ANNUAL REPORT 2023 – 24
Established in 2005, the Pavement is a free bi-monthly magazine and website for people with lived experience of homelessness. In 2023/24 we distributed to 173 homelessness service providers (148 in London and 25 in Scotland). The content is mostly written, researched and drawn/photographed by volunteers with lived experience of homelessness and other volunteer journalists. Consequently, many of our contributors have a personal understanding of what it's like to survive without a home.
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 issues 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.
Registered Charity # 1110656 Scottish Charity Register # SC043760 Registered address: 38 Allcroft Road, London, NW5 4NE
www.thepavement.org.uk www.facebook.com/ThePavementMagazine http://twitter.com/thepavementmag
Donate: http://www.justgiving.com/thepavement/Donate
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CONTENTS
| Meeting the Challenges: | 4 |
|---|---|
| Homelessness in a nutshell: | 5 |
| Our Achievements: | 6 |
| Our Impact: | 7 |
| Accounts | 12 |
| About Us: | 19 |
| Our Aims: | 21 |
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WELCOME
Last year, I wrote that we had never needed your support more to reach and help our readers. Unfortunately, I was wrong… in London, council spending on temporary accommodation has leapt by 68% with rough sleeping up18%. The trajectory is ever upwards, exemplified by 33,619 households in Scotland being assessed as homeless in 2023-24 with an estimated 90% increase in homelessness applications by 2040.
So the Pavement desperately needs to reach more people with more vital information about what practical help is available. Which means that our unique listing of homeless services and facilities needs to be scaled up to deal with the challenge, whilst our volunteer peer (and peerless) journalists will continue to provide support, humour and hope, and enable our readers’ voices to be heard to a growing readership. Yet again, more than ever, we need your help: please donate what you can.
Val Stevenson
Chair of Trustees
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MEETING THE CHALLENGES
the Pavement exists to support those with lived experience of homelessness through relevant journalism, information and guidance, including the support available from (mainly charitable) service providers offering temporary accommodation, meaningful activity, food, showers and housing, health and employment advice.
We create and distribute our bi-monthly magazine in three UK cities with high levels of rough sleeping and homelessness (London, Glasgow and Edinburgh). It was distributed to more Services than in 2022/23 and we welcomed more writers with lived experience of homelessness. However, despite much talk, ambitious targets and a pledge to end rough sleeping by 2024, government efforts to reduce (never mind eradicate) homelessness have largely failed, and we heard and reported many first-hand experiences about these larger systemic failures.
Since its foundation almost 20 years ago the Pavement has been a vital resource for the homeless communities within our distribution areas. Communities that include people experiencing all forms of homelessness, many of whom have complex and multiple support needs, linked to mental and physical health issues, addiction or coming out of prison, the armed forces or care. We provide vital information tailored to their needs and circumstances, through in ‘The List’ of Services in every issue and on our website. As a well-loved, respected and highly regarded magazine, targeted at people with lived experience of homelessness and the service providers supporting them, we strive consistently to deserve and sustain their trust.
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HOMELESSNESS IN A NUTSHELL
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In late February 2024, the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities released the rough sleeping snapshot for Autumn 2023, showing a sharp 27% annual increase in rough sleepers and an estimated 3,898 people sleeping rough in England on any given night, up by more than a quarter on the previous year (3,069 in Autumn 2022).
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In London, in late June 2023, the Combined Homelessness and Information Network (CHAIN) released rough sleeping data for the capital for 2022-23. Figures showed a 21% increase in the number of people recorded sleeping rough as compared with 2021-22. While a total of 10,053 people were recorded as sleeping rough.
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As of March 2023, figures published by the Scottish government identified 9,595 children who were homeless and living in temporary accommodation in Scotland. Issue 146 of the Pavement reported this as the highest number of children experiencing homelessness in the country since records began in 2002.
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Issue 148 of the Pavement reported that 121,327 children lived in temporary accommodation in England, according to data collected by the House of Commons Library.
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An ‘Observer’ investigation in early 2024 revealed some UK children experiencing homelessness are spending their entire childhoods in temporary accommodation. And in London, cash-strapped councils spent a staggering £90m per month on temporary accommodation for homeless people in 2023.
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As of September 2023, STV News reported that there were 30,129 open homelessness cases in Scotland, the highest number ever recorded.
