EPILEPSY SOCIETY

Charity overview
Activities - how the charity spends its money
To enhance the quality of life of people affected by epilepsy by promoting public awareness and education, by undertaking research and by delivering specialist medical care and support services.
Income and expenditure
Data for financial year ending 31 March 2024
Total income:
£18,860,000
Donations and legacies | £2.89m | |
Charitable activities | £15.12m | |
Other trading activities | £336.00k | |
Investments | £345.00k | |
Other | £169.00k |
Total expenditure:
£20,783,000
Raising funds | £960.00k | |
Charitable activities | £18.61m | |
Other | £1.21m |
£556,000 investments gains (losses)
Total income includes £13,277,000 from 111 government contract(s) and £31,409 from 2 government grant(s)
Charitable expenditure
Charitable expenditure with investment gains
Charitable expenditure
Some charities generate all, or a substantial part, of their income from investments which may have been donated to the charity as endowment or set aside by the charity from its own resources in the past. Such investments usually take the form of stocks and shares but may include other assets, such as property, that are capable of generating income and/or capital growth.
In managing their spending and investments charities need to strike a balance between the needs of future and current beneficiaries. They also need to take account of spending commitments that may stretch over a number of future years. To do this, charities will normally adopt an investment strategy designed to generate both income and capital growth. To maximise returns trustees may commit to investment strategies for several years.
Investments can experience large swings in value so trustees may, in a particular year, decide to realise and spend part of their charity’s capital or to invest part of its income.
By clicking the investment gains checkbox the charitable spending bar is adjusted to take account of capital growth as well as income. This shows the balance the charity is striking, between spending on current beneficiaries and retaining resources for future beneficiaries.
Raising funds and other expenditure | £2.17m | |
Charitable expenditure | £18.61m |
People

319 Employee(s)
12 Trustee(s)
10 Volunteer(s)
Employees with total benefits over £60,000
Number of employees | |
---|---|
£60k to £70k | 2 |
£70k to £80k | 3 |
£80k to £90k | 2 |
£120k to £130k | 1 |
£140k to £150k | 1 |
£150k to £200k | 1 |
Fundraising
Trading
Trustee payments
What, who, how, where
- Education/training
- The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives
- Disability
- Accommodation/housing
- People With Disabilities
- Provides Services
- Provides Advocacy/advice/information
- Sponsors Or Undertakes Research
- Throughout England And Wales
Governance
- EPILEPSY SOCIETY (Working name)
- THE NATIONAL SOCIETY FOR EPILEPSY (Previous name)
- Care Quality Commission
- Bullying and harassment policy and procedures
- Campaigns and political activity policy and procedures
- Complaints handling
- Complaints policy and procedures
- Conflicting interests
- Engaging external speakers at charity events policy and procedures
- Financial reserves policy and procedures
- Internal charity financial controls policy and procedures
- Internal risk management policy and procedures
- Investing charity funds policy and procedures
- Investment
- Paying staff
- Risk management
- Safeguarding policy and procedures
- Safeguarding vulnerable beneficiaries
- Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
- Social media policy and procedures
- Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
- Trustee expenses policy and procedures
- Volunteer management
Trustees
Trustees are the people responsible for controlling the work, management and administration of the charity on behalf of its beneficiaries. Generally trustees are treasurer, chair, board member etc. The trustees are responsible for keeping this list up to date and can do this by updating their details as they happen through the online service
12 Trustee(s)
Name | Role | Date of appointment | Other trusteeships | Reporting status of other trusteeships | ||||
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CATHERINE ALCOCK DL | Chair | 02 December 2015 |
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Dr Robin Woolfson | Trustee | 13 December 2023 |
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Hannah Purves | Trustee | 13 December 2023 |
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Rae Avatar Barnett | Trustee | 13 December 2023 |
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Dr Karen Skinner | Trustee | 13 December 2023 |
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Nikolas Grant | Trustee | 13 December 2023 |
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Tracie Coultas-Pitman | Trustee | 08 March 2022 |
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Jacqueline Anne Sullivan | Trustee | 08 March 2022 |
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Andrew Thomas Gosling | Trustee | 14 December 2021 |
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Andrew Gray | Trustee | 14 December 2021 |
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Dr James Hagan | Trustee | 12 November 2015 |
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DEBORAH WHEELER | Trustee | 30 January 2013 |
