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← UK Biobank Limited

2024-09-30-accounts

UK Biobank Limited (Limited by Guarantee)

Report and Financial Statements 30 September 2024

Company Registration number 04978912 Registered Charity in England and Wales number 1101332 Registered Charity in Scotland number SC039230

Contents

3 UK Biobank at a glance

4 Foreword from Professor Sir Rory Collins

6 UK Biobank highlights of the year

9 Legal and administrative information

40 Cash flow statement

41 Notes to the financial statements

UK Biobank at a glance

500,000 16 participants million donated a combined biological samples

and over 30 petabytes of imaging and health data, equivalent to 30 billion books

More than

19,000 researchers worldwide use our data

More than

13,000

peer-reviewed papers were published using our data

Nearly 45,000 mentions in the media

An advisory group made of

18

participants will guide our future activities

Our data and practices influenced

500 policy documents and clinical trials

Over

90,000 participants to date have had their brains and bodies scanned as part of our imaging study. We aim to achieve 100,000 in the next year.

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4
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Foreword from Professor Sir Rory Collins Principal Investigator & CEO, UK Biobank

2024 was an exciting year for UK Biobank. We received a generous donation of more than £16 million from two philanthropists, Eric Schmidt, former CEO and Chairman of Google, and Citadel CEO Ken Griffin, as well as around £8 million worth of cloud computing storage from Amazon Web Services. Both contributions were matched by the UK government. The funding allowed us to grow our core scientific team by 60%, which is allowing us to plan and start piloting the Brain Health Study.

~~“~~

For the first time, we are inviting participants with neurological conditions to take part in a study.

Tens of thousands of people in the UK, and millions worldwide, never get a formal or specific diagnosis for conditions such as dementia, which means they don’t get tailored care or support – the Brain Health Study aims to tackle that. For the first time, we are specifically inviting participants with neurological conditions – including Alzheimer’s disease, dementia and Parkinson’s disease – to take part in a study. The brain scans, blood samples and cognitive test data they will donate will fill a major gap in our understanding of brain health conditions: how to identify each disease accurately and early.

We are also excited for the steps we have taken towards securing access to our participants’ coded primary care data. In England, these data are managed by thousands of individual GP practices, which has long left us unable to collect them on a large scale. Our continued effort to engage with GPs and policymakers has contributed to a government directive that will place the responsibility for these data into the hands of NHS England. This will allow us to apply for our participants’ de-identified data. It’s a step forward for UK Biobank and we look forward to working with NHS England to put this data in the hands of researchers as quickly as possible. Once NHS England make the data available, it will transform the research potential of our database overnight particularly when it comes to diabetes, dementia, mental ill-health and other conditions that are largely managed in primary care.

Our existing projects are still going strong. We are closing in on our goal to collect brain and body scans from 100,000 of our participants, with more than 91,000 having attended their imaging visits. At the same time, we continue to invite participants who already had their first scans for a second scan. Collecting these images will give researchers unprecedented insight into how our bodies change over time. Almost 8,000 participants – out of our goal of 60,000 – have already attended this repeat imaging.

None of this would have been possible without the generous support of our funders. Eric Schmidt, former CEO and Chairman of Google, and Citadel CEO Ken Griffin donated more than £16 million, while Amazon Web Services provided around £8 million worth of cloud computing storage. Both contributions, which were matched by the government, were key to growing our core scientific team by 60%.

We couldn’t achieve any of this without our participants. I am extremely grateful for their continual efforts that are making UK Biobank the unparalleled health resource that it is today – and will continue to be generations from now.

Professor Sir Rory Collins

UK Biobank highlights of the year

Brain Health Study launched

We launched a first-of-its-kind project that will collect brain scans and health data from participants with dementia by 2029. This is the first time we will specifically invite participants with particular conditions, and the first time we will also invite their chosen study partner or carer. The information we collect will allow researchers to better identify disease subtypes or uncover new ones – something that is currently difficult to impossible. Eventually, this could lead to earlier, more accurate diagnoses and more effective, tailored care for people living with neurodegenerative conditions.

~~“~~

UK Biobank is revolutionising our understanding and treatment of disease.

I am honoured to support this groundbreaking initiative to advance scientific discoveries, improve public health and save lives.

Ken Griffin, Citadel Founder and CEO

Funding unlocked

Eric Schmidt, former CEO and Chairman of Google, and Citadel CEO Ken Griffin donated more than £16 million, while Amazon Web Services provided around £8 million worth of cloud computing storage. Both contributions were matched by the government. The donations were key to growing our core scientific team by 60%.

Democratic access

We created an industry-sponsored fund that gives researchers from less wealthy countries free access to our data as well as to our high-powered computing data analysis platform. This has increased the number of data access applications from researchers in these regions 3.5-fold.

Strides towards GP data

We made great progress in securing access to our participants’ primary care data – coded data about health conditions that GPs record. This data contains vital information about conditions such as diabetes and dementia, which are largely

~~“~~

My family has generational cardiac disease and this link to my GP records would be invaluable for preventing and better understanding future cardiac disease through the generations.

managed by GPs. We could already access GP data in Scotland and Wales, where it is centrally collected. But we have not been able to access this data on a large scale in England, where it is held by thousands of individual GP practices. The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care announced that NHS England will take responsibility for providing primary care data to consented studies such as UK Biobank. This will allow us to apply for our participants’ de-identified data.

Sean, UK Biobank participant

Participant input

The 18 participants that make up our new Participant Advisory Group will guide our work with their perspectives and lived experience. The group has already helped us to draft several media statements, develop a business plan and consider requests for access to our data.

Secure data access

In 2021, we launched a cloud-based system for researchers to access, store and analyse our data without the need to download them. This Research Analysis Platform (RAP) is a secure way

~~“~~

I want Biobank to go from strength to strength. From what I have seen over these few months it is well set up to do so – with the input and support of participants.

Participant Advisory Group member

to manage our increasingly complex and large datasets. It also democratises data access to researchers who do not have access to large local computing services. During the year, we announced the RAP would be the default way for researchers to access the data going forwards. We have introduced new guidance and training to new users, and are working with communities to ensure the RAP offers what researchers need. More than 8,000 scientists are now using the RAP.

New building ahead

During the year, final approvals were secured for the funding of our new headquarters, which are due to open in 2026. The cutting-edge building in the Manchester Science Park will include a latest-generation robotic freezer that stores and retrieves our participants’ 20 million biological samples four times faster than before. The facility will be 100% electric and net zero carbon in construction and operation in its shared spaces – one of the first lab spaces in the UK to be so.

~~“~~

You can’t not be inspired and totally energised.

Peter Kyle Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, during a visit to UK Biobank.

UK Biobank Limited 9 Report and financial statements

LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

REGISTRATIONS

Registered Charity in England and Wales number 1101332 Registered Charity in Scotland number SC039230 Registered Company number 04978912

REGISTERED OFFICE

1-2 Spectrum Way, Adswood, Stockport, Cheshire SK3 0SA

DIRECTORS AND TRUSTEES

Professor the Lord Kakkar - Chair Professor Martin Bobrow - Vice Chair (resigned 7 December 2023) Dominic Dodd Professor Sir Michael Ferguson Doug Gurr Tariq Khokhar Professor Anneke Lucassen Professor Sir Alex Markham Dr Joe McNamara (resigned 26 March 2024) Nicola Perrin Dame Nancy Rothwell Bernard Taylor (appointed 1 January 2024) Professor Dame Clare Gerada (appointed 1 January 2024) Dr Claire Newland (appointed 1 May 2024) Professor Melinda Mills (appointed 1 June 2024)

EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT TEAM

Professor Sir Rory Collins - Chief Executive and Principal Investigator Professor Naomi Allen - Chief Scientist John Busby - Chief Operating Officer Dr Mark Effingham - Deputy Chief Executive Officer Gareth Gregory - Chief Finance Officer Mahesh Pancholi - Chief Information Officer (to 12 May 2024) Jonathan Sellors - General Counsel and Company Secretary Dr Simon Sheard - Operations Director (to 16 July 2024) Dr Alan Young - Systems Architect Dr Edward Sykes – Director of Communication Caroline Munday – Interim Director of People and Organisational Development (to 8 January 2024)

BANKERS

HSBC Bank plc, 4 Hardman Square, 2[nd] Floor, Spinningfields, Manchester, M3 3EB Barclays Bank plc, 38 Market Street, Crewe, CW1 2ET Lloyds Bank plc, 8th Floor, 40 Spring Gardens, Manchester, M2 1EN

INDEPENDENT AUDIT O R

BDO LLP, Central Square, 29 Wellington Street, Leeds, LS1 4DL

SOLICITORS

Eversheds Sutherlands LLP, Two New Bailey, 6 Stanley Street, Salford, M3 5GX

UK Biobank Limited 10 Report and financial statements

TRUSTEES’ REPORT (INCORPORATING STRATEGIC REPORT AND DIRECTORS’ REPORT)

1. INTRODUCTION

The Directors present the Trustees annual report and financial statements, including the Strategic Report and Directors’ Report for UK Biobank Limited (“UK Biobank”), for the year ended 30 September 2024, which are prepared to meet requirements of a director’s report and financial statements for Companies Act purposes.

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Charities Act 2011; the Companies Act 2006; and the Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland FRS 102 (the “SORP”).

2. OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

About UK Biobank

UK Biobank is a large-scale biomedical database and research resource containing anonymised genetic, lifestyle and health information from half a million UK participants.

UK Biobank’s database, which includes blood samples, heart and brain scans and genetic data of the volunteer participants, is globally accessible to approved researchers who are undertaking health-related research that is in the public interest.

UK Biobank recruited 500,000 people aged between 40-69 years in 2006-2010 from across the UK. With their consent, they provided detailed information about their lifestyle, physical measures and had blood, urine and saliva samples collected and stored for future analysis.

UK Biobank’s research resource is a major contributor in the advancement of modern medicine and treatment, enabling better understanding of the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of a wide range of serious and life-threatening illnesses – including cancer, heart diseases and stroke.

UK Biobank is generously supported by its founding funders the UK Medical Research Council (“MRC”) and Wellcome, as well as the British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, the National Institute of Health Research (“NIHR”), UK Research and Innovation (“UKRI”). The organisation has over 280 dedicated members of staff, based in multiple locations across the UK.

Charitable Objectives

UK Biobank’s main objects, as set out in UK Biobank’s Memorandum of Association, are to protect, preserve and advance the health and welfare of human beings and to advance and promote knowledge and education.

Public benefit

UK Biobank’s principal objective is to establish and promote a resource for research with the aim of improving the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of illness and promoting health throughout society for public benefit. The Charities Act 2011 requires that all charities meet the legal requirement that its aims are for the public benefit. The Directors have considered the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit and have complied with the duty in section 17 of the Charities Act 2011.

Activities

UK Biobank undertakes ‘core’ activities (met primarily by unrestricted funds) to provide access to existing samples and data for health-related research, and ‘enhancement’ activities (met by restricted funding) to further enhance the data and samples it holds.

Core activities to provide access to UK Biobank data and samples

‘Core’ activities have enabled the recruitment of participants, the secure management of the consented data relating to these participants, the linkage of the resource to participant healthcare records and the opening of the resource to the research community for the purposes of health research.

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TRUSTEES’ REPORT (INCORPORATING STRATEGIC REPORT AND DIRECTORS’ REPORT)

Access to UK Biobank data and samples

UK Biobank is a large-scale biomedical database and research resource, containing in-depth genetic and health information from half a million UK participants. The resource was opened for research use in April 2012, and we have over 19,000 active researchers from 90+ countries using the data. This has generated over 13,000 publications.

The database is regularly augmented with additional data and is globally accessible to approved researchers undertaking vital research into the most common and life-threatening diseases. It is a major contributor to the advancement of modern medicine and treatment and has enabled several scientific discoveries that improve human health.

UK Biobank’s access protocols are designed to ensure that data are released only to bona fide researchers for health-related research in the public interest. All participant data released to approved researchers are provided on a de-identified basis and, in addition, researchers are contractually prohibited under UK Biobank’s material transfer agreement from attempting to re-identify participants. In addition, a Sample Access Policy is in place which governs the provision of participant samples to researchers and is available on our website.

