2022-12-31-accounts

Multiple Sclerosis Society 2022 Annual Report and Accounts

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

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2022 Annual Report and Accounts

Message from our Chair, Professor Sir Paul Curran

After another successful year, I’m incredibly proud of our charity’s many achievements. Despite national economic challenges, our services, campaigning and research have continued to help people, inform public debate and turn today’s ideas into tomorrow’s treatments.

I’d like to thank Nick Winser, my predecessor as Chair, for his committed contribution over five demanding years. His passion for the MS Society and the work we do, have been inspiring. I was honoured to have been appointed as Chair of the Board of Trustees earlier in 2022. I look forward to helping us achieve our vision of a world free from the effects of MS.

During my first year here, I’ve been incredibly impressed by the quality of the support we offer, the advocacy we take on and the research we fund. Over the past year, the MS community faced some serious challenges and I’ve been particularly inspired by the drive, enthusiasm and practicality of everyone I’ve met. Their commitment to making sure we’re listening and focusing our resources on the needs of the MS community is impressive.

Our community needs our support more than ever. In 2022, we received over 25,000 calls to our MS Helpline and provided 1,644 acts of assistance totalling £723,209 through our National Benefits Service. Our local groups brought people together and restarted vital local support services that were absent for so long during the pandemic. I’m also pleased that, after a successful pilot of our Social Connect service, we’ll be helping more people affected by MS to set up social groups – so they can connect with others and provide mutual support.

In 2022, I was proud to see our Volunteer Impact Awards celebrate the inspiring people who offer emotional support, shape how we work, campaign for change and raise vital funds. Broadcast on YouTube , the ceremony was informative, impressive and certainly uplifting.

There are still concerns that access to treatment is being limited for people living with progressive MS. Siponimod and Ocrelizumab were approved for use by the NHS in 2020 and 2019 respectively. Through a freedom of information request, we found out that only around a tenth of those eligible to access Siponimod, and around a third of those eligible to access Ocrelizumab, had been able to do so. These treatments provide hope for those living with progressive MS as they slow down its

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progression. But the longer it takes to access these treatments, the less chance they have of being effective.

Octopus is our new clinical trial for primary and secondary progressive MS. After initial delays, it’s now received the official thumbs up from the regulators. This important milestone brings us another step closer to the trial getting started. After a rigorous process, our research team has selected two existing drugs to test first. We’ve also received approval for our first hospital where we’ll be running our trial. And as I write this message, we’ve just recruited our first two participants, out of what we hope will be at least 1,200 people. Needless to say, we’re very excited to get our largest clinical trial platform rolling.

We could not have accomplished all the above without our teams across all four nations, the perseverance of our volunteers, and the passion, dedication and enthusiasm of everyone involved with our Society. Thank you for your efforts, and I look forward to carrying on the good work with you in 2023.

Finally, but crucially, I want to thank those of you who have supported us financially – we’re extremely grateful for your generosity. Without your funding, there would be no research, no advocacy and no support for those living with MS.

Professor Sir Paul Curran Chair, MS Society

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2022, a year of achievement, including:

• Campaigning, with other charities, to ensure that people at higher risk from COVID-19 continued to have access to free lateral flow tests.

• Providing high-quality impactful information and support to people living with MS including

• 31,000 information booklets issued.

• 110,000 website downloaded.

• 25,000 Helpline enquiries.

• Thousands of people affected by MS accessing services including friendship and connections, counselling, financial advice and wellbeing activities.

• 246 local groups provided more than 1,000 regular services and activities for people with MS, and their friends and families.

• Running the largest survey of people with MS in the UK, My MS, My Needs

• Holding our first professional networking day in Swansea, providing information, evidence, resources, networking opportunities and training for health and social care professionals working with people with MS.

• Over 14,000 signing up in support of our flagship campaign, Breaking Point. In September, the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) announced that Sativex, the cannabis-based medication, will be available to adult NHS patients with MS.

• Providing training to people with MS – on how to run campaigns, influence decision makers and work with the media, through Local Action for MS.

• Generating vital awareness of MS with the general public through our BBC Lifeline TV Appeal was broadcast on BBC One.

• Welcoming two new MS Society Ambassadors in 2022 – the comedian Ivo Graham, and the former England footballer and now football manager, Mary Phillip.

• Continuing to develop and support the following clinical trials including:

• We completed the set-up and preparation phases of our Octopus trial

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• We’ve now fully recruited almost 1,000 people to take part to our MS-STAT2 trial.

• The metformin and clemastine trial tests the potential of a new combination remyelination treatment.

• Driving forward our EDI strategy including, the collection of demographic information for all our researchers who apply for our funding. We also showcased stories of researchers from different groups by focusing on researchers from ethnic minority backgrounds and disabled researchers.

The achievements in 2022, build on years of working tirelessly with our community to successfully campaign for better healthcare, treatments and welfare support. In 2023 we’re marking our 70 anniversary. We’re proud to provide award-winning support and information to anyone affected by MS. We’ve also invested over £227 million in today’s money into world-leading research, and we’re closer than ever to stopping MS. We’re incredibly grateful to our supporters, fundraisers, donors, campaigners, researchers, volunteers, and staff for their dedication. None of this would have been possible without their support.

We are planning to mark our 70 anniversary through a variety of different activities. Being aware of the challenges our community is facing through the cost-of-living crisis, we have decided to use this as an opportunity to mark our achievements and progress working with our community. Our plan is to mention our anniversary, and the impact of change and progress when and if fitting within our existing planned activities to maximise coverage as well as some focused highlights later in the year around the actual date of the anniversary.

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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.

What we aimed to do in 2022

We’ll continue to deliver and develop high-quality and high-impact services, support and information for the MS community that are driven by their needs. We’re making improvements and investments in:

• developing new information and support for carers, families and friends

• the digitisation of our information

• expanding and rebranding our MS Helpline and shaping new service models so we can reach and support even more people affected by MS

• optimising our new Digital Health Assistance tool

What we achieved in 2022

We led a successful collaborative COVID-19 campaign with other charities.

Our campaign ensured that people at higher risk from COVID-19 continued to have access to free lateral flow tests during the government’s living with COVID-19 response phase.

We provided high-quality and high-impact information and support to people living with MS.

In 2022, we provided 13 different national services, five digital products, upto-date information on our website and 47 printed information products.

Our information

• We distributed around 31,000 printed information booklets in 2022, and 95% of readers who completed our survey said they would recommend our booklets to someone else.

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• Visitors to our website downloaded around 110,000 online resources and spent an average of two minutes and 14 seconds on our health and care webpages.

Our services

We started work on our Services Transformation project to remodel and rebrand our services and support model. Our project aims to help us to provide a clear and cohesive suite of accessible and tailored service propositions that can be delivered at national, regional and community levels (including services delivered by local groups).

As this is a multi-year programme of work, we’ve continued to develop, refine, and offer a wide range of services in the meantime. Below are some of these services and the vital support they provided to the MS community in 2022:

• Our MS Helpline responded to over 25,000 enquiries. Around 65% were general queries and 35% were queries for our specialist team (which included our MS Helpline Nurses, welfare benefits and physical activity specialists).

• 256 befriending calls were completed by 17 befriending volunteers, supporting 74 beneficiaries.

• Our MS Nurses responded to over 3,370 enquiries , with 94% of people who provided feedback saying they felt more informed after using the service.

• Our National Benefits Service gave 1,644 acts of assistance to people with MS, earning them an estimated financial gain worth £723,209 .

• Living Well with MS delivered 73 different virtual sessions of varying formats – from webinars, conversational cafés and themed peer groups to living well courses and living well together small group sessions. Topics covered included fatigue, bladder and bowel health, menopause, aromatherapy and massage, friends and family employment rights, and dealing with loss through the lens of compassion. We had almost 1,500 participants join these sessions which were co-facilitated by more than 30 living well volunteers. From our survey, 82% of participants told us they felt more informed; 82% of them said they would act on the information they were given; and 87% of them had benefited from connecting with others from the MS community (this figure includes conversation cafes, peer groups, courses and small group sessions - it excludes webinars).

• At the end of 2022, a total of 1,034 individuals had participated in one or more of the virtual services provided by our Scottish Wellbeing Hub . Of these participants, 71% of them told us that they were new to accessing support for their MS condition outside of the NHS. Almost a quarter of people accessing the hub were newly diagnosed. And 100% of respondents said that

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the services provided by the hub had either met their needs or fully met their needs.

• Over the last two years, our Pontio service in Wales , funded by the Big Lottery, has helped 1,323 people with MS to have access to improved choice, security and wellbeing. Through monthly cafe sessions, our service provided information on a range of specialist subjects, including DVLA (Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency) support for carers, relationships and sex, and employment. Our service also offered specialist webinars on progressive MS for people in North Wales, getting active and dealing with fatigue, as well as one-to-one telephone befriending and MS awareness training. Since the project started, we’ve secured over £200,000 in benefits for people with MS in Wales, with an estimated cumulative impact over the life of the awards worth £1 million.

• In November, we launched Reach Out Connect MS , our new project funded by Northern Ireland’s Department of Health. This project will provide around 150 beneficiaries with access to online counselling and wellbeing activities in 2023.

• The development of our new services and changes to our existing services are all underpinned by our ethos of co-production and community engagement . In 2022, there were over 50 instances of co-production, many within our services and the support that we provide. However, we had to move our plans for co-producing services for families, friends and carers to 2023 due to a lack of capacity and change in personnel.

• The progression of co-production around support and services for carers has been delayed due to staff capacity and will be recommenced in 2023.

• In 2022, we were a founding member of an innovative cross-charity company set up to develop the Digital Health Assistant (DHA), aimed at improving our community care. The DHA Board has taken the difficult decision to dissolve the company as it was deemed no longer viable. Ambitions for the product had diverged among the founding charities and in a rapidly changing digital landscape the original goals had become outdated. We did gain much from the project including insight into partner working, upskilling of staff in Agile development, user insights and a large bank of reusable content and we remain committed to working in partnerships with others in the sector and seeking innovative solutions, particularly harnessing technology to improve the lives of people affected by MS.

What we aim to do in 2023

We’ll continue to deliver and develop high-quality and high-impact services, support and information to the MS community, driven by their needs.

We’ll continue to reshape the structure of our services through the design and development phases. We want to create a clear and streamlined route to make it easier for people to access our services. This will allow us to increase our

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reach, build longer term engagement, increase innovation in services through ‘test and learn’ projects, and attract funding.

We’ll also aim to:

• continue the digitisation of our information and support

• look for funding opportunities for ‘test and learn’ projects in areas such as support for carers, employment support, MS awareness with employers, advanced care and financial security

• continue to identify service delivery gaps and opportunities for partnership delivery

• scope a remote UK-wide counselling service

• work collaboratively to build longer term engagement with the MS community and increase our reach

Access to responsive treatments, care and support

We want to ensure everyone with MS has access to the treatments, care and support they need to live their lives to the fullest, without barriers. We want the services people rely on to understand their condition and meet their needs in a way that works for them, and in a place that works for them.

What we aimed to do in 2022

We aimed to promote health and care service improvements through professional engagement by:

• driving health and care service improvement

• forging a high-profile consensus on best practice

• finding and creating health and care innovation

• growing our network of health and care professionals

• funding our symptom management and care research, including the fatigue programme grant and doctoral training centre

What we achieved in 2022

My Neuro Survey

We partnered with neurological charities across the UK to promote the largest survey of people living with neurological conditions in the UK. Over 8,500 people took part, of whom more than 1,000 are living with MS.

