2022-12-31-accounts

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Relief International-UK

Annual Report and Financial Statements

12 months to 31 December 2022

Company Limited by Guarantee

Company Registration No. 4476247(England and Wales) Charity Registration Number 1098106

Relief International-UK

Annual Report and Financial Statements

Letter from the Chair and CEO ......................................................................................................................... 2 Strategic Report ............................................................................................................................................... 5 Achievements and Performance ......................................................................................................................... 5 Our work in the Field .......................................................................................................................................... 5 Plans for the Future ............................................................................................................................................ 7 Financial review ............................................................................................................................................... 9 Structure, governance, and management ...................................................................................................... 11 Principal Risks and Uncertainties ..................................................................................................................... 13 Public Benefit .................................................................................................................................................... 15 Policies .............................................................................................................................................................. 15 Statement of Trustees Responsibilities .......................................................................................................... 20 Independent Auditor’s Report ....................................................................................................................... 21 Statement of Financial Activities ......................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. Balance Sheet ...................................................................................................... Error! Bookmark not defined. Cash Flow Statement ..................................................................................................................................... 30 Notes to the Financial Statements ................................................................................................................. 30 Reference and Administrative Details .......................................................................................................... 411

Letter from the Chair and CEO

Relief International - UK, a founding member of the Relief International Alliance, delivers vital services for communities facing crisis across the globe, and this Trustees’ Report serves as a clear reminder of the importance, and urgency, of the work undertaken in 2022.

The past year saw the frequency and scale of global crises continue to increase. In Pakistan, floods submerged a quarter of the country, claiming lives, homes and crops. In East Africa, the food crisis intensified further, putting millions of people in very real danger of starvation and disease. The refugee crisis in the Middle East has also escalated, with the conflict in Syria entering its 11[th] year and regime change in Afghanistan presenting a whole host of new challenges. In addition to these unfolding emergencies, we are still reaching people with our ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

I am proud to say that we have risen to the challenge. In 2022, Relief International delivered an astonishing 15 million vital services. This remarkable impact includes providing over 5 million healthcare consultations, facilitating improved access to clean water and sanitation for 80,000 individuals, and offering increased income opportunities to 302,000 people. These numbers represent only a fraction of the immense positive change we have brought about.

Throughout these extraordinary times, we have borne witness to immense acts of generosity on the part of the many donors; multilateral government donors, institutions, businesses and private individuals, who choose to work with us to deliver their philanthropic ambitions. We remain enormously grateful for their trust in partnering with Relief International and their commitment to causes ranging from environmental threats, health and education, to humanitarian relief, livelihoods support and development. It has been our privilege to partner with communities in 15 countries around the world, and to help them achieve their impressive impact over the past year.

Looking ahead, it is clear that with the force multipliers of climate change and conflict facing so many of the communities we serve, we must be ready to respond to multifaceted, simultaneous emergencies. We are already highly adept at pivoting between crises and re-prioritizing dynamically to ensure we apply our resources where the need is greatest. As we navigate this new landscape of ever-shifting sands, we are very fortunate to have incredible volunteers and staff who go that extra mile to make a difference to the lives of communities facing crisis around the world. No matter the circumstances, we remain committed to developing as an organization to optimize our resources and grow as a global team. We recognize that there is much work to be done in the year ahead, and we embrace these challenges with determination. Through a sharpened strategy and a dedicated focus on communications, fundraising, and hiring and retaining the best possible people, we aim to respond more effectively to global crises and expand our impact.

Thank you for giving us your time, your commitment and your support last year. Thanks to you, when communities needed us most, Relief International was there for them.

Debra M Davis

Craig Redmond

Chair

September 29, 2023

Chief Executive September 29, 2023

Objectives and Activities

Our Purpose

Relief International partners with communities in fragile settings to save lives and build resilience, dignity, and long-term wellbeing .

The challenges facing fragile communities

People living in fragile settings are subject to complex, interconnected, and deep-rooted vulnerabilities. Climate change and conflict are now the major drivers accelerating and intensifying fragility around the world, straining the coping capacities of those least able to cope. Families living in fragility are more than twice as likely to be undernourished, more than three times as likely to be unable to send their children to school, twice as likely to see their children die before age five, and more than twice as likely to lack clean water.

Our Vision

All communities in fragile settings can achieve long term wellbeing.

Our Mission

To become a leading innovator in empowering communities in fragile settings to build resilience against vulnerabilities caused by climate change and conflict.

Our Impact Objectives

We aim to:

Integrate Economic Opportunity, Education, Health and Nutrition, and WASH (water, sanitation and health) programming and embed climate change and conflict to build community resilience
Partner with stakeholders from the private, public, and civil society sectors to holistically build community resilience to climate change and conflict
Identify, test, and help scale up transformational ideas that can maximize communities in fragile settings’ resilience to climate change and / or conflict

RI-UK Activities

RI exists to provide timely and efficient services and material resources to assist communities living in fragile settings. We provide emergency, humanitarian and development assistance to 16 countries around the world. We are non-political and non-sectarian and are solely dedicated to reducing human suffering.

RI partners with people in vulnerable communities to achieve relief from poverty by supporting their response to crises, building their resilience to disasters and emergencies, and promoting dignity and the long-term well-being of people in the communities we serve.

RI’s core partners are communities of poor and vulnerable people, especially –

People living in underserved, remote, and/or dangerous places
Refugees, internally displaced persons, and survivors of natural and man-made disasters and civil wars

Women and girls, especially those in need of primary education and health services
Small-scale entrepreneurs, farmers and rural dwellers in need of training and strategic value chain interventions
Other vulnerable communities whose needs match RIs selective skills

Our Values

Our values are at the heart of what we do and how we do it. They are:

Integrity

We are transparent and accountable in working with participants, partners, donors, team members, and the communities with which we work.

Adaptability

We embrace agility and innovative thinking, program approaches and ways of working.

Collaboration

We harness complementary expertise and networks to ensure that each issue, situation, or community gets the best solutions available.

Inclusivity

We embrace practices and policies that provide access to employment, opportunities, and resources for people who might otherwise be excluded or marginalized.

Sustainability

We support communities to build their own long-term resilience and well-being throughout all our work.

Strategic Report

Achievements and Performance

RI-UK works in collaboration with RI-US and MRCA-RI France. As an Alliance we collect a unified set of data on the impact of our work. We work in four key areas – Health, WASH, Education and Economic Opportunity

Our work in the Field

RI works with fragile communities that are affected by climate change and conflict. Extreme weather events fuelled by climate change are occurring with greater frequency and intensity than ever before. Conflict and war cause many to flee their homes and communities and the numbers of displaced persons across the world is increasing – UNHCR estimate this number to be in excess of 117 million in 2023.

It is communities already living in fragile settings that are the hardest hit. RI delivers urgent humanitarian aid when crisis strikes. We then partner with communities to develop long lasting, climate and conflict conscious relief and development programs to adapt to the challenging realities of a warming world and one that is so often conflict-ridden.

RI works in four key areas:

Health and Nutrition – ensuring access to quality healthcare

Our clinics provide life-saving maternal care, treatment for children combatting malnutrition, and action-oriented prevention programmes for communities threatened by outbreaks of disease.

Education – we open doors to brighter futures through learning

Our education programmes create safe, inclusive and quality learning environments for all genders and backgrounds, teach vocational skills geared towards the job market, and build local capacity through teacher training.

Water Sanitation and Hygiene – we connect communities to clean water and sanitation

Our teams teach basic hygiene practices which go hand in hand with our programmes that restore access to clean, reliable water sources. Together these efforts are the building blocks of healthy lives and preventing disease.

