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2025-03-31-accounts

ANNUAL RE ACCOUNT RN Supporting people who are deaf, have hearing loss or tinnitus /*

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OUR YEAR IN NUMBERS: 30,000+ 230,000 people signed up to support our It does matter campaign took our RNID hearing check 10 new research grants awarded

2 fellowships and 4 PhD studentships funded

Over 3,800 HSBC employees took bespoke deaf awareness training

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38,371 people supported in person 54% increase in volunteer time given from 2023/24 £13.2M fundraising income raised

2 new fundraising activities launched

CONTENTS

Strategic report
3
Chair’s foreword
4
Chief Executive’s foreword
6
Public beneft
8
Our values
10
Our plans for 2024-2025
12
Our achievements and performance:
Inclusion
14
Health
20
Employment
26
Biomedical Research
28
Communities
32
Fundraising and Engagement
36
Our plans for 2025-26
40
Trustees’ and
Directors’ report
44
Structure, Governance
and Management
44
Financial summary and review
48
Rest of Trustees Report
50
Financial statements
58

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CHAIR’S FOREWORD

EWEN STEVENSON

It is a real pleasure to be again writing this Chair’s Statement for RNID. Having been in role for three years now, I continue to be delighted with the progress we are making. With one in three adults in the UK being deaf, having hearing loss or tinnitus, there is an urgent need for RNID to help lead the debate in the UK on how we can improve the lives of so many of us who have some form of hearing loss, deafness or tinnitus.

I myself became permanently deaf in my left ear over a decade ago. I understand the daily struggle this brings, and it led me to becoming actively involved in RNID – first as a donor, and now as Chair of the Board. I would encourage you to think about how you can help – whether as a donor to RNID, leaving a legacy in your Will, or as a volunteer for various activities we provide to the public. Hearing loss is currently significantly under-represented in share of mind among charitable causes, and we at RNID are committed to making a profound difference in the coming years on how it is discussed and focused upon in the UK.

Over the last year, we have continued to make significant progress on our strategy. At the forefront of this is being clearer on our longterm vision – we are committed to working towards a cure for hearing loss and removing barriers to inclusion through the power of technology. As we deliver this, we will be ambitious about our reach across society to a mass audience and about changing systems that have the biggest impact on people who are deaf, have hearing loss or tinnitus.

Last summer we welcomed the opportunity to work with a new government, and we have had strong early engagement on a range of key issues ranging from looking at how we can make it easier to access hearing health, to the potential of technology for our communities (including Artificial Intelligence (AI) in British Sign Language). But we know that the government is having to make difficult funding choices, and that those decisions are having an impact on the provision of services and funding to those who have a hearing issue.

On the positive side, technological change and progress in biomedical research is

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“ Technological change and progress in biomedical research is accelerating, which gives us hope that over the next two decades we can see profound progress on substantially reducing or eliminating the impacts of hearing loss. ”

accelerating, which gives us hope that over the next two decades we can see profound progress on substantially reducing or eliminating the impacts of hearing loss. As the largest dedicated funder of hearing research in the United Kingdom in this area, and a core supporter to the next generation of leading hearing health researchers through our sponsorship of a number of UK post-doctorate students, we can see the impact we are having on ensuring a thriving UK research community.

We have also been excited this year by our engagement with a number of large corporates. There has been a profound and positive shift in the attitude of many of these organisations over the last few years, with real leadership being shown in ensuring that their disabled employees and customers feel more included. At RNID, we are committed to partnering with these corporates to help facilitate their inclusion goals.

Supporting our strategic goals has been

the material strengthening of our financial position over the last few years. Our funding continues to be critically dependent on the support of many people who generously leave us legacy gifts as part of their estate planning. Diversifying and further growing our nonlegacy funding base is a critical part of our strategy, and this in turn is critically dependent on charitable giving from both the public and corporates.

All of the above would not be possible without the very strong support from many volunteers, donors and supporters across the UK. I would like to say many thanks to all of you, and my fellow trustees and I really appreciate your ongoing efforts to support RNID.

I would also likely to personally thank my fellow trustees for their continuing efforts to support RNID. Among the trustees, we have seen several changes this year with three trustees standing down from the Board (Lindsay Foster, Gideon Hoffman and Claire Bailey), and two new trustees (Jessica Rasmussen and Chloe Smith) joining. Each of Lindsay, Gideon and Claire were great contributors to the Board over my tenure, and I look forward to continuing to work with Chloe and Jessica on the Board over the coming years.

Finally, I would like to take the opportunity to thank our CEO Harriet Oppenheimer, her management team, and all of the RNID employees: a committed team of over 150 people who work tirelessly to further the strategy of RNID.

Thank you very much again to all of you who help support us. It is an important cause, and I speak for both trustees and the staff team when I say a huge thank you for all that you do for RNID.

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CHIEF EXECUTIVE’S FOREWORD

HARRIET OPPENHEIMER

I’m really pleased to be writing this foreword to our Annual Report and Accounts for 2024-2025. On a personal level, it’s the first full year I can reflect on from the position of CEO, and I feel extremely proud of how much impact RNID has achieved over those 12 months. Where I’ve talked about the previous year as feeling like a tipping point for RNID, this has been a year where it has really felt like we are flying as an organisation.

Our four strategic programmes – biomedical research, inclusion, health and employment – have been established now for a number of years. I’m delighted to share with you the real-world examples of progress across all of these areas that this report contains. With these programmes running and reaching some of the ambitious milestones we set out in our theories of change, this year we’ve been working alongside our Board to set out our longer-term vision more clearly by framing our work in three dimensions:

In each of these, we’ve made big steps forward over the year.

When we think about changing the systems and services that we all use and rely on, one thing that really leaps out to me is our work in biomedical research. This year we celebrated 25 years of RNID’s funding of research into effective cures and treatments for hearing loss and tinnitus. This is work that is already changing lives: an example being of a rapid genetic test used to identify and save the hearing of babies who are at high risk of deafness if treated with a particular type of antibiotic. This is real-world impact borne of the investment we – uniquely – make in early stage hearing research every year.

Another area we’ve been prioritising this year is the role of technology in making services accessible for our communities. We’re one of the leading voices championing the potential of Auracast – the latest version of Bluetooth that will allow broadcast of high-quality audio to earbuds or hearing aids without the need

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“ The ‘It does matter’ campaign boils down a huge amount of robust and detailed data into a simple insight: that being included in conversations does matter – and it gives everyone the simple communications tips and basic BSL phrases to be able to do that. ”

for individual pairing – to revolutionise how services like public transport can work for people with hearing loss. We’re leading sector conversations on what the future of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in British Sign Language (BSL) looks like. And we’re in conversations with some of the biggest innovators in the sector.

When we think about changing society, a highlight for me was the launch of our ‘It does matter’ campaign back in May. It’s a campaign based on the biggest piece of social research we have ever done into the attitudes the public hold about people who are deaf or have hearing loss, and how our communities experience those attitudes. The ‘It does matter’ campaign boils down a huge amount of robust and

detailed data into a simple insight: that being included in conversations does matter – and it gives everyone the simple communications tips and basic BSL phrases to be able to do that. In our first year of the campaign we’ve seen fantastic levels of engagement with that simple message, taking people on a journey to help them become more inclusive in daily life.

And when we think about changing lives one by one, it has been a year with a lot to celebrate. For me, a particularly exciting part is that thanks to funding from the National Lottery Community Fund in Wales and a number of NHS trusts in England, we are moving into the new year preparing to open six new RNID Near You services across 11 communities, which we hope will reach 2,500 people this year with practical help and support in their own neighbourhood.

If that paints a very positive picture, then that’s because this year has been full of positive moves forward, increased impact for our communities and progress in some key strategic areas. But, clearly, delivering such a varied programme of work isn’t without its challenges. For RNID, we have continued to find over the last year that the work to get our systems strengthened and ready to help us grow our reach has continued to be challenging. We are coming to the end of our work to embed a new CRM, a project that has not been smooth, but is now set to take our ability to provide a brilliant experience for our supporters to the next level.

Overall, 2024-2025 has been a year of collaborative, insightful, impactful work for us all to be proud of – whether that’s as a member of the team, a supporter, a volunteer, a trustee, a partner or from me as Chief Executive. I feel incredibly privileged to be at the helm of RNID, and I’m looking forward to making an even greater impact in the coming years.

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PUBLIC BENEFIT

RNID is a charity which exists to improve the lives of more than 18 million people in the UK who are deaf, have hearing loss or tinnitus, as well as their friends and families and the wider public.

As we deliver our strategy, our reach across communities is growing. We are having an increasingly powerful impact at all levels of society – from government policy-makers to employers, and from health professionals to individual family members.

This report highlights our key activities and plans, and demonstrates the value the charity delivers.

RNID Annual Report and Accounts 2024125 r_l /J

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OUR VALUES

Our values lie at the heart of everything we do. At RNID we use them to challenge ourselves, to frame conversations and guide our own behaviours both internally and externally.

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Connected

We’re naturally collaborative with colleagues and partners, and deeply connected to our communities.

Passionate

We’re passionate about our purpose, and dynamic and ambitious about making change happen.

Curious

We’re innovative, outward looking and open-minded in everything we do.

Insightful

We’re grounded in evidence and insight, meaning we’re confident in who we are and what we do.

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OUR PLANS FOR 2024-2025

What we said we’d do:

Inclusion

Biomedical research

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Health

Employment

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OUR ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE: INCLUSION

Challenging barriers, driving real-world change

RNID’s Inclusion Programme aims to remove societal, structural, and attitudinal barriers for people who are deaf, have hearing loss or tinnitus. In 2024/25, we delivered targeted, high-impact work that influenced legislation, changed public behaviour, and helped shape more accessible businesses and services, all rooted in the voices and experiences of our communities.

IT DOES MATTER: CAMPAIGNING TO SHIFT PUBLIC ATTITUDES

Launched during Deaf Awareness Week 2024, our ‘It does matter’ campaign tackles the everyday exclusion that people who are deaf or have hearing loss routinely face. Based on insights from the RNID Big Survey, the campaign raised awareness of the impact of dismissive behaviour, such as failing to repeat something when asked. We illustrated this through the stories of a diverse range of people who are deaf or have hearing loss and their families.

“One of the worst things is when people say something I miss and when asked to repeat they say ‘oh it doesn’t matter’. It probably didn’t matter to them at the time, but it makes me feel I don’t matter.”

Over the rest of the year, we were able to use the deep knowledge gained from the survey to highlight the impact of public attitudes on diverse communities, especially BSL users.

The research also demonstrated that the hearing public were willing to learn new ways of communicating, so we responded with a toolkit of accessible resources, simple BSL phrases, and communication tips. Provided through a six week programme of emails, these proved hugely popular. The campaign exceeded expectations with over 30,000 people signing up for communication tips, 90% of whom were new to RNID.

“I think most people mean well but they don’t have the education and tools to know how to communicate with deaf and hard of hearing people effectively”

Coverage spanned BBC’s The One Show, Sky News, LBC, Times Radio and over 400 media outlets and it gave a voice to survey participants like the one who shared:

Quote from RNID Big Survey

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CHAMPIONING DEMOCRATIC INCLUSION

When the surprise General Election was called in May 2024, we acted swiftly to ensure accessibility for voters who are deaf or have hearing loss. We created accessible voting resources in partnership with the Electoral Commission and publicly highlighted the absence of a BSL interpreter during the Prime Minister’s announcement, a broken promise that we challenged in national media.

We offered interpreters to all political parties for their first major speeches and co-signed a joint statement with the British Deaf Association. These efforts led to contact with the incoming Labour Government and strengthened our coalition work across the deaf sector.

In Spring 2025, we relaunched BSL-led resources in partnership with the Electoral Commission to support accessible participation in the local

elections. We also published our Loud and Clear manifesto setting out our vision for a more inclusive political system.

LEGISLATIVE SUCCESS: MEDIA BILL PASSED INTO LAW

Following years of RNID advocacy, the Media Bill passed into law much earlier than expected. This landmark legislation ensures that subtitles, BSL interpretation, and audio description are now mandated across video-on-demand platforms aligning them with traditional broadcast standards.

