2020-12-31-accounts

Multiple Sclerosis Society 2020 Annual Report and Accounts

Multiple Sclerosis Society. Registered charity nos.1139257 / SC041990. Registered as a limited company by guarantee in England and Wales 07451571.

2020 Annual Report and Accounts

Message from the chair, Nick Winser

In 2020, we launched our new five-year strategy, Every MS Story, Our Strategy.

Every MS story is unique – whether that’s someone living with MS, their carers, family or friends. Because we’re here for everyone affected by MS, we’ve listened and learned from the MS community to better understand what matters most to them.

Over the next five years, their stories will be driving our new strategy’s ambitious goals. Our plan is to support everyone with MS to live well, by expanding and improving access to our services. We’re also working with our community in new ways to bring people together, share experiences, support each other and campaign on important issues. And we’re developing our research work and partnering with others to find effective ways of treating and preventing MS.

Of course, 2020 was the year of the coronavirus pandemic, and it continues to impact us today. The pandemic has been a hugely disruptive force, not only to our day-to-day lives but to the ways we work together. Looking back, we’ve been amazed at the incredible things we’ve achieved in extremely challenging circumstances. We’re truly fortunate to have so many supporters, volunteers and staff who pulled together in these uncertain times to support people affected by MS.

Our focus during this extraordinary year was to help our community through the crisis – by adapting and responding as quickly as we could to meet people’s needs, the changing situation and evolving government guidelines. Thanks to digital technology, we continued to connect and support people from the comfort and safety of their homes. Our volunteer-led local groups across the UK went the extra mile to provide friendship, information and a remarkable range of online activities – from virtual chats and quizzes to yoga, meditation and mindfulness sessions. We developed new support services like Time to Chat and our information webinars so people could stay connected and feel less isolated. At the same time, our medical advisers kept us updated with the latest guidance – on coronavirus, what it meant for people with MS, and how to stay safe.

Despite many labs being closed, we’ve made progress on various research trials. We also launched new projects in response to the coronavirus, aimed at collecting data and helping people with MS to understand their risks. And we continued to speak up for our community on key pandemic-related issues, such as shielding, disability benefits, and access to treatment and services.

When the pandemic hit, we faced yet another unexpected difficulty. As major fundraising events like the London Marathon were postponed, cancelled or moved online, we were left with a massive loss of income. In spite of that, many of you still found imaginative ways to fundraise at home, even during the lockdown – like running a marathon in your back garden, hosting a virtual gig, or sewing face coverings for donations. Our online challenges and events like Scott Mills’ Quizzes and virtual MS Walks raised over £2 million. And our Stop MS Appeal continued to bring in much-needed donations. We’re really thankful for all your fantastic efforts and generosity.

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However, with a significant shortfall in fundraising income, we’ve had to restructure how we work as an organisation and pause some of our services. These were difficult decisions, but they have so far helped us to remain financially secure as we weather the coronavirus storm. We remain committed to being here for everyone affected by MS. We must also continue investing in the future and reaching for the goals that are important to all of us – when one day, together, we will stop MS.

As a community, we can be proud that we’ve supported one another, responded to the crisis with determination, and achieved some amazing things. These successes wouldn’t have been possible without our wonderful supporters, volunteers and staff. You have kept us going through one of the toughest times we’ve known. We’re enormously grateful to you for your dedication to ‘keeping calm and carrying on’, so that no one has to face MS alone. Frankly, we couldn’t have made it through 2020 without you. Thank you for being part of our community.

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Our goal. People living well with MS.

Supporting people living with MS, and their carers, families, and friends

We want people with MS to live well with their condition. We’ll continue to expand our range of services to help people understand their rights, manage their condition and do the things in life that are important to them.

We know that MS is tough on carers, families and friends. We’ll provide the best quality information to help people understand MS and their rights as carers. And we’ll keep developing the support we offer, to help everyone’s health and wellbeing.

At the start of 2020, we set out to co-produce a range of new national services. But when the coronavirus pandemic struck, we had to put our plans on hold. We shifted our focus significantly so we were ready to support our MS community, here and now, through this unexpected and challenging crisis.

Providing up-to-date COVID-19 information

To keep up with new developments during the pandemic, we worked with our medical advisers to provide timely and accurate information on coronavirus and MS – from updates on disease modifying therapies (DMTs) and risk factors, to the latest news on the vaccines. We had over 400,000 visits to our coronavirus webpages as our community looked to us for relevant and reliable information on what the changing guidance meant for them.

Launching new services to connect people remotely and reduce isolation

We responded as quickly as we could to introduce new services to help people feel less lonely and stay active at home. Our services also enabled people to ask health care professionals any questions they might have about the pandemic.

• Keep in Touch, our UK-wide telephone service, connected people with MS with volunteers. Around 40 people were supported through this service.

• Time to Chat, available across the UK, connected people affected by MS with online chat groups that focused on different topics throughout the year. Over 500 people took part in these groups.

• Information webinars were presented by health care professionals alongside people with lived experience of MS. Over 1,000 people joined our webinars covering topics like COVID-19, fatigue, nutrition and mental health.

• A virtual wellbeing hub in Scotland provided a range of activities to support people’s physical and emotional wellbeing. Funded by a grant from the Scottish Government’s Wellbeing Fund, our hub supported over 300 people.

Although our original plans were significantly impacted by the pandemic, we were still able to introduce:

• Mind My MS service in Northern Ireland as a virtual rather than in-person service, and supported over 200 people with their emotional wellbeing

• MS nurses on our MS Helpline, who provided expert and tailored information for over 1,500 enquiries about MS from across the UK

• a new befriending service, which replaced the Keep in Touch service at the end of the year

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In 2020, our MS Helpline responded to a significant number of questions related to the COVID19 pandemic. From the moment the UK lockdown was first announced in March, we were responding to many more enquiries than we have ever experienced before. By the year end, our MS Helpline had responded to almost 20,000 enquiries. Over 90% of people who used the service said they would be happy to recommend it to others.

Our more bespoke services, like My MS, My Choices in Wales, and Improving Quality of Life in Greater Manchester, continued to support people living with MS. We adapted these services so they could be delivered remotely and with as little disruption as possible. We also managed to secure further restricted funding to continue or expand these services.

Regrettably, we had to make the difficult decision to pause our individual health and wellbeing grants. This decision was taken as part of our wider measures to ensure we remain financially secure and are here for our community in the years to come. We also paused our work to develop a new service for family and carers so we could focus more on supporting people through the pandemic. But rest assured, we plan to resume work on our new service for carers in 2021.

In 2020, we noticed a significant drop in the number of printed information booklets that were ordered from us. We sent out just over 25,800 booklets on a range of topics when we would normally circulate more than 100,000 copies each year. We think this was due to the fact that two of our key sources of distribution – our local groups and MS clinics – suspended or reduced their usual services during the pandemic.

Access to responsive treatments, care and support

We’ll be fighting to make sure everyone can access the treatments, care and support they need, wherever they live in the UK. We want the policies made by governments, and the health care people get, to reflect what people with MS, their family and friends go through day to day.

In 2020, we had exciting plans to design a new programme of work to improve clinical services and launch a new professional peer support offering. We aimed to work with people with MS, health care professional bodies and MS charities to make this happen – as part of putting our new strategy into action. However, as many health care professionals were being redeployed to support the NHS with its response to the pandemic, we were forced to put our plans on hold. Despite this our commitment to working with professionals to drive improvements in clinical services remains.

As a result of the pandemic we quickly moved to working with government departments to understand what the evolving coronavirus rules meant for people affected by MS, including advice on shielding. We also focused our resources on minimising the impact of the pandemic on the services that people with MS rely on.

We’re incredibly proud that the MS community played a vital role in securing a positive recommendation for the use of Siponimod in each UK nation. We also expect a decision on Siponimod to follow in Northern Ireland in the coming months. Siponimod is the first ever oral treatment for people living with active secondary progressive MS. We know we must do all we can to ensure treatments for progressive MS are made available. Thanks to campaigning efforts by our community and others, NICE reversed its provisional decision not to recommend it for people with active secondary progressive MS in England and Wales.

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Our goal. Connected communities, powerful voices.

Connecting MS communities

We don’t want anyone to feel alone, overwhelmed or misunderstood. We’ll increase the ways people can share experiences, tackle common issues, foster friendships, build confidence and reduce isolation

Our 250 local groups run by dedicated volunteers help make sure no one has to face MS alone. Across the UK, our local groups provide over 1,700 services to people with MS, and their friends and families. They offer a fantastic range of activities to help people stay active, as well as friendship, information, emotional support and grant giving.

At the start of the pandemic, we followed government guidance and asked our local groups to pause face-to-face services in their communities. This was not a decision we took lightly – we know that the friendship and support people with MS get from our local groups helps them feel less lonely and isolated.

Remarkably, it didn’t take our resourceful volunteers long to move their usual group catch-ups, support services, coffee mornings and exercise classes online or to the phone. This meant people affected by MS could continue to connect with and support one another, without leaving their homes. Our volunteers also checked in on people who didn’t have online contact and who have been particularly isolated. However, while great efforts were made by everyone to maintain contact and raise spirits, many have missed the friendship and support of their regular group activities. That’s why, as soon as it’s safe to do so, we’re committed to resuming our faceto-face activities according to government guidance.

At the start of the year, we also launched a UK-wide MS community on HealthUnlocked, the world's largest online social network for health. However, we have paused other plans that are part of our goal to connect MS communities. These include developing a new light-touch community social offering (to improve our ability to connect with the MS community) and a ‘near me’ functionality on our website (to allow people with MS to find relevant local services more easily).

Improving society’s understanding of MS and people affected by MS leading change MS is different for everyone and many symptoms are invisible. People living with MS often face barriers and challenges in everyday life. We’ll raise awareness and increase public and political understanding of the realities of MS.

We want to support MS communities to become movements for change on issues that affect them. We’ll help people affected by MS to develop the skills and confidence to speak up on issues they care about. And we’ll provide the tools people need to run campaigns that bring about real change.

Throughout the year, we were responding and adapting as quickly as we could to the changing and uncertain world of the pandemic. We had to build policy knowledge in new areas and develop new relationships with different government departments and parliamentarians. We also built and led new charity coalitions and secured significant media coverage. And we did all this to increase awareness and minimise the impact of the pandemic on our MS community.

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Across the UK, we spoke up with people affected by MS, and with other charities, to highlight the effects of the crisis on a wide range of issues – like people experiencing delays to medical appointments or struggling to access food deliveries. By working together on these issues, people with MS and their carers saw improvements in:

• priority access to online shopping and supermarket deliveries

• support while shielding

• access to the furlough scheme when they couldn’t work safely

• priority status for the COVID-19 vaccine rollout

Disability Benefits Consortium

We’re a leading member of the Disability Benefits Consortium (DBC), a national coalition of over 100 different charities and organisations committed to working towards a fair benefits system. To support people during the pandemic, we have called on the UK Government to increase Employment and Support Allowance and other out-of-work benefits by £20 a week. This is the same increase that has been given to Universal Credit. We also backed the Don’t Leave Disabled People Behind petition launched by DBC and signed by over 115,000 people.

Too Much To Lose campaign

In the autumn we launched our Too Much To Lose national campaign calling on local health leaders to recognise the importance of rehab for people with MS and sign up to working with us to ensure people have access. This research showed that almost 70% of people with MS couldn’t see a rehabilitation professional when they needed to – and 34% told us that their MS symptoms have changed or worsened since lockdown began from April to August. Around 76% of health professionals wanted to see rehabilitation services resume as soon as possible, more so than any other type of treatment and care services.

In our campaign, over 1,300 campaigners called on local health leaders to do all they can to make sure people with MS get the support they need – during the pandemic and beyond, and with rehabilitation services prioritised. Hundreds of people wrote to their local media to raise the awareness of the issue. We brought together decision makers in Parliament to raise awareness of this issue, and this led to a group of MPs writing to the relevant Minister. Almost every local health leader in the UK heard from our community on this issue. Our campaign also generated a wealth of new conversations between parliamentarians, health officials, clinicians and people with long-term health conditions about the future of rehabilitation. We’re confident this will lead to significantly improved investment over time.

Local Action for MS

Alongside our national campaigning, we started rolling out our Local Action for MS programme to support people affected by MS to campaign on the issues that matter to them. As part of this we launched a new campaign toolkit and resources developed with people affected by MS to empower people to design and lead campaigns in their local areas. We’re continuing to invest in supporting people to campaign and will continue to build on resources and training over time.

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Our goal. Effective treatments and preventing MS.

Our research programme has been significantly affected by the pandemic. With researchers redeployed to the NHS and labs closing due to social distancing rules, the situation has affected many of the vital projects we fund – projects that could change what it means to live with MS.

When we surveyed our current grant holders at the end of March, more than 70% of respondents reported significant disruption to their activities. Up against these challenges, we did everything we could to keep research projects going. It’s great to hear that clinical trials staff have now adapted their practice so that they can perform follow-up visits by phone. Lab workers are analysing results and writing up findings from their homes. And MS researchers across the globe are keeping in touch and sharing ideas virtually.

We invest millions every year into research projects, funding major breakthroughs in the UK and bringing scientists across the world together to speed up progress. The research we fund has got us to a critical point, and we can see a future where nobody needs to worry about their MS getting worse.

However, in 2020, we had to make the difficult decision to pause our funding for new research projects. This was because we were facing significant and unexpected losses in our fundraising income due to the pandemic. Together, the funding gap and disruption to research could ultimately slow down the development of new treatments for people with MS. This is why we have worked with the Association of Medical Research Charities to ask the Government to commit to a Life Sciences-Charity Partnership Fund. It could provide much-needed support in bridging the charity sector’s projected gap in research funding.

Deepening our understanding of progression and improving our understanding of risk factors

For people with MS, not knowing how their MS will change over time is a huge challenge. We’ll be prioritising our work with UK and international partners to improve our understanding of how and why MS gets worse.

We’re still not sure what causes MS. But we want to understand the possible risk factors better, so we can develop ways to prevent people developing MS.

Our researchers continued their research work where possible while some others quickly changed their focus to understand how coronavirus could impact people with MS. This included our UK MS Register launching COVID-19 surveys to collect data and help people living with MS understand their risks.

We have continued to play an active role in MS research internationally – in particular, through maintaining our leadership and engagement with the Progressive MS Alliance and by working with our Centres of Excellence. Our key focus was to maintain

relationships with our researchers, institutions and supporters, so that research could continue – as far as possible – towards our goals.

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Accelerating clinical trials

We believe we can slow, stop or one day even reverse the effects of MS, for everyone. And to get there we’re funding a first of its kind clinical trials platform to develop treatments up to three times faster than we do now.

We’re still in the planning phase for our efficient clinical trials platform, which will speed up our search for new treatments to slow or stop progression. Our ambition has not changed – that by 2025 we’ll be in the final stages of testing a range of treatments for everyone with MS. And right now, we’re doing everything in our power to make this happen.

