Scottish Charty No. SC038142
LIVINGSTON FREE CFtURCH
OF SCOTLAND
Trustees, Report and Financial Statements
Year Ended 31 December 2024
livingston
free church

Livingston Free Church of Scotland 

2024 

**Contents of the Financial Statements** _for the year ended 31 December 2024_ 

||Page|
|---|---|
|Church Information|1|
|Report of the Trustees|2 - 3|
|Report of the Independent Examiner|4|
|Receipts and Payments Account|5|
|Statement of Balances|6|
|Notes to the Financial Statements|7|
|Notes to the Receipts and Payments Accounts|8 - 10|





Livingston Free Church of Scotland 

2024 

## **Church Information** 

## **Trustees** 

A list of active Trustees during 2024 is provided in the Trustees’ Report on Page 2. 

## **Address** 

Jackson Place Eliburn LIVINGSTON EH54 6RH 

**Tel** : 01506 416308 

## **Bankers** 

Bank of Scotland Almondvale South LIVINGSTON EH54 6SN 

## **Solicitors** 

Balfour & Manson 54-66 Frederick Street Edinburgh EH2 1LS 

1 Moriston Drive LIVINGSTON EH54 9HT 

**Page 1** 



Livingston Free Church of Scotland 

2024 

## **Report of the Trustees** 

The Trustees are pleased to present their report together with the financial statements of the church for the year ended 31 December 2024. 

## **Status of Charity and Governing Document** 

Livingston Free Church of Scotland is established by Constitution.  It is a registered Scottish Charity (No. SC038142). 

## **Aims and Affiliation** 

The Free Church of Scotland currently has around 100 congregations in Scotland, as well as two in London and five in North America, and sister Churches founded by mission work in India, Peru and South Africa. The Church also has a full-time degree-awarding College in the heart of Edinburgh for the training of Ministers and other Christian workers and sustains an extensive Missionary programme relative to the size of the church. 

Dating from 1843 but with its roots in the Reformation, it owes its distinctive title to its historical struggle to remain ‘free’ from state interference in its internal affairs. It has close and active relations with many other Reformed churches of Jesus Christ throughout the world and stands firmly in the tradition which accepts the Bible in its entirety as the Word of God and, therefore, derives its forms of teaching, worship, ministry and government from it. The main emphasis of our worship is the preaching of the gospel - the good news of a free and sovereign salvation through Jesus Christ alone. 

The Free Church of Scotland is a Presbyterian church adhering in its worship and doctrine to the position of the Church of Scotland at the Reformation.  There is an explanatory document which explains the origins of the Church and which gives the historical background to the Church coming into being in 1843 and lists documents in which is embodied its constitution. 

Livingston Free Church of Scotland is a congregation of the national Free Church of Scotland working towards the common aims set out above.  The congregation is within the Presbytery of Edinburgh and Perth and is authorised by the Church to have a minister paid from the central funds of the Church. 

The Church building and the Minister’s manse are the property of the congregation and are held in trust by locally elected congregational trustees under the Church’s Model Trust Deed. 

## **Trustees and Office Bearers** 

The congregation is governed and administered by elected office bearers (all volunteers) and its minister.  The Kirk Session, being the minister and elected elders, has responsibility for spiritual oversight, while the Deacons’ Court, composed of Kirk Session members plus elected deacons, oversees financial and property matters.  Under Charity Law, the Deacons’ Court are deemed to be the trustees of the congregation as those with responsibility for day-to-day management and control.  This is distinct from the role of congregational trustees who are responsible only for holding property in trust. 

The members of the Deacons’ Court (the Trustees) who served during the year were as follows: - 

_**Deacons’ Court** Pastor Elders Deacons_ 


**Congregational Trustees** For holding Property - 

2 



Livingston Free Church of Scotland 

2024 

## **Appointment of Charity Trustees** 

The Kirk Session exercises its discretion in determining the most appropriate method of electing new Trustees (Elders and Deacons). Any election process must involve the communicant membership of the congregation. There is no fixed term for Trusteeship. Prior to their appointment, new Trustees would have served the Church for some time in various roles and would be familiar with the Church’s values, its aims and objectives as well as its day-to-day operations. As part of their induction programme, new Trustees are required to understand their statutory responsibilities as well as the responsibilities of their office within the congregation as elder or deacon. 

