REGISTERED COMPANY NUMBER: 09953572 (England and Wales)

REGISTERED CHARITY NUMBER: 1169965

REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES AND

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

FOR

THORNGATE CHURCHER TRUST

Page

Report of the Trustees

1

to

14

Report of the Independent Auditors

15

to

18

Statement of Financial Activities

19

Balance Sheet

20

Cash Flow Statement

21

Notes to the Cash Flow Statement

22

Notes to the Financial Statements

23

to

35

The trustees who are also directors of the charity for the purposes of the Companies Act 2006, present their report with the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 March 2025. The trustees have adopted the provisions of 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).

OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

Principal Activities

The principal activities of the Trust continues to be the provision of almshouse accommodation in one hundred and twenty four one-bedroom flats for older people and the provision of a modern forty four bedroom care home. The Trust is a registered charity.

Our Vision

Providing comfort and security to those in need since 1868 and committed to developing the highest standards of housing and professional care in a supportive, respectful and friendly community.

Our Values

i.

We seek to improve lives through passionately promoting excellence in support, care and housing

ii.

We will each commit to take responsibility for our role in our teams encouraging, respecting and supporting each other supporting each other

iii.

We strive to be transparent, approachable, listening to each other and acting with empathy and consistency

iv.

We will respect and support everyone as individuals, treating residents and colleagues with dignity and compassion, and behaving professionally whatever our role

Public benefit

The trustees confirm that they have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission's general guidance on public benefit when reviewing the charity's aims and objectives and in planning future activities. The trustees refer to public benefit throughout this report.

FINANCIAL REVIEW

Business and Financial Review

During the financial year 2024-25, the Trustees continued to review the care and housing offered to residents, seeking continuous improvement, and undertaking the planned development of a new site of thirty almshouses at Grove Road Gosport.

In addition, the board have had regard to the requirements of its three regulators, the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH), the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and the Charity Commission, not least of which being the standard from the RSH to evidence value for money. Further the Trust has incorporated new requirements from the Housing Ombudsman in its operations. The Trust is a provider of residential care services to Hampshire County Council for a number of residents in its Russell Churcher Court care home.

The board is pleased to report a surplus for the 12 month period of £604,947 (2024: £496,486).

The change in the year has mainly been due to cost control in the care home, and to the increase in the number of refurbished rooms in the care home. The introduction of a new procurement framework by Hampshire County Council also focussed management on the suitability of some residents for our service. Excellent occupancy levels and the results of a stable staff team assisted in a strong performance.

Operational surpluses (i.e. just including housing and social care) for the periods excluding valuation adjustments on the pension fund, investments, and the adjustments made for the maintenance reserve figures were £548,206 (2024: £446,656) (see note 12).

During the year the Trust commenced building work on an £8.7M scheme to build new social housing in the form of almshouses at Grove Road Gosport. Construction of Compigne Court commenced in April 2024 and continued throughout the year. It is anticipated to conclude in the autumn of 2025 subject to statutory services connections and highway works.

Following the market research exercise in 2022 and the decision made to continue to invest in social care and upgrade rooms further over a period of four years to further enhance the Trust's position locally, refurbishment of the care home continued with 31 out of 44 rooms completed at the year-end. It is unlikely that the Trust will manage to complete all the refurbished rooms within a four-year period simply due to longevity of residents and these will completed as rooms become vacant. Occupancy figures for the care home and housing remain among the best in our peer group.

Covid was not a significant factor in 2024-25. The continued use of a Sponsorship Licence to recruit displaced overseas care candidates continued in 2024-25 and resulted in a strong staff retention, and minimal costs for agency during the year. While the Home Office has now amended the rules for overseas workers coming into social care from April 2025, there is a displaced worker route open until 2028.

The Trust maintained its accreditation under Real Living Wage Employer scheme.