In 2020 we saw the public announcement of encouraging results from our phase two clinical trial of bexarotene. It showed that bexarotene, a drug originally developed to treat cancer, was capable of regenerating lost myelin in people with relapsing MS. This study was many years in the making, and we were heavily involved from the start. Unfortunately, due to the drug’s serious side effects, we will not be going forward with phase three trials. Nevertheless, the results have provided us with a critical breakthrough and have given us renewed confidence in achieving our goal of stopping MS.

Towards the end of the year, we began to see more research activities resuming, including recruitment to clinical trials. For example, our MS-STAT2 trial has now recruited over 800 participants. In this phase three study, we’re testing whether a cholesterol-lowering drug can help people with secondary progressive MS.

We also announced a new clinical trial, ChariotMS, which will test whether a drug called cladribine can slow disability progression in people with secondary progressive MS. Cladribine was originally developed to treat cancer and is already being used to treat highly active relapsing MS. The trial will be funded by the Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation Programme, a partnership between the Medical Research Council and National Institute for Health Research.

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Stop MS Appeal

Our Stop MS Appeal aims to raise £100 million to transform what it means to live with MS, for everyone with the condition. The funds we raise will enable us to establish a revolutionary trials programme to test multiple treatments at the same time. Our ambition is a future where everyone with MS has access to an effective combination of treatments.

Over the past five years we have made huge progress towards our fundraising ambition - thanks to both the inspirational volunteer leadership demonstrated by the Stop MS Appeal Board and a successful public campaign launch in 2019.

In spring 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic hit, it became apparent that MS research would be severely disrupted. This was due to lab closures, halts to outpatient clinical trial visits and necessary workforce redeployment, although the situation was easing towards the end of 2020. Having assessed the impact of the pandemic, we predicted a significant shortfall in our income. Despite these exceptionally difficult circumstances, we were grateful to secure £2.5m in restricted donations. On top of this we transferred £3m of unrestricted funds to our designated fund for the Stop MS Appeal which was part of our overall aim to transfer £30m of unrestricted funds over the lifetime of the Appeal. So in total £5.5m was counted as contributions to the Appeal.

As we now focus on our plans for 2021, we are optimistic about the development of our clinical trials programme and the fundraising activities that will help fund this work.

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Our supporters and our commitment to them

Our supporters are at the heart of everything that we do. Without you, we simply wouldn’t be able to support our MS community. We are deeply grateful for this and are committed to ensuring that supporting the MS Society is a positive and rewarding experience.

Our Supporter Promise sets out our ambition to:

• Listen and respect supporters’ wishes

• Be honest and transparent about where donors’ money goes

• Respect any personal information supporters share with us

• Be accountable and committed to the highest standards

• Listen and learn

We seek to uphold the very best in fundraising practice. Our commitment to delivering our promise is underpinned by a regular independent audit of activities. We are also proud to be organisational members of the Chartered Institute of Fundraising and the Fundraising Regulator and we adhere to the Fundraising Preference Service’s core principles.

From time to time we use commercial organisations to supply a specific service, but this is only when it would be difficult or expensive for us to undertake an activity ourselves. For example, in 2020 we used commercial organisations to:

• process cheques and credit card donations sent to us by our supporters, including banking the donation and sending a thank you letter

• deliver our raffles programme, including liaising with donors who wanted more tickets.

• design marketing collateral for the Stop MS Appeal

To ensure effective oversight of the suppliers which are undertaking these activities on our behalf, we have:

• Contracts in place stipulating the terms under which they are responsible for looking after our donors, including evidence of their vulnerable person policy and a contract review schedule in place

• A training programme for those suppliers which fundraise on our behalf to ensure they are aware of our standards for donor care

• A ‘mystery shopping’ programme to ensure that suppliers are independently reviewed and that our in-house Supporter Engagement team is handling donor interactions appropriately

• Safeguarding training for all staff

• A ‘Fundraising Compliance Working Group’ that regularly monitors adherence to required fundraising standards

• A process for reporting fundraising activities to the Board of Trustees

We always aim for the highest standards in our fundraising practice, but on occasions when we fail to meet these standards, this may result in complaints being received. In 2020 we received 19 complaints about our fundraising activities, which is a reduction from the 52 complaints we received in 2019. It is possible this is due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent reduction in calls and contacts we received during lockdown.

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Complaints are handled following our Compliments, Comments and Complaints procedure. Each month, our Supporter Engagement team reviews any complaints received and, where necessary, uses the information and feedback to learn from mistakes and works with fundraising teams to make improvements.

Finance Review

Income

Unfortunately, our early assessment of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on income in 2020 was confirmed. By the end of the year we had raised £20.5m, which is a significant reduction from the £28.6m raised in 2019. Despite the swift implementation of a crisis response plan in the spring, the impact of the pandemic affected all areas of fundraising income - in particular, from Legacies, Community Fundraising and mass participation events.

Although the pandemic had a significant impact on our ability to deliver our planned fundraising activities, it also gave us an opportunity to connect with our supporters in new ways. We took rapid action to take existing events online and tested new activities such as virtual pub quizzes, which proved successful for both fundraising and supporter engagement. As a result of a focused call for donations to fund frontline services, we raised over £2m to deliver much needed immediate support to the MS community.

Donations

Once again 2020 saw our supporters undertake a huge range of different activities to raise funds for our vital work. Together, they donated a total of £10.1m in 2020 despite the challenges of the pandemic (£13.8m in 2019). Shown within these donations is the Government’s Job Retention Scheme furlough grants which we took advantage of and which amounted to £0.8m.

Unsurprisingly, the pandemic had a significant impact on Community and Events income, which with face to face events cancelled throughout the year was £1.7m, reduced by £2.0m from the £3.7m raised in 2019. Fundraising activities moved online, and we saw strong engagement with existing and new supporters. Looking to the future, we expect to see events such as the London Marathon being rescheduled and the creation of more online events as part of our annual fundraising activities.

Legacies

We received £7.2m from the many generous supporters who left us gifts in their wills although this was £3.7m lower than in 2019.

The first lockdown saw significant disruption to both the property and legal sectors which affected our ability to progress legacy administration. Throughout 2020 there was further impact from delays in Probate Registries, which had a direct effect on income.

We believe these were both contributory factors to a reduced legacy income and that these issues are gradually being resolved. We hope to see an improvement during 2021 and beyond.

As ever, we are grateful to all our kind supporters who remembered us in their will.

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Income from charitable activities

In 2020 we received £1.9m from charitable activities, compared with £1.5m in 2019. The increase in income arose mainly from two factors: a swell in emergency funding arising from the pandemic, and £0.5m funding for the ‘The Pontio Project’, which provides emotional, befriending and one-to-one support to people affected by MS in Wales.

Trading activities

Our retail operation was significantly reduced by the pandemic and the resulting social distancing restrictions. As a result, we saw income from trading activities fall from £2m in 2019 to just under £1m in 2020.

Expenditure

At the onset of the pandemic, we developed a financial model based on three different scenarios through to 2023 to help us understand the potential medium-term impact on reserves and cash flow. This enabled us to identify the level of expenditure needed to mitigate the impact on income. While the situation with the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve, we are confident that the MS Society remains a going concern.

Raising funds

The costs of raising funds were reduced by £1.8m, from £8.8m in 2019 to £7.0m in 2020. This is largely a result of significant reductions to planned fundraising activities due to the pandemic.

Living well with MS

Included within this category is our MS Helpline and services we provide directly to people affected by MS, either centrally or through our local volunteer groups. Expenditure here was also affected by the loss of income arising from COVID-19 as we had to cut back in a number of areas, including our national individual grants programme and our day care service in Belfast. Expenditure in the local volunteer groups is significantly less as their activities have been reduced during the lockdowns. Overall expenditure fell from £9.7m to £6.9m.

Connected communities, powerful voices

Included within this category is our spend on campaigning and influencing on behalf of people affected by MS. Alongside this, we are also helping to support MS communities to become movements for change on issues that affect them. Work in our local volunteer groups was affected by COVID-19 and is the primary reason for the drop in expenditure, from £7.4m to £6.2m.

Effective treatments and preventing MS

Most of the expenditure in this area relates to research both into looking for effective treatments and in preventing MS. Due to the drop in income because of COVID-19, we paused our research grant round in 2020 and delayed the launch of our multi-arm clinical trial. This resulted in expenditure falling from £5.2m in 2019 to £3.3m in 2020. In February 2021 we signed a grant for a multi-arm clinical trials programme (Octopus).

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Our reserves

Primarily reserves are held to enable the continuity of services and activities that we undertake to meet our strategic goals both now and in the future.

Reserves are held for the following reasons:

• To handle a sudden reduction in income

• To handle fluctuations in the market value of the investment portfolio

• To cover for other key risks crystallising resulting in unplanned expenditure

• To take advantage of opportunities

In considering the level of reserves that should be held, we test the policy level against various scenarios to ensure an adequate level of reserves are held.

Given the activities we engage in, reserves do not need to be held to maintain working capital. We have two designated funds:

1. A fund which represents the net book value of unrestricted intangible and tangible assets.

2. A designated fund for research. This fund was created to build reserves to enable the commitment of expenditure towards our clinical trials programme.

The MS Society has total funds of £14.6m (2019: £17.2m) with £4.3m (2019: £4.7m) within the designated fund for fixed assets, £12.9m (2019: £11.0m) held in the designated fund for research, £3.7m (2019: £6.4m) held in general funds and negative £6.2m (2019: -£4.9m) in net restricted funds. Included within restricted funds are £0.3m of endowment funds (2017: £0.3m).

Included in the -£6.2m (2019: -£4.9m) of restricted funds are negative restricted research fund balances totalling £10.6m (2019: £10.1m). These negative funds are held in the expectation that specific income will be received for these projects. We also held £0.1m (2019: £1.4m) in general restricted research funds or where the restriction was for a broad area of research, which could be used to offset the £10.6m negative balances. Given how much we raise each year in restricted research donations, part of the deficit in fund balances will be made up from donations received. Where this doesn’t happen, we also have a designated fund for research that could be used to make up the deficit (2020: £12.9m, 2019: £10.9m). Therefore, we are satisfied that the deficits on negative restricted research funds will be reversed in the future.

In calculating reserves held, we include the balance of the designated fund for research after any negative restricted research balances (after taking into account any unutilised general restricted research funds) as these funds are available to Trustees to be spent as they see fit. Restricted funds are not included in reserves as these funds can only be spent in line with what the donor has specified.

We aim to maintain reserves within a policy range of a lower limit of 10 weeks of planned expenditure and an upper limit which is calculated as follows:

• 14 weeks ‘planned expenditure’ plus

• the balance of the designated fund for research included in reserves

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At 31 December reserves held were £6.0m (2019: £8.8m), equating to 11.2 weeks of planned expenditure (2019: 14.8 weeks) which was within the reserves policy level.

Going concern

We have set out above a review of financial performance and our reserves position. We have adequate financial resources and are well placed to manage the business risks. Our planning process, including financial projections, has taken into consideration the current economic climate and its potential impact on the various sources of income and planned expenditure. Although we have net current liabilities, the investment portfolio could easily be drawn down should working capital be required.

We believe that there are no material uncertainties that call into doubt our ability to continue. The accounts have therefore been prepared on the basis that the MS Society is a going concern.

COVID-19

We have managed to negotiate a significant drop in income during 2020 without operating outside the Board’s reserve policy. We believe the impact from the pandemic will last into 2021 and we are only budgeting for a modest increase in income. We are well placed should any recovery be delayed for whatever reason and therefore doesn’t change our assessment of going concern.

Investment policy

Rathbone Investment Management Limited are the MS Society’s investment managers, having successfully retendered in 2018.

The main portfolio was monitored on a total return basis using consumer price inflation (CPI) plus 3% over the investment managers’ tenure. In 2020 the portfolio achieved a total annual return of 4.7% (2019:14.7%) against a benchmark of 3.6% (2019: 4.3%).

The Audit, Risk and Finance Committee have delegated oversight of the investment portfolio. Quarterly reports from the Investment Manager were issued to the members of the Audit, Risk and Finance Committee and the investment manager attended two committee meetings in 2020. The Audit, Risk and Finance Committee carried out a review of the investment principles, during the year, under which the managers operate.

Overall, we received investment income of £188,000 in 2020 (2019: £249,000) from the investment portfolios and a net investment gain of £421,000 in 2020 (2019: £1.87m).

Our socially responsible investment position prohibits direct investment into tobacco companies and provides that the investment managers should continuously review the indirect investments into tobacco to ensure that only a diminutive level is held (no more than 1%). Additionally the portfolio should be managed in a way that seeks to favour environmental and socially responsible investments without negatively impacting returns.

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Grant making policy

We award several types of grants to meet our objectives. The major types are individual support grants and research grants.

Individual support grants

We provide financial assistance to individuals with MS, their families and carers. These grants help with a range of costs associated with daily living, including the cost of home adaptations, mobility aids, short breaks and respite care. We awarded £409k in support grants in 2020 (£1.0m in 2019), which were either funded by local donations and administered through our volunteer run groups or centrally managed. During 2020, because of COVID-19, the national grants programme was suspended but our local groups continued to provide these grants.

Research grants

We provide awards for research in the areas of effective treatment, prevention, symptom management and service development. These grants range from small projects to large programmes, as well as PhD studentships and fellowships.

Our top research priority is finding and testing treatments to stop disability progression. We are developing treatments that could repair damaged areas of myelin (remyelination) and protect nerves from damage (neuro-protection). We actively pursue strategic research collaboration and partnerships, both as a funder and as a source of expertise and influence. In total we spent £2.7m (2019: £4.9m) on our active research portfolio in 2020. This figure is net of any research grant writebacks.

Our principal risks and uncertainties

We are committed to effective risk management as an integral part of good corporate governance. We recognise that informed risk-taking helps to improve performance, manage our threats and opportunities and create an environment of ‘no surprises’. This enables us to get the right balance between innovation and change and the avoidance of shocks and crises. Our risk management provides the framework and process that enables us to manage uncertainty in a systematic, effective and efficient way.

The Board concentrates its efforts on ensuring the most serious risks are being managed effectively; those which have a high likelihood of occurring and would have a severe impact on the achievement of our strategy and three impact goals. The Board has risk appetite statements around the key risk areas and reviews them annually. These statements consider our strategy, priorities, goals, activities and controls, and articulate the parameters within which the Board feels the overall portfolio of risks are appropriate, balanced and sustainable.

Our risk management processes are designed to enable us to conclude whether the major risks to which we are exposed have been identified, reviewed and impact assessed and are within the Board’s risk appetite. Senior management reports on key risk areas, and where our operations are not aligned to the Board’s risk appetite, quarterly, to the Audit, Risk and Finance Committee following which the Board is updated. The Board reviews the corporate risk register in full on an annual basis and there are opportunities for deep-dives into key risk areas, as

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considered necessary by the Board during the year. Internal audit carries out independent reviews across the MS Society; these reports comment on the systems of internal control and the recommendations and actions from the reports are overseen by the Audit, Risk and Finance Committee.

