Notes to the financial statements

1. Constitution

The Scout Association is incorporated by Royal Charter and is a registered charity whose purpose is to promote the development of young people in achieving their full physical, intellectual, social and spiritual potentials, as individuals, as responsible citizens and as members of their local, national and international communities.

2. Scope of the financial statements

These financial statements cover the activities directly controlled by The Scout Association. The activities of the Scout Councils of Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales together with Scout Counties, Areas, Regions, Districts and Groups are not reflected in these financial statements. Those bodies are separate organisations that are affiliated to The Scout Association.

3. Accounting policies

The principal accounting policies adopted, judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty in the preparation of the financial statements are as follows:

a. Basis of preparation of consolidated financial statements

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102), and the Statement of Recommended Practice, Accounting and Reporting by Charities, applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with FRS 102, known as the Charities SORP (FRS102).

The Scout Association meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy note.

The financial statements consolidate the financial statements of The Scout Association and its subsidiary companies.

• Scout Shops Limited (trading as Scout Store)
• Scout Insurance Services Limited (trading as Unity)
• Scout Services Limited
• Scout Products Limited
• World Scout Shop Limited

The financial year end of each of the subsidiary companies is 31 March. More information on these companies is in note 12.

The Balance Sheets and Profit and Loss accounts of the subsidiaries have been consolidated on a line by line basis as required by the Statement of Recommended Practice.

On acquisition of a business, all of the assets and liabilities that exist at the date of acquisition are recorded at their fair values reflecting their condition at that time. All changes to those assets and liabilities and the resulting surpluses that that arise after acquisition are charged to the post-acquisition Statement of Financial Activities.

The financial statements are prepared on the historical cost basis with the exception of investments, which are stated at fair value.

b. Going concern

Having reviewed financial plans and cash flow forecasts, the Trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue operating for the foreseeable future. Accordingly, they believe that the going concern basis remains the appropriate basis on which to prepare the financial statements.

c. Recognition of income

Membership subscriptions

Membership subscriptions are payable in advance for a year to 31 March and are recognised in the year of membership benefit.

Legacies

Legacies are accounted for when The Scout Association becomes entitled to them, where receipt is probable and where their value can be established with reasonable certainty. Where legacies include non-cash items these are included in income at the lower of probate value and market value at the date of receipt.

Grant income

The fair value of the government grants are accrued as per the terms of the funder agreement.

Charitable, retail and other trading income

Income from charitable activities, retail sales and other trading activities including sponsorship is accounted for when The Scout Association is entitled to the income, the amount can be quantified with reasonable accuracy and the probability of receipt of the income is more likely than not.

Insurance commission income

Insurance commission is recognised at the date of inception of the policy. The amount recognised is the total commission due to the company less an overall provision for unearned commission.

Profit related commission is recognised when it can be reliably measured and is likely to be received.

Investment income

Dividends are accounted for on a receipts basis. Interest is accounted for on an accruals basis and includes all amounts earned up to the balance sheet date.

d. Allocation of income and costs

Charitable activities

This comprises income from the provision of services supporting the objects of The Scout Association through operations including National Activity Centres, and the Information Centre.

Charitable activities have been analysed under the following headings:

• Youth programme
• Development of Scouting
• Adult support and training
• Support and services to members

Where possible, the income and costs relating to a department or cost centre are allocated in full to one of the above categories, but in practice many departments have an involvement in more than one activity. Major self-funding events, including the Jamboree, are not allocated with total income and costs for the event shown separately. The other major allocations are set out below.

Jamboree

The transactions relating to the Jamboree have been split on the face of the Statement of Financial Activities. They were previously spread within the Charitable Activities but have now been included as a separate Charitable Activities heading. To provide a better understanding the prior year amounts have also been split and updated. This is to make it clearer to the reader the impact of the Jamboree on the figures provided.