The Trust has also sought to maintain its buildings to a high standard. Following the RAAC concrete issues affecting some public buildings in 2023, the Trust immediately undertook surveys of its buildings using a professional structural engineer. The investigations concluded that none of the Trust's properties were built with RAAC. The Trust has already established that it already meets the Regulator's targets of all properties being at EPC "C" or better by 2030. A firm of chartered surveyors and valuers were engaged to ensure the Trust had no impairment on its properties and to create long term maintenance plan for existing units. As a result of this in-depth work, the Trust is confident at no impairment is needed.

Looking forward the Trust remains focussed on its principal aims of providing award winning social housing and excellent social care, its aim to be the employer of choice and the development of new housing at Compigne Court and longer term further housing additions, while not losing site of its carbon reduction journey.

Our income from housing and care activities (excluding grants) increased month on month in 2024-25 by 8.2% to £3,920,532 over the 12 month period (2024: £3,622,306). Housing voids continued to be controlled with void properties accounting for lost income of £1,053 over 12 months (2024: £1,394).

CCLA continue to be engaged as investment managers. Loss on investments for the year was £8,950, (2024: Gain of £48,492) reflecting the difficult trading conditions seen over the last few years.

Freehold properties are held at historical cost, with component accounting applied to result in a depreciated property figure. Under the Charities SORP social housing grant (SHG) is no longer deducted as in years prior to 2016. The properties are shown in these accounts at their historic cost of £15,683,672 (2024: £11,028,592). After depreciation the net book value of housing properties held at historic cost is £13,077,981 (2024: £8,554,705). The valuation undertaken by Lloyds Bank plc in May 2016 valued the Russell Churcher Court care home at £2.25M. The Trust's qualified Property Services Manager carried out an extensive impairment review in 2019 and a stock condition survey in summer 2023, neither of which evidenced any indications of impairment. Further a qualified structural engineer examined the Trust's properties for impairment due to RAAC concrete and none was found. An additional valuation was carried out by Charity Bank's valuers Avison Young in early 2024 at Thorngate Court and Melrose Gardens for the purposes of loan security and found no impairment. A full survey of the Trust's properties was carried out in Spring 2025 for the purposes of creating a long term investment and maintenance plan. Accordingly, the trustees believe the current market value exceeds the book value.

Excluding deferred income which solely relates to grant income (£3,397,133) to be recognised upon completion of the Compigne Court at Grove Road, the balance sheet shows a net current asset at 31 March 2025 of £95,571 (2024: 197,729). The balance sheet shows a net current asset at 31 March 2025 of -£3,301,562 (2024: 197,729).

The trustees continue to be of the opinion that the overall financial position of the Trust is healthy and that it is able to meet its current and future commitments.

During the year there was no change to the board members, although Mrs Reeta Ram resigned from the board on 16 June 2025, after the year end. Mr Mark Hook was re-appointed to be Chairman during the year. The board continued with training and strategy days using external consultants and qualified professionals to provide facilitation, guidance and expertise in specific topics. During the 24-25 financial year two board day were held in addition to board meetings. These board days covered compliance with the Complaints Code and regulators, marketing updates, progress at the new scheme, and pension strategy.

Contribution from Volunteers

The contribution from volunteers is not significant and does not affect the Trust's ability to carry out any of its activities.

Reserves

The Trustees have transferred monies to Reserve Funds in accordance with the Charity Commission Scheme over a long period in order to:

a)

Provide Designated and Restricted Reserves, which include the minimum annual amounts for

future Repairs and Maintenance, required by the Charity Commission Scheme, plus income

thereon, less related expenditure.

b)

Provide Unrestricted Reserves to:

i.

Allow for fluctuations in cash flow and be able to meet budgeted expenditure and donations

for one year ahead.

ii.

Accumulate monies expected to be required for the refurbishment of the Almshouses over

and above the minimum required by the Charity Commission Scheme.

iii.

Purchase investments which provide income that can indirectly make it possible to .

subsidise the weekly maintenance contributions charged to residents of the almshouses

and care home; thus fulfilling one of its charitable objectives.

