1. Background
1.1 The
Blindcraft Trust was established in order to carry
out the testamentary wishes of John Leitch by a private Act of Parliament in
1825 which established an Asylum for the Blind in the City of Glasgow - Act
George IV CAD44 (private).
1.2 The
Blind Persons Act 1920 imposed a duty on local authorities to make arrangements
for the promotion of the welfare of blind person’s resident within their area,
a responsibility which was carried out in combination with other Councils. Pursuant to this, a scheme was set up by the
county councils of Argyll, Ayr, Dumbarton, Lanark, Renfrew and Stirling and the
town councils of the Burghs of Airdrie, Ayr, Coatbridge, Dumbarton, Falkirk,
Glasgow, Greenock, Hamilton, Johnstone, Kilmarnock, Motherwell and Wishaw,
Paisley, Port Glasgow, Renfrew, Rothesay and Stirling to provide for the
housing, education and training of blind persons. At a later date the County Council of Bute
and the Town Council of Dumfries also joined the Scheme. Glasgow City Council appears to have been the
lead authority at that time.
1.3 In
order to facilitate the joint scheme a private Act of Parliament (The South
West of Scotland Blind Asylum Order Confirmation Act 1923) was passed
transferring the Royal Asylum for the Blind from its then managers to the
Corporation of the City of Glasgow which held the property on behalf of all the
other Council’s in the Scheme.
1.4 The
Blind Persons Act 1920 was eventually repealed and the Social Work (Scotland)
Act 1968 imposed a general welfare function on the Councils. Since then the Social Work responsibility
which includes welfare of the blind, was transferred to the Regional Councils
in the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1973 and then to the unitary authorities
in 1994.
1.5 Since
that time various legislation has imposed general welfare obligations on
Councils including welfare of the Blind although this is subject to financial
restraints.
1.6 Glasgow
City Council do not have details of how long the joint scheme ran or when it
was wound up nor do we have any details of how the funds were administered
between 1937 and 1973. Post 1973
Strathclyde Regional Council ran workshops for the blind through Social Work
Department (known as “Blindcraft”). The workshop and the Blindcraft
Trust’s funds were administered by a management committee and it appears that
monies were paid out of the funds either to individuals in the workshops who
were blind or visually impaired, or to the workshop itself.
1.7 At
local government re-organisation in 1994 the Management Committee was
discontinued.
1.8 In
2012 Glasgow City Council applied to the Office of the Scottish Charities
Regulator (OSCR) to obtain charitable status to formalise the arrangements in
relation to the Funds. This application was made as part of a Council wide
review of Sundry Trusts and Funds held by the Council. A list of the historic
funds, which have been transferred into the Blindcraft
Charitable Trust, and their original purposes are attached as part of the Trustee Induction Pack.
2. The
Blindcraft Trust purposes and participating
authorities
2.1 A
copy of the original Blindcraft Trust deed and a
summary of the Trust deed are attached.
2.2 The charitable purposes of the Blindcraft
Trust are:-
(a) The
prevention or relief of poverty, the advancement of education, the relief of
those in need by reason of age, ill health, disability, financial hardship or
other disadvantage.
The specific Trust
purposes of the Blindcraft Trust as outlined in the
Trust Deed are:-
(1) to
advance the education of individuals of all ages who are blind or visually
impaired with particular support being given to children from birth to 19 years
of age who have a right to statutory education, declaring that no support shall
be given in respect of any matters for which a local authority has a statutory
duty;
(2) to
relieve poverty amongst individuals who are blind or visually impaired and in
particular unemployed person through the promotion and/or provision of training
and skills of all kinds and particularly such skills as will assist such
residents in obtaining paid employment within the mainstream working
environment, declaring that particular support will be given to the Blindcraft Factory run by Glasgow City Council for those
who are blind or visually impaired;
(3) to
promote, establish and/or support other projects and programmes of a charitable
nature for the benefit of individuals who are blind or visually impaired,
including the advancement of the education of the public in general in relation
to individuals who are blind or visually impaired, providing such other
projects are ancillary to the activities carried on by the Trust in pursuit of
the objects (1) and (2) above.
