The Eighty-Eighth Annual Report of the Council of St Dunstan’s
31st March 2003
CHAIRMAN’S FOREWORD TO THE ANNUAL REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 2002/2003
It is with great pleasure that I am, once again, able to inform you that St Dunstan’s has had an extremely successful year.
The change in our constitution in 2000, which has widened our admissions criteria, has brought about many new challenges for the Organisation, both in its service provision and also the way in which we organise the day-to-day business of the Charity. This change in emphasis is best encapsulated by our new strap line, which has changed from “Caring for blind ex-Service men and women” to “Creating an independent future for blind ex-Service men and women”.
What I also find encouraging is the fact that the number of new St Dunstaners receiving our support is steadily increasing year on year. This year, a total of 163 new St Dunstaners were accepted and now receive the high standard of care and rehabilitation that we offer. I am also satisfied that the structural provisions that St Dunstan’s has made will enable many more St Dunstaners to receive the same level of care well into the future.
The internal development of the Organisation has also moved forward dramatically. I was delighted that the Charity received Investors in People accreditation in April 2002. If we are really to be believed when we say, “our people are our greatest asset” we need to be able to demonstrate that we value them and invest in them for the benefit of St Dunstan's and St Dunstaners.
New organisational structures, together with improved planning and communication processes have all been implemented since we were accredited. These changes are fundamental for the future development of the Charity and we are confident that re-accreditation standards will be reached this October.
The heart of St Dunstan’s lies in the individuals, both St Dunstaners and staff alike, who overcome challenges to recreate a real sense of independence. It is through their spirit and determination that the philosophy of St Dunstan’s is clearly revealed. With this in mind, I have found it heartening that the Charity has had considerable benefit from St Dunstaners actively volunteering their support, with the aim of maximising public awareness. The pioneering schools programme, currently being rolled out across the Country, has been hugely successful in linking the history and the activities of St Dunstan’s to the national curriculum. This programme, together with the Blind Ambition Campaign could not be a better demonstration. Challenges such as speed records, balloon piloting, parachute jumping and even clay pigeon shooting have all been championed by individual St Dunstaners.
These amazing feats have allowed the public to see the ability not the disability of the blind and visually impaired, ultimately revealing the spirit that is ‘St Dunstan’s.’
Report of the Council of St Dunstan’s
Members of the Council have pleasure in presenting their report and financial statements for the year ended 31st March 2003.
Objects of the Charity
To create an independent future for blind ex-Service men and women.
Since 1915 St Dunstan’s has provided quality care and rehabilitation for ex-Servicemen and women blinded in action. This role widened in 2000 with a change in constitution, which has enabled St Dunstan’s to support all blind ex-Service men and women – whether blinded in action or through accident, disease or due to old age.
Wherever possible, St Dunstan’s attempts to enable the blind and visually impaired to live independently in their own communities. Together with its training and rehabilitation services St Dunstan’s also provides full respite, nursing and residential care at its National Centre in Ovingdean, near Brighton.
Organisation, Governance and Internal Control
St Dunstan’s is a registered charity and a company limited by guarantee. It is governed by its Memorandum and Articles of Association.
The Charity Commission approved the fundamental change in constitution with the proviso that funds as at that date were to be ‘ring fenced’ in a Restricted Fund. Only St Dunstaners whose blindness was attributable to injury during their military service will benefit from the “Restricted Fund”. All voluntary income received since that date is placed into an “Unrestricted Fund” and applied to the new objectives of the Charity, unless a prior restriction has been placed on that income.
St Dunstan’s is governed by the Council (Trustees) (names listed on the outside cover together with legal and administrative information). The President, Chairman, Vice Chairman and Treasurer who are all ex-officio members of the Council are elected annually by the Council. The Governors and Members of St Dunstan’s elect all Council Members at the AGM. The Council is supported by the Chief Executive and the Senior Management Team who are responsible for the day-to-day management of the Organisation.