As at 31 March 2025 unrestricted reserves were £8,411,257 of which £464,033 are designated reserves. Endowment reserves are £40,503.

Social Investment Policies

The Trust has not made any social investments during the year.

Fundraising Reporting Note

Thorngate Churcher Trust does not normally carry out any significant fundraising activities. No fundraising has been done on behalf of the Trust by any other body. It does not employ a professional fundraiser or have a commercial participator arrangement. Accordingly the Trust has not registered with the Fundraising Regulator.

Within the Russell Churcher Court care home the activities team raise small amounts of money (typically less than £4,000 annually) through incidental raffles (i.e. not requiring a licence), from relatives to fund additional outings and entertainment for residents of the care home. Unconnected members of the general public are not approached, accordingly the Trust does not need to take measures to protect vulnerable members of the public.

No complaints were received by the charity in relation to fundraising.

Financial Effect of Significant Events

There was one significant event during the year:

The Trust's new housing scheme, Compigne Court, Grove Road Gosport started on site. This scheme is funded by a mix of Homes England grant, a loan from Charity Bank and reserves. This scheme is due to finish in late 2025.The financial significance of this is the interest received on Homes England grant monies until utilised and the interest payable on the loan from Charity Bank.

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

The Governing Instrument

Recruitment and Training of Trustees

Trustees are recruited based on an analysis of skills gaps, and then this is publicised by adverts or through news articles/networking. Individuals are then interviewed, who may then, depending on the outcome be appointed. Trustee board days normally take place twice a year in addition to board meetings and encompass both strategy and training. In addition, additional training is undertaken on an ad-hoc basis such as attendance at seminars as and when necessary or trustees are available, for example seminars given by local legal firms and by membership bodies.

Pay and Remuneration of Key Personnel

The Chief Executive's remuneration is set by means of an appraisal with a suitably qualified trustee, and taking into account salaries in comparable organisations and levels of skills, knowledge and experience required. Pay and remuneration decisions also take into account individual performance against organisational and personal targets.

Code of Governance

The trustees are pleased to report that the Trust complies with the Standards of Almshouse Management. The Trust also adopted the Charity Commission Code of Governance in 2014, and subsequently the new Code of Governance in 2018. No trustees have served more than nine years. Having given consideration to its effectiveness to make informed decisions, the board believes it does this because of the detailed information it considers, not just at board meetings but throughout the year through monthly management reporting packs and ad-hoc reports and notifications from the Chief Executive. The board continues to have challenging board days to ensure it refreshes its skills and knowledge and avoids "group think".

Risk assessment - principal risks and uncertainties

The Trustees have considered the major risks to which the Trust could be exposed and have reviewed the systems established to mitigate against such risks. A risk register is used to review key risks and is reviewed at board meetings and in addition on board days. The risks are recorded and assessed in terms of impact and probability and also uses a traffic light system to highlight areas of particular concern. Any significant changes are reported to the board monthly or quarterly as appropriate.

The three principal risks and uncertainties facing the charity and its mitigation strategies at present are unchanged from 2024:

1.

Income maintenance in the care home. Following market research and a strategy day

the Trust implemented a change in fees for new residents of the care home in 2022. Market

research indicated that this fee structure should not result in excessive voids however this is

being monitored. Hampshire County Council have introduced a new Care Home Framework

after the year end. Initially the Trust declined to join, but subsequently has engaged and been accepted onto the Framework, and vacancies continue to be filled by both private and council funded service users.

2.

Cyber risk. The Trust identified that, as a regulated body, it is vulnerable to a concerted

cyber-attack. It has mitigated this by strengthening its IT investment and rolling out cyber training to all staff and trustees. The Trust has also completed the Digital Security and Protection Toolkit from NHS Digital. During the financial year the trust moved its main care planning software to a cloud based programme, followed by all its management folders. The Trust has commenced Cyber Essentials accreditation.

3.

