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2024-06-30-accounts

ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS FOR THE FINANCIAL YEAR TO 30 JUNE 2024

CONTENTS

OVERVIEW FROM THE CHAIR 5
STRATEGIC REPORT 7
Who We Are and How We Work 8
Strategy Update: Our Strategy Achievements Headlines 8
The Situation in the UK for Children and Young People 11
Our Impact on Children and Young People - in Numbers 14
How We Raised Our Funds - in Numbers 17
PROGRESS AGAINST OUR PRIORITIES 21
Broadening and Deepening Our Impact 23
Creatively Engaging Our Supporters and Audiences 30
Strategically Growing Our Income 33
Striving for Operational Excellence 36
Climate Justice and Sustainability 40
Our Plans for 24/25 42
2024 ACCOUNTS 45
Financial Review 46
Risk Management & Assurance 49
Structure, Governance and Management 53
Reference and Administrative Details 55
Statement of Trustees’ Responsibilities 56
Independent Auditors’ Report to the Trustees 57
Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities 60
Charity Statement of Financial Activities 61
Consolidated and Charity Balance Sheets 62
Consolidated Cash Flow Statement 63
Notes to the Accounts 64

2 | BBC Children in Need

2024 Annual Report and Accounts | 3

OVERVIEW

As two long standing trustees on the Board, we have always been inspired by the generosity and passion of people across the UK – and the financial year 2023/24 was no exception. It has been an incredible year, highlighted by the extraordinary “Vernon effect” through our partnership with BBC Radio 2 and Vernon Kay’s monumental Ultra Ultramarathon challenge. The sight of communities rallying behind Vernon as he embarked on his 115-mile journey was nothing short of awe-inspiring. Thousands of supporters turned out to cheer him on, with their remarkable generosity helping us to raise over £6 million. This heartfelt outpouring brought to life the very essence of what BBC Children in Need stands for—people coming together to make a difference.

The generosity of our supporters enabled us to raise an incredible £49m this year. As a result, we awarded over 580 grants - totalling £36.5m - to local projects across the UK, in communities experiencing the highest levels of need. We are proud to currently support projects in 88% of UK local authority areas – 317 out of 361 districts.

Each donation, big or small, has created a ripple effect, touching the lives of a great many children and young people. We want to send our heartfelt thanks to the millions of individual donors whose contributions go towards helping children and young people to be the best they can be; particularly in this tough economic climate. Equally, we want to thank our partners. Partnerships are a key element of the way in which we create impact, so we were thrilled to witness our collaborations with McDonald’s and Asda go from strength to strength.

This year, we scaled up our efforts to connect every McDonald’s restaurant with a local BBC Children in Need project. This initiative has been transformative, allowing youth workers to meet children and young people in the places they spend their time, ensuring those who need it most receive the support they require to thrive. And in Asda, in partnership with the BBC’s Tiny Happy People programme, we invited young families into Asda community spaces to enjoy fun, and free activities for parents, carers and their children.

Another particularly notable success was our partnership with the fundraising organisation Omaze; which generated an astonishing £3,150,000 through a prize draw that saw a member of the public win a house in Dorset. The funds received from this venture will help to provide safe spaces and support to children and young people in crisis. We are extremely grateful to everyone at Omaze, to the supporters who entered the draw and to all members of BBC Children in Need’s partnerships team for bringing this fantastic achievement to fruition.

There has been a 50% increase in the likelihood of mental health issues in children and young people over the last five years. What’s more, recent studies have revealed that 30% of the UK’s children now live in poverty – with that number rising as high as 50% in some areas. These statistics clearly illustrate the extremely challenging landscape in which BBC Children in Need is currently operating.

We continue to focus our work on the four key areas of greatest need: poverty, mental health, family challenges and social injustice. Notably, this year saw significant progress in our mental health initiatives. We launched a new £1 million partnership with The Children’s Society as part of the A Million & Me prize, which aims to support children and young people with their emotional wellbeing and mental health.

Additionally, we partnered with the BBC on our first-ever mental health campaign, The Heaviest Backpack. This campaign poignantly highlighted the often-overlooked burdens that children and young people carry and directed families to vital resources to help them ‘unpack their own backpacks.’

And as we write this note to you, we have just enjoyed a very successful 2024 appeal night and we look forward to including the full report on what the whole campaign achieved in next year’s accounts.

As we reflect on this past year, we are overwhelmed with gratitude for the incredible support we’ve received from people across the UK, enabling us to continue this important work supporting children whatever challenges they are experiencing.

We also want to acknowledge the huge contribution of Rosie Millard OBE, who has stepped down as Chair after six years of leadership. Under her guidance, the charity embraced a new charitable ambition and five-year strategy which has led us to where we are today. Rosie also led us through the Covid pandemic - a time when strong leadership and innovative thinking was essential to meet acute needs. On behalf of the Trustees and all of the countless children and young people that have been supported by the Charity during her tenure as Chair, we would like to express our sincere gratitude.

Looking forward, we are optimistic about the journey ahead and the tangible, positive, difference that we can all make by working together to improve the lives of children and young people across the UK.

Finally, we wish to extend our sincerest thanks to Simon, the rest of the Executive Board and all the BBC Children in Need staff who have worked tirelessly to achieve such incredible results this year – and to our dedicated partners and supporters who continue to give time, resources and funds so generously to our cause.

Together, we are making a tangible difference in the lives of children and young people. Thank you for the unwavering commitment you’ve shown to BBC Children in Need.

James Fairclough, Interim Chair & Jonathan Munro, Vice Chair

4 | BBC Children in Need

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REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES

The Trustees of BBC Children in Need (who are also the Directors for the purposes of the Companies Act 2006) are pleased to present this, their report and accounts for the year ended 30 June 2024, and incorporating the Strategic Report and the Directors’ Report required under the Companies Act 2006 (Strategic Report and Directors’ Report) Regulations 2013. The accounts have been prepared in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice - Charities SORP second edition (FRS 102) issued by the Charities Commission in October 2019, applicable Accounting Standards in the United Kingdom, requirements of the Companies Act 2006, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and regulation 8 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006.

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STRATEGIC REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES

can be. We have also continued to promote our charitable purpose - to create positive and lasting change across the UK for the children and young people who need us most.

WHO WE ARE AND HOW WE WORK

BBC Children in Need believes that every child should have the opportunity to thrive and be the best they can be. For this to happen, we want every child to have someone they can turn to for help or support to overcome the challenges they face.

Achievements and Performance

We have made significant progress across all four of our strategic priorities to support the delivery of our five-year strategy, which serves to ensure maximum impact for children and young people. It also underpins the delivery of effective engagement and inspiration to audiences across the platforms available to us, including the BBC.

We aim to make sure there’s someone able to give food, clothing and beds to a child living without, someone qualified to talk to a child who is anxious, isolated or grieving, someone trained to mentor teenagers in communities facing inequality, violence or lack of opportunity and someone to be there for children living with serious illness or disability, or carrying a load that’s just too heavy to manage alone.

We continue to closely track and monitor our progress using essential metrics. The key highlights for 2023/24 are drawn out below:

Broadening and Deepening Our Impact:

BBC Children in Need supports children in the communities where you live. We fund amazing people in family centres, community spaces, youth clubs and refuges, homeless shelters, hospices and helplines in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Only with your support can we continue to be there for hundreds of thousands of children when they need us most. Only with your support can we change their lives.

BBC Children in Need’s actions are based on the following principles:

1. PARTNERSHIP

Maximising the collective difference we can make through working with others and funding initiatives of any scale, from the smallest of local charities through to national networks.

Creatively Engaging Our Supporters and Audiences:

2. LEADERSHIP

Using our platform and storytelling, our convening power and our partnerships to highlight and address the key challenges faced by children and young people.

3. INVOLVEMENT

Engaging children and young people as active participants in our work, acting on their input and amplifying their voices.

4. INCLUSION

Making equity and inclusion fundamental to our work and recognising the potential in every child and young person - enabling them to feel safe, happy, secure and able to thrive.

5. INSIGHT

Using insight, evidence and learning across the Charity to understand the aspirations, barriers and challenges faced by children and young people.

We have made significant progress across all four of our strategic priorities, which serve to ensure maximum impact for children and young people

STRATEGY UPDATE: OUR STRATEGY ACHIEVEMENTS HEADLINES

Over the last year, we have continued to work towards our charitable ambition through the delivery of our strategy. More than ever before, we’ve routed our decision-making and activity around our ambition for all children and young people to have the opportunity to thrive and be the best they

Strategically Growing Our Income

• Exploring ways in which we can persuade our supporters We are proud to to give to us on a more regular basis and support our

year-round work currently support • Securing new corporate partnerships, including collaborations with Omaze and TikTok projects in 88% of UK local authority areas

Striving for Operational Excellence

8 | BBC Children in Need

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TRUSTEES’ DUTY TO PROMOTE THE SUCCESS OF THE CHARITY: SECTION 172 STATEMENT

The Trustees have approved this strategic report, which provides an analysis of the Charity’s performance and how it has achieved its charitable purpose while ensuring its continued viability. Its financial position is reported, as well as an insight into the Charity’s objectives and the risks and uncertainties it faces.

Our reputation - and public trust in BBC Children in Need - are fundamental to our future success

The Trustees have considered the following matters in order to meet the requirements of section 172 of the Companies Act:

Looking to the Future

Two years into the delivery of our 2022-2027 strategy, we are making good progress and aligning efforts against our four strategic priorities of Broadening and Deepening our Impact, Creatively Engaging with Audiences and Supporters, Strategically Growing our Income and Striving for Operational Excellence. These now represent the cornerstones of our strategic planning and reporting and are aligned to our charitable ambition.

The Need to Act Fairly

The launch of our EDI strategy in 2023 (see page 38) has a specific focus on our people, our funding and grant making, our fundraising and our storytelling. It cements our ambition in this space, with quarterly reviews of progress reported to the Executive Team. Our grant making strategy ensures that we support children from all four UK nations, acting where the need is greatest.

We have robust plans in place to continue progressing our strategy. These plans take into account changing external conditions as well as new ways of connecting with audiences and responding to the challenges that children and young people face now and in the future.

Our Business Relationships

Engagement with the Charity’s main stakeholder groups is vital to changing children’s lives right across the UK. These groups include grantee organisations (set out on pages 14 to 17), donors, fundraisers, others within the sector, corporate partners and the BBC (page 18).

Supported by our team and Trustees, we will continue to make a difference in the lives of children and young people.

Working Within Our Employees’ Interests

Our Impact on the Environment and the Community

Our employees are vital to BBC Children in Need’s success. In order to champion their interests and to develop as a fully inclusive organisation, we are focusing on building our culture through “The Pudsey Way” (see page 37). Our Trustees are also committed to making tangible steps to improve Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI).

All children need stability and support to thrive. With many children across the UK either currently - or soon to be - experiencing the impact of the climate crisis, we need to come together to ensure that all children have the support they need and that their voices are heard.

Many of the children and young people we support are disproportionately affected by the climate crisis. We recognise that reducing our impact on the environment and having a clear approach as to how we play our part in tackling the climate crisis are key element of our mission. We have a responsibility to care for the environment and to minimise the environmental impact of all our activities. We also recognise that, as a leading children’s charity in the UK, we must use our voice to highlight the importance of taking action.

We recognise that reducing our impact on the environment is key to our mission

Our reputation and the public trust in BBC Children in Need are fundamental to our future success. The Charity has a range of policies and processes in place that promote corporate responsibility and ethical behaviour, including Donor Acceptance and Community Fundraising polices, as well as Procurement and Purchasing Policies.

Following the Board Effectiveness / Governance Review undertaken in 2023, key recommendations are now being implemented and built into future plans.

THE SITUATION IN THE UK FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE

Life continues to be complex and difficult for too many children and young people across the UK. The past few years have seen a multitude of challenges affecting them and their families, including the continued shadow of the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis, alongside widening social division and inequity.

now the European country with the largest gap in average life satisfaction between the most and least-advantaged young people.[1]

The mental health of children and young people is also in crisis, with rising numbers needing support with issues including anxiety and depression, whilst significant gaps in support remain - affecting their ability to access the help they need.

For those already dealing with challenges in their lives, these issues continue to add complexity, hardship and worry, compounding their existing struggles.

Many are carrying a heavy load, burdened by a range of responsibilities, pressures and difficult situations. Children and young people do not live single-issue lives, and we see that they are affected by a number of challenges, making their experience increasingly more complex and difficult. This means they need our support now more than ever.

Poverty creates disparity and increasingly limits children and young people’s lives, damaging their physical and emotional health and restricting their opportunities and future potential.

All children and young people should have access to the basics in order to get on in life, but far too many are going without. In terms of socio-economic differences, the UK is

10 | BBC Children in Need

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There are an estimated 14,075,345 children and young people aged under 18 in the UK.[2]

Mental Health

Around 1 in 5 children and young people have a probable mental health condition.[3] *

Roughly 3 in 5 (62%) of young people feel stressed - and over half (55%) feel anxious.[4]

More 15-year-olds are reporting low life satisfaction in the UK than anywhere else in Europe.[5]

It is estimated that around 75% of young people experiencing a mental health problem are forced to wait so long for support that their condition gets worse. Many are unable to access any treatment at all.[6]

Almost 9 in 10 teachers have seen an increase in the prevalence of pupils’ mental health issues in the last year.[7]

Social Inequality

The UK was the European country with the largest gap in average life satisfaction between the 25% most “advantaged” and the 25% most “disadvantaged” 15-year-olds.[15]

Children and young people with learning disabilities are over four times more likely to develop a mental health issue.[16 ]

92% of young trans people have thought about taking their own life.[17]

Children and young people from racially minoritised communities are less likely to access mental health support in primary care (i.e. through their GP) and more likely to end up in crisis care.[18]

46% of children from Black and minority ethnic families are growing up in poverty - compared with 26% of children in White British families.[19]

43% of disabled children in the UK live in poverty.[20]

In the year ended March 2023, there were 145,214 hate crimes recorded by the police in England and Wales, the majority of which were racially motivated .[21]

In the UK, people living in families with disabled children were more than twice as likely to be living in poverty than those in families where no-one was disabled.[22]

Poverty

There are 4.3 million (30%) children living in relative poverty in the UK.[8] *

7 in 10 children affected by poverty are living in working families.[9]

Around 1 million children experienced destitution in the UK; nearly triple the number of children previously recorded (2017-2022).[10]

Family Related Challenges

826,000 children live in households that have used foodbanks in the last year (2023/24).[11]

More than 192,000 children in England and Wales have parents who are currently in prison.[23]

60% of children report experiencing worries about money.[12]

It is estimated that there are around 800,000 young carers in the UK.[24]

2.7 million children experienced food insecurity in June 2024.[13 ]

There are approximately 105,400 children who have been in the care of their local authority for more than 24 hours.[25]

It is estimated that more than 1 million children in the UK don’t have a bed of their own (i.e. sleep on the floor or share a bed).[14] *

It is estimated that over 800,000 children are affected by domestic abuse.[26]

  1. Childrens Society Good Childhood Report 2024 August 2024

United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division (2023)

NHS Digital Mental Health of Children and Young People in England, 2023 - wave 4 follow up to the 2017 survey Official statistics, Survey Nov 2023 *8 to 25 year olds in England The Prince’s Trust NatWest Youth Index (2024)

Children’s Society Good Childhood Report 2024 August 2024

LGA Children and young people’s emotional wellbeing and mental health – facts and figures September 2023

National Education Union State of education : Mental health of young people April 2024

DWP Households below average income: for financial years ending 1995 to 2023 (March 2024)

Our position at BBC Children in Need is that we use the HBAI after housing costs figure for relative poverty, as this is widely accepted across the Voluntary and Community Sector - and calculating poverty after housing costs gives a more accurate measure of how much families have to live on. DWP Households below average income: for financial years ending 1995 to 2023 (March 2024)

12 | BBC Children in Need

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OUR IMPACT FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE - IN NUMBERS

Throughout 2023/24, we supported over 340,000 children and young people

Targeting children and young people who are experiencing a range of challenges

UK reach (nearest 1k)

----- Start of picture text -----
32k Scotland
75k North England
Northern
19k
Ireland
Wales 18k
67k Central England
63k London
South East
South and West 34k
24k England
England
8k UK wide
----- End of picture text -----

Area-related challenges, i.e. poverty and deprivation 66,000 children & young people

Family-related challenges 52,000 children & young people

Disabled children 36,000 children & young people

Household poverty & housing difficulties 24,000 children & young people. When those supported via our Emergency Essentials programme are included, this figure increases to 49,000

Marginalised identities or nationalities 20,000 children & young people

Mental health and emotional wellbeing 15,000 children & young people

Personal harm 12,000 children & young people

Behaviour or education engagement issues 7,000 children & young people

Physical wellbeing 28,000 children & young people

----- Start of picture text -----
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----- End of picture text -----

Through the projects we fund, children and young people...

have stronger enjoy better are more have better self-belief relationships empowered physical wellbeing 110,000 137,000 75,000 55,000

----- Start of picture text -----
Note: children and
young people supported
by BBC Children in Need
- funded projects may
experience more than
one positive outcome.
have increased have stronger are safer
essential skills emotional wellbeing 43,000
91,000 132,000
----- End of picture text -----

2024 Annual Report and Accounts | 15

HOW WE RAISED OUR FUNDS - IN NUMBERS

In the year ended 30th June 2024, we were able to award grants totalling £36.5m

This breaks down as follows:

----- Start of picture text -----
£6.4m
£30.1m
across over across Emergency
543 Essentials and other
partnership
new grants
programmes
In our responsive portfolio of grants, in additional programmes that
supporting projects and organisations are available outside of our
in communities right across the UK, project and core grants
as well as in our strategic funding
programmes, such as our We Move
programme which supports young
Black people to thrive
----- End of picture text -----

Income available for charity activity: £57.7m, net of gifts in kind. Of this, £48.9m is from donations and charitable activities, excluding Gift Aid.

