TRUSTEES' REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2022
42 Slavery and human trafficking
The RSPCA has a statement on its website setting out the
steps we are taking to combat slavery and human trafficking
in our supply chain.
See: rspca.org.uk/utilities/modernslavery
Fundraising governance
The RSPCA is committed to responsible fundraising that
complies with the regulatory standards for fundraising and
ensures our fundraising is delivered in a manner consistent with
our values. We are registered with the Fundraising Regulator
and adhere to the Code of Fundraising Practice. Any third-party
agencies we use for the purpose of fundraising are contractually
obliged to adhere to the relevant codes of practice. The
fundraising that we enter into is through our events team,
through legacies, trusts and philanthropists. The RSPCA lottery
and the seasonal raffles we run are a high form of income for
the RSPCA.
We adhere to a vulnerable persons policy and our frontline
staff who work with the lottery also have training where they
are shown how they may be able to identify vulnerable donors
or gamblers.
We complete an annual complaints return for the Fundraising
Regulator of fundraising complaints reported. Our latest return
shows the RSPCA received 50 fundraising complaints in the
last reporting period. The complaint numbers for the previous
reporting period was 64. The reporting period for fundraising
complaints was 31 March 2021 to 1 April 2022.
In 2022, out of a total of 79 incidents reported to the Data
Protection (DP) team, two were in relation to RSPCA fundraising
activities. In total DP recorded 29 actual breaches, which
were independently investigated on a case-by-case basis
from the time of our becoming aware of the breach. Our
standard is to complete investigations within three to five
days of receiving the breach notification; however investigations
may extend beyond five days depending on the complexity
of the incident.
One of the fundraising-related incidents was reported and
investigated by the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO),
which resulted in an apology being sent to the individual
involved and confirmation that their account had been
suppressed and opted out of further communications.
A confirmation and acknowledgement was sent to ICO.
In comparison to 2021, we have noticed a decrease in total
breach incidents recorded (92 cases reported in 2021, versus
79 cases reported in 2022) as well as in actual breaches
(49 in 2021, versus 29 in 2022).
Performance
Our fundraising costs for 2022 were £22.3 million (2021: £22.2
million). Our income from fundraising, excluding legacies,
decreased by £0.4 million in 2022 to £43.0 million (2021: £43.4
million). Our aim was to maintain our income as far as possible
during the cost-of-living crisis by adapting and enhancing
our fundraising offering, so that our supporters would have
a valued and fulfilling experience and could have a positive
impact on animal welfare, while building the fundraising team
to ensure income sustainability to fund our services.
Financial position of trading subsidiaries
The RSPCA has two wholly owned subsidiaries that operated
during the year. The results of these entities are presented in
Note 19.
RSPCA Trading Limited undertakes non-primary purpose
trading and the profit from its activity is donated under a
deed of covenant to the RSPCA at year end. In 2022, RSPCA
Trading had an income of £1.4 million (2021: £1.2 million).
Outgoing resources were £1.0 million (2021: £0.9 million)
and £0.4 million of profit was donated to the RSPCA (2021:
£0.3 million).
Freedom Food Limited, which trades as RSPCA Assured,
promotes RSPCA-approved welfare standards in livestock
farming. RSPCA Assured activities generated an income of
£5.3 million (2021: £4.5 million) and incurred costs of £4.3 million
(2021: £3.7 million) resulting in a net surplus of £1.0m (2021:
£0.8m surplus).
An animal care assistant gives
Princess an enrichment toy
at Bristol Animal Rescue Centre.