The charitable arm of Amnesty International UK had 18 days' worth of free reserves at the end of 2013, less than half the charity’s minimum target, according to accounts filed last week with Companies House.

The Amnesty International (UK Section) Charitable Trust recorded a deficit of £381,000 in the year to December 2013.
At the end of the year it had £686,000 in unrestricted, undesignated funds – enough to cover 18 days’ spending.

Turnover in the year rose by less than 1 per cent, from £13.94m in 2012 to £14.04m in 2013.

In the trustees’ annual report, the charity said that it faced a shortfall of £800,000 in its reserves, and that trustees planned to increase the level to £1.5m in 2014.

But Tony Farnfield, corporate services director at AIUK, said the charity was in a relatively healthy position.

“Amnesty International UK’s Charitable Trust owns the Amnesty UK building, a substantial asset with a relatively small mortgage,” he said. “It has few ongoing expenditure commitments and has already received significant legacy income in 2014.

“The trustees take great care to ensure that the Trust operates prudently and does not overextend its commitments. The reserves are therefore felt sufficient for current needs, and additional expenditure commitments will only be made at a time when further sufficient funds become available.

“Overall Amnesty International UK is in good financial health.”

In contrast the non-charitable arm of the same organisation, which also filed accounts this week, ended the year with free reserves of more than £5m, more than double its £2.2m target.

It reported an 8 per cent fall in income, from £13.9m to £12.85m, but recorded a surplus of £800,000.

Redundancies announced

The charity saw a fall in staff numbers during the year from 134 to 117 - equivalent to 31 full-time posts.

Altogether 20 jobs were cut across the combined organisation as part of a package of “planned redundancies”, a spokesman for the charity said.