Trustees' report and accounts 2012 - TRUSTEES' REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2010 - ROYAL SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS - RSPCA

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Trustees' report and accounts 2012 - TRUSTEES' REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2010 - ROYAL SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS - RSPCA
Trustees’ report
and accounts 2012
ROYAL SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS

 TRUSTEES’ REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2010
Trustees' report and accounts 2012 - TRUSTEES' REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2010 - ROYAL SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS - RSPCA
Photo: Jason Finch/RSPCA photolibrary
Trustees' report and accounts 2012 - TRUSTEES' REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2010 - ROYAL SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS - RSPCA
TRUSTEES’ REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2012
  Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

Contents
Chief Executive and Chairman’s joint foreword 04
Trustees’ report                                      05

Independent auditors’ report                          22

Consolidated statement of financial activities 23
Consolidated balance sheet                            24

Consolidated cash flow statement                      25

Accounting policies                                   26

Notes to the accounts                                 28

Purpose of funds                                      40

Principal addresses                                    41

RSPCA Council members                                 42

Staff directors                                       42

How you can help the RSPCA                            43

                                                            TRUSTEES’ REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2012   03
Trustees' report and accounts 2012 - TRUSTEES' REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2010 - ROYAL SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS - RSPCA
CHIEF EXECUTIVE AND CHAIRMAN’S JOINT FOREWORD

     2012: Facing up to challenges
     Chief Executive and Chairman’s joint foreword

     The RSPCA, like most charities, faces an ever increasing workload in an ever more challenging fundraising
     environment. Through our inspectorate, branches and front-line staff and in RSPCA animal centres and hospitals,
     we care for the most abused, abandoned and vulnerable animals.

     There is a growing crisis in animal welfare in England and Wales.       successful programme of voluntary redundancy and redeployment,
     To give just one example: in 2012 the Society took in over 700          none of our valued colleagues were subject to compulsory
     horses – the largest number ever. It can cost over £100 a week to       redundancy. We are always very sorry to see any staff leave
     feed and care for a horse and with our own facilities overflowing,      the RSPCA and are grateful for their service. This has meant an
     over two thirds of our horses have to be placed in private              increased workload for our smaller staff base. Two particular areas
     boarding. Even though the RSPCA rehomed a record number                 – veterinary costs and boarding fees – have proved the most
     of horses in 2012, the number remaining in our care at the end          difficult to control as we seek never to turn away an animal in
     of the year had only decreased by a handful.                            need. This will remain a challenge in 2013.
     The RSPCA on its own cannot solve this problem. We are working          During the year we showed our determination to continue to
     with all the other major equine organisations. All of us are pressing   increase our collaborative work with other animal organisations.
     the governments in Wales and England to make it easier for              This underpinned some of our notable victories in 2012. Our
     enforcement agencies to tackle the problem of 6,000 horses              work with 14 other organisations under the Team Badger banner
     which are being left to fly-graze on private and public land. The       saw off the government’s first attempts in England to cull badgers
     economic downturn has only increased the pressure as owners             in pilot areas as a means of controlling bovine tuberculosis (bTB)
     who cannot afford the upkeep of their horses abandon them and           in cattle. This work continues in 2013 in the face of new attempts
     people cut corners on care and avoid regulations designed to            to start the cull.
     protect horse welfare. The equine crisis is a particular challenge
                                                                             Our work with Thanet Council and grassroots organisations in Kent
     but the RSPCA is facing similar demands in relation to dogs, cats
                                                                             put inspectors back on the ground at Ramsgate port which then
     and other companion animals.
                                                                             banned the trade in long distance transport of animals to the
     Financially, 2012 may appear in these accounts to have been more        continent. The private port of Ipswich also rejected the trade. It
     successful for the RSPCA than recent years but this masks a             restarted from Ramsgate despite, in our view, inadequate facilities
     significant underlying challenge. Prospective legacies to the Society   at the port, inadequate inspections of sheep being loaded and
     must be allocated to income in the year in which they are notified      sheep being placed at risk through sailings in poor weather
     to us, rather than the year in which cash is actually received by us.   conditions. There is a long way to go before we can say that we
     This can often be some years later. The RSPCA had an unusually          have won this battle, but the RSPCA will continue to give a voice
     high level of notifications of large legacies in 2012 but these will    to those that don’t have one – the animals being shipped abroad –
     take considerable time to be settled and for the money to be            until this trade is ended.
     available. Also in 2012, the RSPCA received one-off income of
                                                                             2012 will also be remembered as the year in which a major intensive
     £6m from the sale of its old Birmingham animal hospital site.
                                                                             farming system was finally outlawed. The conventional battery
     Even taking legacy notifications into account, there is an underlying   cage was prohibited and now over half the eggs on sale in the UK
     downward trend in legacy income across the charitable sector.           are from free range systems. The RSPCA has been lobbying for
     With people feeling the pinch, there was also an underlying decline     this for five decades and has played an integral role in providing
     in non-legacy income and limited progress in improving the cash         a solution through Freedom Food which accounts for over 90 per
     income available to the RSPCA.                                          cent of all free range eggs sold in the UK.
     We are trying to do more with less. As a consequence, we took           Work to help animals used in research and testing focused
     difficult decisions in 2012 to cut costs. A major change programme      particularly on the implementation of the EU Directive on research
     commenced and 120 posts were removed from our establishment.            animals into UK law. While the RSPCA welcomed the agreement on
     40 new posts were added resulting in a net loss of 80 posts. Core       the Directive in 2010, we remained concerned that the UK’s higher
     animal welfare posts were protected so none of these losses came        standards would be lost when the law was implemented. By the
     from the inspectorate or any other front line jobs. Thanks to a         end of the year when the law was adopted these concerns had

04   TRUSTEES’ REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2012
Trustees' report and accounts 2012 - TRUSTEES' REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2010 - ROYAL SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS - RSPCA
TRUSTEES’ REPORT

                                                                                                    RSPCA Trustees’ report
                                                                                                    Strategic plan 2010-15: progress against goals

                                                                                                    In 2012 the RSPCA began a review of its long-term
                                                                                                    strategy to take us forward to our 200th anniversary
                                                                                                    in 2024. The strategy will be presented to RSPCA
                                                                                                    members and supporters in mid-2013.
dissipated and most of the RSPCA’s objectives had been
achieved. Work on reducing severe suffering for laboratory                                          The report on activities set out here is under the four
animals concentrated on establishing contacts in laboratories                                       high level goals defined in the existing 2010-15 strategy,
and drawing up a list of procedures and models that can cause                                       as agreed in December 2009:
severe suffering which will enable the development of ideas
to reduce these tests.                                                                                ��� Goal 1
In October, the incoming Commissioner for animal research,                                            To grow and develop the RSPCA to ensure that it is effective
Tonio Borg, agreed that he would not seek a postponement of                                           and fit for purpose to meet the increasing future demands
the marketing ban in the Cosmetics Regulation (1223/2009/EC)                                          of animal welfare.
when he came into office. This will mean that, 20 years after the
ban was first written into EU law, non-animal tested cosmetics
should finally be the only ones available in the EU.                                                 ��� Goal 2
The RSPCA’s work overseas accounts for just 0.6 per cent of                                          To effectively allocate resources to best meet the RSPCA’s
the total budget. Priority is currently given to EU candidate                                        animal welfare objectives.
countries, southern Africa and East Asia. In 2012 we delivered
training to improve stray dog control in Turkey and held animal
welfare workshops with regional and national laboratory animal                                       ��� Goal 3
science associations in China, Taiwan and Serbia.
                                                                                                     To ensure that the operational activities of the RSPCA are
RSPCA International also supported a seminar held in                                                 conducted consistently, effectively and efficiently to support
South Korea on improving lab animal welfare through better                                           the animal welfare services of the Society.
experimental design. In Malawi the Clinic in a Box – an £85,000
collection of veterinary equipment and materials – was donated
to Lilongwe’s new animal clinic, dramatically increasing                                             ��� Goal 4
veterinary treatment in that country. In 2012 we also delivered                                      To support the proactive animal welfare strategies
humane slaughter training in Turkey (cattle and sheep) and                                           for companion, wild, farm and research animals.
Malaysia (poultry). Continuing a major education project with
China’s National Institute for Education Sciences, we held our
fifth three-day education workshop. Since 2008 around 13,500
teachers and more than 300,000 children across China have
taken part in activities cascaded under the project.
Many challenges remain and we can only tackle them if the
RSPCA is on a financially sustainable footing. We are determined
to complete this job in 2013 and also focus the Society on the
challenges ahead by agreeing a new long-term strategy that will
see us through to our 200th birthday in 2024.
                                                                    Joe Murphy/RSPCA photolibrary

Gavin Grant                         Michael Tomlinson
Chief executive, rspca              CHAIRMAN, RSPCA COUNCIL

                                                                                                                                     TRUSTEES’ REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2012   05
Trustees' report and accounts 2012 - TRUSTEES' REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2010 - ROYAL SOCIETY FOR THE PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS - RSPCA
TRUSTEES’ REPORT

     Five pledges to help animals and improve their welfare
     In 2010 the RSPCA established five pledges – targeting specific issues from Goal 4 – that we want to see
     delivered by 2016. Work programmes were established in 2011 and the pledges were launched in early 2012.
     The five pledges are summarised here with further details of progress on them on pages 9-16:

                                    1                           NUMBER OF DOGS AND CATS NEUTERED BY THE RSPCA 2005-2012

          To end the overpopulation of                          60,000

          companion animals and tackle                          52,500
          the related issues.
                                                                45,000
          Summary of progress
                                                                 37,500                                                                       Dogs
          In 2012 the RSPCA neutered slightly fewer
                                                                                                                                              Cats
          dogs and cats than in 2011, as it stopped
                                                                30,000
          issuing neutering vouchers pending a
          review of the system. It is difficult to              22,500
          evaluate the impact of neutering on
          the animal population as the baseline                  15,000
          population is usually unknown but a
                                                                  7,500
          two-year study on cats in Stoke will
          address this and report in 2013.                              0
                                                                              2005     2006     2007     2008     2009     2010      2011      2012