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Financial history
Financial period end date
Income / Expenditure | 31/03/2020 | 31/03/2021 | 31/03/2022 | 31/03/2023 | 31/03/2024 | ||
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Total gross income | £17.15m | £15.96m | £16.68m | £17.90m | £18.86m | |
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Total expenditure | £19.22m | £17.13m | £16.89m | £19.47m | £20.78m | |
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Income from government contracts | £10.90m | £10.85m | £10.90m | £12.26m | £13.28m | |
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Income from government grants | N/A | £311.66k | £160.00k | N/A | £31.41k | |
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Income - Donations and legacies | £2.92m | £3.37m | £3.37m | £3.40m | £2.89m | |
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Income - Other trading activities | £404.00k | £306.00k | £293.00k | £314.00k | £336.00k | |
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Income - Charitable activities | £13.53m | £11.69m | £12.76m | £13.96m | £15.12m | |
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Income - Endowments | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | |
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Income - Investment | £204.00k | £150.00k | £178.00k | £174.00k | £345.00k | |
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Income - Other | £95.00k | £442.00k | £73.00k | £46.00k | £169.00k | |
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Income - Legacies | £791.00k | £997.00k | £1.11m | £788.00k | £1.19m | |
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Expenditure - Charitable activities | £18.06m | £15.87m | £15.38m | £17.81m | £18.61m | |
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Expenditure - Raising funds | £723.00k | £908.00k | £1.04m | £1.01m | £960.00k | |
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Expenditure - Governance | £85.00k | £31.00k | £80.00k | £90.00k | £96.00k | |
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Expenditure - Grants institution | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | |
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Expenditure - Investment management | £101.00k | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | |
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Expenditure - Other | £444.00k | £353.00k | £467.00k | £653.00k | £1.21m |
Assets and liabilities
Definitions for assets and liabilities
These are assets, other than investments, which are held for more than 12 months and used to run and administer the charity such as buildings, offices, exhibits and fixtures and fittings.
Long term InvestmentsInvestments are assets held by the charity with the sole aim of generating income which will be used for their charitable purposes such as deposit accounts, shares, rental property and unit trusts.
Investment assets are re-valued every year and included in the balance sheet at their current market value.
Long term investments are held for more than 12 months.
These are assets held generally for less than 12 months such as cash and bank balances, debtors, investments to be sold within the coming year and trading stock.
Defined benefit pension scheme asset or liabilityThis is a surplus or deficit in any defined benefit pension scheme operated and represents a potential long-term asset or liability.
Total liabilitiesThese are all the amounts owed by the charity at the balance sheet date to third parties such as bills due but not yet paid, bank overdrafts and loans and mortgages.
Asset / Liability | 31/03/2020 | 31/03/2021 | 31/03/2022 | 31/03/2023 | 31/03/2024 | ||
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Own use assets | £16.11m | £15.60m | £15.06m | £14.74m | £14.87m | |
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Long-term investments | £2.20m | £4.44m | £4.44m | £9.48m | £9.97m | |
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Other assets | £20.09m | £17.76m | £18.11m | £11.64m | £7.99m | |
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Defined benefit pension scheme asset or liability | -£8.71m | -£9.56m | -£6.55m | -£3.73m | -£3.76m | |
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Total liabilities | £3.62m | £3.02m | £3.11m | £3.98m | £2.42m |
Accounts and annual returns
Title | Reporting year | Date received | Received | Download |
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Annual return | 31 March 2024 | 18 December 2024 | On Time | |
Accounts and TAR | 31 March 2024 | 18 December 2024 | On Time | Download Open in new window |
Annual return | 31 March 2023 | 18 December 2023 | On Time | |
Accounts and TAR | 31 March 2023 | 18 December 2023 | On Time | Download Open in new window |
Annual return | 31 March 2022 | 15 December 2022 | On Time | |
Accounts and TAR | 31 March 2022 | 15 December 2022 | On Time | Download Open in new window |
Annual return | 31 March 2021 | 26 January 2022 | On Time | |
Accounts and TAR | 31 March 2021 | 26 January 2022 | On Time | Download Open in new window |
Annual return | 31 March 2020 | 31 January 2021 | On Time | |
Accounts and TAR | 31 March 2020 | 31 January 2021 | On Time | Download Open in new window |
Governing document
It is not the full text of the charity's governing document.
