Sustain:The Alliance for Better Food & Farming
Annual report
Review and accounts for the year
ended 31 March 2023
Company registered number.. 02673194
Charity registered number.. 1018643
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Sustain:The Alliance for Better Food & Farming
Foreword
In February 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine. Coming
hard on the heels of the Covid-19-fuelled economic
downturn, this sent oil and grain prices soaring, with
profound implications for food supply and finances
across the globe. This has affected Sustain's work
at all levels, from our own operations, through to
responding lo another huge surge in poverty and
household food insecurity, as well a$ 2 notable chill
on the willingness of government to champion public
health and environmental policy.
and facilities, financial investment and shorter
and agroecologi¢al supply chains that Could offer
communities more food resilience, and less exposure
to external pressures.
Encouragingly, the strength, size and confidence
of the Sustainable Food Places network has also
grown significantly, with 90 local authorities and
food partnerships stepping up to their frontline role
in addressing household food insecurity, supporting
community-connected food enterprise, food's role
in climate change, and using planning to enable
community food growing.
We started the 2022 calendar year looking forward to
exciting opportunities. This included the promise of
a National Food Strategy, and a 9pm watershed for
unhealthy food advertising, for which our alliance has Strategic and other support from the Welsh Assembly
campaigned for decades. Who could have predicted
and Scotland's Good Food Nation Act have been very
then what delays, obfuscations, inflationary pressures welcome. No such luck in Westminster, where we
and political chaos would ensue?1 We feel very
described Government's response to the National
grateful to have been able to bolster our parliament
Food Strategy as 'feeble'. Key food and farming
an(J public 2ffairs team at this time. Our funders
policies are not yet fit for the purpose of addressing
recognised that national and global turmoil must not
the climate and nature emergency and improving
become an excuse for reneging on decisive action to
public health. As a General Election starts to loom on
prevent cataslrophic climate change, restore nature
the horizon, era-defining choices are ahead of us. We
and enable everyone to have access to wholesome,
look forward to working with you to put better food
affordable and sustainably grown food.
and farming f irmly on the public and political plate.
We were thrilled to receive news of significant
funding to invest in that better food vision - our new
Local Food Retail Strategy and Bridging the Gap
strategic programmes. These will work alongside our
sustainable farming and local networks to rebuild
the relationships, trading systems, a¢¢ess to land
Professor Mike Rayner
Chair of Sustain's Council of Trustees
Trustees during the financial year covered by this report".
Cobi-Jane Akinrele lelected 18112120201**
Shefalee Loth lelected 18112120201
Lucy Bjorck lelecled 0911212019, stood down 09112120221
Alison Swan Parente Ire-elecled 15112120211
Josie Cohen (re-elected 15112120211
Rob Percival (elected 14112120221-
David Edwards (elected 18112120201-
Stephanie Slater (re-elected 14112120221
Jyoti Fernandes lelected 18112120201
Professor Mike Rayner (re-elected 15112120211
Dr Kawther Hashem (elected 18112120201-
Victoria Williams (re-elected 14112120221
Bridget Henderson (re-elected 15112120211
Deirdre IDeel Woods Ire-elected 15112120211
Katharine Jenner114112120221'
Raksha Mistry Ire-elected 14112120221"
Andre Kpodonu (elected 18112120201
Mollie Gupta (elected 18112120201-
Jo Lewis lelected 0911212019, stood down 09112120221.
Nick Weir (elected 18112120201
Note.. Those marked with an asterisk I. I share the trustee role between two people in their organisation as part Df a
leadership development opportunity for diversity. One in each pair marked with a double asterisk (-') is the norninated
Trustee registéred with Companies House and the Charity Commission. Where marked also with a I"), this person
transitioned from 2 supported role-share position to a Trustee registered with Companies House following the December
2022 election.
Company registered number: 02673194
Charity regislered number: 1018643
Registered office: The Green House, 244-254 Cambridge Heath Road, London E2 9DA
Auditors: Goldwins, 75 Maygrove Road, West Hampstead, London NW6 2EG
Bankers: The Co-operative Bank, PO Box 101, 1 Balloon Street, Manchester M60 4EP and Triodos Bank,
Deanery Road, Bristol, BS1 SAS

Our year in numbers
Our projects, campaigns, partnerships and policy work contributed
to the following over the year April 2022 to March 2023:
100+
kilograms
of sugar
removed
from soft
drinks
every year
ood
artnerships
owin
Sustainable
ood Places
etwork
local authorities
seek our support
on healthierfood
advertising policies
90
12 2,500
European countries
share food systems
good practice
volunteers take
part in Good to
Grow Day. in
126 gardens
25
Defra officials visit
peri-urban Fringe Farms
***
270,000
more children set to
receive free school
meals in London
50
engaged in
Sustainable Food
Places day of action
people discuss food P
policy solutions to the
cost-of-living crisis at
Sustain's annual conference
• £1.5m Over1,000
Lottery grant
secured to pilot
climate friendly
food for all
good food jobs
advertised on
Roots to Work
platform
800
people attend first
Scottish Real Bread Festival
20
Sustain alliance
members
participate in
The RACE
Report
6,000+
Grocery Code
Adjudicator
saved from
being axed
downloads of
Sustain publications
Find out more about Sustain's success stories and achievements at-.
www.sustainweb.or
laboutlworkin
to
ether_our_success_storiesl

Good food production
Our vision is a food production system that is based on the principles of
agroecology, that is fair for all who participate in it, and which is connected with
its local community, through shorter, localised supply chains, and community
food growing spaces, all of which cover rural, peri-urban and urban areas.
In a busy year for our Sustainable Farming
Campaign, we greatly strengthened links with
MPS of all the main political parties, championing
sustainable land-use, better Environmental
Land Management IELMI public payments and
standards, localised food inf rastructure, peri-
urban farms and better food trading, aiming to
re-balance the conditions and economics in favour
of agroecological farming. We produced reports
and briefings, hosted roundtables, marched in
Westminster with farmers, gave evidence to Select
Committees and had numerous meetings with MPS
and Ministers, often in partnership with groups
representing nature-friendly farmers whose success
will be essential to the agroecological transition.
We boosted efforts to secure core standards and
scrutiny in international trade deals, using the
UK-Australia deal and India negotiations to win
high-profile attention. Working with PAN-UK and
the Alliance lo Save Our Antibiotics, we made
pesticides and farm antibiotics touchstone issues
and were cited in reports by EFRA, the International
Trade Committee and International Agreements
Committee. Working with sister alliance Greener UK
we also raised concerns about sweeping ministerial
powers in the Retained EU Law Bill.
At local level we championed peri-urban community
food growing through our Fringe Farming initiative,
working with the Landworkers Alliance to promote
training, webinars, site visits and local authority
engagement, working with local partners in Bristol,
Glasgow, Cardiff, London and Sheffield.
It was a period of intense political upheaval and
spiralling costs exacerbated by Russia s invasion
of Ukraine and extreme weather events. With food
security thrown into the national spotlight, we made
the case for farmers to receive better incomes through
supply chain regulation and a fairer share of the profit
currently often less than 1p on typical packs of
everyday foods, as we showed in our ground-breaking
report 'Unpicking Food Prices- Where our food
pound goes and why farmers get so little,, which
received extensive media coverage.
In London, our well-established Capital Growth
community food growing network (supporting over
2,000 community gardensl ran 14 training sessions
for around 400 attendees. We co-hosted seven
open days with our Spotlight Gardens, ran inter-
council network meetings with 16 London councils,
and convened a working party of over 50 London
organisations, all to support community food growing.
Sustain's Orla Delargy
gives or81 evidence to
EFRA Committee on
food standards in the
Australia trade deal
We join WWF in form81
complaint on lack Df
public consultation on
environmental standards
in trade dea15
Internation81 Tr8d& Committee
calls on Government to
guarantee UK pesticide
controls following lobbying
by Sustain and PAN-UK
A r&cord 52 London
gardens run Good
to Grow public
engagement clay5
Launch of Growing for
Change hanclbook for
urban food gardens
April
June
July
September
November
Our Tal& Df Two
Counties mapping of
local food infrastructure
prompts action in East
Sussex and Lsncashire
We chair cross-
party roundtable in
Westminster for MPS
supporting peri-urban
community farms
Fring& Farming
promoted in Defra
farm tour with
Kindling Trust in
Ènch&ster
Westminster Hall
Debate held on
support for local
food infrastructure,
following our lobbying
Alliance to Sav& Our
Celebratory events
feature 12 Spotlight
Gardens showcasing
diverse food growing
Ènd people
bacteria in rivers near
UK fattory farms

We now have the International Trade Committee
asking the questions we were having to ask
ourselves when we started. Well done everyone!"
I think if we could up-scale
it the way you're proposing...
you'd do the whole country
a great service"
Josie Cohen, Pesticide Action Network UK, on ITC
report calling for standards in trade deals
Derek Thomas, Conservative
MP for St Ives, member ofthe
EFRA Committee and APPG
on Agroecology, supporting
Sustain's proposals on peri-
urban community farming
That actually wasn't boring.
Claudia, Year 9 pupil113 to 14
years old) at Camden School
for Girls, on her visit to Regent s
Park Allotment training site
Photo.. Organl¢Lea Growers, Chingford,. ¢redlt.. Zoe Walde-Aldam
Our landmark Unpieking
Food Prices report
gains high attention
from industry and
in ParliarDent
Food Sense Wal&s
publishes local
action plan report on
Fringe Faming after
stakeholder event
Latest of five P&ri-
Urban Farming
Practitioners
Forum gatherings,
organised by Sustain
Sustain r8ises high-profile concerns 8bout
farm antibiDtics, pesticides and animal
welfare in proposed CPTPP trade agreement
and backs Feedback's legal challenge to
clitnate itnpact of Australia trade deal
Fring& Farming
tour of Organiclea
engages council
officers keen to
support food growing
December
January
February
March
Sustainable Food
Places hosts Fringe
Farming events for local
food partnerships keen
to support horticulture
Fring& Farming policy
report published, setting
out recommendations
for growth in peri-urban
hortitulture
Farmers and advocates
rally arounoj action on
farrn policy at Oxford Real
Fartning Conference, with
record attend8nte
Three Community Food
Growing Conversations
hosted on Cotnrnunity
Harvest, Social Prescribing
and Growing Food on Estates
145 people attend
Growing Food for
Resilience webinar on
otntnunity resilience
Ihrough food growing

Good food economy
Our vision is that fair supply chains that support a flourishing diversity of
supply, manufacturing, retail and catering enterprises- at home and overseas
that create good jobs and livelihoods,. helping agroecological farmers and
sustainable fishers to thrive and making good food the easiest choice.
This year saw the launch of our exciting ar)d
pioneering new programme Bridging the Gap. This
will pilot initiatives that 'bridge the gap, in price to
make sustainably grown food affordable for people
on a lower income. We will co-design interventions,
working with food-system experts and practitioners
across the four nations of the UK. Promising options
include enhancing public sector food procurement-
investing in values-led food hubs, wholesalers and
local food retail,- and subsidised voucher schemes.
artisan and home bakers to promote diverse and
delicious bread made by traditional methods. With
spiralling costs and people struggling to afford
good food, we worked with bakers to trial and share
good practices on making Real Bread and bread-
making facilities accessible and affordable to all, and
championing high standards through strengthening
UK bread, flour and labelling regulations.
We renewed our efforts to celebrate diversity,
securing six subsidised places for people from under-
represented backgrounds on a a microbusiness
course at The School of Artisan Food. We also made
special efforts to feature people from diverse ethnic
backgrounds and cultural heritage at events, in guest
blogs, in our new A to Z of internationally diverse
bread, and in True Loaf magazine.
We are also excited to have secured funding for a
Local Food Retail Coordinator to develop a multi-
organisational programme (to be launched in 20231
to catalyse better, fairer and more resilient trading in
local food, to support nature friendly farmer-focused
supply chains across the UK.
The government's consultation on the Levelling
Up and Regeneration Bill provided an opportunity
for the food system to be supported through the
planning system. We coordinated a response, calling
for planning policies to promote horticulture, healthy
food retail and cor)trol of the proliferation of hot
food takeaways.
In London, we promoted sustainable food enterprise
through Jellied Eel magazine, Food Talks and
networking events for good food pioneers in the
capital, especially those improving access to
affordable healthy and sustainable food for lower
income communities. We also highlighted support
for good food enterprise in our work with London's
boroughs and food partnerships, many of whom want
to support solutions to the rising cost of living that
build community wealth and resilience.
Now in its 15th year, the Real Bread Campaign kept
up its impressive energy and creativity, supporting
Real Bread Campaign
helps Open University
survey contribution
of 200 stnall bakeries
to local econotnie5
Real Bread Campaign
lobbies Prirne Minister
to support small
bakery businesses
Six subsidised places
offered on School of
Artisan Food five-day
tnicrobusine5s course
Real Bread Campaign
hosts four free fringe
events at UK Grain Lab
150 bakery professiona15
urge EFRA to introduce
Honest Crust Act
May
June
July
August
September
£1.5m National Lott&ry
funding secured for
pioneering new Bridging
the Gap programme
Food acc&ss 8dvoc8tes
start to discuss pilot
projects to make
nature-friendly food
afford8bl& to 811
London Food Link
gathering helps good foo
pioneers share inspiration
goocl practice
Advisor recruited
to help with co-
procluction of Bridging
the Gap pilots
We c811 for planning policies
on good food retail and hot
food takeaways contiol, in
Levelling Up Bill consultatio

