CHURCH OF ENGLAND
ST JOHN’S CHURCH, FELBRIDGE
ANNUAL REPORT 2013
ANNUAL REPORT
and
FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
of the
THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL
OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH OF ST JOHN'S FELBRIDGE
Registered Charity number 1132388
For the year ended 31 December 2013
______
CONTENTS
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL, 2ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION 2
REVIEW OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE PCC 3
RISK ASSESSMENT 3
FINANCIAL REVIEW 4
STATEMENT OF THE PCC’S RESPONSIBILITIES 5
INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S REPORT 6
STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES 7
BALANCE SHEET...... 8
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS...... 9-15
St John’s Church, Felbridge
Vicar The Revd Mark Francis, (from 22 October 2013) The Vicarage,
8 The Glebe, Felbridge, East Grinstead RH19 2QT
Independent Examiner: Mr Michael Robinson, FCCA, ACA. Brooks & Co. Chartered Accountants, Hampton House, High Street, East Grinstead, RH19 3AW
Bankers: NatWest plc, 15, London Road, EG, RH19 1GP
The P.C.C. of the Parish of St John's Felbridge is a Registered Charity, number 1132388 Page 25
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL of
ST JOHN'S FELBRIDGE, FOR THE YEAR ENDING 31 DECEMBER 2013
The Parochial Church Council (PCC) have pleasure in presenting their report and the Financial Statements of the Charity for the year ended 31st December 2013. The Financial Statements have been prepared in accordance with the policies set out on page 9 and comply with the Church Accounting Regulations 2006 and applicable law.
ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION
The parish is a charity and has, since September 2009, been registered with the Charity Commission, within the meaning of the Charities Act 2011. Charity registration number: 1132388.
During the year, the following served as members of the Parochial Church Council (PCC) and as Trustees:
Vicar: Mark Francis (Chairman from 22/10/13)
Wardens: Andy Brown (from Easter Vestry Meeting 2011)
Phil Tadman (from Easter Vestry Meeting 2012)
Representatives on the Deanery Synod: Peter Burton (until APCM 2014)
Barbara Cottier (until APCM 2014)
Don Ely (until APCM 2014)
Philip Tadman (until APCM 2014)
Elected members: Joan Bateman (until APCM 2016)
Anne Butler (until APCM 2015)
Sarah Francis (until APCM 2016)
Chris Saunders (until APCM 2015)
Jessica Stopp (until APCM 2014)
Brenda Wilkinson (until APCM 2014)
Gordon Wilkinson (until APCM 2014)
Lis Woolley (until APCM 2014)
Secretary: Sheila Drury
Structure, governance and management
Membership of the PCC is determined under the Church Representation Rules and consists of certain ex-officio members (the incumbent/priest-in-charge, curate, lay readers licensed to officiate in the church), the churchwardens and members of the Deanery, Diocesan or General Synods and nine members of the church who are elected at the Annual Parochial Church Meeting (APCM). Members are warmly encouraged to stand for election to the PCC, and we try to ensure a balance of skills and experience where
possible. The 2013 Easter Vestry Meeting and APCM took place on 24th March 2013.
Objectives and activities
The primary objective of St John’s PCC is the promotion of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to the doctrines and practices of the Church of England, and our mission statement is 'to win and build followers of Jesus Christ’. The PCC has the responsibility of cooperating with the Vicar, the Revd Mark Francis in promoting in the ecclesiastical parish the whole mission of the Church pastoral, evangelistic, social and ecumenical. The PCC has given consideration to the Charity Commissions general guidance on public benefit under Section 17 of the 2011 Charities Act.
Electoral Roll and Church attendance
Following a full revision of the Electoral Roll there were 145 (176) people on the ER at 24th March 2013, 49 (56) of whom were resident within the parish. Six (Two) new member were added during the year. The full revision resulted in a ER which is more reflective of regular commitment to St John’s, as names were removed due to death and members moving since the last full revision in 2008. The average weekly attendance, counted during October and November 2013, was 95 (86) adults and 14 (13) children, but this number increased on special Sundays such as the new Vicar’s first Sunday, and Remembrance Sunday.
