3. Objective a to Explore Issues Relevant to Regeneration Charities 4

Voluntary and Community Action Trafford Ltd

Review Visit Report

Visit date: 12th December 2006

Report version: Final 01/02/07 Report version: Final 01/02/07 Contents Page

1. Introduction...... 1

2. Charity Profile...... 2

3. Objective A – To explore issues relevant to regeneration charities...... 4

4. Objective B – To identify good practice and innovation in operation at the charity

5. Objective C – To review key aspects relating to the charity’s governance...... 8

Charity Action Plan...... 9

This report was compiled on the basis of information provided to Commission staff before, during and after the visit to the charity on the date shown. Whilst the Commission has taken care to ensure the accuracy of the report and that it adequately reflects the charity’s activities, we cannot guarantee the accuracy of the information received upon which this report is based.

© Crown copyright 2007. This report may be reproduced free of charge in any format or medium provided that it is reproduced accurately and not used in a misleading context. The material must be acknowledged as Crown copyright and the title of the report specified.

Report version: Final 01/02/07 Introduction

This report has been prepared by the Charity other bodies. In particular, we would Commission (‘the Commission’) following a recommend the following sources of Review Visit to Voluntary and Community information: Action Trafford Ltd on 12th December 2006.  The Commission’s guidance1 CC3 The The Review Visit was conducted by the Essential Trustee: what you need to know; following Commission staff: Neil Darlow and Rachel Stratford.  CC60 Hallmarks of an Effective Charity;  CC30 Finding New Trustees - What The Charity was represented by: Christine charities need to know; Aspinall (Chair), Evelyn Cosham (Treasurer), Colin Barson (Chief Executive), Dave Nunns  Guidance from The National Hub of (Project Development Manager) and Rose Expertise in Governance: Good Thompson (Office Manager). Governance: a Code for the Voluntary and Community Sector2; A Review Visit is one of the primary methods  Guidance from the UK Workforce Hub: The that the Commission uses to engage in National Occupational Standards for dialogue with the charitable sector. The trustees and management committee purpose is to: members3;  Ensure compliance with the legal  Guidance from HM Revenue & Customs framework within which the charity Charities4 operates; All of these publications signpost to further  Identify evidence of good practices sources of information. already in place and advise on areas for improvement; As far as it is compatible with the Commission’s  Learn about how charities in different regulatory role, the Commission intends Review parts of the charitable sector operate, and Visits to be based on co-operation between the what issues are currently influencing or charity and the Commission. We will seek to concerning them. agree Recommendations with the charity and try to ensure that any deadlines for action are A Review Visit cannot cover every aspect of reasonable. The Commission can provide a charity. It is instead based around agreed further guidance if the trustees require it. objectives, which relate either to particular issues arising from our analysis of The charity confirmed that it was happy for background information on the charity, or to information from the report to be shared with specific projects/interests of the Commission. umbrella bodies where relevant.

For this reason, a Review Visit should not be regarded as an audit or an inspection; nor does it provide an accreditation. Nor is the report intended to be a full record of all the issues or of the information considered or discussed.

The Commission aims to be a proportionate 1 All our guidance and publications are available on regulator: the report only addresses those our website www.charitycommission.gov.uk. matters which the Commission identifies as 2 Published by the NCVO on behalf of the Hub and being of genuine regulatory concern or of available on the Governance Hub website significant regulatory interest. www.governancehub.org.uk. 3 Published by the NCVO Publications on behalf of In addition to any sources of information the Hub and available on the UK Workforce Hub signposted in the report, we would encourage website charities to take advantage of the wide range http://www.ukworkforcehub.org.uk/DisplayPage.asp ?pageid=8702. of advice and guidance available to the 4 charitable sector from the Commission and HM Revenue & Customs Charities website http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/charities/index.htm. Report version: Final 01/02/07 1. Charity Profile

