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2025-03-31-accounts

Annual report Review and accounts for the year ended 31 March 2025 —

Company registered number: 02673194 Charity registered number: 1018643

Sustain:The Alliance for Better Food and Farming

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Foreword

The range and quality of work being undertaken across the Sustain alliance is impressive. As has been our readiness to respond to emerging developments such as the 25-year farming roadmap, 10-year NHS health plan, the national Food Strategy and the transition to a new government following the 2024 General Election.

This year, our events in parliament, at political party conferences in the autumn, at the sustainable farming gatherings Oxford Real Farming Conference and Groundswell, and engagement with the new cohort of MPs, Select Committee Chairs and Ministers, resulted in our policy recommendations being taken up in influential processes.

We also faced significant challenges, not least the intense downward pressure on government budgets due to international trade disputes and global conflict. HM Treasury budget decisions contributed to tense relations between the new government and farmers. Sustain played a key role in encouraging third-sector environment and conservation groups to respond in a way supportive of farmers, focusing on the need to retain environmental farm payments and prioritise farm profitability through fair dealing and diversification in the supply chain.

Sustain’s powerful ability to link practice to policy, and local to national, came strongly to the fore this year. Our innovative Bridging the Gap programme launched 10 pilots to demonstrate how to make

nature-friendly food affordable and accessible to diverse communities, through schemes such as fruit and veg vouchers and school food procurement. Our Recipe for Change campaign set out how millions of pounds generated from new levies on unhealthy food could drive reformulation and pay for beneficial initiatives. The Sustainable Food Places network, now in its 10th year, grew to 114 places implementing food system change at a local level, with local authority areas in London and the North East demonstrating their progress through our Good Food Local benchmarking. Such work has generated great interest from MPs and the Defra Food Strategy team.

We have been making progress on many fronts. Sustain has also restructured and welcomed new senior staff to the team, strengthening our approach to both operations and impact. It is now time for our alliance to decide on our shared priorities for the next strategy period. We have a treasure chest of triedand-tested practical and policy solutions to some of the most difficult challenges that face our society and our planet. As an alliance, we are ready to step up with renewed confidence to put these centre-stage in policy-making at local and national levels.

Professor Mike Rayner Chair of Sustain’s Council of Trustees

Trustees during the financial year covered by this report:

Mark Ainsworth (elected 20/11/24) Shefalee Loth (re-elected 29/11/23) Sara Azeem (elected 20/11/24) Emma Österberg (elected 20/11/24) Josie Cohen (re-elected 14/12/22) Rob Percival (elected 14/12/22) Djenai Delerue (resigned 13/05/25) Raksha Mistry (resigned 20/11/24) Amy Deptford (elected 20/11/2024) Professor Mike Rayner (re-elected 20/11/24) Jyoti Fernandes (re-elected 29/12/23) Ele Saltmarsh (elected 19/12/23) Kerry Geldart (elected 20/11/24) Stephanie Slater (resigned 20/11/24) Kawther Hashem (re-elected 29/11/23) Alison Swan Parente (re-elected 20/11/24) Bridget Henderson (resigned 20/11/24) Nick Weir (re-elected 19/12/23) Tilly Jarvis (elected 20/11/24) Victoria Williams (re-elected 14/12/22) Katharine Jenner (re-elected 14/12/22) Dee Woods (re-elected 20/11/24)

Note: Those marked with an asterisk () share the trustee role between two people in their organisation as part of a leadership development opportunity for diversity. One in each pair marked with a double asterisk (*) is the nominated Trustee registered with Companies House and the Charity Commission.

Company registered number: 02673194 Charity registered 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 5AS

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SUSTAIN: THE ALLIANCE FOR BETTER FOOD & FARMING

Our year in numbers

Our projects, campaigns, partnerships and policy work contributed to the following over the year April 2024 to March 2025:

----- Start of picture text -----
councils work
to improve
11,000
local councils briefings planning
supported to sent to 60 policy for
adopt healthier MPs on fair farming,
food advertising dealing for climate
policies farmers and nature
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people supported to eat affordable fruit and veg

groups advocate for financially viable nature-friendly farming

of public support extending soft drinks levy to unhealthy food

out of 33 London 8.6 million chickens and engaged by local councils 56,000 pigs prevented food partnerships in engage in Good from being intensively Day of Action Food Local, the London farmed following our benchmarking report legal challenge

114 places now represented by Sustainable 500+ Food Places people take part in (in 1/3 of UK community food local authorities) growing events

bakeries promoted via Real Bread map

groups engaged in 1.3m 30+ training on visits to 350+ anti-racism Sustain people attend in food and websites Sustain Annual farming Conference

Find out more about Sustain’s success stories and achievements at: www.sustainweb.org/about/success-stories

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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

Our Sustainable Farming Campaign cultivated relationships with the new cohort of MPs, Ministers and their teams, promoting policies to accelerate the transition to nature-friendly farming. We cohosted A Taste of Agroecology in Parliament, attended by 51 MPs and Minister for Farming Daniel Zeichner; and Sustain’s Chief Executive attended a Farm to Fork reception at 10 Downing Street. Our recommendations on whole-farm planning were adopted by the National Audit Office, and we coordinated a joint consultation response to the government’s proposed Land Use Framework.

Concerned that the new government’s Budget risked alienating farmers, we led on carefully curated alliance communications on the controversial farm inheritance tax and changes to farm support. Our communications were among the top five Google results for over 10 days. We also worked closely with influential conservation and climate groups on media work to protect the farming budget.

Our partnership with Riverford Organics mobilised 11,000 briefings being sent to MPs on fair dealing for farmers. Our policy demands were reflected in parliamentary debates and party manifestos, and paved the way for Defra’s Farm Profitability Review. We also coordinated a landmark open letter on fair

supply chains to the new Environment Secretary, a first for major conservation bodies.

We published new research with the Open University on employee ownership and agroecology , and coauthored Home Grown – a roadmap for horticulture – launched at the Groundswell regen farming conference and featured in The Times.

At the Oxford Real Farming Conference in January 2025, we once again curated the policy room with a packed programme, including a Q&A with the Director of Defra’s Farming Programme.

Sustain’s Chief Executive serves on the steering group of the Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics, whose research this year showed that supermarkets are not yet complying with new legislation that prohibits using antibiotics to prop up poor farming practices.

At local level, our Capital Growth campaign continued to support hundreds of London’s community food-growing spaces and local councils through training, events, and advice. Over 2,000 people joined our Good to Grow and Urban Harvest festivals, and our Growing for Nature survey informed the Greater London Authority’s Nature Recovery Strategy.

Over 1,500 people Sustain CEO attends
Over 300 people attend		 Urban Harvest festival
take part in events Number 10 Downing
our panel sessions on		 hosts 30 events with
and webinars in our Street ‘Farm to Fork’
ELMs and horticulture		 500+ attendees and 25
Good to Grow Week reception
at Groundswell		 community gardens
April May
June
July		 October
September
We host a ‘Six Inches Launch of ‘Home Grown’
Positive communications		 SEWN Together North event
of Soil’ film screening UK horticulture report
on farm inheritance tax		 in London connects 40
and panel debate with Soil Association and
appear in top 5 Google		 community food growers with
with 150 attendees Wildlife Trusts
results for over 10 days		 local council officers

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Sustain was absolutely all over the Oxford Real Farming Conference!

Barnaby Coupe, Senior Land Use Policy Manager, The Wildlife Trusts

Thank you for a great and very informative day. The facilitators were brilliant!

Attendee at Capital Growth’s bumblebee identification workshop

Photo: Our Sustainable Farming Campaign co-hosted A Taste of Agroecology in Parliament, attended by new Farming Minister Daniel Zeichner and over 50 MPs.Pictured (left to right): Jyoti Fernandes, Landworkers Alliance; Daniel Zeichner MP, Minister for Farming; Will White, Sustain’s Sustainable Farming Campaign Coordinator; Martin Lines, Nature Friendly Farming Network

13 local council We submit officers discuss evidence to support for urban EFRA inquiry food growing at our on supply Inter-Council Forum chain fairness

Sustain welcomes 1,000+ attendees in sessions at Capital Growth the Oxford Real Farming launches 8 training Conference Policy workshops, Room and new entrants including soil and networking event pollinator care

We attend key DEFRA stakeholder meeting on the 25-year Farming Roadmap

Joint briefing published on Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) access for under-5-hectare farmers and growers

November December

January

February

March

‘A Taste of Agroecology’ Farmers Against EFRA Committee quotes DEFRA attends Q&A and Capital Growth facilitates event hosted in Parliament Farmwashing e-action our key policy points stakeholder session on anti-racism learning set with alliance members sends 11,000+ fair farming in letter to DEFRA Land Use Framework at with 5 community food NFFN, LWA, Pasture for briefings to MPs; cited in on Groceries Code our Sustainable Farming growing leaders from Life and Soil Association parliamentary debates Adjudicator reform working party London

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Good food economy

Our vision is of 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.

Our Bridging the Gap programme established 10 pilot projects to explore how to make climate- and nature-friendly food affordable and accessible to all. The team released an International Policy Review , held two thought-provoking webinars on public sector food and fruit and veg on prescription and presented our Bridging the Gap film to a packed session at the Oxford Real Farming Conference in January 2025. We are now turning our findings into advocacy for policies to support more people to access climate- and nature-friendly food.