UK Biobank’s Material Transfer Agreement (MTA) has underlying arrangements, namely that researchers are obliged to publish their findings and return their results to UK Biobank.

In July 2024, we announced a decision to migrate away from the data-download model that has been used since the UK Biobank data were first made available to researchers in 2012. The Research Analysis Platform will now be the default way to access new data, and refreshes of existing data.

Projects to enhance UK Biobank data

UK Biobank undertakes a number of enhancement projects financed by restricted funding. This enables additional high value assays and assessments to be undertaken, which provide further data on UK Biobank’s participants for health-related research.

Project Description
Status
Genetic
Analysis		 Genetic analysis on samples from all 500,000
participants.
Completed in 2017.
Data available in the resource.
Biomarker
Analysis		 Biomarker Analysis on samples from all 500,000
participants.
Completed during 2018.
Data available in the resource.
Imaging Pilot study of the feasibility of performing a large-scale
imaging study at Stockport facility.
Pilot completed successfully in 2015.
Establish two further imaging centres in Newcastle and
Reading to extend study to 100,000 participants and
undertake repeat assessments and biological samples.
Following conclusion of the COVID repeat
imaging study in late 2021, and the expiry
of the lease of the Bristol site to the NHS in

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TRUSTEES’ REPORT (INCORPORATING STRATEGIC REPORT AND DIRECTORS’ REPORT)

Project Description
Status
Accelerating the imaging study by opening a fourth
assessment centre in Bristol.
March 2022, all four sites are now open
and scanning participants.
In October 2022, the 60,000thparticipant
was scanned.
Repeat imaging of up to 10,000 of the participants.
Repeat imaging of 60,000 of the participants
This study commenced in January 2023 at
the Newcastle centre, with other centres
following as they complete base line
imaging.
Eye measures and additional sample
This study will run alongside the Repeat
imaging of 60,000 of the participants
Whole Genome
Sequencing		 Vanguard Whole Genome Sequencing study of 50,000
participant samples.
The remainder of the cohort is undergoing Whole
Genome Sequencing as a sample access application, as
set out in section 2 below.
Completed during 2020.
Data available in the resource.
Vanguard Informatics for the processing and storage of
the data generated from the vanguard Whole Genome
Sequencing study.
Completed during 2020.
Research
Analysis
Platform		 Establish a Research Analysis Platform with storage
capacity and analytical capacity for Whole Genome
Sequence Data, and all of the other UK Biobank data,
for all 500,000 participants
The Research Analysis Platform became
available
to
all
researchers
from
September 2021.
Seroprevalence Assess the extent of past infection with SARS-CoV-2
(coronavirus)
infection
and
measure
antibody
persistence over time, in a study of 20,000 UK Biobank
participants and their adult children and grandchildren
(aged over 18).
Completed during 2020 with an additional
sample collected in late 2021.
Data available in the resource.
Ethics Advisory Development of a new ethics advisory service for UK
Biobank.
Commenced in November 2020 and
expected to run for five years.
COVID-19 Assay Sample collections and assay in support of the UK
Biobank COVID-19 Repeat Imaging Study.
Completed in 2021

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TRUSTEES’ REPORT (INCORPORATING STRATEGIC REPORT AND DIRECTORS’ REPORT)

3. STRATEGIC REPORT

3.1. ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE

3.1.1. Contribution to research

Impact of UK Biobank on research

The combination of the breadth and depth of data held on the 500,000 participants within UK Biobank is unparalleled and presents one of the most powerful medical research resources in the world. As a result of access to UK Biobank data, there are 13,192 publications with a publication date before 30 September 2024.

Research publications using UK Biobank

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4500 15000
3600 12000
2700 9000
1800 6000
900 3000
0 0
Publications per year Cumulative
Publications per year
Cumulative publications
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Figure 1 shows annual and cumulative research publications using UK Biobank resource

The resource has also supported 1,465 patent filings (grouped into 570 families) from academic and commercial research users for novel methods, imaging, and therapeutics globally. UK Biobank’s impact continues to grow significantly, and these figures provide quantitative evidence of the research it enables, much of which would not otherwise be possible.

Research Data Access applications

Nearly all researcher applications are for data held within the UK Biobank data resource (there are also a small number of sample access applications, described further on page 11 of this report). Since UK Biobank opened its resource for researchers in April 2012, the number of applications for data has increased, particularly with the release of the genotyping data (2017), whole exome and genome sequencing data (2019-2023) and proteomic data (2023). During this financial year, these numbers have increased to a total of 5,774 approved applications to use UK Biobank data, of which over 3,700 research projects are currently underway. UK Biobank now has over 19,400 active researchers globally. Further, due to the recent launch of the Global Researcher Access Fund (which aims to reduce the financial barriers that have previously prevented researchers from less wealthy countries accessing UK Biobank), more researchers from across the world are now able to use our data. This new fund has led to a more than 3-fold increase in the number of data access applications from researchers in lower-income countries in the last 12 months.

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TRUSTEES’ REPORT (INCORPORATING STRATEGIC REPORT AND DIRECTORS’ REPORT)

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UK Biobank approved access applications
1800 6000
1200 4000
600 2000
0 0
Year Cumulative
Approved applications per year Cumulative approved applications
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Figure 2 shows the annual approved access applications

Note figures for the 2020/21 year incorporate a 2-month closure of Access following the introduction of the new Access fee structure.

Research Sample Access applications

The criteria for accessing UK Biobank’s samples are more stringent, because of their depletable nature. UK Biobank has a sample release policy, which sets out an explicit set of requirements that any proposed sample assay needs to meet, which are set out on UK Biobank’s website.

As of 30 September 2024, 22 sample access applications have been completed or are underway (9 from academia; 13 from industry). These applications seek to access samples (blood, saliva, urine, DNA, etc.) held by the resource with the purpose of performing research assays. Data created by these research assays are returned to UK Biobank for provision to the wider research community via UK Biobank’s research data access procedures.

During the financial year, the following significant research sample access projects were ongoing:

Project Description Progress made during the year
Metabolomics Nightingale Health
has		 Sample analysis for phase 1, which included 120,000
performed an NMR- samples, was completed in April 2020. In March 2021, these
metabolomics assay (of ~220 data were made available in the resource.
lipids and other circulating
metabolites) for all 500,000 Sample supply for phase 2 of the project (an additional
participant samples in the UK 180,000 samples) commenced in December 2019, with
Biobank cohort. downstream processing being completed during 2022. The
extended timeframe of this phase being due to a temporary
pause in sample supply for the project during the COVID-19
pandemic.
Linkage of phase 2 was provided to Nightingale Health in
September 2022, with these data made available to the
wider research community in July 2023.
Sample supply for phase 3 of the project (the remaining
200,000 participants) commenced in August 2022 and was
completed in September 2023. Linkage to the wider
phenotypic dataset was requested in January 2024, with
general release of these data scheduled for quarter 4 of
2024.

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TRUSTEES’ REPORT (INCORPORATING STRATEGIC REPORT AND DIRECTORS’ REPORT)

Project Description Progress made during the year
Whole Genome Whole Genome Sequencing of Sample supply the project was completed by close of 2021
Sequencing the
remaining
450,000		 with over 441,000 samples having been supplied by UK
participant samples over the Biobank under the main phase of the project (in addition to
course of three years is being the 50,000 samples sequenced under the Vanguard
conducted by the Wellcome programme which were publicly released in November
Sanger Institute and deCODE 2021).
genetics
on
behalf
of
a
Consortium of industry parties Data for the remaining participants was made available via
comprising
of
Amgen
Inc,		 the UK Biobank Research Analysis Platform in November
AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, 2023, following earlier release of data on an initial 200,000
and Johnson & Johnson. participants in November 2021.
Multiplex Multiplex proteomic profiling Olink Explore assay data which provides normalised
Proteomic capturing 3,000 markers in expression measures for 1,500 proteins was made available
Profiling 62,000 UK Biobank participants. to the wider research community in March 2023 with data
for the expansion panel to 3,000 markers released in
The assay is being performed by October 2023.
Olink Proteomics on behalf of a
consortium of industry parties Discussions are underway to explore building upon this study
comprising
of
Amgen
Inc,		 by measuring the relative concentrations of ~5,400 proteins
AstraZeneca, Biogen, Bristol across EDTA plasma samples in the whole UK Biobank cohort
Myers
Squibb,
Calico,		 using a next-generation version of the antibody-based Olink
Genentech,
GlaxoSmithKline,		 technology (Olink Explore HT).
Janssen, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer,
Regeneron,and Takeda. .
Mass Proteomic analysis of 50,000 Following a successful 1,500 sample pilot in May 2024, the
Spectrometry participant samples using Data- first batch of main phase samples (~24,000) were shipped
Proteomics Independent Acquisition (DIA) mid-September with remaining samples to be supplied
Mass Spectrometry by Eliptica during quarter 4 of 2024.
Ltd
Analysis is scheduled to be completed by late quarter 1 2025,
with general release of these data to follow in quarter 1 of
2026.
Single-Cell RNA This
project
seeks
to		 Sample supply activities for the project were completed in
(scRNA) characterise gene expression February 2023, with 5,098 participant samples supplied for
Sequencing phenotypes using single-cell downstream single-cell RNA profiling and haematology
RNA profiling of peripheral analysis.
blood
mononuclear
cells
(“PBMC”) within participants Sample analysis work is now complete for the project and
attending UK Biobank imaging following a period of extensive quality control and data
centres. review, a request for linkage is expected during quarter 4,
2024 with general release of these data to approved
The project is being undertaken researchers scheduled for quarter 3, 2025.
by
researchers
from
the
Wellcome Sanger Institute with
5,000
participants
being
sequenced during this initial
pilotphase.

All the data resulting from the above sample access projects will be returned to UK Biobank for distribution to medical researchers under UK Biobank’s access protocols after an agreed exclusivity period for research on the assay data combined with other UK Biobank data. The UK Biobank Access Sub-Committee has determined that a standard period of nine months will apply for all research sample access and enhancement applications that request an exclusivity period. These data will constitute significant enhancements to the UK Biobank data resource.

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TRUSTEES’ REPORT (INCORPORATING STRATEGIC REPORT AND DIRECTORS’ REPORT)

3.1.2. Linkages to healthcare records

Hospital, cancer, and death records

UK Biobank now has complete participant coverage in respect of hospital admission data, death, and cancer records. These linked records provide data on health conditions and operations/procedures of the participants, both retrospectively (i.e. before recruitment) and prospectively (i.e. after recruitment). These data are updated on an approximately annual basis and made available (on a de-identified basis) to researchers as part of UK Biobank data resource.

During 2023, the upload of new datasets was paused owing to the need to change existing processing pipelines that incorporate these datasets into the resource. The exception to this was a dataset that included information on COVID-19 vaccinations (for England), that is now available for research use. The emergency legislation that enabled UK Biobank to make primary care data available for COVID-19 research purposes expired in June 2022 and this data is no longer accessible for new research projects. More than 300 peer-reviewed papers have now been published that have used the linked healthcare records data, including the primary care data, for COVID-19 research.

Progress is being made on identifying new processing pipelines for the linked healthcare records, with pilot studies being undertaken in Q3 2024. In the meantime, UK Biobank is pursuing the necessary regulatory approvals to obtain linkage to new datasets (e.g., cancer treatment data, clinical audits, and prescription data).

Primary healthcare records for general research

Research access to primary care health records for participants living in England remains a challenging process, with very few GP practices opting to approve the release of de-identified data of their consented patients to UK Biobank. The primary care data (for the other 50,000 participants in Scotland and Wales) can already be obtained in both jurisdictions where mechanisms are already in place to obtain them centrally.

NHS England (NHSE) has developed the following approach to address this issue:

This approach would have the advantages (for both the GP practices and UK Biobank) that:

In line with this approach, in October 2024, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care announced that NHS England will take responsibility for providing primary care data to consented studies such as UK Biobank.

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TRUSTEES’ REPORT (INCORPORATING STRATEGIC REPORT AND DIRECTORS’ REPORT)

Participant withdrawal

UK Biobank’s success relies upon the continued support of its participants. Were large numbers to withdraw, there would be a significant impact on the breadth of UK Biobank data resource, and therefore its likely impact on medical research opportunities.