----- Start of picture text -----
£18.7m 2023/24
(32%) £18.1m
(40%) 2022/23
£14m
(24%)
£11m
(24%)
£9.2m
(16%)
£6.3m
(14%)
£4.8m £4.6m £5.3m
(10%) (10%) (8%)
£3.5m
£3.2m
(6%)
£2.2m (6%)
(4%)
£1.2m £1.2m
(3%) (3%)
Donations Fundraising Corporate Grant BBC Gift Aid Investments
and Legacies Partnerships Partnerships Programmes and other
----- End of picture text -----

HOW WE SPENT OUR MONEY

The new grants awarded take our total committed which breaks down as follows: funding* to £88.5m,

Big Sky grants £0.14m (<1%) Partnership and Pudsey Next Steps proactive grants £2.4m (3%) £10.5m (12%) Main grants £23.6m (27%) Project grants £24.4m (27%) Small grants £11.2m (13%) Covid grants Core grants £0.09m (<1%) £16.2m (18%)

We spent £48.2m on charitable activity, net of gifts in kind.

----- Start of picture text -----
£29.3m
(51%) 2023/24
2022/23
----- End of picture text -----

----- Start of picture text -----
£19.4m
(43%)
£7.1m
£5.4m £5.7m (12%) £6.4m
(13%) (14%)
(9%)
£3.4m £3.4m £3m £3.5m
(6%) (7%) (5%) (8%)
Responsive Partnership Emergency Costs of grant Cost of
programmes, programmes Essentials making and raising funds
net of unspent impact
grants
----- End of picture text -----

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HOW WE RAISED OUR FUNDS - IN NUMBERS

----- Start of picture text -----
Public fundraising
£2.3m 16%
Donations
£4.8m 35%
Fundraising through
our annual campaign Legacies
£3.4m 24%
Schools
£3.5m 25%
BBC Other
£0.8m 4%
DIY SOS
£0.5m 3%
The One Show
Challenge Squad
Appeal Show
£1.8m 10%
£6.2m 33%
BBC Partners
Countryfile
Radio 2
£3.4m 18%
£6.0m 32%
----- End of picture text -----

----- Start of picture text -----
Health Foundation
Postcode Lottery £0.4m 2%
£1.5m 9% Impact on Urban Health
Other Corporate Partners £0.3m 2%
£0.7m 5% Sir Tom Hunter
David Lloyd £0.3m 2%
£0.1m 1%
Welcome Break Omaze
£0.1m 1%
£3.2m 20%
One Stop
£0.2m 1%
Cineworld
£0.2m 1%
HSBC Our Partners
Asda
£0.3m 2%
£2.9m 18%
CarFest
£0.3m 2%
TikTok
£0.5m 3%
DFS
McDonald’s
£0.5m 3%
£1.7m 10%
Enterprise
£0.7m 4%
Post Office Greggs
£1.1m 7% £1.2m 7%
----- End of picture text -----

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PROGRESS AGAINST OUR PRIORITIES

BROADENING AND DEEPENING OUR IMPACT

Priorities:

Build and maintain a relevant and contemporary grant portfolio

Implement and maintain flexible, proportionate and equitable grant making processes

Grow opportunities to support and influence organisations beyond grant making

During the year, we have worked hard to consider how we can be clearer about our funding focus and priorities - and the interventions we are looking to support. This work will continue to be implemented in 2024/25. The use of our impact framework, developed this year, will be central to this and to the maintenance of a relevant and contemporary grant portfolio.

The value of our grant awards grew by 35% year on year, to £36.5m. Within our overall portfolio, the number of responsive grants awarded grew by 55%, including the launch of our new Pudsey Next Steps and Big Sky programmes, with a shared value of around £2.6m. Our Pudsey Next Steps and Big Sky programme have helped us to build a diverse portfolio, supporting smaller organisations that are new to us. We have continued to see high levels of demand for our Open Call grant programmes, with over 3,000 applications during the financial year. Despite an increase in the value of grants awarded, we are currently only able to fund approximately 1 in 8 applications.

The three target groups most represented across our funding are i) area disadvantage, ii) family challenges and iii) mental health and emotional wellbeing. Each of these – alongside social inequality – are areas of ongoing focus for the organisation. With almost 1 in 3 children and young people living in relative poverty, and with 1 in 5 experiencing a probable mental health condition, we strive to support more of them, whether directly or indirectly.

During the financial year 2023/24, we commissioned a survey of applicants and grantees, This revealed that, since the previous survey, there has been a further increase in satisfaction regarding BBC Children in Need as a funder. We are using the feedback from this survey to hone our grant making processes. For example, these responses will help us to improve our communications when we decline an application. 65% of grantees surveyed also acknowledged our positive impact on the sector.

This year has been pivotal in the charity’s use of both our funding and our platform to ensure that we are achieving ideal outcomes for children and young people. We recognise that, over our years in operation, we have built up a lot of internal expertise and knowledge about the critical issues facing children and young people. Our aim is to disseminate our learning more strategically so that others may also benefit.

The examples and case studies below showcase some of our impact work during the year, through the lens of our Impact Framework. They also demonstrate the effect of BBC Children in Need on the lives of individual children and young people.

Poverty

The Emergency Essentials Programme

Case Study: Emergency Essentials

The BBC Children in Need Emergency Essentials Programme supports children and young people who are facing exceptionally difficult circumstances. The programme provides grants for items that meet children’s most basic needs, such as a bed to sleep in, a cooker – so that they can have hot meals - clothing (in a crisis) and other critical items and services. The £3 million-peryear programme is delivered in partnership with Family Fund Business Services, the UK’s largest grant-making charity for families living in crisis.

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Mental Health

The A Million & Me Prize

We have continued to build on our learning from A Million & Me - and through the Centre for Mental Health’s evaluation of the programme in their report ‘Power of the Ordinary’. As a part of this process, we designed and developed a £1m strategic grant (in partnership with the Health Foundation and Impact on Urban Health) to scale up early intervention support for children aged 8-13 across the UK who are beginning to struggle with their mental health.

Following a competitive process, The Children’s Society, alongside their partners, MACS Northern Ireland and Children 1st (Scotland), were awarded the £1m funding to provide targeted, face-to-face and digital support to children across the UK. The Children’s Society has also matched the funding, taking the programme up to £2m, to increase the positive impact on children’s mental health.

We have commissioned a learning partner to support us in reviewing effective early intervention approaches and the associated narratives around children’s mental health.

Together with all funding and delivery partners, we aim to contribute to the body of evidence on the effectiveness of early intervention support. Additionally, we intend to build the confidence, capacity and awareness of trusted adults regarding the importance of the ‘everyday magic’ of ordinary positive relationships.

Case Study: Mind Mosaic Child and Family Therapies

Mind Mosaic Child and Family Therapies supports children and young people in Greenock, Scotland, who are experiencing bereavement, anxiety, poor self-esteem and low confidence, among other issues. BBC Children in Need funding pays for a play therapist who works with the children and young people in one-to-one and group activities. Play is used as a medium to talk about difficult life events, which sometimes can’t be articulated by a child or young person. This helps to improve mental health, increase happiness, build confidence and strengthen relationships.

‘Poverty and Mental Health - the Critical Connection’ In 2023/24, we focussed on examining the link between poverty and mental health issues in young people to understand their relationship.

While recognition of the links between poverty and mental health is growing, too many children and families are left without a financial safety net or emotional support - and more families than ever before are under strain because of the rising cost of living.

Research from the Centre for Mental Health, commissioned by BBC Children in Need, demonstrated that, for people of all ages, poverty and financial inequality are linked to a range of adverse outcomes - including mental health difficulties like anxiety and depression - and that this is a causal relationship, not an association.

We organised the ‘Poverty and Mental Health - the critical connection’ conference in partnership with the Maudsley Charity. This event saw charitable sector experts gather and share learning on this subject, convening organisations and funders around the intersection of poverty and mental health issues.

At this groundbreaking conference, we also heard directly from parents about the everyday impact of financial struggles on their children. These contributors wanted more action to address the root causes of poverty, mitigate its effects and ensure that those requiring mental health support can access appropriate and timely help.

This was the first conference we have organised in this way. As well as generating good feedback from the sector, it will build on our ideas for taking our actions against this issue further.

Family Challenges

Case Study: East Renfrewshire Young Carers

15-year-old Erin, from East Renfrewshire, is a young carer for her mum, Sinead. Sinead has a rare form of multiple sclerosis (MS), which was diagnosed back in 2016. Since then, she’s found being mobile and completing basic household jobs increasingly hard. Erin cooks, cleans and helps her dad with the running of the house. Neither Erin nor her family had considered her a young carer until they were introduced to East Renfrewshire Young Carers by Erin’s pastoral care teacher. The project has a grant from BBC Children in Need, which helps them to provide a safe space for young carers to share concerns, get respite from their role at home and make friends with other young carers.

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Social Inequality

We Move

We Move is our 10-year commitment to Black children and young people, with the We Move Fund supporting a total of 66 Black-led Youth Social Action (YSA) project grants across the United Kingdom. These projects focus on a range of issues such as poverty, the environment, health, sports, communities and heritage.

In celebration of Black History Month (October 2023), the We Move Fund invited 10 grantees to attend a special roundtable event at Number 10 Downing Street, to hear from young people leading on YSA work that directly tackles issues impacting the black communities in their local area.

The young people involved in We Move-funded projects have also been engaged in celebratory events. For example, the Scotland team brought together a number of We Move and Youth Social Action projects from across the nation to showcase the achievements of their young people and provide an opportunity to network and share thoughts on what makes good social action.

The day was built around contributions from the young people, who explored themes such as the young tackling racism in schools, the production of culturally specific mental health resources and calling out stereotyping.

Similarly, in March, projects in Northern Ireland also came together to celebrate their work through engaging and interactive presentations from each We Move project. Two young people funded through We Move in Northern Ireland have started apprenticeships at BBC News and BBC Sports, showing the value of cultural capital built through youth social action.

Building on our learning and evaluation, our research partners have worked with a number of Black children and young people to develop important guidance on the design of the programme and to review the successes and challenges of delivering YSA so far. This has been carried out through a co-creation group and a steering group, as well as numerous fieldwork visits. To deepen impact, we have offered an extension of up to two years to 57 projects that currently hold We Move grants.

We Move is our 10-year commitment to Black children and young people

Case Study: We Move

Below is a case study demonstrating the importance of our focus on social inequality throughout the work we do.

“My 17-year-old son has grown up in Pembrokeshire. He was the only child of African heritage in his primary school and only one of a handful at the two secondary schools he attended. He has white skin like his father, but afro hair like me. He suffered from bullying because of his African heritage. On one occasion he was chased from another pupil’s house with taunts that his mother was a monkey. On other occasions he was subjected to racist “jokes”. When he was little, he felt that something was wrong with him, that he was not normal, because he was not the same as the other kids at his schools.

We Move has turned this around for my son - his feelings of isolation, of wrongness, of abnormalness, of not belonging have been eased. He now has a group of young people and their parents who are of mixed heritages. With them, my son is with people who have suffered the way he has, he is with people who know what it’s like to be on the sharp end of racism, people who are not going to brush it off or call it banter, or accuse him of not being able to take a joke. With these people he can relax, have fun, express himself and express his joy without being constantly tense in anticipation of that racist comment that seems inevitably to come. We Move has given him self-confidence and the knowledge that he does belong in Pembrokeshire, and in the world.”

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Youth Work

Partnerships Driving Impact: How McDonald’s and BBC Children in Need are Transforming Youth Work

In 2023, McDonald’s demonstrated its commitment to supporting young people across the UK by donating £1.7 million to BBC Children in Need. This generous contribution is part of an ongoing partnership that has already made a significant impact on the lives of thousands of children and young people.

Since 2021, this collaboration has supported over 185 youth projects, employed more than 320 youth workers and positively influenced the futures of over 42,500 young people.

Enhancing Youth Work Through Community Connections

One of the standout initiatives of this partnership is the development of an innovative online matching platform, launched in 2024. This platform connects over 700 community organizations with their local McDonald’s restaurants, fostering stronger ties between local businesses and the youth projects they support.

The most popular activities include offering refreshments for events and providing signposting in restaurants, which not only eases the burden on these projects but also helps to create a safe and supportive environment for young people.

Innovating Youth Work: Targeted Interventions

McDonald’s and BBC Children in Need have also focussed on targeted interventions to address specific needs in communities. For example, Spiral Skills received £100,000 over three years to deliver youth work activities at McDonald’s in Brixton, with regular attendance of 40 to 50 young people per session.

Similarly, the Positive Youth Foundation was awarded £30,000 over three years to run an employability project in Coventry’s McDonald’s restaurants. These initiatives exemplify how partnerships can bring about innovative solutions to meet the unique needs of young people in different regions.

‘Fun Football’: Making Sports Inclusive

The partnership’s impact extends beyond traditional youth work, reaching into the realm of sports with the Fun Football program. BBC Children in Need has been instrumental in enhancing the inclusivity of this program by linking McDonald’s with organizations like British Blind Sport and Access Sport.

These collaborations have made it possible for children of varying abilities, including those who are blind or partially sighted, to participate in football. This effort ensures that all children, regardless of their physical abilities, have the opportunity to enjoy the game.

Learning and Safeguarding: Shaping the Future of Youth Work

To ensure that these initiatives continue to drive meaningful change, BBC Children in Need has commissioned Rocket Science and Substance to evaluate the impact of detached youth work and inclusive sports programs.

Rocket Science’s evaluation will focus on the positive outcomes created by youth work in restaurants, providing an evidence base that could influence government policy and create a template for future rollouts across the UK.

In addition to these learning efforts, BBC Children in Need has connected McDonald’s with Dr. Carlene Firmin, the architect of Contextual Safeguarding. Together with Power the Fight, they have developed and delivered bespoke safeguarding training to McDonald’s staff, making restaurants and high streets safer spaces for young people.

