RSPCA has seen its income begin to increase, following a dramatic drop of £12m in its previous year’s accounts.
Its total income for the year ending December 2014 totalled £125.9m according to its annual accounts, up from £121.2m the previous year.
The charity’s income is still down on 2012, when it was £132.8m.
The charity said last year it was considering job cuts following its decline in income, and had embarked on a consultation into staffing. However, the total number of employees actually went up by eight to 1,624 from last year. The total employment costs also increased by £600,000 to £48.1m.
The RSPCA saw its voluntary income increase by £2m to £107.3m, with its legacy income increasing by £1.8m, however its total resources expended also increased from £117.3m to £119.6m.
The charity said that it continues “to face increasing demands for our services while reducing our costs”.
At the end of 2014, the RSPCA’s free reserves stood at £52.5, up by £7m on last year, which is the equivalent to five months of budgeted expenditure for 2015.
Mike Tomlinson, chair of RSPCA, said: “Like many charities we are feeling the effects of the economic crisis, particularly through a sharp increase in the number of desperate animals needing our help and making it harder to attract the level of funding needed to deliver this.
“This financial reality makes cost cutting and streamlining essential for all charities. We are no different and have taken steps to ensure our resources are focused in the right areas to help those animals most in need.”
A five-year development plan was put in place to “prioritise those animals in most need, ensuring that service provision was in the best locations and at the right level to deliver the most cost effective outcomes”.
The report says the charity has completed a restructure in many of the departments in head office, and will continue with a restructure across its regional operations in 2015.
The RSPCA is still without a chief executive, following the departure of Gavin Grant in February 2014. Six weeks after Grant left the organisation, RSPCA’s deputy, John Grinds, also resigned. The charity continues to be run by its chair Mike Tomlinson, along with David Canavan, director of corporate development and enterprise, as the most senior member of staff.
