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2024-03-31-accounts

Company number: 2469130 Charity number: 803016 Scottish Charity No. SC037790

Meningitis Now

Report and Financial Statements

31 March 2024

saving lives, rebuilding futures

Meningitis Now Annual Report and Financial Statements, 2023-24

Introduction: the difference we make

Chris.Philipsborn?.Chair.of.the.Board.of.Trustees?.and.Dr.Tom.Nutt?.Chief.Executive.Officer.

Close followers of Meningitis Now may be aware that our current Strategic Plan, launched in 2021 and running to 2026, is entitled ‘Making a difference, every day’. The reason for this is hopefully self-explanatory – we are a charity that has always strived to make difference.

Over four decades, we have aimed to save lives through funding scientific, medical and social research, and by raising awareness of the signs and symptoms of meningitis and of how to prevent it with vaccination. We have helped countless individuals and families to rebuild their lives following their experience of this often-devastating disease.

And as we reviewed the 2023-24 year, we couldn’t help but be struck by how much has been achieved by Meningitis Now during this year alone. Perhaps this can be seen as a welcome contrast to the immediate years following the Covid-19 pandemic, when we had to work hard to rebuild and renew the charity. It’s also the culmination of work that has gone into realising the strategy, ‘Making a difference, every day’ and its three key priorities:

  1. Fight to defeat meningitis in the UK within a generation

  2. Reach out to everyone who needs help, support and information

  3. Be recognised as a centre of expertise for aftercare and support.

Our confidence that we do ‘make a difference, every day’ is not just born out of the pride we hold in the charity as Chair and Chief Executive; we’re not asking you just to take our word for it! The difference we make is evidenced in the feedback and evaluation data that we collect systematically across many areas of our work. Some of this evidence is shared with you today, in this report, and we hope you enjoy reading about our work. We strongly believe that one of the cornerstones of good governance is to be able to know that the activities we have undertaken as a charity are meaningful and impactful for the people the charity is here to support.

What are our highlights of the year?

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Meningitis Now Annual Report and Financial Statements, 2023-24

These activities took place against a backdrop of rising levels of meningitis in the UK, following the lull in incidence during 2020-21. Sadly, we estimate that the number of cases of meningitis in unvaccinated groups has started to reach pre-Covid levels. We continue to see deaths and devastation caused by meningitis across all ages groups and across the UK.

Financially, the year saw Meningitis Now’s income increase by nearly 4% to £2.16 million. In line with our five-year plan, our expenditure was £2.52 million. This resulted in a lower-thanexpected deficit and a negative net movement in funds of £297k. This performance reflected the intentions of our financial strategy: to invest in charitable and fundraising activities, to reduce and then maintain our reserves at an appropriate and prudent level, and to ensure our ongoing financial sustainability in the context of a challenging external environment. You can read more about this positive financial performance on page 20.

As ever, we couldn’t achieve any impact without the invaluable support of the Meningitis Now family. People such as Daksha and Dilip Mistry who organised a ball to honour the 35th anniversary of their daughter Bhavini’s death from meningitis in 1988, or Jess Vickery whose family featured in our annual Ribbon Appeal. Our supporters continue to inspire us and one another – not least our Community Ambassadors who met in February 2024 for their annual Away Day, including new Ambassadors appointed during the year: Charles, Heather, Ian, Katy, and Lucy. You can read Heather’s experience of meningitis on page 3. They join an incredible group of hundreds of active volunteers, ambassadors, patrons and trustees who share their time, expertise and experience to help us achieve our aims.

We therefore conclude by stating our sincere thanks to all those who have supported Meningitis Now during the past year. We know that meningitis affects people of all ages and it doesn’t discriminate. But without the support of many people – countless individuals, families, companies, trusts, and others – from all across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, we couldn’t make a difference – now or in the future. Thank you.

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Meningitis Now Annual Report and Financial Statements, 2023-24

Vision & strategy

Our vision is a future where nobody in the UK loses their life to meningitis and everyone affected has the support they need to rebuild their lives. We’re working towards making this vision a reality through our current strategy – Making a difference, every day. This means we strive to:

  1. Fight to defeat meningitis in the UK within a generation

  2. Reach out to everyone who needs help, support and information

  3. Be recognized as a centre of expertise for aftercare and support

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Meningitis Now Annual Report and Financial Statements, 2023-24

Fight to defeat meningitis

Influencing policy

This year saw the introduction of two important announcements that Meningitis Now has influenced over several years. ‘Martha’s Rule’ gives patients and carers the right to a second opinion in a hospital setting when they feel they are not being listened to by clinicians – something we have been calling for for many years.

In 2018 we took three families – including bereaved parents Elaine Zographou, Paul Gentry and Kirsty Ermenekli – to meet the then Secretary of State for Health, the Rt Hon. Jeremy Hunt MP. In a report that followed, clinicians were urged to ‘listen to parents, carers and family members’, that ‘parents know their child best’ and to record parental views in the patient’s notes. Fast forward to 2024 and these principles will now be rolled out in English hospitals.

In March we welcomed updated national guidelines on recognising, diagnosing and managing bacterial meningitis and meningococcal disease, which we believe are a significant turning point in the treatment of the disease.

As stakeholders, we worked with the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) on the updated guidelines. Findings from our research ''Understanding the experiences and support needs of adults with meningitis’’ were submitted as evidence. We are pleased to see changes such as providing details of meningitis charities early in a hospital stay and referral for support to include family members, carers and those who contracted meningitis. For the first time the guidelines will cover young people and adults, not just children under 16.

“We now have a set of clear guidelines that we can all sign up to that will save lives and support those living with the after-effects of this disease – it’s a significant turning point for how we treat meningitis in this country." Dr Tom Nutt

Being part of the conversation

We continued to play an important role in promoting meningitis awareness and influencing broader policy – collaborating and partnering with a range of organisations and events throughout the year.

We supported the international Confederation of Meningitis Organisations (CoMO) World Meningitis Day. This year’s theme was to light the road towards defeating meningitis – which we marked by lighting up local landmark, the Stroud Subscription Rooms.

We presented a poster presentation at Meningitis Research Foundation’s (MRF) conference in November based on the findings from our survey carried out with the Picker Institute. This revealed that many adults who recently had meningitis are battling life-changing after-effects and do not receive adequate follow-up and aftercare once discharged from hospital. The survey findings were launched at a well-attended event at the Houses of Parliament.

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Meningitis Now Annual Report and Financial Statements, 2023-24

Our chief executive, Dr Tom Nutt, continued to sit on the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry (ABPI)’s Patient Advisory Council, working towards more patient-focussed strategy, policies and priorities. He is a member of NHS England’s Acute Deterioration Board and the ‘Worry and Concern’ collaborative Steering Group, and became a Trustee of the Association of Medical Research Charities during the year. We also contributed our thought leadership and experience on vaccine policy and practice to workshops convened by think tanks such as the Institute for Public Policy Research and the Office of Health Economics.

We also continued to convene and chair the unique ‘Roundtable’ on meningitis awareness – a collective of pharmaceutical companies, government organisations and other charities, all working together to raise awareness of meningitis amongst students and young adults. This included an impressive social media campaign in later summer 2023. We also ran our own student awareness campaign, including activity across social media, radio and press – as well as our volunteers running awareness stands at universities across the UK.

Investing in scientists of the future

This year we began funding a four-year PhD studentship at the University of Bristol that will shed light on a little-known aspect of how meningitis-causing bacteria are spread.

PhD student Mia Dierks Treece’s graduate studies and research are titled ‘Survival and adaptation of the meningococcus in aerosol droplets’. Mia studied Cellular and Molecular Medicine as an undergraduate and later developed a passion for research. The results of her research could help to improve vaccine development and inform the design of new drugs in the future.

“Funding this project means that we are not only investing in scientists of the future but making a significant contribution towards learning how meningitis causing bacteria can survive during transmission, which will help lead scientists towards new ways to prevent meningitis in the future.” Bev Corbett, Director of Information and Support

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Meningitis Now Annual Report and Financial Statements, 2023-24

Our current research projects

We spent £226k on research projects in 2024, bringing the total spend over the last five years to £839k.

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Meningitis Now Annual Report and Financial Statements, 2023-24

Reaching out

Progress & innovation

2023-24 was a year of progress and innovation across our digital platforms, as we launched both a new website and TikTok channel.

In October we launched our brand-new website for people to access information about meningitis and our work. The new site is fully mobile-optimised to make it easy to navigate on any device and includes important new accessibility features to make our important information about meningitis, support and fundraising accessible to as many people as possible.

In September we launched our new TikTok channel, aiming to spread awareness of meningitis to students and young people. Content included real-life stories of young people who have experienced meningitis, information about the signs and symptoms and what to do if their friends are ill and getting worse.

Followers: 1,400 Views: 217,000

“By expanding our social media presence to incorporate TikTok we will be the leading meningitis charity in the UK bringing regular, student-focused information to young people which could, quite literally, save lives.” Trevor Reid, Director of Fundraising and Communications

A commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion

This year we continued our important work promoting equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) at Meningitis Now. We established a dedicated EDI steering group, led by our new EDI lead, which has been working on how we can promote diversity and be more inclusive in our work.