We are now working with Ofcom to ensure strong implementation and accountability. This change has the potential to dramatically improve access to entertainment and news for millions of people who are deaf or have hearing loss.

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Sarah Adedeji, 24, from Erith, South East London, is deaf. She said:

“There’s a lot of stigma and misconceptions around deafness. People told my mum I wouldn’t amount to anything and that I wouldn’t be able to accomplish some things because of my hearing loss.

There was a lot of friction between us and family gatherings were difficult. My family didn’t learn to sign, so I had to rely on speech and lipreading which was often tiring and isolating.

Sometimes in a group conversation I wouldn’t catch something and people would say ‘oh it doesn’t matter’. Or people assumed that because I can lipread, I can hear. At some point, I would get listening fatigue and retreat into myself. It was damaging, but I just had to put up with it.

It was my mum who encouraged me to become an audiologist. She saw that I could be a role model and that’s what kick-started my interest. Being a black deaf person in audiology, I’m already changing perceptions and that’s what I want to do. I’m already making little waves that hopefully become bigger waves.”

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OUR ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE: INCLUSION

SHAPING THE FUTURE OF ACCESSIBLE TECHNOLOGY

We continued our work exploring Auracast , a next-generation Bluetooth technology that can revolutionise access to audio in public spaces, from train stations to theatres. To raise awareness and drive adoption:

MAKING BUSINESSES

BETTER FOR OUR COMMUNITIES

RNID worked with key industries to improve accessibility across the customer journey. Our work in banking and finance included participation in UK Finance’s Accessible Banking forums and collaborations with EY and other partners to improve access.

This work was recognised in the UK Government’s Disability & Access Ambassadors Impact Report , which highlighted RNID’s behind-the-scenes efforts to create inclusive change. Much of this advocacy happens out of public view, working directly with firms and government, but its impact is significant, improving real-world access to essential services.

In our wider partnership with BT , we delivered a review of their digital switchover communications for landlines, providing important feedback on what information may be relevant to our audiences, helping them improve how they inform customers with hearing loss about critical changes to technology and telephony.

“This (Auracast) report is the most comprehensive report I’ve seen to date on the ecosystem in a hearing impaired context. This is a must read for installers, inclusive strategists, venue managers and equipment manufacturers”

Thomas Olsgaard, Principal Engineer - GN Group

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ADVOCATING ACROSS THE UK:

A UNITED DEAF SECTOR

In Scotland, we responded quickly when Contact Scotland BSL , the country’s national BSL video relay service, was threatened with closure. RNID, alongside the Scottish Sensory Hub and sector partners, launched a coordinated advocacy campaign.

Within two weeks, following pressure at the Scottish Parliament’s Cross-Party Group on Deafness and First Minister’s Questions, the First Minister committed to maintaining the service . This was a striking example of effective, rapid, cross-sector action securing a vital service for the community.

We also pushed forward in Northern Ireland

and Wales , lobbying for the introduction of Sign Language Acts , while building coalitions to amplify our shared goals.

CHAMPIONING INCLUSION:

#UNSILENCETHECROWD

In a standout moment for public awareness, we partnered with Newcastle United and Sela to deliver the #UnsilenceTheCrowd campaign. Fans who are deaf or have hearing loss experienced a football match wearing haptic shirts that brought sound to life through touch, with the RNID logo proudly displayed on players’ shirts. This campaign reached millions via national press and BBC coverage. The impact on both brand awareness and inclusion was significant, with a marked uptick in website visits and social media engagement.

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OUR ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE: HEALTH

Putting hearing on the health agenda

In 2024/25, our Health Programme focused on reaching underserved groups, influencing national and devolved health policies, and building pathways for people to take the first step in addressing their hearing loss. From tackling inequalities to shaping national audiology strategies, our work empowered thousands to take control of their hearing journey.

HEARING CHECK: SCALING ACCESS AND ACTION

Our free online hearing check continued to be one of RNID’s most powerful tools for early intervention. In 2024/25, over 230,000 hearing checks were completed – a crucial first step on someone’s hearing health journey. We enhanced the hearing check with locally tailored guidance to support self-referral to audiology in RNID Near You locations. This update offered individuals a clearer route to follow-up support, removing barriers to timely care, acting as an enabler for people to take action and get help when they need it.

I don’t need to use subtitles when watching TV, and I hear things (e.g. birdsong) without having to actively listen for them.”

To extend the reach of the check, we piloted new approaches with community-based organisations and charities that serve groups currently underrepresented in our user data. These pilots will inform a wider rollout in 2025/26, with a continued focus on addressing health inequalities.

The impact was significant:

“This feels like a much more modern, educated way of getting something done about (hearing loss), earlier in life “

Feedback from a hearing check user

One user shared:

“I feel like I’m less tired because I don’t have to concentrate as hard on hearing/listening.

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CHANGING BEHAVIOURS: PROTECTING HEARING FOR THE FUTURE

We expanded our hearing protection work to raise awareness among high-risk audiences. In summer 2024, polling of festivalgoers revealed that 58% had experienced tinnitus or temporary hearing loss after exposure to loud music. We responded with a targeted campaign featuring DJ and tinnitus advocate Tre Lowe , reaching festival audiences with critical messages about hearing protection.

This work complements our longer-term ambition to reduce preventable hearing loss through public engagement and evidencebased interventions.

We also explored how reframing hearing aids as high-tech lifestyle products could reduce stigma, particularly among men. Insights from our behaviour change research are helping to shape future campaigns to make hearing care more relatable and appealing across demographics.

CAMPAIGNING FOR FAIR

ACCESS TO EAR WAX REMOVAL

Building on the success of 2023’s Blocked Ears, Blocked Access campaign, RNID returned to the issue of NHS ear wax services with a followup report: Stop the Block . We highlighted the ongoing postcode lottery in access to wax removal across England’s Integrated Care Boards (ICBs). Although some progress had been made, our research showed that 1 in 3 people still found private wax removal unaffordable. We called on NHS England and policymakers to prioritise equitable, free-atthe-point-of-use access.

Left untreated, wax build-up can cause hearing loss, tinnitus, infections, poor mental health and people can be denied access to essential audiological care or diagnosis. This disproportionately affects older people and those already experiencing barriers to healthcare. Our advocacy continues to press for fair and universal provision of this basic but essential service.

OUR ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE: HEALTH

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Audrey Houghton, 70, from Biggleswade has recurring ear wax build-up which affects her hearing. The impact on her life of not having ear wax treatment was significant.

“I was isolated. I just felt like giving up. I couldn’t go out. I thought I’d have to stay at home indefinitely. I used to go to keep fit class, which I stopped going to. I stopped shopping as I couldn’t really understand what the cashier was saying. I was relying on my daughter to do things for me, and it was quite depressing and draining. I was exhausted and became frustrated with myself.”

After being persuaded to get treatment by her daughter Audrey said:

“If it wasn’t for my daughter, I would’ve thought ‘Well this is it’. I like going out, I like people, I like doing things. Now I’m going to go to my keep fit class, I’m going to go dancing, I’m getting my life back.

I didn’t realise that it’s a postcode lottery getting ear wax removal and that in some places you can still get the service for free. It’s not fair to do that. For deaf people and hard of hearing people, daily life is difficult enough as it is.”

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OUR ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE: HEALTH

IMPROVING SERVICES THROUGH NATIONAL INFLUENCE

This year, we built on the success of our 2024 In Their Own Words report, a detailed exploration of people’s experiences with NHS audiology services. These insights have become the foundation for high-level engagement with:

“I believe the advancements in the next 10 years will be significant, particularly in regenerative medicine and gene therapy. We need scientists, doctors, policy makers, and charities to work together to make this happen.”

In Scotland, we worked with the government to support the implementation of the Scottish Audiology Review , pressing for improved quality and consistency in adult audiology services. In Wales, we supported health partners to embed innovation and improvement into future audiology delivery models.

Dr Devina Maru, Primary Care Doctor with ENT Specialist Interest.

At the heart of this work is the voice of our communities, shaping systems, not just reacting to them.

REIMAGINING HEARING HEALTH:

A COLLABORATIVE VISION

RNID began laying the groundwork for a bold new initiative, Reimagining Hearing Health in the UK , to bring together health leaders, technologists, researchers, and service users to co-create a modern vision for hearing care.

We are working with influential figures including Dr Dave Smith , UK National Technology Adviser, to position RNID as a convenor of cross-sector innovation. Our ambition is to accelerate the adoption of new models, technologies, and pathways that improve outcomes for those with hearing loss and tinnitus.

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TOOLS FOR EVERYDAY HEARING SUCCESS

We launched a new digital resource: Get the Most from Your Hearing Aids . Developed by researchers at the University of Nottingham, this toolkit supports users with practical strategies, real-life stories, and audiology advice to enhance hearing aid use. In its first five-month pilot, over 1,000 people accessed the toolkit, marking a strong early uptake for a tool that aims to boost long-term hearing aid success through behaviour change.

PARTNERSHIP FOR ACCESS TO HEALTH

In 2024/25, we also began an ambitious new three-year partnership with Shionogi , a global pharmaceutical company with a vision of improving access to healthcare.

This project, focused on Access to Health, will support individuals to understand and assert their healthcare rights. It will also provide healthcare providers with tools to meet patient communication needs and address communication barriers in clinical environments for those who are deaf or have hearing loss.

By working at both individual and systemic levels, this partnership aims to embed equity and accessibility across the health journey, aligned with our strategic objectives, aiming to ensure our communities have equal access to all the health and support they need, when they need it.

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OUR ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE: EMPLOYMENT

Driving inclusive workplaces and equitable opportunity

For people who are deaf, have hearing loss or tinnitus, access to fair, inclusive employment remains a persistent barrier to equity. This year our Employment Programme focused on tackling these challenges at their root, shaping government policy, empowering employees, and helping employers create environments where everyone can thrive.

EMPOWERING EMPLOYERS: FROM TRAINING TO TRANSFORMATION

RNID continued to work directly with employers to improve understanding, confidence, and practices around supporting staff with hearing loss, whilst our deaf awareness training and workplace assessments helped teams create more inclusive workplaces.

One major highlight was the launch of a new strategic collaboration with HSBC UK. We are currently working together to raise awareness of hearing loss and how best to support employees in their working environment, with the goal of embedding accessibility and inclusivity throughout HSBC’s workforce. The next stage will involve raising accessibility standards in the customer experience.

Together with HSBC, we are helping ensure that leaders and customer facing teams alike have the skills, behaviours and processes to best meet the needs of colleagues and customers who are deaf or have hearing loss. So far, over 4,000 employees have benefited from the bespoke deaf awareness training that

we advised on the implementation of with the company.

SECTOR LEADERSHIP

THROUGH COLLABORATION

We remained an active member of the

Disability Charities Consortium , ensuring our communities are represented in crosssector policy initiatives. Through this work, we helped shape the UK Government’s Disability and Work Strategy in Northern Ireland , which was approved by senior officials and is now awaiting Ministerial approval. Once implemented in April 2025, the strategy is expected to provide a stronger framework for employment inclusion and support across the region.

Our behind-the-scenes work was recognised in the UK Government’s Disability & Access Ambassadors Impact Report , which cited RNID’s influence on improving employment policy and practice, particularly in financial services. While much of this work is done quietly and collaboratively, the results are significant and enduring.

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TOOLS FOR ACCESS: DRIVING

AWARENESS AND PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS

In a year marked by policy progress, we launched vital new tools to support day-today workplace inclusion. Key among these was our input into adapting the Department for Work and Pensions’ Health Adjustment Passport for British Sign Language (BSL) users, now available as the Access to Work BSL Adjustment Planner . This tool enables more effective conversations between employees and employers about adjustments and provides critical guidance for those applying for Access to Work grants.

Through our work with the BSL Advisory Board , we continued shaping inclusive policymaking, ensuring BSL users are central to the development of guidance, resources, and legislation affecting them.

Reasonable Adjustments Forum , bringing RNID’s evidence base and lived-experience insights directly into decision making.

We were commissioned by Social Care Wales to produce a technology review of the accessibility features of video conferencing platforms in the context of the multi-lingual (English, Welsh and BSL) requirements of the organisation.