Economic Opportunity – we create income-generating pathways for marginalised groups Our programmes foster enterprises and create jobs, connect people to markets and empower families to purchase necessities through cash assistance programmes.

The following are examples of projects that RI-UK delivered in conjunction with the local communities with which we cooperate:

Quality Healthcare support in Lebanon to Syrian refugees and vulnerable Lebanese

Sectors addressed: Health and Nutrition

Lebanon continued to suffer from an unprecedented and multifaceted socioeconomic crisis compounded by political tensions, rapid inflation of the local currency, the COVID-19 pandemic, and a Cholera outbreak during the latter half of the year.

Vulnerable populations across all governorates have been deeply affected by a stark increase in socioeconomic needs, gaps in critical supply chains and constrained access to healthcare, education, employment, and other basic services. Lebanon’s health system was particularly strained, with demand for public health services continuing to soar as households increasingly could not afford to access private healthcare.

In the Bekaa and Baalbeck/Hermel governorates of Lebanon, RI focused on ensuring that both Syrian refugees and vulnerable Lebanese had access to quality healthcare at the primary healthcare (PHC) level, including preventative, reproductive, mental health, and community health services. Through subsidized consultation fees and diagnostic procedures, RI-supported PHC centres provided consultations to 24,472 individuals (17,574 Syrian and 6,898 Lebanese), prioritizing children under five, pregnant women, people over 59 years of age and persons with specific needs. RI also provided mental health support to 1,360 people with a focus on raising awareness about mental health disorders, on safe referrals, and on providing psycho-social support and specialized mental health sessions.

RI’s intervention was enhanced through a strong network of 28 Outreach Volunteers (OVs) and 40 Community Health Volunteers (CHVs) from the targeted communities, who played a catalytic role in engaging with the community to reduce barriers faced when deciding to seek healthcare. A total 167, 201 individuals (161,379 Syrian and 5,822 Lebanese) were reached through the health-related awareness and outreach services.

Beyond its immediate focus on ensuring the continuation of services, RI offered robust support to strengthen the health care system through ongoing training of health staff and CHVs on essential topics, through the supply of consumables and medical equipment to the health centres, and through close monitoring and coordination with each centre on predefined improvement plans aimed to feed into the long-term sustainability of the country’s health sector.

Integrated approach to programming in Syria

Sectors addressed: Health & nutrition, Water Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH)

Over a decade of conflict has left 15.3 million Syrians largely dependent on humanitarian assistance and deprived of access to basic services. The protracted conflict and intermittent outbreaks of violence coupled with consistent economic decline and continued displacement have pushed many Syrians into poverty and adoption of negative coping mechanisms, increased genderbased violence incidents, early marriages and child labour.

The protracted conflict and intermittent outbreaks of violence coupled with consistent economic decline and continued displacement have pushed many Syrians into poverty and adoption of negative coping mechanisms, increased gender-based violence incidents, early marriages and child labour.

Leveraging on a decade of experience in delivering lifesaving humanitarian response in Syria through the integration of health, nutrition, protection and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) programming, in 2022 RI maintained its role as a key health actor, engaging directly with communities to best identify and respond to their most pressing needs. RI supported 50 health facilities (directly and through partners) across Northwest and Northeast Syria to provide lifesaving primary and secondary health care services, including nutrition, reaching over 1 million people throughout the year.

In the past two years RI has expanded its integration efforts to cover the links between mental health support under health and focused psychosocial support (PSS) services under protection, and between sexual and reproductive services under health and gender-based violence (GBV) services for survivors. Furthermore, a network of community health workers (CHWs) not only promoted health, nutrition and hygiene related messages and identified and referred community members to health facilities, but also integrated protection and GBV awareness messages to enhance safe and ethical referrals to protection services, encouraging GBV survivors to directly seek support.

Finally, the past year has been catalytic for RI in Syria as it embodied the organization’s increased focus on the sustainability of its integrated interventions through increased partnership with several local organizations. Through its local partners, RI widened its support to women, girls, men and boys in need, who were able to access quality and integrated health, child protection and GBV services.

Plans for the Future

RI UK subscribes to the Relief International 2021-25 five-year strategy. The strategy was developed with broad consultation from staff and the board and builds on Relief International’s commitment to

being a fragile settings specialist that provides integrated economic opportunity, education, health/nutrition, and WASH (water, sanitation, and hygiene). In developing our five-year strategy Relief International is acutely aware that the number of people living in fragile settings is rising and that this is driven by both climate change, and increasingly conflict over scarce resources.

The full strategy implementation since 2021 was interrupted by the COVID-19 epidemic and starting in late 2022 the new Chief Executive, Craig Redmond, launched a strategy clarification process. This

involves a wide cross section of staff getting to collaborate in reviewing our strategy articulation, objectives and implementation. The review will assist in sharpening our programmatic focus and in driving greater impact and income diversification and will help us accelerate our strategic elements of:

Applying programming and operational methods, systems, and skillsets that build community resilience to climate change and conflict
Becoming a leader in putting Communities at the Centre
Incubating, testing, and helping scale-up transformational ideas
Creating a flexible and diverse funding model
Building a more agile, disciplined, and diverse organization

RI continues to invest in increased compliance and process changes that will make RI more disciplined and accountable, embracing greater diversity and retaining agility to best operate in complex environments. The focus on the five strategy elements will build on our successes with communities in education, health and nutrition, WASH, Economic Opportunities, while advancing transformational ideas needed to reduce fragility and increase resilience.

Financial review

Income

Income is received from international donors, mainly from UN organisations such as UNICEF, UNHCR, OCHA, UNFPA and UNOPS with only a very small amount comes from non-institutional sources. Total income in the year to 31 December 2022 rose by 6% to $72.1m with charitable activities increasing by 25% to $52.3m. The main driver of this increase was a higher level of grants from UNICEF in several of our operating countries.

Expenditure

Expenditure on charitable activity in the year also rose in value from $65.5m to $72m, reflecting the rise in income. Expenditure exceeded revenue by $442,299, primarily due to the foreign exchange losses amounted $178,603 and the donation contribution to France $245,903. The charity has very few private donations and incurred only $11,844 in fundraising costs in the year.

Balance Sheet and Cashflow

The charity had total reserves as at 31 December 2022 of $2,529,127 (2021: $2,971,425). Of this balance some $0.75m was unrestricted and $2m was restricted. The restricted reserves arise from the accounting treatment of stock in hand from Donations of Gifts in Kind. This increased in 2022 as more stock was received than distributed and then stabilised in 2022 as receipts were similar to disbursements. Bank balances saw a reduction of $1.4m in the year due to more total expenditure than revenue in the year 2022

Reserves Policy

RI-UK holds financial reserves to be applied to future activities in the following categories:

Unrestricted – available to be applied, at the discretion of the trustees, for the furtherance of any of RI-UK’s charitable purposes.
Restricted – to be applied to the specific purpose(s) intended by the donor.

Each year the trustees consider the appropriate level of unrestricted reserves. They review RI-UK’s requirements and consider a sustained fall in income to be a reasonable basis for setting a minimum level. It is the intention of the trustees to hold sufficient reserves to enable expenditure to be reduced in a managed fashion, should the need arise, avoiding the need to halt work abruptly. The trustees have agreed that free reserves should normally be within a range of 3-6 months of non-project operational expenditure.

As at 31 December 2022, RI-UK held unrestricted general funds of $507,795(2021: $982,241) which represented 3 months (2021: 4 months) of future non project central expenditure (budgeted at $3.1m in 2023). RI-UK intends to maintain its reserve ratio to within the 3–6-month target through tighter cost control and initiating UK based Fundraising.

