The trustees present their report and accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025.
Dorset Blind Association was established as an unincorporated charity in 1918 to promote the relief in need of visually impaired in the county of Dorset and to advance public education about blindness and the needs of the visually impaired. It is a registered charity (Registration number 1140321) and works closely with officers and staff of Poole Borough Council, Bournemouth Borough Council, Dorset County Council, Health Authorities across Dorset, the Royal Bournemouth Hospital Eye Unit and the Royal Eye Infirmary at the Dorset County Hospital of Dorchester.
On 10 November 2010 a new incorporated charity was set up, also called Dorset Blind Association, and on 1 April 2011 the funds, assets, liabilities and operations of the unincorporated charity were transferred to it.
Mission Statement
Helping to make life better for visually impaired people.
What services does it provide?
The main services of the Association are:
1. Advice, support and information to blind and partially sighted people and people with hearing loss in Dorset.
2. A community support service, to help people with sight loss maintain independent, healthy and socially active lives. This includes volunteers providing regular home visits.
3. A Resource Centre in Lower Parkstone, Poole providing advice on, and the facility to purchase, specialist equipment and aids to daily living designed to help people who are visually impaired or hearing impaired.
4. A mobile resource centre via the Sight Equipment Vehicles.
5. Support service at the Royal Eye Infirmary at Dorset County Hospital
6. A quarterly newsletter, 'The Dorset Link', produced in a range of accessible formats.
7. Social, Handicraft and Activity Clubs.
8. The provision of grants from voluntary funds, when funding permits.
9. Agents for the British Wireless for the Blind Fund in Dorset.
10. A Braille and audio transcription service to members and external organisations.
11. Awareness training to organisations or individuals on the needs of the visually impaired.
How is it funded?
By voluntary donations, trust funds, bequests and legacies.
By income from investments.
By National Lottery and other grants.
By members' subscriptions.
By income generated at charity shops.
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 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 2015)”
The charity's objects are to advance public education about blindness and deafness and the needs of the visually and/or hearing impaired and to promote the relief in need of people who have a sight and/or hearing loss, in the county of Dorset and the surrounding areas. The policies adopted in furtherance of these objects are detailed in the reports presented by the Chairman, Chief Executive and Treasurer.
Public benefit
The trustees have paid due regard to guidance issued by the Charity Commission in deciding what activities the charity should undertake and for the public benefit.
The charity achieves its mission statement and purposes through the provision of a variety of activities, services, help and support for visually impaired people of Dorset, all of which aim to help those people to maintain healthy, independent and socially inclusive lives notwithstanding the impact of the loss of sight.
Sight Loss in Dorset
It is important to understand the scale of sight loss in Dorset and the challenge this presents, as this creates the need for the Dorset Blind Association to exist and to remain vibrant and sustainable.
Being blind or partially sighted has a significant impact on people’s ability to live independently, to access shops and community facilities, to use public transport and to play an active part in society. Sight loss does not come in isolation and is often accompanied by other health issues. It can often also have a real impact on people’s emotional wellbeing.
All of these challenges were significantly magnified by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
The total population of Dorset is now almost 780,000. It is an ageing population with a higher than national average number of people of retirement age and this is set to rise.
Latest available statistics tell us that there are over 4,400 people registered as blind or partially sighted in Dorset.
Of these people over 70% are aged 75 years or older and almost 20% are of working age.
Including the people who are registered as blind or partially sighted, there are an estimated 33,900 people living in Dorset with sight loss, which is equivalent to nearly 4.4% of the county’s population.
This number is predicted to continue to rise for the foreseeable future.
The expected increase in the number of people affected by and living with sight loss is strongly linked to the demographics of Dorset, with increased life expectancy certain to result in greater numbers of people affected by conditions such as age-related macular degeneration.
Demand for services to support people suffering from sight loss is already significant, has increased noticeably during the pandemic as services provided by other organisations were stopped or withdrawn and is certain to continue to increase in the medium and longer term.
Chairperson’s report 2024/25
Throughout 2024/25 we have continued to consolidate and strengthen our charity’s financial position and further build on our service delivery to our members. For any charity, being able to report in this manner is extremely positive.
The services we provide to our members and the wider community have continued to deliver invaluable support to people with sight loss across Dorset and indirectly to many friends and family members too. These services make a real, positive difference to people’s lives and it remains the goal of our board and staff to continue this very positive trend. It is gratifying to hear back from our members and supporters of our charity that we are, indeed, making a real difference and are worthy of their support.
