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2021-07-31-accounts

The International Glaucoma Association operating as Glaucoma UK

Report and Financial Statements for the year ending 31 July 2021

Contents

Contents
Page
Our objectives and activities 2
Strategic Report 2020/21 – achievements and performance 3
The impact of COVID-19 4
Campaigning and awareness 5
Advice and support 9
Glaucoma research 16
Future plans – 2022 and beyond 19
Financial review 20
Fundraising in lockdown 22
Investment Policy 23
Reserves Policy 24
Remuneration Policy 25
Glaucoma UK trustees, advisors and staff 26
Structure, governance and management 28
Related parties and connected charities 29
Risk management 29
Statement of trustee responsibilities 30
Independent auditors report 32
Financial statements 35

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Our objectives and activities for the year ending 31 July 2021

Glaucoma is a blinding eye disease affecting over 700,000 people in the UK. If detected early and treated appropriately, most people with glaucoma will retain useful sight for life. But it is estimated that half those living with glaucoma don’t know they have it, and these people risk serious sight loss or blindness as a result. At Glaucoma UK, our vision is an end to needless glaucoma sight loss. To make this a reality we focus on three key areas of work.

The most common types of glaucoma are asymptomatic: vision is lost so gradually that people often don’t realise that they have the condition. A simple eye health check is usually all it takes to spot the signs of glaucoma, so one of the three key pillars of our work is campaigning to raise awareness, so that fewer people lose sight.

The chance of having glaucoma increases with age, and as our population ages, the number of people affected is growing. Hospital eye services are stretched beyond capacity, and many glaucoma patients have faced major delays in diagnosis, care and treatment. Add to this the fact that lifelong glaucoma treatment can be complex and challenging, and it’s not surprising

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that many people need extra support to understand the condition and to live well with glaucoma. Helping them to do this is the second pillar of our work.

The third pillar of our work is research. The tools available for glaucoma care and treatment are developing fast, but glaucoma is complex, and we still don’t properly understand even what causes the disease. High quality research will be needed to end glaucoma blindness, so we are committed to funding an annual research programme that will have a real impact on the lives of people living with glaucoma, now and in the future.

Strategic Report 2020/21 – performance and achievements

In their 2017 ‘Way Forward’ report the Royal College of Ophthalmologists predicted that between 2020 and 2035 there would be a 31% increase in the number of people living with glaucoma[1] . Our main strategic aim for the past year has been to expand our reach and scale up the provision of our support services so that we can help the fast-growing number of people with glaucoma in the UK.

Key elements of this strategy are to:

This section reviews our achievements and performance across the three pillars of our work in light of the challenges of the pandemic.

1 https://www.rcophth.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/RCOphth-The-Way-Forward-Glaucoma-300117.pdf

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The impact of COVID-19

Throughout the pandemic, so many of us in eye health services have worked hard to provide urgent care to those who have needed it. Initially, community optometry was required to severely restrict services, causing a reduction in referrals to hospital. Almost all routine testing in hospital eye services stopped and we dealt with emergency and urgent cases only. We developed risk assessments so that we could give care to those who needed it most. As restrictions began to ease, requirements for social distancing and other means of infection control meant that we all saw far fewer patients.

This has caused long delays and some patients have been waiting for more than a year for assessment or treatment. I am concerned about the huge backlog and that when people do start coming to see us – and they are still fearful of doing so – we will uncover a large amount of disease. While many will not have experienced any disadvantage from such a delay, sadly for some their condition will have progressed in a way it would not have done with earlier intervention and treatment.”

Professor Philip Bloom, Chair of Glaucoma UK, first published in the foreword of The State of the UK’s Eye Health 2021

According to Specsavers’ The State of the UK’s Eye Health 2021 report[2] , there was an estimated 4.3 million drop in the number of eye examinations delivered in 2020, 23% lower than the previous year. And between March and December 2020, referrals to ophthalmology fell by 316,000 compared to the same period in 2019, a 28% decrease.

2 State of the UKs Eye Health 2021 | Specsavers UK

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Eye health checks are particularly important in glaucoma detection, and unfortunately, the number of people referred for suspected glaucoma fell by an estimated 43,000 in the same period. Of these, around 2,600 would have been referred on for treatment. In essence, the number of people living with undiagnosed glaucoma is rising, and this makes our awareness raising work and our eye health messaging more urgent than ever.

Unfortunately, the news isn’t much better for many of the people already diagnosed with glaucoma. Since the start of the pandemic, glaucoma services have been radically reconfigured in an attempt to manage both increasing prevalence and the tidal wave of the COVID-19 backlog. This is bringing real improvements for the future of some aspects of glaucoma care but inevitably, large numbers of patients have experienced worrying delays and cancellations of appointments and sometimes in treatment. Many patients report living with high levels of stress and anxiety that impact on many aspects of their daily lives. Their experiences reinforce the urgency of our strategy of broadening our reach and scaling up service provision, so that we can reach more of the people who need advice, support, and sometimes just a listening ear.

COVID-19 restrictions brought our face-to-face patient support groups, events and conferences to a halt, and also impacted much of the professional engagement work that could be carried out. But in its place, we developed new digital support services, and new ways of reaching out to people. Our staff team have been working remotely since the start of the pandemic, and although we were affected by COVID-19 illness, long COVID-19 and carer absences, we are delighted to report that the main aspects of our work have continued uninterrupted throughout the pandemic, and we continue to put the needs of people living with glaucoma at the heart of everything we do. Our staff team and trustees have continued to grow and develop the charity, and as this report shows, as the financial year ended we were excited to be recruiting new staff to help in our mission of ending preventable glaucoma sight loss.

1. Campaigning & awareness to end preventable sight loss

In summer 2020 we completed a major rebrand: adopting the operating name of Glaucoma UK and launching a new website and a new brand identity. We are delighted to say that not only are the new name and new look loved by

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our members and supporters, but crucially they are helping us to extend our reach and influence whole new audiences. For example, after a challenging start, we are pleased to have achieved all the targets we set for phase one of our new website:

We also exceeded targets for increasing our social media reach, as shown in this snapshot of one quarter’s mid-year activity:

A key part of our communications strategy is to extend our reach with bespoke materials aimed at the particular needs of different audiences, so we

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were pleased to launch a new digital supporter newsletter, Focus, in July 2020. By the end of the 20/21 financial year, 697 supporters had signed up to hear about our activities and how they can get involved. Of these, 118 were already members of the charity, but the remaining 579 are an entirely new audience, and we are delighted to report a retention rate of almost 98% which is a testament to the quality of the content produced by our communications team.

Our national Glaucoma Awareness Week in June 2021 fell at a time when many families were separated by the pandemic, so we felt that the theme of family had real significance. People are up to ten times more likely to develop glaucoma if they have a close blood relative who has the disease – with the risk level depending on the closeness of the relationship - so we focused our awareness campaign on this, and the importance of family support for patients. A vibrant new range of materials supported the week, much of it targeted at those at greatest risk of glaucoma sight loss such as people of African Caribbean and South Asian heritage and those from older age groups.

Awareness week activity also included a nationwide radio day that gained over 21 hours of air time and a reach of around 21 million listeners, plus a successful press PR campaign which secured significant coverage in national and regional publications.

During the year we continued to trial paid-for advertising, including on social media. For example, a modest £460 Facebook spend during Glaucoma Awareness Week produced some heartening results:

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We also commissioned a short radio advert for the first time last year. This targeted a demographic aged 55+ with an eye health check message and signposting listeners to our website. It ran in four areas of the UK for two weeks around Glaucoma Awareness Week, and again the results were very positive, with increases in website sessions from IP addresses in all of the areas we targeted:

Glasgow – up 61%

Leeds – up 154%

Liverpool – up 48%

Continuing to build our data-driven communication strategy is a key aim for the charity in the next year, and we plan to increase our testing and use of these methods into 2022 and beyond.

Another exciting achievement for 2020/21 was the successful launch of a Glaucoma UK podcast, initially showcasing our work and raising awareness of glaucoma and good eye health care. Content was distributed on all major podcast platforms including Spotify and iTunes. These were well received, so new case study episodes were recorded for Glaucoma Awareness Week, and we used excerpts to produce new videos for use on social media. Repurposing our campaign materials for different media has proved both effective and cost-efficient, and we will continue to build this bank of high quality accessible campaign materials in the coming year.

