REGISTERED CHARITY NUMBER: 327601
REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES AND
UNAUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024
FOR
WILLIAMSON TRUST
Harold Sharp Limited Chartered Accountants 5 Brooklands Place Brooklands Road Sale Cheshire M33 3SD
WILLIAMSON TRUST
CONTENTS OF THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024
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Report of the Trustees 1 to 4
Independent Examiner's Report 5
Statement of Financial Activities 6
Balance Sheet 7
Notes to the Financial Statements 8 to 12
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WILLIAMSON TRUST
REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024
The trustees present their report with the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 December 2024. The trustees have adopted the provisions of Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019).
OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES
Objectives and aims
The objects of the Trust are to promote for the public benefit the relief and treatment of physical or mental health disorders or disability through the support of education and research by making donations to appropriate institutions and individuals. The Trust recognises that the health of people is irrevocably linked to a healthy environment and access to healthy foods, and as such takes a One Health approach to its donation making strategy integrating health, the environment and food under the banner Healthy Planet Healthy People. Such an integrated One Health approach is promoted by The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
Public benefit
The trustees confirm that they have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission's general guidance on public benefit when reviewing the Trust's aims and objectives and in planning future activities and setting the donation making policy for the year.
Donations
The Trust has established its donation making policy to achieve its objectives for the public benefit to improve lives through a One Health approach by mobilising multiple sectors, disciplines and communities to work together to foster well-being and tackle threats to health and the environment. The trustees review the donation making policy annually to ensure that it reflects the charity's objectives and thereby advances public benefit.
Charitable activities
The benefits of the Trust's work are education across various sectors including the public, civil society, policy makers and researchers, the development of new interventions and the funding of on-going projects with the goal being to foster well-being and tackle threats to health and the environment.
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WILLIAMSON TRUST
REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024
ACHIEVEMENT AND PERFORMANCE
In 2024 the Williamson Trust funded 12 community-led research projects as part of our Healthy Planet, Health People (HPHP) joint programme with the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE). With the success of this first round of HPHP awards, the Trust decided to make this award a regular feature of its programming and launched a second round jointly with RSE. As part of the Trust's business development, we have also created a set of professionally developed marketing materials, and continue to develop the trust's website.
The community-led research projects located across Scotland were awarded in April 2024 for a total of £59,518 (https://williamsontrust.org.uk/project-reports/). Delivered in partnership with the Royal Society of Edinburgh (https://rse.org.uk/healthy-planet-healthy-people-community-led-research-projects-announced/), the 'Healthy Planet, Healthy People': Community-led awards were designed to enable new and existing community-led research projects in any discipline that promote the health of individuals by fostering healthy communities, healthy environments, and healthy food. This is the first year these awards have been given out, and initially, only ten were planned. However, the strength of the applications was such that a further two projects were supported. These awards support activities across Scotland, from island and highland communities in the north, urban communities in the central belt, and rural communities in the south. We are encouraging an array of projects spanning food, nature, and climate, all with the potential to deliver real solutions for Scottish communities. From food waste, the right to food and cooperative local growing, to rebuilding biodiversity and land rights, community street play, urban forests, and climate conversations as street theatre. The Trust hopes this seed funding will deliver real change and lead to larger impacts going into the future. We are very excited to be working with these communities across Scotland to help them make a new and better future. In Oct 2024 as part of promoting the HPHP programme all three trustees from the Williamson Trust received an invitation from Pete Wishart MP to attend the RSE Westminster Reception at the House of Commons in the UK Parliament.
In Oct 2024 the Williamson Trust launched the second round of our HPHP community-led research awards programme (https://williamsontrust.org.uk/round-2-healthy-planet-healthy-people-community-led-award/) with RSE (https://rse.org.uk/award/healthy-planet-healthy-people-community-led-award/), with a closing date for application in early 2025.
