Finance Score: 3

Governance Score: 9

Support Score: 6

Fundraising costs low: +3

Good trustee age range: +3
Dynamic board: +3
Gender balanced board: +3

Grant maker support: +6

Overall GiG Score: 18

CITIZENS ADVICE MERTON AND LAMBETH

Citizens Advice Merton and Lambeth is the leading advice charity supporting individuals and families who live, work or study primarily in the London boroughs of Merton and Lambeth, but also elsewhere. We also work to raise awareness and understanding of the challenging issues affecting individuals and our communities.

Analysis by Giving is Great

Positives:

Spending has increased over the last 3 years relative to the previous period
There have been no material income shortfalls in recent years
Fundraising costs are unusually low relative to funds raised
A significant proportion of recent income was derived from major grant makers including the Government
The Board appears to be well diversified in terms of age and gender and dynamic in terms of composition

Regulatory & Governance issues to consider:

Over half the Board have joined recently

Established: 29 years

caml.org.uk

finance@caml.org.uk

08082787831

Charity Commission for England and Wales

Financial Data ?

Income & Spending ?

Sources of Income ?

Y/E		Income £k	Spending £k	Surplus/ Deficit	Fundraising Cost £k	Total Funds £k	Unrestricted Funds £k	Mths Rsrvs	Staff	Volun- teers
31/03/23		£1,281	£1,263	£18	£4	£451	£363	3.5	36	45
31/03/22		£1,230	£1,177	£53	£4	£433	£354	3.6	38	52
31/03/21		£1,231	£1,134	£96	£3	£380	£316	3.3	30	31
31/03/20		£1,022	£933	£89	£3	£284	£265	3.4	26	71
31/03/19		£850	£809	£40	£3	£195	£176	2.6	22	78
31/03/18		£926	£1,077	£-151	£0	£154	£135	1.5	27	0
31/03/17		£1,232	£1,232	£1	£0	£305	£293	2.9	37	0
31/03/16	*	£1,603	£1,552	£52	£0	£324	£317	2.4	55	0
31/03/15	*	£1,291	£1,206	£86	£13	£272	£265	2.6	46	0
31/03/14		£845	£830	£15	£45	£186	£186	2.7	24	0
31/03/13		£828	£816	£13	£77	£171	£157	2.3	20	0
31/03/12		£738	£781	£-43	£41	£158	£158	2.4	16	0
31/03/11		£836	£836	£0	£18	£201	£201	2.9	22	0
31/03/10		£820	£846	£-26	£16	£201	£214	3	22	0
31/03/09		£747	£725	£22	£17	£227	£227	3.8	26	0
31/03/08		£820	£772	£48	£17	£205	£201	3.1	22	0
31/03/07	*	£787	£782	£5	£7	£157	£181	2.8	21	0
31/03/06	*	£704	£670	£34	£0	£0	£0	n/a	0	0
31/03/05	*	£869	£821	£48	£0	£0	£0	n/a	0	0
31/03/04		£706	£708	£-1	£0	£0	£0	n/a	0	0

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Financial Ratios

Fundraising Costs/Relevant Income: 0.3%
Fundraising Costs/Total Spending: 0.3%
Senior Staff Costs/Total Spending: 6%
Highest pay band: £60,000-£70,000
Liabilities/Assets: 9%
Liabilities/Income: 3%
Unrestricted Funds/Total Funds: 81%
Reserves/Spending: 3.5 months
Net Current Assets/Spending: 4 months
Quick Ratio: 10.7

Asset Split ?

Listed activities

Disability
Education/Training
General Charitable Purposes
Other Charitable Purposes
The Prevention Or Relief Of Poverty

How it operates

Other charitable activities
Provides advocacy/advice/information
Provides buildings/facilities/open space
Provides services

Where it operates

Throughout England,

Who it helps

Children/Young People
Elderly/Old People
People Of A Particular Ethnic Or Racial Origin
People With Disabilities
The General Public/Mankind

Who works here?

36 employees
45 volunteers

Who's supporting them? ?

Donations from Grant Makers ?

We have details on the following significant donations. Multi-year donations are allocated to the years for which they are earmarked.