## **Activities and Achievements** 

During the year, the congregation met regularly for public worship and carried out various activities in pursuit of the above stated aims. 

The congregation continued its commitment to support the National Free Church of Scotland both spiritually and financially. 

Significant highlights, events and developments of note in the year include the following: 

## In relation to _**congregational activities**_ : 

- Induction of Rev. Phil Pickett into the full time ministry of the congregation; 

- Live streaming on YouTube and online meetings via Zoom continue to be offered for those unable to attend in person; 

- Ladies’ meetings; 

- Men’s meetings; 

- Christianity Explored, Discipleship Explored and Membership courses; 

- Sunday School meetings; 

- Youth Fellowship meetings; 

- Women for Mission (WfM) fundraising event: Annual Quiz Evening; 

- Christmas Carol singing event; 

- West Lothian Foodbank collection point; 

- Significant manse renovations; 

- Upgrading of church and hall lighting systems. 

## In relation to _**congregational funding**_ : 

- A congregational Relief Fund was topped up with £50 per month and continued a Fabric Fund. 

## **Reserves** 

## _**Results for the year**_ 

As a result of a deficit for the year of £7,460 the church held unrestricted funds amounting to £20,193 and restricted funds amounting to £4,065 at the year end. 

The trustees are satisfied with the level of reserves retained by the charity. 

## **On behalf of the Trustees** 


3 



Livingston Free Church of Scotland
2024
Report of the Independent Examiner to the Trusteesfor theyear ended 31 Deceniber ?024
I report on the accounts of the church for the year ended 3 1 December 2024 which are set out oll pages
5t06.
Respective responsibiliti¢5 of Truste¢5 and Examiner
The cliarity's trustees are responsible for tlie preparation of the accounts in accordance with the tenns
of tbe Charities and Trngree InVeSt￿ent (Scodalld) Aci 2005 and the Charilies AcCol￿(S {scotI￿ld)
Regulations 2006. The clkqTity tnjstees consider that the audit requirement of Re￿￿ation 10(1) (d) of
tlie Accowits Regulations does iiol apply. 11 is my respoiisibility to exa]iiiiie the accoimts as i'equired
Imdet section 44(1) (c) of the Aci and to state whetbet particiilat ￿￿tter% have Collie io my attention.
Basis of ￿dependent Examiner's statement
My examinatloll is canied out ill accordance witlL Regulation I l of the Clwities Accounts (Scotland)
Regulations 2006. An examination incliides a review of the acCo￿ltIng records kept by tILe charity and
a co]llparison of the accoullts piesented witli those records. It also incliides collsidetation of a￿Y ￿n￿Sual
ilejns or disclosures ill the accoiwis. alld seeks explallaiions from the In￿ree$ concernillg such U￿tter$.
The PTocedures ulldertaken do not pi'ovide all the evidence Ihat would be required in audit. and
ollscquclltly I do iiot ￿p[C5S audit opinioii oil thc vicw giv￿ by th¢ accounts.
Independent Examiner's Statement
In the course of my examination, no matter has come io my attention
which ￿Ve5 iiie reasonable caiise to believe that iii any n￿terial respect tlie re￿ilre[1]e11tS'.
to keep accoullling records in accordance with Sectton 44(1) (a) of the 2005 Aci alld Regulation
4 of tlLe 2006 Accounts Re￿￿atIonS. and
lo prepare accounis wlllch accord with the accounting records and comply with Regulaiion 9
of the 2006 Accounts Regulations have lloi been met. or
io whiclL in my opinion, arrention shollid be drawn An order 10 enable a proper undersianding of
Ilie <2ccoiiiilb lo be i'e1Llied.
Addrcss
l Moriston ￿1v¢
LIVINGSTON
EH54 9HT
Date
31/*/£