This year saw publication of the draft Local Food Growth Plan , coordinated by Sustain, working with the Landworkers Alliance (LWA); Food, Farming & Countryside Commission; Pasture for Life; Sustainable Food Trust; and our Local Food working party. This provided case studies of successful local food retail models, and policy proposals to help grow the sector. Our snapshot review of challenges highlighted priorities for policy and infrastructure across retail, procurement and supply chains, which was picked up with interest by Defra’s national food strategy team. This was followed by detailed engagement on solutions for growing the sector, with people from retail, marketing, food partnerships and business support organisations.

Sustain’s long-standing and perennially popular Real Bread Campaign continued to champion culturally diverse engagement, recruiting 14 new ambassadors from diverse backgrounds and running the 12th annual Sourdough September, with participation from over 45 countries. The campaign published a Real Bread Manifesto and relaunched the Real Bread Map to help community bakeries connect with local customers. The campaign also continued to challenge misleading marketing practices and claims by UK supermarkets, submitting complaints to local authorities, with Morrisons and Co-op improving their practices as a result.

Now it its 7th year, our Roots to Work jobs platform launched a careers resources page for those seeking work and employers in the sustainable food sector. We introduced ‘inclusion indicators’ on job listings, promoting the disability confident, ethnicity confident and Living Wage Employer schemes, as well as promoting other positive recruitment practices considered to be helpful for equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI). The website continued to profile a diverse range of people working in the sector and hosted networking events, collectively resulting in a growth in the audience for this work.

New report Pilots launched for Policies to help asks the NHS Popular webinar organic vegetable Roots to Work promotes community bakeries and GPs to put examines fruit and veg supply to schools Living Wage, disability championed in Real fruit and veg vouchers to promote in Wales, Aberdeen confident and ethnicity Bread Manifesto on prescription health and horticulture and East London confident schemes

April May June July August Public sector Snapshot published Improved Real Roots to Work Review published Pilots of affordable food procurement of barriers and Bread Map careers resources of international organic fruit and webinar promotes solutions for local relaunched, launched to help policies to veg launched in plant-based meals food sector connecting bakers build good food promote affordable Edinburgh, Cardiff with customers sector fruit and veg and Carrickfergus

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It was heart-warming to know that there are so many passionate candidates who want to make a real difference in the world. Roots to Work is clearly reaching the right audience.

Sustainable Merton, who advertise their vacancies on Sustain’s Roots to Work jobs platform

It’s been one of my dreams to be able to use affordable, locally farmed organic produce in my primary schools and thanks to Growing Communities, it’s finally happening.

James Taylor, School Chef and participant in Hackney School Food pilot, part of Sustain’s Bridging the Gap programme

Teviot Centre Food Co-op in Tower Hamlets, east London, supported to trade in affordable organic fruit and veg by Sustain’s Bridging the Gap

programme. Credit: Sylvie Belbouab

People from 45 countries participate in 12th annual Sourdough September

Real Bread Campaign 137 people attend ambassador Aidan Roots to Work Monks named Baker networking event at of the Year ORFC2025

Real Bread Week encourages people Draft Local Food to ‘Bake, Buy and Growth Plan shared Boost’ Real Bread at celebratory event

September October

September October November January Bridging the Gap presents Tower Hamlets residents Bridging the Gap film at Soil Association Organic enabled to buy organic fruit launched at packed Trade Conference and veg in vouchers pilot ORFC2025 session

March 70 farmers, millers, bakers, academics and broadcasters discuss support for Real Bread

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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 services, and for it to become unacceptable and expensive to market, sell or serve unhealthy, unethical and unsustainable produce, over the alternative.

The Recipe for Change campaign for a levy on unhealthy food staged packed-out panel events at the Labour and Conservative party conferences. We published a new tool showing a ‘menu of options’ for spending levy revenue, and our evidence was quoted in the Chief Medical Officer’s (CMO’s) annual report and by House of Lords Select Committee on Food, Diet and Obesity.

We continue to put the voices of diverse families, parents, carers and children at the forefront of our work. Our Children’s Food Ambassadors launched their parent manifesto Our Children, Our Future , with national polling showing high parental support for healthy school food expansion, an energy drinks ban, and honest food labelling and packaging. Ambassadors discussed their manifesto with school food minister Stephen Morgan MP.

150 people attended our Children’s Food Summit , with a lively cross-party MP panel chaired by youth activist Dev Sharma. ‘Yummy’ food heroes were celebrated in the Children’s Food Awards for work on early years feeding, community engagement, diversity and inclusion, and school food; whilst less healthy products and brands targeting babies and toddlers came under fire in our ‘Yucky’ awards.

We continue to advocate for universal healthy school meals, relaunching the Superpowers of School Meals report in Parliament. We also continue to push for increased eligibility and value of Healthy Start, as well as automatic enrolment of eligible families with babies and children under 4.

This year, 25 of 30 London councils improved their results in our Beyond the Food Bank measures. Sustain also co-delivered the Greater London Authority funded Food Roots 2 programme with Food Matters and The Social Investment Company. We engaged 21 London food partnerships and food poverty alliances, supporting them to address food insecurity and develop their partnership.

Ten local authorities passed local healthy food advertising policies with our support, bringing the total to 22 plus Transport for London. Hounslow Council became the first to restrict unhealthy commercial baby food advertising. We collaborated with Obesity Health Alliance to respond to several Advertising Standards Authority and Ofcom consultations on food advertising regulation. Our work is also gaining international attention, with keynote speeches at high-profile events, including in Australia and New York.

Two Recipe for Change Westminster Council commits parliamentary roundtables to permanent universal engage MPs, early years primary meals and expands groups and think tanks secondary free meals

Recipe for Autumn Budget Menu of spending Change campaign delivers on our options tool explores events at Labour calls to uprate how revenue from a new and Conservative the Soft Drinks levy should be spent party conferences Industry Levy

April

May June

July September

October

Launch of parents’ manifesto Commitments on food New research shows Government House of Lords for healthy children’s food, advertising, energy drinks soft drinks industry levy extends Household report backs healthier backed by national poll of and school meals secured reduces children’s sugar Support Fund for 6 children’s food 2,000+ parents in party manifestos consumption months, following and expansion of campaign pressure unhealthy food levies

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Sharon Hodgson MP, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on School Food

----- Start of picture text -----
The Children’s Food Summit really was
a day of positivity, possibility and a
pleasure to hear about all the brilliant
people and projects making life better
for children through good food.
Stephanie Slater, Chief Executive, School
Food Matters
----- End of picture text -----

Parent ambassadors present their manifesto for healthy children’s food in Parliament with Sharon Hodgson MP and Baroness Rosie Boycott (front, centre).

Credit: Matt Crossick

Hounslow Council adopts first healthier baby food advertising policy with our support

Chief Medical Officer report backs our calls for levies on unhealthy food and drinks

7 leading public health groups back our calls for expansion of school meals, Healthy Start and a levy on unhealthy food products

150 people attend Children’s Food Summit, including several MPs and Peers

Superpowers of School Meals parliamentary event and new report launch

November

December

January

February

March

Poll shows 2 in Children’s Food 3 adults support Campaign parent a levy on ambassadors present unhealthy food their manifesto in Parliament

100 councils and Good practice celebrated organisations, in our ‘Yummy’ Children’s including Sustain, call Food Awards; unhealthy for auto-enrolment for products slammed as free school meals ‘Yucky’

100+ people attend launch of Good Food Local: London at City Hall, including reps from 31 of the capital’s 33 councils

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Climate and nature emergency

Local Action

Local authorities are showing leadership. Our Every Mouthful Counts toolkit for local authorities supported 59 places to embed food in local climate plans, ensuring that food is recognised as both a climate challenge and a solution. With our support, councils and food partnerships are also influencing government reviews, advocating with elected officials, and delivering local improvements.

National policy

We have helped food gain traction in national climate policy. The UK’s 7th Carbon Budget , published in January 2025, setting much clearer targets for food and farming. Following campaign pressure, all major political parties committed to sustainable food procurement in their 2024 General Election manifestos, with Labour pledging that 50% of public sector food will be ‘local or sustainable’.

Factory farms

We stepped up our support for local community action this year, to prevent expansion of damaging factory farms. This year, we achieved a powerful milestone win in Methwold, Norfolk , where we helped the community to block one of the largest proposed megafarms in Europe. Working with Foodrise and other alliance members, we successfully persuaded the local planning authority that the application was unlawful on climate grounds, setting important precedent.

Alongside litigation, we are systematically exposing harms caused by factory farming, including revealing widespread breaches of environmental permitting rules, working with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. Our new report Stink or Swim revealed that 10 agribusinesses produced more waste than the UK’s 10 largest cities. In November, our interactive Muck Maps became the first research to reveal the spread of factory farm waste across the UK. The maps, developed with Compassion in World Farming, Friends of the Earth and Materiality, attracted widespread national press coverage. We also launched Toxic TradeOff – an analysis of intensive livestock’s impact on housebuilding targets - at our event at the Labour Party conference.

Beyond Methwold, over 60 councils have joined ‘Planning for the Planet’ – and several have adopted text in local planning policy to enable sustainable farming and protect communities from industrial agriculture pollution.

Food procurement

Procurement remains a key focus for our Food for the Planet campaign. A new council signed the London Food Purchasing Commitment, and the Greater London Authority recommended it as part of free school meal funding. Our joint briefing with Foodrise made a strong case for healthier, plant-rich public sector menus and supported alliance-wide advocacy.

We have also advanced work on climate-friendly food advertising via a partnership with the University of Oxford. This new research hub will provide important research for the development of climate-friendly food policies.