EDI group’s focus in 2023-24

We have also been reaching out to groups who typically don’t engage with our support services – for example people who identify as men. Our support team created a survey for anyone who identifies as a man, is over eighteen, and has had an experience with meningitis, either directly or indirectly. On the back of this survey, we have produced podcasts and videos with male supporters talking about their experiences, and plan to further explore activities with this group in the future.

New relationships

Relationships have always been at the heart of Meningitis Now’s work, and in 202324 we were pleased to begin several new relationships.

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Meningitis Now Annual Report and Financial Statements, 2023-24

We continued to expand our programme of Business Ambassadors – people with experience of meningitis and who can use their business or professional profile to raise awareness of meningitis and Meningitis Now. Our Business Ambassadors include people such as Alison Eddy, Partner at Irwin Mitchell LLP; Ian Stuart, CEO of HSBC Bank UK plc; Nigel Tait, Partner at Carter Ruck LLP; Allan Halsall, formerly Chair of Silver Cross prams, and cyber security expert, Rajinder Tumber MBE.

In December, we were delighted to announce TV presenter and fashion model Lisa Snowdon as Meningitis Now’s new President. Lisa has been an active supporter of Meningitis Now since falling ill with viral meningitis in 2010. Since then, Lisa has raised vital awareness of both meningitis and Meningitis Now, as well as raising tens of thousands of pounds for the charity’s work to support people affected by the disease.

“I am absolutely delighted to be taking up the role of the President of Meningitis Now. It is a charity which is very close to my heart and I’ve seen firsthand how the charity is there to support people whose lives have been devastated by this disease. I hope to help many more people understand the dangers of meningitis, and the warning signs to watch out for.” Lisa Snowdon, Meningitis Now President

We also continued many successful relationships with corporate supporters. We began a partnership with ASDA Pharmacy, following the tragic death of one of their colleagues. ASDA Pharmacy are committed to helping Meningitis Now raise vital awareness, and the partnership is off to a great start as we attended several of their conferences. We are excited to see what this relationship brings in 2024-25.

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Meningitis Now Annual Report and Financial Statements, 2023-24

Centre of expertise for aftercare & support

Our focus as a centre of expertise for aftercare and support in 2023-24:

Expertise – sharing it and seeking it

As a centre of expertise for aftercare and support, we are focused on contributing to the body of knowledge about meningitis. We made significant progress in 2023-24 – at times sharing our expertise, and at other times bringing in expertise from outside Meningitis Now.

One way we shared knowledge was our Believe & Achieve online conference, where we shared insight into running a successful support programme for young people with a range of professionals and individuals. We also presented findings from a report which demonstrated the significant impact on the lives of young people over the first 5 years of the programme.

“Believe & Achieve has changed my life. I don’t think I would be where I am right now if it wasn’t for them.”

With speakers including Director of Chrysalis Research Dr. Natalia Buckler, Meningitis Now staff and former Believe & Achieve participants, the event was a great success.

“This conference showed the heart of Believe & Achieve through its beginnings, ethos, impact and the future. We gained learnings and understanding through the first five years of Believe & Achieve and created a model that we were able to share with others. We were also privileged to have young adults who’d benefitted from the programme sharing their experiences and how being part of Believe & Achieve changed their lives for the better. I can’t wait to see where Believe & Achieve goes next. One thing is certain, our young people will always be central to it.” Becky Hartwell, Support Services Manager

We were also very proud to launch our meningitis aftercare and follow-up report at a Reception at the House of Parliament. We commissioned leading healthcare research charity the Picker Institute to undertake this important report, which provided evidence for what we have known anecdotally for a long time – that followup and aftercare for adults leaving hospital following meningitis is severely lacking.

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Meningitis Now Annual Report and Financial Statements, 2023-24

The findings have already been used to inform NICE guidelines and presented in a poster presentation at MRF’s conference. We will also be running a workshop with members of the Royal College of Nursing in the coming year and have submitted an article for publication to the Patient Experience journal. In addition, we are preparing a checklist to help people navigate discharge and recovery alongside a fact sheet providing much needed information and guidance.

Zachary’s story

In 2023-24 we continued to provide people affected by meningitis with much needed support through our nurse-led Helpline, Community Support Officers (CSOs) and the Rebuilding Futures Fund.

We know that life after meningitis is tough. That’s why the Rebuilding Futures Fund provides financial, practical and emotional support for people of all ages affected by meningitis. For three-year-old Zachary and his family from Norfolk, the Rebuilding Futures Fund has been a beacon of support during an uncertain time returning to life after meningitis.

Zachary was only two months old when he contracted pneumococcal meningitis in 2019 resulting in multiple brain abscesses. During his first week in hospital he had three seizures, a stroke and a blood transfusion due to the infection.

After initially contacting us through our nurse-led Helpline, Zachary’s family has received ongoing support from Meningitis Now, including three Rebuilding Futures Fund awards. In 2023 we funded a mobility trike for a now three-year-old Zachary.

The specialist tricycle is extremely beneficial to Zachary as he now has an independent method of mobility outside – which will help him practice his reciprocal leg movement, working towards a goal of independent stepping. Additionally, the trike also allows him new safe and fun ways to play with his sister and friends.

Rachael expressed her thanks to the Rebuilding Futures Fund for helping support the purchase of the trike. “Zachary amazes us with what he has achieved despite everything he has been through and his ongoing complex medical needs. We wanted Zachary to be able to play safely outside on suitable equipment alongside his sister and friends. Even after the first few times on the trike Zachary has expressed lots of joy and is showing awareness of independently pushing the pedals forwards and backwards. He enjoys his time on this lovely piece of equipment.”

The Rebuilding Futures Fund makes an important and lasting difference for hundreds of people like Zachary’s and we are proud of every award that we’ve been able to grant.

We made 68 awards through the Rebuilding Future Fund during the year. 97% of people who received support said that the award made a difference to them.

Demonstrating impact – the difference we make

2023-24 was another successful year for our support team, as we delivered vital support throughout the UK through our Helpline, support events, community support, and financial support programme.

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Meningitis Now Annual Report and Financial Statements, 2023-24

During the year our national Nurse-led Helpline received more than 1,400 contacts. 100% of people who responded to a survey following contact with our nurse-led Helpline found the information useful and felt more confident dealing with their issues.

Every day we hear from supporters about the incredible difference our support makes for them and their families. It’s important for us to document and evidence this impact – for example through an impact report focused on the work of our Community Support Officers which we commissioned this year with Chrysalis Research.

Alison Yelland, Scotland & Northern Ireland Ellie Trusty, North England Esme Lee, Wales, West Midlands & South West England Gagan Taylor, East Midlands, South East & East Anglia Paul Blackburn, a new role in East Midlands, South East & East Anglia

“Having a trusted person to talk to is priceless. My CSO is like my very own security blanket. I always feel more assured after our meetings.” Supporter who has had meningitis

“She is such a unique person - her listening skills, her empathy and understanding. She is simply able to hear and allow your grief. This sounds like it’s not difficult but believe me it is hard to listen to someone else’s pain, especially when it is the pain of losing your child. I cannot thank my CSO enough for the support she has given me since my child died of meningitis.” Supporter who lost a loved one to meningitis

Adults & mental health

In June and July, we ran an anxiety management course with chartered psychologist Dr Sue Jackson, which was written specifically for adults with experience of meningitis. Delivered online over six weeks, the course covered topics such as trauma, self-esteem and health anxiety. The hugely successful course was developed with input from an advisory group of supporters, volunteers and ambassadors.

“This course was so well put together and delivered, absolutely great.” Course participant

“I have found this course to be one of the most useful single things I have done in 10 or so years, post ABI [Acquired Brain Injury]” Course participant

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Meningitis Now Annual Report and Financial Statements, 2023-24

We have taken the learnings from this course to develop and deliver our next course focusing on sleep issues, as we know this is a huge issue for the people we support. This will be launched early next year.

Heather’s story

In 2023-24 we have continued to provide bereavement support for those who have lost a loved one to meningitis. Our nurse-led Helpline, Community Support Officers (CSOs) and bereavement events like the Forever Weekend are important parts of the support we provide.

The annual Forever Weekend, funded by the National Lottery Community Fund, provides a free opportunity for those who have lost a loved one to share memories of them, take part in sessions with bereavement specialists and meet others who understand what they’re going through - regardless of how many years have passed. It’s a safe and supportive environment that many people and families benefit from each year.

People like Heather who lost her daughter, Halle, in 2019. Halle was 19 years old and in her first year of university when she died from a rare form of meningitis. After Halle’s death Heather reached out to Meningitis Now and was supported by one of our CSOs.

In 2023 Heather attended the Forever Weekend where she was able to understand her grief, access support from us and have time in a safe environment to talk about Halle.

“These weekends are so lovely to attend,” says Heather. “It’s comforting to be amongst a community of people in grief who understand what it is like to lose a loved one to meningitis. The activities and learning that is weaved through the day is gentle yet so supportive.”

“Me and my mum have been twice now, and it’s really good for us to stop and sit with our grief, to continue remembering Halle. We recognise that we don't do it enough but get a lot out of it when we do. For newly bereaved or people that haven't attended one of these weekends then I would 100% recommend that they do.”