Going Concern

We have set out in this report a review of RI-UK’s financial performance, the reserves position and principal risks and uncertainties. One of the fundamental uncertainties is whether income flows from donors will continue for the foreseeable future. In fact, our donors remain committed to funding

projects in fragile settings. During the year we continued to benefit from COVID funding and the pipeline for future projects remains strong at the time of signing this report.

RI-UK has undertaken a scenario-planning exercise of income and planned expenditure including financial and cashflow projections to forecast how various outcomes might affect RI-UK and the other Alliance entities’ operations in 2023 and beyond. This exercise takes into account the risk of decreased income from various sources and the ability of RI to implement its activities across the globe. The results of the scenario planning have been used as a basis from which to formulate a model for strategic planning.

We have conducted detailed cashflow and net asset forecasts into the second half of 2024 and are confident, based on 2023 income and current pipeline, that in the next 15 months we will not see critical cashflow difficulties and should experience a rebuilding of unrestricted reserves. This view is supported by the improvements we have made in both financial controls and Awards Management and in our continued strong global risk assurance function. These matters combined mean that we remain confident that the operational and financial risks faced by our operating teams in fragile settings are well managed.

The trustees recognise that the charity’s continuation as a going concern is underpinned by the mutually supportive relationship with RI-USA and MRCA-RI. The RI entities support each other to deliver effective programmes through the commitment of their respective human and financial resources in support of their shared mission of partnering with people in vulnerable communities to achieve relief from poverty. The trustees have no reason to doubt that this relationship will continue and are committed to furthering the collaboration between the organisations. RI-UK is consequently well placed to manage the business risks it faces.

We will continue to monitor the situation and manage our finances accordingly. The results of the scenario planning together with the support from the Alliance, and a continuation to shift to a more adaptable unrestricted cost structure, indicates that RI-UK has sufficient resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future.

The trustees therefore have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future being at least twelve months from the date of approval of these financial statements and are not aware of any other material uncertainties which may adversely affect the organisation. Accordingly, the financial statements continue to be prepared on the going concern basis.

Structure, governance, and management

Board of Trustees and Organisational Structure

RI-UK is an independent organisation. It has a longstanding Corporate Alliance Agreement with Relief International Inc, a USA-based registered not for profit organisation (hereinafter referred to as RI-US), MRCA-RI France and RI-Europe. Together, the four organisations are known simply as Relief International (RI), a global humanitarian and development Alliance whose mission is to work with communities in fragile settings to escape from poverty by supporting their response to crises, building their resilience to disasters and emergencies, and advancing dignity and long-term well-being. The Charity’s objects as stated in the Articles of Association are to act as an emergency relief, rehabilitation and development agency providing timely and efficient services and material resources to assist victims of natural and man-made disasters world-wide.

RI-UK collaborates closely with the other Alliance members to deliver RI’s work. The organisations do not establish separate field offices, but rather support field operations and administration in each country by contributing financial and technical assistance to emergency response, early recovery, and longer-term poverty-reduction programming across a wide range of sectors, including education, economic opportunity, health and nutrition, protection and water and sanitation.

By combining support to one field office in each country of operation and sharing the use of key support staff and systems across the organisations, RI avoids duplication, ensures that each organisation’s costs are minimised, and is able to operate in a unified manner to effectively manage and monitor overseas activities.

RI-UK also coordinates its activities closely with UK and other European governments, multilateral agencies and other international and national NGOs to share best practice, avoid duplication, and maximise collaboration to make a positive impact in the lives of the communities it serves.

RI-UK’s Board of trustees administers the charity. The Board normally meets quarterly, and has a number of committees meeting quarterly in advance, as follows:

HR & Governance – overseeing Board governance and receiving updates on HR matters worldwide
Finance – monitoring Finance strategy and financial performance
Audit and risk – overseeing each RI Alliance member’s audit and assessing and monitoring risk
• Advancement – understand RI’s donor context, reviewing the fund-raising strategy and annual plan, advising on communications plan to ensure it supports the purposes of the fundraising strategy, and accessing directors’ engagement and networks
Strategy and programmes – overseeing development of strategy and implementation of programs (in March 2023 it was agreed that this Committee would be disbanded)
Executive – overseeing Committee activity and taking some delegated decision making from the main Board

The CEO is appointed by the trustees to manage the day-to-day operations of the organisation and has delegated authority, within terms of delegation approved by the trustees, for all operational matters including strategy implementation, programmatic and fiduciary oversight and the

management of key risks. The CEO is supported by a senior management team (SMT) across key functions who, as leadership personnel themselves, are responsible for the management of staff across departments and countries of operation.

Trustee induction

On being appointed to the RI-UK Board, trustees are given an induction and are provided with a trustees Welcome Pack containing all RI-UK trustee policies, including code of conduct and conflict of interest guidance. Trustees also receive a comprehensive briefing about the organisation’s structure, strategic priorities, and their roles and responsibilities as Board members, including access to online orientation and training.

Trustee Attendance in 2022

Trustee Attendance in 2022
Trustee Name	Committee Membership	Board		Committees
		Total	Attended	Total	Attended
Paul Levengood (Chairman)	A, D, E, F, H, S	5	5	27	27
Steve Hansch (Treasurer)	A, D, E, F, H, S	5	5	27	26
Dana Freyer	D, E, H	5	5	14	13
Beverly Morris Armstrong	A, F	5	3	9	7
Amanda Barnes	A, S	5	4	9	7
Daniel Bader	D, E	5	4	9	7
Stéphane Crescitz	F	5	2	4	4
Debra Davis	A, E, F	5	5	14	14
Ellen Frost	H, S	5	5	9	8
John Gage	F, S	5	4	8	8
Julia Guth	H	5	1	5	5
Edwin Davisson Hardman Jr.	E, S	5	5	9	8
Faisel Khan	F	3	2	2	2
Annie Kim	A	5	3	5	5
Philippe Oberlin	S	5	4	4	1

Key:

A – Audit & Risk F – Finance

D – Advancement H – Human Resources & Governance
E – Executive S – Strategy & Programming

Trustee interests

None of the trustees has any beneficial interest in the company. All of the trustees are members of the company and guarantee to contribute £10 in the event of a winding up. All trustees are also members or directors of the other RI Alliance members. In making decisions about RI-UK they are required to consider what is in the best interests of the company rather than the Alliance as whole, though these interests are usually seen to be aligned. No trustee had any beneficial interest in any

contract that RI has with third parties. Trustees are asked to fill out a conflict-of-interest form annually and to keep the form updated.

Principal Risks and Uncertainties

2022 was a year of significant change for the Relief International Alliance with the appointment of a new Chief Executive Officer, Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer and Chief Human Resources Officer. While these changes brought fresh perspectives for RI, management and board were also conscious of the risks inherent in a renewed senior management team.

By the end of 2022, RI had completed twenty months of an Administrative Agreement with USAID under the monitorship of an Independent Consultant (IC). The IC’s reports to the Audit and Risk Committee (ARC) provides RI with an additional layer of assurance on risk management.

Risk management is at the heart of RI’s work given that we work in fragile settings, which presents many dynamic operational challenges. The aim of risk management at RI is to identify potential risks as early as possible in order to assess their impact on our work and, if necessary, to take appropriate countermeasures. The ability to identify, assess, and manage risks to the achievement of our strategic goals is an important element of our corporate governance. Thus, risks are managed at project, country, regional and Global Support Office (GSO) levels with the ARC of the Board providing the necessary oversight of the risk management process. The Senior Management Team (SMT) considers current and emerging risks during its meetings and supports the ARC in its risk oversight role. During the year the ARC requested for and received information on risk from the SMT.

