REGISTERED COMPANY NUMBER: 04392494 (England and Wales)

REGISTERED CHARITY NUMBER: 1092206

REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES AND

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

FOR

HASTINGS AND BEXHILL MENCAP SOCIETY

Page

Report of the Trustees

1

to

9

Report of the Independent Auditors

10

to

12

Statement of Financial Activities

13

Balance Sheet

14

Cash Flow Statement

15

Notes to the Cash Flow Statement

16

Notes to the Financial Statements

17

to

27

The trustees who are also directors of the charity for the purposes of the Companies Act 2006, present their report with the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 March 2025. The trustees have adopted the provisions of Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019).

OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

Objectives and aims

Purpose and Aims:

The Charity's purpose is set out in the objectives contained in the Memorandum and Articles of Association.

To promote the care, treatment and education of people with learning disabilities, and to secure for people with a learning disability provision commensurate with their needs.

The Charity aims to increase public awareness and understanding of the problems faced by people with learning disabilities, thus creating a climate of opinion that encourages inclusion into the community.

To encourage mutual help, friendship and cooperation between families and carers of people with learning disabilities and also between them and other agencies and individuals who work for and with them.

To become acquainted with all people with a learning disability and their families within the local area.

To provide housing, care and support, training, education, employment, leisure and recreation for people with a learning disability, and to guide and support all those entrusted with the task of making similar provision.

Our aims fully reflect the purposes that the charity was set up to further.

Ensuring our work delivers our aims

We review our work on a constant basis to reflect the ever-changing support needs of the people we provide services for. We work with outside agencies to understand the services needed and thereby funded. We adapt our services and activities for those using our services to meet their individual support needs, goals and aspirations.

The main focus of our work

The Charity maintains three properties: The Frimley Centre (formally known as Frimley), at 64 London Road, St Leonards, this being the headquarters of the Charity and the premises from where our day services, social activities and administration run and operate. Westwood at 55 St Helens Park Road, Hastings, our residential care home. The Charity Shop at 32 Kings Road, St Leonards.

The Charity operates two day services: Open Door and Active Arts, offering a comprehensive range of classes and activities. Both run throughout the year for five days each week, Monday to Friday, from 9.30 am to 3.30 pm.

The Charity's residential care home, Westwood is registered with CQC for nine adults with learning disabilities, and aims to support people to live full and active lives commensurate to their individual needs.

Managerial reports of services are addendum to the report of the Trustees.

The Charity offers social activities to the members to support friendship, leisure activities and provide short respite for families.

The Charity works with others to improve the quality of life and range of opportunities available to its members and service users.

How our activities deliver public benefit

All our charitable activities focus on promoting the care, support and education of people with learning disabilities and their families, and are undertaken to further our charitable purposes for the public benefit.

Who used and benefited from our services

Westwood was fully occupied with nine people in residence.

Open Door day service delivered services to 55 people, with each person attending being between one and five days each week.

Active Arts day service delivered services to 50 people, with each person attending between one and three days each week.

We supported our service users' families through informal advice, signposting to other agencies, day time respite and making connections with other families.

The short and longer term aims and objectives

The short term aim for the Charity was to continue to offer the same level of day service throughout the year, whilst coping with the challenges of delivering those services in community venues due to the overrun of the building work to Frimley. The aim for Westwood was to maintain full occupation, and for the Charity Shop to maintain volunteer staffing levels enabling current opening times to be continued.

The longer-term aim was to complete the Building Frimley's Bigger Future project to a level that enabled the day services and admin team to return to Frimley. The new facilities will offer fully accessible services that will enable us to increase service provision and support the financial security of the Charity. To also deliver social activities that had been mostly put on hold during the building works.

The contribution of volunteers during the year

Volunteers are crucial to the operation of the Charity as all Trustees are volunteers. The Charity Shop operates with a team of volunteer staff, led by a paid manager. Members are encouraged to volunteer within the Charity's activities.

The Trustees express their thanks to the volunteers working in the shop, supporting day services and helping with social events and activities. The Trustees recognise the contribution from the Charity's staff and their families whom offer ad-hoc volunteering time to support fund raising efforts and social events.