Such a fantastic jobs board, l am so glad Sustain does this."
Calhy Hughes, True Food Community Cooperative, Reading
Sustain highlights the
need to use 'all the tools in
the box, to promote local
growth in shorter supply
chains and with innovation
at local and national level.
Super-practical. Full of sage advice
and heart-warming values about good
bread. Wholeheartedly recommended."
Chris Cundill, Rosa's Bakery Limited, Neath
in Wales, commenting on Knead to Know...
more- the Real Bread Campaign's guide to
starting a mi¢robakery
Peter Aldous, Conservative
MP for Waveney, Suffolk
Phoro.. Granville Community Kitchen's Good Food Box, credit.. Jonath8n Goldberg
London's local
authorities discuss
how to help citizens
afford good food in the
We host roundtable on
using planning policy to
achieve a healthier food
environment
Sustain briefing published on
supporting good foooj systems in the
National Planning Policy Framework
and National Design Code
First Scottish Real
Bread Festival takes
place during Real
Bread Week
Sustain contribut&s
to Food Talk event..
'Is £3 a fairer price
for a pint of milk?,
October
November
January
February
March
MPS 8sk p8rliam?nt8ry
questions on flour and
bread standards for the
Real Bread Campaign
28 out of 33 London
councils submit evidence
of action on good food
for all Londoners
Not all Real Bread is
White event promote5
the inspirational work
of Black bakers
Packed Bridging the Cap
session at Oxford Re81 Farming
Conference discusses practical
ys to make sustainable food
atc&ssible to all
2,000 people now
subscribe to our
Planning Food
Cities new51etter

Good food for all
Our vision is that we want to see healthy, sustainable food accessible
and affordable to all, through a diverse array of outlets, and for it to
become unacceptable and expensive to market unhealthy, unethical and
unsustainable produce, over the alternative.
We celebrated the fifth anniversary of the landmark
Soft Drinks Industry Levy, sending a thank-you
card to HM Treasury and all MPS. This highlighted
46m kg of sugar removed from soft drinks every
year., that 89Yo of soft drinks sales are now low or
no sugar,. with £1.5bn f ur)ds raised to help support
school breakfasts and holiday activity programmes.
Now in its 12th year, our Good Food for All
Londoners benchmarking report continues to set
the bar for action by London's 33 boroughs to
improve access to healthy and sustainable food.
Alongside the thriving Boroughs Food Group, this
has become a leading organising tool for sharing
and driving good practice. Expertise established in
London has attracted attention across the UK, with
over 100 local authorities asking for our support
with healthier food advertising policies., 200 people
attending our Veg Cities webinar on peri-urban
community horticulture,. and 126 gardens taking
part in Good to Grow Day. We are also discussing
with several regional authorities the possibility of
piloting our good food benchmarking f ramework
in other areas, learning from our well-established
experience in the capital.
We decided that the time has come for a national
campaign to Say Yes to School Food for All. After
extensive consultation, we launched this on
International School Meals Day in March 2023
backed by over 30 organisations plus 21 MPS from
six political parties. We enthusiastically welcomed
commitments by Westminster Council and the
Mayor of London to free school meals for all
primary-age children in state schools, whilst noting
the postcode lottery for children elsewhere.
Prompted by our campaigning, the NHS and
Department of Health reinstated monthly publishing
of uptake data for Healthy Start fruit, veg and Milk
vouchers for low-income parents. We continued to
press for increased value and expanded eligibility.
We also worked in partnership with Food Matters
and the Greater London Authority to run the London
Food Roots Incubator, helping local food poverty
alliances to strengthen local action on food poverty.
We have campaigned for over 20 years for
legislation restricting prominent displays of
unhealthy food in shops. This came into force in
October 2022. We also campaigned vigorously for
implementation of laws passed in 2021 to introduce
a 9pm watershed and online ban on unhealthy food
advertising. Disappointingly, the Government has
now delayed these until 2025.
We ask HM Treasury
for sugar reduction
data on fourth
anniversary of Soft
Drink5 Inclustry Levy
Workshops with
schDoI pupils to get
WÈ coordinate letter from
he8dt&achers, academy
trusts and teaching unions
calling for eKpansion of
free school tneals
Our Healthy Start discussion list
grows to 300+ members from
public health, food partnerships
and food poverty alliances
126 gardens take part in
Good to Grow Day with
2,500 volunteer5 involved
free school meals
and universalist
April
May
June
ASA upholds our case
against KP Snacks and
The Hundred for targeting
hildren with unhealthy
snatk promotion
H&alth & Social Care
Act enshrines in law
9pm watershed and
online HFSS food
advèrtising ban
Children's Food Campaign
objects to government
delay in HFSS food
advertlsing restrictions
80 representatives from London
boroughs discuss solutions
to household food insecurity,
coordinated by our London
Food Poverty Campaign
Food poverty alliances
share leaming on food
co-ops, soliclarity
models and affordable
veg box schèmes

Really, you and the Sustainers are amazing,
and I think this is one of the best things
you, or anybody in this space, have done.
And the timing is perfect, as it feels like
we're at a tipping point on this issue."
Dan Parker, Veg Power and Living Loud,
responding to the launch of the Say Yes to
School Food for All campaign
hool Foo,
For All
Or
411
11 Thank you for the continued work of Sustain
and others to expose the deep flaws in the
new Healthy Start digital scheme, that are
directly causing serious financial hardship
to low-income pregnant women and
households with young children- this at a
time of unprecedented increases in inflation
and the cost of living."
Peter Cox, Public Health Commissioner, Kent
County Council
m writing the paper copying from
your amazing document. It's just got
everything. There's such a logical
process to follow - it's really not
hard work."
Natalie Lovell, Tower Hamlets Public
Health Programme Manager for Healthy
Environments, commenting on Sustain's
Healthier Food Advertising Policy Toolkit
Pupils frotn Sacred Heart Primary S¢hool at launch of Say Yes ¢atnpaign, ¢redlt.. Adrlan Pope
Barnsley becom&s
first northern town to
introduce healthier food
advertising policy
W& welcome High
Court ruling against
Kellogg's in junk food
marketing case
Mayor of London announces
free School meals for all primary
school children for 2023 school
year, with our support
Expert webinar to learn from
Kellogg's lunsuccessfull
court case on food
rnarketing restrictions
Launch Df Say
Yes to School
Food For All
campaign
June
July
October
February
March
Work starts with London
Borough of Waltham Forest
on transitioning away from
ernergency food aid
Sustain co-sponsors Labour
and Conservative Party
conference event5 on fiscal
ea5ures for healthy food
Regulations come
Packed launch
event for Good Food
for All Londoneis
benchmarking report
117 gardens register
for forthcoming
Good to Grow open
garden5 day
in-store HFSS food
and drink promotion

10
Parliament and public affairs
We were grateful this year to receive additional
financial support to boost our inf luential parliament,
public affairs and communications team, with tools
and capacity, which proved especially important
during a year when such a large amount of
important public health and environmental policy
came under threat. The team worked impressively
to coordinate high-profile responses across a wide
range of campaigns, alliance organisations, MPS,
peers and subject areas, as well as with partners
across the four nations of the UK.
fruit, veg and milk for low-in¢ome parents with
young children. We used online mapping showing
what local people and areas are missing out on,
placed Parliamentary Questions and Freedom of
Information requests, challenged official claims,
got official uptake data corrected, and catalysed
publication of data by region, which we know that
the local public health teams we work with need to
prioritise local delivery. We also briefed numerous
journalists, resulting in coverage by regional
broadcast media and a detailed feature in the New
Statesman. This resulted in service improvements
such as increased staff on the helpline and a
government commitment to backdate payments
to parents who had missed out.
Particular highlights of work by the parliament and
public affairs team include..
Inserting the Sustainable Farming Campaign's
report Unpicking Food Prices into the national
debate with three concerted communications
¢ampaigns and supporting parliamentary activity.
Coordinated lobbying of parliamentarians also
generated an EFRA select committee inquiry into
supply chain fairness.
Our team contributed to sessions at the Sustainable
Food Places national conference and the Oxford
Real Farming Conference comparing progress on
food and farming policy across the four UK nations.
We explored recent Westminster activity on key food
policy areas such as school meals provision, Healthy
Start vouchers, access to land for food growing
and food policy governance. We discussed the
progress of the Good Food Nation Bill in Scotland,
as well as the food bill in Wales, and what part food
partnerships played in the process. It was helpful to
hear from food partnerships on what their priorities
were and how Sustain could keep them informed
and involved in our Westminster lobbying. There was
an appetite for Mps to be more visible and to see
the work locally, which we will build on.
We undertook cross sector engagement to
help set strategy towards the Retained EU
Law IREULI Bill, seeking to defend key food
safety, sustainable farming, public health
and environmental protections, as well as
parliamentary scrutiny over any f uture legislalive
changes. We undertook extensive work to brief
parliamentarians and the media. Lord John Krebs
and Baroness Rosie Boycott la Sustain patron)
were especially helpful in the House of Lords
stages of the Bill's progress, on areas of particular
concern such as pesticide standards, hormone
beef, antibiotic resistance and river pollution.
In June, we were deeply disappointed by the
Government's long-awaited response to the
groundbreaking National Food Strategy, championed
by food entrepreneur Henry Dimbleby and
supported by Sustain alliance members. See more
details below.
Briefings and consultation responses on the
new India and Australia trade deals and the
Comprehensive and Progressive Trans Pacif ic
Partnership trade succession. We created
opportunities for some of our specialist alliance
members to talk to trade negotiators and the Food
Standards Agency, including the Alliance to Save
Our Antibiotics, Pesticide Action Network UK and
the Chartered Institute for Environmental Health.
In October we ran our first 'thought leadership, event
where we brought farmers, campaigners, academics
and civil society together for a Meat Summit to
examine how we might collectively reduce the
climate damage caused by high levels of intensive
meat production and consumption. The event
received positive feedback due to the range of
speakers, quality of the debate and choice of venue.
Our speakers included world-leading academics,
TV chefs, high profile farmers, local authority leads,
youth ambassadors and senior members from our
alliance and attracted 160 attendees.
Launch of our Say Yes to School Food for All
campaign, starting to build a parliamentary
supporter network for the Campaign, providing
the campaign lead with a comprehensive
discourse analysis of Hansard, and advice and
research on f raming to help make this work
resonate with public opinion.
Our Annual Conference welcomed 350 attendees,
with well-respected economics expert Ha Joon
Chang and speakers from across the alliance to
discuss the theme 'What food policy solutions exist
to tackle the cost of living crisis?, These included
We undertook extensive and dogged work to
mitigate the impact of the botched digital transfer
by government of Healthy Start- vouchers for

11
campaigners working on obesity, food poverty
and the environment, as well as Labours Shadow
food and farming minister, the Conservative former
chair of the APPG on the National Food Strategy
and the Lib Dem spokesperson for Education.
Parliament and public affairs:
Key moments
i) April 2022
We protest as Trade and Agriculture Commission
conf irms UK-Australia trade deal will lower welfare
and environmental standards.
Aware that a General Electior) could be triggered
in the coming period, we conlinued to develop
warm and productive relationships with a
number of influential politicians, parliamentarians,
parliamentary researchers, and special advisers
supplying high-quality briefings and presentations
to party staff developing manifestos, All Party
Parliamentary Groups, policy roundtables,
2nd parliamentary inquiries. We refreshed
our awareness of guidance from the Charity
Commission and Electoral Commission on
compliance with the Lobbying Act.
>1 May 2022
800 people send messages to over half of MPS
objecting to the Government U-turn on junk food
marketing restrictions.
1> June 2022
We describe government response to National
Food Strategy as 'a feeble to-do list that may or
may not be ticked.,
Thanks to our new Vuelio media monitoring
system we were able to analyse how
parliamentarians and their secretariats respond to
our communications work, emails and briefings,
and what forms of communication will maximise
our chance of better engagement.
Environment, Food and Rural Affairs IEFRAI
Committee backs core standards in international
trade deals.
1> July 2022
Sustain contributes to Food Matters Live debate
on the impact of Brexit on UK food standards.
11 Thank you for inviting me to such an
interesting conference and giving a
chance to talk there."
Sustain advises on legal challenge to UK-Australia
trade deal over government's failure to consult.
Professor Ha Joon Chang, author of
Edible Economics, keynote speaker at
Sustain s Annual Conference 2022
, October 2022
Meat Summit addresses the climate impact of
meat production and consumption.
1> November 2022
We highlight weakening of pesticide and
antibiotics standards in the Comprehensive
and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific
Partnership ICPTPPI trade deal.
ho
December 2022
Sustain Annual Conference asks= 'What food policy
solutions exist to tackle the cost of living crisis?,
Meal have
Superpowers >
We back call from WWF for core food, farming
and environmental standards and protections in
international trade deals.
>> Spring 2023
We coordinate submissions on food security to
the EFRA Select Committee, Environmental Audit
Committee and Net Zero Skidmore Review.
We extensively brief the Labour National Policy
Forum and Liberal Democrats, engage with
roundtables and secure meetings with the Leader
of the Opposition and shadow team. We also
attend policy development meetings and provide
extensive briefing for the Liberal Democrats.
Cros5-parly politlC81 support for free school rneals grow5..
Lord 8Èth&ll IConserv8tiv& peèrl, Munir8 Wilson MP (Liberal
Democrat), Chair of Food Foundation L8ur8 Sandys (former
Conservative MPI and Stephen Timms bJP ILabourl support
launch of Free School MÈ8ls have S
Èrpow&rs evidence p8ck.
Credit.. Will He8rle @bvillhe8rlephoto
Food Foundation