CQC Inspection. A CQC inspection of the care home is due in 2024. While major compliance

steps are taken continuously, visit from the regulator constitute a risk however well managed.

The updated care plan software package referred to above assists with compliance and the

management team undertake training to maintain their understanding of CQC compliance.

The board are not aware of any irregularities, including fraud, involving management or employees of the Trust: nor are they aware of any instances of actual or possible non-compliance with loan covenants, laws, contracts or agreements that might result in the Trust suffering significant penalties or other loss.

Internal controls

The board of Trustees is ultimately responsible for the Trust's systems of internal financial controls which are designed to provide reasonable, but not absolute, assurance regarding the safeguarding of assets, the maintenance of proper accounting records and the reliability of financial information.

The board has through its quarterly meeting and reporting procedures reviewed the effectiveness of the Trust's internal financial control system for the period from 1 April 2021 to the date of this report.

The board of Trustees, through its adoption of policies and procedures is constantly reviewing the Trust's internal financial controls and has introduced the following mechanisms designed to provide effective internal control:

-

Defined management and reporting structures, including segregation of financial management

tasks

-

Employment of a Chief Executive Officer and Finance Manager qualified as a chartered certified

accountants.

-

Use of professional IT consultants to ensure updates of all IT systems including financial control.

-

Management information and accounting systems and software, including with cash flow

forecasts, annual budgets, business recovery plans and business plans. Board reports are

prepared monthly, covering both financial and operational matters.

Thorngate's VFM Statement

Introduction:

This is produced in accordance with the standard issued by the Regulator of Social Housing.

The purpose of the standard is to ask housing bodies to report on a set of standard metrics, and where these results are outliers for the organisation to report the reasons why this might be. Thorngate has an untypical profile, being both a provider of supported housing for older people and also a care home provider, which will inevitably distort some of our metric results.

Additionally the regulator asks the provider to provide a set of metrics relevant to their own business plan and operations, that they can measure themselves against in successive years and are also reflected in our reports to residents, staff and other stakeholders. For the purposes of transparency and for users of the accounts who may wish to check for consistency these reports will include those listed below, however as one or more of these may be confidential, they may not be publicly available on our website but would be available to users of the accounts (such as funders and regulators) on request:

-

Annual Report to Residents 2024-25 (due to be published by 1 October 2025)

PART 1

Industry-wide Value for Money Metrics

The regulator has defined five key metrics around margin, development & gearing, reinvestment, return on capital employed and social housing cost per unit that must be reported by every registered provider for the financial year that is being audited.

Our approach to satisfying this is to utilise our membership of the Acuity benchmarking group where both the regulator's metrics, sector scorecard and other benchmarking data is entered. Accordingly this report reflects our data and that of other relevant organisations in the benchmarking group.

Metric 1 Operating Margin and Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA)

a)

Operating Margin Overall

The Operating Margin demonstrates the profitability of operating assets before exceptional expenses are taken into account.

On the regulator's formula Thorngate's margin is as follows:

TCT 2025

TCT 2024

TCT 2023

TCT 2022

TCT 2021

Position in Peer Group (out of 28)

Peer Group Median

Operating Margin Overall

15.37%

12.35%

4.57%

10.86%

10.55%

5

14.13%

Overall operating margin increased significantly during 2023-24 due to improvements within our care

home. These changes did not affect our housing provision.

b)

Operating Margin Social Housing Lettings.

This is the same as above but only including social housing.

TCT 2025

TCT 2024

TCT 2023

TCT 2022

TCT 2021

Position in Peer Group (out of 28)

Peer Group Median

Operating Margin Social Housing Lettings

24.02%

19.97%

18.1%

12.89%

15.5%

2

16.2%

c)

Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA)

The EBITDA MRI interest cover measure is a key indicator for liquidity and investment capacity. It seeks to measure the level of surplus that a registered provider generates compared to interest payable; the measure avoids any distortions stemming from the depreciation charge.