I am pleased to report that our Charity Shop model, that incorporates an equipment hub, continues to be very successful in generating a large proportion of the income needed to deliver our services, as well as greatly increasing awareness of the Charity and generating community support. This is an area that we are committed to develop and extend further until we have Dorset wide coverage with a shop easily and quickly accessible to all who live in the county.
We are very grateful to the organisations and businesses, as well as individuals, who continued to support us through this past year and into the future. Without their support, and that of our members, volunteers and patrons, we would not be able to deliver and continually improve our services. I would especially like to thank all who helped our annual Motor Show to go from strength to strength and especially our President James Weld for his support with this event, along with his support generally for all that we do.
Our board is charged with overseeing and directing the course of the Dorset Blind Association and in doing so, we continue to adapt to meet the needs of the people we serve in a changing and challenging financial and political environment where service cuts elsewhere have increased demand. We seek to serve as diverse a population of people with sight loss as possible and that includes not only older people, who make up the majority of our service users, but people of working age who have different and more varied needs.
We applaud our CEO and staff for always looking for ways to make our services more relevant and inclusive to the people we serve. Our diverse Board of Trustees includes people from different professions, who give us the benefit of their expertise. Additionally, our Visually Impaired Trustees offer both their professional expertise and personal experience of sight loss. As two of our Trustees also have hearing loss, they bring an understanding of the challenges faced by the people we serve that experience both sight and hearing loss. Some of our Trustees have served the Charity as volunteers or staff member, giving us a better understanding of the realities faced on the ground by our staff and volunteers. All of these people together make for a very potent and effective mix of talents and perspectives that will ensure we can offer the best guidance and direction possible to support the growth and sustainability of Dorset Blind Association for many years to come.
I will leave it to our CEO’s and Treasurer’s report to give details of our financial and programme achievements for the past year. We continue to benefit from the dedication, talents and stewardship of our CEO, Jonathan Holyhead. Jonathan continues to manage our building a diverse range of income sources, seeking to deliver our board’s goal to make sure that we are never over reliant to just one source of income. With invaluable help from our Treasurer he also works hard to keep expenditure within budgets and to maintain positive cash flow, both of which are essential to the financial well-being of our charity.
Jonathan continues to lead our wonderful and dedicated team of both service and shop staff and over 400 volunteers that make the actual delivery of our services possible. Each and every one of these individuals goes above and beyond to deliver the very best to the people with sight loss, their families and carers throughout Dorset. I speak for the entire Board and on behalf of all our members in thanking them for their service and I look forward to continuing to work with them all in delivering our shared goal of making lives better for people with sight loss in Dorset.
Maria Grundmann
Chairperson
Chief Executive Officer’s report 2024/25
Welcome to my 20th Annual Report for the Dorset Blind Association. This is the sixth report I have given since the Coronavirus pandemic had such a significant impact on everyone’s lives and while during this past year that impact has continued to diminish and been substantially less, it still continues to be relevant to how we run the Dorset Blind Association, most especially in continuing to make us much more conscious about needing to be prepared as best we can for the unexpected. While, therefore, this report will, as usual, look back over the past year, I will again also be looking ahead, and again with an emphasis on the vitally important areas of how we will work to maintain our services, try to ensure that these are always sustainable and strive to ensure our charity’s financial robustness and stability for the future.
It is always nice to be able to start my report on a positive note, and I am very pleased to say that this is again the case for 2024/25. Last year was another successful year for Dorset Blind Association, delivering strongly on its core purpose and mission, increasing again the number of people we are helping and with a strong, positive financial performance too.
Demand for all of our services has continued to grow, driven by more people than ever turning to DBA where services once provided by other charities, or by local health service or government, are reduced or even fully withdrawn. We find ourselves increasingly picking up the pieces others leave behind and as a local charity, with vibrant, constant and unbreakable links to our community and people, we are determined to always be there to help people whom others may have abandoned. Our service delivery methods try to reflect the ever changing needs of our service users and we pride ourselves on being flexible and adaptable and responsive to those changing needs, as best we are able to be within the scope of the resources we have at our disposal. Our staff and volunteers support significant numbers of blind and partially sighted people in all areas of Dorset and with that support achieving good, positive and meaningful outcomes.
Our charity shops performed extremely well again during the year. Our existing shops are all now very well established and provided 60% of our total income. At the very end of the financial year we opened three further shops, at Blandford, Sturminster Newton and Shaftesbury respectively, which extended the coverage of our shops chain into mid and north Dorset. This almost completed our plan to have a county wide network of shops, and we aim to complete that plan in the summer of 2025 by opening a shop in Sherborne. At that point I feel we will have successfully delivered on my promise to our members, that we will extend our physical presence for Dorset Blind Association to eventually make that throughout all Dorset, and with the twelve shops that we will then have open I think that promise will have been well and truly met.