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OUR ACHIEVEMENTS
Year-on-year post-pandemic the magazine has been rebuilding the relationships we lost to Covid, when Services temporarily closed or shut down altogether. In 2023/24 we distributed an average 6,000 copies of the Pavement amongst homelessness services in London and 1,735 in Scotland every two months.
We also continue to take on more volunteer writers with lived experience of homelessness, providing a platform for people to share their experience and learn a new craft in peer journalism. But as readers of the magazine will attest, many of our writers with lived experience already have the tools and the skills to succeed, and we’re lucky to have them. This diverse writing team selects a theme for each issue of the magazine, usually decided at one of our bi-monthly writer meetings.
A host of new writers have joined the team in the past 12 months, including Joshua Beutum, CAM, Leon Eckford, Jason Electricity, Jamie McGowan, Eric Protein Moseley and David Wishart. All of whom have brought their own skill sets to the magazine, such as Wishart’s penchant for poetry or McGowan’s expertise in housing law. And while each issue has a unique theme, the magazine includes consistent features, with which regular readers are very familiar. There’s our deputy editor Mat Amp’s unmissable column, the Groundswell health resource pages and a poetry and creative writing space. Emdad Rahman and Leon Eckford bring intimate knowledge of working with homelessness communities to their articles. Eckford as a writer with years of experience working for a major homeless charity and Rahman as an outreach worker with close ties to east London Services.
This mosaic of talented writers from different backgrounds and with different interests helps us connect with more readers, offering something of interest to as many people as possible.
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OUR IMPACT
With the support of homelessness charity Crisis’s evaluation team, and based on tailored questionaries completed by service providers, service users and current writers, we completed an impact assessment of the Pavement in mid-2023. The following extracts highlight the importance of the Pavement to our readers.
64 responses were received from service users in response to questions about what difference the Pavement made to them.
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93% said they found out about support or services available to them
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67% that they were able to make informed decisions about what to do next
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66% to improve their health and wellbeing
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64% found out about events and opportunities to meet new people,
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48% improved their financial situation (through access to benefits, employment)
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37% were able to improve their housing situation.
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35% of respondents gave a clear indication of how life changing they felt the magazine to be.
Our readers said - that the Pavement:
“Helped me to feel less ashamed of who I am. It made me realise that I belong to a positive community rather than believing that being homeless is something to be ashamed of”.
“Helped me get off drugs - helped me access and engage with new people. Helped me get my life together”.
“And I have a house now, so the Pavement helped me with that as well”
“I find that it is very helpful to my everyday life. I use the listed services in this mag on a weekly basis and sometimes daily”.
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Other questionnaire responses also reinforce the importance of the Pavement to its readers. These included the following:
- ‘ Gives people a ‘community’ as really there isn’t one on the street but helps people feel less isolated …’
‘Reading articles where people are unashamed about their situation – being ashamed is a terrible driver …’
‘Articles very inspirational both practically and emotionally – gives people hope.’
Our writers expressed what contributing to the magazine means to them:
“It gives me a platform to express myself and through reading the Pavement and contributing to it I have got myself back in to full time work as a researcher. Without the Pavement I wouldn't be here, let alone getting out of bed to do work that I love doing. Being able to be part of giving something back is important to a lot of people in recovery and it certainly has been key for me”.
“I learnt how to write in journalistic way and interview people which is helpful to what I do now. It was great and really boosted my confidence. It has led to full time employment”.
“Really rewarding to see my work in print. Helping me build a start-up portfolio and thinking on one day how to profit from my work”.
“It felt great, not only did it mean I could start sharing my writing with others, it was for a special cause as I have been on the streets over the years”.
In addition, Service providers reported that the Pavement helped 58% of their service users to make informed decisions about what they will do next, 44% to access their rights/entitlements, 50% to improve their health and wellbeing, 36% to improve their social networks, and 25% to improve their housing situations. While 88% of service providers believe that their service users found the ‘The List’ very or quite useful.
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The Impact assessment concluded that:
“Survey evidence clearly supports the firm conclusion that the Pavement creates significant social value, is highly regarded across ’ the homelessness eco-system and has a major impact on the lives of service users and on service provider s ability to support them . This is reinforced both through the positive comments of survey respondents and their stories of lived experience.