Inspired by the support she was given after Halle’s death, Heather has volunteered for Meningitis Now and became a Community Ambassador this year. She is passionate about spreading awareness about meningitis and its signs and symptoms.

“It was a real privilege to be asked to be a Community Ambassador for the charity – it’s another part of my continuing bonds with Halle, especially raising awareness amongst the young people and at universities. Halle wanted to work with young people in teaching, so it feels like another connection with her and part of continuing her journey.”

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Meningitis Now Annual Report and Financial Statements, 2023-24

Fundraising & volunteering

2023-24 was a successful year for fundraising and volunteering, with our incredible supporters helping us to raise £2.16 million. We remain incredibly grateful for their amazing support.

Our network of volunteers continues vital work

Our wonderful volunteers are our voice in local communities across the UK. In 202324 they raised crucial awareness of meningitis, signposted people to Meningitis Now and made our many fundraising events possible.

“What I love about volunteering for Meningitis Now is how much it feels like a family.” Lucy, Meningitis Now volunteer

In 2023-24 we had 158 volunteers and 30 Community Ambassadors helping us deliver our vital work. We welcomed 13 new volunteers and five new Ambassadors during the year.

Clare & Mark’s story

Our enthusiastic and creative community fundraisers play a huge role in raising the funds we need to carry out our lifesaving and life-changing research, awareness and support work.

There are many ways in which people decide to fundraise, from golf days and bake sales to Facebook challenges and races. Some of our most popular fundraising events are races such as the London Marathon. In 2023, our 70 London Marathon runners raised an incredible £181,152.

Two of those supporters were Clare and Mark, who raised over £6,000 for Meningitis Now. Their daughter Lyra survived meningitis as a baby and the family have become avid fundraisers and advocates for awareness.

“When Lyra was four weeks old, she was admitted into hospital with meningitis,” Clare said. “At the time we didn't know what it was. She had a temperature and had been really floppy for a couple of days. I just knew something wasn't right and we had to get to hospital. That scared me because I didn’t know why I felt like that. Something inside me just clicked.”

“I do always look back and think, what if I hadn't felt like that?”

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Meningitis Now Annual Report and Financial Statements, 2023-24

“We were really lucky as she made a full recovery. Now she's a very fit and strong 12-year-old. She's a swimmer and qualified for English swimming nationals this year.”

“My husband watched the London Marathon on the telly and suddenly he decided to apply to run it for Meningitis Now. We wanted to raise money for Meningitis Now because we felt so lucky. We'd read all these stories of children who weren't as lucky as Lyra, so many stories that didn't have a happy ending. We wanted to do our bit to support those families – because that very easily could have been us.”

We would like to say a huge thank you to Clare, Mark and all our wonderful London Marathon runners.

A family and community affair

Daksha and Dilip Mistry lost their baby daughter to meningitis in 1988, when Bhavini was only 11 months old. The trauma of Bhavini’s death lives on with the family. It is the engine in their tireless pursuit to raise vital funds and awareness to stop this devastating disease.

Daksha and her husband Dilip have raised funds and awareness with us for 35 years. Daksha has organised many fundraising events, sold delicious spice pastes and inspired family and friends to take on fundraising challenges – all in memory of Bhavini and to raise vital funds to support Meningitis Now’s work. To date, they have raised over £100,000.

In 2023-24, Daksha and Dilip held an amazing charity ball to honour the 35th anniversary of Bhavini’s death – and to highlight the need to raise funds to ensure no more families face the loss of a child to meningitis.

“Within one day our whole lives were turned upside down and I never got to live my dream of raising a little girl,” says Daksha.

“I watch my friends’ daughters getting married and I can’t ever have that experience with Bhavini or see her raising her own children. Bhavani left us with a mission – I don’t want anyone else to go through what we do every day because of meningitis.”

The ball was huge success, raising £5,150 for Meningitis Now. And this year Bhaven Mistry, Daksha’s middle son, also completed an epic bike ride from Spain to London – raising a fantastic £7,200.

Daksha and Dilip recently welcomed a little granddaughter who brings them immense joy. Mila recently received her meningitis vaccinations, which was a powerful moment for the couple. As Dilip said, “Our baby will be safe.”

We would like to thank the Mistry family for their incredible support over the last 35 years and their continued efforts for Meningitis Now. You are truly inspirational, and we are honoured to receive your support.

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Meningitis Now Annual Report and Financial Statements, 2023-24

Fundraising innovation

We were keen to invest in fundraising innovation in 2023-24, with clear growth in our number of engaged supporters following the disruption of the Covid-19 pandemic. We launched our own Weekly Lottery, giving supporters another form of regular giving with which to support the charity. And in January we also ran a Facebook Challenge. We worked with a specialist agency to deliver our ‘8,000 steps a day in January’ campaign – we learnt a lot and are planning to run another campaign in 2024-25.

Facebook Challenge

Total raised: £55,731 Fundraising pages: 299 % new supporters: 63% Average page value: £170

Weekly Lottery

We recruited 103 new players to our new Weekly Lottery this year – and had two winners too!

Rod’s incredible Atlantic row

In January, trustee and long-standing supporter Rod Adlington rowed across the Atlantic, to raise funds for Meningitis Now and The Get A-Head Charitable Trust – all in memory of Rod’s son Barney, who died of meningitis aged three.

Day one: Rod and his crew - Anna, Alex and Guy - set off from Lanzarote. The crew are named The Brightsides, named after Barney’s favourite song by The Killers.

Day 18: Despite experiencing head winds and storms, the crew have now rowed an incredible 1,000 miles!

Day 27: The crew reach the halfway point! They row in pairs, with one pair rowing for two hours then resting for two hours while the other pair rows – for the entire journey. They’re consuming around 5,000 calories a day to undertake this incredible feat.

Day 39: Happy birthday Rod! To celebrate, the crew see whales and dolphins today – they’ve also seen sharks and lots of different fish so far.

Day 52: They did it! The crew reach Antigua, rowing 3,200 miles and raising an incredible £146,000.

Jess & Josh’s story

Losing her husband Josh to meningitis was not something that had ever crossed Jess Vickery’s mind. And yet in 2021, Josh – a fit, healthy 40-year-old and father to their three children – died of pneumococcal meningitis.

“Josh is with us every day, and we speak about him all the time. The children have gotten so much from him in the little time that they had with him, especially his love of cricket.”

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Meningitis Now Annual Report and Financial Statements, 2023-24

Since Josh’s death, Meningitis Now have been there to support Jess and her family. They set up a Forever Fund in memory of Josh and have raised over £27,000 in his name. In 2023-24 we had 657 Forever Funds, each raising vital funds and giving family and friends a place to share memories, add photos and mark anniversaries.

Jess also supported our 2023 Ribbon Appeal by sharing her story. Not only is the Ribbon Appeal a crucial source of funds for Meningitis Now, it’s also an important part of the Christmas season for our supporters. Each year they write the names of loved ones lost to meningitis on white ribbons – which are then hung on the Christmas tree at our Gloucester Cathedral carol concert. This year Jess also poignantly shared her story at the concert – a moving reminder of how important Meningitis Now’s work and how much more there is to do.

This year’s Ribbon Appeal raised £11,245, with 427 people supporting the campaign. Our Gloucester Cathedral carol concert raised almost £5,500, with 465 people attending the event.

Charity of the Year success with Hoburne Devon Bay

Support from businesses remains an important way for us to raise both funds and awareness. This year Meningitis Now were fortunate to be Hoburne Devon Bay’s Charity of the Year, after we were nominated by one of the holiday park’s department leads – whose baby son was diagnosed with meningitis over 20 years ago.

The team set out to raise £10,000 over the year. As the year ended, they had raised in excess of £12,000 – an incredible achievement.

The Hoburne team really threw themselves into fundraising this year – from a charity day in May, to a ‘Party in the Park’ fundraising event in July, to a Sports Day in August. Hoburne has collected donations for Meningitis Now at every opportunity and involved their holiday-makers at every opportunity – raising vital funds and awareness. In September, Hoburne’s Food and Beverages Manager Chris even took to the skies with friends, to complete a hair-raising sky dive, inspired by his team’s dedication to their Charity of the Year.

In addition to all their amazing fundraising, Hoburne also donated the use of one of their caravans for families with an experience of meningitis to use for a much-needed break.

Richard Ridley, Park Manager at Hoburne Devon Bay, said: “We were thrilled to be able to support Meningitis Now as our selected charity throughout 2023. With deep personal meaning for many on our team, we take great pride in contributing to a cause that holds a special place in our hearts."

Thank you to the whole Hoburne team for your amazing support of Meningitis Now this year. Your partnership has been essential to our success and we hope that each team member feels proud of all you have helped us to achieve.

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Meningitis Now Annual Report and Financial Statements, 2023-24

Funders to thank

We would like to thank our amazing funders and supporters for their generosity in 2023-24. More than 70 grant makers supported our charity during the year including:

We received donations from 67 companies during the year, including Pfizer, Irwin Mitchell, Source Group International, Enable Law, GSK, Simply Sports, Bluestone Insurance, Redkite Solicitors and John F Hunt Regeneration Ltd.