We are confident the risk framework and methodology described above enables major risks to be identified throughout the organisation.

Below are the larger risks and uncertainties which affect the MS Society and the plan and strategy to mitigate the risks:

1. Effective people, including volunteers and staff

2020 was a year of great disruption, uncertainty and stress. To respond to the impact of the pandemic we underwent an organisational restructure. We also made use of the Government’s Job Retention Scheme, placing a number of colleagues on furlough leave. The cessation of face-to-face activities in our local groups and the effects of social restrictions, including the closure of our offices, also had a massive impact on colleagues and volunteers. We sought to be as transparent and open with colleagues as possible during this time, and placed a focus on mental health and wellbeing. Though the structural changes have been completed, we recognise there is an on-going risk of excessive levels of stress, disconnection and demotivation among colleagues as the effects of the pandemic continue to be felt. People will continue to be a key focus for us as an organisation in 2021. The Board has approved new Employee Engagement and Volunteering strategies at the end of 2020, which we are now implementing.

The Employee Engagement Strategy is an ambitious and exciting step-change that sets out to ensure that we are a fantastic and fully inclusive place to work, where staff are engaged and motivated to achieve. The Volunteering Strategy reflects our ambition to improve experience, engagement and impact for our existing volunteer base, and details how we will bring new volunteers into the organisation. In 2021 we will develop a new Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy to help us create an inclusive workplace and culture, ensuring that everyone can thrive and have the same chances to contribute, share and succeed.

There are internal communication mechanisms aimed at engaging, motivating and informing staff and volunteers, including regular email communications, online events, an intranet and a volunteer website.

2. Sufficient financial resources to support people affected by MS and achieve our ambition of stopping MS

In 2020 we experienced a significant loss of income from the impact of the pandemic and had to change our plans and reduce our ambition for the year. While we have been able to carefully plan and respond to mitigate the impact of the reduction in our income, and so remain financially stable, the restrictions in place are likely to continue to some degree into the foreseeable future. This on-going risk to income levels will be managed through 2021 with a prudent approach to planning, and we are confident our ambitious objectives for 2021 are achievable.

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We are continuing to develop innovative approaches to fundraising while social restrictions remain in place, and ensuring we are ready to adapt as needed as the year progresses. We are continuing work to develop and improve our website and our online fundraising capability and donor experience. We aim to ensure that all our donors are respected and well stewarded through obtaining feedback, mystery shopping, automated email stewardship programmes and applying sector best practice.

3. External environment including a) the ongoing pandemic; b) reduced government spending on areas not related to COVID-19 response; and c) the increased pressure on the NHS and social care services

The health and care system continues to face unprecedented financial, workforce and capacity challenges, and has been brought to breaking point through the on-going demands of the pandemic. Many NHS staff have had to be redeployed to help with the crisis, impacting the availability of neurologists and MS nurses, and non-Covid-related or emergency care has been severely curtailed, with an ever-growing backlog. The quality of, and access to, support for people with MS also remains highly variable across the country. Social care and welfare systems continue to face challenges, and increasing inequality, worsened by the pandemic, will increase levels of need.

We will continue to campaign on the issues that matter to the MS community. We remain in a good position to influence the debates and achieve meaningful and lasting change for people with MS. In December 2020 the Board also approved a new Influencing Strategy, which will seek to empower people affected by MS to advocate for their rights on the issues they care about, both individually and as a community – and for professionals to be empowered to advocate for them.

Our plans for 2021

The table below summarises the Society’s 2021 objectives:

People living well with MS	• Co-produce new services and support, driven by the needs of people living with MS, carers and families • Launch a new health care professional engagement offer • Launch a new programme focused on developing, testing and spreadinginnovativemodels ofcare
Connected communities, and powerful voices	• Continue to support our local groups, helping volunteers to resume face-to-face services as soon as it’s safe to • Launch and expand ‘MS Socials’, offering our MS community more and different ways to connect • Continue to support our MS community to speak up on issues that are important to them locally and nationally, including embedding our new localcampaigning offer
Effective treatments and prevention	• Launch Octopus, our multi-arm clinical trials platform • Continue to support our Centres of Excellence • Continue our collaboration with the Progressive MS Alliance, and otherstrategic partnerships that driveforwardMSresearch

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Income generation and supporter engagement

• Launch our new engagement offer • Find ways we can improve supporter experience • Deliver next phase of the Stop MS Appeal • Implement new commercial strategy

Improving how we work

• Embed our new organisational structure and support staff and volunteers to adopt our culture and ways-of-working, ensuring we have a working environment and culture that nurtures diversity, inclusion and engagement • Support all levels of the organisation to build closer connections with our MS community • Take forward strategic partnership opportunities we identify in 2021 • Take forward our digital, data and technology maturity, which includes implementing recommendations from discovery work on long-term approach to data management infrastructure

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Structure, governance and management

Structure

The Multiple Sclerosis Society (the ‘MS Society’) is a charitable company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales (company number 07451571; charity number 1139257).

The MS Society is governed by its Articles of Association, adopted by special resolution in December 2020.

The MS Society is registered with OSCR as a cross-border charity (number SC041990) and registered as a charity (number 1256) and as a foreign company (number 006152F) in the Isle of Man.

Main purposes

The MS Society was set up with three main objects:

• To support and relieve people affected by multiple sclerosis.

• To encourage people affected by multiple sclerosis to attain their full potential as members of society by improving their conditions of life.

• To promote research into multiple sclerosis and allied conditions and to publish the results.

Membership

Following the adoption of the new Articles of Association at the AGM on 5 December 2020, which came into effect on 1 January 2021, the Trustees and National Council Chairs became the legal members of the Multiple Sclerosis Society. The stringent obligations on Trustees and Directors under the Companies Act and Charities Act ensure their accountability for making sure the Society delivers on its charitable objects to the MS community, and for the performance of the charity from a legal and ethical perspective and removes any risk from changes to the Articles.

Trustees and Council Chairs become members on appointment to their respective roles and cease to be members on retirement, or when they cease to hold that role.

Board of Trustees

The Board of Trustees are the charity’s trustees and the legal directors of the company. The Board is the governing body of the MS Society, providing leadership and establishing the policies, rules and procedures of the charity and ensuring the effective and equitable use of the MS Society’s resources in pursuit of its objects.

The new Articles of Association created a new Electorate, which is made up of those members of the MS community who are interested in taking an active role in our governance and wish to elect new trustees to the Board.

The Board is made up of eight elected Trustees and two appointed positions, being the Chair of the Board and Treasurer roles. There are also three co-opted positions which the Board can use to address specific gaps in skills, experience or diversity by appointing individuals for one-year terms. Elected Trustees serve a term of three years and may then be reappointed to serve a further consecutive term of three years, before a break of at least one year. Reappointment is

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based on performance in the role and follows a robust appraisal process undertaken by the Chair or Vice Chair of the Board.

The Chair of the MS Society is selected by the Board and may serve for one term of five years. The Treasurer is appointed by the Board for a three-year term of office and may serve for two consecutive terms before a break of at least one year.

All Trustees (elected and co-opted/appointed) are recruited through open advertisement of vacancies and a formal application and interview process.

Each new Trustee receives an induction to the MS Society. This includes an emphasis on the MS Society’s charitable objects and briefings on the key responsibilities of Trustees and the Board, as well as an understanding of multiple sclerosis and the specific needs of the MS community we are seeking to address.

Board delegation

The Board delegates the exercise of certain powers in connection with the management and administration of the MS Society to the Chief Executive and their staff through the Scheme of Delegation which is available on the MS Society’s website.

The Nominations Committee has delegated responsibility for providing oversight of governance appointments and the performance of the Board and its Committees and Councils, ensuring it acts at all times within its legal obligations and the requirements of the Articles of Association, and the Rules and Standard Operating Procedures.

The Audit, Risk and Finance Committee has delegated responsibility for providing the Board with oversight of the appropriateness and effectiveness of the MS Society’s systems for internal control and risk management, and of the financial affairs of the charity, ensuring financial viability, efficient and proper use of its resources, and safeguarding of its assets.

The People Committee has delegated responsibility for providing the Board with assurance that the Executive Group are effectively leading, developing and delivering the MS Society’s people strategies (both for staff and volunteers) and organisational development programme. The Committee has strategic oversight of the people elements of major transformation programmes or projects that have a significant impact on staff or volunteers. The Committee is responsible for providing oversight of the MS Society’s approach to pay and remuneration matters for all staff, ensuring these support the MS Society’s strategic aims as well as enabling the recruitment, motivation and retention of high-quality people. The Committee is also responsible for determining and agreeing the CEO’s remuneration package with the Board, as well as a broader oversight of executive pay levels.

The four National Councils provide a voice for the MS community in the nations of the UK, act as an ambassador and advocate for people with or affected by MS, and help to deliver the MS Society’s strategy in their nation. The National Councils (Cymru, England, Northern Ireland and Scotland) provide a direct link between the nations and the Board of Trustees.

Section 172 Statement

In line with the duties placed on them by section 172 of the Companies Act 2006, the Trustees, as directors of the company, have acted, in good faith, in the way they consider to be most likely to promote the success of the charity and achieve our charitable purposes. This includes

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placing the needs of the MS community at the heart of all that we do, and focusing on insightsled decision-making. All our activities and services are co-produced with volunteers and people affected by MS.

Charity Governance Code

The MS Society has embraced the Charity Governance Code as a tool for self-assessment and continuous improvement. The Board is satisfied that we substantially comply with the Code and our performance against it is reviewed on an annual basis.

Chief Executive and senior management

The Chief Executive is responsible for the day-to-day management of the charity’s affairs and for implementing policies agreed by the Board. The Chief Executive is assisted by senior managers who manage our staff and volunteers.

Offices

We have offices in Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh and London. We are planning a move of our office in London, which serves as our main and registered office, and expect this to take place during summer 2021.

Our volunteer-run groups

There are over 250 MS Society volunteer-run groups:

• The vast majority cover geographic regions, providing information, support and access to a range of services to people affected by MS at a local level.

• MS Society volunteer-run national support groups for Asians affected by MS (Asian MS) and people currently or formerly working in the Armed Forces (Mutual Support).

• Our volunteer-run groups also help us raise funds.

Our people

Our strategy puts our people right at the heart of everything we do; they are the key to our success. We’d like to thank all those involved in the work of the MS Society in 2020, for the vital contribution they made in shaping our work and helping make our goals a reality.

Our volunteers

Volunteers are the cornerstone of the MS Society – they make significant contributions to our activities: by fundraising, providing us with expert professional advice and insights, operating our MS Helpline, blogging on our website, supporting individuals affected by MS, delivering services, bringing people affected by MS together through our local volunteer-run groups and acting as Trustees and council members. Our volunteers normally contribute around 700,000 hours a year, and although this may have been less in 2020 due to COVID-19, we simply would not be able to achieve all the things we do without them.

We have around 3,000 committed volunteers, many of whom have a personal connection to MS. Their personal commitment remains the cornerstone of our success in delivering our goals. (Note: We have redefined what is meant by an active volunteer for these accounts.)

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It is difficult for us to put a value on the skills, care, devotion and commitment of our volunteers in working for people with MS. But, without their dedication to the cause, we would not have had the same impact for people affected by MS that we have been able to achieve.

Our campaigners

Our campaigns community enables us to speak with the voice of thousands of people affected by MS, calling on decision makers to make meaningful changes to improve life for people living with MS.

Our campaigners tackle both local and national issues, from fighting to keep MS nurses or get treatment clinics in their area, to calling on their MPs to improve the welfare system.

When it comes to campaigning, we know every voice counts and we want to thank all those who called for change.

mssociety.org.uk/campaigns

Our MS Society Ambassadors

MS Society Ambassadors are volunteers who have pledged to work closely with us and use their public profiles to raise awareness of MS and our work in the media, helping us reach a wider audience.

mssociety.org.uk/ambassadors

Strengthening our focus on equality, diversity and inclusion

In 2020 we made good progress towards our vision of placing equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) at the heart of everything we do.

A specific priority in 2020 was making our leadership more diverse and inclusive. This has included setting targets for the future composition of the Board and National Councils in terms of the number of those with MS, those very closely connected to MS and those from groups that have been traditionally under-represented. As a result of wide advertising, an emphasis on what we were seeking to achieve and more inclusive recruitment practices, diversity has improved on the Board.

However, the Board recognises we need to do more to fully reflect the diversity of the MS community and the broader population, and is committed to changing this. In 2020, the Board’s Strategic Away Day had a focused discussion on the improvements we need to make. In 2021 we will develop a new Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy to help us create an inclusive workplace and culture, ensuring that everyone can thrive and have the same chances to contribute, share and succeed.

Our employees

2020 has been a year like no other. At the beginning of the year we were preparing to make some changes to the way we worked, to better support the MS community. However, in common with many charities, we faced significant financial challenges when the COVID-19 pandemic began and had to adapt our plans at pace to fit ‘the new world’. Therefore, a more comprehensive organisational restructuring was implemented than had originally been proposed but this still incorporated the planned changes to the way we work. Even with the restructuring, our employee turnover rate for 2020 (which includes all leavers, voluntary or otherwise) was

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similar to the previous year at 22% (2019: 21.15%). We aim to keep our turnover rate below the sector average but some turnover is to be welcomed as this creates opportunities for others.

We aspire to be the employer of choice for talented people who want to deliver positive change for people living with MS. We continue to work hard to make sure our employees have a strong voice in how we work so that every person feels they belong and can contribute their expertise in a positive way. By implementing our new ‘Developing a highly engaged workforce’ strategy, we will see a considerable step change in this area over the next few years.

We know that means providing an engaging offering of interesting and challenging work, and a commitment from us to recognise that employees have interests and responsibilities outside work that are important. We are increasing the flexibility we can offer employees about when and how they work, and ensuring our working practices and workplaces are modern and attractive.

We offer a reward package that tracks the charity sector so we can reward competitively and offer a wide range of benefits including a cycle-to-work scheme, personal pension plan, familyfriendly policies and processes and an employee wellbeing scheme. In addition to rewards and benefits, we support and encourage employees to take up learning and development opportunities, based on their needs and aspirations. We encourage our people to take a selfdirected approach to their own learning and to identify and exploit chances to learn. We also use a robust performance appraisal framework to provide a forum where managers and employees can think about any learning that can be achieved. As well as this, we offer formal training where needed, not least in new skills such as digital working.

Our approach to employing disabled people

We are dedicated to being an exemplary employer of disabled people, including those with MS. Our commitment to non-discrimination is embedded in our policies, procedures and practice. We make reasonable adjustments to support disabled staff to meet their full potential by implementing best employment practice, providing equal access to learning, ensuring equal opportunity for promotion, tackling discrimination and removing access barriers, where reasonably practicable to do so.

