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2024-03-31-accounts

Institute of Development Studies (IDS) Annual Report and Financial Statements 31 March 2024

Institute of Development Studies Annual Report and Financial Statements 31 March 2024

Company Limited by Guarantee Registration Number 877338 (England and Wales)

Charity Registration Number 306371

INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENTS STUDIES Reference and administrative information

1. REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION ............................................................... 2
2. CHAIR’S INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 4
3. TRUSTEES’ REPORT .................................................................................................................... 6
3.1 Strategic summary ........................................................................................................................................ 6
3.2 Progress against strategic priorities .............................................................................................................. 6
3.3 Future plans ................................................................................................................................................ 14
3.4 Quality, impact and public benefit ............................................................................................................... 17
3.5 Structure, governance and management .................................................................................................... 19
3.6 Financial report for the year ........................................................................................................................ 21
3.7 Principal risks .............................................................................................................................................. 25
3.8 Safeguarding .............................................................................................................................................. 26
3.9 Statement of Trustees’ responsibilities ....................................................................................................... 27
4. INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT ....................................................................................... 28
5. STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024 ........... 32
6. BALANCE SHEET AS AT 31 MARCH 2024 ............................................................................... 33
7. CASH FLOW STATEMENT FOR THE YEAR TO 31 MARCH 2024 ........................................... 34
8. NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS .............................................................................. 35

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INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENTS STUDIES Reference and administrative information

1. Reference and administrative information

Trustees*

Professor D Nayyar+~^=(Chair) A Ablo^~ Professor E Aryeetey Dr T Barton+^ Professor H Chang = N Clayton+~ K Frost +~ Dr A Joshi^= Professor M Leach^= E McIntosh=~ Professor J Ocampo Gaviria Professor S Roseneil M Roberts= *Trustees as at 31 March 2024. For details of other Trustees during the year see page 20 +Member of the Resources, Audit and Risk Committee ~Member of the Remuneration Committee ^Member of the Nominations and Governance Committee =Member of the Programme Review and Advisory Committee

Company Secretary T Catherall Strategic Leadership Professor M Leach (Director) Group T Catherall J Georgalakis P Karalus Dr P Taylor Dr P Waldman

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INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENTS STUDIES Reference and administrative information

Registered Office Andrew Cohen Building
University of Sussex
Brighton, East Sussex
BN1 9RE
Telephone 01273 606261
Facsimile 01273 915835
Website www.ids.ac.uk
Email ids@ids.ac.uk
Company registration 877338 (England and Wales)
number
Charity registration 306371
number
Auditor Crowe U.K. LLP
55 Ludgate Hill
London
EC4M 7JW
Bankers Barclays Bank plc
1 Churchill Place
London E14 5HP
Triodos Bank UK Ltd
Deanery Road
Bristol BS1 5AS
Investment Advisors CCLA
One Angel Lane
London EC4R 3AB
Solicitors DMH
40 High Street
Crawley
West Sussex RH10 1BW

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INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES Chair’s introduction

2. Chair’s introduction

These are troubled, indeed, troubling, times. The world is confronted with multiple intersecting crises. The economic, political and geographical divides are widening almost everywhere. Growth slowdowns, double-digit inflation and persistent unemployment are exacerbating inequalities in income and wealth. Brutal conflicts – in Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine – are destroying lives, homes, social as well as physical infrastructure, and, in the process, displacing millions. The environmental crisis, even if silent, is more and more visible. In the process, we are also mortgaging the future of humankind. The marginalised, the poor, and the vulnerable bear a disproportionate share of the burdens imposed by climate change. International collective action to address this mounting problem is an imperative. Populism and authoritarianism are on the rise. Democracy seems fragile, if not at risk. Our institutions – national and international – are experiencing an erosion in their autonomy in a world where politics is increasingly polarised. The existing power structures, which give rise to inequity and injustice, are unequal and unfair. Given this context, the need for world-class development research which reflects lived experience, as well as rigorous analysis, has never been greater.

Yet, there is a silver lining to the cloud. We are witnessing a groundswell of movements driven by people and civil society agitating for reform, which provide some reason for hope. What we need are coalitions of the willing that might help initiate collective action to tackle the most pressing global challenges.

Facts, knowledge, and understanding provided by research can make a difference by helping to find solutions. With a reputation for excellence in research and engagement, as well as in teaching the leaders of tomorrow, IDS has a clear-cut contribution to make – in influencing policies and practices, reframing narratives, and mobilising new networks. This is borne out by the wide-ranging impact stories showcased here, all of which demonstrate tangible positive change and progress towards a more equitable and sustainable world.

The external funding context remains precarious but, with Britain rejoining the EU’s flagship Horizon science research programme, there are grounds for cautious optimism. IDS hopes that the new government elected in the UK will recognise the importance of financing for development in general, and stable funding for development research in particular.

As we enter the final stretch of our 2020-2025 strategy, Transforming Knowledge, Transforming Lives, it is only appropriate that we reflect and learn in this moment of transition. In keeping with the mission of IDS to nurture inclusive societies, we have spent time this year being introspective, strengthening sustainability and equity within our own workplace. I am incredibly proud of our robust, flourishing institution with its collegiate ethos and remarkable resilience. At this critical juncture in history, its work is more vital and relevant than ever.

This year, we bade farewell to Professor Melissa Leach, Director of IDS for ten years. We appreciate all her efforts, as well as those of the entire IDS community and our many partners worldwide who continue their work infused with hope and energy.

.

Professor Deepak Nayyar Chair of the Board of Trustees

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Chair’s introduction

Message from our Acting Director, Peter Taylor

Recent IDS Annual Reviews have highlighted a world characterised by “massive disruptions”, a “desperate state”, and “deeply challenging times”. This year has perpetuated crises affecting lives and livelihoods of millions of people globally. Environmental and climate change bring daily reminders of the vulnerability of people and planet. Health challenges are reinforced by widespread inequities. Conflicts result in devastation and promote further economic, social and political disempowerment, exclusion and marginalisation.

As IDS moves towards the end of its current strategy in 2025, we reflect back whilst also “recasting forward”. Our vision of a more equitable and sustainable world, where people everywhere can live their lives free from poverty and injustice, feels more vital, relevant and urgent than ever. In the following pages we review many positive achievements over the past year that show how our contributions through research, teaching and engagement are having real impact on policy, practice, and mutual learning.

Ranked the World’s no. 1 for development studies with the University of Sussex for the eighth consecutive year, we have co-created high-quality evidence and analysis on the impact of rapid transitions on people’s livelihoods, wellbeing and environment; on how working children help improve access to education; on addressing food systems inequities; and on the causes of democratic backsliding and increasing accountability. We work increasingly in UK contexts as well as internationally. All our efforts involve partnerships that we strive to ensure are equitable, respectful and inclusive. Our Masters students and PhD researchers bring invaluable knowledge and experience to our vibrant community, and we are developing new international cooperation agreements around innovative teaching programmes.

On a personal note, I’d like to recognise the outstanding achievements of Melissa Leach who stepped down in April after over 30 years working at, and most recently leading, IDS.

Professor Peter Taylor

Acting Director

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INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES Trustees’ report

3. Trustees’ report

The Trustees, who are also the Directors for the purposes of company law, present their Annual Report together with the financial statements of the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) for the year ended 31 March 2024, prepared under the Charities Act 2011 and the Companies Act 2006 (the report comprises the Directors’ Report and Strategic Report under the 2006 Act).

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies on pages 35 to 38 of the attached financial statements and comply with the charitable company’s memorandum and articles of association, applicable laws, and the requirements of the Charities SORP FRS102

3.1 Strategic summary

Our Vision and strategy

We want a more equitable and sustainable world, where people everywhere can live their lives free from poverty and injustice.

Our commitments:

We will transform the knowledge, action and leadership needed through our world-class research, learning and teaching.

Our priorities:

We are now four years into the implementation of our Strategy 2020–25 Transforming knowledge, transforming lives . Although developed pre-Covid-19, its emphasis on responding to the disruptions and shocks of our era is proving remarkably salient in the context of today.

For more about who we are and what we do, see: www.ids.ac.uk/about

3.2 Progress against strategic priorities

The following impact stories demonstrate how we are fulfilling our commitments and delivering our strategic priorities.

Commitment one: Upholding climate and environmental justice

PASTRES – A New Narrative for Pastoralism and Development

Pastoralists are important custodians of nature and play a crucial role in maintaining biodiversity, yet their perspectives are often dismissed.

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PASTRES (Pastoralism, Uncertainty and Resilience: Global Lessons from the Margins) is a research programme that aims to learn from pastoralists about responding to uncertainty and resilience, with lessons for global challenges.

Through the now completed PASTRES programme, IDS research has generated new understanding of pastoralists around the world and is helping show how pastoralists’ responses to change and uncertainties can have important lessons elsewhere.

Policies and development programmes often fail to recognise how pastoralists move, share resources and knowledge, and respond flexibly to change. Misunderstandings around pastoralism lead to agendas which seek to ‘modernise’, settle, or exclude them. To address these issues, the six-year PASTRES programme showed the realities of pastoralists in different settings, their relationships and value to wider economies and ecologies, and how they could be better supported.

The research was summarised in an Open Access book, Pastoralism, Uncertainty and Development, which has been downloaded over 2,400 times since 2023. A ‘primer’ aimed at social movement and practitioner audiences was also produced in multiple languages in collaboration with the Transnational Institute and the World Alliance for Mobile and Indigenous Peoples. Research findings were shared at many international engagements, notably at the International Livestock Research Institute in Addis Ababa. PASTRES work was also shared at UN climate change COP summits, the UN Food Systems Summit (and counter-summit), events in Brussels aimed at European policy makers, and the International Congress on Extensive Livestock Farming and Climate Change. PASTRES also developed an online course, which has been used by researchers and students in many countries, as well as contributing to a practical guide on incorporating uncertainty in educational settings, published by the University of Sussex in 2023. PASTRES also contributed to the revisiting of the Dana Declaration, resulting in the Dana+20 Manifesto, which calls for greater respect for the rights and knowledge of mobile peoples.

PASTRES was able to disseminate its messages in a number of innovative ways. A ‘Seeing Pastoralism’ photography exhibition ran in eight countries and online, whilst the ‘Uncertain Worlds’ exhibition in Brighton in 2023 comprised seven illustrated stories in comic-book style.

Commitment two: Reducing extreme inequities

Working children as agents of change against child labour

An IDS led large-scale Systemic Action Research programme, CLARISSA has explored the link between the worst forms of child labour and global supply chains in Bangladesh and Nepal.

