**Trustees’ annual report and accounts** For the year ended 31 December 2024
June 2025
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## Contents
|Message from the Chair and the Chief Executive|1|
|---|---|
|Objectives and activities|4|
|Achievements and performance|8|
|Plans for 2025|15|
|Our commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion|20|
|Financial review|27|
|How The King’s Fund is constituted and governed|31|
|Reference and administrative details|40|
|Statement of Trustees’ responsibilities|45|
|Auditor’s report and accounts|46|
|Independent Auditor’s Report to the Trustees||
|of The King’s Fund|47|
|Consolidated statement of fnancial activities|52|
|Balance sheets|53|
|Consolidated cashfow statement|54|
|Notes to the accounts|55|
Contents
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## Message from the Chair and the Chief Executive
In 2024, The King’s Fund remained at the forefront of health and care in the United Kingdom, continuing to champion healthier places and communities, support people and leaders in the sector, work to tackle health inequalities and provide sharp and timely analysis to shape and inform national debate.
The King’s Fund played an important role during the 2024 UK general election, providing impartial analysis and insight into health and care policies. Our work on the election was the culmination of several years developing policy solutions and using those to inform the thinking of the major English political parties.
Throughout the campaign period, the organisation engaged with political parties, offering trusted feedback on their proposals while maintaining a neutral stance. We produced rapid analysis of party pledges, worked with partners in the media to shape debate, hosted a high-profile stakeholder event featuring leading figures from across the political spectrum, and delivered a six-part podcast series on election issues, providing informed commentary to enhance public and political understanding of health care challenges.
Following the election, The King’s Fund worked closely with the new government and parliament, building relationships with incoming parliamentarians and influencing the development of health policies. Key activities included briefing Members of Parliament (MPs) ahead of crucial debates and collaborating with the House of Commons Library to deliver a ‘Health and Care Explained’ event to improve parliamentary understanding of health and care issues.
In September, the government published the Darzi Review of the NHS, and we were pleased to welcome the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, to The King’s Fund’s annual conference to launch the report and deliver his first major speech on health and care since taking office. Since then, our work on health and care reform has ramped up, feeding into the government’s forthcoming 10-year health plan.
Message from the Chair and the Chief Executive
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Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
Throughout the year, our Healthy places and communities programme sought to promote a more preventive, integrated approach to health and care, through strengthened partnerships between the National Health Service (NHS), local authorities and the voluntary sector. Notable achievements included our research examining the progress made over the previous decade in Greater Manchester towards becoming a preventive, population health-focused system.
Addressing health inequalities remained a central theme in our work throughout 2024. Our Tackling the worst health outcomes programme examined the intersection of poverty and health, producing research such as **People power: lessons from the health care response to the Grenfell Tower fire** and ‘Tackling health inequalities: seven priorities for the NHS’. We continued to support systems and places such as Waltham Forest in their efforts to tackle health inequities and hosted high-profile events that spotlighted the lived experiences of those most affected.
Our work with leaders, exemplified by our leadership and workforce summit and the GSK IMPACT Awards, focused on supporting those who lead and shape the future of health and care. This included our development of the ShiftWorks programme, designed to connect and empower the health and care community.
The forthcoming year is set to be one of reform in the health and care sector. The expected 10 Year Health Plan, the establishment of a royal commission on adult social care and the implementation of the government’s health ‘mission’ all have the potential to be seminal events for people’s health and the services that support them.
The King’s Fund will continue influencing the government’s health mission, which emphasises prevention, technology and more community-based care. Our work to build healthy places and communities will include efforts to ensure the prevention of illness is given far greater priority, and we will deliver specific projects on enhancing the health of children and young people. Our Tackling the worst health outcomes programme will focus on addressing health inequalities, particularly for groups at higher risk, such as disabled people, people from ethnic minority backgrounds and those in deprived areas. Our efforts to support people and leaders in the sector will focus on fostering inclusive work environments, providing leadership support and expanding our digital leadership programmes.
Over the course of 2025, we will also develop a work programme to inform the commission on adult social care, deliver a series of work on patient communications and administration, and publish the latest editions of our high-profile annual research, such as the British Social Attitudes survey of satisfaction with the NHS and social care, and our popular ‘Social care 360’ analysis.
Message from the Chair and the Chief Executive
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Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
Not only will 2025 be a year of reform for the health and care sector, it will also be a year of change for The King’s Fund. Alongside a busy agenda of proactive work and a fast-paced external environment, we are developing our new organisational strategy. 2025 will mark the end of our current strategic period, and as we look ahead to the next, we are developing exciting plans for how we marshal our resources for greatest effect, maximise our efforts for greatest impact for people and patients and develop the bold ideas that will drive better health.
## Kakkar
Lord Kakkar Chair 22/07/2025
SWoolnough Sarah Woolnough Chief Executive 23/07/2025
Message from the Chair and the Chief Executive
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Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## Objectives and activities
## **Our charitable objects, vision and values**
The **objects** of The King’s Fund, as set out in our Royal Charter, are the promotion of health and the alleviation of sickness for the benefit of the public, by working with and for health care organisations, provided that such work will confer benefit, whether directly or indirectly, on health care in London. ‘Health care organisations’ means all those organisations involved in the commissioning, monitoring or supply and provision of health care.
Our **vision** is that the best possible health and care is available to all. We aim to be a catalyst for change and to inspire improvements in health and care by:
- generating and sharing ideas and evidence
- offering rigorous analysis and independent challenge
- bringing people together to discuss, share and learn
- supporting and developing people, teams and organisations
- helping people to make sense of the health and care system.
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Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
Our **values** underpin the work we do.
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We will focus on making the greatest possible
We are committed
impact to achieve our vision of better health
to our purpose
and care for all, always contributing from a
and independence
position of independence.
We will be honest, bold and challenging,
We act with seeking diverse perspectives and
integrity experiences, engaging in constructive
dialogue and calling out injustice.
We will ensure that everyone feels
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respected, valued and supported, recognising
collaborative
that we will achieve more by working
and inclusive
together and collaborating with others.
We will celebrate success, value learning
We are positive
and promote positive cultures that support
and engaged
people to work at their best.
We will strive to produce work of the highest
We strive for
quality, continuously learning to improve
excellence
everything we do.
**----- End of picture text -----**
Objectives and activities
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Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## **Our 2020–25 strategic priorities**
Our work spans the breadth of health and care policy and practice, giving us a unique understanding of the strategic context for health and care now and in the future. Within this, we focus our resources where we believe we can maximise our impact. Our current strategy identifies three strategic priorities that form the basis of our work programmes:
- healthy places and communities
- tackling the worst health outcomes
- supporting people and leaders.
In addition to our three strategic priorities, our work on the foundations of health and care uses our knowledge of the health and care system and the relationships we hold to provide independent analysis, respond to key developments and make sense of the complex and changing health and care landscape.
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Objectives and activities
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Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## **Our impact**
We are committed to evaluating and reporting on our impact. We use several levers to bring about change.
- We explain policy and make sense of the health and care system to support people working in and with the system.
- We shine a light on issues where change is needed through our research and analysis, prompting and informing policy change locally and nationally.
- We offer new thinking, sharing ideas and examples to inform and inspire the future of health and care.
- We work directly with people, teams and organisations to help them develop more effective ways of working and grow the leadership capabilities they need.
- We bring together people with different backgrounds, experiences and perspectives through our events, programmes and networks, using our building to provide safe and stimulating spaces where people can learn and build relationships.
- We advise, support and challenge local and national leaders, applying our thinking, knowledge and understanding to the issues they are facing.
In the next section, we outline our achievements during 2024 and how we have used these levers to deliver impact through our work.
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Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## Achievements and performance
## **Healthier places and communities**
The King’s Fund continues to be at the forefront of work on integrated care, population health and place-based working. The **Healthier places and communities programme** aims to bring about a more preventive and integrated approach to health and care through better partnership-working between the NHS, local authorities and the voluntary sector. The programme’s strategic objectives for 2020–25 are:
- better partnership working and alignment between local authorities, the NHS and the voluntary sector
- national policies, accountability structures and funding flows that reinforce effective partnership working in local systems and places
- communities having more power to drive improvements in the health and care outcomes that matter most to them.
Supporting the successful implementation of integration reforms remained a major priority for the Healthy Places and Communities programme in 2024. We conducted several pieces of work to understand the development and impact of integrated care systems (ICSs) to date. This included research examining the **role that ICSs are playing in improving dementia diagnosis** and care, which used dementia as a test case to understand how ICSs are functioning in practice. We also published _**Realising the potential of integrated care systems**_ , a research report taking stock of the progress that ICSs have made since they became statutory bodies in 2022. Based on the findings of these projects, our message to national leaders was that ICSs may not achieve their full potential unless more is done to create an environment conducive to their success.
The King’s Fund has previously argued that **local place-based partnerships are the foundation of successful ICSs** . In 2024 we continued to draw attention to the need for effective partnership working at this level through an online event on **delivering effective place-based care** , and a related research project, which will be published in 2025. We also held our annual **integrated care summit** , which featured contributions from several high-profile ICS leaders as well as national figures.
The focus of the incoming government on prevention, digital technologies and care closer to home shaped our work in the second half of 2024. In August, we published a long read exploring the critical **role that digital technologies can play in enabling**
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Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
**the shift to more community-based models of care** , which forms a central plank of the new government’s health mission. We argued that while the promise is clear, low levels of investment and siloed approaches currently limit digitally enabled care in the community.
In October we published a **report examining the progress made over the previous decade in Greater Manchester** towards becoming a preventive, population health focused system. The report shares the details of that journey, explores how Greater Manchester has approached improving population health and looks at both its successes and challenges.
As part of our work on the role of communities in health and care, we published a research report entitled _**Commissioning community champions: lessons from a pandemic**_ . This examined how community champions have been commissioned, how they contributed to the Covid-19 pandemic response and the learning from this. It shared insights for those considering community champions models, in the context of other models and approaches to communities and health. We also held conferences on **community-led approaches to health and wellbeing** and on **listening to people and communities** .
## **Tackling the worst health outcomes**
Some groups within the UK population have significantly poorer health outcomes and worse experiences of using health and care services than others. This is a longstanding injustice that the Covid-19 pandemic has underlined and it has deepened with the cost-of-living crisis.
The overarching purpose of the **Tackling the worst health outcomes programme** is to work with people with lived experience, communities and services to improve health and care for people with the worst health outcomes. The programme’s objectives for this strategy period are as follows.
- The lived experiences of those with the worst health outcomes shape health and care policy and practice.
- There is widespread adoption of health and care policy and practices that improve the health and wellbeing of people with the worst health outcomes.
- There is better joint working between the health and care system and its partners to improve the health and wellbeing of people with the worst health outcomes.
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Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
In 2024 we published key research reports, thought pieces and sense-making resources in support of these objectives. These included outputs to support the NHS’s role in tackling poverty, for example our long read entitled **‘Illustrating the relationship between poverty and NHS services’** , which the Joseph Rowntree Foundation commissioned. Our report **People power: lessons from the health care response to the Grenfell Tower fire** , which received national coverage, was a key piece that sought to record people’s experiences of the health care response to the Grenfell fire, giving a voice to the local community and setting out lessons on listening and engagement for health and care systems. The King’s Fund continues to be a go-to place for sense-making about health inequalities and in 2024 we produced new content on health inequalities in our **‘Health inequalities in a nutshell’** piece and in the inequalities section of our **‘Mental health 360’** long read.
In the second half of 2024, our work to influence the new government included the publication of **‘Tackling health inequalities: seven priorities for the NHS’** . This long read looked back across The King’s Fund’s work in this area (including more than 100 reports, events and podcasts) to put forward seven key areas, which we argue must be prioritised within the forthcoming 10-year plan to ensure the NHS can better tackle health inequalities in future.
Our work has also included supporting systems and places in their own work on health inequalities and tackling the worst health outcomes. At the end of 2023, we began a two-year work programme with the place-based partnership in Waltham Forest. The programme, which a cross-King’s Fund team from our Leadership and Organisational Development Directorate and Policy Directorate is delivering, aims to support Waltham Forest in delivering on its ambition to work together for health equity.
The theme of tackling health inequalities and the worst health outcomes was prominent in our events programme in 2024. In May we ran a virtual conference – **‘Tackling health inequalities: the need for urgent action’** – which had one of the highest number of online registrants throughout the year. And our **annual conference** in September included several sessions focused on health inequalities, with the opening session centring on lived experience, a long-standing priority for the Tackling the worst health outcomes programme. This was the conference’s highest-rated session, with delegate feedback highlighting how much they valued the focus on lived experience in particular.
**Healthy Communities Together** , our partnership with The National Lottery Community Fund (TNLCF), aims to test ways of building partnership working between local statutory and voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations to improve the health and wellbeing of local communities. In 2024, the final full year of the programme, we developed a series of outputs sharing insights from the five sites involved, and from our own experience of developing and delivering a programme to support partnership and learning. These are due to be published in 2025.
Achievements and performance
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Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## **Supporting people and leaders**
In 2024 we continued to deliver impact on our work with leaders through our open programmes and bespoke leadership and organisational development commissions, despite challenges that industrial action and NHS operational pressures posed.
Our leadership and workforce summit in March focused on the future of work, attracting 233 delegates and 38 speakers, which included a workshop on building anti-racist organisations.
The 2024 GSK IMPACT Awards recognised 10 winners from 15 shortlisted organisations from 529 applications. Winners received £40,000 and tailored leadership development, and were invited to join a leadership network of nearly 120 organisations. The awards ceremony was held on 16 May at The King’s Fund. We held multiple network events with more than 220 participants, covering topics such as financial uncertainty, change transition and health inequalities. In October, the GSK IMPACT Awards and the GSK Community Health programme saw a significant increase in applications, with 742 for the IMPACT Awards and 228 for the Community Health programme.