Keeping staff informed

We have well-established arrangements for giving staff a voice in what we do and to hear their thoughts. Over the course of 2020 and in response to the pandemic, some of our communication channels have adapted to further support and connect colleagues while working from home. Our e-newsletter, which we use to share stories that bring to life our strategy and how we are supporting our community, has increased from monthly to fortnightly. Our intranet provides a hub for colleagues to find helpful information and organisational updates. Our All Colleague Updates, which were previously quarterly, have increased in frequency. These are now run completely virtually and they provide an opportunity to discuss our strategy and impact, our progress and our financial position. Our colleagues are invited to engage in two-way conversations with senior leaders and one another, as well as share their views. In 2020, these were run at regular intervals, and led by all members of the Executive Group, to provide colleagues with vital updates on our organisation’s response to COVID-19 and the proposed restructuring.

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We run periodic Employee Engagement surveys to track how our colleagues are feeling and their views on issues we know are important to them. All our people have access to the Board of Trustees’ meeting papers, which are made public, on our website. A joint negotiating and consultation committee (JNCC) – formed of union representatives, staff representatives and members of senior management – meets regularly to discuss staff and organisation-wide issues and agree actions. Members of JNCC played an important role in supporting colleagues throughout the restructure in 2020.

All managers are expected to hold regular meetings with their teams and individual staff to increase engagement and facilitate informal and formal discussion, information sharing and consultation on issues as appropriate. Individual performance is formally reviewed twice a year and is aligned with organisational goals and our values framework.

Remuneration

We aim to pay salaries which are fair and proportionate to the complexity of each role and we are competitive within the charity sector. In determining the right level of pay, we:

• Have a detailed job evaluation process which is then benchmarked against Croner Charity Rewards.

• Aim to pay salaries at the median of charity sector salaries. We do not look to compete with private or public sector salaries.

• Pay all staff the UK living wage (or above) as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.

• Currently pay a dispersion ratio of approximately 4:1 (2019: 4:1) between the highest salary and the median salary.

Trustees are not remunerated. Remuneration for other key management personnel is handled in the same way as for all other staff, except for the Chief Executive, which is based on the similar principles as for all other staff but is decided by the People Committee, within a framework approved by the Board.

Environmental sustainability

We are committed to environmental sustainability and we undertook an Energy Saving Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) audit in 2019 in order to help identify how we can minimise our carbon footprint.

The following data relates to our annual energy consumption and CO2 emissions:

2020	Energy consumed & estimated (kw/h)	Government emissions conversion factor	Emissions (kg of CO2e)	Performance indicator (staff numbers)	Emissions ratio (kg of CO2e/staff member)
Gas	168,864	0.18387	31,049	296	105
Fuel for transport	125,579	0.24057	30,211	296	102
Electricity	210,331	0.23314	49,037	296	166
2019	Energy consumed & estimated (kw/h)	Government emissions conversion factor	Emissions (kg of CO2e)	Performance indicator (staff numbers)	Emissions Ratio (kg of CO2e/staff member)
Gas	417,551	0.18387	76,775	316	243
Fuel for transport	376,737	0.24057	90,631	316	287

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Electricity 520,087 0.23314 121,253 316 384

The management of resources is an important issue for the charity. As a result of COVID-19, in 2020, our offices have only been open for essential operations, staff travel has been minimal and local groups have paused face-to-face services. Therefore the opportunities to improve energy efficiency have been minimal.

In 2021, we intend to introduce a number of initiatives to minimise the negative impact of our work on the environment, economy and society. These include:

• Relocating our main office into smaller accommodation that better reflects our space requirement. This will have a positive impact in the following ways:

• The application of a SKA rating (environmental benchmark) as part of the fit-out

• Move towards paperless working practices

• Introduce agile working arrangements and workspaces to reflect the type of activities carried out rather than tailoring for each individual

• Stocks of recycled products and consumables such as paper

• Environmental disposal of items in existing premises, for example, selling, donating or disposing of equipment/material environmentally or ethically

• Consider the lesson learnt during lockdown and determine a new balance between video conferencing and face-to-face meetings

• Review our car allowance policy to incorporate environmental issues in addition to cost/benefits.

Relationship between the MS Society and its subsidiaries

MSS (Trading) Ltd

The Multiple Sclerosis Society is the sole shareholder, owning two shares, in MSS (Trading) Limited. The principal activities of MSS (Trading) Limited are corporate sponsorship, sale of greeting cards and sale of advertising space for the benefit of the MS Society.

MS Society Nominees Limited

MS Society Nominees Limited, a company limited by guarantee without share capital, holds the title deeds of the MS Society’s property portfolio.

Multiple Sclerosis Society of Great Britain and Northern Ireland – linked charity

The MS Society is the sole trustee and sole member of the Multiple Sclerosis Society of Great Britain and Northern Ireland with a registered charity number 1139257/1 (formerly 207495), precursor of the MS Society.

Public benefit

Senior management and Trustees of the Multiple Sclerosis Society have complied with the duty in section 4 of the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to the public benefit guidance published by the Charity Commission in administering the MS Society, in determining achievements against the aims they had set for 2020 and in planning activities for 2021.

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Statement of Trustees’ responsibilities and corporate governance

Trustees’ responsibilities statement

The Trustees are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and regulations.

Company law requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year and the Trustees have elected to prepare the financial statements in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (United Kingdom Accounting Standards and applicable law). Under company law the Trustees must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and the group and 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 the most suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently.

• Observe the methods and principles in the Charity SORP.

• Make judgments and accounting 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.

• • Prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charitable group 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 and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and the group and ensuring their proper application under charity law and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

In so far as each of the Trustees is aware:

• There is no relevant audit information of which the charitable company’s auditors are unaware.

• The Trustees have each taken all steps that they ought to have taken to make them aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the auditors are aware of that information.

The Trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the company’s website.

Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

Haysmacintyre LLP has indicated its willingness to be reappointed as statutory auditor.

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Approved by the Board of Trustees of the MS Society on 01 April 2021 including, in their capacity as company directors, the strategic report contained therein, and signed on its behalf by:

Stuart Secker (Apr 1, 2021 16:27 GMT+1)

Stuart Secker

Treasurer

1 April 2021

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Independent auditor’s report to the members and trustees of Multiple Sclerosis Society

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Multiple Sclerosis Society for the year ended 31 December 2020 which comprise the Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities, the Consolidated and Charity Balance Sheets, the Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows and notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion, the financial statements:

• give a true and fair view of the state of the group’s and of the parent charitable company’s affairs as at 31 December 2020 and of the group’s and parent charitable company’s net movement in funds, including the 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 and the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and regulation 8 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 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 group's ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

Other information

The trustees are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the Trustees’ Report and the Chair’s statement. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

In connection with our audit of the financial statements, our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material

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misstatements, we are required to determine whether there is a material misstatement in the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact. We have nothing to report in this regard.

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

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

• the information given in the Trustees’ Report (which includes the strategic report and the directors’ 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 the light of the knowledge and understanding of the group and the parent charitable company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the Trustees’ Report (which incorporates the strategic report and the directors’ report).

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 and the Charity Accounts (Scotland) Regulations (as amended) require us to report to you if, in our opinion:

• adequate accounting records have not been kept by the parent charitable company, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or

• the parent charitable company 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 for the financial statements

As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement [ set out on page 26], 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 group’s and the parent 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 group or the parent 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.

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Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below:

Based on our understanding of the group and the environment in which it operates, we identified that the principal risks of non-compliance with laws and regulations related to charity and company law applicable in England and Wales and Scotland , and we considered the extent to which non-compliance might have a material effect on the financial statements. We also considered those laws and regulations that have a direct impact on the preparation of the financial statements such as the Companies Act 2006, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Charities Act 2011.

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

• Discussions with management including consideration of known or suspected instances of non-compliance with laws and regulation and fraud;

• Reviewing the controls and procedures of the group relevant to the preparation of the financial statements to ensure these were in place throughout the year, including during the Covid-19 remote working period;

• Evaluating management’s controls designed to prevent and detect irregularities;

• • Identifying and testing journals, in particular journal entries posted with unusual account combinations, postings by unusual users or with unusual descriptions; and

• Challenging assumptions and judgements made by management in their critical accounting estimates, in particular donation and legacy recognition, recognition of grant income and the recognition of grant expenditure.

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.

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, section 44(1)(c) of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and regulation 10 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company's members those matters we are required to state to them in an Auditor's report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charitable company and the charitable company's members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Apr 15, 2021

Steven Harper (Senior Statutory Auditor) For and on behalf of Haysmacintyre LLP, Statutory Auditors 10 Queen Street Place London EC4R 1AG

30

Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities (SOFA) (incorporating an income and expenditure account)

Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities (SOFA) (incorporating an income and expenditure account)	Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities (SOFA) (incorporating an income and expenditure account)
Year ended 31 December 2020 Unrestricted Note funds Income from: 5 £'000		Restricted funds	2020 Total	2019 Restated Total
	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
Donations	6,831	3,255	10,086	13,838
Legacies receivable Charitable activities	5,667 501	1,576 1,368	7,243 1,869	10,964 1,510
Other trading activities	924	30	954	1,997
Investment income Other income	187 147	1 -	188 147	249 42
Total income 5	14,257	6,230	20,487	28,600
Expenditure on: 6 Raising funds Raising funds expenditure Charitable activities Goal 1 - Living well with MS Goal 2 - Connected communities, powerful voices Goal 3 - Effective treatments and preventing MS
	5,486 4,223 5,826 384	1,553 2,698 389 2,901	7,039 6,921 6,215 3,285	8,819 9,686 7,440 5,191
Total expenditure 6	15,919	7,541	23,460	31,136
Net gains on investments 15 Net income/(expenditure) Other recognised gains and losses	436 (15) 421			1,870
	(1,226) (2)	(1,326) -	(2,552) (2)	(666) (1)
Net movement in funds	(1,228)	(1,326)	(2,554)	(667)
Reconciliation of funds Total funds brought forward	22,055 (4,866) 17,189			17,856
Total funds carried forward 20	20,827	(6,192)	14,635	17,189

2019 expenditure figures have been restated to align them with our new goals under the 2020-2024 strategy.

Prior year split between unrestricted and restricted appears in note 21.

Restricted funds includes endowment funds of £301k (2019: £317k) - see note 20 for an analysis. No separate income and expenditure account is required under the Companies Act 2006 has been presented as the only difference between net income as stated above and net income as defined by the Companies Act is net income on endowment funds of -£15k (2019: +£36k). All activities above were from continuing activities.

31

Consolidated and Charity Balance Sheets

31 December 2020

2020 2019 Notes £'000 £'000 Fixed assets Intangible assets 12 270 488 Tangible assets 13 4,190 4,434 Investments 15 14,594 14,752 Total fixed assets 19,054 19,674 Current assets Debtors 16 3,998 6,311 Investments 5 5 Cash at bank and in hand 1,255 893 Total current assets 5,258 7,209 Liabilities: Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year 18 9,296 9,154 Net current liabilities (4,038) (1,945) Total assets less current liabilities 15,016 17,729 Creditors: Amounts falling due after more than one year 19 381 540 Total net assets 20 14,635 17,189 Funds Endowment funds 20 302 317 Restricted income funds (see the reserves policy in the Trustees report page 13) 20 (6,494) (5,183) Unrestricted funds - Designated for intangible & tangible fixed assets 4,259 4,707 - Designated for research (Stop MS Appeal) 12,850 10,978 - General funds 3,718 6,370 Total unrestricted funds 20 20,827 22,055 Total charity funds 20 14,635 17,189 Consolidated	2020 2019 Notes £'000 £'000 Fixed assets Intangible assets 12 270 488 Tangible assets 13 4,190 4,434 Investments 15 14,594 14,752 Total fixed assets 19,054 19,674 Current assets Debtors 16 3,998 6,311 Investments 5 5 Cash at bank and in hand 1,255 893 Total current assets 5,258 7,209 Liabilities: Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year 18 9,296 9,154 Net current liabilities (4,038) (1,945) Total assets less current liabilities 15,016 17,729 Creditors: Amounts falling due after more than one year 19 381 540 Total net assets 20 14,635 17,189 Funds Endowment funds 20 302 317 Restricted income funds (see the reserves policy in the Trustees report page 13) 20 (6,494) (5,183) Unrestricted funds - Designated for intangible & tangible fixed assets 4,259 4,707 - Designated for research (Stop MS Appeal) 12,850 10,978 - General funds 3,718 6,370 Total unrestricted funds 20 20,827 22,055 Total charity funds 20 14,635 17,189 Consolidated	2020 2019 Notes £'000 £'000 Fixed assets Intangible assets 12 270 488 Tangible assets 13 4,190 4,434 Investments 15 14,594 14,752 Total fixed assets 19,054 19,674 Current assets Debtors 16 3,998 6,311 Investments 5 5 Cash at bank and in hand 1,255 893 Total current assets 5,258 7,209 Liabilities: Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year 18 9,296 9,154 Net current liabilities (4,038) (1,945) Total assets less current liabilities 15,016 17,729 Creditors: Amounts falling due after more than one year 19 381 540 Total net assets 20 14,635 17,189 Funds Endowment funds 20 302 317 Restricted income funds (see the reserves policy in the Trustees report page 13) 20 (6,494) (5,183) Unrestricted funds - Designated for intangible & tangible fixed assets 4,259 4,707 - Designated for research (Stop MS Appeal) 12,850 10,978 - General funds 3,718 6,370 Total unrestricted funds 20 20,827 22,055 Total charity funds 20 14,635 17,189 Consolidated	2020 2019 £'000 £'000 Charity	2020 2019 £'000 £'000 Charity
	270 4,190 14,594	488 4,434 14,752	270 4,190 14,594	488 4,434 14,752
	19,054 3,998 5 1,255	19,674 6,311 5 893	19,054 4,013 5 1,175	19,674 6,229 5 835
	5,258 9,296	7,209 9,154	5,193 9,243	7,069 9,101
	(4,038)	(1,945)	(4,050)	(2,032)
	15,016 381	17,729 540	15,004 381	17,642 540
	14,635	17,189	14,623	17,102
	302	317	302	317
	(6,494)	(5,183)	(6,494)	(5,183)
	4,259 12,850 3,718	4,707 10,978 6,370	4,259 12,850 3,706	4,707 10,978 6,283
	20,827	22,055	20,815	21,968
	14,635	17,189	14,623	17,102

The turnover for the charity was £20.5m (2019: £28.1m) and the net movement in funds in the charity was -£2.5m (2019: - £1.0m). A charity SOFA appears at the back of these accounts.

These financial statements were approved, authorised for issue and signed on behalf of the Trustees on 1 April 2021. The notes on pages 34 to 55 form part of these financial statements.

