2023-04-05-accounts

Annual Report 2022–23

the Pavement is a small charity founded in London in 2005. Every two months, we produce around 7,000 free magazines for homeless and insecurely housed people in London, Edinburgh and Glasgow. The content is mostly written, researched and drawn/photographed by volunteers with lived experience of homelessness and volunteer journalists. Consequently, many of our contributors have a personal understanding of what it's like to survive without a home.

the Pavement Magazine 38 Allcroft Road London NW5 4NE

www.thepavement.org.uk Twitter: @ThePavementMag Facebook: the Pavement Magazine Instagram: @Pavement_Magazine www.justgiving.com/thepavement/Donate

Established 2005 Registered Charity #1110656 Scottish Charity Register #SC043760

Each pocket-sized magazine can be lifesaving. That’s because we share a 16-page central list, collating all the information about what's available for a hungry person who wants to find a shower, get a bed for the night or needs professional support for any mental health or active addiction. Readers can find the Pavement at hostels, day centres, homeless surgeries, soup-runs and libraries. All our content is written with our readers in mind, offering a unique way to help people help themselves.

Executive Summary

Welcome

We are preparing this year’s annual report with homelessness higher than it has been for 25 years and shortly after the Home Secretary described homelessness as a lifestyle choice, which must make the Pavement the unlikeliest lifestyle magazine. There has, quite literally, never been a greater need for our magazine and our online resources. Our listing of homeless services and facilities is unique and a lifeline for the growing number of people who do not know what practical help is available. Equally important, our wonderful team of peer journalists understand our readers’ emotional needs and can share their stories of being in and rising above the same situations. We provide volunteering opportunities, community and, most of all, enable the voices of our readers to be heard. Now, more than ever, we need your help.

Val Stevenson

Chair of the Pavement trustees

Contents

Contents
Meeting challenges Our achievements	2 3
Impact Finance About us Our aims	4 5 8 9

Meeting the challenges

We create and distribute our bi-monthly magazine in three UK cities with high levels of people with lived experience of homelessness (London, Glasgow and Edinburgh). The past year has seen more services open up post-pandemic, allowing us to slowly but surely ensure that more locations receive the magazine. We continue to provide copies to Services that have previously received too little attention and to meet growing demand for the magazine. Issue on issue our print run grows, emphasising the failure of macro-efforts (or lack thereof) to reduce homelessness. The increasing print runs also inform us how valuable a resource the magazine is considered by readers and Services alike.

A trusted source of information, the Pavement is a vital resource to the increasing number of people experiencing homelessness, many of whom have complex and multiple support needs, linked to mental and physical health problems, addiction and coming out of prison, the armed forces or care. They all need information tailored to their needs and circumstances, which we include in ‘The List’ - a 16-page directory of local services available to the reader, with a larger list of services is available on our website.

We strive to earn our readers’ trust and are proud of our continued membership of the press regulator ‘Impress’ thus ensuring accountability and an easy avenue for any complaints. And whilst we’ve had none in the past year, we believe it is vital for us to be always open to any positive and negative feedback that helps to improve the magazine for readers.

In a nutshell

In April 2022 Shelter Scotland revealed that there were 7,510 children experiencing homelessness in Scotland.

Issue 140 of the Pavement reported that there were a staggering 35,230 applications made for homelessness assistance to Scottish councils in the year 2021-22.

• In November 2022 research by Combined Homelessness and Information Network (CHAIN) revealed there were 3,628 people counted sleeping rough in London between July and September 2022. These figures are widely viewed as a significant underestimation.

• In March 2022 the Museum of Homelessness held its annual vigil, remembering the people who died experiencing homelessness in 2021. A day prior to which it had estimated that 1,286 people died experiencing homelessness in England in 2021. Its research relies on freedom of information requests and again the number is likely an underestimate.

On one single night in November 2021, 187 people were tallied sleeping rough in Westminster, as reported in issue 138 of the Pavement.