Thank you also to these companies whose staff selected us as their chosen charity: Hoburne Holidays Devon Bay, Nationwide (Ripley and Dover branches), Berwin Rubber Ltd, Dignity Funerals Ltd, ARUP, TSI Turbo Service International and CORE Special Projects Ltd.

We were delighted to receive the continuing support of companies such as Caroline Gardner Publishing, Turtle Tots, DP World London Gateway, Source Group International, Renishaw, Bloomberg L.P., Tiny Lagoon Studios, B&A Group, Wood Leisure, Carter-Ruck and Miele.

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Meningitis Now Annual Report and Financial Statements, 2023-24

The future

Our plans for 2024-25 include:

  1. Fight to defeat meningitis in the UK within a generation

  2. Review and develop our research strategy and programme

  3. Expand our marketing and campaigning capacity and focus

  4. Continue to work collaboratively with external partners in order to progress our aims.

  5. Reach out to everyone who needs help, support and information

  6. Develop a volunteer recruitment campaign

  7. Raise awareness amongst students and other at-risk groups

  8. Attain the PIF Tick accreditation, an independently-assessed quality mark for print and digital health information.

  9. Be recognised as a centre of expertise for aftercare and support

  10. Continue to develop digital support, including online workshops and courses

  11. Develop and improve financial support through the Rebuilding Futures Fund

  12. Increase our support presence in the devolved nations.

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Meningitis Now Annual Report and Financial Statements, 2023-24

Finance, staff & infrastructure

Finance

With the development of a 5-year financial model, the charity has a clear pathway to get back on track after the challenges created by the Covid-19 pandemic and unprecedented inflation over the last two years. Our aim has been to grow income and to use surplus reserves whilst planning to return to a financial breakeven position and deliver our strategic aims. Overall, we have maintained a strong financial position with additional staff being taken on to support our charitable activities and raising funds, plus further investment in research.

Income

We achieved an increase in income of 3.8%, from £2.078 million to £2.157 million.

Expenditure

As planned, we increased total expenditure in the year to £2.515 million (2023: £2.366 million). We spent 66.5% (2023: 69.2%) on charitable activities and 33.5% (2023: 30.8%) on raising funds. Expenditure on research was £226k (2023: £221k).

Investment performance

With the recovery of the markets during the year, our investment fund performed well, producing a gain by the year end of £62k and overall value of £750k. The original investment of £500k in April 2016 is held in a portfolio fund of Sarasin and Partners LLP.

Overall financial outturn

Overall, Meningitis Now made a deficit of £297k (2023: deficit £328k). This was in accordance with the budget for the year (indeed, lower than planned), with long-term plans in place to make use of the additional buffer of reserves accumulated over a number of years. It is planned to continue to utilise some of these reserves in conjunction with new funds raised in 2024-25 to deliver our strategic and operational plans.

Cash and Investments

At the year end the charity held cash of £1.155 million (2023:£1.344 million, plus investments of £750k (2023: 688k).

Reserves

Unrestricted reserves were £1.2 million (2023: £1.3 million).

Financial planning and forecasting

The charity has continued to develop its financial plans to ensure its financial health is maintained and the aims set out in the strategic plan can be delivered. Our aim is to develop and grow in a sustainable fashion, with both appropriate resources for our day-to-day charitable activities and reserves to underpin the long-term needs of the charity.

Review of performance of our Trading Subsidiary

Meningitis Now’s wholly owned trading subsidiary, Meningitis Trust Trading Limited was set up to provide a tax efficient way to raise funds, with its profits being given to

20

Meningitis Now Annual Report and Financial Statements, 2023-24

Meningitis Now through Gift Aid. At present, and as there were no transactions in 2023-24, we have plans to make the subsidiary dormant (2023: Turnover £20).

Staff & infrastructure

Our staff continued to be our greatest asset in 2023-24. Headcount increased to 44 or FTE 34.8, from 41 or FTE 32 the previous year (at the 31[st] March). This year we:

In the context of a difficult economic environment, recruitment has at times been challenging and reduced team capacity has posed a risk to us achieving our plans. We took steps to mitigate the difficulties of recruitment, including reviewing starting salaries for key roles and targeting pay increases for key staff to support retention. As a result, we have made excellent appointments to the Support, Fundraising and Communications teams, including several remote roles.

21

Meningitis Now Annual Report and Financial Statements, 2023-24

Accounts & governance

Organisational structure

Meningitis Now is based and operates in the UK, with its headquarters in Stroud, Gloucestershire. During 2023-24, we were governed by a Board of 12 Trustees who met on a quarterly and needs-basis during the year. The Trustees operate with four sub-committees that review specialist aspects of our work or that undertake work on behalf of the full Board of Trustees: Audit and Risk, Investment, Remuneration, and Nominations.

Day-to-day running is delegated to the Chief Executive and the Senior Leadership Team. Budgets and plans are approved by the Board with performance subsequently reported against plans and budgets via Board meetings.

Renumeration and conflicts of interest

In determining our remuneration policy and practice, the Remuneration Committee takes into account all factors which are deemed necessary. The objective of the policy is to ensure that the CEO and staff team are remunerated in line with market rates for the skills, competencies and experience they bring. We operate a ‘Pay Review Panel’ comprising the CEO, Head of Finance and HR Manager which meets regularly and ensures that we remain responsive to factors such as pay, employment and market conditions.

Delivery of our charitable vision is primarily dependent on our staff, which is the largest single element of charitable expenditure. The planned pay award for staff in 2023 was brought forward with all staff awarded 4% from January 2023 in recognition of the financial pressures they faced due to significant inflation and costof-living pressures.

There was one member of staff who earned between £60k and £70k and one member of staff earned between £80k and £90k (excluding employer pension costs) in the year. Further information on pension arrangements and on the salary costs for the year, with comparisons with the previous year, are presented in the notes to the financial statements.

No Trustees are remunerated for their role within the Charity, receiving only out-ofpocket expenses. A Conflicts Register is maintained to ensure no Trustees receive indirect remuneration for their involvement.

Public benefit

The Trustees have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission's general guidance on public benefit when reviewing our aims and objectives and in planning our future activities. In particular, the Trustees considered how planned activities will contribute to the aims and objectives that have been set.

22

Meningitis Now Annual Report and Financial Statements, 2023-24

Fundraising practice

We have a clear Fundraising Policy, which has been approved by the Board and is reviewed annually (https://www.meningitisnow.org/support-us/who-we-are/dataprotection/fundraising-policy/).

This governs how we work with funders, and whilst we actively seek to work with external organisations and individuals to achieve shared objectives, we recognise that it is vital that we maintain our independence and do not allow any external partnership to bring the reputation of Meningitis Now into disrepute.

Meningitis Now’s key principles of responsible fundraising are:

Reserves policy and going concern

Over the last few years, the charity has held reserves above the upper limit set in its Reserve’s Policy. This has been kept under review with a deficit budget set as part of the plan to realign the position. In 2024 the Board reviewed and adopted a new Reserves Policy, moving to a risk-based approach. The impact of this does not produce a significant change in the target reserves levels from the previous policy, but Trustees consider it provides a more prudent approach to managing reserves levels by taking risk factors into account. It is noted that the definition of free reserves has been revised to be total charity funds less restricted reserves and fixed assets. The charity’s policy is to maintain the following reserves:

At the start of 2023-24, we had planned to use £491k of our reserves during the year. Due to income exceeding the budget and expenditure being below budget, the net out-turn used £297k from reserves.

23

Meningitis Now Annual Report and Financial Statements, 2023-24

Using our new reserves policy the target free reserves was £783k, being the midpoint in the range with a minimum of £600k and maximum of 965k. Our closing free reserves position is £1.143 million, being £178k higher than the maximum set in the policy; overall this is £157k less than the prior year. The budget for 2024-25 plans to use this surplus and return the charity to a level of free reserves within the new policy target levels.

The Trustees are confident that the Charity remains a going concern and that there are no reasonably foreseeable material uncertainties within the next 12 months that would endanger our ability to continue operating and paying liabilities as they fall due.

Investment policy and performance

The Trustees have the power to invest in such assets as they see fit. In 2016-17, the Trustees invested £500k of the reserves with Sarasin & Partners in a multi-asset, multi-market portfolio, recognising their responsibility to make the assets of the Charity work as effectively as possible. This is seen as a long-term investment. Foster Denovo were appointed as investment advisers. The investment was made in 2016 and has been overseen since then by the Investment Sub-Committee of the Board. During 2023-24 the value of these investments increased to a value of £750k at March 2024.

During 2023-24, the majority of cash was held in interest bearing accounts; the yield on which was 1.2% for the year.

Risk statement

The Board has an Audit and Risk Committee comprising five Trustees with the Chief Executive and Head of Finance in attendance. The Committee formally reviews and updates the Charity’s operational and strategic risk register at twice yearly meetings. Risk is also discussed regularly by the Senior Leadership Team and the top contemporaneous risks (and mitigations) are reported to the Board using a quarterly KPI Dashboard.

The risk environment in 2023-24 was judged to have to de-escalated in comparison to prior years. This is mainly due to a reduction in the severity of external risks, such as those associated with the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as the growing resilience of the charity. Tangible examples of this resilience (and the mitigations implemented as a result of our active risk management) include ongoing Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus accreditation (as well as investment in cloud-based IT systems); targeted investment in the staff team to enable growth of capacity and developmental capability; and a ‘mini’ strategic review undertaken by SLT and Trustees over 2023-24 to re-assess whether we had the medium and long-term plans to deliver our strategy. We also undertook careful and active financial management during the year to manage inflation and its associated challenges which remained mtunprecedentedly high during the year.