Diverse ambassadors

We have prioritised ensuring diverse voices shape the food and farming transition. We launched the ‘ Back the Future ’ young farming ambassadors programme with Nature Friendly Farming Network (NFFN), Students Organising for Sustainability (SOS-UK), the Landworkers Alliance and the National Federation of Young Farmers Clubs. Six young ambassadors will champion just, sustainable farming policies throughout 2025. Roots of Change – a collaboration of the Institute for Development Studies and Sustain – is building just transition perspectives through agricultural rewilding.

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Key moments

Today’s victory really marks the beginning of the end for these types of atrocious megafarms. Congratulations on this stunning victory!

Carina Millstone, Executive Director of Foodrise (formerly Feedback)

» April 2024

Stink or Swim report launched exposing shocking pollution from top agribusinesses

» June 2024

Public sector food procurement standards secured in all major political party manifestos

Thank you all so much. For the climate, for the people who would have eaten this poor nutrition, and most of all for the millions of animals spared a miserable life.

Alister Scott, Executive Director, Global Rewilding Alliance and Foodrise (formerly Feedback)

» July 2024

Sign-ups to London Food Purchasing Commitment grows to 5 councils

» August 2024

Sustain warns national planning policy overhaul puts farmland and rivers at risk

» September 2024

Packed event at Liberal Democrat conference highlights factory farming’s huge role in river pollution

Labour Party conference event shows impact of factory farm pollution on housebuilding and nutrient neutrality

» October 2024

We champion integration of food and farming policies in national planning consultation

» November 2024

Muck Maps released revealing faecal and nutrient pollution from factory farms

» January 2025

Local campaigners opposing a new ‘mega’ factory farm await outside King’s Lynn and West Norfolk Council for a decision from the planning authority. With the support of Sustain and others, the community was successful in blocking the development on the grounds of climate impact. Credit: Lily O’Mara

Climate and Nature team secure Bertha Fellowship to help communities resist factory farm expansion

» February 2025

Roots of Change project launched with University of Sussex to support agricultural rewilding

Back the Future project recruits 6 young farming ambassadors

Investigative journalists work with Sustain to expose environmental permit violations by agribusinesses

» March 2025

Historic victory! Megafarm in Norfolk rejected, explicitly citing climate impacts

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Local action

Sustainable Food Places

Good Food Local: London

The Sustainable Food Places network grew to 114 members this year as we marked our 10th anniversary as a network with a record 14 places receiving awards recognising their innovation and leadership on healthy and sustainable food.

When the General Election was called, we pivoted to provide resources and training to support local food partnership coordinators to engage with prospective parliamentary candidates and their newly elected MPs. Our Westminster Day of Celebration and Action in November 2024 welcomed a record 55 MPs, as well as members of the Defra Food Strategy Team.

The report on UK’s under-preparedness for food systems shocks, commissioned by the National Preparedness Commission recognised the central role of food partnerships in both preparing communities and helping them to. navigate food supply disruptions and other food systems shocks.

Policy

This year also saw a marked increase in engagement between food partnerships and MPs representing their constituencies, both before and after the July 2024 General Election. Toward the end of 2024, the Department for Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs in Northern Ireland (DAERA) launched the first ever NI Food Strategy Framework, and UK Defra Secretary of State Steve Reed announced development of a national Food Strategy, with place-based action identified as a vital part of implementation.

Participation in our Good Food Local benchmarking grew, with all Councils in the North East and nearly all London Councils taking part.

We provided advice and support to London councils, to make progress on key policies and initiatives to improve their local food system. In September 2024, we launched our survey of progress at City Hall. Over 100 people attended, with 30 of 33 London councils represented, alongside food partnerships and partner organisations.

We commissioned the University of Nottingham to conduct an impact evaluation in London, showing that 80% of respondents found the Good Food Local approach helpful in prioritising actions and 72% recognising it made a significant contribution to adopting a whole food systems approach.

Good Food Local: North East

We continued to roll out our Good Food Local approach in the North East, convening councils, food partnerships and local organisations to make systematic progress on key measures for food system change. All councils in the region, plus Cumberland Council, participated in the initial benchmarking. In November. Our website showcased actions, scoring criteria, case studies and recommendations. 11 of 13 councils published their data.

We consulted local authorities and partners to create a national platform and self-assessment tool for driving change through Good Food Local.

Representatives from 75 local food partnerships met with 55 MPs in Parliament to celebrate the role of local action in transforming food systems. We are increasingly confident that the local food partnership approach is gaining traction in Defra’s emerging food strategy Credit: Sustain

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Food Roots 2

Sustain co-delivered the Food Roots 2 learning and support programme for London’s local food partnerships and food poverty alliances. This included seven workshops supporting food partnership development; Healthy Start promotion; working with Councils; campaigning and advocacy; and creating a legacy toolkit.

We also conducted 10 online workshops, good practice sharing sessions, and three online dropin sessions. Sustain led three action learning sets for new food partnerships and provided individual support as needed. We engaged consistently with 20 of the 21 grantees.

We also contributed to development and promotion of the Alliance for Dignified Food Support’s Dignity Toolkit, and Sheffield University’s Food at Home research into disabled and older people’s access to food in their own home.

Key moments

» May 2024

Westminster Debate on auto-enrolment for Healthy Start uses Sustain data from Healthy Start Uptake Map

» June 2024

Good Food Local benchmarking committee marks start of Good Food Local national roll out

21 food partnerships and food poverty alliances engage in Food Roots learning and support

» September 2024

NE event celebrates first year of regional partnership; all NE councils attend

Greater London Authority commissions an additional 6 months of Food Roots 2

Following campaign pressure, Government extends Household Support Fund

Every year the Good Food London survey is an opportunity for us as a borough to understand where we are, set targets for what we could be doing next and, importantly, acknowledge and celebrate what we have achieved. The report, and the brilliant team at Sustain behind it, have been with us every step of the way as we have taken forward a whole systems approach to food, bringing together boroughs facing similar challenges, driving the sharing of best practice and, however big the task or challenge has sometimes appeared, encouraging us to take a bite out of it and to keep going.

Andy Gold, Head of Food Strategy, London Borough of Newham

» November 2024

First NE local authority benchmarking published; 11 of 13 councils publicly share their results

75 local food partnerships and 55 MPs meet in Parliament to recognise the role of local action in transforming food systems

DAERA Minister launches NI’s first Food Strategy Framework, referencing local action

Middlesbrough becomes first UK town to achieve Gold Sustainable Food Places Award

» December 2024

30 of 33 London boroughs submit data on food system actions and policies, our highest engagement yet

» February 2025

National Preparedness Commission report on UK food resilience cites central role of food partnerships in delivering UK food security

» March 2025

The connections and learnings that have come from Food Roots 2 have been incredibly valuable – it’s so reassuring to know we’ll still have this after the programme.

Launch event and report publication for Good Food Local: London, held at City Hall

» March 2025

Collaborative work starts on development of a Food Roots legacy toolkit

Local Food Partnership coordinator and participant in the Food Roots 2 programme

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National influence

This year, we have seen a significant increase in Sustain’s engagement with senior government officials and their teams, following extensive groundwork during the General Election period and the entry of a large cohort of new MPs into Westminster. We built warm and productive connections with MPs, select committees, civil servants and ministerial teams on key processes such as the National Food Strategy , NHS 10-Year Health Plan, 25 Year Farming Strategy and Defra horticulture team. Several national Food Strategy leads on themes relevant to our specialisms have sought us out for our expert input and connections, and we have high hopes this will lead to tangible progress during 2025 and beyond.

The announcement of the General Election to be held in July 2024 necessitated a swift and strategic response from the team. In consultation with alliance members, we produced Sustain’s ‘ Manifesto Tracker ’, which evaluated how political party pledges aligned with our own Sustain Manifesto for Better Food and Farming . This involved significant input from campaign leads specialising in themes such as farming, climate, public health, and local action. The tracker revealed some key alignments across the political spectrum with Sustain’s own manifesto, including on healthy and sustainable public sector food procurement, pesticide and antibiotic use reduction, and establishment of a food partnership in every area. These gave us key footholds for parliamentary engagement, media work and securing commitments.

We also produced the Sustain General Election Toolkit . This provided our networks at national and local level with the necessary information, tools, and resources to engage with their Prospective Parliamentary Candidates (PPCs). The Sustain team hosted a popular Sustainable Food Places (SFP) training session to explain how local food partnership coordinators could engage with their local candidates. Post-election, the toolkit was updated to facilitate engagement with the huge cohort of newly elected MPs.

The team played a leading role in arranging and running the Sustainable Food Places (SFP) Day of Action and Celebration in Parliament, November 2024. The event enabled parliamentarians – MPs, their teams and ministerial advisors – to engage with local food partnerships. Emma Lewell-Buck MP kindly hosted this much-appreciated event, who is adept in cross-party working and building consensus, and has been a long-term champion of equitable access to healthy and sustainable food, through national policy and local action.

We ran or partnered on three events at the main political party conferences in autumn 2024, including a popular event on river pollution at the Liberal Democrat conference with WWF and River Action. The team also updated the ‘Engaging with your MPs toolkit’ to promote good food policies to new and returning MPs.

The team found numerous ways to engage parliamentary attention on the Sustain alliance’s concerns in relation to the economics of sustainable farming, including a joint submission coordinated ’ by Sustain to HM Treasury s forthcoming Budget . The team also submitted evidence and engaged with several select committee processes, particularly around the incoming Chairs of committees of interest, including the new Chair of the EFRA Committee, to highlight issues of particular concern for the committee’s attention.

