The trustees (who are also directors of the charity for the purposes of the Companies Act) present their annual report together with the audited financial statements of Design South East Limited (the company) for the year ended 31 March 2024. The Trustees confirm that the Annual report and financial statements of the company comply with the current statutory requirements, the requirements of the company's governing document and the provisions of the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP), applicable 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 2019).
Design South East is a Company Limited by Guarantee governed by its Memorandum and Articles of Association dated 18 December 2014. It is registered as a charity with the Charity Commission.
Directors are either 'A' or 'B' directors. 'A' directors are those appointed by 'A' members. 'A' members are currently:
Medway Council
University of Greenwich
Gravesham Borough Council
Each 'A' member may nominate one 'A' director, carried out in accordance with our Articles of Association.
A 'B' member is a member admitted as a 'B' member in accordance with the Articles of Association. A 'B' director is any director appointed as a 'B' member. Anyone wishing to become a B director must make an application for membership and an appointment is subject to approval by a majority of the directors. When considering applications the Board has regard to the requirement for any specialist skills on the board and geographic representation, in addition to the understanding of and alignment with the objects of the company.
New trustees undergo an orientation session to brief them on their legal obligations under charity and company law, the Charity Commission guidance on public benefit; and to inform them of 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. During induction they meet key employees and other trustees. Trustees are encouraged to attend appropriate external training events where these will facilitate the undertaking of their role.
The board administers the charity. The board meets quarterly, or more frequently, if necessary. There is a finance subcommittee which also meets quarterly, or more frequently if required.
A Chief Executive whose title is Director (though he is not a director for legal purposes) 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 programme related activity.
Our objects are:
To advance public education and to develop and improve the skills and capabilities of people of all ages by encouraging the understanding of the arts, architecture and the built environment;
To promote social inclusion for the public benefit in particular those that are, or feel they are, excluded from society by helping local people to participate in the improvement of the quality of their built environment (being "excluded" from society, or part of society, as a result of being a member of a socially and economically deprived community or on the grounds of their social and economic position);
To promote sustainable development for public benefit in particular best practice in the field of sustainable development. Sustainable development means "development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs";
To advance the education of the public in urban and rural regeneration by promoting best practice in the field of regeneration in areas of social and economic deprivation for the public benefit;
To help young people advance in life by developing their skills in the arts, architecture and the built environment; and
To further such other charitable purposes (charitable under English law) as the Directors see fit from time to time primarily, but not exclusively in the south of England.
Our work this year has focused primarily on three of our objects; to develop and improve the skills and capabilities of people, to promote social inclusion and to promote sustainable development for public benefit. The majority of our activities have been delivered through on-location events, workshops, study tours. We have where possible used online platforms (where their use has not been detrimental to the activity) on sustainability grounds.
Though design review remained our main activity thereby helping to promote sustainable development, we have increased activities that promote social inclusion, by establishing panels and forums to support public engagement in planning and design processes.
Developing and improving the skills and capabilities of people
We launched a new local authority design code network to provide training and support for local authorities in the southeast who are developing or considering design codes. The network meets quarterly, with each session starting with expert speakers with the rest of the session providing an opportunity for officers to meet colleagues and to share knowledge.
We organised a study tour of the urban extension of Chilmington Green in collaboration with Ashford Borough Council to explore the delivery of the vision and design principles for this new community.
Our ‘Revitalising Rural Places’ workshop explored the challenges and opportunities associated with managing and revitalising rural places, including a review of best practices in rural master planning and placemaking.
Our first webinar in 2024 was broadcast on 23 January. Our guest speaker explored best practices in street design and drew on his experience working across the southeast.
Promoting social inclusion
The Kingston Citizens’ Panel, which we facilitated with officers at the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames earlier in 2023 was shortlisted for the London Planning Awards for ‘Best Community Engagement Outcomes'.
With area-wide design codes soon to becoming a statutory requirement, we supported local authorities with strategic advice on how to develop design codes. We also trained officers and stakeholders in the design coding process, which is predicated on effective community engagement. This work supported the in-house production of an area-wide design code for Runnymede Borough Council.
We were also commissioned by a government department to carry out a short research project around the concept of ‘provably popular design’ in relation to engaging communities in design coding and planning processes.