An IDS led large-scale Systemic Action Research programme, CLARISSA, is tackling the drivers of the worst forms of child labour (WFCL) in the leather supply chain in Bangladesh. The programme has evidenced many examples of innovative actions taken by working children in Bangladesh, who have been at the heart of the participatory action research, and in some cases their actions are generating promising ripples of change into the systems that produce these complex problems.

In Bangladesh, children used their own experiences and evidence from gathering sessions with teachers and school managers to develop theories of change for tackling the longstanding issue of access to education. This evidence was used to engage with school management committees and negotiate a special (school) ‘shift’ to accommodate working

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children, and to request a reduced admission fee. Further, they organised cultural events to engage with the broader community and build a more vibrant and inclusive learning environment. As a result, one school decided to waive half of the admission costs of school fees for working and disadvantaged children in 2023 and to start a special Friday shift (for working children) the following year. Of 15 children admitted with half admission fee, five children were working children who also gained free access to after-hours coaching classes. This achievement is considered groundbreaking in the context of child labour programming where a binary approach to school or work persists and demonstrates how a participatory and comprehensive approach can be used to address the multifaceted challenges hindering their access to education to accommodate working children.

Commitment three: Fostering healthy and fulfilling lives

Increasing understanding of inequities in food systems

Through the efforts of the Food Equity Centre (FEC), and the recent IDS Pathways to Equitable Food Systems report, IDS has contributed to notable changes in language and framing of food equity issues for UN member states, and its work has been cited in the UK House of Commons.

The FEC brings together researchers, policy makers, practitioners and activists to collaborate in developing solutions to inequities in food systems. Since its inception in 2021 the FEC has been growing steadily in reputation and global reach, with engagement with multilateral partners such as the World Food Programme and other academic institutions.

In 2022, two IDS fellows and members of the FEC were appointed to a new Committee on World Food Security (CFS) High Level Panel of Experts project team to work on an upcoming report, entitled ‘Reducing inequalities for food security and nutrition’. The report, released in June 2023, showed how inequalities within food systems impede opportunities to overcome food insecurity and malnutrition, and provided a conceptual framework to address this challenge. Brazil – which strongly welcomed the report in the CFS plenary alongside other member states – was appointed to turn the report into a set of voluntary policy recommendations.

In the same month, IDS launched ‘Pathways to Equitable Food Systems’, which drew on existing IDS research to identify ways to challenge power imbalances that are creating inequities in food systems. The report was cited by Martyn Day MP while interrogating the Minister for International Trade, Nigel Huddleston on increasing food poverty in the UK:

‘I am grateful to the Minister for his answer, but Melissa Leach, the Director of the Institute of Development Studies, has spoken about the need to increase access to affordable, nutritious food.

She said: ‘Over the last decade, charities have stepped in to plug the gaps left by the state but this is not an acceptable or sustainable way to address the growing prevalence of hunger.’

Does the Minister accept that his Government’s commitment to Brexit has led to increasing prices of food that is imported and has contributed to food poverty in the UK?”

A communications campaign to support the launch of the report generated over 100 pieces of media coverage, nearly two million social media impressions and 8,000 video views – as well as representing an exciting new approach for research-communications collaboration within IDS.

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Commitment four: Nurturing inclusive, democratic and accountable societies

Powercube.net resources strengthen nurses’ industrial action in the UK

The Powercube.net resource, a long-running IDS tool which helps with the analysis of power relations in order to further social change, has been used by a UK grassroots campaign group of frontline nurses to train member nurses. According to Anthony Johnson, a registered nurse, and lead organiser with Nurses United, ‘Through using the powercube in our trainings [between 2019 and 2021] we galvanised a grassroots network of nurses who saw themselves as having agency to create change. This led to events like 40 simultaneous demonstrations across the UK by nurses who had never even been to a protest let alone organise one.’

In England, Scotland and Wales, nurses cannot strike unless 50 per cent of eligible voters vote and a majority agree to industrial action. According to Anthony, ‘the hierarchies in nursing pre-dispose a lot of nurses to feel that they have no power to influence the policies which influence theirs or their patients’ lives.’ Powercube.net helped nurses recognise forms of power within an organising context and the need to think beyond power over others and formal structures. ’These nurses were the ones inspired by the concept of ‘power within’ and ‘power with’ who have gone on to successfully pass strike action ballots across the UK.’ Nurses United’s organising work has since focused on improving access to personal protective equipment for nurses, highlighting institutional racism within NHS and ensuring pay increases that address inflation against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic and rising cost-of-living. Nurses United also supported 50 nurses to engage with the press around pay and working conditions.

Launched in 2009, the Powercube.net website continues to promote Research Fellow John Gaventa’s Powercube resources to global audiences. In its first 10 years, the website had more than 190,000 visitors from countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, China, India, Pakistan, South Africa, and the Philippines.

Strategic Priority 1: Collaborating across sciences and disciplines, sectors and communities to do research that brings about progressive change

Supporting emergency response in Europe, Middle East and south Asia through rapid social science evidence work Through the Social Science in Humanitarian Action Platform (SSHAP), evidence produced by IDS has helped policymakers and humanitarian agencies in their emergency response work.

In Poland, vaccination campaigns led by UNICEF for Ukrainian refugees were assisted by a briefing note which provided valuable insights, such as the recommendation to focus on immediate benefits of vaccination regardless of whether the individual had to intention to remain in Poland or return to Ukraine.

An evidence review of Covid-19 vaccine acceptance in the Middle East and North Africa was used by UNICEF in country office briefings, supporting back-to-school campaigns after lockdowns.

An important step in the localisation of operational responses has been the establishment of two Regional Hubs, one in Central and East Africa, and another in West Africa. A key example of the utilisation of this model is the roundtable event (June 2023) in response to the Sudan conflict, which brought the Regional Hub and stakeholders together to co-produce a series of briefings. A decentralised approach is also evident in the SSHAP organisational

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structure related to governance and evidence generation, as well as our capacity building, networking activities and engagement function.

Bringing diverse voices into UK policy processes to tackle health inequities

Through the Living Roots project, IDS supported Ealing Council in west London to explore how diverse voices could be brought into policy spaces through a participatory action research infrastructure, to help tackle stark and longstanding health inequities in the borough’s seven towns

The work contributed to the Ealing Council’s successful £5 million five-year proposal to NIHR’s Health Determinants Research Collaborations (HDRC) programme, with other partners comprising Ealing and Hounslow Community and Voluntary Service (EHCVS), Southall Community Alliance, LSHTM, Imperial College London and IDS and aims to strengthen collaborative capacities for evidence generation, use and learning on the building blocks of health to drive greater health equity in Ealing.

The engagement with Ealing Council began in 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic around vaccine uptake, where the disconnect and distrust between the council and health services and communities was highlighted. Following this, the Public Health team within Ealing Council drove the case for meaningfully bringing diverse voices into policy processes to overcome the existing challenges and as such, the 9-month Living Roots project was established to explore how a participatory action research infrastructure could be built to facilitate this. The Living Roots project activities included a peer researcher programme to help develop the capacities of local people to use research to improve understanding and highlight issues and actions concerned with health equity in Ealing; and the collaborative facilitation of an engagement process to thoughtfully and constructively include residents and community and voluntary sector organisations in the adaptive implementation of Ealing’s new five-year health and wellbeing strategy. The success of the project and proposal described relied on a strong enabling environment with the ongoing political buy-in and leadership from Ealing Council, where there was a recent strategic change tasked with putting communities at the heart of everything.

Strategic Priority 2: Building future leadership for development

Future development leaders find their vocations and voices at IDS through new perspectives, skills, networks, and confidence

Eesha Kapoor and Shreyan Acharya graduated from MA Development Studies in 2022, describing their experience at IDS as a ‘completely transformative journey’. Back home in Delhi, Shreyan applied new knowledge to the design and roll out of new initiatives in government schools on public speaking, student leadership and student-led school magazines. Eesha worked on a sports education project giving children from underprivileged backgrounds the opportunity to compete nationally. The pair, who have since married, now have jobs at the Central Square Foundation, a non-profit organisation that aims to ensure quality school education for all children in India.

Teofilo Moreno came to IDS on a Chevening Scholarship and graduated in 2023 with an MA in Governance, Development and Public Policy. After successfully applying to the 61st UN Grade Study Programme, in July 2023 he spent two weeks at the Palace of Nations in Geneva debating how to update the Universal Declaration of Human Rights for current times with students from 60 nations. He is currently living in Madrid, where he plans to build networks and gain more insight and experience before taking what he has learnt back home to Argentina.

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Trustees’ report

Another 2023 graduate, Jigyasa Agarwal, used her journalistic experience to guest edit IDS’s Between the Lines podcast. Jigyasa used the platform to explore development themes from the perspectives of those who had overcome barriers to study at IDS. She interviewed an Afghan scholar who was evacuated during the Taliban’s takeover, and in a second episode explored how the protected characteristics of gender, disability and race intersect, and affect access to education.

Highlights from our post-graduate programme

The 2022/23 academic year (which ran to 31 August 2023) was our first year, post-Covid-19, to return fully to in-classroom teaching. Levels of student satisfaction are at an all-time high with 98 per cent of students expressing satisfaction with their experience at IDS. IDS was the highest scoring School at Sussex in the 2023 Postgraduate Researcher Experience Survey, with an overall satisfaction rate of 90 per cent.

We have implemented a new Reasonable Adjustment system for managing students’ disabilities, which requires lecturers and seminar tutors to check students’ needs prior to beginning a class, so that these can be accommodated. In keeping with this, IDS has also developed alternative modes for students who are medically excused from undertaking particular kinds of assessments (such as presentations).

We have continued to invest in our alumni network; a new ‘Ask-an-Alum’ online tool was launched within the third round of our Alumni Relations and Engagement-led network mentoring programme. The Alumni Advisory Committee created the Gender Equality Practitioners’ Community of Practice (GEP CoP), open to all students and alumni.

IDS pursued a Double MA Agreement with two Brazilian universities (FGV and PUC Rio) to give successful students an MA from each institute in two years.