The team’s efforts resulted in several notable achievements. The Sustain manifesto tracker and General Election toolkit were well-received, with very positive feedback from our target audience.

Jenny Salter, Gloucestershire Food Partnership Coordinator

Mary Needham, Children’s Food Campaign parent ambassador

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Building our communications and reach

The Sustain family of websites collectively received over 1.3 million visits this year, with sustainweb.org accounting for over 800,000 of these visits.

An impressive 10% of our web users provide us with their email address via a call to action or event sign up, and 5% join an email list. This year, we overhauled storage of this data, allowing fresh insight to be gleaned about our supporters, improving data hygiene, and positioning Sustain well for realignments of outreach priorities in 2025 and beyond.

Our continued efforts on supporter growth has led to 16,000 new additions to our email newsletter lists this year. We have recorded over 33,000 engaged supporter interactions and sent more than 12,000 action emails to Members of Parliament and other targets. A notable highlight is the ‘Supermarkets STOP Farmwashing’ campaign, conducted in partnership with Riverford Organics.

The Sustain Annual Conference held in March 2025 and streamed live via the Sustain lounge set, has become a crucial and highly anticipated event, this year with over 400 attendees and exceptionally positive feedback.

Our jobs platform Roots to Work continues to bloom with a 16% growth this year. Good Food Local ’s reach is now national with the launch of a new streamlined platform targeted at reaching over 100 local authority areas. Additionally, we’ve launched the Planet Card platform as part of the Bridging the Gap programme. The platform (launched October 2024) has already recorded over 600 part-funded transactions and supported well over 100 people.

Social engagement remains steady on our main channels, with Linkedin continuing to show the most growth, with 9,773 followers for the Sustain account. However, where Sustain’s campaigns and strategic narrative gains the most impressions is via posts by our individual campaigners.

Our new account on Bluesky is growing steadily, with 2,968 at time of writing. Some Sustain campaigns also have accounts on Instagram such as the Real Bread Campaign with 21,900 followers, Roots to Work with 4,851 followers, Capital Growth at 1,167 and Children’s Food Campaign at 314. Future activity is being assessed by Sustain’s Communications team as we evaluate an ever-changing social media landscape and the impact of AI search.

Healthy Start map: Estimated loss to families in 2024

From top left: Healthy Start map developed by Sustain’s digital and food poverty team; view from Sustain’s Live Lounge during the 2025 Sustain Annual Conference; snapshot from Sustain’s Summer Reception in June 2024, celebrating our campaigns and successes.

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Equity, diversity, inclusion and racial justice

We built on the foundational work of our Diversity Outreach programme to focus on embedding lasting change to advance equity, diversity, inclusion and racial justice across the sector. This work spanned internal reflection and capacity-building, creating opportunities for underrepresented groups, to externally focused work on improving wider sector thinking and practice.

Internally, we introduced mandatory training modules for all staff on equity, diversity and inclusion, disability awareness and unconscious bias, to be integrated into staff inductions and refreshers. We also continued to embed anti-racism in our organisational culture through a pilot Action Learning Set, offering space for colleagues running projects and campaigns to reflect on practice and identify actions for meaningful change.

The launch of our Careers in Sustainable Food and Farming resource on our jobs platform Roots to Work in May 2024 significantly boosted engagement with universities and prompted a series of student workshops, with more planned. Our jobs platform Roots to Work continues to support inclusion by spotlighting stories of Black ~~OO~~ and people of colour (BPOC) in the sector. We introduced inclusivity indicators for job listings, such as employers offering ethnicity or disability confidence schemes and/or paying Living Wages, and now require salaries/pay to be shown. Further inclusive recruitment guidance is in development.

from participants highlighted a strong appetite for continued collaboration and accountability.

The Food and Racial Justice Working Group, coconvened with Eating Better, met regularly and co-created The Gathering Table : a summit on racial justice in food and farming, planned for June 2025. We are also collaborating on Culture Roots Collective , an online hub for BPOC in the sector, with Eating Better, AFN+ and Navaratnam Partheeban.

Sustain contributed to wider systemic change by supporting partner organisations, including Sustainable Food Places, Food Sense Wales and the Soil Association with EDI consultancy and planning.

In May 2024, we launched a new Careers in Sustainable Food and Farming resource on our Roots to Work jobs platform, significantly boosted engagement with universities and prompting a series of student workshops.

We have created a cross-organisational internship opportunity for a person from a marginalised background, due for recruitment in autumn 2025.

In September 2024, we launched a movementbuilding programme supporting 13 national and grassroots organisations with one-to-one mentoring, peer learning and anti-racism training. The success of our How to Be an Anti-Racist Organisation workshops , delivered with Eating Better and the Social Justice Collective, showed the importance of tailored support. Feedback

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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 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.

Sustain alliance members

Action on Salt / Action on Sugar Alexandra Rose Charity Baby Milk Action Behaviour Change Better Food Traders Beyond GM

Bio-Dynamic Agriculture Association Bio-Dynamic Agriculture College British Association for the Study of Community Dentistry

British Dietetics Association Caroline Walker Trust

Centre for Agroecology Water and Resilience (CAWR)

Centre for Food Policy – City University Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH)

Chefs in Schools

Commonwork Trust

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Network Compassion in World Farming CPRE The Countryside Charity Diabetes UK

Dung Beetles for Farmers E.coli 0157 Eating Better Faculty of Public Health Fairtrade Foundation FareShare Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group SW First Steps Nutrition Trust

Food Foundation Food Matters Food Sense Wales Food Systems and Policy Group, University of Hertfordshire

FoodCycle Foodrise Forum for the Future Friends of the Earth Gaia Foundation

Garden Organic

Global Justice Now

GM Freeze

Green Christian Growing Communities Health Education Trust

Incredible Edible

Independent Food Aid Network (IFAN) International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)

Magic Breakfast

Marine Conservation Society

National Federation of Women’s Institutes

National Trust Nature Friendly Farming Network Nourish NI

Open Food Network UK

Oral Health Foundation Organic Farmers & Growers Organic Growers Alliance Organic Trade Board Oxford Climate Alumni Network (OXCAN)

Pasture-fed Livestock Association

People Need Nature

Permaculture Association

Pesticide Action Network (PAN) UK Plantlife

Rare Breed Survival Trust

Royal Academy of Culinary Arts, Chefs Adopt a School Trust

Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA)

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB)

School Food Matters

School of Artisan Food Scotland The Bread Shared Assets Slow Food in the UK Social Farms and Gardens

Soil Association

Students Organising for Sustainability (SOS-UK)

Sustainable Food Trust

Sustainable Healthy Food Group Sustainable Soils Alliance

The Country Trust The Kindling Trust

The Landworkers’ Alliance The Orchard Project The Real Farming Trust The Scottish Pantry Network Think Through Nutrition Transform Trade

Unchecked Unison – the public service union Unite the union – rural and agricultural sector

Vegetarian Society Whole Health Agriculture

Women’s Environmental Network World Cancer Research Fund Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF)

Sustain alliance observers

Child Poverty Action Group ClientEarth Food Ethics Council GMB Green Alliance

Linking Environment And Farming (LEAF) Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)

Nourish Scotland

Obesity Health Alliance Royal Society for Public Health Which? Wildlife and Countryside Link WWF - Scotland WWF - UK

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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; 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 .

If your work is local or international rather than national, or you are an individual or represent a company or other profit-making organisation, you may prefer to get involved with a specific project or campaign, get on one or more of our mailing lists, publicise your healthy and sustainable food and farming events on our events calendar, or join a project or campaign advisory Working Party. Get in touch and we’ll help you decide how best to join in and share your unique perspectives.

Across the UK Nations, we work with sister

organisations: Food Sense Wales; Nourish Scotland; and Nourish Northern Ireland. We also work with over 100 UK towns, cities and regions and their Sustainable Food Place partnerships and/or food poverty alliances and/or local authorities; and our newsletters have over tens of thousands of sign-ups, with tens of thousands more followers via social media.

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.org/ membership or email the Sustain team on sustain@ sustainweb.org 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 Sustain’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.

The Sustain alliance helps organisations interested in food and farming system change to join up, champion solutions that have the backing of a powerful coalition and to campaign effectively for change. By joining the Sustain alliance, organisations can:

Find out about Sustain membership here: www.sustainweb.org/membership/become_a_sustain_member/ Join one or more of Sustain’s mailing lists here: www.sustainweb.org/email/

Naomi Duncan, Chief Executive of Chefs in Schools

Pam Warhurst, Incredible Edible founder

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What people say about us…

“It has been great to collaborate with Sustain as part of our programme of work on food, farming and nature. Your insights and knowledge in this space has been invaluable in what was a very challenging political period.”

European Climate Foundation

“At its heart, Welsh Veg in Schools (part of the Bridging the Gap programme) is about getting sustainably produced, local veg into schools to nourish children via their school meals – the more progress we make, the more benefit we can deliver to them.”

Katie Palmer, Programme Manager, Food Sense Wales

“I was so happy to hear that the Sustain screening was a brilliant evening.”

Claire Mackenzie, Producer of the Six Inches of Soil film, for which Sustain organised a screening and panel discussion

“It’s great to have something specifically linking business and asset ownership to a fairer food system – it’s a key component of agroecology that is often overlooked in the UK.”

Bonnie Hewson, Director of Farming the Future Fund, commenting on Sustain’s employee ownership report

“A really skilful letter and good to avoid the inheritance tax issue. I have picked up from some that they support the Government, not all I have to say. Farming is so key to our work, and I would say, our health.”

