SHARING LIFE TRUST
TRUSTEES’ REPORT AND ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2024
Registered Charity Number: 1100176
SHARING LIFE TRUST ( Registered Charity Number: 1100176)
Trustees
Philip Stratton (Chair) Christine Waring John Hulett Steve Eyre Gordon Taylor
The Trustees’ Report and Accounts cover the year to 31 December 2024.
The composition of the trustee body shown above covers the full period from 1 January 2024 until the Trustees’ Report and Accounts were approved.
Office
Unit D2 Station Yard Thame OX9 3UH
Independent Examiner
Lisa Walker FCCA APS Accountancy Limited 4 Cromwell Court New Street Aylesbury HP20 2PB
The governing document is the Charity's Constitution adopted when the charity was registered on 20 October 2003.
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SHARING LIFE TRUST Trustees’ Report
The Trustees present their report and accounts for the year to 31 December 2024.
Purposes
The principal aims of the Charity are to relieve poverty and hardship.
Trustees
Trustees shall be no fewer than 2 and no more than 7. Other than the two founding trustees they are elected to serve for a term of 3 years and are eligible for re-election at a Trustee Meeting of the Charity in accordance with the requirements of the Constitution.
Reserves Policy
Reserves are required to cover an unexpected loss of income and to allow ongoing commitments to be met in these circumstances.
The Trust’s income is predominantly from private donors, with occasional income from successful grant applications. Consequently, there is some inherent uncertainty over future cashflow and over the past 20 years we have survived on something of a hand-to-mouth basis.
Since the Covid pandemic, private income has increased dramatically, as has the demand on our FoodBank, for which we have recently recruited 2 part-time administrators.
Trustees agreed at the meeting on 6[th] September 2023 that we should place £50,000 into an instant access savings account to ensure the ongoing viability of the trust for a minimum period of one year should donations drop off significantly in the future.
This policy of covering one year’s expenditure will be reviewed annually.
At 31st December 2024 the Trust held total funds of £116,866 of which £80,887 was in a reserves account.
Review of Developments, Activities and Achievements
Financial Reporting:
Due to the employment of staff in 2023 we recruited a book-keeper with payroll experience in March. At the end of the year our Treasurer stood down following a family bereavement, and one of the Trustees agreed to provide management reporting. When we submitted our 2023 accounts for inspection it became clear that the record-keeping was not complete and this led to the late filing of the Annual Return. We had no choice but to continue with this arrangement until the end of the year, whereupon a new book-keeping business was appointed for calendar year 2025.
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SHARING LIFE TRUST
Trustees’ Report (continued)
Review of the year by area:
Foodbank
The number of Foodbank parcels has increased further during the year by 7%, and a total of 1,702 food parcels were delivered to local addresses, providing for 1,042 adults and 940 children in 800 households. Requests were again overwhelmingly validated by other local agencies, and in total £46,202 was spent (an increase of 80% on the previous year), including supplementary items and energy top-ups.
Our online payment platform called ‘Enthuse’, launched to enable donations from the website, brought in over £19,000 and became a very significant source of support. Two other similar platforms generated a further £7,000 for the Foodbank between them.
We have 100+ volunteers covering the Foodbank and Community Larder, with around 80 regularly committed in both collecting food from supermarkets, packing food parcels and delivering to clients, and who are critical for us in responding to this growing demand in such difficult circumstances.
Community
In a development of the Foodbank, we have continued to expand the Community Larder scheme, which has over 155 members (an increase of 21% on the previous year), including many Ukrainian refugees. This offers unsold food items donated by supermarkets for scheme members to buy at very reduced cost; enabling people to benefit from the lower expense and also to regain control over their food shopping. An additional benefit (and motivation for around half the users) is to reduce the amount of wasted food going to landfill.
The Trust continued to support local people in need with emergency funding for clients of the Citizens Advice Bureau for some bankruptcy and Debt Relief Orders, and also to provide white goods for people unable to manage without a cooker or fridge, for example.
