The Trustees present their annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2024.
The accounts have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in note 2 to the accounts and comply with the Charity's Memorandum and Articles of Association, the Companies Act 2006, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended) and “Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)” (as amended for accounting periods commencing from 1 January 2019)
The objects of the Company during the financial year were:
The objects of the company shall be to promote the social, environmental and economic benefits of shared transport by educating the public in such matters, promoting the uptake of best practice and innovation across the UK.
CoMoUK Trust continued to promote the environmental and social benefits of shared transport, including car clubs, car sharing, bike sharing, e-scooter sharing, demand responsive transport and the mobility hubs which are increasingly popular way to raise the profile and connect the modes together. The range of activities undertaken included:
Advice & support: the provision of support to local authorities, employers, developers, community groups and operators to expand the provision of shared transport and mobility hubs;
Project delivery: exploring new areas of development for shared transport through projects with local govenment and community partnership.s
Sharing knowledge: dissemination the latest guidance through a range of reports and events tailored for different audiences.
Research into the outcomes and impacts of the sector: User and operator data analysis for car clubs and bike share schemes and collation of metrics and best practice in e-scooter and DRT sectors.
Influencing policy: Dissemination of key benefits and best practice for shared mobility services through a range of media and to a range of decision-makers and stakeholders.
Standard setting: the provision of accreditation services as voluntary regulation for the sectors.
Achievements and performance April 2023 to March 2024
1. Advice and support
2023/24 has been a year of significant change due to cancellation of the long standing Transport Scotland annual work programme. While funding was always set on an annual basis, CoMoUK had received funding each year for a number of years, with different activities and goals in each year. These have funded advice and support across Scotland. The programme for 2023/4 was started in agreement with Transport Scotland but then aborted on instruction by Transport Scotland, in June 2023. This was a very significant reduction to CoMoUK’s funding, occurring in-year. Our relatively substantial reserves, deliberately built up given the generally uncertain times in which we operate, plus redundancies and one member of staff taking a job elsewhere enabled us to steady the charity financially, before pivoting into more consultancy work for authorities and project-based funding, detailed below.
As there was a Transport Scotland work programme from April to June 2023, staff in Scotland were in that time able to provide advice to 9 new organisations and continued to work with 16 others, in this time.
CoMoUK has continued to use remaining resources to support community groups, public authorities at local, national and regional levels, academia, fellow third sector organisations on a wide range of shared transport related topics.
In 2023/24 carrying out consultancy projects has become more important, to maintain income, given the significant drop in Transport Scotland funding. Consultancy work allows CoMoUK to provide detailed, site specific advice to local authorities. During the year we worked on 14 commissions including: the DfT, Bath and North East Somerset Council, Warwick District Council and the London Boroughs of Hackney, Newham and Camden. These generate useful income as well as enabling us to continually develop and refresh our expertise and allowing us to draw lessons to feed into general guidance open to all on our website.
2. Project delivery
In Scotland Smarter Choices, Smarter Places fund, (SCSP) extended the funding for the Low Emission Zone project from last year, for a second year through to September 2024. This project aims to support more people in low-income areas in Glasgow and Edinburgh to access sustainable shared transport modes including bike share and car share. The project is split into three main activities: information events, trials, and workshops and Nextbike membership distribution.
Also in Scotland in August 2023, a new project, around the development of Pop-up mobility hubs, began. This is also funded by SCSP. This has enabled us to have two pop-up mobility hubs designed and manufactured, that can be moved to different locations in Scotland. The pop-up mobility hubs visited locations affected by transport poverty in the Highlands and Forth Valley regions, respectively. For each location of the pop-up mobility hub, we engaged the community to help realise the active travel benefits that the hub can offer. This project has now been extended into 2024/25.
CoMoUK has continued its monitoring and evaluation role in a 2.5 year partner funded by the National Lottery to fund the development of EV community car clubs in Wales, due to conclude in Autumn 2024.
3. Sharing knowledge
A core aspect of the work of CoMoUK is the creation guidance documents which provide our stakeholders with the best practice on latest topics. During the year we published reports on:
The nature of "Users and non-users of shared transport in Scotland"
Scotland shared transport and rail integration
NHS case studies of use of shared transport
Updated care club guidance
EV car club cost saving guidance
Branding and signage for mobility hubs gudance
Events continue to be an important aspect of the organisation’s work. There is a bi-monthly forum meetings for local authority officers covering all aspects of shared transport, which continues to be a very popular space for exchanging latest developments. These are complemented by a series of webinars which are open to private sector members and operators covering specifics theme such as planning policy or electrification.
