Scottish Network for Arthritis in Children (SCIO) Annual Report and Financial Statements For the period ended 31 October 2025
Registered Charity – SC053434
Scottish Network for Arthritis in Children (SCIO)
Annual Report and Financial Statements For the period ended 31 October 2025
| Contents | Page |
|---|---|
| Trustees’ Report | 1 – 7 |
| Independent Examiner’s Report | 8 |
| Receipts and Payments Account | 9 |
| Statement of Balances | 10 |
| Notes to the Accounts | 11 – 13 |
Scottish Network for Arthritis in Children (SCIO) Trustees’ Annual Report For the period ended 31 October 2025
Chair’s Foreword
The Scottish Network for Arthritis in Children (SNAC) was started in 2008. Although parent volunteers and Trustees have changed over the years, the aims of the charity remain the same:
-
to provide factual, practical, and emotional support to children and families affected by Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA)
-
to raise & maintain awareness of the condition and its impact on children affected.
There are currently 605 active family memberships on the register, equating to 1840 individual members.
SNAC (SCIO) is lucky to have a fabulous group of volunteer parents who juggle supporting the charity with work, study commitments, homelife and carer roles for both their own children and often parents. Without the precious time and energy from our volunteer parents, SNAC could not continue to support families in Scotland affected by JIA. I would like to formally thank everyone for their ongoing commitment, organisation skills, positivity, and time in what has been a busy year!
We’ve had fabulous fun fundraising – a huge shout out and thanks to all the Kilt walkers, Marathoners, 5 & 10km runners, Forth Road Bridge joggers, Great Scottish Runners, jam makers, cake bakers, dancers, raffle holders, the Youth Philanthropes and the private donators! SNAC is so lucky to have such a generous community of supporters. We also benefited from receipt of a Bank of Scotland grant for administration support, and a huge donation after being chosen as Scottish Motor Trade Association charity of the year!
If you are a member of SNAC and would like to learn more about our volunteering roles or have skills that could be helpful, please get in touch via our secretary (secretary@snac.uk.com)
With heartfelt thanks & best wishes,
Lois Freeland
Chairperson
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Scottish Network for Arthritis in Children (SCIO)
Trustees’ Annual Report For the period ended 31 October 2025
The trustees have pleasure in presenting their report together with the financial statements for the period ended 31 October 2025.
Reference and Administrative Information
Charity name Scottish Network for Arthritis in Children (SCIO) Known as SNAC Charity number SC053434 Contact address Annfield, Pirnmill, Isle of Arran, KA27 8HP
Trustees
Trustees, unless otherwise stated, were appointed on 12 June 2024:
Lois Freeland (Chair) Karen Barrie (Secretary) Kirstin Weir (Treasurer) Lesley Rose Gemma Farrant (resigned 31 October 2025) Charley Weir Aileen McClymont Jenni Catto (resigned 31 October 2025) Lyndsay Martin Anna Sherriffs Dr Gulshan Malik (appointed 15 March 2025) Dr Jo Walsh (appointed 15 March 2025) Gillian Costley (appointed 10 November 2025)
Structure, Governance and Management
Constitution
The Charity is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation, (SCIO) registered on 12 June 2024 and governed by its constitution.
It has been established to replace Scottish Network for Arthritis in Children (SNAC), SC040193, which transferred its activities, assets and liabilities to the SCIO on 15 March 2025.
Recruitment and appointment of Trustees
At each annual general meeting, the members may elect any member to be a member of the management committee, which form the Trustees of the charity. The management committee may at any time appoint any member to be a member of the management committee. At each annual general meeting, all of the members of the management committee shall retire from office - but shall then be eligible for re-election.
