Annual Report and Accounts 2024 - 2025 Performance report - Performance analysis
In this section, we provide more detail on our performance against the measures and budget set out in our Annual Operating Plan 2024/25, sustainability and the National Performance Framework.
This information is also available in the Annual Report and Accounts 2024/25 document (PDF, 9.5 MB).
Net Zero
With our precious environment under threat from the global climate emergency, as Scotland’s environmental regulator we are requiring and encouraging businesses to reduce their impacts. In response to the global climate emergency, the Scottish Government set out a pathway to meet Scotland’s ambitious emissions reduction targets over the period to 2032 (as progress towards a net zero target in 2045). Meeting these targets will require a collective effort from all sectors.
Measure one - Achieved
Our plan was to: Reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions in the Scottish Pollutant Release Inventory (SPRI).
What we achieved: We published the 2023 SPRI data in September 2024. The data shows that the global warming potential of greenhouse gas emissions from SEPA-regulated industrial sites, decreased by 13.5% between 2022 and 2023. This equates to 1.51 megatonnes CO2e (carbon dioxide equivalent).
The energy sector remains the highest emitter in Scotland’s industrial data inventory, accounting for 40.0% of the overall greenhouse gas emissions. The sector reported a 22.9% decrease in greenhouse gas emissions in 2023. Information reported by some operators of major emitters indicated that changes in production this year contributed to the reduction in emissions. Given this is a single year of data, it would not be appropriate to draw firm conclusions from the decrease seen in 2023, however there continues to be a long-term downward trend overall as shown in Figure 10 on page 36 of the PDF version of this report.
Measure two – Not achieved
Our plan was to: Reduce annual reports of greenhouse gas emission by SEPA.
What we achieved: Direct emissions for 2024/25 are 1,743.6 tCO2e, a small increase from our emissions in our baseline year of 2022/23 when they were 1,742 tCO2e. We recognise that more can be done, and we are looking to make significant achievements in the next year through our Workspaces Strategy, our Strategic Approach to Fleet and ongoing optimisation of shared value from our survey vessel, the Sir John Murray (SJM).
We have seen a significant reduction in emissions from our workspaces (-104.2 tCO2e) from last year; however, this has been offset by an increase in emissions in those categorised as travel (128.5 tCO2e). Marine fuel is a significant source of emissions, and the increase in our travel emissions is solely attributable to a large increase in use of our survey vessel, the SJM. The SJM has returned to operational capacity, carrying out vital work in collecting environmental monitoring data and supporting marine regulation, and has also travelled for refurbishment. This has increased emissions from 44.97 tCO2e in 2023/24 by almost four times to 217.7 tCO2e in 2024/25. We have recently entered into a sharing agreement with Marine Scotland to optimise the shared value from the vessel. If we exclude the SJM emissions, we have seen a -44.22 tCO2e reduction in travel emissions from last year, an over 11% reduction in overall travel emissions from our 2022/23 baseline.
Emissions from workspaces includes both SEPA buildings as well as emissions from colleagues working from home as this is required by the Scottish Government. We use a greenhouse gas (GHG) conversion rate for actual gas and electricity used in SEPA offices. We use a standard per full time equivalent (FTE) conversion rate based on typical domestic home for GHG emissions. Overall, workplaces emissions have declined by 12.8% compared to our 2022/23 baseline. We have decreased the size of our estate as we optimise it for hybrid working. Coupled with this, more people are working from an office than in the time post pandemic. As a result, we have seen a significant drop in home emissions as colleagues return to optimised offices/workspaces, and this is only partially offset by a small increase in building emissions from electricity and gas use.
We are likely to see further workspace emission reductions as we implement our Workspaces Strategy. This includes implementing our strategic direction to move away from leasing and owning buildings to co-locating, such as exiting our leases in Arbroath and Stornoway to co-locate with Social Security Scotland in Dundee and Comhairle nan Eilean Siar in Stornoway, enabling opportunities for shared services and collaborating with key stakeholders and partners.
Emissions associated with our grey fleet (private vehicles) have reduced by almost 30% against our baseline. This is a significant shift and indicates positive behaviour change by staff as we encourage pool fleet vehicles to be used over private vehicles. These reductions are expected to grow as we increase the number of electric vehicles in our pool car fleet and implement our new Strategic Approach to Our Fleet.
Climate resilience
As our climate changes, flooding and water scarcity are becoming frequent natural hazards in Scotland. The impacts from flooding and water scarcity can be devastating. They can affect people, communities, activities such as disruption of travel, the natural and built environment and our economy.
Measure three - Achieved
Our plan was to: Maintain the number of flood warnings and alerts issued by SEPA.
