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2025-01-31-accounts

SS Great Britain Trust

(a company limited by guarantee)

ANNUAL REPORT AND CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED

31 JANUARY 2025

Company Number: 1000878 Charity Number: 262158

SS Great Britain Trust

Annual Report and Consolidated Financial Statements

Year Ended 31 January 2025

CONTENTS PAGE
Report of the Board of Trustees 2
Legal and Administrative Information 17
Independent Auditor's Report 22
Group Statement of Financial Activities 26
(including income and expenditure account)
Group and Company Balance Sheets 28
Group Cash Flow Statement 29
Notes to the Financial Statements 30
Prior year Group SOFA for comparative purposes 51

SS Great Britain Trust

Report of the Board of Trustees

Year Ended 31 January 2025

The members of the Board of Trustees have pleasure in presenting their Strategic Report and Annual Report and Audited Financial Statements of the group for the year ended 31 January 2025. The report has been prepared to meet the requirements for a Director’s report and accounts for Companies Act purposes.

The Trustees confirm that the report and financial statements comply with the current statutory requirements, the requirements of the charitable company’s governing document and the provisions of the Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP) applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standards applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102)

STRATEGIC REPORT

1 Objectives and activities

The charitable objectives of the SS Great Britain Trust are:

  1. To conserve and preserve the SS Great Britain in the Great Western Dockyard for all time for the benefit of the public as a ship of historic and scientific interest and to place the same upon public display as a museum accessible for all.

  2. To increase the sum of public knowledge and to promote the study of: maritime & industrial engineering & science; maritime archaeology & social history; the life and works of I.K. Brunel and historical context and significance in the modern world; and to collect, conserve, and make accessible as a museum, artefacts and specimens that demonstrate and reflect a tangible link with the past and present of maritime & industrial engineering and science, and maritime archaeology & social history for the benefit of the public.

1.1 Strategies for achieving objectives

With the appointment of a new Chair of Trustees, Matthew Jones, and Chief Executive Officer, Andrew Edwards in 2024, the Board and Senior Leadership team have taken the opportunity to review the Trust’s current draft 2021-2031 strategic plan in the light of a number of challenges and changes, including continued difficult trading conditions and a decision to pause work on its project to develop the Albion Dockyard. In addition, no decision has been made yet by Bristol City Council to the Trusts’ planning application for the Albion Dockyard project submitted in December 2023, noted in the 2024 Annual report.

These changes and the recruitment of new key staff provide the Trust with an opportunity to create a new long term strategy and work on this has begun and will continue through 2025; this will include reviews of all aspects of the Trust’s activities and will also incorporate a major piece of work to create a site strategy that encompasses the ship, museums, dry docks and commercial facilities.

The Trustee board has played a key role in the work being undertaken; as well as regular board meetings, a separate Awayday held in October 2024 concentrated on outlining strategic priorities including vision and mission, business planning and programming.

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SS Great Britain Trust

Report of the Board of Trustees

Year Ended 31 January 2025

While this work continues however, Trustees and the staff team have agreed a series of key medium-term objectives for the period 2024 – 2027; internal task groups have been convened to produce action plans to deliver on these. The objectives are:

1.2 Future Plans

As work continues to deliver these medium-term objectives, a number of developments are planned for 2025 and 2026 which will support the Trust in terms of financial sustainability, collections and exhibition development, community engagement and learning. Two projects received funding in May 2025 which will help provide a springboard for further growth and profile raising in 2026.

The Trust has secured c.£750,000 from the Philip Nicholas Trust to reimagine the Dockyard Museum, a keystone building on the SS Great Britain site; with additional funding from trusts and foundations this £1.6 million project will provide a revitalised attraction for visitors. Linked to this project was the award of £246,000 from the National Heritage Lottery Fund for the Trust’s Global Journeys initiative which will enable the Trust to build and develop its community engagement and research capacity, embedding a collaborative approach into all aspects of its work.

Following the renewal of its commercial partnership with Elior UK PLC, the Trust will also further develop its hospitality and catering offer, which is an important income generator. Investment from both organisations has enabled the Trust’s café to be refurbished and relaunched as a destination venue in June 2025, making the most of its harbourside location outside the pay barrier.

Work on all these developments will be incorporated into the ongoing creation of a site strategy and spatial masterplan for the two historic dockyards and associated buildings in the care of the Trust.

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SS Great Britain Trust

Report of the Board of Trustees

Year Ended 31 January 2025

2. Activities undertaken to achieve objectives

2.1 Overview

The SS Great Britain Trust is an Accredited Museum, and its collections are Designated as of national importance by Arts Council England. A vital objective of the Trust is to conserve the 1843 steamship the SS Great Britain and the historic 1839 dock it sits in. It also tells the story of the iconic nineteenth century engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel and more broadly interprets and makes accessible content relating to the people who built, crewed and travelled on his ships as well as using its collections to increase public knowledge about maritime and social history, creating links for visitors and users with the past, present and future.

The Trust delivers this mission through displays and interpretation on Brunel’s historic ship itself, and in two museums in the Grade 2 listed Great Western Dockyard, the first telling the story of the SS Great Britain and the other ‘Being Brunel’ chronicling the life and works of Isambard Kingdom Brunel.

The Brunel Institute, a collaboration with the University of Bristol, houses the Trust’s National Brunel collection as well as an internationally significant maritime history library and its other designated object and archive collections that now amount to more than 75,000 items. The Institute provides access to its collections, welcoming researchers and academics, and also runs daily public ‘Archive in 5’ sessions for visitors and the public.

Importantly, the Institute is also a centre for research for people from the local Bristol community and has, over the last 3 years, developed an active cohort of community researchers discovering new stories about the ship and people who travelled on her. This initiative supports and complements the Trust’s wider community engagement programme, which aims to work with local Bristol communities, especially those from diverse and underrepresented people in the city.

More generally, the Trust tells the stories of many different people, through themed interpretation, tours, talks and lectures, events, online content and other activities including the use of costumed interpreters. On-site interpretation is provided by both staff and volunteers, the latter providing invaluable support to the work of the Trust in many areas of its work.

The Trust runs a very successful education programme, attracting thousands of schoolchildren to the site to not only see Brunel’s historic ship, but also to take part in workshops linked to the National Curriculum. External funding supports the ‘Golden Ticket’ programme which enables schools from areas of high deprivation to visit, providing free admission. The learning offer also has a particular focus on inspiring young people, using the legacy of Isambard Kingdom Brunel with contemporary science and engineering and the Trust has pioneered the award-winning Future Brunels programme which aims to enthuse cohorts of young people with science and engineering during their time at secondary school.

2.2 Main achievements of the Trust

Our key achievements during the year ended 31 January 2025 were:

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SS Great Britain Trust

Report of the Board of Trustees

Year Ended 31 January 2025

3. Summary Review of activities:

3.1 Collections & Research

3.1.1. Collections

The collections team continued with their core tasks which included managing loans and acquisitions and improving documentation of collections. The introduction of an online collections database required considerable amounts of work to check and edit the catalogue and add new records. In addition, the team answered almost 4,000 enquiries from family historians, historians and media companies and provided content for the Trust’s Marketing team to use in social media posts and videos.

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SS Great Britain Trust

Report of the Board of Trustees

Year Ended 31 January 2025

The Brunel Institute hosted 170 readers by appointment who used the collections for research and welcomed nearly 7,000 visitors to its lunchtime ‘Archive in 5’ public sessions; in addition, collections staff also provided virtual ‘Archive in 5’ videos that were shared on social media and the Trust web site.

Importantly, the collections team supported interpretation and programming, providing content to inform events and activities run, particularly linked to the Botany theme in 2024; in addition, staff gave talks, lectures and tours during the year to a variety of groups and visitors.

Volunteers support the work of the team, assisting in documentation, transcription of historic documents and helping run the ‘Archive in 5’ sessions; this extends to research on the Trust’s Global Stories online resource, a database that lists passengers and crew who travelled on the SS Great Britain during its life. The database is accessed worldwide, with users from Australia, the United States and Europe.

Trust collections continue to grow through donations and acquisition at auction; a selection of items received in the year ending 31 January 2025 include:

3.1.2 Research

Led by the Trust's Head of Research, the team supports researchers from a variety of sources; individual collections, conservation and research team members undertake work wherever possible supporting enquiries, exhibition and interpretation projects, blogs and publications. The Head of Research also codelivered teaching for the University of Bristol MA in History receiving outstanding scores, averaging 4.85 out of 5 across all categories, at end of Teaching term. University staff and students remarked on access to the Museum’s collection as the key factor.

Trust staff also participated in various seminars and conferences during the year; members of the team presented at various events including the International Congress of Maritime Museums in September 2024 and a paper at a national conference celebrating the life of the historian and Brunel biographer LTC Rolt at Ironbridge Gorge Museum.

The Trust team continued to support its pioneering Community Research group, supporting a number of local people working with collections following the conclusion of an AHRC-funded project. The group also collaborated with the Trust team, supporting the submission of a National Lottery Heritage Fund bid during 2024 for continuation of community-led research and the creation of a Global Messdeck, a community space and gallery that will further support this work from 2025 to 2027.

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SS Great Britain Trust

Report of the Board of Trustees

Year Ended 31 January 2025

3.2 Conservation

The conservation of the SS Great Britain remains one of the Trust’s key charitable objectives, and this is supported by the post of Ship’s Conservation Engineer, who works with the Site Services and Collections teams to manage the dehumidification systems which maintain the condition of the ship’s hull as well as reviewing and advising on other conservation and other matters. The operation of the dehumidification system is the largest user of energy on site, and so the Ship’s Engineer role has also been broadened to incorporate energy management and climate change; projects and initiatives worked on in 2024 included:

3.3 Education

Visits by primary schools continued to be strong in 2024; 13,356 school children visited the site, maintaining the ongoing recovery from the pandemic period. Many visiting primary KS1 and KS2 schools took advantage of workshops delivered by the Education team, with 8,764 children taking part in these, which focus on Brunel, passengers and the Victorians. Feedback from teachers was extremely positive and bookings for 2025 have continued at a good level.

