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2024-03-31-accounts

Collaborating and innovating in social care to improve lives Annual report and financial statements 2023/24

31 March 2024

Company Limited by Guarantee Registration Number 04289790 (England and Wales) Charity Registration Number 1092778

02

About SCIE

The Social Care Institute for Excellence improves the lives of people of all ages by coproducing, sharing, and supporting the use of the best available knowledge and evidence about what works in practice. We are an independent social care charity working with organisations that support adults, families and children across the UK. We also work closely with related services such as health care and housing.

We improve the quality of care and support services for adults and children by:

The biggest benefit of the work we’ve been doing, aside from the 30% targeted improvement in productivity, is having that external challenge and using the experience that SCIE brings. It feels a very supportive and encouraging relationship that is enabling us to be really brave about some of the challenges. I’m hoping we can continue the relationship and start to . look at some of the other challenges together

Kim Carey Director of Adult Services London Borough of Bromley

03

Foreword by Kathryn Smith, CEO and Clenton Farquharson CBE Our purpose and achievements

Spotlight on impact Work or partner with us

Contents

Foreword

04

Our purpose and achievements Spotlight on impact

Future priorities

06 12 17

Governance report

20

How to work with us

52

04

Chief Executive’s report

Looking back over the last four years, we have successfully established new foundations for SCIE. The outcomes of this hard work, commitment and new strategy are reflected in the amazing projects and activities we have enjoyed undertaking with so many of you working in social care in the last 12 months, and I am proud to share these with you in this annual report.

These have been tough times for social care, with the ever-continuing rise in demand for care exposing the significant workforce and funding pressures. However, I see so many great examples of innovative and resourceful solutions despite the challenges, and I know we will together continue to find ways to better care in practice and improve lives. We’re delighted to have been successful in our joint bid with Partners in Care to deliver a new programme of sector-led improvement support for adult social care and public health services in councils, funded by the DHSC. We look forward to working with the new Government, helping the best possible National Care Service come to fruition, and will continue to use our expertise to the benefit of the whole social care sector. More to follow on this over the course of 2024.

Our not-for-profit offer of innovative consultancy, expert training, extensive resources, information and evidence-based insights, ranges across our four strategic objectives: driving innovation and improvement, embedding co-production, improving safeguarding and influencing better policy. It has been a busy year for each of these work programmes with great outcomes and impact.

Whether you are a director of social care, a policy maker, a person drawing on care and support, a commissioner, social worker (or anything in between), you play such an important part in driving better care to help change people’s lives, and we are here to support all of you.

Last year, we established a Strategic Investment Fund for the specific purpose of generating innovative, standalone activity proposed by SCIE employees, focused on driving high impact in line with our strategic and charitable objectives. One of the first projects that this Fund will support is a research initiative about equity in social care. I’m really excited by our early findings, and we are now scoping the potential for establishing a Commission on Care Equity, which will undertake deeper enquiries to produce proposals for achieving a truly fair and equitable care system. Much more to follow on this over the course of the next 12 months.

Many of you may have watched Kate Garraway’s powerful ITV documentary ‘Derek’s Story’, which I took part in. None of us will have been surprised to see the heavy toll on unpaid carers depicted so honestly by Kate, which underlines the importance of the Accelerating Reform Fund (which SCIE is supporting), where I’m pleased that more than half the projects are focused on addressing their needs. What’s also great about the Fund is it represents the first ever such fund to focus on scaling innovative practice in social care, so we’ll be doing all we can to ensure its potential to collaborate and innovate to improve the experience of social care for all, is realised.

Of course, none of this would be possible without all the wonderful people who work for SCIE and are our lifeblood, bringing their passion for improving care to work every day. I am proud to lead this hardworking team for my fourth year and huge thanks to every employee, the Board of Trustees, our Co-production Steering Group and wider network.

Best wishes

Kathryn Smith Chief Executive, SCIE

05

Chair’s report

It has been a decade since the Care Act came into force, and at SCIE, we have been reflecting on its ambitions, impact, and what still needs to be accomplished to transform social care. While significant progress has been made, deep challenges remain unresolved— challenges that have become even more urgent in the wake of the recent General Election.

This moment offers a crucial opportunity to reshape the future of social care. I am immensely proud of SCIE’s continued work as a trusted partner in the sector, delivering better outcomes for children, adults, and families who rely on care and support services. Now, more than ever, SCIE’s role as a critical infrastructure provider across the sector is clear. Our role in setting standards, shaping practice, and influencing policy, all underpinned by robust evidence and the principle of co-production, ensuring that those who draw on care and support remain at the heart of everything we do.

The need for sustained investment in social care is well understood—both to stabilise the system and to invest in the workforce. This investment is essential for the sector’s ability to meet the increasing demands and rising costs of care. While the sector continues to advocate for this, SCIE is focused on our core mission: driving transformation through collaboration and innovation. Our role as a sector infrastructure provider means we are uniquely positioned to help develop new care models that are equipped to handle the significant future pressures on social care. Our strength lies in bringing together diverse voices and expertise to improve care, and we will continue to be at the forefront of shaping the future of the sector.

Over the past year, we have led a range of impactful projects and initiatives that demonstrate the breadth and depth of our contribution to the sector. Among these, our work on the Accelerating Reform Fund stands out. Building on our strong track record in collaborative working, we are providing hands-on support to local areas, helping them develop projects funded by the £42.6 million initiative. From partnering with the London Borough of Bromley on their forward-thinking Digital Strategy to contributing to the Whorlton Hall safeguarding adults review, SCIE’s role in shaping practice across the sector has never been more vital.

In addition, our work with Think Local Act Personal (TLAP), the sector-wide partnership hosted by SCIE, ensures that the voice of lived experience continues to shape the reform and improvement of social care. Through our focus on personalisation and co-production, we are helping to embed practical, effective care solutions that make a real difference in people’s lives.

As SCIE continues to evolve, we remain committed to upholding the highest standards and working alongside stakeholders to shape evidence-based, co-produced solutions. I am confident that the work we do today will set the foundation for the sustainable, high-quality care system that we all want to see.

I would like to extend my deepest thanks to our Board of Trustees, Chief Executive Kathryn Smith, and the entire SCIE team for their dedication, hard work, and commitment to the continued success and sustainability of the charity.

With best wishes,

Rt Hon Paul Burstow Chair, SCIE

06

Who we are and what we do

SCIE is a trusted voice in the social care sector and a leading social care improvement independent charity.

Mission

Vision

A society which enables people who draw on social care to live fulfilling lives.

To support best practice, shape policy and raise awareness of the importance of social care, working together.

SCIE’s strategic objectives to deliver the vision Embed co-production and the Influence and support Improve safeguarding voice of people with lived Drive innovation and implementation and skills, knowledge and experience in the design and improvement in social care to delivery of better policy practice to keep children delivery of care and support deliver better outcomes for to improve the lives of and adults safe and services and in policy and children and adults who need people accessing care support their social research to better meet care and support. and support. wellbeing. peoples’ needs. Success will look like People delivering care and People delivering social care support and commissioners and commissioners having A direct link between the having an increased increased confidence to research/evidence SCIE Effective safeguarding practices in place across understanding of co-production identify and adapt best delivers or promotes and all settings. and being more confident to practice and to recognise the emerging social care design and deliver coimpact this has on people who policy. productions. draw on care and support.

Our work focuses on four areas

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Collaborating
and innovating
in social care to
improve lives
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Across these four areas, we deliver consultancy, training, research and knowledge, using the best available knowledge and evidence about what works in practice.

Translating this into expert advice, guidance and resources, that we share through support, partnerships and collaboration across the social care sector.

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Our impact

We measure our impact across our consultancy, training, research and knowledge offerings in a number of ways. Here is a snapshot of our impact on people:

82%

intended to change their practice following our intervention.