The survey shows that over two thirds (67%) of people with a neurological condition aren’t getting the mental wellbeing support they need. Insights from this survey have been used to inform our national and local influencing campaigns for better treatment, care and support for people living with MS.

My MS My Needs

In 2022, we ran the fourth instalment of our My MS My Needs survey, the largest survey of people with MS in the UK. The survey provides an overview of the experience of people living with MS in the UK: their ability to access the

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treatments and services they need; their financial security and employment status; their care needs and how these are met; and their hopes for the future.

The survey closed towards the end of 2022. A full analysis will be published in 2023 and this will help us shape our organisational activities. Initial findings suggest that our survey respondents do not reflect the diversity of our MS community as well as we had hoped – and this was not helped by the fact that our overall response rate has declined. However, we have a good response rate overall. Once the analysis is completed, we’ll be conducting further research on health inequality in the MS community in 2023.

Understanding intersectionality

We know not everyone with MS is the same and we’re all multi-faceted. Therefore, the challenges we each face are not the same and the solutions might be different.

We commissioned Health and Society Knowledge Exchange to undertake a rapid review of literature exploring the theoretical background, conceptual complexities and application of the practice of intersectionality. The aim of this work was to help us to understand more fully the inequalities that are affecting different groups within the MS community. The findings from this work have provided us with a solid grounding to continue to challenge inequalities in the MS community.

Symptom management grant for fatigue

We finalised the issuing of our fatigue management grant for Refuel MS. You can find more details on our research grants in the section below on ‘Effective treatments and preventing MS’.

Experts in MS Professionals Day

In July, we held our first professional networking day in Swansea. The day provided information, evidence, resources, networking opportunities and training for health and social care professionals working with people with MS. With the theme of ‘Learning into practice’, the day showcased new services and new ways of delivering services.

There were 55 attendees and 8 workshop sessions highlighting new ways of working to provide MS services. Themes included cognition, urinary tract infections (UTIs), complex case management, advanced MS care, fampridine clinics and inequity in accessing MS services.

The event itself has resulted in our active involvement in a variety of initiatives to improve services for people with MS. These initiatives included: support for pilot programmes to test new cognitive assessment tools at three hospital sites in the UK; early-stage development of a dedicated network for psychologists and mental health practitioners; planned webinars on the value of communication and information at the point of diagnosis; and multi-disciplinary ‘extended clinics’ for complex case management.

Professional forums and resources

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We continued to work with health and care professionals with an interest in MS to develop evidence and resources to help improve services across the UK.

Some resources we’ve been developing with professionals were significantly delayed due to capacity challenges in the NHS. We’re still working to develop these resources but were unable to do so in the year we had planned to. We also struggled to evaluate innovative models of care due to similar capacity challenges and internal staff changes.

The following are some of our highlights from 2022:

• Social care training . In April, we launched an accredited e-learning course for care workers and social care staff. Content for the course was co-produced with people with MS and care staff. It was also developed in partnership with a leading training provider in the social care field. In the first six months of its launch, the course was completed 1,150 times.

• NeuroResponse . We continued our partnership with NeuroResponse – an innovative service that enables people with MS to have free, quick and easy 24/7 access to clinicians to help with the early detection of UTIs. We provided funding to evaluate the service in 2019, which has supported its expansion across London. In 2022, we continued to support the service partnership by promoting it to people with MS and healthcare professionals, as well as developing a joint webinar. We continue to explore how we can promote innovation in MS services across the UK.

• Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) . We published our evidence pack on FES to make this therapy more widely available for people with MS. Our evidence pack contains research and data showing the benefits and cost effectiveness of FES as a treatment, as well as personal stories of people with MS who have used FES and testimonials from therapists who provide it. In partnership with the International Functional Electrical Stimulation Society, we hosted a webinar on ‘How to establish an FES clinic’. Two leading physiotherapists gave practical tips based on their experiences of establishing new FES clinics, while Rob, who has MS, shared his story on the difference FES has made to his life.

• Improving ways of working . We worked directly with professionals to develop, pilot and evaluate new ways of working, all of which will be launched as new resources in 2023. These resources include new acute admissions, and bladder and bowel, pathways; piloting and evaluating new cognitive assessment tools; and webinars on managing complex cases and the value of exercise.

What we aim to do in 2023

It continues to be a complicated and challenging time for the NHS. Therefore, it’s a complicated and challenging time for people with MS and their healthcare professionals. We want to continue to ensure people with MS have access to the

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services they need. We also want to support professionals to adapt, innovate and drive improvements in their services.

In 2023, we will:

• be launching the findings of our My MS My Needs survey to highlight the need for urgent action to improve access to treatments and care for people with MS

• continue working with professionals across the UK to look at improving services in areas such as accessing treatments and supporting those not on a disease modifying therapy (DMT); better bladder and bowel support; and promoting exercise and the importance of good information

• develop our support for professionals working in mental health and wellbeing by creating training and resources for them to provide better support for people with MS

• ensure the voices of people with MS are heard, and their needs recognised, as local health structures change in England

Our goal. Connected communities, powerful voices

Connecting MS communities across the UK

We don’t want anyone to feel alone, overwhelmed or misunderstood. We want to help people to find and create communities of support that are right for them, whether they exist locally or online. In doing so, we’ll increase the ways people can share experiences, tackle common issues, foster friendships, build confidence and reduce isolation.

Our volunteer groups play an important role in connecting our community. We aim to provide the tools, training and resources to support our volunteers and ensure their work is recognised and valued. We recognise that, to engage with all parts of the MS community, we need to create a more diverse volunteer base. We also need to develop new light-touch opportunities for people to get involved in our work.

What we aimed to do in 2022

We’ll look at how we can continue building and expanding ways for people in our community and beyond to connect by:

• implementing our new Social Connect model

• building regional services, inspired by our Wellbeing Hub model

• building online communities to support our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy

What we achieved in 2022

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Our 246 local groups, run by dedicated volunteers, help make sure no one has to face MS alone. Across the UK, our local groups provided more than 1,000 regular services and activities for 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 grants.

Many of our local groups continued to provide support to their community through online services, counselling and our MS Support Volunteer network. Our staff team provided regular opportunities for volunteers to share ideas and gain peer support and handled over 10,000 enquiries from volunteers to support their work.

Our regional and community development teams held over 20 listening events, bringing the MS community together to discuss local need. These sessions led to more than 60 new or improved services being developed during the year. The teams also delivered over 20 events focusing on providing information to those newly diagnosed with MS and young families.

Expanding the ways people can connect with one another

Until now, most of our community building efforts have focused on geographical connection. We want to support even more people to connect with one another – by broadening what we offer and providing different and more informal ways for people to meet up, virtually or in person.

To help with this, we developed a toolkit of resources to support the creation and promotion of informal support groups. This included a social media e- learning module that will also be used to support our existing group network to reach out to new communities. Alongside the Social Connect project, we’ve been developing improvements to the Near Me pages on our website so that we can signpost people to more local and online support opportunities. These resources are at pilot stage and will be launched in 2023.

What we aim to do in 2023

Our connections with and between the MS community will change as we reshape our service structure through the design and development phases of our services and engagement transformation projects. We aim to create a clear, streamlined and accessible route into our services that will allow us to increase our reach and build longer term engagement.

• We’ll build on our work to support and connect the MS community by:

• launching our Social Connect resources and putting in place structures that support online communities to flourish

• working towards a more joined up offer of support through our Wellbeing Hub

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Developing policy positions, campaigning nationally and locally on key issues and improving understanding of MS

We want to make sure the voices of people with MS are heard. Not only to increase awareness of the condition but heard by those with the power to make real and positive change for people living with MS.

People living with MS often face barriers and challenges in everyday life. We campaign with the MS community nationally and locally to tackle these barriers head on. We're committed to using our voice and platform to ensure people with MS can live well.

What we aimed to do in 2022

We set out to continue supporting our MS community to raise their voice on issues they’re concerned about. We also develop policy positions and campaign nationally and locally on key issues.

• In particular, we’ll continue to implement the following campaign strands:

• Treat Me Right, for effective treatments for people with MS

• Neurology Now, for quality care for people affected by MS

• MS: Enough, for better financial security for people affected by MS

What we achieved in 2022

Breaking Point

In 2022, we saw a sharp rise in the cost of living, and disabled people, including those living with MS, faced increased pressure. As a result, we launched our flagship campaign, Breaking Point, which is part of our MS: Enough campaign strand. Our Breaking Point campaign found that, nearly two in five people with MS who we surveyed and who claim means-tested benefits, can’t afford to keep their homes warm.

Over 14,000 people joined our campaign. We handed in our petition at Downing Street, calling for the Prime Minister to urgently provide support for disabled people facing the cost of living crisis. We were pleased the government listened to our calls to increase benefits in line with inflation and provide new cost of living payments next year. However, much of the immediate support we were calling for did not come through.

Adult Disability Payment

In 2022, the Scottish Government began reviewing the mobility component of Adult Disability Payment (ADP), which replaces Personal Independence Payment (PIP) in Scotland. During the review process, we continued talking to people with MS and shared evidence that the 20 metre rule is failing people with fluctuating conditions. This review came about following our campaign in 2021 when more than 3,000 people signed our petition calling for the 20 metre rule to be scrapped.

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Campaigning for the Carer’s Leave Bill

Throughout 2022, we’ve been working in Westminster to support the passage of the Carer’s Leave Bill. The Bill aims to enable unpaid carers to balance their caring responsibilities with work by making sure employers give them extra time off. We were thrilled to see the Bill secure government support and pass through the House of Commons. Sadly, we were unable to extend the Bill to provide paid leave, which is our longer-term goal. In 2023, we’ll continue our campaigning work until the Bill becomes law.

Sativex in Scotland

In September, the Scottish Medicines Consortium (SMC) announced that Sativex, the cannabis-based medication, will be available to adult NHS patients with MS – specifically, those who experience moderate to severe spasticity and where other treatments haven’t worked.

Previously, Scotland was the only nation in the UK where Sativex was not recommended for use. This change came following our Approved but Denied campaign, which is part of our Treat Me Right campaign strand. Our campaign called for the manufacturer of Sativex to make a submission to the SMC for the approval of the medicine on the NHS in Scotland. We're pleased the manufacturer listened to us and members of our community. However, this is just the first step as we know how long it can take to get Sativex prescribed regularly.

The Back the 1 in 6 campaign for neurology services

In 2021, 8,000 of us signed an open letter for our Neurology Now campaign, calling for better access to MS and neurology services. In 2022, we took the campaign further. We worked in partnership across the UK with the Neurological Alliance and neurological charities to launch the Back the 1 in 6 campaign. One in six people in the UK live with a neurological condition. Yet, from our My Neuro survey, we found that people are experiencing delays to life-changing treatment and care.

Working in coalition, we hosted a petition calling for a Neuro Taskforce to be set up – for bringing together initiatives and leadership to drive improvements in neurology services across the UK. As many as 17,000 people have signed the petition calling for action but we’ve yet to secure a commitment to a Neuro Taskforce.

Securing clinical leadership in England

While the campaign to improve neurology services continues, we were thrilled that our call for the appointment of a National Clinical Director for Neurology in England was heard – and in 2022, an appointment was made for this new role. We joined over 35 other organisations in making an approach to NHS England’s Medical Director calling for more action.

Improving services in Wales

The voices of people living with MS have helped to shape policy and practice in Wales. Working in coalition with other neurological organisations, we presented findings from the My Neuro survey and Llais Niwro (Neuro Voice) project to the

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government. The findings showed that people were not getting the treatment and support they needed.