Strategic priority 3: Championing the use of evidence for social and environmental justice

Informing and evidencing policy at the World Food Programme

Despite its dual mandate of ‘saving lives’ and ‘changing lives’, WFP activities have been dominated for decades by life-saving humanitarian relief interventions. In its ongoing engagement with WFP under a Long-Term Agreement with IDS, the Centre for Social Protection and other IDS staff have emphasised the potential for WFP’s non-emergency interventions to change lives, by strengthening its support to longer-term social protection programming. Collaborative work with WFP in the last 2–3 years has shifted thinking within WFP about issues such as the social protection benefits of school feeding programmes, the two-way linkages between social protection and resilience, and pathways from social protection to improved food security and nutrition outcomes. During this period of intense collaboration, which includes several presentations by IDS staff at high-level meetings and WFP’s Executive Board, WFP has become recognised as one of the leading international agencies on social protection, along with the ILO, UNICEF and the World Bank.

Building upon this work, a collaboration between Knowledge, Impact, and Policy (KIP) and Rural Futures clusters has delivered WFP’s 1st flagship report and Global Meeting on Country Capacity Strengthening (CCS). The keynote speech, delivered by a member of KIP, provided a practical framework that has shifted WFP’s institutional narrative on CCS, with key messages from the 3-day event subsequently shared globally through workshops at WFP’s six regional bureau.

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Strategic Priority 4: Expanding international research and mutual learning networks

BASIC research catalyses community-led change in social assistance practices.

In 2023 the Participation, Inclusion and Social Change cluster partnered with local research organisation ‘Pasewan’ (Guardian in English) based in the Kurdish Region of Iraq. The partnership, which is part of the FCDO-funded and IDS-led Better Assistance in Crises research programme, enabled IDS to share its knowledge of creative participatory action research methods. 22 research participants took part in the resulting project which explored the lived experiences of marginalised communities receiving social assistance, including women with disabilities such as Downs Syndrome and visual or hearing impairments, and rural youth. Six local people were trained as peer researchers to support the project to coproduce knowledge.

Pasewan Director Harem Karem said ‘The IDS research unravelled our preconceptions and enabled community members to articulate their bitter experiences with social assistance... I had been previously unaware of the profound emotional scars inflicted.’

The research revealed that local social assistance providers consistently use unauthorised photos or videos of social assistance recipients to build their public profiles and support fundraising efforts. Unlike past consultations where these people’s voices were ignored or quickly forgotten, the BASIC research project supported individual and then collective analysis of common problems and crucially, possible solutions. Research participants developed an action plan to address the issue of unauthorised photos and videos. They ran a social media campaign which generated huge public support, validating research participants’ perspectives and resulting in invitations to appear on prime-time TV panel shows. Social assistance providers were put under significant pressure to change their practices. The research participants produced merchandise (e.g. caps and high-vis vests) which were used by social assistance providers and serve as a physical reminder of public pledges to change.

Reflecting on this Harem said, ‘Witnessing the remarkable public response to our campaign was truly uplifting, especially as two city governors and the minister of social affairs from different political parties actively endorsed the campaign with an uncommon display of unity, possibly fuelled by the impending election.’

The hope, enthusiasm, and boundless energy produced by the successful campaign is now being harnessed to advocate for legislative reform, something research participants would not have dreamed possible at the start of the project.

Strategic priority 5: Creating a sustainable, resilient and effective organisation

Accessibility advocates open doors to positive change at IDS and beyond

The IDS Accessible Communications Group (ACG) has been driving organisational change by informing leadership and facilitating capacity building through advocacy and awarenessraising over the last 16 months. This has resulted in tangible operational changes to key outputs and processes that has seen accessibility shift from a voluntary effort to become part of IDS values in practice. Proactively making content, communications and the workplace accessible showcases a commitment to users both within and outside of IDS. The ACG has taken concrete actions to coordinate and standardise accessibility, including in-house training for staff and students to build accessibility principles into websites, publications, social media, and events right from the start, rather than as an additional step. To ensure

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consistency, IDS now has introduced an accessible Word template into new staff inductions. The Publications Team has also produced two eBooks in new formats that meet future European legislation accessibility standards.

This organisational change process to promote equity and inclusion and enhance learning to reach a wider audience, builds upon a presentation to senior leadership in October 2022. The presentation advocated for enhanced accessibility across IDS content, to go beyond legal reasonable adjustments and make outputs accessible by default.

Following this, a campaign for Global Accessibility Awareness Day 2023, inspired a number of accessibility initiatives across the organisation, including the creation of an accessibility knowledge hub designed to help embed accessibility into projects. The IDS website was audited, upgraded, and an accessibility statement was added. Events included signlanguage interpreters, live stenographers, and were designed with accessibility in mind from the very beginning. By December 2024, key IDS publications such as the annual report, the IDS Bulletin journal, and working papers will include visual descriptions for images and be checked against accessibility criteria.

The ACG has also communicated our work beyond the institute. In June 2023, a group of university leaders from the Greater Mekong Subregion and Timor-Leste made a high-profile visit to IDS for an immersive workshop in gender equity, diversity and inclusivity within higher education. The ACG shared the initiatives taking place at IDS around accessibility and received some encouraging feedback, including one participant who reflected that this session would be ‘incorporate[ed] in my curriculum design organisation of events and research’. Another stated ‘I really liked the accessibility group presentation. It really enlightens me. I will definitely do forward planning for accessibility in future project activities’.

Breaking down barriers, building capacity to make the IDS Bulletin multilingual

In autumn 2023, IDS published an edition of the IDS Bulletin ‘Knowledge in Times of Crisis: Transforming Research-to-Policy Approaches’, which featured the greatest number of translated articles, in various languages, and required a new approach to editorial coordination and process. The IDS Bulletin’s multilingual expansion has impacted institutional processes by demonstrating that accessibility and inclusion efforts have the potential to increase the spread of our engagement, and provided a model for how other publications and communications activities can implement translation to enhance equity and inclusion.

The Issue Editors put out an open call for multilingual submissions for this issue, funded by the IDRC CORE project and focused on equitable pandemic responses in the global South. They aimed to facilitate opportunities for authors from diverse backgrounds to publish academic work in their native languages, rather than solely in English, something few academic journals have done. The resulting publication featured a table of contents and introductory chapter in English, French and Spanish, as well as three fully translated articles in French, Spanish and Arabic. Social media content was also published in four languages.

The IDS Publications Team adapted and evolved translation workflows to handle French, Spanish and Arabic content alongside English. New copy-editors were brought in to streamline translation and formatting processes, and new multilingual guidelines have been formalised. Enabling authors to publish in their own languages breaks down barriers and opens avenues to reach wider audiences. The multilingual issue garnered enthusiastic reception, with download statistics since publication demonstrating the demand for multilingual academic content. The translated introductory chapter represented 32 per cent

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Trustees’ report

(French) and 31 per cent (Spanish) of 800 total downloads. The Spanish version of the chapter Resilience in the Time of a Pandemic: Developing Public Policies for Ollas Comunes in Peru, accounted for 50 per cent of its 566 total downloads.

Editorial systems are now in place to publish a higher target of translated content, to better serve diverse global research communities.

Raising the bar on wellbeing, community and sustainability – the IDS Bar & Kitchen

The IDS Bar & Kitchen continues to demonstrate institutional commitment to sustainability, community and staff wellbeing. In the last year the IDS Bar & Kitchen has been a space for the IDS community to reflect on the importance of nutrition for wellbeing, hosting lunch and learn events on sustainable eating and food waste, nutrition and sleep. There has also been a variety of events, such as a Diwali party, a Christmas Market, a Mexican Day of the Dead party and a Burns Night, in celebration of our diverse cultures. These are especially important for our one-year MA community, helping to support friendships and networks.

A range of sustainability and ingredient standards schemes have been implemented in the restaurant, including:

3.3 Future plans

We are now one year away from the final year of our 2020–25 Strategy, Transforming knowledge, transforming lives , which was launched in June 2020.

Strategic Goals

The strategy sets out five priorities. These will continue to help us respond to the unprecedented disruptions and shocks of our era, whether in the form of epidemics or those that are environmental, economic, political, social and technological in nature. They are:

Collaborating across sciences, sectors and communities to do research that brings about progressive change

The way in which research is undertaken matters. We will collaborate innovatively across social, natural, medical and other sciences, as well as with governments, non-governmental organisations, civil society and communities to generate and apply evidence in ways that ultimately make a difference to people’s lives.

We are committed to:

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global challenges. We will bring insights into the cultural, social, economic and political realities that, for example, enable or prevent people from acting on health advice, benefitting from improved public services, or holding decision makers to account through new mobile technologies.

Building future leadership for development

To respond to global challenges, we need new generations of informed and knowledgeable leaders and champions - from Presidents and Ambassadors to intellectuals and activists to entrepreneurs and journalists. We will strengthen, expand and extend the opportunities for learning through our world-renowned postgraduate degrees, PhD research programme, and professional development courses for development practitioners and decision makers.

We are committed to:

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expand the reach, excellence and equity of our learning and teaching. We will also collaborate with the University of Sussex in the provision of online distance learning.

Championing the use of evidence for social and environmental justice

We will redouble our efforts to underline the value of evidence in decision-making in this post-truth era, and in bringing evidence to bear on policy and practice in ways that improve people’s lives. Across our research, learning and teaching programmes, we will build on our well-established approaches to understanding how power and politics shape the generation and use of evidence.

We are committed to:

Working with partners to expand international research and mutual learning networks for development

We will advocate for greater investment by funders, governments, civil society, academic institutions and others in equitable and sustainable partnerships that generate knowledge that is shaped by diverse perspectives. We will promote mutual learning, exchange and knowledge generation through the establishment of regional networks that challenge entrenched behaviours and attitudes about whose knowledge counts and that actively shape new development research and learning agendas.

We are committed to:

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INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES Trustees’ report

learning, with the aim of meeting both domestic development priorities and influencing development agendas internationally.

Creating a sustainable, resilient and equitable institution

We seek to be excellent, inclusive, resourceful and respectful across all of our work, and to contribute to the change we want to see not just through our research, learning and teaching activities, but in the way our organisation operates and in which we support and nurture our people.

We are committed to:

3.4 Quality, impact and public benefit

Our research, as demonstrated elsewhere in this report, developed and undertaken in partnership continues to make a real contribution to tackling some of the world’s most pressing global challenges, including the intersecting crises of climate change, conflict and Covid-19.

Our research activity is subject to formal peer review and scrutiny to test its quality and to demonstrate its value and impact. This includes scrutiny by the Fellowship Review and Promotion Board (FRPB), who review the performance of each researcher on a four-yearly cycle, and extensive and demanding scrutiny by funders. A significant proportion of the contracts IDS receives are awarded based on open competition. Almost without exception, contracts include appropriately demanding expectations for reporting and engagement and requirements for accountability.

Part of the Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (MEL) framework built to assess progress against our new strategy attends specifically to measuring the value and impact of our work.

