2024-03-31-accounts

SERVICE DOGS UK REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 31ST MARCH 2024

Compass Accountants Limited Chartered Accountants Venture House The Tanneries East Street Titchfield Hampshire PO14 4AR

SERVICE DOGS UK

CONTENTS

	Page
Company information	1
Directors’ Report and Trustees’ Annual Report	2 - 5
Independent Examiner’s Report	6
Statement of financial activities	7
Balance sheet	8
Notes to the accounts	9 - 11

SERVICE DOGS UK

COMPANY INFORMATION

Directors	G J Botterill
	S W Toddington
	D M Butler
	P Hill
	J Hoare
	G Ryder
	M Diver (resigned 1stMarch 2023)
	I Spencer
	C Howard
	P Sims (resigned 26thApril 2024)
	D Webster (appointed 14thApril 2024)
Registered office	Fareham Marina
	The Old Mill
	Lower Quay
	Fareham
	PO16 0RA
Accountants	Compass Accountants
	Venture House
	The Tanneries
	East Street
	Titchfield
	Hampshire
	PO14 4AR
Independent Examiner	Kerry Lawrance FCA
Bankers	Santander
	Bootle
	Merseyside
	L30 4GB

Page 1

SERVICE DOGS UK

DIRECTORS’ REPORT AND TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT

The directors present their report and accounts for the year ended 31[st] March 2024

Principal activity and status

The company is a non-profit seeking charitable organisation established in 2015/16, whose principal activity during the year 2023/24 was to continue to relieve the needs and help promote good health of people of the armed forces and emergency services who have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), in particular but not exclusively, by providing trained assistance dogs from rescue. In addition, the company seeks to raise public awareness of post-traumatic stress disorder in service people.

The company is limited by guarantee with registration number 9553131 governed by its Memorandum and Articles of Association dated 21 April 2015. It is also a registered charity, number 1165409.

Service Dogs UK continues to deliver an excellent service to Veterans and is supporting over 50 partnerships while providing exceptional value for money. Our low overheads and thriving volunteer base together with our long standing partnership with Dogs Trust ensures we can provide excellent dogs and training with an exceptional programme that is unique to the industry.

We are the ONLY accredited assistance dog charity serving both Veterans from the Armed Forces and Emergency Services in the UK.

We remain the only accredited assistance dog charity that uses mainly dogs from ‘rescue’ in the UK.

During 2023/24 Training continued at both the South Coast and South West Hubs and both Hubs continue to benefit greatly from volunteers and fosters who help us transform our ‘rescue’ dogs to assistance dog candidates. The Hub Managers at each location have established positive working environments that draw the best out of our Veterans and volunteers and are highly conducive to the training that we do. Our Canines and Comrades Dog Walk and Talk groups at each location continue to thrive and fill an important ‘gap’ in the lives of our Veterans. It helps to make them feel ‘connected’ and we will continue to emulate this at other locations when we expand further. The original financing for this was in order to support our Veterans following the withdrawal of British forces from Afghanistan. As part of a successful Armed Forces Covenant grant under the title; Canines and Comrades after Conflict we were able to expand this and increase Trainer hours to provide a Canines and Comrades Dog walk and Talk group. These groups are proving to be hugely successful, we are utilising Whatsapp groups across Hubs and our Veterans are making friends and sharing information as well as providing peer support to each other. We link in with other Veteran groups and breakfast clubs so that we can collaborate with others to give further layers of support.

We had consolidated our procedures and policies and updated documents and forms to accurately reflect changes made including our ‘successor dog’ policy so that we can prioritise Veterans who’s dog is retiring and give them an abbreviated route to accreditation but without excessive expense to the charity. We now have three Veterans who have ‘successor dogs’. They are very positive about the experience! We have also amended our conditions to allow those with a suitable dog of their own to join the programme under separate and specific conditions.