Support costs

These are costs incurred directly in support of the objects of the Charity. The costs are attributed to the activities that they support. Where a department supports all the Charity’s activities the costs have been apportioned pro-rata to the staff resources directly engaged in that activity. The percentages that apply are:

• Trading – 6%
• Youth programme – 20%
• Development of Scouting – 29%
• Adult support and training – 26%
• Support and services to members – 19%

Governance costs

These are the costs associated with the governance arrangements of the Charity which relate to compliance with legal and statutory requirements of the Charity as opposed to those costs associated with fundraising. They include audit fees and the costs of Trustees’ meetings.

e. Expenditure

All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and is allocated as per note 3d. Charitable activities.

Grants payable

Grants payable are included in the Statement of Financial Activities as expenditure in the period in which the award is made. Grants which have been approved by the Trustees and agreed with other organisations but which are unpaid at the year end are accrued. Grants where the beneficiary has not been informed or has to meet certain conditions before the grant is released are not accrued.

f. Intangible fixed assets

IT software is capitalised and written off over the term of the related contract, between 2 and 5 years. Systems Development is capitalised and once the projects have completed they are written off over 5 years. Impairment tests on the carrying value are undertaken at the end of the first full year after acquisition and in any other subsequent period if events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying value may not be recoverable. The cost of acquiring a brand licence is written off over the term of the related contract.

g. Heritage fixed assets

The Scout Association maintains a heritage collection of around 250,000 items. Through an active and innovative programme of collecting, interpreting and engagement, the Heritage Collection helps create connections between members of The Scout Association, both past and present, and the wider community. The Heritage Collection is managed by the UK HQ Heritage Service. To ensure its ongoing representation of Scouting’s story the Heritage Service continues to collect both historical and contemporary material. New acquisitions are normally made by donation with occasional low cost purchases. New material is acquired in accordance with The Scout Association’s Collecting Policy. Some 300 key items in The Scout Association collection, particularly those relating to the Founder, are valued periodically since the nature of these items permits that to be sufficiently reliable. The last valuation was at 31 March 2023 (see note 10). Gains and losses on revaluation are recognised through ‘Other recognised gains’ in the Statement of Financial Activities. It is the intention of The Scout Association to preserve these items indefinitely, therefore amortisation is not regarded as appropriate.

The Trustees consider that obtaining valuations for the remainder of the Collection would involve disproportionate cost due to the diverse nature of the material held and the lack of comparable market values. Such items are therefore not recognised on the Balance Sheet. Expenditure that is in the Trustees’ view required to conserve or prevent further deterioration of individual items is recognised as expenditure when it is incurred.

h. Tangible fixed assets

Tangible assets are stated at cost. Where land and buildings are acquired together, it is assumed that the buildings represent 50% of the initial cost. Depreciation is calculated to write off the cost of assets by equal annual amounts over their expected useful lives. Assets costing less than £1,000 are not capitalised. No depreciation is provided on freehold land.

Depreciation rates used are:

• Freehold property – 50 years, with 10 years for replacement element
• Leasehold property – the shorter of the lease period or 50 years
• Furniture fittings and equipment – 4 to 5 years

Gains or losses on the disposal of fixed assets are reflected in net income/expenditure for the year shown in the Statement of Financial Activities.

Impairment reviews on fixed assets are carried out each year and any asset with a carrying value materially higher than its recoverable or useful value is written down accordingly.

i. Fixed asset investments

The Scout Association holds investments both in order to generate income for the support of charitable objectives and to provide assets to meet the need of reserves, identified in the reserves policy. Investments are stated at current market value on the balance sheet date unless there’s evidence of a different fair value.

Gains or losses arising during the year are disclosed in the Statement of Financial Activities and in note 13.

j. Current asset investments

Current asset investments represented the funds deposited by Scout Groups in the Short Term Investment Service (STIS). These funds were held in a short term money market fund with an external investment manager. The STIS was wound up during 2023-24 and all funds returned to the appropriate Scout Groups (see notes 16 and 17).

k. Cash and cash equivalents

Cash and cash equivalents are held to meet short-term cash commitments as they fall due. Cash equivalents are fixed deposit accounts that are readily convertible to cash in that they have a short maturity of three months or less as at the balance sheet date.

l. Stocks

Stocks are valued at the lower of cost and estimated net realisable value. Cost is calculated using the current purchase price method and consists of the original cost of goods without any addition for overheads.

m. Provisions

A provision is recognised in the balance sheet when The Scout Association has an obligation as a result of a past event and it is probable that an outflow of economic benefits that can be reliably measured will be required to settle that obligation

n. VAT

The Scout Association is partially exempt for VAT purposes and is not able to reclaim all the VAT it pays. All Irrecoverable VAT is expensed as it is currently not allocated to the related expenses or assets.

o. Leases

All leases are operating leases and the rentals expensed as they are paid.

p. Pension costs

Contributions payable to The Scout Association Defined Benefit Pension Scheme are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities so as to spread the cost of pensions over the working lives of employees in the scheme. The pension charge is calculated on the basis of actuarial advice.

