2024-12-31-accounts

Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024

• Love Essex Love Wildlife

The registered name of the Charity is Essex Wildlife Trust Limited. It is registered with the Charity Commission in England and Wales with the number 210065.

Members of the Board

The Trustees who served during the year and the dates of their most recent election or retirement were as follows:

S Balser G Dufeld	Trustee Trustee	Re-elected Resigned	22 10 2022 01 01 2025	C Joynson T Kaime	Trustee Trustee	Re-elected Re-elected	07 11 2023 22 10 2022
M Hardy	Trustee	Resigned	05 02 2024	N Kingston	Trustee	Resigned	28 09 2024
C Hawkins	Trustee	Elected	07 11 2023	E Simonsson	Trustee	Re-elected	28 09 2024
K Hazelhurst	Chair	Resigned	29 05 2025	M Wall	Trustee	Re-elected	28 09 2024
R Holmes	Treasurer	Resigned	29 05 2025	J Wren	Chair	Elected	24 10 2020

Members of the board pending official appointment at 2025 AGM: P Roberts Treasurer Designate (pending official appointment at AGM) 28 09 2024 T Young Trustee Designate (pending official appointment at AGM) 28 09 2024

Principal Officers of the Charity:

Chief Executive Officer: Company Secretary:

Advisers:

Auditors: Moore Kingston Smith LLP, Orbital House, 20 Eastern Road, Romford, Essex, RM1 3PJ Bankers: Barclays Bank PLC, Barclays Business Centre, 40-41 High Street, Chelmsford, Essex, CM1 1BE. Investment managers: Rathbones Greenbank, 30 Gresham Street, London, EC2V 7QN. VAT advisers: Constable VAT Consultancy LLP, Manningtree Road, Dedham, CO7 6BL.

Introduction to the report of the Board who are also the Trustees of Essex Wildlife Trust Limited

The Board have pleasure in presenting their report together with the audited financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2024. The Board have adopted the provisions of the Charities SORP (FRS 102) – Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (effective 1 January 2015) and the Charities Act 2011, in preparing the annual report and financial statements of the charity. The accounts have been prepared in accordance with the Companies Act 2006.

Report and consolidated financial statements Year ended 31 December 2024

Registered Office:

Essex Wildlife Trust Abbotts Hall Great Wigborough Colchester Essex CO5 7RZ

T 01621 862 960 E [e-mail] www.essexwt.org.uk Registered Charity No. 210065 Company Registered No. 638666 VAT Registered No. 945 7459 77

Heath fritillary cover: Jim Higham Ringed plover: Menno Schaefer - stock.adobe.com

Contents

Public beneft statement Strategic description CEO Overview Restore Leadingwildlifegain across the county Enhancingthe conservation value of our land Take action Creatingplaces of wonder Bringingpeople and wildlife closer together Our volunteers are at the heart of everything we do Local Groups connecting communities with nature Wildlife wins for 2024 Strategic achievements, performance and future plans Financial review Investment powers and policy Risk management Fundraising at Essex Wildlife Trust Relationship with the charity and related parties (including its subsidiaries) Independent auditor’s report to the members Consolidated statement of fnancial activities Consolidated and charity balance sheets Consolidated cash fow statement Notes to the consolidated fnancial statements Structure, governance and management Statement as to disclosure of information to auditors	4
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4 | Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024

Our objectives and activities

Essex Wildlife Trust is protecting wildlife for the future and for the people of Essex and is required by charity and company law to act within the objects set out in its Memorandum and Articles of Association. These are shown below.

The objectives of the charity are:

For the benefit of the public, to advance, promote and further the conservation, 1 maintenance and protection of:

• Wildlife and its habitats

• Places of natural beauty

• Places of zoological, botanical, geographical, historical, archaeological or scientific interest

2

To advance the education of the public in:

• The principles and practice of sustainable development • The principles and practice of biodiversity conservation

• Features of landscape with geological, physiographical or amenity value in any ways that are charitable in law and in particular, but not exclusively, in ways that further biodiversity

Public benefit statement

The Trustees confirm that they have complied with the duty in section 4 of the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit, ‘Charities and Public Benefit’. The Trustees refer to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit when reviewing the Trust’s aims and objectives, in planning future activities, and setting and developing Strategic Plans as they occur.

A strategic plan was agreed for the period 2020 to 2025 which builds on the work of the previous strategy. This has been further enhanced during early 2023, to align end dates with the wider Wildlife Trust targets and national targets, to 2030. The new strategic plan now covers the period to 2030.

The Trust organises a wide programme of events with a variety of stakeholders such as local authorities, schools, landowners, other organisations and the general public. These programmes will continue to have a long-term benefit to stakeholders.

Other beneficiaries of the work delivered by Essex Wildlife Trust include a team of over 1,500 volunteers who serve regularly in a variety of ways and who benefit from the skills training and opportunities offered, including health and wellbeing benefits. The contribution of volunteers alongside the staff is fundamental to the success and efficient running of the Trust.

Strategic Description

Since its inception in 1959, Essex Wildlife Trust has succeeded in considerably increasing the quantity and quality of the land it holds and manages as nature reserves, and through its Nature Discovery Centres continues to offer the public gateways to accessing our wonderful green spaces. Our premises are in the main freely open to the general public, the only exceptions being those reserves where particular care has to be taken due to health and safety concerns, or for specific species protection.

Like minded organisations and local authorities for whom the Trust manages sites or provides information also benefit.

The Trust caters at certain sites for the needs of people who have accessibility or other specific needs and one of the Trust’s key objectives is to make more of our sites fully accessible, to ensure that nature truly is for everyone.

The strategic activities, aims and objectives of the Trust are reviewed every year by the Trustees, alongside budget setting.

Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024 | 5

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Rich Yates Chief Executive Officer Essex Wildlife Trust

It has been a year of new beginnings at the Trust, exemplified by two significant changes in personnel. In the early spring, our outgoing Chief Executive, Andrew Impey, stepped down after many years in charge. I took over the reins in February, initially on an interim basis before being made permanent in August, and I am privileged to be leading the Trust.

Similarly at the turn of the year, our Chair , Keeley Hazelhurst , reached her maximum term as a Trustee and was succeeded by James Wren , who builds on several years of experience as a Trustee at Essex Wildlife Trust and many more years as a senior executive, currently as part of the senior team at the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS). Both Andrew and Keeley have made a significant contribution to Essex Wildlife Trust and, as members, I hope you will join me in wishing them every success in their future endeavours.

It’s difficult to summarise the best bits from a year where so much happened and we celebrated so many successes as well as challenges . For the most part, I shall let this year’s Impact Report speak for itself, but I shall highlight a few things that are fixed in my mind.

As we know with fondness, Essex is a coastal county. We have one of the best and most important coastlines in the UK, as well as the longest. Seeing the breadth and depth of our work on our county’s amazing marine and coastal environment increase in recent years has been particularly satisfying and heartening. This took another huge step forward in 2024, through even greater engagement with landowners, partners, MPs, and other stakeholders to further our work on seagrass , saltmarsh , beach-nesting birds , oyster restoration , plastic pollution , sediment , shell recycling , and habitat creation .

Our work on restoring Essex’s rivers for wildlife also continued, while our Lost Ponds project mapped (and in some cases started to restore), our county’s thousands of lost ponds over the past couple of centuries, working in partnership with farmers and landowners, and led as ever by our wonderful volunteers . We doubled the size of our Conservation Grazing Team to better meet the increasingly complex demands of managing our nature reserves, of which over a third require grazing in order to be managed in the best way.

Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024 | 7

Even more broadly, we launched our new Conservation Strategy 2030 to enable us to more clearly articulate and prioritise our goals over the next five years. This strategy was reflected in the purchase of Fir Tree Wood in Little Baddow, in partnership with Little Baddow Parish Council – our first land acquisition for several years, and hopefully the first of several over the next five years.

Finally, in another first, we attended the Chelsea Flower Show for the first time in several years and were part of an international display that brought native orchids to the famous flower show for the first time in its history. The orchids were, of course, from our nature reserves in Essex.

There are too many other successes to mention, but this should give you a sense of what to expect over the coming pages. And as you read on, please remember that none of this would be possible without you, our supporters . Whether you are a member, a volunteer, a donor, a Local Group member, a partner, or a supporter… thank you.

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Restore

Our aim is to deliver significant and measurable impact for wildlife in Essex. We define ‘restore’ in broad terms, encompassing any conservation efforts that help to bring about nature’s recovery. By 2030, we need 30% of land and sea in Essex to be actively managed for nature’s recovery.

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Leading wildlife gain across the county

The Trust has played a fundamental role in developing the Local Nature Recovery Strategy (LNRS) , that has been led by Essex County Council in a collaborative partnership of local organisations. We hosted the Local Nature Partnership meeting in September at which the LNRS consultation was launched.

In 2024, our Conservation Planning Officer responded to consultations on the North Falls and Five Estuaries offshore wind farm projects. We worked extensively on the campaign to prevent development on Middlewick Ranges. We also engaged with the National Grid’s Norwich to Tilbury pylon scheme statutory consultation and the Marine Management Organisation (MMO) consultation on Bathside Bay/Little Oakley compensation scheme. We responded to the Chelmsford local plan consultation, with a focus on the proposals for Hammonds Farm, and further local plan consultations for Basildon, Castle Point and Colchester councils. We responded to an additional 189 planning applications and positively influenced the ecological mitigation applied to 59 new developments.

Our Wilder Rivers and Protected Species Manager has secured £0.52m for water vole recovery from Lower Thames Crossing funding. This very significant sum has provided the funding for a new, five-year role at the Trust. A Waterlife Recovery Officer will work alongside our Wilder Rivers and Protected Species Manager to spearhead a step-change in the fortunes of water voles. Our aim is to re-establish water vole populations along two of the county’s key river basins. To achieve this, our county will join Suffolk and Norfolk in becoming a mink-free county by 2029. In 2024, good progress was made towards this target, with 151 removed across Essex.

Another landscape-scale freshwater project is our Lost Ponds project. We had a very successful year working with the new Farm Clusters and the RSPB to restore or create 80 ponds and map the 17,200 historic Essex ponds . This attracted national media coverage with articles in The Guardian and appearances by Trust officers on BBC radio and TV, including Farming Today, Start the Week and Morning Live.

Our portfolio of marine and coastal projects had many successes in 2024. These include: transplanting 115 intertidal seagrass cores at St Lawrence in the Blackwater Estuary as part of our restoration trials with Project Seagrass; creating an interactive StoryMap as part of the Natural England ReMEDIES project to show recreational activities on seagrass beds thanks to surveys from our volunteers; trialling plover cages at Colne Point nature reserve to improve nesting success and sharing findings at the RSPB’s national beach-nesting bird symposium; engaging with MPs as part of the Beneficial Use of Dredged Sediment in the Blackwater Estuary project; using the Preventing Plastic Pollution methodology for the first time at our beach cleans at The Naze Nature Discovery Centre; kicking off a pilot oyster shell recycling scheme to support future native oyster restoration work; identifying barriers and solutions to habitat recovery in the Greater Thames Estuary through hosting a series of multi-stakeholder workshops; co-hosting a workshop with 10 coastal landowners in the Blackwater and Colne to explore future saltmarsh restoration options and hosting the Blackwater Partnership, that brings together over 20 organisations working for nature recovery in the estuary.

We are excited for the future of our marine and coastal projects with more than £800k of funding secured to deliver our beach-nesting bird , coastal habitat , and seascape-scale recovery work across the next few years.

The creation of new wildlife habitats at Abbotts Hall nature reserve is central to the Trust’s adoption and development of BNG opportunities. Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) is likely to be an important source of green finance in the future, which will be vital to sustaining nature recovery projects. The year saw good progress: developing plans for the range of habitats, generating interest from developers and agreeing a timeline with the local authority, Colchester City Council.

Read more about our conservation efforts to restore nature

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Enhancing the conservation value of our land

Our Conservation Grazing Team became a four-person team in 2024. Grazing is a fundamental part of our nature reserve management, particularly our species-rich meadows and coastal grazing marshes. We also received funding from Veolia to graze Langdon nature reserve with Nofence technology allowing greater control over grazing sensitive areas and reducing the reliance on internal fences.

As part of our work to restore wet grassland, in 2024 we secured the relevant permissions for water-retaining earthworks at Howlands Marsh nature reserve and completed wetland improvement works including solar pump installation and ditch enhancements at Tollesbury Wick and Howlands Marsh nature reserves. The project, funded by Natural England’s Species Recovery Programme (SRP), will benefit breeding waders such as lapwing and redshank .

A collaboration between Nature Reserves and Conservation Evidence Teams propelled forward our new evidence-based management plans with workshops identifying Langdon and Tollesbury nature reserves as trial sites. These management plans will use data and science to inform management decisions and will be adaptive, map-based and user friendly. We launched our new tree safety and hazard app which will enable the effective capturing and recording of safety actions required on trees on and around our nature reserves. Significant improvements to the Trusts’ health and safety were undertaken.

Highlights on our nature reserves include the purchase of Fir Tree Wood . This meant we secured a key a key habitat connecting directly with, and consolidating, the nationally important Danbury Ridge nature reserves. This year we saw impressive numbers of orchids across our reserves with over 142,000 plants of 11 species at Chafford Nature Discovery Park alone. Further work to restore the rare chalk meadow habitat was conducted at this site including the construction of scrapes to open up and create bare areas for the benefit of specialised insect and plant communties. Following winter coppicing works, the summer of 2024 recorded the highest number of heath fritillary butterflies at Pound Wood nature reserve with counts reaching 218.

Fundamental to achieving restoration of our threatened wildlife is collecting the vital information on species and the condition of the habitats in which they thrive. This is central to our new Conservation Strategy that was launched in 2024. With a huge effort from staff and volunteers, we conducted 223 surveys across 36 nature reserves to amass the critical data to inform our conservation decisions. It also saw the launch, literally, of two sophisticated drones that will

revolutionise the scope and speed of our data gathering, alongside important collaborations with universities and research institutes including the UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology (CEH) and Kew Gardens.

This data enables restoration to be targeted in the right places, using scarce resources wisely. Stunning examples of the scale of the Trust’s restoration work in 2024 can be seen both on our nature reserves; in the white chalk of Chafford Nature Discovery Park and the re-wetted ancient Howlands Marsh nature reserve; and further afield, in the extension of a seagrass meadow at St Lawrence Bay and the mapping of Essex’s lost ponds leading to their rediscovery and rejuvenation in their hundreds.

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View our Conservation Strategy
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Fir Tree Wood
Howlands Marsh nature reserve
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Fir Tree Wood: Clare Banks, father and daughter: Halfpoint - stock.adobe.com

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Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024 | Take action

We need 1 in 4 people in Essex taking action for nature and climate by 2030 . Research determines this as the tipping point at which something becomes the social norm – and we know we cannot achieve 1 in 4 alone; engagement is essential to drive the positive contribution necessary to help nature recover and thrive.

Engagement activities must therefore inspire people to care enough to take action, to have hope for the future, and to participate in the journey with us. To achieve this, we must ensure our activities have impact, make our work more inclusive, and generate income or are delivered in a way that is affordable.

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New ‘Loved Before’ retail range

Creating places of wonder

Our Nature Discovery Centres welcomed more than one million visitors in 2024. As the gateway to great wildlife experiences, it was encouraging to see from our visitor survey that 89% of respondents said their visit deepened their connection with nature, with 53% of visitors being inspired to take action for nature and climate.

