The Executive Committee, the members of which are also directors for the purposes of company law, submits its 58th annual report together with the audited financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2022.
The principal activity of the Society, as determined by its memorandum of association, is to provide accommodation, care and companionship for lonely frail elderly people in accordance with the aims and principles of The Abbeyfield Society Limited. There has been no change in the activities of the Society during the year.
The Executive Committee refer to the Charity Commission's general guidance on public benefit when reviewing the Society's aims and objectives and in planning future activities. In particular the Committee consider how planned activities will contribute to the aims and objectives they have set and how these will benefit the recipients in accordance with the aims and principles of the Society.
Status
The Society is a company limited by guarantee (number 00 784499), having no share capital, and with solely charitable objectives and is registered as a charity (number 233269).
It is registered with Homes England (formerly the Homes and Communities Agency ) as a registered provider of social housing (number H2854).
The Society is governed by a Memorandum and Articles of Association and was incorporated on 13th December 1963.
Organisation
The Articles of Association govern the appointment of the executive committee, which is charged with the management of the Society in furtherance of its principal activity, fund management and financial affairs generally. The executive committee shall consist of not less than three and not more than twenty six members. The executive committee has the power to appoint executive committee members to fill a casual vacancy. One third of the executive committee members must retire by rotation each year but are eligible for re-election. There are sub-committees relating to Operations and Finance and at least one member of the executive committee is a member of each sub-committee. Sub-committees report to the executive committee where decisions are made
The Society is a member of The Abbeyfield Society to which it pays an annual affiliation fee.
The members who held office during the year and up to the date of signature of the financial statements were as follows:
In accordance with the Society's Articles of Association Mr A Yarwood and Ms S Leech retire by rotation and, being eligible, offer themselves for re-election at the forthcoming annual general meeting.
The year proved, once again, to be particularly challenging, with Covid restrictions affecting all aspects of our work, but the Trustees are pleased to present a positive report.
We have continued to provide a holistic approach to care and a friendly, personal service meeting the needs of our residents, through the delivery of high-quality person-centred care and support. At Abbeyfield, we provide the best quality care with comfort, dignity, respect and the promotion of independence, always being at the heart of the service
We are proud of the exceptional services and environment enjoyed by our residents and provided by our dedicated, committed and passionate staff, who are on duty 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
Building on our good relations with the local authority and our GPs, the Society has continued to operate at approximately 90% occupancy even during the later stages of the pandemic. With extremely strict adherence to Covid containment measures, the Society managed to avoid any deaths from the virus during the year. The Trustees once again wish to record their gratitude to all the staff for their unwavering commitment to the care of our residents during this difficult period.
Having a consistent and valued team who have a passion to deliver the highest of quality care and support, is incredibly important for Abbeyfield – not just because we want the residents to be happy and engaged within the care home but also because it helps us to build better relationships with our residents and the wider community. The experience of our team members enables them to understand the ethos and objectives of the care home and to better serve the needs of our residents.
We invest in our staff development with training and learning and development opportunities. Our team members have regular supervisions and an annual appraisal where management and team members can discuss the team member’s needs, their objectives and what support or training is required to enable them to fulfill those objectives.
We are very proud to be 90% compliant with our training, ensuring that our teams are both engaged in the training we provide and fully understand our regulatory, environmental and operational requirements.
Team members are encouraged to take on additional roles and responsibilities. This can be anything that supports the further development of the team member, the resident or the care home - for instance being a ‘Staff Lead or Champion’ for safeguarding, health and safety, dementia or end of life care.
As we begin to move out of the pandemic, many of the restrictions on visiting Lear H ouse have been lifted and we are moving back to pre-pandemic levels of activities and entertainments which has been welcomed by both the residents and their relatives.
We have a full-time activities coordinator to keep our residents busy every day. Activities can range from trips out to local attractions, gardening, shopping, coffee and quiz mornings, French lessons, arts and crafts, cocktail evenings and music events. We also celebrate national and local events such as the recent Platinum Jubilee where we enjoyed entertainment and afternoon tea in the garden. We cater for all tastes and we listen to suggestions from our residents, their families and our teams, so our list of activities is always adapting to meet the needs of the residents, their families and the local community.
At Abbeyfield we are constantly looking for ways to improve our environment and with the help of some much-appreciated donations, during the last year, we have refurbished our lounge and dining areas, also installing a new downstairs toilet. We have now started work refurbishing our communal bathrooms to ensure they meet the needs of our residents.
During the pandemic we worked incredibly hard to keep our residents in touch with their families by building a visiting pod and organising visits, along with numerous virtual calls, keeping everyone in touch on Facebook with regular updates on what was happening. This was extremely popular and important for both the morale of the residents and the team members. We conducted a residents’ survey and were very pleased to score highly for resident satisfaction and how we managed the pandemic restrictions whilst enabling them to maintain contact with loved ones.
We have seen the use of technology increase by our residents, in order to keep in touch with families, so we are planning on upgrading our WiFi in order to provide the best service possible.
