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2025-03-31-accounts

Annual report and financial statements

31 March 2025

Company limited by guarantee Registration number 01300565 (England and Wales)

Charity registration number 0273984

Contents

Reports
Reference and administrative information 1
2
report 12
Financial statements
Statement of financial activities 17
Balance sheet 18
Statement of cash flows 19
Principal accounting policies 20
Notes to the financial statements 24

Collections Trust

Reference and administrative details about the charity, its board and its advisers

Charity name Collections Trust
Charity number 0273984
Company number 01300565
Registered office Rutland House
23-25 Friar Lane
Leicester LE1 5QQ
Trustees and directors Ms L Pye (Chair)
Dr A Bhaugeerutty (Deputy Chair)
Mr R Bending
Ms N Golding
Ms K Hunter
Ms S Johnson
Ms A Karia
Mr J Kirby
Mr N Klee
Ms R Sloss
Ms C St Clair Inglis
Mr P Stevenson
Ms L Turner
Dr C Wingfield
Company Secretary and Chief Executive Mr D Gelsthorpe (appointed as Chief Executive
22 April 2025; appointed as Company Secretary
23 May 2025)
Mr K Gosling (resigned as Chief Executive 30
May 2025; resigned as Company Secretary 23
May 2025)
Bankers CAF Bank Ltd
25 Kings Hill Avenue
West Malling
ME19 4JQ
Auditor Buzzacott Audit LLP
130 Wood Street
London
EC2V 6DL

Collections Trust 1

31 March 2025

The trustees, who are also directors and members under company law, present their report and financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025. The trustees confirm that the financial statements comply with current statutory requirements, the articles of association and the Statement of Recommended Practice - Accounting and Reporting by Charities: applicable to charities preparing their financial statements in accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102).

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

Collections Trust is a charitable company limited by guarantee (01300565), originally incorporated (as the Museum Documentation Association) on 28 February 1977. It is registered as a charity with the Charity Commission (0273984).

Updated articles of association were adopted by a special resolution of the members at an extraordinary general meeting on 25 July 2023.

Governance

Collections Trust is governed by its board of trustees, who as noted above are also directors and members of the company.

Trustees give their time voluntarily and receive no benefits except for the offer of a free copy of Spectrum and discounted conference tickets in order to further their understanding of our work. Any expenses reclaimed are set out in note 6 to the financial statements.

The trustees who served throughout the year ended 31 March 2025 and up to the date these

financial statements were approved, except where indicated, were:

Trustees Appointed / Resigned
Ms L Pye
Mr R Avann (resigned 9 December 2024)
Mr R Bending (appointed 24 July 2024)
Dr A Bhaugeerutty
Ms K Childs (resigned 9 December 2024)
Ms N Golding
Ms K Hunter (appointed 10 March 2025)
Ms S Johnson
Ms A Karia
Mr J Kirby (appointed 10 March 2025)
Mr N Klee (appointed 10 October 2024)
Ms S Longmuir (resigned 13 May 2024)
Ms R Sloss
Ms C St Clair Inglis
Mr P Stevenson
Ms L Turner
Dr C Wingfield (appointed 10 March 2025)

The board meets quarterly, with interim meetings as required to deal with specific matters such as the sign-off of major grant applications.

In addition, an audit committee comprising a sub-group of trustees meets twice a year to - group (the commitments committee) reviews the budget, contractual terms and risks of any proposed project with a value over £10,000, as and when required.

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31 March 2025

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT (continued)

Key management personnel

The key management personnel of the charity are the unremunerated trustees and the Chief Executive, the latter a paid employee. Remuneration of the Chief Executive is set by the board and, if deemed appropriate, increased annually by a percentage in line with all other employees.

The Chief Executive is responsible for the overall management of the organisation, and acts as company secretary. He works closely with the Deputy Director, who leads the grantOrganisations, and the Finance Manager, who takes the lead in day-to-day financial management. All three prepare reports for the board and audit committee, including regular updates to the risk register, and attend their meetings.

OBJECTIVES

Charitable purpose

Our charitable object, set out in our memorandum and articles of association, is to:

Promote the education of the public by the development of museums and similar organisations by all appropriate methods.

Our

Mission and aims

The mission of Collections Trust is to:

Help museums work with the information that connects collections and audiences.

This mission is fleshed out in our five strategic aims:

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31 March 2025

PUBLIC BENEFIT

The trustees reaffirm , having given due regard to the . This benefit is indirect: we ourselves do not work directly with the general public, but we help museums that do.

deliver two kinds of public benefit. Collections information is essential for the accountability and smooth administration of museums behind the scenes, but it is also the raw material for all audience-facing use of museum objects. Every exhibition, every online resource, every learning session museums deliver depends on existing information being available to those working on that activity, and new information arising from it being recorded for future use.

ACTIVITIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS

The past year 2024-25 saw several long-planned activities reach fruition, notably the Museum Data Service, which not only launched successfully in its own right, but allowed us to progress some key areas of our other work.

For as long as museums have worked together as a professional community, they have envisaged a day in which they could have a complete overview of all the objects in their shared collections. Despite several false dawns, this goal has long eluded the secto ~~r~~ thwarted by funding limitations, the complexities of leadership and ownership, and the technical challenge of designing an open, stable, usable, secure system.