Service users were effusive about the concrete difference the Pavement makes to them, and service providers attach great value to the tools that enable their staff and volunteers to provide targeted and appropriate support.”
the Pavement is valued and loved because:
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People with lived experience of homelessness and the Services supporting them are at the heart of what we do.
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We have a great mix of magazine contributors, a majority of whom have lived experience of homelessness, while some work with homeless communities and others in organisations relevant to homelessness, i.e. Jamie McGowan sharing his expertise on housing law and Bronagh Sheridan honing her journalistic craft in our news pages.
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We design the Pavement in a way that supports reluctant readers and considers people with dyslexia and other difficulties around reading.
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Pages are regularly illustrated with fantastic art made by artists experiencing homelessness, as well as having two pages reserved for legendary cartoonists Ken Pyne and Mike Stokoe.
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the Pavement strives to raise awareness, reduce stigma and work in partnership with others to ensure people with lived experience of homelessness have their human rights realised.
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SOCIAL MEDIA
the Pavement maintains a strong social media presence to promote new issues of the magazine and to keep our readers informed of any vital information that may affect them or their rights. It also provides an important platform for our readers and contributors to get in touch and to ask us for help. Our social media accounts continue to be managed by editor Jake Cudsi and deputy editor Mat Amp.
Our followers on Facebook are at 1,742, showing a slight increase of 42 from last year’s total. However, our reach and postengagement have both decreased to an average of 130 people and 15 people respectively. Whilst Facebook continues to be the world’s most popular social media site, its popularity is slowly decreasing as apps like Instagram and TikTok attract more new, younger users.
Our X (formerly Twitter) follower count is at 3,616, which is down 94 followers from last year. There has been a decrease in users on X due to bot removal, as well as people leaving the platform due to a change in ownership, meaning this decrease is to be expected.
We now have 964 followers on Instagram, up by 37 from 927 last year - showing a small but continued increase in engagement on that platform.
WEBSITE
the Pavement’s website provides online access to our magazine, acting as both an information point for readers who do not receive the printed version and as an archive of our content from previous issues. It also includes an online version of ‘The List’ so that readers can find vital information on shelters, food and other help.
Between April 2023 and April 2024, the website received over 27,000 visits from 21,370 unique users - similar numbers to the previous financial year. We also had around 61,000 unique page views - a very small 1.6% decrease from last year’s total. While the average session duration has almost doubled, from 1 minute 35 seconds to 2 minutes 50 seconds.
Cumulatively these statistics show that although around the same number of users are visiting as before, they are spending more time on the website per visit, suggesting that recent content may be more engaging or useful.
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The Services (‘The List’) section continues to be the most viewed page, accounting for 58.5% of the overall visits to the website, demonstrating that once again over half of our online visits are from people searching for life-saving services
Mobile users now account for 59% of our overall total, with 12,618 of the 21,370 total users using mobile phones. Desktop users dropped to 39% at 8,357 in total, with the reminder using tablets (393 users) or Smart TVs (2 users). As with previous years, the 7% increase in mobile users demonstrates a steady shift away from desktop and laptop computers, suggesting we need to optimise our website for mobile users in the coming years.