TCT 2025

TCT 2024

TCT 2023

TCT 2022

TCT 2021

Position in Peer Group (out of 28)

Peer Group Median

EBITDA MRI

10.9 times

13.8 times

3.23 times

16.6 times

12.1 times

Not avail

3.37

Metric 2 Gearing and Supply

a)

Gearing (RSH and Scorecard measure)

This metric assesses how much of the adjusted assets are made up of debt and the degree of dependence on debt finance. It is often a key indicator of an organisation's appetite for growth. The ratio shows the proportion of borrowing in relation to the size of a provider's asset base.

TCT 2025

TCT 2024

TCT 2023

TCT 2022

TCT 2021

Position in Peer Group (out of 28)

Peer Group Median

Gearing

12.75%

13.85%

14.57%

15.66%

11.06%

Not avail

12.83

Thorngate increased its borrowing in 2021-22 and again in 2023-24 to fund the purchase and development of the Grove Road Gosport site.

b)

New supply delivered (social housing units)

Housing supply delivered as a percentage of stock owned, during the period April - March

Thorngate's measure is 0%. This is because we had delivered substantial schemes in 2015-18 and are now underway on a new site of 30 homes in 2024.

TCT 2025

TCT 2024

TCT 2023

TCT 2022

TCT 2021

Position in Peer Group (out of 28)

Peer Group Median

New supply delivered (Social Housing)

0

0

0

0

0

5

0

c)

New supply delivered (non-social housing units)

No other units (care) were started or completed during the year and the Trust has no plans for any further care units. Other providers in the peer group also did not deliver non-housing new supply.

.

TCT 2025

TCT 2024

TCT 2023

TCT 2022

TCT 2021

Position in Peer Group (out of 28)

Peer Group Median

New supply delivered (Non-Social Housing)

0

0

0

0

0

1

0

Metric 3 Reinvestment

a)

This metric looks at the investment in properties (existing stock as well as new supply) as a percentage of the value of total properties held.

TCT 2025

TCT 2024

TCT 2023

TCT 2022

TCT 2021

Position in Peer Group (out of 28)

Peer Group Media n

Reinvestment %

37.24%

6.73%

7.97%

9.6%

4.73%

1

2.4%

Metric 4 Return on Capital Employed (ROCE)

a)

When looking at operating surplus figures, gain/loss on disposal of property, plant and equipment is not included. However these items are included in this measure as they can be considered to form part of the return on the capital investment in either fixed assets (or joint ventures).

TCT 2025

TCT 2024

TCT 2023

TCT 2022

TCT 2021

Position in Peer Group (out of 28)

Peer Group Media n

Return on capital employed

5.93%

4.84%

1.62%

3.83%

3.62%

1

2.62%

Metric 5 Headline social housing cost per unit

This is a total of costs attributable to social housing property. This includes component depreciation. Our slightly higher than average figure reflects higher component depreciation due to new properties, as well as some higher grade management roles because of the care services we manage as well as housing. It should also be noted that we have been recognised for providing high quality housing that residents want to live in, by the receipt of two awards voted for by residents in 2019. We believe (reflected in our residents' survey and long waiting list of approximately two years) that our offering of well-maintained stock and especially our support through on-site wardens delivers a service that residents and prospective residents want.

TCT 2025

TCT 2024

TCT 2023

TCT 2022

TCT 2021

Position in Peer Group (out of 28)

Peer Group Median

Headline social housing cost per unit

£7,884

£7,392

£6,627

£6,224

£6,715

8

£7,451

PART 2

Thorngate's Metrics

The metrics we have chosen and have consistently reported on for the last few years are a mixture of both hard financial data and targets related to social impact, given that our mission defined by our charitable objects are:

The Objects of the Charity are to relieve the needs of Residents who are in need by providing social housing in the form of almshouse accommodation and such other charitable relief for the benefit of such Residents (or other persons who are in need by reason of their age) as the Trustees think fit; and for the benefit of this clause, "Residents" shall mean poor persons of not less than 50 years of age.

