HVCA Financial Guidelines

Remuneration of Trustees and volunteers

1. Hope Valley Climate Action (HVCA) is a registered charity.
2. HVCA trustees are unpaid and must not put themselves in a position where their personal interests conflict with their duty to act in the interests of HVCA. Where HVCA proposes to employ a Trustee, HVCA expects that person to resign from being a Trustee. Where HVCA wishes to compensate a Trustee for loss of earnings, the Chair must give prior approval and HVCA must ensure that it is acting in accordance with Charity Commission guidance.

Expenditure controls

3. The treasurer and chair may each individually authorise expenditure of up to £500 from any one supplier. Amounts above this but less than £2000 require authorisation by both treasurer and chair. Amounts of £2000 or above require authorisation by the full Board of Trustees. A written record of any decisions to spend more than £500 must be kept.

Project Funding

4. Individuals and groups are encouraged to apply for funding to pursue an initiative or course of action to further HVCA objectives. This individual or group is then responsible for delivering this initiative, according to the terms of the grant, and for staying within budget.
5. Funding proposals submitted in HVCA’s name need prior approval by the HVCA Trustees and bids of over £1,000 need a detailed budget.
6. After funds are raised for a specific project, the budget for that project needs to be approved by the Trustees. This should include a breakdown into different categories of expenditure. Once the budget is approved by the Trustees, expenditure on appointments or contracts that have total value greater than £5000 need to be approved by either the Treasurer or Chair, but otherwise the project manager can spend the funds within the budget without any further authorisation. Virement of up to 10% of total budget for the project is permitted between categories within the project.
7. HVCA will administer these funds or grants, which should be paid into the HVCA bank account.
8. HVCA applies a 20% management fee on project funding. This is to help HVCA develop and promote its work, including publicising the outcomes of the funded project. It covers project accounting, including payments, Payroll; basic external comms., including website, social media and newsletter; public liability insurance and other miscellaneous costs.

Financial reporting

9. In addition to Annual Accounts HVCA’s Treasurer and Accounts Manager will provide Trustees with quarterly core and project summary reports and will provide project managers with detailed and summary monthly project spending reports.

Expense claims

10. Expenditure on behalf of HVCA, other than where we have an account with a supplier, is paid by individuals and then claimed back. Claims over £50 need prior approval of the Treasurer.
11. Expenses claims, using the HVCA Excel template, together all relevant receipts, should be submitted as PDFs to the Accounts Manager within one month of the expenditure being incurred. They will be paid within 30 days.

Support for Groups

12. Each action group has an annual allocation of up to £250 from HVCA, subject to availability of funds, to advance its objectives.
13. Village and action groups can incur expenses to £100 to be paid out of HVCA funds. Village and action group expense claims over £100 need prior approval from the Trustees.

Contractors

14. Contractors need to submit invoices for work done according to an agreed payment schedule. If working on several projects the contractor should submit separate invoices for each project or, if submitting a single invoice, itemise the amounts for each project. Once the work has been approved by whoever the contractor reports to, the invoice will be paid within 30 days.

Employees

15. Salaries are paid monthly in arrears on or around the last day of the month, subject to PAYE, National Insurance and employee pension contribution deductions. Holiday entitlement is normally 25 days per year (plus 8 days statutory holidays) pro rata. Sick pay is discretionary, and is up to 10 days (pro-rata). Notice period is 1 month. Employees will be enrolled into a pension scheme with HVCA paying the employer’s statutory minimum contribution of 3% of salary, and employees required to pay the statutory minimum of 5% (though they may elect to pay more). Agreed expenses will be reimbursed as above.

Donations

16. All donations to HVCA are administered by the Charities Aid Foundation (CAF) and donors are invited to gift aid their donations. If earmarked for a particular activity these funds will be paid to the relevant group.

Annual Accounts

17   HVCA Accounts and Financial Statements will be audited by an external auditor and formally approved by Trustees at an annual meeting. Accounts will be kept for 6 years.

Stephen Platt 25/2/20; Updated 29/11/21; 24/5/22; 11/10/22; 17/01/23; 31/1/23