2023-03-31-accounts

Changing Times Age UK Report of Trustees and Annual Accounts 2022/23

Thank you

At Age UK we exist to make life better for older people. We do not do this alone. We have an amazing community who support us and work with us to thank.

Let us begin with the people at the heart of our work. The hundreds and thousands of older people we supported this year, who have in turn provided inspiration, motivation, and insights from which we continue to learn from. They drive every aspect of our work – day and night – and they make everything worthwhile.

Thank you to our Local Age UK Partners, National Partners, and International Partners– our collective work and efforts for older people make us intensely proud to be part of the Age UK Network. It’s a network filled with people who strive day in, day out to improve older people’s lives. To our Age UK colleagues and volunteers, including our Board of Trustees, who put older people at the heart of their work. We couldn’t have the impact we have without your efforts, determination, and compassion. Thank you.

To our campaigners who stand up, speak out, and are counted. Thank you. You are a powerful voice on the side of older people.

While this report talks about our work in 2022/23, we cannot but reflect on these challenging times – the crisis in health and social care, the impact of the cost-of-living increases, the lingering effect the coronavirus pandemic has had on older people’s lives, and the consequences for Age UK, our Local and National Age UK Partners across the UK and internationally. These events represent unprecedented challenges and we have adapted to those changes.

Thank you to every single individual who has contributed. Thank you.

Thank you to our individual funders and supporters who believe in us and back us all the way. Who choose to donate to us, fundraise for us, or remember us in their wills. And to our corporate partners, trusts, foundations and public sector bodies, and the people who work for them. You enable us to do great work and offer your skills and expertise in kind – thank you. We deeply appreciate your trust, your enthusiasm, and your support.

Overview

Contents

----- Start of picture text -----
Overview 2
Introduction from our Chair and CEO 3
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Overview Introduction from our Chair and CEO	2 3
Strategic report	5
How we work	6
Age UK’s strategy	8
The situation for older people	10
Our impact in numbers	12
Changing Times – Our future direction	14
How we raised our money	16
How we spent our money	17
Our impact
We campaign and research	18
We provide information and advice	28
We improve health and care services	36
We deliver wellbeing services and programmes	40
We support the Age UK network	49
We work internationally	54
Our plans for 2023/24	61
Our people and our organisation	63
Fundraising	71
Trading	76
Financial review	81
Funding and finance	85
Risk management and assurance	88
Governance	92

Section 172 statement	99
Environment and sustainability	101
Further information	104
Statement of Trustees’ responsibilities	105
Trustees, Executive Directors and Professional Advisers	106

Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members of Age UK 108

Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members	of Age UK 108
Financial statements	111
Charity statement of financial activities	112
Consolidated balance sheet	114
Consolidated cash flow statement	115
Notes to the financial statements	116
Thank you	159

Report of Trustees and Annual Accounts 2022/23[| ] 1

Overview

Overview

Report of Trustees and Annual Accounts 2022/23[| ] 2

Overview

Introduction from our Chair and CEO

This is our first joint Annual Report as Chair and CEO. We have both taken on our roles with a very clear recognition of the impact that Age UK can have when times are changing. Delivering that impact for older people is what drives us both, as does the exciting potential we see within Age UK to do even more.

Emerging from the pandemic

The past few years have shown us how Age UK’s support for older people must adapt to changing times. The pandemic took a huge toll on older people and, for some, returning to the lives they knew before has not been easy. It has been heartwarming to see older people once again share face-to-face connections, particularly through the thousands of community programmes which our Local Age UK Partners deliver so well. However, some work that we fund, like our Travelling Companions programme, shows that many older people very much need a helping hand to get out and about once more (see page 47).

Addressing the increasing cost of living

Last year’s report talked about the double-edged sword of emerging from the pandemic and entering a cost-of-living crisis. Sadly, the winter we were preparing for came to bear. We saw this in the increased number of calls about benefits and money concerns to our advice line (see page 30). More starkly, we saw it in the number of safeguarding reports made by our

colleagues hearing from vulnerable older people concerned about making ends meet (see page 68).

Thousands of older people shared their own experiences of the crisis with us, and we campaigned alongside them, fighting hard to get the Government to listen to their voices. We were pleased when our calls helped lead to the introduction of a package of measures to support people of State Pension age (see page 20).

The cost-of-living crisis has made life harder for older people across the world too. Through Age International we have supported older people struggling to buy food, afford transport to get healthcare and whose pensions didn’t enable them to make ends meet.

Supporting Age UK Network Partners

Last winter we listened to Local Age UK Partners and our National Partners – Age Scotland, Age NI and Age Cymru, who told us about the challenges they were facing with their day-to-day costs and the pressures they were under to respond to the

cost-of-living crisis at a local level. It was clear we had to act fast to support where we could. We did so by releasing almost £5 million to 126 Local Age UK Partners, and our National Partners – to enable them to respond to the crisis that older people are experiencing.

Partnership in action

Working as part of a network means we can be responsive. Local Age UK Partners offer incredible community-based approaches and act as local and regional champions for older people. Where there is a need for large-scale services, Age UK and our National Network Partners can deliver those on a national level. We are proud that our international charity, Age International can respond on a global level too, exemplified this year by the horrifying conflict in Ukraine where Age International supported over 100,000 older people in Ukraine, neighbouring Moldova and Poland this year (see page 56).

That partnership is a huge strength. During 2022/23, conversations were reignited across the Age UK

Report of Trustees and Annual Accounts 2022/23[| ] 3

Overview

Network about what the shared future of our network could look like. These conversations continue and will culminate in a shared strategy and new legal agreement between all organisations across the Age UK Network. It is an important and exciting time to be a part of the Age UK Network.

Changing the conversation

Being part of the Age UK Network means that older people’s voices and opinions can be heard through local, national, and international platforms. It is our strong belief that we need to change the

conversation on age, ageing and ageism, not just in the UK but internationally too. This is something that Age UK, together with our Network Partners, must very much take the lead on and we need to ramp up the volume.

We are optimistic about our future and we are on a good financial footing to be able to plan wisely yet ambitiously. This year we spent £72.4 million on supporting older people. We take that responsibility seriously and always with the knowledge that every penny matters in terms of the support that we can offer to each older person.

New direction for Age UK Changing the conversation will be part of our new direction for Age UK. This year, we have put a lot of our energies into developing our new organisational strategy. Our trustees report will look back at our work under our current strategy (see page 8). But you will see some emerging thoughts coming through about the future. Our ‘Changing Times’ features throughout the report show our thinking on where we want to change and do more for older people.

Our thanks to you

We would like to thank every colleague across the Age UK Network for giving us a warm welcome and for the tremendous amount of tenacity, professionalism, and motivation that you bring to our collective work for older people. We must thank the older people who we are here to serve and support. Their experiences and stories shape the work that we do now, and in the future.

If you are reading this as a funder, supporter or campaigner – thank you! We hope this report shows you how your support is enabling us to adapt in these changing times and support the older people who need us. That is our ultimate purpose and without you it simply would not be possible.

Best wishes Toby Strauss Paul Farmer Chair CEO

Report of Trustees and Annual Accounts 2022/23[| ] 4

Overview

Strategic report

Report of Trustees and Annual Accounts 2022/23[| ] 5

Overview

How we work

Age UK’s vision is a world where everyone can love later life. We know it won’t be easy getting there, but we believe it is how things should be for people in later life and, with your help, we work every day to make it happen.

About the Age UK Network

We are proud to be part of the Age UK Network. The Age UK Network includes Age UK, together with three national charities, Age Scotland, Age NI and Age Cymru, and over 120 Local Age UKs across England, five Local Age Cymrus and Age Orkney. Together the Network delivers over 2,000 services to hundreds of thousands of older people every year.

Acting together with like-minded charities and other organisations enables us to achieve far more for older people. In the UK we do this largely in partnership with Local Age UK Partners, and our National Network Partners and, internationally, we work through Age International’s membership of the HelpAge global network.

We work together with Local Age UK Partners and our National Network Partners in a range of ways and grant funding is an important part of this. For example, we co-design and deliver charitable programmes (see pages 18–60), which Age UK receives funding for and makes grants available for suitable Partners to deliver. In 2022/23, we distributed £30.9 million in total in grants to other organisations, including those in the Age UK Network (in 2021/22 this was £29.1 million) (see pages 148 to 151).

As a national charity, across the UK we help millions of people every year, providing support, companionship and advice to the older people who need our help the most. We are a strong voice, campaigning with and for older people to champion their rights, needs and wishes.

We also work with our subsidiary charity, Age International, to fund programmes in over 27 low and middle-income countries. Age International is a member of the HelpAge global network and the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC).

Report of Trustees and Annual Accounts 2022/23[| ] 6

Overview

We are informed by what older people tell us is important to them

We create opportunities for people in later life to have a voice on many strands of Age UK’s work – we listen to older people’s thoughts on the issues which matter the most to them; we campaign alongside older people; and we have sounding boards of older people who inform our policy and service development.

Report of Trustees and Annual Accounts 2022/23[| ] 7

Overview

Age UK’s strategy

Our strategy is crucial for all of us at Age UK and for the older people our charity exists to support. Our focus is on the older people who need us the most. Too many older people are living in poverty or just above the poverty line. Too many find themselves without the care and support they desperately need. Too many have no one to turn to.

Our current strategy consists of:

Our three priorities

• 3 priorities: The things, above all else, we will work to achieve and will shape everything we do; with the older people who need us the most at front and centre.

We will put front and centre the older people who need us the most

Many of the older people who need us the most struggle every day and feel they have no one to turn to. Age UK will be here to help. We will continue to work in the interests of every older person but will focus on making the most difference to those who need us most.

• 6 charitable objectives: The changes we will aim to achieve in each area of work.

• 3 enablers: The foundations that will make achieving our strategy possible.

We will help local communities through enduring local support

Age UK will help ensure that local support through Local Age UK Partners and our National Network Partners continues to be there for older people. The Age UK Network is unique in how it transforms lives. But demand has never been so great, while sustainable funding is scarce. We will do more to help Local Age UK Partners to be there for the older people in their communities.

• 3 values: The characteristics everyone who works and volunteers for us will aim to demonstrate in all we do, and how we work with and for older people.

We will boldly ask for help and support

Age UK will inspire people to stand alongside us so that together we can do more. We work in partnership with supporters, campaigners, volunteers, and like-minded organisations. But we need more people and organisations to donate their money, voice, and time to support our charitable work.

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Overview

Our six charity objectives

Our charitable objectives span across six areas of activity

Campaigning and research

Providing information and advice

Improving health and care services

Delivering wellbeing programmes and services

Supporting the Age UK network

Working internationally

Our three enablers

We’ll deepen our relationships with our charity audiences

1

We will develop deeper, two-way relationships so our charity audiences feel valued and engaged and know that their role in helping older people is recognised and celebrated.

We’ll strengthen our organisational capabilities and diversity

2

We will focus on strengthening our foundations, ensuring the support provided by our central services (such as IT, finance, and HR) is efficient, effective, and that we enable all colleagues to do their jobs well in an inclusive and diverse environment.

We’ll build incremental and sustainable income growth

3

Across all our income streams, we will invest in the long-term, sustainable growth needed to do more for older people.

We are driven by our values

When we work with older people, each other, and our stakeholders, our ambition is that:

We are focused on what has the most impact on older people.

We act together to get things done and achieve more.

We are bold, unafraid to stand up and do what’s right.

Report of Trustees and Annual Accounts 2022/23[| ] 9

Strategic report

The situation for older people

12.5 million

older people (aged 65+) in the UK – comprising 19% or almost 1 in 5 of the population.[i ]

2.1 million million pensioners are living in poverty.[v]

Almost a million older people report that they are often lonely.[viii]

94%

of people aged 50+ in Great Britain, equivalent to 23.9 million people ~~have seen their cost-of-living~~ increase in the past year.[xi]

At 65

women in the UK can expect to live another 21 years, and men another 18.5 years.[ii] For women and men, an average of 11 of those remaining years of life will be healthy.[iii]

770,000

pensioners are eligible for Pension Credit but do not receive it, resulting in £1.5 billion of unclaimed Pension Credit annually.[vi]

2.8 million

older people have never used the internet.[ix]

60%

of older people worried about heating their home last winter.[xii]

In the 10%

most deprived areas in England, women’s life expectancy is 8 years shorter than in the 10% least deprived areas, and men’s is almost 10 years shorter.[iv ]

1.6 million

older people have an unmet need for care.[vii]

41%

of older people (aged 75+, England) are physically active.[x]

Find out the situation globally on the next page.

Report of Trustees and Annual Accounts 2022/23[| ] 10

Strategic report The situation for older people

Globally:

There are 760 million people aged 65+, comprising almost 10% or 1 in 10 of the global population.[xiii]

This is expected to more than double by 2050 to 1.6 billion.xiv

At 65 women can expect to live another 18 years on average, and men another 15 years.xv

More than 46% of older people have disabilities, with more than 250 million experiencing moderate to severe disability.[xvi]

Report of Trustees and Annual Accounts 2022/23[| ] 11

Strategic report

Our impact in numbers

10,387 Age UK campaigners contacted their MP to tell them how the cost-of-living crisis was affecting them.

We answered 227,805 enquiries to our Advice Line.

Over 500 people have been supported through our Dementia Maintenance Cognitive Stimulation Therapy programme.

12.6 million

people will immediately benefit from the UK Government listening to our calls to protect the triple lock.[xvii]

We received 8.4 million visits to the information and advice pages on our website.

2.4 million

people will benefit from the UK Government listening to our calls to keep the qualifying age for prescription charges at 60.[xviii]

Report of Trustees and Annual Accounts 2022/23[| ] 12

Strategic report

Our impact in numbers

192,908

93%

of older people say their wellbeing improved since receiving Age UK friendship calls.

calls were answered by our Silver Line Helpline, providing older people with friendship, conversation and support.

We provided

We supported Local Age UK Partners with 14 tender bids, securing around £13 million in funding.

£5 million

in emergency cost-of-living funding to Local Age UK Partners and our National Network Partners.

With Age International’s support, the HelpAge network has reached 659,500 people with humanitarian assistance including shelter, food, water, medicines and walking aids in over 20 countries.[1]

2,787

older people were supported to develop their digital skills.

81%

of Local Age UK Partners were given support with their financial governance.

With Age International’s support, the HelpAge network has supported 100,000 older people in Ukraine, and neighbouring countries Moldova and Poland.[2]

1,2 See page 56

Report of Trustees and Annual Accounts 2022/23[| ] 13

Strategic report

– Our future direction

A view from 2023

Trustees and the leadership team are currently working to establish a new three-to-five-year strategy based on research and insight into the current and future needs of older people.

There is no doubt that our future strategy will be ambitious. It will require us to generate more income and do more with the money we have, while improving our technology, operating models, and ways of working to be more effective and efficient. At its heart will be a focus on making sure all of our activity has the most significant impact.

Our three-year strategy was due to run until April 2022, however during the pandemic we extended it because it remained so relevant to the situation older people were facing. We also felt it wise to continue with that strategy until our new CEO, Paul Farmer, joined us in October 2022, so that Paul could play a key role in shaping our future work and direction.

Listening is of course an important factor. We want to hear from our employees and volunteers, Age UK Network Partners, funders, and supporters. Crucially, we want to hear from older people.

We have not lost sight of the fact that we are developing our own strategy at the same time as having discussions as part of the Age UK Network on our collective shared future (see page 53). That shared future will be a central part of Age UK’s strategy. We need to have the building blocks in place so that Age UK, as a national charity, can be a valued and respected part of the Age UK Network. Our work and our voice need to complement those of Local Age UK Partners and our National Network Partners, so that together we can be stronger and work in faster and smarter ways, ultimately so we can have more impact on older people’s lives.

During 2023/24, we are hearing from older people who are telling us about the future direction of our work, where they believe we should focus our energies and resources, and what support will help them the most. They are telling us that we need to be ambitious and more focused on what has the most life-changing impact on their lives, so we can all live in a world where older people are included and respected.

Report of Trustees and Annual Accounts 2022/23[| ] 14

Strategic report

Our CEO, Paul Farmer, is spending a lot of time visiting Local and National Age UK Partners, asking our network colleagues for their ideas on how Age UK can best serve older people and support Age UK Network Partners. We have also shared our thinking as it develops with the Executive Committee of the Age England Association (see page 104).

Key themes

Some key themes are emerging. We have been hearing that we must have a strong focus on supporting people’s health, financial security, and wellbeing.

We will be looking at ways that we can invest in offering more benefits support; step up our campaigning to tackle pensioner poverty; and seek to reach the older people who are currently not claiming a total of £3 billion in benefits that they are entitled to.

Also, our CEO visited older people in Tanzania and heard about Age International’s support for work on pensions and healthcare, as well as joining an Older People’s Association for exercise. Our Chair visited Pakistan to see Age International’s humanitarian support for older people who had lost their homes and livelihoods due to flooding.

We are involving our colleagues across Age UK too, both keeping them informed about the development of our strategy and listening to them about their own thoughts and aspirations for our future work and ambitions. A virtual and face-to-face Festival of Ideas has involved colleagues in this process and harnessed considerable new thinking and innovation.

We want to look at new ways to reduce loneliness by connecting with people in their 50s so they can join us and be part of our ambition to increase the number of befriending volunteers ready to offer a friendly ear to lonely or isolated older people. And we will be looking at ways to tackle inequality by offering support to older people in some of the most deprived areas of the country.

Report of Trustees and Annual Accounts 2022/23[| ] 15

Strategic report

How we raised our money

Our net resources available for charitable activity were £65.1 million

----- Start of picture text -----
£80m The key below shows a
breakdown of how income is
£70m raised across the group entities
£58.7m Age UK Charity 2023
£60m
£53.1m Age UK Charity 2022
£50m
International 2023
£40m International 2022
£30m Age Cymru 2023
Age Cymru 2022
£20m
Age Co 2023
£9.7m
£10m £8.5m
Age Co 2022
£3.9m
£2.5m
£1m £1.1m
£0
Trading CIC 2023
Fundraising Charitable activities Trading Investments & other
Trading CIC 2022
----- End of picture text -----

Net income raised in The Silver Line and the Lottery CICs have been treated as part of Age UK Charity for the purposes of this graph, in line with the current group structure.

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Strategic report

How we spent our money

We spent £72.4 million on charitable activity

----- Start of picture text -----
£80m
£72.4m
£70m
£62.8m
£60m
£50m
Campaign and research
£40m Information and advice
Health and care services
£30m
Wellbeing programmes
and services
£20m
Supporting the network
£10m
International
£0 Raised by Age International
2023 2022
----- End of picture text -----*

*£15.4 million of the £21.7 million (2022: £14.9 million of the £19.9 million) we spent on international work came from money that Age International raised itself from external funders, for example the United Nations, Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), and other institutions.

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Strategic report

We campaign and research

We spent £12.0 million (2021/22 £10.1 million)

Our objective

We will make the greatest possible difference to the most disadvantaged older people in the UK through effective campaigning and influencing, underpinned by policy work and research.

Why we campaign and research

It is vital that the voices of older people are heard by those who have the power to make decisions that affect them. Our public policy and research expertise, what we hear from older people and our thousands of campaigners, coupled with insights from Local Age UK Partners, enable us to spearhead powerful campaigns on the issues that matter most to older people.

What we do

We use powerful campaigns, rooted in what older people, their families and carers tell us, to ensure these crucial voices are heard by decision-makers.

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Strategic report

Our impact in numbers

Over 45,000

people signed our open letter calling for a social energy tariff.

10,387 Age UK campaigners contacted their MP to tell them how the cost-of-living crisis was affecting them.

12.6 million

people will immediately benefit from the UK Government listening to our calls to protect the triple lock.[xix]

2.4 million

people will benefit from the UK Government listening to our calls to keep the qualifying age for prescription charges at 60.[xx]

Report of Trustees and Annual Accounts 2022/23[| ] 19

Strategic report

Highlights from 2022/23

Addressing the cost-of-living crisis

This year was dominated by the cost-of-living crisis, with Age UK hearing from a great many older people who were struggling to make ends meet. As the cost of essential goods and services rose, it brought the difficulties of living on a low fixed income to the fore, and reinvigorated Age UK and the ageing sector to encourage those-older people not claiming Pension Credit to do so. Sadly, the number of eligible non-claimants stands around 770,000[xxi ] – a true tragedy when so many are struggling to put food on the table or keep the lights on.

An important part of our work was campaigning to persuade the Government to help those most in need. Following an initial reluctance from the Government to help, alongside our campaigners we pushed them into providing proper support for older people during the cost-of-living crisis. We used evidence collected from older people to make the case for change to decision makers. This support included: the doubling of the energy support schemes (EBSS), protection from high bills via the Energy Support Guarantee, the cost-of-living payments for pensioners and recipients of certain benefits, and the increase to the Household Support Fund. We also helped secure additional support for older people living in rural areas who are reliant on alternative fuel sources.

All 12.6 million recipients of the State Pension received a payment, and those with a disability were given a further payment in recognition of the additional costs they were likely to face. People will continue to receive payments later in 2023 and early 2024.

We have also pushed the energy industry and regulator hard to improve the way energy companies treat their vulnerable customers, which includes many older people. Along with others, we successfully called for the forced installation of pre-payment meters to be stopped. It is important that the system is better designed to prevent a repeat of the distress caused by increasing energy prices. Alongside our campaigning to help people in the here-and-now, we have been asking the Government to implement a social tariff for energy, where older people receiving certain benefits or living in poverty would receive a discount on their bills.

We have also been lobbying the Government to meet its commitment to increase funding for energy efficiency schemes. Over 45,000 people signed our open letter calling for a social tariff on energy. Although the Government has indicated that they will not be introducing one before the next General Election, Age UK will continue to press for a permanent solution for the energy bill instability that has blighted the lives of so many older people on low incomes during the last two years.

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Strategic report

Protecting the State Pension triple lock

The triple lock is the mechanism by which the State Pension increases each year, linking it to the highest of three factors – inflation, average earnings increases, or 2.5 per cent. This was under threat in the difficult economic conditions in 2022, with the Government considering raising the State Pension by less than inflation. The Government was also refusing to confirm that means-tested benefits would rise with inflation.

This would have caused many hard-pressed pensioners untold financial hardship, as those already struggling would have had to make further cutbacks. And a failure to increase means-tested benefits would have hit the poorest pensioners the hardest as well as making it harder for those on benefits waiting for their State Pension.

We amplified the voices of older people and shared evidence about the impact of rising prices on older people to build support in the media and among politicians. 10,387 campaigners contacted their MPs to tell them how the cost-of-living crisis was affecting them and asked their MPs to put pressure on the Chancellor. It was great to hear the Chancellor confirm that our influencing helped persuade the Government to stick with the triple lock, which immediately benefits 12.6 million State Pension recipients, and countless future pensioners too.

Ensuring fairness with the State Pension age

The Government had been expected to raise the State Pension age to 68 faster than originally planned. But following our policy report, Waiting for an age, which highlighted the impact of the rise on those who struggle to keep working, such as people with disabilities or caring responsibilities, the Government decided not to press ahead with those plans. Our report helped convince the Government that taking a decision amidst the backdrop of extremely difficult financial circumstances and stagnating life expectancy would not be fair on those affected.

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Strategic report

‘There is a category where they have forgotten us… we are five years before retirement, so we are all worried and scared.’ Female interviewee, age 62

‘I gave up work at 50 to care for my parents with pancreatic cancer and Alzheimer’s. Thought I would be getting my Govt Pension at 60 but no, had to wait until 66. Had to use all my savings to live for those six years now I have nothing for my care later in life.’ Female campaigner, age 66

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Strategic report

Protecting access to banking

Bank branches continue to close in communities across the country, leaving many older people unable to access cash or banking services, effectively rendering them unable to manage their money. Age UK continued working closely with banks as part of the ongoing design and roll out of new shared Banking Hubs. We were particularly keen to ensure that cash provision is protected, and that the hubs will meet the needs of older people, especially those who are unable to bank online.

By March 2023, the first four Banking Hubs were open and they are proving to be very successful within their local communities. Age UK continues to be very supportive of this initiative, although we are critical of the slower-than-expected roll-out. This work culminated in a report in May 2023 into how older people bank, which received widespread media coverage and proved to be highly influential within the industry.

We are very pleased that following years of lobbying on access to cash, the Government has brought forward legislation that will guarantee that everyone is able to get cash close to their home. We will continue to press the Government to do more to protect essential banking services.

‘I refuse to take on online banking because I just don’t have confidence in myself to handle it correctly. All the signs are that banks will eventually close, and I would like some sort of guarantee that this will not be for some long time. It’s quite right that schools teach I.T. etc. so the young grow up knowing how to do this, but it leaves the elderly out – as usual.’

Female Age UK campaigner, aged 80

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Strategic report

Speaking out on older people’s health and care

Throughout 2022/23 it was clear that the pandemic would continue to cast a long shadow over older people’s health and wellbeing. Many older people reported that they were still struggling with the changes in their mental and physical health that had occurred over the course of the previous two years and were finding it difficult to recover their previous levels of confidence or independence. Others had either seen treatment for their pre-existing or newly acquired health conditions disrupted or postponed, while challenges accessing routine care and support services were ubiquitous. Then, as we headed into winter, we heard alarming reports from older people and professionals about the major impact the cost-of-living crisis was having on their health, particularly the struggle to stay warm and well-nourished.

Underlying these experiences has been a health and social care system facing some of the most challenging circumstances in their history. NHS waiting lists hit – what was then – an all-time high with more than 7 million cases waiting to be seen. At the same time there were more than half a million people reported to be waiting for a social care assessment, review or for services to commence. Workforce shortages were a major factor with around one in ten posts vacant across health and care services. Urgent and emergency care has also been severely impacted, particularly through the winter months, with the system in a state of ‘gridlock’ at times. Difficulties discharging patients back home meant the hospitals struggled to keep patients flowing leading to ambulances stacked up outside A&E and others waiting a long time for help to arrive as a result. These problems are not unique to older people, but as the single biggest group relying on health and care services, it inevitably has a disproportionately large impact on their health and wellbeing.

We have worked hard to advise and support the Government, NHS England and other bodies – including local health and care systems – to develop solutions. This includes work on recovery strategies for primary care, urgent and emergency care and elective care. We have continued to work with the NHS to develop and embed their approach to supporting older people, including next steps on anticipatory care, virtual wards, urgent community services and falls.

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Strategic report

Given how challenging we expected winter to be this year, we worked with Local Age UK Partners to roll out our largest winter wellbeing campaign to date. We disseminated our information and advice through community events, online and social media and in local and national media. We supported Local Age UK Partners to work directly in their communities to make sure older people access practical support to stay well through winter as well as a place to turn in a crisis.

However, we know that root and branch reform of the social care system remains one of the biggest barriers to setting services on a sustainable footing for older people. Unfortunately, promises to reform and improve social care have not been kept and changes to the rules that could reduce how much people pay for care have been delayed and delayed.

We have campaigned hard to make sure older people and their families waiting for care are not forgotten. Our reports, ‘Why can’t I get care’ and ‘Fixing the foundations’ shared older people’s experiences of the care system and the consequences for older people who are unable to return from hospital because of a lack of suitable care at home. 31,187 campaigners signed our letter to the Chancellor calling for an end to long waiting times for care and we went with campaigners to hand it in to the Treasury. Increases in social care funding in the Autumn financial statement and a focus on improving older people’s experiences of leaving hospital were welcome but leave much to do, with the nettle of long-term reform yet to be grasped by the Government.

Throughout the year, we continued to argue that the qualifying age for free prescription charges should remain at 60. In 2021, the Government announced it was consulting on the option to increase the age for free prescriptions from 60 to 66. We were concerned that this was an unnecessary financial burden to place on older people, particularly those older people on modest incomes or managing multiple long-term conditions. In response to the Government’s consultation, we launched the #BitterPillToSwallow campaign and argued that, if the Government made this change, 2.4 million people over 60 would be affected and forced to consider not taking important medication. We were delighted in June 2023 when the Government announced that the qualifying age would be frozen at 60.

Reaching a wider audience

To help raise awareness of the support that we can offer people, and to reach a wider audience, this year we developed a new advertising campaign to run throughout 2023 on TV, social media and radio. Age UK ‘Know What To Do’ was created to raise awareness of the charity and the help that Age UK gives to older people and their families through our Advice Line.

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Our report –
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Older people’s experiences of care and support
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Hearing from our people Rasila, Age UK campaigner

Rasila featured in our 2021 Annual Report. Back then, she shared her anxiety about becoming a full-time carer for her sister who was diagnosed with advanced dementia at the height of the pandemic. Today Rasila is a passionate campaigner for unpaid carers with Age UK.

‘I used to be shy and hesitant to share my experiences of 30 years as an unpaid carer, how difficult it was for me to cope without support. I got involved with the Age UK Engagement Team and then the Campaigns Team. With their support and encouragement, I have become stronger and am not ashamed to share my thoughts and feelings. My mission now is to bring changes in social care.

In 2022 I went to Parliament and met several MPs. I told them that we carers are saving the government millions of pounds but sacrificing our personal life and wellbeing! They all agreed.

At Age UK’s Christmas reception in Parliament, I met the Minister for Civil Society and shared my experience of having to give up my career to become a full-time carer. My question to him was ‘who will look after my sibling if something happens to me?’

Earlier this year I joined Age UK’s Charity Director in a meeting with civil servants at the Treasury. My aim was to make them aware that urgent action needs to be taken to mend the broken health and care system.’

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We provide information and advice

We spent £8.7 million (2021/22 £7.9 million)

Our objective

We will reach out to older people, their carers, and their families across the UK to support them with the impartial, personalised, and expert information and advice they need.

Why we provide information and advice

Providing independent, impartial, and expert information and advice is what Age UK and the Age UK Network is best known for and what people expect us to provide. It sounds simple, but when it is done right, it can be life changing.

The Age UK Advice Line, based in Lancashire and Devon, provides this service 7 days a week, every day of the year. By speaking to older people, day-in day-out, both nationally and locally, the Age UK Network is constantly learning about the challenges older people face, which helps to shape our campaigns, programmes, and services.

What we do

We reach people on the phone through our national Advice Line, online via www.ageuk.org.uk, and face-to-face through Age UK funded programmes delivered by Local Age UK partners. Through this contact with older people, their loved ones, and carers, we are able to provide expert, impartial and easy-to-understand support that helps people in very practical ways – from managing money troubles to finding a care home.

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Our impact in numbers

Answered 227,805 enquiries to our Advice Line across all channels.

8.4 million visits to the information and advice pages on our website.

Responded to 12,650 emails and letters.

Saw a 28% increase since last year in information and advice webchats.

Identified an average of £4,655

in benefits for each person contacting our new benefits service.

£ 293,958

completed checks through our online benefits calculator.

Helped ! 15,000

people to spot the signs of scamming.

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Highlights from 2022/23

Meeting increasing demand

The Age UK Advice Line is often the go-to place for people seeking support and information relating to later life. We handle enquiries via calls, emails, letters and, since 2021, a webchat, accessed via our website.

Over the past few years, we have seen a continued increase in people getting in touch with our Advice Line. We have grown our team by six advisors this year to meet this demand and specifically help older people with benefit entitlement checks. During 2022/23 the Advice Line handled 208,133 calls, both inbound and outbound, an increase of 2 per cent on last year. We also responded to 19,672 emails.

Introducing a new benefits service

As the cost-of-living crisis continues to have a detrimental impact on older people, we are increasingly hearing from people about the financial pressures that they face. This year, 28 per cent of enquiries to our Advice Line were about benefits.

As a response to this, in January 2023, Age UK set up a dedicated benefits team on our Advice Line. This team offers older people and their carers an in-depth review of benefit entitlements. We take people through their eligibility for grants, the support available from the Government and other agencies, and the steps needed to claim benefits and other support.

In its first two months of operation, the team completed 668 benefit checks and identified annual benefit entitlements totalling £3.1 million, which equates to an average of £4,655 for each person who contacted us. Sadly, we expect the need for this support to only grow, and we will increase our work in this area in 2023/24.

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Day in the life of Sophie, Customer Advisor on our Level 2 service

Age UK’s Advice Line gives our callers information that is reliable and up-to-date to help people access the advice they need. Level 1 is the first port of call for people contacting Age UK’s Advice Line. Our Level 1 advisors offer general information and advice. If people need more in-depth and specialist advice, they will be signposted to people like Sophie on our Level 2 service.