The main achievements of the Charity during the year

The year was again challenging due to the overrun of the building project. Time delays caused by building staff shortages, delays in obtaining materials and bad weather kept pushing back the completion date. However, the staff and service users continued to show endless patience and understanding while work continued. Regular newsletters and information kept them and their families fully informed of progress. The day service staff provided a high level of service during the year, and continued to receive referrals as well as identifying new ideas for service delivery. The Trustees applaud those staff who worked tirelessly to ensure the members were offered a first-class service despite the challenges they faced. We were pleased to be able to move our admin team back to Frimley in January 2025. More importantly we announced the day service return to Frimley for 31st March, and although the new patio and steps were still under construction, we were able to fully open Active Arts and Open Door at Frimley on that day. The Charity is now in a position to offer services to anyone with a learning disability regardless of any physical challenges they have, and are delighted with the positive feedback from our service users and their families.

Fundraising activities during the year

The charity shop continues to be the main fundraising stream for the Charity grossing an income of £59,842. With Frimley remaining unusable for the whole year, inhouse fundraising efforts were again on hold.

The senior team concentrated their efforts on obtaining grants and donations to support the building project. With the funding applications made by our professional fundraisers becoming less successful as the year progressed, the Trustees made the decision to terminate the contract with them early. The Trustees are grateful to the donors, grant makers and families donating in memory of loved ones, all of whom made a significant and welcome contribution to the success of the project.

Where relevant to our fundraising activities we comply with 162A of the Charities Act 2011 as introduced by the Charities (Protection and Social Investment) Act 2016. This relates to fundraising activities and people carrying out fundraising activities on behalf of a charity and requires disclosures about vulnerable people, fundraising contracts and arrangements.

There are no specific items requiring disclosure in this context.

Principal funding sources

Aside from the fundraising as noted above. Our principal funders are the local authorities who contract services from us and other providers or service users who pay directly to attend day services or live at Westwood. During the year we were grateful for the grants received towards the building project from Garfield Weston (£100,000), The Lawson Trust (£10,000), The Green Hall Foundation (£4,000), Bernard Sunley Foundation (£15,000), Gardening with Disabilities Trust (£1,500) and The Screwfix Foundation (£5,000). A further grant of £19,762 was received from Awards4All being restricted funds for the proposed Community Café starting in the summer of 2025. The Trustees carefully considered the potential risk of the building project being stalled due to lack of funds. This would have further delayed the return of services and generation of funds though operation. An application was made to the Charities Aid Foundation Bank, securing a loan of £350,000 over a 25-year term. this enabled works to continue, preventing further delay of day service delivery from Frimley.

Investment Policy

Aside from retaining a prudent amount in reserves each year most of the charity's funds are to be spent in the short term so there are few funds for long term investment. The Trustees will revisit options annually with consideration given to the level of reserves held, plans for the Charity in the longer term, and options for investments available at the time.

Reserves Policy

The Charity aims to hold reserves of between 3 and 6 months expenditure. The Trustees are satisfied that the current level of reserves are sufficient to continue services should there be an unexpected or significant drop in funding. The Trustees have taken into consideration that some reserves held are the designated funds required to continue work on the building project, due for completion in the summer of 2025. This with the exception of identified works that can be held off whilst seeking further funding. The strategy is to build reserves through planned operating surpluses, and the Trustees are confident that the increase in capacity created by the building works will support the level of reserves that the Charity may rely on in the future.

Future Plans

The Trustees are working with the management team to ensure day services can effectively return to the refurbished Frimley Centre at the start of the financial year, with plans to begin the move back for day services the week beginning 31st March 2025. During the coming months, day services will be reviewed and developed as our service users settle into the new facilities, with the vision to create further classes and activities to meet the service users goals and aspirations.

Plans are in place to open a Community Café on a Saturday. The café is part funded by a grant of £19,762 from Awards4All that will cover the cost of the staff for one year together with some set up and utilities costs. This facility will provide a warm space for our members and their families, offering low cost food and drinks. There are plans to invite outside organisations to offer occasional pop-up advice or information days during café opening. The café will also provide training facilities to those day service users who show an interest in learning all aspects of café delivery.

The new performing arts studio and spaces within the Frimley building will be hired out to outside organisations when our own services are not using them to provide an extra income stream for the Charity. The Trustees are pleased to welcome back Hastings Gateway Club as one of the hirers.

