REGISTERED COMPANY NUMBER: SC231583 (Scotland)

REGISTERED CHARITY NUMBER: SC028919

REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES AND

FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

FOR

PATHWAYS SERVICES LIMITED

Page

Report of the Trustees

1

to

6

Report of the Independent Auditors

7

to

10

Statement of Financial Activities

11

Balance Sheet

12

Notes to the Financial Statements

13

to

23

The trustees who are also directors of the charity for the purposes of the Companies Act 2006, present their report with the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 March 2025. The trustees have adopted the provisions of 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).

OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

Objectives

The company's objectives are:

"To encourage participation in lifelong learning and remove barriers to employment"

ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE

Charitable activities

Community Education

This element of Pathways services receives limited funding, based around targeted courses.

In the reporting year no courses were delivered.

Jobsearch

The Jobsearch Support Programme is funded through the Fairer Aberdeen Fund, the Support Fund and a number of small funders. This includes funding for 5 FTE Employment Keyworkers.

In the reporting year to March 2025, 185 people were assisted into employment, slightly below the target for the year of 200.

The Jobsearch Programme is funded by the Fairer Aberdeen Fund and the Lottery Fund.

Funding for this service through the Fairer Aberdeen Fund and CABWI has been confirmed to March 2026.

Counselling

The generic counselling service is funded solely through the Fairer Aberdeen Fund, covering the costs of 2 counsellors working 18 and 27 hours per week respectively.

Due to the nature of counselling, many of the clients attending the counsellors in the previous year continued to receive support into the reporting period. In total 91 clients were seen by the counsellors.

In 2024/25 counselling was delivered by a mixture of telephone and face-to-face counselling, with clients continuing to move gradually to return to more face-to-face counselling.

All clients attending counselling are asked to complete an Evaluation Form at the end of their counselling support.

Funding for this service through the Fairer Aberdeen Fund is confirmed to March 2026, enabling the continued employment of 2 part time counsellors.

Lottery Fund & Robertson Trust - Grampian Pathways from Abuse

In 2015 Pathways entered into partnership with Grampian Women's Aid to deliver a Lottery funded project helping women who have experienced domestic abuse.

As part of the project Pathways receives funding for a part-time Counsellor and a part-time Domestic Abuse Counsellor. The project covers both Aberdeen City and Shire, the first time that Pathways has received funding to work in the Shire.

The project concluded in August 2019. However, successful applications were submitted to develop the project to both the Robertson Trust and Lottery Fund to 2026.

The project is no longer a partnership with Grampian Women's Aid, instead taking referrals from any service supporting women who have experienced domestic abuse and as a result has expanded to 2 part-time counsellors.

Funding for the service has now been confirmed by both the Lottery Fund and Robertson Trust to 2026.

In 2024/25 the project supported 89 women to receive domestic abuse counselling.

FINANCIAL REVIEW

Principal funding sources

The majority of the funding received in the current year was from the Fairer Aberdeen Fund, Lottery Fund, and the Robertson Trust.

Funding for all services funded through the Fairer Aberdeen Fund is confirmed to March 2026.

Funding from the Lottery Fund and Robertson Trust is to the end of February 2026 and May 2026 respectively.

Reserves policy

The directors aim to maintain a level of free reserves to enable the company to sustain its charitable activities. In order to achieve this, the directors have agreed that between 6 and 9 months of normal running costs be retained in reserves. The level is currently below this and the directors are working to establish reserves of the required level.

FUTURE PLANS

Pathways is fortunate to have a number of confirmed funding streams, which have enabled the organisation to continue to deliver services throughout the reporting year and into the future.

However, the loss of Investing in Communities funding, as it was both very late in the 2022/23 financial year and unexpected, led to a strain on the organisation's finances in the short and medium term.

A number of bids were submitted in 2024/25 to address these issues to give Pathways a solid base from which to develop existing services, with varying degrees of success as the funding position countywide is not good.

