OpenCharities

This text was generated using OCR and may contain errors. Check the original PDF to see the document submitted to the regulator.

← Dogs Trust

2024-12-31-accounts

@

Dogs Trust Annual Report 2024 For the year ended 31 December 2024

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

----- Start of picture text -----
||| |---|---| |Our 2024 highlights|1| |Welcome|2| |4| |The dog welfare landscape| |Our approach|5| |Our strategic focuses|6| |Rehoming|7| |Preventing problems|14| |Improving welfare|26| |International impact|28| |Reach, engagement and influence|37| |Foundations|43| |Fundraising|51| |Our new strategy|57| |Financial review|59| |Structure, governance and management|63| |Independent auditor’s report|69| |Financial statements|72| |Notes to the accounts|75| |Contact us|96|

----- End of picture text -----

Strategic focuses

2024 highlights

New strategy

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Foundations

Fundraising

Financials

1

Contact us

Our 2024 highlights

9,914 33,960 422 dogs rehomed dogs helped with dogs fostered while A charity of our size in the UK and Ireland behaviour issues their owners found freedom from domestic abuse has many highlights to choose from — here are just a few: @oOo

1,881 vet treatments funded for homeless dogs

547,127 1.38 million children taught dogs vaccinated dog safety against rabies globally

3.66 million children and local communities educated on rabies prevention globally

372,361 calls to our Customer Support Centre

Over 400,000 responses to our National Dog Survey

Financial review

Strategic focuses

New

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Foundations

Fundraising

2

Contact us

strategy

----- Start of picture text -----
2024
highlights
----- End of picture text -----

Welcome

A warm welcome to you (and any of your four-legged family members) – to our annual report for 2024.

After a pandemic, a cost-of-living crisis, and no shortage of global and political turmoil, the last few years have reminded us of one simple truth: the only constant in life is change.

However, one thing is for certain. Dogs Trust will always be here for dogs, as long as they need us.

Our dedicated staff and volunteers work tirelessly to help dogs live life to the full. This year, they’ve helped Dogs Trust rehome nearly 10,000 dogs, advise nearly 34,000 owners about their dogs’ behavioural issues and vaccinated 1.38 million dogs globally to prevent the devastating spread of rabies. Just a few of our many highlights, which you can read more about throughout this report.

We’re delighted to announce that His Majesty The King has become our new Patron

New Financial strategy review

Strategic focuses

2024 highlights

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Foundations

Fundraising

3

Contact us

This year, we’ve seen some big changes for the charity. These include an exciting new patron in His Majesty The King, and an incorporation to become a charitable company, which has lots of benefits, including modernising our governance. We also developed a new 2025-2030 strategy to make sure we are ready to respond to any future challenges for dog welfare.

As always, we couldn’t do any of this without the incredible support of our donors, our fundraisers, our trusts and lead supporters, who make certain that, whatever happens, Dogs Trust is there for dogs in an ever-changing world.

With huge thanks, Owen Sharp, Chief Executive Will Galgey, Chair of the Board of Trustees

Introducing our new Chair, Will Galgey, who joined the board in 2023. Will is Global Managing Director at Kantar and brings a wealth of leadership experience. We’re excited about what Dogs Trust can achieve under his Chairmanship.

A fond farewell to our outgoing Chair, Graeme Robertson, who gave 10 years of dedicated service to Dogs Trust and will be much missed.

New Financial strategy review

Strategic focuses

2024 highlights

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Foundations

Fundraising

4

Contact us

The dog welfare landscape

Dogs Trust has been there for dogs since 1891 and every decade presents fresh challenges.

The surge in demand for dogs during the pandemic lockdown has had a long-term impact on dog behaviour. These ‘ pandemic puppies ’ missed socialisation and the opportunities to learn how to adapt to new circumstances. As these puppies reached early adulthood in 2024, owners struggled to cope and were in need of support and advice.

Extreme behaviour issues can be incredibly distressing and can lead to owners giving up their dog or even considering euthanasia. Many of the dogs in our centres are dealing with behaviour challenges, as well as more complex health conditions , taking more time and effort to get back on their paws and to rehome.

The cost of living crisis and economic uncertainty are also causing people to give up their dogs for financial or accommodation reasons, or be forced into homelessness to stay with their dog. Sadly, we are also seeing more people suffering domestic abuse and needing a safe space for their dog while they seek refuge.

Fresh challenges in 2024 included the ban on American Bully XL type dogs in the UK (and a ban announced in Ireland from 2025) and the subsequent need for advice and support for their owners.

The means that impact of the financial crisis smaller animal shelters are needing to close their doors, with a knock-on effect on the wider sector.

Further afield, the rising cost of living has affected most countries around the world, impacting dogs and the communities that live with them. Climate change, conflict, and political and economic turmoil mean the

world is changing in a way that impacts our four-legged friends . Sharing our knowledge, expertise and support internationally is more important than ever, to help make positive and sustainable changes to dog welfare.

Thanks to our supporters, we are tackling all of this. Read on to find out more.

2024 highlights =

Financial review

Strategic focuses

New strategy

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Foundations

Fundraising

5

Contact us

Our approach

Our purpose:

We believe every dog deserves to live life to the full

Our role:

We won’t rest until we make the world a safe and happy place for dogs

Our world:

Our strategic areas: Rehoming Preventing problems Improving welfare International impact Reach, engagement and influence

----- Start of picture text -----
Our values drive us:
----- End of picture text -----

We dream big

We’re on the ball

We are local, national and international

We make things happen

Financial review

New strategy

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Foundations

Fundraising

6

Contact us

Our strategic focuses

We have five strategic focuses. You can find out more about what we achieved in 2024 in each section.

----- Start of picture text -----
2024
highlights
----- End of picture text -----

----- Start of picture text -----
Strategic
focuses
----- End of picture text -----

Rehoming

Preventing problems

Improving welfare

International impact

Reach, engagement and influence

New Financial strategy review

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Foundations

Fundraising

7

Contact us

----- Start of picture text -----
2024 Strategic
highlights focuses
----- End of picture text -----

2024 in num-paws!

Through our 22 rehoming centres in the UK and Ireland we:

cared for 11,707 dogs

rehomed 9,914 dogs

In the UK:

3,203 dogs were fostered through our amazing foster carer network

Our vets gave

12,000 essential vaccinations and

701 dogs sadly died or were put to sleep

3,000 veterinary procedures, including dental care, neutering and other surgeries

Financial review

Strategic focuses

2024 highlights

New strategy

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Foundations

Fundraising

8

Contact us

Waving a dog off to their new forever home remains one of the greatest joys of our work across the UK and Ireland.

This year we helped 9,914 dogs find a new home. This is slightly down on 2023 (10,612) as we saw more dogs who needed a bit more time and attention to find their feet and match with a new family.

47,133 handover calls for UK and Ireland

The cost of living is also having an impact by reducing the number of people thinking about getting a dog, as dog ownership costs soar above inflation.

But our expert staff never give up. They do everything they can to rehabilitate dogs and find them their perfect match, with the help of our incredible foster families. And thanks to our donors’ backing, we make sure that, as our understanding of dogs and their needs

grows, our facilities evolve to support them.

The heart-breaking calls dog owners make to us:

“Hi, I need to speak to somebody really about giving up my dog. I am running out of time as I’ve got to be out by Friday and they are serving me an eviction notice so I’m trying to find somewhere for him to go by Friday. I don’t have anywhere for him. So it’s an emergency.”

“Sorry, I might cry. What it is, I’ve had a marriage breakdown…and I had to move out of the house with my two kids and we’ve been living in a hotel for five months. But we’ve been offered somewhere, but the thing is, they won’t take dogs, they won’t take any pet…I’m going this week I have to be out of where I am and it was always a plan that Scooby would come with but it’s not going to happen.”

Financial review

2024 highlights

New strategy

Dogs Trust Annual Report 2024

Foundations

Fundraising

9

A new woof over their heads at Ballymena

We’re delighted that our newly rebuilt centre at Ballymena is open!

The centre has helped more than 10,000 dogs since it was opened in 1970 – and is now set up to rehabilitate even more four-legged friends and find them their new families for years to come.

----- Start of picture text -----
Strategic
focuses
----- End of picture text -----

----- Start of picture text -----
Contact us
----- End of picture text -----

Journalist and broadcaster Holly Hamilton cutting the ribbon to reopen Ballymena

41 new kennels

designed in the very latest way to minimise stress and maximise comfort, with underfloor heating for added snuggle-factor.

20 quiet kennels

in a calm area to help new dogs decompress. Three kennels are for those residents that need that bit of extra training and behavioural help.

A puppy unit

to give the little ones the best start in life, with special areas for pregnant mums, including their own little gardens.

Two big fields

for play, exercise, and generally keeping bodies and minds happy and active.

New Financial Foundations Fundraising strategy review Contact us 10

Dogs Trust Annual Report 2024

----- Start of picture text -----
2024 Strategic
highlights focuses
----- End of picture text -----

Fifth anniversary celebrations at Penrith

The party hats were out in force with news that our Penrith rehoming centre has changed the lives of 9,000 dogs since it opened five years ago.

At the celebrations, we also launched our new ambulance fleet, based in Penrith. Our new vans are doing 1,000 miles a week, chauffeuring dogs from council-run pounds to our 21 UK centres to start new lives. Each of the vans has air conditioning and humidity monitoring to make travelling as comfortable as possible for these precious passengers.

Financial review

2024 Strategic highlights focuses

New strategy

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Foundations

Fundraising

11

Contact us

for seven Whippet pups

These tiny pups nearly met a heartbreaking end when their breeder took them to the vet to be euthanised, claiming they were not ‘sellable’ because of their poor skin condition. Thankfully, the vet called on our Ballymena centre for help, and we took them into our care.

With TLC from our team, the puppies made a full recovery from the treatable condition which had made their skin scaly. Once they were healthy, we relocated them from Northern Ireland to our Penrith transfer centre, to prepare them for the next step of their journey – finding forever homes.

The two most underweight puppies, Sue and Pugh, went into a foster home near Penrith, for extra monitoring. Here they were fed four times a day to help them gain weight.

The other puppies, named Barney, McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble and Grubb, were transferred to our Darlington rehoming centre. Thanks to our staff and foster carers, they have been rehomed and can enjoy their second chance at life.

This adorable family of six-week-old Whippet puppies were rescued from euthanasia and found loving homes, thanks to our teams in Ballymena and Penrith.

New Financial Contact us 12 strategy review

Strategic focuses

2024 highlights

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Foundations

Fundraising

Life is sweet for Rhubarb

Cockapoo Rhubarb was born at our Leeds centre in the first lockdown of 2020. She was rehomed at eight weeks, but sadly returned to us in 2022 with anxiety issues caused by the lack of socialisation many dogs experienced during lockdown.

Underdogs

Some dogs take longer to rehome. But we never give up on them. We call dogs in our care for six months or more our ‘Underdogs’. Whether they’ve got medical conditions, behavioural problems or something a bit quirky about them, we’re here with all the extra training and veterinary treatment they need to get them ready for their forever family.

The training and behaviour team worked hard with Rhubarb to build her confidence and reduce her anxiety. After more than a year’s effort from our amazing staff, Rhubarb was happily matched with adopters, Karen and David, who were prepared to take the time to build up a relationship with the gorgeous girl and her handler, Amy.

These wonderful people made four visits a week for eight weeks, with over an hour’s travel each way. Luckily, it was a perfect match and life is now sweet as can be for Rhubarb. She loves walks, settles perfectly in the house and spends most of her time snuggled up on the sofa with them, snoring her head off! We think you might have found your forever home Rhubarb.

523 Underdogs rehomed in 2024

Financial review

2024 highlights

New strategy

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Foundations

Fundraising

13

Contact us

----- Start of picture text -----
Strategic
focuses
----- End of picture text -----

Fostering love

Our network of Home from Home fosterers perform two life-changing roles for our dogs.

Firstly, for those dogs who are comfier on a sofa and in a home environment, they offer all the love, play and training support a dog needs until they find their forever family.

Secondly, for dogs that would benefit from more time being supported in one of our centres, they free up a place so we have a kennel ready and waiting.

They really are amazing!

880

new fosterers joined us in 2024

2,226 fostered dogs were adopted in 2024

15,000+ fostered dogs have now been adopted

Fosterers paw-some efforts for rescue dog Ru

Five-year-old Ru overcame many challenges before finding the home of his dreams, thanks to his amazing foster carers and the team at our Ilfracombe centre.

When Ru first came to us, he found walks and busy locations overwhelming — he would lunge and bark when he saw another dog.

Our training and behaviour team and his wonderful foster carers, Faye and Adrian, helped him get comfortable with other dogs, and worked on his separation anxiety until he could relax at home on his own. Faye and Adrian’s jobs were home-based so they helped Ru learn about house-training, trusting people and snuggles. A whole year after they started fostering him, Ru was adopted by a loving family.

“Our house feels empty now without Ru and we miss our snuggle buddy so much,” said Faye and Adrian. “2024 was Ru’s year and one we will always remember. We would do it all again in a heartbeat.”

New Financial strategy review

Strategic focuses

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Foundations

Fundraising

14

Contact us

2024 highlights

Our ever-changing world is leading to huge shifts in the way dogs are bred, chosen and share our lives. More than ever, Dogs Trust is doing all we can to help dogs and owners stay together — including by addressing problem behaviours, supporting dog owners experiencing homelessness, and helping people escape domestic abuse.

Tackling problem behaviours

We helped nip problems in the bud for nearly 34,000 dogs in 2024

17,410 8,191 2,259 6,100 dogs helped through owners supported by the behaviour dogs supported by Dog School Behaviour Support Line consultations post-adoption services

dogs helped through owners supported by the Dog School Behaviour Support Line

547,127 children learned about dog safety through our workshops, the highest figure in the 20+ years of the programme!

New Financial strategy review

2024 highlights

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Foundations

Fundraising

Contact us 15

----- Start of picture text -----
Strategic
focuses
----- End of picture text -----

Dog School: teaching dogs and owners new tricks

At Dog School, we offer expert advice and practical training to help people and their pooches understand each other better. Some dogs need a little bit more help around other dogs, so for them we offer Reactive Dog School. This includes oneon-one support from a skilled coach, and group classes with other dogs. Slowly and safely, ‘reactive’ dogs can learn to be calmer and more comfortable around their fellow fur-balls.

,, It was so reassuring to have someone who understands dogs to | listen to us and help Trixi. ),é[|] It’s a lifeline. 7

I feel the classes have improved my bond with Buddy and would highly recommend attending. Do yourself and your puppy a favour and book.

Financial review

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Foundations

Fundraising

16

Contact us

Behaviour Support Line: keeping dogs and owners together

When a dog doesn’t get on with a new furry family member or is struggling with another tricky situation, it can be difficult and often distressing. Our expert behaviourists understand – and they are just a phone call away.

----- Start of picture text -----
2024 Strategic
highlights focuses
----- End of picture text -----

----- Start of picture text -----
New
strategy
----- End of picture text -----

----- Start of picture text -----
David Brown
Fi) Aug3 @&
----- End of picture text -----

Can’t recommend this enough! I’ve used the support line on our new family member for a few issues (constantly stealing items, mouthing people and jumping, some reaction to other dogs) and their advice was 100% and Harvey is now as close to the perfect dog I’ve ever had. Please reach out if you have any unwanted behaviour. There’s absolutely no judgement, just support.

----- Start of picture text -----
Gill Jones
----- End of picture text -----

----- Start of picture text -----
Incredible service, I cried loads of absolute
gratitude tears today  I can’t thank you
enough for the help and support with my reactive
rescue pup aw xxx
----- End of picture text -----

They give training and behavioural support to prevent these behaviours from becoming bigger problems. And ultimately help owners feel confident they have a happy future with their four-legged friend. Best of all, it’s free, thanks to the support of our generous donors.

In 2024, we helped more owners than ever with a whopping 8,191 Behaviour Support Line calls taken (compared with 6,131 in 2023).

New Financial strategy review

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Foundations

Fundraising

17

Contact us

Community clinical animal behaviour

Our community clinical animal behaviour team gives cost-effective support to people whose dogs need some extra help with their behaviour. Our particular aim is to fill in the gaps where there aren’t enough local qualified behaviourists to meet demand.

This year, we helped 2,259 people with their dogs. The most discussed behaviours were relating to aggression (45%), and 82% scored the service 10 out of 10.

----- Start of picture text -----
Strategic
focuses
[
----- End of picture text -----

----- Start of picture text -----
2024 Strategic
highlights focuses
----- End of picture text -----

Before I called you, I was seriously looking at having Bonnie put to sleep, I am so glad I called you and from the work we have done I am starting to see a difference.

Bonnie bounces back

17-month-old Dachshund Bonnie’s* life was in the balance, but all that has changed thanks to Bonnie’s owner – and a little help from our behaviour experts.

Stressed little Bonnie wasn’t getting on with the older Chihuahua she lived with. She was nervous with other dogs and people, couldn’t be left alone, and was so anxious that her owners had even discussed euthanasia as an option with her vet.

In desperation, they called our Behaviour Support Line who were able to give them advice. In Bonnie’s case the best course of action was to be referred to Gemma, one of our clinical animal behaviour specialists. Gemma met Bonnie and took her owner through a bespoke programme, identifying specific issues like Bonnie’s harness being too tight which was affecting her ability to keep calm when meeting dogs on walks, among other things. The programme was a success.

*We’ve changed the dog’s name in this story and used an image of a similar dog.

Financial review

New strategy

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Foundations

Fundraising

18

Contact us

----- Start of picture text -----
2024 Strategic
highlights focuses
a
----- End of picture text -----

Community education and engagement

Helping dogs and children live happily together

It’s an upsetting statistic that up to 91% of dog bites to children happen at home with a dog they know. We want children and dogs to live safely and happily together which is why we’ve developed our Dog Safety Workshops .

Taking the stress out of a trip to the vets

Our Dog Friendly Clinic Scheme aims to make trips to the vets something dogs can look forward to (well almost!). We’re working with the British Veterinary Behaviour Association to make sure vets understand dogs’ and owners’ worries. This year we welcomed 185 clinics and reached over 4,000 vets.

Financial

Strategic focuses

2024 highlights

New

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Foundations

Fundraising

19

Contact us

review

strategy

Supporting dogs

[28% ]

[38%]

[21%]

highlights2024 Strategic focuses Foundations Fundraising strategyNew Financial review Contact us 20

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Freedom from domestic abuse

The 20th anniversary of our Freedom service sadly saw a huge increase in numbers of enquiries, and was marked by our team of volunteers fostering their 3,000th dog.

Someone being abused will often remain with a perpetrator if they do not have a safe option for their pet. Freedom has changed thousands of human and animal lives over the past two decades. Since 2004, we and Cats Protection have supported more than 4,500 dogs and cats, helping thousands of survivors get to safety.