• Analysis of Ministry of Justice data by the Independent found 12.8% of women leaving prison in 2020-21 were released into homelessness. Meanwhile 65% of women were released without safe, sustainable accommodation to stay in.

In April 2023 the Pavement reported that an estimated 3,069 people slept rough in England on any given night in Autumn 2022, up by more than a quarter on the previous year.

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the Pavement Magazine

Charity No. 1110656 / SC043760

Executive Summary

Our achievements

A year of bold writing

It’s been a year of progress for the magazine, as we gradually reach more services and more underserved people. We’ve been able to grow our incredibly talented volunteer writing team, to both publish more peer journalists’ stories about being homeless and their recovery, and to enable our other volunteer journalists to continue to share their passion and the craft that complements direct experience.

New recruits to our volunteer writer team include a number of women both with and without lived experience of homelessness, who provide a voice often drowned out or under-represented when discussing homelessness. These are, in no particular order, Greta Gillett, Rosie Healey, Michelle Brennan, Sophie Dianne, Charlotte Payne, Liat Fainman and Eve McDougall. And working together, all our writers have helped the Pavement become an even more effective voice for people who are homeless or insecurely housed. There’s nothing else like it.

Paired with what we believe to be our impactful journalism, the magazine has welcomed an increasing amount of creative work - satire, poetry and other forms of creative writing which can be highly accessible, enjoyable and provide a unique lens into the experience of homelessness. For example, writers Mat Amp and Chris Sampson are well-known for injecting humour and satire into their work, while our poetry pages have garnered a lot of attention from readers and prospective writers and are the most common entry point for new contributors.

This year we also entered into a partnership with Homeless Diamonds, the arts magazine for people experiencing homelessness, to feature artwork by people connected to the magazine. And we share artwork with the publication, connecting artists who have contributed to the Pavement to a new magazine and new audience.

‘The List’ of services in the magazine provides a detailed directory of local, available resources which can be lifesaving, whether it’s shelter for the night, somewhere to find food or details of healthcare services. While the

contents can be augmented from issue-to-issue to reflect the theme of the magazine. For example, issue 139 – themed ‘Creativity’ – featured pages dedicated to services involved in the arts.

The content of the magazine is steered by writers’ meetups, occurring once every two months on Zoom. Along with steering editorial direction and workshopping content for the magazine, the meetings establish unique themes for each issue. In the past year our themes have been: ‘Connection’; ‘Practical advice’; ‘Creativity’; ‘Resolve’; ‘Winter homeless’ and ‘New beginnings’.

These meetings involve writers with and without lived experience of homelessness. Deputy editor Mat Amp continues to assist new writers in their involvement with the magazine and to involve writers who have graduated from previous projects and other groups, such as the Groundswell Listen Up hub. We are proud to continue publishing these writers’ work while Mat, a graduate of an earlier peer reporters training course, has his own column in the magazine.

Distribution

In 2022–23, on average we distributed 5,755 copies of the Pavement amongst homelessness Services in London and 1,635 copies in Scotland every two months.

Social media

the Pavement’s social media presence is vital to keeping our readers informed and promoting the work of our brilliant contributors. It also acts as a communication hub, allowing readers, and those needing help finding services to contact us directly with any questions and we regularly get messages on Facebook from individuals seeking help.

Our Twitter follower count is at 3,710, which is down 58 followers from last year. However, this makes sense as during Twitter’s rebranding to X.com the platform removed

a large quantity of fake bot accounts, resulting in lower follower numbers across the platform for all users.

We now have 927 followers on Instagram, up from 833 last year – showing a gradual increase in engagement on that platform.

We also have 1,700 followers on Facebook, down from 1,782. Last year Facebook announced that they deleted 6.5million fake bot accounts, which could explain this slight decrease in followers. On average, our Facebook posts reach around 500 of our followers, with around 60 followers engaging in each post (liking, sharing or commenting).