Livingston Free Church of Scotland 

2024 

|**Receipts and Payments Accounts for the Year Ending 31 December 2024**|**Receipts and Payments Accounts for the Year Ending 31 December 2024**|**Receipts and Payments Accounts for the Year Ending 31 December 2024**|**Receipts and Payments Accounts for the Year Ending 31 December 2024**|**Receipts and Payments Accounts for the Year Ending 31 December 2024**|**Receipts and Payments Accounts for the Year Ending 31 December 2024**|**Receipts and Payments Accounts for the Year Ending 31 December 2024**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||**General**|**Restricted**|**2024**||**2023**|
|**Receipts**|**Notes**|**£**|**£**|**£**||**£**|
|Offerings:         Church door||4,007.65|600.00|**4,607.65**||3,282.83|
|Envelope scheme||2,565.00|-|**2,565.00**||1,355.00|
|Online||2,628.40|-|**2,628.40**||569.43|
|Gift Aid||38,715.00|-|**38,715.00**||43,709.00|
|Pre-Tax Givings(no tax claim)||1,500.00|-|**1,500.00**||1,500.00|
|Tax refunds on Gift Aid||13,171.25|-|**13,171.25**||12,067.33|
|Coulter: Interest on Investments||63.61|-|**63.61**||43.73|
|Coulter: Dividend on Share Pool Units||25.11|-|**25.11**||23.32|
|**Total ordinary income**||**62,676.02**<br>**600.00**<br>**63,276.02**<br>**62,550.64**|||||
|Fabric & Equipment||-|28,031.00|**28,031.00**||25,340.00|
|Church Hire||940.00|-|**940.00**||515.00|
|RetiringCollections||-|308.20|**308.20**||-|
|Amazon Smile||-|-|**-**||18.41|
|Women for Mission||-|150.00|**150.00**||202.00|
|Relief Fund||-|750.00|**750.00**||-|
|**Total Receipts**||**63,616.02**<br>**29,839.20**<br>**93,455.22**<br>**88,626.05**|||||
||||||||
|**Payments**|||||||
|Church Central Funds|**6**|34,236.76|-|**34,236.76**||31,989.67|
|Administration Costs|**6**|5,004.00|-|**5,004.00**||7,200.00|
|Tax Refunds on Gift Aid: Admin Fee||356.22|-|**356.22**||256.23|
|Minister's Expenses||1,271.26|-|**1,271.26**||135.81|
|Donations to other organisations|**7**|1,400.00|308.20|**1,708.20**||1,202.00|
|Relief Fund||-|1,125.95|**1,125.95**||-|
|Pulpit supply||3,091.70|-|**3,091.70**||3,578.27|
|Congregational activities|**8**|545.89|250.00|**795.89**||633.46|
|Equipment||242.54|5,754.30|**5,996.84**||-|
|Church magazines||397.40|-|**397.40**||307.42|
|Heat,light & telephone:    Church||5,639.64|-|**5,639.64**||8,300.66|
|Heat,light & telephone:    Manse||252.94|-|**252.94**||1,654.33|
|Church Maint,Equipmnt & Gardening||-|10,408.78|**10,408.78**||2,079.55|
|Manse Maintenance||-|18,161.96|**18,161.96**||22,442.45|
|Insurance||3,732.54|-|**3,732.54**||2,647.55|
|Council Tax||50.00|-|**50.00**||-|
|Presbytery& Assemblyexps and Conf.||171.00|-|**171.00**||280.70|
|Cash & CarrySupplies||779.39|-|**779.39**||283|
|Camps||-|250.00|**250.00**||300|
|Removal Expenses||3,772.00|-|**3,772.00**||-|
|Cleaning||-|1,590.00|**1,590.00**||-|
|Gifts||992.24|-|**992.24**||200.00|
|Literature & Disclosure &Website||1,130.83|-|**1,130.83**||1,137.76|
|**Total Payments**||**63,066.35**<br>**37,849.19**<br>**100,915.54**<br>**84,629.13**|||||
|Surplus for the year||549.67|(8,009.99)|(7,460.32)||3,996.92|
|**Net movement in Funds**||**549.67**<br>**(8,009.99)**<br>**(7,460.32)**<br>**3,996.92**|||||
|Total Funds brought forward||19,643.72|12,075.41|31,719.13||27,722.21|
|**Total Funds carried forward**||**20,193.39**<br>**4,065.42**<br>**24,258.81**<br>**31,719.13**|||||
||||||||
|**Represented by:**|||||||
|**Unrestricted Funds**|||||||
|General Fund||20,193.39|-|20,193.39||19,643.72|
|**Restricted Funds**|||||||
|Fabric Fund||-|2,765.60|2,765.60||10,649.64|
|Relief Fund||-|935.87|935.87||1,211.82|
|WFM||-|150.00|150.00||-|
|Youth||-|213.95|213.95||213.95|
|**Total**||**20,193.39**<br>**4,065.42**<br>**24,258.81**<br>**31,719.13**|||||