During the year, 466 participants chose to withdraw from the project (2023: 51 withdrawals) bringing the total to date to 1,681 (2023: 1,215), only 0.3% of the participants. UK Biobank remains incredibly grateful for the continued altruistic support provided by its dedicated participants.

3.1.3. Enhancement projects

Research Analysis Platform (“RAP”)

In September 2021, UK Biobank introduced an informatics platform that allows researchers to access, store and analyse our data without the need to download them. The RAP:

Development of the RAP was funded by £20m from Wellcome. Amazon Web Services (AWS) provides cloud infrastructure through their London AWS node and is contributing up to $500,000 of research credits each year for use by early career researchers and those from lower-income countries.

We provided researchers with RAP training via workshops and webinars, and additional tools and functionality have been added to the RAP to increase its usability. The number of RAP users has grown from around 5,000 in September 2023 to more than 8,000 in September 2024.

In July 2024, UK Biobank announced that the RAP would be the default way to access new data and refresh existing data going forwards. This policy change was the result of a decision by the UKB Board, which was strongly supported by the MRC and Wellcome.

The RAP will now be the default way to access updated or new data and will be available to researchers after completing introductory training courses. Researchers may continue to conduct analyses of all data that they have already downloaded until the end of their current approved project with all updates deferred until Q4 2024 at the earliest. For researchers who cannot undertake their research on the RAP (e.g. owing to a lack of functionality and software tools), exemptions can be granted by the Access Committee. UK Biobank is also engaging with researchers to address concerns and continues to enhance RAP functionality based on community feedback. An additional £10 million has been provided by Wellcome to enhance the platform’s capabilities, support researchers and assist with preparations for the re-procurement of the platform over the next two years.

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TRUSTEES’ REPORT (INCORPORATING STRATEGIC REPORT AND DIRECTORS’ REPORT)

Imaging

UK Biobank’s imaging programme continues to make good progress. In the last 12 months we have continued to operate at full capacity, consistently averaging over 5,000 participant appointments per quarter across the 4 sites. Our Newcastle and Cheadle sites have surpassed their targets for initial imaging and are now progressing with reimaging those participants. With over 91,000 initial participants imaged, Reading and Bristol are fast closing in on their initial targets and we expect them to begin to commence repeat imaging appointments in Summer 2025.

The repeat imaging study, which aims to image 60,000 of these participants for a second time, has imaged over 7,800 participants, with almost 2,000 more having booked an appointment to attend in the coming months.

Brain Health Study

We know from the linked healthcare records that many patients diagnosed with dementia do not have a subtype classification (i.e., it is unknown whether the patient has Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia or another subtype). To enable research into the determinants of subtypes of dementias and other neurodegenerative disease, UK Biobank plans to pilot a study to invite participants with self-reported cognitive impairment, dementia or Parkinson’s disease to attend a short clinic assessment to have a brain MRI scan, blood test and cognitive function testing. The pilot study is expected to take place in one of UK Biobank’s imaging centres in Q2 2025 to determine whether the study is technically feasible, economically viable, and operationally achievable within the given constraints and objectives.

Ethics Advisory

Wellcome and UKRI-MRC awarded funding to UK Biobank of £0.4m for “Developing a new ethics advisory service for UK Biobank”. This work commenced in November 2020 and is conducted through the Ethics Advisory Committee and a research fellow based at University of Oxford who works under the supervision of Professor Anneke Lucassen (a trustee and former Chair of the Ethics Advisory Committee).

3.1.4. Infrastructure project

After nearly 20 years of use, UK Biobank’s automated low temperature sample archive has reached the end of its life and requires replacement. In December 2023, the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology approved a full business case to provide £127.6m of funding to UK Biobank over 10 years to replace the sample archive, enable UK Biobank to relocate from its current coordinating centre in Stockport to a new purpose-built facility on the Manchester Science Park, and support to further enhance our data asset.

During the year, UK Biobank completed the procurement of the automated sample archive, awarding the contract to Hamilton Storage and agreed a lease for the new premises with Manchester Science Partnerships, with initial milestone payments made following completion of contracting. Construction of the new site has commenced and remains on track for completion in mid-2026.

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TRUSTEES’ REPORT (INCORPORATING STRATEGIC REPORT AND DIRECTORS’ REPORT)

3.2. FINANCE REVIEW

The Statement of Financial Activities (“SOFA”) and Balance Sheet, together with notes to the Accounts set out on pages 41-64, show the overall financial performance of the Charity, and provide an analysis of the income and how it has been applied to the Charity’s objectives.

Income and expenditure highlights:

----- Start of picture text -----
2024 £76.3m
2023 £34.5m
2024 £37.7m
2023 £32.1m
Total Income
Pension Credit
Total Expenditure Before
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Income

Total income for the year was £76.3m, an uplift of 121%, compared with the prior year of £34.5m.

There were two main drivers for the increase. We recognised £14.9m (2023: £nil) of philanthropic funds. Thanks to investment from our philanthropic consortium funders (former CEO and Chair of Google Eric Schmidt and Citadel CEO Ken Griffin), matched by the Department for Science Innovation and Technology “DSIT”. Additionally, we received a substantial initial tranche of funding for the infrastructure project of £33.7m (2023: £4.2m). In addition to our grant funding above, UK Biobank received income from fees to access our data and samples.

Total income earned from Access fees was £6.9 m (2023: £4.7m), comprising of Sample Access Fees of £0.9 m (2023: £0.9m) and Data Access Fees £6.0m (2023: £3.8m). Data Access fee income is recognised over the period of access.

UK Biobank received £1.0m worth of donated services during the year (2023: £nil).

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Total income comprises of the following:

tal income comprises of the following:
2024 2023
£m £m
Philanthropic Funding 14.9 -
Infrastructure Project Funding 33.7 4.2
Core Funding 7.7 7.9
Enhancement Project Funding 10.4 17.3
Investments Income 1.7 0.4
Access Fees 6.9 4.7
**Donations and other ** 1.0
-
Total 76.3 34.5

----- Start of picture text -----
2024 - Income Utilisation
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----- Start of picture text -----
Other £2.4m
Funds Designated for
UK Biobank Future
Development £8.6m
Other Contractual
payments for new
infrastructure £12.1m
Charitable
expenditure(before
pension credit)
£37.7m
Purchase of Fixed
assets £15.5m
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Expenditure:

Expenditure (excluding the impact of pension deficit release) has increased by 17% as the charity’s enhancement project activities have expanded, and key milestone costs were expended on the infrastructure project. To support this wider set of activities, UK Biobank’s headcount grew during the year, leading to an increase in the costs of wages and salaries (see note 8)

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2024
£m		 2023
£m
Total expenditure excluding pension release 37.7 32.1
Pension deficit release (7.1) -
Net expenditure per Statement of Financial Activities 30.6 32.1

Reserves:

UK Biobank’s principal funding source is from committed grants, drawn down from its funders as required, in line with budgets reviewed by the UK Biobank Board. This has to date provided a stable funding basis, and also precluded the ability to hold significant reserves. As use of UK Biobank’s data and opportunities to further enhance it grow, it is appropriate to reassess this approach, with a number of steps taken during the year to improve UK Biobank’s financial resilience.

In light of increasing levels of ‘earned income’ and the increasing scale and complexity of the organisation, during the year, the Trustees also agreed a new reserves policy (see page 23) that sets a target of £5 million of free reserves.

As at 30 September 2024, UK Biobank’s free reserves stood at £5.9m, as set out in the table below :

at 30 September 2024, UK Biobank’s free reserves stood at £5.9m, as set out in the table below_:_
£m £m
48.6
Total reserves
Less:
Restricted funds
30.0
Designated fund – UK Biobank core development reserve
8.2
Designated fund - capital replacement reserve
1.8
Fixed assets relating to unrestricted funds
2.7		 (42.7)

5.9
Free reserves

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Included within unrestricted funds (but excluded from the calculation of free reserves) are the following Designated funds:

• the ‘UK Biobank Development Reserve’, which includes contributions received from UK Biobank’s Philanthropic Funding Consortium to be spent over the five-year period ended 1 October 2029 on activities to further develop UK Biobank.

The calculation of free reserves also excludes restricted funds (which can only be used on specific expenditure), and unrestricted fixed assets (which cannot be readily realised).

Going concern

The financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis, which the Directors consider to be appropriate for the following reasons.

UK Biobank has committed core funding of £52.0m place to cover its core operations until 30 June 2029. The provision of funding beyond 30 June 2027 is subject to a quinquennial review. UK Biobank recognised £7.7m of core funding in 2023-24.

UK Biobank has undertaken an assessment (on a reasonable worst case scenario basis) of its cashflow over the period to 30 September 2026. This analysis shows that under a reasonable worst-case scenario, UK Biobank will nonetheless have sufficient funds to continue to operate for a period not less than 12 months from the date these accounts were signed.

Beyond core funding, UK Biobank also benefits from Access income, with income in this financial year as set out below:

Additionally, UK Biobank continues to benefit from funding contributions committed through the philanthropic consortium. These funds are enabling UK Biobank to fulfil its potential and can be applied flexibly to its priorities over the next four years.

The Directors have a reasonable expectation that sufficient funding will be available to enable UK Biobank to continue to operate for the foreseeable future, and therefore, the financial statements are prepared under the going concern basis

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Reserves policy

During the financial year, UK Biobank adopted a new reserves policy, as detailed below.

Definition of reserves

UK Biobank defines its reserves as its underlying free reserves, which are the value of net current assets, less the following adjustments:

We exclude from these calculations any asset or liability arising from UK Biobank’s membership of its pension scheme, given that a pension asset cannot be readily realised, and a pension liability would be settled over time from future contributions (other than in the unlikely event UK Biobank ceases to be a member of the scheme).

Free Reserves target

The trustees have considered the information contained in Charity Commission guidance note CC19, ‘Charity Reserves: Building Resilience’, and in particular the guidance on the risks of unforeseen expenditure and unplanned closure. During the year, an assessment was made of the potential financial risks UK Biobank faces, which includes:

The trustees consider an appropriate level of reserves to hold in respect of these risks is £5m, which is equivalent to 3 months of core running costs (which excludes expenditure on specific enhancement and infrastructure projects funded by restricted funding sources). This is held either in cash or investment funds accessible at short notice (less than 30 days).

The trustees will review the reserves policy each year, taking into account changes in UK Biobank’s planned activities, the availability of funding and the risk environment.

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Pensions

UK Biobank is a member of the Universities Superannuation Scheme (“USS”). The USS is a large defined benefit pension scheme, which provides a pre-determined level of benefit to members of the scheme based on prescribed contributions made by both the employee and the employer.

UK Biobank, by being a member of the scheme, is exposed to any deficit within the scheme in the same way that all other member institutions of the USS are exposed. In the previous year’s financial statements, UK Biobank provided for the present value of future contributions it was required to make under the terms of a recovery plan agreed by the scheme’s trustees on 30 September 2023. The provision at 30 September 2023 was £7.1m (see Note 16 of the financial statements).

During this financial year, an actuarial valuation of the USS scheme was completed (the “2023 Valuation”) which identified a surplus of £7.4bn in the scheme as at 31 March 2023. Following the conclusion of the 2023 Valuation, to recognise the scheme has now moved into a surplus position, a decision was made to reduce contribution rates on 1 January 2024 from a combined employee and employer rate of 31.4% of employee salary, to 20.6%, reflecting that there is no longer a requirement for deficit recovery contributions by scheme members.

As a result, UK Biobank is no longer required to recognise a provision for deficit recovery contributions, and the provision in the previous year’s financial statements has been released in the current year’s statement of financial activities.

