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← The Footprint Trust Ltd

2024-03-31-accounts

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REGISTERED COMPANY NUMBER: 04587815 (England and Wales)
REGISTERED CHARITY NUMBER: 1106024
REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES AND
UNAUDITED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024
FOR
THE FOOTPRINT TRUST LTD
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THE FOOTPRINT TRUST LTD
CONTENTS OF THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024
Page
Report of the Trustees 1 to 8
Independent Examiner's Report 9
Statement of Financial Activities 10
Balance Sheet 11 to 12
Notes to the Financial Statements 13 to 23
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THE FOOTPRINT TRUST LTD REPORT OF THE TRUSTEES FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024

The trustees, who are also directors of the charity for the purposes of the Companies Act 2006, present their report with the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 March 2024. The trustees have adopted the provisions of Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) (effective 1 January 2019).

OBJECTIVES AND ACTIVITIES

Objectives and aims

  1. Promoting sustainable development for the benefit of the public by the preservation, conservation and the protection of the environment and the prudent use of natural resources; and

  2. Advancing the education of the public in the principles of sustainable development.

Public benefit

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

The trustees refer to public benefit throughout this report.

ACHIEVEMENT AND PERFORMANCE

Charitable activities

The Footprint Trust was set up in 2002 to '...reduce the ecological footprint of the Isle of Wight...' and to promote sustainable living. The Trust was born out of a desire to take action to respond to the 'Ecological Footprint Analysis of the Isle of Wight', published in 1999 and is the leading charity tackling fuel poverty on the island��In practical terms the charity offers tailored guidance delivered by a team of qualified Energy Guides, to help people reduce home energy and water use which in turn cuts CO2 emissions. Our impartial energy guidance is specific to the requirements of the client and their household.

We hold the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service, the MBE for charities, for our pioneering work in the community. We were awarded the 2020 Vulnerable Customer Support Campaigner of the Year accolade in the regional Energy Efficiency Awards.

Context

At 14% [1] , the Isle of Wight is above the UK national average of households in fuel poverty.

Key Achievements This Year

We have:-

Page 1

Trends in Activity 2019 to 2024

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Households Receiving in Depth Guidance
900
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0
2019/20 2020/1 2021/2 2022/3 2023/4
Financial Year
Number of Households
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Page 2

Value* of Measures Distributed to Fuel Poor Households

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* Not adjusted for inflation
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140.00
120.00
100.00
80.00
60.00
40.00
20.00
0.00
2019/20 2020/1 2021/2 2022/3 2023/4
Financial Year
£ 000's
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Energy Savings Identified

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4,500,000
4,000,000
3,500,000
3,000,000
2,500,000
2,000,000
1,500,000
1,000,000
500,000
0
2019/20 2020/1 2021/2 2022/3 2023/4
Financial Year
kWh
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Footnote: 1. Joint Strategic Needs Assessment 2021

Page 3

People

Board

We are sad to report the death of Colin Withers in March. Colin will be remembered as a stalwart supporter since the early days of the Trust and for his sound guidance in his role as Company Secretary until he stepped down in 2018.

The Board members; Mark Earp, Cllr Paul Fuller JP, Sue Painting, Cllr Richard Quigley, Don Roe, and Trish Wray, represent a wide range of experience and skills. This enables the charity to meet the challenges ahead, as the Trust seeks to continue its work in; promoting sustainable living, caring for the environment and lifting households out of fuel poverty.

Staff

This year has been one of re-adjustment following the retirement of Trust founder and long term Manager, Ray Harrington-Vail. Finding managerial capability with the right qualities and values has been particularly challenging. It is to the credit to our team of energy guides; Bethan Curtis, Steve Howes, Petra Saunders, and Marzena Turner whose dedication and commitment have ensured that the delivery of focussed support to those in fuel poverty continued unaffected during this period.

January saw the welcome return of Laura Stichbury, previously Assistant Manager of the Trust, and her experience and support has been invaluable.

We have always had a progressive approach to our staff and operate a flexible hours policy fitting in with the family lives and other commitments of Trust personnel, whilst making sure we cover core times of work. We have a dedicated team of five people. Each are fully trained to give in-depth domestic energy guidance and have achieved the National Energy Action Energy Awareness Level 3 Award in addition to Footprint Trust training.

