The Trustees present their annual report and financial statements for the year ended 30 September 2024.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in note 1 to the financial statements and comply with the Foundation's governing document, the Companies Act 2006, FRS 102 "The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland" 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)".
The Foundation is the governing body for recreational cricket in Gloucestershire and works in the community to deliver a range of health, education, community cohesion and cricket development projects, programmes, and events.
The purpose of the Foundation is to improve lives through the power of cricket. We want to inspire Gloucestershire to say ‘Cricket is a game for everyone'. We believe cricket is uniquely placed to bring communities together, inspire lifelong friendships, improve health & wellbeing and deliver social impact.
To meet our purpose, our vision is to put bats and balls in more people’s hands. We want cricket to become the most inclusive sport in Gloucestershire by inspiring every generation and community to feel they belong in the game.
The Objects of the Charity are for the benefit of the public generally, particularly the inhabitants of Gloucestershire and its surrounding areas, including the City of Bristol:
to promote community participation in healthy recreation by providing or assisting in the provision of facilities for the playing of and development of cricket and other sports that are capable of improving health (‘facilities’ in this article means land, buildings, equipment and organising sporting activities including coaching and instruction) and by working to increase levels of participation in sport and physical activity, particularly among members of socially and economically disadvantaged communities in the Area of Benefit;
to provide and assist in providing facilities for the playing of and development of the game of cricket and other games or sport, on a recreational basis for the leisure time occupation of such persons who have need for such facilities by reason of their youth, age, infirmity or disablement, poverty or social and economic circumstances, or for the public at large, in the interest of social welfare, with the object of improving their conditions of life, and as a means of reducing the incidence of anti-social behaviour among members of socially and economically disadvantaged communities in the Area of Benefit;
to advance the education of people of all ages through such means as the Trustees see fit;
to promote social inclusion for the public benefit by preventing people from becoming socially excluded, relieving the needs of those people who are socially excluded and assisting them to integrate into society. For the purpose of this clause ‘socially excluded’ means being excluded from society, or part of society, as a result of being a member of a socially and economically deprived community in the Area of Benefit; and
to further such other exclusively charitable purposes according to the law of England and Wales as the Trustees see fit from time to time.
Relating directly to the objects of the charity, our work is aligned to the Inspiring Gloucestershire strategy and the ECB's county partnership agreement. The key pillars of our strategy are:
Creating and supporting a strong network of clubs, leagues, officials, coaches and volunteers.
Making cricket more accessible by inspiring people of all genders, ages, ethnicities and abilities to get involved.
Supporting the performance pathway, helping talented players fulfil their potential.
Getting more people active to reap the health and mental wellbeing benefits of cricket.
Using cricket as a powerful platform to bring communities together and break down social barriers.
Taking cricket to underserved people in difficult areas of our communities to engage new and diverse groups.
Each of the projects and programmes delivered by the Foundation between October 2023 and September 2024 directly contributed to at least one of the pillars of the strategy and had a clearly defined and measurable outcome and series of ambitions. Much like the previous 12 month period, the Foundation once again had an incredible year both on and off the pitch.
The charity performs such a wide range of activities to achieve its objectives ranging from delivery in schools, to the running of junior and senior leagues, to the development of volunteers, to providing hot meals for children during holiday periods.
ECB Priorities
Much like 2023, the work and dedication that has been put in by the Foundation has been recognised by the ECB, who during the recent annual Performance Review Process (Dec 4), informed the Foundation that it was once again a leading organisation in more areas than any other county across the country, leading in the areas of Equity Diversity & Inclusion, Governance, Cricket Workforce, Women and Girls Participation, Facilities operations and the Disability Pathway. No county has ever been a ‘Leading Organisation’ in 6 areas of the ECB’s work, and so the team can be rightly proud of their achievements.
Our work on the ECB KPI’s – sadly the last year of these being in place – has once again been hugely positive and whilst we see a small financial reduction on the previous year, the achievement by the team has once again been staggering.
To ‘be on par’ 2.4% is our market share score, the percentage the ECB expect us to be at if we were to work in line with the ‘size’ of our county. Again though, we have overachieved in all 5 areas, and this year we see:
Further growth from 4.4% to 4.5% of market share in total National Programme numbers
Further increase in Girls’ National Programme numbers from 4.8% to 4.9%. Huge praise must go to Chris and the delivery team for making this happen…..again!
Maintaining our marketshare in Trained Female Coaches at 3.8%
Maintaining the number of Junior Teams we have across the county, at 3%.