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Scottish Network for Arthritis in Children (SCIO)
Trustees’ Annual Report For the period ended 31 October 2025
Objectives and Activities
Charitable purposes
The SCIO’s purposes are:
The advancement of health in Scotland for children with arthritis (and associated conditions) and their families through a national support network providing factual, practical, and emotional support, as well as raising overall public awareness of childhood arthritis
It will achieve these purposes by:
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Distribution of welcome packs and overseeing the merchandise platform
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Compliance with charity governance & child protection legislation
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Administration of Facebook groups, SNAC website and membership platform
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Attendance at various groups e.g., SPARN, Cross parliamentary Musco-skeletal group, ad hoc
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Organising and hosting local and national events
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Collaboration with medical staff and other charitable organisations on various pieces of work
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Providing a conduit for research proposals, studies and initiatives requiring patient engagement and opinion
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Administration of Aimee’s fund
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Administration of “Buzzies”
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Grant sourcing & application where appropriate
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Providing support to volunteers, Youth Philanthropy Initiative (YPI) champions and fundraisers
Achievements
The SCIO was registered on 12 June 2024, but it did not operate until 15 March 2025 when the unincorporated charity transferred its activities, assets and liabilities to the SCIO in line with the agreement with the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR).
SCIO Transition & Governance
This specific structure for charities in Scotland offers limited liability and separate legal identity regulated by the Scottish Charity Regulator (OSCR). The constitution was updated, and standing declaration of interests was added to the agendas of committee meetings. Recognising the increasing demands of running the charity, the Trustees agreed to pilot a paid administration role funded through grant support. This role, delivered by ArranVA, has proven extremely valuable, enabling key administrative work to take place during normal working hours and supporting the volunteer Trustees to focus on strategic and governance responsibilities. Kirstin Weir continues to act as a Trustee on a voluntary basis alongside this self-employed administrative role, with clear governance arrangements in place.
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Scottish Network for Arthritis in Children (SCIO) Trustees’ Annual Report For the period ended 31 October 2025
Key achievements include standardisation of event operations, updating and preparation of flyers – created by Karen, posters, transfer of bank accounts to new (SCIO), PVG coverage and child protection course scoped, attended and operational policy approval, and website and SharePoint management enhanced.
Jenni Catto and Gemma Farrant stepped back as Trustees in October 2025, leaving a gap in the committee for representation from the north. Both Jenni, Gemma, their husbands and families have supported SNAC as committee members over the last decade, and they will be sorely missed by all of us. I would like to formally thank them for all their volunteering, help with organising and hosting events, enthusiasm, and support.
Education Events
Unfortunately, due to lack of enrolments, the decision was made to cancel the Parents Information Day scheduled for March 2025 in collaboration with Versus Arthritis. Workshops, presentations from medical teams and some fun activities had been planned at a hotel venue in Dundee to allow parents and children / young adults to meet and gain information about JIA. This in turn led to cancellation of the Trustee strategy day planned for the same weekend. However, the venue has kindly honoured our booking, and the Trustees will meet face to face at the beginning of February 2026 to tie in with the 2025 AGM.
We continue to provide the parent and child’s perspective to the SPARN (Scottish Network for Arthritis in Children) and represent SNAC in collaborating with healthcare professionals on workstreams such as Guidelines and Quality Indicators, providing letters of support for research grants and clinical studies and raising awareness of those amongst members. We liaise closely with clinical teams for support for our information days, family weekend, and to obtain accurate clinical information where required for distributing via email and the SNAC closed Facebook group.
Trustees also represent SNAC at the Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Cross-party meetings at Scottish parliament, a children's mental health panel and support other third sector organisation to advertise and collaborate on their events. We continue to engage with secondary school aged children in their Youth Philanthropy Initiative work.