Although the economic pressures on the cost of living and business operations continued, we saw an increase in sales compared to the previous year. Our food and beverage offer continued to flourish, with the introduction of many delicious products from two Essex-based companies; Saffron Ice Cream and Stuff’d. Retail had an extensive overhaul with the launch of some new and inspiring products, many of which are made in the UK, as well as being vegan and eco-friendly. From candles to homeware, even cuddly toys made entirely of recycled plastic bottles; our retail range is more sustainable and affordable than ever before .

Our events programme grew immensely with new trails, workshops and nature-based events on offer, attracting

both new and returning visitors. At Thameside Nature Discovery Park , the last remaining section of the SEEPark project was tendered and will be completed for spring 2025. Plans for an amphitheatre were also submitted, created from the last of the soil delivered by Enovert. Our room hire propositions were formally launched at Langdon Nature Discovery Centre and Hanningfield Reservoir Nature Discovery Centre , with more locations to follow due to its success.

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Visual representation of the SEEPark project
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SEEPark: Sharon Chilvers

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Bringing people and wildlife closer together

Our Wilder Learning Team has engaged with an amazing 23,297 individuals over 2,163 sessions and are rated as very good or excellent by 98% of attendees. This high-quality connection has resulted in 95% pledging to take action for nature and 97% reporting a deepened connection to nature . The team worked with pupils from over 140 schools across Essex and neighbouring areas, providing valuable nature experiences for children from all key stages.

Our Wilder Communities Team supported 10 parish and town councils, 25 Urban Wildlife Champions, 32 individual groups and hosted 457 individuals on webinars and workshops to empower action in local communities.

We were thrilled to be able to buy a woodland this year, thanks to the culmination of six months of fundraising with our wonderful friends in Little Baddow. This huge community effort of cake sales, coffee mornings, quiz nights and guided walks raised the £250,000 needed to secure Fir Tree Wood as our newest nature reserve , adding to the jigsaw of critical habitats in one of Essex’s largest woodland complexes. Thank you to all those who donated or supported us – we loved hearing more about why woodlands are important to you.

Working with our partners in Little Baddow spurred us on to help more communities and we launched our Team Wilder appeal , raising more than £5,000 in a week , to support our work with groups across the county in their own neighbourhoods.

While the global economic rollercoaster continues, we still have nearly 40,000 members , a valued network of supportive people who give us a mandate to advocate for wildlife in Essex. This impact cannot be underestimated as members, like volunteers, make our charitable work possible.

Gifts in Wills are an opportunity for our supporters to nurture nature forever . We continued our committed and personalised relationship with those who pledge this incredible gift because wildlife, Essex, and nature mean so much to them. Generous individuals also supported us with significant donations this year, which enabled them to see the impact of their kindness.

Our corporate membership scheme, Investors in Wildlife , is now the most successful in the country as more than 300 businesses look to increase their positive impact on the environment and climate change. Among our corporate partnerships were the Essex Freemasons who gave £100,000 as part of their 250-year anniversary, enabling us to kick off our work to restore habitats at Abbotts Hall by planting a new woodland. Grant-making organisations helped us to increase our impact, including Veolia Environmental Trust, which awarded us £172,000

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Trust staff and family taking part in Spring Pickers
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for an innovative grazing project at Langdon Nature Discovery Park to strengthen our rare grassland habitats. These landscape-scale projects are good for nature and enable us to engage people in the local action we are taking to have a global impact.

Our community of digital wildlife supporters totals 80,941 followers across social media channels and over 1.1 million people using our website. We’re reaching more people than ever before in press and media, with a reported 27.2 billion people reading, listening and learning about Essex Wildlife Trust. High-profile features included The Times, The Guardian, ITV Anglia and BBC Breakfast.

The launch of our litter picking campaign, Spring Pickers , led to 477 individuals and groups collecting over 20,000 pieces of litter in March. Nature Neighbours launched in the autumn, with 350 pledges to create pollinator-friendly gardens as a result. These campaigns reached schools, nurseries, businesses, libraries and walking groups.

We engaged 4,175 people through engagement campaigns including 30 Days Wild, the Photography Competition and Coastal Creations Art Competition. These ran alongside our lobbying and advocacy work , where we met with MPs and advocated for change on Middlewick Ranges, Say no to Neonics and the General Election. Our citizen science campaigns collected almost 40,000 records of wildflower and butterfly data through The Essex BioBlitz and Butterfly Seekers.

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Our volunteers are at the heart of everything we do

Volunteer thank you event at Abberton Reservoir Nature Discovery Park

We are extremely grateful for the valuable contribution made by our 1,900 volunteers . It is evident how vital volunteers are to our work when you consider, in 2024, they contributed a staggering 54,000 volunteering hours . This translates to an incredible 150 hours every day over 190 different volunteering opportunities across the county.

The biggest proportion, around 60% of volunteering hours, was spent on practical conservation tasks helping to maintain our 93 nature reserves. Our second largest group of volunteers help at our Nature Discovery Centres and contributed a third of total volunteering hours. Providing a ‘friendly face’ of the Trust, they help with everything from greeting visitors as they arrive and serving in our cafes to leading guided walks, litter picks and events. This important public engagement is helping towards inspiring 1 in 4 people in Essex to take action for nature and climate by 2030.

The remaining 7% of our volunteers contribute across a wide range of vital activities: from volunteers who undertake biological surveys which helps provide data for our Conservation Evidence Team, to admin volunteers, to helping to inspire the next generation with our Wilder Learning Team, to Local Groups and volunteers who help with site operations and statistics.

We were delighted to host two volunteer thank you events , at Langdon and Abberton Reservoir Nature Discovery Parks, which were both well attended and well received.

The events offered the opportunity to socialise, to meet other volunteers and staff, to meet some of our Strategic Leadership Team and enjoy outdoor activities put on by the site. They also gave us the chance to thank some long serving volunteers - 2024 saw two volunteers reach the incredible milestone of 50 years of volunteering with the Trust. Finally, our Ray Marsh Award , the Trust’s highest accolade for volunteers, was awarded to Steve Spicer . Steve has volunteered for 11 years and wears many hats: being a volunteer warden for Pheasanthouse Farm nature reserve in addition to coordinating the work party activities all across the Danbury Ridge nature reserves. Steve was also instrumental in helping to raise the funds to buy Fir Tree Wood. Steve truly embodies the spirit of volunteering and wildlife conservation.

Volunteer satisfaction remains high, with 2024 survey results reporting that 98% of volunteers feel that the Trust is a good place to volunteer, 97% are proud to volunteer for the Trust and 98% enjoy volunteering for the Trust. A huge thank you to all our volunteers who give their time to support us. Steve Spicer received the Ray Marsh Award, presented by Director of People and Culture, Sam Quill

Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024 | 15

Local Groups connecting communities with nature

Maggie and Margie from Brentwood and Billericay Local Group

Helping to protect and restore wildlife in their local areas, Local Groups have been encouraging people to volunteer at nature reserve work parties, carry out ecological surveys and inspect Local Wildlife Sites (LoWS). Uttlesford Local Group alone generously donated 1,204 hours of their time over 64 work party events, helping to keep nature reserves in good condition for wildlife.

By hosting a series of interesting talks, walks, bird box building activities and raising money through quizzes and plant sales, Local Groups have been continuing to inspire local people to take action for nature and climate. In 2024, eight Local Groups hosted over 50 events which engaged more than 1,000 people .

Many of our Local Group members have been supporting us for years. For example, Brentwood and Billericay Local Group member John Allen received a 5o year long service award this year .

From guided walks and talks about local nature history, to volunteering at nature reserves, we want to say an enormous thanks to our Local Groups for inspiring people and protecting local wildlife.

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Uttlesford Local Group work party
at Rushy Mead nature reserve
Colchester Local Group litter pick at
Colne Point nature reserve
Rescued toad
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16 | Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024

Wildlife Wins for 2024

Restoration

17,200 ponds were mapped by Essex Wildlife Trust River Champions as part of the Lost Ponds Project, and 80 were ponds created or restored in conjunction with Farm Clusters. 115 seagrass cores were transplanted in our second year of restoration trials as part of the Essex Seagrass Project.

Citizen science

1,028 people recorded almost 30,000 wildflowers for The Essex BioBlitz, and 8,700 butterflies were recorded county-wide for Butterfly Seekers.

Orchid explosion 2,300 man orchids were recorded at Chafford Gorges Nature Discovery Park, with the total orchid count across the reserve at 142,160. Bee and southern marsh orchids were recorded for the first time at Abberton Reservoir Nature Discovery Park and over 4,000 pyramidal orchids were recorded at Thameside Nature Discovery Park. The Trust also showcased some of Essex’s wild orchids at the Chelsea Flower Show, getting royal approval from King Charles and Queen Camilla.

New protections Thanks to the support of generous donors, we bought Fir Tree Wood nature reserve, part of the Danbury Ridge complex.

Hatching success

Colne Point nature reserve saw a dramatic increase in nesting success thanks to the Share Our Shores project, with 33 ringed plover chicks and 10 oystercatcher chicks. Following wetland enhancement, as a result of Biffa funding, there’s been an increase in breeding waders, especially avocets, at Blue House Farm nature reserve. Two Tree Island nature reserve also saw 32 avocet chicks hatch, the highest total in years.

Oystercatcher: popovj2 - stock.adobe.com

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Rare sightings

18 spoonbills were seen in one day at Abberton Reservoir Nature Discovery Park; we had the first record of southern emerald damselfly at Oliver Road Lagoons nature reserve and 15 cattle egret visited Tollesbury Wick nature reserve. Pale flax, the scarce coastal grassland flower, was re-found at Lion Creek nature reserve. A pollinator, the long-horned bee, one of the fastest declining bees in the UK, starred at Abbotts Hall nature reserve. Possibly rarest of all was a record of the legally protected fiery clearwing moth at Thameside Nature Discovery Park.

Record breaking

2,136 soprano pipistrelle bats were recorded at Hanningfield Reservoir Nature Discovery Park, one of the largest roost numbers ever reported. There were 218 heath fritillary butterflies recorded in Pound Wood nature reserve this year, with the butterfly spreading out to neighbouring sites.

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Strategic achievements, performance and future plans

In a year when lots of great things happened, celebrating our 65th birthday was perhaps the most satisfying. We are fiercely proud of our history and heritage, and it was something we became even more attuned to in 2024 when we celebrated the people and projects that came before us, on whose shoulders we stand. Despite the inevitable jokes about the Trust reaching its retirement age, we know we are at the start of a long journey, and we intend to have even more impact over the next 65 years. It felt fitting to develop our new Conservation Strategy in 2024, which formalises our strategic approach to conservation, ensuring that we can generate the most impact from our limited resources. It was also fitting that we launched our first land acquisition for several years, resulting in the successful purchase of Fir Tree Wood in Little Baddow.

Although much was achieved in 2024, our work is infinitely scalable: our resources are always going to fall short of our ambitions, and opportunities will therefore be missed. As usual, it wasn’t all plain sailing, but we will always be open about what went wrong. Inevitably there were things we weren’t able to do. We know that we aren’t perfect, but being self-reflective and self-critical are signs of a healthy organisation. Above all, we know we need to work more effectively with farmers . Although we have a good relationship with both individual farmers and the growing number of farm clusters in Essex, we need to put

plans in place to add more value to the work that they do. Despite having a growing portfolio of excellent projects that we work closely on with farmers, we lack the scale of impact on farming that some Wildlife Trusts have, while we know that farmers are as crucial to the health of the natural world as they are to the health of the human world, given that almost 70% of Essex is farmland . The most challenging thing about 2024 was taking actions that were necessary to improve our financial position. We took the decision to close our much-loved Nature Nursery which, for more than two years, offered full-time preschool education and childcare to 2–5-yearolds entirely outdoors: a pioneering venture which was voted ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted and which continues to inform our education work across the Trust. We also ran a voluntary redundancy and cost-saving programme , Project Chrysalis, which impacted several staff, and we would like to thank our colleagues who took voluntary redundancy in order to support the Trust’s overall financial health. Thank you.

As outlined in our Business Plan, our main focus in 2025, like most charities, will be to address our financial sustainability through managing our costs as effectively as possible and leveraging commercial opportunities, with the aim of generating income as well as impact, as one feeds the other.

Water vole: Terry Whittaker/2020VISION

Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024 | 19

We also intend to work more closely with our neighbouring Trusts, both to maximise our outputs and to make better use of our limited resources. At the end of 2024 we commissioned an external Governance Review, and we will be implementing recommendations to improve our leadership and governance.

We want to build on the growing portfolio of marine and coastal work by being a key partner in the landscapescale Transforming the Thames project. Further inland, we plan to implement the first phase of our Waterlife Recovery project which, among other things, will help to restore our native water vole populations.

We will continue to prioritise the management, and where possible extend, our nature reserves as the foundation for nature’s recovery in Essex, making the most of our increased research and monitoring work in recent years since the formation of our Conservation Evidence Team, but we will continue to focus on the rest of the county too, by continuing our partnership work, supporting the Local Nature Recovery Strategy, and scrutinising planning and development. Essex has significant planning pressures: we need to ensure that we have the right developments in the right place.

Our Nature Discovery Centres, of which we have more than any other Wildlife Trust, ended 2024 very strongly. We hope to continue this trajectory by offering the best wildlife experiences we can, great local food and drink, and things to buy in the shop that are genuinely meaningful and aligned with our cause, wherever possible telling a story about conservation and sustainability.

‘30 by 30’

30% of land and sea in Essex actively managed for nature’s recovery by 2030.

We have been a leader in outdoor education for many years, both in size and scope, and we intend to build on this in the future. However, our education needs to be cost-neutral in order to be sustainable, which will necessitate a degree of rethinking in 2025. Since the end of the national Nextdoor Nature funding, we also need to find new ways to fund our work with local communities.

Fundraising is of course critical to everything. If we are to deliver our Strategic Plan 2030 and continue to protect the wildlife of our county, we need more members, donors, legators, major donors, and strategic partners, so this will be a big area of development for us. We also need to start saying no to things that we don’t have the capacity to do, which is always a challenge for an organisation of motivated and enthusiastic nature-lovers.

We have had several big site-related projects in the pipeline for a while without the dedicated resource to take them in the direction we would like. We have therefore committed to using restricted funds, where available, to invest in the necessary project management expertise and resource to bring these projects to life, including the reopening of the Chafford centre, the reopening of Abbotts Hall, the reimagining of Stone Hall, and of course the next phase of writer Ronald Blythe’s wonderful gift, Bottengoms.

‘1 in 4’

1 in 4 people in Essex taking action for nature and climate by 2030.

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20 | Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024
Common seal: Elizabeth Petrie
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Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024 | 21

Financial review

The Trust incurred an overall surplus in 2024 of £1.3m. Income of £9.9m was an increase from £9.2m in 2023. Operating expenditure reduced by £0.8m to £9.7m from the previous year, this reduction was due ceasing non-core loss making activities. This has resulted in an operating profit at £0.2m compared to a loss of £1.4m in 2023. The improvement from the loss in the previous year was due to £1.4m operating surplus in restricted funds. The unrestricted operating loss for 2024 was £1.2m.

The Trustees approved medium-term financial plans which showed operating deficits. The small operating consolidated surplus in 2024 was in line with these plans, though the underlying unrestricted deficit requires corrective action.

