Registered number: SC361532

Charity number: SC040614

SCOTTISH COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CENTRE
 (A company limited by guarantee)

TRUSTEES' REPORT AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

SCOTTISH COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CENTRE

 

CONTENTS

SCOTTISH COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CENTRE

 

REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS OF THE COMPANY, ITS TRUSTEES AND ADVISERS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

SCOTTISH COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CENTRE

 

  

TRUSTEES' REPORT

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

The Trustees present their annual report together with the audited financial statements of the Company for the year 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025. The Annual report serves the purposes of both a Trustees' report and a directors' report under company law. The Trustees confirm that the Annual report and financial statements of the charitable company comply with the current statutory requirements, the requirements of the charitable company's governing document and the provisions of the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS102) (effective 1 January 2019). 

Since the Company qualifies as small under section 382 of the Companies Act 2006, the Strategic report required of medium and large companies under the Companies Act 2006 (Strategic Report and Directors' Report) Regulations 2013 has been omitted.

Objectives and activities

a.Policies and objectives

The company's objects are:-

1.To advance citizenship and community development primarily within Scotland;

2.To advance education in the field of community development;

3.To relieve those who are in need within excluded and disadvantaged communities primarily within Scotland. and;

4.To promote, establish, operate and/or support other similar schemes and projects which further our charitable  purposes.

b.Significant Activities

To achieve these objects the company promotes best practice in community development by:-

1.liaising with and supporting community organisations and community development practitioners;

2.developing practice models, tools and frameworks within the field of community development and supporting their use;

3.analysing and advising on public policy within the field of community development;

4.encouraging and disseminating research on community development;

5.supporting practitioner and community networks;

6.distributing information. and;

7.participating in and/or conducting conferences, seminars, workshops and educational and training events.

Achievements and performance

a.Charitable Activities

SCDC's vision is for an active, inclusive and just Scotland where our communities are strong, equitable and sustainable. The mission of the organisation is to help build strong communities, to influence policy towards improving outcomes for disadvantaged communities through community development approaches, and to support effective community work practice.

SCDC became an independent charity in 2009 and since then has grown and diversified its portfolio and operations, as well as extending its policy influence role. Over the last decade and more, policy direction in Scotland in respect of public service reform, public health, democratic renewal, tackling inequalities and place-based approaches, means that community development is positioned favorably and its contribution across many public policy areas is well recognised.

Although community development is coherent with policy ambitions in Scotland, in 2024/25 the environment in which SCDC, other charitable organisations and local community groups operate financially continued to be
subject to decreases in public spending. This challenging fiscal environment led to budget reductions in some of SCDC’s Scottish Government funded work programmes that resulted in ending the financial year with an overall deficit. This had a negative impact on SCDC reserves which were used to protect our ability and capacity to deliver existing work commitments and tender for other work to mitigate losses of these funds. However, the level of reserves remains adequate to fulfil our reserves policy, which is outlined on page 14 of this report. 

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b.SCDC's Governance 

The Scottish Community Development is a company limited by guarantee, and a registered Scottish charity. The members of the company are its current Directors:  SCDC currently has eight Non-Executive Directors bringing skills and experience in academia, public policy, community development practice and organisational and legal governance. The SCDC Board has two external advisors from sponsoring agencies. While SDCDC works in informal partnership with many third sector organisations, it has no formal partners or subsidiaries and is part of no umbrella organisation. It participates in several community development and community health networks, none of which incur contractual or other legal obligations. 

The SCDC Board operates two formal sub-committees for finance and audit. The Finance Sub-committee meets three times a year, for the purpose of detailed scrutiny of management accounts. The Audit Sub-committee meets at least once a year, to assist the process of the statutory reports and to recommend revisions to the strategic Risk Register. A Human Resources and Governance Sub-committee meets as and when required. All sub-committees report to the Board. The Board meets at least three times a year, in addition to the Annual General Meeting.  SCDC held its last AGM on 27th November 2024.

Decision-making on operational matters is delegated to the Director, who is the most senior member of staff, and not a Company Director, in a Scheme of Delegation. The Scheme of Delegation underwent a major revision in 2015, and is reviewed for minor revisions, if necessary, on an annual basis. The Financial Regulations, also approved by the Board, underwent major revision in 2015 and minor revisions annually. Guidance notes for staff on the practical application of the regulations are issued by the Director.  SCDC has a comprehensive set of internal policies and procedures which are updated on an annual basis.  Work to consolidate internal learning and evaluation systems to improve the way SCDC captures learning and communicates externally is ongoing and continually reviewed.

SCDC Trustees are appointed after a selective recruitment process that considers any skills gap the Board may have, and the potential contribution of a candidate. The most recent skills audit of the Trustees/Board was in June 2022.  The Trustee interview and recruitment process is carried out by the Chair of the Board with the assistance of the Director, and induction includes input from the Finance and Audit committees and cover the legal responsibilities of a Trustee. 

Remuneration of key personnel is carried out as part of the general pay review process, by a joint working group of the SCDC Board and UNITE. This considers sector benchmarking, cost-of-living factors and our obligations as a Living Wage Employer. In February 2025, with the agreement of UNITE, the SCDC Board agreed not to award a pay increase due to an expected deficit for the organisation. However, a non-consolidated payment of £500 was made to grades 5 and upwards (two posts) to mitigate against high inflation rates and impact on cost of living- this was paid in March 2025.   

c.SCDC's Staffing

During 2024/25 the SCDC team comprised 13.7 full-time equivalent staff (FTE). The Depute Director retired just prior to the end of the financial year.

SCDC operates a hybrid working from home model, meaning each staff member’s home residence is formally recognised as their place of work, although SCDC’s Administrative Officer continues to be based predominantly in SCDC offices.

In the financial period 2024/25, SCDC maintained its robust performance management system with full team meetings and delivery team meetings held monthly and Senior Management Team meetings held fortnightly. A strategic level, joint staff and SCDC Board session took place on 4th June 2024.