Support from the DfE Museums & Schools programme and Trust and Foundation funding enable the Trust to support schools and pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds in the City of Bristol. The Golden Ticket initiative provides free admission and, in most cases, free or subsidised travel costs from schools as well as offering a free ticket for children to bring their family back to the ship for a visit at a later date. In 2024 nearly 2,000 children took part, with a take up rate of around 65% from schools.

In addition to supporting site visits, the Education team also provided other resources for children not able to travel to Bristol. 1,785 children made use of loan boxes containing objects and supporting material, and schools and home education groups were also able to download resources relating to Arts & Design, STEM, literacy and history from the web site, and watch videos about the ship and its stories.

The quality of the educational offer provided by the Trust was recognized in 2024 by a Sandford Award for heritage learning; judges praised the team noting that children would leave ‘refreshed, inspired and astonished’ after their visit.

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SS Great Britain Trust

Report of the Board of Trustees

Year Ended 31 January 2025

The Trust’s award-winning Future Brunels programme, supported by the Brunel Institute Corporate Academy, continued in 2024, with its imaginative range of visits and inputs from companies, academic institutions and other supporting organisations, enhancing new pathways into STEM careers for the cohorts of students taking part. This year was the second to feature an enlarged cohort including schools from the WECA (West of England Combined Authority) area, namely North Somerset, South Gloucestershire and Bath & North East Somerset.

3.4 Community Engagement

In 2024 the team continued to deliver activities at community locations and welcome community groups to the site. August was the busiest summer for community activity since the pandemic, with 11 groups visiting, including some who have been visiting for years and some visiting the site for the first time. In addition, the team also hosted adult groups including the Wellspring Men’s wellbeing, the Bangladeshi Women’s Group and the Wellspring Walking Group visiting for the first time. The Global Friends and Family BS14 group also made their first visit to site, supported by Bristol City Council’s community development team.

Over the summer holidays, the team took activities out to community festivals and family events and distributed community tickets. Visits were also made to Hartcliffe LEGO Legends club, and the group made a return visit to site in August. The range of groups interacted was wide: they included Withywood Friends Aging Better; We Are More, a family who meet at the Springfield allotments in Knowle West; and the Wellspring Walking Group, an over 55s group who do local walks in Barton Hill. In October the team visited Art In Motion, a disabled artists group at Spike Island to follow up from their visit earlier in the year. Three of the artists took inspiration from the visit and created artworks related to the ship for a pop-up exhibition in Bedminster in November. The team also attended Hartcliffe’s ghoulish Halloween Fair, hosted by HWCP, during the October half-term holidays.

The team continue to develop relationships with local partners with neurodivergent memberships. A new sensory trail was developed in house and launched as part of the August Calm Sensory Session with Barton Hill Activity Club bringing their SEND group to attend and families from Bristol Autism Project visiting. Calm sessions are run as regular intervals during the year, providing an experience where lighting, sounds and interactives are reduced or switched off.

Our community engagement work is part of a broader initiative within the Trust to develop more collaborative ways to work with local people to both develop exhibitions and other interpretation, but also to provide a sounding board for other related matters. This reflects a more significant aspiration to become an inclusive organisation that is embedded within the people and communities of the city.

This work will be further supported by the reach of the community engagement project that will be funded by the NLHF, due to begin in June 2025; in January, the team collectively led three community researcher recruitment events at Redcliffe Hub, Hartcliffe and Withywood Community Partnership (HWCP) and Wellspring Settlement. From each of these meetings, groups or individuals were invited to visit the BI to find out about community research and potential upcoming opportunities (NLHF funding dependent).

3.5 Interpretation

2024-25 was a busy year for the Interpretation Team. The team’s focus was delivering programming developed in 2023 to tie in with the new research around the role of SS Great Britain in the history of plant migration. With the working title ‘Botany on Board’, the team delivered programming throughout the year, building on the partnerships with local growing communities that were formed in 2023.

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SS Great Britain Trust

Report of the Board of Trustees

Year Ended 31 January 2025

Highlights include:

Beyond Botany, the Interpretation team were busy delivering the Fully Dressed project with 20 acting students from Bristol Institute of Performing Arts. The project was a partnership with Bristol Improv Theatre and Bristol Costume Services and culminated in the ‘Passenger Takeover’ performances at May Half-term. This first year of the project was extremely successful with partners and visitors alike and evaluation has informed the programme for 2025.

Other projects include Conservation-in-Action interpretation for the Weather Deck project, launching a permanent Sensory Trail for visitors with additional needs in partnership with The Sensory Trust, and being the first site in Bristol to onboard with the Bloomberg Connects app in the summer.

Alongside this, the team have continued to develop in-house visitor research methodologies following training from evaluation consultant Kayte McSweeney in 2023. This included the establishment of a successful bi-annual student placement programme to collect, analyse, and report audience insights, and the creation and recruitment of a new Evaluation Volunteer role. This enables us to regularly assess different aspects of the visitor experience and constantly improve the offer without paying for costly external consultants every time.

3.6 Income Generation

The Trust continued to experience challenges in footfall and income throughout 2024, with visitor numbers falling year on year having a negative impact on secondary spending. Group visitation was strong, but this depressed the overall yield. There was no major price-led offer on ticketing during the year, but a new late entry ticket was introduced which proved popular. Several new products were successfully tested, and these include chargeable talks, tours, and activities. While our retail business saw the impact of lower footfall, margins and average spending were strong, reflecting an improved product offer. Following a difficult start, hospitality income improved over the year due to a strong sales focus by the team.

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SS Great Britain Trust

Report of the Board of Trustees

Year Ended 31 January 2025

3.7 Marketing & Digital

The Trustees agreed to an additional marketing investment for 2024 to help boost brand awareness and footfall following the disruption of the pandemic. Additional activities were undertaken, including digital billboards, poster sites, and bus advertising. An exciting development was the launch of the Bloomberg Connects App for the site, which provides visitors with increased information and interpretation as they explore the ship, museums and dockyard. A minor refresh of the website and brand was completed with the SS Great Britain red colorway being replaced by blue. The team successfully transitioned our ticketing platform to a new provider and began scoping work for new CRM and HR systems. These new digital systems all offer fit for purpose functionality and better value for money.

3.8 Fundraising

With a new Fundraising team of 4 recruited throughout the year, the initial emphasis was to establish our fundraising principles to maximise income in an increasingly competitive funding landscape. The team focused firstly on ensuring that all current supporters had the very best giving experience, then researching and approaching past funders, and subsequently identifying new potential funders who would be interested in our projects and programmes.

Fundraising focussed on our education programme, a conservation project to paint the ship and masts, our community work and the reimagining of our Dockyard Museum alongside seeking unrestricted funding to support the Trust. The Trust is fortunate to have a small but committed group of members who are dedicated supporters of the Trust and many of whom enjoy our annual Members’ Day. This year it took place in September and was followed by lunch in the first-class dining room on the ship.

The Trust has an active group of Corporate members and took steps to grow this valuable group by hosting an engagement evening in October. Companies support the Trust by becoming a Corporate Member, supporting our Education programme and also by sponsoring projects and programmes.

Working with our Relationship Manager at Arts Council England, we successfully delivered and reported on our activities for year 2 of our National Portfolio Organisation funding, and we submitted an application for an extension year of NPO funding for 2026/27.

Additional activities include signing up to the Fundraising Regulator, developing and launching an ‘Adopt an Artefact’ sponsorship product, adding high-level memberships to our website, developing charity messaging around the site and taking part in the Christmas Big Give Campaign for the first time.

3.9 People

The Trust continues to be a Living Wage Foundation employer. Our staff benefits include pension, death in service, health care scheme, cycle to work scheme and tech scheme, and reciprocal visits to museums and attractions around Bristol. We held a Discovery Day for all staff and volunteers to be immersed in our strategic plans and activities for the year.

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SS Great Britain Trust

Report of the Board of Trustees

Year Ended 31 January 2025

3.9.1 Employees

At 31 January 2025, the SS Great Britain Trust employed 33 full time staff, 16 part time staff, and 15 zerohour contract staff. Our teams encompass visitor service staff, retail, events and site services teams, curators and collections staff, interpretation, research, learning and community engagement, finance and HR, IT, digital, development and fundraising and marketing and PR.

3.9.2 Key Staff Changes

During the year the Trust welcomed Andrew Edwards as CEO, and Louisa Pharoah as Director of Development.

The Trust made the decision to invest in Fundraising and over the course of the year recruited a Manager, an Officer and an Assistant. Additional new appointments include Collections Officer (maternity cover), EA, and a Project Assistant in the BI.

Organisational changes took place in December 2024 with a view to making necessary savings, reflecting difficult trading conditions within the sector. This resulted in a headcount reduction of c. 0.6 FTE posts.

3.9.3 Volunteers

Our volunteer team is deeply embedded within all areas of the Trust, and their contribution is highly valued by the Trustees and staff as being vital to the long-term sustainability of the organisation. Volunteers work within the collections, community engagement, learning, research, site and visitor services teams. Regular updates are held with the team to update them on the activities and progress of the organisation and provide feedback and support to the staff team.

Financial Review

The Group outgoing resources for the year were £423,521 (last year outgoing resources: £817,383). The deficit is the result of continuing lower than pre-pandemic visitor numbers.

The Trading Company subsidiary recorded a loss of £2,230 (2024: profit of £109,497).

