## ANALYSIS OF BURGESS HILL COMMUNITY FOOD BANK ACTIVITIES IN 2022
## Summary
During 2022, the Food Bank provided 442 clients with 2,813 boxes of food worth approximately £133,000.
The number of distributions and the number of boxes distributed were both over 95% higher than in 2021. This sharp rise was caused by:
- an increase in the number of individuals and households using the Food Bank. This was principally the result of nationwide increases in the retail prices of foodstuff and other goods and services which reduced the ability of local low-income households to buy food.
- from May 2022, the use of the Food Bank by Ukrainian refugees hosted locally. Between May and the end of the year, Ukrainian refugees received over a quarter of all distributions.
The issuing of vouchers was dominated in 2022 by Burgess Hill Town Council, which provided over twenty times as many vouchers as the next most important issuing agency.
The return to providing food through collection was consolidated in 2022, with deliveries limited to a small number of clients unable to collect.
At the Burgess Hill outlet, Saturday was added as a collection day, bringing the total number of collection days per week in Burgess Hill to three.
Most clients used the Food Bank extensively, with more than two-thirds of all distributions going to clients obtaining food six or more times during the year.
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## ANALYSIS OF BURGESS HILL COMMUNITY FOOD BANK ACTIVITIES IN 2022
## **1. The nature and extent of BHCFB activities**
BHCFB distributes to households and single adults who are resident in Burgess Hill, Hassocks, Hurstpierpoint and surrounding villages.
During the main Covid lockdown period, BHCFB switched from collection to delivery as the main means of supplying food to clients. During 2021, the Food Bank successfully reintroduced collection as the main form of distribution, with delivery limited to clients who were unable to collect. This focus on collection was continued and consolidated in 2022.
The Food Bank’s main outlet is in Burgess Hill, with a second, well-used outlet in Hassocks. During 2022, small amounts of food were also distributed by delivery in and around Hurstpierpoint.
Distributions are normally made to clients against BHCFB vouchers issued by local organisations, such as the Town Council and West Sussex County Council Children's Services. The amount distributed to a client is based on the number of people in their household as specified on the voucher, with pre-teens counting as half an adult or teenager. The standard unit of distribution is a box of sorted foodstuffs sufficient to last two adults for three days. This had an approximate value of £40 in 2022.
During 2022, the Food Bank provided 442 clients with 2,813 boxes of food worth approximately £133,000 through a total of 2,035 distributions (see Table 1). Total distributions during the year were sufficient to sustain the equivalent of two adults for 8,439 days.
## **TABLE 1: FOOD BANK DISTRIBUTIONS IN 2022 ANALYSED BY OUTLET AND BY NUMBERS OF BENEFICIARIES AND BOXES**
|**Outlet**|**Distributon**
**s**|**Benefciaries**|**Benefciaries**|
|---|---|---|---|
|**Burgess Hill**
Collected
Delivered|**1,552**
1,382
170|**2,711**
**1,050**
**3,761**
2,380
929
3,309
331
121
452|**2,181**
1,918
263|
|**Hassocks**
Collected
Delivered|**451**
446
5|**677**
**394**
**1,071**
667
388
1,055
10
6
16|**585**
577
8|
|**Hurstpierpoin**
**t**
Collected
Delivered|**32**
0
32|**56**
**31**
**87**
0
0
0
56
31
87|**47**
0
47|
|**Total**
Collected
Delivered|**2,035**
1,828
207|**3,444**
**1,475**
**4,919**
3,047
1,317
4,364
397
158
555|**2,813**
2,495
318|
## **2. Means of Distribution**
Other than at Hurstpierpoint, BHCFB continued with collection being the standard form of distribution, with deliveries being confined to clients unable to collect. Over the year, in Burgess Hill and Hassocks, collections accounted for, respectively, 89% and 99% of all distributions. In Hurstpierpoint all distributions continued to be made by delivery.
2
## **3. The substantial increase in BHCFB activities in 2022**
Distributions in the first quarter of 2022 were marginally above the average for 2021. Towards the end of April, the number of distributions began to increase markedly as the war in Ukraine led to an increase in the retail prices of food and fuel throughout the UK, reducing the ability of low-income households to acquire food. Use of the Food Bank increased further as substantial numbers of Ukrainian refugees moved into Mid-Sussex (see Section 7).
From the middle of May, BHCFB’s weekly distributions were over twice the average for 2021, other than for a small number of weeks when distributions were disrupted by public holidays. The extent and timing of the increases in the Food Bank’s throughput in 2022 can be seen from Figure 1.
In total, the number of distributions and the number of boxes distributed for the full year were up by over 95% on 2021 (Table 2), with the Food Bank’s throughput in the second half of 2022 being some 2.5 times the average for 2021.
## **TABLE 2: PERCENTAGE CHANGES IN BHCFB’S DISTRIBUTIONS IN 2022 AND THEIR IMPACT ON THE NUMBER BENEFICIARIES**
**(2022 percentage increases over 2021)**
|**Outlet**|**Distributons**|**Benefciaries**|**Boxes**|
|---|---|---|---|
|||**Adults & Teens**
**Pre-teens**
**Total**||
|**Burgess Hill**
**Hassocks**
**Hurstpierpoint**
**Total**|110.9%
93.6%
-37.3%
99.5%|106.9%
110.0%
107.8%
95.7%
105.2%
99.1%
-43.4%
-63.1%
-52.5%
96.2%
90.1%
94.4%|109.5%
93.7%
-48.9%
96.0%|
3
## 4. Sources of Vouchers
During 2022 over half of all vouchers were issued by Burgess Town Council’s Help Point, which issued around 21 times as many vouchers as the second most important agency, the Mid-Sussex Ukraine Support Group.