In September 2024, the dream became a game-changing reality, thanks to start-up funding from Bloomberg Philanthropies and operational support from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). In its first six months of live operation, the Museum Data Service (MDS) doubled the number of object records available at museumdata.uk from three million to six million.

This expansion signals the start of a fundamental shift in how UK museums approach collections data. MDS now serves as a centralised, open-access platform that breaks down the historical silos that have long prevented effective collaboration between institutions. The service's ten-year ambition to connect an estimated 80 million object records from over 1,750 museums across the UK is no longer a distant aspiration but an achievable goal with clear momentum.

The Museum Data Service (MDS) is an ambitious project aiming to bring object records he combined forces of Collections Trust, Art UK and University of Leicester behind it, I knew it was in

and opens up many possibilities for museum professionals to work collaboratively in the future.

Michael Hardy, Museums Journal review of MDS, January 2025

Established as a charitable company in June 2025, MDS now has its own board. As one of the three founding members, Collections Trust has two nominated trustees on that board, and throughout 2024-25 our Chief Executive also acted as the MDS Head of Service for 50% of his time. (That input, along with that of the Museum Data Manager role created in June 2025 and hosted by Collections Trust, was paid for by the AHRC grant support for MDS, via a collaboration agreement with the grant-holder, the University of Leicester.)

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ACTIVITIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS (continued)

Museum Data Service (continued)

With a hugely significant renewal of the AHRC grant support confirmed until March 2028, the University of Leicester will take on more operational responsibility for the service. While the Museum Data Manager role will continue to be based with us, allowing MDS to leverage our day-to-day contact with museums around the country, a new Head of Service will be appointed directly by the university. Having spent much time and energy over recent years helping to get MDS to this point, Collections Trust can now focus on the strategic potential the new service to further our own mission and those of the museums we work with.

The year 2024-25 was our second as an Investment Principle Support Organisation (IPSO) within the current Arts Council England (ACE) National Portfolio.

Evaluation of CT activities 2024-25, DC Research

with the ACE-funded Museum Development (MD) network to support the Museum Accreditation Scheme across England. Our Spectrum standard for museum collections management is embedded the Museum Accreditation Standard and we help museums of all kinds put guidance into practice through our outreach programme and our online resources.

Last year was our most successful yet in terms of outreach . Our highly-praised team directly engaged, through training or one-to-one support, staff and volunteers in more than a quarter more than a fifth of those working towards Accreditation. Feedback remained consistently high, with participants rating skills gained at 4.4/5 in post-session evaluations. Longitudinal data showed equally strong results for skills applied within a year (4.4/5), with feedback attributing enhanced policy development, increased confidence, and successful Accreditation achievements to our support.

Enabled me to write our documentation policies and plans for our accreditation return - we were awarded accreditation for the first time in October 2023.

Example of longitudinal feedback gathered on learning applied within a year of past training

Last year, we also moved our well-established Banish the backlog and Rethinking cataloguing programmes up a gear, piloting some practical tools to supplement our advice and guidance:

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31 March 2025

ACTIVITIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS (continued)

Our sector support work (continued)

Our much-appreciated online resources continued to grow, especially the bitesize videos that have proved a popular way of presenting an increasing range of topics.

W Website resources are excellent I use the Collections Trust resources

.

Evaluation of CT activities 2024-25, DC Research

Museums Galleries

Scotland, Welsh Government, and Northern Ireland Museums Council continues, with the commissioning of further Spectrum training sessions to help the museums they support meet the required standards. Ten sessions were delivered during 2024-25, to just under 100 participants.

Preparing for the next phase of Collections Trust

In 2027, Collections Trust will reach its fiftieth anniversary, having been founded (as the Museum Documentation Association) in 1977. Over the decades, the organisation has kept its ear to the ground, listening to the staff and volunteers who work with collections of all types and sizes, understanding their needs, and responding with pragmatic standards, guidance, and action.

.

Evaluation of CT activities 2024-25, DC Research

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ACTIVITIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS (continued)

Preparing for the next phase of Collections Trust (continued)

The relevance of our work to the museum sector is reflected by the fact that Spectrum is used far beyond the UK. A German version recently became the ninth Spectrum translation published on our website, a rich corpus of parallel texts that can only help collaboration between museums around the world. As in previous years, we are also grateful to our Spectrum Partners: software developers who license Spectrum for commercial use in many of the most widely-used collections management systems, thus helping to put the standard into practice far and wide.

Much of the year was spent planning the future direction of the organisation, not least prompted by the retirement of Chief Executive Kevin Gosling in May 2025, after ten years at the helm. His successor, David Gelsthorpe, had a smooth, six-week handover and will continue to develop the strategic planning begun by the board and team last summer. This will be helped by a new, comprehensive evaluation framework that will draw together various strands of evidence to assess the impact of current work and guide future activity.

FINANCIAL REVIEW

During the year, Collections Trust earned income, excluding bank interest, of £528,837 (2024: - £449,300). Of this, £386,202 (2024: £255,827) was restricted funding with £234,232 (2024: £234,232) received from the Arts Council England.