As a result, the Quality Statement for Neurological Conditions was published at the end of 2022. The quality statement describes the outcomes and standards that are expected in patient focused services. It also aims to ensure those affected by any kind of neurological condition have timely access to high quality pathways of care. Following on from this, each local health board in Wales will be required to develop its own local delivery plan. The aim is to drive forward change to deliver better quality, higher value and more accessible services for people with neurological conditions.

Scotland’s National Care Service

In 2022, the Scottish Government started work on their proposal to introduce legislation to develop a National Care Service in Scotland. We’re working collaboratively with the MS community, the Neurological Alliance of Scotland, the Right to Rehab coalition and the Health and Social Care Alliance Scotland to shape the development of this piece of legislation.

So far, we’ve tabled amendments to the legislation; drafted a report on social care provision in Scotland; hosted round table events for the MS community to inform our consultation response; and engaged with Minister for Mental Wellbeing and Social Care as well as the opposition spokespeople on social care issues.

The Independent Neurology Inquiry in Northern Ireland

In 2022, the Independent Neurology Inquiry reported on the governance of neurology services at the Belfast Trust. It also reported on the events that led to the recall of 5,000 patients of Dr Michael Watt. We worked collaboratively with other neurological charities and patient groups to support people giving evidence to the Inquiry.

Following the publication of the Inquiry’s report, we worked with members of the All-Party Group on MS and Neurology at the Northern Ireland Assembly. Senior medical and management figures from the Belfast Trust went to the Assembly to provide their response to the report and set out how they’ll act on its recommendations.

Local campaigning

Throughout 2022, we continued to support people with MS to raise issues that matter to them. Through our local campaigning programme, Local Action for MS, we provided training to people with MS – on how to run campaigns, influence decision makers and work with the media.

Our staff members worked directly with people with MS across the UK to offer advice and support. We want to empower people with MS to lead the change in their local area. We also recognise that we need to reach more people if we’re to achieve this goal.

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The BBC Lifeline TV Appeal

In June, our BBC Lifeline TV Appeal was broadcast on BBC One. It was presented by celebrity chef Tom Kerridge and told the stories of three people living with MS and how the condition affects them. The programme also shared information on how we can help. The appeal raised more than £13,000 for our work as well as vital awareness of MS to the general public.

MS Awareness Week

MS Awareness Week 2022 focused on the impact of dealing with uncertainty that MS can have on people’s lives. We developed the campaign in collaboration with people with MS.

Over 1,200 people from the community took part in our survey to share their experiences. And many shared their stories on our website, on social media and in the media, helping to raise awareness about MS.

New Ambassadors

We welcomed two new MS Society Ambassadors in 2022 – the comedian Ivo Graham, whose mum is living with MS, and the former England footballer and now football manager, Mary Phillip, who has MS herself.

Our Ambassadors play a vital role in helping us to raise awareness, reach new audiences and support fundraising efforts.

What we aim to do in 2023

We’ll continue to support our MS community to raise their voice on issues that matter to them. We’ll also continue to develop policy positions and campaign nationally and locally on key issues.

In particular, we’ll continue to campaign for:

• better financial security, including a benefits system that reflects the reality of living with MS

• better access to effective treatments, like Sativex, regardless of where you live

• improvements in neurology services across the UK, so everyone with MS can access the support they need

Our goal. Effective treatments and preventing MS

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.

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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 from developing MS.

Clinical trials programme

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.

What we aimed to do in 2022

We aimed to deepen our understanding of MS progression and identify risk reduction or prevention strategies by:

• continuing to deliver our ground-breaking Octopus clinical trial with University College London (UCL)

• renewing funding and increasing promotion for the MS Register

• implementing a capacity building plan

• influencing International Progressive MS Alliance’s funding strategy so that it aligns with ours

• actively managing and enhancing research Centres of Excellence

• launching data-driven risk factor discovery projects to potentially inform future research on prevention

What we achieved in 2022

With the impact of the pandemic easing, both on the research environment and our community of leading scientists, we were able to increase our activity and fund more vital research studies.

Here are some of the highlights:

Research Strategy extension until 2024

Importantly, our Research Strategy Committee reviewed the progress we’ve made against our Research Strategy 2018-2022 and has agreed priorities for its extension until 2024. The extension was approved by the Board at the end of 2022.

Octopus

Octopus is the first ever multi-arm, multi-stage trial for MS and it will transform the way we test treatments to slow or stop MS progression. This achievement was the result of many years of incredibly hard work involving people with MS, researchers, funders and supporters – and it’s bringing us even closer to our goal of stopping MS.

The set-up and preparation phases that we completed in 2022 took slightly longer than anticipated but it has enabled us to start recruitment in early 2023. This included receiving full regulatory approvals and setting up an online portal for people to register their interest through our UK MS Register.

Clinical trials

We also continued supporting the following clinical trials:

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• MS-STAT2 is a phase 3 trial of the cholesterol-lowering drug simvastatin, which could lead to the first neuro-protective treatment for progressive MS. We’ve now fully recruited almost 1,000 people to take part, making this the largest academic-led progressive MS trial to date.

• ChariotMS, the first clinical trial to include people with MS who use a wheelchair, aims to preserve upper limb function with a drug called cladribine. It’s up and running and recruiting now at 18 sites across the UK.

• DELIVER-MS focuses on answering a priority question for people with MS: whether early intensive treatment with disease modifying therapies is more effective. By the end of 2022, it was very close to completing its recruitment phase.

• The metformin and clemastine trial tests the potential of a new combination remyelination treatment. Recruitment has been steady in 2022.

• StarMS, a definitive trial comparing stem cell transplants to highly effective disease modifying therapies, is now actively recruiting after a delay caused by COVID-19.

UK MS Register

We were delighted to renew our funding of the UK MS Register, with new objectives being set and promotional activities planned. This is a key piece of research infrastructure that could be useful for answering fundamental questions about MS. For example, the team found that smoking could increase a person’s rate of disability progression; however, stopping smoking could bring someone’s rate of disability progression back in line with someone with MS who has never smoked.

Translational research

We continued to fund as well as provide support and direction to key research programmes such as the MS Society Tissue Bank, International Progressive MS Alliance and our Centres of Excellence in Cambridge and Edinburgh.

Capacity building

Supporting research careers in MS is a priority that underpins our current research strategy. In 2022, we implemented our capacity building plan to ensure a strong and diverse MS research community that can deliver the MS leaders and breakthroughs of the future.

Here are some of the highlights:

• We broadened the remit of our Early Career Fellowships to offer support to researchers working in biomedical science.

• We successfully held MS Frontiers 2022, our biennial research conference, at Swansea University. The event was attended by around 200 members of the MS research community. It was our first MS Frontiers conference since 2019 and we received excellent feedback from delegates who attended it. We also launched our Early Career Researcher Network at the conference.

• We further developed our Early Career Researcher Network programme by launching new funding for the Skills Development Awards.

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• Expressions of interest were opened for a new funding call that’s supporting a Doctoral Training Centre in symptom management research.

Grant round

We fund a range of new projects every year in support of our research priorities through our open grant round. We support the highest quality, most relevant research for people affected by MS.

In 2022, we funded 15 awards through our response-mode grant rounds – the most we’ve funded since the pandemic. These included several awards to early career researchers, which is helping us to build on our strategy to develop the next generation of MS research leaders.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in our research action plan

We have worked with external research advisors and our Research Network volunteers to develop an action plan for improving EDI in our funded research.

In 2022, we achieved a number of activities on our action plan. We

implemented a survey to collect demographic information for all our researchers who apply for our funding. We also showcased stories of researchers from different groups by focusing on researchers from ethnic minority backgrounds and disabled researchers.

Refuel MS

A co-funded fatigue management grant with the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) has now been finalised. The clinical trial, led by Professor Rona Moss-Morris at King's College London, was due to commence at the end of 2022. The trial will leverage £2.5 million in MS research on the back of our support for the underpinning work for this programme over the last few years.

New data discovery awards

We launched a new award type to drive data-driven risk factor discovery projects that use the UK MS Register to potentially inform future prevention or risk reduction research. We funded one exciting new project that’s looking at the impact of a combination of risk factors.

Research Network

Our Research Network is a group of volunteers affected by MS who help shape our research programme. They’re trained to carry out our various involvement activities.

In 2022, the quality of our involvement programmes, especially the co-design of our Octopus trial, was highlighted and recognised internationally at various meetings and conferences.

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What we aim to do in 2023

We’ll continue to drive forward our Research Strategy by focusing on these key areas:

• Preventing MS – driving progress towards risk reduction and prevention strategies

• Stopping progression – continuing our world-leading clinical trials and translational research programmes

• Managing MS – furthering our care and services research programme

• Underpinning infrastructure – supporting our research programme, research community and priorities

Improving how we engage with our supporters and how we work

Engagement and income generation

We believe we need to grow deeper, stronger and more enduring relationships with the MS community. We need to provide an integrated range of services and a personalised and seamless journey that will result in increased levels of financial and non-financial support.

What we aimed to do in 2022

We planned to support all levels of the organisation to build closer connections with our MS community by:

• growing, broadening and deepening our engagement with them

• investigating a retail operation to increase and diversify our income

• transforming our income generation – through reaching, engaging and inspiring a wider pool of people to support us financially

What we achieved in 2022

In the first few months of 2022, the external environment changed significantly. We had hoped to build on the 2021 bounce back from the COVID-19 pandemic and national lockdowns. But global disruption and a worsening economic crisis created a much more challenging context than we had predicted.

Despite these circumstances, here are some of our highlights:

• Our excellent SMS Battles event went ahead in May, with guests feeding back saying they had a fantastic time. However, we had issues with finding a new venue for the rescheduled date. This resulted in guest numbers being lower than planned, which subsequently impacted on the income raised.

• Sponsorship for MS Frontiers was exceeded by support from our pharmaceutical partners, who are also supporting both research and services with grants totaling £250,000.

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• Community events ended the year below where we had hoped, reflecting the challenging external environment. However, this result masks another year of high quality delivery. We saw a strong performance from MS Walks in Glasgow and London, and the successful pilot of My MS Woof.

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. To stop MS, we need treatments that repair lost myelin and protect nerves from damage, as well as ones that prevent immune attacks. This will mean we’ll be able to stop MS in its tracks for everyone living with the condition. Our ambition is a future where everyone with MS has access to an effective combination of treatments.

We were grateful to receive £4.3 million in restricted donations from individuals, trusts and corporate partners. We were also able to commit a further £3 million of unrestricted income to the appeal.

What we aim to do in 2023

In 2023, we'll be launching our Engagement and Income Generation Transformation Programme. Our programme will consist of a series of projects to enable us to reach everyone who’s part of, and beyond, our MS community. We want to work with them to co-produce a relevant, inspiring and integrated experience to deepen relationships and increase engagement, supporters, income, influence and impact.

Our new programme will run alongside our core activities and we’ll:

• continue to develop our retail operation plan to increase our revenue

• optimise our website to improve user experience

• elevate our brand to reposition ourselves and broaden our appeal

• invest more in finding new supporters and providing a better experience for them so they support us for longer

Improving how we work

We want to strive for excellence, both in what we deliver and how we deliver. We recognise that can only happen by continuously evolving and reacting to the internal and external environments.