All SCDC staff work to project or contract work plans which are monitored and reviewed at regular meetings reflecting the requirements of each brief. SCDC staff participate in three-monthly support and supervision sessions where work progress and individual performance is monitored.

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d.SCDC's National Role

In the financial period 2024/25, interest in community development approaches to the achievement of Scotland's policy ambitions continued to be maintained in the recognition that locally defined and locally delivered solutions can often lead to improved, and more sustainable, health and social outcomes.

The main income to SCDC in 2024/25 was derived from programme work or commissions negotiated on a year- to-year basis, from work won through competitive tender, and from sale of services in training and consultancy.

Since 2015, the policy responsibility for community development has resided within the Community Empowerment Division (Local Government and Communities Directorate) of Scottish Government. Starting in 2016/17 SCDC has received a core funding contribution of £75,000 per annum to enhance the organisation's learning, communications and policy development functions. In 2020/21 this was increased to £80,000 in recognition of rising inflation affecting the core costs of running SCDC and delivering services. This amount of £80,000 was maintained in 2024/25.

The core funding contribution consolidates SCDC's position as the recognised source in Scotland for expertise, guidance and practical support on working effectively with communities and community organisations.

Across its portfolio, SCDC hosts three national networks, all of which sit under its governance structure. These are:

∙Community Health Exchange (a network of 179 community led health member organisations)

∙Scottish Co-production Network (1,851 members)

∙Participatory Budgeting Scotland (1,758 network members)

In the last year of activity SCDC worked with community organisations from rural, urban and island areas of Scotland providing a combination of direct organisational development support, support for networking, learning and research, and facilitating awareness raising on policy and legislation of interest to communities.

As part of the core offer, SCDC seeks to work with national and international partners with a community development role. SCDC's continues to work with other national networks including Scottish Community Development Network and Community Development Alliance Scotland on common priorities and complimentary work strands.

e.SCDC's National Role

In 2024/25, community empowerment, addressing inequalities, public service reform, and participatory democracy remained high on the Scottish Government agenda and there was also an increasing focus on the cost-of-living crisis, climate change and a Just Transition to Net Zero. Through the core contribution from Scottish Government, SCDC was helped to further its research work and policy influence on matters related to community development by engaging in meetings with politicians, local partners, senior civil servants and peer organisations on democratic participation, Open Government, 

place-based approaches, planning policy, co-production, and many other aspects of public service reform.

The core contribution allows us to be involved in policy fora, to meet with key civil servants, to participate and give inputs to local and national conferences and seminars and to respond to policy consultations. Our role is to raise awareness of community development approaches, to demonstrate the positive outcomes which can be achieved through supporting and investing in community action, to make the links across different policy areas, and to advocate for the adoption of community development approaches where we believe they can make a difference. 

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SCDC's key areas of policy activity in 2024/25

Local Governance Review – Democracy Matters: Following completion of a SG funded joint delivery contract with DTAS to engage local communities in detailed conversations about local governance and democracy, SCDC submitted a bespoke report as a formal response to the consultation which outlines our aspirations for a future Local Governance Bill. SCDC and other stakeholders, including community members who participated in the locally facilitated conversations, attended an online session organised by SG on 15 August for a pre-publication summary presentation of the key issues arising from the consultation. The report of findings was published shortly thereafter, with SG setting up a multi-stakeholder steering group to develop further proposals addressing key issues. SCDC attended steering groups meetings as a key stakeholder, as well as providing planning and facilitation advice and guidance, which included support to conduct a partners’ development day in March 2025. We met regularly with the SG team leading the work and other partners which will continue in the coming year. 

 

Rural Economy and Community Stakeholder Group: SCDC continues to attend this group which meets quarterly and focuses on a range of rural development issues. During this period we provided a community development perspective in discussions on rural poverty, rural housing and rural broadband connectivity. 

Scottish Government Review of Rural Policy Research Advisory Group: SCDC contributes to this review looking at the current and future role of three programmes. These are Community Led Local Development (CLLD), the role of Scottish Rural Action (SRA) and the role of Scottish Rural Network (SRN).  The review is being undertaken by Scotland’s Rural College and the University of the Highlands and Islands.  We participated in three meetings of the group and two additional meetings with research team staff. 

Voluntary and Community Sector Resilience Advisory Group:  SCDC continues to be represented on this group, advising on issues linking community resilience, place-based working and sharing the experience of communities from our ongoing work and the development of a Rebooting Resilience resource. 

National Outcomes Review (NPF4) Expert Advisory Group: We continued to attend this group over the year which has an ongoing role to support Scottish Government in producing a revised National Performance Framework (NPF4). The revised framework and outcomes were sent to Cabinet for discussion on 19th March and was subject to parliamentary scrutiny between April – September. We attended an in-person workshop of the group on 23rd April to discuss plans for implementation of the NPF4, offering support around three key themes – engagement, capacity building and accountability. We also provided a detailed submission to the Scottish Government NPF team on potential key measurements for outcomes relating to communities and social capital for their consideration over the winter period. However, in December 2024 the Deputy First Minister announced a reform agenda for the NPF so the revised framework was not published. The EAG then transitioned into a Review Advisory Group which we continue to attend to offer guidance on the reform process and a new NPF for Scotland. 

Regeneration, Planning, and Place-Based Approaches: SCDC continues to contribute to policy discussions and developments with a focus on place. The key activities in 2024/25 include:

∙Place and Wellbeing Programme Board – SCDC chairs the core group for the community workstream of this programme and is a member of the Programme Board which sits under the wider Care and Wellbeing portfolio of Scottish Government.

∙Continued participation in the People in Place Network learning events which are hosted quarterly. The events are attended by SCDC team members and aid our learning and understanding of wider issues around place-based working.

∙Ongoing participation in The Place-Based Exchange group which includes Inspiring Scotland, the National Lottery Community Fund, Corra Foundation, Creative Scotland and SURF, to feed in community development experience, views and learning about place-based approaches.