Over 85% of the dogs fostered through Freedom have either been reunited with their owners or are in our care, waiting hopefully to be reunited

Many refuges are unable to accept pets, so we arrange caring foster placements that give dogs a chance to recover, leaving owners free to go into refuges or find other accommodation to rebuild their lives. If an owner can’t be reunited with their dog, then Dogs Trust is committed to finding them a new forever home.

This year, we saw more high risk and complex domestic abuse cases, and more dogs coming to us with significant behavioural and/or veterinary care needs.

To keep up with demand for the service this year we issued an urgent appeal for more volunteers to foster dogs. Happily, this led to a massive 562% in applications – huge thanks and appreciation to all our new volunteers.

Financial review

Strategic focuses

2024 highlights

New strategy

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Foundations

Fundraising

21

Contact us

Without Freedom, I could have lost my dog. bi .

“I was in a relationship on and off for 10 years. He was emotionally and mentally abusive, coercive and controlling. There were periods of physical abuse too.

I noticed that Marley started becoming more anxious. He would also start toileting in the house, which he had never done before, and he started to hide away. Marley also started to growl around my ex.

Since coming back to us in this new house from his time with Freedom, Marley has gone back to normal and is back to his old routine. I think that having that time with his foster home helped with this.

Without Freedom and the volunteers, I could have lost my dog and because of their help, I didn’t have to. It took a huge weight off my mind.”

Client supported by Freedom

Financial review

Strategic focuses

2024 highlights

New strategy

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Foundations

Fundraising

22

Contact us

Together Through Homelessness

She means the world. I’d be lost without her.

No one should be forced to choose between their dog and a safe place to sleep, but many people experiencing homelessness are faced with that decision. We provide free, in-depth support and advice to homelessness services.

In 2024, we helped:

774 dogs whose owners were at risk of or experiencing homelessness

homeless dogs by funding 1,881 vet treatments

19 homeless services become dog friendly

homeless dogs celebrate 2,600 Christmas with a present

Tallulah and Rickie

Rickie has been with his beloved dog Tallulah since she was 10 months old – she’s now 12. When Rickie became homeless, Dogs Trust was there to make sure the pair had a future together.

“Having her helps with keeping a routine and a bit of structure. But it’s definitely difficult to try to save for deposits with the cost of everything — and to find dog-friendly housing. I’m just managing in general but I don’t know how I would have covered her vet bills without Dogs Trust, especially as she’s an older girl. She’s helped me through a lot of dark times. Hard to put into words but her companionship and loyalty mean everything.”

Financial review

Strategic focuses

2024 highlights

New strategy

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Foundations

Fundraising

23

Contact us

Support for American Bully XL owners

In 2024, it became illegal to own an American Bully XL type dog without a valid certificate of exemption throughout the UK. This followed legislation that made it illegal to breed, sell, advertise, gift, exchange, abandon or let XL Bully type dogs stray.

This year we agreed to pay £96,520 to help 857 dogs in need of emergency treatment

Dogs Trust doesn’t agree with breed-specific legislation that bans certain types of dogs. Instead, we want to see effective and preventative dog control legislation and policy that addresses the root causes of dog aggression, such as poor breeding conditions, socialisation and training.

American Bully XL owners reached out to us for help as the restrictions came into place, and we responded by launching new services.

Our Companion Club (formerly called our Membership Scheme) provides third-party public liability insurance cover that includes banned breeds.

Helping with vet bills

Our Emergency Fund helps with large and unexpected vet bills. Anyone on benefits can apply and we will give either 25% or £350 towards the bill (whichever is the lesser). This year we agreed to pay £96,520 to help 857 dogs in need of emergency treatment, a big rise from the £75,000 worth of treatment we funded in 2023 to help 706 dogs.

Strategic focuses a

Financial review

2024 Strategic highlights focuses

New strategy

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Foundations

Fundraising

24

Contact us

National Dog Survey 2024

This year’s study told us:

71% of owners wrongly believe

they are more likely to be bitten by a dog they don’t know than by their own pet. *

The National Dog Survey is our yearly snapshot of the joys and concerns of people who own and love dogs. We had over 400,000 responses to this year’s survey — our third and biggest yet.

Another common misconception highlighted in the survey was that a dog rolling over when approached means they want a belly rub. 76% aren’t aware that this could mean they’re feeling uncomfortable or need space.

76% of dogs

belonging to those who responded were reported to display at least

one ‘undesirable’ behaviour, including:

Dog reactivity (17%)

Poor recall (10.5%)

Pulling on the lead (9%)

You can read more of the results in our full report

Financial review

2024 highlights

New strategy

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Foundations

Fundraising

25

Contact us

----- Start of picture text -----
Strategic
focuses
----- End of picture text -----

Generation Pup

This study with the University of Bristol follows dogs of all breeds through their lives, from pup to pensioner. By doing this, we can investigate if genetics, social interaction, daily routine or other factors impact on the wellbeing of our furry friends.

We discovered more about problematic behaviour. For example, for 1-year-old dogs, the most common problematic behaviours reported by their owners were:

This year we celebrated a major milestone by welcoming our 9,000th dog.

Barking

Jumping up Pulling on lead

Changing to more aversive training methods was associated with higher odds of reporting problematic behaviours — a reminder that reward-based training is the best way to go when it comes to setting your dog up for life.

Financial review

Strategic focuses

2024 highlights

New strategy

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Foundations

Fundraising

26

Contact us

We’re working to put an end to the suffering of puppies who are smuggled into the country under horrifying conditions, and greyhounds who are raced in the name of entertainment.

We are also campaigning to change irresponsible online advertising of dogs.

Puppy smuggling

We’ve been campaigning for more than a decade to raise the minimum age that puppies can be brought into the country. All too often, puppies are heartbreakingly taken from their mothers when they are too young to travel and put through a long, difficult journey, with suffering, risk of disease and even death.

This year, we saw early success when The Animal Welfare (Import of Dogs, Cats & Ferrets) Bill passed its second reading on 15th March. But our hopes were dashed when the general election was called and the Bill didn’t finish its journey to becoming law. Our thanks go to former MP Selaine Saxby for taking it to this stage and drumming up support from more than 100 of her colleagues.

We now have a fantastic new sponsor for the Bill: Member of Parliament and vet Danny Chambers MP, who is a passionate advocate for animal welfare and a longtime Dogs Trust supporter. We’ll be working with Danny this year to get the Bill through parliament and into law to stop the suffering of thousands of dogs each year.

New Financial strategy review

Strategic focuses

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Foundations

Fundraising

27

Contact us

----- Start of picture text -----
2024
highlights
----- End of picture text -----

Greyhound racing

The Welsh Government has now committed to banning greyhound racing. In 2024, it announced it was gathering evidence for and against ending this inhumane industry in Wales. The Cut the Chase coalition, which includes Dogs Trust, staged an event at the Senedd, and welomed 21 Members of the Senedd, who came along to show their support. We’re delighted by their 2025 announcement that there will finally be an end to this cruel industry.

Pet advertising

We continue to work as a member of the Pet Advertising Advisory Group (PAAG) to change irresponsible pet advertising. This year we called on social media companies to do more, including updating their policies to stop people selling pets on their platforms, and rigorous policing to quickly take down rule-breaking posts.

Mark Ruskell, Member of the Scottish Parliament, launched his Bill to phase out greyhound racing in Scotland over a 12-month period in 2024. Our public affairs team was there in force at the Scottish Parliament, speaking at the launch and letting everyone know how so many of these beautiful dogs are injured and put to sleep every year in the name of entertainment.

----- Start of picture text -----
Dogs Trust
----- End of picture text -----

----- Start of picture text -----
Annual Report 2024
----- End of picture text -----

highlights2024 Strategic focuses Foundations Fundraising strategyNew Financial review Contact us 28

International impact

Globally:

1.38m

[dogs vaccinated against rabies ]

Rapid urbanisation, natural disasters, conflicts, poverty, political and economic turmoil. The world is changing in a way that impacts our four-legged friends.

Communities that live alongside roaming dogs are left fearful by stories of attacks by rabid dogs. Rabies kills 59,000 people a year globally, and 99% of cases are caused by dog bites. It is entirely preventable — but it is a huge challenge.

3.6m children and local communities educated on rabies prevention S 166,000 dogs neutered to reduce stray dog populations QO [vets trained] 4,460 ©

The good news is that Dogs Trust works globally, alongside our sister organisation WVS, to make sure dogs get access to veterinary care. And to help control dog populations in a humane way, with our spay and neuter work. Our work also protects communities from rabies by vaccinating roaming, stray and owned dogs, saving many dogs’ lives at the same time. This year we made some important strides forward, as WVS, which merged with us in 2023, became an integral part of the Dogs Trust family.

[vet aid parcels sent] 1,042

60 dog welfare projects funded with 42 partner organisations in 28 countries

Financial review

Strategic focuses

2024 highlights

New strategy

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Foundations

Fundraising

29

Contact us

Our international focus

As well as a presence in Ireland, Bosnia and the USA, we run and support projects on five continents, in countries including Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, Bulgaria and Serbia.

We are focused on these four areas:

We work with local partners

We vaccinate We run mass We give dogs CNVR programmes emergency grants

New Financial strategy review

Strategic focuses

2024 highlights

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Foundations

Fundraising

30

Contact us

WVS and Mission Rabies

WVS and its Mission Rabies project are part of the Dogs Trust family, making a difference at the very heart of problems caused by disease and poverty.

Rabies is a preventable disease , yet 59,000 people die from it a year. But our work internationally means there is hope to eradicate this disease.

In India alone, there are an estimated 35 million free-roaming dogs. Rabies vaccine costs are going up; supplies aren’t always reliable. But progress is being made. Mission Rabies’ vaccination campaigns have now protected over two million dogs worldwide , and, in hotspots like Goa, where Mission Rabies has operated for a decade, human rabies deaths have plummeted to zero.

This year, we increased the number of dogs we vaccinated by 20%. Our veterinary teams directly treated an animal every five minutes throughout 2024 – that’s 24 hours a day, 365 days a year!

Record-breaking roll out in Cambodia

Dogs Trust staff and volunteers from over 30 different countries worked together to roll out a huge vaccination and spay and neuter programme in Cambodia. In just 12 working days, a record-breaking 230,000 dogs were vaccinated. It took 900 team members, support from 800 Cambodians, and an astonishing amount of hard work to achieve.

Luke Gamble, CEO of Mission Rabies, and Louisa Simons, Chief Operating Officer of Dogs Trust, in Cambodia.

New Financial strategy review

2024 highlights

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Foundations

Fundraising

31

Contact us

----- Start of picture text -----
Strategic
focuses
----- End of picture text -----

A letter from Malawi

In Malawi, at least one child dies every single day from dogtransmitted rabies. Here, Vanessa, our Malawi education manager, shares what happened when five-year-old Blessings was bitten by a stray dog one break time at Chisawani Primary School.

Blessings’ friends sprang into action. Remembering their rabies lessons from Mission Rabies, they began washing the wound with water. Realising they needed soap, they called for their teachers, who thoroughly cleaned the bite site. Once his wound was treated, Blessings’ parents were informed.

They acted quickly, visiting the veterinary office for a letter confirming the dog was unknown — a crucial step in ensuring immediate medical treatment. They took Blessings to Thyolo District Hospital, where he received all five doses of the life-saving rabies vaccine.

Reflecting on the incident, a teacher shared:

The children’s knowledge of first aid made all the difference. Because of the rabies education provided by Mission Rabies, they knew how to respond. Without it, Blessings might not be here today.

New Financial strategy review

Strategic focuses

2024 highlights

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Foundations

Fundraising

32

Contact us

Thank you to all our international partners for their incredible energy and dedication to helping dogs worldwide.

2024 marked an incredible achievement for Soi Dog Foundation’s project in Chonburi , one of the rabies hotspots in Thailand. No one in the province died from rabies during the year.

Dogstar Foundation in Gampaha, Sri Lanka tackled a huge distemper outbreak at the start of the year. The team vaccinated 5,320 dogs, in addition to neutering and rabies vaccinations.

Darjeeling Goodwill Animal Shelter ran a rabies awareness project for local children and another project to stabilise the dog population.

Help in Suffering (HIS) in Rajasthan neutered 1000s of street dogs. Around 20% of these were brought to the organisation by caring people who were regularly feeding and keeping an eye on them on the street, or who spotted a problem with their welfare.

Animal Rescue Sofia and 1500 Dog Gang improved shelter standards and rehoming in Bulgaria .

Soi Dog Foundation in Chonburi

SPA Ljubimci and Beta Zrenjanin ran dog population management projects in Serbia , and convinced the municipality to build dog feeders around the city for stray dogs.

Financial review

Strategic focuses

2024 highlights

New strategy

Dogs Trust Annual Report 2024

Foundations

Fundraising

33

Contact us

Dogs Trust Ireland

Despite economic turbulence, 2024 was our most successful fundraising year to date. With income growing from €6.8M to €8M, we continued to deliver and develop our vital support services to dogs and owners across Ireland.

We continued vital service delivery despite

challenges , rehoming 938 dogs while managing disease outbreaks. We also adapted Veterinary Voucher schemes to provide alternatives to surrender and to support owners affected by the American Bully XL ban.

We developed preventative services. Our

Training Academy pilot launched providing standardised evidence-based training for dog care professionals, supporting the development of the sector in Ireland.

We achieved a ban on remote controlled

shock collars which will spare dogs from unnecessary pain and anxiety.

We were disappointed that a ban on

American Bully XL type dogs was announced . We took an active role in the Dog Control Stakeholder Group, arguing for evidencebased solutions to prevent further dog control incidents, rather than breed-specific bans. We will continue working with fellow charities - Blue Cross, MADRA, and ISCPA - to mitigate the negative consequences of the decision.

We launched the first-ever Ireland’s Dog

Census , a pilot initiative driven by our vision of counting every dog so that every dog counts. We engaged 30,000 owners — 75% new to the charity — and learned unprecedented insights into key welfare concerns. Our Happy Dog survey, conducted by Ipsos B&A, added to our growing understanding of dog happiness. Combined with service user insights, these findings give us a deep, data-driven awareness of the needs of dogs and their owners and will inform our future activity.

We launched our new five-point manifesto ahead of the Irish General Election . Our main ask was for the government to appoint a Junior Minister for Animal Welfare and Control to bring together and support all policy and legislation for the welfare, breeding, selling and supplying, control and traceability of dogs.

Keith and the Census Squad helped recruit respondents for the first-ever Ireland’s Dog Census.

New Financial strategy review

Strategic focuses

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Foundations

Fundraising

34

Contact us

----- Start of picture text -----
2024
highlights
----- End of picture text -----

The story of Dora

One-year-old Bichon Frise Dora arrived at our Dublin rehoming centre heavily pregnant and traumatised after being rescued from a puppy farm. It took our devoted team hours of hard work before she would allow them anywhere near her, and it was days before they could touch her.

Dora gave birth to six puppies at the centre but sadly only three survived. Some had what a member of staff described as the “worst deformities she’d ever seen in a litter”. Happily Dora’s surviving puppies were soon adopted. And, after months of careful rehabilitation, it was Dora’s turn. We’re delighted Dora got the happy ending she deserves and her adopter, Elaine, adores her!

“Dora is the most beautiful dog you could imagine. She was very scared when she came here first. It breaks my heart when I look at her and think of the awful life she was living, in a cage, in a shed, not cared for but just a money machine for some people who would discard her when she could no longer breed. She has brought us so much love.”

Award recognition

We were thrilled to be shortlisted for three awards this year: the Good Governance Awards, the Published Accounts Awards and Charities Institute Ireland Best Supporter Experience Award for our iPETS project, which has transformed our rehoming services by personalising adoption journeys and improving matching processes.

And we won the People’s Choice Award – Continuing Public Support for the second year in a row, demonstrating strong public trust in our mission.

Financial review

Strategic focuses

2024 highlights

New

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Foundations

Fundraising

35

Contact us

strategy

Dogs Trust Bosnia

We have worked in Bosnia since 2011 and have changed the lives of tens of thousands of dogs, and humans, in more ways than our amazing team ever thought possible. During this time:

dog bites

But the world is changing and the places where we are needed has changed too. Next year, we’ll start a two-year project to hand over our work to dedicated teams in Bosnia so it can continue. This was always our intent. We initially said we would hand it over to local teams after five years but it had such impact we have stayed for 12!

New Financial strategy review

Strategic focuses

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Foundations

Fundraising

36

Contact us

----- Start of picture text -----
2024
highlights
----- End of picture text -----

Dogs Trust USA

We signed five new partnerships across America this year. We will be helping them all to deliver either free spay-and-neuter operations or reduced-cost veterinary care which will improve the lives of thousands of dogs throughout these US states:

With our support Furry Friends in Florida will now be fitting out their shelter’s vet suite.

Dogs Trust Annual Report 2024 highlights2024 Strategic focuses Foundations Fundraising strategyNew Financial review Contact us 37 leea

Telling everyone about our dogs, our campaigns and our work is vital. In this changing world, digital platforms are key and each year we work hard to find new and creative ways for people to hear about our dogs and our work.

Our communications and digital content helped us grow our reach in 2024:

----- Start of picture text -----
12.5m
----- End of picture text -----

1.8bn 12.5m 6.6m PR reach across website engagements across broadcast and users social media print platforms

a SOS oe

We’ve been recognised in the industry for our amazing work, including a Silver BIMA award for our new website!

We helped dog owners who made

372,361

Our social media star this year!

Gentle giant Harley happily broke the internet when he reached a whopping 1.5million views!

calls to our Customer Support Centre

----- Start of picture text -----
8.3K
----- End of picture text -----

New Financial strategy review

Strategic focuses

2024 highlights

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Foundations

Fundraising

38

Contact us

Royal recognition

In May, we were delighted to welcome His Majesty The King as our new Patron. Continuing the patronage of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II (who had been our Patron since 1990), The King’s passion and affection for dogs is clear for all to see. His Majesty’s support will help us to continue the work we do for dogs and the people who love them, both here in the UK and across the world.

Support from the stars

In 2024, 84 celebrities generously gave up their time to support our work in various ways, from attending events and endorsing campaigns to giving interviews and adopting dogs.

We welcomed eight ambassadors , all of whom have helped our work for many years and/or have adopted from Dogs Trust. Thank you to Jacquie Beltrao, Clare Balding CBE, Martin Clunes OBE, Charlotte Hawkins, Eamonn Holmes OBE, Ruth Langsford, James Middleton and Pete Wicks.

Left: Jacquie Beltrao, Charlotte Hawkins, Natasha Kaplinksy OBE and Kate Adie CBE at our carol concert in December 2024.