CoMoUK co-hosted a shared transport roadshow with TfGM at University of Salford with circa 65 attendees listening to a range of presentations, visiting a mobility hub in development and trying out various shared mobility vehicles.
The annual shared transport conference was held online again on 5th December 2023 attracting around 100 delegates for each of the 4 sessions.
Regular operators’ meetings are also held for each area of the sector to develop areas for collective working.
Staff have spoken at several dozen external conferences and our monthly Shared Transport Newsletter is opened by large numbers of key people in the sector - including senior policy makers.
In order to engage with the public in Scotland, we continued to work on Instagram videos with Less Waste Laura.
4. Research
The car club and bike share annual reports continue to provide those involved in policy formulation, with evidence of the impacts of car clubs and bike share, with respect to environmental, social and economic benefits.
Spring 2023 saw the publication of work carried out in 2022/23 on the Digital Demand Responsive Transport (DDRT) sector in the UK. It contained information gathered in interviews with Local Authorities, community transport organisations, operators and technology providers. Two reports were produced outlining findings and detailing recommendations for the UK as a whole and for Scotland.
At the same time, a similar report was published for the shared e-scooter trials in England resulting in a report outlining key statistics and recommendations for central and local government.
The Scottish elements of the bike share and car club research are funded by SCSP as well as two new strand of research in Scotland into the use of community shared transport and a DRT users survey. The results of all these will be published in 2024/25.
The Foundation for Integrated Transport (FIT) have funded CoMoUK to carry out research into the potential scale of shared transport across the UK. The results will be published in 2024/25.
We also devised a regular metric collection for DDRT and e-scooters to complement that we receive on car clubs and bike share. The first data will be collated in Spring 2024.
5. Influencing policy
The organisation plays a key role in representing the sector with national and regional government.
Engagement with the DfT has been regular and productive at official and special adviser levels. The Department confirmed preferential treatment for car club in the supply of zero emission vehicles via the ZEV mandate. This is a ground-breaking measure whose real world performance we will monitor very closely.
There was a commitment from Government for the introduction of a new low-speed, zero-emission vehicle class through the new Transport Bill, which will legalise e-scooter outside the trials. This was not included in the last parliamentary session and will be picked up in 2024/25 with the new transport minister.
CoMoUK has been working with e-scooter operators to collect signatories for a letter to government urging action on the Transport Bill.
A London Roundtable event was held in July 2023, with Deputy Mayor for Transport Seb Dance, borough attendees, London Councils, TfL and GLA staff, operators and other selected invitees.
We have engaged with key contacts in the opposition parties and we have preparing manifesto documents in preparation for the London Mayoral election in May and the general election in July 2024.
Accreditation services
The accreditation schemes for car clubs and bike share continues to be a key tool for managing standards adopted by most local authorities developing schemes. The mobility hub accreditation criteria are being used in the planning of many hubs and we expect many more applications once the current schemes in the local authority pipeline are built in 2024/25.
Staffing
Staff changes during 2023/24:
The Scotland Director left in September 2023 and the post was not replaced.
The Policy and Advocacy Officer post was made redundant in September 2023.
A Communications Officer was appointed in April 2023, but was not confirmed in post at the end of the probation period.
A part time PHD student has been employed for a few hours a week to support our research work.
The Charity has maintained its level of influence through the broad range of activities identified above.
The Trustees have paid due regard to guidance issued by the Charity Commission in deciding what activities the Charity should undertake. CoMoUK Trust is also registered with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator – charity number SC044682.
The Charity’s policy is to consult and discuss with employees, individually and jointly, matters likely to affect employees’ interests. Information of matters of concern to employees is given through e-mail and meetings to achieve a common awareness on the part of all employees of the financial and economic factors affecting the organisation’s performance.
Applications for employment by disabled persons are always fully considered, bearing in mind the aptitudes of the applicant concerned. In the event of a member of staff becoming disabled, every effort will be made to ensure that their employment within the Charity continues and that the appropriate training is arranged. It is the policy of the Charity that the training, career development and promotion of disabled persons should, as far as possible, be identical to that of other employees.