Website

During 2022–23 our website attracted 27,652 visits, a 41% increase from last year, which was to be expected due to last financial year’s particularly lower visit count caused by downtime on our website during a migration process. The website also attracted a 46% increase in unique page views to over 62,000. Average session duration dropped by around 10 seconds to 1min 35 seconds per visit. As usual, the Services section (‘The List’) received the most visits, accounting for over 52% of the website’s overall traffic.

Interestingly, this year saw the total number of mobile phone users (51%) over-take desktop users (42.8%), showing an overall shift towards mobile technology for internet usage.

Funders

For the second year we are extremely grateful to Crisis for the significant financial contribution that has enabled us to continue to serve people with lived experience of homeless, to the many individuals who gave through Benevity, Just Giving and Stripe platforms, and to the homelessness Service Providers who support our endeavours through making our magazines available to their service users.

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the Pavement Magazine

Charity No. 1110656 / SC043760

Impact

People love the Pavement

People with lived experience of homelessness are at the heart of the magazine, are involved in all aspects of the work and ensure their voices are shared, heard and represented; whilst they and the Services who work with them tell us again and again how much they value the Pavement.

• The majority of our contributors have had lived experience of homelessness. They come from a wide array of backgrounds, but all share a passion for writing on the subject.

• We regularly run ‘experience’ stories by writers with homelessness experience alongside ‘expert’ pieces by writers working in particular fields (e.g. healthcare, charity, peer support, etc.). And the former will often feature signposts to solutions, a direct legacy of our 2021 ‘solutions-based’ journalism training programme.

• We design the Pavement in a way that supports reluctant readers and considers people with dyslexia and other difficulties around reading.

• We know that each copy of the Pavement is read by multiple readers

• We campaign to raise awareness, reduce stigma and work in partnership with others to ensure people with lived experience of homelessness have their human rights realised.

“At the end of the day, being part of this project has done everything for me. It has given me a sense of purpose, a platform to express my voice and has given me back my self-esteem. I hear nothing but positive feedback when I talk to others about the Pavement and there is nothing I like more than handing someone the latest copy.”

– Mat Amp , Deputy editor of the Pavement and Groundswell staff member

“the Pavement is an invaluable resource for anyone experiencing homelessness, and not just for its exhaustive List of accessible services: it's a miniature wellspring of friendly hellos from others who know what it's like.”

– Jen Burnham , Editorial Committee member, Homeless Diamonds magazine

“the Pavement provides really valuable information and resources for the homeless community, and also what else is available to help people progress their lives. Accumulate participants always need this and regularly refer to this magazine in order to help them find the guidance and advice they need.”

• Marice Cumber , Accumulate Founder

• and Director

“Many people we work with love the Pavement. Copies of it are always popular and run out quickly! It’s also a great way for us to communicate with people sleeping rough and to stay updated on the issues they’re facing on a broader level.”

• Sophie Glickman , The Connection at

• St. Martin’s

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the Pavement Magazine

Charity No. 1110656 / SC043760

Finance

----- Start of picture text -----
Statement of Financial Activities for the year ended 5th April 2022 Balance Sheet as at 5th April 2022
Year ended 5th April 2023 Year ended 5th April 2022
Funds General Restricted Total General Restricted Total 5th April 5th April
note * Funds Funds Funds Funds Funds Funds 2023 2022
£ £ £ £ £ £ Current Assets
Incoming Resources from Bank Balances 30,388 24,022
generated funds
Voluntary income 1 32,612 - 32,612 33,340 - 33,340 Net current assets 30,388 24,022
Activities for generating funds 2 - - - 1,958 - 1,958 Represented by:
- -
Total Incoming resources 32,612 32,612 35,298 35,298 General funds
Balance brought forward 24,022 11,773
Resources expended Current year (deficit) / surplus 6,366 9,819
Governance and management 3 (528) - (528) (583) - (583) Transfer from Restricted Funds - 2,430
costs
Charitable activities 4 (25,718) - (25,718) (24,896) - (24,896) Balance carried forward 30,388 24,022
- -
Total resources Expended (26,246) (26,246) (25,479) (25,479)
Restricted funds
- -
Balance brought forward
- -
Net (deficit) / surplus for the year 6,366 6,366 9,819 9,819
-
Current year surplus / (deficit) 2,430
Total funds/(deficit) brought -
forward 24,022 24,022 11,773 2,430 14,203 Transfer to General Funds - (2,430)
Transfer of funds - Restricted to Balance carried forward - -
- - - -
2,430 (2,430)
General
Total funds carried forward 30,388 - 30,388 24,022 - 24,022 Net current assets 30,388 24,022
----- End of picture text -----

