The Trustees (who are also directors for the purposes of the Companies Act) present their annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2026.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Charity's Memorandum and Articles of Association, the Companies Act 2006, and the Charities SORP ''Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practise applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and the Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)'' (effective 1 January 2019).
The principal objectives and activities of the Charity in the year under review are as stated in its Memorandum of Association, in accordance with Charity Commission Guidance and are as follows -
The Charity is established for the public benefit for the following objects:-
(1) The relief and care of elderly persons of all classes suffering from the disabilities of old age or otherwise in need.
(2) The spreading of Christian principles to all human relationships and the application of humanitarian aims to promote the relief of the elderly.
(3) To provide further education in the sphere of voluntary work, social work and similar activities so as to inculcate the principles of good citizenship.
(4) Such other purposes recognised by English law as charitable as the Charity shall determine from time to time.
Significant activities and public benefit
Avocet Care & Support Ltd is aware of and takes note of the Charity Commission's requirements regarding its charitable purpose and its benefit to the public.
The Charity maintains safe and affordable accommodation for elderly and frail elderly people who may also appreciate the companionship of other Residents and caring staff. The Charity has two Sheltered Houses offering a total of 21 rooms, and a Registered Residential Care Home (St. Georges House) providing 24-hour care and support for up to 25 residents.
The Charity's main source of income comes from the charges it makes to Residents for their accommodation and services. Residents mainly fully fund themselves but there is provision available for residents to be assisted by Housing Benefits or Social Care contracts.
The strategy to meet the Charity's charitable purposes is defined and reviewed by its Trustees and senior staff, with input from other staff and residents themselves. It is a well-established fact that loneliness is of great concern to many elderly people and the Charity does all that it can to help alleviate this worry. All aspects of Health and Safety and the provision of good accommodation are adhered to and the Charity's presence and services are advertised to the local community. Prospective Residents are invited to view the Charity's accommodation and are provided with an appropriate range of advice and documentation. In particular the availability of trained and experienced staff and Careline facilities are highlighted. The Charity has links with the Local Authority and other organisations and groups. The Charity does not undertake direct fundraising.
Charitable activities
The Board of Trustees strive to achieve value for money in how it deals with income to ensure that the welfare of its Residents is always top priority. The Charity's aims are to help alleviate loneliness, nurture community engagement with other providers and provide good quality employment for its staff.
Our Head Office moved away from its Central Southend location into a more cost effective property based in Rochford. This move made cost efficiency savings for the charity allowing more of our funds to be ploughed back into the services and the people who use them.
St. Georges, building work began to convert our unused staff sleeping flat into a new bedroom for a resident. This will increase our useable rooms to 26, which the home is registered for with CQC. Also, at this time we began changing the house into a more dementia friendly environment. This included redecoration of the lounge and corridors as well as purchasing new arm chairs in the lounge areas. Other work, including a new conservatory, installation of a mural in the dining area and more Dementia friendly signage to aid orientation for our residents. Works will continue as the year progresses to continue to enhance the environment for our residents.
Unfortunately St. Margarets House sheltered housing service continued to see a down turn in residents through the year. Despite continued marketing, and several open days, we were unable to increase numbers. The feedback is that this kind of service is no longer desirable as people will either want independent living with the security of a careline system or residential care. Our sheltered services sit in between both of these models. The board decided that the time had come to consult with the residents and gain their agreement to close St. Margarets and move the three remaining residents to Frank Phillips House. The move was made in December and all three residents have settled very well into their new home. St. Margarets was advertised for sale in January 2026. The house attracted a lot of interest and a sale is currently progressing.
Frank Phillips House moved from 70% to 100% occupancy at the end of the year the year and whilst this is the same sheltered model as St Margaret’s the property is more desirable due to layout and accessibility. We continue to receive enquiries from prospective residents for the house and currently have a waiting list in place.
Fire safety continued to be a priority in the year with fire doors being replaced throughout our sheltered housing services, loft hatches being replaced with fire retardant materials and compartmentation surveys being undertaken to ensure both our houses comply with The Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005
St Georges House continued to hold stability in resident numbers. The Registered Manager resigned from her position in April 2025 and the recruitment process began to find a replacement. In the interim the service was supported by the CEO and Support Manager of the Charity. The position of Registered Manager was permanently filled by the Support Manager in June 2025, is has proved to be a very successful move.
