This year’s annual report shows our stakeholders how we have performed over the last year, as we continue our work ensuring strategic direction, clear governance and value in the work of the charity.
During 2022/2023 we carried over our programme of investment in future services and inside this report you will get an understanding of how we’ve spent our income on improving and maintaining our services. This has been a continuation of the work we started in recent years.
This report is designed to show how our money is spent, how we are performing compared to previous years and demonstrate our overall financial governance. I hope you find the report and accounts informative.
James Abdool
The Trustees present their report and accounts for the year ended 31 March 2023.
The accounts have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in note 1 to the accounts and comply with the charity's memorandum and articles of association, the Companies Act 2006 and the Statement of Recommended Practice, "Accounting and Reporting by Charities", issued in March 2005.
Purposes and aims
The Trustees review the aims, objectives and activities of the charity each year. This report looks at the achievements and outcomes the charity has made through this reporting period. The Trustees report the success of each key activity and the benefits the charity has brought to people that it is set up to help. The review also helps the Trustees ensure the charity's aims, objectives and activities remained focused on its stated purposes.
About Crawley Open House
Crawley Open House started its journey in 1982 when doors first opened on a project in Spencers Road known as the Crawley Community Resources Centre. In the winter of 1990 we delivered our first overnight accommodation providing emergency cold weather beds to those that were sleeping rough. In 1994 we launch a permanent hostel instead of a temporary cold weather shelter. Portakabins once used to house construction workers building the channel tunnel were converted to provide twelve single and four double rooms plus an office, a shower, a toilet and a laundry block. In 1996, the hostel and resource centre merge to form Crawley Open House.
Since these early days we have grown to provide accommodation, support and services for those in the Crawley area suffering the effects of homelessness, unemployment, loneliness, discrimination, or other forms of social exclusion. This hasn’t changed and our support is available to anyone in need, and can sometimes be as little as a meal or feeling listened to.
The Trustees have paid due regard to guidance issued by the Charity Commission in deciding what activities the charity should undertake.
The last year has again been challenging for everyone and none more so than the homeless community and the growing pressures the local community faced in the midst of the continued effects of the global pandemic as well as the events in Ukraine, and in particular the cost of living crisis which has affected all sectors of society and has implications for Crawley Open House in terms of donations of all kinds. On top of our normal services we have continued to adapt to new ways of working so that we best serve our clients and protect our staff.
Riverside House
The hostel at Riverside House is the heart of Crawley Open House where we have our 24 bed hostel that is staffed 24/7. In addition to residential services, it offers general advice, housing and resettlement support, mental health and substance misuse support and counselling, as well as access to a doctor, chiropodist and hairdresser.
The occupancy of the hostel again exceeded 99% and it is sad that we have to turn away requests for a room every day because we are full. Over the year we provided hostel accommodation for 110 people who would otherwise have been homeless.
We attach great importance to helping clients find more permanent accommodation suitable to their needs, and during the year we were able to resettle 62 in this way. It was encouraging to see 56.2% of the hostel residents successfully moved on to longer term accommodation. This is higher than last year and a sign people are beginning to move-on in a shorter time after the pandemic.
Resource Centre
The official opening of the Resource Centre took place on 6th July 2022 and was opened by the Mayor of Crawley and attended by a group of staff, volunteers, friends and supporters. The Resource Centre benefits from workshop, multi-use space, kitchen, hot desks in all offices, as well as a new laundry, shower facilities and donation station.
The Resource Centre is the new home for the Day Centre services and includes a schedule of regular classes that take place including cycle repairs, baking, CSCS card training and IT lessons.
The overall the separation of accommodation and day services has been successful and the staff have seen many new successes from having this facility and continue to learn about what is needed to best service our clients with one such example leading to the sponsorship from Sainsbury’s for the purchase of a professional coffee machine that is used for barista training for clients. It has also become the home for local service partners to base themselves on a regular basis and provide a closer service for the clients.
Move-On
Providing move-on accommodation is a key part of our work to help people move successfully into long-term, secure rented accommodation.
The new Laing rooms are in their 3rd year of service, providing on-site first stage move-on accommodation. The eight individual bedrooms, with shared living areas, continue to allow people to build on the progress they’ve made in our hostel. With support in place to encourage people to live more independently we are able to offer increased freedom and privileges to our Laing residents. They have proved successful with the right residents and the team have learnt how to integrate these clients within the residential team and managed them according to their individual needs. As previously mentioned, it has been a worthwhile investment and clearly a key part of the charity going forward.