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4. PLANS FOR THE FUTURE

The next financial year will see the following activities undertaken:

Project Future plans
Initial Imaging Reach the target of imaging 100,000 initial participants. Reading and Bristol to move to re-
imaging participants within the Repeat Imaging project.
Full Cohort Repeat Continue the full cohort repeat imaging programme at the Newcastle and Stockport sites and
Imaging begin the programme in Reading and Bristol in the Summer of 2025.
Research Analysis UK Biobank has moved to a 'RAP-by-default' access policy, meaning data access will primarily
Platform be through the RAP rather than data downloads, which ceased in July 2024. UK Biobank is
engaging with researchers to address concerns and improve the current RAP functionality by
prioritising tool development based on community feedback. Additional funding has been
awarded to enhance the platform’s capabilities, increase support to researchers, and prepare
for re-procurement of the platform by mid-2026.
Data linkages Make further releases of linked health care data, including death, cancer, hospital admissions
data available to researchers who have approval to use the resource via the UKB-RAP.
To identify and implement new processing pipelines to streamline data curation of new linked
healthcare record data.
Following the announcement by the Secretary of Statement for Health and Social Care in early
October 2024, work with NHS England as a consented cohort to secure access to primary care
data of our participants.
Funding Continue to develop our fundraising capabilities and enable UK Biobank to secure sufficient
funding to maximise the opportunities available to enhance the resource.
Infrastructure project Continue to manage the infrastructure project, with construction of the new purpose-built
facility at Manchester Science Park progressing in parallel to the manufacturing of the new
sample archive. Progress plans for the installation of the new sample archive and associated
sample migration from the existing store and procure a new Laboratory Information System.

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5. PRINCIPAL RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES

UK Biobank aims to maintain its resource in a way that is secure, protects the confidentiality of the participants and maintains the data and samples in a form that is most useful to the scientific community.

The key risks for UK Biobank are outlined below, along with their mitigations. Risks and the actions taken to manage them are reviewed at each meeting of UK Biobank’s Audit and Risk Committee.

Risk Mitigation of risks Mitigation of risks
Samples are not stored • Storage of samples in multiple locations, with use of back-up supplies and on-site
appropriately and/or power generation capabilities to protect against loss of electric or nitrogen supply.
processed accurately
• Standard operating procedures are documented, and employees trained to ensure
that protocols are followed.
• Replacement of the sample archive as part of the ongoing Infrastructure project.
Data is not stored or • Protocols to back up and secure data.
accessed securely or in
compliance with data • Independent audits and ‘penetration’ tests to assess data security risks.
protection regulations
• UK Biobank is certified with (and operates to) the ISO 27001:2013 information security
standard.
• Provision of data via the UK Biobank Research Analysis Platform, and the roll out of
researcher training which includes information on their data security obligations as
part of their material transfer agreement.
Damage to UK Biobank’s • Regular communications and engagement with UK Biobank participants (including via
reputation the newly formed Participant Panel), as well as researchers, and wider stakeholders.
• Application of the highest possible ethical standards to all activities.
• Access to expert advice through the Board, its Committees, the International Scientific
Advisory Board, the Strategic Oversight Group, a number of Working Groups, and
contracted expert advice.
Identification of • Data are made available to researchers in reverse-anonymised form (but only UK
Participants Biobank holds the technical means to be able to reverse the anonymization).
Participant retention • Effective communications with participants to remind them of the value of their
contribution to UK Biobank and the impact it has.
• Risk management processes to manage wider reputational risks and minimise the
numbers of participants withdrawing.
The value of the UK • Non-preferential access is provided to samples and data.
Biobank resource is not
maximised • UK Biobank works closely with its current and potential funders to secure support for
projects that enhance the value of the resource.
• Continuing to work with NHS England and wider stakeholders to secure long-term
ongoing access to primary care data at scale.

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Risk Mitigation of risks Mitigation of risks
• Continued development of the UK Biobank Research Analysis platform to meet the
needs of a broader range of researchers
Funding or income is not • Budgets are agreed each financial year and are approved by the Board.
sufficient to cover costs
• Income and expenditure are reviewed against budget and reforecast each quarter,
with variances investigated to enable cost pressures to be mitigated where necessary.
• UK Biobank works with funders and industry to identify new/additional funding to
meet the increasing costs of running the resource or the costs of delivering
enhancements.
Compliance with Human • UK Biobank are licensed by the Human Tissue Authority (“HTA”) and are required to
Tissue Act and Health and follow strict protocols to ensure that all biological samples are managed appropriately.
Safety regulations
• Development of standard operating procedures and training of staff to ensure
compliance with HTA licencing and other regulatory requirements.
• UK Biobank has a Health and Safety policy and has in house expertise, designed to
minimise, and mitigate Health and Safety risks and ensure compliance.
UK Biobank are not able • Training programmes are in place to encourage skill development and improve
to recruit or retain the retention.
people and skills needed
to achieve our objectives • Remuneration is regularly benchmarked to ensure it remains competitive.
• Development of an enhanced human resource's function that can recruit effectively
and support retention.

6. STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

6.1. Status

UK Biobank is a charity constituted as a company limited by guarantee. It was incorporated in England and Wales on 28 November 2003 and registered as a charity in England and Wales on 30 December 2003 and in Scotland on 5 February 2008.

UK Biobank is established under a Memorandum of Association setting out its objects and powers and is governed under its Memorandum and Articles of Association. The two Members of the Charity are the United Kingdom Research and Innovation (“UKRI”) and the Wellcome Trust Limited (as Trustee of The Wellcome Trust) (“Wellcome”).

The Directors of UK Biobank Limited are its Trustees for the purpose of charity law. The Directors who served during the year are listed in the Legal and Administrative information on page 9.

Members of the company have guaranteed the liabilities of the company up to £1 each.

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6.2. Organisational structure

The Directors are responsible for the overall management and operation of UK Biobank with the day-to-day running being delegated to the Executive Management Team, who are led by Professor Sir Rory Collins, the Chief Executive and Principal Investigator, and who contain the appropriate range of skills to ensure the competent management of UK Biobank. The Directors meet at least four times a year.

UK Biobank has four Board Committees that meet on a regular basis:

UK Biobank also has Remuneration and Nominations Committees, and a Business Planning Committee which meet as and when required.

The Directors are included within a Directors and Officers liability insurance policy purchased by UK Biobank at an annual premium of £10,153 (2023: £12,288).

6.3. Relationships with other organisations

UK Biobank has arrangements with employees of the following institutions who constitute the membership of UK Biobank’s Strategic Oversight Committee. No remuneration is paid in respect of this membership:

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In addition, the University of Oxford provides epidemiological expertise, IT services, data management, storage, and enhancements support. These services are provided under agreements with UK Biobank. Directors or senior management who are involved with the University of Oxford are as follows:

Full details of Related Party Transactions are included at Note 20 of the financial statements.

6.4. Recruitment of Directors

Under UK Biobank’s Articles, Directors may be appointed either by the Members or by the Board (with agreement from the Members). Under the terms of a contract entered into by UK Biobank, the Members are each entitled to appoint one Director Representative.

6.5. Engagement with Directors

UK Biobank uses an online portal to distribute Board papers to Directors in a secure and timely manner. The portal also contains a number of key resources for Directors such as the constitutional documents, previous year’s annual report and accounts, the current business plan, and the scientific protocol for the creation of the UK Biobank resource. These key resources are made available (together with previous Board packs and minutes) to new Directors as part of their induction.

In addition, all new Directors receive a briefing on their legal obligations under charity and company law and, if necessary, on the background and aims of UK Biobank, as well as meeting with the Chair, other Directors, the Chief Executive, and the General Counsel. Training is available to all Directors.

6.6. Director and executive remuneration

None of UK Biobank’s Directors are remunerated or receive any benefits. At the end of the financial year UK Biobank’s Board of Directors included seven male Directors and six female Directors.

For UK Biobank to achieve its objectives, it must attract and retain high-performing senior leadership. The Remuneration Committee sets the remuneration of the Executive Management Team following benchmarking of each position by external advisors. Details of their salaries are disclosed in the financial statements at Note 9: Key Management Personnel.

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6.7. People and Reward

UK Biobank continues to focus on the continuous improvement of all activities that help support the attraction, onboarding and development of all colleagues. We have been focusing on the development of policies and toolkits to support our People Managers and colleagues. In addition, the launch of a 12-month Management and a Leadership Development program is helping to provide all People Managers with the soft skills required in their role. This will be supported by a new Manager Essentials programme to upskill all People Managers when we launch a suite of new policies in the coming financial year.

UK Biobank seeks to ensure equal opportunities are available for all existing and potential colleagues and have procedures in place to support any colleague who requires reasonable adjustments in order to enable them to join or remain in employment with us. This supports our commitments as a Disability Confident Committed Employer. We have recently focused on neurodiversity by raising awareness through lunch and learn sessions. We have undertaken Workplace Needs Assessments to help identify any reasonable adjustments needed to support colleagues and provided development and coaching for colleagues and Managers.

We regularly review remuneration, and the benefits offered to employees to ensure that these remain competitive and in line with market trends. A full Benefit Proposition review has been undertaken which will result in us enhancing these in 2025 to better serve our colleagues and align with the evolving expectations of our current and future workforce.

On average over the course of the financial year, the UK Biobank employed 282 (2023: 228) colleagues. Of these, 169 were employed as part of the Core project, with a further 113 employed on the Imaging project. As in the previous year, UK Biobank continues to employ more female employees relative to male employees, with this distribution weighted towards the lower graded roles.

6.8. Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion

Over the last 12 months UK Biobank has embarked on a significant programme of work to promote equity, diversity, and inclusion (“EDI”). An EDI strategy was completed in March 2024, and an Action Plan is now being developed with a focus on Cultural Development, Data Driven Decisions, Talent Acquisition and Value Recognition. The plan aims to build an inclusive culture for all employees.

The tables below provide further information on the gender and ethnicity of UK Biobank’s workforce at the time the EDI assessment was completed in March 2024.

Male Female Other / Not Given
Headcount 102 155 1
% 39.5% 60.1% 0.4%
White Asian Black Other / Not Given
Headcount 174 31 9 44
% 67.4% 12% 3.5% 17.1%

At Board level, 46% of directors are female, with gender diversity in individual committees varying depending on the distribution of Board members across those committees. Within the International Scientific Advisory Board, the aim is for a broader global representation, to reflect the ambitions to democratise access and increase applications from low and middle-income countries.

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6.9. Leadership and Culture

As the organisation grows, UK Biobank recognises the increasing responsibility on its Leaders to shape the culture to be inclusive, supportive, and progressive.

In June 2024 we carried out our full annual engagement survey from Gallup achieving an 87% completion rate. The results are feeding into a number of action plans to help enhance satisfaction and engagement of our colleagues and how we might build on the strong alignment employees report to our mission and purpose.

During the year, we also launched MyPerformance, an updated Performance Management process which cascades Departmental Objectives (linked to the delivery of the organisations key strategic priorities) to colleagues and also explores wider objectives in respect of career growth and development and health and wellbeing. This approach has led to colleagues thinking about their future careers, with some colleagues commencing apprenticeships because of this.

The active social committee has evolved to encompass wellbeing. It continues to deliver engaging communications and social events across the business that all help to build a sense of community and help sustain high levels of employee engagement. Regular charity events take place and this year we have supported MIND as our nominated charity of the year.

6.10.Wellbeing

UK Biobank continues to prioritise the wellbeing of all colleagues, ensuring there are good support services (such as an employee assistance programme) in place and accessible when colleagues need them most. Regular health education programmes such as stress and mental health awareness are run and there is a network of mental health first aiders in place to support colleagues. Earlier this year UK Biobank launched its first menopause policy and delivered training to help raise awareness of the ways in which colleagues can be supported.

6.11. Developing an effective People and Development Function

Over the last 12 months a new People and Development structure was announced, and time was taken to build an effective team. A new Head of HR joined in January 2024, with recruitment to the new team structure completed in February 2024. The focus was on increasing the strength and scope of the People Business Partner function and increasing the breadth of the team in all areas of specialism which included the recruitment of a Talent Acquisition Manager along with UK Biobank’s first Learning and Development Partner.

The new team have created a People Plan and detailed People Strategy which includes a vision, mission and strategic priorities.

This focus has helped lead to a number of key enhancements during the year, including:

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7. ENVIRONMENTAL MATTERS

UK Biobank recognises that it has a responsibility to manage the impact that its operations have on the environment both now and in the future. UK Biobank is working with our principal funders and will take account of UKRI’s environmental principles and commitments (which includes the ambition of reaching 'net zero' carbon emissions by 2050).

During the financial year, UK Biobank has focussed on progressing plans and designs for new infrastructure that will help to reduce our future carbon footprint. This includes commencing the construction of our new facility, which has been designed to meet ‘BREEAM Excellent’ building sustainability standards.