Unrestricted income from charitable activities of £142,635 (2024: £193,473) was made up from: retail sales of publications and forms £30,216 (2024: £30,903); Spectrum partnership membership fees £66,675 (2024: £64,043); consultancy projects £32,008 (2024: £86,193); conference ticket sales £7,626 (2024: £5,949) and training income £6,110 (2024: £6,385).

Collections Trust spent £253,379 (2024: £214,084) directly on Arts Council England projects, including staff time. £226,892 (2024: £164,381) was spent on other charitable activities (Other grant funding, retail, Spectrum partnerships, and consultancy).

The year finished with an overall surplus of £54,821 (2024: £47,685). 2025 surplus included no charge in respect of the pension scheme (2024: £26,000). Total funds carried forward were £253,511 (2024: £198,690) of which £236,931 (2024: £158,543) was unrestricted, £16,580 designated (2024: £20,000) and £nil (2024: £20,147) restricted, giving free reserves (unrestricted funds excluding fixed assets, pension liability, and designated funds) of £233,049 (2024: £155,606).

The balance sheet shows total funds to be in surplus by £253,511 (2024: £198,690).

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FINANCIAL REVIEW (continued)

Reserves policy and position

The aims, and the risk register, establish that alongside the need for a general reserves fund, there are also both risks and opportunities that require the designation of funds. The reserves policy therefore sets out the following targets and designations:

  1. General fund

Three to six months operational expenditure in free reserves to accommodate variations in income levels, mitigate against any cashflow shortfalls, and meet any unbudgeted expenditure such as parental or sick pay. This figure equates to between £120,000 and £240,000. At 31 March 2025 the organisation held £233,049 (2024: £155,606) in free reserves (unrestricted, undesignated reserves excluding fixed assets and pensions). This equates to approximately five to six months operating costs, falling within the target range of the policy.

  1. Strategic fund

A designated fund of £16,580 (2024: £17,000) to allow for the opportunity and flexibility to invest in strategic initiatives and opportunities.

  1. Defined benefit pension fund

  2. A designated fund of £nil (2024: £3,000) to cover potential legal and administrative costs of entering any deferred debt arrangement (DDA) with the pension fund if required. The last active member of the scheme retired on 31 May 2024. This fund was used for the final actuarial valuation and the remaining balance was transferred to the Strategic Fund.

The organisation aims to provide for these reserves through unrestricted surplus funds carried forward at the end of each financial year. This money is invested in bank savings accounts on the most advantageous overall terms, in respect of interest and charges and access, and is regularly reviewed.

Fundraising

The charity does not raise or actively seek to raise funds from the public. The trustees therefore do not consider that they are obliged to make any further disclosures in relation to this area.

Going concern

The trustees have assessed whether the use of the going concern assumption is appropriate in preparing the financial statements. The trustees have made this assessment in respect to a period of at least one year from the date of approval of the annual report and financial statements, and in light of the implications of the current economic downturn, with consideration given to budget forecasts, cashflow, confirmed and pipeline projects.

Further narrative is provided within the assessment of going concern contained within the principal accounting policies at page 20. Based on the information considered, the trustees have concluded that there are no material uncertainties related to events or conditions that may cast significant doubt on the ability of the charity to continue as a going concern.

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PRINCIPAL RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES

The trustees have considered the strategic risks facing Collections Trust and the measures needed to mitigate them. They consider the key risks and mitigation strategies to be:

Risk Loss of key member of staff
Employee turnover is inevitable, and in a small organisation a lot of
institutional knowledge rests with a few key individuals.
Tolerance Medium
the planned retirement of the Chief Exec has happened and was
mitigated by a five-week handover period with the new Chief Exec
this
has taken time but was not unduly disruptive.
Mitigation The management team works closely together. Recording of handover
procedures and documentation of processes proved effective. Reserves
provided the financial resources to ensure stability.

----- Start of picture text -----
Risk Cyber security
CT is reliant on IT and the internet for all its operations. A cyber-attack
could compromise its ability to deliver its services and generate income. A
data breach could risk litigation and damage to our reputation.
Tolerance Medium to low whilst a cyber-attack is unlikely to threaten the existence
of Collections Trust, it could take considerable time and resources to
resolve an attack and may lead to costly legal fees and fines.
Mitigation A password management system is in place to ensure all passwords are
complex, with multi-factor authentication also required for key systems.
The level of external IT support has been increased, with support for Cyber
Essentials accreditation including mandatory online training on topics such
as phishing and password protection.
Risk Loss of strategic direction and focus during MDS start up
As the Museum Data Service begins to thrive, with Collections Trust as
one of three founding organisations, there is potential for confusion
amongst stakeholders regarding our brand and purpose, and questions
around capacity to cope with such change.
Tolerance Low the organisation has been working towards this for many years and
needs to maximise the current opportunity to deliver on its strategic aims.
Mitigation Our Investment Principles action plan sets out how the trust will manage
the transition, including continued board development and succession
planning for board and key staff. The MDS will be constituted as separate
charity in the Summer of 2025 with a dedicated Chief Executive.
----- End of picture text -----

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STATEMENT OF REPONSIBILITIES OF THE TRUSTEES

The trustees (who are also directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company in accordance with applicable law and accounting standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

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

The trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

In so far as the trustees are aware:

This confirmation is given and should be interpreted in accordance with the provisions of s418 of the Companies Act 2006.

The trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the charitable company's website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

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STATEMENT OF REPONSIBILITIES OF THE TRUSTEES (continued)

Members of the charity guarantee to contribute an amount not exceeding £1 to the assets of the charity in the event of winding up. The trustees are members of the charity, but this entitles them only to voting rights. The trustees have no beneficial interest in the charity.

by:

L Pye Chair Date:

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Collections Trust

Opinion

We have the year ended 31 March 2025 which comprise the statement of financial activities, the balance sheet, statement of cash flows, the principal accounting policies and the notes to the financial statements. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom accounting standards, including Financial in the UK and Accounting Practice).

In our opinion, the financial statements:

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

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charitable company in accordance with the ethical requirements 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 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 period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

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

Other information

The other information comprises the information included in the annual report and financial trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report and financial statements. 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.

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Other information (continued)

Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the course of the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether 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 the light of the knowledge and understanding of the charitable company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material 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 statement of responsibilities of trustees, the trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

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Responsibilities of trustees (continued)

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

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

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

Our approach to identifying and assessing the risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations, was as follows:

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(continued)

misstatement, including obtaining an understanding of how fraud might occur, by:

To address the risk of fraud through management bias and override of controls, we:

In response to the risk of irregularities and non-compliance with laws and regulations, we designed procedures which included, but were not limited to:

There are inherent limitations in our audit procedures described above. The more removed that laws and regulations are from financial transactions, the less likely it is that we would become aware of non-compliance. Auditing standards also limit the audit procedures required to identify non-compliance with laws and regulations to enquiry of the trustees and other management and the inspection of regulatory and legal correspondence, if any.

Material misstatements that arise due to fraud can be harder to detect than those that arise from error as they may involve deliberate concealment or collusion.

website at www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our

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Use of our report

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

Gumayel Miah (Senior Statutory Auditor) For and on behalf of Buzzacott Audit LLP, Statutory Auditor 130 Wood Street London EC2V 6DL

Date: 23 September 2025

Collections Trust 16

Statement of financial activities (incorporating an income and expenditure account) 31 March 2025

Notes Un-
restricted
funds
£		 Restricted
funds
£		 2025
Total
funds
£		 2024
Total
funds
£
Income from:
Charitable activities
2
Investments
3
Total income
Expenditure on:
Charitable activities:
. Projects and programmes
. Other charitable activities
Total expenditure
4
Net income for the year
Other recognised (losses)/ gains
Actuarial (losses) gains in respect
to defined benefit pension scheme
19
Transfer between funds
13
Net movement in funds
Total funds brought forward
Total funds carried forward		 142,635
6,255		 386,202 528,837
6,255		 449,300
2,850
148,890 386,202 535,092 452,150
49,864 430,407 430,407
49,864		 235,680
142,785
49,864 430,407 480,271 378,465
99,026
(24,058)		 (44,205)
24,058		 54,821 73,685
(26,000)
74,968
178,543		 (20,147)
20,147		 54,821
198,690		 47,685
151,005
253,511 253,511 198,690

All of the above results are derived from continuing activities.

There were no other recognised gains or losses other than those stated above.

The attached notes form part of these financial statements.

A full comparative statement of financial activities is included at Note 1.

Collections Trust 17

Balance sheet 31 March 2025

Notes
Fixed assets
Tangible assets
8
Current assets
Stock
9
Debtors
10
Cash at bank and in hand
Liabilities:
Creditors: amounts falling due
within one year
11
Net current assets
Total assets less current
liabilities
Pension liability
19
Total net assets
The funds of the charity:
Restricted funds
13
Unrestricted funds:
. Designated funds
. General funds
13
Total unrestricted funds
13
Total funds		 2025
£		 2025
£		 2024
£		 2024
£
1,708
106,973
223,024		 3,882
249,629		 1,569
5,274
228,209		 2,937
195,753
331,705
(82,076)		 235,052
(39,299)
16,580
236,931		 20,147
20,000
158,543
253,511 198,690
253,511 198,690
253,511 198,690
253,511 198,690

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the special provisions for small companies under Part 15 of the Companies Act 2006.

Approved by the trustees and signed on their behalf by:

L Pye Chair Date:

Company registration number: 01300565 (England and Wales)

The attached notes form part of the financial statements.

Collections Trust 18

Statement of cash flows 31 March 2025

Note 2025
£		 2025
£		 2024
£		 2024
£
Cash flows from operating
activities:
Net cash (used in)/provided by
operating activities
14
Cash flows from investing
activities:
Interest received
Purchase of fixed assets
Cash provided by investing
activities
Change in cash and cash
equivalents in the year
Cash and cash equivalents at the
beginning of the year
Cash and cash equivalents at the
end of theyear
15		 (9,024)
6,255
(2,416)		 3,839 52,977
2,850
(1,193)		 1,657
(5,185)
228,209		 54,634
173,575
223,024 228,209

Collections Trust 19

Principal accounting policies 31 March 2025

Basis of preparation

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

The charitable company meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102. The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention with items initially recognised at cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy note(s).