Income from grants and donations decreased from £1.3m in 2023 to £1m in 2024 and legacy income increased from £1.8m in 2023 to £1.9m in 2024, both figures can vary significantly from year to year. Income for supporting the management of the Trust’s reserves had slightly increased in 2024 from £0.43m in 2023 to £0.47m in 2024. Membership income is stable and grew slightly to £1.6m.

Income from trading activities at the Trust’s 10 Nature Discovery Centres increased by £0.1m to £2.9m, while the costs of earning that income was slightly less than the previous year. The Trust’s ecological consultancy had another a poor year, with a loss of £0.1m and temporarily stopped trading for most of the year.

In the balance sheet, the largest change was the movement of fixed assets which are now classed as investment properties. Increase in the amount of cash held either in bank accounts or on short-term deposit, which at £1.7m, was £0.7m more than at the end of 2023.

The reclassification of two large, restricted funds was the primary driver of the increase in the Group’s total unrestricted funds of £4.3m to £11m. These free funds make up 35% of the Group’s total funds, with the remaining 65% being restricted for use on specific purposes or held as endowment funds.

The last three years of planned operating unrestricted losses have allowed the Trust to make progress in delivering its strategy, as set out elsewhere in this Impact Report. Further losses, albeit of a lower amount, are anticipated in the next two years to allow the momentum of this progress to continue, before a balanced sustainable result is achieved once more.

During the financial year the Trust changed auditors.

Recently the Trust and subsidiaries agreed to change the year-end date to 31 March each year. The 2025 financial year will be extended to 15 months ending 31 March 2026.

Reserves policy

Free reserves provide the working capital requirements of the charity, whilst providing a buffer of liquid funds in case of any short-term and substantial decline in income, unexpected increase in costs, or unexpected exposure to risk with financial consequences. The free reserves are especially intended to ensure that the Trust’s considerable contractual obligations to staff, freehold and leasehold premises and funding partners can be met. Essex Wildlife Trust calculates its free reserves by deducting the unrestricted fixed asset balance and any designated funds from the general fund balance shown on the balance sheet (Note 23b).

The Trustees review the reserves policy annually and have adopted a risk based approach in determining the free reserves level. This level has been calculated to be no less than £1.5m of which not less than half should be readily realisable.

The calculated free reserve figure of £5.46 (2023: £3.5m) is above the minimum level of £1.5m, the Trust is planning to operate a deficit budget for 2025, subsequent budget plans for 2026 onwards, are to return to an operating break even position.

22 | Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024

Key

2023

2024

Financial review (continued)

----- Start of picture text -----
Total income (£m) 3.05
3 2.97
2 1.98
1.87
1.85
1.58
1.48
1.32
1.01 1.16
1
0.45 0.44
0
Membership Grants and Legacies Charitable Other trading Income from
Income Donations activities activites investments
£m
----- End of picture text -----

Membership income increased during the year, reflecting growth in the membership base. Trading income also rose, largely due to expanded activities within the subsidiary. Legacy income, while variable, was slightly higher than in the previous year. There was an uplift in agricultural and restricted grants relating to

conservation projects commencing in 2024. However, overall income from grants and donations decreased compared to the prior year, primarily due to the receipt of several non-recurrent grants in 2023 that were not repeated in 2024.”

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2023
total income
£9.23m
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----- Start of picture text -----
2024
total income
£9.95m
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Expenditure

Expenditure on charitable activities is spent directly on our reserves and conservation work as described in the Achievements and Performance section above.

There was a dip in education and education expenditure primaily due to closure of Nature Nursery in 2024

----- Start of picture text -----
3.5
3.29 Total expenditure summary (£m)
3
2.78
2.67
1.98
2
1.33
1.22 1.22
1
0.78 0.77
0.39 0.34
0
Reserves and Visitor centres’ Eduacation Voluntary Fundraising Trading companies
Conservation costs and engagement income events and other costs
£m
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Expenditure on raising funds

Expenditure on charitable activities

2023 total expenditure £10.56m

2024 total expenditure £9.73m

Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024 | 23

Total funds

Group funds summary (£m)

----- Start of picture text -----
The increase in general
funds is primarily due 40
tothe revaluation of
35
investment properties 29.75 31.14
held by Essex Wildlife 30
Trust. Additionally,
25
following a review of the
restrictions associated 20 20.04 19.33
with one restricted fund
and one endowment 15
fund, it was determined 10.45
10
that they no longer met 6.11
the criteria for restriction. 5 3.04
As a result, both funds 0.56 0.56 0.8
were reclassified as 0
unrestricted and Designated General Restricted Endowment Total
transferred to core funds. funds funds funds funds funds
2023 total
funds
£29.75m
£m
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2024 total funds £31.14m

Balance sheet

Group balance sheet (£m)

----- Start of picture text -----
15.22
Intangible /
16.9
tangible assets
12.5
Long term
investments 10.4
3.47
Current asssets
4.87
(1.16)
Current liabilities
(0.67)
Long term
liabilities (0.13)
Pension (0.03)
provision (0.25)
(1.00) 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
£m
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24 | Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024

Investment powers and policy

Under the terms of the Trust’s Articles of Association, the charity has the power to invest in any way the Trustees deem to be appropriate and to the overall benefit of the Trust.

Following the adoption of new Articles of Association by the Membership at the AGM in 2013 & 2016, and changes to the methods used to manage the charity’s investment portfolio, including the appointment of professional investment advisers, the Trustees agreed a new investment policy, which was reviewed during 2023.

In considering the investment policy, the Trustees place much emphasis on the need to invest in financial products that are considered to be ethical in nature having regard to the objects of the charity as well as investments that have strong environmental, social and governance credentials.

To demonstrate the ethical requirements of the charity, as balanced against the need to ensure that the charity’s investments generate income to contribute to the running costs of the charity, the salient parts of the investment policy are as follows:

The charity will:

• Use the income and capital generated through investment of its financial reserves to further the objectives of the charity;

• Seek to make investments in companies with strong environmental, ethical, social and governance (ESG) credentials. It will do this by investing in companies and funds that meet these standards and it will avoid investments, whether direct or indirect, that do not have strong management of ESG risks and opportunities. This will include the following ethical restrictions:

• No investment in tobacco manufacturers and oil and gas companies

• The avoidance of investment in companies that earn more than 10% of their revenues from the following;

The investment objective:

• For long term reserves of the charity to achieve capital growth in excess of inflation over the long term, whilst generating an income to support the on-going activities of the charity;

• For the short-term reserves of the charity, to preserve their capital value with a minimum level of risk. Assets should be realisable without undue financial or performance penalty to meet unanticipated cash flow requirements.

In furtherance of this approach, the appropriateness of the Trust’s investments in Sarasin’s Climate Active Fund was reviewed against the updated investment policy and the Trust’s investment management mandate was market tested during 2023. As a result, the investments are being transferred to a bespoke investment portfolio managed by Greenbank Rathbones, this process was started in late 2023 and is now fully compliant with the policy.

• Alcohol manufacturing and retail

• Armaments

• Adult entertainment including pornography

• Gambling

• Fossil fuels, including oil, gas, coal and tar sands, whether by exploration and extraction, production, distribution or power generation

Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024 | 25

Internal financial controls

The Trustees have overall responsibility for ensuring that the Trust has in place an appropriate system of controls, financial and otherwise, to provide reasonable assurance that:

• It is operating efficiently and effectively;

• Its assets are safeguarded against unauthorised use or disposal;

• Proper records are maintained, and financial information used within the Trust or for publication is reliable;

• It complies with relevant laws and regulation.

The Trustees are aware of the guidance CC8 called “Internal Financial Controls for Charities” published by the Charity Commission for England and Wales and are satisfied that the system of financial controls operated by the Trust during the year to which this report refers complied in all material aspects with the Commission’s guidance.

These systems provide reasonable assurance against material misstatement or loss and include a strategic plan, a risk register, monthly management accounts and an annual budget. The documents, which are approved by the Trustees, enable the Trust to monitor the actual monthly results against the appropriate budgets to ensure that the authority delegated to the Executive by the Trustees is adhered to throughout the year.

The Trust needs to be sure that all of its dealings are conducted in a fair and open manner. Therefore, in line with the provisions of the Bribery Act 2010, the Trust has adopted a formal policy and has implemented systems for controlling and recording any gifts or benefits offered to our staff by companies or others.

Training for all existing staff took place when the Act was first introduced and the Trust’s policy and procedures regarding bribery are incorporated in the induction of new staff. The contents of the policy are reviewed periodically and a copy of the latest edition is readily available from the Trust’s intranet system.

Adder: Jon Hawkins - Surrey Hills Photography

26 | Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024

Redshank: creativenature.nl- stock.adobe.com

Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024 | 27

Risk

management

Principal risks & uncertainties

We have fully reviewed and revised the approach to Risk Management, which is driven by a Corporate Risk Register that consists of key risks to delivering the Trust objectives and strategic aims. The Corporate Risk Register is the responsibility of the Board and which is overseen by the senior management team and the leadership group.

Generally, whilst the risks faced by the Trust remain similar over the years, the Trustees and staff remain vigilant because external, as well as internal, circumstances change.

The risk governance reporting structure now includes Corporate Risk Register that risks are assessed with an initial impact and likelihood score, and a residual mitigated score. The risks are clearly defined and specific. The Corporate Risk Register is reviewed regularly by the senior and operational management teams as well as at Finance, Audit and Risk Committee.

The impact scoring is assessed by finance, people, environment and reputation.

The risks are categorised into seven strategic headings:

	Strategic Risk	Description
1	Environment	Are conservation risks, both internally and externally, identifed and managed?
2	Health and safety	Are H&S working practices meeting all stakeholder and legal requirements?
3	Financial	Are the fnancial strategy and objectives being achieved?
4	Business systems	Are systems secure from cyber risks and meeting operational requirements?
5	Commercial	Are the commercial strategy and objectives being achieved?
6	Operational	Are operational areas identifed which could cause strategic concerns?
7	People	Are people efectively being managed to deliver strategic goals and objectives?

Each key risk within the Corporate Risk Register has an identified a lead and are working through the delivery of actions to address areas where improvement is necessary. These strategic risks form the framework that the Strategic Leadership Team uses.

28 | Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024

Fundraising at Essex Wildlife Trust

House sparrow: Fergus Gill/2020VISION

Essex Wildlife Trust is committed to fundraising and communicating in an honest and transparent way. We rely on the generosity and enthusiasm of members and supporters to fund the majority of our work to protect wildlife and inspire the next generation to care for wildlife too.

Essex Wildlife Trust is registered with the Fundraising Regulator (FR), contributing the appropriate voluntary fee and adhering to its rules and guidance. The FR is responsible for investigating any complaints regarding charity fundraising. We continue to keep abreast of changes and recommendations and are committed to complying with all of these regulations. We also follow the Institute of Fundraising’s Code of Practice and comply with the key principles embodied in this code.

Our approach to fundraising is that we are honest and transparent with our donors and supporters about where their money goes and why we ask for donations. We publish information widely about our work and communicate why we need donations and what they will be spent on.

Together with five other Wildlife Trusts, we are a stakeholder in a wholly-owned Wildlife Trust membership recruitment company, Wildlife Fundraising Central Limited. The company is managed by a Board of Trustees drawn from the relevant Wildlife Trusts and other experts. This company is transparent in its fundraising techniques, regulated by the Institute of Fundraising (IOF) and meets with its member Trusts every three months.

There is a written agreement between all parties agreeing fundraising standards, monitoring of fundraisers and compliance. Other fundraisers are employed directly by Essex Wildlife Trust and managed as members of staff.

Essex Wildlife Trust is accountable regarding its fundraising. Essex Wildlife Trust monitors fundraising activity through regular reports to the Board of Trustees, based on our budgetary and management accounts process and policy.

All projects are approved and managed through the Strategic Leadership Team, with Board approval where appropriate. All of our projects and core fundraising contribute to Essex Wildlife Trust’s strategy and overall vision – to have a county rich in wildlife with people connected to nature – with communities that value the countryside and that are inspired to help protect it.

Essex Wildlife Trust has a complaints policy and the procedure for making complaints regarding our fundraising can be found on our website, as a link under Essex Wildlife Trust’s Fundraising Promise. Essex Wildlife Trust’s policy regarding Vulnerable Adults and Treating Donors Fairly sets out how we expect our fundraisers to behave. Essex Wildlife Trust is respectful – we respect decisions not to make donations and to withdraw membership, we will contact our supporters and donors in the way that they request, we will respond to queries in an open, honest, courteous and professional way. We will acknowledge any complaint within five working days to let complainants know when they can expect a response.

Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024 | 29

Structure, governance and management

The Trust is governed by a Memorandum and Articles of Association and is a company limited by guarantee with the number 00638666.

The governing document

Essex Wildlife Trust Ltd is a company limited by guarantee, incorporated on 2 October 1959, and governed by its Memorandum and Articles of Association the latest versions of which were approved by Members at the Annual General Meeting held on 22 June 2013 and amended on 10 September 2016. The company has no issued or unissued share capital andthe liability of each Member of the Trust in the event of winding up is limited to £1.

Essex Wildlife Trust was entered on the Register of Charities for England and Wales on 22 September 1962.

Organisation

The Board of Trustees is responsible for determining the strategic direction of the Trust and for monitoring performance towards those set objectives. The Board meets formally on average at least five times per year, there is a Finance and Audit Committees which generally meets quarterly and advises the Board on financial matters.

A Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is appointed by the Trustees to manage the day to day operations of the charity. To facilitate effective operation, the CEO has delegated authority for operational matters, within the terms of delegation approved by the Trustees.

Appointment of Trustees

The Trustees have the power to co-opt to fill a vacancy that occurs between AGMs. The co-opted Trustee must, however, stand down or be nominated for election at

the next AGM. Following changes to the Articles approved by Members at the Annual General Meeting held on September 10th 2016, the Board are now able to appoint up to two Trustees.

At the Annual General Meeting in each year, one third of the Members of the Board shall retire from office but shall be eligible for re-election. If the number of Members of the Board is not exactly divisible by three, the number of Members to retire shall be determined by rounding to the nearest whole number.

The Members of the Board to retire at an Annual General Meeting shall be those who have served as such for the longest period since last re-election and where there is an equality of service the person to retire shall be determined by lot.

Induction and training

of board members

Trustees’ skills are reviewed regularly to ensure that the balance is suitable. New Trustees are inducted into the charity by discussions between themselves and other Trustees, and members of staff, as opportunities arise. They are presented with background information and have access to the Charity Commission’s website.

As set out in Clause 11.2 of the Articles of Association, the Chair of the Trustees is appointed by the Trustees from among their number. There is provision for up to 13 Trustees in total, one third of who are elected annually by the members of the charitable company, either by post or by attending the Annual General Meeting. Trustees serve for a period of three years, with a maximum of nine years.

As set out in Clause 9 of the Articles of Association, one additional Trustee is appointed by resolution of the Trustees for the time being to take the role of the Treasurer for a term of three years.

30 | Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024

Structure, governance (Continued) and management

Statement of the Board of Trustee’s responsibilities

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

Company law requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and the group and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable group for that period.

In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to:

• Select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;

• Observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP;

• Make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;

• State whether applicable accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements;

• Prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in business.

Finance and audit committee

The Trustees established the Finance & Audit Committee to take on a number of detailed financial matters in order to advise and make recommendations to the Board. The work of the committee continued during the year under review.