EMBEDDING ACCESSIBILITY

INTO GOVERNMENT POLICY

We contributed to the Welsh Parliament’s Equality and Social Justice Committee Disability Employment Inquiry , highlighting the systemic barriers people face in Wales and called for clear actions to improve support for deaf individuals in the workforce. Our submission will inform the Committee’s report and shape recommendations to the Welsh Government.

We also regularly contributed to the DWP

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OUR ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE: BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH

Advancing treatments, building futures

RNID’s Biomedical Research Programme exists to unlock breakthroughs in understanding, preventing, and treating hearing loss and tinnitus. In 2024/25, we funded cutting-edge science, helped grow the next generation of hearing researchers, and influenced national health decisions, all while strengthening our position as a global leader in hearing therapeutics.

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pharmaceutical interventions. It paves the way for future therapies, reinforces the importance of research, and validates the central mission of RNID’s research strategy.

“RNID plays an incredibly important role in supporting research directed towards delivering treatments for hearing loss. It provides support for groundbreaking research but also for training the next generation of researchers in the UK.”

Professor Jonathan Gale, University College London

INVESTING IN THE FUTURE OF HEARING SCIENCE

RNID continued to grow the field by funding new talent.

This year, we awarded:

A HISTORIC NHS MILESTONE

This year saw a major breakthrough in our mission to bring treatments to the people who need them. Following evidence and expert insight submitted by RNID, NICE approved a drug to prevent hearing loss in children undergoing cancer treatment with cisplatin , the first time a drug specifically designed to treat hearing loss has been approved for NHS use.

This moment represents a major milestone: a proof of concept that hearing loss can be prevented and treated through

Together, these investments not only generate critical new knowledge, but also build capacity in an underfunded but high-impact research area.

In 2024/25, 50 academic publications acknowledged RNID as a funder, clear evidence of our role in driving scientific progress.

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OUR ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE: BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH

GROUNDBREAKING DISCOVERIES

Our funded researchers achieved several important findings this year. At the University of Manchester, PhD students identified new genetic mutations that cause Perrault syndrome, a rare condition resulting in hearing loss and infertility. These findings will help more people receive an accurate diagnosis and lay the groundwork for developing treatments. Because the affected genes relate to mitochondrial function, which powers cells, the research may also have broader implications for understanding other types of hearing loss.

These discoveries reflect the cumulative power of long-term research investment and the importance of supporting early-career scientists.

• Six Innovation Seed Fund Grants to support:

STRATEGIC GRANT MAKING

RNID awarded ten new research grants , including:

These grants fuel early-stage research with the potential to reshape treatment options and

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deliver better quality of life for people with hearing loss or tinnitus.

LEADING THE FIELD:

HEARING THERAPEUTICS INITIATIVE

We continued to grow our Hearing Therapeutics Initiative (HTI) , a platform to convene industry, researchers, and regulators to accelerate treatment development.

We worked closely with hearing therapeutic companies, building interest in establishing a core set of standard measures for assessing the success of treatments for hearing loss. Our goal is to ensure that treatments are evaluated against outcomes that matter the most to people with hearing loss and that future clinical trials generate comparable data.

Following the success of last year’s Hearing Therapeutics summit, we delivered a series of webinars and blogs to share insight, expertise and foster international collaboration. We also prepared for the next summit, scheduled for the coming year, which will bring the research community together to discuss recent advances, challenges and opportunities for accelerating the development of treatments.

This work positions RNID at the heart of international efforts to improve how new treatments are developed, tested, and approved, accelerating progress while focusing on the experiences of people with hearing loss.

PARTNERSHIPS TO INFLUENCE AND INNOVATE

RNID continued its strategic collaboration with the BioIndustry Association , helping to build interest in hearing therapeutics among biotech and pharmaceutical companies. We also forged stronger links with leaders in health research, laying the foundations for future collaborations that can bridge science, policy, and lived experience.

The research team worked closely with colleagues across our Health and Policy Programmes, ensuring research findings inform everything from audiology reform to communication rights in healthcare.

CELEBRATING 25 YEARS OF RNID-FUNDED RESEARCH

We published a report showcasing the lifechanging impacts and achievements made in the last 25 years, and what we hope to achieve in the future.

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OUR ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE: COMMUNITIES

What we said we would do:

Last year, we committed to deepening engagement across our communities by expanding our in-person and digital services, amplifying the voices of people who are deaf, have hearing loss or tinnitus, and improving access to reliable, inclusive support. This year, we delivered on these promises, and went further.

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“The service I received today was excellent. The gentleman who looked after me was truly so informative, took great effort in explaining each effort he made to improve my hearing aids (which he has done). I couldn’t have been looked after any better. I am so thankful for this service which is provided free, and the fact these lovely people give up their time and skill to help. We are indeed blessed, and I am so thankful. Thank you.”

RNID Near You – South Eastern Health & Social Care Trust, Northern Ireland

RNID NEAR YOU: IN-PERSON SUPPORT, STRONGER COMMUNITIES

RNID Near You has continued to go from strength to strength. This year, we supported 38,371 people through our in-person services, exceeding our target by 15% and marking a 34% increase compared to last year. This growth reflects the strength of our partnerships, the commitment of our volunteers, and the demand for accessible, local support.

of the hardest-to-reach individuals in our communities.

We also secured continuation or renewed funding for 12 existing services, including contracts in Northern Ireland, Scotland, and key areas in England. Our service in North East Essex was successfully re-tendered, and a three-year funding renewal for Hull and East Riding ensures vital continuity and ongoing support for these communities.

We increased the number of drop-in locations from 168 to 200 and held 2,387 sessions , 30% more than in 2023/24. Our volunteer team grew substantially, with 247 active volunteers giving over 15,492 hours of their time, a 54% increase on the previous year. Their dedication is the foundation of our success.

We opened new RNID Near You services in Fife, the Lothians, Somerset , and three health board regions in Wales thanks to Big Lottery funding, demonstrating both innovation and reach. The new Somerset model, focused on care homes and sheltered housing, allows us to connect with some

This year saw record-breaking engagement including our highest-ever monthly attendance in November 2024, when 3,654 people visited drop-in sessions across the UK. These achievements reinforce our goal to grow by at least four new services annually, a target we met, with 21 active contracts currently in place.

Our RNID Near You service partnership with the Audiology team won the ‘Working Together’ category at the 2024 NHS Borders Staff Awards dinner celebration for greatly improving patient experience and teamworking environments.

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OUR ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE: COMMUNITIES

“After changing the tubing in the mother’s hearing aids, she was able to hear clearly again, her daughter was so relieved and the mother was so happy to hear her daughter again. The daughter thanked me and the volunteer so much and they both left nearly crying happy tears after being able to communicate once again.”

RNID Near You Lothian, Scotland

LAUNCHING ‘RNID IN COMMUNITIES’

We designed and launched a pilot for RNID in Communities , a new initiative delivered by 90 specially recruited volunteers who are bringing RNID directly into local spaces. These trained volunteers deliver presentations and hearing checks and provide opportunities for deeper engagement. This pilot has already begun connecting communities with our support in new, scalable ways and will be pivotal in building long-term presence and awareness. We expect this programme to expand significantly in the future.

CONTACT RNID: ACCESSIBLE SUPPORT WHEN IT’S NEEDED MOST

Contact RNID remained a vital support line for individuals and families throughout the year. Our dedicated team supported 22,230 people , meeting nearly 100% of our annual target. Despite some resourcing pressures earlier in the year, we maintained service continuity and implemented strategic improvements to increase our resilience and reach.

To future-proof the service, we trained additional RNID Community Services staff

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to step in during periods of high demand. A new live chat holding message helped reduce abandonment rates, and a targeted campaign in March 2025 successfully doubled usage of our Get Support Online platform.

Throughout the year, we added 20 new articles to our internal Knowledge Base , expanding access to essential information for staff and volunteers across RNID and sector partners. This supported one of our core pledges: to make our knowledge accessible and inclusive.

We also launched new marketing campaigns, both online and in the press, to drive awareness and engagement. Following a spike in enquiries from our member magazine, Contact RNID successfully managed one of its busiest periods of the year in July, handling over 200 enquiries related to membership and support updates.

“If it wasn’t for your advice and support, things could have been very different … you helped save my wife’s hearing. Thank you so much”.

June 2024 caller to Contact RNID to share gratitude following support in late 2023

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OUR ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE: FUNDRAISING AND ENGAGEMENT

“With all UK landlines moving to digital by January 2027, our partnership with RNID has been invaluable in supporting customers who are deaf or have hearing loss. This collaborative effort is providing both customers and the wider community with the confidence and reassurance needed during this once-in-a-generation upgrade.“ Nav Hussain, Stakeholder Engagement Manager, BT

INCOME

This year, we secured fundraising income of £13.2m and saw another strong year for legacies, receiving £10m in total from people generously leaving a gift in their Will.

PARTNERSHIPS

We are seeing an increasing number of businesses understanding the importance of our cause. Support from high value relationships continues to go from strength to strength with companies understanding the

value that we can offer to build positive brand stories, understand customer experience and create inclusive workplaces for our communities.

We are also grateful for all the Charitable Foundations and Trusts, and philanthropists who have invested in RNID research and our work to change the lives of people who are deaf, have hearing or tinnitus today by offering support in order to create a more inclusive world.

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MASS PRODUCTS

More and more people have generously supported RNID this year, giving their time and money to change the lives of our communities. This year we launched two new activities to build on the success of our It Does Matter campaign, Afternoon Tea for RNID and RNID Connect. Both give our supporters the tools they need to communicate effectively with people who are deaf or have hearing loss. RNID Connect includes games, BSL cards and more to create a more inclusive world.

LEGACY PROPOSITION

We know that it is a big decision for people to leave a gift in their Will to a charity. This year we spent time getting to know why people chose to leave a legacy to us. We spoke to supporters and listened to what inspires and motivates them about our work. We learned that people wanted to create change for future generations, so that everyone could be included in all aspects of life without facing barriers due to their hearing loss. They wanted to create a world more welcoming. We reflected on this and put those aspirations at the heart of our new legacy fundraising activity, inviting more people to consider leaving a gift in their Will to RNID.

“RNID’s expertise has enabled us to take steps towards being a truly inclusive business, opening a world of opportunity for our colleagues, our customers and the wider communities we serve.”

Alistair Griffin, Head of Performance – UK Customer Channels, HSBC

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OUR ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERFORMANCE: FUNDRAISING AND ENGAGEMENT

Our achievements this year were only made possible due to our brilliant supporters. With special thanks to the below:

Major Donors:

Keith and Pam Butler-Wheelhouse Peter Evans Tom Kelly MBE The Murphy Family Fund Prof Elizabeth Russell Mrs Margaret Starkie Mr and Mrs John Walton Richard Wilkins

Trusts:

The Exilarch’s Foundation The Motability Foundation Julia Rausing Charity

Corporate Partners:

Anderson Acoustics Ltd BT Call Systems Technology Ltd Connevans Limited Contacta Systems Ltd The Electoral Commision GoMedia Services Ltd HSBC Holdings Plc Sela Shionogi & Co., Ltd. Sonos Experience Ltd Sony UK BioIndustry Association (BIA) and members Zoonou Limited

Thank you also to all who have supported our work and chosen to remain anonymous.

RNID Annual Report and Accounts 2024125 39

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LOOKING AHEAD: OUR PLANS FOR 2025-2026

A new way of thinking about our strategy

Our four programmes of work are based on extremely robust, evidence-led theories of change. We are absolutely committed to continue to make progress towards our goals in inclusion, health, employment and biomedical research over the long term to make the biggest impact possible for our communities. However, we have been doing some thinking about how best to communicate this strategic work to different audiences, and increasingly use three different lenses through which to view what we deliver: the changes we want to make to society, the changes we want to make to systems, and the changes we want to bring to individual lives one by one.

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When we are thinking about our work and our long-term ambition as RNID, we think this is a helpful way to see how our programmes combine to make significant change.

