THE UNITE GROUP PLC Annual Report and Accounts 2024 188 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 4.2 Interest rate swaps The Group uses interest rate swaps to manage the Group’s exposure to interest rate fluctuations. In accordance with the Group’s Treasury Policy, the Group does not hold or issue interest rate swaps for trading purposes. The derivatives of the Company are the same as those of the Group, and the hedge accounting disclosures in note 4.5a are also relevant for the Company. Accounting policies Interest rate swaps are recognised initially and subsequently at fair value, with mark to market movements recognised in the income statement unless cash flow hedge accounting is applied. The Group designates certain interest rate derivatives as hedging instruments. The interest rate swap is designated as the hedging instrument in a hedge of the variability in cash flows attributable to the interest risk of borrowings. At inception, the Group documents the relationship between the hedging instrument and the hedged item, along with the risk management objectives and its strategy for undertaking various hedge transactions. Furthermore, at the inception of the hedge and on an ongoing basis, the Group documents whether the hedging instrument is effective in offsetting changes in fair values or cash flows of the hedged item attributable to the hedged risk, which is when the hedging relationships meet all of the following hedge effectiveness requirements: • There is an economic relationship between the hedged item and the hedging instrument • The effect of credit risk does not dominate the value changes that result from that economic relationship • The hedge ratio of the hedging relationship is the same as that resulting from the quantity of the hedged item that the Group actually hedges and the quantity of the hedging instrument that the Group actually uses to hedge that quantity of hedged item. The effective portion of changes in fair value of the interest rate swap is recognised in Other Comprehensive Income and presented under the heading of Hedging reserve in equity, limited to the cumulative change in fair value of the hedged item from inception of the hedge. Any ineffective portion of changes in the fair value of the interest rate swap is recognised immediately in profit or loss. Amounts previously recognised in other comprehensive income and accumulated in equity are reclassified to profit or loss in the periods when the hedged item affects profit or loss, in the same line as the recognised hedged item. If the Group expects that some or all of the loss accumulated in the hedging reserve will not be recovered in the future, that amount is immediately reclassified to profit or loss. The Group discontinues hedge accounting only when the hedging relationship (or a part thereof) ceases to meet the qualifying criteria. This includes instances when the hedging instrument expires or is sold, terminated or exercised. The discontinuation is accounted for prospectively. Any gain or loss recognised in Other Comprehensive Income and accumulated in the hedging reserve at that time remains in equity and is reclassified to profit or loss when the forecast transaction occurs. When a forecast transaction is no longer expected to occur, the gain or loss accumulated in the hedging reserve is reclassified immediately to profit or loss. The fair value of interest rate swaps is the estimated amount that the Group would receive or pay to terminate the swap at the balance sheet date, taking into account current interest rates and the current creditworthiness of the swap counterparties. The following table shows the fair value of interest rate swaps which at 31 December 2024 are not designated in accounting hedge relationships: 2024 2023 £m £m Current 7.4 - Non-current 46.0 56.0 Fair value of interest rate swaps 53.4 56.0 The fair value of interest rate swaps has been calculated by a third-party, discounting estimated future cash flows on the basis of market expectations of future interest rates, representing Level 2 in the IFRS 13 fair value hierarchy. At 31 December 2024, the fair value above comprises current assets of £7.4 milion and non-current assets of £46.0 million (2023: non-current assets of £56.0 million). NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS continued