This translates into a number of monthly key performance indicators that the executive reports on monthly, procurement measures that we review periodically, and forward looking targets which reflect our forward focused business plan to 2023, as well as systematically examining our governance. The metrics reported below cover the following areas:

-

Void Reporting

-

Procurement

-

Increased reach

-

Governance and Board Development

1.

Void Reporting

Both housing and care home voids are reported monthly to board and Thorngate sets its own targets on voids. Thorngate also benchmarks itself against the Smaller Providers Benchmarking Group, and this figure has been reported on where relevant below.

We report voids on a percentage basis monthly and on a lost revenue basis annually. Our target is 2.5% or less voids. This can be affected by for example, increased development or major repairs, if this means more transfers of residents or decanting.

Void pro-rata

Thorngate

Thorngate

Thorngate

Thorngate

Thorngate

Peer

12m

2024-25

2023-24

2022-23

2021-22

2020-21

group

2024-25

Housing%

0.09%

0.14%

0.23%

0.22%

0.27%

0.7%

Housing Value £

£1,053

£1,394

£2,319

£2,058

£2,423

Housing % (excl new schemes)

0.09%

0.14%

0.23%

0.22%

0.27%

Housing Value £

£1,053

£1,394

£2,319

£2,058

£2,423

Care %

6.82%

4.08%

4.67%

1.70%

3.90%

N/A

Care Value £

£202,999

£109,271

£108,208

£35,688

£72,296

We have once again turned in an excellent performance on housing voids and are ranked first overall and in the first quartile yet again in the peer group of smaller similar housing associations. This reflects just how desirable our combined package of high-quality housing and high-quality housing support delivered by on-site staff are to residents. This is also reflected in our very long waiting list for units (currently around 140 applications for 124 flats) with a wait time of around twenty months. Despite our care voids for 2024-2025 increasing slightly, the income from our care service has increased substantially due to the average rate per day increasing. This is also why the care void monetary value per percentage point is higher in 2024-25 than 2023-24 (£29,765 compared to £26,782 respectively).

2.

Procurement

Since the VFM standard was first introduced, Thorngate has reported its performance against prior years in a number of areas. This has shown useful trends and this has been continued this year. The focus areas continue to be gas and electric purchases, and care home food costs. These have been chosen because almost all our properties have gas included in the weekly maintenance charges, communal electricity is a large costs and for our care home, food is one of the largest costs. These figures can only be considered year on year within the same organisation because of different characteristics between different providers.

While we seek to reduce our utility costs, we seek to at least maintain our food cost budget per person level, as there is a correlation between quality and cost and the case of food for care home residents, and nutrition is a key part of caring for frail residents.

Year

Gas

% change on prior year

Electric

% change on prior year

Food (Care home per resident per annum)

% change on prior year

2012-13

£67,354

£36,604

£1,519

2013-14

£56,061

-17%

£37,233

+2%

£1,542

+2%

2014-15

£59,257

+6%

£33,561

-10%

£1,510

-2%

2015-16

£52,013

-12%

£33,148

-1%

£1,446

-4%

2016-17 (pro rata)

£47,100

-9%

£33,252

0%

£1,371

-5%

2017-18 (pro rata)

£45,363

-4%

£36,872

+11%

£1,651

+20%

2018-19

£51,551

+14%

£42,669

+16%

£1,687

+2%

2019-20

£63,471

+23%

£46,916

+10%

£1,516

-10%

2020-21

£61,045

-3.8%

£49,983

+6.5%

£1,404

-31%

2021-22

£46,305

-24.1%

£50,515

+1.1%

£2,164

+54%

2022-23

£43,739

-5.54%

£48,418

-4.15%

£2,040

-5.73%

2023-24

£71,019

+62.4%

£45,425

-6.2.%

£2,287

+12%

2024-25

£125,484

+76.7%

£66,617

+46.65%

£2,186

-4.4%

On gas and electric procurement we go to the market and our three year deal on gas ended in December 2023, with electricity ending in June 2024. We had been extremely lucky to get a good deal in Spring/Summer 2020. The new contract that was negotiated last year, while competitive is nevertheless higher than the very low-priced deal we came out of. Gas is used for heating and hot water in both housing and care homes and only the new developments of Lucas Court, Garden View and Station Road buy their own gas. It should be noted that if housing residents had to buy their own gas or electric they would not be able to buy this as competitively as we do, however of course they would have more control over usage.