CHANGING SOCIETY

We are changing society and public attitudes, so that:

1. Everyone in the UK understands why and how to check their hearing regularly and do it – just like we do with our eyes and teeth

2. People of all ages know how to protect their hearing from loud noise – and doing it is the ‘normal’ thing to do

3. We’ve created a step-change in public understanding of deafness, so society stops shutting deaf people out of everyday conversations and activities

CHANGING SYSTEMS

We are changing systems and services, so that:

1. Effective treatments and cures that prevent hearing loss, restore hearing and silence tinnitus have been developed and are available to everyone

2. Every employer actively supports deaf people and people with hearing loss, recognising the value they bring and removing barriers to professional success

3. Leaps forward in tech – both for individuals to use and in society at large – mean that all new products and services are accessible and inclusive for deaf people right from the start – whether you are out shopping, on the bus or accessing all forms of healthcare

4. When people experience hearing loss, they can easily get help from the NHS in a way that suits them – whether that’s developing new options to conduct tests online or having hearing aids delivered to their door

CHANGING INDIVIDUAL LIVES

And we are changing lives of individuals, one by one, through:

1. RNID Near You: our in-person drop-in centres, giving information and support, powered by volunteers and present in every community across the UK

2. Contact RNID: providing tailored, trustworthy support and advice on deafness, hearing loss and tinnitus – the go-to resource for our communities and those there to support them.

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LOOKING AHEAD: OUR PLANS FOR 2025-2026

What this means for our delivery in 2025-2026

We have an ambitious, busy programme of work planned for 2025-26.

In our work to change society and public attitudes, we will:

In our work to change systems and services, we will:

And in our work to change the lives of individuals, one by one, we will:

RNID Annual Report and Accounts 2024125 43 RN

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TRUSTEES’ AND DIRECTORS’ REPORT

Structure, Governance and Management

Administrative details: Trustees, senior staff

RNID is a trading name of the charitable company limited by guarantee, the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID), registered in England and Wales No.454169. It is registered as a Charity No.207720 in England and Wales and SC038926 in Scotland. RNID is governed by its Articles of Association, adopted on 14 May 1948, and last amended on 11 December 2019.

The registered office address is Brightfield Business Hub, Bakewell Road, Orton Southgate, Peterborough, PE2 6XU.

Trustees

The following provides details of all Trustees who were in place during the financial year until 31 March 2025, and their membership of the committees as at the date of signing:

Name Finance and Risk committee Nominations committee
Ewen Stevenson (Chair) Chair
Sally Harris (Treasurer) Chair
Gill Budd
Julian Meekings
Nick Waring
Ita Murphy
Chloe Smith
Jessica Rasmussen
Tanya Curry
Amber Kirby
Claire Bailey
Lindsay Foster
Gideon Hofman

Tanya Curry and Amber Kirby were co-opted onto the Board of Trustees from 1 March 2025. Claire Bailey, Lindsay Foster and Gideon Hoffman retired as trustees on 9th July 2024. Julian Meekings retired as a trustee on 29th April 2025.

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Senior Leadership Team

The Trustees delegate the implementation of policies and the day-to-day management of the Charity to the Chief Executive who is assisted by Key Management Personnel:

staff (excluding the Chief Executive) on an annual basis.

Principal Professional Advisers

Solicitors

The Board agree the remuneration of the Chief Executive and pay for all other staff is set through a job evaluation and benchmarking process. The Finance and Risk Committee approve an annual cost of living pay award for all

Bates Wells Braithwaite – 10 Queens Street Place, London, EC4R 1BE

Independent Auditors

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

Bankers

Lloyds Banking Group – 10 Gresham St, London, EC2V 7JD

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TRUSTEES’ AND DIRECTORS’ REPORT

Structure

RNID is a trading name of the charitable company limited by guarantee, the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID), registered in England and Wales No.454169. It is registered as a Charity (No.207720 in England and Wales and SC038926 in Scotland).

RNID is governed by its Articles of Association, adopted on 14 May 1948, and last amended on 11 December 2019. The registered office address is Bakewell Road, Orton Southgate, Peterborough, PE2 6XU.

RNID has six wholly owned subsidiary companies:

diversity will strengthen our decision-making processes.

Governance

The Board of Trustees have adopted the Charity Governance Code and review areas of recommended practice annually.

RNID Rules, Delegated Approvals Authority Policy and the Committee Terms of Reference set out the delegation of the decision making to the Senior Leadership Team and to individual Committees. The Rules include a statement of reserved powers for the Board. Trustees are required to meet at least three times a year. In the year up to 31 March 2025, they met four times.

1. RNID Services Ltd

2. RNID Activities Ltd

3. Hearing Research Trust

4. Sound Advantage Ltd

5. Action on Hearing Loss Ltd

6. Sussex Deaf Association

These remain dormant except for RNID Activities Ltd which was reinstated for trading activity early in 2025. Applications have been filed with Companies House for the dormant subsidiaries to be closed.

The Board of Trustees is responsible for the overall governance of RNID. The Board has a maximum of 10 Trustees at one time. All Trustees are appointed for a term not exceeding three years, at the end of which they are eligible for reappointment for a second term. Trustees are only eligible for a further term in exceptional circumstance and only for a maximum of three years.

Board recruitment, induction and training Trustees are appointed through an open and transparent process which involves advertising vacancies and encouraging applications from diverse communities. All vacancies are informed by a skills gap analysis and succession planning exercise which is led by the Nominations Committee on an annual basis.

Throughout the year, the Senior Leadership Team provided the Board of Trustees with deep dive sessions to discuss key elements of the strategy.

New Trustees attend an induction and receive an induction pack containing detailed information about the charity, how we are organised and our work. They are invited to spend time with the Senior Leadership Team to familiarise themselves with our activities and to prepare themselves for effective and informed decision making.

Committee structure

The Board is committed to overseeing equality, diversity and inclusion not only in the workforce but also on the Board itself. The Trustees recognise that greater representation from underrepresented groups is required, and that more

The Board delegates certain powers in connection with the charity’s management and administration. Committees provide meeting minutes and report back regularly to the Board. Details of each Committee are described below.

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Our people

Our people are critical to our success. As a home-based and digital-first organisation, we our proud that our people live right across the UK. This is a real strength, because it enables us to recruit great talent, and because it ensures we are connected to our communities wherever they are. Although we do nearly everything remotely, we recognise the value of in-person time with colleagues, and three times a year come together for all-staff summits that play a critical role in cementing our culture of learning and celebration.

The results of our 2024 Staff Survey highlight the continued progress in staff engagement, which reached 71% in June 2024, showing steady improvements over the last two years from 55% in 2022, 64% in 2023, and 67% in 2024. This positive trend reflects the dedication of our teams and the impact of ongoing efforts to foster an inclusive and fulfilling atmosphere at work.

Encouragingly, 88% of staff reported feeling proud to work at RNID, 93% feel supported by their managers, and 91% feel well-informed about organisational developments. These strong results demonstrate our understanding of the importance of clear communication across teams and supportive leadership, and we are particularly proud of achieving these things in a remote working environment.

However, the survey also identified areas for improvement. In 2025/26, we will begin embedding a performance culture and new review cycle, and will be expanding our learning and development opportunities. These initiatives aim to ensure staff feel empowered to grow while reinforcing a culture of excellence.

We recognise that the work we do, and all our achievements, rely heavily on the support of our volunteers. We are proud of the work we have completed and the launch of our RNID Near You service which delivers vital support and key services to people in the community. Our campaign to recruit volunteers has been successful with a 63% increase in our registered volunteers.

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TRUSTEES’ AND DIRECTORS’ REPORT

Financial summary and review

Our 2024/25 financial year finished with an unrestricted operating surplus of £0.8m and a free reserves balance of £5.6m which is in the target range set by our Board.

Income

We received £14.2m of income (2024: £15.3m), a net reduction from the previous year due to challenges to embed our new CRM system, with impact on public donations received.

Unrestricted donations and legacies income of £12.3m, with our fundraising growth in partnerships as we diversify our non-legacy fundraising income. We had another year of strong legacy income receiving £10.1m (2024: £10.1m) which has supported us to replenish our free reserves for another year as support

investment for future growth.

Expenditure

In 2024/25 our expenditure £13.0m (2024: £11.9m) an increase from the previous year as we increased our fundraising investment by £0.3m to support income growth, our strategic programme ambition by £0.4m and the Digital Programme for systems by £0.4m.

Full details of our financial performance for the year ended 31 March 2025 are shown in the financial statements and notes from page 60 onwards.

Financial infographic on income and expenditure split based on following:

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How we raise money 06 01 04[05] 03 02 01. Donations and legacies £12,258,000 02. RNID Near You £746,000 03. Communication services and partnerships £628,000 04. Research Partnerships £234,000 05. Trading activities £281,000 05 . Other income £60,000 06. Transition services £29,000 Total income £14,239,000

----- Start of picture text -----
09
How money is spent 08 01
07
06
01. Raising funds £4,087,000
05
02. RNID Near You £3,250,000
03. Research programme £1,976,000
04. Inclusion programme £1,071,000
05. Health programme £1,046,000
06. Contact RNID £739,000
07. Communications services £559,000
08. Employment programme £201,000 04
09. Transition services £71,000
Total expenditure £13,000,000
03 02
----- End of picture text -----

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TRUSTEES’ AND DIRECTORS’ REPORT

Rest of Trustees Report

Risk management

The Board of Trustees has overall responsibility for risk management and the setting of the charity’s risk appetite, and delegates authority in this area to the Finance and Risk Committee. The committee receives regular reports from the Senior Leadership Team (SLT) on the management of key risks.

Risks are reported to and discussed by the Board of Trustees on a quarterly basis. The Senior Leadership Team ensure existing and emerging operational risks are appropriately managed and visible to Trustees. This ensures the Senior Leadership Team and Trustees always have a clear picture of RNID’s risk profile and exposure. The Senior Leadership Team make immediate and necessary judgements, where required, to mitigate any risk.

The charity’s strategic risk register is broken into six principal risk areas as a way of framing our risk management activities.

Principal risk area 1: We do not create sufficient impact for our communities:

We do this through our digital first strategy, which ensures we will have significant growth in our reach and impact in the coming years. We have a multi-year plan based on our theories of change which focuses on the activities that will best deliver this and a quarterly planning forum which ensures resources are deployed in the right places.

Principal risk area 2: Our brand reach limits our growth potential: We have a robust communications strategy in place that the organisation works to. Our marketing and communications team works alongside the programmes and campaigns teams to ensure that

our work is being communicated in an engaging way to our communities across multiple channels. We hold regular reviews of how effective our work is and carry those learnings forward for future projects to ensure we are effectively reaching and engaging with our communities and growing our audience numbers.

Our strategy focuses on our two (soon to be three) owned campaigns as the basis for our mass communications work – Check Your Hearing and ‘It does matter’. We use insight to target our advertising spend effectively to our audiences, monitoring and tracking engagement throughout live campaigns. We work with colleagues across the teams to create powerful content to lead national conversations and get high profile earned media opportunities such as BBC Breakfast or national press. We track our brand awareness levels and reach metrics throughout the year to monitor our reach and engagement.

Principal risk area 3: We do not grow our . Our income and are not financially resilient fundraising strategy is now well embedded, with activity including the resumption of legacy marketing, piloting of new mass-market propositions, and building strong pipelines across High Value, including significant new Corporate Partnerships. Legacy income has performed strongly, and as a result our free reserves are well within the Board’s target range. However, we remain too dependent on legacy income and continue to invest in nonlegacy income, notably via data management investments to support future growth in massmarket fundraising, with increased activity expected in 2025/26.

Principal risk area 4: We do not have

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the people needed to deliver our plan. To ensure we have the right people, we are delivering projects to improve our approach to recruitment, learning and development, and performance management. We are pleased that our staff engagement score increased again this year (to 71%) and remains ahead of our benchmark.

Principal risk area 5: We are not representative of our society and do not We benefit from diverse perspectives. have identified our Research Panel as the primary route for gathering insight from our communities. As such we are investing in growing and diversifying the panel through targeted outreach activities. Similarly, we are working to improve the reach of our hearing check into diverse communities and ensuring that our public stories and images are reflective of the UK population. At a more strategic level we have established an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) working group at Senior Leadership Team and a people project is exploring how to increase the diversity of our staff pool.