Martin Spray, Chair of Wildlife & Countryside Link, on joint letter supporting pro-farmer policies

“This is such a fantastic way for me to enjoy local produce, the discount encourages me to do so. I have mostly benefited from the little roast veg packs, which are so cheap and seriously tasty. The flavours of the local produce are unbelievable - I had a celeriac that was out of this world! Many thanks for making this available for us all.”

Carrick Friendly Food Club member, participating in a Bridging the Gap pilot

“Really excellent and detailed piece of work. Shocking figures.”

Bureau of Investigative Journalism, commenting on Sustain’s Stink or Swim report and Muck Maps revealing pollution from factory farms

“This has been like group therapy for us [council officers]. It reminds me of why I do my job.”

Participant in SEWN North community food growing event connecting growers and council officers

“Thank you again for helping us get re-started on the Harvest-o-meter! The Year 3 children really enjoyed working out all the weights and totalling it all up and learning about how many meals they have helped create!”

London school teacher, supported by Sustain’s Capital Growth community food-growing network

“It’s been an absolute pleasure working with you. Today’s victory really marks the beginning of the end for these types of atrocious megafarms. Congratulations on this stunning victory, and huge gratitude.”

Feedback following local planning authority decision to turn down factory farming application on climate grounds

“Being able to display The Real Bread Loaf Mark, gives my customers assurance that they are purchasing a quality product. I am very proud to have it on show.”

Liz Wilson, owner, Ma Baker, Overton on Dee

“Thank you so much for putting it on - really good. We NEED to connect more farmers and bakers of every scale in their local area.”

Participant feedback, BATCH: Stroud event organised by Sustain’s Real Bread Campaign

“Great to feel connected and part of a wider movement of gardens across the city!”

Community gardener participating in Sustain’s Capital

“It’s been one of my dreams to be able to use affordable, locally farmed organic produce in my primary schools and thanks to Growing Communities, it’s finally happening.”

James Taylor, school chef participating in Hackney

School Food pilot as part of Bridging the Gap

Growth network

“Thanks so much for managing such a great platform!”

Helena Houghton, Chefs Adopt a School, feedback on Sustain’s Roots to Work jobs platform

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“Thank you so much for the help your books have given me in opening up a tiny microbakery on our small island of not quite 90 residents but a huge number of tourists – 3,000 and up.”

Daphne Lischke, The Motley Way, Orkney

“We love that Sustain’s sustainable food recruitment website Roots to Work have introduced a tag for jobs with a Living Wage employer.”

Living Wage Foundation, feedback on Sustain’s Roots to Work jobs platform

“The Local Food Growth Plan report was very useful and the project is important and needed in the sector.”

Peter Russell, Chief Executive of Ooooby e-commerce platform for small farms and veg boxes

“It was an amazing experience to be able speak as a parent and a privilege to represent all parents on such an important issue. It was exciting to be in the Houses of Parliament too! And I felt so lucky to be shown around by my MP.”

Mary Needham, Parent Ambassador for Sustain’s Children’s Food Campaign

“[You have] unlocked the ability for all of us to do this work. I have put a gold star next to Sustain because they are the one place you need to go to for support.”

Kate Cressall, Public Health manager, Luton Council, following a presentation on local healthier food advertising policies at OHID North East

“We gain a lot from being a part of the Children’s Food Campaign and look forward to doing more together in the coming years as early years nutrition has become a more mainstream concern than it once was.”

Vicky Sibson, Executive Director, First Steps Nutrition Trust

“It was a watershed moment for me hearing [about the UK’s local healthier food advertising policies]. As we heard today, we need to learn from our colleagues in Great Britain.”

Mike Freelander, Australian MP, on keynote speech at the Australian Public Health Conference, by Sustain’s Commercial Health Determinants Coordinator

“All of you will be aware of Sustain’s invaluable work as they continually fight to ensure that everyone has access to healthy and sustainably produced food. And, as many across the country are still feeling the impacts of the cost-of-living crisis, Sustain’s Children’s Food Campaign is more essential than ever.”

Sharon Hodgson MP, Chair of School Food APPG (All Party Parliamentary Group)

“t was great to see such well-attended and thoughtful discussions. I can’t imagine how much work went into them, but it definitely felt worthwhile and an important part of growing momentum on the issue.”

Mark Heffernan, Impact on Urban Health, on our Recipe for Change events at political party conferences

“I am grateful to the Sustainable Food Places Network for all the work you are doing locally to support vulnerable households facing food poverty.”

Jo Churchill MP, Minister for Employment, in response to Sustainable Food Places letter on Household Support Fund

“It was a great day. My MP was very receptive and already has a fair understanding of the whole food chain. I also talked further with him and his assistant over lunch.”

Charlotte Bailey, Secretary for Winchester Food Partnership, following Sustainable Food Places day of celebration and action in parliament

“I cannot speak of Sustain’s work highly enough.”

Jamie Perry, The Rothschild Foundation, commenting on Sustainable Food Places

“We’re incredibly pleased to have the opportunity to shine a light on some of our region’s approaches to good food, the benchmarking process allows us to celebrate our achievements whilst also highlighting opportunities for improvement helping us to make the case to continue taking action on food for our people and communities.”

Lucy Chapman, Programme Manager for the Association of Directors of Public Health North East and Chair of the Good Food Local North East Steering Group

“Thank you for this brilliant statement and for explicitly acknowledging islamophobia and the impact on Muslim women. Many statements shied from including this.”

Sustain supporter, following our statement of solidarity for people affected by racist violence against refugees in the UK

“This is the best anti racism training I’ve attended so far!”

Participant in Sustain’s anti-racism workshop series

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Internal developments

Sustain’s governance

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 and/or farming issues and support the general aims and work of the alliance.

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, as well as specialist events tackling issues of common concern.

Sustain Council members are elected by the membership (and a minimum of one third of the Council must stand down each year) to form a governing body of up to 15 Trustee places. Trustees also offer up to 5 role-share places to support diverse younger talent to gain experience in charity leadership. This opportunity is now routinely part of our Trustee recruitment and election process, clearly signalling our intention to welcome and support people from diverse cultural and ethnic backgrounds, personal characteristics and identities. We work to ensure that this provides the best possible experience for participants, and can offer remuneration for some activities for those in role-share positions to help overcome barriers to participation.

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 thirdsector organisations, they are already familiar with structures and governance in this sector. Quarterly meetings of Sustain’s Council of Trustees were held hybrid throughout the year. We encourage at least one meeting fully in-person each year, to enable personal connections and engagement.

Trustees often support key areas of our work, with valuable contributions such as:

In line with Charity Commission guidance, Trustees note at each meeting that the arrangements enable satisfactory participation, discussion and scrutiny of the matters to be addressed.

In 2025, the Council of Trustees has agreed to work towards meeting the good practice set out in the Charity Governance Code, as a process of continuous improvement over the next three years.

Organisational restructure

During 2024 and 2025, following several team changes, Sustain took the opportunity to undertake a restructure of our senior leadership and management teams. We reviewed all of the role descriptions for our senior team and established lead responsibilities for a range of strategic and operational needs.

The restructure included successful recruitment of a Director of Policy and Advocacy to lead on our influencing programme and join our senior leadership team. We also created and successfully recruited to a new role, Head of HR and Operations, who set to work to overhaul Sustain’s employment policies and systems, and to prepare for a raft of employment legislation and enhanced responsibilities for employers due to be updated under the new government.

We also undertook a spring-clean the way we work to form a series of internal groups to take responsibility for developing our work on matters such as learning and skills; health and wellbeing; EDI and racial justice; and operational planning, each with its own terms of reference.

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Organisation Development Plan (ODP)

The newly formed Operations Group developed a one-year transitional Organisation Development Plan (ODP). Each chapter is led by a member of the Senior Management Team (SMT), with chapter headings as follows:

In Autumn 2025, we will start the process to review this ODP, in line with Sustain’s new Strategy. Our aim longer term is to move towards an annual and 3-year organisational planning cycle that will support impactful delivery of Sustain’s new Strategy from 2026 onwards, strengthening our organisational and operational infrastructure to enable success.

Risk management

The Operational Group also oversees a revised risk register to ensure that we are actively managing risks across our key areas of operation and delivery, including:

With a General Election held in July 2024, we were highly cognisant of the importance of ensuring that Sustain’s activities complied with the Lobbying Act, and that we must remain politically balanced and not promote any particular candidate or political party. We issued guidance to all staff members, and key communications and public affairs staff remained alert to this, to ensure an open and shared approach to agreeing lines for communication and for problem-solving. These expectations were also

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built into the job description and induction for the new Director of Policy and Advocacy, and will be a key area of responsibility for the Public Affairs Manager to be recruited in 2025.

Office premises

Sustain continues to enjoy high-quality office premises and services from our landlord, Ethical Property Company (EPC). We share the office building with other organisations working for environmental and social causes. Our office has good facilities and access to meeting space; and opens out onto a shared roof space with seating and herb planters.

We are delighted to report that The Ethical Property Company has taken on board requests from Sustain and other tenants for a dedicated private prayer room and quiet space, for use by people from diverse backgrounds and for diverse personal needs – which has refurbished and is available via an online booking system.

Many staff have expressed their preference for a mixture of the opportunity to work at home as well as enjoy the benefits of in-person meetings, connections, social activities and events. We are continuing to support flexible working, whilst also encouraging social and group activities, and have (by popular demand) made regular monthly staff meetings hybrid, with an encouragement for these to be in-person where possible.