• Notes on Pages 6–7 form part of these accounts

All currency figures in GBP (£).

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the Pavement Magazine

Charity No. 1110656 / SC043760

Finance

Notes to the Financial Statements for the FY ending 5th April 2021

1. Accounting policies

Basis of preparation

The financial statements have been prepared using the Accruals basis and in accordance with applicable accounting standards. They follow the recommendations of the Charity Commission for non-company charities with an annual income of less than £250,000.

General and Restricted Funds

Restricted funds are to be used for specific purposes as laid down by the donors. Expenses, which meet these criteria, are charged to the funds.

Unrestricted or general funds are donations and other incoming resources received or generated for charitable purposes.

2. Activities for generating funds

----- Start of picture text -----
2022 2022
Magazine sales - 1,958
Total - 1,958
----- End of picture text -----

3. Resources explained – Governance costs

----- Start of picture text -----
2022 2022
From General Funds
Insurance 226 226
General postage / PO Box fee 242 221
General office expenses 60 136
Total General Funds 528 583
----- End of picture text -----

Voluntary income

Voluntary income is received by way of donations and gifts and is included in full in the statement of financial activities.

Resources expended

Resources are expended in the period in which they are incurred and include attributable VAT, which cannot be recovered.

Charitable activities costs

Costs applied to undertake work to meet objectives of the Pavement , particularly expenditure on goods and services including those of volunteers, programme and project expenditure and related costs.

Governance and management costs

Governance costs are the costs and expenses associated with the governance arrangements of the charity. These costs and expenses are associated with the constitutional and statutory requirements and include cost and expenses associated with the strategic management of the charity’s activities.

Reclassification of previous year's amounts

Certain comparative amounts for the prior period have been reclassified to conform to current period presentations. Such reclassifications had no effect on net income or the charity's funds.

4. Resources explained – Charitable activities

----- Start of picture text -----
Year ended 5th April 2023 Year ended 5th April 2022
General Restricted Total General Restricted Total
Funds Funds Funds Funds Funds Funds
Printing newsletters & associated delivery - -
14,102 14,102 10,917 10,917
charges
Editorial and related costs 10,309 - 10,309 12,808 - 12,808
Volunteer costs and recruitment 333 - 333 287 - 287
General fundraising 216 - 216 216 - 216
General office expenses 758 - 758 668 - 668
Total 25,718 - 25,718 24,896 - 24,896
----- End of picture text -----

All currency figures in GBP (£).

Val Stevenson Chair of Trustees 13 December 2023

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the Pavement Magazine

Charity No. 1110656 / SC043760

Finance

Independent Examiner’s Report to The Trustees of the Pavement

Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner

The Trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts and keeping accounting records which disclose with reasonable accuracy the financial position of the Charity and ensure that the accounts comply with the Charities Act 2011. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the Charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.

The Trustees consider that an audit is not required for the period under review under section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the Act) and that an independent examination is needed.

It is my responsibility to:

• examine the accounts under section 145 of the Act

• to follow the procedures laid down in the general Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act

• to state whether particular matters have come to my attention.