A small decrease in Girls Sections, seeing us at an incredible 4.6%. Whilst the market share decreased the total number of clubs with girls’ sections actually increased.
All in all, it sees Gloucestershire have a national market share of 4.2%, meaning that for the four years of the KPI’s being in place, we have come out on top each year, with again a 75% over indexing. An incredible achievement over the 4 year life span of our strategy.
AREAS OF WORK TO LOOK BACK AT WITH PRIDE FROM 2024
National Programmes
Whilst being the 14th ‘biggest’ county in the country, the Foundation’s work over indexed in all priority areas. As in 2023, the numbers of sign-ups to the National Programmes of All Stars and Dynamos Cricket was once again considerable, with Gloucestershire ending up with the 4th greatest overall number of female sign ups (1480) and 4th highest overall total number of children participating across the programmes (4562) - something that when you think of the size of counties of Yorkshire, Lancashire, Wales, Warwickshire, Surrey etc, you realise what incredible results they were.
The National Programme figures included delivery at 81 cricket clubs, but also a growing number of community programmes, often in holiday periods, aiming to give free bursary places to young people from low socio-economic groups and those on free school meals. Reaching children who do not normally get the chance is such an important area of our work, and our hope is that by giving great experiences to the young people, that they may choose cricket in the future but more than that, they may see that physical activity can reward them with so much that they continue to be active.
National Programmes at clubs and community settings were heavily supported by the often unseen, day to day work in primary and secondary schools. Lazy journalism often states that cricket is dead in state schools but through delivery across the programmes of GCF Active Futures, Bristol Sport ‘Forever Sport’, Chance to Shine primary and secondary, ACE schools programme, Table Cricket, SEND programmes, and Lords Taverners Wicketz, 2024 saw the Foundation deliver:
to 239 schools (187 in 2023)
to 21,687 young children (18846 in 2023)
4670 hours of activity (3909 in 2023)
Cricket Collective
The Foundation’s work to support volunteers continued in 2024 with the second iteration of Get into Cricket, a scheme targeting 14 to 18 year olds, with the ambition to develop the next army of volunteers. Great learnings were taken from the inaugural project, with these leading to the design of an 8 module programme that enabled young people to learn skills across the game and wider:
Digital Marketing Course – New for 2024 and delivered by Hartpury University
Groundskeeping Course
Health and Nutrition Course
Cricket Activators Course
Cricket Scoring Course
Cricket Umpiring Course
First Aid Course
Safeguarding Course – New for 2024
The years’ offering saw 62 young people register and has had a significant impact on cricket clubs across the county, with extra hands making light work. Young volunteers have got involved with coach support at their club, with standing and scoring in junior games, with supporting the grounds team, whilst some have even been doing the clubs socials to enable clubs to market their clubs better and to communicate more effectively with their membership.
Away from the juniors, the years climax was a fantastic celebratory event at the Seat Unique Stadium, for over 150 volunteers, where the Foundation got to say thank you to all of those people who do so much for the game. The event saw the below list of people presented with awards, but perhaps more importantly, the event gave the opportunity to say thank you to so many more people who give their time to the game selflessly.
Inspired to Play Award | Russell Fry (Golden Hill) |
Rising Star Award | Leni-Rae Readman (Bristol United Banks) |
Safe Hands Award | Katie Medhurst (Woodmancote) |
Game Changer Award | Seb Vamplew (Winterbourne) |
Grounds Management Team Award | Chipping Sodbury CC |
Tackling Climate Change Award | Down Hatherley CC |
Unsung Hero Award | Guy Stirling Lee (Dumbleton) |
Metro Bank Champion of Girls Award | Paul Maggs (Quedgeley & Hardwicke) |
Lifetime Achiever Award | Len Attard (Apperley & Glos Seniors) |
Cricket Innovators Award | Alistair Andrews (Cirencester) |
Growing the Game Award | Graham Wilcox (Cam) |
Club Development and Support
Clubs continue to be the heartbeat of the game and the Foundation has looked to support the 184 affiliated clubs, as best we can across the year. The game has never asked for as much from Cricket Club volunteers so it is imperative that we do all that we can to help and support them, and to make all processes as easy as possible – when often they are not.
Ensuring cricket is safe and that all clubs are covered with at least the bare minimum of fully qualified and certified Safeguarding Officers, is no mean feat. However, this was again managed in advance of the 2024 season by the Foundation’s work in offering bespoke, localised, courses and working with leagues closely.