First call of the day was from A in Cambridge. His father is back in hospital following a failed discharge and the hospital are planning his discharge with limited support. A doesn’t think this is adequate given his father’s decline. I provided A with information about how hospital discharge should work, the NHS’s duties and what support may be available. We also discussed how to raise concerns or make a complaint about NHS services, and I signposted him to some potential local advocacy services and emailed him appropriate factsheets.

Two siblings in Devon call next. Their mother has dementia and has recently gone into a care home. The son has lasting power of attorney and is currently trying to sell their mum’s property to fund her care. They are worried about their mum’s money running out, so we discussed what potential funding support might be available from local authority social services and how to access this. I explained to them the Care Act funding rules, the local authorities’ duties and I emailed them relevant factsheets.

S calls next. She lives in an over 55’s social housing apartment. She is having difficulty getting the landlord to carry out necessary repairs to inoperable windows. We discussed the landlord’s repair duties under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985 and what action she might be able to take. S says she has difficulty taking in information over the phone, so I assured her I will post her our factsheet. I also included contact details for her Local Age UK, the housing charity Shelter, Citizens Advice, and her local MP, who might be able to sit down with S to help her understand her rights.

D called from London. He believes his father is a victim of financial abuse. He says his uncle is withholding his father’s money and property and abusing his authority whilst acting as his lasting power of attorney. We discussed how to raise a safeguarding referral with the local authority. I explained how to report a crime to the police and how to report an attorney to the Office of the Public Guardian. I also provided further information on how to access legal services and explore his father’s eligibility for Legal Aid. After the call, I sent our Age UK Safeguarding team an overview of the concerns that the caller raised.

Level 2 calls can be complex because often we need to explain legal or policy information to someone who is feeling vulnerable about their own situation or concerned about their loved ones. I am deeply aware that these are very personal stories. I am very grateful for our training that ensures we can provide a good service to our callers.

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Providing information and advice online

Our website continues to be a trusted source of information and advice for millions of older people and those that support them. In 2022/23, there were 8.4 million visits to the information and advice pages on our website.

We write our information in plain English, to make sure that all topics – from benefits and housing to complicated legal topics such as wills and power of attorney – are accessible and helpful to all.

Last year, the majority of our web visitors turned to us for information about their money and benefits. As the cost-of-living crisis continued and people were faced with higher bills and incredibly difficult decisions about how to spend the money they had, visits to our benefits pages increased by 6.8 per cent to 5 million. We also saw large numbers of people using our online benefits calculator with 292,958 online checks being completed.

We made sure we kept our information up-to-date, explaining the latest Government payments and what these meant for people. However, these questions and the issues people face very rarely impact just one area of their life. Our health and care pages also saw significant traffic with 3.9 million visits.

A growing area of the service is our webchat which this year helped people via 7,022 chat sessions, a rise of 28 per cent on the previous year.

Supporting Local Age UK Partners

We support Local Age UK Partners to offer high quality information and advice services. Local Age UK Partners supported 153,341 cases, with 510,566 enquiries in 2022/23, with 561,083 contacts with older people, their families, and carers. Local Age UK Partners identified £106,186,939 in benefits that could be claimed through this activity.

Anybody that turns to Age UK, their Local Age UK, or National Partner, they should expect to receive good quality information and advice. This year we have supported 45 Local Age UKs and Age Cymrus to be assessed through the Age UK Information and Advice Quality Programme (IAQP), with a total of 72 Local Age UK Partners holding this quality standard in total.

All Local Age UK Partners who completed our feedback survey said they would recommend the programme to other Network Partners.

Our IAQP now has two separate standards – one for Advice (Quality of Advice Standard – QAS) and one for Information and Signposting (Quality of Information and Signposting Standard), enabling us to better recognise the new methods and models for delivering information and advice across the Age UK Network. It was important to us that these changes were co-produced with Local Age UK Partners, so we designed and developed the new Quality of Information and Signposting Standard with 20 Local Age UK Partners.

We have also delivered 33 courses and trained 465 people across the Age UK Network on providing good quality information and advice. The majority of our participants have told us that this training is either excellent or good and we have built on the lessons of delivering training in a pandemic to develop our online training, resources and support.

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Delivering funded programmes

Support from corporate partners and charitable trusts enables us to deliver community-based information and advice programmes with Local Age UK Partners. These programmes give us opportunities to test new ways of strengthening and delivering information and advice, especially for those who need us the most. We share what we learn to help design and improve services across the Age UK Network.

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Scams Prevention and Support Project

Lloyds Banking Group has generously supported the delivery of the Scams Prevention and Support programme being delivered by Age UK and 16 Local Age UK Partners. In 2022/23 more than 2,600 older people were supported with in-depth advice on scams and over 15,000 participated in awareness-raising activities to help them spot the signs of scamming and know how to report scams. Delivery of the programme will continue until December 2023, reaching more than 22,000 people.

Building Better Lives

Thanks to fundraising by Yorkshire Building Society (YBS), Building Better Lives, our holistic information and advice programme continues to focus on improving people’s financial resilience. We are funding and supporting seven Local Age UK Partners to deliver the programme, which supports people over 55 who are experiencing a significant life event, such as a change in financial circumstances, a bereavement, separation, or a change in health or care needs. Skilled advisers provide one-to-one sessions aimed at supporting people to address their situation and achieve what matters most to them.

As part of the programme, beneficiaries are also offered free benefit entitlement checks, to help older people claim what they are entitled to and build financial resilience. This year the programme supported 2,239 people and has been extended to run until July 2023.

‘The IAQP helps to identify areas [whether] good or bad to assist Age UKs to improve and provide a high quality service to benefit our clients.’

Local Age UK

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Building Resilience

Generously funded by M&G, our Building Resilience programme, is delivered by eight Local Age UKs and this year supported 2,410 older people with a wide range of issues and situations. The programme identified over £6.3 million in unclaimed benefits.

Later Life Goals

Through our Later Life Goals programme, funded by the Masonic Charitable Foundation, this year we enabled 10 Local Age UK Partners to give advice and support to 1,096 older people. Those who benefited typically needed health or care support for themselves or their partner, but over three quarters of beneficiaries also received information and advice about money and benefits. The programme identified over £3 million in unclaimed benefits.

Bereavement Programme

L&G have generously funded a pilot programme, enabling us to test how we can best support older people who are experiencing bereavement. Four Local Age UK Partners have been funded through this programme and, working together with them, we are gathering valuable learning about the delivery of services to older people in this position. We will produce an evaluation at the end of the programme that will be shared across the Age UK Network and more widely in the sector.

Joining up our services

We have great ambitions for our three major national services – Advice Line (see page 28), Telephone Friendship Service (see page 40) and the Silver Line Helpline (see page 40). They do so much for older people, but we know they could do even more.

During 2023, we are speaking to older people and their friends and families about how we best meet their needs – ensuring it is clearer how to contact Age UK, and that we get better at directing our callers to the right help they need, whether that is one or more of our services.

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We improve health and care services

We spent £3.2 million (2021/22 £4.3 million)

Our objective

We will enable older people to have access to high quality, locally available services that address their health and care needs, provided by the Age UK Network.

Why we improve health and care services

The social care system is broken. Fundamental change and a lot more public investment is needed. The impact on older people and their families from the crisis in health and social care is stark. Millions of older people are waiting for care right now. Hundreds of thousands are stuck on waiting lists for support, or even just waiting to have their needs assessed.

We campaign for change nationally, but also think it is vital that we work to improve how local health and care services are delivered and commissioned. This is especially so given the crucial role Local Age UK Partners play as providers of services to hundreds of thousands of older people. However, we know that Local Age UK Partners face huge levels of demand while having to compete fiercely for ever-diminishing funding.

What we do

Age UK works to improve how local health and care services are delivered, helping Local Age UK Partners to improve the quality of their services, expand sustainably, and to deliver services which are focused on the individual older person, based on what we know works.

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Our impact in numbers

75%

of Local Age UK Partners used our Grey Matters learning platform to support the delivery of their health and care services.

96%

of Local Age UK Partners registered services are rated as Good.

Over 500 people have been supported through our Dementia Maintenance Cognitive Stimulation Therapy programme.

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Highlights from 2022/23

Improving the quality of services

Older people should expect excellent health and care services wherever they live. Sadly, so many of our local communities are being failed by their social and health care systems. As providers of services, organisations across the Age UK Network are striving to respond to increased demand, while driving the far-reaching improvements to services that older people tell us they want, need, and rightly expect.

There are 26 Care Quality Commission (CQC) registered services across the Age UK Network, which are regulated by the Commission because they provide personal care, which includes things like help with cooking and eating, washing and going to the toilet, or provide care home facilities. This year, we have supported 18 Local Age UK Partners with delivery of their CQC registered services, through one-to-one and group support, as well as toolkits to help them self-assess their services and ensure a high quality of care. We are proud of the strength of the Age UK Network in this area. Overall, 96 per cent of Local Age UK Partners registered services are rated as Good.

A key area of our quality work is providing Local Age UK Partners with access to Grey Matter Learning, a bespoke learning and competency platform to support the delivery of care and support services. In 2022/23, 77 per cent of Local Age UK Partners used the platform.

Supporting older people living with dementia

More than 850,000 people in the UK have dementia. One in 14 people over the age of 65 have dementia, and the condition affects 1 in 6 people over 80. A dementia diagnosis can be overwhelming, but our information and advice can help – whether people want to understand dementia symptoms better or need support finding and arranging social care (see page 28–35).

We are also working with Local Age UK Partners to pilot a new approach to supporting people coming to terms with a dementia diagnosis. Age UK, working with 48 Local Age UK Partners, has been able to scale up our successful Dementia Maintenance Cognitive Stimulation Therapy programme thanks to a three-year grant from the Association of British Insurers COVID-19 Support Fund in 2020. Volunteers across the Age UK Network have completed the training provided through this programme.

During 2022/23, the programme has supported more than 500 older people with weekly group sessions where members take part in meaningful and stimulating activities proven to help maintain memory and mental functioning. The groups provide a fun, supportive environment where people can build new friendships. Many participants are finding improved cognition after 24 weeks of participation. A final evaluation report will be available in December 2023.

Barry’s story*

Barry is 81, lives with his son and has been diagnosed with dementia. He spent most of his life in Zimbabwe and moved back to England later in life. Barry suffered from depression after his wife died, which was worsened by lockdowns during the pandemic.

After joining a Dementia Maintenance Cognitive Stimulation Therapy group at his Local Age UK, Barry quickly started making friends with other group members and Barry says he very much looks to the sessions to help structure his week and that they have helped him ‘tremendously’ and aided his acceptance of his dementia diagnosis. His son has expressed Barry’s improved positive outlook on life and explained how he has really reaped the benefits of group discussions and sharing life experiences with the friends he has made at the group.

‘I have seen the rough side of humanity as I have been involved in war, but here I see the best side, as everyone is so kind. I am very grateful to everyone.’ Barry

*To respect ‘Barry’s’ privacy, we have given him a different name

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Integrated Care Systems Development Programme

Integrated Care Systems (ICSs) in England are a way of delivering health and care services in a more coordinated and collaborative manner. The primary goal of ICS’s is to improve the health outcomes and experiences of patients by bringing together various healthcare providers, local authorities, and other partners to work together as one cohesive system. We are supporting those Local Age UK Partners who want to play a significant part in their local ICS’s work to enhance community health and social care outcomes.

Our dedicated development programme is exploring the various ways Local Age UK Partners can influence important stakeholders, such as Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) and Integrated Care Partnerships (ICPs), which are responsible for commissioning and resource allocation, and show how their services and activities align with the objectives of ICSs to improve population health and lessen the burden on acute care services.

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We deliver wellbeing services and programmes

We spent £14.1 million (2021/22 £10.1 million)

Our objective

We will develop and deliver funded programmes that have the greatest impact on the wellbeing of older people, while providing long-term impact for the Age UK Network’s services.

Why we deliver wellbeing services and programmes

We work in partnership with Local Age UK Partners to develop, deliver and test new services which can address obstacles to wellness that many older people face, whether that is through loneliness or isolation or a lack of opportunities on offer in their communities.

What we do

Age UK works to improve how local health and care Age UK’s national Telephone Friendship Service (TFS) is a free UK-wide service, which offers older people a trained volunteer to have a regular chat with once a week. In addition to individual calls, we provide group calls, facilitated by one of our volunteers.

Our Silver Line Helpline is the only free 24/7 helpline specifically for older people, offering friendship, conversation, and support. People call us for a wide range of reasons. The Silver Line Helpline is open every day of the year and available to support people when other services, including local NHS mental health teams, are not.

The Age UK Network collectively has expertise in delivering widespread wellbeing programmes. Age UK’s partnerships with corporate and public sector organisations enables us to deliver positive outcomes for older people through wellbeing funded programmes delivered by Local Age UK Partners. We use what we learn through these programmes to help improve other services run by the Age UK Network and more widely across the sector.

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Our impact in numbers

Over 4,300 older people were referred to our Telephone Friendship Services.

93% of older people saying their wellbeing improved since receiving friendship calls.

We welcomed 383 new participants in our walking football groups.

We made 258,692 friendship calls.

192,908 calls answered by The Silver Line Helpline.

2,787

older people supported to develop their digital skills.

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Highlights from 2022/23

Improving our Telephone Friendship Service

This year, over 4,300 older people were referred to our Telephone Friendship Services and we made over 2,600 new friendship matches. We have taken various steps to improve the service.

We have continued to improve and develop our digital system to enhance our members’ and volunteers’ experiences. We rolled out our automated ‘Sentiment’ transcription tool in August 2022 which helps us to review calls and frees up more staff time to allow us to support our older members and volunteers more.

We surveyed older people who use our Telephone Friendship Service and noted 96 per cent of respondents saying the calls made them feel less lonely and 96 per cent saying their wellbeing had improved since having the calls. We asked whether anything had improved for our members and 25 per cent of respondents said they felt more confident and 23 per cent felt more motivated.

The service was supported by 5,671 amazing telephone friendship volunteers in 2023/23. In our 2022 survey of our volunteers, 96 per cent said they were satisfied with their volunteering experience, 96 per cent of volunteers are clear what is expected of them, and 97 per cent know what to do if they are worried about their friend or need help.

Our group friendship sessions

Our one-year pilot programme delivers virtual Dementia Maintenance Cognitive Stimulation Therapy group friendship sessions for people living with mild to moderate dementia (see page 38). These online group sessions have been a fantastic addition to our service, and it has been wonderful to hear the overwhelmingly positive feedback we have received from participants.

Chris – ‘I look forward to it every week’

Alma – ‘We’ve become like a family and friends’

Pauline – ‘It brightens up my Thursdays, I look forward to it’

Ruth – ‘On the call I can talk to people and see different faces. Because I don’t go out much. It is uplifting my spirits, and that’s very good.’

Marion – ‘ When it first started I was a bit apprehensive, but now I feel quite relaxed, and it is nice to talk to other people.’

Oggy – ‘Thank you very much for being there for us.’

Iain – ‘I find the whole process is quite comforting and I look forward to it every week.’

Derek – ‘I just enjoy every bit of it.’

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Our super volunteers get the royal treatment

In March 2023 we were incredibly lucky to be invited to a special tea party in Colchester, where some of our older Telephone Friendship members and several of our brilliant volunteers met with His Majesty the King and Her Majesty the Queen.

‘It was lovely to meet other volunteers and get the chance to meet the King. He was so easy to chat to – I told him all about my Age UK friend Rosie of course.’ Lauren, volunteer

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Harry’s story

After the death of his wife, May, Harry was experiencing loneliness daily, living by himself in his isolated rural home.

He passes the days listening to old records in his gazebo and watching the cows grazing in the fields with his cat. He bravely joined our Telephone Friendship Service and now loves his weekly chats with his befriender.

‘When Rebecca phones, I realise I’m not forgotten about. Age UK means a lot because it gives me this companionship over the phone and I hear about different things that are happening, so it helps me to keep in touch with the world. It’s an important part of my life.’

Hearing from our people

Susan, Activity Coordinator, Telephone Friendship Service

Susan, Activity Coordinator in Blackpool, who recently joined Age UK, shares her thoughts on her new role and the importance of the work she does.

What attracted you to join Age UK?

I took redundancy in 2020 and was supporting older relatives during lockdown. I realised that for many older people, lockdown was, to some extent, a constant way of living and I wanted to help so I joined Age UK’s Telephone Friendship Service.

Why do you think services like the Telephone Friendship Service are important for older people? I’ve learned that regular, friendly telephone calls are invaluable to people struggling with loneliness and isolation. Hearing life stories, sharing experiences even chatting about TV or the weather makes life less empty and the conversations are frequently life enhancing for both parties.

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Expanding service on the Silver Line Helpline

The Silver Line became part of Age UK in 2019 and was fully integrated into the charity at the end of November 2022, as one of our national services.

In 2022/23, we expanded the team of paid employees who support our volunteers, enabling us to onboard and support more volunteers than ever before, whilst providing a friendly and supportive environment for those who volunteer with The Silver Line helpline. A blended team of employees and volunteers answer our calls – made up of 67 staff members and 181 volunteers.

We grew our caller care team who help to offer more support to our frequent and complex callers. The team work hard to find positive solutions that best suit the needs of this group of callers, whilst freeing capacity to answer calls from all the older people who need us. In 2022/23, the Silver Line helpline answered 192,908 calls from older people.

Counselling and coaching support pilot

This year we set up a pilot programme offering counselling and coaching support to callers who need more than a friendly chat. This project will run until March 2024 and will enable us to analyse our findings and better understand the benefits this type of service can provide to our callers.

Hearing from our people Victoria, Silver Line Helpline volunteer

What attracted you to join Age UK?

The Silver Line is my first regular volunteer role, and I wasn’t sure what to expect. The training was exceptionally good, but it also highlighted that some calls could be quite difficult. However, after my first shift my worries vanished. The team leaders are there all the time so when you don’t know something, they assist. I also found just chatting to callers was lovely.

Why do you think services like the Silver Line are important for older people?

I’ve been volunteering for three months now and have taken 80 calls. That’s 80 individuals I have been able to support in some way. When you multiply this by the amount of volunteers and shifts, the number of people that are being supported is staggering. I am so proud to be a part of the amazing work that The Silver Line does. I look forward every week to my next shift.

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Ken’s story

Ken was referred for counselling by our Telephone Friendship Service. His wife had died and he was looking for support with feelings of grief, loneliness and a loss of contentment and joy in life. When counselling was mentioned, he was initially hesitant but willing to find out more about the service.

He began counselling sessions which provided a safe, confidential space for him to talk about his feelings, explore what the impact had been on him, and what moving forward would look like. After six sessions, he felt he was ready to move forward and finish the sessions.

Ken felt that he has been supported in his grief, and helped with his self-esteem and general wellbeing, saying about his counsellor ‘she helped in ways, just by listening.’ Ken is now matched with a Telephone Friend and finding joy again in their connection and conversation.

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Delivering funded programmes

As with our information and advice work, support from corporate partners and charitable trusts enables us to develop and deliver a wealth of community-based wellbeing programmes working with Local Age UK Partners.

Travelling Companions – Helping older people to get out and about

Because of the pandemic, many older people remain nervous about being outside, seeing other people and using public transport. Our Travelling Companions programme has funded Local Age UK Partners to recruit and train volunteers to support older people, enabling them to get out and about again. For some people this is an incremental process, starting with a conversation, then a walk to the end of the garden, and finally getting to the shops, or to see a friend. In other instances, there are practical barriers that volunteers help to solve, for example paying for a bus fare using a contactless card.

This is a test-and-learn programme, thanks to a grant from the Department for Transport, which has enabled 273 older people to get out and about again, supported by 83 volunteers at seven Local Age UK Partners. The learning gained through the programme has been vital to our understanding of supporting older people at this time and will benefit other organisations working with older people across the country.

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Helping older people to participate in physical activity

Being physically active is important for all of us, including older people, so we have been delighted to continue our Age UK Walking Football programme in partnership with Sport England and the Football Association. In the last year, the programme welcomed 383 new older men and women to walking football groups, delivered by 29 Local Age UK Partners.

Age UK is funding five Local Age UK partners to trial a Walking Programme aimed at setting up walking groups to get inactive older people moving again after the pandemic and to reduce feelings of loneliness. We are measuring the physical activity of participants, to understand whether walking as an intervention can achieve a sustained increase in physical activity amongst inactive older people. The programme started in September 2022 and will continue into 2023/24.

Helping older people to get online

Our new four-year Digital Champion programme started delivery this year through 25 Local Age UK Partners. Raising awareness of the benefits of being online is a key part of motivating older people to explore technology. We have reached 33,827 older people via awareness-raising activities and through our Digital Champions volunteers, we have supported 2,787 older people to develop their digital skills. You can find out more about the Digital Champions Programme in this short film https://youtu.be/eANYlCKESjE.

Helping older people to stay warm at home

Shell Energy and e.on funded the twelfth year of Age UK’s Warm Homes programmes in 2022/23. Fifty nine Local Age UK Partners helped older people to maximise their income by assisting people to manage their bills, providing 21,000 benefit checks to see if people are entitled to benefits, and providing 3,499 home energy checks to help older people make their homes more energy efficient by installing items such as draught excluders and radiator foils. The programme identified more than £45 million in unclaimed benefits (an increase of £7 million on last year).

Supporting frequent callers

In 2023/24, we are focusing on understanding more about why some of our Silver Line Helpline callers become frequent callers, and how we might be better able to support them. To do this we are working as a team to have a better understanding about our calling data.

A Quality and Performance Manager has joined the service to ensure consistency in answering calls on the helpline and provide the best possible service to our callers.

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We support the Age UK network

We spent £12.7 million (2021/22 £10.4 million)

Our objective

We will help to support a strong and enduring local presence of Age UKs and other community organisations to deliver the support and opportunities that local older people need.

Why we support the Age UK Network

Age UK is proud to be a part of the Age UK Network and we firmly believe that the sum of the Age UK Network is so much greater than its individual parts. Local Age UK Partners are Age UK’s delivery partners for all our wellbeing programmes (see page 47). They are vital providers of community services that meet local needs. And they act as a voice for older people, helping older people campaign for change locally and nationally. We know that Local Age UK Partners are very precious to older people, and to Age UK.

That is why we are committed to supporting the amazing work that happens right across the Age UK Network, especially at a time when many charities, large and small, are finding that surviving and thriving is exceptionally hard.

What we do

We work with the Age UK Network to help our Local Age UK Partners to ensure their organisations continue to be well-governed and well-run. We offer practical support such as marketing, website hosting and development, HR support, funding, and communications. And we help Local Age UK Partners to raise income through supporting their tender bids and fundraising efforts.

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Our impact in numbers

£11.5 million

in direct funding provided to Local and National Age UK Partners.

£5 million

provided in emergency cost-of-living funding to Local Age UK Partners, and National Network Partners.

We supported Local Age UK Partners with 14 tender bids, securing around £13 million in funding.

81%

of Local Age UK Partners were given support with their financial governance.

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In 2022/23, the Age UK Network received £11.5 million in funding from

Age UK. This includes a payment made to every member of the Age UK Network (called the Partner Payment to Local Age UK Partners, with separate payments made to our National Partners), grants to specific partners to fund programmes, service improvements and organisational support. The £12.7 million we spent in ‘We support the network’ includes some of these payments and grant funding, plus the cost of support provided by Age UK teams for the activity in this area. Grant funding for campaigns and research, information and advice, health and care services and wellbeing programmes is included in the total cost of each area and is detailed on page 123 in note 3 to the accounts.

Highlights from 2022/23

Supporting older people through the cost-of-living crisis

During the cost-of-living crisis, we have heard both from organisations across the Age UK Network and from older people directly, that older people are really struggling with day-to-day costs. We wanted to quickly respond to this and ensure the Age UK Network was equipped to support older people and respond to their own financial challenges during this time. During the winter of 2022/23, Age UK released £5 million to 126 organisations in the Age UK Network to enable them to respond to the crisis older people found themselves in.

This money has paid for a wide range of interventions including information and advice, day centres and meal provision. Given the difficulties that will arise in the year ahead, these grants will be spent through to March 2024.

Support for tenders

We have supported Local Age UK Partners with their tender bids for funding, helping them win major service contracts that generated significant revenue and impact for older people. Overall, we supported 14 tenders and secured nearly £13 million in funding for those Local Age UK Partners we assisted.

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Demonstrating social value – the financial and non-financial impact that organisations can have on individuals, communities, and society – is becoming increasingly important in tender bidding processes. We delivered an online seminar series on social value in procurement to help Local Age UK Partners to understand changing procurement standards, respond to social value issues in tender applications, and effectively demonstrate social value outcomes during the delivery of their contracts.

Improving online access to local services Older people and their loved ones visit the Age UK website when they want to know how to access support at a local level. It is important that we can signpost people to the services and support offered by Local Age UK Partners.

This year we have been improving this process and worked closely with Local Age UK Partners to develop and rollout an approach to make accessing local services via the Age UK website more effective. This allows people to search for local services on our website and be easily directed to their local Age UK Partner’s website. It also enables our telephone advisors on the Age UK Advice Line to have better information to hand about local services across the Age UK Network, which they can signpost callers to for support at a local level.

Service Development

Over the past year, we have worked with Local Age UK Partners to develop and improve the services available for older people who are feeling lonely or isolated. This has resulted in work on befriending services, focused on

understanding current provision and the evidence base for the impact befriending has for older people. This work will continue into 2023/24 where we will work with Local Age UK Partners to further explore and develop befriending services.

In addition, this year we have been developing how we can support older people when they first contact Age UK, or a Local Age UK Partner, through taking a ‘Making Every Contact Count’ approach for loneliness. Making Every Contact Count is based on being proactive and using day-to-day interactions with individuals to create positive changes to their physical and mental health and wellbeing. It recognises that staff across health and care, local authority and voluntary sectors have thousands of contacts every day with individuals and are ideally placed to support health and wellbeing.

Strategic Insights

We commissioned research in 2021/22 to assist Local Age UK Partners in assessing future trends as they reevaluate their strategies after the pandemic and to gather insights to learn more about the needs and wants of older people over the next five years and how the Age UK Network might be able to respond to this.

This year we have continued to use this research to support Local Age UK Partners to plan their services to meet these changing demands. We are learning more from Local Age UK Partners about the impact that the cost-of-living crisis is having on their organisations, and also on older people, through our Cost-of-Living Crisis funding programme (see page 51). We are also hearing about what strategies Local Age UK Partners are taking to manage this impact.

Governance

We have initiated a governance programme designed to assist CEOs, Chairs, and Trustees of Local Age UK Partners in gaining a solid understanding of the principles and practices of charity governance, and in delivering good governance within their respective organisations. This has included the development of a newly redesigned induction programme for new Chairs and CEOs, which began in May, as well as a refresh of available supporting resources.

Supporting financial governance

We delivered nine Finance Network meetings for senior finance teams, CEOs and Trustees of Local and National Age UK Partners on a range of topics addressing the critical financial challenges they are under. 854 people from 113 Partner organisations attended these sessions, representing 86 per cent of Age UK Network Partners. We supported 47 Network Partners on a one-to-one basis with their financial governance and ran a series of five workshops covering the key essentials of financial governance and management which were attended by 29 Local Age UK Partners. We supported service managers to adopt full cost recovery, with 128 people attending three workshop sessions.

This programme of support is continuing and focusing support on helping Local Age UK Partners to deal with inflationary and cost-of-living issues which are constraining the provision of services which are in demand from an increasing number of older people.

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Ensuring quality

Ensuring that the services provided by the Age UK Network are of a high quality and are operating legally, safely, and effectively is a vital part of our work. Over the past 12 months, we have introduced new approaches and measures for quality as part of the Age UK Network Quality Assurance Framework.

We have introduced annual and quarterly quality reporting to encourage a more continuous improvement approach, and this has enabled us to provide support to Local Age UK Partners in a timelier way and to focus our guidance and training on the most common issues arising. In this time, we have supported 61 Local Age UK Partners to take improvement actions.

Our Shared Future

Being part of the Age UK Network enables Age UK to achieve far more for older people than we could do alone. We value our relationships with our Partner organisations across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales and want to build on what has already been achieved so that we can have greater collective impact in the future.

To make this happen we have started working on a new Shared Strategy for the whole Age UK Network and a related legal agreement. This new Strategy is being co-produced with Age UK Network organisations across the country and will be implemented in 2024.

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We work internationally

We spent £21.7 million (2021/22 £19.9 million)

£15.4 million of the £21.7 million we spent on international work came from money that Age International raised itself from external funders, for example the United Nations, Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), and other institutions.

Our objective

We will achieve a step change in the quality and scale of our humanitarian work, and we will influence other agencies to ensure that older people are included and protected when emergencies happen. We will support healthy ageing, take a stand against ageism and improve older people’s access to a secure income.

Why we carry out international work

What we do

Age International, Age UK’s sister charity, focuses on the needs and rights of older people in some of the world’s poorest countries.

The world’s population is growing older. There will soon be more older people than younger people on the planet. The scale of this change is unprecedented and governments around the world are failing to respond to the challenges and opportunities it brings, leaving older people struggling and communities missing out on older people’s contributions.

Age International is working with governments and funders to ensure that older people are included in humanitarian response, healthcare services, and have the income they need to live a healthy, dignified life. We are also calling for older people’s rights to be respected and for the UK Government to support a new United Nations convention on the human rights of older people.

Fundamental change is needed, especially in areas such as healthcare and pensions, but decision-makers do not understand the effects of ageing, or the wider implications for economies, labour markets, migration, social welfare, or healthcare. Plus, during emergencies, including natural disasters and conflict, the needs of older people are too often ignored.

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Our impact in numbers

We are proud to be the UK member of the HelpAge global network. We support HelpAge International, and local and national organisations across the world, to deliver programmes and influencing work for and with older people. With Age International’s support, the HelpAge network has helped improve the lives of millions of older people in the following ways:

• We reached 659,500 people with humanitarian assistance, including shelter, food, water, medicines and walking aids in over 20 countries

• 100,000 older people supported with humanitarian aid in Ukraine, and neighbouring countries Moldova and Poland

• We have supported 1.1 million older people to access health and care services through our local partners. 67 per cent were women, and 14 per cent were older people with a disability

• We helped 2.2 million older people to improve their financial situation by supporting them to access pensions, business loans and improved financial services in particular countries

Hearing from our people Alison Marshall, CEO, Age International

What inspired you to lead Age International? The needs and rights of older people are consistently overlooked. By 2050, 80 per cent of the world’s older people will live in low and middle-income countries. Yet older people seem to be invisible to governments and decision-makers at all levels. I want to help change this!

Age International is a key part of Age UK and the wider Age UK network – what makes that relationship so important?

When I talk to older people about what they value, whether in the UK, Tanzania, or Pakistan, the answers are always similar. Older people everywhere want to be healthy, have financial security and be heard, respected, and included in their community.

Working at a local, national, and international levels means that the Age UK Network can share learning on what works, be louder in our calls for change and build solidarity. What happens in other parts of the world affects the people in the UK and vice versa, whether because we have family abroad or because of global issues like climate change.

What three words best describe this year? Impactful, energising, and challenging.

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Highlights from 2022/23

Ukraine Humanitarian appeal

Age International has supported older people in Ukraine since conflict first started in 2014. When the conflict escalated in February 2022, the Disasters Emergency Committee, and member charities including Age International, launched the Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal. The record-breaking appeal received an unprecedented response from the generous UK public, enabling Age International to help over 100,000 older people in Ukraine and neighbouring countries.

As we write, the fighting shows no signs of stopping. But we have managed to have a huge impact on the lives of thousands of older people, providing emergency support when they needed it most and emotional and psychological support in the darkest moments.

Thanks to donations and, along with our partner organisation, HelpAge International, and a network of local organisations and volunteers, we have been able to support 77,000 older people in Ukraine, 28,000 Ukrainian refugees in Moldova and 2,600 at-risk Ukrainian refugees in Poland. We have also provided 39,000 displaced people in Ukraine with food kits and 9,800 older people with home care.

East Africa drought

East Africa is experiencing an extreme, widespread and persistent drought. Over 20 million people are in urgent need of food, and older people are particularly at risk.