We developed a new open programme, **Activate** , in partnership with the charity brap, focused on anti-racist leadership practice.
Our self-directed online courses on the **Future Learn platform** have enrolled more than 30,000 participants to date and in 2024 we launched new online courses, including ‘Play full: getting creative with design thinking in health and care’ and ‘Home work: organisational development for everyone in health and care’.
In September, we launched **ShiftWorks** , The King’s Fund’s new online development offer, which includes the ability to connect people across the health and care community. This will replace our use of Future Learn in 2025. The ShiftWorks programme, which is a low-cost online learning and development offer, welcomed 1,500 learners from 90 organisations in its early adopter phase.
Our leadership and workforce research activities included:
- working with the RCN Foundation (RCNF) to formally launch the **Follow Your Compassion** project, an ethnographic record of the lives of 22 newly qualified nurses and midwives
- a report on how public health leaders can work cohesively with the new cadre of emerging population health leaders in integrated care systems – **Public health and population health: leading together**
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Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
- two long reads on the role of young people in the social care workforce – **‘Changemakers or troublemakers: what do social care providers think of younger workers?’** and **‘I can’t see myself doing this forever’: younger people’s experiences of working in adult social care’**
- the commencement of an action research project on organisational anxiety with leaders from across different parts of the health and care system.
We submitted written evidence to the Health and Social Care Committee inquiry into the relationship between NHS leadership and performance/productivity.
Our clinical leadership and research activities continued to gain prominence, with a podcast featuring Jason Leitch CBE and the publication of a long read on the experiences of specialty and specialist and locally employed doctors: **‘Reflections of speciality and specialist and locally employed doctors in the NHS’** . And the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) commissioned us to conduct an independent learning review about the extraordinary general meeting (EGM) process the College used to debate issues regarding physician associates.
During the year we also hosted visits and collaborative workshops with international clinical and managerial leaders.
We continued to comment and provide voice on leadership and organisational development topics, including work on anti-racism, organisational anxiety and issues that the annual NHS Staff Survey raised, and through other podcasts including a conversation with Clenton Farquharson, CBE, on co-production, equity and change.
## **Foundations of health and care**
Our broad knowledge of the health and care system and the relationships we hold across the system underpin all our work. We know that our stakeholders and audiences value the work we do to provide independent analysis, explain key issues and respond to emerging developments across the breadth of health and care. For that reason, we maintain a focus on the foundations of the health and care system, the basic building blocks that facilitate high-quality services and a healthy population.
In February 2024, The King’s Fund published the report _**Making care closer to home a reality**_ , addressing the long-held vision of a health service centred on primary and community care. The report identified barriers and enablers for achieving this goal. BBC News outlets, including Radio 4’s Today Programme, widely covered the report. The findings sparked discussions with key stakeholders, including the National Director for Primary Care and Community Services, as well as the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) and the British Medical Association (BMA). Following
Achievements and performance
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Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
the launch of the report, The King’s Fund hosted an invite-only stakeholder event featuring speakers such as former Conservative health minister Lord Bethell and Labour adviser Paul Corrigan.
In February, The King’s Fund also published the long read **‘Mental health 360’** , providing a comprehensive overview of mental health services and offering key insights into the state of the sector.
In March, The King’s Fund released its agenda-setting analysis of the **‘British Social Attitudes survey’** , conducted with the Nuffield Trust. The survey revealed that public satisfaction with both the NHS and social care had reached its lowest level in 41 years, prompting significant media attention and responses from political parties. The results have formed a core part of the narrative on the need for transformative change in health and care.
Also in March, The King’s Fund published **an analysis of how poverty affects health and NHS access** , commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, as well as the long read **‘Social care 360’** , an important annual resource for understanding the state of social care.
May saw the announcement of the 2024 general election, prompting The King’s Fund to implement its long-planned election period work, focusing on bringing impartial insight and analysis to the campaign debate. The team created a webpage for electionrelated content and provided briefings, which attracted informed media reporting throughout the campaign period. The King’s Fund also published a **compendium of party manifesto commitments on health and care** , which proved to have been one of the most popular pieces of content on the website across the whole year.
During the election period, The King’s Fund engaged with political parties, providing trusted feedback on their health and care policies. The organisation also delivered a six-part election podcast series and supported events, such as a stakeholder breakfast featuring leading figures from all major parties. The King’s Fund’s neutral stance ensured that it maintained close relationships with parties while upholding impartiality, leading to valuable insights and influence in the policy debate.
Post-election, The King’s Fund worked on building relationships with new parliamentarians, influencing the new government’s policy development and briefing MPs ahead of key debates. This work included a collaboration with the House of Commons Library to deliver a ‘Health and care explained’ event held in parliament, designed to increase knowledge among MPs and their staff and, in doing so, raise the standard of debate on health and care issues. Additionally, the organisation provided commentary on the government’s first King’s Speech and offered recommendations on managing winter pressures in the NHS and social care.
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Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
Our work throughout the election and with the new government led to the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, visiting The King’s Fund in September to deliver his **first major speech on health** . The speech, and the preceding remarks from our Chief Executive, Sarah Woolnough, were broadcast live on television and the event garnered widespread media and stakeholder attention.
In November, The King’s Fund published a report called **NHS and life sciences industry partnerships: collaborating to improve care** , highlighting the need for greater involvement from the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to foster trust and collaboration. The research coincided with a **conference on NHS and life sciences** held at The King’s Fund.
Throughout 2024, The King’s Fund continued to shape health and care policy, advocate for adequate funding and engage in rigorous analysis of the government’s policies and transformation agenda.
## **Internal change**
At the end of January 2024, we launched a new website. The site was built with a focus on helping our users quickly find what they need. It offers a more curated approach to guide users through our content and showcases the breadth of our work more effectively.
We advanced our Future Fund programme to manage emergent technology and ideas, supporting both external opportunities and internal organisational change. Key initiatives include providing staff with access to the Microsoft Co-pilot AI tool and launching a digital acceleration community to enhance AI experimentation and build digital capability. In July we successfully migrated our finance system to an online version of the application, reducing reliance on internal IT resources (hardware and support) and enabling the automatic scheduling and management of updates. We also commenced work on extending the functionality of our CRM, which will go live in 2025. We continue to update our internal systems to make them more efficient, effective and to meet regulatory and best practice standards.
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Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## Plans for 2025
## **Healthier places and communities**
A significant focus for The King’s Fund in 2025 will be to influence the design and implementation of the government’s health mission, which seeks to improve healthy life expectancy by placing greater emphasis on prevention, making better use of technology and delivering more care closer to home.
Within this context, our programme objectives for 2025 are as follows:
- **prevention and population health** – supporting integrated care systems (ICSs) to maintain sufficient focus on prevention and population health in the face of performance and financial challenges, and ensuring that evidence informs national and local thinking on prevention
- **children and young people’s health** – developing work on health promotion and illness prevention through the lens of children and young people’s health, including presenting the evidence for prioritising children and young people to create a healthier society
- **care closer to home** – creating a better understanding of how the national ambition to move care closer to home could be achieved in practice, and how this could be done in ways that maximise improvements for people using services
- **devolution and place** – harnessing political interest in further devolution of powers to regions and in place-based approaches, and ensuring this leads to effective action to improve population health and reduce inequalities
- **neighbourhoods and communities** – promoting the role of local voluntary and community sector organisations, and communities themselves, in creating better health and wellbeing, and ensuring this forms part of the government’s ambition to create a ‘neighbourhood health service’.
Plans for 2025
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Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
Specific commitments include:
- publishing new research on the role of place-based partnerships and their relationship with ICSs, supported by an online conference on place-based care
- working with the Centre for Local Economic Strategies (CLES) to explore how devolution policy in the English regions can support action on population health and health inequalities
- supporting the shift to prevention through new research examining the role ICSs can play in preventing cardiovascular diseases
- supporting the shift to community-based care by exploring the practical implications of this shift for patients and staff.
## **Tackling the worst health outcomes**
In 2025, the **Tackling the worst health outcomes programme** will focus on influencing the new government’s approach to health inequalities and the health mission, encouraging a focus on lived experience and work with communities, and supporting work on health inequalities at a system and place level.
Within this context, our programme objectives for 2025 are to:
- influence and respond to the new government as it develops its ambitions and approach in relation to health inequalities and tackling the worst health outcomes
- ‘mainstream’ work on health inequalities and tackle the worst health outcomes, externally and within The King’s Fund, through supporting capability building and sharing and analysing what works
- support the health and care system to bring lived experience to bear on policy and practice in a way that enhances the quality of the system’s approach
- provide leadership support to NHS, local authority and voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations and share insights gained from this work.
The programme will also work to get people within The King’s Fund to consider lived experience in all that they do, and to consider a focus on the four population groups we identified as being at risk of worse health outcomes (disabled people, including people with learning disabilities, ethnic minority women, inclusion health groups and ‘left-behind’ neighbourhoods).
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Specific commitments include:
- exploring opportunities for work focused on tackling poverty at a system level – this might include research, partnerships, giving support to local systems and sharing learning and practice
- building on our NHS administration and health inequalities work to:
- continue making the case for good admin
- share best practice on approaches to admin that is co-produced and promotes equal access
- encourage a focus on patients’ experience of admin
- cement our reputation as a thought leader on this topic
- continuing work to disseminate the lessons from Healthy Communities Together, a programme delivered in partnership with The National Lottery Community Fund (TNLCF) to support partnership working in local areas.
## **Supporting people and leaders**
The overarching aim of the **Supporting people and leaders programme** is to create a healthier, more inclusive and effective health and care workforce. The workforce crisis is central to many challenges in the UK health and care sector and should be a high priority for leaders at all levels.
The work of The King’s Fund includes (but is not restricted to) supporting the delivery of the NHS long-term workforce plan and other emergent government priorities for the health and care workforce.
Our focus is on developing insights on the primary systemic factors – such as culture, inclusion and equity – to ensure the retention and wellbeing of the current workforce, as well as exploring the future of work in our society and how leaders can secure radical change across health and care services.
Drawing on our practice work with people and leaders, our research and our policy insights we will continue to:
- use evidence-based research and practice to promote conditions for a sustainable workforce
- focus on contemporary leadership and organisational development to support healthy, inclusive and compassionate workplaces for safe and effective care delivery
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- support clinical and care professional leaders in collaborating, learning and implementing change across various settings to deliver integrated care
- develop digital learning offers to extend reach to people from ethnic minority groups and to early-career leaders.
Our specific commitments in 2025 are to:
- publish thought leadership resources on the future of work, including the impact of digital technologies, to inspire transformation in the health and care workforce
- refresh The King’s Fund’s view on leadership, emphasising closer work with local communities and launching a new project for radical change in integrated care delivery
- expand the ShiftWorks digital leadership learning programme from 1,500 to 5,000 learners, including 12 continuing professional development accredited courses
- curate evidence, articles and work on anti-racism for The King’s Fund’s website, providing resources to support our work and profile in this area.
## **Foundations of health and care**
In developing the **Foundations of health and care work programme** , we have considered the government’s priorities to ensure The King’s Fund has a work programme relevant to that agenda. In our assessment, the government has five health and care priorities:
- shifting care from hospital to the community
- moving from analogue to digital technologies
- moving the focus from treatment to prevention
- addressing the immediate crisis in services
- developing enough of a social care reform plan to satisfy critics.
Of these five government health and care priorities, The King’s Fund is planning work on community services and prevention under our Healthier places and communities programme, and work on digital innovation through our ‘Future Fund’ work. Therefore, the proposed Foundations of health and care work programme will deliver work relevant to the immediate and pressing crises in health and care services, social care reform, digital technology, and preventing illness.
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Specific areas of work include:
- work to inform and shape the newly forming commission on adult social care in England
- a programme of outputs to inform the forthcoming 10-year health plan, specifically the difficult trade-offs that will be necessary to make it a success
- NHS patient communications and administration – delivering a year-long campaign of regular outputs designed to generate momentum around this agenda and propose and drive actions to improve patient experience (and therefore satisfaction) through radically improved patient communications and administration
- the British Social Attitudes survey – alongside partner organisations (the Nuffield Trust and the National Centre for Social Research), we produce the gold-standard annual assessment of public satisfaction with the NHS and social care
- producing ‘Social care 360’ – our annual amalgamation of the available adult social care system data, providing a uniquely comprehensive resource that helps identify where improvement is needed
- producing a life sciences explainer – delivering an explainer on the connections and dependencies between the life sciences sector and health and care services (funding being secured in 2024).
## **Internal change**
Our internal priorities for 2025 strengthen our ability to support the delivery of The King’s Fund’s external programme of work.
The creation and implementation of the new corporate strategy is integral and will draw on resources across the organisation. This will mean redefining our strategic priorities, developing our operating model and refreshing our brand. The new strategy will be launched in 2025.
We will develop our capability in, and knowledge of, the use of digital tools and we will continue to test the potential applications of artificial intelligence (AI). We will continue discussions with external thought leaders about the future of work and use of technology.
Plans for 2025
19
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## Our commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion
In 2024, The King’s Fund committed to embracing ‘equity’ as part of our diversity and inclusion work. Our equity, diversity and inclusion vision closely aligns with our organisational one; we are ‘working towards a better, fairer workplace and health and care system’.
## **Measuring progress**
The **diversity** of our people combined with **equitable** processes allows us to create an **inclusive** culture at The King’s Fund. But what do we mean by the ‘diversity of our people’? There are so many things we can measure.
This year, we agreed to start collecting data around disability and long-term conditions, and to review our processes for collecting and reviewing ‘special category’ data – that is, sensitive personal data. A more robust approach has been established across all teams that process this type of data, and these changes will be implemented in 2025.