A final element of our awareness raising work was to plan a benchmark UKwide survey of understanding and awareness of glaucoma, eye health and Glaucoma UK itself. The survey – of 1,000 people representative of the UK adult population in terms of gender, age, region, socio-economic background etc - was carried out in the first week of August 2021, the very start of the new financial year, and revealed some very useful data that will form the basis

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of campaigning key performance indictors in the year ahead. Improving one key statistic – that only 9% of the sample were aware of Glaucoma UK – will be a priority for us!

Finally, given the challenges of communicating remotely during lockdown, we also worked to improve our internal communications, launching a new monthly trustee briefing and surveying the staff team as part of a review of internal communications. The next stage of this work will be to develop a formal internal communications strategy in 2022.

2. Advice & support to help people live well with glaucoma

We run a range of support services for people living with glaucoma, with the aim of helping them understand their condition, engage with their eye care and their treatment, live well with the disease and retain useful sight for life:

Patient information

We produce a family of 16 free booklets on all aspects of glaucoma. The publications are authored by leaders in the fields of ophthalmology and optometry and are reviewed by a patient panel before publication.

We usually distribute upwards of 80,000 publications each year, and the highest demand comes from hospital eye clinics and other healthcare providers. Demand slowed when the pandemic hit, but orders are slowly returning to pre-pandemic levels.

A major accessibility review of all our publications began in 2020 with the aim of aligning the content with the average UK reading age. The project was hampered by staff absences during the pandemic, but this major task is now

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almost complete, and we will relaunch our full set of publications in spring 2022. Other aims for information services are to launch and disseminate a new accessible eye drop infographic card for UK-wide distribution, and to complete work on a short eye drop video for dissemination among partner organisations, eye clinic waiting rooms and online.

As mentioned earlier, our new website is also a key source of help and advice for patients, and since its launch, the range of content has been expanded. We have seen an encouraging increase in site visits and the number of materials downloaded each week.

Online glaucoma community

In 2020 we launched a new online forum on Health Unlocked: - https://healthunlocked.com/glaucoma uk

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The forum has proved incredibly successful and has been a vitally important source of support for hundreds of people during lockdown. It’s not appropriate to share posts from this online community in this report, but we can

share the statistics: membership has grown from 289 to 676 during the year, and new content has grown by more than 1,000% in that time.

Membership services

Glaucoma UK is a membership charity with around 4,300 members, comprising both people living with glaucoma and the professionals who support them. Professionals comprise 24% of our membership, and our other members are people living with glaucoma, their family and supporters. Of these, 16% opted for voting membership and 60% opted for non-voting membership. Our membership retention rate for 2020/21 was 93.5%, up very slightly from the previous year, but membership isn’t required to access our support services: these are freely available to everyone who needs our help.

Our members receive a quarterly magazine, and we are particularly pleased with the reception of the revamped and rebranded ‘Insight’ magazine since it launched in summer 2020. Members’ comments clearly demonstrate that it is having a positive impact on their eye health:

May I say how much I am enjoying the editions of Insight these days. I have been receiving the magazine for many years and I do feel it has improved tremendously in terms of relevance to current events, detailed research topics, useful information e.g. demystifying the jargon etc. Please pass on my grateful thanks to the team.”

Love the new designs and magazine!”

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Not being a scientist, I find these articles you are now publishing from ordinary members ... especially interesting and helpful.”

Thank you for another excellent edition of Insight - it has really become a very interesting publication … I particularly liked Joanna’s piece on the terminology glaucoma patients are sometimes presented with - it answered some of those questions one is too afraid to ask!”

Helpline

Our telephone helpline provides advice, information and support to anyone living with glaucoma. It operates every weekday and is staffed by two full-time advisors, supported by locum optometrists.

The COVID-19 lockdown caused an immediate drop in helpline calls because surgery and laser treatment – the most common call topics reasons for calling – were halted overnight. Call volume has returned to pre-COVID-19 levels, but with this has come a steep growth in the number of callers experiencing high levels of emotional distress and anxiety, and from people terribly worried about delays in their care and treatment.

Support for professionals

Glaucoma UK supports professionals by providing them with free patient information resources and, as mentioned above, free membership of the charity. We also help by recruiting glaucoma patients for their clinical trials, and our staff and members act as patient representatives for focus groups and research steering committees.

Working in partnership with professionals is a key way for us to amplify our messages and increase service uptake, and to this end, we have been developing free training courses for professionals. A new accredited training programme for optometrists that was due to be piloted in early 2020 was again delayed by COVID-19, but we plan to go ahead with the pilot in 2022. We also took the opportunity during lockdown to develop plans for a new online eye drop training programme for pharmacists which we hope to pilot in the year ahead.

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Glaucoma UK also supports the two UK specialist ophthalmological glaucoma societies: the UK and Eire Glaucoma Society (UKEGS) and the UK Paediatric Glaucoma Society (UKPGS). Both groups exist to promote the exchange of knowledge between glaucoma specialists, stimulate research, establish a scientific community, and promote interest in glaucoma as an ophthalmological sub-specialty. Glaucoma UK provides infrastructure and administrative support to both societies, and historically we have acted as an agent for both. As agent for the UKPGS, our role remains one of financial administration, but the unincorporated association UKEGS merged into Glaucoma UK in 2019/20 and the funds previously held as an agent are now incorporated into our main accounts but are restricted to UKEGS work (see notes 4 and 18). The Glaucoma UK team organise the annual UKEGS conference, and we are pleased to report that the first ever virtual UKEGS conference was held successfully in November 2020.

The charity has not had any staff dedicated solely to our work with professionals, but given the importance of expanding our professional partnerships, at the end of 2020/21 it was agreed to invest in a new post of Professional Engagement Lead. We are pleased to report that two part-time colleagues have been recruited to job share this exciting new role, and they joined the charity in October 2021. Plans for the year ahead include developing a more formal professional membership strategy and developing new insights and links with pharmacy and ophthalmic nursing.

Regional work

Healthcare and health policy differs widely across the UK, so we employ a small team of regional Development Managers (DMs) whose role is to bring an understanding of regional needs and services into the charity and roll out services that meet local needs.

A particular aim in recent years has been to increase our level of contact with our beneficiaries, so it was frustrating that the face-to-face element of their role - networking, organising support groups and patient events, influencing local providers and supporting local professionals – could not be carried out during the last year. However, our DMs have been instrumental in developing a new programme of digital support groups that launched in September 2020 and has gone from strength to strength. We ran 22 online groups between September 2020 and June 2021, attended by over 450

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individuals living with glaucoma and some carers. The topics ranged from information for newly diagnosed people and the various types of glaucoma and treatments, through driving, diet and lifestyle to ‘How does glaucoma ‘look’ and what’s Kate Moss got to do with it?’. Many people attended several groups and 97% said they would recommend the groups to others.

Comments included:

What an excellent session this evening, packed with information and very positive. Glaucoma UK has really helped me in many ways to cope with my diagnosis, I really value being a member.”

This webinar really was fantastic, (as was the last one I attended) and are helping me on my slow and difficult journey towards coming to terms with my diagnosis and accepting my sight loss. Thank you”

Excellent presentation. I feel less anxious and very reassured that with continuous care, I will not lose my eyesight”

I find the digital support very comforting & inclusive. Thank you”

I really enjoyed the session, especially the first slide about your hospital experience, this was exactly what happened to me! Still have questions but know who I can ask now!!”

During lockdown, our DMs undertook some project work for the charity which was outside their usual regional work. This worked so well that in summer 2021 when some of the team retired or moved on, we took the opportunity to revise the DM role to permanently include project development work. We also expanded the team, replacing some part-time DM roles with full-time roles. Our new DM colleagues joined the team in October 2021, and we are really looking forward to seeing our service provision expand in scale and scope as a result, including working in Northern Ireland for the first time.

