TRUSTEES' REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2024
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Customer and Community Engagement programme
This programme supports us to inspire more people, including
the public and partners, to create a better world for all animals.
We're building a millions-strong movement to improve animal
welfare in communities.
Key achievements during 2024
• We launched our powerful, award-winning new brand, which
included rebranding our digital and physical estate and new
uniforms for staff and volunteers.
• We recruited new Area Volunteer Support Partners (AVSPs) to
support volunteers in local areas with best-practice volunteer
management, recruitment and engagement.
Branches programme
We set up our branches programme to help modernise the
governance of our branch network and make it sustainable for
future generations. This programme transitioned into core
activity at the end of 2024.
Key achievements during 2024
• We created a new governance framework, consisting of a
Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) constitution, which
helps to strengthen the partnership between the RSPCA and
our branches.
• 32 branches adopted our new governance framework, and more
than half moved towards it.
Estates Transformation programme
This will deliver a fit-for-purpose, financially and environmentally
sustainable estate that empowers our people, partners and
communities to deliver the best possible animal welfare outcomes.
We're currently developing a long-term estate plan that supports
our strategic priorities by delivering the right facilities, in the right
place and at the right time.
The statement of financial position
Overall, the group's total funds at 31 December 2024 were £271.7m
(31 December 2023: £278.8m).
Total fixed assets decreased by £14.1m, largely driven by the release
of cash from the investment portfolio of £12.4m, and to a lesser
extent by the in-year reduction in intangible fixed assets.
Net current assets of £105.5m ended marginally higher than 2023,
with a £7.6m increase in legacy debtors partly offset by lower
accrued income elsewhere and higher short-term creditors.
Long-term creditors dropped £3.7m to £16.5m, due to the reduced
defined benefit pension scheme's Financial Reporting Standard
(FRS) 102 deficit, which is now £15.2m, compared to £18.7m a year
ago. However, as explained further in the Pension section that
follows, the FRS 102 pensions deficit calculation is performed
for accounting purposes and is not used to assess the scheme's
employer contributions.
The group's cash balances (cash at bank and in hand) stayed on a
par with last year at £15.3m. Significant in-year cash outflows were
met by the release of cash from the investment portfolio and served
to meet expenditure from our investment and transformation activities.
Our investment portfolio remains the primary funding source
for our large designated programmes, while day-to-day operating
expenditure is funded from our operating income. In 2024, we
continued to invest cash in higher-yielding current asset investments
(fixed-term money market deposits of up to 12 months' maturity)
with a number of different counterparties. By the end of the year,
£6m were deposited in such deposits. The £21.3m combined
balance of cash and current asset investments remained in line
with our overall cash policy range of [£20m-£30m]
Pension arrangements
The RSPCA supports a closed defined benefit pension scheme
that is held separately under the management of the RSPCA
pension scheme (the scheme). The scheme has a trustee board,
which is chaired by an independent trustee. The trustees have
responsibility for obtaining valuations of the fund, administering
benefit payments and investing the scheme's assets. The trustees
delegate some of these functions to their professional advisers
where appropriate.
The FRS 102 valuation position on 31 December 2024 shows the
amount by which the liabilities exceed the assets of the defined
benefit section of the pension scheme decreased by £3.5m in 2024
to £15.2m (2023: £18.7m). The reduction in the deficit is mostly due
to financial actuarial assumptions reducing the value placed on the
liabilities. Other positive factors include the agreed contributions
from the charity and a small reduction in assumed life expectancies.
Those upsides are partially offset by lower-than-expected returns
on the scheme's assets over the period, broadly consistent with
the changes in market conditions.
The assumptions used for calculating these FRS 102 pension
disclosures are different from those used for the last triennial
valuation, which is carried out separately by the trustees of the
RSPCA pension scheme. It is the triennial valuation that is used
to calculate the payment of additional pension contributions.
The next triennial valuation, based on 31 March 2024 information,
will be completed by the end of June 2025, as planned.
Since 2021, and following a strategic review of pension
arrangements, the defined contribution (DC) pension provision
offered by the charity is through a master trust arrangement with
Legal & General.
In 2024, RSPCA (the employer) made pension payments totalling
£6.8m (2023: £5.9m) to the group's DC scheme and a £2m contribution
towards the reduction of the defined benefit scheme's deficit.