What we achieved: During 2024/25, a total of 289 regional flood alerts, 370 local flood warnings and three severe flood warnings were issued. This is above the average activity over the last 14 years (244 alerts, 342 warnings, two severe flood warnings). There were periods of disruption throughout the year due to the weather, such as coastal flooding during Storm Kathleen in April 2024, and the severe flooding in northern and central Scotland during the preparations for Hogmanay, which affected the Spey Valley, the Great Glen and the River Tay and River Forth catchments.
However, during quarter four of 2024/25, a total of 30 flood alerts and 60 flood warnings were issued. This was the lowest number for the period January-March since 2012/13. It reflects that the period has been dry for most of Scotland as highlighted in the April 2025 water scarcity report.
Together, above average flooding coupled with periods of water scarcity is a further indication of the impacts of a changing climate on Scotland’s environment.
As part of our response, and working with the Met Office, we issue a daily flood guidance statement to more than 900 responders to make sure that communities across Scotland are able to prepare and take action sooner to protect themselves from flooding. Ahead of flooding periods, we issue regional flood alerts and local flood warnings to inform the public. We operate a network of rainfall, river and coastal water level gauges. These feed into our real-time forecasting models, along with meteorological forecasts. A dedicated communication system issues the flood guidance statements, alerts and warnings.
During 2024/25, we issued all daily flood guidance statements on time, exceeding both targets.
|
KPI 02 |
Baseline |
Target |
2024/25 result |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Percentage of daily Flood Guidance Statements and Scottish Flood Forecasts issued on time. |
2023/24 84% by 10:30 a.m. 98% by 11:00 a.m. |
Maintain at 2024 baseline or above. |
Achieved 88% by 10:30 a.m. 100% by 11:00 a.m. |
Measure four – Achieved
Our plan was to: Maintain the proportion of developments approved in accordance with SEPA’s advice on flood risk.
What we achieved: We also deliver flood risk advice, evidence and guidance for the land use planning system, to ensure new developments can avoid flood risk and help existing communities and services become more resilient to flooding. We take a proportionate, risk-based approach to focus our site-specific advice to the highest risk places and work with partner authorities to support the implementation of National Planning Framework 4.
We responded to 1478 consultations on 946 separate planning applications, when adjusting for cases spanning reporting periods, multiple applications at the same location and cases that had initial consultation, but were subsequently retracted at the end of the year when it was determined our advice was not required. 98.4% were resolved in line with SEPA’s advice on flooding, which is a high rate of success but a slight reduction from 2023/24 of approximately 99%. As a result, 15 developments were approved against SEPA’s advice, following notification to Scottish Ministers, an increase from 11 developments in 2023/24. Some of this variation is likely attributable to the policy shift that came with the introduction of National Planning Framework 4 (NPF4) in February 2023 bedding into the planning system.
|
Consultations on flood risk advice |
Quarter 1 |
Quarter 2 |
Quarter 3 |
Quarter 4 |
2024/25 result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Number of consultations for flood risk advice from planning authorities responded to. |
378 |
419 |
323 |
358 |
1478 |
|
Number of consultations that were new applications previously not advised on. |
256 |
264 |
198 |
237 |
946 |
|
Number of applications approved to go ahead in flood risk areas against SEPA’s advice during the same time period notified to Scottish Ministers. |
2 |
5 |
3 |
5 |
15 |
During 2024/25, we increased our responses to planning consultations within time to 86% from the 2023/24 baseline of 70%.
|
KPI 03 |
Baseline |
Target |
Q4 performance |
2024/25 result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Percentage of responses to planning consultations within time. |
70% within time cumulatively 2023/24. |
Increase the percentage of consultations responded to within time. |
94% of consultations responded to within time. |
Achieved. The cumulative figure for the year is 86% of consultations responded to within time. |
Water environment
Scotland is well known for the quality of its water environment – our beautiful rivers, lochs, wetlands and seas. Our water environment supports a rich diversity of wildlife and habitats. It plays an important part in our economy and brings with it physical activities and social interaction which can have a great impact on local communities, and health and well-being. Classification is the approach (based on EU and UK guidance) used to define the state of Scotland’s water environment and is produced annually for all 3,652 water bodies in Scotland.
Measure five - Achieved
Our plan was to: Improve overall condition of Scotland’s water bodies in the Classification of water bodies.
What we achieved: We completed the 2023 classification of the water environment and published the 2023 State of Scotland's Water Environment Report on 22 November 2024. Since the start of water environment classification for River Basin Management Planning in 2008, the overall condition of Scotland’s water bodies has improved each year.
