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2023-03-31-accounts

Standing together, striving for change

Annual report and Accounts 2022/2023

Without the support of the food bank, I would have had to choose between food and a shower and clean teeth and clean laundry to wear. Lucille, who needed support from her local food bank

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Annual Report and Accounts 2022Annual Report and Accounts 2022/233

The Trussell TrustThe Trussell Trust

about the trussell trust

We should all be free from hunger. We should all have enough money for the essentials. But right now in the UK, more and more people don’t have enough . money to live on and have no option but to use a food bank. This isn’t right

The Trussell Trust is an anti-poverty charity and community of over 1,400 local food bank centres across the UK. Together we provide practical, emergency support to people facing financial hardship, and campaign for a future where none of us need to use emergency food to get by.

There are 422 food banks in the Trussell Trust community – 421 are independently governed charities and one food bank, in Brent, is run directly by the Trussell Trust. We support all of these food banks with grant funding, resources and dedicated advice and guidance. This report outlines the work of the Trussell Trust, rather than

all the independent charities that govern these food banks.

The Trussell Trust community of food banks brings together volunteers, staff and supporters of all faiths and none to make a difference. Local churches play a vital part in this work, with around 12,000 churches actively involved in donating food, and providing venues, volunteers, and financial support for food banks.

Together we’re building a future where none of us need a food bank because none of us will allow it.

Providing almost 3m emergency food parcels during 2022–23

----- Start of picture text -----
Over 1,400 food
bank centres where
people can access
emergency support
422 local food banks
across the UK
Working with
29,000 referral
Trussell Trust
partners, 12,000
churches and
36,000 volunteers
----- End of picture text -----

Where food banks are referred to in this report, this relates to the individual food bank charities, and Brent Foodbank, that are part of the Trussell Trust network. Most food banks run more than one centre. Around 40% of food bank charities run between two and five food bank centres, and around 20% run more than five food bank centres.

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Contents

Overview 3
Welcome from the Chair of the Board 6
Welcome from the Chief Executive 7
Key moments across the year 8
Strategic Report 11
Our vision and strategy 12
The impact of the deepening cost 15
of living crisis on food banks
Supporting food banks through 19
our grants programme
The impact of our strategy so far 22
Changing Communities 24
Changing Policy 34
Changing Minds 43
Our volunteers 52
Support from churches 53
Our commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion 55
Our continued commitment to people 56
with lived experience
Looking forward 58
Financial review 60
Financial performance 62
Principal risks and uncertainties 65
Thanks to our supporters 67
Our structure, governance and management 72
and charity details
Statement of Trustees’ responsibilities 75
Independent auditors' report 76
Financial statements 81

Annual Report and Accounts 2022/23

The Trussell Trust

Welcome Stephen D Hicks Chair of the Board

The Trussell Trust Board warmly welcomes you to our annual report and accounts for the year April 2022 to March 2023. ‘Perma-crisis’ has become the word of the year for 2022, and this succinctly sums up the many and continued shock waves emanating from the pandemic and ongoing cost of living crisis.

While they continue to create challenges for many of us, for people on the lowest incomes the impact has been particularly hard. Last December, food banks in our network gave out an emergency food parcel every eight seconds. This isn’t right in any developed country, least of all the sixth largest economy in the world. Our community of food banks carefully gathers data, which enables us to evidence the state of need across the UK and advocate to people in power to create lasting change.

Last December, food banks in our network gave out an emergency food parcel every eight seconds...

Our most recent statistics show the dramatic growth over the past five years, and in the last year almost 3 million emergency food parcels were distributed to people who were unable to afford the essentials. This is more than we have ever distributed before and, shockingly, more than a million of these were given to children. We continue to stand in solidarity with everybody facing financial hardship.

The 36,000 volunteers in our food banks are incredible. Alongside the Board, I extend my heartfelt gratitude to them, and to food bank staff, for their selfless dedication to the people they support. Their resilience and compassion in the face of so many challenges makes the essential work they do possible.

The Trussell Trust Board members too give of their time and talents freely. Their work is often not immediately visible, so I want to thank them, and all those on whose shoulders we stand – including former Trustees, and our new Board members who have joined us this year. As a Board and organisation, we will relentlessly stay focussed on our vision for a UK without the need for food banks, guided by our values: compassion, justice, community and dignity.

I also wanted to pay tribute to our CEO, Emma Revie, her leadership team and all the Trussell Trust staff. Their continued graft, talent and determination to support people facing hardship, while working towards our shared vision, is to be applauded. I know they all draw energy and insights from our incredible community of food banks.

We know that people access emergency support because their income is too low for a myriad of reasons, and it can be a daunting prospect, but I know that each person or family will receive a warm welcome. This is especially important for people visiting a food bank for the first time. Alongside the emergency food parcel, I am proud of the increasing number of food banks able to offer additional support to address the underlying causes of people’s hardship. Offering this support and connecting people with other local services often means that people no longer need the support of a food bank.

Together, we know lasting change is possible and we can build a future without the need for food banks in the UK; as I often reflect, everything is impossible until it’s done.

Stephen D Hicks Chair of the Board

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Welcome Emma Revie Chief Executive Officer

We knew this year would be tough. The cost of living crisis continued to have a devastating impact on people in our communities on the lowest incomes, leaving more and more people simply unable to afford the essentials we all need to live.

Our network, once again, was on the frontline, providing almost 3 million emergency food parcels to people facing hardship. But they themselves faced challenges brought about by the surging cost of living: increased running costs and many having to buy more food at a time when prices were higher than ever, because the increase in people needing help was outstripping food donations.

Food banks have continued to do what they do best, standing alongside people in their communities in their most difficult moments, offering compassionate and practical support. This has meant providing food parcels that require little or no cooking, for people who can’t afford to use cooking appliances, or offering bespoke services to address the underlying cause of hardship or connecting people with other local support. While each food bank may offer support tailored to suit their community, their commitment to work towards a more just future is one we all share.

Our UK research showed an encouraging increase in people who support our vision... that food banks should not be necessary

We know there is growing support among the public for a future without the need for food banks. Our research in 2022 showed an encouraging increase in the number of people who support our vision. 77% of people in the UK agree that food banks should not be necessary.

Sometimes, in the face of such unprecedented need at food banks, it can be easy to feel hopelessness creeping in. But I am constantly in awe when I see and hear about the work in each and every food bank in our network. Their continued strength and resilience, and commitment to lasting change, despite the ongoing challenges, is truly inspiring.

This year, food banks have been focussing on our work together to create change locally. Our organising and local mobilisation programme, which supports food banks to identify issues that need local action and to campaign and influence for local change, is gaining momentum. It demonstrates the power of working in partnership to create lasting change, so that future generations won’t ever have to worry about being able to afford the essentials.

This support has also been seen across our network for the launch of Guarantee our Essentials , our largest ever campaign, which calls on the UK government to ensure that the basic rate of Universal Credit at least covers life’s essentials.

Together with our food bank network, staff and volunteers, our partners, the generosity of churches, businesses, and supporters, and the guidance of our Board of Trustees, I continue to look to the future with hope. A hope that things can and must change. A hope that’s rooted in the strength of our network, backed up by our evidence, and bolstered by all of our partners and supporters.

Thank you for working with us to build a future where we can all afford the essentials.

Emma Revie Chief Executive Officer

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The Trussell Trust

2022–23 key moments

Apr MAY JUN JUL

Rolling roadshows

We kick off our annual roadshows for food banks which take us to all four corners of the UK. The events are an opportunity for the whole Trussell Trust community to come together and collaborate on ways to reach our vision of a future without the need for food banks.

150,000 calls handled by our Help through Hardship helpline Two years after the helpline was launched in partnership with Citizens Advice, more than 150,000 calls have now been handled, supporting people in England and Wales with free, personalised advice and support to address the underlying causes of their hardship.

Panel event national at the RSA volunteer week

We celebrate the 36,000 Trussell volunteers who give their time to support people in their communities who are facing hardship.

tea for trussell

We host a panel event at the Royal Society of Arts on the cost of living crisis. The panel includes our CEO Emma Revie, Citizens Advice CEO Claire Moriarty and MIND CEO Paul Farmer, and the event is chaired by Aditya Chakrabortty from The Guardian.

1,155 supporters across

the UK signed up to host a Tea for Trussell, raising vital funds and awareness for our work. Each cup of tea and slice of cake served helps us support food banks to be there for people in their communities who need them.

end of year stats

Our end of year statistics for 2021-22 show another concerning increase in the number of emergency food parcels being distributed at our food banks, reaching 2,183,625 . This period covers the time since the £20 uplift to Universal Credit was cut and highlights the need for an adequate social security system to protect everyone from being unable to afford the essentials.

local policy toolkit launch Developed in collaboration with the network, the toolkit supports food banks in England to bring about change in policy and practice at the local level.

the national parliamentary prayer breakfast

The Breakfast in Westminster Hall is attended by 180 MPs and Peers, alongside church leaders from across the UK. We host a session on building financial resilience in communities.

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AUG SEP

cost of living research

food bank day of action

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Do you agree
everyone in
our community
should be able
to afford life’s
essentials?
“The cost of living crisis is forcing people into impossible decisions because they Voices from food banks simply don’t have enough money. Do they shoes for their kids?”eat or buy other essentials such as school
----- End of picture text -----

More than half (56%) report that they are Half (50%) are either already behind on going without at least one of the absolute their bills or are facing a constant struggle essentials we all need to keep warm, fed and clothed. to keep up with them

autumn. Two in five (40%) have already fallen into debt following the Universal Credit cut last One in three (33%) had been unable to afford adequate food: more than one day in the last month where meaning they had they didn’t eat at all, or only had one meal

Food banks across our network hold activities in their communities to encourage people to urge their MP to ensure our social security system provides people with enough support to afford the essentials.

We survey 1,800 people on Universal Credit with YouGov. The results, published the following month, highlight the impact of rising energy prices and food bills on households with low incomes.

preparing for winter

step up september

1,582 pairs of walking shoes are laced up across the UK as our amazing supporters take on our September challenge. Each step taken raises vital funds and increases awareness of our work.

We’re anticipating unprecedented challenges for our community of food banks over winter and begin preparing support to ensure everyone can access the help they need.

OCT NOV

emergency appeal

mid year stats released

As the network heads in to its most challenging winter ever, we launch our first ever emergency appeal to raise funds to support food banks.

Figures show that, during the six months to October 2022, the number of people needing the support of a food bank has increased by 52% compared with the same period in 2019. 320,000 people have been forced to turn to one of our food banks for the first time.

letter to the Prime minister

policy success

The UK Government’s autumn statement commits to uprate benefits in line with inflation from April 2023, provide additional cost of living support payments, and extend the Household Support Fund.

A delegation from Trussell Trust food banks, and our partners at IFAN and Feeding Britain, delivers a letter to the PM on behalf of 3,000 food bank staff and volunteers . The letter calls for urgent action to end the need for emergency food

evening of carols

We host an evening of carols at Southwark Cathedral, highlighting the challenging situation faced by people in hardship across the UK.

founders honoured

Paddy and Carol Henderson, founders of the first Trussell Trust food bank receive an honorary doctorate from Winchester University.

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Annual Report and Accounts 2022/23

The Trussell Trust

DEC JAN

ladbaby most media take the top mentions christmas Figures show that spot again! we had more media mentions than any other charity in the UK over the previous month, helping raise awareness and supporting our emergency appeal.

Tesco winter food collection

LadBaby storm into the record books with their fifth Christmas number 1, raising funds for the Trussell Trust with the vocal support of finance expert Martin Lewis.

food banks face their hardest ever winter

2022 marked the tenth year of our partnership with Tesco and, with many food banks struggling with stock, their support is vital. Figures show that the Winter Collection generated 701,000kg of food donations and £350,000 of financial donations.

With soaring costs and an increase in need, food banks give out a food parcel every eight seconds this month. We support our network with emergency grants to ensure that everyone who needs support can get it.

latest podcast goes live We launch the latest edition of our special series of podcasts for our food banks, with a focus on a new resource designed by members of our Together for Change participation panel.

FEB MAR

Record number of emergency food parcels

guarantee our essentials campaign launch

Data shows that close to 3 million emergency food parcels were distributed by food banks in our network in the past 12 months — the most parcels ever distributed by the network in a year.

We join forces with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation to launch our most ambitious campaign to date, calling on the UK Government to ensure that Universal Credit is enough to cover the essentials we all need.

Cash first futures conference In partnership with the Independent Food Aid Network we host the Cash First Futures conference in Glasgow.

pathfinder gathering

Pathfinder food banks come together to explore their role in local systems change, and share ideas and their experiences of pushing for change in their communities.

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STRATEGIC REPORT

Annual Report and Accounts 2022/23

The Trussell Trust

Our Vision and Strategy

Our vision

Our vision is for a UK without the need for food banks.

We should all be free from hunger –we're a network of food banks providing emergency support to people who can’t afford the essentials, and campaigning for a future where none of us need emergency food to get by.

Our values

Compassion:

We're motivated to stand alongside people facing hardship and provide support and care for individuals.

Justice:

We are driven by the fact that it is not right that somebody should experience hunger or poverty, and we take action to change this.

Community:

As people, we are all interconnected, and because of this we have a responsibility to support one another.

Dignity:

We recognise the value of every individual, prioritising other people’s needs and concerns in the spirit of friendship.

Our strategic priorities

We are working to end the need for food banks in three key ways:

1. Changing Communities

2. Changing Policy

3. Changing Minds

We’re helping unlock even more of the potential of food banks to become places where the underlying drivers of destitution are addressed, as well as supporting food banks to develop strategies to reduce the need for emergency food locally.

Government decisions can have a huge impact on people facing hunger and poverty. We use evidence gathered through our network of food banks to drive policy change that will make sure we’re helping shape a future where no one needs to use a food bank.

Lasting change happens when wider society thinks and acts differently about an issue, so we’re building understanding and empathy about the drivers of food bank use and calling on people to take action.

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Our strategic approachEs

Service

We serve the work of the food banks in our network, listening attentively and seeking the good of our shared mission, rather than our own agenda.

Expertise

We work to be the very best we can be in the areas where others rely on us to be expert.

Collaboration

We seek, wherever possible, to collaborate with others – most especially with people who have direct experience of living in poverty.

Transparency

We are clear and open with information and plans, acknowledge where things haven’t gone right, and demonstrate integrity and authenticity.

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The context we’re working in

One in seven people in the UK face hunger because they simply don’t have enough money to live on. People with health conditions or relatives to care for aren’t getting the help that’s needed from the social security system and many jobs are insecure or don’t pay enough. Other barriers, such as the lack of affordable childcare or transport costs, are holding people back from finding secure, well-paid work, trapping them on a low income.

But there’s a clear way forward.

We know what’s pushing people to food banks, and we know what needs to change so everyone can afford the essentials.

We exist so everyone in the UK can be free from hunger, and over the past year we’ve been building that future by:

Together we’re building a future where none of us need a food bank because none of us will allow it.

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The Trussell Trust

THE IMPACT OF THE DEEPENING COST OF LIVING CRISIS ON FOOD BANKS

Under the long shadow cast by the pandemic, the cost of living continued to soar, creating new challenges for our food banks who were met with record levels of need and were supported by our first ever emergency appeal.

Food banks reached a grim milestone, providing nearly 3 million emergency food parcels across the UK during 2022/23. There was no time for them to catch their breath, as the challenges of the pandemic were swiftly followed by the cost of living crisis, driving more and more people to seek support because they were unable to afford the essentials.

The need seen in this 12 month period was even greater than that seen by the network in the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic. During 2020/21, food banks in the Trussell Trust network saw record levels of need as the impact of redundancies, reduction to incomes, and the income shocks for many households moving from employment to social security took hold. The increases seen in 2022/23 represent a 16% increase on that turbulent year.

England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales all experienced an increase in the distribution of emergency food parcels. December 2022 was the busiest month of the year, with a food parcel being distributed every eight seconds. And more than 760,000 people used a food bank in the Trussell Trust network for the first time in the last 12 months.

These shocking levels of need are part of a longer term trend that pre-dates the cost of living crisis and even the Covid-19 pandemic. These two events have had a major impact on food bank need and exacerbated the longer-term problems of a weakened social security system, which was already unable to protect everyone who needed its help from the most severe forms of hardship.

nearly 3 million emergency food parcels delivered

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8
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every 8 seconds

a food parcel was distributed in December

760,000 people used a food bank for the first time

In 2022/23, food banks in the Trussell Trust network saw a record First year of the level of need, representing a Covid-19 pandemic 16% increase. Over the past five years, the level of need has more than doubled with a 120% increase.

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“We have seen an 84% increase in demand of referrals to the food bank in January 2023 compared to the same month in 2022. The cost of living crisis is affecting more and more people of all ages and from all backgrounds, including those in full time jobs, who simply do not have enough money to buy and pay for the essentials that many people take for granted.”

The surging levels of local need have been mirrored in the calls fielded centrally by the Trussell Trust. Our enquiries team offers guidance and support to members of the public, on all aspects of the Trust’s work. Over the past year, the team has seen a significant increase in the total volume of calls, with the largest proportion of that increase coming from people who are in urgent need of support as they cannot afford food and other essentials.

Becky Morgan, Project Manager, Vale Foodbank

----- Start of picture text -----
Shetland
259,744Scotland Number of emergency
food parcels given by
food banks in the
Trussell Trust network
in 2022-2023
North East UK breakdown
Northern Ireland
154,403
81,084
North West
347,976
Yorkshire & Humberside
200,562
East Midlands
172,680
West Midlands
East
278,230
Wales 324,477
185,320
London
384,477
South East
South West
349,400
247,850
----- End of picture text -----

The UK breakdown of the number of emergency food parcels given out by food banks in the Trussell Trust network during 2022/23

These are not just statistics; they represent people who are facing hunger and financial hardship. Many are seeking help for the first time, because their income no longer covers the essentials.

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“We have lots of new people being referred to us who have never used a food bank before. Many are working and receive Universal Credit but do not have enough money to cover all their outgoing bills and pay for food, toiletries and cleaning products. We had a chap referred to us who was using washing up liquid to wash his clothes in the sink as it was cheaper than buying washing detergent and turning on the washing machine.”

Lorraine Schulze, Medway Foodbank

Food banks stepping up time and time again

Throughout Covid, food banks showed their extraordinary resilience and adaptability, rapidly flexing their approach to meet the level and nature of need for emergency food in their communities. This has been shown yet again as food banks have faced new challenges in addition to the surging levels of need.

Food banks have had to buy unprecedented levels of food. Thanks to the generosity of local communities, food banks have in the past generally been able to provide support to people through donated food. However, as levels of need have risen, the increase in people needing help is often outstripping donations and more and more food banks have had to purchase food. This has been at a time when food prices have been higher than ever. Food banks reported an increase in the number of people who simply couldn’t afford to switch on their oven to cook food. They responded by adapting parcels to include food that could be prepared with a kettle, and more items that didn’t need cooking.

“The cost of fuel is not just a winter issue, electricity is essential for more than just lighting and hot water, people struggle all year round to run appliances such as washing machines, ovens and fridges.”

Jackie Puleston, Co-ordinator, North Liverpool Foodbank

Other challenges faced by food banks have included:

“We've seen food bank use increase steadily, month on month between October and March, reaching an all-time record for us and almost double the numbers of the same period last year. Traditionally, December has always been our busiest month and then it becomes a bit quieter in the new year, but this year January to March were even busier, and at the same time donations dropped significantly. We have been buying in most of our stock since December and, even so, have struggled to keep up with demand, so the financial pressures have been great.”

Burngreave Foodbank, Sheffield

We know that referral partners across the country have also been under enormous pressure. Trussell Trust food banks partner with a wide range of local agencies and care professionals such as doctors, teachers, health visitors and social workers. These referral partners – almost 30,000 in total across the UK – support people in crisis and where appropriate give them a food bank voucher to access emergency food. Many of these referral partners have themselves seen a major increase in the number of people turning to them for advice and support. We and our food banks

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The Trussell Trust

are hugely grateful for the way in which they have continued to enable us to help people in crisis while contending with their own challenges.