Gas: Our spend on gas has increased dramatically this year. This is due to the ending of our advantageous gas contracts in December 2023, and the start of a good but nonetheless more expensive (270% increase) contract in January 2024. This financial year reflects twelve months of the new contract price. Further our actual unit usage increased by 4.55%.

Electric: Spend on electricity has increased due to the new contract this year. This financial year reflects nine months of the new contract price. Overall unit usage dropped again this year by 8.15%

Food: Despite a challenging environment around food costs, our Catering Manager brought the food costs in underbudget and at a broadly similar level to last year, while still delivering excellent food, and catering for special events.

3.

Increased reach

Thorngate considers, in line with its objects, it can increase its reach in the following two key ways: either development of new homes and facilities, and increased engagement of "persons who are in need by reason of their age"

Development:

We concluded a sizeable building programme for us in 2018-19, and commenced building 30 new units on our site at Grove Road Gosport in 2024-25. These will be completed in the financial year 2025-26

2024-25

2019-24

2018-19

2017-18

Units completed

0

0

10

4

Under development

30

0

0

10

Increase in stock % of current stock at start of year

0%

0%

9%

3%

The board has a stated aspiration that it will identify sites when they become available as follows:

To acquire further land in the Borough of Gosport to enhance the land bank available for future development if it becomes available and without erosion of reserves. The acquisition and development out of the Grove Road site indicates that Thorngate is delivering on these aspirations.

4.

Governance & Board Development

For a well-run organisation the board recognises it must ensure it is well equipped in terms of skills and continuous professional development.

Consequently, the board undertakes training and strategic board days normally twice a year in addition to board meetings and monthly (at least) briefings from the Chief Executive.

In 2024-25 the board has undertaken two board days incorporating strategy and training looking at compliance with the Complaints Code and regulators, marketing updates, progress at the new scheme, and pension strategy.

Target:

The target for 2025-26 which we can be measured against is at least one board day including strategy sessions.

REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS

Registered Company number

09953572 (England and Wales)

Registered Charity number

1169965

Registered office

Administration Office

Clare House Melrose Gardens

Station Road

Gosport

Hampshire

PO12 3BZ

Trustees

Mark Hook (Chairman)

James Gilhooley

Christopher Matthews

Julie Palmer

Reeta Ram (Resigned 16 June 2025)

John Clark

Oliver Zaki

David Popoola-Smith

Registered Provider of Social Housing Number

4839

Chief Executive Officer and Clerk to the Trustees

A Taylor FCCA

Company Secretary

A Taylor FCCA

Auditors

MC Audit Limited

Statutory Auditors

Station House

North Street

Havant

Hampshire

PO9 1QU

Solicitors

Winckworth Sherwood

Arbor, 255 Blackfriars Rd,

London

SE1 9AX

Bankers

Lloyds Bank plc

43 West Street

Fareham

Hampshire

PO16 0BE

Investment Managers

CCLA

Senator House

85 Queen Victoria Street

London EC4V 4ET

STATEMENT OF TRUSTEES' RESPONSIBILITIES

The trustees (who are also the directors of Thorngate Churcher Trust for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the Report of the Trustees 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 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 those financial statements, the trustees are required to

-	select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;

-	observe the methods and principles in the Charity SORP;

-	make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;

-	prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charitable company will continue in business.

The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and to 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.

In so far as the trustees are aware:

-	there is no relevant audit information of which the charitable company's auditors are unaware; and

-	the trustees have taken all steps that they ought to have taken to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the auditors are aware of that information.