Right: James Middleton and Clare Balding CBE at our Patrons Circle Dinner in September 2024 with our Chief Executive Owen Sharp.

Financial review

Strategic focuses

2024

New strategy

Dogs Trust Annual Report 2024

Foundations

Fundraising

39

Contact us

highlights

TV, podcast and radio

Two paw-some Dogs Trust TV shows were filmed during 2024.

Lost Dog, Found Dog — Channel 5

Broadcaster and dog-lover Clare Balding CBE filmed at our Basildon centre to teach viewers how to stop a dog going missing, for example with microchipping and recall training.

Pete Wicks: For Dog’s Sake — UKTV

TOWIE and Strictly favourite (and self-confessed dog nut) Pete Wicks met some of our dogs and followed their journey through rescue, rehabilitation and rehoming for his new show. The crew mainly filmed at Basildon, but also visited Harefield, Leeds and Ballymena for these four hour-long shows.

Emmerdale domestic abuse storyline

Fittingly for the 20th anniversary year of Freedom — our service that fosters dogs belonging to people fleeing domestic abuse — we worked closely with the ITV production team and the charity Refuge on a story in popular soap, Emmerdale .

We not only made sure that the storyline was accurate, but that dog welfare was foremost during filming. And our Freedom service was featured in advice lines for viewers.

We had almost 100 media mentions and countless social media comments. This contributed to a 510% increase in visits to the Freedom fostering page on our website.

Financial review

New strategy

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Foundations

Fundraising

40

Contact us

----- Start of picture text -----
2024
highlights
----- End of picture text -----

----- Start of picture text -----
Strategic
focuses
----- End of picture text -----

A Christmas classic

New Dogs Trust ambassador, Martin Clunes OBE, joined volunteers who regularly read to the dogs in our rehoming centres to help them chill and enjoy their time with us. He chose the classic poem Twas the Night Before Christmas and with over 500k views on social media and 1,500 comments we hope it helped many children and hopefully dogs and adults drift off into peaceful sleep!

Reading to our dogs fitted in neatly with our Christmas campaign, Happy Place , which celebrated all the ways dogs bring joy to our lives and homes during the festive season. We also showcased how our rehoming centres pull out all the stops to pamper our resident dogs at Christmas. The campaign achieved nearly 3.5m social media impressions and over 5,000 pieces of coverage. This boosted our Christmas appeal which brought in 277% of its income target.

Other highlights

This year, we also teamed up with new Dogs Trust ambassador and Good Morning Britain presenter, Charlotte Hawkins, on a dog behaviour podcast called Leaps and Hounds . And Ken Bruce, much-loved presenter on Greatest Hits Radio, told millions of listeners about some of our Underdogs. For bonfire night, we worked with Sky and NOW TV to create a pop-up channel with a soothing playlist especially for worried dogs. Thank you to all our media partners who have supported Dogs Trust this year.

Financial review

2024 highlights

New strategy

Dogs Trust Annual Report 2024

Foundations

Fundraising

41

Contact us

----- Start of picture text -----
Strategic
focuses
----- End of picture text -----

Paw-litical outreach

New government

After the UK General Election in July, there was a large turnover of MPs. Dogs Trust reached out to all 650 MPs, introducing or reacquainting them with Dogs Trust and the priorities outlined in the Dogs Trust Manifesto.

Our top three priorities for this parliament to address:

Housing

Puppy smuggling

Dog control

We’re making an impact on MPs — according to nfpResearch polling of MPs in the previous Parliament:

The Pet Abduction Act

Just hours before parliament was prorogued for the general election, the Pet Abduction Act received Royal Assent. This means dog and cat abduction is now a specific criminal offence in England and Northern Ireland, recognising the emotional distress theft causes to them and their owners. The Act will not apply to Wales, but our Public Affairs team is working hard to encourage future action to be taken there. In Scotland, Maurice Golden MSP has introduced a Member’s Bill on the issue.

New Financial strategy review

Strategic focuses

2024 highlights

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Foundations

Fundraising

42

Contact us

Dog-friendly rental housing

The Renters’ Rights Bill was announced in the King’s Speech and introduced in the UK parliament in September. This Bill will give tenants in England the right to ask to keep a pet in a private rental property without ! that request being unreasonably refused by the landlord.

=

We know how many people face the heartbreaking choice of having to give up their dog because they can’t find a private rental property that takes animals. Some even become homeless rather than give up their pet.

We welcome the bill, which will make having a dog much easier for people in the private rental sector. But we want similar protections for pets and owners in social housing. So we called on the public to sign our letter to Angela Rayner, to back our proposed changes to the Bill. In March 2025, we submitted the letter with nearly 20,000 signatures.

Dog of the Year at Holyrood and Senedd

These fun events help us meet politicians who are passionate about dog welfare and who might support us in future. We also highlight specific policy issues with them.

Coco the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and Jack Sargeant MS were the overall winners at the first ever Senedd Dog of the Year in Cardiff. While Cocker Spaniel Bonnie and James Evans MS won the Pawblic Vote.

Heidi the Biewer Terrier and Marie McNair MSP won the sixth Holyrood Dog of the Year in Edinburgh, in collaboration with The Kennel Club (pictured below). While Oscar the Cockapoo and Shirley-Anne Somerville MSP won the Pawblic Vote.

Foundations —_

New Financial strategy review

Strategic focuses

2024 highlights

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Fundraising

43

Contact us

foundations Building for our future

We’re adapting to the economic, technological and environmental changes around us so that we can better support dogs in this evolving world. We’re also building foundations so we can continue to look after our amazing staff and volunteers, and make sure Dogs Trust remains a great place to work.

We’ve planted 4,110 trees in the last two years to help our carbon pawprint

‘Committed’ and ‘Proud’ - top positive emotions our staff felt about working for Dogs Trust

‘Valued’ and ‘Happy’ - top positive emotions our volunteers felt about volunteering for Dogs Trust

Became an incorporated charity

Continued our technology transformation

Our strategic review

As the world changes around us, we want to make certain we have the right focus to improve lives for dogs in the UK and globally. In 2024, we reviewed our strategic approach to set us up for a successful future. You can read more about it on page 57.

Incorporation

On 1 July, we became a new incorporated charity with new charity numbers. Becoming a charitable company has lots of benefits including modernising our governance and having a fit-for-purpose format for the charity, which has been tried and tested by most charities of a similar size.

If you were once a Member of Dogs Trust, you’re now a Companion! You can find out more about our Companion Club and the benefits it offers at dogstrust.org.uk/supportus/companion-club

Financial review

Strategic focuses

2024 highlights

New strategy

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Fundraising

Foundations

44

Contact us

Tech transformation

Transforming our technology means we can do even better in our mission to be there for dogs. This year was the final phase of our four-year transformation programme, during which we’ve replaced old, outdated technology with best-in-class, cloud-based solutions. We now have strong foundations on which to build. We’re set up to improve our processes and focus on customer and supporter journeys, so that we can interact better with people, and achieve our ambition to help more dogs.

Finding efficiencies…

In 2024, we launched an improvement programme to save £10m annually.

We decided to sell one of A new London office that’s fit for purpose. our London offices and renovate the second to create a more costeffective, collaborative workspace for our London teams. We’re keen to keep the great central location but know that times have changed. There’s more hybrid working since the pandemic so we don’t need so much office space.

A safe and efficient fleet. This year, we reviewed our vehicle fleet for efficiency, cost savings, and safety.

…while not costing the earth

We want to do everything we can to ensure that, while we’re focused on our core mission of helping dogs, its not at the cost of the environment. In 2024, we launched our first environmental and sustainability policy. We remain committed to achieving net zero by 2050, while establishing ourselves as a sustainability leader in the charity sector.

The new strategy provides a clear roadmap with targets for the next five years, including:

Interactive whiteboards help our staff and volunteers stay up to date on all things rehoming.

By 2030, we aim to plant 5,000 trees. We’ve put 4,110 in the ground during the last two years and are well on the way to absorbing more carbon than our operation generates. The trees are also creating biodiversity and giving dogs at our rehoming centres plenty of tree trunks to enjoy at toilet time!

Foundations a

New Financial strategy review

Strategic focuses Foundations Fundraising

2024 highlights

Dogs Trust Annual Report 2024

45

Contact us

Sustainability

Streamlined energy and carbon reporting (SECR)

Reporting period - January 1st to December 31st 2024

Carbon use

Source category:
2024
Scope 1 emissions
(tCO2e*)
1,229(-10%)
Scope 2 emissions
(tCO2e*)
630(-19%)
Scope 1 & 2 total
emissions(tCO2e*)
1,860(-16%)		 2023
1,435
780
2,215

Carbon intensity

2024 2023 tCO2e* per employee 1.5 (-10%) 1.67 ~~.—[ler] lc~~ Energy use 2024 2023 kWh 8,005,761 (-13%) 9,200,169 ~~.—l[lr]~~

Energy saving

We undertook the following energy efficiency measures during the year:

Methodology

We have followed the 2019 HM Government Environmental Reporting Guidelines. We have also used the GHG Reporting Protocol – Corporate Standard and have used the 2023 UK Government’s Conversion Factors for Company Reporting.

Vehicle emissions, where relevant, have been calculated using:

Natural gas consumption has been calculated using a kWh conversion factor on a gross CV (calorific value) basis, as per most energy bills. In assessing whether the 40,000 kWh threshold is met, we have considered all the energy from gas, electricity, and transport fuel usage in the UK that we are responsible for.

Computations have been completed using an online calculator supplied by CertifiedCarbon.com

‘Tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent.

Financial review

Strategic focuses

2024 highlights

New strategy

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Fundraising

Foundations

46

Contact us

Dogs Trust people

Dogs Trust is a large and ambitious charity, operating globally, nationally and locally. Our people work on site, remotely, or on a hybrid basis; across rehoming centres, offices, their homes, and on the move. Keeping our 1,756 dedicated and diverse staff up to date with what is going on — and giving them a say on how we operate — is a huge task.

We took another look at many of our people policies and guidance, to make sure they were up to date and reflected our values and the positive Dogs Trust culture.

We recruited a new role to lead a refreshed volunteering strategy. This includes a review of how we recruit, onboard and train volunteers – plus how we can use volunteers more effectively across the whole organisation.

We enhanced our support for colleagues who are parents and carers , including:

This is how we’ve worked in 2024 to make sure Dogs Trust is a paw-sitive place to work.

Financial review

2024 highlights

New strategy

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Fundraising

Foundations

47

Contact us

----- Start of picture text -----
Strategic
focuses
----- End of picture text -----

We created a new National Employee Forum , so our staff can collaborate and communicate directly with senior leaders, and everyone’s voice and ideas are heard.

We celebrated a year of our colleague networks , with positive feedback from those involved. This includes a new menopause colleague network set up to offer practical help and understanding.

We launched a new Learning Empawrium to make sure everyone has more opportunities to improve their skills.

We focused on being proactive about career development , including early career development pathways and how we can support colleagues to progress at Dogs Trust.

Employee engagement

We’ve seen a great jump in engagement with our internal communication channels this year, especially our intranet, the Pawtal:

13% growth in engaged sessions since 2023

1.4 million total page views

Financial

Strategic focuses

2024 highlights

New

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Fundraising

Foundations

48

Contact us

review

strategy

We became members of Employers for Carers , to give all the support we can to colleagues who are carers.

We signed the Migraine Trust Workplace Pledge , to support anyone at Dogs Trust who suffers from debilitating migraines.

We ran events to mark awareness dates and cultural celebrations, including Neurodiversity Celebration Week, Pride Month, Menopause Awareness Day and Black History Month. There was also in-house equality, equity, diversity and inclusion training (EEDI) to make sure everyone understands these values and puts them into action throughout their time with Dogs Trust.

Paws for Applause

Our new employee recognition scheme was launched this year as a way of saying a big thanks to those who go above and beyond in living and working with Dogs Trust’s values.

In 2024, there were:

390 nominations for staff who embody the Dogs Trust Way

145 nominations for Outstanding Impact

Foundations a

Financial review

Strategic focuses

2024 highlights

New strategy

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Fundraising

49

Contact us

Our third staff ‘Your Say’ Survey

Your Say is our yearly check in on what works well, and what needs to improve. So we can create a workplace where everyone can thrive and deliver the best possible care for dogs and their owners.

73% overall engagement score which is above average according to our survey provider

83%

said they are motivated to do their best work in our roles

81%

feel they can be themselves at work, up by 10% from last year — a testament to the new inclusion and wellbeing policies, and the work the EEDI team and the Diversity and Inclusion Group are doing

The survey told us that our focus for next year needs to be on improving collaboration and increasing support to help everyone manage their working life.

‘Committed’ and ‘Proud’ are the top two positive emotions our staff feel about working for Dogs Trust

Financial review

Strategic focuses

2024 highlights

New strategy

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Fundraising

Foundations

50

Contact us

Our volunteer ‘Your Say’ Survey

Without our incredible volunteers, Dogs Trust would be a very different organisation, so it’s important that every year we ask them how they’re feeling about giving us their valuable time.

89% volunteer engagement score

93%

of volunteers feel positive about volunteering with us

92% feel fully supported and 89% feel appreciated by our staff team members

Next year, we will be improving our training for volunteers, and working hard to keep them in touch with all Dogs Trust news, not just updates from their local area.

Volunteer Leia Ramdhanny and her current foster dog, the very adorable Pickle.

I really enjoy fostering because I get to be a part of giving a dog some TLC before they go to their forever home. It is such a good feeling and very rewarding to watch them go on to live their best lives. It’s an amazing experience for me and my family.

The top two positive emotions selected by volunteers were: 45% ‘Valued’ 41% ‘Happy’

New Financial strategy review

Strategic focuses

2024 highlights

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Foundations

Fundraising

51

Contact us

Raising vital funds

None of the work that you have read about in this report would have happened without our incredible supporters. To everyone who has given a donation, to the fundraisers of all ages who have pounded the pavements or tackled a new adventure, to the trusts and lead supporters — we are profoundly grateful. Together you have raised an incredible £67.5m this year.

Our fundraising highlights

Christmas Happy Place Appeal 2024 raises over £1 million

Devastatingly, the winter months are when we see an increase in dogs being relinquished into our care. So, our 2024 Christmas Appeal called on supporters to help dogs like Hercules and Otis find their happy place at Christmas; be that in our care at a rehoming centre or foster home, or in the ultimate happy place — a new loving forever home. Thousands of supporters gave generously to our appeal, raising over £1m. To those who gave — you are the reason more dogs will continue to find that happy place, before it’s too late.

PAW Patrol on a Stroll 2024

Dogs Trust partnered with Paramount for PAW Patrol on a Stroll 2024. This event held throughout October encouraged families, nurseries, schools and PAW Patrol lovers to go on a very special mission! Complete with PAW Patrol character masks children all over the UK took part in their own sponsored walks to help raise funds for Dogs Trust. It was a great success with 5,102 fundraisers raising an incredible £84,633 — thanks to all those who took part or sponsored!

Financial review

Strategic focuses

2024 highlights

New strategy

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Foundations

Fundraising

52

Contact us

Award-winning Dogs Trust Village

Dogs Trust Village is an all-encompassing supporter experience, which can be taken to external venues to showcase the different elements of our work – from rehoming and fostering to dog enrichment and information about our Canine Care Card service and legacies.

In the last three years, Dogs Trust Village has gone to 23 large-scale dog-focussed events, including DogFest and Dogstival, raising more than £126,000 including £41,000 this year. We had a great chance to talk to many thousands of dog lovers about Dogs Trust’s work and brought over 8,500 new supporters on board.

We were delighted to win Best Supporter Experience of the Year in the Chartered Institute of Fundraising’s National Fundraising Awards!

Our heartfelt gratitude to those who left a gift in their will to Dogs Trust. Without these kind and thoughtful gifts we wouldn’t be able to help as many dogs live life to the full. Your legacy will live on in the extra care and support we’re able to give dogs and their owners.

Great North Run

We would like to thank our ever-growing Great North Run team for another successful year in 2024! Just short of 100 Dogs Trust runners took on the world’s largest half marathon in the heart of North-East England, running over Newcastle’s iconic Tyne Bridge all the way to the stunning coastline of South Shields. We are truly grateful to all our runners who raised a wonderful £39,830 for the work of Dogs Trust.

Financial review

Strategic focuses

2024 highlights

New strategy

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Foundations

Fundraising

53

Contact us

Thank you to our lead supporters

Our lead supporters help us transform dogs’ lives. A heartfelt thank you to the many leaders – including individuals, trusts and foundations, and corporate partners – who have made our work possible this year.

Lady Smith

Patron of the Dogs Trust Leaders Circle

Lady Smith has been supporting Dogs Trust for a quarter of a century and in 2024 became a Patron of the Dogs Trust Leaders Circle with a donation to our Lead The Way campaign. By supporting phase one of the West Calder Rehoming Centre rebuild, Lady Smith has helped us to secure further donations from likeminded supporters, enabling us to break ground in 2025.

“I am very pleased that dogs at the West Calder centre will benefit from modern kennels and the support and facilities they really need to find new homes,” says Lady Smith.

Amelia Wilson

Patron of the Dogs Trust Leaders Circle

One of our most loyal friends, Amelia’s support for Dogs Trust spans an incredible two decades. Amelia regularly attends our events when she is in the UK and in 2024 generously supported vet care for the dogs at our Harefield centre as well as the redevelopment of our Merseyside centre as part of our Lead The Way campaign.

Amelia’s beloved dogs, Monty, Bono, Bianco and Basil, are now recognised on a plaque at Harefield, alongside one in loving memory of Hugo Senior, Hugo Junior, Bono Senior and Cordelia. Amelia says, “I’m very proud to help dogs when they need it most.”

Financial review

Strategic focuses

2024 highlights

New strategy

Dogs Trust Annual Report 2024

Foundations

Fundraising

54

Contact us

Thank you to our lead supporters

Edgard & Cooper Foundation (ECF)

Set up by pet food company Edgard & Cooper to improve the lives of dogs and cats, ECF is supporting our Mission Rabies project in Malawi. Thanks to their generosity, we can protect an extra 25,740 dogs and 11,191 dog-owning households in the Machinga district, getting us closer to our target to eliminate rabies by 2030.

We’re aligned with the World Health Organisation’s goal of ‘Zero by 30’, and supporting Dogs Trust’s vital work in Malawi fits perfectly with that mission. Their dedication and impact stood out to us immediately, and it is a privilege to partner with such a respected and transformative organisation.

Clara Aguilar, ECF

New Financial strategy review

Strategic focuses

2024 highlights

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Foundations

Fundraising

55

Contact us

Corporate partners

We enjoyed some fantastic partnerships with wellknown brands this year, which helped us care for dogs and champion dog welfare. These included:

Petplan: Our long-standing partner provided nearly 8,000 dogs with free insurance cover for the first four weeks in their new homes.