Our first-ever emergency appeal provided crucial support when help was needed more than ever before

Recognising that our food banks were facing their busiest winter ever, we mobilised to generate income and support to help the network cope with increased numbers of people turning to them and with their own soaring running costs.

Through a swift and targeted campaign, we focused on mobilising support to tackle three key areas of need:

by further supporters. This response enabled us to provide much needed support to our network and ease the burden of increased need seen across the network in 2022/23.

“We were able to extend opening hours during the Christmas period to both ensure that the warehouse was able to process the additional stock and donations, and also ensure that all clients who needed specific signposting advice were supported.”

Smethwick Foodbank, West Midlands

“I sat in the car for about an hour before I went in, because I was scared. But I knew that I had to go so we could have food. People at the food bank were unbelievable. They treated me without any judgment, like a friend.”

Victoria, a carer for her youngest son, who had to use a food bank

The campaign also raised awareness of the challenges faced by food banks during the cost of living crisis.

The response to our first ever emergency appeal from supporters was immediate and inspiring. Within days of the appeal being launched, the Julia and Hans Rausing Trust responded with enormous generosity (read more on page 70), followed swiftly

Standing together

The resilience, strength and persistence of food banks in supporting their communities to access emergency food, signposting people to further support, and providing a warm, compassionate and welcoming space for people to be heard has been remarkable.

We are proud of the work we have done together to support communities during these unprecedented times.

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SUPPORTING FOOD BANKS THROUGH OUR GRANTS PROGRAMMES

We support the food banks in our network with a range of grants to help them deliver timely, compassionate support to people facing hardship and to work towards our shared vision.

The rapid turnaround grants were used for a range of priorities, including purchasing food to meet the increased need, providing hot water bottles and blankets for people who could not afford to heat their homes, and meeting the increased running costs at food banks.

In 2022/23, we awarded grants worth £20.8m to food banks across our network. Food banks are best-placed to understand the specific needs and circumstances of their local communities. Our grants programme empowers them to invest in delivering both immediate support to people facing hardship in their local area and longer term activities that will work towards our shared vision. This includes improving their facilities, commissioning skilled advisers to support people using food banks, developing strategic plans, providing training for their volunteers, and much more.

In many cases, our grants provide guaranteed funding over a multi-year period. This gives food banks the stability and confidence to set up and maintain longer term projects.

The need for this emergency support has extended beyond the winter, and grants continue to be available to the network.

“Our gas and electricity bills have grown substantially since our fixed price deal ended in October. Without this support, we would have had to take money from our food budget to meet these increases.”

Levenmouth Foodbank, Scotland

“We were able to provide our clients with thermal blankets, hot water bottles, woolly hats and steel flasks as part of a Winter Pack, and we gave out these during December, January and February.”

Clifton NG11 Foodbank, East Midlands

£61.3m of grants

Since launching our grants programme in 2018, we have awarded a total of £61.3m in grants to food banks.

Emergency support for the winter and beyond

As the impact of the cost of living crisis surged through communities across the UK, we recognised that additional support was needed to support food banks who were seeing increasing levels of need, while facing their own rising operational costs. As part of our emergency winter support package, we offered rapid turnaround grants to the network. The vast majority took up this offer of rapid financial support to immediately bolster their services, underlining the increasing pressure that the network has come under. Over £2m was awarded to food banks through this rapid support programme.

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Total grants to food banks (£m)

----- Start of picture text -----
70
60 61.3
50
40
30
20
10
0
2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
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We launched our food bank grants programme in 2018. Since then, we have awarded over £61m in grants to food banks in our network.

Our strategic grant programmes

Alongside our emergency support offer, in 2022/23 we continued to offer a wide range of grants to the network. A total of 2,611 grants were awarded to food banks.

Local advice and support

We awarded over £10 million in grants to food banks to enable them to provide local advice and support on money matters for people facing hardship.

Every year £19 billion in social security payments goes unclaimed, meaning people miss out on urgently needed support. Our grants to food banks enable them to provide services that connect people on the lowest incomes with high quality, free advice and support, to unlock grants and money they may be eligible for so that they are less likely to need a food bank in future.

At the end of 2022/23, the proportion of food banks offering advice that could increase someone’s income had grown to almost two-thirds. The number of people accessing these services had more than doubled.

“A lady came to us, who having lost her job due to health reasons, had been living in her car and sofa surfing for five years. We were not only able to support her with a food parcel but also put her in touch with financial advisors to help her secure the benefits she was due. As a result of the support we were able to give her, from two separate organisations, she was able to sort out her finances and housing and no longer needs to come to the food bank.”

Jeremy Hyde, Interim Manager and Trustee, Ealing Foodbank

More information on our financial inclusion work is on page 27.

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The Trussell Trust

Local campaigns

We significantly boosted the funding for food banks to develop their work around organising and local mobilisation (OLM) , so they can influence and campaign for change locally. £1.7m was awarded to 24 food banks. This reflected the ongoing scaling up of our work in this area and of the increasing appetite of food banks to develop and deliver influencing strategies.

"I feel very strongly if I had joined a different programme, rather than the organising programme, we wouldn’t be anywhere near where we are. The OLM programme taught me about the Trussell Trust's new direction and inspired everything on our journey. The training programme provided a good foundation of information which led to understanding that our food bank needed a restructure to achieve the outcomes for the programme. Embedding the OLM programme across the food bank has meant that it is very easy to get people involved in a campaign - they understand why. Everyone at our food bank understands the new direction and are very willing to play their part in campaigning for change."

Kate McShane, Llanelli Foodbank

More information on our organising and local mobilisation work is on page 44.

Learning how to reduce local need

We awarded £3.6m to 39 of the food banks taking part in our Pathfinder programme . This has enabled them to explore and test new ways of working that will help to reduce the need for food banks locally.

More information on our Pathfinder programme is on page 31.

“[Having funding to work an extra day when the food bank wasn’t operating] gave my colleague a day where she could go out and speak to referrers and say: ‘Our vision is to end the need; to do cash first. She was able to ask them: ‘How are you getting on? What are your challenges? These are ours…’ She invited all the referrers to a day at our food bank. We had to get more seats in! And that was all because of all the work she’d done. She had carved out the space and time away from running the food bank to go and visit them all. It was a really encouraging event.”

Tailored support across our grant streams

For all our grant streams, the Trussell Trust provides additional, tailored support on the areas that they cover. This includes:

By investing in support for food banks alongside the grants we provide, we help to ensure that the funding has the best possible impact and that learnings are shared across the network.

summary of our grant-making policy in 2022/23

The Trussell Trust only awards food bank grants to the governing charities of food banks that are members of our network. Grants are awarded towards the costs of food bank activity, or associated activities designed to alleviate or reduce poverty amongst people referred to food banks. Awards are determined by awarding panels, compiled of suitably skilled and experienced members of the Trussell Trust staff.

Grant-funded activity is monitored by Area Managers, as part of their relationship with food banks; written reports are normally required and are a condition of a grant award. The exception to the above is topup grants received from Tesco and Asda. After the deduction of a small percentage for Trussell Trust core costs, this money is distributed out to the network in proportion to the weight of food donated by the public to each food bank at Tesco and Asda stores.

Kirsteen Huddy, East Dunbartonshire Foodbank

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80% of food bank managers 64% of food banks have 44,119 people were are confident in their team’s financial inclusion provision given advice via the overall ability to effectively (up from 38% last year). In 2022/23, we awarded Help through Hardship signpost people who are £31.2m of financial gains (17 grants worth over £20m helpline (39% more referred to their food bank times as much as last year) to food banks across than the previous year). (compared to 71% in 2021).[4] our network. were identified for over 37,300 people.[3]

86% of food bank vouchers were issued electronically (compared to 17% three years earlier), providing more complete and more accurate data.

Goal: People seeking support from food banks are able to readily access support to increase their incomes.

Goal: People can access other services such as debt advice or mental health support, and relational support directly from referral partners and other statutory agencies or civil society groups .

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Changing Communities

Goal: The benefits system provides timely Goal: There is a strong and sufficient financial evidence base across food support , and is available banks which can underpin to all households who effective anti-poverty need it. recommendations.

who we are

118 people with lived experience of poverty and food bank use helping us design our strategies and programmes during 2022/23.

Over 1,400 food Changing bank distribution centres. Policy

Around 36,000 volunteers giving their time and expertise.

The situation

The need for food banks continues to grow, and the social security system remains inadequate for ensuring we can all afford the essentials.

Over 12,000 churches providing donations, food, venues and volunteers.

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almost 3 million emergency food parcels were distributed to people in crisis by food banks in the Trussell Trust network between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023.

37% increase in the number of emergency food parcels distributed by food banks in the Trussell Trust network during 2023/23 compared to 2021/22 (and a 16% increase on the previous highest annual figure from 2020/21).

Over 254,000 supporters actively giving, campaigning and supporting our work (36,000 more than last year).

7.2 million low-income households are going without at least one of the essentials we all need to keep warm, fed and clothed.[1]

33 corporate partners collaborating with us.

3.8 million people experienced destitution in 2022, a 61% increase since 2019.[2]

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Annual Report and Accounts 2022/2323 Our Vision

postcards to their local MPs as part of the True

is A UK without the need for food banks

pril 2023.

where levels of destitution are so low, and ongoing financial and relational support is readily available, that large-scale emergency food distribution is no longer needed.

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11 parliamentarians from six political parties attended the launch of the Cash or Food inquiry report of the APPG on Ending the Need for Food Banks, which called for funding to make sure strong local support systems are in place so no one has to turn to a food bank.

These pages illustrate progress towards our vision during 2022/23.

Goal: There is strong cross-party support for social and economic policies that protect households from destitution.

As part of the Hunger in the UK research project, 2,563 people referred to food banks responded to the survey, 50 people referred to food banks were interviewed, and 42 people referred to food banks took part in participatory workshops to develop policy recommendations.

Goal: People with lived experience of poverty play an ongoing part in informing national and local policies to alleviate destitution.

The Trussell Trust had the most media mentions of any UK charity in December 2022.

59% of food banks participated in the True Cost of Living campaign calling for a stronger social security system that supports people to afford the essentials.

33,379 mentions of the Trussell Trust in the media (around double the number in 2021/22) and over 164m impressions on our social media channels (55% more than in 2021/22).

Goal: There is increased awareness of the problem of destitution and its structural causes amongst targeted groups within the UK population.

93% of volunteers in our network of food banks (vs 96% in 21/22) and 92% of the public who know about our 21% of the public now say work (vs 91% in 21/22) agree that the they are likely to contact their benefits system should ensure that parliamentary representative everyone can afford the essentials.[5] about hunger or its causes[6 ] (compared with 19% in 2021 and 16% in 2019).

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anging
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Goal: There is increased public will for long-term solutions to end the need for food banks.

86% of the public say they would be likely to take action in relation to hunger or its causes (compared to 82% in 2021).[6]

Goal: A growing number of people have been mobilised to take action to 41 food banks joined the Organising help bring about long-term solutions to end the need for food banks. Programme, which provides training and support to food banks to mobilise their communities for the implementation of local influencing plans.

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Changing communities

Supporting food banks to actively reduce the need for emergency food in their communities.

Hunger isn’t about food; it’s about not having enough income to afford the essentials. While accessing emergency food is vital for people, a growing number of food banks now offer additional services, with the support of skilled staff and volunteers, expert advisers from other agencies, or through partnerships with other organisations.

This means that people can get the advice and support they need so that they are less likely to need to turn to a food bank in the future.

At its core, the Changing Communities theme of our strategy seeks to empower food banks to tackle the underlying drivers that push people to need emergency food, and work towards ending the need for food banks at a community level.

We work with food banks in the following ways:

  1. Local plans of action

  2. Advice and support on finances

  4. Transforming volunteering

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LOCAL PLANS OF ACTION

We have continued to work alongside food banks to support them to develop and carry out their plans to reduce the need for their services locally, within the overall framework of our shared Together for Change strategy.

The boost we provided to our Changing Communities work in 2021/22 has enabled us to provide greater and more bespoke support to every food bank in our network as they execute their strategic plans.

Governance and human resources

Over the past year we have focused on supporting food banks to ensure they have strong structures, the right teams in place, and the resources and training they need to be able to develop and deliver their strategic plans. Governance and human resources (HR) have been particular areas of focus this year.

More than 350 food banks took up our offer of training in governance and HR. As part of this, we hosted eleven in-person and two virtual forums to focus on the topic of transformational governance, attended by 237 food banks from across our network. We also partnered with the governance support organisation Trust Advice to offer monthly webinars as well as helpline support and resources, to enable food banks to bolster their governance. Trust Advice also attended regional meetings to further build the knowledge and skills of food bank boards and support them with managing risk and strategic thinking.

We launched a partnership with HR Inform, enabling food banks to access a 24/7 helpline and a suite of resources to support them with the recruitment and retention of staff. Since launching, 150 users have accessed the platform 4,938 times.

This support is helping food banks to be better able to manage risk, respond to increased need for services and bring about lasting transformation within their communities.

“The support offered by the Trussell Trust and its affiliated support organisations such as Trust Advice has been extremely helpful in helping us to strengthen our knowledge and practices in relation to our charity governance. It is great to

know there is a team of specialist advisors on hand to support when we need, it is giving us the time and space to explore ideas and develop our charity.”

Chair of Trustees, Manchester South Central Foodbank

Wellbeing for food bank teams

Food bank staff and volunteers have borne much of the brunt of supporting people during the pandemic and now the cost of living crisis. We recognise that maintaining their wellbeing is vital and have continued to grow our support over the past year by funding additional services and advice opportunities:

This additional support enables food banks to better support the mental health and wellbeing of their volunteers and people accessing food banks, during a time when pressure on the network has continued to grow.

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Using data to drive change

The data food banks gather is an invaluable resource for understanding the drivers of food bank use and which parts of the population most rely on their support. It helps food banks to understand the need in their local communities – and how this might be changing over time. It gives us the evidence to campaign together for the policy changes that will help us achieve our vision of a future without the need for food banks.

Supporting the food bank network: Our digital hub

The digital hub is our knowledge and resource centre for food banks, supplying guidance, materials and tools to support the running of their food bank, delivery of their support programmes, strategies and communications with their stakeholders.

In September 2022, we updated and relaunched the digital hub, making it easier to navigate and offering additional resources and guidance. The work was done in collaboration with food banks, hearing directly from them what they needed from the digital hub. The number of page views per month has since risen by 46% to 26,630, and the number of users to more than 1,950.

In 2022 we significantly re-developed our shared data collection system, meaning we can understand even more about why people need the support of food banks. Gathering and understanding data about where, how and why people were referred, as well as the demographic make-up of households, will enable food banks to better plan and tailor inclusive support. It will give us all more evidence to build political support for changes to systems, policies and practices that have the power to end hunger.

next steps

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ADVICE and support

We know that hunger cannot simply be addressed by an emergency food parcel. While it provides support for the immediate situation someone is facing, it doesn’t address the fact that the person simply doesn’t have enough income to afford the essentials.

Through our financial inclusion programmes, we ensure people on the lowest incomes can get advice and support, so they are less likely to need a food bank in future. We do this in two ways:

Local services providing advice and support

The past year has seen a significant expansion of the income maximisation services that we support food banks to deliver through local partnerships. Around 64% of the food banks in our network were

we awarded £10.1m

grants to 177 food banks in our network.

64% of food banks in our network offered access to advice and support on finances.

ESTIMATED THAT ONE IN FOUR people who have accessed these services no longer need the support of a food bank.

offering access to money advice and support at the year end, up from 40% the previous year.

Through our grant making programme, we have supported food banks to be able to offer additional services to people on the lowest incomes, so they are less likely to need a food bank in future. These services include:

Over the year we awarded grants worth £10.1m to 177 food banks.

Advisers estimate that a quarter of people who have accessed advice and support from these services at a food bank no longer need to use a food bank after receiving support.

“Our Cost of Living Adviser has been inundated by people needing help, especially those who are newly referred, to unlock benefits and grants to which they are eligible. One client received £900, and since receiving this money we have not seen them referred back to the food bank.”

Sue Weightman, Taunton Foodbank

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Help through Hardship – our helpline with Citizens Advice

Launched in 2020, the helpline has continued to provide growing numbers of people in England and Wales with free, personalised advice and support to address the underlying causes of their hardship. The helpline can also provide callers with a food bank voucher, if required. The helpline is run in partnership with Citizens Advice and, more recently, also with Mind.

Over the year, the impact of our Help through Hardship helpline continued to grow.

Helpline advisers handled over 146,000 calls , an increase of more than a third, compared to the previous year.

The helpline unlocked £34.7 million of income for people facing hardship.

63,000 food bank vouchers were issued, representing over 128,000 people able to access emergency food. This is an increase of 16,000, compared to the previous year.

We recognise the importance of evaluating the helpline service, to ensure that we can always offer the best possible advice to support people for their specific circumstances, and to improve the experience for repeat callers. This has included extending our partnerships to a greater variety of organisations to offer bespoke support, including:

claire's story

Claire* called the helpline as she had no money left for food after covering essential bills and travel costs for her child’s hospital appointments. As a parent of young children, she was in receipt of Universal Credit, Child Benefit and Carer’s Benefit, as well as some disability-related benefits.

Our Help through Hardship adviser discovered that, despite being eligible, Claire was not receiving any support for the cost of travel for hospital appointments, so they were able to provide details of how to claim for these costs. A comprehensive benefit check also indicated that Claire could increase their income by up to £200 more per month, and she was given advice about how to access this.

Through the conversation with Claire, the adviser discovered that she was at risk of bailiff action

relating to debt, so an urgent referral was made to Claire’s local Citizens Advice office for further support. The adviser also spoke about the Mind Infoline as an avenue for assistance as they felt that Claire needed support with her general mental wellbeing in the future.

Finally, the helpline was able to provide a food bank voucher for Claire and her family and arranged for a delivery the following day. Because of the urgent and potentially ongoing nature of her situation, the adviser researched other local services and found a local Community Grocery Scheme. Whilst there is an annual membership fee, given the situation the scheme kindly agreed to waive this for Claire.

Since the initial call to the Help through Hardship helpline, Claire has been accessing support from her local Citizens Advice.

*Name changed to protect anonymity

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“At Mind, we won’t give up until everyone experiencing a mental health problem gets support and respect. One of our key strategic ambitions is to fight for the mental health of people in poverty and to stop people with mental health problems getting trapped in poverty. We are therefore delighted with our continued partnership with the Trussell Trust and Citizens Advice. The partnership has built on the incredible impact of the Help through Hardship helpline to working in local communities with food banks in the Trussell Trust network, local Minds and Citizens’ Advice offices, forming the new Help through Hardship Local project. We strongly believe that collaborating in this way is the only way to effectively break the cycle for people facing hardship and struggling with poor mental health.”

Sarah Hughes, CEO at Mind

Supporting people in Northern Ireland

People facing hardship in Northern Ireland can access income maximisation, debt advice, and other services through our partnership with Advice NI. Holistic support is available via the helpline, which includes interpretation services and a direct referral to local community advice providers for face-to-face support if required.

Through our partnership the helpline has been able to help 2,002 people in Northern Ireland, resulting in over £1.2m in identified financial gains.

Pathways to Advice and Cash Scotland

To ensure that people in Scotland can access similar money advice and support, we worked closely with partners to prepare for the launch of pilot services to explore which approaches would work best and could be rolled out further.

Pathways to Advice and Cash Scotland is a new learning project, covering six urban, rural, mixed and island areas in Scotland. Local communities have come together to evaluate existing support for people facing hardship, and test ways to improve access to advice and support that could reduce financial hardship and prevent food bank use. The learnings will be shared with decision-makers, to help shape and influence policies.