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Scottish Network for Arthritis in Children (SCIO) Trustees’ Annual Report For the period ended 31 October 2025
Local Networking Events
The focus of the earlier part of 2025 for the committee was collaboration with Versus Arthritis and SPARN around the planned Parents Information Day in March and transition of SNAC to SNAC (SCIO). Local events therefore were scheduled for later in the year and held as detailed below. We welcomed families from all over Scotland to various venues for some fun and networking.
| Attendees | Attendees | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Activity/Venue | Location | Organiser | Children | Adults | Event Cost | |
| Newmilns TubingEvent | Newmilns | LR | 15 | 11 | £157.50 | |
| Innoflate | LM | 20 | £441.00 | |||
| Xmas newsletter | KB | £403.11 | ||||
| Deposits for November | ||||||
| events | £1,083.76 |
Further events planned in the year but taking part in November 2025 are:
| Date | Location | Event | Attendees |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15th Nov 2025 | Dundee | Innoflate | 44 |
| 15th Nov 2025 | Glasgow | LollipopLand | 30 |
| 15th Nov 2025 | Ayr | LA Bowling | 18 |
| 16th Nov 2025 | Glasgow | LaserQuest | 41 |
| 16th Nov 2025 | Livingston | Innoflate | 51 |
Family Weekend, Golden Jubilee Hotel, 5-7[th] Sept
We welcomed 24 families to the Golden Jubilee Hotel in Glasgow for a weekend of educational workshops, presentations, games, dancing and fun! We would like to formally thank the healthcare professionals who attended, presented, joined in, and gave their time. We are grateful to our colleagues from Versus Arthritis, the Teapot Trust and Pauline Colles, Art therapist, who led sessions for children and adults. We had fabulous feedback from attendees and plans are underway to hold another weekend at the same venue in 2026.
Aimee’s Fund
A sub-committee of Trustees oversees administration of Aimee’s fund, which can grant funds of up to £500 for equipment or sporting activities for children and young adults with JIA up to the age of 18 years. Applications are made by a member of the healthcare professional team on behalf of the young person / family. Potential applicants can find details on our website.
Throughout 2024-2025 there have been 6 grants awarded – 3 mini fridges, one bike, one laptop and a bike voucher.
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Scottish Network for Arthritis in Children (SCIO)
Trustees’ Annual Report For the period ended 31 October 2025
Social Media & Website
SNAC continues to manage accounts on Instagram, X and most actively, Facebook. There is a Facebook page (1.9k followers) and two Facebook groups, one specifically for parents and carers (closed group, 700+ members).
The website continues to be improved and updated. It is a good way of giving accurate information to families and is updated regularly with news items. All credit to Michael Kent for continuing to support the committee.
Reflections from 2025
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Event viability: Parents’ Day uptake risk → earlier clinician confirmation and pre ‑ event interest survey. Canvas SNAC members for events they would like to see.
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Supplier reliability: Dundee hotel experience → venue responsiveness criteria and cancellation contingencies.
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Capacity & succession: Trustee changes and workload → paid support and volunteer pipeline essential.
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Local Events: build on feedback from November 2025, more events required → now that governance tightened, SCIO change made and paid support in place, supporting more events is on agenda for Trustee Strategy Day.
Looking ahead to 2026
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Strategy Day and AGM on 1 February: confirm 2026 priorities and event plan for the year, including family weekend in September
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Strategy to Support research initiatives in collaboration with SPARN and UK wide projects
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Focus on contingency and resilience to ensure succession planning, particularly of the office bearer roles
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JIA Children’s Book: project greenlit; SNAC to fund publishing & illustrator; planned distribution via welcome packs and clinics
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Grants pipeline: Required for funding the bigger weekend events. Children in Need (core ‑
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costs) pre application; pharma grants vetted for conflicts/terms with Trustees who join us to bring expertise from their profession.
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Scottish Network for Arthritis in Children (SCIO) Trustees’ Annual Report For the period ended 31 October 2025
Financial review
Total receipts for the year were £143,133, which includes £117,707 transferred in from the unincorporated charity, the Scottish Network for Arthritis in Children on 15 March 2025. Payments in the year amounted to £45,324. This resulted in net surplus for the year of £97,809. Funds are represented by deposits held in the SCIO’s bank accounts at 31 October 2025 of £97,809 all of which were unrestricted.