95%

of attendees felt that our safeguarding training would make a positive contribution to their work.

94.5%

surveyed regarding our DHSC work said that our advice and guidance resources gave them a better understanding of best practice.

87%

of attendees said our strengths-based training made a positive contribution to their work.

90%

said our offer improved their confidence and skills.

30% improvement in productivity in core operational processes as a result of our work with a local authority on digital transformation.

For our work on improving social care locally, co-production and safeguarding, we have been ranked at the highest level as world-class in terms of customer satisfaction and likelihood to be recommended to peers.

Sector reach

Through our consultancy, training, research and knowledge offerings we support all those who work in social care. 21% of individuals on our database work for local authorities, 25% for care providers, 4% in Government Departments and 11% for NHS bodies.

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4.5m 136k >8.5k
website visits newsletter subscribers webinar registrations
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33k e-Learning course delegates

101k 370k social media sector contacts followers

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Our values

Living our values is critical to driving the culture we need to successfully deliver our strategic ambitions.

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PROGRESSIVE INCLUSIVE TRANSPARENT
Always learning and Working together for Open and honest.
developing. equality, diversity
and fairness.
CREDIBLE COMMITTED
Evidence-based, Focused on making a
robust and reliable. difference to people’s
lives.
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Our people

We recognise that our people are our biggest asset and that we cannot deliver our purpose without an engaged workforce.

We regularly seek the views of our team recognising that those closest to an activity are often the people with the best ideas. We have a variety of ways for staff to share their views and make suggestions on things that we can do better. This includes via our Employee Forum.

Annually we administer an engagement survey. In 2023 82% of survey respondents reported that SCIE was a good place to work. The data and insight gained from the result help to drive continuous improvement.

Importantly, and alongside this, we work closely with our recognised Union, Unite.

Last year we took some important strategic steps towards further building a diverse and inclusive organisational culture . We commissioned an Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) diagnostic review which was conducted by an external consultant. The outputs have provided a strong evidence base for our future work in this area during 2024/25 and beyond.

09 Our insights Reflections on the Accelerating Reform Just to echo the huge Fund (ARF) thanks for all of your and SCIE’s wider efforts on ARF engagement over the last few months. We’ve SCIE are excellent had a fantastic opt-in rate to the ARF, which definitely wouldn’t with their support. have been the case if it weren’t Local authority stakeholder. for the various webinars and sessions you held We are building on our strong – thank you! background in working collaboratively to transform care by providing hands-on Department of Health and Social Care. support to local areas in developing projects for the exciting £42.6 million =— ARF. The Fund, launched by the Department of Health and Social Care in October 2023, is the first such grant to support the scaling up of innovation in adult social care, and will also kickstart a change in support for unpaid carers, who play such a vital, selfless role in our society. It supports the DHSC's 10-year vision for social care, centred around three key themes: supporting people with choice and control to live independent lives, helping people to receive outstanding quality and tailored care, and ensuring that services are fair and accessible.

100%

of the 42 integrated care systems registered their interest in the Fund.

We ran a series of webinars and an event at the National Children and Adult Services Conference (NCASC) with impressive attendance figures and great feedback, resulting in 149 local authorities across the country collaborating to submit 42 expressions of interest across all ICS areas. Our role includes ensuring local authorities benefit from valuable shared learnings, peer support and expert insights.

We are looking forward to working together to ensure the range of innovations successfully deliver better lives and experiences for both those who use social care and their unpaid carers.

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Reflections on our co-production survey

Co-production is about working together with people that have lived experience at the centre. It’s important to me, as someone with lived experience, because I am the one that knows what I need to live my life. I should get to influence, shape, & decide on how my care is delivered, when & how & by whom.

Survey participant.

For Social Work Week in March 2023, SCIE launched a survey for adult social care professionals and people who draw on services to share their thoughts and experiences on coproduction and how it applies to their work and lives.

Through this research, our goal was to identify ways of addressing barriers to co-production in policymaking, commissioning, and service provision.

Some highlights from the findings:

FAMILIARITY WITH THE TERM CO-PRODUCTION BY JOB GROUP

The closer one’s job was to direct care, the less likely those workers were to have indepth knowledge of co-production.

Continuous education, awareness-building, and the promotion of co-production at every level of the workforce is needed, from the induction of new care workers to strategic leaders.

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STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT
LEADERSHIP
bau75% ¢)[LJ
CARE ASSESSMENT CARE DELIVERY
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Barriers and challenges to co-production experienced by social care staff included time, organisational culture, cost and communication. This suggests a clear business case needs to be made for co-production to be fully supported and enabled as an investment of time, effort and financial resource.

We had approximately 1000 responses which resulted in the launching of our parliamentary briefing during the annual ‘Co-production Week’ at the beginning of July 2023.

Key calls to action were:

Establish and extend participation in co-production beyond familiar voices. Ensure skills and knowledge of coproduction are embedded in the training and qualifications of all roles in the adult social care workforce.

Showcase practical examples to help bring the skills, values and behaviours of co-production to life.

Create a robust business case that will demonstrate the value of coproduction to ensure sustainable investment in the long term.

Since the survey we have undertaken a DHSC funded ‘Co-production Impact Project’ with the aim of producing a digital resource (webpage) to help groups and organisations to identify and report the impacts of co-production. This can be found here.

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Reflections on the Longitude Prize on Dementia

In the summer of 2023 SCIE, Anthropos and the Dementia Services Development Centre (DSDC) at the University of Stirling were successful in their joint application for funding from the prestigious Longitude Prize on Dementia which is funded by Alzheimer’s Society and Innovate UK and delivered by Challenge Works. The funding will enable our partnership to develop technology that learns about the lives of people with early-mid stage dementia and can detect environmental and behavioural changes associated with periods of distress, anxiety and disorientation, particularly in the evening and nighttime. These insights could then be used to suggest a helpful intervention for the family or care provider to help reduce that distress to support people living with dementia, remain independent in their homes.

Our exciting project is one of 24 semi-finalist Discovery Award Winners that received seed funding grants as part of the overall £4m Longitude Prize on Dementia driving the co-creation of personalised technologies to help people living with dementia enjoy independent and fulfilled lives.

For more information about the Longitude Prize and what happens next please visit: About the prize - Longitude Prize on Dementia.

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Spotlight on impact Embed co-production

Collaborating & innovating in social care to improve lives

SCIE received a world class net promoter score in terms of clients’ likelihood of recommending our coproduction advice and guidance.

Leadership in arena of co-production.

Educator, University.

I use…resources to help staff improve their practice. re Local authority stakeholder.

The resources have given me confidence to work with individuals in a more co-produced way, enabling us to improve information that is shared on our website. My confidence has also increased to challenge other officers who do not see the benefit or need to work in this manner.

Local authority stakeholder.

Aims

Drawing on the key findings from our co-production survey, SCIE aims to embed co-production and the voice of people with lived experience in the design and delivery of care and support services and in policy and research to better meet people’s needs.

Activities

SCIE helped five local authorities to develop a culture change that is needed within adult social care (ASC) to enable effective co-production at all levels.

Impact and outcomes

We enabled the five local authorities to:

Bring co-production to life for staff at a practice and service design level.

Think about how they could ensure that the voices heard are local and represent the diversity of local communities.

Through our expertise in understanding and developing true co-production, we provided advice, guidance and resources.

The resources are really good, clear, and modern. SCIE also co-produce with service users, which ensures that your resources are of the highest quality. SCIE stakeholder

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Spotlight on impact Drive innovation and improvement

Collaborating & innovating in social care to improve lives

nf

I have many times shared SCIE links and resources with colleagues and connections I have as it is an important component in bringing health and social care together in collaboration. It provides different perspectives and keeps me updated with what is happening in social care, local Govt etc. Thank you - keep up the good work, it is making a difference.

SCIE received a world class net promoter score in terms of clients’ likelihood of recommending our innovation and improvement advice and guidance.