Stuart Secker (Apr 1, 2021 16:27 GMT+1) Apr 1, 2021 Stuart Secker Treasurer

32

Year ended 31 December 2020

Consolidated statement of cash flows

Consolidated statement of cash flows Year ended 31 December 2020
Note Cash flows from operating activities: Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities A Cash flows from investing activities: Dividends and interest from investments Proceeds from the sale of property, plant and equipment Purchase of intangible assets Purchase of property, plant and equipment Proceeds from sale of investments Purchase of investments Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities Cash flows from financing activities: Change in cash and cash equivalents in the reporting period Cash and cash equivalents as at 1 January B Change in cash and cash equivalents due to exchange rate movements Cash and cash equivalents as at 31 December B Net income/expenditure for the reporting period (as per the statement of financial activities) Adjustments for: Depreciation and amortisation charges (Gains)/Losses on investments Dividends and interest from investments Profit on the sale of fixed assets Decrease/(Increase) in debtors Increase/(Decrease) in creditors Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities B. Analysis of cash and cash equivalents Cash in hand Notice deposits (less than 3 months) Total cash and cash equivalents A. Reconciliation of net income/(expenditure) to net cash flow from operating activities	2020 £'000 (603)	2019 £'000 (1,931)
	188 315 (115) - 7,059 (6,480)	249 92 (249) (7) 4,629 (2,889)
	967	1,825
	-	-
	364 898 (2)	(106) 1,005 (1)
	1,260	898
	(2,552) 409 (421) (188) (147) 2,313 (17)	(666) 461 (1,870) (249) (42) (664) 1,099
	(603)	(1,931)
	1,255 5	893 5
	1,260	898

Note the Society has taken advantage of the exemption contained in FRS102 on the preparation of a charity cash flow statement.

C. Reconciliation of net funds Cash Cash equivalents Total	1 Jan 2020 £'000 893 5	Cashflows £'000 364 -	Foreign exchange movements £'000 (2) -	31 Dec 2020 £'000 1,255 5
	898	364	(2)	1,260

33

Notes to Consolidated Accounts

Year ended 31 December 2020

1. Charity information

The charity is a private limited company (registered number 07451571), which is incorporated and domiciled in the UK. The address of the registered office is 372 Edgware Road, London NW2 6ND.

2. Accounting policies

a) Basis of preparation

The accounts (financial statements) have been prepared in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice for Charities (SORP 2019) (Second Edition, effective 1 January 2019) applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102), the Charities Act 2011, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 and UK Generally Accepted Practice as it applies from 1 January 2019.

The MS Society meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy note(s).

These are consolidated accounts representing the accounts of the MS Society, its linked charity 'Multiple Sclerosis Society of Great Britain and Northern Ireland' and its subsidiary company, MSS (Trading) Limited (registered company number 02895015). These accounts have been consolidated on a line by line basis.

The Society's volunteer-run groups account on a receipts and payments basis with a selection of groups required to submit an 'Agreed upon Procedures Report' (APR) which has been signed off by a Chartered Accountant.

b) Going concern

After reviewing the forecasts, liquidity position as well as the ongoing potential impact of COVID-19 on the charity, the Trustees consider there to be no material uncertainties about the charity’s ability to continue as a going concern. The Trustees therefore continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the financial statements.

c) Critical accounting judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty

In the application of the charity’s accounting policies, which are described in this note, Trustees are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. In the view of the Trustees, the most significant estimate relates to the recognition of legacy income. The estimates and underlying assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.

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

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

d) Functional/Presentation currency

The functional currency of the Society and its subsidiary is considered to be in pounds sterling because that is the currency of the primary economic environment in which the charity/group operates. The consolidated financial statements are also presented in pounds sterling rounded to the nearest thousand unless otherwise shown.

e) Funds

The different funds are defined as follows:

Endowment funds Permanent endowment: where a donor specifies only income arising from a donation can be used and the income may also be restricted towards a particular purpose.

Expendable endowment: a fund that must be invested to produce income. Depending on the conditions attached to the endowment, the Trustees will have a legal power to convert all or part of it into an income fund which can then be spent.

34

Notes to Consolidated Accounts (continued)

Year ended 31 December 2020

2. Accounting policies (continued)

e) Funds (continued)

Restricted income Restricted income funds are subject to specific restrictions imposed by the donor or by the nature of funds the appeal.

General funds / General funds are unrestricted income funds available to the Society for its general purposes and Unrestricted funds include funds designated for a particular purpose. The use of designated funds remains at the discretion of Trustees.

f) Income

All income is accounted for when the Society has entitlement, the receipt is probable and the amount is measurable.

• ■Legacies are recognised when all the three criteria below are met:

• a. Establish entitlement – in practice this would be estate accounts being finalised, cash received, where there is agreement on an interim distribution or where entitlement has been established.

• b. Where receipt is probable – being named in a will makes a receipt probable.

• c. The amount is measurable – in practice this could come from estate accounts, cash received or correspondence from executors/solicitors confirming an amount to be distributed. Measurability will also be met where a reasonably accurate assessment can be made of the value.

• Donated services and facilities: are included at the value to the charity where this can be quantified and are greater than £10,000. No amounts are included in the financial statements for services donated by volunteers. With 3,000 volunteers the amount involved is significant but difficult to quantify and therefore excluded in line with paragraph 6.18 of the SORP.

• Gifts donated for resale are included as income when they are sold at the price they are sold for.

• Grants: where related to performance and specific deliverables are accounted for as the charity earns the right to consideration by its performance. Where the grant is received in advance of performance, its recognition is deferred and included in creditors. Where entitlement occurs before the grant is received, it is accrued in debtors.

g) Expenditure

Expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis except for volunteer-run groups that account on a receipts and payments basis. Expenditure includes irrecoverable VAT where applicable. The Society makes research grants after evaluating the merits of each grant application and by peer review of grant applications. Each grant commitment is dependent on the satisfactory outcome of a review which, for most grants, is carried out annually. Consequently, for these grants, the Society commits expenditure up to the next date when a review will be done.

Expenditure is allocated to relevant activity categories on a basis that is consistent with the use of the resource.

• Raising funds includes all costs relating to activities where the primary aim is to raise funds along with an apportionment of support costs.

• Charitable activities includes all costs relating to activities where the primary aim is part of the objects of the Society along with an apportionment of support costs.

Support costs consisting of human resources department (HR), facilities and information technology (IT) are apportioned based on the number of staff (full-time equivalents) working on core activities. Finance costs, governance costs and general management costs are apportioned based on direct costs on core activities.

h) Intangible fixed assets

Intangible fixed assets are included at cost and amortised on a straight line basis, in order to write off the assets over their useful lives. Assets below £5,000 are not capitalised. The only assets held as intangible fixed assets are software and costs associated with setting up a new website. These costs are amortised at 33 ⅓% in order to write off these assets over the period of time the Society will receive economic benefit from them.

35

Notes to Consolidated Accounts (continued)

Year ended 31 December 2020

2. Accounting policies (continued)

i) Tangible fixed assets, depreciation and impairment

Tangible fixed assets are included at cost and depreciation is provided on a straight line basis, in order to write off the assets over their useful lives. Assets below £5,000 are not capitalised.

The depreciation rates are as follows:	The depreciation rates are as follows:
Freehold land	Nil	Computer equipment	33 ⅓%
Freehold buildings	2%	Motor vehicles	25%
Leasehold buildings	Remaining term of lease	Fixtures and equipment	20%

Fixed assets are subject to a review for impairment where there is an indication of a reduction in their carrying value. Any impairment is recognised in the Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities in the year in which it occurs.

j) Fixed asset investments

Investments are stated at market value. It is the Society’s policy to keep valuations up to date such that when investments are sold there is no gain or loss arising to previous years. As a result the SOFA includes those unrealised gains and losses arising from the revaluation of the investment portfolio throughout the year.

Fixed asset investments will include cash held by the investment managers which is intended for investment or held as part of the portfolio.

k) Investments included within current assets

Investments included within current assets are monies held in deposit accounts or in short-term notice accounts (less than 3 months).

l) Programme related investments

Programme related investments consist of an equity investment in a company made in furtherance of the Society’s objects and is held at fair value or cost less impairment. The investment is assessed for objective evidence of impairment at the end of the reporting period and any impairment is recognised within the statement of financial activities.

m) Cash at bank and in hand

Cash at bank and in hand refers to monies held in current accounts, bank accounts within the Society's cash pooling scheme and cash.

n) Financial instruments

Recognition criteria for financial instruments appears below:

Financial instrument Measurement criteria (initial and subsequent)	Financial instrument Measurement criteria (initial and subsequent)
Cash Debtors including trade debtors and loans receivable Creditors Bank deposits Investments	Cash held, then on amortised cost Settlement amount or amount advanced then at amortised cost Settlement amount after trade discounts then at amortised cost Cash amount of deposit then at amortised cost Transaction cost then at fair value (market value of quoted investments)

o) Leasing

All operating leases and rental expenses are charged to the SOFA as incurred.

p) Pension costs

The Society has an ongoing defined contribution scheme with all amounts charged to the SOFA in respect to pension costs being the contribution payable in the year.

36

Notes to Consolidated Accounts (continued)

Year ended 31 December 2020

3. Geographic split of consolidated results

	2020 2019 Restated £'000 £'000 UK and England	2020 2019 Restated £'000 £'000 UK and England	2020 2019 Restated £'000 £'000 Scotland	2020 2019 Restated £'000 £'000 Scotland	2020 2019 Restated £'000 £'000 Northern Ireland	2020 2019 Restated £'000 £'000 Northern Ireland	2020 2019 Restated £'000 £'000 Wales/ Cymru	2020 2019 Restated £'000 £'000 Wales/ Cymru	2020 2019 Restated £'000 £'000 Trading Co.	2020 2019 Restated £'000 £'000 Trading Co.	2020 2019 Restated £'000 £'000 Total	2020 2019 Restated £'000 £'000 Total
Income	19,265	26,402	496	982	278	826	317	334	131	231	20,487	28,775
Expenditure Raising funds Charitable activities by goal	6,500	8,138	305	386	83	116	65	87	86	91	7,039	8,818
1. Living well with MS 2. Connected communities 3. Effective treatments	5,278 5,167 3,285	8,317 5,682 5,191	437 718 -	466 974 -	748 17 -	776 66 -	458 313 -	127 718 -	- - -	- - -	6,921 6,215 3,285	9,686 7,440 5,191
Expenditure	20,230	27,328	1,460	1,826	848	958	836	932	86	91	23,460	31,135
Net income / (expenditure)	(965)	(926)	(964)	(844)	(570)	(132)	(519)	(598)	45	140	(2,973)	(2,360)

The above represents income received at national offices and volunteer-run groups within each respective country in the United Kingdom. Expenditure in this analysis reflects where the expenditure was initiated from. Centralised activities (e.g. research) have been included within 'UK and England' despite some of these activities taking place in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales. Also included in 'UK and England' are national support groups, the Isle of Man group and the Guernsey group.

Trading company surplus of £41k (2019: £119k) excludes inter-company transactions of £32k (2019: £32k).

4. Role of volunteers

We have approximately 3,000 committed and active volunteers, many of whom have a personal connection to MS. Volunteers contribute throughout the Society by being Trustees, National Council members, fundraising, providing expert professional advice, being part of our Research Network, working to support and care for individuals affected by MS and delivering services through our volunteer-run groups. We have a large volunteer-run group network who raise and spend money locally to support those affected by MS in their area.

5. Analysis of income

5. Analysis of income
Donations: Direct marketing Community and events Partnership fundraising	1,674 2,343 2020 £'000 4,434	3,652 3,834 4,639 2019 £'000
Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme	797	-
Raised locally	838	1,713
	9,289	13,838
Legacies	7,243	10,964
Charitable activities Charges made by the volunteer-run group network to people affected by MS Statutory sources Other fees and grants
	64 1,160 645	253 835 422
	1,869	1,510
Other trading activities
MSS (Trading) Limited Raffles, lotteries and similar Sale of donated goods Large fundraising events organised by national offices Other (local fundraising events organised by volunteer-run groups and rent received)	131 485 186 58 94	210 544 349 516 378
	954	1,997

37

Notes to Consolidated Accounts (continued)

Year ended 31 December 2020

5. Analysis of income (continued)

Investment income Dividend income receivable Interest receivable Other income (relates to the profit on the Total income 6. Expenditure	sale of fixed assets)	sale of fixed assets)	sale of fixed assets)	sale of fixed assets)	2020 £'000 187 1	10 239 2019 £'000
					188	249
					147	42
					19,690	28,600
	Direct Costs		Support Costs Apportioned		Total
	2020	2019	2020	2019	2020	2019
Raising funds expenditure 1. Living well with MS 3. Effective treatments & preventing MS 2. Connected communities, powerful voices	5,819 4,971 £'000 5,778 2,958	£'000 7,419 4,788 Restated 8,457 6,165	1,261 327 1,102 1,244 £'000	1,400 403 1,229 £'000 1,275 Restated	6,921 6,215 £'000 7,039 3,285	8,819 Restated £'000 5,191 7,440 9,686
	19,526	26,829	3,934	4,307	23,460	31,136

Direct costs include grant expenditure to individuals and institutions - see note 7 for a breakdown of grants.

Analysis of support costs apportioned

Raising funds Total 1. Living well with MS 3. Effective treatments & preventing MS 2. Connected communities, powerful voices	2020 2019 £'000 £'000 86 107 64 77 69 76 29 44 Governance2	2020 2019 £'000 £'000 195 278 144 200 154 197 66 114 Management2	2020 2019 £'000 £'000 199 214 194 216 225 230 40 40 HR Costs1	2020 2019 £'000 £'000 259 249 192 179 205 177 88 102 Finance2	2020 2019 £'000 £'000 295 293 287 296 334 314 59 55 IT Support1	2020 2019 £'000 £'000 227 259 221 262 257 279 45 49 Facilities1	2020 2020 £'000 £'000 1,261 1,400 1,102 1,230 1,244 1,273 327 404 Total
	248 304	559 789	658 700	744 707	975 958	750 849	3,934 4,307

Method of apportionment

1 Apportioned on the number of full-time staff equivalents.

2Apportioned based on total direct costs. Does not include management and finance costs that could be directly allocated to direct costs.

