2024-03-31-accounts

Annual report and accounts for the year ended 31 March 2024

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FareShare is...
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2 FareShare Annual Report 2024

Contents

Contents
About FareShare	2
The last 30 years	3
A message from our Chair	4
FareShare today	6
How we work	7
A message from our CEO	8
Our network partners	10
Safety review	11
Food review	13
Step change to unlock more food	16
Fundraising review and donors	19
Environmental review	23
Social impact review Our people Financial review	25 27 31
Risk review	35
Governance review	39
Independent Auditor's report	45
Financial statements	48
Accounting policies	51
Notes to the financial statements Reference and administrative details	53 67

Reporting period

Information in this annual report and accounts relates to the year ended 31 March 2024 unless otherwise stated.

Reporting scope

This report provides statistics for the whole of the FareShare network, as this best describes the social, environmental and economic impact of our collective work. This includes the volume of food provided to the network and the equivalent number of meals provided by the charities and community groups from the food they receive from us. The financial statements refer to the charity FareShare and do not reflect the incomes and operating costs of those regions in the network managed by our network partners.

About FareShare

...where commitment meets crisis

Operating in the best of both worlds to strengthen communities

We bring strategic thinking to bear on the challenge of food surplus, working with charities and community groups across the UK to provide food for people and strengthening communities in the process. Through this approach, we multiply the impact of our partners and funders to help tackle the environmental and social crises facing the UK. Thereby at FareShare, we operate in the best of two worlds – commercial and not-for-profit.

From our inception 30 years ago as a small, local charity supporting people experiencing homelessness, FareShare has grown to become the UK’s leading national sourcing and logistics redistribution network for surplus food, delivering to over 8,300 charities and community groups across the UK. As we reflect on the positive impact created this year, we know that our work is needed more than ever – and in a changing world, we are grappling with new challenges. We are committed to keeping our momentum going.

FareShare Annual Report 2024 3

The last 30 years

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Digital platform
FareShare becomes FareShare Go
The last 30 years
independent charity with ‘Feeding the 5,000’ launched with Tesco
funding from Sainsbury’s, event highlights scandal of food waste >1,000 charities and FoodCloud to
expanding remit to ‘The 10,000 Pallet Challenge’ supplied with link charities directly
...where goodwill meets impact support more people aims to increase food volumes surplus food to surplus food
2024 marks the
30th anniversary
of FareShare
1994 2004 2007 2009 2010 2013 2015
Since our foundation, the
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Since our foundation, the number of people in the UK struggling to afford food has soared and the climate crisis has intensified. Today, our work is needed more than ever and we are committed to creating both environmental and social impact by redistributing surplus, good-to-eat food to people who need it.

Crisis FareShare established as a food project to support homeless people

Food and Drink Federation becomes strategic partner

‘Million Meal Appeal’ UK’s biggest food drive run with Sainsbury’s

Britain’s Most Admired Charity

‘Cost of Living Crisis Appeal’ calls on UK government to invest in surplus food redistribution

Government lobbying campaigns for surplus redistribution start in earnest

£15m Farm Gate Food Waste Fund

‘Surplus with Purpose’ fund launched to help businesses offset costs of diverting surplus food to charities

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Charity of the Year launched to help businesses Long Term Partnership award announced by government
(Third Sector and Charity offset costs of diverting surplus with Tesco (Third Sector Charity for redistributing farm
Times awards) food to charities Business Awards) surplus
2017 2018 2019 2020 2022 2023 2024
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We will continue to raise awareness of our work, and the need for change in the food system, by using our voice across the industry and our network, and we will multiply our impact through collaboration with UK Government, our partners and supporters.

‘Fight Hunger, Create Change’ campaign launched, partnering with Asda and The Trussell Trust

Covid-19 lockdown x4 average food volumes delivered at height of crisis

Coronation Food Project announced in partnership with His Majesty King Charles III

The National Lottery Community Fund donation over 3 years for volunteering and management capacity in the network

Marcus Rashford becomes FareShare Ambassador raising profile of UK food insecurity and our work ‘Fight Hunger, Create Change’ campaign with Asda helps double our regional centres’ capacity

Data points on graphic directional only based on information recorded at different starting points in our history. More information can be found in the ‘Our history’ section of our website: https://fareshare.org.uk/what-we-do/our-history/

£15 million pilot fund announced by government to reduce food waste

4 FareShare Annual Report 2024

A message from our Chair

Update on 2024 performance

As FareShare celebrates its 30th anniversary, I find myself reflecting on both how far we have come and how much work remains. Over the past three decades, FareShare has evolved from a small charity supporting people experiencing homelessness into the UK’s leading surplus food redistribution network, addressing one of the country’s most pressing challenges – food poverty and insecurity. Our mission, at its heart, has always been to ensure that surplus food reaches those who need it most. The environmental benefits of our work, reducing food waste and carbon are increasingly significant. Our positive impact on people and communities remains our driving force.

Most important to our development over these years has been the relationships we have built, which are grounded in trust and shared purpose. These partnerships – from across the food industry to our funders – have enabled FareShare to deliver millions of meals each year. But what truly delivers this mission is the work of the charities and community groups on the ground. These local organisations are the lifeblood of our work, turning food into much more than meals. They are the frontline in the fight against food poverty and insecurity, providing wrap-around support that strengthens communities.

Whether it's youth centres offering meals alongside training programmes, shelters providing food and a safe space, or food banks helping families get by during difficult times – our charity partners ensure

that the food FareShare provides has a lasting and profound impact.

The challenges we face have intensified this year. The growing demand to reduce food poverty and insecurity is at a time when surplus food is harder and more expensive to come by and when the sector at large has experienced fundraising pressures. I feel incredibly proud of our Senior Leadership Team who have made significant achievements during the year – most significantly, our role in the launch of the Coronation Food Project (page 16) inspired by His Majesty King Charles III and our partnership excellence drive. We welcomed new faces to the Senior Leadership Team and I would like to thank those long standing members who have retired and have left a legacy of dedication. Our team is well-prepared to lead FareShare into the future.

I also want to highlight the invaluable contributions of our Board of Trustees. We welcomed six new Trustees, with two more joining shortly after the year end. Each Trustee brings a unique perspective, and their counsel has strengthened our governance and strategic direction. I am deeply grateful for their dedication, which has helped guide FareShare through a time of growth and change.

Of course, none of this would be possible without the incredible support of our funders, sponsors, employees, and partners in the food supply chain. Your contributions have been invaluable. We are deeply grateful for your unwavering

financial and in-kind support, and your efforts to save surplus food from waste. But most importantly, our heartfelt thanks go to the charities and community groups who work tirelessly to deliver this food to those in need. They are essential to FareShare’s mission, ensuring that surplus food is not only saved from waste but becomes a lifeline for so many.

Looking ahead, I acknowledge that the road will not be easy. The growing demand for food support and the rising costs of sourcing and distributing surplus food will continue to test us.

Thank you for your passion, your belief in our work, and your dedication to strengthening communities. Together, we are building a more sustainable and compassionate future.

John Bason

FareShare Annual Report 2024 5

During the last 12 months, we saved

57,000 tonnes

of surplus food, equivalent to

135 million meals

for nearly 1 million people experiencing food insecurity, whilst avoiding the needless waste of

106,000 tonnes of C02e

and

141 billion litres of water.

We are supported by 26,600 volunteers impacting 8,357 community organisations.

With an extensive reach through our different food models, FareShare food strengthened communities in 99% of the UK’s Local Authority regions.

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26,600
volunteers
17 8,357
FareShare charities and
network partners community groups
c.1 million
723
food partners beneficiaries
16
Trustees
OUR VALUES
Our values run through
everything we do
and set out a clear
framework for us to
approach our work.
PASSION.
AMBITION.
RESPECT.
COLLABORATION.
FOCUS.
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6 FareShare Annual Report 2024

FareShare today

We are the only UK national surplus food redistribution network focused on redirecting edible food that would otherwise be wasted to people who can use it. Our model allows us to multiply the environmental and social impact for our partners and supporters. With a commitment to safety and efficiency, we are the trusted partner for hundreds of food businesses across the UK.

723 food partners

When FareShare opened its warehouse doors 30 years ago, the first delivery of food came from Nestlé who have continued to support us ever since. The number of food partners who have subsequently provided their surplus and donated food to us has increased to 723.

We are reliant on and thankful for these valuable ongoing and new partnerships to support our mission.

We are the national sourcing and distribution service for charities and community groups who enrich the lives of people they serve.

We help grass roots organisations develop their capability to utilise a wider variety of healthy food sources that are the cornerstone of their services which address the root causes of food poverty.

90% of our charity partners provide essential wrap-around support as well as food.

We provide a safe, efficient way for businesses to use their surplus food to benefit communities and the environment – helping them become more sustainable and meet net zero targets.

Every meal we redistribute helps prevent the waste of greenhouse gas emissions.

We provide sector-leading standards of food and people safety for our colleagues our partners and their colleagues and customers.

This year our work prevented the waste of 106,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.

We multiply the environmental and social impact of our partners and donors.

We do this by connecting surplus food that would otherwise go to waste with charities who can use it for social impact where it’s needed most, strengthening communities across the UK.

For every £1 invested in FareShare we can deliver 5 meals and £5.72 in social value.

Source: “Waste Britain” report, University of Herefordshire

FareShare Annual Report 2024 7

How we work

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FareShare’s network
17 Network partners
34 Depots
Over 23,000 m2
storage capacity, including
15% frozen/chilled space
166 7
Farms and food Lorries
production sites
184
5 Vans 8,357
2,137 Logistic partners Charity partners
Manufacturing,
food service
and retail sites
SUPERMARKETSUPERMARKET Nearly
1,000,000
people served
FareShare Go
3,433 1,156
Retail outlets Food service
outlets
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We engage with key businesses across the UK food supply chain to rescue surplus that would otherwise go to waste.

Via our 17 network partners, we transport surplus food from warehouses to our 34 depots across the UK. (We fast track finished products from retail and foodservice outlets directly to charities via FareShare Go.)

We sort, store, pack and redistribute food seven days a week with the help of our partners and over 26,000 volunteers. We also engage with the Government to influence policy and with funders to raise monies.

We send surplus food to 8,357 charity partners. Another 1,500 are on our ‘waiting list.’ In 2024, we announced our involvement with the Coronation Food Project (see page 16) to amplify our impact.

Our charity partners cook, prepare and share food with nearly 1 million people in their communities – including schools, faith groups and community centres – getting food to people who need it most.

8 FareShare Annual Report 2024

A message from our CEO

...where challenge meets opportunity

I’ve learnt a lot as CEO at FareShare – and it’s a privilege to have worked with so many committed and generous colleagues and partners across the whole sector. As I reflect on the past year, I would like to share several things that have struck me.”

The challenges and opportunities facing our sector

then can we address the operational and commercial challenges associated with redistributing new sources of surplus food, such as food waste from farms, where often only a proportion of the crop are used, which are typically more costly to access.

1. The charity sector typically has the most difficult role in the food industry – redistributing surplus food – yet does so with the lowest resources and funding.

2 . To make this happen takes

commitment, passion and diligence, which I see throughout our network in our incredible partners and volunteers. I’ve met some impressive people in the business world, but the people I’ve met in this sector are truly inspirational and I’ve learned so much from them.

Driving a strategic agenda

In that context, this last year has been an important one for FareShare as we have sought to work across the sector to drive a strategic agenda.

1 . We are honoured to be part of His Majesty King Charles III's Coronation Food Project, working closely with the Institute of Grocery Distribution and our network partner The Felix Project. This has resulted in a groundbreaking alliance with key retailers and manufacturers in the food industry to rescue more food waste from within the food retail supply chain.

3. The situation is only getting more Project, working closely with the Institute demanding. The cost of living crisis means of Grocery Distribution and our network the need to feed people is growing at a partner The Felix Project. This has resulted time when efficiencies and scarcity are in a groundbreaking alliance with key reducing the sources of surplus food retailers and manufacturers in the food that our sector has historically relied on. industry to rescue more food waste from Meanwhile the cost of securing more food within the food retail supply chain. is increasing all the time due to inflationary pressures and increased resources needed 2. The processing and distribution of to extract surplus from the whole supply this additional food will be enhanced chain. by establishing our Coronation Food Hubs, two of which have already 4. The impact of CO2 on the planet is also been funded by some of the country’s increasingly evident. And while food waste leading philanthropic individuals and is one of the largest contributors of carbon organisations, to whom we are incredibly emissions worldwide, the operational grateful.

4. The impact of CO2 on the planet is also increasingly evident. And while food waste is one of the largest contributors of carbon emissions worldwide, the operational practices, and commercial arrangements needed require a lot of development.

3. Our long-term lobbying efforts with our network partner, The Felix Project, on our farm-gate Surplus with Purpose (SWP) programme resulted in The Government making a much-welcomed announcement of a £15 million fund earlier this year. However, at the time of writing, the programme is on hold and we look

5 . The opportunity to create positive social and environmental impact is still largely untapped. However, to realise this fully, a more collaborative and structured approach is required – across industry, Government, and the third sector. Only

forward to partnering with the elected administration to ensure the programme is executed successfully.

4. We have sought to build closer, more integrated ways of working with our food partners to build on the many milestones we achieved with them this year, supporting their efforts to reduce waste as well as redistribute any remaining, unavoidable surplus. We are profoundly grateful for their ongoing support.

5 . In an increasingly tough economic environment, our many donors, both organisations and individuals, have continued to support us and enable our mission. Their support is more than financial; it galvanises us to do more and is never taken for granted.

Investing for growth

In addition, we have invested in FareShare, with new colleagues joining us as we look to strengthen our operations and activities, and to ensure our pay rates stay ahead of inflation, recognising the hard work and dedication of our much-valued colleagues. We have also invested in our systems and infrastructure, most notably our work with Salesforce on our fundraising system as we look to drive increasing levels of income in the face of cost inflation and more expensive sources of surplus.

FareShare Annual Report 2024 9

Plans for the future With that in mind, I will depart FareShare Our operating environment Looking ahead to next year, our 30th in 2025 having completed two years as Anniversary, we aim to build on our CEO and delivered the plan set out to the The macro challenges facing UK society, Government and the food industry mean heritage with initiatives to create a Board. With a new structure of Executive that FareShare’s services are more relevant than ever. We are in an excellent position platform that creates lasting and material Chair, Deputy Chair, and an Interim CEO to be part of the solution. However, our changing operational environment means doing things differently – through greater innovation, broadening our funding positive social and environmental impacts taking up the reins. I will leave proud to sources and partnership development. in line with our published charitable have led the organisation through this objectives. Specifically, we aim to: important time and will always support Macro challenges Operational challenges those working in this vital sector. • Further professionalise our Food insecurity Reduced volumes in Lack of incentives for network investing in our operating Finally, a note of thanks to our many The cost of living crisis has existing channels business forced 14m people in the UK The most cost-effective and Government policy lags model and ensuring an ongoing focus colleagues and supporters, be they food into food insecurity; 4m of available surplus food sources behind countries where on food and colleague safety, as well or funding partners, professional services these are children. The unmet are reducing as food partners legislation, tax incentives and as efficiency and effectiveness. organisations, our incredible volunteers, demand for food is estimated become more efficient in subsidies support surplus our outstanding network partners and at 830 million meals each year. eliminating food waste. redistribution. As a result, • Deliver on the opportunities front line charity partners, industry bodies, some edible food is being sent represented by Surplus With government officials, Trustees and of Cy Food industry trust to anaerobic digestion. Purpose and the Coronation Food In a demanding regulatory course our fantastic FareShare colleagues. New food sources more Charities under pressure Project in conjunction with our It is an honour to work with each and and competitive environment, complex and costly Many charities that we supply industry and charity partners. the UK food industry needs to every one of you and I would like to say know it can have confidence New sources of surplus have less funding available, • Lobby government and industry a personal thanks for your support. and trust in charitable food food – from farm gate, manufacturing and hospitality/ cannot provide cooked meals or cannot handle certain redistribution and its ability to jointly to build operational measures food service sectors – are sources of surplus food (e.g. handle food safely. to ensure a systemic approach to significantly more complex and frozen, bulk and short shelfsurplus food redistribution. expensive to access. life). Carbon reduction • Further invest in our tech To respond to the global Increased competition and Network partners under climate change crisis, the UK capabilities to provide the overlap pressure infrastructure that makes these food industry is taking action New entrants to our sector Our network partners are to reduce carbon emissions – charities and for-profit experiencing higher costs changes sustainable. and needs to meet published companies – are welcomed. due to inflation, less income net zero targets. UK food • Adapt the organisation to meet George Wright But an expanding sector has from charities and increasing the challenges and opportunities of CEO FareShare UK waste is estimated at nearly 13m tonnes and represents led to fragmentation and inefficient use of resources demand to handle new sources of surplus food which the sector, developing new sources around 6-7% of total CO2e (particularly tech solutions), require interventions. of food and funding, all the while emissions. and there’s a need for more investing in the development of our ~~ee~~ collaboration. Fundraising under teams. pressure Significant logistics costs Fundraising has become more Charities are having to invest challenging in a tough market; On this last point, it’s also important that significantly in logistics costs therefore, diversification is key we plan for long-term succession and set as they are the largest single to income sustainability. ourselves up for the next phase of our expense and a financial development, building on our successes. E limitation on impact. ~~R~~

10 FareShare Annual Report 2024

Our network partners

...where collaboration meets results

Our network partners provide regional, on-the-ground expertise, helping to strengthen communities through our shared food redistribution model.