∙Involvement in on-going national roundtable discussions regarding future targeting and use of Scottish Government regeneration funding.

 

 

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Community Learning and Development/Community Capacity Building: Activities in 2024/25 included:

∙In December 2023, the Minister for Higher and Further Education and Veterans announced an independent review of CLD to be undertaken by Kate Still. The review report which mainly focused on adult education was published in July 2024 and we attended a CLD Standards council’s membership meeting in August to discuss the recommendations to be led by Scottish Government and COSLA with other CLD stakeholders.  

∙Via the Supporting Communities programme we continue to advise local CCB partners such as the local authorities and practitioners in Falkirk, North Ayrshire, Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Glasgow on development of empowerment policy and duties arising from this, including local democratic development and their implications for capacity building activity. Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire work also included working with NHS Grampian which also covered Moray. 

Policy Responses

SCDC continues to provide written responses to policy consultations as well as providing evidence to Parliamentary Committees and inquiries. 

Key activities during 2024/25 were: 

∙Community Empowerment Act Review – we submitted our report to Scottish Government on Participation Requests in May 2024, however they did not report the review findings until the end of March 2025. Although our evidence supported recommendations on reviews and appeals and the need to update the statutory guidance, other than development of a new set of implementation principles for participation requests most of these were not accepted.

We have also provided formal responses to the following Scottish Government and Scottish Parliament policy consultations:  

∙Scottish Government consultation on Disclosure (Scotland) Act 2020 - accredited body fees and proposals for discounting in relation to the PVG Scheme

∙Scottish Parliament Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee consultation on National Planning Framework 4 

∙Scottish Parliament’s Pre-budget 2025-26 scrutiny - third sector funding principles

∙Scottish Government consultation on community benefits from net zero energy developments

SCDC’s research role

In 2024/25 SCDC utilised the core contribution to underwrite and contribute to research activities as described below.

SCDC has continued to develop our wider learning and partnership work around community-led action research (CLAR), including building on learning from our delivery of Knowledge is Power, CPAR and Creating Hope Together programmes. During 2024/25 we continued our engagement with a range of wider stakeholders with a view to encouraging greater collaboration and further investment in community-led action research. 

In May 2024, we brought together a range of interested stakeholders, including funders, academics, practitioners and community researchers at the Studio in Glasgow to collaboratively develop a way forward for growing and sustaining CLAR in Scotland and the wider UK. We also continued our communications campaign - community-led action research - highlighting the value of community-led action research and opportunities for a range of stakeholders to become involved in taking this forward. This learning and partnership work will continue in 2025/26.

An additional element of CLAR learning and dissemination has been to contribute our CLAR expertise to wider networks. In September 2024 we fed our learning into a participatory research peer learning event organised by the Third Sector Research Forum and helped support 3 community researchers from our Knowledge is Power programme to present at this online session. In December 2024 we presented on CLAR to Grampian Engagement Network in the Grampian Health Board region.

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Since 2020, SCDC has been a partner in the UK-wide Common Health Assets research project involving a number of universities and other partners, exploring the health impact of community-led organisations. Although the funded participation in this project had ended, SCDC continued to stay connected to this work in 2024-25, attending and contributing to final project meetings and making use of the emerging findings in our CHEX programme (including having key inputs from research leads in our CHEX conference).

SCDC's information and communications role

Information and communications remain an important part of SCDC’s overall operation across programme and core organisational activity. Our information/communications team add value to all of SCDC’s programme work and amplify this by making resources and tools accessible to a wide audience.

Working across programmes, the SCDC comms team works to two main objectives: highlighting community development as an approach and promoting SCDC as a trusted authority of community development and related fields. To do this, during 2024/25 SCDC’s information and communications team has focused on continuing the development of SCDC’s communications platforms and work to support its programmes and activity. 

2023/24 saw the publication of a new newsletter, the SCDC Weekly, to allow SCDC’s messaging and reputation to be developed through a regular publication timeline. Throughout 2024/25, this work has continued with more than 90 short articles written and published highlighting key aspects of SCDC’s work and areas of policy interest for the organisation’s audiences. During this period, the Weekly achieved more than 650 new subscribers, bringing the total to more than 2,000 subscribers. 

Through this period, with more than 50 newsletters sent, the Weekly achieved an average open rate of 44.39% and average click through rate of 7.29%. Direct Marketing Association 2024 benchmarks of 32.8% for open rates and 5.7% for clickthrough rates mean the SCDC Weekly is significantly outperforming industry non-profits standards, showing a highly engaged audience who find the organisation’s content compelling and relevant. 

Website usage – SCDC’s website usage showed steady growth during this period, with top content reflecting the key areas of SCDC’s main work and focus. With an increase of 10% year-on-year, the site received more than 56,000 page visits and almost 100,000 pageviews (up 4% yr/yr). 

Of particular interest is the traffic sources, with the principal traffic source now being direct – i.e. people clicking on links that go straight to our website and not referred from elsewhere. In previous years, Google referred traffic has been the main driver, and while this has remained stable, this change can be interpreted as a result of our move to prioritise newsletter content.

This supports newsletter analytics showing strong engagement in our content, and that our direct marketing efforts are seeing results as more people access our content, resources and messaging – all building a picture of a highly engaged audience.

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Top referrers:

Key content this year included: 

∙What is community development?

∙Home page

∙National Standards for Community Engagement

∙CD in 60 Seconds

∙SCDC Weekly

∙Community engagement explainer

∙Building Stronger Community Organisations resource

∙About SCDC

Programmes of activity

SCDC continued to develop its role as the lead national body for community development in Scotland by maintaining a high level of delivery of projects. SCDC's key achievements in the delivery of its activities in the reporting period 2022/23 were as follows:

Supporting Communities Programme: The programme is aimed at building and expanding the capacity of community anchor organisations and networks to take leading roles in place-based regeneration where it exists, and help create the conditions for this where it does not. Increasingly, policy areas such as democratic development, climate change, place making and tackling child poverty are a feature of the work. It has continued to assist a wide range of community organisations and networks in Highland, Glasgow, Scottish Borders, West Lothian, Dumfries and Galloway, Angus, North and South Lanarkshire, Moray, Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire. This includes work in rural, remote rural and urban environments, including cities and small towns, to address social, economic and environmental challenges. This year, pressure on communities meant that sites have remained in the programme for longer, however others have also exited the programme where support has concluded. 