The financial statements are presented in sterling and are rounded to the nearest pound.

Going concern

The trustees have assessed whether the use of the going concern assumption is appropriate in preparing these accounts. The trustees have made this assessment in respect to a period of at least one year from the date of approval of these accounts and have concluded that there are no material uncertainties related to events or conditions that may cast significant doubt on the ability of the charity to continue as a going concern.

Collections Trust (CT) are part of the 2023 to 2026 National Portfolio which means we have confirmation that our ACE grant funding will continue (with an uplift of 1.6%) at £238,003 for the year through to March 2026. ACE have indicated we are likely to secure an extension to our existing funding agreement to March 2027. Beyond April 2025, it is anticipated that further Arts and Humanities Reseach Council (AHRC) support, via the University of Leicester, will continue to cover the cost of CT staff time spent working on MDS, on a fullcost-recovery basis.

In the current financial year, 2024-25, income from Spectrum Partnerships, retail, training and the conference all look healthy, and we are forecast to hit the upper end of our reserves target.

Critical accounting estimates and areas of judgement

No key judgements and estimates were required in the preparation of the accounts this year due to the cessation of the defined benefit pension scheme on 31 May 2024. The comparative figures for the year ended 31 March 2024 include the estimate of the defined benefit pension liability existing at 31 March 2024 which is detailed in note 19. The estimated liability was determined with the support of qualified actuaries. For 2023/24, the actuary estimated that the scheme was, at 31 March 2024, in a net asset position.

The asset has not been recognised on the balance sheet on the basis of the trustees' judgement that at the point of approving the financial statements, there is uncertainty as to whether the asset may be realised in terms of future contributions or refunds from the scheme.

Post year end, the finalised position confirmed an exit which will not lead to any additional liability (or asset) for the charity.

Collections Trust 20

Principal accounting policies 31 March 2025

Income

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

recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the grants have been met, it is probable that the income will be received, and the amount can be measured reliably and is not deferred. Income received in advance for the provision of specified service is deferred until the criteria for income recognition are met.

Revenue from the sale of goods is recognised when the significant risks and rewards of ownership have been transferred to the customer, it is probable that the income will be received, and the revenue and associated costs can be reliably measured.

Revenue from the provision of services is recognised when it is probable that Collections Trust will receive the economic benefit and the revenue and associated costs can be reliably measured. For continuing services, revenue is recognised when the stage of completion can be reliably measured.

Interest on funds held on deposit is included when receivable and the amount can be measured reliably by the charity; this is normally upon notification of the interest paid or payable by the bank.

Fund accounting

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

Designated funds are unrestricted funds of the charity which the trustees have decided at their discretion to set aside to use for a specific purpose.

Restricted funds are donations which the donor has specified are to be solely used for

Expenditure and irrecoverable VAT

Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to make a payment to a third party, it is probable that settlement will be required, and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis. Expenditure is comprised of direct and support costs. Direct costs are allocated to a specific activity. The classification between activities is as follows:

Irrecoverable VAT is charged as a cost against the activity for which the expenditure was incurred and is calculated using the ratio that business income bears to total income.

Collections Trust 21

Principal accounting policies 31 March 2025

Allocation of support costs

Support costs are those functions that assist the work of the charity but do not directly undertake charitable activities. Support costs include back-office costs, finance, payroll and governance costs which support the charitable activities. These costs have been allocated between the various charitable activities. They are allocated based on staff time.

Tangible fixed assets

Items of equipment are capitalised where the assets are expected to have a useful life of more than four years. The capitalisation threshold is £1,000. Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write down the cost of each asset to its estimated residual value over its expected useful life. The depreciation rates in use are as follows:

Computer equipment 25% per annum based on cost

Stock

Stock is included at the lower of cost or net realisable value.

Debtors

Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due after any trade discount offered. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid net of any trade discounts due.

Cash at bank and in hand

Cash at bank and cash in hand includes cash and short term highly liquid investments with a maturity of three months or less.

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 to settle the obligation 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 charity 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 amortised cost using the effective interest method.

Pensions

The charity contributes to a defined benefit scheme operated by Cambridgeshire County Council, which provides benefit based on average pensionable salary. The assets of the scheme are held and managed separately from those of the charity.

Pension scheme assets are measured using market values. Pension scheme liabilities are measured using the projected unit actuarial method and are discounted at the current rate of return on a high-quality corporate bond of equivalent term and currency to the liability. Any expected to arise from employee service in the period is allocated to the respective expense category within the statement of financial activities. Actuarial gains and losses are recognised in the statement of financial activities as part of other recognised gains and losses for the period.

Collections Trust 22

Principal accounting policies 31 March 2025

Pensions (continued)

The last remaining member of the scheme retired on 31 May 2024 and the charity exited the scheme as of this date. The charity has received the final actuarial report which confirms there is a £nil asset/liability closing position.

The charity also offers an auto-enrolment pension scheme into which all new employees are enrolled. Contributions in respect to the personal pension schemes and defined contribution schemes are recognised in the statement of financial activities in the year in which they are payable to the relevant scheme.

