## **BURGESS HILL COMMUNITY FOOD BANK** ## **Annual Report 2023** **The analysis below of our activities, prepared by our Records Keeper, gives a full analysis of the work done by Burgess Hill Community Food Bank Volunteers in our last financial year. I hesitate to add to it, so would simply add my thanks to my fellow Trustees for all the work done, unpaid, in the past year, and our thanks to the Volunteers who, week by week, support the people in our area who need it. And we would all like to thank the many members of our community that supply us with the food and the money needed to keep the operation going.** **The demand for our services has increased again in the past year, as may be seen from the analysis below. This has resulted in a reduction in our financial reserves, which remain very healthy nevertheless. We look forward to another busy year, but hope that the numbers of people needing help, especially those needing continued support, will diminish, since Food Banks are not a long-term solution to Poverty. That is a role for Government.** ## **Joe Wilkinson** **Chair of Trustees, Burgess Hill Community Food Bank** 1 ## **ANALYSIS OF BURGESS HILL COMMUNITY FOOD BANK ACTIVITIES** ## **2023** ## **Summary** - Burgess Hill Community Food Bank (BHCFB) provides food and small amounts of toiletries to needy households in Burgess Hill, Hassocks, Hurstpierpoint and surrounding villages. - The Food Bank’s clients receive one or more boxes of food and other items. Each box is designed to sustain two adults for 3 days. The number of boxes for which clients qualify is based on the size and age composition of their household. - distributions to clients continued to be made mainly against vouchers issued to them by local public institutions, charities, churches and trusts. Burgess Hill Town Council was dominant amongst these, providing vouchers for almost two-thirds of all distributions. - During the year, the Food Bank provided 4,313 boxes to 591 separate clients through a total of 2,227 distributions. - This total of 4,313 boxes was 43% greater than the 2,813 distributed in 2022. - Donors support BHCFB by gifting food and other items and by donating cash. - The cost of food and other items purchased for distribution to clients rose by 93%, principally due to food price inflation and the Food Bank’s increased throughput. - Some 40% of clients used the Food Bank only once during the year and a further 34% between 2 and 5 times. - Almost 70% of distributions went to the 26% of clients who received more than 5 distributions during the year. - Users of the Food Bank were mostly small households: some 38% of clients were single adults and a further 50% had households comprising two, three or four members. 2 ## **ANALYSIS OF BURGESS HILL COMMUNITY FOOD BANK ACTIVITIES** ## **2023** ## **1 The nature and extent of BHCFB activities** Burgess Hill Community Food Bank (BHCFB) distributes basic food items to needy households in Burgess Hill, Hassocks, Hurstpierpoint and surrounding villages. The Food Bank’s main outlet is in Burgess Hill town centre, with a second outlet in Hassocks. The Burgess Hill outlet opens for two hours on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays and that in Hassocks for two hours on Mondays and Fridays. In early 2023, after several years during which distributions in and around Hurstpierpoint were all delivered to the client, a third BHCFB outlet was opened experimentally in the village. Distributions in the area reverted to delivery-only in the second half of the year in response to low usage of this outlet. Distributions are normally made to clients against BHCFB vouchers issued by local organisations, such as Burgess Hill Town Council and Mid Sussex Early Help. The amount of food distributed is based on a standard ‘box’ sufficient to feed two adults/teenagers for three days. The amount for which clients qualify is based on the size of the household, with pre-teens counting