Advisor, Local Government.

Aim

Drive innovation and improvement in social care to deliver better outcomes for children and adults who need care and support.

Impact and outcomes

Activities

Working with 27 organisations which included the London Borough of Bromley who commissioned SCIE to develop a forward Digital Strategy and an associated Digital Transformation Programme.

This enabled the design and development of a more sustainable and efficient future operating model and new way of working including introducing a range of digital tools to change how ASC engages and works with residents, carers, and partners.

London Borough of Bromley were enabled to:

Target 30% improvement in productivity across core operational processes – assessments, care planning, review.

Be viewed as a leader in digital social care which has resulted in this initiative being reviewed by other local authorities and the Department of Health and Social Care.

As genuine experts in social care, SCIE bring strategic expertise & knowledge to help with the challenges organisations are facing and then they learn together. Their breadth of customers and convening power enable them to support in a wide range of ways. They understand the business, tailor their offering and have the ability to engage with all the issues, while focusing on the end-user at all times. 39

Kim Carey, Director of Adult Services, London Borough of Bromley.

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Spotlight on impact Better policy

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Collaborating
& innovating in
social care to
improve lives
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We set a priority to speak with an authoritative voice on how we improve people’s experiences and outcomes of social care, providing sector leadership and a strong policy perspective.

They bring us expertise of a wide range of partners including people with lived experience. When I was talking to them it was like I was speaking to all the people they had spoken to. a9 Policy maker.

Aim

Influence and support implementation and delivery of better policy to improve the lives of people accessing care and support.

Turning evidence into policy and practice.

Impact and outcomes GG

I think the game provides an interesting window into the problems/challenges across the whole piece so it’s not just housing… but the whole range of suggestive interventions to meet the very varied needs. a2

Activities

Building on the recommendations from SCIE’s Commission on the role of Housing in the Future of Care and Support, and working in partnership with Socialudo, based at the University of Stirling, we piloted a Serious Game at the London Borough of Southwark. The Game is innovative, and its creative approach brings together key stakeholders from housing, health, social care, social work, local planning, elected local officials and commissioners to work together to help future-proof and plan for the ageing population of fictional ‘Hope Town’.

Players tackled real-world challenges that local authorities and organisations face when serving residents of the town. A subsequent workshop allowed the Serious Games team to present the findings and attendees to identify priorities both for what a housing plan in Southwark should include and the next steps for developing that plan.

Serious Games participant in the LB Southwark.

Insights from the Serious Game, workshop and three-month follow-up, is helping to inform older people’s housing strategies and plans within Southwark. The evaluation of this pilot study will inform other local areas about the importance of housing partnerships and the potential for using the Serious Game to support, develop and sustain such a partnership. The Serious Game will be included within SCIE’s toolkit for place-based plans for housing for older adults as a case study.

The Older People’s Housing taskforce is already aware of the Game, with one Task Force member being an advisor. SCIE gave a presentation to the Task Force in October, and they will additionally have sight of SCIE’s report in March, ahead of their own reporting expected in May.

Together, the Serious Games and Toolkit will support local areas to bring together a local housing partnership to plan housing options for older adults and provide practical guidance as to how to develop that plan.

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Collaborating & innovating in social care to improve lives

Spotlight on impact Improve safeguarding

<e

I am Head of Safeguarding & I find

SCIE received a world-class net promoter score in terms of clients' likelihood of recommending our safeguarding reviews, advice, training and guidance.

to understand safeguarding concerns in a simple way with good examples. I regularly direct others to SCIE resources & find them useful when I am unclear of the most appropriate response to a concern. I refer to them when giving advice and when writing policies, procedures and processes.

Local authority, Head of Safeguarding.

SCIE is my ‘go to’. If I have a question, am unsure of something, 99% of the time SCIE has the answer. 19 Care and support provider, Assistant Director.

Aims

Improve safeguarding skills, knowledge Activities and practice to keep children and adults In the last year 73 organisations have safe and support their social wellbeing. needed SCIE’s help to address challenges such as: • Difficulties in the ownership and embedding of safeguarding at a strategic level. Impact and outcomes • Struggling to understand and analyse wider safeguarding themes and More than 3000 people attended 279 trends. training sessions that SCIE ran in 2023. • Struggling to balance risk and difficulty 95% of attendees felt that the in understanding where safeguarding vulnerabilities are. training would make a positive 7) contribution to their work. ~~_~~ 92% of attendees who completed the 7) training would recommend it to others.

These organisations were enabled by SCIE to;

The course was deeply impactful and added value. It was personalized to my organisation and so felt very easy to apply to our working practice. Thank you! SCIE stakeholder.

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Spotlight on impact

Think Local Act Personal (TLAP)

Health and social care needs to support kindness and inclusion for all and the workforce is key 3 Lived experience participant.

This was an opportunity to put the voice of those who depend on care and support front and centre in the new pathway. Timescales were challenging, with less than 6 months to research, test and co-produce a set of values which the whole adult social care sector could sign up to. The TLAP partnership showed they were more than up to the task - adapting their original workplan to accommodate this project and using their NCAG and local networks to bring diverse perspectives and address gaps DHSC stakeholder.

Aims

TLAP is a national partnership committed to transforming health and care through personalisation and community-based support.

The partnership is hosted by SCIE and spans central and local government, social care providers, the NHS, and the voluntary and community sector as well as people with lived experience, through the National Co-production Advisory Group (NCAG) and allies..

Impact and outcomes

The inclusion of the values statements in the Pathway was significant as it was a public commitment by DHSC demonstrating that the views of people with lived experience were central to what people working in social care are expected to do.

Activities

In May 2023 TLAP was requested to support the development of the DHSC Care Workforce Pathway (the Pathway) Care Workforce Pathway: the role of lived experience. The Pathway outlines the knowledge, skills, values and behaviours needed to work in adult social care as well as the learning and development options the workforce has at each role

category. TLAP convened people who draw on care and support to establish their understanding and views on the role and type of values people working in social care should have in order to provide good-personalised care and support.

Values matter because good care depends on good workers. It’s important that workers have the right skills, knowledge and training, but if they also don’t hold the right values, they are unlikely to deliver good person-centred care and support.

The results of this work were fed back to DHSC and a series of values statements were included in the Pathway which was published in January 2024..

TLAP enabled people with lived experience to:

Reflect what people felt was most important.

Reflect on how important it was that the workforce felt valued.

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Future priorities

Thank you to all of our partners, collaborators, stakeholders and charitable supporters over the last year, it has been a privilege to work with you all.

In 2024/25 we look forward to continuing to work in partnership and collaboration with you. Do please get in touch if you would like to know more about the projects and activities we are planning.

PRIORITY WE WILL

Develop a vision and development plan for coproduction that drives our work enabling us to lead on shaping practice in social care.

Embed co-production and the voice of lived experience in the design and delivery of care and support services and in policy and research to better meet people’s needs.

Pilot and refine a toolkit for measuring the impact of co-production, based on our research, establishing relevance for local authorities in relation to Care Quality Commission (CQC) reviews.

Develop infrastructure to support co-production within SCIE itself and externally to support building capability and capacity for co-production across the system.

Review recruitment and selection process involving people with lived experience.

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PRIORITY WE WILL

Continue adding value via consultancy improvement projects for a range of clients including local authority and care provider partners and DHSC and[E] other national partners for national programmes.

Bring our wealth of trusted, evidence-based . expertise to develop new offers for children’s services, safeguarding and training.

Drive innovation and improvement in social care to deliver better outcomes for children and adults who need care and support.

Deliver the Accelerating Reform Fund through our innovative consultancy, support offer role to spread improvements across adult social care.

Contribute analytic expertise to the work of the Accelerating Reform Fund, capturing evidence and learning for improving local care systems and care services.

Continue innovative research into dementia sundowning via the Longitude Prize.