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL of
ST JOHN'S FELBRIDGE, FOR THE YEAR ENDING 31 DECEMBER 2013
REVIEW OF THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE PCC
(Sheila Drury, Secretary)
At the Vestry meeting in 2013 Phil Tadman and Andy Brown were re-elected as church wardens and at the APCM meeting following this, 2 of the 3 vacancies for the PCC were filled by Joan Bateman and Sarah Francis who were each elected for 3 years. This therefore gave a total number of PCC members for the year of 13. Andy Brown and Phil Tadman, in the absence of a Vicar for most of the year, agreed to act as joint Chairmen of the PCC until a new Vicar was appointed. This happened in October when the Rev Mark Francis was appointed as our Vicar. Michael Peach attended the PCC meetings also until he left St John’s in the summer to take up his new post. Other elections made by the PCC were David Legg as electoral roll officer, Chris Saunders as treasurer and Sheila Drury as secretary. The PCC met 6 times with an average attendance of 13.
PCC meetings always begin with a Bible reading and a time of prayer in order to seek the Lord’s guidance in its discussions. A review of the church’s finances takes place at each meeting, and each of the team leaders presents a report of the activities of that team in the preceding 2 months.
The main concern for the PCC over the year until October has been the continued organisation of the church in the absence of a full-time vicar, and the arrangements for the appointment of a new vicar. Discussions took place with the Bishop of Croydon, a parish profile was produced along with a clear description of the type of person it was hoped to appoint, and advertisements were placed. The PCC also organised a day of prayer on 5th July to support the selection of the right person. Eventually, the Rev Mark Francis was appointed to take up the post and his licensing service took place on 22nd October. Various events were arranged to welcome Mark and his family to our parish.
Another item which has preoccupied the PCC, as in previous years, has been the car park. However by the end of December all the permissions had been granted, the finances settled and arrangements were finally in place for the work to be done. This will make the area much safer for the congregation and any visitors, as it will be lit as well as paved.
The future of the parish magazine was discussed at several meetings along with the need to update our methods of communicating with the parish. Greater use of the internet and the church website was seen as the way forward and to this end the website has been updated.
Various new ways forward have also been discussed recently following the survey of the church congregation initiated by Mark in November. It was found that we have a strong congregation but in line with our mission statement we would like to grow in numbers, so the PCC has been considering ways in which we can maximise the use of the church buildings and also free up Mark and others for the task of greater evangelisation. To this end the PCC agreed that a church administrator should be appointed to help with administrative tasks.
Finally, with our quinquennial review due this year, it has been necessary to appoint a new church architect as the architect previously used has now retired. To this end research took place and a new architect has now been appointed.
It has been a very full year for the PCC, who would like to express their thanks to Andy, Phil and Don for all that they did to maintain the smooth running of all the services, as well as the administration of all the other necessary tasks.
RISK ASSESSMENT
St John’s Church has established a Risk Management Process to identify and manage the risks to which the Church is exposed. The PCC supports a four-stage Risk Management Process which involves (1) identifying the potential risks to which St John's is exposed and logging them in a Risk Register; (2) an assessment of the potential impact and probability of those risks crystallising; (3) an agreement that the high-level risks will have appropriate controls or actions plans to mitigate them; and (4) an ongoing Monitoring Process to review the existing/new risks as well as the progress with respect to completing the high-level risk action plans. The key risk groups to which St John’s is potentially exposed are:
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL,
ST JOHN'S FELBRIDGE, FOR THE YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 2013
· Financial
· Health & Safety
· Reputation
· Operational
· Security
· Legal (Statutory Requirements)
· People
FINANCIAL REVIEW
The report and accounts for 2013 are displayed on the Church notice board prior to the APCM. They record continued stability in the financial position of St. John’s. Below is a summary of the main features of the financial activity during 2013.