Growth and sustainability

The growth of the charity and its ability to help Veterans has largely been the result of the efforts of our extraordinary volunteers but to achieve the possibility of helping a more Veterans over a wider geographical area additional help was needed. We know from our applications that there is a need across the country for what we do, however, we require sufficient funding so that any new Hubs can be properly supported over the long term. We were also ready to begin the new Hub in Essex and this was an opportunity as a new project to garner more funding and support. In order to assist us grow our funding revenues we held interviews and as a result took on an experienced Fundraising Manager to help obtain grants and increase sponsorship, legacies and other funding streams including sports challenges and events. The Fundraising Manager has now been joined with a Digital Marketing Assistant and we are seeing the results of this additional support and expertise to the SDUK Team.

Page 2

SERVICE DOGS UK

DIRECTORS’ REPORT AND TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT

The Essex Hub is becoming more established and attracting many Veterans, we are installing a Hub Manager to take this Hub forward. This will release the South Coast and Hub Development Manager for when we are ready to develop another Hub in a new area.

The increase of workload for the Administrator and SC Hub Manager has been substantial and in line with their increased responsibilities the Administrator will now be known as the Office Manager, the SC Manager will also be the Hub Development Manager and their hours have been increased comparatively. We now have a dynamic team with the necessary expertise to take us forward, increase awareness and funding and to help us deliver our service to more Veterans. We are intending to add a skilled Volunteer Coordinator to the team so that we can fully engage and support our remarkable volunteers and provide them with the assistance they need.

Training, events, opportunities

The charity continued to provide presentations to partners and others and was a finalist in the 2022 Soldiering On Awards. We have our volunteer and Trustee Jane Hoare as a finalist for the 2024 Soldiering On Awards in the coming year. We have attended Parliament with ADUK and ADI championing assistance dogs and public access. The charity remains in a group of organisations lobbying government about the availability and use of fireworks and the harm they can do to our partnerships. Two of our assistance dogs have made it as finalists for the BBC Making a Difference Awards. We produced a portrayal of a partnership in a video ‘Two at a Time’ which has been a great way of showing the difference our charity makes and has had lots of subsequent interest.

We continue to collaborate with others in Armed Forces and Emergency Services networks to raise awareness and to provide support by visiting breakfast clubs, military bases, hospitals, fire stations and police events. Our Founder and Ops Director continues to serve on the Board of trustees of ADUK and is working to ensure that our Veteran partnerships and our charity are well represented and that together we can positively influence the government in regards to assistance dog matters.

The mentoring scheme remains well established and has continued. On-going contact and support has been maintained with all previously graduated client partnerships. Sufficient funds continued to be raised to enable further client - dog partnerships to commence. The charity also continued to raise awareness of PTSD in service people via the media, including social media. Our monitoring of our Veterans through surveys has produced some excellent statistics which prove the effectiveness of the programme. Our Veterans are increasingly more open about talking about the benefits of the programme and dogs and this has led to several positive media stories in the national press and magazines.

In the period post March 2023 we have had 9 further Veteran and Assistance Dog Partnerships accredited with another 5 ready for the September 2024 PAC. There are now 16 partnerships across three Hubs working towards accreditation with further veterans waiting to start on the programme. We have increased the number of volunteer trainers to meet the increased demand and we have secured suitable dogs for ongoing assessment in foster homes. Service Dogs UK remains an important asset in providing ‘know how’ and support to the National Police Wellbeing Service and the Wellbeing and Trauma Support Dog Project. The national lead for this highly successful initiative is the charity’s volunteer Operational Director, Trustee and Founder. The charity is fully supportive of the scheme which is extremely successful and provides much needed support to those that serve, we are proud to be associated with it and will continue to support our Emergency Services.

Plan for future periods

We are aware that as an organisation we are only able to assist Veterans who are able to commute to our training areas regularly and commit to a 9 month training programme. It is our intention to expand our ‘tried and tested’ model to new areas so that we can support more Veterans and provide our service in other locations. We continue to explore the opportunities of further expansion in other areas subject to securing sufficient funding to do so.