The sites we worked in are:

∙Lochalsh Collaboration (Seven towns or villages across Lochalsh) and Torridon/ Kinlochewe where light touch contact to implement plan actions is ongoing. 

∙Invergordon Steering Group on work to implement a new plan. 

∙Craigshill in West Lothian where local activity pivoted to different local priorities and work ceased this year.

∙Aberchirder In Aberdeenshire where a new action plan was completed. 

∙Buckie and Findochty in Moray where a major review of the Locality Planning process was completed.

∙Brechin in Angus where the groundwork for development of a new community action plan was progressed. 

∙Borders Community Action where learning support was provided to a network of Community Councils and others engaged in production of community action plans and local place plans

∙Hawick where support was provided to the local Town Team as part of the Borders Homelands project

∙In Langholm where light touch support was provided to the development of an update of the action plan.

Towards the end of 2024/25 work commenced to establish new sites for 25/26 including Barrhead in East Renfrewshire, Halglen in Falkirk and Cockenzie Port Seaton on East Lothian. 

In addition, we have supported knowledge and skills development with public and third sector capacity building partners through a mixture of training on engagement, empowerment policy development and community-based action planning. These include Aberdeen/shire, Glasgow, North Ayrshire and East Renfrewshire. 

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Communities Channel Scotland (CCS): Funded by the Scottish Government, CCS is a recognised hub for community groups and organisations in Scotland to share news, tell their stories and learn new ideas. It incorporates the Social Impact Pledge (SIP), a Scottish Government initiative asking public bodies to commit to making changes that increase their positive impact on communities. Although funding for the SIP was stopped during 2024/25, the development of wider content continued to be funded and many new resources have been added to the site as well as general tidying up and refreshing of the site.

Rebooting Resilience: In late 2021 SCDC was commissioned by Scottish Government to deliver a programme exploring community-led approaches to community resilience and how communities can work effectively with others as part of local resilience responses. Work in 2024/25 focused on working in two local sites (Moffat and Falkirk) to develop learning and local action as well as informing the development of an online resource for Community Resilience. The programme formally finished at the end of March 2024 although some work will continue over the next year to complete and publish the resource.

Participation Requests: we gathered evidence and submitted our report on Participation Requests for the Community Empowerment Act Review in May 2024. Our report made a range of recommendations on how the process could be strengthened however work on this empowerment mechanism was paused in September by Scottish Government until it reported its findings at the end of March 2025.

Organised for Integration: This work involved co-production of a bespoke self-evaluation and capacity building resource for the Scottish Refugee Council to use in support of refugee-led and refugee supporting community organisations. The  was completed in 2023/24 and subsequent staff training and mentoring programme on the use of the resource, and promotion of it to refugee community organisations and refugee supporting groups was delivered between May - March 2025 for the Scottish Refugee Council communities team. Since its launch the resource has had 4.8k  page views. 

Visioning Outcomes in Community Engagement (VOiCE): VOiCE continues to be used well across the country with user numbers standing at 1,113.  VOiCE is a unique online system which assists users and organisations to plan, monitor and evaluate their community engagement activity. During 2024/25 we continued to provide regular online training sessions on the use of the system and have encouraged use through our other programme work (such as Supporting Communities and Scottish Co-production Network).   

Participatory Budgeting Scotland: In 2024/25, Scottish Community Development Centre (SCDC) received reduced funding from the Scottish Government.  Due to the reduction in funding available we submitted and agreed a revised proposal which focused on the maintenance of Participatory Budgeting Scotland. The budget available did not allow for dedicated support to the Just Transitions Northeast programme as in previous years.  

This year our activity was focused on maximising the impact of our remaining resource in three key areas:

∙Support for the PB Scotland Network: we focused on the PB Website and network, undertaking an  aimed at understanding more about the issues for practitioners engaged in PB on the ground.  This exercise was used to inform our proposal for 2025/26.  We launched an Evaluating PB resource, developed in consultation with practitioners, and our analytics showed an increase in engagement with the PB Scotland website and newsletter subscribers as a result.  In addition to maintaining the PB practitioner network, the team undertook wider networking with international networks and academic contacts.  

∙Supporting good practice in PB: the team finalised a resource on funding for PB and published an  and a range of good practice case studies from the Network on the PB Scotland site.  The team also provided support to a range of local PB processes led by local authorities, housing associations, ALEOS, and community groups and networks.  The team also provided support to the Just Transitions Northeast PB Learning Event for local partners and the SG team.  
 

∙Strategic Development: SCDC contributed to the June workshop of the National PB Strategic group which was tasked with taking a strategic review of the role of PB within a wider PD focus.  In addition, the team maintained links with strategic national partners including COSLA, YouthLink and Young Scot.

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Community Participatory Action Research (CPAR) Programme – SE England: In the Autumn of 2020, SCDC was approached by Health Education England and Public Health England to deliver a programme of online training and mentoring support for community researchers in the Thames Valley and South-East of England. Since then, three ‘cohorts’ of researchers have been supported over 3 iterations of the programme, with part 2 (delivered in partnership with the University of Reading) being completed in summer 2024 and part 3 running from Oct 2024 – Sep 2025. SCDC delivered the online mentoring support for the programme in parts 2 and 3 as well as taking part in face-to-face training and the CPAR 2 end of programme showcase event in London. SCDC also led on evaluation of the programme in years 2 and 3, with very positive outcomes for community researchers being reported.