The individual funds breakdown between Unrestricted, Restricted and Endowment is as follows:

a) Unrestricted Funds

The table below shows the unrestricted operating deficit for the current year was £147,915 compared with a deficit of £362,907 in the previous year. The deficit is the result of visitor numbers not recovering in the way that was expected.

Operating deficit before designated fund projects spending
Less designated fund projects expenditure (not capitalised)
Deficit before transfers
Transfer of income from Endowment Fund
Unrestricted deficit retained		 2025
£
(1,163,852)
(97,999)
(1,261,851)
1,113,936
(147,915)		 2024
£
(598,345)
(61,978)
(660,323)
297,416
(362,907)

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SS Great Britain Trust

Report of the Board of Trustees

Year Ended 31 January 2025

b) Restricted Funds

The overall value of restricted funds increased in the year by £3,480 as funds received in exceeded expenditure (2024: decreased by £399,109).

c) Endowment Funds

The Endowment Fund produced a net income of £213,936 (2024: £201,383) which was transferred to the Trust during the year. The fund’s capital value decreased during the year by £279,086 (2024: decreased by £55,367) through £900,000 drawdown, investment gains of £655,231 (2024 losses: £213,217), of which £481,222 were realised gains (2024: £65,463 realised losses) and management fees of £34,317 (2024: £33,326) and £nil interest received (2024: £3,967).

This created a total Endowment Fund value at 31[st] January 2025 of £6,736,404 (2024: £7,015,490).

Risk management

The members of the Board of Trustees monitor progress towards the risk management plan on a quarterly basis for projects and an annual basis for the Trust. The risk management strategy produces a regular review of risks that the Trust may face, and establishes procedures to mitigate those risks identified.

It is also the policy of the Board of Trustees to hold insurance on the ship and the collection on the basis of the possible maximum conservation and refit cost that may be incurred in a major disaster, and not the full replacement cost, as most of the collection and the ship herself are unique and irreplaceable.

Principal risks and uncertainties

The key risks on the risk register include:

All risks have been considered by Trustees and plans have been put in place to mitigate them and their impact on the Trust. These include rigorous real time monitoring and reporting of relevant indicators that record risk levels and appropriate insurance cover.

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SS Great Britain Trust

Report of the Board of Trustees

Year Ended 31 January 2025

HERITAGE ASSETS

It is the policy of the Trust not to capitalise heritage assets in the SS Great Britain Trust Collection. These items are in effect inalienable, held in principle in perpetuity, and are mostly irreplaceable. Any financially based valuation would be misleading to the value and significance of the material and culture involved. The Trust has a clear duty to care for and make available these assets for the enjoyment and education of the public as far as is possible, commensurate with the long-term care of these items. The highest possible standards of collection management are applied, and the catalogues are made available as widely as possible to facilitate all enquiries and requests for information, subject to appropriate security and data protection guidelines.

The only class of object that does not fall into these categories are some of the printed library books. These books are managed with the same care and rigour as any other items in the collection but are not completely irreplaceable and are not held in perpetuity but utilised for public education purposes. Where realistic valuations exist for these items, and where they constitute a significant value, they will be included as financial assets.

During the year, £nil was spent on Heritage Assets (2024: £6,394).

INVESTMENT POLICY

The Trust operates a permanent endowment to protect the long-term future of capital arising from the 2010 Phase 2 development and to provide a regular income stream into SS Great Britain Trust for its charitable purposes. The appointed investment managers (Rathbones Investment Management Limited) are instructed to invest to maximise the total return on permanent endowment funds within the constraint of a medium risk portfolio with a long-term time horizon. The general policy is to invest in a manner that can publicly be described as socially responsible. Investment should provide for sufficient capital growth to cover for reasonable inflation, and to target interest income of 3.5% to 4% per annum, payable monthly to the Trust. The interest target was not achieved for the year (actual yield was c2.9%).

A review of the ethical nature of the portfolio was carried out during 2021 and regular ethical reporting now forms part of the endowment fund management. The Trust has taken decisions to ensure that the portfolio follows its ethical policy. During 2023 the Trust withdrew all investment in fossil fuels.

RESERVES

The Board of Trustees has examined the Trust’s requirements for free reserves in light of the main risks to the organisation. Free reserves are required to support the Trust in the case of an unexpected reduction in income or increase in expenditure and are defined as the unrestricted funds not committed or invested in tangible fixed assets held by the Trust. The Board has recently determined that the organisation should aim to hold free reserves equivalent to three months’ running costs of the organisation, which for 2025/26 would be £822,000.

Whilst unrestricted reserves stand at £1,988,404, a designation of £22,671 remains for costs relating primarily to the Albion Dock and a further £1,937,911 funds the Trust’s unrestricted tangible fixed assets. The present level of free reserves available to the Trust is therefore £27,822, well short of the newly identified target level. Our objective is to build up our free reserves through planned operating surpluses and we are determined to achieve this within 5 – 8 years. In the short term, the Trust holds a permanent endowment fund, which cannot be included in its free reserves, but could potentially be accessed at the discretion of the Charity Commission

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SS Great Britain Trust

Report of the Board of Trustees

Year Ended 31 January 2025

The Trust’s objective is to rebuild free reserves to the desired level through planned operating surpluses and we are determined to achieve this within 5 – 8 years. In the short term, the Board of Trustees is also looking at contingency planning and where existing activities and expenditure could be reduced, should this be required.

PUBLIC BENEFIT

The Trust reviews its goals, objectives and activities each year, to ensure that the key activities for the year are in keeping with its goals and are meeting its charitable aims. The Trust has referred to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit when reviewing its goals and activities. The Trustees ensure that all ongoing and future activities are consistent with the primary goals of the Trust and are of benefit to the public.

In accordance with the Charities Act 2011, as amended in 2016, the Trustees report that the Trust carries out fundraising activities to support its charitable goals, and that it does not employ an external professional fund-raiser or commercial participator. All fundraising staff and volunteers are trained and managed to the highest standards of good practice in fundraising.

REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

The general information including the names of members of the Board of Trustees, the principal address of the charity and particulars of the charity’s professional advisers is given on pages 17 to 19.

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

The charity is governed by the Memorandum and Articles of Association with which it was incorporated on 27 January 1971 and which were revised in November 1999, June 2005 and June 2006. It is registered in England and Wales. This document was reviewed and updated to current standards in June 2011 in which the memorandum has been merged with the Articles. Known as the Articles of Association, the new document is in line with current best practice. The objects of the charity were revised in June 2012 and are laid out on page 2.

Members of the Board of Trustees, who are directors for the purpose of company law and Trustees for the purpose of charity law, and who served during the year and up to the date of this report, are set out on page 17. Trustees retire in rotation in accordance with the Articles of Association .

The Members of the Board of Trustees are appointed by the Annual General Meeting. The Board of Trustees meet formally at least four times per annum. The Trust holds £1m of Trustee indemnity insurance.

It is the responsibility of the Trustee Board to consider and decide policy. Responsibility for implementing those policies is delegated to the Director and Executive team. The Trustees set the strategic direction of the Trust and make strategic decisions. The Trustees establish a strategic direction and set objectives which will enable the Trust to fulfil its aims and manage delivery against these strategic objectives. They also approve annual budgets commensurate with objectives established in the strategic plan. The Director and Executive team decide how the strategic direction and objectives are realised on a day-today basis.

The Director, who is Chief Executive of the organisation and reports to the Board of Trustees, heads the staff structure. Reporting to him is an Executive team comprising the Director of Finance, Director of the Brunel Institute, Director of Marketing & Experience, Director of Development and the Director of Operations. 64 staff were employed by the Trust at the year-end. The Trust is a Living Wage Foundation Employer and no member of staff is paid below the recommended hourly rate of pay for Bristol. In addition,

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Report of the Board of Trustees

Year Ended 31 January 2025

there are 150 volunteers who support the staff in a wide variety of roles that greatly enhance the visitor experiences. The Trustees recognise and value the essential and fundamental contribution made to the success of the Trust by its staff and volunteers. However, measurement issues, including attributing an economic value to the contribution of volunteers, prevent the inclusion of their contribution in the statement of financial activities.

The Trust acknowledges the need to refresh its governing body with new members on a regular basis. It also is aware of the need to identify the appropriate skill sets required among its Board of Trustees for effective governance. The Governance and Remuneration Sub-Committee monitors and advises the Board of Trustees on these needs. It reviews and identifies potential future members of the Board of Trustees and the skills that they may have to offer the Trust. During 2024 a recruitment consultant was appointed to help recruit new Trustees to the vacant positions and help create a pipeline of future potential candidates. Upon election or co-option new members of the Board of Trustees are inducted through oneto-one sessions with the Chairman and Director. They are also taken through an Induction Pack which includes information on the organisation, good governance, how to be a good Trustee and practical matters such as Health and Safety.

The Trust has adopted the Good Governance Code developed by the Governance Hub. To this end the Trust has a schedule to carry out a comprehensive review of all the policies and protocols associated with the running of the Trust.

The Trustees review the quarterly performance of the charity using a suite of relevant key performance indicators. The key financial performance measures are visitor numbers, visitors mix, average spend per transaction and fundraising performance to date. Visitor income is the largest component of the Trust’s income so achieving budgeted visitor number levels is key to financial performance. To support this a variety of marketing effectiveness measures are also tracked each month.

The non-financial indicators focus on delivery of charitable activity, health and safety information and EDI statistics. The charitable activity measures focus on education and conservation of the ship.

SS ‘Great Britain’ Trading Limited is the wholly owned trading subsidiary company of the charity. Any profit made by this subsidiary is donated to the charity by way of a Gift Aid donation.

