Guide Dogs has increased its reserves again following its deliberate move to slash them in recent years, while also growing its fundraising income by 10 per cent and accruing savings from the closure of its final salary pension scheme to new members.

The disability charity’s latest accounts, to the end of December 2012, suggest that the controversial new strategy instigated by CEO Richard Leaman in 2010 is showing early signs of success.

Eyebrows were raised last year when Guide Dogs’ accounts revealed that its reserves had halved over the previous two years, from £96.5m in 2009 to £39.7m at the end of 2011, but Leaman said the drop was part of a conscious tactic to invest for the future in fundraising and campaigning, a new breeding centre and new services.

And during 2011 Leaman was forced to defend Guide Dogs' refusal to merge with RNIB after the latter's CEO, Lesley-Anne Alexander, went public at a sector event and described Guide Dogs as "insular".

Leaman later made clear, in an article for civilsociety.co.uk,  that his preference was to pursue lots of collaborations with other charities.

Income up and deficit cut

The strategy appears to be paying off. The charity’s total voluntary income in 2012 was £61.1m, up £5.6m or 10 per cent, and its overall income grew £3m to £69.1m.

Although Guide Dogs spent more than it earned (£71.2m) this was £6m less than the previous year and the deficit narrowed from £11.1m to £2.1m.

A £3.2m increase in fundraising spend was offset by a £9m curtailment gain resulting from the closure to future accrual of the defined benefit pension scheme. As a result, the charity was able to turn its 2011 £16.6m loss on the scheme into net actuarial gains of £200,000 and the deficit was cut from £46.2m to £31m.

Investment income recovered too, up from £600,000 in 2011 to £4.3m in 2012.

As a result, the charity’s free reserves grew by £5.4m to £45.1m and its overall funds increased by £2.4m to £94.1m, following a dip of £27.1m in 2011.

More guide dogs partnerships

The report and accounts reveal that the charity trained 853 guide dogs and owners during the year, up from 823 the year before, and that by the year-end there were 4,752 active partnerships across the UK, compared with 4,610 at the end of 2011.  By 2015 it aims to have 5,150 active partnerships and by 2020 hopes to be training 1,000 new partnerships each year.

The report also details the progress of a number of new services.  My Guide, the sighted-guide pilot programme which provides trained volunteers to help service users get about, assisted more than 5,000 people during the year and will become a full service of the charity in January 2014.

Buddy Dogs, the service which supports children and young people by giving them dogs that have not qualified as guide dogs but can help to develop their confidence, combat loneliness and contribute to their sensory and physical development, launched as a full service in January 2012. By the end of the year there were 32 Buddy Dog partnerships in place.  This year the charity aims to start 30 more.

And a new strategy to help more children and young people was progressed, via a closer working partnership with the National Blind Children’s Society. On 29 April 2013 Guide Dogs became the sole member of NBCS, allowing even more joined-up working. 

During this year the charity aims to further embed its existing local and national partnerships, as well as develop new ones.

One such partnership is with First Bus, a transport provider with 8,500, which has agreed to train its 17,000 drivers to be more aware of and helpful to blind and partially-sighted people.

New technology initiatives

Going forward, Guide Dogs planned to press ahead with three key technology initiatives – development of a gesture-based game to deliver mobility training to children; establishment of a project consortium to demonstrate the mobility solutions that Microsoft has already devised, and high-tech market research to hear from beneficiaries.

It was also an “enormously successful year” for the charity’s various campaigns and 4,000 new campaigners signed up.

Pay rise for Leaman

Chief executive Richard Leaman, a former Royal Navy and Nato strategist, did take a pay rise during the year, increasing his salary from up to £110,000 to up to £120,000.