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This framework sits alongside programme-specific monitoring and evaluation frameworks required by individual funders and an institutional quarterly profile report which measures the reach and engagement with our work from key audiences and beneficiaries. A MEL report is prepared for the Board on a yearly basis.

In March 2024, the University of Sussex with IDS was ranked first for development studies in the world for the eighth consecutive year by the QS World University Rankings. The ranking reflects the academic reputation, quality, impact and range of international development research undertaken and courses delivered by departments and organisations across the Sussex campus.

Highlights from the past financial year include:

IDS continues to be committed to knowledge as a public good. Our flagship publication the IDS Bulletin is an open access and peer-reviewed journal exploring emerging international development challenges which works hard to ensure that it has a high proportion of contributors to the journal from the global South. We also make all our publications, where possible and in line with funder requirements and compliance, available on our open access institutional repository.

IDS has an extensive range of global networks and communications channels. We have an active social media following with more than 363,000 followers on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Instagram up from 343,000 in 2023. More than 22,000 individuals subscribe to our newsletters, and the IDS website has more than one million page views each year.

IDS is committed to collaborating with partners to deliver world-class research, learning and teaching that transforms the knowledge, action and leadership needed for more equitable and sustainable development globally.

The Trustees have had due regard to the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit when considering IDS’ objectives and planning its activities.

Specifically, IDS carries out its charitable objectives through:

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By focusing on these areas IDS aims to contribute to a more equitable and sustainable world, where people everywhere can live their lives free from poverty and injustice.

To help ensure IDS’ work is properly informed by the needs, experiences and views of the target beneficiaries and users of its work, IDS:

Examples of IDS’ contribution to public benefit in 2023-24 have been included throughout this report. Some of the key public benefit achievements are:

3.5 Structure, governance and management

Constitution

IDS is a registered charity and company limited by guarantee and does not have share capital. The Trustees have no financial interest in the Institute’s income funds or assets and receive no remuneration for acting as Trustees. Trustees who are employees only receive remuneration for their service as employees. The Board of Trustees is constituted as follows:

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IDS is governed by its Articles of Association as approved by its Board of Trustees and last updated in December 2020.

Trustees’ liability

In the event of the charity being wound up, Trustees and those within one year of ceasing to be a Trustee are required to contribute an amount not exceeding £1.

Trustees

The Trustees as at 31 March 2024 were as listed under the reference and administrative information on page 2. The following changes occurred during the year:

Resignation or end of term of office:

Appointed:

New Trustees are appointed by the members based on nominations received from employees and current Trustees as well as responses to public advertisements. The Nominations Committee is responsible for screening candidates and making recommendations to the Board of Trustees. The Board has agreed that the Trustees should reflect the diversity of the Institute’s objectives and geographical remit and have relevant skills and knowledge and aims to make appointments on that basis.

New Trustees undergo an induction process to familiarise themselves with the Institute’s work and their legal responsibilities and duties. Appropriate training is provided to Trustees on an ongoing basis.

Organisation

The IDS Board of Trustees meets three times a year or more often if required. The Board has established the following sub-committees:

Resources, Audit and Risk Committee (RARC) meets three times a year or more often if required and has responsibility for oversight of finance, administrative matters, and strategic Human Resources issues, reviewing the results from internal audit work and maintaining an overview of the risk and control environment. The Terms of Reference of the Resources, Audit and Risk Committee allows for three non-trustee members who bring additional expertise and experience.

Nominations and Governance Committee meets as necessary and is responsible for identifying potential Trustee candidates and making recommendations to the Board of Trustees on potential appointments.

Remuneration Committee meets as necessary and is responsible for maintaining an overview of senior staff remuneration; determining the remuneration of the Director and senior staff.

Programme Advisory and Review Committee (PARC) meets twice a year and is responsible for maintaining an overview of the academic health and performance of the Institute; providing assurance to the Board that mechanisms and systems are in place for effective management and delivery of research, teaching and knowledge activity; and for scrutinising and advising the Board on progress towards the relevant strategic goals and key themes.

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The day-to-day running of the Institute is delegated to the Director who leads the SLG. During 2023-24 the SLG met monthly. Membership comprises the Director, the Director of Finance and Operations/Company Secretary, the Director of Research, the Director of Teaching and Learning, the Director of Communications and Impact and the Director of Human Resources.

Employees

The charity strives to be an equal opportunities employer and aims to ensure that no job applicant or employee receives less favourable treatment on the grounds of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion and belief, sex and sexual orientation. The Board currently includes two Staff Trustees and there is provision for three. They are appointed by the Board following a staff election to nominate them for consideration for appointment. The charity works closely with the two recognised Unions – University College Union and Unison. Joint Negotiating Committees (JNC) are held regularly with the recognised Unions. All staff meetings are held at least three times year to discuss the financial results, budget and forecasts. Decisions which are likely to affect their interests are discussed and explained at these all-staff meetings and also at JNCs. Awareness of the financial and economic factors such as the ODA cuts and inflation are examined in these forums. Employee involvement in the performance is achieved via the Fellow incentive scheme and an all-staff bonus. Both reward good financial performance of an individual or as a group. SLG reports monthly via email to all staff following the regular meeting to keep all employees abreast of any developments, opportunities and issues that affect the charity and the employees themselves. We also engage with a number of employee groups such as the Equality and Diversity group to ensure we are living our values and these are highlighted further in our impact stories under Strategic Priority 5.

Remuneration

The IDS Remuneration Committee described above meets as necessary. The Committee takes account of data on national pay trends. It benefits from the contribution of a senior independent member with significant relevant experience in Higher Education reward.

IDS operates a ten-grade salary scale, with a mixture of automatic incremental progression for the lower grades and performance-related pay. Department and Team Heads, Cluster Leaders and the Director are responsible for agreeing performance-related incremental progression within the scale for each grade. IDS is currently reviewing its reward framework to ensure it is fit for purpose. We also commission regular salary surveys to benchmark against other organisations and markets, and an equal pay review.

The salaries of the key management personnel of IDS are disclosed in note 5 to the financial statements. The members of the SLG are considered to be the key management personnel of the Institute.

Relationship with the University of Sussex

IDS is based in a building on the University of Sussex campus. We have a partnership arrangement with the University and there are a number of shared services.

The Vice-Chancellor is an ex-officio member of the Board of Trustees and we have representation on subcommittees of the Board of Trustees from Sussex.

Related party transactions are disclosed in note 18 to the financial statements.

3.6 Financial report for the year

Under the charity’s memorandum and articles of association no part of the income or property of the charity can be distributed to the members.

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This year the financial challenges have continued with IDS affected again by the reduction in UK Government spending on ODA and ongoing cost pressures reflecting the inflationary environment. Student numbers are also under continued pressure, particularly those of our overseas students, where changes to visa requirements have impacted arrivals.

IDS has ended the year reporting a deficit of £3.1m (2023: £0.1m) including unrealised gains. This was split between restricted deficit of £2.0m (2023: £0.8m) resulting from timing differences between recognition of income and expenditure, and an unrestricted deficit of £1.1m (2023: surplus £0.1m), resulting from the pressures noted above.

On the positive side the new valuation for the USS pension fund on 31[st] March 2024 shows a much-improved position and it is now in surplus. This has resulted in the deficit of £7.9m being removed from our balance sheet and contributions having reduced from January 2024.

Total income for the year was £26.3m, a decrease of £5.5m from 2023. The decrease can be broken down into a decrease of £5.3m in commissioned studies and research income and £0.2m in teaching income. Correspondingly costs have reduced by £2.0m in research expenditure. Teaching costs remained stable and support costs have increased by £0.6m this year. The increase in support costs is due to cost-of-living increases plus investments in projects to improve IDS practice including reward, EDI and governance reviews. A lot of work has been done to remain efficient and effective whilst controlling our support costs. Overall, as a percentage of total costs, our support costs are 16 per cent (2023: 13 per cent).

The graph below shows the income and expenditure over the last three years.

Balance sheet

Net current assets totalled £8.4m (2023: £15.7m) with £5.9m (2023: £12.2m) held as current asset investments. Investments classified as fixed assets totalled £4.4m (2023: nil).

Total reserves were £13.4m (2023: £8.6m) consisting of £9.0m of unrestricted funds (2023 - £2.1m (after pension liability), £10.0m before the pension liability), and £4.4m (2023: £6.4m) restricted funds.

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The graph below shows change in the balance sheet over the last three years

Financial reserves policy

The Board of Trustees reviews the level of reserves regularly in line with its Reserves Policy. The policy was reviewed and updated in 2023/24.

The aim of IDS’ Reserves Policy is to ensure that its ongoing and future activities are reasonably protected from unexpected short-term variances in income and expenditure. Total funds at 31 March 2024 were £13.5m which is made up of:

The reserves are held under several different categories:

The Institute has two designated funds which are held separately from the general funds. Each of these has a specific purpose as designated by the Trustees. An explanation of each reserve and when it would be expected to be spent:

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The general funds of the Institute are held to meet the cash flow of the Institute should there be an unexpected fall in its income or funding.

The RARC and the Board of Trustees regularly review the level of reserves and the reserves policy. It is their view that a minimum of £6m should be held in reserve to ensure the work of the organisation can continue without disruption in adverse circumstances. This amount has been calculated after reviewing the organisation’s risk register and determining the greatest threats to income, expenditure and assets as well as considering costs if the Institute was closed. Total general reserves as at 31 March 2024 were £8.3m. Whilst the level of reserves is currently over the minimum target, the Trustees recognise that there is considerable uncertainty in the external environment at present impacting UK Government and other aid funding, inflation and student numbers, all of which would have a significant financial impact. The reserves are an important factor in the Institute’s resilience and ongoing financial sustainability when dealing with these uncertainties.

Investment policy

Investment performance is regularly reviewed by the Trustees. The investment policy was last approved by Trustees in December 2022 and has two main objectives which are to preserve the capital value of its reserves, whilst ensuring there is sufficient cash to meet short term needs. In order to preserve the capital value of its reserves an amount equivalent to the value of the Institute’s minimum unrestricted reserve (or 50% of the total cash balance) is held in a long-term investment with a reputable investment manager.

Using agreed instruments, a return of £0.4m (2023: £0.3m) was achieved in 2024. In addition, a gain of £0.5m (2023: 0.0m) has been recognised in respect of long-term investments.