Funding

We continue to seek funding from various grant making bodies, to further the work of the Trust on the Isle of Wight. The Footprint Trust is hugely grateful to the following organisations which have financially supported the Trust this year:-

Energy Redress National Lottery Reaching Communities Ryde Town Council Newport & Carisbrooke Community Council SSEN Scottish & Southern Electricity Network Groundworks TESCO Ventnor Town Council Southern Housing Group Household Support Fund Daisie Rich Trust Citizens Advice Agility ECO

Page 4

Reaching People

We are focussing on responding to people’s needs by offering contact via phone, in person through home visits and at events and talks. We provide a 5 day a week telephone presence to our clients and deliver a timely response in terms of reaching people. We help people improve their utility bill awareness and achieve reductions. Over half our clients are in receipt of benefits and over half have a long term health condition. Around a third of households are families with children. We target our outreach and delivery to areas which have lower income families and work closely with appropriate agencies to provide holistic support to more vulnerable homes.

In- Depth Guidance

The Trust has delivered in depth guidance to 800 households, assisting 1,850 people April 2023 - March 2024. Each home receives a personalised Energy Action Plan which enables people to follow a course of action to lower their bills. We help with electricity and gas reduction, ventilation issues, heating affordability, meters, tariffs and switching, discounts, water reduction, maximising heating systems, correct use of night storage heaters, billing issues, insulation, boilers and other grants. We identified energy savings of around £600 per household.

Community Outreach & Talks

This year we worked with local organisations to prioritise those areas where people have the greatest need. We attended a record 190 events, including all Foodbanks and Community Pantries, Family Hubs, Veterans groups, Libraries, Our Places & Warmer Spaces, and Town & Parish Council Community Groups. At these events, we were able to give face-to-face guidance to 750 people to help them reduce their bills and stay warm and well at home. We saw over 3,000 people at events, spreading the word about our services. We gave 32 energy reduction talks to over 300 people.

Drop-in Desk

Over the winter months, in conjunction with Newport & Carisbrooke Town Council, we ran a drop-in service 2 days per week in Newport High Street. This allowed people to call in with their energy bills and queries, making our services more accessible.

Signposting

We come across many vulnerable people who need a broader range of help. We work closely with partner agencies to arrange this. Over 600 clients have been signposted to additional support, including social care, Veterans, Age UK and Citizens Advice and other charity agencies. We have signposted over 200 people to the Priority Service Register which offers emergency help for vulnerable people in a gas, electricity or water outage.

Measures

We provide measures to people in fuel poverty. These include; energy-efficient white goods such as cookers, washing machines and fridge-freezers, as well as emergency pre-payment gas and electric top-up vouchers. People are awarded a measure after they have received personalised energy reduction guidance. Due to the very high numbers of people needing financial assistance, we distributed over £120,000 worth of measures to fuel poor households.

Water Butts & Air Fryer Education

We provided water butts and “get going with growing” kits, which supported over 600 households across the island to encourage water conservation and to help to reduce their water bills. We delivered a range of air fryer demonstrations across the island helping 170 people to reduce their electric bills and efficiently utilise appliances provided by the grant.

Page 5

Case Studies & Feedback 2023-24

NB* Names changed to retain anonymity

1.Mrs Smith* lives alone in a one bedroom flat in sheltered accommodation. Her flat is all electric and uses night storage heaters. She has never been in debt with her energy company and normally received bills of approx. £90 per month.

One month her energy company sent her a bill for over £20,000. The energy company claimed that this was correct and her previous bills were based on estimated readings. They claimed that she was using over 500 kW/h per day.

We worked with Mrs Smith to help her prove that her meter was faulty and when her energy company disputed this we assisted her taking this to the Ombudsman. The Ombudsman found in Mrs Smith’s favour and awarded her compensation for the way her energy company had behaved. The result was instead of her owing them over £20,000 they in fact owed her over £1,000. This has since been repaid and she has now changed provider .

2.The client led an industrious life, running her own business despite being in constant pain. Her previous partner engaged in significant financial abuse, leaving her with a large amount of debt, which coincided with her disabilities preventing her from continuing with her business. She is a single mother to school-aged children and is in significant financial hardship due to high levels of debt and a low income. The client’s washing machine broke down beyond repair and she struggled to carry her washing to and from the launderette, due to her disability. Also, her energy bills were too high.

The Trust sign-posted the client regarding the debt and domestic abuse and she was assisted with a new washing machine and energy saving guidance. The client was very appreciative of the support and was in tears at the support offered to her.

3.The client contacted the charity as she has recently been widowed and is on Universal Credit, she has no savings and owes about £5,000 in credit cards and other debts. She has several health conditions, resulting in chronic pain and is unable to work, but did not understand how to apply for ill-health benefits.

She explained that her current energy use is unaffordable and she needed to find a way of reducing her outgoings.

During the provision of energy guidance, it was established that she cooked every day with an electric cooker, so was provided with air fryer to reduce that cost.