The shops continue to help us to broaden our reach into the local community, give additional access points for people needing our services, and they help significantly to increase the awareness of our work and how we help people. Last year we sold almost 1,400 items of specialist equipment through the shops, very clearly demonstrating how our shops have made access to that equipment significantly easier for so many more people.
The shops helped us achieve another record year for overall income, with that also significantly helped by what were exceptional legacy receipts, together with extremely kind and invaluable support from a range of other funders. Our annual income exceeded £1m for the first time in our charity’s history – another sign of how Dorset Blind Association has continued to grow in recent years – and after expenditure and all other adjustments we ended the year with a surplus of over £171,000 which, because of the exceptional legacy receipts, was greater than we would normally expect. This is clearly a very good outcome and one to celebrate but equally should be seen in the context of those legacy receipts being potentially only a one-off, so we mustn’t become complacent and certainly not expect similar surpluses in the next few years, which are likely to be much more challenging.
The surplus from 2024/2025 will be partly invested into completing our shops programme, will help to boost our reserves and move us closer to achieving our Reserves Policy, and will also help to buffer what will definitely be a much more challenging year, financially, in 2025/2026, as we seek to absorb the increases in employment costs arising from central government decisions, while striving to maintain our current service delivery staffing levels.
In any report I give about our charity I think it is always worth reminding ourselves early on why the Dorset Blind Association exists and the significant extent of sight loss in the county. As recorded earlier in this Report, there are more than 4,400 people living in Dorset today who are registered as blind or partially sighted and, in total, an estimated 33,900 people living in the county with sight loss which affects the quality of their life on a day-to-day basis. Those people need access to support which helps them to come to terms with their loss of sight, to then face and overcome the challenges which serious sight loss presents and to continue to live active, independent lives in their local community.
It is the purpose of the Dorset Blind Association to provide that support and help enable those people to still have a good quality of life and to maintain a good sense of well-being.
To achieve this purpose Dorset Blind Association provides a range of services which help people to come to terms with the emotional challenges associated with sight loss and to then deal with the practical issues which sight loss cause. As well as trying to help the person suffering sight loss themselves, we also hope that our services can positively help their friends, family and carers too. We treat each person we help as an individual, working with them in partnership to address their unique needs and we always try to put people with sight loss at the centre of all that we do.
As well as being practical in its nature, we pride ourselves that the support we give is also always flexible and, where appropriate, we are willing to be innovative. We aren’t afraid to try something new if we think it will help to make a positive difference. Without ever compromising people’s safety, there are times when the best result is achieved by taking controlled, calculated risks and trying a different approach.
Finally, we recognise that services we provide are not always the best or most appropriate for some of the visually impaired people we help and so we regularly refer people on to other sources of help, either as part of a package with our services or sometimes as the unique solution for their needs. Through this approach we have developed and maintain excellent referral relationships with many other local and national charities and with local health and social care agencies.
We consider ourselves to be a caring organisation, nurturing and encouraging people to do things for themselves, to develop their independence. Indeed, it is a core part of our ethos that kindness to our members and all those who turn to us for help should be an absolute bedrock of all we do. Being kind to people shows we care, and they matter. And that attitude of care and kindness also extends to our dealings with staff members and our wonderful volunteers too.
We also consider ourselves to be progressive and a charity where everyone is made to feel welcome and valued and where volunteers and staff feel the satisfaction of knowing that they are really making a positive difference to the lives of others. Everyone’s contributions are valued, however great or small, and we always recognise that it is the sum of everyone’s efforts that brings about the positive differences we seek to achieve.
For many people it continues to be essential that our help and support is not time limited in any way. Regular evaluation of our services and feedback from our members tells us that people want a holistic service, as individually person-centred as possible, which is continuous and responsive to their changing needs over time. So we will provide help for as long as it is needed, to recognise that people’s needs change and alter over time, as their level of sight may continue to worsen and also other physical health challenges impact more greatly as people age.
Our core services have been developed over a number of years now and continue to adapt and evolve how they work to help visually impaired people across Dorset. Our services achieve a broad range of positive outcomes for the service user. For some the impact can be tiny, for others huge but in every case, we work through our staff and volunteers to try and achieve the best outcome we can for that person. Alongside kindness, we also try to work to an approach where for everyone, whatever their needs, we can say that in our efforts to help them, whatever was possible has been done.
