The directors, who are also trustees present their annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 May 2024.
The trustees have adopted the provision of the Companies Act 2006 and Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable in the UK and Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2015) in preparing the annual report and financial statements for the charity.
Reference and administrative details
Registered Office: 35 Belfast Road, Antrim, BT41 1PS
Independent Examiner: Aidan Corrigan, ACA, Corrigan CA Limited, 24 Greystone Road, Antrim, BT41 2QN
The principal activity of the company is the provision of increased access to specialist therapy not generally available to children and young people in Ireland.
The Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015 requires organisations to meet two criteria i.e. 'Charitable Purpose' and 'Public Benefit'. In relation to the 'charitable purpose' the Memorandum and Articles of Association of the Gaitway Organisation states that the organisation meets a number of the charitable purposes as set out in the regulations i.e. 'the prevention or relief of poverty, the advancement of health or the saving of lives' and 'the relief of those in need by reason of youth, age, ill-health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantage'. The Gaitway Organisation meets the public benefit test, as the organisation provides services, which can be accessed by members of the public who are in need of such services. The trustees have paid due regard to guidance issued by the Charity Commission in deciding what activities the Gaitway Organisation should undertake.
Significant activities and achievements against
This year our operational goal was to continue to offer a four week Summer scheme along with week long programs on the Halloween break and the February Midterm Break.
Again our programme delivery was based on the Andras Pető method, otherwise known as Conductive Education. This is a form of physical therapy which is often delivered as a group activity. Conductors were recruited locally as well as from Great Britain and Hungary. Support was provided by a team of assistants, recruited locally, who were mainly University Students studying nursing, medicine, physiotherapy and other subjects. This enabled a number of very high quality programmes to be delivered to the 16 children who attended, up from 12 last year, many benefiting from 180 hours of therapy each. In total, we were delighted to be able to deliver another 1,800+ hours again this year.
Additionally, we have been making our approach more multidisciplinary and this has resulted in us bringing some physiotherapists onto the team, including a specialist neuro-physiotherapist. She has focused on evaluating the effectiveness of our programmes by performing a detailed analysis of each child's ability to perform across a range of activities at the beginning and at the end of the programme. Her report concluded that all children showed significant improvement in almost all areas. In addition, parents continued to speak of the social skills and confidence-building that their children benefited from, in addition to the physical improvements that they had seen in their children.
Our neuro-physiotherapist will continue to help in a development role in future programme planning.
Parents continue to find that it is helpful for them to spend time with other parents whose children are experiencing similar difficulties and that this provided them with a support network as well as some much needed respite from their caring role while their children are attending schemes. Parents commented that they felt they could really enjoy their respite because they all felt that their children were having all their needs so comprehensively met at the same time.
We are delighted to be able to report on a number of improvements in many areas of our operation including:
Increasing overall therapeutic provision and helping an increasing number of children and young people at each scheme.
Planning and building our team’s capabilities to deliver this increased provision, while also improving its quality, thanks to the efforts of our Director of Therapies, Rachael Elliott.
Continuing to develop beneficial relationships with external funding partners, led by our Chair, Alan Elliott.
Increasing our income from grants by 100%, through the work of Directors Alan Elliott, Rachael Elliott and Coirle Butler.
Significant development in Community Fundraising & Engagement, thanks to the efforts of Director of Fundraising, Coirle Butler and her team of volunteers, which resulted in an increase of 50% to our overall income for the year.
Improving our communications, thanks to the efforts of our new Director of Communications, Harry Withers.
Governance and financial management has also seen considerable improvement thanks to extensive work undertaken by our Treasurer and Secretary, Tracy Andrew with Chair, Alan Elliott. This included much improved management of reserves to help with the continuing work of the charity.
Having successfully won funding from a number of bodies, notably the National Lottery Community Fund, the LFT Charitable Trust and the Enkalon Foundation as well as benefiting greatly from the fundraising activities of Mivan Ltd, who selected us as their Charity of the Year for 2024, we now wish to continue to develop our fundraising capability.
We have developed a strategic plan with the aim of continuing to offer schemes at the current level, while working in earnest towards obtaining suitable permanent premises where other therapeutic methods could be made available and offered throughout the year, as these services are badly needed all year round to be truly effective. We have also noticed that physio and occupational therapy services have not returned to pre-pandemic levels and so there is more need than ever for our services.
We hope to continue to attract more talented Trustees with as wide a range of relevant experience as possible and would dearly like to be in a position to employ senior management staff to take things to the next level over the coming years.
We will continue to work towards our goal of making our detailed development plan a reality to become a valuable and sustainable resource for parents and children/young people with neuro-motor disabilities throughout Ireland who hope to move forwards through therapy.
The Gaitway Organisation 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:
The trustees, who are also the directors of The Gaitway Organisation for the purpose 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 which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Gaitway Organisation and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that year.
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 judgements and 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; and
- prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the Gaitway Organisation will continue in operation.
The trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the Gaitway Organisation and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006, the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2015, and the provisions of the trust deed. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
I report to the trustees on my examination of The Gaitway Organisation for the year ended 31 May 2024.
accounting records were not kept in respect of the Gaitway Organisation 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.
The Gaitway Organisation is a private company limited by guarantee incorporated in Northern Ireland. The registered office is 35 Belfast Road, Antrim, BT41 1PB.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Gaitway Organisation'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 Gaitway Organisation is a Public Benefit Entity as defined by FRS 102.
The Gaitway Organisation has taken advantage of the provisions in the SORP for charities not to prepare a Statement of Cash Flows.
The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the Gaitway Organisation. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.
The principle accounting policies which have been applied consistently throughout are set out below.
At the time of approving the financial statements, the trustees have a reasonable expectation that the Gaitway Organisation 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 or grantors 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 is recognised when the Gaitway Organisation 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 Gaitway Organisation 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.
Expenditure on charitable activities is recognised once there is a legal and 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. The charity is below the charity audit threshold and therefore is exempt from reporting expenditure on an activity basis. The charity has opted to report by the nature of expenditure rather than on an activity basis.
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 Gaitway Organisation 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 Gaitway Organisation's balance sheet when the Gaitway Organisation 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 Gaitway Organisation’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 Gaitway Organisation is demonstrably committed to terminate the employment of an employee or to provide termination benefits.
In the application of the Gaitway Organisation’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.
Direct Costs
The average monthly number of employees during the year was:21
The charity is exempt from taxation on its activities because all its income is applied for charitable purposes.
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.
Payments have been made to related parties (2023 - none). Trustees have bought resources or made payments on behalf of the charity and were reimbursed for these. No benefits were received.
It should be noted that the trustees use the services provided by the charity but pay the same fee as any other user and do not receive a discount.
Related party transactions:
Lodgements
19/1/24 Tracy Andrew £1,081.60
31/05/2024 A&R Elliot £225
Withdrawals
31/05/2024 A&R Elliot £5,355.56
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