What we aimed to do in 2022

We continued to make sure we maximise the resources available to us and be as efficient and effective as possible. We planned to:

• establish a multi-faceted, multi-phased programme that will enable us to use data more effectively and efficiently, including the decommissioning of our existing Customer Relationships Management system

• make significant inroads into implementing our key enabling strategies:

• Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

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• Employee Engagement

• Volunteering

What we achieved in 2022

Volunteer Impact Awards and recognising our volunteers

In March, we launched our new Volunteer Impact Awards and long service recognition scheme. This culminated in a spectacular online awards event in October, hosted by our celebrity ambassador Scott Mills.

The event highlighted the incredible impact the work of our volunteers has had on our community. Throughout the year, we’ve also been recognising and galvanising our volunteer community – through our new look monthly e-updates and our regular Volunteer Voice events, which provide opportunities for volunteers to meet with senior staff and trustees.

Volunteer recruitment

Following a successful pilot phase, we’ve been rolling out our Reach recruitment platform. This platform has supported the recruitment of 389 new volunteers, including 20 new Group Coordinators. It’s also helping us to diversify our volunteer network, where we’ve consistently exceeded demographic targets for new volunteers.

We established a new volunteer risk matrix that will help us to create lighter touch volunteering opportunities that are supported by more consistent and appropriate training requirements.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy

After launching our Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Strategy in December 2021, we’ve now recruited an EDI programme manager and are making progress towards its six objectives. These objectives aim to help us become more diverse and grow our reach as well as help us make sure everyone in our community feels their voice is included in what we do and how we do it. Our progress in 2022 against our EDI strategy along with delays which have occurred and the next steps in this journey are set out in our EDI annual report which is available on our website.

Employee wellbeing and engagement

We aspire to be the employer of choice for talented people who want to deliver positive change for the MS community. In 2022, we continued making progress towards this ambition by updating our Family Friendly policy. This included extensions to maternity pay and special paid leave and introducing a working overseas policy to give staff the flexibility of extending time with family and friends. To support the overall employee experience, we’ve also started to develop a new HR system.

Our employee engagement scores have remained consistently high through 2022 as we continued to find new ways of hearing from many different voices across our organisation. However, we didn’t manage to carry out the review of

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our internal communications channels or implement an employee recognition scheme.

Continuous improvement programme

As an organisation, we recognise that our processes have evolved over several years rather than being designed for today’s way of working. That’s why we’re implementing a continuous improvement programme.

In 2022, we launched a training programme and ran a successful pilot programme in a single directorate.

In addition to our continuous improvement programme, we’ve also embarked on a number of significant multi-year improvement projects, including:

• a project that will enable us to use data to increase engagement, maximise impact, drive strategic goals and increase operational effectiveness and efficiency (including the decommissioning our existing Customer Relationships Management system and other legacy systems)

• migrating our information and organisational file storage to SharePoint

• rationalising and introducing a standard suite of online collaborative tools for planning, reporting and sharing information

What we aim to do in 2023

We plan to continue making sure we maximise the resources available to us and be as efficient and effective as possible by:

• continuing to develop a multi-faceted, multi-phased programme that will enable us to use data more effectively and efficiently, including the decommissioning of our existing Customer Relationships Management system

• continuing to invest in and improve our technology infrastructure

• rolling out our continuous improvement programme throughout our organisation

• supporting our volunteer group network to improve their impact and sustainability through greater collaboration and reduced complexity

• enhancing the experience of our volunteers by improving our volunteer systems and refining processes

• making significant inroads into implementing our key enabling strategies:

• Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

• Employee Engagement

• Volunteering

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:

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• 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

• Be available to answer questions and value feedback

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 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 2022, 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 our fundraising activities

To ensure effective oversight of the suppliers that 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 Customer Services team is handling donor interactions appropriately

• safeguarding training for all staff

• 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 2022, we implemented a new method of monitoring complaints. Under this methodology, we received 11 complaints about our fundraising activities, considerably reduced from the 41 complaints we received in 2021.

Complaints are handled following our Complaints Policy. Our Customer Services team regularly reviews any complaints received and, where necessary, uses the information and feedback to learn from mistakes and works with teams across the organisation to make improvements.

Finance review

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Income

Overall, it was a challenging year for fundraising. Despite this, our overall income was relatively stable with a drop of less than 1% in income to £26.9m in 2022 (£27.0m in 2021, excluding the one-off sale of our building in Cricklewood).

In some areas, we have seen a recovery from the COVID-19 years but in other areas, we have struggled mainly because of a difficult external environment. To ensure that we have a growing income to meet the needs of the MS community and fund our ambitious strategy in the future, we are planning to invest in an income transformation programme in 2023 to develop new products and increase our donors.

Donations

In 2022, we saw people supporting us in a huge number of ways, to make sure we are able to continue our vital work. Donations fell by £1m in 2022 to £10.2m, from £11.2m in 2021. Income from partnership funding and individual giving were the main contributors for this fall, probably because of the cost of living crisis.

Legacies

We received £13.9m in 2022 from the many generous MS supporters who were kind enough to include a gift in their will to support our ongoing work.

This is a 9% increase on 2021 (when we received £12.8m), in line with an increase in legacy income across the sector.

Income from charitable activities

Income from charitable activities was at a similar level to 2021 (£0.8m). A decrease in institutional funding was offset by our local groups becoming more active after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Other trading activities

In 2021, we held a large Christmas Carol concert at St Paul’s Cathedral, which raised more than £800k. Only a smaller event was held in 2022. As a result, income from other trading activities fell to £1.75m in 2022 from £2m in 2021.

Expenditure

Expenditure rose by 12% to £27.7m, compared with £24.8m in 2021.

Raising funds

We spent £8.1m on raising funds in 2022, up from 2021 (£7.3m), which reflects the difficult fundraising environment we faced. Expenditure in raising funds is likely to remain high compared to donations received while we put the income transformation project into effect.

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 rose to £7.0m in 2022 (£6.2m in 2021), with most of the increase in expenditure relating to our groups becoming more active after the COVID-19 pandemic.

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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. Expenditure rose to £7.0m in 2022 (£5.9m in 2021).

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. The goals section of this report highlights the key research grants which we funded in 2022. We have increased expenditure to £5.6m from £5.4m, representing an increase in research grants awarded.

Net investment loss

Overall, in 2022, we received investment income of £248,000 (2021: £163,000) from the investment portfolios and a net investment loss of £2.4m (2021: £1.8m gain). This represented a loss of 12.4% (2021: gain of 12.1%). We are discussing strategies with our investment manager to ensure that this performance more closely represents our expectation and the market benchmarks.

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 that result 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 £17.9m (2021: £21.0m) with £1.8m (2021: £2.1m) within the designated fund for fixed assets, £12.7m (2021: £14.0m) held in the designated fund for research, £10.2m (2021: £12.5m) held in general funds and negative £6.9m (2021: -£7.6m) in net restricted funds. The restricted funds also include £0.3m of endowments funds (2021: £0.3m).

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Included in the -£6.9m (2021: -£7.6m) of net restricted funds are negative restricted research fund balances totalling £11.5m (2021: £11.9m). These negative funds are held in the expectation that specific income will be received for these projects. 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 (2022: £12.7m, 2021: £14.0m). 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, 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.

At 31 December, reserves held were £11.5m (2021: £14.7m), equating to 18.9 weeks of planned expenditure (2021: 25.4 weeks) which is in excess of our reserves policy range. We have plans to utilise the excess reserves over the next few years on several large transformational projects, including a new Customer Relationships Management system, additional fundraising products, and improving our reach and engagement with the whole MS community.

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.

Investment policy

Rathbone Investment Management Limited are the MS Society’s investment managers.

The main portfolio was monitored on a total return basis using consumer price inflation (CPI) plus 3% over the investment managers’ tenure which in 2022 was 13.8% (2021: 8.5%).

The Audit, Risk and Finance Committee has 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 three committee meetings in 2022. The Audit, Risk and Finance Committee

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carried out a review of the investment principles, during the year, under which the managers operate.

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.

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

Our local volunteer-run groups 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 £238k in support grants in 2022 (£235k in 2021).

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 £4.9m (2021: £4.6m) on our active research portfolio in 2022. This figure is net of any research grant write backs.

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

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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, to the Audit, Risk and Finance Committee quarterly, 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 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 that affect the MS Society, and the plan and strategy to mitigate these risks:

1. Relationship with the MS community

Our work is based on the hopes and aspirations of our MS community. Together, we campaign at all levels, fund research and provide support and information. If not everything we do is guided by the full breadth of the MS community, or we do not form lasting relationships with all of the MS community, there is a risk that our work will be less relevant and impactful, and the ambitious outcomes set out in our strategy will not be achieved.

We will continue to work together with the MS community to co-produce the best solutions for people with and affected by MS. Through our new Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy launched in 2021, we will implement a programme of bespoke outreach to groups within the MS community we struggle to engage with. We will also build on further insight work to understand the experiences of MS in different groups through our Engagement Strategy (launched in 2020). We aim to ensure we are as welcoming, relevant and accessible as possible.

2. Effective people, including volunteers and staff

The year 2022 continued to bring disruption, uncertainty and stress across all parts of society. This uncertainty continues into 2023, with the ongoing instability in the wider world as well as the economic situation in the UK. We recognise there is an ongoing risk of excessive levels of stress, disconnection and demotivation among colleagues as remote working and turmoil in the wider external environment continue to be felt.

In 2023, people will continue to be a key focus for us as an organisation. Our Employee Engagement Strategy (approved by the Board in 2020) is an ambitious

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and exciting step-change that sets out to ensure that we are a fantastic and fully inclusive place to work, and where staff are engaged and motivated to achieve.

The Volunteering Strategy reflects our ambition to improve the experience and engagement for our existing volunteer base, as well as bring new volunteers into the organisation. In 2022, we established new ways to thank, reward and recognise the enormous contribution made by our volunteers.

In 2021, we developed our new Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy by involving employees and volunteers from across the organisation. This strategy aims to help us create an inclusive workplace and culture, ensuring that everyone can thrive and have the same chances to contribute, share and succeed. It was approved by the Board in July 2021 and an update on the progress we’ve made in 2022 is available on our website.

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

The economic situation in the UK and wider global instability presents an ongoing risk to income and our ability to fundraise effectively. We will continue to take a prudent approach to planning and scale our plans accordingly. We realise we could do more if additional funds become available.

We have robust reserves in place and are continuing to develop our fundraising capabilities. In 2022, we have started to consider how we can transform our engagement and fundraising approach to see a step change in the income we generate. This will involve significant investment in the short term.

4. Long-term instability in the external environment due to longer-term implications of the pandemic, national and world political and economic issues and other factors, causing: a) increased pressure on the NHS and social care services; b) increased inequality and demands on the welfare system; c) worsening economic environment; and d) challenges to our ability to achieve coverage for, or influence on, issues affecting the MS community

The health and care system continues to face unprecedented financial, workforce and capacity challenges, and has been brought to breaking point – through the ongoing demands of living with Covid and employment disputes. This has resulted in an evergrowing, significant backlog of people needing care. 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. We also continue to implement our Influencing Strategy. This seeks 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.

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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. Minor amendments were agreed in December 2022 to include explicit reference to our ability to undertake advocacy work and amend the terms of co-opted trustees, so these align with elected trustees (being three years).

The MS Society is registered in Scotland with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator as a cross-border charity (number SC041990). We are also registered as a charity (number 1256) and as a foreign company (number 006152F) in the Isle of Man, and with the Guernsey Charity Registry (CH36).

Main purposes

The MS Society was set up with three main charitable objectives:

• 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

The Trustees and National Council Chairs are 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 objectives to the MS community, and for the performance of the charity from a legal and ethical perspective.