The charity will therefore continue to seek to firstly stabilise its finances and then to continue to develop current services whilst also seeking to develop social enterprises which will help to reduce its reliance on external funding sources.

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

Governing document

The organisation is a charitable company limited by guarantee, incorporated in May 2004 and registered as a charity in November 1998. The company was established under a Memorandum of Association which established the objects and powers of the charitable company and is governed under its Articles of Association.

The Memorandum and Articles of Association were amended and updated in March 2013, with the approval of the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR).

Recruitment and appointment of new trustees

Under the requirements of the Memorandum and Articles of Association, Directors are elected to serve for a 3-year period after which they must seek re-election. All Directors were re-elected at the Annual General Meeting.

Due to the nature of the areas in which it works, much of the charity's work focuses on those not in employment. The Directors and Project Co-ordinator are continuing to seek representation on the Board which reflects the nature of the work undertaken.

There is a limited number of Directors and there is therefore an ongoing search to encourage members of the local community to join the Board. This issue was highlighted in the Project Review Report carried out by Simon Little of Kinbank, who recommended a strengthening of the Board.

During the year one new Director was appointed (Rebecca Johnston) was appointed and one (N McKay) resigned.

There is therefore space for more Directors to be recruited, with ongoing efforts being made to recruit more Directors.

Organisational structure

Pathways has a Board of up to 12 Directors who meet monthly and are responsible for the strategic direction and policy of the charity. At present there are 7 Directors, 4 of whom are residents of the areas in which Pathways delivers its services, whilst the remaining Directors joined to bring their expertise on in dealing with the target client groups to the Board. The Secretary has no voting rights.

A further Director, drawn from the Committee of Powis Community Centre, has joined the Board to forge closer links with the community in which Pathways is based.

The Manager is responsible for the day-to-day management of all aspects of the services delivered, including financial management, individual supervision of the staff team and ensuring the team continue to develop their skills and working practices in line with good practice.

Directors induction and training

Most Directors are already familiar with the work of the organisation as Directors are drawn from members of the local community who have expressed an interest in Pathways' work or have specialist backgrounds in areas of work which Pathways carry out.

Additionally, training for both new and ongoing Directors is delivered as training issues are identified. Initial training for new Directors includes:

- The obligations of Directors;

- The main documents which set out the operational framework of the charity, including the Memorandum and Articles;

- Funding and the current financial position; and

- Future plans and objectives.

Related parties

In so far as it is complimentary to the charity's objects, the charity is guided by both local and national policy. At a national level, this is steered by the Scottish Government commitments as laid out in the "Closing the Opportunity Gap" paper. On a local level, Aberdeen City Council's complimentary Single Outcome Agreement outlines the broad basis within which Pathways services are delivered.

Risk management

The Board of Directors conducts a review of the major risks to which the charity is exposed on an annual basis. Where appropriate, systems or procedures have been established to mitigate the risks the charity faces.

After significant external risks to funding were identified in the Project Review Report the Board of Directors agreed that spreading the funding base would be a priority. In recent years this has seen the funding base expand from reliance solely on the Fairer Aberdeen Fund to also include the Lottery Fund and the Robertson Trust.

The funding period for the Fairer Aberdeen Fund has been extended once again and now runs to March 2026, the first year of a three year funding cycle, although it is subject to the annual allocation of the Council budget.

The Lottery funding and Robertson Trust funding remain in place until March 2026 and May 2026 at present. However, there are significant underspends in place for both, which therefore covers funding until February 2027.

Additional funding was secured in January 2025, to commence in May 2025 from CABWI, to cover funding of an Employment Keyworker post to the end of April 2026.

Regular further reviews are held with an external consultant to identify progress made in relation to the aims in the Plan, with reporting on progress also made at each Board meeting. The Manager is also working with the Funding Officer at ACVO to identify further potential funding streams.

Internal control risks are minimised by the implementation of procedures for the authorisation of transactions and projects. Procedures are in place to ensure compliance with health and safety of staff, volunteers, clients and visitors to the project.

REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS

Registered Company number

SC231583 (Scotland)

Registered Charity number

SC028919

Registered office

11 Powis Circle

ABERDEEN

AB24 3YX

Trustees

Mrs M England

J Harper

Mrs L A Denslow Chair

D Sim

N McKay (resigned 18/11/24)

M Westland

F Lindsay

R Johnston (appointed 19/9/24)

Company Secretary

M Pritchard

Senior Statutory Auditor

Karen E Gardiner BA CA CTA

Auditors

Bain Henry Reid

Statutory Auditor

Chartered Accountants

4 West Craibstone Street

Bon Accord Square

Aberdeen

AB11 6YL

Bankers

Virgin Money

62 Union Street

Aberdeen

AB10 1WD

Solicitors

Ledingham Chalmers

Johnstone House

52-54 Rose Street

ABERDEEN

AB10 1HA

Management Team

Malcolm Pritchard Manager

STATEMENT OF TRUSTEES' RESPONSIBILITIES

The trustees (who are also the directors of Pathways Services Limited for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the Report of the Trustees 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 that law, the trustees have elected to prepare the financial statements in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (United Kingdom Accounting Standards and applicable law).

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 those 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 judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;

-	prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charitable company will continue in business.

The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and to enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 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 so far as the trustees are aware:

-	there is no relevant audit information of which the charitable company's auditors are unaware; and

-	the trustees have taken all steps that they ought to have taken to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the auditors are aware of that information.

AUDITORS

The auditors, Bain Henry Reid, will be proposed for re-appointment at the forthcoming Annual General Meeting.

Approved by order of the board of trustees on 24 December 2025 and signed on its behalf by:

Mrs M England - Trustee

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Pathways Services Limited (the 'charitable company') for the year ended 31 March 2025 which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities, the Balance Sheet and notes to the financial statements, 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 (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.

Basis for opinion

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 UK, including the FRC'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.

Conclusions relating to going concern

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.

Other information

The trustees are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the Annual Report, other than the financial statements and our Report of the Independent Auditors thereon.

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.

In connection with our audit of the financial statements, 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 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.

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

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

-	the information given in the Report of the Trustees for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and

-	the Report of the Trustees has been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In the light of the 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 Report of the Trustees.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters where the Companies Act 2006 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended) requires 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 take advantage of the small companies exemption from the requirement to prepare a Strategic Report or in preparing the Report of the Trustees.

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the Statement of Trustees' Responsibilities, the trustees 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.

Our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

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 a Report of the Independent Auditors 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.

The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below:

Our approach to identifying and assessing the risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations, was as follows:

-

we identified the laws and regulations applicable to the company through discussions with trustees and other management, and from our knowledge and experience of the charity sector;

-

we focussed on specific laws and regulations which we considered may have a direct material effect on the financial statements or operations of the company, including the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006, Statement of Recommended Practice - Accounting by Charities (FRS102), Companies Act 2006, and FRS 102. We also considered those with an indirect effect including safeguarding regulations, employment law, health and safety and general data protection regulations;

-

we assessed the extent of compliance with the laws and regulations identified above through making enquiries of management and inspecting legal correspondence.

We assessed the susceptibility of the company's financial statements to material misstatement, including obtaining an understanding of how fraud might occur, by:

- making enquiries of management as to where they considered there was susceptibility to fraud, their knowledge of actual, suspected and alleged fraud;

- considering the internal controls in place to mitigate the risks of fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations; and

- exercised professional judgement and maintained professional scepticism throughout the audit.

To address the risk of fraud through management bias and override of controls, we:

- performed analytical procedures to identify any unusual or unexpected relationships;

- conducted a review of large or unusual items, and transactions outwith the normal course of business;

- tested journal entries to identify unusual transactions;

- performed sales transaction testing to ensure all income is correctly recognised in the financial statements;

- performed expenditure transaction testing of restricted fund expenditure and discussed in detail balances outstanding at the year end on restricted funds;

- considered undisclosed related party transactions;

- assessed whether judgements and assumptions made in determining the accounting estimates were indicative of potential bias; and

- investigated the rationale behind significant or unusual transactions.