Pets at Home: The generosity from Pets at Home continued, through their incredible provision of Wainwright’s dry dog food, which we feed most dogs in our rehoming centres. We also send off most dogs to their newly found forever home with a 2kg bag of Wainwright’s dry dog food to help them get settled in.

Butternut Box: We launched our partnership with fresh dog food brand Butternut Box to help fund our Catch Neuter Vaccinate and Return project in Chonburi, delivered by Soi Dog in Thailand.

MINI UK: Our partnership with MINI UK ended on a high with our #AdventureDogs campaign. A huge thank you to MINI UK for partnering with us to become a dog-friendly car retailer and to help dogs travel happy.

We also celebrated partnerships with Lily’s Kitchen, Bloomberg, Hush Puppies, Paw Patrol, Character.com, Marmax, Ruggable and Little Dog Laughed.

Financial review

Strategic focuses

2024 highlights

New strategy

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Foundations

Fundraising

56

Contact us

Our new capital campaign: Lead The Way

People’s Postcode Lottery

In 2024, we celebrated an incredible 10 years of support, with £26 million raised thanks to players of People’s Postcode Lottery. The support from players has enabled us to find forever homes for over 105,000 dogs. Postcode Lottery players have also enabled the recruitment of vet nurses, canine carers and maintenance teams, to keep our 21 centres in the UK up and running, and to care for as many dogs as possible.

Laura Chow, Head of Charities at People’s Postcode Lottery, said:

We are absolutely delighted that players have raised an incredible £26 million to support the work of Dogs Trust, funding that has helped transform the care of thousands of dogs in need over the last ten years.

Ring

Over 1,600 foster dogs were in our care at Christmas in 2024 and we are incredibly grateful to Ring for bringing some muchneeded festive cheer to these dogs and their foster carers. We teamed up with Ring to offer free festive treats to foster dogs, delivering a ‘Christmas Treataway’ to our ‘Home from Home’ foster carers’ doors and five Dogs Trust rehoming centres. These parcels included a ‘Yorkshire Paw-ding’, ‘Dog Egg-nog’ and a free Ring Indoor Camera to help foster carers keep an eye on their pups.

Dave Ward, Managing Director EU & International at Ring, said:

At Ring, we believe every member of the family deserves to feel safe and cared for, and that includes our furry friends in need of homes.

This year, we launched Lead The Way – a £30 million campaign to double the number of dogs we save over the next decade. To achieve our mission, we need to:

But we can’t do it without our supporters who can lead the way to a safer and happier world for all dogs, everywhere.

If you are interested in joining fellow leaders and supporting Dogs Trust as a Champion, Patron or Pioneer please contact Philanthropy@dogstrust.org.uk . Find out more at dogstrust.org.uk/leadtheway

Financial review

Strategic focuses

2024 highlights

New strategy

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

Foundations

Fundraising

57

Contact us

Our new strategy 2025-2030

Our vision

Our vision for both our UK and international work is: A better life for every dog

Our mission

UK

International

Help dogs when they need us most. We do everything we can to keep them safe and happy with their owners; but when that’s not possible we give them the best care until we find them a new forever home.

Help communities around the world create a safe and healthy place for dogs by tackling rabies, controlling dog populations in a humane way and increasing access to veterinary care.

Our core values

Our core values and behaviours that run through everything we do remain the same as we deliver and embed our strategy.

We’re excited to tell you more about it in 2025!

Financial review

Strategic

2024

New strategy

Dogs Trust Annual Report 2024

Foundations

Fundraising

58

Contact us

highlights focuses

Thanks to all our donors, fundraisers, trusts and lead supporters. To our staff and volunteers. To the fosterers and adopters who have expanded their families. Because of you, we can help more dogs live life to the full.

Support us

If you’re new to Dogs Trust and would like to find out how you can support us through your donations, fundraising, time or in another way, please visit: dogstrust.org.uk/support-us

New Financial strategy review a

highlights2024 Strategic focuses Foundations Fundraising

Contact us

Financial review

We are pleased to report an increase in income of £7m to £143m in 2024 (2023: £136m).

Over 609,900 people donated to Dogs Trust in 2024, giving a total of £67.5m (2023: £66.8m) in donations including £8m claimed through Gift Aid.

Our work is only possible because of our amazing supporters and donors; we are endlessly thankful for their unwavering generosity.

In 2024, we were fortunate to receive a total of £61m left as legacies from incredibly generous supporters who remembered Dogs Trust in their wills. To learn more about leaving a legacy to Dogs Trust, visit dogstrust.org.uk/support-us/wills-legacies .

At the same time as income has increased, expenditure has increased by £12m, from £138.6m in 2023 to £150.6m. This is due to continued investment in our core activities, and building foundations for the future of the Charity.

Where our money came from

In order to continue our mission, we work hard to increase and diversify our sources of funding. In 2024, our income of £143m came from the following sources:

Where the money is spent

Our total operating expenditure for the year was £150.6m. These costs are split between charitable activities and expenditure to enable us to generate income.

Reach, engagement and influence: publicity, communications and public relations, and digital activity.

International impact: costs relating to our work in Ireland and Bosnia, as well as grants to support approved overseas projects by Dogs Trust Worldwide, Dogs Trust USA, and through Worldwide Veterinary Service.

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

59

highlights2024 Strategic focuses Foundations Fundraising strategyNew Financial review —_

Contact us

Fundraising contribution

Fundraising contribution
2024
2024
2024		 2023
£000s Voluntary
Trading
Total		 Total
Income 128,532
8,001
136,533		 128,613
Costs 36,647
5,258
41,905		 38,162
Net contribution from fundraising 91,885
2,743
94,628		 90,451

Our targets

We measure our success using internal statistics, including:

Our targets
We measure our success using internal statistics, including:
Measure 2024 2023
Dogs rehomed by our rehoming centres (UK and Ireland) 9,914 10,612
Dogs seen by Dog School 17,410 20,152

Capital expenditure

We completed work on our Ballymena centre in 2024, including a new intake building with 20 kennels. We also continued investment in the Charity’s technology platform and application landscape: new finance and CRM systems went live in January and October respectively.

(2023: £1.6m) from the Charity to support its work.

Worldwide Veterinary Service received a grant of £7.6m (2023: £2.9m) from the Charity and a grant of £0.3m (2023: £nil) from Dogs Trust USA in support of its work.

Further detail on the results of these subsidiaries is shown in note 1 to the accounts.

Total spend on capital projects during 2024 was £10.2m.

Financial position at year end

Net assets are now £204.5m, compared to £209.1m in 2023: see the reserves policy following for further information of how we plan to use these funds.

Fixed assets increased by £0.9m to £91.7m (2023: £90.8m) from capital expenditure offset against depreciation for the year. Amortisation was also charged during the year as intangible assets relating to the finance system and CRM came into use.

Our investment property was impaired by £0.3m during the year following an external valuation, reflecting the current challenging conditions of the property market.

The value of our investment portfolio decreased to £64.3m (2023: £68.9m). The portfolio achieved net gains of £3.5m compared to net gains of £3.2m in 2023; the decrease in the value of the portfolio is due to drawdowns required in 2024 to support the Charity’s investment in its core activities and building foundations for the future. The shares investment portfolio return over the 12 months to 31 December 2024 was 10.9% compared with a benchmark return of 15.2%.

Future plans

Facing the economic situation

Times are tough for everyone, and it’s been a very challenging year for the charity financially too. We have now been in deficit for two financial years. However, thanks to the generosity of donors, particularly those leaving us legacies, our deficit is much less than we thought it would be.

Charities aren’t able to raise their prices like businesses, so this year we used our reserves. We’re fortunate to have these reserves but of course we can’t do this every year, forever. So, as part of our strategic review, our Chief Executive and Leadership Team are making sure that our transformation programme sets us up for a successful and sustainable future. By identifying a clear operational focus, and making sure we continue to grow our brand and income, we’re setting ourselves up for many more years of helping dogs when they need us.

The delivery of strategic change will be delivered in phases through 2025 and 2026.

Performance of the Group

See page 75 for details of the Dogs Trust Group. Dogs Trust Promotions Limited’s total turnover was £0.5m (2023: £0.5m).

Dogs Trust Ireland CLG (“Dogs Trust Ireland”) received a grant of £1.7m (2023: £2.8m) from the Charity, in addition to £7.2m (2023: £6.1m) of donations and other income.

Dogs Trust USA Inc. received a grant of £0.6m (2023: £nil) from the Charity to support its work. Dogs Trust Bosnia Foundation received a grant of £2m

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

60

New Financial strategy review —_

highlights2024 Strategic focuses Foundations Fundraising

Contact us

Reserves policy

The consolidated total funds are £204.5m (2023: £209.1m), of which £2.1m (2023: £1.6m) is restricted or endowed, and -£1.3m (2023: -£1m) is a revaluation reserve showing the cumulative impact of revaluations of the Charity’s investment property.

The Charity holds the following designated funds:

Rehoming Centre Development Fund

The Charity’s constitution allows the acquisition of a site, and the construction on it of a new rehoming centre, only once a full and balanced report recommending the acquisition has first been submitted to the Board by the Finance and General Purposes Committee.

This fund is set aside for future capital expenditure on the Charity’s operations (as approved by the Board for the next five years). This stood at £40.2m at 31 December 2024 (see note 19 of the accounts).

Fund for tangible and intangible fixed assets

This fund represents the land, buildings, motor vehicles, equipment and software owned and used by the Charity to run its centres and administer the organisation. At 31 December 2024 this totalled £91.7m (2023: £90.8m) (see note 8 of the accounts).

Grants fund

This fund is set aside for expected future grant payments to partner organisations, agreed with the partner in principle but subject to our satisfactory monitoring of the funds released to date. At 31 December 2024, this totalled £1.5m (2023: £2m) (see note 17 of the accounts).

CBR Bursary fund

This fund is set aside for expected future payments to bursary recipients, if conditions are met by the recipients as the payments fall due. At 31 December 2024, this totalled £0.1m (2023: £0.1m).

Free reserves

The reserves policy is used to ensure that the Charity and Group remain financially viable, even if impacted by any unanticipated short-term financial shortfall. It is reviewed annually or as a change in its financial situation requires.

Dogs Trust has regular cash inflows from generous donors and those leaving gifts in their will. The group also has regular cash outflows in terms of maintaining rehoming centres, activities and programmes that promote dog welfare. While there are long-term spending commitments in place, these form the minority of the total Group spend.

Higher amounts of cash and investments can be held on a short-term basis. However, the Group’s five-year plan must accommodate a plan to spend any levels higher than 12 months of Group cash outflows by the end of the review period.

The amount of cash and investments readily convertible to cash within 30 days at 31 December 2024 was £80.2m (2023: £95.7m), which would cover over six months’ cash outflows. Free reserves, for comparison, were £70.2m, as shown on the Balance Sheet.

Investment policy

The Board has the power to retain any money or investments belonging to the Charity, or to sell them and re-invest the proceeds as it thinks fit, subject to the approval of the Charity Commission and the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator if required by law. The Board has the power to appoint and delegate its investment powers to an investment manager legally authorised to carry on investment business under the Financial Services Act 2012. Investments include cash held on deposit.

The Charity’s investment policy seeks to achieve a balance between income and capital growth. The management of the Charity’s invested assets has been delegated to professional fund managers. The Board requires the fund managers to ensure that they do not invest in any companies which undertake or contract out any experiments, or other scientific procedures on dogs, which may cause pain, suffering, distress or lasting harm. This restriction also extends to research that is contracted out.

Going concern

The Board has reviewed the budgets, cashflow forecasts and forecast reserves levels of the Charity for the 12 months following the signing of these financial statements and is satisfied that the Charity is financially robust for this period.

Whilst the going concern of the Charity is not in doubt, the current business-as-usual budget and five-year plan demonstrates a need to improve the financial performance of the charity to ensure that its cash reserves remain above the minimum balance as defined by its Reserves Policy. Based on the financial forecasts prepared as part of the strategic review, the implementation of the transformation programme is expected to achieve this improvement.

With the above considered, the Board believes that there is no material uncertainty which would cast doubt on the Charity’s ability to continue as a going concern. The Board therefore considers it appropriate for the accounts to be prepared on a going concern basis.

The Board monitors the financial wellbeing of the Charity by reviewing total available cash and investments, rather than free reserves. This is because, in the event of a funding shortfall, it would be this that provided the ability and stability to see the Charity through the difficult period.

The amount of cash and investments readily convertible to cash within 30 days must be sufficient to cover the Group’s normal operational, or distressed, cash outflows, for a minimum of three months, which equates to £39m at 31 December 2024. This would allow the Board to determine any required changes to ensure the Group’s longer-term financial stability (for example, to find alternative provision for dogs being cared for), and management to implement the changes, while drawing on the cash and investments.

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

61

New Financial strategy review —_

highlights2024 Strategic focuses Foundations Fundraising

Contact us

Working with our stakeholders: S172 statement

Section 172 of the Companies Act 2006 requires the directors to act in the way they consider, in good faith, would be most likely to promote the success of the Charity to achieve its charitable purposes. The Act states that in doing so, the directors should have regard, amongst other matters, to:

the interests of the Charity’s employees

Our employees are vital to the Charity and we consider ongoing and regular engagement with them to be a top priority. We work globally, nationally and locally, so keeping our dedicated staff up-to-date with what is happening — and allowing them to have their say — is a huge task. The Charity ensures it is a positive place to work through:

Additionally, in 2024 the new Learning Empawrium was launched to ensure all staff have the opportunity to improve their skills, and a new National Employee Forum was launched to enable staff to collaborate and communicate directly with senior leaders.

The Charity is actively working to improve its disability equity and inclusion and has signed up to the Disability Confident accreditation scheme which provides a framework for implementing best practice. The Charity hires without bias and encourages people with disabilities to apply for jobs and makes reasonable adjustments at all stages of the recruitment process. The Charity also has a disability and chronic pain network, Sunflowers, which provides a safe space for all colleagues to come together and support each other. To increase disability equity and inclusion at the Charity, there is a focus on raising awareness and understanding of disability across the Charity, including disability awareness courses which are run throughout the year.

worked closely with veterinary practices in 2024 to streamline and improve the purchase to pay process. We actively encourage feedback from them to help us learn and improve how we do things. Our procurement function takes an active role in onboarding new suppliers and ensuring all necessary due diligence is undertaken to ensure suppliers we engage with uphold the same high standards of operation as Dogs Trust. We are endlessly thankful for the unwavering generosity of our supporters. We value all the donations given to us, and spend them carefully to ensure they provide the greatest impact for dogs. The development of our new fundraising CRM has provided us with tools to improve and enhance our supporter engagement.

the impact of the Charity’s operations on the community and the environment

We are committed to reducing the impact of our activities on the environment. We understand that a successful future for our Charity depends on the sustainability of the environment, communities, and economies in which we operate. We aim to do this through the continual improvement of our environmental performance, and the adoption of sustainable practices across our organisation, while operating in compliance with all relevant environmental legislation. Implementing sustainable ways of working will also complement our mission: the financial savings made through effective environmental management can be utilised for the Charity’s main objectives, while reducing our organisation’s impact. We are committed to:

More information can be found on our environmental sustainability progress on page 45.

the desirability of the Charity maintaining a reputation for high standards of business conduct

The Charity has a range of policies that support and promote corporate responsibility and ethical behaviour. Areas covered include fundraising practices, ethical investment policies, conflicts of interest, safeguarding, whistleblowing, health and safety, data protection, information security, EEDI, and IT acceptable, use amongst others. All policies are reviewed periodically and updated as necessary. We also have a wide range of standard operating procedures to ensure the highest standards for the dogs in our care.

The Charity respects colleagues’ diversity and fosters an inclusive workplace where all are treated fairly.

the need to foster the Charity’s business relationships with suppliers, customers and others

Our relationships with partners and suppliers are key to our effectiveness. We work with them closely to develop mutually-beneficial relationships, including regular review of key supplier relationships. We have

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

62

New Financial strategy review

2024 Strategic highlights focuses

Foundations

Fundraising

Contact us

Structure, governance and management

Public benefit

Our mission is to help dogs when they need us most. With the help of thousands of supporters and volunteers, we care for dogs in need, seek to prevent problems for dogs in the future, and work to improve dog welfare around the world.

As a nation of dog lovers, we know what a difference a dog makes. A four-legged friend can bring so much to our lives, and help us feel happy, healthy and fulfilled. That’s why we do everything we can to keep dogs safe and happy with their owners.

Our contributions towards public benefit (as defined by the Charity Commission) are most significant in the following areas.

----- Start of picture text -----
%
Dogs Trust ‘ Annual Report 2024 iy)
----- End of picture text -----

----- Start of picture text -----
‘ '
63 +) 4
----- End of picture text -----

New Financial strategy review —_

highlights2024 Strategic focuses Foundations Fundraising

Contact us

Governance structure

On 1 July 2024, halfway through the financial year, Dogs Trust (“the legacy Charity”) which was an unincorporated charity registered in England and Wales (charity number: 227523) and Scotland (charity number: SC037843) transferred all of its activity, assets and liabilities to Dogs Trust Worldwide, a charitable company registered in England and Wales (charity number: 1167663, company number: 09365971) and Scotland (charity number: SC053144), except for those related to its lottery and raffle activity, which will transfer to Dogs Trust Lotteries Limited in 2025. The legacy Charity was immediately renamed as Dogs Trust Legacy, while Dogs Trust Worldwide was immediately renamed as Dogs Trust (“the Charity”). At the same time, the Charity became the parent company, and Dogs Trust Legacy became a subsidiary. This allowed the Charity to achieve its goal of becoming a charitable company, which provides a robust and simplified legal status for the Charity into the future.

The project to transfer the assets and liabilities was described internally as “incorporation”, and on the day of incorporation:

These consolidated accounts incorporate the results of:

The Charity has three other dormant or non-trading subsidiaries (Dogs Trust Administration applied to be struck off from Companies House in February 2025):

The Charity is registered with the Office of the Scottish Charity Regulator (charity number: SC053144). Dogs Trust operates rehoming centres in Glasgow and West Calder. Youth education programmes and Dog Schools are run throughout Scotland, and Dogs Trust receives income from Scottish supporters.

Board Members

On 1 July 2024, the day of incorporation, all 14 directors of DTTL were appointed as directors and trustees of Dogs Trust (while remaining as directors of DTTL). Directors and trustees of Dogs Trust appointed after incorporation will not be appointed as directors of DTTL.

