This year’s annual report shows our stakeholders how we have performed over the last year, as we continue our work ensuring strategic direction, clear governance and value in the work of the charity.
Despite the global economic uncertainty, I am delighted to report that our performance throughout 2024/2025 has been in line with our budgets and remained strong, testimony to the partnerships we have built as well as the review of our services to cater for the changing needs.
During the year, we continued our programme of investment in future services and inside this report you will get an understanding of how we’ve spent our income on improving and maintaining our services. This has been a continuation of the work we started in recent years, adapting to the needs of our clients and the changes in the local community.
We are extremely grateful to all donors who fundraised and donated to Crawley Open House. Each year we are still amazed by the generosity of our supporters.
This report is designed to show how our money is spent, how we are performing compared to previous years and demonstrate our overall financial governance. I hope you find the report and accounts informative.
James Abdool
The Trustees present their report and accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025.
The accounts have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in note 1 to the accounts and comply with the charity's memorandum and articles of association, the Companies Act 2006 and the Statement of Recommended Practice, "Accounting and Reporting by Charities", issued in March 2019.
Purposes and aims
The Trustees review the aims, objectives and activities of the charity each year. This report looks at the achievements and outcomes the charity has made through this reporting period. The Trustees report the success of each key activity and the benefits the charity has brought to people that it is set up to help. The review also helps the Trustees ensure the charity's aims, objectives and activities remain focused on its stated purposes.
About Crawley Open House
Crawley Open House started its journey in 1982 when doors first opened on a project in Spencers Road known as the Crawley Community Resources Centre. In the winter of 1990, we delivered our first overnight accommodation providing emergency cold weather beds to those that were sleeping rough. In 1994 we launched a permanent hostel instead of a temporary cold weather shelter. Portakabins once used to house construction workers building the channel tunnel project were converted to provide twelve single and four double rooms plus an office, a shower, a toilet and a laundry block. In 1996, the hostel and resource centre merged to form Crawley Open House.
Since these early days we have grown to provide accommodation, support and services for those in the Crawley area suffering the effects of homelessness, unemployment, loneliness, discrimination, or other forms of social exclusion. This hasn’t changed and our support is available to anyone in need and can sometimes be as little as a meal or feeling listened to.
The Trustees have paid due regard to guidance issued by the Charity Commission in deciding what activities the charity should undertake.
During the year the charity had net incoming resources of £446,897 (2024: £799,694). The net income partly reflects the good level of donations and grants we received. The net income for the previous year included a restricted donation of £500,000 for the purchase of a move-on property. The net income for the current year reflects the continuing difficulties we have had recruiting staff to fill vacancies although we have performed better in this area than in previous years and are now close to fully staffed.
The charity’s reserves policy takes account of its expanding operations, the way they are funded and the forward-looking risks to that funding. The reserves policy is to hold unrestricted reserves of between three and six months’ projected core expenditure.
As at 31st March 2025, unrestricted funds were £760,747 (2024: £631,317) and projected core expenditure for the financial year 2024-25 is £1,703,000 . Reserves are therefore within the Trustees’ target range. The Trustees consider this to be an appropriate level of reserves given the financial pressures everywhere in the UK economy which are likely to impact both the charity’s income and expenses.
It is the policy of the charity to hold designated funds to a level representing the value of the occupied property and the charity’s essential equipment.
During the year ended 31 March 2025, the charity increased its designated fund for the purchase of additional move-on properties from £1,050,000 to £1,300,000 in line with its strategic objective of increasing the amount of accommodation it can offer. It also increased the designated funds set aside for major renewal projects on its property assets, including £70,000 for essential fire safety improvements in the hostel.
The past year has once again demonstrated the critical importance of our work in supporting some of the most vulnerable members of our community. Against a continued backdrop of rising living costs, increasing demand for services, and ongoing pressure on public resources, Crawley Open House has remained a beacon of compassion, stability, and hope.
Throughout the year, our dedicated staff and volunteers have worked tirelessly to provide support, shelter, and guidance to hundreds of individuals facing homelessness, poverty, and crisis. Every meal served, every conversation shared, and every night of safe shelter offered reflects our unwavering commitment to dignity and care.
Riverside House
Riverside House hostel is the heart of Crawley Open House, providing round-the-clock staffing for our 24-bed facility. Beyond offering residential services, we provide general advice, housing and resettlement support, mental health and substance misuse assistance, counseling, and access to medical, podiatric, and hairdressing services.