The Power of Partnerships

The partnership between McDonald’s and BBC Children in Need showcases the incredible impact that can be achieved when businesses and charities work together. From supporting youth work projects and creating safe spaces in communities to making sports more inclusive and influencing future policy, this collaboration is a powerful example of how partnerships can drive lasting change for children and young people across the UK.

As these efforts continue to evolve, the lives of many more young people will be positively transformed, demonstrating the true power of working together.

Case Study: Epic Partners

17-year-old Jacob has been going to Epic Partners, a youth club in Nottingham, for almost nine years. As a child, Jacob was often angry, regularly getting into fights and finding himself in trouble. He says: “The scariest thing about me at that age... was the path I was heading down. I was impressionable, trouble looked attractive and I just didn’t care”. At Epic Partners, Jacob met youth worker Pete. Working with him provoked a huge change. “Pete knew how to talk to me rather than shouting at me like everyone else did. He just sat me down and talked to me like I was smart enough to have a conversation with. He’d make me realise where I’d gone wrong - and we’ve got on ever since”.

By the age of 13, Jacob had started volunteering with Epic Partners. Now, at 17, he is doing an apprenticeship with them and plans to become a youth worker. He knows how different life would have been for him without Epic Partners.

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CREATIVELY ENGAGING OUR AUDIENCES

Engaging Audiences Through Our Annual Campaign with the BBC

Priorities:

This year, BBC Children in Need embarked on a campaign of many firsts, blending new creative content with beloved traditional favourites, all while adopting innovative approaches to engage and inspire our audiences.

Build a strong brand which drives awareness and understanding of our national and local presence and the work we do

A key highlight was our renewed focus on placing children and young people at the centre of our storytelling. The BBC One Show’s brand-new Challenge Squad exemplified this approach, with an integrated narrative that spanned TV and radio from Morning Live to Radio 2 and across the BBC’s Nations and Regions. The journey culminated in two standout performances by Brianna and Erin on the Night of Television (NOTV), delivering heartfelt stories that resonated deeply with viewers.

Establish our voice on the key issues for children and young people today

Develop innovative and exciting ways of getting involved with BBC Children in Need

We also introduced our first child presenter, 14-year-old Lenny Rush, on the NOTV. Lenny’s charismatic presence and youthful perspective received widespread acclaim, further cementing our commitment to elevating young voices within our programming.

In another groundbreaking move, Radio 2 shifted from its annual 24-hour challenge to broadcast Vernon Kay’s Ultra Ultramarathon, a four-day event that captured the imagination of audiences nationwide. The marathon achieved record-breaking engagement across social media, with listeners and supporters turning out in droves as Vernon made his way from Leicester to Bolton on foot. The event’s success underscored our ability to connect with audiences through compelling, real-time storytelling.

Over the past year, we’ve made notable progress as we continue to build a strong brand. In the second quarter of 2024, YouGov’s “Most Famous Charities & Organisations” poll ranked BBC Children in Need 7th, revealing strong awareness across the UK. We also ranked 21st in terms of popularity - and 7th most popular among the Millennial demographic. Source: YouGov - The most famous charities & organisations (Q2 2024)

According to data collected by Savanta, in the 12 months leading up to June 2024, BBC Children in Need ranked 4th among UK charities in terms of brand awareness. Source: Savanta BrandVue

Our first-ever BBC Three activation, Game On! marked a bold entry into the gaming world, specifically targeting younger audiences. This two-hour live show, produced by BBC Studios, was a vibrant, alternative Appeal Show that not only engaged new demographics but also opened doors to exciting partnerships within the gaming industry. The event positioned BBC Children in Need as a dynamic player in this space, broadening our reach and influence. The show won a prestigious Broadcast Digital Award for Best Digital Children’s Content.

Our first mental health-focussed campaign in May 2024 significantly boosted awareness and understanding of our role in supporting young people with mental health issues.

Our focus remains on developing effective engagement strategies for our target audiences, most notably our core BBC viewers, families with young children and 16-24-yearolds. To that end, 2023 saw the launch of new initiatives for the latter demographic, including a partnership with TikTok and Game On! - a BBC Three show simulcast live on BBC iPlayer - celebrating the positive impact of gaming. Additionally, partnerships have played a significant role in reaching and engaging our audience, from our annual campaign with the BBC through to our collaborations with top UK brands such as Asda, Greggs and McDonald’s UK.

Major BBC brands such as Strictly Come Dancing, Countryfile and DIY SOS also played a pivotal role in amplifying our message, featuring BBC Children in Need stories across their platforms. This extensive coverage helped us to reach diverse audiences and reinforce the importance of our work across the UK.

Our marketing efforts this year were geared towards driving a deeper understanding of the impact of our work. Through a comprehensive BBC Media Campaign, we reached 61% of UK adults, using TV adverts, radio ads and iPlayer idents to convey the significance of positive relationships in the lives of children and young people.

Additionally, a targeted paid media campaign across social media, YouTube and connected TV successfully engaged younger audiences, exceeding viewership expectations and driving significant engagement.

Social media played a crucial role in our strategy, with TikTok emerging as a particularly effective platform for reaching 16-24 year olds

Social media played a crucial role in our strategy, with TikTok emerging as a particularly effective platform for reaching 16-24-year-olds. Our six-week campaign culminated in the Pudsey Games, a five-hour TikTok Live broadcast that was delivered alongside Game On! and featured over 30 highprofile influencers. This event was viewed by over 250,000 unique users and achieved significant reach, helping us to grow our TikTok following by 25,000.

Our external communication efforts also yielded impressive results, with extensive coverage across national and regional media. The launch of our campaigns, including the Challenge Squad and DIY SOS, generated widespread media attention, ensuring that our message reached millions across the UK. This year’s creative and strategic initiatives not only enhanced awareness and understanding of our work, but also solidified BBC Children in Need’s role as a vital and innovative force for change in the lives of children and young people across the nation.

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Our First Mental Health Campaign - The Heaviest Backpack

Through our 3-year research programme, A Million & Me, we learnt that, when developed at an early age, positive relationships with trusted adults have the power to prevent serious mental health problems from becoming established later in childhood. Our projects fund the people and places across the UK that bring these positive relationships into children’s lives when they need them the most.

In May 2024, to coincide with Mental Health Awareness Week, we ran a campaign to raise awareness of this work, to illustrate the difference that this can make and to show how adults in the UK can create and develop those positive relationships with young people.

The creative idea was inspired by a Youth and Community worker at a BBC Children in Need-funded project, Valley Kids, who said: “Some of the kids we see walk around with the weight of the world on their shoulders.”

The Heaviest Backpack campaign highlighted the burdens that follow children and young people around in their lives, weighing them down wherever they go – including anxiety, problems at home and other issues. It also explored how donations from our supporters fund the work that can make these challenges feel lighter.

Additionally, the campaign also aimed to start a conversation with parents and carers about how to strengthen positive relationships with their children in order to build mental wellbeing. We provided help and resources to support this objective.

Our adverts for this campaign appeared on BBC TV, radio and digital platforms, as well as on commercial radio, at cinemas and poster sites and on social media and digital channels. They were also promoted by key corporate partners. They featured a host of famous faces sharing their own stories about the challenges that they carried in their backpacks when they were young, including Mary Earps, Joe Wicks, Roman Kemp, Alex Scott, Vick Hope, Jamie Laing and Katie Thistleton.

Campaign Success Statistics

A survey undertaken following our Heaviest Backpack campaign revealed that:

One research respondent said “It helps to remind us that, although Children in Need is on telly once a year, young people need help all year round”. Source: Savanta online survey June 2024

Campaign: Context Statistics

• In the last five years, the likelihood of young people having a mental health issue has increased by around 50%.[1]

STRATEGICALLY GROWING OUR INCOME

different approaches were employed to ask supporters to make a regular donation, with a range of methods available - including emails, paid social media posts and via our broadcast partner Countryfile. This proposition drove hundreds of new regular gifts for the charity in its first year, and has allowed the organisation to optimise campaigns in line with the most compelling messages and effective channels to elicit support for future years.

Priorities:

Diversifying our income

Developing and establishing regular, sustainable and year-round income

Thanks to the incredible support of our fundraisers, donors and corporate partners, we were able to announce a total fundraising amount of £33.5 million on the night of the televised Appeal Show in November 2023. Following this, our total fundraising, including gift aid reached £52.4 million as supporters and partners continued to donate and send in the amounts they had received from their fundraising efforts.

Driving growth with younger audiences whilst protecting existing core supporters

This final figure of £52.4 million represents an increase of £4.9 million (10%) over the previous year (2023: £47.4 million), largely driven by growing high-value partner support and the public’s overwhelming response to Vernon’s Ultra Ultramarathon challenge on BBC Radio 2. This growth helped to partially offset a slight decline in audience numbers that occurred due to a broader shift away from traditional broadcast viewing.

In 2023/24, BBC Children in Need focused on increasing our income in ways that not only maximized immediate returns but also built a foundation for long-term, sustainable growth. In light of a challenging fundraising landscape, with continued cost-of-living pressures and difficulties in our traditional model of raising funds through the annual telethon, our strategy centred on diversifying income streams, engaging young families, and developing partnerships to ensure future stability.

The income of £52.4 million shown on the Charity’s Statement of Financial Activities from donations and charitable activities (2023: £47.4 million) excludes £0.1 million from licensing activities. Of the reported income, £41.5 million has been used this year to fund projects that create positive impacts, covering the associated costs. For a more detailed analysis of income, please refer to Note 2 on page 67.

A key part of the work to diversify our income saw us develop and pilot a new regular giving proposition centred on ‘the heart of the community’. Using audience insight to understand which issues are more likely to inspire support, the proposition focussed on the difference BBC Children in Need is making in local communities across the UK. Several

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Driving Growth Through Our Annual Appeal Campaign

Our iconic Night of Television (NOTV) and BBC programme partnerships continued to be vital sources of income in 2023/24. While viewing figures for NOTV saw a slight decline, the performance was stronger than anticipated, reflecting the enduring appeal and strong conversion rates of our programming.

Radio 2’s innovative four-day format, featuring Vernon Kay’s Ultra Ultramarathon, was a standout success - far exceeding expectations and driving record-breaking listener engagement. The One Show’s new Challenge Squad also delivered above-target results, demonstrating the effectiveness of integrating fresh content with established platforms.

Corporate partnerships have been another cornerstone of our income strategy, delivering impressive growth and fostering new relationships. This year saw significant contributions from partners like McDonald’s, ASDA and TikTok, with each bringing their unique strengths to our campaign.

McDonald’s extensive in-store branding and innovative customer engagement strategies helped us to connect with millions of young families across the UK, while TikTok’s vibrant community of 16-24-year-olds embraced our campaign, contributing £500,000 through their most successful charity partnership to date.

ASDA continued to be a strong supporter, with product extensions and new initiatives – like the introduction of Christmas PJs – showing promising signs of future growth. The retailer’s efforts to engage young families and local communities through their extensive store network have been crucial in expanding our reach and impact.

Greggs, with its wide customer base and strong colleague engagement, also played a key role in our fundraising efforts, achieving significant year-on-year growth across all fundraising activities. Meanwhile, Enterprise’s RunPudsey initiative saw notable success, particularly within primary schools, suggesting a promising avenue for future engagement with young audiences.

Our public fundraising efforts were anchored by the “Challenge Yourself and be SPOTacular” campaign, which resonated well with our supporters. The introduction of new propositions, such as the Pudsey Bearpees Challenge, alongside established favourites, helped us to connect with a wide range of participants, from young families to dedicated long-term supporters. Our integrated approach with BBC programmes, particularly The One Show, proved effective in boosting engagement and driving participation.

The schools campaign, focussing on positive relationships, further strengthened our ties with young audiences. Leveraging insights from previous years, we launched targeted incentives and live events, such as the Bearpees Live finale, which saw over a million children from 5,000 schools take part. This approach not only

contributed to immediate fundraising, but also laid the foundation for future growth in this critical segment.

In the realm of major donors, we secured significant contributions, including a matched fund from the People’s Postcode Lottery. These efforts underscore our ability to attract and retain high-value supporters, even in challenging circumstances.

Looking ahead, our focus on diversification, targeted audience engagement and sustainable income growth positions us well to continue making a meaningful difference in the lives of children and young people across the UK.

Innovating with Our Key BBC Partners - Vernon Kay’s Ultra Ultramarathon

Radio 2’s BBC Children in Need challenge was a standout success for the 2023 campaign. In a bold move, the programme stepped away from their tried-and-tested challenge format of 24-hours in a studio. Instead, their newest daytime presenter, Vernon Kay, undertook a gruelling four-day Ultra Ultramarathon from Leicester to his hometown of Bolton.

Radio 2 devoted unprecedented amounts of airtime to the event and the challenge gathered huge traction across the four days, capturing the imagination of audiences nationwide. Not only did the event break the record for the amount of money raised by one individual doing a challenge for BBC Children in Need, bringing in a staggering £6m, but it also achieved record-breaking engagement for Radio 2 across social media and on BBC Sounds, with millions of listeners tuning in to the captivating content and many claiming they couldn’t switch off.

Supporters turned out in their droves to cheer Vernon on from the roadside - and the areas of the country he passed through showed even more amplified engagement. The event’s success underscored our ability to connect with audiences through compelling, real-time storytelling.

New Initiatives for Younger Audiences

Game On! was an award winning, innovative BBC Three x BBC Children in Need-commissioned live show which combined a passion for video games with fundraising. It was the first of its kind for BBC Children in Need and the BBC as a whole, and was our highest performing piece of content for young audiences.

It brought together high-profile gaming influencers with members of the public who had won the chance to compete against the celebrities. By partnering with famous creators, it brought our brand to huge audiences on Twitch in an authentic and engaging way. It focussed on the positive impact of responsible gaming, enabling us to tell unique and surprising stories about our funding.

Game On! was broadcast live from Confetti X, a bespoke gaming arena associated with Nottingham Trent University, in November 2023. This was a huge achievement, particularly when one considers that Confetti-X is a non-TV studio. We offered 52 students the chance to work on the show.

Our insights found that 72% of 16–34-year-olds said it made the BBC feel more “for me”, while 64% said they learnt something new about BBC Children in Need. Not only was Game On! transformational for the charity sector, but it also enabled us to build new partnerships with tech companies, gaming brands and content creators for future joint endeavours.

Alongside Game On!, we launched an exciting new partnership with TikTok, which culminated in the exhilarating Pudsey Games. The two events took place at the same time and in the same studio complex, with the Pudsey Games serving as an exciting TikTok LIVE accompaniment to Game On! It saw two teams, featuring TikTok personalities from Connect Management, battling it out through a series of nail-biting games to win the Golden Pudsey trophy.

One particular highlight was a segment sponsored by our partners at McDonald’s, where celebrities played crazy golf and their own version of ‘Fun Football’, coached by GB Paralympian footballer Jack Rutter. McDonald’s pledged £50k to the event and fuelled the production with their McFleet food van.

The Pudsey Games enabled audiences to send special edition Pudsey gifts via TikTok LIVE for the first time ever. For every Pudsey gift sent, TikTok made a donation to the Charity.

As a direct result of the livestream, the BBC Children in Need TikTok account gained 5,000 new followers, 5 million SPOTacular likes and over 20 million gifts throughout entire partnership. It also raised over half a million pounds, making an enormous difference to the lives of the children and young people who are supported by our funding.

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OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE

This year, we had the additional opportunity to speak to audiences about our impact-led Backpack campaign, which had strong cut-through and responses, especially with our core family audience.

Priorities:

Positive Relationships

Developing and embedding insight to drive activity across the organisation

Positive relationships are at heart of the work that we fund. We consistently see their value in action and appreciate the critical role they play in helping children to navigate challenges in their lives. For that reason, this year, we have begun a focussed piece of work exploring the role of positive relationships in children’s lives.