The FareShare network consists of 34 sites across the UK. Three sites are operated by FareShare UK, with other regions run by 17 independent network partners.

Many have additional charitable aims and objectives including furniture recycling, employability and children and family support. Over the past 30 years, our collaboration has been fundamental to the social and environmental impact that we have created and is vital to our future strategy and ambitions. We thank them for their ongoing dynamic and valuable support.

		Charities
FareShare network members	Region covered	Charities served
Children and Families CityGate Community Projects Community Foods Initiatives North East Community Initiatives South West Cyrenians Emerge 3Rs FareShare (Independent) FareShare UK The Felix Project Food Redistribution Wales The Goodwin Development Trust Homeless Connect Move On Recycling Lives SOFEA Transform	Kent Sussex and Surrey Grampian, Highlands and Islands South West Devon and Cornwall Central and South East Scotland Greater Manchester Midlands North East Yorkshire East Anglia Merseyside Southern Central London 1,126 South Wales Hull and Humber Northern Ireland Glasgow and West of Scotland Lancashire and Cumbria South Midlands and Thames Valley Tayside and Fife	141 144 204 398 158 294 636 230 350 140 267 147 1,126 201 144 172 99 165 177 152

The charities served through our FareShare network sign up to a membership scheme to receive food delivered to them via our warehouses. Another 3,012 community food associates (not included above) receive a limited range of food, usually with around a 24-hour shelf life, free of charge by signing up to FareShare Go – our end-of-day store collection model.

FareShare Annual Report 2024 11

Safety review

Safety is paramount to us. Tackling food waste and redirecting that food to communities across the UK comes with inherent risks – so it’s incumbent on us to manage those risks carefully and protect people at every stage of the process.

A ‘Safe Pair of Hands’

We aim to be a ‘safe pair of hands’ in all that we do, whether that relates to high food safety standards, operational health and safety performance across our sites, or the way we treat our colleagues and volunteers and protect them from harm. We consider this focus to be a key organisational strength. ‘Managing food safety’ and ‘Health and Safety’ are our first two principal risks (more information on pages 35 to 36) and are discussed at each Board of Trustees meeting.

Safeguarding our food

We operate a bespoke Food Safety Management System that is assured by our Primary Authority, The Royal Borough of Greenwich. This system enables us to identify, control, monitor and plan for hazards that could pose a danger to the safe handling of the many categories of food that we redistribute. It also sets out procedures to manage product recalls, should they arise, and to maintain high levels of food traceability through robust record-keeping, using our online database.

external NSF[1] audit score

Audits are carried out internally by our compliance team and externally using Shield Safety as our third-party auditors. Last year our Regional Centres achieved an average external audit score of 97% (2023: NSF[1] audit score Gold).

Safeguarding our operations

We have invested £600,000 over the last two years in our own sites and those run by our network partners to improve the safety of our infrastructure. These included revising our risk assessments, systems and Health and Safety (H&S) Policy and focusing on excellent safety leadership by increasing training and coaching in this area.

We have enhanced our H&S Policy to devise organisational arrangements for safety and to produce risk assessments and safe systems of work that help ensure all operations are safe and legal.

With excellent safety leadership, we focus on creating a safe working environment, where investment in training and coaching guard against risks and where the safety of colleagues is a strong and living reality.

We have also invested in a comprehensive external audit of our safety procedures and performance. This independent view has helped us to identify and implement additional approaches to our safety, so that we are continually improving. We monitor internal and industry H&S incident trends and are committed to best practice sharing to mitigate H&S-related risks.

Safeguarding our people

We have a responsibility to implement the highest safeguarding practices to protect all people that we engage with from harm, whether they are volunteers, people using our charities’ services, staff or donors. We identify and minimise risks across all activities through appropriate training, risk

assessments, policies and processes, and safe and transparent recruitment practices. These are underpinned by our strong ethos in this area. Safeguarding training is mandatory for all staff and volunteers. Our Safeguarding Policy sets out our mandatory standards and provides details of our escalation process, should any incident or reporting of suspected harm, abuse or neglect arise. Our Chief Executive, supported by the Head of HR, is responsible for upholding this Policy, which is reviewed by the Board every two years.

Looking ahead

In the coming year, we aim to extend our H&S monitoring across our entire network, investing a further £100,000 to improve workplace transport safety across all operations. We have identified vehicle movements as our largest H&S risk to our people. We aim to mitigate this by separating vehicle and pedestrian movements, either physically or through the timing of activities, updating safety line painting and adding barriers, gates and consistent, bespoke signage.

investment in warehouse safety infrastructure over past two years

1 For more information https://www.nsf.org/gb/en

areshaie ADnual Rewrt 2024 -1

FareShare Annual Report 2024 13

Food review

Where is edible food going to waste?

The evolution in our food sourcing

Retail

2024 2023 26,658t 28,921t

Growers & Produce distributors

Our work feeds communities, tackles food waste, and strengthens over 8,300 local charities and community groups to make an even bigger difference for people across the UK. But it all starts with the food we are able to source, and our ability to redirect it to those who can make the best use of it. With less surplus available from our usual sources – a welcome development as retailers work to prevent food waste – this year we have increasingly needed to look to other parts of the food supply chain.

• 1 WRAP, UK Food Waste & Food Surplus Key Facts 2023 and WWF, Hidden Waste: The Scale and Impact of Food Waste in Primary Production 2022

2Tackling the Cost of Living Crisis Using Surplus Food, FareShare, 2022

*During the year we became aware of changes in calculations of food transferred to FareShare Go. As a result, prior year figures of 15,422 tonnes have been adjusted to 18,647 tonnes.

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Farms Food
63% manufacturing
15%
Foodservice Retail
18% 4%
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In the UK, 4.6 million tonnes of edible food goes to waste in the supply chain[1] each year – enough for 10 billion meals.[2] The majority of this goes to waste on farms.

FareShare performance 2024

In 2024 we were able to source 57,000 tonnes of food that would otherwise have gone to waste, a 1% increase on the prior year, and 1.2% of the supply chain’s total surplus. In 2024 surplus food accounted for 92% (2023: 92%) of the food we source; this remains our most important source of creating social value and preventing carbon emissions.

Total food volumes: 2024: 59,136 tonnes 2023: 58,364 tonnes

In line with expectations our retail volume decreased by (8)%, a result of retailers turning over a lower volume of food due to factors including:

• Inflationary pressures causing shoppers to buy less and leading to retailers reducing the range of products they stock.

• A continued focus on reducing retail food waste across the sector.

• Flooding and other climate-related issues, leading to lower crop volumes and a more relaxed approach among retailers to accepting out-of-spec produce.

To compensate, our teams increased their sourcing from food service, growers, and produce and manufacturing suppliers, with the amount of food they were able to secure from these sources rising by

2024 2023 12,600t 11,297t

Manufacturing & logistics 2024 2023 9,674t 9,133t

Foodservice

2024 2023 6,642t 5,804t

Donated

2024 2023 1,407t 2,307t

Purchased 2024 2023 1,092t 902t Manufactured for FareShare 2024 2023 1,063t 0t

10%. However, the cost to FareShare of capturing surplus food from non-retail sources incurs costs in respect of logistics and account management, which means the cost of rescuing non-retail surplus is significantly higher than from retailers.

The evolution in our food sourcing is shown in the graph above.

The number of food partners providing surplus and donated food to us also increased to 723 (2023: 705) and we thank them for their continued support and collaboration. While this volume increase allows the charities and community groups we work with to deliver more social impact, demand for food from our charity partners continues to outstrip supply significantly.

14 FareShare Annual Report 2024

Food review (continued)

Donated food

In addition to providing surplus food, our retail food partners run various in-store campaigns to promote the donation of food items that can be stored at room temperature. Donated food accounted for 2% (2023: 4%) of the food we received this year, and we would like to acknowledge the importance of our partnership with Tesco, our largest donated food partner by volume. Tesco’s colleagues once again ran a successful in-store Winter Food Collection, allowing FareShare volunteers to engage directly with Tesco’s shoppers to encourage food donations.

Purchased food

We continue to purchase food tactically, focusing on items that do not typically end up as surplus food, such as rice, dry pasta, tinned veg and pasta sauces. We are grateful to Sainsbury’s for allowing their shoppers to top up payments when checking out online with cash donations that we use specifically for this purpose. In 2024 purchased food accounted for 2% of our total food volumes (2023: 2%).

Surplus with Purpose

Through this scheme we help save surplus food crops at the farm gate that would otherwise be ploughed back into the field or sent to anaerobic digestion, by supporting farmers to cover the additional labour, packaging and distribution costs incurred for redistribution. We may be able to offset the cost of this scheme if FareShare is successful in bidding for a share of the £15 million funding announced by the previous government in February 2024, with this funding due to be allocated to support growers to secure more surplus for charities.

Coronation Food Project/Alliance Manufacturing

We are honoured to be a partner in the Coronation Food Project – a landmark initiative inspired by His Majesty King Charles III, which seeks to redistribute more surplus food to vulnerable communities. To support this, our Alliance Manufacturing project aims to provide a skills-based service, with the support of industry experts, to intervene in manufacturing processes to recover workin-progress food surplus (i.e. food and ingredients that do not end up in finished products). In addition, we have started working with retailers and their suppliers to manufacture specific products for FareShare, producing over 1,000 tonnes of food in 2024.

Food Life Extension/Flex

Many of our charity partners cannot store or handle large volumes of food, or short-life or frozen products. Through Food Life Extension/Flex we intervene to break down, repack and relabel large catering-sized packs and pallet loads into smaller units that are more convenient, hand-select and regrade fresh produce (for example, to remove spoilt items), and invest in re-processing (e.g. canning and freezing) to extend shelf-life and manage gluts.

FareShare Go

Building on the success of our FareShare Go programme, which links organisations that can repurpose food with retailers in their area, we are planning to roll this out to the hospitality and food service sectors. This will allow local charities and community groups to collect surplus food directly from restaurants and other outlets.

Food volumes by major food types

During the year, the amount of fresh produce we were able to secure increased by 19%, ambient food (food that can be stored at room temperature) increased by 7%, and dairy and frozen food increased by 20% and 23% respectively primarily due to our increased focus through the work of our Food Committee. The amount of meat we were able to source, however, remained flat. This is a concern to be addressed, given the importance of protein and meat to improving the health of the communities served by our charity partners.

Looking ahead

Our changing operating environment means we must continue to evolve our distribution network as the mix of surplus food sources changes. We expect that fresh produce, larger pack formats, and work-in-progress food will represent a higher percentage of the food we source, and we anticipate that the amount of food sourced from retailers will continue to fall.

Our key challenge in fulfilling the unmet demand to repurpose surplus food is that the most readily available surplus food sources are reducing, while new sources of surplus food are significantly more complex and expensive to access. We are focused, therefore, on finding low-cost solutions across the UK food supply chain to access more surplus food and developing innovative, market-leading models to support these.

FareShare Annual Report 2024 15

Food review (continued)

Food delivered to our charity partners

This year, we were able to redistribute 57,000 tonnes of food to charities and community groups 2024 2023 who could put it to use – enough to provide 135m meals for people Recorded waste (1,675) (1,530) across the UK. (tonnes) We ended the year with higher stock Proportion of 3.9% 3.8% levels compared to 2023 in addition to waste food to a small increase in the amount of food ~~—~~ total sourced food waste across the year. We aim to reduce operational waste as far as possible.

However, food safety is paramount and from time to time, food waste may occur (for example, if we receive sub-standard quality, out-of-date stock or sudden gluts that our charities cannot handle). Our regional warehouses have processes and relationships for when any surplus food cannot be consumed safely, with this food diverted to animal feed or anaerobic digestion. None of our food waste goes to landfill.

During the year we challenged ourselves to accept more products in our depots, with an inevitable corresponding increase in waste, albeit below our target of 4%.

Step change to unlock more food

In 2024, our work culminated in two major step-change programmes, which have the combined effect of securing Government support, engaging the food industry and supporting a new initiative from His Majesty King Charles III to redirect surplus to those who need it most.

Where’s Cans The Food?

More information can be found on pages 16 and 17.

16 FareShare Annual Report 2024

Step change to unlock more food

The Coronation Food Project in partnership with FareShare

Inspired by His Majesty King Charles III, the Coronation Food Project was launched in November 2023, uniting leaders in the food industry to tackle food waste and food insecurity across the UK.

FareShare is honoured to be a partner, together with The Felix Project, to help deliver this landmark project that is coordinated by the King Charles III Charitable Fund. Building on our work over the past 30 years, we are uniquely positioned as the UK’s leading food redistribution charity to use our resources and apply our expertise and experience positively. To date, over 30 leading retailers and manufacturers have signed the Coronation Food Project Pledge, which commits them to supporting the initiative and its guiding principles.

Through the project, we will further engage the food industry to access more food, helping strengthen communities across the UK and create a fairer and more sustainable future. We are currently seeking donors to help support this valuable work and we set out the potential opportunities to create impact below.

In addition to unlocking more sources of food, the Coronation Food Project will build up to eight Coronation Food Hubs across the four nations of the UK. Together, they will provide the capacity and capability to redistribute millions more meals each year.

----- Start of picture text -----
Coronation Food FareShare’s goals Funding
Project aims and focus opportunities
1. To dramatically increase the amount £608
Saving more of surplus food that is rescued could rescue a tonne
surplus food across the country by galvanising of food – enough to
efforts across the supply chain. fill 2,381 plates.
2. To significantly enhance the sector’s £2 million
Supercharging UK logistics capacity to redistribute more could create and run
food distribution food more effectively by developing a Coronation
networks Coronation Food Hubs – a network Food Hub for three
of major distribution centres in key years
regions with expanded warehouses,
fridges, freezers, vans and drivers.
3. To drive innovation and collaboration, £5 million
Supporting the wider complementing the amazing efforts is needed for our
sector with flexible of other organisations working to flexible support
funding reduce food insecurity, by providing fund.
flexible grants and seed funding
through the King Charles III
Charitable Fund to inspire, empower
and enable community groups to find
new ways to support communities
most in need.
Each Coronation Food Hub will include:
Lorries to collect Capacity to Kitchens to Vans and drivers Facilities to train
food from the store tonnes of provide culinary to get food to and support
food industry ambient, chilled training and thousands of people into work
and frozen food corporate events charities and with purpose
community groups and dignity
----- End of picture text -----

Step change to unlock more food

----- Start of picture text -----
FareShare Annual Report 2024 17
re q J
----- End of picture text -----

Driving legislative change to support charitable food redistribution

----- Start of picture text -----
Where’s
The
Food?
----- End of picture text -----

In February 2024, we secured a major campaign success when Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced funding of £15 million for food surplus redistribution, as part of The Government’s work to combat food insecurity. It was announced that the fund would be used for getting good-toeat surplus food from our farms to people who need it, with the money earmarked for farmers, or for the redistribution sector working with farmers.