Key management personnel remuneration

The Trustees consider the Chief Executive and the Strategic Leadership Team as comprising the key management personnel of the charity, in charge of running and operating the charity on a day to day basis. All Trustees give of their time freely and no remuneration was received for trustee duties in the year. Details of trustee expenses and related party transactions are disclosed in note 10 to the accounts.

Trustees are required to disclose all relevant interests and register them with the Chief Executive and in accordance with the Trust’s policy, withdraw from decisions where a conflict of interest arises. Where the Trust or any of the Trustees have interests with the trading operations of the charity’s trading subsidiaries, any such interests are disclosed.

Remuneration of key personnel In accordance with the agreed job evaluation framework and available benchmarking information, the Chief Executive has delegated authority to agree salaries. They will normally do so in conjunction with HR executives or, for Director level posts, with the input of key Trustees. The Chief Executive’s own salary is set by the Chair and Honorary Officers.

The Trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that 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. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and the group and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024 | 31

Relationship with the charity and related parties including its subsidiaries

Other Wildlife Trusts

The charity is a member of The Wildlife Trusts that is registered as the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts (RSWT) charity number 207238. RSWT acts as an umbrella body on behalf of all county Wildlife Trusts.

County Wildlife Trusts have the use of The Wildlife Trusts’ logo and benefit from their resources, best practice and experience. Membership gives the charity a national voice and profile. However, each member of the RSWT remains entirely independent in terms of governance and financial management.

Subsidiary companies

The Trust has four subsidiaries, the principal activities of which are as follows:

• Essex Wildlife Sales Limited (EWS) The retail sale of goods and catering at various Trust Nature Discovery Centres and other venues throughout Essex.

• Essex Ecology Services Limited (EES) The provision of advisory services relating to environmental matters.

• Chafford Gorges Limited The conservation and maintenance of the area known as Chafford Gorges Nature Park in Thurrock.

• Thameside Nature Park Limited The conservation and maintenance of the area known as Thurrock Thameside Nature Park adjacent to Mucking in Thurrock.

The Trust is also a Corporate Trustee of the Veolia Pitsea Marshes and Veolia Havering Riverside Maintenance Trusts. These Trusts ceased their grant-making activities and transferred any remaining funds to the Veolia Maintenance Trust in 2023. The Trusts have been wound up in 2024.

Together with five other Wildlife Trusts, we are a stakeholder in a wholly-owned Wildlife Trust membership recruitment company, Wildlife Fundraising Central Limited. The company is managed by a Board of Trustees drawn from the relevant Wildlife Trusts and other experts.

32 | Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024

Statement as to disclosure of information to auditors

The members of Board who were in office on the date of approval of these financial statements have confirmed, as far as they are aware, that there is no relevant audit information of which the auditors are unaware. Each of the members of Board have confirmed that they have taken all steps that they ought to have taken as members of Board in order to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that it has been communicated to the auditor.

James Wren

Chair Essex Wildlife Trust

The Auditors

In accordance with the charitable company’s articles, a resolution proposing that Moore Kingston Smith LLP be reappointed as auditors of the charitable company will be put at a General Meeting.

The Report of the Members of Board, which includes the Strategic Report on pages 4 to 19, were approved by the Board on 7th August 2025 and signed on their behalf:

On behalf of the Board

J Wren - Chair

Dated: 7 August 2025

Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024 | 33

34 | Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024

Independent auditor’s report to the members

of Essex Wildlife Trust Limited

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Essex Wildlife Trust Ltd (the ‘parent company’) for the year ended 31 December 2024 which comprise the Consolidated Statement of Income and Expenditure, the Consolidated and Charity Balance Sheets, the Consolidated Cash Flow Statement and notes to the consolidated 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:

1. Give a true and fair view of the state of the groups and the charitable company’s affairs as at 31 December 2024, and of the groups incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure, for the year then ended;

2. Have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and

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 other information comprises the information included in the annual report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. The trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. 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 course of the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether there is a material misstatement in the financial statements 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.

1. Have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006.

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s Responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

Conclusions relating to going concern

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.

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

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

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

1. The information given in the strategic report and the trustees’ report for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and

2. The strategic report and the trustees’ report have been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the group and the parent company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the strategic report or the trustees’ report.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters where the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024 | 35

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

• The parent company financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or

• Certain disclosures of trustees’ remuneration specified by law are not made; or

• We have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement set out on page 30, the trustees are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

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

Auditor 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 aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

As part of an audit in accordance with ISAs (UK) we exercise professional judgement and maintain professional scepticism throughout the audit.

We also:

• Identify and assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to fraud or error, design and perform audit procedures responsive to those risks, and obtain audit evidence that is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion. The risk of not detecting a material misstatement resulting from fraud is higher than for one resulting from error, as fraud may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal control.

• Obtain an understanding of internal control relevant to the audit in order to design audit procedures that are appropriate in the circumstances, but not for the purposes of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the group and the parent company’s internal control.

• Evaluate the appropriateness of accounting policies used and the reasonableness of accounting estimates and related disclosures made by the trustees.

• Conclude on the appropriateness of the trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting and, based on the audit evidence obtained, whether a material uncertainty exists related to events or conditions that may cast significant doubt on the group and the parent company’s ability to continue as a going concern. If we conclude that a material uncertainty exists, we are required to draw attention in our auditor’s report to the related disclosures in the financial statements or, if such disclosures are inadequate, to modify our opinion. Our conclusions are based on the audit evidence obtained up to the date of our auditor’s report. However, future events or conditions may cause the group or the parent company to cease to continue as a going concern.

• Evaluate the overall presentation, structure and content of the financial statements, including the disclosures, and whether the financial statements represent the underlying transactions and events in a manner that achieves fair presentation.

• Obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence regarding the financial information of the entities or business activities within the group to express an opinion on the consolidated financial statements. We are responsible for the direction, supervision and performance of the group audit. We remain solely responsible for our audit opinion.

36 | Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024

Independent auditor’s report to the members of Essex Wildlife Trust Limited (continued)

We communicate with those charged with governance regarding, among other matters, the planned scope and timing of the audit and significant audit findings, including any significant deficiencies in internal control that we identify during our audit.

Explanation as to what extent the audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud

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

The objectives of our audit in respect of fraud, are; to identify and assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements due to fraud; to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence regarding the assessed risks of material misstatement due to fraud, through designing and implementing appropriate responses to those assessed risks; and to respond appropriately to instances of fraud or suspected fraud identified during the audit. However, the primary responsibility for the prevention and detection of fraud rests with both management and those charged with governance of the company.

• Based on this understanding, we designed specific appropriate audit procedures to identify instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. This included making enquiries of management and those charged with governance and obtaining additional corroborative evidence as required.

There are inherent limitations in the audit procedures described above. We are less likely to become aware of instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations that are not closely related to events and transactions reflected in the financial statements. Also, the risk of not detecting a material misstatement due to fraud is higher than the risk of not detecting one resulting from error, as fraud may involve deliberate concealment by, for example, forgery or intentional misrepresentations, or through collusion.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the company’s members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken for no purpose other than to draw to the attention of the company’s members those matters which we are required to include in an auditor’s report addressed to them. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to any party other than the company and company’s members as a body, for our work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Our approach was as follows:

• We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory requirements applicable to the company and considered that the most significant are the Companies Act 2006, Charities Act 2011, UK financial reporting standards as issued by the Financial Reporting Council, and UK taxation legislation.

• We obtained an understanding of how the company complies with these requirements by discussions with management and those charged with governance.

Paul Springfield (Senior Statutory Auditor) For and on behalf of

Moore Kingston Smith LLP Statutory Auditor

Orbital House, 20 Eastern Road, Romford, Essex, RM1 3PJ

Date: 14 August 2025

• We assessed the risk of material misstatement of the financial statements, including the risk of material misstatement due to fraud and how it might occur, by holding discussions with management and those charged with governance.

• We inquired of management and those charged with governance as to any known instances of non-compliance or suspected non-compliance with laws and regulations.

Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024 | 37

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Beaver: Nick Upton/Cornwall Wildlife Trust
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38 | Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024

Consolidated statement of financial activities

incorprating the income and expenditure account for the year ended 31 December 2024

		Unrestricted	Restricted	Endowment	Total	Total
Notes		funds (£)	funds (£)	funds (£)	2024 (£)	2023 (£)
Income and endowments from
Donations and legacies	3	2,750,830	1,841,078	-	4,591,908	4,647,861
Charitable activities	4	1,159,243	714,544	-	1,873,787	1,158,558
Other trading activities	5	3,034,976	14,391	-	3,049,367	2,971,175
Income from investments	6	299,849	117,421	20,704	437,974	448,438
Total income		7,244,898	2,687,434	20,704	9,953,036	9,226,032
Expenditure on
Charitable activities	7	4,732,174	1,166,689	40,557	5,939,420	6,608,859
Raising funds	8	3,724,324	57,847	3,421	3,785,592	3,954,890
Total Expenditure	9	8,456,498	1,224,536	43,978	9,725,012	10,563,749
Net (expenditure)/income		(1,248,499) (1,211,600)	(150,804) 1,462,898	10,860 (23,274)	(1,388,443) 228,024	264,258 (1,337,717)
Net (expenditure)/income Transfer between funds		(1,248,499) 4,310,116	(150,804) (2,103,987)	10,860 (2,206,129)	(1,388,443) -	264,258 -
Other gains/(losses)
Actuarial gains/(losses) on defned beneft pension scheme	11	18,375	-	-	18,375	(347,068)
Net (Losses)/gains on investments	16	(131,015)	(68,413)	(13,443)	(212,871)	663,835
Losses on revaluation of fxed assets		-	-	-	-	(147,000)
Unrealised gain on investment properties		1,359,721	-	-	1,359,721	-
Net movement in funds	24b	4,345,597	(709,502)	(2,242,846)	1,393,249	(1,167,950)
Reconciliation of funds
Total funds brought forward		6,671,280	20,035,543	3,044,271	29,751,094	30,919,044
Total funds carried forward	24	11,016,877	19,326,041	801,425	31,144,343	29,751,094

The statement of financial activities contains all gains and losses for the year and all activities relate to continuing operations. The profit for the purposes of the Companies Act 2006 is the net income before unrealised gains/(losses).

The detailed comparative information for the statement of financial activities is included at note 32.

The notes on pages 43 to 80 form part of these financial statements.

Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024 | 39

Consolidated and charity balance sheets

as at 31 December 2024

		Group	Group	Charity	Charity
	Notes	2024 (£)	2023 (£)	2024 (£)	2023 (£)
Fixed asset
Intangible assets	13	5,700	10,875	5,700	10,875
Tangible assets	14	15,400,955	15,208,886	14,784,578	14,820,426
Investment properties	15	1,490,000	-	1,490,000	-
Long term investments	16	10,424,058	12,526,024	6,468,892	8,618,452
Total fxed assets		27,320,713	27,745,785	22,749,170	23,449,753
Current assets
Stocks		395,699	396,901	152,367	154,602
Debtors	17	2,693,901	2,040,360	3,249,313	2,854,894
Short term investments	18	963,702	244,838	940,769	110,394
Cash at bank and in hand		818,744	789,760	543,953	348,882
Total current assets		4,872,046	3,471,859	4,886,402	3,468,772
Liabilities
Creditors:
Amounts falling due within one year	19	(665,014)	(1,162,551)	(826,159)	(1,343,750)
Net current assets		4,207,032	2,309,308	4,060,243	2,125,022
Creditors:
Amounts falling due afer one year	25 20	(128,125)	-	(128,125)	-
Defned beneft pension scheme asset	11	(255,277)	(303,999)	(255,277)	(303,999)
Total net assets		31,144,343	29,751,094	26,426,011	25,270,776
Te funds of the charity					27,208,214
Unrestricted funds
Designated funds	25 21	564,606	564,606	564,606	564,606
General funds		10,452,271	6,106,674	10,831,173	6,552,368
Total unrestricted funds		11,016,877	6,671,280	11,395,779	7,116,974
Restricted funds	22	19,326,041	20,035,543	14,228,807	15,109,531
Endowment funds	23	801,425	3,044,271	801,425	3,044,271
Total funds	24	31,144,343	29,751,094	26,426,011	25,270,776

These accounts were approved by the Board and authorised for issue on 7th August 2025

A separate Statement of Financial Activities (SOFA) is not presented because the charitable company has taken advantage of the exemptions afforded by section 408 of Companies Act 2006.

The net movement in funds for the parent charity was a surplus of £1,155,235 (2023: deficit of £1,743,339).

J Wren – Chair

P Roberts – Treasurer

The notes on pages 43 to 80 form part of these financial statements. Company number 00638666.

40 | Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024

Consolidated cash flow statement

for the year ended 31 December 2024

	2024 (£)	2024 (£)	2023 (£)	2023 (£)
Cash fows from operating activities
Net cash generated/(used) by operating activities		38,911		(1,327,304)
Cash fows from investing activities
Dividends and interest	437,974		448,438
Purchase of fxed assets	(940,036)		(700,999)
Proceeds from the sale of investments	13,395,663		248,000
Purchase of investments	(12,184,664)
Net cash provided/(used) in investing activities		708,937		(4,561)
Change in cash and cash equivalents in the reporting period		747,848		(1,331,865)
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the reporting period		1,034,598		2,366,463
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the reporting period		1,782,446		1,034,598

Reconciliation of net income to net cash inflow from operating activities

	2024	2023
	(£)	(£)
Net income / (expenditure) for the reporting period (as per the statement of fnancial activities)	1,393,249	(1,167,950)
Depreciation/amortisation	622,584	628,937
Losses / (gains) on investments	890,967	(663,835)
Gains on investment properties	(1,359,721)	-
Pension defcit movement	(48,722)	322,766
Revaluation of fxed assets losses	-	147,000
Revaluation of fxed assets gains	-	(50,000)
Dividends, interest and rents from investments	(437,974)	(448,438)
Loss on the sale of fxed assets	279	7,998
Decrease in stock	1,202	15,948
Increase in debtors	(653,541)	(37,863)
Decrease in creditors	(369,412)	(81,867)
Net cash Infow/(outfow) from operating activity	38,911	(1,327,304)

Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024 | 41

Analysis of cash and cash equivalents

	2024 (£)	2023 (£)
Deposits on less than 3 months’ notice	963,702	244,838
Cash at bank and in hand	818,746	789,760
Total cash and cash equivalents	1,782,446	531,933 1,034,598

Analysis of changes in net debt

2024

	Balance 1 Jan 2024 (£)	Cash fows (£)	Balance 31 Dec 2024 (£)
Deposits on less than 3 months’ notice	244,838	718,864	963,702
Cash at bank and in hand	789,760	28,984	818,744
Total	1,034,598	787,848	531,933 1,782,446

2023

	Balance 1 Jan 2023 (£)	Cash fows (£)	Balance 31 Dec 2023 (£)
Deposits on less than 3 months’ notice	1,834,530	(1,589,692)	244,838
Cash at bank and in hand	531,933	257,827	789,760
Total	2,366,463	(1,331,865)	531,933 1,034,598

42 | Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024

Fox: Jon Hawkins - Surrey Hills Photography

Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024 | 43

Notes to the consolidated financial statements

1. Accounting policies

Company information

Essex Wildlife Trust is a charitable company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales, which meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS102. The company is domiciled and incorporated in England and Wales, the registered office is Abbotts Hall Farm, Great Wigborough, Colchester, Essex, CO5 7RZ.

