The directors present their annual report and financial statements for the year ended 30 June 2024.
Principal activities
The principal activity of the company continued to be that of delivering high quality education, training and skills for learners for football in Lancashire.
REVIEW OF BUSINESS
Context
The 2023-24 season, the final year in this strategy period, has been a busy season for football with participation numbers rising across the board, and all exceeding the targets set by the FA, with the women’s game reaching over 12k players and the male game reaching over 76k players. We were particularly pleased to see the increase in participants within the Pan-Disability game reflecting a return to the game following strong support from our football development team, who have worked to ensure all our community members can find their place in a safe, fun football environment.
This season we continued our focus on driving high standards of governance at Lancashire FA and were delighted to achieve compliance with v.2.1 of The FA’s Code of Governance for County FAs in March 2024, receiving recognition, as an early adopter of the upgraded standard, for our governance control. As part of this work, we considered and adopted Board targets relating to diversity and inclusion, which represent our ambitions to bring our Board to a community represented position as part of the 2032-36 strategy period. We also fulfilled our aspirations to reach the Preliminary Level of the Equality Standard for Sport during the season.
Having continually reinforced the importance of a safe environment for football, and visited over 98 clubs, to ensure we are visible in our community and constantly reinforcing high standards, we were delighted to pass our annual Safeguarding 365 inspection early in the season.
2023-24 Season
Financial Performance
This season we have generated a small surplus of £10.9k for the financial year having benefiting from the higher interest rates available and despite the challenges of a higher inflation environment and increased costs.
Financial Overview
Turnover including Other Operating Income and interest £1,802k: Turnover remained in line with last season, whilst the increase was primarily due to interest received, with grant funding, commercial activity, development and discipline continuing to contribute the lion’s share of income.
Operating Expenses £1,792k: Increased by £5k from last season, with increases due to higher costs running the business within a high inflationary environment.
Surplus £10.9k
Cash at Hand £1,392k: An increase reflecting tighter debtor controls within an overall conservative, careful approach to cash management designed to support planned investment into football over the coming 18 months, and the ongoing continuity of the business. Maximum cash reserve limits of 12 months’ operating costs are set by The FA, and the Lancashire FA Board’s investment profile dictates maintaining a minimum cash balance comprising 3 months’ operating costs and an operating buffer, plus known expenditure relating to an expected investment to replace the 3G pitch and floodlights.
Income
The following overview highlights the activities contributing to income, and supporting investment into football in Lancashire in the 2023/24 season:
FA Grant Funding: The Football Association, as the National Governing Body for football, and recipient of public funding, provide each County Football Association with a grant to support their activities based on their market share. For this three-year strategy period, a set amount was agreed at the outset, and this has been provided on an annual basis. In the 2023-24 season, the final of the three-year funding cycle, Lancashire FA received a total of £519k in grant funding from The FA, being the agreed annual amount plus specific purpose development grants of £36.5k. We also received £9k from The FA in respect of our collaboration with Westmorland. The amount received from The FA was £20k less than the previous season and no other grant funding was received by the Association from public investors.
Commercial Activities: The County Ground provides professional and grassroot fixtures, 3G football, hospitality and events for corporate and private clients and partnership and sponsorship activities. Performance was not as strong as previously seen, and costs did increase in this area of the business. With the advert of our new online booking system for 3G football, conference and events, we expect greater efficiency from this year and can report a steady pipeline for the 2024-25 season.
County Cups: Competition activity, particularly from the County Cups, was strong over the course of the season.
Education & Training: As well as running bespoke education courses for Referees and Coaches, Lancashire FA receives compensation from The FA in respect of our share of the centralised coach education offering taken in-house by The FA in the 2020-21 season, which is directly reinvested back into this focus for football.
Discipline: Discipline levels continued to rise this year, contributing £319k to income. Raising the bar to improve standards and behaviours is a strategic priority for the coming strategy period.
Interest: The current interest rate environment has allowed Lancashire FA to benefit from interest income during the season to further support our activities.
Investment in Football in Lancashire
Highlights of Lancashire FA’s contribution to local football in the 2023-24 season include:
Championing Football in Lancashire: Making our football community across the county feel more valued and connected by using a variety of social media channels to engage different audiences and by providing a bi-monthly Lancashire Football Show.
Investment in Inclusion: An Interim lead is in place to support inclusion in football and we have an active Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Football Advisory Board with the EDI FAB Chair also holding a Board Observer role to drive focus at the highest level.
Safeguarding: Delivering 38 ‘Adults in Junior Football’ workshops to clubs and leagues, visiting 98 clubs to conduct safeguarding visits, and throughout the season maintained 99% DBS compliance across the county.
Football Development: Supporting 771 Clubs, 5,693 Teams, across 39 Leagues with 89,726 players and providing governance and oversight of the game. This included supporting 20 Clubs to access funding to develop new provision, with other diverse recreational-based projects supporting Sport England’s place-based delivery model. We have successfully delivered the first Military Veterans League here in Lancashire, supporting 8 new teams during this first season. Our Ability Counts League continues to grow, in the first year of the under 16yrs we had four teams and have now progressed to eight teams for the coming season. We continue to see a growing number of teams and clubs.
Women & Girls: Developing new Wildcats and Squad centres to add to the existing centres across both programmes, and both the County Women’s League and Women’s Recreational League progressing to independent Leagues with independent Committees. The female provision, within the league structure, continues to grow providing more flexible opportunities to play across Lancashire, and we saw 12,000 female players (3,000 above target) participating in football opportunities in the season.