Across our five Move-On houses we offer twenty-three rooms at an affordable rent to people looking to move forward into long-term, secure, independent living and work. This is shortly to become six, adding an additional five beds.
At this point, Move-On accommodation and giving people the skills they need to prevent them returning to homelessness in the future is a cornerstone to our work. We now have almost as many move-on beds as we do hostel beds which is a remarkable achievement and represents our commitment to both long-term and short-term solutions for people in need.
Outreach Team
Outreach, i.e., actively going out into the community to find, identify and support those who are sleeping rough, continues to be an important part of our work. . We were delighted to secure renewed funding from Crawley Borough Council for our Outreach Team which will allow us to continue to deliver this valuable work to the most vulnerable in our community.
Resettlement Outreach
This team works with people who are in accommodation but who are at risk of losing their housing for whatever reason. Clients might have a short-term crisis, or a longer-term issue, and need help with issues such as food poverty, financial insecurity, antisocial behavior and a lack of independent living skills. Many of these situations would deteriorate quickly and end in homelessness without support to keep things on track. This team have a proven track record of early interventions that have prevented someone vulnerable from becoming homeless in the first place and, as is commonly said, prevention is undoubtedly better than cure.
Fundraising Activities
What a relief to get back to some sort of post-COVID normality with a resumption of community, networking and fundraising events, along with the return of volunteers and visitors to Crawley Open House. However, as one challenge passed another cropped up, and this time it was the personal finance crisis brought about by surging energy prices and economic uncertainty. We have seen, and continue to see, a marked drop in community and individual giving, in line with most smaller charities, as people literally don’t have the disposable income to give away. Fortunately, other income streams have held up well, and we managed to end the financial year just about where we wanted to be in terms of funds in.
We were again humbled by the breadth of support we received from so many in the community, in so many different ways. From people like 8 year old Jacob running a mile a day for a month in Forge Wood and raising over £500 in the process, to huge support from places of worship, community groups and schools. From generous donations from individuals and families to major investments in our work from many companies and Trusts. We are thankful to each and every one of you.
Our 1 in 1000 regular giving scheme has also suffered this year falling around 10% in the monthly contributions.. We are still so grateful for this regular, stable income which has allowed us to plan and budget effectively, particularly in these unpredictable economic times.
Major Gifts
In July 2022 we opened our new Resource Centre opposite the hostel, and we welcomed large grants from the National Lottery Community Fund and St Christopher’s Trust towards its running costs for the next three years.
In many ways it is more difficult to bring in core funding than to raise money for specific capital projects, and we were grateful to several Trusts for their support in this area, including Lord Barnby’s Foundation, the Wates Foundation, the Cragwood Fund at Sussex Community Foundation, Albert Van den Burgh Charitable Trust, John Laing Charitable Trust and long-term supporters Three Oaks Trust. A number of business partners put us in touch with their corporate foundations and we were successful with bids to the Sainsburys Community Fund, the Amazon Community Foundation, Co Op Community Fund and Thales Charitable Trust.
One area of growth this year has been with local corporate donors, including Thakeham Homes, Boeing, Waitrose, Hall & Woodhouse, Irwin Mitchell, Portland Vets, Chemigraphic, Benchmark Reprographics, Total Gas & Power, Metro Bank, CGG, EVM, Nestle and many others. We are grateful for their interest in our work and generosity.
Many places of worship continue to support us faithfully and wonderfully, and this year they included St Margaret’s Warnham, St Swithun’s East Grinstead, Holy Trinity Cuckfield, St John’s Felbridge, Trinity Methodist East Grinstead, Worth Abbey, Crawley URC and Haywards Heath Methodist. Long standing supporters Whittington College and St Vincent de Paul were once again very active and generous. We were again a charity of choice for several local schools including Ardingly College, Hazelwick, St Wilfrid’s, Felbridge Primary, Thomas Bennett and Copthorne Prep.
Due to the cost-of-living crisis there were understandably some reluctant withdrawals from our 1 in 1000 monthly giving scheme. We are so grateful to all past and present donors through this scheme, and we still have around 370 people giving in this way. Thank you to all of them.
Many of the valuable donations we receive are not financial. Numerous people give of their time and expertise to volunteer in a host of different ways – in our kitchens, Resource Centre, move-on house gardens and food warehouse. We have seen an explosion of people willing to take over our hostel kitchen and bring all the ingredients for lunch or dinner, which they then cook and serve to everybody. Special thanks to teams from Thales, Atlas Copco, Richard Place Dobson and People’s Partnership.