The SS Great Britain Endowment Trust is a charitable subsidiary of the Trust that holds the permanent endowment on the Trust’s behalf and acts in accordance with the Endowment, Investment and Reserves Policy. The Board of Trustees of the SS Great Britain Trust is the sole trustee of the subsidiary. Income from this endowment is used solely in fulfilling the charitable objectives of the SS Great Britain Trust.

SS Great Britain Trust has a 10% shareholding in The Albion Dock Company, currently the sub tenant in the Albion Dock. SS Great Britain Trading Company has the right to appoint a director to the board of The Albion Dock Company.

KEY MANAGEMENT PERSONNEL REMUNERATION

The Trustees consider the Board of Trustees, the Director & Chief Executive and the Executive team as comprising the key management personnel of the charity in charge of directing and controlling the charity and running and operating of the charity on a day-to-day basis. All trustees give their time freely and no trustee remuneration was paid in the year. Details of trustee expenses and related party transactions are disclosed in notes 9 and 10 to the accounts.

Trustees are required to disclose all relevant interests in an annual disclosure and in accordance with the Trust’s policy withdraw from any decisions where a conflict of interest arises.

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Year Ended 31 January 2025

The pay of the Director & Chief Executive and the Executive team is reviewed by Trustees periodically and comparisons made to appropriate benchmarks, including salary survey information for the not-for-profit sector.

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Report of the Board of Trustees

Year Ended 31 January 2025

LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Registered charity number 262158 Registered company number 1000878 Registered office No 1 Brunel Square Gas Ferry Road Bristol BS1 6UP Patron HRH The Princess Royal Vice Presidents Colin Green CBE Michael Hill MBE John Hollingdale (retired 2024) Roger Smedley MBE Capt Christopher Young RN (Rtd) MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES AS AT 31 JANUARY 2025 Chair Matthew Jones Vice Chair Sam Mullins OBE Hon. Treasurer Kerry Lock (retired 29 October 2024) Edward Rowberry (from 30 October 2024) Members James Berresford (retired 18 April 2024) Kelvin Blake Caroline Duckworth Peaches Golding OBE CStJ Gene Joyner (retired 29 October 2024) Muir Macdonald Sarah Staniforth (appointed 18 April 2024) Emma Millington (appointed 18 April 2024) Georgina Power (appointed 27 January 2025)

17

SS Great Britain Trust

Report of the Board of Trustees

Year Ended 31 January 2025

LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION continued

Guarantors

The legal members of the charitable company are known as "Guarantors". All members of the board of trustees and the following individuals are guarantors:

Mr Alan Aberg Mr Michael Andrews Mr Chris Booy OBE Mrs Janet Brinnand Mr Edward Cooke Dr Helen Doe Dr Jo Gipps OBE Mr Colin Green CBE Mrs Lynne Griffin Mr Michael Hill MBE Mr Don Jones Mr John Hollingdale (retired 2024) Professor Andrew Lambert Mr Chris Legge Mrs Jill Legge Dr Malcolm Lewis Mrs Jean Macfarlane Dr Liz Mackenzie MBE Dr Campbell Mackenzie Mrs Cara MacMahon Dr Campbell McMurray Mrs Dinah Moore Mrs Mary Prior CVO MBE Mr Roger Smedley MBE Mr David Sproxton CBE Captain Chris Young RN (Rtd)

18

SS Great Britain Trust

Report of the Board of Trustees

Year Ended 31 January 2025

LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION continued

Director & Chief Executive Andrew Edwards Company Secretary Angela Spreadbury until 10 January 2025 Emma Hussey from 14 July 2025 Key Management Personnel: Andrew Edwards, Chief Executive Tim Bryan, Director, Brunel Institute until 31 July 2025 James Boyd, Director, Brunel Institute from 1 August 2025 Phil Smith, Director of Operations & Deputy CEO Angela Spreadbury, Chief Finance Officer & Deputy CEO until 10 January 2025 Emma Hussey, Director of Finance from 14 July 2025 Louisa Pharoah, Director of Development from 17 June 2024 Beth Meade, Director of Marketing and Experience from 6 May 2025 Bankers Lloyds Bank plc 3[rd] Floor 25 Gresham Street London EC2V 7HN Auditors Forvis Mazars LLP Floor 8, Assembly Building C Cheese Lane, Bristol BS2 OJJ Investment Managers Rathbones Investment Management Ltd 10 Queen Square Bristol BS1 4NT

19

SS Great Britain Trust

Report of the Board of Trustees

Year Ended 31 January 2025

RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE MEMBERS OF THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES

The Trustees (who are also directors of SS Great Britain Trust for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the Report of the Board of Trustees; the Strategic Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

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

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 the group and which enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006 and the Charities Act 2011. 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.

In so far as the Trustees are aware:

Trustees have considered the question of the charity’s ability to continue as a going concern. Financial forecasts provided by the management team have been analysed and discussed, in detail by the Finance and Audit Committee and then by the full board. The Trust has not yet fully recovered visitor numbers and therefore income following the COVID-19 pandemic and cost of living and inflationary pressures now added to by global uncertainties. If the Trust can meet its budget for the financial year, support from the Endowment fund will not be required to maintain a positive cash position throughout the next 12 months other than for agreed investment projects. The Finance and Audit Committee continue to meet regularly to remain alive to changes as they occur and to enable prompt and swift decision making as necessary. Having considered all the elements previously mentioned, Trustees are strongly confident in the charity’s ability to continue as a going concern for the next 12 months at least.

Trustees recognise that while the Trading subsidiary returned to a profit-making situation in the previous year, it made a small loss this year and still has a negative balance sheet meaning that the Trust continues to subsidise it at the end of January 2025. This is a situation that arose as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing economic troubles. Trustees are confident that the balance sheet will return to a positive balance in the next couple of years.

20

SS Great Britain Trust

Report of the Board of Trustees

Year Ended 31 January 2025

AUDITORS

The Trustees have decided not to propose the reappointment of Forvis Mazars LLP. A resolution to appoint a new Auditor has been passed and the new auditor will be formally appointed during November 2025. Forvis Mazars have expressed their willingness to remain as the Auditors until this process is complete and the new Auditors have been appointed.

This report, including Strategic Report, was approved by order of the Board of Trustees on 10 July 2025.

Signed on behalf of the Board of Trustees:

M Jones Chair

Edward Rowberry Honorary Treasurer

Registered Office: No 1 Brunel Square Gas Ferry Road Bristol BS1 6UP

21

SS Great Britain Trust

Independent Auditor’s Report to the Trustees and Members of SS Great Britain Trust Ltd

Year Ended 31 January 2025

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of ss Great Britain Trust (the ‘parent charity’) and its subsidiaries (the ‘group’) for the year ended 31 January 2025 which comprise the Group Statement of Financial Activities, the Group Income and Expenditure account, the Group and Parent Charitable Company Balance Sheets, the Group Cash Flow Statement and notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies.

The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including FRS 102 “The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland” (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion, the financial statements:

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the “Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements” section of our report. We are independent of the charity 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 or the charity's ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

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

22

SS Great Britain Trust

Independent Auditor’s Report to the Trustees and Members of SS Great Britain Trust Ltd

Year Ended 31 January 2025

Other information

The other information comprises the information included in the Report of the Board of Trustees, 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 audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

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

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In light of the knowledge and understanding of the charity and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the Trustees’ Report.

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

Responsibilities of Trustees

As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement set out on pages 20 & 21, 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

23

SS Great Britain Trust

Independent Auditor’s Report to the Trustees and Members of SS Great Britain Trust Ltd

Year Ended 31 January 2025

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 charity’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 charity or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

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

The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below.

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.

Based on our understanding of ss Great Britain Trust, its subsidiary and its sector, we identified that the principal risks of non-compliance with laws and regulations related to UK tax legislation, employment regulation and health and safety regulation and anti-money laundering regulation.

To help us identify instances of non-compliance with these laws and regulations, and in identifying and assessing the risks of material misstatement in respect to non-compliance, our procedures included, but were not limited to:

We also considered those laws and regulations that have a direct effect on the preparation of the financial statements, such as tax legislation, pension legislation, the Charities SORP and the Companies Act 2006.

24

SS Great Britain Trust

Independent Auditor’s Report to the Trustees and Members of SS Great Britain Trust Ltd

Year Ended 31 January 2025

In addition, we evaluated the directors’ and management’s incentives and opportunities for fraudulent manipulation of the financial statements, including the risk of management override of controls, and determined that the principal risks related to posting manual journal entries to manipulate financial performance, management bias through judgements and assumptions in significant accounting estimates, particularly, in relation to revenue recognition (which we pinpointed to the risk of cut off) and the allocation of restricted reserves, and significant one-off or unusual transactions.

Our audit procedures in relation to fraud included but were not limited to:

There are inherent limitations in the audit procedures described above and the primary responsibility for the prevention and detection of irregularities including fraud rests with management. As with any audit, there remained a risk of non-detection of irregularities, as these may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations or the override of internal controls.