as half an adult/teenager. Since it is difficult for Food Bank volunteers to split standard boxes, when a client’s household size results in the client qualifying for an amount of boxes that is not a whole number, the amount distributed is rounded up to the next whole number. Each standard box contains only non-perishable food. Clients can opt to receive additional small amounts of frozen foodstuffs and toiletries. During 2023, BHCFB supplied a total of 591 clients with 4,313 boxes of food plus supplements. This involved 2,947 distributions, of which 88% were collected from an outlet and 12% delivered. Basic information on BHCFB’s operations is shown in Table 1 overleaf. Other than for the data on costs, all the data in this report are drawn from the Food Bank’s records of each distribution made to clients. The key data variables employed are the date of each distribution, the point of distribution (Burgess Hill, Hassocks, Hurstpierpoint), whether distributions were collected or delivered, the name of the client, and the size and composition of the client’s household and therefore the number of boxes received. 3 ## **TABLE 1 BHCFB DISTRIBUTIONS IN 2023 ANAYSED BY OUTLET, BENEFICIARY, NUMBER OF BOXES AND DISTRIBUTION METHOD** |**Outlet/Distribution**
**method**|**Number of**
**Distributions**|**Number of beneficiaries***|**Number of beneficiaries***|**Number of beneficiaries***|**Number of**
**Boxes**| |---|---|---|---|---|---| |||**Adults & Teens**|**Pre-teens**|**Total**|| |**Burgess Hill**|**2,227**|**4,112**|**1,479**|**5,591**|**3,235**| |Collected|1,995|3,631|1,264|4,895|2,850| |Delivered|232|481|215|696|385| |**Hassocks**|**613**|**988**|**618**|**1,606**|**905**| |Collected|608|975|611|1,586|893| |Delivered|5|13|7|20|12| |**Hurstpierpoint**|**107**|**208**|**155**|**363**|**173**| |Collected|33|73|67|140|64| |Delivered|74|135|88|223|109| |**Total**|**2,947**|**5,308**|**2,252**|**7,560**|**4,313**| |Collected|2,636|4,679|1,942|6,621|3,807| |Delivered|311|629|310|939|506| * Note that the beneficiary data refer to each distribution. Thus, for example, a pre-teen in a household which uses the Food Bank 10 times will add 10 to the the number of pre-teen beneficiaries. ## **2 Growth in BHCFB’s activities in 2023 and its financial impact** 2023 saw a further large increase in BHCFB’s throughput. Distributions were 45% above those in 2022, driven by a 43% increase in Burgess Hill, a 36% increase in Hassocks, and a more than tripling in Hurstpierpoint albeit from a small 2022 base. A more detailed analysis of these increases in the number of distributions is presented in Annex Table 1. The sharp increase in distributions in 2023 followed an approximate doubling in 2022 (see chart below). Distributions in 2021, in turn, were above those in 2020 and massively above those in the years prior to the Covid lockdown. Thus, BHCFB’s 2023 operations were on a completely different scale from those in the early years of its operation. 4 **----- Start of picture text -----**
2023
BHCFB Weekly Number of Distribtions
90
80
2021 mean of 19.6
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Number of distributions
**----- End of picture text -----**
Source: Table 1 and BHCFB’s 2021 and 2022 Reports. Part of the food distributed by BHCFB is donated in kind by individuals and local firms and organisations. The Food Bank also receives cash donations that enable it to buy additional food. The increase in the number of distributions has meant that BHCFB has needed to buy increasing amounts of food to supplement donations in kind. Together with inflation in the prices of foodstuffs, this has led to the cost of purchases of food and other items for delivery to clients rising from less than £2,000 in 2019 to almost £50,000 in 2023. **----- Start of picture text -----**
Annual Expenditure on Food and Toiletries Purchased for
Distribution to Clients
£60,000
£50,000
£40,000
Toiletries
Food
£30,000
£20,000
£10,000
£0
