The Trustees (who are also directors of the charity for the purposes of the Companies Act) present their annual report together with the financial statements of Nutrition and Diet Resources UK (the company) for the year ended 31 March 2025. The Trustees confirm that the Annual report and financial statements of the company comply with the Charities Act 2011, The Companies Act 2006, The Memorandum and Articles of Association, and Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable to the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019).
CONSTITUTION
The Charitable Company was set up on the 27 August 2009. The charity is registered in Scotland and administered in accordance with the terms of the Trust Deed. The registered charity number is SC041043.
The purpose of the charity is to advance health and education through the provision of high-quality nutrition and diet resources and advice, which supports the prevention, treatment and/or management of disease through dietary support.
METHOD OF APPOINTMENT OR ELECTION OF TRUSTEES
Appointment and removal of Trustees is undertaken in accordance with the Trust Deed which requires that appointment is approved by the unanimous agreement of the existing trustees and removal of any trustee by the unanimous agreement of the others. At the year ended 31 March 2025, the trustees appointed was eight (the Trust Deed stipulates a minimum of six and maximum of ten).
RISK MANAGEMENT
The Trustees regularly assess the major risks to which the company is exposed, in particular those related to the operations and finances of the company and are satisfied that systems and procedures are in place to mitigate our exposure to the major risks. Risks are now reviewed quarterly using a traffic-light grading system of probability and impact, and a Business Continuity Plan is in place.
Objectives and Activities
NDR UK’s objectives combine the advancement of health and the advancement of education through a focus on the provision of high-quality nutrition and diet resources. Our 2022-25 strategy sets out a very clear aim: to deliver high-quality resources to empower clinicians, and health and care services, to educate patients, enable self-management and improve health and well-being.
We have always been focused on high quality health resources to aid education, but our current strategy very clearly puts the health professionals who use them at the centre of our rationale. With the vast quantity of health information accessible by everyone today, it is vital for clinicians to feel assured that the information they give to their patients is accurate, appropriate and will stand up to all quality standards. This includes the evidence base and established clinical practices, to ensure the efficacy of the information in helping their patients to prevent, manage or recover from their health conditions.
To ensure relevance and currency, we research needs carefully and recruit volunteers who are specialist dietitians and other health professionals to work with us. Following our long-established quality process, and our Information Resource Policy, the volunteers help us to create and periodically update all our titles, ensuring excellence and accuracy in patient information.
Achievements and performance
REVIEW OF ACTIVITIES
This Trustees’ report updates on some of the key development work we have undertaken in 2024/25 to support health professionals meet their patients needs with the following guidance:
1. Purpose: To meet demands for patient information to be issued electronically, we developed our website-based platform (NDR Prescribe) in 2018. Since then, its use has slowly but steadily grown, now with consistent use. Over 8,000 personalised, tailored resources have been provided to patients in this way in 2024/25. To improve efficiencies and ease of use for both health professionals using and managing use of the service through their team, a new credit management system has been developed. Work is continuing to finalise details in moving for the established to the new system, which aim to go live early in the 2025/26 financial year.
2. Purpose: Helping children and young people to reach and maintain a healthier weight, through behaviour change. Three new resources commissioned by Swansea Children’s Weight Management Service address the importance of language, family-based strategies and mindfulness in making food choices were published in February 2024. As requested by the project sponsor, and to comply with The Welsh Language Standards (No. 8) Regulations 2022, these resources were translated into Welsh and published on NDR Prescribe in September 2024.
3. Purpose: Supporting maternal health and reduce risks associated with overweight during pregnancy for mothers and their babies. We published a new resource ‘Healthy Living through Your Pregnancy’, developed in partnership with the maternal health team of NHS Lanarkshire and included two specialist dietitians, a midwife and a specialist physiotherapist to provide diet and lifestyle advice for women with a body mass index (BMI) over 25 at the start of their pregnancy.
4. Purpose: To provide guidance to support people through all stages of dementia management and care, two new resources were developed to add to our long-established guide for carers, Eating Well with Dementia. The new resources, Living Well and Eating and Drinking in Later Stages of Dementia, were developed and published, providing information for people experiencing changes to their cognition and/or early-stage dementia, and to support friends, family and carers of people with advanced dementia to provide nutrition and hydration that helps maintain quality of life, optimise well-being and food enjoyment, respectively.