The principal risks faced by Relief International, and the control and mitigation strategies employed are as follows:

	Principal Risk	Control and Mitigation
1	Strategy Failure to put in place the organisational capabilities required to translate the high-level ambitions of the strategy, which focuses on building resilience in fragile settings, into specific actions and implementable work plans.	• Departmental objectives and priorities for 2023 mindful of strategy, including operational model/workforce planning. • New CEO takes the lead on a strategic framework with indicators, targets, and internal and external communication strategy. • Incorporate new strategy elements in RI’s emergency preparedness, responses and disaster risk reduction work (outstanding).
2	Threat to Business Continuity The key risks under this heading are the capacity of the Senior Management Team (SMT) and the challenges within RI’s alliance structure.	• Maintaining requirements of the Administrative Agreement and good relationship with the Independent Monitor through end of Agreement. • Ethics and Compliance working group • Annual ethics training with 100% (or very close) completion rates.

	Principal Risk	Control and Mitigation
3	Ethics and Compliance policy breaches Violation of law, policy breach at Country or GSO level exposes RI to financial loss and or reputation damage.	• Ensure Ethics and Compliance programs aligns with best practice for effective Ethics and Compliance programs. • Mapping and ensuring sanctions compliance for US, OFAC, EU, UN, FCDO, CDC etc • Enhanced due diligence for high-risk Country Offices.
4	Program Implementation Challenges Failure and inability to deliver programs within contractually agreed parameters and timelines.	• Harmonised approaches for RSO support to COs between the two regions • Monthly portfolio reviews at Country, Regional and Global level. • Timely communication with donors resulting from strengthened monitoring of spend, implementation and anticipated challenges to mitigate risks and support grant modifications as necessary.
5	Financial Management Failure of financial stewardship and treasury management impedes the ability of the organisation to effectively carry out its mission, objectives, plans and strategies.	• Improvements to Finance, particularly with respect to foreign exchange, accounts payable and receivable, NICRA and audits. • Bank/cash transfer relationship risk elevated to SMT level for action when transfers are ‘frozen’. • Maintain Finance risk register
6	Revenue generation Failure to maintain income at current levels and to grow new income streams could curtail mission activities.	• Built cross-functional fundraising strategy which is integrated with Board fundraising. • Implement Fundraising Consultant’s recommendations at Board level (outstanding). • Broad engagement with donors at local and international level especially with increased Brussels and Paris representation (outstanding).
7	Talent Management / Systems Improvement (People) Inability to deliver or execute strategy due to staffing gaps, inefficient processes, technical skills gap or a mismatch between staff allocations and key objectives	• Make succession planning and strategic workforce planning central to annual business planning (in progress). • Future-proof organisation by focussing on required skills and capabilities and how they are acquired, built and retained (in progress).

	Principal Risk	Control and Mitigation
		• Improve ability to attract cutting edge talent through employer brand and a revamped Employee Value Proposition (outstanding).
8	Safety and Security Staff and those associated with RI are exposed to harm or danger as a result of RI's work in fragile settings and/or weak internal security measures and culture.	• Roll-out basic analysis, support tools and security documentation for countries. • Security Risk Assessments (SRA) updated and reviewed • Conduct Incident Management training for SMT at Country level.

Public Benefit

The trustees have given due consideration to Section 17 of the Charities Act 2011 and the Charity Commission’s guidance on the operation of the Public Benefit requirement and are satisfied that RIUK is in full compliance with its public benefit obligations.

The trustees believe that RI-UK benefits the public through the achievement of its goals and objectives, specifically by:

Relieving need through providing timely and appropriate humanitarian aid to vulnerable survivors of conflict and disasters;
Preserving and protecting health and advancing education in parts of the world affected by natural or man-made disasters
Contributing to the UK’s agenda for international development and in particular the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals, and;
Contributing to raising awareness about global humanitarian and development issues amongst the UK general public.

RI-UK is a signatory to the ICRC Principles of Conduct and the NGO personnel in disaster response programmes and subscribes to the Sphere Project’s Minimum Standards in Disaster Relief. It is also guided by the Core Humanitarian Standard on quality and accountability which sets out the essential elements of principled, accountable, and high-quality humanitarian action.

Policies

Grants

The vast majority of our income is derived from government and transnational organisation grants. These tend to be for one-to-three-year periods. There is a formal approval process that is followed before a grant is approved internally. Once programs are underway, they are systematically monitored throughout their implementation period. Major programs are subject to a final evaluation process, and most are subject to detailed donor audits. Monies advanced to our delivery partners in the field are also subject to monitoring and evaluation according to specific performance measures agreed in advance.

People

Our ability to deliver programs around the world depends on the skills, capability and motivation of our staff. There has been significant change in the senior management of the organisation, with 5 of the 11 members of SMT joining in 2022, and 3 SMT positions vacant as of 31 Dec 2022.

The arrival of a new Chief Executive Officer, Craig Redmond, in November 2022 has had a positive impact across the organisation with a strategy refresh, improved internal communications, clearer direction and the anticipation of stability after a challenging few years. Relief International’s total staff numbers are in excess of 2,300 of which over 97% are locally recruited. Country Offices are supported by small Regional and Global support offices

Retention and Turnover

In 2022 there was an exceptionally high level of staff turnover within the GSO Office which was a result of post COVID delayed career progressions and burnout experienced by some staff following stress and upheaval experienced in the previous two years. This resulted in high levels of recruitment in the year with twenty new leadership roles, six being in the UK. However, turnover has now stabilized and in the first six months of 2023 there were no resignations.

UK Staff

During 2022 the average number of Global Support Office staff (all entities) was 66 (2021: 54). The average number of people employed by RI in the UK was 18 (2021: 15) which is approximately 27% of the total. However, by the end of the year the actual numbers were 29% and this includes 3SMT members.

Remuneration

Relief International’s remuneration approach is to leverage a combination of factors in the employment market as well as internal equity considerations. Factors of supply and demand of skills, experience and education, and external benchmarking surveys, are used when determining compensation levels. Our internal compensation structure includes 8 grade levels and staff members growth within their grade as they progress in their jobs. Remuneration for key management personnel is agreed by the remuneration Committee of the Board.

In 2022, several major pieces of work commenced which will allow RI to maximise the competitiveness, consistency fairness and sustainability of its remuneration offer to UK staff and all staff globally. A new Job Evaluation Framework and associated Pay Policy is in development to ensure jobs are graded and salaries calculated in a consistent way. A global salary benchmarking exercise and a compensation and benefits review is also underway, and this will allow us to develop a new Employee Value proposition that is externally competitive but internally fair and speaks directly to what is valued most by our people.

Diversity

It is our policy to respect the diversity of all employees, treating all equally regardless of gender, sexual orientation, disability, race, caste, culture, nationality, ethnic origin, religious belief, or age.

In 2022, we rolled out a mandatory unconscious bias training to all GSO staff and have taken intentional steps to adapt our recruitment and selection process to be more inclusive. Examples, include making distinctions between essential and desirable criteria, sharing interview questions in advance and advertising on specialist job boards. Four out of the last five appointments to the Senior Management Team have been women of colour which is a significant diversification from the start of 2022 when the SMT consisted only of White people.

Learning and Development

We are committed to increasing the skills and competencies of our staff and RI provides a plethora of training through the RI Academy (RI’s learning management system), as well as opportunities for staff to attend formal external trainings. We continuously assess staff training needs through the RI performance management system and recommend content for staff from within the RI Academy and through external sources such as WHO, Humanitarian Leadership Academy (Kayaconnect.org) and eCornell University.