In 2020, the proportion of our water environment (surface waters and groundwaters combined) assessed as being in good or high overall condition was 66.4%, in 2022 this increased to 67.1%, and in 2023 it increased again to 67.9%. Specifically, in 2023 the overall condition of 43 water bodies were upgraded to good or high. Only 16 water bodies were downgraded to less than good condition. This means that 3,593 out of 3,652 water bodies, or 98.4%, have not deteriorated.
The percentage of surface water bodies that were classed as good or better in 2008 was 61% and is now 65.6%, demonstrating an improvement of 4.6% since 2008. The number of surface water bodies classed as bad overall condition has decreased from 224 in 2008 to 57 in 2023, an improvement of 74.6% that indicates an upward trend in overall condition.
We monitor the water environment to assess the condition of water quality, water flows and levels, physical condition, fish migration and the freedom from invasive non-native species. These five individual elements determine the overall condition of a water body. If any single element is classified as below good, that water body’s overall condition is reported as below good. Factors influencing assessment are long-term systemic issues such as rural land-use and combined sewer systems that require further work, long-term investment and collaborative action across a number of policy areas which will be a focus of River Basin Management Plan 4 onwards. Further detail is included in the state of environment report.
Figure 11 on page 43 of the PDF version of this report shows the long-term trend in the overall condition of surface water bodies.
The percentage of groundwater bodies that were classed as good in 2008 was 77.3% and is now 85.9%, demonstrating an improvement of 8.6 percentage points since 2008.
Figure 12 on page 44 of the PDF version of this report shows the long-term trend in the overall condition of groundwater bodies.
Please note that data is not available for 2021 in both graphs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
While we are not wholly responsible for delivering this measure, as the regulator and responsible authority for River Basin Management Planning, we are tasked with protecting and improving the water environment. We do this by protecting the water environment from deterioration through permitting, compliance activities, incident response, and our advisory role in relation to new developments. We also aim to secure improvement through our regulatory work with key sectors and through our deployment of the Water Environment Fund.
The consistent improvement in water environment quality is a testament to the work of people across the Agency and our partners throughout Scotland who are committed to safeguarding and enhancing our precious water environment.
Resource efficiency
Measure six - Achieved
Our plan was to: Reduce rates of waste to landfill in annual Scottish household waste data.
What we achieved: In 2024/25, we played a contributing role to the national outcome for Scotland to reduce the rates of household waste going to landfill. We are responsible for the collation and publication of the required data, all of which was provided and verified on time, enabling publication of the Waste Landfilled in Scotland 2023 statistics in October 2024. We worked in partnership with Scottish Government to publish these official statistics in a new fully accessible and interactive format.
We are seeing a positive reduction in the rates of waste to landfill reported annually. The statistics show a 14.8% reduction of household waste landfilled in Scotland from the previous year. The total amount of household waste was the lowest amount generated since the start of the current time series in 2011. The amount of Scottish household waste landfilled decreased by 30.2% from 2022 as can be seen in figure 13 on page 47 of the PDF version of this report.
Along with publishing the statistics, we work to deliver actions to digitally disrupt illegal waste collection and highlight landowner roles and responsibilities. Disruption efforts are focused on both overt challenge of operators and follow-up formal enforcement when there is sufficiency of evidence.
This includes issuing information notices, closing online profiles of illegal operators and issuing Fixed Monetary Penalties.
Over 2024/25 we have been preparing for the implementation of UK Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) reforms by auditing producer data supplied during 2024. We also assisted producers in the lead up to the implementation of new legislation which came into force on 1 January 2025.
We continue to support the DEFRA led programme for a UK wide Digital Waste Tracking (DWT) system. The programme has gone through a review and reset with the intention to launch the system in April 2026 with it becoming mandatory for some users in October 2026.
This is evidenced in the following stakeholder letter: Digital Waste Tracking: Stakeholder Letter. Options for UK DWT system implementation in 2025/26 are still under consideration by DEFRA and the devolved administrations.
Business environmental performance
It is our role, as Scotland’s principal environmental regulator, to regulate activities which can harm the environment such as the storage, transport, treatment and disposal of waste or the management of radioactive substances. Businesses that have a high environmental performance reduce pollution and the impact they have on communities.
Measure seven - Achieved
Our plan was to: Increase the number of successful interventions per year.
What we achieved: Some operators carry out activities illegally and our target for 2024/25 was to reduce the number of known (“baseline”) illegal sites, by increasing the number of successful interventions that tackle environmental crime.