5. Purpose: To meet a gap in information provision for people living with avoidant restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID), we were delighted to work with the Mental Health Specialist Group of the British Dietetic Association (BDA). The eagerly awaited specialist dietetic resource was launched in October to support people affected by ARFID to improve their diet to ensure that it is nutritionally complete by guiding them through small, gradual changes that each patient is comfortable with.
6. Purpose: To support people with a range of gastrointestinal conditions achieve nutritional balance and improved quality of life. Continuing from successful partnerships to develop other GI resources, we worked with the Scottish Dietitians Specialist GI network to develop two new resources to fill gaps within patient pathways. These Ulcerative Colitis and Bile Acid Malabsorption resources were published in June.
7. Purpose: Ensuring all information disseminated in print or electronically is up to date with evidence, practice and needs. Through the year, 32 different resource titles, covering approx. six different clinical ranges were updated. This includes:
- Full redesign and rewrite of Gluten Free Living for people with coeliac disease
- First line guidance for common dietary issues (iron deficiency anaemia and constipation)
- Specialist gastroenterology resources for people with gastroparesis and people who need to follow a short-term low fibre dietary intervention.
- Gestational diabetes
- Pictorial paediatric portion guides to support healthy weight
- Eating disorders. Guidance to support with behavioural, psychological, physiological and nutrition impact of living with/recovering from disordered eating.
8. Purpose: To develop a pictorial resource defining and illustrating correct portion sizes for children and adults with Prader Willi Syndrome (PWS), to help people with PWS and their carers give appropriately sized meals and feel confident in their choices to provide a balanced diet. We were commissioned by and worked with Prader Willi Syndrome Association UK (PWSAUK) to develop, publish and disseminate the new resource, Practical Portions for Prader Willi Syndrome. The resource was published in November with over 1000 copies distributed since publication.
9. Purpose: To support the development and skills of the future dietetic workforce, we have linked with 20 higher education institutions across the UK this year, delivering 12 seminars/workshops on the importance of quality information on patient care. By attending and participating in the sessions, we estimate over 300 students learned about the importance of robust process to ensure that our resources meet clearly defined condition-specific needs and learning outcomes for patient audiences.
10. Purpose: To support consistent and accessible service support to ensure equal access to best-practice education materials, we worked with the Scottish Dietetic Paediatric Coeliac Network to create a new presentation to guide parents, and their children newly diagnosed with coeliac disease, on how to manage key diet and lifestyle factors of this increasingly prevalent autoimmune condition.
In total, over 135,000 printed resources were issued for use by dietitians and other health professionals with their patients, in addition to the 8,000 resources issued via NDR Prescribe. This is a drop printed resource distribution from 150,000 and a small increase from 7,600 in electronic resources issued last year (2023/24).
Funding Sources
The vast majority of funding continues to come from charitable trading activities, including sales of printed and electronic materials, and relating carriage charges. Other income was from project commissions, related partnership work, bank interest and investments.
NDR-UK acknowledges and is grateful for the continued financial support of Scottish Government whose core grant to support delivery of the business plan contributed most of the other income for 2024/25, as well as the continued support to enable a 20% discount to customers in Scotland.
Financial review
Total income for the year was £200,106 with total expenditure of almost £205,950 giving a deficit of £4,695. Sales activity was very high in May, October and November, but markedly lower than target in June, August, September, December and the final quarter. Sales income throughout the year was volatile and below budget: the first quarter was on track; at midyear, this had slipped to approx. 7% behind target; and by the end of year it had dropped to over 10% behind target.
There was also bank interest of £1,179 and increase in value on the Investment Fund of £1,149.
Overall, this has resulted in a decrease in Capital and Reserves from £128,019 to £123,324 at year end.
RESERVES POLICY
A formal policy on reserves and investment was agreed at the NDR UK Board meeting on the 4th October 2018. This policy was reviewed in October 2020 and more recently in May 2022.