5 



Livingston Free Church of Scotland
2024
ststement of Balances
As at 31 December 2024
2tr23
Invethents hel
822
822
8ank & Cath in hand
o￿l[￿j bBlance
sU￿U51(De￿Cltl kn tIE yeei
Clo*ng balances
29,307
25.310
21,847
29,30T
Fund8 held at tho Central Office8
o￿l[￿j t￿lance
M(yErnent in ye
Clo*n# balance
1,5
Total moneta
aaabts hold
31 719
Rexrves
Unreslncted
ReStnCt￿
20,193
4,065
19,644
12,075
10
Total
ststoment of A888ts held for Charlfablo purp0888
Chw¢h & Manse
va￿￿1 lo￿ aJj&ent to ¢NJrch
Fixtwes & Frtting5
Sub4otal
Less".
OutslarKJiry loen5
Total
TJ5,000
3,500
235,(KKI
250,500
2￿,5[

Livingston Free Church of Scotland 

2024 

**Notes to the Financial Statements** _for the year ended 31 December 2024_ 

## **Note 1** 

## **Accounting Policies** 

## _**Accounting Convention**_ 

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention, and in accordance with the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006. 

## _**Basis of Financial Statements**_ 

The financial statements have been prepared on a receipts and payments basis. 

## **Investments** 

As the accounts are prepared on a receipts and payments basis the investments are included at cost. Market Value of the investments is disclosed within the notes to the accounts. 

## **Fixed Assets** 

A statement of the assets held is shown in the notes to the accounts. No depreciation has been applied as depreciation is a non-cash item and therefore should not be included in the receipts and payments account. 

## **Receipts and Payments Account** 

For the purpose of the Receipts and Payments account as shown on page 5, funds are defined as follows: 

**Unrestricted** funds comprise grants and other income received for the objects of the church without further specified purpose and are available as general funds. 

**Restricted** funds comprise income which has been received for the objects of the church and specified for a restricted purpose within these objects by the donor. 

7 



Livingston Free Church of Scotland 

2024 

## Notes to the Receipts and Payments Accounts 

|For theyear ended 31 December 2024|For theyear ended 31 December 2024|For theyear ended 31 December 2024|For theyear ended 31 December 2024|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||||||||
|**Note 2**||||||||||
|||||||||||
|**Tangible fixed assets**||||||||||
||||Heritable<br>property||Fixtures &<br>equipment||Vacant|||
||||||||land||Total|
||||£||£||£||£|
|**_Cost_**||||||||||
|At 1 January2024|||235,000||12,000||3,500||250,500|
|Additions|||-||-||||-|
|Disposals|||-||-||||-|
|||||||||||
|||||||||||
|At 31 December 2024|||235,000||12,000||3,500||250,500|
|||||||||||
|||||||||||
|**_Depreciation_**||||||||||
|At 1 January2024|||-||-||-||-|
|Charge foryear|||-||-||-||-|
|Eliminated on disposals|||-||-||-||-|
|||||||||||
|At 31 December 2024|||-||-||-||-|
|||||||||||
|**_Net Book Value_**||||||||||
|At 31 December 2024|||235,000||12,000||3,500||250,500|
|||||||||||
|||||||||||
|||||||||||
|At 31 December 2024|||235,000||12,000||3,500||250,500|
|||||||||||
|||||||||||
|**Note 3**||||||||||
|||||||||||
|**Investments**|||||||**2024**||**2023**|
||||||||**£**||**£**|
|||||||||||
|The congregation holds investments|||||||179.37(units)||179.37(units|
|||||||||||
|Market Value of the investments|||||||822||822|
|||||||||||
|**Note 4**||||||||||
|||||||||||
|**Transactions with Trustees**||||||||||
|||||||||||
|There were no transactions with trustees duringtheyear.||||||||||
|||||||||||
|**Note 5**||||||||||
|||||||||||
|**Amounts held by the Central Church**||||||||||
|||||||||||
|Custodier of Titles - cash held|||||||1,590||1,590|
|Interest earned|||||||64||44|