Principal risk area 6: Business controls and . This infrastructure are not fit for purpose area ensures that we have an effective and proportionate control environment, and that we have the right technology capacity to support our digital first strategy. To manage these risks, we are in the process of implementing and developing new IT systems, which will both improve our control environment and increase our digital capability. A policy framework ensures our policies remain fit for purpose and provide controls for compliance.

Going concern

Trustees are required to consider the charity’s financial stability. As part of this process, they have produced a going concern assessment,

which considers our expected financial performance over the next five years.

We consider the charity to be financially sustainable because:

As a result of these factors, the Trustees consider that it is appropriate for the financial statements to be prepared on a going concern basis.

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TRUSTEES’ AND DIRECTORS’ REPORT

Pensions

The RNID defined benefit pension scheme closed to new entrants on 1 October 2001, and to new accruals on 31 March 2010. The notional surplus or deficit on the funding of the scheme is deducted from unrestricted funds in the Balance Sheet.

The last detailed actuarial triennial valuation was carried out as at 31 March 2024. Following this, an updated revised funding plan was agreed with the pension scheme trustees. As a result, the charity’s annual contribution to the pension deficit will reduce from April 2024 until October 2030. Total contributions to the scheme in 2024/25 were £1.1m.

As part of the Trustees’ Report and Accounts preparation process, an actuarial valuation was carried out on 31 March 2025 using methodology recommended by the Financial Reporting Standard 102. This valuation showed market value of assets to be £52.1m (2024: £57.0m), and the current value of liabilities to be £48.4m (2024: £53.7m). The net surplus was £3.8m, compared to a net surplus of £3.3m at March 2024. Further details are included in Note 21.

Reserves policy

Free reserves are held by the charity to help us manage financial risk and income unpredictability. Trustees reviewed the policy in 2024/25 and kept the target range of £3.2m - £6.4m, reflecting an assessment of income risks to ensure RNID is sustainable in the long-term with a balance to enable us to invest in growth. The current balance is within the target range.

----- Start of picture text -----
£’m 2024/25 2023/24
----- End of picture text -----

£’m 2024/25 2023/24
Total unrestricted funds 6.9 6.1
Add backpension reserve 0 0
Less unrestricted fxed assets (1.3) (1.0)
Total 5.6 5.1

Grant making policy

We award research grants to fund world-class medical research projects and to increase the numbers of trained research staff. Universities, non-profit research institutes and technologyled small businesses worldwide are eligible for funding, except where geographical and organisational-type restrictions are stated for specific funding schemes. We widely publicise our calls for grant proposals, which are then subjected to an appropriate level of expert peer review, typically involving independent, external reviewers and a voluntary, independent grantreview panel. Each review panel is made up of experts who serve for three-to-five-years and the panel members are listed on our website. We make the final decision about each award based on this expert advice, the relevance of the research to our research strategy, and our available budget. Everyone involved in the grantapplication and review process is asked to abide by our Research Programme’s Code of Conduct and Conflict of Interest policy. We occasionally award a small number of grants for social and technical research to help provide the evidence basis for campaigning and policy development.

Statement of Trustees responsibilities The Trustees (who are also directors of RNID for the purpose of company law) are responsible for preparing the Trustees Report and Accounts (including the Strategic Report) and the Financial Statements in accordance with applicable law and regulation.

Company Law requires the Trustees to prepare Financial Statements for each financial year. Under that law, the Trustees have prepared the Financial Statements in accordance with United Kingdom Accounting Standards, comprising FRS 102 “The Financial Reporting Standard which is applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland”, and applicable law (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

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Under company law, the Trustees must not approve the Financial Statements unless they are satisfied that they are given a true and fair view of the state of the affairs of the charitable company and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charity for that period.

  1. In preparing these Financial Statements, the Trustees are required to:

  2. Select a suite of suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;

  3. Observe the methods and principles in the Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities (2015);

  4. Make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;

  5. State whether applicable UK Accounting Standards, comprising FRS 102, have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the Financial Statements; and

  6. Prepare the Financial Statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charitable company will continue in business.

The Trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the charitable company’s transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and enable them to ensure that the Financial Statements comply with the Companies Act 2006, Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended).

They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities. In so far as the Trustees are aware:

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

  2. They have taken all the steps they ought to have taken as Trustees in order to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the company’s auditors are aware of that information.

The Trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the charitable company’s website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of Financial Statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

By order of the Board of Trustees, the Trustees’ Report (incorporating the Strategic Report) has been approved by the Board of Trustees and signed on its behalf by:

Sally Harris Honorary Treasurer Date: 17 July 2025

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Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members and Trustees of The Royal National Institute for Deaf People

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of The Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) (‘the charitable company’) and its subsidiary (‘the group’) for the year ended 31 March 2025 which comprise the Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities, Consolidated Balance Sheet, Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows 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:

Act 2005 and Regulations 6 and 8 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (amended).

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.

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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

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 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement set out on page 52, 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.

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TRUSTEES’ AND DIRECTORS’ REPORT

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

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always

detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

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

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

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

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of 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. 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 and The Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, together with the Charities SORP (FRS102). We assessed the required compliance with these laws and regulations as part of our audit procedures

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on the related financial statement items.

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

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

We identified the greatest risk of material impact on the financial statements from irregularities, including fraud, to be within the timing of recognition of grant and legacy income and the override of controls by management. Our audit procedures to respond to these risks included review of grant expenditure monitoring in place, enquiries of management and the Finance and Risk Committee about their own identification and assessment of the risks of irregularities, sample testing on the posting of journals, reviewing accounting estimates for biases, reviewing regulatory correspondence with the Charity Commission 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.

Dipesh Chhatralia Senior Statutory Auditor For and on behalf of Crowe U.K. LLP Statutory Auditor London Date: 25 July 2025

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FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Consolidated statement of financial activities for the year ended 31 March 2025

(incorporating an income and expenditure account)

The Royal National Institute for Deaf People – Company number: 454169

----- Start of picture text -----
Note Unrestricted Restricted Total funds Total funds
funds funds 2025 2024
(£'000) (£'000) (£'000) (£'000)
Income from:
Donations and legacies 5 11,584 674 12,258 12,953
Government grants 5 0 0 0 391
Income from charitable activities:
RNID Near You 5 518 228 746 625
Research Partnerships 5 6 228 234 296
Communication services and partnerships 5 628 0 628 435
Other charitable income 5 60 0 60 45
Transition services 5 29 0 29 229
Income from trading activities 5 281 0 281 270
Investment income:
Investment income 5 3 0 3 8
Total income 13,109 1,130 14,239 15,252
Expenditure on raising funds 6/7 4,078 9 4,087 3,427
Expenditure on charitable activities:
Inclusion programme 6/7 1,071 0 1,071 933
Health programme 6/7 1,037 9 1,046 899
Employment programme 6/7 201 0 201 215
Research programme 6/7 1,004 972 1,976 1,714
Communications services 6/7 558 1 559 515
RNID Near You 6/7 2,821 429 3,250 2,905
Contact RNID 6/7 686 53 739 772
Transition services 6/7 71 0 71 555
Total 7,449 1,464 8,913 8,508
Total expenditure 11,527 1,473 13,000 11,935
Net income / (expenditure) 1,582 (343) 1,239 3,317
Actuarial gains / (losses) on defined benefit pension schemes 21 (1,058) 0 (1,058) (1,055)
Gains / (losses) on investments 228 0 228 269
Net movement in funds 752 (343) 409 2,531
Reconciliation of funds:
Funds brought forward at 1 April 2024 6,098 1,190 7,288 4,757
Funds carried forward at 31 March 2025 6,850 847 7,697 7,288
----- End of picture text -----

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Consolidated balance sheets at 31 March 2025

The Royal National Institute for Deaf People – Company number: 454169

----- Start of picture text -----
Note The group The group The charity The charity
2025 2024 2025 2024
(£'000) (£'000) (£'000) (£'000)
Fixed assets
Intangible fixed assets 11 1,174 840 1,174 840
Tangible fixed assets 12 95 156 95 156
1,269 996 1,269 996
Current assets
Debtors 15 2,013 1,995 2,011 1,995
Current asset investments 16 4,884 4,271 4,884 4,271
Cash at bank and in hand 1,181 1,406 1,181 1,406
8,078 7,672 8,076 7,672
Current liabilities
Creditors falling due within one year 17 1,588 1,194 1,586 1,194
Net Current assets 6,490 6,478 6,490 6,478
Non-current liabilities
Provision for liabilities 18 62 186 62 186
Total assets less liabilities (excluding pension liability) 7,697 7,288 7,697 7,288
Defined benefit pension scheme asset / (liability) 21 0 0 0 0
Total net assets 20 7,697 7,288 7,697 7,288
The funds of the charity
Restricted funds 22 847 1,190 847 1,190
Unrestricted funds 6,850 6,098 6,850 6,098
Total charity funds 7,697 7,288 7,697 7,288
----- End of picture text -----

The notes on pages 58 - 84 form part of these Financial Statements.

The Financial Statements were approved by the Board of Trustees and authorised for issue on 17 July 2025 and signed on their behalf by:

Sally Harris Honorary Treasurer

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Consolidated statement of cash flows for the year ending 31 March 2025

The Royal National Institute for Deaf People – Company number: 454169

----- Start of picture text -----
2025 2024
(£'000) (£'000)
Cash flows from operating activities:
Net income for the reporting year (as per the statement of financial activities) 1,239 3,317
Adjustments for:
Depreciation charge for the year on tangible assets 61 59
Amortisation charge for the year on intangible assets 156 36
Interest paid 0 0
Interest received (3) (8)
Loss on disposal of intangible / tangible assets 0 185
(Increase) / decrease in debtors (16) (633)
Increase/ (decrease) in creditors 392 (595)
Increase / (decrease) in provisions for liabilities and charges (124) (113)
Pensions reserve funding deficit movements (1,058) (1,055)
Net cash used in / (generated from) operating activities 647 1,193
Cash flows from investing activities:
Interest received 3 8
Gains from investments 228 269
Proceeds from sale of tangible fixed assets 0 0
Purchase of intangible fixed assets (490) (139)
Purchase of tangible fixed assets 0 (3)
Net cash provided by / (used in) investing activities (259) 135
Cash flows from financing activities:
Interest paid 0 0
Net cash used in financing activities 0 0
Change in cash and cash equivalents in the reporting period 388 1,328
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the reporting period 5,677 4,349
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the reporting period 6,065 5,677
Cash and cash equivalents consists of:
Current asset investments 4,884 4,271
Cash at bank and in hand 1,181 1,406
Cash and cash equivalents 6,065 5,677
----- End of picture text -----

The notes on pages 58 - 84 form part of these Financial Statements.

The charity has not provided an analysis of changes in net debt as it does not have any long term financing arrangements.

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Notes to the Financial Statements

NOTE 1. GENERAL INFORMATION

RNID is the largest charity representing people who are deaf, have hearing loss or tinnitus in the UK.

The Charity is a private company limited by guarantee without share capital and is incorporated and based in the UK, number 454169.

RNID is a registered charity in England and Wales (207720) and Scotland (SCO38926).

The address of its registered office is Brightfield Business Hub, Bakewell Road, Orton Southgate, Peterborough, PE2 6XU

In the event of the Charity being wound up, the liability in respect of the guarantee is limited to £1 per member of the Charity.

NOTE 2. STATEMENT OF COMPLIANCE

The Financial Statements are prepared under the historical cost convention, modified to include the revaluation of investments to fair value, and in accordance with applicable accounting standards in the United Kingdom. These are the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) ‘Accounting and Reporting by Charities 2015’ and Financial Reporting Standard (FRS) 102, together with the reporting requirements of the Companies Act 2006, the Charities Act 2011, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended).

The Charity has adapted the Companies Act formats to reflect the charities SORP FRS 102 and the special nature of the Charity’s activities.