Knowing exactly where to deploy regional resources for the greatest impact has long

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been a challenge, so a key aim for 20/21 was to commission a data tool that would help us to do just that. We received the data tool from Wilmington Healthcare in summer 2021, and we are grateful to The Hospital Saturday Fund for supporting this work. In the year ahead, we will work to identify those populations most at risk of glaucoma sight loss, using demographic and socioeconomic data combined with eye health data, availability of diagnostic services, workforce data and more. We’ll then be able to test to what extent deploying resources in key areas is effective in reaching new audiences and engaging with those at highest risk.

As outlined elsewhere in this report, during the year we have become increasingly concerned about the emotional wellbeing of people whose care and treatment was interrupted by COVID-19. People using our services have reported high levels of distress and anxiety, and we were keen to see whether our digital support services could be expanded during lockdown to meet these emotional and mental health needs. We are very grateful to the Coronavirus Community Support Fund for a grant that allowed us to test three new support group models: a group via Zoom for people who are newly diagnosed, a group via Zoom for people with sight loss, and a group via telephone for people with advanced sight loss.

We discovered that it was incredibly resource intensive to run these sessions, as participants needed to be matched closely to ensure they were at roughly the same stage in their glaucoma journey, and many needed support to use technology that was new to them. So, while there were definite benefits for participants, the groups sadly weren’t viable as a way of meeting large-scale needs. However, we did gain numerous insights into the services we offer as a result of the pilot and our future plans now include:

Run more digital support groups involving patient speakers describing their experiences of living with glaucoma and taking questions from the audience.

Volunteering and the buddy service

In recent years we have been lucky to have had the support of regional

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volunteers who helped with activities like awareness raising in local hospital eye clinics and giving talks about glaucoma to local groups. For obvious reasons this face-to-face activity has been on hold throughout the year, but in other areas volunteering has continued. One example is our buddy scheme, which matches people facing laser or surgical treatments with volunteer buddies who have experienced the procedures themselves. Buddies provide reassurance and emotional support and improve patients’ ability to play an active and informed role in their treatment choices. Buddies often play a key role in giving someone the confidence to agree to sight saving surgery or laser treatment, and given this impact, we are keen to expand the service in the year ahead.

Volunteers have also been active on our Readers Panel and Consultation Panel throughout the pandemic. Panel members act as a sounding board for us and the professionals we work with, feeding back on research proposals, NICE guidance, the content of our patient information leaflets and much more.

We would like to thank all those who have given their time, skills, kindness and compassion so generously during a testing 12 months: our services are so much stronger for your input, and we are very grateful for your help.

3. Glaucoma research

Glaucoma UK funds an annual research programme that supports studies into the causes, detection, care and treatment of glaucoma.

COVID-19 continues to have a profound impact on medical research. At the start of the pandemic, academic institutions were closed, laboratories were repurposed and researchers were redeployed to front line healthcare. Glaucoma clinicians have been working long hours to tackle huge backlogs, and this reduces their availability not just to complete their own research, but also to act as peer reviewers and award panel members, and to mentor the next generation of glaucoma researchers. Studies involving patients also ground to a halt when appointments were cancelled, and patients were no longer able to attend eye clinics.

Many of the research studies that we were funding at the start of COVID-19 were temporarily paused, and the start of others was postponed, but we are

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pleased to report that none of our funded projects have yet been permanently deferred. Although our total research expenditure increased by £14,909 in 2020/21, it is still much lower than planned at £136,094. One grant awarded to the University Hospital of Wales in 2019/20 had to be reversed in 2021 (see note 9) as a result of administrative delays, but we are hopeful that the research team will be able to take up the award again in the coming year.

On a more positive note, five new grants were awarded during the year:

We had hoped to add a new £100,000 PhD grant to our awards during 2020/21, but unfortunately the panel was delayed by illness. However, the grant was finally agreed in August 2021 and has been awarded to Dr Ben Mead of Cardiff University who will shortly recruit a PhD student to research the role of exosomes in preventing retinal ganglion cell death.

Our commitment to glaucoma research is also delivered through

our support for the Glaucoma UK Chair of Ophthalmology for Glaucoma and Allied Studies at UCL Professor David (Ted) Garway-Heath. By supporting this post, the charity both increases its profile and advances the wider cause of research and learning in the field of glaucoma. As

ever, the trustees are delighted with another extremely successful year, during

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which Professor Garway-Heath was again among the global leaders in ophthalmology, being ranked in the top ten in the Ophthalmologist Power List 2020. He was also bestowed honorary

membership of the Belgian Glaucoma Society for his contribution to education and research in glaucoma, and the trustees send their sincere congratulations to him on these fantastic achievements.

Professor Garway-Heath secured significant new research funding during the year, most notably as chief investigator and co-applicant on a £1.8 million study funded by the MRC Biomedical Catalyst: Developmental Pathway Funding Scheme, into ‘Novel area-modulation perimetry for identifying changes in visual field sensitivity in glaucoma’.

Despite the pandemic, Professor Garway-Heath continued to lecture globally, giving 15 virtual national and international lectures between May 2020 and May 2021, among which were three keynote lectures to:

Professor Garway-Heath authored a large number of peer-reviewed scientific publications during the year, and notably was co-editor/author of the fifth edition of the European Glaucoma Society Terminology and Guidelines for Glaucoma. British Journal of Ophthalmology 2021 Jun;105 (Suppl 1):1-169.

Professor Garway-Heath is committed to supporting the next generation of glaucoma specialists, and during the year he has been mentor to an NIHR lecturer at Moorfields Eye Hospital/UCL Institute of Ophthalmology. He was also primary supervisor to four PhD students from the UK, Greece and Mexico, and to four research fellows from Italy, Spain and South Korea.

As President of the European Glaucoma Society (EGS), Professor GarwayHeath provided strategic input to the planning, structure and programme of the 14[th] biennial Congress of the EGS which marked the 40[th] anniversary of the EGS. A great deal of time and effort was required to put the Congress online owing to the pandemic, but it was a highly successful event with around 2,000 delegates worldwide. He also provided strategic and

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educational input to the annual EGS Residents’ Course.

Finally, Professor Garway-Heath continued to support the major project to move Moorfields Eye Hospital and the Institute of Ophthalmology. As Lead for the Whole Building Design Workstream by Moorfields and the Institute, Professor Garway-Heath has worked extensively with professionals across departments from both institutions to produce the Creative Strategy Brief. The project has now progressed to an advanced stage: planning permission has been granted by Camden Council’s planning committee and the City Road site has been put on the market. Exciting times ahead!

Future plans: 2022 and a bright future ahead

In recent years, Glaucoma UK has focused on consolidation: on improving our ‘back room’ administrative and financial systems and processes, our data management and information gathering, and our policies. At the same time, we’ve improved our recruitment systems, and we’ve invested in the skills, capacity and resilience of our staff team. This has paid off, and we’re now in an excellent position to really scale up our services and reach more of the people who need our help.

The key theme throughout this report is expansion. There are more people living with glaucoma in the UK than ever before, and their number is rising. There is a growing wave of people experiencing delayed treatment and cancelled appointments, and they will need help and support while services catch up. And there are increasing numbers of people who – because of the pandemic – haven’t been diagnosed when they normally would have been. This is why we are investing in new staff posts this year. We’ve reviewed and expanded our regional capacity, added new professional engagement colleagues to our team, and we are also investing in a new full-time Data and Insight Lead. This role will help us become a data driven organisation and make the most effective use of our resources by targeting them where they are needed most.

We will also spend time in the coming year planning for our future workspace

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needs. Our team have enjoyed working remotely and the majority favour a permanent move to a hybrid model that blends office-based and home working. We will look at reconfiguring our office space as part of the trial, and if successful we may plan to downsize in the coming years.

Financial review

Despite the widespread impact of COVID-19, we are pleased to report that the charity ended the year in very sound financial shape. Overall income increased by £77,936 to £1,795,826. This was mainly driven by an increase in legacy income which rose by £185,867 to £1.41 million – almost 79% of total income. Given the impact of the pandemic on many areas of fundraising, this income stream is more vital than ever to the charity, and we would like to express our sincere thanks to all those who remembered us in their wills: without their kindness and generosity, much of our work would simply not be possible.

