The children’s charity Action for Children acquired an after-school club in Scotland last year as part of a £1m deal, new figures show.
The charity’s latest accounts, for the year to the end of March 2020, show it bought a business called Out of School Scotland in June 2019.
The company provides after-school clubs, breakfast clubs and holiday camps.
It cost the charity slightly more than £1m and at the same time it gained more than £1m in assets from the business in terms of expertise and staff and customer experience.
Action for Children said it acquired the business to enhance its childcare offering.
The accounts show the charity’s income last year remained largely stable, with total income falling by about £3m compared with the previous year to almost £148m.
There were slight increases in income from donations and legacies during 2019/20 as the figure rose to almost £19m, while income from trading activities was almost £18m.
Total spending fell slightly to £148m, down from £149m in the previous year.
Total wages and salaries for the charity’s more than 3,100 staff were just over £82m, including redundancy costs of £133,000.
The charity spent £1.5m on redundancies as it lost more than 300 staff in 2018/19.
An Action for Children spokesperson said: “By spending efficiently and encouraging good working practices, during 2019/20 we reduced costs in several areas and our activities helped us to achieve a stable income.
“However, like many charities, we were then thrown into exceptional times with the pandemic disrupting our overall income, including the closure of some of our commercial activities, such as our nurseries, and cancellation of various fundraising events.
“This has driven us to be more innovative with fundraising and find ways of working more effectively, while at the same time also making essential savings, something that, given the rapidly changing external situation, we will continue to adapt and evolve over the coming years so we can continue to ensure safe and happy childhoods.”