The income for the year amounted to £499,488 (2023 £609,981) with the expenditure amounting to £537,211 ( 2023- £612,846), resulting in a net loss of £37,723 (2023 -net loss £2,865).
The Trustees have reviewed the risks to which the company is exposed and identified six principal requirements for the maintenance of the reserves as follows:
to cover the costs of providing cover for a key employee in the event of their long-term absence, eg sick leave;
to cover any other liabilities;
to finance any cash deficit given the relatively precarious current funding environment and the perennial challenges of securing funding for small charities;
to finance an orderly wind down of the company in the event that became unavoidable, including providing sufficient funds to cover 3 months’ operating costs as expected by the Charity Commission and
to cover the risk of an unforeseen emergency or other unexpected need for funds.
Having evaluated the costs of the identified risks the Trustees consider that minimum reserves of £80,000, should be maintained.
The Trustees have also considered whether any reserve is required to cover the following risks: planned commitments, or designations, that cannot be met by future income alone. They have concluded that these risks are small and that no such reserve is required.
In the case that the organisation has additional reserves above the minimum level, the Trustees agree that up to £50,000 can be spent on supporting exploration of new funding opportunities if management view this a suitable use of resources during the financial year.
The unrestricted funds, not including fixed assets, at 31 March 2024 stood at £241,200, which meets the CoMoUK reserves policy.
The trustees have assessed the major risks to which the Charity is exposed and are satisfied that systems are in place to mitigate exposure to the major risks.
Executive pay
The trustees of CoMoUK Trust set the remuneration of the Chief Executive. Salaries are reviewed on an annual basis and are linked to the staff’s skills, experience, and competences, but are necessarily limited by the charity’s ability to pay.
Future prospects
The changes in the shared transport sector are rapid and varied. The challenges for us as a charity are increasingly to make sure that developments fit with our goals of social, environmental, and economic benefit, as well as to raise awareness and support development.
In 2023/24 the charity bounced back well from the in-year cancellation of the Transport Scotland grant, with only £48,000 being required to be drawn down from reserves. The relatively large financial size of the Scotland work programme in relation to CoMoUK’s other sources of income has long been a concern to the organisation, so we now welcome a greater spread of income sources. The diversification of funding has continued into 24/25 with two new grants from the Motability Foundation. The organisation has remained financially viable throughout. We expect to either break even at the end of 2024/25. Operator funding in the period reduced a little during due to merger and acquisition activity in the sector, a trend which is expected to continue into future years. The proportion of income secured from consultancy has seen a significant during this financial year, and we hope to maintain this.
The charity is a company limited by guarantee and operates within its memorandum and articles of association.
The trustees review the composition of the trustee body on an annual basis to ensure that there are adequate numbers of trustees with relevant skills, and to allow for succession planning. When necessary, recruits to the trustee body are typically sought by nomination from members, which comprise local authorities, shared transport operators (both commercial and community operated), expert consultants with relevant industry experience and private individuals.
Potential recruits are asked to confirm that they have not been disqualified from acting as trustees and are asked to consider and disclose any existing or potential conflicts of interest. The trustees are required to confirm those declarations on an annual basis.
The Trustees, who are also the directors for the purpose of company law, and who served during the year and up to the date of signature of the financial statements were:
On appointment, new trustees are provided with an information pack which explains their role and responsibilities, and the operations of the charity.
None of the Trustees has any beneficial interest in the company. All of the Trustees are members of the company and guarantee to contribute £1 in the event of a winding up.
The company has taken advantage of the small companies’ exemption in preparing the report above.
During the year Azets Audit Services Limited, trading as Azets Audit Services were appointed as auditors following their acquisition of Naylor Wintersgill Limited, on 1 May 2023.
Due to the audit threshholds Azets resigned as auditors and were appointed as Independent Examiners.
In accordance with the company's articles, a resolution proposing that Azets Audit Services be reappointed as independent examiners of the company will be put at a General Meeting.
The Trustees' report was approved by the Board of Trustees.
I report to the Trustees on my examination of the financial statements of CoMoUK Trust (the Charity) for the year ended 31 March 2024.
As the Trustees of the Charity (and also its directors for the purposes of company law) you are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements in accordance with the requirements of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 (the 2005 Act), the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended) and the Companies Act 2006 (the 2006 Act). You are satisfied that the financial statements of the Charity are not required by charity or company law to be audited and have chosen instead to have an independent examination.