The pension scheme liabilities are measured using a projected unit method and discounted at an AA sterling corporate bond rate. Any excess of liabilities over the value of the pension scheme assets which are measured at fair value is recognised in full. Any surplus of pension scheme assets over liabilities is recognised as an asset to the extent that The Scout Association is able to recover the surplus either through reduced contributions in the future or refunds from the plan.

Administration costs, the current service cost and net return on the scheme’s assets and liabilities for the year is allocated across the resources expended categories in the Statement of Financial Activities. The actuarial gain or loss on the scheme for the year is included in the Other recognised gains/(losses) section of the Statement of Financial Activities.

Contributions towards Defined Contribution schemes are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities as they are incurred.

q. Financial assets

Financial assets, other than investments and derivatives, are initially measured at transaction price (including transaction costs) and subsequently held at cost, less any impairment.

r. Financial liabilities

Financial liabilities are classified according to the substance of the financial instrument’s contractual obligations, rather than the financial instrument’s legal form. Financial liabilities, excluding derivatives, are initially measured at transaction price (including transaction costs) and subsequently held at amortised cost.

s. Judgements in applying accounting policies and key sources of estimation uncertainty

In preparing these financial statements, the Trustees have made the following judgements:

• The determination of whether or not there are indications of impairment of The Scout Association’s tangible and intangible assets, taking into consideration the economic viability and expected future financial performance of the asset.
• The determination of appropriate provision for claims, supported by legal advice.
• The determination of appropriate financial and demographic assumptions in valuing the defined benefit pension obligations in line with FRS 102 requirements, supported by actuarial advice.
• The determination of whether the organisation can recover any pension scheme asset in line with FRS102 requirements.

4. Nature of funds

All funds are identified as identified as falling into one of three categories.

Endowment funds

Endowment funds are those received to be held as capital on a total returns basis with only the income available to be spent. Subsequent gains or losses on the disposal of the underlying assets of the fund become part of the capital.

Restricted funds

Restricted funds are those received which have been earmarked for a special purpose by the donor or the terms of an appeal.

Unrestricted funds

Unrestricted funds are those received, which are not subject to any special restriction. They are divided between general funds and designated funds. Designated funds comprise amounts set aside by the Trustees to be used for particular purposes.

5. Income and endowments

a. Other voluntary income

Included in grants above is the DCMS Uniformed Youth Fund grant of £2.7m (2023: £0.9m), Grants from Counties £0.3m (2023: £0.6m), Early Years £nil (2023: £0.5m).

2023 has been restated to correct a classification error between Grants and Other donations of £766k. Total Other voluntary income for 2023 remains the same as previously reported.

b. Charitable activities

This income is derived mainly from major events like the Jamboree and National Activity Centres where most of the activities are not undertaken with the principal intention of generating a surplus. The Association’s charitable activities are financed by membership subscriptions and fundraising. There was no restricted or endowment charitable activities income.

c. Trading activities

There is no income for trading activities under restricted and endowment funds. Retail sales is comprised of sales from Scout Shops Limited, World Scout Shop Limited and Scout Products Limited.

d. Investment income

6. Expenditure

a. Trading activities

Expenditure on trading activities includes support costs of £676,000 (2023: £540,000). The basis for the allocation of support costs is explained in note 6.c.

b. Costs of charitable activities

Charitable activities have been analysed into four categories as explained in note 3.d. Costs are allocated using the principles explained in that note. Youth programme includes the various educational activities in which members participate. development activities are those which are focused on growing our movement. Adult support and training includes those activities which assist leaders and other adults involved in Scouts. Support and services to the movement includes those activities that help ensure the safety and safeguarding of members, which underpin the activities of Scout Groups.