Our various services continue to work towards helping people to remain living independently at home and actively in their local community, including access to social opportunities and through these the ability to build and benefit from a good peer support network. We also aim to encourage our service users to still do as much for themselves as possible, to help maintain as much independence as possible and a positive feeling of self-worth.
We recognise the importance of trying to be guided by our members in how the charity operates and to reflect their views in both maintaining existing services and in any new services we are able to provide. Our Board of Directors and Trustees includes visually impaired people, as does our employed staff team, and we use regular consultation with our members and volunteers, both formal and informal, to help inform decisions about ongoing and future service provision, as well as our Impact Report.
One of the most pleasing things to reflect on, for several years now, is how our service delivery has grown and the increased numbers of people we now regularly support. In recent years we have been able to increase staffing for our community services by over 20% and this reflects in record numbers of people being helped and supported. Compared to 2018, the annual number of individual interactions with our services users has increased by 150%, which reflects not just how much we have been able to expand our service delivery over recent years, but the level of demand for our support and how hard our service delivery staff are working.
And on that final point, it is pertinent for me to mention in this report that we are probably now at peak capacity, and our challenges for the immediate future most definitely include managing demand on our services, so these aren’t stretched beyond breaking point, with the resulting consequences which none of us would ever want to see.
Which leads me in turn to saying that our ability to deliver our services and all the extremely positive outcomes these achieve is always dependent on maintaining our key resources, the two most important of which are our people and our income.
We continue to be blessed by a wonderful team of volunteers who give so generously of their time to help provide our services and we are so grateful for all they do. Our volunteer numbers grew again during the year – we now have over 400 - and I like to think that our continuing ability to recruit volunteers, and retain many for long periods, reflects a combination of being a local charity, providing a wide range of different volunteering opportunities, the effectiveness of our staff in motivating people to join us and the satisfaction our volunteers gain from what they do. Our volunteers are extremely kind and generous people, giving freely of their time, energy and skills to help others and it remains a source of great pride to us all that we hold The Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service. On behalf of each and every visually impaired person we help, I take this opportunity to publicly thank our volunteers as a whole group and also record how much all of the charity’s staff team enjoy working with you and value your dedication and friendship.
An increasing number of our service users also now formally volunteer within our charity, giving their time and skills to help in a variety of ways. Alongside that formal volunteering a great many others volunteer informally, by giving peer support to others in the visually impaired community. The value of the lived life experience of someone with sight loss, when shared with others experiencing the same disability, should never be understated and it is a resource we need to always make the most and best use of.
I would also like to thank our Board of Directors and Trustees for all they do, individually and as a group, to support Dorset Blind Association. Their support for me personally is always hugely appreciated and I value the trust they place in me. They are critical friends, quite rightly wanting to question and interrogate decisions I take in my day-to-day management of the charity, and to be consulted and fully involved in strategic planning and decision making. Their commitment to the charity should be commended, especially the length of time they individually and collectively have served in this role, reflecting, I think, the personal satisfaction each takes from helping our charity to thrive under their stewardship.
I would also like to recognise and give appreciation for the continuing and extremely kind support we receive from our President, James Weld and our Patrons, Julian and Emma Fellowes and Stephen Frears. Individually and collectively they also provide a range of valuable and vital support for Dorset Blind Association, often in ways which go unseen by the majority. They are all genuinely concerned to see the charity prosper and thrive and are very generous and effective supporters. We are very grateful for their continuing support and I take this opportunity to publicly thank them for that.
Last but certainly not least, when talking of our people assets I must also report another year where our staff have, yet again, individually and collectively delivered far and beyond the call of duty. They are a wonderful asset for our charity, bringing a wide range of skills, knowledge and experience into their various roles, and individually and collectively they make so much of what we do possible. Your charity benefits hugely from how all staff pull together to work as a team, always responding positively and energetically to the challenges we face and I am always enormously grateful for the hard work they all put in and for the support they all give me in my role. Again, on behalf of each and every visually impaired person we help, I take this opportunity to publicly thank them.
Financial performance during 2024/25 was, as I have already mentioned, again strong and we again achieved a record income total. Our expenditure was higher than in the previous year, reflecting services and activities increasing again and the additional costs of our further shops. After all adjustments we ended the year with a surplus of £171,031 and I have already commented earlier in my report on how this will help us in various ways.