The Charity now has a Board of 12 unpaid directors/ trustees (at the time of incorporation there were 14, three of whom resigned at the end of 2024; one new member was appointed in March 2025). The Board meets a minimum of four times a year, or as often as necessary to carry out its duties. The Board acts as the Charity’s governing body with powers to delegate day-to-day management to Dogs Trust’s Leadership Team, as defined on page 67.

For the first half of 2024, prior to incorporation, the Council was the governing body of Dogs Trust, comprising the Board members and Directors of Dogs Trust Trustee Limited (DTTL). DTTL remains as the sole corporate trustee of Dogs Trust Legacy, and now has a Board of 11 directors (no longer referred to as the Council). The purpose of DTTL is to oversee the lottery activity while it remains in Dogs Trust Legacy, and to oversee the administration of any legacies that might be received into the legacy Charity. Ultimately, Dogs Trust may wish to streamline its governance structure further by unwinding both Dogs Trust Legacy and DTTL.

Directors of the Board

Mr Graeme Robertson (Chair during 2024, resigned end December 2024)

Mr Will Galgey (Chair from January 2025)

Mr Philip Daubeny (Vice Chair)

Prof David Argyle BVMS PhD DECVIM-CA (Oncology) FRSE FRCVS (Chair of the Canine Welfare Grants Committee, resigned end December 2024)

Mrs Veronica Carbone (resigned end December 2024)

Mrs Suzanne Murphy BVMS MSc DECVIM-CA MRCVS

Mr Timothy Pearey MA ACMA

Mr Ian Rose LLB

Mrs Nicola Canavan

Mrs Louise Allum BSc MA VetMB PGCert (VetEd) Grad Cert Shelter Medicine FHEA MRCVS

Ms Hayley Parmenter

Mr Rob Alexander

Mr Nigel Morrison

Ms Joanne Howard

Further detail on the objects and performance of the Charity’s subsidiaries is shown in note 1 to the accounts.

Mr Swagat Choudhury (appointed March 2025)

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

64

New Financial strategy review —_

highlights2024 Strategic focuses Foundations Fundraising

Contact us

Committees of the Board

The Dogs Trust Board has a single advisory committee as part of its governance structure, namely the Finance and General Purposes Committee (“F&GPC”), which meets a minimum of four times a year. This committee may hold additional ad-hoc meetings as required to ensure effective oversight of the Charity. It also advises the Board at each meeting on matters of finance, governance, audit and risk. The F&GPC reviews its terms of reference regularly, as approved by the Board.

An additional permanent standing committee, known as the Canine Welfare Grants Committee, meets once a year and has oversight of the grant funding of scientifically-based research projects that aim to improve the lives of dogs. This committee is not part of the governance structure of Dogs Trust.

Appointment process

New Board members are recruited under a fair, open, diverse and consistent trustee recruitment process, usually using an external agency. Based on an analysis of skills required on the Board, they are then selected through a CV assessment and interview process.

New Board members receive an induction course covering all the operations and activities of Dogs Trust and are expected to view online seminars and training courses on relevant subjects, including their responsibilities as trustees.

At the time of incorporation, all Board members were appointed under term limits by which they may each serve for a period of up to three terms of up to three years.

Charity Governance Code

The Charity continues to operate under the principles of the Charity Governance Code, and plans to assess its governance against the Code during 2025.

Statement of Trustees’ responsibilities

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

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

The Trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the charitable company’s transactions. They also need to disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006 [and for Scottish charities : the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended)] and the provisions of the Charity’s constitution. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Charity and the Group and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

Disclosure of information to auditors

Insofar as each of the trustees/directors of the Charity at the date of approval of this report is aware, there is no relevant audit information (information needed by the Charity’s auditor in connection with preparing the audit report) of which the Charity’s auditor is unaware. Each trustee/director has taken all of the steps that he/she should have taken as a trustee/director in order to make himself/herself aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the Charity’s auditor is aware of that information.

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

65

New Financial strategy review —_

2024 Strategic highlights focuses

Foundations

Fundraising

Contact us

Risk management

The Board is responsible for ensuring there are appropriate risk management and internal control systems in place to manage the major risks to which the Charity is exposed. Dogs Trust’s approach to risk aims to enable the management and mitigation, as opposed to the elimination, of organisational risks, allowing the Charity to continue to meet its objectives.

Processes and controls in place during 2024 and until the date of signing the accounts include:

The table below details the principal risks and uncertainties facing Dogs Trust and the measures in place to manage them.

Risk Strategies in place to manage risk
Financial stability is threatened - Reserves policy is reviewed regularly
- Review of five-year financial plan is underway
- Major new programme of efficiency savings established
Cyber attack and/or major data breach - Programme to test systems and staff response
- Seeking accreditation for Cyber Essentials compliance
- Senior forum meets regularly to review any concerns
Member of staff or public is seriously - Pre-screening of dogs before acceptance to charity
harmed by a Dogs Trust dog - Comprehensive dog handling policies and programme of staff training
- Support calls with owner following rehoming
Inability to recruit or retain key staff - Staff remuneration assessed against market benchmarks
- Review and refresh of people policies
Failure to adapt to audience or donor - Programme of testing new fundraising products and initiatives maintained
trends - Independent market assessments of Dogs Trust’s market positioning
Inability to meet demand - Review ways to reduce waiting lists
- Review new adoption processes to maximise rehoming
Deterioration in veterinary provision - Working closely with our in-house vets to support them
- Strategic review of an alternative model for veterinary care
Reputation damage - Crisis communications processes and toolkit in place
- Run crisis planning simulations

We recognised that systems can only provide reasonable, not absolute, assurance that major risks have been adequately managed.,

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

66

New Financial strategy review

2024 Strategic highlights focuses

Foundations

Fundraising

Contact us

Reward and recognition

The Board is responsible for overseeing Dogs Trust’s approach to reward and recognition. The aim is to ensure we have a consistent and sustainable approach to reward and recognition for all employees. The objective is to ensure Dogs Trust can attract and retain the right people with the right skills to deliver its work. This is achieved by setting an appropriate level of pay that is fair and reasonable for all roles. Key principles used to determine levels of pay are:

The F&GPC reviews and approves the annual pay award, taking recommendations from the Leadership Team, the Associate Director of HR, and the Associate Director of Finance.

Our approach to determine the salaries for the Chief Executive and Leadership Team is the same as for all other roles, but with a different approval process. The Chair, with advice from the Associate Director of HR, sets the Chief Executive’s salary. Salaries for the Leadership Team are set by the Chair and the Chief Executive.

Leadership Team in 2024

Name Role
Owen Sharp Chief Executive
Louisa Simons Chief Operating Officer and Deputy Chief Executive
Paula Boyden Veterinary Director
Suzie Carley Executive Director of Dogs Trust Ireland CLG
Rachel Casey Director of Strategy and Transformation
Adam Clowes Operations Director
Jayne Whitton Director of Communications and Digital
Nick Daniel Marketing Director (left January 2025)
Karen Reed Executive Director of Dogs Trust Worldwide
Stephen George Interim Director of Fundraising (started January 2025)

The Leadership Team, led by the Chief Executive, is responsible for the day-to-day running of the Charity under authority delegated by the Board to the Chief Executive. It proposes to the Board where the Charity should invest its time, money and expertise. It proposes an annual budget to the Finance and General Purposes Committee and the Board for approval and monitors financial performance accordingly.

Grant expenditure policy

We award grants to other organisations (“partner organisations” or “institutions”) as part of delivering our charitable activities. We undertake a formal appraisal of the project and partner organisation before making the grant, subject to specific grant agreements with the partners. We monitor and evaluate progress and, if we are not satisfied that the grant is being managed according to the agreement, we can delay or discontinue it. In 2024, we spent £8.2m (2023: £6.2m) in grants to external partner organisations in relation to our international work, and £0.6m (2023: £0.7m) in relation to our veterinary and other work. Further detail is shown at note 6 to the accounts.

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

67

Financial review —

New Financial strategy review

highlights2024 Strategic focuses Foundations Fundraising

Contact us

How we ensure we fundraise responsibly

As a charity that receives no government funding, we are reliant on income given voluntarily by supporters and our partners. They are at the heart of everything we do and achieve, so we strive to give them the best experience in the delivery of our work.

Dogs Trust subscribes to the policies of the Fundraising Regulator, which oversees fundraising activity. The Fundraising Regulator investigates and, where necessary, takes appropriate action in cases of public concern. We work closely with the Fundraising Regulator and the Institute of Fundraising to help improve sector standards and ensure our activity meets the expectations of our supporters and the wider public. Full details of the Fundraising Regulator and the codes of our fundraising practice can be found at fundraisingregulator.org.uk .

Talking to the public and communicating with our existing supporters are both key to engaging people and raising vital funds for our life-saving work. We raise funds through:

We’re always looking for ways to improve our activities and find new ways to engage the public with our work. Therefore, this list of activities may change over time.

Our staff carry out these activities, but we also work with external organisations, whose expertise allows us to talk to a wider audience in a more cost-effective manner. When working with these external organisations, we ensure that contracts are in place specifying that they meet our customer service expectations and that they adhere to all the appropriate legislation and regulation. These include but are not limited to, the Fundraising Regulator’s Code of Practice, Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act and the Data Protection Act. Full details of our policies can be found on our website dogstrust.org.uk .

We operate further controls to ensure that we maintain the trust and confidence of our supporters and the public.

In addition to these controls, we maintain and monitor a complaints log, and keep a close eye on the pattern of complaints, so improvements to our services can be made. In 2024, we received a total of 155 complaints (2023: 50 complaints) about our fundraising. None of these complaints required any action by the Fundraising Regulator.

Signed on behalf of the Board by:

Will Galgey Chair 5 August 2025

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

68

highlights2024 Strategic focuses Foundations Fundraising strategyNew Financial review —_

Contact us

Independent auditor’s report to the Directors of Dogs Trust

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Dogs Trust (‘the charitable company’) [and its subsidiaries (‘the group’)] for the year ended 31 December 2024 which comprise the Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities, Consolidated and Charity Balance Sheets, Consolidated Cashflow Statement and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion the financial statements:

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 trustee’s use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charitable company’s or the group’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

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

Other information

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

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

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

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

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

69

highlights2024 Strategic focuses Foundations Fundraising strategyNew Financial review —_

Contact us

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

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

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006, Charities (Accounts and Reports) regulations 2008 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

Responsibilities of the Trustees

As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement set out on page 65, the trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

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

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

We have been appointed as auditor under section 44(1)(c) of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and under the Companies Act 2006 and report in accordance with the Acts and relevant regulations made or having effect thereunder.

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

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

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

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

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We identified and assessed the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements from irregularities, whether due to fraud or error, and discussed these between our audit team members including internal specialists and component audit teams. We then designed and performed audit procedures responsive to those risks, including obtaining audit evidence sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory frameworks within which the charitable company and group operates, focusing on those laws and regulations that have a direct effect on the determination of material amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. The laws and regulations we considered in this context were the Companies Act 2006, the Charities Act 2011 and The Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, together with the Charities SORP (FRS102) 2019. We assessed the required compliance with these laws and regulations as part of our audit procedures on the related financial statement items.

In addition, we considered provisions of other laws and regulations that do not have a direct effect on the financial statements but compliance with which might be fundamental to the charitable company’s and the group’s ability to operate or to avoid a material penalty. We also considered the opportunities and incentives that may exist within the charitable company and the group for fraud. The laws and regulations we considered in this context for the UK operations were UK taxation legislation, employment legislation, health and safety legislation and the animal welfare and veterinary legislation.

Auditing standards limit the required audit procedures to identify non-compliance with these laws and regulations to enquiry of the Trustees and other management and inspection of regulatory and legal correspondence, if any.

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

70

highlights2024 Strategic focuses Foundations Fundraising strategyNew Financial review a

Contact us

We identified the greatest risk of material impact on the financial statements from irregularities, including fraud, to be within the timing of recognition of income from corporates, trusts and major donors, the timing of recognition of legacy income, presentation of the accounts arising from the group restructure, and the override of controls by management. Our audit procedures to respond to these risks included enquiries of management, internal audit and the Finance and General Purposes Committee about their own identification and assessment of the risks of irregularities, sample testing on the posting of journals and income, reviewing accounting estimates for biases, reviewing regulatory correspondence with the Charity Commission, and reading minutes of meetings of those charged with governance.

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

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charitable company’s members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006, and to the charitable company’s trustees, as a body, in accordance with 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 and the charitable company’s trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Neko

Nicola May Senior Statutory Auditor

For and on behalf of Crowe U.K. LLP Statutory Auditor London Date: 18 August 2025

Crowe U.K. LLP is eligible for appointment as auditor of the charity under regulation 10(2) of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations by virtue of its eligibility under section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006.

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

71

New Financial strategy review —_

highlights2024 Strategic focuses Foundations Fundraising

Contact us

Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities

for the year ended 31 December 2024

2024 2024 2024
2023
2023
2023
£000s £000s £000s
£000s
£000s
£000s
Restricted & Restricted &
Notes Unrestricted endowment Total
Unrestricted
endowment
Total
Income from:
Donations and legacies
Donations 2 65,606 1,903 67,509
65,809
990
66,799
Legacies 53,277 7,746 61,023
49,497
5,165
54,662
Charitable activities
Adoption fees 2,226 - 2,226
2,440
-
2,440
Dog School classes 856 - 856
1,108
-
1,108
Other 609 - 609
283
283
Other trading activities 3 8,001 - 8,001
7,152
-
7,152
Investments 4 1,685 - 1,685
2,625
-
2,625
Other 1,159 - 1,159
976
-
976
Total income 133,419 9,649 143,068
129,890
6,155
136,045
Expenditure on:
Raising funds
Donations and legacies 6 36,647 - 36,647
33,066
-
33,066
Other trading activities 6 5,257 - 5,257
5,096
-
5,096
Investments 6 102 - 102
350
-
350
42,006 - 42,006
38,512
-
38,512
Charitable activities
Rehoming 6 52,007 8,852 60,859
48,593
6,881
55,474
Preventing problems 6 19,148 172 19,320
17,816
217
18,033
International impact 6 24,390 105 24,495
21,501
272
21,773
Improving welfare in sourcing and breeding 6 1,323 - 1,323
1,206
-
1,206
Reach, engagement and influence 6 2,592 - 2,592
3,651
-
3,651
99,460 9,129 108,589
92,767
7,370
100,137
Total expenditure 6 141,466 9,129 150,595
131,279
7,370
138,649
Net (losses) / income before
gains on investments		 (8,047) 520 (7,527)
(1,389)
(1,215)
(2,604)
Net gains on investments 9 3,243 - 3,243
2,073
-
2,073
Net income / (expenditure) (4,804) 520 (4,284)
684
(1,215)
(531)
Other recognised (losses) (329) - (329)
(188)
-
(188)
Net movement in funds (5,133) 520 (4,613)
496
(1,215)
(719)
Reconciliation of funds
Funds brought forward 1 January 14 207,584 1,550 209,134
207,088
2,765
209,853
Funds carried forward 31 December 14 202,451 2,070 204,521
207,584
1,550
209,134

All amounts relate to continuing activities. All gains and losses recognised in the year are included in the Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities (“SOFA”).

The notes on pages 75 to 95 form part of the financial statements.

These accounts have been prepared using merger accounting. Please see note 25 for analysis of the SOFA components for both periods.

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

72

New Financial strategy review

highlights2024 Strategic focuses Foundations Fundraising

Contact us

Balance sheets

on 31 December 2024

Consolidated Charity
2024
2023
(restated)
2024		 2023
Notes £000s £000s
£000s		 £000s
Fixed assets
Tangible fixed assets 8 73,214 76,043
70,142		 -
Intangible fixed assets 8 18,525 14,803
17,697		 -
Investments 9 67,732 72,604
67,732		 -
159,471 163,450
155,571		 -
Current assets
Stock 10 550 450
384		 -
Debtors 11 40,584 33,878
40,330		 206
Cash at bank and in hand 15,960 26,876
12,994		 274
57,094 61,204
53,708		 480
Creditors:amounts falling due within one year 12 (8,654) (11,966)
(7,417)		 (137)
Net current assets 48,440 49,238
46,291		 343
Provisions for liabilities 13 (3,390) (3,554)
(3,390)		 -
Net assets 204,521 209,134
198,472		 343
The funds of the Charity
Unrestricted funds
Revaluation reserve 14 (1,260) (960)
(1,260)		 -
Designated reserves: Development fund 14 40,198 31,916
40,198		 -
Designated reserves: Grants fund 14 1,538 1,976
1,538		 -
Designated reserves: Fixed asset reserve 14 91,739 90,847
87,839		 -
Designated reserves: CBR Bursary reserve 14 81 102
81		 -
Free reserves 14 70,155 83,703
68,008		 343
Total unrestricted funds 202,451 207,584
196,404		 343
Restricted income funds 14 1,158 638
1,156		 -
Endowment funds 14 912 912
912		 -
Total Group/Charity funds 204,521 209,134
198,472		 343

The financial statements have been approved by the Board members and authorised for issue on 5 August 2025:

W. Galgey R. Alexander Chairman of the Board Director

The 2023 comparative Charity amounts are those of the new Charity, formerly Dogs Trust Worldwide. Please see note 26 which presents the balance sheet using the 2023 balances of the “old Charity”, for comparative purposes.

The consolidated SOFA is for the Group as a whole. In the year, total income for the Charity was £134,956,000. The net funds of the Charity increased by £198,129,000 including a transfer of net assets from the “old Charity” of £202,799,000.

The notes on pages 75 to 95 form part of the financial statements.

The 2023 balance sheet comparatives have been restated to recognise gains and losses relating to the Charity’s listed investment portfolio through free reserves. See note 14 for further details.

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

73

New Financial strategy review

highlights2024 Strategic focuses Foundations Fundraising

Contact us

Consolidated cashflow statement

for the year ended 31 December 2024

2024 2024 2023 2023
£000s £000s £000s £000s
Net cash provided by operating activities (10,601) (3,891)
Cash flow from investing activities
Dividends, interest and rents from investments 1,685 2,625
Purchase of property, plant and equipment (9,529) (12,680)
Proceeds from the sale of property, plant and equipment - 250
Purchase of fixed investments (77,924) (67,893)
Proceeds from sale of fixed asset investments 79,061 72,090
Net cash used in investing activities (6,707) (5,608)
Change in cash and cash equivalents in the reporting period (17,308) (9,499)
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the reporting period 34,374 44,061
Change in cash and cash equivalents due to exchange rate movements (329) (188)
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the reporting period 16,737 34,374
Reconciliation of net income to net cash flow 2024 2023
from operating activities £000s £000s £000s £000s
Net income for the reporting period
(as per the SOFA)		 (4,284) (531)
Adjustments for:
Depreciation charges 8,966 8,501
Profit on disposal of fixed assets (71) 79
Gains on investments (3,245) (2,073)
Dividends, interest and rents from investments (1,685) (2,625)
Decrease in stocks (100) (27)
(Increase) in debtors (6,706) (2,001)
(Decrease) in creditors (3,312) (2,580)
(Decrease) in provisions for liabilities (164) (2,634)
Net cash flow from operating activities (10,601) (3,891)
Analysis of cash and cash equivalents 2024
£000s		 2023
£000s
Cash in hand 15,960 26,876
Cash on deposit and in investments 777 7,498
Total cash and cash equivalents 16,737 34,374
Analysis of net debt At 1 January
£000s		 Cashflows
£000s		 At 31 December
£000s
Cash 2024 34,374 (17,637) 16,737
2023 44,061 (9,687) 34,374

The notes on pages 75 to 95 form part of the financial statements.

