Sue Ryder’s deficit rose slightly by just over £1m to £8.9m at the end of 2024-25, compared with £7.5m in the previous year, after a “challenging year” for fundraising and retail.
In its latest annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025, the end-of-life care charity posted an 8% drop in year-on-year income, from £116m to £106m, with a decrease in expenditure from £124m to £115m.
Its fundraising activities fared better than in the previous financial year, with income increasing by £2.6m to £23m.
Donations rose by around £1.9m on 2023-24 to £10.8m, while legacies also rose modestly, from £7.7m the year before to £8.2m in 2024-25.
The charity also recorded a £3m drop in income from its retail activities, from £62.5m to around £59m.
Staffing costs pressure slightly alleviated
The charity had previously said that spreading its focus across palliative, neurological and bereavement support had become “increasingly challenging” in recent years.
As a result, it divested three of its four neurological services in November 2023, which cut the organisation’s running costs by £7.3m.
Total staffing costs for 2024-25 fell by around 6%, from around £74m to £69m.
The review of the accounts notes that “the prior year included eight months of the English neurological services which were divested in November 2023.
“Removing costs relating to these services shows that underlying pay costs are up £2.4m.”
Retail pay costs increase
Retail pay costs saw the largest increase of £1.9m.
This, the charity said, was due to the increase in the National Living Wage, which rose by 8.9% in the year, as well as annual uplifts in rates of pay to keep pace with market rates and contribution increases to workplace pensions.
Aside from staffing costs, the charity highlighted an increase in end-of-life care costs from £28.9m the year before to £32.1m in 2024-25.
However, its neurological care costs dropped dramatically by almost 63% following the service divestment, from £18.5m in 2023-24 to £6.9m in 2024-25.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to amend some of the figures incorrectly quoted from the accounts