The Council continues to have a formal risk management process to assess business risks and implement risk management strategies. This involves identifying the types of risks the Charity faces, prioritising them in terms of potential impact and likelihood of occurrence and identifying means of mitigating the risks. As part of this process, the adequacy of the Charity’s internal controls is regularly reviewed. The Council is pleased to report that the Charity’s internal financial controls conform to guidelines issued by the Charity Commission
Review of Activities and Future Development
St Dunstan’s has a team of Welfare Officers who regularly visit to assess the changing situation of each St Dunstaner so that further training, financial assistance or pastoral care can be provided whenever and wherever needed. St Dunstan’s also assists in meeting housing needs and currently provides housing for over three hundred St Dunstaners and their families. During 2002/2003 St Dunstan’s spent £1.87 million purchasing new houses and a further £1.1 million maintaining existing houses and providing welfare and medical equipment for St Dunstaners, their families and dependants.
The National Centre in Ovingdean, Brighton is the focus for all training and rehabilitation support. Last year’s running costs of £4.7 million reflect the quality of these services and the Centre itself has recently completed a comprehensive improvement programme. In addition to refurbished accommodation, St Dunstan’s has now upgraded its facilities in the IT Training Suite, Craft Workshop, Training Kitchen, Sports Hall, Gym and Swimming Pool. With 108 beds the National Centre is well equipped to support St Dunstaners and their carers with full nursing and residential care needs.
St Dunstan’s Rehabilitation and Training provides a firm foundation in the practicalities of daily living skills and creates springboards to achieve skills such as computer keyboard proficiency, unaided outdoor travel and cooking. St Dunstan’s also provides a diverse range of practical aids that make independence a reality for St Dunstaners. These range from technologically sophisticated devices such as audio computers, screen readers and bar code scanners to talking watches and liquid level indicators.
The Charity’s commitments continue to grow each year as we enrol a progressively increasing number of St Dunstaners. In all cases these new St Dunstaners are former active Service men and women who have fallen victim to Service related injury, accident or age related blindness. The trauma that they experience may be less daunting than that faced by their war-time colleagues but they require the same level of support and training to restore their independence and self confidence.
The Charity is constantly adapting to meet these ever changing demands. By developing a planned increase in the scale and utilisation of resources St Dunstan’s aims to maintain its leading edge status well into the 21st century. In pursuit of securing St Dunstan’s future the Senior Management Team is developing strategic plans that will be presented to the Trustees later this year.
St Dunstan’s has also made a strategic commitment to raising the profile of St Dunstan’s to all ex-Service men and women, the wider public and decision-makers. Investment in this area has significantly raised awareness of those who need St Dunstan’s support. Following the establishment of a fully functional Communications Department, with Campaigns such as ‘Blind Ambition’, The St Dunstan’s Schools Educational Programme as well as the re-launch of its new accessible web site and a bi-annual newsletter. St Dunstan’s is confident that public awareness levels are increasing all the time.
Financial Results
The attached financial statements have been prepared to comply with the requirements of the Statement of Recommended Practice (the Charities SORP) issued in October 2000.
Total Incoming Resources of £15,127,000 compares with the previous year’s figure of £15,658,000, a decrease of 3.4%. Donations of £2,970,000 are £640,000 lower than the previous year, a reflection on the challenging economic environment and the changing emphasis of the Fundraising department. St Dunstan’s has changed its approach to direct appeals for donations and is also trying to encourage younger supporters to establish a long-term commitment, both of which have had an effect on costs and returns. Legacies receivable of £5,661,000 are £119,000 higher than the previous year.
Total Resources Expended of £14,676,000 are 12% up on the previous year’s figure of £13,153,000. This is due partly to reduced fundraising activity in the previous year and the increased activity of the Charity caused by the increasing number of St Dunstaners admitted each year. Charitable expenditure accounts for 67% of the increase in costs, over half of that being increases in grants to beneficiaries.
All other recognised gains and losses amounted to a net loss of £8,514,000 for the year (2002: £2,124,000 gain), attributable to a reduction in the value of investments held in the stock market and mitigated in part by gains made by residential property investments.