24

Meningitis Now Annual Report and Financial Statements, 2023-24

In 2024-25, we anticipate the following risks:

  1. Cyber security and data protection. Meningitis Now has significantly enhanced its cyber security through adopting defence systems and upgrading to cloudbased software, yet the ever-changing digital risk environment means that we can never guarantee total protection from a cyber/data security breach which could, in turn, prove operationally, financially and reputationally damaging.

  2. Income growth. Our five-year financial plan provides clear parameters to enable the charity to invest and remain financial sustainable. However, failure to deliver income targets could jeopardise those plans. Risks are judged to be both short-term (e.g. an uncontrollable event affecting the London Marathon or a global-financial shock) and medium- and long-term (e.g. the failure the plan effectively for growth). Awareness of these risks ensures the charity actively monitors and manages its finances and its fundraising capacity and capabilities.

  3. Workforce risks and change management. The charity has grown its staffing establishment in line with its strategic, operational and financial plans. Such growth can entail challenges of change management, whilst an unpredictable labour market can make recruitment challenging. Such risks can affect the pace and nature of change, although successful growth and change management counters other risks associated with key person dependency and succession planning.

We consider that reasonable mitigations or plans are in place to address these principal risks, as well others identified in the charity’s Risk Register.

Statement of Trustees’ Responsibilities

The Trustees (who are also Directors of Meningitis Now for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

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

25

Meningitis Now Annual Report and Financial Statements, 2023-24

The Trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006, the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended). They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and the group and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

In so far as the Trustees are aware:

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

The Trustees

The Trustees, who are also directors under company law, who served during the year and up to the date of this report, were as follows:

Mr R Adlington Mrs S Blackie Ms H Byrne Professor S Kroll Miss H Marsh, Treasurer Mrs J Marsh Mr C Philipsborn, Chair Mrs Richardson Mr S Sutcliffe Mr J Sutherland, Vice Chair Ms E Thomas, Deputy Treasurer Mr R Weeks

26

Meningitis Now Annual Report and Financial Statements, 2023-24

Appointment of Trustees

The Trustees operate a Nominations Committee. This committee is made up of four Trustees and the Chief Executive in attendance. This committee is responsible for overseeing the skills mix of the Board and recruitment of new Trustees. No new Trustees were appointed in 2023-24.

Members of the charitable company guarantee to contribute an amount not exceeding £1 to the assets of the charitable company in the event of winding up. The total number of such guarantees at 31[st] March 2024 was 44 (2023 – 44).

The Trustees have no beneficial interest in the group or charitable company.

Auditors

Sayer Vincent were reappointed as auditors during the year and have expressed their willingness to continue in that capacity.

The report of the Trustees has been prepared in accordance with the special provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies' regime.

Approved by the Trustees on 18[th] September 2024 and signed on their behalf by

Christopher Philipsborn - Chair of the Board of Trustees

27

Meningitis Now Annual Report and Financial Statements, 2023-24

Reference and administrative details for the year ended 31 March 2024

Status The organisation is a charitable company limited by guarantee, incorporated on 12 February 1990 and registered as a charity in England and Wales on 9 March 1990. On 7 February 2007, the Charity was registered with the Office of the Scottish Regulator (OSCR). Governing document The organisation was established under a Memorandum of Association, which established the objects and powers of the organisation and is governed under its Articles of Association, which were last updated in October 2022. Company number 2469130 Charity numbers 803016 England & Wales SC037790 Scotland Registered office and Fern House, Bath Road, Stroud, Gloucestershire operational address GL5 3TJ Trustees Mr R Adlington Mrs S Blackie Ms H Byrne Professor S Kroll Miss H Marsh, Treasurer Mrs J Marsh Mr C Philipsborn, Chair Mrs Richardson Mr S Sutcliffe Mr J Sutherland, Vice Chair Ms E Thomas, Deputy Treasurer Mr R Weeks

28

Meningitis Now Annual Report and Financial Statements, 2023-24

President Andrew Harvey (to December 2023)
Lisa Snowdon (from December 2023)
Principal staff Dr Thomas Nutt, Chief Executive Officer
Honorary Medical Director Professor Simon Kroll MA, BM, BCh, FRCPCH, FRCP,
FMedSci
Scientific & Medical Dr Caroline Vipond PhD (Senior Scientific Advisor)
Professor Simon Kroll
Advisors Dr Xilian Bai PhD
Dr Darryl Hill BSc, PhD (Wales)
Royal Patron HRH The Duchess of Edinburgh GCVO

29

Meningitis Now Annual Report and Financial Statements, 2023-24

Patrons & Ambassadors

Dr Tim Brain OBE, QPM, BA, PhD, FRSA, CCMI Dr Ellie Cannon Baroness Corston Professor the Lord Darzi of Denham KBE, OM, HonFrEng, FMedSci Petra Ecclestone Andrew Harvey Julie Hesmondhalgh Dr Robert Hicks Seema Jaswal Denis Law CBE Ken Loach Dr Mark Porter MBE Tana Ramsay Ian Rush MBE Dr Ranj Singh Geoff Shaw Lisa Snowdon

Dr Chris Steele MBE Joanna Trollope OBE Dr Jane Wells MBE Rt Rev. and the Rt Hon. The Lord Williams of Oystermouth

30

Meningitis Now Annual Report and Financial Statements, 2023-24

Independent auditor’s report to the members of Meningitis Now

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Meningitis Now (the ‘parent charitable company’) and its subsidiary (the ‘group’) for the year ended 31 March 2024 which comprise the consolidated statement of financial activities, the group and parent charitable company balance sheets, the consolidated statement of cash flows and the 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 FRS 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion, the financial statements:

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the 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 Meningitis Now'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.

31

Meningitis Now Annual Report and Financial Statements, 2023-24

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

Other Information

The other information comprises the information included in the trustees’ annual report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. The trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. 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 course of the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

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

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the group and the parent charitable company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the trustees’ annual report.

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

32

Meningitis Now Annual Report and Financial Statements, 2023-24

Responsibilities of trustees

As explained more fully in the statement of trustees’ responsibilities set out in the trustees’ annual report, the trustees (who are also the directors of the parent 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 group’s and the parent 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 group or the parent charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

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 regulations made under those Acts.

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.

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

33

Meningitis Now Annual Report and Financial Statements, 2023-24

Capability of the audit in detecting irregularities

In identifying and assessing risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations, our procedures included the following:

Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or non-compliance with regulation. This risk increases the more that compliance with a law or regulation is removed from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, as we will be less likely to become aware of instances of non-compliance. The risk is also greater regarding irregularities occurring due to fraud rather than error, as fraud involves intentional concealment, forgery, collusion, omission or misrepresentation.

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

34

Meningitis Now Annual Report and Financial Statements, 2023-24

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 section 44(1)(c) of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company's members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charitable company and the charitable company's members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Jonathan Orchard (Senior statutory auditor)

11 December 2024

for and on behalf of Sayer Vincent LLP, Statutory Auditor

110 Golden Lane, LONDON, EC1Y 0TG

Sayer Vincent LLP is eligible to act as auditor in terms of section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006

35

Meningitis Now

Consolidated statement of financial activities (incorporating an income and expenditure account)

For the year ended 31 March 2024

Restricted
£
86,229
244,166
35,825
10,000
5,000
34,200
5,929
57
-		 2024
Total
£
1,511,521
244,166
35,825
10,000
5,000
34,200
293,415
7,689
-
15,410		 Unrestricted
£
1,410,049
-
-
-
-
-
212,462
15,843
20
5,941		 Restricted
£
80,174
230,524
29,500
10,000
5,000
54,590
23,708
-
-
-		 2023
Total
£
1,490,223
230,524
29,500
10,000
5,000
54,590
236,170
15,843
20
5,941
1,735,820 421,406 2,157,226 1,644,315 433,496 2,077,811
774,371
67,161
-		 -
1,935
-		 774,371
69,096
-		 674,760
51,127
-		 -
2,863
-		 674,760
53,990
-
841,532 1,935 843,467 725,887 2,863 728,750
370,283
468,226
195,372
102,994
9,729		 206,371
103,322
-
-
215,951		 576,654
571,548
195,372
102,994
225,680		 385,139
453,889
163,052
96,761
43,257		 242,282
58,845
10,600
5,300
177,974		 627,421
512,734
173,652
102,061
221,231
1,146,604 525,644 1,672,248 1,142,098 495,001 1,637,099
1,988,136
-
61,500
(252,316)		 527,579
-
-
(106,173)		 2,515,715
-
61,500
(358,489)		 1,867,985
-
(40,430)
(223,671)		 497,864
-
-
(64,368)		 2,365,849
-
(40,430)
(288,039)
(190,816)
1,330,836		 (106,173)
482,504		 (296,989)
1,813,340		 (264,101)
1,594,936		 (64,368)
546,871		 (328,469)
2,141,807
376,331 482,503

All of the above results are derived from continuing activities. There were no other recognised gains or losses other than those stated above. Movements in funds are disclosed in Note 17a to the financial statements.