This breakthrough followed years of work from FareShare and our partners lobbying The Government in earnest. Having already gained public support with our ‘Food on Plates’ campaign, in 2023, we created our ‘Where’s The Food?’ campaign, lobbying with The

Felix Project to maximise our efforts. This campaign generated over 115,000 petition signatures, cross-party support from more than 120 MPs, backing from the NFU and support from The Grocer, the Evening Standard and many others.

Our influencing on this issue began in 2017, when we highlighted the many barriers preventing the food industry from redistributing its surplus food – including an imbalance of subsidies for farmers and food producers. At the same time, we shone a spotlight on the lack of adherence to the Waste Resources Hierarchy – The Government guidelines that prioritise redistributing unavoidable food waste to charities as the best option.

Today, these guidelines are still too often ignored due to a lack of incentives and the cost of redistribution falling to businesses. Yet we have strong evidence that off-setting logistics, transport and packaging costs to secure more food is a cost-effective approach, including an enormously successful 2019 pilot funded through the Defra Food Waste Fund.

With a new government in place, its role in addressing the problem of food waste will be crucial. We continue our work to hold them to account, building on our success with the release of our new ‘Where’s The Food?’ Manifesto, calling for them to strengthen communities through surplus food redistribution.

Fareshare Annual Report 2024 Fareshare I Sussex & urrey ero

FareShare Annual Report 2024 19

Fundraising review and donors

The past 30 years have seen incredible generosity from the many people and organisations who support FareShare’s mission, and this sits at the heart of our ability to deliver social and environmental impact.

1 The unique programmes included Fight Hunger Create Change with Asda, and Tesco’s Buy One to Help A Child, as well as long-term relationships with foundations such as Sodexo, Esmée Fairbairn, Garfield Weston, Comic Relief, the Global Foodbanking Network and the European Federation of Foodbanks. Household names included The Co-op, John Lewis & Waitrose and McDonalds, alongside our FareShare Ambassador Marcus Rashford.

From the original seed funding from Sainsbury’s to become an independent charity, we have been fortunate to benefit from corporate, philanthropic, statutory and public support over three decades – helping tackle the environmental problem of food waste and feed communities at the same time.

We are grateful to have been part of unique programmes with retailers, and to hold long-term relationships with charitable foundations that have transformed our ability to turn food waste into social good.[1] And when major brands and household names gave FareShare a public platform during the pandemic, they raised awareness among thousands of people who responded to appeals for donations and who continue to support us today.

We continue to be exceptionally proud and thankful of the wide range of generous supporters from many commercial sectors. In particular, we are excited to have launched our biggest Charity of the Year partnership this year with Yorkshire Building Society, which will transform our Employability programme. This partnership is providing vital training and experience to help more people into secure long-term employment and allowing us to roll the scheme out further in our network.

Retailers such as Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda, the John Lewis Partnership and One Stop Stores generated much-needed donations through a variety of corporate, commercial

Our income in 2024

Total fundraising income 2024: £19.0m 2023: £19.8m

and customer activities, and we are grateful for their repeated and unstinting support to get meals to those in need. In addition, commercial partnerships with household brands have helped raise muchneeded funds while increasing awareness of our work, with campaigns such as belVita’s 'Give a Smile' and Premier Foods 'Win a Dinner, Give a Dinner'. We also thank McDonald’s, Spar, Blackstone and Dentsu for their support over the past 12 months.

We were pleased to receive more than £5 million from a variety of Trusts, grantmaking bodies and statutory sources this year. We are enormously grateful to Global Foodbanking Network and Enterprise

Corporate 2024 2023 £8.2m £8.7m Individual supporters 2024 2023 £5.4m £5.4m

Trusts and foundations 2024 2023 £4.5m £4.1m The Government 2024 2023 £0.6m £1.3m Brand trading 2024 2023 £0.3m £0.3m

Holdings Foundation for continuing to support our work for the eighth year running, and to The Julia and Hans Rausing Trust for continuing to fund our Food Life Extension (FLEX) programme. We extend our deepest sympathies to them on the passing of Julia Rausing in April 2024, whose support made an enormous difference to our mission.

Comic Relief’s generous funding, alongside partnerships with funders including Jingle Jam, which raises money through its Christmas online gaming event, have been invaluable to our core activities this year – for example, by making FareShare East Anglia’s new site possible.

20 FareShare Annual Report 2024

Fundraising review and donors (continued)

We were thrilled to receive support from new partners such as the Cadbury Foundation and SSP Foundation, which will enable exciting initiatives such as new training kitchens (Thames Valley and Yorkshire) and data-led projects using AI for fair food allocations to be launched.

We remain grateful to Mike and Helen Brown for their invaluable match funding, which encourages the public to become regular givers. These regular gifts are crucial to our work as they provide a reliable and consistent source of funding that allows us to plan ahead effectively.

Despite a tough fundraising environment for the sector, this year we have seen an incredible 63% growth in people donating to or fundraising for our mission. Highlights included over 2,000 supporters signing up to our Zero Waste Challenge and our participation in events such as Bath Half Marathon and the Royal Parks Half Marathon. Thanks to our runners’ commitment and energy, we have been able to turn their fundraised miles into meals, creating positive change across the country.

Third-party fundraising agencies, complaints and processes

FareShare works with just one agency, Return Fundraising, which carries out telephone fundraising on our behalf. During 2024, we received 15 complaints from individual supporters by email and phone. These related to the technical performance and fees charged by payment platforms. To address these, we are implementing a new platform, streamlining the donation process we use and introducing efficiencies to ensure we deliver an excellent supporter experience in 2025. We will also be able to improve our complaints process by using our new database to enable better tracking and analysis, alongside updating our external complaints policy to ensure clarity and consistency in our responses

Looking forward

We will continue to expand and deepen the ways in which our funders, partners and supporters can engage in our work, to ensure we are meeting their expectations and offering them meaningful opportunities to generate impact.

FareShare’s social and environmental impact, and our unique multiplier effect – through which over 8,300 local charities ensure the surplus we rescue reaches those who need it most – continue to inspire philanthropists and the general public. We thank each one of our supporters, including all those who have made donations and those who have tirelessly fundraised to build a brighter, more sustainable future for everyone.

i Ane . ‘ FareShare Annual Report 2024 21

Fundraising review and donors (continued)

London's Royal Parks Half Marathon

Having witnessed FareShare's impactful work first-hand while volunteering at one of our partner's warehouses, John wanted to extend the warm feeling he experienced and knew there was more he could do to make a difference. By taking part in London's Royal Parks Half Marathon with his son Joshua, John raised an impressive £905 – enough to provide 4,520 meals to those in need.

Raising money for FareShare allowed us to raise awareness about what FareShare does, knowing it was all going to a good cause.”

Inspired by figures like FareShare's Ambassador, Marcus Rashford, John was motivated to educate others about our mission – and he was pleasantly surprised by the generosity of his social network once they learned more about FareShare’s work.

I felt fantastic after completing the Royal Parks Half Marathon, and having my son next to me was such a special moment. We both kept smiles on our faces all the way home.”

22 FareShare Annual Report 2024

Thank you to our 2024 financial donors and funders

Corporate partners Addleshaw Goddard LLP Adobe Inc AIG Alta Advisers ASK Italian AXA belVita Blackstone Bupa Burberry Cargill Cheniere Clarity Environmental Ltd Coca-Cola GB Computershare Dentsu Disney Dr Oetker UK Equal Experts Golden Tree Asset Management Google Gorestreet Capital Gousto H&T Group PLC Jacobs Jazz Pharmaceuticals John Lewis Partnership KFC Lineage Logistics LLC McDonald's MetroRod One Stop Stores Limited OXO PetPlan

PIMCO

Pink Lady Premier Foods Sainsbury’s Sanctuary Sodexo Spar UK Tesco The Blackstone Group Tokio Marine Kiln Unilever Utilities Warehouse Winckworth Sherwood Yorkshire Building Society

Trusts and foundations

AGCO Agriculture Foundation Alacrify Foundation Albert Gubay Charitable Foundation Battcock Charitable Trust Birrane Foundation Broome Family Charitable Trust Cadbury Foundation City Bridge Trust Comic Relief

David & Ruth Lewis Family Charitable Trust Enterprise Holdings Foundation European Foodbanks Federation – FEBA General Mills Foundation Fidelis Foundation Garfield Weston Foundation GFN/Lineage Logistics Global Foodbanking Network HandSpark Charitable Trust Helen and Michael Brown Charitable Trust

John Horseman Trust

Julia and Hans Rausing Trust Mallinckrodt Foundation Marguerite Foundation Mears Foundation Mersey Care – Life Rooms MJB Charitable Trust Muriel Jones Foundation National Lottery Community Fund NFU Mutual Charitable Trust Norwich Freemen’s Charity / Norwich Charitable Trusts Odin Charitable Trust Rothschild Foundation SSP Foundation Support + Feed Thompson Family Charitable Trust Welland Charitable Trust

Statutory

The Scottish Government The Welsh Government

Individual supporters

We would also like to thank those supporters not listed here or who wish to remain anonymous; those who support us through regular giving or in memory of a loved one, and those who have fundraised to help us continue our work.

FareShare Annual Report 2024 23

Environmental review

106 k tCO2e

embedded carbon emissions prevented from going to waste (versus 108k tCO2e[1 ] in 2023)

141 billion litres embedded water prevented from going to waste (versus 142 billion litres[1 ] in 2023)

Environmental impact of food waste

Wasted food has an enormous negative impact for the environment. Embodied carbon and water generated during food production are effectively ‘lost’ and further emissions are released as food waste degrades or is disposed. The Carbon Trust estimates that emissions associated with food waste account for around 8-10% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions – meaning that if food waste were a country, it would be the world’s third largest emitter of greenhouse gases.

This is one of the core reasons that FareShare exists: to reduce the environmental impact of food waste by turning this food into meals for people in need.

Understanding FareShare’s environmental impact

In 2023, we commissioned The Carbon Trust to explore the environmental impact of our operations for our 2023 financial year, these metrics have been used to calculate our 2024 data. The summary below is based on work conducted between The Carbon Trust, FareShare and our network partners, with methodology reproduced by permission of The Carbon Trust.

We are continuing to refine the way we collect and analyse this data, and this process has helped us to focus on developing new approaches to further reduce our organisational carbon footprint in the future.

Our work with The Carbon Trust focused on understanding our overall environmental impact by analysing:

• CO2e emissions generated from our operations and third-party transport to create our ‘organisational carbon footprint’; and

• CO2e emissions (and water) embedded in food products that were prevented from going to waste.

----- Start of picture text -----
FareShare’s
environmental impact
FareShare’s Avoided emission
operational emissions from food waste
GHG GHG Embedded
emissions emissions water consumption
----- End of picture text -----

Our ‘organisational carbon footprint’ in more detail

----- Start of picture text -----
2023 tCO2e %
Scope 1 1,205 9
Scope 2 (location-based) 567 4
Scope 3 (outsourced distribution and transportation) 12,167 87
Total (location-based) 13,939 100
----- End of picture text -----

Source: The Carbon Trust

1 Restated based on current methodology

24 FareShare Annual Report 2024

Environmental review (continued)

Scope 1 analysis

Our Scope 1 emissions are the direct GHG emissions that occur from sources that we control or own, for example, combustion from owned or leased vehicles, natural gas consumption, diesel consumption and fugitive emissions. Scope 1 emissions account for 9% of our organisational carbon footprint. Company-owned vehicles are the biggest contributor to our Scope 1 emissions, representing 90% of total emissions by source, followed by natural gas (5%), diesel (3%) and fugitive emissions (2%).

Scope 2 analysis

Scope 2 emissions are indirect GHG emissions associated with the purchase of electricity, and at FareShare, cover purchased electricity at all FareShare sites. Scope 2 emissions account for 4% of our organisational carbon footprint.

Scope 3 analysis

Our published Scope 3 emissions include emissions from category 3 fuel and energy-related activities, third-party transport and transport logistics provider emissions, and account for 87% of our organisational carbon footprint. Half (50%) of our Scope 3 emissions come from three network partners (who also redistribute c.50% of our total food by weight).

Our plans for 2025 include establishing more robust and regular reporting of our organisational carbon footprint.

Embedded environmental impact

Our work with The Carbon Trust estimated that for every tonne of surplus food we redistributed, around 2.03 tCO2e and 2.66 million litres of water were prevented from going to waste. Embedded carbon emissions amounted to 106k tCO2e (last year 108k tCO2e) and embedded water to 141 billion litres from the 57,000 tonnes of surplus food that we kept in the supply chain.

Looking ahead

The following recommendations from The Carbon Trust are focused mainly on actions within our control that we can take to reduce our ‘organisational carbon footprint’. These recommendations have been embedded in our current year (2025) plan.

• Improve data accuracy – embed reporting of FareShare’s carbon footprint by moving, where possible, to primary sources and centralised data collection.

• Change electricity consumption behaviours, e.g. using sensor-operated lights, low-energy light bulbs.

• • Use Coronation Food Project Hub design and fit out to deliver reductions in our organisational carbon footprint.

Definitions and GHG reporting protocol scopes

FareShare’s organisational emissions are analysed as ‘Scope 1 and 2 emissions, and outsourced distribution and transportation emissions’. This analysis follows the Greenhouse Gas Protocol Organisational Footprinting Standard, which covers both direct and indirect emissions generated through the organisation’s own facilities and vehicles, as well as purchased electricity, cooling, and heating as demonstrated. The GHG emissions associated with the food waste avoided were analysed following Category 1 of the Greenhouse Gas Protocol on Corporate Value Chain (Scope 3) Accounting and Reporting Standard. The embodied water was analysed following the Water Footprint Assessment Manual.

Reporting boundary

FareShare’s reporting boundary included FareShare UK sites and 31 network partner sites and covered operational emissions as well as third-party transport emissions.

Data quality and methodology

Where possible, The Carbon Trust used primary data for its analysis. Based on data accessibility, availability and quality, a mix of consumption and spend-based approaches were applied to calculate the annual energy consumption, fuel use emission, refrigerant emissions and emissions derived from transportation and distribution services that FareShare purchased.

FareShare Annual Report 2024 25

Social impact review

FareShare strengthens communities by supplying the food we rescue to support grassroots charities and community groups. Surplus food by itself does not solve the reasons behind food insecurity or the many issues affecting the people that our member charities help.

However, by providing access to varied, nutritious and fresh supplies of food, which would otherwise be wasted, FareShare supports our member charities and enables those organisations to transform the lives of people across the UK, with many of them providing vital wrap-around services as well as food.

Understanding our impact

Over the past 30 years, the profile and focus of our charity members and the people they help has altered. External events such as the Covid-19 pandemic and cost of living crisis result in increasing demand for food and our member charities’ services – and this year has been no different.

Each year we conduct in-depth research to understand the needs of these organisations and the people they work with, the services they provide and the impact of the food they receive from us. We summarise below some findings from our Impact Report 2024. The full report and other FareShare research can be viewed and downloaded from the ‘Our impact’ page on our website: https://fareshare.org.uk/whatwe-do/our-impact/

Key findings:

FareShare’s social impact 2024 Who does FareShare work with?

In 2024 we supplied food to 8,357 organisations who provide frontline support to communities across the UK. The vast majority of these (90%) offer additional support in a wide range of areas, and 86% are seeing increased demand for their services.

The Warren Youth Project,

a grassroots user-led charity providing vital support services to young people aged 14 to 25 in Hull, uses food from FareShare to provide hot meals daily and food parcels weekly – alongside operating a training kitchen that upskills young people in preparing and cooking food.

Caroline Gill, Food and Nutrition Lead at The Warren: “In the past 12 months we’ve seen a substantial increase in the number of young people accessing our services, including needing emergency food support. Many young people in Hull live in supported accommodation and/or are trapped in a poverty cycle, resulting in more requests for food that requires little or no cooking – due to fuel poverty. More than anything, this food gives them the thinking and breathing space to tackle the other issues they’re facing.”

How does food from FareShare help our charity partners?

For the groups we support, accessing FareShare food not only means being able to provide more food. Our charity partners were also able to provide more variety, and more nutritious food. More than three-quarters told us FareShare food helped them stretch their budgets, while many were able to provide new support services and reach more people.

What is the impact for the people they support?