These financial statements consolidate the results of the charitable company and its whollyowned (controlled) subsidiary R.N.I.D. Activities Limited (company no. 00913439) on a line by line basis. Transactions and balances between the charitable company and its subsidiary have been eliminated from the consolidated financial statements. Balances between the two companies are disclosed in the notes of the charitable company’s balance sheet. A separate statement of financial activities, or income and expenditure account, for the charitable company itself is not presented because the charitable company has taken advantage of the exemptions afforded by section 408 of the Companies Act 2006.

NOTE 3. ACCOUNTING POLICIES

Going concern

Trustees are required to consider the charity’s financial stability. As part of this process, they have produced a going concern assessment, which considers our expected financial performance through to 31 March 2027.

Trustees consider the charity to be financially sustainable because of the strength of our income pipeline and our cash and free reserves position. This is described in more detail in the Trustees’ report.

As a result of these factors, the trustees consider that it is appropriate for the financial statements to be prepared using a going concern basis.

Income

Income is accrued and included in the SoFA when the Charity is entitled to the income, receipt can be quantified and income is

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probable. It is deferred when they relate to future accounting periods.

Donations

General donations, gifts, donations from fundraising events, trusts and corporate income and direct marketing income are accounted for on a received basis. Gift Aid receivable is included when claimable.

Legacy

Pecuniary legacies are recognised as receivable once probate has been granted or notification has been received.

For residuary legacies, the charity recognises legacy income on the earlier of the final legacy accounts being issued, cash being received or notification of a pending payment, to ensure income can be reliably measured.

When the criteria for income recognition have not been met, then the legacy is treated as a contingent asset (see Note 19).

Contracts

Where contracts contain the right to receive periodic payments, these receipts are recognised when they fall due and on completion of the Charity’s contractual obligations for the period. Income is accrued if the Charity is entitled to the income.

grants are recognised in income under “charitable activities”.

Income from performance-related government grants is recognised when the Charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions have been met, it is probable the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably and is not deferred.

The nature of these grants is disclosed in Note 5 and 22. There were no unfulfilled conditions or special criteria.

Other forms of government assistance from which the Charity has directly benefited are Access to Work payments and local authority payments for local service agreements.

Trading activity

Income from trading activities is credited to the SoFA when received or receivable, whichever is earlier, unless it relates to a specific future period, in which case it is deferred. Income from lotteries is recognised when the draw is made. Income received in advance for future lotteries is deferred until the draw takes place. All other income is accounted for on an accruals basis.

Donated services and facilities

On receipt, donated professional services and donated facilities are recognised on their commercial value when this can be quantified.

Grant income

Income from grants is credited to the SoFA. It is recognised when the Charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions have been met, it is probable the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably. If the grant relates to a specific future time period it will be deferred.

Donated services and gifts in kind over £20,000 are included as both income and expenditure in the relevant category.

A valuation of volunteer time given to the Charity is not recorded in the Financial Statements.

Expenditure and irrecoverable VAT

RNID received government grants that were performance-related grants. Performance-related

Expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis in the period in which they are incurred.

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Expenditure on raising funds includes the costs incurred in raising donation income, legacy income, grant income and income from trading activities, including apportioned support costs.

Expenditure on charitable activities comprises the costs incurred on charitable activities including the apportioned support costs.

Irrecoverable VAT is charged as a cost against the activity for which the expenditure was incurred.

Termination benefits are recognised at the leaving date of the member of staff and measured at the best estimate of the expenditure required to settle the obligation at the reporting date.

Allocation of expenditure

Expenditure is allocated to the particular activity to which the cost relates. When expenditure relates to more than one area of activity, the costs are allocated to each of the activities on the basis of estimated staff time.

Governance costs

Governance costs are the costs associated with constitutional and statutory requirements and with the strategic management of the Charity’s activities.

Grant commitments

Grants are generally made to organisations to facilitate research into hearing loss and tinnitus. Grants payable are payments made to third parties in the furtherance of the charitable objectives of the Charity. The grants are accounted for where either the Trustees have agreed to pay the grant without condition or up to the point at which the conditions have been fulfilled. The key condition is a regular review by the Charity, and this can be on a six-month or 12-month basis, as specified in the grant award letter.

Taxation

The activities of the Charity and its charitable subsidiary are exempt from corporation taxation under section 505 of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 to the extent that they are applied to the organisation’s charitable primary objectives, if these profits are applied solely for charitable purposes. The trading subsidiary does not generally pay UK corporation tax because its policy is to pay taxable profits as Gift Aid to the Charity.

Current asset investments

The Charity holds investments comprising assets held for short-term investment purposes with a maturity date of up to 12 months. Current asset investments are held at fair value, with any gains or losses on investments recognised on the SoFA.

Intangible assets

Intangible assets are stated at cost, less accumulated amortisation. The Charity only capitalises items costing more than £5,000, unless the asset cost is below this value but is part of a larger project where the value would be more than £5,000 in total, then it is capitalised.

Amortisation is calculated, using the straight-line method, to allocate the depreciable amount of the assets to their residual values over their estimated useful life as follows:

----- Start of picture text -----
Intangible asset Duration
----- End of picture text -----

Intangible asset Duration
Software 5 years
(Costs associated with maintaining
computer software are recognised as an
expense as incurred.)

Intangible assets are subject to review for impairment when there is an indication of a reduction in their carrying value.

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FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Tangible assets

Tangible assets are stated at cost, less accumulated depreciation. The Charity only capitalises items costing more than £5,000, unless the asset cost is below this value but part of a larger project where the value would be more than £5,000 in total, then it is capitalised.

Depreciation is provided so as to write-off the cost of fixed assets on a straight-line basis over their expected useful lives, as follows:

----- Start of picture text -----
Tangible asset Duration
----- End of picture text -----

Tangible asset Duration
Computer equipment 5 years
Assets under construction are not
depreciated and comprise expenditure
on the purchase or creation of intangible
and tangible assets not brought into use
at the balance sheet date. Transfers are
made from assets under construction
to the relevant category of tangible
and intangible asset when the asset is
brought into use.

Tangible assets are subject to review for impairment when there is an indication of a reduction in their carrying value.

Leased assets

Payments under operating leases are charged to the SoFA on a straight-line basis over the period of the lease.

Investments

Investments in subsidiaries are recorded at cost in the Charity’s balance sheet.

Fund accounting

Unrestricted funds are available to spend on activities that further any of the purposes of

the Charity. Restricted funds are funds that the donor has specified to be solely used for particular areas of the Charity’s work.

Permanent endowment funds are capital funds where Trustees have no power to convert the capital into income.

Pension costs

The Charity operates three funded pension schemes in the UK (the “Scheme”). One Scheme has both defined benefit and defined contribution sections and the others just have defined contribution sections.

The current service cost of the Charity’s defined pension scheme is charged to the SoFA.

The Charity operates a defined benefit plan for certain employees. A defined benefit plan defines the benefit that the employees will receive on retirement, usually dependent on certain factors including age, length of service and remuneration. A defined benefit plan is a pension plan that is not a defined contribution plan.

An actuarial valuation of the Scheme was carried out at 31 March 2025 by a qualified independent actuary, based on membership data as at 31 March 2024 but amended to make an approximate allowance for benefit outgo, member movements during the period. Actuarial gains and losses are recognised on the face of the SoFA as net actuarial gain or loss on pensions.

The defined benefit obligation is calculated using the independent actuary’s valuation model, which forms a representation of the future benefit payments of the Scheme, which are then discounted to the valuation date. Annually, the Charity engages independent

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actuaries to calculate the obligation.

The present value is determined by discounting the estimated future payments using a single weighted average discount rate assumption of 5.7% per annum, derived from the full Merrill Lynch UK AA corporate bond yield curve as at 31 March 2025.

The liability recognised in the balance sheet in respect of the defined benefit plan is the present value of the defined benefit obligation at the reporting date less the fair value of the plan assets at the reporting date.

Accrual of benefits under the defined benefit section of the Scheme ceased with effect from 31 March 2010.

The Charity operates two defined contribution plans for its employees. A defined contribution plan is a pension plan under which the employees and the Charity pay fixed contributions into a separate entity. Once the contributions have been paid, the Charity has no further payment obligations. The contributions are recognised as an expense on the SoFA when they are due. Amounts not paid are shown as outstanding in the balance sheet.

economic benefit is probable. The only contingent asset of the Charity relates to legacies (Note 19).

Financial Instruments

The Charity has taken advantage of the exemptions in FRS 102 from the requirement to present certain disclosures about the charity’s financial instruments. The Charity has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic. These are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value. Financial assets that are measured at fair value include investments. Financial assets that are debt instruments measured at amortised cost include trade debtors and other debtors. Financial liabilities measured at amortised cost include trade creditors, other creditors, current and long-term loans.

Related party transactions

RNID discloses transactions between the charity and related parties. Where appropriate, transactions of a similar nature are aggregated unless, in the opinion of the Trustees, separate disclosure is necessary to understand the effect of the transactions on the Financial Statements (Note 25).

Related undertakings

The assets of the plan are held separately from the Charity in independently administered funds.

Short-term employee benefits

Short-term benefits, including holiday pay and other non-monetary benefits, are recognised as an expense in the period in which the service is received.

Contingencies

Contingent assets are disclosed in the Financial Statements when an inflow of

Sound Advantage Ltd (02437205), Action on Hearing Loss Ltd (07566245), The Hearing Research Trust Ltd (07146209), Sussex Deaf Association(09740664) and RNID Services Ltd (11769135) are wholly owned, dormant subsidiaries, and have therefore not been consolidated. All are in the process of being wound up.

Critical accounting judgements and estimation uncertainty

Estimates and judgements are continually evaluated and are based on historical

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FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

experience and other factors, including expectations of future events that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances.

Critical accounting estimates and assumptions

The Charity makes estimates and assumptions concerning the future. The resulting accounting estimates will, by definition, seldom equal the related actual results. The estimates and assumptions that have a significant risk of causing a material adjustment to the carrying amounts of the assets and liabilities within the next financial year are addressed below.

increases their entitlement. At the end of the financial year, actual holiday to be carried into the following year was determined. This was reviewed together with salary costs per employee, to determine the value of any holiday pay accrual.

4.Provision for doubtful debts

Trade debtors and other receivables are recognised at their transaction value, less any provision for doubtful debts. The provision for doubtful debts is based on a review of aged items, by type of debt, which takes account of credit control activities to collect the amounts outstanding, including any indications that debt will not be fully recovered.

1. Legacy Income

The Charity has elected to continue recognising residual legacy income on receipt of final estate accounts, or when cash has been received, when entitlement conditions have been met, due to the nature of underlying assets and liabilities and the time that may elapse between probate and closure, and other contingencies that can contest the estate.

2. Defined benefit pension scheme

The Charity has an obligation to pay pension benefits to certain employees. The cost of these benefits and the present value of the obligation depend on a number of factors, including: life expectancy, asset valuations and the discount rate on corporate bonds. Our pension actuary estimates these factors in determining the net pension asset in the balance sheet. The assumptions reflect historical experience and current trends.