1.1. Basis of accounting

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention, with the exception of listed investments which are included at their market value. The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland effective 1 January 2019 (The FRS 102 Charities SORP), the Companies Act 2006 and the Charities Act 2011.

The financial statements are prepared in Sterling, which is the functional currency of the charitable company. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest pound.

The Trustees confirm that the Charity meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102.

1.2. Group accounts

The Statement of Financial Activities (SOFA) and Balance Sheet consolidate the financial statements of the charity and its subsidiary undertakings. The results of the subsidiaries are consolidated on a line by line basis.

1.3. Fund accounting:

Unrestricted funds:

These funds can be used for any of the charity’s purposes.

Restricted income funds:

These funds have been given to the Trust for a particular purpose to be used in accordance with the wishes of the donor.

Endowment funds:

These funds have been given to the Trust for a particular purpose to be used in accordance with the wishes of the donor. The capital can generally not be realised.

Designated funds:

Projects: These funds were set aside by the Trustees for specific projects. Many of these projects are partly funded from restricted funds with the unfunded element set aside from general funds.

1.4. Income

Income from investments, Gift Aid and deeds of covenant is included gross, and is accounted for when it is receivable or the charity’s right to it becomes legally enforceable. Provision has been made for Income Tax reclaimable at the year-end but not yet received.

Legacy income is included in the accounts when the amount due can be quantified with reasonable certainty and it is probable that it will be received. Receipt is normally probable when there has been grant of probate, the estate has sufficient assets to pay the legacy and any conditions attached are either within the control of the charity or have been met.

Grants receivable including government grants are accounted for when there is sufficient information to enable the claim to be made or the claim has been made and there is clear indication to suggest the claim will be met.

Income from Donations is accounted for on a receipts basis.

44 | Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024

1.5. Membership income

Membership income is taken to the Statement of Financial Activities over the life of the subscription, taking into account the type of membership involved.

1.9. Irrecoverable VAT

The charity and its subsidiaries are partially exempt. Irrecoverable VAT is allocated to the appropriate cost categories.

1.10. Land

1.6. Volunteer help

The Trust receives support from a wide variety of volunteers. It is not practical to place a value on the time volunteered by all these persons, due to the variety of duties performed, the differences in time spent, and the sheer number of volunteers who gave of their time.

1.7. Expenditure

All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and liabilities are recognised as resources expended as soon as there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the Charity to the expenditure.

Indirect costs are allocated to the expenditure headings in the SOFA on the basis of the number of employees in each area of work.

Cost of Raising Funds consists of expenditure relating to appeals, communications requesting funds, applying for grants and other general publicity as part of fundraising together with associated support activities and cost of sales.

Administration and Support of charitable activities consists of those costs incurred in support of expenditure on the objects of the charity. These include the provision of the premises, personnel, information technology and audit fees.

1.8. Finance and operating leases

Rentals payable under operating leases are charged to the SOFA over the period in which the cost is incurred. The Trust has no finance leases.

Interest in land purchased by the Trust including expenditure on capital projects is stated at cost. Land in joint ownership is also stated at cost. Land gifted to the Trust since 1st January 1993 is accounted for at valuation at the date the gift was made.

The charity has been unable to allocate historic costs for freehold land and long leasehold land to specific properties and accordingly the total cost cannot be analysed between the two different types of interest.

No value is attributable to land given to the Trust before 1st January 1993 nor are changes in the value of land after its acquisition recognised.

1.11. Heritage assets

The Charity’s objects include the conservation of nature for the purpose of study and research and to educate the public in understanding and appreciation of nature, the awareness of its value and the need for its conservation. As such the Charity owns and maintains a number of nature reserves that fall into the definition of heritage assets in accordance with FRS 102. These assets, when purchased other than gifted, have been capitalised at cost at the date of acquisition, and being land in nature have not been depreciated.

These assets have been included within tangible fixed assets and not separately disclosed as the information on their cost or valuation is not available and such information cannot be obtained at a cost commensurate with the benefit to the users of the financial statements and to the Charity.

The costs of maintaining the heritage assets are expensed through the Statement of Financial Activities as incurred, as part of the Trust’s charitable activities.

Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024 | 45

1.12. Amortisation

Amortisation is provided at the following rates in order to write off the cost of each asset over its estimated useful life.

Computer software 33⅓% on cost p.a.

1.13. Depreciation

Depreciation is not provided on freehold land which is considered to have a useful life of more than fifty years. Assets in the course of construction are not depreciated.

Moveable assets over £1,000 are capitalised. Tangible fixed assets other than freehold land are stated at cost less depreciation.

Depreciation is provided at the following rates in order to write off the cost of each asset over its estimated useful life.

Buildings 2% on cost p.a. Abbotts Hall offices 1½% on cost p.a. Office equipment 33⅓% on cost p.a. Plant and Equipment 10% to 20% on cost p.a.

1.14. Investments

1.16. Pension costs

The Trust operates a defined contribution scheme for the benefit of all of its employees. The costs of the defined contributions are written off against incoming resources in the year they are payable. The assets of the scheme are held separately from the Trust in independently administered funds. The majority of the employees are members of a money purchase policy, which was set up to meet the government’s requirements regarding pension provisions for all staff. Contributions to the policy made on behalf of employees are also charged against incoming resources in the year they are paid.

The Trust is also a member of the Wildlife Trust Pension Scheme (WTPS) which is a hybrid scheme whose defined benefits section is in deficit. The scheme was closed to new members and future accrual on 30 September 2005.

Under defined benefit accounting the Scheme assets are measured at fair value. Scheme liabilities are measured on an actuarial basis using the projected unit credit method and are discounted at appropriate high quality corporate bond rates. The net surplus or deficit is presented separately from other net assets on the Statement of Financial Position. The current service cost and costs from settlements and curtailments are charged to operating surplus. Past service costs are recognised in the current reporting period. Interest is calculated on the net defined benefit liability. Re-measurements are reported in other comprehensive income.

Investments are stated at market value, except investments in subsidiary undertakings which are held at cost. It is the Trust’s policy to keep valuations up to date such that when investments are sold, there is no gain or loss arising relating to the previous year. As a result, the SOFA includes those unrealised gains and losses arising from the revaluation of the investment portfolio at the year end. Disclosure is made in the notes to the accounts of the difference between historic cost and sale proceeds of investments sold during the year.

1.15. Stocks

Stocks are stated at the lower of cost and net realisable value.

46 | Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024

1.17. Going concern

Having reviewed the Charity and Group’s financial forecasts and expected future cashflows, the Trustees have a reasonable expectation that the group has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future and for a period of at least 12 months following the approval of these financial statements. Thus, the going concern basis has been adopted in preparing the group statements for the year ended 31 December 2024.

1.18. Financial assets

The Charitable Company has elected to apply the provisions of Section 11 ‘Basic Financial Instruments’ and Section 12 ‘Other Financial Instruments Issues’ of FRS 102 to all of its financial instruments.

Basic financial assets, which include trade and other receivables and cash and bank balances, are initially measured at transaction price including transaction costs and are subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest method, unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the transaction is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest. Other financial assets classified as fair value through profit or loss are measured at fair value. They are subsequently carried at amortised cost, using the effective interest rate method.

1.19. Financial liabilities

Basic financial liabilities are initially measured at transaction price, unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the debt instrument is measured at the present value of the future payments discounted at a market rate of interest. Other financial liabilities classified as fair value through profit or loss are measured at fair value. They are subsequently carried at amortised cost, using the effective interest rate method.

1.20. Cash and cash equivalents

Cash and cash equivalents include cash in hand, deposits held at call with banks, other short-term liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less, and bank overdrafts. Bank overdrafts are shown within borrowings in current liabilities.

Impairment of financial assets

Financial assets, other than those held at fair value through profit and loss, are assessed for indicators of impairment at each reporting end date.

Financial assets are impaired where there is objective evidence that, as a result of one or more events that occurred after the initial recognition of the financial asset, the estimated future cash flows have been affected. The impairment loss is recognised in profit or loss.

Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024 | 47

2. Critical accounting estimates and judgements

In the application of the charitable company’s accounting policies, the Trustees are required to make judgements, estimates and assumptions about the carrying amount of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. The estimates and associated assumptions are based on historical experience and other factors that are considered to be relevant. Actual results may differ from these estimates.

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

Key sources of estimation uncertainty

Useful economic lives of intangible fixed assets

The annual amortisation charge for intangible fixed assets is sensitive to changes in the estimated useful economic lives and residual values of the assets. The useful economic lives and residual values are re-assessed annually. See note 13 for the carrying amount of the intangible fixed assets and note 1 for the useful economic lives for each class of asset.

Useful economic lives of tangible fixed assets

The annual depreciation charge for tangible fixed assets is sensitive to changes in the estimated useful economic lives and residual values of the assets. The useful economic lives and residual values are re-assessed annually. They are amended when necessary to reflect current estimates, based on technological advancement, future investments, economic utilisation and the physical condition of the assets. See note 14 for the carrying amount of the tangible fixed assets and note 1 for the useful economic lives for each class of asset.

Defined benefit pension scheme

Management’s estimate of the defined benefit pension obligation is based on a number of critical underlying assumptions such as standard rates of inflation, mortality and discount rate. Variation in these assumptions may significantly impact the defined benefit obligation amount and the annual defined benefit expenses (as analysed in Note 11).

Legacy Income Recognition

In accordance with the accounting policy detailed in Note 1.4, the calculation of Legacy Income is based on all information available to the charity. This is usually information that has been provided by executors in the form of estate accounts, the nature of these accounts can still include estimated amounts, particularly where property values are yet to be fully realised.

The amount of income recognised, is therefore a management estimate based upon all information available, but is sensitive to events that are outside of the charity’s control. This variability is mitigated by reviewing all outstanding legacy files on a monthly basis to ensure the most up to date information is reflected in these values, including a final view just before the final accounts are signed.

48 | Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024

3. Income - Donations and legacies

				Total	Total
	Unrestricted	Restricted	Endowment	2024	2023
	income (£)	income (£)	(£)	(£)	(£)
Membership income	1,513,199	69,000	-	1,582,199	1,484,367
Grants and donations	266,057	746,266	-	1,012,323	1,315,834
Legacies	971,574	1,025,812	-	1,997,386	1,847,660
Total donations and legacies income	2,750,830	1,841,078	-	4,591,908	4,647,861

The 2023 comparative figures include £3,604,629 unrestricted income. Restricted Income for 2023 was £1,043,232 – Membership £nil, Grants and donations £998,325, Legacies £44,907.

4. Income - Charitable activities

				Total	Total
	Unrestricted	Restricted	Endowment	2024	2023
	income (£)	income (£)	(£)	(£)	(£)
Reserves management	367,553	108,071	-	475,624	436,881
Education and Engagement	318,991	-	-	318,991	448,248
Conservation grants	477,990	583,547	-	1,061,537	247,001
Local groups	(5,291)	22,926	-	17,635	26,428
Total charitable activities income	1,159,243	714,544	-	1,873,787	1,158,558

The 2023 comparative figures include £944,682 unrestricted income. Restricted Income for 2023 was £213,876 – Reserves Management £107,623, Education and Engagement £nil, Conservation grants £61,378, Local groups £44,875.

5. Income - Other trading activities

				Total	Total
	Unrestricted	Restricted	Endowment	2024	2023
	income (£)	income (£)	(£)	(£)	(£)
Trading company - EECOS	85,995	-	-	85,995	185,764
Trading company - EWS	2,935,834	-	-	2,935,834	2,769,937
Fundraising events	13,147	14,391	-	27,538	15,474
Total other trading activities income	3,034,976	14,391	-	3,049,367	2,971,175

The 2023 comparative figures include £2,966,717 unrestricted income. Restricted Income for 2023 was £4,458 from fundraising events.

Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024 | 49

6. Income from investments

	Unrestricted	Restricted	Endowment	Total	Total
	income (£)	income (£)	income (£)	2024 (£)	2023 (£)
Dividends received	225,070	96,484	-	321,554	409,826
Interest received	74,779	20,937	20,704	116,420	38,612
Total investments income	299,849	117,421	20,704	437,974	448,438

The 2023 comparative figures include £255,467 unrestricted income. Restricted Income for 2023 was £118,464 – Dividends received £115,363, Interest received £3,131. Endowment Income £74,477 from Dividends received.

7. Expenditure on charitable activities

	Unrestricted	Restricted	Endowment	Total	Total
	funds (£)	funds (£)	funds (£)	2024 (£)	2023 (£)
Reserves and Conservation	2,395,837	1,069,738	29,913	3,495,488	3,293,230
Visitor centres’ costs	1,270,274	(59,783)	4,942	1,215,433	1,330,934
Education and Engagement	1,066,063	156,734	5,702	1,228,499	1,984,695
Total charitable activities expenditure	4,732,174	1,166,689	40,557	5,939,420	6,608,859

The 2023 comparative figures include £5,341,187 unrestricted expenditure. Restricted Expenditure for 2023 was £1,193,063 - Reserves and Conservation £826,478, Visitor centres’ costs £118,576, Education and Engagement £248,009. Endowment expenditure for 2023 £74,609 all for Reserves and Conservation.

8. Expenditure on fundraising

	Unrestricted	Restricted	Endowment	Totals	Totals
	funds (£)	funds (£)	funds (£)	2024 (£)	2023 (£)
Costs of generating funds
Voluntary income	729,811	40,660	3,421	773,892	783,204
Activities for raising funds
Fundraising events	324,216	17,187	-	341,403	391,219
Trading company - EES	164,061	-	-	164,061	270,027
Trading company – EWS	2,471,448	-	-	2,471,448	2,464,755
Investment management	34,788	-	-	34,788	45,685
Total fundraising expenditure	3,724,324	57,847	3,421	3,785,592	3,954,890

The 2023 comparative figures include £3,894,429 unrestricted expenditure. Restricted Expenditure for 2023 was £60,461 - Voluntary income £33,229 and Investment management £27,232.

50 | Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024

9. Total expenditure

Allocations as Notes 9 (i)

	Direct	Support	Totals	Direct	Support	Total
	costs (£)	costs (£)	2024 (£)	costs (£)	costs (£)	2023 (£)
Expenditure on Charitable activities
Reserves and Conservation	2,109,210	1,386,278	3,495,488	2,190,305	1,102,925	3,293,230
Visitor centres’ costs	728,363	487,070	1,215,433	963,292	367,642	1,330,934
Education and Engagement	666,495	562,004	1,228,499	915,191	1,069,504	1,984,695
Expenditure on raising funds	3,448,390	337,202	3,785,592	3,654,092	300,798	3,954,890
Total expenditure	6,952,458	2,772,554	9,725,012	7,722,880	2,840,869	10,563,749

The Charity is considered to pass the tests set out in Paragraph 1 Schedule 6 of the Finance Act 2010 and therefore it meets the definition of a charitable company for UK corporation tax purposes. Accordingly, the Charity is potentially exempt from taxation in respect of income or capital gains received within categories covered by Chapter 3 Part 11 of the Corporation Tax Act 2010 or Section 256 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992, to the extent that such income or gains are applied exclusively to charitable purposes.

	2024	2023
	(£)	(£)
Total resources expended are stated afer charging
Auditors’ remuneration - (Moore Kingston Smith) Audit	52,500	1,954
- Other services	3,400	666
Auditors’ remuneration - (Price Bailey) Audit	5,420	37,350
- Other services	1,594	-
Depreciation/amortisation	622,584	610,106
Cost of stocks recognised as an expense	1,132,229	1,184,047
Loss on disposal of fxed assets	279	7,998

Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024 | 51

9 (i) Allocation of general support costs

The breakdown of general support costs and how these were allocated between charitable and fundraising activities is shown in the tables below.