Analysis of governance costs	2020 £'000	2019 £'000
Fees payable to the Charity's auditors for the audit of the annual accounts Internal audit Trustee expenses (Note 8) AGM related costs Board support related costs Total governance costs	31 47 2 37 131	164 30 59 6 42
	248	301

38

Notes to Consolidated Accounts (continued)

Year ended 31 December 2020

7. Grants Institutional grants: Research	Grants released	Grants released	Total grant
Strategic	2020	2019	award
Goals Department of Health	£'000	£'000	£'000
3 3 Simvastatin phase 3 clinical trial (STAT-2) (MS Society contribution to grant between Department of Health and UCL - Dr J Chataway) #ChariotMS - Cladribine to halt deterioration in people with advanced MS (MS Society contribution to the Dept. of Health for a trial being led by Prof K Schmierer, Queen Mary University of London & Barts NHS Health Trust)	540 182	- -	540 1,333
	722	-
Swansea University
1 & 3 Prof David Ford, UK MS Register grants	374	313	1,305
1 & 3 Other grants awarded	75	-
	449	313
Imperial College London
3 3 Prof R Reynolds, Role of neuronal chemokine expression in pathogenesis of MS Prof R Nicholas, The MS and Parkinson's Disease Tissue bank grants	302 99	286 -	2,799 282
3 Writebacks and other grants awarded	-	(13)
	401	273
University of Cambridge 3 Prof S Sawcer, Expression profiling in clonally expanded immune cells 3 Dr M Kotter, ROS signalling and CNS remyelination 3 Prof RJM Franklin, Imaging remyelination in the central nervous system 3 Writebacks and other grants awarded	129 116 90 50	- - 91 972	253 297 282
	385	1,063
University College London (UCL)
3 3 3 Prof C Wheeler-Kingshott, Advanced MRI to investigate progression in MS Prof K Smith, Restoring oxygenation to the inflamed CNS Prof O Ciccarelli, Assessing treatment responses using machine learning	126 118 78	117 74	367 355 223
3 Writebacks and other grants awarded	19	268
	341	459
University of Oxford
3 Prof L Fugger, Examining the amelioration of MS during pregnancy at the single cell level to identify novel therapeutic targets	143	-	243
3 Other grants	-	114
	143	114
Cardiff University
1 Prof M Busse, Lifestyle, exercise and activity package for people living with progressive MS	94	95	293
3 Writeback and other grants	-	(1)	40
	94	94
University of Plymouth
1 Prof J Marsden, Vestibular rehabilitation in MS: improving vertigo, mobility and quality of life of people with MS. (VeRMiS)	89	51	300
King's College London
1 Dr J Koffman, The empower study: Developing advance care planning resources for people severely affected by MS, and their families	65	-
University of Exeter 1 Dr A Hawton, Ensuring effective treatments are available to people with MS: addressing the value for money issue	52	58	160
3 Writeback of grant	-	(1)	10
	52	57
1 & 3 Other research grants(less than £50k in 2020) and grant writebacks	(41)	2,456
Total institutional grants released for research In-house research team and associated support costs Research grants plus research team and associated support costs	2,700 952	4,880 1,044 5,924
	3,652

39

Notes to Consolidated Accounts (continued)

Year ended 31 December 2020

7. Grants (continued)					Grants released	Grants released
					2020	2019
Other grants					£'000	£'000
Other institutional grants Individual support grants awarded Grants team and associated support costs Individual support grants and associated costs					-	50
					409 153	957 166
					562	1,123
Creditor brought forward Grants awarded by goal: Grant expenditure by goal (excluding support costs) and creditor
	2020 2019 £'000 £'000 Restated 91 45 Individual support grants		2020 2019 £'000 £'000 Restated 7,439 6,597 Research grants		Total Total 2020 2019 £'000 £'000 Restated 7,530 6,642
Goal 1 - Living well with MS	409	957	555	908	964	1,865
Goal 3 - Effective treatments & preventing MS	-	-	2,145	3,972	2,145	3,972
	409	957	2,700	4,880	3,109	5,837
Payments made	(500)	(911)	(2,934)	(4,038)	(3,434)	(4,949)
Creditor carried forward	-	91	7,205	7,439	7,205	7,530

8. Staff and Trustees costs

Total staff emoluments for the year were as follows: Salaries (see note below) National insurance Pension Redundancy payments	2020 £'000 11,189 1,156 739 199	2019 £'000 11,250 1,180 767 14
	13,283	13,211

Salaries for 2020 includes an accrual for holiday pay carried forward of £221k which has not previously been accrued because it wasn't material.

Additionally ex gratia payments of £3k were made to former employees in 2020 (2019: £10k).

The average number of individuals employed by the Society during the year was a	s follows:	s follows:	Average Head Count	Average Head Count
			2020 Number	2019 Number
Charitable activities			226	243
Generating funds Governance			68 2	70 3
			296	316
Number of employees whose employee benefits (exc. employer	No longer	Current	2020	2019
pension contributions) were over £60,000 in the year:	employed	employees	Number	Number
£60,001-£70,000 £70,001-£80,000 £80,001-£90,000 £90,001-£100,000 £100,001-£110,000 £140,001-£150,000	2 11 13 7 - 1 1 1 - 1 1 2 - 1 1 2 1 - 1 1 - 1 1 1		13 1 1 1 1 1	7 1 2 2 1 1

All of the employees whose employee benefits were greater than £60,000 are members of a defined contribution pension scheme and the Society paid contributions of £92k (2019: £108k) for these employees.

40

Notes to Consolidated Accounts (continued)

Year ended 31 December 2020

8. Staff and Trustees costs (continued)

Employee benefits paid to key management personnel

Key management personnel consist of the Trustees plus executive directors. The total amount of employee benefits to 6 (2019: 6) key management personnel in 2020 amounted to £600k (2019: £759k).

Trustees recognise the need to attract the breadth and depth of expertise required to achieve ambitious goals in a competitive employment market which includes commercial, public sector and charitable organisations. Trustees have agreed that the remuneration package offered to all staff including key management personnel should be benchmarked against similar positions located in London through an external evaluation process. All vacancies are filled following an external recruitment process and if that process is initially unsuccessful a market supplement may be added to the remuneration package.

Total employee benefits for the Chief Executive in 2020 amounted to £178k (2019: £179k).

Trustee expenses and donations

The Trustees all give freely their time and expertise without any form of remuneration or other benefit in cash or kind (2019: £nil). Expenses paid to the Trustees in the year totalled £2k (2019: £6k). These expenses were made up of 4 Trustees (2019: 15 Trustees) reimbursed for their travel expenses of £2k (2019: £5k). No accommodation expenses were reimbursed in 2020 (2019: £1k).

9. Taxation

The Society has charitable status and is thus exempt from taxation of its income and gains falling within Chapter 3 Part 11 of the Corporation Tax Act 2010 or Section 256 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 to the extent that they are applied to its charitable objectives. No material tax charges have arisen in its subsidiaries and no provision is required for deferred taxation.

Irrecoverable VAT has been charged against the relevant expenditure.

10. Net movements in funds 2020 £'000 Net movement in funds is arrived at after charging: Depreciation of intangible and tangible fixed assets 409 Profit on disposal of fixed assets 147	2019 £'000 461 42
Fees payable to the Charity's auditors for the audit of the Charity's annual accounts 31 30 Fees payable to the Charity's auditors for other services to the group: - The audit of the charity's subsidiary pursuant to legislation 2 2 - Other non audit services 2 2

11. Related party transactions

Transactions with MSS (Trading) Limited-subsidiary: Balance brought forward - owed by MSS (Trading) Limited to the charity Prior year Gift Aided profits remitted to the charity	2020 £ 112,287 (87,637)	2019 £ 135,343 (114,098)
Monies relating to MSS (Trading) Limited received/paid by the charity (net) Monies relating to the charity received/paid by MSS (Trading) Limited (net)	(3,797) -	(28,095) -
Use of logo charge and management fee charged by the charity to MSS (Trading) Limited Current year profits of MSS (Trading) Limited Amount owing from MSS (Trading) Limited to the charity	31,500 13,234	31,500 87,637
	65,587	112,287

Vicky Annis (Director of Corporate Services) is the treasurer of the MS International Federation (MSIF) and Nick Moberly (Chief Executive) is a trustee. In 2020 an annual subscription was paid to MSIF for £33k and MSIF gave donations of £14k.

Edward Holloway (Director of Digital and Services) is also a director of Digital Health Assistant Limited. The MS Society invested in this company in 2020 and Ed is the MS Society representative on their board, further details appear in the investment note under programme investments.

Jason Atkinson (Trustee) is also managing director of Russams GMS Ltd. Consultancy services from Russams in 2020 were £0 (2019: £13.5k).

There were no other related party transactions in 2020 or 2019.

41

Notes to Consolidated Accounts (continued)

Year ended 31 December 2020

12. Intangible Fixed Assets

12. Intangible Fixed Assets
Consolidated and Charity Cost Balance at 1 January Additions Disposals Balance at 31 December Accumulated depreciation Balance at 1 January Charge for year Disposals Balance at 31 December Net book value at 31 December	2020 £'000 1,728 115 (942)	2019 £'000 1,479 249 -
	901	1,728
	1,240 219 (828)	1,049 191 -
	631	1,240
	270	488

Intangible assets relate to computer software and website costs. Amortisation costs are included as support costs (IT costs) and apportioned accordingly (see note 6).

13. Tangible Fixed Assets

13. Tangible Fixed Assets
Consolidated and Charity Cost Balance at 1 January Additions Disposals Balance at 31 December Balance at 1 January Charge for year Disposals Balance at 31 December Net book value at 31 December 2020 Net book value at 31 December 2019	2020 £'000 6,077 - (50) Freehold, Land and Buildings	2020 £'000 1,378 - (129) Leasehold Property	2020 £'000 506 - (480) Computers	2020 £'000 2,074 - (181) Fixtures	2020 £'000 1,611 - (32) Motor Vehicles	2020 £'000 11,646 - (872) Total
	6,027	1,249	26	1,893	1,579	10,774
	2,340 117 (20)	734 33 (105)	504 2 (480)	2,036 33 (181)	1,598 5 (32)	7,212 190 (818)
	2,437	662	26	1,888	1,571	6,584
	3,590	587	-	5	8	4,190
	3,737	644	2	38	13	4,434

14. Capital commitments

There were no capital commitments as at 31 December 2020 or 31 December 2019.

15. Investments

Consolidated and Charity Market value at 1 January Acquisitions at cost	2020 £'000 14,752 6,480	2019 £'000 14,622 2,889
Disposals at market value	(6,372)	(4,316)
Gains on investment assets Market value at 31 December excluding movement in cash held	421	1,870
	15,281	15,065
Movement in cash held	(687)	(313)
Market value of investments at 31 December	14,594	14,752

In addition to the above the charity balance sheet includes an investment of £2 in MSS (Trading) Ltd (Note 23).

42

Notes to Consolidated Accounts (continued)

Year ended 31 December 2020

15. Investments (continued)

Represented by Assets held at market value	2020 £'000	2019 £'000
Investments listed on a Stock Exchange Programme investments Cash held as part of portfolio	14,230 60 304	13,761 - 991
	14,594	14,752

Included within 'Investments listed on a Stock Exchange' are investment assets outside the UK of £7.0m (2019: £5.5m). All other investments are investment assets in the UK.

The Society acquired a £60k stake (20% of voting rights) in a company called Digital Health Assistant Limited along with a number of other charities and a private company. The aim is to produce a digital health assistant for people with MS and it has been shown here as a programme investment.

In addition to the above, short term investments of £5k (2019: £5k) are held, which comprise cash equivalents on deposit.

16. Debtors

16. Debtors	Consolidated		Charity
	2020 £'000	2019 £'000	2020 £'000	2019 £'000
Legacy income accrued (see note 17) Trade debtors Tax and VAT Prepayments and accrued income Amounts due from group companies Other debtors	1,803 54 215 1,874 - 52	2,941 1,008 140 2,187 - 35	1,803 56 215 1,846 52 41	2,941 980 140 2,113 25 30
	3,998	6,311	4,013	6,229

17. Contingent Assets

Not included in the legacy income accrual (see note 16) are approximately £2.6m (2019: £2.0m) of legacies where we had received probate but where measurement and/or entitlement was not confirmed at year end.

18. Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

18. Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
	Consolidated Charity
	2020 £'000	2019 £'000	2020 £'000	2019 £'000
Research grants1 Trade creditors Accruals and deferred income 2 Tax and Social Security Other creditors	6,824 598 1,448 326 100	6,899 709 1,070 358 118	6,824 585 1,433 317 84	6,899 699 1,056 354 93
	9,296	9,154	9,243	9,101

1 The majority of research grants are released a year at a time and, in theory, the full amount of the creditor will be due for payment within 1 year. Movement in grant creditors is now included in note 7 grants.

In addition to the amounts committed and accrued noted above, there are also authorised research grants which are subject to an annual review. The total amount authorised but not accrued as expenditure at the year end was £3.3m (2019: £5.3m). This amount will be funded by future income and the designated fund set up for the appeal

2 Accruals and deferred income includes deferred income of £257k (2019: £257k) relating to legacy monies in respect to a life interest. The Society does not have entitlement to these funds until the death of the life interest at which point these monies will be recognised as income. Also, until that point, any interest arising from these funds is passed to the life interest.