Three quarters of the charities we supply support families with children. These organisations were able to reach nearly 1 million people in their communities during 2024. But food from FareShare was used to help support people from all walks of life – from people experiencing homelessness, to people with learning difficulties and young people in care.

The impact for these people was farreaching. People told us the food they were able to access helped alleviate worries about money and food – and brought them closer to their communities, helping 3 in 4 people feel less lonely. Many of the people our charity partners supported reported eating healthier diets, while parents said their children were faring better at school.

26 FareShare Annual Report 2024

----- Start of picture text -----
Social impact review (continued) FareShare and charity partners,
“I was homeless for about 10 years. I'm support a wide range of people
quite lonely and vulnerable. Basically, this
Families with children 75%
is just a safe space for me to enjoy some
83% 82% nice food, company. The staff are great People on low income 73%
As a result of using services fuelled by FareShare, nearly 1 million people feel closer to feel less financial and it's just a nice way to just ...stay safe and warm.” The local community 64%
experienced improved health and their community pressure Older people 60%
wellbeing, access to healthier food, Sabrina,
reduced financial stress and greater Client at Spice Homeless Charity, Nottingham Long-term unemployed 53%
community connections. People with mental health 51%
problems
People with drug/alcohol 40%
addiction
“Some days I would not have had anything to
81% 78% 3 in4 2 in3 eat for myself and my family. Now I am eating Children (under 18) 39%
increase their stretched their eat a healthier parents say their different kinds of food, I am eating more fruit People experiencing 39%
overall wellbeing saving an average budget further, diet better in schoolchildren do and vegetables, I am aware of using seasonal homelessness
of £154 per week products and making healthier choices.” People from ethnic 36%
Food service-user, Northern Ireland. minority backgrounds
Asylum seekers & refugees 36%
People with learning disabilities 35%
3 in4 3 in4 90% of the 46% 32% 25% People with physical disabilities 35%
People affected by domestic 35%
feel less lonely could provide charities FareShare Advice services Education or Mental health violence
food with better supplies provides training services
nutritional value wraparound Young people (18 – 29) 30%
support services, Carers 28%
including:
People with criminal convictions 26%
LGBTQIA+ people 20%
People with terminal illnesses 17%
FareShare 35% 18% 15% 8% 7% Ex-service personnel 17%
Faith
supports a wide range of Food-focused organisations Community centres organisations Schools Drop-in centresDay centres / NEETS (not in education, employment or training) 14%
organisations
including: Young people in care/care leavers 14%
People affected by human 9%
trafficking or sexual exploitation
----- End of picture text -----

FareShare Annual Report 2024 27

Our people

We rely on many people to support our mission, including our employees and volunteers. They bring the skills, experience and commitment needed to increase our impact, and together they are changing lives and strengthening communities up and down the country. We are committed to keeping them safe, engaged and motivated.

Volunteers In the past year, we have seen a year-onVolunteers are the life force of our year increase of 86% in the number of organisation. They make an essential people volunteering and a 9% uplift in the contribution to our impact and help us hours they have donated, as summarised to operate efficiently and cost-effectively, in the table below. We were particularly ensuring our funding goes as far as pleased to see more than 2.5 times the possible. number of people volunteering from the companies we work with (167% increase). Over the past 12 months, we are grateful This significant improvement is the result for the support of over 26,000 volunteers of new communication and marketing who have generously donated their time campaigns to attract repeat weekly and their enthusiasm. Some volunteers volunteers, as well as the introduction have supported FareShare for over 20 of dynamic corporate volunteering years, others travel three hours each day programmes for our food and funding several times a week and some work partners.

Over the past 12 months, we are grateful for the support of over 26,000 volunteers who have generously donated their time and their enthusiasm. Some volunteers have supported FareShare for over 20 years, others travel three hours each day several times a week and some work remotely. Our volunteers carry out many tasks – from driving vans and packing food orders in our warehouses to helping with in-store donation collections.

We have also seen an increase in volunteers linked to specific projects. At our Bristol warehouse, for example,

we supported a new local project for refugees. Over 40 people subsequently came to volunteer at the warehouse to express their appreciation for the food they had received.

Overall, FareShare’s volunteers donated 626,000 hours of their time – the equivalent of 26,000 days and £8.5m in paid time.

“I am happy being a volunteer for FareShare I like to think I am making a difference for food poverty helping those less fortunate.”

----- Start of picture text -----
2024 2023 Year-on-year
change
Total volunteers 26,600 14,000 +86%
Total volunteer donated hours 626,000 576,000 +9%
Estimated volunteer time replacement cost £8.5m £7.8m +9%
Individual volunteers 6,089 5,382 +13%
Individual volunteers donated hours 538,000 527,000 +2%
Corporate volunteers 19,000 7,000 +167%
(on-site in regional centres)
Corporate volunteers donated hours 81,000 44,000 +85%
Tesco Food Collection volunteers 1,620 1,633 (1)%
Tesco Food Collection volunteers donated hours 6,700 5,000 +33%
----- End of picture text -----

28 FareShare Annual Report 2024

Our people (continued)

Engaging with our volunteers

Each year we run a survey to check in with our volunteers, gauge how they feel about FareShare and take on board suggestions for improvement.

In our 2024 Annual Volunteer Survey, 93%* of volunteers said that they would recommend FareShare as a place to volunteer – a key measure of success for us.

We continue to refine the basis of calculation of our volunteer numbers; this year now includes all network partners and also shows the efforts of our corporate volunteering programmes.

Annual Volunteer Survey results

98% 96% 96% Feel safe Feel satisfied Feel staff onsite are friendly 94% 89% Feel staff onsite Feel valued are helpful

*This percentage reflects those who responded with a 7 or higher when asked how likely they were to recommend volunteering at FareShare

Darian ‘Daz’ Baldwin

FareShare Volunteer of the Year 2024 Volunteer Driver of the Year 2024 FareShare Yorkshire

Mentally and physically, it’s kept me going. Mentally it has given me something to do and focus on. I get to help the team with tasks and in return the team also help me. Physically, I am doing a bit of labour – carrying and lifting things. It’s kept me mobile. I get fulfilment from it, I have a great team behind me, and we have a bit of a laugh together. I really enjoy being here.”

The Taggart Brothers

Two brothers, Gordon and Samuel Taggart, have volunteered at FareShare Northern Ireland for the past nine years. Both Gordon and Sam volunteer three days per week and have clocked up to close to 10,000 volunteer hours each since they joined the team. As well as their time spent in the warehouse, they each travel long journeys to get to their volunteer shifts.

The brothers have taken on most of the different roles within the warehouse in Belfast and are the first to put their name forward for training. They enthusiastically welcome many volunteers and visitors to the Regional Centre and as part of the 2023 volunteer celebrations, they were described as “the backbone of the volunteering team, familiar faces that everyone recognises after they have met them once.”

FareShare Annual Report 2024 29

Our people (continued)

“Seeing the expression on people’s faces when we arrive, they are so thankful for the food that we bring as they can pass this on to people who need it. The people I meet are also really nice and we all have a bit of a banter. They are thankful for us and it’s important to let them know that they are doing a great job too.”

Employability schemes

As well as supporting communities through food redistribution, FareShare also runs Employability Schemes within our network in collaboration with corporate partners such as Nando's and KFC, and with funding support from Yorkshire Building Society and The General Mills Foundation. In the past year, we supported 270 people by developing their skills in warehouse management, forklift truck training as well as helping them to get work-ready with CV support and interviewing practice. Many of these have now secured employment with external businesses.

Colleagues

In 2024 we employed an average of 234 staff (2023: 211). Around 44% of staff work either in our managed depots or alongside our Network Partners while others provide functional support. A full breakdown can be found in Note 9 to the financial statements. Over the past 12 months, we increased staff-focused activities and programmes in areas such as engagement, development, diversity and inclusion, and retention. We established, for example, new employee surveys and listening sessions and have created an employee representative group, FareShare Voice, as well as an equality diversity and inclusion and well-being staff groups. We aim to share the outcomes of these new developments in next year’s annual report.

we are committed to nurturing and developing in-house talent. Through our new talent management approach, we aim for ‘Right People in the Right Roles at the Right Time’ and have invested in learning and development programmes. We have, for example, introduced a compulsory management and leadership development programme to support and empower continuous development, and we provide specific coaching for our leaders (53 managers). During the year, we supported 21 members of staff who achieved ILM Level 3 qualifications.

We are an accredited Living Wage Employer. We have undertaken an extensive salary benchmarking programme and implemented a new salary structure.

We are also proud to have been awarded (in 2023) the Disability Confident Employer accreditation.

Looking ahead

In the year ahead, we will focus on working on a People Plan to support FareShare’s growth aspirations, further embedding our people development focus to help meet the demands of the Charity and ensure we can continue to deliver on our mission.

Trustees

FareShare’s Trustees generously give their time and expertise, playing a vital role in governing the organisation, steering our evolution and challenging us to achieve greater societal and environmental impact. We welcome their respective viewpoints and contributions and benefit from their input and support. In the past 12 months, we have expanded our Board of Trustees, bringing in additional skills and experience to support our growth. More information about our Trustees, including recent appointments, responsibilities and summary biographies, can be found in the Governance review on page 39.

Safety and safeguarding

We have a responsibility to implement the highest safeguarding practices to protect people that we engage with from harm, whether they are volunteers, beneficiaries at our charities or donors. More information can be found in the Safety review on page 11.

In addition to mandatory training, such as health and safety, cybersecurity and GDPR completed during staff probation periods,

Nathan Au

IT Change & Project Manager

FareShare’s longestserving employee

I first started at FareShare Brighton in 2003 and this year on average FareShare delivered more food each week than we did that entire year. It’s honestly incredible to see our impact grow so much. We’ve gone from serving about 200 charities across the country to 8,357. That is a lot of people and organisations supported!”

FareShare Annual Report 2024 31

Financial review

Overview

Despite the challenging economic climate, FareShare reported another solid performance in 2024 with both income and costs in line with the previous year. This was only made possible through the generosity of our supporters, volunteers and partners. We are grateful for their ongoing support.

While our food volumes were flat year on year, the continuing trend of reduced retail volumes (8)% led to our teams increasing focus on produce and manufacturing partners.

These sources of surplus have a higher cost to FareShare, both in people costs and logistics, exacerbated by the economic climate and cost inflation. This trend of reduced retail volume and the requirement for FareShare to source more expensive surplus food to meet our mission will continue for the foreseeable future.

Overall donations were down £0.8 million to £18.7 million, and with an increased investment in long-term fundraising campaigns costs (£1.1million), fundraising cost per donated income ratio increased to 21% (2023: 14%), still in line with charity benchmarks. Lower donation income was offset by an increase in bank interest income of £0.6 million.

We continue to invest in FareShare’s long-term sustainability and this led to increased fundraising team costs of £0.8 million. These were offset by a year-on-year reduction in grants to our network partners of £2.2 million, as many infrastructure projects were completed in the prior year.

Towards the end of the financial period, we started to scope and implement key strategic change management projects across the organisation to build more sustainable operations and to utilise our reserves. We anticipate projects of this nature to increase and we have appointed a team to focus on managing and implementing these. (More information can be found in the Governance report on page 39.)

We ended the year with total reserves of £21.7 million (2023: £25.7 million), which were made up of unrestricted reserves of £16.1 million (2023: £23.4 million) and restricted reserves of £5.6 million (2023: £2.4 million). Cash in bank totalled £17.1 million (2023: £24.3 million) and long-term investments £6.2 million (2023: £1.0 million).

donations

(2023: £19.5 million)

investment in long-term campaigns

fundraising costs per £ of donated income (2023: 14%)

32 FareShare Annual Report 2024

Financial review (continued)

Expenditure

Expenditure breakdown 2024 and 2023

Income

Income breakdown 2024 and 2023

----- Start of picture text -----
Total income
2024: £23.1m
2023: £23.1m
----- End of picture text -----

Total income for the 2024 year was £23.1 million (2023: £23.1 million), made up of unrestricted income of £11.2 million (2023: £13.9 million) and restricted income of £11.9 million (2023: £9.1 million).

Donated income amounted to

£18.7 million, driven by the ongoing generosity of our supporters, partners and the public. However, this represented a year-on-year decrease of 4% (2023: £19.5m), with corporate income reducing by 5% to £8.2 million (2023: £8.7 million) and Government funding falling by 54% to £0.6 million (2023: £1.2 million).

----- Start of picture text -----
Donated income
2024 2023
£18.7m £19.5m
FareShare Go
2024 2023
£2.2m £2.0m
Community food members
2024 2023
£1.0m £1.0m
Bank interest
2024 2023
£0.9m £0.3m
FareShare brand
2024 2023
£0.3m £0.3m
----- End of picture text -----

However, we have seen some encouraging signs in our fundraising efforts with income from trusts and foundations, for example, increasing by 9% to £4.5 million (2023: £4.1 million). We continue to invest in growing our funding pipeline.

Income from FareShare Go represents commercial income received from retailers for rescuing surplus food directly from stores. This increased by 9% to £2.2 million (2023: £2.0 million) as we continued to work with six major retailers.

Income from bank interest and other income increased to £0.9 million (2023: £0.3 million) as interest rates remained high, oscillating between 4% and 6%.

----- Start of picture text -----
Total expenditure
2024: £27.2m
2023: £27.2m
----- End of picture text -----

Total expenditure for the year was £27.2 million (2023: £27.2 million). Fundraising expenditure during the period was £3.9 million (2023: £2.8 million), a year-on-year increase of 41%. This includes an increase in fundraising salary costs to £1.3 million (2023: £1.0 million) as we grew our headcount from 21 to 27 in this function. We also invested £1.1 million in long-term individual giving and mass participation campaigns. As a result, fundraising cost per donated income ratio increased to 21% (2023: 14%), still in line with charity benchmarks.

Total FareShare Go costs were £2.8 million, a 3% increase on 2023 levels. FareShare’s managed depot costs were maintained at

----- Start of picture text -----
Network support
2024 2023
£17.7m £18.7m
Raising funds
2024 2023
£3.9m £2.8m
FareShare Go
2024 2023
£2.8m £2.8m
Managing depots
2024 2023
£2.4m £2.3m
Employability
2024 2023
£0.4m £0.6m
----- End of picture text -----

a similar level to the previous year at £2.4 million (2023: £2.4 million).

The costs of our Employability programme reduced to £0.4 million in 2024 (2023: £0.5 million) in line with the level of third-party funding received. During the year, we were delighted to announce that the Yorkshire Building Society agreed to support this programme with funding of £1.0 million over two years. We received £150,000 of this funding in 2024.

Costs to support the FareShare network reduced by 5% to £17.7 million (2023: £18.7 million), as several grants to our network partners came to an end during the year.

FareShare Annual Report 2024 33

Financial review (continued)

Transport 2024 2023 £4.4m £4.2m Staff costs 2024 2023 £4.1m £3.3m

Network support

----- Start of picture text -----
Network support cost breakdown
2024 and 2023
Total Network
Support expenditure
2024: £17.7m
2023: £18.7m
----- End of picture text -----

Surplus with Purpose 2024 2023 £3.2m £3.4m

Marketing and support costs 2024 2023 £2.9m £2.3m

Grants to network partners

2024 2023 £2.2m £4.4m Food manufacture and purchases 2024 2023 £0.9m £1.1m

Total network related staff costs increased by 24% to £4.1 million (2023: £3.3 million). This reflects an increase in food partner resources to drive food volumes and two pay rises to staff during the year to mitigate the effects of higher costs of living.

Sourcing costs relating to our ‘Surplus with Purpose’ proposition remained high. This is a strategic growth project that allows a significant volume of fresh produce from UK growers to be redistributed to our network partners instead of being ploughed back into the field.

Marketing and support costs increased to £2.9 million (2023: £2.3 million) due to an investment in the strategic projects team (£0.3 million) as well as further marketing to support our government lobbying campaign “Where’s the food?”.

Transport costs rose by 5% due to a combination of the rise in food volumes (up 6%), the rise in fuel costs and the decrease in free transport of food. In 2024, 41% of food was transported free of charge, compared to previous years when between 50 – 60% of food was transported free of charge.

We continued to support our network partners with grants totalling £2.2 million (2023: £4.4 million), mostly for health and safety projects, providing food freezers and supporting van purchases and fuel costs. In addition, grants were provided to support sourcing roles to unlock more food from local food suppliers.

