Agenda item

With the Court’s consent an additional item, notice of which did not appear on the agenda, was considered.

The Court of Aldermen considered a number of recommendations of the General Purposes Committee of Aldermen, following earlier consideration of recommendations of The Emanuel Hospital Management Sub-Committee. In relation to the Charity’s funds held and a review of key financial policies, the Court of Aldermen RESOLVED that:-

(i)         the Revised Reserves Policy be adopted as follows:

“The permanent endowment funds are held in perpetuity. It is the Trustee’s policy to invest the assets of the Charity held within this fund to retain the real value of the endowment, whilst generating sufficient income to fund the activities undertaken both now and in the future. The free reserves of the Charity are held to cover working capital needs. The Trustee believes that an amount of £45,000 should be held at present, which will be subject to annual review.”

(ii)      the designation on the unrestricted designated (income) funds currently held and invested to generate further income for application on the Charity’s purposes be removed as the Charity’s permanent endowment fund generates sufficient income to meet the agreed level of support to the Lady Dacre Pensioners on an on-going basis.

(iii)     the current Investment Policy of the Charity, stated below, be endorsed – “The Emanuel Hospital’s funds are invested in the City of London Charities Pool (Charity reg. no. 1021138). The investment policy is to provide a real increase in annual income in the long term, while preserving the value of the capital base.”

(iv)    having regard to the preceding decisions such that the Charity currently has approximately £1.27m available for expenditure on the Charity’s widened purposes, and taking account of projected income and expenditure on Lady Dacre Pensioners and operational costs, the Charity adopt a four-year medium-term expenditure plan for the phasing of a strategic grants programme - with £500k expended in Year 1, £450k in Year 2, £400k in Year 3, £270k in Year 4 - so that the proposed reserves target will be achieved in a relatively short period of time, and the Charity can achieve impactful expenditure of available funds at a time of significant beneficiary need and in a manner which provides consistency and a degree of certainty to the sector over that period.

In relation to the future administration of the Charity, it was RESOLVED that the following overarching Funding Strategy be adopted and that the Emanuel Hospital Management Sub-Committee be authorised to implement the proposed Strategy:

Emanuel Hospital Funding Strategy Statement 2021-2025

1. Having regard to:

(a)     the purposes for which the Emanuel Hospital charity was first established, being to support older people in need, which purposes were for many years achieved by way of pensions given in the name of the charity’s founder, Lady Dacre, and otherwise by making grants to eligible individuals;

(b)     the recent widening of the charity’s purposes to allow the charity to operate “for the public benefit, [for] the relief of need by reason of age, ill-health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantage of persons who are resident or have been resident in Greater London”; and

(c)     the charitable funds available for distribution and the efficient and effective administration of the charity;

2. The charity will focus its funding activities over the period 2021 to 2025 on:

(a)     continuing to support the existing Lady Dacre Pensioners (subject to their on-going eligibility) by way of a modest monthly pension, with the discretion to award a further additional payment to each of them prior to Christmas, this arrangement being subject to annual review;

(b)    in 2021/2022, developing a funding programme in collaboration with partners in the sector which focuses on the immediate relief of need of older individuals currently residing in Greater London with a view to achieving - maximum impact for those individuals consistent with the origins of the charity, expedient implementation and efficient operation of the programme, and the programme’s annual review; and

(c)     developing a strategic funding programme to be implemented over three years from 2022/2023 - 2024/2025 which is focussed on relieving the need of older individuals currently residing in Greater London with a view to achieving - maximum impact for those individuals consistent with the origins of the charity, and the expedient and efficient management of the programme which will be developed in consultation and collaboration with other charities working within the sector, and which will be subject to annual review.