Support costs are allocated to the expenditure headings in the SOFA on the basis of the number of full time equivalent employees in each area of work.

	Total Support costs allocated				Allocation	Allocation
	for the year to	Reserves and			Visitor	Education and		Activities for
	31 December 2024	conservation			centre	Engagement			fundraising
	(£)		(£)		costs (£)		(£)		(£)
Trading company - EECOS Indirect staf costs	1,394,780	XX	697,390	XX	245,029	XX	282,726	XX	271,105 169 63
Trading company - EWS Ofce costs	537,340	XX	268,670	XX	94,398	XX	108,920	XX	1,602,446 65 352
Fundraising events Insurance premiums	130,600	XX	65,300	XX	22,943	XX	26,473	XX	8,618 15,884
Trading company - EWS Bank charges	14,463	XX	7,231	XX	2,541	XX	2,932	XX	1,602,446 1,759
Fundraising events Telephone	38,871	XX	19,435	XX	6,829	XX	7,879	XX	8,618 472
Trading company - EWS Information technology	149,375	XX	74,687	XX	26,242	XX	30,279	XX	1,602,446 18,167
Fundraising events RSWT contribution	142,030	XX	71,015	XX	24,951	XX	28,790	XX	8,618 17274
Trading company - EWS P ofessional fees	365,095	XX	182,548	XX	64,139	XX	74,006	XX	1,602,446 44 02
Total General Support allocations 2024	2,772,554		1,386,276		487,072		562,005		337,201
Full time equivalent staf for 2024	74		37		13		15		9

	Total Support				Allocation	Allocation	Allocation
	costs allocated
	for the year to	Reserves and			Visitor	Education and		Activities for
	31 December 2023	conservation			centre	Engagement			fundraising
	(£)		(£)		costs (£)		(£)		(£)
Trading company - EECOS Indirect staf costs	1,600,382	XX	621,325	XX	207,108	XX	602,497	XX	271,105 169 452
Trading company - EWS Ofce costs	724,609	XX	281,318	XX	93,773	XX	272,795	XX	1,602,446 76,723
Fundraising events Insurance premiums	87,396	XX	33,930	XX	11,310	XX	32,902	XX	8,618 9 254
Trading company - EWS Bank charges	2,999	XX	1,164	XX	388	XX	1,129	XX	1,602,446 318
Fundraising events Telephone	21,217	XX	8,237	XX	2,746	XX	7,988	XX	8,618 2 246
Trading company - EWS Information technology	181,676	XX	70,533	XX	23,511	XX	68,396	XX	1,602,446 19 23
Fundraising events RSWT contribution	135,530	XX	52,618	XX	17,539	XX	51,023	XX	8,618 14,350
Trading company - EWS P ofessional fees	87,060	XX	33,800	XX	11,267	XX	32,775	XX	1,602,446 9,218
Total General Support allocations 2023	2,840,869		1,102,925		367,642		1,069,505		300,797
Full time equivalent staf for 2023	85		33		11		32		9

52 | Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024

10. Staff costs

	2024	2023
	(£)	(£)
Staf costs
Salaries and wages	4,509,736	4,796,351
Social security costs	384,981	417,637
Other pension costs	202,017	219,832
Total	5,096,734	5,433,820

Redundancy payments of £101,620 were made in 2024 (2023: £31,558) were made to staff in accordance with their statutory entitlement, including any statutory amounts relating to pay in lieu of notice (PILON) where paid.

9 ex gratia payments were made to members of staff in 2024 of £58,548 (2023: £6,083) as a result of a settlement agreement as agreed by the board of Trustees.

	No.	FTE	No.	FTE
	2024	2024	2023	2023
Employees and volunteers
Te average number of employees analysed by function is represented	as a number of employees and was
Education and Engagement	20	15	35	33
Landscape conservation	41	37	32	38
Central support	23	21	23	22
Fundraising, membership and marketing	19	17	23	18
Centre management	30	13	10	5
Nature Discovery Centres	70	33	78	42
Total	203	136	201	158

The Trust relies on volunteers to help in all aspects of our work particularly for practical conservation work, administration and fundraising. It has not been possible to place a value on the work carried out by volunteers but were it possible, the amount would be significant.

Board’s and employees’ emoluments

Costs incurred by the Board travelling on Trust business and reimbursed to them amounted to £nil (2023: £151). The number of Board members reimbursed during the year was nil (2023: 2).

During the year, no Trustees received any remuneration or other benefits.

The number of employees whose annual emoluments were £60,000 or more were:

	2024	2023
£60,000-£69,999	-	2
£70,000-£79,999	1	3
£80,000-£89,999	2	1
£90,000-£99,999	1	-

Total remuneration of the 5 (2023: 6) members of the senior management team - these being the Trust’s key management personnel - in the period was £395,236 (2023: £461,671).

Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024 | 53

11. Pension arrangements

The Trust participates in two pension schemes; one is the Wildlife Trusts Pension Scheme (WTPS) a multi-employer scheme for the benefit of the staff of the wildlife trusts throughout the United Kingdom. The second scheme was created in 2014 to meet the requirements of the Auto Enrolment pensions legislation so that all staff have access to a pension scheme. The pension arrangements in place for all staff incorporate Life Assurance cover of not less than three times their basic salary.

During 2024 the contributions for the staff pension scheme amounted to £22,018 (2023: £219,832).

The WTPS has two sections, the Defined Benefit section (DB) and the Defined Contribution section (DC). The Trust’s membership of the Scheme consists of past and present members of Essex Wildlife Trust staff, of which six are in the DB section and 42 are in the DC section. The DB section was closed to new members and future accrual on 30 September 2005. But as the Scheme carried a funding deficit at the date of closure, and a funding deficit has been declared at each actuarial valuation since, the Trust must continue to contribute to the pension fund along with the other wildlife trust employers in the Scheme.

Essex Wildlife Trust continues with its financial planning based on the deficit shown by the actuarial valuation of the Scheme as at 31 March 2019. The Trust has continued to make deficit recovery payments that are being recovered from the 12 participating employers over the 10 years to 2026 or until the deficit is neutralised, if sooner in accordance with the deficit recovery plan agreed after the 2019 actuarial valuation.

The formal valuation carried out in 2022 has shown reduced deficit in the scheme compared with the 2019 valuation, this is as result of higher investment returns and employer contributions. The payments will continue with in accordance with the current arrangements of contributions, to fund the deficit position.

During the year ended 31 March 2022, the trustees of the charity were made aware of a potential issue relating to the defined benefit section of the Wildlife Trust Pension Scheme. This process is finalising and has resulted in financial liability to employers who participated in that section, this liability was provided within the 2023 accounts of £332k. The payments to those impacted will start in 2025.

The most recent FRS 102 valuation, as at 31 March 2025, showed a funding deficit of £(255)k. The provision made has helped to mitigate the impact of the scheme’s change in status from an asset to a liability.

54 | Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024

11. Pension arrangements (continued)

Principal assumptions

	At 31 December 2024	At 31 December 2023
	per annum	per annum
Discount rate	5.50%	4.55%
Retail Prices Index (RPI) Infation	3.35%	3.25%
Consumer Prices Index (CPI) Infation	2.80%	2.60%
Future increases to deferred pensions	2.80%	2.60%
Rate of increase to pensions in payment:
Fixed 5% pa	5.00%	5.00%
RPI max 5% pa	3.20%	3.15%
Mortality	Males: 96% of S3PA	Males: 96% of S3PA
(before and afer retirement)	Females: 95% of S3PA	Females: 95% of S3PA
	CMI_2023 with a long term rate of	CMI_2022 with a long term rate of
	improvements of 1.25% pa;	improvements of 1.25% pa;
	Initial addition to mortality improvements	Initial addition to improvements
	of 0.5% and w2023 of 15%.	of 0.5% and w2022 of 25%.
Cash commutation	Members assumed to take 25% of their	Members assumed to take 25% of their
	pension as tax free cash, subject to HMRC	pension as tax free cash, subject to HMRC
	restrictions, using cash commutation	restrictions, using cash commutation
	factors currently in force.	factors currently in force.
Life expectancy of a male aged 65
at the Balance Sheet Date	22.3	22.2
Life expectancy of a male aged 65 in 20 years
from the Balance Sheet date	23.6	23.5
Life expectancy of a female aged 65
at the Balance Sheet Date	24.8	24.7
Life expectancy of a female aged 65 in 20	years
from the Balance Sheet Date	26.2	26.1

For the avoidance of doubt, the financial assumptions above are in absolute terms. They are single equivalent rates, however in practice full yield curves are used.

Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024 | 55

Asset breakdown

The major categories of Scheme assets as a percentage of total Scheme assets are:

	At	31 December 2024	At	31 December 2023
UK Equities		0.0%		0.0%
Overseas Equities		27.6%		21.8%
Diversifed Growth Funds		15.6%		0.0%
UK Government Fixed Interest Bonds		0.0%		11.6%
UK Government Index Linked Bonds		0.0%		9.0%
UK Corporate Bonds		9.8%		32.0%
Alternatives		2.8%		0.0%
Cash		17.9%		4.4%
LDI		26.3%		21.2%
Total		100.00%		100.00%

The pension scheme has not invested in any of Essex Wildlife Trust’s own financial instruments, nor in properties or other assets used by Essex Wildlife Trust. The assets are all quoted in active markets

Net defined benefit asset (liability)

	At 31 December 2024	At 31 December 2023
	(£’s)	(£’s)
Fair value of Scheme assets	645,705	675,500
Present value of defned beneft obligation	900,982	979,499
Defned beneft asset/(liability) recognised in balance sheet	(255,277)	(303,999)

Total expense recognised in the SOFA

	At 31 December 2024	At 31 December 2023
	(£’s)	(£’s)
XX Current service cost	XX -	XX -
XX Administration expenses	XX 25,702	XX 18,413
XX Past service costs including curtailments	XX 324,156	XX -
XX Efect of setlements	XX -	XX -
XX Recognised in arriving at operating proft	XX 349,858	XX 18,413
XX Interest on the net defned beneft liability	XX (1,741)	XX (1,426)
Total recognised in the SOFA	348,117	16,987

56 | Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024

11. Pension arrangements (continued)

Total amounts taken to Other Comprehensive Income

At 31 December 2024	At 31 December 2024	At 31 December 2023
	(£’s)	(£’s)
XX Actual return on Scheme assets - gains and (losses)	XX 68,666	XX (26,863)
XX less: amounts included in net interest on the net defned beneft liability	XX (50,291)	XX 11,795
XX Remeasurement gains and (losses) - Return on Scheme assets excluding interest income	XX 18,375	XX (15,068)
XX Remeasurement gains and (losses) - actuarial gains and (losses)	XX -	XX (332,000)
XX Remeasurement gain/(loss) recognised in Other Comprehensive Income	XX 18,375	XX (347,068)

Changes in the present value of the defined benefit obligation

	At 31 December 2024	At 31 December 2023
	(£’s)	(£’s)
XX Present value of defned beneft obligation at beginning of period	XX 979,499	XX 622,047
XX Benefts paid including expenses	XX (30,776)	XX (30,203)
XX Current service cost	XX -	XX -
XX Administration costs	XX (7,844)	XX 18,413
XX Interest cost	XX 28,769	XX 10,379
XX Remeasurement (gains) and losses - actuarial (gains) and losses	XX (68,666)	XX 358,863
XX Employee contributions	XX -	XX -
XX Past service costs including curtailments	XX -	XX -
XX Efect of setlements	XX -	XX -
XX Present value of defned beneft obligation at end of period	XX 900,982	XX 979,499

Changes in the fair value of assets

At 31 December 2024	At 31 December 2024	At	31 December 2023
	(£’s)		(£’s)
Fair value of Scheme assets at beginning of period	675,500		640,814
Interest income	30,510		30,218
Administration expenses	(25,702)		(18,413)
Remeasurement gains and (losses) - Return on scheme assets excluding interest income	(50,291)		11,795
Contributions by Employer	46,464		41,289
Employee contributions	-		-
Benefts paid including expenses	(30,776)		(30,203)
Fair value of Scheme assets at end of period	645,705		675,500

Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024 | 57

12. Funders

Essex Wildlife Trust is extremely grateful for the grants which have been received during 2024 from the following funders:

• National Lottery Heritage Fund

• Ludlow Trust

• D H Currie Memorial Trust

• North East Essex Health and Wellbeing Alliance

• Community 360

• Veolia Environmental Trust

• Enovert Community Trust

• Derbyshire Environmental Trust

• Environment Agency

• Natural England

• The Lockett Trust

• Essex Community Foundation

• The Chapman Charitable Trust

• DP World Community Fund

• Chelmsford City Council Greener Chelmsford

• The Joyce Fletcher Charitable Trust

• The Thomas Family Charitable Trust

This list is not exhaustive. Essex Wildlife Trust is very grateful to all its generous funders.

58 | Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024

13. Intangible assets Group and charity

	Computer sofware 2024 (£)	Total 2024 (£)
Cost or donated value
1 January 2024	51,862	51,862
Additions	-	-
Disposals	-	-
Transfer from tangible assets	-	-
At 31 December 2024	51,862	51,862
Amortisation
1 January 2024	40,987	40,987
Charge for the year	5,175	5,175
Disposals	-	-
Transfer from tangible assets	-	-
At 31 December 2024	46,163	46,163
Net book value
At 31 December 2024	5,700	5,700
At 31 December 2023	10,875	10,875

14. Tangible assets Group

	Freehold & leasehold land	Freehold buildings	Ofce equipment	Plant, equipment & external	Total
	(£)	(£)	(£)	works (£)	(£)
Cost or donated value
1 January 2024	4,971,682	11,965,453	137,371	4,096,856	21,171,362
Additions	188,179	45,920	5,764	700,173	940,036
Disposals	-	-	-	(52,564)	(52,564)
Revaluation	-	-	-	-	-
Transfer to investment properties	-	(251,637)	-	-	(251,637)
At 31 December 2024	5,159,861	11,759,736	143,135	4,744,465	21,807,197
Depreciation
1 January 2024	-	3,274,437	112,325	2,575,714	5,962,476
Charge for the year	-	235,151	15,411	366,847	617,409
Disposals	-	-	-	(52,285)	(52,285)
Transfer to investment properties	-	(121,358)	-	-	(121,358)
At 31 December 2024	-	3,388,230	127,736	2,890,276	6,406,242
Net book value
At 31 December 2024	5,159,861	8,371,506	15,399	1,854,189	15,400,955
At 31 December 2023	4,971,682	8,691,016	25,046	1,521,142	15,208,886

Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024 | 59

14. Tangible assets Charity

	Freehold & leasehold land	Freehold buildings	Ofce equipment	Plant, equipment & external	Total
	(£)	(£)	(£)	works (£)	(£)
Cost or donated value
1 January 2024	4,971,680	11,965,453	134,746	3,368,138	20,440,017
Additions	188,179	45,920	5,764	407,694	647,557
Disposals	-	-	-	(51,165)	(51,165)
Transfers	-	(251,637)	-	-	(251,637)
At 31 December 2024	5,159,859	11,759,736	140,510	3,724,667	20,784,772
Depreciation
1 January 2024	-	3,274,437	109,699	2,235,455	5,619,591
Charge for the year	-	235,151	15,411	302,564	553,126
Disposals	-	-	-	(51,165)	(51,165)
Transfers	-	(121,358)	-	-	(121,358)
At 31 December 2024	-	3,388,230	125,110	2,486,854	6,000,194
Net book value
At 31 December 2024	5,159,859	8,371,506	15,400	1,237,813	14,784,578
At 31 December 2023	4,971,680	8,691,016	25,047	1,132,683	14,820,426

Heritage assets

The Trust defines its Heritage Assets as Nature Reserves these are included within the Fixed Asset amount under Freehold and Leasehold Land.