Westwood: There are plans to decorate the exterior of the building, with this work scheduled to begin in April 2025. It is evident that some repair will also be required to the render and facias, this will be carried out during redecoration. Work to repair plaster-work in the main interior hallway and staircase is also scheduled for later in the year.

Charity Shop: The Trustees will continue to explore the options for a second charity shop.

Social Activities: The Trustees are keen to reinstate social activities at Frimley. This will be dependent on volunteer levels, and the Trustees are mindful of the need to work to increase the numbers of volunteers that significantly reduced during the pandemic.

Governing Document: The Trustees intend to engage the membership regarding plans to update and modernise the Charity's articles of Association, with a view to the resolution being taken to membership for formal acceptance at the 2025 annual general meeting.

Risk Management

The Trustees have conducted a review of the major risks to which the charity is exposed. Systems and procedures, where appropriate, have been established to mitigate the risks the Charity faces. The Trustees recognise the challenges faced by any cuts to local authorities' budgets from central government and work with the C.E.O. to ensure good communication is maintained with key personnel from those authorities to identify risk. Maintaining a high level of day service user numbers together with full occupancy at Westwood is key to mitigating risk. The Trustees and senior staff use every opportunity to explore all possible funding streams. The Charity maintains a high quality of service delivery that supports the financial viability of the Charity, which significantly reduces the need for any reliance on grants and fundraising. Procedures are in place to ensure good financial controls that together with careful budgeting support financial security. These procedures are reviewed annually to ensure they continue to meet the needs of the Charity.

Trustee Recruitment and Appointment

The directors of the Company are also the Charity Trustees for the purposes of charity law and under the company's articles of association are know as members of the Executive Committee. Under the requirements of the memorandum and articles of association, the members of the Executive Committee shall retire from office at the end of each AGM but may be re-elected.

Trustee Induction and Training

Most trustees are already familiar with the practical work of the charity having had life experience, or other insight into the charity's work through family connections or volunteering.

New Trustees are required to complete the Charity's Trustee application process, that generally includes:

A satisfactory completion of an enhanced Disclosure and Barring check.

A meeting with a Trustee or C.E.O. who will explain all aspects of the Charity's work and the organisational structure Issuing them with the policies and procedures relevant to their role and make them aware of the location of all of the Charity's policies and procedures.

Given an oversight of the current financial situation of the Charity and any current challenges and future plans.

Signposting to any documents published by the Charity Commission regarding current trustee responsibilities and the guide "the Essential Trustee".

To be issued with the Charity's Memorandum and Articles of Association.

Open Door Day Service, manager's report for the year.

Open Door is a day service offering opportunities towards independence and wellbeing for up to 30 people each day. Funded by service user fees through local authority contracts or people paying privately to attend.

Open Door started the year working out of 2 different Community venues, and thankfully we were able to secure these bookings until our eventual return to Frimley in April 2025.

As our return to Frimley was unavoidably delayed we continued to follow our busy and varied timetable of activities including Sports., I.T, Life skills and Film Making together with Craft, Rambling, Cookery, African Drumming and Drummercise to name a few.

We held many discussions with Service Users gaining their thoughts on activities, any changes or improvements they felt would be helpful and to ensure that they understood that they were part of the future of Frimley from the planning for the return stage through to the provision of a service that could meet their individual needs. With this is mind we were able to develop a few new activities and introduce some small changes to routines as the year went on.

Despite the uncertainty of when we would be able to return to Frimley we continued to have new Service users access our service and we were working at maximum capacity most of the time. This was in part due to the space available for the different sessions.

Everyone was eager to hold some special events in December and due to the limited space available we held some small entertainment afternoons for their friends to see the work that some of our performing groups had produced. Other groups chose to have their own in-house or in-session celebrations and showcases. We held a fund faising event at Horntye Sport Club and this was both popular and successful, the profit from the evening funded some special festive activities, a present for each service user and a disco party on our last day before the Christmas closure.

Our Musical Makaton group performed in the launch event on Carnival Day.

The African Drummers took part in the St Leonards Festival.

We were once again asked to perform in the Active Art's show and this was a first for some. As usual the show was a great success and provided a wonderful experience for our Service Users and a very appreciative audience.

We supported a small group to participate in the Lifesize and Identity Choir project over 3 days at the Stables theatre, culminating in an afternoon show where friends and family could see what they had achieved.