Our hostel has consistently maintained an occupancy rate of over 99.3% resulting in the regrettable need to turn away daily requests due to full capacity. In the past year, we were able to offer temporary accommodation to 137 individuals who would have otherwise faced homelessness.
We prioritise assisting our clients in securing more stable, suitable accommodation. Throughout the year, we successfully resettled 82 individuals. We are heartened by the fact that 68% of our hostel residents have transitioned to more permanent housing, surpassing last year's figures. This improvement signifies that people are beginning to move on to stable living arrangements more swiftly after the challenges presented by the pandemic.
Last year we mentioned the commencement of the installation of solar panels, and this was completed. We are pleased to say that they are working well and with the analysis of the data we receive we can evaluate the need for any other services, such as the installation of battery storage. We expect to review these decisions after at least 12 months of data analysis.
Resource Centre
The Resource Centre opened on 6th July 2022. If offers a wide range of facilities, including workshops, multi-use spaces, a fully equipped kitchen, hot desks in all offices, a laundry, shower facilities and donation station. This Centre hosts a variety of regular classes, such as cycle repairs, baking, CSCS card training, and IT lessons. The decision to separate accommodation and day services has proven to be a success, with the staff witnessing numerous achievements because of this new facility. They continue to gain insights into improving the service for our clients.
In November 2024 we received registration as an official City & Guilds Exam Centre. This means our service users can take exams and gain formal qualifications in a range of subjects, including English, Maths and Functional Skills, with the option to add more subjects as we continue to expand our service.
The Resource Centre has become an important base for local service partners, allowing them to provide closer, regular and more accessible services to our clients. This includes the Rough Sleeper Coordinator from Crawley Borough Council who offers support around housing, a non-medical prescriber from CGL who offers rapid prescribing, StreetLight UK who work with those at risk from sex working, Alliance for Better Care who conduct full health screenings, the Samaritans who offer 1:1 wellbeing support, and a representative from DWP who helps the most vulnerable to sustain their universal credit claims.
Move-On
At Crawley Open House, the provision of move-on accommodation plays a crucial role in our efforts to support individuals in their transition to long-term, secure rented housing. Our initial move-on option, the Laing rooms, consists of eight individual bedrooms with shared living spaces. These rooms serve as a platform for individuals to continue building on the progress they have achieved during their stay at our hostel.
By offering the necessary support to promote independent living, we empower our Laing residents with increased freedom and privileges. This approach has been successful for those individuals who are the right fit for this program, and our team has developed the expertise to integrate these clients within our residential team and cater to their specific needs. The investment in the Move-On houses has been incredibly valuable and is undeniably essential for the future of our charity.
Within our six Move-On houses, we provide twenty-eight rooms at an affordable rent to individuals who are seeking to transition into long-term, secure, and independent living and employment opportunities. Our focus on Move-On accommodation and equipping individuals with the skills necessary to prevent a return to homelessness is fundamental to our mission. We now offer more move-on beds than hostel beds, which stands as a remarkable achievement and underscores our dedication to providing both short-term and long-term solutions for individuals in need.
Outreach Team
Our Outreach Team actively go out into the community to find, identify and support those who are sleeping rough. This is a crucial part of our work and we are delighted to secure renewed funding from Crawley Borough Council to continue this valuable work to the most vulnerable in our community.
Resettlement Outreach
This team works with people who are in accommodation but who are at risk of losing their housing for whatever reason. Clients might have a short-term crisis, or a longer-term issue, and need help with issues such as food poverty, financial insecurity, antisocial behavior and a lack of independent living skills. Many of these situations would deteriorate quickly and end in homelessness without support to keep things on track. This team have a proven track record of early interventions that have prevented someone vulnerable from becoming homeless in the first place and, as is commonly said, prevention is undoubtedly better than cure.
Fundraising Activities
Over the years a wonderfully supportive community has built up around Crawley Open House, and once more this year they have helped us enormously with gifts of time, expertise, goods and money in what is our 30th year of operation. We continue to work hard to diversify our income streams so that we are not over-dependent on any one provider, and again we have been supported by a wide array of organisations, trusts and as always, the large number of generous individuals. It remains a tough climate within which to fundraise, especially when there are some local, well established causes. Financial pressures haven’t eased for the majority of households and this continues to be a challenge for charity fundraising. This has been felt again this year with a marked drop in the number of people involved in our 1 in 1000 regular giving scheme.