It has been a very busy year for the Charity and for meeting it’s aims of providing comfort and good quality care for our residents at all times.
The results for the 2025/26 year and financial position of the company are as shown in the annexed financial statements. The deficit made in the year was £70,291 (2025 - a deficit of £24,747), and reserves at the year end were £3,877,238 (2025 - £3,947,529).
It is the aim of the Charity to ensure that it has sufficient reserves to:
(a) Provide funds to enable the Charity to continue its activities in the short term absence of a source of income.
(b) Allow the Charity to continue to develop other services it is able to offer to Residents.
(c) Allow the Charity to pursue long term capital projects to meet the needs of both resent and future Residents.
In order to meet these requirements the Charity aims to allow Unrestricted Reserves to grow by 5% to 15% of turnover per annum..
For the year under review the Charity has not met this objective. The Trustees will continue to monitor and assess the Charity's financial situation.
Value for Money
The Regulator of Social Housing brought in new Value for Money metrics in 2018 that requires all its social housing members to consider and report on at the end of the year.
The Trustees have considered the 7 metric tests -
Metric 1 - Re-investment % - There has been no property development in the year with expenditure focused on maintaining assets. The reinvestment metric is therefore 0% (2025: 0%).
Metric 2a - New Supply (Social Housing Units) % and Metric 2b - New Supply (Non-Social Housing Units) % - There have been no new units created, this metric is therefore 0% for both (2025: 0%).
Metric 3 - Gearing % - As the charity does not have any loans this metric does not apply.
Metric 4 - EBITDA MRI Interest Cover % - As mentioned in metric 3 above the charity does not have any debt and therefore this metric does not apply.
Metric 5 - Headline Social Housing Cost - Based on total charitable activity costs together with support costs less depreciation, and capitalised major repairs; divided by room rather than house. This cost is £52,370 (2025: £42,679) per room/unit.
Metric 6a - Operating Margin (social housing lettings) % and Metric 6b Operating Margin (overall) % - In 2026 an operating deficit was made, lettings and overall being the same figures this year, therefore this metric is -4% (2025: -14%).
Metric 7 - Return on Capital Employed % Current year deficit resulted in -2% (2025: -6% operating deficit).
The Charity complies with the Governance and Financial Visibility Standard issued by the Homes and Communities Agency insofar as it applies to organisations of the size of this one.
Our focus for the coming year will be to further develop the remaining two properties held by the Charity. Some of the proceeds of the sale of St Margarets will be earmarked to further develop the Dementia friendly environment at St Georges House and update the interior of Frank Phillips House, to continue to provide a comfortable, safe and homely environment for our residents. It was decided to set void's once again at 20% and rent increases by 7%. The rent increase took into account the continued inflationary pressures and associated costs.
Governing document
Avocet Care & Support Ltd is a registered company in England (No. 00956345), limited by guarantee without share capital and governed by its Memorandum and Articles of Association dated 17/06/1969, and as amended by special resolutions dated 26/3/98, 14/08/01, 31/10/01 and 02/04/04.
The Charity is registered as a charity with the Charity Commission (No. 260015) and also registered with the Regulator of Social Housing as a Social Landlord (No. HO833).
The Charity was an affiliated member of The Abbeyfield Charity until 26 March 2024.
Recruitment, appointment and training of new trustees
The Charity took on a new Trustee in November 2023 and is currently still looking to recruit new Trustees. Despite efforts being made few people come forward and the charity continues to have vacancies.
Organisational structure
The Executive Committee meets on a regular basis and are available should a meeting be necessary for any urgent matters. The C.E.O attends these meetings.