In line with standard charitable practices, NDR-UK reserves and investment policy takes into account the required funds to:
- sustain the organisation for six months (to meet overheads/running costs)
- meet any staff redundancy payments (statutory minimum levels apply)
- cover any contractual commitment or commitments for project delivery, including any restricted funds received in advance or contractor payments due
- allow for slow debtors (10%) and slow-moving stock (20%)
- account for fixed assets
- provide funds for investment in planned project activity or to allow flexibility for unplanned expenditure, e.g. staff cover in the event of long-term sickness absence
The Board of Trustees monitors the level of notional free reserves on a quarterly basis, taking into account all of the costs listed above. As a result of sales deficit in 2024/25, notional free reserves were depleted. Addressing this is a primary focus and priority for Trustees as they enter the 2025/26 financial year.
Board and Leadership Changes
At the AGM in September 2024, the Board welcomed two new Trustees, James Murray and Jacqueline Walker MSc, BSc, SRD. Andy Burman, a founding trustee retired at this meeting – Andy’s contribution over 13 years is gratefully acknowledged.
In October, Linda McPhillie retired after more than a decade as Chief Executive. The Board extends its thanks for her significant leadership in establishing NDR-UK as a trusted provider of dietetic resources. From November 2024, Kirsty Rice was appointed CEO. Having been part of the charity since its inception, Kirsty brings deep organisational knowledge and a strong commitment to keeping NDR-UK aligned with its values and the evolving needs of health and care services.
Plans for the future
The Trustees are aware of the decline in Capital and Reserves, by a total of nearly £40,000 over the past three years. As a charity working to support the healthcare sector to provide excellent care to patients, the impact of Covid and Covid recovery, changing government and related financial challenges across all NHS, public sector and beyond continues to affect NDR-UK. Price increases applied in April 2024 to manage the rising costs across all areas of expenditure in 2023/24, have helped to increase income, but may well have contributed to a drop in the volume of sales through 2024-25 and further deficit budget. Given the tone of the financial challenges across all sectors, plans were initiated in January and are actively continuing into the new financial year to seek alternative income support, identify and lobby for increased recognition of the need for, importance of, and investment in the robust, evidenced information that NDR-UK provides. The board of directors and trustees is closely monitoring all income, expenditure and liabilities to build a strategy to manage, and responsibly and proportionately respond to these challenges.
The Trustees (who are also directors of Nutrition and Diet Resources UK for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the Trustees' report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
Company law requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under company law the Trustees must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the Trustees are required to:
• select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
• observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP;
• make judgments and accounting estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
• state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements;
• prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charitable company will continue in operation.
The Trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the charitable company's transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
In preparing this report, the Trustees have taken advantage of the small companies exemptions provided by section 415A of the Companies Act 2006.
The trustees' report was approved by the Board of Trustees and signed on their behalf by:
I report to the trustees on my examination of the financial statements of Nutrition and Diet Resources UK (the charity) for the year ended 31 March 2025.
Having satisfied myself that the financial statements of the charity are not required to be audited under Part 16 of the 2006 Act and are eligible for independent examination, I report in respect of my examination of the charity’s financial statements carried out under section 145 of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act). In carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act.
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:
accounting records were not kept in respect of the charity as required by section 386 of the 2006 Act; or
the financial statements do not accord with those records; or
the financial statements do not comply with the accounting requirements of section 396 of the 2006 Act other than any requirement that the accounts give a true and fair view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination; or
the financial statements have not been prepared in accordance with the methods and principles of the Statement of Recommended Practice for accounting and reporting by charities applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102).
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the financial statements to be reached.
S Meah, FCCA
On behalf of TC Group
The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year. All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.
Nutrition and Diet Resources UK is a private company limited by guarantee incorporated in Scotland. The registered office is Baltic Chambers, 50 Wellington Street, Glasgow, G2 6HJ.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the charity's governing document, the Companies Act 2006, FRS 102 “The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland” (“FRS 102”) and the Charities SORP "Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)" (effective 1 January 2019). The charity is a Public Benefit Entity as defined by FRS 102.
The charity has taken advantage of the provisions in the SORP for charities not to prepare a Statement of Cash Flows.
The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the charity. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention. The principal accounting policies adopted are set out below.
Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of their charitable objectives.
Restricted funds are subject to specific conditions by donors or grantors as to how they may be used. The purposes and uses of the restricted funds are set out in the notes to the financial statements.