Collections Trust 23

Notes to the financial statements 31 March 2025

1 Detailed comparatives for the statement of financial activities

2 Notes Un-
restricted
funds
£		 Restricted
funds
£		 2024
Total
funds
£
Income from:
Charitable activities
2
Investments
3
Total income
Expenditure on:
Charitable activities:
. Projects and programmes
. Other charitable activities
Total expenditure
4
Net income for the year
Other recognised (losses)/ gains
Actuarial (losses) gains in respect to defined
benefit pension scheme
19
Net movement in funds
Total funds brought forward
Total funds carried forward		 193,473
2,850		 255,827 449,300
2,850
196,323 255,827 452,150
142,785 235,680 235,680
142,785
142,785 235,680 378,465
53,538
(26,000)		 20,147 73,685
(26,000)
27,538
151,005		 20,147 47,685
151,005
178,543 20,147 198,690
Income from charitable activities

----- Start of picture text -----
Un- 2025 Un- 2024
restricted Restricted Total restricted Restricted Total
funds funds funds funds funds funds
£ £ £ £ £ £
Projects and programmes
Arts Council England 234,232 234,232 234,232 234,232
IDAH funded Museum Data
Service collaboration - 151,970 151,970 -
Welsh Government - - - 21,595 21,595
Other charitable activities
Retail and publishing 30,216 30,216 30,903 30,903
Spectrum partnership
licencing scheme 66,675 66,675 64,043 64,043
Consultancy 32,008 32,008 86,193 86,193
Training 6,110 6,110 6,385 6,385
Conference 7,626 7,626 5,949 5,949
Other income
Total income from
charitable activities 142,635 386,202 528,837 193,473 255,827 449,300
----- End of picture text -----

Collections Trust 24

Notes to the financial statements 31 March 2025

3 Income from investments

Bank interest Unrestricted
funds
£		 Restricted
funds
£		 2025
Total
funds
£		 Unrestricted
funds
£		 Restricted
funds
£		 2024
Total
funds
£
6,255 6,255 2,850 2,850

4 Analysis of expenditure

----- Start of picture text -----
Restricted Unrestricted
Other
grant Consult- Con- CT 2025
ACE funding Retail Spectrum ancy Training ference Award Total
£ £ £ £ £ £ £ £ £
Expenditure
Direct costs 36,805 67,652 11,867 1,448 108 117,880
Direct staff costs 155,743 76,608 1,329 1,313 20,988 2,349 258,330
192,548 144,260 13,196 2,761 21,096 2,349 376,210
Overheads
Administration overheads 34,159 13,433 256 191 3,425 417 51,881
Staff overheads 26,672 19,335 368 275 4,930 600 52,180
60,831 32,768 624 466 8,355 1,017 104,061
Total expenditure 2025 253,379 177,028 13,820 3,227 29,451 3,366 480,271
Restricted Unrestricted
Other
grant Consult- Con- CT 2024
ACE funding Retail Spectrum ancy Training ference Award Total
£ £ £ £ £ £ £ £ £
Expenditure
Direct costs 36,769 14,520 12,666 345 (5) 85 1,000 65,380
Direct staff costs 114,258 6,164 9,257 1,101 74,306 2,452 207,538
151,027 20,684 21,923 1,446 74,301 2,537 1,000 272,918
Overheads
Administration overheads 25,572 370 1,774 158 14,489 442 42,805
Staff overheads 37,485 542 2,599 230 21,238 648 62,742
63,057 912 4,373 388 35,727 1,090 105,547
Total expenditure 2024 214,084 21,596 26,296 1,834 110,028 3,6277 1,000 378,465
Overheads are allocated based on staff time per activity.
5 Net income for the year
This is stated after charging:
2025 2024
£ £
Depreciation 1,471 1,172
. Audit fees 12,980 12,067
----- End of picture text -----

5 Net income for the year

Collections Trust 25

Notes to the financial statements 31 March 2025

6 Analysis of staff costs, trustee remuneration and expenses, and the cost of key management personnel

Staff costs were as follows:

----- Start of picture text -----
2025 2024
£ £
Salaries and wages 281,228 254,401
Social security costs 23,672 19,513
Pension costs 5,609 14,514
Temporary staff costs 6,050
310,510 294,478
FRS 102 defined benefit pension adjustment (12,000)
310,510 282,478
The following number of employees received employee benefits (excluding employer
pension contributions) during the year between:
2025 2024
£ £
£70,000 £79,999 1 1
----- End of picture text -----

The following number of employees received employee benefits (excluding employer pension contributions) during the year between:

The total employee benefits of the key management personnel were £81,079 (2024: £80,755).

Out of pocket travel expenses incurred by trustees in connection with their duties and reimbursed to 1 trustee by the charity during the year amounted to £222 (2024: £400). The charity trustees were not paid and did not receive any other benefits from employment with the charity in the year (2024: £nil). No charity trustee received payment for professional or other services supplied to the charity (2024: £nil).