A key aspect of our approach to funding Dorset Blind Association has always been to try and generate income from a board platform of sources and never becoming too dependent or over reliant on any one single source, as we consider this best helps to provide stability. Our charity shop project certainly helps with this, both as a diversification from all other sources of income, but also with the number of shops now meaning that we aren’t over reliant on strong performance from just one or two. The growing income from those shops now sits as a significant contributor to our overall financing, alongside the other important areas of members fees and donations, legacy income and grants and funding from the National Lottery and many grant making Trusts and Foundations. We also have a very meaningful contribution each year now from our annual Motor Show, which is then topped up further from a number of community fundraising events throughout the year.
We are always grateful for all the income and other resources which come into the charity, including the many grant making Trusts and Foundations which have given to us. None of this support is ever taken for granted, we always thank all who give to us and we continue to work hard to justify the support and to show to all funders that the resources they kindly give us are well used and to good effect.
I have already commented earlier that last year was, by our historic levels, an exceptional year for legacy receipts. I do not expect future year’s to match this, but I hope that the amounts we have received from this source for the past few years now marks a pattern which will be ongoing. It is, of course, always difficult to reflect that receipts of this nature must mean that someone has sadly died, but the fact that increasing numbers of people are choosing to support Dorset Blind Association in this final way in their Will is, I hope, a positive reflection on the quality and positive impact of our services and support. Continuing to receive legacy income at reasonable levels is critical to ensuring that we can maintain all service provision at the levels now provided.
We also greatly appreciated the support given by the public, most noticeably at our annual Motor Show event held annual at Lulworth Castle, courtesy of our President James Weld. We are extremely grateful to be allowed to use this prestigious venue for the event, which is now firmly established as a marquee event on the Dorset calendar. This year’s show was the biggest and best yet, by every measurement, and through it our charity gains wide and extremely positive exposure and public awareness, as well as raising funds to support our services.
Our immediate future is both exciting and challenging. The financial year 2025/2026 will be much more difficult than the year on which I am reporting, but I am confident that we can navigate this. I expect us to complete our shops project and achieve the desired county wide coverage, and income from our shops and other sources should allow us also to sustain and maintain the level of staffing in our community services and those services generally. Our finances have definitely improved and strengthened significantly in the past few years, which is as a direct result of the performance of the shops, combined with good legacy income and income from other sources. We have strengthened our balance sheet and we enjoy good, strong and regular positive cash flow. All of this took hard work to achieve and will always take hard work to maintain, but I am determined that all we have grown and developed in recent years must be sustainable, for the benefit of our members, and achieving and maintaining sustainability will continue to be my most important personal goal in my role for Dorset Blind Association for as long as I remain in post.
An important part of sustainability is also to look beyond, and plan for, the time when some key members of staff are no longer in post, so in the year ahead I will also be working with the Board on succession planning for those key staff posts.
In conclusion I think we can all look back on the year 2024/2025 as another year which was positive and where we certainly delivered very effectively on our core purpose. As always for Dorset Blind Association this was achieved through a real team effort with a great many people playing their part and contributing. We continued to deliver vitally important and much needed support for our service users throughout Dorset and achieved this alongside another strong financial performance. We ended the year conscious that there will be challenges ahead, but confident that we can meet those challenges and that we can look forward to supporting our community even more.
Jonathan Holyhead
Chief Executive Officer.
Treasurer’s Report 2024/25
I am pleased to report that the Dorset Blind Association has achieved another record year for income, with total income of £1,290,108 compared to last year’s total of £964,511. After all the expenditure and other financial adjustments, the year finished with a very commendable surplus of £171,031, compared to the previous year’s surplus of £32,459.
Any year which ends with a surplus should be acknowledged as good, in financial terms at least, so our financial year 2024/2025 should be seen as that and on that basis alone should be celebrated as positive.
Looking at our main sources of income, legacy receipts this year were £396,930. Legacies remain an important part of our overall funding mix and while this is an area of income that is so unpredictable it is pleasing to see that over time the average yearly total being received is increasing. Recognising the unpredictability of this income source, however, we will always be careful to not become reliant on legacy income, and this is where our shops are becoming increasingly more important.
The shops have performed very well and our further investment in continuing to grow our shops portfolio has paid dividends. They generated income of £712,465, which is an increase of £105,237 or over 17% on the previous year. This is excellent news, and all the staff and volunteers should be thanked for all their hard work, without which I am sure our financial results would not have been so positive.