2.1 Charity Details

Charity Name: Voluntary and Community Action Trafford Ltd

Registration Number: 1098222

Governing document: Memorandum and Articles of Association incorporated 20 March 2002 as amended by special resolution dated 5 June 2003

Objects: a) to promote for the benefit of the community in Trafford Metropolitan Borough, without distinction of sex, race, sexual orientation, disability, or of political or religious opinion, any charitable purpose, in the area of benefit and in particular the advancement of education, the furtherance of health and the relief of poverty sickness and distress; b) to promote and organise co-operation in the achievement of the above purposes and to that end bring together in council representatives of the statutory authorities and voluntary organisations engaged in furtherance of the above purposes within the area of benefit; c) the promotion for the public benefit of urban regeneration in areas of social and economic deprivation in Trafford by the following means: 1) the relief of poverty 2) the relief of unemployment 3) the advancement of education, training or retraining, particularly amongst unemployed people and providing unemployed people with work experience 4) the creation of training and employment opportunities by the provision of workspace buildings and or land for use on favourable terms 5) the maintenance or provision of public amenities 6) the provision of recreational facilities for the public at large or those who be reason of their youth, age or infirmity or disablement poverty or social and economic disadvantage have need of such facilities 7) such other means as may from time to time be determined subject to prior consent from the Charity Commission; d) develop the capacity and skills of the members of the socially and economically or socially disadvantaged communities in Trafford in such a way that they are better able to identify and help to meet their needs and to participate more fully in society.

2.2 Management & other structures: The directors of the charitable company are referred to as ‘trustees’ throughout this report. responsible for the management and Day to day management is delegated to the administration of the charity and are the Chief Executive. Three sub groups are in charity trustees for the purpose of section place: Finance, Physical Resources and 97(1) of the Charities Act 1993: they are Policies. The charity has eleven staff.

2.3 Background information: The charity was formed following a change of set up a steering group in 1998. VCAT was power in the local council, which decided to incorporated as a company limited by develop the voluntary sector in Trafford and guarantee in March 2002 and registered as a

Report version: Final 01/02/07 charity in June 2003. It is based in the Sale complexity of their tasks and in meeting area of Trafford. The charity’s Aims and their growing responsibilities and Objectives statement reads “We aim to obligations imposed by diverse develop an effective and highly skilled legislations. voluntary and community sector, capable of  Community Development: To enable making a strong contribution towards a fair communities to identify local solutions to and open society in Trafford. In working local problems through research capacity towards this aim, we have four priorities and building and group development. therefore four key areas of work:  Funding Support: To ensure that local  Volunteer Development: To create a more voluntary and community groups are more active community across Trafford by able to maximise resources available to supporting those who work with volunteers them by increasing knowledge of available to improve their work, helping to increase resources and increasing the ability of the numbers of people volunteering and groups to access and manage potential improving their experiences of funds.” volunteering. In the year ended 31st March 2006, the  Committee Development: To enable charity’s income was £484,310 and its committees to cope with the growing expenditure was £343,932.

Report version: Final 01/02/07 2. Objective A – To explore issues relevant to regeneration charities

Following changes to the format of the and NCVO. VCAT’s work does not duplicate Review Visit programme, many of our visits, that of Trafford CVS, which runs a volunteer as well as continuing to aim at benefiting the centre. VCAT does sometimes work in individual charities concerned, are also part collaboration with CVSs and NAVCA. of wider projects which may lead to the publication of topical or sector reports. In the The charity was formed following a change of case of this review visit, we are collating power in the local council, which decided to information in order to undertake an analysis develop the voluntary sector in Trafford and set of those charities that have registered with an up a steering group in 1998. VCAT was formed Urban and Rural Regeneration charitable as a company in 2002 and registered as a purpose5 (together with a sample of some charity the following year. charities that undertake regeneration type activities without express regeneration VCAT helps to coordinate some physical objects) in order to inform the working regeneration activity, through strategic practices of the Commission in the area of partnerships and by endorsing infrastructural regeneration. developments. It works closely with organisations like the Groundwork Trust. The A Commission report is accessible on our Lottery Fair Share funds the development of website: The Regeneration game is the first community centres in the locality, and VCAT is review of regeneration charities in England often a secondary partner in such schemes. and Wales. At a time when the Government is reviewing the role of the third sector in The main frontline activity undertaken by the social and economic regeneration, the report charity is along the lines of development of the looks at the 250 organisations which adopted voluntary sector and community capacity regeneration as a purpose since it was first building. Additionally, there are several recognised as charitable in 1999, and “managed projects” based on individual funding analyses the performance of these charities streams. These include a mental health against the charitable sector as a whole. advocacy service, a user led mental health research project, a 50+ involvement project and a family support network.