Create new set of TLAP Making it Real I/We Statements for the CQC domain of ‘Well Led’ with people who draw on care and support, leaders and workforce across adult social care (ASC).

Deliver safeguarding support to clients, including expert training, audits, reviews, and other national programmes.

Pilot and scale up new audit, Designated Safeguarding Lead and new Safeguarding Adults Reviews (SAR) accreditation offers.

Implement a new digital platform for training.

Improve safeguarding skills, knowledge and practice to keep children and adults safe and support their social wellbeing.

Turn Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) backlog guidance into a tool for local authorities about efficiencies and managing backlogs, development of traffic light RAG system and financial calculator costing tool.

Contribute (all teams) to a safe environment by following SCIE’s safeguarding processes and promoting our safeguarding services. This will be monitored via the safeguarding assurance process.

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PRIORITY WE WILL

Adopt and use best evidence and research into project delivery, including learning from safeguarding reviews, SCIE research, academic research, and national guidance.

Continue to promote the role of housing in care and support, including the findings and recommendations of the recent Task Force on Older People’s Housing.

Influence and support implementation and delivery of better policy to improve the lives of people accessing care and support.

Scope a Care Equity Commission to produce evidence and policy proposals for improving equity in social care access, service provision and outcomes.

Develop an influencing strategy to consider issues of care workforce strategy, early support and prevention, improvement and innovation and the adult social care priorities for the short, mid-term ahead.

TLAP - create and promote a Direct Payments Action Plan, working with DHSC’s Chief Social Worker Office, ADASS and LGA to promote and prioritise Care Act compliant Direct Payments policy and practice.

Support employees to identify a cross-organisational project they can be involved in (e.g. driving Equity, Diversity and Inclusion).

Support the development and implementation of our Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) Strategy.

Continue to deploy The People Plan developing our people infrastructure, ensuring we have the right people, knowledge, and capacity in the right places, at the right time and at the right cost.

Implement new finance and project management systems to ensure we support our work as effectively as possible

Develop and deploy an increased charitable offer and new marketing and communications strategy, so people understand better what we do and how we can help.

On 18 November 2024 the company’s auditor changed its name from Haysmcintyre LLP to HaysMac LLP

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Governance report

Statement of Trustees’ responsibilities

The Trustees (who are also directors of SCIE for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ report and financial statements in accordance with applicable law and regulations.

Company law requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of the income and expenditure of the charitable company for that period. 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 income and expenditure of the charitable company for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the Trustees are required to:

The Trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. 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.

Each of the Trustees confirms that:

This confirmation is given and should be interpreted in accordance with the provisions of s.418 of the Companies Act 2006.

The Trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of financial information included on the charitable company’s website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

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SCIE’s Board of Trustees

Up to 15 people are able to sit on SCIE’s Board of Trustees. At the time of this report, the board had nine members, including its Chair. In the event of the charity being wound up, members are required to contribute an amount not exceeding £1.

New Trustees are elected by existing Trustees and serve for a term of three years before retiring from office. Retiring Trustees can be nominated to serve a second consecutive term provided that no Trustee serves more than two consecutive terms of office, except with the unanimous support of all the other Trustees.

Constant regard is paid to the skills mix of the Trustees to ensure that they have all the necessary skills required to contribute fully to the charity’s development.

On agreeing to become a Trustee of the Charity, the Trustees are thoroughly briefed by their co-Trustees on the history of the Charity, the day-to-day management, the responsibilities of the Trustees, the current objectives, and future plans. The Trustees are also encouraged to attend any courses which they feel are relevant to the development of their role, and to keep up-to-date on any changes in legislation.

The Board of Trustees is supported by an Audit and Risk Committee and a People and Nominations Committee, which meets throughout the year.

The Audit and Risk Committee is established by the Board to make recommendations, provide oversight and assurance in respect of the Charity’s financial integrity, transparency and effective risk management. The Committee oversees the accuracy and reliability of the Charity’s financial reporting as well as evaluating the adequacy of internal controls. The Committee plays a pivotal role in maintaining accountability, good governance and the long-term sustainability of the Charity.

The Nominations and People Committee is established by the Board to make recommendations, provide oversight and assurance in respect to the Charity’s arrangements for appointing and assessing the contribution of Trustees, including the Chair and Hon Treasurer. The Committee also provides the Board with assurance in respect of the Charity’s people strategy and processes.

The following Trustees were in office at the time this report was approved and served throughout the year, except where shown:

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Trustee Appointed /
Resigned		 Audit and
Risk
Committee		 People and
Nominations
Committee
Rt Hon Paul Burstow (Chair)
Clenton Farquharson
John Grosvenor
Margaret Lally
(Vice Chair)
Rachel Armitage
Sean Holland
Zoe Gould
Zoe Hallam
Brett Terry
Georgia Chimbani		 Resigned 31/01/2024 Treasurer
Member
Member
Member		 Member
Member
Chair

23

Company Secretary Kathryn Smith Chief Executive Kathryn Smith Registered and principal office Social Care Institute for Excellence Isosceles Head Office One High Street Egham TW20 9HJ E: info@scie.org.uk W: www.scie.org.uk Company Registration 04289790 (England and Wales) Number Charity Registration Number 1092778 Auditor HaysMac LLP 10 Queen Street Place London EC4R 1AG Banker Barclays Bank plc Public Sector Team Level 27 1 Churchill Place London E14 5HP

24

This annual or Trustees’ report has been prepared in accordance with Part VIII of the Charities Act 2011 and constitutes a directors’ report as required by the Companies Act 2006.

The financial statements for the year to 31 March 2024 have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out on pages 37 to 40 of the financial statements and comply with the charity’s memorandum and articles of association, applicable laws and 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 United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102).

Structure

The Chief Executive and Strategic Leadership Team staff attend and provide reports to regular meetings of the Board of Trustees. This enables the business of the Board, including strategy, development, and governance, to be undertaken collaboratively and in accordance with good practice. The Chief Executive manages the day-to-day activity with assistance from senior executives.

Through involvement of staff representatives, circulation of papers, and staff meetings, there is wide communication of board discussions and decisions to staff members.

Key management personnel

The key management personnel are the Trustees together with the Chief Executive, the Strategic Leadership Team and the Operational Leadership Team. Payments made to Trustees are set out above with all such payments being approved by the Board, those receiving such payments absenting themselves from such approval.

All of SCIE’s pay grades are externally evaluated by an external reward consultant. The consultant gathered relevant market data to design the associated pay levels. This involved extracting and gathering market data from a number of different sources in order to produce a rounded and robust outcome that smoothed out any anomalies which may exist in the source data. Data collected covers the Charity, Public, Institute, Academic and Research and Policy Sectors. In gathering pay data the consultant included organisations/data sources that are comparable with SCIE, in terms of size and location. After gathering data from these organisations and surveys, all of this was placed into a translator (which is merely a mechanism to extrapolate the salary figure from each organisation/data source at SCIE’s job size level/grade). This produced an indicative salary figure for every possible job evaluation score and therefore allowed us to read-off the market salary data from the relevant data sources for each of SCIE’s grades.

Charitable objectives

As set out in our memorandum and articles of association, SCIE’s objective is the ‘relief of need arising from youth, illness, disability, old age or poverty, by the review, provision and dissemination of knowledge of, and guidelines for, good practice, and other information, to persons who use, work in or are otherwise involved in social care’.

Income generation

SCIE raises income from statutory, earned and voluntary fundraising sources.

SCIE complies with the best practice advised by the Charity Commission and Fundraising Regulator and utilises a donation acceptance policy to support its ethical collaboration statement.

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No external professional fundraisers work on behalf of SCIE. During the year, the charity received no complaints about its fundraising activity.

All areas of income generation are supported by an Ethics Committee to ensure adherence to the charity’s values.