As part of our ethics & compliance commitments, all staff are required to complete mandatory orientation training on the following, and UK staff have attained 100% compliance rates across this training in 2022.

•	RI Code of Conduct	•	Whistleblowing
•	Prohibited Parties Policy	•	Preventing Harassment in the Workplace
•	Conflict of Interest	•	Preventing Support for Prohibited Parties
•	Safeguarding Essentials	•	IT Cyber Security
•	Combatting Human Trafficking	•	BSAFE (UNDSS) - Safety and Security training
•	Incident Reporting

In addition, in 2022 we rolled out a global refresher training on ethics and compliance, called Ethics Moments. This was a manager led, discussion-based training aimed at bringing ethical concerns and behaviour to life in individuals’ roles. Starting with the SMT and cascading down from there, this training was successfully rolled out globally, to all 6500 RI staff, in a 75-day period with exceptionally positive feedback.

Staff Wellbeing

All RI staff around the world have access to in-country psychological support and counselling. In the UK the is provided through an external Employee Assistance Program and also a modest health insurance policy.

Future development

The focus in 2022 was to ensure compliance with the Administrative Agreement, to recruit the senior level positions and to stabilise turnover, allowing little time for anything other than transactional HR. The GSO HR team has also turned over almost entirely, with 7 out of 10 members joining in 2022, and the team is now structured and resourced appropriately to take a more strategic approach in 2023.

Projects underway or planned for 2023, in addition to the projects outlined in the remuneration section above, include: the introduction of a new Global HRIS(Human Resource Information System) allowing us to accurately and easily store HR data, automate HR processes and produce insightful reports to drive decision making; projects to address and simplify RI’s compliance with employment law and tax obligations in all our locations; a new organisational-wide employee engagement survey, a management development programme and a thorough review of the new joiner journey (onboarding and induction).

Safeguarding

We continue to be committed to promoting the safety and wellbeing of the programme participants, staff, volunteers and partners involved in our efforts at delivering humanitarian aid and development assistance.

The Safeguarding Standards developed in 2020 continue to provide the framework within which the overarching approach to safeguarding practice is developing. It is an iterative process; we are learning in all areas of our work as we follow our own and the international standards of best safeguarding practice within the sector. The RI Safeguarding Standards consist of six core standards that are interlinked:

Safeguarding Culture : RI’s values, beliefs and codes of practice are conducive to an organisational culture that is committed to preventing harm and abuse.
Governance and Accountability : RI’s safeguarding policies and procedures are in place and roles and responsibilities for safeguarding are assigned.
Safe People : All staff are safely recruited and trained in safeguarding.
Safe Programmes : Potential safeguarding risks in programmes and projects are identified and addressed, including with our partners.

5. Safe Reporting and Response: A comprehensive complaints mechanism is in place, and safeguarding reports and concerns are investigated.

Safe Communication and Media : Safeguarding measures are incorporated into all communications and media activity.

The Global Safeguarding Lead (GSL) has worked on each standard along with a strategic lead from the relevant department. This partnership work has assisted the GSL in identifying gaps and opportunities for development, in particular to prioritise risk assessment and to focus resources and increase capacity in Country Offices. The Safeguarding Standards Framework continues to inform safeguarding activity at country level.

Relief International’s work in fragile settings with vulnerable project participants means safeguarding incidents are likely to occur. However, RI’s mitigating actions, framed within the Safeguarding Standards are paying dividends. In 2022, the number of safeguarding incidents decreased from the high levels recorded in 2021. The decrease in part has been attributed to embedding safeguarding practice and to the robust investigative process, leading to more accurate assessment of safeguarding incidents, appropriate reporting and firm action taken when incidents are substantiated through investigations.

The safeguarding function now sits within the newly formed Ethics and Compliance Department (E&C). The E&C Department has strengthened RI’s investigative processes and invested in training for safeguarding focal points, thus increasing the in-country capacity to conduct investigations

locally. The GSL continues to work closely with Safeguarding Focal Points in Country Offices (CO), supporting them with expert consultation and assisting capacity building. Following their 2021 Safeguarding Risk Self-Assessment exercise in 2022, CO are working on their bespoke Safeguarding Action Plans with the support of the GSL.

The Audit and Risk Committee of the RI Boards of Directors provides oversight to the E&C Department, including the Safeguarding function. The Safeguarding function also benefits from dedicated support from a Trustee with safeguarding oversight responsibility. The safeguarding culture in RI remains underpinned by the internationally recognised principle of ‘do no harm’ with a survivor led and increasingly trauma informed approach. The Safeguarding function continues to mature, and RI is firmly set on safeguarding being an integral part of how we operate throughout the organisation.

Safety and Security

The countries where RI works continue to be some of the highest safety and security risk areas in the world. In 2022, Afghanistan was under the government of the Taliban for the first full year in over 20 years. Yemen experienced a series of brief truces between armed groups that did not result in civilian safety even while the ceasefires were in effect. Syria’s ongoing conflict was amplified by the worst economic crisis in over ten years. Sudan began the year in a state of emergency following a coup, and six of our countries are rated as extreme risk of kidnap, extortion or unlawful detention. Relief International carefully manages these risks and the ongoing risks in all the countries of operation.

Safety and Security teams focus on both the risks to the organization and to the individuals on staff by carefully monitoring incident reporting, safety and security budget and expenditures, and implementation of risk mitigation measures. With improved travel opportunities after years of restriction due to COVID 19, regional and global safety and security managers performed in-country assessments and training exercises in 2022. Relief International also began a new initiative to expand the perspective of safety and security to include groups that may not always have a voice, including training and feedback sessions specific to the safety and security concerns of women. This along with the continued support of the new analyst team, Relief International looks to continue the shift from the focus of safety and security and mitigation only to proactive planning and prevention.

Fundraising

The vast majority of our funding comes from international donors, but we do have an aim to increase funding from private donations. We are registered with the Fundraising Regulator and are committed to the Code of Fundraising Practice. We ensure that all fundraising activity is compliant with the Code and monitor this regularly. We do not routinely use agencies or fundraising partners, but we do undertake checks on all new suppliers to ensure they are financially viable and meet our ethical criteria prior to working with them. We listen to our supporters and endeavour to build long term relationships with them. During 2022 we did not receive any complaints about our fundraising activity.

Statement of Trustees Responsibilities

The trustees are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and regulations. Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year in accordance with the 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 at the year end and of its incoming resources and application of resources for the year. In preparing those financial statements, the Trustees are required to:

Select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
Make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
State whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and
Prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charitable company will continue in operation.
Observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP.

The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the charitable company’s transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. The trustees are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and ensuring that assets are properly applied in accordance with charity law, hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

Each of the trustees confirms that:

So far as the trustee is aware, there is no relevant audit information of which the charitable company’s auditors are unaware; and
The trustee has taken all steps that he / she ought to have taken as a trustee in order to make himself / herself aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the charitable company’s auditors are aware of that information.

This confirmation is given and should be interpreted in accordance with the provisions of s418 of the Companies Act 2006.

The trustees are aware of the Charity Governance Code published in 2017 which sets out principles and recommended practice within the sector. The trustees are committed to maintaining high standards of governance in accordance with the principles of the code.