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

Use of the audit report

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

Jonathan Marchant (Oct 24, 2025 15:14:27 GMT+1)

Jonath a n Marchant (Senior Statutory Auditor)

for and on behalf of Forvis Mazars LLP

Forvis Mazars LLP Chartered Accountants and Statutory Auditor Floor 8, Assembly Building C Cheese Lane, Bristol BS2 0JJ

Date: 24/10/2025

25

SS Great Britain Trust

Group Statement of Financial Activities (including income and expenditure account)

Year Ended 31 January 2025

Note
Income and Endowments from:
Donations and Legacies
2
Other Trading Activities
2
Investment Income
Charitable activities
Day Membership (including gift
aid)
Members covenants and
subscriptions
Total
Expenditure on:
Cost of raising funds
SS Great Britain Trading Limited
3
Fundraising and communications
4
Investment management fees
Charitable activities
5
Total
Net (expenditure)/income before
investment (losses)/gains
Gains/(Losses) on investment
assets
– realised
– unrealised
Net incoming/(outgoing)
resources
before transfers
10
Transfers between funds
21
Net movement in funds for the
year
Total funds brought forward
Total funds carried forward		 Unrestrict.
Funds
Restricted
Funds
Endowment
Funds
2025
Total
2024
Total
£
£
£
£
£
239,386
825,845
-
1,065,231
1,124,164
1,649,547
12,000
-
1,661,547
1,825,324
1,015
-
213,936
214,951
201,946
2,145,947
-
-
2,145,947
2,384,886
21,509
-
-
21,509
9,666
4,057,404
837,845
213,936
5,109,185
5,545,986
1,847,093
-
-
1,847,093
1,928,889
183,274
-
-
183,274
204,829
-
-
34,317
34,317
33,326
3,288,888
834,365
-
4,123,253
4,270,317
5,319,255
834,365
34,317
6,187,937
6,437,361
(1,261,851)
3,480
179,619
(1,078,752)
(891,375)
-
-
481,222
481,222
(65,463)
-
-
174,009
174,009
139,455
(1,261,851)
3,480
834,850
(423,521)
(817,383)
1,113,936
-
(1,113,936)
-
-
(147,915)
3,480
(279,086)
(423,521)
(817,383)
2,136,319
9,527,869
7,015,490
18,679,678
19,497,061
1,988,404
9,531,349
6,736,404
18,256,157
18,679,678

All of the above are derived from continuing activities. All gains and losses recognised in the year are included in the Statement of Financial Activities.

26

SS Great Britain Trust

Group Statement of Financial Activities (including income and expenditure account)

Year Ended 31 January 2025

Summary Income and Expenditure Account for the year ended 31 January 2025

Gross income
Total
expenditure
Net (expenditure) / income
for the year		 Unrestricted
Funds
Restricted
Funds
2025
2024
£
£
£
£
4,057,404
837,845
4,895,249
5,344,603
5,319,255
834,365
6,153,620
6,404,035
(1,261,851)
3,480
(1,258,371)
(1,059,432)

The summary income and expenditure account is derived from the Statement of Financial Activities on page 26 and excludes endowment funds.

In accordance with the provisions of the Companies Act 2006, a separate income and expenditure account dealing with the results of the parent company only has not been presented. The net outgoing resources for the charity only for the year were £142,202 (2024: £871,514).

27

SS Great Britain Trust

Group and Company Balance Sheets

Year Ended 31 January 2025

Note
FIXED ASSETS
Tangible fixed assets
12
Investments
13
CURRENT ASSETS
Stocks
14
Debtors
15
Cash at bank and in hand
16
CREDITORS: Amounts
falling due in one year
17
NET CURRENT ASSETS
TOTAL ASSETS LESS
CURRENT LIABILITIES
20
FUNDS
Endowment funds
21,22
Restricted funds
23
Unrestricted funds:
Designated funds
24
Reserve fund
General funds
TOTAL FUNDS		 Group
2025
£
11,206,707
6,736,504
17,943,211
154,283
115,399
604,105
873,787
(560,841)
312,946
18,256,157
6,736,404
9,531,349
22,671
-
1,965,733
1,988,404
18,256,157		 2024
£
11,421,801
7,015,590
18,437,391
185,210
106,962
496,007
788,179
(545,892)
242,287
18,679,678
7,015,490
9,527,869
120,670
400,000
1,615,649
2,136,319
18,679,678		 Company
2025
£
11,200,589
_200
11,200,789
-
521,541
524,628
1,046,169
(502,269)
543,900
11,744,689
-
9,531,349
22,671
-
2,190,669
2,213,340
11,744,689		 2024
£
11,412,899
200
__
11,413,099
-
646,603
340,478
987,081
(513,283)
473,798
11,886,897
-
9,527,869
120,670
400,000
1,838,358
2,359,028
11,886,897

These financial statements were approved by the Board of Trustees and authorised for issue on 10 July 2025 and are signed on their behalf by:

Matthew Jones Chair

Edward Rowberry Honorary Treasurer

28

SS Great Britain Trust

Group Cash Flow Statement

Year Ended 31 January 2025

2025 2024
£ £
Cash generated/(used) in operating activities 381,208 (64,690)
Investment income 214,951 201,946
Purchase of tangible fixed assets (522,378) (332,306)
Endowment charges 34,317 33,326
______ _
Increase/(Decrease) in cash and cash equivalents in the year108,098 (161,724)
Cash and cash equivalents at beginning of the year 496,007
 657,731
__
Total cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year (note 16)604,105 496,007
RECONCILIATION OF NET INCOME TO NET
CASH INFLOW FROM OPERATING ACTIVITIES
2025 2024
£ £
Net income for the year (1,078,752) (891,375)
Investment income (214,951) (201,946)
Endowment changes to capital 900,000 96,033
Depreciation and loss on disposal 737,472 721,707
Decrease / (increase) in stocks 30,927 (15,198)
(Increase) / decrease in debtors (8,437) 252,713
Increase / (decrease) in creditors 14,949 (26,624)
______ _
Cash generated/(used) in operating activities 381,208 (64,690)

29

SS Great Britain Trust

Notes to the Financial Statements

Year Ended 31 January 2025

GENERAL INFORMATION

SS Great Britain Trust is a charitable company limited by guarantee, incorporated in England and Wales, company number is 1000878 and charity number is 262158.

Its registered office, and that of its subsidiary, is 1 Brunel Square, Bristol, BS1 6UP.

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES

The principal accounting policies adopted, judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty in the preparation of the financial statements are as follows:

Basis of accounting

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

SS Great Britain Trust meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy notes.

The presentation currency is sterling and the accounts are rounded to the nearest £. The comparative information is for the year ended 31 January 2024.

Preparation of the accounts on a going concern basis

The Trustees recognise that whilst there is much uncertainty due to the recent global pandemic, the Trust has the ability to continue as a going concern, since it can meet liabilities as they fall due because of the level of assets currently held.

Basis of consolidation

The consolidated financial statements incorporate the financial statements of the company and its subsidiaries, SS Great Britain Trading Limited and The SS Great Britain Endowment Trust, on a line by line basis. A separate statement of financial activities, or income and expenditure account, for the charitable company itself is not presented because the charitable company has taken advantage of the exemptions afforded by section 408 of the Companies Act 2006 and SORP (FRS 102).

Incoming resources

All income is recognised once the charity has entitlement to the income, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably. Income comprises donations and grants received by the company together with income from fund-raising and the trading subsidiary, exclusive of Value Added Tax where applicable. Donations, legacy and fund-raising income are recognised on a received basis. Grants and income from trading are recognised on a receivable basis. Visitors purchase a ticket on their first visit and any further visits during the year are free. All ticket sale income is recognised on the date of first visit.

30

SS Great Britain Trust

Notes to the Financial Statements

Year Ended 31 January 2025

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES (continued)

Resources expended

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

General support costs are allocated to charitable activities based on the proportion of core staff attributable to each activity. Provisions for termination benefits are recognised only when the company is demonstrably committed to terminate the employment of an employee or group of employees or to provide termination benefits as a result of an offer made in order to encourage voluntary redundancy.

Endowment fund

Net income derived from the endowment fund is transferred to unrestricted funds and is available for the Trust to use to further its objects.

Tangible fixed assets

Tangible fixed assets held for use by the group are stated at cost less depreciation.

Expenditure on the dock and conservation equipment which surround the hull of the SS Great Britain has been included in the balance sheet as fixed assets.

Expenditure on interpretation assets placed around and inside the hull of the SS Great Britain has been included in the balance sheet as fixed assets.

Heritage assets

It is the policy of the Board not to capitalise heritage assets in the museum collection.

The Board considers that financial valuations of heritage assets would be misleading to the value and significance of the material collection involved. In many cases reliable cost information is not available or there are significant costs involved in obtaining a valuation that would outweigh any benefits. However, it is very important for a museum to account to the public for the management and care for the collections entrusted to it. High standards of Collections Management are applied to the collection in order to preserve and manage it on behalf of, and to make it available to, the public. An Accession Register and full records are kept on the collection, its provenance, and its donors. These are made available for all enquiries and requests, subject to appropriate security and data protection guidelines. The museum is Accredited with Arts Council England and achieves Good or Best Practice in all categories within the definitive “Benchmarks in Collections Care” protocols.

Conservation expenditure incurred on heritage assets, including the hull of the SS Great Britain, has been written off to the Statement of Financial Activities.

31

SS Great Britain Trust

Notes to the Financial Statements

Year Ended 31 January 2025

1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES (continued)

Depreciation

Depreciation is calculated so as to write off the cost of an asset, less its estimated residual value, over the useful economic life of that asset as follows:

Leasehold property Straight line over 10 or 50 years Dock and conservation equipment Straight line over 10 or 25 years Access and interpretation assets Straight line over 5, 10 or 20 years Furniture and equipment 10 - 33% straight line or 20 - 25% reducing balance

The development projects in progress have not been depreciated. Depreciation will be charged from the completion of the relevant project to which the expenditure relates after transfer to the appropriate fixed asset category.

Stocks

Stocks, all of which relate to SS Great Britain Trading Limited, are valued at the lower of cost and net realisable value, after making due allowance for obsolete and slow moving items.

Debtors

Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due after any trade discount offered. Prepayments are valued at the amount relating to future periods.

Cash at bank and in hand

Cash at bank and in hand includes cash and short term highly liquid investments with a short maturity of three months or less from the date of acquisition or opening of the deposit or similar account.

Creditors and provisions

Creditors and provisions are recognised where the charity has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts due.