Page 3

SERVICE DOGS UK

DIRECTORS’ REPORT AND TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT

It is the Board’s intention to recruit further Trustees with specialist experience to fulfil its strategic objectives. Trustees may be recruited from advertising in relevant publications and websites or nominated by existing Trustees while following Charity Commission guidance and adhering to our Memorandum and Articles of Association.

New Trustees will undertake orientation with the charity where they will be be provided with the Charity Commission Guidance ‘The essential trustee’, a PTSD training input and where their role, legal obligations and responsibilities under company law as a trustee are clearly stated. They will be informed of the Memorandum and Articles of Association for the charity, the committee structure, rules and business plan. During their induction they will meet with key employees and volunteers and be given the latest financial reports of the performance of the charity. We are keen to have representation on the board from our beneficiaries and our fosters, our beneficiaries are the reason we do what we do and without our fosters we could not take on dogs and prepare them for training. At present 50% of the board are Veterans and this demonstrates our commitment to focussing on the needs of Veterans and the issues that affect them.

Service Dogs UK has been successful in obtaining grants from The Armed Forces Covenant, Veterans’ Foundation and The Army Benevolent Fund in the past. We are very grateful to these organisations that allow us to fund more Veterans on our programme year on year. Public donations through events and fund-raising have has increased slightly and we continue to support events such as the Armed Forces Day, Police Families Day, HMS Collingwood Show etc. We were successful in obtaining a grant from Pets Foundation and we are part of their Community Partnership programme meaning we have to opportunity to raise funds in store at Pets at Home and be beneficiaries of their fundraising. We continue to seek sponsorship from companies, organisations and individuals to help us with the costs of running the charity. We are members of Cobseo and fully accepted as a useful resource within the armed forces community. We continue to reach out and work with other Veteran organisations to enhance what we can provide and ‘signpost’ to those that can give specialist help, examples of this are; Voluntary Outreach Service, various Veteran breakfast clubs, the Sussex Armed Forces Network etc. We feel it is essential that we work with others to provide a more substantial service to our Veterans and to meet their individual needs.

We have in conjunction with ADUK introduced a training platform from which we can supply suitable training to all our staff, whether they are paid or volunteers. This will make it possible for them to receive additional training and to equip them better in their respective roles. We are determined to invest in our volunteers and staff so that they can not only ‘thrive’ in their work but they can be better equipped to deliver an excellent service to our Veterans.

Directors’ responsibilities for preparing the accounts

Company law requires the directors to prepare accounts for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the company and of the profit or loss of the company for that period. In preparing those accounts, the directors are required to

• ~ select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;

• ~ make judgments and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;

• ~ prepare the accounts on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the company will continue in business.

Review of financial position

These details are set out in the Statement of Financial Activities on page 7 of the accounts. Total reserves of the company at 31[st] March 2024 were £174,819 (2023: £116,854).

In setting objectives and planning activities, the directors give very careful consideration to the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit.

Investment policy

Funds not immediately required are safeguarded in the company’s bank account.

Page 4

SERVICE DOGS UK

DIRECTORS’ REPORT AND TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT

Reserves policy and risk management

The directors have formulated policies to ensure that the company maintains adequate reserves to finance its operations. Risk management procedures are in place to help safeguard the on-going viability of the company and to protect its assets. It is estimated that a reserve of £60,000 is required to provide sufficient support to our existing clients and dogs and to ensure that the charity can complete its obligations towards those currently benefitting from our programme.

Guarantee

The company has no share capital and the liability of members is limited by guarantee. In the event of the company being wound up, the members can be called upon to contribute up to a maximum of £10 each.

Small companies

This report has been prepared in accordance with the provisions of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies.