Illegal sites and illegal operators are those which are operating without the required environmental authorisation or in contravention of environmental legislation. When interventions addressing illegality have sufficiently reduced an illegal site’s risk score, the site is considered to be successfully “concluded”.
An intervention can be any action that we take, or in collaboration with partners, to tackle and disrupt illegal activity or non-compliance. For example, multi-agency ‘road stop’ exercises, removal of social media profiles used for advertising or awareness raising with local communities. Enforcement actions are more specific and include final warning letters, information notices issued for enforcement / interventions purposes, statutory notices, Fixed Monetary Penalties, Variable Monetary Penalties and enforcement undertakings. Previously we only reported enforcement actions: interventions are not restricted to these.
We consider our interventions to be successful when the number of interventions increase, and the number of illegal sites decrease. Figure 14 on page 50 of the PDF version of this report shows that we deployed a total of 167 interventions during 2024/25 to tackle environmental crime, including 29 interventions in quarter four (1). In 2023/24, we recorded 87 interventions. This represents an almost 92% increase from the previous year.
Over the last three years, we have implemented an interventions approach that has delivered year-on-year increases in both our detection of environmental crime and the successful conclusion of illegal sites.
At the start of 2024/25, we had a baseline of 317 known illegal sites. During 2024/25, the interventions undertaken delivered an overall reduction of 93 baseline illegal sites, meaning 224 from our baseline remain open.
During 2024/25, we identified an additional 116 new illegal sites through improved detection. We closed 11 of those meaning 105 newly found sites remain open. We will start 2025/26 with a baseline of 329 illegal sites.
During 2024/25, three of the 93 baseline illegal sites we closed were assessed as posing a high risk to the environment. One of these sites was in Aberdeenshire where a local man was given a 150-hour community payback order, a £3,000 Confiscation Order and an 18-month supervision requirement. The illegal activities at this site included keeping controlled waste without the required authorisation, disposing of controlled waste by burning and failing to remove waste from the site. Many local residents living in the vicinity of the site complained over a two-year period regarding the deposit and burning of waste and the impact it was having on the local community.
(1) Information reported was extracted from SEPA systems on 03/04/2025. Systems may be updated after this date and each quarter.
The KPIs below support the Business environmental performance theme:
We also have a legal obligation across various sectors to complete permit reviews. We must complete these within the legally required or internally set deadlines.
|
KPI 04 |
Baseline |
Target |
Q4 Performance |
2024/25 result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Percentage of statutory permit reviews completed on time. |
85% of statutory permit reviews completed on time in the previous year. |
80% of statutory permit reviews completed within the required timeframe. |
Same as 2024/25 result. |
Not achieved. 31% within the required timescale. |
Unfortunately, we did not manage to achieve our target of completing 80% of statutory permit reviews within the required timeframe. Progress with completing the 2024/25 reviews was restricted as the focus was completing the backlog of statutory permit reviews and medium combustion plant permit variations.
Given this, we focused our attention to those that could potentially cause the most environmental harm and those that cover the implementation of other new legislation (i.e. delivery of 165 new and varied permits under Phase 1 and 2 of the Medium Combustion Plant Directive). We also focused on maintaining delivery of day-to-day authorisation work such as new applications (noted in KPI 06) and variations, and to complete the best available techniques conclusions (BATc) reviews.
Going forward into 2025/26, although no statutory permit reviews are due during this period, we are setting the KPI to drive performance to reduce the backlog and have a programme of actions in place to help. These actions include a dedicated Permit Reviews Team focusing on the Food, Drink and Milk permit reviews, ensuring the 28 outstanding medium combustion plant permit applications and variations will be finalised and issued, and the recruitment of further resource. Following the implementation of the new Integrated Authorisation Framework (IAF), further resource will be allocated to permit review work. This is not likely until after April 2026.
|
KPI 05 |
Baseline |
Target |
Q4 Performance |
2024/25 result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Percentage of statutory reports published by the scheduled date. |
On-time publication rate from the previous year. |
100%. |
This target was met in quarter three. |
Achieved. Four out of four statutory reports published during 2024/25 on time by the scheduled date. |
|
KPI 06 |
Baseline |
Target |
Q4 Performance |
2024/25 result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Percentage of applications determined within statutory determination times. |
92% for all applications. 75% for permitting (licences). 97% for permitting (registrations). |
Increase the percentage of applications determined within statutory timelines. |
Same as 2024/25 result. |
Achieved. 94% for permitting (all applications). 84% for permitting (licences). 98% for permitting (registrations). |
Our organisation and transformation
Our people are our greatest asset and we work together to deliver on our commitments to the people of Scotland. We continue to invest in and develop our people so they can be their best and make the biggest impact. We use this expertise to provide information and services to people and communities with a strong focus on continuous improvement to deliver better services.
