HONOURARY TREASURER’S REPORT
ST GEORGE’S CHURCH
FINANCIAL YEAR 2025
Before I make comments on the Accounts I would like to thank those other people who play an active and important part in managing the finance of this church. A very loyal, but small group of people meet on a Monday morning to open planned giving envelopes, reconcile loose cash, record monies against income categories and take these monies to the bank. I know that this group works diligently and unseen but make my task that much easier. I would like to thank the Planned Giving team who keep the records on planned giving and deal with all the Inland Revenue returns. Others I would like to mention are Father John ,William Burgess the Honorary Auditor whose support and help is much appreciated and Churchwardens Brian McNally and Michael Nicholson for their support.
Overall Surplus/Deficit
Receipts exceeded payments by £27260 Gross Receipts £116539 and Gross Payments £89279
General fund receipts £104442 and General fund payments £72735
Restricted fund receipts £12087 and Restricted fund payments £16544
Receipts:
Our principal receipts were
Planned Giving £48489
SSE Refund £20755
Wedding/funeral fees £8535
Tax refund £5287
Misc donations £5560
Payments:
Our principal payments were
Parish share £12400
Church Insurance £12715
General Maintenance £8792
Gas £17447
SSE Overpayment £7411
Our contributions towards charities has continued. Half of the collections raised from weddings, baptisms and funerals is given to a charity nominated by the families. £924 was donated with the money going to 10 different charities.
Parish Share
In 2025 we had originally pledged £30000 but due to the straightened financial situation we actually paid £12400.
We have pledged £12000 for 2026.
HMRC
At the end of 2025 we were still owed gift aid tax refunds for 2023 and 2024
Energy Bills
We had problems with the boiler early in 2025 . Not only did this result in expenditure on repairs it also led to an increased gas bill.
SSE
We have a contract with SSE for the electricity in the church and the church hall. The bills for the hall were often based on estimated readings. One of the invoices in 2025 was for £11400 and the balance on the account was £7410. This was clearly incorrect but as we pay by direct debit this amount was deducted from our account before I could rectify the situation. I asked for the money to be refunded. SSE were contacted and a correct meter reading submitted. A credit note for £11400 was raised to offset the incorrect invoice but a second credit note was also raised by SSE. As a result the balance on the account had us £20755 in credit and we received a refund of this amount. I have included a contingent liability of £11400 in the 2026 Budget in case SSE ask for a refund.
Listed places of worship scheme
The listed places of worship scheme has allowed eligible churches such as St Georges to reclaim VAT back on much of the expenditure we incur on the maintenance of the church fabric.
The scheme was funded until 31/03/2025 and the Government has not renewed it. A new scheme has been introduced but it is nor clear at the moment what the terms and conditions will be .
End of Year Balances and Reserves
At year end the General fund cash balance was £41943.This is more than I had forecast principally because some significant expenditure originally scheduled for 2025 has been deferred to 2026. As a result I currently forecast we could face a deficit of approx. £29000 on the General fund in 2026. In this case the balance on the General fund at the end of 2026 will be approx.. £13000 about 6-7 weeks normal general expenditure significantly less than the recommended 3-6 months.
At year end the balance on all the Restricted funds was £28380
The Future
Although this report is principally about financial year 2025 I need to make some comments about the future.
As I mentioned in my annual report last year expenditure is rising faster than income and we cannot continue running down the reserves. We need to increase regular ,recurring income if we are to pledge the Parish share we would like to.
On a personal note I am looking to stand down as Treasurer with effect from the coming APM.
This has not been an easy decision to make. I have enjoyed being Treasurer ( most of the time ! ) and am very grateful for the opportunity to have served St Georges in this capacity. However I took on the role in 2015 and after over 10 years in the post I feel its time for a break.
I wish the transition to go as smoothly as possible and am willing to help in any way to facilitate this and to support a new Treasurer as they settle into the role.
I would like to express my thanks to everyone for their support throughout the year.
A J PINKETT
Treasurer
March 2026