This year, we undertook a thorough spring clean, benefited from donations of new furniture, and are introducing various equipment and office arrangements to support people with diverse needs to feel comfortable and productive.

Fair pay

Sustain renewed our annual commitment and accreditation 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 food poverty and health equity.

Sustain also promotes Living Wage accreditation via our Good Food Local – London and North East reports and league table of local authority areas, as one of the key ways local authorities can help to reduce food poverty. This year, we also introduced real Living Wage employer tags into our jobs platform Roots to Work, to promote inclusive employment and raise awareness among employers.

For the eighth year, Sustain’s Annual Report contains an independently audited Pay Ratio Analysis. We are pleased to report that Sustain’s Pay Ratio is between 2:1 (highest to lowest salaries) and 3:1 (highest salary to London Living Wage paid by Sustain to interns and contributors with lived experience), well within the Wagemark benchmark of 8:1 considered to be good practice.

Staff team

Across the year, we welcomed several new members of staff to the Sustain team and launched significant new initiatives. We congratulate new arrivals for fitting in so well and soon becoming valued staff members and an important part of the Sustain team and culture.

Last year, we reported on initial progress with our review of Sustain’s leadership and operational needs, through a process we called ‘ShipShape’. This year, we implemented the key recommendations arising from that process, including:

Our new Director of Policy and Advocacy is Glen Tarman, a non-profit leader with over 30 years’ experience in advocacy, campaigning, policy, communications and digital for charities and international development, human rights and environmental NGOs. Glen previously headed advocacy globally for the INGOs CARE International and Action Against Hunger and he was Advocacy, Policy and Campaigns Director for Bond, the UK network of international NGOs. A co-founder of Make Poverty History, one of the biggest campaigns Britain has seen, Glen has led many coalitions and campaigns in the UK and internationally that have combined lobbying and citizen action to win change on social justice causes (including Sustain sister alliance the Trade Justice Movement).

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Our new Head of HR and Operations is Danila Ardé, who has worked in HR for over 30 years both in the UK and abroad, having held similar roles previously in the health, charity and higher education sectors. Danila has a post-graduate qualification in Human Resource Management and is CIPD accredited. Her experience spans both small charities and large multi-site organisations. Supporting people who want to make a real difference in the world combines her love of HR and the belief that we all have a responsibility to our environment and each other. Recent project management and community engagement work include coordinating local community projects and green spaces, and working with local school teachers, children and community groups to encourage positive participation in environmental projects designed to address climate change and pollution and encourage social cohesion.

Recruitment

Our Head of HR and Operations has introduced a new recruitment pack, better showcasing the charity during the recruitment process, along with a newly implemented application process allowing for a better applicant experience and improved data collection.

We also made special efforts this year to further embed equity, diversity and inclusion into all of our recruitment processes, including new guidance, training for interview panellists, and implementation of our disability confident and ethnicity confident schemes.

HR and people

We have continued to provide and improve our range of benefits to staff which include:

We have revised our staff appraisal system with a greater focus on staff development, and more closely aligned with organisational objectives and our new organisational development goals. A revised voluntary peer appraisal system was also trialled this year.

In response to our staff survey in July 2024, Sustain introduced a popular staff suggestion scheme, used by one third of employees already. Sickness absence allowances, a new sabbatical policy and our approach to flexible working have been adapted in response to staff suggestions. We also supported a new staff health group, which aims to discuss issues around health and appropriate support, steered by a staff member, HR and a recently revised terms of reference to keep the group focused and on track. Referrals to Access to Work and purchases of specialist equipment have also been made to further support staff.

Sustain now also has our first Human Resource Information System (HRIS), allowing for more data accuracy and compliance with legislation. The new system has been designed and implemented by the Head of HR and is GDPR compliant.

Skills and learning

We continued to run tailored training sessions and our popular skills share programme enabling Sustain staff and external contributors to run sessions to share insights and expertise. The Head of HR also introduced this year the IHASCO platform for mandatory and development training with 100% completion rates. A new training records system show over 270 hours of recording staff training from September 2024 to April 2025. A new training needs analysis questionnaire for all staff will enable Sustain to assess and plan training across the team.

We have an ambition to understand and implement AI (Artificial Intelligence) where this will enhance our work. A small group of staff have been trialling MD Co-pilot and the charity now has a new Information Management Group which meets fortnightly to share learning.

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Strategic review

Sustain continues to implement our strategy Fertile Future, 2021 to 2025 through a range of policy groups, project working groups and project and campaign activities. This strategy was developed in the period post-Brexit associated with huge upheaval to the food and farming system; during the Covid pandemic during which Sustain pivoted to support the emergency food response, and before the cost-of-living crisis and recent rise in global conflict impacting supply chains and prioritisation of national security in policy-making.

Clearly, a great deal has changed in our sector since our current strategy was put in place! Hence, from 2024 we started to develop our strategy for the period 2025 to 2030, to be implemented from January 2026. This has proved to be a helpful and creative process. We ran strategy sessions with the staff team, several alliance working groups and Sustain’s Council of Trustees throughout the year, and will develop this input further for consultation with alliance members and other allies during 2025.

When the General Election was called for July 2024, we pivoted to package our strategic priorities in ways that could be used to advocate with manifesto writers, to use in advocacy and public communications activities, and to brief our networks and the new intake of parliamentarians. The emerging priorities of the new government will also influence our strategy, as this is the new context within which we will champion food system change in the UK over the next 3 to 5 years.

Sustain’s Annual Conference took place online in March 2025 and was once again a great success, with the theme: How we change the UK food system for good. Sessions included:

The web page sharing conference recordings, links and resources is here .

The Sustain team of staff and trustees at our strategy away day in 2024. Photo credit: Sustain

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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 2025. 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.

Reserves policy

In accordance with guidelines from the Charity Commissioners, the Trustees have adopted a reserves policy that should ensure that: Excluding those funds 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 funds to ensure the charity was able to meet all current, known and some estimated possible future liabilities.

Investment policy

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 fit, subject nevertheless to such condition (as any) and such consents (if 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 and to manage banking risks and maximisation of interest rate benefits through splitting funds across more than one banking provider. No further ‘social investment’ is currently planned.

Risk management

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

The fund balance carried forward at 31 March 2025 was £810,597 (2024: £781,030) on unrestricted general reserves. The designated reserves at 31 March 2025 was £264,312 (2024: £258,582). The restricted reserves on continuing projects were £939,298 at 31 March 2025 (2024: £693,161). The full Statement of Financial Activities is set out in the accounts below.

rolling risk register and risk management process, reviewed formally at least annually by Trustees and quarterly by 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:

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Trustees’ responsibilities

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:

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.

Setting staff pay

Sustain operates a fair and transparent fixed salary scale for setting staff pay, including senior 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, staff members 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

to the salary scale, salaries (and hence the levels in the salary scale) usually also rise in line with inflation, calculated annually on the actual inflation rate in the preceding year.

As a not-for-profit organisation and registered charity, Sustain covers normal expenses, requires evidence of such claims and expenditure and keeps good records.

Fair pay

Sustain is a registered Living Wage Employer, committed 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, on the Sustain website and in key publications.

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 the forthcoming year will be put forward at the Annual General Meeting.

This report was approved by the Council of Trustees on 19 November 2025 and signed on its behalf, by:

Professor Mike Rayner Chair of the Council of Trustees

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Auditor’s report

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of Sustain: The Alliance for Better Food and Farming (the ‘Charity’) for the year ended 31 March 2025 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 Practice).

Opinion on financial statements

In our opinion the financial statements:

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) 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.

Conclusions relating to going concern

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 from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the directors with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

Other information

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.

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 financial 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 misstatement 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.

29

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit:

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the Charity and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the Trustees’ Annual Report.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters where the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

Responsibilities of the trustees

As explained more fully in the Trustees’ Responsibilities Statement, the trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view and for such internal control as they determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.

In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the Charity’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the Charity or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud are set out below.

In identifying and assessing risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations, our procedures included the following:

30

A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: [ www.frc. org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities ]. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.

Use of our report

This report is made solely to the charitable company’s members, as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charity’s members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charity and the charity’s members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Anthony Epton (Senior Statutory Auditor)

for and on behalf of

Goldwins Limited Statutory Auditor Chartered Accountants 75 Maygrove Road West Hampstead London NW6 2EG

19 November 2025

31

Sustain:The Alliance for Better Food and Farming

Statement of financial activities (incorporating and income and expenditure account)

For the year ended 31 March 2025

Unrestricted
funds
Note
£
Income from:
2
41,855
3
284,625
4
15,567
342,047
5
21,307
5
281,792
303,099
-
6
38,948
(3,651)
35,297
35,297
Reconciliation of funds:
1,039,612
1,074,909
Transfers between funds
Net income / (expenditure) before other
recognised gains and losses
Net movement in funds
38,948
Total funds brought forward
Total funds carried forward
Health and Welfare
Raising funds
Net income / (expenditure) for the year
Total expenditure
Net income / (expenditure) before net
gains / (losses) on investments
Net gains / (losses) on investments
Charitable activities
Donations and legacies
Charitable activities
Health and Welfare
Investments
Total income
Expenditure on:		 Restricted
funds
£
33,579
2,286,825
-
2,320,404
-
2,077,918
2,077,918
-
242,486
3,651
246,137
246,137
693,161
939,298
242,486		 2025
Total funds
£
75,434
2,571,450
15,567
2,662,451
21,307
2,359,710
2,381,017
-
281,434
-
281,434
281,434
1,732,773
2,014,207
281,434		 2024
Total funds
£
109,625
2,657,425
12,842
2,779,892
19,865
2,154,394
2,174,259
-
605,633
-
605,633
605,633
1,127,140
1,732,773
605,633

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.