The safety of the recreational game was also enhanced by more great work going in to develop an increased number of Clubmark Accredited Clubs - Clubmark is an accreditation scheme for cricket clubs which shows that a club is sustainable, well run and provides the right environment for its members. Not only did all 61 previously accredited clubs regain their accreditation for 2024, but a further 8 clubs gained the accreditation for the first time. The new clubs were Adlestrop, Daylesford & Oddington CC, Ashton Keynes CC, Birdlip & Brimpsfield CC, Bristol Pakistani’s CC, Frampton on Severn CC, Highnam Court CC, Ruardean Hill CC and Sherston Magna CC.
The work across the year also saw the development team support clubs with facility projects through the county grant fund. An initial budget of £114,000 soon went and due to impressive performance from the team the ECB supported Gloucestershire and its clubs with the opportunity for more financial support. This saw an additional £80,000 support clubs across Gloucestershire to improve facilities for women and girls, for creating a more welcoming environment and for environmentally sustainable projects.
This money and a whole lot more, is required to improve and raise the standards of the pool of facilities that the sport currently uses across the County. This was evidenced in the production of a County Facility Strategy that looked at all grass pitches, practice facilities and indoor centres where cricket is currently played. The conclusion to the strategy is that a significant amount of investment is required to support new activity and to raise the standards of current facilities.
Women & Girls’ Performance Pathway
2024 saw the Gloucestershire Cricket Foundation deliver the Women & Girls’ Performance Pathway for the last time. This is an area of operations where much success has been achieved, being a national leader in the development of the Women's & Girls game. A testimony of the efforts of work in this space over many years. However, the ECB strategy for this area of the game stated that Female Pathway Cricket will come under the ownership of the professional organisation (or club). Due to the perceived issues existing in the local professional club, GCF supported by its Board made strong representation to ECB suggesting that it remain with GCF albeit for a short time. ECB were empathetic to the approach by GCF but stated there would be no deviation from national policy. GCF accepted the decision with a degree of disappointment but have been very collaborative in the migration of Women's & girls cricket to GCCC.
The year started with a very successful tour to Sri Lanka, where our girls did us proud with 5 wins from 5. The Sri Lanka tour was a resounding success, offering the girls a wealth of opportunities to develop their skills on the pitch and grow personally off it. From thrilling matches to once-in-a-lifetime experiences, the tour was a true testament to the talent and dedication of the squad.
The girl’s county age group sides were again extremely successful too, confirming the depth and quality of the girl’s participation pathway across the county. We very much look forward to seeing players come through the Gloucestershire County Cricket Club pathway from 2025 onwards, and we hope that the number of Gloucestershire girls that go on to become professional cricketers, and on 1st class Academies continues to be a high number.
In 2024 our work saw almost half of the Western Storm Squad, Western Storm Academy and Western Storm EPP programmes, filled with players that had played for Gloucestershire. This has been an area of work we can be rightly proud of and it is great to see Danielle Gibson playing across the world for England and in T20 franchise competitions, and our new rising talent of Katie Jones, playing for England U19’s. Both players started in local club cricket, which goes to show what the impact of having a great start in your cricketing career can have on you, well done to Dumbleton in your part on developing both.
Make Cricket Accessible
It was an ambition of 2024 to attempt to take cricket to more communities through localised delivery, whilst also looking to diversify the income for the Foundation. This was very much achieved through the delivery of a significantly increased school holiday offering and the introduction of a new scheme of Saturday morning coaching, Breaking Boundaries.
Both programmes worked in terms of reaching more children, whilst also supporting the Foundations work. Holiday camp numbers rose from 650 participants to 1,121, whilst Breaking Boundaries saw 160 children sign up in year one. Both schemes of work will be learnt from and developed for 2025.
Improving our Urban Offer
The ECB want to ensure that all people who do not normally have access to cricket, can access the game in one way or another. This does not need to come in the form of cricket through a club but instead, the ability to take part in cricket activity in a local community setting, a multi-use games area, an indoor sports hall or in fact, any space where activity can take place.
The Foundation continued to grow its community offering and specific thanks must go to our charity partners, Lords Taverners, Chance to Shine and ACE Charity, who all increased their support for cricket in the county. This enabled programmes to reach new and additional people, whilst also seeing our urban community offer, reach additional urban towns, rather than previously, Bristol alone.
The ACE (Afro-Caribbean Engagement) programme expanded its offering in 2024 also, with more hubs and a greater number of players in the ACE Academy. As a consequence of the success of the programme, the Foundation has been awarded a further three year contract to continue the great work and we welcomed a new team member to lead this work in November.
