## **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:
- (a) the accounting records were not kept in accordance with section 130 of the Act; or
- (b) the accounts did not accord with the accounting records; or
- (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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