With the success of our partnership with RSE delivering the HPHP pilot-scale community-led awards programme we decided to develop further programming with RSE. In Oct 2024 we meet with RSE leadership to discuss the development of a joint HPHP follow-on funding programme. The plan is to announce the follow-on funding opportunity at the same time as launching the third round of HPHP pilot projects in Oct 2025. This would give the current HPHP awardees time to prepare and potentially apply for the follow-on funding. We considered having different "tracks" or levels of follow-on funding, such as Smaller grants (e.g. £20-50k) for projects looking to scale up or expand, and Larger grants (up to £100k) for more ambitious, collaborative projects. The goal is to provide flexibility and not overwhelm the community organizations with overly large funding amounts. Detailed discussions were also had on programmatic details including, Terms and Conditions, Application Forms, Criteria for Assessing Proposals, Post-Award Letters, and Forms and Reporting.
In April 2024 we took delivery of a newly developed and professionally produced set of marketing assets to help in business development for the trust. These include, business cards and biographies on the Trustees, a brochure and postcard summarising the trust, and postcards highlighting our funded projects. A branded folder has also been produced to hold the materials. We continue to develop the Williamson Trust website (https://williamsontrust.org.uk/). We have added an Ethics statement detailing the expectation of the trust that funded projects are conducted in an ethical manner (https://williamsontrust.org.uk/how-we-operate/), a News section highlighting important activities at the trust (https://williamsontrust.org.uk/category/news/), and we continue to update the project section with new activities as they are funded (https://williamsontrust.org.uk/project-reports/).
FINANCIAL REVIEW
Investment policy and objectives
The trustees' investment policy is to minimise potential capital losses while maximising income to support donation making. Accordingly, funds are managed by a leading financial planning and investment firm, taking a long investment time horizon (over 5 years), looking to obtain long-term returns above inflation to increase the value of the Trust's portfolio to enable donation making while maintaining the capital value of the Trust.
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WILLIAMSON TRUST
REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024
FINANCIAL REVIEW
Reserves policy
The Statement of Financial Activities shows a net income for the year of £310,073 and total funds carried forward of £5,105,948.
The trustees' aim is to maintain free reserves in unrestricted funds to be able to provide sufficient funds to make donations. The trustees consider the current level of reserves to be adequate given that the Trust does not have any charitable expenditure and ensures that funds are available at short notice to make donations.
STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT
Governing document
The Trust is a registered charity and is constituted under a trust deed dated 7 September 1987. New trustees are appointed by consensus of remaining trustees who provide necessary training as part of the onboarding process.
Risk management
The trustees have a duty to identify and review the risks to which the charity is exposed and to ensure appropriate controls are in place to provide reasonable assurance against fraud and error.
The trustees consider the security of its investment portfolio and bank deposits constitutes the charity's major financial risk. The trustees accept a medium degree of risk in seeking to increase the value of the Trust's investment portfolio over the longer term (over 5 years) to generate long-term returns above inflation. Funds in the Trust's bank accounts are fully covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
The major operational risk is the extent to which donations successfully advance knowledge and practice to benefit health and well-being. The trustees manage this risk by reviewing the work of those they support, to ensure public benefit is derived from the funding of their work.
REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS Registered Charity number
327601
Principal address
PO Box 73 LLANGOLLEN LL20 9BR
Trustees
Professor D E Salt Dr K N Salt K Fountain
Independent Examiner
Fred Norman Harold Sharp Limited Chartered Accountants 5 Brooklands Place Brooklands Road Sale Cheshire M33 3SD
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WILLIAMSON TRUST
REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024
Approved by order of the board of trustees on 29 July 2025 and signed on its behalf by:
Professor D E Salt - Trustee
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INDEPENDENT EXAMINER'S REPORT TO THE TRUSTEES OF WILLIAMSON TRUST
Independent examiner's report to the trustees of Williamson Trust
I report to the charity trustees on my examination of the accounts of Williamson Trust (the Trust) for the year ended 31 December 2024.
Responsibilities and basis of report
As the charity trustees of the Trust you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 ('the Act').