32

Sustain:The Alliance for Better Food and Farming

Balance sheet

As at 31 March 2025

Note
£
Fixed assets:
11
Current assets:
12
218,174
2,152,624
2,370,798
Liabilities:
13
356,591
17
264,312
810,597
Total unrestricted funds
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
Net current assets
The funds of the charity:
Designated funds
Unrestricted income funds:
General funds
Cash at bank and in hand
Tangible assets
Debtors
Restricted income funds
Total charity funds
Total net assets less current liabilities		 2025
£
-
-
2,014,207
2,014,207
939,298
1,074,909
2,014,207		 £
225,108
1,887,518
2,112,626
379,853
258,582
781,030		 2024
£
-
-
1,732,773
1,732,773
693,161
1,039,612
1,732,773

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 …………………………..19 November 2025 and signed on their behalf by

Professor Michael Rayner Chair

Victoria Williams Treasurer

33

Sustain:The Alliance for Better Food and Farming

Statement of cash flows

For the year ended 31 March 2025

Note
£
£
18
249,539
15,567
15,567
265,106
1,887,518
19
2,152,624
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the
year
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year
Change in cash and cash equivalents in the year
2025
Net cash provided by / (used in) investing activities
Cash flows from operating activities
Cash flows from investing activities:
Dividends, interest and rents from investments
Net cash provided by / (used in) operating activities		 £
£
572,444
12,842
12,842
585,286
1,302,232
1,887,518
2024

34

Sustain:The Alliance for Better Food and Farming

Notes to the financial statements

For the year ended 31 March 2025

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.

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.

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.

35

Sustain: The Alliance For Better Food & Farming

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025

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:

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.

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

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.

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 operates workplace pension scheme.

36

Sustain: The Alliance For Better Food & Farming

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025

3
4		 Conference and workshops
Lund Trust
Oak Foundation (various)
AFN Network+
Samworth Foundation
Thirty Percy Foundation
Vital Strategies
Connect Fund (Barrow Cadbury Trust)
National Lottery Community Fund (Growing Great Ideas)
Kenneth Miller Trust
Trust for London
Impact on Urban Health
Total income from donations 2025
Total income from investments 2025
Rothschild Foundation
Total income from investments 2024
Total income from charitable activities 2025
Total income from charitable activities 2024
Membership fees
Sales and publications
Investment income
Other income
Farming the Future
Subscriptions
Wellcome Trust
ICLEI European Secretariat GmbH
Esmée Fairbairn Foundation (various)
European Climate Foundation
Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust
European Union
City Bridge Foundation
Sustainable Food Places (Big Lottery Fund and Esmee
Fairbairn Foundation)
Total income from donations 2024
Nutritional Wellbeing Foundation (previously known as
the AIM Foundation)
Greater London Authority (various)
Movements Trust
Bertha Foundation
British Heart Foundation
Income from investments
Network of European Foundations
Grant income
Donations
AuroraTrust
Income from charitable activities		 Unrestricted
£
41,855
41,855
67,753
Unrestricted
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
55,000
-
150,000
-
-
-
3,094
34,200
5,163
37,168
284,625
347,058
Unrestricted
£
15,567
15,567
12,842		 £
33,579
33,579
41,872
£
4,200
50,000
13,525
15,000
6,815
-
116,667
43,750
13,969
22,000
15,500
6,833
558,404
55,000
65,625
12,500
56,250
-
595,900
30,247
172,561
73,750
-
197,546
-
62,500
-
98,283
-
-
-
-
2,286,825
2,310,367
£
-
-
-
Restricted
Restricted
Restricted		 2025
Total
£
75,434
75,434
109,625
2025
Total
£
4,200
50,000
13,525
15,000
6,815
-
116,667
43,750
13,969
22,000
15,500
6,833
558,404
55,000
65,625
12,500
56,250
-
595,900
30,247
172,561
73,750
55,000
197,546
150,000
62,500
-
98,283
3,094
34,200
5,163
37,168
2,571,450
2,657,425
2025
Total
£
15,567
15,567
12,842		 2024
Total
£
109,625
109,625
2024
Total
£
-
37,500
-
-
79,000
74,067
50,000
77,917
24,221
51,682
25,500
16,414
656,210
41,250
53,333
-
33,750
20,814
493,200
38,494
194,412
76,250
55,000
202,043
150,000
60,000
52,000
-
11,897
37,650
6,909
37,912
2,657,425
2024
Total
£
12,842
12,842

37

Sustain: The Alliance For Better Food & Farming

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025

Staff costs (Note 7)
Direct cost
Payable to partner organisations
Consultancy costs
Printing and photocopying
Postage and distribution
Travel, meeting and expenses
Other charitable expenditure
Support cost
Telephone and fax
Office costs
Audit fees
Bank charges
Support costs
Total expenditure 2025
Total expenditure 2024		 Cost of
raising
funds
£
18,806
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
18,806
2,501
21,307
19,865		 Charitable
activities
£
1,289,166
502,278
156,822
7,815
4,454
59,500
62,677
-
-
-
-
2,082,712
276,998
2,359,710
2,154,394		 Support
costs
£
180,053
-
-
-
-
-
-
1,491
89,310
8,400
245
279,499
(279,499)
-		 2025 Total
£
1,488,025
502,278
156,822
7,815
4,454
59,500
62,677
1,491
89,310
8,400
245
2,381,017
-
2,381,017		 2024
Total
£
1,443,378
362,480
114,942
8,326
4,005
80,278
71,551
1,492
79,407
8,400
-
2,174,259

Of the total expenditure, £303,099 was unrestricted (2024: £240,379) and £2,077,918 was restricted (2024: £1,933,880).

The amount payable to partner organisations is made up of several different payments – Bridging the Gap Partners (£305k); Childrens Food Campaign Partners (£110.9k); Food for the Planet Partners (£22.3k); Good Food Local Partners (£25k); Grant Conduit for Member Organisation (£35k) and Local Food Retail Partner (£4k).

b. Analysis of expenditure from previous reporting period

Staff costs (Note 7)
Direct cost
Payable to partner organisations
Consultancy costs
Printing and photocopying
Postage and distribution
Travel, meeting and expenses
Other charitable expenditure
Support cost
Telephone and fax
Office costs
Audit fees
Support costs
Total expenditure 2024		 Cost of
raising
funds
£
17,455
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
17,455
2,410
19,865		 Charitable
activities
£
1,251,402
362,480
114,942
8,326
4,005
80,278
71,551
-
-
-
1,892,984
261,410
2,154,394		 Support
costs
£
174,521
-
-
-
-
-
-
1,492
79,407
8,400
263,820
(263,820)
-		 2024 Total
£
1,443,378
362,480
114,942
8,326
4,005
80,278
71,551
1,492
79,407
8,400
2,174,259
-
2,174,259

38

Sustain: The Alliance For Better Food & Farming

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025

This is stated after charging / crediting:

This is stated after charging / crediting:
2025 2024
£ £
Operating lease rentals:
Property 48,029 48,029
Auditors' remuneration (excluding VAT):
Audit 7,000 7,000

Staff costs were as follows:

Employer’s contribution to defined contribution pension schemes
Salaries and wages
Social security costs		 2025
£
1,305,283
115,795
66,947
1,488,025		 2024
£
1,259,122
122,356
61,900
1,443,378

The emoluments of members of staff, including benefits in kind, are within the range of;

£60,001 - £70,000 2025
2024
3
2
£70,001 -£80,000 -
1
£80,001 -£90,000 1
-

The total employee benefits including national insurance and pension contributions of the key management personnel were £226,419 (2024: £207,936).

The charity trustees were not paid or received any other benefits from employment with the charity in the year (2024: £nil). No charity trustee received payment for professional or other services supplied to the charity (2024: £nil).

Trustees' expenses represents the payment or reimbursement of travel and subsistence costs totalling £94 (2024: £73) relating to attendance at meetings of three trustees.

8 Staff numbers

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

Raising funds
Health and Welfare
Support		 2025
No.
0.4
26.1
3.5
30.0		 2024
No.
0.4
26.6
3.7
30.7

39

Sustain: The Alliance For Better Food & Farming

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025

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 £251,737 (2024: £315,499) 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. Three of Sustain's trustees are a member of staff for the Soil Association and Food Matters. Separately, Sustain paid the Soil Association £30,589 as part of the Bridging the Gap project, as well as £600 for the Sustainable Farming campaign.

Food Matters received £67 for travel expenses to attend an event organised by Sustain. 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 £21,891, who are partners on the Recipe for Change project. A Sustain trustee is a member of staff for the Obesity Health Alliance.

Sustain paid the Action on Salt and Health; Action on Sugar £6,092, who are partners on the Recipe for Change project. A Sustain trustee is a member of staff for the Action on Salt and Health; Action on Sugar.

Sustain received £600 from Students Organising for Sustainability (SOS-UK) for project work. Sustain paid SOS-UK £75 for a RACE Summit supporter ticket. A Sustain trustee is a member of staff for the SOS-UK.

The Landworker’s Alliance paid Sustain £10,520 for work on the Sustainable Farming Campaign and the Local Food Retail project. A Sustain trustee is a member of staff for the Landworker’s Alliance.

The Real Bread Campaign also received annual membership fees of £49.50, as well as £148.79 for copies of the Knead to Know more books from the School of Artisan Foods. A Sustain Trustee is on the board at the School of Artisan Foods.