                                    2                          Numbers ofDOGS
                                                               NUMBER OF rehomeable  cats,
                                                                               AND CATS    dogs and
                                                                                        NEUTERED     rabbits
                                                                                                 BY THE RSPCA 2005-2011
                                                               euthanAsed 2005-2012
           To end the euthanasia of any                        2,000                                                                     Dogs
           rehomeable animal.                                                                                                            Cats
                                                                                                                                         Rabbits
           Summary of progress
                                                                1,500
           Due the problems created by overbreeding
           and the irresponsible trade, purchase and
                                                                                                            ON              LY
           ownership of companion animals, the

                                                                                          I TIO         NAL
           numbers of companion animals entering
           rescue and rehoming centres continues to
                                                                1,000

                                                                                     P OS
           be overwhelming. This is only heightened
           by the wider economic climate. Charities              500
           have a responsibility to ensure that animals
           do not languish in kennels for long periods.
           The responsibility falls most heavily on
                                                                   0
           local authorities and those charities like the                   2005     2006     2007     2008     2009     2010     2011       2012
           RSPCA that prioritise the welfare of the
           worst-off animals. Due to continued efforts      and Wales are falling. This work continues with 2013 seeing a major programme
           from ourselves and our sister charities to       seeking to understand the profile of adopters of companion animals with a view
           educate, neuter, microchip and rehome,           to broadening the market for rehoming. We will also continue to focus on
           overall euthanasia figures across England        neutering and all areas of irresponsible breeding, trade and ownership.

06   TRUSTEES’ REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2012
TRUSTEES’ REPORT

                                 3
        To increase the proportion of farm
                                                            NUMBER OF DOGS
                                                             Percentage    AND CATS
                                                                        of farm     NEUTERED
                                                                                animals       BYunder
                                                                                         reared  THE RSPCA 2005-2011
                                                                                                       higher
60000
52500

        animals reared under higher welfare
45000
37500
30000
22500
15000

                                                             welfare standards IN THE UK
 7500
    0

        systems in the UK.                                    %
        Summary of progress                                   10

        The overall proportion of farm animals kept
        under higher welfare conditions decreased              8
        in 2012 after a rise in 2011. This was mainly
        due to a 24 million bird decrease in the
        number of chickens kept under the Freedom              6
        Food scheme which saw its market share
        reduced to two per cent of the UK flock,
                                                               4
        following withdrawal of products from
        certain supermarkets. There were also
        decreases in the duck and turkey sectors.              2
        There were increases in market share in pigs
        which is now over 30 per cent of the UK
        herd and laying hens which now account                 0
                                                                     2004   2005    2006    2007   2008    2009     2010    2011    2012
        for nearly half the laying hen flock following
        the final withdrawal of the conventional
        battery cage across the EU in 2012. Work on      greater numbers of animals whose individual welfare was improved as well as a
        this pledge has a high impact as there are       greater number of consumers choosing higher welfare options despite the recession.
  1.0

  0.8

  0.6

  0.4

  0.2

  0.0

                                                            NUMBER OF PROJECTS IN THE ‘SUBSTANTIAL’ (SEVERE) CATegory
                                 4                          in the ukOF
                                                            NUMBER    1998 – 2011
                                                                        DOGS   AND CATS NEUTERED BY THE RSPCA 2005-2011
                                                              80

        To reduce the number of animals                       70
        in the UK who undergo severe
        suffering when used in experiments.                   60

        Summary of progress                                   50

        Data relating to this pledge is published             40
        by the Home Office a year following its
        collection, so the most recent statistics             30
        relate to animal use in 2011. These figures
                                                              20
        show the number of projects that were
        classified as severe, but do not state how             10
        many individual animals within each project
        actually experienced the severe level                  0
                                                                    1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 20072008 2009 2010 2011
        of suffering. This will now change – the
        implementation of Directive 2010/63/EC           Throughout 2012, we focused on reducing and eventually ending severe
        into UK legislation which occurred on 1st        suffering. The RSPCA identified procedures that can cause severe suffering
        January 2013 now requires that the level of      and implemented an ongoing programme of engagement with research
        suffering for individual animals is reported     establishments to develop ways of reducing suffering in these areas. Society
        annually. The first data is due in 2014. This    staff also took a leading role in a European Commission expert working group set
        greater transparency about animal suffering      up to provide EU-wide guidance on assessing the level of severity of procedures
        in research is something the RSPCA fought        on animals, fighting to ensure that the guidance focussed on understanding what
        hard to achieve.                                 animals actually experience so that suffering could be alleviated.

                                                                                                                  TRUSTEES’ REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2012   07
TRUSTEES’ REPORT

                                                                         5
                                                To reduce the number of exotics
                                                kept as pets and increase their                Number of live reptiles imported to the UK 2004 – 2010
                                                humane care.                                    500,000

                                                Summary of progress
                                                Reptile imports to the UK for 2010, the         400,000
                                                latest data available, show an increase for
                                                both endangered and non-endangered
                                                species. In 2011 the RSPCA dealt with 6,800     300,000
                                                incidents involving over 32,000 exotic
                                                animals, of which 8,700 were reptiles.
                                                Snakes and lizards are the groups most          200,000
                                                commonly taken in.
2008                                             2009            2010           2011
                                                In 2013 a new and updated course on
                                                                                                100,000
                                                exotics will be developed and incorporated
                                                into RSPCA student inspector training. In
                                                addition, exotics officers will be recruited
                                                                                                     0
                                                and will undertake specialist training                    2004   2005   2006   2007   2008   2009   2010
                                                focussed on reptiles and primates.

                                                                                                                                 The following sections
                                                                                                                                 of this report look
                                                                                                                                 at the progress made
                                                                                                                                 in 2012 to meet the
                                                                                                                                 work programmes
                                                                                                                                 set up under each of
       Philip Toscano/RSPCA photolibrary

                                                                                                                                 the RSPCA’s defined
                                                                                                                                 high level goals,
                                                                                                                                 cross-referenced to
                                                                                                                                 budget expended.

08                                         TRUSTEES’ REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2012
TRUSTEES’ REPORT

��� Goal 1                                                                    products launched include RSPCA Mobile and an RSPCA Savings
To grow and develop the RSPCA to ensure that it is                            Account provided by Yorkshire Building Society.
effective and fit for purpose to meet the increasing                          In the coming year we will look to increase income generation
future demands of animal welfare.                                             from commercial activities and will look to build on key
                                                                              commercial relationships with, for example, More than,
1.1 To increase the income of the RSPCA
                                                                              Pets at Home, Wow Toys, RBS and others.
    Income generation remains very challenging for the RSPCA
    as it does for all charities. Although top line figures suggest an        The level of our business engagement increased. RSPCA Week
    increase in overall income in 2012 (up from £100.7 million in 2011        was relaunched in 2012 and earned £372,000 against a target of
    to £112.4 million in 2012) this has to be seen against a background       £360,000 with over £31,000 raised from corporate fundraising.
    of a decrease in non-legacy income (reducing from £45.9 million           The remainder was raised through collections by RSPCA
    in 2011 to £44.2 million in 2012) and limited progress in increasing      branches in partnership with Tesco. The RSPCA licensing
    cash income to the Society. So whilst the RSPCA did receive a             programme continued to grow and raised over £320,000 in
    net income of £12.7 million on unrestricted funds in 2012, as             2012 with WH Smith, Benchmark Brands Ltd, Funkypigeon.com,
    against a budgeted net expenditure of £3 million, this position           Hallmark and Wow Toys joining an increasing list of partners.
    was driven by two one-off income streams, namely £6 million               Significant contributions for seasonal sales from the John
    from the sale of the redundant RSPCA Birmingham animal                    Lewis Partnership of over £53,000, WH Smith of over £10,000
    hospital site and an exceptional number of high value legacy              and Special Editions of over £35,000 sit alongside a very
    notifications in the year pushing the legacy income up by 25              successful launch by SERT-MST Plc of an RSPCA range of wild
    per cent. These legacy notifications can give a false impression.         bird food and accessories into all Tesco stores which raised over
    Whilst income is recognised in the 2012 accounts, the estates             £55,000 – a contribution that is projected to double in 2013.
    may take some years to be settled and so these amounts                    In 2012 the RSPCA operated 265 charity shops of which three
    may not yet be available for the RSPCA as cash income.                    were owned by the national Society.
    The underlying income generation position continues to be
                                                                           1.2 To increase the resources deployed by the RSPCA
    highly challenging.
                                                                               In 2012 the poor financial resources position of the RSPCA
   The legacy situation itself remains volatile. Due to the high               (see 1.3) resulted in a contraction of non-front line posts by 120
   number of large value legacy notifications, accrued legacy                  and although some 40 posts were added this resulted in a
   income was £11.2 million ahead of budget. However cash 		                   net loss of some 80 posts and a projected budget saving to
   legacy income was £55.5 million – the second lowest in 		                   the RSPCA of £2 million annually.
   the past six years – showing the difficulty of forecasting legacy
                                                                              Core animal welfare posts were protected so none of these
   income and the time difference before accrued income is
                                                                              losses came from the inspectorate or any other front line jobs.
   turned into liquid assets.
                                                                              Thanks to a successful programme of voluntary redundancy
   Unrestricted income from contributions and donations was £41.0             and redeployment, none of our valued colleagues were subject
   million compared to £38.8 million in 2011. Direct marketing raised         to compulsory redundancy. We are always very sorry to see any
   £26.4 million; an increase on the 2011 figure. However, a greater          staff leave the RSPCA and are grateful for their service.
   investment in both door-to-door and face-to-face marketing was
                                                                              However, this has meant an increased workload for our smaller
   required to achieve a similar level of income. Other fundraising
                                                                              staff base. Two particular areas, veterinary costs and boarding
   income fell by 31 per cent. The net income for non-legacy
                                                                              fees, have proved the most difficult to control as we seek never
   fundraising was £29.3 million compared to £30.8 million in 2011
                                                                              to turn away an animal in need. This will remain a challenge in 2013.
   – a relatively good performance in the current economic
   environment but an indication of continuing challenges ahead.           1.3 To ensure the financial security of the RSPCA
                                                                               The financial position of the RSPCA has been challenging for
   In the last two years the RSPCA has broadened its approach
                                                                               a number of years and continued to be so in 2012. The financial
   away from seeking grants solely from bodies that are specific
                                                                               position at the end of 2012 appeared more stable than at the
   to animal welfare. We now also look to build partnerships with
                                                                               beginning, but the RSPCA still spent more cash in 2012 than it
   grant-making bodies that fund work with young people,
                                                                               received which is not sustainable in the long term.
   education and social issues. The National Lottery grant for
   the work with young people at RSPCA Mallydams Wood 		                      At the beginning of 2012 the RSPCA had free reserves
   Wildlife Centre, which continued into 2012 is an example of this.          equivalent to 2.6 months of operating expenditure – below
                                                                              its policy of three to six months. To restore the RSPCA
   Overall charitable trust income was £459k against a budget of
                                                                              to a balanced budget the trustees agreed to a programme
   £660k. The combined Major Donor and High Value Programme
                                                                              of reorganisation, which, alongside the reduction in staff
   – a developing income stream for the RSPCA – brought in £819k
                                                                              establishment referred to above, also included reducing
   against a target of £860k.
                                                                              the number of and the use of consultants and a tightening
   The corporate fundraising team continued to build relationships            of departmental budgets across the Society. As a result of the
   with new and existing partners. Pet Insurance continues to grow            reorganisation, staff costs were £2.2 million under budget by
   with a seven per cent increase in 2012, and new corporate related          year end 2012.