Our expenditure has increased this year in line with both opening 3 further shops and increasing the staff resource for our service delivery. Expenditure will increase again next year as we plan to open another shop and because of the negative impact of increases in Employer’s National Insurance, alongside another over inflation increases in staff costs and other unavoidable costs we incur in providing our services and operating our shops. That further expenditure, however, is planned for within a budget for 2025/2026 that initially aims to operate to just a very small deficit, which is just a little over 1% of our budgeted income. We feel that to operate in financial year 2025/2026 to that very small deficit would be perfectly acceptable, in light of the operating surpluses made in recent years.
Going forward, I am confident that if we continue to deliver our plans to sustainably expand our shops and maintain and grow our other sources of income, while always controlling our expenditure then our financial position will remain positive.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the staff and the volunteers that support us as without them we wouldn’t be where we are today and alongside that I would also like to say thank all our Trustees who give their expertise in helping the DBA to move forward and last but not least I would like to thank our CEO. Without his commitment and efforts we certainly wouldn’t be in the comparatively strong position we are now.
Heidi Rockett
Hon Treasurer
The results are summarised on page 14. Total income increased from £964,511 in the previous year to £1,290,108. This is mainly due to the increase in legacy receipts and an increase in income generated from the charity shops.
Expenditure has increased from £936,108 in the previous year to £1,117,985. This is mainly due to the opening of more shops and increasing staffing to deliver our charitable activities.
The Trustees are aware that all expenditure must be monitored regularly and they have budgeted for it to increase in the year 2025/2026 as we open another shop and seek to absorb increased employment costs without needing to reduce our service delivery staffing from current levels.
Reserves policy
In determining the Association’s Reserve Policy, the Trustees have taken into account inter alia:-
• the unpredictable nature of income from donations and gifts;
• that it would be very undesirable to have to cut off services on which the visually or hearing impaired rely.
The Trustees have agreed the Association’s Reserve Policy as:-
• a minimum of six months unrestricted operating expenditure;
• commitments such as redundancy or rental charges which would need to be met if the Association ceased to exist.
The policy is consistently reviewed and, if necessary, revised at least annually when the financial statements are approved.
The purpose of the designation for designated funds of the charity is detailed in note 22.
The charity considers free reserves can include designated funds as there is no obligation on the charity to hold these as designated if the need arose to use these. As at 31 March 2025 they were £429,814. This is in line with the £400,000 to meet the operating expenditure required per the policy, the Trustees are comfortable that with the regular positive cash flow from the charity shops they will continue to generate funds to meet this level.
The unrestricted funds of the charity are £769,057. The trustees will continue to monitor the level of reserves.
Investment policy
The trustees acknowledge the role played by investment income as an element of the Association’s overall income needs. They have appointed a firm of stockbrokers, Blue Sky Financial Planners Limited, to manage a portfolio of investments on their behalf. Decisions regarding the purchase or sale of any investment are made only after taking into consideration professional advice obtained from this firm. Investments held comprise a balanced portfolio with a low to medium level of risk. The current portfolio is 60% medium risk and 40% low risk.
As income from investments is not currently needed for meeting running costs the Trustees have instructed Blue Sky Financial Planners Limited to retain dividends and reinvest these, to help further boost the value of the investment portfolio held over time.
Risk management
The Trustees have always reviewed the nature of major risks to which the Charity may be exposed from time to time and as a consequence they have designed and established systems aimed at managing those risks.
Recognising that the situations arising with COVID-19 and cost of living crisis, the potential risks are constantly evolving and changing, risk review is now undertaken on a more frequent basis, almost continuously by the Charity Chief Executive Officer, with further mitigating actions taken on an ongoing basis as felt necessary and the CEO reporting on this to each Trustees meeting.
Plans for the future
The Trustees recognise the need to develop a broad range of sustainable income streams to support the future work of the Association and they are developing plans to work towards this aim.
They are also giving thought to the strategic direction which the work of the Charity should take and the potential value of partnerships and other co-operative working arrangements with other charities to help achieve this.
The charity hope to complete the shop's project in the coming year and achieve the physical presence of the charity in Dorset and provide further bases to support an increase in the delivery of community support services.
The Association is a Charitable Company Limited by Guarantee. Directors are appointed in accordance with the Memorandum and Articles of Association and those Directors are the Trustees of the Charity.
The trustees, who are also the directors for the purpose of company law, and who served during the year were:
They are recruited and trained by a variety of means, including a handbook supplemented by in-house training. Management of the affairs of the Association is vested in the Board of Directors who may appoint such sub-committee and staff as may seem fit. The Management Committee in conjunction with the Chief Executive Officer have delegated authority for the day to day management of the Association and report back to the Board of Directors on a regular basis.