Economies for Healthier Lives (EFHL): Funded from November 2021, this project aimed to co-produce, pilot and adopt a health inequalities impact methodology (known as the Capital Investment Health Inequalities Impact Assessment Tool or CHIIA) into local authority capital spend processes across the Glasgow City Region (GCR) and beyond, in order to maximise population health and wellbeing outcomes and mitigate against inequalities. The project entered its final year in November 2023 and the CHIIA tool was launched in December 2024. Throughout this time SCDC supported the Community Panel comprising representatives from a range of groups and organisations across GCR who experience inequality and/or who are seldom heard to co-produce the community engagement element of the tool. The Panel met monthly during this period and were supported to participate in various project activities as the tool was developed. 

Community-led health – CHEX: CHEX was funded by Public Health Scotland (PHS) to deliver a core programme of work over 2024/25 to promote and support community-led health organisations and approaches that tackle health inequalities. This was the first year of a 3-year Strategic Partnership Agreement with PHS which includes a shared outcomes framework and a renewed Strategic Partnership Agreement with updated outcomes framework for 2024-2027 which was negotiated and agreed during 2023/24.

Activities to deliver on our four key functions were as follows:

Policy influence and engagement

∙Research – CHEX continues its membership of the PHS-led Inclusion Health Partnership, contributed to the PHS scoping exercise on the draft Scottish National Action Plan, participation in the national Mental Health Public Health Action Team and in a partnership led by Glasgow Caledonian University on the Common Health Assets Project which is moving into the publication and dissemination phase of its findings.

∙Policy consultations - CHEX submitted two formal policy consultations this year, on Third Sector Funding Principles and the Disclosure Scotland consultation on PVG fee discounts and waivers.

∙Policy Briefings –The CHEX policy briefing on community led health contributions to mental health and wellbeing was concluded this year following extensive consultation with CHEX Network members and partners.

CHEX is a member of various forums and groups that seek to influence policy and/or policy implementation:

∙Since December 2021, CHEX/SCDC has been a member of the Places and Wellbeing Steering Group (now Programme Board) which is a high- level SG-led strategic group seeking to upscale community led health models across Scotland as part of its ‘communities’ strand – the other two strands are NHS as anchor organisations and a whole systems approach. This year we have regularly chaired core group meetings, attended programme board meetings, and advised SG on how the sector contributes to tackling health inequalities.  CHEX facilitated targeted engagement with CHEX organisations and public sector partners in 2024 culminating in a full day workshop in September.  This developed a series of recommendations which were submitted to the SG Team leading on the Population Health Framework as key ‘Areas of Action’.  

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∙Open Government Partnership (OGP) Civil Society Committee & Health and Social Care Working Group - CHEX/SCDC continues to meet with SG’s Co-design Team for the National Care Service (NCS) as co-lead for OGP’s Health and Social Care commitment. This year we negotiated a formal agreement with the Third Sector Health and Social Care Collaborative to act as the civil society group who will provide critical feedback on the co-design of the NCS.  

∙Scottish Community Alliance (SCA) – CHEX continues to contribute as a member to the SCA and in 2024/25 sponsored three community led organisations to successfully apply to the community learning exchange.  

Other policy activities to promote community-led health 

∙Dundee Health Inequalities Engine Room.  CHEX were invited to contribute to a multi-agency steering group focused on measuring meaningful change for families and communities in Dundee.  CHEX has been part of the workstream providing advice on developing a local integrated logic model to enable all partners to measure individual and collective impact on health inequalities locally.  

∙Volunteer Scotland CPG on Volunteering – CHEX were invited by Volunteer Scotland to present to the  on volunteering in an empowered community.   

∙Community Link Worker Conference – in May of 2024 CHEX led a roundtable at the national  in Glasgow.

Practice Development

Health Issues in the Community (HIIC) Course - Engagement with and between tutors via the HIIC Tutor Network which now has 122 members.  From April 2024 we delivered 4 in person tutor training courses, and in 2024/25 33 tutors put in submissions with 31 passes and 2 resubmissions.

Over this period tutors have registered 36 courses engaging with 302 participants at either HIIC Part1 or short course level across Scotland. 

The HIIC youth pack was also reviewed, revised and updated and a new short course was designed with a launch held in October 2024.  All short courses were redesigned and the HIIC Tutor Hub was updated.  

Working with key partners in Glasgow Life and Dundee, we are developing information and resources to support the strategic use of HIIC to meet wider outcomes in community engagement, participation, wider achievement and addressing health inequalities.

In addition, we:

∙Delivered a bespoke session for Befriending Networks, a UK wide network of voluntary sector befriending organisations, in June 2024.

∙Delivered an input to the Glasgow University General Practice Society Conference in February 2025.

∙Developed a new resource hub providing easy to use, accessible information, explainers and links to further information on community led health and health inequalities.

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Case Studies

Throughout the reporting period CHEX regularly spotlighted the work of community led health organisations by posting blogs and case studies along with illustrations of the impact of Health Issues in the Community (HIIC) on individuals and communities via our fortnightly bulletin and website.

Networks and networking

CHEX Annual Conference 12th March 2025- This year’s annual CHEX conference focused on the challenges of turning Knowledge into Action.  Attracting over 80 participants from the CHEX network and beyond, the conference was chaired by SCDC’s Deputy Director and hosted three keynote speakers from Health, Scottish Government and academia to hear our network's experiences and insights, and work with us to ensure that our collective knowledge and experience is better understood and informs work at the national level.  A full report on the conference can be found here along with reflections and updates from our Keynote Listeners.  

The team continue to engage regularly with individual members and local health and wellbeing networks to ensure that our work is informed by the experiences and insights of practitioners and organisations within our network.  These engagements are written up and shared with our wider network via Snippets and on the Latest News section of the website.  

Responding to feedback from our Network for more peer learning and networking opportunities, we hosted an online Ideas Clinic in December 2024 which received positive feedback from all participants.  

Information and Communication

∙Online Searchable Database - the database remains a central resource for community-led health organisations working across Scotland with 179 community-led health organisations listed.

∙Snippets Newsletter – gained 123 subscribers in 2024/25 taking the total to 1837.

