THE_LONDON_DISTRICT_AND_S - Accounts

The Council presents their ninety-seventh Annual Report together with the independently prepared Accounts for the year ended 30th September 2020.

Organisation

A board of up to ten council members who met six times during the year administers the charity.

Risk Management

The Directors have examined the major strategic and operational risks, which the charity faces and confirms that systems have been established to enable regular reports to be produced so that the necessary steps can be taken to lessen these risks.

Public Benefit

The Trustees take into account the Charity Commission guidance on public benefit and believe that the activities of the Charity are in line with that guidance.

The Assembly’s objectives are the following:

a) To promote the spread of religious ideas usually described as Unitarian or Free Christian;

b) To promote fellowship among the congregations and individual Unitarians in the area;

c) To assist weak congregations;

d) To encourage the formation of new congregations;

e) To do all such other lawful things as are incidental to the above objects or any of them.

The Council is satisfied with the results for the year.

Details of incoming resources and resources expended are shown in the Statement of Financial Activities on pages 4/5 of the financial statements. As agreed by Council, funds were repaid to participant churches from the Kent Ministry and Northiam Funds, details of which are shown in note 13 on page 14. Sales of listed investments yielded a satisfactory surplus to fund additional grants during the year to member churches.

Investment Policy

The Trustees completed a policy of transferring the investment portfolio in both the unrestricted and designated funds to a wholly ethical basis. On the advice of our professional fund managers, the new portfolio emphasises capital growth, and is internationally weighted. This resulted in the year in a substantial realised and unrealised gain in the portfolio.

Reserves Policy

It is the policy of the LDPA to maintain unrestricted and non-designated funds, which are the free reserves of the charity, at a level, which equates to approximately six months unrestricted expenditure. This provides sufficient funds to cover management and administration and support costs and to respond to emergency applications for grants arising from time to time. Unrestricted funds were maintained at this level throughout the year.

On behalf of the Council

I report to the council members on my examination of the financial statements of The London District And South Eastern Provincial Assembly Of Unitarian And Free Christian Churches (Incorporated) (the charity) for the year ended 30 September 2020.

As the council members of the charity (and also its directors for the purposes of company law) you are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 (the 2006 Act).

Having satisfied myself that the financial statements of the charity are not required to be audited under Part 16 of the 2006 Act and are eligible for independent examination, I report in respect of my examination of the charity’s financial statements carried out under section 145 of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act). In carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act.

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:

accounting records were not kept in respect of the charity as required by section 386 of the 2006 Act; or

the financial statements do not accord with those records; or

the financial statements do not comply with the accounting requirements of section 396 of the 2006 Act other than any requirement that the accounts give a true and fair view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination; or

the financial statements have not been prepared in accordance with the methods and principles of the Statement of Recommended Practice for accounting and reporting by charities applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102).

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the financial statements to be reached.

The company is entitled to the exemption from the audit requirement contained in section 477 of the Companies Act 2006, for the year ended 30 September 2020.

The directors acknowledge their responsibilities for ensuring that the charity keeps accounting records which comply with section 386 of the Act and for preparing financial statements which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the company as at the end of the financial year and of its incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure, for the financial year in accordance with the requirements of sections 394 and 395 and which otherwise comply with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 relating to financial statements, so far as applicable to the company.

The members have not required the company to obtain an audit of its financial statements for the year in question in accordance with section 476.

These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies regime.

The London District And South Eastern Provincial Assembly Of Unitarian And Free Christian Churches (Incorporated) is a private company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is Essex Hall, 1-6 Essex Street, Strand, London, WC2R 3HY.

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the charity's [governing document], 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 charity has taken advantage of the provisions in the SORP for charities applying FRS 102 Update Bulletin 1 not to prepare a Statement of Cash Flows.

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 accounts have been prepared under the historical cost convention, modified to include the revaluation of freehold properties and to include investment properties and certain financial instruments at fair value. The principal accounting policies adopted are set out below.

At the time of approving the financial statements, the council members have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Thus the council members 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 council members in furtherance of their charitable objectives.

Designated funds comprise funds which have been set aside at the discretion of the council members for specific purposes. The purposes and uses of the designated funds are set out in the notes to the financial statements.

Restricted funds are subject to specific conditions by donors 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.

Resources expended are included in the Statement of Financial Activities on an accruals basis, inclusive of any VAT, which cannot be recovered.

Investment property, which is property held to earn rentals and/or for capital appreciation, is initially recognised at cost, which includes the purchase cost and any directly attributable expenditure. Subsequently it is measured at fair value at the reporting end date. The surplus or deficit on revaluation is recognised in profit or loss.

The property is treated as 45.6% general funds as this is the percentage which LDPA owns for its general use, and 54.4% restricted funds as this is the amount related to the other beneficial owners. The income received is split between the charity and the other beneficial owners.

Fixed asset investments are initially measured at transaction price excluding transaction costs, and are subsequently measured at fair value at each reporting date. Changes in fair value are recognised in net income/(expenditure) for the year. Transaction costs are expensed as incurred.

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.

Voluntary income

designated

During the year the company had one employee (2019: one employee).

The average monthly number of employees during the year was:

designated

designated

The fair value of the investment property has been arrived at on the basis of a valuation carried out in August 2017 by Rush, Witt and Wilson Residential and Commercial Estate Agents, who are not connected with the charity. The valuation was made on an open market value basis by reference to market evidence of transaction prices for similar properties.

Common Investment Fund

Manse fund

Expenditure

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:

Manse Fund – to defray costs of housing provision for the District Minister;

Development Fund – to support initiatives designed to strengthen the Unitarian presence within the LDPA area.

Expenditure

Transfers, Gains, Losses

A capital sum, arising from the disposal of the Ilford Church premises, managed by the British and Foreign Unitarian Association (Incorporated), with the income paid to the LDPA. In any year, this income is to be devoted to the Unitarian cause in the London District, priority being given to the Greater London Boroughs north of the Thames and east of Tower Hamlets, and to the County of Essex. Any income unspent on these purposes at the end of the financial year to be available for general LDPA purposes.

The capital of this fund derives from the sale of the Putney Church premises, plus the Church’s investments. This is managed by the British & Foreign Unitarian Association (Incorporated), which pays the income to the LDPA. Priority claim on that income is to meet the needs of the Richmond and Putney Unitarian congregation; any surplus to be available for general LDPA purposes.

The Charity participates in the Ministers Pension Fund Scheme, which is a defined benefit scheme. The Charity has one employee participating in the scheme. The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the Charity and are administered by the Ministers Pension Fund.

Contributions to the scheme are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities so as to spread the cost of pensions over the employees’ working lives with the Charity. A qualified actuary using an on-going assessment of the funding position determines the level of pension contributions. The last actuarial valuation of the Ministers Pension Fund scheme for which results are available was on 31 December 2013 and showed a deficit for the whole scheme of £644,000 (2010: £801,000) before adjustments. This is made up of a Past Service deficit of £1,043,000 offset by a future Service surplus of £399,000 generated by the current contribution of 8.5% from members and congregations. From January 2013 pension contributions from members and congregations have been at the rate of 10%.

Employer contributions and employee contributions were 10% of earnings including housing allowance. The pension cost for the year of the charity amounted to £4,961 (2019: £6,005).

There were no contributions outstanding or prepaid at the year end (2019: £Nil).