We continue to measure gender and ethnicity, and below you will find this year’s data against our targets.
## **Decision-maker targets**
We have committed to publishing progress against targets to increase diversity among our Board and committees, General Advisory Council and senior decision-makers, and to publish data on the diversity of our staff. Our targets are set to be maintained/ reached by 2027.
Our commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion
20
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
The position at the end of 2024 is presented as numbers and percentages in the table below.
|table below.|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|||**Board and**|**Senior decision-**|**General Advisory**|
||**Target (%)**|**committees (13)**|**makers (35)**|**Council (26)**|
|Female|50%|38% (5)|60% (21)|62% (16)|
|People from|||||
|Black and|||||
|ethnic minority|||||
|backgrounds|20%|23% (3)|20% (7)|50% (13)|
The data shows that we are hitting all of our decision-maker targets except for the proportion of women on our Board and committees. We have two all-male committees, both of which have a vacancy. There are plans to address this in 2025, as we recruit new Trustees.
## **External representative targets**
We have committed to publishing progress against targets we have set to increase diversity among those who represent The King’s Fund externally. The position at the end of 2024 is presented in the table below.
||**Target**|**Events**|**Breakfast**|**Media**|**Podcast**|**Blog**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**(%)**||**events**|**spokespeoplea**|**guests**|**authorsb**|
|Female|50%|56%|61%|54%|57%|51%|
|People from Black and|||||||
|ethnic minority backgrounds|20%|26%|17%|51%|36%|30%|
a online, broadcast and print
b internal authors
The data shows that we exceeded our targets across the board regarding both gender and ethnicity, with the exception of Black and ethnic minority representation at our breakfast events. We will strive to continue that momentum in 2025. We had two all-male panels in 2024 due to election-period restrictions and a late change in a small panel.
Our commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion
21
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## **Our staff**
We collect data from our staff to enable us to track the diversity of the organisation over time. Data was most recently collected as part of our 2023 staff survey. It was provided anonymously and, where necessary, smaller numbers of respondents were grouped together to allow reporting. Out of 148 staff, 126 completed the survey. The results are presented below. In each category of data there was an option of ‘prefer not to say’.
**----- Start of picture text -----**
Ethnic origin
**----- End of picture text -----**
## Gender identity
**----- Start of picture text -----**
11 7
14
10
Asian or Asian British Male
38
Black or Black British Female
Mixed or Multiple
Prefer not to say
ethnic groups
White 81
91
Prefer not to say
**----- End of picture text -----**
Romantic/sexual orientation
Disability
**----- Start of picture text -----**
14 13 12
Heterosexual/straight Yes
LGBT+ No
18
Prefer not to say/ Prefer not to say
not listed
94
101
**----- End of picture text -----**
We are planning to do a refresh of our data collection through our internal human resources (HR) system.
Our commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion
22
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## **External benchmarking**
To help benchmark where we are on our inclusion journey, we use two external assessments: the Employers Network for Equality & Inclusion’s Talent Inclusion and Diversity Evaluation (TIDE) and Stonewall’s UK Workplace Equality Index (WEI).
The Talent Inclusion and Diversity Evaluation assesses organisational performance and progress across multiple categories of diversity. In 2024, we were assessed at the ‘realise’ level, scoring 57 per cent.
The Workplace Equality Index measures progress on lesbian, gay, bi and trans inclusion in the workplace. In 2024 we were ranked 79 in Stonewall’s Top 100 employers, a small drop from our 75th position in 2023. We also received a Gold Award. Our highest ranking areas were:
- our staff feedback questionnaire, which indicates that lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer and other identity (LGBTQ+) staff at The King’s Fund feel valued and non-LGBTQ+ staff are aware of the work that goes on in this area and have opportunities to demonstrate allyship
- our policies and procedures, particularly highlighting our trans inclusion policy and our suite of family policies.
We ranked ninth in submissions from the health and social care sector.
## **Our work programme**
We have a wide-ranging programme of work to support us in becoming a more equitable, diverse and inclusive organisation, including our commitments to addressing slavery and colonialism through our published action plan.
Our equity, diversity and inclusion work programme is framed around four key thematic priorities. Some 2024 highlights within those themes are as follows.
- **Representation and using our power.** We use our influence in the health and care system to showcase diverse voices, implement diverse practices and impact under-represented communities. In 2024 this included:
- a session at our 2024 annual conference on health inequalities and anti-racist practice
- **our report on the health care response to the Grenfell Tower fire**
- **a podcast episode on Black maternal health care**
- a partners and supporters dinner focused on LGBTQ+ inclusion.
Our commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion
23
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
- **Empowering our team.** We support our people through robust policies and procedures and transparent reporting. Work continues on our HR policy review, rolling out people manager training and starting a corporate induction – ensuring all staff have an equity, diversity and inclusion lens.
- **Embedding allyship.** We champion collaboration, cross-King’s Fund working and continuous learning to ensure our work is inclusive and accessible. This includes:
- our staff network meetings and events (Black History Month and Pride)
- guest speakers at our all staffs
- the decision in 2024 to make our all staff meetings accessible to remote participants.
- **Supporting our team.** We provide training, pastoral care and resources for people involved in inclusion work and people from under-represented communities. This has included:
- training for our staff network leads
- anti-racism training for our Senior Management Team alongside their peers from other health and care charities
- internal anti-racism training based on the learning and organisational development open programme Activate.
## **Report on progress against our slavery and colonialism action plan**
In 2023, we published an action plan to address the injustices of our historical links to colonialism and slavery. The action plan committed us to action in four key areas. A brief update on progress is given below.
- **Embedding anti-racism across the health and care system.** We launched the first cohort of Activate, an anti-racism open programme co-designed with brap, for the health and care system. Our Learning and Organisational Development Team continues to work with brap as a learning partner to help us embed anti-racism into our wider programme work. We also published an anti-racism hub on our website, which contains free resources for individuals and organisations who are on their anti-racism journey.
- **Widening access to our leadership development programmes.** Work on our approach to free and discounted places on our open programmes continues, with the aim of this being signed off in quarter 2 of 2025.
Our commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion
24
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
- **Diversifying the charity and health policy talent pipeline.** We have temporarily paused recruitment to our positive action posts in our library and policy teams. We will continue to review these posts. In 2024 we offered our first placement through Health Data Research UK’s Black internship programme, and we will continue this in 2025.
- **Reflecting a more diverse history of health and care.** We renamed our internal meeting rooms after health and care pioneers from an ethnic minority background. The names chosen were: Dame Elizabeth Anionwu, Nasa Begum, Professor Kevin Fenton, Surgeon-Major Africanus Horton, Dr Harold Moody, Rabbi Baroness Julia Neuberger and Chief Kofoworola Abeni Pratt. Our Seacole Workspace is now available for internal and external use on the second floor. We have also commissioned a sculpture of Mary Seacole to be displayed in our foyer. This will be ready in 2025.
## **A look ahead to 2025**
There are seven key areas of focus for equity, diversity and inclusion at The King’s Fund in 2025:
- **people management** – ensuring training focuses on inclusion and wellbeing, including embedding newly refreshed policies from our 2024 review
- **workforce and customer diversity profile** – implementing recommendations from our equity, diversity and inclusion data review in 2024: a robust and consistent approach to the collection and reporting of equity, diversity and inclusion data (including recruitment, event and speaker data), free and discounted places in learning and organisational development and open programmes in conjunction with the Open Programme Update and Standardisation (OPUS) project
- **inclusive recruitment and onboarding** – publishing an inclusive recruitment handbook and rolling out a corporate induction that includes equity, diversity and inclusion
- **anti-racism training** – sustainably rolling out anti-racism training for another cohort of staff in The King’s Fund
- **communication and engagement on equity, diversity and inclusion** – implementing principles for engaging with social justice, anti-racism and equity, diversity and inclusion-related issues externally and internally, including in our new strategy and portfolio of work
Our commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion
25
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
- **heightened awareness of socio-economic status and class, disability and neurodiversity** – actions could include, but are not limited to:
- self-assessment against the Social Mobility Employer Index
- including disability in our targets alongside gender and ethnicity
- upskilling staff on neurodiversity awareness
- **mental health and wellbeing** – drafting and publishing a mental health and wellbeing policy for The King’s Fund, making clear what is and what is not in the organisation’s purview.
Our commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion
26
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## Financial review
## **Review of income and expenditure for the year ended 31 December 2024**
Total **income** decreased in the year to £13.8 million (£14.6 million in 2023), of which £6.1 million (£6.4 million in 2023) was generated from charitable activities and £7.7 million (£8.2 million in 2023) was derived from other sources, namely investments, donations and legacies, and other trading activities. Increasing pressures on public sector finances and a general election being held in the summer adversely affected charitable income, leading to delays in both securing income for and delivering in line with our charitable activities. Trading income stayed in line with 2023, but investment income (dividends and income from our investment properties) decreased from £3.4 million to £3.0 million.
Total **expenditure** increased in the year to £19.9 million (£19.5 million in 2023) due to the effects of inflation. Expenditure on charitable activities increased to £14.8 million (£14.7 million in 2023), mostly due to the increased costs of generating charitable income. Expenditure on other trading activities increased to £3.9 million (£3.6 million in 2023) because of the increased costs in generating income.
The average number of staff employed by The King’s Fund during the year was 152, the same as in 2023.
We budget for operating deficits, which are set at a level with a view to maintaining the long-term value of the investment capital in real terms. The Fund’s operating deficit for the year was £6.2 million (£4.9 million in 2023). This deficit was higher than in 2023 because of inflation increasing our costs more than the additional income we generated. Investment gains in 2024 were £14.4 million (£9.6 million gain in 2023). Further details on investment performance are set out below.
## **Net assets at 31 December 2024**
The Fund’s consolidated net assets at 31 December 2024 were £225.4 million (£217.3 million in 2023). This increase is largely because of the £14.4 million investment gain, which more than covered our operating deficit.
Net assets at 31 December 2024 comprised fixed assets of £246.6 million, net current liabilities of £1.2 million and long-term liabilities of £20.0 million. There is no defined benefit pension scheme liability as the assets within the scheme are higher than the liabilities. In line with financial reporting standard 102 (FRS 102),
Financial review
27
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
these are not recognised as it is considered that the surplus in the defined benefit pension scheme is not recoverable (this is detailed further below in our accounting policies). Fixed assets comprised tangible fixed assets of £51.6 million and fixed asset investments of £194.7 million.
During the year, the book value of tangible fixed assets decreased by £0.2 million due to depreciation of £1.0 million exceeding capital expenditure of £0.8 million. The main items of capital spend during the year were on office improvements.
The value of fixed asset investments increased during the year by £8.6 million due to the strong performance of our invested portfolio.
## **Loan**
In May 2021 the Fund entered into a 30-year loan arrangement with MetLife for £20 million, as the interest payable on the loan is most likely to be lower than the investment returns. The interim loan repayments are interest only, with the capital amount only being payable on the maturity of the loan in May 2051.
## **Investment performance**
The strategic allocation and the actual allocation at the end of the financial year are shown below.
|shown below.||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**Asset class**||||**Actual**|**Actual**|
||**Strategic**|||**allocation**|**allocation**|
||**allocation**|**Minimum**|**Maximum**|**2024**|**2023**|
||**%**|**%**|**%**|**%**|**%**|
|Cash|0|0|8|1.0|1.3|
|Bonds|5|3|9|4.1|4.5|
|**Total cash and bonds**|**5**|**3**|**11**|**5.1**|**5.8**|
|Developed market equities|55|48|62|64.9|64.8|
|Emerging market equities|10|7|13|11.0|11.4|
|Private equity|10|0|12|0.7|1.2|
|**Total equities**|**75**|**72**|**77**|**76.6**|**77.4**|
|Infrastructure|5|0|7|4.3|2.1|
|Property|15|12|18|14.0|14.7|
|**Total alternatives**|**20**|**12**|**22**|**18.3**|**16.8**|
|**Total**|**100**|||**100.0**|**100.0**|
Note: the subtotals and overall total are not intended to add from their constituent parts. This is because the intention is to set minimum and maximum allocations that can be achieved with flexibility between asset classes.
Financial review
28
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
In December 2022 the Board approved a new strategic asset allocation to further diversify the portfolio and better manage the endowment through the inflationary environment we are now in, which includes investing in private equity and infrastructure. This is now reflected in the table above.
The value of the Fund’s total investments at 31 December 2024, comprising publicly quoted equity and bonds, private equity and property, was £194.7 million (£186.1 million in 2023). These investments produced income – net of investment management fees and loan interest – of £8.4 million during the year, and this income, together with £8.0 million of investment capital, was withdrawn during the year to cover the Fund’s cashflow needs. After allowing for these withdrawals, the investments generated a total gain of £14.4 million (5 per cent).
## **Donations and legacies**
The Fund gratefully acknowledges donations and/or legacies received from the following during the past year: His Majesty King Charles III, D Emmerson and C Tilby.
## **Financial strategy and reserves**
The Fund’s financial strategy is guided by its policies on expenditure, reserves and investments. The Fund’s policy on expenditure is to ensure that it has sufficient resources to meet its charitable objectives over the medium term. The Fund generates money from a variety of activities that support or are complementary to its core purpose and make best use of its assets. As the money the Fund generates is insufficient to cover its total expenditure, a proportion is drawn from investment capital. In agreeing the level of resources, Trustees are mindful of their responsibility for the stewardship of the Fund’s long-term mission. Trustees take a risk-based approach, which aims to balance:
- the Fund’s ambition in meeting its charitable objectives
- its ability to generate income
- its capacity to spend from investments, now and in the future.