Sustain paid £34,936 to Alexandra Rose Charity, who are project partners on the Bridging the Gap project. A Sustain trustee is a member of staff for the Alexandra Rose Charity.

Open Food Network was paid a bursary of £60 during 24/25 as part of the Local Food Retail project. A Sustain trustee is a member of staff for the Open Food Network.

Better Food Traders paid Sustain £6,000 as part of the Farming the Future Collaboration project. Sustain paid Better Food Traders £1,750 as part of the Local Food Plan support. A member of Sustain’s Senior Leadership Team is on the board (unpaid) at Better Food Traders.

Finally, Sustain paid £43,678 to Growing Communities, who are project partners on the Bridging the Gap project. A member of Sustain’s Senior Leadership Team is on the board (unpaid) at Growing Communities.

10 Taxation

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

40

Sustain: The Alliance For Better Food & Farming

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025

11 Tangible fixed assets

Eliminated on disposal
Debtors
Deferred income
Other creditors
Creditors: amounts falling due within one year
Accrued income
Net book value
At the end of the year
At the start of the year
Prepayments
Accruals
Other debtors
All of the above assets are used for charitable purposes.
At the end of the year
Additions in year
Cost
Depreciation
Disposals in year
At the end of the year
At the start of the year
Charge for the year
At the start of the year		 Fixtures,
fittings and
Equipment
£
33,658
-
-
33,658
33,658
-
-
33,658
-
-
2025
£
97,977
4,779
115,418
218,174
2025
£
61,574
8,400
286,617
356,591

Total
£
33,658
-
-
33,658
33,658
-
-
33,658
-
-
2024
£
26,901
4,779
193,428
225,108
2024
£
117,412
8,400
254,041
379,853

12 Debtors

13 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

14 Deferred income

Deferred income comprises of grants from the following: Aurora Trust £12,500, Bertha Challenge Fellowship £4,508, Esmee Fairbairn Foundation £58,333, Greater London Authority £75,000, Kenneth Miller Trust £30,000, Lund Trust £37,500, Nutritional Wellbeing Foundation £26,257 and Sustainable Food Places £42,519.

Balance at the beginning of the year
Amount released to income in the year
Amount deferred in the year
Balance at the end of the year		 2025
£
254,041
(254,041)
286,617
286,617		 2024
£
487,742
(487,742)
254,041
254,041

15 Pension scheme

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

41

Sustain: The Alliance For Better Food & Farming

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025

16 Analysis of net assets between funds

17
Total restricted funds
Employment Liabilities
Innovation and Activities Fund
Total designated funds
General funds
Bridging the Gap
Local Food Retail
Climate and Nature
Movements in funds
Sustainable Food Places
Food Poverty
Sustainable Farming and Land Use
Designated funds:
Children's Food Campaign
Net assets at the end of the year
London Food Link
Capital Growth
Restricted funds:
Unrestricted funds:
Net current assets
FoodSHIFT 2030
Campaign for a Better Food Britain
Total funds
Total unrestricted funds
Diversity Outreach
Match Funding Contingency		 At the start
of the year
£
319,446
7,560
24,320
144,827
33,102
11,363
(14,357)
17,750
37,936
15,164
47,021
49,029
693,161
198,582
50,000
10,000
258,582
781,030
1,039,612
1,732,773		 General
unrestricted
£
810,597
810,597

Incoming
resources &
gains
£
598,700
49,602
14,315
653,434
275,892
2,500
13,969
84,349
74,180
8,000
312,917
232,546
2,320,404
-
-
-
-
342,047
342,047
2,662,451
£
264,312
264,312


Outgoing
resources &
losses
£
(537,123)
(57,162)
(36,549)
(611,488)
(200,606)
(27,738)
-
(70,603)
(86,561)
(5,354)
(224,741)
(219,993)
(2,077,918)
-
-
-
-
(303,099)
(303,099)
(2,381,017)
Designated		 Restricted
£
939,298
939,298


Transfers
£
-
-
-
-
-
-
388
3,263
-
-
-
-
3,651
5,730
-
-
5,730
(9,381)
(3,651)
-		 Total funds
£
2,014,207
2,014,207
At the end
of the year
£
381,023
-
2,086
186,773
108,388
(13,875)
-
34,759
25,555
17,810
135,197
61,582
939,298
204,312
50,000
10,000
264,312
810,597
1,074,909
2,014,207

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 2025 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:

42

Sustain: The Alliance For Better Food & Farming

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025

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 (umbrella term for Sustain’s coordination of work on policy and standards following the UK’s exit from the European Union). This work helps Sustain’s alliance to make their voices heard in important discussions about the future of the UK’s approach to food, farming, fishing and international trade, particularly with regard to health, ethics and sustainability.

Capital Growth: This long-standing initiative, supported by the Mayor of London, offers practical support to hundreds of community gardens around London to help more people grow food, and to have greater access to land, skills, nature and growing spaces for community and environmental 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: Catalyses large-scale and systematic solutions in the food and farming system as a key way to avert and adapt to 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 the London Food Poverty Campaign: benchmarking local authorities on their actions to help people and communities move ‘beyond the food bank’; producing an annual league table of London Borough action to drive change and share good practice. This also includes work on policy at local, regional and national level to enable people on a low income to access the healthy and sustainably produced food they need.

Local Food Retail brings food, farming and supply-chain groups together to create a plan to achieve a measurable growth in 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 farm payments, policies and supply chain practices that would incentivise change towards healthy, fair and environmentally sustainable food production.

Sustainable Food Places: The Sustainable Food Places Network – organised jointly by Food Matters, Soil Association, Sustain, Food Sense Wales, Nourish Scotland and Nourish NI – 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 form local food partnerships to work together to improve their food system. Sustain helps the network to run focused initiatives, this year including:

43

Sustain: The Alliance For Better Food & Farming

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025

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

Net income / (expenditure) for the reporting period
(as per the statement of financial activities)
Dividends, interest and rent from investments
(Increase)/decrease in debtors
Increase/(decrease) in creditors
Net cash provided by / (used in) operating activities
19
Analysis of cash and cash equivalents
Cash in hand
Total cash and cash equivalents		 At 1 April
2024
£
1,887,518
1,887,518
Cash flows
£
265,106
265,106		 2025
£
281,434
(15,567)
6,934
(23,262)
249,539
Other
changes
£
-
-		 2024
£
605,633
(12,842)
139,674
(160,021)
572,444

£
2,152,624
2,152,624
At 31 March
2025

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.

44

Sustain: The Alliance For Better Food & Farming

Notes to the financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025

Net current assets
Net assets at the end of the year		 General
unrestricted
£
781,030
781,030		 £
258,582
258,582
Designated		 Restricted
£
693,161
693,161		 Total funds
£
1,732,773
1,732,773

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

Total restricted funds
Employment Liabilities
Innovation and Activities Fund
Total designated funds
General funds
Sustainable Farming and Land Use
FoodSHIFT 2030
Food Poverty
Local Food Retail
Campaign for a Better Food Britain
Capital Growth
Children's Food Campaign
Climate and Nature
London Food Link
Restricted funds:
Bridging the Gap
Diversity Outreach
Sustainable Food Places
Unrestricted funds:
Designated funds:
Match Funding Contingency
Total unrestricted funds
Total funds		 At the start
of the year
£
121,262
41,190
18,630
(108,060)
13,676
-
28,598
30,818
6,352
4,682
17,720
57,872
232,740
186,233
50,000
10,000
246,233
648,167
894,400
1,127,140		 Incoming
resources &
gains
£
493,200
83,768
97,902
767,347
229,789
500
24,221
146,038
76,250
31,999
164,182
237,043
2,352,239
-
-
-
-
427,653
427,653
2,779,892		 Outgoing
resources &
losses
£
(295,016)
(117,398)
(92,212)
(514,460)
(210,363)
(31,199)
(67,176)
(159,106)
(44,666)
(21,517)
(134,881)
(245,886)
(1,933,880)
-
-
-
-
(240,379)
(240,379)
(2,174,259)		 Transfers
£
-
-
-
-
-
42,062
-
-
-
-
-
-
42,062
12,349
-
-
12,349
(54,411)
(42,062)
-		 At the end
of the year
£
319,446
7,560
24,320
144,827
33,102
11,363
(14,357)
17,750
37,936
15,164
47,021
49,029
693,161
198,582
50,000
10,000
258,582
781,030
1,039,612
1,732,773

45

Funders

Sustain would like to thank the following funders for their financial support for our work over the course of this financial year:

AFN Network+ Aurora Trust (previously known as the Ashden Trust) Bertha Foundation Big Lottery Fund British Heart Foundation City Bridge Foundation Esmée Fairbairn Foundation (various) European Climate Foundation European Union - Horizon 2020 Farming the Future Greater London Authority (various) ICLEI European Secretariat GmbH Impact on Urban Health (part of Guy’s & St Thomas’ Foundation) Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust Kenneth Miller Trust Lund Trust Movements Trust National Lottery Community Fund (Growing Great Ideas) Nutritional Wellbeing Foundation (previously known as the AIM Foundation) Oak Foundation Rothschild Foundation Samworth Foundation Sustainable Food Places Thirty Percy Foundation Trust for London Wellcome Trust

Annual report

For the year ended 31 March 2025

A Sustain publication

November 2025

Sustain: The alliance for better 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 equity. 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.

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:

© Sustain 2025

Sustain is a Registered Charity No. 1018643