ESG

During the year, SCIE has taken a more strategic approach to the implementation of social value and its policies and reporting within the charity.

We now have in place a social value policy, a modern slavery and human trafficking statement, and a carbon reduction plan.

We will continue to challenge our ways of working and be conscious to minimise our environmental - - impact whilst pursuing our goals. https://www.scie.org.uk/about/carbon reduction plan/

Equality, diversity and inclusion

Inclusion is one of our values that drives our organisational culture here at SCIE. We’re committed to listen and act where required so people can be included without fear or prejudice regardless of race, age, gender, sexual orientation, faith and belief, or a disability.

Beginning with our Board we’ve made appointments to increase diversity. We have people with lived experience on our Board and supporting committees. We’re also proud to include a person with lived experience on recruitment panels for Trustee and employee roles.

Co-production Network

The Co-production Network involves users and carers in shaping and influencing SCIE’s work. The Network works with SCIE on its work programme, priorities, and performance.

Building on SCIE’s strong reputation for working with people who use services and carers, the Co-production Network met during the year, chaired by a SCIE Trustee (who is also a person that draws on services), to hold the organisation to account for ensuring the core values of the organisation continued to underpin its overall business plan.

Key risks

The Audit and Risk Committee regularly review the strategic risk register and have identified key risks and their mitigation. These include:

26

Financial overview

2023/24 represents another successful year for SCIE, on the back of recording operational surpluses for the 2021/22 and 2022/23 financial years, after a number of operationally deficit financial years.

SCIE is pleased to report an operating surplus of £75,803 for the 2023/24 financial year and SCIE staff should be congratulated on this achievement as we look to build on this surplus moving forward.

SCIE’s income for the 2023/2024 financial year increased by 8% with expenditure increasing by 12% in comparison to the 2022/2023 financial year. SCIE has its cost base firmly under control and we continue to seek to reduce and minimise expenditure where possible, regularly reviewing our strategies to maximise our income potential.

SCIE regularly reviews operations, to ensure that value for money in relation to goods and core services are being provided and received. SCIE’s procurement policies and processes have been strengthened to ensure that quotes for goods and services received are both competitive and represent value for money.

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SCIE remains a member of the SEI Master Trust Pension on a defined contribution benefit basis.

F igure 1: Total funds

Total Funds of the Charity

----- Start of picture text -----
4500000
4000000
3500000
3000000
2500000
2000000
1500000
1000000
500000
0
Restricted funds .. Free reserves . Tangible fixed assets fund
----- End of picture text -----

The balance sheet shows total funds to be in credit by £4,422,043 at 31 March 2024 (20222023 credit of £4,346,240). At this date, restricted funds amounted to a surplus of £202,277 (2022-2023 surplus of £187,276).

These monies have either been restricted for use on specific projects or they comprise donations subject to donor-imposed conditions. Full details of these restricted funds can be found in note 12 to the financial statements together with an analysis of movements in the year. £15,875 (2022-2023 – £6,493) of the total funds is represented by tangible fixed assets held in unrestricted funds.

SCIE’s remaining general funds (being unrestricted funds excluding tangible fixed assets are ‘free reserves’ and total £4,203,891 at 31 March 2024 (2022-2023 – £4,152,471).

SCIE received its income from two principal sources – grants and fees and commissioning income. It spent its money on charitable activities delivering projects and meeting contracts and agreements. SCIE was also in receipt of £1,798 for ‘income in kind’, to support SCIE with marketing, impact and evaluation work and for the provision of meeting room space.

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Figure 2: Income

----- Start of picture text -----
Our income sources
40%
59%
1%
Department of Health and Social Care Department of Health, Northern Ireland Other Funders
----- End of picture text -----

Policies

Reserves policy

SCIE carries out a diverse range of activities, some of which comprise short-term and externally funded projects, whilst others are long-term projects requiring ongoing financial commitment and investment.

The Trustees have examined the requirement for free reserves, that is, those unrestricted funds not invested in tangible fixed assets, designated for specific purposes or otherwise committed. This has been undertaken by a regular consideration of pension liabilities both by the Audit Committee and the Trustees, including the information from the most recent triennial review and the FRS 102 valuation. The Trustees have assessed the risks arising from a more uncertain future.

In the current climate, SCIE is determined to keep a level of reserves commensurate with balancing the need to release funds for new streams of income generation with the need to retain sufficient funds for liabilities and strategic investments; and, in addition, having funds to support three to six months of operating costs in the unlikely event of a closure. This would require reserves of £1 million to £2 million. The Trustees believe the minimum level of free reserves at this time, should be £2 million.

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The level of free reserves was £4,203,891 at 31 March 2024. The Trustees believe that this level of free reserves is adequate but not excessive and that it is consistent with the reserves policy above. The current free reserves provide a solid foundation to support SCIE’s transformation by enabling investment in the development of its commercial offer, diversification of sources of income, and in meeting its future liabilities.

Strategic Investment Fund

SCIE adopted a Strategic Investment Fund (SIF), for projects that align with our strategic objectives. SIFs are approved and reviewed by the Audit and Risk Committee, with expenditure reported on a quarterly basis (see note 14). These funds are considered for the purposes of financial reporting and risk management.

Investment policy

SCIE does not have long-term investments. Funds that are surplus to requirements in the short term are kept on treasury deposit.

The Charity’s assets

Acquisitions and disposals of fixed assets during the year are recorded in the notes to the financial statements (see note 8).

Trustees’ report (including the strategic report) approved by the Trustees and signed on their behalf by:

Trustee: Paul Burstow leans wrt) Approved by the Trustees on: 30 September 2024

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Independent auditor’s report to the members of Social Care Institute for Excellence

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Social Care Institute for Excellence for the year ended 31 March 2024 which comprise the statement of financial activities, the balance sheet, the statement of cash flows, 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, 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:

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 Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the Charity 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 12 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 Chief Executive’s Report, the Chair’s Report and the Trustees’ 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.

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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 there is a material misstatement in the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information. 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:

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 Trustees’ Annual Report (which incorporates the strategic report and the directors’ report).

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

Responsibilities of trustees for the financial statements

As explained more fully in the Trustees’ responsibilities statement set out on page 20, 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.

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Auditor’s 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 an auditor’s 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:

Based on our understanding of the charitable company and the environment in which it operates, we identified that the principal risks of non-compliance with laws and regulations related to those laws and regulations that have a direct impact on the preparation of the financial statements such as the Companies Act 2006, the Charities Act 2011, income tax, payroll tax and sales tax legislation.

We evaluated management’s incentives and opportunities for fraudulent manipulation of the financial statements (including the risk of override of controls), and determined that the principal risks were related to management bias in accounting estimates. Audit procedures performed by the engagement team included:

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 auditor’s report.

33

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. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company's members those matters we are required to state to them in an Auditor's 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.