The Fund’s total reserves at 31 December 2024 were £225.4 million. As set out in note 19 to the accounts, £160 million of this represents the expendable endowment (all of which is included in fixed asset investments). Restricted funds have a deficit of £12,000 due to the timings of funding received and activities carried out, and will be recovered in future years. The remaining £65 million represents unrestricted funds, £52 million of which could only be realised by disposing of fixed assets that the Fund currently uses in its activities.
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29
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
The Fund’s policy on reserves is based on recognising the long-term nature of its work and the continuing need for financial support. The expendable endowment, restricted funds and unrestricted reserves are managed as a pooled investment, with the intention of providing financial support today and for the foreseeable future. The Trustees consider reserves to be at an appropriate level.
The Fund’s policy on investments is to take a long-term approach, investing globally across a range of assets, with the intention of preserving its value in real terms after allowing for expenditure. As a charity committed to improving health, we do not have any direct or indirect investments in the tobacco industry.
The Fund’s investment strategy is to manage the portfolio based on a total return, that is, income and capital combined. The Fund has an asset allocation that is geared towards equities because of their higher expected returns in the long term, while maintaining an appropriate level of liquidity to meet expenditure commitments in the near future. The reference date for the purpose of assessing the real value of the investments is 1 October 2019. Trustees review the amount that they spend from investments periodically, balancing the expected demand for resources with the likelihood of future investment returns. The Trustees recognise that each year the Fund will need to withdraw the investment income and some of the investment capital to bridge the gap between its annual income and expenditure, and they set the budget accordingly.
Between 1 October 2019 (the reference date) and 31 December 2024, after income and capital withdrawals and removing the loan, the value of the Fund’s investments was a loss of £20.4 million in real terms (using the consumer prices index). Our investment strategy allows for periods of short-term losses, such as those we experienced in 2022, to maximise the long-term returns.
## **Who funds us**
Our independence is very important to us. On our website **(www.kingsfund.org.uk/ about-us/who-we-are/how-we-raise-spend-money)** we have further analysis of the income we obtain from the variety of sources mentioned above, which gives more information about where our funding comes from.
Financial review
30
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## How The King’s Fund is constituted and governed
## **Our charitable objects**
The King’s Fund is incorporated by Royal Charter and is governed by the provisions and byelaws of the Charter. The Charter sets out the charitable objects of the Fund, which are the promotion of health and the alleviation of sickness for the benefit of the public, by working with and for health care organisations, provided that such work will confer benefit, whether directly or indirectly, on health care in London. In this context, ‘health care organisations’ means those organisations involved in the commissioning, monitoring or supply and provision of health care.
## **Working for the public benefit**
Our vision that the best possible health and care is available to all ensures that we work for the benefit of the public. We aim to deliver our vision and mission through a strategic plan and annual operational plans, which are approved by the Fund’s Trustees. In approving these plans, the Trustees are mindful of the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit and their duty to ensure the Fund is carrying out its purpose in relation to this. In particular, the Trustees consider how activities will contribute to the aims and objectives they have set.
## **Governing body and committees**
The Board of Trustees agrees the organisation’s overall strategic direction, in line with its charitable objectives, and scrutinises management functions delegated to the Senior Management Team. A framework sets out the authority delegated to the Chief Executive by the Board of Trustees. The Board of Trustees meets four times a year. One of the meetings is designated the Annual General Meeting, at which the Trustees’ Annual Report and Accounts for the preceding year are considered and approved.
How The King’s Fund is constituted and governed
31
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
The Board of Trustees also delegates some of its work to sub-committees as outlined below and set out on page 42.
**Board of Trustees General Audit Investment Facilities Nominations Remuneration Advisory and Risk Committee and Estates Committee Committee Council (GAC) Committee Committee** Meet obligations Manage selection Agree annual pay Review the work Monitor integrity of with respect to the Stewardship and and appointment settlements for the of the Fund and financial reporting, investment and development of (including Chief Executive and provide advice to review internal stewardship of the investment re-appointment) other Fund staff the Trustees controls and risk Fund’s invested and operational of Trustees management assets properties systems and fraud protection, and oversee the relationship with internal and external auditors
The General Council (known as the General Advisory Council or GAC), established in accordance with the Royal Charter, meets twice a year. Members act as a source of intelligence on the key issues and challenges in the health system and use their collective expertise to reflect on the Fund’s activities and impact. The members of the GAC are appointed by the President on the recommendation of the Chief Executive for a period of up to three years, which can be extended to further three-year terms. Details of the current members of the GAC, and those who served during the year, are set out on page 40.
## **Trading subsidiary**
KEHF Ltd is a wholly owned trading subsidiary of The King’s Fund. The principal activities of the company include those that are not the primary purpose of or within the Fund’s charitable objectives, including the letting of conference facilities owned by the Fund and related catering services, sponsorship for some of the Fund’s events and income from corporate partners and supporters. All – 100 per cent – of the taxable profits of KEHF Ltd are paid to the Fund, under the Gift Aid scheme. A list of directors, who are appointed by the Fund, is included on page 43. Details of the financial statements are included on page 67.
How The King’s Fund is constituted and governed
32
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## **Recruitment and appointment of Trustees**
Trustees are appointed in line with the byelaws set out in the Royal Charter. They serve for an initial term of three years and may be re-appointed for a second term or, exceptionally, a third term. Appointment as a Trustee is open to any suitably qualified member of the public.
The Nominations Committee meets annually to review forthcoming exits from the Board, compares this to a skills audit and takes decisions on any necessary recruitment.
Newly appointed Trustees are provided with an induction programme, which sets out the activities of the Fund and their responsibilities as a Trustee. They are invited into the Fund to meet colleagues and get to know our work and our building. The Chair of Trustees usually meets with each Trustee annually to review performance in the past year and to discuss the year ahead.
Details of the Fund’s current Trustees, and those who served during the year, are set out on page 40.
## **Board review/evaluation**
The Board usually reviews its performance annually at an awayday when Trustees reflect on how well they are fulfilling their duties. Trustees consider the Board’s balance of skills, experience and knowledge, its diversity in the widest sense, how the board works together and other factors relevant to its effectiveness.
They use the principles of organisational purpose, leadership, integrity, decisionmaking, board effectiveness, diversity, openness and accountability, as included in the Charity Governance Code, to ensure high standards of governance and to support continuous improvement.
## **Organisational structure and how decisions are made**
The Trustees appoint a Chief Executive, who is responsible for delivering the strategic direction and day-to-day management of the Fund. The Chief Executive, together with the Senior Management Team, develop strategy, plans, programmes and policies for the Fund, which the Board approves.
The framework for the Chief Executive sets out the authority delegated to the Chief Executive. It is reviewed by the Board of Trustees every three years and when a new Chief Executive is appointed.
How The King’s Fund is constituted and governed
33
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## **Senior Management Team**
The Senior Management Team works within the framework set by the strategic plan and the annual operational plan, which sets out the detailed work programme using a list of strategic priorities as headings. The Senior Management Team monitors, reviews and takes action to ensure performance against strategic goals and on risks and issues escalated by the Portfolio Board and the Operations Committee.
Details of the current members of the Senior Management Team, and those who served during the year, are set out on page 43.
## **Portfolio Board**
The Portfolio Board provides strategic oversight of the Fund’s three programmes and foundational work:
- Supporting people and leaders
- Tackling the worst health outcomes
- Healthier places and communities
- Foundations of health and care.
## **Operations Committee**
The Operations Committee oversees projects related to systems, processes and infrastructure. It is supported by a Business Improvement Forum and helps the Fund achieve the greatest impact using our business systems and ways of working.
## **Risk management**
The King’s Fund is unavoidably exposed to risk, either due to factors in the external environment, or through the opportunities we choose to pursue and the activities we carry out that enable us to deliver on our vision, mission and strategic goals. Our Risk Management Policy sets out how we identify and actively manage the risks we are exposed to and our approach allows us visibility and control over the key corporate risks that affect the organisation as a whole.
How The King’s Fund is constituted and governed
34
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
We use a process that categorises and scores each risk by considering its cause, likelihood, impact and mitigation. Based on this we determine whether further action needs to be taken. Risks are grouped according to whether their impact will be on our strategic focus, ability to influence, reputation, internal capability or our financial sustainability, as outlined in the figure below.
**----- Start of picture text -----**
What are we
Deliver impact through charitable
trying to do?
objectives via strategy 2020-24
What enables Strategic Ability to Our Internal Financial
us to do this? focus and influence reputation capability sustainability
prioritisation
What risks 1. Strategy lacks 2. Misjudge tone 4. Loss of credibility 7. Data and 11. Significant short-
could affect focus, is difficultto deliver and and position or quality informationare lost, stolen or medium-termloss of income
this? fails to have an 3. Fail to influence 5. Commitment or subject to
impact to charitable unauthorised 12. Endowment loses
purpose, access value in real terms
independence,
ethics and values 8. Staff wellbeing
are questioned and engagement
suffers
6. Subject to
adverse publicity 9. Cannot efficiently
associated and effectively
with residential deliver operational
development commitments
10. Unable to use or
access building to
its full potential
**----- End of picture text -----**
How The King’s Fund is constituted and governed
35
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
Members of the Audit and Risk Committee and the Board of Trustees are satisfied with the procedures that are in place to review the risks, ratings, controls and actions to mitigate the Fund’s exposure to risk, as set out in the table below.
|**Risk area**|**Management of risk**|
|---|---|
|**Strategic focus**
**and prioritsaton**|**There is a risk that our strategy lacks focus, is difcult to deliver and fails to have an**
**impact.**|
||As we have implemented our strategy for 2020–25, we have sought to maintain the high|
||level of visibility and engagement that staf had during its development. We review our|
||strategic focus through our ‘rolling planning’ approach to enable a short-term (as well as|
||long-term) view of overall actvites and responsiveness to change.|
||Internal governance arrangements are aligned to our strategy. This includes oversight of|
||the portolio of programmes, performance and impact. We are building our capacity to be
more responsive through new ways of working to horizon-scan, identfy opportunites for
sense-making and foundatonal work and plan over the longer term.|
||We ensure that decision-making around income generaton is aligned to our strategic
priorites as far as possible.|
|**Ability to**
**infuence**|**There is a risk that our external actvites fail to infuence and prevent us from delivering**
**impact.**|
||Flexibility is deliberately lef in the operatonal plan each year to allow the Fund to
respond to new or additonal opportunites.|
||Decision-making about new work ensures that we support the health and care system|
||with the signifcant challenges it faces during the recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic|
||and economic challenges arising from the cost-of-living crisis.|
||We ensure that we contnue to publish an appropriate volume of high-quality policy
work, maintain a high media profle and contnue to track data about our reach and|
||impact.|
||We ensure we adequately antcipate, plan and prepare for the future by keeping updated
on changing digital models that other relevant organisatons and compettors employ,
keep abreast of opportunites provided by digital technology that may support improved
delivery of our outputs and prepare for a degree of staf change as we evolve and adapt|
||to hybrid working.|
|**Our reputaton**|**There is a risk that we lose our reputaton for credibility and quality and that our**
**independence, ethics and values are questoned.**|
||The Fund keeps up to date with all legal and regulatory requirements and recommended|
||practce. We make disclosures about our income sources, decision-making and|
||independence on our website.|
||Policies, agreements and contracts set out the Fund’s positon, ensure the quality of our
outputs, address ethical issues and recognise the origin of funding. All staf and Trustees|
||are encouraged to understand and adhere to the values, ethics and culture of the|
||organisaton.|
How The King’s Fund is constituted and governed
36
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
|**Risk area**|**Management of risk**|
|---|---|
|**Internal**
**capability**|**There is a risk that we are unable to deliver our operatonal commitment efectvely and**
**efciently and that staf wellbeing and engagement sufer.**|
||We have worked on developing proactve and transparent internal communicatons
focusing on wellbeing. Specialist support already in place (ie, a staf counsellor and a
network of mental health frst-aiders) is highlighted frequently. We ensure leaders and
people managers are informed in supportng employee health and wellbeing. We have built
capability in specifc areas such as our established group of mental health frst-aiders.|
||We invest in building our internal capabilites through supportng learning and
development, as well as valuing and practsing openness, collaboraton and inclusivity.
There is a cross-Fund focus on contnuous improvement and the development of
efectve systems, processes and ways of working.|
||A business contnuity plan is in place to ensure that the Fund can contnue operatng
afer a major incident or external event, even if the building is inaccessible for a|
||prolonged period. This was updated in 2024. The IT infrastructure is designed to|
||maximise resilience, and policies and processes are in place to ensure appropriate use|
||and security of data.|
|**Financial**|**There is a risk that our endowment loses value in real terms and that there is a**|
|**sustainability**|**signifcant short- or medium-term loss of income.**|
||The Fund’s investments are actvely managed and reviewed by an Investment Commitee,
which sets a strategic asset allocaton and associated performance benchmark and
balances risk against benchmark returns with a diversifed portolio of asset classes.|
||Investment performance is visible to Trustees and the Senior Management Team in the|
||monthly review of fnances.|
||Short- and long-term fnancial plans are maintained, and progress is monitored regularly
by the Senior Management Team and Trustees. Oversight of the defned beneft pension
scheme is maintained and is considered alongside other fnancial risks.|
## **Risk appetite**
The amount and type of risk that the Fund is willing to take in order to meet its strategic objectives is determined by the Trustees and is usually reviewed annually using a framework based on the five key risk areas summarised above. Our approach to risk appetite and management aids decision-making as it highlights areas of opportunity and concern, supports understanding and challenge of the risk controls in place and helps to determine how much further effort is required to mitigate key risks in the risk register.
## **Maintaining our independence**
Our independence is important to us. Our reputation is founded on the objectivity of our work, our independence from outside interests and our freedom to determine our own priorities. We protect this independence in a number of ways.