Crops and livestock are dying at an unprecedented rate and many older people are unable to access food and water. Livelihoods have been devastated. Some of the worst affected areas are Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and South Sudan, which were already facing instability and conflict.

With our partner Humanitarian and Development Consortium (HDC), we distributed emergency food parcels and food vouchers within easy reach of older people or delivered to their homes. We gave seeds and livestock to the families of older people worse affected by the drought.

Older people have seen weather become increasingly extreme during their lifetime. They hold significant drought, climate and migration knowledge. In South Sudan, we supported older people to share this knowledge and become recognised community leaders, mediating in disputes due to the increased pressure on people’s livelihoods.

Managing DEC programmes and other humanitarian responses

As well as our response to the situation in Ukraine, with our partners, we have managed three other live DEC programmes, in Pakistan, Turkey/Syria and Afghanistan as well as responding to less visible humanitarian emergencies in East Africa, Sri Lanka, and many more countries.

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‘There is no food. We are only just surviving… If the drought persists, no one will survive, all of us will perish. We have no support.’

Haro Godana Adano, Kenya

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Valentina’s story

Living with the unknown in Ukraine

Valentina, 81, is one of the many older people who had to leave their home due to the danger of shelling. She now lives in temporary accommodation with her sister in Dnipro. Since arriving there, she has been able to get food packages, hygiene items and medication thanks to donations to our Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal.

Many of the older people who left their homes like Valentina did so in a hurry, without their possessions and are now without any income. Those who stayed behind in conflict areas have seen water and energy supplies disrupted or cut off. Fortunately, the generosity of the UK public and the determination of Ukrainian volunteers means we have been able to support older people through the harsh winter.

Valentina says – ‘In Severodonetsk, we all lived separately. I was given my house by the Government because of my work. Now I don’t know what’s happened to it. Before I left, a bomb hit nearby and the windows were broken, but there is no one left there to call to ask if it is still standing.

In Dnipro I have lost my independence. I injured my knee in a fall some time ago and I barely go out now. When the war started, I was in the hospital with a lung infection and my relatives collected me at the end of February. I stayed at a relative’s house, hiding in the corridor or in the basement. I did not have a chance to try to recover until we came here. Volunteers brought me some medication for my lungs… This is the third war I have survived. In 2014, it was short, but we don’t know where this war will take us.’

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Mahmoud’s story

Families in Syria have ‘lost everything’

Many older people and their families across northern Syria and Turkey lost everything in a devastating earthquake which struck on 6 February 2023, killing over 50,000 people.

Many people faced devastating hardship as they struggled to find relatives and stay warm and safe during the harsh winter. Our local partner, Syrian Expatriate Medical Association (SEMA), was able to act fast and deliver life-saving water, food, blankets, fuel, and shelter to thousands of local people.

Mahmoud Muhammad Qazeckli Fakkik, 58, a Syrian father, faced an excruciating wait to discover which of his family members survived after the earthquake destroyed parts of his hometown of Jindires in northwest Syria.

Mahmoud said: ‘Despite the extreme cold and rain, we were forced to stay outside in the open, in fear of further earthquakes.

I am grateful for the help that people have given us, but I have lost everything. I am dependent on food that is given to us, and I am thankful for the water, food, and blankets that arrived today from SEMA.’

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Long term programmes

Better Health

Our Better Health for Older People in Africa came to an end in August 2022 after three impactful years of contributing to better health and wellbeing for older women and men in Mozambique and Kenya. The project was funded by the Maxwell Harvey Legacy Grant.

Health systems in the areas we have worked in are now more inclusive, responsive, and accountable to the needs of older people. The project assisted 22,136 older people who reported significant improvements in their personal health and wellbeing. The end of project evaluation reported that 96 per cent and 100 per cent of respondents in Kenya and Mozambique, reported better health and wellbeing.

In Mozambique, the project trained healthcare workers in geriatric care and the specific needs of older people. In Kenya, the project contributed to the government agreeing a National Healthy Ageing Strategy until 2025, fresh integrated care guidelines for older people, and a Community Volunteer Manual on Healthy Ageing and Older Persons’ Health.

As part of the project, Older Persons’ Associations (OPA) were empowered to monitor local health services and push for improvements.

Advocacy

This year, we helped to organise the first-ever discussion of older people at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Rwanda. This event agreed a strong statement underscoring the essential role of older people in achieving the mission of the Commonwealth.

Together with Age UK, Age International is part of a global movement advocating for a new human rights convention for older people. In 2022/23, we collaborated with UK Government, charities, and National Human Rights Institutions, to influence discussions and build support for a new convention at the Open-Ended Working Group on Ageing at the United Nations, in New York.

Age International also works with UK decisionmakers to highlight the needs of older people in humanitarian crises. This year we met with various MPs to discuss a variety of concerns for older people across the world, including, challenges faced by older people in Ukraine; the impact of the Pakistan floods in autumn 2022; and older people’s health and the importance of including them in universal health coverage.

You can read more about Age International’s work in their 2022/23 annual report and accounts.

‘Now I feel respected at the hospital. We used to just arrive and would just wait for goodwill to be treated. Now… we know our rights and that we have priority, and we can demand that we are the first to be treated.’

Member of Older Person’s Association, in Mozambique

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Our plans for 2023/24

We campaign and research

We will

• Protect the living standards of older people on low and modest incomes, especially in light of the continuing cost-of-living crisis

• Champion NHS and social care reforms to create more preventive, effective and joined up services for older people at home and in their local community, within which voluntary organisations play a full part

• Promote the needs and interests of older people who are not online in an increasingly digital world

We provide information and advice

We will

• Expand our national Benefits Advice team, ensuring older people are able to access and claim the welfare benefits they are entitled to

• Extend the delivery of our Bereavement Support programme for even greater impact for older people

• Embed the Quality of Information and Signposting Standard (QISS), improving self-assessment return from Local Age UK Partners and scoping out options for assessing this standard in future, under the new Network Agreement

We improve health and care services

We will

• Develop a new tool to measure quality against the Care Quality Commission’s new regulatory framework

• Assist Local Age UK Partners in navigating NHS integrated care systems to identify opportunities for impactful, holistic contributions that enhance healthcare and wellbeing for older people

• Roll out the Quality of Advice Standard for those Local Age UK Partners providing information and advice services

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We deliver wellbeing programmes and service

We will

• Aim to reach our target of 5,000 matches between an older person and a volunteer on our Telephone Friendship Service

• Take a more holistic approach to our various front-line services to ensure that older people who encounter any of our frontline services, get the quality service they deserve

• Continue to grow and learn from our counselling and coaching pilot on our Silver Line Helpline

• Build on the success of our Walking Football programme and develop more walking sports opportunities

We support the Age UK network

We will

• Work with our Age UK Network partners to co-produce a new Shared Strategy for the Age UK Network and a related legal agreement

• Continue to advocate for contract uplifts on behalf of the Age UK Network, recognising the role of Local Age UK Partners as essential service providers working with vulnerable older people and communities

• Provide tender writing and evaluation support to maximise the likelihood of Local Age UK Partners being successful in maintaining or winning new contracts

• Support Local Age Partners to identify opportunities for enhancing and improving their own organisation’s services and operations in terms of efficiency, effectiveness, and impact

We work internationally

We will

• Strengthen the humanitarian response for older people in emergencies

• Champion better healthcare and financial security for older people

• Push for a convention on the rights of older people at the international level and support older people to speak out locally and nationally

• Address gender inequality and climate change throughout our work

• Grow and diversify our income and profile, so we can provide more support to older people around the world

• Ensure we are a strong and effective organisation

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Our people and our organisation

We want Age UK to be a great place to work and volunteer for our over 1,600 employees and over 120,000 volunteers and campaigners. We believe if we engage our employees and volunteers well, make them feel heard, valued, empowered, safe, and connected to our cause, together we will be able to do so much more for the older people we are here to support.

Listening to our people

In July 2022, we ran our annual engagement survey where we heard from 72 per cent of colleagues across Age UK. We were really pleased with positive responses about people’s thoughts on working at Age UK. 80 per cent of colleagues agreed that Age UK is driven by what matters most to older people and 80 per cent felt that they are treated fairly and with respect.

Each Director received survey results relating to their own division and discussed learnings and agreed appropriate actions within their teams. We were particularly keen to work with teams and managers to respond to some of the responses around managing stress levels, feeling socially connected to colleagues, and being able to grow professional and personally at Age UK.

As we move into hybrid working, it has become even more important for us to remain connected with each other and to share our experiences and learning. To support this, we held several engagement activities. We have recognised and celebrated

awareness dates such as LGBT Pride Month, Carer’s Week, International Women’s Day, Windrush Day and Black History Month and worked with expert organisations to run a series of wellbeing webinars.

Supporting equity, diversity, and inclusion

Hybrid working

Our hybrid working principles and policy that we introduced in 2021/22 have led to improved productivity, engagement, and retention across our workforce. There have been notable benefits for women, who because of sex inequities disproportionately have caring responsibilities for child and adult dependents. Increased flexibility in terms of their place and hours of work has supported many women to effectively manage professional and personal commitments and access development and promotional employment opportunities.

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Employee Resource Groups

In 2022/23, we worked to establish Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) to actively involve colleagues in creating inclusive work practices and dismantle institutional barriers to recruitment, development, progression, and retention. In the summer of 2023, we formally launched four ERGs focused on race, religion, menopause awareness and younger workers. Our ERGs create a forum for collective voices around shared issues, provide expertise to influence policy and practice, and actively work to build community across the organisation.

Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

We have invested in a new role, Head of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion. As a subject matter expert, they are working with our senior leadership team to define Age UK’s strategic priorities in relation to equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI), oversee the effective development and implementation of an EDI strategy, and operational plans to support the organisation in the realisation of benefits.

Recruitment

As part of our commitment to reduce the potential for bias within our recruitment and increasing representation within our workforce, we revised our job description and role requirements and trialled the use of anonymous applications for selected roles. Trial results demonstrate that our recruitment campaigns are reaching and attracting talent from diverse backgrounds and anonymising applications improved outcomes for disabled candidates, male candidates, and candidates from minoritised ethnic backgrounds. In 2023/24, we will take forward further changes to our recruitment practices, including implementing mandatory anonymisation for all roles.

Diversifying entry pathways into Age UK

We are committing to diversifying entry pathways into Age UK and supporting talent from underrepresented groups to join us. This year we partnered with Leonard Cheshire, a leading disability rights organisation, on their award-winning Change 100 Programme. The programme pairs organisations with disabled students and recent graduates for a three-month work placement. We have been successfully matched with four interns who joined Age UK from June 2023.

Conscious inclusion training

In April 2022, we launched Conscious Inclusion training for all colleagues including Directors. Nineteen sessions were held, with a total of 272 attendees across the charity including Senior Retail Managers.

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Gender Pay Gap 2021/22 – The report is based on the snapshot month April 2022

The mean gender pay gap at Age UK continues to close year on year. For 2022, the mean gender pay gap for Age UK the Charity is 7.98 per cent. It has decreased 0.53 per cent since 2021 (8.51 per cent) and 2.45 per cent since 2020 (10.43 per cent). For Age UK Trading CIC, the mean gender pay gap for 2022/23 is 8.81 per-cent. This represents a significant decrease of 13.48 per cent since 2021.

The positive trend of closing the gender pay gap for Age UK the Charity and having little to no gender pay gap for Age UK Trading CIC, has been driven by salary uplifts for junior positions, and an increase in the number of women in higher paying management positions.

Whilst positive improvements have been made and sustained, the continuing overrepresentation of women employed by both entities has impacted the complete closure of the gap. Age UK the Charity and Age UK Trading CIC are significant employers of women, with females making up 80 per cent of each entity’s workforce.

We are proud to be an employer of choice for women, but we recognise this overrepresentation is also indicative of structural sex bias within the charity sector, where women are predominately employed in lower paying roles. At Age UK the Charity and Age UK Trading CIC, men are underrepresented at all levels but particularly in frontline junior positions, in our call centres and in retail. This occupational disparity is driving the continuing, albeit falling, gender pay gap. To close the gap, we are actively focused on recruiting more men into frontline junior positions.

You can read more about our gender pay gap on our website.

Supporting colleagues with disabilities

Age UK is committed to creating a diverse, inclusive, respectful, and safe work environment where all people are treated fairly, with dignity and respect. We recognise that disability inclusion is integral to our work. This is about more than hiring disabled people, it is about embracing difference and providing an environment in which all employees can participate and thrive.

We are a Level 2 Disability Confident Employer, and we use the Guaranteed Interview Scheme, to ensure all disabled jobseekers who meet the essential criterial for the role they are applying for, are invited to interview where practicable.

We actively encourage jobseekers and employees to declare disabilities and health conditions, to ensure they can access appropriate support and reasonable adjustments. Disability inclusion is also effectively embedded into all people management processes so that there is a continual dialogue about health and wellbeing between employees and their line managers.

We measure disability throughout the recruitment process and people’s career journey at Age UK, so that we can identify if there are any differences or disparities in the experiences of disabled and non-disabled jobseekers and employees. We actively use the information gathered to inform and improve our practices.

Supporting a learning culture at Age UK

We are committed to building a self-directed learning culture at Age UK and have taken several steps to deliver this. This year we piloted two new employee development funds, which empower colleagues in their development and support them to build skills and capabilities for their future at Age UK. These funds either support people with development opportunities which deliver against their personal and professional objectives, or against areas where Directors have identified organisational need or skills gaps.

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In 2021, we ran multiple focus groups with our managers and leaders that directly shaped new training to empower our managers which we have introduced this year. An advanced programme offers development opportunities for leaders, aspiring leaders, and skilled managers in areas like change management and budgeting. Our essentials programme empowers newly appointed or aspiring line managers at Age UK in managing other team members at work. We have supported 125 managers through these programmes.

We have launched a new user-friendly performance management platform to complement our My Time performance management process and we have taken on board feedback from colleagues to help refine the system for the future and closely align it to our organisational objectives.

We launched three apprenticeship pilot programmes on strategically important topics – project management, data insights and coaching, and this year supported 22 colleagues through these apprenticeships. We are measuring the success and impact of these pilots and plan to relaunch the schemes after this cohort has finished to open this opportunity to more colleagues.

Looking after the wellbeing of our people

We are committed to creating an environment that enables people to thrive at work, and to raise awareness of mental health at Age UK. An essential part of all managers’ training are bespoke sessions with Mind, the mental health charity. Last year we ran this course for all managers and this year we have ensured that it is a mandatory course for all new managers at Age UK. We also have a mental health virtual refresher programme which managers can access at any time.

We recognise the impact that mental wellbeing has upon our workforce and have taken active steps to destigmatise this topic and ensure that all our people can flourish and bring their whole self to work. This has included our work to upskill our managers to develop their skills and awareness in mental health along with engagement events that have a particular focus on wellbeing and the specific development and empowerment of groups like our cohort of Mental Health First Aiders.

Working with Mental Health First Aid England, we have trained an additional 31 new Mental Health First Aiders. Organisationally, we now have 54 people who are the first point of contact for any colleagues who would appreciate someone to talk to, whether they’re having a bad day, week, month or are in crisis. They also act as advocates for mental health in the workplace, helping to reduce stigma and enact positive change. In February, we launched a month long ‘Time to Talk’ event with mental health awareness events at our four hubs where people got to connect and speak to some of our Mental Health First Aiders.

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Changing culture

Following the launch of our new strategy in 2023/24, we will be thinking about our culture at Age UK, and we will listen to our employees and volunteers about whether they feel our values are the right fit for the changing times we know are ahead.

We are looking at our target operating model to enable us to deliver our new strategy. We want to make sure our organisation is designed in the most optimal way to ensure we deliver great services and outcomes for older people.

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Supporting our volunteers

Volunteers are a driving force behind supporting the older people who need us the most. In 2022/23, 9,274 volunteers contributed their time, knowledge, and expertise, supporting Age UK in a wide variety of roles, including as part of our Telephone Friendship Service, The Engagement Consultative network, charity shop operations, and the Silver Line helpline. When our campaigners are included, this figure increases to 121,104 people. Across Local and National Age UK Partners, there are a further 17,837 volunteers.

Involving such a significant number of volunteers nationally and locally requires time and support from more than 800 paid employees across the Age UK Network, who deliver the recruitment, involvement, or retention of volunteers in their roles. We want to get much smarter at coordinating volunteer involvement across Age UK and help to support Local Age UK Partners with their volunteering development. Towards the end of the financial year, Age UK invested in the growth of our central Volunteering Team, a support function working to improve the volunteer experience and to support volunteer managers across the Age UK Network.

This year we have invested in the development of a digital Volunteering Hub to improve the volunteer experience, reduce administrative work required by colleagues who manage volunteers and collate volunteering data more efficiently across the Age UK Network (including at Age UK). The platform will launch in the summer of 2023.

Keeping our people safe

We have a legal and moral responsibility to protect from harm everyone who encounters Age UK, including people who use our services as well as our employees and volunteers. Regular in-depth reports on safeguarding concerns are shared with our Finance, Risk and Audit Committee, with further discussions and actions taking place if necessary. Our Board of Trustees receive and review an annual safeguarding report.

We have seen an upward trend in case referrals to our Safeguarding Team in the last few years which continued into 2022/23, with 976 more referrals reported to the Safeguarding Team compared to 2021/22 (a 110 per cent increase). Our reporting shows that referrals from our national services have increased significantly across the year. We have also seen an increase since September 2022 following a change in our safeguarding reporting process which means that all safeguarding concerns are referred to the Safeguarding Team, not only those that require advice or action.

Reports of domestic abuse have increased for the fourth consecutive year and this year has seen a 150 per cent increase compared with 2021/22. Mental health has also seen a large increase with 125 per cent more referrals compared to 2021/22. The Safeguarding Team has seen an increase in callers concerned about the cost-of-living and an increase in callers with suicidal ideation. Age UK continues to be very vocal at a national level about the impact of domestic abuse on older people and

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that, coupled with changes in the Domestic Abuse Act and greater awareness nationally, is thought to have contributed to encouraging more people to speak up about what was previously a hidden subject.

We offer safeguarding training for all colleagues and bespoke training for managers, along with more specialist courses such as Domestic Abuse Awareness. This year we’ve created a Suicidal Awareness bite-size training module to better equip our people to understand how to deal with suicidal callers. We’ve also been working to raise awareness of safeguarding with our shop colleagues and to clarify how and when to refer to our Safeguarding Team for support.

We have continued our work to raise awareness of the impact of domestic abuse on older people. Trustees approved a new Domestic Abuse policy in December 2022. In addition to providing internal training, the Safeguarding Team continues to provide training to a range of external audiences including conferences, Police forces, social care and various other stakeholder events.

Employment policy and pay

Recruiting, retaining, and motivating employees are critical to Age UK’s sustainability and success. Age UK’s remuneration policy recognises the differences between our charitable and trading activity, and we compare the salaries we offer against charitable and commercial sectors as appropriate.

We have an annual review process called My time which supports colleagues to shape their personal objectives, in line with team, divisional and organisational objectives and to have regular sessions with their manager to discuss progress against their objectives, their professional development and their wellbeing. The My time process is not linked to pay.

This year we have been looking at how we can improve pay transparency at Age UK. This piece of work will continue into 2023/24 when we will launch a new pay policy and framework, in consultation with colleagues and our recognised Trade Union.

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Annual organisational pay awards were set by the People Committee on behalf of the Board, within the budget agreed by the Board for the overall increase in our salary costs.

The salaries of our key management personnel, Age UK’s Executive Directors, reflect the market in which individual Directors operate and are set using benchmarking data, as we do with other colleagues. Within our accounts, salaries are apportioned to reflect the amount of time each Director spends in supporting charitable or trading activities.

Securing our data, improving our technology

Improving our data

As the expert charity for older people, we hold a lot of information at Age UK and collect a lot of data about the services we offer to older people. We want to get better at ensuring that our data is a strategic enabler for everyone at Age UK, with a central data function that can ensure that all projects, programmes, initiatives, and applications that collect data are strategically aligned.

We launched an Information Protection Programme in late 2022 with the primary objective of increasing cyber security at Age UK. The framework selected is the National Cyber Security Centre’s 10 Steps to Cyber Security designed to improve our security awareness in risk management, asset management, training and awareness, enterprise architecture, supply chain, vulnerability management, incident management, data security, identity and access and logging and monitoring.

We continued to evolve and develop our Digital and Technology team by transforming the way we have worked with one of our biggest suppliers to allow us to adapt and develop our systems and services and offer a better service for our colleagues and volunteers as well as more modern platforms for the future.

If our systems are compatible and communicate with each other we will avoid duplication of effort across our teams, maximise our performance, and be more cost effective.

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Fundraising

Thank you to everyone who has donated and supported Age UK this year. In many ways it has been more difficult than we could ever have predicted. The pandemic left an indelible scar on the lives of thousands, whilst the spiralling cost of living has plunged many older people into desperate situations: facing impossible choices such as turning on the heating in the coldest weather or having a decent meal.

When older people are in crisis, we are here and we know what to do, but we cannot do it without the support of our supporters, donors, and funders.

Fundraising continues to be Age UK’s most significant source of gross and net income, powering all our practical support and campaigning for the older people most in need. In 2022/23, 60 per cent of our gross charitable income came from fundraising activities.

Since March 2020, the giving environment has shifted fundamentally, presenting challenges that continue for Age UK and for the charity sector as a whole. Political and economic uncertainty and global crises such as the conflict in Ukraine have had far reaching financial and humanitarian ramifications.

Yet despite this, our donors, fundraisers and funding partners continue to show they care for older people with thousands maintaining their long-term support for Age UK and even more giving for the first time.

This year our supporters helped us raise over £73.7 million, for which we are extremely grateful and truly humbled.

Despite the tough giving climate, we have remained ambitious and more focused than ever – because we simply cannot let older people down. Our approach this year has been to continue investing in fundraising and the Age UK brand to:

• Increase public trust and propensity to donate

• Increase engagement amongst our loyal supporters, bringing them closer to our cause

• Grow sustainable income for Age UK not only today, but to ensure the charity can be here for all of us in years to come.

Ambitions for the future

Age UK continues to adapt to reflect these changing times and the growing needs of older people.

Our new strategy will need us to be ambitious for what we can achieve for older people and the income we will need to raise to support that work. It will also present a number of opportunities for us develop new fundraising products and approaches, reach new audiences, and deepen our relationships with our loyal, committed supporters. For this reason, we remain ambitious for fundraising in future years.

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Highlights from 2022/23

Support from the public

This year we have received £10.9 million (2021/22: £13.0 million) through one-off and regular donations and gifts from the public including those who generously supported our Christmas Appeal and urgent Cost-of-Living Appeal.

We keep our supporters updated on our work throughout the year, and we love to hear what inspires them to keep supporting Age UK and older people.

‘Dear Friends at Age UK,

Thank you for the update you sent recently. I found your May edition really informative, and I have sent a donation to help with your work… I have recently started going to a group for retired people at our church and have realised how important friendship for over 80s is to combat loneliness. Details of people who have been helped by your telephone friendship service and campaigning support and information in lots of other situations were all so encouraging. It makes me feel that there are people to call on for help in supporting elderly friends.

Thank you for all your commitment and the love you share.’

Players of our seasonal raffles and weekly lottery draws also helped us raise a staggering £11.0 million this year. These activities now support all our charitable work but for the first few months of this financial year the lotteries and raffles programme supported three specific areas of Age UK’s work under three Society Lottery licences: information and advice; education and research; and local programmes through Local Age UK Partners.

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In addition, thousands of members of the public supported our work through their own fundraising, from quizzes to sky-dives, and through taking part in Age UK’s own fundraising challenges and events.

As well as developing new fundraising activities, we once again invited people to ‘Run Your Age’ and we were delighted that almost 2,000 supporters from across the UK took up the challenge. Fundraisers like Peter Lewis Jones, 75, who raised £2,200 by walking his age in miles throughout January and smashing his original target of £500.

‘Now that I have reached the age of 75 and am in remission from cancer, it is a wonderful opportunity to give something back to those less fortunate than myself. I took up the Age UK challenge to walk my age during January and set myself a target to raise £500. I managed to cover 120 miles and raised over £2,200. Feeling great and delighted to have raised a good sum. Thank you, Age UK, for coming up with such a great challenge.’ Peter Lewis Jones

Leaving a legacy

We are forever grateful for the immense generosity of our loyal Age UK supporters who left gifts in their wills to Age UK. This year’s income from legacies was £25.9 million (2021/22: £30.0 million) – almost 35 per cent of our voluntary income.

We are also hugely humbled when we hear our supporters’ selfless and thoughtful motivations for leaving a legacy to help older people not just today, but in the future. People like Mrs Rigby…

‘I’ve seen first-hand the plight of the elderly and their relatives fearing the future. There are many worthwhile charities, but I feel the elderly are low on the list. This is why I chose to leave a gift in my will to Age UK, for those who don’t have relatives to support them.’

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Support from organisations

We thank every company and their employees, every charitable trust and grant giving body that’s supported Age UK this year, helping us raise £25.9 million.

We are proud so many funding partners continue to commit to Age UK year in, year out – supporters such as e.on, M&G, Masonic Charitable Foundation and Emanuel Hospital Charity. A special mention must also go this year to innocent as we celebrated the 20th anniversary of our innocent Big Knit partnership that has inspired older service-users and the public to knit 10.5 million little hats for innocent smoothies and raised over £3.2 million.

This year we have also welcomed the support of new partners. The Department for Transport as part of His Majesty’s Treasury’s Shared Outcomes Fund supported the launch of our new Travelling Companions programme to help older people get out and about again after the pandemic. The Telegraph also recognised the disproportionate impact of the cost-of-living crisis on vulnerable older people and named Age UK as one of their Christmas Appeal charities, raising £300,000 towards our work, including an extraordinary gift from philanthropists Hans and Julia Rausing.

You can read more about the programmes and projects powered by some of our funders, in the ‘Our Impact’ section of this report on pages 18–60.

How we fundraise

Giant bobble hat to celebrate the 20th anniversary of our Innocent Big Knit partnership

Fundraisers at Age UK have a responsibility to raise funds in the most effective way possible to deliver our work for the older people most in need in line with charity law. We do this in conjunction with our commitment to high ethical standards and practices reflected in our Fundraising Charter. Our fundraising activities are delivered both in-house as well as utilising the specialist capabilities of third-party agencies when required including, but not limited to, fulfilment services, media agencies, creative agencies, face-to-face fundraisers and call centres.

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Age UK only works with agencies that align with our values and all third parties are monitored regularly. We take a supporter-led approach to our fundraising, which means we offer a variety of ways that the public can engage with our fundraising. It is important to us that our supporters find a way to give to us that works for them. This includes making one-off or repeat donations in person or online, taking on a challenge, buying a lottery or raffle ticket, or leaving a gift to us in their will.

Ensuring positive fundraising

Our aim is to ensure that engaging with Age UK’s fundraising activities is a positive experience and that our supporters and the public are always treated with respect, fairness, honesty, and clarity. Age UK is regulated by the Fundraising Regulator and therefore complies with the Code of Fundraising Practice and the Fundraising Promise. Age UK is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising, and we collaborate with them to strive for the highest standard of fundraising practices across the sector, as well as other sector bodies. We regularly review our fundraising approach and work with others with the aim of promoting best practice across the charity sector. We have had no Fundraising regulatory investigations or rulings during the last year.

Fundraising through third parties

Contracts are in place with all third-party agencies, and we require strict adherence to applicable laws such as the Fundraising Regulator’s Code of Fundraising Practice as well as data protection laws. Age UK has used third-party fundraising agencies

to deliver face-to-face lottery recruitment and for inbound telephone responses to our adverts and appeals. We did not carry out any outbound telemarketing within this financial year.

How we monitor fundraising

Age UK uses a broad variety of fundraising channels to engage our diverse range of supporters to raise funds for the Charity and provide updates on the impact of their donations. We also gratefully receive donations of clothes and goods to our shops. All fundraising activity is subject to approval processes that are supported by our Fundraising Compliance Manager and legal team. Our third-party fundraisers are monitored by call listening, mystery shopping and site observations. The performance of fundraising campaigns and our third-party suppliers is regularly reviewed and is overseen by a quality and compliance assurance process. We are consistently looking to hear feedback from supporters and internal and external stakeholders to deliver a high standard of performance and compliance.

Protecting the privacy and data of our supporters

We remain committed to protecting and respecting the privacy of all our supporters. We have continued to work closely with our Partners across the Age UK Network to ensure that all individuals’ data is captured, stored, and used compliantly and with the utmost care. Privacy by design, and the best interests of those we serve, are at the heart of this work. We have focused on strengthening the existing collaboration and processes with our suppliers and agencies in

respect of personal data. We have continued to adjust our privacy policy to better reflect the nature, scope, context, and purposes of processing that the organisation undertakes. The full version of our privacy policy can be found at: www.ageuk.org.uk/help/ - privacy policy

Addressing people’s concerns

During 2022/23 we received 332 complaints about our fundraising. Of those received, 202 (60 per cent) were made about our lottery and raffle, this represents 0.12 per cent of players. The previous year we received 329 complaints about our fundraising. Complaints about fundraising have remained stable over the last two years and are in line with our marketing activities and supporter base size. We appreciate all feedback and use complaints to shape our fundraising.

Protecting vulnerable people

Our policy on fundraising with people in vulnerable circumstances is followed by all our fundraisers. Our Fundraising Compliance Manager reviews all fundraising materials and provides training to our fundraisers, and those fundraising on our behalf, regularly. All third-party fundraising campaigns include training to ensure protecting vulnerable people is front of mind in those activities. In addition, we incorporate the Institute of Fundraising’s ‘Treating donors fairly’ guidance into our fundraising. We regularly review our fundraising marketing channels and propositions and take on feedback from our supporters and the public.

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Trading

We operate a large network of charity shops whose profits directly support our charitable work. AgeCo Limited, a commercial subsidiary, offers financial services and independent living solutions designed for older people and, when affordable, the profits from its activities are gifted to Age UK to fund our charitable work.

Retail

Through the hard work and infrastructure that we put in place during the pandemic, we were pleased to see a second year of growth for retail with our shops and online retail presence delivering a 14 per cent increase in income (2022/23 £37.3 million, 2021/22 £32.8 million). This enabled Retail to make a net profit contribution to the charity of £6.2 million (an increase of 27 per cent compared to 2021/22).

Rising inflation, energy rates, fuel prices and an increase in the national minimum wage led to a £3 million increase in costs for retail, but we managed costs well and improved our net profit return and margin contribution.

Our core business relies on selling donated goods, but we have been developing other areas of sales to support the business. Income from the sale in our shops of bought-in goods, products like gifts, homeware and sweets, grew in 2022/23 by 26 per cent and our online business grew in line with our strategy objectives and achieved a 71 per cent increase in income compared to 2021/22. Both continue to widen our offering to our loyal customer base and bring in new customers.

The second stage for ensuring that all our donated stock is utilised effectively is our Rag24 project which we launched this year. Rag is the term used for donated clothes items that we are not able to sell, for example if they are badly stained or damaged. Rag is an important source of income for all charity shops who are able to sell these items to textile recyclers. Our Rag24 project will move our retail business into becoming a nearly independent rag collector, a sustainable initiative which means people who donate clothes to us will be safe in the knowledge that Age UK is benefiting from their donation and their preloved items will not go to landfill.

We launched a new infrastructure of tills across our shops which has been a positive move, contributing to a significant increase in our Gift Aid income of 17 per cent (£1.9 milllion 2022/23, £1.6 million 2021/22) while also reducing our paperwork. This has helped us be more sustainable and to manage costs better.

We have introduced strategic initiatives to embed better practice across our network of shops. Successes include a new pricing structure within all shops which has supported the increased average transaction value by 9 per cent (from £5.48 in 2021/22 to £5.95 in 2022/23).

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The Wombles

This year we joined forces with the Wombles, a partnership which has helped us to champion sustainability, encourage people to donate their preloved goods, and ultimately encourage a reduction in waste going to landfill.

Having more sustainable shops is a key part of Age UK’s ongoing sustainability strategy. This year we have introduced measures to reduce paper, postage, and we are consciously reducing the amount of plastic used in our shops for our packaging.

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Hearing from our people Hilda, Age UK shop volunteer

How would you describe your volunteering role?