8. APPRECIATIONS

The Directors acknowledge the role of UK Biobank’s core funders, the Medical Research Council and Wellcome (as Trustee of the Wellcome Trust) and also the Department of Health and Social Care, British Heart Foundation, Cancer Research UK, and the National Institute for Health Research for their ongoing (and generous) funding of the resource and the various enhancements described. The scale of their long-term commitment is directly reflected in these financial statements. In addition, UK Biobank remains indebted to the extensive network of advisors in the academic community, both within the UK and internationally, who give their time and expertise freely. The Directors also acknowledge the important role of staff at the University of Oxford who supplied vital support during the year. Most importantly, UK Biobank wishes to acknowledge the altruism of the participants and to thank them for their ongoing contributions to this unique resource.

9. AUDIT INFORMATION

The Directors who were in office at the date of approval of these financial statements have confirmed that, as far as they can reasonably ensure, all relevant audit information has been provided to the auditors; and the Directors have taken all the steps that they ought to have taken as Directors in order to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the auditors are aware of that information.

10. AUDITORS

BDO LLP are the auditors of the Charity and have expressed their willingness to continue in this role.

11. APPROVAL

The trustees’ report incorporating the strategic and directors report was approved by the Board of Directors on 12 December 2024 and signed on its behalf by:

Kedlya/

Professor the Lord Kakkar,

Chair

1-2 Spectrum Way, Adswood Stockport Cheshire SK3 0SA

19 December 2024

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STATEMENT OF DIRECTORS’ RESPONSIBILITIES

The trustees, who are also directors of UK Biobank Limited for the purpose of company law, are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Report (including the Strategic Report) and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and regulations.

Company law and charity law requires the Directors to prepare financial statements for each financial year in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (United Kingdom Accounting Standards and applicable law). Under company law and charity law the directors 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 charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure of the charity for that period.

In preparing these financial statements, the directors are required to:

The directors are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the company’s transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended). They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

Financial statements are published on the company’s website in accordance with legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements, which may vary from legislation in other jurisdictions. The maintenance and integrity of the company's website is the responsibility of the directors. The directors' responsibility also extends to the ongoing integrity of the financial statements contained therein.

Kedlya/

Professor the Lord Kakkar Chair

19 December 2024

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INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF UK BIOBANK LIMITED

Opinion on the financial statements

In our opinion, the financial statements:

We have audited the financial statements of UK Biobank Limited (“the Charitable Company”) for the year ended 30 September 2024 which comprise the statement of financial activities, the balance sheet, the cash flow statement 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).

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 believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Independence

We remain independent of the Charitable Company in accordance with the ethical requirements 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.

Conclusions related to going concern

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the Directors’ 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 Directors are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the Report and Financial Statements, 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 there is 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.

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INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF UK BIOBANK LIMITED

Other Companies Act 2006 reporting

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

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 misstatement in the Strategic report or the Directors’ report.

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

Responsibilities of Directors

As explained more fully in the Directors’ responsibilities statement, the Directors 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 Directors 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 Directors 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

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

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an 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.

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INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF UK BIOBANK LIMITED

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

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:

Non-compliance with laws and regulations

Based on:

We considered the significant laws and regulations to be the applicable accounting framework, being UK GAAP, the Companies Act, Charities Act, Charity Commission for England and Wales (Charity Commission) regulations, Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations, and UK tax legislation.

The Charitable Company is also subject to laws and regulations where the consequence of non-compliance could have a material effect on the amount or disclosures in the financial statements, for example through the imposition of fines or litigations. We identified such laws and regulations to be the Human Tissues Act and health and safety regulations.

Our procedures in respect of the above included:

Fraud

We assessed the susceptibility of the financial statements to material misstatement, including fraud. Our risk assessment procedures included:

Based on our risk assessment, we considered the areas most susceptible to fraud to be management override, grant income recognition and validity of expenditure.

37

INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF UK BIOBANK LIMITED

Our procedures in respect of the above included:

We also communicated relevant identified laws and regulations and potential fraud risks to all engagement team members and remained alert to any indications of fraud or non-compliance with laws and regulations throughout the audit.

Our audit procedures were designed to respond to risks of material misstatement in the financial statements, recognising that the risk of not detecting a material misstatement due to fraud is higher than the risk of not detecting one resulting from error, as fraud may involve deliberate concealment by, for example, forgery, misrepresentations or through collusion. There are inherent limitations in the audit procedures performed and the further removed non-compliance with laws and regulations is from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, the less likely we are to become aware of it.

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located at the Financial Reporting Council’s (“FRC’s”) website at:

https://www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the Charitable Company’s members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006, and to the Charitable Company’s trustees, as a body, in accordance with the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005. 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, the Charitable Company’s members as a body and the Charitable Company’s trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

[Anderson] |[Darel] DocuSigned by:

911B7AE40D374FC... Sarah Anderson (Senior Statutory Auditor)

For and on behalf of BDO LLP, statutory auditor

Leeds, UK

19 December 2024

BDO LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales (with registered number OC305127).

UK Biobank Limited 38 Report and financial statements

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES (including Income and Expenditure Account) For the year ended 30 September 2024

Notes Unrestricted Restricted Total Unrestricted Restricted Total
Funds Funds Funds Funds Funds Funds
2024 2024 2024 2023 2023 2023
£ £ £ £ £ £
INCOME
Donations and grants 2 22,599,102 1,865,997 24,465,099 7,876,435 1,264,419 9,140,854
Charitable activities 3 6,882,264 43,233,210 50,115,474 4,685,570 20,129,329 24,814,899
Investments 1,674,169 - 1,674,169 444,357 - 444,357
Other 4 72,832
 -
 72,832
 91,553
 43,663
 135,216
TOTAL INCOME 31,228,367
 45,099,207
 76,327,574
 13,097,915
 21,437,411
 34,535,326
EXPENDITURE
Charitable expenditure
Charitable activities excluding
release of USS pension deficit
provision 5 (18,926,387) (18,772,971) (37,699,358) (12,336,047) (19,801,000) (32,137,047)
Release of USS Pension Deficit
Provision 5 6,052,656
 1,046,490
 7,099,146
 -
 -
 -
Total Charitable activities
expenditure 5 (12,873,731)
 (17,726,481)
 (30,600,212)
 (12,336,047)
 (19,801,000)
 (32,137,047)
TOTAL EXPENDITURE (12,873,731)
 (17,726,481)
 (30,600,212)
 (12,336,047)
 (19,801,000)
 (32,137,047)
NET INCOME
FOR THE FINANCIAL
YEAR BEFORE
TRANSFERS		 7 18,354,636 27,372,726 45,727,362 761,868 1,636,411 2,398,279
Transfers 17 -
 - -
 1,819,985
 (1,819,985)
 -
NET INCOME/EXPENDITURE FOR
THE FINANCIAL YEAR AFTER
TRANSFERS
18,354,636
27,372,726
45,727,362
2,581,853
(183,574)
2,398,279
RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS
Total funds brought forward as 237,554 2,644,785 2,882,339 (4,025,237) 9,446,627 5,421,390
previously reported - - - 1,680,938 (6,618,268) (4,937,330)
Prior period
adjustment
17 237,554 2,644,785 2,882,339 (2,344,299) 2,828,359 484,060
Total funds brought forward
17 18,592,190 30,017,511 48,609,701 237,554 2,644,785 2,882,339
TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD

All income and expenditure are derived from continuing activities.

The notes on pages 41 to 64 form part of these financial statements.

UK Biobank Limited 39 Report and financial statements |e

BALANCE SHEET At 30 September 2024

Restated
Notes 2024 2023
£ £ £ £
FIXED ASSETS
Tangible fixed assets 11 20,880,365
 7,084,270
20,880,365 7,084,270
CURRENT ASSETS
Inventories 12 49,804 31,257
Debtors 13 21,370,699 3,835,301
Current asset investments 7,175,029 9,041,045
Cash at bank and in hand 41,926,967
 18,174,057
70,522,499 31,081,660
CREDITORS:amounts falling due within
one year		 14 (38,428,802)
 (22,786,374)
NET CURRENT ASSETS 32,093,697
 8,295,286
TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT
LIABILITES		 52,974,062 15,379,556
CREDITORS: amounts falling due after
more than one year		 15 (3,352,012) (4,454,302)
PROVISION FOR LIABILITES AND
CHARGES		 16 (1,012,349)
 (8,042,915)
NET ASSETS 48,609,701 2,882,339
Represented by:
Unrestricted funds 17 18,592,190 237,554
Restricted funds 17 30,017,511
 2,644,785
TOTAL CHARITY FUNDS 48,609,701 2,882,339

The notes on pages 41 to 64 form part of these financial statements.

The financial statements on pages 38 to 64 were approved by the Board of Directors on 12 December 2024 and are signed on its behalf by:

Koklwa/

Professor the Lord Kakkar Chair

19 December 2024

Company registration number 04978912 Registered Charity number in England and Wales 1101332 Registered Charity number in Scotland SC039230

UK Biobank Limited 40 Report and financial statements

CASH FLOW STATEMENT For the year ended 30 September 2024

2024
2023
£
£
£
CASHFLOWS FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES
Net movement in funds as per the Statement of
Financial Activities
45,727,362
Adjustments for:
Interest received
(1,674,169)
(444,357)
Depreciation and impairment charge of tangible
fixed assets for the year
1,703,308
2,118,465
Loss / (profit) on disposal of tangible fixed assets
24,869
(10,415)
(Increase) / decrease in stocks
(18,547)
15,892
(Increase) / decrease in debtors
(17,466,541)
3,185,819
Increase in creditors
14,507,033
7,598,831
(Decrease) / Increase in provisions
(7,030,566)
1,390,896

Cash from operations
(9,954,613)
Net cash inflow from operating activities
35,772,749
CASH FLOWS FROM INVESTING ACTIVITIES
Proceeds from sale of fixed asset
2,717
10,415
Interest received
1,491,538
331,686
Payments to acquire tangible fixed assets
(15,380,110)
(2,676,846)

Net cash outflow from investing activities
(13,885,855)

Increase in cash and cash equivalents
21,886,894
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of year
27,215,102
Cash and cash equivalents at end of year
49,101,996

Analysis of changes in net cash
At 30
September
2023
£
Cash flows
Other non –
cash changes
£
Cash and cash equivalents
Cash at bank and in hand
18,174,057
23,752,910
-
Current asset investments
9,041,045
(1,866,016)
-

Total
27,215,102
21,886,894
-		 £
2,398,279
13,855,131

16,253,410
(2,334,745)

13,918,665
13,296,437

27,215,102

At 30
September
2024
£
41,926,967
7,175,029

49,101,996

UK Biobank Limited 41 Report and financial statements

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS For the year ended 30 September 2024

1 ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Charity Information

UK Biobank Limited is a public benefit entity, registered charity in England and Wales (registration number 1101332) and is constituted as a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales (registration number 04978912). UK Biobank is also a registered charity in Scotland (SC03230). The registered office is Units 1-2 Spectrum Way, Adswood, Cheshire SK3 0SA.

Basis of preparation

The Charity’s financial statements have been prepared in accordance with UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practice, comprising Financial Reporting Standard 102 - applicable in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland (“FRS 102”) and with the Statement of Recommended Practice “Accounting and Reporting by Charities” FRS 102 as revised in 2019 (“the SORP”) together with the reporting requirements of the Companies Act 2006, the Charities Act 2011, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2015 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006. The Charity has adapted the Companies Act formats to reflect the SORP and the nature of the Charity’s activities.

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention and in sterling, which is the functional currency of the Charity, rounded to the nearest £.

Going concern

The directors are satisfied that sufficient funding will be available to enable UK Biobank to continue to operate for the foreseeable future, and therefore, that it remains appropriate to continue to prepare financial statements under the going concern basis. Further details on this assessment can be found in the finance review section of the Trustees Report

Prior period adjustment

The financial statements have been restated to correct an error where cash held as short-term deposits were incorrectly disclosed as cash at bank and in hand at 30 September 2023. As a result, £9,041,045 has been restated from cash at bank and in hand to current asset investments. This change does not impact the net result or opening/ closing funds as it is a balance sheet reclassification.

Fund accounting

General reserves are unrestricted funds that are available for use at the Directors’ discretion in furtherance of the objects of the charity.

Designated funds are set aside at the discretion of the Directors for specific purposes. UK Biobank has two designated reserves:

Restricted funds are to be used for specific purposes as laid down by the donor. These funds are expended in accordance with the requirements of the donor.