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. The Board also ensures the effective and equitable use of the MS Society’s resources in pursuit of its objectives.

Our electorate 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 – these being the Chair of the Board and the Treasurer. There are also three co-opted positions, which the Board can use to address specific gaps in skills and experience. Elected and co-opted 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

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least one year. Reappointment is 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 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 the vacancy and a formal application and interview process.

Each new Trustee receives a comprehensive induction, emphasising the MS Society’s charitable objectives and strategic goals. This process also provides briefings on the key responsibilities of Trustees and the Board, as well as an understanding of MS 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 always acts 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. It also has oversight of the financial affairs of the charity, ensuring financial viability, efficient and proper use of resources, and safeguarding of 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 and other projects that have a significant impact on staff or volunteers. The Committee is responsible for overseeing the MS Society’s approach to pay and remuneration matters for all staff, ensuring that these support the MS Society’s strategic aims and enable the recruitment, motivation and retention of high-quality people. The Committee is also responsible for determining and agreeing with the Board the CEO’s remuneration package, as well as providing broader oversight of executive pay levels.

The four National Councils provide a voice for the MS community in the nations of the UK. They also act as ambassadors and advocates 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.

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Public benefit

The senior management and Trustees of the MS Society have complied with the duty in section 4 of the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard for the public benefit guidance published by the Charity Commission in administering the MS Society, in determining achievements against the aims set for 2022, and in planning activities for 2023.

Section 172 Statement

In line with the duties set out in 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 its charitable purposes. This includes placing the needs of the MS community at the heart of all that we do and focusing on insight-led decision making. Our 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 selfassessment 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. In line with the Code, the Board will undertake an externally facilitated board effectiveness review in 2023, which will be largely informed by the expectations of the Code.

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 lead our staff and volunteers.

Offices

We have offices in Belfast, Cardiff, Edinburgh and London.

Our volunteer-run groups

There are 246 MS Society volunteer-run groups:

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

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

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

Our volunteers

Volunteers are the cornerstone of the MS Society. They make significant contributions to our activities by fundraising, providing us with insights, campaigning, operating our MS Helpline, blogging on our website, supporting individuals affected by MS, bringing together people affected by MS through our local volunteer-run groups, and acting as Trustees and National Council members.

Our volunteers normally contribute around 700,000 hours a year, and we simply would not be able to achieve all the things we do without them. We have around

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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.

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 employees

In 2022, our employee turnover rate fell to 16% compared with 21% in 2021.

Our new SMART working policy, introduced in October 2021, increased employees’ flexibility and offered hybrid working. Since then, we have seen an increase in compressed hours, and changes in working patterns to accommodate personal circumstances, childcare and other caring needs, and working abroad, to extend time with family and friends. At the same time, we moved our London office to a brandnew facility in Finsbury Park, offering a modern environment designed for activitybased working and a more attractive location. We have also introduced a new annual leave policy that removes mandatory bank holidays and allows employees to use those days at other times. This gives increased flexibility and recognises the diversity of our organisation.

We offer a reward package that tracks the charity sector so we can remain competitive. We also provide a wide range of other benefits, including a cycle-towork scheme, personal pension plan, family-friendly 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 self-directed approach to their own learning, and to identify and exploit chances to learn. We also use a robust performance appraisal framework, providing a forum in which managers and employees can think about other learning opportunities. 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 practices.

We make reasonable adjustments to support disabled staff to meet their full potential – by implementing best employment practices, 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 a chance to share their thoughts. We have continued to adapt our communication channels to support and connect colleagues. We run periodic employee engagement surveys to track how our colleagues are feeling and their views on issues that we know are important to them.

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All our people have access to the Board of Trustees’ meeting papers, which are publicly available 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 to agree on actions.

Remuneration

We aim to pay salaries that 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. We have recently been accredited as a living wage employer.

• Currently pay a dispersion ratio of approximately 4:1 (2021: 4:1) between the highest salary and the median salary.

In 2023, we will be reviewing our pay and grading system, including our benefits, and will produce a ‘Reward’ policy.

Our 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. This is based on 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 the management of resources is an important issue for the charity. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, our operations were somewhat limited in 2021, with more people working from home and less travel involved. Therefore, a meaningful comparison with 2022 is not possible.

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

2022	Energy consumed and estimated (kw/h)	Government emissions conversion factor	Emissions (kg of CO2e)	Performance indicator (staff numbers)	Emissions ratio (kg of CO2e/staff member)
Gas	288,560	0.18219	55,573	277	190
Fuel for transport	157,411	0.24115	37,960	277	137
Electricity	155,693	0.19338	30,108	277	109
2021	Energy consumed and estimated (kw/h)	Government emissions conversion factor	Emissions (kg of CO2e)	Performance indicator (staff numbers)	Emissions ratio (kg of CO2e/staff member)

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Gas	323,818	0.18316	59,311	272	218
Fuel for transport	56,822	0.23686	13,459	272	50
Electricity	191,059	0.21233	40,568	272	149

In 2021, we moved our offices in England, Scotland and Wales to new premises, so we can ensure that their size and the resources used better reflect our needs. Our new main office in London is newly built to an EPC B rating. It benefits from low carbon and renewable technologies, including smart lighting that reacts to the level of sunlight and occupancy of different zones within the entire space. The building is also equipped with low-wattage lighting, a natural air ventilation system and low carbon heating.

In 2022, the increase in fuel used for transport reflects greater activity in our local group network after COVID-19 restrictions were eased.

In 2023, we anticipate transferring our day centres to other charities, which will reduce our energy consumption especially in relation to gas. We will also look to continue finding new ways to minimise any negative impact of our work on the environment.

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.

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Statement of Trustees’ responsibilities and corporate

governance Trustees’ responsibilities

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.

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

Approved by the Board of Trustees of the MS Society on 28 March 2023 including, in their capacity as company directors, the strategic report contained therein, and signed on its behalf by:

Stuart Secker Treasurer

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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 2022 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 2022 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.

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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 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 38], 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

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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 groups 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.

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 fundraising regulations, 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, the Charities Act 2011 and payroll taxes.

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 the completeness and cut-off of voluntary income, legacies, grant income and investment income. 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 charitable company relevant to the preparation of the financial statements to ensure these were in place throughout the year;

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

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

• Reviewing correspondence with regulators and tax authorities;

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

Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or non-compliance with regulation. This risk increases the more that compliance with a law or regulation is removed from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, as we will be less likely to become aware of instances of non-compliance. The risk is also greater regarding irregularities occurring due to fraud rather than error, as fraud involves intentional concealment, forgery, collusion, omission or misrepresentation.

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council’s website 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 20, 2023

Vikram Sandhu (Senior Statutory Auditor)

For and on behalf of Haysmacintyre LLP, Statutory Auditors

10 Queen Street Place London EC4R 1AG

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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 2022 Unrestricted Note funds Income from: 5 £'000		Restricted funds	2022 Total	2021 Total
	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
Donations	7,397	2,808	10,205	11,200
Legacies receivable Charitable activities	11,240 489	2,704 294	13,944 783	12,811 805
Other trading activities	1,433	318	1,751	1,982
Investment income Other income - Profit on sale of assets	240 -	8 -	248 -	163 2,470
Total income 5	20,799	6,132	26,931	29,431
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
	6,529 4,964 6,880 641	1,600 2,044 101 4,965	8,129 7,008 6,981 5,606	7,303 6,163 5,928 5,361
Total expenditure 6	19,014	8,710	27,724	24,755
Net (losses)/gains on investments 15 Net income/(expenditure) Transfers 21 Other recognised gains and losses	(2,378) (53) (2,431)			1,777
	(593) (3,305) 18	(2,631) 3,305 -	(3,224) - 18	6,453 - -
Net movement in funds	(3,880)	674	(3,206)	6,453
Reconciliation of funds Total funds brought forward	28,668 (7,580) 21,088			14,635
Total funds carried forward 21	24,788	(6,906)	17,882	21,088

Prior year split between unrestricted and restricted appears in note 22.

Restricted funds includes endowment funds of £282k (2021: £335k) - see note 21 for an analysis. No separate income and expenditure account is required under the Companies Act 2006 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 -£53k (2021: £33k). All activities above were from continuing activities.

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Consolidated and Charity Balance Sheets

31 December 2022

2022 2021 Notes £'000 £'000 Fixed assets Intangible assets 12 184 228 Tangible assets 13 1,791 2,035 Investments 15 15,665 17,957 Total fixed assets 17,640 20,220 Current assets Debtors 16 10,361 7,827 Investments 500 1,500 Cash at bank and in hand 1,510 1,883 Total current assets 12,371 11,210 Liabilities: Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year 18 12,129 10,121 Net current assets/(liabilities) 242 1,089 Total assets less current liabilities 17,882 21,309 Creditors: Amounts falling due after more than one year 19 - 221 Total net assets 21 17,882 21,088 Funds Endowment funds 21 282 335 Restricted income funds (see the reserves policy in the Trustees' report page 27) 21 (7,188) (7,915) Unrestricted funds - Designated for intangible and tangible fixed assets 1,818 2,094 - Designated for research (Stop MS Appeal) 12,729 14,047 - General funds 10,241 12,527 Total unrestricted funds 21 24,788 28,668 Total charity funds 21 17,882 21,088 Consolidated	2022 2021 Notes £'000 £'000 Fixed assets Intangible assets 12 184 228 Tangible assets 13 1,791 2,035 Investments 15 15,665 17,957 Total fixed assets 17,640 20,220 Current assets Debtors 16 10,361 7,827 Investments 500 1,500 Cash at bank and in hand 1,510 1,883 Total current assets 12,371 11,210 Liabilities: Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year 18 12,129 10,121 Net current assets/(liabilities) 242 1,089 Total assets less current liabilities 17,882 21,309 Creditors: Amounts falling due after more than one year 19 - 221 Total net assets 21 17,882 21,088 Funds Endowment funds 21 282 335 Restricted income funds (see the reserves policy in the Trustees' report page 27) 21 (7,188) (7,915) Unrestricted funds - Designated for intangible and tangible fixed assets 1,818 2,094 - Designated for research (Stop MS Appeal) 12,729 14,047 - General funds 10,241 12,527 Total unrestricted funds 21 24,788 28,668 Total charity funds 21 17,882 21,088 Consolidated	2022 2021 Notes £'000 £'000 Fixed assets Intangible assets 12 184 228 Tangible assets 13 1,791 2,035 Investments 15 15,665 17,957 Total fixed assets 17,640 20,220 Current assets Debtors 16 10,361 7,827 Investments 500 1,500 Cash at bank and in hand 1,510 1,883 Total current assets 12,371 11,210 Liabilities: Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year 18 12,129 10,121 Net current assets/(liabilities) 242 1,089 Total assets less current liabilities 17,882 21,309 Creditors: Amounts falling due after more than one year 19 - 221 Total net assets 21 17,882 21,088 Funds Endowment funds 21 282 335 Restricted income funds (see the reserves policy in the Trustees' report page 27) 21 (7,188) (7,915) Unrestricted funds - Designated for intangible and tangible fixed assets 1,818 2,094 - Designated for research (Stop MS Appeal) 12,729 14,047 - General funds 10,241 12,527 Total unrestricted funds 21 24,788 28,668 Total charity funds 21 17,882 21,088 Consolidated	2022 2021 £'000 £'000 Charity	2022 2021 £'000 £'000 Charity
	184 1,791 15,665	228 2,035 17,957	184 1,791 15,665	228 2,035 17,957
	17,640 10,361 500 1,510	20,220 7,827 1,500 1,883	17,640 10,422 500 1,382	20,220 7,758 1,500 1,816
	12,371 12,129	11,210 10,121	12,304 12,119	11,074 10,056
	242	1,089	185	1,018
	17,882 -	21,309 221	17,825 -	21,238 221
	17,882	21,088	17,825	21,017
	282	335	282	335
	(7,188)	(7,915)	(7,188)	(7,915)
	1,818 12,729 10,241	2,094 14,047 12,527	1,818 12,729 10,184	2,094 14,047 12,456
	24,788	28,668	24,731	28,597
	17,882	21,088	17,825	21,017

The turnover for the charity was £26.6m (2021: £29.4m) and the net movement in funds in the charity was -£3.6m (2021: - £6.5m). 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 28 March 2023. The notes on pages 47 to 63 form part of these financial statements.