We understand the importance of working closely with other organisations, communities and businesses to design the services they use.
We have led and engaged with a range of initiatives to further the objectives of public sector reform. We have reset our Agency to transform areas and embed a customer and delivery focus in everything we do.
Measure eight - Achieved
Our plan was to: Maintain the percentage of customer complaints responded to within statutory timescales.
What we achieved: We know how important our customers are and place great value on handling and responding to customer complaints in a timely manner. In 2024/25, we responded to 89.5% of customer complaints within statutory timescales against a target of 85%. We responded to 92% of Stage 1 complaints and to 87% of Stage 2 complaints within the target timescales. During 2024/25 we also set a KPI alongside this measure to help improve performance up to 90%.
Measure nine - Achieved
Our plan was to: Increase the number of vehicles in our fleet to electric and enhancing our EV charger facilities.
What we achieved: We have achieved our aim by increasing the number of electric vehicles in our fleet to 25, against a baseline of 22. We did this by replacing older diesel vehicles. We also enhanced electric charging facilities over our estate by installing two replacement charging units at the Angus Smith building to increase reliability.
Measure ten - Achieved
Our plan was to: Increase the percentage of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests and Environmental Information Requests (EIRs) responded to within statutory timescales.
What we achieved: In 2024/25, we processed 94.8% of Freedom of Information (FOI) requests and Environmental Information Requests (EIR) requests within the statutory timescales of 20 working days, achieving our aim of processing at least 90%. Our responses completed on or under time is significantly above the 2023/24 baseline of 82%.
We continue to receive a high number of EIRs, with 1,887 received in 2024/25 compared to 1,623 in 2023/24, an increase of 16%. The number of FOI requests received has remained relatively stable, with 52 received in 2024/25 compared to 54 in 2023/24, a slight decrease of 4%. Requests primarily concerned the water environment, in particular areas such as flooding, combined sewer overflows, water resources, and sewage discharges, as well as for regulatory information, such as permits and enforcement notices.
We consolidated the capacity in the Access to Information Team which has enabled work to improve the efficiency and sustainability of the service while continuing to maintain a high level of performance. This was recognised in November 2024, when the Scottish Information Commissioner closed the level two intervention on SEPA. In March 2025, the team won two national awards at the eCase FOI Awards recognising the consistent excellent performance as well as the commitment and dedication of the team.
Measure eleven - Achieved
Our plan was to: Maintain percentage efficiency savings.
What we achieved: In the 2022 Resource Spending Review, the Scottish Government set an expectation that public bodies would deliver annual recurring efficiency savings of at least 3% of their cash revenue grant in aid. In 2024/25, this equated to £1.2m of our revenue budget. In 2024/25, we realised 5.6% efficiency savings, against a 3% target, achieving this measure.
To achieve a balanced budget in 2024/25, we set a vacancy management savings target of £3.5m, which is £2.3m higher than the target required by Scottish Government. Vacancy savings by the year end are expected to be in the region of £4.6m.
Measure twelve - Achieved
Our plan was to: Maintain percentage of invoices paid within 10 days.
What we achieved: We are working to the Scottish Government target to pay all valid invoices within 10 working days. During 2024/25 we paid 90.65% of all valid supplier invoices within 10 working days, against a target of 90%, achieving this measure.
Financial performance and use of resources
Our financials
The financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025 have been prepared in accordance with the Accounts Direction given by the Scottish Ministers in pursuance of the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000, and in accordance with His Majesty’s Treasury Financial Reporting Manual (FReM). The financial statements are consolidated within the Scottish Government Consolidated Resource Accounts.
The Accountable Officer authorised these financial statements for issue on 10 December 2025.
Financial overview
As per the statement of comprehensive net expenditure (SOCNE) (see table 26), our total gross expenditure for the financial year ended 31 March 2025 was £104.9m (prior year £97.1 m). These figures include pension costs supplied by the actuary, Hymans Robertson, at 31 March 2025 of £1.3m in staff costs (prior year £0.1m).
Of our total funding, £55.4m (prior year £51.4m) came from fees and charges, £1.2m from finance income which includes a net return of £1m on pension scheme assets in finance costs (prior year £0.1m net return), with the balance of £48.4m (prior year £45.5m) funded by Scottish Government.
Our funding
In 2024/25, our budgeted income to cover our operational costs comprised of Scottish Government funding of £48.3m, charging schemes income of £53m to cover the relevant costs of our regulatory activities and other income of £2.4m in recharges and grants. This provided us with £103.7m to invest in protecting and improving Scotland’s environment and contribute to delivering services across a range of government priorities.
