Report of the trustees For the year ended 31 December 2009


are involved in service provision and fundraising. In 2009 nearly 1,000 volunteers were actively involved in delivering information, training and running our network of local voluntary branches.


Employee involvement and employment of disabled people The charity continues to ensure that personnel policies are regularly reviewed and updated as appropriate to form part of the on-going support to all staff, including a disability leave policy intended to provide additional support to disabled staff. It is proposed that a comprehensive review of the job evaluation scheme will be undertaken during the year ahead.


Relationships with related parties


Arthritis Care (Trading) Ltd The charity’s wholly owned trading subsidiary is non- operating and was in a dormant state at the year end.


THE FUTURE The Board of Trustees, the Senior Management team, the staff and the volunteers are all united in their commitment to see that the charity meets its objectives and to this end continue to strive to ensure delivery is achieved in an efficient, effective and sustainable manner.


With a large (albeit planned) operating deficit in 2008 and a similar out-turn in 2009, allied to the difficult global economic climate experienced over the last two years which is expected to continue for some time, it was recognised early in the year that such losses were clearly unsustainable and that going forward urgent action was needed to “balance the books”.


After much work a close-to-breakeven budget for 2010 was arrived at through a combination of increased revenue and cost savings without fundamentally changing the shape of the charity. This turnaround plan, which has been approved by the board of trustees, incorporates the following key initiatives:


. embedding fundraising across all aspects of the organisation, aided by external support from


professional fundraisers


. merging the marketing & fundraising and public affairs functions into a single outward-facing, dynamic


communications directorate with a much greater focus on delivery and outcome


. nations and regions operationally moving away from asking staff to deliver their specialism across


the whole region or nation to more flexible, generic, geographically focused roles


. more fully embracing the underutilised, locally-based volunteers to create a refreshed, joined-up and focused


additional resource wholly consistent with the charity’s self-help ethos


. constantly searching for improvement and efficiencies (for example, outsourcing where


appropriate, pulling together disparate publication processes to achieve greater economies of scale, greater emphasis on electronic media to deliver the message whilst retaining the essential ‘human touch’ etc) to optimise the effectiveness of delivery of the services provided by the charity.


Following extensive consultation with staff over the latter part of the year, the refocused infrastructure was introduced over the first quarter of 2010 culminating with the fundraising element so that by Easter everything was set-up and ready to go.


STATEMENT OF RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE TRUSTEES The trustees are required to prepare financial statements for each financial year, which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and the incoming resources and application of resources, including the net income or expenditure, of the charity for the year. In preparing those financial statements the trustees are required to:


. select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;


. make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;


. state whether applicable accounting standards and statements of recommended practice have been


followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and


. prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that


the charity will continue in operation.


The trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and which enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. The trustees are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps


Arthritis Care Annual Report 2009 | 19


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53