Holy Trinity – Financial Information

Parochial Church Council of
Holy Trinity Church, Twickenham Green

Annual Report for the Year ended 31 December 2010

Financial Review

The early part of the year was characterized by a drop in regular income, due to the loss of some regular givers in late 2009/early 2010. One of the early actions taken by the new vicar and PCC following the 2010 Annual Parish Meeting was to plan a stewardship campaign for the autumn. All members on the electoral roll were written to and the response was very positive: standing orders increased by 25 per month to 70 and income increased by an estimated £800 per month. This benefited the last quarter of the year but for the year as a whole giving was down around £5,000 on 2009.

The success of the Green Room hire continued, up £4,300 on the previous year. Other income items were broadly similar, aside from one-off donations being around £10,000 lower due to the legacy received in 2009. Interest was lower reflecting a reduction in cash but mainly the signifi-cant fall in bank interest rates on deposits.

The church managed to increase its Diocesan Share by 5% in the year and a further increase of 8% has been pledged for 2011 as the church targets 100% of the single vicar parish gross cost by 2014.

Utility costs reflected slightly lower average energy costs and renegotiated prices for the electric-ity and gas contracts. As noted in the 2009 accounts, due to an oversight the usual payment of 50% of the May Fair income to Oasis Trust was not made in 2009 and consequently two pay-ments are included in the 2010 accounts. The Cost of Services was negative, reflecting the re-fund of amounts paid for clergy during the interregnum. Clergy expenses were lower partly due to having no vicar until mid-March and also because the telephone had to be converted into a business account, hence telephone costs are now included as part of Other Running Costs, which also include various items associated with the interregnum, including the repainting of the vicarage.

On the maintenance side thankfully there were no major items required, meaning the mainte-nance bill was significantly lower than in 2009.

Reserves Policy

It is PCC policy to maintain a balance on the general fund (if possible) which equates to ap-proximately six months’ unrestricted payments, to cover emergency situations that may arise from time to time. The balance of £45,679 substantially exceeds this level, although loan pay-ments of £8,333 are repayable to the Diocese in September 2011, which represents the final repayment of the loan for the Green Room project.

It is our policy to invest our funds mainly with the Church of England Deposit Fund, with a working level maintained in our current account.

Approved by the PCC and signed on their behalf by Revd Tim Garrett (PCC chairman) and Mr Robert French (PCC Treasurer).

Click here for the PCC Summary of accounts for 2010