Ke Wt. Kathryn Burton (Senior Statutory Auditor) For and on behalf of HaysMac LLP, Statutory Auditor Date: 18/12/2024

10 Queen Street Place London EC4R 1AG

34

Statement of financial activities: Year to 31 March 2024

Unrestricted
Notes
funds
£
Restricted
2024
Unrestricted
Restricted
funds
Total
funds
funds
£
funds
£
£
£
2023
Total funds
£
Income from:
1,798
151,061
1,731,357
1,884,216
1,697,591
1,697,591
125,822
1,823,413
60,803
—
60,803
60,803
4,158,964
4,219,767

1,798

11,600

151,061
49,449

2,969,428
4,700,785
2,022,401
2,400,684
2,071,850
2,412,284
2,969,428
4,853,644
2,954,428
4,652,019
1,708,357
2,473,272
2,954,428
4,652,019
1,708,357
2,473,272
125,822
2,954,428
4,777,841
15,000
75,803
363,493
(60,988)


4,428,576
__
15,000
75,803
__
__
15,000
75,803
4,792,069 (60,988)
187,276
4,346,240
(633,105) 248,264
202,276
4,422,043
4,158,964 187,276
11,600
49,449
4,423,085
4,484,134
4,181,629
4,181,629
4,181,629
302,505
4,428,576
4,731,081
(384,841)
4,346,240
Donations and Legacies
Short-term bank deposits
Interest receivable
Charitable activities
Contracts, grants, service level
agreements and fees receivable
Total income
Expenditure on:
Charitable activities
Provision and dissemination of
knowledge and good practice in social
care
Total operational expenditure
Expenditure from Strategic
Investment Fund 14
Total expenditure
Net income (expenditure) for the year
before gains and losses
Net movement in funds
Exceptional Pension items
Net income (expenditure) for the year
Reconciliation of funds: fund balances brought
forward at 1 April 2023
Funds balances carried forward 31 March 2024
1
12
2
14		 Unrestricted
Notes
funds
£
Restricted
2024
Unrestricted
Restricted
funds
Total
funds
funds
£
funds
£
£
£
2023
Total funds
£
Income from:
1,798
151,061
1,731,357
1,884,216
1,697,591
1,697,591
125,822
1,823,413
60,803
—
60,803
60,803
4,158,964
4,219,767

1,798

11,600

151,061
49,449

2,969,428
4,700,785
2,022,401
2,400,684
2,071,850
2,412,284
2,969,428
4,853,644
2,954,428
4,652,019
1,708,357
2,473,272
2,954,428
4,652,019
1,708,357
2,473,272
125,822
2,954,428
4,777,841
15,000
75,803
363,493
(60,988)


4,428,576
__
15,000
75,803
__
__
15,000
75,803
4,792,069 (60,988)
187,276
4,346,240
(633,105) 248,264
202,276
4,422,043
4,158,964 187,276
11,600
49,449
4,423,085
4,484,134
4,181,629
4,181,629
4,181,629
302,505
4,428,576
4,731,081
(384,841)
4,346,240
Donations and Legacies
Short-term bank deposits
Interest receivable
Charitable activities
Contracts, grants, service level
agreements and fees receivable
Total income
Expenditure on:
Charitable activities
Provision and dissemination of
knowledge and good practice in social
care
Total operational expenditure
Expenditure from Strategic
Investment Fund 14
Total expenditure
Net income (expenditure) for the year
before gains and losses
Net movement in funds
Exceptional Pension items
Net income (expenditure) for the year
Reconciliation of funds: fund balances brought
forward at 1 April 2023
Funds balances carried forward 31 March 2024
1
12
2
14
Income from: 11,600
49,449
4,423,085
4,484,134
4,181,629
4,181,629
4,181,629
302,505
4,428,576
4,731,081
(384,841)
4,346,240
Donations and Legacies
Short-term bank deposits
Interest receivable
Charitable activities
Contracts, grants, service level
agreements and fees receivable
Total income
Expenditure on:
Charitable activities
Provision and dissemination of
knowledge and good practice in social
care
Total operational expenditure
Expenditure from Strategic
Investment Fund 14
Total expenditure
Net income (expenditure) for the year
before gains and losses
Net movement in funds
Exceptional Pension items
Net income (expenditure) for the year
Reconciliation of funds: fund balances brought
forward at 1 April 2023
Funds balances carried forward 31 March 2024
1
12
2
14

All of the Charity’s activities derived from continuing operations during the above two financial periods. There are no other recognised gains and losses. The accounting policies and notes to the accounts also form part of the financial statements.

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Balance sheet: As at 31 March 2024

2024 2024 2024 2024 2023 2023 2023
Notes £ £ £ £ £
Fixed assets
Tangible assets 8 15,875 6,493 6,493
Current assets
Debtors 9 522,860 1,873,252
Cash at bank and in hand 4,469,660 4,469,660 3,269,074
4,992,520 5,142,326
Creditors: amounts falling due
within one year 10 (586,352) (586,352) (744,246)
33,194,5
Net current assets 4,406,168 4,398,080
FRS 102 Pension liability (58,333)
Total net assets 4,422,043 4,346,240
The funds of the charity
Restricted funds 12 202,277 187,276
Unrestricted funds
. General fund
..Free reserves 13 4,050,463 4,152,471
Strategic Investment Fund 14 153,428
. Tangible fixed assets fund 13 15,875 6,493
4,422,043 4,346,240

Financial statements and notes to the accounts approved by the Trustees of Social Care Institute for Excellence and signed on their behalf by:

Trustee: Paul Burstow

Approved on: 30 September 2024

Trustee: John Grosvenor

Approved on: 30 September 2024

Company Registration No.04289790 (England and Wales) Charity Registration No.1092778

36

Statement of cash flows: Year to 31 March 2024

2024 2023
Notes £ £
Cash flows from operating activities:
Net cash provided by operating activities A 1,065,665 467,685
Cash flows from investing activities:
Interest received 151,061 49,449
Disposal of tangible fixed assets 0 0
Purchase of tangible fixed assets (16,140) (9,314)
Net cash provided by investing activities 134,921 40,135
Change in cash and cash equivalents in the year 1,200,586 507,820
Cash and cash equivalents at 1 April 2023 B 3,269,074 2,761,254
Cash and cash equivalents at 31 March 2024 B 4,469,660 3,269,074

Notes to the statement of cash flows for the year to 31 March 2024

A Reconciliation of net expenditure for the year to net cash provided by operating activities

2024 2023
£ £
Net income for the year (as per the statement of financial activities)
75,803 1,162,505
Adjustments for:
Depreciation charge 6,758 9,031
FRS 102 pension charge (58,333) 58,333
Interest receivable (151,061) (49,449)
(Increase) decrease in debtors 1,350,392 (441,848)
(Decrease) increase in creditors (157,894) (270,887)
Net cash provided by operating activities 1,065,665 467,685

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B Analysis of cash and cash equivalents

2024 2023
£ £
Cash at bank and in hand 4,469,660 3,269,074

Social Care Institute for Excellence does not have any borrowings or lease obligations. Net debt consists therefore of the cash at bank and in hand.

38

Principal accounting policies: Year to 31 March 2024

The principal accounting policies adopted, judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty in the preparation of the financial statements are laid out below.

Basis of preparation

These financial statements have been prepared for the year to 31 March 2024 with comparative information provided in respect to the year to 31 March 2023.

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention with items recognised at cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policies below or the notes to these financial statements.

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with 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 United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (Charities SORP FRS 102) second edition, issued on 01 January 2019, the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Companies Act 2006.

The charity constitutes a public benefit entity as defined by FRS 102.

The financial statements are presented in sterling and are rounded to the nearest pound.

Critical accounting estimates and areas of judgement

Preparation of the financial statements requires the Trustees to make significant judgements and estimates.

The items in the financial statements where these judgements and estimates have been made include:

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Assessment of going concern

The Trustees have assessed whether the use of the going concern assumption is appropriate in preparing these financial statements. The Trustees have made this assessment in respect to a period of one year from the date of approval of these financial statements.

The budget planning exercise for the 2024/25 financial year was a continuation of the focus on our Strategic Priority Areas and their associated sub-streams of work. The Finance Team have continued to work closely with each Strategic Priority Area lead to build an accurate and realistic 2024/25 budget which was recommended for approval by SCIE’s Audit and Risk Committee, before being ratified by the Board of Trustees. The 2024/25 budget forecasts an operating surplus.

Planning beyond the 2024/25 financial year, the Charity continues to have a healthy cash balance, resulting in SCIE being able to meet its financial obligations. Whilst there will be challenges ahead, the Trustees do not expect concerns to arise over the Charity’s financial position. As a result, the Trustees believe it is appropriate for the financial statements to be prepared on a going concern basis, which are free from material uncertainties.