Major Gifts
We were grateful once again for significant core-funding from the National Lottery Community Fund, St Christopher's Trust, Three Oaks Trust, the Aldama Foundation, Clothworkers' Foundation, Irwin Mitchell Charitable Foundation, Starry Plough Trust and the Albert Van den Burgh Charitable Trust. Their foundational support enabled us to be able to bid for specific project income when required, including, renovating our hostel toilets and showers this year thanks to support from Gatwick Airport Community Trust, Euroclear Ltd, Carpenter Box and Irwin Mitchell. In the autumn we installed 72 solar panels on our hostel roof following a generous grant from the Linbury Trust, one of the Sainsbury Family Trusts. This will enable us to save money, generate a small income from exporting to the grid and help us to be more environmentally friendly as a Charity — a win-win-win!
We once again increased our number of corporate partnerships and continued active membership of the Gatwick Diamond Business networking group. We have become firmly established as a charity partner to many local businesses, whose first experience of Open House is often through volunteering in our kitchen or one of the move-on house gardens. Hence this year we have started working with Aerfin, Magus Wealth, NextEq Plc, SUEZ, Verdant Financial Planning, Johnson & Johnson, Acron Aviation (formerly L3 Harris), Hitachi Rail, Tesco and Legal & General, amongst others. Due to the ongoing cost of living crisis there were again some understandable withdrawals from our 1 in 1000 regular giving scheme, partly offset with some new sign-ups, particularly from small local businesses. We are grateful to all past donors via this scheme, and to the 350 plus who remain within it. It's a huge benefit to the budgeting and planning process to be able to count on these wonderful regular donations.
Events
We benefitted from lots of events organised by others this year. These included the Collective Movement Dance Event at the Hawth, Neil Henderson doing the Tonbridge half-marathon, beautiful open gardens in Shipley with Zsa and Stevie Roggendorff, packed-out concerts by the Songbirds Choir, a Christmas Celebration at the Crawley Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, charity feasts arranged by the East Grinstead Justice & Peace Group, Globetrotters Mini-Golf at Tilgate Park, another raffle arranged by tattooist Jeep Bluezone, Southern Sheeting staff sleeping out in their warehouse and the amazing James Ford running the 830km of the Camino del Norte. Thanks so much to you all and everyone else who ran events in aid of our work.
Several successful Crawley Open House fundraising events were held too. The 7th annual footgolf tournament took place at Gatwick Footgolf in June, and our third 'Big Quiz' was again a sell out at St Wilfrid's School. Around 40 hardy souls slept out in Queens Square on a cold February night, and we had a small but effective team in the Run Gatwick 10k at Charlwood. In partnership with the wonderful folk at Crawley URC we once again sang carols at Three Bridges Station to bemused commuters and held our second 'thank you lunch' for the unsung heroes & heroines who help in and around Open House voluntarily courtesy of The Parsons Pig. Our Patron Romesh Ranganathan hosted a night of comedy at the Hawth in December, which sold out in about 90 seconds! Between all these events over £40,000 was raised to support our vital front-line work.
Summary
In a prevailing climate of some world, political and economic uncertainty it remains a challenge to raise funds, and we have to be ever-more proactive, creative and tenacious as we find ourselves in a ‘competitive’ space alongside so many other great charities. We are reassured by the myriads of different people who have Crawley Open House on their list of causes to support and thank each and every one of them – we never take it for granted. We are increasingly active across Facebook, X, LinkedIn and Instagram to broadcast daily the help we need and the stories of those we have helped, and we continue to invest in the necessary technology and software to improve our communications.
We are grateful for deep and long-standing relationships with so many across our community, and we encourage the curious to visit to see our work first-hand. We continue to work hard prospecting for new sources of income from individuals, companies and Trusts in order to keep a robust pipeline of incoming funds.
Over the next 12 months, our key priorities will be:
The exploration of options to expand our Move-On Accommodation, taking into account the current challenges with availability of suitable properties and water neutrality.
The enhancement of our services including:
Considering improvements to hostel provisions to cater to the changing demographics of residents
Strengthening outreach efforts to engage more people before they become homeless and
Increasing life skills workshops, employment support and access to health services to improve long-term well-being.
Governance and Leadership development, implementing measures to strengthen the governance, structure and processes of the Board of Trustees and allocating time for senior leadership to focus on further embedding structural changes after a period of intense development.
Financial Sustainability and Funding Diversification, including exploring new revenue streams and securing health sector funding to support mobile health services.