To address the risk of fraud through revenue recognition we:

- performed sales transaction testing to ensure all income is correctly recognised in the financial statements;

- conducted audit procedures to confirm that it was being recognised in line with the accounting policy; and

- carried out substantive procedures to confirm the accuracy of completion and cut-off.

To address the risks with restricted funds we:

- made enquiries as to what restricted income related to and reviewed grant applications;

- ensured that any restricted funds are shown correctly in the financial statements; and

- ensured that all expenditure had been offset correctly.

In response to the risk of irregularities and non-compliance with laws and regulations, we designed procedures which included, but not limited to:

- agreeing financial statement disclosures to underlying supporting documentation;

- enquiring of management as to actual and potential litigation and claims.

There are inherent limitations in our audit procedures described above. The more removed that laws and regulations are from financial transactions, the less likely it is that we would become aware of non-compliance. Auditing standards also limit the audit procedures required to identify non-compliance with laws and regulations to enquiry of the directors and other management and the inspection of regulatory and legal correspondence, if any.

Material misstatements that are due to fraud can be harder to detect than those that arise from error as they may involve deliberate concealment or collusion.

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 Report of the Independent Auditors.

Use of our report

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 the 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 and the charitable company's members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Karen E Gardiner BA CA CTA (Senior Statutory Auditor)

for and on behalf of Bain Henry Reid

Statutory Auditor

Chartered Accountants

Eligible to act as an auditor in terms of Section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006

4 West Craibstone Street

Bon Accord Square

Aberdeen

AB11 6YL

29 December 2025

2025

2024

Unrestricted

Restricted

Total

Total

funds

funds

funds

funds

Notes

£

£

£

£

INCOME AND ENDOWMENTS FROM

Donations and legacies

2

180,376

133,087

313,463

228,914

Charitable activities

5

Counselling services

-

68,271

68,271

67,595

Community education & employment support

1,561

-

1,561

-

Other trading activities

3

(234

)

-

(234

)

13

Investment income

4

5,078

-

5,078

5,810

Total

186,781

201,358

388,139

302,332

EXPENDITURE ON

Charitable activities

6

IT support

5,413

-

5,413

5,619

Counselling services

19,158

105,455

124,613

122,485

Community education & employment support

217,295

14,311

231,606

223,084

Total

241,866

119,766

361,632

351,188

NET INCOME/(EXPENDITURE)

(55,085

)

81,592

26,507

(48,856

)

Transfers between funds

17

9,438

(9,438

)

-

-

Net movement in funds

(45,647

)

72,154

26,507

(48,856

)

RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS

Total funds brought forward

65,149

94,873

160,022

208,878

TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD

19,502

167,027

186,529

160,022

2025

2024

Unrestricted

Restricted

Total

Total

funds

funds

funds

funds

Notes

£

£

£

£

FIXED ASSETS

Tangible assets

12

1,956

-

1,956

2,919

Investments

13

1

-

1

1

1,957

-

1,957

2,920

CURRENT ASSETS

Debtors

14

20,957

12,949

33,906

23,151

Cash at bank and in hand

6,436

167,147

173,583

142,179

27,393

180,096

207,489

165,330

CREDITORS

Amounts falling due within one year

15

(9,848

)

(13,069

)

(22,917

)

(8,228

)

NET CURRENT ASSETS

17,545

167,027

184,572

157,102

TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT LIABILITIES

19,502

167,027

186,529

160,022

NET ASSETS

19,502

167,027

186,529

160,022

FUNDS

17

Unrestricted funds:

General fund

17,546

62,230

Designated fixed asset fund

1,956

2,919

19,502

65,149

Restricted funds

167,027

94,873

TOTAL FUNDS

186,529

160,022

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

The financial statements were approved by the Board of Trustees and authorised for issue on 24 December 2025 and were signed on its behalf by:

M England - Trustee

1.	ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Basis of preparing the financial statements

The financial statements of the charitable company, which is a public benefit entity under FRS 102, 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)', Financial Reporting Standard 102 'The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland' and the Companies Act 2006. The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention, with the exception of investments which are included at market value.