Basis of independent examiner’s statement

My examination was carried out in accordance with General Directions given by the Charity Commission and in accordance with the Charities and Trustee Investment (Scotland) Act 2005 and the Charities Accounts (Scotland) Regulations 2006 (as amended). An examination includes a review of accounting records kept by the charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts and seeking explanations from trustees concerning any such matters. The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a true and fair view and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statement below.

Independent examiner’s statement

In the course of my examination, no matter has come to my attention:

© Chris Bird

1. Which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in any material respect, the requirements:

2. to keep accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the Act;

3. to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and comply with the accounting requirements of the Act;

have not been met or adhered to; or

1. To which attention should be drawn in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.

Signed

Wing Y Wong FCCA Date: 05 / 12 / 2023 Report on the accounts for the year ended 5 April 2022 as set out on pages 5–6.

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the Pavement Magazine

Charity No. 1110656 / SC043760

About us

The Basics

Trustees

The trustees who served the charity during the period were as follows: Val Stevenson (Chair), Clare Argent (secretary), William Butler (Financial Management & Fundraising), Stephen Chan, Christina Lawford.

Email: [e-mail]

Structure, governance & management

the Pavement is a registered charity (No.1110656; Scottish Charity Register No. SC043760) established on 21 June 2005 under a governing document that outlines the objectives and powers of the charity. All trustees give their time voluntarily and receive no benefits from the charity.

Recruitment & appointment of trustees

The board has the power to appoint trustees and recruitment is carried out through personal recommendation and advertising as appropriate. Induction and training of trustees includes the provision of up-to-date financial and other information about the organisation and Charity Commission and OSCR publications giving guidance on the role of Trustees.

Staffing and volunteers

the Pavement has been edited since March 2021 by Jake Cudsi , who works on a freelance part-time basis. Marco Biagini does the layout design and coordinates the Scottish List and distribution to Glasgow and Edinburgh. He is a freelance designer and project coordinator based in Glasgow and also works on a part-time freelance basis.

Deputy Editor Mat Amp is a volunteer who has provided powerful and inspiring support to our peer reporters as he has lived experience of rough sleeping. Mat writes a hugely popular column in the Pavement and also organises the distribution in London. We are very grateful for all his support.

Volunteer contributors

Huge thanks to the many volunteers who supported our work. They carry out a range of activities, including editorial, fundraising and administrative functions such as distribution. Without them, the charity would be unable to continue, and we are sincerely grateful for everything they do. We estimate that they contribute the equivalent of six fulltime paid staff members.

A special thank you to our volunteer contributors during 2022–23, with apologies to anyone we’ve accidentally left out.

----- Start of picture text -----
© Mike Stokoe
----- End of picture text -----

Writers/researchers/photographers: Mat Amp, Laura Ashcroft, Paul Atherton, Nicola Baird, Alanna Baldwin, Tina Banda, Chris Bird, CAM, Ben Campbell, Del Campbell, Claire, Esther Crespo-Ruperez, Leon Eckford, Becky Evans, Liat Fainman, Viki Fox, Sophie Glickman, Giselle Green, Andy Guise, Rosie Healey, Sarah Hough, Bellara Huang, Kieran Hughes, Justina Jameson, Ian Kalman, Abbie Ludlam, Ant Mac, Emily Macauley-Wilcox, Eve McDougall, Jamie McGowan, Eric Moseley, Alastair Murray, Nell, Alan O’Connor, Dr Seema Pattni, Charlotte Payne, Charlie Radbourne, Emdad Rahman, Rebekah, Garnet Roach, Rosie Roksoph, Chris Sampson, Sarka, Bronagh Sheridan, Cachella Smith, Surfing Sofas, Dave Sohanpal, Sheryle Thomas, David Tovey, Sarah Turley, Santiago Vazquez and David Wishart

We are grateful to renowned cartoonists Ken Pyne and Mike Stokoe for their sharp, humorous contributions. We were honoured to share the artwork of the following artists in our pages over the course of the last year: Chris Bird, Mitchel Ceney, Michelle Christopher, Faranaz, Simona Hartia, Free Healer, Kevin Ho, Hannah Kaley, Krysia, Mark McGowan, Milena, John Murphy, Don Pollard, Rosie Roksoph, Marius Samavicius, David Tovey and Maurice Woolger. We would also like to thank Julian Baker and Hattie Price at Flat Earth Industries for their help with the website.