12
National Food Strategy
The National Food Strategy, a two-part review
published in 2020-2021, involved exlensive
research, expert interviews, and public opinion
testing over a two-year period. Led by Henry
Dimbleby ILEON Restaurants co-founder and a
non-executive director of Defral. The review aimed
to identify key policies and recommendations
for a better food system. Seeing this as a prime
opportunity to present Sustain priorities, we
convened roundtables with alliance members to
prioritise our asks and submitted a series of papers
to the National Food Strategy development team.
6. Improved procurement: The strategy proposed
strengthening Government Buying Standards,
enhancing monitoring and reporting and
promoting a dynamic procurement model,
enabling smaller-scale producers to sell to the
public sector.
7. Promoting fruit and veg consumption:
Recommendations included doubling the budget
for the School Fruit and Veg Scheme and
introducing a 'Community Eatwell, programme,
where GPS could prescribe fruits and vegetables.
8. Reducing meat consumption: The strategy
recommended an aim for a 30/0 increase in fruit
and veg consumption and a 30% reduction in
meat consumption by 2032.
9. Food Bill and Food Partnerships: Sustain had
championed a Good Food Bill las has been
adopted in Scotland as the Good Food N2tion
Act), and we were pleased to see this included as
a recommendation, along with support for more
local food partnerships.
The first part of the strategy, released in 2020
during the turbulence of the Covid-19 pandemic
and the impending end of the Brexit transition
period, focused on immediate and urgent measures.
The second part, published in 2021, provided an
in-depth analysis of our broken food system and
offered 14 recommendations to address Ihem. The
Government committed to respond to the National
Food Slrategy recommendations in 2022. We record
details here for posterity.
Sustain welcomed the recommendations of the
independent Dimbleby team, which aligned wilh
many of Sustain's longstanding policy priorities and
campaigns. Some of the key poinls included..
1. Sugar and salt reformulation tax: First called for
by Sustain in 2012.
2. Sustainable farming practices: The strategy
suggested guarar)teeing agricultural payments,
establishing a rural land use f ramework,
and creating an innovation f und to promote
sustainable land use, all of which were in line
with Sustain's sustainable farming campaign.
3. Protecting food standards In trade deals: The
strategy echoed Sustain s campaigns to ensure
high food and farming standards remained in
place after Brexit by safeguarding them in f uture
trade agreements, including controls on farm
antibiotics to combat antibioti¢ resistance.
The Government responded ir) June 2022 with
its own food strategy. In their White Paper, which
reflected little of the insight and prioritisation of food
manifest in the Dimbleby report, the Government
commilted only to-
A land use strategy by 2023
A consultation on mandatory reporting by industry
on health, and 'explore' the same on environment
and animal welfare
A consultation on public sector food procurement,
including 50Y. local or higher standard food
This fell far short of expectations, Causing
consternation and disappointment throughout our
movement. Kath Dalmeny, chief executive of Sustain
said, "Government was given crystal clear analysis
and a set of recommendations by the Dimbleby
food strategy and has chosen to take forward only a
handful of them. This isn't a strategy, it's a feeble to
do list, that may or may not get ticked."
4. Children's access to food: Recommendations
included extending free school meals to
children in households earning less than
£20,000, undocumented children, and those
from households with the immigration status
'No Recourse lo Public Funds, INRPFI. It also
proposed f unding for Ihe Holiday Activities and
Food Programme to ensure year-round access to
healthy food for all children.
5. Healthy Start: The strategy called for expanding
eligibility for Healthy Start to align with f ree
school meals and extend it until school age,
along with increased promotion and awareness
among relevant healthcare workers.
Sustain created an accountability grid highlighting the
extensive shortcomings of the Government response
and distributed it to parliamentary contacts, civil
servants, and stakeholders. Many senior leaders and
teams in inf luential organisations shared our view that
the Dimbleby food strategy should continue to be a
framework for national and local action, so we have
some hope that the process will have generated allies
and that persister)ce will leventuallyl pay off.
Find out more on Sustain's National Food Strate
hub- where we collated key documents, responses,
blogs and summaries.

13
Climate and nature emergency
How and what we farm, fish, eat and dispose of
are some of ihe biggest contributors to dangerous
climate change and precipitous loss of nature. The
food system currently uses up the UK'S entire annual
carbon budget. To have any hope of tackling the
climate and nature emergency, we must transform
how food is grown and transported, and what we
eat. Sustain champions solutions to the climate
emergency that improve our dietary health, tackle
inequality, and help restore nature.
own areas. Given the close correlation between
healthy and climate-friendly diets, we now want
to develop an integrated policy that could also
reduce the promotion of intensively farmed livestock
products, and be adopted by local authorities as
part of their Food Strategy and Climate Action Plans.
This year, we ran a high-profile Meat Summit to
discuss bold action to reduce the impact of climate-
wrecking livestock production,- we also invested in
development of a groundbreaking new campaign to
win a de facto moratorium on factory farms through
the planning system. This is generating excitement
and support amongst members of our working group
and wider network.
The number of places taking part in our Food for
the Planet campaign more than doubled this year,
with 48 local authorities and regions taking action
a range of initiatives such as climate-friendly food
procurement, promoting less and belter meat and
more plant-rich diets, supporting nature friendly
farming and community food growing, and radically
reducing food waste.
Our Climate and Nature Coordinator also joined the
'Nitrogen Group'_ a collaboration of UK NGOS led
by Client Earth to advocate for controls on farming-
derived ammonia and other nilrogen pollutants.
In London, Sustain contributed extensively to the
London Circular Food Procurement Working Group,
with two-thirds of London's councils represented, and
we supported the Eu-wide Buy Better Food report,
which now has over 50 members. This kept us busy
whilst waiting for the much-delayed UK Government
response to Iheir public consultation on Government
Buying Standards for food, which we believe must
be urgently reformed to drive climate- and nature-
friendly food production and consumption.
Thank you so much for a fantastic
webinar last week- so helpful and
reassuring in our early development
work here on a North Yorkshire Food
Strategy"
Ruth Everson, Public Health Manager,
North Yorkshire County Council
In November, we launched our reporl benchmarking
nearly 200 local authorities on food and climate
change, entitled 'Every Mouthful Counts,. We timed
the launch to coincide with the COP27 international
climate talks being hosted by Egypt. We created
a new interactive online map, with tailored action
plans and recommendations for 20 councils,
with 21 'Leader' councils identified. Following the
launch, over 20 councils approached the team
for advice about improving their score, and we
provided support to a cohort of food partnerships
in Northern Ireland keen to participate. We were
able to support ten local campaigns with small
grants, for innovation on climate-friendly food
advertising, food procurement and ¢limate-
friendly food pricing.
Sustain helped to devise the landmark
Healthier Food Advertising policy
adopted by the Mayor of London in
2018, implemented across the Transport
for London public transport network
and demonstrably improving healthier
food consumption by Londoners. This
year, over 100 local authorities around
the country sought Sustain's support to
consider introducing similar policies in their

14
Local action
Sustain is an alliance of around 100 national
organisations. Across the year, we had a growing
appreciatior) that we are also an alliance of
hundreds of local and regional organisations
working to improve the food and farming system,
for the benefit of people and planet. The interplay
between national and local action is an increasingly
important characteristic of our work.
for changes in policy and government programmes
notably a planning briefing calling for more
detailed national planning policies to achieve a
sustainable food and farming system, submitted
to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and
Communities. We also called for improvements to the
Healthy Start food vouchers programme- a priority
for hundreds of frontline organisations in our network.
This year, we significar)tly stepped up our public
affairs and advocacy work to promote local
action on food and farming and were delighted
to achieve recognition for the value of local food
partnerships in the Local Government Association s
public health annual report, as well as the long-
awaited Government food strategy. Despite being
disappointing in other areas, this was a welcome
foothold for the 90+ food partnerships who are
now members of the Sustainable Food Places
ISFPI network, which Sustain has coordinated with
Food Matters and the Soil Association over the
past nine years.
Following patient work by our sister alliance Food
Sense Wales, the Welsh Minister of Social Justice
announced £3 million of Welsh Government funding
to support the development of cross-sector food
partnerships in response to the cost-of-living crisis.
Meanwhile, the Good Food Nation Bill passed in
the Scottish Parliament in June 2022 following the
persistent advocacy of our sister alliance Nourish
Scotland, putting a statutory duty on government,
local authorities and health boards to produce
food plans, with food partnerships well placed to
coordinate delivery on key actions.
The value of food partnerships was also evident in
focused campaigns and initiatives coordinated by
Sustain, helping local authorities and institutions
to reduce the climate and nature impact of food
We submitted evidence informed by our local
networks to several parliamentary enquiries,
governmenl departments and Ministers, calling
SNAIKABII
In8 healthy&sust4inabl•
l*hqrE p•opl•lfve
Leaders of local food p8rtnerships from across the couniry gather for the Sustainable Food Pl8c&s (Jay of action 8nd cel&bration in
Westminster. The day was an opportunity to put the amazing work of food partnerships On the radar of local MPS, and to put out a call
for.- One food bill for every naiion., One food plan and partnership In every local area. Credit.. Jonathan Gol¢Yberg

15
procurement, food waste and land-use in their
areas-, helping good food enterprises to thrive,. and
continuing to tackle food poverty and the cost-of-
living crisis. We gave financial and other support
to 9 Good Food Movement projects, 9 Good Food
Economy campaigns, 3 Veg Cilies campaigns and 1
Food for the Planet campaign in our round of grants.
We also ran numerous events, visits and webinars
throughout the year to help inform, inspire and share
skills among the SFP peer network.
Local action:
Key moments
i) April 2022
Webinar addressing local action on food and the
cost-of-living crisis- hundreds attend.
>> June 2022
Good Food Nation Act becomes law in Scotland,
requiring local action on food.
In July, we hosted an engaging Day of Celebration
and Action in Westminster. 26 parliamentarians
attended from all of the main parties in the four UK
nations, generating 18 further meetingslconnections
between food partnerships and MPS, with a total of
44 MPS engaged. We followed up with an open letter
to several Secretaries of State calling for a Good
Food Bill in every Nation of the UK and support for
food partnerships in every place.
Government's response to the National Food
Strategy published, recognising the value of local
food partnerships.
1> July 2022
Welsh Minister of Social Justice announces £3m
for food partnerships in Wales.
In March 2023, we were delighted to run our
first national in-person Sustainable Food Places
conference in three years, hosted at Oxford
University with more than 160 participants f rom
across the UK, with lively discussions, workshops
and sharing of skills and experiences. 95/. agreed
or strongly agreed that they felt inspired and re-
energised about their work.
, Springlsummer 2022
We run numerous well-attended sessions on e.g.
National Food Strategy, diversity and inclusion,
peri-urban farming, community food enterprises,
community engagement, free school meals, ultra-
processed foods, reducing meat arld dairy.
Sustainable Food Places helps Local Government
Association promote good practice on local
aulhority action on food poverty.
March 2023 also saw publication of our latest
Good Food for All Londoners benchmarking of local
authorities in London, for their actions to improve
access to good food for people on a low income,
and to improve the capital's food system for health
and sustainability. From the 28 councils who took
part in this year's survey lout of the 33 councils in
London), responses show promising progress, with
overall scores increasing from last year.
>> October 2022
Workshop with Northern Ireland food partnerships
to support aclion on food and climate.
>> November 2022
Launch of Every Mouthful Counts report assessing
UK local authority action on food and climate.
Looking internationally, we continued our
involvement in FoodSHIFT, which is promoting local
action in places all around Europe. We organised
several well-attended workshops and webinars
looking at good practice and inspiring examples of
governance, innovation and improving local policy.
>> January 2023
Sustain briefs Big Lottery on local responses to the
cost-of-living crisis that move beyond charitable
food aid.
41 Observing the development of the
Sustainable Food Places programme
has been a source of pleasure and
pride for me personally, seeing it grow
from the initial cohort of just six cities
to what it is now190 towns, cities and
regionsl, shaping perceptions of what
a good food system can look like and
attracting international attention."
Laurence Scott, Esmée Fairbairn
Foundation
February 2023
£10k grants launched for Race Equity Diversity
& Inclusion IREDII pilot projects with local food
partnerships.
>) March 2023
Good Food for All Londoners report shows London
councils making progress on action for healthy and
sustainable food.
Sustainable Food Places annual conference
welcomes 160 participants and is a resounding
successl

16
Building our communications
and reach
Traffic on Sustain's website continues to grow,
with close to 500,000 page views this year on
sustainweb.org and the average time spent on
pages up by over 5% compared to same period
last year. Over 12,500 people joined Dur email
newsletter lists. We started to trial a system to map
our supporters by constituency, with over 35,000
supporters now mapped in this way. For Ihe first
time we can now visualise website interactions
geographically and inter2Ct with cohorts of
supporters on constituency specific issues. This
also enables Sustain's projects and campaigns to
grow their supporter base in targeted areas, which
will be useful for locally focused work such as Food
for the Planet, work with local authorities, and the
new Say Yes to School Food for All on universal
free school meals.
A new press page in our Content Management
System ICMSI will show Sustain's latest coverage
in the news. Stories on our website, when quoted ir)
the press, will also now have links to their coverage,
facilitated by the media monitoring package we
have with the service Vuelio. We want to build a
better understanding of what stories work best and
how we may increase our coverage.
We produced more video content 2nd a number of
engaging animations this year, further enhancing
the quality of the Sustain assets we push to social
channels.
Additionally, we put considerable effort into
creating solid documentation on our Intranet to
provide a number of self-help resources for staff.
This guidance includes a communications toolkit
and image guidance. We now run monthly drop-in
sessions for staff to attend with their comms or
CMS questions.
We added a carbon-saving calculator to the Capital
Growth and Good to Grow Harvest-ometers to
help community food growers demonstrate the
environmental value of their activities, and an
extensive data visualisation addon for the Food for
the Planet website.

