Canal & River Trust’s income has increased to £210m while volunteering hours at the charity have risen by 9 per cent, according to recently filed documents.
The charity’s annual report and accounts for the year to 31 March 2019 show that its income grew to £210.0m, up from £204.9m in the previous year.
The charity, which split off from the government in 2012, received an extra £2m from boat licences and moorings, £40.2m up from £38.1m, while its investment income increased from £51.1m to £53.4m.
This increase came despite the charity receiving less from donations, £5.3m, down from £6.1m the year before, with the charity receiving £700,000 less from the People’s Postcode Lottery.
Meanwhile, the charity’s expenditure grew to £201m, up from £198.2m, with £156.2m going towards charitable activities and £44.8m on raising funds.
The charity spent £6.2m on emergency works during the year, including £2.8m on the reconstruction of Stanthorne Embankment in Middlewich following its breach in March 2018 as a result of vandalism.
More volunteering
More than 3,000 volunteers gave over 671,000 hours of their time to support the charity during 2018/19, up from 616,300 hours the previous year.
Some 1,130 of these were volunteer lock keepers, an increase of 27 per cent on the previous year, helping to manage water supplies efficiently by encouraging lock sharing where possible.
The charity’s staff numbers reduced from 1,698 to 1,654 full-time employees during the year.
It made progress on diversity, with 5.5 per cent of its employees now Black, Asian and minority ethnic, compared to 5.1 per cent the previous year.
Also, 34 per cent of its senior leadership are now women, compared to 22 per cent the previous year, exceeding its 25 per cent target for 2018/19.
Chief executive Richard Parry was paid £214,155 for the year, up from £210,091 the previous year, including a base salary of £184,784 and other allowances.
The highest paid member of staff was Stuart Mills, chief investment officer, who received £228,992 including a base salary of £168,875 and performance-related pay of £33,575.
Other key statistics
Pension deficit
The charity’s pension deficit decreased by £18.5m to £69.1m due to improved asset performance and reductions in life expectancy partially offset by the adverse impact of expected higher inflation and salary increases.
Investments
The charity’s total investment portfolio was valued at £993.5m at 31 March 2019, £126.3m higher than the position a year before. This increase in value is due to investment of funds raised through borrowing and its disposal of its British Waterways Marinas subsidiary as well as an increase in capital value.
Reserves
The charity has limited free reserves of just £800,000 after deducting designated reserves of £24.1m and unrestricted fixed assets of £28.8m.
It says the trustees regularly undertake a review of the longer-term business strategy and the aspiration of the trustees is to achieve a level of unrestricted general funds that will provide sufficient resilience.
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