UK Biobank Limited 42 Report and financial statements

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS For the year ended 30 September 2024

1 ACCOUNTING POLICIES (CONTINUED)

Income

Income is recognised and included in the statement of financial activities when the Charity has entitlement to the income, it is probable that the income will be received, and the amount can be measured reliably. Income received relating to future accounting periods is deferred and recognised as a creditor within the balance sheet.

Donations and grants

Grants which provide core funding, or are of a general nature, are included within ‘Donations and grants’.

On receipt, donated services and goods are recognised in income based on the value of the gift to the Charity, which is the amount that the Charity would have been willing to pay to obtain the goods or services of equivalent economic benefit on the open market; a corresponding amount is also recognised in expenditure in the period of receipt.

Charitable activities

This includes income for the use of the Charity’s resource and is recognised as earned. Income is deferred when fees have been received in advance. Data Access fees are recognised on a straight-line basis over the period of access they relate to.

These include grants from governments and other agencies which are not provided as part of core funding.

Investment income

Represents interest receivable on short term cash deposits and is recognised on an accruals basis in the period to which it relates .

Other income

This is recognised in the year in which it is received or receivable.

UK Biobank Limited 43 Report and financial statements

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS For the year ended 30 September 2024

1 ACCOUNTING POLICIES (CONTINUED)

Expenditure

Charitable expenditure comprises costs in relation to the Charity’s projects, inclusive of both the direct costs and support costs relating to these activities. Expenditure is summarised under functional headings on a direct cost basis.

Expenditure is recognised as soon as there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the Charity to the expenditure, it is probable that settlement will be required, and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis.

Support costs are defined as those costs incurred by operational teams providing support in the following teams: Corporate, Finance, Human Resources, Data & Technology, Legal and Quality. These costs are allocated on a percentage basis to each category of activity.

Governance costs comprise the cost of governance arrangements which relate to the trustees’ general running of the Charity and their compliance to statutory requirements. These are included within support costs.

Tangible fixed assets and depreciation

Tangible fixed assets are capitalised, including purchase price and any costs of bringing the assets to the working condition for their intended use.

Depreciation is provided in order to write off the cost of tangible fixed assets on a straight-line basis over their estimated useful lives, as follows:

Leasehold improvements over the life of the lease
Leasehold property 5% -straight line
Computer systems 25% - 33% straight line
Laboratory and clinic equipment 10% - 33% straight line
Fixtures, fittings, and other equipment 20% - 25% straight line
Sample storage and infrastructure 4% - straight line or over the life of the lease, whichever is the
shorter
Motor vehicles 20% - straight line

The carrying values of tangible fixed assets are reviewed for impairment when events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount may not be recoverable. Any impairment is recognised in the Statement of Financial Activities.

Accumulated costs of assets which are not completed are classed and reported as assets under construction. They are not depreciated until the accounting period in which they are brought into use. Repairs, maintenance, and inspection costs of tangible fixed assets are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities as incurred.

Inventories

Inventories are stated at the lower of cost and net realisable value. Cost includes all costs incurred in bringing each product to its present location. Net realisable value is based on the estimated selling price less costs expected to be incurred as part of the sale.

UK Biobank Limited 44 Report and financial statements

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS For the year ended 30 September 2024

1 ACCOUNTING POLICIES (CONTINUED)

Financial instruments

The Charity has financial assets and financial liabilities that qualify as basic financial instruments.

Financial instruments are classified and accounted for according to the substance of the contractual arrangement as either financial assets or financial liabilities.

Cash and cash equivalents - Cash and cash equivalents comprise cash balances and short-term highly liquid investments with a short maturity of three months.

Trade and other debtors / creditors - Trade and other debtors are recognised initially at transaction price less attributable transaction costs. Trade and other creditors are recognised initially at transaction price plus attributable transaction costs. Subsequent to initial recognition, they are measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method, less any impairment losses in the case of trade debtors.

Foreign currencies - Transactions in foreign currencies are recorded at the rate ruling on the time of the transaction. Foreign currency balances are translated into sterling at the exchange rate at the balance sheet date. Resulting gains or losses are included in the Statement of Financial Activities.

Leases

Rents payable under operating leases are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities on a straight-line basis over the lease term.

Rent-free periods or other incentives received for entering into a lease are accounted for over the period of the lease so as to spread the benefit received over the lease term.

Research and development

Research and development expenditure is written off to the Statement of Financial Activities as it is incurred.

Pension scheme

The Charity participates in the Universities Superannuation Scheme. With effect from 1 October 2017, the scheme changed from a defined benefit only pension scheme to a hybrid pension scheme, providing defined benefits (for all members), as well as defined contribution benefits. The assets of the scheme are held in a separate trusteeadministered fund. Because of the mutual nature of the scheme, the assets are not attributed to individual institutions and a scheme-wide contribution rate is set. The Charity is therefore exposed to actuarial risks associated with other institutions’ employees and is unable to identify its share of the underlying assets and liabilities of the scheme on a consistent and reasonable basis. As required by Section 28 of FRS 102 “Employee benefits”, the Charity therefore accounts for the scheme as if it were a wholly defined contribution scheme. As a result, the amount charged to the Statement of Financial Activities (including the income and expenditure accounts) represents the contributions payable to the scheme. The Charity recognises a provision for any obligation to pay deficit recovery contributions where these are required to address a deficit on the scheme – with the movement on the provision reflected each year in the statement of financial activities. Any provision is released where a scheme valuation confirms the pension scheme is in surplus, and therefore that UK Biobank is no longer obligated to make deficit contributions.

Taxation

The Charity is a registered charity and therefore it is exempt from income and corporation tax on income and gains falling within chapter 3 Part 11 Corporation Tax Act 2010 or S256 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 to the extent that these are applied to its charitable objects.

UK Biobank Limited 45 Report and financial statements

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS For the year ended 30 September 2024

1 ACCOUNTING POLICIES (CONTINUED)

Critical accounting judgements and estimations

Judgements and estimations are continually evaluated and are based on historical experience and other factors, including expectations of future events that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances. In making these estimates, the Charity makes assumptions concerning the future.

The judgements and estimations made that have a significant risk of causing a material adjustment to the carrying amount of assets and liabilities within the next financial year are as follows:

On 30 September 2023, UK Biobank’s balance sheet included a liability of £7,099,146 for future contributions payable under the deficit recovery agreement, which was concluded on 30 September 2021, following the 2020 valuation which reported that the scheme was in deficit. No deficit recovery plan was required from the 2023 valuation, because the scheme had moved into surplus. Changes to contribution rates were implemented from 1 January 2024 and from that date UK Biobank was no longer required to make deficit recovery contributions. The liability of £7,099,146 was released to the statement of financial activities. Further disclosures relating to the deficit recovery liability can be found in note 21.

UK Biobank Limited 46 Report and financial statements

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS For the year ended 30 September 2024

2 DONATIONS AND GRANTS


Grant funding
Total grant income
Donated services		 Unrestricted
Funds
2024
£
22,599,102

22,599,102
-

22,599,102
 Restricted
Funds
2024
£
835,581

835,581
1,030,416

1,865,997
 Total
Funds

2024
£
23,434,683

23,434,683
1,030,416

24,465,099
 Unrestricted
Funds
2023
£
7,876,435

7,876,435
-

7,876,435
 Restricted
Funds
2023
£
1,264,419

1,264,419
-
1,264,419
 Total
Funds
2023
£
9,140,854
9,140,854
-
9,140,854

The total donated services of £1,0303,416 (2023: £nil) represent gifts in kind.

Included in grant funding above are government grants received as follows:

Unrestricted Restricted Total Unrestricted Restricted Total
Funds Funds Funds Funds Funds Funds
2024 2024 2024 2023 2023 2023
£ £ £ £ £ £
Government grants 3,474,863
 835,581
 4,310,444
3,543,458		 -
3,543,458

3 CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES


Grant funding
Research data access
Research sample access
TOTAL INCOME		 Unrestricted
Funds
2024
£
-
5,989,379
892,885

6,882,264
 Restricted
Funds
2024
£
43,233,210
-
-

43,233,210
 Total
Funds

2024
£
43,233,210
5,989,379
892,885

50,115,474
 Unrestricted
Funds
2023
£
-
3,831,034
854,536

4,685,570
 Restricted
Funds
2023
£
20,129,329
-
-

20,129,329
 Total
Funds
2023
£
20,129,329
3,831,034
854,536

24,814,899

During the year, medical researchers have requested and obtained access to the Charity’s data and samples with fees relating to this financial year captured in the table above for:

UK Biobank Limited 47 Report and financial statements

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS For the year ended 30 September 2024

3 CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES (CONTINUED)

Included in grant funding above are government grants received as follows:

Infrastructure grant
Ethics advisory
Imaging
World class lab capital funding
Other
Government grants

OTHER
Other
TOTAL INCOME		 Unrestricted
Funds
2024
£
-
-
-
-
-

-

Unrestricted
Funds
2024
£
72,832

72,832
 Restricted
Funds
2024
£
32,487,910
37,601
1,725,273
-
-

34,250,784

Restricted
Funds
2024
£
-

-
 Total
Funds
2024
£
32,487,910
37,601
1,725,273
-
-

34,250,784

Total
Funds
2024
£
72,832

72,832
 Unrestricted
Funds
2023
£
-
-
-
-
-

-

Unrestricted
Funds
2023
£
91,553

91,553
 Restricted
Funds
2023
£
2,981,344
56,692
2,649,319
1,692,736
2,457,573

9,837,664

Restricted
Funds
2023
£
43,663

43,663
 Total
Funds
2023
£
2,981,344
56,692
2,649,319
1,692,736
2,457,573
9,837,664
Total
Funds
2023
£
135,216
135,216

4 OTHER

Other income comprises recharge of salary and other costs in the current and prior year.

5 EXPENDITURE ON CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES

Direct Costs
2024
£
Core Activities
14,225,661
Enhancement
Projects
17,352,966

TOTAL
EXPENDITURE
31,578,626

 Support
Costs
excluding
pension
release
2024
£
4,700,727
1,420,005

6,120,732

 Support
Costs
Pension
release
Total
Direct Costs
2024
2024
2023
£
£
£
(6,052,657)
12,873,731
7,733,130
(1,046,489)
17,726,481
18,732,476



(7,099,146)
30,600,212
26,465,606



 Support
Costs
2023
£
4,602,917
1,068,524

5,671,441

 Total
2023
£
12,336,047
19,801,000
32,137,047

Included within total costs of £30,600,212 for the current year is credit balance which represents release of USS pension provision of £7,099,146 from prior year. Without this credit, the total costs for the year would be £37,699,358. Further disclosures relating to the release of the Pension Deficit provision can be found in note 21.

Total support cost for the year was a credit balance of £978,414 (2023: £5,671,441), analysed fully in note 6 below.

UK Biobank Limited 48 Report and financial statements

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS For the year ended 30 September 2024

6 ANALYSIS OF SUPPORT COSTS

Unrestricted
Funds
Unrestricted
Funds
Unrestricted
Funds
Costs excluding
pension
release
Release of prior
year pension
provision
Costs including
pension
release
2024
2024
2024
£
£
£
Corporate
618,722
(6,052,657)
(5,433,935)
Finance
778,350
-
778,350
Human Resources
824,528
-
824,528
Data and Technology
1,446,284
-
1,446,284
Legal
655,025
-
655,025
Quality
377,819
-
377,819


TOTAL
4,700,728
(6,052,657)
(1,351,929)



Unrestricted Funds
Restricted Funds
2023
2023
£
£
Corporate
853,042
608,507
Finance
529,285
48,212
Human Resources
727,992
81,215
Data and Technology
1,475,484
49,771
Legal
523,017
-
Projects
184,520
280,819
Quality
309,577
-

TOTAL
4,602,917
1,068,524

 Restricted
Funds
2024
£
57,754
62,101
-
199,006
35,810
18,844

373,515

Total
Funds
2023
£
1,461,549
577,497
809,207
1,525,255
523,017
465,339
309,577
5,671,441
 Total
Funds
2024
£
(5,376,181)
840,451
824,528
1,645,290
690,835
396,663

(978,414)
 Total
Funds
2024
£
(5,376,181)
840,451
824,528
1,645,290
690,835
396,663

(978,414)
(978,414)

Included within support costs are governance costs of £80,856 (2023: £60,079).