Financial Instruments

The Trust only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value.

32

SS Great Britain Trust

Notes to the Financial Statements

Year Ended 31 January 2025

Operating lease and hire purchase agreements

Rentals applicable to operating leases where substantially all of the benefits and risks of ownership remain with the lessor are charged against income as incurred. Assets purchased under hire purchase contracts and finance leases are capitalised as tangible fixed assets. Assets acquired by finance lease are depreciated over the shorter of the lease term and their useful lives. Assets acquired by hire purchase are depreciated over their useful lives. Finance leases are those where substantially all of the benefits and risks of ownership are assumed by the company. Obligations under such agreements are included in creditors net of the finance charge allocated to future periods. The finance element of the rental payment is charged to the Statement of Financial Activities so as to produce a constant periodic rate of charge on the net obligation outstanding in each period.

Investments

Investments are stated at market value at the balance sheet date. The Statement of Financial Activities includes the net gains and losses arising on revaluation and disposals throughout the year.

Pension costs

The company operates a defined contribution group personal pension. Amounts payable by the company are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities.

INCOME

Voluntary Income of £1,065,231 includes grant, donation and legacy income (2024: £1,124,164).

Activities for generating
funds
Unrestricted
Income from fundraising
Income from SS Great Britain
Trading Limited(see note 3)
Facility Fee from SS Great
Britain Trading Limited
Restricted
Income from fundraising		 Group
2025
2024
£
£
49,594
33,650
1,496,953
1,678,674
103,000
103,000
1,649,547
1,815,324
12,000
10,000
_
1,661,547
1,825,324		 Company
2025
£
49,594
-
118,000
167,594
12,000
179,594		 2024
£
33,650
-
118,000
151,650
10,000
_
161,650

33

SS Great Britain Trust

Notes to the Financial Statements

Year Ended 31 January 2025

3. NET INCOME FROM TRADING ACTIVITIES OF SUBSIDIARY

The principal activities of the subsidiary SS Great Britain Trading Limited (company number 00999528) were those of providing a retail, catering and function business at the SS Great Britain. A summary of the results and balance sheet of SS Great Britain Trading Limited is set out below.

2025 2024
£
 £
Turnover 1,496,953
 1,678,675
Expenditure
 (1,854,997) (1,933,241)
Intra-group recharges, income and expenses
355,814
 364,063
__ __
Retained profit for the year (2,230)
 109,497
Prior year distribution - -
Balance brought forward (222,604)
 (332,101)
__ __
Balance carried forward (224,834)
 (222,604)
__ __
Assets 244,766
 352,609
Liabilities (469,600)
 (575,213)
__ __
Net assets
 (224,834)
 (222,604)
__ __

4. FUNDRAISING AND COMMUNICATIONS

Expenditure amounted to £183,274 compared with £204,829 last year.

5. CHARITABLE EXPENDITURE

Conservation and Maintenance (see note 6)
Curatorial and Education (see note 7)
Brunel Institute Project
Day Membership and Advertising
Management charge by SS Great Britain
Trading Limited		 Group
Company
2025
2024
2025
2024
£
£
£
£
1,527,586
1,361,435
1,525,878
1,360,164
1,780,670
2,094,289
1,778,718
2,092,838
67,414
58,426
67,170
58,244
747,583
756,167
900,438
867,620
-
-
213,931
226,159
4,123,253
4,270,317
4,486,135
4,605,025

34

SS Great Britain Trust

Notes to the Financial Statements

Year Ended 31 January 2025

6. CONSERVATION AND MAINTENANCE COSTS

Group
Conservation and
Dehumidification
Maintenance
Depreciation
Support Costs (see note 8)
Company
Conservation and
Dehumidification
Maintenance
Depreciation
Support Costs (see note 8)		 Unrestricted
Restricted
2025 Total
2024 Total
£
£
£
£
218,652
5,584
224,236
235,144
559,440
1,985
561,425
471,515
-
270,029
270,029
245,796
452,750
19,146
471,896
408,980
1,230,842
296,744
1,527,586
1,361,435
Unrestricted
Restricted
2025 Total
2024 Total
£
£
£
£
218,652
5,584
224,236
235,144
559,440
1,985
561,425
471,515
-
270,029
270,029
245,796
451,042
19,146
470,188
407,709
1,229,134
296,744
1,525,878
1,360,164

7. CURATORIAL AND EDUCATION COSTS

Group
Curatorial
Education
Depreciation
Support Costs (see note 8)
Company
Curatorial
Education
Depreciation
Support Costs (see note 8)		 Unrestricted
Restricted
2025 Total
2024 Total
£
£
£
£
570,356
145,109
715,465
1,106,896
182,180
72,537
254,717
222,738
-
271,178
271,178
297,250
517,429
21,881
539,310
467,405
1,269,965
510,705
1,780,670
2,094,289
Unrestricted
Restricted
2025 Total
2024 Total
£
£
£
£
570,356
145,109
715,465
1,106,896
182,180
72,537
254,717
222,738
-
271,178
271,178
297,250
515,477
21,881
537,358
465,954
1,268,013
510,705
1,778,718
2,092,838

35

SS Great Britain Trust

Notes to the Financial Statements

Year Ended 31 January 2025

8. SUPPORT COSTS

Group
Wages and Salaries
Establishment Costs
Legal and Professional fees
Finance Costs
Depreciation
Marketing and PR
Governance
Other overheads		 Unrestricted
Restricted
2025 Total
2024 Total
£
£
£
£
645,002
-
645,002
582,462
377,477
-
377,477
240,301
-
-
-
-
21,471
-
21,471
28,524
127,838
65,644
193,482
175,497
250,238
-
250,238
177,545
34,030
-
34,030
47,785
96,230
-
96,230
150,102
1,552,286
65,644
1,617,930
1,402,216
Company
Wages and Salaries
Establishment Costs
Legal and Professional fees
Finance Costs
Depreciation
Marketing and PR
Governance
Other overheads		 Unrestricted
Restricted
2025 Total
2024 Total
£
£
£
£
645,002
-
645,002
582,462
377,477
-
377,477
240,301
-
-
-
-
21,471
-
21,471
28,524
127,838
65,644
193,482
175,497
250,238
-
250,238
177,545
28,174
-
28,174
43,431
96,230
-
96,230
150,101
1,546,430
65,644
1,612,074
1,397,861

Support costs have been allocated to charitable activities as shown in the table below. The allocation is based on the proportion of core staff attributable to each activity.

Group
Conservation and Maintenance
Curatorial and Education
Brunel Institute Project
Day membership
Company
Conservation and Maintenance
Curatorial and Education
Brunel Institute Project
Day membership		 Unrestricted
Restricted
2025 Total
2024 Total
£
£
£
£
452,750
19,146
471,896
408,980
517,429
21,881
539,310
467,405
64,679
2,735
67,414
58,426
517,428
21,882
539,310
467,405
1,552,286
65,644
1,617,930
1,402,216
Unrestricted
Restricted
2025 Total
2024 Total
£
£
£
£
451,042
19,146
470,188
407,709
515,477
21,881
537,358
465,954
64,435
2,735
67,170
58,244
515,476
21,882
537,358
465,954
1,546,430
65,644
1,612,074
1,397,861

36

SS Great Britain Trust

Notes to the Financial Statements

Year Ended 31 January 2025

9. RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS

There were no related party transactions during the year.

10. NET INCOME FOR THE YEAR

The net income is stated after charging:

Group Company Company
2025 2024 2025 2024
£ £ £ £
Depreciation 737,472 721,709 734,689 718,543
Operating lease costs – plant and 4,440 21,452 4,440 21,452
machinery
Expenditure on Designated projects
from prior year surpluses 97,999 61,978 97,999 61,978
Audit related services 34,030 20,696 28,174 20,696
Non audit related accountancy services 7,664 2,850 4,075 -

During the year no members of the Board of Trustees or related parties received any remuneration. 4 trustees received expenses totalling £2,740 (2024: 4 trustees received total of £953 in travel expenses).

During the year 1 trustee made a donation (2024: no trustees).

11. PARTICULARS OF EMPLOYEES

The average monthly headcount was 73 staff (2024: 73). Of those, 16 staff were on hourly contracts (2024: 23).

The aggregate payroll costs of the above were:

Wages and salaries
Social security costs
Other pension costs
Other staff benefits
Redundancy and termination
payments		 Group
Company
2025
2024
2025
2024
£
£
£
£
1,973,285
2,065,829
1,467,290
1,540,366
193,746
191,910
153,166
151,293
108,670
105,433
81,577
79,807
10,036
5,613
6,493
3,177
81,258
58,000
81,258
58,000
2,366,995
2,426,785
1,789,784
1,832,643

2 employees earned remuneration in the range £90,000 to £100,000 per annum (2024: no employees). A total of £440,102 (2024: £477,567) was paid in respect of salary and benefits for key management personnel (2025: 5 staff, 2024: 5 staff).

6 compensation payments were made totalling £81,258 (2024: 2 payments totalling £58,000). Staff costs, including pension, are charged against the appropriate fund based on work undertaken.

37

SS Great Britain Trust

Notes to the Financial Statements

Year Ended 31 January 2025

Pension Commitments

The group operates a defined contributions pension scheme. The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the company in an independently administered fund. The pension cost charge represents contributions payable by the group to the fund and amounted to £108,670 (2024: £105,433).

Pension contributions for key management personnel amounted to £28,305.

All pension costs are allocated between activities and funds on the basis of work undertaken. Contributions totalling £22,059 (2024: £17,594) were payable to the fund at the balance sheet date and are included in creditors.