Promoting sustainable development for public benefit
We continued to increase our emphasis on promoting sustainable development through our design review activities and made this a key factor in how we structured sessions. This was particularly important in relation to larger urban projects, where we sought coherent sustainability strategies to underpin design development, and for specific measures and actions, including the reuse of existing built form and the inclusion of sustainable urban drainage. On the major rural sites on which we were engaged we again promoted the importance of a sustainability strategy and commitment to sustainable travel and drainage and a zero carbon approach. To support this we delivered a training event to review the latest zero carbon developments being planned and delivered across the UK, and particularly the south east, in line with the government’s 2050 target.
We developed new design review panel on behalf of the London Borough of Bexley and Dover District Council and we became the design review partner for Thurrock Council. Our Kingston upon Thames and Brighton and Hove design review panels were refreshed in 2023 and continued to support the delivery of sustainable developments.
We also created opportunities to deliver activities that enabled us to engage with projects earlier in the planning process than design review typically allows; at the visioning, strategy, policy- or plan-making stages of projects. We achieved this through design code support, co-production, and community engagement activities. This early engagement enabled us to help clients and communities embed the principles of sustainable development at the formative stage of projects.
We continued to embed Building for a Healthy Life principles into the end-to-end development process for major sites in partnership with governmental and regional organisations that share our values and purpose across England.
During the 23-24 financial year we also planned a major conference that was successfully delivered in April 2024. With a theme of ‘Planning for a Sustainable Future’ the conference brought 150 people from the public and private sectors together to share knowledge on sustainable placemaking, collaborate on new approaches and reach agreement on the priorities for the south east.
Through our climate quarterly, we rounded up important sustainability news and inspiring projects from the south east of England. In one edition we reflected on the need for climate adaptation and highlighted the work being done to drive forward decarbonisation and nature recovery.
After making appropriate enquiries, the trustees have a reasonable expectation that the company 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 statements. Further details regarding the adoption of the going concern basis can be found in the Accounting Policies.
The charity achieved a surplus for the period; however, the charity experienced a slight decrease in income, which fell to £801,000 from £860,000 in the previous year (2022-23). This reduction was primarily due to reduced client demand, influenced by overall economic uncertainty. However, our costs were lower than budgeted for the period, which enabled the charity to deliver a surplus of £32,000 for the year, a significant improvement compared to the £71,000 deficit recorded in 2022-23. The reduction in costs was achieved through careful budget management and efficiency improvements. Specific areas where cost savings were realised included reduced administrative costs and renegotiation of contracts. Additionally, the charity implemented several cost-saving measures to our service delivery processes, without compromising the quality of our services.
We consider the main risks facing the company that might impact on financial performance to be:
- Economic recession and a downturn in development and housebuilding.
- A change in government policy on planning generally, or specifically on design review, causing a reduction in demand for our core service.
To mitigate these risks, we are diversifying our activities and therefore our sources of revenue.
From 2023-24, the reserve level has been set at £175,000. The trustees consider that reserves at this level ensure that, in the event of a significant drop in income, the charity can continue its current activities while exploring ways to raise additional income.
Our policy mandates maintaining a minimum reserve of £175,000. At the close of the fiscal year, we successfully maintained this level and continue to do so.
Our short-term objectives are aimed at addressing immediate needs within our community, improving operational efficiency, and enhancing our service delivery. Specific short-term goals include:
Continued diversification: We will increase our range of activities by engaging with new and existing client and stakeholder groups.
Increased Efficiency: We will streamline our administrative processes to reduce our costs
Our long-term objectives are designed to ensure the sustainability and growth of our charity, while also expanding our impact on the communities we work in. These objectives include:
Sustainable growth: Over the next five years, we aim to grow and diversify our funding sources and activities.
Stregthening our capacity: To support our long-term growth we are focused on building our internal capacity. This includes investing in staff development, improving our operating processes and upgrading our IT infrastructure to better support our operations.
To achieve these objectives, the following key activities were planned and executed:
Stakeholder Engagement: We will conduct surveys and meet stakeholder groups to better understand their needs and refine our service offerings accordingly.
Monitoring and Evaluation: We will implement a robust monitoring and evaluation framework to track the progress of our initiatives.
Partnership Building: We will establish new partnerships with local authorities and government departments
Staff Training and Development: Continuous professional development will be provided to our staff to ensure they have the skills necessary to implement our strategic objectives effectively.
Past experience has influenced our plans and decisions in terms of:
The importance of responding rapidly to a changing operating environment.
The need for effective pricing of our activities.
The need for investment in systems and processes.
The value of being responsive to feedback from stakeholders.