Trustee remuneration and expenses
No remuneration or expenses were paid to Trustees during the period ended 31 October 2025.
One Trustee received payments of £3,540 for administration services. These did not relate to Trustee duties, and the Trustees had regard to guidance supplied by OSCR in relation to payments to Trustees.
Reserves
The charity has a savings account holding an amount considered to be the reserves of the charity. This is considered necessary to fund the events for a period of time if fundraising levels dropped. As at 31 October 2025, this was in the region of £53,000 which is roughly in line with one year’s expenditure.
Major risks facing the charity
SNAC is a volunteer led charity and no payment is made to the committee members, other than disclosed above. Being able run events, post out welcome packs, attend meetings and maintain the website and social media etc takes time. SNAC relies on a parents / carers coming forward to help and with other life and work commitments this is not always guaranteed. The committee are exploring more routes to enable parents to help in a more manageable way.
Local events and in particular the larger Scotland wide event have become more costsly to run over the last few years as businesses pass on their increased costs to service users. These costs are met via fundraising and although we are lucky to have an engaged membership who help with this, the committee are keen to explore the possibility of grants to assist with some of the bigger events to enable inclusion of more families.
Approved by the Trustees and signed on their behalf
L Freeland
Lois Frreland Chair 1 February 2026
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Scottish Network for Arthritis in Children (SCIO) Independent Examiner’s Report For the period ended 31 October 2025
Independent Examiner’s Report to the Trustees of
Scottish Network for Arthritis in Children (SCIO)
I report on the accounts of the charity for the period ended 31 October 2025, which are set out on pages 9 and 10 and the related notes on pages 11 to 13.
Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner
The charity’s Trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the terms of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006(as amended) (“the 2006 Regulations”). The charity Trustees consider that the audit requirement of Regulation 10(1) (d) of the Regulations does not apply. It is my responsibility to examine the accounts as required under section 44(1) (c) of the Act and to state whether particular matters have come to my attention.
Basis of independent examiner’s statement
My examination is carried out in accordance with Regulation 11 of the 2006 Regulations. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts, and seeks explanations from the Trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently I do not express an audit opinion on the view given by the accounts.
Independent examiner’s statement
In the course of my examination, no matter has come to my attention:
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which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect the requirements:
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to keep accounting records in accordance with Section 44(1) (a) of the 2005 Act and Regulation 4 of the 2006 Regulations
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to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with Regulation 9 of the 2006 Accounts Regulations
have not been met, or
- to which, in my opinion, attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
E Alsop
Elaine Alsop ACA DChA FCIE EA Independent Ltd 5 South Charlotte Street, Edinburgh, EH2 4AN 16 March 2026
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Scottish Network for Arthritis in Children (SCIO) Receipts and Payments Account For the peiod ended 31 October 2025
| Total | ||
|---|---|---|
| Notes | 2025 | |
| £ | ||
| Receipts | ||
| Voluntary income | 3 | 133,038 |
| Receipts from fundraising | ||
| activities | 4 | 9,716 |
| Investment income | 379 | |
| ────── | ||
| 143,133 | ||
| ────── | ||
| Payments | ||
| Fundraising activities | 5 | 3,283 |
| Grants paid | 6 | 941 |
| Charitable activities | 7 | 41,100 |
| ────── | ||
| Total payments | 45,324 | |
| ────── | ||
| Net receipts/(payments) for | ||
| year | 97,809 | |
| ═════ |
All receipts and payments are unrestricted
No comparatives are available as this is the first period of account for the SCIO
The notes on pages 11 to 13 form part of these accounts
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Scottish Network for Arthritis in Children (SCIO) Statement of Balances As at 31 October 2025
| Total | ||
|---|---|---|
| Notes | 2025 | |
| £ | ||
| Opening funds | - | |
| Net receipts/(payments) for | ||
| year | 97,809 | |
| ────── | ||
| Closing funds | 8 | 97,809 |
| ═════ | ||
| Represented by | ||
| Bank accounts | 97,809 | |
| ═════ | ||
| All funds at 31 Ocober 2025 are | unrestricted | |
| Other assets | ||
| £ | ||
| Stock of merchandise at cost | 13,379 | |
| Creditors | ||
| £ | ||
| Independent examiner’s fee | 500 |
Approved by the Trustees on 1 February and signed on their behalf by:
L Freeland
Lois Freeland Chair
The notes on pages 11 to 13 form part of these accounts
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Scottish Network for Arthritis in Children (SCIO) Notes to the Accounts For the period ended 31 October 2025
1. Accounting policies
Basis of accounting
The accounts have been prepared on the Receipts and Payments basis in accordance with the Charities & Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended).