Included within Corporate costs for the current year is the release of the prior year’s pension provision totalling £6,052,657.

UK Biobank Limited 49 Report and financial statements

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS For the year ended 30 September 2024

7 NET INCOME FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR BEFORE TRANSFERS

Is stated after charging / (crediting):

2024 2023
Auditor’s remuneration – Statutory audit services 73,340 52,000
Depreciation and impairment of tangible fixed assets 1,703,308 2,118,466
Loss / (gain) on disposals of tangible fixed assets 24,869 (10,415)
Operating lease rentals:
Hire of plant and machinery 26,301 27,702
Land and buildings 632,904 619,771

Current year auditors renumeration includes fees for 2023 audit which had not been accrued.

8 STAFF NUMBERS AND COSTS

The average number of persons employed by the Charity, during the year was as follows:

2024 2023
Total Total
No. No.
Management 6 8
Charity’s projects
276		 220
Total 282
 228
e aggregate payroll costs of these persons, were as follows:
2024 2023
£ £
Wages and salaries 12,623,300 10,169,965
Social security costs 1,308,738 1,020,876
Pension contributions 1,704,368 1,762,092
Pension deficit provision - 995,846
Staff costs excluding pension release 15,636,406 13,948,779
Pension deficit release (7,099,146) -
Total staff costs 8,537,260
 13,948,779

The aggregate payroll costs of these persons, were as follows:

Wages and salaries include termination payments of £nil (2023: £71,283)

UK Biobank Limited 50 Report and financial statements

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS For the year ended 30 September 2024

8 STAFF NUMBERS AND COSTS (CONTINUED)

The number of employees whose remuneration, excluding social security costs and employer pension contributions, exceeded £60,000 during the year was as follows:

£60,000 to £70,000
£70,001 to £80,000
£80,001 to £90,000
£90,001 to £100,000
£100,001 to £110,000
£110,001 to £120,000
£130,001 to £140,000
£140,001 to £150,000
£150,001 to £160,000
£160,001 to £170,000
£170,001 to £180,000
£180,001 to £190,000
£190,001 to £200,000
£200,001 to £210,000		 2024
No.
19
8
4
3
2
1
1
1
1
2
-
-
-
1

43
 2023
No.
13
4
3
2
-
1
-
-
2
2
1
-
-
-
28

All of these employees accrued pension benefits during the year.

Included in “Expenditure” are costs relating to staff who are not employed directly as follows:

Unrestricted Funds
Restricted Funds
Total		 2024
£
569,690
119,805
689,495		 2023
£
481,125
164,411
645,536

Details of these costs are as follows:

UK Biobank Limited 51 Report and financial statements

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS For the year ended 30 September 2024

9 KEY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL

Key Management Personnel of the Charity is defined as being a member of the Executive Management Team who are listed under “Legal and administrative information” on page 9.

The Executive Management Team are employees of the Charity or seconded to the Charity from other organisations. The total employment benefits, including employer social security and employer pension contribution costs, of those members who are employed was £1,397,392 (2023: £1,423,068) and the amount paid for those seconded and agency staff was £410,905 (2023: £386,198) .

10 DIRECTORS’ REMUNERATION AND EXPENSES

None of the Directors of the Charity are remunerated or received any benefits.

The Charity has met individual travel and subsistence expenses in the year of £123 incurred by 1 Director (2023: 2 Directors totalling £497) in attending Board, Committee, and other meetings.

UK Biobank Limited 52 Report and financial statements

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS For the year ended 30 September 2024

11 TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS

Leasehold
Improvements
£
Cost
At
1 October
2023
8,313,210
Additions
79,523
Disposals
(98,062)

At
30 September
2024
8,294,671
Depreciation
At
1 October
2023
7,083,323
Charge for the
year
356,921
Disposals
(86,621)

At
30 September
2024
7,353,623
Net Book Value
At
30 September
2023
1,229,886
At
30 September
2024
941,048		 Computer
systems
Laboratory
and clinic
equipment
Fixtures,
fittings,
and other
equipment
Sample storage
and infra-
structure
£
£
£
£
2,734,140
12,455,479
214,364
6,295,223
974,832
376,145
28,798
-
(83,336)
(966,237)
(3,920)
(256,733)
3,625,636
11,865,387
239,242
6,038,490


2,211,478
10,732,045
114,708
4,825,979
249,384
580,784
51,674
391,824
(83,336)
(966,237)
(3,340)
(241,169)
2,377,526
10,346,592
163,042
4,976,634


522,661
1,723,437
99,656
1,469,243


1,248,110
1,518,795
76,200
1,061,856		 Motor
vehicles
£
44,077
-
-

44,077

5,142
8,815
-
13,957

38,935

30,120		 Freehold
Land and
Buildings

£
-
2,556,246
-

2,556,246

-
63,906
-
63,906

-

2,492,340		 Assets Under
Construction
£
2,000,452
11,511,444
-
13,511,896

-
-
-
-

2,000,452

13,511,896		 Total
£
32,056,945
15,526,988
(1,408,288)

46,175,645

24,972,675
1,703,308
(1,380,703)

25,295,280

7,084,270

20,880,365

12 INVENTORIES

Raw materials and consumables

2024 2023 £ 49,804 31,257

UK Biobank Limited 53 Report and financial statements

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS For the year ended 30 September 2024

13 DEBTORS

2024
£
Trade debtors
7,716,538
Other taxation and social security costs
87,722
Other debtors
249,800
Prepayments and accrued income
13,316,639

21,370,699
 2023
£
2,134,869
129,934
296,312
1,274,186
3,835,301

Included within prepayments above are contractual payments towards infrastructure development of £11,927,662 (2023: £nil).

Total debtors include the following, which are due after more than one year:

Other debtors 2024
£
33,787
 2023
£
283,751

14 CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR

2024 2023
£ £
Trade creditors 1,301,462 981,075
Accruals 1,888,941 2,301,042
Deferred income 35,238,399
 19,504,257
38,428,802
 22,786,374
nalysis of deferred income:
2024 2023
£ £
Deferred income at 1 October 19,504,257 12,541,962
Released during the year (19,773,311) (8,803,258)
Income received during the year to be deferred 35,507,453 15,765,553
Deferred income at 30 September 35,238,399 19,504,257

Analysis of deferred income:

UK Biobank Limited 54 Report and financial statements

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS For the year ended 30 September 2024

15 CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE AFTER MORE THAN ONE YEAR

2024 2023
£ £
Deferred income 3,352,012
 4,454,302
3,352,012
 4,454,302
Analysis of deferred income:
2024 2023
£ £
Deferred income at 1 October 4,454,302 3,197,632
Released during the year (3,407,259) (2,181,459)
Income received during the year to be deferred 2,304,969
 3,438,129
Deferred income at 30 September 3,352,012
 4,454,302
OVISION FOR LIABILITES AND CHARGES
Obligations Dilapidation Total
to fund
deficit on
USS pension
£ £ £
At beginning of year 7,099,146 943,769 8,042,915
(Release) in the year to the Statement of Financial Activities (7,099,146) (294,049) (7,393,195)
Utilised in the year - - -
Charge in the year to the Statement of Financial Activities -
 362,629
 362,629
At the end of the year -
1,012,349		 1,012,349

16 PROVISION FOR LIABILITES AND CHARGES

Dilapidations

A liability for UK Biobank arises where property leases oblige UK Biobank to cover the costs of restoring the imaging assessment centres and other office property to their original condition when ending its occupation or as those leases terminate. An amount equal to the provision is recognised as part of the asset.

The provision recognised is based on management’s assessment and understanding of commercialist leased properties and third-party surveyor report commissioned for specific properties in order to best estimate the future outflow of funds and requires the exercise of judgement applied to existing facts and circumstances, which can be subject to change. The estimates used by management in the calculation of the provision take into consideration the location and size of the properties. The dilapidations provisions have been discounted using suitable discount rates linked to the lease expiry dates.

The dilapidation provision is expected to be utilised as each property lease expires between April 2027 and April 2032.

UK Biobank Limited 55 Report and financial statements

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS For the year ended 30 September 2024

16 PROVISION FOR LIABILITIES AND CHARGES (CONTINUED)

Pension deficit

The liability to fund the deficit on the Universities Superannuation Scheme (“USS”) arises from the contractual obligations with the USS to fund deficit payments in accordance with the deficit recovery plan. No deficit recovery plan was required from the 2023 valuation, because the scheme was in surplus. Changes to contribution rates were implemented from 1 January 2024 and from that date UK Biobank was no longer required to make deficit recovery contributions. The liability of £7,099,146 was released to the statement of financial activities. Further disclosures relating to the deficit recovery liability can be found in note 21.

17 ANALYSIS OF FUNDS

Balance
1 October
2023
£
Unrestricted funds
General
(1,144,151)
Designated funds - Capital
replacement reserve
1,381,705
Designated funds – Core
development
-
237,554

Restricted funds
Imaging Enhancement Project
362,590
Eye Measures and Additional
Sample
119,314
Repeat Imaging Enhancement
Project
90,991
Research Analysis Platform
60,850
Ethics Advisory
-
Covid-19 Assay
-
Infrastructure Project
2,011,040
Award conditions
-
Additional funding
-
Helmholtz Association
Collaboration
-
Cognitive Function testing
-
Global Researcher Fund
-
Infrastructure fund
-
Cloud storage support Fund
-
2,644,785
Total
2,882,339
 Income
Expenditure
Transfer
Balance
30 September
2024
£
£
£
£
31,228,367
(12,873,731)
(8,598,272)
8,612,213
-
-
371,342
1,753,047
-
-
8,226,930
8,226,930
31,228,367
(12,873,731)
-
18,592,190



2,724,803
(2,473,419)
-
613,974
179,521
(212,665)
-
86,170
2,873,858
(2,788,880)
-
175,969
2,586,361
(2,098,614)
-
548,597
75,203
(75,203)
-
-
2,648
(2,648)
-
-
32,487,910
(6,174,152)
-
28,324,798
677,168
(677,168)
-
-
835,581
(835,581)
-
-
46,560
(46,560)
-
-
204,750
-
-
204,750
74,428
(11,175)
-
63,253
1,300,000
(1,300,000)
-
-
1,030,416
(1,030,416)
-
-
45,099,207
(17,726,481)
-
30,017,511


76,327,574
(30,600,212)
-
48,609,701

UK Biobank Limited 56 Report and financial statements

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS For the year ended 30 September 2024

17 ANALYSIS OF FUNDS (CONTINUED)

ANALYSIS OF FUNDS (CONTINUED)
Unrestricted funds
General
Designated funds - Capital
replacement reserve

(2,344,299)

Restricted funds
Imaging Enhancement Project
1,680,684
Eye Measures and Additional
Sample
124,376
Repeat Imaging Enhancement
Project
-
Whole Genome Sequencing
Project
181,562
Research Analysis Platform
248,250
Ethics Advisory
-
Covid-19 Assay
-
Infrastructure Project
372,836
World Class Labs
220,651
Award conditions
-
Additional funding
-

2,828,359

Total
484,060

Restated
Balance
1 October
2022
£
(3,097,901)
753,602		 Income
Expenditure
£
£
13,097,915
(12,336,047)

-
-


13,097,915
(12,336,047)


7,543,838
(8,861,932)
109,338
(114,400)
943,165
(852,174)
-
-
5,272,884
(5,460,284)
113,385
(113,385)
312
(312)
4,174,502
(2,536,298)
1,692,736
(274,964)
322,832
(322,832)
1,264,419
(1,264,419)


21,437,411
(19,801,000)


34,535,326
(32,137,047)

 Transfer
Balance
30 September
2023
£
£
1,191,882
(1,144,151)
628,103
1,381,705


1,819,985
237,554


-
362,590
-
119,314
-
90,991
(181,562)
-
-
60,850
-
-
-
-
-
2,011,040
(1,638,423)
-
-
-
-
-


(1,819,985)
2,644,785


-
2,882,339
237,554
362,590
119,314
90,991
-
60,850
-
-
2,011,040
-
-
-
2,644,785
2,882,339

Unrestricted funds

The designated fund for Capital Replacement Reserve is earmarked for purchase replacement assets.