17
Diversity, equity, inclusion and
racial justice
Sustain has a profound commitment to promoting
equity, meaning that we want to promote diversity
and inclusion across a wide range of characteristics.
We recognise that there are entrenehed and
structural causes of inequality. In particular, we
recognise the extent and depth of racial inequality
and racial injuslice in the food system and want to
do what we can to help address this.
This year, we thoroughly reviewed our recruitment
practices in order to improve our welcome and
opportunities for people from diverse backgrounds
and identities to gain employment in the Sustain
team. We are planning towards recruitment of a
Diversity Outreach Coordinator who can lead on
work to improve opportunities for younger people
from diverse ethnic backgrounds to benefit from
opportunities and employment in the food and
farming sector. We also worked with a specialist
diversity consultant to help us review our internal
employment policies and practices, and implemented
a wide range of improvements as a result.
We run a diversity group that meets regularly to
promote positive change internally, and in our
externally policy, campaign and communications
activities. For transparency, and to stimulale action,
we now produce a separate annual report on our
progress on Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Anti-
racism, the12test compiled in spring 2023.. ￿htt $ 11
www.sustainweb.or
Ire
ortslma
23-
ro
ress-
on-diversit
-and-anti-racisml. This reports on our
actions to improve diversity in-
11 Thanks for the wonderful advocacy of
Sustain, this is amazingl We have more
organisations signed up now than our
target for the f irst year. I think most of
the extra ones were via you!"
Jamie Agombar, Chief Executive of
Students Organising for Sustainability
ISOS-UK), which is coordinating The
RACE Report initiative, working with Hindu
Climate Action, Nature Youth Connection
and Education, and South Asiansfor
Sustainability
Leadership for change
Project and campaign leadership- with project-
specific activities described throughout this
Annual Report
Budget allocation
Audit and review
Internal structures and development
Recruitment for diversity
HR: employment policies and practices
Communicating and creating platforms
Reflections on system change, looking beyond
our own organisation and network, to influence
change more widely

18
Who we work with
As an alliance, Sustain is as strong as its membership. Alliance
membership is open to national organisations that do not distribute profits I
to private shareholders and which operate in the public or their Members,
interest. The organisations must be wholly or partly interested in food or
farming issues and support the general aims and work of the alliance.
"Thosè marked with a star wère
welcomed this year as member5
of Sustain- agreed by Sustains
Council, with ratification by
Sustains membership either
confimied or pending
Sustain alliance members
Action on Salt l Action on Sugar
Alexandra Rose Charity
Aquacultur8 Stewardship Council
Association of Public Analysts
Baby Milk Action
Behaviour Change
B&yond GM
Bio-Dynamic Agricultural College
Bio-Dynamic Agriculture Association
British Association for the Study of
Community Dentistry
British Dietetic Association
Gaia Foundation
Soci81 F8rms and G8rd&ns
Garden Organic
Global Justice Now
Soil Association
Students Organising for Sustainability
ISOS-UKI
GM Freez&
Growing Communities land Better Food
Traders)
Health Education Trust
Sustainable, Food, Di&t and Non-
Communicable Disease Prevention Research
Group
Sustainable Food Trust
Hubbub
Hyperactive Children¥ Support Group
Incredible Edible"
Sustainable Soils Alliance
The Country Trust
The Klndling Trust
The Lanclwtsrkers, Alliance
Independent Food Aid Network IIFANI
International Institute for Environment and
Development IIIEDI
Keep Britain Tidy
agic Breakfasi
arine Conservation Soclety IMCSI
C&ntre for Food Policy
N8tional Federation of Women's Instituies
Chartered Institute of Environmental Health INFWII
ICIEHI
National Trust
Campaign to Protect ftural England ICPREI
Caroline Walker Trust
The Orchard Project
The Real Fartning Trust
Think Through Nutritio
This Is Rubbish
C&ntre for Agroecology, Water and
Resili&nc& ICAWRI
Trènsform Trade
Unchecked
Unison- the public service union
Unite the union- rural and agricultural Sector
Vegetarian Society
Whole Health Agriculture-
Women's Environtnental Network
City to Sèa
Commonwork Trust
Nature Friendly Farmlng Network INFFNI
Nourlsh Nl-
Community Supported Agriculture ICSAI
Network
Open Food Network UK
Oral Health Foundation
Compassion in World Farming
Dlabetes UK
Organic Farmers & Growers
Organlc Growers Alliance-
Organic Research Cenire- Elm Farm
Organic Trade Board
Oxford Clitnate Alumni Network IOXCANI
Pasture-fed Livestock Association
World Cancer Research Fund
Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms
Dung 8eelles for Farmers
Eating Better
E.coli 0157
IWWOOFI
Sustain alliance observers
Agricultural Christian Fellowship
Allergy Alliance
Chilcl Poverty Action Group
ClienlEarth-
Faculty of Public Health
Falrtrade Foundalion
People Need Nature
Permaculture Associatio
Family Farmers Association
Fareshare
Pesticide Action Network IPANI UK
Farming and Wildlife Advi50ry Group SW
Farms not Factories
Community Foocl and Health Scotland
Food Ethics Council
Rare Breeds Survival Trust
Feedback Global
GMB (Britain's General Union)
Green Alliance
Royal Academy of Culinary Arts, Chets
Adopt a School Trust
Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty
to Animals IRSPCAI (covers RSPCA
Assuredl
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds
IRSP81
First Steps Nutrition Trust
Food Foundation
Linking Environtnent Ancl FarrDing ILEAFI
arine Stewardship Council IMSCI
Nourish Scotland
Foocl Matters
Foocl Sense Wales,
Foocl SysterD5 and Policy Group, University
of HertforoJ5hire
Obesity Health Alliance
Royal Society for Public Health IRSPHI
Which?
Foodcycle
Forum for the Future
School Food Matters
School of ArtlS8n Food
Wildlife and Countryside Link
WWF- Scotland
Friends of th& Earth
Shared Assets
Slow Food in the UK
WWF-UK

19
Sustain works closely with, for example.. colleague
alliances and initiatives working on cross-cutting
food, farming, fishing, environmental and social
policy- including.. the Alliance to Save our
Antibiotics., Eating Better Alliance,. Food Research
Collaboration,. Green Alliance,. Food, Farming and
Countryside Commission,. Green Care Coalition.,
Obesity Health Alliance,. Sustainable Soils Alliance;
Trade Justice Movement,. and Wildlife and
Countryside Link. Our connections and work with
such organisations is described in more detail here.
up an international network of solidarity upon which
Sustain leans on to build and promote the training
workshops.
Interested in becoming a Sustain member?
If your organisation is interested in becoming a
Sustain alliance member or observer, download
an application form at.. www.sustainweb.or
membershi
or email the Sustain team on sustain
sustainweb.or
to speak to Chief Executive Kath
Dalmeny for a conversation about how to get
involved. When you submit an application, this is
reviewed by the Sustain team and we may ask
you for further information or clarification-, we will
make an initial assessment, ask you any questions
necessary for clarification, and take it to the Sustain
Council of Trustees with a recommendation (the
Council is elected by Suslain s members). If they
approve your application, this will be circulated to
Sustain members via our alliance newsletter Digest
for any comments or questions before ratification.
Across the UK Nations, we work with sister
organisations: Food Sense Wales,. Nourish Scotland;
and Nourish Northern Ireland. We also work with over
90 UK towns, cities and regions and their Sustainable
Food Place partnerships andlor food poverty alliances
andlor local authorities,- the London Food Board-, and
our newsletters have over 65,000 sign-ups, with tens
of thousands more followers via social media.
Sustain coordinates the Food Learning Forum,
working with a range of food, farming and
community sector organisations to learn about
If your work is local or international rather than
and tackle issues of common concern. Further,
national, or you are an individual or represent a
Sustain leads the organisation of public webinars
company or other profit-making organisation, you
and training workshops for FoodSHIFT 2030, the
May prefer to get involved with a specific project or
Europe-wide programme which looks at food
campaign, get on one or more of our mailing lists,
system transformation. Sustain works with many
publicise your healthy and sustainable food and
partners within the project, which is comprised of 7
farming events on our events calendar, or join a
municipalities, 7 NGOS and 7 research institutes in 12 project or campaign advisory Working Party. Get in
European countries. Sustain has also helped recruit
touch and we'll help you decide how best to join in
a further 33 city regions and food partnerships in
and share your unique perspectives.
Europe to the FoodShift2030 consortium, building
Find out about Sustain membership here.. w.lww.sustainweb.orglmembershiplbecome_a_sustain_memberl
Join one or more of Sustain's mailing lists here.. 14lN'lW.SUStainweb.orglemaill
Food Sense Wales has developed
a strong relationship with Sustain
over the last five years, working on
programmes such as Sustainable Food
Places, Food Power and Bridging The
Gap. Now, as a new member of the
Sustain Alliance, we look forward to
drawing on the broader support of the
group as well as offering up our own
experiences from Wales as we head
into ever increasingly and challenging
times for the Food System."
Katie Palmer, Programme Manager at Food
Sense Wales
11 Sustain has an incredible track record
of advocating for fairer and more
sustainable food systems and has
continually raised awareness of the
importance of the law in transforming
food systems for the better. We share
the alliance's belief that systemic
change in agriculture, fisheries and
land management is crucial if the UK
is to address the critical environmental
issues that we now face. We look
forward to working together to
deliver a shared vision for sustainable
agriculture and food systems across
the UK."
Laura Clarke. Chief Executive of
ClientEarth

20
What people say about us
"You all managed to pull off a great event. It was
an absolule honour for us to be a part of it. I want
to extend my appreciation for the opportunity to
contribute. I was really impressed with the diversity
of contributions, I honestly wouldn't have ever
dreamt of seeing such representation on stage. l am
in awe of the young people's confidence too."
Dr Kawth8r Hashèm, spaaker and participant In th8
Children's Food Campaign Summit in Leeds
"The interactive IHealthy Startl map is really helpful
and a screenshot with our area highlighted will; be
making its way to our upcoming 'financial resilience.
training resource."
Milly Carmichael, Health Improvement Officer- Food
Poverty, Bath and North East Somersel Council
"Thanks for all the advocacy you are doing on behalf
of everyonel"
Clalre Mèllon, Programmè Offlcèr IChildr8n'sl, Divlslon of
Public Health, Leicester City Council
"Observing the development of the Sustainable Food
Places programme has been a source of pleasure
and pride for me personally, seeing it grow from
the initial cohort of just six cities to what it is now,
shaping perceptions of what a good food system
can look like and attracting international attention.
Thanks to all involved for your hard work and
commitment in making that happen, and I hope that
the work will continue for a long time into the future."
Laurence Scott, Esmée Fairbairn Foundation
"Throughout the past 2 years, I've always found the
Healthy Start emails insightful and the campaigns
from Sustain impactful. So many people's lives have
been made better thanks to the amazing work you
do."
Organiser of East of England community food co-op
-support from Sustainable Food Places has enabled
us to leverage f urther funds for this work and we
have secured £13,000 of funding from PHEE to
develop our Food Poverty Training with a specific
module focused on HSV. This will include better
information for relailers and will also be targeted to
local veg box suppliers to support them to access
the scheme."
"A big thanks from me to all of you for giving me a
platform for this work. I thought the event went well.
I could have listened to you all day, Ben.
Dr Adrlan Morlèy, Resèarch Fèllow {Sustalnabl& Food
Systems), Manchester Metropolitan University, following
event chaired by Sustain Deputy Chief Executive Ben
Reynolds on sustainable food supply chains
Fiona, Oxfordshire Food Partnership
"Key work delivered with passion. Terrific."
Environmental Health Officer attending Sustain's
presentation on HFSS regulation at CIEH conference
'Such a fantastic day, I really enjoyed myself and it
was great to feel part of such a positive movement.
Brilliantly put together."
Feedback from food partnership coordinator on
Sustainable Food Places Day of Action and Celebration
"My copy of Knead to Know more has been
invaluable in setting up my business."
Dave Stewart, Dr Dough, commenting on thè Real Bread
Campaign's guide to setting up a micro-bakery
'Thank you for inviting Richard to Sustain's event in
Parliament this morning. Richard enjoyed listening to
the fantastic work being done by Sustain and your
local partners across the UK."
Ri¢hard Burgon MP'S offi¢e following Sustainable Food
Places Day of Celebration and Action
"I love that Sourdough September has become
a global event. It gives people all over Ihe world
the opportunity to connect with each other in the
present, through a tradition from our past which will
continue to nourish us in the future. Thank youl"
Sibyl Leon, BREAD Encounters, USA
"I want to offer my sincere thanks for this session.
So encouraging to see how UK Local Authorilies
are already seeing the need to develop coherence
across food, nature and climate policy and the
opportunities for 'good food, to drive multi-
stakeholder co-productionl mobilisation."
David Edwards, Dirèctor of Food Strategy, WWF
"Good to Grow is a fantastic initiative that supports
and enables community food-growing projects to
access their communities. It is a vital resource which
should be available across the country."
Community growing network coordinator, following
network coordinator peer group meetirbg

21
"Thanks for a really excellent webinar on the cost
of living crisis yesterday. It was so good to hear
from other food partnerships about how they are
responding and feel a sense of solidarity amidst it all."
Food Partnership Coordinator
"Congratulations to you all on leading the way on
free school meals for all because nothing less will
do. We want England to follow Scotland and Wales in
introducing FSM for all primaries...and then we can
extend the policy to secondary schoolsl Good luck."
Professor Kevin Morgan, Cardiff University
"Great to hear about all the great practices
happening around the country on using planning as
a tool for creating sustainable food systems."
Partlelpani In food and plannlng webSnar
"Thanks so much everyone, what a brilliant and
unique sessionlll
Nlka Palda, Blte Baek 2030, paril¢lpant In our weblnar on
thè Kèllogg's court casa
"Thank you so much for all your support this last year
the inter-council network is so useful for our work.~
'Just keep doing more of these events to connect
experiences across the country. Great workl Thank
youl"
Fiona Bell, B&NES Affordable Food Network, feedback on
Good to Grow webinar
Alice Laughton, Kensington & Chelsea Council
"We really value all the work you've done
particularly bringing councils together, great training
opportunities, campaigns and networking people."
Ruth Amott, Southwark Council
"I have just used the calculator tool and it's really
helpful. Thank you for providing this."
Carolinè Maealèsè. BANES Coun¢il, feedba¢k on Healthy
Start shortfall ealculator
"Great feedback f rom the students. Very positive in
their comments. Relevant, interesting, well delivered."
Feedback from course leader after talk by Su5tain8ble
Farmlng Offleèr Jamés Woodward to tralnèa Cordon Bleu
ehafs about farmar-frièndly sourcing
'We are doing a lot of campaigning at the moment
and promotion so it will be good to use the calculator
to see the additional monies going to families."
Deniece Dobson, Luton Council, feedback on Healthy
Start shortfall calculator
"Your session was the best session I went to across
the two days. How you ran it, the panel and breadth
of views you covered. I know there is a lot of prep
for these sessions, so wanted to thank you and your
team."
"This event was wonderful, thank you to all the
organisers. It was great to hear that the work we
are doing locally in Bury has sparked interested with
other food partnerships, and has been referenced
in strategy development. I have never walked into a
room before and be asked wow are you Bury.~
Participant feedback on Sustainable Food Places Annual
Conference
Sustain farming poli¢y session parti¢ipant, Oxford Real
Farming Conf8rène8 January 2023
"Thanks for organising an excellent visit which has
definitely generated inlerest with the Councillors
who attended and will hopefully lead to identification
of a suitable site in Enfieldl"
Enfield Council officer. feedback on Fringe Farming site
visit at Organi¢Lea, Waltham Foresl
"Thanks so much for arranging today's launch.
Marsha was really happy to attend and be part of
the campaign. Thanks once again for all your brilliant
work."
"Just to say thank you for sending this through. We
were just in the process of putting our response
together and l used quite a bit of your wording to
support our stance. I hope the coordinated response
therefore will have some impact."
Dan Clayton, Public Health Wales about Sustain's
response to the Wales healthy food and energy drinks
¢onsultatitsns
Office of Marsha de Cordova MP, following Say Yes
campaign launch
-Brilliant- thank you v v much."
Baroness Rosie Boycott on receiving our REUL briefing
"Sustain's work is fantasticl"
"Your ORFC session on Bridging the Gap was the
best one l attended at the whole event." Me tool"
There5e Angharad James, Msc Environmental Health
studenl. following Sustain presentation at CIEH
practitionèr confÈrencÈ
Two participants in the Oxford Real Farming Conferenca,
January 2023