Income from donations and subscriptions increased by just over £17,000 to £191,548, and again we would like to thank our supporters for their loyalty and generosity. Corporate support fell by £36,578 to £27,000 last year. This reflects both the high level of support from our corporate partners when the pandemic first hit in 2019/20, but also – we suspect – the financial impact of the pandemic on commercial companies. Given this challenging environment, we are especially grateful to all our corporate partners for their help.

Investment income fell by just over £25,000 during the year; further details are given in the Investments section, below.

Income from charitable activities also fell last year, from £72,654 in 2019/20 to £18,510. The main reason for this drop was an unusually high level of income transferred from UKEGS to Glaucoma UK when it merged into the main charity in 2019/20 (see page 9/10). Last year income fell back to normal levels, with £9,703 received in sponsorship fees for a virtual conference run in November 2020. Income related to the sale of eye drop aids and equipment was the lowest for many years at £4,213, reflecting the fact that staff were

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unable to dispatch the aids while working from home; for this reason, spending on aids also fell. Income from other charitable activities remained.

During the year, we were grateful to receive a grant of £16,546 from the Coronavirus Community Support Fund, distributed by The National Lottery Community Fund, which helped us research new models of digital support during lockdown (see page 14). Other grant income included £11,480 from the NIHR Moorfields Biomedical Research Centre as part of their ongoing support for the Chair of Ophthalmology for Glaucoma and Allied Studies, and £19,368 from the Government Coronavirus Job Retention (furlough) Scheme, which helped us to offset staff costs when some of our team were unable to work.

Overall expenditure was £1,042,652 – a fall of £48,340 on the previous year. Within this are three areas to note. Firstly, a research grant of £60,684 awarded to University Hospital of Wales was reversed in 2020/21 (see page 16) due to delays caused by COVID-19. Spending was also down in fundraising, where a drop of £17,319 on the previous year was due to a staffing gap while we recruited a new fundraising manager, and to a change in cost allocation. Finally, patient information and support – always our highest area of expenditure - fell by £47,111, due partly to our inability to deliver any face-to-face support work during the year. It was also partly caused by reduced printing and postage costs for patient information booklets. The reasons for this are complex, including reduced demand from eye clinics, reduced supply as we run down stocks prior to relaunching more accessible materials, and - happily - higher levels of digital downloading of patient materials from our new website.

There was one main area where spending increased, and while we are pleased to report that research spending increased by £14,909 to £136,094, this is still much lower than we would have liked, for the reasons outlined under ‘research’ on page 16.

At year end, restricted funds totaled £2,081,540. As ever, the largest of these is the Chair Fund which holds funds to meet the cost of the Chair of Ophthalmology for Glaucoma and Allied Studies for the remaining five years of Professor Garway-Heath’s eight-year term, and the Research Fund, which comprises donations and legacy income where the donor has asked that their gift is used for research. Our plans to use other restricted funds for service delivery and development were frustrated by the pandemic, but we hope to be

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able to launch these projects in the coming year.

Fundraising in lockdown

Prior to the pandemic, our fundraising strategy centred on diversifying funding streams to reduce reliance on legacy income. The strategy was broad-based: it aimed to build engagement across a host of fundraising activities, develop new resources to support this activity, and pro-actively engage new supporters. While this remains our longer-term strategy, the pandemic made much of this work impractical, so in the interim, we have focused on trialling legacy giving options such as free will writing schemes and membership of national legacy awareness programmes. We have also improved our data and analytics and our ability to engage with new supporters, and have added new improved ways of giving on our website. These strategies have proved effective, and we are delighted that donations and subscriptions rose by £17,011 last year to £191,548. Within this total, individual donations rose by a staggering £25,001 to £60,739, and gifts given in memory rose by £5,359 to £12,756. One new activity – a weekly lottery - raised new income of c. £6,700 with associated costs of c. £3,000 charged by the commercial entity running the scheme.

Individual and community fundraising was again hit hard by lockdown. In the year ahead we hope that some new community and challenge activity may be possible, and we very much look forward to working with existing and new supporters to launch some exciting new activities. But for now, we would simply like to thank all those magnificent individuals who cycled, ran, shaved, walked and climbed for us during lockdown, raising a wonderful total of £13,769. Thank you so much – we know how hard you worked for us!

Income from charitable trusts and foundations totalled £6,931 which funded the Glaucoma UK Chair of Ophthalmology for Glaucoma and Allied Studies at UCL Professor Garway-Heath, core services and much of our exciting new development work during the last year. We are most grateful to The Emily Weircroft Charitable Trust, The Dandy Charitable

Trust, The Ellis Foundation, The Hospital Saturday Fund Charitable Trust, The Wyndham Charitable Trust, The Grand Charity of Freemasons and Blindcare for their kind support.

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We are registered with the Fundraising Regulator and comply with all the relevant standards set out in the Code of Fundraising Practice. We are pleased to report that once again no complaints were received about our fundraising activities during the year. Our Fundraising Manager is a member of the Institute of Fundraising and ensures high standards in all our income generating activities. The charity also has an Ethical Fundraising and Partnerships Policy which is reviewed at least every two years, and a Supporter Promise which is clearly displayed on our website’s fundraising and supporter pages. Both these documents set out how staff and volunteers will act to safeguard the interests of the general public and supporters who may be vulnerable. Fundraising activity is closely monitored using a range of financial and ROI data where available, comparison with sector benchmarks, and against the standards set out in the Ethical Fundraising Policy and Supporter Promise. A Fundraising Trustee Advocate is also in place to ensure good trustee oversight of fundraising.

All fundraising was carried out by Glaucoma UK staff and no external fundraisers were used during the year. Our Fundraising Manager moved on in February after 6 years with us, and the role was vacant for 3 months while we recruited her replacement. During this period little new activity was possible, and overall we are pleased with our fundraising performance during what has been a challenging year.

Investment policy

Management of the charity’s assets is delegated to Rathbone Investment Management Ltd, and their performance is reviewed regularly against annually agreed benchmarks. In the financial year 2021/22, the trustees’ investment goal is to maximise total return subject to a medium risk profile.

In previous years this has been achieved using a mixed managed portfolio, but following lengthy consideration, in February 2021 trustees moved the charity’s assets into a single fund: the Rathbone Core

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Investment Fund for Charities. The fund's stated objective is “to achieve long term capital growth and a level of income while employing a total return approach ... Client suitability: investors should be medium risk charities, seeking to achieve long-term returns generated from a mixture of capital growth and income, with lower levels of volatility than equity markets.”

The change was made to take advantage of sound performance in recent years, lower management fees and ease of administration. The ethical framework of the Core Investment Fund meets - and indeed exceeds - the charity’s minimum ethical investment criteria, which is avoiding direct investment in companies predominantly involved in the production of tobacco, because of its adverse effects on eye health. The trustees also considered environmental factors when making the change.

Reserves policy

In line with Charity Commission guidance, the trustees consider it prudent to hold reserves to enable the charity to deliver planned services and meet growing needs, fund research commitments, manage unforeseen risks or issues, and take advantage of unexpected opportunities.

A key challenge in the coming years will be to scale up services to meet the needs of the growing number of people living with glaucoma. Additional effort will also be needed to support those whose diagnosis and treatment have been delayed by COVID-19. Added to this, the trustees recognise that the economic impact of the pandemic and other geopolitical factors may adversely affect all aspects of charitable giving and investment values and yield for some time to come. The charity also remains heavily dependent on legacy giving, the income from which is inherently uncertain. To mitigate the risk associated with all these factors, the reserve requirements have been increased, and the Board now feels it prudent to hold operating costs of 18 months (£1.65 million), funds designated for additional service development from 2022/23, and a research investment fund of £4 million that will generate vital income to support future glaucoma research trials.

At the end of 2020/21 the total reserve requirements were £6,212,000, and actual reserves held totalled £6,210,522 of which £4.482,906 was designated and £1,727,616 held in general funds.

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As mentioned above, the charity also held £2,081,540 in restricted funds.