With the pandemic hopefully now having a much lesser impact on care, the Trustees are looking to the future and to the potential to develop both Lear House and Elliot House to provide more opportunities to support older people. Following a selection process, the Trustees agreed to work with Paddock Johnson, a local firm of architects, and to develop plans to create more rooms for residential care and improve the long-term viability of the Society. The intention is to create a further ten residential rooms which will significantly increase the S ociety’s potential income and provide greater sustainability, without compromising our extremely high standard of care to our residents. To date £ 7,767 has been spent on initial ground surveys. It is hoped that outline plans for development will be shown to the Executive B oard later this year.
Financial performance for the year was strong with an income of £1,017,703 (2020/21 £ 881,239 ) with a surplus of £225,229 (2020/21 £124,673).
Throughout the pandemic restrictions the Trustees continued to maintain close contact and financial oversight with regular remote meetings via Zoom. They would particularly like to express their gratitude to the Society’s General Manager, Ailsa Wright, and her team, for their professional and caring management of the Society during these challenging times.
In December 2021 Lesley Guratsky announced her retirement from the Society. Lesley has volunteered for the Society for nearly thirty years and was appointed a Director and Trustee in 2005. Lesley has been a driving force in pursuing the highest possible standards of care and support for our residents. Extremely popular with staff, residents, visitors and her fellow Trustees, Lesley will be greatly missed and we wish her a long, happy, and healthy retirement.
Jane Hyndman, who joined as a Director and Trustee in 2014, and always expressed an intention to serve for only six years, has also given notice of her intention to resign in 2022. Jane has provided invaluable support on both legal and governance matters in particular. The Trustees are incredibly grateful for her support through a particularly challenging period. The Society is now actively looking to recruit additional Trustees.
Demand for rooms in Lear house remains strong. As a charity, any profits made by Abbeyfield feed directly back into the care home to allow constant improvement of our environment, our teams and the care of the residents.
We manage this very successfully and the engagement between our team members, our residents, their families and the wider community means we are well known and have become a desirable place to stay and live for our elderly residents, not just within the Wirral, but across the country. We promote our services and activities via social channels while our residents and their families ensure that our reputation is promoted via word of mouth. We would like to thank everyone who contributes to Abbeyfield and Lear House being a great place to live and work.
Reserves and investment policies
The Society has always used its surplus free reserves - being funds not comprised of fixed assets or other designated reserves - to help fund the cost of improvements to the services and support provided to residents including helping to fund, in the past, the implementation and completion of housing property projects.
The aim of the Society is to have day to day running costs which will be funded by amounts received in respect of residents' charges.
The Executive Committee continues to review its reserves policy and has concluded that a level of free reserves of £370,000 (2021 - £370,000) is appropriate. This amount equates to approximately four months of normal expenditure requirements. The Committee considers that the level of free reserves is satisfactory.
Internal financial control
The Executive Committee acknowledges that it is responsible for the Society’s system of internal financial control, which can only provide reasonable and not absolute assurance against material misstatement or loss.
All expenditure is controlled by the General Manager with the exception of specialist health care supplies which are authorised by the Care Manager. The General Manger, with the help of the bookkeeper, consolidates all the expenditure into monthly reports to produce internal management information. The management information and underlying data are reviewed regularly by the Executive Committee at their meetings and compared to budgets prepared at the beginning of each financial year.
Before the end of each year the management information is utilised to provide updated projected figures for the year and also to provide projected figures for the following year. These projections are prepared by management and reviewed by the Executive Committee. The Executive Committee monitors the actual expenditure and compares this to the budgeted expenditure. All major items of expenditure, whether or not anticipated by the Society’s budgets, are approved by the Executive Committee and dealt with by the Society’s Head Office. The Executive Committee meets at least quarterly to manage the running of the Society and to ensure that we pursue developments in our services which will continue to meet the needs of older people, both now and in the future. The Executive Committee reviews its procedures on an annual basis.
Risk management
The Executive Committee has overall responsibility for ensuring that the Society has appropriate systems of controls, financial and otherwise. The systems of financial controls are designed to provide reasonable, but not absolute, assurance against material misstatement or loss. They include an annual budget, approved by the Executive Committee, monthly reviews of actual results and variances from budget, and delegation of authority and segregation of duties as far as possible given staffing levels.
The Executive Committee has assessed the major risks to which the Society is exposed, in particular those related to the operations, finances and strategies of the Society, and is satisfied that systems are in place to mitigate exposure to the major risks.
In accordance with the Society's articles, a resolution proposing that Lonsdale & Marsh be reappointed as auditor of the Society will be put at a General Meeting.
This report has been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies entitled to the small companies exemption.
Basis for opinion
Conclusions relating to going concern
In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the directors' 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 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 directors with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.
Other information
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 Executive Committee's r eport for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements ; and
the Executive Committee's report has been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.
As explained more fully in the Executive Committee's r esponsibilities s tatement, the Trustees 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 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 intends to liquidate the company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.
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 .
We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory frameworks that are applicable to the Society and determined that the most significant are those that relate to the Care Quality Commission requirements and those laws and regulations that have a direct impact on the financial statements such as the Companies Act 2006.