Analysis of grants to local Scouting

Grants from restricted and designated funds administered by the Association are paid, in accordance with the terms governing those funds, to a large number of Scout Groups, Districts, Areas and Counties.

c. Support costs allocation

Support costs comprise that expenditure which facilitates fundraising and charitable activity but which is not directly incurred in the conduct of those activities. The support costs itemised above have been apportioned to fundraising and charitable activities pro rata to the employment costs of staff directly engaged on the relevant activities. The percentage allocations are disclosed in note 3.d.

d. Expenditure includes:

During the year 18 Trustees (2023: 15 Trustees) were reimbursed £15,417 (2023: £6,968) for expenses, such as travel and subsistence, incurred in their attending meetings and in the carrying out of their duties.

7. Staff costs

Increases across various areas, mainly supporting digital transformation including Volunteer Experience, the Skills for Life programme and new safety roles. The number of employees whose total emoluments for the year exceeded £60,000 were as follows:

The Chief Executive Officer, Matt Hyde, is also a Trustee, for which he is not paid. He received salary and benefits for his service as Chief Executive Officer of £146,610 (2023: £141,737). No other Trustee received remuneration for services to the Association. The key management personnel of the parent charity and its subsidiaries currently comprise the Trustees, the Chief Executive Officer, Executive Director of Commercial Services, Executive Director of Communications and Fundraising, Executive Director of Operations, Executive Director of Finance & Resources, Executive Director of Strategy and Transformation, Managing Director at Unity and General Manager of Scout Shops and World Scout Shop. The total employer cost of the key management personnel of the Scout Association and its subsidiaries was £1,203,214 (2023: £946,310).

Pension schemes

Pension provision for current staff is provided through a defined contribution arrangement.

Additionally, the Association previously provided defined benefit pensions through the Scout Association Defined Benefit Pension Scheme (“the Scheme”). The Scheme was closed to future accrual with effect from 1 July 2022. It has 87 deferred members and 156 members in receipt of a current pension. The Scheme provides benefits, on retirement, on leaving service or on death, based on final salary and length of service.

The Scheme is subject to the Statutory Funding Objective under the Pensions Act 2004 and a valuation of the Scheme is carried out at least once every three years. As part of the process, the Association must agree with the Trustees of the Scheme the contributions to be paid in order to address any shortfall against the Statutory Funding Objective and the contributions to be paid in respect of the accrual of the future benefits.

The last triennial actuarial valuation of the scheme was carried out as at 31 March 2022 and showed a deficit of £2.5 million. In March 2023, The Scout Association paid £2.5 million to eliminate this deficit as agreed with the Trustees. This was in addition to payments of £50k made in April 2023, and £1.1 million in respect of the previous deficit reduction plan and to cover administration expenses.

FRS102 valuation

These financial statements have been prepared in line with the requirements of FRS 102. The FRS 102 valuation is only in respect of the defined benefit Scheme. The principal FRS 102 actuarial assumptions, determined by financial markets and demographic conditions, are shown below. Pension payments increase at different rates for different accrual periods. A later table shows the sensitivity of the liability to these assumptions. The fair value of the scheme assets exceeded the present value of future obligations at 31 March 2024 by £2.7 million.

Principal actuarial assumptions

Balance sheet position

Amounts recognised in the Statement of Financial Activities

Gain/(loss) on assets in excess on interest

Reconciliation of the fair value of assets and liabilities

Sensitivity of the value placed on the liabilities

The estimate above assumes the following:

• Ongoing cash flows to and from the Scheme are broadly unchanged from the current year’s figures.
• There have been no events (other than those notified to the Pension Scheme Actuary) that would give rise to a settlement/curtailment/past service cost.

8. Net movement in funds

The net movement in funds arises as follows:

9. Intangible fixed assets

The Volunteer Experience Programme will deliver transformation to our volunteers, enabling volunteers to do their role more easily, to undertake the learning they need to do for their role, as well as enabling us to attract and recruit more volunteers. As part of this, we are creating new digital tools to enable this work - this includes tools to help with membership tasks, learning, and recruitment.