I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out under Section 145 of the Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under Section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
Independent examiner's statement
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:
-
accounting records were not kept in respect of the Trust as required by Section 130 of the Act; or
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the accounts do not accord with those records; or
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the accounts do not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a true and fair view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Fred Norman
Harold Sharp Limited Chartered Accountants 5 Brooklands Place Brooklands Road Sale Cheshire M33 3SD
29 July 2025
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WILLIAMSON TRUST
STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024
| Notes INCOME AND ENDOWMENTS FROM Donations and legacies Investment income 2 Total EXPENDITURE ON Raising funds 3 Charitable activities Health and wellbeing education and research projects Total Net gains on investments NET INCOME RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS Total funds brought forward TOTAL FUNDS CARRIED FORWARD |
2024 Unrestricted fund £ - 116,956 116,956 44,028 69,667 113,695 306,812 310,073 4,795,875 5,105,948 |
2023 Total funds £ 2,334,949 97,283 |
|---|---|---|
| 2,432,232 | ||
| 43,410 59,241 |
||
| 102,651 | ||
| 101,210 | ||
| 2,430,791 2,365,084 |
||
| 4,795,875 |
The notes form part of these financial statements
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WILLIAMSON TRUST
BALANCE SHEET 31 DECEMBER 2024
| 2024 | 2023 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Unrestricted | Total | ||
| fund | funds | ||
| Notes | £ | £ | |
| FIXED ASSETS | |||
| Tangible assets | 6 | 673 | 1,062 |
| Investments | 7 | 4,981,460 | 4,425,853 |
| 4,982,133 | 4,426,915 | ||
| CURRENT ASSETS | |||
| Debtors | 8 | 4,575 | 7,851 |
| Cash at bank | 132,679 | 376,435 | |
| 137,254 | 384,286 | ||
| CREDITORS | |||
| Amounts falling due within one year | 9 | (13,439) | (15,326) |
| NET CURRENT ASSETS | 123,815 | 368,960 | |
| TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT | |||
| LIABILITIES | 5,105,948 | 4,795,875 | |
| NET ASSETS | 5,105,948 | 4,795,875 | |
| FUNDS | 10 | ||
| Unrestricted funds | 5,105,948 | 4,795,875 | |
| TOTAL FUNDS | 5,105,948 | 4,795,875 |
The financial statements were approved by the Board of Trustees and authorised for issue on 29 July 2025 and were signed on its behalf by:
D E Salt - Trustee
The notes form part of these financial statements
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WILLIAMSON TRUST
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024
1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES
Basis of preparing the financial statements
The financial statements of the charity, which is a public benefit entity under FRS 102, have been prepared in accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102) 'Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2015)', Financial Reporting Standard 102 'The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland' and the Charities Act 2011. The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention.
Income
All income is recognised in the Statement of Financial Activities once the charity has entitlement to the funds, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably.
Gift aid recoverable is included within the same category of income to which the gift aid claim relates in the same period in which the income is recognised.
Expenditure
Liabilities are recognised as expenditure as soon as there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the charity to that expenditure, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefits will be required in settlement and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all cost related to the 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.
Taxation
The charity is exempt from tax on its charitable activities.
Fund accounting
Unrestricted funds can be used in accordance with the charitable objectives at the discretion of the trustees.
Restricted funds can only be used for particular restricted purposes within the objects of the charity. Restrictions arise when specified by the donor or when funds are raised for particular restricted purposes.
Fixed asset investments
Fixed asset investments in quoted shares, traded bonds and similar investments are measured initially at cost and subsequently at fair value (their market value) at the balance sheet date.
Going concern
Based on their consideration of the funding model and activities of the charity, the trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence and pay its liabilities as they fall due for the foreseeable future. The period which they have considered in their assessment is at least 12 months from the date of approval of these financial statements. They thus continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the annual financial statements.
continued...