AUDITORS

The auditors, MC Audit Limited, will be proposed for re-appointment at the forthcoming Board Meeting.

Approved by order of the board of trustees on 21 August 2025 and signed on its behalf by:

M Hook - Trustee

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Thorngate Churcher Trust (the 'charitable company') for the year ended 31 March 2025 which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities, the Balance Sheet, the Cash Flow Statement and notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion the financial statements:

-	give a true and fair view of the state of the charitable company's affairs as at 31 March 2025 and of its incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure, for the year then ended;

-	have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and

-	have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006.

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 Auditors' responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charitable company 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.

Conclusions relating to going concern

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 charitable company'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 trustees are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the Annual Report, other than the financial statements and our Report of the Independent Auditors thereon.

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.

In connection with our audit of the financial statements, 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 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 the audit:

-	the information given in the Report of the Trustees for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and

-	the Report of the Trustees has been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the charitable company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the Report of the Trustees.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters where 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 take advantage of the small companies exemption from the requirement to prepare a Strategic Report or in preparing the Report of the Trustees.

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the Statement of Trustees' Responsibilities, the trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes 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 charitable company'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 responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

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 a Report of the Independent Auditors 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.

The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below:

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below:

From discussion with management and those charged with governance information about the entity is documented to assess the activity within the organisation. We discuss managements assessment of risk in respect of irregularities, fraud and going concern.

Based on these discussions and our own assessments we determined that the key risk areas were income recognition in respect of cut off issues concerning income recognition and management override concerning the size of the organisation.

We set financial statement materiality level based on the level of income. As a not for profit organisation raising income is its primary focus which is why income was used to determine the level of materiality. Our overall assessment of risk was used to determine performance materiality at an appropriate level.

Substantive audit tests were designed after assessing and testing systems and controls. The systems and controls which have been designed to act as a preventative measure against fraud and error were operating as documented. Substantive testing tested a sample of the population, representative of the population, to identify errors. The testing did not identify any material misstatements in areas tested.

Audit substantive tests concluded no material errors over the key risk areas of income recognition and management override.

The audit considers the organisation is not exposed to material risk of error as a result of assessing laws and regulations that are appropriate to the organisation.

Management assessed there is no going concern risk.

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council's website at www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our Report of the Independent Auditors.

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 auditors' 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.

Paul Underwood (Senior Statutory Auditor)

for and on behalf of MC Audit Limited

Statutory Auditors

Station House

North Street

Havant

Hampshire

PO9 1QU

28 August 2025

2025

2024

Unrestricted

Restricted

Endowment

Total

Total

funds

fund

fund

funds

funds

Notes

£

£

£

£

£

INCOME AND

ENDOWMENTS FROM

Donations and legacies

2

2,875

-

-

2,875

4,612

Charitable activities

4

Housing for older people

1,146,282

-

-

1,146,282

1,048,309

Care home

2,778,429

-

-

2,778,429

2,582,726

Investment income

3

65,680

-

-

65,680

2,739

Total

3,993,266

-

-

3,993,266

3,638,386

EXPENDITURE ON

Charitable activities

5

Housing for older people

924,034

-

-

924,034

844,834

Care home

2,455,335

-

-

2,455,335

2,345,956

Total

3,379,369

-

-

3,379,369

3,190,790

Net gains/(losses) on investments

(8,950

)

-

-

(8,950

)

48,890

NET INCOME

604,947

-

-

604,947

496,486

Other recognised

gains/(losses)

Actuarial gains/(losses) on defined benefit schemes

(8,355

)

-

-

(8,355

)

(88,000

)

Net movement in funds

596,592

-

-

596,592

408,486

RECONCILIATION OF

FUNDS

Total funds brought forward

7,814,665

-

40,503

7,855,168

7,446,682

TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD

8,411,257

-

40,503

8,451,760

7,855,168