Two of our Service Users were invited to access the Rye Nature Reserve and Discovery Centre in an advisory capacity to help the RHNR ensure that the facilities and improvements they had made were both user friendly and appropriate to the needs of those with a disability. They were able to give one or two suggestions that were implemented to good effect.

It has been a very busy year and it was great to finally have a return date and be able to welcome our Service Users through the doors on the 31st March! It had been a long wait but we now have a building that is both fit for purpose and that will see the Society safely into the future.

We were all looking forward to being back under one roof and to be able to work more closely with other departments, collaborating to make the Frimley Day Services and the Society an even better place for our service users.

Active Arts Day Service, manager's report for the year.

Active Arts is a visual and performing arts orientated community-based project, running five days a week throughout each academic year.

The project is funded by student fees together with some subsidy from the Society towards the cost of one of the community venues. Due to building works at Frimley our shared office and use of the hall have halted on a temporary basis.

2024/25 saw a return to full classes all still taking place in community venues.

Active Arts were very happy to perform at the De La Warr Pavilion in 2024. With Active Arts and Friends - Let's Do It! It was another great success and an opportunity to work with Mat Ricardo as compere for the evening. We welcomed great feedback from the theatre, our students, their families and supporters. The show was a great success. We were able to increase the number of groups in dressing rooms back stage creating a fun environment for the students whilst also providing well needed space. Everyone worked together for a successful night.

In collaboration with the local festival Town Explores a Book, Active Arts became festival partners and lead artists for The Railway Children by Edith Nesbit. We were able to achieve this by creating a beautiful colourful window display at our Charity shop in Kings Road and provided a spectacular interactive exhibition at Explore The Arch in St Leonards.

Our 1:1 outreach session continued in person, with great success. We also worked in collaboration with Inside Out Theatre Company and 18 Hours Events to produce a piece of street theatre for Sidley Festival and with Inside Out to create theatre workshops at Roebuck towards the Active Arts show.

We continued to use practicing artists and performers to tutor our students as they bring a wealth of knowledge and experience to the classes. Standards are raised, as students are encouraged to work to the best of their ability to enable them to become recognized as artists and performers in their own right.

We continued our Making for the Stage class at Archer Lodge, home of Explore the Arch Theatre Company who generously continued the offer of free art space, whilst building work takes place at Frimley. The students and staff team work well and find it a creative and calm environment to work. Students are very excited at the prospect of returning to Frimley.

The Active Arts office is still run outside of Frimley. This is working very well and has continuously made a positive year for the project. We are looking forward to the office returning to Frimley.

The Dance class continues at Christchurch Hall. The students have settled well into the sessions and we have had a few new students join. Our support team stays the same for this class. We have been looking at how we can develop this class further when returning to Frimley.

The Art & Design students have chosen to continue to work with one of the tutors who is developing each student's individual artistic talent. Our support team stays the same for this class.

The Comedy & Drama class worked closely with their tutor to continue developing sketches in preparation for a performance. The class has returned to the White Rock Theatre which has been very positive.

The Musical Theatre students have also returned to the White Rock Theatre. This class proves to be the most popular in our prospectus and the group have continued to improve under the tuition of their new tutor.

We continue to explore ways of taking the project forward to continue to provide exciting and varied opportunities for our students within both visual and performing arts.

Westwood Residential Care Home, manager's report for the year.

Westwood is Hastings & Bexhill Mencap's registered care home for nine adults with learning disabilities.

The manager and staff at Westwood aim to provide a safe homely environment where all our residents are supported to lead full and active lives as independently as possible.

We aim to run a home that is well maintained, offers our residents a place to live where they are empowered to have a real say in how their home is run, decorated, furnished and has a staff team that they have an active role in choosing and employing.

At the start of March 2025 work had begun to redecorate the outside of Westwood. Our residents chose the colour and were pleased to be working with the team of decorators well known to them.

During the year we had also had some work completed on the floor to the hallway, and re-carpeted the hallway, stairs and landings.

Our own staff worked with residents whom had shown an interest, to work to keep the garden tidy, plant the raised beds and paint the fencing.

We were delighted after having supported a resident to move onto independent living, to welcome a new resident to Westwood. This meant that with only a very short break, we were fully occupied throughout the year.