The principal accounting policies applied in the preparation of these financial statements are set out below. These policies have been consistently applied to all the years presented, unless otherwise stated.

The financial statements are presented in Sterling (£) and are rounded to the nearest £1.

Income

Income is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the item(s) of income have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be reliably measured.

Income from government and other grants whether 'capital' grants or 'revenue' grants, is recognised when the charity is entitled to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the grants have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably.

Income generated from the performance of charitable activities is invoiced once the provision of the service has been provided to the customer and is recognised when the charity is entitled to the funds.

Expenditure

Liabilities are recognised as expenditure as soon as there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the charity to that expenditure, 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 accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all cost related to the category. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to particular headings they have been allocated to activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources.

Allocation and apportionment of costs

Support costs including governance costs have been apportioned to charitable activity costs in relation to the use of resources incurred by the charity in delivering the service.

Tangible fixed assets

Fixed assets costing £1,000 or more are capitalised at cost. Depreciation is provided on all tangible fixed assets at rates calculated to write off the cost less estimated residual value, of each asset over their expected useful lives as follows:

Equipment

3 years

Taxation

The charity is exempt from corporation tax on its charitable activities.

Fund accounting

Unrestricted funds can be used in accordance with the charitable objectives at the discretion of the trustees.

Designated funds are amounts set aside by the directors out of the unrestricted funds for specific future purposes or projects.

Restricted funds can only be used for particular restricted purposes within the objects of the charity. Restrictions arise when specified by the donor or when funds are raised for particular restricted purposes.

Further explanation of the nature and purpose of each fund is included in the notes to the financial statements.

Pension costs and other post-retirement benefits

Existing employees of the charity were entitled to join the North East Scotland Pension Fund which is funded by contributions from employee and employer or alternatively they may have opted to join the money purchase defined contribution pension scheme operated by NEST Corporation. Since 1 April 2016 new employees are only able to join the money purchase scheme and cannot join the North East Scotland Pension Fund. New and existing employees who are not in the North East Scotland Pension Fund are automatically enrolled into the money purchase scheme unless they have exercised their right to opt out of membership.

The North East Scotland Pension Fund is a multi-employer defined benefit scheme administered for the benefit of Local Authorities and other bodies and is managed in accordance with the Local Government Pension Scheme Regulations (Scotland) 2014. Past and present employees are covered by the provisions of the North East of Scotland Pension Fund.

Members of the North East of Scotland Pension Fund accrue an index linked pension. Additional benefits include a lump sum on retirement, continued (reduced) pensions for a spouse on the death of a member and benefits for dependents on death or permanent incapacity in service.

The trustees are unable to confirm the charity's share of the underlying assets and liabilities of the North East of Scotland Pension Fund and therefore the scheme is accounted for as a defined contribution scheme. The North East of Scotland Pension Fund provides that in the event that a single employer has individuals contributing to the scheme then any remaining liability for benefits payable under the scheme falls on that employer. Since the main employers are statutory bodies, the trustees consider it highly improbable that such a liability will ever fall to the charity.

The employer's contributions made to the scheme in 2025 were £10,027 (2024: £11,276) with an employer's contribution rate of 21.2% of pensionable pay and an employee's contribution of 5.5%-6.5% of pensionable pay. The contribution rate was reviewed on 31 March 2023. The trustees are satisfied that any foreseeable changes in employer's contributions can be budgeted for without detriment to the charity's ongoing activities.

Employee's joining the money purchase pension scheme operated by NEST Corporation, contract directly with the company. The charity now makes a matching contribution of 3% of salary to the pension scheme and acts as agent in collecting and paying over employee pension contributions. The contributions made for the accounting period are treated as an expense and were £3,172 (2024: £3,021).