10. Heritage assets

a. Consolidated and the Association Unrestricted Funds value

A valuation of items (see note 3g.) was undertaken as at 31 March 2023 by Patrick Bowen BA (Hons) Lond., MRICS which resulted in a valuation increase of £386k from the previous valuation undertaken in 2011.

b. Five year financial summary of heritage asset transactions

There have been no purchases, donations or disposals in the last five years.

c. Further information on heritage assets

The Heritage Service, supported by a small team of volunteers, is working to catalogue the Collection in line with The Heritage Collections Trust SPECTRUM standard and the national standard for archive cataloguing, this activity is an ongoing priority. Currently 16.8% of the Collection by number, including all those items held at valuation, is catalogued to these standards. An additional 1.8% is listed at inventory level. An average of 1,500 new items are accepted into the collection each year representing historic and contemporary Scouting.

A small number of Collection items is displayed within the buildings and grounds of Gilwell Park but most of the Collection is held in storage. Included in the development plans for Gilwell Park is a new facility which would increase public access to the Collection, through a permanent display and a series of temporary exhibitions, as well as providing more appropriate storage for the Collection, ensuring its long term preservation. Currently access to the Collection is provided through the enquiries service, research appointments, the Gilwell Park Heritage Trail, the Scout Heritage website and exhibitions and activities organised with partner organisations. The Heritage Service continues to reach out to new audiences through activities including participation in the national Heritage Open Days scheme and programmes, including the UK Dementia Friendly Heritage Network.

The Association maintains the heritage collection in a good condition, and no items currently require substantial conservation expenditure. The nature of some of the assets, such as early cine-film, means they will deteriorate over time and should be considered a priority for preservation by digitisation and specialist storage. The Heritage Service actively seeks external funding to support the delivery of its conservation work.

The Association will occasionally approve the disposal of elements of the Collection, this process is carried out in accordance with the Code of Ethics and industry best practice as dictated by the Arts Council England Accreditation Standard. Disposal will be judged against the Association’s Collecting Policy. Disposal will be carried out in line with the Disposal Policy and follow the Disposal Procedure. Disposal of accessioned material only takes place with the approval of the Trustees or their designated representative. Disposal of non-accessioned items takes place with the approval of the Executive Director of Commercial Services. In accordance with best practice the Heritage Service will always try to keep the item in the public domain by gifting it free of charge to other relevant museum collections or archives. If an appropriate museum or archive cannot be found the item may be considered for sale, any proceeds from such a sale would be restricted to the care and preservation of the Collection.

11. Tangible fixed assets

Consolidated

The Association

12. Investment in subsidiary companies

The Boards of Directors of Scout Shops Limited, World Scout Shop Limited, Scout Services Limited and Scout Insurance Services Limited have each covenanted their respective company’s taxable profits to the Association. World Scout Shop Limited ceased trading on 31 March 2024.

The principal activities of each subsidiary is as follows:

• Scout Shops Limited: Sale and distribution of merchandise
• Scout Insurance Services Limited: Insurance broker
• Scout Services Limited: Sponsorship and marketing services for The Scout Association and other commercial activities
• World Scout Shop Limited: Sale and distribution of World Scout Organisation branded merchandise
• Scout Products Limited: Procurement and supply of Scout Shops products for The Scout Association

Investment in Subsidiaries

The summarised profit and loss accounts and balance sheet totals for the active trading subsidiary companies are shown below:

The reserves balance and net movement in funds are different to the balance sheet due to an adjustment in TSA for the impairment of World Scout Shops Limited.

13. Fixed asset investments

All the listed investments are classified as tier 1 in the fair value hierarchy, being quoted prices in an active market. The listed investments have a credit rating of at least A. The listed investments are subject to market risk, with their value changing as market prices change. The Scout Association holds investments in support of the reserves policy.

£10m of bank deposits were transferred to cash and cash equivalents as they were due to mature in May 2024 and represent amounts which may be spent during the course of the year.

The Scout Association paid £44,032 investment management fees and commission charges during the year (2023: £63,942).