Our residents enjoyed a busy year making the most of the local amenities and community events. These included trips to the local theatres, carol concerts, cinema, bowling, park and beach as well as many fun games of crazy golf. For some, trips a little further afield were enjoyed with overnight stays in Brighton enabling visits to the Sea Life Centre and the shops.

Holidays to Centre Parcs was a great success as were day trips to Chessington World of Adventures.

Resident's wishing a quieter life continued to make the most of activities within the home coupled with outings to local cafes and shops.

Our residents all take a part in running the house, sharing household chores and cooking meals. All our residents are supported to do their own laundry, room cleans and personal shopping. Four of our residents attend Open Door and Active Arts, another accesses other local day services. ensuring everyone has a varied timetable of activities.

In September we worked in partnership with NAPA to celebrate National Arts in Care Homes Day. We used the opportunity to showcase our new visual arts studio, converted from the old garage in the garden at Westwood. Together with staff from our day services we offered various workshops throughout the day, and thoroughly enjoyed welcoming guests to join in with coffee and cake made by our residents.

We all excitedly anticipated the opening of the Frimley Centre and were delighted to support four of our residents to return to their day services there on 31st March. We are all looking forward to the promised return of social events to Frimley, especially the long awaited for open days, and wish our colleagues well with their plans for those, together with the new community café and the exciting future for the day services. We know our residents will eagerly take part in all that's on offer.

STRATEGIC REPORT

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

Governing document

The charity is controlled by its governing document, a deed of trust, and constitutes a limited company, limited by guarantee, as defined by the Companies Act 2006.

REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS

Registered Company number

04392494 (England and Wales)

Registered Charity number

1092206

Registered office

20 Havelock Road

Hastings

East Sussex

TN34 1BP

Trustees

W Bristow Academic Support Worker

M Cheale Carer (resigned 8.11.24)

J Dauti Carer

J Fletcher Retired

G Jeffries Retired

M Johnson Retired

R Nisbet Retired (resigned 30.4.24)

R Farr (appointed 30.4.24)

R M Buttrey (appointed 30.4.24)

Auditors

Ashdown Hurrey Auditors Limited

Statutory Auditor

20 Havelock Road

Hastings

East Sussex

TN34 1BP

Solicitors

Heringtons, Langham House, 5-6 Albert Road, Hastings TN34 1QT

Bankers

Lloyds Bank, 17 Wellington Square, Hastings TN34 1NX

The principal operating address, telephone number, email and web address of this this charity are:

The Frimley Centre

64 London Road

St Leonards on sea

E Sussex

TN37 6AS

Telephone: 01424 424813

Email: hello@hastings-bexhill-mencap.org

Website: www.hastings-bexhill-mencap.org

EVENTS SINCE THE END OF THE YEAR

Information relating to events since the end of the year is given in the notes to the financial statements.

STATEMENT OF TRUSTEES' RESPONSIBILITIES

The trustees (who are also the directors of Hastings And Bexhill Mencap Society for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the Report of the Trustees and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice) including Financial Reporting Standard 102 "The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland".

Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under that law, the trustees have elected to prepare the financial statements in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (United Kingdom Accounting Standards and applicable law).

Under company law the trustees must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that period. In preparing those financial statements, the trustees are required to

-	select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;

-	observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP;

-	make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;

-	state whether applicable accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements;

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

The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and to enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

In so far as the trustees are aware:

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

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

AUDITORS

The auditors, Ashdown Hurrey Auditors Limited, will be proposed for re-appointment at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting.

Report of the trustees, incorporating a strategic report, approved by order of the board of trustees, as the company directors, on 3 December 2025 and signed on the board's behalf by:

G Jeffries - Trustee

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Hastings And Bexhill Mencap Society (the 'charitable company') for the year ended 31 March 2025 which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities, the Balance Sheet, the Cash Flow Statement and notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice), including Financial Reporting Standard 102 'The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland'.

In our opinion the financial statements:

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

-	have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 'The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland'; and

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

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditors' responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charitable company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC's Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Conclusions relating to going concern

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees' use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charitable company's ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

Other information

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

Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

In connection with our audit of the financial statements, our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact. We have nothing to report in this regard.

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit:

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

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

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

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

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters where the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

-	adequate accounting records have not been kept or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or

-	the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or

-	certain disclosures of trustees' remuneration specified by law are not made; or

-	we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the Statement of Trustees' Responsibilities, the trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the charitable company's ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue a Report of the Independent Auditors that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

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

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud.