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WILLIAMSON TRUST
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS - continued FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024
2. INVESTMENT INCOME
| Bank interest Investment fund interest Dividend income 3. RAISING FUNDS Investment management costs Portfolio management Professional fees Website development Foreign exchange (gains)/losses Depreciation 4. AUDITOR'S REMUNERATION Fees payable to the charity's independent examiner (PY: auditor) for the independent examination of the charity's financial statements |
2024 £ 2,317 35,926 78,713 116,956 2024 £ 37,911 2,173 1,200 2,355 389 44,028 |
2024 £ 2,317 35,926 78,713 116,956 2024 £ 37,911 2,173 1,200 2,355 389 44,028 |
2024 £ 2,317 35,926 78,713 116,956 2024 £ 37,911 2,173 1,200 2,355 389 44,028 |
2023 £ 96 36,549 60,638 97,283 2023 £ 32,164 7,938 900 2,019 389 43,410 |
2023 £ 96 36,549 60,638 97,283 2023 £ 32,164 7,938 900 2,019 389 43,410 |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2023 | |||||
| £ | £ | |||||
| 700 | 2,500 | |||||
Fees of £2,350 (2023: £3,880) were paid to the auditor for non-audit services.
5. TRUSTEES' REMUNERATION AND BENEFITS
There were no trustees' remuneration or other benefits for the year ended 31 December 2024 nor for the year ended 31 December 2023.
Trustees' expenses
| 2024 | 2023 | |
|---|---|---|
| £ | £ | |
| Travel expenses | 4,538 | 1,356 |
| 4,538 | 1,356 | |
The above expenses were incurred by three Trustees in performance of their duties as Trustees.
continued...
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WILLIAMSON TRUST
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS - continued FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024
| 6. TANGIBLE FIXED ASSETS COST At 1 January 2024 and 31 December 2024 DEPRECIATION At 1 January 2024 Charge for year At 31 December 2024 NET BOOK VALUE At 31 December 2024 At 31 December 2023 7. FIXED ASSET INVESTMENTS MARKET VALUE At 1 January 2024 Additions Disposals Revaluations At 31 December 2024 NET BOOK VALUE At 31 December 2024 At 31 December 2023 Geographical analysis of investments is as follows: United Kingdom Outside United Kingdom |
Computer equipment £ 1,558 496 389 885 673 1,062 Listed investments £ 4,425,853 1,031,685 (789,805) 313,727 4,981,460 4,981,460 4,425,853 |
||
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 2023 | ||
| £ | £ | ||
| 1,838,565 | 1,810,306 | ||
| 3,142,895 | 2,615,547 | ||
| 4,981,460 | 4,425,853 | ||
Historical cost of fixed asset investments at 31 December 2024 was £4,649,447 (2023: £4,485,450).
continued...
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WILLIAMSON TRUST
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS - continued FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024
| 8. DEBTORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR Prepayments and accrued income 9. CREDITORS: AMOUNTS FALLING DUE WITHIN ONE YEAR Accruals and deferred income 10. MOVEMENT IN FUNDS At 1/1/24 £ Unrestricted funds General fund 4,795,875 TOTAL FUNDS 4,795,875 Net movement in funds, included in the above are as follows: Incoming Resources resources expended £ £ Unrestricted funds General fund 116,956 (113,695) TOTAL FUNDS 116,956 (113,695) Comparatives for movement in funds At 1/1/23 £ Unrestricted funds General fund 2,365,084 TOTAL FUNDS 2,365,084 |
|
|---|---|
continued...
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WILLIAMSON TRUST
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS - continued FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024
10. MOVEMENT IN FUNDS - continued
Comparative net movement in funds, included in the above are as follows:
| Unrestricted funds General fund TOTAL FUNDS |
Incoming resources £ 2,432,232 2,432,232 |
Resources expended £ (102,651) (102,651) |
Gains and losses £ 101,210 101,210 |
Movement in funds £ 2,430,791 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2,430,791 |
A current year 12 months and prior year 12 months combined position is as follows:
| Unrestricted funds General fund TOTAL FUNDS |
At 1/1/23 £ 2,365,084 2,365,084 |
Net movement in funds £ 2,740,864 2,740,864 |
At 31/12/24 £ 5,105,948 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5,105,948 |
A current year 12 months and prior year 12 months combined net movement in funds, included in the above are as follows:
| Incoming resources £ Unrestricted funds General fund 2,549,188 TOTAL FUNDS 2,549,188 |
Resources expended £ (216,346) (216,346) |
Gains and Movement losses in funds £ £ 408,022 2,740,864 408,022 2,740,864 |
|---|---|---|
11. RELATED PARTY DISCLOSURES
There were no related party transactions for the year ended 31 December 2024.
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