The Executive Committee is supported by senior staff employed by the Charity; the Support Manager, Operations Manager and the Manager of St. Georges House. Although they do not attend executive meetings, they are available should the need arise. Each aspect of the Charity's business is regularly reviewed and any changes in policy are fully debated and agreed. The Trustees assist with many matters including monitoring of budget expenditure as well as development of policy and procedure. The Charity employs up to 45 staff which provide management/administrative support, Sheltered House services (including out-of-hours Careline response), personal care services, cleaning and maintenance.
The trustees (who are also directors of Avocet Care & Support Ltd 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 Account Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that period. In preparing those financial statements, the trustees are required to
- select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
- observe the methods and principles in the Charity SORP;
- make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
- prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charitable company will continue in business.
The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time at 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.
In accordance with the company's articles, a resolution proposing that Rickard Luckin Limited be reappointed as auditor of the company will be put at a General Meeting.
The trustees' report was approved by the Board of Trustees.
Opinion
We have audited the financial statements of Avocet Care & Support Ltd (the ‘charity’) for the year ended 31 March 2026 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, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the course of the audit, or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.
We have nothing to report in this regard.
Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006
In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of our audit:
the information given in the trustees' report for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared, which includes the directors' report prepared for the purposes of company law, is consistent with the financial statements; and
the directors' report included within the trustees' report has been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.
In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the charity and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the directors' report included within the trustees' report.
We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 and Charities Act 2011 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.
In addition, we have nothing to report in respect of the following matter where the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:
a satisfactory system of control over transactions has not been maintained.
The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud, is detailed below.
Capability of the audit in detecting irregularity, including fraud
We identified areas of law and regulations that could reasonably be expected to have a material effect on the financial statements from our: general commercial and sector experience; through verbal and written communications with those charged with governance and other management; through communications with legal counsel, and via inspection of the charitable company's regulatory and legal correspondence.
We discussed with those charged with governance and other management the policies and procedures regarding compliance with laws and regulations.
We communicated identified laws and regulations to our team and remained alert to any indicators of non-compliance throughout the audit, we also specifically considered where and how fraud may occur within the charitable company.
The potential effect of these laws and regulations on the financial statements varies considerably.
Firstly, the charitable company is subject to laws and regulations that directly affect the financial statements, including: the charitable company's constitution; relevant financial reporting standards; company law; the Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with FRS 102 (effective from 1 January 2019); and we assess the extent of compliance with these laws and regulations as part or our procedures on the related financial statement items.
Secondly the charitable company is subject to many other laws and regulations where the consequences of non-compliance could have a material effect on the amounts or disclosures in the financial statements, for instance through the imposition of fines and penalties, or through losses arising from litigations. We identified the following areas as those most likely to have such an affect: legislation directly applicable to the charity sector such as the Charities Act 2011 and the regulatory requirements of the Charity Commission; operating licences regarding care; employment legislation; health and safety legislation; Social Housing regulations; tax legislation particularly in relation to gift aid; data protection regulations; anti-bribery and corruption legislation; and the Care Quality Commission.
International Auditing Standards (UK) limit the required procedures to identify non-compliance with these laws and regulations to the procedures, and no procedures over and above those already noted are required. These limited procedures did not identify any actual or suspected non-compliance with laws and regulations that could have a material impact on the financial statements.
In relation to fraud, we performed the following specific procedures in addition to those already noted:
Challenging assumptions made by management in its significant accounting estimates in particular, depreciation;
Identifying and testing journal entries, in particular any entries posted with unusual nominal ledger account combinations, journal entries posted by senior management, journal entries crediting cash or any revenue account and large year end journals;
Performing analytical procedures to identify unexpected movements in account balances which may be indicative of fraud;
Ensuring that testing undertaken on both the Statement of Financial Activity (SoFA) and the Balance Sheet includes a number of items selected on a random basis;
These procedures did not identify any actual or suspected fraudulent irregularity that could have a material impact on the financial statements.
Owing to the inherent limitations of an audit, there is an unavoidable risk that we may not have detected some material misstatements in the financial statements, even though we have properly planned and performed our audit in accordance with International Auditing Standards (UK). For example, the further removed non-compliance with laws and regulations is from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, the less likely the procedures that we are required to undertake would identify it. In addition, as with any audit, there remains a high risk of non-detection of irregularities, as these might involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentation, or the override of internal controls. We are not responsible for preventing non-compliance with laws and regulations or fraud, and cannot be expected to detect non-compliance with all laws and regulations or every incidence of fraud.