FUNDERS
We are again extremely grateful to Crisis for the significant contribution that enabled us to both undertake our 2023 Impact Survey and continue to serve people with lived experience of homeless. Our thanks also goes to the Alexandra Trust, 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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ACCOUNTS
The Pavement ( Registered Charity No. 1110656 Statement of Financial Activities for the year ended 5[th] April 2024
| Year ended 5th | April 2024 | Year ended 5th | April 2023 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General | Restricted |
Total | General | Restricted | Total | ||
| funds | funds | funds | funds | funds |
funds | ||
| Note | £ | £ |
£ | £ | £ |
£ | |
| Incoming resources from generated funds | |||||||
| Voluntary income | 1 | 1,882 | - |
1,882 | 32,612 | - |
32,612 |
| ---------- | --------- |
---------- | --------- | ---------- |
---------- | ||
| Total incoming resources | 1,882 | - |
1,882 | 32,612 | - |
32,612 | |
| Resources expended | |||||||
| Governance and management costs | 2 | (793) | - |
(793 | (528) | - |
(528) |
| Charitable activities | 3 | (28,547) | - |
(28,547) | (25,718) | - |
(25,718) |
| ----------- | ---------- |
---------- | ---------- | ----------- |
----------- | ||
| (29.340) | - |
(29.340) | (26,246) | - | (26,246) | ||
| Net (deficit)/surplus for the year | (27,458) | - |
(27,458) | 6_,366_ | - |
6,366 | |
| Total funds brought forward | 30,388 | - |
30,388 | 24,022 | - |
24,022 | |
| Transfer of funds - Restricted to General | - | - |
- | - | - |
- | |
| --------- | ---------- |
--------- | ------- | ---------- |
---------- | ||
| Total funds carried forward | 2,930 | - |
2,930 | 30,388 | - |
30,388 | |
| ====== | ======= |
====== | ====== | ====== |
===== |
The notes on pages 14 to 18 form part of these accounts
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The Pavement (Registered Charity No. 1110656 Balance Sheet as at 5[th] April 2024
| 5th April 2024 | 5th April 2023 | |
|---|---|---|
| £ | £ | |
| Current assets | ||
| Bank balances | 2,930 | 30,388 |
| --------- | --------- | |
| Net current assets | 2,930 | 30,388 |
| ====== | ====== | |
| Represented by: | ||
| General funds | ||
| Balance brought forward | 30,388 | 24,022 |
| Current year (deficit)/surplus | (27,458) | 6,366 |
| --------- | ---------- | |
| Balance carried forward | 2,930 | 30,388 |
| ====== | ====== |
The notes on pages 14 to 18 form part of these accounts
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The Pavement (Registered Charity No.1110656
Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 5[th] April 2024
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.
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 expended 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 income and/or expenses for the prior period have been reclassified to conform to current period presentations. Such reclassifications had no effect on the charity’s net income or funds.
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The Pavement (Registered Charity No.1110656 ) Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 5[th] April 2024
| 2024 | 2023 | |
|---|---|---|
| £ | £ | |
| 2. Resources expended - Governance costs | ||
| General funds | £ | £ |
| Insurance | 235 | 226 |
| General postage and PO Box charges | 48 | 242 |
| General office expenses | 510 | 60 |
| --------- | --------- | |
| 793 | 528 | |
| ===== | ===== |
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The Pavement ( Registered Charity No. 1110656 Notes to the Financial Statements for the year ended 5[th] April 2024
3. Resources expended - Charitable activities
| Year ended 5th April 2024 | Year ended 5th April 2024 | April 2024 | Year ended 5th April 2023 | Year ended 5th April 2023 | April 2023 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General | Restricted | Total | General Restricted Total | General Restricted Total | General Restricted Total | |
| funds | funds | funds | funds | fund | funds | |
| £ | £ | £ | £ | £ | £ | |
| Printing newsletters and associated delivery charges | 14,954 | - | 14,954 | 14,102 | - | 14,102 |
| Editorial and related costs | 12,495 | - | 12,495 | 10,309 | - | 10,309 |
| Volunteer costs | 243 | - | 243 | 333 | - | 333 |
| General fundraising | 216 | - | 216 | 216 | - | 216 |
| General office expenses | 639 | - | 639 | 758 | - | 758 |
| -------- | -------- | --------- | --------- | --------- | ---------- | |
| 28,547 | - | 28,547 | 25.718 | - | 25,718 | |
| ====== | ===== | ====== | ====== | ====== | ====== |
Val Stevenson Chair of Trustees 3 December 2024
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The Pavement (Registered Charity No.1110656
Independent Examiner’s Report to the Trustees of The Pavement
Report on the accounts for the year ended 5 April 2024 as set out on pages 12 to 16.
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 (‘the Act’). 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 Act and that an independent examination is needed.
It is my responsibility to:
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examine the accounts under section 145 of the Act
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to follow the procedures laid down in the general Directions given by the Charity Commission under section145(5)(b) of the Act, and
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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 you as 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 connection with my examination, I confirm that no matter has come to my attention:
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(1) which gives me reasonable cause to believe that in, any material respect, the requirements
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(a) to keep the accounting records in accordance with section 130 of the Act;
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and
- (b) to prepare accounts which accord with the accounting records and to comply with the accounting requirements of the Act
have not been met; or
- (2) I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the accounts to be reached.