During the planning stage of this audit we considered the likelihood of irregularities around laws and regulations relevant to the charity, including enquiry of management and those charged with governance. These were also discussed during the audit planning meeting held by the team. We reviewed the charity's systems and controls in place, and formed an assessment as to their operational effectiveness.

We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory frameworks that are applicable to the entity and determined that the most significant are those that relate to:

-The financial reporting standard; FRS102

- Charities Act

- Care Quality Commission

-Health and safety

-Employment Law

Based on the results of our risk assessment we designed our audit procedures to identify non-compliance with such laws and regulations identified above.

During the course of this audit the team discussed this area with senior members of the charity's staff and also carried out a review of legal expenses for evidence of any issues.

We considered the risk of fraud through management override and, in response, we incorporated testing of manual journal entries into our audit approach.

We are therefore of the opinion that given the risk level identified, our procedures planned and undertaken, are adequate for detecting irregularities.

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

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charitable company's members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company's members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditors' report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charitable company and the charitable company's members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

S M Rosling FCCA (Senior Statutory Auditor)

for and on behalf of Ashdown Hurrey Auditors Limited

Statutory Auditor

20 Havelock Road

Hastings

East Sussex

TN34 1BP

8 December 2025

31.3.25

31.3.24

Unrestricted

Restricted

Endowment

Total

Total

funds

funds

fund

funds

funds

Notes

£

£

£

£

£

INCOME AND ENDOWMENTS

FROM

Donations and legacies

2

182,267

-

-

182,267

107,347

Charitable activities

5

Charitable activities

1,431,312

-

-

1,431,312

1,355,037

Other trading activities

3

71,511

-

-

71,511

73,644

Investment income

4

3,792

-

-

3,792

7,695

Total

1,688,882

-

-

1,688,882

1,543,723

EXPENDITURE ON

Raising funds

6

56,723

-

-

56,723

57,066

Charitable trading

7

Charitable activities

1,360,194

-

-

1,360,194

1,187,101

Other

5,000

-

-

5,000

5,300

Total

1,421,917

-

-

1,421,917

1,249,467

Net gains on investments

-

-

7,545

7,545

2,052

NET INCOME

266,965

-

7,545

274,510

296,308

RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS

Total funds brought forward

1,870,717

-

18,322

1,889,039

1,592,731

TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD

2,137,682

-

25,867

2,163,549

1,889,039

31.3.25

31.3.24

Unrestricted

Restricted

Endowment

Total

Total

funds

funds

fund

funds

funds

Notes

£

£

£

£

£

FIXED ASSETS

Tangible assets

13

2,078,722

-

-

2,078,722

1,069,878

Investments

14

-

-

25,867

25,867

18,322

2,078,722

-

25,867

2,104,589

1,088,200

CURRENT ASSETS

Debtors

15

93,808

-

-

93,808

62,493

Cash at bank and in hand

349,603

-

-

349,603

831,429

443,411

-

-

443,411

893,922

CREDITORS

Amounts falling due within one year

16

(41,432

)

-

-

(41,432

)

(93,083

)

NET CURRENT ASSETS

401,979

-

-

401,979

800,839

TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT LIABILITIES

2,480,701

-

25,867

2,506,568

1,889,039

CREDITORS

Amounts falling due after more than one year

17

(343,019

)

-

-

(343,019

)

-

NET ASSETS

2,137,682

-

25,867

2,163,549

1,889,039

FUNDS

21

Unrestricted funds

2,137,682

1,870,717

Endowment funds

25,867

18,322

TOTAL FUNDS

2,163,549

1,889,039

The financial statements were approved by the Board of Trustees and authorised for issue on 3 December 2025 and were signed on its behalf by:

G Jeffries - Trustee

R M Buttrey - Trustee

Cash flows from operating activities

Cash generated from operations

1

229,322

413,862

Net cash provided by operating activities

229,322

413,862

Cash flows from investing activities

Purchase of tangible fixed assets

(1,062,876

)

(583,841

)

Interest received

1,880

6,440

Dividends received

1,912

1,255

Net cash used in investing activities

(1,059,084

)

(576,146

)