22
Sustain:The Alliance for Better Food & Farming
Internal developments
Sustain's governance
Once again, we refreshed our 'adoption of roles,
system to identify a Lead Trustee for key areas of
our work, with valuable contributions such as..
Sustain is governed by its membership, which
is open to national organisations that do not
distribute profits to private shareholders and thus
operate in the public interest. Members must be
wholly or partly interested in food andlor farming
issues and support the general aims and work of
the alliance.
Serving on interview panels for new jobs and
staff at Sustain
Chairing events and working parties
Providing expert and 'criti¢al friend, comments
on policies and documents
Sustain's membership usually meets once a year in
a general session at the Annual Conference, with
business matters of the Annual General Meeting
undertaken electronically to enable diverse and
inclusive participation, including for geographically
dispersed people and organisations. Many alliance
members also attend a range of specialist policy
and project working party meetings, which are
chaired either by a Sustain Council member or an
expert representative of a member organisation,
as well as specialist events tackling issues of
common concern. Sustain Council members are
elecled by the membership land a minimum of one
third of the Council must stand down each yearl to
form a governing body of up to 15 Trustee places.
Trustees also offer up to 5 role-share places to
support new talent and diversity in leadership. This
opportunity is now routinely part of our Trustee
recruitment and election process, clearly signalling
our intention to welcome and support young people
from diverse backgrounds. Following Council of
Trustee elections in December 2022, we were
proud to celebrate the fact that our 'role-shares for
cultivating diverse new talent and leadership,, has
resulted in two people transitioning to Board-level
representatives in their own right.
Connecting us with excellent contributors,
especially experts from diverse backgrounds,
identities and expertise, on food, farming and
movement-building issues
In line with Charity Commission guidance, Trustees
continued to note at each meeting that the
arrangements enabled satisfactory discussion and
scrutiny of the matters to be addressed.
For the third year running, Sustain's AGM business
and voting procedures were undertaken wholly by
electronic communications lemaill, with the prior
approval of our auditor, in line with advice from the
Charity Commissior). We continue to find this an
efficient and inclusive process, enabling high levels
of participation and greater likelihood of quoracy.
Managing changing times
With more activities and f inancial transactions now
undertaken remotely, we continued to implement
and review robust systems for ensuring that
our systems are fully secure. We continued to
implemenl sign-off procedures with in-built double
and triple checks for authenticity. This has served
us well. In the wider world, there has once again
been yet more growth in hacking attempts, phishing
and f raud. However, Sustain has weathered these
risks and has so far not experienced any serious
breach. We remain vigilant and these matters are
reviewed regularly as part of risk managemer)t,
including at Trustee meetings.
All Trustees and role-shares declare any relevant
financial interests when they are elected, and at
the beginning of each quarterly meeting, and these
interests are publicly available on Sustain's website.
Sustain's Council of Trustees meets quarterly to
guide the work of the alliance, subject to approval
by the members. As the Trustees are drawn from
Sustain's membership, all of whom are third-
sector organisations, they are already familiar with
structures and governance in this sector. Quarterly
eetings of Sustain's Council of Trustees were held
either online or hybrid throughout the year. We will
encourage at least one meeting fully in-person
each year, to enable connections and a chance for
Trustees to meet the staff team.

23
Sustain:The Alliance for Better Food & Farming
Risk management
Cost of living increases
Sustain's Trustees reviewed our annual and
quarterly risk registers, highlighting key issues
that remain at Ihe forefront of our concerns and
planning - externally and internally, includir)g:
As one crisis faded in intensity, we moved into a
new world of financial insecurity, following Russia's
invasion of Ukraine and the consequent rise in
fuel and food prices and spiralling inflation. We
managed Sustain s finances caref ully and were
able to provide two discretionary payments to all
staff to help them manage the increased cost of
living, weighted towards those on lower levels of
our payscale, as well as a generous pay increase in
line with inflation. We extend the most enormous
thank you to many of our very considerate funders
for providing additional contributions and budget
flexibility to help mitigate these increased costs,
as well as our Trustees for supporting us through
this process, which was a significant area for
consideration and review in Council of Trustee
meetings throughout the year.
World events= cost of living, war in Ukraine,
climate and nature emergency.
Derailmenl of key policy initiatives-
implementation of anti-obesity legislation on
food promotion,. weak Food Strategy response.,
ongoing concerns over public health policy-,
pressures on environment, farm and land-
use policies,- general lack of food system
governance.
Government and industry resistance to
improving incomes for the growing numbers
of people experiencing food insecurity and
financial crisis.
11 Just a note of thanks about this ex-
gratia payment and also the weighting
towards lower-income employees. I
know that it needs careful stewardship
to manage such payments alongside
recognising cost of living pressures
on colleagues, whilst grant conditions
don't always allow the level of
flexibility that organisations with large
unreserved income sources have"
Funding vulnerability for slrategically important
areas of Sustain's work.
Pressures on staff - time, workload, physical
and mental wellbeing.
HR issues relating to employment contracts,
time spent on administration and related
matters.
Virus, malware, fraudulent attack on Sustain
systems- which needs constant vigilance.
Member of staff in receipt of a
discretionary cost-of-living payment
Office premises
Coming out of the Covid-19 extraordinary period,
more staff have returned to office life for at least
part of their working week, whilst still managing
continued incidence of Covid-19 and the need for
some people to avoid exposure. Many staff have
expressed their preference for a mixture of the
opportunity to work at home as well as enjoy the
benef its of the return to in-person meetings, social
activities and events. The phased return to the
office has gone relalively smoothly.
Fair pay
Sustain renewed our annual commitment and
licence to declare ourselves a registered London
Living Wage Employer,- as have our landlords
Ethical Property Company, so cleaning and other
staff are included. We are proud to be part of the
growing Living Wage movement as a key response
to poverty, food poverty and health equity. Sustain
also promotes London Living Wage accreditation
via our Good Food for All Londoners report and
league table of boroughs, as one of the key ways
local authorities can help to reduce food poverty.
Sustain signed a new lease with our landlord
Ethical Property Company IEPCI, due to expire
at the end of Mareh 2023. We have renewed for
another S years until 31 March 2028 with a 5.3/
increase in rent.
For the sixth year, Sustain's Annual Report contains
an independently audited Pay Ratio Analysis. We
are pleased to report th8t Sustain s Pay Ratio is
between 2..1 (highest to lowest salaries) and 3-1
(highest salary to London Living Wage), well within
the Wagemark benchmark of 8..1 considered to be
good practice.

24
Sustain:The Alliance for Better Food & Farming
Sustain staff
Skills, mentoring and training
Across the year, we welcomed several new
members of staff to the Sustain team and launched
significant new projects. We congratulate new
arrivals for fitting in so well and soon becoming part
of the Sustain family.
Sustain s senior leadership team benefited from
mentoring offered by the Association for Chief
Executives of Voluntary Organisations IACEVOI,
which enabled coaching sessions for our Deputy
Chief Executive Ben Reynolds and Director of
Programmes Sarah Williams, which they have both
found valuable. We also enjoyed the support of
Executive Assistant Sophie Davies, a new role for
Sustain, supporting Chief Executive Kath Dalmeny
with administrative and communication tasks,
strategic outreach, organising meetings and diary
management.
This year, Sustain's relationship with the IWGB
Union developed, after we entered into a voluntary
recognition agreement last year. We worked wilh
the Union group lo move towards greater use of
permanent contracts for staff members, requiring
2 lot of changes to our recruitment, contract
management and financial planning. We recognise
there is a perennial challenge within the voluntary
sector of short-term project funding and precarity
of employment contracts, making it difficult for staff
members to feel secure, gain rental agreements and
loans, and make life plans. Some of these matters are
beyond Sustain s power to fix, but we are committed
to do what we can to increase job security, including
adapting our fundraising and financial management
model to support such ambitions.
Our new Line Managers Forum continued to
meet regularly, to help develop and enhance
our skills, culiure and processes for effective
line management. A professional trainer from
Animo Leadership helped us this year with two
workshops for line managers to develop our
common leadership values and learn how to
manage complex and challenging situations.
People with line management responsibilities
greatly appreciated this input, helping to embed
and communicate good practice and ensure
consistency. We also worked together to refresh
our approach to annual appraisals and our personal
development f ramework for thinking through skills,
training or work experience the person may wish to
pursue.
This year, we reviewed our annual appraisal process
and drew out common themes. A document
providing a cross-organisation analysis of the
appraisal notes. We will be using these notes
and common themes either to inform how we
strengthen and embed existing practices and
culture, or to improve these.
We ran a consultation exercise with staff to gather
ideas on what types of training and skill-share
sessions staff would like to see offered over the
coming year. As well as the traditional webinars
and skills-share sessions, we are exploring
different types of formats, such as drop-in sessions
for media skills, communications and IT skills. We
are also making personal training budgets available
for external providers, if people find courses or
training that Ihey think would be especially useful,
with the understanding that it would be helpful for
them to cascade learning to other colleagues. We
also ran internal skills-share sessions on themes
such as monitoring and evaluation,. Parliament and
howlwhenlwhy to engage with MPS.
We continued to embed changes begun in
the previous year, in recognition of necessary
structures and systems to manage Sustain's
growth in size, complexity and influence. We have
not previoLJsly had formal criteria for allocating
various job titles. With various staff changes, we
felt it would be a good time to clarify the criteria,
expectations, line management responsibilities, job
title and remuneration for the role and job title, and
also how this relates to other grades and job titles
at Sustain.
We created one additional 'Head' role this year-
Head of Local Action- a welcome addition to the
senior management and advocacy team
Operational and HR support
We explored a proposal to recruit a new member
of staff to fulfil HR, People and Skills development
activities. However, due to the large costs
associated with the pay increases to take into
account elevated inflation rates, and other rising
costs, we needed to put this proposal on hold for
the time being. We have built in the potential for this
role into the new FCR model that we will return to
this proposal in due course.

25
Sustain'.The Alliance for Better Food & Farming
Policies and procedures
Sustain's funding
This year, we continued to update a range of
policies and procedures, including:
Sustain needs adequate financial and other
resources to pursue our work effectively. The
majority of Sustain's income continues to be from
charitable grants from trusts and foundations,
listed in this Annual Report. Project proposals
and f unding bids are developed by Sustain staff,
in consultation with Sustain and working party
members. A minority of Sustain's income comes
from alliance membership fees, subscriptions,
book and publication sales and generous voluntary
donations from individual supporters or supporting
organisations. Sustain occasionally actively solicits
donations from campaign supporters, usually
as part of a crowdfunding drive for a particular
publication or activily.
Continued to embed Sustain's new approach
to employment contracts and contract
management procedures to enable greater use
of permanent contracts and limit precarity.
In line with our compliance check rolling
process, updated our Whistleblowing policy,
Anti-Bullying and Harassment policy.
Re-enrolled into our contributory pension
scheme people who had previously opted out, in
line with government rules.
Confirmed our compliance with GDPR rules and
recommended procedures.
Sustain s unrestricted income is a relatively low
proportion of our total income, with fairly limited
opportunities for significant increase. Our ambition
to be able to find a way of paying for core and
cross-cutting staff and services is unlikely to be
funded by these mear)s. This year, we reviewed our
approach to these roles, requiring us to..
Reviewed and updated our new Diversity Style
Guide.
Started to review our sickness and absence
policy, post-covid.
Review Sustain's full cost recovery IFCRI model
and approach to project budgets to understand
what level of f undraising and contributions
from project budgets is now needed to run the
Sustain ship.
We undertook a thorough overhaul of Sustain's
intranet, including:
Tidying up the Staff Handbook to make key
information more accessible.
Run the new FCR model and approach past the
Treasurer and other Trustees for scrutiny.
Moving our Line Management guidance and key
documents onto the intranet so that all slaff
can view Ihem, to enable greater clarity and
transparency.
Look at how to incorporate contributions fro
project budgets to cross-cutting roles and
services.
Developed a Recruitment Handbook to
document and embed our refreshed approach to
recruitment, especially recruitment for diversity.
Continue to look at ways of packaging up various
roles and services as fundable in their own right
for example development of online advocacy
tools, public affairs support for the alliance, etc.
Started to plan a 'My Dashboard, function
to display key organisational and individual
information, which may also enable universal
views of key data for senior managers.
We are grateful to our funders and partners for
supporting development of work on Sustain's
priorities, across a range of important themes,
including sustainable farming, the green food
economy, local action on food and the climate and
nature emergency. Multi-year grants from several
of our funders, offered in a flexible way, continue to
mark a welcome shift in the relationship between
Sustain, funders and other donors keen to invest in
strategic partnership programmes driving ambitious
change in policy and practice. Due to a welcome
level of staffing and financi81 stability, we have been
able to continue to pay much more attention to
investing in Sustain's cross-cutting capacities, such
as communications, public affairs, parliamentary
engagement, greatly enhancing our influence and
work on the climate and nature emergency.
We commissioned a specialist diversity consultant
to audit our policies and procedures and took
onboard a range of changes to our language and
approach in several key areas. We also undertook
a major piece of work to overhaul Sustain's
recruitment and induction policies and procedures,
creating a new Recruitment Handbook, especially to
embed our corllmitment to recruitment for diversity.