2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
**----- End of picture text -----**
Source: Annex Table 2. 5 ## **3 Change in the composition of client households** The number of boxes received by clients in 2023 was 53% greater than in 2022. This was a larger increase between these two years than the 45% rise in the number of distributions. This reflected an increase in the mean number of boxes per distribution, which rose from 1.38 in 2022 to 1.46 in 2023. This increase for all BHCFB distributions resulted from a small increase in Burgess Hill and much larger percentage increases in Hassocks and Hurstpierpoint (Table 2). **TABLE 2 DERIVATION OF GROWTH IN THE MEAN NUMBER OF BOXES PER DISTRIBUTION** ||**Distributions**|**Boxes**|**Mean number of boxes per**
**distribution**| |---|---|---|---| ||**2022**
**2023**|**2022**
**2023**|**2022**
**2023**
**Ratio 2023**
**to 2022**| |**Burgess Hill**
**Hassocks**
**Hurstpierpoint**|1,552
2,227
451
613
32
107|2,181
3,236
585
906
47
173|1.41
1.45
1.03
1.30
1.48
1.14
1.47
1.62
1.10| |**Total**|2,035
2,947|2,813
4,315|1.38
1.46
1.06| ## **4 Voucher sources in 2023** Almost two-thirds of all distributions were covered by vouchers issued by Burgess Hill Town Council’s Help Point (Table 3). Approximately 4% of distributions in Burgess Hill, 91% in Hassocks and 44% in Hurstpierpoint were issued without a supporting voucher. **TABLE 3 SOURCES OF VOUCHERS** |**Sources of Vouchers**
**Number**|**Percent of total**
**distributions**| |---|---| |Help Point
1,907
Manor Field Primary School
55
Meadows Surgery
40
Linwood Community Mental Health Team
38
Brighton Housing Trust
25
Peabody
23
Mid-Sussex Early Help
16
Hurstpierpoint & Sayers Common Parish Council
13
Hassocks Parish Council
11
Other issuing bodies
112|64.7
1.9
1.4
1.3
0.8
0.8
0.5
0.4
0.4
3.8| |No voucher
707|24.0| |**Total distributions**
**2,947**|**100.0**| **5 Clients’ repeat use of the Food Bank** 6 Data on the frequency with which clients used BHCFB in 2023 is presented in Table 4 and the accompanying chart. Annex 3 contains a more detailed analysis, including separate data for Burgess Hill, Hurstpierpoint and Hassocks. **TABLE 4 DATA ON THE FREQUENCY WITH WHICH CLIENTS USED THE FOOD BANK** |**Distributi**
**ons per**
**client**|**Number**
**ofclients**
**% of**
**clients**
**Cumulativ**
**e % of**
**clients**|**Number of**
**distributio**
**ns**
**% of all**
**distributio**
**ns**
**Cumulativ**
**e % of**
**distributi**
**ons**| |---|---|---| |1
2
3
4
5
6-10
11-20
21-30
31-40
41-50|235
39.8
39.8
74
12.5
52.3
57
9.6
61.9
47
8.0
69.9
23
3.9
73.8
69
11.7
85.4
62
10.5
95.9
20
3.4
99.3
2
0.3
99.7
2
0.3
100.0|235
8.0
8.0
148
5.0
13.0
171
5.8
18.8
188
6.4
25.2
115
3.9
29.1
513
17.4
46.5
922
31.3
77.8
492
16.7
94.5
67
2.3
96.7
96
3.3
100.0| |Total|591
100.0|2,947
100.0| **----- Start of picture text -----**
Repeat Use of the Food Bank in 2023
45
40
35
30
25
20
15
10
5
0
1 2-5 6-10 11-20 21-30 31-40 41-50
Number of times the client used the Food Bank in 2023
Percent
**----- End of picture text -----**
% of clients % of distributions 7 During 2023, 591 separate clients received distributions. Of these, nearly 40% used the Food Bank only once and nearly three-quarters used it five times or less. Almost half of all distributions went to the 131 clients who used the Food Bank between six and twenty times. Twenty heavy users - who used the Food Bank between 21 and 30 times - accounted for 16.7% of all distributions, receiving more than twice as many distributions as the 235 clients who used it on one occasion only. There were four very heavy users, who between them received 163 distributions. ## **6 Client household size and composition and their implications** During 2023, 37% of distributions went to client households with only a single person. A further 13% went to households with a single adult and one or more pre-teens (Table 5). Thus, half of all the Food Bank’s distributions went to households comprising just a single adult or a single adult plus one or more pre-teens. A further but unknown number of client households comprised a single adult with one or more teens. Thus, it is likely that _substantially_ over 50% of all distributions went to households with only one adult. ## **TABLE 5 THE IMPORTANCE OF SINGLE-ADULT HOUSEHOLDS** ||**Household compositon (number)**|**Household compositon (number)**|**Household compositon (number)**|**Household compositon (number)**|| |---|---|---|---|---|---| ||**Single**