Remuneration policy

The trustees consider the Board of Trustees and the Chief Executive as comprising the key management personnel of the charity in charge of directing and controlling the charity and running and operating the charity on a day to day basis. All trustees give of their time freely and no trustee remuneration was paid in the year. Trustees are required to disclose all relevant interests and withdraw from decisions where a conflict of interest arises.

The pay of the charity’s Chief Executive is reviewed annually by the Chair of the Board of Trustees and Treasurer. The Chief Executive reviews all other staff salaries annually and makes recommendations to the Board as part of the annual budget setting process. When setting salaries, trustees are guided by a remuneration policy that considers factors such as pay comparability (benchmarked within our own sector but also referencing public and private sector pay increase estimates), affordability, sustainability, and appropriateness. Glaucoma UK aims to set salaries at a level where the ratio between the highest and lowest full-time equivalent is below 4.5:1 and the ratio between the highest and median (midpoint) salary is less than 3.5:1. As at 1 August 2021 these ratios were 3.4:1 and 2.2:1 respectively.

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Glaucoma UK Trustees, advisors and senior staff

Trustees

The trustees (who are also directors under company law) are:

Prof. Philip Bloom Chair David Sanders Hon Treasurer Stephen Epstein Vice Chair

Dr Susan Blakeney Julian Exeter Prof. Anthony King Yolanda Laybourne Ray Spendiff Dr Roxanne Crosby-Nwaobi Dr Winifred Nolan (from 24.2.21) Teresa Borsuk (from 16.9.20) Nicholas Strouthidis (to 25.11.20) Christine Wall (to 11.5.21) Prof. Pete Shah (from 25.11.20 to 24.2.21)

Chief Executive and Company Secretary Karen Osborn Company Number 1293286 Charity Number 274681 OSCR Number C041550 Registered office and Woodcote House operational address 15 Highpoint Business Village Henwood, Ashford Kent TN24 8DH www.glaucoma.uk Bankers Barclays Bank plc 1 Churchill Place London E14 5HP CAF Bank Ltd 25 Kings Hill Avenue Kings Hill Kent ME19 4JQ

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HSBC Bank plc Camberwell Green 23 Denmark Hill London SE5 8RP Auditors Calcutt Matthews Chartered Accountants 19 North Street Ashford Kent TN24 8LF Investment Managers Rathbone Investment Management Ltd 8 Finsbury Circus London EC2M 7AZ

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Structure, governance and management

Glaucoma UK is the operating name of the International Glaucoma Association Ltd, a charitable company limited by guarantee incorporated on 15 July 1976 and registered as a charity on 20 December 1977. As Glaucoma UK is both a charity and a company limited by guarantee, all board members are directors for the purposes of company law and trustees for the purposes of charity law. The objects of the charity are defined by its Articles of Association (last updated in 2015), which also set out trustees’ powers and the permitted activities of the charity.

When reviewing the charity’s objectives and planning future activities, the trustees refer to Charity Commission guidance on public benefit and can confirm that all Glaucoma UK’s activities are undertaken to further our charitable purposes for public benefit.

The Board comprises a maximum of 15 trustees, of whom up to 12 are elected by the members and a further three may be co-opted by the Board. There is one sub-committee: a Finance and Governance Committee that oversees finance, investments, risk management and policy. The charity also has a Clinical Advisory Panel to advise on clinical matters, whose chair oversees research grantmaking.

A Trustee Handbook sets out trustee roles and responsibilities. An induction process is in place, and ongoing training is provided. In 2020/21 this included mandatory training in equality and diversity, and unconscious bias.

The trustees are committed to reflecting on their own performance and skill set, and during 2021 they completed a governance review with input from NCVO. The review included trustee self-assessments, a review of trustee and officer role descriptions, revision of the trustee recruitment policy, and updating committee terms of reference. One to one peer appraisals are planned for winter 2021.

The Board also reviewed the Articles of Association during the year, with help from Russell Cooke solicitors. A recent review revealed a mismatch between the level of legal accountability and responsibility of current trustees, and the authority held by a broadly unaccountable membership. It was felt that moving the charity from a membership model to an association model would help to resolve the mismatch, and the Board put this suggestion to the membership in summer 2021 and began a consultation period. The majority of members supported the proposal, but given the

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complexity of the issues and the range of views aired, the Board decided to extend the period of consultation to autumn 2022 to allow for detailed discussions.

The current Board comprises people living with glaucoma, and others with backgrounds in ophthalmology, nursing, optometry, finance and business. Existing trustees retire after serving a three-year term but are eligible for reelection to a maximum of 12 years’ service.

Trustee meetings have been held virtually throughout the pandemic, and a virtual AGM was held on 12 March 2021. These virtual meetings have been extremely successful: attendance has been excellent, travel costs have been eliminated, and the change has helped us to reduce our carbon footprint in line with the aspirations of our environmental policy.

Day to day responsibility for service delivery and for ensuring that charitable, strategic and financial aims are met is delegated to the Chief Executive, supported by the Senior Management Team. During the year there were on average 18 colleagues on the wider staff team.

Related parties and connected charities

There was one related party during 2020/21: Glaucoma UK acted as an agent for the unincorporated organisation the United Kingdom Paediatric Glaucoma Society (UKPGS). Details of our work with them is described on page 13.

Risk management

Risks are formally assessed and reviewed every six months by the Finance & Governance Committee and reported to the Board. A risk register captures the likelihood of an occurrence and the potential severity of its impact, and details the controls that are in place to manage this.

In 2020/21 the two main risk areas remained unchanged from the two previous years:

• Data security risk

In response to increasing levels of cybercrime in the UK, and to an increasingly regulated data protection environment, the charity continued to invest in its systems and ICT infrastructure during the year and achieved Cyber Essentials accreditation in early 2021. Regular mandatory cyber security training is also in place for staff.

• Dependence on unpredictable legacy income

Our fundraising strategy has been heavily impacted by COVID-19, and plans to expand our portfolio of fundraising activity to reduce reliance on legacy income have in large part been postponed. Income diversification

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remains a long-term goal but, in the meantime, risk is managed by cash flow monitoring and holding adequate reserves to cover any medium and longer-term shortfall.

Statement of trustee responsibilities

The trustees are responsible for preparing the trustees' report including the strategic report and financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom accounting standards (UK generally accepted accounting practice).

Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements 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.

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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In so far as the trustees are aware:

This Trustees’ Report is approved by order of the Board of Trustees, and the Strategic Report (included therein) is approved by the Board of Trustees in their capacity as Directors on 10 December 2021 and signed on its behalf by

Professor Philip Bloom Chair of the Board of Trustees

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Report of the Independent Auditors to the Trustees of Glaucoma UK

We have audited the financial statements of Glaucoma UK for the year ended 31 July 2021 on pages 35 to 50. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and FRS 102 (effective January 2015), as well as the Charities Statement of Recommended Practice (effective January 2015).

This report is made solely to Glaucoma UK’s members and Board of Trustees, as a body, in accordance with Section 144 of the Charities Act 2011, and regulations made under Section 154 of that Act, as well as Section 44 (1) (c) of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company’s members and Council of Management 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 trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Respective responsibilities of trustees and auditors

As explained more fully in the Trustees Responsibilities set out on page 30, 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.

We have been appointed as auditors under Section 44 (1) (c) of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 and report in accordance with regulations made under those Acts.

Our responsibility is to audit and express an opinion on the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and International Standards on Auditing (UK and Ireland). Those standards require us to comply with the Auditing Practices Board's Ethical Standards for Auditors.

Scope of the audit of the financial statements

An audit involves obtaining evidence about the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements sufficient to give reasonable assurance that the financial statements are free from material misstatement, whether caused by fraud or error. This includes an assessment of whether the accounting policies are appropriate to the charitable company's circumstances and have been

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consistently applied and adequately disclosed; the reasonableness of significant accounting estimates made by the trustees; and the overall presentation of the financial statements. In addition, we read all the financial and non-financial information in the Trustees Report to identify material inconsistencies with the audited financial statements and to identify any information that is apparently materially incorrect based on, or materially inconsistent with, the knowledge acquired by us in the course of performing the audit. If we become aware of any apparent material misstatements or inconsistencies, we consider the implications for our report.