Staff numbers

The average number of employees (head count based on number of staff employed) during the year was as follows:

2025
No.		 2024
No.
ACE
Retail
Consultancy
Training
Other grant funding
Support		 3.6
0.0
0.4
0.0
1.4
1.0		 2.4
0.2
1.4
0.0
0.0
1.2
6.4 5.2

7 Taxation

Collections Trust is a registered charity and therefore not liable to income tax or corporation tax on income derived from its charitable activities, as it falls within the various exemptions available to registered charities.

Collections Trust 26

Notes to the financial statements 31 March 2025

8 Tangible fixed assets

Computer
equipment
£		 2025
Total
£
Cost
At 1 April 2024
Additions
At 31 March 2025
Depreciation
At 1 April 2024
Charge for the year
At 31 March 2025
Net book values
At 1 April 2024
At 31 March 2025		 4,784
2,416		 4,784
2,416
7,200
1,847
1,471		 7,200
1,847
1,471
3,318 3,318
2,937 2,937
3,882 3,882

All of the above assets are used for charitable purposes.

----- Start of picture text -----
9 Stock
2025 2024
£ £
Forms and catalogue cards 1,708 1,569
1,708 1,569
10 Debtors
2025 2024
£ £
Amounts falling due in less than one year:
Trade debtors 95,616 660
Prepayments 11,357 4,614
106,973 5,274
11 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
2025 2024
£ £
Trade creditors 51,206 3,852
Pension contributions 1,063
Accruals 26,914 28,417
VAT payable 3,956 5,967
82,076 39,299
----- End of picture text -----

11 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

Collections Trust 27

Notes to the financial statements 31 March 2025

12 Analysis of net assets between funds

Unrestricted
£		 Restricted
£		 2025
Total
funds
£		 Unrestricted
£		 Restricted
£		 2024
Total
funds
£
Tangible fixed assets
Net current assets
Net assets at the end of
the year		 3,882
249,629
253,511		 3,882
249,629
253,511		 2,937
175,606
178,543		 20,147
20,147		 2,937
195,753
198,690

13 Movement in funds

----- Start of picture text -----
At 1 Gains / At 31
April (losses) and March
2024 Income Expenditure transfers 2025
£ £ £ £ £
Restricted funds
Arts Council England 20,147 234,232 (254,379)
IDAH funded Museum Data
Service collaboration 151,970 (176,028) 24,058
Total restricted funds 20,147 386,202 (430,407) 24,058
Unrestricted funds
Designated funds
. Strategic development 17,000 (945) 525 16,580
. Defined benefit pension
scheme management 3,000 (2,475) (525)
20,000 (3,420) 16,580
General funds 158,543 148,890 (46,444) (24,058) 236,931
Total unrestricted funds 178,543 148,890 (49,864) (24,058) 253,511
Total funds 198,690 535,092 (480,271) 253,511
At 1 Gains / At 31
April (losses) and March
2023 Income Expenditure transfers 2024
£ £ £ £ £
Restricted funds
Arts Council England 234,232 (214,085) 20,147
Welsh Government 21,595 (21,595)
Total restricted funds 255,827 (235,680) 20,147
Unrestricted funds
Designated funds
. Strategic development 10,000 7,000 17,000
. Defined benefit pension
scheme management 10,000 (7,000) 3,000
20,000 20,000
General funds 131,005 196,323 (142,785) (26,000) 158,543
Total unrestricted funds 151,005 196,323 (142,785) (26,000) 178,543
Total funds 151,005 452,150 (378,465) (26,000) 198,690
----- End of picture text -----

Collections Trust 28

Notes to the financial statements 31 March 2025

13 Movement in funds (continued)

Restricted funds represent grants for specific purposes, being the ACE grant for delivery of the ACE activity plan 2023-26 and a grant from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Initiative for Digital Arts and Humanities (iDAH) fund via the University of Leicester for the Museum Data Service collaboration work.

Designated funds comprise £16,580 to allow for strategic development opportunities related This work is expected to be completed by the end of December 2025.

Transfers between restricted and unrestricted funds in 2025 relate to a £24,058 deficit on the iDAH funded MDS collaboration project which is transferred from the restricted fund into general reserves. This arose from overhead costs incurred not covered by the funding agreement.

There was also a transfer between the Defined benefit pension scheme management designated fund and the Strategic development designated fund of £525. The surplus on the pension scheme fund after all costs associated with cessation had been incurred was transferred to the Strategic development fund.

14 Reconciliation of net income to net cash flow from operating activities

----- Start of picture text -----
2025 2024
£ £
Net income for the reporting period
(as per the statement of financial activities) 54,821 73,685
Depreciation 1,471 1,172
Interest (6,255) (2,850)
(Increase) in stock (139) (1,392)
(Increase)/decrease in debtors (101,699) 3,243
Increase in creditors 42,777 5,119
Defined benefit pension scheme service and finance cost adjustments (26,000)
Net cash (used in) / provided by operating activities (9,024) 52,977
----- End of picture text -----

15 Analysis of cash and cash equivalents

Analysis of cash and cash equivalents
At 1
April
2024
£		 Cash flows
£		 At 31
March
2025
£
Cash at bank and in hand 228,209
228,209
At 1
April
2023
£		 (5,185)
(5,185)
Cash flows
£		 223,024
223,024
At 31
March
2024
£
Cash at bank and in hand 173,575
173,575		 54,634
54,634		 228,209
228,209

No separate reconciliation of net debt has been prepared as there is no difference between the net cash/(debt) of the charity and the above cash and cash equivalents.