Income:
1 Incoming resources for 2013 totalled £118,102 compared with £134,364 in 2012. In 2013 this was made up of restricted £36,819 (2012 £45,574) and unrestricted £81,283 (2012 £88,790) giving.
2 Restricted giving in 2013 of £36,819 (£45,574) in 2012) was therefore £8,755 (19%) less than in 2012 due primarily to commitments to restricted giving for staffing coming to an end in 2013.
3 There were a number of ways in which people made financial contributions, including through cash offerings, the envelope scheme and standing orders. Many of the donations were made tax effectively which enabled tax repayments totalling £16,442 (2012 £19,639) to be reclaimed in relation to Gift Aid donations. The PCC encourages tax-effective giving and recommends all income and capital gains tax payers to review their method of giving to ensure their donations are tax efficient. As from 6th April 2013 St John’s has been eligible to receive extra payments from HMRC for small cash donations as a result of the Small Charitable Donations Act 2012. If any reader is currently giving by non tax-efficient means and wish to consider tax-efficient methods, then please contact one of the team mentioned below. However, less people pay income tax as the tax free allowance is now £10,000
Expenditure:
Total expenditure for the year was £112,573 (2012 £276,775). The large extra expenditure item in 2012 was for the church hall refurbishment, a one-off item costing £152,880. The sum of £55,697 (2012 £53,585) was paid to the Diocese under the Fairer Shares Scheme to cover clergy and other diocesan costs. This amount covers the housing, stipend and pension costs of the clergy, and a sum for diocesan central costs, clergy training and a contribution to national church funds. Every three years our contribution is reviewed, and the review in 2011 produced a reduction in the diocesan contribution for 2013.
Net result
Net incoming resources for the year of £5,529 (2012 deficit £142,411). The balance of resources (net assets) at the end of 2013 was £193,319 (2012 £187,790).
Funds
The undesignated funds available for the general purposes of the church at the end of 2013 were £15,246 (2012 £17,034) the decrease in general funds being partly due to the use of general funds to ensure there were no restricted or designated funds in deficit at the end of 2013. We give thanks to God for being able to fund an Associate Minister, Michael Peach, from July 2009 to September 2013. It is encouraging to report net incoming funds during 2013, a year which included a vacancy for almost 10 months. The level of funds at the end of 2013 will help the parish achieve its mission projects in the future.
At the end of 2013 restricted funds totalled £3,884 (2012 £1,391) and unrestricted funds totalled £189,435 (2012 £186,399).
The Future
In January 2014 the PCC agreed budget commitments totalling £114,610 for 2014 (2013 £106,052) excluding restricted items. The budget was agreed by the PCC to progress the work and mission of the church, noting our current commitments, our desire to reach out to the parish and beyond with the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, and with an expectation that new challenges will be grasped, and projects progressed under the leadership of the new Vicar, the Revd. Mark Francis, following his licensing by the Bishop of Southwark on 22nd October 2013.
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL,
ST JOHN'S FELBRIDGE, FOR THE YEAR ENDING DECEMBER 2013
Reserves Policy
The PCC review their reserves at most of their meetings, and with effect from 2008 an annual transfer of £5000 has been made from the General Fund to the Fabric/Quinquennial Fund in anticipation of any significant costs, such as resulting from the quinquennial inspections. The next survey is due in April 2014.
Investment Policy
The PCC invest funds with the CBF Church of England deposit fund as they seek to keep any surplus liquid funds in short-term deposits, which can be readily available.
The PCC are grateful for the work of the Finance Team, being Peter Burton, Chris Saunders (Treasurer), and Phil Tadman (Chairman). The Finance Team appreciate the engagement of the PCC in finance matters, and the support of others with particular roles relating to the finance of the church. These include the Sidespeople, the communications team, fundraising team and church Bookstall, and all who contribute to St John’s, and its stewardship of resources entrusted to the PCC.