26
Sustain.'The Alliance for Better Food & Farming
Strategic review
Sustain's annual conference in December 2022 was
once again a great success, tackling the question..
What food policy solutions exisl to tackle the cost-
of-living crisis? We thank Truslees, staff members,
alliance members and associates for having expertly
chaired or contributed to the sessions. A recording
is at.. www.sustainweb.or
leventsloct22-sustain-
annual-conferencel. Sessions included:
Sustain continues to implement our strategy Fertile
Future, 2021 to 2025 through a range of policy
groups, project working parties and campaign
activities. We ran a lively Slrategy Day in January
2023 to help us review our progress and generate
ideas for the future. The strategy day covered the
'what' and the 'how' of Sustain's work..
Conversation with Professor Ha-Joon Chang,
economist and author of 'Edible Economi¢s'. A
Hungry Economist Explains the World,, chaired
by Ben Reynolds, Deputy Chief Executive of
Sustain.
In a session on 'what we do,, we set out the wide
range of projects, campaigns and cross-cutting
themes that Sustain works on, and invited
staff to make the connections between them,
creating a tangible expression of our work to
improve the food system and joining the dots.
Panel session: What's been won and lost in the
last year? with speakers from the Green Alliance,
Independent Food Aid Network and Obesity
Health Alliance.
In a session on 'how we do it,, we examined..
Using our networks to galvanise action
Panel session: How to respond to the current
crisis, with policy solutions offered in relation to..
Who to priortise as targets for advocacy work
Tools we can use to influence change
Free School Meals, led by the Children's Food
Campaign
Building relationships and understanding
Local responses to the currenl crisis, led by
Medway Council
Strengthening our persuasive resources
Building skills in parliamentary engagement
Finding out what food enterprises need, led by
Sustainable Food Places
Welcoming diverse voices
Supporting consumers through the cost-of-
living crisis, led by Which?
The Sustain Annual Conference provided an
opportunity for alliance members to come logether
in December 2022 and review what our movement
has to offer as solutions to the cost-of-living crisis.
Fairness in the food supply chain, led by the
Sustainable Farming Campaign
Good Food Nation and Healthy Basket
Guarantee, led by Nourish Scotland
Parliamentary panel.. What do we need f rom
policy makers? Chaired by Sheila Dillon, food
journalist and presenter of BBC Radio 4's The
Food Programme, with..
Daniel Zeichner, Labour MP for Cambridge and
Shadow Minister for Food and Farming
Jo Gideon, Conservative MP for Stoke-on-
Trent Central and former Chair of the APPG on
the National Food Strategy
Munira Wilson, Lib Dem MP for Twickenham
and Lib Dem spokesperson for Education

27
Sustain:The Alliance for Better Food & Farming
Financial review
The Council of Trustees (who are the Directors of
the Charity for company law purposes) present their
report and the audited financial accounts for the
year ended 31 March 2023. The Trustees confirm
that the annual report and financial statements
comply with current statutory requirements,
the requirements of the Charity's governing
document and the provisions of the Statement of
Recommended Practice - Accounting and Reporting
by Charities.. SORP applicable to charities preparing
their accounts in accordance with FRS 102.
The fund balance carried forward at 31 March 2023
was £648,16712022'. £687,948) on unrestricted
general reserves. The designated reserves at 31
March 2023 was £246,233 12022- E185,2671. The
restricted reserves on continuing projects were
£232,740 at 31 March 202312022.. £209,351). The
full Statement of Financial Activities is set out in the
accounts below.
Reserves policy
Risk management
In accordance with guidelines from the Charity
Commissioners, the Truslees have adopted a
reserves policy that should ensure Ihat.. Excluding
those f unds represented by fixed assets, general
reserves do not exceed more than six months,
anticipated expenditure. The Trustees review
amounts regularly, monitor progress in relation
to target levels quarterly, and deemed in the
financial year covered by this report that there
were adequate f unds to ensure the charity was
able to meet all current, known and some estimated
possible future liabilities.
The Trustees have assessed the major risks to
which the company is exposed, in particular those
related to operations and finances of the company,
and are satisfied that systems are in place to
mitigate exposure to major risks. The Sustain
rolling risk register and risk management process,
reviewed formally at least quarterly by Trustees
and Sustain's senior management team, and
additionally as necessary, considers possible risks
and prudent ways to avoid such risks arising, as well
as mitigation should problems occur, grouped under
the following broad themes..
Investment policy
Covid-19 Coronavirus pandemic.,
Good governance- financial and organisational.,
Weathering ongoing turbulence and uncertainty
in UK politics, economics and international
political and trading relationships, posing
financial and strategic risks-,
Meeting Sustain s objectives;
Securing sufficienl income.,
Controlling expenditure,.
Addressing staffing issues,.
Supporting diversity, equity, inclusior) and racial
justice,.
Tackling challenges specific to alliances,.
Protecting Sustain's reputalion.,
Ensuring regulatory compliance,.
Avoiding or handling disputes,.
Mitigating administrative burdens.
Under the memorandum and articles of association,
the charity has the power to invest the monies
of the company not immediately required for
the furtherance of its objects in or upon such
investments, securities or property as may be
thought f it, subject nevertheless to such condition
las any) and such consents lif any) as may for the
time being be imposed or required by law. At the
present time, the Trustees, policy is to maintain such
monies on deposits earning a market rate of interest,
in a bank or banks with ethical credentials. No
further 'social investment. is currently planned.

28
Sustain:The Alliance for Better Food & Farming
Trustees. responsibilities
to the salary scale, salaries land hence the levels
in the salary scale) also rise in line with inflation,
calculated annually on the actual inflation rate in the
preceding year.
Company and charity law applicable to charities in
England and Wales requires the Trustees to prepare
financial statements for each financial year that give a
true and fair view of the state of affairs of the Charity
and of its financial activities for that year. In preparing
those accounts, the Trustees are required to..
As a not-for-profit organisation and registered
charity, Sustain covers normal expenses, requires
evidence of such claims and expenditure and keeps
good records. Sustain does not make ex gratia
payments to staff, nor does it pay bonuses to staff.
select suitable accounting policies and apply
them consistently.,
make judgements and estimates that are
reasonable and prudent.,
state whether applicable accounting standards
have been followed, subject to any material
departures disclosed and explained in the
accounts,.
prepare the financial statements on a going
concern basis unless it is inappropriate to
presume that the charitable company will
continue in operation.
The Trustees have overall responsibility for
ensuring that the company has appropriate
systems of control, financial or otherwise. They
are also responsible for keeping proper accounting
records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at
any time the financial position of the Charity and
which enable them to ensure that the accounts
comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are
also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the
Charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for
the prevention and detection of fraud and other
irregularities.
Fair pay
Sustain is a registered Living Wage Employer,
commilted to paying at least the Living Wage or the
London Living Wage, as calculated by the Living
Wage Foundation, which reflects the cost of living.
This year, we have also continued to apply a Pay
Ratio analysis as part of the Annual Report process,
seeking to ensure that Sustain maintains a fair
pay ratio between the highest and lowest earners,
benchmarked against sector good practice.
Public benefit
The Trustees are aware of Charity Commission
guidance on public benefit reporting as set out in
Section 17 of the Charities Act 2011. They believe
Sustain fulfils a fundamental public benefit by
promoting both the health and welfare of people
and animals, improving the environment and
promoting sustainable development. How Sustain
achieves these objectives is described in more
detail throughout this annual report and on the
Sustain website.
Setting staff pay
Sustain operates a fair and transparent fixed
salary scale for setting staff pay, including key
management personnel - the persons with
authority and responsibility for planning, directing
and controlling the activities of the charity. This
salary scale cannot be changed without Trustee
approval. Sustain's salary scale is grouped under
four ascending grades- Administrative and Project
Officer., Project Coordinator,. Senior Manager; Chief
Executive. New recruits start at the salary grade
suited to their post, as advertised, and usually at
entry level for that grade. Subject to satisfactory
annual appraisal, staffs move up a salary level within
their grade until the top level is reached. On the
exceptional occasions when a new recruit has the
experience and credentials to warrant appointment
at a higher salary than the entry level for their
grade, this offer and decision remains in line with
the standard salary scale, except starting at a
higher level, and with the knowledge and agreement
of at least one Sustain Trustee, who has usually
participated in the recruitment process. In addition
Auditors
So far as the directors (Trustees) are aware, there is
no relevant audit information of which the company's
auditors are unaware. Additionally, the directors
have taken all of the necessary steps that they
ought to, as directors, to make themselves aware
of all the relevant audit information and to establish
that the company's auditors are aware of that
information. A proposal to re-appoint Goldwins as
auditors for Ihe forlhcoming year will be pui forward
at the Annual General Meeting.
This report was approved by the Council of Trustees
on 29 November 2023 ar)d signed on its behalf, by:
Professor Mike Rayner
Chair of the Council of Trustees

29
Sustain:The Alliance for Better Food & Farming
Auditor's report
Opinion
Conclusions relating to going
concern
We have audited the financial statements of Sustain-.
The Alliance for Better Food and Farming Ithe
'Charity'l for the year ended 31 March 2023 which
comprise the Statement of Financial Activities, the
Balance Sheet, statement of cash flows and the
related notes. The financial reporting framework
that has been applied in their preparation is
applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting
Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard
102= The Financial Reporting Standard applicable
in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom
Generally Accepted Accounting Practicel..
In auditing the financial statements, we have
concluded that the trustees, use of the going
concern basis of accounting in the preparation of
the financial statements is appropriate.
Based on the work we have performed, we have
not identified any material uncertainties relating
to events or conditions that, individually or
collectively, may cast significant doubt on the
charity's ability to continue as a going concern for
a period of at least twelve months f rom when the
financial statements are authorised for issue.
Opinion on financial slatemenls
In our opinion the financial statements:
Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of
the directors with respect to going concern are
described in the relevant sections of this report.
give a true and fair view of the state of the
charitable company's affairs as at 31 March 2023
and of its income and expenditure for the year
then ended:
Other information
have been properly prepared in accordance with
United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting
Practice., and
have been prepared in accordance with the
requirements of the Companies Act 2006.
The trustees are responsible for the other
information. The other information comprises the
information included in the annual report other than
the financial statements and our auditor's report
thereon. Our opinion on the financial statements
does not cover the other information and, except
to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our
report, we do not express any form of assurance
conclusion thereon.
Basis for opinion
We conducted our audit in accordance with
International Standards on Auditing IUKI IISAS
IUKII and applicable law. Our responsibilities
under those standards are further described in
the Auditor's responsibilities for the audit of the
financial statements section of our report. We are
independent of the Charity in accordance with the
ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit
of the financial statements in the UK, including
the FRC'S Ethical Standard and we have fulfilled
our other ethical responsibilities in accordance
with these requirements. We believe that the
audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and
appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.
In connection with our audit of the financial
statements, our responsibility is to read the other
information and, in doing so, consider whether
the other information is materially inconsistent
with the f inancial statements or our knowledge
obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to
be materially misstated. If we identify such
material inconsistencies or apparent material
misstatements, we are required to determine
whether there is a material misstatement in the
financial statements or a material misslatement
of the other information. If, based on the work
we have performed, we conclude that there is a
material misstatement of this other information, we
are required to report that fact.
We have nothing to report in this regard.

Sustain:The Alliance for Better Food & Farming 

Auditor's report 







Sustain:The Alliance for Better Food & Farming 

Auditor's report 





Sustain:The Alliance for Better Food & Farming 



**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
2023 2022<br>Unrestricted  Restricted<br>funds funds Total funds Total funds<br>Note £ £ £ £<br>Income from:<br>Donations and legacies 2 23,941 19,156 43,097 50,000<br>Charitable activities<br>Health and Welfare 3 390,292 1,388,639 1,778,931 1,522,799<br>Investments 4 4,422 - 4,422 670<br>Total income 418,655 1,407,795 1,826,450 1,573,469<br>Expenditure on:<br>Raising funds 5 18,455 - 18,455 18,094<br>Charitable activities<br>Health and Welfare 5 356,234 1,407,187 1,763,421 1,449,885<br>Total expenditure 374,689 1,407,187 1,781,876 1,467,979<br>Net income / (expenditure) before net<br>gains / (losses) on investments 43,966 608 44,574 105,490<br>- - - -<br>Net gains / (losses) on investments<br>Net income / (expenditure) for the year 6 43,966 608 44,574 105,490<br>Transfers between funds (22,781) 22,781 - -<br>Net income / (expenditure) before other<br>recognised gains and losses 21,185 23,389 44,574 105,490<br>Net movement in funds 21,185 23,389 44,574 105,490<br>Reconciliation of funds:<br>Total funds brought forward 873,215 209,351 1,082,566 977,076<br>Total funds carried forward 894,400 232,740 1,127,140 1,082,566<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


All of the above results are derived from continuing activities. There were no other recognised gains or losses other than those stated above. Movements in funds are disclosed in Note 17 to the financial statements. 



## Sustain:The Alliance for Better Food & Farming 



**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
2023 2022<br>Note £ £ £ £<br>Fixed assets:<br>Tangible assets 11 - -<br>- -<br>Current assets:<br>Debtors 12 364,782 102,196<br>Cash at bank and in hand 1,302,232 1,471,539<br>1,667,014 1,573,735<br>Liabilities:<br>Creditors: amounts falling due within one year 13 539,874 491,169<br>Net current assets 1,127,140 1,082,566<br>Total net assets less current liabilities 1,127,140 1,082,566<br>The funds of the charity: 17<br>Restricted income funds 232,740 209,351<br>Unrestricted income funds:<br>Designated funds 246,233 185,267<br>General funds 648,167 687,948<br>Total unrestricted funds 894,400 873,215<br>Total charity funds 1,127,140 1,082,566<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the special provisions for small companies under Part15 of the Companies Act 2006. 

Approved by the trustees on ………………………….. and signed on their behalf by 



Professor Michael Rayner Chair 

Victoria Williams Treasurer 



Sustain:The Alliance for Better Food & Farming 



**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
Note 2023 2022<br>£ £ £ £<br>Cash flows from operating activities 18<br>Net cash provided by / (used in) operating activities (173,729) 336,405<br>Cash flows from investing activities:<br>Dividends, interest and rents from investments 4,422 670<br>Net cash provided by / (used in) investing activities 4,422 670<br>Change in cash and cash equivalents in the year (169,307) 337,075<br>Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the<br>year 1,471,539 1,134,464<br>Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year 19 1,302,232 1,471,539<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>




Sustain: The Alliance For Better Food & Farming 


- 1 Accounting policies 

## a) Basis of preparation 

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102 - effective 1 January 2015) - (Charities SORP FRS 102) and the Companies Act 2006. 