A further description of our responsibilities is available on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: https://www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor's report.
Use of our report
This report is made solely to the charitable company’s members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company’s members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charitable company and the charitable company’s members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.
The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year. All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.
Avocet Care & Support Ltd is a private company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is West Suite, Cottis House Locks Hill, South Street, Rochford, Essex, SS4 1BB.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the charity's memorandum and articles, the Companies Act 2006, FRS 102 “The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland” (“FRS 102”) and the Charities SORP "Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)" (effective 1 January 2019). The charity is a Public Benefit Entity as defined by FRS 102.
SORP Departure
The entity is both a registered charity and a registered social landlord. The trustees have opted to produce financial statements under the Charity SORP rather than Housing SORP because it is judged this SORP is more appropriate for providing the detailed information to the members.
The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the charity. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention. The principal accounting policies adopted are set out below.
At the time of approving the financial statements, the trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Thus the trustees continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.
Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of their charitable objectives.
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.
Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to transfer economic benefit to a third party, 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 classified by activity. The costs of each activity are made up of the total of direct costs and shared costs, including support costs involved in undertaking each activity. Direct costs attributable to a single activity are allocated directly to that activity. Shared costs which contribute to more than one activity and support costs which are not attributable to a single activity are apportioned between those activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources. Central staff costs are allocated on the basis of time spent, and depreciation charges are allocated on the portion of the asset’s use.
Tangible fixed assets are initially measured at cost and subsequently measured at cost or valuation, net of depreciation and any impairment losses.
Depreciation is recognised so as to write off the cost or valuation of assets less their residual values over their useful lives on the following bases:
The gain or loss arising on the disposal of an asset is determined as the difference between the sale proceeds and the carrying value of the asset, and is recognised in the statement of financial activities.
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).
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.
Exceptional items
Income and expenses classified as exceptional are shown separately on the face of the SoFA. Income and expenses are treated as exceptional in nature if they are significant one off income or expenses and are not expected to reoccur.
Fund Accounting
Funds held by the charity are either:
Unrestricted general funds - these are funds which can be used in accordance with the charitable objects at the discretion of the trustees.
Restricted funds - These are funds restricted for a specific purpose as defined by the donor. There is a single restricted fund, relating to the Social Housing Grants previously received.
Current asset investments
Current asset investments include cash held on deposit with a maturity of three months or more.
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.
In the prior year the charity disposed of one of its sheltered housing properties. Included within this figure is a repayment of a Social Housing Grant to Homes England.
None of the trustees (or any persons connected with them) received any remuneration or benefits from the charity during the year.
There were no trustees' expenses paid for the year ended 31 March 2026 (2025: £nil). All other replated party transactions are disclosed in note 23.
The average monthly number of employees during the year was:
The remuneration of key management personnel was as follows:
The charity is exempt from taxation on its activities because all its income is applied for charitable purposes.
Current asset investments includes monies held in accessible bank accounts with a maturity of three months or more and not used for everyday operating costs.
The mortgage is secured with a fixed charge over the freehold land and buildings. This has now been cleared.
The charity operates a defined contribution pension scheme for all qualifying employees. The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the charity in an independently administered fund.
The unrestricted funds of the charity comprise the unexpended balances of donations and grants which are not subject to specific conditions by donors and grantors as to how they may be used. These include designated funds which have been set aside out of unrestricted funds by the trustees for specific purposes.
The 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.
SHG Fund relates to the Social Housing Grants received by the charity. The funds are held as part of the charity's freehold properties and are to be reinvested in social housing on sale of these properties within three years or repaid at that time.
In the prior year the charity sold one of its social housing properties and made a repayment to Homes England of the grant attached to it, this was reflected as a transfer.
Amounts contracted for but not provided in the financial statements:
During the year the charity entered into the following transactions with related parties:
Anthony Jones Insurance of which a trustee is also a director, the total paid paid was £20,594 (2025 - £32,887).