I have been a volunteer at the Stockport shop for the last 39 years and was born and raised in the town. I don’t feel like it’s been 40 years, not at all it’s gone by very quickly and I enjoy it so much. I started in the back room sorting the clothes and that’s what I still do to this day. I know what I am good at so sorting is the best task for me.

What was the biggest focus of your role this year?

The boutique change has made the shop more upmarket, and we have great sales. The staff always keep me up to date with how the shop is doing, which I really like to hear about. It’s really important to me that I know what’s happening and I always ask.

Growing our shop base, supporting our volunteers

With costs expected to continue to rise over the next few years, we plan to increase our shop portfolio once again so that we can continue to support the aims of Age UK and our commitment to deliver unrestricted income to the charity.

We are proud to be supported by over 3,500 volunteers who are the lifeblood of our shops. We plan to support Age UK’s developing volunteering strategy by strengthening and diversify our team of volunteers. We will also work hard to engage locally with Local Age UK Partners as part of Our Shared Future (see page 53) to explore how Age UK shops can better align with and support Local Age UK Partners in their community.

What energises you in your job?

The volunteer team are so close and all very good friends. The friendships that I have made have helped me to carry on all these years. I hope to carry on volunteering with Age UK for as long as I am able too.

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AgeCo Limited

Even with challenging market conditions, we were able to generate a profit of £2.0 million (2021/22: £3.5 million) from AgeCo Limited trading activities.

In the post COVID-19 pandemic world and heading into a period of economic uncertainty, we have continued with the stabilisation of the company, having consolidated the financial position ahead of moving into the growth stage of its strategy.

We extended our Age Co brand roll out, further clarifying the relationship with Age UK, whilst adding to our product range with our existing commercial partners and we appointed LV= as our new general insurance partner. We also continued to explore opportunities with new partners.

In July 2022, the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) started regulation of the pre-paid Funeral Plans market and in doing so changed the way in which companies are remunerated for introducing business. As a result of this, Age Co ceased the sale of pre-paid Funeral Plans but continues to work with our product partner on future opportunities.

Into the second year following the FCA’s introduction of general insurance fair pricing regulation to level out new and existing business pricing within the industry, Age Co has been well placed having already adopted this practice. The result has been that more of our customers continue to choose to remain with us for their insurance needs than in the past.

We are proud that our personal alarms, motor breakdown insurance, and will writing service are all rated as world-class (with a Net Promoter Score above 70), with all our other products either achieving excellent or good ratings with our customers.

Age UK’s Trading Principles

Age Co will offer products and services which are good for older people: We ensure our products genuinely have features and benefits (including the service surrounding their purchase and/or use) which we can evidence make them especially suitable for our customers, measured against our own knowledge of the needs of older people, not just benchmarked against standards in the relevant market sector.

Age Co’s prices will be fair and appropriate: Age Co’s prices will be fair – we will offer good value for money. Age Co’s prices will be appropriate – we will ensure our offering includes price points which are appropriate to people on low or moderate incomes.

The profit returned by Age Co to the Charity will be reasonable and acceptable: Just because the Charity uses the income from Age Co’s activities for a good cause this does not justify ‘excessive profits’, especially when our customers are the Charity’s beneficiaries.

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Exploring new opportunities

In 2023/24, our strategic focus will be on extending the reach of our existing products and exploring new distribution opportunities. Working with our existing partnerships, we will be looking to secure our offering for the future and ensure our current commitments are honoured.

We will continue to identify new products from our customer research and insight and enter markets where we feel there is a customer need and where we can make a difference to older people. The intention is to launch a travel insurance product in the year.

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Financial review

Age UK’s income available for charitable activities (net income) fell from £73.5 million in 2021/22 to £65.1 million in 2022/23 as the cost-of-living crisis was seen to impact every income stream, both with rising costs and falling income.

Age UK responded to the crisis for older people by increasing our charitable spending, utilising our reserves to sustain our activities, and increasing our charitable expenditure to the highest level seen since 2017. This included £5 million granted to Local and National Age UK Partners to fund their work to help older people through the cost-of-living crisis locally and an increase in grants passed on to HelpAge International to respond to the needs of older people around the world.

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Throughout the Strategic Report and in this Financial Review, the charity’s trading income continues to be expressed in net terms rather than gross, unless stated otherwise. Age UK’s accounts are consolidated, which means they include the income (and costs) of its charitable and trading subsidiaries. Age UK’s network of charity shops and Age Co generate significant income, but the cost of doing so is considerable. Their respective costs include their rent, electricity and maintenance of the charity shop estate and the marketing of financial services, independent living solutions and other commercial products and services. When considered at gross level only, this can make it appear that the charity has far more income available to spend on charitable activities than it does. We spent 111 per cent of our net resources on charitable activities (£72.4 million), following the designation of funds in 2021/22 to 2022/23.

Summary Statement of Financial Accounts

Summary Statement of Financial	Accounts
Statement of Financial Activities Summary and net calculations	Income £’000 Expenditure £’000 2023 Net £’000 2022 Net £’000
Donations and gifts	10,888 (5,166) 5,722 9,399
Legacies	25,883 (5,332) 20,551 25,852
Grants, corporate and trusts	25,912 (2,594) 23,318 20,939
Lotteries and raffles	11,013 (7,508) 3,505 2,527
Total fundraising Income from charitable activities	73,696 (20,600) 53,096 58,717
	2,507 2,507 3,891
Net income from trading*	8,543 8,543 9,730
Investments	970 970 649
Net (loss) on disposal fixed assets	(11) (11) (109)
COVID-19 job retention scheme	- - 589
Net resources available for charitable activities	85,705 (20,600) 65,105 73,467
Total charitable expenditure	(72,396) (62,788)
Trading analysis
Trading activity	46,063 (37,520) 8,543 9,730
Charitable activity analysis
% of net resources available for charitable activities	76% 80%
% of income spent on charitable activity	111% 85%
% of fundraising income available for charitable activities	72% 76%

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Highlights from 2022/23

As we emerged from the Coronavirus pandemic in 2021/22, it appeared briefly that life for older people may be starting to look brighter. The cost-of-living crisis has, for many, been even more devastating and we have continued to work hard to ensure we can continue to support those who need us most.

The success of our financial recovery plan allowed us to reach and exceed our reserves target two years earlier than we anticipated. This has given us the resources to be able to deliver support to older people through this new crisis. Free reserves stood at £38.7 million at the end of 2021/22, with a further £10.7 million of designated funds set aside to be spent in 2022/23.

We have used these in 2022/23, to increase our spend on charitable activities to the highest level in the last five years and invest more money in fundraising to shore up our future income streams. Overall, our operating deficit of £7.3 million demonstrates our commitment to supporting older people through the current cost-of-living crisis.

The economic uncertainty has not, however, bypassed us and this has been felt through reduced income across all our income streams and through a £3.8 million loss on our investments. Our reserves are still strong, so we enter 2023/24 in a robust position, conscious of the need to build our efforts to raise further funds to enable us to continue this level of support for older people in a time when the fundraising environment is becoming increasingly challenging.

Fundraising

Net income from fundraising fell from £58.7 million to £53.1 million

The fundraising environment has become a lot more challenging in 2022/23 as the cost-of-living crisis has impacted donors’ ability to give. Our highly successful COVID-19 appeal saw us raise income from donations and gifts of £27.7 million in 2020/21. This fell to £13.0 million in 2021/22 and this trend has continued into 2022/23, with income from this area being £10.9 million.

Grants, Corporates and Trusts are notable for having increased income, despite the challenges faced, increasing net income from £20.9 million in 2021/22 to

£23.3 million in 2022/23, mainly due to the increase in grant funding to Age International.

Lotteries and Raffles have generated a consistent gross income year on year, however, a reduction in costs has driven an increase in net income from £2.5 million in 2021/22 to £3.5 million in 2022/23.

Following a very successful year for legacies last year, income from legacies fell to £25.9 million in 2022/23 from £30.0 million in 2021/22. This is, however, more reflective of the success of legacy income last year as the 2022/23 position is ahead of the 2020/21 income level of £23.7 million.

We have continued to build on our investment in fundraising activity, and this has ensured that our fundraising income has been maintained at levels exceeding the income raised in 2019/20, prior to our highly successful COVID-19 appeal.

Review: The impact of the cost-of-living crisis is being seen in fundraising where income has continued to fall, following the very successful COVID-19 appeal, as the impact of the cost-of-living crisis is seen within our donor base.

Trading

Gross income from trading activities has increased to £46.1 million (2021/22: £43.8 million), however, due to rising costs with the high inflation rate, net income has fallen to £8.5 million (2021/22: £9.7 million)

Our charity shop portfolio has had another highly successful year as people have continued to return to the high street following the pandemic. Gross income increased from £32.8 million in 2021/22 to £37.3 million in 2022/23. Costs of running the shop network have also significantly increased, however, meaning that net income from charity shops has risen from £4.9 million in 2021/22 to £6.2 million in 2022/23.

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AgeCo Limited saw its net income from financial services fall to £1.1 million (2021/22: £1.5 million profit). This is reflective of the fact that in July 2022, pre-paid funeral plans became regulated by the FCA and, due to the role changes relating to commission payments, Age Co Funeral Plans were withdrawn from sale. Additionally, the car and home insurance offering has transferred from Ageas to LV=, with an increase in marketing spend compared to the previous year.

Review: Gross income from charity shops continued to increase due to high sales, offset by increasing costs. Age Co financial services saw a significant drop in net income, following the transfer of car and home insurance products from Ageas to LV= and the associated marketing costs, and following the withdrawal of Age Co funeral plans from sale.

Net income from Age Co Independent Living Solutions portfolio fell to £1 million (2021/22: £2.1 million). This reflects an adjustment to the allocation of shared costs between financial services and Independent Living Solutions, with Independent Living Solutions returning like-for-like net income year on year before the cost re-allocation.

Income from charitable activities

Income from charitable activities reduced to £2.5 million (2021/22: £3.9 million)

This includes income from our legacy Gifted Housing Service and money from energy companies to fund our vital Warm Homes programme. Until June 2021, we were also working with NHS England to support older people being discharged from hospital. The end of this programme accounted for £1 million of the reduction in this area.

Review: Income from charitable activities fell as our contract with NHS England came to an end but we maintained our other income streams in this area.

Charitable expenditure

Charitable expenditure returned to pre-pandemic levels with expenditure of £72.4 million (2021/22: £62.8 million)

The main increase compared to 2021/22 related to the distribution of £5 million in cost-of-living funds to Local and National Age UK Partners. Spend across the rest of charitable activities also increased as we implemented new projects, such as our Digital Champions project and increased our international spend. We have also not been immune to the impact of inflation which has increased the cost of delivering all our vital work for older people.

Review: Charitable spend has increased to the highest level for over five years, as we have worked to support older people through the cost-of-living crisis.

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Funding and finance

Balance Sheet

Balance sheet net assets reduced from £80.0 million to £65.6 million. The £14.4 million overall reduction in the balance sheet comprises:

• Fixed assets remained consistent year on year at £6.9 million (2021/22: £6.8 million)

• Investments fell by £7.9 million, mainly reflecting a £4.6 million drawdown on investments and a £3.8 million loss on investments. The drawdown on investments was to fund the charitable spend which represented a drawdown on reserves.

Net current assets fell by £10 million in total on the prior year, made up as follows:

• There was a decrease of £0.6 million in debtors, mainly relating to a reduction in accrued legacy income, reflecting the decrease in legacy income seen in 2022/23.

• Cash held decreased by £6.9 million.

• Creditors increased by £2.5 million, mainly relating to an increase in trade creditors. This relates to the timing of large payments around year end. Provisions fell by £2.5 million following the payment of the VAT liability in 2022/23 (2021/22: £1.5 million) and a reduction in the dilapidations provision of £0.6 million relating to a change in the assumptions around inflation and discount rate.

• There has been a £1.2 million reduction in the pension scheme liability.

Pension scheme

In October 2012, the two final salary pension schemes of Age Concern England and Help the Aged merged into one scheme with two sections. Both sections of the scheme are closed to new entrants and future accrual.

A full actuarial valuation took place on 1 April 2019, and this has been reworked and projected forward using the 2022 FRS 102 assumptions. The 2019 triennial valuation showed an improvement resulting in the reduction in the length of the deficit recovery plan. The April 2022 valuation was completed post year-end and this shows a further improvement on the 2019 valuation.

Both sections of the scheme are valued and reported in accordance with FRS 102 and advised by scheme actuaries. The scheme showed an overall reduction in deficit of £1.2 million (2022: £6.8 million reduction). Both sections of the scheme are now in an assets position, which has not been recognised on the balance sheet in line with accounting standards. The change has been driven by a reduction in value of both assets and liabilities. In the Age Concern section, this has resulted in a reduction in the net asset value of £1.3 million. A £2.2 million swing in the Help the Aged section has moved the valuation from a £1.2 million net liability to a £1 million net asset.

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The discount rate increased to 4.85 per cent (2021/22: 2.8 per cent), due to year-on-year increases in market bond yields. The projected RPI assumption decreased by 0.35 per cent to 3.25 per cent. Following the 2022 triennial valuation, it was agreed to maintain the deficit contributions at their existing level despite the improved funding position, with annual contributions of £3.7 million.

Age UK acknowledges its pension obligations and has a clear strategy to manage the technical provision deficit which includes a deficit reduction plan designed to ensure that the scheme is fully funded using assumptions that contain a margin for prudence. This is subject to continued discussion and agreement with the Pension Trustee Board. At the time of the March 2022 valuation, the deficit payments were expected to remove the deficit on a technical provisions basis by November 2028 for the Help the Aged section and May 2023 for the Age Concern section.

The fact that both schemes have already entered a surplus according to the FRS 102 assumptions gives comfort over the long-term trajectory of the scheme.

Reserves policy

Age UK’s reserves policy is reviewed annually and continues to be based on a free reserves approach. Total funds held at 31 March 2023 were £65.6 million, which compares to £80 million at 31 March 2022. This includes total endowment funds of £3.2 million (2021/22: £3.3 million), restricted funds of £6.3 million (2021/22: £12.1 million) and designated funds of £19.5 million (2022: £27.1 million). Designated funds

consist of the fixed asset funds which represent the net book value of fixed assets, including investment properties, as well as funds separately designated (see note 16).

Free reserves at 31 March 2023 were £36.6 million (2021/22: £38.7 million). Free reserves are defined as unrestricted funds which have not been earmarked and may be used generally to further the charity’s objectives. For the purposes of this calculation, the pension reserve is added back to the total unrestricted. Although the pension liability is outside of the definition of free reserves, deficit payments due have been factored into the target figure and forecasts.

Age UK takes a nine-month forward view of free reserves, factoring in commercial and other risks. This enables Age UK to determine the reserves range required for the charity to cover planned charitable expenditure over the following nine months under two adverse scenarios, reflecting a combination of risks identified through the risk management process. Applying this principle, Age UK has a target free reserves range of £30 million to £40 million. At 31 March 2023, Age UK’s free reserves were within this range.

In 2022, Age UK designated £10.7 million of reserves which had been built up from unexpected income, commercial recovery and internal cost savings. The majority of these have been spent within the year, with an amount of £3.4 million remaining within designated funds as at 31 March 2023. This is planned to be spent within 2023/24 to finalise the programmes begun in 2022/23.

The Trustees have reviewed these numbers and feel it is still appropriate to maintain the target range at its existing level. Cash forecasts have been prepared and there is sufficient liquidity to meet all operational requirements and levers to adjust expenditure further if required.

Going Concern

Age UK continues to prepare its financial statements on the basis that it is a going concern.

In doing so, it has considered the current cost of living crisis, the high inflation levels and the other business risks it faces and has put in place a number of actions to manage these.

The cost reductions implemented following the financial review performed in 2020 have strengthened Age UK’s financial position and the continuing strong income level has allowed us to invest further in our charitable activities whilst maintaining a strong reserves position.

A robust three-year planning process has been carried out which looked at projected cash flows and reserves requirements over that period. A detailed recovery plan was also prepared at the outset of the pandemic to ensure future financial stability. The actions taken have enabled Age UK to achieve its target reserves range of £30–£40 million and also maintain a strong liquidity position.

The Trustees believe that Age UK is well placed to manage its financing and other operational risks satisfactorily and have a reasonable expectation that Age UK will have adequate resources to continue in

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operation for the foreseeable future and meet its liabilities as they fall due, until at least March 2025. They, therefore, consider it appropriate to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.

Investment policy

The charity’s overall investment objective adopted by the Trustees is to maintain and enhance the value of the portfolio in real terms to enable the charity to realise its charitable objectives in the future. It seeks to maximise real returns over time, that is to protect the after-inflation value of the charity’s assets whilst being in line with the charity’s risk appetite which is defined as medium risk. The Finance Risk and Audit Committee, with the support of the Investment Committee is responsible for reviewing the investment policy and ensuring it remains appropriate.

As at 31 March 2023, Age UK had £43.3 million invested in readily tradable securities with a liquid secondary market. The investments are managed by Sarasin and Goldman Sachs in a close to 50/50 split designed to reduce risk and consist of two long-term portfolios and several smaller endowment funds. These investments underpin the free reserves available to the organisation.

Both managers work within the boundaries of the same investment policy but employ slightly different strategies which complement each other whilst still offering additional diversification.

Despite a volatile year, the long-term portfolios contained just over £40.6 million and are invested in government and corporate bonds, index linked gilts, UK commercial property, global equities, alternative assets, and cash. Any nonSterling investments are 70 per cent hedged back to GBP. Age UK also holds endowed funds with a market value as at 31 March 2023 of £2.7 million. These funds are invested in the Sarasin Endowments fund from which we receive income on a quarterly basis.

The investment loss of £3.8 million this year comes after two years of gains (2022: £1.2 million and 2021: £7.5 million). Both managers still believe that the allocation of the current investment portfolio is appropriate to meet our investment objective.

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Risk management and assurance

Age UK’s Trustees have overall responsibility for the management of risk within Age UK. Trustees view the management of risk as an essential discipline to support Age UK in achieving its strategy and goals. This includes setting the risk appetite for the charity, ensuring that there are reasonable procedures in place for the prevention and detection of major risks, including fraud risk and other irregularities.

During 2022/23, the Finance, Risk and Audit Committee and Trustees have overseen Age UK’s activities, having regard to the Risk Management Policy, Risk Framework and Risk Appetite in order to ensure appropriate identification and consideration of risk within Age UK.

The Finance, Risk and Audit Committee is responsible for the oversight of the work of Executive Directors in this area and ensures that challenge is provided, and that robust mitigating actions and controls are in place. Age UK operates a ‘three lines of defence’ model which balances ownership and accountability for managing risks in the Charity with a separate risk and compliance function and an independent internal audit.

The Finance, Risk and Audit Committee is responsible for the appointment of the internal auditor and external auditor. Over the course of the year, BDO continued in their role as Internal Auditors while Crowe served as Age UK’s external auditors. KPMG have been appointed as internal auditors from April 2023.

Age UK considers risk across different time horizons and from different viewpoints. This allows us to make effective use of resources within our budgets as well as to build in deliberate debate and monitoring at the right level within Age UK, be that Board discussions, executive meetings, or department meetings.

The Finance, Risk and Audit Committee is also responsible for the annual internal audit plan and scrutinises regular reports from the internal auditors on progress against the audit plan including monitoring the implementation of recommendations raised from audits and the effectiveness of internal controls.

On the following pages we have shared what we consider are our greatest challenges to achieving our strategy and the context surrounding each risk.

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Risk Category

Financial performance and resilience

Significant reduction in cashflow and expected income streams from retail and fundraising due to economic pressures and political uncertainty, including the cost-of-living crisis, could negatively impact support for older people.

Mitigation and Actions

• Performed an annual going concern exercise to stress test the potential impact on our finances, performance, liquidity, and the effectiveness of our funding requirements.

• Ensured an appropriate value of reserves to support our core activities and ensure these remain within the agreed margin of safety set by the Finance, Risk and Audit Committee.

• We reported to a newly created Fundraising, Marketing and Brand Committee, and the Board of Trustees with a focus on cash generation, and funding requirements across the business.

• Annual budget setting process, including review and challenge from senior management and Trustees to ensure plans are within financial means.

Working together

If we do not work strongly together as a part of the Age UK Network, we may not efficiently deliver the level of services that older people need.

• Continued to work together with Local and National Age UK Partners, specifically supporting them to improve quality, be more financially resilient, and improve their services.

• Ensured our new CEO, Paul Farmer, became integral to our joint strategy work across the Age UK Network, which had been delayed until his arrival.

• Supported Local Age UK Partners to grow their income and service offer through providing assistance with local tenders.

• Commissioned Local Age UK Partners to deliver well-being programmes.

• Supported Local Age UK Partners as they face increasing pressure from local and national government funding preferring consortium partnerships.

Regulatory and Reputational risks to the charity from our activities

Non- compliance with laws and regulations in relation to services provided directly, third parties, financial and other commercial activities, could result in significant sanctions, losses or fines, and damage to our reputation which could affect our ability to raise funds and carry out our charitable work.

• The Age UK Group has adopted all appropriate laws and regulations in relation to the activities it carries out, to ensure that it meets its responsibilities towards its staff, volunteers and those whom the organisation supports.

• Age Co continued to follow the key principles established in the Trading Principles, against which all existing and future products and services are evaluated before being granted use of the Age Co trademark by the Charity.

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Risk Category

Cyber Security

Failure to put in place the appropriate protections to ensure the integrity of data and/or security of information could lead to significant inaccuracies, data loss or theft, and unauthorised disclosures, which could result in fines, reputational damage and negatively impact the support provided to older people.

Safeguarding

Vulnerable beneficiaries, supporters, volunteers and employees could be put at risk due to a lack of safeguarding awareness or training.

Mitigation and Actions

• Created a new role of Director of Information Protection and Compliance

• Information Protection strategy developed to drive a programme of change across Age UK focused on Information Protection maturity.

• We have assessed, defined and budgeted for the operational resources in accordance with our Information Protection roadmap and have made significant progress in delivering that roadmap.

• We have developed an Information Protection risk management framework to ensure we manage our operational risk effectively across the group.

• The Board of Trustees approved an updated group-wide safeguarding policy and procedure.

• Governance and reporting structures for safeguarding have been made more robust.

• We have a procedure to review all serious cases and implement lessons learned in a timely manner.

• Mandatory training is in place for all staff, volunteers and employees working with adults and vulnerable older people.

• Safeguarding audits are carried out and recommendations are implemented across key services to ensure good safeguarding practice is in operation.

Data integrity and governance including (GDPR)

Not meeting our regulatory obligations in a broad and evolving regulatory landscape could lead to fines, reputational damage or negatively impact supporting older people.

• Our data protection training was updated, which is mandatory training for all staff across Age UK.

• As part of the Our Shared Future discussions with Partners across the Age UK Network (see page 53), we are reviewing the current legal partnership agreement which all members of the Network must follow, including Age UK, to ensure that collectively the Age UK Network has adequate provisions for data privacy, protection and regulatory compliance.

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Risk Category

Staff Wellbeing

Reduced staff wellbeing due to hybrid working and the ability to recruit and retain staff and volunteers due to national shortages across the charity sector could lead to a loss of effectiveness in the workforce and a detrimental effect on charitable activity.

Protecting the Charity’s Assets

Economic uncertainty affecting market returns may negatively impact our investment portfolio and cash investments. This could reduce the financial assets available to the charity.

Commercial partnerships

Failure to manage our commercial activities due to third-party performance or market issues, resulting in a loss of income, investment, customer confidence and reputational damage to the charity and other wider activities.

Mitigation and Actions

• Continue to prioritise wellbeing, particularly mental wellbeing.

• We continue to provide training for our Mental Health First Aiders as well as our managers.

• We will be regularly surveying our colleagues to sense check how people are feeling and obtain valuable feedback to help us consider our future strategy.

• Ongoing discussions with Sarasin Asset Management and Goldman Sachs Asset Management to ensure the Charity’s investments are managed effectively.

• The Finance Risk and Audit Committee, with the support of the Investment Committee, has oversight of the investment strategy. The charity’s overall investment objective is to maintain and enhance the value of the portfolio in real terms to enable the charity to realise its charitable objectives in the future. It seeks to protect the after-inflation value of the charity’s assets whilst being in line with the charity’s risk appetite which is defined as medium risk.

• Ensuring robust procurement and due diligence processes when engaging third parties and entering into contracts.

• Engaging in effective supplier management so that third parties are held to account and maintain monitoring processes to ensure key deliverables are achieved.

• Acting swiftly to follow up on any concerns or under performance to ensure this is addressed quickly and satisfactorily.

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Governance

Age UK is a charity constituted as a company limited by guarantee (registered charity number 1128267 and registered company number 6825798) and therefore subject to charity, trust, and company law. This Report of the Trustees incorporates the Strategic report and the Directors’ report required under the Companies Act 2006 (Strategic report and Directors’ report) Regulations 2013.

Age UK is governed by a Memorandum and Articles of Association which sets out its charitable objectives:

• Preventing or relieving the poverty of older people.

• Advancing education.

• Preventing or relieving sickness, disease or suffering in older people (whether emotional, mental or physical).

• Promoting equality and diversity.

• Promoting the human rights of older people in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

• Assisting older people in need by reason of ill health, disability, financial hardship, social exclusion or other disadvantage.

• Such other charitable purposes for the benefit of older people as the Trustees may decide.

The intention of the collective outcome of these objectives is the promotion of the wellbeing of older people.

Age UK Board of Trustees

Our Board of Trustees, who are also Directors of the Charity for the purposes of the Companies Act, have overall responsibility for the strategy, management, and control of Age UK (the charity and its subsidiaries). Our Chief Executive, working with the Executive team, is responsible for delivering the Board’s vision and strategy and for the day-to-day operations.

We amended our Articles of Association during the year with the resulting position being that our Articles of Association allow for up to 14 Trustees, including either the Chair of the Age England Association (representing Local Age UK Partners) ex-officio or another person nominated by the Association, appointed by the Board on the recommendation of the Nominations and Governance Committee.

All Trustees are required to demonstrate that they meet the skills needed by Age UK, which are set out in the role profile. Appointments are led by the Nominations and Governance Committee which makes recommendations to the Board of Trustees (prior to October 2022 appointments were led by the Remuneration and Nominations Committee).*

We recruit as required based on an evaluation of the balance of the diverse skills and experience needed to govern the Charity in the long term, ensuring that the Board is fit for purpose and brings a diversity of interests and experience.

Trustees (other than the Trustee nominated by the Age England Association) are recruited following external advertisement and their skills and competencies are assessed against the role profile. They serve for an initial term of two years and, subject to review and the approval of the Board of Trustees, may serve for two further periods of three years.

Three new Trustees (Nick Burstin, Preeti Sadarangani and Lynda Thomas) were appointed during 2022/23.

All new Trustees are given an induction programme which is tailored to their needs. Individual Trustees have regular appraisals with the Chair of the Board; this enables any training and development needs to be identified and addressed.

• Changes to the Committee structure that took place during the year are detailed on page 94.

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The Board of Trustees generally holds an away day once a year which focuses on strategic issues and is an important part of Age UK’s process for developing strategy, annual plans and budgets. The Trustees have overall approval and oversight of the organisation’s strategy, plans and budgets and are regularly kept updated on progress against these and a series of agreed targets and key performance indicators.

Indemnity insurance up to the value of £5 million is provided for the Directors and Trustees. The premiums are paid centrally for the whole group by Age UK and the total indemnity insurance paid by Age UK in relation to Directors and Trustees for the whole group for April 2022 to March 2023 was £14,888 (2021/22: £11,624).

Hearing from our people Julia Scott, Age UK Trustee

What do you enjoy about your role as a Trustee?

Sharing my passion for the support that older people need and deserve, and seeing it reflected in the views of others. Being part of a team of Trustees with a shared desire to make things better for older people. Meeting and working with Age UK colleagues, specialists and volunteers. We are such a committed and determined bunch, who share a mission and a determination to bring about change.

What three words best describe your experience of being a trustee at Age UK?

Breadth (in terms of our activity). Willingness (to seek and listen to views of others and older people). And determination (to continue with effort – even when it’s really hard!)

What do you think are Age UK’s key achievements from the last year?

Restabilising ‘the ship’ post the pandemic, closer working with our subsidiary charities and our colleagues across the Age UK Network, and appointing a new and experienced CEO!

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Charity Governance Code

Age UK supports the principles of the Charity Governance Code fully and our overall approach is to review our practice against the Code’s requirements as part of an approach of continuously improving our governance arrangements, as the Code envisaged.

We drew on the results of the skills audit and the external board effectiveness review carried out in 2021/22 to inform the 2022/23 programme of Trustee recruitment. Accordingly, we have broadened the diversity of our Trustees, while still retaining our emphasis on ensuring that the Board retains a balance of charitable and business skills and experience. We plan to carry out a Board effectiveness review in the later part of 2023/24 or the earlier part of 2024/25 once our recent and continuing structural changes have become fully established.

Similarly, the review of our corporate and group structure undertaken in late 2021/22 has formed the basis of our corporate simplification work in 2022/23 and 2023/24, with changes made to the way in which our lotteries and The Silver Line Helpline operate and with Age Cymru having left the group post year end. Further changes are anticipated and, once completed, will enhance the Board’s direct oversight over the Age UK group’s operations.

Board Committees

As a result of the corporate simplification review mentioned above, the Age UK Board introduced a revised committee structure in 2022/23 which saw an increase in both the number of committees and in their authority to make decisions on clearly

delineated matters. All Committees are accountable to, and report to, the Board. We are continuing to develop this structure, with increased delegation of decision-making to the Board’s committees.

These changes were phased in during 2022/23, with five new committees – the Fundraising, Marketing and Brand Committee; the Charitable Activities Oversight Committee; the People Committee; the Nominations and Governance Committee and an Investment sub-committee (a sub-committee of the Finance, Risk and Audit Committee) –

holding their inaugural meetings during the year. Additionally, we established a single Finance, Risk and Audit Committee, which replaced our Strategic Finance and Risk and Audit Committees, whilst our Remuneration and Nominations Committee ceased (its responsibilities were subsequently divided across the, broader, remits of the People and Nominations and Governance Committees).

Committee structure

In this section of the report, we cover those committees which existed for the substantial majority of the year, with information on the Finance, Risk and Audit Committee also addressing the work of its predecessor committees.

Charitable Activities Oversight Committee

The Committee was created during the year in order to:

• Scrutinise the allocation of charitable spend against strategic objectives.

• Provide oversight of and seek assurance on the

delivery of Age UK’s services, including assessing the effectiveness, efficiency, and quality of – and beneficiary experience in relation to – charitable activities, and impact and spend relative to the charity’s strategic objectives.

• Provide oversight regarding our charitable expenditure spend.

• Decide (or on occasions recommend) on the charity’s public policy positions.

Its membership was a mix of Trustees and nonTrustees. As of 31 March 2023, its membership was Martin Jones (Chair), Carol Cole, Dawn McNally, Gary Rycroft and Denise Smith.

During the year it has particularly focused on:

• Monitoring Age UK’s charitable activities to ensure they are delivered effectively, to an agreed quality standard and in accordance with charitable expenditure parameters.

• Our partnership with Local Age UK Partners and National Network Partners, including development of an updated Network Agreement (to replace the current Brand Partner Agreement) and implementation of the Age UK Network Quality Assurance Framework.

• The work of The Silver Line following the transfer of its activity into Age UK.

• Reviewing Age UK’s influencing and advocacy plans and their relation to its charitable activity.

• Approving Age UK Policy Positions.

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Fundraising, Marketing and Brand Committee

The Committee was created during the year in order to:

• Oversee the Charity’s fundraising strategies, activities, and associated impact.

• Oversee the Charity’s brand, marketing strategies, activities, associated expenditure and impact.

• Ensure the charity adopts and follows the relevant standards of good practice and complies with all relevant regulations and legislation in the delivery of its fundraising activity.

• Review the quality and effectiveness of donor and supporter care (ensuring Age UK fundraising activities impact positively on Age UK’s brand and reputation) and the impact of the charity’s brand positioning (ensuring it impacts positively on Age UK’s ability to fundraise).

Its membership was exclusively Trustees. As of 31 March 2023, its membership was Lynda Thomas (Chair), Nick Burstin, Jackie Freeman and Roy Shubhabrata.

During the year, it has particularly focused on:

• Monitoring Age UK’s fundraising strategy and understanding the needs, investment and return of fundraising activity across income channels.