Reserves

FareShare has a risk-based reserves policy to protect continuing operations in its network in the event of short-term disruption.

The reserves policy is based on a risk analysis and the estimated related financial exposure that could arise from these risks crystallising. The policy allows for: not meeting budgeted fundraising income for the next financial year; costs that could arise if two typical network partners were to have significant financial difficulties; and an allowance for other key risks identified within the corporate risk register. In addition, we are required to always maintain an adequate level of working capital within the organisation. Based on this approach, the reserves level needed to be maintained by FareShare is estimated at £8.2 million (2023: £8.0 million).

The free reserves held at 31 March 2024 were £15.4 million (2023: £22.7 million), which represent 188% of the estimated required level (2023: 283%). This level is calculated as the general reserves reduced by the value of tangible fixed assets. We will continue to invest surplus reserves in projects to support FareShare’s long-term sustainability, including: infrastructure projects, campaigns to increase food sourcing and redistribution volumes and further initiatives to strengthen the network. More details can be found in the CEO’s review of 2024 and future plans on pages 8 and 9.

34 FareShare Annual Report 2024

Financial review (continued)

Investments

Going concern

During the year, the Board of Trustees approved an investment of £5.0 million, total investment £6.0 million. This ensures that we can grow the amount of money, in real terms, to fund our activities in line with other charities. At the end of the financial year, the value of this investment increased to £6.2 million in line with the markets. Our overall investment objective is to generate a positive return, while maintaining the capital value of investments in real terms over the long term. FareShare does not directly or indirectly invest in companies with a noticeable interest in trading in or manufacture of arms, or in the manufacture of tobacco products or in extracting fossil fuels. The Finance, Audit and Risk (FAR) Committee regularly reviews our investment portfolio and investment policy. Our investments are medium-term investments and spread over two funds.

In continuing to adopt the going concern basis, the Trustees assessed FareShare’s viability over a three-year period, which includes the budget for the next financial year and our best estimates for the two years thereafter. Based on financial forecasts and available resources, the Trustees consider that FareShare has sufficient resources to continue for the foreseeable future and therefore continue to adopt the going concern basis in preparing these financial statements.

Principal risks and uncertainties

FareShare operates a structured approach to risk management. Identified risks are mitigated through adherence to key policies and procedures and maintained in a risk register. The Trustees are responsible for risk management with the process managed by the Financial, Audit and Risk (FAR) Committee and oversight of all risks by the Board. From this process, the Trustees have identified our key risks and these are set out in the Risk review on pages 35 to 38.

Designated funds

In 2022, £1.4 million of funds were designated by the Trustees to be spent on capital projects in the network to strengthen FareShare’s capacity to receive and redistribute food. In 2024, the remaining £0.3 million of £1.4 million was spent and no funds are carried over to 2025.

Income growth over the last five years

£ million Donated income FareShare Go Community food members Bank interest and other Trading income Major restricted grants and Government (Covid-19 related) Total income	2024	2023 19.5 2.0 1.0 0.3 0.3 0.0 23.1	2022 15.6 1.6 0.8 0.1 0.4 1.8 20.3	2021 36.6 1.5 0.9 0.3 32.8 72.1	2020 6.8 1.9 0.8 0.0 6.6 16.1
	18.7 2.2 1.0 0.9 0.3 0.0
	23.1

Charitable expenditure (including support costs)

£ million Raising funds Managing depots FareShare Go Employability Network support	2024	2023 2.8 2.3 2.8 0.6 18.7	2022 1.0 1.6 2.1 0.7 12.7	2021 0.8 3.0 2.0 0.0 44.3	2020 0.7 2.9 1.8 0.0 8.9
	3.9 2.4 2.8 0.4 17.7
Total expenditure	27.2	27.2	18.1	50.1	14.3

Network support costs

Network support costs
Staff costs Transport Surplus with Purpose Food purchases and manufacture Grants to network partners Other direct costs (including major grants redistribution) Allocated support costs £ million	2024	3.3 4.2 3.4 1.1 4.4 1.0 2023 1.3	2.6 2.2 2.7 1.1 2.0 1.0 2022 1.0	1.9 3.9 2.6 29.1 2.3 3.5 2021 1.1	1.7 0.4 0.9 0.0 1.0 4.1 2020 0.7
	4.1 4.4 3.2 0.9 2.2 1.3 1.6
Total network support		18.7	12.6	44.4	8.8
	17.7

FareShare Annual Report 2024 35

Risk review

Our Trustees are responsible for ensuring that we have risk management processes and internal systems in place to identify and manage our principal risks in line with our risk appetite.

They are also responsible for monitoring the effectiveness of our risk management framework. Our framework is designed to manage, rather than eliminate, the risk to our objectives and to provide reasonable, but not absolute, assurance against material misstatement or loss.

Risk assessment

The risk assessment methodology is based on a “bottom-up” review by management every quarter, with identified risks documented in a risk register. This is complemented by a “top-down” risk review by the Finance, Audit and Risk (FAR) Committee. In addition, other Committees consider key risks relevant to their remits in their normal course of business. This approach allows us to identify risks, capture related opportunities and mitigate potential downsides.

Principal risks and uncertainties

The FAR reviews the results of the risk reviews undertaken by management and analyses major risk areas in detail each year, and these are presented to the Board of Trustees. In this section we set out the principal risks and uncertainties for our operations as reviewed by the FAR – alongside related opportunities and key mitigation factors.

Risk management

Formal project groups are established for major projects and programmes, such as technology implementations, to ensure these are properly planned, managed and implemented. Risk management is a key responsibility of these groups, which may include a relevant Trustee.

FareShare’s principal risks and opportunities at a glance

• Food safety compliance

• Health and safety (H&S)

• Meeting strategic surplus food volume targets

• Generating sufficient donated income

• Network resilience

• Shortage of skilled staff and volunteers

• Adverse macro-economic conditions

• Information systems security

• Inability to influence government policy

• Change management

Food safety compliance

The risk

We handle various food products (ambient, frozen and chilled) and distribute these via several network partners to charities. Meals are often made from the food we handle and are eaten by millions of people – many of whom are vulnerable. A lapse in food safety standards could lead to severe reputational damage for both FareShare and our food donors, a reduction in future donations and the closure of operations by local authorities.

The opportunity

Compliance with Food Safety legislation is a major reason for our success. By demonstrating high standards in this area, food donors are more likely to continue or increase surplus food donations to FareShare. Equally, our charity network partners remain confident of the safety and quality of food they receive for onward distribution/cooking.

Key mitigation

• High food safety standards across our operations as set out in related policies and procedures.

• Customised system that tracks all food, providing full traceability.

• Regular review of food safety system, policies and procedures.

• Compliance monitored through a programme of audits and with adequate staffing.

See also Safety review on page 11.

36 FareShare Annual Report 2024

Generating sufficient donated income

Risk review (continued)

Health and safety (H&S)

The risk

We have a duty of care to keep all people who are involved in our operations safe. A failure to do so could lead to a reputational and financial impact. We operate busy warehouses and logistics operations with potential health and safety hazards such as forklift trucks, walk-in freezers and frequent vehicle movements. This risk is exacerbated as many of our volunteers change regularly.

The opportunity

By maintaining high health and safety standards, performance and a culture of accident prevention, FareShare is more likely to attract and retain volunteers, funders and staff and to protect its strong reputation in this area.

Key mitigation

• H&S performance first agenda point for all Board and Senior Leadership Team meetings.

• All managers responsible for H&S, with Senior Leadership Team exercising oversight.

• Independent audits completed at operational sites, with action plans monitored by Board.

• Ongoing H&S communication, induction and training.

• Volunteers managed by dedicated team; insurance cover required for agreed activities.

See also Safety review on page 11.

Meeting strategic surplus food volume targets

The risk

There has been a significant reduction in the volume of available surplus food from retailers, owing to: data-driven efficiency drives to reduce food waste, driven by inflation and global food commodity shortages. This makes it harder and more expensive for us to increase surplus food volumes. If we cannot source and distribute target surplus food volumes, we are at risk of not fulfilling our mission in the medium to long term.

The opportunity

Given our 30-year track record and growing in-house skillset, we are in an excellent position to unlock and redistribute new sources of surplus food volumes, for example, through the Coronation Food Project. Through our actions, we aim to increase volumes to help meet the unmet demand for food that persists in the UK.

Key mitigation

• Implementation of Food Strategy to strengthen our capabilities in accessing and accepting more food from non-retail channels, such as our farm-gate 'Surplus with Purpose' programme and hospitality.

• • Investment in extending the useful life of surplus food by freezing and canning.

• Strengthen our position with food manufacturers and retailers by maintaining close relationships with all key partners, including industry and governmental bodies.

The risk

Due to the rising cost of accessing and distributing the volumes and types of food needed to meet demand, we are more reliant on donated income to sustain our mission. We recognise that we compete with many other charitable organisations and must work hard to increase funding. Failure to secure the required level of funding would jeopardise our operations and social impact creation.

The opportunity

With a strong track record of environmental and social impact, complemented by increasing commercial and financial rigour, we are in a strong position to reassure current and potential funders of our ability to attract and use funding responsibly.

Key mitigation

• Investment in in-house fundraising capacity and appointment of Director of Fundraising.

• Recent appointment of Alex Hyde-Smith, Director of Income & Engagement at Alzheimer’s Society, to the Board of Trustees and Fundraising and Marketing Committee (see Governance review, page 39).

• Alignment of fundraising costs with those experienced by established charities with similar income levels.

• Development of CRM system (to be implemented later in 2024) to support fundraising activities.

See also Food review on page 13.

See also Fundraising review on page 19.

FareShare Annual Report 2024 37

Adverse macro-economic conditions

Shortage of skilled staff and volunteers

Risk review (continued)

Network resilience

The risk

We rely on 17 independent regional network partners to transport surplus food to enduser charities. Should one or more network partners fail operationally or financially, there is a risk that our operations and impact could be negatively impacted.

The opportunity

The maintenance of a resilient, regional network ensures that we can deliver surplus food more efficiently and effectively to relevant charities and food partners.

Key mitigation

• Dedicated staff are responsible for engaging with our network partners, monitoring their financial and operational sustainability and maintaining open lines of communication.

• All network partners are required to have business continuity plans.

• We hold reserves that cover the cost of supporting up to two regional network partners should they be unable to provide current service levels.

See also Financial review on page 31.

The risk

Failure to recruit and retain skilled staff will put our objective to grow food volumes to meet demand at risk. We also rely on a significant number of volunteers to ensure operations in our regional distribution centres are run cost-effectively. Social and economic factors (including the knock-on impact of Covid-19 lockdowns) are changing employment behaviour and trends including the willingness to volunteer, making it more competitive to attract talent.

The opportunity

By better understanding and motivating our staff and volunteers, we can build on the incredible goodwill that we already enjoy. This will allow us to further our environmental and social value creation in an increasingly challenging environment.

Key mitigation

• Our mission and purpose are key factors in attracting and keeping skilled staff, volunteers and pro bono supporters.

• • We benchmark our pay and benefits each year; our salary review process considers inflationary/cost of living pressures and is weighted to those on lower salaries.

• Our updated appraisal process includes development planning activity to support staff.

• Our central volunteering group is focused on growing volunteer numbers and satisfaction.

The risk

Reduced ability to supply food due to adverse macro-economic conditions (especially inflation) is affecting our ability to fund our sourcing and logistics at the planned level. This is exacerbated by the inflationary impact on our key costs of food, logistics and staff.

The opportunity

By focusing on key actions to mitigate this risk (see below) we are confident in our ability to fund our long-term logistics and sourcing costs, enabling our ongoing development of environmental and social impact initiatives.

Key mitigation

• We undertake regular operational and financial planning exercises that prudently estimate the level of external funds available over the period reviewed and in the future, factoring in latest views of inflation over future years.

• To mitigate some of the effects of inflation, our current account is interestearning and cash reserves were placed on deposit.

• Long-term reserves (£6 million) have been invested externally.

• We will continue to manage closely our resource levels for affordability and make appropriate interventions.

• See also Financial review on page 31.

• Our efforts are furthered by our Employability programme that supported 270 people in 2024.

See also Our people on page 27.

38 FareShare Annual Report 2024

Risk review (continued)

Information systems security

The risk

We are using more data on a large scale and are dependent on third parties to manage some aspects of our data security. As we continue to grow, there is a risk that our overall information security environment is not adequately robust to mitigate the growing threat of cyber-attacks.

The opportunity

We intend to use more data to drive efficiencies and effectiveness of the business and facilitate collaboration with partners, the network and charities. Further opportunities exist to demonstrate our environmental and social impact.

Key mitigation

• In 2022 we undertook an external review of our information security environment, identified improvement areas and commenced a major enhancement project.

• This resulted in increasing staff resources and improving our preparedness for cyberattacks.

• To maintain awareness, all staff are required to pass specific training in this area shortly after starting employment, supported by continuous awareness briefings.

• Data Protection & Cyber Security compliance at the departmental level is monitored by a dedicated group.

• • Data Protection Advisory and IT services are outsourced to third parties, who are regularly reviewed for quality and performance, with the last review in the first half of 2024.

Inability to influence government policy

The risk

The current lack of clarity on government support for farmers and growers, and the lack of tax incentives for the food industry to donate surplus food is putting pressure on costs. If we cannot influence change, the risk of incurring further costs to source and supply food to the end user could compromise our operating model and prevent us from sourcing surplus food volumes to meet demand.

The opportunity

We have successfully used our voice to influence policy – as seen in the February announcement of a £15 million fund from Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs to support growers and farmers. Building on this, we will look to ensure this is deployed and becomes a multi-year programme and will lobby for tax incentives for food donations that align with other countries.

Key mitigation

• Active engagement with key opinion leaders regarding the government and potential future government’s policies to support the food industry and charities to meet the increasing demand for food.

• Collaboration with other charities and industry bodies to influence government to support and promote increased utilisation of surplus food.

• Appointment of Trustees with experience in public affairs and industry bodies.

See also Governance review on page 39.

Change management

The risk

We are undertaking a series of large-scale simultaneous change programmes. If these are not managed correctly, we may risk losing focus on business-as-usual activities and performance that are critical to our mission.

The opportunity

By managing our change programmes successfully, we will enhance the sustainability of our operating model and create a more agile organisation that can adapt to our changing and challenging market environment.

Key mitigation

• Standard processes for all strategic projects including reporting, risk management and change management control processes and governance.

• Development of new Board subcommittees and Advisory Groups to focus on organisational prioritisation.

• Change programme overseen by new Change Advisory Group.

• Management supported to be more adaptable in leading and delivering change.

See also Governance review on page 39.

FareShare Annual Report 2024 39

Governance review

Board of Trustees

Responsible for: complying with legislation, regulation, Articles and values; approving annual reports, impact statements, strategy, major change and investment decisions, appointments to the Board and Senior Leadership Team; leveraging networks to secure funding and pro bono support; and influencing key people and organisations. The Board also has oversight of FareShare’s policies, risk management and controls. Chair: John Bason Members: 16 Trustees Met: 5 times in the financial year

Our governance framework and an overview of key roles and responsibilities are set out in the table opposite. During the reporting period, we updated our memberships to utilise the considerable breadth and depth of Trustee and in-house skills and experience in delivering our strategic plan and charitable mission. This led to new Board Committees and Advisory Groups, some of which were established after the year end.

Board Committees

Responsible for: supporting the Board of Trustees on mission-critical activities that require particular focus and oversight due to their high-risk nature. Sub-Committees shown with an * below were established after the year end.