Working with people with lived experience

An invaluable influence on the money advice and support work that food banks deliver has come directly from people with lived experience of financial hardship and food bank use. Working with people who have experienced the challenges that people on low incomes often face provides first-hand insight and helps to improve the accessibility of these vital services.

In partnership with our ‘Together for Change’ panel, made up of people with lived experience of hardship from across the UK, we created a best practice resource for our network that were running financial inclusion services. The guide is designed to support the network in the delivery of additional services that can help remove the need to use a food bank in the future.

next steps

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TRANSFORMING VOLUNTEERING

The generosity and commitment of the 36,000 volunteers across the Trussell Trust network is a constant source of inspiration to us. Each person gives their time, expertise and compassion to support people in their community and we simply could not deliver emergency food, offer further support, or campaign to end the need for food banks without them.

We know that food banks want to drive forward their strategic plans to end the need for food banks, alongside meeting the day-to-day need in their local communities. In recognition of the vital role that volunteers can play in delivering those plans, we have worked with food banks to develop a set of new strategic volunteering roles, supported by a recruitment and induction toolkit, and focused on making the opportunities accessible, inclusive and supported. The focus of these new roles includes:

Championing best practice in the network

To further enhance and support food bank volunteering programmes we launched our first volunteering newsletter in December 2022. The newsletter is aimed at all volunteer leaders in the network and focuses on championing best practice in the areas of recruitment, retention and recognition. The newsletter also shines a light on inspiring transformational volunteering stories from across the network.

Empowering food banks to engage volunteers in our vision and plans

To support food banks in relaying the key information from their strategic plans to their volunteers, we developed a new package of resources looking specifically at how to communicate our vision, measure success and build

shared understanding. This package includes videos and podcasts to build understanding of the drivers of food bank use and the changes needed to make our shared vision a reality, as well as activities to support work around deciding which roles and services are most needed at the food bank.

Wellbeing

Food banks have gone through their toughest year yet, on the back of the pandemic and cost of living crisis. To ensure their wellbeing remains a priority, we provided additional support to food bank leaders and volunteers. In November, we began running regular wellness support workshops, which were exceptionally well attended. These workshops continued into the spring, when the resources were refreshed. This support has been complemented by access for volunteers to the BHSF Rise offering. We also provided weekly prayer videos as well as poems, readings and reflections to build resilience and self-care.

of volunteers would recommend the food bank as a great place to volunteer

94%

93% feel that they are making a difference

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“It has been such a delight to see everyone coming together and the new volunteers being absorbed into the teams and learning from others. We have such a strong community of volunteers in the team and everyone is willing to help.”

Mary Williams, Trustee and Volunteer at Malvern Hills

next steps

PATHFINDER PROGRAMME

The Pathfinder programme comprises 59 extraordinary food banks that are striving to answer a question central to our vision: What part does a food bank have in ending the need for their services?

About the Pathfinder programme

As a community of more than 420 organisations across the UK, we know that we must all play our part in achieving our vision of a UK without the need for food banks. The aims of our Pathfinder programme are to:

Against a backdrop of steeply rising need, these food banks have broken new ground. They have experimented with different practical measures to reduce the need for emergency food in their communities by launching new services, forging new links with partners and influencing the pathways people in hardship take between different services in their communities.

We provide extra support, coordinated by dedicated Pathfinder Leads, to help food banks on the programme to build their strategies and implement new streams of work. Over the year we awarded grants worth £3.6m to 39 food banks .

By sharing approaches that have worked, the programme is designed so that food banks can learn from one another. Some ideas may be adapted to better support different communities, but by trying a new way of operating in one area and testing it elsewhere, we will be able to map out key approaches that can be applied to the whole of the network.

we awarded £3.6m grants to Pathfinder food banks in our network

Building insight and sharing what works

There are now more than 330 projects and activities being undertaken across the 59 Pathfinder food banks across the UK. From referral pathways to financial inclusion, participation to local influencing, changing policy to building community resilience, all Pathfinder food banks are making a difference right now.

Innovative projects that are being taken forward and evaluated include: bringing together different support services under one roof in a community environment to provide holistic support in an accessible and effective way; building understanding of how to support particular groups of people who need recurring or long term support; and exploring how best to provide accessible advice and support to people in rural settings.

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• Vale Foodbank has been investing in relationships with local referral agencies, and now has several partners co-locating at its centres. It has developed a strengthened triaging model that empowers volunteers to connect people to the right support locally.

• Dundee & Angus Foodbank have carried out a research project amongst partner organisations, volunteers and people with lived experience to understand their encounter with local support systems. In response they are now bringing partners together thematically to address particular challenges being encountered and to strengthen local working, for example in the areas of housing support or addiction.

• Norwich Foodbank is developing a pilot scheme to introduce financial inclusion advisers at coffee mornings at partner churches to prioritise early intervention for people at risk of financial hardship.

• Craigavon Area Foodbank has become chair and convenor of the anti-poverty network for their local council area, which has provided an effective way of bringing people together with a shared vision and direction of travel. As part of this, the food bank has worked with the council and local organisations to develop new referral pathways for people with no recourse to public funds who are placed in housing in the area.

As part of the Pathfinder programme, the Trussell Trust has provided funding to support Pathfinder food banks to implement their strategies. Money has been made available to fund strategic leadership roles, staffing, project costs, research projects, and core costs associated with increased staffing capacity.

We are now beginning the process of sharing learning from the programme, and this will be an area of focus over the coming year.

“It made such a difference to sit down in the same space. When you sit down and chat to other food banks, you realise everyone’s got similar issues. You can work together to solve them.”

Kirsteen Huddy, East Dunbartonshire Foodbank

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Regular touchpoints and chances for food banks to connect with each other across the year have been vital in sharing emerging insights. Our second annual Pathfinder Gathering in Staffordshire saw over 75% of Pathfinder food banks come together to explore their role in local systems change, to share ideas and to explore their learning questions.

“For us, Pathfinder is everything we do. We are Pathfinder from the tin of beans that comes in the door until it goes out the door. We don’t distinguish between the operational and the strategic. We have changed our structures and our processes operationally, how we greet clients, how we provide a service to them. We have changed the whole organisation and we would never go back to the way it was. Now, from Pathfinder, we know the reasons why people are coming to us. We know the level of support they need and we know the organisations we need to make referrals to or to partner with to help them. We have listened to the people that use our service to make improvements.”

Karen Mullan, Foyle Foodbank

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Changing policy

everyone can afford the essentials.

Working with the food banks in our network, we gather data on the numbers of emergency parcels that are being provided, how this is changing, and who is turning to food banks for support. With this data, and through additional research, we work with food banks, partners and people with lived experience of poverty to change policy and seek to eradicate destitution across the UK.

We also work closely with other anti-poverty organisations in the UK to push for the policy changes that will stop people from experiencing financial hardship in the first place.

We do this in the following ways:

  1. Providing robust data, evidence and research 2. Influencing policymakers

  2. Working together to call for change

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PROVIDING ROBUST DATA, EVIDENCE AND RESEARCH

Analysis of the need for emergency food across the network

By working in partnership with food banks across the network we are able to gather and analyse our unique data on levels of need.

In May 2022 we released our annual figures showing the level of need at food banks. These figures, for the period April 2021 to March 2022, showed the overall acceleration of need for emergency food parcels at food banks within the Trussell Trust network. This coincided with the removal of the £20 per week uplift to Universal Credit that came into force in October 2021 and reduced the annual income of millions of people by £1,040, further weakening a social security system that was already increasingly threadbare.

In November 2022 we published our mid-year statistics, covering the period April to September 2022. This showed that:

“We have to open our foodbank earlier in the day at 8am so working people can pick up their parcels on the way to work. Although we have a large proportion of people referred to us who are on benefits, we are seeing more and more people who are working, but whose wages have not increased in line with the rise in the cost of food, fuel and other items needed for a basic living standard.”

Gill Fourie, Operational Manager, Blackburn Foodbank

Cost of living findings launched

In September we launched our report on Tackling the True Cost of Living. This research, carried out with YouGov, highlighted the impact of rising energy prices on households with low incomes. It also revealed the major limitations of the Government support that was being provided through the cost of living payment made to people in receipt of means tested benefits.

The research surveyed over 1,800 people claiming Universal Credit to understand what trade-offs they were having to make in their day to day lives. It showed that:

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“I am worried that if I can't keep my home warm, I will get sick and won't be able to work. I have several chronic health conditions that get worse with the cold and the damp. I don't want to lose my wages and I don't want to get even sicker.”

Quote from survey respondent

Government cost of living support – welcome but short-lived impact

Our analysis of figures across the network enabled us to track the impact of the UK Government’s cost of living support. Following the first cost of living payment in July 2022, there was a short-lived dip in the need seen at food banks, although still at a very high level. This suggests that while the payment provided some crucial respite for families struggling to afford the essentials in the face of increasing costs and inadequate benefit levels, it was not enough to help them manage the cost of living crisis for an extended period of time.

Our August survey of people on Universal Credit revealed that most people (70%) who had received their first cost of living payment had already spent all of it less than a month after receiving it. Almost two in three people said they had used the payment to buy food, 38% had used it to buy basic toiletries such as soap, shampoo, toothbrush, toothpaste or sanitary items, 36% had used it to help pay off debts and arrears, 30% had spent it on lighting their home and 27% on heating their home.

This analysis helped shape our calls for the action needed to protect people on the lowest incomes during the cost of living crisis and was shared in detail with officials in the Department for Work and Pensions and the Treasury.

Research partnerships

By working closely with our food banks to gather and understand the data around levels of need, building qualitative insights through engaging people with lived experience, and situating this in the context of wider data and evidence, we are able to identify the policy changes that are needed and bring this influence to bear.

Throughout the year we laid the groundwork for our Hunger in the UK research, delivered in partnership with Ipsos. This is the most ambitious research

project undertaken by the Trussell Trust and builds on our flagship State of Hunger research. The project has been formed in collaboration with our network and includes a survey of 2,500 people referred to food banks. We also trialled an innovative approach whereby people with lived experience enriched our understanding of the drivers of food bank need and the solutions that are needed. Launched in summer 2023, this is our most in-depth study to date on hunger and reveals in more detail its causes, consequences and who is affected.

In partnership with Leeds City Council and a number of food banks, we commissioned an evaluation into a cash grant pilot scheme, providing robust evidence that cash grants help people to afford the essentials with greater dignity and agency than emergency food. The evaluation led indirectly to a change in the UK Government’s Household Support Fund guidance to include cash, and numerous local authorities have since been in touch to enquire about starting their own schemes.

“Our focus as a think tank is on improving the living standards of those on low to middle incomes, and we have hugely welcomed the ongoing and significant contribution the Trussell Trust is making in terms of its research, data and frontline experience of tackling hardship across the UK. Over the past year we have seen that the cost of living crisis is really a cost of essentials crisis, which is why poorer households have been so exposed. The Trussell Trust has helped to shine a light on this through the unique data that it is able to share on behalf of its community of food banks.”

Torsten Bell, Chief Executive, Resolution Foundation

next steps

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INFLUENCING

POLICYMAKERS

We work hard to show that ending the need for food banks is a mission for all, and one that every politician should be taking seriously. We hold meetings with MPs and government ministers, facilitate visits for politicians to their local food banks and share the Trussell Trust’s latest data and research to inform and guide the issues that MPs raise in Parliament.

As the cost of living crisis continued, this left more and more people unable to afford the essentials and the shortcomings in our social security system were further exposed. We kept up the pressure on policy-makers, achieving significant gains for people facing hardship and launching our biggest ever campaign calling for an Essentials Guarantee.

57 mentions

of the Trussell Trust in Parliament over the year

Policy successes during the last financial year

Over the past year we have seen a number of important changes to policy, including:

May

November

February

We have also helped to bring about policy successes in specific parts of the UK. In November the Scottish Government announced it would increase the Scottish Child Payment to £25 a week and extend it to include all eligible children from birth until they turn 16.

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Launching our call for an ‘essentials guarantee’

Our evidence has consistently shown that the basic rate of Universal Credit – the mainstay of our social security system – does not cover the cost of life’s essentials like food, household bills and travel costs. Yet shockingly the amount isn’t set according to any objective assessment of what people need and has become eroded over the years.

In February we launched, in partnership with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, our call for the UK Government to introduce an Essentials Guarantee. Our joint launch event in Parliament was led by a

What is the Essentials Guarantee?

The Essentials Guarantee would embed in our social security system the widely supported principle that, at a minimum, Universal Credit should protect people from going without essentials. Developed in line with public attitude insights and focus groups, this policy would enshrine in legislation:

The UK Government would be required to set the level of the Essentials Guarantee at least annually, based on the recommendation of the independent process. However, our analysis indicates that it would need to be at least £120 a week for a single adult and £200 for a couple. The rate is currently just £85 a week for a single adult and £134 for a couple.

cross-party panel including Chair of the Work and Pensions Committee Sir Stephen Timms MP, former Work and Pensions Secretary and Conservative MP Stephen Crabb and Conservative Peer and Chair of the Poverty Strategy Commission Baroness Stroud. The event was attended by at least 15 Parliamentarians, as well as food banks and the wider sector.

We were also delighted to have Jess Holliday, Campaigns and Communications Manager at Eastbourne Foodbank, on the panel to talk about why her food bank supported the campaign and the difference it could make to her local community. Following the launch of the campaign, 90 partner organisations joined us to publicly show their support via a letter to political leaders.

Over the coming year, we will build on the success of the launch, expand our partnerships and push for change with decision-makers. This will go hand in hand with support for our food banks to amplify the call and building on the existing widespread support for change among the public. You can read more about the first steps on this in the Changing Minds section of this report.

“Most people are astonished to learn that the level of Universal Credit is not actually based on any calculation of the essential costs that we all have to meet to get by. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Trussell Trust are standing together to campaign for the Essentials Guarantee, and to ensure the UK builds a system where no-one has to skip meals or switch off essential appliances just to get by”.

Paul Kissack, Chief Executive, Joseph Rowntree Foundation

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Support from partners for the Essentials Guarantee

"In all my time at Christians Against Poverty (CAP) I don't think there's been a campaign that's hit the mark quite as well as the Trussell Trust's Guarantee Our Essentials campaign. It's been great to see such levels of collaboration across the anti-poverty sector, and such well thoughtthrough policy asks from the campaign. We will continue to support this campaign until we see liveable incomes across the country and an end to UK poverty."

Kiri Adams, Social Policy Manager, Christians Against Poverty

“The Big Issue Group has joined the call for the Government to introduce an Essentials Guarantee within Universal Credit, as making sure low-income renters can afford their household bills is fundamental to ensuring they can stay in their homes. With the rising cost of living, 9 million renters in the UK are now living in poverty, so this campaign is vital to protecting them from the risk of homelessness.

“The feedback we’ve received for our

support of the Essentials Guarantee has been overwhelmingly positive. From Big Issue Recruit candidates finding their way into work, to Big Issue vendors, it’s been described as ‘brilliant’ and ‘one of the things that would make the biggest difference’ to their lives. We’ll continue to push for the Government to recognise the urgent need for the Essentials Guarantee and are grateful to the Trussell Trust and JRF for leading the charge.”

Zoe Hayward, Group Chief Marketing Officer, The Big Issue

APPG on Ending the Need for Food Banks

The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Ending the Need for Food Banks has continued to raise the profile of the urgency of tackling the drivers of food bank need and finding common ground across Parliamentarians and partners. The APPG was established in December 2020 to bring

together parliamentarians of all parties with an interest in, and commitment to, ending the need for food banks, with the Trussell Trust providing the secretariat.

Over the year, we supported the APPG to run an inquiry on the subject of ‘Cash or food? Exploring effective responses to destitution’. Over the course of the inquiry, members of the committee visited food banks, engaging with staff, volunteers and food bank visitors. Three oral evidence sessions were held, and 66 written submissions received. Crucially, 15 people with lived experience of financial hardship were involved in testing the findings and recommendations.

The final APPG inquiry report was published in March 2023. It made the following recommendations, amplifying our own calls for policy and practice change:

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“Of course, the ultimate goal should be to prevent people from reaching financial crisis by tackling the drivers of destitution. However, as more and more people find themselves unable to afford the essentials, we must recognise the role of crisis responses and the need to get the right support to everyone who needs it.”

From APPG inquiry report

In October 2022 a delegation from Trussell Trust food banks, and our partners at IFAN and Feeding Britain, visited Downing Street to deliver a letter to the Prime Minster on behalf of 3,000 food bank staff and volunteers calling for urgent action to end the need for emergency food.

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WORKING TOGETHER TO CALL FOR CHANGE

We know that to create lasting change it’s vital that we work closely with experts and organisations from across the sector and beyond to tackle the reasons why people face financial hardship and may need to turn to a food bank for emergency support.

Our new flagship Guarantee our Essentials campaign brings together a broad range of partners and builds on our approach of identifying common ground and collaborating to achieve change.

Influencing and partnerships across Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland

Alongside our work to influence and achieve policy change at the UK level, we have continued to build our relationships and press for change in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

After securing a commitment in April 2021 from the First Minister to deliver a plan to end the need for food banks in Scotland, we worked with food banks, partners and civil servants throughout 2022/23 to support and shape the development of this plan. This included playing a leading role in the newly established Scottish Government Steering Group on Ending the Need for Food Banks.

As part of the Scottish Food Coalition, we played a leading role in the delivery of a successful Day of Action at the Scottish Parliament in April 2022, aimed at persuading the Scottish Government to strengthen the Good Food Nation Bill. In the run up to the event,

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we delivered online training for attendees, including food banks, on engaging with and influencing MSPs. In partnership with the Independent Food Aid Network we hosted the Cash First Futures conference. The event was attended by food banks, local authorities, advice services, the anti-poverty sector, academia, and trade unions. We focused on how to build a cash first future for Scotland, where people have the money to buy food and other essentials for themselves, on sharing learning and best practice and on our ambitions for a Scotland where everyone can afford the essentials.

"We've been really delighted to work alongside the Trussell Trust Scotland team on various strands of work in 2022-23 including our successful A Cash First Future conference in Glasgow in March. We were able to bring together over 100 food bank managers and volunteers, academics, local authority teams and advise sector workers from across Scotland. This encouraging strand of work has resulted in a joint resources page, further online event, and a report - A Cash First Future: Case studies, presentations and next steps from our conference. Facilitating local partnership work between food bank teams in our networks has been invaluable as we continue to work together to end the need for charitable food aid in Scotland."

Sabine Goodwin, Director, Independent Food Aid Network

We held briefing events for MSPs on our end of year and mid-year statistics and an event in December 2022, delivered in partnership with the Scottish Parliament, to brief parliamentary caseworkers on the work of the Trussell Trust, our campaigns and referral pathways.

Our commitment to developing strategic partnerships continued to grow, in particular with anti-poverty organisations and advice services, learning from others what we need to do to end the need for foodbanks and sharing what we are learning. This included delivering keynote speeches to a variety of conferences including The Poverty Alliance’s 25th anniversary conference in November 2022, and the Scottish Trades Union Congress’s (STUC) Cost of living Summit and the Glasgow Advice and Information Network’s Cost of Living conferences in June 2022.

In Northern Ireland we have continued to engage with political parties across the spectrum, providing

effective campaigning in the run up to the Assembly elections. We held our first ever Northern Ireland election hustings with 50 participants and representation from the five biggest political parties.

We supported the delivery of a cross-sectoral event at Parliament Buildings called 'Crushed by the Cost of Living’ which outlined long-term measures to tackle the crisis and immediate policy interventions that could be implemented in the absence of a Northern Ireland Executive.

On World Mental Health Day, we partnered with Inspire, Carers NI and Age NI for the launch of the ‘Release the Pressure’ campaign, with the aim of highlighting the mental health pressures exacerbated by the cost of living crisis and call for the restoration of the Northern Ireland Executive.

