernbers of the Board is aware: The 1$ no relevant Informatlon of whlch the Association's auditors are urnawar8', and They have tsken 811 reasonable steps thal they ought to have taken, as members of Ihe Board. to make themselves aware of any rel8vant audli Informatlon and to establish that the Associalion's audit8 are aware of that Infom)ats'on. Audit¢)r8 The Board has appointed GMCG BELFAST a¥J the A$8o¢Éation's audltor8. This report was approved by the Board on 26 June 2024 arrfl slgned on118 behall by: A Hamllton Chalrman 150 Holywood Road Balfast BT4 INY