Facilities Development and Investment: Developing partnerships and supporting Clubs, Schools, Local Authorities and key community partners across the County with c. £9.6m of investment secured into football facilities across 152 projects, increased investment and support into Playing Pitch Strategies throughout Lancashire and over 100 grass pitch maintenance funded projects now within our boundaries. 5 new key strategic projects awarded, a new hub site operating in Wigan and the 1st Play Zone in the County supported, ready for construction in the 2024-25 season
Westmorland FA Collaboration: Continued delivery of a shared resource providing our facility development service across both areas.
3G Facility: Enabling over forty Clubs, Leagues and Social Groups to use our 3G facility.
Professional Grass Pitch: Providing 4 professional teams with 44 fixtures and running 21 County Cup finals at our beautifully maintained pitch.
Discipline and Appeals Case Management Standards: Leading football nationally with our methodology, continuing to drive an efficient process for our Clubs and Volunteers.
Coach Development: Delivering 14 generic CPD events supporting the development of 241 coaches and, under our Female Coach Development Programme, delivering 7 workshops with 88 female coaches in attendance, as well as delivering two additional events: ‘Every Coach Counts’ and ‘How Your Club Can Support LGBTQ+ Players and Supporters’.
Referee Development & Mentoring: Delivering 18 FA Referee courses supporting 401 Learners, delivering 2 Referee Arena Events, a County Cup Seminar and 8 CORE Sessions.
Financial Practices
The Finance, Audit, Risk and Investment Committee regularly meet to ensure the adequacy of the Association's financial reporting and internal controls. During the season the Committee have, amongst other matters, established a Board Assurance Programme, reviewed the financial competency within the organisation, scrutinised management accounts produced on a monthly basis and particularly focused on the Association’s debtor position and adequacy of reserves. In addition, they have checked and challenges the annual budget proposal and audited accounts, noted changes to the Pension Scheme, had oversight and approval of the Scheme of Delegation and regularly considered the major risks to the Association, reporting on their activities to the Lancashire FA Board.
Risk Control
The Association retains a robust risk control system, enabling the Board, Executive and all staff to view the magnitude and likelihood of risks, and the steps taken to mitigate and control their likelihood and impact. On a quarterly basis, risks are monitored at either Committee or Board level, who consider both internal organisational risks, and external risks in the football environment.
Directors Remuneration
The Non-Executive Director roles at Lancashire FA are voluntary and Directors do not receive remuneration for these positions.
Auditors
The Auditors, Sedulo, were appointed to produce the Audited Accounts for the 2023-24 season, at the November 2023 AGM, this being their third year as the Association’s Auditors.
The audit was completed with no significant issues raised by the Auditors for consideration and the Finance, Audit, Risk and Investment Committee confirms that Lancashire FA remains a going concern.
The Future
The 2024-25 season marks the start of a new strategic period for County FAs, and our strategy for the 4-year strategy cycle was approved by The FA with funding confirmed in June 2024.
As part of our strategy, this coming season will see us launch our new membership offering, which will initially be available in the 2025-26 season for our football family who are individually involved in the game: players, referees, coaches and volunteers, bringing extensive benefits that will support their passion for the game. This will be followed by a wider membership for organisations within football, which will include benefits increasing to support our aims to drive up standards in the game.
Last year we spoke of the future for football in Lancashire changing, and the need for us to work in partnership being more critical. Our strategy for the coming years creates a pathway to deliver a sustainable affiliated game that is welcoming and enjoyable for all members of our community. It shares our aspirations for collaboration, joining together with organisations, minds and influencers within our local space to work effectively together, through football, to deliver on the common goals that support our active community with better health, wellbeing and social outcomes.
The directors who held office during the year and up to the date of signature of the financial statements were as follows:
This report has been prepared in accordance with the provisions of Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies.
The notes on pages 7 to 11 form part of these financial statements.
Lancashire Football Association Limited is a private company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is The County Ground, Thurston Road, Leyland, Preston, Lancashire, PR25 2LF.
The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the company. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.
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 credited or charged to surplus or deficit.
At each reporting date, an assessment is made for impairment. Any excess of the carrying amount of stocks over its estimated selling price less costs to complete and sell is recognised as an impairment loss in profit or loss. Reversals of impairment losses are also recognised in profit or loss.
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.
Financial liabilities and equity instruments are classified according to the substance of the contractual arrangements entered into. An equity instrument is any contract that evidences a residual interest in the assets of the company after deducting all of its liabilities.
Basic financial liabilities, including creditors, bank loans, loans from fellow group companies and preference shares that are classified as debt, 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 business 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.
Grants are classified as either as relating to revenue or relating to assets.
Grants relating to revenue are recognised in income on a systematic basis over the periods in which the entity recognises the related costs for which the grant is intended to compensate.
Grants relating to assets are recognised in income on a systematic basis over the expected useful life of the asset.
In the application of the company’s accounting policies, the directors 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.
The average monthly number of persons (including directors) employed by the company during the year was:
As the income statement has been omitted from the filing copy of the financial statements, the following information in relation to the audit report on the statutory financial statements is provided in accordance with s444(5B) of the Companies Act 2006:
The auditor's report was unqualified.
The director's consider there to be no controlling party.