Within the third-ranked category - the Mid and West Sussex Councils - the Mid-Sussex Early Help Hub was the main issuer, accounting for half of this category’s total of 42 vouchers.
**TABLE 3: MAIN VOUCHER ISSUING ORGANISATIONS IN 2022**
||**Number of**
**Vouchers**|
|---|---|
|Burgess Hill Town Council Help Point
Mid Sussex Ukraine Support Group
Mid and West-Sussex District Councils
Linwood Community Mental Health Team
Brighton Housing Trust
Peabody Group (a housing associaton)
Citzens Advice|1,340
63
42
40
35
28
24|
## **5. Increase in delivery days in Burgess Hill**
At the start of 2022, as in previous years, BHCFB’s outlet in Burgess Hill was open for collections for two hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays, while the Hassocks outlet continued to open on Mondays and Fridays. In the first week of March, Saturday was added as a collection day in Burgess Hill, initially on an experimental basis. Once it became clear that Saturday was preferred by some clients, it was decided to make Saturday opening a permanent feature. The importance of each of the three opening days in Burgess Hill is shown below for the period March-December 2022.
**----- Start of picture text -----**
FIGURE 2: THE IMPORTANCE OF OPENING DAYS AT THE
BURGESS HILL COLLECTION OUTLET
March-December 2022
Saturday
14%
43%
43%
Thursday
Tuesday
**----- End of picture text -----**
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## **6. Clients’ repeat use of the Food Bank**
Clients who used the Food Bank just once during the year accounted for 42% of all clients but for only 9% of the food distributed.
The bulk of distributions went to clients who received six or more distributions. During the year, the 21% of clients who used the Food Bank from 6 to 20 times received 45% of all distributions with the 4% of clients who used it more than 20 times accounting for a further 23% all distributions.
**FIGURE 3: REPEAT USE OF BHCFB DURING 2022**
**----- Start of picture text -----**
50%
45%
40%
35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
Single distribution 2-5 visits 6-20 visits 21-42 visits
% of total clients % of the total number of boxes distributed
**----- End of picture text -----**
Source: Annex Table 1
## **7. Use of BHCFB by Ukrainian refugees**
Commencing in April, Ukrainian refugees began living with families in BHCFB’s catchment area under the ‘Homes for Ukraine’ scheme. They began to access the Food Bank in significant numbers from early May. From May to December, 78 Ukrainian individuals and families received a total of 424 distributions, a little over a quarter of all BHCFB distributions during this period.
**TABLE 4: USE OF BHCFB BY UKRAINIAN REFUGESS FROM MAY TO DECEMBER 2022**
|**Locaton of**
**outlet**|**Distributons to**
**Ukrainian**
**individuals and**
**families**|**Total**
**distributons**|**Distributons to**
**Ukrainians as a**
**proporton of all**
**distributons**|
|---|---|---|---|
|**Burgess Hill**
**Hassocks**
**Hurstpierpoin**
**t**|331
90
3|1,225
347
32|27.0%
25.9%
9.4%|
|**Total**|424|1,604|26.4%|
5
Despite Ukrainian refugees using BHCFB for only 8 months of the full calendar year, their pattern of repeat usage was similar to that of all clients during all of 2022, with over half of distributions going to those who made use of the Food Bank between six and twenty times.
**----- Start of picture text -----**
FIGURE 4
REPEAT USE OF BHCFB BY UKRAINIAN REFUGEES
IN 2022
60.0
50.0
40.0
30.0
20.0
10.0
0.0
Single visit 2-5 6-20 21-30
% of all Ukrainian clients % of all boxes distributed to Ukrainian clients
**----- End of picture text -----**
Source: Annex Table 2
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## **ANNEX TABLES**
## **ANNEX TABLE 1: ANALYSIS OF REPEAT USAGE OF BHCFB, 2022**
|**Usage by**
**the client**|**Number**|**Proporton of all**|
|---|---|---|
||**clients**
**distributons**|**clients**
**distributons**|
|**1**
**2-5**
**6-20**
**21-42**|184
184
42%
9%
148
460
33%
23%
94
924
21%
45%
16
467
4%
23%||
|**Total**|442
2035
100%
100%||
## **ANNEX TABLE 2: ANALYSIS OF REPEAT USAGE OF BHCFB BY UKRAINIAN REFUGEES, 2022**
|**Usage by**
**the client**|**Number of Ukrainian**|**Proporton of all Ukrainian**|
|---|---|---|
||**clients**
**distributons**|**clients**
**distributons**|
|**1**
**2-5**
**6-20**
**21-30**|26
26
25
75
23
225
4
98|33%
6%
32%
18%
29%
53%
5%
23%|
|**Total**|78
424|100%
100%|
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INDEPENDENT AUDITORS REPORT 2022
BOARD OF TRUSTEES
I have audited the 2022 accounts for Burgess Hill Community Food Bank (a
charitable organisation) and in my opinion the financial records and
statements are a true and fair reflection of the financial position of Burgess Hill
st
st
Community Food Bank forthe period January I to December 31 , 2022.
Recommendations
Cash of approximately £850 held by the Hassocks branch at the URC,
should be banked to reduce the potential risk of loss. While
appreciating the cash is kept in a safe place, access is not restricted to
Food Bank volunteers. In addition, revenue will be generated through
increased interest on the bank account.
To encourage face to face meetings with the branches, rotation of
meeting locations between the three towns should be considered.
Jonathan Bird FMAAT
February 13, 2023