How The King’s Fund is constituted and governed
37
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## **Our funding**
Our funding comes from a diverse range of sources, protecting us against dependence on any particular source of income. As a charitable foundation, we have an endowment – funds maintained and invested since we were established in 1897 – which generate an annual income. As set out in our financial strategy, we draw on this each year to provide a consistent stream of funding to support our work. In 2024, the charity had no fundraising activities requiring disclosure under Section 162A of the Charities Act 2011.
Our remaining funding mainly comes from a mixture of income-generating charitable activity (including leadership and organisational development services, our events and funded research and policy analysis) and commercial activities (including hiring out our venue and renting out office space in our building). The income from these activities comes from a diverse range of sources, including commercial organisations, national and local NHS organisations, the voluntary and community sector, and national and local government. More details are provided in the ‘Consolidated statement of financial activities’ section of this report.
On our **website** we have further analysis of the income we generate from the variety of activities mentioned in the ‘Financial review’ section above.
## **How we set policy**
We have robust arrangements in place to assure the quality and independence of our research, policy analysis and other published work, which are described on our **website** . Responsibility for our public positioning rests with the Chief Executive, who works closely with directors and other colleagues to agree our position on relevant issues. The Board discusses our public positioning with the Senior Management Team on a regular basis, but it is not involved in determining our position on individual policy issues.
## **Our partnerships**
We maintain partnerships with a range of organisations through our Corporate Partners and Supporters scheme. These relationships are governed by our ethical endowment policy, which includes provisions to protect our independence.
## **Conflicts of interest policy**
Trustees, committee members and senior members of staff are required to recognise and deal appropriately with conflicts of interest. Our conflicts of interest policy, which is reviewed annually by the Audit and Risk Committee, sets out our approach. We recognise that even the perception that there is a conflict of interest could damage our reputation. Trustees, members of committees established by the Board of Trustees,
How The King’s Fund is constituted and governed
38
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
members of the board of KEHF Ltd, senior members of staff (the Senior Management Team) and any other people as requested by the Trustees complete declarations of all interests annually. All interests, rather than just those that the person completing the declaration considers relevant, are declared. This avoids the exclusion of any interests that others may perceive to be potential conflicts.
The Fund’s Register of all Interests is reported to the Audit and Risk Committee and to the Board of Trustees annually. It is made available to the Fund’s auditors and is published on **the Fund’s website** .
## **Remuneration policy**
The King’s Fund believes that to attract and retain the calibre of staff we need to deliver our charitable objectives, our remuneration policy should:
- provide salaries that are competitive in our sector
- be considered fair, equitable and transparent
- allow for pay progression over time
- deliver arrangements that are sustainable within the available resources.
The Fund operates an incremental pay scale for most of its staff, underpinned by a factors-based job evaluation system. The scale comprises grades from 1 to 8c, each with a minimum and maximum point and normally five incremental points in between. Salaries are reviewed annually, and the Fund has the option to increase scale points by an agreed percentage. Any such increase takes effect from the following 1 January. The Board of Trustees has delegated responsibility for determining matters of pay and pay-related benefits to its Remuneration Committee.
The Remuneration Committee meets routinely in the winter to agree the following year’s percentage increase and arrangements for executive pay. In agreeing the pay award, the Committee considers:
- indicators in the wider economy
- the levels of award that organisations the Fund compares itself with have made
- affordability.
At the meeting held in October 2024, the Committee was mindful of affordability as well as higher (although reducing) levels of inflation. As a result, it recommended an increase of 2 per cent in January 2025, which Trustees agreed.
How The King’s Fund is constituted and governed
39
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## Reference and administrative details
## **Registered office**
The King’s Fund 11–13 Cavendish Square London W1G 0AN
**Charity number** 1126980
## **Company number**
RC000826
## **Patron**
Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II [until September 2022]
## **President**
His Majesty King Charles III
## **General Advisory Council**
General Advisory Council members serving during the year and since the year end are: Lord Victor Adebowale CBE, Chair and Co-Founder, Visionable Samantha Allen, Chief Executive, North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care System Dominique Allwood, CEO, Imperial College Health Partners [from January 2025] Professor Kate Ardern, Hon Professor Salford University, Visiting Professor Chester University and independent public health consultant Karen Bonner MBE, Regional Chief Nurse London, NHS England (London region) James Bullion, Chief Inspector of Adult Social Care and Integrated Care (Interim), Care Quality Commission [from January 2025]
Rachel Burnham, Director of Performance & Planning, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust
Stephen Chandler, Interim Executive Director for People, Transformation and Performance, Oxfordshire County Council Dr Navina Evans CBE, Chief Workforce Training and Education Officer, NHS England Jatinder Harchowal MBE FRPharmS, Chief Pharmacist, University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Reference and administrative details
40
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
Dr Chris Hilton, Chief Operating Officer (Local and Specialist Services) – West London NHS Trust John James OBE, Chief Executive, Sickle Cell Society Shigufta Khan, Chief Executive, The Wish Centre Fatima Khan-Shah, West Yorkshire Inclusivity Champion Dr Gabrielle Mathews, foundation doctor Professor Nicholas Mays, Professor of Health Policy, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Jane McGrath, Chief Executive, We Coproduce Jonathan McShane, Chair, Terrence Higgins Trust Michelle Mitchell, CEO, Cancer Research [from January 2025] Samira Ben Omar, independent consultant, community collaboration Sarah Pickup OBE, Deputy Chief Executive, Local Government Association [to June 2024] Anna Quigley, Research Director, Ipsos Dr Yasmin Razak, GP Partner, North Kensington and Clinical Director, Neohealth Matthew Skinner, Chief Executive, Care City Dr Justin Varney-Bennett, Regional Director of Public Health, South West of England Stella Vig, National Director, Secondary Care and Quality, NHS England [from January 2025]
Hardev Virdee, Group Chief Financial Officer, Barts Health NHS Trust
## **Board of Trustees**
The Trustees serving during the year and since the year end are: Professor Mark Britnell Alan Brown Richard Clark Dr Jane Collins [to September 2024] Dominic Dodd Professor Yvonne Doyle [from January 2025] Professor Kamila Hawthorne MBE Dr Annalisa Jenkins Rt Hon Professor Lord Kakkar KBE PC [Chair of the Board of Trustees] Dr Dominic King [from January 2025] Dr Stephanie Kuku Rt Hon Jacqui Smith [to July 2024]
Reference and administrative details
41
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## **Sub-committees**
The committee members serving during the year and since the year end are as follows.
## **Investment Committee**
Alan Brown [Chair of the Committee] Richard Clark Sarah Fromson Robert Holmes Rt Hon Professor Lord Kakkar KBE PC Dr Stephanie Kuku John McLaughlin
## **Remuneration Committee**
Alan Brown Dominic Dodd [Chair of the Committee] Rt Hon Professor Lord Kakkar KBE PC
## **Nominations Committee**
Alan Brown Dominic Dodd Rt Hon Professor Lord Kakkar KBE PC [Chair of the Committee]
## **Audit and Risk Committee**
Dominic Dodd [Chair of the Committee] Jane Collins [to September 2024] Dr Annalisa Jenkins Professor Kamilla Hawthorne
## **Facilities and Estates Committee**
Alan Brown Richard Clark [Chair of the Committee] Andy Doyle Rt Hon Professor Lord Kakkar KBE PC Anna Rule
Reference and administrative details
42
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## **KEHF Ltd Board of Directors**
Alan Brown [Chair of the Board] Dominic Dodd Anna Rule Matthew Tolchard Sarah Woolnough Company secretary – Paul Clough
## **Senior Management Team**
Chief Executive – Sarah Woolnough Director of Policy – Sally Warren [to July 2024] Director of Policy, Events and Partnerships (interim) – Siva Anandaciva [from June 2024]
Director of Policy, Events and Partnerships (interim) – Alex Baylis [from June 2024] Director of Policy, Events and Partnerships – Siva Anandaciva [from January 2025] Director of Finance and Operations – Paul Clough Director of Leadership and Organisational Development – Suzie Bailey Director of Communications (interim) Andrew McCracken [to June 2024] Director of Communications (interim) Deena Maggs [to June 2024] Director of Communications and Engagement Zoë Abrams [from June 2024] Director of HR – Shirley Collier [to March 2025] Director of HR – Caroline Woolland [from April 2025]
## **Key advisers**
## **Bankers**
National Westminster Bank Plc 250 Regent Street London W1B 3BN
## **Solicitors**
Farrer & Co LLP 66 Lincoln’s Inn Fields London WC2A 3LH
Mills and Reeve LLP 24 King William Street London EC4R 9AT
Reference and administrative details
43
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## **Actuaries**
Gallagher 20 Wood Street London EC2V 7AF
## **Auditor**
HaysMac LLP 10 Queen Street Place London EC4R 1AG
## **Investment adviser**
Stanhope Capital LLP 35 Portman Square London W1H 6LR
## **Investment Property Manager**
Savills plc 33 Margaret Street London W1G 0JD
## **Basing Estate Monitoring Agent**
Bidwells 25 Old Burlington Street London W1S 3AN
Reference and administrative details
44
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## Statement of Trustees’ responsibilities
The Trustees are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Annual Report and Accounts in accordance with applicable law and regulations.
Under charity law the Trustees must not approve the accounts unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and the group and of their net outgoing resources for that period. In preparing these accounts, the Trustees are required to:
- select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently
- observe the methods and principles in the Charities Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP)
- make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent
- state whether applicable accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the accounts
- prepare the accounts on the going-concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue to operate.
The Trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the charity’s transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the accounts comply with the Charities Act 2011. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
Signed on behalf of the Trustees
## Kakkar
Lord Kakkar
Chair
## 22/07/2025
Statement of Trustees’ responsibilities
45
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## AUDITOR’S REPORT AND ACCOUNTS
Auditor’s report and accounts
46
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## Independent auditor’s report to the Trustees of The King’s Fund
## **Opinion**
We have audited the financial statements of The King’s Fund for the year ended 31 December 2024 which comprise the Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities, the Consolidated and Charity Balance Sheets, the Consolidated 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).
In our opinion, the financial statements:
- give a true and fair view of the state of the group’s and of the parent charity’s affairs as at 31 December 2024 and of the group’s net movement in funds for the year then ended
- have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice and
- have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011.
## **Basis for opinion**
We have been appointed as auditor under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 and report in accordance with the Act and relevant regulations made or having effect thereunder. We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the group in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.
**Independent auditor’s report to the Trustees of The King’s Fund**
**47**
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## **Conclusions relating to going concern**
In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the Trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.
Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the group’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least 12 months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.
Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the Trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.
## **Other information**
The Trustees are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the Trustees’ Annual Report. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.
In connection with our audit of the financial statements, our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether there is a material misstatement in the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact. We have nothing to report in this regard.
## **Matters on which we are required to report by exception**
We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 require us to report to you if, in our opinion:
- adequate accounting records have not been kept by the parent charity or
- sufficient accounting records have not been kept or
- the parent charity financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns or
- we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.
**Independent auditor’s report to the Trustees of The King’s Fund**
**48**
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## **Responsibilities of Trustees for the financial statements**
As explained more fully in the Trustees’ responsibilities statement set out on page 45, the Trustees are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the Trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.
In preparing the financial statements, the Trustees are responsible for assessing the group’s and the parent charity’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 group or the parent charity or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.
## **Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements**
Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.
Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below.
Based on our understanding of the group and the environment in which it operates, we identified that the principal risks of non-compliance with laws and regulations related to charity law, tax legislation, employment law, GDPR and health and safety and we considered the extent to which non-compliance might have a material effect on the financial statements. We also considered those laws and regulations that have a direct impact on the preparation of the financial statements such as Charities Act 2011, the Charities SORP and FRS 102.
**Independent auditor’s report to the Trustees of The King’s Fund**
**49**
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
We evaluated management’s incentives and opportunities for fraudulent manipulation of the financial statements (including the risk of override of controls), and determined that the principal risks were related to improper recognition of income and management bias in certain accounting estimates and judgements. Audit procedures performed by the engagement team included:
- discussions with management including consideration of known or suspected instances of non-compliance with laws and regulation and fraud
- reviewing the controls and procedures of the Charity to ensure these were in place throughout the year
- evaluating management’s controls designed to prevent and detect irregularities
- reviewing and testing journals entries made in the year, particularly those made as part of the year-end financial reporting process
- challenging assumptions and judgements made by management in their critical accounting estimates and challenge of the underlying assumptions.
Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or non-compliance with regulation. This risk increases the more that compliance with a law or regulation is removed from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, as we will be less likely to become aware of instances of non-compliance. The risk is also greater regarding irregularities occurring due to fraud rather than error, as fraud involves intentional concealment, forgery, collusion, omission or misrepresentation.
A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the **Financial Reporting Council’s website** . This description forms part of our auditor’s report.
**Independent auditor’s report to the Trustees of The King’s Fund**
**50**
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## **Use of our report**
This report is made solely to the charity’s Trustees, as a body, in accordance with section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 and regulations made under section 154 of that Act. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charity’s Trustees 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 charity’s Trustees as a body for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.
## **HaysMac LLP**
Statutory Auditors 10 Queen Street Place London EC4R 1AG
4 July 202429/07/2025
HaysMac LLP is eligible to act as an auditor in terms of section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006.