Fundraising

All IDS fundraising activity is carried out by IDS staff. IDS does not use external professional fundraisers or have any commercial participators. All fundraising activities are managed by the Head of Fundraising and Development with oversight by the Director of Research and the Board of Trustees. All who work in fundraising receive training on a regular basis from organisations such as British Overseas NGOs for Development (BOND), Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) and Institute of Fundraising.

No complaints relating to fundraising activities have been received by the Institute during this financial period (2023/24) (2022/23: none). IDS is a member of the Fundraising Regulator which is an independent non-statutory body that regulates fundraising across the charitable sector in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. IDS sets appropriate standards for the operation and management of its fundraising activities in line with the Code of Fundraising Practice. In respect of fundraising, the guidance on the implication of the Covid-19 pandemic suggests that charities ought to review how the pandemic has impacted on the charity’s ability to fundraise. As such, our plans are to continue to diversify our level of fundraising including through innovative online events. IDS would not approach any person that it had reasonable grounds to believe, in the course of its engagement with the individual, was a vulnerable person.

Accounting for pensions

The charity SORP requires that charities make provision for the value of their pension fund liabilities on their balance sheet. At 31[st] March 2024 IDS had no pension deficits to account for (2023: deficit of £7.9m). More detail on pensions is provided in note 16 to the accounts.

Going concern

The Institute is funded through income from charitable activities in relation to commissioned studies and research, together with teaching income.

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The Trustees have assessed the Institute’s ability to continue as a going concern. The Trustees considered several factors when forming their conclusion as to whether the use of the going concern basis is appropriate when preparing these financial statements. These factors have included the key risks and uncertainties in the context of the Institute’s operations, the current pipeline, a review of the budget and forecasts including scenarios based on differing levels of funding and student numbers.

The two key monetary risks to IDS are UK Government aid research funding cuts and implications arising from the election.

The Institute’s student numbers were affected during the pandemic and are still under pressure as the UK University sector sees drops in international students. A substantial marketing campaign has continued to maximise student recruitment.

IDS had a difficult year financially in 2023/24 with continued uncertainly around funding, student numbers and increased costs.

The Institute decreased its general reserve by £1.1m with total free reserves of £8.3m at the year end. This is more than the target free reserves level and provides a solid foundation for the Institute. We expect there to be ongoing impacts due to the election, funding pressure and pressure on student numbers. The Board will be reviewing the use of these reserves. We would look to invest in future capacity building and diversifying funding whilst not baking in costs that impact our competitiveness in the future, whilst working towards a break-even position within two to three years.

Having regard to the above, the Trustees believe it is appropriate to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.

3.7 Principal risks

The Trustees are responsible for the effective management of risk including approving the overall risk management policy and ensuring that a sound system of internal financial controls is in place and operating as designed. This will safeguard the charity’s assets including its reputation.

IDS has established an ongoing process for identifying, evaluating and managing the charity’s key risks and systems that have been established to mitigate those risks. The systems of internal control are designed to provide reasonable, but not absolute, assurance against material misstatement or loss.

In particular there are clear procedures, roles and responsibilities for:

The Resources, Audit and Risk Committee (RARC), on behalf of the Trustees, keeps the key strategic and operational risks IDS faces under regular review, the control environment and the systems and procedures in place to mitigate the risks. The Committee is supported in this work through access to expert advice and internal audit review from Crowe U.K. LLP. Internal audit findings are reported directly to the RARC and Trustees.

Financial risk management covers areas such as price risk, exchange risk, credit control risk, liquidity and interest rate cash flow risk. Each year, the RARC considers a report that details major areas of financial strategy and progress in addressing key financial issues.

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The most significant risks which impact IDS together with details of how they are being mitigated and managed are set out in the table below.

Risk Mitigation and actions
General reduction in ODA particularly, but
not only in relation to the UK Government.		 We are working closely with funders to ensure
activities and budgets cover our costs. There
have been a record number of proposals this
year and we are awaiting outcomes on many of
them. We are actively seeking to secure new
funds and diversify our funding base. In prior
years we earmarked £2m of reserves to deal
with the impact of the cuts and the pandemic.
We have now had to utilise some of those
reserves. We will continue to monitor forecast
and budgets particularly our pipeline and
diversity of funding.
Issues with digital technologies and cyber
security causing us to be unable to function
efficiently and effectively.		 The increased attacks on organisations
including educational establishments have
resulted an increased risk overall. We have
achieved Cyber Security Essentials plus
certification and our cyber security workplan is
regularly reviewed by RARC and the Board. We
have implemented a plan to ensure all
operating systems are up to date and have put
in place insurance to assist with recovery from
any IT security issue.
Risks and opportunities arising from the
general election in the UK		 A general election took place on 4th July in the
UK. There is now a period of uncertainty while
the new government transitions into power and
decides its priorities going forward. This will
affect our funding, FCDO and issues such as
student numbers and immigration going
forward.

3.8 Safeguarding

We have had two safeguarding reports made to the IDS Board of Trustees between 1 April 2023 and the 31 March 2024. We have had a further report made on the 20 May 2024 and as the incident happened in January 2024 we have reported it here.

The reports and incidents were:

8 June 2023 – student complaints of sexual harassment. This was investigated, together with the University of Sussex who are responsible for IDS students, and support and additional training put in place. The Board decided this did not meet the criteria for reporting to the Charity Commission.

16 October 2023 – complaint of domestic abuse. This was fully investigated. The Board decided this did not meet the criteria for reporting to the Charity Commission.

20 May 2024 – complaint of student feeling unsafe due to their religious beliefs. Incident was managed and has been resolved. The Board decided this did not meet the criteria for reporting to the Charity Commission.

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Trustees’ report

3.9 Statement of Trustees’ responsibilities

The Trustees are also directors of IDS for the purposes of company law. They are responsible for preparing the trustees’ report and financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

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

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

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

The Trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity 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 charity and for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

Each of the Trustees confirms that:

The Trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of financial information included on the charity’s website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

This Annual Report of the Trustees under the Charities Act 2011 and the Companies Act 2006, was approved by the Board of Trustees on 14 July 2022, including approving in their capacity as company directors the Strategic Report contained therein, and is signed as authorised on its behalf by:

Deepak Nayyar Chair of the Board of Trustees Approved by the Trustees on: 18 July 2024

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INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members of The Institute of Development Studies

4. Independent auditor’s report

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of The Institute of Development Studies (‘the charitable company’) for the year ended 31 March 2024 which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities, the Balance Sheet, the Cash Flow Statement and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102, The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion the financial statements:

Basis for opinion

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

Conclusions relating to going concern

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

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charitable company's ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorized 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 trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. The other information comprises the information included in the annual report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge

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

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

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

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In light of the knowledge and understanding of the charitable company and their environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material mis-statements in the strategic report or the directors’ report included within the trustees’ report.

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

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement [set out on page 27], 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.

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

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

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

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Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members of The Institute of Development Studies

be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

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

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

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

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We identified and assessed the risks of material mis-statement of the financial statements from irregularities, whether due to fraud or error, and discussed these between our audit team members. We then designed and performed audit procedures responsive to those risks, including obtaining audit evidence sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.

We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory frameworks within which the charitable company operates, focusing on those laws and regulations that have a direct effect on the determination of material amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. The laws and regulations we considered in this context were the Companies Act 2006 together with the Charities SORP (FRS 102). We assessed the required compliance with these laws and regulations as part of our audit procedures on the related financial statement items.

In addition, we considered provisions of other laws and regulations that do not have a direct effect on the financial statements but compliance with which might be fundamental to the charitable company’s ability to operate or to avoid a material penalty. We also considered the opportunities and incentives that may exist within the charitable company for fraud. The laws and regulations we considered in this context for the UK operations was the Office for Student Regulations, General Data Protection Regulations, health and safety legislation and employment legislation. We also considered compliance with local legislation for the charity’s overseas operations.

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

We identified the greatest risk of material impact on the financial statements from irregularities, including fraud, to be within the timing of recognition of grant income, expenditure incurred with partners and the override of controls by management. Our audit procedures to respond to these risks included enquiries of management, Data Protection Officer and the Resource, Audit and Risk Committee about their own identification and assessment of the risks of irregularities, sample testing on the posting of journals, reviewing accounting estimates for biases, reviewing regulatory correspondence with the Charity Commission, reviewing due diligence assessment performed on partners and reading minutes of meetings of those charged with governance.

Owing to the inherent limitations of an audit, there is an unavoidable risk that we may not have detected some material mis-statements in the financial statements, even though we have properly planned and performed our audit in accordance with auditing standards. For example, the further removed non-compliance with laws and regulations (irregularities) is from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, the less likely the

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Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members of The Institute of Development Studies

inherently limited procedures required by auditing standards would identify it. In addition, as with any audit, there remained a higher risk of non-detection of irregularities, as these may involve collusion, forgery, intentional omissions, misrepresentations, or the override of internal controls. We are not responsible for preventing non-compliance and cannot be expected to detect non-compliance with all laws and regulations.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charitable company’s members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. 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.

Ob—

Guy Biggin Senior Statutory Auditor For and on behalf of

Crowe U.K. LLP

Statutory Auditor

London

Date: 21 August 2024

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Statement of Financial Activities for the year ended 31 March 2024

5. Statement of financial activities for the year ended 31 March 2024

5.Statement of financial activitiesfor theyear ended 31 March 2024
Notes
Income from:
. Donations and legacies
Charitable activities:
. Commissioned studies
and research
1
. Tuition fees
. Publications, catering and
accommodation
. Investments
2
Total income
Expenditure on:
Raising funds
3
Charitable activities
. Commissioned studies
and research
3
. Teaching costs
3
. Publications, catering and
accommodation
3
. Interest payable-pension
provision
17
Total expenditure
3
Net gains on investments
Net expenditure
Transfers between funds
14
Other recognised gains
Actuarial gain on defined
benefit pension schemes
17
Net movement in funds
Fund balances at 1 April
2023
Balances carried forward
at 31 March 2024		 Unrestricted
funds
£’000
Restricted
funds
£’000
2024
Total
funds
£’000
2023
Total
funds
£’000
-
34
34
195
7,156
14,351
21,507
26,895
3,913
-
3,913
4,062
388
-
388
312
306
113
419
298
11,763
14,498
26,261
31,762
61
-
61
53
8,655
16,424
25,079
27,036
3,931
86
4,017
3,994
621
-
621
567
-
-
-
249
13,268
16,510
29,778
31,899
450
-
450
-
(1,055)
(2,012)
(3,067)
(137)
17
(17)
-
-
7,865
-
7,865
1,654
6,827
(2,029)
4,798
1,517
2,185
6,422
8,607
7,090
9,012
4,393
13,405
8,607

There is no difference between the net income stated above and the historical cost equivalent. All the charity’s activities derived from continuing operations during the above two financial periods.