                                                                                                               TRUSTEES’ REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2012 09

     TRUSTEES’ REPORT

        Trustees have agreed a balanced budget of £109 million for 2013.       and many more. On one occasion just one Facebook post about
        However as expenditure was £119 million in 2012 this will entail       the irresponsible dog ownership campaign generated more than
        further savings that need to be realised, as well as countering        2,500 signatures on a petition.
        the effects of inflation and increasing demand for our services.
                                                                               The RSPCA was ranked 4th in the annual charity press benchmarking
        For instance, in 2012 the increasing number of animals in our
                                                                               table compared to 8th in 2011 – generating over 26,000 articles,
        care impacted on the RSPCA’s veterinary and boarding costs
                                                                               compared to 24,000 the previous year. The Society retains its
        which were over budget and higher than in 2011.
                                                                               leading spot for animal charities for mainstream media by over
        Investment gains of £6.0 million during the year, after the £6.4       16,000 articles compared to its nearest competitor.
        million loss in 2011, helped to restore the free reserves position
                                                                               The RSPCA continued its collaborative work with other charities
        from £26.8 million to £45 million which at five months
                                                                               including joint work with Cats Protection on the proactive cat
        expenditure, returns the RSPCA to a level required by our
                                                                               neutering programme in Stoke to evaluate the effectiveness of
        reserves policy. The performance of the RSPCA investment
                                                                               targeted neutering on the cat population. Our joint work with
        portfolio was consistent with the overall performance of the
                                                                               the major dog organisations to call for mandatory microchipping
        stock market during 2012. Although there was a gain during 2012
                                                                               in England resulted in a government announcement in February
        from investments, in total the RSPCA has lost £8.9 million on
                                                                               2013 which confirmed this was the intention of the Government
        the value of its investments over the past five years.
                                                                               in England. The Government in Wales has already signalled its
        The Society reorganisation also led to a reduction in the              intention to bring this in during 2013. The Society also worked
        number of RSPCA regions in England from five to two (South             with seven other equine organisations to call for new measures
        of England; Midlands and the North of England) and for the             to tackle the horse overpopulation issue.
        first time created a new ‘region’ for the nation of Wales.
                                                                               The RSPCA joined with 14 other organisations including
     1.4 To ensure sound governance and membership                             Dr. Brian May’s Save Me, the League Against Cruel Sports and
         The numbers of members in 2012 declined slightly from 26,151          the International Fund for Animal Welfare to call for a stop
         to 25,512. A review of the RSPCA’s membership and supporter           to the proposed cull of badgers in England. Together over
         strategy was initiated in 2012. Whilst formal membership of the       160,000 signatures were gathered on a No. 10 petition to force a
         RSPCA has declined somewhat, overall support for the RSPCA            parliamentary debate on the issue, resulting in overwhelming
         is rising as the public show their support in different ways. The     political support to add to the existing weight of scientific and
         review will seek to maximise this opportunity whilst attending        public opinion. This was initially successful when the Minister
         to the demands of the RSPCA’s governance requirements.                paused the anticipated cull in October 2012, although the
     1.5 To continue to recruit and retain a skilled, effective and            campaign began again in 2013 when the Minister signalled
         motivated workforce                                                   his intention to go ahead with the cull later in the year.
         In 2012, the RSPCA undertook an extensive staff reorganisation        Our campaign to end the live export of farm animals
         which resulted in a net reduction of 80 posts. At the same            continues, working with organisations such as Compassion in
         time, a number of teams were brought together under a new             World Farming and local campaigning groups such as Kent Action
         Marketing and Campaigns Division, achieving greater efficiency        Against Live Exports. We continue to work with seven different
         and integration of public-facing activity. New teams were             international organisations such as the World Society for the
         designated under three regional directors and a review of the         Protection of Animals and Humane Society International on
         RSPCA inspectorate resulted in the Chief Inspectorate Officer         improving global standards for animal welfare through the
         post being redesignated a Director-level position. A new              United Nations, World Animal Health Organisation and World
         Chief Veterinary Officer position was created and an 		               Trade Organisation (WTO) and drew up a joint legal brief on the
         appointment made.                                                     seal cull which was handed to the WTO.
     1.6 To effectively manage the RSPCA’s positioning with                    In 2012 we launched a new animal welfare partnership with Pets
         other charities                                                       at Home which included opening the first in-store facility
         The RSPCA regularly benchmarks its performance against other          dedicated to the RSPCA, in Stockport, and distributing joint
         charities. For example, traffic to its website and Facebook and       information leaflets on pet care. These outlets will be a way to
         Twitter followers all grew in 2012 by 25 per cent, 11 per cent, and   increase rehoming of RSPCA animals, reaching out to a segment
         91 per cent respectively and the RSPCA retained its position as       of the population that the RSPCA has not talked to previously.
         the leading animal welfare organisation on Facebook. Twitter
         users now stand at 61,000 against a 2012 target of 30,000
                                                                                                                                                   Becky Murray/RSPCA photolibrary

         Facebook followers are now in excess of 375,000. Third Sector’s
         Charity Web Check ranked the RSPCA as the second best
         charity in the UK for use of the social media. Social media and
         the email marketing programme (11 million emails sent in 2012)
         again proved itself as a powerful campaigning tool, driving tens
         of thousands of actions for dogs, live transport, badgers, ducks

10   TRUSTEES’ REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2012

                                                                                                                                                    TRUSTEES’ REPORT

                     ��� Goal 2                                                                    As Table 1 (see page 12) shows, the number of investigations of
                                                                                                   complaints of alleged cruelty fell by five per cent and represented
                     To effectively allocate resources to best meet the
                                                                                                   one per cent of all calls that the RSPCA took. Of these complaints
                     RSPCA’s animal welfare objectives.                                            just over 2,000 cases (one per cent of all complaints investigated)
                     2.1 To match resources with the welfare and operational goals                 were reported to the prosecutions department for further
                         set by the RSPCA Council                                                  assessment. The educational and advice element provided by
                         Proactive programmes concentrated resources on those areas                our inspectors represents a much larger proportion of how
                         where welfare needs such as degree of suffering, and numbers              complaints were investigated and acted upon. In 2012, 78,090
                         of animals were greatest. Progress to achieve these aims is               welfare improvement advices were handed out, a slight drop from
                         reported to the strategic animal welfare committees twice a               last year but as these pieces of welfare advice have a success
                         year. These are reported in more detail under Goal 4 (page 13).           rate of over 90 per cent, this underlines its importance as a
                                                                                                   successful education tool for animal owners.
                        Work delivered through RSPCA hospitals is concentrated on
                        members of the public that cannot afford private veterinary                The provision of training courses for professionals working in the
                        treatment (defined as being in receipt of certain state benefits).         youth justice sector remains a key activity. Three members of
                        In 2012 there was a fall in all indicators used to measure                 staff worked three days per week for 39 weeks in 2012, delivering
                        hospitals such as a reduction in the number of outpatient visits           training sessions, using the Breaking the Chain programme, to 138
                        by eight per cent. This was due to the rebuild at RSPCA 		                 youth offending teams, secure children’s homes and probation
                        Birmingham animal hospital and the refurbishment at 		                     services – 396 professionals in all. Young People and Dogs (a
                        RSPCA Harmsworth animal hospital which impacted on                         resource that addresses the problems of urban dog ownership)
                        their capacity during the year.                                            training was delivered at 15 events to 138 professionals.
                                                                                                   In its last year with Big Lottery funding, Hastings Wild Things at
                      Figure 6 Work at the RSPCA hospitals 2008-2012                               RSPCA Mallydams Wood Centre has exceeded its target of
                      – measured by five different indicators                                      reaching over 3,338 new visitors, many of them economically and
                      200,000                                                                      socially disadvantaged children and families. The Access to Nature
                                                                                                   programmes introduce these groups to a range of animal
                      150,000                                                                      welfare and conservation issues, often for the first time.

