PPC114| Annual report
Another strong year for the Association
2023 was another strong year for the Association, with many key initiatives completed. To continue to deliver those, the Association needs a healthy financial platform upon which to operate.
The current policy is to reinvest reserves and we are mindful to ensure that members’ monies are wisely spent. Key investments included a new staff team member to help develop the new qualifications and training framework that Karen Dawes, BPCA's Training and Professional Development Manager, has outlined at our forums for the last 18 months.
Other mentionable investments include preparatory work on a new CRM system to replace our now-aged platform in late 2024, and more field engagement from the Staff team, including forums, curry nights and on-site assessments.
The Association’s finances remain healthy, with a better-than-planned performance at both top and bottom levels.
As 2023 was a non-PestEx year, our budget was for a planned loss of over £50K, and so it was especially pleasing that, with your strong support and the hard work and dedication of the Staff team, we managed to end much closer to a break-even situation.
Membership numbers are at an all-time high despite the continued consolidation we see in the sector. BPCA Registered, the UK’s leading CPD scheme for professional pest controllers, also enjoyed a record high, with over 3,300 users now aligned.
We were also able to support 193 of our smaller category members who took advantage of the rebate scheme we were able to offer to help businesses recover in the ‘cost of living crisis’ post-Covid.
PPC Live was a sell-out, and that event continues to go from strength to strength.
The other notable event in was the decision to clear the mortgage on the property in Derby. We believe this provides us with greater financial flexibility in the future, and with interest rates so low at the time, any investment incomes from the reserves certainly weren’t covering the costs of our ongoing higher-rate mortgage.
You also continued to strongly support our variable revenue streams, especially the training and advertising streams, so a thank you to all our members and other supporting partners.
Your support is vital in ensuring that the Association continues to enjoy healthy finances that allow us to continue to invest in our strategy and especially our public affairs agenda in support of our ‘toolkit’, which continues to come under pressure.
The Finance Working Group (a working group of the Board) continues to work well and delivered several new financial governance policies early in the year, primarily outlining how our finances work and are governed.
Focus for the team has now shifted to subscriptions and specifically the category level banding, and it’s hoped that we can smooth transitions between bandings whilst also finding ways of financially supporting new businesses; it’s hoped the work will be concluded in readiness for the 2025 renewals.
We have PestEx 2024 to look forward to, and planning for it starts as soon as the old one finishes. I’m pleased to confirm that at the time of writing, we’ve now sold all of the floor space (and the hall will be even larger than in 2022). The Board and our supporting partners look forward to welcoming you to what we hope will be our best-ever trade show; if you haven’t booked your free tickets then please do so at pestex.org/register
To close, I would like to thank you for your support and, as always, I encourage everyone to become involved with what is YOUR Trade Association.
I’ll remind you that for it to work, it needs you and your passion, so please attend the Forums, join in with your local Contract Sharing Network, serve on the Committees or maybe even try for the Board and find out more how the Association serves its members and the wider sector.
I wish everyone success with their business in 2024.
Mark Williams
BPCA Treasurer
finance@bpca.org.uk