One of the strengths of the Foundation is the way in which our community programmes work together to support one another and to provide young people with additional opportunities. This was again visible in 2024 when we saw the launch of our new Community Indoor Cricket League. This saw our community programmes of Wicketz, ACE, Street and Super1s, come together to form teams, where weekly games could be played against one another. This collaboration is the first of its kind across England & Wales and saw us beautifully positioned in one of the England Mens Test Match programmes.
In the last 12 months this wider community activity saw us deliver:
8 weekly Wicketz hubs (growth from 6 in 2023)
6 weekly Super1s hubs (growth from 5 in 2023)
8 weekly Chance to Shine Street hubs
3 ACE hubs
An ACE Academy with now 53 scholars (growth from 43 in 2023)
6 Walking Cricket hubs (targeting 50+, growth from 5 in 2023)
25 free Urban Community National Programmes that saw 907 5-11 year olds engaged
15 days of cricket, supported by hot meals, as part of the Bristol City Council granted Holiday Activity Fund – targeted at areas of the city with a high percentage of free school meals. This saw 144-young people physically activity across both the Easter and Summer holidays.
With the continued ambition to listen more and to give young people a voice, Wicketz Bristol held its summer showcase event in July, which saw 18 participants travel to Exmouth beach for the day alongside the Wicketz Cardiff and Plymouth programmes.
The trip came about as a consequence of the inaugural Youth Voice committee which was set up in early 2024. 3 members from each of Wicketz Bristol, Cardiff and Plymouth met online to share their ideas and design the Summer Showcase event. The committee would feedback ideas that they had gathered from their hub sessions and build on ideas discussed.
The result was 18 members, with representation from each of our 5 Bristol hubs, caught the coach down to Exmouth Beach. The day began with a tour of the RNLI Lifeboat station, where they learnt about the important work that the volunteers there do. They were able to have a look at the state-of-the-art lifeboats they use, and even try out some of their equipment. This was followed by a traditional trip to the chippy. After lunch, they got stuck into some beach sports, with a couple of games of cricket and football all taking place on the Jurassic Coastline. Following their sports, everyone was able to cool off with a paddle in the sea and an ice cream before the return to Bristol. This one-off day truly showed the impact that cricket can have on a young persons life.
The Foundation generated £42,750 from direct sponsorship in 2024. In most cases this support came from local or regional businesses who supported the aspirations of the Foundation in specific work areas. This is an area where the Foundation needs to continue to grow, as by bringing in partners to support areas of work, it enables normally tied up money to be utilised elsewhere to grow the game.
It was the intention of the Foundation to develop its fundraising efforts through campaigns across the JustGiving site and also through the Friends of the Foundation Lottery. Both still exist, and both still bring in an annual amount of money, but tactics changed during the year, and it was decided to go after grants from Local Authorities, Charities and other grant funders instead, as the financial return was often faster paced and enabled new activity to be delivered quicker. Both Campaigns and the Lottery Scheme remain priorities for the Foundation and more work will go in to them being a success in 2025.
All funding received/raised is utilised to employ staff to develop and deliver projects, programmes and events that directly impact on the charity’s strategic aims.
The ambition of the Foundation is to have a break even on management accounts, whilst utilising Restricted Funds in the most efficient and effective way possible.
The financial statements reveal a surplus for the year of £41,065 on income of £1,112,278. Of the surplus £36,733 was unrestricted and £4,332 restricted for use on specific projects. The year ended with net assets of £488,411 of which £403,834 were unrestricted, whilst £84,577 were restricted.
Our unrestricted reserves at 30th September 2024 now stand at £403,834. This includes a necessary £41,653 held as potential redundancy costs and ideally a further £352,571 designated in case of shut down – as per our reserves policy below.
The current balance is £9,610 in excess of the Foundation’s unrestricted reserves target.
The financial position represents a strong and stable position allowing the Trustees to deliver on the charitable objectives.
The Trustees have earmarked sufficient cash resources that they feel are prudent to meet the needs of the mitigation of adverse risks as identified by the risk register. Aside from retaining a prudent amount in reserves the majority of the charity’s funds are to be spent in the short term with no funds held for long term investments.
Before becoming a charity, the Gloucestershire Cricket Board agreed a Reserves Policy with Andorran Limited (the chartered accountancy practice that audits the annual Financial Accounts, now BK Plus Audit Limited). This stated that reserves should cover 2 to 6 months running costs, depending on the security of the organisation’s income streams. The reserves must be “Unrestricted Funds” i.e., Funds that the company is free to use as it sees fit.