The charitable company meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS 102. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy or note. 

- b) Going concern 

The trustees consider that there are no material uncertainties about the charitable company's ability to continue as a going concern. Key judgements that the charitable company has made which have a significant effect on the accounts. The trustees do not consider that there are any sources of estimation uncertainty at the reporting date that have a significant risk of causing a material adjustment to the carrying amounts of assets and liabilities within the next reporting period. 

## c) Income 

Income is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the income have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and that the amount can be measured reliably. 

Income from government and other grants, whether ‘capital’ grants or ‘revenue’ grants, is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the grants have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably and is not deferred. 

For legacies, entitlement is taken as the earlier of the date on which either: the charity is aware that probate has been granted, the estate has been finalised and notification has been made by the executor(s) to the charity that a distribution will be made, or when a distribution is received from the estate. Receipt of a legacy, in whole or in part, is only considered probable when the amount can be measured reliably and the charity has been notified of the executor’s intention to make a distribution. Where legacies have been notified to the charity, or the charity is aware of the granting of probate, and the criteria for income recognition have not been met, then the legacy is a treated as a contingent asset and disclosed if material. 

Income received in advance of the provision of a specified service is deferred until the criteria for income recognition are met. 

- d) Donations of gifts, services and facilities 

   - Donated professional services and donated facilities are recognised as income when the charity has control over the item or received the service, any conditions associated with the donation have been met, the receipt of economic benefit from the use by the charity of the item is probable and that economic benefit can be measured reliably. In accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102), volunteer time is not recognised so refer to the trustees’ annual report for more information about their contribution. 

On receipt, donated gifts, professional services and donated facilities are recognised on the basis of the value of the gift to the charity which is the amount the charity would have been willing to pay to obtain services or facilities of equivalent economic benefit on the open market; a corresponding amount is then recognised in expenditure in the period of receipt. 

## e) Interest receivable 

- Interest on funds held on deposit is included when receivable and the amount can be measured reliably by the charity; this is normally upon notification of the interest paid or payable by the bank. 

## f) Fund accounting 

Restricted funds are to be used for specific purposes as laid down by the donor. Expenditure which meets these criteria is charged to the fund. 

Unrestricted funds are donations and other incoming resources received or generated for the charitable purposes. 

Designated funds are unrestricted funds earmarked by the trustees for particular purposes. 



Sustain:The Alliance for Better Food & Farming 

Note to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023 

## 1 Accounting policies (continued) 

- g) Expenditure and irrecoverable VAT 

   - Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to make a payment to a third party, it is probable that settlement will be required and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Expenditure is classified under the following activity headings: 

      - Costs of raising funds relate to the costs incurred by the charitable company in inducing third parties to make voluntary contributions to it, as well as the cost of any activities with a fundraising purpose. Expenditure on charitable activities includes the costs of delivering services, undertaken to further the purposes of the charity and their associated support costs. 

Other expenditure represents those items not falling into any other heading. 

Irrecoverable VAT is charged as a cost against the activity for which the expenditure was incurred. 

## h) Allocation of support costs 

Resources expended are allocated to the particular activity where the cost relates directly to that activity. However, the cost of overall direction and administration of each activity, comprising the salary and overhead costs of the central function, is apportioned on the basis which are an estimate, based on staff time, of the amount attributable to each activity. 

Where information about the aims, objectives and projects of the charity is provided to potential beneficiaries, the costs associated with this publicity are allocated to charitable expenditure. 

Where such information about the aims, objectives and projects of the charity is also provided to potential donors, activity costs are apportioned between fundraising and charitable activities on the basis of area of literature occupied by each activity. 

## i) Operating leases 

Rental charges are charged on a straight line basis over the term of the lease. 

## j) Tangible fixed assets 

Items of equipment are capitalised where the purchase price exceeds £1,000. Depreciation costs are allocated to activities on the basis of the use of the related assets in those activities. Assets are reviewed for impairment if circumstances indicate their carrying value may exceed their net realisable value and value in use. 

Depreciation is provided at rates calculated to write down the cost of each asset to its estimated residual value over its expected useful life. The depreciation rates in use are as follows: 

Office equipment 25% straight line 

## k) Debtors 

Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due after any trade discount offered. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid net of any trade discounts due. 

- l) Cash at bank and in hand Cash at bank and cash in hand includes cash and short term highly liquid investments with a short maturity of three months or less from the date of acquisition or opening of the deposit or similar account. Cash balances exclude any funds held on behalf of service users. 

- m) Creditors and provisions 

   - Creditors and provisions are recognised where the charity has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts due. 

## n) Financial instruments 

- The charity only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value with the exception of bank loans which are subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method. 

## o) Pensions 

The charity operates workplace pension scheme. 



Sustain:The Alliance for Better Food & Farming 

Note to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023 

## 2 Income from donations and legacies 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
2023 2022<br>Unrestricted Restricted Total Total<br>£ £ £ £<br>Donations 23,941 19,156 43,097 50,000<br>Total income from donations 2023 23,941 19,156 43,097 50,000<br>Total income from donations 2022 40,296 9,704 50,000<br>3 Income from charitable activities<br>2023 2022<br>Unrestricted Restricted Total Total<br>£ £ £ £<br>Grant income<br>AIM Foundation - 14,584 14,584 10,417<br>- - -<br>Ashden Trust 22,486<br>BIG grant - 24,946 24,946 87,986<br>City Bridge Trust - 83,000 83,000 84,500<br>Connect Fund (Barrow Cadbury Trust)  - 6,733 6,733 -<br>Esmée Fairbairn Foundation (various) 110,000 - 110,000 102,450<br>European Climate Foundation - 33,333 33,333 -<br>European Union - 56,457 56,457 -<br>Farming the Future - 49,969 49,969 47,534<br>Friends Provident Foundation - 33,894 33,894 31,535<br>Greater London Authority (various) - 36,500 36,500 126,840<br>Guy's and St Thomas' Charity - 284,901 284,901 112,639<br>Heart of Bucks - - - 8,407<br>- - -<br>Hull City Council 23,100<br>- - -<br>John Ellerman Foundation 41,667<br>Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust - 28,750 28,750 50,000<br>Kenneth Miller Trust - 26,458 26,458 60,000<br>Lancashire County Council - 12,500 12,500 12,500<br>- - -<br>London Borough of Southwark 5,950<br>National Lottery Community Fund (Growing Great Ideas) - 214,575 214,575 -<br>Oak Foundation (various) - 154,400 154,400 23,076<br>- - -<br>Open University 4,500<br>Rothschild Foundation - - - 25,000<br>Royal Parks Foundation - 31,317 31,317 30,254<br>Samworth Foundation 50,000 - 50,000 50,000<br>Sustainable Food Places (Big Lottery Fund and Esmee<br>Fairbairn Foundation) - 236,322 236,322 243,240<br>Thirty Percy Foundation 150,000 - 150,000 150,000<br>Trust for London - 60,000 60,000 60,000<br>Unicef - - - 17,650<br>Other income<br>Conference and workshops 1,953 - 1,953 942<br>Membership fees 31,225 - 31,225 34,194<br>Sales and publications 5,585 - 5,585 9,002<br>Subscriptions 41,529 - 41,529 46,930<br>Total income from charitable activities 2023 390,292 1,388,639 1,778,931 1,512,382<br>Total  income from charitable activities 2022 395,568 1,127,231 1,522,799<br>4 Income from investments<br>2023 2022<br>Unrestricted Restricted Total Total<br>£ £ £ £<br>Investment income 4,422 - 4,422 670<br>Total income from investments 2023 4,422 - 4,422 670<br>Total income from investments 2022 670 - 670<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>




Sustain:The Alliance for Better Food & Farming 

Note to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023 

## 5 a. Analysis of expenditure 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
Cost of<br>raising  Charitable  Support  2022<br>funds activities costs 2023 Total Total<br>£ £ £ £ £<br>Staff costs (Note 7) 15,886 1,088,358 159,081 1,263,325 1,140,383<br>Direct cost<br>Payable to partner organisations - 285,402 - 285,402 99,665<br>Consultancy costs - 48,309 - 48,309 72,820<br>Volunteers - 98 - 98 161<br>Printing and photocopying - 8,807 - 8,807 12,961<br>Postage and distribution - 7,894 - 7,894 5,769<br>Travel, meeting and expenses - 40,635 - 40,635 23,372<br>Other charitable expenditure - 38,406 - 38,406 17,441<br>Support cost<br>Telephone and fax - - 258 258 25<br>Office costs  - - 80,342 80,342 87,582<br>Audit fees - - 8,400 8,400 7,800<br>15,886 1,517,909 248,081 1,781,876 1,467,979<br>-<br>Support costs 2,569 245,512 (248,081)<br>Total expenditure 2023 18,455 1,763,421 - 1,781,876<br>Total expenditure 2022 18,094 1,449,885<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


Of the total expenditure, £374,689 was unrestricted (2022: £337,277) and £1,407,187 was restricted (2022: £1,130,702). 

The amount payable to partner organisations is made up of several different payments – Bridging the Gap Partners (£26.1k); Childrens Food Campaign Partner (£177.1k); Food Roots partners (£19k); Food for the Planet Partners (£36.1k); and Peri-Urban Farming partners (£27.1k). 

## b. Analysis of expenditure from previous reporting period 

|c<br>o<br>s<br>t<br>s<br>(<br>N<br>o<br>t<br>e<br>7<br>)<br>c<br>t<br>c<br>o<br>s<br>t<br>ble to partner organisations<br>ultancy costs<br>nteers<br>ing and photocopying<br>age and distribution<br>el, meeting and expenses<br>r charitable expenditure<br><br>o<br>r<br>t<br>c<br>o<br>s<br>t<br>phone and fax<br>e costs<br>t fees<br>ort costs<br>l<br><br><br><br><br><br>d<br>i<br>t<br><br><br><br>2<br>0<br>2<br>2|Cost of<br>raising<br>funds<br>£<br>15,100<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>15,100<br>2,994<br>18094|Charitable<br>activities<br>£<br>977,793<br>99,665<br>72,820<br>161<br>12,961<br>5,769<br>23,372<br>17,441<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>1,209,982<br>239,903<br>1449885|Support<br>costs<br>£<br>147,490<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>25<br>87,582<br>7,800<br>242,897<br>(242,897)<br>-|2022 Total<br>£<br>1,140,383<br>99,665<br>72,820<br>161<br>12,961<br>5,769<br>23,372<br>17,441<br>25<br>87,582<br>7,800<br>1,467,979<br>-<br>1467979|
|---|---|---|---|---|





Sustain:The Alliance for Better Food & Farming 

Note to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023 

## 6 Net income/ (expenditure) for the year 

This is stated after charging / crediting: 

|This is stated after charging / crediting:|||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||2<br>0<br>2<br>3||||||||2022|
||||||||||£|£|
|Depreciation|||||||||-|-|
|Operating lease rentals:|||||||||||
|Property|4<br>6<br>,<br>6<br>3<br>5|||||||||45,968|
|Auditors' remuneration (excluding VAT):|||||||||||
|Audit||6<br>,<br>7<br>0<br>0||||||||6,200|



7 Analysis of staff costs, trustee remuneration and expenses, and the cost of key management personnel 

Staff costs were as follows: 

|oyer’s contribution to defined contribution pension schemes<br>ies and wages<br>l security costs<br>ndancy and termination costs|2<br>1<br>,<br>0<br>9<br>5<br>,<br><br>1<br>1<br>5<br>,<br><br>5<br>2<br>,<br><br>1<br><br>2<br>6<br>3<br><br>|0<br>2<br>3<br>2022<br>£<br>£<br>0<br>2<br>3<br>1,005,809<br>-<br>4,030<br>8<br>0<br>4<br>80,889<br>4<br>9<br>8<br>49,655<br>3<br>2<br>5<br>1140383|
|---|---|---|



No employee earned more than £75,000 during the year (2022: nil). 

The total employee benefits including national insurance and pension contributions of the key management personnel were £219,088 (2022: £203,544). 

The charity trustees were not paid or received any other benefits from employment with the charity in the year (2022: £nil). No charity trustee received payment for professional or other services supplied to the charity (2022: £nil). 

Trustees' expenses represents the payment or reimbursement of travel and subsistence costs totalling £0 (2022: £118) relating to attendance at meetings of the trustees. 

## 8 Staff numbers 

The average number of employees (head count based on number of staff employed) during the year was as follows: 

|ng funds<br>h and Welfare<br>ort|2<br>2<br>2|0<br>2<br>3<br>2022<br>N<br>o<br>.<br>No.<br>0<br>.<br>4<br>0.4<br><br>5<br>.<br>7<br>24.9<br>3<br>.<br>7<br>3.7<br><br>9<br>.<br>8<br>2<br>9<br>.<br>0|
|---|---|---|





Sustain:The Alliance for Better Food & Farming 

Note to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023 

## 9 Related party transactions 

The following declaration provides transparency on related party transactions and, as appropriate, are also routinely declared by Sustain’s Trustees at their quarterly meetings and publicly on the Sustain website. 

A number of trustees and management team members hold prominent positions in other organisations. 

Sustain received a grant of £236,322 (2022: £243,240) via the Soil Association, which is the overall programme manager for the Sustainable Food Places network – a programme run jointly by Food Matters, Soil Association (both Sustain members) and Sustain. Four of Sustain's trustees are members of staff for the Soil Association and Food Matters. The Chief Executive of Sustain is a board member of Food Matters. Furthermore, Food Matters received £26,416, for their role as partners on the Food Roots project (£22,560), as well as for work on FoodSHIFT (£3,000), and other training work (£856). A Sustain trustee is a member of staff for Food Matters.  Sustain’s Chief Executive is on the board at Food Matters. 

Sustain paid the Obesity Health Alliance £65,580, who are partners on the Fiscal Measures project. A Sustain trustee is a member of staff for the Obesity Health Alliance. A member of Sustain’s management team is a Steering Group member for the Obesity Health Alliance. 

Sustain paid School Food Matters £1,000, who provided support on CFC’s Say Yes campaign. A Sustain trustees is a member of staff for School Food Matters. A member of Sustain’s management team is on the board at School Food Matters. 

Sustain paid the Landworker’s Alliance £5,500, who are partners on the Peri-Urban Growing project. A Sustain trustee is a member of staff for the Landworker’s Alliance. 