We were brought food, clothing, toiletries, dog food, bedding, sleeping bags and many other essential items by literally hundreds of people and organisations. Special thanks to Morrisons Oxted, Sainsburys Crawley, Co Op Pound Hill, Nandos Crawley, Greggs Three Bridges, Master Fryer Pound Hill, Hygiene Bank, Nestle, Bridgeham Clinic, Metro Bank, Rapid Relief Team, OnSite Support and Sub Cool FM for their consistent and wonderful help.
Events
There were lots of fundraising events organised by others including 3 Peaks Challenges by trustee Anne Marie Roberts and our friends at EMW Law, choir performances from Songbirds and Phoenix Choirs, a Virgin Atlantic curry evening, charity feasts in East Grinstead, open gardens in Shipley, a Go Ape sponsored walk, bucket collections at the Hawth and a ‘Rowathon’ at Ardingly College, amongst others.
We were pleased to once again be a charity partner of Run Gatwick, which in 2022 contracted to a 10k event in Charlwood. Our small but wonderful team of runners raised over £4,000 which was brilliant. The first Crawley Open House-arranged charity feast for many years took place at Tamashah in Crawley, and sold out. We had a delicious meal, a profitable raffle and a fun evening, whilst raising over £1,200.
Our second annual Big Quiz took place at St Wilfrid’s School, and saw 24 teams battle it out for the Karen Kelso trophy, in memory of our dear departed staff colleague. In part thanks to another very well-supported raffle we raised nearly £2,500.
We were delighted to support Crawley Pride again. Whilst not a major fundraiser it’s an important community event, and a vital part of being an inclusive Charity to work for and to be involved with in any capacity.
Summary
With uncertainty and austerity prevalent it remains a difficult environment in which to fundraise, and we have to be ever-more creative, proactive and tenacious. We continue to be active on social media to communicate the work of the Charity, and we have invested in software to be able to send out more frequent and more professional newsletters.
We are grateful for long-standing relationships with so many across our community, and we continue to encourage the curious to visit and see our work first hand. We work hard prospecting for new sources of income from individuals, companies and Trusts to try and keep a robust pipeline of incoming funds. We are grateful to all those who have helped us get to this point by giving in so many ways – we never take for granted your immense kindness and generosity
Financial position
During the year the charity had net incoming resources of £429,615, (2022: £956,375). This high level of net income partly reflects the good level of donations and grants we received. Less positively, it also reflects the difficulties we have had recruiting staff to fill vacancies as we restored services curtailed or stopped because of COVID-19.
Reserves policy
The charity’s reserves policy takes account of its expanding operations, the way they are funded and the forward-looking risks to that funding. The reserves policy is to hold unrestricted reserves of between three and six months’ projected core expenditure.
As at 31st March 2023, unrestricted funds were £663,000 and projected core expenditure for the financial year 2023-24 is £1,580,000. Reserves are therefore in the middle of the Trustees’ target range. The Trustees consider this to be an appropriate level of reserves given the financial pressures everywhere in the UK economy which are likely to impact both the charity’s income and expenses.
It is the policy of the charity to hold a designated fund to a level representing the value of the occupied property.
As at 31 March 2023, the charity created a new designated fund of £700,000 for the purchase of additional move-on properties. It released most of the designated fund created at 31st March 2022 because of the increase in gas and electricity prices, following the partial reduction in fuel prices during the year. It made smaller adjustments to its other designated funds.
Covid-19
The Trustees have given consideration to the Charities SORP ('Statement of Recommended Practice') Committee's advice in its publication 'Implications of COVID-19 Control Measures and Charity Financial Reporting' and to the risks arising as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. The Charity is actively monitoring and managing the situation as it develops. We have adapted our operations and consider that the Charity has adequate reserves and committed future grants from supportive and solvent funders.
The Trustees have examined the major strategic, business and operational risks which the charity faces and confirm that systems are established to enable regular reports to be produced so that the necessary steps can be taken to lessen these risks.
Plans for the Future
Following the success of the Move-On houses it is a key aim to continue to fund the growth of our own houses in the community.
In addition, we will continue to endeavour to reinstate the services that were halted during the Covid-19 pandemic and as always adapt to the “new normal” that we now find ourselves living with.