Activities and objects The charity representatives said that they have not encountered any instances where the Voluntary and Community Action Trafford Ltd charitable objects have hindered their plans (VCAT) is perhaps unusual among the and activities. The trustees consider all sample of regeneration charities visited by proposals against the charity’s activities. They the Commission in that its objects are wide- consider regeneration and community capacity ranging, encompassing not only urban building to be inseparable. regeneration but also community capacity building and wider charitable purposes including supporting the voluntary sector. In this regard, the charity representatives Beneficiaries confirmed that although some of its objects are similar to those of a Council for Voluntary Being formed in the 1970s as an amalgamation Service, the charity is not a CVS and is not of four towns, Trafford is a diverse borough, affiliated to the National Association for with several areas of deprivation alongside Voluntary and Community Action (NAVCA). more affluent areas. Two wards are particularly Instead, it is affiliated to Community Matters disadvantaged, one being in the bottom 3% and the other in the bottom 5% nationally. The 5 The Commission recognised Urban & Rural general perception of Trafford is quite affluent, Regeneration as a charitable purpose in its own with a vibrant private sector including the right in 1999. Trafford Centre and Old Trafford stadium, but

Report version: Final 01/02/07 this does not assist in obtaining funding for voluntary organisations through the funding the large deprived areas in the borough. minefield.

The area that the charity serves is urban, but it does receive some funding from rural regeneration sources since it lies adjacent to Funding rural areas with transport links to the borough. The charity receives its funding from a diverse portfolio of sources, and its representatives Trafford borough is diverse with a lot of faith- considered that funders do not appear to based activity, and contains many people appreciate the additional stress and operational interested in voluntary work and trusteeship. problems caused by delays in the funding No particular groups have been found difficult process. They called for the Charity to reach, and all faith groups will access the Commission to get involved and help charities charity’s services and work in partnership in a more practical way. with it. The charity aims to develop an inter- faith network and has bid for funding to do this. Partnerships In common with other areas, drugs and gun crime have become more prevalent in recent VCAT is the lead organisation in the Trafford years, leading to regeneration issues. ChangeUp Consortium and works in partnership with local mental health organisations and NHS Trusts. VCAT also sits on the executive body of the LSP. Staff and volunteers The charity representatives expressed the view The charity has eleven staff including some that a plethora of umbrella bodies at a national who work part time. VCAT itself does not level leads to duplication of effort and over- tend to have volunteers working directly for regulation and that some rationalisation would the charity, but volunteers are involved in the be desirable. various managed projects.

Public service delivery Assets The charity operates on service level The charity occupies its premises, based in a agreements with those commissioning its large house in Sale, on a lease being services. The charity representatives negotiated with the local authority. The commented that it is difficult to achieve full cost building was redeveloped to include a recovery and that some council officers have a learning centre and other facilities for the poor understanding of the voluntary and community. The trustees plan to convert community sector. some rooms into offices to sub-let to provide an additional source of income.