**adults**
**Single**
**adults**
**with pre-**
**teens**
**All single**
**adult**
**household**
**s**
**All other**||||**Total**| |**Burgess Hill**
**Hassocks**
**Hurstpierpoin**
**t**
**Total**|852
226
1,078
1,149
220
135
355
258
27
13
40
67
1,099
374
1,473
1,474||||2,227
613
107
2,947| ||||||| ||**Household compositon (%)**||||| ||**Single**
**adults**
**Single**
**adults**
**with pre-**
**teens**
**All single**
**adult**
**household**
**s**
**All other**||||**Total**| |**Burgess Hill**
**Hassocks**
**Hurstpierpoin**
**t**
**Total**|38%
36%
25%
37%|10%
22%
12%
13%|48%
58%
37%
50%|52%
42%
63%
50%|100%
100%
100%
100%| Some 58% of all distributions were to one or two-person households, with households with 3-5 members accounting for a further 37%. Large households with 6 or more members were relatively rare, accounting for less than 6% of distributions (Table 6). ## **TABLE 6 CLIENT HOUSEHOLD SIZE** 8 |**Size of**
**household**
**(persons*)**|**Percentage of distributons**| |---|---| ||**Burgess Hill**
**Hassocks**
**Hurstpierpoint**
**Total**| |1
2
3
4
5
_6_
7
8
9
10|38.3
35.9
25.2
37.3
19.8
21.4
25.2
20.3
14.5
15.3
11.2
14.6
15.4
13.1
11.2
14.8
6.8
9.3
7.5
7.3
3.8
1.6
1.9
3.3
0.6
0.3
10.3
0.9
0.5
1.8
2.8
0.8
0.4
1.1
4.7
0.7
0.0
0.2
0.0
0.0| |Total|100.0
100.0
100.0
100.0| * All household members, including adults, teenagers and pre-teens. For operational purposes BHCFB assumes that the food needs of adults and teenagers are identical. One consequence of this is that the Food Bank’s records contain data for just two categories of household member: (a) adults/teens and (b) pre-teens. This, in turn, constrains the scope for analysis of household composition. However, if single-person households are assumed to comprise adults only, a limited amount of analysis is possible. The household composition of the majority of the Food Bank’s clients results in the number of boxes they receive being rounded up to a whole number, as described in section 1. This means that all clients receive at least sufficient food to meet BHCFB’s three-day sustenance target and that the majority of clients receive more than this. During 2023, clients received a total of 34% more food than the than the amount necessary to sustain two adults for three days. This percentage is broken down in Table 7 for each of the Food Bank’s three outlets and by single and multi-person household. 9 ## **TABLE 7 AMOUNTS OF FOOD DISTRIBUTED TO CLIENTS IN EXCESS OF THE BHCFB TARGET** ||||**Hurstpierpoin**|| |---|---|---|---|---| ||**Burgess Hill**|**Hassocks**|**t**|**All BHCFB**| |**Single person households**|100%|100%|100%|100%| |**Mult-Person households**|19%|27%|13%|20%| |**All Households**|33%|40%|21%|34%| ## **7 Growth in the mean size of distributions** The number of boxes received by clients in 2023 was 53% greater than in 2022. This was a larger rise than the 45% increase in the number of distributions. This reflected an increase between the two years in the mean number of boxes per distribution, which rose from 1.38 to 1.46. This increase for all BHCFB distributions resulted from a small percentage increase in Burgess Hill but much larger increases in Hassocks and Hurstpierpoint (Table 8). **TABLE 8 GROWTH IN THE MEAN SIZE OF DISTRIBUTIONS** |**Burgess Hill**
**Hassocks**
**Hurstpierpoint**|**Distributions**|**Boxes**|**Mean number of boxes per**
**distribution**| |---|---|---|---| ||**2022**
**2023**|**2022**
**2023**|**2022**
**2023**
**Ratio 2023 to**
**2022**| ||1,552
2,227