Figure 16 on page 58 of the PDF version of this report depicts the five-year summary of expenditure as reported in the financial statements.
Scottish Government funding
Each year we are allocated a budget by Scottish Government, a departmental expenditure limit (DEL). The budget net of income from other sources is approved at the start of the financial year and can be amended in October and January through the spring and autumn budget revision process. The initial budget allocation and subsequent revisions are set out in table 9.
|
Budget category |
Per Budget Act £’000 |
In year budget revisions £’000 |
2024/25 Final budget outturn £’000 |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Resource cash DEL |
39,911 |
1,959 |
41,870 |
|
Resource non-cash DEL |
6,280 |
165 |
6,445 |
|
Total resource DEL |
46,191 |
2,124 |
48,315 |
|
Capital DEL |
6,400 |
97 |
6,497 |
In year budget revisions do not include savings for £170k in resource and £1m deferred capital funds agreed with Scottish Government following a mid-year saving exercise
Resource cash DEL is allocated for staff and operating costs, with a baseline allocation of £39.9m for 2024/25. An additional resource cash DEL of £1.9m was received to fund several key projects including the Water Environment Fund, COVID-19 waste water testing, and emission trading.
Resource non-cash DEL accounts for depreciation and impairment of fixed assets. An additional £165k was received to cover increased depreciation charges for right of use assets. Non-cash budgets are ring-fenced and cannot fund cash expenditure.
Capital DEL funds long-term assets like equipment and infrastructure. An in-year budget adjustment of 97k was received to cover additional lease costs for the right of use assets.
We are required to manage the outturn within Scottish Government resource limits. A comparison of our outturn compared to the final budget from the Scottish Government is detailed in Table 10.
|
Budget category |
Expenditure outturn £’000 |
Budget £’000 |
Variance £’000 |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Resource DEL (cash) |
41,816 |
41,870 |
54 |
|
Resource DEL (non-cash) |
6,066 |
6,445 |
379 |
|
Total resource DEL |
47,882 |
48,315 |
433 |
|
Capital DEL |
5,320 |
6,497 |
1,177 |
|
Total DEL expenditure |
53,202 |
54,812 |
1,610 |
Resource DEL (cash)
Total expenditure was £54k below the £41.9m resource allocation, which is £116k lower than the £170k target agreed with the Scottish Government following the mid-year savings review.
Operating costs (net increase £0.3m)
Savings generated from a higher than budgeted level of vacancies were used to fund our ambitious transformation programme, focused on our customers and enhancing what we do for the public and communities of Scotland. As part of our organisational reset, we conducted a targeted voluntary severance exercise, approving 10 applications (see table 24: Exit Packages). These posts will be permanently deleted, saving £0.7m annually from 2025/26. The savings will support our transformation programme, focusing on regulatory improvement, digital solutions, customer experience and data-driven decision making.
Operating income (net increase £0.2m)
Charging Scheme income was £53m, matching the budget. A £0.4m reduction in annual charges was balanced by an equivalent rise in application fees. Other income from service recharges and grants was £2.4m, £0.2m below budget, mainly due to reduced grant income which was offset by reduced spending on the project.
Finance income
Interest payments totalling £0.2 million were received from the bank during the year, which aligned with the budget.
Resource DEL (non- cash) depreciation and impairment of assets (net decrease £0.4m)
Overall expenditure was £0.4m lower than the £6.4m resource limit. The annual cost of depreciating our fixed assets was £6m, plus £0.1m incurred impairing assets during the year was slightly less than our budget allocation.
Capital (DEL)
Overall expenditure was £1.2m lower than the £6.5m resource limit, which is £0.2m more than the £1m we agreed to defer following a mid-year savings exercise undertaken by Scottish Government. Spend mainly covered our digital transformation, upgrade to our hydrometric network, improvements to our Aberdeen laboratory, phase 1 of our fleet replacement programme and the replacement of end-of-life plant and equipment (note 9 provides further information). The underspend was a result of equipment being delivered later than scheduled.
|
|
Note |
£’000 |
|---|---|---|
|
Net operating expenditure |
SOCNE |
(49,447) |
|
Add back pensions adjustments |
17 |
285 |
|
Net change in provisions |
14 |
(42) |
|
Add back depreciation and impairments |
9 |
6,066 |
|
Add net interest received |
6 &7 |
1,051 |
|
Add back expected credit loss |
11 |
271 |
|
Resource outturn DEL cash |
|
(41,816) |
Table 11 provides a detailed reconciliation between net operating expenditure of £49. 5m reported in table 26: statement of comprehensive net expenditure (SOCNE) and the £41.8m outturn reported. Further details regarding income and expenditure are provided in the annual accounts section.