The core development reserve represents prepaid funding designated for the development and growth of UK Biobank over a multiyear period.

UK Biobank Limited 57 Report and financial statements

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS For the year ended 30 September 2024

17 ANALYSIS OF FUNDS (CONTINUED)

Restricted funds

Details below give accumulated funding awarded for each project which is drawn down and recognised as income in the year in line with annual charitable activities of the Charity are as follows:

Imaging Enhancement Project

Funding of £57,824,213 has been secured to undertake an imaging study across 100,000 participants as well as a series of repeat assessments on these same participants, including 10,000 repeat imaging assessments. This also includes funding for COVID-19 Support awarded by UKRI-MRC.

Eye Measures and Additional Sample

Funding of £5,000,000 was secured in November 2021 to support the Repeat Imaging Project of 60,000 participants, by undertaking additional sample collection and optical coherence tomography as additional imaging technology enhancements.

Repeat Imaging Project

Funding of £30,000,000 was secured in February 2022 to carry out the Repeat Imaging Project, re-imaging 60,000 participants.

Research Analysis Platform

As part of the initiative to complete Whole Genome Sequencing of the whole cohort, the Charity was awarded a grant of £20,000,000 in October 2019 to establish a Research Analysis Platform with storage capacity for these data.

Ethics Advisory

In January 2020, the Charity was awarded £400,000 to develop an ethics advisory service for the Charity.

COVID-19 Assay

The Charity commenced a study to collect samples for a COVID-19 Assay, on a cost recovery basis up to a maximum of £45,000.

Infrastructure Project

Following successful completion full business case, the charity was awarded £127,600,000 of funding over 10 years to replace sample archive and enable the Charity relocate to a purpose built facility in Manchester Science Park. Costs associated with build and store are restricted until the building is completed and is brought into use.

Award Conditions

In April 2023, the Charity was awarded £1,000,000 to cover the costs of completing a number of conditions applying to the 2022-2027 core funding award.

Global Researcher Access Fund

The Charity was awarded £74,428 to support research work from Low Middle-Income Countries.

UK Biobank Limited 58 Report and financial statements

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS For the year ended 30 September 2024

17 ANALYSIS OF FUNDS (CONTINUED)

Additional Funding

Funding of £4,100,000 was secured to provide reimbursement of expenses relating to increased energy costs for liquid nitrogen and electricity, costs associated with the maintenance and repair of the sample store, and costs associated with the preparation of the UKRI Infrastructure funding award.

Helmhotz Association Collaboration

Funding of £356,000 was secured in March 2024 to aid UK Biobank forge a collaboration on optimising the phenotyping of health outcomes in the UK and Germany

Cognitive function testing

Funding of £204,750 was secured in September 2024 to support collection of relevant data on cognitive functions.

Cloud storage support

Represents the value of ‘in kind’ cloud storage support recognised in the financial statements during the period.

18 ALLOCATION OF NET ASSETS

The net assets are held as follows:

Unrestricted
Restricted
2024
2024
£
£
Fixed assets
2,731,175
18,149,190
Net current assets
19,213,027
12,880,670
Deferred income
(3,352,012)
-
Provisions for liabilities and
charges
-
(1,012,349)
18,592,190
30,017,511		 Total
Unrestricted
Restricted
2024
2023
2023
£
£
£
20,880,365
3,474,388
3,609,882
32,093,697
7,564,175
731,111
(3,352,012)
(4,454,302)
-
(1,012,349)
(6,346,706)
(1,696,209)

48,609,701
237,555
2,644,784		 Total
2023
£
7,084,270
8,295,286
(4,454,302)
(8,042,915)
2,882,339

UK Biobank Limited 59 Report and financial statements

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS For the year ended 30 September 2024

19 COMMITMENTS

Land and Buildings
Not later than one year
Later than one year and not more than five years
Later than five years
Plant and Machinery
Not later than one year
Later than one year and not more than five years
Later than five years		 2024
£
656,606
1,481,080
402,049
2,539,735
2024
£
25,250
17,885
-
43,135		 2023
£
653,288
1,216,904
591,120
2,461,312
2023
£
23,647
-
-
23,647

The operating lease payments charged to the Statement of Financial Activities during the year in respect of these noncancellable operating leases was £659,205 (2023: £647,473).

UK Biobank Limited 60 Report and financial statements

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS For the year ended 30 September 2024

20 RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

Related party transactions are detailed below. There have been no provisions made against any of the transactions at the year-end and no amounts have been written off in respect of these transactions during the year.

Medical researchers access to the Charity’s resource

During the year, medical researchers have requested and obtained access to the Charity’s data and samples with fees relating to this financial year captured in Note 3. These transactions are carried out at arm’s length in line with a standard pricing policy.

Wellcome and the Medical Research Council

Wellcome and the Medical Research Council are both Members of the Charity and entitled to appoint a Director to the Board. Tariq Khokhar (Head of Data for Science and Health) represented Wellcome and Dr Joseph McNamara (Head of Cohort Strategy) and subsequently Dr Claire Newland (Director of Policy, Ethics and Governance), represented the Medical Research Council. These individuals were both Directors and Trustees of the Charity during the year.

Unrestricted funds

This charity’s core funding is provided by Wellcome and the Medical Research Council with contributions from the National Institute of Health Research, the British Heart Foundation and Cancer Research UK.

In August 2022, the charity was awarded core funding of £15,710,858 for the period 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2024. Extension of the core funding beyond this point was contingent on successful completion of a number of award conditions by 30 June 2024.

These conditions have now been satisfied, and the charity has been awarded further core funding of £36,309,142 to cover the period from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2029.

The objectives of this funding remain consistent with those laid out within the Trustees report.

The cash received during the year was as follows:

2024 2023
£ £
Wellcome 2,362,190 4,749,005
Medical Research Council 2,362,190 4,749,005
National Institute of Health Research 259,523 521,752
British Heart Foundation 470,107 945,116
Cancer Research UK 370,747 745,359
5,824,757 11,710,237

UK Biobank Limited 61 Report and financial statements

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS For the year ended 30 September 2024

20 RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS (CONTINUED)

Wellcome and the Medical Research Council (continued)

Funding received by the Charity during the year for these projects are as follows:

Imaging Enhancement Project
Medical Research Council
Wellcome
British Heart Foundation
Dementias Platform UK
Repeat Imaging Project
Medical Research Council
Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
Calico
Research Analysis Platform
Wellcome
Ethics Advisory
Wellcome
UKRI-MRC
Total

UK Biobank Limited 62 Report and financial statements

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS For the year ended 30 September 2024

20 RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS (CONTINUED)

UKRI-MRC

The amount owing to the Charity by UKRI-MRC at the year-end was £7,234,000 (2023: £1,700,000) for unrestricted and restricted funding.

University of Oxford

Professor Sir Rory Collins, who is the Chief Executive and Principal Investigator of the Charity, is an employee of University of Oxford where he holds the positions of Head of the Nuffield Department of Population Health and British Heart Foundation Professor of Medicine and Epidemiology.

Professor Anneke Lucassen is a Director and Trustee of the Charity and is Director of the Centre for Personalised Medicine at the University of Oxford. During the year, the University of Oxford supported the Ethics Advisory project to address ethical considerations for the Charity (Note 17)

During the year the services provided and the charges to or by the Charity for those services were as follows:

Income
Research sample access - Cardiac monitoring
Recharge of salaries
Research data access
Expenditure
Developing, producing, delivering, and maintaining the Charity’s data and Access
IT Systems and supporting researcher access to the resource
Expert consultants’ advice
Recharge of salaries
Recharge of travel costs and consumables

The amount owing to the University of Oxford at the year-end was £nil (2023: £67,199) with accrued costs of £85,186 (2023: £29,419) and prepaid costs of £nil (2023: £nil). The amount owing by the University of Oxford at the year-end was £107,755 (2023: £199,526) and deferred income of £240,697 (2023: £256,530) and cash held for applications in progress £10,000 (2023: £500) had been recognised by UK Biobank.

UK Biobank Limited 63 Report and financial statements

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS For the year ended 30 September 2024

20 RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS (CONTINUED)

Thrombosis Research Institute

Professor The Lord Ajay Kakkar is the Chair of the Charity and a Trustee, is also a Director of the Thrombosis Research Institute, which has active UK Biobank Data Access applications. The amount included in Access income is £6,333 (2023: £6,333) with deferred income of £6,083 (2023: £12,417), cash held for applications in progress of £nil (2023: £nil) and the amount owed to UK Biobank at the year-end of £26,610 (2023: £1,200).

University of Manchester

Dame Nancy Rothwell is a Director and Trustee of the Charity, is also President and Vice-Chancellor of The University of Manchester. The University of Manchester has several active UK Biobank Data Access applications. The amount included in Access income is £28,556 (2023: £22,144) with deferred income of £46,792 (2023: £38,347) and the amount owed to UK Biobank at the year-end of £26,610 (2023: £5,400).

21 PENSIONS

UK Biobank is a member of the Universities Superannuation Scheme, a ‘hybrid’ pension scheme combining both defined benefit and defined contribution components.

The latest available complete actuarial valuation of the Retirement Income Builder (the defined benefit component of the scheme) was finalised during the year as at 31 March 2023 (the valuation date), which was carried out using the projected unit method. Since the institution cannot identify its share of USS Retirement Income Builder (defined benefit) assets and liabilities, the following disclosures reflect those relevant for those assets and liabilities as a whole.

The 2023 valuation was the seventh valuation for the scheme under the scheme-specific funding regime introduced by the Pensions Act 2004, which requires schemes to have sufficient and appropriate assets to cover their technical provisions (the statutory funding objective). At the valuation date, the value of the assets of the scheme was £73.1 billion and the value of the scheme’s technical provisions was £65.7 billion indicating a surplus of £7.4 billion and a funding ratio of 111%.

Previously, a deficit recovery plan was in place as part of the 2020 valuation, which required payment of 6.2% of salaries over the period 1 April 2022 until 31 March 2024, at which point the rate was expected to increase to 6.3%. As set out in Note 16, no deficit recovery plan was required under the 2023 valuation because the scheme was in surplus on a technical provisions’ basis. The institution was no longer required to make deficit recovery contributions from 1 January 2024 and accordingly released the outstanding provision to the profit and loss account (a credit of £7,099,146, compared with a £1,762,092 charge in 2023). The deficit recovery contributions due within one year for the institution are therefore £nil (2023: £735,388).

UK Biobank Limited 64 Report and financial statements

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS For the year ended 30 September 2024

21 PENSIONS (CONTINUED)

The key financial assumptions used in the 2023 valuation are described below. More detail is set out in the Statement of Funding Principles. (which can be found at https://www.uss.co.uk/about-us/valuation-andfunding/statement-of-funding-principles).

Consumer Prices Index
(“CPI”) assumption		 Term dependent rates in line with the difference between the Fixed Interest and
Index Linked yield curves less:
•
1.0%p.a. to 2030,reducinglinearlyby0.1%p.a. from 2030
Pension increases (subject
to a floor of 0%)		 Benefits with no cap:
•
CPI assumption plus 3bps
Benefits subject to a “soft cap” of 5% (providing inflationary increases up to 5%,
and half of any excess inflation over 5% up to a maximum of 10%):
•
CPI assumption minus 3bps
Discount rate (forward
rates)		 Fixed interest gilt yield curve plus:
•
Pre-retirement: 2.5% p.a.
•
Post retirement: 0.9%

The main demographic assumptions used relate to the mortality assumptions. These assumptions are based on analysis of the scheme’s experience carried out as part of the 2023 actuarial valuation. The mortality assumptions used in these figures are as follows:

2023 valuation
Mortalitybase table 101% of S2PMA “light” for males and 95% of S3PFA for females
Future improvements to
mortality		 CMI 2021 with a smoothing parameter of 7.5, an initial addition of 0.4% p.a., 10%
w2020 and w2021 parameters, and a long-term improvement rate of 1.8% pa for
males and 1.6%pa for females

The current life expectancies on retirement at age 65 are:

2024 2023
Males currently aged 65 (years) 23.7 24.0
Females currently aged 65 (years) 25.6 25.6
Males currently aged 45 (years) 25.4 26.0
Females currently aged 45 (years)
 27.2 27.4