• Understanding Age UK’s brand investment purpose and its impact on brand positioning, messaging and awareness.

• Examining the regulatory environment to ensure that Age UK delivers compliant fundraising practice to a high standard.

• Reviewing reports on fundraising, brand and marketing KPIs, complaints and compliments.

People Committee

The Committee was created during the year in order to:

(excluding trustees and unpaid non-executive directors), including the organisation’s employee and volunteer strategies.

• Approve the overall approach to remuneration and benefits of all employees (except those that fall within the scope of the Nominations and Governance Committee’s responsibilities) and any major changes to employee benefits structures.

• Approve strategic HR policies for all employees.

• Recommend to the Age UK Board the annual pay award level for employees.

Its membership was exclusively Trustees. As of 31 March 2023, its membership was Carol Cole (Chair), Sharon Allen and Julia Scott.

During the year, it has particularly focused on:

• Age UK’s overall approach to remuneration and reward, taking into account the cost-of-living crisis.

• Equality, Diversity and Inclusion and the development of the overarching Age UK Equality, Diversity and Inclusion strategy to hold the organisation accountable as an employer and as a charity providing inclusive services.

• Monitoring the implications of staff survey findings across all areas of the organisation, particularly in relation to staff wellbeing and hybrid working.

• Reviewing and recommending the Gender Pay Gap Report, Standards of Conduct and relevant strategic HR Policies.

• With the transfer of Volunteering into the People Director’s remit, the Committee is also taking a close interest in this area of work in Age UK.

Finance, Risk and Audit Committee

The Committee was created, along with a supporting Investment sub-committee, in December 2022. It took on the combined remits of the existing Strategic Finance Committee and Risk and Audit Committee, in order to:

• Provide oversight of the executive’s work relating to employees and volunteers

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• Support the Age UK Board to assure the financial sustainability and future growth of the charity.

• Provide oversight of the Charity’s finances and investments, pension scheme, financial strategy, objectives, plans and policies.

• Provide oversight of the Charity’s property assets.

• Ensure strategic dialogue between subsidiaries and the Committee on those subsidiaries’ contributions to, or dependency on, Age UK.

• Provide oversight of the risk management, internal controls, and compliance of Age UK’s subsidiaries and ensure that Age UK and its subsidiaries identify, record, and manage risks effectively.

• Provide assurance to the Board on Age UK’s internal controls, including financial controls, and in compliance with relevant law and regulation oversee the internal audit function.

• Oversee the external audit function and timely production and development of Age UK’s Annual Report and Accounts.

• Via the Investment sub-committee:

• Provide oversight of the charity’s investments and defined benefit pension scheme position.

• Provide oversight of the charity’s property assets.

Its membership was a mix of Trustees and non-Trustees. As of 31 March 2023, its membership was Jackie Freeman (Chair), Jill Robinson, Shona Spence and Toby Strauss. The Investment sub-committee’s membership comprised Jackie Freeman (Chair), Mike Dixon and Praveen Telang.

During the year, it has particularly focused on:

• The evolution of the Committee itself to ensure it has appropriate oversight and fits within the revised committee structure.

• Reviewing strategic investment in, and support to, the Age UK Network in the context of the cost-of-living crisis.

• Cyber-security requirements and ensuring Age UK has robust information security procedures in place and is protected appropriately.

• Age UK’s investment portfolio and overarching approach to investment.

• Ensuring that Age UK has robust core policies and procedures in place.

• Monitoring Age UK’s property portfolio.

• Working with pension trustees to identify potential future management options.

Nominations and Governance Committee

The Nominations and Governance Committee replaced the previous Remuneration and Nominations Committee, with the remit of the latter being divided between this committee and the People Committee. Its remit is to:

• Review Board level succession planning, oversee the recruitment of any new Trustees and make recommendations regarding appointments to the Age UK Board.

• Make recommendations to the Age UK Board in relation to Committee appointments; appointments of directors and Trustees of Age UK’s principal subsidiaries; and other significant appointments required.

• Oversee the Board appraisal process.

• Take responsibility for succession planning, appointments and remuneration matters with respect to the CEO, the Executive team and subsidiary CEOs.

• Ensure Age UK and its subsidiaries have a robust governance framework with open and transparent governance and accountability structures which operate in accordance with the relevant regulations and legislation.

Its membership is entirely made up of Trustees. As of 31 March 2023, its membership was Toby Strauss (Chair), Carol Cole, Jackie Freeman, Martin Jones and Lynda Thomas.

• Refocusing Age UK’s approach to identifying and reviewing strategic risks.

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During the year, the committee particularly focused on:

• Concluding the recruitment of a new CEO.

• Recruiting new Trustees to the Age UK Board.

• Planning and implementing a new committee structure to support the Board.

• Reviewing and planning revisions to the structure of the organisation in response to the recommendations provided on corporate simplification in late 2021/2022.

Age UK subsidiaries

The Age UK Group comprises Age UK, Age International and a number of other subsidiaries. Age UK’s principal subsidiaries in 2022/2023 were:

Age International

Age International is the trading name of HelpAge International UK, a charitable company limited by guarantee and registered in England and Wales (registered charity number 1128267-8 and registered company number 7897113). It is the UK affiliate of the HelpAge International global network of organisations focused on ageing which has 170 members in 91 countries. Age International inspires and channels UK support so that older people in humanitarian crisis and in some of the world’s poorest places can lead happier, healthier lives and be treated with dignity.

Age International is currently governed by a Board of nine Trustees, each of whom is eligible to serve up to

three terms of three years. In 2022/23, the Chair of Age International was Ann Keeling and the Managing Director was Chris Roles until July 2022, with Alison Marshall being appointed as CEO from August 2022. More information can be found in Age International’s Trustees Report 2022/23.

Age UK Trading CIC

Age UK Trading CIC is a Community Interest Company limited by shares (registered company number 1102972). In accordance with the company’s Articles of Association, any surplus generated may be returned to Age UK, the sole member of the company, for the benefit of the community, in particular activities that further the Charity’s objectives.

It operates our network of charity shops and carries out other retail activity – dealing in the sale of donated goods on behalf of Age UK and selling second-hand goods on behalf of the general public as an agent and generating income itself from the sale of new goods.

In 2022/23, its Board was a mix of non-executive directors who are Trustees, non-executive directors who are not Trustees and executive directors. Its Board’s membership during the year was Mike Dixon (Chair), Daniel Jacobs, Hussein Lalani (until August 2022), Helen Milford, Tracey Bright and Vicki Thornton.

AgeCo Limited

AgeCo Limited is a registered company limited by shares (registered company number 3156159). It provides insurance services and other products designed for people in later life.

In 2022/23 its membership was a mix of non-executive directors who are Trustees, non- executive directors who are not Trustees and executive directors. As at 31 March 2023, its membership was Toby Strauss (Chair), Alison Crossley, Jill Robinson and Anthony Jones.

The Age Co Risk and Audit Committee exists to ensure that its Board has the assurance it needs in relation to the company’s risk management, compliance, and internal controls. As at 31 March 2023, membership of this committee was Jill Robinson (Chair) and Alison Crossley.

Age UK Lottery CICs

Age UK Local Programmes Lottery CIC, Age UK Information and Advice Lottery CIC, and Age UK Education and Research Lottery CIC are Community Interest Companies limited by guarantee (registered company numbers 11335613, 11335248 and 11372685 respectively) who run lotteries and raffles for community purposes.

Following changes to income limits on single lottery licences, the Age UK group consolidated the three Lottery CIC licences into a single Age UK licence and consequently ceased trading through the Age UK Lottery CICs in May 2022 (Age UK Information and Advice Lottery CIC, and Age UK Education and Research Lottery CIC) and June 2022 (Age UK Local Programmes Lottery CIC).

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The Silver Line

The Silver Line Helpline, a charitable company limited by guarantee (registered charity numbers – England and Wales 1147330, and Scotland SCO44467; and registered company number 8000807), became a subsidiary charity of Age UK with effect from 1 October 2019. Age UK is its sole member.

Its charitable activities were transferred into Age UK at the end of November 2022.

Age Cymru

Age Cymru (registered charity number 1128436 and registered company number 6837284) had been a subsidiary charity from 1 October 2017 when Age UK became its sole member. During the course of 2022/23, the Age Cymru trustees and Age UK decided to transition the organisation back to being an independent charity. This work was completed on 1 April 2023.

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Trustees’ duty to promote the success of the Charity: Section 172 statement

Trustees have a duty to promote the success of the Charity – achieving the charity’s purposes while ensuring the charity’s continued viability. In fulfilling this duty, the Trustees are required by section 172(1) of the Companies Act 2006 to have regard to specific factors, including:

• The likely consequences of decisions in the long term.

• The interests of employees.

• The need to foster Age UK’s relationships with a range of other stakeholders.

• The impact of Age UK’s operations on the community and the environment.

• The desirability of Age UK maintaining a reputation for high standards of business conduct.

• The need to act fairly as between members of the charity.

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During the course of 2022/23, the Board has put in place a revised committee structure to ensure Trustees continue to have oversight of the management and decision-making within the organisation, while creating capacity for the Board to focus on developing an ambitious strategy that will prepare the organisation for future growth and enable it to meet the changing landscape facing its beneficiaries, partners and other stakeholders. This new structure is, therefore, an integral part of the way in which the Trustees carry out their duty, with reports on the day-to-day management and decision-making by the Executive team being scrutinised at committee level and assurance subsequently being provided to the Board through committee reporting.

Pages 18 to 60 of this report summarise the most significant steps taken during the year to promote the success of Age UK. However, some examples of the way the factors listed in section 172 informed the discharge of the overall duty include:

• Increasing our investment during the year in our information and advice and telephone friendship services in response to the increased demand for those services due to COVID-19, made possible because of earlier steps to secure the charity’s longer-term position through successful implementation of our reserves recovery plan.

• Increasing our investment in our Benefits support service in response to increased demand from beneficiaries for support through the cost-of-living crisis, leading to £3.1 million in total benefits being identified for older people to claim in the last quarter of 2022/23.

• The use of a Services Sounding Board and a Policy Sounding Board made up of older people, to inform strategy development, decisions on development of our services and the public policy positions which the charity takes.

• Regular surveys and polling of our own community of 250,000 active campaigners, the vast majority of them older people.

• Our engagement with Local Age UK Partners, drawing on their views and experience of the views and needs of older people.

• The standards we set ourselves through a wide range of policies and practices – for example: our values; the Age UK Quality Standards (against which the whole Age UK network, including Age UK, is assessed); standards of conduct for everyone – including Trustees and Directors; policies that encourage staff to know they can speak up safely; and the Trading Principles at the heart of the group’s commercial activities.

• Setting a clear risk appetite within which Age UK operates, covering a range of issues that include reputational risk.

• Consultation with a wide range of stakeholders on the development of Age UK’s Vision, Mission and Strategy.

• Development of a new Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) approach, intended to extend the reach of our EDI work into our charitable activities to help Age UK deliver inclusive and accessible services for all older people.

• Regular employee surveys and engagement with colleagues on a wide range of issues. This has particularly influenced the development of our Learning, Development and Wellbeing commitments as well as our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion priorities.

• Listening to colleagues and trade union feedback and adjusting remuneration to ensure it remains appropriate to economic circumstances.

• Age UK’s Your Voice Panel – a virtual panel (with whom we consult on a wide range of issues; the panel is not limited to those who wish to engage digitally) – which is boosted to ensure representation from those who are less often heard and for minority characteristics, such as older people living in care homes, and those who are Black, Asian, from other minority ethnic backgrounds, or LGBTQ.

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Environment and sustainability

In addition to being compliant with government guidance, Age UK is actively working to reduce its impact on the environment.

Across the Age UK group, we are working towards environmental best practice standards to minimize our impact on the environment.

Examples of how we are doing this include:

• We are already using 100 per cent renewable electricity sourced solely from solar, wind and hydro power and are working with our energy brokers to develop our net zero pathway.

• We use LED lighting and recycled carrier bags in our charity shops.

• We use paperless systems, have desk sharing and Forest Stewardship Council certified office furniture such as desks/tables.

• Reduce the carbon footprint of our charity shops significantly and become expert recyclers, with the aim of creating the first of many carbon-neutral Age UK charity shops by 2024. There will be a drive on sustainable clothing through membership of the Sustainable Clothing Action Plan group; work to reduce plastic, for example by looking at more sustainable clothes hangers and alternative carrier bags; as well as a review of the open-door policy to save on heating.

• Join forces with the Wombles to encourage the public to join the sustainability movement by supporting Age UK shops and reducing waste that otherwise ends up in landfill.

We will continue to:

• We are introducing micro-sustainability endeavours such as metal cutlery, china crockery, and setting office equipment and power consumption to reduce energy consumption.

• We use hybrid working and reduce travel where possible and, additionally, we are moving retail vehicles to hybrid.

• We promote energy-conscious behaviour by staff and have a staff sustainability group.

In the year ahead we have exciting plans, particularly across Age UK charity shops.

We will:

• Update our environmental / sustainability policy and look at further ways to reduce our environmental footprint.

• Take into account the effect that our operations may have on the local and wider community.

• Take action to eliminate or reduce, as far as practicable, adverse environmental impacts.

• Behave in a considerate and socially responsible manner.

• Ensure effective and expedient incident control, investigation, and reporting.

Age UK is reporting energy and carbon emissions in compliance with The Companies House (Directors’ Report) and Limited Liability Partnerships (Energy and Carbon Report) Regulations 2018. Our Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting report is below.

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Overview of carbon emissions

Compared to the previous year, we have reduced our emissions by 85 tonnes of CO2e – a six per cent reduction. Our target is to reduce gross scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions in tonnes of CO2e per square foot of the retail floor by 2 per cent each year. The performance of the current period against the base year (2019/20) improved by 16 per cent. The target set for the fifth year is to keep the emissions at least 8 per cent lower than the base year.

Business Travel

Activities relating to travel include company cars, employee-owned vehicles for business use, flights, trains, and hotel stays.

Quantification and Reporting Methodology

The Government’s Environmental Reporting Guidelines: including streamlined energy and carbon reporting guidance (March 2019) has been used for the collation of data sources and reporting of emissions. UK Government GHG Conversion Factors for Company Reporting has been used for the reporting of emissions, using the 2022 version.

Organisational Boundary

The financial boundary of the business has been used to determine the reporting boundary.

Operational Scope

Measurements include mandatory scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions. Estimates have been made with the collation of data. Additionally, optional emissions from

electricity transmission and distribution losses, and business travel (flights, trains and hotel stays) have been included in the report.

Exclusions and Report Changes

There are no data exclusions in this reporting period. Transmission and distribution losses have not been reported previously; however, as this is considered best practice for UK reporting, transmission and distribution losses have been included and retrospectively calculated for previous years.

Base Year

The base year is April 2019 – March 2020 and the gross reported emissions during that period were 2,089 tonnes of CO2e. The emissions for the current period show a significant reduction (40 per cent) against the base year.

Intensity Measurement

The reporting metric chosen is gross scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions in tonnes of CO2e per square foot of retail floor, as this best reflects business activity. The intensity measurement will be reported each year, with a comparison made against the previous year’s performance.

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		Specific
	Estimated	exclusions
SCOPE 1 CO2e (tonnes)	(%)	(%)	2019 - 2020	2020 - 2021	2021 - 2022	2022 - 2023
Natural Gas	0	None	157	98	89	81
Company-owned transport	0	None	525	N/A	398	358
Total Scope 1 CO2e (tonnes)			682	98	487	439
	Estimated
SCOPE 2 CO2e (tonnes)	(%)	Exclusions	2019 - 2020	2020 - 2021	2021 - 2022	2022 - 2023
Electricity	0	None	1,297	500	745	640
Total Scope 2 CO2e (tonnes)			1,297	500	745	640
	Estimated
SCOPE 3 CO2e (tonnes)	(%)	Exclusions	2019 - 2020	2020 - 2021	2021 - 2022	2022 - 2023
Private transport for business purposes	0	None	N/A	N/A	32	52
Flights	0	None	N/A	N/A	1	47
Hotel stays	0	None	N/A	N/A	7	8
Trains	0	None	N/A	N/A	3	11
Electricity T & D losses	0	None	110	47	66	59
Total Scope 3 CO2e (tonnes)			110	47	110	177
TOTAL CO2e Scope 1, 2, 3 Gross emissions (tonnes)			2,089	645	1,341	1,256
Intensity Metric Measure (ft2 of floor area)			721,060	715,948	624,826	514,042
Intensity Metric (Gross emissions) tCO2e/ft2of floor area Energy Consumption		Exclusions	0.00290 2019 - 2020	0.00090 2020 - 2021	0.00215 2021 - 2022	0.00244 2022 - 2023
kWh		As above	5,928,415	2,889,424	5,803,041	5,450,332
Carbon offsets			0	0	0	0
TOTAL CO2e Scope 1, 2, 3 Net emissions (tonnes)			2,089	645	1,341	1,256
Intensity Metric (Net emissions) tCO2e/ t2of floor area			0.00290	0.00090	0.00215	0.00244

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Further information

Partnership arrangements

Age UK, Local Age UK Partners in England and Friends of Local Age UK Partners in England are all members of the Age England Association, a body that supports the Age UK Network to work together effectively. Age UK has regular meetings with the Age England Association’s Executive Committee.

Age UK also works closely with Age Cymru, Age NI and Age Scotland to co-ordinate work at a national level in the UK.

Age UK grant-making policy

Through its grant-giving, Age UK supports Local Age UK Partners in delivering key services and developing them as sustainable organisations. It also supports other local, national, and international organisations to further Age UK’s strategic objectives to improve the lives of older people. Age UK’s grant programme is funded by Government, external trusts and foundations, and from its own income.

Each application received for grant aid is rigorously assessed. All grant recipients are required to submit progress reports (normally quarterly or as defined by the specific programme). Most grants are for less than 12 months; where a grant is given for a longer period, a full mid-term review is undertaken.

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Statement of Trustees’ responsibilities

The Trustees (who are also Directors of Age UK for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Annual Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (United Kingdom Accounting Standards).

Company law requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year. Under company law, the Trustees must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and the group, of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable group for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the Trustees are required to:

• Select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;

also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and the group and, hence, for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

The Report of the Trustees, which incorporates the requirements of the Strategic report and the Directors’ report as set out in the Companies Act 2006 (Strategic Report and Directors’ Report) Regulations 2013, was approved by the Board in their capacity as Trustees and company Directors on 25 September 2023 and signed on its behalf by:

• Observe the methods and principles in the Charity’s SORP;

• Make judgments and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;

• State whether applicable UK accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and

Toby Strauss on 27 September 2023

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

The Trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the charitable company’s transactions, disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company, and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006 and the provisions of the charity’s constitution. They are

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Trustees, Executive Directors and Professional Advisers

Trustees and Other Age UK 2022/2023 Committee Members

Trustees	FRAC	Investment	CAOC	FMBC	People	Nom and Gov
Sharon Allen					•
Nick Burstin (from September 2022)				•
Carol Cole			•		•
Mike Dixon		•				•
Jackie Freeman	•	•		•
Martin Jones						•
Ann Keeling (from July 2022)			•			•
Dawn McNally			•
Preeti Sadarangani (from September 2022)	•
Julia Scott					•
Roy Shubhabrata				•
Toby Strauss (Chair)	•					•
Lynda Thomas (from February 2023)				•		•
Other Age UK Committee Members	FRAC	Investment	CAOC	FMBC	People	Nom and Gov
Jill Robinson	•
Gary Rycroft (from November 2022)			•
Denise Smith (from November 2022)			•
Shona Spence	•
Praveen Telang		•

CAOC – denotes that the individual was a member of the Charitable Activities Oversight Committee for all or part of 2022/23.

FMBC – denotes that the individual was a member of the Fundraising, Marketing and Brand Committee for all or part of 2022/23.

FRAC – denotes that the individual was a member of the Finance, Risk and Audit Committee for all or part of 2022/23.

Investment – denotes that the individual was a member of the Investment Sub-committee for all or part of 2022/23.

People – denotes that the individual was a member of the People Committee for all or part of 2022/23.

Nom and Gov – denotes that the individual was a member of the Nominations and Governance Committee for all or part of 2022/23.

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Royal Patron The former Prince of Wales was Patron of Age UK

Executive Directors

• Caroline Abrahams, Charity Director

• Laurie Boult, Fundraising and Engagement Director

• Tracey Bright, Interim Chief Executive (until September 2022), Deputy Chief Executive (from October 2022)

• Pam Creaven, Services and Partnership Affairs Director (until September 2022)

• Paul Farmer, Chief Executive Officer, Age UK (from October 2022)

• Anthony Jones, Chief Executive, Age Co.

• Alison Marshall, Chief Executive Officer, Age International (from August 2022)

• Donna Marshall, Acting HR Director (until October 2022), People Director (from November 2022)

• Chris Roles, Managing Director of Age International (until August 2022)

• Nick Smith, Acting Retail Director (until October 2022), Retail Director (from November 2022)

Professional Advisers

Bankers

National Westminster Bank plc, 250 Bishopsgate, London EC2M 4AA

Internal auditors

KPMG LLP Audit (from April 2023) 15 Canada Square London E14 5GL

BDO LLP (until March 2023) 55 Baker Street London W1U 7EU

External auditors

Crowe U.K. LLP, 55 Ludgate Hill London EC4M 7JW

Solicitors

Farrer & Co LLP, 66 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, London WC2A 3LH

Investment managers

Sarasin & Partners LLP, Juxton House, 100 St Paul’s Churchyard, London EC4M 8BU

Goldman Sachs International, Plumtree Court, 25 Shoe Lane, London EC4A 4AU

Age UK registered office

7th Floor, One America Square, 17 Crosswall, London EC3N 2LB

• Vicki Thornton, Chief Financial Officer

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Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members of Age UK

Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members of Age UK

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Age UK (‘the charitable company’) and its subsidiaries (‘the group’) for the year ended 31 March 2023 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 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 the charitable company’s affairs as at 31 March 2023 and of the group’s income and expenditure, for the year then ended;

• have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and

• have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006.

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the 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.

Conclusions relating to going concern

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charitable company’s or 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 contained within the annual report. The other information comprises the information included in the annual report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

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Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

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

• the information given in the trustees’ report, which includes the directors’ report and the strategic report prepared for the purposes of company law, for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and

• the strategic report and the directors’ report included within the trustees’ report have been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

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

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

• adequate and proper accounting records have not been kept; or

• the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or

• certain disclosures of trustees’ remuneration specified by law are not made; or

• we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement set out on page 105, the trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the charitable company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

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

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: www.frc.org. uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.

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

Irregularities, including fraud are instances of noncompliance with laws and regulations. We identified and assessed the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements from irregularities, whether due to fraud or error, and discussed these between our audit team members

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We then designed and performed audit procedures responsive to those risks, including obtaining audit evidence sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory frameworks within which the charitable company and group operates, focusing on those laws and regulations that have a direct effect on the determination of material amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. The laws and regulations we considered in this context were the Companies Act 2006, the Charities Act 2011 together with the Charities SORP (FRS 102). We assessed the required compliance with these laws and regulations as part of our audit procedures on the related financial statement items.

In addition, we considered provisions of other laws and regulations that do not have a direct effect on the financial statements but compliance with which might be fundamental to the charitable company’s and the group’s ability to operate or to avoid a material penalty. We also considered the opportunities and incentives that may exist within the charitable company and the group for fraud. The laws and regulations we considered in this context for the UK operations were General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Taxation legislation, Employment legislation, Gambling commission regulations and FCA regulations. For international operations we have considered Antifraud, bribery and corruption legislation.

Auditing standards limit the required audit procedures to identify non-compliance with these laws and

regulations to enquiry of the Trustees and other management and inspection of regulatory and legal correspondence, if any.

We identified the greatest risk of material impact on the financial statements from irregularities, including fraud, to be within the timing of recognition of income and the override of controls by management.

Our audit procedures to respond to these risks included enquiries of management, internal audit, and the Risk & Audit Committee about their own identification and assessment of the risks of irregularities, sample testing on the posting of journals, reviewing accounting estimates for biases, reviewing regulatory correspondence with the Charity Commission, reviewing RMAR reports prepared for the FCA and reading minutes of meetings of those charged with governance.

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

cannot be expected to detect non-compliance with all laws and regulations.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charitable company’s members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company’s members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charitable company and the charitable company’s members as a body and the charitable company’s trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Nicola May,

Senior Statutory Auditor for and on behalf of Crowe U.K. LLP Statutory Auditor London Date: 29 September 2023

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Financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023

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Financial statements

Charity statement of financial activities, incorporating income and expenditure accounts For the year ended 31 March 2023

			Restricted
		Unrestricted	& endowed	2023	2022
INCOME FROM:	Note	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
Voluntary income
Donations and gifts		9,002	1,886	10,888	13,034
Legacies		25,547	336	25,883	29,983
Grants, corporate and trusts		1,187	24,725	25,912	23,036
Lotteries and raffles		10,087	926	11,013	11,117
Total voluntary income		45,823	27,873	73,696	77,170
Trading activities
Charity Shops		37,318	-	37,318	32,807
Financial Services		6,220	-	6,220	7,399
Independent Living Solutions		2,214	-	2,214	2,267
Other trading income		208	103	311	1,309
Total income from		45,960	103	46,063	43,782
trading activities
Investment and interest income		896	74	970	649
Charitable activities
Campaigning and research		-	-	-	18
Information and advice		31	-	31	2
Health and care		-	-	-	1,047
Wellbeing		300	-	300	310
Supporting the network		2,024	152	2,176	2,514
Total income from		2,355	152	2,507	3,891
charitable activities

			Restricted
		Unrestricted	& endowed	2023	2022
INCOME FROM:	Note	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
Other income
Net loss on disposal of fixed assets		(11)	-	(11)	(109)
COVID-19 retention scheme		-	-	-	588
TOTAL INCOME		95,023	28,202	123,225	125,972

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Financial statements

				Restricted
			Unrestricted	& endowed	2023	2022
	EXPENDITURE ON:	Note	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
	Cost of raising funds
	Cost of generating	3a	(20,600)	-	(20,600)	(18,453)
	voluntary income
	Cost of generating trading income	3b
	Cost of Charity Shops		(31,115)	-	(31,115)	(27,910)
	Cost of Financial Services		(5,142)	-	(5,142)	(5,931)
	Cost of Independent		(1,263)	-	(1,263)	(211)
	Living Solutions
	Total cost of generating	3b	(37,520)	-	(37,520)	(34,052)
	trading income
	Total cost of raising funds		(58,120)	-	(58,120)	(52,505)
	Net resources available for charitable activities	2	36,903	28,202	65,105	73,467
	Charitable activities
	Campaigning and research		(6,640)	(5,369)	(12,009)	(10,142)
	Information and advice		(5,585)	(3,128)	(8,713)	(7,921)
	Health and care		(1,850)	(1,359)	(3,209)	(4,313)
	Wellbeing		(8,063)	(6,033)	(14,096)	(10,107)
	Supporting the network		(11,640)	(1,073)	(12,713)	(10,358)
	International		(5,636)	(16,020)	(21,656)	(19,947)
	Total expenditure on	3c	(39,414)	(32,982)	(72,396)	(62,788)
	charitable activities
	TOTAL EXPENDITURE	3	(97,534)	(32,982)	(130,516)	(115,293)
	Tax payable		(1)	-	(1)	(33)
	Net (losses)/gains on investments		(3,650)	(165)	(3,815)	1,234
	NET INCOME/(EXPENDITURE)		(6,162)	(4,945)	(11,107)	11,880

Note	Unrestricted £’000 Restricted & endowed £’000 2023 £’000 2022 £’000
Other recognised gains and losses
Actuarial (losses)/gains on pension scheme 18	(3,373) - (3,373) 3,991
Revaluation gains 9	138 - 138 1,519
Transfers between funds 16	887 (887) - -
NET MOVEMENT IN FUNDS Reconciliation of funds 16	(8,510) (5,832) (14,342) 17,390
Total funds bought forward	64,656 15,332 79,988 62,598
Net movement in funds	(8,510) (5,832) (14,342) 17,390
Total funds carried forward	56,146 9,500 65,646 79,988

Report of Trustees and Annual Accounts 2022/23[| ] 113

Financial statements

Consolidated balance sheet

For the Year Ended 31 March 2023

Note	Group 2023 £’000 Group 2022 £’000 Charity 2023 £’000 Charity 2022 £’000
Fixed assets
Tangible assets 8	6,917 6,832 6,916 6,805
Investments 9	54,644 62,568 58,144 66,068
Total fixed assets Current assets	61,561 69,400 65,060 72,873
Stock 10	415 267 - -
Debtors 11	21,976 22,555 19,946 21,817
Cash at bank and in hand	8,847 15,740 3,866 8,079
Total current assets Liabilities	31,238 38,562 23,812 29,896
Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year 12	(18,778) (16,234) (23,092) (25,815)
Net current assets	12,460 22,328 720 4,081
Creditors: Amounts falling due after one year 13	(800) (420) (800) (420)
Provisions for liabilities and charges 14	(7,562) (10,107) (6,700) (8,977)
Net assets excluding pension liability	65,659 81,201 58,280 67,557
Defined benefit pension scheme liability 18	(13) (1,213) (13) (1,213)
Net assets	65,646 79,988 58,267 66,344

Note	Group 2023 £’000 Group 2022 £’000 Charity 2023 £’000 Charity 2022 £’000
Funds
Endowment funds	3,161 3,252 3,161 3,252
Restricted funds	6,339 12,080 4,797 7,278
Total endowed and restricted funds 16 Investment property reserve	9,500 15,332 7,958 10,530 11,380 11,710 11,380 11,710
Other fixed assets	3,783 3,974 3,781 3,947
Fixed asset funds General reserve – excluding pension liability	15,163 15,684 15,161 15,657 40,996 50,185 35,161 41,370
Pension reserve 18	(13) (1,213) (13) (1,213)
General reserve 16	40,983 48,972 35,148 40,157
Total unrestricted funds 16	56,146 64,656 50,309 55,814
Total funds	65,646 79,988 58,267 66,344

Age UK the charity’s own surplus/(deficit) for the year included in these group results was (£8,077,777) [2022: £20,515,319]

The accompanying notes on pages 116–158 form part of these financial statements.

The financial statements on pages 112 to 115 were approved by the Board of Trustees on 25 September 2023 and authorised for issue on 27 September 2023 by:

Toby Strauss, Chair

Report of Trustees and Annual Accounts 2022/23[| ] 114

Financial statements

Consolidated cash flow statement

For the Year Ended 31 March 2023

Consolidated cash flow statement For the Year Ended 31 March 2023
	Group 2023	Group 2022
Cash flows from operating activities	£’000	£’000
Net income for the year	(14,342)	17,390
Adjustments for:
Taxation charge	1	33
Investment income and interest income	(970)	(649)
Interest expense	31	109
Depreciation and amortisation of fixed assets	1,117	1,185
Loss on sale of fixed assets	15	146
Net gain/(loss) on investments	3,677	(2,967)
Actuarial loss/(gain) on defined pension scheme	3,373	(3,991)
Income taxes paid	(1)	(33)
	7,243	(6,167)
(Increase)/Decrease in stocks	(148)	220
(Increase)/Decrease in debtors	579	(5,474)
Increase /(Decrease) in creditors	2,524	3,306
(Decrease)/Increase in provisions	(2,545)	(2,532)
Difference between pension charge and cash contribution	(4,573)	(2,785)
	(4,163)	(7,265)
Net cash from operating activities A	(11,262)	3,958

	Group 2023	Group 2022
Cash flows from investing activities	£’000	£’000
Capital expenditure and financial investment
Purchase of tangible fixed assets	(1,539)	(428)
Proceeds from sale of investment properties	791	2,370
Cash purchase of investments	(840)	(5,142)
Dividends received	964	647
Cash withdrawals from investments	4,619	5,127
Interest received in bank	6	2
Net cash inflow for capital expenditure and	4,001	2,576
financial investment
Net cash from investing activities B	4,001	2,576

Cash flows from financing activities

Cash flows from financing activities
Returns on investment and servicing of finance
Repayments of borrowings	(485)	(1,092)
Interest paid	(31)	(109)
Repayments of finance leases	(116)	(165)
Receipt of RCF loans	1,000	-
Net cash from financing activities C	368	(1,366)

Reconciliation of net cash flow to movement in net funds

Reconciliation of net cash flow to movement in net funds
Net (decrease)/increase in cash in the periodA+B+C	(6,893)	5,168
Cash and cash equivalents at 1 April 2022	15,740	10,572
Cash and cash equivalents at 31 March 2023	8,847	15,740

The accompanying notes on pages 116–158 form part of these financial statements.