Stuart Secker Treasurer

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Year ended 31 December 2022

Consolidated statement of cash flows

Consolidated statement of cash flows Year ended 31 December 2022	Consolidated statement of cash flows Year ended 31 December 2022	Consolidated statement of cash flows Year ended 31 December 2022
2022 2021 Note £'000 £'000 Cash flows from operating activities: Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities A (1,405) (832) Cash flows from investing activities: Dividends and interest from investments 248 163 Proceeds from the sale of property, plant and equipment 3 5,392 Purchase of intangible assets (90) (84) Purchase of property, plant and equipment (8) (930) Proceeds from sale of investments 4,001 4,138 Purchase of investments (4,140) (5,724) Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities 14 2,955 Cash flows from financing activities: - - Change in cash and cash equivalents in the reporting period (1,391) 2,123 Cash and cash equivalents as at 1 January B 3,383 1,260 Change in cash and cash equivalents due to exchange rate movements 18 - Cash and cash equivalents as at 31 December B 2,010 3,383 Net income/expenditure for the reporting period (as per the statement of financial activities) (3,224) 6,453 Adjustments for: Depreciation and amortisation charges 383 289 (Gains)/Losses on investments 2,431 (1,777) Dividends and interest from investments (248) (163) Profit on the sale of fixed assets - (2,470) Decrease/(Increase) in debtors (2,534) (3,829) Increase/(Decrease) in creditors 1,787 665 Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities (1,405) (832) B. Analysis of cash and cash equivalents Cash in hand 1,510 1,883 Notice deposits (less than 3 months) 500 1,500 Total cash and cash equivalents 2,010 3,383 C. Reconciliation of net funds 1 Jan 2022 Cash flows Foreign exchange movements 31 Dec 2022 £'000 £'000 £'000 £'000 Cash 1,883 (391) 18 1,510 Cash equivalents 1,500 (1,000) - 500 Total 3,383 (1,391) 18 2,010 A. Reconciliation of net income/(expenditure) to net cash flow from operating activities Note the Society has taken advantage of the exemption contained in FRS102 on the preparation of a charity cash flow statement.			2022 £'000 (1,405)	2021 £'000 (832)
			248 3 (90) (8) 4,001 (4,140)	163 5,392 (84) (930) 4,138 (5,724)
			14	2,955
			-	-
			(1,391) 3,383 18	2,123 1,260 -
			2,010	3,383
			(3,224) 383 2,431 (248) - (2,534) 1,787	6,453 289 (1,777) (163) (2,470) (3,829) 665
			(1,405)	(832)
			1,510 500	1,883 1,500
			2,010	3,383
	1 Jan 2022 £'000 1,883 1,500	Cash flows £'000 (391) (1,000)	Foreign exchange movements £'000 18 -	31 Dec 2022 £'000 1,510 500
	3,383	(1,391)	18	2,010

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Year ended 31 December 2022

Notes to Consolidated Accounts

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 Carriage House, 8 City North Place, London N4 3FU.

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

Based on forecasts and projections, the Trustees consider that the Society is well placed to manage the business risks it faces. This position is supported by a strong cash flow, a high level of reserves and relatively stable income. Given these indicators the Trustees have a reasonable expectation that the Society has sufficient resources to continue for at least 12 months after the signing of the financial statements and believe that there are no material uncertainties that call into doubt the ability to continue as a going concern. Therefore the Society continues to adopt the going concern basis in preparing its consolidated financial statements.

c) 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.

d) 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.

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

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

e) 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.

47

Notes to Consolidated Accounts (continued)

Year ended 31 December 2022

2. Accounting policies (continued)

e) Income (continued)

• 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.

f) 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.

g) 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.

h) 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.

i) 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.

j) 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).

48

Notes to Consolidated Accounts (continued)

Year ended 31 December 2022

2. Accounting policies (continued)

k) 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.

l) 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.

m) 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)

n) Leasing

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

o) 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.

3. Critical accounting judgements and sources of estimation uncertainty

In the application of the charity’s accounting policies, which are described in note 2, 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. 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.

Below are two areas which represent the most signficant areas where judgement calls are required along with estimation uncertainty.

(i) Legacy accruals

Significant accounting judgements are made in establishing whether the charity has entitlement to legacies and in making reasonable estimates of the amounts to be received. In the case of properties, we will not accrue until the sale of the property has been completed because of uncertainty over the amount to be received.

(ii) Grants income

Income is accrued for multi-year grants when the grants are awarded unless there are substantive performance conditions that are reviewed each year. Sometimes this requires a judgement call on what is or is not a substantive condition.

49

Notes to Consolidated Accounts (continued)

Year ended 31 December 2022

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, campaigning, signposting, being part of our Research Network, volunteering to support individuals affected by MS, and organising 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 Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme Raised locally Legacies Charitable activities Charges made by the volunteer-run group network to people affected by MS Statutory sources Other fees and grants 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) Investment income Dividend income receivable Interest receivable Other income (relates to the profit on the sale of fixed assets) Total income	3,105 2,052 1,092 80 2022 £'000 3,876	2,878 2,923 868 80 4,451 2021 £'000
	10,205	11,200
	13,944	12,811
	112 286 385	300 37 468
	783	805
	116 507 465 484 179	149 560 312 850 111
	1,751	1,982
	2022 £'000 214 34	- 163 2021 £'000
	248	163
	-	2,470
	26,931	29,431

6. Expenditure

Raising funds expenditure 1. Living well with MS 2. Connected communities, powerful voices 3. Effective treatments and preventing MS	Direct Costs 2021 £'000 5,958 4,935 2022 £'000 5,783 5,541 5,067 4,637 6,616 5,165	Direct Costs 2021 £'000 5,958 4,935 2022 £'000 5,783 5,541 5,067 4,637 6,616 5,165	Support Costs Apportioned 441 426 1,096 1,225 1,440 1,291 2022 2021 £'000 £'000 1,513 1,345	Support Costs Apportioned 441 426 1,096 1,225 1,440 1,291 2022 2021 £'000 £'000 1,513 1,345	2021 2022 Total 6,163 £'000 £'000 5,606 8,129 5,361 5,928 7,303 7,008 6,981	2021 2022 Total 6,163 £'000 £'000 5,606 8,129 5,361 5,928 7,303 7,008 6,981
	23,105	20,597	4,619	4,158	27,724	24,755

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

50

Notes to Consolidated Accounts (continued)

Year ended 31 December 2022

6. Expenditure (continued)

Analysis of support costs apportioned

Total Raising funds 1. Living well with MS 3. Effective treatments and preventing MS 2. Connected communities, powerful voices	2022 2021 £'000 £'000 102 97 63 61 72 69 49 49 Governance2	2022 2021 £'000 £'000 153 191 94 121 108 136 73 97 Management2	2022 2021 £'000 £'000 218 230 200 215 237 258 41 44 HR Costs1	2022 2021 £'000 £'000 288 242 177 153 205 172 138 123 Finance2	2022 2021 £'000 £'000 462 367 424 343 502 412 86 71 IT Support1	2022 2021 £'000 £'000 290 218 267 203 316 244 54 42 Facilities1	2022 2021 £'000 £'000 1,513 1,345 1,225 1,096 1,440 1,291 441 426 Total
	286 276	428 545	696 747	808 690	1,474 1,193	927 707	4,619 4,158

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	2022	2021
	£'000	£'000
Fees payable to the Charity's auditors for the audit of the annual accounts	40	32
Internal audit	35	62
Trustee expenses (Note 8)	1	1
Board support related costs	210	181
Total governance costs	286	276

Analysis of governance costs	Analysis of governance costs	2022 £'000	2021 £'000
Fees payable to the Charity's auditors for the audit of the annual accounts Internal audit Trustee expenses (Note 8) Board support related costs Total governance costs		40 35 1 210	32 62 1 181
		286	276
7. Grants Institutional grants: Research	Grants released		Total grant
Strategic	2022	2021	award
goals	£'000	£'000	£'000
University College London (UCL)
3 Prof J Chataway, Efficient clinical trials programme	1,854	1,005	13,003
3 Prof J Chataway, MS-STAT2 MRI	57	136	309
3 Other grants awarded and write backs	81	341
	1,992	1,482
University of Cambridge
3 Prof RJM Franklin, Cambridge Centre for Myelin Repair Renewal 3 Other grants awarded and write backs	430 121	360 355	2,280
	551	715
University of Edinburgh
3 Prof S Chandran, The Edinburgh MS Centre for Translational Research	355	381	2,202
Other grants awarded and write backs	36
	391	381
Imperial College London 3 Prof R Nicholas, The MS and Parkinson's Disease Tissue Bank grants	283	282	2,799
3 Other grants awarded and write backs	-	41
	283	323
International Progressive MS Alliance
1 & 3 Grant to the alliance	236	243	479
Swansea University
1 & 3 Prof David Ford, UK MS Register grants	187	385	1,492
1 & 3 Other grants awarded and write backs	37	16
	224	401
Balance carried forward	3,677	3,545

51

Notes to Consolidated Accounts (continued)

Year ended 31 December 2022

7. Grants (continued)	Grants released	Grants released	Total grant
Strategic Institutional grants: Research	2022	2021	award
goals	£'000	£'000	£'000
Balance brought forward	3,677	3,545
Queen Mary, University of London
1 Dr A Thomson, Participatory Research into Minoritised Patient Experiences of MS Care	132	-	267
Other grants awarded and write backs	72	54
	204	54
University of Nottingham
3 1 Dr N Evangelou, Determining the Effectiveness of Early Intensive Versus Escalation approaches for the treatment of relapsing-remitting MS Dr R Dineen, A Feasibility Trial of Neuromodulation with Connectivity-Guided Intermittent Theta Burst Stimulation for Cognitive Impairment in MS	63 51	127 99	268 245
1 & 3 Write backs and other grants awarded	28	87
	142	313
University of Oxford
Prof G DeLuca, Molecular mechanisms of neurodegeneration in progressive multiple sclerosis	69	94	233
3 Other grants	60	86
National Institute for Health and Care Research 1 University of Glasgow Prof R Moss-Morris, Developing, optimising and implementing a blended digital self-management tReatmEnt for FatigUe in multiplE scLerosis (REFUEL-MS)	129	180	125
	125	-
3 Dr J Edgar, Novel cellular models to study oligodendrocyte-mediated axonal support	76	89	254
Write backs and other grants awarded	42	(8)
King's College, London	118	81
3 Dr J Hudson, Identifying and treating psychological distress in response to MS: Testing COMPASS-MS – a therapist supported digital treatment for anxiety and depression (distress) in MS in routine care	90		162
Write backs and other grants awarded	(7)
University of Birmingham 3 Dr C Shannon-Lowe, Understanding how Epstein Barr virus promotes the development of Multiple Sclerosis	83	-	255
	79	-
University of Manchester
Dr E Doman, Mathematical models of MS medications in the placenta	73	-
Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
1 Dr C Wicks, Assessing NHS ImplemeNTation of an onlinE Resilience-training Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) programme to prevent job loss in MS (INTER-ACT MS)	68	-
Other grants awarded Oxford Brookes University Versus Arthritus University of Portsmouth University of Southampton Other sundry	48 38 34 27 6	- - - - 428
	153	428
Total institutional grants released for research In-house research team and associated support costs Research grants plus research team and associated support costs	4,851 894	4,601 819 5,420
	5,745

52

Notes to Consolidated Accounts (continued)

Year ended 31 December 2022

7. Grants (continued)	Grants released	Grants released
	2022	2021
Other grants	£'000	£'000
Other institutional grants Individual support grants awarded Grants team and associated support costs Individual support grants and associated costs*	-	-
	238 -	235 1
	238	236

* Individual support grants are now awarded by volunteer-run groups only.