In Wales , in April we joined a Welsh Government stakeholder group to support the development of a draft Welsh Benefits charter. This aims to make it easier for people in Wales to maximise their income and reduce dependency on food banks by creating a coherent and integrated system to means-tested Welsh benefits. The following month we presented evidence about increased food bank use to a Ministerial roundtable on food poverty. This helped to raise awareness about the impact of the cost of living crisis and called on the Welsh Government to reform the Welsh benefits system and develop a national plan to reduce and prevent the need for food banks.

In February 2023 we provided written and oral evidence to the Senedd Equality and Social Justice Committee Inquiry into debt and the cost of living. This resulted in the Committee calling on the Welsh Government to take steps to adopt a more preventative approach to reverse the increases in food bank use.

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Pushing for policy change with our food banks

In calling for policy change, we speak on behalf of and alongside the food banks in our network and the people that they serve. We work closely with the network to develop the evidence base behind the need for food banks, to shape the policy response that is needed, and to bring the case for change to decision-makers.

We also support food banks to become powerful advocates for change at the local level – helping them to analyse and deploy data about the levels of need in their local communities, to work with people with lived experience to identify changes that are needed in local policy and practice, and to bring those calls to decision-makers in partnership with other local voices. As an example of this, you can read more about our Organising and Local Mobilisation programme on page 44.

Changing local policy

While changes to policy are urgently needed at the UK level, changes in policy and practice at the local level can also make a vital contribution. To support and empower our food banks, and to catalyse conversations with the local government sector, we launched our Changing Local Policy in England toolkit in July 2022.

This resource, which was developed in collaboration with the network, is designed to empower food banks by building their understanding of the powers that sit at local authority and devolved levels and the opportunities for influencing decision-making.

Shortly after the launch of the toolkit, we ran two workshops with food banks in Greater Manchester and the London area. This particularly helped to build awareness of the role of Mayors in these areas and how this sits alongside the remit of local authorities. Food banks fed back how much their confidence had increased in understanding what needs to change in their local communities and who can bring this about.

We raised awareness of the toolkit and the potential for local authorities to work with food banks on addressing local issues by hosting an event at the Local Government Association annual conference. The toolkit has also provided an important foundation for local organisers who work with food banks to campaign on local issues.

National Parliamentary Prayer Breakfast

The National Parliamentary Prayer Breakfast is an annual recognition of the contribution that Christianity makes to the national life of the UK. The 2022 Breakfast took place in July in Westminster Hall in the Houses of Parliament and was attended by 180 MPs and Peers, alongside church leaders from across the UK.

As part of the series of seminars held following the main event, we hosted a session on 'Stronger communities: working towards financial resilience for all'. This included a panel discussion to explore how churches are working with local and national partners to strengthen communities, and what it will take to create a society where everyone’s essential needs are met. The discussion, chaired by the Archbishop of York, drew on the experience of church leaders, Parliamentarians and sector organisations to explore the role we share in building financial resilience in our communities.

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Changing minds

Building understanding and empathy to inspire action towards a future where we can all afford the essentials.

To create lasting change, we know that society has to think and act differently about an issue. Our changing minds work focuses on helping to build empathy and understanding for the reasons why people are struggling to afford the essentials and need to access emergency food.

Working collaboratively with food banks and people with lived experience, we are building a movement for change.

We do this in the following ways

  1. Mobilising local communities

By growing this understanding and empathy, we can build public will for the longer term solutions that will end the need for food banks and mobilise more people to work alongside us to reach our vision.

  1. Tackling misconceptions and shifting opinions across the UK

  2. Building a movement for change

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MOBILISING LOCAL COMMUNITIES

Food banks have unique local knowledge and links into their communities, so working in, and through, food banks is an effective way to unlock the change needed for people facing hardship. In 2021 we launched our organising and local mobilisation programme which supports food banks to maximise their unique local position to engage with the wider community, identify local issues causing hardship and campaign to change those issues.

Food banks are able to take up a package of grant funding, training, and ongoing support to give them the capacity, skills, and resources to identify local issues, develop influencing strategies and campaign to make change happen to address the underlying drivers of destitution.

How are we doing this?

----- Start of picture text -----
Food bank day of
action
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----- Start of picture text -----
Do you agree
everyone in
our community
should be able
to afford life’s
essentials?
“The cost of living crisis is forcing people
into impossible decisions because they
simply don’t have enough money. Do they
eat or buy other essentials such as school
shoes for their kids?”
Voices from food banks
----- End of picture text -----

In September 2022, we held our very first food bank Day of Action in support of our True Cost of Living campaign. Across the UK, participating food banks organised street stalls and events to engage with their local communities about the campaign, encouraging people to complete a postcard to their MP highlighting the impact of the cost of living crisis on people on the lowest incomes.

Twenty two food banks took part in the day of action and over 80 MPs were contacted as a result. Representatives from food banks and other emergency food charities delivered a letter to Downing Street with over 3,000 food bank staff and volunteer signatures calling for urgent action.

The organising programme grew from a pilot in 2021 to having 62 food banks participating in the programme by the end of 2022/23.

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There are now 43 local organisers working with food bank staff, volunteers, people with lived experience and their wider communities to understand and address local issues and push for change. The local organisers are funded by food banks through our Organising grants stream, empowering food banks to establish and have oversight of the work and receive expert support from our own specialists in this area.

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TACKLING MISCONCEPTIONS AND SHIFTING OPINIONS ACROSS THE UK

Amplifying the voices of people with direct lived experience of financial hardship

We continue to ensure that people who have direct experience of financial hardship have opportunities to shape, lead and influence how we end the need for food banks. At its heart, our participation work is about building relationships with people experiencing financial hardship. This partnership helps us to work together to unlock new ways of thinking, generate ideas to drive change together, and seek shared solutions.

Sharing stories to build understanding and empathy

As part of our changing minds work, we work to share the stories of people who are unable to afford the essentials and create powerful storytelling content that increases understanding and empathy and drives lasting change.

We want people with lived experience to feel confident, comfortable and in control of how their stories are told. Decisions are made by the people who are being affected by those decisions the most.

To support this, we:

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----- Start of picture text -----
‘Give Back Express’
----- End of picture text -----

In November 2022, Tesco launched an innovative reverse supermarket in central London which encouraged shoppers to donate the products food banks need the most, and leave with nothing, as the products would be donated on their behalf.

The Give Back Express ran for three days and gave a platform to food banks and the people who

Stand for Change: Young People Against Poverty

Stand for Change is a group of twelve young people aged between 13 and 21 who have all experienced financial hardship. Delivered in partnership with BBC Children in Need, the group aims to change minds and narratives around the causes and impact of poverty and financial hardship in the UK, with a specific focus on the voices and experiences of children and young people.

In their own words, Stand for Change are:

“Young people, from across the UK, who are passionate about a common goal: fighting the causes of poverty and finding solutions for all.

We’ve lived through hard times, experiencing the constant worry of financial hardship. We want a better future for ourselves and others. We want to inspire other young people to join our fight against poverty.”

have experience of accessing their services, and shone a light on their powerful, personal stories through an ‘audio corner.’ By sharing stories, our aim was to help to remove the stigma around food bank use and change perceptions about poverty in the UK.

The event raised £9,000 for the Trussell Trust and received strong media attention across three days, boosting coverage of the collection and the Give Back Express to a combined 800 pieces. It raised awareness for the Tesco Winter Food Collection and encouraged shoppers to visit their local Tesco stores to make donations.

“I’m such a shy person so the fact I can still share with people what I went through is such an empowering feeling! It took me so long to reach out and ask for help because of so many emotions, guilt, shame, despair to name but a few so I hope that sharing this story will help people who struggle to reach out.”

Deborah*, volunteer at the Give Back Express, who has lived experience of using a food bank. *Name changed to protect anonymity

Over the last year, the Stand for Change group has developed two toolkits to help raise awareness of the impact of financial hardship on young people, and to inspire other young people to take in action in their local communities:

Stand for Change worked with the community arts organisation Get It Done to produce the toolkits. To ensure that their voices are at the centre of all work, the group was involved in each of the stages, from concept to design.

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Amplifying voices of people with lived experience through poetry

Four of the young people who are based in Belfast took part in a workshop to explore how the pressures of Christmas and celebrations can affect young people living in financial hardship. Working with poet, freelance practitioner, advocate and former looked after child Ty’rone Haughton, they participated in creative activities to get them thinking about how financial hardship impacts them during times of celebration, particularly Christmas. From this workshop, Ty'rone took the young people's words, experiences and stories and created a powerful spoken word piece, which he performed at our Evening of Carols at Southwark Cathedral.

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Focus: Media and Social Media Coverage

In order to change minds, we must communicate with audiences effectively about hunger and poverty across a broad range of channels. Through investment in this area, we have seen a significant growth in engagement, reaching new audiences and supporters. During our most challenging winter to date, the Trussell Trust had the most media mentions of any charity in the UK in December 2022 according to Cision's charity barometer, helping us reach audiences and garner support, both to address the immediate crisis through our emergency winter appeal, and longer term calling for change.

Media

As support continues to grow, so does our print and broadcast media coverage. Over the past year we have surpassed a spike seen during the pandemic, indicating a strong public interest in learning more about our work.

Media mentions across print and broadcast media (local, regional, national and international)

----- Start of picture text -----
Apr 2016 -
Mar 2017 4,929
Apr 2017 -
Mar 2018 7,271
Apr 2018 -
Mar 2019 10,056
Apr 2019 -
Mar 2020 11,027
Apr 2020 -
Mar 2021 27,087
Apr 2021 -
Mar 2022 16,552
Apr 2022 -
Mar 2023 33,474
----- End of picture text -----

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Media moments

April 2022: End of Year statistics. 1,872 pieces of coverage across ten days following the announcement of our annual statistics. The story was featured in 23 national outlets including interviews with Times Radio and PA, coverage of a visit by the musician James Morrison to a food bank, an exclusive letter in the Daily Telegraph from the Bishop of Durham, and an interview with a lived experience partner trending on the BBC News homepage. Strong coverage was also seen across the nations and regions, including interviews on BBC regional news.

May 2022: 932 pieces of coverage in seven days in response to comments made in Parliament about food bank need, as well as data released by the Office for National Statistics and a local council declaring a ‘cost of living emergency’ for the first time. This spike in coverage helped to further build understanding of the drivers of food bank need.

September 2022: YouGov Universal Credit

recipient polling. 849 pieces of coverage in the media. The release of research indicating that two out of five Universal Credit recipients were skipping meals to survive was mentioned by broadcast media 296 times including in interview with Emma Revie on Times Radio and LBC coverage.

October 2022: Launch of emergency appeal. 398

pieces of coverage including 187 broadcast mentions. Despite other breaking news occurring on the same day, we secured several live interviews on Sky Breakfast and feature pieces in the Guardian and on Newsbeat.

November 2022: Mid-year statistics. 3,497 media mentions across the week following release. This included 2,300 broadcast mentions, 218 print mentions and almost 1,000 online mentions. Highlights included interviews across several of the BBC radio stations, in-depth coverage in the Guardian and widespread regional interest.

December 2022: We saw a strong media focus on the rising levels of need at food banks, as well as high-profile influencer support , achieving more than 10,300 pieces. The Trussell Trust was the most mentioned charity in the media that month. Publicity tied to the release of singles in aid of the Trussell Trust by Ladbaby and Jason Manford generated coverage in the Sun, NME and on Breakfast TV shows, helping our message reach new audiences. Other peaks were tied to a BBC online and broadcast feature about debt and deductions which included an interview with one of our lived experience representatives.

February 2023: Essentials Guarantee launch. Almost 300 pieces of coverage in the media, including three in-depth interview and feature pieces in the Guardian and 137 broadcast mentions.

Social media

Our work across our digital platforms has developed significantly over recent years, which reflects the increasingly varied ways we communicate with our audiences while enabling us to connect with new supporters. This helps grow support for our network locally and increases understanding of the issues of poverty and hunger, while building the movement of people willing to take action to end the need for food banks in the UK.

Our social media has seen particular growth over the past few years, with the last being no exception. In addition to sharing our work through our own social media channels, we provide our community of food banks with a range of social media posts to share, supporting both their own work in their local community and the work the whole network is collaborating on to end the need for food banks.

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Audience growth across Trussell Trust social media platforms

Social media moments

April 2022: End of year statistics. The statistics reached a particularly high number of people – 1.2 million - and over 48,000 people engaged with these posts by liking, commenting or interacting with these posts in some way, helping to share the messages. Our first post on Twitter for our end of year statistics was our second highest engaging post reaching over a million people.

In the same month, we featured musician James Morrison’s visit to Stroud District Foodbank reaching 9,551 people.

Emergency appeal 2022. In late 2022 we launched our first ever emergency appeal to support food banks who were facing their toughest winter ever. Working with a specialist agency, we created a powerful video, telling a story about how people are making decisions between the essentials.

We reached more than 925,000 people and over 24,000 people interacted with these posts. In addition to supporting our fundraising, the messaging resonated with our audience, with many showing great empathy for people facing such impossible decisions and calling for a compassionate response.

----- Start of picture text -----
James Speakman/PA Wire
----- End of picture text -----

TV presenter AJ Odudu visited Blackburn

Foodbank (below left) to see how they had been affected by the cost of living emergency, raising awareness and attracting support. Our social media posts reached over 40,000 people.

March 2023: Guarantee our Essentials.

We used our social media channels to call on the UK government to make sure the basic rate of Universal Credit at least covers life's essentials, reaching almost half a million people.

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BUILDING A MOVEMENT FOR CHANGE

By working with food banks locally, and through campaigns across the UK, we are inspiring thousands of people to take action towards a more just future. Combining our voices, we stand united, calling for lasting change, so that everyone can afford the essentials.

Guaranteeing our Essentials

In February we launched our most ambitious campaign to date. In partnership with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, we called on the UK government to ensure that the basic rate of Universal Credit is enough to cover the essentials we all need. The success of the campaign will depend on us building a large movement of people to drive forward our message and show that, as a society, we expect people on the lowest incomes to be protected.

Ahead of the launch, 62 food banks signed up to attend our briefing event. And then across our network, the media, and our digital platforms, we called on people to show their support for our campaign.

During the first weeks of the campaign our objective was to raise awareness of the insufficiency of Universal Credit, and how this is leading to financial hardship and driving people to food banks. Everyone should have enough income

Linking the problem to the solution

Seven in ten people referred to food banks in the Trussell Trust network are in receipt of Universal Credit. Nine in ten low income families on Universal Credit are currently going without the essentials. It is evident that the single biggest driver of food bank need is our social security system – the system created to protect us all from poverty.

We have conducted extensive research into public attitudes on the social security system. Despite concern around poverty being at an all time high, the public don’t link low levels of Universal Credit to the cause of people’s hardship

to cover the essentials, and by creating awareness that this is not currently the case we are laying the foundations to increase pressure on the UK government to ensure that Universal Credit does what it is supposed to do - provide a safety net for everyone who needs it.

The interest during the first month of the campaign was hugely encouraging. Nearly half a million people were made aware of the campaign across our social media channels. In the first month alone there were almost 300 pieces of coverage in the media, including three in-depth interview and feature pieces in the Guardian and 137 broadcast mentions.

Crucially, 3,882 people joined the campaign, including 1,213 new supporters, demonstrating the feeling from the public that everyone should have enough income to cover the essentials.

“Many people who are referred to us are working and receiving UC, but with the rising cost of food and utilities the numbers do not add up and week on week they do not have enough money to afford to live. This is why the Guarantee our Essentials campaign is vital. Right now, it is highly likely there are people on your street struggling to survive.”

Desiree Ashton, Advocacy and Campaigns Officer, Uttlesford Foodbank

or to food bank need. This is because there is universally low awareness and understanding of Universal Credit and often strongly held, negative views about claimants.

The same research highlights that when people have a deeper understanding of Universal Credit, they are extremely supportive of the Essentials Guarantee. 72% of the public support the policy when they find out more about it – only 8% oppose it.

That’s why our Guarantee our Essentials campaign aims to build understanding of Universal Credit and hopes to rebuild pride in our social security system.

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Changing Minds volunteering sessions

These sessions are an innovative response that offer micro volunteering opportunities for corporate partners. The session opens with a changing minds presentation and talk from a local food bank project manager, before the attendees have an opportunity to assemble hygiene packs of essential toiletries. The packs are paid for by the partner and then delivered to the local food bank. The interactive sessions support our Changing Minds narrative, helping raise awareness of the drivers of food bank use and our work to end the need for foodbanks, as well providing a volunteering experience for participants which supports the local food bank with items that are less frequently donated.

Since launching, we have run seven sessions for major partners such as NatWest, Bank of America, Deliveroo, and Man Group. We have reached over 750 employees across the UK and raised £32,000 in financial support and stock donations for local food banks.

"As a key partner in Vodafone’s everyone. connected campaign, we are proud to be supporting the Trussell Trust’s Guarantee Our

Essentials Campaign. For Vodafone, connectivity is as important as other essentials today. We’ve been working with The Trussell Trust to distribute connectivity and we believe that it’s something people can’t and shouldn’t have to live without. This is key to Vodafone’s own commitment to help four million people and businesses cross the digital divide by the end of 2025."

Nicki Lyons, Chief Corporate Affairs and Sustainability Officer, Vodafone UK

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an evening of carols

In November we hosted an Evening of Carols at London’s Southwark Cathedral, supported by Vodafone, to highlight the challenging situation faced by people in financial hardship across the

UK and pay tribute to the incredible work being done by food banks to offer compassionate, practical support. Attended by supporters, donors, volunteers and food bank teams and people with lived experience of financial hardship, the event was an opportunity to bring people together, sharing a moment of reflection and deepening connections with our shared vision.

Alongside special contributions from people who have first-hand experience of needing to access support from a food bank, the evening also welcomed celebrity guests and the ‘Voices of Hope’ community choir which featured volunteers from across the network.

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OUR VOLUNTEERS

The support from thousands of volunteers is core to everything we do at the Trussell Trust and across the food bank network. They are the beating heart of the network, undertaking one of the nearly 500 volunteering roles that help to meet the immediate needs of people in local communities and to work towards our shared vision of a UK without the need for food banks.

Volunteers have been at the forefront at every stage of the extreme challenges we have faced over the past three years, yet their resolve, resilience and compassion never fade. Their commitment is as inspiring as it is strong, and we are endlessly grateful for the contribution they make, both to people facing immediate hardship, and the longterm, strategic plan of building a better future.

“There is always a lovely, friendly atmosphere at the food bank and people have a sense of purpose about doing something important.”

Sue Middleton, volunteer at Malvern Hills Foodbank

“The food bank has helped me in so many ways. They first provided me with the essentials and that gave me hope. The help that I got from the food bank, and the support that I got from people here, the hope changed everything. They sat down and listened to me. You could talk about anything, and I didn't feel judged. They've given me an opportunity as a volunteer as well. So, from that initial spark of hope, from that provision of essentials, they've given me an opportunity to volunteer, they've given me responsibility and trust, it's things that I definitely had lost.”

Ben, food bank volunteer, who previously needed to use a food bank

“I know that each food bank will say how wonderful its volunteers are, but I am consistently blown by the support and the wealth of experience that our volunteers bring to the food bank. They are all so passionate about helping us serve those in need as best we can by constantly improving our services.”

Tamryn Buys, Operations and Volunteer Coordinator, Hammersmith and Fulham Foodbank

“Volunteers are an integral part of the food bank and every project we embrace, we are helped and supported by our wonderful volunteers. Our ‘army’ of volunteers are always so willing to support our work and without them, we couldn’t achieve what we do for people facing food insecurity.”

Kathleen, Project Manager, West Lothian Foodbank

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SUPPORT FROM CHURCHES

Local churches play a vital role across our community of food banks, with at least 12,000 churches actively involved in donating food, and providing venues, volunteers and financial support for food banks.

As well as providing immediate support to people facing financial hardship, churches are an integral part of our campaigning and influencing work. Churches are so integral to our movement for change because:

Through our church engagement work, we have continued to expand and deepen our reach into diverse expressions of church communities and Christian networks, encouraging churches to work within their local communities to consider what more they can do to bring about an end to the need for food banks.