Having satisfied myself that the financial statements of the Charity are not required to be audited under Part 16 of the 2006 Act and are eligible for independent examination, I report in respect of my examination of the Charity’s financial statements carried out under section 44 (1) ( c) of the 2005 Act and section 145 of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act). In carrying out my examination I have followed the requirements of Regulation 11 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended) and all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act.
Since the Charity is required by company law to prepare its accounts on an accruals basis and is registered as a charity in Scotland your examiner must be a member of a body listed in Regulation 11(2) of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended). I confirm that I am qualified to undertake the examination because I am a member of ICAEW, which is one of the listed bodies.
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:
accounting records were not kept in respect of the Charity as required by section 386 of the 2006 Act and Regulation 4 of the 2006 Accounts Regulations; or
the financial statements do not accord with those records; or
the financial statements do not comply with the accounting requirements of Regulation 8 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended) and do not comply with the accounting requirements of section 396 of the 2006 Act other than any requirement that the accounts give a true and fair view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination; or
the financial statements have not been prepared in accordance with the methods and principles of the Statement of Recommended Practice for accounting and reporting by charities applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102).
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the financial statements to be reached.
The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year.
All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.
In the application of the Charity’s accounting policies, the Trustees are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying amount of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and associated assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.
The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised where the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods where the revision affects both current and future periods.
CoMoUK Trust is a private company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is 3 Wellington Place, Leeds, LS1 4AP.
The accounts have been prepared in accordance with the Charity's memorandum and articles of association, the Companies Act 2006, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended) and “Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)” (as amended for accounting periods commencing from 1 January 2019). The Charity is a Public Benefit Entity as defined by FRS 102.
The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the Charity. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention. The principal accounting policies adopted are set out below.
At the time of approving the financial statements, the Trustees have a reasonable expectation that the Charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Thus the Trustees continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.
Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the Trustees in furtherance of their charitable objectives.
Restricted funds are subject to specific conditions by donors as to how they may be used. The purposes and uses of the restricted funds are set out in the notes to the financial statements.
Income, including grants, is recognised when the Charity is legally entitled to it after any performance conditions have been met, the amounts can be measured reliably, and it is probable that income will be received.
Cash donations are recognised on receipt. Other donations are recognised once the Charity has been notified of the donation, unless performance conditions require deferral of the amount. Income tax recoverable in relation to donations received under Gift Aid or deeds of covenant is recognised at the time of the donation.
Liabilities are recognised as soon as there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the charity to the expenditure. All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all costs related to the category.
Charitable expenditure comprises those costs incurred by the charity in the delivery of its activities and services for its beneficiaries. It includes both costs that can be allocated directly to such activities and those costs of an indirect nature necessary to support them.
Grants payable are payments made to third parties in the furtherance of the charitable objectives. Where the charity gives a grant with conditions for its payment being a specific level of services or output to be provided, such grants are only recognised in the Statement of Financial Activities once the recipient of the grant has provided the specific service or output.
Grants payable without performance conditions are only recognised in the accounts when a commitment has been made and there are no conditions to be met relating to the grant which remain in the control of the charity.
Provisions for grants are made when the intention to make a grant has been communicated to the recipient but there is uncertainty about either the timing of the grant or the amount of grant payable.
Tangible fixed assets are initially measured at cost and subsequently measured at cost or valuation, net of depreciation and any impairment losses.
Depreciation is recognised so as to write off the cost or valuation of assets less their residual values over their useful lives on the following bases:
The gain or loss arising on the disposal of an asset is determined as the difference between the sale proceeds and the carrying value of the asset, and is recognised in the statement of financial activities.
Individual fixed assets costing £50 or more are initially recorded at cost.
At each reporting end date, the Charity reviews the carrying amounts of its tangible assets to determine whether there is any indication that those assets have suffered an impairment loss. If any such indication exists, the recoverable amount of the asset is estimated in order to determine the extent of the impairment loss (if any).
Cash and cash equivalents include cash in hand, deposits held at call with banks, other short-term liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less, and bank overdrafts. Bank overdrafts are shown within borrowings in current liabilities.