Overall, fund balances decreased in the year by £8,063,000 (2002: £4,629,000 increase) and the Charity’s total funds carried forward were £114,502,000, of which £98,960,000 (86.4%) is restricted for the benefit of those St Dunstaners blinded in war or warlike conflict.
Contributions to other UK charities totalled £24,000, of which £23,000 was to organisations active in the field of blindness and the care of ex-Service men and women.
Financial Policy and Reserves
Following the widening of the Charity’s constitution on 2nd March 2000 to include the care of all blind ex-Service men and women irrespective of the cause of their visual impairment, the Charity Commission required that all reserves held at that date be “ring fenced” in a newly-created Restricted Fund. This Fund is known as the Sir Arthur Pearson Restricted Fund, and is for the benefit of those St Dunstaners blinded as a result of war or warlike conflict.
Part of St Dunstan’s reserves policy is to retain sufficient reserves in the Sir Arthur Pearson Restricted Fund to ensure life long care for present and future war-blinded St Dunstaners. Members of the Council are pleased to report that there are expected to be sufficient reserves in this Fund to provide for the lifelong care of those St Dunstaners blinded as a result of war or warlike conflict. As a result St Dunstan’s is no longer fundraising for the Sir Arthur Pearson Restricted Fund.
It is anticipated that the number of admissions will follow the trend of recent years and increase incrementally year on year, and that the vast majority of these admissions will be beneficiaries of the new ‘Unrestricted’ fund. This year there were 163 (2002: 131) new St Dunstaners admitted to the Charity, 160 (2002: 124) of these falling into the ‘non-war blinded’ category. This growth increases the overall liabilities of the Charity by approximately £3m each year, as we provide life long care for new St Dunstaners who also served their country and who have become blind in later life. The second part of St Dunstan’s reserves policy is thus to grow the reserves in the Unrestricted fund to achieve the same level of life long cover for both the existing and the anticipated intake of new St Dunstaners.
Investment Policy
The Charity’s investment portfolio is managed as a fully discretionary portfolio by Barclays Global Investors. St Dunstan’s does not impose any social or ethical restrictions upon the fund managers, preferring to maximise the opportunities available to them to achieve the desired performance. Barclays Global Investors report quarterly to the Finance and General Purposes committee who review both the results for the previous three months and longer term performance. An independent report is provided by the WM Company, which monitors the performance of the fund and reports annually to the Finance and General Purposes Committee.
St Dunstan’s has adopted a total return policy for its investment portfolio. The objective of the investment policy is to obtain a reasonable level of income balanced with capital growth, measured against agreed benchmarks. For the year ended 31st March 2003, the fund achieved a return of –13.9% compared to the benchmark of –15.6%. Income generated amounted to £3.1m (2002 £3.3m), and the value of the investment portfolio held by Barclays Global Investors fell by £9.6m to £77.2m.
The holding of above-par gilts within five years of redemption is avoided so that high income is not acquired at the expense of future capital losses.
The portfolio asset allocation and benchmarks are as follows: -
UK Equities 49% FTSE All Share
Overseas Equities 13% FTSE AW Developed ex UK
UK Bonds 35.5% FTSE British Govt All Stocks
Cash 2.5% LIBID £
St Dunstan’s retains as investments certain residential properties originally bought to be occupied by St Dunstaners. These investment properties have been valued at the year-end at £14,848,927, and generated £543,773 rental income during the year.
Asset allocation decisions are taken by the Finance and General Purposes Committee.
Tangible Fixed Assets
Included in the freehold cost of properties shown in Note 6 is the net book value of St Dunstan’s Centre at Ovingdean near Brighton at £2,516,000 and also that of the Headquarters building at Harcourt Street, London W1 at £1,311,000.
The balance of the freehold cost and all the long leasehold cost relates to dwellings occupied by beneficiaries. The Trustees believe that the value of the beneficiary dwellings is in excess of their net book value.
Employees
The Charity has continued to monitor and control the level of staff salaries, using a job evaluation mechanism under the guidance of independent professional consultants. St Dunstan’s also provides a final salary pension scheme, available to all employees.