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:

We achieved this by carrying out the following:

Opinion on financial statements

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees/directors’ 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 entity'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/directors with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

In our opinion, the financial statements:

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Matters on which we are required to report by exception

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters where the Companies Act 2006, the Charities Act 2011 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

Nicholas Hume

For and on behalf of Calcutt Matthews

Chartered Accountants and Registered Auditors

Eligible to act as an auditor in terms of Section 1212 of the Companies Act 200619

North Street Ashford Kent TN24 8LF

10 December 2021

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Glaucoma UK (the operating name of the International Glaucoma Association Limited)

Statement of financial activities (incorporating an income and expenditure account) For the year ended 31 July 2021

Note
Income
Donations, Legacies and Subscriptions
2
Investment income
3
Glaucoma aids and equipment sales
4
UKEGS (UK & EIRE Glaucoma Society)
4
Other income
4
Grants
5
Total income
Expenditure on:
Raising funds
Finance and support
Cost of generating funds
Expenditure on charitable activities
Glaucoma research
Patient information and support
Professional information and support
Campaigning and advocacy
Cost of glaucoma aids and equipment
Total expenditure
6
Realised gains on investment assets
12
Net Income
12
7
Gross transfer between funds
Net movement in funds
Reconciliation of funds
Total funds brought forward
Total funds carried forward
Unrealised gains on investment assets
Net incoming resources before transfers
Charitable activities		 Restricted
£
16,474
24,034
20
9,703
435
28,026
78,692		 Unrestricted
£
1,614,941
74,473
4,193
-
4,159
19,368
1,717,134		 2021
Total
£
1,631,415
98,507
4,213
9,703
4,594
47,394
1,795,826		 2020
Total
£
1,465,115
123,621
6,101
62,237
4,317
56,499
1,717,890
0
10,803
10,803
136,094
30,069
11,175
2,987
-		 18,483
108,459		 18,483
119,262		 30,295
124,769
126,942
-
558,016
101,384
61,075
4,107		 137,745
136,094
588,085
112,559
64,062
4,107		 155,064
121,185
635,196
112,086
62,104
5,356
191,128 851,524 1,042,652 1,090,992
25,023
(87,413)
289,741
202,328
-
202,328
1,879,212
2,081,540		 455,608
1,321,218
234,509
1,555,727
-
1,555,727
4,654,794
6,210,521		 480,631
1,233,805
524,250
1,758,055
-
1,758,055
6,534,006
8,292,061		 88,628
715,526
(440,286)
275,239
-
275,239
6,258,767
6,534,006

All of the results above are derived from continuing activities. There were no other recognised gains or losses other than those stated above. Movements in funds are disclosed in Note 18 to the financial statements.

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Glaucoma UK (the operating name of the International Glaucoma Association Limited)

Charity No 274681 Scotland No SC041550

Balance sheet

Company No. 1293286

As at 31 July 2021

Note
Fixed assets
Tangible fixed assets
11
Investments
12
Total fixed assets
Current assets
Stock
13
Debtors
14
22
Cash at bank and in hand
Liabilities
Creditors: amounts due within one year
15
20, 22
Net current assets
Total assets less current liabilities
16
Net assets
17
Funds
18
Restricted funds
Unrestricted funds
Designated funds
General funds
Total funds
Creditors: amounts due after more
than one year		 2021
£
15,888
7,071,150
7,087,038
4,311
308,233
1,231,121
1,543,665
249,242
1,294,423
8,381,460
89,400
8,292,061
2,081,540
4,482,906
1,727,616
8,292,061		 2020
£
17,864
4,993,414
5,011,279
4,324
617,047
1,254,595
1,875,966
277,640
1,598,324
6,609,603
75,597
6,534,006
1,879,212
2,782,906
1,871,888
6,534,006

Approved and authorised for issue by the trustees of The International Glaucoma Association

Approved by the Board of Trustees on 10 December 2021 and signed on its behalf by Professor Philip Bloom, Chair

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Glaucoma UK (the operating name of the International Glaucoma Association)

Statement of cash flow

For the year ended July 2021

----- Start of picture text -----
Cashflows from operating activities: 2021 2020
Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities 950,872 572,895
Cashflows from investing activities
Dividends and interest from investments 98,507 123,621
-
Purchase of property, plant and equipment (18,400)
Proceeds from sale of investments 917,254 1,733,197
Purchase of investments (2,202,236) (2,342,458)
Net cash provided by (used in) investing activities (1,186,475) (504,041)
Change in cash and cash equivalents in the reporting period (235,603) 68,856
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the reporting
period 1,484,430 1,415,574
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the reporting period 1,248,827 1,484,430
Increase/Decrease in cash balances (235,603) 68,856
Reconciliation of net movement in funds to net cash flow from operating activities
Net movements in funds for the reporting period (as per the
statement of financial activities) 1,758,055 275,239
Adjustments for:
Depreciation 1,977 9,157
Dividends & interest from investments (98,507) (123,621)
Loss/(Profit) on sale of investments (1,004,881) 351,658
(Increase)/Decrease in stocks 11 3,797
(Increase)/Decrease in debtors 308,813 267,562
Increase/(Decrease) in creditors (14,595) (210,897)
Net cash provided by (used in) operating activities 950,872 572,895
Analysis of cash and cash equivalents
Cash in hand 1,231,121 1,254,595
Investments Capital account 17,706 229,835
1,248,827 1,484,430
----- End of picture text -----

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Glaucoma UK (the operating name of the International Glaucoma Association Limited)

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 July 2021

1. Accounting policies

Going concern policy when assessing the charity's ability to continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting, the Trustees have considered all the information available to them regarding the financial year ahead and have paid due regard to the Charities SORP committee guidance on financial reporting during the Covid-19 pandemic. They have reviewed the charity's financial position in the light of Covid-19 and any possible further lockdown's. They have considered the possible risks, liabilities, supply chains, and potential impact on staffing and service continuity. They have also reviewed the expected fall in some income streams during a continued pandemic in the light of the expected reduction in operating costs and can confirm that even under these circumstances Glaucoma UK will be able to continue operating an effective service in the year ahead and to meet its obligations as they fall due. The trustees have no plans to close the charity.

Sales income represents sale of goods excluding VAT where appropriate.

Investment income is accounted for on a accruals basis.

h) Critical accounting judgements are used within these accounts as follows:

The support and governance costs are re-apportioned by staff time as explained in note (i). The staff costs attributed to each activity are reviewed twice a year.

Resources expended are allocated to a particular activity where the cost relates directly to that activity. However, the cost of overall direction and administration of each activity, comprising the salary and overhead costs of the central function which includes finance and support and governance is apportioned on the following basis which is an estimate based on staff time of the amount attributable to each activity.

10% Cost of generating funds 88% Expenditure on charitable activities Research 2%

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Glaucoma UK (the operating name of the International Glaucoma Association Limited)

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 July 2021

1. Accounting policies (continued)

Fixtures, fittings and equipment 20%
Computers 33%

Items of equipment are capitalised where the purchase price exceeds £1,000. Depreciation costs are allocated to activities on the basis of the use of the related assets in those activities. Assets are reviewed for impairment if circumstances indicate their carrying value may exceed their net realisable value and value in use.