**Independent auditor’s report to the Trustees of The King’s Fund**
**51**
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## Consolidated statement of financial activities
for the year ended 31 December 2024
|Unrestricted
funds
Notes
£000
**Income and endowments from:**
Donations and legacies
18
Charitable activities
Research and analysis
531
Developing individuals, teams
and organisations
4,874
Promoting understanding
128
Bringing people together
390
Total charitable activities
4
5,923
Other trading activities
5
4,607
Investments
6
2,987
Other
66
**Total**
13,601
**Expenditure on:**
Charitable activities
Research and analysis
4,221
Developing individuals, teams
and organisations
6,186
Promoting understanding
3,390
Bringing people together
875
Total charitable activities
4
14,672
Other trading activities
7
3,920
Raising funds costs
8
892
**Total**
19,484
Operating (defcit)
(5,883)
Net gain on investments
2,031
Net income/(expenditure)
(3,852)
Transfers between funds
1
Actuarial (loss) on
defned beneft pension scheme
18
(91)
**Net movement in funds**
(3,942)
**Reconciliation of funds:**
Total funds brought forward
19
69,431
Total funds carried forward
19
65,489|Restricted
funds
£000
–
161
–
–
–
161
–
–
–
161
166
–
–
–
166
–
–
166
(5)
–
(5)
(1)
–
(6)
(6)
(12)|Endowed
funds
£000
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
283
283
(283)
12,343
12,060
–
–
12,060
147,848
159,908|**Total**
**2024**
**£000**
**18**
**692**
**4,874**
**128**
**390**
**6,084**
**4,607**
**2,987**
**66**
**13,762**
**4,387**
**6,186**
**3,390**
**875**
**14,838**
**3,920**
**1,175**
**19,933**
**(6,171)**
**14,374**
**8,203**
**–**
**(91)**
**8,112**
**217,273**
**225,385**|Total
2023
£000
12
790
4,949
135
500
6,374
4,605
3,409
167
14,567
4,229
6,202
3,442
825
14,698
3,558
1,214
19,470
(4,903)
9,643
4,740
–
–
4,740
212,533
217,273|
|---|---|---|---|---|
All of the operations represented by the information above are continuing.
The notes on pages 55 to 76 form part of these financial statements
**Consolidated statement of fnancial activities**
**52**
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## Balance sheets
## as at 31 December 2024
|**Consolidated**
Consolidated
Notes
**2024**
2023
**£000**
£000
**Fixed assets:**
Tangible assets
11
**51,611**
52,036
Intangible assets
12
**326**
119
Investments
13
**194,683**
186,132
Total fxed assets
**246,620**
238,287
**Current assets:**
Debtors
15
**1,554**
1,696
Cash at bank and in hand
**1,289**
1,818
Total current assets
**2,843**
3,514
**Liabilities:**
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
16
**(4,078)**
(4,528)
**Net current (liabilities)**
**(1,235)**
(1,014)
**Total assets less current liabilities**
**245,385**
237,273
Creditors: amounts falling due after more than one year
17
**(20,000)**
(20,000)
**Net assets excluding pension liability**
**225,385**
217,273
Defned beneft pension scheme liability
18
**–**
–
**Total net assets**
**225,385**
217,273
**The funds of the charity:**
Expendable endowment funds
**159,908**
147,848
Restricted funds
20
**(12)**
(6)
Unrestricted funds
19
**65,489**
69,431
**Total charity funds**
**225,385**
217,273|**Charity**
**2024**
**£000**
**51,611**
**326**
**194,733**
**246,670**
**1,510**
**531**
**2,041**
**(3,332)**
**(1,291)**
**245,379**
**(20,000)**
**225,379**
**–**
**225,379**
**159,908**
**(12)**
**65,483**
**225,379**|Charity
2023
£000
52,036
119
186,182
238,337
1,691
1,009
2,700
(3,770)
(1,070)
237,267
(20,000)
217,267
–
217,267
147,848
(6)
69,425
217,267|
|---|---|---|
> Approved on behalf of the Board of Trustees and authorised for issue on 22/07/2025
## A J Brown
## **Alan Brown**
Treasurer
The notes on pages 55 to 76 form part of these financial statements.
**Balance sheets**
**53**
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## Consolidated cashflow statement
as at 31 December 2024
|Notes
**Net cash (used in) operating activities**
A
**Cash fows from investing activities:**
Dividends, interest and rents from investments
Investment management fees
Purchase of tangible fxed assets
Purchase of intangible fxed assets
Net sale of investments
**Net cash provided by investing activities**
**Cash fows from fnancing activities:**
Interest on loan
**Net cash (spent on) fnancing activities**
**Change in cash and cash equivalents in the reporting period**
B
**A. Reconciliation of net income to net cash fow from operating activities**
Net income for the reporting period
Adjustments for:
Investment income
Net gain on investments
Investment management fees
Interest on the loan
Depreciation and amortisation charges
Other fnance cost of the pension scheme
Administrative expenses
Current service cost less contributions to the pension scheme
Decrease in debtors
Decrease in creditors
**Net cash provided by/(used in) operating activities**
**B. Movement of cash and cash equivalents**
At 1
January
2024
£000
**Cash at bank and in hand**
1,818|**2024**
**£000**
**(7,299)**
**2,987**
**(641)**
**(613)**
**(252)**
**5,823**
**7,304**
**(534)**
**(534)**
**(529)**
**2024**
**£000**
**8,203**
**(2,987)**
**(14,374)**
**641**
**534**
**1,083**
**(47)**
**–**
**(44)**
**142**
**(450)**
**(7,299)**
Movement
£000
(529)|2023
£000
(6,756)
3,409
(680)
(527)
(117)
3,670
5,755
(534)
(534)
(1,535)
2023
£000
4,740
(3,409)
(9,643)
680
534
978
(4)
99
(96)
124
(759)
(6,756)
**At 31**
**December**
**2024**
**£000**
**1,289**|
|---|---|---|
**Consolidated cashfow statement**
**54**
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## Notes to the accounts
for the year ended 31 December 2024
## **1 Charity information**
The charity (registered number 1126980) is incorporated by Royal Charter and is governed by the provisions and byelaws of the charter; any revocation, alteration or additions to the byelaws must be approved by the Privy Council.
The charity has a wholly owned subsidiary trading company, KEHF Limited (company registration number 2754697).
The address of the registered office of both The King’s Fund and KEHF Limited is 11–13 Cavendish Square, London, W1G 0AN.
## **2 Accounting policies**
The principal accounting policies adopted and critical areas of judgements are as follows.
## **Basis of preparation**
The accounts have been prepared to give a ‘true and fair view’ and have departed from the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 only to the extent required to provide a ‘true and fair view’. This departure has involved following Accounting and Reporting by charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) issued on 16 July 2014 rather than the Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice effective from 1 April 2005, which has since been withdrawn.
The King’s Fund meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy note(s).
The accounts of The King’s Fund and KEHF Limited are consolidated, on a line-byline basis, to produce the Consolidated Accounts. No separate statement of financial activities has been presented for The King’s Fund but the charity’s total income and net movement in funds in the year are set out in note 14.
**Notes to the accounts**
**55**
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## **2 Accounting policies (continued)**
## **Basis of preparation (continued)**
The charity has taken advantage of the exemptions in FRS 102 from the requirements to present a charity-only Cash Flow Statement and certain disclosures about the charity’s financial instruments.
## **Going concern**
The Fund’s planning process, including financial projections, takes into consideration the current economic climate and its potential impact on the various sources of income and planned expenditure. The Fund has a reasonable expectation that its resources are adequate to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future and that there are no material uncertainties that call into doubt the charity’s ability to continue. The accounts have, therefore, been prepared on the basis that the charity is a going concern.
## **Critical accounting judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty**
In the application of the charity’s accounting policies, which are described below, Trustees are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and underlying assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.
The estimates and underlying assumptions are reviewed on an ongoing basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised if the revision affects only that period, or in the period and future periods if the revision affects the current and future periods.
The key sources of estimation uncertainty that have a significant effect on the accounts recognised in the financial statements are summarised below.
- Pension liabilities: the charity recognises the liability to its defined benefit pension scheme, which involves a number of estimations as disclosed in note 18. Where the scheme is determined to be in a surplus position, a surplus is recognised as an asset only to the extent that this can be recovered in future years through reductions in employer contributions or through a specific refund/reimbursement from the scheme, hence, at the moment, it is not recognised as it is considered that the surplus in the defined benefit pension scheme is not recoverable.
**Notes to the accounts**
**56**
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## **2 Accounting policies (continued)**
## **Critical accounting judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty (continued)**
- Valuation of investment properties: the charity’s Basing investment properties are stated at their fair values. These are based on an external valuation as at 31 December 2023, with a management update as disclosed in note 13. The Deans Mews investment property is based on an external valuation as at September 2022, with a management update as disclosed in note 13.
- Private equity investments are valued at the most recent investment manager valuations.
- Income recognition: when accounting for project income in line with the percentage completion basis set out below, the percentage of completion of a project is estimated using the actual costs incurred, including time spent, as a proportion of total planned costs.
## **Other accounting policies**
## Donations and legacies
Donations and legacies are recognised in the statement of financial activities when they become receivable, that is, when it is reasonably certain that they will be received and where the value can be measured with sufficient reliability.
## Grants receivable
Grants receivable are recognised in the statement of financial activities in full in the year in which they become receivable, that is, when the conditions for receipt have been met.
## Investment income
Income from investments is accounted for when dividends and interest are receivable and includes recoverable taxation. Income received, but not distributed, by pooled funds is included as part of the net gains/losses on investment assets in the statement of financial activities.
## Other income recognition
Project income is recognised on a percentage completion basis in relation to actual costs spent at the Balance Sheet date as a proportion of total planned costs over the life of the project. Projected losses on projects are provided as soon as they can be reasonably foreseen.
**Notes to the accounts**
**57**
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## **2 Accounting policies (continued)**
## Other income recognition (continued)
All other income is included in the statement of financial activities when The King’s Fund is legally entitled to the income and the amount can be quantified with reasonable accuracy.
## Expenditure
All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all costs related to the category.
The costs of certain support departments are allocated to the principal activities on the basis set out in note 4.
## Pension costs
The King’s Fund Staff Pension and Life Assurance Plan (the Plan) is a defined benefit scheme. The current service costs of the Plan, together with the net interest on the net defined benefit liability (calculated at the discount rate), are charged to the statement of financial activities within staff costs. The actuarial gains and losses on the Plan are recognised immediately as other recognised gains and losses.
The assets of the Plan are measured at fair value at the Balance Sheet date. Liabilities are measured on an actuarial basis at the Balance Sheet date using the projected unit method and discounted at a rate equivalent to the current rate of return on a highquality corporate bond of equivalent term to the scheme liabilities. Where the scheme is determined to be in a deficit position, this is recognised in full as a liability. Where the scheme is determined to be in a surplus position, a surplus is recognised as an asset only to the extent that this can be recovered in future years through reductions in employer contributions or through a specific refund/reimbursement from the scheme. The Scheme closed to future accruals on 31 May 2024.
The NHS Pension Scheme is a multi-employer defined benefit scheme. Contributions have been accounted for in the period to which they relate, as if it were a defined contribution scheme, as it is not possible to identify our share of the underlying assets and liabilities.
The King’s Fund Group Personal Pension Plan is a defined contribution scheme and contributions have been accounted for in the period to which they relate.
**Notes to the accounts**
**58**
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## **2 Accounting policies (continued)**
## Intangible assets
Intangible assets costing more than £5,000, including any incidental expenses of acquisition, are capitalised and recorded at cost. The anticipated life has been taken as five years.
## Tangible assets
Tangible assets costing more than £5,000, including any incidental expenses of acquisition, are capitalised and recorded at cost.
Depreciation is calculated so as to write off the cost of the tangible assets on a straight-line basis over the expected useful economic lives of the assets concerned, which are taken as:
|which are taken as:||
|---|---|
|Plant and machinery:||
|Electrical installatons|3 to 30 years|
|Mechanical installatons|5 to 30 years|
|Lifs|30 years|
|Furniture, ftngs and equipment:||
|Catering equipment|3 to 20 years|
|Furniture and ftngs|5 to 20 years|
|ICT hardware and sofware|2 to 5 years|
|Ofce equipment|3 to 10 years|
|Freehold buildings|50 years|
Freehold land is not depreciated.
## Financial instruments
The King’s Fund has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualifies as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at the present value of future cash flows (amortised cost). Financial assets held at amortised cost comprise cash at bank and in hand, together with trade and other debtors. Financial liabilities held at settlement value or amortised cost comprise trade and other creditors, and fixed-interest loan.
Investments, including bonds and cash held as part of an investment portfolio, are held at fair value at the Balance Sheet date, with gains and losses being recognised within income and expenditure. Investments in subsidiary undertakings are held at cost less impairment.
**Notes to the accounts**
**59**
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## **2 Accounting policies (continued)**
## Foreign currencies
Transactions denominated in foreign currencies during the year are translated at prevailing rates. Assets and liabilities are translated at rates applying at the Balance Sheet date. All differences are taken to the statement of financial activities.
## Funds
_Expendable endowment:_ the expendable endowment is maintained to generate income for the benefit of The King’s Fund. The capital sum may be spent at the discretion of the Trustees.
_Restricted funds:_ funds received in relation to a restricted grant can only be used for that purpose.
_Unrestricted funds:_ unrestricted funds include the net book value of the tangible fixed assets, the intangible fixed assets of the charity, investments and net current assets, less the pension reserve. The split between these categories is shown in note 19. The King’s Fund has the power to spend its unrestricted funds within its objects as it sees fit.
## **3 Taxation**
No corporation tax is payable by The King’s Fund as it is able to make use of the tax exemptions on income and capital gains available to charities. No corporation tax is payable by the subsidiary company, KEHF Limited, as it is expected that each year an amount equal to its taxable profits will be paid to The King’s Fund under the Gift Aid scheme.