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Learning from people with lived experience of financial hardship

Partnering with a panel of lived experts, we created a series of videos to help churches and food banks deepen their understanding of what drives people to food banks and to build relationships to work together in their own local projects to raise awareness and campaign for lasting change. The panel also produced a series of Bible studies that were used on our social media during Lent.

As part of our changing communities work, the following support was made available at food banks in our network:

Key events this year

Big Church Day Out

The event gave us a platform to talk about our campaigning work, inviting attendees to take part in activities to highlight the need at food banks and the many causes of financial hardship. It was particularly inspiring to hear young people engaging with their parents and guardians to have insightful chats about UK hunger and poverty.

Summer festivals

We attended Big Church Day Out, New Wine and Greenbelt, giving us an opportunity to reach new audiences, and create better understanding of poverty and hunger in the UK and support for our work to end the need for food banks.

National Parliamentary Prayer Breakfast

In July the annual National Parliamentary Prayer Breakfast took place in Westminster Hall in the Houses of Parliament, as described on page 42.

An Evening of Carols

In November we hosted an Evening of Carols at London’s Southwark Cathedral to highlight the challenging situation faced by people in financial hardship across the UK and pay tribute to the incredible work being done by food banks to offer compassionate, practical support. Read more about the event on page 51.

The Bishop of London food bank visit

On Ash Wednesday, the Rt Revd Sarah Mullally, the Bishop of London, visited Ealing Foodbank and called on Christians to pray for all who are facing hunger and struggling to afford the essentials across the UK. During her visit, she met staff and volunteers of the food bank and learned more about the challenges that food banks across the network are facing.

“While I am grateful for the incredible work being done by Ealing Foodbank and food banks across the length and breadth of the country, I am deeply saddened by the increasing hardship and hunger faced by thousands every day.”

Bishop of London, the Rt Revd Sarah Mulally (left)

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OUR COMMITMENT TO EQUITY, DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION

Our research shows that most people who need the support of a food bank are disproportionately likely to have protected characteristics such as disability or race. For example one in four (24%) people from an ethnic minority group experience food insecurity, almost twice the rate (13%) for white people.

Similarly, more than a quarter of disabled people (26%) experience food insecurity, nearly three times higher than the rate amongst non-disabled people (10%).

It is therefore vital that equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) are central to our work and achieving our vision of a UK without the need for food banks. Like many in the charity sector, we have actively worked on our response to building an equitable, diverse and inclusive organisation. We are pleased that our staff and people who use our food banks are increasingly feeling the impact of this.

Progress in 2022–23

Within the Trussell Trust

We want our staff to have the required confidence, skills, knowledge and competency to engage with all aspects of EDI - but especially around age, disability, race, gender and sexual orientation. Practical steps we have taken include:

Supporting the network

Food banks in the Trussell Trust network operate across the UK, serving a diverse range of communities and holding great expertise in how to engage and support different groups.

We have continued to support food banks to develop and share their insight and good practice. This has included collaboration with the network to develop and test toolkits, with an initial focus on producing an EDI strategy and action plan.

Over the next year we are building on this work and responding to our food banks’ desire to provide inclusive and accessible support in their local communities.

We are also building on our work to support food banks in ensuring the participation of people with lived experience of poverty in their work, which goes hand in hand with our EDI plans. Read more about this work on page 56.

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OUR CONTINUED COMMITMENT TO PEOPLE WITH LIVED EXPERIENCE OF FINANCIAL HARDSHIP

We have continued to ensure that people who have direct experience of financial hardship have opportunities to shape, lead and influence how we end the need for food banks. At its heart, our participation work is about building relationships with people experiencing financial hardship and working with them as partners, to unlock new ways of thinking, generate ideas to drive change together, and seek shared solutions.

Embedding lived experience knowledge across our work

We recognise that lasting social change only happens when people who experience struggle participate in generating change. That’s why over the last year we have scaled up our participatory work, engaging 118 people in participatory activity, deepening our relationships and collaborating with them through activities and projects such as the Together for Change Panel and Stand for Change: Young People Against Poverty.

Together for Change panel

Our first Together for Change panel was made up of a group of experts from across the UK, all with lived experience of poverty and food bank use and a shared drive to create meaningful change. After meeting together for over a year, the panel’s final meeting was in February 2023, where we collaborated to design and shape the next iteration of our participation work. This is allowing us to recruit and sustain a larger and more diverse network of lived experience partners and create new opportunities to connect lived experience partners to influence and shape our work.

At its heart this work (which we call 'participation') is about building relationships with people experiencing financial hardship and working with them as partners, to unlock new ways of thinking, generate ideas to drive change together, and seek shared solutions.

Our grateful thanks go to each member of the Together for Change panel, many of whom have continued to join other projects across the organisation and network to help shape and influence our work.

Stand for Change: Young People Against Poverty

Young people today are the first generation to be born into a world where food banks are widely available to support people facing hardship. They are also the generation who will likely shoulder much of the work needed to end the need for food banks.

As set out on page 46, Stand for Change, delivered in partnership with BBC Children in Need, aims to change minds and narratives around the causes and impacts of poverty and financial hardship in the UK, with a specific focus on the voices and experiences of children and young people.

"The collaboration between the Trussell Trust and BBC Children in Need's #iWill grant fund has given young people a new platform to use their voices and raise awareness about the negative impact of poverty and financial hardship on young people. Over the course of the Stand for Change project, it has been inspiring to see young people empowered to use their lived experience of financial hardship to create outputs designed to combat harmful stereotypes and change public opinion. Through the group's co-designed research report Youth Perceptions of Poverty in the UK, we know that young people are concerned about the prevalence of poverty in their communities and that they want to be at the centre of campaigns for change. Stand for Change has demonstrated the power of collaborative work while highlighting the importance of enshrining young people's voices in campaigns for change."

Rachel Carter, Head of UK Grants, Partnerships and Programmes at Children in Need

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Supporting participation across the network

Over the year, we continued to support food banks to develop and share their approaches to the participation of people with lived experience of poverty. This has included:

Many food banks are already leading the way on participatory work. And as food banks already treat the people they help with dignity and respect, they have the strong foundations and ethos required when setting up participation work.

“You’re already ‘participating’ with people just by chatting with them. Asking them what they need, what support, that is participation in a really simple form. All you’ve got to do then is ask five people if they want to come and have a coffee on a day when the food bank’s open. You say: ‘We’re going to go into a separate room, and we’re going to chat about what you’ve all mentioned’.”

Helen Edgley, Abergele Foodbank

Heat or Eat diaries

In June 2022, we worked with the Guardian to publish the first in a series of articles featuring the stories of people with lived experience of hardship, highlighting the cruel reality of not having enough to afford the essentials.

Supported by our stories team, eight regular contributors from diverse backgrounds and circumstances shared their personal accounts of what hardship is like for them and their families, aiming to shift cultural narratives around poverty.

“I’ve not yet had to turn off appliances like my fridge and freezer to save energy, but I know people who have, and maybe it is something I’ll have to consider because this winter it will be even harder to keep warm. Fridges are expensive. This winter I may have to finally turn mine off.”

James (name changed to protect anonymity), who shared his experiences in a series of Heat or Eat articles

Over 30 articles were published between April 2022 and March 2023, and the series continued beyond this date. Contributors were offered anonymity, as well as payment for sharing their story. Many have gone on to a greater variety of media involvement and have grown in confidence around sharing their story.

Members of our Together for Change panel speaking at our staff gathering in September 2022

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LOOKING FORWARD to 2023/24

Over the coming year we will continue to see extremely high levels of need at our food banks as the continuing cost of living crisis compounds the challenges people are already facing. Our latest figures show that a record number of food parcels – close to 1.5 million – were provided by food banks across the network between April and September 2023. This is the most parcels that the network has ever distributed at this point in the year; people across the country are still facing impossible decisions.

Standing together as a network

Food banks will do what they always do – meeting the challenge of supporting on the lowest incomes with compassion and resolve. And we will stand alongside our food banks to ensure continuity of operations for people who need to access a food bank. We are continuing our emergency grants programme introduced last winter and will support the network as needed around challenges with sourcing food. Our dedicated area teams will, as always, provide tailored support to each food bank and respond to their particular needs and challenges.

Recognising the pressure that food bank staff and volunteers are under, we will continue to invest in wellbeing initiatives. We will also ensure that our Help through Hardship helpline and its equivalents in Scotland and Northern Ireland help to take some of the immediate pressure off food banks and give people in need easy access to tailored advice and assistance.

As the external environment and economic context changes, we will stand ready to react rapidly in supporting our network and the people that they serve.

Driving forward our shared strategy

Alongside maintaining our operational response to the levels of need our network is seeing, we are firmly committed to progressing our shared Together for Change strategy and achieving our vision of ending the need for food banks in the UK. We will continue to build capacity within the network to undertake transformational strategic activity through our grant programmes and additional central support. We will also expand our partnerships across a range of sectors and through this facilitate new links and relationships at the local level.

Calling for change – the Essentials Guarantee

The launch of our Essentials Guarantee campaign in February, in partnership with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, saw 90 organisations immediately commit their support for the goal of ensuring social security payments cover the cost of essentials. This is our most ambitious campaign so far and we will be further ramping up the pressure on policy-makers during 2023/24, making the case to new audiences, widening the commitment across existing and new partners, and ensuring the voices of people with lived experience continue to shape our approach.

Our campaigning work will continue to be underpinned by robust evidence developed in partnership with expert research bodies. Releasing our ‘Hunger in the UK’ report in 2023/24 – which builds on our groundbreaking ‘State of

Hunger’ research programme – has deepened the evidence base on the drivers of food bank use and underlined the urgency with which the UK’s social security system must be strengthened.

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Maximising learning from our Pathfinder programme

Our Pathfinder programme has continued to gain momentum, and the appetite for food banks to develop and test their local strategies to end the need for their services has remained strong in the face of the enormous operational challenges they are under.

We will work with the 59 food banks on the programme to maintain this momentum, and together we will increase our focus on learning what is making a difference on the ground. By encouraging reflective practice and active learning through the Pathfinder programme, the insights we gather will be shared with the wider network and help to catalyse action across more and more food banks. Our grants stream will continue in to 2023/24.

Rollout of transformative advice and support services in food banks

Food banks across our network have shown a strong appetite for establishing the advice and support services that can help prevent people needing to receive emergency food. With two thirds of food banks providing these services at the end of 2022/23, we will continue to support even more to put these in place and ensure that learning about the most effective approaches is shared. We will continue our financial inclusion grants stream to make sure that more and more people can access this vital support.

Empowering food banks to use their voice

Our organising programme, which supports food banks to organise, influence, and campaign for change locally, has continued to grow. Over 2022/23 we reached our goal of 60 local areas across the UK being represented on the programme, with each of these undertaking an average of three organising activities.

We will continue to support more food banks to join the programme and progress their organising work, enabling them to identify issues that need addressing, develop influencing plans and create lasting change in their communities. Our grants stream will continue in to 2023/24, ensuring food banks have the resource and capacity they need to undertake this innovative work.

We will always do everything we can to serve our network of food banks. Our shared values of compassion, justice, dignity and community will be at our core. Our vision and Together for Change strategy will drive every decision we make. Our commitment to meaningfully involve people with lived experience and advocate alongside them will help us create the right solutions. And while things may get worse before they get better, we will see a UK without the need for food banks in our lifetime.

"What I hope for in the future is that people will have enough money to live on and that people will have the ability to live independently of food banks and of all the support that we give."

Linda, Abergele Foodbank

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Financial Review

Where our income comes from

We are reliant upon the generosity of all our supporters to fund our charitable activities and work towards a future where everyone can afford the essentials. Our income is made up of donations (including Gift Aid) and legacies from individuals, plus donations, grants, and contractual partnership payments from corporates, trusts and foundations:

Public donations – £35.5m

Corporate supporters – £14.0m

----- Start of picture text -----
4%
11%
Income
24% £58.0m 61%
}
----- End of picture text -----

Trusts & Foundations – £6.6m

Charity retail & other trading – £1.1m

The majority of this income relates to funds raised by our network of charity shops, selling goods kindly donated to us by members of the public.

Investments – £0.6m

This relates to interest income earnt on our bank deposits during the year.

Donated food – £0.2m

This represents the financial value of food and toiletries donated for distribution by Brent Foodbank, which is directly operated by the Trussell Trust.

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Where we spend our income

----- Start of picture text -----
2%
13%
4%
Expenditure
11% 53%
£55.2m
17%
----- End of picture text -----

Changing Communities activities: Grants – £29.2m

This year, we have spent £29.2m (53% of total expenditure) on grant making to support our work towards Changing Communities. £20.8m of grants were made to food banks in our network, including the small amount of support costs needed to facilitate this.

We have also invested further (£7.3m) in the Help Through Hardship helpline, run in partnership with Citizens Advice and Mind. We also have partnerships in place to ensure that those in difficulty across Northern Ireland and Scotland can access expert advice.

Additional Changing Communities activities – £9.5m

In addition to the £29.2m in grants and helpline funding figures above, expenditure for the year included £9.5m of non-financial support to food banks (an increase of 32% from 2021/22). This has enabled them to deliver their services effectively – including operational infrastructure support, tailored programmes and projects, and expert staff. The costs of the Brent food bank, which is directly operated by the Trussell Trust, are also included here.

Changing Minds activities – £6.1m

During the year we invested £6.1m (an increase of 67% from 2021/22) in increasing public understanding of what leads people in our communities to access food banks, and build a movement of change. This is part of our integrated approach to ending the need for food banks across the UK.

Changing Policy activities – £2.3m

Costs included here relate to our research, strategy, and policy work. Together with our partners, including food banks in our network, those with lived experience of poverty and other anti-poverty organisations, we work to change policy at all levels of government to eradicate destitution across the UK.

Fundraising activities – £7.2m

Like every charity, we must invest in our fundraising activity to secure the funding we require to continue and expand our charitable work. In this financial year, we increased our investment in fundraising activities including investment in our first TV advertising campaign which helped us reach more members of the general public than ever before and inform them about the work and mission of the Trussell Trust. Despite our income growth and the increasing generosity from our supporters, we continue to work hard to raise funds to directly support our network as they face unprecedented levels of need and to deliver our strategy. For further information on the way in which we approach fundraising, see page 67.

Charity retail – £1.0m

This expenditure covers the costs of running our charity shops, including staff, buildings, and vehicles.

The expenditure values depicted on this page are shown after the inclusion of support cost allocations (see note 7).

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Financial performance and position

The year ending 31 March 2023 was a record expenditure year for the Trussell Trust. Our expenditure increased by almost ten per cent, to £55.2m, in line with our plans for the year, in response to the growing levels of need seen at food banks across the network and an acceleration of work across all areas of our shared Together for Change strategy.

Due to the widespread recognition across the country of the challenges faced by people experiencing hunger and poverty, we saw incredible support for our cause. The generosity of supporters, including the response to our first ever emergency appeal, surpassed our expectations and therefore resulted in a small surplus of £2.8m. This surplus will be invested into our strategic work across future years.

A summary of the year’s results can be found on page 82 of this report and accounts.

On 1 April 2021 the charity incorporated a wholly owned trading subsidiary, Trussell Trading Limited (company 13310114, registered in England and Wales), to support its income generation activities. For reasons of materiality the financial results of Trussell Trading Limited have not been consolidated within this report.

Income

Thanks to the enormous generosity of our supporters - the general public, corporate partners, trusts and foundations – we saw a substantial increase in our income. This reached levels only previously seen during the pandemic and represented a 70% increase on 2021/22. A breakdown of total income by source can be seen on page 82 and further analysis seen in notes 2 to 6.

Costs

As the support we receive has increased, so has our commitment to significantly increase the scale of the work that is delivering against our strategy. This has gone hand in hand with recognition of the intense operational pressures food banks have been facing due to the high levels of need in their communities. We have continued to support food banks to hold both of these priorities. We have retained a focus on significant investment in our grants programme for food banks. And we have created additional capacity within the network through investment in our expert

area teams to work alongside food bank teams. This has enabled the expansion of their work in key areas such as financial inclusion, local organising and volunteer development work.

Our investment in the Help through Hardship helpline, run in partnership with Citizens Advice and Mind, has ensured that even more people in England and Wales have received free expert advice on benefits entitlement and wider income maximisation. We continue to support the development and delivery of parallel initiatives in Scotland and Northern Ireland to ensure UK-wide coverage.

Overall, this has translated to an increase in total expenditure to £55.2m from £50.6m. A breakdown of total expenditure can be seen on page 82 and further analysis in note 7.

Directly operated food banks

The Trussell Trust directly operates one food bank, in Brent, and the financial results and performance of this food bank are included in this report. Accordingly, all figures presented in these accounts are not a measure of the food donations and disbursements across the food bank network as a whole.

Reserves policy

Our reserves policy aims to ensure our work is protected from the risk of disruption at short notice due to lack of funds. It also preserves some incoming resources for future opportunities that may present themselves, while at the same time ensuring we do not retain income for longer than required. Our policy is designed to ensure we are able to honour our grant commitments and deliver our long-term grant making strategy.

Unrestricted free reserves are not intended to cover a permanent loss of funds. They are intended to provide an internal source of funds for situations such as:

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The target range for unrestricted free reserves is set in line with a risk-based approach. This approach has regard to the financial impact of risk, working capital and commitments and long-term plans. At 31 March 2023 the policy provided a range of £9.5m to £12.5m.

In July 2023 the Trustees revisited our policy in recognition of the increased risks faced by the food bank network due to significant levels of need, and the increasing likelihood of those risks crystallising. This review led to an increase in our target range to £12.5m to £15.5m.

Funds

Due to the success of our emergency appeal and incredible support from our donors we found ourselves in the privileged position of exiting the year with higher reserves than planned, with total funds of the charity as at 31 March 2023 at £35.5m. This includes £5.4m of restricted funds and £30.1m of unrestricted funds. Within this balance of unrestricted funds, the Trustees have made the following designations.

Our Designations

Investing for change – £17.4m

Our Pathfinder food banks remain at the forefront of innovating new strategic programmes, focused on reducing the need for emergency food in their areas, and improving food bank practice towards the delivery of long-term change, including financial inclusion, local organising and mobilisation, and increasing access to and provision of crucial support via referral partners. To provide reassurance to our network that this vital work can continue next year, and to drive forward longer-term planning, we have designated funds to this programme.

Alongside ensuring our Pathfinder food banks have funding in place for 2023/24, we are also designating funds to boost strategic capacity at both a local and regional level within all other food banks in our network, supporting their desire to increase campaigning activity over the next year, during this pivotal period for change.

We currently have over 3m people using our website. A third of the visits are by people seeking support. As a key source for help, information on our work, and our primary income channel, we are designating funds to redevelop our website, and 420+ food bank websites, to ensure the technology we are using is up to date, accessible, enables people in crisis to access the right support, and are fit for wider audience’s needs.

Top-up designations – £1.1m

Asda and Tesco top-ups – the charity has established the practice of distributing the top-up donations, which are donations made directly from these companies alongside the instore customer product donations. After the deduction of a small percentage for the charity’s core costs, these are then distributed to food banks in the network. These monies have therefore been set aside as designated funds – the balance on these funds at 31 March totalled £1.1m.

At the end of March 2021, a total of £26.75m was designated across our three strategic areas of Changing Communities, Changing Policy and Changing Minds to accelerate the delivery of our Together for Change strategy. This has been spent down in line with our plans and our designations for 2023/24 will follow the same process. There remains a balance of £0.8m which will be spent down in the first quarter of 2023/24 on our strategic projects for our policy and advocacy work.

At 31 March 2023, the charity’s free reserves, being funds neither restricted nor designated, were £10.8m – this figure is in line with the reserves policy in place at the year end. An analysis of net assets between funds can be found in Note 22.