This Annual Report, which incorporates the Strategic Report, was approved by the Board of Trustees and signed on its behalf by:

Debra M Davis Chair of the Board of Relief International-UK Date: 29 September 2023

Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members of Relief International-UK

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Relief International-UK (‘the charitable company’) for the year ended 31 December 2022 which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities, Balance Sheet, Cash Flow Statement and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion the financial statements:

give a true and fair view of the state of the charitable company’s affairs as at 31 December 2022 and of 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.

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 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 trustee's 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 contained within the annual report. The other information comprises the information included in the annual report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report 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.

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 our audit

the information given in the trustees’ report, which includes the directors’ report and the strategic report prepared for the purposes of company law, for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and
the strategic report and the directors’ report included within the trustees’ report have been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In light of the knowledge and understanding of the charitable company and their environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the strategic report or the directors’ report included within the trustees’ 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:

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

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement set out on page 23 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.

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.

Details of the extent to which the audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations are set out below.

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.

Extent to which the audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We identified and assessed the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements from irregularities, whether due to fraud or error, and discussed these between our audit team members. We then designed and performed audit procedures responsive to those risks, including obtaining audit evidence sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory frameworks within which the charitable company operates, focusing on those laws and regulations that have a direct effect on the determination of material amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. The laws and regulations we considered in this context were the Companies Act 2006 together with the Charities SORP (FRS 102). We assessed the required compliance with these laws and regulations as part of our audit procedures on the related financial statement items.

In addition, we considered provisions of other laws and regulations that do not have a direct effect on the financial statements but compliance with which might be fundamental to the charitable company’s ability to operate or to avoid a material penalty. We also considered the opportunities and incentives that may exist within the charitable company for fraud. The laws and regulations we considered in this context for the UK operations were General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), employment legislations, taxation legislations and anti-fraud, bribery and corruption legislation. We also considered compliance with local legislation for the charity’s overseas operating segments.

Auditing standards limit the required audit procedures to identify non-compliance with these laws and regulations to enquiry of the Trustees and other management and inspection of regulatory and legal correspondence, if any.

We identified the greatest risk of material impact on the financial statements from irregularities, including fraud, to be within the timing of recognition of income and the override of controls by management. Our audit procedures to respond to these risks included enquiries of management, internal audit and the Trustees about their own identification and assessment of the risks of irregularities, sample testing on the posting of journals, reviewing accounting estimates for biases, reviewing regulatory correspondence with the Charity Commission, review of overseas office audit reports, review of donor audit reports, and reading minutes of meetings of those charged with governance.

Owing to the inherent limitations of an audit, there is an unavoidable risk that we may not have detected some material misstatements in the financial statements, even though we have properly planned and performed our audit in accordance with auditing standards. For example, the further removed non-compliance with laws and regulations (irregularities) is from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, the less likely the inherently limited procedures required by auditing standards would identify it. In addition, as with any audit, there remained a higher risk of non-detection of irregularities, as these may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal controls. We are not responsible for preventing non-compliance and cannot be expected to detect non-compliance with all laws and regulations.

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.

Jayne Rowe Senior Statutory Auditor For and on behalf of Crowe U.K. LLP Statutory Auditor

London

Date: 30[th] September 2023

Relief International - UK

Year to 31 December 2022

The statement of financial activities also complies with the requirement for an income and expenditure account under the Companies Act 2006.

The notes on pages 30 to 40 form part of those financial statements. There are no recognized gains or losses in the current or preceding year other than as shown in the statement of financial activities.

Relief International - UK

Year to 31 December 2022

Balance Sheet Notes Current assets Debtors 9 Cash at bank and in hand Stock Liabilities Creditors: amounts falling due within one year 10 Net current assets Total net assets/liabilities The funds of the charity Restricted funds 11,12 Unrestricted funds 13,14 Total charity funds	2022 2021 $ $ 13,041,487 11,030,933 573,477 1,994,363 2,021,331 1,989,184
	15,636,295 15,014,480 (13,107,168) (12,043,047)
	2,529,127 2,971,425
	2,529,127 2,971,425
	2,021,332 1,989,184 507,795 982,241
	2,529,127 2,971,425

Notes 1 to 17 form a part of these financial statements. The financial statements were approved on the authority of the Board and signed on its behalf by:

D M Davis

Chair of the Relief International UK Board of Trustees Date: 29 September 2023

Relief International - UK

Year to 31 December 2022

Company registration number 4476247

Relief International - UK

Year to 31 December 2022

Notes to the Financial Statements

Relief International-UK (RI-UK) is an international humanitarian and development non-governmental organisation (NGO) with its headquarters in London. RI-UK was incorporated as a company limited by guarantee in England and Wales on July 2, 2002 and registered as a charitable organisation with the Charity Commission on June 19, 2003. The charity is a company limited by guarantee and is an independent and non-profit making humanitarian agency that is non-discriminatory in its practices. The registered company number is 4476247 and charity number is 1098106.

The Trustees of Relief International-UK have taken due regard to the Charity Commission's guidance on public benefit.

1. Accounting policies

1.1 Basis of preparation

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102) applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland and the Charities Act 2011 and UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practice as it applies from 1 January 2015.

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention.

The financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis. It should be noted that the operations of the charity continue to be underpinned by the mutually supportive relationship with RIUS and the other organisations in the RI alliance. The Trustees have no reason to doubt that this support will continue to be available. The RI alliance continues to implement high performing programs that meet the needs of the communities we serve and that comply with donor requirements.

Going Concern

While our revenue base of many short-term (12 months or less) humanitarian grants implies that there are significant uncertainties with respect to income and cash flow, we have processes in place for monitoring and managing unfolding conditions and adjusting accordingly. Our donors remain committed to funding projects in fragile settings.

We have undertaken a scenario-planning exercise of income and planned expenditure including financial and cashflow projections to forecast how various outcomes might affect RI-UK and the Alliances’ operations in 2023-24. This exercise takes into account the risk of decreased income from various sources and the ability of RI to implement its activities across the globe. The results of the scenario planning have been used as a basis from which to formulate a model for strategic planning.

We have conducted detailed cashflow and net asset forecasts for 2023 and 2024 and are confident, based on 2022 income and current pipeline, we will not see cashflow difficulties in this time period and will experience a gradual rebuilding of unrestricted reserves. This view is supported by the improvements we have made in financial controls and Awards Management and in our establishment of a global Ethics & Compliance team which incorporates our strong global risk assurance function. These matters combined mean that we remain confident that the operational and financial risks faced by our operating teams in fragile settings are well managed.

Relief International - UK

Year to 31 December 2022

Notes to the Financial Statements

1.1 Basis of preparation (contnued)

The trustees recognise that the charity’s continuation as a going concern is underpinned by the mutually supportive relationship with RI-US and the other organisations in the RI Alliance. The organisations support each other to deliver effective programmes through the commitment of their respective human and financial resources in support of their shared mission of partnering with people in vulnerable communities to achieve relief from poverty. The trustees have no reason to doubt that this relationship will continue and are committed to furthering the collaboration between the organisations. RI-UK is consequently well placed to manage the business risks it faces.

The charity does not face material uncertainties itself but both RI-US and MRCA-RI France do face potential penalties from their respective governments into the serious incident reported late in 2020. Trustees believe that it is likely these potential liabilities can be settled out of court without materially affecting RI-UK financially.

The trustees therefore have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future being at least twelve months from the date of approval of these financial statements, and are not aware of any other material uncertainties which may adversely affect the organisation. Accordingly, the financial statements continue to be prepared on the going concern basis.

1.2 Functional currency

The functional currency of RI-UK is considered to be US Dollars because that is the currency of the primary economic environment in which the charity operates.