60 | Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024

15. Investment properties Group and charity

	2024	2023
	(£)	(£)
Fair Value at Dec 2023	-	-
Transfer from fxed assets	130,279	-
Net Gain on valuation	1,359,721	-
Fair Value as at Dec 2024	1,490,000	-

The fair value of 4 investment properties are based on a valuation by Whirledge and Nott, dated 28/08/2024 and Boydens 03/02/2025. Rental income from investment properties in the year amounted to £43,410.

Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024 | 61

16. Long term investments Group

	2024	2023
	(£)	(£)
Quoted investments – market values	10,424,058	12,526,024
Cash held as part of the portfolio	76,197	244,838
	10,500,255	12,770,862

The movement on investments is as follows

	2024	2023
	(£)	(£)
Market value at 1 January	12,526,024	12,110,189
Additions at cost	12,184,664	-
Disposals at market value	(13,395,663)	(248,000)
(Losses)/gains	(890,967)	663,835
Market value at 31 December	10,424,058	12,526,024
Historic Cost at 31 December	10,708,324	11,996,473

Investments comprise

	2024	2023
	(£)	(£)
Fixed interest securities	2,376,876	-
UK Equities	2,243,501	-
Overseas Equities	5,013,981	-
Property Funds	-	-
Other	-	-
Equities	-	8,718,113
Fixed Income	-	1,766,169
Alternative Investments	789,700	1,189,972
Properties	-	463,463
Liquid Assets	-	388,307
	10,424,058	12,526,024

62 | Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024

16. Long term investments Charity

	2024	2023
	(£)	(£)
Quoted investments – market values	6,468,890	8,618,450
Cash held as part of the portfolio	53,264	110,394
EECOS and EWS share capital	2	2
	6,522,156	8,728,846

The movement on investments is as follows

	2024	2023
	(£)	(£)
Market value at 1 January	8,618,452	8,405,266
Additions at cost	7,744,239	-
Disposals at market value	(9,328,778)	(235,148)
Unrealised (losses)/gains	(565,021)	448,334
Market value at 31 December	6,468,892	8,618,452
Historic Cost at 31 December	6,650,268	8,251,554

Investments comprise

	2024	2023
	(£)	(£)
Fixed interest securities	1,842,152	-
UK Equities	1,505,056	-
Overseas Equities	2,630,305	-
Property Funds	-	-
Equities	-	5,998,442
Fixed Income	-	1,215,202
Alternative Investments	491,379	818,753
Properties	-	318,883
Liquid Assets	-	267,172
	6,468,892	8,618,452

Essex Wildlife Trust Limited has four subsidiaries, two of which are limited by share capital and two of which are limited by guarantee, which are incorporated in England. The share capital above consists of 2 ordinary shares of £1 each held for Essex Ecology Services Limited. The share capital of Essex Wildlife Sales Limited was initially set up and then donated to the Trust. No account is taken of the value of this gift in the financial statements.

Further details concerning the activities and assets of these companies are given in notes 25 and 26.

Cuttlefish-.e• Ltwis

64 | Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024

17. Debtors

		Group			Charity
	2024 (£)		2023 (£)	2024 (£)		2023 (£)
Trade debtors	116,869		172,540	54,699		69,081
Amounts due from Group undertakings	-		-	648,404		1,017,588
Legacies	1,834,498		1,330,770	1,834,498		1,330,771
Prepayments and accrued income	293,332		317,748	268,672		254,413
Other debtors	449,202		219,302	443,040		183,041
Total debtors	2,693,901		2,040,360	3,249,313		2,854,894

Financial instruments included in the above group debtor balances amount to £2,021,551 (2023: £1,833,970) and above charity debtor balances amount to £2,582,245 (2023: £2,922,450).

18. Short term investments

Current assets

		Group			Charity
	2024 (£)		2023 (£)	2024 (£)		2023 (£)
Short term deposits	963,702		244,838	940,769		110,394

19. Creditors

Amounts falling due within one year

		Group			Charity
	2024 (£)		2023 (£)	2024 (£)		2023 (£)
Trade creditors	246,469		355,863	184,924		305,535
Amounts due to Group undertakings	-		-	342,508		373,852
Taxes and social security costs	195,719		235,382	110,391		131,180
Accruals and deferred income	222,826		571,306	188,336		533,183
Total creditors less than a year	665,014		1,162,551	826,159		1,343,750

Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024 | 65

20. Creditors

Amounts falling due after one year

		Group			Charity
	2024 (£)		2023 (£)	2024 (£)		2023 (£)
Within 2 to 5 years	50,000		-	50,000		-
Over 5 years	78,125		-	78,125		-
Total creditors more than a year	128,125		-	128,125		-

Financial instruments, included in notes 19 and 20 for the above group creditor balances, amount to £469,295 (2023: £853,110) and above charity creditor balances amount to £715,768 (2023: £1,034,308).

66 | Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024

21. 2024 - Designated funds Group and charity

These funds have been set aside for projects that are not fully funded by restricted income. Any unspent funds will be spent over the coming years as the expenditure for which these funds have been set aside is incurred.

	Opening				Closing
	balance 1	Incomings	Outgoing	Transfers	balance 31
	Jan 2024 (£)	funds (£)	funds (£)	(£)	Dec 2024 (£)
Designated funds - projects
Adversity Reserve	250,000	-	-	-	250,000
Interpretation fund	64,606	-	-	-	64,606
Opportunity Reserve	250,000	-	-	-	250,000
Total designated funds	564,606	-	-	-	564,606

2023 - Designated funds Group and charity

					Closing
	Balance	Incomings	Outgoing	Transfers	Balance 31
	1 January 2023 (£)	funds (£)	funds (£)	(£)	Dec 2023 (£)
Designated funds - projects
Abberton Fit Out	47,950	-	-	(47,950)	-
Adversity Reserve	-	-	-	250,000	250,000
Blue House Farm Improvements	265	-	(265)	-	-
Brooks Reserve	1,685	-	-	(1,685)	-
Education projects	39,461	-	-	(39,461)	-
Emergency / asset replacement	34,277	-	-	(34,277)	-
Express Wish	37,500	-	-	(37,500)	-
General Projects	52,994	94,362	(95,485)	(51,871)	-
Interpretation fund	21,594	-	(106,988)	150,000	64,606
Langdon Project	62,412	-	-	(62,412)	-
Lower Raypits	198	-	(198)	-	-
Opportunity Reserve	-	-	-	250,000	250,000
Records Centre	150,742	-	-	(150,742)	-
Total designated funds	449,078	94,362	(202,936)	224,102	564,606

Adversity Reserve – this fund is set aside by the Trustees to offset expenditure against unforeseen or unbudgeted events.

Interpretation fund - these funds have been allocated by the Trustees to implement the new interpretation strategy which links with the marketing strategy and charitable objectives.

Opportunity Reserve - an allocation of funds readily available to investigate new ventures that might be explored during the year.

Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024 | 67

22. Restricted Income funds

2024 - Group and charity

				Unrealised
1	Opening Balance at Jan 2024 (£)	Income (£)	Expenditure (£)	Gain/ (Losses) on Investments (£)	Transfers (£)	Closing Balance 31 Dec 2024 (£)
Fixed Asset Fund	11,369,682	-	(316,417)	-	409,191	11,462,456
In Memory Funds	26,372	7,403	(3,833)	-	-	29,942
Local Group Balances	44,827	21,926	(16,583)	-	-	50,170
Donated Funds for Reserves	460,842	206,179	(74,014)	-	(70,387)	522,620
Project Funds	279,496	1,691,657	(433,499)	-	(150,625)	1,387,029
Land Purchase Appeals and Donations	157,052	175,333	(16)	-	(188,179)	144,190
Restricted Legacy Funds	2,771,260	-	(34,873)	-	(2,103,987)	632,400
Other Funds	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total Charity Restricted Funds	15,109,531	2,102,498	(879,235)	-	(2,103,987)	14,228,807
Chaford Gorges fund	4,091,441	214,536	(196,098)	(68,413)	-	4,041,466
Tameside Nature Park fund	834,571	370,400	(149,203)	-	-	1,055,768
Total Group Restricted Funds	20,035,543	2,687,434	(1,224,536)	(68,413)	(2,103,987)	19,326,041

2023 - Group and charity

				Unrealised
	Opening Balance at	Income	Expenditure	Gain/ (Losses) on Investments	Transfers	Closing Balance 31 Dec
1	Jan 2023 (£)	(£)	(£)	(£)	(£)	2023 (£)
Fixed Asset Fund	11,759,237	-	(461,295)	-	71,740	11,369,682
In Memory Funds	-	7,599	(3,211)	-	21,984	26,372
Local Group Balances	-	38,946	(17,038)	-	22,919	44,827
Donated Funds for Reserves	409,094	43,933	(104,471)	-	112,286	460,842
Project Funds	201,060	299,496	(224,304)	-	3,244	279,496
Land Purchase Appeals and Donations	140,148	58,499	(20,681)	-	(20,914)	157,052
Restricted Legacy Funds	2,530,355	44,907	-	-	195,998	2,771,260
Other Funds	237,822	360,002	(262,262)	-	(335,562)	-
Total Charity Restricted Funds	15,277,716	853,382	(1,093,262)	-	71,695	15,109,531
Chaford Gorges fund	3,846,464	222,364	(180,036)	202,649	-	4,091,441
Tameside Nature Park fund	657,483	304,314	(127,226)	-	-	834,571
Total Group Restricted Funds	19,781,663	1,380,060	(1,400,524)	202,649	71,695	20,035,543

Restricted funds are unspent funds that arise out of the Trust’s ongoing activities, the Trust may have funding to carry out a specific project, or a donor has specified some restriction in which the donation may be used. These restricted funds have been classified under several headings to group funds with similar restrictions together.

68 | Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024

22. Restricted income funds

(continued)

Fixed Asset Fund – represents the net book value of Restricted Fixed Assets.

In Memory funds – have been donated to the Trust by family and friends In Memory of a named individual.

Local Group Balances – represents the balance of funds raised by local groups that have not been allocated to projects or expenditure on our reserves.

Other Funds – represents the brought forward balances of smaller funds that have been either spent or allocated into the preceeding categories during the year.

Chafford Gorges fund is for managing the reserve at Chafford Gorges, Grays.

Thameside Nature Park fund is for managing the reserve at Mucking, Thurrock.

Donated Funds for Reserves – represents the balance of amounts that have been allocated to specific reserves or geographic areas.

Project Funds – represents the balance of amounts that have been granted to the Trust to complete specific projects.

Land Purchase Appeals and Donations – represents the balance of amounts specifically held, either through appeals or donations for land purchases.

Restricted Legacy Funds – represents the balance of Legacy funds that have been received and have specific conditions for their use.

Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024 | 69

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Bee orchid: Jon Hawkins - Surrey Hills Photography
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70 | Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024

23. Endowment funds

2024 - Group and charity

These are funds which will have arisen from an appeal, from a specific donation, or from grants. Permanent endowments must be retained with the income used for the purpose for which it was given to the Trust whereas expendable endowments can be utilised once the trustees consider it appropriate.

				Unrealised
Opening Balance 1 Jan 2024		Income	Expenditure	Gain/ (Losses) on investments	Transfers	Closing Balance 31 Dec 2024
	(£)	(£)	(£)	(£)	(£)	(£)
Holland and Arthur Endowment	533,559	13,674	(9,557)	(8,846)	-	528,830
Joan Elliot Endowment	2,233,470	-	(27,341)	-	(2,206,129)	-
Langdon Dowset Interest	277,242	7,030	(7,080)	(4,597)	-	272,595
Total Endowment Funds	3,044,271	20,704	(43,978)	(13,443)	(2,206,129)	801,425

2023 - Group and charity

				Unrealised
Opening Balance 1 Jan 2023		Income	Expenditure	Gain/ (Losses) on investments	Transfers	Closing Balance 31 Dec 2023
	(£)	(£)	(£)	(£)	(£)	(£)
Holland and Arthur Endowment	511,289	13,056	(13,188)	22,402	-	533,559
Joan Elliot Endowment	2,139,721	54,639	(54,639)	93,749	-	2,233,470
Langdon Dowset Interest	265,605	6,782	(6,782)	11,637	-	277,242
Total Endowment Funds	2,916,615	74,477	(74,609)	127,788	-	3,044,271

Following an assessment, the Joan Elliot Fund was determined to be unrestricted and subsequently transferred to core funds.

The Holland and Arthur fund is to be used to manage (or purchase or put towards a purchase of) land in the District of Tendring.

The Langdon Dowsett fund is to be used to part fund the running of the Langdon reserve.