Up until October 2021, the Board did not believe that it was necessary to set the policy at the top end of the range as suggested by Andorran; this was due to the secure nature of core funding from the ECB, Chance to Shine, Lords Taverners, etc. and so ‘Whichever is the greater of 3 months Running Costs plus Redundancy Costs or the Replacement Cost of Depreciated Assets’ was agreed upon.
This changed in 2022, and due to the unsettled nature of funds within sport, the impact of Covid, the Cost of Living rises, and other factors, the Board increased the period from 3 months to 6 months, to the wording of “Whichever is the greater of 6 months Running Costs plus Redundancy Costs or the Replacement Cost of Depreciated Assets”.
The ECB have signed a new broadcasting deal for the period 2025 to 2029, which will see more money come into the whole game, than ever before. However, it is believed that there may be tougher times ahead, especially at the beginning of 2029 when the new broadcasting deal begins. Also, due to the frequently used term by the ECB of ‘flat investment’, at a time when National Living Wage and all other costs are rising significantly, the Foundation's Finance, Risk, Audit and Governance (FRAG) Committee took the ‘Reserves Policy’ agenda item to the 05/10/2024 Board meeting, with a recommendation of continuing to a term of 6 months.
The logic is that if the Company is wound up, it does not need to replace assets and understanding that assets are considerably less that running costs, plus redundancy, the reserves policy is based on 6 months Running Costs plus Redundancy Costs.
It believes that the policy needs to provide cover for:
a) Late payments
b) Any need to coherently wind up the company or find alternative sources of funding
c) The exposure to redundancy costs.
The FRAG Committee proposes that the Company requires Reserves (Unrestricted Funds) to cover:
1 and 2 above - 6 months running costs – Currently £352,571
Redundancy Costs – Currently £41,653
Total = £394,224
The Reserves target will be reviewed annually as part of the budgeting process, with the budget set to ensure that Reserves are on track.
Grants
We are eternally grateful that our funders continue to support us, especially the England and Wales Cricket Board/Trust with £386,422, Chance to Shine with £150,929, ACE charity with £101,282 as well as the Lords Taverners with £110,023 and many other significant supporters.
Finance Director
During the year the current Finance Director Phil Carter stated his decision to stand down from the role, after 29 years of incredible service. Phil started back in 1996 when "ECB" first engaged with counties and was part of the team that set up the then Gloucestershire Cricket Association. Phil was then an integral part of the professionalisation of the recreational game, with the forming of the Gloucestershire Cricket Board, a company limited by guarantee, and was also involved in moving to its present structure of a charitable company. This has instigated the process to recruit a replacement Finance Director, with a suitable appointment being made during the timeline of the next year 2024/25.
As one Strategy finishes another will begin and so the priority for early 2025 is to finalise and publish ‘Inspiring Gloucestershire 2025-2029’. This will be achieved by Easter to meet ECB key deadlines and will then put us in a position to receive further strategic investment from the ECB, through the ‘Game Changer Fund’.
The Gloucestershire Cricket Foundation remains committed to growing the game of cricket in Gloucestershire across all areas. It aims to use the power of cricket to deliver accessible and enjoyable opportunities that grow the sport, tackle inequalities, improve health and well-being and enable people to fulfil their potential across the county.
The previous strategy was strong and so much has been achieved as a consequence, and so much like the ECB Inspiring Generations Strategy for the same period, a rewrite rather than a total overhaul is needed.
The new strategy will have 6 clear strategic pillars, which will each have a great number of tactics and activities underpinning them (working titles). The aims being to:
Ensure cricket is diverse, welcoming, inclusive and accessible
Amplify the Women and Girls’ game
Support communities through cricket
Engage more children and young people
Have a thriving, sustainable, safe and inclusive, recreational game
Set ourselves up for future growth
One way in which the Foundation will ensure cricket is diverse, welcoming, inclusive and accessible is through the employment of an Urban Development Officer (or similar), in early 2025. This comes off the back of a successful application to the Ethnically Diverse Communities Fund, which will enable the Foundation to employ an Officer to lead new work in Bristol for a minimum of three years.
It's a great start but there is going to be so much to achieve during the next strategy term. Opportunities will be exciting and will enable the development of the team both in current roles and new roles. It’s hoped that significant Game Changer projects will be supported by funders, along with possible funds being received through the sales of the Hundred.
It’s imperative that the strategy is ambitious enough for the game in Gloucestershire as this could be a once in generation opportunity to make real change and improvements across so many areas, due to the financial resource that is soon to be available to the recreational game.
Gloucestershire Cricket Foundation is a Charitable Company Limited by Guarantee, governed by its memorandum and articles of association dated and adopted, 31st March 2022. It is a registered charity with the Charity Commission and a registered company with Companies House.