1.3 Incoming resources

All incoming resources are included in the statement of financial activities when the Charity is legally entitled to the income and the amount can be measured with reasonable probability. Due to the fragile nature of the areas that we work programmatic income is only recognised when the underlying expenditure has been incurred.

Donations comprise of gifts from individuals, corporations, and charitable trusts and is included in full in the statement of financial activities when receivable.

Gifts in kind are shown as incoming resources and accounted as grants in kind. The value of gifts in kind from institutional donors is pre-determined by the donor according to grant agreements, typically based on market prices for the relevant goods. An amount equal to the value of distributions to beneficiaries is included as in-kind expenditure in the statement of financial activities.

Income and expenses for donated goods, facilities and services are booked at the time of receipt using the lower of either the donor given or market value.

Relief International - UK

Year to 31 December 2022

Notes to the Financial Statements

1.3 Incoming resources (continued)

Grants receivable from government and other agencies are included as income arising from activities in furtherance of the charity's objectives where granted for specific projects and services or as donations where money is given with flexibility of use.

Where grants are received in arrears based on projects expenditure incurred, income where reasonably probable, is accrued according to the terms of the contractual funding agreement.

For grant income received in advance where the amount of income exceeds the level of expenditure for the year, the income is shown as deferred income as conditions for use of the funds have not been met at the balance sheet date.

1.4 Liabilities

Liabilities are recognised with the Charity has an obligation (legal or otherwise unavoidable) to make payment to a third party.

1.5 Resources expended and the basis of apportioning costs

Expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and comprises the following:

Expenditure on raising funds include all expenditure incurred by the charity to raise funds for its charitable activities;
Charitable expenditure includes those costs incurred by the organization to deliver activities and services to its beneficiaries worldwide. These comprise both the costs incurred at the country level overseas and those costs necessary to support these activities, such as the costs of RI-UK staff directly responsible for supporting international projects;
Support costs include the expenditure incurred for HQ office functions. Costs are shared between RI-UK and RI-US on a percentage basis that is deemed appropriate for the level of activity and resources used. This includes finance, human resources, operations and other compliance and administrative support costs.
Governance costs include those costs associated with meeting the constitutional and statutory requirements of the charity and include costs linked to the strategic management of the charity.

The majority of costs are directly attributable to specific charitable activities and staff costs are apportioned to the costs classified above on the basis of time spent. Other costs not directly attributable are allocated on the basis of budgeted apportioned costs as per contractual agreements with donors.

1.6 Tangible fixed assets and depreciation

Assets for use at RI-UK headquarters are capitalised at a value above $750 and stated at cost minus depreciation. Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write off the cost over its expected useful life:

· Plant and machinery - 25% reducing balance
· Fixtures, fittings and equipment - 25% reducing balance

Relief International - UK

Year to 31 December 2022

Notes to the Financial Statements

1.6 Tangible fixed assets and depreciation (continued)

Assets for use in overseas operational projects purchased using restricted grant funds are not capitalised but expended in the period of acquisition.

1.7 Foreign currency

Assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies are translated at the rate of exchange ruling at the balance sheet date. Transactions in foreign currencies are translated at the rate of exchange at the date of the transaction. All exchange differences are accounted for in the statement of financial activities.

1.8 Accumulated funds

Unrestricted funds comprise accumulated surpluses and deficits from general funds and include those monies which may be used towards meeting the charitable objectives of the charity and applied at the discretion of the Trustees.

1.9 Pension scheme

RI-UK operates a defined contribution scheme for its employees. Contributions to the scheme are charged to the SOFA when incurred.

1.10 Critical accounting judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty policy

In order to prepare the accounts trustees and management have made judgements and estimates. The most significant of these are:

Revenue recognition: The charity receives a range of income streams and the approach to accounting for them is covered in Note 1.3 above.
Provisions and accruals: Provisions such as bad debts, possible disallowed expenditure and accruals for expenditure require assumptions and estimation techniques. There are based on experience, knowledge of management and evidence of past experience.
Cost allocation: The allocation of support costs requires a judgement as to what the most appropriate cost drivers are to apply.
Gifts in Kind: Non cash gifts are valued at their estimated market value at the time the goods or services are received.

The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an on-going basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised if the revision affects only that period, or in the period of the revision and future periods if the revision affects the current and future periods.

In the view of the Trustees, no assumptions concerning the future or estimation uncertainty affecting assets and liabilities at the balance sheet date are likely to result in a material adjustment to their carrying amounts in the next financial year.

Relief International - UK

Year to 31 December 2022

Notes to the Financial Statements

1.11 Financial instruments

Relief International has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at the present value of future cash flows (amortised cost). Financial assets held at amortised cost comprise cash at bank and in hand, short term cash deposits and the charity's debtors excluding prepayments and accrued income. Financial liabilities held at amortised cost comprise the charity's short and long term creditors excluding deferred income and accrued expenditure. No discounting has been applied to these financial instruments on the basis that the periods over which amounts will be settled are such that any discounting would be immaterial.

Relief International - UK

Year to 31 December 2022

Notes to the Financial Statements

4. Charitable activities

Economic opportunity Education Health Multi-Sectoral WASH Other Total Staff costs Project costs Total	Project Support 2022 2021 Costs Costs Total Total $ $ $ $ 3,360,667 130,325 3,490,992 5,908,845 1,166,975 44,463 1,211,438 2,986,140 27,128,310 1,046,130 28,174,440 16,089,778 13,935,864 537,822 14,473,686 11,249,383 487,139 18,696 505,835 160,183 23,197,067 1,288,751 24,485,818 29,143,453
	69,276,022 3,066,187 72,342,209 65,537,782
	Project Support 2022 2021 Costs Costs Total Total $ $ $ $ 22,078,200 1,568,053 23,646,253 24,011,372 47,197,822 1,498,134 48,695,956 41,526,410
	69,276,022 3,066,187 72,342,209 65,537,782

Support costs are those eligible overhead expenses and governance costs required to administer project activities. These costs are allocated against the activities based on percentages of revenue generated by sector and whether the costs are directly related to the sector.

5. Trustees

None of the Trustees or any persons connected with them received any remuneration or expenses through RI-UK during the year.

Relief International - UK

Year to 31 December 2022

Notes to the Financial Statements

RI-UK collaborates closely with the other alliance members to deliver RI’s work.

The organisations do not establish separate field offices, but rather support field operations and administration in each country by contributig financial and technical assistance to emergency response, early recovery, and longer-term poverty-reduction programming across a wide range of sectors, including education, economic opportunity, health and nutrition, and water and sanitation. By combining support to one field office in each country of operation and sharing the use of key support staff and systems across the organisations, RI avoids duplication, ensures that each organisation’s costs are minimised, and is able to operate in a unified manner to effectively manage and monitor overseas activities.

Relief International - UK

Year to 31 December 2022

Notes to the Financial Statements

8. Employee and staff costs

The CEO is supported by a senior management team (SMT) who are together the Key Management Personnel (KMP) and work across key functions and are responsible for the management of staff across departments and countries of operation for RI.

The staff costs note above includes the salaries of individuals who are employed directly by RI-UK as well as a proportion of the salaries of the KMP employed by RI-US. Total remuneration paid to KMP whether through RI-UK or RI-US was $443,129 (2021 - $527,708).

These costs are not included within the staff costs note above and are included as direct project costs (see note 4).

The average number of UK employed staff was:	2022 2021
	18 17

Total RI staff worldwide for information was 2,744 in 2022 (2021: 2669)

There were 5 employees based in the UK whose annual emoluments were £60,000/$75,000 or more in 2022 (2021: 5).