Specific Donations

Amount	When Months	To be used for
Walcot Foundation - Cost of Living Top-Up Grant
£5,000	18/11/2022	Cost of Living Top Up Grant awarded to support small/medium-size organisations with additional costs incurred due to the cost of living crisis.
Trust for London - Citizens Advice Merton and Lambeth
£4,000	29/09/2022	This is a cost of living uplift for grant reference 360G-trustforlondon-MAIN-S2-02.02.2021-8986
Trust for London - Citizens Advice Merton and Lambeth
£80,000	11/06/2021 24	The funding is for a joint project with four Citizens Advice charities for a new Level 3 Immigration Adviser to provide immigration advice and representation, including to clients with No Recourse to ....more The funding is for a joint project with four Citizens Advice charities for a new Level 3 Immigration Adviser to provide immigration advice and representation, including to clients with No Recourse to Public Funds, across five local authorities - Lambeth, Merton, Hounslow, Hammersmith and Fulham, and Wandsworth.
Walcot Foundation - Advice for Lambeth
£75,000	17/11/2020	This grant will continue to fund a part-time (3 days a week) Advice Supervisor to recruit, induct, train and supervise volunteer Advisors working in Lambeth. The training for volunteer Advisors and ....more This grant will continue to fund a part-time (3 days a week) Advice Supervisor to recruit, induct, train and supervise volunteer Advisors working in Lambeth. The training for volunteer Advisors and the advice they then offer the public will be a mix of online and face to face work depending on social distancing rules in place over the next year and primarily focus on 'generalist' support, including debt, employment, family and consumer advice. Typically 75% of service users will have one advice session (which may also have some follow up email/telephone support) and 25% will receive a 'casework service' which involves, on average, 3 face to face meetings plus telephone/email follow-up. Walcot have already been funding this role for the last 3 years and the Advice Supervisor is already in post.
Walcot Foundation - CAML's Advice for Lambeth Project
£74,900	21/11/2017 36	CAML's Advice for Lambeth Project
Walcot Foundation - A Good Start
£20,000	04/03/2014	A Good Start

Data sourced from Donors via 360 Giving

How is it governed?

Trustees (9)

Current Trustees appointed

Gender Split

Based on 8/9 persons

Age Range of Trustees: 28-70

ANTHONY MA Appointed: 2023, Occupation: Solicitor

CAROLE MERCER Appointed: 2022, Occupation: Solicitor

CHRISTOPHER SOUTHORN Appointed: 2023, Occupation: Lawyer

ELIZABETH COULTER Appointed: 2019, Occupation: Civil Servant

JATINDER GOSAL (Chair) Appointed: 2018, Occupation: Lawyer

KIRSTY GRAY Appointed: 2019, Occupation: Management Consultant

LISA WHITING Appointed: 2022, Occupation: Manager

RAJ PATEL Appointed: 2021, Occupation: Accountant

SIMON GRAHAM Appointed: 2023, Occupation: Marketing Consultant

Legal constitution

Charitable company registered in England & Wales on 04/05/1995, number: 1046018
Registered at Companies House on 30/03/1994, number: 02914384

Gift Aid

Registered with HMRC for Gift Aid

Other Regulators

Financial Conduct Authority

Policies in force

Bullying and harassment policy and procedures
Campaigns and political activity policy and procedures
Complaints handling
Complaints policy and procedures
Conflicting interests
Financial reserves policy and procedures
Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
Internal risk management policy and procedures
Paying staff
Risk management
Safeguarding policy and procedures
Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
Social media policy and procedures
Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
Trustee expenses policy and procedures
Volunteer management

Filing Record

20 returns made; AR16: 1 days late, AR15: 4 days late, AR07: 1 days late, AR06: 2 days late, AR05: 1 days late,

Main office

Citizens Advice Merton and Lambeth
326 London Road
Mitcham
London
CR4 3ND

Objectives

THE CHARITY'S OBJECTS ARE TO PROMOTE ANY CHARITABLE PURPOSE FOR THE PUBLIC BENEFIT BY THE ADVANCEMENT OF EDUCATION, THE PROTECTION AND PRESERVATION OF HEALTH AND THE RELIEF OF POVERTY, SICKNESS AND DISTRESS IN PARTICULAR, BUT WITHOUT LIMITATION, FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE COMMUNITY IN LONDON BOROUGHS OF MERTON AND LAMBETH AND SURROUNDING AREAS.

Defined Area of Benefit:

LONDON BOROUGH OF MERTON AND SURROUNDING AREAS (THE PRINCIPLE AREA OF BENEFIT) AND ELSEWHERE IN GREATER LONDON

Data Sources