The Trustees who have served during the year and since the year end are set out on Page 1. The Trustees meet at least seven times per year and on any other occasion as judged necessary in order to review progress and determine matters of strategy and policy.
Any decision necessary from the Trustees shall be determined by the majority of votes of the Trustees present and voting on the question.
All Trustees serve a three year term following which they can seek reappointments. The existing Trustees have the power to appoint further Trustees provided they have attained the age of 18 years and are not disqualified from taking office. The Trustees are not actively recruiting at present but have measures in place to consider potential applicants as they might arise.
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:
For the recruitment of new Trustees, the charity has a nominations committee which is comprised of both Trustees and independent members. The committee’s ambition is to have a blend and mix of representatives from across the county, with at least 30% of each gender, as well as representation from across all demographics.
New Trustees undergo training and an induction to brief them on their legal obligations under Charity and Company Law, the content of the memorandum and articles of association, the committee and decision making processes of the Foundation, the strategy and recent financial performance of the charity. Trustees are encouraged to attend appropriate external training events where these will facilitate the undertaking of their role.
The Board of Trustees is skills based and is of maximum 12 members in size. To support the full board a Finance, Risk, Audit & Governance Committee meets at least four times per year to review the budget, analyse the forecast, maintain an appropriate and comprehensive risk register, whilst also ensuring all audit and governance work is compliant.
Organisational Structure
The operational management of the charity is led by the Chief Executive, who is supported by the Operations Manager and the Community Development Manager. The performances of these positions and the charity itself are reviewed at Board Meetings and any decisions on remuneration of all staff members are ratified by the Trustees.
Governance
The Foundation complies with the Charity Commission and Companies House governance as well as at least the silver tier of the governance framework of our main funder, the ECB. The County Partnership Agreement (CPA), which regulates the relationship between the Foundation and the ECB, has it’s targets annually met, and we are committed to continuing to meet the CPA standards and work towards the Gold Accreditation Scheme in quarter 1 of 2025.
Although the focus of the GCF is always to encourage and enable more people to play cricket, it is important that the organisation is well run and financed. These are not aims in themselves but are crucial to our ability to carry out our main job efficiently and effectively.
Good governance is about ensuring that we measure the risks we face, which might prevent us from doing our job, assessing those risks and the controls which are already in place, and considering whether further and better controls are required. We can never eliminate risk completely, but we can seek to minimise the chances of an event occurring, and the damage it might cause if it does occur. Often, the sooner we can recognise that there is a problem, the better we can tackle it.
We have a set of processes and controls in place that we believe are proportionate to the risks and the scale of our operations, and we will do our very best to ensure that GCF is well run and managed, giving reassurance to our clients, staff, volunteers, funders and sponsors, suppliers and our other stakeholders. We aim to give people the confidence to engage with us, so that more people can enjoy more cricket. Cricket is good for their mental and physical health, develops their technical and social skills and their confidence; we want to see more people taking part and help to remove barriers to them enjoying our sport.
The ECB now sets their minimum expectations of our governance standards, which are part of our contract with them. Three years ago, after our previous County Partnership Agreement (“CPA”) submission, ECB said they “view Gloucestershire Cricket Foundation as a "leading organisation" in relation to [our] governance arrangements and practices.”
They went on to say, “The Foundation is compliant with all mandatory governance requirements and we acknowledge and are supportive of your efforts to work towards enhanced, best practice governance arrangements."
We aspire to the highest standards, not just the bare minimum we can get away with.
Our FRAG committee regularly reviews elements of our governance practice. The new CPA, coming into force in 2025, has given us the opportunity to review the whole of our previous submission. This time round, ECB will be looking more closely at how good governance is embedded in the way we think and work as an organisation. They will be ensuring, among other things, that we are actually doing what we claim to do in our written procedures. Over the period from 2025 – 2027, ECB would like every county organisation to achieve their Gold Standard for governance.
Given the importance we place on good governance, we are delighted to have been asked to be the pilot county for the new Gold Standard assessment system, and we hope to be the first to be awarded.
This has, however, created a significant additional workload over a sharply condensed period of time, and FRAG wish to acknowledge the efforts of Steve and his team in preparing for this. Happily, because good governance practice is already key to the work which Steve and his team do, much of the structure is in place to prepare for this external audit of our governance processes in a very short time.
3 years ago, we were assessed on areas such as risk and financial controls, compliance and accountability. This governance review will look more deeply into Board composition, skills, performance assessment and training, and how we engage with all of our stakeholders.