38

SS Great Britain Trust

Notes to the Financial Statements

Year Ended 31 January 2025

12. TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS

Group Long Dock and
Access and
leasehold conservation interpretation Furniture and
property equipment
assets		 equipment Total
£ £
£		 £ £
COST OR VALUATION
At 1 February 2024 10,791,410 6,022,064
6,234,831		 417,414 23,465,719
Additions 10,231 -
512,147		 - 522,378
Disposals - -
-		 - -
Transfers - -
-		 - -
___ __
__		 __ ___
At 31 January 2025 10,801,641 6,022,064
6,746,978		 417,414 23,988,097
___ __
__		 __ _ _
DEPRECIATION
At 1 February 2024 2,896,233 4,444,146
4,303,018		 400,521 12,043,918
Charge for the year 238,582 245,796
247,932		 5,162 737,472
Elimination on disposal - -
-		 - -
__ __
__		 __ __
At 31 January 2025 3,134,815 4,689,942
4,550,950		 405,683 12,781,390
__ ______ _ __ __ __
NET BOOK VALUE
At 31 January 2025 7,666,826 1,332,122
2,196,028		 11,731 11,206,707
___ __ __ __ _____ ___
At 31 January 2024 7,895,177 1,577,918
1,931,813		 16,893 11,421,801
_ _ __ __ __ _____ ___

39

SS Great Britain Trust

Notes to the Financial Statements

Year Ended 31 January 2025

12. TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS (continued)

Company Long Dock and
Access and
leasehold conservation interpretation Furniture and
property equipment
assets		 equipment Total
£ £
£		 £ £
COST OR VALUATION
At 1 February 2024 10,791,410 6,022,064
6,234,831		 370,026 23,418,331
Additions 10,231 -
512,148		 - 522,379
Disposals - -
-		 - -
Transfers - -
-		 - -
___ __
__		 __ ___
At 31 January 2025 10,801,641 6,022,064
6,746,979		 370,026 23,940,710
_ _ __
__		 __ _____ __
DEPRECIATION
At 1 February 2024 2,896,233 4,444,146
4,303,018		 362,035 12,005,432
Charge for the year 238,582 245,796
247,932		 2,379 734,689
Elimination on disposal - -
-		 - -
__ __
__		 __ __
At 31 January 2025 3,134,815 4,689,942
4,550,950		 364,414 12,740,121
__ __ __ __ _____ __
NET BOOK VALUE
At 31 January 2025 7,666,826 1,332,122
2,196,029		 5,612 11,200,589
__ __ __ __ _ _
At 31 January 2024 7,895,177 1,577,918
1,931,813		 7,991 11,412,899
__ __ __ __ _ _

40

SS Great Britain Trust

Notes to the Financial Statements

Year Ended 31 January 2025

13. INVESTMENTS

Group
Market value at 1 February 2024
Additions
Disposals
Investment gains
Cash movement
Market value at 31 January 2025
Historical cost		 National
Listed
Savings
Investment
Portfolio
Cash
Total
£
£
£
£
100
6,594,533
420,957
7,015,590
-
1,782,783 1,782,783
-
(1,892,394)
(1,892,394)
-
174,009
481,222 655,231
-
-
(824,706)
(824,706)
_
_
_
_
100
6,658,931
77,473
6,736,504
_
_
___
____
100
5,128,880
77,473
5,206,453



 National
Listed
Savings
Investment
Portfolio
Cash
Total
£
£
£
£
100
6,594,533
420,957
7,015,590
-
1,782,783 1,782,783
-
(1,892,394)
(1,892,394)
-
174,009
481,222 655,231
-
-
(824,706)
(824,706)
_
_
_
_
100
6,658,931
77,473
6,736,504
_
_
___
____
100
5,128,880
77,473
5,206,453
____
5,206,453

Included within investments is £77,473 (2024: £420,957) of cash which is to be used for reinvestment. Further information on the Endowment Fund is in note 22.

Company

COST AND NET BOOK VALUE
At 1 February 2024 and 31 January 2025:
£
£
Shares in SS Great Britain Trading Limited
National Savings		 2025
2024
100
100
100
100
_
_
200
200
_
_

SS Great Britain Trading Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary, incorporated in the UK.

14. TRADING INVENTORIES

Group
2025
£
Opening Stocks
185,210
Purchases
129,921
Less COS
(160,848)

Closing Stocks
154,283		 2024
£
170,012
174,600
(159,402)

185,210

Stock recognised in cost of sales during the year as an expense was £160,848 (2024: £159,402)

41

SS Great Britain Trust

Notes to the Financial Statements

Year Ended 31 January 2025

15. DEBTORS

Trade Debtors
Amounts owed by group
undertakings
VAT recoverable
Prepayments and accrued income		 Group
Company
2025
2024
2025
2024
£
£
£
£
78,224
831
75,292
-
-
-
410,907
542,611
168
305
168
-
37,007
105,826
35,174
103,992
115,399
106,962
521,541
646,603

16. CASH AT BANK AND IN HAND

(Being cash and cash equivalents)

Restricted funds
Unrestricted funds:
Reserve fund
Designated funds
General funds		 Group
Company
2025
2024
2025
2024
£
£
£
£
248,954
105,623
248,954
105,623
-
400,000
-
400,000
22,671
120,670
22,671
120,670
332,480
(130,286)
253,003
(285,815)
604,105
496,007
524,628
340,478

Of the £604,105 cash held, the free cash balance is £298,276 (see note 20).

17. CREDITORS: Amounts falling due within one year

Trade Creditors
Retentions
PAYE and social security
VAT owing
Accruals and deferred income		 Group
Company
2025
2024
2025
2024
£
£
£
£
54,727
89,006
51,480
82,687
20,605
7,007
20,605
7,007
67,929
29,864
51,400
9,688
59,346
-
41,601
9,688
387,716
388,791
370,838
372,300
560,841
545,892
502,269
513,283

Deferred income includes ticket sales that relate to future first visits and for other events. Income deferred for the year is £24,188 (2024: £41,001).

42

SS Great Britain Trust

Notes to the Financial Statements

Year Ended 31 January 2025

18. COMMITMENTS

Capital Commitments

At 31 January 2025 the group had no capital commitments outstanding.

Commitments under operating leases:

At 31 January 2025 the group and company had annual commitments under non-cancellable operating leases as set out below:

Assets other than land and buildings

Group and Company
2025 2024
£ £
Within 1 year 8,132 12,572
Within 2 – 5 years 8,132 16,266

19. LEGAL STATUS

The charity is a company limited by guarantee and has no share capital. The liability of each guarantor in the event of winding-up is limited to £5.

20. NET ASSETS

Group

Tangible fixed assets
Investments
Cash
Current assets
Current liabilities		 Unrestricted
Designated
General
and reserve
Restricted
Endowment
Funds
Funds
Funds
Fund
Total
£
£
£
£
£
1,937,911
-
9,268,796
-
11,206,707
100
-
-
6,736,404
6,736,504
298,276
22,671
283,158
-
604,105
269,682
-
-
-
269,682
(540,236)
-
(20,605)
-
(560,841)
1,965,733
22,671
9,531,349
6,736,404
18,256,157

43

SS Great Britain Trust

Notes to the Financial Statements

Year Ended 31 January 2025

20. NET ASSETS continued

Company

Company
Tangible fixed assets
Investments
Cash
Current assets
Current liabilities		 Unrestricted
General
Designated
Restricted
Funds
funds
Funds
Total
£
£
£
£
1,931,793
-
9,268,796
11,200,589
200
-
-
200
141,201
22,671
283,158
524,628
521,541
-
-
521,541
(481,664)
-
(20,605)
(502,269)
2,190,669
22,671
9,531,349
11,744,689

21. FUNDS

GROUP
Endowment funds
Restricted funds
Unrestricted funds:
Designated funds
Reserve fund
General funds		 Balance
1 February
2024
£
7,015,490
9,527,869
120,670
400,000
1,615,649		 Movement in funds
Balance
Incoming
Resources
Expenditure
Gains
Transfers
31 January
2025
£
£
£
£
£
213,936
(34,317)
655,231
(1,113,936)
6,736,404
837,845
(834,365)
-
-
9,531,349
-
(97,999)
-
-
22,671
-
-
-
(400,000)
-
4,057,404
(5,221,256)
-
1,513,936
1,965,733
2,136,319 4,057,404
(5,319,255)
-
1,113,936
1,988,404
18,679,678 5,109,185
(6,187,937)
655,231
-
18,256,157

The balance of the designated reserve fund of £400,000 was transferred back into general funds in the year.

44

SS Great Britain Trust

Notes to the Financial Statements

Year Ended 31 January 2025

21. FUNDS (continued)

COMPANY
Restricted funds
Unrestricted funds:
Designated funds
Reserve fund
General funds		 Balance
1 February
2024
9,527,869
120,670
400,000
1,838,358		 Movement in funds
Balance
Incoming
Resources
Expenditure
Gains
Transfers
31 January
2025
837,845
(834,365)
-
-
9,531,349
-
(97,999)
-
-
22,671
-
-
-
(400,000)
-
2,789,362
(3,737,051)
-
1,300,000
2,190,669
2,359,028 2,789,362
(3,835,050)
-
900,000
2,213,340
11,886,897 3,627,207
(4,669,415)
-
900,000
11,744,689

The balance of the designated reserve fund of £400,000 was transferred back into general funds in the year.

22. ENDOWMENT FUND

The Endowment Fund represents the movement on the investment portfolio of the linked subsidiary charity called The SS Great Britain Endowment Trust (charity number 262158.1).

The net income earned by the Endowment Fund during the year amounted to £213,396 (2024: £201,383) and this has been treated as a transfer from the Endowment Fund to unrestricted funds.