Ensuring efficient and effective systems and processes

Creating a positive culture and prioritising EDI in everything that we do

Insight and Decision-Making in 2024/25

The year ahead will see us sharing more of our learning externally, while developing additional ways for the voices of children and young people to bring to life our insight and guide our decision-making.

Insight

Systems and Processes

Insight is leveraged across the organisation to guide BBC Children in Need’s decision-making and to shape and evaluate our activity. Central to our insight work is the need to understand the challenges faced by the UK’s children and young people. Those challenges are growing and becoming more complex, which is reflected in the ongoing high volume of funding applications we receive.

In terms of our systems and processes, we have reviewed our technical infrastructure and landscape and developed a highlevel Digital Transformation Strategy, identifying key projects to create a stable foundation for our digital ambitions. These will be delivered over the coming year with benefits to our governance, internal efficiencies, supporter engagement and grantee experience. Planning is already underway for the next phase of the strategy.

Culture and Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

Creating a great workplace for our colleagues and strengthening our culture at BBC Children in Need are both key priorities within the Charity - and are the focus of our Charity People strategy.

Throughout 2023/24, we have focussed on embedding the BBC Values and our own Pudsey Way – which sets out behaviours and elements of culture at BBC Children in Need that we want to strengthen.

THE PUDSEY WAY defines the elements of our culture that we want to strengthen at BBC Children in Need…

We encourage Teamwork and Collaboration…

We are Inclusive and Kind…

We are an inclusive organisation. We are constantly learning and advocating for Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. We seek out the diverse experiences and backgrounds of others, internally and externally, to help us learn and be successful.

We collaborate, share experiences and work together in a way that works for the whole team. Our relationships are based on openness, honesty and trust. Everyone is welcomed, celebrated and championed.

Understanding the External Landscape

We monitor the landscape with a particular focus on the key themes of poverty, mental health, social inequality and family challenges, and act in response to highly valuable feedback from our grantees on these matters - which is gathered via an annual survey. Teams draw on learning reviews and an internal glossary of language guidance to inform their activity.

This year, we engaged directly with over 1,500 children and young people supported by our grantees. They fed back to us about the people and places in their lives, their hopes and worries for the future and the role of BBC Children in Need regarding their support. This insight will be shared via a full report later this year.

We continue to monitor the difference we make for children through our funding, as well as the outcomes achieved through the projects and programmes we support, and consider how best to achieve those outcomes. This learning strengthens the effectiveness of future funding.

We also monitor public and supporter perceptions of BBC Children in Need throughout the year, and we are thankful for the ongoing affection that people hold for the Charity within the challenging giving landscape of recent years. Furthermore, we explore in-depth reactions to our annual November Appeal, including live responses during Appeal night. This helps us to understand how best to connect with audiences.

Financial controls and a robust reserves policy supports our strong financial position. However, we continue to monitor and evolve the funding options available to the Charity, making sure we continue to operate within our means and allocate resources to effectively deliver the strategy.

We have also implemented a revised investment strategy in line with investment risk appetite - and in doing so, we have reviewed the investment advisor and manager mandates.

We are Agile and Adaptable…

We Make Good Decisions…

We embrace change. We are bold and creative with our ideas. We look after our own wellbeing when responding flexibly to new challenges.

We use our charitable ambition to guide decision making and help us prioritise the right activity across the organisation. Data and Insight ensure our decisions are clear, informed and timely.

We put Children and Young People at the heart of everything we do…

We are Results Focussed…

We are all accountable for getting everything we do… the job done and for our own learning and career development. We create meaningful We set clear goals and measure opportunities to engage them success. We offer and receive in our work. We embrace all regular feedback to help us all opportunities to listen and learn. learn and grow. We are guided by their voice.

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development and support for flexible working.

This year, we have also been focussing on our colleague life cycle, thinking about ways to embed the Pudsey Way and developing methods to improve the employee experience at every stage. This work has included:

Our overall engagement score also rose by 10%, reaching 73% in 2024. While there is a lot to celebrate, we still have a great deal of work to do in order to continue improving. The feedback we received will inform our plans for 2024/25.

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion: Our Strategy

In 2023, we launched our updated Equity, Diversity and Inclusion strategy.

BBC Children in Need is committed to fairness and making a positive difference for children and young people. It is the responsibility of our staff to embrace a diverse, equitable and inclusive approach to everything we do. Children and young people are great at this, and we need to be just as good.

We know that improving diversity, equity and inclusion is critical to delivering positive outcomes for children and young people and ensuring the success of the organisation. Two key principles of our strategy are:

BBC Employee Survey

The BBC employee survey is a key measurement of staff engagement. It provides us with valuable feedback on how BBC Children in Need colleagues feel about their work. This year, over 75% of Charity colleagues participated in the survey, and their feedback shows improvements in many areas - including management and leadership, growth and

The strategy focusses on four key areas:

Our People Our Storytelling We ensure that BBC Our Funding and Children in Need’s culture Grant Making Our Fundraising We ensure diversity, authenticity and is forward thinking, open, We recognise the We build affinity across all representation through kind, inclusive and a great inequalities in grant groups so they can engage our content creation and place to work for all staff, making systems and with and support us aim to engage diverse including our Trustees, actively strive for equity audiences Committees, Volunteers Ensure minority groups Inclusive leadership Specific measures to target Diversify our engagement feel represented under represened groups strategy Work with diverse media Inclusive culture partners/platforms Remove inequalities in Align to BBC creative Brand and community Inclusive hiring our processes strategy partnering

In the past year, in support of our strategy, a number of key initiatives and activities have been undertaken, including Inclusive Leadership training for all of our leadership team, Anti-Racism training for all members of staff and the creation of a culture of open discussion and inclusivity through the introduction of “Tea Break” sessions.

ethnically diverse and 36% living with a disability.

We worked with a variety of BBC partners, including the BBC Asian Network, and launched our first collaboration with See Hear, the BBC’s magazine show for the deaf community where Pudsey learnt how to sign. 2023/24 also saw us strenghtening our partnership with Radio 1 Extra via the We Move Programme, which supports Black led YSA projects. £1.1m of our Pudsey Next Steps Phase 2 has been dedicated to this programme.

We have been activity collating and monitoring the diversity of our teams and have built plans to promote inclusive attraction, including via the BBC’s Extend scheme - which is the BBC’s positive action employment programme for people who are deaf, disabled, or neurodivergent.

Our public fundraising challenge - Pudsey Bearpees - was specifically designed with accessibility in mind, removing barriers that may have otherwise prevented potential participants from joining in.

Our on screen diversity exceeds the BBC targets to which we have signed up, for both ethnicity and disability representation. Our 2023 Appeal figures were 58% male to 42% female, 28%

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CLIMATE JUSTICE AND SUSTAINABILITY

Our Commitment

With children across the UK either currently or soon to be experiencing the impact of the climate crisis, we need to come together to ensure that all children have the support they need and that their voices are heard.

We are signatories to the Funder Commitment on Climate Change and, as such, our approach to sustainability follows the six pillars that make up commitment. The progress made in the year is as follows:

Many of the children and young people we support are disproportionately affected by the climate crisis. We recognise that we must reduce our impact on the environment as a key element of our mission, and that we need to maintain a clear approach to playing our part. We have a responsibility to care for the environment and to minimise the environmental impact of all our activities.

Educate and Learn

We delivered a 90-minute pilot session in February 2024 for our Youth Social Action Fund / We Move Youth Social Action Fund grant holders, as part of the learning support of their development phase. There were 32 participants, including young people and staff/trustees from invited organisations. The purpose of the session was to help grant holders understand climate change and its impact upon their beneficiaries and mission, and the actions they can take.

We also recognise that, as a leading children’s charity in the UK, we must use our voice to highlight the importance of taking action.

BBC Children in Need and Net Zero

BBC Children in Need’s long-term goal is in line with the wider BBC’s ambition regarding sustainability, which is to halve operational carbon emissions by 2030.

The BBC’s sustainability strategy, to which we are aligned, has three pillars:

We must use our voice to highlight the importance of taking action

Children, Young People and the Climate Crisis

Commit Resources

In addition to the above, BBC Children in Need’s focus is on advocating for the children worst affected by the climate crisis and empowering young people to lead on change.

We partnered with New Philanthropy Capital (NPC) to partfund the youth strand of their ‘Everyone’s Environment’ Project, which aims to explore the impact of climate change on children and young people in the UK. As part of this collaboration, we lead a consultation to find out how NPC want the youth/charity sector to respond to the crisis. The outcomes of this work are now being used by other organisations to improve their understanding of the ways in which how climate change affects the children and young people they support - and to provide a clear roadmap of the tangible, child-led actions that can be taken to tackle the problem.

Advocating for climate justice means focusing on people, communities, intersectionality and fairness. Our aim is to support the shift in power to low-income and marginalised communities across the UK and to focus on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion to address human rights and social inequality.

In order to support children and young people across the UK in any way we can, we must strive to be a truly sustainable organisation – environmentally, financially and operationally. This means considering the sustainability of our operations, fundraising activities, supply chains, investments, products and partnerships.

We also have two responsive funding programmes focussed on Youth Social Action: our Youth Social Action Fund - in partnership with the #iwill Fund and The Hunter Foundation - and We Move Fund: Youth Social Action in partnership with BBC Radio 1Xtra. Funded projects are still in the development phase, with children and young people from all over the UK choosing which issues they want to tackle and improve in their local communities, including environmental challenges.

The issue of climate change is a key priority for the Charity. We have a steering group that provides oversight and co-ordination of climate considerations across the organisation. We continue to focus on developing our strategic approach to the crisis.

Integrate

Prioritisation of the climate crisis is specifically called out within the Charity’s five year strategy, resulting in every team having a sustainability objective. All directorates are expected to apply the lens of environmental impact on any decisions made with the aim of reducing our impact on the environment.

We have worked with colleagues to identify opportunities across all directorates to raise awareness and understanding of climate justice issues using our voice and influence.

The BBC Sustainability Team also provides advice and support on how to progress the changing of our processes and systems for the better.

Steward Our Investments for a Post-Carbon Future

The Charity’s Investment Committee, made up of Trustees and co-opted members with investment expertise, work to a Statement of Investment Principles which ensures environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors are taken into account in the selection, retention and realisation of investments. In the year, we have appointed new Investment Managers with an ESG focus, and are in the process of investing specifically in sustainable funds’ to ‘In the year, we have appointed new Investment Managers with an ESG focus, including investment in sustainable funds.

One Trustee attended the FT Climate Capital Live 2023 Summit, which provided actionable insights on regulatory changes, business strategies and innovative financing structures.

Decarbonise Our Operations

Specific examples of action taken to decarbonise our operations include: all productions associated with Children in Need being Albert Certified. We have also reduced our paper usage by shifting from printed to digital fundraising packs and materials for our thousands of supporters across the UK. In addition, we drive our supporters towards e-thank you certificates, and our committees now review applications electronically. Further to this, we have been working on reducing our technology portfolio through the application of asset amnesties and by encouraging colleagues to look for alternative solutions to certain issues - such as requiring a work mobile phone. The Charity also recycles and repurposes old technology assets.

Report on Progress

We report annually on our progress against the five goals listed above. We do this via the Association of Charitable Foundation (ACF)’s annual reporting process, as well as within this Annual Report. We continue to develop our practice, to learn from others and to share our learning.

The issue of climate change is a key priority for the Charity

Emissions Data

BBC Children in Need’s staff reside in BBC buildings across the UK - with the majority based in our head office in Salford. Although the BBC manages and reports on the energy consumption of BBC Children in Need based on a prorated position, the calculated energy emissions from the space in which BBC Children in Need occupies is as follows: Electricity consumption is measured at 203,166kwh (2023: 233,733kwh) and gas at 64,021kwh (2023:79,365kwh).

This is a reduction on previous year, driven by a targeted set of initiatives by the BBC against their fossil fuel and electricity usage, which includes upgrading and exiting property, reducing gas consumption and targeting diesel usage in productions.

productions.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions
2023/24		 Gross Emissions
Greenhouse gas emissions
(tonnes/CO2e emissions)		 54.9 reduced by 15%
in year
Emissions per FTE 0.38

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OUR PLANS FOR 2024/25

Over 2024/25, we will continue to build on the work done to date on our strategic priorities.

Broadening and Deepening Our Impact

24/25 Headline - Embedding our impact framework to drive all our work, which will help us to apply a more strategic approach when tackling key issues, rather than being just a funder. To achieve this we wil

Creatively Engaging with Audiences and Supporters

24/25 Headline - Showing up all year round and championing our purpose, culminating in a fully integrated annual campaign. To achieve this, we will:

Strategically Growing Our Income

24/25 Headline – Continue to implement the five-year income growth plan, focussing on diversification, long term sustainable income and targeting younger audiences. To achieve this, we will:

Striving for Operational Excellence

24/25 Headline - Setting the Charity up for success with new systems, processes and ways of working. To achieve this, we will:

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2024 ACCOUNTS

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FINANCIAL PERFORMANCE

FINANCIAL REVIEW

The accounts for the year ended 30 June 2024 cover:

We measure financial performance based on:

Legacy income £3.4m (2023: £2.9m)

This represents an increase in the Charity’s normal activity of £5m on the prior year, mainly due to growing corporate partner support and engagement in BBC programmes and events such as Radio 2, which partially offset the impact of lower audiences due to the general shift away from broadcast viewing. See Note 2 (page 67) of the accounts.

Of the £52.4m income generated, £47.9m is designated for impact funding, with the balance being Gift Aid (£3.5m) and 2p/£ donated (£0.9m), which is used to part-fund the costs of generating income and governance.

Of the £47.9m designated for grant funding in 2023/24, £35.7m (2023: £26.3m) has been awarded in grants and £5.4m (2023: £5.7m) is the cost of making those grants.

The balance of £6.8m has built impact reserves in the year and will be spent on grant making before new income is generated in the November 2024 appeal, which is in line with our reserves policy.

To ensure BBC Children in Need is a charity that is strong, administered appropriately and able to raise income creatively, managing funds raised professionally and operating as an effective grant maker, we incur direct costs.

Total operating costs incurred in the year were £12.9m (reported as £13.5m including gifts in kind). This breaks down into £7.4m on raising funds and governance, £5.4m on grant making, impact and gift in kind* of £0.7m. Total costs represent 24% of our total income (2023: 26%). Grant making costs were 16% (2023: 23%) of grants awarded, other costs were 14% (2023: 15%) of income generated.

* Gifts in kind includes provision of office space. These have been excluded from the above analysis because income is offset by an equal amount of cost and nets to zero. Further details are given in note 3 to the accounts.

Results for Children in Need Limited

Children in Need Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary and holds the Charity’s trading activities. The results of the company are consolidated into the Charity’s accounts.

During the year ended 30 June 2024, Children in Need Limited made a profit of £0.4m (2023: £0.2m).

Our corporate partners that raise funds for the Charity by selling Pudsey branded product pay a fee for use of the brand which is accounted for in the Limited Company.

The Children in Need Limited profit is paid in full to the Charity under Gift Aid provisions.

Investment Policy

Funds committed for grant making but not required for expenditure in the short term are invested.

Investment income for the year (including revaluation gains) was £5.1m (2023: £0.9m), representing a return of 6.7% (2023: 1.1%) on the average investment balance.

The investment policy stipulates the type and terms of investments that may be purchased and investment objectives being to:

The balance held within each type of investment is determined by the amount of liquid funds required to meet our grant commitments when they fall due. Social, environmental and ethical considerations are taken into account when making investment decisions.

In the year, the Charity has reviewed its investment policy with a view to increasing risk-adjusted returns while still maintaining the required liquidity and operating within the agreed risk tolerance, and in July 2024 appointed Mercer to manage our investments and assist with portfolio construction and consideration of environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria.

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Reserves Policy

At 30 June 2024 the Group (which consists of BBC Children in Need (the Charity) and Children in Need Limited (the trading company) had total closing funds of £57.2m (2023: £47.7m) representing an increase of £9.5m on the prior year position. Impact reserves have increased as we have exceeded income expectations and these funds will be awarded in the coming months in line with our reserves policy.