			Food Committee* Responsible for: • Deriving more food surplus from across the UK food supply chain. Chair: Tim O’Malley Members: 6 (2 Trustees, CEO, Director of Food and 4 FareShare employees) Meets: Quarterly
Finance, Audit and Risk (FAR) Committee Responsible for: • Financial performance, investments and budget, • Financial/annual reporting, including audit arrangements, • Risk management, long-term planning and treasury. Chair: Richard King Members: 4 (3 Trustees and one secretary) Meets: Quarterly	Nominations Committee Responsible for: • Specifcation, recruitment and selection of appointments to the Board of Trustees and FareShare’s Executive Team. Chair: John Bason Members: 5 Trustees Meets: As required	Fundraising and Marketing Committee* Responsible for: • Overseeing all fundraising and marketing strategic activities. Co-Chairs: Angela Tangas and Alex Hyde-Smith Members: 7 (4 Trustees and, Director of Fundraising, FD and 1 other FareShare employee) Meets: Bi-monthly

Chief Executive Responsible for: day-to-day operations and leading the Senior Leadership Team, as delegated by the Board of Trustees. Senior Leadership Team Responsible for: implementing FareShare’s strategy to meet agreed charitable objects. Meets: Monthly Advisory Groups Responsible for: building FareShare capability in key areas and pulling in relevant Trustee and in-house expertise to support the strategic plan.

Coronation Food Project (CFP)			Network and Logistics			Technology			Change
Focus:		Focus:			Focus:			Focus:
• Overseeing developments to		•	Safety, supply chain and		•	IT and data.		•	Developing and implementing
support the CFP, including food hub funding and implementation, and food generation.		logistics and operations. Chair: Paul Kenward Members: 5 (2 Trustees, COO and 2 FareShare employees)			Chair: Adam Eisenstadt Members: 6 (2 Trustees, COO, FD and 2 FareShare employees) Meets: Quarterly			FareShare’s People Plan. • Overseeing major change programmes. Chair: John Bason
Chair: Dominic Blakemore		Meets: Quarterly						Members: 8 (5 Trustees, CEO, FD
Members: 10 (4 Trustees, CEO,								and	COO)
COO, FD, Director of Food,								Meets: Monthly
Network Director and Director of
Fundraising)
Meets: Monthly

40 FareShare Annual Report 2024

About our Board of Trustees

Our governing body

FareShare is a charitable company limited by guarantee (no. 04837373). FareShare was incorporated in 2003 and is governed by its Memorandum and Articles of Association adopted on 6 July 2022. FareShare is registered with the Charity Commission in England and Wales (no. 1100051) and with the Scottish Charity Regulator in Scotland (no. SC052672). Under company law, our Board of Trustees is FareShare’s governing body and our Trustees are FareShare Directors and Members.

----- Start of picture text -----
Legal
Technology/
ecommerce
Logistics 4 3
4
2 affairsPublic
Finance [8] 5
5 Charity/
social
Food/ enterprise
food service
& hospitality
----- End of picture text -----

Appointment and re-election

Trustees are carefully selected and recruited to support our progress towards meeting our charitable objects, as set out in our Memorandum of Association. Trustees are appointed for a three-year term, after which they retire from office. They may, however, stand for re-election for up to two further terms. To ensure stability during and after the Covid-19 lockdown period and through the change of CEO – with the appointment of George Wright after the long-standing term of previous Chief Executive, Lindsay Boswell – our Chair, John Bason, was granted an exceptional further term of office and will retire no later than March 2027.

Trustee changes

During the reporting period, we welcomed six new Trustees to our Board and another two in May 2024. Three Trustees retired by rotation and one Trustee resigned. As at publication of this report, we have 16 Trustees who each bring relevant skills and experience to our cause (see pages 41– 42). All new Trustees receive an induction informing them of their legal responsibilities, FareShare’s policies, decision-making processes, strategic plan and recent financial performance. Any expenses incurred during Trustee work and reclaimed from FareShare are set out in Note 9 to the accounts.

Number of Trustees with skills and experience relevant to supporting FareShare in meeting its charitable objectives.

FareShare’s charitable objectives and public benefit

FareShare’s charitable objects are set out as follows in the

Memorandum of Association:

The Trustees confirm that they have referred to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit when reviewing the charity’s aims and objectives and in planning future activities.

The relief of poverty and the preservation and promotion of good nutrition, good health and social improvement among people who are suffering from social, economic or emotional distress in such ways as the Trustees may in their absolute discretion think fit but particularly through:

FareShare’s focus on tackling food poverty, working in partnership with local charities and community-based organisations, has a direct and positive benefit for many of the most marginalised people in the UK, particularly individuals who are homeless, unemployed, poor and isolated.

• the collection and redistribution of surplus food;

• the encouragement of members of the public to undertake voluntary work;

The Charity engages volunteers in its work and is open to all members of the community. FareShare’s training and education work provides opportunities for volunteers and others to gain recognition, including accreditation, for the skills they have acquired while working with FareShare to help them gain further employment.

• the advancement of public education in particular but not exclusively by providing training in the voluntary sector; and

• the furtherance, for the benefit of the public, of the conservation, protection and improvement of the physical and natural environment through the redirection of waste (in particular food waste) and its adverse environmental impacts.

FareShare Annual Report 2024 41

Our Board of Trustees

John Bason (Chair)

Appointed: 25 May 2010 FareShare memberships: Coronation Food Project Advisory Group, Change Advisory Group (Chair), Nominations Committee (Chair) Other appointments: Chair of Primark (Strategic Advisory Board), Chairman of Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, Non-executive Director and Audit Chair of SSE PLC

Adam Eisenstadt

Appointed: 26 September 2019 FareShare memberships: Technology Advisory Group (Chair) Other appointments: Commercial Director of True Classic

Karen Betts OBE

Appointed: 6 November 2023 FareShare memberships: Food Committee Other appointments: CEO of Food and Drink Federation

Aron Gelbard

Appointed: 6 November 2023 FareShare memberships:

Finance, Audit and Risk (FAR) Committee, Fundraising and Marketing Committee Other appointments: Founder and Director of Bloom & Wild

Dominic Blakemore

Appointed: 6 November 2023 FareShare memberships: Coronation Food Project Advisory Group (Chair), Change Advisory Group, Nominations Committee Other appointments:

Group CEO of Compass Group PLC, Non-Executive Director and Chair of the Audit Committee of the London Stock Exchange Group plc, Vice-Chair of Council of University College London (UCL)

John Hinton

Appointed: 17 July 2017 FareShare memberships: Change Advisory Group, Nominations Committee Other appointments: Executive Director Move On

Coronation Food Project Advisory Group,

Simone Connolly

Appointed: 31 August 2021 FareShare memberships: Network and Logistics Advisory Group Other appointments: Charity Director of FareShare Midlands

Andrew Hood

Appointed: 14 February 2019 FareShare memberships: Change Advisory Group Other appointments: Lawyer at Fieldfisher

42 FareShare Annual Report 2024

Our Board

of Trustees (continued)

• Appointed after the financial year end The following Trustees were in office for part of the reporting period: Tony Sykes (resigned 8 June 2023), Helen Sisson (retired by rotation 25 September 2023), Vince Craig (retired by rotation 29 September 2023) and Alicia Reyes Revuelta (retired by rotation 10 December 2023). More detailed biographies can be found on our website: fareshare.org.uk/what-we-do/ our-people/trustees/

Alex Hyde-Smith *

Appointed: 9 May 2024 FareShare memberships: Fundraising and Marketing Committee (Co-Chair) Other appointments: Fundraising Director of Alzheimer’s Society

Juergen Pinker

Appointed: 10 December 2020 FareShare memberships: Fundraising and Marketing Committee Other appointments: Managing Director at Blackstone

Paul Kenward

Appointed: 6 November 2023 FareShare memberships: Network and Logistics Advisory Group (Chair) Other appointments: Company Director of Associated British Foods plc

Martin Ryan

Appointed: 6 November 2023 FareShare memberships: Finance, Audit and Risk (FAR) Committee, Technology Advisory Group Other appointments: Trustee: Willow Foundation Advisor: Bain & Co

Richard King

Appointed: 10 December 2020 FareShare memberships: Coronation Food Project Advisory Group, Finance, Audit and Risk (FAR) Committee (Chair), Change Advisory Group, Nominations Committee Other appointments: Chair of Finance, Audit and Risk OIT PLC, Chair of Finance, Audit and Risk, Ark Schools, Chair of the Willow Foundation, Chair of FOLC Limited, Partner at Rockpool LLP, Partner at Beach Private Equity LLP

Angela Tangas *

Appointed: 9 May 2024 FareShare memberships: Fundraising and Marketing Committee (Co-Chair) Other appointments: CEO of Dentsu

Tim O’Malley

Appointed: 6 November 2023 FareShare memberships: Food Committee (Chair) Other appointments: Group Managing Director of Nationwide Produce

Angela Yotov

Appointed: 14 February 2019 FareShare memberships: Nominations Committee Other appointments: Solicitor and Company Secretary at Close Bros

FareShare Annual Report 2024 43

Preparation of financial statements

Senior Leadership Team (during 2024)

George Wright

Chief Executive

Kris Gibbon-Walsh

Chief Operating Officer

Simon Millard

Director of Food

Richard Nixon (from 8 January 2024) Director of Finance and Company Secretary

Polly Bianchi (from 23 August 2023) Director of Fundraising Gareth Batty (from 19 February 2024) Director of Network

Carl Hawkes (from 1 February 2024) Director of Operations

The following Senior Leadership Team members were in office during the period under review: Lindsay Boswell (resigned 28 June 2023); Jerome Walls (resigned 8 January 2024); Alyson Walsh (resigned 31 March 2024).

The Trustees are responsible for preparing financial statements for each financial year and have elected to prepare these in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice (United Kingdom Accounting Standards) and applicable law. Under company law, the Trustees must not approve the financial statements unless they are satisfied that they give a true and fair view of FareShare’s state of affairs and its incoming resources and their application, including the net income or expenditure for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the Trustees are required to:

• select suitable accounting policies and apply them consistently;

• observe the methods and principles of the Charities Statement of Recommended Practice (SORP);

• make judgments and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;

• state whether applicable UK Accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that FareShare will continue in operation.

The Trustees are responsible for keeping adequate accounting records that are sufficient to show and explain FareShare’s transactions; and to disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time FareShare’s financial position, enabling them to ensure that the financial

statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. The Trustees are also responsible for safeguarding FareShare’s assets and taking reasonable steps to prevent and detect fraud and other irregularities.

Remuneration (including Senior Leadership Team)

Our approach to staff pay is designed to attract and retain people with the passion, commitment and skills we need to achieve our mission and deliver our strategic goals. In the prior reporting period, we carried out an independent review of our pay structure to benchmark our salaries against other charities of a similar size and nature. While we were pleased to learn that our salaries are competitive, we continue to evolve our pay and benefits policies to ensure we can attract and retain the talent needed to achieve our mission in an increasingly challenging operating environment.

Annual salary increases are normally awarded in April of each year and consider the rate of inflation and affordability, based on our annual budget and overall financial resilience. Annual increases are weighted to those on lower salaries and are subject to approval by the Board of Trustees. The principle of our pay and benefits policy is applied to all FareShare staff, including the Senior Leadership Team. All staff are paid at, or above, the Living Wage rate set by the Living Wage Foundation.

Staff engagement

Our Trustees are committed to promoting the interests of employees by encouraging a culture of learning and development, with staff engagement regarded as an important priority. During the year, we experienced considerable change to our Board of Trustees and our Senior Leadership Team – including the appointment in May 2023 of our new CEO, George Wright, appointed in this financial year. A change in senior personnel brings new ideas, energy and ways of working to improve operations and our impact performance; however, it can also create short-term uncertainty. Recognising this, we established a Change Advisory Group to oversee major operational change programmes and FareShare’s People Plan. This underscores the importance of developing a culture of values-driven growth and investment – including in our people. More information on actions taken to engage and support our staff can be found on page 29.

Disclosure of information to auditors

In accordance with company law, each Trustee confirms that to the best of his/ her knowledge there is no information relevant to the audit of which the auditors are unaware. Each Trustee also confirms that he/she has taken all necessary steps to ensure that he/she is aware of all relevant audit information and that this information has been communicated to the auditors.

44 FareShare Annual Report 2024

Preparation of financial statements (continued)

Auditors

Our auditors, PKF Littlejohn LLP, were re-appointed during the year and have expressed their willingness to continue in that capacity.

Executive Chair Deputy Chair John Bason Dominic Blakemore

Governance update – post balance sheet event

Since our financial year end, our CEO George Wright, has decided to leave FareShare in 2025, having completed two years with the Charity.

As FareShare marks 30 years of fighting hunger, reducing food waste, and strengthening communities, it is critical that we evolve the organisation to build on the momentum of recent years – particularly as we are entering the next phase of our strategy.

To that effect, George will hand over to Kris Gibbon-Walsh who became interim CEO on 10 October 2024. At the same time John Bason became Executive Chair supported by Kris, Polly Bianchi as Chief Income and Engagement Officer and Richard Nixon as Chief Financial Officer. They, in turn, are supported by Dominic Blakemore in a new role as Deputy Chair. John, Kris, Polly and Richard will form the new Executive Leadership Team (ELT), effective from 10 October 2024, as shown on page 43.

Interim Chief Chief Income and Executive Officer Engagement Officer Kris Gibbon-Walsh Polly Bianchi

and expanding our commercial food partnerships.

To help oversee this leadership transition, the Trustees passed a Special Resolution on 26 September 2024 to extend John Bason’s tenure so that he retires no later than 31 March 2027 (previously 31 March 2025).

This report was approved by the Trustees on 21 November 2024 and signed on their behalf by:

John Bason, Chair

Chief Financial Officer Richard Nixon

In the interim period, George will take up an advisory role as a consultant to FareShare, concentrating on developing strategic projects, most importantly the work with the food industry, government

FareShare Annual Report 2024 45

Independent Auditor’s report to the Members and Trustees of FareShare

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of FareShare (the ‘parent charitable company’) and its subsidiary (the ‘group’) for the year ended 31 March 2024 which comprise the Consolidated Statement of Financial Activities, the Balance Sheets, the Consolidated Cash Flow Statement and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including FRS 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion, the financial statements:

• give a true and fair view of the state of the group’s and the parent charitable company’s affairs as at 31 March 2024, and of the group’s incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure, for the year then ended;

• have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and

• have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006.

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 group and parent charitable company 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 group’s or parent charitable company’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 Trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.

Other information

The other information comprises the information included in the report of the Trustees, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. The Trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the report of the Trustees. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

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 course of 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 this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. 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.

46 FareShare Annual Report 2024

Independent Auditor’s report to the Members and Trustees of FareShare (continued)

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

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

• the information given in the Trustees’ report, which includes the strategic report and the Directors’ report prepared for the purposes of company law, for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and

• the strategic report and the Directors’ report included within the Trustees’ report have been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements.

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the group and parent charitable company and their environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the strategic report or the Directors’ report included within the Trustees’ annual report.

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

• adequate accounting records have not been kept by the parent charitable company, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or

• the parent charitable company’s financial statements are not in

• agreement with the accounting records and returns; or

• certain disclosures of Trustees’ remuneration specified by law are not made; or

• we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.

Responsibilities of Trustees

As explained more fully in the Trustees’ responsibility 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 group and parent charitable company financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees 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 group and parent charitable company financial statements, the Trustees are responsible for assessing the group and parent charitable company’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 group or the parent charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements

We have been appointed auditor under the Companies Act 2006 and report in accordance with this Act and relevant regulations made or having effect thereunder.

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 is detailed below:

• We obtained an understanding of the group and parent charitable company and the sector in which they operate to identify laws and regulations that could reasonably be

FareShare Annual Report 2024 47

Independent Auditor’s report to the Members and Trustees of FareShare (continued)

expected to have a direct effect on the financial statements. We obtained our understanding in this regard through discussions with management, industry research, application of cumulative audit knowledge and experience of the sector.

• We determined the principal laws and regulations relevant to the group and parent charitable company in this regard to be those arising from Companies Act 2006. Charities Act 2011, employee and tax legislation.

• • We designed our audit procedures to ensure the audit team considered whether there were any indications of non-compliance by the group and parent charitable company with those laws and regulations. These procedures included, but were not limited to, enquiries of management and review of minutes.

• We also identified the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements due to fraud. We considered, in addition to the non-rebuttable presumption of a risk of fraud arising from management override of controls, that judgement was required with regards to the recognition of incoming resources and completeness of provisions.

• As in all our audits, we addressed the risk of fraud arising from management override of controls by performing audit procedures which included but were not limited to: the testing of journals; reviewing accounting estimates for evidence of bias; and evaluating the business rationale of

any significant transactions that are unusual or outside the normal course of business.

Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or non-compliance with regulation. This risk increases the more that compliance with a law or regulation is removed from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, as we will be less likely to become aware of instances of non-compliance. The risk is also greater regarding irregularities occurring due to fraud rather than error, as fraud involves intentional concealment, forgery, collusion, omission or misrepresentation.

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 charitable company’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 charitable company and the charitable company’s members as a body for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.

Alastair Duke (Senior Statutory Auditor) For and on behalf of PKF Littlejohn LLP

15 Westferry Circus Canary Wharf

Statutory Auditor London E14 4HD

3 December 2024

48 FareShare Annual Report 2024

Financial statements

Consolidated statement of financial activities

For the year ended 31 March 2024 (incorporating an income and expenditure account)

The Group has no gains or losses other than those shown above.

		Unrestricted	Restricted	Total	Unrestricted	Restricted	Total
		funds	funds	funds	funds	funds	funds
		2024	2024	2024	2023	2023	2023
	Note	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
Income
Income from generated funds
Donations	1	9,021	9,692	18,713	12,323	7,150	19,473
Other trading activities	2	27	-	27	14	-	14
Commercial trading income	11	328	-	328	355	-	355
Income from investments	3	820	-	820	248	-	248
		10,196	9,692	19,888	12,940	7,150	20,090
Income from charitable activities	4	1,032	2,147	3,179	995	1,975	2,970
Total income		11,228	11,839	23,067	13,935	9,125	23,060
Expenditure	6,7
Expenditure on raising funds		(3,862)	-	(3,862)	(2,745)	-	(2,745)
Expenditure on charitable activities		(14,856)	(8,472)	(23,328)	(13,845)	(10,578)	(24,423)
Total expenditure		(18,718)	(8,472)	(27,190)	(16,590)	(10,578)	(27,168)
Net (defcit) income		(7,490)	3,367	(4,123)	(2,655)	(1,453)	(4,108)
Transfers between funds	19,20	177	(177)	-	58	(58)	-
Net movement in funds		(7,313)	3,190	(4,123)	(2,597)	(1,511)	(4,108)
Unrealised investment gains	13	58	-	58	13	-	13
Net movement in funds after unrealised gains		(7,255)	3,190	(4,065)	(2,584)	(1,511)	(4,095)
Balance at beginning of year		23,367	2,377	25,744	25,951	3,888	29,839
Balance at end of year		16,112	5,567	21,679	23,367	2,377	25,744

The accounting policies and notes form part of these financial statements and are shown on pages 51 to 66.

FareShare Annual Report 2024 49

Financial statements

Balance sheet

At 31 March 2024

These financial statements were approved and authorised for issue by the Board of Trustees on 21 November 2024 and signed on their behalf by:

John Bason, Director

Richard King, Director

				Group		Charity
			2024	2023	2024		2023
		Note	£’000	£’000	£’000		£’000
	Fixed assets
	Tangible fxed assets	12	709	659	709		659
	Investments	13	6,162	1,013	6,162		1,013
			6,871	1,672	6,871		1,672
	Current assets
	Debtors	14	2,465	3,967	2,328		4,022
	Cash at bank and in hand		17,096	24,332	16,898		23,931
			19,561	28,299	19,226		27,953
	Creditors:Amounts falling due within one year	15	(4,301)	(3,738)	(4,244)		(3,697)
	Net current assets		15,260	24,561	14,982		24,256
	Creditors:Amounts falling due after one year	16	(452)	(489)	(452)		(489)
	Net assets		21,679	25,744	21,401		25,439
	Reserves
	Unrestricted funds
	General	20	16,112	23,027	15,834		22,722
	Designated	20	-	340	-		340
	Restricted funds	19	5,567	2,377	5,567		2,377
	Net assets		21,679	25,744	21,401		25,439

The accounting policies and notes on pages 51 to 66 form part of these financial statements.

Registered company number: 04837373

50 FareShare Annual Report 2024

Financial statements

Consolidated cashflow statement

For the year ended 31 March 2024

Statement of cash fows	Total funds	Total funds
	2024	2023
	£’000	£’000
Cash fows from operating activities
Net cash (utilised)/provided by operating activities (see reconciliation below)	(1,873)	(3,823)
Cash fows from investing activities
Purchase of property, plant and equipment	(272)	(343)
Purchase of investments	(5,091)	(1,000)
Change in cash and cash equivalents in the year	(7,236)	(5,166)
Cash and cash equivalents
At beginning of year	24,332	29,498
At end of year	17,096	24,332

Reconciliation of net income to net cash fow from operating activities	2024	2023
	£’000	£’000
Net income for the reporting period (as per the statement of fnancial activities)	(4,065)	(4,095)
Adjustments for:
Depreciation charges	222	235
Unrealised gains on investments	(58)	(13)
Increase / (decrease) in provisions	3	51
(Increase) / decrease in debtors	1,502	(425)
Increase / (decrease) in creditors	523	424
Net cash (utilised) / provided by operating activities	(1,873)	(3,823)

The accounting policies and notes on pages 51 to 66 form part of these financial statements.

FareShare Annual Report 2024 51

Accounting policies

Year ended 31 March 2024

Basis of accounting and consolidation

FareShare is a charitable company limited by guarantee and is incorporated in the United Kingdom. The registered office address and principal place of business is 19th Floor, Millbank Tower, 21-24 Millbank, London SW1P 4QP.

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Accounting and Reporting by Charities Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102), and the Companies Act 2006 and UK Generally Accepted Practice as it applies from 1 January 2019. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy or note.

The financial statements consolidate the results of the charitable company, FareShare and its subsidiary trading company, FareShare 1st Limited, on a lineby-line basis. Transactions and balances between the charitable company and its subsidiary have been eliminated from the consolidated financial statements. The amounts due to/from the Charity

and its subsidiary are disclosed in the notes to the accounts (Notes 14 – 15). A separate statement of financial activities for the charitable company has not been presented, taking advantage of the exemptions afforded by section 408 of the Companies Act 2006. The deficit for the Charity in the year 2024 was £4.1m (2023: Deficit of £4.1m).

The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the Charity and rounded to the nearest £’000. The significant accounting policies applied in the preparation of these financial statements are set out below. These policies have been consistently applied to all years presented unless otherwise stated.

Public benefit

The Charity constitutes a public benefit entity as defined by FRS 102.

Going concern

The financial statements have been prepared on the going concern basis. An organisation is considered a going concern if it is expected to continue its operations for the next twelve months. The Trustees consider FareShare to be a going concern for the foreseeable future as there are sufficient cash resources to meet liabilities for a period of at least twelve months from the date of approval of the financial statements. More detail is provided in the Financial Review.

Income (Notes 1 – 5)

Donated income is recognised in the financial statements when the Charity has entitlement to the funds, it is probable income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably.

Donated income received via third party platforms is recognised at the net value after the deduction of the agency fees.

When there are any performance conditions attached to the grant agreements, the grant income is recognised when there is sufficient evidence that these conditions have been met.

Charitable trading income, arising from contracts from services, is recognised when earned. Such income received in advance of entitlement is deferred to the balance sheet and released to the statement of financial activities in the periods to which the income relates.

Donated gifts and services are measured at their monetary value to the organisation and are included under donations where it is possible to establish a fair value without incurring excessive cost. An equal amount is included under the relevant expenditure category, so the net income is nil.

The value of donated and surplus food is excluded from the accounts, as the costs of establishing the fair value would be excessive in comparison to the benefit to the users of the accounts. However, an estimated value of donated food is included as a note to the accounts.

Expenditure (Notes 6 – 9)

Expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis when there is a legal or constructive obligation to make a payment to a third party, it is probable that the settlement will be required, and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. The costs of raising funds relate to the costs incurred by the charitable company in generating voluntary income and any other costs related to the fundraising activities. Charitable expenditure comprises the direct costs of delivering the FareShare charitable objects and their associated support costs. Support costs are apportioned to FareShare’s activities in line with the staff time spent on each activity. The type of costs allocated in this way include finance and governance, HR, Office and IT.

Governance costs comprise the legal and professional costs associated with the running and management of the Charity, auditing fees, other accountancy costs and Trustee expenses.

Untaken staff holiday is calculated at staff average salary cost and is included in the Staff gross salaries costs.

Rentals under operating leases are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities as incurred.

Grants given (Note 6)

FareShare can only make grants to other organisations where these are in support of its charitable activities. Grants are given to our partners from designated funds

52 FareShare Annual Report 2024

Accounting policies

Year ended 31 March 2024

as well as grants given by funders to be allocated across the entire network. The expenditure is recognised when the criteria for a constructive obligation has been met, payment is probable, it can be measured reliably and there are no conditions attached which limit its recognition.

Pension costs (Note 9)

The Charity operates a group personal pension plan which is a defined contribution scheme. The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the Charity. Contributions are charged to the statement of financial activities in the periods to which they relate. The Charity has no liability under the scheme other than for the payment of those contributions.

Redundancy costs (Note 9)

Where a demonstrable commitment is made to terminate the employment of staff before the end of the reporting period any termination benefit is charged to the Statement of Financial Activities and a liability is recognised for the best estimation of the cost at the reporting date.

Taxation (Note 11 and Note 15)

As a registered charity, the Company is generally exempt from Corporation Tax but not from Value Added Tax (VAT) (Note 15). The Company’s subsidiary trading company is registered for VAT and is liable to corporation tax on trading profits not transferred under the Gift Aid arrangements (Note 11).

Fixed assets (Note 12)

Fixed assets over the value of £2,000 are capitalised and the depreciation is charged on a straight-line basis over the asset’s estimated useful life:

	estimated useful life:
	Leasehold improvements	Over the life of
		the lease
	Warehouse equipment Vehicles Computer equipment and software	5 years 5 years 3 years

Investments (Note 13)

Investments are initially recognised at their transaction value and subsequently at their published market value as at the balance sheet date. Unrealised gains or losses are included in the statement of financial activities and are calculated as the difference between the value of the investment at the year-end and the carrying market value at the beginning of the financial year. Realised gains and losses on investment are calculated as the difference between disposal proceeds and either their purchase value or opening carrying value, dependent on the date of the disposal. The investment in the wholly owned subsidiary trading company is shown at cost.

Cash at bank and in hand

Cash at bank and cash in hand consists of cash and cash deposits.

Debtors (Note 14)

Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due. Prepayments, which are payments made in advance, are valued at the net amount prepaid.

Creditors and provisions (Note 15 – 17)

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. The full estimated cost of dilapidations is provided in respect of existing current lease obligations.

Assets held under finance leases (Note 16 and Note 18)

Leased assets where the risks and rewards of ownership are substantially transferred to the Charity are classified as finance leases. The asset is recognised at fair value or, if lower, the present value of the minimum lease payments. A creditor is established for the capitalised value of the assets and lease payments are split between the capital element and interest cost. The asset is depreciated over the shorter of the term of the lease and the useful economic life of the asset.

Funds (Note 19 – 20)

Unrestricted funds comprise those monies that may be used towards meeting the charitable objects of the Charity at the discretion of the Trustees. Restricted funds arise when donations are received for specific purposes or are subject to specific conditions imposed by the donor. Restricted funds are to be used for particular aspects of the objects of the Charity. Designated funds have been established by the Trustees to fund the cost of strategic initiatives which the Trustees consider will contribute to the achievement of the charity’s objectives. The funds are not restricted and to the extent the funds are not required will be available to support the charity’s day to day activities.

Financial instruments

The Charity only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value.

Accounting estimates and key judgements

In the process of applying the charity’s accounting policies described in this note, judgements and estimates are made that have an effect on the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue and expenses during the reporting period. Significant estimates made in the course of preparing the financial statements include the provision for debtors (Note 14) that may not be recoverable and the provision for dilapidations (Note 16) relating to our leased buildings.

FareShare Annual Report 2024 53

Notes to the financial statements

1. Donations

1. Donations
			Total	Total
	Unrestricted	Restricted	funds	funds
	funds	funds	2024	2023
	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
Individuals and legacies	5,341	11	5,352	5,372
Trusts and foundations	635	3,913	4,548	4,146
Corporate	3,045	5,189	8,234	8,695
Statutory	-	579	579	1,260
	9,021	9,692	18,713	19,473

In 2024 income from donated gifts and services was recognised to the value of £143,000 (2023: £82,000) and represented pro bono advice and free advertising.

2. Other trading activities

2. Other trading activities
			Total	Total
	Unrestricted	Restricted	funds	funds
	funds	funds	2024	2023
	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
Other trading income	27	-	27	14

3. Income from investments

3. Income from investments
			Total	Total
	Unrestricted	Restricted	funds	funds
	funds	funds	2024	2023
	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
Bank interest receivable	820	-	820	248

54 FareShare Annual Report 2024

Notes to the financial statements

4. Income from charitable activities

				Total	Total
		Unrestricted	Restricted	funds	funds
		funds	funds	2024	2023
	Note	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
Community food members		1,026	-	1,026	975
Other income		6	-	6	20
Fees received for FareShare Go	10	-	2,147	2,147	1,975
		1,032	2,147	3,179	2,970

5. Donated goods for distribution

In 2024 FareShare received and distributed 59,000 tonnes of food (2023: 58,400 tonnes) through our network and directly to end user charities through the FareShare Go business unit. In line with the accounting policy, it is not possible to obtain a fair value of the goods received. We use an average retail value to calculate the value of food received during the financial year. Using this methodology, the value of food received and distributed was £184 million (2023: £187 million). The average value of food is estimated at £3,250 per tonne.

FareShare Annual Report 2024 55

Notes to the financial statements

6 .The managed depots costs include three regional centres that are owned by FareShare: East Anglia, Merseyside and Southern Central.

Network support includes the cost of food sourcing and distribution, network partner enhancements, volunteering and marketing. Grants given to the network represent FareShare investment to facilitate the development and improvement to the infrastructure and supply chain and logistics across the network. There were also statutory grants given to FareShare UK to be passed on to our partners in Scotland totalling £0.3 million (2023: £0.5 million).

An Employability programme is run in the Merseyside regional centre and grants given in this area represent the Yorkshire Building Society funding received by FareShare and passed on to the network.

2023 direct Charitable costs and

Support costs were restated, moving the depreciation costs into the Managed Depots and Network support as they directly relate to warehouses and vehicles operated by our warehouses and network partners.

6. Expenditure

6 Exenditure
. p
		Staff	Operational	Grants	Support	Total	Total
		costs	costs	given	costs	costs	costs
		2024	2024	2024	2024	2024	2023
	Note:	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
Expenditure on raising funds		1,296	2,092	-	474	3,862	2,745
Charitable activities
Managed depots		889	992	-	541	2,422	2,439
Network support		4,138	9,817	2,179	1,572	17,706	18,702
FareShare Go	10	1,521	406	-	888	2,815	2,733
Employability		137	32	147	69	385	549
		7,981	13,339	2,326	3,544	27,190	27,168

		Staff costs	Operational costs	Grants given	Support costs	Total costs
		2023	2023	2023	2023	2023
		£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
	Expenditure on raising funds	977	1,424	-	344	2,745
	Charitable activities
	Managed depots	792	1,082	-	565	2,439
	Network support	3,338	9,661	4,445	1,258	18,702
	FareShare Go	1,499	309	-	925	2,733
	Employability	137	10	333	69	549
		6,743	12,486	4,778	3,161	27,168

56 FareShare Annual Report 2024

Notes to the financial statements

7. Analysis of support costs

The spilt of support costs into functional expenditure areas is as follows:

	Staff	Operational	Total	Staff	Operational	Total
	costs	costs	2024	costs	costs	2023
	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
Finance	485	115	600	410	115	524
Governance costs	35	94	129	27	45	72
HR and organisational development	448	351	799	395	325	721
IT and systems	775	864	1,639	394	893	1,287
Offce	-	377	377	46	511	557
	1,743	1,801	3,544	1,272	1,889	3,161

8. Governance costs

8. Governance costs
	2024	2023
	£’000	£’000
Staff costs	35	27
Auditors – audit fees	16	16
Legal and professional	17	8
Indemnity insurance	23	18
Other costs	38	3
	129	72

Other costs include payments to the auditors PKF Littlejohn LLP of £18,000 (excluding VAT) related to tax advice and corporate tax preparation and are included within Support costs (2023: £41,500).