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Glaucoma UK (the operating name of the International Glaucoma Association Limited)

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 July 2021

2. Voluntary income

2. Voluntary income
2021 2020 2021 2020 2021 2020
Restricted Restricted Unrestricted Unrestricted Total Total
£ £ £ £
Donations and subscriptions 16,474 36,166 175,074 138,371 191,548 174,537
Corporate donations - - 27,000 63,578 27,000 63,578
Legacies - 458,772 1,412,867 768,228 1,412,867 1,227,000
Total 16,474 494,938 1,614,941 970,177 1,631,415 1,465,115
3. Investment income
2021 2020 2021 2020 2021 2020
Restricted Restricted Unrestricted Unrestricted Total Total
£ £ £ £
Interest - - 338 4,223 338 4,223
Dividends from UK companies 19,227 26,097 59,011 66,282 78,238 92,379
Dividends from overseas companies 4,807 7,633 15,124 19,386 19,931 27,019
Total 24,034 33,730 74,473 89,891 98,507 123,621
Incoming resources from
4. charitable activities
2021 2020 2021 2020 2021 2020
Restricted Restricted Unrestricted Unrestricted Total Total
£ £ £ £ £ £
Glaucoma aids and equipment sales 20 - 4,193 6,101 4,213 6,101
UKEGS (UK & EIRE Glaucoma Society) 9,703 62,237 - - 9,703 62,237
Other income 435 - 4,159 4,317 4,594 4,317
10,158 62,237 8,352 10,418 18,510 72,654
5. Grants received 2021 2020 2021 2020 2021 2020
Restricted Restricted Unrestricted Unrestricted Total Total
£ £ £ £ £ £
Local government grant - Ashford
Borough Council - - - 10,000 - 10,000
National government grant - HMRC
furlough scheme - - 19,368 22,608 19,368 22,608
Professor of Ophthalmology for
Glaucoma and Allied Studies at
UCL 11,480 13,549 - - 11,480 13,549
UKEGS (UK & EIRE Glaucoma Society) - - - 10,342 - 10,342
The National Lottery - Community
Fund 16,546 - - - 16,546 -
28,026 13,549 19,368 42,950 47,394 56,499

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Glaucoma UK (the operating name of the International Glaucoma Association Limited)

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 July 2021

6. Total Expenditure

Total Expenditure
Staff costs (Note 8)
Research grants (Note 9)
Regional outreach & helpline
Glaucoma aids & equipment
Awareness events, PR, social media & volunteering
AGM, annual lectures & trustee expenses
Fundraising
Premises and administration
Finance & professional
Expenditure
Finance and support reallocated
Expenses including Finance & Support
Governance reallocated
Total Expenditure		 Cost of
generating
funds
Patient
information and
support
Professional
information and
support
Campaigning and
advocacy
Glaucoma
research
Finance and
support
Governance
2021 Total
2020 Total
£
£
£
£
£
£
£
45,266
293,968
62,860
30,819
10,388
110,211
28,607
582,119
582,519
10,803
-
-
-
110,433
-
-
121,236
95,250
-
16,201
268
-
-
-
-
16,469
25,051
806
31
3,270
-
-
-
-
4,107
5,356
-
1,676
6,961
12,932
-
-
-
21,569
44,010
-
-
-
-
-
-
8,120
8,120
8,963
33,585
-
-
-
-
-
-
33,585
26,822
-
71,896
1,355
153
-
105,847
540
179,791
227,440
18,483
12,064
-
-
8,478
27,495
9,136
75,656
75,581
108,943
395,836
74,714
43,904
129,299
243,553
46,403
1,042,652
1,090,992
23,362
151,718
32,442
15,906
5,362
(243,553)
14,763
132,305
547,554
107,156
59,810
134,661
-
61,166
1,042,652
1,090,992
6,246
40,562
8,673
4,252
1,433
-
(61,167)
138,551
588,116
115,829
64,062
136,094
-
-
1,042,652
1,090,992

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Glaucoma UK (the operating name of the International Glaucoma Association Limited)

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 July 2021

7. Net (outgoing)/incoming resources

This is stated after charging/crediting:

Depreciation charge for the year - owned assets
Auditors' remuneration:
audit
other services
Trustees expenses
Investment managers fee		 2021
£
1,977
3,778
-
-
24,226		 2020
£
9,157
3,750
-
3,354
29,923

Trustees expenses represent the travel and subsistence costs of trustees for no face to face meetings in 2021, in (2020:9). All meetings were held as virtual meetings and no Trustee expenses for 2021.

During the accounting year unclaimed Trustees expenses totalled £0.00 (2020: £519).

Donations totalling £450 were received from Trustees, (2020: £428).

No Trustees received remuneration for their services during the financial year.

8. Staff costs and numbers

Staff costs were as follows:

Salaries and wages
Social security costs
Pension contributions		 2021
£
510,607
48,237
23,275		 2020
£
512,558
47,580
22,380
582,119 582,518

Only one member of key management personal earns over the rate of £60,000 or more in the year as follows:

2021 2020
No. No.
£60,000 - £70,000 1 1

Pension contributions in respect of the above full-time employee totalled £3,335 (2020: £3,335).

NI contributions in respect of the above employee totalled £8,218 (2020: £8,387)

The calculated unspent staff holiday entitlement at year end was £10,745, (2020: £11,907).

The charity contributes to a Royal London defined contribution pension scheme for employees.

The Chief Executive Officer is the sole key management personnel having authority and responsibility for planning, directing and controlling the activities of Glaucoma UK.

The management remuneration policy considers the following factors:

cost of living, pay comparability, affordability, sustainability, and appropriateness. The ratio between the highest and lowest salary should be below 4.5:1 and the ratio between the highest and median (midpoint) salary below 3.5:1

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Glaucoma UK (the operating name of the International Glaucoma Association Limited)

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 July 2021

8. Staff costs and numbers (continued)

The average weekly number of employees (full-time equivalent) during the year was:

-
Cost of generating funds
Patient information and support
Professional information and support
Campaigning and awareness
Research
Governance
Finance and Support costs		 2021
No.
1.83
8.50
1.67
1.00
0.20
0.50
2.58		 2020
No.
1.34
7.77
1.27
0.65
0.30
0.35
2.71
16.28 14.39

The actual number of staff (including part time and full time) in 2021 was 20 (2020: 19)

9. Grants Awarded

Grants Awarded
Fight for Sight
University Hospital of Wales
Nottingham University Hospital
University of Bradford
University College London
Grants underspent by researchers
University College London's Institute of Ophthalmology - Glaucoma UK
Chair Fund		 2021
2020
52,447
23,775
20,479
10,307
(60,684)
60,684
-
2,500
48,380
-
49,811
-
-
(2,017)
110,433
95,249

These grants were awarded in accordance with the Glaucoma UK grants policy, and were awarded to fund research into the diagnosis and treatment of glaucoma.

The negative figure represents an underspend by researchers on grants awarded in previous years. Also one grant awarded to University Hospital of Wales that is not going ahead this year.

10. Taxation

The charity is exempt from corporation tax and income tax as all its income is charitable and is applied for charitable purposes.

Page 43

Glaucoma UK (the operating name of the International Glaucoma Association Limited)

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 July 2021

11. Tangible fixed assets

Cost
At the start of the year
Additions in year
Disposals in year
At the end of the year
Depreciation
At the start of the year
Charge for the year
Disposals in year
At the end of the year
Net book value
At the end of the year
At the start of the year
12.
Investments
Market value at the start of the year
Additions at historic cost
Disposal proceeds
Realised gains
Unrealised gains
Market value at the end of the year
Cash held as part of portfolio
Total
Historic cost at the end of the year		 Fixtures, fittings
and equipment
£
210,917
-
-
210,917
209,636
1,281
-
210,917
-		 Computer
equipment
£
27,743
-
-
Total
£
238,660
-
-
27,743 238,660
11,160
696
-		 220,796
1,977
-
11,856 222,773
15,887 15,887
1,281 16,583 17,864
2021
£
4,763,579
2,202,238
(917,254)
480,631
524,250		 2020
£
4,505,976
2,342,458
(1,733,197)
88,628
(440,286)
7,053,444
17,706		 4,763,579
229,835
7,071,150 4,993,414
6,546,896 4,757,455

Page 44

Glaucoma UK (the operating name of the International Glaucoma Association Limited)

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 July 2021

12. Investments continued

Investment management costs were £24,226.07 (£29,923.21 - 2020)

In February 2021 the charities mixed portfolio was transferred into a single pooled charity fund operated by Rathbones Investment management. The change was made in order to streamline administration, reduce investment management fees and maintain or increase returns. Investments are now held as units within a core fund, classified as a UK investment fund.

Glaucoma UK Ltd, Glaucoma International Ltd, Glaucoma Europe Ltd, and Glaucoma Association Ltd are dormant companies historically held by Glaucoma UK (the operating name of the International Glaucoma Association Limited) in order to protect the company identity and to give future flexibility in terms of the charity name.