Each year, the Scottish Government also allocates a budget for Annually Managed Expenditure (AME). This budget covers areas outside SEPA’s direct control, such as pensions, provisions, and asset revaluations. Based on historical expenditure averages and actuarial forecasts of pension adjustments, an AME budget of £1.9m was set. Total spending was £2.3m below the budgeted amount; Table 12 shows a comparison of actual versus estimated spending for 2024/25.
|
AME budget 2024/25 |
Note |
Expenditure outturn £’000 |
Budget £’000 |
Variance £’000 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Pension charges |
17 |
285 |
803 |
518 |
|
Changes in provision |
|
54 |
450 |
396 |
|
Expected credit loss |
11 |
271 |
150 |
(121) |
|
Change in market values |
9 |
(1,008) |
500 |
(1,508) |
|
Total AME expenditure |
|
(398) |
1,903 |
2,301 |
Statement of financial position
The statement of financial position shows we have net assets of £29.3m at 31 March 2025 compared to net assets of £48.9m at 31 March 2024. This is primarily caused by a significant change in the estimated pension scheme valuation from a net surplus of £21.5m in March 2024 to a net surplus of £0 in March 2025. Further information on pensions can be found in note 17.
Non-current assets decreased by £20.6m compared to March 2024. The decrease includes:
- Investment in and the revaluation of capital asset net of disposals and depreciation of £0.9m (refer to note 9).
- Decrease in the recognised net pension surplus of £21.5m (refer to note 17).
As at 31 March 2025, the reported value of our property, plant and equipment was £42.1m.
Avison Young (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)) conducted desktop valuations of our buildings and right of use assets in March 2025. The estimated value of our land and buildings including additions and disposals decreased by £0.2m to £4.6m and the right to use building assets including additions and disposals increased by £0.1m to £5.5m.
Our gauging stations underwent a full revaluation in March 2023 and have been indexed annually thereafter. In 2024/25, we applied the BCIS (Building Cost Information Service) All-In Tender price index based on Avison Young's advice and HMRC guidance published in December 2024. This resulted in a 2.3% increase of £0.4m. The estimated value of the gauging stations, including additions, disposals, and impairments, was £17.3m as of 31 March 2025, down £0.4m from 31 March 2024.
Our leased properties include a decommissioning provision for our larger properties. A full valuation was undertaken by Avison Young as at March 2023 (£4.2m) and have been indexed annually thereafter. In 2024/25 we applied the BCIS All-In Tender price index, this resulted in a 2.3% increase of £0.1m.
Supplier payment policy
It is our policy to pay suppliers within 10 days from invoice date. In 2024/25 on average we paid 90.65% (92.5% 2023/24) of supplier invoices within 10 days.
Financial sustainability
We are committed to managing expenditure within the income available year on year. The Scottish Government has allocated to us £49.8m resource DEL grant for 2025/26 to fund operating costs and £5.6m for capital investment and we have estimated that the fees from charging schemes and other income to be £57.2m.
We are driving forward with Scottish Government Environment and Forestry Directorate and wider public sector partners, the ten-year programme for public service reform. We have begun a programme to understand resources required to deliver environmental priorities in conjunction with a rationalised Estates Strategy. We are sharing our assets such as the satellite emergency services and our floating laboratory the Sir John Murray with other public bodies. We are developing our Data Strategy to share our data as an asset with other public bodies. We are progressing our transformation by a digital first review of services provided and embracing Artificial Intelligence on multiple levels from small time savings to larger innovative solutions.
The long-term focus remains on driving the change necessary to meet the future service of the communities; businesses; environment and economy of Scotland. We are focusing on the long-term financial sustainability of our services.
Sustainability
Net zero SEPA
Our ambition is to be net zero in our emissions. We have adopted and are implementing a Route Map (covering the period 2024-2026) which sets ambitious but realistic targets and will guide our work to further reduce our emissions. It also resets our direct emissions baseline to 2022/23 when they were 1,742 tCO2e and sets a target to reduce them by 15% over the route map lifetime.
Our impact
As noted in our Net Zero Routemap, we broadly categorise our emissions as either workspace or travel related. We use the standards to measure and manage emissions set by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol (GHGP) methodology and interpret these for our annual reporting under the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 Public Bodies Duties.
We continue to develop our monitoring and reporting for emissions associated with waste management and water over the period of our Routemap.