Investment policy

The Trussell Trust’s priority is to spend its resources as promptly, as strategically and operationally as possible and in line with its vision to end the need for food banks in the UK. On occasion and due to significant shifts in income and expenditure trends, the charity may be holding larger than anticipated reserves. At such times the overall objective is:

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Investment decisions are sought to be made in line with the Trussell Trust’s:

During the year the charity held instant-access cash deposits with CCLA, and short-term fixed deposits with RBS to ensure that we are able to react swiftly to the emergency needs of the network. There was no investment in equities, other securities, or longterm fixed deposits.

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Principal risks and uncertainties

Following on from the extensive and prolonged impact of Covid-19, we have continued to face a challenging and uncertain environment due to the ongoing cost of living crisis.

Our well-established structures and processes have enabled us to monitor and respond to rapidlychanging external circumstances and to ensure key risks are appropriately managed. These include:

Key risks faced by the organisation can be broadly categorised as follows:

A highly challenging and rapidlychanging environment

Inflation rates have remained stubbornly higher than anticipated, prolonging the impact that food banks are experiencing. While the cost of living situation is not the main driver of food bank need, the volatility around it has made it harder for the network to plan and respond accordingly.

The cost of living crisis has led to an increase – from already extremely high levels – in the numbers of people needing support from food banks. Specific UK government interventions, such as cost of living payments, have had some positive impact but this has been short-lived and has not addressed the ongoing fundamental issue of social security payments falling short of the cost of the essentials we all rely on.

We have continued to engage closely with our food banks to track the levels of need they are facing so we can pivot to support them in the best way – for example as we did through our Rapid Winter Emergency Grants. We have also launched our Essentials Guarantee campaign with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, to ramp up the pressure on ensuring the social security system protects people from destitution.

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Meeting need today while working to our vision for the future

The operational challenges food banks have been facing mean that their ability to engage with strategic activity and work towards long term change has at times been restricted.

The increased need that food banks have seen has been accompanied by challenges around stock. The public have continued to be extremely generous in their support of food banks and donations of food were slightly higher than the previous year. However, due to the extra food needed to meet the increased need, food banks had to turn to purchasing food to cover the gap. This, for many food banks, is something that they have never had to do previously.

As well as facing more challenges with sourcing food, food banks have seen a change in the range of people needing support – such as more people in work – which often requires different approaches to be put in place.

Building a diverse, inclusive and participatory network

We cannot end the need for food banks without recognising the structures that disproportionately impact particular groups, involving people in the design of services and solutions, or enabling people with lived experience to advocate for change with and be heard by decision-makers.

We have made strong progress in these areas. We are increasingly ensuring that people with lived experience shape the work that we do and how we go about it and supporting food banks to take a participatory approach.

We are also a more diverse and inclusive organisation and our principles around EDI closely inform our thinking at all levels. We are proud of the attentiveness we have given to this and of the relationship we have developed with food banks around EDI where we are able to celebrate and spread good practice and constantly learn from each other’s experiences and insight. It is vital that we continue to be intentional.

We also recognise the areas where there is more we need to do and where we need to deepen our understanding. For example, our research suggests that some groups who are at higher risk of food insecurity (such as people from ethnic minority groups, people who are informal carers, and people who are LGBTQ+) are not seen in similar proportions amongst people referred to our food banks.

As a network, we are committed to providing the most compassionate response for as long as we are needed but also recognise the need to address the drivers which ultimately create the need for food banks.

We are supporting the network to hold these two priorities. This is through steps including dedicated day-to-day support from our expanded on the ground team, support with sourcing food, easy to access grant funding to progress strategic activity, and ensuring the voice of food banks and the people who need them is heard by policy-makers.

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thanks to our supporters

Everything we do as a charity is only possible because of our generous supporters.

In this section you can read about the generous contributions of individual supporters, our corporate partners, and trusts and foundations. Across the last financial year their generosity and commitment to supporting our work and vision continued to grow.

We are hugely grateful to all of them for their generosity in enabling food banks to meet the immediate needs in their local communities and to continue our shared mission to end the need for food banks in the UK.

Donations from the public

In October 2022 we launched our first ever winter emergency appeal to help keep food banks going through the challenging winter months. Our supporters and the general public heard the call and responded with overwhelming compassion. This helped to fund the wide range of activities described on page 18.

Land’s End to John O’Groats

In September, Keith Reynolds took to his bike to take on a mammoth journey - 1,200 miles, over 24 days from Land’s End to John O’Groats to raise funds for the Trussell Trust. Cramming everything he needed into pannier bags, his daily average was a staggering 50 miles!

Before setting off, Keith looked forward to being joined by friends and family for some of the stages, but took on the challenge alone, after being inspired by our vision to end the need for food banks.

Speaking of his motivation to risk sore legs on his journey, he said: “The Trussell Trust supports a vast network of food banks across the country and provide practical help at the most basic level for those who are hungry. But more than that, they actively work on the bigger picture - treating not just the symptoms – hunger – but also the disease.”

Total raised: £6,380

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Once again, our amazing supporters across the UK held a Tea for Trussell, making each cuppa count to raise vital funds.

Royal Parks Half Marathon

Daniel Moss started running long distances for something to do during lockdown. Just two years later he completed a half marathon 1hr 57mins, beating his target of two hours!

The stunning 13.1 mile route takes in many of the capital’s world-famous landmarks on closed roads, and four of London’s eight Royal Parks – Hyde Park, Green Park, St James’s Park and Kensington Gardens.

Daniel first became aware of the Trussell Trust in 2020 and was keen to support people struggling to afford the essentials through donations.

Having secured a place in the Royal Parks Half Marathon, he felt it would be a wasted opportunity not to use his efforts to raise funds, explaining:

“I wanted to support the Trussell Trust as the cost of living crisis is pushing more people into poverty, increasing food bank use. The fundraising experience was really positive, everybody I spoke to was very supportive and impressed by what good cause it was for.”

Total raised: £700

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Corporate Partners

The relationships we build with corporate partners are crucial to our ability to deliver on our vision of a future without the need for food banks. We are proud to partner with many different organisations who share that vision and deliver income, access to expertise and resources. As our network responds to the increase in numbers of people needing support, we’re grateful for these partners, many of whom have generously given their support over many years.

Tesco

We would like to recognise the support we have received from Tesco in this, our tenth year of partnership together. In addition to the ongoing generosity of Tesco customers at collection events and in stores year-round, at the start of 2023 Tesco worked with us to create a truly one-of-a-kind offer to support a group of food banks in our network who were facing the biggest challenge with stock levels. By delivering regular, large donations of the items the food banks needed most, Tesco not only helped food banks with their emergency food parcels, but also freed up considerable volunteer time and food bank funds. This enabled food banks to prioritise their work to address the underlying drivers of need in their communities.

Waitrose

Waitrose has supported the Trussell Trust since 2011, when permanent collection points were set up in their stores to collect long-life food and essentials for food banks in the Trussell Trust network. As customers donate essential items of food, Waitrose top up all customer donations with an additional 20% donation. Our partnership has expanded to also include online donations on their website and seasonal campaigns across the John Lewis Partnership. Waitrose’s longstanding support has helped to expand our financial inclusion programme into more food banks across the network, ensuring that people are able to access support to increase their income and reduce the risk of them needing to use a food bank again. Since 2017, this partnership has also enabled over 3.5m kilos of stock to be donated in stores, providing emergency food to people facing hardship.

Morrisons

We are delighted that our long-standing partnership with Morrisons has now helped to raise over £1 million through the generosity of their customers, who are able to make financial donations online as

well as product donations in Morrisons stores. In addition to this support, we were thrilled to be chosen as the Morrisons Foundation’s Christmas Charity Partner in 2022 in support of our first ever emergency appeal last winter to help keep food banks going through an exceptionally challenging time.

Asda

Our longstanding partnership with Asda has continued to help us provide much needed food items to the food banks in our network. In 2022/23 in-store donations via the permanent collection points and Asda’s summer food drive delivered over 3 million meals to people who are facing hunger. Asda also increased their top-up value this year, meaning they donated over £500,000 to support the food banks in our network. Residual funding from our earlier Fight Hunger Create Change partnership was also donated to help fund our Hunger in the UK research which will be the bedrock of our work over the coming years as we campaign to end the need for food banks.

Cadent

Thanks to the incredible support from the Cadent Foundation, we were able to help thousands of callers through our national Help through Hardship helpline and expand the financial inclusion programme across several of our food banks. Through the financial inclusion advice offered in the food banks, we have been able to maximise income for thousands of people, meaning many no longer need to use a food bank and can afford to pay for the essentials.

Deliveroo

Over the last year our amazing partnership with Deliveroo has helped us to provide on the ground support and grants to food banks across our network. The impactful campaigns that Deliveroo has launched such as Collecteroo have helped us to reach new audiences and been invaluable in helping

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us to bring our Changing Minds message to millions of people in the UK.

volunteering days at food banks and more widely in support of our work.

NatWest

We are delighted to have NatWest as a key partner for our Help through Hardship work across the UK, enabling us to support people facing hardship across all four nations and launching our pilot projects in Scotland. NatWest have also shown amazing support with fundraising and volunteering, for example employees have been involved in over 100

Barclays

Across the past year, Barclays has continued to be a key strategic partner for our financial inclusion programme across the UK. This support has enabled us to increase the provision of income advice services to people in financial hardship. The support from Barclays has also helped us build a network of financial inclusion managers and has been pivotal in upskilling volunteers and staff.

Trusts and foundations

We are incredibly grateful for the partnership support we received from many charitable trusts. Their generosity enabled us to respond in a meaningful way for our food banks while they faced significant challenges over the last turbulent year. The cost of living crisis caused additional challenges, but together with our trust funders, we were able to maintain key programmes and ease immediate pressures as we worked together to end the need for food banks.

Our deepest thanks go to all our funders, including:

Julia and Hans Rausing Trust

Stepping up as a catalyst funder for our emergency appeal last year, the Julia and Hans Rausing Trust responded with enormous generosity. The impact of their grant was hugely encouraging to our food banks as they faced into their most difficult winter. Through their contribution, we were able to provide much needed support to our food banks and ease the burden of increased need seen across the network in 2022/23, which outstripped any previous year. We would like to offer our heartfelt thanks to the Trust, for their significant grant and ongoing support.

objectives they seek to achieve alongside the Trussell Trust and our food banks.

Oak Foundation

Core funding is an important way for us to remain flexible and meet the needs of our food banks in a rapidly changing economic setting. The Oak Foundation’s core funding has enabled us to remain responsive and agile, and we are deeply grateful for their understanding and partnership support. We are looking forward to working closely together over the next year as their support enables us to move closer to our vision of a UK without the need for food banks.

Pears Foundation

Moondance Foundation

We are incredibly grateful for the Moondance Foundation’s funding, which has enabled us to embed financial inclusion projects in local communities across Wales. Moondance has also provided generous support for food banks in Wales weathering the cost of living crisis, allowing them to remain responsive to the needs of people in their communities. The Foundation’s support is underpinned by their deep knowledge of the challenges facing Wales and clarity on the

The long-term support from the Pears Foundation enabled us to invest in our visionary project of embedding financial inclusion projects in communities across the UK. Over the last three years, we have proved the value and impact of this work, particularly during the ongoing cost of living crisis when these services have been a critical part of the support food banks can offer people facing hardship. We look forward to continuing this partnership with the Pears Foundation, delivering benefits to people who need support in the future.

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People’s Postcode Lottery

People’s Postcode Lottery’s commitment to our work is deeply appreciated. Over the last year, their grant delivered support to our Help Through Hardship helpline and supported our food banks to meet warehousing costs required to store and pack food. The helpline continues to be a much-needed service for people facing hardship, offering financial support and a food bank referral if needed. The helpline is also an important service for people who may have difficulty accessing a food bank, for example due to caring responsibilities, disabilities or those living

rurally. People’s Postcode Lottery has worked with us this year to raise awareness of our services and the impact we are having across England, Scotland and Wales and we are very grateful for their partnership.

Additional thanks

We are particularly grateful to Aldama Foundation, Balcombe Charitable Trust, BBC Children in Need, Benefact Trust, City Bridge Trust, Clara E Burgess Charity, Gemini Trust, The JABBS Foundation, The Mackintosh Foundation, Porticus UK, Vertex Foundation, and William Kessler Charitable Trust.

Our promise to supporters

We could not continue to work towards our vision without our amazing supporters. We deeply appreciate their generosity.

ensure they are properly protected and looked after.

In response to the support people provide, we promise to:

How we protect vulnerable people

We care for each and every one of our supporters and follow the Fundraising Code of Practice to

Caring for our supporters and fundraisers

We have a dedicated supporter care team who are available and on hand to respond to any supporter needs, queries, feedback, requests or complaints, as well as having specific policies and procedures in place to protect vulnerable people.

We continuously seek to improve the way we do things based on supporter feedback and engagement.

Our fundraising approach

Contact us at supportercare@trusselltrust.org or call 01722 580 178 (Mon-Fri, 9am–5pm).

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Our Structure, Governance and Management

Organisational structure

Our Trustees are ultimately responsible for the overall control and strategic direction of the charity and the protection of its assets. Day-to-day management is delegated to the Chief Executive Officer, Emma Revie, and the Senior Leadership Group. Our Trustees meet regularly to set the vision, strategic framework, and budgets under which the charity operates and to manage risks. The Board has been chaired by Stephen Hicks since September 2018.

The Board has established five subcommittees with delegated authority for certain matters and to ensure key matters are given increased time and scrutiny.

its subcommittees and its subsidiaries. This includes regular Board appraisals and skills audits to inform future Board development or composition.

The full Board formally meets at least three times a year. The subcommittees also meet at least three times a year. An AGM is held each year. Our governance is underpinned by the Charity Governance Code and put into action via annual appraisals for each Board member and a formal process for the Chair, Treasurer and CEO whose appraisals are reviewed by our People and Governance subcommittee.

The Trustees set the strategic direction of the organisation and are regularly updated on a wide range of activity, including our grant-making to the network, public relations and fundraising campaigns. Trustees receive regular financial updates which form the basis of the routine financial monitoring.

The charity works to ensure all of the organisation’s stakeholders are able to participate in its development. We have structures and programmes to ensure that our key stakeholders are at the heart of decision-making, including a panel of people with lived experience of financial hardship, and strategic consultation groups with representatives of 10% of Trussell Trust food banks.

The CEO holds regular accountability meetings to monitor and control the organisation and reporting processes are in place. Oversight groups for our key areas of activity ensure that any issues are escalated and resolved as needed.

Governing document

The Trussell Trust is a charitable company limited by guarantee, constituted under a trust deed dated 12 January 1997 and transferred into the charitable

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company (05434524) on 19 September 2005 and is a registered charity, number 1110522. The company also registered as a charity in Scotland on 5 September 2013, number SC044246. The company was established under a Memorandum of Association which established the objects and powers of the charitable company and is governed under its Articles of Association. In the event of the company being wound up, members are required to contribute an amount not exceeding £10.

Recruitment and appointment of new Trustees

The Trustees of the company are also charity Trustees for the purpose of charity law. When recruiting new Trustees, we aim to attract a diverse range of candidates who have the skills the charity needs. The Board values the benefits of having members with different backgrounds, expertise and experience, and has committed to increasing our diversity in order to ensure we are benefitting from distinctive perspectives. Overall, our Trustees are appointed on merit, ensuring we have a balance of skills and experience.

No new Trustees joined the Board in the year ending 31 March 2023. Five new Trustees were appointed by the Nominations committee and took up their role in May 2023. This followed a robust interview and engagement selection process to ensure they understand our vision and values. Trustees have been subject to DBS checks where appropriate.

All new Trustees undertake an induction programme, which includes visits to our network, the roles and duties of the Trustees, company and charity law and governance, and financial and risk management. Additional training is arranged as needed for individual Trustees or for the Trustees as whole.

Remuneration policy

In 2021/22 an extensive pay review was completed to ensure that our staff remuneration structure was appropriate and aligned with our values and commitment to EDI. We committed to the following principles in determining pay for all our employees:

We are proud of the work we have done to continue to ensure through our pay principles that we’re a fair, equitable and competitive-paying organisation. This is reflected in our gender pay gap which is a mean of -0.04%, demonstrating the impact and effectiveness these principles have in delivering equitable pay outcomes. It was also reflected in our approach to the cost of living pressures that have continued over the past year. We continue to be accredited as a Living Wage employer and our employee benefits encourage the wellbeing, mental health, and financial resilience of our staff in keeping with our charitable aims. We also hold accreditation under the Good Business Charter.

The key management personnel of the charity comprises of the Trustees, the Chief Executive Officer, Chief Strategy Officer, Chief Operations and People Officer, and the Company Secretary. As disclosed in Note 11 of these financial statements, no Trustees received any remuneration or benefits in their role as Trustee; additional disclosures on key management personnel remuneration and other changes to the organisation's investment in its people can be seen in Note 12.

Modern slavery

The Trussell Trust complies with the Ethical Trading Initiative base code, and we expect our suppliers and their supply chain to comply with this code. There is no modern slavery or human trafficking in any part of our business. When we review our contracts, and develop new ones, we assess the possibility of modern slavery. We continue to monitor and improve how we manage contracts and provide training to staff and the network to raise awareness.

Public benefit disclosure

The Trustees confirm 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 Trussell Trust is a public benefit entity. The Trustees refer to public benefit throughout this report. The Trustees, who are also directors of the Trussell Trust for the purposes of the Companies Act 2006, present their report with the financial statements of the charity for the year ended 31 March 2023. In preparing the report, which also serves as the Strategic Report for the purposes of Company Legislation,

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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).

Our charity details

Registered Company Number

05434524 (England and Wales)

Environmental

At the Trussell Trust, we recognise that through our activities we have an impact on the environment. Over the past years, we have taken a considered approach to minimising negative environmental impacts, whilst balancing this commitment with the requirements inherent in delivering our core function as an anti-poverty charity. We recognise that as our activities have grown over successive years, so will our environmental impacts (positive and negative). Therefore, in 2023/24 we will be taking a review of our policies and how we capture and report on our environmental impact - creating a baseline against which we can work to improve in future years.

Registered Charity Number

1110522 (England and Wales) SC044246 (Scotland)

Registered Office

Unit 9, Ashfield Trading Estate, Ashfield Road, Salisbury, Wiltshire, SP2 7HL

Trustees

Mr S Hicks (Chair) Mr D Gordon

Mr S Ariaratnam (appointment day 30th May 2023) Mr T Gibbs (appointment day 30th May 2023) Dr L Hickman

Mr R Lanyon

Ms S Morgan (appointment day 30th May 2023) Mr P Morrison

Mr D Shrubsole (appointment day 30th May 2023) Revd B Thomas

Ms S Vibert (appointment day 30th May 2023)

Company Secretary

Mrs C Leeper

Chief Executive Officer

Mrs E Revie

Bankers

The Royal Bank of Scotland, 36 St Andrews Square, Edinburgh, EH2 2YB

Investment Managers

CCLA Investment Management Limited, 1 Angel Lane, London, EC4R 3AB

Auditors

Buzzacott LLP, 130 Wood Street, London, EC2V 6DL

Lawyers

Bates Wells & Braithwaite London LLP, trading as Bates Wells, 10 Queen Street Place, London EC4R 1BE

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STATEMENT OF TRUSTEES’ RESPONSIBILITIES

The Trustees (who are also the directors of The Trussell Trust for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the Report of the Trustees and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

Company law requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of the income and expenditure of the charitable company for that period. In preparing those financial statements, the Trustees are required to:

The Trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records which disclose the reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charitable company and to enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

In so far as the Trustees are aware:

There is no relevant audit information of which the charitable company’s auditors are unaware; and The Trustees have taken all steps that they ought to have taken to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the auditors are aware of that information.

28 November 2023 Approved by order of the Board of Trustees on ______ and signed on its behalf by:

S Hicks - Chair of Trustees

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AUDITOR'S REPORT

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Independent auditor’s report to the members of the Trussell Trust

Opinion

We have audited the financial statements of the Trussell Trust (the ‘charitable company’) for the year ended 31 March 2023, which comprise the statement of financial activities, the balance sheet, the statement of cash flows and the notes to the financial statements including details of the principal accounting policies adopted. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 ‘The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland’ (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).