All employees of Design South East are subject to annual appraisal and mid-term reviews. In the case of the Chief Executive the appraisal is conducted with the Chair of the Board. The remuneration committee comprises three directors of the company, advised by the Chief Executive. Pay rises for staff were agreed by this committee. The pay of the Chief Executive was also agreed by the committee but without the presence of the Chief Executive. Decisions are reached in in accordance with our remuneration policy, including factors such as performance as judged by the appraisal process, and the financial position of the company.
The charity is a company limited by guarantee.
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:
None of the trustees has any beneficial interest in the company.
The Trustees (who are also directors of Design South East Limited 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 Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under Company law the Trustees must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the situation of the charitable company and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the Trustees are required to:
select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP;
make judgments and accounting estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements;
prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charitable company will continue in operation.
The Trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the charitable company's transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company 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 charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
The trustees' report was approved by the Board of Trustees.
I report to the trustees on my examination of the financial statements of Design South East Limited (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 Companies Act 2006 (the 2006 Act).
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 145 of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act). In carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act.
Since the charity’s gross income exceeded £250,000 your examiner must be a member of a body listed in section 145 of the 2011 Act. I confirm that I am qualified to undertake the examination because I am a member of ACCA, 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; or
the financial statements do not accord with those records; or
the financial statements 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.
Design South East Limited is a private company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is 70 Cowcross Street, London, EC1M 6EJ.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the charity's [governing document], the Companies Act 2006, FRS 102 “The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland” (“FRS 102”) and the Charities SORP "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)" (effective 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.
Design South East Limited meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy.
The company's functional and presentational currency is GBP.
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.
General funds are unrestricted funds which are available for use at the discretion of the Trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the company and which have not been designated for the other purposes.
Restricted funds are funds which are to be used in accordance with specific restrictions imposed by donors or which have been raised by the company for particular purposes. The costs of raising and administering such funds are charges against the specific fund. The aim and use of each restricted fund is set out in the notes to the financial statements.
Investment income, gains and losses are allocated to the appropriate fund.
All income is recognised once the charity has entitlement to the income, it is probable that the income will be received, and the amount of income receivable can be measured reliably.
Income tax recoverable in relation to investment income is recognised at the time the investment income is receivable.
Grants received from County Council and Medway Council and are accounted for on receivable basis.
Project income is recognised when the company obtains the right to consideration under the terms of the individual contract. Where the right to consideration occurs before the service is invoiced the income is accrued. When the right to consideration occurs after the service is invoiced the income is deferred.
Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to transfer economic benefit to a third party, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefits will be required in settlement, and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably.
Expenditure is classified by activity. The costs of each activity are made up of the total of direct costs and shared costs, including support costs involved in undertaking each activity. Direct costs attributable to a single activity are allocated directly to that activity. Shared costs which contribute to more than one activity and support costs which are not attributable to a single activity are apportioned between those activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources. Central staff costs are allocated on the basis of time spent, and depreciation charges are allocated on the portion of the asset’s use.
Charitable activities and Governance costs are costs incurred on the company's operations, including support costs and costs relating to the governance of the company apportioned to charitable activities.
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.
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.
Company status
The company is a company limited by guarantee. The members of the company are the Trustees named on page 1. In the event of the company being wound up, the liability in respect of the guarantee is limited to £1 per member of the company.
Pensions
The company operates a defined contribution pension scheme and the pension charge represents the amounts payable by the company to the fund in respect of the year.
All charitable activities
Unrestricted funds
Unrestricted funds
Panel fees
Panel expenses
Venue hire
Catering design review
Wages and salaries
National insurance
Pension cost
Seminars and conference fees
Premises costs
Travel & entertainment
Office costs
Accountancy fees
Professional fees
Marketing and communications
Bad debts
Wages and salaries
National insurance
Independent examiners' remuneration
The average monthly number of employees during the year was:
The key management personnel of the charity comprise, the Chief Executive Officer, Operations Manager and the Head of Programmes. The total employee benefits of the key management personnel of the Charity were £189,781 (2023 - £151,586).
The charity is exempt from taxation on its activities because all its income is applied for charitable purposes.
Deferred income is included in the financial statements as follows:
The unrestricted funds of the charity comprise the unexpended balances of donations and grants which are not subject to specific conditions by donors and grantors as to how they may be used. These include designated funds which have been set aside out of unrestricted funds by the trustees for specific purposes.
During the year under review the following transactions took place with the company Tibbalds Planning and Urban Design Ltd, a company in which H Satchwell is a Director and shareholder;
Sales of £720 (2023 - £600)
All transactions were at arms' length and as at 31 March 2024 £Nil (2023 - £Nil) was due from Tibbalds Planning and Urban Design Ltd.
The charity had no material debt during the year.