The capital value of the Endowment Fund decreased by £279,088 (2024: decreased by £55,367) during the year due to drawdowns from the fund amounting to £900,000 (2024: £100,000) and investment management fees of £34,317 (2024: £33,326) offset by realised gains of £481,222 (2024: losses £65,463) and unrealised gains of £174,009 (2024: £139,455).

Included within Endowment Funds is an investment revaluation reserve of £1,530,051 (2024: £1,587,991).

45

SS Great Britain Trust

Notes to the Financial Statements

Year Ended 31 January 2025

23. RESTRICTED FUNDS

Restricted funds comprise the following amounts held for specific purposes:

Fixed asset funds
Being Brunel
Brunel Institute
Dry Dock
Engine
Weather Deck
Ship interpretation and
dockyard assets
Revenue funds
Albion Dock Project
Being Brunel
Brunel Institute
Future Brunels
Education
Exchange Project
Help the Hull
IGKT
Top Mast 2 Appeal
Museums and Schools
Dry dock
dehumidification
Painting the ship’s hull
and mast
Assembling the Great
Western
Weather Deck		 Balance
1 February
2024
£
4,903,675
2,428,924
15,417
34,856
280,606
1,765,775		 Movement in funds:
Balance
Incoming
Resources
Expenditure
Transfers
31 January
2025
£
£
£
£
-
(244,543)
-
4,659,132
-
(65,644)
-
2,363,280
-
(1,344)
-
14,073
-
(26,635)
-
8,221
-
(24,233)
446,394
702,767
-
(244,452)
-
1,521,323
9,429,253 -
(606,851)
446,394
9,268,796
20,755
24,800
-
-
10,962
2,299
24,410
1
-
4,401
-
-
-
10,988		 162,527
(82,782)
-
100,500
-
(1,479)
-
23,321
58,145
(58,145)
-
-
20,000
(1,667)
18,333
25,000
(20,129)
-
15,833
-
(2,299)
-
-
4,000
(5,584)
(10,000)
12,826
(398)
397
-
-
-
-
10,000
10,000
50,542
(50,740)
-
4,203
13,449
-
-
13,449
57,195
-
-
57,195
9,994
(3,101)
-
6,893
437,391
(1,985)
(446,394)
-
98,616 837,845
(227,514)
(446,394)
262,553
837,845
(834,365)
-
9,531,349
9,527,869

46

SS Great Britain Trust

Notes to the Financial Statements

Year Ended 31 January 2025

23. RESTRICTED FUNDS continued

Prior year restricted funds

Fixed asset funds
Being Brunel
Brunel Institute
Dry Dock
Engine
Weather Deck
Ship interpretation and
dockyard assets
Revenue funds
Acquisitions
Albion Dock Project
Being Brunel
Brunel Institute
Education
Exchange Project
Help the Hull
IGKT
Mast Appeal
Museums and Schools
Other small grants
Selling immigration
Weather Deck		 Balance
1 February
2023
£
5,148,218
2,494,568
16,761
77,933
-
2,010,227		 Movement in funds:
Balance
Incoming
Resources
Expenditure
Transfers
31 January
2024
£
£
£
£
-
(244,543)
-
4,903,675
-
(65,644)
-
2,428,924
-
(1,344)
-
15,417
-
(43,077)
-
34,856
-
-
280,606
280,606
-
(244,452)
-
1,765,775
9,747,707 -
(599,060)
-
9,429,253
-
58,199
76,038
-
-
14,110
14,410
1,815
6,460
-
-
8,239
-		 2,750
(2,750)
-
0
428,247
(465,691)
-
20,755
-
(51,238)
-
24,800
53,946
(53,946)
-
0
16,000
(5,038)
-
10,962
4,905
(16,716)
-
2,299
10,000
-
-
24,410
2,399
(4,213)
-
1
3,170
(9,630)
-
-
50,544
(46,143)
-
4,401
1,330
(1,330)
-
-
-
(8,239)
-
-
291,594
-
(280,606)
10,988
179,271 864,885
(664,934)
(280,606)
98,616
864,885
(1,263,994)
-
9,527,869
9,926,978

47

SS Great Britain Trust

Notes to the Financial Statements

Year Ended 31 January 2025

23. RESTRICTED FUNDS continued

Restricted fixed asset funds

These funds are represented by tangible fixed assets financed by grants and donations given for these specific purposes. Such assets are written off over their estimated useful life and the expenditure charged to these funds is the depreciation of these assets.

Being Brunel

This is the redevelopment of the buildings on the north side of the dry dock to house a Brunel Museum and the opening of the Drawing Office. This opened in 2018.

Brunel Institute

The Brunel Institute fixed asset fund relates to funds raised towards the capital costs of creating the Brunel Institute.

Dry dock

The dry dock fund has been used for the purpose of reducing the water ingress and the energy costs of operating the controlled environment in the dock.

Engine fund

The Engine fund has been used to recreate and maintain a replica Ship’s Engine and associated facilities.

Ship interpretation and dockyard assets

This fund is represented by assets acquired for the long term preservation of the ship and was financed by the sums received from the Heritage Lottery Fund together with the partnership element of funding the Trust raised from other sources.

Weatherdeck

The weatherdeck on the SS Great Britain has been replaced, funded by an award from Arts Council England’s Museum Estate and Development Fund.

Revenue funds

Revenue funds are financed by grants and donations given for the specific revenue purposes set out below.

Albion Dock Project

SS Great Britain obtained the lease for the adjoining Albion Dock in 2017. This project conserves the dock and recreates the PS Great Western alongside a new education suite, expanded living history site experience and improvement of maritime environment around the site.

Being Brunel

This is the redevelopment of the buildings on the north side of the dry dock to house a Brunel Museum and the opening of the Drawing Office in 2018. NHMF (HLF) awarded £4.9 million grant and DCMS awarded £620k towards this project. NHMF have taken out a legal charge against the site.

48

SS Great Britain Trust

Notes to the Financial Statements

Year Ended 31 January 2025

23. RESTRICTED FUNDS continued

The Brunel Institute fund

The Brunel Institute fund relates to funds raised for the revenue costs of creating the Brunel Institute and the subsequent costs of running it.

Education Programme

Monies received towards the various Education programmes including the Future Brunels project and the Golden Ticket programme which supports pupils from the West of England Combined Authority (WECA).

Exchange Project

AHRC funding for community engagement. A collaboration between the Trust and parents from Hannah Moore school to become community researchers.

Help the Hull

Funds received to upgrade and replace the ship’s hull condition monitoring hardware and related software systems.

IGKT

International Guild of Knot Tyers have donated funds to enable the cataloguing of the collection of books that they also donated.

Mast Appeal

For the replacement and refurbishment of the masts on the ship.

Museum and Schools

Working in collaboration with the Science Museum, this is a project funded by Arts Council England aimed at keeping children engaged in education as they transition between primary and secondary school.

Weather Deck

The weather deck on the SS Great Britain has been replaced, funded by an award from Arts Council England’s Museum Estate and Development Fund.

Dry Dock Dehumidification

Funding helps support academic research and new equipment to support the ongoing conservation of the historic iron hull of the SS Great Britain, which is preserved by a unique dehumidification system within the dry dock.

Painting the Ship’s Hull and Mast

These are funds received to enable restoration and painting of the ship and its masts.

Assembling the Great Western

This is a grant received for research on the SS Great Western and her crew which is being undertaken by a Community Researcher.

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SS Great Britain Trust

Notes to the Financial Statements

Year Ended 31 January 2025

24. DESIGNATED FUNDS

Opening Balance
Utilised
Closing Balance		 2025
£
120,670
(97,999)
22,671		 2024
£
182,648
(61,978)
__
120,670

Designated funds represent unrestricted funds set aside by Trustees for current and approved projects.

Of the £97,999 (2024: £61,978) designated funds utilised, £ nil was capitalised.

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SS Great Britain Trust

Notes to the Financial Statements

Year Ended 31 January 2025

25. COMPARATIVE GROUP STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES

Income and Endowments from:
Donations and Legacies
Other Trading Activities
Investment Income
Charitable Activities
Day Membership (including gift
aid)
Members covenants and
subscriptions
Total
Expenditure on:
Cost of raising funds
SS Great Britain Trading Limited
Fundraising and communications
Investment management fees
Charitable activities
Total
Net (expenditure)/income before
investment (losses)/gains
Gains/(Losses) on investment
assets
– realised
– unrealised
Net incoming/(outgoing)
resources before transfers
Transfers between funds
Net movement in funds for the
year
Total funds brought forward
Total funds carried forward		 Unrestricted
Funds
Restricted
Funds
Endowment
Funds
2024
2023
£
£
£
£
£
269,279
854,885
-
1,124,164
719,845
1,815,324
10,000
-
1,825,324
584,153
563
-
201,383
201,946
173,009
2,384,886
-
-
2,384,886
2,212,865
9,666
-
-
9,666
16,831
4,479,718
864,885
201,383
5,545,986
3,706,703
1,928,889
-
-
1,928,889
782,392
204,829
-
-
204,829
166,870
-
-
33,326
33,326
33,536
3,006,323
1,263,994
-
4,270,317
3,731,031
5,140,041
1,263,994
33,326
6,437,361
4,713,829
(660,323)
(399,109)
168,057
(891,375)
(1,007,126)
-
-
(65,463)
(65,463)
(27,016)
-
-
139,455
139,455
(186,202)
(660,323)
(399,109)
242,049
(817,383)
(1,220,344)
297,416
-
(297,416)
-
-
(362,907)
(399,109)
(55,367)
(817,383)
(1,220,344)
2,499,226
9,926,978
7,070,857
19,497,061
20,717,405
2,136,319
9,527,869
7,015,490
18,679,678
19,497,061

All of the above are derived from continuing activities. All gains and losses recognised in the year are included in the Statement of Financial Activities.

51