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Financial statements

Notes to the financial statements

For the Year Ended 31 March 2023

1a) Accounting policies

The Charity is a company limited by guarantee, incorporated in England and Wales on 20 February 2009 and registered as a charity on 25 February 2009. The members of the company are the trustees, who are also ordinary members and named on page 106. In the event of the Charity being wound up, the liability in respect of the guarantee is limited to £1 per member of the Charity. The principal accounting policies are summarised below.

Basis of preparation

These Group and parent company financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP), Financial Reporting Standard 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS102), together with the reporting requirements of the Companies Act 2006 and the Charities Act 2011. The presentation currency of these financial statements is sterling.

The parent company is included in the consolidated financial statements, and is considered to be a qualifying entity under FRS 102 paragraphs 1.8 to 1.12. The following exemptions available under FRS 102 in respect of certain disclosures for the parent company financial statements have been applied:

• No separate parent company Cash Flow Statement with related notes is included; and

• Key Management Personnel compensation has not been included.

The accounting policies set out below have, unless otherwise stated, been applied consistently to all periods presented in these financial statements. The financial statements are prepared on the historical cost basis with the exception of investments and investment properties which are stated at fair value.

Judgements made by the directors, in the application of these accounting policies that have significant effect on the financial statements and estimates with a significant risk of material adjustment in the next year are discussed in note 1(b).

The Charity presents its charitable activities under six headings which reflect how the different functions within the Charity work together to help more older people love later life.

Going concern

Age UK continues to prepare its financial statements on the basis that it is a going concern.

In doing so, it has considered the current cost of living crisis, the high inflation levels and the other business risks it faces and has put in place a number of actions to manage these.

The cost reductions implemented following the financial review performed in 2020 have strengthened Age UK’s financial position and the continuing strong income level has allowed us to invest further in our charitable activities whilst maintaining a strong reserves position.

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Financial statements

1a) Accounting policies (continued)

A robust three-year planning process has been carried out which looked at projected cash flows and reserves requirements over that period. A detailed recovery plan was also prepared at the outset of the pandemic to ensure future financial stability. The actions taken have enabled Age UK to achieve its target reserves range of £30–£40 million and also maintain a strong liquidity position.

The Trustees believe that Age UK is well placed to manage its financing and other operational risks satisfactorily and have a reasonable expectation that Age UK will have adequate resources to continue in operation for the foreseeable future and meet its liabilities as they fall due, until at least March 2025. They, therefore, consider it appropriate to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.

Basis of consolidation

The consolidated accounts of the Group incorporate the accounts of the Charity and its subsidiary undertakings.

The Trustees have taken the exemption conferred by S408(3) Companies Act 2006, accordingly the accounts present a consolidated Statement of Financial Activities (SOFA) only.

Income

All income is derived from services and activities carried out in the UK.

All income is included in the SOFA when the Charity is legally entitled to the income, when receipt of the

income is probable and the amount can be quantified with reasonable accuracy. The following specific policies apply to categories of income:

• Donations and all other receipts generated from fundraising are reported on a receivable basis. Lotteries and raffles income is recorded on the date of the draw.

• Legacies are accounted for as income once the receipt of the legacy becomes probable and quantifiable and entitlement criteria are established. For pecuniary legacies this will generally be at the point probate is granted. For residuary legacies this will generally be when a copy of the will and an Assets and Liabilities Statement has been received from the executor and is subject to a provision of 10 per cent to allow for the uncertainty of the final income value.

• Grants receivable income (including government grants), where related to performance and specific deliverables, is accounted for as the Charity earns the right to consideration by its performance. Where income is received in advance of performance, its recognition is deferred and included in creditors. Where entitlement occurs before income is received, the income is accrued.

• Gifts In Kind, where donated for distribution, are included at the value to the Charity and recognised as income when they are distributed to the projects. Gifts donated for resale are included as income when they are sold at the price realised.

• Where donated services and facilities are provided, these are included at the value to the Charity where this can be quantified. An equivalent amount is recognised in costs. The value placed on them is the value to the Charity (i.e. the price the Charity would have paid on the open market). No amounts are included in the financial statements for services donated by volunteers.

• Investment income is accounted for when receivable and includes the related tax recoverable.

• Trading income is accounted for on a receivable basis. Income from insurance activities is accounted for when the insurance policy is sold or renewed. The upfront payment arising from the sale of emergency alarm products has been accounted on an invoiced basis.

Resources expended

All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all costs related to that category. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to particular headings they have been allocated to activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources.

Grants payable are charged in the year when the offer is conveyed to the recipient, except in cases where the offer is conditional, such grants being recognised as expenditure when the conditions are fulfilled.

Fundraising costs are those incurred in seeking voluntary donations and do not include the costs of disseminating information in support of charitable objectives.

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Financial statements

1a) Accounting policies (continued)

Governance costs are the costs associated with the running of the Charity, as opposed to the direct management functions inherent in generating funds, service delivery and programme or project work. These include such items as internal and external audit, legal advice for Trustees and costs associated with constitutional and statutory requirements.

Support costs, which include office functions such as general management, payroll administration, budgeting and accounting, information technology, human resources and financing, are allocated across the categories of charitable expenditure, governance costs and the costs of generating funds. The basis of the cost allocation has been explained in note 4 to the accounts.

Where information about the aims, objectives and projects of the Charity is provided in the content of fundraising material, those costs are apportioned to charitable expenditure.

A percentage of the cost of selling donated goods has been allocated to charitable activities. The percentage allocation is based on the number of hours per week spent by full-time equivalent staff in promoting the Charity’s activities. Irrecoverable VAT is charged as a cost to the SOFA.

Tangible fixed assets

Tangible fixed assets are stated at deemed cost less accumulated depreciation and accumulated impairment losses. Tangible fixed assets costing more than £5,000 are capitalised and included at cost including any incidental expenses of acquisition.

Depreciation and any impairment is provided on all tangible fixed assets at rates calculated to write off the cost on a straight-line basis over their expected useful economic lives as follows:

Gifted housing	over 50 years
Short-leasehold properties	over a period ranging
	from 5 to 10 years
Fixtures and fittings	over a period ranging
	from 3 to 10 years
Motor vehicles	over 4 years
Computer equipment	over 3 years

Gifted housing scheme

Gifted houses are accounted for as income when donated at market value, which is then the value used as base cost in fixed assets. A qualified surveyor carries out the valuations. When an individual donates a house to the Charity, the Charity is committed to caring for that individual and maintaining their property. An actuarial valuation of the total cost of care for individuals who have gifted their house is made and the sum is included within provisions for liabilities and charges. Costs of care are charged to the provision as incurred (note 14). Any properties donated without ongoing care or maintenance commitments are not part of the scheme. Properties no longer qualifying as gifted housing become investment properties at that date. This occurs at the point at which the property

becomes vacant and is available for sale. The provision for the cost of care meets the definition of an insurance contract as defined by FRS103. As permitted Age UK continues with its existing policy under FRS102 for measuring this liability. Further detail is provided in note 14.

Investments

Listed investments are stated at market value at the balance sheet date. The SOFA includes the net gains and losses arising on revaluations and disposals throughout the year. Investments in subsidiaries are held at cost less provision for impairment if any.

It is the Charity’s policy to keep valuations up to date such that when investments are sold there is no realised gain or loss arising. As a result the SOFA does not distinguish between the valuation adjustments relating to sales and those relating to continued holdings, as they are both treated as changes in the investment portfolio throughout the year.

Movements in value arising from investment changes or revaluation and the profit on disposal of investments have been charged or credited to the funds to which they relate.

Investment properties are stated at market value at the balance sheet date. The SOFA includes the net gains and losses arising on revaluations in the year. The properties in the portfolio are revalued by a professional valuer who is qualified for the purposes required, based on market knowledge, at least every three years. Losses arising on revaluation of any

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Financial statements

1a) Accounting policies (continued)

property are recognised in other comprehensive income to the extent of any previously recognised revaluation increase accumulated in equity, in respect of that asset. Any gains arising on revaluation are recognised in other comprehensive income only where the group has discretion over the timing of the asset’s disposal, thereby excluding gifted housing properties.

Leases

Leases in which the entity assumes substantially all the risks and rewards of ownership of the leased asset are classified as finance leases. All other leases are classified as operating leases and are charged to the SOFA on a straight-line basis. Leased assets acquired by way of finance lease are stated on initial recognition at an amount equal to the lower of their fair value and the present value of the minimum lease payments at inception of the lease, including any incremental costs directly attributable to negotiating and arranging the lease. At initial recognition a finance lease liability is recognised equal to the fair value of the leased asset or, if lower, the present value of the minimum lease payments. The present value of the minimum lease payments is calculated using the interest rate implicit in the lease.

Stock

Stock is stated at the lower of cost and estimated selling price less costs to complete and sell. Cost is based on the first-in first-out principle and includes expenditure incurred in acquiring the stock.

Items donated for resale or distribution are not included in the financial statements until they are sold or distributed.

Basic financial instruments

Trade and other debtors are recognised initially at transaction price less attributable transaction costs. Trade and other creditors are recognised initially at transaction price plus attributable transaction costs. Subsequent to initial recognition they are measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method, less any impairment losses in the case of trade debtors. If the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, for example if payment is deferred beyond normal business terms, then it is measured at the present value of future payments discounted at a market rate of instrument for a similar debt instrument.

Cash and cash equivalents

Cash is represented by cash in hand and deposits with financial institutions repayable without penalty on notice of not more than 24 hours. Cash equivalents are highly liquid investments that mature in no more than three months from the date of acquisition and that are readily convertible to known amounts of cash with insignificant risk of change in value.

Provisions

A provision is recognised in the balance sheet when the Group has a present legal or constructive obligation as a result of a past event, that can be

reliably measured and it is probable that an outflow of economic benefits will be required to settle the obligation. Provisions are recognised at the best estimate of the amount required to settle the obligation at the reporting date.

Pensions:

Defined contribution plans and other long term employee benefits

A defined contribution plan is a post-employment benefit plan under which the Charity pays fixed contributions into a separate entity and will have no legal or constructive obligation to pay further amounts. Obligations for contributions to defined contribution pension plans are recognised as an expense in the SOFA in the periods during which services are rendered by employees.

For defined contribution schemes the amount charged to the SOFA for pension costs and other post-retirement benefits is the contributions payable in the year. Differences between contributions payable in the year and contributions actually paid are shown as either accruals or prepayments in the balance sheet.

Defined benefit plans

A defined benefit plan is a post-employment benefit plan other than a defined contribution plan. The entity’s net obligation in respect of defined benefit plans (and other long term employee benefits) is calculated (separately for each plan) by estimating the amount of

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Financial statements

1a) Accounting policies (continued)

future benefit that employees have earned in return for their service in the current and prior periods; that benefit is discounted to determine its present value. The fair value of any plan assets is deducted. The entity determines the net interest expense (income) on the net defined benefit liability for the period by applying the discount rate as determined at the beginning of the annual period to the net defined benefit liability taking account of changes arising as a result of contributions and benefit payments.

The discount rate is the yield at the balance sheet date on AA credit rated bonds denominated in the currency of, and having maturity dates approximating to the terms of the entity’s obligations. A valuation is performed annually by a qualified actuary using the projected unit credit method. The entity recognises net defined benefit plan assets to the extent that it is able to recover the surplus either through reduced contributions in the future or through refunds from the plan.

Changes in the net defined benefit liability arising from employee service rendered during the period, net interest on net defined benefit liability, and the cost of plan introductions, benefit changes, curtailments and settlements during the period are recognised in profit or loss.

Remeasurement of the net defined benefit liability/ asset is recognised in other comprehensive income in the period in which it occurs.

The Charity makes deficit recovery payments to two closed defined benefits schemes that merged into one sectionalised scheme in October 2012.

The Charity contributes to a group personal pension plan operated by Zurich which is available to all employees over the age of 18.

The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the Charity. The annual contribution payments are charged to the SOFA.

Funds:

Endowment funds

Investment income and gains/losses are allocated to the appropriate fund, all income from endowed funds currently held are unrestricted.

Restricted funds

Restricted funds are funds subject to special conditions imposed by the donor, or with their authority (e.g. through a public appeal) or created through a legal process. The funds are not therefore available for work performed by Age UK other than that specified by the donor.

Unrestricted funds

Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of the general objectives of the Charity and include:

Fixed asset funds: These funds represent the book value of fixed assets, including investment properties, after allowing for the gifted housing scheme donor support provision.

International funds: This fund represents legacies attributable to donors with a history of making a donation to the Charity’s international activities, but has been received without any restriction. The Charity intends to spend these funds on international activities in recognition that the funds have been received from a donor known to support the Charity’s international activities.

Revaluation reserve: This fund represents the change in value due to revaluation of property fixed assets.

General reserves: This represents funds which are expendable at the discretion of the Trustees in the furtherance of the objects of the Charity.

Pension reserve: In accordance with FRS102 – Retirement benefits, the liability attributable to the pension schemes as set out in note 18 is shown as a reduction of total funds. No designation of funds to meet future pension commitments at the balance sheet date is in place as the Charity anticipates that these commitments will be met through future cash flows and this is subject to regular review in conjunction with actuarial valuations and related professional advice.

Transfers between restricted funds or between restricted and unrestricted funds are made to maintain the committed value of such funds.

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Financial statements

1b) Critical accounting estimates and judgements:

In preparing the financial statements the trustees are required to make certain estimates and judgements which have an impact on the carrying value of assets and liabilities. These estimates and assumptions are reviewed on an on-going basis, and are based on historical experience and other factors considered relevant at the time the estimates and judgements are made. The key sources of estimation uncertainty are:

• a) Defined benefit pension liability – Measurement requires a number of significant assumptions as disclosed in note 18.

• b) Residuary legacies – There is uncertainty in the value of residuary legacies recognised due to the time lapse between when probate has been granted and when the final distribution is made. An allowance of 10 per cent (£1.5 million) has been applied at 31 March 2023 (2022: 10 per cent; £1.3 million) to reflect this.

• c) Donor support provision – The Charity provides for future care costs and property maintenance related to its Gifted Housing scheme. This requires assumptions on future costs, mortality rates and inflation. Where costs are incurred over a number of future periods provision calculations require a discount rate to bring them back to a present value. A rate of 6.5 per cent has been applied (2022: 5.2 per cent) based on historic and anticipated returns on investments. Detail on the effect of changes in assumptions used to measure this liability is provided in note 14.

• d) Insurance policy cancellations and lapses – Assumptions made relating to the early termination of contracts and the resulting provisions required.

• e) Dilapidations – The obligation to ensure that the condition of leased properties meets contracted criteria at the end of those leases.

• f) Investment Properties – Properties are revalued every year using market experts.

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Financial statements

2. Net resources available for charitable activities

	Income £’000 Expenditure £’000 2023 £’000 Income £’000 Expenditure £’000 2022 £’000
Donations and gifts	10,888 (5,166) 5,722 13,034 (3,635) 9,399
Legacies*	25,883 (5,332) 20,551 29,983 (4,131) 25,852
Grants, corporates and trusts	25,912 (2,594) 23,318 23,036 (2,097) 20,939
Lotteries and raffles	11,013 (7,508) 3,505 11,117 (8,590) 2,527
Total fundraising	73,696 (20,600) 53,096 77,170 (18,453) 58,717
Income from charitable activities	2,507 - 2,507 3,891 - 3,891
Net income from trading (i)	8,543 - 8,543 9,730 - 9,730
Investment income and interest	970 - 970 649 - 649
Net loss on disposal of fixed assets	(11) - (11) (109) - (109)
COVID-19 job retention scheme	- - - 589 - 589
Net resources available for charitable activities	85,705 (20,600) 65,105 91,920 (18,453) 73,467
Total charitable expenditure	(72,396) (62,788)
% of income available for charitable activities	76% 80%
% of income spent on charitable activity	111% 85%
% of fundraising income available for charitable activities	72% 76%
(i) Trading analysis	46,063 (37,520) 8,543 43,782 (34,052) 9,730

• An amount of £8,109,270 (2022: £5,656,029) has not been accrued for legacy income because it did not meet all the conditions for recognition. These are amounts where notification has been received but the executors have yet to establish that there are sufficient assets in the estate after settling any liabilities, to pay the legacy.

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Financial statements

3. Expenditure

	Direct costs of	Grant funding of	Allocation of
	activities	activities	support costs	2023	2022
	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
Costs of generating funds
(a) Costs of generating voluntary income
Donations and gifts	4,549	-	617	5,166	3,635
Legacies	4,696	-	636	5,332	4,131
Grants	1,957	-	637	2,594	2,097
Lotteries and raffles	7,097	-	411	7,508	8,590
	18,299	-	2,301	20,600	18,453
(b) Costs of generating trading income
Retail	27,922	-	3,193	31,115	27,910
Financial services	4,168	-	974	5,142	5,931
At Home	1,185	-	78	1,263	211
	33,275	-	4,245	37,520	34,052
(c) Charitable activities
Campaigning and research	10,805	32	1,172	12,009	10,141
Information and advice	7,169	285	1,259	8,713	7,921
Health and care	1,652	385	1,172	3,209	4,313
Wellbeing	9,510	3,189	1,397	14,096	10,106
Supporting the network	3,786	7,755	1,172	12,713	10,359
International	1,683	19,302	671	21,656	19,948
	34,605	30,948	6,843	72,396	62,788
Total expenditure	86,179	30,948	13,389	130,516	115,293

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Financial statements

4. Support costs

4. Support costs
				Finance	Office			Human		2023						Finance		Office			Human		2022
		Directorate		and legal	management		IT	resources		Total				Directorate		and legal		management	IT		resources		Total
		£’000		£’000	£’000		£’000	£’000		£’000				£’000		£’000		£’000	£’000		£’000		£’000
Costs of generating funds
Costs of generating voluntary income
Donations and gifts		12		202	111		213	64		602				19		137		181	230		55		622
Legacies		12		202	111		213	64		602				19		137		181	230		55		622
Lotteries and raffles		12		206	55		97	17		387				52		176		125	111		15		479
Grants		12		202	111		213	64		602				19		137		256	230		55		697
		48		812	388		736	209		2,193				109		587		743	801		180		2,420
Activities for generating trading funds
Retail		58		492	91		949	1,519		3,109				48		442		442	507		1,371		2,810
Financial services		49		380	131		270	83		913				1		331		243	368		77		1,020
Independent living solutions		-		50	11		8	2		71				1		54		45	19		4		123
		107		922	233		1,227	1,604		4,093				50		827		730	894		1,452		3,953
Charitable activities
Campaigning and research		24		238	123		412	267		1,064				32		204		228	504		263		1,231
Information and advice		35		273	128		410	303		1,149				32		203		227	500		261		1,223
Health and care		24		238	123		412	267		1,064				30		192		215	473		247		1,157
Wellbeing		46		308	134		458	342		1,288				31		197		220	485		253		1,186
Supporting the network		24		238	123		412	267		1,064				31		197		220	485		255		1,188
International		46		155	127		182	51		561				82		175		221	185		42		705
		199		1,450	758		2,286	1,497		6,190				238		1,168		1,331	2,632		1,321		6,690
Governance costs		359		479	31		33	11		913				377		414		30	40		8		869
Total support costs		713		3,663	1,410		4,282	3,321		13,389				774		2,996		2,834	4,367		2,961		13,932

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Financial statements

4. Support costs (continued)

Cost allocation includes an element of judgement and the Charity has had to consider the cost benefit of detailed calculations and record keeping. Costs are allocated directly where possible and calculations have been made on a consistent basis year on year.

Central support costs are allocated as follows:

5. Staff costs and staff numbers

	Group 2023	Group 2022	Charity 2023	Charity 2022
	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
Salaries and wages	36,827	31,845	11,067	8,803
Social security costs	3,237	2,578	1,103	835
Pension costs	3,515	2,582	1,560	1,283
	43,579	37,005	13,730	10,921

• Directorate: Estimated staff time and allocation based on headcount.

• Finance and legal: Estimated staff time.

• Office management: Headcount at site.

• IT: Headcount.

• Human resources: Headcount.

• Finance and legal:Estimated staff time. • Office management:Headcount at site. • IT:Headcount. • Human resources:Headcount.
Governance costs are made up of the following	2023 Total £’000 2022 Total £’000
Internal audit	199 126
External audit	227 225
Apportionment of Directors’ cost (based on time spent)	319 344
Other governance costs	237 221
	982 916
Element contained within support costs	913 869
Other governance costs	69 47
	982 916

Total redundancy cost for 2023 was £698,290 for the Group (2022: £716,082) and £263,194 for the Charity (2022: £227,666).

Termination payments are comprised of voluntary and compulsory redundancy and also settlement scheme payments. Payments are recognised in staff costs once they are quantifiable and upon communication of intention to pay.

Unpaid redundancy at the balance sheet date was £33,890 (2022: £10,000).

At 31 March 2023 there are 1,548 staff members in the defined contribution schemes (2022: 1,351 members). Employers’ contribution to the scheme totalled £2,836,111 in the year (2022: £1,810,396).

The average monthly headcount was 1,603 (2022: 1,481).

The average number of employees, calculated on a full time equivalent (FTE) basis was:

	Group 2023	Group 2022
Age UK Charity	338	261
Subsidiary Charities	74	102
Trading companies	810	801
	1,222	1,164

Some employees within the Age UK Trading companies provide support services to the Group, including the Charity.

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Financial statements

5. Staff costs and staff numbers (continued)

Number of staff receiving remuneration	Charitable activities	Trading activities	Total Group	Charitable activities	Trading activities	Total Group
above £60,000	2023	2023	2023	2022	2022	2022
£60,000 - £70,000 £70,001 - £80,000	20.2 6.8	3.8 6.2	24.0 13.0	21.0 5.8	5.0 3.2	26.0 9.0
£80,001 - £90,000	3.7	1.3	5.0	5.3	0.7	6.0
£90,001 - £100,000	4.7	1.3	6.0	0.9	0.1	1.0
£100,001 - £110,000	-	1.0	1.0	1.9	1.1	3.0
£110,001 - £120,000	2.8	0.2	3.0	4.7	0.3	5.0
£130,001 - £140,000	0.9	1.1	2.0	-	-	-
£160,001 - £170,000	-	-	-	0.9	0.1	1.0
£170,001 - £180,000	1.0	-	1.0	-	-	-
£180,001 - £190,000	0.9	0.1	1.0	-	-	-
£230,001 - £240,000	-	1.0	1.0	-	-	-
£240,001 - £250,000	-	-	-	1.0	-	1.0
Total banded	41.0	16.0	57.0	41.5	10.5	52.0
employees

There are a number of staff in Age UK who provide support to both the charitable and trading activities of the Group. These staff are employed by Age UK Trading CIC. The salaries of these staff are recharged to the relevant part of the Group in proportion to the amount of time spent on work to support that part of the Group. Other staff work exclusively for either the charitable or trading activities of the Group.

The two columns on the left-hand side of the above table give a breakdown of how the time of the 57 staff who received more than £60,000 in 2023 (2022: 52) was divided between the charitable and commercial activities of the Group.

Of the nine staff who were paid more than £100,000, 38 per cent of their time was spent on the trading activities of the Group, generating profits available to the charity.

There were payments for redundancies or loss of office of £424,004 (2022: £327,947) to staff receiving remuneration of over £60,000.

Remuneration in respect of key management personnel

Key management personnel for the Group have been determined to be the Executive Directors and the Trustees (see page 106 and 107).

There were 11 Executive Directors who served in the year (2022: 10).

Remuneration in respect of Executive Directors including pension costs and employer national insurance was £1,393,033 of which £133,067 was employers’ national insurance contributions (2022: £1,346,483 of which £114,423 was employers’ national insurance contributions).

6. Trustee emoluments

The Trustees received no remuneration for their services to the Charity. The aggregated amount of expenses reimbursed to Trustees during the year was £2,949, four trustees (2022: £427, three Trustees).

Trustees’ expenses incurred related to travel.

Indemnity insurance is provided for Trustees. During the period, total indemnity insurance paid by Age UK in relation to Trustees for the financial year ending 31 March 2023 was £14,888 (2022: £11,624).

7. Net income

	Net income is stated after charging: Depreciation and amortisation of tangible and intangible fixed assets	2023 £’000 1,117	2022 £’000 1,185
	Trustees’ reimbursed expenses	3	-
	Interest payable	31	109
	External Auditor’s remuneration
	Audit of these financial statements	120	103
	Audit of subsidiary companies	107	122
	Tax compliance	34	42
	Operating lease rentals – buildings	5,599	5,150
	Operating lease rentals – other	327	292

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Financial statements

8. Tangible fixed assets

8. Tangible fixed assets
Group	Gifted Housing £’000 Short leasehold £’000 Equipment, fixtures and fittings £’000 Total £’000 5,052 7,304 8,787 21,143 210 53 1,276 1,539 - (318) (323) (641) (367) - - (367) 4,895 7,039 9,740 21,674 (637) (5,533) (8,141) (14,311) (76) (682) (359) (1,117) - 308 318 626 45 - - 45 (668) (5,907) (8,182) (14,757) 4,227 1,132 1,558 6,917 4,415 1,771 646 6,832	The Charity Gifted Housing £’000 Short leasehold £’000 Equipment, fixtures and fittings £’000 Total £’000
Cost		Cost
Balance brought forward		Balance brought forward 5,052 7,305 8,582 20,939
Additions in year		Additions in year 210 53 1,276 1,539
Disposals in year		Disposals in year - (318) (171) (489)
Reclassified as investment property		Reclassified as investment property (367) - - (367)
At 31 March 2023 Depreciation		At 31 March 2023 4,895 7,040 9,687 21,622 Depreciation
Balance brought forward		Balance brought forward (637) (5,533) (7,964) (14,134)
Charge for the year		Charge for the year (76) (682) (338) (1,096)
Disposals in year		Disposals in year - 308 171 479
Reclassified as investment property		Reclassified as investment property 45 - - 45
At 31 March 2023		At 31 March 2023 (668) (5,907) (8,131) (14,706)
Net book value at 31 March 2023		Net book value at 31 March 2023 4,227 1,133 1,556 6,916
Net book value at 31 March 2022		Net book value at 31 March 2022 4,415 1,772 618 6,805

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Financial statements

8. Tangible fixed assets (continued)

The net book value of freehold and long-leasehold properties comprises

Fixed assets building value	Group 2023 £’000 Group 2022 £’000 Charity 2023 £’000 Charity 2022 £’000
Freehold interest, including gifted housing Fixed assets land value	3,189 3,294 3,189 3,294
	Group 2023 £’000 Group 2022 £’000 Charity 2023 £’000 Charity 2022 £’000
Freehold interest, including gifted housing	1,038 1,121 1,038 1,121

9. Investments

	Listed and
	unlisted		Investment
	investments		property	Group		Charity
Investments	£’000		£’000	£’000		£’000
Market value at 1 April 2022	50,858		11,710	62,568		66,068
Additions	840		-	840		840
Transfer from Fixed Assets	-		322	322		322
Disposals	(4,619)		(791)	(5,410)		(5,410)
Realised gain/(loss) on disposals	309		(6)	303		303
Unrealised revaluation (loss)/gain	(4,124)		145	(3,979)		(3,979)
Market value at 31 March 2023	43,264		11,380	54,644		58,144
Historic value at 31 March 2023	47,388		2,018	49,406		52,906

Investment properties are properties donated to Age UK through the Gifted Housing programme or received as a legacy. When these properties are retained by the Charity instead of being sold they are classified as investment properties.

The investment properties of the Charity were last valued in March 2023.

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Financial statements

Listed and unlisted investments comprise of the following

		2023		2022
Sarasin & Partners Long and Short Term Investments		£’000		£’000
Listed investments	– Fixed interest	4,659		4,303
	– Global equities	10,822		14,425
	– Alternative assets	3,226		4,448
		18,707		23,176
Unlisted investments	– Liquid assets	774		600
Total Sarasin long-term investments		19,481		23,776
Goldman Sachs Investment Management Long-term Investments
Listed investments	– Fixed interest	7,579		8,747
	– Global equities	10,283		11,768
	– Alternative assets	3,046		3,701
		20,908		24,216
Unlisted investments	– Liquid assets	204		31
Total Goldman Sachs long-term investments		21,112		24,247
Endowment Funds
Listed investments	– Fixed interest	391		203
	– Global equities	1,793		1,994
	– Alternative assets	431		497
		2,615		2,694
Unlisted investments	– Liquid assets	56		141
Total Sarasin Endowment Fund investments		2,671		2,835
Total value of listed and unlisted investments		43,264		50,858
Total value of listed investments		42,230		50,086
Total value of unlisted investments		1,034		772

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Financial statements

10. Stock

10. Stock
	Group 2023	Group 2022	Charity 2023	Charity 2022
	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
Finished goods and goods for resale	415	267	-	-
	415	267	-	-

The amount of stock recognised as an expense in the income and expenditure account for the year was £1,017,353 (2022: £1,522,119).

11. Debtors

11. Debtors
	Group 2023	Group 2022	Charity 2023	Charity 2022
	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
Trade debtors	2,060	1,631	1,056	476
Amounts due from group	-	-	422	2,614
undertakings
Other debtors	489	648	384	330
Prepayments and accrued income	19,427	20,276	18,084	18,397
	21,976	22,555	19,946	21,817

£15.0 million (2022: £16.0 million) of Group and Charity prepayments and accrued income relates to accrued legacies.

12. Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

	Group 2023	Group 2022	Charity 2023	Charity 2022
	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
Trade creditors	(5,511)	(3,458)	(5,223)	(3,458)
Amounts due to group undertakings	-	-	(6,267)	(13,356)
Tax and social security payable	(1,157)	(927)	(1,141)	(920)
Other creditors	(754)	(1,117)	(274)	(582)
Loans	(1,000)	(484)	(1,000)	(483)
Finance lease obligations	-	(116)	-	(116)
Grant accruals	(5,457)	(3,000)	(5,457)	(2,947)
Accruals and deferred income	(4,899)	(7,132)	(3,730)	(3,953)
	(18,778)	(16,234)	(23,092)	(25,815)

The movements in deferred income are analysed as follows

	Group 2023	Group 2022	Charity 2023	Charity 2022
	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
Deferred income at 1 April	(1,647)	(2,330)	(53)	(565)
Amounts released from	1,647	2,330	53	565
previous years
Incoming resources deferred	(1,570)	(1,647)	(1,396)	(53)
in the year
Deferred income at 31 March	(1,570)	(1,647)	(1,396)	(53)

Deferred income as at 31 March 2023 is mainly made up of the following items: sales of lottery tickets for future draws £1,235,536 (2022: £1,272,083) insurance commission paid in advance £334,165 (2022: £375,002).

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Financial statements

13. Creditors: amounts falling due after one year

	Group 2023	Group 2022	Charity 2023	Charity 2022
	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
Rent free period after one year	(800)	(420)	(800)	(420)
	(800)	(420)	(800)	(420)
Creditors due after one year
1–2 years	(206)	(59)	(206)	(59)
2–5 years	(457)	(171)	(457)	(171)
Over 5 years	(137)	(190)	(137)	(190)
	(800)	(420)	(800)	(420)

14. Provisions for liabilities and charges

	Group 2023	Group 2022	Charity 2023	Charity 2022
	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
Provisions at 1 April	(10,107)	(12,639)	(8,977)	(11,896)
Utilised in the year	3,257	4,676	2,922	4,303
Charged to statement	(712)	(2,144)	(645)	(1,384)
of financial activities
Provisions at 31 March	(7,562)	(10,107)	(6,700)	(8,977)
	Group 2023	Group 2022	Charity 2023	Charity 2022
	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
Provisions due within one year	(1,770)	(2,618)	(908)	(1,489)
Provisions due after more than	(5,792)	(7,489)	(5,792)	(7,488)
one year
	(7,562)	(10,107)	(6,700)	(8,977)

The provision for liabilities and charges as at 31 March 2023 is made up of the following:

• To cover Age UK’s commitment to provide care and property maintenance for beneficiaries who have donated real estate to the Charity £3,135,286 (2022: £2,857,599). The provision is based on the estimated future cash flows to be incurred in settling the liabilities of the gifted housing scheme. Key assumptions relate to the inflationary cost applied to cost assumptions, life expectancy and discount rate.