3. Short-term compensated absences

FRS 102 requires the cost of short-term compensated absences to be recognised when the employees render the service that

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Note 4. Consolidated statement of financial activities for the year ended 31 March 2024

(incorporating an income and expenditure account) – prior period comparative

----- Start of picture text -----
Unrestricted funds 2024 Restricted funds 2024 Total funds 2024
(£'000) (£'000) (£'000)
Income from:
Donations and legacies 11,832 1,121 12,953
Government grants 0 391 391
Income from charitable activities:
RNID Near You 478 147 625
Research partnerships 11 285 296
Communication services 383 52 435
Other charitable income 45 0 45
Transition services 159 70 229
Income from trading activities 270 0 270
Investment income:
Investment income 8 0 8
Total income 13,186 2,066 15,252
Expenditure on raising funds 3,280 147 3,427
Expenditure on charitable activities:
Inclusion Programme 817 116 933
Health Programme 851 48 899
Employment Programme 204 11 215
Research Programme 760 954 1,714
Communications services 483 32 515
RNID Near You 2,257 648 2,905
Contact RNID 585 187 772
Transition services 419 136 555
Total cost of charitable activities 6,376 2,132 8,508
Total expenditure 9,656 2,279 11,935
Net (expenditure) / income 3,530 (213) 3,317
Net actuarial gains / (losses) on pensions (1,055) 0 (1,055)
Gains / (losses) on investments 269 0 269
Net movement in funds 2,744 (213) 2,531
----- End of picture text -----

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Note 5. Income

----- Start of picture text -----
Unrestricted Restricted Total funds Unrestricted Restricted Total funds
funds 2025 funds 2025 2025 funds 2024 funds 2024 2024
(£'000) (£'000) (£'000) (£'000) (£'000) (£'000)
Donations and legacies 11,584 674 12,258 11,832 1,121 12,953
Government grants 0 0 0 0 391 391
11,584 674 12,258 11,832 1,512 13,344
Income from charitable activities
RNID Near You 518 228 746 478 147 625
Research partnerships 6 228 234 11 285 296
Communication services 628 0 628 383 52 435
and partnerships
Transition services 29 0 29 159 70 229
Other charitable income 60 0 60 45 0 45
1,241 456 1,697 1,076 554 1,630
Income from trading activities Unrestricted funds 2025 Unrestricted funds 2024
(£'000) (£'000)
Weekly lottery 218 270
Commercial partnership income recognised in trading 63 0
subsidiary
281 270
----- End of picture text -----

Partnerships deemed to fulfil our charitable objectives are included above, within income from charitable activities.

Income from investments Unrestricted funds 2025 Unrestricted funds 2024
(£'000) (£'000)
Investment income 3 8

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Note 6. Expenditure

----- Start of picture text -----
Expenditure on raising funds Direct costs (£'000) Support costs (£'000) Total (£'000)
Other Other 2025 2024
Staff Staff
Raising funds 1,156 1,364 807 760 4,087 3,427
Expenditure on charitable
activities
Inclusion Programme 128 1 701 241 1,071 933
Health Programme 128 55 620 243 1,046 899
Employment Programme 43 0 108 50 201 215
Research Programme 43 1,596 225 112 1,976 1,714
Communication services 170 84 143 162 559 515
RNID Near You 591 159 1,594 906 3,250 2,905
Contact RNID 267 11 223 238 739 772
Transition services 13 58 0 0 71 555
1,383 1,964 3,614 1,952 8,913 8,508
Total expenditure 2,539 3,328 4,421 2,712 13,000 11,935
----- End of picture text -----

Other costs consists of grants payable, agency fees, software and licenses, professional fees etc.

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Note 7. Support costs

----- Start of picture text -----
2025 Insight & Marketing & Digital, data & Community Corporate Total 2025
Policy communications technology Services Services
(£'000) (£'000) (£'000) (£'000) (£'000) (£'000)
Raising funds 0 420 627 0 520 1,567
Inclusion Programme 482 308 83 0 69 942
Health Programme 361 350 83 0 69 863
Employment Programme 50 70 21 0 17 158
Research Programme 110 112 63 0 52 337
Communication services 0 0 167 0 138 305
RNID Near You 2 98 817 907 676 2,500
Contact RNID 0 42 229 0 190 461
Transition services 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total 1,005 1,400 2,090 907 1,731 7,133
2024 Insight & Marketing & Digital, data & Community Corporate Total 2024
Policy communications technology Services Services
(£'000) (£'000) (£'000) (£'000) (£'000) (£'000)
Raising funds 0 361 490 0 544 1,395
Inclusion Programme 353 241 86 0 96 776
Health Programme 258 241 86 0 96 681
Employment Programme 29 55 29 0 32 145
Research Programme 96 76 29 0 32 233
Communication services 0 0 116 0 128 244
RNID Near You -1 75 634 881 703 2,292
Contact RNID 0 43 231 0 256 530
Transition services 0 0 29 0 32 61
Total 735 1,092 1,730 881 1,919 6,357
----- End of picture text -----

Support costs were apportioned to activities on the basis of headcount for corporate services and digital & innovation, and staff time for capabilities (insight & policy, marketing & communications, and localities)

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Note 8. Net expenditure for the year

----- Start of picture text -----
This is stated after charging/(crediting): 2025 2024
£'000 £'000
----- End of picture text -----

2025 2025
£'000
Interest payable:
Bank interest, bank loans and overdrafts wholly repayable within
fveyears		 3 8

Depreciation/Amortisation charge for theyear
 217 95
(Proft)/Loss on disposal of fxed assets 0 0
Payments under operating leases:
Land and buildings 90 114
Vehicles and equipment 0 2
Loss on foreign exchange 0 0
Auditors' remuneration:
Statutoryaudit fee 39 38
Other non-audit fee 6 5

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Note 9. Grants payable

The aggregate amount of grants made during the year ended 31 March 2025, analysed by recipient was:

----- Start of picture text -----
Medical research into hearing loss
2025 2025 2024
Number of grants Total Total
(£'000) (£'000)
Institution
University College London 8 353 295
King's College London 4 184 190
Radboud University Medical Center 2 162 173
KU Leuven 1 103 0
University of Sheffield 3 99 129
University of Cambridge 4 91 132
Case Western Reserve University 1 67 34
Trinity College Dublin 1 67 0
Johns Hopkins University 1 67 0
University of Montpellier 1 54 0
Anglia Ruskin University 1 50 0
Indiana University 1 39 41
Flinders University 1 36 36
Stanford University 1 33 163
Brunel University London 1 28 14
Newcastle University 2 23 25
Universitá Cattolica del Sacro Cuore 1 20 0
University of Manchester 1 13 25
In2ScienceUK 1 11 0
University Medical Center Groningen 1 10 0
Leiden University Medical Centre 1 10 0
Fundación para la Investigación Médica Aplicada 1 10 0
Swansea University 1 10 0
University of Sussex 0 0 67
Bionics Institute of Australia 0 0 10
University of Tasmania 0 0 10
National Acoustic Laboratories 0 0 10
University of Southampton 0 0 8
Cardiff University 0 0 8
Total grants 40 1,540 1,370
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In addition to the above, the Charity expects to fund future grants totalling £2.6m (2024: £1.85m), which have been awarded subject to satisfactory reviews during the course of the project being funded. These have not been provided for in RNID’s Financial Statements.

The expenditure for grants sits within the ‘Research Programme’ line for charitable expenditure within the SoFA.

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Note 10. Employees and trustees

----- Start of picture text -----
Employees
2025 2024
Staff costs consist of :
(£'000) (£'000)
Wages and salaries 6,097 5,922
Social security costs 596 565
Pension costs 266 210
6,959 6,697
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Total redundancy and termination costs in the year were £82,570 (2024: £238,497) of which none were accrued costs at the year end (2024: none).

The average headcount of employees, analysed by function, was: 2025 2024
(Number) (Number)
Communications Services 4 4
Contact RNID 6 8
Corporate Services 12 16
Digital,Data and Technology 14 14
Fundraising 23 17
Insight & Policy 17 16
CommunityServices 20 19
Marketing& Communications 22 18
RNID Near You 23 22
Strategic Programmes 7 8
Transition Services - 1
148 143
The number of employees whose remuneration was over £60,000 (excluding
employer pension contributions) fell within the following bands:		 2025 2024
(Number) (Number)
£60,001 to £70,000 4 5
£70,001 to £80,000 3 3
£80,001 to £90,000 3 1
£90,001 to £100,000 1 1
£101,001 to £110,000 - 1
£110,001 to £120,000 - 2
£120,001 to £130,000 1 -
£140,001 to £150,000 1 1

None of these employees (2024: none) are in the defined benefit pension scheme, and all (2024: all) are in the defined contribution pension scheme. Contributions in the pension year to the defined contribution scheme were £53,426 in respect of these employees (2024: £50,024).

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FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Note 10. Employees and trustees

Remuneration and benefts for the Chief Executive Ofcer and other Key
Management Personnel		 Excl. pension
contributions
2025 2024
(£'000) (£'000)
Keymanagementpersonnel 316 564

To 31 December 2023, Key Management Personnel was defined as members of the Executive Group (five members). From 1 January 2024, following a management restructure, Key Management Personnel comprises the Chief Executive and Chief Operating Officer only.

Trustees

None of the members of the Board of Trustees received any remuneration during this year (2024: none). During the year, two Trustees (2024: two) received reimbursements of non-private travel, accomodation and subsistence expenditure, including attendance at staff summit events, amounting to £439 (2024: £170). The value of expenses waived was not material.

Total donations in the year from Trustees amounted to £7,157 (2024: £550).

Note 11. Intangible fixed assets (charity and group)

----- Start of picture text -----
Computer software Assets under Total
construction
(£'000) (£'000) (£'000)
Cost
At the beginning of the year 181 727 908
Additions 0 490 490
Disposals 0 0 0
Transfer 736 (736) 0
At the end of the year 917 481 1,398
Accumulated amortisation
At the beginning of the year (68) 0 (68)
Charge for year (156) 0 (156)
Disposals 0 0 0
At the end of the year (224) 0 (224)
Net book value at 31 March 2025 693 481 1,174
Net book value at 31 March 2024 113 727 840
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Assets under construction are not amortised and comprise expenditure on the purchase or creation of intangible assets not brought into use at the balance sheet date. Transfers are made from assets under construction to the relevant category of intangible asset when the asset is brought into use.

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Note 12. Tangible fixed assets (charity and group)

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Computer Total
equipment
(£'000) (£'000)
Cost
At the beginning of the year 305 305
Additions 0 0
Disposals 0 0
At the end of the year 305 305
Accumulated depreciation
At the beginning of the year (149) (149)
Charge for year (61) (61)
Disposals 0 0
At the end of the year (210) (210)
Net book value at 31 March 2025 95 95
Net book value at 31 March 2024 156 156
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Assets under construction are not depreciated and comprise expenditure on the purchase or creation of tangible assets not brought into use at the balance sheet date. Transfers are made from assets under construction to the relevant category of tangible asset when the asset is brought into use.

Note 13. Subsidiary undertakings

----- Start of picture text -----
2025 2024
(£'000) (£'000)
Turnover 63 0
Cost of sales (13) 0
Gross profit 50 0
Administrative expenses (7) 0
Operating profit 44 0
Profit on ordinary activities before taxation 44 0
Corporation tax 0 0
Distribution to parent undertaking (44) 0
Profit for financial year after distribution - -
The aggregate of the assets, liabilities and funds was:
2025 2024
(£'000) (£'000)
Assets 63 0
Liabilities (63) 0
Funds 0 0
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FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Note 14. Parent activities

The parent charity’s gross income and the results for the year are disclosed as follows:

2025 2024
(£'000) (£'000)
Gross income 14,238 15,252
Results for the year 410 2,531

Note 15. Debtors

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The group The group The charity The charity
2025 2024 2025 2024
(£'000) (£'000) (£'000) (£'000)
Trade debtors 140 131 140 131
Other debtors 0 0 61 0
Prepayments and accrued income 1,873 1,864 1,810 1,864
2,013 1,995 2,011 1,995
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Note 16. Current asset investments (charity and group)

----- Start of picture text -----
2025 2024
(£'000) (£'000)
Cash or cash equivalents 42 44
Investment property held for sale 0 190
Listed investments 4,842 4,037
4,884 4,271
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Note 17. Creditors

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The group The group The charity The charity
2025 2024 2025 2024
(a) Amounts falling due within one year (£'000) (£'000) (£'000) (£'000)
Trade creditors 530 333 530 333
Accruals for grants payable 30 18 30 18
Taxation and social security 206 193 206 193
Other creditors 1 159 1 159
Accruals 637 398 634 398
Deferred income 185 93 185 93
1,589 1,194 1,586 1,194
Deferred income at the beginning of the year 93 149 93 149
Amount released to income (93) (149) (93) (149)
Amount deferred in year 185 93 185 93
Deferred income at the end of the year 185 93 185 93
(b) Amounts falling due after more than one year
Net obligations under bank loan is as follows:
between one and two years 0 0 0 0
between two to five years 0 0 0 0
over five years 0 0 0 0
0 0 0 0
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Note 18. Provisions (charity and group)

2025 2024
(£'000) (£'000)
Dilapidation 0 29
Care & Support claims 62 157
62 186
Movements onprovisions were as follows:
Dilapidation Care & Support
claims
(£'000) (£'000)
At the beginning of theyear 29 157
Additions (29) 0
Amounts charged 0 (95)
At the end of theyear 0 62
Purposes ofprovisions
Dilapidation
Aprovision for dilapidations on leaseholdproperty.