On behalf of the board

Garry Botterill

Date: 16th July 2024

Page 5

SERVICE DOGS UK

INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES OF SERVICE DOGS UK

I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of the company for the year ended 31[st] March 2024 which are set out on pages 7 to 11.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the charity trustees of the company (and also its directors for the purposes of company law) you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 (‘the 2006 Act’).

Having satisfied myself that the accounts of the company are not required to be audited under Part 16 of the 2006 Act and are eligible for independent examination, I report in respect of my examination of your company’s accounts as carried out under section 145 of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the 2011 Act’). In carrying out my examination I have followed the Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act.

Independent examiner's statement

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:

1. accounting records were not kept in respect of the company as required by section 386 of the 2006 Act; or

2. the accounts do not accord with those records; or

3. the accounts do not comply with the accounting requirements of section 396 of the 2006 Act other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair view’ which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination; or

4. the accounts have not been prepared in accordance with the methods and principles of the Statement of Recommended Practice for accounting and reporting by charities [applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)].

I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Kerry Lawrance FCA Compass Accountants Venture House The Tanneries East Street Titchfield Hampshire PO14 4AR

Date:

Page 6

SERVICE DOGS UK

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES (INCORPORATING THE INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT)

FOR THE PERIOD ENDED 31ST MARCH 2024

Notes Income Income from charitable activities 2 Other incoming resources 3 Total Income Expenditure Charitable activities 4 Total expenditure Net income/expenditure Transfers between funds Net movement in funds Reconciliation of funds: Total funds brought forward Total funds carried forward	Unrestricted 2024 Funds Total £ £ 47,139 47,139 115,705 115,705 162,844 162,844 104,879 104,879 104,879 104,879 57,965 57,965 - - 57,965 57,965 116,854 116,854 174,819 174,819	Unrestricted 2023 Funds Total £ £ 56,490 56,490 50,000 50,000 106,490 106,490 85,875 85,875 85,875 85,875 20,615 20,615 - - 20,615 20,615 96,239 96,239 116,854 116,854

All transactions are derived from continuing activities.

All recognised gains and losses are included in the Statement of Financial Activities

The notes on pages 9 to 11 form an integral part of these financial statements

Page 7

SERVICE DOGS UK

BALANCE SHEET - COMPANY REGISTRATION NUMBER 09553131

AS AT 31ST MARCH 2024

Notes Current Assets Debtors 6 Cash at bank and in hand Creditors: amounts falling due within one year 7 Net Current Assets Net Assets Funds Unrestricted Funds 9 Designated Funds	£ £ 341 177,612 177,953 (3,134) 174,819 174,819 114,819 60,000 174,819 2024	£ £ - 118,282 118,282 (1,428) 116,854 116,854 56,854 60,000 116,854 2023

For the financial year ended 31st March 2024, the company was entitled to exemption from audit under section 477 of the Companies Act 2006.

The trustees have not required the company to obtain an audit of its financial statements for the year ended 31st March 2024 in accordance with Section 476 of the Companies Act 2006.

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

Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year, which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:

• select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;

• observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP 2019 (FRS 102);

• make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;

• state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements;

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

The financial statements are prepared in accordance with the special provisions of Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006 relating to small companies.

The financial statements were approved by the Board on and signed on its behalf by:

G Botterill Trustee Date:

The notes on pages 9 to 11 form an integral part of these financial statements

Page 8

SERVICE DOGS UK

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE PERIOD ENDED 31ST MARCH 2024

1 Accounting Policies

1.1 Charity information

Service Dogs UK is a charity limited by guarantee and incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is Fareham Marina, The Old Mill, Lower Quay, Fareham, Hampshire, PO16 0RA.

Service Dogs UK meets the definition of a public benefit entity under section 34 of FRS 102. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value, unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy.

The principal objectives of the charity are detailed in the Trustees Report.

1.2 Basis of preparation of financial statements

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective from October 2019) - Charities SORP (FRS102), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Companies Act 2006.