----- Start of picture text -----
Opening Fund Total Grants Awarded in Year Cost of Grant Making, Policy, Cost of Raising Funds Closing Fund
Funds £’000 1 Jul 23 Income (Net of Adjustments) Impact and Grantee Training & Governance 30 June 24
Restricted Impact Fund 2,587 - (776) - - 1,811
Unrestricted Designated Impact Fund 31,031 47,913 (34,935) (5,426) - 38,583
General Continuity Fund 8,809 9,759 - - (7,060) 11,508
Investment Continuity Fund 5,000 - - - - 5,000
Development Fund 250 - - - - 250
TOTAL UNRESTRICTED FUNDS 45,090 57,672 (34,935) (5,426) (7,060) 55,341
TOTAL FUNDS 47,677 57,672 (35,711) (5,426) (7,060) 57,152
----- End of picture text -----

The £57.7m (2023: £48.6m) of total income received in the year (as reported in note 2) includes income from donations and other charitable activities of £52.4m plus net investment income of £5.2m and trading contribution of £0.1m.

Of this £35.7m has been used to fund projects that make a positive impact and £5.4m has funded the associated costs of grant making and impact.

£40.4m is held in reserve and available for grant making in advance of generating new income in the autumn 2024 appeal (restricted £1.8m, unrestricted £38.6m).

RISK MANAGEMENT AND ASSURANCE

At BBC Children in Need we continue to be challenged by a wide range of risks that can affect all areas of our organisation and we plan for and manage these risks daily.

BBC Children in Need’s Trustees have overall responsibility for setting the risk policy and approving the risk management processes, recognising that our approach to risk must encompass risk taking to innovate and grasp opportunities and ultimately achieve our strategic objectives.

Risk management is therefore an essential discipline to support BBC Children in Need in achieving its strategy and goals, which means identifying, assessing and mitigating risks and having effective policies, processes and controls in place.

The Charity continues to review its Risk Management Policy, Risk Framework and Risk in order to ensure appropriate consideration of risk and during the year. The Finance, Audit and Risk committee provides oversight and challenge of the management of risk and the mitigating actions and controls in place.

Our Finance, Audit and Risk Committee are also responsible for the appointment and focus of the external auditor, Crowe, and the internal audit plan - and monitoring the implementation of recommendations raised from audits.

In addition, our Investment Committee, investment advisers and fund managers identify and mitigate risks to the Charity relating to our Investments.

On the following pages we have shared what we consider are our greatest challenges to achieving our strategy and the context surrounding each risk.

Risk Category

Mitigations and Actions

Restricted Fund - £1.8m

The closing fund represents £1.4m of donations received from The Hunter Foundation (THF) which will be used to create positive impact for children deemed to be on the edge of the care system, continuing our support for the existing project and is anticipated to be spent in 2024 and early 2025.

In addition, £0.4m of income from iWill will be used to continue our joint support of Youth Social Action.

Unrestricted Fund - £38.6m

At 30 June 2024 the Charity held designated grant funds representing donation income received and to be awarded to projects in future grant making activity of £38.6m (2023: £31.0m). These funds will be awarded over the coming months but it is the intention of the Charity to maintain a level of funds to cover uncertainty of income or exceptional requirement for funding.

The Charity also holds funds to cover general operating costs in periods of uncertainty of income, to manage volatility of investment returns (capital value or income) and to allow for future investment and to respond to growth opportunities.

This represents unspent gift aid, investment income, license fees and a small proportion of donations (limited to 5p/£ donated).

In this financial year 2p/£ of unrestricted donation income and legacy income, together with gift aid, trading income and investment returns totalling £9.8m (2023: £6.4m) has been used to cover costs and provide contingency for any uncertainty over future income.

See the Charity’s principal accounting policies on page 64 which explains the structure of reserves and also note 14 on pages 77- 79 which provides more detail of the restricted funds.

We are addressing this through broadening and deepening our impact, including:

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Risk Category

Mitigations and Actions

Risk Category

Mitigations and Actions

Financial Viability

Operating within our means is key to maximising impact for children and young people.

There is a risk that the Charity does not operate within its funding model affordability, or that resources are insufficient to undertake its plan, leading to an inability to deliver on our impact ambition or the generation of negative public perception of spend.

Audiences

Creatively engaging with our audiences and supporters is key to diversifying our supporter footprint.

There is a risk that the Charity fails to engage with existing and new audiences, negatively impacting on familiarity, awareness and relevance, leading to declining audience and income.

Safeguarding

Avoiding any harm to children and young people is our first priority.

There is a risk that the charity undertakes a project or piece of work, funds work or engages in a partnership involving the engagement of children and young people (CYP) where an incident occurs or systems and processes fail, resulting in harm being caused.

To mitigate this risk, we are ensuring that:

• Annual going concern assessments are performed to ensure we maintain sufficient cover for grant commitments, ongoing activity and costs, any impairment of assets and have the required liquidity

We continue to mitigate this risk by:

• We maintain robust safeguarding governance, policy and practice across the organisation, embedding a strong safeguarding culture throughout, with mechanisms to share learning, raise concerns and escalate

• We provide regular mandatory training and resources, as well as expert advice around working with children and vulnerable people • We perform due diligence on the charities and projects that we fund and the partnerships and activities we engage in

• We have a formally appointed Senior Safeguarding Advisor whose role it is to inform and advise colleagues about their obligation, monitor compliance, raise awareness and advise

• We are signed up to the Fundraising Regulator’s Code of Fundraising Practice, as well as to the Fundraising Promise. We are committed to legal, open, honest and respectful fundraising and do not cause undue pressure or intrusion on donors • We maintain robust fundraising policies, which promote the adoption and improvement of responsible fundraising practices within the UK. We expect our fundraising partners, commercial participants and professional fundraisers to observe our fundraising policies and to demonstrate a similar commitment to responsible fundraising • There were no complaints received by the Charity and referred to the Fundraising Regulator throughout this year

Responsible Fundraising

There is a risk that fundraisers operating in our name are fraudulent and damage our reputation with the public or our partners.

• In order to meet our legal, data protection and privacy obligations, we maintain robust data protection governance, policy and practice across the organisation, embedding a strong data protection culture throughout, with mechanisms to share learning, raise concerns and escalate • Regular mandatory training and resources are provided, as well as expert advice around the use of personal information • We have a formally appointed Data Protection Officer, whose role it is to inform and advise colleagues about their obligation, monitor compliance, raise awareness and advise • Due diligence is performed on all systems we use in order to ensure information is appropriately managed

Data protection

We have a responsibility when dealing with personal information - and our data protection principles ensure • we do not risk the trust placed in the Charity.

There is a risk of breach of data protection regulation due • to lack of compliance or increasing complexity.

• The BBC and the Charity have extensive policies and procedures in place to detect and prevent cyber threats. Recovery plans are in place, and we adequately train our employees • Information security standards are specified in every third-party contract • Staff operate on standard devices with high-grade encryption and virus protection

Cyber Security

There is a risk of a successful cyber-attack due to lack of appropriate and up-to-date security measures, leading to loss or theft of data, loss of fundraising capability or • operational impairment.

To mitigate this risk, we prioritise:

Reputation

There is a risk that the Charity undertakes a project or piece of work, funds work, engages in a partnership or with an individual in which an event occurs, resulting in negativity regarding the Charity’s reputation, potentially leading to a loss of income or trust.

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The Reserve Policy for the Charity sets out the long-term target for the Charity’s continuity as shown in the table below. The minimum unrestricted reserves held by the Charity of £12.75m is to ensure we have sufficient funds to flex with seasonal income generation, respond to unexpected factors affecting children and young people across the UK and continue operations in periods of uncertainty when external and internal factors influence the range of income outcomes.

In addition, additional reserves will be held at year end and utilised until new income is received in the Autumn. In effect, the purpose of the reserve is twofold - a contingency and to fund anticipated activity.

The Impact continuity fund therefore holds funds that will be allocated before new income is generated from our next Appeal in November 2024. It is envisaged that the General continuity fund will drop back in line with forthcoming commitments over the next five years as we invest funds in our future strategic ambition. The Investment Continuity Fund is in place to manage volatility in capital value or returns.

Continuity Funds £’000 Contingency Target
30 Jun 24		 Forthcoming Commitments
30 Jun 24		 Closing
30 Jun 24
Impact Continuity Fund 5,000 33,583 38,583
General Continuity Fund 2,500 9,008 11,508
Investment Continuity Fund 5,000 - 5,000
Development Fund 250 - 250
Total 12,750 42,591 55,341

Going Concern

Trustees continuously monitor the impact of external factors on the Charity and its likely future financial position. In reviewing the going concern position, the Charity takes into account its ability to:

  1. fund grant commitments

  2. cover impairment in assets

  3. satisfy going concern for 12 months from the approval of the financial statements – based on matching assets to liabilities

  4. cover costs

  5. maintain healthy cashflow; and ultimately

  6. continue to make grants

The Trustees are satisfied that the assets are in excess of the liabilities at both the balance sheet date and at the date of approval of the financial statements. The Trustees are also satisfied that the liquidity of the portfolio is appropriate for the phasing of grant commitments over 1 to 3 years, and that the risk of market value changes in the Charity’s investments can be managed appropriately.

Having taken into account all available information about the future for the period of at least, but not limited to, 12 months from the date on which the accounts are approved the Trustees are satisfied that there are no material uncertainties about the Charity’s ability to continue. The accounts are therefore prepared on a going concern basis.

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

In addition to the Trustee representing the Founder Member, the Trustees of BBC Children in Need are drawn from the BBC and non-BBC in equivalent numbers.

Formal Structure

BBC Children in Need was formed on 25 August 1988, became a registered charity with effect from 1 September 1989 and until 30 September 2003 was an unincorporated body governed by a deed of trust and administered by a board of Trustees.

On appointment all Trustees go through an induction process and are provided with training specific to the role and activities that they will be required to undertake (e.g. grant making). In addition Trustees are kept up to date with any changes in governance requirements to ensure they are aware of their obligations.

With effect from the 1 October 2003 the Charity’s assets and activities were transferred to a Company Limited by Guarantee (‘The BBC Children in Need Appeal’) with the Trustees being appointed as the Board of Directors and the BBC as the Founder Member of the Company.

Management

The Board of Trustees holds formal meetings at least four times a year. In this financial year, the board has met formally 7 times. In between these meetings, matters are progressed through the delegation of actions to sub-committees of the board, and Officers of the Charity in line with the agreed Scheme of Delegation.

As part of the process of incorporation, The BBC Children in Need Appeal was effectively re-registered as a Charity on 7 August 2003 but retained the Charity number 802052. The Charity is governed in accordance with its Articles of Association.

In 2012 the name of the Charity was changed from The BBC Children in Need Appeal to BBC Children in Need, to reflect our year round presence and the changing nature of our fundraising. BBC Children in Need is also a registered Charity in Scotland, number SC039557.

Key Responsibilities Trustees

The following points outline the key responsibilities of Trustees.

BBC Children in Need has one trading subsidiary, Children in Need Limited. Children in Need Limited is a wholly owned subsidiary which primarily exists to licence products using the ‘Pudsey Bear’ trade mark and to sell Pudsey merchandise.

Children in Need Limited makes a Gift Aid payment of all its taxable profits to BBC Children in Need each year.

Governance Arrangements

As a registered charity and company limited by guarantee BBC Children in Need is governed by company and charity law and by The Statement of Recommended Practice, Charities SORP second edition (FRS 102), issued by the Charities Commission in October 2019. The SORP sets out the accounting practices and disclosure required by charities in their annual accounts. The Trustees have followed its recommendations and applicable accounting standards in presenting these accounts.

Trustee Sub-Committees

To support effective governance the Charity has operated with four Trustee Board sub-committees throughout the year:

Trustees regularly review the Charity’s governance arrangements against the voluntary Governance Code for Charities, and it continues to implement recommendations from the 22-23 review which fall into categories of:

Trustee Appointment and Chair

The Trustees are appointed by the Members of the Charity in general meeting and all Trustees are Members of the Charity and Company.

Except for the Trustee who formally represents the BBC (as Founder Member), Trustees are appointed for a term of three years and may then be appointed for a further two terms of three years each.

Investment, Finance, Audit and Risk and Impact Committee all have co-opted (non-Trustee) members to bring additional advice, subject matter expertise and experience.

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REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS

Business Planning & Performance Management

We have continued to embed our approach to business planning. This ensures we have a clear and concise plan of objectives, at organisational, directorate, team and individual level across the organisation. Every individual has a clear line of sight of how the work they are doing supports the organisation’s strategy and plan.

These plans are reviewed on a quarterly basis and progress tracked and monitored throughout the year. We continue to evolve our approach to performance management to ensure performance, behaviour and development are well understood, discussed and supported at all levels of the organisation.

Risk Management

The Trustees are responsible for the Charity’s management of risk. During the year the Trustees actively monitored and discussed risk. This process included:

A statement of Trustees’ responsibilities in respect of the Trustees’ Annual Report and Accounts is given on page 56. The Trustees who held office at the date of approval of this Trustees’ report confirm that, so far as they are aware, there is no relevant audit information of which the Charitable Company’s auditors are unaware; and the Trustees have taken all the steps that they ought to have taken to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the auditors are aware of that information.

The Report of the Trustees, which incorporates the requirements of the Strategic Report and the Directors’ Report as set out in the Companies Act 2006 (Strategic Report and Directors’ Report) Regulations 2013, was approved by the Board, in their capacity as Trustees and company directors, and signed on its behalf on 9 December 2024 by:

James Fairclough Chair

Jonathan Munro Trustee

Trustees and Advisors

Chair

James Fairclough[3] (interim chair as of 28 Oct 2024) Rosie Millard[3 ] (resigned 28 Oct 2024) Vice Chair Jonathan Munro BBC Representative Other Trustees Matthew Baker (resigned 30 Sep 2023)

Matthew Baker (resigned 30 Sep 2023) Kenny Imafidon[2 ] Trevor Bradley[1 3 4] Kieran Clifton[2] Rhona Burns[1 4] Suzanne Lamb Sandeep Bhamra[1 4] (resigned 30 Sep 2024) Cherrie Bija[2 3] Randel Bryan Patricia Hidalgo Helen Thomas (joined 1 Mar 2024) Jo Wallace (joined 19 Oct 2023) Company Secretary Tony Okotie

Principal Officers

Chief Executive

Simon Antrobus Claire Hoyle Tommy Nagra Joanne Ruddock Nicky Scowcroft Fozia Irfan Tony Okotie Nassali Douglas Jenny Wroe

Director of Income and Engagement Director of Content Director of Insight

Director of Finance and Operations Director of Impact and Influence Director of Impact: Grant Making Director of Change & Transformation Senior HR Business Partner

Auditors

Crowe UK LLP St James House St James’ Square Cheltenham GL50 3PR

Bankers

HSBC Bank Plc City of London branch Queen Victoria Street London EC4N 4TR

Investment Managers and Advisors

Mercer Tower Place West London EC3R 5BU (July 2024 onwards)

Schroder Investment Management Limited 31 Gresham Street London EC2V 7QA (Until July 2024)

Willis Towers Watson 51 Lime Street London EC3M 7DQ (Until July 2024)

Solicitors

Fieldfisher LLP 35 Vine Street London EC3N 2AA

Womble Bond Dickinson (UK) LLP 4 More London Riverside London SE1 2AU

Mills & Reeve LLP Fountain House, 130 Fenchurch Street London EC3M 5DJ

Registered Office

Dock House Salford M50 2LH

Registered charity England and Wales no. 802052 and Scotland no. SC039557. Registered Company 04723022

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INDEPENDENT AUDITOR’S REPORT TO THE MEMBERS OF BBC CHILDREN IN NEED

STATEMENT OF RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE TRUSTEES OF BBC CHILDREN IN NEED IN RESPECT OF THE TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS

The Trustees are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Annual Report and the accounts in accordance with applicable law and regulations.

