Statement to Members about the Union's Annual Return Year ended 31 December 2024
Statement about the union's annual return
Statement to members issued in connection with the union's annual return for period ended 31 December 2024 as required by section 32a of Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1912.
Income and Expenditure
The total income of the union for the period was £5,221,180. This amount included payments of £4,557,272 in respect of membership income of the union. The union's total expenditure for the period was £5,212,900.
Political Fund
The union does not have a political fund.
Salary paid to and other benefits provided to the General Secretary (Chief Executive)
The General Secretary (Chief Executive) was paid £128,266 in respect of gross salary and £9,105 respect of pension benefits.
Irregularity statement
A member who is concerned that some irregularity may be occurring, or has occurred, in the conduct of the financial affairs of the union may take steps with a view to investigating further, obtaining clarification and, if necessary, securing regularisation of that conduct.
The member may raise any such concern with such one or more of the following as it seems appropriate to raise it with: the officials of the union, the trustees of the property of the union, the auditor or auditors of the union, the Certification Officer (who is an independent officer appointed by the Secretary of State) and the police.
Where a member believes that the financial affairs of the union have been or are being conducted in breach of the law or in breach of the rules of the union and contemplates bringing civil proceedings against the union or responsible officials or trustees, he should consider obtaining independent legal advice.
Independent Auditor’s Report to the Members of The Royal College of Podiatry
Opinion
We have audited the financial statements of The Royal College of Podiatry (the “parent company”) and its subsidiaries (the “group”) for the year ended 31 December 2024 which comprise the Consolidated Income and Expenditure Account, the consolidated and company only Balance Sheets, the Consolidated Statement of Changes in Funds, the Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice). In our opinion, the financial statements:
- give a true and fair view of the state of the group’s and of the parent company’s affairs as at 31 December 2024 and of the group’s profit for the year then ended;
- have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice;
- have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006.
Basis for opinion
We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the group in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.
Conclusions relating to going concern
In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the Directors’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.
Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the group's ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue. Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the Directors with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.
Other information
The Directors are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. The other information comprises the information included in the annual report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.
Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.
We have nothing to report in this regard.
Opinion on other matter prescribed by the Companies Act 2006
In our opinion based on the work undertaken in the course of our audit the information given in the strategic report and the Directors' report for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and the strategic report and the directors' report have been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.
Matters on which we are required to report by exception
In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the group and the parent company and their environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the strategic report or the directors’ report.
We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:
- adequate accounting records have not been kept by the parent company, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or
- the parent company financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or
- certain disclosures of directors' remuneration specified by law are not made; or
- we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.
Responsibilities of Directors
As explained more fully in the Directors’ responsibilities statement set out on page 7, the Directors are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the Directors determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.
In preparing the financial statements, the Directors are responsible for assessing the group’s and the parent company’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the Directors either intend to liquidate the group or the parent company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.
Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements
Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.
Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below:
We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory frameworks within which the company operates, focusing on those laws and regulations that have a direct effect on the determination of material amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. In addition, we considered provisions of other laws and regulations that do not have a direct effect on the financial statements but compliance with which might be fundamental to the company’s ability to operate or to avoid a material penalty. We also considered the opportunities and incentives that may exist within the company for fraud. The laws and regulations we considered in this context for the UK operations were General Data Protection Regulation, health and safety legislation and employment legislation. We identified the greatest risk of material impact on the financial statements from irregularities, including fraud, to be within the recognition of the captive insurance provisions and the override of controls by management. Our audit procedures to respond to these risks included enquiries of management and the Finance Committee about their own identification and assessment of the risks of irregularities, sample testing on the posting of journals, reviewing accounting estimates for biases, reviewing regulatory correspondence, and reading minutes of meetings of those charged with governance. Owing to the inherent limitations of an audit, there is an unavoidable risk that some material misstatements of the financial statements may not be detected even though the audit is properly planned and performed in accordance with the ISAs (UK). No internal control structure, no matter how effective, can eliminate the possibility that errors or irregularities may occur and remain undetected. In addition, because we use selective testing in our audit, we cannot guarantee that errors or irregularities, if present, will be detected. Accordingly, our audit should not be relied upon to disclose all such misstatements or frauds, errors or instances of non-compliance as may exist.
A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is available on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.
Use of our report
This report is made solely to the company's members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the company's members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor's report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the company and the company's members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.