∙CHEX website – the number of users on the website up by 83% suggested that the new content is useful to our audience.  

∙Social Media – the individual twitter accounts for the organisation’s work programmes have now been consolidated within one main SCDC account so CHEX no longer maintains a standalone social media presence.  

Scottish Co-production Network (SCN): 

The role of SCN is to provide a platform for people and organisations with an interest in co-production at a range of levels to: 

∙Explore and understand what is meant by co-production 

∙Share good practice

∙Create opportunities for shared learning to enable practice improvement

∙Provide training to help people and organisations to upskill

∙Provide mentoring support to practitioners and people working to embed coproduction within their work

 

Over 2024/25, it continues to be a challenging year for both community and voluntary sector organisations and the public sector where adjustments to the way people work has further contributed to the need for support to those working using co-production. The SCN focus has been in providing support, upskilling, and creating opportunities for sharing learning and good practice. We have done this by collating stories and hosting the ongoing Ideas Clinics to create a peer support network to help people maintain, develop and improve their co-production practice.

 

The key activity areas during 2024/25 were:

 

Support for policy and strategy on co-production and participation: 

∙Direct support for policy work where and when required

∙Open Government Partnership (OGP) membership

∙Secretariat role for the OGP civil society committee and co-lead for the health and social care working group. 

 

SCOTTISH COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CENTRE

 

Information and Communication:

In 2024/25, our info comms team finished the refresh of the SCN website, making it easier to navigate and collating new case studies, resources and information on co-production in practice.

There have continued to be regular updates to the network and the support to practitioners around presenting at the Ideas Clinics has seen an increased growth in attendance.

 

Learning and Practice Development:

The Co-production Guide launched during Co-production week 2024, and this created substantial increases in website traffic for November, seeing more than 2,500 of the site’s annual total of 12k visits. This compares to 1,400 views for the same period last year (+59%), showing the significant improvement in interest in online content, and the Co-production Guide.

The ideas clinics continue to be supported, running in June and September 2024, and February 2025. These are led by network members and creates space to discuss practice and untangle thorny issues practitioners may be facing, as well as inspire other network members to see the opportunities in co-production.

 

Growing and Developing Co-production in Practice:

The Co-production Guide was launched during Co-production week in November 2024. This was the culmination of a co-production process, working with a wide range of network members to understand what would support them. The guide is an accessible resource that helps people to “do co-production better and help them embed co-production process in the work and systems of those organisations” (SCN website) 

 

Responding to requests: A significant area of activity for SCN has been responding to requests from network members, other practitioners and policy representatives from across Scotland and the UK. This work can vary between responding to requests via email, phone or attending meetings and events. This work can take up significant capacity, however it is a key role of SCN to share the learning, experiences, stories, information, advice, guidance and resources on co-production with people working across sectors and countries, therefore this has been an ongoing feature for the team throughout the year. 

 

Support to Local Sites: A key area for SCN in 2024/25 has been in providing more intensive, local support to organisations and mentorship to practitioners.

Local sites include:

∙Support to Ullapool for community led approaches within health and social care which was completed within 2024/25.

∙Skye and Lochalsh continue to access support to create a local co-production practitioner hub, helping with more localised peer support and learning with a focus on health and social care delivery.

∙Moffat has a focus on community-led health and social care responses but has been challenged by funding changes to a local community anchor organisation.

∙Dementia Friendly East Lothian (DFEL) continue to be supported and has moved into how to co-produce managing the ending of the project well.

∙Aberdeenshire has had support via the Tackling Poverty and Inequalities team to provide opportunities for sharing learning on co-producing with young people around the Aberdeenshire Youth Rights Committee.

∙Aberdeen City have had support around the formation and development of the Homewards Aberdeen project, that is funded via the Royal Foundation as a 5-year project to coproduce solutions to homelessness and have embedded the project within the Aberdeen City Council Local Outcome Improvement Plan.

Training and Consultancy: SCDC has continued to respond to opportunities to develop and deliver small contracts across a range of topics and geographical areas:

∙NatureScot - independent evaluation against National Engagement Standards

∙Scottish Communities for Health and Wellbeing – admin and developmental support

∙British Science Association (BSA) – Community Led Research Pilot evaluation – an evaluation of the UKRI funded community-led research pilot in Reading and Slough delivered by BSA and the University of Reading.
 

∙Money 4 Moray commissioned SCDC to support them to undertake a review of their participation in the Just Transitions Participatory Budgeting funding round for 2024/25.

∙CHSS – small contract to upskill their peer coordinators on co-production, the National Standards for Community Engagement and the use of VOiCE. 

In addition to small contracts, during 2024/25 SCDC delivered a variety of training courses, sessions and workshops:

SCOTTISH COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CENTRE

 

∙Clued-up Project - introduction to co-production in practice training

∙Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland (May 24) - community engagement demystified

∙Shetland Islands Council (Aug 24) -Shetland e-learning community engagement module and empowerment workshop

∙Chest, Heart & Stroke Scotland (June 24) - co-production, engagement and VOiCE training

∙Group Recovery Aftercare Community Enterprise (GRACE) (Jun-24) - understanding policy - opportunities for community groups training

∙East Renfrewshire Council (Jun-24) - community engagement and co-production training

∙Glasgow City Council (Oct-24) - community-based training for frontline staff

∙Learn North c/o AVA (Oct-24) - introduction to community development training

∙Scottish Government (Nov-24) - planning and delivering effective community engagement training

∙Self-Directed Support Scotland (Dec-24) - co-production in practice training

∙North Lanarkshire Climate Hub (Jan-25) - capacity building training

∙Lanarkshire Climate Action Hub (Jan-25) - capacity building training

∙Learn North c/o AVA (Feb-25) - introduction to community development training

∙Buchan Wellbeing Hub (Jan-25) - introduction to outcome focused planning 

∙Scottish Government (Feb-25) - planning and delivering effective community engagement

∙Tayside & Fife Professional Learning Alliance (Mar-25) - community development in action training

∙Bòrd na Gàidhlig (Mar-25) - community empowerment act and LPP legislation training

∙Glasgow City Council (Mar-25) - community engagement training for community councils

Financial Review 

 Going concern 

 

The Trustees have a reasonable expectation that the Company has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. They continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the financial statements.