2.3 The Trust was
activated in 2012 as part of a review of the Council’s Sundry Trusts and Funds
carried out by the Council’s Legal and Financial Services Departments. The
Trust is a charitable Trust and therefore must comply with the requirements of
the Office of the Scottish Charities Regulator (OSCR) and Trust
legislation. The Trustees in this case
hold the funds in trust for the purposes set out in the Trust Deed.
2.4 The Council areas
covered by the Blindcraft Trust are the following: Argyll
& Bute Council, West Dunbartonshire Council, South Lanarkshire Council,
North Lanarkshire Council, South Ayrshire Council, Glasgow City Council,
Inverclyde Council, East Ayrshire Council, Renfrewshire Council, Dumfries and
Galloway Council, Stirling Council and Falkirk Council. Each of these areas
will have an opportunity to nominate a councillor to service as an ex officio
Trustee to the Trust.
2.5 When the Blindcraft
Trust was activated, the Blindcraft Trustees agreed
that certain changes to the Trust deed should be made to comply with Trust
legislation and OSCR Guidance. These changes are included in the Deed of
Variation which is attached as part
of the Trustee Induction Pack.
3. Financial Position of the Trust
3.1 The provisional
closing balance of the Blindcraft Trust Fund as at 13th
October 2023 is £196,116.
3.2 The
Blindcraft funds are currently held as part of the
Council’s Sundry Trusts and Funds portfolio. The Council’s Sundry Trusts and
Funds portfolio is managed by Ruffer Limited Liability Partnership, an
investment management firm, appointed by the Council. The investment objectives of the Fund is to
preserve the capital over rolling 12 month periods, and secondly to grow the
portfolio at a higher rate (after fees) than could reasonably be expected from
depositing the cash in a UK bank. The
Fund is invested in a variety of different asset classes, including fixed
interest stocks and equities (both UK and international), and an allocation of
other risk investments designed to improve the overall return, but never to the
extent of risking serious capital loss.
3.3 The
Council’s Financial Services department prepares the Blindcraft
Annual Accounts, which are approved by the Trustees at the Blindcraft
Annual General Meeting and thereafter sent to OSCR.
4. Administration of the Blindcraft
Trust
The
Blindcraft Trustees have agreed the following:
4.1
Meeting frequency: Twice per annum.
Meetings take place in spring and in winter.
4.2
Spending restrictions: There are no spending restrictions in the Trust Deed however the
Trustees have agreed to limit grant expenditure to a pre-determined amount
which is reviewed annually.
4.3
Trust Meetings and Award Process:
Trustees will approve the Trust accounts prepared by the
Council’s Financial Services Department and audit report prepared by external
auditors.
Trustees also agree the level of Trust expenditure for that
particular financial year and confirm the organisations they wish to invite to
make an application to the Trust. It is recommended that one of these
organisations is RSBi in order to comply with the
terms of the Trust Deed.
The Trustees may wish to give the organisations an idea of
the type of projects which the Trustees would like to consider.
The Trustees receive an update from the Council’s Customer
& Business Services as to the status of the applications made in the
previous year.
A small number of suitable organisations previously invited
by the Trustees put forward suggested proposals to the Trustees which would fit
in with the Trust purposes. The Council’s Financial Services Departments
(Corporate Finance and CBS) will have carried out financial and governance
checks on these organisations and will report their findings to the Trustees.
The Trustees then give consideration as to whether to award a grant to the
organisations, to what value and over what period.
The values of grants from the Trust are currently agreed by
the Trustees as the following:
Large
grant - over £50,000
Medium
grant - between £5000 and £50,000
Small
grant - up to £5,000
If
the Trustees wish to fund any of the proposals put forward by the organisation,
the Trustees will then authorise the Council’s Financial Services Department
(CBS) to put in place monitoring arrangements to monitor the use of the
donations.