The charity is a company limited by guarantee, does not have share capital and was incorporated on 21 April 1995. The Trustees / Directors are appointed at the annual general meeting or during the year at Trustees' meetings.
Trustees exercise oversight of all the charity’s activities principally through the bi-monthly Trustees’ meeting. This meeting comprises all the trustees and is attended by senior management. Its responsibilities include setting the charity’s strategy and objectives, monitoring progress and the appointment of senior management.
The Trustees’ meeting is supported by four subcommittees (Finance, Development and Fundraising, Personnel and Policies, Risk and Governance) covering all key aspects of the Trustees’ responsibilities. Each subcommittee comprises a subset of the trustees with relevant members of the management team in attendance. It reports back to the following Trustees’ meeting.
The charity maintains a register of the principal risks to which it is exposed, together with the actions to mitigate those risks. Each subcommittee is responsible for the identification and analysis of the risks falling within its terms of reference. The Trustees’ meeting has responsibility for oversight of all risks, together with any risk not within the scope of a subcommittee.
Crawley Open House has charitable status and its charity registration number is 1048919.
The Trustees, who are also directors for the purpose of company law, and who served during the year are:
This report has been prepared in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice, "Accounting and reporting by Charities", issued in March 2005 and in accordance with the special provisions of part 15 of the Companies Act relating to small entities.
Each of the Trustees has confirmed that there is no information of which they are aware which is relevant to the audit, but of which the auditor is unaware. They have further confirmed that they have taken appropriate steps to identify such relevant information and to establish that the auditors are aware of such information.
The Trustees report was approved by the Board of Trustees.
Company law requires the Trustees to prepare accounts for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the charitable company's state of affairs at the end of the year and of its income and expenditure for that period.
In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:
- select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
- observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP;
- make 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 charity will continue in operation.
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 accounts 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.
Opinion
We have audited the financial statements of Crawley Open House (the ‘charity’) for the year ended 31 March 2025 which comprise the statement of financial activities, the balance sheet, 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 charity 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 charity’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 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.
We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:
the information given in the financial statements is inconsistent in any material respect with the Trustees' report; or
sufficient accounting records have not been kept; or
the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records; or
we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.
As explained more fully in the statement of Trustees' responsibilities, the Trustees, who are also the directors of the charity 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 charity’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.
We have been appointed as auditor under section 145 of the Charities Act 2011 and report in accordance with the Act and relevant regulations made or having effect thereunder.
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.
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. The objectives of our audit are to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence regarding compliance with laws and regulations that have a direct effect on the determination of material amounts and disclosures in the financial statements, to perform audit procedures to help identify instances of non-compliance with other laws and regulations that may have a material effect on the financial statements, and to respond appropriately to identified or suspected non-compliance with laws and regulations identified during the audit.
In relation to fraud, the objectives of our audit are to identify and assess the risk of material misstatement of the financial statements due to fraud, to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence regarding the assessed risks of material misstatements due to fraud through designing and implementing appropriate responses and to respond appropriately to fraud or suspected fraud identified during the audit.
However it is the primary responsibility of management, with the oversight of those charged with governance, to ensure that the entity’s operations are conducted in accordance with the provisions of laws and regulations and for the prevention and detection of fraud.
In identifying and assessing the risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud, the audit engagement team made enquiries of management, and those charged with governance, regarding the procedures relating to identifying, evaluating and complying with;
laws and regulations and whether they were aware of any instances of non-compliance;
detecting and responding to the risks of fraud and whether they have knowledge of any actual, suspected or alleged fraud;
the internal controls established to mitigate risks related to fraud or non-compliance with laws and regulations;
As a result of these procedures we consider the most significant laws and regulations that have a direct impact on the financial statements are FRS 102, General Data Protection Regulations, Companies Act, Charities Act 2011, Charities Statement of Recommended Practice, employment law and regulations and Registered Social Landlord Laws and Regulations. We performed audit procedures to detect non-compliance, which may have a material impact on the financial statements. These included reviewing financial statement disclosures and evaluating advice received from external advisors. There were no significant laws and regulations we deemed as having an indirect impact on the financial statements.
The audit engagement team identified the risk of management override of controls and revenue recognition as the areas where the financial statements were most susceptible to material misstatement due to fraud. Audit procedures performed in regards to management override included but were not limited to testing manual journal entries and other adjustments and evaluating the rationale in relation to any significant, unusual transactions and transactions entered into outside of the normal course of business.