None of the trustees has any beneficial interest in the company. All of the trustees are members of the company and guarantee to contribute such sum (not exceeding £10) as may be demanded in the event of its being wound up while he/she is a member, towards the payment of the debts and liabilities of the charity and towards the costs, charges and expenses of winding up.
In accordance with the company's articles, a resolution proposing that Morris Lane be reappointed as auditor of the company will be put at a General Meeting.
The trustees' report was approved by the Board of Trustees.
The trustees, who are also the directors of Dorset Blind Association 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 charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that year.
In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:
- select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
- observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP;
- make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
- state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and
- prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity 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 charity 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 charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
Opinion
We have audited the financial statements of Dorset Blind Association (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 144 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.
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 corresponding figures (year ended 31 March 2024) in these accounts are unaudited.
This report is made solely 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 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 charity and the charity’s trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.
Morris Lane is eligible for appointment as auditor of the charity by virtue of its eligibility for appointment as auditor of a company under section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006.
Investments
Raising funds
Dorset Blind Association is a charitable company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is 17 Bournemouth Road, Lower Parkstone, Poole, Dorset, BH14 0EF.
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)” (as amended for accounting periods commencing from 1 January 2016). 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, modified to include the revaluation of certain financial instruments at fair value. 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 are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of their charitable objectives.
Designated funds comprise funds which have been set aside at the discretion of the trustees for specific purposes. The purposes and uses of the designated funds are set out in the notes to the financial statements.
Restricted funds are subject to specific conditions by donors or grantors as to how they may be used. The purposes and uses of the restricted funds are set out in the notes to the financial statements.
Cash donations are recognised on receipt. Other donations are recognised once the charity has been notified of the donation, unless performance conditions require deferral of the amount. Income tax recoverable in relation to donations received under Gift Aid or deeds of covenant is recognised at the time of the donation.
Shop income and income derived from events is recognised as earned (that is, as the related goods or services are provided).
Investment income is recognised on a receivable basis.
Income that is derived from the provision of goods and services is stated after trade discounts, other sales taxes and is net of VAT.
Liabilities are recognised as soon as there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the charity to the expenditure. All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all costs related to the category.
Costs of generating funds are the costs associated with attracting voluntary income.
Charitable expenditure comprises those costs incurred by the charity in the delivery of its activities and services for its beneficiaries. It includes both costs that can be attributed directly to such activities and those costs of an indirect nature necessary to support them.
Included within support costs are governance costs including the preparation of the statutory accounts, the costs of trustees' meetings and the cost of any legal advice on governance or constitutional matters.
Irrecoverable VAT is charged against the category of resources expended for which it was incurred.
Tangible fixed assets are initially measured at cost and subsequently measured at cost, 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.
Fixed asset investments are included at market value at the balance sheet date.
Realised gains and losses on investments are calculated as the difference between sales proceeds and their market value at the start of the year, or their subsequent costs, and are charged or credited to the statement of financial activities in the period of disposal.
Unrealised gains and losses represent the movement in market values during the year and are charged or credited to the statement of financial position based on the market value at the year end.
At each reporting end date, the charity reviews the carrying amounts of its tangible assets to determine whether there is any indication that those assets have suffered an impairment loss. If any such indication exists, the recoverable amount of the asset is estimated in order to determine the extent of the impairment loss (if any).
Recoverable amount is the higher of fair value less costs to sell and value in use. In assessing value in use, the estimated future cash flows are discounted to their present value using a pre-tax discount rate that reflects current market assessments of the time value of money and the risks specific to the asset for which the estimates of future cash flows have not been adjusted.
If the recoverable amount of an asset is estimated to be less than its carrying amount, the carrying amount of the asset is reduced to its recoverable amount. An impairment loss is recognised immediately in income/(expenditure for the year, unless the relevant asset is carried at a revalued amount, in which case the impairment loss is treated as a revaluation decrease.
Recognised impairment losses are reversed if, and only if, the reasons for the impairment loss have ceased to apply. Where an impairment loss subsequently reverses, the carrying amount of the asset is increased to the revised estimate of its recoverable amount, but so that the increased carrying amount does not exceed the carrying amount that would have been determined had no impairment loss been recognised for the asset in prior years. A reversal of an impairment loss is recognised immediately, unless the relevant asset is carried in at a revalued amount, in which case the reversal of the impairment loss is treated as a revaluation increase.
Stocks are stated at the lower of cost and estimated selling price less costs to complete and sell. Cost comprises direct materials and, where applicable, direct labour costs and those overheads that have been incurred in bringing the stocks to their present location and condition. Items held for distribution at no or nominal consideration are measured the lower of replacement cost and cost.