Structure, governance and management
The charity is a company limited by guarantee, does not have share capital and was incorporated on 21 April 1995. The Trustees / Directors are appointed at the annual general meeting or during the year at Trustees' meetings.
Crawley Open House has charitable status and its charity registration number is 1048919.
The trustees, who are also the directors for the purpose of company law, and who served during the year are:
This report has been prepared in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice, "Accounting and reporting by Charities", issued in March 2005 and in accordance with the special provisions of part 15 of the Companies Act relating to small entities.
The Trustees report was approved by the Board of Trustees.
Company law requires the Trustees to prepare accounts for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the charitable company's state of affairs at the end of the year and of its income and expenditure for that period.
In preparing those accounts, the Trustees are required to:
- select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
- 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 accounts;
- prepare the accounts 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 accounts comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
Opinion
We have audited the financial statements of Crawley Open House (the ‘charity’) for the year ended 31 March 2023 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 the provisions available for small entities, in the circumstances set out in note 28 to the financial statements, 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 require us to report to you if, in our opinion:
the information given in the financial statements is inconsistent in any material respect with the Trustees' report; or
sufficient accounting records have not been kept; or
the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records; or
we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.
As explained more fully in the statement of Trustees' responsibilities, the Trustees, who are also the directors of the charity for the purpose of company law, are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the Trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error. In preparing the financial statements, the Trustees are responsible for assessing the charity’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the Trustees either intend to liquidate the charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.
We have been appointed as auditor under section 145 of the Charities Act 2011 and report in accordance with the Act and relevant regulations made or having effect thereunder.
Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor's report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.
The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud, is detailed below.
Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. The objectives of our audit are to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence regarding compliance with laws and regulations that have a direct effect on the determination of material amounts and disclosures in the financial statements, to perform audit procedures to help identify instances of non-compliance with other laws and regulations that may have a material effect on the financial statements, and to respond appropriately to identified or suspected non-compliance with laws and regulations identified during the audit.
In relation to fraud, the objectives of our audit are to identify and assess the risk of material misstatement of the financial statements due to fraud, to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence regarding the assessed risks of material misstatements due to fraud through designing and implementing appropriate responses and to respond appropriately to fraud or suspected fraud identified during the audit.
However it is the primary responsibility of management, with the oversight of those charged with governance, to ensure that the entity’s operations are conducted in accordance with the provisions of laws and regulations and for the prevention and detection of fraud.
In identifying and assessing the risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud, the audit engagement team made enquiries of management, and those charged with governance, regarding the procedures relating to identifying, evaluating and complying with;
laws and regulations and whether they were aware of any instances of non-compliance;
detecting and responding to the risks of fraud and whether they have knowledge of any actual, suspected or alleged fraud;
the internal controls established to mitigate risks related to fraud or non-compliance with laws and regulations;
As a result of these procedures we consider the most significant laws and regulations that have a direct impact on the financial statements are FRS 102, General Data Protection Regulations, Companies Act, Charities Act 2011, Charities Statement of Recommended Practice and employment law and regulations. We performed audit procedures to detect non-compliance, which may have a material impact on the financial statements. These included reviewing financial statement disclosures and evaluating advice received from external advisors. There were no significant laws and regulations we deemed as having an indirect impact on the financial statements.
The audit engagement team identified the risk of management override of controls and revenue recognition as the areas where the financial statements were most susceptible to material misstatement due to fraud. Audit procedures performed in regards to management override included but were not limited to testing manual journal entries and other adjustments and evaluating the rationale in relation to any significant, unusual transactions and transactions entered into outside of the normal course of business. Audit procedures in relation to revenue recognition included but were not limited to a proof in total test on grant income and substantive testing for rental income.
Revenue recognition was also identified as a significant risk which could lead to a material mis-statement due to fraud or error. Audit procedures performed included but were not limited to performing walk through tests to identify the control procedures in place and once an understanding of the sales process was gained, a substantive test was carried out using a sample basis to ensure all sales existed and were complete in the accounts. Cut off testing was also performed to ensure sales were recorded in the correct period.
A further description of our responsibilities is available on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: https://www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor's report.
Use of our report
This report is made solely to the charity's Trustees, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006 and to the charity’s trustees, as a body, in accordance with part 4 of the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charity's Trustees those matters we are required to state to them in an auditors' report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charity and the charity’s Trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.
designated
Amenity Income
Outreach projects
Hostel
Move-on accomodation
Resource Centre
The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year.