The following table details the effect (in £) of a change in each of these assumptions:

Assumption	Change	Movement on provision	Movement on provision
		+1	-1
Discount rate	± 1.0% on Discount rate	(92,820)	98,405
Annual care costs	± 1.0% on annual cost rate	51,774	(49,586)
Annual property costs	± 1.0% on annual cost rate	26,897	(25,851)
Annual management charge	± 1.0% on annual cost rate	21,086	(20,353)
Life expectancy	Mortality rate ± 1 per year	60,355	(77,309)

• Provision for dilapidations work across the retail estate £2,347,933 (2022: £2,972,807). This is an ongoing provision.

• Provision for dilapidations work at the Ashburton site £40,000 (2022: £40,000). This is an ongoing provision.

• Retail estate onerous contracts £198,404 (2022: £600,470). Expense will be incurred by the close of FY25/26.

• Provision for redundancy payment £33,890 (2022: £10,000). Expense will be incurred in FY23/24.

• Retail gift aid provision £1,575 (2022: £2,148). Expense will be incurred in the course of FY23/24.

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Financial statements

14. Provisions for liabilities and charges (continued)

• Insurance policy and Funeral Plan cancellations and lapses £425,184 (2022: £538,861). This expense will be incurred in FY23/24.

• Holiday pay provision £1,046,635 (2022: £1,095,508).

• Contract Termination £263,000 (2022: £371,000). Expense will be incurred in FY23/24.

Financial assets held at amortised cost comprise cash at bank and in hand, short term cash deposits and debtors excluding prepayments.

Financial assets held at fair value include investments.

Financial liabilities held at amortised cost comprise short and long term creditors excluding deferred income and taxation payable.

• VAT liability £70,000 (2022: £70,000). There is the potential that a proportion of older people benefitting from the Winter Press project will be self referrals. These clients may not be covered by welfare exemption, the provision is for the associated VAT liability. The recommendation from Legal Dept is that this is held for six years (2025/26).

15. Financial instruments

	Group 2023	Group 2022	Charity 2023	Charity 2022
	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
Assets – amortised	27,457	35,972	20,541	19,196
Assets at fair value	43,264	50,858	43,264	47,651
Liabilities – amortised	(16,558)	(14,083)	(21,355)	(32,354)

The company holds financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at the present value of future cash flows (amortised cost). No discounting has been applied to these financial instruments on the basis that the periods over which amounts will be settled are such that any discounting would be immaterial.

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Financial statements

Financial statements
The Group 16. Movement in funds	1 April 2021	2022		2023
		Income Expenditure Other gains and losses Transfers	31 March 2022	Income Expenditure Other gains and losses Transfers (D)	31 March 2023 (E)
		£’000		£’000
Endowed funds
Charityof C E Saunders (A)	1,356	34 - 26 -	1,416	34 - (75) -	1,375
Gillingham (A)	1,492	37 - 29 -	1,558	37 - (83) -	1,512
Miss E Lipson Trust (A)	217	3 - 8 -	228	3 - (7) -	224
ACE Legacy endowment fund	50	- - - -	50	- - - -	50
Total endowed funds Restricted funds United Kingdom	3,115	74 - 63 -	3,252	74 - (165) -	3,161
Campaigningand research	3,243	4,624 (5,972) - (219)	1,676	5,008 (5,364) - (490)	830
Information and advice	2,252	2,529 (2,722) - (59)	2,000	1,362 (3,009) - (80)	273
Health and Care	2,945	327 (1,230) - 13	2,055	204 (1,360) - 26	925
Wellbeing	1,662	5,206 (4,415) - 97	2,550	4,405 (6,034) - 116	1,037
Supportingthe network	4,057	2,453 (2,595) - (773)	3,142	972 (1,081) - (532)	2,501
Total Charitable Activities UK	14,159	15,139 (16,934) - (941)	11,423	11,951 (16,848) - (960)	5,566
Total United Kingdom (B) International	14,159	15,139 (16,934) - (941)	11,423	11,951 (16,848) - (960)	5,566
Development	188	1,580 (1,775) - 22	15	1,864 (1,947) - 73	5
Humanitarian	15	13,685 (13,496) - -	204	14,046 (13,892) - -	358
Other internationalprojects	453	336 (351) - -	438	267 (295) - -	410
Total international (C)	656	15,601 (15,622) - 22	657	16,177 (16,134) - 73	773
Total restricted funds (E)	14,815	30,740 (32,556) - (919)	12,080	28,128 (32,982) - (887)	6,339
Total restricted and endowed funds Unrestricted funds	17,930	30,814 (32,556) 63 (919)	15,332	28,202 (32,982) (165) (887)	9,500
Fixed asset funds	3,744	- - - 230	3,974	- - - (191)	3,783
Investment property reserve	12,297	- - - (587)	11,710	- - - (330)	11,380
General Funds	25,952	73,783 (63,241) 2,657 (6,599)	32,552	84,301 (77,014) (3,512) (3,848)	32,479
Designated Funds (F)	2,186	75 (1,564) - 10,765	11,462	- (6,766) - (399)	4,297
Non-Charitable TradingFunds	8,478	21,300 (17,160) - (6,447)	6,171	10,722 (13,076) - 403	4,220
Unrestricted Funds excluding Pension Reserve	52,657	95,158 (81,965) 2,657 (2,638)	65,869	95,023 (96,856) (3,512) (4,365)	56,159
Pension Reserve	(7,989)	- (772) 3,991 3,557	(1,213)	- (679) (3,373) 5,252	(13)
Total funds	62,598	125,972 (115,293) 6,711 -	79,988	123,225 (130,517) (7,050) -	65,646

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Financial statements

16. Movement in funds (continued)

Age UK the Charity	1 April 2021	2022	2022	2023	2023
		Income Expenditure Other gains and losses Transfers	31 March 2022	Income Expenditure Other gains and losses Transfers	31 March 2023
		£’000		£’000
Endowed funds
Charityof C E Saunders (A)	1,356	34 - 26 -	1,416	34 - (75) -	1,375
Gillingham (A)	1,492	37 - 29 -	1,558	37 - (83) -	1,512
Miss E Lipson Trust (A)	217	3 - 8 -	228	3 - (7) -	224
ACE Legacyendowment fund	50	- - - -	50	- - - -	50
Total endowed funds Restricted funds United Kingdom	3,115	74 - 63 -	3,252	74 - (165) -	3,161
Campaigningand research	1,184	5,036 (5,866) - (219)	135	6,168 (5,363) - (483)	457
Information and advice	583	3,053 (2,266) - (252)	1,118	1,771 (2,659) - (74)	156
Health and Care	2,944	61 (965) - 14	2,054	130 (1,283) - 25	926
Wellbeing	1,182	3,957 (3,031) - 259	2,367	3,694 (4,916) - (108)	1,037
Supportingthe network	2,026	2,391 (2,426) - (679)	1,312	2,051 (880) - (525)	1,958
Total United Kingdom (B) International	7,919	14,498 (14,554) - (877)	6,986	13,814 (15,101) - (1,165)	4,534
Development	94	- (94) - -	-	- - - -	-
Humanitarian	-	- - - -	-	- - - -	-
Other internationalprojects	453	145 (306) - -	292	102 (131) - -	263
Total international (C)	547	145 (400) - -	292	102 (131) - -	263
Total restricted funds (E)	8,466	14,643 (14,954) - (877)	7,278	13,916 (15,232) - (1,165)	4,797
Total restricted and endowed funds	11,581	14,717 (14,954) 63 (877)	10,530	13,990 (15,232) (165) (1,165)	7,958
Unrestricted funds
Fixed asset funds	3,691	- - - 256	3,947	- - - (166)	3,781
Investment property reserve	12,297	- - - (587)	11,710	- - - (330)	11,380
General Funds	24,050	79,178 (62,771) 2,513 (13,052)	29,918	86,727 (78,863) (3,779) (3,529)	30,474
Designated Funds (F)	2,177	75 (1,565) - 10,765	11,452	- (6,765) - -	4,687
Unrestricted Funds excluding Pension Reserve	42,215	79,253 (64,336) 2,513 (2,618)	57,027	86,727 (85,628) (3,779) (4,025)	50,322
Pension Reserve	(7,967)	- (758) 4,017 3,495	(1,213)	- (664) (3,326) 5,190	(13)
Total funds	45,829	93,970 (80,048) 6,593 -	66,344	100,717 (101,524) (7,270) -	58,267

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Financial statements

16. Movement in funds (continued)

HelpAge International UK	1 April 2021	2022	2022	2023	2023
		Income Expenditure Other gains and losses Transfers	31 March 2022	Income Expenditure Other gains and losses Transfers	31 March 2023
		£’000		£’000
International
Development	93	1,674 (1,775) - 22	14	1,864 (1,947) - 73	4
Humanitarian	16	13,784 (13,596) - -	204	14,046 (13,892) - -	358
Other International Projects	-	308 (160) - -	148	181 (181) - -	148
Total International	109	15,766 (15,531) - 22	366	16,091 (16,020) - 73	510
Total restricted funds	109	15,766 (15,531) - 22	366	16,091 (16,020) - 73	510
Unrestricted funds
Fixed asset funds	-	- - - -	-	- - - -	-
Gains on investment assets	-	- - - -	-	- - - -	-
Propertyrevaluation reserve	-	- - - -	-	- - - -	-
General Funds	20	4,435 (4,433) - (22)	-	5,867 (5,794) - (73)	-
Unrestricted funds	20	4,435 (4,433) - (22)	-	5,867 (5,794) - (73)	-
Pension Reserve	-	- - - -	-	- - - -	-
Total funds	129	20,201 (19,964) - -	366	21,958 (21,814) - -	510

Notes re. the Group:

• A: The Age UK Endowment Funds – CE Saunders, Edna Lipson and the Gillingham Fund – are funds which were originally gifted to Age UK and are allowed to be invested in a strategy designed to create income, all of which is paid to Age UK, but where the actual principal gift cannot be touched or realised to cash and spent by Age UK.

• B: Consistent with the charity’s primary activities as set out in the annual report.

• C: Consistent with the charity’s primary activities as set out in the annual report and mainly comprised of emergency relief and rehabilitation and development projects.

• D: The transfer of £887,000 of restricted fund balances to the unrestricted category in the year represents the release of surpluses after ensuring closing balances accurately reflect all stipulated conditions for the funds.

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Financial statements

Notes re. the Group: (continued)

• E: Selected restricted funds with closing balances greater than £250,000 at 31 March 2023 include:

Campaigning and research funds:

Sports England: We are undefeatable campaign. £548,000.

Health and Care funds:

Dementia Pilots Programme: For use in specified dementia-related projects. £906,000.

Wellbeing funds:

Senior Safety Elder Abuse: For the prevention of, or protection from, abuse against the elderly. £267,000.

Prior year figures for International have been restated due to the name of the pillar being changed to match the nature of the work more closely.

This year, we have reanalysed expenditure between humanitarian spend and development spend, rather than emergency spend and development spend. This change is made to reflect a broader approach that promotes human welfare, beyond ‘emergency aid’.

Whilst we will often provide immediate support during an emergency, our humanitarian work also includes support in recovery and the rebuilding of communities, which can last months or even years. This longer-term support will commonly focus on our broader thematic priorities, such as rebuilding health services and restoring individuals’ incomes. Promoting older people’s rights drives all of this work.

Scams Prevention and Victim Support. £338,000.

International funds:

Prior year income of £1,553,000 and expenditure of (£1,553,000) has been restated within Age UK Charity relating to funds received by Age UK on behalf of Age International. These funds are now being treated as having been received by Age UK as agent and therefore these are recognised directly as donations in the accounts of HelpAge International UK, rather than being recognised as donations in the Age UK Charity accounts and granted to HelpAge International UK.

• F: £10,744,000 has been designated relating to expenditure already committed to be made to further our charitable activities.

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Financial statements

17. Analysis of group and charity net assets between funds

The Group	2023	2022		The Charity	2023	2022
	Unrestricted £’000 Restricted and endowed £’000 Total £’000	Unrestricted £’000 Restricted and endowed £’000 Total £’000			Unrestricted £’000 Restricted and endowed £’000 Total £’000	Unrestricted £’000 Restricted and endowed £’000 Total £’000
Fixed assets				Fixed assets
Tangible fixed assets	6,917 - 6,917	6,832 - 6,832		Tangible fixed assets	6,916 - 6,916	6,805 - 6,805
Investments	51,973 2,671 54,644	54,233 8,335 62,568		Investments	55,473 2,671 58,144	57,733 8,335 66,068
Current assets				Current assets
Stock	415 - 415	267 - 267		Stock	- - -	- - -
Debtors	19,222 2,754 21,976	21,010 1,545 22,555		Debtors	17,600 2,346 19,946	20,909 908 21,817
Cash at bank and in hand	4,430 4,417 8,847	8,067 7,673 15,740		Cash at bank and in hand	657 3,209 3,866	4,624 3,455 8,079
Liabilities				Liabilities
Current liabilities	(18,435) (343) (18,778)	(14,013) (2,221) (16,234)		Current liabilities	(22,824) (268) (23,092)	(23,647) (2,168) (25,815)
Long-term liabilities	(800) - (800)	(420) - (420)		Long-term liabilities	(800) - (800)	(420) - (420)
Provisions for liabilities and charges	(7,562) - (7,562)	(10,107) - (10,107)		Provisions for liabilities and charges	(6,700) - (6,700)	(8,977) - (8,977)
Defined-benefit pension scheme liability	(13) - (13)	(1,213) - (1,213)		Defined-benefit pension scheme liability	(13) - (13)	(1,213) - (1,213)
	56,147 9,499 65,646	64,656 15,332 79,988			50,309 7,958 58,267	55,814 10,530 66,344

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Financial statements

18. Pension schemes

Cost to the Group Defined benefit scheme Age Concern section	Group 2023 £’000 366	Group 2022 £’000 371		Charity 2023 £’000 352		Charity 2022 £’000 357
Help the Aged section	312	401		312		401
Total defined-benefit scheme costs	678	772		664		758
Defined contribution scheme
Age UK Pension Plan	2,836	1,810		895		525
Pensions cost	3,514	2,582		1,559		1,283

During the year Age UK Group operated two pension schemes; one defined contribution scheme and one defined benefit scheme, both of which are multi-employer schemes.

Apart from the two schemes operated by Age UK, Age UK also hold an interest in The Pension Trust’s Growth Plan. The Plan was used for members wishing to pay Additional Voluntary contributions (AVCs) under the old Help the Aged defined benefit scheme. The scheme is in deficit and should Age UK withdraw from the scheme, Age UK would be required to pay its share of the deficit. At end of September 2014 Age UK’s debt on withdrawal was £467,307.

A recovery plan has been agreed to eliminate the deficit requiring employers to pay contributions with effect from 1 April 2013. The original recovery plan was to run for ten years but this has been extended until 31 August 2025. The deficit contributions payable will increase by 3 per cent each year in April.

For the year ending 31 March 2024 Age UK is expected to pay contributions of £7,588.

The defined contribution scheme

The Age UK Pension Plan is a Group Personal Pension and the amounts charged to the SOFA for the defined contribution scheme are the contributions paid in the year. Differences between contributions payable in the year and contributions actually paid are shown as either accruals or prepayments in the balance sheet. As at 31 March 2023 included in liabilities due within one year there was an amount of £353,713 (2022: £255,137) due for employer and employee pension contributions, these were paid across to the pension scheme in April 2023. Age UK’s original staging date for auto enrolment was 1 September 2013 and in line with legal requirements a re-enrolment exercise was undertaken on 1 September 2016 and 2019. From April 2019 auto enrolment rates were increased to an employee rate of 2 per cent with Age UK paying 6 per cent as an employer contribution to meet the new combined rate required by legislation. Members have always had the flexibility to choose a higher level of personal contribution although a corresponding increase in the employer contribution rate was removed from 1 April 2020 after consultation with staff due to the financial impact of the pandemic on Age UK. This was brought back in from April 2022. Employers contribution to the scheme totalled £2.84 million in the year (2022: £1.81 million).

The defined benefit scheme

In October 2012 the two defined-benefit schemes, which were legacy schemes from Age Concern England and Help the Aged, were merged on a sectionalised basis under the Age UK Retirement Benefit Scheme. Both schemes being multi employer schemes and both closed to new entrants and future accruals. The two sections in the scheme are the Age Concern section (AC) and the Help the Aged (HtA) section.

For the year ending 31 March 2024 Age UK expect to pay contributions of £3.5 million, with £1.8 million in relation to the Age Concern section and £1.7 million in relation to the Help the Aged section.

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Financial statements

18. Pension schemes (continued)

These contributions include an allowance for administration expenses and Pension Protection Fund.

The most recent full actuarial valuation for the Age UK Retirement Benefits Scheme took place on 1 April 2022, the share of the net liability allocated to each of the participating employers has been determined based on their respective liability share at 1 April 2019.

As required by FRS 102 the defined benefit liabilities have been measured using the projected unit method. The tables below state the FRS 102 actuarial assumptions upon which the valuation of the scheme was based.

Principal financial assumptions at	2023	2023	2022	2022
the balance sheet date	AC %	HtA %	AC %	HtA %
Inflation assumption (RPI)	3.25	3.25	3.60	3.60
Inflation assumption (CPI)	2.45	2.80	2.80	2.80
Rate of increase in salaries	N/A	3.25	N/A	3.60
Discount rate for scheme liabilities	4.85	4.85	2.80	2.80
Pension increases
RPI inflation subject to a minimum	3.70	3.70	3.60	2.80
of 3% pa and a maximum of 5% pa
RPI inflation subject to a maximum of 2.5% pa	2.10	2.10	2.50	2.50
Principal demographic assumptions at the balance	2023	2023	2022	2022
sheet date Assumed life expectancies on retirement at age 65	AC years	HtA years	AC years	HtA years
Retiring today – males	86.8	86.8	87.1	87.1
Retiring today – females	88.8	88.8	89.5	89.5
Retiring in 20 years – males	88.1	88.1	88.1	88.1
Retiring in 20 years – females	90.2	90.2	90.6	90.6

Allowance has been made for all members to exchange 70 per cent of the maximum cash allowance available upon retirement. The mortality assumptions are: 100 per cent of S3PMA base tables for males 100 per cent of S3PFA_M base tables for females projected by year of birth assuming future improvements in line with CMI 2021 projections (with parameters Sk =7.0, A= 0.25 per cent and w2020/ w2021=10 per cent) and a long-term rate of improvement of 1.25 per cent pa.

	Major categories	2023 AC	2023 HtA	2023 Total		2022 AC	2022 HtA	2022 Total
	of plan assets	£’000	£’000	£’000	%	£’000	£’000	£’000	%
	The Group
	Equities	5,390	7,339	12,729	10.8	12,952	12,215	25,167	16.6
	Diversified growth	2,844	2,811	5,655	4.8	9,757	10,692	20,449	13.4
	Property	7,715	6,868	14,583	12.4	7,392	6,625	14,017	9.2
	Gilts and bonds	41,576	39,399	80,975	68.8	46,512	43,894	90,406	59.5
	Cash	1,697	2,058	3,755	3.2	1,022	978	2,000	1.3
		59,222	58,475	117,697	100	77,635	74,404	152,039	100
	The Charity
	Equities	5,177	7,339	12,516	10.8	12,470	12,215	24,685	16.5
	Diversified growth	2,732	2,811	5,543	4.8	9,394	10,692	20,086	13.5
	Property	7,411	6,868	14,279	12.4	7,117	6,625	13,742	9.2
	Gilts and bonds	39,937	39,399	79,336	68.8	44,784	43,894	88,678	59.5
	Cash	1,629	2,058	3,687	3.2	986	978	1,964	1.3
		56,886	58,475	115,361	100	74,751	74,404	149,155	100

None of the scheme’s assets are invested in any property or other assets currently used by the Group.

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Financial statements

18. Pension schemes (continued)

Reconciliation of			2023				2022
funded status	2023 AC	2023 HtA	Total	2022 AC		2022 HtA	Total
to balance sheet	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000		£’000	£’000
The Group
Fair value of assets	59,223	58,475	117,698	77,635		74,404	152,039
Present value of funded	(55,609)	(57,486)	(113,095)	(72,684)		(75,617)	(148,301)
defined benefit obligations
Funded status	3,614	989	4,603	4,951		(1,213)	3,738
Unrecognised asset	(3,614)	(1,002)	(4,616)	(4,951)		-	(4,951)
Liability recognised on	-	(13)	(13)	-		(1,213)	(1,213)
the balance sheet

The Charity
Fair value of assets	56,887	58,475	115,362	74,751		74,404	149,155
Present value of funded	(53,417)	(57,486)	(110,903)	(69,985)		(75,617)	(145,602)
defined benefit obligations
Funded status	3,470	989	4,459	4,766		(1,213)	3,553
Unrecognised asset	(3,470)	(1,002)	(4,472)	(4,766)		-	(4,766)
Liability recognised on	-	(13)	(13)	-		(1,213)	(1,213)
the balance sheet

Amounts					2023					2022
recognised in the	2023 AC		2023 HtA		Total		2022AC		2022 HtA	Total
income statement	£’000		£’000		£’000		£’000		£’000	£’000
The Group
Operating cost
Administration expenses	366		314		680		379		264	643
Interest on net	-		(2)		(2)		(8)		137	129
defined liability
Pension expense	366		312		678		371		401	772
recognised in the
income statement

The Charity
Operating cost
Administration expenses	352	314	666	365	264	629
Interest on net	-	(2)	(2)	(8)	137	129
defined liability
Pension expense	352	312	664	357	401	758
recognised in the
income statement

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Financial statements

18. Pension schemes (continued)

Amounts
recognised in other comprehensive	2023 AC	2023 HtA	2023 Total	2022 AC	2022 HtA	2022 Total
income	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
The Group
Asset (losses)/gains	(19,672)	(18,002)	(37,674)	1,975	4,492	6,467
arising during the year
Liability gains/(losses)	16,018	17,947	33,965	2,071	404	2,475
arising during the year
Change in the effect of	1,337	(1,001)	336	(4,951)	-	(4,951)
the asset ceiling
Pension (losses)/gain	(2,317)	(1,056)	(3,373)	(905)	4,896	3,991
recognised in the
income statement
The Charity
Asset (losses)/gains	(19,123)	(18,002)	(37,125)	1,895	4,492	6,387
arising during the year
Liability gains/(losses)	15,557	17,947	33,504	1,993	404	2,397
arising during the year
Change in the effect of	1,296	(1,001)	295	(4,767)	-	(4,767)
the asset ceiling
Pension (losses)/gain	(2,270)	(1,056)	(3,326)	(879)	4,896	4,017
recognised in the
income statement

Change in the fair value of	2023 AC	2023 HtA	2023 Total	2022 AC	2022 HtA	2022 Total
Scheme assets	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
The Group
Opening fair value of	77,635	74,404	152,039	75,065	69,616	144,681
Scheme assets
Interest income on	1,992	2,080	4,072	1,570	1,448	3,018
Scheme assets
(Losses)/gains on	(19,672)	(18,002)	(37,674)	1,975	4,492	6,467
Scheme assets
Employer contributions	2,683	2,568	5,251	1,827	1,728	3,555
Net benefits paid	(3,049)	(2,261)	(5,310)	(2,423)	(2,616)	(5,039)
Administration	(366)	(314)	(680)	(379)	(264)	(643)
costs incurred
Closing fair value of	59,223	58,475	117,698	77,635	74,404	152,039
Scheme assets
The Charity
Opening fair value of	74,751	74,404	149,155	72,276	69,616	141,892
Scheme assets
Interest income on	1,918	2,080	3,998	1,512	1,448	2,960
Scheme assets
(Losses)/gains on	(19,123)	(18,002)	(37,125)	1,895	4,492	6,387
Scheme assets
Employer contributions	2,622	2,568	5,190	1,766	1,728	3,494
Net benefits paid	(2,929)	(2,261)	(5,190)	(2,333)	(2,616)	(4,949)
Administration	(352)	(314)	(666)	(365)	(264)	(629)
costs incurred
Closing fair value of	56,887	58,475	115,362	74,751	74,404	149,155
Scheme assets

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Financial statements

18. Pension schemes (continued)

			2023			2022
Actual return on	2023 AC	2023 HtA	Total	2022 AC	2022 HtA	Total
Scheme assets	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
The Group
Interest income on	1,992	2,080	4,072	1,570	1,448	3,018
scheme assets
(Losses)/gains on	(19,672)	(18,002)	(37,674)	1,975	4,492	6,467
scheme assets
Actual return on	(17,680)	(15,922)	(33,602)	3,545	5,940	9,485
Scheme assets
The Charity
Interest income on	1,918	2,080	3,998	1,512	1,448	2,960
scheme assets
(Losses)/gains on	(19,123)	(18,002)	(37,125)	1,895	4,492	6,387
scheme assets
Actual return on	(17,205)	(15,922)	(33,127)	3,407	5,940	9,347
scheme assets

Change in the present value of the defined	2023 AC	2023 HtA	2023 Total	2022 AC	2022 HtA	2022 Total
benefit obligation	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
The Group
Opening defined benefit obligation	72,684	75,617	148,301	75,616	77,052	152,668
Interest expense on defined benefit obligation	1,992	2,077	4,069	1,562	1,585	3,147
Actuarial (gains)/losses
arising on	(16,018)	(17,947)	(33,965)	(2,071)	(404)	(2,475)
scheme liabilities
Net benefits paid	(3,049)	(2,261)	(5,310)	(2,423)	(2,616)	(5,039)
Closing defined benefit	55,609	57,486	113,095	72,684	75,617	148,301
obligation
The Charity
Opening defined benefit obligation	69,985	75,617	145,602	72,807	77,052	149,859
Interest expense on defined benefit obligation	1,918	2,077	3,995	1,504	1,585	3,089
Actuarial (gains)/losses
arising on	(15,557)	(17,947)	(33,504)	(1,993)	(404)	(2,397)
scheme liabilities
Net benefits paid	(2,929)	(2,261)	(5,190)	(2,333)	(2,616)	(4,949)
Closing defined	53,417	57,486	110,903	69,985	75,617	145,602
benefit obligation

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Financial statements

19. Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities for the year ended 31 March 2022 (prior year)

			Restricted &
		Unrestricted	endowed	2022
INCOME FROM:	Note	£’000	£’000	£’000
Voluntary income
Donations and gifts		9,487	3,547	13,034
Legacies		29,338	645	29,983
Grants, corporate and trusts		747	22,289	23,036
Lotteries and raffles		6,977	4,140	11,117
Total voluntary income		46,549	30,621	77,170
Trading activities
Charity Shops		32,807	-	32,807
Financial Services		7,382	17	7,399
Independent Living Solutions		2,267	-	2,267
Other trading income		1,209	100	1,309
Total income from trading activities		43,665	117	43,782
Investment Income & Interest		575	74	649
Charitable activities
Campaigning and research		18	-	18
Information and advice		2	-	2
Health and care		1,047	-	1,047
Wellbeing		310	-	310
Supporting the network		2,514	-	2,514
International		-	-	-
Total income from charitable activities		3,891	-	3,891

			Restricted &
		Unrestricted	endowed	2022
INCOME FROM:	Note	£’000	£’000	£’000
Other income
Net loss on disposal of fixed assets		(109)	-	(109)
COVID-19 retention scheme		587	2	589
TOTAL INCOME		95,158	30,814	125,972

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Financial statements

19. Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities for the year ended 31 March 2022 (prior year) (continued)

						Restricted &
				Unrestricted		endowed		2022
	EXPENDITURE ON:	Note		£’000		£’000		£’000
	Cost of raising funds
	Cost of generating voluntary income	3a		(18,326)		(127)		(18,453)
	Cost of generating trading income	3b		(27,910)		-		(27,910)
	Cost of Charity Shops			(5,931)		-		(5,931)
	Cost of Financial Services			(211)		-		(211)
	Cost of Independent Living Solutions					-		-
	Total cost of generating trading income	3b		(34,052)		-		(34,052)
	Total cost of raising funds			(52,378)		(127)		(52,505)
	Net resources available for charitable activities	2		42,780		30,687		73,467

Charitable activities

Charitable activities
Campaigning and research Information and advice Health and care		(4,170) (5,199) (3,083)		(5,972) (2,722) (1,230)		(10,142) (7,921) (4,313)
Wellbeing		(5,692)		(4,415)		(10,107)
Supporting the network		(7,763)		(2,595)		(10,358)
International		(4,452)		(15,495)		(19,947)
Total expenditure on charitable activities	3c	(30,359)		(32,429)		(62,788)
TOTAL EXPENDITURE	3	(82,737)		(32,556)		(115,293)
Tax payable		(33)		-		(33)
Net gains on investments		1,171		63		1,234
NET INCOME/(EXPENDITURE)		13,559		(1,679)		11,880

Note	Unrestricted £’000 Restricted & endowed £’000 2022 £’000
Other recognised gains and losses
Actuarial gains on pension scheme 18	3,991 - 3,991
Revaluation gains 9	1,519 - 1,519
Transfers between funds	919 (919) -
NET MOVEMENT IN FUNDS Reconciliation of funds 16	19,988 (2,598) 17,390
Total funds bought forward	44,668 17,930 62,598
Net movement in funds	19,988 (2,598) 17,390
Total funds carried forward	64,656 15,332 79,988

20. Taxation and charitable status

Age UK is considered to pass the tests set out in Paragraph 1 Schedule 6 Finance Act 2010 and therefore it meets the definition of a charitable company for UK Corporation tax purposes. Accordingly, the Charity is potentially exempt from taxation in respect of income or capital gains received within categories covered by Chapter three Part 11 Corporation Tax Act 2010 or Section 256 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992, to the extent that such income or gains are applied exclusively to charitable purposes. The Charity’s trading subsidiaries will pay available profits to the Charity under the Gift Aid scheme, thereby eliminating or reducing their respective corporation tax liabilities.

21. Company limited by guarantee

The liability of the members of the Charity is limited by guarantee to £1 each.

Report of Trustees and Annual Accounts 2022/23[| ] 144

Financial statements

22. Operating lease commitments

22. Operating lease commitments
The Group had total commitments at the year end
under operating leases expiring as follows	2023 £’000	2022 £’000
Within one year	4,994	5,657
Within two to five years	7,164	9,735
After five years	10	13
	12,168	15,405

23. Contingent liabilities and capital commitments

In the year ended 31 March 2023 there is a contingent liability of £441,853 (2022: £504,712). This is in relation to the potential need to incur costs to set up and run a separate legal entity to contain the gifted housing operation. The probability of the costs being paid out is low.

In the year ended 31 March 2023 there is a capital commitment of £590,000 (2022: £nil). This is in relation to the Retail Project which is to upgrade all the shop tills. It is highly probable that we will need to pay this money out. We have not committed to the spend but we will need it if are to continue the Retail upgrade project.

There were no other contingent liabilities and no capital commitments as at 31 March 2023 or at 31 March 2022.

24. Analysis of changes in net debt

24. Analysis of changes in net debt	24. Analysis of changes in net debt
The Group At 1 April 2022 Cash flows At 31 March 2023
£’000
Cash at bank and in hand 15,740	(6,893) 8,847
Cash and cash equivalents 15,740	(6,893) 8,847
Finance leases (116)	116 -
Bank loans (484)	(516) (1,000)
Total 15,140	(7,293) 7,847

25. Related party transactions

Group transactions

Many group entities benefit from centrally provided support services such as accounts payable and payroll. The costs of running central support services accrue in one subsidiary, Age UK Trading CIC, and are apportioned to group entities on an annual basis according to management estimations of time and resource expended. Expense relating to the charitable activities of the retail estate are also recharged from Age UK Trading CIC to the charity on an annual basis.