**Notes to the accounts**
**60**
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## **4 Income and expenditure on charitable activities**
|Developing
Research
individuals,
and
teams and
Promoting
analysis organisations understanding
£000
£000
£000
Commissioned work
484
2,182
11
Grants
160
1
–
Course places or event tickets
–
2,206
–
Other
48
485
117
Total income
692
4,874
128
Direct expenditure
2,705
4,449
1,925
Support departments (4a)
1,682
1,737
1,465
Total expenditure
4,387
6,186
3,390
4a
Support departments
Facilities (1)
589
608
513
Communications (2)
142
147
124
Other support (3)
951
982
828
Total cost of support departments
1,682
1,737
1,465|Bringing
people
together
£000
–
–
390
–
390
441
434
875
152
37
245
434|**Total**
**2024**
**£000**
**2,677**
**161**
**2,596**
**650**
**6,084**
**9,520**
**5,318**
**14,838**
**1,862**
**450**
**3,006**
**5,318**|Total
2023
£000
3,520
290
2,393
171|
|---|---|---|---|
||||6,374|
||||9,151
5,547|
||||14,698|
||||1,862
434
3,251|
||||5,547|
1 Facilities costs have been apportioned based on average headcount of the various departments during the year.
2 Communication costs have been apportioned based on average headcount of the various departments during the year.
3 Other support departments include: Chief Executive’s Office, Finance, HR, Operations and Information Technology. Depreciation is also included within this category. The amount paid by the trading subsidiary via a management charge is excluded and has been allocated to expenditure on other trading activities. Remaining costs have been apportioned based on average headcount of the various departments during the year.
The comparatives for 2023 can be seen in note 23.
## **5 Income from other trading activities**
|Income from other trading activities comprises:
External conference and catering services
Income from sponsorship and partnership
Income from tenants
Income from non-charitable consultancy|**2024**
**£000**
**3,331**
**674**
**571**
**31**
**4,607**|2023
£000
3,176
819
573
37|
|---|---|---|
|||4,605|
**Notes to the accounts**
**61**
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## **6 Income from investments**
|Income from securities and cash assets comprises:
Equities
Bonds
Cash
Infrastructure
Investment properties
**7**
**Expenditure on other trading activities**
Expenditure on other trading activities comprises:
External conference and catering services
Cost associated with sponsorship and partnerships
Cost associated with tenants
Cost associated with non-charitable consultancy|**2024**
**£000**
**1,721**
**318**
**6**
**153**
**789**
**2,987**
**2024**
**£000**
**3,243**
**625**
**24**
**28**
**3,920**|2023
£000
1,754
365
29
–
1,261|
|---|---|---|
|||3,409|
|||2023
£000
2,973
541
15
29|
|||3,558|
|**8**
**Raising funds costs**
Expenditure on raising funds costs comprises:
Fees paid to managers, custodians, administrators and advisers for the discharge
of their duties in connection with the investment portfolio and properties
Interest expense on the loan
Property repairs and maintenance|**2024**
**£000**
**429**
**534**
**212**
**1,175**|2023
£000
492
534
188|
|---|---|---|
|||1,214|
## **9 Employees**
|Wages and salaries
Social security costs (including apprenticeship levy)
Pension costs (before fnal salary pension adjustments)
Total emoluments before fnal salary pension adjustments
Final salary pension adjustments
Total emoluments after fnal salary pension adjustments|**2024**
**£000**
**8,922**
**1,023**
**1,542**
**11,487**
**(91)**
**11,396**|2023
£000
8,914
1,008
1,403|
|---|---|---|
|||11,325|
|||(1)|
|||11,324|
Included in the above pension costs is £38,000 (2023: £101,000) relating to the current employer service costs of the defined benefit pension scheme and £58,000 (2023: £110,000) relating to settlement agreement payments.
**Notes to the accounts**
**62**
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## **9 Employees (continued)**
Average number of staff:
|Research and analysis
Developing individuals, teams and organisations
Promoting understanding
Bringing people together
Other trading activities
Facilities
Communications
Other support departments
Total
The number of employees with remuneration (employee benefts
excluding employer pension costs) exceeding £60,000 were:
£60,000–£69,999
£70,000–£79,999
£80,000–£89,999
£90,000–£99,999
£100,000–£109,999
£110,000–£119,999
£120,000–£129,999
£130,000–£139,999
£160,000–£169,999
£180,000–£189,999|**2024**
**31**
**32**
**27**
**8**
**12**
**13**
**6**
**23**
**152**
**2024**
**14**
**5**
**8**
**4**
**9**
**2**
**–**
**2**
**1**
**–**|2023
31
33
28
7
11
14
5
23|
|---|---|---|
|||152|
|||2023
6
11
5
3
10
2
2
1
–
1|
Contributions were made to The King’s Fund Staff Pension and Life Assurance Plan, which is a defined benefit scheme, for four (2023: three) higher-paid employees and to the NHS Pension Scheme, which is also a defined benefit scheme, for three (2023: four) higher-paid employees. Contributions to The King’s Fund Staff Pension and Life Assurance Plan ceased as at 31 May 2024 due to closure of the scheme to future accruals. Contributions totalling £759,000 (2023: £477,000) were made to The King’s Fund Group Personal Pension Plan, which is a defined contribution scheme, for 41 (2023: 32) higher-paid employees.
The total employee benefits, including employer pension costs, received by the Chief Executive in 2024 were £209,440. (There was a change of CEO during 2023; benefits received across both posts: £216,810).
The key management personnel of the charity comprise the Trustees and the Senior Management Team. None of the Trustees have been paid any remuneration or received any other benefits from an employment with the charity or a related entity. During 2024, there was no Trustee reimbursement for expenses (one Trustee reimbursement during 2023: £534). The total employee benefits, including employer pension costs and national insurance, received by the key management personnel in 2024 were £1,164,000 (2023: £1,183,000).
**Notes to the accounts**
**63**
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## **10 Governance costs**
|**10 Governance costs**|||
|---|---|---|
|Auditor’s remuneration
External audit fees (charity)
External audit fees (KEHF Limited)|**2024**
**£000**
**29**
**7**
**36**|2023
£000
28
6|
|||34|
Fees totalling £1,450 (2023: £3,800) were payable to the auditors for taxation services in 2024, required for the trading subsidiary (2023: for both charity and trading subsidiary).
## **11 Tangible fixed assets**
|**Cost**
At 1 January
Additions
Disposals
At 31 December 2024
**Depreciation**
At 1 January
Charge for the year
Disposals
At 31 December 2024
**Net book value**
**at 31 December 2024**
Previous year|Freehold
land and
buildings
£000
55,350
–
–
55,350
4,851
483
–
5,334
50,016
50,499|Plant and
machinery
£000
4,896
10
(403)
4,503
4,070
197
(403)
3,864
639
826|Furniture,
fttings and
equipment
£000
3,069
603
(154)
3,518
2,358
358
(154)
2,562
956
711|**2024**
**Total**
**assets**
**£000**
**63,315**
**613**
**(557)**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||**63,371**|
|||||**11,279**
**1,038**
**(557)**|
|||||**11,760**|
|||||**51,611**|
|||||**52,036**|
Freehold land and buildings represent the Fund’s offices at 11–13 Cavendish Square, London W1G 0AN. When adopting FRS 102, the Fund has chosen to use the fair value of the freehold land and buildings as its deemed cost as at 1 January 2014. Within the above total, the amount attributable to the freehold land is £33,600,000 based on the valuation completed by Savills plc.
As at 31 December 2024, The King’s Fund had no capital commitments (2023: £0).
**Notes to the accounts**
**64**
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## **12 Intangible fixed assets**
|**Cost**
At 1 January
Additions
Disposals
At 31 December 2024
**Amortisation**
At 1 January
Charge for the year
Disposals
At 31 December 2024
**Net book value**
**at 31 December 2024**
Previous year|**2024**
**£000**
**818**
**252**
**(607)**
**463**
**699**
**45**
**(607)**
**137**
**326**
**119**|2023
£000
892
117
(191)|
|---|---|---|
|||818|
|||887
3
(191)|
|||699|
|||119|
|||5|
Intangible assets relate to costs expended on the Fund’s enterprise resource planning project, website and other software.
## **13 Fixed asset investments**
|Securities:
Equities
Index-linked bonds
Fixed-interest bonds
Private-equity funds
Infrastructure
Cash and cash equivalents
Investment properties
**Consolidated total**
Shareholding in subsidiary company
**Charity total**|**2024**
**Total**
**£000**
**147,775**
**8,041**
**–**
**1,228**
**8,460**
**1,878**
**27,301**
**194,683**
**50**
**194,733**|2023
Total
£000
141,719
5,788
2,622
2,345
4,003
2,354
27,301|
|---|---|---|
|||186,132
50|
|||186,182|
**Notes to the accounts**
**65**
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## **13 Fixed asset investments (continued)**
A loan of £20,000,000 was taken out in 2021. This has been fully invested in the securities portfolio and has helped to increase the value of the investments held. For more information about the loan see note 17.
Within the total securities, £159,770,000 is classified as Level 1 as defined by IFRS 7, that is, ‘the investment is quoted in an active market and measured at the unadjusted quoted price at the reporting date’. The remaining £5,734,000 is classified as Level 3, that is, ‘the investment is measured using unobservable inputs at the reporting date’. The Level 3 amount comprises various private equity funds and one fund invested in Infrastructure. No readily identifiable market price is available for these unquoted funds and therefore they are included as the most recent valuations provided by the manager.
The Fund has freehold interest in two investment properties. The Old Basing Estate is a mixed agricultural estate extending to approximately 981 acres and has been included at Fair Value of £14,951,000 (2023: £14,951,000) from a management review of the external valuation in December 2023. In 2015 the Fund purchased a freehold interest in properties at 7–10 Dean’s Mews, which adjoin the Fund’s offices at 11–13 Cavendish Square. They have been included at a value of £12,350,000 from a management review of the external valuation in September 2022 (2023: £12,350,000).
A reconciliation of the movement in the market value of the Fund’s investments during the year is as follows:
|Opening balance at 1 January
Net monies disinvested
Increase on revaluation
Shareholding in subsidiary company
Closing balance at 31 December 2024|**2024**
**£000**
**186,132**
**(5,823)**
**14,374**
**194,683**
**50**
**194,733**|2023
£000
180,159
(3,670)
9,643
186,132
50
186,182|
|---|---|---|
**Notes to the accounts**
**66**
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## **14 Subsidiary company**
KEHF Limited, a company registered in England number 2754697, began trading on 2 August 2007 having previously been reported as a dormant company.
The authorised share capital of the company is 50,000 shares of £1 each. The King’s Fund owns all of the shares and is therefore the sole member of the company. The company has five directors comprising two King’s Fund Trustees, a King’s Fund Facilities and Estates committee member and two King’s Fund employees.
The activities undertaken by the company comprise the letting of conference space within the premises of The King’s Fund to third parties, along with the provision of catering and other related services. In addition, KEHF Limited manages sponsorship arrangements including with partners and supporters, and consulting activities that are outside the charitable objects.
In the year to 31 December, the company had income of £4,126,000 (2023: £4,118,000) and incurred expenditure of £3,742,000 (2023: £3,467,000) thereby generating an operating profit of £384,000 (2023: £651,000). The directors have made donations in the year of £384,000 to The King’s Fund through Gift Aid. The resultant accumulated surplus of KEHF Limited at 31 December 2024 was £6,000 (2023: £6,000).
Excluding KEHF Limited’s results, the charity’s total income in 2024 was £11,416,000 (2023: £12,409,000) and the charity’s net increase in funds was £8,113,000 (2023: net increase of £4,736,000).
## **15 Debtors**
|**15 Debtors**|||
|---|---|---|
|**Consolidated**
Consolidated
**2024**
2023
**£000**
£000
Trade debtors
**870**
794
Amounts owed by KEHF Limited
**–**
–
Prepayments and accrued income
**672**
898
Other debtors
**12**
4
Donations from KEHF Limited
**–**
–
**1,554**
1,696|**Charity**
**2024**
**£000**
**628**
**192**
**633**
**12**
**45**
**1,510**|Charity
2023
£000
576
96
863
4
152|
|||1,691|
**Notes to the accounts**
**67**
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## **16 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year**
|**Consolidated**
Consolidated
**2024**
2023
**£000**
£000
Trade creditors
**484**
489
Amounts owed to KEHF Limited
**–**
–
Deferred income – see analysis below
**2,980**
3,051
Taxation and social security
**12**
308
Other creditors and accruals
**602**
680
**4,078**
4,528
Balance at
Released
1 January
during
2024
the year
**Deferred income analysis**
£000
£000
Programme fees received in advance
**2,464**
(2,464)
**Charity total**
**2,464**
(2,464)
Other deferred income including KEHF Limited
**587**
(587)
**Consolidated total**
**3,051**
(3,051)|**Charity**
Charity
**2024**
2023
**£000**
£000
**330**
324
**27**
7
**2,378**
2,464
**12**
308
**585**
667
**3,332**
3,770
**Balance at**
Additional**31 December**
deferrals
**2024**
£000
**£000**
**2,378**
2,378
**2,378**
2,378
**602**
602
**2,980**
2,980|Charity
2023
£000
324
7
2,464
308
667|
|---|---|---|
|||3,770|
|||2,378|
|||602|
|||2,980|
## **17 Creditors: amounts falling due after more than one year**
|**Consolidated**
Consolidated
**2024**
2023
**£000**
£000
Loan from MetLife falling due in over fve years
**20,000**
20,000
**20,000**
20,000|**Charity**
**2024**
**£000**
**20,000**
**20,000**|Charity
2023
£000
20,000|
|---|---|---|
|||20,000|
A 30-year loan was taken out on 14 May 2021 to enhance the long-term value of The King’s Fund’s investments and has been invested in line with the strategic asset allocation. The loan is repayable in full at the end of the loan period in May 2051. In the interim, the interest is payable in November and May. The future interest payable is as follows:
|Not later than one year
Later than one year and not later than fve years
Later than fve years
Total|**2024**
**£000**
**534**
**2,136**
**11,414**
**14,084**|2023
£000
534
2,136
11,948|
|---|---|---|
|||14,618|
**Notes to the accounts**
**68**
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## **18 Pension schemes**
_The King’s Fund Staff Pension and Life Assurance Plan_
The King’s Fund Staff Pension and Life Assurance Plan (the Plan) is a defined benefit scheme. The Plan was open to all employees of The King’s Fund who were not members of another scheme until it was closed to new members on 28 February 2008. The scheme closed for employee and employer contribution on 31 May 2024 so as at 31 December 2024 there were no active members (2023: 12).