43

Notes to Consolidated Accounts (continued)

Year ended 31 December 2020

19. Creditors: amounts falling due after one year

Consolidated and charity	2020	2019
Research grants The creditor has not been discounted to present value as the adjustment would not be material.	£'000 381	£'000 540
	381	540

20. Statement of funds

20. Statement of funds
Consolidated and charity funds General Funds Designated Funds	At 1/1/2020 £'000 6,370	Income £'000 14,257	Expenditure £'000 (14,396)	Transfers £'000 (2,947)	£'000 434 Other gains and losses	At 31/12/2020 £'000 3,718
Net book value of intangible and tangible fixed assets held	4,707	-	(395)	(53)	-	4,259
Research funds1 Total Designated Funds Total Unrestricted Funds	10,978	-	(1,128)	3,000	-	12,850
	15,685	-	(1,523)	2,947	-	17,109
	22,055	14,257	(15,919)	-	434	20,827
Restricted Funds for research1
MS Tissue bank Simvasatin project #ChariotMS - Cladribine to halt deterioration in people with advanced MS UK MS Register project Advanced MRI to investigate progression in MS Edinburgh MS Centre Lifestyle, exercise and activity package for people living with progressive MS What really determines quality of life in people with MS? Assessing treatment responses using machine learning Restoring oxygenation to the inflamed CNS Understanding the role of lipid-regulated LXR mediated networks in driving pathogenic T cells in people with MS Do adult human Oligodendrocytes remyelinate poorly and can we change this to better treat progressive MS? Vestibular Rehabilitation in MS: improving vertigo, mobility and quality of life of people with MS. (VeRMiS) The role of neuronal chemokine expression in the pathogenesis of Multiple Sclerosis Gas6 as an immune-regulating repair molecule for the CNS after demyelination Pro-inflammatory feedback loops in progressive multiple sclerosis: a role for the intrathecal antibody repertoire Research fellowships (MRC)	(456) (569) - (459) (312) (863) (253) (346) (145) (187) (260) (260) (137) (105) (221) (212) (219)	1 - 250 - - - 5 - - - - - - - - - 12	(408) (247) (824) (506) (170) - (129) - (160) (106) - - (120) (134) - - (5)	- - - 459 - 438 (1) - - - - - - - (1) - -	- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -	(863) (816) (574) (506) (482) (425) (378) (346) (305) (293) (260) (260) (257) (239) (222) (212) (212)
Amount carried forward	(5,004)	268	(2,809)	895	-	(6,650)

44

Notes to Consolidated Accounts (continued)

Year ended 31 December 2020

20. Statement of funds (continued)

Consolidated and charity funds	At 1/1/2020 £'000	Income £'000	Expenditure £'000	Transfers £'000	£'000 Other gains and losses	At 31/12/2020 £'000
Amount brought forward	(5,004)	268	(2,809)	895	-	(6,650)
High dose Simvastatin treatment for Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis: Impact on vascular perfusion and oxidative damage Intervention to support individuals around the point of Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis A phase 2a trial of the ability of the combination of metformin and clemastine to promote remyelination in people with relapsing MS TSPO in glia cells as a novel target to promote neuroprotection Ensuring effective treatments are available to people with MS: addressing the value for money issue A study of the synaptic proteome to understand and target motor fatigability due to neuronal energy failure in progressive MS The Empower Study: Developing advance care planning resources for people severely affected by MS, and their families Expression profiling in clonally expanded immune cells Rejuvenating ageing CNS progenitors by partial reprogramming STAT2 MRI Cambridge centre myelin repair renewal Examining the amelioration of MS during pregnancy at the single cell level to identify novel therapeutic targets Neuromodulation with connectivity-guided intermittent theta burst stimulation for cognitive impairment in MS Peripheral monocytes for central nervous system remyelination How does ageing-associated niche stiffening disrupt nucleus mechanotransduction signaling and suppresses the regenerative capacity of adult CNS progenitor cells? Novel cellular models to study oligodendrocyte-mediated axonal support MS-PROACTIVE: Preventing job loss using acceptance and commitment therapy in vocational rehabilitation Development of a composite neurodegenerative outcome measure in progressive MS Imaging remyelination in the central nervous cystem ROS signalling and CNS remyelination	(178) (209) (361) (200) (125) (140) (77) 18 (94) (150) (549) 71 (119) (118) (180) (111) (109) (106) 25 97	- 7 250 - - - - - - - 71 - - - 100 - - - 28 -	(28) (3) (94) - (70) (37) (88) (174) (60) - (35) (193) - - (38) - - - (133) (157)	- - 1 - - 1 - - - (1) 391 - - - - - - - - -	- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -	(206) (205) (204) (200) (195) (176) (165) (156) (154) (151) (122) (122) (119) (118) (118) (111) (109) (106) (80) (60)
Amount carried forward	(7,619)	724	(3,919)	1,287	-	(9,527)

45

Notes to Consolidated Accounts (continued)

Year ended 31 December 2020

20. Statement of funds (continued)

Consolidated and charity funds	At 1/1/2020 £'000	Income £'000	Expenditure £'000	Transfers £'000	£'000 Other gains and losses	At 31/12/2020 £'000
Amount brought forward	(7,619)	724	(3,919)	1,287	-	(9,527)
International Progressive MS Alliance Heparan mimetics as a novel therapeutic for MS Targeting GSK3ß/Wnt/ß-catenin to promote oligodendrocyte regeneration and remyelination Developing an innovative and efficient trial design to identify effective treatments for progressive MS Metabolomic analysis of plasma for highly sensitive staging and monitoring of MS Other specific research funds (all with less than £100k but not > than negative £100k) General restricted research funds	(379) (187) (178) (140) (135) (1,256) 1,382	22 - - - - 61 1,681	(8) - 6 7 - (40) (632)	365 187 172 134 135 95 (2,375)	- - - - - - -	- - - 1 - (1,140) 56
Total research restricted funds	(8,512)	2,488	(4,586)	-	-	(10,610)
MS Helpline funds:
- MS Helpline nurse - COVID-19 services - Benefits officer - General restricted to helpline	- - 11 -	45 165 86 240	(45) (111) (48) (240)	- - - -	- - - -	- 54 49 -
MS Physical activity specialist My MS, My Rights, My Choices' (Wales) Big Lottery & Masonic Charitable Foundation2 'Improving Quality of Life' - Big Lottery Grant3	- 65 146	92 45 1	(42) (102) (68)	- - -	- - -	50 8 79
'Active Together' various projects4	18	194	(96)	-	-	116
Mind My MS (Northern Ireland) - Big Lottery5 My MS My Way (Tayside) Big Lottery6	148 54	(12) 74	(74) (66)	- -	- -	62 62
Pontio7 Online FACETS8 Virtual Hub - Scottish Wellbeing Trust and others9	- 60 -	499 - 152	(14) - (74)	- - -	- - -	485 60 78
Funds for MS Society volunteer-run grou	ps or geographic restrictions10
Ayrshire	86	2	(8)	-	-	80
Bournemouth buildings & vehicle	135	7	(7)	-	-	135
Bradford Caithness Croydon Dumfries East Kent Harrow Liverpool	62 45 183 - 129 101 76	1 2 4 105 2 6 1	(1) (5) (9) (5) (10) (2) (77)	- - - - - - -	- - - - - - -	62 42 178 100 121 105 -
Newmarket	560	100	(59)	-	-	601
Rotherham area Shrewsbury	103 61	12 1	(2) (6)	- -	- -	113 56
Amount carried forward	(6,469)	4,312	(5,757)	-	-	(7,914)

46

Notes to Consolidated Accounts (continued)

Year ended 31 December 2020

20. Statement of funds (continued)

20. Statement of funds (continued)
Consolidated and charity funds	At 1/1/2020 £'000	Income £'000	Expenditure £'000	Transfers £'000	£'000 Other gains and losses	At 31/12/2020 £'000
Amount brought forward	(6,469)	4,312	(5,757)	-	-	(7,914)
South East Essex Sefton area (formerly Southport & Formby) Skipton and Craven	68 66 96	8 1 1	(11) (1) (2)	- - -	- - -	65 66 95
Wales Scotland Northern Ireland	- - -	82 692 405	(82) (692) (405)	- - -	- - -	- - -
Other sundry restricted funds (<£50,000) Total restricted income funds Endowment funds Margaret Hutchinson memorial fund - Borders area Derby volunteer-run group endowment Total endowment funds Total funds	1,056	729	(591)	-	-	1,194
	(5,183)	6,230	(7,541)	-	-	(6,494)
	307 10	- -	- -	- -	(15) -	292 10
	317	-	-	-	(15)	302
	17,189	20,487	(23,460)	-	419	14,635

Notes on individual funds appear at the bottom of this note.

	2019 prior year comparison	2019 prior year comparison	2019 prior year comparison	2019 prior year comparison	2019 prior year comparison	2019 prior year comparison
Consolidated and charity funds General Funds Designated Funds	At 1/1/2019 £'000 6,765	Income £'000 20,699	Expenditure £'000 (18,459)	Transfers £'000 (4,468)	£'000 1,833 Other gains and losses	At 31/12/2019 £'000 6,370
Net book value of intangible and tangible fixed assets held	4,948	-	(446)	205	-	4,707
Research funds1 Total Designated Funds Total Unrestricted Funds	7,966	-	(1,251)	4,263	-	10,978
	12,914	-	(1,697)	4,468	-	15,685
	19,679	20,699	(20,156)	-	1,833	22,055
Restricted Funds for research1
MS Tissue bank Simvasatin project #ChariotMS - Cladribine to halt deterioration in people with advanced MS UK MS Register project Advanced MRI to investigate progression in MS Edinburgh MS Centre Lifestyle, exercise and activity package for people living with progressive MS What really determines quality of life in people with MS? Assessing treatment responses using machine learning Restoring oxygenation to the inflamed CNS	(366) (570) (397) (164) (942) (138) (187) (145) (94)	28 2 - - 63 8 - - -	(370) (1) (395) (148) (567) (123) (159) - (93)	252 - 333 - 583 - - - -	- - - - - - - - -	(456) (569) (459) (312) (863) (253) (346) (145) (187)
Amount carried forward	(3,003)	101	(1,856)	1,168	-	(3,590)

47

Notes to Consolidated Accounts (continued) Year ended 31 December 2020

20. Statement of funds (continued)

PRIOR YEAR	At				Other gains	At
Consolidated and charity funds	1/1/2019 £'000	Income £'000	Expenditure £'000	Transfers £'000	£'000 and losses	31/12/2019 £'000
Amount brought forward	(3,003)	101	(1,856)	1,168	-	(3,590)
Understanding the role of lipid-regulated LXR mediated networks in driving pathogenic T cells in people with MS Do adult human Oligodendrocytes remyelinate poorly and can we change this to better treat progressive MS? Vestibular Rehabilitation in MS: improving vertigo, mobility and quality of life of people with MS (VeRMiS) The role of neuronal chemokine expression in the pathogenesis of Multiple Sclerosis Gas6 as an immune-regulating repair molecule for the CNS after demyelination Pro-inflammatory feedback loops in progressive multiple sclerosis: a role for the intrathecal antibody repertoire Research fellowships (MRC) High dose Simvastatin treatment for Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis: Impact on vascular perfusion and oxidative damage Intervention to support individuals around the point of Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis A phase 2a trial of the ability of the combination of metformin and clemastine to promote remyelination in people with relapsing MS TSPO in glia cells as a novel target to promote neuroprotection	(137) - (73) (105) (152) (108) (184) (178) (142) - (200)	- - - - - - 60 - 3 - -	(123) (260) (64) - (69) (104) (95) - (70) (361) -	- - - - - - - - - - -	- - - - - - - - - - -	(260) (260) (137) (105) (221) (212) (219) (178) (209) (361) (200)
Ensuring effective treatments are available to people with MS: addressing the value for money issue	(52)	-	(73)	-	-	(125)
A study of the synaptic proteome to understand and target motor fatigability due to neuronal energy failure in progressive MS The Empower Study: Developing advance care planning resources for people severely affected by MS, and their families Expression profiling in clonally expanded immune cells Rejuvenating ageing CNS progenitors by partial reprogramming STAT2 MRI Cambridge centre myelin repair renewal Examining the amelioration of MS during pregnancy at the single cell level to identify novel therapeutic targets	(140) (77) 14 (47) (71) (577) (96)	- - 5 - - 102 243	- - (1) (47) (79) (560) (76)	- - - - 486 -	- - - - - - -	(140) (77) 18 (94) (150) (549) 71
Neuromodulation with connectivity-guided intermittent theta burst stimulation for cognitive impairment in MS	-	-	(119)	-	-	(119)
Amount carried forward	(5,328)	514	(3,957)	1,654	-	(7,117)

48

Notes to Consolidated Accounts (continued) Year ended 31 December 2020

20. Statement of funds (continued)

PRIOR YEAR	At				Other gains	At
Consolidated and charity funds	1/1/2019 £'000	Income £'000	Expenditure £'000	Transfers £'000	£'000 and losses	31/12/2019 £'000
Amount brought forward	(5,328)	514	(3,957)	1,654	-	(7,117)
Peripheral monocytes for central nervous system remyelination	-	-	(118)	-	-	(118)
How does ageing-associated niche stiffening disrupt nucleus mechanotransduction signaling and suppresses the regenerative capacity of adult CNS progenitor cells?	-	105	(285)	-	-	(180)
Novel cellular models to study oligodendrocyte-mediated axonal support	-	-	(111)	-	-	(111)
MS-PROACTIVE: Preventing job loss using acceptance and commitment therapy in vocational rehabilitation Development of a composite neurodegenerative outcome measure in progressive MS Imaging remyelination in the central nervous system ROS signalling and CNS remyelination International Progressive MS Alliance Heparan mimetics as a novel therapeutic for MS Targeting GSK3ß/Wnt/ß-catenin to promote oligodendrocyte regeneration and remyelination Developing an innovative and efficient trial design to identify effective treatments for progressive MS Metabolomic analysis of plasma for highly sensitive staging and monitoring of MS Other specific research funds (all with less than £100k but not > than negative £100k) General restricted research funds	- (106) 139 (107) (579) (187) (178) (97) (269) (1,623) 2,872	- - - 297 15 - - - - 325 3,245	(109) - (114) (93) (481) - - (43) (143) (1,081) (1,015)	- - - - 666 - - - 277 1,123 (3,720)	- - - - - - - - - - -	(109) (106) 25 97 (379) (187) (178) (140) (135) (1,256) 1,382
Total research restricted funds	(5,463)	4,501	(7,550)	-	-	(8,512)
Helpline funds: - Helpline nurse - Covid19 services - Benefits officer - General restricted to helpline MS Physical activity specialist My MS, My Rights, My Choices (Wales) Big Lottery & Masonic Charitable Foundation2 'Improving Quality of Life' - Big Lottery Grant3 'Active Together' various projects4 Mind My MS (Northern Ireland) Big Lottery5 My MS My Way (Tayside) Big Lottery6 Pontio7 Online FACETS8 Virtual Hub - Scottish Wellbeing Trust and others9	- - 38 - - - 118 13 - - - 60 -	- - 25 23 - 210 132 113 156 68 - - -	- - (52) (23) - (145) (104) (108) (8) (14) - - -	- - - - - - - - - - - - -	- - - - - - - - - - - - -	- - 11 - - 65 146 18 148 54 - 60 -
Amount carried forward	(5,234)	5,228	(8,004)	-	-	(8,010)

49

Notes to Consolidated Accounts (continued) Year ended 31 December 2020

20. Statement of funds (continued)

PRIOR YEAR At	PRIOR YEAR At				Other gains	At
Consolidated and charity funds 1/1/2019 £'000		Income £'000	Expenditure £'000	Transfers £'000	£'000 and losses	31/12/2019 £'000
Amount brought forward (5,234)		5,228	(8,004)	-	-	(8,010)
Funds for MS Society volunteer-run grou	ps or geographic restrictions10
Ayrshire	88	6	(8)	-	-	86
Bournemouth buildings & vehicle	135	63	(63)	-	-	135
Bradford Caithness Croydon Dumfries	70 52 208 -	2 - 1 1	(10) (7) (26) (1)	- - - -	- - - -	62 45 183 -
East Kent	149	1	(21)	-	-	129
Harrow Liverpool	103 59	1 24	(3) (7)	- -	- -	101 76
Newmarket	519	100	(59)	-	-	560
Rotherham area Shrewsbury South East Essex Sefton area (formerly Southport & Formby) Skipton and Craven Wales Scotland Northern Ireland Other sundry restricted funds (<£50,000)	93 76 101 68 105 - - - 1,305	12 3 2 1 6 59 438 154 1,799	(2) (18) (35) (3) (15) (59) (438) (154) (2,048)	- - - - - - - - -	- - - - - - - - -	103 61 68 66 96 - - - 1,056
Total restricted income funds	(2,103)	7,901	(10,981)	-	-	(5,183)
Endowment funds Margaret Hutchinson memorial fund - Borders area Derby volunteer-run group endowment Total endowment funds Total funds	270 - - - 37 307 10 - - - - 10
	280 - - - 37 317
	17,856 28,600 (31,137) - 1,870 17,189

1 There is an appeal ('Stop MS Appeal') to raise over £100m for research over the next 10 years. £30m of this was earmarked to come from unrestricted income and is represented by the designated fund. £3m was transferred into the designated fund in 2020. Other transfers relate to generally restricted research funds being allocated against specific research grants.