Income recognition

Income is recognised in the year in which the Charity is entitled to receipt, it is probable the Charity will receive the income and the amount can be measured with reasonable certainty. Income is deferred only when the Charity has to fulfil conditions before becoming entitled to it, or where the donor or funder has specified that the income is to be expended in a future accounting period.

Income comprises interest receivable on short-term deposits with the Charity’s bankers, grants and funding from government and other agencies and income from commercial sources.

Interest on funds held on deposit is included when receivable and the amount can be measured reliably by the Charity; this is normally upon notification of the interest paid or payable by the bank.

Grants and funding from government and other agencies have been included as income from charitable activities as these comprise either contracts for services or they relate to specific services.

Income of a contractual nature and income generated from commercial sources is recognised to the extent that it is probable that the economic benefits will flow to the Charity and the revenue can be reliably measured. It is measured as the fair value of the consideration received or receivable, excluding discounts, rebates, value added tax and other sales taxes.

40

Expenditure recognition

Liabilities are recognised as expenditure as soon as there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the Charity to make a payment 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.

All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis. Expenditure comprises direct costs and support costs.

All expenditure is incurred on the Charity’s primary charitable purposes as described in the trustees’ report. It includes all costs associated with furthering the charitable purposes of the charity through the provision of its charitable activities. Such costs include direct and support costs including governance costs.

All expenditure is stated inclusive of irrecoverable VAT.

Allocation of support and governance costs

Support costs represent indirect charitable expenditure. In order to carry out the primary purposes of the Charity it is necessary to provide support in the form of personnel development, financial procedures, provision of office services and equipment and a suitable working environment.

Governance costs comprise the costs involving the public accountability of the Charity (including audit costs) and costs in respect to its compliance with regulation and good practice.

Support costs and governance costs are allocated as described in note 3 to these financial statements.

Tangible fixed assets

All assets costing more than £1,000 and with an expected useful life exceeding one year are capitalised.

Tangible fixed assets are capitalised and depreciated at the following annual rates in order to write them off over their estimated useful lives:

Debtors

Debtors are recognised at their settlement amount, less any provision for non-recoverability. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid. They have been discounted to the present value of the future cash receipt where such discounting is material.

Cash at bank and in hand

Cash at bank and in hand represents such accounts and instruments that are available on demand or have a maturity of less than three months from the date of acquisition. Deposits for more than three months but less than one year have been disclosed as short-term deposits. Cash placed on deposit for more than one year is disclosed as a fixed-asset investment.

41

Creditors and provisions

Creditors and provisions 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. Creditors and provisions are recognised at the amount the Charity anticipates it will pay to settle the debt. They have been discounted to the present value of the future cash payment where such discounting is material.

Fund structure

Restricted funds comprise monies raised for, or which have their use restricted to, a specific purpose, or contributions subject to donor-imposed conditions.

The general fund represents those monies which are available for application towards achieving any charitable purpose that falls within the Charity's objects. It is represented by free reserves.

The tangible fixed-assets fund represents the net book value of the Charity’s tangible fixed assets held under unrestricted funds. This fund has been separated from other unrestricted funds to emphasise that the assets are of fundamental importance to the Charity being able to achieve its charitable objectives and, as such, their value should not be regarded as realisable.

Leased assets

Rentals applicable to operating leases where substantially all of the benefits and risks of ownership remain with the lessor are charged to the statement of financial activities on a straight-line basis over the lease term.

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Notes to the financial statements: Year to 31 March 2024

1. Donations and legacies, contracts, grants, service level agreements and fees receivable

Unrestricted Restricted 2024 Total Unrestricted Restricted 2023 Total
funds funds funds funds funds funds
£ £ £ £ £ £
Department of Health and Social Care
project grants — 2,969,234 2,969,234 — 2,357,557 2,357,557
Social Care Wales - — - 86,910 — 86,910
Department of Health, Northern Ireland 97,344 — 97,344 129,740 — 129,740
Fees and commissioning 1,363,252 — 1,363,252 1,426,477 — 1,426,477
Donations and legacies 1,798 1,798
11,600 11,600
Other funders 421,822 194 422,016 428,723 43,127 471,850
1,884,216 2,969,428 4,853,644 2,071,850 2,412,284 4,484,134

The above donations and legacies, contracts, grants, service level agreements and fees receivable relate to the sole charitable activity of Business, Development & Delivery (BDD).

2. Provision and dissemination of knowledge and good practice in social care

Unrestricted Restricted Unrestricted Restricted 2024 Total Unrestricted Restricted Unrestricted Restricted 2023 Total
funds funds funds funds funds funds
£ £ £ £ £ £
Business, Development & Delivery (BDD)
Staff costs 557,253 (907) 556,346 274,430 1,270,996 1,545,426
Office and premises costs __ __ __ (2,449) 4,173 1,724
Donations and legacies __ 1,798 1,798 __ 11,600 11,600
Commissioning costs 302,404 2,123,306 2,425,710 674,530 615,663 1,290,193
Electronic access and publication costs 106,386 24,895 131,281 58,749 13,437 72,186
Support costs (note 3) 731,549 805,336 1,536,885 703,097 557,403 1,260,500
Strategic Investment Fund (note 14) 125,822 125,822
1,823,414 2,954,428 4,777,842 1,708,357 2,473,272 4,181,629

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3. Support costs

|2024
Total
funds
£
2023
Total
funds
£
~~|~~|2024
Total
funds
£
2023
Total
funds
£
~~|~~|2024
Total
funds
£
2023
Total
funds
£
~~|~~| |---|---|---| |Staff costs|972,189|761,699| |Premises costs|—|(32,664)| |Office costs|23,375|17,599| |Governance costs (Excluding staff
costs)|27,489|27,763| |Other costs|513,832|486,103| |Total|1,536,885|1,260,500|

Support costs show the breakdown of ‘publicity and dissemination support costs’, as per note 2, which cover specific support costs that were allocated across SCIE’s projects.

4. Net income (expenditure) for the year

This is stated after charging:

2024 Total 2023 Total
funds funds
£ £
Staff costs (note 5) 3,497,779 3,484,427
Auditor’s remuneration
. Statutory audit services
.. Current year 28,490 25,996
.. Previous year — 5,762
Depreciation 6,758 9,031
Operatinglease rentals — 14,957

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5. Employees and staff costs

Staff costs during the year were as follows:

2024 2023
£ £
Wages and salaries 1,983,510 1,822,145
Social security costs 208,747 204,566
Other pension costs 98,806 88,265
FRS 102 pension charge - -
2,291,063 2,114,976
Payments to agency staff and consultants 1,072,591 1,259,435
Other staff related costs 134,125 110,016
3,497,779 3,484,427

Included within wages and salaries are fees paid by SCIE to consultants who are treated as employees for tax purposes but are not SCIE employees as defined by employment law and thus are not included within the average number of employees in the table below.

Payments to agency staff during the period reflect the need to have personnel in post in order to progress the work of SCIE. Other staff-related costs include expenditure in respect to staff training and reimbursed out-of-pocket expenses.

The average number of employees during the period, analysed by function, was as follows:

2024 No. 2023 No.
Charitable activities
Business, Development & Delivery (BDD) 47 40
Governance 1 1
48 41

The number of employees who earned £60,000 per annum or more (including taxable benefits but excluding employer pension contributions) during the year was as follows:

2024 2023
No. No.
£60,001 - £70,000 3 3
£70,001 - £80,000 4 4
£80,001 - £90,000 1 —
£90,001 - £100,000 1 —
£140,001 - £150,000 — 1
£150,001 - £160,000 1 —
10 8

Contributions were made to a defined contribution pension scheme in respect of employees.

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6. Payments in relation to Trustees

In accordance with the Charity’s memorandum and articles of association, the Chair of the Trustees was paid £28,341 (2023 — £27,311) during the year for services undertaken in the administration of the Charity. One other Trustee was paid a total of £3,200 (2023 — £4,222) on the same basis. The payment for such services has been authorised by the Charity Commission and is in line with the 2016 Charities Act.