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the Pavement Magazine

Charity No. 1110656 / SC043760

Our aims

Motivations

the Pavement exists...

For the relief of poverty, hardship, and distress among homeless persons in our distribution areas, by provision of information and guidance on accessing day/night shelters, voluntary bodies providing food to homeless people, health issues and general advice.

Our mission is...

To improve the lives of people affected by homelessness in the UK

We aim...

• To increase uptake and reach of the Pavement

• To enable homeless people to make informed choices and access services and their rights

• To enable homeless people to contribute to the Pavement

• To raise awareness in the wider population of homelessness

• To enable service providers to improve the information they give to clients

Our objectives:

• To offer an entertaining and engaging website and free magazine that include news, features and opinion, information on services, articles on health and wellbeing, events and networking opportunities

• To undertake awareness raising and campaigning activities

• To produce topic-driven resources

• To train and support people with direct experience of homelessness as volunteers

Public benefit:

the Pavement provides benefit to homeless and vulnerably housed individuals by:

• Signposting sources of support, advice and shelter, with an up-to-date and detailed directory of homeless services across the UK (known as the List, and integrated into every issue of the Pavement )

• Offering tailored information from professionals within the homelessness sector;

• Presenting news on homeless events to strengthen community and allow our readers to make informed decisions

• Standing as a forum for homeless views and comment to help overcome isolation and encourage involvement.

The charity provides benefit to the wider community, through promoting the ability of homeless or vulnerably housed individuals to participate in their communities; and to individuals and the wider community through publicising homelessness issues.

The charity’s trustees assess its activities with regard to the Charity Commission’s guidance on public benefit, and will use this guidance as a tool in considering any new activities it may undertake.

the Pavement in a nutshell

the Pavement is a UK-wide homeless charity with big ideas. Since 2005, we have published a free pocket-sized magazine for a homeless readership, produced alongside www.thepavement.org.uk . On the website we regularly update a unique listings service of everything those who are homeless might need to know: from soup kitchens, day centres and night shelters to mental health support, addiction services and arts projects; it’s all there in one place. On top of that, our volunteer journalists – many who have experience of homelessness - cover the news from the streets or news affecting the streets. We often deal with topics ignored by the mainstream press. We produce a unique blend of reportage, advice, cartoons and inspiring real life stories, all written with our homeless readership firmly in mind.

Our aim is also to ensure the potentially life-changing information offered by the Pavement is going straight into the hands of the homeless people who need it most.

We believe that drives to produce homogenous services for homeless people are misguided, and that a range of service types and sizes are the only way to cater successfully for our diverse readership. While we know that sleeping rough is physically and mentally harmful, we do not preach to those who find themselves there: we believe that we need to work closely with homeless people themselves to identify solutions that work for them.

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the Pavement Magazine

Charity No. 1110656 / SC043760

Annual Report 2021–22

"We never go on outreach without copies of the Pavement. We see more and more people sleeping rough across London, and the information we are able to share thanks to the Pavement literally saves people's lives."

- Elodie Berland

the Pavement Magazine 38 Allcroft Road London NW5 4NE

[e-mail] http://www.thepavement.org.uk Twitter: @ThePavementMag Facebook: the Pavement Magazine Instagram: @Pavement_Magazine www.justgiving.com/thepavement/Donate

Design: Marco Biagini Words: Jake Cudsi, William Butler & Marco Biagini Date: December 2023 © the Pavement