The charity has no recognised gains and losses other than those shown above and therefore no separate statement of total recognised gains and losses has been presented.

32

INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES Balance sheet as at 31 March 2024

6. Balance sheet as at 31 March 2024

2024 2024 2023 2023
Notes £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Fixed assets
Tangible assets 7 681 777
Investments 8 4,450 -
5,131 777
Current assets
Debtors 9 6,965 7,456
Investments 10 5,891 12,261
Cash at bank and in hand 2,454 2,707
15,310 22,424
Creditors:amounts
falling due within one year 11 (6,944) (6,639)
Net current assets 8,366 15,785
Creditors:amounts
falling due after one year 12 (92) (90)
Net assets excluding
pension liabilities 13,405 16,472
Defined benefit pension
liability 17 - (7,865)
Total net assets 13,405 8,607
Represented by:
funds 14
Income funds:
Unrestricted funds
•
Designated funds		 709 788
•
General reserve		 8,303 9,262
9,012 10,050
•
Pension reserve		 - (7,865)
9,012 2,185
Restricted funds 4,393 6,422
13,405 8,607

Approved and authorised for issue by the Board of Trustees and signed on their behalf by:

D Nayyar N Clayton Trustee Trustee

Company registration number 877338 (England and Wales) Approved on: 18 July 2024

33

INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES

Notes to the financial statements: Year ended 31 March 2024

7. Cash flow statement for the year to 31 March 2024

Notes
Net cash outflow from operating activities
A
Cash flows from investing activities:
Interest received
Interest paid
Purchase of tangible fixed assets
Purchase of investments
Sale of investments
Net decrease in cash
B
Cash balances at 1 April 2023
B
Cash balances at 31 March 2024
B		 2024
£’000
(2,872)

419
-
(170)
(5,390)
7,760
2,619

(253)
2,707

2,454		 2023
£’000
(1,743)
298
(249)
(121)
(1,746)
2,600
782
(961)
3,668
2,707

Notes to the cash flow statement for the year to 31 March 2024

A Reconciliation of net movement in funds to net cash outflow from the Institute’s activities

Net movement in funds
Investment income
Interest payable on pension liability
Loss on disposal of fixed assets
Depreciation
Decrease in debtors
Increase/(decrease) in creditors
Investment gain
Decrease in pension liability provision
Net cash outflow from the Institute’s activities		 2024
£’000
4,798
(419)
-
21
245
491
307
(450)
(7,865)
**(2,872) **		 2023
£’000
1,517
(298)
249
1
246
74
(1,602)
-
(1,930)
(1,743)
B
Analysis of changes in cash
Cash at bank and in hand		 At
1 April
2023
£’000
2,707		 Cash
flows
£’000
(253)		 At
31 March
2024
£’000
2,454

34

INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES Notes to the financial statements: Year ended 31 March 2024

8. Notes to the financial statements

Status of the company / charity

The company/charity was incorporated on 20 April 1966 in England and Wales, as The Institute of Development Studies and is limited by the guarantee of its members. The guarantee of each member is restricted to £1 sterling. The address of the registered office is: Andrew Cohen Building, University of Sussex, Brighton BN1 9RE and its registration number is 877338.

Basis of preparation

The financial statements have been prepared on a going concern basis under the historical cost convention as modified by the revaluation of the current asset investments, and in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic or Ireland (FRS 102 (effective 1 January 2015) – (Charities SORP (FRS 102)), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Companies Act 2006.

The Institute of Development Studies meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102.

The financial statements are presented in pounds sterling which is also the functional currency of the charity.

Going concern

The Institute is funded through income from charitable activities in relation to commissioned studies and research, together with teaching income.

The Trustees have assessed the Institute’s ability to continue as a going concern. The Trustees considered several factors when forming their conclusion as to whether the use of the going concern basis is appropriate when preparing these financial statements. These factors have included the key risks and uncertainties in the context of the Institute’s operations, the current pipeline, a review of the budget and forecasts including scenarios based on differing levels of funding and student numbers.

The two key monetary risks to IDS are UK Government aid research funding cuts and implications arising from the election.

The Institute’s student numbers were affected during the pandemic and are still under pressure as the UK University sector see’s drops in international students. A substantial marketing campaign has continued to maximise student recruitment.

IDS had a difficult year financially in 2023/24 with continued uncertainly around funding, student numbers and increased costs.

The Institute decreased its general reserve by £1.1m with total free reserves of £8.3m at the year end. This is more than the target free reserves level and provides a solid foundation for the Institute. We expect there to be ongoing impacts due to the election, funding pressure and pressure on student numbers. The Board will be reviewing the use of these reserves. We would look to invest in future capacity building and diversifying funding whilst not baking in costs that impact our competitiveness in the future whilst working towards a break-even position within two or three years.

Having regard to the above, the Trustees believe it is appropriate to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.

35

INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES Notes to the financial statements: Year ended 31 March 2024

Income

Incoming resources are recognised when the Institute becomes entitled to the income, the amount can be measured reliably, and it is probable that the Institute will receive the funds.

Incoming resources receivable under contracts for services provided are recognised to the extent that the relevant work has been performed. Income received in advance of work performed is deferred.

Grant income is recognised in full when the Institute becomes entitled to the income, it is probable that the income will be received, and the amount can be measured reliably.

Investment income is recognised when receivable.

Expenditure

All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all costs related to that category. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to particular headings, they have been allocated to activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources. Central overhead costs are allocated to operational functions based on their use of central support services.

Support costs, which include the central office functions such as governance, general management, payroll administration, budgeting and accounting, information technology, human resources and financing are allocated across the categories of charitable expenditure. The basis of the cost allocation is explained in note 4 to the financial statements.

Redundancy and settlement payments are recognised once the member of staff has been informed. The cost is measured at the best estimate of expenditure required to settle the obligation at the reporting date.

Incentive scheme

Any payments due to staff under incentive schemes are provided for as research costs in the financial year in which they are earned. The amounts are not disclosed as staff costs until the financial year in which they are paid.

Foreign currencies

Assets and liabilities in foreign currencies are translated into sterling at the rates of exchange ruling at the balance sheet date. Transactions in foreign currencies are translated into sterling at the rate of exchange ruling at the date of transaction for income received and at the closing rate for the month in which other transactions take place. Exchange differences are taken into account in the net movement in funds.

Tangible fixed assets and depreciation

Tangible fixed assets are included at cost and only furniture and equipment greater than £500 are capitalised.

Depreciation is calculated to write down the cost of all tangible fixed assets by equal annual instalments over their estimated useful lives.

The periods generally applicable are:

Fixed asset investments

Fixed asset investments are stated at fair value with gains and losses being recognised within income and expenditure. Investment cash is held for investment purposes only. It is the intention of the Trustees that fixed asset investments will not be drawn upon within the

36

INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES Notes to the financial statements: Year ended 31 March 2024

following year.

Current asset investments

Investments are included at amortised cost at the balance sheet date.

Basic financial instruments

IDS 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. Financial assets held at amortised cost comprise cash at bank and in hand, together with trade and other debtors. Financial liabilities held at amortised cost comprise bank loans and overdrafts, trade and other creditors.

At the Balance Sheet date the charity held financial assets at amortised cost of £19.2m (2023 – £22.0m) and financial liabilities at amortised cost of £4.1m (2023 - £3.7m).

Critical accounting judgements and key sources of estimation uncertainty

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

The estimates and assumptions are reviewed on an on-going basis. Revisions to accounting estimates are recognised in the period in which the estimate is revised if the revision affects the current and future periods.

The key sources of estimation uncertainty that involve areas of significant judgement in the financial statements are described in the accounting policies and are summarised below:

Pension liabilities – the charity recognises its liability to its defined benefit pension schemes which involve a number of estimations as disclosed in note 17 to the accounts.

Contributions to pension funds

The charity participates in four pension schemes: a National Employment Savings Trust Scheme (NEST), the IDS Pension and Savings Scheme (SPSS), the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) and the University of Sussex Pension and Assurance Scheme (USPAS).

The IDS’ casual workers are auto enrolled into a National Employment Savings Trust Scheme (NEST) which is a defined contribution scheme. During the year there were £0 contributions (2022- £0).

In November 2018, a new pension scheme was implemented for new professional services staff. All new professional service staff are auto enrolled into the IDS Pension and Savings Scheme (SPSS) which is a defined contribution scheme.

IDS participates in Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS). The scheme is a hybrid pension scheme, providing defined benefits (for all members), as well as defined contribution benefits. The assets of the scheme are held in a separate trustee-administered fund. Because of the mutual nature of the scheme, the assets are not attributed to individual institutions and a scheme-wide contribution rate is set. IDS is therefore exposed to actuarial risks associated with other institutions’ employees and is unable to identify its share of the underlying assets and liabilities of the scheme on a consistent and reasonable basis. As required by Section 28 of FRS 102 “Employee benefits”, IDS therefore accounts for the scheme as if it were a wholly defined contribution scheme. As a result, the amount charged to the profit and loss account represents the contributions payable to the scheme.

The other scheme, the University of Sussex Pension and Assurance Scheme, (USPAS) is a

37

INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES Notes to the financial statements: Year ended 31 March 2024

multi-employer defined benefit pension scheme providing benefits based on final pensionable pay and career revalued benefits.

IDS accounted for USS and USPAS by charging all contributions to the statement of financial activities (SOFA) as incurred. Both pensions had a surplus at the last valuation date. The surplus has not been recognised in the financial statements as both schemes are accounted for as multi-employer schemes.

Fund accounting

Restricted funds are to be used for specific purposes laid down by the donor. Expenditure for those purposes is charged to the fund, together with a fair allocation of overheads and support costs where permitted by the fund.

Unrestricted funds are incoming resources received or generated for expenditure on the general objectives of the charity.

Designated funds are unrestricted funds, which have been designated for specific purposes by the Trustees.