                      100,000                                                                      Funding from Vodafone allowed us to extend our training
                                                                                                   programme to Family Intervention programmes and child fostering
                       50,000                                                                      organisations. Education and training development advisers
                                                                                                   delivered 85 courses at 56 universities and establishments during
                            0
                11                2008        2009        2010         2011       2012             the year, providing a curriculum-linked interactive workshop that
                                                                                                   reached over 4,000 teachers in training. The RSPCA education
                          Numbers of outpatient visits     Numbers of hospitalisations
                          Number of vaccinations           Number of neuters                       website had 91,770 unique visitors in 2012, 27 per cent returning
                          Number of operations                                                     regularly to the site and we are now able to recognise our most
                                                                                                   popular lesson plans and activities – the four areas of concern are all
                                                                                                   covered in the top ten most popular downloads.
                      200,000
                     2.2 To manage resource allocation to achieve the
                                                                                                2.4 To maximise international opportunities to improve animal
                         maximum reduction of suffering
                       150,000                                                                      welfare and to respond effectively to international threats
                         In 2012 the RSPCA secured over 4,000 convictions in courts
                       100,000
                                                                                                    The RSPCA’s work overseas accounts for just 0.6 per cent of the
                         (Table 1 on page 12) – a rise of over 30 per cent since 2011 – while
                                                                                                    total budget. Priority is currently given to EU candidate
                         the number of defendants convicted also rose to 1,552. This
                        50,000                                                                      countries, southern Africa and East Asia. In 2012 we delivered
                         increase may be due to a number of factors such as rises in feed
                                                                                                    training to improve stray dog control in Turkey and held animal
                         bills0especially for horses and people cutting back on veterinary
                11       costs, and2008              governmental2010
                                      the use of the2009                          2011 and
                                                                    codes in England                welfare workshops with regional and national laboratory animal
                         Wales as evidence. Although the vast majority of convictions               science associations in China, Taiwan and Serbia. RSPCA
                         still relate to offences on dogs (62 per cent), the number of              International also supported a seminar held in South Korea on
                         convictions for horses has risen the most steeply (by 117 per              improving lab animal welfare through better experimental design.
                         cent) and underlines the equine crisis being experienced by               In Malawi the Clinic in a Box, an £85,000 collection of veterinary
                         the RSPCA and other horse welfare organisations as numbers                equipment and materials, was donated to Lilongwe’s new animal
                         of horses continue to rise and the impact of the recession on             clinic dramatically increasing veterinary treatment in that country.
                         horse owners continues.                                                   In 2012 we also delivered humane slaughter training in Turkey (cattle
                     2.3 To increase the emphasis on the prevention of cruelty                     and sheep) and Malaysia (poultry). Continuing a major education
                         The preventative element of the RSPCA’s work falls into three             project with China’s National Institute for Education Sciences, we
                         main areas: the educational strategy, improving public awareness          held our fifth three-day education workshop. Since 2008 around
                         through campaigns and the educational and advice work carried             13,500 teachers and more than 300,000 children across China
                         out by our inspectors.                                                    have taken part in activities cascaded under the project.

                                                                                                                                  TRUSTEES’ REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2012         11

                                     TRUSTEES’ REPORT

                                     ��� Goal 3
                                     To ensure that the operational activities of the RSPCA                     In 2012 the number of complaints of alleged cruelty and numbers
                                     are conducted consistently, effectively and efficiently                    of cases reported to the prosecutions department stayed broadly
                                                                                                                the same as in 2011. The Animal Welfare Act accounted for 95 per
                                     to support the animal welfare services of the RSPCA.
                                                                                                                cent of all convictions secured by the RSPCA for animal offences in
                                     Calls answered by the RSPCA’s National Control Centre (NCC) fell           2012, the same figure as 2011 of which exactly half were for causing
                                     by five per cent in 2012 to 893,000 but the 310,000 calls that were        unnecessary suffering and 45 per cent for welfare offences.
                                     answered by the NCC’s automated response (IVR) meant they
                                     received a grand total of over 1.1 million calls during the year. The      Table 1 RSPCA operational statistics for England and Wales 2012
                                     advice team’s telephone unit was closed in September 2012 as part
                                     of the RSPCA’s efficiency measures. The Virtual Assistant (VA) – an         Advice and prosecution statistics                 England and Wales
                                                                                                                                                                   2012         2011
                                     on-line tool set up to answer enquiries – handled over 216,000
                                     conversations during the year as against its target of 70,000. This         Telephone calls answered                          1,163,428            1,314,795
                                     was a 261 per cent increase on 2011, its first year of operation. It        Complaints of alleged cruelty                       150,833              159,759
                                                                                                                 investigated
                                     is estimated the Virtual Assistant saved nearly 43,000 calls to the
                                                                                                                 Welfare improvement notices dispensed               78,090               79,174
                                     RSPCA during the year. The VA was also made available to branches
                                                                                                                 Animals collected/signed over/seized               194,695               119,126
                                     for the first time. Online enquiries, via the website, continued to rise
                                                                                                                 Cases reported to RSPCA                              2,093                2,018
                                     to over 22,000 whilst the number of letters received dropped by             prosecutions department
                                     24 per cent.                                                                People reported to RSPCA                             3,181               3,036
                                                                                                                 prosecutions department
                                      Figure 7 Number of calls and advice given by the                           Convictions secured                                  4,168               3,114
                                      RSPCA 2005-11                                                              in the magistrates’ court
                                                                                                                 Defendants convicted                                 1,552 (28)          1,341 (24)
                                      1,500,000                                                                  for adults (and juveniles)
                                                                                                                 Prison and (suspended) sentences                        86 (178)            74 (140)
                                      1,200,000                                                                  Community sentences                                    772                620
                                                                                                                 Disqualification orders                              1,265               1,100
                                       900,000
                                                                                                                 Welsh prosecution statistics                       2012                2011
                                       600,000
                                                                                                                 Cases reported to RSPCA                             174                146
                                                                                                                 prosecutions department
                                       300,000                                                                   People reported to RSPCA                           288                 220
                                                                                                                 prosecutions department
                                             0                                                                   Convictions secured in the                         248                 239
                                                  2005   2006    2007    2008    2009   2010   2011   2012       magistrates’ court
                                          Total calls          Calls to National Call Centre                     Defendants convicted for                            91 (1)             84 (1)
                                          Total answered by the Interactive Voice Response                       adults and (juveniles)
                                          Advice team calls answered by the RSPCA

                                                                                                                Table 2 Animals rehomed, released, neutered, microchipped,
                                                                                                                and animal treatments 2012

                                                                                                                   Dogs Cats                               Wildlife           Total           Total
                                                                                                                 			                                       and other          2012             2011

                                                                                                                  Rehomed            11,356    29,556      14,547             55,459           60,551

                                                                                                                  Released                0         646    14,645              15,291          16,660

                                                                                                                  Animals            19,442    54,221       6,144             79,807           82,812
                                                                                                                  neutered
                                                                                                                  Animals            20,095    35,988      2,839              58,922           61,903
     Joe Murphy/RSPCA photolibrary

                                                                                                                  microchipped
                                                                                                                  Animal             Out-patients     Operations              183,460         203,173
                                                                                                                  treatments           175,397          8,063
                                                                                                                  (excluding neutering)

12                                   TRUSTEES’ REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2012

                                                                                                                                                     TRUSTEES’ REPORT

                  The number of animals rehomed by the RSPCA decreased in 2012.
                  In 2010 the RSPCA updated its policy on the admission of animals               FIGURE 8 Summary of outcomes for admissions to wildlife
                                                                                                 centres 2005-12
                  to our care. The overwhelming numbers of animals needing homes
                  in England and Wales has meant that the RSPCA, like many other                 20,000
                  animal organisations, is having to make very difficult choices. Since
                  2010 we have prioritised admitting the animals into our care which
                                                                                                  15,000
                  are the most needy or at risk, such as those experiencing cruelty
                  or welfare problems, those that are the subject of legal proceedings
                  and those that have been abandoned. As a result, a greater number               10,000
                  of animals in our care can be more difficult to rehome either because
                  they are from less popular breeds or because they display more
                                                                                                  5,000
                  challenging behaviour – although they can make excellent pets.
                   ��� Goal 4
                                                                                                      0
                  To support the proactive animal welfare strategies                                       2005   2006   2007   2008   2009   2010   2011   2012

                  for companion, wild, farm and research animals.                                    Numbers admitted      Numbers released