Having conducted our internal review we are confident that:
Our processes are appropriate to the scale and nature of GCF
We have a high level of compliance with the procedures
There have been no significant breaches of any of our rules
We are financially sound and well managed and are an effective and efficient organisation
We hope and expect to be assessed as meeting the Gold Standard.
We are not complacent – a continuous review and improve objective is part of our risk management process. We welcome ECB’s increased focus on embedded governance and aim to continue being a leading county.
We are always looking for ways to do things more effectively, and welcome input from any of our stakeholders.
The Trustees, who are also the directors of Gloucestershire Cricket Foundation 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 Foundation 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; and
- prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the Foundation 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 Foundation 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 Foundation and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
In accordance with the company's articles, a resolution proposing that BK Plus Audit Limited be reappointed as auditor of the company will be put to the Annual General Meeting.
The Trustees report was approved by the Board of Trustees.
Opinion
We have audited the financial statements of Gloucestershire Cricket Foundation (the ‘Foundation’) for the year ended 30 September 2024 which comprise the statement of financial activities, the statement of financial position, the statement of cash flows and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
In our opinion, the financial statements:
Basis for opinion
We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor's responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the Foundation in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.
In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the Trustees use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.
Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the Foundation’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.
Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the Trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.
Other information
The other information comprises the information included in the annual report other than the financial statements and our auditor's report thereon. The Trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the course of the audit, or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.
We have nothing to report in this regard.
Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006
In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of our audit:
the information given in the Trustees report for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared, which includes the directors' report prepared for the purposes of company law, is consistent with the financial statements; and
the directors' report included within the Trustees report has been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.
In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the Foundation and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the directors' report included within the Trustees report.
We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:
adequate accounting records have not been kept, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or
the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or
certain disclosures of trustees' remuneration specified by law are not made; or
we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit; or
the Trustees were not entitled to prepare the financial statements in accordance with the small companies regime and take advantage of the small companies' exemptions in preparing the Trustees report and from the requirement to prepare a strategic report.
As explained more fully in the statement of Trustees responsibilities, the Trustees, who are also the directors of the Foundation for the purpose of company law, are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the Trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error. In preparing the financial statements, the Trustees are responsible for assessing the Foundation’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the Trustees either intend to liquidate the charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.
Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor's report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.
Owing to the inherent limitations of an audit, there is an unavoidable risk that, despite us planning and performing our audit in accordance with auditing standards, one or more material misstatements in the financial statements may have gone undetected by our audit. As with any audit, there is a high risk that irregularities and fraud will go undetected where they involve matters such as misrepresentations from management, collusion, deliberate omissions and override of controls. It is not the role of the auditor to prevent non-compliance and we cannot be expected to detect every instance of non-compliance with all laws and regulations.
In identifying and assessing risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations, our procedures included the following:
enquiries of management including a pre audit meeting;
obtaining and reviewing supporting documentation of policies concerning the laws and regulations applicable to the business;
understanding how the company complies with its regulatory framework by making enquiries of management;
considering the culture inherent in the company and whether this represents a culture of honesty and
ethical behaviour with a strong emphasis of detection and prevention of fraud.
We assessed the susceptibility of the company's financial statements to material misstatement and considered how fraud might occur. The audit procedures performed included, but were not limited to:
challenging management assumptions and estimates;
identifying and testing unusual journal entries;
assessing how the relevant laws and regulations have been complied with and noting any instances of non compliance;
reviewing the financial statements for compliance with relevant Accounting Standards and accounting
legislation applicable to a small company;
considering how those charged with governance have addressed the possibility of an override of
essential controls or other influence over the financial reporting processes.
In addition, we also considered other non financial laws relevant to the company. These do not necessarily have a direct influence on the financial statements but might affect the company's ability to operate.
A further description of our responsibilities is available on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: https://www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor's report.
Other matters
The comparative figures were not audited.
Use of our report
This report is made solely to the charitable company’s members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company’s members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charitable company and the charitable company’s members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.
The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year. All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.
The notes on pages 19 to 29 form part of these financial statements.
The notes on pages 19 to 29 form part of these financial statements.
The notes on pages 19 to 29 form part of these financial statements.
Gloucestershire Cricket Foundation is a private company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is The County Ground, Nevil Road, Bristol, Avon, BS7 9EJ, England.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Foundation's governing document, the Companies Act 2006, FRS 102 "The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland" 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)". The Foundation is a Public Benefit Entity as defined by FRS 102.
The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the Foundation. 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.