Cash and cash equivalents include cash in hand, deposits held at call with banks, other short-term liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less, and bank overdrafts. Bank overdrafts are shown within borrowings in current liabilities.
The 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.
Financial liabilities are derecognised when the charity’s contractual obligations expire or are discharged or cancelled.
The cost of any unused holiday entitlement is recognised in the period in which the employee’s services are received.
Termination benefits are recognised immediately as an expense when the charity is demonstrably committed to terminate the employment of an employee or to provide termination benefits.
Payments to defined contribution retirement benefit schemes are charged as an expense as they fall due.
Leases are classified as finance leases whenever the terms of the lease transfer substantially all the risks and rewards of ownership to the lessees. All other leases are classified as operating leases.
Assets held under finance leases are recognised as assets at the lower of the assets fair value at the date of inception and the present value of the minimum lease payments. The related liability is included in the balance sheet as a finance lease obligation. Lease payments are treated as consisting of capital and interest elements. The interest is charged to net income/(expenditure) for the year so as to produce a constant periodic rate of interest on the remaining balance of the liability.
Rentals payable under operating leases, including any lease incentives received, are charged as an expense on a straight line basis over the term of the relevant lease.
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.
Grants receivable
Transcription income
Included in the shop income are amounts relating to the the sale of new and used equipment specifically designed to aid blind and partially sighted people as per the mission statement of the charity.
Investments
Raising funds
Staff travelling, expenses and training
Rent
Rates
Heat and light
Insurance
Telephone
Social and outings
Home visiting scheme
Dorset link
Bad debts written off
Sight equipment vehicle expenses
Staff time
Support
Rent
Usage
Rates
Usage
Heat and light
Usage
Insurance
Usage
Telephone
Usage
Office costs
Usage
Bank charges
Usage
Independent examiners fees
None of the trustees (or any persons connected with them) received any remuneration or benefits from the charity during the year.
The average monthly number of employees during the year was:
Pension costs are allocated to activities in proportion to the related staffing costs incurred and are wholly charged to unrestricted funds.
The key management personnel of the charity comprise the trustees and the Chief Executive Officer. The total employee benefits of the key management personnel of the charity were £58,938 (2023: £54,718).
The company is a registered charity and is, therefore, exempt from taxation.
Listed investments included above:
The historical cost of the investments is £254,885 (2024: £123,722).
At 31 March 2025 the company annual commitments under non-cancellable operating leases as follows:
The charity operates a defined contribution pension scheme. The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the charity in an independently administered fund. The pension cost charge represents contributions payable by the charity to the fund and amounted to £11,693 (2024: £10,041). These are unrestricted funds and are analysed under charitable activities.
The above amounts are included within current liabilities.
The other deferred income relates to membership income being received in advance.
A grant of £18,000 was received from National Lottery Awards for All, it was funding for community support service staff costs for the accounting year ended 31 March 2026.
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.
Childrens Fund - this fund was transferred to the charity on the closure of another charity and will be spent on activities, equipment and other service support for visually impaired children.
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.
VIP Diary Group - this fund represents monies held on behalf of our North Dorset Club from the sale of their specialist diaries for visually impaired people to be spent as directed by the Club.
Shops Fund - this fund is to enable the opening and development of further shops in areas of Dorset considered to be strategically important. These shops will provide further hubs for Dorset Blind Association in the community and act as access points to our services, as well as generating further income to help fund delivery of those services.
The Charity is currently involved in a legal dispute with a former employee concerning a personal injury claim. The outcome of this matter is uncertain and at present a definitive assessment of the likelihood of a successful outcome or precise amount of any potential liability cannot be established. The charity has an insurance policy in place that may provide reimbursement for some or all of the costs associated with this dispute depending on the outcome.
Amounts contracted for but not provided in the financial statements:
Capital commitments shown above relate to capital improvement works at charity shops that had been agreed at the year end.
During the year the charity there were the following transactions with related parties:
During the year a number of trustees donated goods for the charity to sell in its charity shops and donated services at charity events.
During the year one Trustee incurred travel and general expenses on behalf of the Charity and was reimbursed an amount of £77 (2024: £68).
During the year the charity purchased services totalling £16,676 (2024 : £14,632) from a business that is a related party to the key management. At 31 March 2025 the Charity owed £3,322 in respect of these services (2024 : £nil). The transactions were made on a normal commercial basis.
The charity had no material debt during the year.