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

74

New Financial strategy review —_

highlights2024 Strategic focuses Foundations Fundraising

Contact us

Notes to the accounts

Accounting policies

Accounting basis

Dogs Trust (“the Charity”) is a private charitable company limited by guarantee without share capital registered in England and Wales (charity number: 1167663, company number: 09365971) and Scotland (charity number: SC053144), governed by Articles of Association.

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention, except for investments, which are included at market value. The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practice, comprising the Charities Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) – ‘Accounting and Reporting by Charities (2019)’, published in 2019, and Financial Reporting Standard (FRS) 102, together with the reporting requirements of the Companies Act 2006, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, the Charities Act 2011 and applicable accounting standards. The Charity is a public benefit entity.

Group financial statements

On 1 July 2024, halfway through the financial year, Dogs Trust (“the old Charity”) which was an unincorporated registered charity in England and Wales transferred all activities, assets and liabilities to Dogs Trust Worldwide (charity number: 1167663, company number: 09365971), except for those related to its lottery and raffle activity, which will transfer to Dogs Trust Lotteries Limited in 2025. The old Charity was immediately renamed as Dogs Trust Legacy, while Dogs Trust Worldwide was immediately renamed as Dogs Trust (“the Charity”).

The Charity meets the criteria set out in FRS 102 section 19 to apply merger accounting, and the group financial statements have been prepared using the principles set out in paragraphs 19.29 to 19.32 of FRS102. See note 25 to the accounts for disclosures relating to the merger.

The SOFA, balance sheet, and cashflow statement consolidate the financial statements of the Charity and its deemed subsidiaries: Dogs Trust Promotions Limited, Dogs Trust Ireland CLG, Dogs Trust USA Inc, Worldwide Veterinary Service, Dogs Trust Legacy and Dogs Trust Worldwide Foundation Bosnia (collectively “the Group”). The results of the subsidiaries are consolidated on a line by line basis. The Charity’s gross income (under merger accounting rules – see note 25) was £135m (2023: £126m) and loss was £3.4m (2023: loss of £1.3m).

Dogs Trust Worldwide Foundation Bosnia is deemed a subsidiary as the Charity is the Founder of Dogs Trust Worldwide Foundation Bosnia and the members of the Steering Committee of Dogs Trust Worldwide Foundation Bosnia are all appointed by the Founder.

The sole Trustee of Dogs Trust Legacy is Dogs Trust Trustee Limited (company number: 08996564), a non-trading company (“the Trustee”). Dogs Trust Trustee Limited is deemed a subsidiary as the Charity appoints its directors.

A separate statement of cash flows has not been presented for the Charity as it has taken advantage of the exemption afforded by FRS102.

The comparative Charity-only balance sheet amounts represent the 2023 balances of the new Charity, formerly Dogs Trust Worldwide.

Critical accounting estimates and judgements

To be able to prepare financial statements in accordance with FRS 102, the Board is required to make certain estimates and judgements. These have an impact on the policies and the amount reported in the annual accounts. The estimates and judgements are based on historical experiences and other factors, including expectations of future events, that are believed to be reasonable at the time they are made. The significant estimates and judgements are:

Dogs Trust Ireland CLG, Worldwide Veterinary Service and Dogs Trust Promotions Limited are each deemed to be a subsidiary company because the majority of directors or members are Board members or senior managers of Dogs Trust. Therefore, by voting rights, the Charity retains control.

Dogs Trust USA Inc is deemed a subsidiary because the President is the Chief Executive Officer of Dogs Trust and Dogs Trust can appoint the President.

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

75

New Financial strategy review —_

highlights2024 Strategic focuses Foundations Fundraising

Contact us

Going concern

The Board has reviewed the budgets, cashflow forecasts and forecast reserves levels of the Charity for the 12 months following the signing of these financial statements and is satisfied that the Charity is financially robust for this period.

Whilst the going concern of the Charity is not in doubt, the current business-as-usual budget and Five-year Plan demonstrates a need to improve the financial performance of the charity to ensure that its cash reserves remain above the minimum balance as defined by its Reserves Policy. Based on the financial forecasts prepared as part of the strategic review, the implementation of the transformation programme is expected to achieve this improvement. With the above considered, the Board believes that there is no material uncertainty which would cast doubt on the Charity’s ability to continue as a going concern. The Board therefore considers it appropriate for the accounts to be prepared on a going concern basis.

Income

All income is included in the SOFA when the Charity is legally entitled to the income, receipt is probable, the amount can be quantified with reasonable accuracy, and measured reliably.

Donations and legacies

Legacy income is recognised when it satisfies the following criteria:

Where a legacy is subject to the interest of a life tenant, the income will not be recognised until the death of the life tenant.

Measurement of legacy income is exposed to inherent uncertainties, represented by property and other investments whose value is subject to market fluctuations until realised. Dogs Trust recognises this by using the latest available estate valuation information and allowing for fluctuations, with a provision against income of 5% to 8% per estate, based on historic trends.

Charitable activities

Adoption fees received for rehoming services are included as income when the dog is rehomed.

Income for Dog School classes is accounted for when the training has taken place.

Other trading activities

Sale of goods, comprising income from the sale of new and donated goods through retail shops and online, is accounted for when the sale has taken place. Where applicable, income is recognised net of value added tax. The Charity operates a retail Gift Aid scheme for supporter goods sold that are in its charity shops on an agency basis. These sales are treated as sales of donated goods for accounting purposes. Income from raffles is recognised when the draw takes place.

Investments

Income is shown in the year in which it is received or becomes receivable.

Other income

Income is shown in the year in which it is received or becomes receivable. The surplus on the disposal of tangible fixed assets is calculated as the difference between the sale proceeds (net of sale costs) and the net book value of the asset immediately prior to disposal. It is accounted for once legal completion of the disposal has taken place.

Expenditure

All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all costs related to any given category. Costs not yet invoiced, but where goods or services have been provided, are included where the amount owed can be estimated reliably. Where timing or amount of costs are uncertain, amounts are classified as a provision. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to an activity or function, they have been allocated on a usage basis or on the basis of headcount. Support costs, such as general management, payroll administration, technology infrastructure support, human resources advisory and financing are allocated in this way.

Grant expenditure

Grants payable are accounted for as expenditure in the year in which a binding, specific commitment to make payment is entered into with the recipient. Expected future grant payments, if conditions are met by the recipient as the grant falls due, are disclosed in note 17.

Irrecoverable VAT

Irrecoverable VAT is included in the cost of those items to which it relates.

Donations are accounted for when received. No amounts are included in the financial statements for services donated by general volunteers. Gift Aid receivable is included as income when the donation is made, and where there is a valid Gift Aid declaration from the donor. Membership income is accounted for over the period to which membership relates.

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

76

New Financial strategy review —_

highlights2024 Strategic focuses Foundations Fundraising

Contact us

Tangible fixed assets

Tangible fixed assets are stated at cost, net of depreciation. The Charity regularly reviews the net book value of its fixed assets and writes their values down — shown as an impairment — to their depreciated replacement cost (for rehoming centres) or open market value (for offices where the net book value is higher).

Depreciation is provided on the following basis:

Freehold land Land is not depreciated and is
tested for impairment
Freehold buildings Over 15 years (straight line)
Assets under Not depreciated until they are
construction ready for use. Construction
projects are reviewed for
impairment
Motor vehicles Over three years (straight line)
Equipment and
fittings		 Over four years (straight line)

Intangible fixed assets

Intangible fixed assets are stated at cost, net of amortisation and any provision for impairment.

Amortisation is calculated to write off the cost of intangible fixed assets by equal annual instalments over their expected useful economic lives, on the following basis:

Investments

Listed investments

Listed investments are included in the balance sheet initially at cost and revalued at the reporting date to bid price. Realised gains and losses on disposals in the year, and unrealised gains and losses on investments at the balance sheet date, are included in the SOFA for the relevant underlying funds. The historical cost of investments is shown in note 9 to the accounts.

Investment properties

Investment properties are measured at fair value at each reporting date. Changes in fair value are recognised in “Net unrealised gains / (losses) in investments” in the Consolidated SOFA. Valuations of investment properties have been determined with professional assistance: details of the basis of the valuations are given in note 9 to the accounts.

Programme-related investments

Programme-related investments are investments made in order to directly further the charitable purposes of the Charity. Where the Charity has a significant interest in a programme-related investment, it is treated as an associate included at cost, and subsequently adjusted for the Charity’s share in the associate’s net assets under the equity method in the consolidated financial statements. The annual movement in the value of programme related investments is shown as a separate category in the investments note.

Current asset investments

Current asset investments include cash on deposit and cash equivalents with a maturity of less than one year, held for investment purposes, and valued at fair value.

Stocks

Stocks are valued at the lower of cost and net realisable value. Goods donated for resale are valued at estimated net realisable value, based on historical trends.

Provisions

Provision for liabilities relates to the estimated future veterinary costs for dogs on the Shared Adoption Scheme and Veterinary Support Fund scheme. Under these schemes, dogs rehomed with certain medical conditions will have the approved veterinary costs covered for the treatment of that particular ailment for the rest of the dog’s life. The provision for future costs is estimated, based on the average cost incurred per dog on the schemes, factoring in inflation for future years; the expected number of dogs on the schemes; and the average life span of a dog on the schemes.

Operating leases

Rental applicable to operating leases is charged to the SOFA over the period in which the cost is incurred.

Foreign currency

Foreign currency transactions of individual group entities are translated at the rates applicable on the transaction date. Foreign currency monetary assets and liabilities are translated at the rate of exchange ruling at the balance sheet date. All differences are included in the SOFA as other recognised gains or losses.

The results of overseas operations are translated at the average rates of exchange during the year, and the balance sheet translated into sterling at the rate of exchange ruling on the balance sheet date. Exchange differences that arise from translation of the opening net assets and results of foreign subsidiary undertakings are included in reserves.

Pension costs

Pension costs comprise the costs of the Charity’s contribution to its employees’ pension schemes. The Charity provides a money purchase scheme, which is available to all employees and, alternatively, contributes to certain employees’ personal pension plans.

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

77

New Financial strategy review —_

2024 Strategic highlights focuses

Foundations Fundraising

Contact us

Taxation

Dogs Trust is a charity within the meaning of Para 1 Schedule 6 Finance Act 2010. Accordingly, the Charity is potentially exempt from taxation in respect of income or capital gains within categories covered by Chapter 3 of Part 11 of the Corporation Tax Act 2010, or Section 256 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992, to the extent that such income or gains are applied exclusively to charitable purposes. No tax charge arose in the period. The subsidiary trading companies do not generally pay UK corporation tax because their policy is to pay qualifying donations out of taxable profits to the Charity. Foreign tax incurred by overseas subsidiaries is charged as it is incUrred.

Financial instruments

The Group has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic and complex financial instruments.

Basic financial instruments comprise fixed asset investments measured at fair value through profit or loss, and financial assets and liabilities that are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at the present value of future cash flows (amortised cost). Financial assets held at amortised cost comprise cash, trade debtors and other debtors. Financial liabilities held at amortised cost comprise trade creditors and other creditors.

The Charity uses foreign currency forward contracts to manage its exposure to foreign currency exchange risk. These are classified as complex and the fair value of these instruments is calculated at the balance sheet date by comparison between the rate implicit in the contract and the exchange rate at that date.

Details of financial instruments are found in note 23.

Funds

Endowment funds represent those assets which must be permanently held by the Charity. Income arising from the endowment funds can be used in accordance with the objects of the Charity, and is included as unrestricted or restricted income, as specified by the donor. Any capital gains or losses arising on the investments form part of the fund.

The Frank Goddard Jackson endowment fund has been invested to contribute towards the maintenance of the Frank Goddard Jackson Veterinary Suite in future years.

Restricted funds represent funds which must be used for a specific purpose, narrower than the objects of the Charity — such as specific rehoming centres and projects. Where restricted expenditure on projects exceeds restricted income, the balance is applied out of unrestricted funds, shown by a funds transfer.

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

78

Financial review —_

New Financial strategy review

highlights2024 Strategic focuses Foundations Fundraising

Contact us

1. Results from trading activities of group entities

See page 75 for details of the group structure. Dogs Trust Promotions Limited (company number: 00963277) is incorporated in the UK and its primary activity is to sell gifts and licenses. Dogs Trust Ireland CLG is a charity incorporated in Ireland (charity number: 20057978, company number: 396919) and its primary activity is to reduce and, ultimately, see the end of homeless dogs in Ireland. Dogs Trust USA Inc is a non-profit 501 (c)(3) charity registered in USA and its primary activity is to protect dogs from maltreatment, cruelty and suffering. Dogs Trust Foundation Bosnia is a non-profit foundation registered in Bosnia on 2 October 2020 — its primary activity is to protect dogs from maltreatment, cruelty and suffering in Bosnia. Worldwide Veterinary Service (WVS) is a charitable company incorporated in the UK (charity number: 1100485, company number: 04773693), its primary activity is to relieve the suffering and distress of animals throughout the world. Dogs Trust Legacy is a charity registered in the UK (charity number: 227523), its primary activity is to oversee the lottery activity. A summary of the trading results for these entities is shown below (the figures include intercompany trading).

Dogs Trust Worldwide Worldwide
Dogs Trust
Promotions		 Promotions
Dogs Trust		 Dogs Trust
Dogs Trust Bosnia		 Veterinary
Ireland CLG
Limited		 USA Inc Legacy
Foundation		 Service
2024
2023
2024
2023
2024
2023
2024
2023
2024
2023		 2024 2023
Incoming resources £000s
£000s
£000s
£000s
£000s
£000s
£000s
£000s
£000s
£000s		 £000s £000s
Donations 6,057
5,518
-		 -
114		 99
29,041
58,713
-
-		 571 709
Legacies 516
346
-		 -
-		 -
30,452
54,255
-
-		 204 61
Merchandising 155
55
475		 477
-		 20
5,169
7,480
-
100		 24 27
Grant from
Dogs Trust Group		 1,731
2,844
-		 -
591		 -
-
-
1,970
1,644		 7,827 2,934
Gift-in-kind from
Dogs Trust Group		 -
-
-		 -
-		 475
-
2,284
-
-		 - -
Sale of dogs and
neuter income		 139
157
-		 -
-		 -
1,034
-
-
-		 - -
Interest received -
-
-		 -
-		 -
1,228
2,602
6
5		 43 19
Other 379
66
-		 -
11		 47
399
915
-
-		 609 309
Total incoming
resources		 8,977
8,986
475		 477
716		 641
67,323
126,249
1,976
1,749		 9,278 4,059
Total costs (9,271)
(9,375)
(199)
(351)
(593)
(1,240)
(271,790)
(129,499)
(2,045)
(1,865)		 (8,903) (4,000)
Net movement
for the year		 (294)
(389)
276		 126
123
(599)
(204,467)
(3,250)
(69)
(116)		 375 59
Qualifying charitable
contribution		 -
-
(275)
(124)
-		 -
-
-
-
-		 - -
Retained profit/(loss)
for the year		 (294)
(389)
1		 2
123
(599)
(204,467)
(3,250)
(69)
(116)		 375 59
Funds brought forward
1 January		 3,852
4,340
27		 25
122		 708
203,046
204,223
257
415		 1,570 1,511
Exchange gain/(loss)
on opening net assets		 (172)
(99)
-		 -
(37)		 13
1,689
2,073
(16)
(42)		 - -
Funds carried forward
31 December		 3,386
3,852
28		 27
208		 122
268
203,046
172
257		 1,945 1,570
Total assets 4,247
4,725
532
1,248
255		 481
314
217,426
325
502		 2,112 1,667
Total liabilities (861)
(873)
(504)
(1,221)
(47)
(359)
(46)
(14,380)
(153)
(245)		 (167) (97)
Total funds 3,386
3,852
28		 27
208		 122
268
203,046
172
257		 1,945 1,570

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

79

New Financial strategy review

2024 Strategic highlights focuses

Foundations Fundraising

Contact us

2. Donations

2. Donations
2024 2023
£000s £000s
Regular donations 42,124 40,091
Appeals 2,431 3,187
Non-recurring donations 5,232 6,959
Corporate donations 4,121 4,366
Gift Aid 8,094 8,133
Membership subscriptions 2,815 1,081
Trusts and major donors 2,692 2,982
67,509 66,799

3. Other trading activities

3. Other trading activities
2024 2023
£000s £000s
Sale of goods 5,636 5,557
Fundraising events 173 132
Raffles 2,192 1,463
8,001 7,152

4. Investments

4. Investments
2024 2023
£000s £000s
Interest received 760 1,280
Dividends received 925 1,345
1,685 2,625

5. Council members’ remuneration and expenses

All Board members are directors of the Charity, which is the parent company. No Board member, or any person connected with them, received any remuneration during the year. Eight Board members were reimbursed for expenses in 2024 totalling £8,668 (2023: five Council members were reimbursed £3,464) covering travel, subsistence and accommodation incurred in connection with their duties as members of the Board of Dogs Trust. No allowances were paid to Board members, and no direct payments to third parties were made on their behalf. The Charity received donations totaling £8,110 (2023: £8,168) from five Board members in the year (2023: seven Board members).

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

80

highlights2024 Strategic focuses Foundations Fundraising strategyNew Financial review Contact us

6. Analysis of expenditure

6. Analysis of expenditure
Activities
undertaken Support
2024
2023
Grants directly costs
Total
Total
£000s £000s £000s
£000’
£000s
Raising funds
Donations and legacies - 33,177 3,470
36,647
33,066
Other trading activities - 4,002 1,255
5,257
5,096
Investments - 102 -
102
350
- 37,281 4,725
42,006
38,512
Charitable activities
Rehoming - 46,231 14,628
60,859
55,474
Preventing problems 599 12,961 5,760
19,320
18,033
International impact 8,170 16,197 128
24,495
21,773
Improving welfare in sourcing and breeding - 920 403
1,323
1,206
Reach, engagement and influence - 2,231 361
2,592
3,651
8,769 78,540 21,280
108,589
100,137
Total 8,769 115,821 26,005
150,595
138,649

Support costs totalling £26,005,000 (2023: £19,973,000) have been allocated across the activities. These include: costs associated with IT totalling £6,961,000; management and administration costs (finance, legal, HR, facilities, programme office and central administration) totalling £13,321,000; central veterinary services totalling £2,012,000; central communications services totalling £1,938,000; and contact centre costs totalling £1,773,000. The costs have been allocated based on payroll costs.