Out-of-pocket travelling and subsistence expenses of £1,252 were incurred during the year (2023 — £1,748).

The Charity has purchased insurance to protect it from any loss arising from the neglect or defaults of its Trustees, employees and agents and to indemnify the Trustees or other officers against the consequences of any neglect or default on their part. The insurance premium paid by the Charity during the year totalled £16,815 (2023 — £16,796) and provides cover of up to a maximum of £5 million (2023 — £5 million).

Except as noted above, the Charity did not enter into any other transactions with related parties in the current or prior years.

7. Taxation

The company is a Charity under the Finance Act 2010 (schedule 6, paragraph 1) definition. Accordingly, the company is potentially exempt from taxation in respect of income or capital gains within categories covered by the Corporation Tax Act 2010 (part 11, chapter 3) or the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 (section 256), to the extent that such income or gains are applied exclusively to charitable purposes. No tax charge arose in the period (2022 – none).

SCIE is registered for VAT but is partially exempt and so only able to recover a proportion of its input tax.

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8. Tangible fixed assets

Computer and
IT equipment		 Software
Total
£ £ £
Cost
At 1 April 2023 9,314 87,292 96,606
Additions 16,140 — 16,140
Disposals — — —
At 31 March 2024 25,454 87,292 112,746
Depreciation
At 1 April 2023 2,821 87,292 90,113
Charge for year 6,758 — 6,758
Disposals — — —
At 31 March 2024 9,579 87,292 96,871
Net book values
At 31 March 2024 15,875 — 15,875
At 31 March 2023 6,493 — 6,493

9. Debtors

9. Debtors
2024 2023
£ £
Prepayments and accrued income 210,880 107,035
Other Debtors — 1,210,000
Fees and other income receivable 311,980 556,217
522,860 1,873,252

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10. Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

2024 2023
£ £
Expense creditors 230,366 210,950
Taxation and social security 155,051
179,208		 179,208
Pension — 15,297
Accruals 116,979 210,164
Deferred income (note 11) 83,956 128,627
586,352
744,246		 744,246

11. Deferred income

11. Deferred income Deferred income
2024 2023
£ £
Balance at 1 April 2023 345,768 345,768
Income received in advance 83,956 128,627
Released to statement of financial activities **(345,768) ** (345,768)
Balance at 31 March 2024(note 10) 83,956 128,627

Deferred income comprises funding received in advance from government and other agencies.

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12. Restricted funds

The income funds of the Charity include restricted funds comprising the following unexpended balances of grants and funding held to be applied for specific purposes:

At Expenditure At
01-Apr Income Direct Support Fund 31-Mar
2023 costs costs Transfers 2024
£ £ £ £ £ £
DHSC commissions
Core — 1,901,352 (1,312,208) (589,144) — —
Dunhill 70,097 10,600 (7,727) (2,873) — 70,097
Oak Foundation 3,001 33,693 (24,562) (9,131) — 3,001
LRS programme 4,226 — — — — 4,226
Innovation Network 12,322 — — — — 12,322
Think Local Act
Personal (TLAP)		 174,582 963,590 (778,590) (185,000) — 174,582
Nesta National (76,952) 60,194 (26,005) (19,188) — (61,951)
Fundraising
187,276 2,969,429 (2,149,092) (805,336) — 202,277
At Expenditure At
01-Apr Income Direct Support Fund 31-Mar
2022 £ £ costs costs Transfers 2023
£ £ £ £
DHSC commissions
Core 1,623,000 (1,244,062) (378,938) —
Liberty Protection
Standards (LPS)
65,828		 65,828 — 4,269 — — 70,097 70,097
Donations and Legacies — 11,600 (11,600) — — —
Oak Foundation 10,296 26,557 (30,646) (3,207) 3,001
LRS programme 4,691 — (465) — 4,226
Innovation Network 12,322 — — — 12,322
Think Local Act 187,929 708,000 (557,983) (163,364) 174,582
Personal (TLAP)
National Fundraising (32,802) 43,127 (75,381) (11,895) (76,952)
Supporting Each Other
Equals Power
284,264 2,412,284 (1,915,868) (557,403) 187,276

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The specific purposes for which the funds were to be used are as follows:

DHSC commission

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) provided funding to SCIE to benefit from our unique position as a trusted, people-focused, independent improvement agency, to deliver business needs and facilitate sector improvement, increasing awareness, knowledge, skills and experience of the workforce. This included:

Oak Foundation

The Oak Foundation has provided funds for SCIE to review the safeguarding policies and procedures of grant applicants and offer support where needed. This support includes policy development, organisation specific training, as well as more generic safeguarding training sessions that are open to all grantees.

Think Local Act Personal (TLAP)

The Think Local Act Personal partnership comprises over 30 national and umbrella organisations representing a broad interest in personalisation and community-based support. SCIE hosts the central team and also provides back-office services such as facilities, finance and HR support. The funds are provided by the DHSC.

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13. Analysis of movement on funds

The below tables show the movement in the restricted and free reserves of the organisation for both the current and prior year. Asset movements refer to the adjustments that have been made to the tangible fixed-asset fund to reflect the amount of committed depreciation outstanding at the end of the financial year. The pension movements refer to adjustments that arose due to actuarial gains/losses following the yearly actuarial review. The Strategic Investment Fund (SIF) refers to expenditure incurred in 2023 in relation to three SIF projects, approved by the Board of Trustees.

Restricted Free Tangible fixed assets Strategic Total
Investment Fund
Funds reserves fund 2024
£ £ £ £ £
Fund balances at 1 April 2023 187,276 4,152,471 6,493 — 4,346,240
Movements:
(Deficit) / Surplus for the year, before 15,001 186,624 — — 201,625
expenditure on Strategic Investment Fund
Strategic Investment Fund — (279,250) — 153,428 (125,822)
FRS 102 pension liability movement — —
Asset movement — (9,382) 9,382 — —
Fund balances at 31 March 2024 202,277 4,050,463 15,875 153,428 4,422,043
Restricted Free Tangible fixed assets Pension Reserve Total
funds reserves fund 2023
£ £ £ £ £
Fund balances at 1 April 2022 248,264 2,929,261 6,210 (3,568,576) (384,841)
Movements:
(Deficit) / Surplus for the year (60,988) 1,223,493 — — 1,162,505
Actuarial estimate of future pension
contributions		 — — — 3,568,576 3,568,576
FRS 102 pension liability movement
Asset movement — (283) 283 — —
Transfer General to Restricted
Fund balances at 31 March 2023 187,276 4,152,471 6,493 — 4,346,240

14. Strategic Investment Fund (SIF)

In the 2023 financial year, the Charity received a refund of Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) surplus of £1.2 million, ceasing the Charity’s involvement with the LGPS (detailed in note 15 of the 2023 annual report). Using this pension refund, SCIE adopted a “Strategic Investment Fund” (SIF), for projects that align with SCIE’s strategic objectives. The Board of Trustees approved three SIF projects (covering the areas of Care Equity Commission, Children’s Services and Marketing), i.e. expenditure that could be incurred for three strategic projects which could be funded via the LGPS refund held in the Charity’s unrestricted reserves. For the 2024 financial year, SIF expenditure totaled £125,822 against a budget of £279,250. As this is a new initiative for 2024, there is no comparative data available.

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15. Members’ liability

In the event of the Charity being wound up, members are required to contribute an amount not exceeding £1.

Please get in touch to find out more:

For up-to-date information on the social care sector, details of knowledge, guidance and training opportunities, sign up to our newsletter SCIELine:

https://www.scie.org.uk/register/

e SCIE hosts Think Local Act Personal (TLAP): https://thinklocalactpersonal.org.uk/about-us/ sciebusdevelopmentteam@scie.org.uk oo