Company law requires Trustees to prepare accounts for each financial year. Under that law they are required to prepare the group and charitable company accounts in accordance with UK Accounting Standards and applicable law (UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

Under company law the Trustees must not approve the accounts unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the group and charitable company and of the group and charitable company’s excess of income over expenditure for that period. In preparing each of the group and charitable company accounts, the Trustees are required to:

The Trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain the charitable company’s transactions and disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the group and charitable company and enable them to ensure that its accounts comply with the Companies Act 2006. They have general responsibility for taking such steps as are reasonably open to them to safeguard the assets of the group and to prevent and detect fraud and other irregularities.

The Trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the charitable company’s website. Legislation in the UK governing the preparation and dissemination of accounts may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of BBC Children in Need (‘the charitable company’) and its subsidiary (‘the group’) for the year ended 30 June 2024 which comprise the Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities, the Charity Statement of Financial Activities, the Consolidated and Charity Balance Sheets, the Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows 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 accounts:

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 group in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion

Conclusions Relating to Going Concern

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

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charitable company’s or the group’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

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

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 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.

Opinion on Other Matters Prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

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

Matters on Which We are Required to Report by Exception

In light of the knowledge and understanding of the group and charitable company and their environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements 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 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

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Responsibilities of Trustees

As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement set out on page 56, 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 Accounts

We have been appointed as auditor under section 44(1)(c) of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and under the Companies Act 2006 and report in accordance with the Acts and relevant regulations made or having effect thereunder.

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

Details of the extent to which the audit was considered capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud and noncompliance 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 noncompliance with laws and regulations. We identified and assessed the risks of material misstatement 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.

laws and regulations we considered in this context were

the Companies Act 2006, the Charities Act 2011 and The Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 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 and the group’s ability to operate or to avoid a material penalty. We also considered the opportunities and incentives that may exist within the charitable company and the group for fraud. The laws and regulations we considered in this context for the UK operations were taxation and employment legislation.

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 with the grant and corporate income, and the override of controls by management. Our audit procedures to respond to these risks included enquiries of management, and the Finance, Audit & 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 and Scottish Charity Regulator, designing audit procedures over the grants and corporate income streams 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 misstatements 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 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, and to the charitable company’s trustees, as a body, in accordance with Regulation 10 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 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 and the charitable company’s trustees as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Guy Biggin

Senior Statutory Auditor For and on behalf of Crowe U.K. LLP Statutory Auditor

4th Floor St James House St James’ Square Cheltenham GL50 3PR

Date: 19 December 2024

We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory frameworks within which the charitable company and group 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

58 | BBC Children in Need

2024 Annual Report and Accounts | 59

CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES

CHARITY STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2024

(Incorporating the Income and Expenditure Account and Statement of Total Recognised Gains and Losses)

----- Start of picture text -----
Year to 30 June 2024 Year to 30 June 2023
Total Total
Unrestricted Restricted Unrestricted Restricted
Notes Funds Funds
Fund £’000 Fund £’000 Fund £’000 Fund £’000
£’000 £’000
INCOME AND ENDOWMENTS FROM:
Donations and Legacies
Donations 2, 3 46,463 - 46,463 40,224 3,000 43,224
- - - - - -
Income from joint operation
Legacies 2 3,379 - 3,379 2,858 - 2,858
Charitable Activities
Partnership funding 2 2,150 - 2,150 750 400 1,150
Total Income from Donations
51,992 - 51,992 43,832 3,400 47,232
and Charitable Activities
Income from trading activities 7 890 - 890 1,212 - 1,212
Investments 9 1,354 - 1,354 952 - 952
Other Income 677 - 677 683 - 683
TOTAL INCOME & ENDOWMENTS 54,913 - 54,913 46,678 3,400 50,078
EXPENDITURE ON:
Raising Funds
Cost of generating voluntary income - -
and governance 5 7,106 7,106 6,280 6,280
Investment management fees 5 116 - 116 119 - 119
Trading operating costs 5 518 - 518 1,006 - 1,006
7,740 - 7,740 7,405 - 7,405
Charitable Activities
- -
England 21,957 21,957 12,819 12,819
Scotland 2,564 - 2,564 2,099 - 2,099
Wales 1,458 - 1,458 1,253 - 1,253
Northern Ireland 1,631 - 1,631 1,426 - 1,426
UK wide grants 7,325 776 8,101 3,869 4,833 8,702
Grants Awarded in the Year 4 34,935 776 35,711 21,466 4,833 26,299
Costs of grant making & impact 5 5,789 - 5,789 5,883 236 6,119
40,724 776 41,500 27,349 5,069 32,418
TOTAL EXPENDITURE 48,464 776 49,240 34,754 5,069 39,823
Net (Losses) / Gains on Investments 9 3,802 - 3,802 (54) - (54)
Net Income/(Expenditure) for the Year 10,251 (776) 9,475 11,870 (1,669) 10,201
Net Movement in Funds 10,251 (776) 9,475 11,870 (1,669) 10,201
RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS
Total funds brought forward 1 July 2023 45,090 2,587 47,677 33,220 4,256 37,476
Total Funds Carried Forward
55,341 1,811 57,152 45,090 2,587 47,677
30 June 2024
----- End of picture text -----

The Group has no recognised gains or losses for the above two financial periods other than the net movement in funds shown above, all of which are derived from continuing operations.

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2024

(Incorporating the Income and Expenditure Account and Statement of Total Recognised Gains and Losses)

----- Start of picture text -----
Year to 30 June 2024 Year to 30 June 2023
Total
Unrestricted Restricted Unrestricted Restricted Total
Notes Funds
Fund £’000 Fund £’000 Fund £’000 Fund £’000 Funds
£’000
£’000
INCOME AND ENDOWMENTS FROM:
Donations and Legacies
Donations 2 46,463 - 46,463 40,224 3,000 43,224
Gift aid payment from Children in Need 7 372 - 372 206 - 206
Limited
Legacies 2 3,379 - 3,379 2,858 - 2,858
Charitable Activities
Partnership funding 2 2,150 - 2,150 750 400 1,150
Total Income from Donations
52,364 - 52,364 44,038 3,400 47,438
and Charitable Activities
Income from trading activities 152 - 152 290 - 290
Investments 9 1,354 - 1,354 952 - 952
Other Income 677 - 677 683 - 683
TOTAL INCOME & ENDOWMENTS 54,547 - 54,547 45,963 3,400 49,363
EXPENDITURE ON:
Raising Funds
Cost of generating voluntary income & - -
5 7,106 7,106 6,280 6,280
governance
Investment management fees 5 116 - 116 119 - 119
Children in Need Limited Cost Recovery 7 152 - 152 291 - 291
7,374 - 7,374 6,690 - 6,690
Charitable Activities
- -
England 21,957 21,957 12,819 12,819
Scotland 2,564 - 2,564 2,099 - 2,099
Wales 1,458 - 1,458 1,253 - 1,253
Northern Ireland 1,631 - 1,631 1,426 - 1,426
UK wide grants 7,325 776 8,101 3,869 4,833 8,702
Grants Awarded in the Year 4 34,935 776 35,711 21,466 4,833 26,299
Cost of grant making and impact 5 5,789 - 5,789 5,883 236 6,119
40,724 776 41,500 27,349 5,069 32,418
TOTAL EXPENDITURE 48,098 776 48,874 34,039 5,069 39,108
Net (Losses) / Gains on Investments 9 3,802 - 3,802 (54) - (54)
Net Income/(Expenditure) for the Year 10,251 (776) 10,251 11,870 (1,669) 10,201
Net Movement in Funds 10,251 (776) 10,251 11,870 (1,669) 10,201
RECONCILIATION OF FUNDS
Total funds brought forward 1 July 2023 45,075 2,587 47,662 33,205 4,256 37,461
Total Funds Carried Forward
55,326 1,811 57,137 45,075 2,587 47,662
30 June 2024
----- End of picture text -----

The Charity has no recognised gains or losses for the above two financial periods other than the net movement in funds shown above, all of which are derived from continuing operations.

The notes on pages 64 to 79 form part of these financial statements.

The notes on pages 64 to 79 form part of these financial statements.

60 | BBC Children in Need

2024 Annual Report and Accounts | 61

CONSOLIDATED AND CHARITY BALANCE SHEETS

CONSOLIDATED CASH FLOW STATEMENT

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2024

AS AT 30 JUNE 2024

Company Number 04723022

----- Start of picture text -----
Group Group Charity Charity
Notes 30 June 2024 30 June 2023 30 June 2024 30 June 2023
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
FIXED ASSETS
Tangible assets 8 28 8 28 8
Investment in subsidiary 7 - - - -
Investments 9 29,394 18,845 29,394 18,845
29,422 18,853 29,422 18,853
CURRENT ASSETS
Investments 9 55,144 53,371 55,144 53,371
Stock 241 180 - -
Debtors 10 9,179 7,826 9,669 8,259
Cash and cash equivalents 8,137 10,305 7,851 10,014
72,701 71,682 72,664 71,644
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year 11 (28,377) (32,019) (28,355) (31,996)
NET CURRENT ASSETS 44,324 39,663 44,309 39,648
TOTAL ASSETS LESS CURRENT LIABILITIES 73,746 58,516 73,731 58,501
Creditors: amounts falling due after more than one year 11 (16,594) (10,839) (16,594) (16,876)
NET ASSETS 57,152 47,677 57,137 47,662
RESERVES
Unrestricted funds 14 55,341 45,090 55,326 45,075
Restricted Grant Funds 14 1,811 2,587 1,811 2,587
Total Funds 57,152 47,677 57,137 47,662
TOTAL RESERVES 57,152 47,677 57,137 47,662
----- End of picture text -----

The notes on pages 64 to 79 form part of these financial statements.

The accounts on pages 60 to 63 were approved by the Trustees on 9 December 2024 and signed on their behalf by:

Year to Year to
Schedule 30 June 2024 30 June 2023
£’000 £’000
Cash Flow from Operating Activities:
Net cash provided by/(used in) operating activities
A
Cash Flow from Investing Activities:
Interest from investments
Purchase of equipment
Purchase of investments
Proceeds from sale of investments
Net Cash (Used in)/Provided by Investing Activities
Change in cash and cash equivalents in the reporting period
Cash and cash equivalents at the start of the reporting period
B
Cash and Cash Equivalents at the End of the Reporting Period
B		 5,030
1,354
(32)
(261,164)
252,644
(7,198)
(2,168)
10,305
8,137		 (13,055)
952
(9)
(804,271)
813,148
9,820
(3,235)
13,540
10,305
A. Reconciliation of net income to net cash flow from operating activities
Year to Year to
30 June 2024 30 June 2023
£’000 £’000
Net income for the year
Depreciation charges
Investment income
(Gain)/loss on investments
(Increase)/decrease in stock
(Increase) in debtors
Decrease/(increase) in creditors		 9,475
12
(1,354)
(3,802)
(61)
(1,353)
2,113		 10,201
28
(952)
54
50
(903)
(21,533)
Net Cash Inflow/(Outflow) 5,030 (13,055)

B. Analysis of cash and cash equivalents

James Fairclough Jonathan Munro Chair Trustee

At
1 July 2023
£’000		 Cash Flows
£’000		 At
30 June 2024
£’000
Cash at bank
Money market deposits		 10,305
-		 (2,168)
-		 8,137
Total Cash and Cash Equivalents 10,305 (2,168) 8,137

62 | BBC Children in Need

2024 Annual Report and Accounts | 63

NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2024

1 Principal Accounting Policies

Basis of Preparation

BBC Children in Need is a registered charity in England and Wales 802052 and Scotland SC039557 and a company limited by guarantee incorporated in England 04723022. The Registered Office is Dock House, MediaCity UK, Salford M50 2LH.

These accounts have been prepared in accordance with UK Generally Accepted Accounting Practice, comprising Financial Reporting Standard 102 – ‘The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (‘FRS 102’) and the Charities SORP second edition (FRS 102) issued by the Charities Commission in October 2019, together with the reporting requirements of the Companies Act 2006, the Charities Act 2011, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005, and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006. The Charity has adapted the Companies Act formats to reflect the SORP and the special nature of the Charity’s activities. The Charity is a public benefit entity.

Going Concern

The accounts have been prepared on the going concern basis and under the historical cost convention with the exception of listed and unlisted investments which are included at market value.

Trustees continuously monitor the impact of external factors on the Charity and its likely future financial position. They are satisfied that the assets are in excess of the liabilities at both the balance sheet date and at the date of approval of the financial statements. The Trustees are also satisfied that the liquidity of the portfolio is appropriate for the phasing of grant commitments over 1 to 3 years, and that the risk of market value changes in the Charity’s investments can be managed appropriately. Having taken into account all available information about the future for the period of at least, but not limited to, 12 months from the date on which the accounts are approved the Trustees are satisfied that there are no material uncertainties about the Charity’s ability to continue. The accounts are therefore prepared on a going concern basis.

The accounts were authorised for issue on 24 October 2024 by the Board of Trustees.

The accounts are prepared in Sterling which is the functional currency of the Charity and Group and rounded to the nearest £’000. The Charity and Group’s presentational currency is the same as its functional currency.

The Charity funds the costs of generating income and governance from Gift Aid, interest earned on Investments and with effect from the 19/20 financial year, up to 5p in the £ from unrestricted donations. This change was necessary due to reducing returns on investments and reduced income from Gift Aid, and now provides the Charity with a level of financial stability.

Income

All income is recognised once the Charity has entitlement to it, it is probable that the income will be received and the monetary value of the income can be measured with sufficient reliability.

Legacy income is recognised when the criteria of probability, measurement and entitlement are met. This is considered to be on the earlier of the date cash is received or the date final estate accounts are approved.

Donated services and facilities are treated as gifts in kind and are included as income (with an equivalent amount in resources expended) at the estimated value to the Charity. This income has been recognised as the benefit to the Charity is reasonably quantifiable, measurable and material, the Charity is entitled to the donation in that control over the expected economic benefit has passed and it will more than likely flow to the Charity (further details are given in Note 3).

Consolidation

These consolidated accounts incorporate the results of BBC Children in Need and its wholly owned subsidiary undertaking, Children in Need Limited, for the year ended 30 June 2024, on a line by line basis. Children in Need Limited is a company registered in England and Wales and exists primarily to sell Children in Need merchandise and licence products using the Pudsey Bear trademark.

No separate Cash Flow Statement has been prepared for the Charity as permitted by Section 408 of the Companies Act 2006 and FRS102 respectively.

Relationship with the BBC

Although the Charity and the BBC are respectively separately governed, they remain closely associated and both parties recognise the mutual benefit of their association and collaboration: The Charity in pursuit of its charitable purposes is able to support the BBC in fulfilling its Mission and Public Purposes, including providing access to younger audiences, increasing awareness and understanding of the issues affecting children and young people in UK, and a charitable vehicle for BBC staff engagement. In return, the Charity benefits from an annual season of broadcast programming, and a range of marketing and operational support, enabling it to promote its work, raise support and money to in turn improve the lives of children and young people across the UK.

Grant Expenditure

Grant expenditure is recognised when grants are approved by Directors or Trustees and notified to the organisations concerned, payment is probable, it can be measured reliably and all conditions have been met. Grant expenditure not yet paid is recognised as a liability on the balance sheet. If grants are payable in less than one year they are classified as short term and if payable in more than one year then they are classified as long term. For grants payable in more than one year discounts for present value have not been applied on the basis of materiality.

Other Expenditure

Expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and is recognised when there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the Charity and Group to the expenditure, payment is probable and it can be measured reliably. Costs have been directly attributed to a particular heading in the Statement of Financial Activities on a headcount basis or on a time basis consistent with the use of the resource.

NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2024 (CONTINUED)

Cost of generating funds consists of costs incurred by the Charity in encouraging organisations and individuals to make voluntary contributions or to organise a fundraising event. This includes all costs of production and distribution of publicity materials, the costs of staff and other expenditure incurred in communicating with fundraisers and donors and the cost of Charity organised events and challenges.

Short Term Debtors and Creditors

Debtors and creditors with no stated interest rate and receivable or payable within one year are recorded at transaction price. Any losses arising from impairment are recognised in the Statement of Financial Activity in the cost of generating voluntary income.

Operating Leases

Grant giving costs represent the cost of monitoring and evaluating projects to ensure the money is being used to maximum effect and ensuring that grant making is supported, processed and governed responsibly. This includes costs of staff who support the grant making process, external assessors, regional and national committee meetings and expenditure incurred in this process.

Operating lease rentals are charged to the Statement of Financial Activity on a straight line basis over the period of the lease.

Further details of operating leases are given in Note 13.

Retirement Benefit Plans

Employees of the Charity participate in defined benefit and defined contribution schemes operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation. The defined benefit schemes provide benefits based on pensionable pay. The assets of the BBC’s main pension scheme, the BBC Pension Scheme, to which the majority of employees belong, are held separately from those of the BBC Group.

Governance costs include all costs involving the public accountability of the Charity and its compliance with regulation and good practice. These include costs of staff, external audit and legal fees along with Trustee expenses and meeting costs.

Further details of other expenditure are shown in Note 5.

The BBC Pension Scheme is a group-wide scheme and there is no contractual agreement or stated policy for charging the net defined benefit cost to scheme participants. The contribution rates are set by the pension scheme trustees based on valuations which take a longer-term view of the assets required to fund the scheme’s liabilities. Valuations of the scheme are performed by Willis Towers Watson, consulting actuaries, with formal valuations undertaken at least every three years. Accordingly, the Company accounts for contributions payable to the scheme as if the schemes were defined contribution schemes.

Tangible Fixed Assets

Tangible assets costing more than £1,000 are capitalised, included at cost and depreciated over their useful lives on a straight line basis. Depreciation is provided on all tangible assets at rates calculated to write off the costs of each asset on a straight line basis over its expected useful life as follows:

IT equipment and software 3 years

Further details of assets are shown in Note 8.

Investments

Basic Financial Instruments

Grants are paid in instalments across the life of the project (typically 3 years) therefore we will always have some funds that we hold in investments.

(a) Financial assets

Basic financial assets represents stocks, trade debtors including amounts due by group undertakings; and cash and bank balances which are initially recognised at transaction price. At 30 June 2024, the group and charity had only financial assets classified as basic financial instruments. Debtors receivable in less than one year are recorded at transaction price.

Investments are included in the Balance Sheet at mid-

market value. All gains and losses are shown in the Statement of Financial Activities. They are classified as fixed investments if they represent grants awarded and payable in more than one year (presented as a long term creditor) and grant funds due to be awarded where the payment will be made in more than one year (presented as the grant fund). They are classified as current investments if they represent grants payable in less than one year.

Financial assets are derecognised when the contractual rights to the cash flows from the asset expire or are settled.

(b) Financial liabilities

Further details of fixed and current investments are given in Note 9.

Basic financial liabilities represents creditors including amounts owed to group undertakings are initially recognised at transaction price. At 30 June 2024, the group and charity had financial liabilities classified as basic financial liabilities.

Stock

Stock is held by Children in Need Limited. Further details of the accounts of Children in Need Limited are given in Note 7. Stock is stated at the lower of cost and net realisable value. Net realisable value is based on estimated selling price less further costs expected to be incurred to completion and disposal.

Creditors are obligations to pay for goods or services that have been acquired in the ordinary course of business from suppliers. Accounts payable are classified as current liabilities if payment is due within one year or less. If not, they are presented as non-current liabilities.

64 | BBC Children in Need

2024 Annual Report and Accounts | 65

NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2024 (CONTINUED)

Judgements and Estimates

Trade creditors are recognised initially at transaction price.

The preparation of the accounts requires management to make judgements, estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported for assets and liabilities at the balance sheet date and the amounts reported for income and expenditure during the year.

Amount owed to group undertakings which are basic financial instruments are initially recorded at the present value of future payments.

Financial liabilities are derecognised when the liability is extinguished, that is when the contractual obligation is discharged, cancelled or expires.

Judgement has been applied in the consideration of what gifts in kind are included in the Charities accounts. The gift in kind has been accounted for where the actual expenditure incurred by the BBC or corporate partner can be measured reliably and the Charity has received the benefit. Many of the other elements of BBC support are very difficult to quantify as they are not discrete activities but embedded, partly as newsworthy and entertainment content, within the operations and business of the BBC. The Appeal show provides valuable content, which attracts a large audience, and without it the BBC would have to produce alternative content. As such the full value of support provided by the BBC has not been included in the Charity’s Statement of Financial Activities.

Structure of Reserves

Unrestricted Funds including Designated

The Charity holds the majority of donation income in the Impact Continuity Fund which is designated to ensuring maximum positive impact on disadvantaged children and young people. The money is therefore spent on BBC Children in Need’s grant making activity, grant making policy and making an impact - charitable initiatives designed to make a positive difference to the lives of children and young people. This includes making awards to projects and the cost of allocating, monitoring and evaluating grants to ensure that donations are being used to maximum effect. It is not always possible to accurately match the amount of grant making activity with the amount of income in any one year therefore any unspent income is always monitored separately.

The Charity holds Gift Aid from unrestricted donations, interest earned on Investments and up to 5p in the £ from unrestricted donations in the general continuity fund. This fund is used to cover the costs of generating income and other activities which support the governance, growth and development of the Charity. A proportion is also held in reserve to cover any potential investment losses generated through short term volatility and to fund a potential short term funding deficit should future income levels fall unexpectedly.

Other Non-Grant funds also include the net assets of Children in Need Limited.

Gifts in kind is allocated across the two funds based on direct staff allocation.

Restricted Funds

This is restricted income held to further a specific purpose of the Charity as stipulated by the donor and is accounted for accordingly and presented separately on the face of the Statement of Financial Activities. This may also include associated Gift Aid which is also deemed to be restricted in use. This spend includes making awards to projects and the cost of allocating, monitoring and evaluating grants.

Where the donor expresses a form of non-binding preference as to the use of the funds, this falls short of imposing a formal restriction and the Charity will include the relevant donations as part of its unrestricted funds.

NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2024 (CONTINUED)

2 INCOME

Income from direct public support such as donations, public & schools fundraising, our Corporate Partners and BBC Programmes of £48.9m (2023: £44.2m) plus income such as gift aid, investment income and licence fee income of £8.8m (2023: £4.4m) which is used to fund the Charity’s income generating activities, totals £57.7m of income for the Charity (2023: £48.6m).

Unrestricted Funds Restricted Funds
Direct
Public
Support
£000
High Value
Donors &
Partnerships
£000
BBC
Programmes
£000
Other
£000		 Direct
Public
Support
£000
High Value
Donors &
Partnerships
£000		 Total
2024
£000
Total
2023
£000
Schools
3,523
-
-
-
Public fundraising
2,348
-
-
-
Donations
4,357
13,975
18,736
-
Gift Aid on donations
3,524
-
-
-
-
-		 3,523
3,936
-
-		 2,348
2,382
-
-		 37,068
33,690
-
-		 3,524
3,216
TOTAL DONATIONS
13,752
13,975
18,736
-		 -
-		 46,463
43,224
Gift aid payment from
Children in Need Limited
372
-
-
-
Partnership funding
-
2,150
-
-
Legacies
3,379
-
-
-
-
-		 372
206
-
400		 2,150
1,150
-
-		 3,379
2,858
TOTAL INCOME FROM
CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES
17,503
16,125
18,736
-		 -
3,400		 52,364
47,438
Licence fee income
-
152
-
-
Return on investments
-
-
-
1,354
-
-		 152
290
-
-		 1,354
952
Other income - gift in kind
-
-
-
677		 -
-		 677
683
RECONCILIATION TO
CHARITY SOFA
54,547		 54,547 54, 547
49,363
Gift in kind
-
-
-
(677)		 -
-		 (677)
(683)
Plus gains/less losses on
investments
-
-
-
3,802		 -
-		 3,802
(54)
RECONCILIATION TO
REPORTED INCOME
57,672		 57,672 57,672
48,626

How the above income has been utilised in the year is shown below.

----- Start of picture text -----
Grant Awards (34,935) (776) (35,711) (26,299)
-
Costs of Grant Making (5,426) (5,426) (5,743)
-
Costs of Generating Income and Governance (7,060) (7,060) (6,383)
Movement in Reserves (10,251) 776 (9,475) (10,201)
REPORTED TOTAL INCOME (57,672) - (57,672) (48,626)
----- End of picture text -----

Total income reported on the Charity Statement of Financial Activities is £54.5m (2023: £49.4m) is before unrealised investment income and gift in kind.

Loan to Children in Need Limited

The interest bearing loan is a basic financial instrument and is recorded at fair value on both initial recognition and subsequent recognition. As the loan is repayable on demand fair value is equal to face value.

66 | BBC Children in Need

2024 Annual Report and Accounts | 67

NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2024 (CONTINUED)

3 GIFTS IN KIND

The costs of support through the provision of office space and other services for the last financial year have been calculated as £677k (2023 - £683k), based on actual office space utilised by BBC Children in Need during the year. This amount has been recorded as income, with an equal amount included in expenditure, in the statement of financial activities - as it meets the recognition criteria set out in the Charities SORP second edition (FRS 102) issued by the Charities Commission in October 2019.

Please refer to Note 1 on page 64 for disclosure of key judgements in relation to gifts in kind.

NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2024 (CONTINUED)

GRANT EXPENDITURE

4

The grants given to charities and organisations fall into the bands detailed below:

Grants Reconciliation Group 2024
£’000		 Group 2023
£’000
Grants Outstanding as at 1 July 2023 39,747 61,574
Grants awarded in the period 35,711 26,299
Grants paid in the period (33,773) (48,126)
Grants Outstanding as at 30 June 2024 41,685 39,747

----- Start of picture text -----
Total Grants Awarded In The Period Qty Group 2024 £’000 Qty Group 2023 £’000
Open Call Grant Award
Main & Small Extension Grants - - 1,658 859
Youth Investment Fund 73 2,471 - -
Core Grants 147 9,646 98 6,650
Project Grants 238 16,276 119 8,201
Big Sky 29 142 - -
iWill - Youth Social Action, We Move 56 1,622 131
543 30,157 2,006 15,710
In Partnership With:
A Million & Me Programme 8 1,081 8 605
The Hunter Foundation 1 539 5 1,869
The Children’s Society 1 1,000 - -
Legal Education Foundation 1 244 1 81
Spiral Skills 1 100 - -
The Felix Project 1 100 1 100
National Youth Agency 1 100 - -
Alliance for Youth Justice - - 1 47
HSBC Money Heroes - - 20 134
McDonalds Community Connections 10 16 54 135
Youth Work Alliance - - 1 169
Blagrave Trust 1 67 1 133
New Philanthropy Capital - - 1 48
Others 13 136 5 67
38 3,383 98 7,832
Emergency Funding 1 3,000 2 3,500
Total Grant Awards 582 36,540 2,106 27,042
Grant Underspends (830) (743)
Training of Grantees 1 -
35,711 26,299
----- End of picture text -----

In the year ended June 2024 £36,540k (2023: £27,042k) before returns and training support was awarded to projects and programmes.

Of this amount direct open call funding totalled £30,157k (2023: £20,154k), £3,000k (2023: £3,500k) was awarded in Emergency funding and £3,383k (2023: £3,388k) across other partnership programmes.

Main & Small Extension Grants

Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic our reactive grant making was largely made up of Small and Main Grants. When the pandemic hit, we changed the way we made grants by creating targeted programmes to get money to those who needed us must. That challenged us to review who we are as a funder, so in 2022 we launched our new grants strategy. That changed the way our reactive programmes worked and we moved away from Small and Main grants, and instead implemented a programme of Core or Project grants. This allowed applicants to come to us for funding for both running projects and for covering core running costs.

Adjustments to Grants

An amount of £830k (2023: £743k) has been written back to the Statement of Financial Activities in the 2024 financial year. This represents adjustments to grants and the full and partial return of grants that have been awarded in the current and the prior year which would arise when the project cannot fulfil the agreed outcomes. This amount is added back to the total available for future award.

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NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2024 (CONTINUED)

NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2024 (CONTINUED)

Support, Education and Training

Some organisations, particularly those where the Charity is funding a staff post, are given training and support in how to measure and report the difference their project is making to the children and young people they work with. Due to this being managed inhouse, the external cost in 2024 was £1k (2023: nil).

5 GROUP OPERATING COSTS EXCLUDING GIFTS IN KIND

In order to administer the Charity efficiently, fundraise creatively, manage the funds raised professionally and operate as an effective grant maker, BBC Children in Need incurs costs.

Where staff work across more than one area, costs are allocated based on the proportion of time spent on the areas of generating voluntary income, governance and making an impact which includes the cost of grant making. Office & IT costs and professional fees are allocated based on usage. The BBC Gift in Kind to support the provision of office space together with depreciation is allocated on staff numbers.

6 EMPLOYEE AND PENSION INFORMATION

The average number of persons employed during the period split by function is as follows:

Group Group Charity Charity
2024 2023 2024 2023
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Generating funds
Grant giving
Governance		 65
83
4
152		 63
86
4
153		 65
83
4
152		 60
86
4
150

The equivalent number of full time staff is 145 (2023: 144).

Staff Support Other 2024 2023
Group Operating Costs Costs Costs Direct Costs Total Total
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Costs of Generating Funds
Cost of generating voluntary income 2,756 1,672 2,245 6,673 5,922
Investment management fees - - 116 116 119
Trading operating costs 24 - 494 518 1,006
Governance 114 318 1 433 358
Charitable Activities
Grant Making, policy & impact 3,340 1,477 972 5,789 6,119
Gifts in kind
Operating costs		 6,234 3,467 3,828 13,529
(677)
12,852		 13,524
(683)
12,841

Specific expenditure items included in the figures above are:

Group Group Charity Charity
2024 2023 2024 2023
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Depreciation 12 29 12 29
Operating leases 29 45 29 45
Reimbursement of trustees expenses 4 2 4 2
Auditors’ Remuneration:
Audit of these accounts 52 51 52 58
Audit of the charity’s subsidiary pursuant to the legislation 2 2 - -
Taxation compliance services 2 2 - 1
Legal fees 45 37 45 37

The breakdown of the group’s salary costs is as follows:

Group Group Charity Charity
2024 2023 2024 2023
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Wages and salaries
6,571
Social Security costs
686
Pension costs
552
Other staff costs
417
8,226		 6,100
672
611
387
7,770		 6,550
684
552
416
8,202		 5,992
660
602
383
7,637

Pension Costs

Defined Benefit Schemes:

The Company accounts for the BBC Pension Scheme as if it were a defined contribution scheme. This is because it is unable to identify its share of the underlying assets and liabilities of the scheme on a consistent and reasonable basis.

The pension costs for both schemes represent contributions payable by the Charity to the funds and this amounted to £552k in the year (2023: £611k).

Information about the scheme deficit that may affect the amount of future contributions, including the basis used to determine that deficit and the implications, can be found within notes D6 and D7 of the BBC Annual Report and Accounts.

Remuneration

Trustees do not receive any remuneration or receive any other benefits for their roles as Trustees. Trustee expenditure includes the reimbursement of expenses incurred by Trustees while carrying out their duties for the Charity, primarily for travel expenses of Trustees not based in London to attend meetings. £3k of expenses were paid in the 2024 financial year to four trustees (2023: £2k to six Trustees).