The client was sign-posted for debt and benefits advice.

4.A married couple, one of whom is of retirement age were seen by the Trust at a food bank. They are both disabled, one is a wheelchair user due to physical disability, the other suffers significant bouts of bi-polar. They reside in private rented accommodation, which has electric heating, which they cannot afford. They were embarrassed to discuss their situation at the food bank, but having made contact, the couple decided they did need support from the Trust .

They were provided with energy saving guidance, an air fryer and an electricity voucher. They were sign-posted for benefits and debt advice.

FINANCIAL REVIEW

Financial Position

Page 6

The Charity is in a solid financial position with reserves built up over a number of years. This year, the Trust spent more on helping people than it received in funding.

Reserves Policy

Our reserves are to protect our clients and staff from shortfalls in future funding, to ensure that the Trust can continue to operate for at least 9 months without new funding. They also provide for the costs of redundancy, and any legal expenses, in the unlikely event of the Trust being unable to continue.

Designated Reserves which can be used in the event of the Trust ceasing to operate: Redundancy £25,000 Legal Fees £5,000

A general reserve of £80,000 to allow the Trust to continue to operate for 9 months without receiving any new funding.

STRUCTURE, GOVERNANCE AND MANAGEMENT

Governing document

The charity is controlled by its governing document, a deed of trust, and constitutes a limited company, limited by guarantee, as defined by the Companies Act 2006.

Recruitment and appointment of new trustees

Trustees are appointed when a vacancy arises or when the need for an additional trustee is identified by the current serving trustees. Appointments to the trustee Board are made following application/introduction and interview.

REFERENCE AND ADMINISTRATIVE DETAILS

Registered Company number

04587815 (England and Wales)

Registered Charity number

1106024

Registered office

The Granary 128 Pyle Street Newport Isle of Wight PO30 1JW

Trustees

M. L. Earp P. A. Fuller S. M. Painting R. M. Quigley D. W. Roe A. P. Wray

Secretary

Ms S.M. Painting

Independent Examiner

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S Mackie, FCA Morris Crocker Chartered Accountants Station House North Street Havant Hampshire PO9 1QU

Bankers

CAF Bank Ltd 25 Kings Hill Avenue Kings Hill West Mallings Kent ME19 5JQ

Approved by order of the Board of trustees on ............................................. and signed on its 19th December 2024 behalf by:

................................................................. Ms S. M. Painting - Trustee

Page 8

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2 2,119
:
111,499 73,922
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3 5,189
118,807 73,922
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5,967
202,863
2,534
211,364
200,070
11,294
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THE FOOTPRINT TRUST LTD

BALANCE SHEET- continued 31 MARCH 2024

These financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to charitable companies subject to the small companies regime. The financial statements were approved by the Board of Trustees and authorised for issue on 19th December 2024............. and were signed on its behalf by: S Painting - Trustee

The notes form part of these financial statements

Page 12

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2024 2023
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2,119 5,967
2024 2023
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5,189 2,534
2024 2023
< <
185,421 202,863
2024 2023
< <
2,875 2,194
70,980 40,128
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10,000 ?
5,000 ?
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2,000 ?
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17,700 ?
34,469 4,880
897 ?
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40,000 ?

$C

Direct
Costs		 Support
costs (see
note 6)		 Totals
< < <
253,346 16,351 269,697
Governance
Management costs Totals
< < <
15,667 684 16,351
2024 2023
Reducing
ecological Total
footprint activities
< <
8,192 8,999
2,134 1,723
2,058 2,369
=;; 1,172
696
983
1,027
15,667 16,477
2024 2023
Reducing
ecological Total
footprint activities
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684
2024 2023
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1,375 1,375
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(21,861) 5,005
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(56,477) 93,681 210,367
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25,000
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3,000 2,000 5,000
(56,477) 95,681 240,367
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6,096 (18,851)
11,070 (25,954) 19,801
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5,428 (4,849) 2,297 2,876
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3,167 (3,167)
(4,383) (6,286) 16,856
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1,280 (1,020) 260
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7,609 7,609
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31,658 (3,648) 28,010
67,771 (95,681) 85,407
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THE FOOTPRINT TRUST LTD
NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS- continued
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2024
16. MOVEMENT IN FUNDS - continued
IOWC Water is a project which funds water-saving water butts for island homes, funding from the
Household Support Fund.
17. RELATED PARTY DISCLOSURES
There were no related party transactions for the year ended 31 March 2024.
18. ULTIMATE CONTROLLING PARTY
The charitable company is not under the control of another entity or any one individual.
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