36

Meningitis Now

Company no. 2469130

Balance sheets

As at 31 March 2024

As at 31 March 2024
Balance sheets		 Company no. 2469130 Company no. 2469130
2024
2023
Note
£
£
Fixed assets:
10
26,929
30,346
11
749,728
688,051
776,657
718,398
Current assets:
13
33,966
43,579
1,155,265
1,343,650
1,189,231
1,387,229
Liabilities:
14
449,538
292,288
739,693
1,094,941
1,516,351
1,813,339
1,516,351
1,813,339
17
346,755
482,503
1,169,596
1,330,836
Total unrestricted funds
1,169,596
1,330,836
1,516,351
1,813,339
Total funds
Investments
Cash at bank and in hand
Tangible assets
The group
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
Net current assets / (liabilities)
Total net assets / (liabilities)
Restricted income funds
Unrestricted income funds:
General funds
Total assets less current liabilities
Debtors
Funds:		 2024
2023
£
£
26,929
30,346
749,730
688,053
776,659
718,400
33,966
43,599
1,155,263
1,343,649
1,189,229
1,387,248
449,538
292,309
739,691
1,094,939
1,516,351
1,813,339
1,516,351
1,813,339
346,755
482,503
1,169,596
1,330,836
1,169,596
1,330,836
1,516,351
1,813,339
The charity
776,659
33,966
1,155,263		 718,400
43,599
1,343,649
1,189,229
449,538		 1,387,248
292,309
739,691 1,094,939
1,516,351 1,813,339
1,516,351 1,813,339
346,755
1,169,596		 482,503
1,330,836
1,169,596 1,330,836
1,516,351 1,813,339

These accounts have been prepared in accordance with the special provisions applicable to small companies subject to the small companies' regime.

Approved by the trustees on 18[th] September 2024 and signed on their behalf by

Christopher Phillipsborn Chairman

37

Meningitis Now

Consolidated statement of cash flows

For the year ended 31 March 2024

Reconciliation of net income / (expenditure) to net cash flow from operating activities

Depreciation charges
Losses/ (Gains) on investment
Dividends and interest from investments
(Profit)/loss on the disposal of fixed assets
Decrease/ (increase) in debtors
Increase/(decrease) in creditors
Net (expenditure) / income for the reporting period
(as per the statement of financial activities)
Net cash provided by operating activities
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year
Change in cash and cash equivalents in the year
Cash flows from operating activities
Net cash provided by / (used in) investing activities
Net cash (used in) operating activities
Cash flows from investing activities:
Dividends and interest
Purchase of fixed assets
Disposal proceeds
Movement in investment cash
Proceeds from sale of investments
Purchase of investments
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the
year		 2024
£
(296,989)
9,784
(61,500)
(15,410)
-
9,614
157,250
(197,251)
£
£
(197,251)
15,410
(6,367)
-
-
-
(177)
8,866
(188,385)
1,343,650
1,155,265
2024		 2023
£
(328,469)
11,059
40,430
(5,941)
(6,813)
99,374
(57,025)
(247,385)
£
£
(247,385)
5,941
(5,594)
-
-
6,857
(67)
7,138
(240,247)
1,583,897
1,343,650
2023		 2023
£
(328,469)
11,059
40,430
(5,941)
(6,813)
99,374
(57,025)
(247,385)
1,343,650

38

Meningitis Now

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2024

a) Statutory information

Meningitis Now is a charitable company limited by guarantee and is incorporated in United Kingdom. The registered office address and principal place of business is Fern House, Bath Road, Gloucester, GL5 3TJ.

Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy or note.

These financial statements consolidate the results of the charitable company and its wholly-owned subsidiary Meningitis Trust Trading Limited, over which the charity has control through membership, on a line by line basis. Transactions and balances between the charitable company and its subsidiary have been eliminated from the consolidated financial statements. Balances between the companies are disclosed in the notes of the charitable company's balance sheet. A separate statement of financial activities, or income and expenditure account, for the charitable company itself is not presented because the charitable company has taken advantage of the exemptions afforded by section 408 of the Companies Act 2006.

c) Public benefit entity

The charitable company meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102.

d) Going concern

The trustees do not consider that there are any sources of estimation uncertainty at the reporting date that have a significant risk of causing a material adjustment to the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities within the next reporting period.

e) Income

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

Income from grants is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the grants have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably and is not deferred.

For legacies, entitlement is taken as the earlier of the date on which either: the charity is aware that probate has been granted, the estate has been finalised and notification has been made by the executor(s) to the charity that a distribution will be made, or when a distribution is received from the estate. Receipt of a legacy, in whole or in part, is only considered probable when the amount can be measured reliably and the charity has been notified of the executor’s intention to make a distribution. Where legacies have been notified to the charity, or the charity is aware of the granting of probate, and the criteria for income recognition have not been met, then the legacy is a treated as a contingent asset and disclosed if material.

Income from fundraising events is recognised in the period in which it is received, except where it is refundable. Where it is refundable, income is retained on the balance sheet and only released when the obligation to refund is no longer applicable. Where expenditure is incurred for an event in a future year, it is expensed to the accounts of the year in which the legal obligation arises.

Income from trading activities is the income from the Charity's trading subsidiary which is transferred to the Charity by way of a gift in accordance with a profit shedding agreement between the Charity and its subsidiary.

Income received in advance of the provision of a specified service is deferred until the criteria for income recognition are met.

f) Donations of gifts, services and facilities

Donated professional services and donated facilities are recognised as income when the charity has control over the item or received the service, any conditions associated with the donation have been met, the receipt of economic benefit from the use by the charity of the item is probable and that economic benefit can be measured reliably.

On receipt, donated gifts, professional services and donated facilities are recognised on the basis of the value of the gift to the charity which is the amount the charity would have been willing to pay to obtain services or facilities of equivalent economic benefit on the open market; a corresponding amount is then recognised in expenditure in the period of receipt.

g) Interest receivable

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

39

Meningitis Now

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2024

Unrestricted funds are donations and other incoming resources received or generated for the charitable purposes.

Designated funds are unrestricted funds earmarked by the trustees for particular purposes.

Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to make a payment to a third party, it is probable that settlement will be required and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Expenditure is classified under the following activity headings:

Irrecoverable VAT is charged as a cost against the activity for which the expenditure was incurred.

j) Allocation of support costs

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

Support and governance costs are re-allocated to each of the activities on the following basis which is an estimate, based on staff time, of the amount attributable to each activity.

Fundraising 40.4%
Support 28.4%
Communication and awareness 17.9%
Advocacy & Engagement 7.9%
Knowledge & Info Sharing 4.3%
Research 1.1%

Governance costs are the costs associated with the governance arrangements of the charity. These costs are associated with constitutional and statutory requirements and include any costs associated with the strategic management of the charity’s activities.

Financial Support Grants (i.e. Rebuilding Futures Fund) payable are accounted for in the period in which the award is communicated to the recipient, and becomes a contractual commitment. Research Grants are recognised as they become contractually due which is on production of acceptable progress reports or a final report at the end of the research project.

l) Operating leases

Rental charges are charged on a straight line basis over the term of the lease.

Items of equipment are capitalised where the purchase price exceeds £300. Depreciation costs are allocated to activities on the basis of the use of the related assets in those activities. Assets are reviewed for impairment if circumstances indicate their carrying value may exceed their net realisable value and value in use.

Where fixed assets have been revalued, any excess between the revalued amount and the historic cost of the asset will be shown as a revaluation reserve in the balance sheet.

Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write down the cost of each asset to its estimated residual value over its expected useful life. The depreciation rates in use are as follows:

25% per annum on cost 15% per annum on cost 33% per annum on cost

40

Meningitis Now

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2024

1 Accounting policies (continued)

Investments are a form of basic financial instrument and are initially recognised at their transaction value and subsequently measured at their fair value as at the balance sheet date using the closing quoted market price. Investment gains and losses, whether realised or unrealised, are combined and shown in the heading “Net gains/(losses) on investments” in the statement of financial activities. The charity does not acquire put options, derivatives or other complex financial instruments.

o) Investments in subsidiaries

Investments in subsidiaries are at cost.

p) Debtors

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

q) Cash at bank and in hand

Cash at bank and cash in hand includes cash and short term highly liquid investments with a short maturity of three months or less from the date of acquisition or opening of the deposit or similar account. Cash balances exclude any funds held on behalf of service users.

r) Creditors and provisions

Creditors and provisions are recognised where the charity has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts due.

s) Financial instruments

The charity only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value.

t) Foreign exchange

Transactions in foreign currencies are translated at the average exchange rate for the period. Balances denominated in foreign currencies are translated at the rate of exchange prevailing at the balance sheet date.

u) Pensions

The charity operates a defined contribution pension scheme. The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the charity in an independently administered fund. The pension cost charge represents contributions payable under the scheme by the charity to the fund. The charity has no liability under the scheme other than for the payment of those contributions.

