County Air Ambulance Trust Board of Trustees’ Report and Consolidated Financial Statements For the year ending 30 September 2018 Annual Report 2017/18 CONTENTS Message from the Chairman, Michael Henriques Page 1 Looking back on 2017/18, Robert Bertram, Chief Executive Page 2 Trustees Strategic Report Page 3 Thank you - gifts and donations Page 10 Reference and Administrative details Page 11 Structure, Governance and Management Page 12 Statement of Trustees responsibilities Page 13 Statement of disclosure of information to auditors Page 14 Independent Auditor’s report Page 15 Consolidated Financial Statements for the year ending 30 September 2017 Page 17 Charity statement of financial activities Page 18 Consolidated Balance Sheet Page 19 Charity Balance Sheet Page 20 Cash Flow Statement Page 21 Notes to the Cash Flow Statement Page 22 Notes to the Financial Statements Page 23 Message from the Chairman Michael Henriques Chairman On behalf of the Board of Trustees, I am I would also particularly like to thank our Trust pleased to welcome you to the 2017/18 Annual Administrator, Arthur Worthington, who has Report of the County Air Ambulance Trust. worked for the Charity since inception and has, for the past 12 years, not only run the office so I am now a few weeks into my role as diligently, but also coped with the seemingly Chairman of the Charity having taken over endless flow of new Rules and Regulations for from our long-serving and distinguished Charities. He has not only understood them all Chairman of 25 years, Hugh Meynell MBE. but has passed on the important content to Trustees and Staff alike. This is a great skill on The success of the County Air Ambulance its own! Trust today is in no small measure due to Hugh’s professional leadership and integrity. In this my first annual statement to you as Chairman of the Charity, I am pleased to On behalf of the Board, I would like to take this report another year of strong performance, opportunity to thank Hugh for his outstanding confirmed by the amount of money raised and contribution towards establishing our role as a distributed. well-known independent air ambulance charity within the Helicopter Emergency Medical The Trustees Strategic Report that follows will services network (‘HEMS’). chart another ‘best ever year’ which has been the trend over a number of years. This Hugh’s days of service will continue as he success is further insight into our charitable kindly agreed to take on the newly created role core purpose of providing effective and of Life President and will remain as a Trustee. impactful non-refundable grants for Air We all wish him well for the future. Ambulance Related Projects. This is my eighth year as a Trustee and it was Further details on our performance are a real privilege to be invited to take up the role reported in detail throughout the Trustees of Chairman and build on the solid foundations Strategic Report for the year on page 5 that that Hugh and the Board have laid since the follows. early nineties. The future success of the Charity is not just in Over the years I have had the pleasure of the boardroom, but throughout the watching the Charity truly raise the bar for organisation and with well-trained and ourselves and for our beneficiaries and my dedicated personnel driving forward our challenge is to continue the strong history of strategy we are well placed to continue being a highly recognised independent grant meeting our core objectives in years to come. making charity within the ‘HEMS’ network. As you read this report, I hope you will gain a Our non-refundable charitable grants have better insight into the breadth and depth of our long been the underlying theme of the Charity. fundraising activities. Looking ahead I am confident that our dedicated team of employees under the leadership of Chief Executive, Robert Bertram will continue the hard work of making sure that our on-going good engagement with our Michael Henriques supporters will be the key to our future Chairman of the Board of Trustees success. Page | 1 Looking back on 2017/18 Robert W Bertram Chief Executive I start by echoing Michael Henriques thanks to treatment they need. Their survival is greatest Hugh Meynell MBE for his outstanding if they receive care within a short period of contributions as our past Chairman. time. Being involved in the creation of the Charity in Road transfers can take a long time and we 1993, throughout his tenure we have moved are actively working with an increasingly wide through key stages in our evolution. number of hospitals to provide suitable Fundraising income has increased greatly helicopter landing sites that will give patients and this growth has been accompanied by a the best possible chance of survival and considerable expansion in our activities which recovery outcomes. has left the Charity in excellent shape. The largest part of our core spending was on Michael Henriques, our new Chairman, and helipad projects which rose to £5.439 million. the Board remain as ambitious for the future This has enabled various new helipads to be as ever and committed to the strategy built and improvements made to existing described in this report for continuing the next helipads around the country. chapter of our history. I’m proud to be working with such a wide range of dedicated caring individuals, from air Overview ambulance chief executives through to those Through a wide range of fundraising activities at the hospitals who have a direct and heightened marketing campaigns we responsibility for the planning considerations, continued to enjoy some significant fundraising the equipment and the additional support success. facilities which may be necessary for helipads at their hospitals. We achieved a very strong performance in terms of both income and expenditure in line Together we are helping to save more lives at with budgeted expectations for the year. As an increasing number of hospitals across the reported last year we have altered some of our length and breadth of the UK. income streams which resulted in small reductions in some of our income streams Outlook however gifts in Wills have doubled in value from last year and the HELP Appeal weekly Looking ahead, the demand for financial help lottery continues to be a key source of funds continues to grow year on year and I am for the Charity. confident that we are on track to fulfill our ambitious grant promises to our beneficiaries and build on this year’s success. Grants Finally, I would like to extend my sincerest Overall the impact of our grant funding to appreciation to our many supporters who hospitals continues to improve the patient make our work possible. Without you, our experience and survivability as well as adding success this year and in future years would not to the health economy without cost, in many be possible. instances, to the NHS. There is general acceptance that following Robert W Bertram traumatic injury patients with a time-critical Chief Executive condition need urgent transfer to receive the Page | 2 STRATEGIC REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES We are delighted to present the 2017/18 Governance Annual Report. Given the Charity’s work and its range of Introduction activities, the Board is committed to best practice in everything it does. Regulatory The Trustees would like to express their compliance and overall performance standards appreciation to Hugh Meynell MBE, for his are monitored and assessed by the Board at service to the Board, particularly in relation to quarterly intervals. This ensures the Charity is his commitment and dedication as Chairman of well governed, safe and legislatively compliant the Board of Trustees. Hugh’s continued in all aspects of its duties. support of our charitable work is hugely valued and greatly appreciated. For the period of this return, there were no serious incidents that the Charity failed to We would like to share with you the working of report to the Charity Commission. the Charity in the year under review and this Annual Report describes another year of A lot of preparatory work has been undertaken progress and success. this year in reviewing our governance arrangements and trustee membership. The Public Benefit Statement results of these reviews and respective action will not be apparent until next year. This is an Everything we do starts with our supporters important activity as it will drive our focus and and ends with our beneficiaries. direction over the coming years. Early next year we will make application to the Charity We strive to be transparent with everyone and Commission for consent to change the objects the Board confirm that they have due regard to and a number of changes in our constitution. the Charity Commissioner’s guidance on public benefit and that the Charity meets the A summary of our 2017/18 performance requirements in the advancements of its objectives. 2017/18 has been a year of challenges and opportunities for both fundraising initiatives We are registered with the Fundraising and grant funding. We are delighted with the Regulator and fundraising activities undertaken success of our charitable programmes over by the Charity are carried out with reference to the year and remain confident that our the Code of Fundraising Practice. We are also fundraising capability can rise to the challenge organisational members of the Institute of as we head towards 2019. Fundraising and actively follow their best practice guide lines. The Charity raises funds from the public and we conclude another year in a strong financial We make every effort to ensure that our position in achieving the highest level of fundraising activity never feels unreasonably financial support in our history of £8.501 intrusive, persistent or pressurised, but focuses million, building on the £8.049 million we on inspiring support for the impact of our work.