Revenue recognition was also identified as a significant risk which could lead to a material mis-statement due to fraud or error. Audit procedures in relation to revenue recognition included but were not limited to a proof in total test on grant income and substantive testing for rental income.
Estimated residual life of building - we reviewed the building for signs of impairment and recent valuation information to confirm the land and buildings were included within the accounts accurately.
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.
Use of our report
This report is made solely to the charity's Trustees, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006 and to the charity’s trustees, as a body, in accordance with part 4 of the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charity's Trustees 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 charity and the charity’s Trustees 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 statement of financial activities also complies with the requirements for an income and expenditure account under the Companies Act 2006.
Crawley Open House is a charitable company, registered in England and Wales. The registered office is Ground Floor, 1-7 Station Road, Crawley, West Sussex, RH10 1HT
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the charity's Memorandum and Articles of Association, the Companies Act 2006 and "Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019)". The charity is a Public Benefit Entity as defined by FRS 102.
The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the charity. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention. The principal accounting policies adopted are set out below.
At the time of approving the financial statements, the Trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Thus the Trustees continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.
Unrestricted funds can be used in accordance with the charitable objectives at the discretion of the Trustees.
Designated funds are unrestricted funds earmarked by the Trustees for particular purposes.
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.
Further explanation of the nature and purpose of each fund is included in the notes of the financial statements.
All income is recognised in the Statement of Financial Activities once the charity has entitlement to the funds, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably.
Donations and similar incoming resources are included in the year in which they are receivable which is when the charity becomes entitled to the resource.
Grants are included in the accounting period to which they relate.
Activities in furtherance of charitable objects includes rental income and is included in the year in which it is receivable which is when the charity becomes entitled to the resource.
Other incoming resources includes kitchen receipts, placement fees and refunds of overcharged expenses all of which are included in the accounts when the charity becomes entitled to the resources.
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.
Grants offered subject to conditions which have not been met at the year end date are noted as a commitment but not accrued as expenditure.
Support costs are those functions that assist the work of the charity but do not directly undertake charitable activities. Support costs include back office costs, finance, personnel, payroll and governance costs which support the charitable company's activities. These costs have been allocated between the different charitable activities. The bases on which support costs have been allocated are set out in note 9.
Depreciation is provided at the following annual rates in order to write off each asset over its estimated useful life.
Freehold Land is not depreciated.
It has been decided by the Trustees that only items of a value of £1,000 and over will be capitalised as anything smaller is not deemed material.
Cash at bank and in hand includes cash and short term highly liquid investments with a short maturity of three months or less from the date of acquisition or opening of the deposit or similar account.
The charity has elected to apply the provisions of Section 11 ‘Basic Financial Instruments’ and Section 12 ‘Other Financial Instruments Issues’ of FRS 102 to all of its financial instruments.
Financial instruments are recognised in the charity's balance sheet when the charity becomes party to the contractual provisions of the instrument.
Financial assets and liabilities are offset, with the net amounts presented in the financial statements, when there is a legally enforceable right to set off the recognised amounts and there is an intention to settle on a net basis or to realise the asset and settle the liability simultaneously.
Basic financial assets, which include debtors and cash and bank balances, are initially measured at transaction price including transaction costs and are subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest method unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the transaction is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial assets classified as receivable within one year are not amortised.
Basic financial liabilities, including creditors and bank loans are initially recognised at transaction price unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the debt instrument is measured at the present value of the future payments discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial liabilities classified as payable within one year are not amortised.
Debt instruments are subsequently carried at amortised cost, using the effective interest rate method.
Trade creditors are obligations to pay for goods or services that have been acquired in the ordinary course of operations from suppliers. Amounts payable are classified as current liabilities if payment is due within one year or less. If not, they are presented as non-current liabilities. Trade creditors are recognised initially at transaction price and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.
The Charity is exempt from corporation tax on its charitable activities
The costs of short-term employee benefits are recognised as a liability and an expense.
The cost of any unused holiday entitlement is recognised in the period in which the employee's services are received.
Termination benefits are recognised immediately as an expense when the charity is demonstrably committed to terminate the employment of an employee or to provide termination benefits.
The charity operates a defined contributions pension scheme. Contributions are charged in the accounts as they become payable in accordance with the rules of the scheme.
Donated goods
There are considerable gifts of food given to the charity which have been estimated at £44,000 (2024: £35,000) for the year.
The Charity received approximately £59,500 of volunteer assistance this year (2024: £45,000).
In the application of the charity’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.