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Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024 | 71
Jersey tiger moth: Vaughn Matthews
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72 | Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024

24. Analysis of funds

24a. Analysis of net assets between funds - Group

2024	Unrestricted funds (£)	Restricted funds (£)	Endowment funds (£)	Total 2024 (£)
Intangible fxed assets	5,700	-	-	5,700
Tangible fxed assets	4,965,108	11,923,808	2,039	16,890,955
Long-term investments	6,169,506	3,955,166	299,386	10,424,058
Current assets	764,147	3,607,899	500,000	4,872,046
Current liabilities	(504,182)	(160,832)	-	(665,014)
Long term liabilities	(128,125)	-	-	(128,125)
Defned beneft pension	(255,277)	-	-	(255,277)
Total net assets	11,016,877	19,326,041	801,425	31,144,343

2023	Unrestricted funds (£)	Restricted funds (£)	Endowment funds (£)	Total 2023 (£)
Intangible fxed assets	10,875	-	-	10,875
Tangible fxed assets	3,021,278	11,684,779	502,829	15,208,886
Long-term investments	5,700,816	3,907,574	2,917,634	12,526,024
Current assets	(793,804)	4,641,855	(376,192)	3,471,859
Current liabilities	(963,886)	(198,665)	-	(1,162,551)
Long term liabilities	-	-	-	-
Defned beneft pension	(303,999)	-	-	(303,999)
Total net assets	6,671,280	20,035,543	3,044,271	29,751,094

Analysis of net assets between funds - Charity

2024	Unrestricted funds (£)	Restricted funds (£)	Endowment funds (£)	Total 2024 (£)
Intangible fxed assets	5,700	-	-	5,700
Tangible fxed assets	4,898,039	11,374,500	2,039	16,274,578
Long-term investments	6,169,506	-	299,386	6,468,892
Current assets	1,532,096	2,854,306	500,000	4,886,402
Current liabilities	(826,159)	-	-	(826,159)
Long term liabilities	(128,125)	-	-	(128,125)
Defned beneft pension	(255,277)	-	-	(255,277)
Total net assets	11,395,780	14,228,806	801,425	26,426,011

2023	Unrestricted funds (£)	Restricted funds (£)	Endowment funds (£)	Total 2023 (£)
Intangible fxed assets	10,875	-	-	10,875
Tangible fxed assets	2,947,915	11,369,682	502,829	14,820,426
Long-term investments	3,798,131	2,278,879	2,541,442	8,618,452
Current assets	1,809,137	1,659,635	-	3,468,772
Current liabilities	(1,145,085)	(198,665)	-	(1,343,750)
Long term liabilities	-	-	-	-
Defned beneft pension	(303,999)	-	-	(303,999)
Total net assets	7,116,974	15,109,531	3,044,271	25,270,776

Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024 | 73

24b. Movement in funds - Group and charity

2024 - Group

					Unrealised
					Gain/
		Opening Balance at	Income	Expenditure	(Losses) on investments	Transfers	Closing Balance
	Note	1 Jan 2024 (£)	(£)	(£)	(£)	(£)	31 Dec 2024 (£)
Unrestricted Funds
Free Reserves		3,147,884	7,244,898	(8,215,402)	(112,641)	3,416,724	5,481,463
Fixed Asset Fund		2,958,790	-	(241,096)	1,359,722	893,392	4,970,808
Designated Funds		564,606	-	-	-	-	564,606
Total Unrestricted Funds		6,671,280	7,244,898	(8,456,498)	1,247,081	4,310,116	11,016,877
Restricted Funds
Fixed Asset Fund		11,369,682	-	(316,417)	-	870,543	11,923,808
Other Restricted Funds		3,739,849	2,102,498	(562,818)	-	(2,974,530)	2,304,999
Subsidiary Charity -		834,571	370,400	(149,203)	-	-	1,055,768
Tameside Nature Park
Subsidiary Charity -		4,091,441	214,536	(196,098)	(68,413)	-	4,041,466
Chaford Gorges
Total Restricted Funds		20,035,543	2,687,434	(1,224,536)	(68,413)	(2,103,987)	19,326,041
Endowment Funds
Fixed Asset Fund		502,829	-	(790)	-	(500,000)	2,039
Endowment Funds		2,541,442	20,704	(43,188)	(13,443)	(1,706,129)	799,386
Total Endowment Funds	23	3,044,271	20,704	(43,978)	(13,443)	(2,206,129)	801,425
Total Funds		29,751,094	9,953,036	(9,725,012)	1,165,225	-	31,144,343

2024 - Charity

					Unrealised
					Gain/
		Opening Balance at	Income	Expenditure	(Losses) on investments	Transfers	Closing Balance
	Note	1 Jan 2024 (£)	(£)	(£)	(£)	(£)	31 Dec 2024 (£)
Unrestricted Funds
Free Reserves		3,593,578	4,527,322	(5,564,618)	(112,641)	3,483,793	5,927,434
Fixed Asset Fund		2,958,790	-	(241,096)	1,359,722	826,323	4,903,739
Designated Funds		564,606	-	-	-	-	564,606
Total Unrestricted Funds		7,116,974	4,527,322	(5,805,714)	1,247,081	4,310,116	11,395,779
Restricted Funds
Fixed Asset Fund		11,369,682	-	(316,417)	-	321,235	11,374,500
Other Restricted Funds		3,739,849	2,102,498	(562,818)	-	(2,425,222)	2,854,307
Total Restricted Funds		15,109,531	2,102,498	(879,235)	-	(2,103,987)	14,228,807
Endowment Funds
Fixed Asset Fund	23	502,829	-	(790)	-	(500,000)	2,039
Endowment Funds		2,541,442	20,704	(43,188)	(13,443)	(1,706,129)	799,386
Total Endowment Funds		3,044,271	20,704	(43,978)	(13,443)	(2,206,129)	801,425
Total Funds		25,270,776	6,650,524	(6,728,927)	1,233,638	-	26,426,011

74 | Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024

2023 - Group

					Unrealised
					Gain/
		Opening Balance at	Income	Expenditure	(Losses) on investments	Transfers	Closing Balance
	Note	1 Jan 2023 (£)	(£)	(£)	(£)	(£)	31 Dec 2023 (£)
Unrestricted Funds
Free Reserves		4,972,431	7,677,133	(9,297,716)	333,398	(537,362)	3,147,884
Fixed Asset Fund		2,799,257	-	(82,032)	-	241,565	2,958,790
Designated Funds		449,078	94,362	(202,936)	-	224,102	564,606
Total Unrestricted Funds		8,220,766	7,771,495	(9,582,684)	333,398	(71,695)	6,671,280
Restricted Funds
Fixed Asset Fund		11,759,237	-	(461,295)	-	71,740	11,369,682
Other Restricted Funds		3,518,479	853,382	(631,967)	-	(45)	3,739,849
Subsidiary Charity -		657,483	304,314	(127,226)	-	-	834,571
Tameside Nature Park
Subsidiary Charity -		3,846,464	222,364	(180,036)	202,649	-	4,091,441
Chaford Gorges
Total Restricted Funds	21	19,781,663	1,380,060	(1,400,524)	202,649	71,695	20,035,543
Endowment Funds
Fixed Asset Fund		503,619	-	(790)	-	-	502,829
Endowment Funds		2,412,996	74,477	(73,819)	127,788	-	2,541,442
Total Endowment Funds	22	2,916,615	74,477	(74,609)	127,788	-	3,044,271
Total Funds		30,919,044	9,226,032	(11,057,817)	663,835	-	29,751,094

2023 - Charity

					Unrealised
					Gain/
		Opening Balance at	Income	Expenditure	(Losses) on investments	Transfers	Closing Balance
	Note	1 Jan 2023 (£)	(£)	(£)	(£)	(£)	31 Dec 2023 (£)
Unrestricted Funds
Free Reserves		5,571,449	7,677,133	(9,451,040)	333,398	(537,362)	3,593,578
Fixed Asset Fund		2,799,257	-	(82,032)	-	241,565	2,958,790
Designated Funds		449,078	94,362	(202,936)	-	224,102	564,606
Total Unrestricted Funds		8,819,784	7,771,495	(9,736,008)	333,398	(71,695)	7,116,974
Restricted Funds
Fixed Asset Fund		11,759,237	-	(461,295)	-	71,740	11,369,682
Other Restricted Funds		3,518,479	853,382	(631,967)	-	(45)	3,739,849
Total Restricted Funds		15,277,716	853,382	(1,093,262)	-	71,695	15,109,531
Endowment Funds
Fixed Asset Fund	22	503,619	-	(790)	-	-	502,829
Endowment Funds		2,412,996	74,477	(73,819)	127,788	-	2,541,442
Total Endowment Funds		2,916,615	74,477	(74,609)	127,788	-	3,044,271
Total Funds		27,014,115	8,699,354	(10,903,879)	461,186	-	25,270,776

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Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024 | 75
Polecat: Elliot Smith
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76 | Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024

25. Trading companies

The trading activities of the Trust are carried out through wholly owned subsidiary companies, Essex Wildlife Sales Limited (EWS) company number 02548617 and Essex Ecology Services Limited (EES) company number 02853947. Both companies gift aid their taxable profits across to the Trust.

EWS operates shops and catering in all our Nature Discovery Centres.

EES offers environmental project consultancy services.

Profit and loss accounts

		EWS			EES
	2024 (£)		2023 (£)	2024 (£)		2023 (£)
Turnover	2,935,834		2,769,937	89,095		187,773
Cost of sales	(1,158,996)		(1,184,047)	(156,790)		(252,673)
Gross proft	1,776,838		1,585,890	(67,695)		(64,900)
Administrative expenses	(1,577,144)		(1,537,691)	(41,386)		(68,010)
Other operating income	-		-	-		(86)
Interest payable	-		-	-		-
	199,694		48,199	(109,081)		(132,996)
Gif aided profts to Essex Wildlife Trust	-		-	-		-
Reserves brought forward	(315,814)		(364,013)	(132,996)		-
Reserves carried forward	(116,120)		(315,814)	(242,077)		(132,996)

Balance sheets

		EWS			EES
	2024 (£)		2023 (£)	2024 (£)		2023 (£)
Tangible fxed assets	65,389		71,247	1,680		2,118
Current assets	470,750		583,062	28,923		180,740
Current liabilities	(652,257)		(970,121)	(272,678)		(315,852)
Total net assets	(116,118)		(315,812)	(242,075)		(132,994)
Represented by proft and loss reserves	(116,120)		(315,814)	(242,077)		(132,996)
Represented by share capital	2		2	2		2

Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024 | 77

26. Subsidiary charities

Chafford Gorges Limited (company number 05189256, charity number 1113511), a company limited by guarantee, is also a registered charity over which the Essex Wildlife Trust has full control. The charity manages and operates the area of land known as Chafford Gorges Nature Park in Grays Thurrock, excluding the Nature Discovery Centre on the site, which is operated by the Trust.

Thameside Nature Park Limited (company number 07151955, charity number 1137142), which is also a company limited by guarantee, is also a registered charity over which the Essex Wildlife Trust has full control. The charity manages and operates the area of land known as Thameside Nature Park at Mucking, excluding the Nature Discovery Centre on the site, which is operated by the Trust.

Summaries taken from the accounts for the two charities for the year ended 31 December 2024 appear below.

Statement of financial activities

	Chaford	Gorges	Tameside	Nature Park
	2024 (£)	2023 (£)	2024 (£)	2023 (£)
Incoming resources	214,536	222,364	370,400	307,514
Resources expended	(209,207)	(192,762)	(159,915)	(135,141)
Net incoming/(outgoing) resources	5,329	29,602	210,485	172,373
Gains on investments (Losses)/gains on investments	XX (68,413)	306,022 2 2 649	XX -	-
Net movement in funds for the year	XX (63,084)	336,283 232,251	XX 210,485	(7,115) 172 373
Reserves brought forward	4,008,681	3,776,430	664,885	492,512
Reserves carried forward	3,945,597	4,008,681	875,370	664,885

Balance sheets

	Chaford	Gorges	Tameside	Nature Park
	2024 (£)	2023 (£)	2024 (£)	2023 (£)
Tangible fxed assets	76,638	76,727	472,670	245,388
Investments at market value	3,955,166	3,907,574	-	-
	4,031,804	3,984,301	472,670	245,388
Current assets	69,935	193,694	407,390	430,449
Gains oninvestments Current l abilities	XX (156,142)	306,022 (169,314)	XX (4,690)	- (10,952)
Total net assets	3,945,597	4,008,681	875,370	664,885
Represented by unrestricted funds	3,944,776	4,007,876	274,616	520,692
Represented by restricted funds	821	805	600,754	144,193

78 | Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024

27. Members’ guarantee

The Charity is a Company Limited by Guarantee and incorporated in England and Wales. In the event of its winding up or dissolution, if there remains, after the satisfaction of all its debts and liabilities, any property whatsoever, it shall not be paid to or distributed among the Members of the Trust but shall be given or transferred to some other institution or institutions having objects similar to the Trust or to some other charitable object.

The aforementioned are subject to further clauses as stated within the Company’s Memorandum and Articles of Association.

Every member of the Trust undertakes to contribute to the assets of the Trust in the event of it being wound up, while he/she is a member, or within one year after he/she ceases to be a member, such amounts not exceeding one pound sterling.

28. Contingent liabilities

A legal charge created on 23 March 1987 amounting to £38,000 exists over a parcel of land included within the group’s fixed assets.

The company is part of a group VAT registration and is therefore potentially liable for VAT liabilities of the other members of the VAT group, which consist of the parent company and its subsidiaries. As at 31 December 2024, the VAT liability of the group was £12,977 (2023: £18,108), Essex Wildlife Trust Ltd had a year end debtor balance of £67,068 (2023: £76,360).

29. Commitments under operating leases

Group

At 31 December 2024 the group had non-cancellable commitments under operating leases expiring as follows:

		2024		2023
	Land/	Equipment	Land/	Equipment
	Building(£)	(£)	Building(£)	(£)
Expiring within 1 year	10,119	95,349	19,191	11,322
2-5 years	-	49,642	62,500	9,096
Total	10,119	144,991	81,691	20,418

Charity

At 31 December 2024 the charity had non-cancellable commitments under operating leases expiring as follows:

		2024		2023
	Land/	Equipment	Land/	Equipment
	Building(£)	(£)	Building(£)	(£)
Expiring within 1 year	10,119	91,179	19,191	2,168
2-5 years	-	49,642	62,500	320
Total	10,119	140,821	81,691	2,488

Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024 | 79

30. Capital Commitments

Group

Capital commitments are future contractual commitments that the Trust has to enable the completion of work that is currently being undertaken, but is not yet complete 2024: £nil. 2023 Capital Commitments: £95,553.

31. Surplus/(deficit) for the financial year

As permitted by Section 408 of the Companies Act 2006, the parent charitable company’s Statement of Financial Activities has not been included in these financial statements. The surplus/(deficit) for the financial year is made up as follows:

	2024	2023
	(£)	(£)
Parent charitable company’s surplus/(defcit) for the fnancial year	1,155,235	(1,743,339)

80 | Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024

32. Comparative information

		Unrestricted	Restricted	Endowment	Total
Notes		(£)	income (£)	fund (£)	2023 (£)
Incoming and endowments from
Donations and legacies	3	3,604,629	1,043,232	-	4,647,861
Charitable activities	4	944,682	213,876	-	1,158,558
Other trading activities	5	2,966,717	4,458	-	2,971,175
Investments	6	255,467	118,494	74,477	448,438
Total		7,771,495	1,380,060	74,477	9,226,032
Expenditure on
Charitable activities	7	5,341,187	1,193,063	74,609	6,608,859
Raising Funds	8	3,894,429	60,461	-	3,954,890
Total	9	9,235,616	1,253,524	74,609	10,563,749
Transfer between funds		(71,695)	71,695	-	-
Net losses on defned beneft pension scheme	11	(347,068)	-	-	(347,068)
Net gains on investments	16	333,398	202,649	127,788	663,835
Loss on revaluation of fxed assets		-	(147,000)	-	(147,000)
Net income and net movement in funds		(1,549,486)	253,880	127,656	(1,167,950)
Reconciliation of funds
Total funds brought forward (restated)		8,220,766	19,781,663	2,916,615	30,919,044
Total funds carried forward	24	6,671,280	20,035,543	3,044,271	29,751,094

The statement of financial activities contains all gains and losses for the year and all activities relate to continuing operations. The profit for the purposes of the Companies Act 2006 is the net incoming resources before unrealised losses/gains.

33. Related party transactions

The charity has taken advantage of the exemptions confirmed by FRS102 not to disclose transactions with its wholly owned subsidiaries.

A member of EWT staff has a related party who is a partner of Tolleshunt Turf Farms. The transactions between Tolleshunt Turf Farms relate to the purchase of Play Bark. The items invoices totalled £nil in 2024 (2023: £514).

Trustees are covered by the Trustee and Senior Management indemnity policy whilst discharging their duties for charity and group activities. The indemnity policy amounted to a cost of £2,731 for 2024.

Some of the Charity Trustees and Senior Managers are members of EWT, these members pay the same membership rate and receive the same benefits as membership available to the public. Additionally, the Charity has corporate members that are related to organisations with which Trustees have external relationships with. These memberships are at the same membership rate and receive the same benefits as memberships available to the public.

None of the trustees have been paid any remuneration or received any other benefits from Essex Wildlife Trust or it’s subsidiaries. Donations and membership income received by the charity from Trustees and Directors of its group during 2024 are £801 (2023 : £1,873).

Essex Wildlife Trust Trustees’ annual report and accounts 2024 | 81

Essex Wildlife Trust