Our approach to identifying and assessing the risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations, included the following:
t he engagement partner ensured the engagement team collectively had the appropriate competence, capabilities and skills to identify or recognise non-compliance with applicable laws and regulations;
d iscussions with senior management;
i dentified laws and regulations were communicated within the audit team who remained alert to instances of non-compliance throughout the audit.
We evaluated management’s incentives and opportunities for fraudulent manipulation of the financial statements (including override of controls) and addressed the risk through :
making enquires of th ose charged with governance as to their knowledge of actual, suspected and alleged instances of fraud;
consider ing the internal controls in place to mitigate the risks of fraud.
In response to the risk of irregularities and non-compliance with laws and regulations, we designed our audit procedures which included, but was not limited to:
agreeing financial statement disclosures to underlying supporting documentation;
re viewing the minutes of meetings of those charge d with governance;
reviewing correspondence with professional advisors ;
r eviewing for any transactions undertaken with related part ies such as those charged with governance and/or directors;
c hecking expenses are bon a fide transactions of the Society.
Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or non-compliance with regulations. The risk is also greater regarding irregularities occurring due to fraud rather than error, as fraud involves intentional concealment, forgery, collusion, omission or misrepresentation.
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 Society'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 Society'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 Society and the Society's members, as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.
The Abbeyfield Hoylake & West Kirby Society Limited is a private company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales . The registered office is Seafield House, 17 Darmonds Green, West Kirby, Wirral, CH48 5DT.
The financial statements are prepared in sterling , which is the functional currency of the company. Monetary a mounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.
Income and expenses are included in the financial statements as they become receivable or due.
Freehold land is not depreciated on account of its indefinite useful life.
Financial Reporting Standard 102 states that all assets must be depreciated. The depreciable amount of an asset is calculated as cost less residual value. Under FRS 102 residual values are based on the price which an entity would currently obtain if it were to dispose of the asset less the estimated costs of disposal. The Committee have reviewed the policy on depreciation and consider that the current residual value of the properties is in excess of the costs and as such a provision for depreciation is not required.
Housing properties acquired (including land) on the open market are stated at cost less depreciation and impairment where applicable.
The cost of housing freehold land and property represents their purchase price and any directly attributable costs of acquisition . All invoices and architect's certificates relating to capital expenditure are included in the financial statements at the gross value provided that the expenditure incurred on the architect's certificates was completed by the end o f the accounting year.
Directly attributable costs of construction includes capitalised interest calculated, on a proportional basis, using fi nance costs on borrowing which has been drawn in order to fi nance the relevant construction or acquisition.
Expenditure on major refurbishment to properties is capitalised where the works i ncrease the net rental stream over the life of the property. An increase in the net rental stream may arise through an increase in the net rental income, a reduction in future maintenance costs, or a subsequent extension in the life of the property.
A ll other repair and replacement expenditure is charged to the Statement of I ncome.
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 , less any impairment.
Trade creditors are obligations to pay for goods or services that have been acquired in the ordinary course of business from suppliers. A m ounts 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.
Changes in the fair value of derivatives that are designated and qualify as fair value hedges are recognised in profit or loss immediately, together with any changes in the fair value of the hedged asset or liability that are attributable to the hedged risk.
The company is exempt from corporation tax, it being a company not carrying on a business for the purposes of making a profit.
Monetary donations
Income from donations and legacies is accounted for on a receivable basis when it is more likely than not that the economic benefits will flow to the Society and the amount of the income can be measured reliably.
Cash flows
The Society has taken advantage of the disclosure exemption in FRS 102 not to prepare a cash flow statement.
In the application of the company’s accounting policies, the directors 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.
Whilst undertaking investigation work with Paddock Johnson, on the possible development and linking of Elliot House with Lear House, the Trustees have decided not to use the rooms within Elliot House for the foreseeable future. The potential residential income, as stated above, does not include income from these rooms. The units in management, disclosed in Note 11 , do include th es e rooms as they are registered with CQC,
The average monthly number of persons (including directors) employed by the company during the year was:
Their aggregate remuneration comprised:
The listed investments are included in the financial statements at market value. The investment portfolio is managed by Rathbones Investment Management. The portfolio has been constructed in accordance with the Trustees' instructions regarding investment objectives and risk level. At the year end the cost of the investments was £954,674 (2021 £546,331).
In accordance with the requirements of FRS 102 grants received from Homes England (previously the Homes and Communities Agency) are held within creditors as deferred grants and amortised over the useful life of the properties.
The Society is a company is limited by guarantee, not having a share capital and consequently the liability of members is limited, subject to an undertaking by each member to contribute to the net assets or liabilities of the company on winding up such amounts as may be required not exceeding £1.
The members of the Society are the Executive Committee, the sub-committees and the house committees. The total number of members at 31 March 2022 was 6 (2021 - 7)
There were no financial committments at the year end (2021 nil).
At the reporting end date the company had outstanding commitments for future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases, as follows:
In common with many businesses of our size and nature we use our auditor to assist with the preparation of the financial statements .