The charity has funding, through grant and contract agreements, which range from one to three-year terms. The charity continues to rely on this funding to allow it to meet its objectives. Funding has been secured for 2025/26 for key funding agreements. This includes a new three-year lottery funding programme. The trustees and management continue to seek and secure additional funding to allow the charity to continue to meet its objectives.

Having considered budgets, cash flows and management accounts, the trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. The trustees are not aware of any known material uncertainties regarding the charity's ability to continue as a going concern.

 

Reserves policy

The Trustees aim to hold reserves to ensure the charity is on a firm financial footing. The trustees aim to hold six months' full running costs excluding project activity costs which is approximately £439,120.

At 31 March 2025, the balance held in the unrestricted general fund is £504,500 of which £6,757 is tied up in fixed assets (2024 - £631,509 with £6,887 fixed assets). The Board has decided to designate funds as shown at Note 12.

The Trustees consider the level of funds held are reasonable as several of its funding streams will come to an end in 2024/25. This is consistent with the continuing effort to secure new funding streams to support the charitable objectives of the charity.

 
 

Risk Management

The Trustees have assessed the risks the charity faces and put procedures in place to mitigate those risks. The majority of risks are managed and mitigated by the normal functioning of the SCDC Board and its sub-groups.

 

SCOTTISH COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CENTRE

 

Disclosure of information to auditors

 

Each of the persons who are Trustees at the time when this Trustees' report is approved has confirmed that:

∙so far as that Trustee is aware, there is no relevant audit information of which the charity's auditors are unaware, and

∙that Trustee has taken all the steps that ought to have been taken as a Trustee in order to be aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the charity's auditors are aware of that information.

 

Auditors

 

The auditors, Sumer Auditco Limited, have indicated their willingness to continue in office. The designated Trustees will propose a motion reappointing the auditors at a meeting of the Trustees.

 

Approved by order of the members of the board of Trustees on 26 November 2025 and signed on their behalf by: 

 

SCOTTISH COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CENTRE

 

STATEMENT OF TRUSTEES' RESPONSIBILITIES

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

The Trustees (who are also the directors of the Company 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 Company and of its incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure, 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 of the Charities SORP (FRS 102);

∙make judgments and accounting estimates that are reasonable and prudent;

∙state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards (FRS 102) 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 Company will continue in business.

The Trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the Company's transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the 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 (as amended). They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

Approved by order of the members of the board of Trustees on 26 November 2025 and signed on its behalf by:

SCOTTISH COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CENTRE

 

 

INDEPENDENT AUDITORS' REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF SCOTTISH COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CENTRE

 

We have audited the financial statements of Scottish Community Development Centre (the 'charitable company') for the year ended 31 March 2025 which comprise the Statement of financial activities, the Balance sheet, the Statement of cash flows and the related notes, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 'The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland' (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion the financial statements:

∙give a true and fair view of the state of the charitable company's affairs as at 31 March 2025 and of its incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure for the year then ended;

∙have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and

∙have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and regulation 8 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006.

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditors' responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charitable company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the United Kingdom, including the Financial Reporting Council's Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the Trustees' use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charitable company's ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the Trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

SCOTTISH COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CENTRE

 

 

INDEPENDENT AUDITORS' REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF SCOTTISH COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CENTRE (CONTINUED)

The other information comprises the information included in the Annual report other than the financial statements and our Auditors' report thereon. The Trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the Annual report. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the course of the audit, or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

 

In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit:

∙the information given in the Trustees' report for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements.

∙the Trustees' report has been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

In the light of our knowledge and understanding of the charitable company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the Trustees' report.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which Companies Act 2006 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended) require us to report to you if, in our opinion:

∙adequate and proper accounting records have not been kept, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or

∙the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or

∙certain disclosures of Trustees' remuneration specified by law are not made; or

∙we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit; or

∙the Trustees were not entitled to prepare the financial statements in accordance with the small companies regime and take advantage of the small companies' exemptions in preparing the Trustees' report and from the requirement to prepare a Strategic report.

As explained more fully in the Trustees' responsibilities statement, the Trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the Trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, the Trustees are responsible for assessing the charitable company's ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the Trustees either intend to liquidate the charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

 

SCOTTISH COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CENTRE

 

 

INDEPENDENT AUDITORS' REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF SCOTTISH COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CENTRE (CONTINUED)

We have been appointed as auditor under section 44(1)(c) of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and under the Companies Act 2006 and report in accordance with the Act and relevant regulations made or having effect thereunder.

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an Auditors' report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below:

We gained an understanding of the legal and regulatory framework applicable to the entity and the industry in which it operates, and considered the risk of acts by the company that were contrary to applicable laws and regulations, including fraud. We designed audit procedures to respond to the risk, recognising that the risk of not detecting a material misstatement due to fraud is higher than the risk of not detecting one resulting from error, as fraud may involve deliberate concealment by, for example, forgery or intentional misrepresentrations, or through collusion. 
We focussed on laws and regulations which could give rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements, including, but not limited to, Charity and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, Companies Act 2006 and UK tax legislation. Our tests included agreeing the financial statement disclosures to underlying supporting documentation and enquiries with management.
There are inherent limitations in the audit procedures described above and, the further removed non-compliance with laws and regulations is from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, the less likely we would become aware of it. As in all our audits, we also addressed the risk of management override of internal controls, including testing journals and evaluating whether there was evidence of bias by the trustees that represented a risk of material misstatement due to fraud. 
Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or non-compliance with regulation. This risk increases the more that compliance with a law or regulation is removed from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, as we will be less likely to become aware of instances of non-compliance. The risk is also greater regarding irregularities occurring due to fraud rather than error, as fraud involves intentional concealment, forgery, collusion, omission or misrepresentation.