The major support cost and retail reallocations in the year ended 31 March 2023 were as follows:

				HelpAge
	Age UK	Age UK Trading CIC	AgeCo Ltd	International UK	Age UK Lotteries	Total
TO:	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
FROM:
Age UK	-	400	-	-	-	400
Age UK Trading	32,103	-	1,669	876	80	34,728
CIC
TOTAL	32,103	400	1,669	876	80	35,128

Grants awarded to subsidiary charities in the year are summarised here:

		HelpAge International UK	Age Cymru	Total
	TO:	£’000	£’000	£’000
	FROM:
	Age UK	5,555	311	5,866
	TOTAL	5,555	311	5,866

Report of Trustees and Annual Accounts 2022/23[| ] 145

Financial statements

25. Related party transactions (continued)

Outstanding subsidiary balances at year end are as follows:

2023		Amounts owed by:	Amounts owed by:	Amounts owed by:
					HelpAge	The
		Age UK	AgeCo	International		Silver Line
		Charity	Ltd		UK*	Helpline	Age Cymru
Amounts owed to:		£’000	£’000		£’000	£’000	£’000
AgeCo Ltd	4,070	4,070	-		-	-	-
Age UK Education and Research Lottery CIC	482	482	-		-	-	-
Age UK Local Programmes Lottery CIC	418	418	-		-	-	-
Age UK Information and Advice Lottery CIC	317	317	-		-	-	-
Age Cymru	-	-	-		-	-
Age UK Charity	420	-	-		311	-	109
Age UK Trading CIC	980	980	-		-	-	-
Total	6,687	6,267	-		311	-	109

*Age UK receives donations as an agent on behalf of HelpAge International UK. Nothing is owed by Charity in relation to restricted funds held by Charity as agent for HelpAge International UK because of overhead recharges due to the Charity.

£1,407,000 has been received by the Charity and paid across to HelpAge International UK as Agent for HelpAge International UK. This is no longer recognised in the Charity due to the perceived change in relationship. It is included in Donations in HelpAge International UK’s Accounts.

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Financial statements

26. Subsidiary undertakings

During the year Age UK Group carried out activities through the following wholly owned trading subsidiaries. These entities’ principal activities are detailed below:

• AgeCo Limited: Provides insurance services and other products for older people.

• Age UK Trading CIC: Provides Age UK with staffing and management for Age UK’s charity shops and the sale of bought in goods.

• intune Group Limited: Arranges financial services of particular relevance to older people.

• HelpAge International UK: Raises funds and carries out Age UK’s International charitable work.

• Age Cymru: the national Age UK charity of Wales, provided support for the elderly in the principality. Left the group on 1 April 2023.

• Age UK Local Programmes Lottery CIC: Raises funds through lotteries. The lottery activities were transferred to Age UK on 2 June 2022. Non-trading company from 3 June 2022.

					The
Age UK Trading	AgeCo Limited	HelpAge International	Age Cymru	Age UK Lotteries	Silver Line	Total 2023
CIC £’000	£’000	UK £’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000

	Age UK Trading CIC £’000	AgeCo Limited £’000		HelpAge International UK £’000		Age Cymru £’000		Age UK Lotteries £’000		The Silver Line £’000	Total 2023 £’000
Profit and loss
account
Turnover	2,287	8,392		21,958		2,321		2,148		729	37,835
Expenditure	(1,619)	(6,311)		(21,814)		(2,480)		(1,114)		(1,405)	(34,743)
Profit/(loss) for	668	2,081		144		(159)		1,034		(676)	3,092
the year
Gift Aid paid to parent	(1,109)	(3,984)		-		-		(4,159)		-	(9,252)
Result for the	(441)	(1,903)		144		(159)		(3,125)		(676)	(6,160)
year transferred
to reserves
Balance Sheet
Total fixed assets	-	-		-		2		-		-	2
Current assets	4,407	5,596		879		1,796		1,454		-	14,132
Total liabilities	(1,273)	(1,013)		(369)		(222)		(420)		-	(3,297)
Net assets	3,134	4,583		510		1,576		1,034		-	10,837

• Age UK Information & Advice Lottery CIC: Raises funds through

lotteries. The lottery activities were transferred to Age UK on 31 March 2022. Non-trading company from 1 April 2022.

• Age UK Education and Research Lottery CIC: Raises funds

through lotteries. The lottery activities were transferred to Age UK on 30 April 2022. Non-trading company from 1 May 2022.

• The Silver Line Helpline: a national charity providing help and advice for the elderly. On the 30 November 2022 all activity was transferred to Age UK. Dormant from 1 December 2022.

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Financial statements

27. Grants Payable

Analysis of grants paid in the year highlighting those institutions receiving more than £100,000.

	Campaign	Information	Health		Supporting
	and research	and advice	and care	Wellbeing	the network	International	Total
2023	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	Awards
Age UK National Partners
Age Scotland	-	-	-	1	874	-	875	20
	-	-	-	1	874	-	875	20
Age UK Brand Partners
Age Cymru Dyfed	-	-	4	68	42	-	114	7
Age UK Barnet	-	13	-	30	142	-	185	7
Age UK Camden	-	13	4	78	71	-	166	11
Age UK Darlington	-	-	-	55	70	-	125	6
Age UK Devon	-	-	11	98	49	-	158	12
Age UK Durham County	-	-	6	58	42	-	106	10
Age UK East Cheshire	-	-	11	51	41	-	103	6
Age UK East London	-	13	2	58	40	-	113	13
Age UK East Sussex	-	-	-	47	167	-	214	10
Age UK Gloucestershire	-	-	-	72	149	-	221	9
Age UK Hammersmith	-	13	-	55	42	-	110	7
Age UK Herne Bay	-	-	-	66	40	-	106	7
Age UK Hertfordshire	-	2	6	61	91	-	160	12
Age UK Isle of Wight	-	-	2	62	79	-	143	7
Age UK Kensington & Chelsea	-	18	11	26	48	-	103	13
Age UK Lambeth	-	13	6	58	39	-	116	7
Age UK Lancashire	-	-	6	101	71	-	178	16
Age UK Leeds	-	(10)	11	31	179	-	211	10
Age UK Leicestershire & Rutland	-	2	13	67	59	-	141	12
Age UK Milton Keynes	-	-	4	60	38	-	102	6
Age UK Norfolk	-	-	-	114	88	-	202	10

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Financial statements

27. Grants Payable (continued)

	Campaign	Information		Health				Supporting
	and research	and advice		and care		Wellbeing		the network	International		Total
2023	£’000	£’000		£’000		£’000		£’000	£’000		£’000	Awards
Age UK Nottingham & Notts	-	-		-		127		148	-		275	14
Age UK Oxfordshire	-	-		-		94		95	-		189	10
Age UK Portsmouth	-	-		13		90		41	-		144	9
Age UK Redbridge	-	13		-		55		83	-		151	7
Age UK Richmond Upon Thames	-	12		-		52		40	-		104	6
Age UK Sevenoaks, Tonbridge & District	-	-		-		-		259	-		259	3
Age UK Sheffield	-	-		11		75		196	-		282	6
Age UK Solihull	-	2		2		54		46	-		104	6
Age UK South Kent & Coast	-	-		11		11		78	-		100	4
Age UK Stockport	-	-		-		69		46	-		115	6
Age UK Surrey	-	2		13		32		55	-		102	14
Age UK Teeside	-	-		7		64		40	-		111	7
Age UK Wakefield	-	-		11		68		40	-		119	9
Age UK Wandsworth	-	12		4		54		87	-		157	8
Age UK Warwickshire	-	-		5		28		79	-		112	10
Age UK West Sussex	-	-		-		70		114	-		184	13
Age UK Wiltshire	-	2		-		76		40	-		118	7
Age UK Worcester & Malvern Hills	-	-		-		111		40	-		151	4
	-	120		174		2,446		3,114	-		5,854	341
International
HelpAge International	-	-		-		-		-	19,302		19,302	60
Total grants >£100k	-	120		174		2,447		3,988	19,302		26,031	421
Other grants paid
<£100k per recipient per year	32	165		211		742		3,767	-		4,917
Total Grants payable	32	285		385		3,189		7,755	19,302		30,948

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Financial statements

27. Grants Payable (continued)

Analysis of grants paid in the prior year highlighting those institutions receiving more than £100,000.

	Campaign	Information	Health		Supporting
	and research	and advice	and care	Wellbeing	the network	International	Total
2022	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	Awards
Age UK National Partners
Age NI	-	-	-	-	663	-	663	4
Age Scotland	-	15	-	-	766	-	781	6
	-	15	-	-	1,429	-	1,444	10
Age UK Brand Partners
Age Cymru Gwent	-	82	45	49	65	-	241	6
Age Cymru Gwynedd A Mon	-	-	26	-	80	-	106	3
Age UK Barnet	-	10	-	39	59	-	108	5
Age UK Birmingham	-	-	20	20	73	-	113	7
Age UK Blackburn with Darwen	1	60	20	20	21	-	122	9
Age UK Bristol	-	20	7	89	20	-	136	9
Age UK Calderdale & Kirklees	2	-	20	16	71	-	109	9
Age UK Camden	-	10	-	73	20	-	103	6
Age UK Devon	-	-	-	56	76	-	132	7
Age UK Dorchester	-	-	20	44	45	-	109	8
Age UK East London	-	70	20	29	29	-	148	9
Age UK Gateshead	2	60	20	29	40	-	151	9
Age UK Hertfordshire	-	23	-	46	56	-	125	10
Age UK Hull & East Riding	-	-	-	8	143	-	151	5
Age UK Isle of Wight	1	-	-	38	64	-	103	5
Age UK Lancashire	-	-	20	46	181	-	247	11
Age UK Leicestershire & Rutland	-	22	-	9	207	-	238	10
Age UK Lincoln	2	-	20	8	112	-	142	10
Age UK London	-	-	-	-	264	-	264	3
Age UK Medway	-	-	21	5	117	-	143	6
Age UK North Tyneside	-	22	-	38	41	-	101	8

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Financial statements

27. Grants Payable (continued)

	Campaign	Information		Health				Supporting
	and research	and advice		and care		Wellbeing		the network	International		Total
2022	£’000	£’000		£’000		£’000		£’000	£’000		£’000	Awards
Age UK Northamptonshire	-	-		-		6		120	-		126	6
Age UK Northumberland	-	-		20		40		40	-		100	5
Age UK Nottingham & Notts	-	-		-		87		254	-		341	12
Age UK Plymouth	-	-		13		12		79	-		104	7
Age UK Portsmouth	1	-		-		37		70	-		108	6
Age UK Sheffield	-	-		-		94		73	-		167	9
Age UK Somerset	-	-		19		2		127	-		148	12
Age UK Surrey	-	22		-		40		590	-		652	10
Age UK Wandsworth	-	10		-		52		119	-		181	6
Age UK West Sussex	-	-		20		10		81	-		111	11
Age UK Wiltshire	-	36		-		42		25	-		103	7
	9	447		331		1,084		3,362	-		5,233	246
UK institutions
University of Edinburgh	320	-		-		-		-	-		320	1
International
HelpAge International	-	-		-		-		-	17,961		17,961	47
Total grants >£100k	329	462		331		1,084		4,791	17,961		24,958	304
Other grants paid
<£100k per recipient per year	37	476		390		688		2,593	-		4,184
Total Grants payable	366	938		721		1,772		7,384	17,961		29,142

28. Other recognised gains and losses

Loss on disposal of subsidiary charity

There was no loss or gain on disposal of subsidiary Charity in FY22–23. The Group’s subsidiary, The Silver Line ceased trading in November 2022. This created a gain on disposal for Age UK Charity of £371,386 and a loss on disposal for The Silver Line for the same amount which on consolidation leave the Group with a £nil balance.

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Financial statements

29. Government grants

The following government grants were received in the period.

29. Government grants The following government grants were received	in the period.
		2023	2022
Grant provided by	Description	£’000	£’000
Department of Health and Social Care	Health and Wellbeing Alliance grant	130	61
Her Majesty’s Prisons and Probation Service	To improve Health and Wellbeing	31	156
Department for Transport	Tackling Loneliness with Transport	547	-
Welsh Government	Ageing Well – To increase activity in older people, reduce frailty and help people to live independently as they get older.	228	228
Welsh Government Department of Health and Social Services	HOPE Project – Helping others to participate and engage through peer advocacy	632	592
Welsh Government Department of Health and Social Services	Older Carers (Cymru) – Developing person-centred models to better identify and better meet the needs of older carers and carers of people living with dementia.	145	161
Welsh Government	Friend in Need – To centrally support, market and coordinate the "Ffrind mewn angen" "Friend in Need" programme and to link with the Local Authorities and other third sector organisations.	-	143
Welsh Government and Aneurin Bevin Healthboard	Dementia Advocacy – Delivery of advocacy to older people living with dementia.	420	426
Welsh Government	Winter Pressures – Early intervention and prevention relating to pressures specific to colder weather.	-	173
Welsh Government	Age Alliance – Supporting Age Alliance Wales and Engagement with Older People.	172	104
Welsh Government	Tell Me More – Support the well-being of people living in care homes during the transitional period out of the pandemic.	74	-
Agence Française de Développement	Innovations in social protection for older people in urban Kenya	266	-
European Commission	COVID-19 response for older people and people with disabilities in Myanmar	131	-
EU Horizon	Scaling up Non Communicable Disease interventions in South East Asia	342	-
Guernsey Overseas	Improving the wellbeing of displaced populations in Borena Zone, Ethiopia.	-	45
Fin Aid Church foundation	Improving social-economic prospects for refugees and host communities through holistic interventions focusing on protection and support by developing locally appropriate businesses.	-	150
ILO	Improving synergies between Social Protection and Public Finance Management.	-	58
JOA	Improved health and wellbeing for older women and men in Tanzania.	-	162
Netherlands (ECHO funding)	Humanitarian response to COVID-19.	-	98
United Nations	Overseas relief efforts	-	1,685

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Financial statements

30. Funder and donor disclosure

The organisations listed below have requested the following disclosures are made in the group statutory accounts regarding donations or grants they have made in the period:

Emanuel Hospital Charity: Information and advice for older Londoners. The £301,286 grant is restricted.

HM Prison and Probation Service: Other Grants with individual values under £100kTo improve Health and Wellbeing. The ~~£31,304 grant is restricted.~~ Total

Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust: Telephone Friendship for Older Veterans. The £40,055 grant is restricted.

Department of Health and Social Care: Health & Wellbeing Alliance. The £130,000 grant is restricted.

Department for Transport: ‘Tackling Loneliness with Transport’. The £546,674 grant is restricted.

31. List of subsidiaries

Age UK has the following subsidiary charities and trading companies

			31	31	Company or Charity
	Subsidiaryundertaking	Principal activities	March 2023	March 2022	registration no.
	Trading subsidiaries:		Ownership%		126 274
	~~Subsidiaries of Age UK~~ HelpAge International UK Age UK Trading CIC AgeCo Limited	To raise funds for, and carry out Age UK's international charitable work To carry out trading activities to generate funds for Age UK Insurance and other services for older people	100 100 100	100 100 100	~~3,244~~ ~~4,516~~ 07897113 01102972 03156159
	Age Cymru*	To raise funds and carry out charitable activities within Wales	100	100	06837284
	Subsidiaries of AgeCo Ltd
	Age Concern Funeral Services Ltd	Funeral services for older people	100	100	02804368

*Note: Age Cymru left the group on 1 April 2023.

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Financial statements

31. List of subsidiaries (continued)

Company 31 31 or Charity March March registration Subsidiary undertaking Principal activities 2023 2022 no.

Non trading subsidiaries: Ownership %

Subsidiaries of Age UK

Subsidiaries of Age UK
Help the Aged	Residential care activities for the elderly and disabled	100	100	01263446
	Up to 30 November 2022, was
The Silver Line Helpline*1	to raise funds for the dedicated support line for the elderly.	100	100	01147330
	Dormant from 1 December 2022.
Age UK Local Programmes Lottery CIC*2	Lottery activities were transferred to Age UK on 2 June 2022. Non- trading company from 3 June 2022.	100	100	11335613
Age UK Information and Advice Lottery CIC*2	Lottery activities were transferred to Age UK on 31 March 2022. Non- trading company from 1 April 2022.	100	100	11335248
Age UK Education and Research Lottery CIC*2	Lottery activities were transferred to Age UK on 30 April 2022. Non- trading company from 1 May 2022.	100	100	11372685
Sunnyside Road (Clevedon) Management Company Limited	Other letting and operating of own or leased real estate	100	100	13354977
Charlton Beeches (Preston) Management Company Limited	Other letting and operating of own or leased real estate	100	100	13355142
Portway Lodge (Wells) Management Company Limited	Other letting and operating of own or leased real estate	100	100	13355168
Princes Road (Clevedon) Management Company Limited	Other letting and operating of own or leased real estate	100	100	13362224
	Other business support service
Crosswall Trustees Limited	activities. Incorporated on	100	-	14171882
	14 June 2022.

Company 31 31 or Charity March March registration 2023 2022 no.

Subsidiary undertaking Principal activities

Ownership %

Subsidiaries of The Silver Line Helpline

The Silver Line Helpline Enterprises Limited	Non-trading company	100	100	09190099
Subsidiaries of Age UK Trading CIC
Age Concern Holdings Ltd	Non-trading company	100	100	01102971
Age Cymru Retail Ltd	Retail sale of other second-hand goods in stores	100	100	08010768
Subsidiaries of Age Concern Holdings	Ltd
Age Care and Leisure Services Ltd	Non-trading company	100	100	02716181
Age Concern Enterprises Cymru Ltd	Non-trading company	100	100	05744511
Age Concern Enterprises Ltd	Non-trading company	100	100	06776957
Age Concern Financial Partnerships Ltd	Non-trading company	100	100	03819694
Age Concern Financial Solutions Ltd	Other business support service activities not elsewhere classified	100	100	05260600
Age Concern Insurance Services Ltd	Non-trading company	100	100	02035367
Age Concern Ltd	Dormant Company	100	100	05425966
Age Concern Partnership Wales Ltd	Non-trading company	100	100	07471664
Age Concern Trading Ltd	Dormant Company	100	100	05522083
Age Concern Trust Corporation	Non-trading company	100	100	02547188
Age UK Services Ltd	Other service activities not elsewhere classified	100	100	06838416
Help the Aged (Mail Order) Ltd	Non-trading company	100	100	00893588
Help the Aged (Trading) Ltd	Non-trading company	100	100	02444170
intune Group Ltd	Non-trading company	100	100	02489376
R I A Trading Ltd	Non-trading company	100	100	03063659

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Financial statements

31. List of subsidiaries (continued)

Subsidiaryundertaking	Principal activities	31 March 2023	31 March 2022	Company or Charity registration no.
		Ownership %
Subsidiary of Age Cymru
Age Cymru Trading Limited	Other retail sale not in stores, stalls or markets	100	100	08011995
Wales Council on Ageing	Linked charity - also known as Age Concern Cymru	100	100	1128436-1
Subsidiary of intune group Ltd
intune Financial Services Ltd	Company is dormant	100	100	05989153
intune Services Ltd	Company is dormant	100	100	05989143
Subsidiary of Help the Aged (Mail	Order) Ltd
Age UK Holidays Limited	Company is dormant	100	100	03218466
HtA Solutions Ltd	Company is dormant	100	100	03172472
Non trading associates:
Associates of Age UK
Ardentallen Ltd	Residents property management	33.3	33.3	04713382

*1 Note: The Silver Line Helpline’s activities were transferred into Age UK on 1 December 2022.

*2 Note: The Lottery activities were transferred into Age UK on the dates mentioned above against each entity.

32. Statement of Discontinued Operations

Events after the reporting period

The agreement between the subsidiary Age Cymru and the charity Age UK, under which Age UK was deemed to be the ultimate parent undertaking and the controlling related party, was terminated effective 1 April 2023 and therefore Age Cymru ceased to be a subsidiary of Age UK on this date.

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Financial statements

32. Statement of Discontinued Operations (continued)

	Continued Operations Group Discontinued Operations Total 2023	Continued Operations Group Discontinued Operations Total 2023	Continued Operations Group Discontinued Operations Total 2023
INCOME FROM:	Unrestricted £’000 Restricted & endowed £’000 2023 £’000 excluding Cymru 2023	Unrestricted £’000 Restricted & endowed £’000 2023 £’000 Cymru 2023	Unrestricted £’000 Restricted & endowed £’000 2023 £’000
Voluntary income
Donations and gifts	8,962 1,886 10,848	40 - 40	9,002 1,886 10,888
Legacies	25,366 336 25,702	181 - 181	25,547 336 25,883
Grants, corporate and trusts	1,183 23,055 24,238	4 1,670 1,674	1,187 24,725 25,912
Lotteries and raffles	10,087 926 11,013	- - -	10,087 926 11,013
Total voluntary income Trading activities	45,598 26,203 71,801	225 1,670 1,895	45,823 27,873 73,696
Charity Shops	37,318 - 37,318	- - -	37,318 - 37,318
Financial Services	6,220 - 6,220	- - -	6,220 - 6,220
Independent Living Solutions	2,214 - 2,214	- - -	2,214 - 2,214
Other trading income	119 80 199	89 23 112	208 103 311
Total income from trading activities	45,871 80 45,951	89 23 112	45,960 103 46,063
Investment and interest income Charitable activities	892 74 966	4 - 4	896 74 970
Campaigning and research	- - -	- - -	- - -
Information and advice	31 - 31	- - -	31 - 31
Health and care	- - -	- - -	- - -
Wellbeing	300 - 300	- - -	300 - 300
Supporting the network	2,024 152 2,176	- - -	2,024 152 2,176
International	- - -	- - -	- - -
Total income from charitable activities Other income	2,355 152 2,507	- - -	2,355 152 2,507
Net loss on disposal of fixed assets	(11) - (11)	- - -	(11) - (11)
TOTAL INCOME	94,705 26,509 121,214	318 1,693 2,011	95,023 28,202 123,225

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Financial statements

32. Statement of Discontinued Operations (continued)

	Continued Operations Group Discontinued Operations Total 2023	Continued Operations Group Discontinued Operations Total 2023	Continued Operations Group Discontinued Operations Total 2023
EXPENDITURE ON:	Unrestricted £’000 Restricted & endowed £’000 2023 £’000 excluding Cymru 2023	Unrestricted £’000 Restricted & endowed £’000 2023 £’000 Cymru 2023	Unrestricted £’000 Restricted & endowed £’000 2023 £’000
Cost of raising funds
Cost of generating voluntary income	(20,501) - (20,501)	(99) - (99)	(20,600) - (20,600)
Cost of generating trading income
Cost of Charity Shops	(31,115) - (31,115)	- - -	(31,115) - (31,115)
Cost of Financial Services	(5,142) - (5,142)	- - -	(5,142) - (5,142)
Cost of Independent Living Solutions	(1,263) - (1,263)	- - -	(1,263) - (1,263)
Other costs of raising funds	- - -	- - -	- - -
Total cost of generating trading income	(37,520) - (37,520)	- - -	(37,520) - (37,520)
Total cost of raising funds	(58,021) - (58,021)	(99) - (99)	(58,120) - (58,120)
Net resources available for charitable activities	36,684 26,509 63,193	219 1,693 1,912	36,903 28,202 65,105
Charitable activities
Campaigning and research	(6,514) (5,359) (11,873)	(126) (10) (136)	(6,640) (5,369) (12,009)
Information and advice	(5,456) (2,659) (8,115)	(129) (469) (598)	(5,585) (3,128) (8,713)
Health and care	(1,810) (1,283) (3,093)	(40) (76) (116)	(1,850) (1,359) (3,209)
Wellbeing	(8,122) (4,979) (13,101)	59 (1,054) (995)	(8,063) (6,033) (14,096)
Supporting the network	(11,622) (884) (12,506)	(18) (189) (207)	(11,640) (1,073) (12,713)
International	(5,636) (16,020) (21,656)	- - -	(5,636) (16,020) (21,656)
Total expenditure on charitable activities	(39,160) (31,184) (70,344)	(254) (1,798) (2,052)	(39,414) (32,982) (72,396)
TOTAL EXPENDITURE	(97,181) (31,184) (128,365)	(353) (1,798) (2,151)	(97,534) (32,982) (130,516)
Tax payable	(1) - (1)	- - -	(1) - (1)
Net losses on investments	(3,650) (165) (3,815)	- - -	(3,650) (165) (3,815)
NET INCOME/(EXPENDITURE)	(6,127) (4,840) (10,967)	(35) (105) (140)	(6,162) (4,945) (11,107)

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Financial statements

32. Statement of Discontinued Operations (continued)

		Continued Operations Group Discontinued Operations Total 2023
		Unrestricted £’000 Restricted & endowed £’000 2023 £’000 excluding Cymru 2023	Unrestricted £’000 Restricted & endowed £’000 2023 £’000 Cymru 2023	Unrestricted £’000 Restricted & endowed £’000 2023 £’000
	Other recognised gains and losses
	Actuarial losses on pension scheme	(3,354) - (3,354)	(19) - (19)	(3,373) - (3,373)
	Revaluation gains	138 - 138	- - -	138 - 138
	Transfers between funds	790 (790) -	99 (99) -	889 (889) -
	NET MOVEMENT IN FUNDS Reconciliation of funds	(8,553) (5,630) (14,183)	45 (204) (159)	(8,508) (5,834) (14,342)
	Total funds bought forward	63,126 15,127 78,253	1,530 205 1,735	64,656 15,332 79,988
	Net movement in funds	(8,553) (5,630) (14,183)	45 (204) (159)	(8,508) (5,834) (14,342)
	Total funds carried forward	54,573 9,497 64,070	1,575 1 1,576	56,148 9,498 65,646

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Thank you

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EDF

Thank you

We’d like to thank all our donors, supporters, campaigners, and volunteers for their valued contribution. We’d also like to thank all those people who have left a gift in their will to Age UK. Their generosity will help us to help those who need us the most.

Special thanks go to the following businesses, public bodies, trusts, and foundations for their generous support.

Agence Française de Développement (AFD)

Apetito

Arch Europe Insurance Services Ltd

Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust

Arm

Barclays Bloomberg

Bryan Guinness Charitable Trust Limited

C B & H H Taylor 1984 Trust

Cecil and Hilda Lewis Charitable Trust

Centrica

Craig & Jill Thomas Fund

CSL Seqirus

Department for Transport Department of Health and Social Care

Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC)

E.ON Energy Solutions Limited

Emanuel Hospital Charity Elrha via Oxfam GB

European Commission (EC) European Commission Humanitarian Aid (ECHO) Expertise France Groupe

Federation Handicap International

Gas Distribution Networks (GDN’s)

Galen and Hilary Weston Foundation

Genpact

GIC

Guernsey Overseas Aid & Development commission

HM Prison and Probation Service

HSBC innocent drinks

International Labour Office (ILO)

International Rescue Committee (IRC)

Jersey Overseas Aid (JOA)

John Laing Charitable Trust Julia and Hans Rausing

Lands End

Legal & General

Lloyds Banking Group M&G plc Maxwell Harvey Legacy Medicos del Mundo

Ministry for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation of the Netherlands

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Mishcon de Reya MJB Charitable Trust Nutricia Players of People’s Postcode Lottery Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners Charitable Foundation Limited Rohan The D G Charitable Settlement The Evan Cornish Foundation The Tula Trust Royal Air Force Benevolent Fund Santander UK Sapphire Systems LLC Shell Energy Sky Sport England Start Network Taboola Europe Limited Telegraph Media Group Limited TEMPLESPA The Association of British Insurers The Champniss Charitable Trust The David Family Foundation The Derrill Allatt Foundation The Eighty Eight Foundation The Eveson Trust The Football Association

The Grace Trust The Ingram Trust The Innholders’ Charitable Foundation The John Coates Charitable Trust The Lorimer Trust The Schroder Foundation The Seafarers’ Charity The Souter Charitable Trust The Welland Charitable Trust Tolkien Trust Twilio United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women (UNTFEVAW) Valero Vertex Foundation Volant Charitable Trust Woodmansterne Publications Limited World Food Programme (WFP) World Health Organisation (WHO) Yorkshire Building Society Zurich Community Trust

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References

• i Office for National Statistics, Estimates of the population of the UK. Published December 2022 and accessed here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/ populationandmigration/populationestimates/datas etspopulationestimatesforukenglandandwalesscotlandandnorthernireland

• ii Office for National Statistics, National life tables – life expectancy in the UK: 2018 to 2020. Published September 2021 and accessed here: https://www. ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/ lifeexpectancies/bulletins/nationallifetablesunitedkingdom/2018to2020

• iii Office for National Statistics, National life tables – life expectancy in the UK: 2018 to 2020. Published September 2021 and accessed here: https://www. ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/ lifeexpectancies/bulletins/nationallifetablesunitedkingdom/2018to2020

• iv Office for National Statistics, Health state life expectancies by national deprivation deciles, England: 2018 to 2020. Published April 2022 and accessed here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/ healthandsocialcare/healthinequalities/bulletins/healthstatelifeexpectancie - - - - -

• sbyindexofmultipledeprivationimd/2018to2020#life expectancy at birth by - - - - -

• the english index of multiple deprivation

• v Department for Work and Pensions, Households below average income: for financial years ending 1995 to 2022. Published March 2023 and accessed - -

• here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/households below - - - - - - - -

• average income for financial years ending 1995 to 2022

• vi Department for Work and Pensions, Income related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial year 2019 to 2020. Published February 2022 and accessed - - -

• here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/income related benefits - - - - - - - -

• estimates of take up financial year 2019 to 2020

• vii Age UK analysis of data drawn from wave 9 of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, collected 2018-19 and scaled up to the England age 65+ population using Office for National Statistics estimates

• viii Age UK analysis of data drawn from wave 12 of the UK Household Longitudinal Study, collected 2020-22 and scales up to the UK age 65+ population using Office for National Statistics estimates

• ix Office for National Statistics, Internet Users, UK: 2020. Published April 2021 and accessed here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/ itandinternetindustry/datasets/internetusers

• x Source: Sport England, Active Lives Survey 2021-22, accessed here: - - -

• https://www.sportengland.org/research and data/data/active lives?section=access_the_reports

• xi Office for National Statistics, Public opinions and social trends: household finances, 17 to 29 May edition of this dataset. Published June 2023 and accessed here: https://www.ons. gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/wellbeing/datasets/ publicopinionsandsocialtrendsgreatbritainhouseholdfinances

• xii Source: Opinium interviewed 2700 people aged 60+ for Age UK January 2023

• xiii United Nations, World population prospects 2022. Accessed here: https://population.un.org/wpp/Download/Standard/Population/

• xiv United Nations, World population prospects 2022. Accessed here: https://population.un.org/wpp/Download/Standard/Population/

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References

• xv United Nations, World population prospects 2022. Accessed here: https://population.un.org/wpp/Download/Standard/MostUsed/

• xvi United Nations. ‘Ageing and Disability’. Department of Economic and Social Affairs. United Nations. https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/ - -

• disability and ageing.html

• xxi Department for Work and Pensions, Income related benefits: estimates of take-up: financial year 2019 to 2020. Published February 2022 and accessed - - -

• here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/income related benefits - - - - - - - -

• estimates of take up financial year 2019 to 2020

• xvii Department for Work and Pensions, DWP benefits statistics: August 2023. Published August 2023 and accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/ - - - - - - -

• statistics/dwp benefits statistics august 2023/dwp benefits statistics -

• august 2023

• xviii Age UK estimate 2023. Based on Office for National Statistics estimate, accessed here: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/ populationandmigration/populationestimates/datasets/ populationestimatesforukenglandandwalesscotlandandnorthernireland and the Government’s Impact Assessment (accessed here: https:// assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/ - - - - -

• attachment_data/file/996781/impact assessment upper age prescription exemption.pdf)

• xix Department for Work and Pensions, DWP benefits statistics: August 2023. Published August 2023 and accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/ - - - - - - -

• statistics/dwp benefits statistics august 2023/dwp benefits statistics -

• august 2023

• xx Department for Work and Pensions, DWP benefits statistics: August 2023. Published August 2023 and accessed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/ - - - - - - -

• statistics/dwp benefits statistics august 2023/dwp benefits statistics -

• august 2023

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Age UK

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Age UK is a charitable company limited by guarantee and registered in England and Wales (registered charity number 1128267 and registered company number 6825798). Registered address: 7th Floor, One America Square, 17 Crosswall, London EC3N 2LB. Age UK and its subsidiary companies and charities form the Age UK Group, dedicated to helping more people love later life. ID205458 10/23

0800 169 87 87 www.ageuk.org.uk

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