                  4.1 Wildlife
                  PLEDGE: to reduce the numbers of exotics kept as pets
                  and increase their humane care                                                Captive wildlife
                  Work has concentrated particularly on building links with other               In 2012 the number of wild animals in circuses dropped to fewer
                  organisations, highlighting areas for research and knowledge                  than 30 being used by three circuses. However, the government
                  sharing. We have also been working internally to enhance training             – despite the House of Commons vote in 2011 to ban the use of
                  for field staff and to invest in the development and training of              wild animals – continued producing and implementing regulations
                  specialist field officers and develop a network of boarding facilities        to license the remaining animals. The RSPCA continued its work
                  in our animal centres.                                                        with other like-minded organisations to press for a ban and in 2012
                                                                                                the Minister gave the clearest indication yet that the government
                  Casualty wildlife                                                             was against the use of wild animals in circuses and would draft
                  RSPCA wildlife centres admitted 16,136 casualties in 2012, a slight drop      legislation to prohibit them. This was due to be released in early
                  on the previous two years. Over 6,000 of these animals were released          2013. In Wales, a Member Bill was tabled to introduce a ban but
                  back to the wild representing 38 per cent of total intake (Figure 8).         the Welsh Government indicated that it would allow Westminster
                  It is important to remember that the majority of the wild animals             to produce an Act that could be used in both countries. The
                  attended by the RSPCA are the subject of road traffic or other
                                                                                                successful prosecution of Bobby Roberts, owner of Bobby Roberts
                  accidents which mean that euthanasia is sadly required to prevent
                                                                                                Super Circus, for welfare offences against Anne the elephant
                  further suffering – often immediately. Hedgehogs represented
                                                                                                underlined the need for a ban.
                  over 2,000 of the numbers admitted (13 per cent of the total), a
                  significant increase on the numbers admitted in 2011. Hedgehogs               Wildlife management
                  have been declining since the 1950s but the causes are unknown.               The campaign to prevent a proposed cull of badgers as an ill-judged
                  With wild hedgehog numbers around one million compared to                     attempt to combat bovine tuberculosis (bTB) in England and
                  30 million 60 years ago, research is now underway on hedgehog                 Wales dominated 2012. The RSPCA is concerned equally about the
                  post-release survival to assess the best way to care for hedgehogs.           welfare of cattle and badgers and, along with the vast majority
                  There are other research projects being undertaken on a range of              of scientific, parliamentary and public opinion, believes that an
                  species including buzzards, little owls and foxes.                            approach combining the vaccination of both badgers and – in the
                                                                                                longer term – cows, along with improved biosecurity, would be a
                  The RSPCA has continued its review of the independent
                                                                                                far more effective approach.
                  establishments it uses to place rehabilitated wildlife and has now
                  approved 61 of these establishments. All the wildlife centres                 The proposed cull was abandoned in Wales in March 2012 following
                  are now involved in the training of the inspectorate in the                   an independent scientific review with badger vaccination being
                  euthanasia of wildlife casualties. Scientific papers were published           prioritised. By the end of the year over 1,400 badgers had been
                  on wood pigeons, pipistrelle bats, common seals and the                       vaccinated against bTB. In England, the government moved
                  rehabilitation of oiled guillemots.                                           towards a cull by announcing two trial areas (Somerset and
                                                                                                Gloucester). The subsequent RSPCA campaign, in which we worked
                    Wildlife euthanasia due to        Wildlife euthanasia due to insufficient
                    veterinary or legal necessity     homes or sites for release                with 14 other organisations under the name Team Badger, was one
                                                                                                of the most popular with the general public, prompting more than
                    2012: 37,775*                           2012: 11           2011: 34         34,000 people to take action. With over 160,000 people signing the
                                                                                                No 10 petition against the cull and a debate in Parliament voting
                  *
                    Includes wild birds and small wild mammals injured in road traffic
                  accidents and orphaned animals too young to rear or too severely              147 to 28 not to go ahead, the Minister announced the cull was
                  injured to return to the wild.                                                being postponed. However the plan has been resurrected for 2013.

                                                                                                                                   TRUSTEES’ REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2012   13

                          TRUSTEES’ REPORT

                          The RSPCA is now working on a badger vaccination initiative to         4.3 Farm animals
                          show there is a humane alternative to combatting this disease.         PLEDGE:
                          The Hunting Act 2004 was also the focus of one of the RSPCA’s          To increase the proportion of animals reared under higher
                          most high profile activities in 2012. The RSPCA is committed to        welfare systems in the UK.
                          demonstrating that the Act is effective and can be used as the
                          basis of successful prosecutions. In December the RSPCA won its         Figure 9 The Proportion of farm animals reared under higher
                          first successful prosecution of a traditional hunt for fox hunting,     welfare standards in eight different sectors.
                                                                                                  %
                          prosecuting both the hunt and two huntsmen following evidence            60
                          provided by hunt monitors. The RSPCA will continue to take
                          prosecutions under the Hunting Act to show that it is enforceable        50
                          as well as ensure the retention of the Hunting Act is put into
                                                                                                   40
                          party manifestos.
                          4.2 Animals in laboratories                                              30
                          PLEDGE: To reduce the number of animals in the UK who
                                                                                                   20
                          undergo severe suffering when used in experiments
                          Work to help animals used in research and testing, accounting for         10
                          just 0.3 per cent of the total RSPCA resources expended in 2012,
                          concentrated in two main areas – the implementation of the EU             0
                                                                                                         2004   2005   2006 2007 2008 2009 2010      2011   2012
                          Directive on research animals into UK law and implementing the
                                                                                                         Chickens        laying hens    Ducks          Beef cattle
                          RSPCA pledge. Whilst the RSPCA welcomed the agreement on
                                                                                                         Sheep           Pigs           Turkeys        Dairy cattle
                          the Directive in 2010 we remained concerned that the UK’s higher
                          standards would be lost when the law was implemented. By the
                                                                                                 The work on farm animals, accounting for five per cent of
                          end of the year when the law was adopted these concerns had
                                                                                                 financial resources, is divided into three general work areas:
                          dissipated and most of the RSPCA’s objectives had been achieved.
                          The UK agreed to retain its housing standards, its system of ethical   To increase the proportion of farm animals reared under higher
                          review bodies, and not to weaken killing methods or allow higher       welfare systems in the UK
                          levels of suffering. With the implementation of the new standards      The definition of ‘higher welfare systems’ in this context is those
                          in the 27 member states, it has become vital to ensure that other      applying the RSPCA welfare standards. The proportion of animals
                          countries also raise their standards. Training was undertaken for      benefitting from the standards is measured by assessing the
                          laboratories and governments in China, South Korea, and Serbia.        number produced under the Freedom Food assurance scheme
                                                                                                 compared with the national totals. As Figure 9 shows, in 2012
                          Work on reducing severe suffering for laboratory animals was
                                                                                                 the proportion of farm animals reared under this scheme fell for
                          prioritised on establishing contacts in laboratories and drawing
                                                                                                 ducks, turkeys and chickens but rose for pigs and laying hens. The
                          a list of procedures and models that can cause severe suffering
                                                                                                 number of salmon meeting Freedom Food standards increased
                          which will enable the development of ideas to reduce these tests.
                                                                                                 to 204 million fish.
                          The new animal research law will bring in the first meaningful data
                          on severe suffering by 2014.                                           The RSPCA’s marketing work in 2012 concentrated on improving
                                                                                                 the market for high-welfare duck meat and the welfare of farmed
                          In October the incoming EU Commissioner responsible for                ducks, supported by a grant from the Tubney Charitable Trust.
                          animal research, Tonio Borg, agreed that he would not seek a           Following the development of new welfare standards on the
                          postponement of the marketing ban in the Cosmetics Regulation          back of the three-year research project, the campaign focused
                          (1223/2009/EC) when he came into office. This will mean that, 20       on encouraging retailers to sell Freedom Food labelled duck.
                          years after the ban was first written into EU law, non-animal tested   The activities led to over 18,000 campaigner actions to retailers
                          cosmetics should finally be the only ones available in the EU. It is   and achieved its goal of moving one retailer –Tesco – to selling
                          now essential to ensure that companies keep the same standards         Freedom Food labelled duck. Tesco has some 26 per cent of the
                          when they are marketing products in other countries and the            market share of duck meat. However, there are currently some
                          campaign in 2013 will concentrate on this area.                        major challenges associated with ensuring continuity of supply of
                                                                                                 duck from Freedom Food approved farms though efforts are being
                                                                                                 made to address these. Work will continue in 2013 to ensure that
                                                                                                 Freedom Food labelled duck can be available on retailers’ shelves
                                                                                                 in the UK.
                                                                                                 The ban on barren battery cages for laying hens was finally
                                                                                                 implemented in 2012 and after initial concerns that 17 countries
     annedde/istock.com

                                                                                                 were not applying the ban, by the end of the year only one
                                                                                                 country remained non compliant. The RSPCA was fearful that a
                                                                                                 similar compliance issue would occur with the implementation of