8 



Livingston Free Church of Scotland 

2024 

## Notes to the Receipts and Payments Accounts 

|<br>For theyear ended 31 December 2024|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
||||||
|**Note 6**|||||
||||||
||**2024**||**2023**||
|**Remittances toCentral Funds**|**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|
||||||
|MinistryCosts||33,265||31,473|
|Administration Levy||5,004||7,200|
|Mission Levy||972||516|
||||||
|**Total remitted to Central Funds**||39,241<br>39,189|||
||||||
||||||
|**Note 7**|||||
||||||
|**Donations to other organisations**||**£**||**£**|
|SU||0||150|
|FC Youth Conference||0||150|
|Adam Support Group||0||200|
|SIM||0||150|
|Safe Families||154||350|
|WFM Project||0||202|
|AsiaLink||200||0|
|Team Jak||154||0|
|Winchburgh||1200||0|
|**Total**||1708<br>1202|||
||||||
||||||
|**Note 8**|||||
||||||
|**Congregational Activities**||**£**||**£**|
|SundaySchool||235||286|
|Local Outreach / HolidayClub||409||195|
|Congregation Outing and Christmas Parties||152||152|
|**Total**||796<br>633|||



9 



Livingston Free Church of Scotland 

2024 

## Notes to the Receipts and Payments Accounts 

|For theyear ended 31 December 2024|For theyear ended 31 December 2024|For theyear ended 31 December 2024|For theyear ended 31 December 2024|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||||||
|**Note 9**||||||||
|||||||||
|||||||||
|**Unrestricted Funds**|||Opening||Closing|||
||||Balance||Balance|||
||||01.01.24|Receipts|Payments<br>31.12.24|||
||||£|£|£<br>£|||
|||||||||
|General Fund|||19,644|63,616|63,066<br>**20,193**|||
|||||||||
|||||||||
|The **_General Fund_** comprises all income and expenditurerelating to the primaryfocus||||||||
|activities ofthe charity, otherthanthosefor which fundingisrestricted.||||||||
|||||||||
|||||||||
|||||||||
|||||||||
|**Note 10**||||||||
|||||||||
|||||||||
|**Restricted Funds**|||Opening||Closing|||
||||Balance||Balance|||
||||01.01.24|Receipts|Payments<br>31.12.24|||
||||£|£|£<br>£|||
|||||||||
|SpecialCollections/Donations|||12,075|29,839|37,849<br>4,065|||
|**Total**|||12,075|29,839|37,849<br>**4,065**|||
|||||||||
|||||||||
|||||||||
|**_Special Collections/Donations_**representsmonies donatedforspecific charitablefunds||||||||
|andforspecific denominational funds.||||||||



|For theyear ended 31 December 2024|For theyear ended 31 December 2024|For theyear ended 31 December 2024|For theyear ended 31 December 2024|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||||||
|**Note 9**||||||||
|||||||||
|||||||||
|**Unrestricted Funds**|||Opening||Closing|||
||||Balance||Balance|||
||||01.01.24|Receipts|Payments<br>31.12.24|||
||||£|£|£<br>£|||
|||||||||
|General Fund|||19,644|63,616|63,066<br>**20,193**|||
|||||||||
|||||||||
|The **_General Fund_** comprises all income and expenditurerelating to the primaryfocus||||||||
|activities ofthe charity, otherthanthosefor which fundingisrestricted.||||||||
|||||||||
|||||||||
|||||||||
|||||||||
|**Note 10**||||||||
|||||||||
|||||||||
|**Restricted Funds**|||Opening||Closing|||
||||Balance||Balance|||
||||01.01.24|Receipts|Payments<br>31.12.24|||
||||£|£|£<br>£|||
|||||||||
|SpecialCollections/Donations|||12,075|29,839|37,849<br>4,065|||
|**Total**|||12,075|29,839|37,849<br>**4,065**|||
|||||||||
|||||||||
|||||||||
|**_Special Collections/Donations_**representsmonies donatedforspecific charitablefunds||||||||
|andforspecific denominational funds.||||||||



10