|The amounts recognised in the Balance Sheet are as follows:
Fair value of plan assets
Present value of plan liabilities
**Net Plan asset**
Amount not recognised as asset due to limit in FRS 102 paragraph 28.22
**Net defned beneft asset**|**2024**
**£000**
**53,757**
**(40,036)**
**13,721**
**(13,721)**
**–**|2023
£000
57,412
(44,229)
13,183
(13,183)
–|
|---|---|---|
The surplus linked to the defined benefit scheme is not considered to be recoverable and therefore has not been recognised in the financial statements in accordance with FRS 102.
|The movement in defned beneft obligations over the year was as follows:
Present value of obligations at start of year
Current employer service cost
Employee contributions
Liabilities extinguished on curtailments
Interest costs
Actuarial losses/(gains)
Benefts paid
**Closing value of the plan liability**
The movement in the fair value of assets over the year was as follows:
Opening fair value of plan assets
Return on plan assets in excess of/(lower than) interest income
Interest income on planned assets
Employee contributions
Employer contributions
Administration costs
Benefts paid
**Closing fair value of plan assets**|**2024**
**£000**
**44,229**
**38**
**29**
**(76)**
**2,011**
**(3,647)**
**(2,550)**
**40,036**
**2024**
**£000**
**57,412**
**(3,799)**
**2,660**
**29**
**82**
**(77)**
**(2,550)**
**53,757**|2023
£000
43,662
101
70
–
2,036
891
(2,531)
44,229
2023
£000
54,287
2,938
2,550
70
197
(99)
(2,531)
57,412|
|---|---|---|
**Notes to the accounts**
**69**
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## **18 Pension schemes (continued)**
|Total (expense) recognised in the statement of fnancial activities:
Current employer service cost
Net interest on the net defned beneft obligation
Return on Plan assets excluding interest income
Actuarial gains/(losses) arising from change in assumptions
Amount not recognised as asset due to limit in FRS 102, paragraph 28.22
Curtailments
Administrative expenses
**Total expense recognised in the statement of fnancial activities**
Proportion of total Plan assets by asset class:
Equities (including property)
Bonds
Index-linked
Cash and equivalents|**2024**
**£000**
**(38)**
**47**
**(3,799)**
**3,647**
**61**
**77**
**(77)**
**(82)**
**2024**
**17%**
**50%**
**30%**
**3%**|2023
£000
(101)
4
2,938
(891)
(2,047)
–
(99)|
|---|---|---|
|||(196)|
|||2023
14%
53%
31%
2%|
The overall expected rate of return on the Plan assets is determined by applying each asset type’s expected long-term rate of return to that asset type’s market value and calculating a weighted average rate of return over all asset types.
|**Actual return on Plan assets**
The principal actuarial assumptions used at the balance sheet date:
Discount rate
Rate of increase in salaries
RPI infation
CPI infation
Rate of increase in pension payments:
Service prior to 1 April 2000
Service after 1 April 2000
Life expectancy at 65 for:
male aged 65
female aged 65
male aged 45
female aged 45|**2024**
**£000**
**(1,139)**
**5.45%**
**n/a**
**3.15%**
**2.45%**
**4.20%**
**3.05%**
**22.7**
**24.4**
**23.9**
**25.8**|2023
£000
5,487|
|---|---|---|
|||4.55%
2.35%
3.05%
2.35%
4.20%
3.00%
22.4
24.4
23.6
25.8|
The King’s Fund expects no further contributions to be made to the Plan in the year ending 31 December 2025 due to the closure of the scheme to future accruals. The last full valuation of the scheme was 1 April 2024.
**Notes to the accounts**
**70**
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## **18 Pension schemes (continued)**
## _NHS Pension Scheme_
The Fund contributes to the NHS Pension Scheme, a defined benefit scheme, for five (2023: six) eligible members of staff as at 31 December 2024. In 2024 The Fund contributed £64,000 (2023: £69,000) to the scheme. The employer’s contribution rate is set by the Government Actuary at 14.38 per cent.
## _The King’s Fund Group Personal Pension Scheme_
The Fund contributed to the Group Personal Pension Scheme, a defined contribution scheme established in 2008, for 145 (2023: 139) members of staff as at 31 December 2024. The Fund contributed £1,397,000 (2023: £1,137,000) to the scheme. The employer’s contribution rates are double each individual employee’s contribution rate within the range from 6 per cent to 12 per cent of pensionable salary.
The pension charges for the period are shown below:
|The King’s Fund Staf Pension and Life Assurance Plan
NHS Pension Scheme
The King’s Fund Group Personal Pension Scheme
**Total charges**|**2024**
**£000**
**82**
**64**
**1,396**
**1,542**|2023
£000
197
69
1,137|
|---|---|---|
|||1,403|
## **19 Split of assets between funds**
|Tangible assets
Intangible assets
Investments: securities
Investments: property
Net current liabilities
Long-term liabilities
Pension fund reserve
**Total funds**|Expendable
endowment
£000
–
–
145,829
14,079
–
–
–
159,908|Restricted
Unrestricted
funds
funds
£000
£000
–
51,611
–
326
–
21,553
–
13,222
(12)
(1,223)
–
(20,000)
–
–
(12)
65,489|**Total**
**funds**
**2024**
**£000**
**51,611**
**326**
**167,382**
**27,301**
**(1,235)**
**(20,000)**
**–**
**225,385**|Total
funds
2023
£000
52,036
119
158,831
27,301
(1,014)
(20,000)
–|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||217,273|
**Notes to the accounts**
**71**
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## **20 Movements in funds**
|**Restricted funds:**
Department of Health and Social Care
with University of York
The Human Side to Digital Infrastructure
RCN enquiry into the lived experiences
of nurses and midwives
**Total restricted funds**|At the start
of the year
£000
(7)
–
1
**(6)**|Incoming
resources
and gains
£000
125
35
1
**161**|Outgoing
resources
and losses
£000
(136)
(29)
(1)
**(166)**|**At the end**
Transfers
**of the year**
£000
**£000**
–
**(18)**
–
**6**
(1)
**–**
**(1)**
**(12)**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
The contract with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) – run jointly with the University of York – is to provide a fast response research and analytical facility. During 2024, we worked on five projects under the call-off contract that we have in partnership with the University of York, for rapid research to support DHSC’s policy needs. Reports of all projects are on our website and in the public archive for the contract at www.york.ac.uk/prepare. There is currently a deficit due to timing differences of funding received versus activities completed, which will be recovered in future years.
The other grants were from the RCN Foundation and The Health Foundation, the latter of which there is currently a negative balance due to timing differences of funding received versus activities completed, which will be fully spent in 2025.
To see the comparatives for 2023 please see note 23b.
**Notes to the accounts**
**72**
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## **21 Related party transactions**
There have been no related party transactions that require disclosure other than transactions with the subsidiary company, KEHF Limited, as set out below.
- In 2024, the charity charged KEHF Limited management fees totalling £426,000 (2023: £395,000). This is calculated as a percentage of staffing costs.
- In 2024, the charity charged KEHF Limited licence fees totalling £897,000 (2023: £841,000). This is calculated as a percentage of room hire income from external conference and catering services.
- In 2024, KEHF Limited charged the charity administration fees totalling £73,000 (2023: £72,000). This is calculated as a percentage of internal room hire costs.
- As at 31 December 2024, KEHF Limited owed the charity £45,000 of additional gift aid (2023: £152,000). For the total gift aid payable in the year, see note 14 above.
## **22 Lessor operating leases**
The future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases for each of the following periods are set out below:
|Not later than one year
Later than one year and not later than fve years
Total|**2024**
**£000**
**1,119**
**915**
**2,034**|2023
£000
656
563|
|---|---|---|
|||1,219|
Operating lease commitments relate to the minimum future rental income for both investment and non-investment properties.
**Notes to the accounts**
**73**
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## **23 Comparative statements**
## 23a Comparative split of assets between funds
|Tangible assets
Intangible assets
Investments: securities
Investments: property
Net current assets/(liabilities)
Long-term liabilities
**Total funds**
23b Comparative movements in
**Restricted funds:**
Department of Health and Social Care
with University of York
The National Lottery Community Fund
(renamed Big Lottery)
Other
**Total restricted funds**|funds
At the start
of the year
£000
–
5
–
**5**|Expendable
endowment
£000
–
–
133,769
14,079
–
–
**147,848**
Incoming
resources
and gains
£000
212
30
48
**290**|Restricted
Unrestricted
**Total funds**
funds
funds
**2023**
£000
£000
**£000**
–
52,536
**52,036**
–
119
**119**
–
25,062
**158,831**
–
13,222
**27,301**
(6)
(1,008)
**(1,014)**
–
(20,000)
**(20,000)**
**(6)**
**69,431**
**217,273**
Outgoing
**At the end**
resources
**of the year**
and losses
Transfers
**2023**
£000
£000
**£000**
(219)
–
**(7)**
(35)
–
**–**
(47)
–
**1**
**(301)**
**–**
**(6)**|
|---|---|---|---|
The contract with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) – run jointly with the University of York – is to provide a fast response research and analytical facility. During 2024, we worked on seven projects under the call-off contract that we have in partnership with the University of York, for rapid research to support DHSC’s policy needs. Reports of all projects are on our website and in the public archive for the contract at www.york.ac.uk/prepare. There is currently a deficit due to timing differences of funding received versus activities completed, which will be recovered in future years.
In 2018, a grant of £449,357 was awarded by The National Lottery Community Fund to extend the Cascading Leadership programme. In August 2019, we received a top-up grant of £15,411 from The National Lottery Community Fund, bringing the total budget for this project to £464,768. And in 2021 we received another top-up grant of £29,500, bringing the total budget of the project to £494,268 and this included an extension of the project to 2024, recognising the Covid-19 delays. This programme was completed in 2024.
The remaining grant was from the RCN Foundation (£48,000).
**Notes to the accounts**
**74**
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## **23 Comparative statements (continued)**
## 23c Comparative consolidated statement of financial activities
|Unrestricted
funds
Notes
£000
**Income and endowments from:**
Donations and legacies
12
Charitable activities
Research and analysis
578
Developing individuals, teams and organisations
4,871
Promoting understanding
135
Bringing people together
500
Total charitable activities
4
6,084
Other trading activities
5
4,605
Investments
6
3,409
Other
167
**Total**
14,277
**Expenditure on:**
Charitable activities
Research and analysis
4,010
Developing individuals, teams and organisations
6,120
Promoting understanding
3,442
Bringing people together
825
Total charitable activities
4
14,397
Other trading activities
7
3,558
Raising funds costs
8
963
**Total**
18,918
Operating (defcit)
(4,641)
Net gain on investments
2
Net income/(expenditure)
(4,639)
Actuarial gain/(loss) on defned beneft pension scheme
18
–
**Net movement in funds**
(4,639)
**Reconciliation of funds:**
**Total funds brought forward**
19
74,070
**Total funds carried forward**
19
**69,431**|Restricted
funds
£000
–
212
78
–
–
290
–
–
–
290
219
82
–
–
301
–
–
301
(11)
–
(11)
–
(11)
5
**(6)**|Endowed
funds
£000
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
251
251
(251)
9,641
9,390
–
9,390
138,458
**147,848**|**Total**
**2023**
**£000**
**12**
**790**
**4,949**
**135**
**500**
**6,374**
**4,605**
**3,409**
**167**
**14,567**
**4,229**
**6,202**
**3,442**
**825**
**14,698**
**3,558**
**1,214**
**19,470**
**(4,903)**
**9,643**
**4,740**
**–**
**4,740**
**212,533**
**217,273**|
|---|---|---|---|
**Notes to the accounts**
**75**
Trustees’ annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024
## **23 Comparative statements (continued)**
## 23d Comparative consolidated statement of financial activities
|Developing
individuals,
Research
teams and
Promoting
and analysis organisations understanding
£000
£000
£000
Commissioned work
578
2,906
36
Grants
212
78
–
Course places or event tickets
–
1,893
–
Other
–
72
99
Total income
790
4,949
135
Direct expenditure
2,492
4,353
1,873
Support departments (23e)
1,737
1,849
1,569
Total expenditure
4,229
6,202
3,442
23e Support departments
Facilities (1)
583
621
527
Communications (2)
136
144
123
Other support (3)
1,018
1,084
919
Total cost of support departments
1,737
1,849
1,569|Bringing
people
together
£000
–
–
500
–
500
433
392
825
131
31
230
392|**Total**
**2023**
**£000**
**3,520**
**290**
**2,393**
**171**|
|---|---|---|
|||**6,374**|
|||**9,151**
**5,547**|
|||**14,698**|
|||**1,862**
**434**
**3,251**|
|||**5,547**|
1 Facilities costs have been apportioned based on average headcount of the various departments during the year.
2 Communication costs have been apportioned based on average headcount of the various departments during the year.
3 Other support departments include: Chief Executive’s Office, Finance, HR, Operations and Information Technology. Depreciation is also included within this category. The amount paid by the trading subsidiary via a management charge is excluded and has been allocated to expenditure on other trading activities. Remaining costs have been apportioned based on average headcount of the various departments during the year.
**Notes to the accounts**
**76**