GENERAL OPTICAL COUNCIL
Charity overview
Activities - how the charity spends its money
We are the regulator for the optical professions in the UK. Our statutory role is to protect and promote the health and safety of members of the public by promoting high standards of professional education, conduct and performance among our registrants. We currently register around 26,000 optometrists, dispensing opticians, student opticians and optical businesses.
Income and expenditure
Data for financial year ending 31 March 2024
Total income:
£11,227,000
| Donations and legacies | £0 | |
| Charitable activities | £10.82m | |
| Other trading activities | £0 | |
| Investments | £411.00k | |
| Other | £0 |
Total expenditure:
£11,971,000
| Raising funds | £44.00k | |
| Charitable activities | £11.93m | |
| Other | £0 |
£656,000 investments gains (losses)
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 | £44.00k | |
| Charitable expenditure | £11.93m |
People
104 Employee(s)
11 Trustee(s)
Employees with total benefits over £60,000
| Number of employees | |
|---|---|
| £60k to £70k | 11 |
| £70k to £80k | 2 |
| £90k to £100k | 3 |
| £100k to £110k | 2 |
| £110k to £120k | 1 |
| £130k to £140k | 1 |
Fundraising
Trading
Trustee payments
What, who, how, where
- Education/training
- The Advancement Of Health Or Saving Of Lives
- Other Defined Groups
- The General Public/mankind
- Provides Services
- Provides Advocacy/advice/information
- Sponsors Or Undertakes Research
- Throughout England And Wales
- Northern Ireland
- Scotland
Governance
- 12 December 2012: Standard registration
No other names
- Bullying and harassment policy and procedures
- Complaints handling
- Complaints policy and procedures
- Conflicting interests
- 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
- Serious incident reporting policy and procedures
- Trustee conflicts of interest policy and procedures
- Trustee expenses policy and procedures
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
11 Trustee(s)
| Name | Role | Date of appointment | Other trusteeships | Reporting status of other trusteeships | ||||
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| Raymond Curran | Trustee | 01 April 2025 |
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| Ros Leveson | Trustee | 01 April 2025 |
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| Catherine Yelf | Trustee | 01 April 2025 |
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| Poonam Sharma | Trustee | 01 April 2025 |
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| Kathryn Ann Foreman | Trustee | 01 October 2024 |
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| Professor Hema Radhakrishnan | Trustee | 15 March 2024 |
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| William Stockdale | Trustee | 01 January 2023 |
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| Frank Munro | Trustee | 05 July 2021 |
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| LISA GERSON | Trustee | 01 May 2021 |
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| Dr Anne Wright CBE | Trustee | 17 February 2021 |
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| Timothy Parkinson | Trustee | 16 April 2020 |
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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 | £9.60m | £11.68m | £10.04m | £10.34m | £11.23m | |
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Total expenditure | £10.27m | £8.59m | £9.49m | £10.54m | £11.97m | |
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Income from government contracts | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | |
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Income from government grants | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A | |
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Income - Donations and legacies | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | |
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Income - Other trading activities | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | |
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Income - Charitable activities | £9.31m | £9.57m | £9.80m | £10.03m | £10.82m | |
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Income - Endowments | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | |
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Income - Investment | £288.00k | £2.11m | £239.00k | £312.00k | £411.00k | |
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Income - Other | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | |
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Income - Legacies | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | |
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Expenditure - Charitable activities | £10.22m | £8.55m | £9.45m | £10.49m | £11.93m | |
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Expenditure - Raising funds | £43.00k | £43.00k | £47.00k | £44.00k | £44.00k | |
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Expenditure - Governance | £0 | £728.00k | £649.00k | £685.00k | £725.00k | |
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Expenditure - Grants institution | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | |
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Expenditure - Investment management | £0 | £43.00k | £47.00k | £44.00k | £44.00k | |
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Expenditure - Other | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 |
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 | £977.00k | £1.02m | £814.00k | £742.00k | £344.00k | |
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Long-term investments | £7.01m | £8.86m | £9.26m | £8.69m | £9.27m | |
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Other assets | £8.11m | £8.90m | £10.07m | £10.64m | £11.26m | |
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Defined benefit pension scheme asset or liability | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | £0 | |
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Total liabilities | £10.56m | £10.15m | £10.53m | £11.22m | £12.13m |
Accounts and annual returns
| Title | Reporting year | Date received | Received | Download |
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| Annual return | 31 March 2024 | 23 January 2025 | On time | |
| Accounts and TAR | 31 March 2024 | 23 January 2025 | On time | Download Open in new window |
| Annual return | 31 March 2023 | 19 January 2024 | On time | |
| Accounts and TAR | 31 March 2023 | 19 January 2024 | On time | Download Open in new window |
| Annual return | 31 March 2022 | 03 January 2023 | On time | |
| Accounts and TAR | 31 March 2022 | 03 January 2023 | On time | Download Open in new window |
| Annual return | 31 March 2021 | 13 January 2022 | On time | |
| Accounts and TAR | 31 March 2021 | 13 January 2022 | On time | Download Open in new window |
| Annual return | 31 March 2020 | 29 January 2021 | On time | |
| Accounts and TAR | 31 March 2020 | 29 January 2021 | On time | Download Open in new window |