14                        TRUSTEES’ REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2012

                                                                                                                                                 TRUSTEES’ REPORT

                  the partial ban on sow stalls under the EU pigs directive, but by        Over 17,000 emails have been generated to the Minister asking him
                  2013 nine countries were sent formal letters by the Commission           to improve the conditions for animals being transported abroad.
                  for non compliance. The RSPCA is working with the pig industry to        During 2012 the numbers of calves being transported to the
                  try to ensure that no UK retailers are selling pig meat that is either   continent fell as new markets opened up in the UK, mainly to rear
                  illegal or below UK industry standards.                                  calves for beef. However, the campaign to end the export of live
                  To ensure physical and behavioural needs are met                         sheep through the port of Ramsgate will continue into 2013.
                  In 2012 the AssureWel project achieved its objective to develop          The World Organisation for Animal Health agreed its first species
                  and introduce assessment of 10 key welfare measures for dairy            specific global standard on a farm animal when it adopted the
                  cattle during all Freedom Food assessments and RSPCA monitoring          standard on beef cattle. The RSPCA’s scientific and technical input
                  visits on Freedom Food approved farms. There was also good               improved the draft which now opens the way for other standards
                  progress on promoting welfare outcome assessment through                 being developed. It is expected that chickens (2013), dairy cattle
                  other assurance schemes such as Red Tractor, who are currently           (2014) and pigs (2015) will be the next species to be agreed.
                  considering introduction of this approach on dairy farms in their
                                                                                           4.4 Companion animals
                  scheme. Pig welfare measures will be developed in 2013. The laying
                                                                                           PLEDGE:
                  hens welfare indicators developed in 2012 are now being assessed
                                                                                           l   To end the overpopulation of companion animals and
                  on each visit to Freedom Food approved farms and feedback to
                                                                                               tackle the related issues
                  farmers on their performance is being undertaken. As the European
                                                                                           l   To end the euthanasia of any rehomeable animal
                  Commission is now looking at welfare indicators as part of its work
                  on the new framework animal welfare law, and the development             The RSPCA’s work on companion animals accounts for a significant
                  of a network of research centres progresses, these measures can          part of the budget, mainly on the operational areas with the
                  be fed into this process. Work to develop further RSPCA welfare          inspectorate work and the running of the four hospitals and
                  standards continued and new versions of standards were produced          financially assisting the 57 national and branch animal rescue
                  for pigs, turkeys and Atlantic salmon.                                   centres and clinics. The goals for the RSPCA on companion animals
                  To improve welfare through the animals’ environment,                     have the following sub goals:
                  husbandry, genetics, transport and slaughter                             To tackle the issues surrounding the overpopulation
                  Live transport of animals has been one of the major campaigns            of companion animals (in the UK)
                  during the year, focusing on creating market opportunities for           The RSPCA has several work programmes to address over-
                  calves in the UK and shutting down the trade to the continent.           population. On cats, the joint neutering programme in Stoke with
                  In Europe, although 369 MEPs signed a written Declaration calling        Cats Protection (CP) has completed its neutering of owned animals
                  for better controls and an eight hour journey limit, the European        programme, issuing 1,995 vouchers which were subsequently
                  commission confirmed that they would not be introducing any              used. A ‘trap neuter release’ (TNR) programme of colony cats
                  new legislation during the next five year strategy.                      in the Stoke area, despite a number of challenges, neutered all
                  In the UK, with permission from Thanet District Council, RSPCA           the females at five of the 23 colonies. A review of the effect of
                  inspectors started to inspect livestock vehicles going through their     the neutering programme on owned and unowned cats in Stoke
                  port of Ramsgate in March 2012. During the year we inspected over        will be completed in 2013. Research work was completed on
                  100 vehicles and issued four warning notices. More notices were          owners’ attitudes to getting their cats neutered – in particular to
                  issued by officers from the UK Government’s Animal Health and            understand why a proportion of owners opt to leave their cat to
                  Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA) who are the competent             have a first litter. In 2013, work based on this research will focus on
                  authority. A number of consignments were not allowed to proceed          Birmingham, London and Manchester – working jointly with CP to
                  due to problems with the vehicles or animals. One lorry carrying         reduce the numbers of cats in these areas.
                  sheep had to be unloaded at port by instruction of the AHVLA             Work to convince owners that rabbits require specialised care
                  due to the poor condition of the animals and this resulted in a          has progressed. New housing guidelines have now been written
                  number having to be euthanased. Thanet Council then closed               following the completion of the research undertaken at Bristol
                  the port to further shipments for a few weeks until re-opening           University. About 50 per cent of branches took part in Rabbit
                  it following legal action by the transporters. During this time one      Awareness Week – a collaborative programme with several other
                  shipment went from Ipswich. Following representations from the           organisations – and this is planned to grow in 2013.
                  RSPCA, the owners of this private port subsequently rejected the         The problems with a growing horse population and its effects
                  trade. The RSPCA inspected a number of other ports to assess if          on welfare and fly-grazing was an emerging issue that brought
                  they were compliant with the European rules, particularly whether        together all the major equine organisations. The RSPCA took
                  there were any unloading facilities in case of an emergency.             in twice as many horses in the first half of 2012 as it did in
                  The RSPCA believed the UK government was not applying                    the corresponding period in 2011. Two summits were held,
                  the law properly and therefore sought a judicial review of the           one in England which resulted in the launch of a new report
                  government’s actions. This was initially turned down but an appeal       presented to the Westminster Parliament showing the increase
                  has been lodged which will be heard in 2013. Long distance live          in equines coming into the RSPCA and other equine charities,
                  transport continues to be one of our best supported campaigns.           and one in Wales where over 70 attendees discussed the horse

                                                                                                                               TRUSTEES’ REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2012    15

     TRUSTEES’ REPORT

     overpopulation problem. Following these events, the Welsh              Ensure that all animals in RSPCA care experience high
     Government Minister agreed to put in place short-term measures         standards of welfare
     to tackle fly-grazing, improve cross agency working and review         In 2012 the RSPCA licensed 66 centres with none of them on a
     the existing legislation to assess long-term solutions. The RSPCA      temporary licence, which is issued if the centre needs to rectify
     launched a new rehoming promotion – Stable Futures – which             their procedures. The animal centre licensing conditions have
     successfully increased the numbers of horses being rehomed             undergone extensive review in 2012 to ensure all animals in our
     to 305 in 2012 but as the numbers coming in to our care rose           homes are given environments to meet their needs and a number
     to 760, the numbers in RSPCA care at the end of 2012 was 628           of operational guides written to underpin the licensing conditions.
     compared to 630 at the beginning. From a financial perspective it is   The national RSPCA centres rehomed 2,369 dogs, 5,378 cats, over
     a concern that 490 of these animals were unavailable for rehoming      300 horses and over 3,500 miscellaneous animals.
     as they were subject to inspectorate or police investigations or       End the euthanasia of any rehomeable animal (in RSPCA care)
     court proceedings and many of these were being held in private         Responsible pet ownership is the key to reducing the euthanasia
     boarding at considerable cost.                                         of healthy rehomeable animals. In 2012 the RSPCA had to
     There has always been a perception that Wales is the centre of         euthanase 182 rehomeable dogs, a decrease from 2011. The numbers
     puppy farming, so when legislation was proposed to improve             of dogs rehomed by the RSPCA national centres decreased to
     standards in dog breeding by the Welsh Government, the RSPCA           2,369. The RSPCA in total rehomed 11,356 dogs in 2012.
     used it as one of the first campaign mailings to supporters in         Over 41,000 cats were taken in by the RSPCA and 30,202 of these
     Wales. This generated an excellent response with over 1,500 people     rehomed or released, a decline of two per cent on the previous
     taking part and the Minister has indicated that legislation will be    year. The numbers rehomed by the national society decreased
     proposed in 2013.                                                      very slightly to 5,378 (577 in Wales). The number of rehomeable
     To ensure responsible pet ownership                                    cats that were euthanased by the RSPCA increased to 812.
     In 2012 the RSPCA concentrated on achieving new legislation in         In 2012, 234 rehomeable rabbits were euthanased by the RSPCA
     Wales and England on registration to link a dog with its owner and     – an increase from 2011. The rabbit rehoming campaign aims to
     so reduce the stray dogs problem. In England, the government           address this issue.
     launched a new consultation on microchipping but had not
                                                                            Table 3 Humane euthanasia
     released their plans by the end of the year with announcements
     expected in early 2013. The RSPCA worked closely with other              Euthanasia to prevent suffering    Euthanasia due to insufficient
     animal welfare organisations to press for mandatory microchipping        because of illness, injury or      homes or sites for release
                                                                              legal necessity
     and showed the Secretary of State around one of our hospitals                            2012               2012 		          2011
     to see the problems caused by dangerous dogs and their owners.            Dogs       6,817                  182		            197
     In Wales a consultation on the issue was held in the summer and           Cats      12,607                  812              730
     the Welsh Minister responded to say that legislation to make              Rabbits    1,706                  234		            146
     microchipping mandatory for all dogs will be introduced under the         Equines      249                   10		             10
     Animal Welfare Act in 2013.                                               Other      3,573                  319		            454
                                                                               companion
     We also launched our first ever Welsh dog welfare indicators              animals
     report. This showed the enormous support in Wales for a dog
     registration scheme (over 80 per cent) and the need for new
                                                                            To provide a timely and effective community-based animal welfare
     legislation to deal with dangerous dogs. The Minister proposed
                                                                            emergency service and enforce relevant animal welfare legislation
     primary legislation on this issue and launched a consultation on a
                                                                            This is reported under Goals 2 and 3 (pages 11-13)
     draft Control of Dogs Bill at the end of the year. The RSPCA has
     broadly welcomed this as it has a strong emphasis on education         To ensure high welfare in human interaction with animals
     and training, extends the places where a dog can be dangerously        In Wales, the first prosecution for use of a shock collar occurred
     out of control to private property and importantly introduces          under the Animal Welfare (Electronic Collars) (Wales) regulations
     preventative measures in the form of Dog Control Notices that the      introduced in 2010. The RSPCA has also been concerned about the
     RSPCA has been promoting for a number of years. It is hoped that       practice of branding horses and, following a report, agreed that no
     the legislation will be in force in 2014.                              horses or ponies should be hot branded. The RSPCA recommends
                                                                            the use of other methods of identification such as microchipping.
     The RSPCA has long been concerned that cutbacks in local
     authorities will make it difficult for them to deal with stray dogs    To ensure that working animals and animal athletes experience
     but the number of entries to our Community Animal Welfare              high standards of welfare throughout their lives
     Footprint awards, recognising the best practice work of local          The RSPCA worked closely with the British Horse Authority (BHA)
     authorities, increased again to 150 entries – the highest during its   and Aintree race course following the 2012 Grand National when
     five year history.                                                     two horses died. RSPCA equine inspectors attended this race for
                                                                            the first time in a decade and we produced a 10-point report calling
                                                                            for big improvements, including radical changes to the infamous and