Cash donations are recognised on receipt. Other donations are recognised once the charity has been notified of the donation, unless performance conditions require deferral of the amount. Income tax recoverable in relation to donations received under Gift Aid or deeds of covenant is recognised at the time of the donation.
Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to transfer economic benefit to a third party, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefits will be required in settlement and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Expenditure is classified by activity. The costs of each activity are made up of the total of direct costs and shared costs, including support costs involved in undertaking each activity. Direct costs attributable to a single activity are allocated directly to that activity. Shared costs which contribute to more than one activity and support costs which are not attributable to a single activity are apportioned between those activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources. Central staff costs are allocated on the basis of time spent, and depreciation charges allocated on the portion of the asset's use.
Support costs are those costs incurred directly in support of expenditure on the objects of the company and include project management carried out at Headquarters. Governance costs are those incurred in connection with administration of the company and compliance with constitutional and statutory requirements.
Charitable activities and Governance costs are costs incurred on the company's operations, including support costs and costs relating to the governance of the company apportioned to charitable activities.
Tangible fixed assets are initially measured at cost and subsequently measured at cost or valuation, net of depreciation and any impairment losses.
Depreciation is recognised so as to write off the cost or valuation of assets less their residual values over their useful lives on the following bases:
The gain or loss arising on the disposal of an asset is determined as the difference between the sale proceeds and the carrying value of the asset, and is recognised in the statement of financial activities.
Stocks are stated at the lower of cost and estimated selling price less costs to complete and sell. Cost comprises direct materials and, where applicable, direct labour costs and those overheads that have been incurred in bringing the stocks to their present location and condition. Items held for distribution at no or nominal consideration are measured the lower of replacement cost and cost.
Net realisable value is the estimated selling price less all estimated costs of completion and costs to be incurred in marketing, selling and distribution.
The charity has elected to apply the provisions of Section 11 ‘Basic Financial Instruments’ and Section 12 ‘Other Financial Instruments Issues’ of FRS 102 to all of its financial instruments.
Financial instruments are recognised in the charity's balance sheet when the charity becomes party to the contractual provisions of the instrument.
Financial assets and liabilities are offset, with the net amounts presented in the financial statements, when there is a legally enforceable right to set off the recognised amounts and there is an intention to settle on a net basis or to realise the asset and settle the liability simultaneously.
Basic financial assets, which include debtors and cash and bank balances, are initially measured at transaction price including transaction costs and are subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest method unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the transaction is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial assets classified as receivable within one year are not amortised.
Basic financial liabilities, including creditors and bank loans are initially recognised at transaction price unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the debt instrument is measured at the present value of the future payments discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial liabilities classified as payable within one year are not amortised.
Debt instruments are subsequently carried at amortised cost, using the effective interest rate method.
Trade creditors are obligations to pay for goods or services that have been acquired in the ordinary course of operations from suppliers. Amounts payable are classified as current liabilities if payment is due within one year or less. If not, they are presented as non-current liabilities. Trade creditors are recognised initially at transaction price and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.
Company status
The company is a company limited by guarantee. The members of the company are the Trustees named on page 5. ln the event of the company being wound up, the liability in respect of the guarantee is limited to £1 per member of the company.
Leaflet provision
Investment income
Leaflet provision
Leaflet provision
Printing and design
Closing stock
Carriage
Staff salaries
Hotels, travel and subsistence
Subscriptions
Telephone and fax
Office consumables
Governance costs includes payments to the independent examiner of £1,185 (2024 - £1,130) for independent examination.
The charity is exempt from taxation on its activities because all its income is applied for charitable purposes.
The restricted funds of the charity comprise the unexpended balances of donations and grants held on trust subject to specific conditions by donors as to how they may be used.
Restricted funds
Easier Swallowing video project – c/f funding previously received to develop the capacity to present Easier Swallowing information in video format. Resource content review was undertaken in 2023/24.
Scottish Government grant - Grant offer letter is based upon delivery of 2024/25 business plan.
The remuneration of key management personnel was as follows:
During the year, no individual Key Management Personnel received remuneration exceeding £60,000.
During the year, no Trustees received any remuneration (2024 - £Nil).
During the year, no Trustees received any benefits in kinds (2024 - £Nil).
Trustees received reimbursement of expenses amounting to £Nil (2024 - £Nil).