International
We support the Sharing Life/Rema clinic in Burundi, in conjunction with Rema UK (registered charity no. 1118650). The clinic provides healthcare in the province of Rutana, where a very large number of returnees from refugee camps in Tanzania have settled, either on land requiring negotiation with families who took it over following the genocides, or in Internally Displaced People camps. Steve visited in June along with the Rema UK Trustees and we continue to support the clinic’s work with funding for medicines and malaria prevention.
We also carried on funding for the Calcutta Samaritans and Emmanuel Ministries in Kolkata, India with their work alongside substance abuse addicts and street children. We continued to support Bethan & Tenebou in Senegal and sent them £2,200 during the year towards their clinic and also continued to locally support Ukrainian refugees in partnership with other agencies.
Finally:
Trustees met for an awayday early in the year to discuss succession planning (amongst other business) and want to record our thanks to Derek Witchell for his dedication and long service as Trustee and wish him well in his retirement.
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SHARING UFETRUST Trustees, Report l¢¢ntinuedl Statement of Trustees Responslbllitles The Charltles Act 2011 sectlon 130 requlres the Trustees to prepare accounts for each financial year sufficient to show and explain the Charity's transactions and which disclose wlth reasonable accuracy the Charity's financial posltlon. In preparing those accounts the Trustee5 are required to.. select suitable accounting policies and then apply them conslstently; make jud8emenls and estSmates that are reasonable and prudent,. state whether applicable accounting Standards have been followed, subject to any material departures dlsclosed and explained in the accounts, and,. prepare the accounts on a 80in8 concern basis unless it can be assumed that the Charity will not contlnue to operate as such. The Trustees are responslble for keeplng proper accountlng records whlch dlsclose the flnancial position of the Charltyi Wlth reasonable accuracy, at any time. They are also responslble for safeguardlng the assets of the Charlty and for t?kln8 reasonable steps to prevent or detect fraud. The Trustees have fulfilled the responsibllltle5 a5 Outlined above. The accounts a presented on a Recelpts and Payment basls. Approved on behalf of the Trustees on ....... Slgne Phlllp Stratton- Chalr
Sharing Life Trust (Registered Charity No. 1100176)
Independent Examiner’s Report to the Trustees of Sharing Life Trust
I report on the accounts for the year ended 31 December 2024 set out on pages seven to eleven.
Respective responsibilities of Trustees and the Independent Examiner
The charity’s trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the Charities Act 2011 (“the Act”). The Charity’s trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year (under Section 144(2) of the Act) and that instead an independent examination is required.
I report in respect of my examination of the charity’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination, I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
Independent examiner’s statement
In connection with my examination, no material matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination which gives me cause to believe that in, any material respect:
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(a) the accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act; or
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(b) the accounts did not accord with the accounting records; or
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(c) the accounts did not comply with the applicable requirements concerning the form and content of accounts set out in the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 other than any requirement that the accounts give a ‘true and fair’ view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination.
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Signed: … Lisa Walker
Date: … 13[th] October 2025
Lisa Walker FCCA APS Accountancy Limited 4 Cromwell Court New Street Aylesbury Bucks HP20 2PB
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Sharin8 Life Trust IRe8lstered Charity No. 11001761 RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS Year to 31 December 2024 Note 2024 2023 Incomlng résources Grants, donations and other income Interest income 107,432 711 94,381 166 108,143 94,547 Resour¢es expended Charltable actlvitles 90,403 62,500 Net In¢omln8 resources 17,740 32,047 Surplu5lldeficltl for the year 17,740 32,047 BALANCE SHEET As at 31 December 2024 Note 2024 2023 Current assets: Cash In hand ank accounts Net current assets 281 116,585 116,866 124 99,002 99,126 Represented by: Balance at start of year Net surpluslldeficltl Total Funds 99,126 17,740 116,866 67,079 32,047 99,126 The financlal statements were approved on behalf of the Twstees on . .L................... Signed: Philip Stratton- Chair
Sharing Life Trust Notes to the Accounts
For the year ending 31 December 2024
1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES
Accounting convention
The financial statements have been prepared on the Receipts and Payments basis.