The Charity has elected to apply the provisions of Section 11 ‘Basic Financial Instruments’ and Section 12 ‘Other Financial Instruments Issues’ of FRS 102 to all of its financial instruments.
Financial instruments are recognised in the Charity's balance sheet when the Charity becomes party to the contractual provisions of the instrument.
Financial assets and liabilities are offset, with the net amounts presented in the financial statements, when there is a legally enforceable right to set off the recognised amounts and there is an intention to settle on a net basis or to realise the asset and settle the liability simultaneously.
Basic financial assets, which include debtors and cash and bank balances, are initially measured at transaction price including transaction costs and are subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest method unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the transaction is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial assets classified as receivable within one year are not amortised.
Basic financial liabilities, including creditors and bank loans are initially recognised at transaction price unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the debt instrument is measured at the present value of the future payments discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial liabilities classified as payable within one year are not amortised.
Debt instruments are subsequently carried at amortised cost, using the effective interest rate method.
Trade creditors are obligations to pay for goods or services that have been acquired in the ordinary course of operations from suppliers. Amounts payable are classified as current liabilities if payment is due within one year or less. If not, they are presented as non-current liabilities. Trade creditors are recognised initially at transaction price and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.
Financial liabilities are derecognised when the Charity’s contractual obligations expire or are discharged or cancelled.
The cost of any unused holiday entitlement is recognised in the period in which the employee’s services are received.
Termination benefits are recognised immediately as an expense when the Charity is demonstrably committed to terminate the employment of an employee or to provide termination benefits.
Payments to defined contribution retirement benefit schemes are charged as an expense as they fall due.
Grants receivable for core activities
Unrestricted funds
Unrestricted funds
Membership, accreditation and operator support
Consultancy fees
Events and other income
Projects
Projects
Project expenditure
Book keeping and payroll
Premises costs
Insurance
Office costs
Sundry expenses and bank charges
Travel and subsistence
Computer and website costs
Subscriptions and publications
PR and marketing
Legal and professional costs
Independent examination
Legal and professional fees
Support costs are allocated based on staff hours.
Costs specifically relating to the charitable structure of the charity are allocated to governance costs.
Governance costs includes payments to the auditor of £nil (2023- £6,282) for audit fees. Independent examination £2,750 (2023 £nil ). Bookkeeping and payroll costs include £1,384 (2023: £982) paid to the independent examiner for payroll fees.
None of the Trustees (or any persons connected with them) received any remuneration or benefits from the Charity during the current or previous year.
The average monthly number of employees during the year was:
The charity is exempt from tax on income and gains falling within section 505 of the Taxes Act 1988 or section 252 of the Taxationof Chargeable Gains Act 1992 to the extent that these are applied to its charitable objects.
Funds have been transferred into a designated fixed asset fund to match the carrying value of the fixed assets held, this fund will reduce as the assets are depreciated.
The contingency fund relates to necessary closure costs in the event that funding were lost. This fund is not expected to be spent in the foreseeable future.
The Foundation for Integrated Transport project is analysing the potential scale of shared transport in England and Wales, and resulting social and environmental benefits if this growth was realised.
Mobi mix is an EU 2 seas project which is supporting the exchange of knowledge of shared mobility development through a number of trials.
Share-north is an EU Interreg funded project which aims to accelerate the growth of shared mobility through exchange of trans-national learning.
Paths for all is part of the Scottish Smarter Choices Smarter Places programme and has provided support through a series of grant for a range of activities to promote shared mobility in Scotland.
Prior year:-
Transport Scotland provided funds for the development of shared mobility schemes including grants paid to other institutions.
Mobi mix is an EU 2 seas project which is supporting the exchange of knowledge of shared mobility development through a number of trials.
Share-north is an EU Interreg funded project which aims to accelerate the growth of shared mobility through exchange of trans-national learning.
Paths for all is part of the Scottish Smarter Choices Smarter Places programme and has provided support through a series of grant for a range of activities to promote shared mobility in Scotland.
General funds
Restricted funds
Designated funds
General funds
Designated funds
At the reporting end date the Charity had outstanding commitments for future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases, which fall due as follows:
During the year payments of £8,211 (2023: £9,900) were made under operating leases. The lease finished in the year.
The remuneration of key management personnel is as follows.
During the year the Charity entered into the following transactions with related parties:
No travel expenses were reimbursed in the current or prior year.