In our opinion, the financial statements:

Basis for opinion

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the 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 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 Trustees are responsible for the other information. The other information comprises the information included in the Annual Report and Financial Statements, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.

In connection with our audit of the financial statements, our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements, or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether there is a material misstatement in the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.

We have nothing to report in this regard.

Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006

In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in

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REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT AUDITORS TO THE MEMBERS OF THE TRUSSELL TRUST (continued)

the course of the audit:

Matters on which we are required to report by exception

In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the charitable company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the Trustees’ report including the strategic report.

We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended) requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:

Responsibilities of Trustees

As explained more fully in the Trustees’ responsibilities statement, the Trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as 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 financial statements, the Trustees are responsible for assessing the 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 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

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.

Our approach to identifying and assessing the risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations, was as follows:

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REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT AUDITORS TO THE MEMBERS OF THE TRUSSELL TRUST (continued)

communicated within the audit team regularly and the team remained alert to instances of noncompliance throughout the audit;

We assessed the susceptibility of the charitable company’s financial statements to material misstatement, including obtaining an understanding of how fraud might occur, by:

To address the risk of fraud through management bias and override of controls, we:

In response to the risk of irregularities and noncompliance with laws and regulations, we designed procedures which included, but were not limited to:

There are inherent limitations in our audit procedures described above. The more removed that laws and regulations are from financial transactions, the less likely it is that we would become aware of noncompliance. Auditing standards also limit the audit procedures required to identify non-compliance with laws and regulations to enquiry of the Trustees and other management and the inspection of regulatory and legal correspondence, if any.

Material misstatements that arise due to fraud can be harder to detect than those that arise from error as they may involve deliberate concealment or collusion.

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.

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REPORT OF THE INDEPENDENT AUDITORS TO THE MEMBERS OF THE TRUSSELL TRUST (continued)

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 and to the charity’s Trustees as a body, in accordance with Section 44(1) (c) of the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and Regulation 10 of the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 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.

Katharine Patel (Senior Statutory Auditor) For and on behalf of Buzzacott LLP, Statutory Auditor 130 Wood Street London EC2V 6DL

5 December 2023

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FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

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STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES

(INCORPORATING AN INCOME AND EXPENDITURE ACCOUNT) FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Note
INCOME FROM
Donations and legacies
2
Fundraising income
Donated goods & services
Charitable activities
3
Programme Grants and contracts
Other trading activities
4
Investment income
5
Other income
6
Total income
EXPENDITURE ON
Raising funds
Fundraising activities
7
Other trading activities
7
Charitable activities
7
Grants expenditure
Changing Communities
Changing Minds
Changing Policy
Total expenditure
Net income/(expenditure) before
transfers
Transfers between funds
Net income/ (expenditure)
Reconciliation of funds
Total funds brought forward at 1 April
2022
23
Total funds carried forward at 31 March
2023
23		 Unrestricted
£’000
34,409
180
-
1,163
628
-
36,380
6,881
997
12,068
6,261
5,422
1,858
33,487
2,893
-
2,893
27,190
30,083		 Restricted
£’000
21,215
272
171
-
-
-
21,658
341
-
17,096
3,222
648
431
21,738
(80)
-
(80)
5,515
5,435		 2023
£’000
55,624
452
171
1,163
628
-
58,038
7,222
997
29,164
9,483
6,070
2,289
55,225
2,813
-
2,813
32,705
35,518		 2022
£’000
32,564
265
243
1,050
30
37
34,189
4,469
961
32,713
7,190
3,639
1,595
50,567
(16,378)
-
(16,378)
49,083
32,705

The notes form part of these financial statements.

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BALANCE SHEET AT 31 MARCH 2023

Note
Fixed assets
Tangible assets
14
Investments
15
Current assets
Stocks
16
Debtors
17
Short-term deposits
18
Cash at bank
18
Creditors:Amounts falling due within one year
19
Net current assets
Total assets less current liabilities
Creditors:Amounts falling due after more than one year
20
Provisions for liabilities
21
Total net assets
Funds
Unrestricted
General
23
Designated
23
Restricted
23
Total funds		 2023
£’000
295
-
295
9
5,446
9,000
49,403
63,858
(17,173)
46,685
46,980
(11,298)
(164)
35,518
10,823
19,260
30,083
5,435
35,518		 2022
£’000
426
-
426
8
6,009
-
50,088
56,105
(19,464)
36,641
37,067
(4,225)
(137)
32,705
13,140
14,050
27,190
5,515
32,705

28 November 2023 The financial statements were approved by the Board of Trustees on: ______ And were signed on its behalf by: ________ Company Registration Number: 05434524

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CASH FLOW STATEMENT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Note
Cash fows from operating activities:
Cash generated from operations
Net cash provided by operating activities
Cash fows from investing activities:
Purchase of tangible fxed assets
14
Interest received
5
Interest in short-term deposits
Net cash used in investing activities
Change in cash and cash equivalents in the reporting period
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the reporting period
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the reporting period
Reconciliation of net income to net cash fow from operating activities
Note
Net income / (expenditure) for the reporting period
Adjusted for:
Depreciation
14
Interest received
5
Release of provisions
21
Decrease / (increase) in stocks
16
Decrease/(increase) in debtors
17
Increase in creditors
19 / 20
Net cash used in operating activities
Breakdown of cash and cash equivalents
Note
Cash at bank
18		 2023
£’000
7,729
7,729
(42)
628
(9,000)
(8,414)
(685)
50,088
49,403
2023
£’000
2,813
208
(628)
(8)
(1)
563
4,782
7,729
2023
£’000
49,403
49,403		 2022
£’000
1,735
1,735
(22)
30
-
8
1,743
48,345
50,008
2022
£’000
(16,378)
199
(30)
-
15
(1,549)
19,478
1,735
2022
£’000
50,088
50,088

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NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Note 1: Accounting policies

Basis of preparing the financial statements

The financial statements of the charitable company, which is a public benefit entity under FRS 102, have been prepared in accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102) '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)', Financial Reporting Standard 102 'The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland' and the Companies Act 2006. The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention except for investments which are included at market value, as modified by the revaluation of certain assets.

The results of the charitable company’s wholly owned subsidiary, Trussell Trading Limited, have not been consolidated into these financial statements due to their immateriality in the context of the Group’s finances as a whole. A summary of Trussell Trading Limited’s results is shown in note 15.

The financial statements are presented in sterling, rounded to the nearest thousand pounds.

Going Concern

The Trustees have considered both the charity’s financial position at the year end and the impact of future activities. The Trustees have made this assessment in respect to a period of one year from the date of approval of these financial statements.

Although the organisation and UK society is in the midst of a cost of living crisis, and continues to feel the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Trussell Trust continues to manage key risks through our well established risk management processes which have been embedded and have proved robust; for more information, please see page 65.

are no material uncertainties about the charity’s ability to continue its operations, including to meets its liabilities, for the foreseeable future. As such, the charity continues to adopt the going concern basis in preparing the financial statements.

Income

All income is recognised in the Statement of Financial Activities once the charity has entitlement to the funds, it is probable that the income will be received, and the amount can be measured reliably.

Income is only deferred when:

Investment income is recognised on a receivable basis.

Income from charitable activities includes income received under contract or where entitlement to grant funding is subject to specific conditions. Contract income is recognised as earned (as the related good and services are provided). Grant income included in this category provides funding to support activities and is recognised where there is entitlement, probability of receipt and the amount can be measured reliability.

Income from the sale of donated goods via the charity’s shops is recognised at the point of sale.

Volunteers and donated goods and services

The value of services provided by volunteers is not incorporated into these financial statements.

A risk-based reserves policy has been adopted; more details of this can be seen on pages 62. The Trustees therefore have a reasonable expectation that there

Where goods or services are provided to the charity as a donation that would normally be purchased from suppliers, this contribution is included in the

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Annual Report and Accounts 2022/23

The Trussell Trust

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

Note 1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES – continued

financial statements at an estimate based on the value of the contribution to the charity.

Food and toiletries donated to the charity and held as stock for distribution by Brent Foodbank, are recognised as income within voluntary income when received and as stock; an equivalent amount is included as expenditure when the stock is distributed.

Expenditure

Liabilities are recognised as expenditure as soon as there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the charity to that expenditure, it is probable that a transfer of economic benefits will be required in settlement and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. In the case of grants payable, these conditions are met when the amount of grant awarded has been communicated to the recipient, and there are no conditions attached to the grant which give the charity discretion to avoid this commitment. Expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis and has been classified under headings that aggregate all cost related to the category. Where costs cannot be directly attributed to particular headings, they have been allocated to activities on a basis consistent with the use of resources.

Provisions

Provisions are recognised when the charity has a legal or constructive obligation, but for which either the timing or the amount of the future expenditure required to settle the obligation is uncertain.

Irrecoverable VAT

All expenditure is classified under activity headings that aggregate all costs related to the category. Irrecoverable VAT is charged against the category of expenditure for which it was incurred.

Raising funds

Raising funds includes all expenditure incurred by the charity to raise funds for its charitable purposes,

such as fundraising activities and events, and the costs of charity retail trading (under the subheading ‘Other trading activities’).

Allocation and apportionment of costs

Support costs are those functions that assist the work of the charity but do not directly undertake charitable activities. Support costs have been allocated based on staff time and the split is shown in Note 8: Support Costs.

Tangible fixed assets

Depreciation is provided at the following annual rates in order to write off each asset over its estimated useful life.

Individual fixed assets costing £10,000 or more, plus individual assets purchased as part of a capital project costing in excess of £10,000, are capitalised at cost.

Stocks

Stocks comprise food, toiletries and household essentials held for distribution by Brent Foodbank. Stocks are valued at fair value, after allowance for obsolete and slow-moving items.

Taxation

The charity is exempt from corporation tax on its charitable activities.

Fund accounting

Unrestricted funds can be used in accordance with the charitable objectives at the discretion of the Trustees. Restricted funds can only be used for restricted purposes within the objects of the charity.

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Annual Report and Accounts 2022/23

The Trussell Trust

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

Note 1. ACCOUNTING POLICIES – continued

Restrictions arise when specified by the donor or when funds are raised for restricted purposes.

Further explanation of the nature and purpose of each fund is included in the notes to the financial statements.

Hire purchase and leasing commitments

Rentals paid under operating leases are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities on a straightline basis over the period of the lease.

Pension costs and other post-retirement benefits

The charity operates a defined contribution pension scheme. Contributions payable to the charity's pension scheme are charged to the Statement of Financial Activities in the period to which they relate.

Accounting Estimates and Judgements

In preparing the financial statements estimates and judgements have been made when applying the accounting policies. These are evaluated on an ongoing basis and are based on historical experience. The only areas where estimates or judgements have a material effect on the values within the financial statements are:

Note 2: Donations & legacies

Fundraised income:
Donations & grants
Gift Aid
Legacies
Donated goods & services
Food (Brent Foodbank)
Services and other goods		 2023
£’000
50,424
4,750
450
55,624
180
272
452
56,076		 2022
£’000
29,812
2,675
77
32,564
174
91
265
32,829

During the years ending March 2023 and March 2022, the charity directly operated one food bank, in Brent. During the year the charity received free media, advertising, and IT support, to the value of £272,000 (2022 – £91,000).

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Annual Report and Accounts 2022/23

The Trussell Trust

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Note 3: Charitable activities

Programme grants & contracts 2023
£’000
171
171		 2022
£’000
243
243

This comprises income earned under performance-related grants, where this is conditional upon the charity's delivery of specific charitable programmes, or under contracts for the provision of services aligned with the Trussell Trust's charitable aims. Other grants received to support the charity's work are included within 'donations and grants' in note 2 above.

Note 4: Other trading activities

Charity retail – shop sales
Other income		 2023
£’000
1,053
110
1,163		 2022
£’000
998
52
1,050

Note 5: Investment income

Note 5: Investment income
Deposit account interest 2023
£’000
628		 2022
£’000
30

Note 6: Other income

Charity retail – Covid-19 government support grants 2023
£’000
-
-		 2022
£’000
37
37

The Trussell Trust's charity shops were temporarily closed at the start of the 2021–22 financial year to comply with Covid-19 restrictions and as such were eligible for funding from the Government's business support schemes.

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Annual Report and Accounts 2022/23

The Trussell Trust

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Note 7: Total expenditure

Raising funds
Fundraising activities
Other trading activities
Charitable activities
Grants payable
Changing Communities
Changing Minds
Changing Policy		 Remuneration
Costs
2023
£’000
1,857
543
202
5,145
2,443
1,034
8,824
11,224		 Ofce
Costs
2023
£’000
138
79
39
340
229
65
673
890		 Project
Costs
2023
£’000
4,269
342
28,802
1,649
2,241
715
33,407
38,018		 Support
Costs
2023
£’000
958
33
121
2,349
1,157
475
4,102
5,093		 Total
2023
£’000
7,222
997
29,164
9,483
6,070
2,289
47,006
55,225		 Total
2022
£’000
4,469
961
32,713
7,190
3,639
1,595
45,137
50,567

Remuneration costs shown above, plus those included within support costs (as shown in note 8 below), relate to the various remuneration costs set out in note 12. Office costs include costs relating to employees, office expenditure, and communications. Project costs relate to expenditure on specific activities; for grants payable this figure equates to the grants made as detailed in note 9. Support costs represent indirect costs which provide the organisational structure enabling the charitable activities to take place. An analysis of support costs in provided in Note 8.

Note 8: Support costs

Remuneration
Agency and contract staf
IT (software, consultancy and equipment)
Premises
Staf recruitment
General consultancy and professional fees
Training and other staf-related costs
Governance
Miscellaneous		 2023
£’000
2,097
411
823
534
192
211
559
167
99
5,093		 2022
£’000
2,009
41
929
431
158
145
263
160
105
4,241

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Annual Report and Accounts 2022/23

The Trussell Trust

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Note 8: Support costs (continued)

Governance costs
Auditor’s remuneration
– Statutory audit
– Tax services
Trustee costs
Accountancy, legal and professional advice		 2023
£’000
39
37
13
78
167		 2022
£’000
25
-
8
127
160

Note 9: Grants payable related to the following programmes:

2023
£’000		 2022
£’000
Providing support & advice on money matters for people facing hardship
Working to reduce the need for emergency food locally
Warehousing/facilities
Volunteering support
Organising & Local Mobilisation
Food collection top-up
Other grants to food bank charities
Total Grants		 18,131
3,614
658
298
1,745
1,617
2,739
28,802		 23,100
3,975
1,114
552
1,492
853
1,346
32,432

The following was a recipient of material grant funding during the year: Citizens Advice £7,302,762

Grants have been awarded to over 400 food bank charities across the Trussell Trust network. The network is based throughout the UK including England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. A grant was made to Citizens Advice to increase our shared Help through Hardship helpline to enable more people facing hardship to access advice and support on money matters, as well as receive a food bank referral where required.

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Annual Report and Accounts 2022/23

The Trussell Trust

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Note 10: Net expenditure is stated after charging:

Auditors’ remuneration
– Statutory audit
– Tax services
Depreciation
Operating leases		 2023
£’000
39
37
208
476		 2022
£’000
25
-
199
466

Note 11: Trustees' Remuneration & Benefits

During both the year ended 31 March 2023 and the previous year, no Trustees received any remuneration or benefits in their role as Trustee. The Memorandum and Articles of Association of the company permit payments to Trustees where certain criteria are met.

Trustees' expenses

During the year, three Trustees were reimbursed for out of pocket expenses totalling £3,792 (2022: three, expenses totalling £1,128). These expenses relate primarily to travel costs incurred on behalf of the charity.

Note 12: Staff Costs

Wages and salaries
Social security costs
Other pension costs
Other benefts		 2023
£’000
11,275
1,295
666
85
13,321		 2022
£’000
8,882
930
538
61
10,411

Other benefits relates to the costs of providing income protection and life assurance, and health plans, which are offered to all employees on an equal basis.

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Annual Report and Accounts 2022/23

The Trussell Trust

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Note 12: Staff Costs (Continued)

The average monthly number of employees during the year, on both a headcount and a full-time equivalent basis, was as follows:

Headcount
2023
43
107
47
20
26
37
5
285		 2022
36
85
33
15
27
37
5
238		 FTE
2023
40
97
48
20
19
34
5
263
Raising funds
Changing Communities
Changing Minds
Changing Policy
Charity retail
Support
Grants		 33
78
32
15
19
35
4
216

The number of employees whose benefits (excluding employer National Insurance contributions and employer pension costs) exceeded £60,000 was:

£60,001 - £70,000
£70,001 - £80,000
£80,001 - £90,000
£90,001 - £100,000
£100,001 - £110,000		 2023
18
7
1
2
1
29		 2022
16
6
-
2
1
25

Staff are employed in all areas of the Trussell Trust's work, including the charity shops and associated supporting activity, to enable the charity to meet its responsibilities. The lowest rate of pay is aligned to the living wage as set by the Living Wage Foundation.

Key Management Personnel

The key management personnel (KMP) of the charity comprise the Trustees, the Chief Executive Officer, Chief Strategy Officer, Chief Operating Officer and the Company Secretary. The total employee benefits (including employer National Insurance contributions and employer pension costs) of the KMP was £419,205 (2022: £403,599).

Using available pay data for the end of the year to 31 March 2023, the CEO/median pay ratio is 3:1 (2022 - 3:1). That is to say that the CEO earns three times the rate of the median paid employee on a full time equivalent basis, accounting for all salary related benefits.

We believe that this is a reasonable ratio for our organisation and sector, reflecting our commitment to fair pay for our entire staff team and our alignment with the aims of the Good Business Charter following our accreditation in August 2020.

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Annual Report and Accounts 2022/23

The Trussell Trust

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Note 13: Comparatives for the statement of financial activities

INCOME FROM
Donations and legacies
Fundraising income
Donated goods and services
Charitable activities
Programme grants and contracts
Other trading activities
Investment income
Other income
Total income
EXPENDITURE ON
Raising funds
Fundraising activities
Other trading activities
Charitable activities
Grants expenditure
Changing Communities
Changing Minds
Changing Policy
Total expenditure
Net gains on investments
Net (expenditure) / income before transfers
Transfers between funds
Net income (expenditure) /
Reconciliation of funds
Total funds brought forward at 1 April 2021
Total funds carried forward at 31 March 2022		 Unrestricted
2022
£’000
25,115
174
-
1,050
30
37
26,406
4,177
961
28,055
5,969
3,375
1,485
44,022
-
(17,616)
-
(17,616)
44,806
27,190		 Restricted
2022
£’000
7,449
91
243
-
-
-
7,783
292
-
4,658
1,221
264
110
6,545
-
1,238
-
1,238
4,277
5,515		 Total
2022
£’000
32,564
265
243
1,050
30
37
34,189
4,469
961
32,713
7,190
3,639
1,595
50,567
-
(16,378)
-
(16,378)
49,083
32,705

93

Annual Report and Accounts 2022/23

The Trussell Trust

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Note 14: Tangible fixed assets

Cost
At 1 April 2022
Additions
Disposals
At 31 March 2023
Depreciation
At 1 April 2022
Charge in year
Disposals
At 31 March 2023
Net book value
At 31 March 2023
At 31 March 2022		 Leasehold
improvements
£’000
514
68
(70)
512
361
94
(70)
385
127
153		 Motor
Vehicles
£’000
41
9
-
50
13
10
-
23
27
28		 Computer
equipment
£’000
430
-
-
430
185
104
-
289
141
245		 2023
Total
£’000
985
77
(70)
992
559
208
(70)
697
295
426

Note 15: Investments

The charity has a wholly owned subsidiary, Trussell Trading Limited, a company incorporated in the UK from 1 April 2021 (Company Registration No. 13310114), whose principal activity is the management of corporate sponsorship activities on behalf of the charity. As at 31 March 2023, the charity's investment in Trussell Trading Limited was £1. The results of Trussell Trading Limited for the year ended 31 March 2023 are summarised below. Due to their immateriality in the context of the Group's finances as a whole, they have not been consolidated into these financial statements.


below. Due to their immateriality in the context of the Group's fnances as a whole,
consolidated into these fnancial statements.
they have not
been
2023
£’000		 2022
£’000
Turnover
Cost of sales
Gross proft
Administrative expenses
Operating proft
Donation to the Trussell Trust under Gift Aid
Retained proft
264 102
(33) (4)
231 98
(57) (23)
174 75
(174) (75)
- -

At both 31 March 2023 and 31 March 2022, Trussell Trading Limited had net assets of £1, made up of called up share capital of £1 and retained earnings of £nil.