Emolument
£60k - £70k/$79k - $92k	1	0
£70k - £80k/$92k - $105k	-	2
£80k - £90k/$105k - $118k	2	2
£90k - £100k/$117k - $130k	1	1

RI-UK covers the full or partial salaries of RI staff employed to work on RI-UK projects worldwide.

Relief International - UK

Year to 31 December 2022

Notes to the Financial Statements

11. Restricted funds

Economic opportunity Education Health Multi-Sectoral WASH Other	At January Income Expenditure At December 2022 2022 $ $ $ $ 281,220 3,359,167 3,368,674 271,713 - 1,167,212 1,166,975 237 179,175 27,049,370 27,119,573 108,972 78,463 13,963,417 13,901,776 140,104 411 491,675 487,139 4,947 1,449,915 23,242,510 23,197,067 1,495,358
	1,989,184 69,273,351 69,241,204 2,021,331

The programme income funds include restricted funds unexpended at the year- end held to be applied for specific purposes. This includes donation in kind of $19,780,489.

Relief International - UK

Year to 31 December 2022

Notes to the Financial Statements

12 Analysis of Prior Year Restricted funds

Economic opportunity Education Health Multi-sectoral WASH Other	At 1 January Incoming Outgoing At December 2021 Resources Resources 2021 $ $ $ $
	280,861 5,708,278 5,707,919 281,220
	- 2,870,479 2,870,479 - 131,702 15,606,702 15,559,229 179,175 87,910 10,870,151 10,879,598 78,463 411 154,907 154,907 411 (238,985) 29,854,808 28,165,908 1,449,915
	261,899 65,065,325 63,338,040 1,989,184

14 Analysis of Prior Year net assets between funds

Current assets Creditors: amounts falling due within one year Total net assets	$ $ $ $ 982,241 14,032,239 15,014,480 17,097,289 - (12,043,047) (12,043,047) (16,274,800) Unrestricted Funds Restricted Funds 2021 Funds 2020 Funds
	982,241 1,989,192 2,971,433 822,489

Relief International - UK

Year to 31 December 2022

Notes to the Financial Statements

15 2021 Statement of Financial Activities

Income and Expenditure Incoming from Donations and gifts in kind Charitable activities Total incoming resources Expenditure on Charitable activities Foreign exchange losses/(gains) Total outgoing resources Net income/movement in funds Funds balance at 1 January 2021 Funds balance at 31 December 2022	Unrestricted Funds Restricted Funds 2021 Total Funds $ $ $ - 25,975,640 25,975,640 2,673,184 39,089,685 41,762,869
	2,673,184 65,065,325 67,738,509
	2,199,742 63,338,040 65,537,782 51,791 - 51,791
	2,251,533 63,338,040 65,589,573
	421,651 1,727,285 2,148,936 560,590 261,899 822,489
	982,241 1,989,184 2,971,425

16. Related parties

RI-France, RI-UK and RI-US are related parties. They collaborate closely to deliver relief, rehabilitation and development activities by contributing financial, technical, managerial and administrative assistance to country offices across Africa, Asia and the Middle East. RI-France, RI-UK and RI-US routinely advance monies to country offices on each other's behalf to fulfil project activities in anticipation of payments from donors. The amounts advanced to country offices from one organization on behalf of the other fluctuates during the year depending on the timing of actual donor receipts. All transactions have been carried out at arm's length. At the end of 2022, the amount due from RI-US was $6,913,396 (2021: $6,221,180) and the amount due to RI-France is $245,903 (2021: $200,000).

17. Subsequent Events

In March 2023, the charity issued a guarantee on behalf of MRCA-RI France to one of MRCA-RI France’s main funders. The charity has agreed to guarantee certain obligations of MRCA-RI France with respect to advances received.

The total values of the MRCA- RI advances was $11.2 million, however the guarantee would only be called on should MCRA-RI already spend these funds and then be unable to deliver the project, or if there was a cause for any clawback of funds spent on the project and MRCA-RI France could not repay such funds.

The spend to date on the projects is not materially different to budget, and given the controls in place around project spending, the Trustees consider the risk of RI-UK being called on as guarantor in either case to be very low.

Reference and Administrative Details

Board of Trustees

Executive Officers

Chief Executive Officer Craig Redmond

Chair Debra Davis – from September 2023 (Paul Kugler Levengood to September 2023) Other Trustees Eric Achtmann (Vice Chair) – appointed September 2023 Radha Sekar (Treasurer) appointed September 2023 Dana Freyer Beverly Morris Armstrong Daniel Bader Stéphane Crescitz Ellen Frost – resigned May 2023 John Gage Julia Guth Steven Hansch Edwin Davisson Hardman, Jr. Faisel Khan Annie Kim Paul Kugler Levengood Philippe Oberlin

Other Officers

Chief Financial Officer Martin Clemmey Chief Program Officer Jody Yasinowsky – to November 2022 Najia Hyder – from April 2023 Sanjni Shah - from September 2022 Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer Scott Avelino – to May 2022 Katrina Campbell – from September 2022 Chief of Staff Andrea Gosselin Regional Director Middle East Valerie Rowles Regional Director Asia / Africa Mark Atterton VP Global Security Raymond Bonniwell – to August 2023 General Counsel Lara Kalwinski – to November 2022 Delenia McIver – from June 2023

Registered Details

Charity Number 1098106 Company Number 4476247 Registered Office 35 - 41 Lower Marsh London SE1 7RL, UK

Auditors

Crowe UK LLP 55 Ludgate Hill London EC4M 7JW, UK

Bankers

Solicitors

Bates Wells 10 Queen Street Place London EC4R 1BE, UK

Barclays Corporate Level 27, 1 Churchill Place London E14 5HP, UK

Relief International-UK

Annual Report and Financial Statements

12 months to 31 December 2022

Company Limited by Guarantee

Relief International-UK

Annual Report and Financial Statements

Contents

Letter from the Chair and CEO

Letter from the Chair and CEO

Relief International - UK, a founding member of the Relief International Alliance, delivers vital services for communities facing crisis across the globe, and this Trustees’ Report serves as a clear reminder of the importance, and urgency, of the work undertaken in 2022.

Debra M Davis

Objectives and Activities

Our Purpose

The challenges facing fragile communities

Our Vision

Our Mission

Our Impact Objectives

RI-UK Activities

Our Values

Integrity

Adaptability

Collaboration

Inclusivity

Sustainability

Strategic Report

Achievements and Performance

Our work in the Field

Quality Healthcare support in Lebanon to Syrian refugees and vulnerable Lebanese

Integrated approach to programming in Syria

Plans for the Future

Financial review

Income

Expenditure

Balance Sheet and Cashflow

Reserves Policy

Going Concern

Structure, governance, and management

Board of Trustees and Organisational Structure

Trustee induction

Trustee Attendance in 2022

Trustee interests

Principal Risks and Uncertainties

Public Benefit

Policies

Grants

People

Retention and Turnover

UK Staff

Remuneration

Diversity

Learning and Development

Staff Wellbeing

Future development

Safeguarding

Safety and Security

Fundraising

Statement of Trustees Responsibilities

Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members of Relief International-UK

Opinion

Basis for opinion

Conclusions relating to going concern

Other information

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

Responsibilities of trustees

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

Extent to which the audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud

Use of our report

D M Davis

Company registration number 4476247

Notes to the Financial Statements

1. Accounting policies

1.1 Basis of preparation

Notes to the Financial Statements

1.1 Basis of preparation (contnued)

1.2 Functional currency

1.3 Incoming resources

Notes to the Financial Statements

1.3 Incoming resources (continued)