14. Stocks

15. Debtors

Other debtors includes amounts receivable from insurers of £3.3m (2023: £2.0m), see note 17 and 18, and secured, interest bearing loans made to Scout Groups. The loans are repayable as shown below:

16. Current asset investments

The Association had a short-term money market fund with Royal London Asset Management, and a current account with Barclays, which represented amounts deposited by Scout Groups in the Short Term Investment Service (STIS). STIS was wound up during the year and all funds returned to the Scout Groups.

17. Creditors

Jamboree deferred income was in respect of the World Scout Jamboree which took place in August 2023 (see note 23). The Short Term Investment Scheme was dissolved during the year. All deposits held by the Association were released back to the Scout Groups (note 16). Other creditors includes £845k (2023: £nil) of legal fees which will be reimbursed by insurers (see note 15).

18. Provisions for liabilities and contingent liabilities

The Association puts young people first and their safeguarding and safety is paramount, but with the nature of our work there are claims made against the Association. Taking account of legal advice, provision is made on a best estimates basis for those claims of which the Association is aware and for which it is assessed it is probable that the Association will be liable and to the extent that they can be reliably measured. Such claims are covered in part by commercial insurance policies. The amount receivable from insurers of £3.3m (2023: £2.0m) to the extent that provision has been made is included in debtors (see note 15).

In addition it is the Association’s experience that incidents and/or claims may still be notified to the Association for events which occurred prior to 31 March 2024. In some cases, particularly regarding safeguarding or abuse claims, these may be made many years after the original event. Since the nature of any such incident or claim is not yet known, it is not possible for the Association to determine whether it is probable that the Association will be held liable or to estimate the amount of any consequential outflow of economic benefits. Therefore there exists an unquantifiable contingent liability in respect of such incidents and/or claims. Taking into account such insurance cover as is available, the Association is satisfied that any such claims that might arise would not present a significant financial risk to the Association.

19. Fund Balances

a. Reconciliation of movement in funds

Group

b. Reconciliation of movement in funds for 2022/23

Group

c. Endowment funds - Consolidated and the Association

Endowment funds include the 1914 Endowment Fund, the King George VI Leadership Fund and 6 (2023: 6) other funds administered by the Association. Income from the 1914 Endowment Fund and two others is unrestricted and credited to the General Fund. Income from the King George VI Leadership Fund and three others is restricted and income from the remaining fund is paid to an external Scouting beneficiary.

d. Restricted funds - Consolidated and the Association

The main restricted funds are shown in note 19 and 19(a), comprising national and local development funds. The Welcome Centre Fund is the largest individual restricted fund with a balance of £921,612 (2023: £718,002). This is funding to be used to build a Welcome Centre at Gilwell Park. Further details of the funds available, and the process of applying to them for grants, are to be found at www.scouts.org.uk/grants.

e. Designated funds - Consolidated and the Association

The fixed asset fund represents the value of the Association’s tangible fixed assets, goodwill & licences, and heritage assets. The Inclusion and Solidarity fund has been agreed to fund the losses incurred on the Jamboree in 2023 (see note 23).

f. Analysis of net assets between funds

20. Other financial commitments and authorised expenditure

The total lease payments, included within the financial statements for the year were £271,063 (2023: £134,956).

At 31 March 2024 there was capital expenditure authorised but not committed of £606,083 (2023: £1,343,689).

21. Events occurring after the reporting period

There have been no material events occurring after the reporting period.

22. Related party transactions

Expenses and remuneration paid to the Trustees are disclosed in notes 6 and 7 respectively.

Transactions with the defined benefit pension scheme are disclosed in note 7a.

Transactions with subsidiaries:

23. Jamboree

The total cumulative loss from Jamboree was £2.4 million. 2022: £140k; 2023: £411k and 2024: £1.8 million.

The 25th World Scout Jamboree was held in South Korea in August 2023. It is an international gathering of Scouts and Guides from all around the world, and hosts more than 40,000 young people and volunteers.
To safeguard the UK 4,500 strong Contingent the decision was made to leave the Jamboree site early and relocate to Seoul (see pages 3, 4, and 24).

The Board agreed to fund part of the loss from the Inclusion and Solidarity Fund (note 19).