VAT
The charity is not registered for VAT and, accordingly, expenditure includes VAT where appropriate.
Resources expended
Payments for fundraising activities comprises those costs incurred by the charity in raising funds for the charity and selling charity merchandise.
Charitable expenditure comprises those costs incurred by the charity in the delivery of its activities and services for its beneficiaries.
Governance costs include those costs associated with meeting the constitutional and statutory requirements of the charity and include the Independent Examiner’s fee.
Nature and purpose of funds
Unrestricted funds are those that may be used at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of the objects of the charity.
Restricted funds may only be used for specific purposes. Restrictions arise when specified by the donor or when funds are raised for specific purposes. There were no restricted funds in the year.
2. Payments to Trustees
No remuneration or expenses were paid to Trustees during the period ended 31 October 2025.
One Trustee received payments of £3,540 for administration services. These did not relate to Trustee duties, and the Trustees had regard to guidance supplied by OSCR in relation to payments to Trustees.
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Scottish Network for Arthritis in Children (SCIO) Notes to the Accounts For the period ended 31 October 2025
| 3. | Voluntary income | |
|---|---|---|
| Total | ||
| 2025 | ||
| £ | ||
| Grants | ||
| Bank of Scotland Foundation | 10,000 | |
| The | Wood Foundation | 2,500 |
| Donations | ||
| Transfer from SC040193 | 117,707 | |
| Other donations under £1,000 | 2,831 | |
| ────── | ||
| 133,038 | ||
| ═════ | ||
| 4. | Receipts from fundraising activities | |
| £ | ||
| Fundraising activities | 8,834 | |
| Trading activities | 882 | |
| ────── | ||
| 9,716 | ||
| ═════ | ||
| 5. | Costs of fundraising activities | |
| £ | ||
| Fundraising activities | 30 | |
| Trading activities | 3,253 | |
| ────── | ||
| 1,373 | ||
| ═════ |
Trading activities relates to the purchase of branded merchandise for resale
6. Grants paid
| . Grants paid |
|
|---|---|
| £ | |
| Grants paid to inviduals for | |
| equipment and similar | 941 |
| ═════ |
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Scottish Network for Arthritis in Children (SCIO) Notes to the Accounts For the period ended 31 October 2025
7. Costs of charitable activities
| . Costs of charitable activities |
|
|---|---|
| Total | |
| 2025 | |
| £ | |
| Family weekend | 31,761 |
| Local Events | 2,047 |
| Buzzy 4 Shots | 1,223 |
| Welcome packs | 66 |
| Administration | 5,603 |
| Governance costs | 400 |
| ────── | |
| 41,100 | |
| ═════ |
The cost of the 2025 independent examination of £500 is included in the statement of balances.
8. Funds
| . Funds |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Balance at | Balance at | |||
| 12 Jun 24 | Receipts | Payments | 31 Oct 25 | |
| £ | £ | £ | £ | |
| Unrestricted Fund | - | 143,133 | (45,324) | 97,809 |
| ═════ | ═════ | ═════ | ═════ |
Nature and purpose of Funds
Unrestricted Funds: This fund has no restriction and is administered on a discretionary basis by the trustees in line with the objects of the charity.
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