16   TRUSTEES’ REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2012

                                                                                                                                               TRUSTEES’ REPORT

                  dangerous fence, Becher’s Brook. Seven RSPCA recommendations            The RSPCA uses volunteers to deliver a substantial amount of its
                  were implemented before the 2013 race. These included shortening        work. It is estimated that the RSPCA has some 9,000 volunteers of
                  the distance between the start and the first fence, moving the start    which 1,000 volunteer at national centres and the remainder with
                  away from the grandstand, altering some of the drop fences – such as    branches. All are given some training with specialised training being
                  Becher’s Brook – to improve the landing zone for the horses, changing   delivered to those volunteers doing specific jobs such as home
                  the cores of the fences to make them more forgiving of jumping          visits to ensure RSPCA policy is followed. During 2013 further work
                  errors, increasing watering capabilities to control the going to slow   will be undertaken to log volunteers on to the national Society
                  the pace of the race and bringing in better ways of capturing loose     database which will enable more precise details to be built up
                  horses. The RSPCA continues its advice work at other race courses.      on their value to animal welfare. Anyone wishing to volunteer
                                                                                          for the RSPCA can visit www.rspca.org.uk/volunteer for further
                                                                                          information. In preparing the financial statements, the Council is
                  Structure, governance and management                                    required to:
                  Charity constitution                                                    l   prepare accounts which represent a true and fair view
                  The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA)
                                                                                          l   select suitable accounting policies and then apply
                  was founded as the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
                                                                                              them consistently
                  Animals in 1824 and was granted permission to add ‘Royal’ to its
                  name by Queen Victoria in 1840. The Society was incorporated by         l   make judgements and estimates that are reasonable
                  an Act of Parliament (the RSPCA Act) in 1932; subsequent RSPCA              and prudent
                  Acts conferred further powers on the Society in 1940 and 1958. It is    l   state whether applicable accounting standards have
                  a charity registered in England and Wales (no. 219099).                     been followed
                  The charitable objects of the RSPCA, set out in the RSPCA Act           l   prepare the statements on the going-concern basis unless
                  1932, are to promote kindness and to prevent or suppress cruelty to         it is inappropriate to assume that the Group will continue
                  animals and to do all such lawful acts as the Society may consider          to operate
                  to be conducive or incidental to the attainment of those objects.       l   prepare an assessment of the risks and opportunities.
                  The 1932 Act also provides that the RSPCA shall be managed by           The Council is responsible for ensuring that proper accounting
                  a Council, who control the affairs of the Society, subject to the       records are kept which disclose with reasonable accuracy at any
                  provisions of the Act and the Society’s rules. Further details of       time the financial position of the Group and enable Council to
                  these can be found at www.rspca.org.uk.                                 ensure that financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011,
                  Council’s statement of responsibilities                                 requirements of Rule XV of the Society’s rules and the Charities
                  The Council is legally required to prepare financial statements for     (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008.
                  each year and an Annual Report on the activities of the RSPCA
                                                                                          The Council is also responsible for taking reasonable steps for the
                  during the year. The financial statements are prepared in accordance
                                                                                          prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities by the
                  with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: a Statement of
                                                                                          establishment of a system of internal control.
                  Recommended Practices (SORP 2005) issued in February 2005,
                  together with all subsequent amendments.                                The RSPCA Council
                                                                                          The RSPCA Council has a maximum of 25 members who, as charity
                  The consolidated statement of financial activities includes details
                                                                                          trustees, have the legal responsibility for the effective use of the
                  relating to incoming resources and expenditure incurred by the
                                                                                          Society’s resources in accordance with the objects of the RSPCA
                  RSPCA Group. The Group consists of the national RSPCA and its
                                                                                          and responsibility for the finance, governance and overall strategic
                  restricted funds and its wholly-owned subsidiaries RSPCA Trading
                                                                                          aims of the RSPCA. Council members are not remunerated for their
                  Limited and Freedom Food Limited.
                                                                                          role as trustees but they are reimbursed for reasonable expenses
                  It does not include RSPCA branches, which are separately                incurred in carrying out their duties.
                  registered charities that manage their own affairs, subject to rules
                                                                                          Of the 25 members of the governing Council, 15 are elected by the
                  made by the Society. There are 164 separately registered RSPCA
                                                                                          membership of the RSPCA. Each Council member is elected for
                  branches managed by their own locally elected charity trustees.
                                                                                          three years in the first instance and there is no limit on the number
                  Each branch publishes its own annual trustees’ report and
                                                                                          of terms a trustee can be re-elected. One third of the Council
                  accounts. The RSPCA Acts, the Society’s rules and branch rules
                                                                                          members so elected retire by rotation at the Annual General
                  regulate the relationship between the Society and the branches.
                                                                                          Meeting. Council members are eligible for re-election until they
                  Each branch is established as an unincorporated charitable
                                                                                          reach the age of 75.
                  association, but the Council has powers to intervene in a branch’s
                  affairs in certain circumstances. Much of the Society’s direct          A further 10 Council members are elected triennially by vote of
                  animal welfare is carried out through its branches such as              RSPCA branches in each of the 10 regional divisions of branches.
                  subsidised veterinary care and re-homing in their local areas.          Regionally-elected members have the same duties as nationally
                  In total there are 36 branch clinics, three mobile clinics and 41       elected members but have, in addition, duties related to
                  branch animal centres. The RSPCA works closely with the RSPCA           regional governance.
                  branches in delivering animal welfare aims and strategy and             All candidates for election to the Council must have been
                  provides financial and other support to the branches.                   members of the RSPCA for not fewer than five consecutive years

                                                                                                                             TRUSTEES’ REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2012   17

     TRUSTEES’ REPORT

     immediately preceding nomination. A list of Council members who        Society’s top 20 risks according to their likelihood and impact. For
     served in 2012 together with other statutory information is given      each risk, the mitigating controls and further actions required to
     on page 42 and forms part of this report.                              manage or reduce the risk are documented. Corporate risks are
     Training is provided to every council member. Each prospective         categorised under one of the following headings:
     member is provided with information about the RSPCA’s                  l   Governance.
     constitution, policies and activities. They are encouraged to visit    l   Financial sustainability.
     the Society’s support centres to meet senior staff and have a brief
     introduction to the RSPCA’s work and strategy. All new Council         l   Reputation and brand.
     members are given the opportunity to participate in an induction       l   Animal welfare.
     course and all serving trustees are offered in-service training such
                                                                            l   Health, safety and the welfare of staff and volunteers.
     as on finance where required.
                                                                            l   Organisational change.
     The RSPCA is a large and complex organisation and requires a
     structured approach to decision making. The Council meets six          l   Service continuity.
     times a year and is responsible for providing effective leadership     The full corporate risk register is presented to the Finance and
     and direction. It has delegated more detailed discussion on the        General Purposes Panel annually, with updates on the highest (red)
     work of the RSPCA to an operational panel, a branches panel, a         risks and any changes in risk score included in the Finance Report
     strategic animal welfare panel, and a finance and general purpose      presented to each Panel meeting and then onwards to Council.
     panel. These panels and their supporting committees determine,
     monitor and evaluate the RSPCA’s strategic direction and               FINANCE
     performance.                                                           Two key measurements in our 2012 Accounts would indicate a
      Public benefit                                                        successful year for the RSPCA. The Consolidated Statement of
     All charities in England and Wales have charitable aims that           Financial Activities (SOFA) on page 23 reports a surplus for the
     are based on providing public benefit and comply with the              year of £13.88m, leading to the Consolidated Balance Sheet on
     Charities Act 2011. The RSPCA trustees pay due regard to Charity       page 24 reporting a corresponding increase in the net assets of
     commission guidance on public benefit. Preventing cruelty and          the RSPCA, equivalent to nine per cent. However, on further
     promoting kindness to animals promotes humane sentiment in             analysis the Accounts reflect a more serious and indeed negative
     humans towards animals which gives a moral benefit to the human        underlying financial position.
     community as a whole.
                                                                            Our income from the year totalled £132.8m, an increase of £16.6m
     A few examples will show this public benefit and the links between     (14 per cent) compared to 2011. Our 2012 income has been buoyed
     improving animal and human welfare. The RSPCA works to                 by two factors. Firstly, in 2012, we opened a new animal hospital
     rehabilitate juvenile offenders through training Youth Offending       and animal centre on a leased site in Birmingham and disposed of
     teams and in certain cases working with individual young offenders     the freehold site where the old hospital and centre were housed.
     on their cases. We also work with NSPCC and social teams on            The income from this sale was £6m and this explains the large
     cross reporting.                                                       increase in Proceeds from the Sale of Fixed Assets disclosed in the
     In 2012 the RSPCA worked proactively with targeted councils            Consolidated Cash Flow Statement on page 25 (£2.3m reported in
     at reducing the social and animal welfare problems arising from        2011 and £7.7m reported in 2012).
     dangerous dogs. In one partnership, with Basildon Council, the         Secondly, in 2012 we were notified of ten high value legacies,
     proactive community engagement work and neutering resulted in          totalling £14.4m (see Note 17). This is both an exceptional number
     a decrease in the numbers of bull breeds being seized following        and value compared to previous years’ notifications. High value
     the two community events and a drop in the number of complaints        legacies often comprise complex estates that can take a number
     to the RSPCA on neglect and abandonment of dogs in the hotspot         of years to settle so the cash from these legacies may not be
     areas where we have concentrated resources.                            received for some time. This is reflected in the £12.2m increase in
     The RSPCA continued to work on the Pet Retreat programme               our Accrued Income (see Note 6).
     which helps victims of domestic violence by providing a safe           We continue to face increasing demands for our services while
     home for the family pet. In 2012 the RSPCA also started work with      attempting to reduce our costs. Our expenditure for 2012 has
     different faith and ethnic communities, holding two seminars in        remained relatively stable, at £121.5m, an increase of one per cent
     London and initiating an education programme of work with the          compared to 2011. Had we not received the two boosts to income
     Muslim community in northern England and meetings with faith           detailed above, we would be reporting a deficit of £4.0m, the same
     groups in Birmingham.                                                  out-turn as we reported in 2011.
     Risk management                                                        One of our key concerns is our cash position. As the Consolidated
     The trustees have responsibility for the oversight of risk             Cash Flow Statement on page 25 shows, the net cash outflow from
     management. Board members and heads of department consider             operations was £3.9m. The last time we reported a net cash inflow
     the risks for their areas. These are collated and analysed to inform   from operations was 2007. During 2012, we sold £9.0m of investments
     the corporate risk register. The corporate risk register scores the    to support the day-to-day cash expenditure on our operations.