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Annual Report and Accounts 2022/23

The Trussell Trust

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Note 16: Stocks

Note 16: Stocks
Food stocks – Brent Foodbank Total
2023
£’000
9
9		 Total
2022
£’000
8
8

Food stocks relate solely to those held by Brent Foodbank, which is controlled and operated directly by the charity.

Note 17: Debtors

Trade debtors
Gift Aid due
Prepayments and accrued income		 Total
2023
£’000
511
448
4,487
5,446		 Total
2022
£’000
504
560
4,945
6,009

Note 18: Short-term deposits and cash at bank

Short-term deposits

At 31 March 2023, £9 million (£2022: nil) was held in a short term deposit account with The Royal Bank of Scotland.

Cash at bank

The cash balance at 31 March 2023 represents the balance on restricted funds, funds set aside for designated activities (see note 23), and cash required to meet grant commitments to the food bank network for the coming year, in addition to the working capital required for the charity's core operations. All monies are held in interest bearing accounts.

95

Annual Report and Accounts 2022/23

The Trussell Trust

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Note 19: Creditors: Amounts falling due within one year

Trade creditors
Taxation and social security
Other creditors
Deferred income (see below)
Accrued expenses
Accruals for grants payable
Deferred income:
Brought forward
Amount released to income
Amount deferred at year end
Carried forward		 Total
2023
£’000
963
988
157
900
1,108
13,057
17,173
50
(50)
900
900		 Total
2022
£’000
1,410
465
110
50
433
16,996
19,464
1,130
(1,130)
50
50

Deferred income relates to grants for which the cash had been received but the recognition criteria for income were not met during the year.

Note 20: Creditors: Amounts falling due after more than one year

Accruals for grants payable Total
2023
£’000
11,298
11,298		 Total
2022
£’000
4,225
4,225

To give our food bank network more certainty of funding, while they focus on addressing the impact of the cost of living crisis, we awarded many food banks an additional year of financial inclusion funding which will be paid out in the 2024–25 financial year.

96

Annual Report and Accounts 2022/23

The Trussell Trust

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

Note 21: Provisions

At 1 April 2022
Additions during the year
Released during the year
At 31 March 2023		 Dilapidations
£’000
137
35
(8)
164		 Total
£’000
137
35
(8)
164

Provisions have been made for the expected dilapidation costs on the property leases held by the charity.

Note 22: Analysis of net assets between funds

General
fund
reserve
2023
£’000
295
32,906
(11,310)
(10,904)
(164)
10,823		 Designated
funds
2023
£’000
-
19,260
-
-
-
19,260		 Restricted
funds
2023
£’000
-
11,692
(5,863)
(394)
-
5,435		 Total
2023
£’000
295
63,858
(17,173)
(11,298)
(164)
35,518		 Total
2022
£’000
426
56,105
(19,464)
(4,225)
(137)
32,705
Fixed assets
Current assets
Current liabilities
Long term liabilities
Provisions

Note 23: Movement in funds

Unrestricted funds
General fund reserve
Designated funds:
Changing Communities
Changing Minds
Changing Policy
Pathfnder grant fund
Investing for Change
Asda top-up
Tesco (top-up)
Total unrestricted funds
For the year ended 31 March 2023		 At 1 April
2022
£’000
13,140
5,900
5,525
1,817
280
-
158
370
27,190		 Income
£’000
34,227
-
-
-
-
-
429
1,724
36,380		 Expenditure
£’000
(19,144)
(5,900)
(5,525)
(1,056)
(280)
-
(541)
(1,041)
(33,487)		 Transfer
between
funds
£’000
(17,400)
-
-
-
-
17,400
-
-
-		 At 31
March
2023
£’000
10,823
-
-
761
-
17,400
46
1,053
30,083

97

Annual Report and Accounts 2022/23

The Trussell Trust

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

Note 23: Movement in funds (Continued)

Restricted funds
Adobe Foundation Help through
Hardship helpline
Appeal funds: Winter
emergency appeal
Asda: Covid-19 response
Asda: Fight Hunger phase 2
Balcombe Trust Charitable Trust:
income maximisation
Bank of America Income
Maximisation
Barclays – Financial Wellbeing
BBC Children in Need & National
Lottery Community Fund #iwill
fund Grant
Benefact Trust: Emergency crisis
grants and Help through
Hardship helpline
Brent Foodbank
CAF America: Frontline costs
City Bridge Trust
Clara E Burgess Charity: Youth
participation work
Deliveroo: In-app donations
Food bank network: Covid-19
Food bank network: Regional funds
Four Daughters Charitable Trust:
Fuel vouchers
Fuel Bank Foundation
The Gemini Trust: Emergency crisis
grants and fuel vouchers (FBF)
Gifts in kind – Services
Grants programme – Emergency
grants
Grants programme – Financial
inclusion
Grants programme – General		 At 1 April
2022
£’000
15
-
79
37
-
259
1,725
131
-
53
-
52
-
-
201
35
-
11
-
-
-
1,362
142		 Income
£’000
-
11,227
-
1
232
83
-
166
100
163
111
65
54
1,454
-
101
50
5
250
272
158
188
56		 Expenditure
£’000
(15)
(11,227)
(57)
(38)
(232)
(206)
(558)
(184)
(100)
(126)
(111)
(63)
-
(1,322)
(196)
(125)
(50)
(16)
(250)
(272)
(153)
(496)
(172)		 Transfer
between
funds
£’000
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 At 31
March
2023
£’000
-
-
22
-
-
136
1,167
113
-
90
-
54
54
132
5
11
-
-
-
-
5
1,054
26

98

Annual Report and Accounts 2022/23

The Trussell Trust

Note 23: Movement in funds (Continued)

continued Restricted funds
Grants programme – Strategic
facilities
Grants programme – Volunteering
Help through Hardship helpline
The JABBS Foundation: Winter
appeal 2022
John Reizenstein: Fuel vouchers
The Julia and Hans Rausing Trust:
Winter appeal 2022
The Mackintosh Foundation:
Scotland
The Moondance Foundation:
Emergency and fnancial inclusion
grants
Natwest: Help through Hardship
Natwest: Scotland and NI helpline
projects
Other restricted funds
Ovo Energy: Winter appeal 2022
and Fuel vouchers
The Pears Family Charitable
Foundation: Income maximisation
People's Postcode Lottery: Help
through Hardship helpline and
strategic facilities grants
Porticus UK
Post Ofce Ltd: Strategic facilities
grants and support costs
Sodexo: Helpline
Strategic stream – Changing Policy
The Vertex Foundation: Help
through Hardship helpline and
winter appeal 2022
Waitrose: Financial inclusion grants
Waitrose food bank grants
Total restricted funds
Total funds		 At 1 April
2022
£’000
276
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
15
-
642
-
75
-
-
400
-
-
5
5,515
32,705		 Income
£’000
50
100
70
125
25
3,000
25
505
1,000
500
36
500
-
200
-
305
150
-
142
189
-
21,658
58,038		 Expenditure
£’000
(209)
-
(70)
(125)
(25)
(3,000)
(25)
(466)
-
(293)
(48)
(433)
(198)
(170)
(52)
-
(50)
(270)
(142)
(188)
(5)
(21,738)
(55,225)		 Transfer
between
funds
£’000
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 At 31
March
2023
£’000
117
100
-
-
-
-
-
39
1,000
207
3
67
444
30
23
305
100
130
-
1
-
5,435
35,518

99

Annual Report and Accounts 2022/23

The Trussell Trust

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

Note 23: Movement in funds (Continued) Comparative information for the year ended 31 March 2022

Unrestricted funds
General fund reserve
Designated funds:
Changing Communities
Changing Minds
Changing Policy
Pathfnder grant fund
Asda top-up
Tesco (top up)
Total unrestricted funds
Restricted funds
3i Group: fnancial inclusion
Adobe Foundation: Help through
Hardship helpline
Asda: Covid-19 response
Asda: Covid-19 reponse grants
to network
Asda: FHP programme
Asda: FHP regrants
Asda: Fight Hunger phase 2
The Balcombe Charitable Trust:
Help through Hardship helpline
Bank of America: Income
maximisation
Barclays: Financial Wellbeing
BBC Children in Need and National
Lottery Community Fund #iwill fund
Grant
Brent Foodbank
Cisco
City Bridge Trust		 At 1 April
2021
£’000
14,976
18,100
6,740
1,905
3,000
79
6
44,806
-
-
137
83
63
-
-
-
152
-
-
39
120
42		 Income
£’000
25,110
-
-
-
-
416
880
26,406
150
180
-
-
-
-
1534
200
206
1,841
208
114
-
63		 Expenditure
£’000
(22,588)
(16,558)
(1,215)
(88)
(2,720)
(337)
(516)
(44,022)
(150)
(165)
(58)
(83)
-
233
(1,793)
(200)
(99)
(116)
(77)
(100)
(120)
(53)		 Transfer
between
funds
£’000
(4,358)
4,358
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
(63)
(233)
296
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 At 31
March
2022
£’000
13,140
5,900
5,525
1,817
280
158
370
27,190
-
15
79
-
-
-
37
-
259
1,725
131
53
-
52

100

Annual Report and Accounts 2022/23

The Trussell Trust

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2022

Note 23: Movement in funds (Continued) Comparative information for the year ended 31 March 2022

Restricted funds
Food Bank Network – Covid-19
Food Bank Network – Regional
funds
Fuel Bank Foundation
Gifts in Kind – Services
Grants Programme – Financial
inclusion
Grants Programme – General
Grants Programme – Strategic
facilities
Help through Hardship helpline
Lloyds
Other restricted funds
The Pears Family Charitable
Foundation: Income maximisation
People's Postcode Lottery: Help
through Hardship helpline
Pepsico: Covid-19
Porticus UK
Sodexo
Step Change
Strategic Stream – Changing
Policy
Waitrose food bank grants
Total restricted funds
Total funds		 At 1 April
2022
£’000
1,074
115
25
-
1200
-
-
-
-
36
912
-
48
175
35
21
-
-
4,277
49,083		 Income
£’000
(3)
137
20
91
952
350
456
191
300
97
-
125
-
-
-
-
400
171
7,783
34,189		 Expenditure
£’000
(870)
(217)
(34)
(91)
(790)
(208)
(180)
(191)
(300)
(118)
(270)
(125)
(48)
(100)
(35)
(21)
-
(166)
(6,545)
(50,567)		 Transfer
between
funds
£’000
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-		 At 31
March
2022
£’000
201
35
11
-
1,362
142
276
-
-
15
642
-
-
75
-
-
400
5
5,515
32,705

101

Annual Report and Accounts 2022/23

The Trussell Trust

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Fund Descriptions

Designated funds
Changing Communities, Changing Funds designated for the purpose of magnifying and accelerating
Minds and Changing Policy the delivery of the Trussell Trust’s Together for Change strategic
plan, enabling us to provide increased funding and support to our
network and to expand our impact throughout this challenging
period and during the recovery from it. The Changing Communities
and Minds funds were fully expended by 31 March 2023.
Investing for Change This fund represents an expression of Trussell Trust's broadening
work to change the landscape which makes food bank use a
necessity for people in the UK. This package of initiatives builds on
the success of core programmes by fast tracking the impact of the
Pathfnder Programme, seeking to empower and equip food banks
to advocate for change in the UK's social security system to enable
everyone to aford the essentials.
Pathfnder grant fund Designated for making grants to food banks in our network which
have signed up to the Pathfnder programme, one of our grass-
roots initiatives to achieve our goal for a future without the need
for food banks.
Asda top-up and Tesco top-up From the neighbourhood food collections. The charity chooses
to share this funding with food banks in the the Trussell Trust
network.
Restricted funds
3i Group: Financial inclusion* To support our fnancial inclusion project work and teams.
Adobe Foundation: Help through To support the Help through Hardship helpline project
Hardship helpline
Appeal funds: Winter emergency Cost of living crisis appeal
appeal
Asda: Covid-19 response Asda Covid-19 response programme for operating costs
Asda: Covid-19 reponse grants Asda Covid-19 response for grants to food banks
to network*
Asda: FHP programme* For use under the Fight Hunger Programme for implementation
activities

102

Annual Report and Accounts 2022/23

The Trussell Trust

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Fund Descriptions

Fund Descriptions
Asda: FHP regrants* For use under the Fight Hunger Programme for performance
related grants to food banks
Asda: Fight Hunger phase 2 For use under phase 2 of the Fight Hunger Programme, including
grants to food banks, support for the Help Through Hardship
helpline project, and other projects directed at ending the need for
food banks
The Balcombe Charitable Trust: Help To support the Help through Hardship helpline project
through Hardship helpline*
The Balcombe Charitable Trust: Income Support for food banks via our fnancial inclusion grants
maximisation
Bank of America: Income maximisation Support for our income maximisation work, including fnancial
inclusion grants to food banks and support for the Help through
Hardship project
Barclays: Financial Wellbeing Support for our income maximisation work, including fnancial
inclusion grants to food banks and support for the Help through
Hardship project
BBC Children in Need and National To facilitate a youth participation project run in partnership with
Lottery Community Fund #iwill fund BBC Children in Need
Grant
Benefact Trust: Emergency crisis grants Support for food banks via our emergency grants, and support for
and Help through Hardship helpline the Help through Hardship helpline project
Brent Foodbank For the support of the Brent Foodbank
CAF America: Frontline costs To support our operational teams
Cisco* IT systems development for e-referral and stock applications
City Bridge Trust Support for our work with food banks in the London area
Clara E Burgess Charity: To support our youth participation project
Youth participation work
Deliveroo: In-app donations Support for food banks via our grants programme, and funding
for our operational costs
Food Bank Network – Covid-19 Support for food banks via our grants programme
Food Bank Network – Regional funds To support our regional operations

103

Annual Report and Accounts 2022/23

The Trussell Trust

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

NOTES TO THE
FOR THE YEAR		 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
ENDED 31 MARCH 2023
Four Daughters Charitable Trust: Support for the Fuel Bank Foundation fuel voucher scheme
Fuel vouchers
Fuel Bank Foundation To support the delivery of Fuel Bank across the UK
The Gemini Trust: Emergency crisis Support for food banks via our emergency grants to food banks,
grants and fuel vouchers and support for the Fuel Bank Foundation fuel voucher scheme
Gifts in Kind – Services Pro-bono services provided to the charity - see note 2
Grants programme – Emergency grants Support for food banks via grants, to respond to the demands of
the cost-of-living crisis
Grants programme – Financial Support for food banks via our fnancial inclusion grants
inclusion
Grants programme – General Support for food banks via our grants programme
Grants programme – Strategic facilities Support for food banks via our strategic facilities grants
Grants programme – Volunteering Support for food banks via our volunteering grants
Help through Hardship helpline For the development and operation of the helpline, run in
partnership with Citizens Advice, which ofers free fnancial advice
to people experiencing hardship
The JABBS Foundation: Winter Support for our response to the cost of living crisis, including
appeal 2022 emergency grants to food banks
John Reizenstein: Fuel vouchers Support for the Fuel Bank Foundation fuel voucher scheme
The Julia and Hans Rausing Trust: Support for our response to the cost of living crisis
Winter appeal 2022
Lloyds* To support our public engagement work
The Mackintosh Foundation: Scotland Support for food banks in Scotland, via our grants programmes,
and funding for our operational costs
The Moondance Foundation:
Emergency and fnancial inclusion		 Support for food banks in Wales, via our emergency and fnancial
inclusion grants
grants
Natwest: Help through Hardship / To support the Help through Hardship helpline project, and similar
Scotland and NI helpline projects projects in Scotland and Northern Ireland
Ovo Energy: Winter appeal 2022 Support for our response to the cost of living crisis, including
and fuel vouchers emergency grants to food banks, and support for the Fuel Bank
Foundation fuel voucher scheme

104

Annual Report and Accounts 2022/23

The Trussell Trust

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

The Pears Family Charitable To support our income maximisation project work and teams Foundation: Income maximisation People's Postcode Lottery: Help To support the Help through Hardship helpline project through Hardship helpline People's Postcode Lottery: Help Support for food banks via our strategic facilities grants, and through Hardship helpline and strategic support for the Help through Hardship helpline project facilities grants Pepsico: Covid-19' To support our Covid-19 emergency response Porticus UK For food bank network and anti-poverty initiatives, supporting volunteering, policy and research, and software infrastructure work Post Office Ltd: Strategic facilities Support for food banks via our strategic facilities grants, and grants and support costs funding for our operational costs Sodexo: Helpline To support the Help through Hardship helpline project Step Change* IT systems development for the weights tracker and stock applications Strategic stream – Changing Policy To support the Changing Policy pillar of our strategy to end the need for food banks The Vertex Foundation: Help through Support for food banks via our grants programmes, and support Hardship helpline and winter appeal for the Help through Hardship helpline project 2022 Waitrose: Financial inclusion grants Support for food banks via our financial inclusion grants Waitrose: Food bank grants Grants to food banks to 'top up' food collections from Waitrose stores

105

Annual Report and Accounts 2022/23

The Trussell Trust

NOTES TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2023

Note 24: Related party disclosures

During the year, Mr S Hicks was a Trustee of the Trussell Trust and also of two food bank charities within the Trussell Trust network: Cardiff Foodbank and (from March 2023) Greenwich Foodbank. These two charities receive both financial and non-financial support from the Trussell Trust, under the same terms as other members of the Trussell Trust network. This includes grant funding, applications for which are considered in accordance with the Trussell Trust's grant-making policy (see page 21 for further details), and judged on an equal basis to applications from other members of the network.

Grants paid to Cardiff Foodbank during the year totalled £60,166 (2022: £149,663). At 31 March 2023, grants awarded and scheduled for future payment totalled £127,522 (31 March 2022: £165,530). Cardiff Foodbank was reimbursed £721 for travel costs incurred by its staff while attending Trussell Trust events (2022: £nil).

Grants paid to Greenwich Foodbank during the year totalled £41,620. At 31 March 2023, grants awarded and scheduled for future payment totalled £34,638. Greenwich Foodbank received £1,000 for hosting corporate volunteering events.

The Trustees and key management personnel of the charity donated a combined total of £365 before Gift Aid to the charity in the year (2022: £444).

Note 25: Ultimate controlling party

The charitable company is not under the control of another entity or any one individual.

Note 26: Lease commitments

At 31 March 2023 the charity had total commitments under non-cancellable operating leases as follows:

Operating leases payable:
Within one year
Between two and fve years
Beyond fve years		 Total
2023
£’000
450
601
81
1,132		 Total
2022
£’000
470
633
-
1,103

106

Annual Report and Accounts 2022/23 The Trussell Trust

Annual Report and Accounts 2022 The Trussell Trust 107

Contact us

Unit 9, Ashfield Trading Estate, Ashfield Road, Salisbury SP2 7HL enquiries@trusselltrust.org 01722 580 180 www.trusselltrust.org

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Photo credits: Chris Lacey Photography, Ian Haworth, Richard Haydon, Jess Hurd, Georgie Scott, Robin Prime, Shutterstock, Johnny MIllar Photography. Registered Charity in England & Wales (1110522) and Scotland (SC044246). Registered Limited Company in England & Wales (5434524).