Our direct emissions (associated with our workplaces and travel, GHGP scopes 1, 2 and some 3) for 2024/25 were 1,743.61 tCO2e, a minimal increase on our baseline. This is due to an increase in mileage by our survey vessel the Sir John Murray (SJM) which accounted for 16% of our total emissions in 2024/25 compared with less than 3% in 2023/24.
In 2024/25 direct emissions from our workspaces reduced by 12.8% against our baseline and, if we exclude SJM, those categorised as travel reduced by 11.2%. This is a result of work to rationalise our office estate and greening of our vehicle fleet. We will undertake further work in both these areas in 2025/26. We plan to sell SJM at the end of 2025/26, and, although we will still need to account for emissions associated with marine surveys, we expect these to reduce considerably. Further detail on our emissions is provided under Measure two: Reduce annual reports of greenhouse gas emission by SEPA.
Figure 17 on page 64 of the PDF version of this report shows a breakdown of SEPA’s emissions over time as categorised by the GHG Protocol methodology.(2)
[2] GHG Protocol sets out the emission scope levels as Scope 1 - all direct GHG emissions; Scope 2 - indirect GHG emissions from consumption of purchased electricity, heat, or steam; and Scope 3 - other indirect emissions not covered in Scope 2.
Our Net Zero Routemap on a page
Our aim: To reduce our greenhouse gas emissions to at least net zero by 2035
Our target 2024-2026: We will reduce our direct greenhouse gas emissions by 15% by March 2026
Our work areas 2024-2026
- Our People: Bring emission reduction to the centre of SEPA’s values and behaviours
- Workspaces: Reduce direct emissions from workspaces alongside adapting them to the hybrid era
- Travel: Reduce direct emissions from travel by reducing miles travelled and increasing use of low emission vehicles
- Computers and technology: Change the way we buy and use computers and IS equipment to reduce emissions
- Our money and spending: Better understand the emissions associated with our purchasing alongside reviewing what we buy
- Regenerative actions: Prepare to offset residual emissions by working with partners and developing a pipeline of environmental regeneration projects
Our contribution to sustainable development goals
Our work is integrated with environment goals set by Scotland and internationally. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations member states in 2015, provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future.
We are dedicated to contributing to the ambitions of the United Nations 17 sustainable development goals and the National Performance Framework for Scotland.
The National Performance Framework sets out 11 national outcomes and explains which sustainable development goals each outcome contributes to. The examples on the following page show how our work helps deliver five of the national outcomes and nine sustainable development goals.
National Performance Framework
Sustainable Development Goals and how we live them
We live in communities that are inclusive, empowered, resilient and safe
Goal 10 - Reduced inequalities
- We provide advice to avoid development in areas of flood risk.
- We warn people so they can take action when a flood is likely.
Goal 11 - Sustainable cities and communities
- We regulate activities that could pollute water, air or land to keep communities safe.
- We apply the polluter pays principle to ensure that the costs are borne by those that impact our environment most.
We have a globally competitive, entrepreneurial, inclusive and sustainable economy
Goal 9 - Industry, innovation and infrastructure
- We adopt Best Available Techniques when regulating industry to protect the environment and people in the best way possible.
- We are working with regulators and industry in Grangemouth to enable competitive strength to grow whilst transitioning to net zero.
Goal 12 - Responsible consumption and production
- We are working with partners to deliver digital tracking of waste. This supports more efficient use of resources.
- We regulate waste management activities to protect communities and encourage recycling.
We are healthy and active
Goal 3 - Good health and well-being
- As Scotland’s principal environmental regulator, we regulate activities that could pollute water, air or land.
Goal 15 - Life on land
- We administer the Water Environment Fund, to restore rivers. We create new green corridors in urban areas which can be used for active travel and recreation.
We value, enjoy, protect and enhance our environment
Goal 13 - Climate action
- We monitor, forecast and report water scarcity, and provide advice to water users to protect the water environment.
- We reduce our own greenhouse gas emissions and aim to become a net zero organisation by 2035.
Goal 14 - Life below water
- We monitor and report water quality at Scotland’s 89 bathing waters so people can enjoy them safely.
- We deliver River Basin Management Plans to protect and improve our rivers, lochs, estuaries, coastal areas and groundwater.
We are open, connected and make a positive contribution internationally
Goal 17 - Partnerships for the goals
- We undertake work with international partners so that we can help them build their capacity to protect and improve the environment.
Approved by the Board on 25 November 2025 and signed on behalf of the Board on 10 December 2025.
Nicole Paterson, Chief Executive and Accountable Officer
Documents
- Annual Report and Accounts 2024/25 (PDF, 9.5 MB)
- Highlights of 2024/25 (PDF, 683 kB)