FareShare Annual Report 2024 57

Notes to the financial statements

9. Staff and Trustee expenses

No Trustees received remuneration from FareShare during the year (2023: nil). Trustees’ reimbursed expenses totalling £3,289 were incurred during the year (2023: £2,848). These expenses were incurred by four Trustees (2023: three), being travel and subsistence costs for attending Board meetings or other Charity business.

travel and subsistence costs for attending Board meetings or other Charity business.
Staff costs in the year were as follows:	2024 £’000	2023 £’000
Salaries and wages	8,200	6,842
Social security costs	833	678
Pension contributions	301	251
Redundancies and settlements	60	18
Temporary staff costs	330	226
	9,724	8,015

At the end of March 2024, there were 229 employees (2023: 232), this equated to 222 full time equivalent staff (2023: 223.5).

The average number of employees during the year was as follows:

The average number of employees during the year was as follows:
	2024	2023
	No.	No.
Managed depots	33	34
Network partner support incl. food and supply chain	71	62
Employability	4	5
FareShare Go	51	52
Raising funds	27	21
Marketing and communications	18	13
Support functions	30	24
	234	211

58 FareShare Annual Report 2024

Notes to the financial statements

Higher-paid employees

Higher-paid employees
	2024	2023
The number of staff paid over £60,000 during the year was:	No.	No.
£60,000 – £70,000	8	4
£70,000 – £80,000	2	2
£80,000 – £90,000	1	1
£90,000 – £100,000	1	1
£100,000 – £110,000	-	2
£110,000 – £120,000	2	-

10. FareShare Go

This note represents the total income and costs related to the six major retail contracts we have (2023: six contracts) within this business unit.

Key management personnel

Key management personnel are the Senior Leadership Team, comprising in total 9 (2023: 5). In 2024 the team comprised the Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer, Director of Finance, Commercial Director, Fundraising Director, Director of Network, Director of Operations, Director of Food and Director of Transformation (a fixed-term project).

The total remuneration of the key management personnel, including employer National Insurance and pension contributions was £887,000 (2023: £537,000).

(2023: six contracts) within this business	unit.
		Total	Total
		2024	2023
	Note	£’000	£’000
Donated income		20	25
Invoiced		2,134	2,429
Income deferred	17	(308)	(757)
Released from deferred income		321	303
Amount recognised in a year	4	2,167	2,000
Direct costs incurred	6	(1,927)	(1,808)
Contribution to core costs		(240)	(192)
Surplus / (defcit)		-	-

FareShare Annual Report 2024 59

Notes to the financial statements

11 . FareShare has a wholly owned subsidiary, FareShare 1st Limited, which is a company limited by shares incorporated in England and Wales. The principal activity of FareShare 1st Limited is to undertake commercial activities on behalf of the Charity. FareShare 1st Limited is a registered company no. 05412034 and its registered office is 19th Floor, Millbank Tower, 21-24 Millbank, London SW1P 4QP. FareShare 1st Limited's financial results are consolidated into the group financial statements. As of 31 March 2024, the net assets of FareShare 1st Limited were £278,000 (2023: £305,000). Its trading results extracted from its audited financial statements for the year to 31 March 2024 were:

11. Subsidiary trading income and expenditure

11. Subsidiary trading income and expenditure
	2024	2023
	£’000	£’000
Turnover	328	355
Cost of sales	(48)	(41)
Gross proft	280	314
Administration costs	(2)	(9)
Surplus for the year	278	305

12. Tangible fixed assets – Group and Charity

			Offce & IT
	Leasehold		equipment &	Warehouse
	improvements	Vehicles	software	equipment	Total
	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
Cost
At beginning of year	617	486	616	245	1,964
Additions	214	36	20	2	272
Disposals	(125)	(24)	(5)	-	(154)
At end of year	706	498	631	247	2,082
Depreciation
At beginning of year	423	161	549	172	1,305
Charge for the year	70	92	33	27	222
Release on disposals	(125)	(24)	(5)	-	(154)
At end of year	368	229	577	199	1,373
Net book value
31 March 2023	194	325	67	73	659
31 March 2024	338	269	54	48	709

60 FareShare Annual Report 2024

Notes to the financial statements

13 . A proportion of the reserves is invested into lower-risk charitable funds in line with FareShare's investment policy and managed by two independent investment companies, Ruffer and Sarasin & Partners.

14 . Trade debtors include FareShare Go invoicing in advance for £225,000 (2023: £870,000), fundraising contracts £369,000 (2023: £550,000) and Community Food Members fees for the total of £205,000 (2023: 188,000). Accrued income includes income related to 2024 from major and individual donors via the external fundraising platforms £270,000 (2023: £250,000), corporate fundraising contracts £193,000 (2023: £700k), Scottish Government grants £152,000 (2023: £245,000) and bank interest £190,000. There were also prepaid supplier invoices totalling £552,000.

13. Investments

	13. Investments		2024	2023
			£'000	£'000
	Investments		6,162	1,013
			2024	2023
	At 31 March 2024		£'000	£'000
	Market value at the beginning of the year		1,013
	Additions (at cost)		5,091	1,000
	Increase / (decrease) in market value		58	13
	Market value at end of year		6,162	1,013
		Note	2024	2023
			£	£
	Shares in subsidiary company	11	1	1

14. Debtors

. etors		Group		Charity
	2024		2023	2024	2023
	£’000		£’000	£’000	£’000
Trade debtors	836		1,613	637	1,520
Prepayments and accrued income	1,359		1,659	1,240	1,573
VAT reclaimable	202		622	202	622
Amounts due from subsidiary	-		-	181	234
Other debtors	68		73	68	73
	2,465		3,967	2,328	4,022

FareShare Annual Report 2024 61

Notes to the financial statements

16 . The dilapidations provision is the estimated cost of restoring leased buildings to the required condition at the end of the lease.

Obligations under finance leases represent the vehicles purchased under finance leases in 2021 and 2022 over the five-year period. There were no finance leases entered into since.

17 . Included within deferred income are amounts received where the expenditure has not occurred as at 31 March 2024 from participating retailers for FareShare Go at £639,000 (2023: £866,000), Community Food Members fees received in advance of £179,000 (2023: £204,000), a £900,000 conditional donation received from a major funder to be spent on the new food hub in Liverpool, planned to be established in 2025, and other contracts yet to be spent totalling £200,000 (2023: £115,000).

15. Creditors: amounts falling due within one year

		Group			Charity
	2024		2023	2024		2023
	£’000		£’000	£’000		£’000
Trade creditors	650		716	650		716
Accruals and deferred income	3,079		2,445	3,022		2,442
Obligations under fnance leases	38		38	38		38
Taxation and social security	251		260	251		260
VAT payable	48		202	48		164
Other creditors	235		77	235		77
	4,301		3,738	4,244		3,697

16. Creditors: amounts falling due after one year

		Group			Charity
	2024		2023	2024		2023
	£’000		£’000	£’000		£’000
Provision for dilapidations	412		409	412		409
Obligations under fnance leases	40		80	40		80
	452		489	452		489

17. Deferred income

17. Deferred income
		Group			Charity
	2024		2023	2024	2023
	£’000		£’000	£’000	£’000
At the beginning of the year	1,238		1,369	1,238	1,369
Released from deferred income	(925)		(1,137)	(925)	(1,137)
Income deferred	1,603		1,006	1,549	1,006
At end of year	1,916		1,238	1,862	1,238

62 FareShare Annual Report 2024

Notes to the financial statements

18. Future commitments – operating and finance leases

The Charity had the following annual commitments under non-cancellable leases:

18 . Operating lease commitments relate to premises and include a new warehouse lease in Ipswich for the East Anglia operations, entered into in October 2023 that expires in 2028.

Finance lease commitments include vehicles for our Merseyside and Southern Central operations entered into during the 2021 and 2022 year.

Total expenses paid under operating leases for the property leases, reflected in the Statement of Financial Activities, were £409,000 (2023: £364,000).

	Payments	Payments	Payments due
	due within	due in two to	in more than
At 31 March 2024	one year	fve years	fve years	Total
	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
Property lease commitments	229	251	-	480
Van lease commitments	38	39	-	77
	267	290	-	557
At 31 March 2023
Property lease commitments	147	87	-	234
Van lease commitments	38	80	-	118
	185	167	-	352

19. Restricted funds

19. Restricted funds
		Beginning	Transfer	Income in	Utilised	End of
At 31 March 2024	Note	of year £’000	of funds £’000	year £’000	in year £’000	year £’000
Restricted funds
FareShare depots		217	(182)	377	(396)	16
Network support		2,160	(7)	9,053	(5,655)	5,551
FareShare Go	10	-	12	2,147	(2,159)	-
Employability		-	-	262	(262)	-
		2,377	(177)	11,839	(8,472)	5,567

FareShare Annual Report 2024 63

Notes to the financial statements

		Beginning	Transfer	Income in	Utilised	End of
At 31 March 2023	Note	of year £’000	of funds £’000	year £’000	in year £’000	year £’000
Restricted funds
FareShare depots		314	(48)	507	(556)	217
Network support		3,573	(10)	6,213	(7,616)	2,160
FareShare Go	10	-	-	1,975	(1,975)	-
Employability		1	-	430	(431)	-
		3,888	(58)	9,125	(10,578)	2,377

Restricted reserves

FareShare depots

This reflects the food redistribution operations of FareShare’s national depots in Merseyside, Southern Central and East Anglia.

FareShare Go

Funds relating to the FareShare Go activities are restricted and disclosed in Note 10.

Employability

Included within the carried forward total as at 31 March 2024 are funds to extend the reach of our national depots and to support mobile food larders.

Network support

This reflects staffing and other support activities for FareShare’s national network of delivery partners, including the transport costs of food redistribution. Included within the carried forward total as at 31 March 2024 are £1.22 million of grants from Enterprise Holdings Foundation, of which £982,000 is taken into the new financial year and £830,000 from Sainsbury’s that remains unspent. Other large, restricted reserves include £2.14 million from an anonymous donor; £716,000 from the Julia and Hans Rausing Trust; £214,000 from Comic Relief; £150,000 from Garfield Weston; £106,000 from SSP Foundation; £101,000 from The Rothschild Foundation and £62,000 from the AGCO Agriculture Foundation.

This relates to the various initiatives within the Employability programme being run at FareShare and network partners. Employability programmes are run in our Merseyside regional centre and other regional centres in the network, providing participants with warehousing work experience, training, qualifications and other support to succeed in securing work.

Comic Relief: The restricted income includes £973,000 donated by Comic Relief (2023: £515,000). This funding was in support of our core operations to provide food where it is needed most.

The National Lottery Community Fund: The restricted income includes £75,000 from the Community Organisations Cost of Living Fund in support of our core operations to transport food to where it is needed most.

Fund transfer: An amount of £177,000 (2023: £58,000) has been transferred from restricted to unrestricted funds in respect of grants given to purchase fixed assets.

64 FareShare Annual Report 2024

Notes to the financial statements

20. Unrestricted funds

20. Unrestricted funds
	Beginning	Transfer	Net movement in	End of
	of year	of funds	funds in the year	year
At 31 March 2024	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
Unrestricted funds
General funds (Charity)	22,722	177	(7,065)	15,834
General fund (Subsidiary)	305		(27)	278
Designated funds	340	-	(340)	-
	23,367	177	(7,432)	16,112

Designated funds, representing the Trustees’ commitment to strengthen the capacity of network partners to receive and redistribute surplus food, were fully expanded in 2024.

	Beginning	Transfer	Net movement in	End of
	of year	of funds	funds in the year	year
At 31 March 2023	£’000	£’000	£’000	£’000
Unrestricted funds
General funds (Charity)	24,081	58	(1,417)	22,722
General fund (Subsidiary)	420	-	(115)	305
Designated funds	1,450	-	(1,110)	340
	25,951	58	(2,642)	23,367

FareShare Annual Report 2024 65

Notes to the financial statements

21. Related parties

Gareth Batty , Network Director seconded from FareShare Yorkshire, is also the Chief Executive Officer of FareShare Yorkshire. FareShare paid a total of £192,431 to FareShare Yorkshire in 2024, being: £88,747 to fund the lorry and regional food sourcing programme based in Yorkshire £87,681 of grants and donations received by FareShare that needed to be passed on to FareShare Yorkshire, including from Yorkshire Building Society, Tesco and for fuel cost support, and £16,003 for the secondment of Gareth Batty and other operational costs.

Timothy O’Malley , a FareShare Trustee, is the Group Managing Director of Nationwide Produce plc. The FareShare network also received 118 tonnes of donated food from Nationwide Produce plc in 2024. FareShare paid Nationwide Produce plc £5,872 in 2024 which related to produce purchased under the Surplus with Purpose and food purchase programmes. Timothy O’Malley also has a close family member who works as the Employability Programme Lead at FareShare South West. FareShare paid FareShare South West £21,000 in 2024 relating to the Employability programme funded by the Yorkshire Building Society.

Karen Betts , a FareShare Trustee, is Chief Executive Officer of the Food and Drink Federation (FDF). FDF is a trade association and membership organisation for the food manufacturing sector. FareShare paid FDF £6,100 in 2024 in relation to membership fees, which is the standard rate for an organisation of our size. FDF also raised £3,184 for FareShare in 2024.

Dominic Blakemore , a FareShare Trustee, is Chief Executive Officer of Compass Group. The FareShare network received 20.9 tonnes of donated food from Compass Group in 2024.

Simone Connolly , a FareShare Trustee, is the Chief Executive Officer of FareShare Midlands. FareShare paid FareShare Midlands £425,777 being: £261,225 to the fund the lorries and regional food sourcing programme based in Midlands and an extended opening hours trial; £158,263 of grants and donations received by FareShare that needed to be passed on to FareShare Midlands, including for the YBS-funded Employability programme, fuel cost support, Rothschild Foundation and Tesco.

Juergen Pinker , a FareShare Trustee, is Managing Director at Blackstone. In 2024 FareShare received donations worth £191,202 without any conditions.

Andrew Hood , a FareShare Trustee, is Partner at Fieldfisher LLP. In 2024 FareShare received pro bono legal advice from Fieldfisher LLP.

John Hinton , a Trustee of FareShare, is the Executive Director of MoveOn that runs the Glasgow-West of Scotland FareShare Regional Centre. FareShare provides MoveOn with regular food, support and at times, grant funding. FareShare paid MoveOn £173,379 in 2024 being: £82,574 to fund a lorry and an extended opening hours trial; £61,384 of grants and donations received by FareShare that needed to be passed on to MoveOn, including for fuel cost support, from Scottish Government and Tesco; £29,420 to support Health and Safety and other costs.

Vincent Craig , a former FareShare Trustee, is a director of the British Frozen Food Federation (BFFF). FareShare paid the BFFF £2,200 of membership fees in 2024.

All transactions were conducted on an arms-length and commercial basis. None of the Trustees concerned were involved in approving these transactions.

66 FareShare Annual Report 2024

Notes to the financial statements

22. Legal status of the Charity

The Charity is a company limited by guarantee and has no share capital. In the event of the Charity being wound up, the liability in respect of the guarantee is limited to £1 per member of the Charity.

23. Events after the reporting period

There were no material events after the reporting period which require disclosure in accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102) section 13.

FareShare Annual Report 2024 67

Reference and administrative details

FareShare

Registered office 19th Floor Millbank Tower 21-24 Millbank London SW1P 4QP

Company Registration No.: 4837373 (Limited by Guarantee) Registered Charity No.: 1100051 Scottish Charity No.: SC052672

Bankers

Charities Aid Foundation 25 Kings Hill Avenue Kings Hill, West Malling Kent ME19 4TA

Investment managers

Ruffer LLP 80 Victoria Street London SW1E 5JL

Sarasin & Partners Co-operative Bank plc Juxon House 9 Prescot Street 100 St Paul’s Churchyard London London E1 8BE EC4M 8BU

Lloyds Bank plc 25 Gresham Street London EC2V 7HN

Bank deposits Barclays Bank 1 Churchill Place Leicester LE87 2BB

External auditors

PKF Littlejohn LLP 15 Westferry Circus London E14 4HD

Solicitors

Bates Wells 10 Queen Street Place London EC4R 1BE

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