Creditor brought forward Grants awarded by goal: Grant expenditure by goal (excluding support costs) and creditor	2022 2021 £'000 £'000 - - Individual support grants	2022 2021 £'000 £'000 - - Individual support grants	2022 2021 £'000 £'000 7,944 7,205 Research grants	2022 2021 £'000 £'000 7,944 7,205 Research grants	Total Total 2022 2021 £'000 £'000 7,944 7,205	Total Total 2022 2021 £'000 £'000 7,944 7,205
Goal 1 - Living well with MS	238	235	659	619	897	854
Goal 3 - Effective treatments and preventing MS	-	-	4,193	3,982	4,193	3,982
	238	235	4,852	4,601	5,090	4,836
Payments made	(238)	(235)	(2,830)	(3,862)	(3,068)	(4,097)
Creditor carried forward	-	-	9,966	7,944	9,966	7,944

8. Staff and Trustees costs

Total staff emoluments for the year were as follows: Salaries (see note below) National insurance Pension Redundancy payments	2022 £'000 10,574 1,167 732 15	2021 £'000 10,401 1,096 702 7
	12,488	12,206

There was ex-gratia payments of £25k (2021: £nil)

The average number of individuals employed by the Society during the year was as follows:	The average number of individuals employed by the Society during the year was as follows:	Average head count	Average head count
		2022 Number	2021 Number
Charitable activities		219	218
Generating funds Governance		56 2	52 2
		277	272
No longer Number of employees whose employee benefits (exc. employer	Current	2022	2021
employed pension contributions) were over £60,000 in the year:	employees	Number	Number
£60,001-£70,000 1 9 10 11 £70,001-£80,000 - 2 2 2 £80,001-£90,000 - - - 2 £90,001-£100,000 - 3 3 2 £140,001-£150,000 - - - 1 £150,001-£160,000 - 1 1 -		10 2 - 3 - 1	11 2 2 2 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 £98k (2020: £92k) for these employees.

53

Notes to Consolidated Accounts (continued)

Year ended 31 December 2022

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 (2021: 5) key management personnel in 2022 amounted to £623k (2021: £606k).

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 2022 amounted to £181k (2021: £178k).

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 (2020: £nil). Expenses paid to the Trustees in the year totalled £1k (2021: £1k). These expenses were made up of 5 Trustees (2021: 6 Trustees) reimbursed for their travel expenses £0.7k (2021 - £0k) and accomodation expenses of £0.5k (2021: £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 2022 £'000 Net movement in funds is arrived at after charging: Depreciation of intangible and tangible fixed assets 383 Profit on disposal of fixed assets -	2021 £'000 289 2,469
Fees payable to the Charity's auditors for the audit of the Charity's annual accounts 40 32 Fees payable to the Charity's auditors for other services to the group: - The audit of the charity's subsidiary pursuant to legislation 4 3 - Other non audit services 1 1

11. Related party transactions

Transactions with MSS (Trading) Limited-subsidiary: Balance brought forward - owed by MSS (Trading) Limited to the charity	2022 £ 155,557	2021 £ 65,587
Prior year Gift Aided profits remitted to the charity Monies relating to MSS (Trading) Limited received/paid by the charity (net) Monies relating to the charity received/paid by MSS (Trading) Limited (net)	(71,704) (24,275) 41,461	(13,234) - -
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	14,500 56,867	31,500 71,704
	172,406	155,557

Vicky Annis (Director of Corporate Services) is the treasurer of the MS International Federation (MSIF) and Nick Moberly (Chief Executive) is a trustee. In 2022 £108k (2021: £33k) of costs relating to the annual subscription fee and The May 50k were paid to MSIF. MSIF gave donations of £167k to the MS Society (2021: £59k).

Samantha Walker (Director of Digital and Services) is a director of Digital Health Assistant Limited. The MS Society invested in this company in 2020 and Sam is the MS Society representative on their board.

54

Notes to Consolidated Accounts (continued)

Year ended 31 December 2022

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	2022 £'000 893 90 -	2021 £'000 901 84 (92)
	983	893
	665 134 -	631 126 (92)
	799	665
	184	228

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 2022 Net book value at 31 December 2021	2022 £'000 1,082 - - Freehold, Land and Buildings	2022 £'000 1,249 - - Leasehold Property	2022 £'000 19 - (11) Computers	2022 £'000 1,713 8 - Fixtures	2022 £'000 1,442 - (46) Motor Vehicles	2022 £'000 5,505 8 (57) Total
	1,082	1,249	8	1,721	1,396	5,456
	473 28 -	695 32 -	19 - (11)	844 189 -	1,439 - (43)	3,470 249 (54)
	501	727	8	1,033	1,396	3,665
	581	522	-	688	-	1,791
	609	554	-	869	3	2,035

14. Capital commitments

There were no capital commitments as at 31 December 2022 or 31 December 2021.

15. Investments

Consolidated and Charity Market value at 1 January	2022 £'000 17,957	2021 £'000 14,594
Acquisitions at cost	4,140	5,724
Disposals at market value	(5,507)	(4,075)
(Losses)/Gains on investment assets Market value at 31 December excluding movement in cash held	(2,431)	1,777
	14,159	18,020
Movement in cash held	1,506	(63)
Market value of investments at 31 December	15,665	17,957

In addition to the above the charity balance sheet includes an investment of £2 in MSS (Trading) Ltd (Note 24).

55

Notes to Consolidated Accounts (continued)

Year ended 31 December 2022

15. Investments (continued)

Represented by Assets held at market value	2022 £'000	2021 £'000
Investments listed on a Stock Exchange Programme investments Cash held as part of portfolio	13,918 - 1,747	17,656 60 241
	15,665	17,957

Included within 'Investments listed on a Stock Exchange' are investment assets outside the UK of £6.8m (2021: £10.0m). All other investments are investment assets in the UK.

In addition to the above, short term investments of £500k (2021: £1.5m) are held, which comprise cash equivalents on deposit.

16. Debtors	Consolidated	Consolidated	Charity	Charity
	2022 £'000	2021 £'000	2022 £'000	2021 £'000
Legacy income accrued (see note 17) Trade debtors Tax and VAT Prepayments and accrued income Amounts due from group companies Other debtors	7,276 209 843 2,004 - 29	4,382 199 696 2,511 - 39	7,276 185 843 1,973 116 29	4,382 154 696 2,403 84 39
	10,361	7,827	10,422	7,758

17. Contingent Assets

Not included in the legacy income accrual (see note 16) are approximately £6.1m (2021: £5.0m) 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
	2022 £'000	2021 £'000	2022 £'000	2021 £'000
Research grants1 Trade creditors Accruals and deferred income Tax and Social Security Other creditors	9,966 486 1,326 324 28	7,723 601 1,549 220 28	9,966 486 1,316 324 28	7,723 601 1,491 213 28
	12,130	10,121	12,120	10,056

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 £16m (2021: £16.7m). This amount will be funded by future income and the designated fund set up for the appeal

19. Creditors: amounts falling due after one year

Consolidated and charity	2022	2021
Research grants	£'000 -	£'000 221
	-	221

56

Notes to Consolidated Accounts (continued)

Year ended 31 December 2022

20. Deferred income	2022 £'000	2021 £'000
Balance brought forward SMS Battles monies deferred1	382 (125)	257 125
Balance carried forward2	257	382

Deferred income is made up of two components:

1 SMS Battles is a fundraising event that was planned to occur in 2021 but postponed because of concerns over COVID-19. The event was held in 2022 and the monies deferred related to donors.

2 Accruals and deferred income includes deferred income of £257k (2021: £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.

21. Statement of funds

21. Statement of funds
Consolidated and charity funds General Funds Designated Funds	At 1/1/2022 £'000 12,527	Income £'000 20,799	Expenditure £'000 (17,629)	Transfers £'000 (3,096)	£'000 (2,360) Other gains and losses	At 31/12/2022 £'000 10,241
Net book value of intangible and tangible fixed assets held	2,094	-	(372)	96	-	1,818
Research funds1 Total Designated Funds Total Unrestricted Funds	14,047	-	(1,013)	(305)	-	12,729
	16,141	-	(1,385)	(209)	-	14,547
	28,668	20,799	(19,014)	(3,305)	(2,360)	24,788
Restricted Funds for research1
Efficient clinical trials programme Simvasatin project Edinburgh MS Centre Cambridge centre myelin repair renewal #ChariotMS - Cladribine to halt deterioration in people with advanced MS A phase 2a trial of the ability of the combination of metformin and clemastine to promote remyelination in people with relapsing MS MS Register (new grant) MS Tissue Bank International Progressive MS Alliance Determining the Effectiveness of Early Intensive Versus Escalation approaches for the treatment of Relapsing-remitting MS Neuromodulation with connectivity-guided intermittent theta burst stimulation for cognitive impairment in MS Novel cellular models to study oligodendrocyte-mediated axonal support High dose Simvastatin treatment for Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis: Impact on vascular perfusion and oxidative damage Other research funds	(599) (804) (431) (260) (574) (503) - (342) (285) (244) (236) (216) (206) (7,202)	- 85 213 97 25 - - 6 2 - - - - 3,885	(2,196) (29) (490) (543) (9) - (441) (337) (280) (75) (60) (90) - (2,674)	- - (3) - - - - 338 285 - - 100 - 2,585	- - - - - - - - - - - - - -	(2,795) (748) (711) (706) (558) (503) (441) (335) (278) (319) (296) (206) (206) (3,406)
Amount carried forward	(11,902)	4,313	(7,224)	3,305	-	(11,508)

57

Notes to Consolidated Accounts (continued)

Year ended 31 December 2022

21. Statement of funds (continued)

Consolidated and charity funds	At 1/1/2022 £'000	Income £'000	Expenditure £'000	Transfers £'000	£'000 Other gains and losses	At 31/12/2022 £'000
Amount brought forward	(11,902)	4,313	(7,224)	3,305	-	(11,508)
MS Helpline funds:	-	121	(121)	-	-	-
Pontio2 Online FACETS3 Virtual Hub - Scottish Wellbeing Trust and others4	293 60 105	- - 100	(182) - (157)	- - -	- - -	111 60 48
Geographic restrictions5	1,807	1,434	(817)	-	-	2,424
Other sundry restricted funds Total restricted income funds Endowment funds Margaret Hutchinson memorial fund - Borders area Derby volunteer-run group endowment Total endowment funds Total funds	1,723	164	(209)	-	-	1,678
	(7,914)	6,132	(8,710)	3,305	-	(7,187)
	325 10	- -	- -	- -	(53) -	272 10
	335	-	-	-	(53)	282
	21,089	26,931	(27,724)	-	(2,413)	17,883