Unrestricted funds can be used in accordance with the charitable objectives at the discretion of the trustees.
Restricted funds can only be used for particular restricted purposes within the objects of the charity. Restrictions arise when specified by the donor or when funds are raised for particular restricted purposes. Although restricted fund income is often received in an accounting period ahead of the expenditure for which it has been raised, it is treated in accordance with the recognition rules for income in the note set out above.
Further explanation of the nature and purpose of each fund is included in the notes to the financial statements.
Income is included in the Statement of Financial Activities when the charitable company becomes entitled to the income, the trustees are virtually certain they will receive the money and monetary value can be measured with sufficient reliability, irrespective of when the expenditure for which it has been raised will be incurred.
Income from government and other grants is recognised when the charitable company has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the grants have been met, it is probable that the income will be received, the amount can be measured reliably and it is not deferred.
Interest on funds held on deposit is included when receivable and the amount can be measured reliably by the charity; this is normally upon notification of the interest paid or payable by the bank.
Liabilities are recognised as expenditure as soon as there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the charity to that expenditure, 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 accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all cost related to the category. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to particular headings they have been allocated to activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources.
The charity is not registered for VAT and consequently cannot recover any VAT that is charged to it. The cost of irrecoverable VAT is included within the cost heading to which it relates.
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 asset purchases costing less than £1,000 are written off as expenditure in the year of acquisition.
In the application of the Foundation’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.
The average monthly number of employees during the year was:
The remuneration of key management personnel was as follows:
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 restricted funds of the charity comprise the unexpended balances of donations and grants held on trust subject to specific conditions by donors as to how they may be used.
The restricted funds are in respect of:
Make Cricket Accessible
Our aim as a charity is to give more people the opportunity to engage with cricket more often. We must ensure the game is accessible, sustainable and supports the harder-to-reach communities. The work in this space supports people from low socio economic groups, those with a disability, those in rural or urban areas that have different challenges and those who are simply seen as being at a disadvantage. It's about taking cricket to communities rather than through the normal method of cricket clubs.
Participation Pathway
The pathway is constructed and designed to ensure that people of all ages and abilities have the opportunity to play the game at a level that is right for them. This area of work includes around the year support and delivery in primary, secondary and SEND schools, as well as the support and delivery of the National Programmes, All Stars and Dynamos Cricket.
Women & Girls Development
A decade ago cricket was very much seen as a sport for males, whereas now it is very much a sport for both sexes. The growth of the women and girls' game in Gloucestershire has been sizeable with the county now boasting over a third of its clubs having women and / or girls' sections. This sees the Foundation developing standalone junior and senior pathways for the sport, girls only delivery in schools, cricketing facilities that are welcoming and inclusive as well as a pathway that will support players to the very top.
Workforce Development
Cricket cannot operate without volunteers, officials, ground staff and coaches, they are quite simply the most important people in our sport. The work of the Foundation aims to provide support, mentoring, training and ongoing education to help and develop those people who do so much for our sport. In an annual cycle this will include running over 50 courses for club volunteers alone, which is then supplemented for the support of teachers, young leaders and other key target groups.
Performance Pathway
Developing homegrown talent through a well-resourced performance pathway is important for two main reasons; 1) It enables people to reach their potential and to hopefully become first class cricketers, 2) It creates a greater foundation for cricket in the county. The Foundation lead the Women and Girls' Elite Pathway, as well as the pathway for Disabled athletes. This is offered for people from U11 through to adulthood.
Club & League Development
Clubs and Leagues are at the heart of the recreational game. Our aim over the next 5 years is to ensure that there is a thriving network with a variety of opportunities to play the version that they want and we will do this by offering league, competition and play opportunities across the county for all. This includes structured activity for juniors, women and girls', adults and seniors, both indoor and outdoor. This area of work also sees us support clubs to develop their facilities, both fine turf, practice and buildings.
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.
The designated funds are in respect of:
Facility Strategy
Funds from the EW Cricket Trust for the preparation of a strategy for 2023 onwards.
Apprentice
Funds from the Gloucestershire Cricket Trust allocated to the employment of an apprentice.
Transfers between funds
Transfers are made between restricted and unrestricted funds at the end of every accounting period in cases where:
i) the activity of the restricted fund has come to an end and there is an unspent balance that is not repayable to the funder(s), when the surplus is transferred to unrestricted funds; and
ii) the restricted fund is in deficit and has either come to an end or there is no prospect of a surplus in a later period, when the deficit is eliminated by transfer from unrestricted funds.
There were no disclosable related party transactions during the year (2023 - none).