Support costs for the group are broken down as:

Staff
Costs
£’000		 Office and
IT Costs £’000		 Depreciation
£’000		 Professional
Fees
£’000		 Gifts
in Kind
£’000		 2024
Total
£’000		 2023
Total
£’000
Costs of Generating Funds
Cost of generating voluntary income 978 250 6 136 302 1,672 1,336
Governance 219 56 1 30 12 318 259
Charitable Activities
Grant making, policy and impact 795 203 5 111 363 1,477 1,270
1,992 509 12 277 677 3,467 2,865

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NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2024 (CONTINUED)

NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2024 (CONTINUED)

The emoluments of employees who are higher paid fell into the following bands of £10,000:

----- Start of picture text -----
Group Group
2024 2023
£60,000 - £69,999 6 6
£70,000 - £79,999 3 2
£80,000 - £89,999 3 1
£90,000 - £99,999 1 2
£100,000 - £109,999 2 1
£110,000 - £119,999 1 -
£150,000 - £159,999 - 1
£160,000 - £169,999 1 -
17 13
----- End of picture text -----

The emoluments paid to the Chief Executive in the year were £160,997 (2023: £154,044).

Retirement benefits are accruing under defined benefit schemes for four (2023: four) of the above higher paid members of staff.

Key Management Personnel

All principal officers who have authority and responsibility for planning, directing and controlling the activities of the Charity are considered to be key management personnel. Total remuneration in respect of these individuals is £1,127k (2023: £993k). The Charity has invested in its leadership team in the year to ensure delivery of the long term strategy.

7 INVESTMENT IN SUBSIDIARY

BBC Children in Need owns 100% of the issued ordinary share capital of £2 of Children in Need Limited (registered company 2461031), a company registered in England and Wales, which licenses products using the Pudsey Bear trademark.

A summary of the trading results and balance sheet of Children in Need Limited is set out below.

Turnover of £597k is derived from the sale of merchandise to the public through our online store and fundraising events (2023: £928k). In addition, Corporate Partners purchase BBC Children in Need product to support their fundraising activities as well as sell their own products licensed by Children in Need Limited, for this a license fee is charged £293k (2023: £284k).

The Trading Company has gifted its net profit of £372k (2023: £206k) to the Charity.

----- Start of picture text -----
Year to 30 Jun 24 Year to 30 Jun 23
£’000 £’000
Turnover 890 1,212
Product cost of sales (366) (715)
Contribution 524 497
Other cost of sales (74) (95)
Gross Profit 450 402
Operating expenses (78) (198)
Net Profit 372 206
Gift aid payment to BBC Children in Need Appeal (372) (206)
Retained in Children in Need Limited - -
30 Jun 24 30 Jun 23
£’000 £’000
Fixed Assets
Current Assets
Stock 241 180
Debtors 104 66
Cash at bank and in hand 286 290
TOTAL CURRENT ASSETS 631 536
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year (616) (521)
Net Current Assets / (Liabilities) 15 15
Total assets less current liabilities 15 15
- -
Creditors: amounts falling due after more than one year
Net Assets 15 15
- -
Share capital
Profit and loss account 15 15
Total Funds 15 15
----- End of picture text -----

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NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2024 (CONTINUED)

Within the creditors amount of £616k is £594k (2023: £499k) owing to the Charity. This is made up of an outstanding loan of £150k not due for repayment, £372k of gift aid and £72k of recharges not yet transferred back to the Charity. The movement in the creditor balance in the year of £95k is explained as follows:

Inter Company Transactions in Year 2024
£’000		 2023
£’000
Staff & staff expenses recharged by charity 54 167
Donations deposited with the trading company 221 150
Trading vat transactions paid through the charity 66 117
Loan interest charged by the charity 14 16
Gift aid payment donated to charity 372 206
Merchandise and storage costs recharged to charity (43) (53)
Cash transferred to charity in part settlement of the above (589) (422)
Movement (95) (181)

8 TANGIBLE ASSETS

----- Start of picture text -----
IT Equipment
Total
Group & Software
£’000
£‘000
Cost
As at 01 July 2023 371 372
Additions 32 32
- -
Disposals
As at 30 June 2024 403 403
Accumulated Depreciation
As at 01 July 2023 363 363
Charge for the year 12 12
- -
Disposals
As at 30 June 2024 375 375
Net Book Value
As at 30 June 2023 8 9
As at 30 June 2024 28 28
IT Equipment
Total
Charity & Software
£’000
£’000
Cost
As at 01 July 2023 297 297
Additions 32 32
- -
Disposals
As at 30 June 2024 329 329
Accumulated Depreciation
As at 01 July 2023 289 289
Charge for the year 12 12
- -
Disposals
As at 30 June 2024 301 301
Net Book Value
As at 30 June 2023 8 8
As at 30 June 2024 28 28
----- End of picture text -----

NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2024 (CONTINUED)

9 FIXED AND CURRENT INVESTMENTS FOR THE GROUP

The portion of the Group and Charity’s investment portfolio that is classified as fixed investments relate to grant creditors committed, or grants to be awarded and payable in more than one year. Current investments relate to grant creditors committed, or grants to be awarded and due for payment within one year plus any other short term liabilities.

Investments are analysed below, between Fixed Income and Alternatives. Fixed Income includes certificates of deposit, floating rate notes, gilts and high-quality corporate bonds. Alternatives include other income generating assets, such as property and securitised credit funds. Investments are valued at current market value as at 30 June 2024.

Income in the year of £5,196k relates to interest earned on investments held in the year £1,354k plus revaluation gains £3,802k (2023: £898k (£952k interest and -£54k losses)).

----- Start of picture text -----
2024 2023
Group and Charity £’000 £’000
Market Value at 1 July 2023 72,215 81,146
Add: acquisitions at cost 267,159 804,441
Less: disposals at market value (252,644) (813,148)
Add: net gains / (losses) on revaluation 3,802 (54)
Market Value at 30 June 2024 90,532 72,385
Add: deposits held at financial institutions (7,251) (1,257)
Less: deposits held at financial institutions at 30 June 2024 1,257 1,087
Total Investments at 30 June 2024 84,538 72,215
----- End of picture text -----

The investments can be analysed as follows:

----- Start of picture text -----
2024 2023
Valuation Cost Valuation Cost
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Fixed Income
-maturing in more than 1 year 13,812 13,690 13,683 14,277
-maturing in less than 1 year 59,313 59,057 38,255 38,047
Alternatives
-maturing in more than 1 year 18,664 15,021 21,531 19,658
-maturing in less than 1 year - - 4 -
Deposits held with financial institutions (7,251) (7,251) (1,257) (1,257)
84,538 80,517 72,216 70,725
Included as:
Fixed asset investments 29,394 29,394 18,845 18,845
Current investments 55,144 51,123 53,371 51,880
84,538 80,517 72,216 70,725
----- End of picture text -----

Included within the above totals are cash and cash equivalents of £1,257k (2023: £1,087k).

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NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS

NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2024 (CONTINUED)

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2024 (CONTINUED)

10 DEBTORS

10 DEBTORS
Group
Group
Charity		 Charity
2024
2023
2024		 2023
£’000
£’000
£’000		 £’000
Amounts Falling Due Within One Year
Trade debtors 809
1,591
705		 1,525
Amounts owed by subsidiary undertaking -
-
594		 499
Other debtors 1,543
2,277
1,543		 2,277
Taxation -
3
-		 3
Prepayments and accrued Income 6,527
2,895
6,527		 2,895
Amounts Falling Due After More Than One Year
Other debtors
Total Debtors		 8,879
6,766
9,369
300
1,060
300
300
1,060
300
9,179
7,826
9,669		 7,199
1,060
1,060
8,259

Included in the £594k (2023: £499k) amount owed by subsidiary undertaking is a receivable from Children In Need Limited for gift aid of £372k and £150k intercompany loan which is repayable on demand, (2023: £207k and £150k respectively).

Prepayments and accrued income of £6,527k are split £170k and £6,357k (2023: £2,895k split £161k and £2,716k) respectively.

The accrued income relates mainly to Corporate and Investment income still to be received and other debtors falling due within one year relates to income due from the Hunter Foundation to fund ongoing partnership activity.

The debtors falling due greater than one year relate to grants receivable from the Hunter foundation in relation to the Make it Happen initiative.

11 CREDITORS

11 CREDITORS
Group
Group
Charity		 Charity
2024
2023
2024		 2023
£’000
£’000
£’000		 £’000
Amounts Falling Due Within One Year
Trade creditors 1,587
1,733
1,587		 1,719
Grants payable 25,091
28,908
25,091		 28,908
Accruals and deferred income 1,696
1,369
1,675		 1,369
Taxation 3
9
2		 -
Amounts Falling Due After More Than One Year
Grants payable		 28,377
32,019
28,355
16,594
10,839
16,594
16,594
10,839
16,594		 31,996
10,839
10,839

Within grants payable, £25,091k (2023: £28,908k) is due to be paid within one year and £16,594k (2023: £10,839k) paid within the next two to three years. Of the total grant payable amount of £41,685k, £4,080k relates to our main and small responsive grants awarded in previous years, £31,879k relates to our core, project and emerging grants awarded and payable over the next 3 years, £2,250k relates to our emergency essential programme that is funded for the next 11 months and the balance of £3,476k relates to proactive grant partnerships including We Move, Big Sky and The Hunter Foundation.

Group Group Charity Charity
2024 2023 2024 2023
£’000 £’000 £’000 £’000
Details of Awarded but Unpaid Grants
Main & small responsive grants
4,080		 19,578 4,080 19,578
Core, project & emerging grants
31,879		 13,572 31,879 13,572
Emergency Essentials Programme
2,250		 3,000 2,250 3,000
Proactive grant partnerships
3,476		 3,597 3,476 3,597
41,685 39,747 41,685 39,747

12 FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS

The group has the following financial instruments:

12 FINANCIAL INSTRUMENTS
The group has the following financial instruments:
Group Group
Notes 2024 2023
£’000 £’000
Financial assets measured at amortised cost are:
trade debtors, accrued income, cash and other debtors 11, 12 9,895 16,713
excluding prepayments
Financial assets measured at fair value through income
and expenditure		 11 91,789 73,472
Financial liabilities at amortised cost are:
trade creditors, grants payable, other creditors, 13 44,971 42,858
accruals excluding deferred income

13 OPERATING LEASES

----- Start of picture text -----
Group Group
Land & Land &
Other Other
Buildings Buildings
2024 2023
2024 2023
£’000 £’000
£’000 £’000
Operating Leases Future Minimum Payments:
- within one year - 22 - 38
- later than one year and not later than five years - 15 - 24
- 37 - 62
----- End of picture text -----

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NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS

FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2024 (CONTINUED)

14a FUNDS

The fund balances are shown below.

----- Start of picture text -----
Grants Cost of Grant Cost of
Opening Awarded in Making, Policy, Raising Closing
Fund Gift Total Year (Net of Impact and Funds & Fund 30
Funds £’000 1 Jul 23 Donations Funding Legacies Aid Product Investments Income Adjustments) Grantee Training Governance June 24
iWill 734 - - - - - - - (314) - - 420
THF 1,853 - - - - - - - (462) - - 1,391
Restricted Impact Fund 2,587 - - - - - - - (776) - - 1,811
Unrestricted Designated 31,031 42,080 2,150 3,311 - 372 - 47,913 (34,935) (5,426) - 38,583
Impact Fund
General Continuity Fund 8,809 859 - 68 3,524 152 5,156 9,759 - - (7,060) 11,508
Investment Continuity Fund 5,000 - - - - - - - - - - 5,000
Development Fund 250 - - - - - - - - - - 250
Total Unrestricted Funds 45,090 42,939 2,150 3,379 3,524 524 5,156 57,672 (34,935) (5,426) (7,060) 55,341
Total Funds 47,677 42,939 2,150 3,379 3,524 524 5,156 57,672 (35,711) (5,426) (7,060) 57,152
----- End of picture text -----

The closing restricted fund of £1.8m (2023: £2.6m) represents £1.4m (2023: £1.9m) of donations previously received from The Hunter Foundation (THF) and the balance of £0.4m (2023: £0.7m) of income from iWill will be used to continue our joint support of support of children deemed to be on the edge of the care system and Youth Social Action respectively.

NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 30 JUNE 2024 (CONTINUED)

14c ANALYSIS OF NET ASSETS BY FUND

Fund balances at 30 June 2024 are represented by:

----- Start of picture text -----
Unrestricted
Restricted Unrestricted
Designated
Group Funds General Funds Total £'000
Impact Funds
£’000 £’000
£’000
Fixed assets 29,422 - - 29,422
Net current assets 25,756 1,811 16,757 44,324
- -
Long-term liabilities (16,594) (16,594)
Net assets 38,584 1,811 16,757 57,152
----- End of picture text -----

Fund balances at 30 June 2023 are represented by:

----- Start of picture text -----
Unrestricted
Restricted Unrestricted
Designated
Group Funds General Funds Total £'000
Impact Funds
£’000 £’000
£’000
Fixed assets 18,853 - - 18,853
Net current assets 23,017 2,587 14,059 39,663
- -
Long-term liabilities (10,839) (10,839)
Net assets 31,031 2,587 14,059 47,677
----- End of picture text -----

All funds donated in the year have been awarded as per agreed restrictions. Unrestricted funds totalling £55.3m (2023: £45.1m) are held for the following purposes:

15 TAXATION

BBC Children in Need, a company limited by guarantee was registered as a Charity on 7 August 2003. The Charity is considered to pass the tests set out in Paragraph 1 Schedule 6 Finance Act 2010 and therefore it meets the definition of a charitable company for UK corporation tax purposes. Accordingly, the Charity is potentially exempt from taxation in respect of income or capital gains received within categories covered by Chapter 3 Part 11 Corporation Tax Act 2010 or Section 256 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992, to the extent that such income or gains are applied exclusively to charitable purposes.

16 RELATED PARTIES

Subsidiary Undertaking

14b COMPARATIVE FUNDS NOTE

----- Start of picture text -----
Grants Cost of Grant Cost of
Opening Awarded in Making, Policy, Raising Closing
Fund Gift Total Year (Net of Impact and Funds & Fund 30
Funds £’000 1 Jul 22 Donations Funding Legacies Aid Product Investments Income Adjustments) Grantee Training Governance June 23
iWill 1,247 - 400 - - - - 400 (686) (227) - 734
YFF 9 - - - - - - - - (9) - -
THF 3,000 - - - - - - - (1,147) - - 1,853
Other partnerships - 3,000 - - - - 3,000 (3,000) - (118) -
Restricted Impact Fund 4,256 3,000 400 - - - - 3,400 (4,833) (236) (118) 2,587
Unrestricted Designated 19,175 35,158 750 2,715 - 206 - 38,829 (21,466) (5,507) - 31,031
Impact Fund
General Continuity Fund 8,795 1,850 - 143 3,216 290 898 6,397 - - (6,383) 8,809
Investment Continuity Fund 5,000 - - - - - - - - - 5,000
Development Fund 250 - - - - - - - - - - 250
Total Unrestricted Funds 33,220 37,008 750 2,858 3,216 496 898 45,226 (21,466) (5,507) (6,383) 45,090
Total Funds 37,476 40,008 1,150 2,858 3,216 496 898 48,626 (26,299) (5,743) (6,383) 47,677
----- End of picture text -----

During the year the Charity entered into transactions with a related party, in the ordinary course of the charities activity. Trading balances outstanding at 30 June 2024 are as follows:

2024 2023
£’000 £’000
Subsidiary Undertaking (debtor to the charity) 594 499

At the year end BBC Children in Need had a creditor balance with the BBC Group of £1.4m (2023: £1.3m) relating to the recharge of employee costs.

During the financial year BBC Children in Need engaged with research partners Clearview and Renaisi to perform grant evaluation activity. Trustee Kenny Imafidon, Co-founder of Clearview, who also works with Renaisi, declared a conflict of interest but had no involvement in contracting the services (the total cost of the evaluation activity was circa £100k).

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2024 Annual Report and Accounts | 79

Registered Charity (England and Wales) 802052 Registered Charity (Scotland) SC039557 Registered Company 04723022

80 | BBC Children in Need