Glaucoma UK Limited number 04323894 total shareholder funds £1. Glaucoma Europe Limited number 04591043 total shareholders funds £1. Glaucoma International Limited number 04323990 total shareholders funds £1. Glaucoma Association Ltd number 05316092 shareholders funds £1.

13. Stock

13.
Stock
Goods for resale
14.
Debtors
Trade debtors
Legacy debtors
Prepayments and accrued income
VAT liability		 2021
£
4,311		 2020
£
4,324
2021
£
25,241
266,590
16,402
-		 2020
£
14,582
529,185
72,206
1,073
308,233 617,047

Page 45

Glaucoma UK (the operating name of the International Glaucoma Association Limited)

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 July 2021

15. Creditors: amounts due within one year

Trade creditors
Funds held as agent
Accruals
Obligations under grant agreements
VAT receivable		 2021
2020
£
£
124,735
49,436
87,627
160,668
22,578
25,540
13,050
41,996
1,253
-
249,242
277,640

Funds held as agent represent those held for UKPGS, for which Glaucoma UK provides administration and infrastructure support as shown in note 20.

16. Creditors: amounts due after one

year

Obligations under grant agreements 2021
2020
£
£
89,400
75,597
89,400
75,597

17. Analysis of net assets between funds

Analysis of net assets between
funds
Investments
amounts falling due after
more than one year
Tangible fixed assets
Net current assets
Net assets at the end of the year
Creditors:		 Restricted
funds
£
-
2,081,540
-
-
General
funds
Total funds
£
£
£
-
15,888
15,888
4,482,906
506,704
7,071,150
-
1,294,423
1,294,423
-
(89,400)
(89,400)
Designated
funds
2,081,540 4,482,906
1,727,615
8,292,061
Page 46

Glaucoma UK (the operating name of the International Glaucoma Association Limited)

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 July 2021

18.
Restricted funds:
Research fund
Merseyside fund
Folkestone Fund
London fund
Scottish Optom fund
UK & Eire Glaucoma Society
Digital Support fund
Total restricted funds
Unrestricted funds:
Designated funds:
Total designated funds
General funds
Total unrestricted funds
Income Endowment
Total funds
Research investment fund
Children and Young people's Support
fund
Equipment Replacement and
Infrastructure Fund
Movements in funds
North East fund
Compliance Project fund
Chair fund		 At the start
of the year
Transfers
At the end of
the year
£
£
£
£
£
£
1,364,881
36,534
(58,279)
314,764
-
1,657,900
30,987
435
(15,698)
-
-
15,724
5,405
-
(4,166)
-
-
1,239
388,004
15,436
(87,567)
-
-
315,873
657
-
(657)
-
-
-
3,733
-
-
-
-
3,733
8,862
38
-
-
-
8,900
9,907
-
(2,330)
-
-
7,577
9,321
-
-
-
-
9,321
57,455
9,703
(7,027)
-
-
60,131
-
16,546
(15,404)
-
-
1,142
Incoming
resources
Outgoing
resources
Other gains
and losses		 At the start
of the year
Transfers
At the end of
the year
£
£
£
£
£
£
1,364,881
36,534
(58,279)
314,764
-
1,657,900
30,987
435
(15,698)
-
-
15,724
5,405
-
(4,166)
-
-
1,239
388,004
15,436
(87,567)
-
-
315,873
657
-
(657)
-
-
-
3,733
-
-
-
-
3,733
8,862
38
-
-
-
8,900
9,907
-
(2,330)
-
-
7,577
9,321
-
-
-
-
9,321
57,455
9,703
(7,027)
-
-
60,131
-
16,546
(15,404)
-
-
1,142
Incoming
resources
Outgoing
resources
Other gains
and losses
1,879,212
78,692
(191,128)		 314,764
-
2,081,540
22,906
-
-
460,000
-
-
2,300,000
-
-		 -
-
22,906
-
-
460,000
-
1,700,000
4,000,000
2,782,906
-
-
1,871,888
1,717,134
(851,524)		 -
1,700,000
4,482,906
690,119
(1,700,000)
1,727,616
4,654,794
1,717,134
(851,524)		 690,119
-
6,210,521
6,534,006
1,795,826
(1,042,652)		 1,004,881
-
8,292,061

Page 47

Glaucoma UK (the operating name of the International Glaucoma Association Limited)

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 July 2021

18. Movements in Funds (continued)

Purposes of restricted funds

The Chair fund is used to fund the post of Professor of Ophthalmology for Glaucoma and Allied Studies at University College London.

The North East fund was established following receipt of a legacy and is restricted to supporting our work in the North East of England.

The Compliance Project fund was granted by pharmaceutical companies to provide demonstration and educational eye drop materials.

The Research fund represents donations and charitable trust income received specifically to fund glaucoma research. The fund was drawn on throughout the year as detailed on Note 9.

The Merseyside fund comprises legacy income restricted to the Merseyside area.

The Folkestone fund comprises legacy income restricted to work in Folkestone.

The Children and Young People's Support fund comprises income donated for services for young people affected by glaucoma and their families and carers. It aims to help us better understand their particular support needs and deliver appropriate services in response.

The London fund is restricted to the London area, and has been used mainly for awareness raising and support work with BAME communities at greatest risk of glaucoma sight loss.

The Scottish Optom training fund is charitable trust income earmarked for eye drop adherence training for optometrists across Scotland. The work was scheduled to start in spring 2020 but was postponed due to COVID-19. We hope to restart this workstream as soon as is feasible.

The UKEGS fund comprises income previously held by the charity as an agent for the unincorporated body the UK & EIRE Glaucoma Society (UKEGS) shown in Note 18. When UKEGS merged into the Glaucoma UK (at the time the International Glaucoma Association Limited), in December 2019 the funds were restricted to supporting the ongoing work of UKEGS.

The Digital support fund was received from national lottery community fund to be spent within 6 months on the Glaucoma UK Digital care and support project. The £1,142 underspend on the Digital support fund has been agreed that this balance will be returned to the national lottery.

The designated income endowment fund represents the donation of shares which form the basis of a stock market portfolio, which will eventually provide for the running costs of the association.

The designated Equipment Replacement and Infrastructure fund is held to cover the cost of equipment replacement, infrastructure development, premises costs and dilapidations.

The designated Research Investment fund aims to produce a reliable income stream specifically to fund the charity's research priorities in the years ahead.

Page 48

Glaucoma UK (the operating name of the International Glaucoma Association Limited)

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 July 2021

19. Operating lease commitments

The charity had annual commitments at the year end under operating leases expiring as follows:

Within one year
Within 1 -2 Years
Within 2 - 5 Years
The total future minimum lease payment is £102,000		 2021
2020
£
£
34,000
34,000
68,000
68,000
-
34,000
Property

20. Related Parties

Included in Note 15 are funds due to related parties held for the UK Paediatric Glaucoma Society (UKPGS).

Financial Statement of UKPGS
Income
Expenditure
Closing balance
Balance brought forward
Total funds held
21.
Financial Instruments
Trade debtors
Legacy debtors
Prepayments and accrued income
VAT liability
Trade creditors
Obligations under grant agreements
Funds held as agent
Accruals
VAT liability
Financial Debt instruments
measured at amortised cost
Financial instruments measured at
amortised cost		 2021
2020
£
£
11,920
22,073
(14,882)
(18,353)
(2,962)
3,720
25,540
21,820
22,578
25,540
2021
2020
£
£
25,241
14,582
266,590
529,185
16,402
72,206
-
1,073
308,233
617,047
124,735
49,436
177,027
160,668
22,578
25,540
13,050
41,996
1,253
-
338,643
277,640

Page 49

Glaucoma UK (the operating name of the International Glaucoma Association Limited)

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 July 2021

22. Covid-19 pandemic impact

The trustees report that during the financial year ended 31st July 2021 the pandemic delayed both the awarding of new and the progress of existing research projects. Our helpline service was able to continue without much disruption, however all patient and public events had to be postponed. Financial reserves have been built during the year 20/21 which will enable the charity to restore activities and accelerate development plans when COVID restrictions are gradually removed. The trustees expect this to happen during 2021/2022 and plans for this are in place.

Page 50