Care & Support claims

A provision for cost claims related to discontinued Care & Support services. This provision is likely to be held for a further 12 months.

Note 19. Contingent assets – legacies

The Trustees have been notified that the Charity is a beneficiary of a number of estates for which the amounts to be paid to the Charity have not yet been confirmed. In view of the uncertainty over the amounts that may be received, the Trustees have concluded that the conditions for recognition of these legacies have not yet been met and accordingly these legacies are not reflected in these Financial Statements. Provisional estimates indicate a potential value of these legacies of £6.1m (2024: £7.2m).

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79

Note 20. Analysis of net assets between funds

----- Start of picture text -----
Fund balances at 31 March 2025 are represented by: Unrestricted Restricted funds Endowment Total funds 2025
funds funds
(£'000) (£'000) (£'000) (£'000)
Intangible fixed assets 1,174 0 0 1,174
Tangible fixed assets 95 0 0 95
Current assets 7,229 847 0 8,076
Current liabilities (1,586) 0 0 (1,586)
Provision for liabilities and charges (62) 0 0 (62)
Net assets 6,850 847 0 7,697
Fund balances at 31 March 2024 are represented by: Unrestricted Restricted funds Endowment Total funds 2024
funds funds
(£'000) (£'000) (£'000) (£'000)
Intangible fixed assets 840 0 0 840
Tangible fixed assets 156 0 0 156
Current assets 6,482 1,190 0 7,672
Current liabilities (1,194) 0 0 (1,194)
Provision for liabilities and charges (186) 0 0 (186)
Net assets 6,098 1,190 0 7,288
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Note 21. Pensions – group and charity

"RNID operates a funded pension scheme in the UK (the 'Scheme'). The Scheme has a Defined Benefit Section, and previously a relatively small Defined Contribution Section where all benefits were transferred to a new MasterTrust arrangement with effect from 1 August 2018. Pension benefits in the Defined Benefit Section are related to the members' final salary at retirement (or earlier if they leave the Scheme before retirement) and their length of service. Accrual of benefits under the Defined Benefit Section of the Scheme ceased with effect from 31 March 2010.

The Scheme Trustees are responsible for the operation and governance of the Plan, including making decisions on the Scheme's funding and investment strategies in conjunction with RNID. RNID is required to meet any additional funding payments that may be necessary as assessed by a formal scheme funding valuation every three years. The most recent scheme funding valuation as at 31 March 2024 revealed a deficit of £1.5m and RNID agreed to make additional contributions to the Scheme to remove this deficit and meet expected Scheme expenses. RNID contributions of £1.193m were required for the year ending 31 March 2025 and contributions of £0.86m are required for the year ending 31 March 2026 in monthly instalments."

An actuarial valuation of the Scheme was carried out at 31 March 2025 by a qualified independent actuary, based on membership data as at 31 March 2024 but amended to make an approximate allowance for benefit outgo, member movements during the period.

Except where stated otherwise, the remainder of this FRS 102 pensions note relates only to the Defined Benefit Section of the Scheme.

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FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Note 21. Pensions – Group and Charity

----- Start of picture text -----
The amounts recognised in the statement of financial position are as
follows:
31/03/2025 31/03/2024
£000s £000s
Defined benefit obligation (48,358) (53,691)
Fair value of plan assets 52,112 56,981
Net defined benefit (liability)/asset 3,754 3,290
Restriction on asset recognised (3,754) (3,290)
- -
Net amount recognised at year end
(before any adjustment for deferred tax)
----- End of picture text -----

The amounts recognised for the year are as follows:

The current and past service costs, settlements and curtailments, together with the net interest expense for the year are included in profit or loss. Remeasurements of the net defined benefit liability are included in the Statement of Financial Activities.

----- Start of picture text -----
Year ended Year ended
31/03/2025 31/03/2024
£000s £000s
Service cost:
Current service cost (net of employee contributions) - (1,040)
Administration expenses 260 793
Loss/(gain) on plan introductions, changes, curtailments and settlements - -
Net interest expense/(credit) - -
Charge/(credit) recognised in profit or loss 260 (247)
Remeasurements of the net liability:
Return on scheme assets (excluding amount included in net interest expense) 5,451 2,483
Actuarial (gains)/losses (4,807) (618)
Adjustment for restrictions on the asset recognised 283 (492)
Charge/(credit) recorded in Statement of Financial Activities 927 1,373
Total defined benefit cost/(credit) 1,187 1,126
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Note 21. Pensions – group and charity

----- Start of picture text -----
The principal actuarial assumptions used were:
31/03/2025 31/03/2024
Discount rate 5.70% 4.80%
Inflation assumption (RPI) 3.30% 3.30%
Future LPI pension increases 3.10% 3.10%
Revaluation in deferment (RPI) 3.30% 3.30%
Assumed life expectancies on retirement at age 65 are:
Expected age at death of current pensioner at age 65:
Male aged 65 at year end: 86.4 86.2
Female aged 65 at year end: 88.4 88.2
Expected age at death of future pensioner at age 65:
Male aged 45 at year end: 87.3 87.1
Female aged 45 at year end: 89.5 89.2
Reconciliation of scheme assets and liabilities Assets Liabilities Total
£000s £000s £000s
At start of period 56,981 (53,691) 3,290
Benefits paid (3,030) 3,030 -
Administration expenses (260) - (260)
Current service cost - -
Contributions from the employer 1,187 - 1,187
Contributions from employees - - -
Interest income / (expense) 2,685 (2,504) 181
Return on assets (excluding amount included in net interest expense) (5,451) - (5,451)
Actuarial gains/(losses) - 4,807 4,807
Gain/(loss) on plan introductions and changes - - -
Gain/(loss) on curtailments - - -
Assets distributed / liabilities extinguished on settlements - - -
Assets acquired / liabilities assumed in a business combination - - -
At end of period 52,112 (48,358) 3,754
The return on plan assets was: 31/03/2025 31/03/2024
£000s £000s
Interest income 2,685 2,788
Return on plan assets (excluding amount included in net interest expense) (5,451) (2,483)
Total return on plan assets (2,766) 305
----- End of picture text -----

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FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Note 21. Pensions – group and charity

The major categories of scheme assets are as follows:

----- Start of picture text -----
31/03/2025 31/03/2024
£000s £000s
Equity 14,881 10,435
Structured equity 758 12,433
Fixed interest 25,106 31,339
Index linked gilts 10,443 11,377
Liability hedging (3,344) (14,352)
Currency hedging (11) (14)
Insured annuities 150 391
Property 562 632
Cash 1,862 1,305
Alternatives 1,704 3,435
-
Total market value of assets 52,112 56,981
----- End of picture text -----

The scheme has no investments in the Company or in property occupied by the Company.

Sensitivity of the liability value to changes in the principal assumptions

31/03/2025 31/03/2024
Discount rate - increase by0.25%
 (1,281) (1,650)
Rate of infation - increase by0.25% 598 850

Assumed life expectancyat age 65 - increase by1year		 2,367 2,710
Estimation of nextperiod'sproft and loss
31/03/2026
£000s
Service cost - including current and past service costs, and settlements -
Service cost - administrative cost
 260
Net interest on the net defned beneft liability -

Net (credit)/charge		 260

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83

Note 22. Statement of funds – restricted and endowment funds

----- Start of picture text -----
Balance at 1 Income Expenditure Transfers Balance at 31
April 2024 March 2025
(£'000) (£'000) (£'000) (£'000) (£'000)
----- End of picture text -----

Balance at 1
April 2024		 Income Expenditure Transfers Balance at 31
March 2025
(£'000) (£'000) (£'000) (£'000) (£'000)
Restricted
Research 533 561 (980) 0 114
Core charitable activities 73 151 (145) 0 79
RNID Near You 66 279 (310) 400 435
Regional restrictions 83 52 (38) 0 97
MotabilityFoundation 0 86 0 0 86
Other restricted funds 435 1 0 (400) 36
Total Restricted Funds 1,190 1,130 (1,473) 0 847
Purposes of restricted funds
Research Medical research funded by RNID for a wide range of treatments to prevent hearing loss, improve
hearingand silence tinnitus.
Core charitable activities Activity to improve the lives of the more than 18 million people in the UK who are deaf, have
hearingloss or have tinnitus,as well as their friends and families and the widerpublic.
RNID Near You UK-wide community service drop-in sessions that include hearing aid maintenance, in-person
hearing checks, information and signposting and the peer support which is provided by many of
our volunteers or staf.

Regional restrictions Legacyincome restricted to specifc UK regions in support of RNID activities.
Motability Foundation To research the transport experiences, needs and priorities of people who are deaf or experience
hearing loss, including the impact that new technologies may have to increase accessibility of
public transport.
Other restricted funds Fundsprovidingincome in support of RNID activities.

Restricted fund transfers

£400k previously classified as 'other restricted funds' was this year reclassified as 'RNID Near You'. This has been represented using a transfer between restricted funds.

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FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Note 22. Statement of funds – restricted and endowment funds

----- Start of picture text -----
Statement of funds - restricted and endowment funds (prior period comparative)
Balance at 1 Income Expenditure Transfers Balance at 31
April 2023 March 2024
(£'000) (£'000) (£'000) (£'000) (£'000)
Restricted
Research 192 1,287 (946) 0 533
Core charitable activities 94 219 (240) 0 73
RNID Near You 162 194 (290) 0 66
Transition services 78 70 (148) 0 0
Regional restrictions 269 355 (541) 0 83
Ended projects 107 0 (107) 0 0
Other restricted funds 433 9 (7) 0 435
1,335 2,134 (2,279) 0 1,190
Endowed
The Wennington Charity 68 (68) 0 0 0
68 (68) 0 0 0
Total Restricted and Endowed 1,403 2,066 (2,279) 0 1,190
Funds
----- End of picture text -----

Note 23. Capital commitments

2025 2024
(£'000) (£'000)
Contracts for future capital expenditure not provided in the Financial Statements 0 0

Note 24. Operating leases

As of 31 March 2025, RNID had a total value of minimum future leasepayments as set out below: As of 31 March 2025, RNID had a total value of minimum future leasepayments as set out below: As of 31 March 2025, RNID had a total value of minimum future leasepayments as set out below:
Payments due 2025 2024
(£'000) (£'000)
Within oneyear
 0 56
Between one and fveyears 0 0
0 56

Note 25. Related party transactions

Lindsay Foster was a Charity Trustee (resigned in July 2024) and is also the Executive Director of Signature (trading arm of CACPD). In 2024-25 there was £19,455 charged for agency fees, training and attendance at conferences (2024: £14,576).

Gillian Budd, trustee, is also a trustee of The Orr Mackintosh Foundation t/a Sharegift. During the year, Sharegift donated £10,000 to RNID (2024: £nil).

We are RNID: the national charity supporting more than 18 million people in the UK who are deaf, have hearing loss or tinnitus.

Together, we will end the discrimination faced by our communities, help people hear better now and fund world-class research to restore hearing and silence tinnitus.

If you or someone close to you is deaf, or has hearing loss or tinnitus and needs free confidential and impartial information and support, contact RNID. We are open 8:30am to 5.00pm, Monday to Friday.

Chat to us on the RNID website: www.rnid.org.uk

Call: 0808 808 0123

Email: contact@rnid.org.uk

Book a BSL video call via our partners at Sign Live: create an account at the SignLive website or download the SignLive app for Android or the SignLive app for iOS

SMS/text: 07360 268988

Relay UK: 18001 then 0808 808 0123

Write: RNID, York House, Wetherby Road, Long Marston, York, YO26 7NH

JOIN US

rnid @rnid @rnid_uk

A registered charity in England and Wales (207720) and Scotland (SC038926).

Registered as a charitable company limited by guarantee in England and Wales No. 454169. Registered office: Brightfield Business Hub, Bakewell Road, Orton Southgate, Peterborough, PE2 6XU