2 Income from donations and legacies

2024 2023
Unrestricted Restricted Total Unrestricted Restricted Total
£ £ £ £ £ £
Legacies 163,366 100 163,466 340,728 - 340,728
Donated services 213,056 1,935 214,991 259,657 2,863 262,520
Community fundraising 525,147 2,362 527,509 361,546 41,945 403,491
Other donations 523,723 81,832 605,555 448,118 35,366 483,484
1,425,292 86,229 1,511,521 1,410,049 80,174 1,490,223

Gifts in kind comprise mainly pro bono advertising services and awareness campaign support.

41

Meningitis Now

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2024

the year ended 31 March 2024
Income from charitable activities
Big Lottery
Garfield Weston Foundation
St James's Place
Garfield Weston Foundation
Garfield Weston Foundation
UKRI-Medical Research Council
Other Income for Support
Sub Total for Support
Other income for Advocacy & Engagement
Other income from research
Sub-total for research
Total income from charitable activities
Other income for Fundraising
Sub-total for Fundraising
Sub-total for Advocacy & Engagement
Sub-total for Knowledge & Info Sharing
Other income for Knowledge & Info Sharing
Sub-total for Comms & Awareness
Other income for Comms & Awareness		 Unrestricted
£
-		 £
92,307
35,000
-
116,859
Restricted		 2024
Total
£
92,307
35,000
-
116,859		 Unrestricted
£
-
-
-
-		 £
72,054
35,000
40,000
83,470
Restricted		 2023
Total
£
72,054
35,000
40,000
83,470
-
-
-		 244,166
-
35,825		 244,166
-
35,825		 -
-
-		 230,524
-
29,500		 230,524
-
29,500
-
-		 35,825
10,000		 35,825
10,000
-		 -
-
-		 29,500
10,000		 29,500
10,000
-
-
-		 10,000
5,000		 10,000
5,000
-		 -
-
-		 10,000
5,000		 10,000
5,000
-
-
-		 5,000
-
34,200		 5,000
-
34,200		 -
-		 5,000
40,590
14,000		 5,000
40,590
14,000
-
-
-		 34,200
-
-		 34,200
-
-		 -
-
-		 54,590
-
-		 54,590
-
-
-
-		 -
329,191		 -
329,191		 -
-		 -
329,614		 -
329,614

42

Meningitis Now

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2024

Charitable activities

Staff costs (Note 7)
Recruitment, training & other
Travel & subsistence
Trustee expenses
Awareness, Campaigns,
Advocacy, Engagement
Support Activity
Grants payable to individuals
Research grants
Computer related
Property
Postage, phones, stationery &
subscriptions
Auditors' remuneration
Legal, professional, bank,
insurance
Fundraising event costs
Other fundraising expenditure
Trading costs
Miscellaneous
Support costs
Governance costs
Total expenditure 2024
Total expenditure 2023		 Support
£
318,635
9,217
7,811
-
19,266
49,279
53,719
-
-
-
7,108
-
-
-
-
-
418		 Comms &
Awareness
£
213,589
6,765
5,013
-
249,607
158
-
-
-
-
4,561
-
-
8,395
12,914
-
268		 Advocacy &
Engagement
£
116,294
1,998
2,301
-
19,924
167
-
-
-
-
2,094
-
-
8,395
12,914
122		 Knowledge &
Info Sharing
£
57631
1,074
1,237
-
24,896
290
-
-
-
-
1,126
-
-
-
-
-
65		 Research
£
13,917
235
271
-
669
95
-
205,916
-
-
247
-
-
-
-
-
14		 Cost of
raising funds
£
431,948
12,078
10,664
-
47,607
-
-
-
-
-
9,704
-
-
69,096
103,308
571		 Governance
costs
£
16,556
2,905
421
-
1,038
-
-
-
-
-
383
16,494
-
-
-
-
23		 Central
Support costs
£
90,606
5,569
-
-
-
-
-
-
106,479
104,496
9,269
37,885
-
-
-
-		 2024 Total
£
1,259,176
39,841
27,718
-
363,007
49,989
53,719
205,916
106,479
104,496
34,492
16,494
37,885
85,886
129,136
-
1,481		 2023 Total
£
1,181,466
35,573
26,484
1,251
342,025
66,748
50,935
200,255
115,650
102,297
31,889
15,780
48,985
68,232
75,007
-
3,272
465,453
93,692
17,508		 501,270
59,043
11,235		 164,209
26,005
5,158		 86,319
13,902
2,773		 221,364
3,708
608		 684,976
128,255
30,236		 37,820
29,698
(67,518)		 354,304
(354,303)
-		 2,515,715
-
-		 2,365,849
-
-
576,653 571,548 195,372 102,994 225,680 843,467 - - 2,515,715 -
627,421 512,734 173,652 102,061 221,231 728,750 - - - 2,365,849

43

Meningitis Now

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2024

4b Analysis of expenditure (prior year)

Charitable activities

Support
£
342,046
9,567
8,235
-
18,592
66,110
50,935
-
3,333
-
6,498
-
-
-
-
-
1,019		 Comms &
Awareness
£
182,363
5,164
4,421
-
232,688
144
-
-
3,333
-
3,489
-
-
6,749
7,062
-
545		 Advocacy &
Engagement
£
107,396
1,856
2,182
-
14,928
153
-
-
-
-
1,722
-
-
6,749
7,062
269		 Knowledge &
Info Sharing
£
53,544
2,315
1,149
-
27,377
260
-
-
-
-
907
-
-
-
-
-
142		 Research
£
15,318
216
254
-
573
81
200,255
-
-
200
-
-
-
-
-
32		 Cost of
raising funds
£
383,105
9,808
9,897
-
47,085
-
-
-
3,333
-
7,811
-
54,734
60,883
-
1,223		 Governance
costs
£
12,019
1,557
346
1,251
782
-
-
-
-
-
273
15,780
-
-
-
-
43		 Support costs
£
85,675
5,090
-
-
-
-
-
-
105,651
102,297
10,989
-
48,985
-
-
-
-		 2023 Total
£
1,181,466
35,573
26,484
1,251
342,025
66,748
50,935
200,255
115,650
102,297
31,889
15,780
48,985
68,232
75,007
-
3,272
506,335
104,267
16,819		 445,958
57,747
9,029		 142,317
26,878
4,457		 85,694
14,021
2,346		 216,929
3,784
518		 577,879
129,414
21,457		 32,051
22,576
(54,626)		 358,687
(358,687)
-		 2,365,849
-
-

44

Meningitis Now

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2024

e year ended 31 March 2024
Grant making (current year)
UCL - Prof.Brown
Commissioned Research - Picker Institute Europe
University of Liverpool - Prof.Kadioglu
University of Bristol - PhD Studentship
London School H&TP- Prof. Basu Roy
At the end of the year
Imperial College London - Prof. Wilkinson
Cost/(recall of amounts)		 Grants to
institutions
£
20,170
21,500
85,500
-
-
78,746		 Support and
other costs
£
1,876
2,000
7,954
-
-
7,326		 2024
£
22,046
23,500
93,454
-
-
86,072		 2023
£
-
33,065
46,842
37,930
(2,246)
105,121
205,916 19,156 225,072 220,712

The governance costs allocated for 2023/24 totalled £608 (2022/23 £518). These are described in detail in Note 4.

Commitments

Commitments in respect of grants for approved projects which have not been accrued in the accounts:

Within one year
Over one year		 2024
£
89,985
102,669		 2023
£
213,920
192,654
192,654 406,574

These commitments are not recognised as expenditure in the year as payments are subject to reviews of project progress by Meningitis Now.

Grant making (prior year)
Commissioned Research - Picker Institute Europe
University of Liverpool - Prof.Kadioglu
Cost
University of Bristol - Prof. Finn
London School H&TP- Prof. Basu Roy
UCL - Prof.Brown
Imperial College London - Prof. Wilkinson
At the end of the year		 Grants to
institutions
£
-
30,000
42,500
34,414
(2,037)
95,378		 Support and
other costs
£
-
3,065
4,342
3,516
(209)
9,743		 2023
£
-
33,065
46,842
37,930
(2,246)
105,121
200,255 20,457 220,712

6 Net incoming resources for the year

This is stated after charging / crediting:

Net incoming resources for the year
This is stated after charging / crediting:
2024 2023
£ £
Depreciation 9,784 11,059
Operating lease rentals:
Property 66,000 66,000
Other 831 728
Auditors' remuneration (excluding VAT):
Audit 12,795 13,150
Other services 950 850

45

Meningitis Now

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2024

Staff costs were as follows:

Staff costs were as follows:
Social security costs
Employer’s contribution to defined contribution pension schemes
Salaries and wages
Redundancy and termination costs		 2024
£
1,116,833
13,683
92,644
36,016		 2023
£
1,036,404
28,500
83,754
32,808
1,259,176 1,181,466

1 employee earned between £60,000 and £70,000 during the year (2022/23: 1). 0 employee earned between £70,000 and £80,000 in the year (2022/23: 1). 1 employee earned between £80,000 and £90,000 in the year (2022/23: none).

The total employee benefits including pension contributions and national insurance of the key management personnel were £262,791(2022/23: £250,275).

The charity trustees were not paid or received any other benefits from employment with the charity in the year (2023: £nil). No charity trustee received payment for professional or other services supplied to the charity (2023: £nil).