Continuous professional development for professional staff and appropriate job-related development for all staff is supported in order to maintain the provision of the highest level of care for beneficiaries.
St Dunstan’s provides regular information to staff by a variety of means including monthly team briefing, a staff newsletter and staff meetings with the Chief Executive. Investors in People accreditation was gained in 2002.
Health and safety programmes continue to be accorded a high priority throughout the organisation. The structured staff occupational health programme is being continued in order to comply with the Charity’s duty of care.
St Dunstan’s supports the employment of disabled persons in positions suited to their own particular abilities, and the ethos of the Disabled Discrimination Act (1995), by actively promoting non-discriminatory processes for recruitment, promotion, training and terms and conditions of employment.
The Charity will make reasonable adjustments for employees who become disabled in the course of their duties and wherever possible seek to provide continuing employment. The special needs of all disabled persons are carefully examined in order to ensure that they are not unjustifiably discriminated against on the grounds of their disability.
Members of the Council
Council Members receive no remuneration for their services as Trustees of St Dunstan’s.
Approved by the Council on 31st July 2003 and
signed on its behalf by the Chairman of the Trustees Captain Michael Gordon-Lennox
Responsibilities of the Council of St Dunstan’s
Company law requires the Members of the Council to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of St Dunstan’s at the end of the year and of its financial activities for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the Members of the Council 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 financial statements;
- prepare the financial statements on the going-concern basis unless it is inappropriate to assume St Dunstan’s will continue its operations.
Members of the Council are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose, with reasonable accuracy at any time, the financial position of St Dunstan’s and to enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 1985. They are responsible for safeguarding the assets of St Dunstan’s and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud or other irregularities.
We have audited the financial statements of St Dunstan’s for the year ended 31 March 2003 which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities, the Balance Sheet, Cash Flow Statement and the related notes. These financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention as modified by the revaluation of certain fixed assets and the accounting policies set out therein.
This report is made solely to the company’s members, as a body, in accordance with Section 235 of the Companies Act 1985. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the company’s members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the company and the company’s members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinion we have formed.
Respective responsibilities of the directors and auditors
The responsibilities of the directors, who are also the charity trustees for the purposes of charity law, for preparing the Annual Report of the Council and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards are set out in the Statement of Responsibilities of the Council.
Our responsibility is to audit the financial statements in accordance with relevant legal and regulatory requirements and United Kingdom Auditing Standards.
We report to you our opinion as to whether the financial statements give a true and fair view and are properly prepared in accordance with the Companies Act 1985. We also report to you if, in our opinion, the Annual Report of the Council is not consistent with the financial statements, if the charitable company has not kept proper accounting records, if we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit, or if information specified by law regarding directors’ remuneration and transactions with the charitable company is not disclosed.
We read other information contained in the Chairman’s statement and consider whether it is consistent with the audited financial statements. We consider the implications for our report if we become aware of any apparent misstatements or material inconsistencies with the financial statements. Our responsibilities do not extend to any other information.
Basis of opinion
We conducted our audit in accordance with United Kingdom Auditing Standards issued by the Auditing Practices Board. An audit includes examination, on a test basis, of evidence relevant to the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. It also includes an assessment of the significant estimates and judgments made by the directors in the preparation of the financial statements, and of whether the accounting policies are appropriate to the charitable company’s circumstances, consistently applied and adequately disclosed.
We planned and performed our audit so as to obtain all information and explanations which we considered necessary in order to provide us with sufficient evidence to give reasonable assurance as to whether the financial statements are free from material misstatement, whether caused by fraud or other irregularity or error. In forming our opinion we also evaluated the overall adequacy of the presentation of information in the financial statements
Unqualified opinion
In our opinion the financial statements give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company as at 31 March 2003 and of its incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure, for the year then ended and have been properly prepared in accordance with the Companies Act 1985.
Reports 1-4
Reports 5-9
Statement of Financial Activities
Staff Retirement Benefit Scheme
St. Dunstan Board