1. Commissioned studies and research

Commissioned studies and research income was received in the following areas of activity:

UK Government
Foundations
Governments (other)
Research Councils (UK)
Multilateral Organisations
NGOs
Academic Institutions
Consultancy Firms
Other
Total		 2024
Total
£’000
8,848
3,265
2,862
1,777
1,656
1,200
1,007
649
243
21,507		 2023
Total
£’000
10,921
4,007
4,070
3,669
1,167
1,505
856
550
150
26,895
PO 300161-107 Zambia Social Protection Expansion Programme Phase II £103,219
PO 300211-101 ICTD DFID £1,331,179
PO 300552 Child labour Action Research Innovations in Southern and
South Eastern Asia		 £1,942,659
PO 300981 Covid-19 Learning, Evidence and Research for
Bangladesh(CLEAR)		 £1,000,000
PO 400006 K4DD Knowledge for Development and Diplomacy £191,196
PO 40125799 Evidence Fund Covid-19 Social Science Research
Evidence Platform		 £552,997
N/A Engaging China on Global Development Challenges £24,998

38

INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES Notes to the financial statements: Year ended 31 March 2024

2. Investment income

Support
costs
£,000
-
3,078
1,676
166
-
4,920		 2024
Total
£’000
306
113
419
2024
Total
£’000		 2023
Total
£’000
293
5
298
2023
Total
£’000
Interest receivable
Interest receivable – restricted funds
Analysis of total resources expended
Expenditure on raising funds
Costs of generating voluntary income
Expenditure on charitable activities
Commissioned studies and research
Teaching costs
Publications, catering &
accommodation
Interest payable		 Direct
costs
£’000

61
22,001
2,341
455
-
24,858





61
25,079
4,017
621
-		 53
27,036
3,994
567
249
29,778 31,899

3. Analysis of total resources expended

4. Support costs

Support costs
2024 2023
Total Total
£’000 £’000
Finance, computer and technical support 1,171 750
Human resources 958 693
Director’s office 652 581
Premises 607 563
Communications 482 414
Other costs 425 659
Fundraising and partnerships 352 313
Depreciation 245 246
Governance costs 28 27
4,920 4,246

Central support costs are all allocated by income generated by each activity.

39

INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES

Notes to the financial statements: Year ended 31 March 2024

Resources expended include:
Auditor’s remuneration
Audit services
Financial statements audit
Other audit services
Non audit services
Staff and Trustees
Staff costs during the year:
Wages and salaries
Social security
Apprenticeship levy
Other pension costs
Redundancy costs		 2024
Total
£’000


26
10
1
2024
Total
£’000

11,141
1,185
39
1,944
13
14,322		 2023
Total
£’000
25
19
-
2023
Total
£’000
11,079
1,151
37
1,629
23
13,919

5. Staff and Trustees

Redundancy costs for the year are £13,000 which was paid during the year ended 31 March 2024. (2023 - £23,000). All redundancy costs are accounted for in the year in which the individual is notified of their redundancy.

The average number of employees of the charity, including the Trustees who are also paid employees, during the year was 251 (2023 – 260). The emoluments of higher paid employees (including those Trustees who are employees of IDS) fell within the following ranges:

£60,000 to £70,000
£70,001 to £80,000
£80,001 to £90,000
£90,001 to £100,000
£100,001 to £110,000
£110,001 to £120,000
£120,001 to £130,000
£140,001 to £150,000
£160,001 to £170,000		 2024
Number
23
15
5
6
3
1
1
-
1
55		 2023
Number
19
9
6
2
2
2
-
1
-
41

The pension contributions of the higher paid employees, who were all members of a pension scheme to which the charity contributes, amounted to £0.7m (2023 - £0.6m).

The emoluments of the higher paid employees also include any one-off sums on top of basic pay as part of the settlement of the Accumulated Individual Surplus (AIS).

Sixteen members of staff are included in the table or appear in a higher band than their basic pay because of the AIS payments.

40

INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES Notes to the financial statements: Year ended 31 March 2024

The Trustees received no remuneration for their services as Trustees. In accordance with Clause 4 of the Memorandum of Association, Trustees who are also employees received remuneration for their services as employees.

The aggregate emoluments of those Trustees who are also employees of the Institute were £0.3m (2023 - £0.3m) whilst they were Trustees. The Institute paid £41,000k (2023 - £46,000k) pension contributions on their behalf to one of the charity’s defined benefit pension schemes.

The details of the emoluments and pension contributions for Trustees who are also employees of the Institute are shown below:

Employee Emoluments Pension
M Leach £160,000-£165,000 £25,000-£30,000
A Joshi £85,000-£90,000 £10,000-£15,000
M Roberts £55,000-£60,000 £0-£5,000

The emoluments of the highest paid Trustee were £160,000 (2023 - £149,000), and the accrued annual pension at 31 March 2024 was £53,000 (2023 - £49,000); the maximum accrued lump sum was £159,000 (2023 - £148,000).

The key management personnel of the Institute comprise the members of the SLG: the Director, Director of Finance and Operations, Director of Teaching and Learning, Director of Research, Director of Communications and Impact, and Directors of Human Resources. The total employee benefits of the key management personnel of the Institute were £848,000 (2023 - £804,000).

During the year ended 31 March 2024, eight Trustees (2023 – five Trustees) were reimbursed expenses amounting to a total of £4,000 (2023 - £2,000) for travelling to attend Trustees’ meetings.

6. Taxation

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

7. Tangible fixed assets

Tangible fixed assets
Cost
At 1 April 2023
Additions
Disposals
At 31 March 2024
Depreciation
At 1 April 2023
Charge for the year
Eliminated on disposal
At 31 March 2024
Net book values
At 31 March 2024
At 31 March 2023		 Leasehold
improvements
£’000
2,776
77
(85)
2,768
2,159
158
(65)
2,252
516
617		 Furniture and
equipment
£,000

2,012
93
(69)
2,036


1,852
87
(68)
1,871


165
160		 Total
£’000
4,788
170
(154)
4,804
4,011
245
(133)
4,123
681
777

41

INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES Notes to the financial statements: Year ended 31 March 2024

The charity has an agreement with the University of Sussex for the occupation of the buildings until 2068. The charity is depreciating the buildings over the period until 2029 as this corresponds to the period covered by an agreement with the University of Sussex as regards certain occupancy rights.

8. Fixed asset investments

Investments at fair value
COIF Charities Ethical Investment Fund
Additions
Revaluation gain
Value at 31stMarch
Debtors
Amounts falling due within one year:
Trade debtors
Amount due from University of Sussex
Prepayments and accrued income		 2024
£’000
4,000
450
4,450
2024
£’000

2,161
-
4,804
6,965		 2023
£’000
-
-
-
2023
£’000
2,450
147
4,859
7,456

9. Debtors

10. Current asset investments

2024
£’000

5,891
5,891
2024
£’000
2,281
653
3,461
549
6,944		 Total
£’000
Balance at 1 April 2023
Additions
Disposals
Investment income
Balance at 31 March 2024		 12,261
1,000
(7,760)
390
5,891
Investments at market value comprised
UK deposit fund
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
Commissioned studies – deferred income
Amount due to University of Sussex
Accruals and other creditors
Social security and other taxes		 2023
£’000
12,261
12,261
2023
£’000
2,737
-
3,638
264
6,639

11. Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

42

INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES Notes to the financial statements: Year ended 31 March 2024

Reconciliation of movement deferred income

Reconciliation of movement deferred income
Balance at 1 April 2023
Released during the year
Additional deferral
Balance at 31 March 2024		 Total
£’000
2,737
(1,077)
621
2,281

12. Creditors: amounts falling due after one year

Creditors: amounts falling due after one year
Accruals and other creditors 2024
£’000
92
**92 **		 2023
£’000
90
90

13. Operating leases

Operating leases
Less than 1 year
2-5 years		 2024
£’000
15
62
77		 2023
£’000
-
-
-

43

INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES Notes to the financial statements: Year ended 31 March 2024

14. Funds At
1 April
2023
£’000
Incoming
resources
£’000
Resources
expended
£’000
Transfers
£’000		 Gains/
(losses)
£’000
At
31 March
2024
£’000
Unrestricted funds
Designated
Capital fund
(represented by
tangible fixed assets)
Building development
fund
General funds
Income and
expenditure account
Pension reserve
Total unrestricted
funds
Restricted funds
Other research
projects
Deferred income
(represented by
tangible
fixed assets)
IDS Scholarship
Ferguson Scholarship
Albertina Scholarship
fund
Dudley Seers fund
Singer, Seers, Jolly
fund
Frances Knox bequest
Dr Purna Chander
Kotagiri Scholarship
Total restricted funds
Total funds		 688
-
-
(79)
100
-
-
-		 -
609
-
100
788
-
-
(79)
9,262
11,763
(13,268)
96
(7,865)
-
-
-		 -
709
450
8,303
7,865
-
2,185
11,763
(13,268)
17		 8,315
9,012
6,094
14,453
(16,424)
-
89
-
-
(17)
1
-
-
-
13
34
(46)
-
19
1
(13)
-
41
2
-
-
127
6
(25)
-
31
2
-
-
7
-
(2)
-		 -
4,123
-
72
-
1
-
1
-
7
-
43
-
108
-
33
-
5
6,422
14,498
(16,510)
(17)		 -
4,393
8,607
26,261
(29,778)
-		 8,315
13,405

44

INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES

Notes to the financial statements: Year ended 31 March 2024

Analysis of net assets between funds

alysis of net assets between funds
Tangible fixed assets
Investment Assets
Net current assets
Creditors due in more than 1 year
Total net assets		 Unrestricted
funds
£’000
609
4,450
4,045
(92)
9,012		 Restricted
funds
£’000
72
-
4,321
-
4,393		 2024
Total
Funds
£’000
681
4,450
8,366
(92)
13,405

Designated funds

The designated funds represent monies that have been set aside by the Trustees for specific purposes, as follows:

Capital fund

This is used to account for the purchase and depreciation of tangible fixed assets when they are purchased out of general income of the Institute. Amounts are transferred to or from capital fund so that the balance of the capital fund plus the deferred income reserve is equal to the net book value of tangible fixed assets. During the year ended 31 March 2024 £79k was transferred to the income and expenditure account from the capital account in respect of the decrease in net book value of the fixed assets during the year (2023 - £110k decrease).

Building development fund

This reserve has been set up to cover any repairs which may be required in 2024/25 which are unable to be covered from the budget that has been set. The reserve has been set at £100k (2023 - £100k).

Restricted funds

Restricted funds are to be used for specified purposes laid down by the donor. Expenditure for those purposes is charged to the relevant fund.

Other research projects

All other restricted grants have for the purposes of these accounts been grouped under one heading. These balances represent restricted grants where all income is recognised in the year in which IDS is entitled to the grant even though the activity extends to future years.