18   TRUSTEES’ REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2012

                                                                                                                                               TRUSTEES’ REPORT

                  Achieving financial sustainability is a key priority for the RSPCA.      Reserves
                  We have set a balanced budget for 2013 and will continue to focus        The RSPCA holds three types of reserve – restricted reserves,
                  on managing our cash flow.                                               designated funds and free reserves.
                  Fundraising                                                              Restricted reserves is the balance on endowment funds and
                  Fundraising costs reduced by £0.2m in 2012 due to slightly lower         restricted funds; these are held pending their application to
                  levels of activity while undergoing an organisational restructure.       the activity specified by the donor. As at 31 December 2012, the
                  Income from fundraising, excluding legacies, fell by £1.4m in 2012       balance of restricted reserves was £16.2m.
                  to £48.2m. For every £1.00 invested in income generation, £2.55 of       Designated funds are set aside for fixed assets and investment
                  non-legacy income was received (£2.63 in 2011), see Note 2i.             in corporate projects. The funds represent the RSPCA’s tangible
                  Financial position of trading subsidiaries                               fixed assets plus committed and approved capital and project
                  The RSPCA has two wholly owned subsidiaries that operated during         expenditure (see Note 14). As at 31 December 2012, the balance of
                  the year. The results of these entities are presented in Note 15.        designated funds was £101.1m.
                  RSPCA Trading Limited undertakes non-primary purpose trading             Free reserves are calculated as accumulated funds less restricted
                  and the profit from its activity is transferred to the RSPCA at year     reserves and designated funds. This definition takes full account
                  end. In 2012, RSPCA Trading had income of £1.4m, consistent with         of the pension liability. The RSPCA’s reserves policy, approved by
                  the level of income received in 2011. Outgoing resources were            the Finance and General Purposes Panel, is to maintain a level of
                  £0.5m and £0.9m of profit was transferred to the RSPCA (2011, £1.0m).    free reserves that will enable the RSPCA to ensure a continuity
                                                                                           of activity and have the ability to adjust in a measured way to
                  Freedom Food Limited promotes RSPCA-approved welfare
                                                                                           significant changes in the external economic environment and
                  standards in livestock farming. The cost of this activity is
                                                                                           demands on services provided by the charity. A level of free
                  supported in part by a grant from the RSPCA. In 2012, Freedom
                                                                                           reserves equivalent to a period between three and six months of
                  Food activities generated income of £1.9m and incurred costs of
                                                                                           operational expenditure is deemed appropriate. At 31 December
                  £2.5m. The grant from the RSPCA was £0.6m (2011, £0.8m).
                                                                                           2012, our free reserves stood at £45.0m (2011, £26.8m). This is
                  Investments                                                              equivalent to five months of budgeted expenditure for 2013. While
                  The RSPCA holds investments to support fluctuations in its cash          this represents a significant improvement on the position as at
                  flow and to fund structural growth.                                      31 December 2011, it has been driven by the two exceptional
                  The value of the RSPCA’s investments at 31 December 2012 was             income items detailed earlier in the Financial Review.
                  £82.2m. This represents an increase of £4.2m compared to the
                  year end position in 2011. While we drew down £9.0m from
                  investments in 2012 to fund our day-to-day expenditure, we
                  have benefited from both realised and unrealised gains to
                  achieve the increase of £4.2m. The realised gains of £6.0m
                  reported in the SOFA for 2012 almost entirely offset the losses
                  of £6.4m reported in 2011.
                  The Finance and General Purposes Panel has responsibility for
                  the RSPCA’s investment strategy and the funds are managed by
                  Schroders. The Panel takes advice from investment professionals
                  to help maximise the return and ensure that the investment
                  strategy remains fit for purpose.
                  The RSPCA has an agreed ethical investment policy. This states
                  that the RSPCA will take all reasonable steps to ensure that its
                  corporate investments are consistent with its animal welfare policies.
                  Pension Fund
                  The assets of the Defined Benefit Pension Scheme are held
                  separately from the RSPCA. Based on Financial Reporting Standard
                  (FRS17), the overall deficit of the scheme increased by £2.9m in
                                                                                                                                                                Andrew Forsyth/RSPCA photolibrary

                  2012 to £50.0m.
                  The Pension Fund was subject to a triennial valuation as at
                  31 March 2012. This reported the Fund deficit as £52.4m. The
                  Trustees of the Pension Fund are finalising a recovery plan to
                  address the deficit. A previous plan, approved following the
                  2009 valuation, resulted in the RSPCA making enhanced annual
                  payments of £2.4m into the Fund to address the deficit of
                  £23.0m reported at that time.

                                                                                                                             TRUSTEES’ REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2012                                     19

     TRUSTEES’ REPORT

     Xxxxxxx
     Xxxxxxxxxxx

20   TRUSTEES’ REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2011

                                                                                                                                                                                   TRUSTEES’ REPORT

                                                    Summary financial report

                                                                                                                                            Animal welfare (£75.3m)
                                                                                                                                             hospitals and animal centres (£37.8m)
                                                                                                                                             inspectorate (£32.7m)
                                                          OUR EXPENDITURE

                                                                                                                                             prosecution animal welfare costs (£4.8m)

                                                                                                                                            Cost of income generation (£21.3m)

                                                                                                                                            Support to branches (£8.2m)

                                                                                                                                            Prosecutions – staff and legal costs (£6.5m)

                                                                                                                                            Science (£2.4m)

                                                                                                                                            Campaigns (£2.4m)

                                                                                                                                            Education (£1.9m)

                                                                                                         2012                               Governance costs (£1.1m)

                                                                                                                                            Communication (£1.0m)

                                                                                                                                            Publications (£0.8m)

                                                                                                                                            International (£0.5m)

                                                                                                                                            Legacy income (£67.7m)

                                                                                                                                            Donations and contributions (£44.2m)
                                                          OUR INCOME

                                                                                                                                            Other income (£9.1m)

                                                                                                                                            Charitable activities* (£8.6m)

                                                                                                                                            Investment income (£2.6m)

                                                                                                                                            Membership subscriptions (£0.6m)

                                                                                                         2012

                                                      All costs include applicable support costs.                        Signed on behalf of the RSPCA Council:
                Andrew Forsyth/RSPCA photolibrary

                                                      *
                                                       Income from charitable activities including: rehoming, boarding
                                                      and veterinary income; prosecution and other costs recovered;
                                                      sponsorship and advertising income; other fees and charges
                                                      received; goods sold and Animal Action Club subscriptions.
                                                                                                                         Michael Tomlinson                           Barbara Gardner
                                                                                                                         CHAIRMAN, RSPCA COUNCIL                     TREASURER, rspca
                                                                                                                         1 May 2013                                  1 May 2013

                                                                                                                                                                TRUSTEES’ REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2012    21

  Independent auditors’ report to the Trustees of the Royal society for the prevention of cruelty to animals

          Independent auditors’ report to the trustees of the RSPCA

          We have audited the financial statements of The Royal Society           Opinion on financial statements
          for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals for the year ended             In our opinion the Group financial statements:
          31 December 2012 which comprise the Group Statement of                  l   give a true and fair view of the state of the Group’s and the
          Financial Activities, the Group Balance Sheet, the Group Cash               parent charity’s affairs as at 31 December 2012, and of the
          Flow Statement and the related notes. The financial reporting               Group’s incoming resources and application of resources for
          framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable          the year then ended;
          law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom
          Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).                                l   have been properly prepared in accordance with United
                                                                                      Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and
          This report is made solely to the charity’s trustees, as a body, in
          accordance with the Charities Act 2011. Our audit work has been         l   have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of
          undertaken so that we might state to the charity’s trustees those           the Charities Act 2011 and The RSPCA Rules.
          matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report
                                                                                  Matters on which we are required to report
          and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law,
                                                                                  by exception
          we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than
                                                                                  We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters
          the charity and the charity’s trustees as a body, for our audit work,
                                                                                  where the Charities Act 2011 requires us to report to you if, in our
          for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.
                                                                                  opinion:
          Respective responsibilities of trustees and auditors                    l   the information given in the Trustees’ Annual Report is
          As explained more fully in the Statement of Trustees’                       inconsistent in any material respect with the financial
          Responsibilities, the trustees are responsible for the preparation          statements; or
          of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a    l   sufficient accounting records have not been kept; or
          true and fair view.
                                                                                  l   the parent charity financial statements are not in agreement
          We have been appointed as auditors under section 144 of the                 with the accounting records and returns; or
          Charities Act 2011 and report in accordance with regulations made
                                                                                  l   we have not received all the information and explanations
          under section 154 of that Act. Our responsibility is to audit and
                                                                                      we require for our audit.
          express an opinion on the financial statements in accordance with
          applicable law and International Standards on Auditing (UK and
          Ireland). Those standards require us to comply with the Auditing
          Practices Board’s (APB’s) Ethical Standards for Auditors.
                                                                                  BDO LLP, Statutory Auditor
          Scope of the audit of the financial statements                          Gatwick, United Kingdom
          A description of the scope of an audit of financial statements is       Date: 1 May 2013
          provided on the APB’s website at www.frc.org.uk/apb/scope/
                                                                                  BDO LLP is eligible to act as an auditor in terms of section 1212 of the
          private.cfm.                                                            Companies Act 2006.
                                                                                  BDO LLP is a limited liability partnership registered in England and Wales
                                                                                  (with registered number OC305127).

    22    TRUSTEES’ REPORT AND ACCOUNTS 2012
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