2 The ‘My MS, My Rights, My Choices’ project is a free and confidential support service for people affected by MS in Wales which has been funded by the Big Lottery and the Masonic Charitable Foundation. The project offers information and support on employment rights, welfare benefits, ways to manage MS and accessing treatments, health care and social care services.

3 Improving Quality of Life is a Big Lottery funded project looking to improve the quality of life for people with MS in Manchester, Salford and Bolton.

4 Active Together projects - various projects looking to help people with MS to stay active. Staying active can help with managing MS symptoms including fatigue and problems with balance and walking.

5 Mind My MS is a Big Lottery funded project to improve people's emotional wellbeing, social connection and ability to live well with MS in the Mid & East Antrim area.

6 My MS My Way is a Big Lottery funded project providing information & support from the point of diagnosis with MS in Tayside. 7 The Pontio Project provides emotional, befriending and one-to-one support to people living with and affected by MS in Wales. 8 FACETS online. FACETS stands for 'Fatigue: Applying Cognitive behavioural & Energy effectiveness Techniques to life Style'. 9 Virtual Hub is funded by the Scottish Wellbeing Trust among others, offering a range of services like counselling, financial wellbeing and physio support, to ensure people's physical and mental health is supported during the pandemic.

10 Geographic restrictions arise where a donor has specifically asked that monies be used in a certain area and/or spent by a particular MSS group. In some cases these groups may have been given considerable discretion on the use of these funds including using the funds outside of their own locality in which they serve.

Note: The funds of the charity include £2 (2012: £2) relating to the total funds of MSS (Trading) Ltd.

50

Notes to Consolidated Accounts (continued)

Year ended 31 December 2020

21. SOFA 2019

21. SOFA 2019	21. SOFA 2019	21. SOFA 2019
Income from:				Unrestricted funds Restated £'000	Restricted funds Restated £'000	Total Funds Restated £'000
Donations				8,671	5,167	13,838
Legacies receivable Charitable activities Other trading activities Investment income Other income				9,750 471 1,526 239 42	1,214 1,039 471 10 -	10,964 1,510 1,997 249 42
Total income Expenditure on: Raising funds Charitable activities Goal 1 - Living well with MS Goal 2 - Connected communities, powerful voices Goal 3 - Effective treatments and preventing MS				20,699	7,901	28,600
				6,711 6,207 6,910 328	2,108 3,479 530 4,863	8,819 9,686 7,440 5,191
Total expenditure Net income / (expenditure) before investments Net gains on investments Net income / (expenditure) after investments				20,156	10,980	31,136
				543 1,834	(3,079) 36	(2,536) 1,870
				2,377	(3,043)	(666)
Other recognised gains and losses:
Other recognised gains and losses:				(1)	-	(1)
Net movement in funds				2,376	(3,043)	(667)
22. Analysis of net assets between funds Restricted & Endowment
			Restricted & Endowment
Fund balances at 31 December are	Unrestricted funds		funds		Total	Total
represented by	2020	2019	2020	2019	2020	2019
	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
Intangible fixed assets	270	488	-	-	270	488
Tangible fixed assets Investments Net current liabilities Long term liabilities	3,989 14,294 2,274 -	4,219 14,438 2,910 -	201 300 (6,312) (381)	215 314 (4,855) (540)	4,190 14,594 (4,038) (381)	4,434 14,752 (1,945) (540)
	20,827	22,055	(6,192)	(4,866)	14,635	17,189

22. Analysis of net assets between funds	22. Analysis of net assets between funds
			Restricted & Endowment
Fund balances at 31 December are	Unrestricted funds			funds	Total	Total
represented by	2020	2019	2020	2019	2020	2019
	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
Intangible fixed assets	270	488	-	-	270	488
Tangible fixed assets	3,989	4,219	201	215	4,190	4,434
Investments	14,294	14,438	300	314	14,594	14,752
Net current liabilities	2,274	2,910	(6,312)	(4,855)	(4,038)	(1,945)
Long term liabilities	-	-	(381)	(540)	(381)	(540)
	20,827	22,055	(6,192)	(4,866)	14,635	17,189

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Notes to Consolidated Accounts (continued)

Year ended 31 December 2020

23. MSS (Trading) Limited

The Society has a wholly owned trading subsidiary which is registered in England and Wales (company number 02895015). MSS (Trading) Limited raises funds via commercial activities and sponsorship. Any taxable profits made by MSS (Trading) Limited are donated to the Society under Gift Aid.

A summary of the trading results which have been consolidated on a line by line basis are shown below.

MSS (Trading) Limited
Profit and loss account Retail Turnover - Sales to MS Society volunteer-run groups - Sales to third parties Cost of sales Gross profit Administration Interest payable Net profit before taxation and Gift Aid Taxation Retained profit carried forward Called up share capital Authorised: 1,000 ordinary shares of £1 each Allotted, called up and fully paid: 2 ordinary shares of £1 each	2020 £'000 - 131	2019 £'000 - 210
	131 (84)	210 (86)
	47 (34) -	124 (36) -
	13 -	88 -
	13	88
	2020 £ 1,000	2019 £ 1,000
	2	2

24. Share Capital

The Society has no issued share capital as it is a company limited by guarantee.

25. Pension funds

Defined contribution schemes

The MS Society contributes towards a number of defined contribution schemes. The cost of these schemes is charged to the SOFA and amounted to £739k (2019: £767k). They did not give rise to any provisions/reserves. At the end of the year £83k (2019: £2k) was owed to the pension provider.

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Notes to Consolidated Accounts (continued)

Year ended 31 December 2020

26. Operating leases

At 31 December the group and charity had total operating lease commitments as set out below:

Operating lease payments due: within one year within two to five years over five years	Land and Buildings 2020 £'000 92 95 32	Other 2020 £'000 39 102	Land and Buildings 2019 £'000 95 177 38	Other 2019 £'000 37 132 -
	219	141	310	169

Lease payments recognised as an expense were £132k (2019: £129k)

27. Monies from the Medical and Healthcare industry

The Society has a policy position on working with the Medicines and Healthcare Products Industry which is available from the Society's website. Under this policy, the Society will report collaborations and financial contributions over £5,000 received from the Medicines and Healthcare industry.

2020 Collaborations and financial contributions over £5,000 to the Society were: £'000	2019 £'000
Biogen Idec Limited 99 Novartis Pharmaceuticals (UK) Ltd 57 Merck Serono Ltd 35	6 85 5
Roche Products Ltd 32	28
Bristol Myers Squibb (formerly Celgene) 27 Genzyme, a Sanofi Company 20 Cambridge Enterprise Limited 19 Frequency Therapeutics Inc. -	- 10 - 344

Included in Merck Soreno Limited is £5k given towards the MS Register project.

Receipt of £92k included in Biogen Idec Limited towards the MS Society's MS Physical Activity Specialist.

28. International Progressive MS Alliance

The Society is part of the International Progressive MS Alliance which was set up in 2013 to fund grants into progressive MS. The International Progressive MS Alliance consists of MS charities around the world and other interested organisations such as foundations, trusts and corporate entities. The MS Society is a founding member and joined the Alliance as a managing member giving it influence on the research the Alliance will fund. There are five other MS charities who are managing members. These are the Associazione Italiana Sclerosi Multipla (Italy), MS Research Australia, Multiple Sclerosis International Federation, Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada and National Multiple Sclerosis Society (USA).

In addition to managing members there are:

● 13 other MS organisations who are members of the alliance and they represent Belgium, Brazil, Denmark, Finland, France (2), Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Norway, Spain and Sweden.

● 18 trusts and foundations members.

● 6 pharmaucecetical companies are industry forum members.

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Notes to Consolidated Accounts (continued)

Year ended 31 December 2020

29. Post Balance Sheet events

Potential sale of the MS National Centre

The Society is intending to sell its main building in Cricklewood, north London and move to smaller leased accommodation in Finsbury Park. At time of writing the Society had exchanged contracts but not completed on the sale of the building. The building has a net book value of £2.8m and we expect the sale price to exceed this.

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Statement of Financial Activities (SOFA) - charity only

Statement of Financial Activities (SOFA) -charity only	Statement of Financial Activities (SOFA) -charity only
Year ended 31 December 2020 Unrestricted Note funds Income from: 5 £'000 Donations 6,949 Legacies receivable 5,667 Charitable activities 501 Other trading activities 793 Investment income 187 Other income 147		Restricted funds £'000 3,255 1,576 1,368 30 1 -	2020 Total £'000 10,204 7,243 1,869 823 188 147	2019 Total Restated £'000 13,869 10,964 1,510 1,787 249 42
Total income 5	14,244	6,230	20,474	28,421
Expenditure on: 6 Raising funds
Raising funds	5,400	1,553	6,953	8,728
Charitable activities Goal 1 - Living well with MS Goal 2 - Building communities, powerful voices Goal 3 - Effective treatments and preventing MS	4,223 5,826 384	2,698 389 2,901	6,921 6,215 3,285	9,686 7,440 5,191
Total expenditure 6	15,833	7,541	23,374	31,045
Net income / (expenditure) before investments	(1,589)	(1,311)	(2,900)	(2,624)
Net gains/(losses) on investments 15 Net income	436	(15)	421	1,870
	(1,153)	(1,326)	(2,479)	(754)
Other recognised gains and losses:
Other recognised gains and losses	(2)	-	(2)	(1)
Net movement in funds	(1,155)	(1,326)	(2,481)	(755)

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Thank you

We want to thank all our donors for their generosity. This includes all trusts and corporations, those who wish to remain anonymous, our local groups and those who have left us a legacy. We would also like to thank our many celebrity supporters and friends for their work in raising both awareness and funds.

Special thanks to these donors and supporters

Adint Charitable Trust The Betty Lawes Foundation Alborada Trust The David & Ruth Lewis Family Charitable Trust Edward and Amanda Astle Lloyd’s Richard and Lesley Astle London Community Response Fund Jeffrey Azouz and Carole Sachs Andrew Lyndon and Vivien Joanne O'Connor Barclays Plc Nicholas Maclean Robert Barr Charitable Trust Ian Marchant Sir David and Lady Primrose Bell The Marsden Family Charitable Trust Adam and Zoe Bennett Merck Serono Limited bfinance UK Ltd Geoffrey Milton Biogen Idec Limited The Laurence Misener Charitable Trust Alan Boswell Charitable Trust The Moondance Foundation The Philip Breeze Will Trust Northwood Charitable Trust Bristol Myers Squibb Novartis Pharmaceuticals UK Ltd Brown Advisory Limited Peacock Charitable Trust The Butti Foundation Peter Phillips Christie’s Auction House The Pixel Fund The John Coates Charitable Trust Will Pritchett Community Foundation Wales Sir Simon Robertson Iain Conn and Caroline Shorten Conn Roche Products Ltd Benjamin F. Crane & Susan Crane The Royal Order of Buffaloes Equitix Stuart Secker Colin and Lucy Evans Second Growth CIC The February Foundation Ben Slater and Nick Rabin Michael and Deborah Fiddy Mrs Valerie Smith E-L Financial Corporation Limited Peter Sowerby Foundation Sir John Fisher Foundation The Steel Charitable Trust Norton Rose Fulbright LLP The Captain Stefanos Foundation Sanofi Genzyme The Peter Stormonth Darling Charitable Trust Albert Gubay Charitable Foundation The Swallowfield Club Nigel and Sarah Hammond Lisa Walden and Mark Wood Kate Hely-Hutchinson The Warshaw Family Charitable Trust The Holbeck Charitable Trust Dr Tony and Mrs Janie Watson HSBC UK Dr Philip Welch Charity David and Wendy Hunter Sara Weller The Inverforth Charitable Trust Garfield Weston Foundation Invesco UK Ltd Nick Winser Tim Jones Mrs J B Wood's Charitable Trust Josephs Family Charitable Trust The Utley Foundation Louisa Kalliga Jonathan Yates Dr Kantor and Kantor Charitable Foundation Robbert Zoet Josh Krichefksi

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Reference and administrative details

Founder

Sir Richard Cave KCVO, CB, KCSG, DL Vice-President John Walford OBE Chair**

Nick Winser Vice Chair Sarah Schol Treasurer Stuart Secker

Bankers

Barclays Bank 1 Churchill Place, London E14 5HP Auditors Haysmacintyre LLP 10 Queen Street Place, London EC4R 1AG Solicitors BDB Pitmans LLP 50 Broadway, London SW1H 0BL

Anderson Law LLP

Manor House, Howbery Park, Benson Lane, Wallingford, Oxfordshire OX10 8BA

Investment Managers Rathbones Investment Management 8 Finsbury Circus, London EC2M 7AZ

*Deceased

Key management personnel

Chief Executive Nick Moberly

Trustees Jason Atkinson (to 31 Dec 2020) Susan Crane Ady Dike (from Jan 2021) Christine Gibbons (to 31 Dec 2020) Ruth Hasnip (to 31 Dec 2020) Marion King Rufus Olins (to 13 Sept 2020) Emily Revess Sarah Schol Shewly Choudhury (from Jan 2021) Stuart Secker Anne Shinkwin Ceri Smith Anthony Upshall (from Jan 2021) Polly Williams Nick Winser

Executive Directors Vicky Annis Executive Director of Corporate Services Ed Holloway Executive Director of Digital and Services

Clare Horwood Executive Director of Engagement and Income Generation (from Feb 2021) Susan Kohlhaas Executive Director of Research and Policy (until Sept 2020) Sarah Rawlings Executive Director of Research and External Affairs (from Nov 2020) Emma Whitcombe Executive Director of Income and Engagement (until Dec 2020)

Country Directors

Northern Ireland David Galloway

Cymru / Wales Lynne Hughes

Scotland Morna Simpkins

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Main Offices

MS Society MS National Centre 372 Edgware Road London NW2 6ND 020 8438 0700

MS Society Cymru Baltic House Mount Stuart Square Cardiff CF10 5FH 020 8438 0700

MS Society Northern Ireland The Resource Centre 34 Annadale Avenue Belfast BT7 3JJ 028 90 802 802

MS Society Scotland Ratho Park 88 Glasgow Road Ratho Station Newbridge EH28 8PP 0131 335 4050

www.mssociety.org.uk MS Helpline 0808 800 8000

Multiple Sclerosis Society. Registered charity nos.1139257 / SC041990. Registered as a limited company by guarantee in England and Wales 07451571.

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