Deferred income fund

A government grant received to fund capital expenditure was credited to a restricted fund and was recognised in the SOFA in the year of entitlement. An amount equivalent to the depreciation on the assets acquired is released to the income and expenditure account for each period. During the year depreciation of £16k (2023 - £16k) was charged against assets which had been purchased using restricted grant funding. A corresponding amount was therefore transferred out of the deferred income reserve and into the income and expenditure account.

IDS Scholarship fund

The IDS Scholarships fund has been established to help students from diverse backgrounds study at IDS.

Ferguson Scholarship fund

This fund is provided by the Allan and Nesta Ferguson Charitable Trust. It is used to match fund three annual scholarships. Recipients of the scholarship are to be usually resident in

45

INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES Notes to the financial statements: Year ended 31 March 2024

low- or lower-middle income countries (as defined by the World Bank) and, ideally, scholars are to come from low-income households.

Albertina Scholarship fund

This fund has been established by a donor who wishes to remain anonymous. It is to be used to provide scholarships to students from the Global South who wish to address poverty and social inequality in the Global South. The donation was £52k per year for five years. All income was received prior to this financial year. The payments to the end of 2023/24 are reflected in the fund.

Dudley Seers memorial fund

This fund has been established by a generous bequest from the Seers family. The funds will be used for educational purposes.

Dr Purna Chander Kotagiri scholarship fund

Dr Purna Chander Kotagiri was established to provide $20k to the IDS Scholarships fund. Awards from the fund will help talented individuals with genuine and demonstrable financial need and preference given to a woman from an African or Asian region.

Singer, Seers, Jolly fund

The Singer, Seers, Jolly fund was established to award scholarships towards fees and essential living costs for taught full time masters degree students and to talented individuals with genuine and demonstrable financial need.

Frances Knox bequest

Frances Knox left a bequest to the Institute to be spent on the advancement and improvement of land use population employment and geography.

46

INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES

Notes to the financial statements: Year ended 31 March 2024

15. Prior Year Funds

At 1 April
2022
£’000
Incoming
resources
£’000
Resources
expended
£’000
Transfers
£’000
Gains/
(losses)
£’000
At
31 March
2023
£’000
Unrestricted
funds
Designated
Capital fund
(represented by
tangible fixed
assets)
Building
development
fund
General funds
Income and
expenditure
account
Pension reserve
Total
unrestricted
funds
Restricted
funds
Other research
projects
Deferred income
(represented by
tangible
fixed assets)
IDS Scholarship
Ferguson
Scholarship
Albertina
Scholarship
Dudley Seers
fund
Singer, Seers,
Jolly fund
Frances Knox
bequest
Dr Purna
Chander Kotagiri
Total restricted
funds
Total funds		 798
-
-
(110)
-
688
100
-
-
-
-
100
898
-
-
(110)
-
788
9,349
10,512
(10,725)
126
-
9,262
(9,795)
-
276
-
1,654
(7,865)
452
10,512
(10,449)
16
1,654
2,185

6,431
21,052
(21,389)
-
-
6,094
105
-
-
(16)
-
89
4
3
(6)
-
-
1
9
34
(30)
-
-
13
41
-
(22)
-
-
19
41
-
-
-
-
41
-
130
(3)
-
-
127
-
31
-
-
-
31
7
-
-
-
-
7
6,638
21,250
(21,450)
(16)
-
6,422
7,090
31,762
(31,899)
-
1,654
**8,607 **

47

INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES Notes to the financial statements: Year ended 31 March 2024

Analysis of net assets between funds at 31 March 2023

Tangible fixed assets
Net current assets
Creditors due in more than 1 year
Pension liability provision
Total net assets		 Unrestricted
funds
£’000
688
9,452
(90)
(7,865)
2,185		 Restricted
funds
£’000
89
6,333
-
-
6,422		 2023
Total
Funds
£’000
777
15,785
(90)
(7,865)
8,607

16. Liability of members

Each of the 14 members (2023 – 14 members) has undertaken to contribute £1 in the event of the charity being wound up.

17. Pension schemes

The charity participates in four pension schemes summarised below.

Scheme
Type
USS
DB
USPAS
DB
NEST
DC
SPSS
DC
Total		 Cost 2023/24
£’000
Deficit 31
March 2023
£’000
Movement
Increase
£’000
31 March
2024
£’000
1,733
7,865
7,865
-
22
-
-
-
0
N/A
N/A
N/A
189
N/A
N/A
N/A
1,944
7,865
7,865
-

IDS participates in two defined benefit pension schemes, the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) and the University of Sussex Pension and Assurance Scheme (USPAS). Both schemes include contributory multi-employer defined benefit arrangements with assets being held in separate trustee-administered funds and are subject to formal valuations every three years by actuaries using the projected unit method.

Due to insufficient information being available to enable the Institute to use defined benefit accounting for these schemes, in accordance with the provisions of FRS 102 both schemes are accounted for as if they were defined contribution schemes. At the end of the financial year the liability under the deficit funding agreement is valued. The valuation is based on the amounts that IDS estimates will be paid discounted to reflect the time value of money. The discount rate selected reflects the opportunity cost of the investment income forgone. The rates selected by the Institute reflect the return that would be available from a high quality (low risk) corporate bond and this is compared to similar organisations to check it is reasonable. As there is no deficit for 2024 no discount rate was required. The rate for 2023 deficit valuation was 4.8 per cent.

In addition to the pension cost charges, the interest on the pension deficit amounted to £0m (2023 - £0.2m).

The Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS)

The pension charge for the year in the Statement of Financial Activities includes a debit of £6.2m (2023 – credit of £2.4m) in relation to the USS. This represents normal contributions of £1.7m (2023 - £1.3m) payable to the USS together with the credit from the decrease in the deficit funding liability between the opening and closing balance sheet dates of £7.9m

48

INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES Notes to the financial statements: Year ended 31 March 2024

(2023 – increase £1.1m).

Following changes to the USS, this scheme now comprises two parts, USS Retirement Income Builder which is a defined benefit arrangement and USS Investment Builder which is a defined contribution arrangement. The latest formal actuarial valuation of the USS defined benefit liabilities was carried out as at 31 March 2023.

The March 2023 valuation showed a surplus of £7.4bn in the USS with the scheme assets being sufficient to cover its ‘technical provisions’ liabilities. This is compared to 2020 when a £14.1bn shortfall was reported, sufficient to cover 82.5% of its liabilities.

As a result of the March 2023 valuation employer contribution rates reduced from 21.6% to 14.5% from 1[st] January 2024.

The USPAS scheme

Until 1 April 2009, when the scheme was closed to new members, IDS staff were eligible to participate in USPAS, a defined benefit scheme operated by the University of Sussex, whose members are predominantly University employees. It is not possible to identify the IDS share of the scheme’s underlying assets and liabilities, on a reasonably and consistent basis and so the Institute’s contributions are accounted for as a defined contribution scheme. The cost recognised in the statement of financial activities is equal to the contribution payable for the year to 31 March 2024.

The latest formal triennial actuarial valuation of this scheme was at 31 March 2021. In preparing the valuation the main assumptions made by the actuary were:

At the date of the valuation there was a shortfall in the assets when measured against the Scheme’s technical provisions of £17.2m. An interim valuation in September 2022 has stated that there is no deficit in the scheme.

The next formal triennial actuarial valuation was due at 31 March 2024. The results of the valuation are being finalised and will be reported on in the next financial year.

The total pension cost to the charity for the year ended 31 March 2024 was £0.2m (2023£0.2m); this included the additional contributions but not the amounts relating to the revaluation of the pension liabilities.

The closure of the scheme to new members left open the possibility of S75 of the Pensions Act 1995 being triggered. The enrolment of a new member to the scheme has reduced this risk.

The Institute has no further payment obligations once the contributions have been paid. From April 2019 the minimum employer contribution was three per cent.

Institute of Development Studies Pension & Savings Scheme

The Institute of Development Studies Pension & Savings Scheme (IDSPSS) was introduced to professional staff joining the Institute from November 2018. The scheme is a defined contribution scheme which is available to professional staff who are aged 22 or over and earning at least £10,000 per annum in 2023/24. IDS will contribute 10% towards the pension for all employees enrolled in the scheme and it will pay 12% for employees who contribute 6% or more of their salary. The minimum employee contribution is 3%. The costs of the

49

INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES

Notes to the financial statements: Year ended 31 March 2024

pension are charged to the statement of financial activities in the year in which they are incurred. The assets of the scheme are held separately from the Institute in an independent and separately administered fund. The Institute has no further payment obligations once the contributions have been paid.

The total pension cost to the charity for the year ended 31 March 2024 was £0.2m (2023 - £0.2m).

18. Related party transactions

University of Sussex

The Vice Chancellor of the University of Sussex is an ex-officio member of the Board of Trustees. In the past year, IDS paid £0.9m (2023 - £1.2m) to the University of Sussex for services provided to the Institute, and received £4.0m (2023- £4.4m) from the University in respect of tuition fees and other income. The creditor outstanding is £0.7m (2023 - debtor £0.1m).

All amounts paid and received were in the normal course of the Institute’s activities.

19. Post balance sheet events

There have been no post balance sheet events.

50

INSTITUTE OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES Notes to the financial statements: Year ended 31 March 2024

20. Comparative SOFA for year ended 31 March 2023

The detailed SOFA for the previous financial year is set out below.

Notes
Income and expenditure
Incoming Resources
Incoming resources from
generated funds
. Donations and legacies
Income from charitable
activities
. Commissioned studies and
research
1
. Tuition fees
. Publications, catering and
accommodation
. Income from investments
2
Total income and
endowments
Resources expended
Expenditure on raising
funds
Expenditure on charitable
activities
. Commissioned studies and
research
. Teaching costs
. Publications, catering and
accommodation
. Interest payable –re
pension provision
Total expenditure
3
Net income/(expenditure)
Transfers between funds
13
Actuarial gain/(loss) on
defined benefit pension
schemes
Net movement in funds
Fund balances at 1 April
2021
Balances carried forward
at 31 March 2022		 Unrestricted
funds
£’000
-
5,845
4,062
312
293
10,512
53
5,648
3,932
567
249
10,449
63
16
1,654
1,733
452
2,185		 Restricted
funds
£’000
195
21,050
-
-
5
21,250
-
21,388
62
-
-
21,450
(200)
(16)
-
(216)
6,638
6,422		 2023
Total
funds
£’000
195
26,895
4,062
312
298
31,762
53
27,036
3,994
567
249
31,899
(137)
-
1,654
1,517
7,090
8,607

51

Institute of Development Studies (IDS) Library Road Brighton, BN1 9RE United Kingdom

+44 (0) 1273 606261 ids.ac.uk

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