Of the total expenditure above, £9,129,000 (2023: £7,370,000) related to restricted funds. See note 14 for a breakdown of this expenditure.

Included within support costs are governance costs of £922,000 (2023: £756,000). These include the following amounts:

2024 2023
Group auditor’s remuneration £000s £000s
Audit 153 134
Other assurance services 4 4
Tax and advisory 16 19
173 157

The audit fee of £153,000 includes £130,000 payable to Crowe U.K. LLP for the audit of the Charity and its subsidiaries, excluding Dogs Trust Ireland CLG for which £23,000 is payable to BDO UK LLP.

Total irrecoverable VAT was £2,908,000 (2023: £2,886,000).

Net income is stated after charging rent payable and vehicle and printing lease costs under operating leases of £1,496,000 (2023: £1,500,000).

During the year, the Charity paid grants to its subsidiaries in support of their work. Please see note 21 for further details.

Grants payable to other organisations improving the lives of dogs in the UK and around the world are considered to be part of the costs of activities in furtherance of the objects of the Charity. This is because the Charity’s grant programme activity is carried out through organisations, monitored by the Charity, that supports long-term benefits for dogs.

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

81

highlights2024 Strategic focuses Foundations Fundraising strategyNew Financial review —_

Contact us

Analysis of expenditure (continued)

(a) International projects:

Grants were made to the following animal welfare organisations outside Dogs Trust Group as detailed below:

2023
2024 (restated)
Organisation/project Delivery country (unless UK)
£000s		 £000s
Soi DogFoundation Thailand
1,379		 1,293
WVS Thailand Thailand
1,357		 655
HOPE & Animal Trust India
796		 1
Dogstar Foundation Sri Lanka
593		 573
AR Sofia Bulgaria
579		 474
Blantyre Societyfor the Protection and Care of Animals(BSPCA) Malawi
562		 493
WVS India India
559		 801
Animal Rescue Cambodia(ARC) Cambodia
291		 11
Pan Animalia Galapagos(PAG) Galapagos Islands
250		 177
Aware Trust Zimbabwe
168		 236
Ministere de l’Elevage Guinea
167		 -
International Companion Animal Management Coalition UK
155		 -
Provincial Department of Agriculture,Forestryand Fishery (PDAFF) Cambodia
149		 -
DarjeelingGoodwill Animal Shelter India
113		 35
Lanta Animal Welfare Thailand
105		 53
Wildlife Friends Foundation Thailand
90		 60
Universidade Eduardo Mondlane Maputo Mozambique
83		 -
Mbwa Wa Africa Animal Rescue Tanzania
83		 -
Perhimpunan Dokter Hewan Indonesia Timor
68		 -
Mayhew Animal Home Afghanistan
63		 90
Helpin Suffering India
63		 69
Charlie's Animal Rescue Centre(CARE) India
60		 -
Beta Zrenjanin Serbia
58		 1
Drustvo Prijatelja Zivotinja Ljubimci Pancevo Serbia
48		 -
Universidad Santo Tomás(UST) Chile
40		 -
Veterinarians for Animal Welfare(VAWZ) Zimbabwe
40		 -
Mekelle University Ethiopia
36		 -
Just Be Friendly (JBF) India
27		 -
Kashamura Jobogo P Matondo(AJ Tours) Uganda
25		 -
Catholic Universityof Temuco(UCT) Chile
23		 -
Universidad San Francisco deQuito Ecuador
21		 -
Canadian Animal Task Force Canada
14		 15
Tree of Life for Animals India
14		 -
WalkingSide byDogPaws Foundation Bulgaria
12		 -
Viva Poland Poland
10		 -
Socratus Collective Wisdom Corporation India
10		 25
DogGang1500 Bulgaria
8		 -
Beta Zajecar Serbia
5		 -
Funda Nenja South Africa
1		 -
Mission Rabies India,Cambodia and Malawi
-		 813
Worldwide Organisation for Animal Health(WOAH) France
-		 31
Societyfor the Protection of Animals LJUBIMCI Serbia
-		 31
Animals Asia Foundation China
-		 30
Kurtaran Ev Dernegi Turkey
-		 19
ACC Mostar Bosnia
-		 11
Mdzananda Animal Clinic South Africa
-		 11
LuckyAnimal Protection Shelter Pakistan
-		 11
Amici Cannis Ecuador
-		 10
Rex Foundation Hungary
-		 10
Tanzania Animal Welfare Society Tanzania
-		 10
Noe Allatotthon Alapitvany Hungary
-		 10
Malta SPCA Malta
-		 10
Cat Care Community Latvia
-		 10
Association HATHI France
-		 10
Koninklijke Hondenbescherming
(Royal Association for the Protection of Dogs)		 The Netherlands
-		 10
Chats duQuercy France
-		 10

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

82

highlights2024 Strategic focuses Foundations Fundraising strategyNew Financial review

Contact us

Analysis of expenditure (continued)

(a) International projects (continued):

Analysis of expenditure (continued)
(a) International projects(continued):
2024 2023
Organisation/Project Delivery country (Unless UK) £000s £000s
Education for African Animal Welfare(EAAW) Tanzania - 10
Transylvania Animal Care Romania - 9
Red De Apoyo Canino Venezuela - 7
Wildlife & Welfare Turkey - 6
RSPCA Victoria Australia - 5
Association Hearts of Gold Serbia - 4
GATO(formerlyARPOL) Lithuania - 4
Animal Nepal Nepal - 3
Rzeszowskie Stowarzyszenie OchronyZwierzat Poland - 2
Resue is Life South Africa - 1
Bali Animal Welfare Indonesia - 1
Bethlehem Animal and Environment Association Palestine - (7)
Othergrantpayments under £10,000 45 54
Total internationalgrants 8,170 6,208

Each organisation received one grant in the reporting period.

Grant payments to Mission Rabies in the prior year represent grants paid prior to 1 May 2023. From 1 May 2023, Mission Rabies received Group funding from Dogs Trust in support of its work.

(b) Preventative work grants:

(b) Preventative work grants:
2024 2023
Research grants £000s £000s
Grants were made to individuals at the following institutions to support research work:
University of Edinburgh 134 97
University of Liverpool 120 141
Royal Veterinary College 60 100
University of Lincoln 14 97
The Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies 118 185
University of Salford 33 -
University of Surrey 33 -
512 620
Other grants
Emergency help grants (i) 87 57
87 57
Total preventative work grants 599 677

(i) Emergency help grants support free veterinary treatment for dogs belonging to owners who are homeless, or in housing crisis, including neutering operations, vaccination and worming, as well as non-preventative and emergency veterinary procedures.

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

83

highlights2024 Strategic focuses Foundations Fundraising strategyNew Financial review Contact us

7. Staff numbers and emoluments

7. Staff numbers and emoluments
The average monthly number of employees (full time equivalent) analysed by function was: 2024
number
2023
number
Rehoming centres 883
809
Fundraising, prevention, campaigns and publicity 691
783
Management and administration 175
128
1,749
1,720
The average monthly number of employees (headcount) analysed by function was: 2024
number
2023
number
Rehoming centres 981
904
Fundraising, prevention, campaigns and publicity 778
863
Management and administration 184
129
1,943
1,896
Their aggregate emoluments were as follows: 2024
£000s
2023
£000s
Wages and salaries 57,816
51,570
Social security costs 5,366
4,827
Pension costs 6,129
5,434
69,311
61,831

All pensions are paid from unrestricted funds.

Redundancy and termination payments are recognised when there is a demonstrable commitment on an individual or group basis that cannot be realistically withdrawn.

Redundancy and termination costs totalling £113k were incurred in 2024 (2023: £143k) with £nil unpaid at year end. Ex-gratia payments to staff of £nil (2023: £63k) were incurred in 2024 with £nil unpaid at year end.

Number of employees of the Group who earned from: 2024
number		 2023
number
£60,001 to £70,000 39 33
£70,001 to £80,000 24 17
£80,001 to £90,000 15 6
£90,001 to £100,000 6 6
£100,001 to £110,000 5 4
£110,001 to £120,000 2 2
£120,001 to £130,000 1 1
£130,001 to £140,000 3 2
£140,001 to £150,000 2 3
£150,001 to £160,000 1 -
£190,001 to £200,000 (*) 1 1
99 75

(*) this band contains the earnings of the Chief Executive in 2024 and 2023.

Key management employees, defined as the Leadership Team in the Report of the Directors, received total remuneration as follows:

2024 2023
£000s £000s
Wages and salaries 1,246 1,525
Employer's NI 149 174
Employer's pension 184 235
1,579 1,934

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

84

New Financial Foundations Fundraising strategy review Contact us

2024 Strategic highlights focuses

8. Tangible fixed assets

Tangible fixed assets

Freehold Assets
land and
buildings		 under
construction		 Motor
vehicles		 Equipment
and fittings		 Total
Group £000s £000s £000s £000s £000s
Cost
Balance at 1 January 2024 167,577 4,152 5,018 7,836 184,583
Additions 576 2,372 201 1,185 4,334
Transfers 5,732 (5,732) - - -
Disposals - - (648) (193) (841)
Foreign exchange movement (396) - (18) (23) (437)
Balance at 31 December 2024 173,489 792 4,553 8,805 187,639
Accumulated depreciation
Balance at 1 January 2024 98,197 - 4,529 5,814 108,540
Depreciation charge for year 6,035 - 142 933 7,110
Disposals - - (648) (150) (798)
Transfers - - - - -
Foreign exchange rate movement (399) - (11) (17) (427)
Balance at 31 December 2024 103,833 - 4,012 6,580 114,425
Net book value at 31 December 2024 69,656 792 541 2,225 73,214
Net book value at 31 December 2023 69,380 4,152 489 2,022 76,043

Freehold land and buildings includes freehold land of £15.4 million (2023: £15.4 million) that is not depreciated.

Freehold Assets
land and
buildings		 under
construction		 Motor
vehicles		 Equipment
and fittings		 Total
Charity £000s £000s £000s £000s £000s
Cost
Balance at 1 January 2024 - - - - -
Transferred in from old Charity at NBV 156,528 5,763 4,588 7,944 174,823
Additions 125 761 111 443 1,440
Transfers 5,732 (5,732) - - -
Disposals - - (648) - (648)
Balance at 31 December 2024 162,385 792 4,051 8,387 175,615
Accumulated depreciation
Balance at 1 January 2024 - - - - -
Transferred in from old Charity at NBV 93,004 - 4,231 5,703 102,938
Depreciation charge for year 2,632 - 155 396 3,183
Disposals - - (648) - (648)
Balance at 31 December 2024 95,636 - 3,738 6,099 105,473
Net book value at 31 December 2024 66,749 792 313 2,288 70,142
Net book value at 31 December 2023 - - - - -

Freehold land and buildings includes freehold land of £13.7 million (2023: £nil) that is not depreciated.

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

85

highlights2024 Strategic focuses Foundations Fundraising strategyNew Financial review

Contact us

Intangible fixed assets

Assets under IT software Total
construction
Group £000s £000s £000s
Cost
Balance at 1 January 2024 14,803 - 14,803
Additions 1,629 4,408 6,037
Transfers (14,917) 14,917 -
Foreign exchange movement (33) - (33)
Balance at 31 December 2024 1,482 19,325 20,807
Accumulated amortisation
Balance at 1 January 2024 - - -
Amortisation charge for year - 2,282 2,282
Disposals - - -
Balance at 31 December 2024 - 2,282 2,282
Net book value at 31 December 2024 1,482 17,043 18,525
Net book value at 31 December 2023 14,803 - 14,803

Intangible fixed assets include the costs incurred in developing the Group’s technology platform and application landscape. Amortisation is charged to the SOFA on a straight-line basis against the underlying activity to which the intangible asset relates.

A new finance system and fundraising CRM went live during 2024 and amortisation began to be charged. The net book values of the finance system and fundraising CRM at 31 December 2024 are £4.9m and £7m respectively.

Assets under IT software Total
construction
Charity £000s £000s £000s
Cost
Balance at 1 January 2024 - - -
Transferred in from old Charity at NBV 14,541 2,199 16,740
Additions 1,030 2,209 3,239
Transfers (14,917) 14,917 -
Balance at 31 December 2024 654 19,325 19,979
Accumulated amortisation
Balance at 1 January 2024 - - -
Transferred in from old Charity at NBV - - -
Amortisation charge for year - 2,282 2,282
Disposals - - -
Balance at 31 December 2024 - 2,282 2,282
Net book value at 31 December 2024 654 17,043 17,697
Net book value at 31 December 2023 - - -

Intangible fixed assets include the costs incurred in developing the Group’s technology platform and application landscape. Amortisation is charged to the SOFA on a straight-line basis against the underlying activity to which the intangible asset relates.

A new finance system and fundraising CRM went live during 2024 and amortisation began to be charged. The net book values of the finance system and fundraising CRM at 31 December 2024 are £4.9m and £7m respectively.

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

86

New Financial Fundraising strategy review

2024 Strategic Foundations highlights focuses

Contact us

9. Fixed asset investments

Listed
investments and Investment 2024
2023
investment cash properties Total
Total
The Group £000s £000s £000s
£000s
Market value at 1 January 68,854 3,750 72,604
70,741
Less: Disposals at market value (72,081) - (72,081)
(76,078)
Add: Acquisitions 70,946 - 70,946
71,881
Add/(less): Investment cash Add/(less): Investment cash (6,980) - (6,980)
3,987
Net realised gains 2,252 - 2,252
2,986
Net unrealised gains 1,291 (300) 991
(913)
Market value at 31 December 64,282 3,450 67,732
72,604

Listed investments and cash investments at market value comprised:

2024 2023
£000s £000s
UK fixed interest securities 4,832 16,771
Equities 29,801 33,624
Other investments 28,872 10,961
Cash 777 7,498
64,282 68,854

At 31 December 2024, the Charity held £26,666,000 in ICS Sterling Liquidity Fund. No individual listed investment held at 31 December 2023 had a market value that was material to the Group.

The investment property comprises of a property previously occupied by Dogs Trust which is now being held for investment. A valuation was performed by independent chartered surveyors BNP Paribas Real Estate at 31 December 2024 to determine the fair value of the property.

2024 2023
£000s £000s
The historical cost of investments held at 31 December was The historical cost of investments held at 31 December was The historical cost of investments held at 31 December was 60,970 66,581

The Charity had £nil fixed asset investments in 2023. On 1 July 2024, as part of the group restructure, Dogs Trust (“the legacy Charity”) transferred the carrying value of its fixed asset investments to the new Dogs Trust charity. The total amount transferred was £73,457,000.

10. Stock

10. Stock
Group
Charity
2024
2023
2024		 2023
£000s
£000s
£000s		 £000s
Finished goods 550
450
384		 -

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

87

New Financial strategy review

highlights2024 Strategic focuses Foundations Fundraising

Contact us

11. Debtors’ analysis

11. Debtors’ analysis
Group Charity
2024 2023
2024		 2023
£000s £000s
£000s		 £000s
Trade debtors 1,502 1,659
1,464		 -
Other debtors 1,200 2,172
1,182		 -
VAT claim 2,406 1,878
2,133		 -
Amount owed by subsidiary companies - -
504		 -
Amount owed by parent - -
-		 206
Accrued legacies 33,207 25,870
33,207		 -
Prepayments and accrued income 2,269 2,299
1,840		 -
Total 40,584 33,878
40,330		 206

12. Creditors’ analysis

12. Creditors’ analysis
Group Charity
2024 2023
2024		 2023
£000s £000s
£000s		 £000s
Trade creditors 3,206 2,331
2,798		 -
Other creditors 1,837 2,856
1,609		 -
Accruals and deferred income 3,611 6,779
3,010		 137
Amounts owed to subsidiary companies - -
-		 -
Total 8,654 11,966
7,417		 137
Group Charity
2024 2023
2024		 2023
Movement in deferred income £000s £000s
£000s		 £000s
Balance at 1 January 1,049 771
-		 -
Transfer from old Charity - -
1,049		 -
Utilised in the year (1,049) (771)
(1,049)		 -
Deferred income in the year 847 1,049
847		 -
Balance at 31 December 847 1,049
847		 -

Deferred income is: membership income received during this year but in respect of next year; raffle ticket income received in respect of raffles drawn next year; and Dog School fee income received in respect of classes next year.

13. Provision for liabilities

Group
Charity
2024
2023
2024		 2023
£000s
£000s
£000s		 £000s
Shared Adoption Scheme 3,390
3,554
3,390		 -
Group
Charity
2024
2023
2024		 2023
Movement in provision for liabilities £000s
£000s
£000s		 £000s
Balance at 1 January 3,554
6,188
-		 -
Transfer from old Charity -
-
3,554		 -
Utilised in the year (754)
(713)
(754)		 -
Charged to the SOFA 590
(1,921)
590		 -
Balance at 31 December 3,390
3,554
3,390		 -

Provision for liabilities relates to the estimated future vetinerary costs for dogs on the shared adoption and veterinary support schemes. Under the shared adoption and veterinary support schemes, dogs rehomed with certain medical conditions will have their veterinary costs covered for the treatment of that particular ailment for the rest of the dog’s life.