MEMORANDUM AND ARTICLES INCORPORATED 15/03/1951 AS AMENDED BY SPECIAL RESOLUTION(S) DATED 27/10/1978 AS AMENDED BY SPECIAL RESOLUTION(S) DATED 30/09/1993 AS AMENDED BY SPECIAL RESOLUTION(S) DATED 28/09/2000 AS AMENDED BY SPECIAL RESOLUTION(S) DATED 01/09/2005 AS AMENDED BY SPECIAL RESOLUTION(S) DATED 31/07/2008 AS AMENDED BY SPECIAL RESOLUTION REGISTERED AT COMPANIES HOUSE ON 28 MAR 2018 as amended on 17 May 2023
Charitable objects
(A) TO PROVIDE BOTH NATIONALLY AND INTERNATIONALLY FOR THE MAINTENANCE, CARE, TREATMENT, EDUCATION, OCCUPATIONAL TRAINING, OCCUPATION AND EMPLOYMENT OF PEOPLE WITH EPILEPSY AND, TO THE EXTENT THAT RESOURCES ARE AVAILABLE AFTER GIVING PRIORITY TO THE FOREGOING, FOR PEOPLE WITH OTHER PHYSICAL OR NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS OR HANDICAPS. (B) TO PROVIDE FACILITIES FOR RECREATION, BOTH INDOOR AND OUTDOOR, INCLUDING PLAYING FIELDS, LAWNS, BUILDINGS AND OTHER STRUCTURES AND ALL NECESSARY EQUIPMENT FOR PEOPLE WITH EPILEPSY AND, TO THE EXTENT THAT RESOURCES ARE AVAILABLE AFTER GIVING PRIORITY TO THE FOREGOING, FOR PEOPLE WITH OTHER PHYSICAL OR NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS OR HANDICAPS. (C) TO PROVIDE BOTH NATIONALLY AND INTERNATIONALLY BY ANY LAWFUL METHOD AS THE SOCIETY MAY CONSIDER PROPER SUPPORT, EDUCATION, TRAINING AND INFORMATION FOR PEOPLE WITH EPILEPSY, THEIR FAMILIES, CARERS, SUPPORT GROUPS AND BRANCHES AND OTHER PEOPLE INTERESTED IN THE CONDITION. (D) TO CARRY OUT RESEARCH INTO THE CAUSES, TREATMENT AND PREVENTION OF EPILEPSY. (E) TO CARRY ON AND EXTEND AND DEVELOP THE CHARITABLE WORK PREVIOUSLY CARRIED ON BY THE UNINCORPORATED SOCIETY KNOWN AS THE NATIONAL SOCIETY FOR EPILEPSY (WHICH UNINCORPORATED SOCIETY IS HEREINAFTER REFERRED TO AS “THE UNINCORPORATED SOCIETY”) AT THE CHALFONT CENTRE FOR EPILEPSY AT CHALFONT ST. PETER, GERRARDS CROSS, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE, SL9 0RJ.
Area of benefit
NOT DEFINED
Contact information
- Address:
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Epilepsy Society
Chesham Lane
Chalfont St Peter
Buckinghamshire
SL9 0RJ
- Phone:
- 01494 601 300
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