Income is recognised when the charity is entitled to the income and this will be based on the work being completed and there is no requirement to repay the grant.
Donated items such as food are recognised in income and expenditure based on their fair value.
Time given freely to the charity by volunteers is recognised in income and expenditure based on an estimated average hourly rate and total number of hours given by volunteers.
Grants
Included within the donations and gifts above are the following non cash donations:
Donated food £44,000 (2024: £35,000)
Volunteer time - £59,500 (2024: £45,000)
During the year none of the Trustees (or any persons connected with them) received any remuneration or received any reimbursement of expenses relating to their duties as Trustees and directors.
The average monthly number of employees during the year was: 32
The Chief Executive is eligible for membership of the Charity’s workplace pension scheme for all employees, to which the employer contributes 3% of earnings between the upper and lower earnings limits. There are no enhanced or special terms for the Chief Executive. The pension contributions of the chief executive amounted to £1,321 in the year.
The remuneration of key management personnel was as follows:
The charity is exempt from tax on income and gains falling within section 505 of the Taxes Act 1988 or section 252 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 to the extent that these are applied to its charitable objects.
The Charity received a loan from The Big Issue in May 2021 for £135,000 with a fixed interest rate of 4.11% which is to be repaid over 10 years.
The charity operates a defined contribution pension scheme for all qualifying employees. The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the charity in an independently administered fund.
The Starter property packs fund is to provide household items to clients moving into a new home.
The WSCC Crawley Foodbank fund is towards the provision of a permanent foodbank for Crawley.
The Welfare fund is to provide in-kind support to clients in acute need.
The WSCC TAP and Lived Experience fund is to provide outreach support to clients.
The Support for Move-on premises is a contribution towards the costs of specific move-on houses.
The CBC day services grant is to support the operation of the Resource Centre.
Residential Services staff grants are to support the provision of resettlement outreach workers for the move-on accommodation.
The Day services staff grants are towards the costs of staff in the Resource Centre and outreach workers.
The National Lottery Community Fund grant is to support the Resource Centre development and operations.
The Resource Centre operation, development and activities fund is to support the ongoing costs of the Resource Centre and the provision of workshops, classes and activities.
Hostel refurbishment- Showers fund paid for the hostel’s w/c and showers refurbishment.
Hostel refurbishment – Solar Panels grant paid for the solar panels purchase and installation.
Provision of dental services fund is to provide dental services and emergency dental clinics for Crawley Open House’s clients.
These are unrestricted funds which are material to the charity's activities.
The Land and Building fund represents the value of the land and buildings occupied by the charity.
The vehicle fund is for the replacement of motor vehicles.
The Move-on property purchase fund is to enable the charity to purchase further properties for use as move-on houses.
The Equipment fund represents the value of the essential equipment used by the charity.
The Major renewals projects fund is for major maintenance work on its property assets.
Fire Safety Improvement Fund has been set up for work related to fire safety at the Hostel.
The development project fund was to ensure that the charity could successfully complete snagging work on the Resource Centre.
The Move-on houses cyclical repairs fund was to meet the cost of repairs on the charity’s leased move-on houses.
The Laing Rooms cyclical repairs fund was to meet the cost of repairs on the new Laing move-on rooms.
The Gas and Electricity fund represents the funds set aside to cover the expected increase in the cost of gas and electricity when the current fixed rate contract expires.
The unrestricted funds of the charity, excluding designated funds, are as follows:
At the reporting end date the charity had outstanding commitments for future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases, which fall due as follows:
There were no disclosable related party transactions during the year (2024 - none).
In February 2022 Crawley Open House became registered under the Homes and Regeneration Act as a provider of Registered Social Housing. The accounts have been tailored to introduce the necessary elements of the housing SORP.
At the year end the number of units under management was 36 (2024: 35), of which 18 (2024: 17) are in properties owned by the charity and 18 (2024: 18) are in properties leased by the charity. There were no void losses in the year.
The rent receivable from the Move-on social housing, excluding service charges of £58,973 (2024: £30,142), was £251,256 (2024: £228,843). Government grant recognised as income in the year were £139,631 (2024: £123,554). Social housing activity expenditure was £367,162 (2024: £406,043).
The amount of remuneration payable to the auditors in the period of account was £2,039 (2024: £1,907) which has been allocated on the basis of employee headcount; none of this remuneration was in relation to other services.
The excess of income over expenditure was £82,698 (2024: excess of expenditure over income £25,411). This will be added to the designated fund for major repairs and to the Charity’s reserves.