All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.
designated
Amenity Income
Outreach projects
Hostel
Move-on accomodation
The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year.
All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.
Crawley Open House is a charitable company, registered in England and Wales. The registered office is Ground Floor, 1-7 Station Road, Crawley, West Sussex, RH10 1HT
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the charity's Memorandum and Articles of Association, the Companies Act 2006 and "Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019)". The charity is a Public Benefit Entity as defined by FRS 102.
The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the charity. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention. The principal accounting policies adopted are set out below.
At the time of approving the financial statements, the Trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Thus the Trustees continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.
Unrestricted funds can be used in accordance with the charitable objectives at the discretion of the Trustees.
Designated funds are unrestricted funds earmarked by the Trustees for particular purposes.
Restricted funds can only be used for particular restricted purposes within the objects of the charity. Restrictions arise when specified by the donor or when funds are raised for particular restricted purposes.
Further explanation of the nature and purpose of each fund is included in the notes of the financial statements.
All income is recognised in the Statement of Financial Activities once the charity has entitlement to the funds, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably.
Donations and similar incoming resources are included in the year in which they are receivable which is when the charity becomes entitled to the resource.
Grants are included in the accounting period to which they relate.
Activities in furtherance of charitable objects includes rental income and is included in the year in which it is receivable which is when the charity becomes entitled to the resource.
Other incoming resources includes kitchen receipts, placement fees and refunds of overcharged expenses all of which are included in the accounts when the charity becomes entitled to the resources.
Liabilities are recognised as expenditure as soon as there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the charity to that expenditure, it is probably that a transfer of economic benefits will be required in settlement and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all cost related to the category. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to particular headings they have been allocated to activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources.
Grants offered subject to conditions which have not been met at the year end date are noted as a commitment but not accrued as expenditure.
Support costs are those functions that assist the work of the charity but do not directly undertake charitable activities. Support costs include back office costs, finance, personnel, payroll and governance costs which support the charitable company's activities. These costs have been allocated between the different charitable activities. The bases on which support costs have been allocated are set out in note 9.
Depreciation is provided at the following annual rates in order to write off each asset over its estimated useful life.
Freehold Land is not depreciated.
It has been decided by the Trustees that only items of a value of £1,000 and over will be capitalised as anything smaller is not deemed material.
Cash at bank and in hand includes cash and short term highly liquid investments with a short maturity of three months or less from the date of acquisition or opening of the deposit or similar account.
The charity has elected to apply the provisions of Section 11 ‘Basic Financial Instruments’ and Section 12 ‘Other Financial Instruments Issues’ of FRS 102 to all of its financial instruments.
Financial instruments are recognised in the charity's balance sheet when the charity becomes party to the contractual provisions of the instrument.
Financial assets and liabilities are offset, with the net amounts presented in the financial statements, when there is a legally enforceable right to set off the recognised amounts and there is an intention to settle on a net basis or to realise the asset and settle the liability simultaneously.
Basic financial assets, which include debtors and cash and bank balances, are initially measured at transaction price including transaction costs and are subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest method unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the transaction is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial assets classified as receivable within one year are not amortised.
Basic financial liabilities, including creditors and bank loans are initially recognised at transaction price unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the debt instrument is measured at the present value of the future payments discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial liabilities classified as payable within one year are not amortised.
Debt instruments are subsequently carried at amortised cost, using the effective interest rate method.
Trade creditors are obligations to pay for goods or services that have been acquired in the ordinary course of operations from suppliers. Amounts payable are classified as current liabilities if payment is due within one year or less. If not, they are presented as non-current liabilities. Trade creditors are recognised initially at transaction price and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.
The Charity is exempt from corporation tax on its charitable activities
Creditors and provisions are recognised where the charity has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any discounts due.
The costs of short-term employee benefits are recognised as a liability and an expense.
The cost of any unused holiday entitlement is recognised in the period in which the employee's services are received.
The charity operates a defined contributions pension scheme. Contributions are charged in the accounts as they become payable in accordance with the rules of the scheme.
Donated goods
There are considerable gifts of food given to the charity which have been estimated at £30,000 (2022: £33,705) for the year.
The Charity received no volunteer assistance this year or the previous year.
In the application of the charity’s accounting policies, the Trustees are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying amount of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and associated assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.
The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised where the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods where the revision affects both current and future periods.
Income is recognised when the charity is entitled to the income and this will be based on the work being completed and there is no requirement to repay the grant.