Income
All incoming resources, including interest and dividends on investments, are included on receipt.
Expenditure
Expenditure is recognised as incurred.
Management and support expenditure is allocated to activities on the basis of the use of resources. Governance costs include any professional advice necessary to meet Charity Commission or other authority requirements.
Taxation
Sharing Life Trust is a charitable institution with exemption from UK taxation.
Fund Accounting
Funds held by the Charity are either:
Unrestricted funds – funds which can be used in accordance with the charitable objects.
Restricted funds – funds received on condition that they are expended on specific activities.
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Sharing Life Trust Notes to the Accounts
For the year ending 31 December 2024
2 GRANTS, DONATIONS & OTHER INCOME
| Unrestricted Donations Grants Gift Aid claimed Restricted Foodbank Ukraine Support Burundi India Senegal TOTAL 3 RESOURCES EXPENDED Caring in Thame including Thame Food Bank Counselling Support Ukraine Support Burundi India Senegal Oxfordshire CAB Administration costs TOTAL |
2024 £ 77,465 11,000 5,249 93,714 7,982 66 5,170 - 500 13,718 107,432 2024 £ 65,420 250 569 4,808 5,000 2,200 5,000 7,156 90,403 |
2023 | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £ | |||||
| 37,684 - 6,757 |
|||||
| 44,441 | |||||
| 42,865 1,416 5,059 600 - |
|||||
| 49,940 | |||||
| 94,381 | |||||
| 2023 | |||||
| £ | |||||
| 46,202 2,800 871 3,360 4,400 - - 4,867 |
|||||
| 62,500 |
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Sharing Life Trust Notes to the Accounts For the year ending 31 December 2024
4 TRUSTEES’ REMUNERATION AND BENEFITS
There were no trustees’ remuneration, expenses or other benefits (2023: Nil).
| 5 STAFF COSTS Wages and salaries Social security and pensions |
2024 £ 19,278 - 19,278 |
2023 |
|---|---|---|
| £ | ||
| 13,981 - |
||
| 13,981 | ||
The average monthly number of employees during the year was 2 (2023: 2). No employees received remuneration in excess of £60,000 (2023: Nil).
| 6 FUNDS |
Unrestricted Funds £ |
Unrestricted Funds £ |
Restricted Funds £ |
Restricted Funds £ |
Total £ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Receipts 2023 Grants and donations Interest received |
87,306 166 |
7,075 - |
94,381 166 |
||
| 87,472 | 7,075 | 94,547 | |||
| Payments 2023 | |||||
| Charitable activities Administration costs |
49,002 4,867 |
8,631 - |
57,633 4,867 |
||
| 53,869 | 8,631 | 62,500 | |||
| Net (deficit)/surplus 2023 | 33,603 | (1,556) | 32,047 | ||
| Balance at 1 January 2023 | 43,986 | 23,093 | 67,079 | ||
| Transfers between funds | (15,838) | 15,838 | - | ||
| Balance at 31 December 2023 | 61,751 | 37,375 | 99,126 | ||
| Receipts 2024 Grants and donations Interest and dividends Payments 2024 Charitable activities Administration costs Net (deficit)/surplus 2024 Balance at 1 January 2024 Transfers between funds Balance at 31 December 2024 |
93,714 711 94,425 70,670 7,156 77,826 16,599 61,751 (4,248) 74,102 |
13,718 - 13,718 12,577 - 12,577 1,141 37,375 4,248 42,764 |
107,432 711 |
||
| 108,143 83,247 7,156 |
|||||
| 90,403 17,740 99,126 - |
|||||
| 116,866 |
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Sharing Life Trust Notes to the Accounts For the year ending 31 December 2024
7 RELATED PARTIES
There were no related party relationships to report (2023: none).
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