Cash flows from financing activities

New loans in year

347,936

-

Net cash provided by financing activities

347,936

-

Change in cash and cash equivalents in the reporting period

(481,826

)

(162,284

)

Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the reporting period

831,429

993,713

Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the reporting period

349,603

831,429

1.	RECONCILIATION OF NET INCOME TO NET CASH FLOW FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES

31.3.25

31.3.24

£

£

Net income for the reporting period (as per the Statement of Financial Activities)

274,510

296,308

Adjustments for:

Depreciation charges

54,032

24,303

Gain on investments

(7,545

)

(2,052

)

Interest received

(1,880

)

(6,440

)

Dividends received

(1,912

)

(1,255

)

(Increase)/decrease in debtors

(31,315

)

42,683

(Decrease)/increase in creditors

(56,568

)

60,315

Net cash provided by operations

229,322

413,862

2.	ANALYSIS OF CHANGES IN NET FUNDS

At 1.4.24

Cash flow

At 31.3.25

£

£

£

Net cash

Cash at bank and in hand

831,429

(481,826

)

349,603

831,429

(481,826

)

349,603

Debt

Debts falling due within 1 year

-

(4,917

)

(4,917

)

Debts falling due after 1 year

-

(343,019

)

(343,019

)

-

(347,936

)

(347,936

)

Total

831,429

(829,762

)

1,667

1.	ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Basis of preparing the financial statements

The financial statements of the charitable company, which is a public benefit entity under FRS 102, have been prepared in accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102) '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)', Financial Reporting Standard 102 'The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland' and the Companies Act 2006. The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention, with the exception of investments which are included at market value, as modified by the revaluation of certain assets.

The directors have made an assessment about the company's ability to continue as a going concern and they do not consider there to be any material uncertainties. As a result they have adopted the going concern basis of accounting.

Income

Income is recognised in the Statement of Financial Activities (SoFA) when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions have been met, it is probable the income will be received, and the amount can be measured reliably. Income is measured at the fair value of the consideration received or receivable.

Donations and Legacies

Unconditional donations are recognised as income when entitlement arises, receipt is probable, and the amount can be reliably measured. Entitlement typically occurs upon receipt unless there are significant conditions.

Grants Receivable

Unconditional grants are recognised as income when the charity is legally entitled, receipt is probable, and the amount is reliably measurable. For grants with performance conditions that must be met for entitlement, income is deferred as a liability until the conditions are satisfied. Income is then recognised in the SoFA as the conditions are met, usually aligning with related expenditure.

Income from Charitable Activities

Income from providing goods or services under contract is recognised as they are provided, measured at the fair value of the right to consideration.

Investment Income

Dividends and interest are recognised as income when entitlement is established.

Expenditure

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.

Tangible fixed assets

Depreciation is provided at the following annual rates in order to write off each asset over its estimated useful life.

Freehold property

-

2% on cost

Plant and machinery

-

25% on reducing balance

Fixtures and fittings

-

25% on reducing balance

Motor vehicles

-

25% on reducing balance

Computer equipment

-

33% on cost

Taxation

The charity is exempt from corporation tax on its charitable activities.

Fund accounting

Unrestricted funds can be used in accordance with the charitable objectives at the discretion of the trustees.

Restricted funds can only be used for particular restricted purposes within the objects of the charity. Restrictions arise when specified by the donor or when funds are raised for particular restricted purposes.

Further explanation of the nature and purpose of each fund is included in the notes to the financial statements.

Pension costs and other post-retirement benefits

The charitable company operates a defined contribution pension scheme. Contributions payable to the charitable company's pension scheme are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities in the period to which they relate.

2.	DONATIONS AND LEGACIES

31.3.25

31.3.24

£

£

Donations and gifts from individuals

4,959

50,053

Legacies

15,046

8,640

Grants and donations from non public bodies

162,262

48,654

182,267

107,347

Grants received, included in the above, are as follows:

31.3.25

31.3.24

£

£

Grant

162,262

48,654

3.	OTHER TRADING ACTIVITIES

31.3.25

31.3.24

£

£

Fundraising events

3,164

1,788

Sale of donated goods

59,842

64,046

Enterprise/ project work

8,505

7,810

71,511

73,644

4.	INVESTMENT INCOME

31.3.25

31.3.24

£

£

Dividend income

1,912

1,255

Bank interest received

1,880

6,440

3,792

7,695