Trustees' expenses represents the payment or reimbursement of travel and subsistence costs totalling £0 (2023: £1250.94) incurred by 12 (2023: 12) members relating to attendance at meetings of the trustees.

8 Staff numbers

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

Advocacy & Engagement
Research
Support
Comms & Awareness
Raising funds
Governance
Knowledge & Info Sharing		 2024
No.
16.2
12.3
7.6
3.5
1.9
0.4
0.6		 2023
No.
15.4
12.4
6.7
3.3
1.8
0.4
0.5
42.4 40.5

The average number of Full Time Equivalent employees (based on number of staff employed) during the year was as follows:

Raising funds
Support
Comms & Awareness
Advocacy & Engagement
Research
Governance
Knowledge & Info Sharing		 2024
No.
12.1
9.8
5.8
2.7
1.4
0.3
0.5		 2023
No.
11.7
9.8
5.2
2.6
1.4
0.3
0.4
32.6 31.4

There are no donations from related parties which are outside the normal course of business and no restricted donations from related parties.

46

Meningitis Now

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2024

The charity is exempt from corporation tax as all its income is charitable and is applied for charitable purposes. The charity's trading subsidiary Meningitis Trust Trading Limited gift aids available profits to the parent charity. Its charge to corporation tax in the year was:


in the year was:
2024 2023
£ £
UK corporation tax at 19% (2023: 19%) - -

10 Tangible fixed assets

Tangible fixed assets
The group and charity
Freehold Fixtures and Computer Motor
property fittings equipment vehicles Total
£ £ £ £ £
Cost
At the start of the year 4,000 80,958 73,139 - 158,097
Additions in year - - 6,367 - 6,367
Disposals in year - - (1,698) - (1,698)
At the end of the year 4,000 80,958 77,808 - 162,766
Depreciation
At the start of the year - 80,958 46,793 - 127,751
Charge for the year - - 9,784 - 9,784
Eliminated on disposal - - (1,698) - (1,698)
At the end of the year - 80,958 54,879 - 135,837
Net book value
At the end of the year 4,000 - 22,929 - 26,929
At the start of the year 4,000 - 26,346 - 30,346

All of the above assets are used for charitable purposes.

11a Listed investments

Listed investments
Fair value at the end of the year
Disposal proceeds
Net gain/loss on change in fair value
Cash held by investment broker pending reinvestment
Fair value at the start of the year
Additions at cost		 2024
£
684,384
61,500		 2023
£
724,814
(40,430)
745,884
3,844		 684,384
3,667
749,728 688,051

The charity only also holds £2 (2023: £2) of shares in the Meningitis Trust Trading.

47

Meningitis Now

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2024

11b Subsidiary undertaking

The charitable company owns the whole of the issued ordinary share capital of Meningitis Trust Trading Limited and of Inmed Limited (dormant), both of which are companies registered in England. The subsidiaries are used for non-primary purpose trading activities. All activities have been consolidated on a line by line basis in the statement of financial activities. Available profits are gift aided to the charitable company. A summary of the results of the Meningitis Trust Trading Limited is shown below:


below:
Administrative expenses
The aggregate of the assets, liabilities and funds was:
Turnover
Gross profit
Deed of covenant to parent undertaking
Operating profit / (loss)
Profit / (loss) for the financial year
Cost of sales
Assets
Liabilities
Funds		 2024
£
-
-		 2023
£
20
-
-
-		 20
-
-
-		 20
(20)
- -
2 22
(20)
2 2

12 Parent charity

The parent charity's gross income and the results for the year are disclosed as follows:

2024 2023
£ £
Gross income 2,157,226 2,077,791
Result for the year (296,989) (328,469)

13 Debtors

Debtors
The group The charity
2024 2023 2024 2023
£ £ £ £
Trade debtors - 301 - 301
Amounts due from subsidiaries - - - 20
Taxation and social security - 170 - 170
Prepayments 32,966 42,607 32,966 42,607
Accrued income and other debtors 1,000 500 1,000 500
33,966 43,579 33,966 43,599

48

Meningitis Now

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2024

14 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
Deferred income
Obligations under hire purchase contracts
Trade creditors
Taxation and social security
Other creditors
Accruals		 2024
2023
£
£
105,225
49,353
24,050
-
7,169
354
199,572
139,188
113,521
103,392
-
-
449,538
292,288
The group		 2024
2023
£
£
105,225
49,353
24,050
-
7,169
375
199,572
139,188
113,521
103,392
-
-
449,538
292,309
The charity
449,538 292,288 449,538 292,309

15 Deferred income

Deferred income comprises income related to future fundraising events.

Deferred income comprises income related to future fundraising events. events.
Balance at the beginning of the year
Amount released to income in the year
Amount deferred in the year
Balance at the end of the year
Net assets at the end of the year
Investments
Net current assets
Tangible fixed assets
Analysis of group net assets between funds (current year)		 2024
2023
£
£
103,392
95,320
(134,619)
(83,057)
144,748
91,130
113,521
103,392
£
26,929
749,728
392,938
1,169,595
General
unrestricted
The group		 2024
2023
£
£
103,392
95,320
(134,619)
(83,057)
144,748
91,130
113,521
103,392
Restricted
funds
Total funds
£
£
-
26,929
-
749,728
346,755
739,693
346,755
1,516,351
The charity
113,521 103,392 113,521 103,392
£
26,929
749,728
392,938
General
unrestricted		 Restricted
funds
£
-
-
346,755		 Total funds
£
26,929
749,728
739,693
1,169,595 346,755 1,516,351

16a Analysis of group net assets between funds (current year)

16b Analysis of group net assets between funds (prior year)

Analysis of group net assets between funds (prior year)
Tangible fixed assets
Net current assets
Net assets at the end of the year
Investments		 £
30,346
688,051
612,438
General
unrestricted		 Restricted
funds
£
-
-
482,503		 Total funds
£
30,346
688,051
1,094,941
1,330,835 482,503 1,813,338

49

Meningitis Now

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2024

17a Movements in funds (current year)

At the start
of the year
£
37,414
10,786
-
-
434,304
-		 Incoming and
gains
£
277,877
75,869
10,000
5,000
50,726
1,935		 Expenditure
and losses
£
(206,371)
(103,322)
-
-
(215,951)
(1,935)		 Transfers
£
-
18,000
-
(47,576)
-		 At the end of
the year
£
108,920
1,333
10,000
5,000
221,503
-
482,504 421,406 (527,579) (29,576) 346,755
1,288,340
42,496		 1,735,820
-		 (1,926,636)
-		 29,576
-		 1,127,100
42,496
1,330,836 1,735,820 (1,926,636) 29,576 1,169,596
1,813,340 2,157,226 (2,454,215) - 1,516,351

Support - provision of support services for indivduals and families including financial awards Comms and Awareness - general meningitis awareness raising

Advocacy & Engagement - increasing awareness of the impact of meningitis and reaching more people needing support Knowledge & Info Sharing - sharing knowledge to improve aftercare available for people affected by meningitis Research - projects related to the prevention, treatment and outcomes of meningitis

Transfers -

£18,000 was moved from research to communications for use on a student campaign as agreed by the funder. £18,427 of expenditure from unrestricted to restricted relates to miss allocation in 2021/22.

£11,149 due to an underspend of one project in 2023/24, an additional allocation of staff time across the period has been made representing approx. 2K pa.

17b Movements in funds (prior year)

Movements in funds (prior year)
Total restricted funds
General funds
Non-charitable trading funds
Restricted funds:
Support
Comms & Awareness
Advocacy & Engagement
Total unrestricted funds
Research
Fundraising
Total funds
Unrestricted funds:
Knowledge & Info Sharing		 At the start
of the year
£
50,072
6,131
-
-
490,668
-		 Incoming and
gains
£
229,624
49,500
10,600
5,300
135,609
2,863		 Expenditure
and losses
£
(242,282)
(58,845)
(10,600)
(5,300)
(177,974)
(2,863)		 Transfers
£
-
14,000
-
(14,000)
-		 At the end of
the year
£
37,414
10,786
-
-
434,303
-
546,871 433,496 (497,864) - 482,503
1,552,460
42,476		 1,644,295
20		 (1,908,415)
-		 -
-		 1,288,340
42,496
1,594,936 1,644,315 (1,908,415) - 1,330,836
2,141,807 2,077,811 (2,406,279) - 1,813,339

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Meningitis Now

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2024

Purposes of restricted funds

Support - provision of support services including grants for beneficiaries Comms and Awareness - General meningitis awareness raising Advocacy & Engagement - increasing awareness of the impact of meningitis and reaching more people needing support

Knowledge & Info Sharing - sharing knowledge to improve aftercare available for people affected by meningitis Research - general

Transfers -

£23,336 was moved from research to communications for use on a student campaign as agreed by the funder. £13,500 transfer from prior year unrestricted to research as omitted.

£13,409 was transferred from restricted to unrestricted with agreement with the funders in light of Covid-19.

18 Operating lease commitments

The group and the charity's total future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases is as follows for each of the following periods:


of the following periods:
Less than one year
One to five years		 2024
2023
£
£
66,000
66,000
-
66,000
66,000
132,000
Property
66,000 132,000

19 Legal status of the charity

The charity is a company limited by guarantee and has no share capital. The liability of each member in the event of winding up is limited to £1.

51