Going concern

The charity have secured funding for the period ended 31 March 2026 from the Fairer Aberdeen Fund and for the period ended 28 February 2026 from the Lottery Fund and for the period ended 31 May 2026 from the Robertson Trust. The trustees are of the opinion that there is sufficient funding in place to continue the activities of the charity, therefore the accounts have been prepared on a going concern basis.

Debtors

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

Cash at bank and in hand

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 of similar account.

Creditors

Creditors are recognised where the charity has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors are recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts due.

Financial Instruments

The charity only has financial assets and 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.

2.	DONATIONS AND LEGACIES

2025

2024

£

£

Donations

-

3,500

Fairer Aberdeen Fund

191,677

178,690

Employment allowance

-

18,000

NHS Grampian

-

4,675

Lottery Funding - Grampian Pathways From Abuse

83,234

2,049

Robertson Trust

22,000

22,000

Lottery Funding - Employment

16,552

-

313,463

228,914

Grants received, included in the above, are as follows:

2025

2024

£

£

Other grants

191,677

178,690

3.	OTHER TRADING ACTIVITIES

2025

2024

£

£

Administration support

(234

)

13

4.	INVESTMENT INCOME

2025

2024

£

£

Rents received

-

260

Bank interest received

5,078

5,550

5,078

5,810

5.	INCOME FROM CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES

2025

2024

Activity

£

£

Counselling

Counselling services

68,271

67,595

Classes

Community education & employment support

1,561

-

69,832

67,595

6.	CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES COSTS

Support

Direct

costs (see

Costs

note 7)

Totals

£

£

£

IT support

5,413

-

5,413

Counselling services

105,275

19,338

124,613

Community education & employment support

172,389

59,217

231,606

283,077

78,555

361,632

7.	SUPPORT COSTS

Governance

Management

Finance

Other

costs

Totals

£

£

£

£

£

Counselling services

16,991

456

646

1,245

19,338

Community education & employment support

50,427

1,371

3,684

3,735

59,217

67,418

1,827

4,330

4,980

78,555

8.	NET INCOME/(EXPENDITURE)

Net income/(expenditure) is stated after charging/(crediting):

2025

2024

£

£

Auditors' remuneration

4,980

4,830

Depreciation - owned assets

963

-

9.	TRUSTEES' REMUNERATION AND BENEFITS

There were no trustees' remuneration or other benefits for the year ended 31 March 2025 nor for the year ended 31 March 2024.

Trustees' expenses

There were no trustees' expenses paid for the year ended 31 March 2025 nor for the year ended 31 March 2024.

10.	STAFF COSTS

2025

2024

£

£

Wages and salaries

273,188

266,320

Social security costs

21,889

21,131

Other pension costs

13,198

14,297

308,275

301,748

The average monthly number of employees during the year was as follows:

2025

2024

Project workers

12

12

Administration

1

1

13

13

No employees received emoluments in excess of £60,000.

The key management personnel of the charity comprise the trustees and the project co-ordinator. The total employee benefits of the key management personnel of the charity were £43,686 (2024: £42,414).

11.	COMPARATIVES FOR THE STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES

Unrestricted

Restricted

Total

funds

funds

funds

£

£

£

INCOME AND ENDOWMENTS FROM

Donations and legacies

186,691

42,223

228,914

Charitable activities

Counselling services

-

67,595

67,595

Other trading activities

13

-

13

Investment income

5,550

260

5,810

Total

192,254

110,078

302,332

EXPENDITURE ON

Charitable activities

IT support

5,619

-

5,619

Counselling services

19,027

103,458

122,485

Community education & employment support

208,277

14,807

223,084

Total

232,923

118,265

351,188

NET INCOME/(EXPENDITURE)

(40,669

)

(8,187

)

(48,856

)

Transfers between funds

28,039

(28,039

)

-

Net movement in funds

(12,630

)

(36,226

)

(48,856

)

RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS

Total funds brought forward

77,778

131,100

208,878

TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD

65,148

94,874

160,022