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

2021 Funds statement
Consolidated and charity funds General Funds Designated Funds	At 1/1/2021 £'000 3,718	Income £'000 21,607	Expenditure £'000 (13,431)	Transfers £'000 (1,111)	£'000 1,744 Other gains and losses	At 31/12/2021 £'000 12,527
Net book value of intangible and tangible fixed assets held	4,259	-	(276)	(1,889)	-	2,094
Research funds1 Total Designated Funds Total Unrestricted Funds	12,850	-	(793)	1,990	-	14,047
	17,109	-	(1,069)	101	-	16,141
	20,827	21,607	(14,500)	(1,010)	1,744	28,668
Restricted Funds for research1
Efficient clinical trials programme Simvasatin project Edinburgh MS Centre Cambridge centre myelin repair renewal #ChariotMS - Cladribine to halt deterioration in people with advanced MS A phase 2a trial of the ability of the combination of metformin and clemastine to promote remyelination in people with relapsing MS MS Register (new grant) MS Tissue Bank International Progressive MS Alliance	- (816) (425) (122) (574) (204) - (864) -	797 17 25 224 - 40 - 35 1	(1,396) (5) (456) (339) - (339) - (342) (286)	- - 425 (23) - - - 829 -	- - - - - - - - -	(599) (804) (431) (260) (574) (503) - (342) (285)

58

Notes to Consolidated Accounts (continued)

Year ended 31 December 2022

21. Statement of funds (continued)

PRIOR YEAR	At				Other gains	At
Consolidated and charity funds	1/1/2021 £'000	Income £'000	Expenditure £'000	Transfers £'000	£'000 and losses	31/12/2021 £'000
Amount brought forward	(3,005)	1,139	(3,163)	1,231	-	(3,798)
Determining the Effectiveness of Early Intensive Versus Escalation approaches for the treatment of Relapsing-remitting MS Neuromodulation with connectivity-guided intermittent theta burst stimulation for cognitive impairment in MS Novel cellular models to study oligodendrocyte-mediated axonal support g Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis: Impact on vascular perfusion and oxidative damage	(95) (119) (111) (206)	- - - -	(149) (117) (105) -	- - - -	- - - -	(244) (236) (216) (206)
Other research funds	(7,074)	3,106	(3,013)	(221)	-	(7,202)
Total research restricted funds	(10,610)	4,245	(6,547)	1,010	-	(11,902)
MS Helpline funds:	103	65	(168)	-	-	-
Pontio2 Online FACETS3 Virtual Hub - Scottish Wellbeing Trust and others4	485 60 78	- - 122	(192) - (95)	- - -	- - -	293 60 105
Geographic restrictions5	1,323	3,050	(2,566)	-	-	1,807
Other sundry restricted funds Total restricted income funds	2,067	342	(687)	-	-	1,722
	(6,494)	7,824	(10,255)	1,010	-	(7,915)
Endowment funds Margaret Hutchinson memorial fund - Borders area Derby volunteer-run group endowment Total endowment funds Total funds
	292 10	- -	- -	- -	33 -	325 10
	302	-	-	-	33	335
	14,635	29,431	(24,755)	-	1,777	21,088

59

Year ended 31 December 2022

Notes to Consolidated Accounts (continued)

21. Statement of funds (continued)

Notes on note 21 Statement of funds

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 2022 with £1m being used to offset restricted fund balances for research projects which have closed. Other transfers relate to generally restricted research funds being allocated against specific research grants.

2 The Pontio Project provides emotional, befriending and one-to-one support to people living with and affected by MS in Wales. 3 FACETS online. FACETS stands for 'Fatigue: Applying Cognitive behavioural & Energy effectiveness Techniques to life Style'. 4 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. A similar project is also being run in Wales ('Wellbeing Hub - Wales').

5 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.

22. SOFA 2021

22. SOFA 2021
Income from:		Unrestricted funds £'000	Restricted funds £'000	Total Funds £'000
Donations		7,485	3,715	11,200
Legacies receivable Charitable activities Other trading activities Investment income Other income - Profit on sale of assets		10,086 325 1,079 162 2,470	2,725 480 903 1 -	12,811 805 1,982 163 2,470
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		21,607	7,824	29,431
		5,575 3,456 4,805 664	1,728 2,707 1,123 4,697	7,303 6,163 5,928 5,361
Total expenditure Net income / (expenditure) before investments Net gains on investments Net income / (expenditure) after investments Transfers		14,500	10,255	24,755
		7,107 1,744	(2,431) 33	4,676 1,777
		8,851 (1,010)	(2,398) 1,010	6,453 -
Other recognised gains and losses:
Other recognised gains and losses:		-	-	-
Net movement in funds		7,841	(1,388)	6,453

60

Notes to Consolidated Accounts (continued)

Year ended 31 December 2022

23. Analysis of net assets between funds Restricted & Endowment	23. Analysis of net assets between funds Restricted & Endowment	23. Analysis of net assets between funds Restricted & Endowment	23. Analysis of net assets between funds Restricted & Endowment	23. Analysis of net assets between funds Restricted & Endowment	23. Analysis of net assets between funds Restricted & Endowment
			Restricted & Endowment
	Unrestricted funds		funds		Total	Total
Fund balances at 31	2022	2021	2022	2021	2022	2021
December are represented by	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000	£'000
Intangible fixed assets	184	228	-	-	184	228
Tangible fixed assets Investments Net current liabilities Long term liabilities	1,634 15,387 7,583 -	1,866 17,624 8,950 -	157 279 (7,341) -	170 333 (7,861) (221)	1,791 15,666 242 -	2,036 17,957 1,089 (221)
	24,788	28,668	(6,905)	(7,579)	17,883	21,089

24. 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 Sales Cost of sales Gross profit Administration 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	2022 £'000 116	2021 £'000 149
	116 (40)	149 (40)
	76 (19)	109 (37)
	57 -	72 -
	57	72
	2022 £ 1,000	2021 £ 1,000
	2	2

25. Share Capital

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

26. 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 £732k (2020: £702k). They did not give rise to any provisions/reserves. At the end of the year £86k (2021: £79k) was owed to the pension provider.

61

Notes to Consolidated Accounts (continued)

Year ended 31 December 2022

27. 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 2022 £'000 380 916 79	Other 2022 £'000 36 42 -	Land and Buildings 2021 £'000 370 1,171 26	Other 2021 £'000 37 64 -
	1,375	78	1,567	101

Lease payments recognised as an expense were £407k (2021: £298k)

28. 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.

Society's website. Under this policy, the Society will report collaborations and financial contributions over £5,000 the Medicines and Healthcare industry.	received from
2022 Collaborations and financial contributions over £5,000 to the Society were: £'000	2021 £'000
Genzyme, a Sanofi Company 126	-
Roche Products Ltd 61	50
Novartis Pharmaceuticals (UK) Ltd 60	39
Merck Serono Ltd 27	20
Bristol Myers Squibb (formerly Celgene) 20 Cambridge Enterprise Limited 13 Theraposture Ltd 9 Biogen Idec Limited 9	25 13 -

29. 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.

●20 trusts and foundations members.

●5 pharmaceutical companies are industry forum members.

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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 2022 Unrestricted Note funds Income from: 5 £'000 Donations 7,397 Legacies receivable 11,240 Charitable activities 489 Other trading activities 1,317 Investment income 240 Other income -		Restricted funds £'000 2,808 2,704 294 318 8 -	2022 Total £'000 10,205 13,944 783 1,635 248 -	2021 Total £'000 11,318 12,811 805 1,833 163 2,470
Total income 5	20,683	6,132	26,815	29,400
Expenditure on: 6 Raising funds
Raising funds	6,485	1,600	8,085	7,257
Charitable activities Goal 1 - Living well with MS Goal 2 - Building communities, powerful voices Goal 3 - Effective treatments and preventing MS	4,964 6,880 641	2,044 101 4,965	7,008 6,981 5,606	6,163 5,928 5,361
Total expenditure 6	18,970	8,710	27,680	24,709
Net income / (expenditure) before investments	1,713	(2,578)	(865)	4,691
Net gains/(losses) on investments 15 Net income	(2,378)	(53)	(2,431)	1,777
	(665)	(2,631)	(3,296)	6,468
Other recognised gains and losses:
Other recognised gains and losses	18	-	18	-
Net movement in funds	(647)	(2,631)	(3,278)	6,468

63

Thank you page

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 for these donors and supporters:

Edward and Amanda Astle Louiza Kalliga David and Primrose Bell The Betty Lawes Foundation Adam and Zoe Bennett Rose Leslie and Kit Harington Caspar & Celia Berendsen Ian & Liz Marchant Bill Brown's 1989 Charitable Trust Merck Serono Limited John and Vicki Brice The Laurence Misener Charitable Trust The Buccleuch Charitable Foundation Novartis Pharmaceuticals UK Ltd Susie and David Burall Sir Geoffrey Owen Richard Burns Ben and Bella Padovan Ann Cairns Peacock Charitable Trust Graham and Fiona Chase Redevco UK Limited The Lorna & Yuti Chernajovsky Biomedical Research Foundation Roche Products Limited John Coates Charitable Trust The M A H Roe Charitable Trust Tom Colraine Belinda and Ferrill Roll Iain Conn and Caroline Shorten Conn Sanofi Genzyme Ms. Susan Crane Stuart Secker Chris and Amanda Curry David and Gaby Silver Frank and Jo Donagh Keith and Christine Swabey Michael and Deborah Fiddy The Danny Wallace Foundation Lynne and Tom Gosling Mr Simon Warshaw Martin Greaves Sara Weller CBE Ioan Gruffudd and Bianca Wallace The Wixamtree Trust The Albert Gubay Charitable Foundation Dr R Youldon David and Wendy Hunter John Young Instinct Gaming Tim Jones and Kim Walker The Josephs Family Charitable Trust

64

Reference and administration details

Founder Sir Richard Cave KCVO, CB, KCSG, DL Vice-President John Walford OBE Chair Nick Winser (to June 2022) Sir Paul Curran (from July 2022) 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 Shewly Choudhury Sir Paul Curran (from July 2022) Ady Dike Marion King Bayan Mohajeri Chris Murray (from Jan 2023) Emily Revess Mohini Raichura-Brown Sarah Schol Stuart Secker David Silver (from Jan 2023) Ceri Smith (to Dec 2022) Anthony Upshall Polly Williams Nick Winser (to June 2022)

Executive Directors Vicky Annis Executive Director of Corporate Services

Clare Horwood Executive Director of Engagement and Income Generation (to Feb 2022) Sarah Rawlings Executive Director of Research and External Affairs Ed Tait Executive Director of Engagement and Income Generation (from Sept 2022) Sam Walker Executive Director of Support and Services (from April 2022)

Country Directors

Northern Ireland David Galloway

Cymru / Wales

Lynne Hughes (to Mar 2022) Shelley Elgin (from Aug 2022)

Scotland

Morna Simpkins

65

Main offices

MS Society Carriage House 8 City North Place, London N4 3FU 020 8438 0700

MS Society Cymru Clockwise@Brunel House, 2 Fitzalan Road Cardiff CF24 0HA 020 8438 0700

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

MS Society Scotland GyleWorks 34 South Gyle Crescent, Edinburgh EH12 9EB 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.