Wing Y Wong 19 November 2024
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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 (General/Financial Management & Fundraising), Stephen Chan, Christina Lawford. Email: trustees@thepavement.org.uk.
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 objects and powers of the charity. All trustees give their time voluntarily and receive no benefits from the charity.
Recruitment and 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’s a freelance designer and project co-ordinator based in Glasgow. Marco works on a freelance part-time 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 organises the distribution in London. We are very grateful for all his support.
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Volunteers
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 full-time paid staff members.
A special thank you to our volunteer contributors during 2023-24, with apologies to anyone we’ve accidentally left out:
Writers/researchers/photographers:
Mat Amp, Nicola Baird, Alanna Baldwin, Elodie Berland, Joshua Beutum, Chris Bird, Olivia Boyce, Michelle Brennan, CAM, Tracey Charrier, Rachel Cullen, Sophie Dianne, Leon Eckford, Jason Electricity, Becky Evans, Viki Fox, Greta Gillett, John Graham, Giselle Green, Andy Guise, Jack Hanington, Rosie Healey, Bellara Huang, Kieran Hughes, Chris Hunton, Ian Kalman, Joseph Kitson, Ant Mac, Jamie McGowan, Eric Protein Moseley, Alastair Murray, Emdad Rahman, Claire Rivers, Garnet Roach, Rosie Roksoph, Chris Sampson, John Sheehy, Bronagh Sheridan, Jess Turtle 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, Sophia Rose Byrne, Michelle Christopher, Pedro del Canto, Emily Rose Markovic, Tessa Paxton, Christopher Pritchard, Leo Rabelo, Rosie Roksoph, Lui Saatchi, Marius Samavicius, John Sheehy, Tievh, David Tovey, Mary Vallely, Maurice Woolger and Juliet Young. We’d would also like to thank Julian Baker and Hattie Price at Flat Earth Industries for their help with the website.
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OUR AIMS
The Pavement exists…
To help relieve 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 the homeless, health issues and general advice.
Our mission is…
To improve the lives of people affected by homelessness in the UK.
We aim…
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To increase uptake and reach of the Pavement
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To enable homeless people to make informed choices and access services and their rights
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To enable homeless people to contribute to the Pavement
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To raise awareness in the wider population of homelessness
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To enable service providers to improve the information they give to clients.
Our objectives are:
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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
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To undertake awareness raising and campaigning activities
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To produce topic-driven resources
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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
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(known as the List and inserted into every issue of the Pavement ).
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Offering tailored information from professionals within the homelessness sector.
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Presenting news on homeless events to strengthen community and allow our readers to make informed decisions.
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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 run a waiting list for organisations that wish to receive the magazine and regularly contact organisations to check if copies are still required and to see if the quantities needed increasing or reducing.
We believe that initiatives 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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SUMMING UP
“I knew the Pavement when it first started, and I still recommend it. The quality of journalism has got better and there’s more info. It’s a useful publication you are producing especially for people on the street. Everyone thinks everyone knows people know where to get things, but they don’t. At Liverpool Street station staff would say ‘where can we send rough sleepers?’ and I’d say they need the Pavement so they know where to get food and support.” - Paul Ryan from Café Art
The Pavement offered me a doorway back to the world. Through that door has been opportunity after opportunity when it comes to doing something with my days. Because of these opportunities I’ve found my sense of self once again. The weight of depression and the burden of shame have been slowly erased to be replaced with a genuine sense of purpose that comes with belonging to a team that organises, writes, collates, edits, designs, prints and distributes a publication that is both loved and respected by the homeless community it is produced for.” - Mat Amp, deputy editor of the Pavement
“I first came across the Pavement when I was living on the streets. What interested me at that time was the central pages which listed services and places I could get food, a necessity for me in those days. I followed it through my time on the street and sent a piece in about the American Church and to my surprise it was published. I feel the magazine services the homeless community with news, features and information. There is no other journal like it, long may it live.” - Ian Kalman (deceased) former volunteer writer at the Pavement
the Pavement 38 Allcroft Road London NW5 4NE fundraising@thepavement.org.uk Twitter @ThePavementMag Facebook The Pavement Magazine Instagram @pavement_magazine http://www.justgiving.com/thepavement/Donate
Design: Marco Biagini Words: Jake Cudsi, Marco Biagini and William Butler Published: December 2024 © the Pavement
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