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council's website at: www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our Auditors' report.

SCOTTISH COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CENTRE

 

 

INDEPENDENT AUDITORS' REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF SCOTTISH COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CENTRE (CONTINUED)

 

This report is made solely to the charitable company's members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006, and to the charitable company's trustees, as a body, in accordance with regulation 10 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company's members and Trustees those matters we are required to state to them in an Auditors' report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charitable company, its members, as a body, and its trustees, as a body for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Douglas Rae (Senior statutory auditor)

  

for and on behalf of

Sumer Auditco Limited

 

Chartered Accountants

Statutory Auditors

  

14 City Quay

 

Dundee

 

DD1 3JA

 

 

26 November 2025

Sumer Auditco Limited are eligible to act as auditors in terms of section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006.

SCOTTISH COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CENTRE

 

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES (INCORPORATING INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT)

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

SCOTTISH COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CENTRE

REGISTERED NUMBER: SC361532

 

BALANCE SHEET

AS AT 31 MARCH 2025

The Trustees acknowledge their responsibilities for complying with the requirements of the Act with respect to accounting records and preparation of financial statements.

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to entities subject to the small companies regime.

The financial statements were approved and authorised for issue by the Trustees on 26 November 2025 and signed on their behalf by:

SCOTTISH COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CENTRE

 

STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

SCOTTISH COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CENTRE

 

 

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

The charity is a company limited by guarantee, incorporated and registered in Scotland, under company number SC361532, and has no share capital.  The liability of each member in the event of a winding up is limited to £1.
The charity's registered number is SC040614.
The registered office is Suite 305 Baltic Chambers, 50 Wellington Street, Glasgow, G2 6HJ.

2.Accounting policies

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

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102) - 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 Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Companies Act 2006.

Scottish Community Development Centre 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.

The Trustees have a reasonable expectation that the Company has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future.  They continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the financial statements.
The Company has funding through grant and contract agreements, which vary between one to three year terms.  The Company continues to rely on this funding to allow it to meet its objectives.  Funding has been secured for 2025/26 for key funding agreemenents.  The Trustees and management continue to seek and secure additional funding for the Company to allow the Company to continue to meet its objectives.
Having considered budgets, cash flows and management accounts, the Trustees have a reasonable expectation that the Company has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future.  The Trustees are not aware of any known material uncertainties regarding the Company's ability to continue as a going concern.

SCOTTISH COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CENTRE

 

 

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

2.Accounting policies (continued)

All income is recognised once the Company has entitlement to the income, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount of income receivable can be measured reliably.
Where income relates to future accounting periods, it is deferred and included in creditors.

Grants are included in the Statement of financial activities on a receivable basis. The balance of income received for specific purposes but not expended during the period is shown in the relevant funds on the Balance sheet. Where income is received in advance of entitlement of receipt, its recognition is deferred and included in creditors as deferred income. Where entitlement occurs before income is received, the income is accrued.

Other income is recognised in the period in which it is receivable and to the extent the goods have been provided or on completion of the service.

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.

Expenditure on charitable activities is incurred on directly undertaking the activities which further the Company's objectives, as well as any associated support costs.

Grants payable are charged in the year when the offer is made except in those cases where the offer is conditional, such grants being recognised as expenditure when the conditions attaching are fulfilled. Grants offered subject to conditions which have not been met at the year end are noted as a commitment, but not accrued as expenditure.

All expenditure is inclusive of irrecoverable VAT.

Interest on funds held on deposit is included when receivable and the amount can be measured reliably by the Company; this is normally upon notification of the interest paid or payable by the institution with whom the funds are deposited.

Tangible fixed assets are initially recognised at cost. After recognition, under the cost model, tangible fixed assets are measured at cost less accumulated depreciation and any accumulated impairment losses. All costs incurred to bring a tangible fixed asset into its intended working condition should be included in the measurement of cost.

SCOTTISH COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CENTRE

 

 

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

2.Accounting policies (continued)

Depreciation is charged so as to allocate the cost of tangible fixed assets less their residual value over their estimated useful lives, using the straight-line method.

Depreciation is provided on the following basis:

Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount after any trade discount offered. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid net of any trade discounts due.

Cash at bank and in hand includes cash and short-term highly liquid investments with a short maturity of three months or less from the date of acquisition or opening of the deposit or similar account.

Liabilities are recognised when there is an obligation at the Balance sheet date as a result of a past event, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefit will be required in settlement, and the amount of the settlement can be estimated reliably.

Liabilities are recognised at the amount that the Company anticipates it will pay to settle the debt or the amount it has received as advanced payments for the goods or services it must provide.

Provisions are measured at the best estimate of the amounts required to settle the obligation. Where the effect of the time value of money is material, the provision is based on the present value of those amounts, discounted at the pre-tax discount rate that reflects the risks specific to the liability. The unwinding of the discount is recognised in the Statement of financial activities as a finance cost.

The Company only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value with the exception of bank loans which are subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.

The Company operates a defined contribution pension scheme and the pension charge represents the amounts payable by the Company to the fund in respect of the year.

SCOTTISH COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CENTRE

 

 

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

2.Accounting policies (continued)

General funds are unrestricted funds which are available for use at the discretion of the Trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the Company and which have not been designated for other purposes.

Designated funds comprise unrestricted funds that have been set aside by the Trustees for particular purposes. The aim and use of each designated fund is set out in the notes to the financial statements.

Restricted funds are funds which are to be used in accordance with specific restrictions imposed by donors or which have been raised by the Company for particular purposes. The costs of raising and administering such funds are charged against the specific fund. The aim and use of each restricted fund is set out in the notes to the financial statements.

Investment income, gains and losses are allocated to the appropriate fund.

All income from government grants was restricted in both years.

SCOTTISH COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CENTRE

 

 

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025