Collections Trust 29

Notes to the financial statements 31 March 2025

16 Legal status of the charity

The charity is a company limited by guarantee and has no share capital. Each member is liable to contribute a sum not exceeding £1 in the event of the charity being wound up.

17 Related party transactions

Other than the disclosure provided within note 6 relating to transactions with trustees and the remuneration payable to key management personnel, there were no other related party transactions during the year ended 31 March 2025 (2024- no other transactions).

Defined benefit pension commitments

The charity had previously participated in the Cambridgeshire County Council Pension Scheme, a career average revalued earnings (CARE), multi employer pension scheme. to the fund.

whilst in this pool it was not possible to obtain sufficient information to enable it to account for the scheme as a defined benefit scheme. Therefore defined contribution accounting was applied during this period. In 2019, the Fund decided to disband the Small Bodies Pool, and as such Collections Trust was able to identify its individual funding position.

The triennial valuation as of 31 March 2019 showed a high-risk deficit of £633,000, but this dropped to a low-risk deficit of only £20,000 in the subsequent triennial valuation. The latter showed a total liability of £1,373,000 against assets of £1,353,000 as of 31 March 2022.

Exit from the Pension Scheme

On 31 May 2024, the last remaining member of the pension scheme retired and the scheme was closed on the same date. A final actuarial valuation report was obtained on this date which confirmed that no cessation debt was payable (or exit credit was repayable).

The total contributions payable by the employer in the year were £nil (2024: £25,000). At 31 March 2025, there no outstanding contributions due to the scheme.

As the movements in the scheme between 1 April 2024 and the cessation date of 31 May 2024 had been minimal, no adjustments have been made to the accounts for the year ended cessation.

The disclosure below are provided in respect of the comparative period, the year ended 31 March 2024.

Key assumptions

share of the assets and liabilities in the scheme as at 31 March 2024:

Financial assumptions:
Rate of increase in salaries
Rate of increase in pension payments
Discount rate
Rate of inflation - CPI		 2024
%
per annum
2.70
2.70
4.85
2.70

Collections Trust 30

Notes to the financial statements 31 March 2025

17 Related party transactions (continued)

Key assumptions (continued)

Key assumptions(continued)
**Mortality assumptions: ** 2024
years
Longevity at age 65 for current pensioners
. Men
. Women
Longevity at age 65 for future pensioners
. Men
. Women		 21.1
23.8
21.5
25.0

The net movement in the liability during the year was:

----- Start of picture text -----
2024
Net surplus/(deficit) in scheme at 1 April 298
Prior year adjustment to cap pension asset (298)
Service cost (13)
Net interest 14
Employer contributions 25
Re-measurement of the defined liability per actuary 101
Net asset / (deficit) in the scheme as per actuarial valuation 127
Adjustment recognised within actuarial losses to cap pension asset (127)
Net deficit in scheme at 31 March as recognised on the balance sheet
----- End of picture text -----*

Amounts charged to income and expenditure, and other recognised gains and losses

Total expenditure recognised in the statement of financial activities (SOFA) was:

2024
£000s
Service cost
Total expenditure recognised in SOFA
Employer contributions
FRS 102 charge (credit)		 13
13
(25)
(12)

The net gain recognised in the re-measurements in other recognised gains and losses was:

2024
£000s
Actuarial gains on scheme liabilities
Actuarial gains on scheme assets
Adjustment to cap pension asset
Remeasurement of the defined benefit liability		 14
87
(127)
(26)

As the estimate net asset position in the scheme as at 31 March 2024 was not deemed recoverable, an adjustment was made to cap the asset value to equal the estimate of scheme liabilities this adjustment was recorded as part of the actuarial gain within the statement of financial activities.

Collections Trust 31

Notes to the financial statements 31 March 2025

17 Related party transactions (continued)

Scheme assets and obligations reconciliation

share of the defined benefit scheme obligations for the year ended 31 March 2024 were as follows:

2024
£000s
Defined benefit obligation at 1 April
Current service cost
Interest cost
Contributions by scheme participants
Benefits paid
Actuarial gains
Defined benefit obligation at 31 March		 (1,033)
(13)
(49)
(3)
17
14
(1,067)

the fair value of scheme assets for the

year ended 31 March 2024 were as follows:

2024
£000s
Fair value of scheme assets at 1 April
Actuarial gains
Interest income on assets
Contributions by employer
Contributions by scheme participants
Benefits paid
Fair value of scheme assets at 31 March		 1,331
87
63
25
3
(17)
1,492
% Value at
31 March
2024
945
134
201
146
66
1,492
Equities
Government bonds
Other bonds
Property
Other managed funds
Total market value of assets		 63.3
9.0
13.5
9.8
4.4
100.0

The valuation of scheme assets and liabilities were calculated at a lower bound level of 85% prudence and an upper bound level of 95% prudence. The figures shown above are the upper bound levels.

Collections Trust 32