451
613
32
107|2,181
3,236
585
906
47
173|1.41
1.45
1.03
1.30
1.48
1.14
1.47
1.62
1.10| |**Total**|2,035
2,947|2,813
4,315|1.38
1.46
1.06| --------------------------------- 10 **ANNEX TABLE 1 BHCFB PERFORMANCE IN 2023 COMPARED WITH 2022** ## **(% increase)** |**Outlet**
**Distributons**|**Benefciaries**
**Boxes**
**Adults &Teens**
**Pre-teens**
**Total**| |---|---| |**Burgess Hill**
**43**
Collected
**44**
Delivered
**36**|**52**
**41**
**49**
**48**
**53**
**36**
**48**
**49**
**45**
**78**
**54**
**46**| |**Hassocks**
**36**
Collected
**36**
Delivered
**0**|**46**
**58**
**50**
**55**
**46**
**59**
**50**
**55**
**30**
**17**
**25**
**50**| |**Hurstpierpoin**
**t**
**234**
Collected
*****
Delivered
**131**|**271**
**400**
**317**
**268**
*****
*****
*****
*****
**141**
**184**
**156**
**132**| |**Total**
**45**
Collected
**44**
Delivered
**50**|**54**
**53**
**54**
**53**
**54**
**48**
**52**
**53**
**58**
**96**
**69**
**59**| * No collections in 2022. ## **ANNEX TABLE 2** ## **ANNUAL COST OF ITEMS PURCHASED BY BHCFB FOR DISTRIBUTION TO CLIENTS** |||**(£)**|||| |---|---|---|---|---|---| ||**2019**|**2020**|**2021**|**2022**|**2023**| |**Food**|1,832|3,549|6,931|23,214|44,837| |**Toiletries**|0|0|1,099|2,569|4,171| |**Total**|**1,832**|**3,549**|**8,030**|**25,783**|**49,008**| Source: BHCFB audited accounts. 11 ## **ANNEX TABLE 3A** ## **BURGESS HILL ANALYSIS OF DISTRIBUTIONS PER CLIENT** |**Distributio**
**ns per**
**client**
**Number**
**of**
**clients**
**Aggregate**
**number of**
**distributio**
**ns**||**Distributio**
**ns per**
**client**
**Number**
**of**
**clients**
**% of**
**clients**
**Cumulati**
**ve % of**
**clients**
**Aggregate**
**number of**
**distributio**
**ns**| |---|---|---| |1
170
170
2
57
114
3
49
147
4
40
160
5
20
100
6
22
132
7
12
84
8
10
80
9
3
27
10
8
80
11
3
33
12
7
84
13
9
117
14
2
28
15
3
45
16
2
32
17
6
102
18
4
72
19
4
76
20
2
40
21
6
126
22
1
22
26
2
52
27
2
54
28
1
28
29
1
29
30
1
30
33
1
33
34
1
34
46
1
46
50
1
50||1
170
37.7
37.7
170
2
57
12.6
50.3
114
3
49
10.9
61.2
147
4
40
8.9
70.1
160
5
20
4.4
74.5
100
6-10
55
12.2
86.7
403
11-20
42
9.3
96.0
629
21-30
14
3.1
99.1
341
31-40
2
0.4
99.6
67
41-50
2
0.4
100.0
96| |||Total
451
100.0
2,227| |||| |Total
451
2,227||| 12 ## **ANNEX TABLE 3B** ## **HASSOCKS ANALYSIS OF DISTRIBUTIONS PER CLIENT** |**Distributio**
**ns per**
**client**
**Number**
**of clients**
**Aggregate**
**number of**
**distributio**
**ns**||**Distributio**
**ns per**
**client**
**Numb**
**er of**
**clients**
**% of**
**clients**
**Cumulati**
**ve % of**
**clients**
**Aggregate**
**number of**
**distributio**
**ns**| |---|---|---| |1
44
44
2
9
18
3
6
18
4
3
12
5
2
10
6
3
18
7
2
14
9
4
36
10
1
10
11
3
33
12
3
36
13
2
26
14
2
28
16
1
16
17
4
68
18
1
18
19
3
57
21
1
21
22
1
22
23
1
23
27
1
27
29
2
58||1
44
44.4
44.4
44
2
9
9.1
53.5
18
3
6
6.1
59.6
18
4
3
3.0
62.6
12
5
2
2.0
64.6
10
6-10
10
10.1
74.7
78
11-20
19
19.2
93.9
282
21-30
6
6.1
100.0
151
31-40
0
0.0
100.0
0
41-50
0
0.0
100.0
0| |||Total
99
100.0
613| |||| |Total
99
613||| 13 ## **ANNEX TABLE 3C** ## **HURSTPIERPOINT ANALYSIS OF DISTRIBUTIONS PER CLIENT** |Distributio
ns per
client|Numb
er of
clients|Aggregate
number of
distributio||Distributio
ns per
client|Numb
er of
clients|% of
clients|Cumulati
ve % of
clients|Aggregate
number of
distributio| |---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---| |||ns||||||ns| |1|21|21||1|21|51.2|51.2|21| |2|8|16||2|8|19.5|70.7|16| |3|2|6||3|2|4.9|75.6|6| |4|4|16||4|4|9.8|85.4|16| |5|1|5||5|1|2.4|87.8|5| |6|1|6||6-10|4|9.8|97.6|32| |8|2|16||11-20|1|2.4|100.0|11| |10|1|10||21-30|0|0.0|100.0|0| |11|1|11||31-40|0|0.0|100.0|0| |Total|41|107||41-50|0|0.0|100.0|0| |||||Total|41|100.0||107| 14 Illllllllllllll INDEPENDENT AUDITORS REPORT 2023 BOARD OF TRUSTEES I have audited the 2023 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 Community Food Bank for the period January I to December 31 . 2023. Jonathan Bird FMAAT January 29, 2024