Sustain received a payment of £200 from the Open Food Network UK.  Two of Sustain's trustees are members of staff at the Open Food Network UK. 

The Real Bread Campaign also received annual membership fees of £45 from Welbeck Bakehouse as well as the School of Artisan Foods. A Sustain Trustee is the owner and on the board at these respective organisations. 

## 10 Taxation 

The charitable company is exempt from corporation tax as all its income is charitable and is applied for charitable purposes. 



Sustain:The Alliance for Better Food & Farming 

Note to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023 

## 11 Tangible fixed assets 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
Fixtures,<br>fittings and<br>Equipment Total<br>£ £<br>Cost<br>At the start of the year 33,658 33,658<br>- -<br>Additions in year<br>- -<br>Disposals in year<br>At the end of the year 33,658 33,658<br>Depreciation<br>At the start of the year 33,658 33,658<br>- -<br>Charge for the year<br>- -<br>Eliminated on disposal<br>At the end of the year 33,658 33,658<br>Net book value<br>At the end of the year - -<br>- -<br>At the start of the year<br>All of the above assets are used for charitable purposes.<br>Debtorsebtorsbtorstorsorsrss<br>2023 2022<br>£ £<br>Other debtors 166,733 38,537<br>Prepayments 4,779 4,779<br>Accrued income 193,270 58,880<br>364,782 102,196<br>Creditors:reditors:editors:ditors:itors:tors:ors:rs:s:: amountsmountsountsuntsntstss fallingallingllinglingingngg dueuee withinithinthinhininn onenee yeareararr<br>2023 2022<br>£ £<br>Other creditors 43,732 5,058<br>Accruals 8,400 14,360<br>Deferred income 487,742 471,751<br>539,874 491,169<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


## 12 Debtorsebtorsbtorstorsorsrss 

## 13 Creditors:reditors:editors:ditors:itors:tors:ors:rs:s:: amountsmountsountsuntsntstss fallingallingllinglingingngg dueuee withinithinthinhininn onenee yeareararr 

## 14 Deferred income 

Deferred income comprises of grants from the following: AIM Foundation £33,495, Guy’s and St Thomas’ Foundation £87,806, Barrow Cadbury Trust £33,167, Rothschild Foundation £75,000, European Climate Foundation £6,667, Kenneth Miller Trust £11,458, Movements Trust £90,000 and Thirty Percy Foundation £150,000. 

|at the beginning of the year<br>released to income in the year<br>deferred in the year<br>at the end of the year|2<br>0<br>2<br>3<br>£<br>4<br>7<br>1<br>,<br>7<br>5<br>1<br>(<br>4<br>7<br>1<br>,<br>7<br>5<br>1<br>)<br>4<br>8<br>7<br>,<br>7<br>4<br>2<br>4<br>8<br>7<br><br>7<br>4<br>2|2022<br>£<br>296,389<br>(296,389)<br>471,751<br>471751|
|---|---|---|



## 15 Pension scheme 

The charity operates workplace pension scheme and has no pension liability as at the year end. 



Sustain:The Alliance for Better Food & Farming 

Note to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023 

## 16 Analysis of net assets between funds 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
General<br>unrestricted Designated Restricted Total funds<br>£ £ £ £<br>- - - -<br>Tangible fixed assets<br>Net current assets 648,167 246,233 232,740 1,127,140<br>Net assets at the end of the year 648,167 246,233 232,740 1,127,140<br>17 Movements in funds<br>Incoming  Outgoing<br>At the start  resources &  resources &  At the end<br>of the year gains losses Transfers of the year<br>£ £ £ £ £<br>Restricted funds:<br>Bridging the Gap - 214,575 (93,313) - 121,262<br>Campaign for a Better Food Britain 8,133 53,604 (20,547) - 41,190<br>Capital Growth 27,713 114,317 (123,400) - 18,630<br>Children's Food Campaign 23,496 346,354 (477,910) - (108,060)<br>Climate and Nature 14,033 134,128 (134,485) - 13,676<br>FoodSHIFT 2030 18,667 56,457 (46,526) - 28,598<br>Food Poverty 33,165 111,680 (124,027) 10,000 30,818<br>Local Food Retail - - (1,012) 7,364 6,352<br>London Food Link - 22,250 (17,568) - 4,682<br>Sustainable Farming and Land Use 50,247 112,813 (150,757) 5,417 17,720<br>Sustainable Food Places 33,897 241,617 (217,642) - 57,872<br>Total restricted funds 209,351 1,407,795 (1,407,187) 22,781 232,740<br>Unrestricted funds:<br>Designated funds:<br>Employment Liabilities 125,267 - - 60,966 186,233<br>Innovation and Activities Fund 50,000 - - - 50,000<br>Match Funding Contingency 10,000 - - - 10,000<br>Total designated funds 185,267 - - 60,966 246,233<br>General funds 687,948 418,655 (374,689) (83,747) 648,167<br>Total unrestricted funds 873,215 418,655 (374,689) (22,781) 894,400<br>Total funds 1,082,566 1,826,450 (1,781,876) - 1,127,140<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


## Purposes of restricted funds 

Income that is received for specific projects, as – for example – grants, donations and earned income, is accounted for as restricted funds, with expenditure usually attributed over a specific period of time. We manage restricted funds carefully, keep expenditure under regular review, and aim to keep to the specified budget. If project funds are projected to be overspent for an unavoidable reason, we take action early to reduce expenditure and/or raise more funds to cover the potential shortfall. If we continue to project and incur an unavoidable overspend, a transfer is made from Sustain’s unrestricted funds. The balances on restricted funds as at 31 March 2023 arise from income received for specific projects on which some expenditure is still to be incurred in the coming financial year. Each of Sustain’s projects is described in more detail below: 



Sustain:The Alliance for Better Food & Farming 

Note to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023 

## Purposes of restricted funds (continued) 

Bridging the Gap explores ways to enable people on low incomes to access climate and nature friendly food. The programme will test six approaches to bridging the gap in accessibility and affordability, coproduced with people working in food and farming across the four nations. Evidence from the pilots will be used to advocate for national and local policy change. 

Campaign for a Better Food Britain (includes Sustain’s work relating to Brexit): The campaign helps Sustain’s alliance to make their voices heard in important discussions about the future of the UK’s approach to food, farming and fishing, particularly with regard to health, ethics and sustainability. 

Capital Growth: Run by Sustain's London Food Link network, this offers practical support to communities around London to help more people grow more food, and to have greater access to land, skills and growing spaces for community benefit. 

Children’s Food Campaign: Advocates for better food and food teaching for children in schools, protection of children from unhealthy food marketing, high food standards for health and well-being, and clear food labelling that can be understood by everyone. 

Climate and Nature Emergency: Catalyses large-scale and systematic solutions in the food and farming system as one of the key ways to avert climate change and restore nature, with a special focus on national and local policy, and institutional responsibilities at all levels, for taking measurable action. 

FoodSHIFT 2030 is an EU-funded Horizon 2020 consortium programme involving 10 city-region projects across Europe. Sustain’s role is to share experiences of campaigning and movement building on healthy and sustainable food, involving a wide range of places. 

Food Poverty: Sustain’s programme of work seeking to tackle the root causes of food poverty, and encouraging policies and practices that would enable everyone to eat well. This includes: 

- . Food Power: working with Church Action on Poverty to support towns, cities and rural areas around the UK to implement strategies tackling the root causes of food poverty. 

- . London Food Poverty Campaign: promoting steps local authorities can take to support people and communities to address the root causes of food poverty ‘beyond the food bank’; which produces an annual league table showing London Borough good practice. 

- . Right to Food: seeking to instate into UK law and good governance the Right to Food, to help our country take progressive steps towards the eradication of hunger, and towards the development of fair and balanced systems for sustainable farming and fishing that works for both food producers and consumers alike. 

Local Food Retail: brings food, farming and supply-chain groups together to create a plan to achieve at least 10 percent of UK grocery retail market share for local food across the UK. The common purpose is to support food more likely to be produced in nature-friendly ways, give a fair deal to farmers and to deliver healthy and nutritious food, enabling consumers to purchase in-line with their values. 

London Food Link: The umbrella for all of Sustain's initiatives in the capital. London Food Link (LFL) is a network of organisations and individuals in London who grow, make, cook, sell, save and simply enjoy good food in the capital. 

Sustainable Farming and Land Use: Advocates for improvements in policy and practice to support better farming livelihoods, more and better jobs in sustainable food production, fair trading practices, and the subsidies, policies and industry practices that would incentivise change towards healthy, fair and environmentally sustainable food production. Also includes our Fringe Farming campaign for more periurban horticulture. 

Sustainable Food Places: The Sustainable Food Places Network – organised jointly by Food Matters, Soil Association and Sustain – helps people and places share challenges, explore practical solutions and develop good practice on key food issues. It encourages public, private and third-sector groups and local communities to work together to improve their food system. Sustain helps the network to run a series of campaigns, this year including: 

- . Food for the Planet, helping local authorities, businesses and organisations take simple actions to tackle the climate and nature emergency through food. 

- . Veg Cities, led by Sustain in partnership with the wider Peas Please initiative, to increase availability and consumption of vegetables. 

- . SUGAR SMART, helping local authorities, schools, restaurants, hospitals and independent companies to reduce the amount of sugar we all consume. 



Sustain:The Alliance for Better Food & Farming 

## Note to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023 

## 18 Reconciliation of net income / (expenditure) to net cash flow from operating activities 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
2023 2022<br>£ £<br>Net income / (expenditure) for the reporting period 44,574 105,490<br>(as per the statement of financial activities)<br>Dividends, interest and rent from investments (4,422) (670)<br>(Increase)/decrease in debtors (262,586) 90,477<br>Increase/(decrease) in creditors 48,705 141,108<br>Net cash provided by / (used in) operating activities (173,729) 336,405<br>19 Analysis of cash and cash equivalents<br>At 1 April  Other  At 31 March<br>2022 Cash flows changes 2023<br>£ £ £ £<br>Cash in hand 1,471,539 (169,307) - 1,302,232<br>Total cash and cash equivalents 1,471,539 (169,307) - 1,302,232<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


## 20 Operating lease commitments 

The charity has no future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases. 

## 21 Legal status of the charity 

The charity is a company limited by guarantee and has no share capital.  The liability of each member in the event of winding up is limited to £1. 



Sustain:The Alliance for Better Food & Farming 

Note to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2023 

## 22 Notes from 2022 accounts (prior year) 

## a. Summary analysis of assets and liabilities by funds of previous reporting period 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
General<br>unrestricted Designated Restricted Total funds<br>£ £ £ £<br>- - - -<br>Tangible fixed assets<br>Net current assets 687,948 185,267 209,351 1,082,566<br>Net assets at the end of the year 687,948 185,267 209,351 1,082,566<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>


## b. Details of movement in funds during the previous reporting period 


**----- Start of picture text -----**<br>
Incoming  Outgoing<br>At the start  resources &  resources &  At the end<br>of the year gains losses Transfers of the year<br>£ £ £ £ £<br>Restricted funds:<br>Campaign for a Better Food Britain 6,664 44,117 (42,648) - 8,133<br>Capital Growth 17,900 134,754 (124,941) - 27,713<br>Children's Food Campaign 14,286 197,577 (188,367) - 23,496<br>Climate and Nature - 23,076 (9,043) - 14,033<br>FoodSHIFT 2030 69,867 - (51,200) - 18,667<br>Food Poverty 42,840 252,556 (262,231) - 33,165<br>Sustainable Farming and Land Use 25,831 160,055 (135,639) - 50,247<br>Sustainable Food Places 19,821 311,800 (297,724) - 33,897<br>Total restricted funds 203,118 1,136,935 (1,130,702) - 209,351<br>Unrestricted funds:<br>Designated funds:<br>Employment Liabilities 109,863 - 2,690 12,714 125,267<br>Innovation and Activities Fund 50,000 - - - 50,000<br>Match Funding Contingency - - - 10,000 10,000<br>-<br>Total designated funds 159,863 2,690 22,714 185,267<br>General funds 614,095 436,534 (339,967) (22,714) 687,948<br>Total unrestricted funds 773,958 436,534 (337,277) - 873,215<br>Total funds 977,076 1,573,469 (1,467,979) - 1,082,566<br>**----- End of picture text -----**<br>




Funders
Sustain would like to thank the following funders for their financial support for our work
over the course of this financial year:
AIM Foundation
Ashden Trust
Big Lottery Fund
Cara Delevingne Foundation
City Bridge Trust
Connect Fund (Barrow Cadbury Trust)
Esmée Fairbairn Foundation {various)
European Climate Foundation
European Union- Horizon 2020
Farming the Future
Friends Provident Foundation
Greater London Authority Ivariousl
Guy's and St Thomas, Charity (also known as Impact on Urban Health)
Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust
Kenneth Miller Trust
Kestrelman Trust
Lancashire County Council
London Borough of Waltham Forest
National Lottery Community Fund (Growing Great Ideas)
Oak Foundation
Rothschild Foundation
Royal Parks Foundation
Samworth Foundation
Sustainable Food Places
Thirty Percy Foundation
Trust for London
Vital Strategies

Annual report
For the year ended 31 March 2023
A Sustain publication
November 2023
Sustain.. The alliance for belter food and farming,
advocates food and agriculture policies and practices
that enhance the health and welfare of people and
animals, tackle climate change and restore nature,
improve the living and working environment, enrich
society and culture, and promote greater equality.
It represents around 100 national public interest
organisations and hundreds more working at local and
regional level, and cultivates the movement for change,
working with many others at local, regional, national and
international level.
sustayn
the alliance for better food and farming
Sustain.. The alliance for better food and farming
sustain@sustainweb.org
www.sustainweb.org
Sustain, The Green House
244-254 Cambridge Heath Road
London E2 9DA
020 3559 6777
Sustain works as an alliance to achieve our shared
vision of a system of food, farming and fishing, in which..
Good food production.. All food is produced in a way
that is fair and sustainable
Good food economy.. There is a fair and thriving
food economy from farm to fork
Good food for all: Healthy, sustainable diets are
a¢¢essible and affordable to all
Sustain is a Registered Charity No. 1018643
@ Sustain 2023