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

88

New Financial strategy review —_

highlights2024 Strategic focuses Foundations Fundraising

Contact us

14. Total funds

14. Total funds
Movement in funds in 2024 Movement in funds in 2024
Balance
1 January Balance
2024 Gains and 31 December
£000s (restated) Income Expenditure Transfers revaluations 2024
Unrestricted funds
Revaluation reserve (960) - - - (300) (1,260)
Designated funds - - - -
Rehoming Centre Development Fund 31,916 - - 8,282 - 40,198
Fund for Fixed Assets 90,847 - - 892 - 91,739
Grants Fund 1,976 - (1,976) 1,538 - 1,538
CBR BursaryFund 102 - (21) - - 81
Total designated funds 124,841 - (1,997) 10,712 - 133,556
Free reserves 83,703 133,419 (139,469) (10,712) 3,214 70,155
Total unrestricted funds 207,584 133,419 (141,466) - 2,914 202,451
Restricted income funds
Freedom 81 81 (146) - - 16
Together through Homelessness 16 25 (25) - - 16
Dog School - 1 (1) - - -
Puppy Smuggling - - - - - -
Neutering - - - - - -
Worldwide - 12 (12) - - -
Ukraine - - - - - -
Education - - - - - -
Veterinary - - - - - -
Ballymena 21 578 (573) - - 26
Basildon 70 263 (251) - - 82
Bridgend 18 102 (94) - - 26
Canterbury 7 357 (357) - - 7
Cardiff 14 - - - - 14
Darlington 10 299 (297) - - 12
Evesham 5 194 (194) - - 5
Glasgow 12 645 (644) - - 13
Ilfracombe 6 829 (828) - - 7
Kenilworth 1 581 (581) - - 1
Leeds 49 373 (340) - - 82
London 2 629 (627) - - 4
Loughborough 3 95 (94) - - 4
Manchester 1 84 (84) - - 1
Merseyside 58 590 (591) - - 57
Newbury 21 117 (113) - - 25
Penrith 3 - - - - 3
Salisbury 29 480 (478) - - 31
Shoreham 9 357 (345) - - 21
Shrewsbury 10 1,355 (1,355) - - 10
Snetterton 13 218 (215) - - 16
West Calder 11 575 (575) - - 11
Capital Projects - - - - - -
Home from Home Pilot (Dundee) - - - - - -
Pet Friendly Housing Pilot 122 - (122) - - -
Evesham Capital Appeal 46 15 (61) - - -
Thailand - Chonburi Project 93 (93) -
Harefield Kennel Refurbishment - 701 (33) - - 668
Total restricted income funds 638 9,649 (9,129) - - 1,158
Endowment funds
Gertrude R Clarke 242 - - - - 242
Frank Goddard Jackson 670 - - - - 670
Total endowment funds 912 - - - - 912
Total funds 209,134 143,068 (150,595) - 2,914 204,521

Details of the use of designated funds can be found in the reserves policy on page 61. Details of the use of endowment and restricted funds can be found in the accounting policy on page 61.

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

89

highlights2024 Strategic focuses Foundations Fundraising strategyNew Financial review —_

Contact us

Total funds (continued)

Total funds(continued)
Movement in funds in 2023 (restated)
Balance Balance
1 January Gains and 31 December
£000s 2023 Income Expenditure Transfers revaluations 2023
Unrestricted funds
Revaluation reserve 530 - - - (1,490) (960)
Designated funds - - - -
Rehoming Centre Development Fund 33,600 - - (1,684) - 31,916
Fund for Fixed Assets 86,455 - - 4,392 - 90,847
Grants Fund 1,799 - (1,799) 1,976 - 1,976
CBR BursaryFund 121 - (19) - - 102
Total designated funds 121,975 - (1,818) 4,684 - 124,841
Free reserves 84,583 129,890 (129,460) (4,684) 3,374 83,703
Total unrestricted funds 207,088 129,890 (131,278) - 1,884 207,584
Restricted income funds
Freedom 81 155 (155) - - 81
Hope 16 37 (37) - - 16
Dog School - 3 (3) - - -
Puppy smuggling - - - - - -
Neutering - 1 (1) - - -
Worldwide - 17 (17) - - -
Ukraine appeal - 3 (3) - - -
Education - 11 (11) - - -
Veterinary - 10 (10) - - -
Ballymena - 311 (290) - - 21
Basildon 6 137 (73) - - 70
Bridgend 15 367 (364) - - 18
Canterbury 7 90 (90) - - 7
Cardiff 9 58 (53) - - 14
Darlington 11 376 (377) - - 10
Evesham 5 674 (674) - - 5
Glasgow 12 306 (306) - - 12
Ilfracombe 7 141 (142) - - 6
Kenilworth 5 844 (848) - - 1
Leeds 58 387 (396) - - 49
London 11 66 (75) - - 2
Loughborough 7 37 (41) - - 3
Manchester 1 154 (154) - - 1
Merseyside 2 156 (100) - - 58
Newbury 18 222 (219) - - 21
Penrith 1 2 (1) - - 3
Salisbury 17 111 (99) - - 29
Shoreham 7 700 (698) - - 9
Shrewsbury 6 306 (302) - - 10
Snetterton 15 39 (41) - - 13
West Calder 1 260 (250) - - 11
Capital projects 1,000 - (1,000) - - -
Home from Home pilot (Dundee) 128 - (128) - - -
Pet Friendly Housing pilot 241 - (119) - - 122
Evesham capital appeal - 88 (42) - - 46
Mission Rabies 166 86 (252) - - -
Total restricted income funds 1,853 6,155 (7,371) - - 638
Endowment funds
Gertrude R Clarke 242 - - - - 242
Frank Goddard Jackson 670 - - - - 670
Total endowment funds 912 - - - - 912
Total funds 209,853 136,045 (138,649) - 1,884 209,134

Following updated technical advice, the revaluation reserve has been restated to only include revaluations relating to the Charity’s investment property. This fund previously included gains and losses related to the Charity’s listed investments portfolio, however these gains and losses are now recognised as a movement in free reserves.

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

90

highlights2024 Strategic focuses Foundations Fundraising strategyNew Financial review —_

Contact us

Total funds (continued)

Details of the use of designated funds can be found in the reserves policy on page 61. Details of the use of endowment and restricted funds can be found in the accounting policy on page 61.

15. Analysis of Group net assets between funds

Represented in 2024 by: Unrestricted
£000s		 Restricted
£000s		 Endowment
£000s		 Total
£000s
Tangible fixed assets 91,739 - - 91,739
Investments 67,062 - 670 67,732
Stock 550 - - 550
Debtors 40,584 - - 40,584
Cash at bank and in hand 14,560 1,158 242 15,960
Current liabilities (8,654) - - (8,654)
Provision for liabilities (3,390) - - (3,390)
Total net assets 202,451 1,158 912 204,521
Represented in 2023 by: Unrestricted
£000s		 Restricted
£000s		 Endowment
£000s		 Total
£000s
Tangible fixed assets 90,846 - - 90,846
Investments 71,934 - 670 72,604
Stock 450 - - 450
Debtors 33,878 - - 33,878
Cash at bank and in hand 25,997 637 242 26,876
Current liabilities (11,966) - - (11,966)
Provision for liabilities (3,554) - - (3,554)
Total net assets 207,585 637 912 209,134

16. Operating leases

The following future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases are payable for each of the following periods:

Group Charity
2024
2024		 2024
2023
2024
2024
2024		 2023
£000s
£000s		 £000s
£000s
£000s
£000s
£000s		 £000s
Land and
buildings
Motor
vehicles		 Total
Total
Land and
buildings
Motor
vehicles
Total		 Total
Within one year 625
6		 631
634
623
6
629		 -
Between one and five years 1,036
1,178		 2,214
1,701
1,008
1,178
2,186		 -
After five years -
-		 -
-
-
-
-		 -
1,661
1,184		 2,845
2,335
1,631
1,184
2,815		 -

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

91

New Financial strategy review

2024 Strategic highlights focuses

Foundations

Fundraising

Contact us

17. Grant commitments

As at 31 December 2024, the following expected future grant payments to partner organisations are expected, if conditions are met by the recipient as the grant falls due:

2024 2023
£000s £000s
Within one year 538 976
Between one and five years 1,000 1,000
1,538 1,976

18. CBR bursary commitments

As at 31 December 2024, the following expected future payments to bursary recipients are expected, if conditions are met by the recipient as the bursary falls due:

2024 2023
£000s £000s
Within one year 40 40
Between one and five years 41 62
81 102

19. Capital commitments

Council have authorised the following major development project expenditure over the next five years:

Authorised and contracted Authorised not contracted Total
Redevelopment of centres £000s £000s £000s
Ballymena 116 - 116
Glasgow - 4,150 4,150
Leeds - 555 555
Kenilworth - 2,975 2,975
Merseyside - 11,334 11,334
Basildon - 150 150
Harefield 502 - 502
Canterbury - 30 30
Cardiff - 75 75
Darlington - 50 50
Loughborough - 30 30
Manchester - 101 101
West Calder - 10,642 10,642
Salisbury - 30 30
Shoreham - 30 30
Snetterton - 30 30
Other - 9,398 9,398
Total 618 39,580 40,198

20. Contingent liabilities

The Charity has given an indemnity to repay £1.6 million (2023: £1.6 million) related to legacy bequests, should the relevant estates be claimed against.

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

92

Financial review —_

New Financial strategy review

2024 Strategic Foundations highlights focuses

Fundraising

Contact us

21. Related party transactions

In accordance with Financial Reporting Standard 102, the related party transactions entered into by the Charity are detailed below. All transactions that arose were in the normal course of business.

During the year a grant of £1,731,000 (2023: £2,844,000) was granted to Dogs Trust Ireland CLG in support of its work. £11,000 (2023: £14,000) was owed to the Charity from Dogs Trust Ireland CLG at the year end.

The Charity invoiced £10,000 (2023: £10,000) for office services provided to Dogs Trust Promotions Limited, a subsidiary of the Charity. Dogs Trust Promotions Limited gifts its taxable profits to the Charity each year; in 2024, this amounted to £274,000 (2023: £149,000). The Charity was owed £501,000 (2023: £1,237,000) by Dogs Trust Promotions Limited at the the year end.

Grants totalling £591,000 (2023: £nil) were paid to Dogs Trust USA in 2024 in support of its work. Of this amount, £nil was oustanding at the year end (2023: £nil). Dogs Trust USA owed £nil (2023: £344,000) to the Charity at year end.

Grants totalling £1,970,000 (2023: £1,644,000) were paid to Dogs Trust Foundation Bosnia by the Charity in 2024 in support of its work. Of this amount, £nil was outstanding at the year end (2023: £nil). Dogs Trust Foundation Bosnia owed £nil (2023: £nil) to the Charity at the year end.

Grants totalling £1,379,000 (2023: £1,293,000) were paid to Soi Dog Foundation, a charity whose trustees include Mr P Daubeny, who was a director of the Charity in 2024. Of this amount, £nil was outstanding at the year end.

Grants totalling £134,000 (2023: £97,000) were paid to the University of Edinburgh. Prof D Argyle and Mrs S Murphy, who were directors of the Charity in both years, are employees of the University of Edinburgh. Of this amount, £nil was outstanding at the year end (2023: £nil).

Grants totalling £7,565,000 (2023: £2,934,000) were paid to Worldwide Veterinary Service in 2024 in support of its work. Of this amount, £nil was oustanding at the year end (2023: £nil). Grants totalling £262,000 (2023: £nil) were paid from Dogs Trust USA to Worldwide Veterinary Service in 2024. Of this amount, £nil was oustanding at the year end (2023: £nil).

22. Contingent legacy income

In addition to the legacy income recognised in the SOFA, by the 31 December 2024, the Charity had been notified of 377 residuary legacies (2023: 299 residuary legacies) with a total estimated value of £25,455,000 (2023: £28,617,000). These legacies do not satisfy the criteria relating to probability and/or reliable estimate required by our accounting policy to recognise the income during the year. They are therefore disclosed here as a contingent asset.

23. Financial instruments

The Charity’s financial instruments comprise fixed asset investments (see note 9) measured at fair value through profit or loss, and other financial assets, which comprise cash, trade debtors and other debtors (see note 11), and financial liabilities, which comprise trade creditors and other creditors (see note 12), measured at amortised cost.

The Charity uses foreign exchange forward contracts to manage its exposure to foreign currency exchange risks. The fair value of these instruments is calculated at the balance sheet date by comparison between the rate implicit in the contract and the exchange rate at that date. The relevant forward exchange rate used is sterling:euro. At 31 December 2024, the Charity had no outstanding forward currency commitments (2023: €nil).

24. Post balance sheet events

The Charity is currently going through a strategic transformation to deliver its new strategy. Following a collective staff consultation which ended in May 2025, 307 roles have been confirmed to be at risk of redundancy, with at least 290 redeployment opportunities. Individual consultations are currently underway with affected member of staff.

One of the Charity’s head offices, Clarissa Baldwin House, was listed for sale prior to 31 December 2024. Completion of the sale took place in July 2025. The amount received from the sale does not indicate any impairment to the value of the building is required in these financial statements.

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

93

highlights2024 Strategic focuses Foundations Fundraising strategyNew Financial review Contact us

25. Merger accounting disclosures

25. Merger accounting disclosures
Dogs Trust Dogs Trust Dogs Trust Combined total
Analysis of principle SOFA components for the current reporting Worldwide (pre-merger) “new charity”
period: (pre-merger) (post-merger)
£000s £000s £000s £000s
Total income - 63,621 71,335 134,956
Total expenditure (1,511) (64,439) (72,435) (138,385)
Net income/ (expenditure) (1,511) (818) (1,100) (3,429)
Other gains/ (losses) - 69 (37) 32
Net movement in funds (1,511) (749) (1,137) (3,397)
Dogs Trust Dogs Trust Combined total
Analysis of principal SOFA components for the previous reporting period: Worldwide
(pre-merger)		 (pre-merger)
£000s £000s £000s
Total income 6,938 126,249 133,187
Total expenditure (6,854) (127,426) (134,280)
Net income/ (expenditure) 84 (1,177) (1,093)
Other gains/ (losses) - - -
Net movement in funds 84 (1,177) (1,093)
Total funds brought forward 258 204,223 204,481
Total funds carried forward 342 203,046 203,388
Dogs Trust Dogs Trust Combined total
Analysis of net assets at the date of merger: Worldwide
£000s £000s £000s
Net assets 110 202,799 202,909
Represented by:
Unrestricted funds 110 201,431 201,541
Restricted income funds - 456 456
Endowment funds - 912 912
Total funds 110 202,799 202,909

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

94

highlights2024 Strategic focuses Foundations Fundraising strategyNew Financial review —_

Contact us

26. Pro forma balance sheet

On 1 July, halfway through the financial year, Dogs Trust (“the legacy Charity”) transferred all of its activity, assets and liabilities to Dogs Trust Worldwide, except those related to its lottery and raffle activity. These consolidated financial statements are required to show the Charity-only balance sheet balances for both 2024 and 2023. Therefore, the Charity-only columns on the balance sheet on page 73 present the amounts relating to the “new Charity”, formerly known as Dogs Trust Worldwide, which in 2023 included solely the assets and liabilities relating to the international activity of Dogs Trust Worldwide. For comparative purposes, this note to the accounts presents the balance sheet using the 2023 Charity-only balances of the legacy Charity to demonstrate a more like-for-like comparison of the assets and liablilities of the main entity of the Group year-on-year:

Consolidated Charity
2024 2023
2024		 2023
£000s £000s
£000s		 £000s
Fixed Assets
Tangible fixed assets
73,214		 76,043
70,142		 72,908
Intangible fixed assets
18,525		 14,803
17,697		 14,067
Investments
67,732		 72,604
67,732		 72,604
159,471
163,450
155,571		 159,579
Current Assets
550		 450
384		 382
Stock
40,584		 33,878
40,330		 34,717
Debtors
15,960		 26,876
12,994		 22,748
Cash at bank and in hand
57,094		 61,204
53,708		 57,847
Creditors:amounts falling due within one year
(8,654)
(11,966)
(7,417)		 (10,826)
Net Current Assets
48,440		 49,238
46,291		 47,021
Provisions for liabilities
(3,390)		 (3,554)
(3,390)		 (3,554)
Net Assets
204,521
209,134
198,472		 203,046
The Funds of the Charity
Unrestricted funds
Revaluation reserve
(1,260)		 (960)
(1,260)		 (960)
Designated reserves: Development fund
40,198		 31,916
40,198		 31,916
Designated reserves: Grants fund
1,538		 1,976
1,538		 1,976
Designated reserves: Fixed asset reserve
91,739		 90,847
87,839		 86,975
Designated reserves: CBR Bursary reserve
81		 102
81		 102
Free reserves
70,155		 83,703
68,008		 81,487
Total unrestricted funds
202,451
207,584
196,404		 201,496
Restricted income funds
1,158		 638
1,156		 638
Endowment funds
912		 912
912		 912
Total Group/Charity Funds
204,521
209,134
198,472		 203,046

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

95

Financial

2024 Strategic Foundations highlights focuses

New strategy

Fundraising

review

----- Start of picture text -----
Contact us
----- End of picture text -----

Contact us

Registered address: 17 Wakley Street, London EC1V 7RQ

Tel: 0303 003 0000

Where to find us

To find opening times and directions for any of our rehoming centres, please visit dogstrust.org.uk/our-centres To find your nearest Dog School, please visit dogstrust.org.uk/dogschool

To find your local Dogs Trust charity shop, please visit dogstrust.org.uk/support-us/our-shops/charity-shops

----- Start of picture text -----
Glasgow West Calder
TS
Ballymena Darlington
Leeds
Merseyside
Manchester
Dublin
ye
Loughborough
¥ Shrewsbury A : ee
Kenilworth Snetterton
Evesham ¢ om ;
London (Harefield)
Cardiff
—o a Newbury
Bridgend Basildon
: Salisbury $ a iJ Canterbury
Ilfracombe Shoreham
----- End of picture text -----

External advisors

Auditors: Crowe U.K. LLP, 55 Ludgate Hill, London, EC4M 7JW Investment advisors: Sarasin & Partners LLP, Juxon House, 100 St Paul’s Churchyard, London, EC4M 8BU

Dogs Trust

Annual Report 2024

96

New Financial Contact us strategy review

2024 Strategic highlights focuses

Foundations

Fundraising

Image credits

Dogs Trust Kelly Atkinson Martin Phelps Dogs Trust Beth Walsh Lauren Killeen

Leila Hay Mission Rabies Soi Dog Foundation

Fran Veale

Page 34 Fran Veale Page 35 Richard Murgatroyd Page 36 Humane Society of Sonoma County

Page 37 Dogs Trust Page 38 Peters Doug Peters Page 39 Lauren Killeen Leila Hay

Getty Images: Hannah Peters Richard Murgatroyd Doug Peters

Page 40-41 Page 42

Dogs Trust Kelly Atkinson Euan Cherry/PA

Page 44 Dogs Trust Page 46 Scarlett Brophy Page 47 Clive Tagg Page 48 Kevin Johnson Page 49 Scarlett Brophy Page 50-53 Dogs Trust Page 54 Edgard & Cooper Foundation

Page 55

Dogs Trust Soi Dog Foundation Petplan

People’s Postcode Lottery Ring

Page 56 Page 58-96

Scarlett Brophy

Daniel Godfrey

Back page

Design: Anna Mackee annamackee.com

----- Start of picture text -----
Dogs Trust Annual Report 2024
----- End of picture text -----

97

A dog is for life ® © Dogs Trust 2025

Dogs Trust is a charity registered in England and Wales (1167663), and in Scotland (SC053144), and a company limited by guarantee registered in England and Wales (09365971).

dogstrust.org.uk info@dogstrust.org.uk @dogstrust @dogstrust facebook.com/dogstrust youtube.com/dogstrust @dogstrust