1.3 Income

Income is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the items of income have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably.

Income from investments is included in the year in which it is receivable.

1.4 Expenditure

Resources expended are recognised in the period in which they are incurred. Resources expended are allocated to the particluar activity where the cost relates directly to that activity.

Charitable expenditure comprises those costs incurred by the charity in the delivery of its activites and services for its beneficiaries. It includes both costs that can be allocated directly to such activities and those costs of an indirect nature necessary to support them.

1.5 Financial Instruments

Financial instruments are classified and accounted for, according to the substance of the contractual arrangement, as financial assets, financial liabilities or equity instruments. An equity instrument is any contract that evidences a residual interest in the assets of the company after deducting all of its liabilities

1.6 Funding Accounting

General funds are unrestricted funds which are available for use at the discretion of the Trustees in furtherance of the general activities of the charity and which have not been designated for other purposes. Restricted funds are those provided to the charity for certain specified purposes rather than general use.

Designated funds have been designated by the Trustees for a specified purpose.

1.7 Going Concern

The financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis as the trustees believe that no material uncertainties exist. The trustees have considered the level of funds hel and the expected level of income and expenditure for 12 months from authorising these financial statements. The budgeted income and expenditure is sufficient with the level of reserves for the charity to be able to continue as a going concern.

Page 9

SERVICE DOGS UK

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE PERIOD ENDED 31ST MARCH 2024

2 Income from charitable activities Donations and grants 3 Other incoming resources Grant income 4 Charitable activities Direct costs Independent examination fees	Unrestricted 2024 Funds £ £ 47,139 47,139 47,139 47,139 Unrestricted 2024 Funds £ £ 115,705 115,705 115,705 115,705 Unrestricted 2024 Funds £ £ 103,798 103,798 1,081 1,081 104,879 104,879	Unrestricted 2023 Funds £ £ 56,490 56,490 56,490 56,490 Unrestricted 2023 Funds £ £ 50,000 50,000 50,000 50,000 Unrestricted 2023 Funds £ £ 85,142 85,142 733 733 85,875 85,875

5 Employees

Number of employees

The average number of employees during the year was 3 (2023 - 4)

Wages & salaries	2024 2023 £ £ 60,122 38,931 60,122 38,931

No employees received employee benefits in excess of £60,000 (2023: Nil)

During the year £Nil remuneration was paid to Trustees (2023: £Nil). During the year £Nil expenses were paid to Trustees (2023: £Nil)

6 Debtors

Other Debtors Creditors: amounts falling due within one year Taxation and social security Accruals	2024 2023 £ £ 341 - 341 - 2024 2023 £ £ 2,294 828 840 600 3,134 1,428

7 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

Page 10

SERVICE DOGS UK

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE PERIOD ENDED 31ST MARCH 2024

8 Analysis of Net Assets between Funds

Fund balances at 31st March 2024 as Current assets Current liabilities Fund balances at 31st March 2023 as Current assets Current liabilities Unrestricted Funds General reserve Designated reserve General reserve Designated reserve	represented by: represented by: 1st April 2023 Income Expenditure £ £ £ 56,854 162,844 104,879 60,000 - - 116,854 162,844 104,879 1st April 2022 Income Expenditure £ £ £ 36,239 106,490 85,875 60,000 - - 96,239 106,490 85,875	Unrestricted 2024 Funds £ £ 177,953 177,953 (3,134) (3,134) 174,819 174,819 Unrestricted 2023 Funds £ £ 118,282 118,282 (1,428) (1,428) 116,854 116,854 31st March Transfers 2024 £ £ - 114,819 - 60,000 - 174,819 31st March Transfers 2023 £ £ - 56,854 - 60,000 - 116,854

9 Unrestricted Funds

The designated reserve represents a fund for looking after existing partners for the lifetime of their partnerships,

10 Related party transactions

There were no related party transactions

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