Donated items such as food are recognised in income and expenditure based on their fair value.
Time given freely to the charity by volunteers is recognised in income and expenditure based on an estimated average hourly rate and total number of hours given by volunteers.
Grants
Grants
Included within the donations and gifts above are the following non cash donations:
Donated food £30,000 - (2022: £33,705)
Volunteer time - £Nil (2022: £Nil)
Amenity Income
Amenity Income
Outreach projects
Hostel
Move-on accomodation
Resource Centre
Outreach projects
Hostel
Move-on accomodation
Other charitable activity costs
Outreach projects
Outreach projects
Insurance
IT and website costs
Motor vehicles
NW Mentor
Photocopies expenses
Rent
Stationary
Telephone and subscriptions
During the year none of the Trustees (or any persons connected with them) received any remuneration or received any reimbursement of expenses relating to their duties as Trustees and directors.
The average monthly number of employees during the year was:
Key Management Remuneration
There are five key management positions. The amount paid to key management personnel during the year was £233,622 (2022: 204,334).
The Chief Executive is eligible for membership of the Charity’s workplace pension scheme for all employees, to which the employer contributes 3% of earnings between the upper and lower earnings limits. There are no enhanced or special terms for the Chief Executive. The pension contributions of the chief executive amounted to £1,321 in the year.
The charity is exempt from tax on income and gains falling within section 505 of the Taxes Act 1988 or section 252 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 to the extent that these are applied to its charitable objects.
The Charity received a loan from The Big Issue in May 2021 for £135,000 with a fixed interest rate of 4.11% which is to be repaid over 10 years.
The Outreach expense fund is to help pay the expenses of outreach workers when supporting homeless clients.
The Starter property packs fund is to provide household items to clients moving into a new home.
The Hostel bedroom refurbishment fund is to pay for the periodic refurbishment of the charity’s bedrooms.
The Greater Change client resettlement fund is to provide household goods or other support to clients who are being resettled.
The Afternoon Classes fund is to improve the quality of afternoon classes.
The WSCC Crawley Foodbank fund is towards the provision of a permanent foodbank for Crawley.
The Outreach Workers Fund represents grants from Crawley Borough Council to enable Crawley Open House to offer outreach and resettlement services homeless clients or those at risk of homelessness.
The Local Assistance Network Fund is from West Sussex County Council to provide short-term aid to help protect a person's welfare.
The Wates Foundation and Thakenham Homes grants were to support fundraising expenses.
The CEC Energy grant was to support fuel costs for the Hostel.
The John Laing Charity grant was to pay the redecoration of the Laing move-on rooms.
The income funds of the charity include the following designated funds which have been set aside out of unrestricted funds by the Trustees for specific purposes:
The Land and Building fund represents the value of the land and buildings occupied by the charity.
The vehicle fund is for the replacement of motor vehicles.
The development project fund is to ensure that the charity can successfully complete snagging work on the Resource Centre.
The Move-on houses cyclical repairs fund is to meet the cost of repairs on the charity’s leased move-on houses.
The Laing Rooms cyclical repairs fund is to meet the cost of repairs on the new Laing move-on rooms.
The Move-on property purchase fund is to enable the charity to purchase a further property for use as a move-on house.
The Gas and Electricity fund represents the funds set aside to cover the expected increase in the cost of gas and electricity when the current fixed rate contract expires.
Following the year end an offer for an additional move on premises was accepted. This will be partially funded from a gift to the charity with the remaining balance to be paid from the charities unrestricted funds. The purchase completed on 28th July 2023 at a cost of £500,000 plus professional fees. There will be some additional costs to prepare the property for occupation by clients.
There were no disclosable related party transactions during the year (2022 - none).
In February 2022 Crawley Open House became registered under the Homes and Regeneration Act as a provider of Registered Social Housing. The accounts have been tailored to introduce the necessary elements of the housing SORP.
At the year end the number of units under management was 31, of which 13 are in properties owned by the charity and 18 are in properties leased by the charity. There were no void losses in the year.
The rent receivable from the Move-on social housing excluding service charges was £220,632. Government grant recognised as income in the year was £110,420. Social housing activity expenditure was £284,313.
The amount of remuneration payable to the auditors in the period of account was £1,897 which has been allocated on the basis of employee headcount; none of this remuneration was in relation to other services.
In common with many businesses of our size and nature we use our auditor to assist with the preparation of the financial statements.