Social enterprise

Issues Community ownership is viewed by the charity representatives as key to social enterprise. Apart from general funding issues, discussed They feel that charities doing valuable, below, the charity representatives mentioned entrepreneurial work that do not make a profit the difficulty for smaller voluntary are unjustly excluded from various definitions of organisations in negotiating with the local social enterprise. For the sector to be authority. With all arrangements on a contract successful in the future, a mixture of funding basis, smaller voluntary groups find it difficult and trading is required. to deal with the complex funding frameworks. Part of VCAT’s role is to support other Exit strategies

Report version: Final 01/02/07 Some of the charity’s projects are necessarily In general, they have found that charities such time limited but the charity is viewed as a as VCAT have been more supportive of small long term organisation. At present the charity voluntary organisations than have the employs a community engagement worker Commission or umbrella bodies. The but in the long term it is hoped that the Commission’s remit is to a large extent community will have the necessary capacity constrained by legislation and its role as a to initiate and manage projects. regulator and should be developed to take a forward leadership role on behalf of the voluntary and community sector.

The Charity Commission They are interested to see how the Commission will go about defining public benefit following The charity representatives commented that the introduction of the Charities Act 2006. This they have successfully run the charity without and other news on the Act is available on the the assistance of the Commission. They Commission’s website. They have been thought the Commission would be more following the progress of the Act through Sandy helpful if it could become involved in a wider Adirondack’s updates, to which they subscribe. range of issues, for example staffing matters.

Report version: Final 01/02/07 Objective B – To identify good practice and innovation in operation at the charity

The general impression, reinforced at the  There is a trustee induction procedure and visit, was of a charity that already had many the trustees have role descriptions. of the characteristics of an effective charity. Evidence of this includes (where not referred  The eligibility of trustees to act under to elsewhere) the following – the list is not Section 72 of the Charities Act 1993 is intended to be exhaustive. checked.

 The charity’s services are communicated  A register of interests of trustees is through a website, newsletter and maintained and there is a written policy on publicity material. conflicts of interest.

 The trustees are developing business plans for each area of the charity’s work as it evolves.

Report version: Final 01/02/07 Objective C – To review key aspects relating to the charity’s governance

A good general standard of governance was Minutes are well set out and it is recommended apparent from the information supplied prior for further clarity that they distinguish between to the visit and our discussion on the day. those “present” (trustees voting) and those “in attendance” (staff and observers).

Recommendation: That minutes distinguish Structure between trustees and other attendees at meetings. The charity has a wider membership (individuals and organisations) apart from the trustees, and attendance at the AGM is good with guest speakers and ample opportunities Finance and reporting requirements for networking. The charity’s income has grown considerably over the past year, partly due to the charity administering grants. Governing document and trusteeship The charity has been good at filing its accounts The trustees regularly review the provisions early with the Commission. A scrutiny of the of the governing document and they all have latest accounts by a Commission accountant their own copy of it. uncovered several points of non-compliance with the Charities SORP 2005, which have The governing document permits trustees to been detailed in a separate note. The trustees be paid professional charges in some commented that they intend to change auditors. instances. This provision has been used on a one-off occasion. Any conflicts of interest are Legal Requirement: Future accounts must managed through a written policy and a comply with the Charities SORP 2005. register of interests.

Report version: Final 01/02/07 Charity Action Plan

Charity: Voluntary and Community Action Trafford Ltd Charity number: 1098222

Date of Review 12th December 2006

Legal Requirements Requirement Date for Comments implementation Future accounts must comply with Next accounts the Charities SORP 2005.

Recommendations Recommendation Acted on / Comments Not acted on That minutes distinguish between trustees and other attendees at meetings.

To enable the Commission to record the impact it is having, and as a means of helping us to determine the extent of any further follow-up needed, we would ask that the charity’s representatives provide information on the actions they have undertaken in relation to the above legal requirements/ recommendations, including any comments they might have, and return the form to the Review Visits Support Team, Charity Commission, PO Box 1199, Liverpool, L69 3UT by 1st February 2008.

We certify that the information provided is correct to the best of our knowledge and belief.

Signed: …………………………………………. (Trustee) …………………………………………. (CEO or 2nd Trustee)

Report version: Final 01/02/07 9