2024-03-31-accounts

Registered Charity Number: 1157577 Registered in England and Wales

Hello. I'd just like to thank you all. Today whilst I was napping a lady knocked on our door and passed a Christmas hamper to my son whom is ill due to .... and post op. This was so lovely and touched us deeply. My son gets poorly a lot and this year I've had to take over 120 days off work (I'm a self employed single parent) so money has been so tight. The foodbanks food donations have really got us through a tough time. Today's delivery was so amazing. My son smiled for the first time in ages when he saw the chocolate coins and wrapped gift for him. Thank you all for your hard work, you really help people like myself whom are struggling so badly. Kind regards.

Good Morning, I would just like to say how much i appreciate your kindness with supporting myself & my 2 daughters through these cold winter months. We are extremely gratefully for such kindness. Warm regards.

Hi, I received the blanket and it’s already made a huge difference to keeping us warm last night. Many thanks for all of your help.

Good evening. I have a got great news today. The Council agreed to refund the payments. We received the heater yesterday. Thanks for your support. You are incredible

Hello this is E and N. You helped me this morning with the food bank and I wanted to say how incredibly grateful to you and overwhelmed with your kindness I didn't know how we were going to eat tonight and I felt ashamed I had to ask for help but you made me feel it was ok to ask for help. I cried with happiness on the way home. Unfortunately I may need to ask for help again but I promise to get as many bags I can find and when my husband and I are financially stable we will donate to you also xx

Chair's Message - Richard Margetts

Once again, I offer my grateful thanks to all our Trustees and volunteers for their dedication and hard work, and to our local community for their support (whether in food or finance) without which we would not be able to continue to help our many clients.

Over the years, since Saltash Foodbank started, the range of support we aim to give has steadily expanded, as you will see elsewhere in this report. While we do need to remind ourselves from time to time that we are primarily a foodbank, we are very conscious that people often need help to tackle underlying issues that go beyond a ”one-off” food crisis.

We can only hope to be part of the solution to endemic problems of poverty and disadvantage, but we do try to help out practically where we can, for example with certain household items and with energy and communication costs.

Signposting to other organisations and Agencies that can provide longer term and in-depth support is an important part of our role. This happens at various stages: at first contact, through leaflets included with food parcels, and then when our team of “Virtual Signposting” volunteers call clients to see how they are getting on, generally a little while after they have received the food. A new development this year has been our participation in the Callington Foodbank 'Financial Inclusion' project and we are grateful for the additional, dedicated Citizens Advice support this can bring for our clients. We also liaise with other local Foodbanks, schools and other community organisations to make best use of all that we receive.

You may have become aware of the national “Guarantee the Essentials“ campaign run by the Trussell Trust and Joseph Rowntree Foundation – calling on Government (of whatever persuasion) to introduce “a protected, minimum level of support based on an independent calculation of essential costs, directly addressing material hardship”. They and other campaigning groups are moving towards a “Cash First” stance: put simply, if people have enough reliable income, the skills to use it wisely, and sustainable sources of affordable food there is no need for anyone to go hungry.

Meanwhile, however, there are many who do – and we find we are helping more people in more ways than ever. None of this would be possible without the dedication of our splendid volunteers who collect food, pack food, deliver food, count the stock, prepare Christmas hampers & wrap presents, answer the phone calls, pick up the emails, provide Signposting, manage the accounts, arrange training, sort out our IT, and do so much more to 'keep the show on the road'. So, most sincerely, my thanks to you all!

Foodbank Centre Report - Rika Chanter

The causes of food poverty

Now we are a year out of Covid restrictions, what does this mean for Saltash Foodbank and the people we support?

Our figures for the number of people we have fed are our second highest yet, after a very high peak of 1,611 people supported last year to 1,335 people supported this year. (A year for us is from 1st April to 31st March.) Last year saw the start of a ‘Cost of Living’ crisis when essential bills, such as energy, food, fuel, rent, council tax, water bills, phone bills, internet, clothing - and most other items - increased in price. But the benefits and wages people received were not keeping up with these costs. This left many people without money at the end of the month. Just before their next payment went into the bank, especially if they had a crisis (e.g. an item needing to be repaired or replaced) any spare funds they had were gone, and people tipped into difficulty. At these times they needed temporary support. Through the generosity of members of the local community who donate to us, we have been able to support people at these times. We do not just provide food support; we can also provide additional items such as food for pets and toiletries as well as signposting to further support.

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Voucher Numbers by Year
Period	**Vouchers **	**Adults **	Children	Total
2023-2024	539	795	540	1,335
2022-2023	614	926	685	1,611
2021-2022	427	652	445	1,097

Household structure	Vouchers	Vouchers %
Single adult household (with or without dependents)
Single adult with no children	188	34.88%
Single adult with 1 or 2 children (0 - 16 years old)	108	20.04%
Single adult with 3 or more children (0 - 16 years old)	26	4.82%
Sub-total	322	59.74%
One couple household (with or without dependents)
One couple household with no children (0 - 16 years old)	44	8.16%
One couple household with 1 or 2 children (0 - 16 years old)	45	8.35%
One couple household with 3 or more children (0 - 16 years old)	36	6.68%
Sub-total	125	23.19%
Couple and additional adult(s)
Couple and additional adult(s) with no children (0 - 16 years old)	3	0.56%
Couple and additional adult(s) with 1 or 2 children (0 - 16 years old)	2	0.37%
Couple and additional adult(s) with 3 or more children (0 - 16 years old)	1	0.19%
Sub-total	6	1.11%
Multi-adult household
Multi-adult household with no children	36	6.68%
Multi-adult household with 1 or 2 children (0 - 16 years old)	38	7.05%
Multi-adult household with 3 or more children (0 - 16 years old)	12	2.23%
Sub-total	86	15.96%
Total	539	100%

An increasing problem is that people find themselves in a ‘negative budget’, where their income does not meet all their necessary expenditure (rent/mortgage, electric, gas, council tax, clothing, phone, internet, food, insurance, car costs, prescriptions, etc.). Whist the rate of inflation is slowing, prices are still actually increasing. In April 2024 some benefits increased, but not by inflation and so, the problem continues to get worse.

Another issue is the increasing number of people that we see with ‘no fixed abode’. They are either in a tent in the summer, sleep in vans, cars or on a friend’s couch or are temporarily housed at either the Travelodge or more recently the Cardinals Hatt in the units behind the pub. Many have limited cooking facilities, no laundry facilities, and difficulty in getting to other places, especially if at the Cardinals Hatt. Some homeless families are also housed at the Crylla Park (Notter Bridge holiday homes). Many will be moved from temporary accommodation to temporary accommodation, meaning they will be homeless for months or even years. Many wish to rent privately but face many hurdles, such as rental availability and the difficulty of finding up to 6 month’s rent as a deposit, needing a guarantor, or just not finding accommodation in the area where they have put down roots. It is very sad to see these people being in limbo for so long and being unable to progress in life, with education, with work or in developing a social network. Homelessness is not just happening to single men but also to women and families fleeing domestic violence, and families that have been evicted from properties the landlord wants to sell or reoccupy. Often the eviction is through no fault of the tenant (Section 21 eviction), and even sees people discharged from hospital placed in temporary accommodation. So, to the ‘Cost of Living Crisis’ we cannot see a solution coming soon but we live in hope.

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TT Client Address Area Age Group of Referred People
a Ward Vouchers Adults Children Total Age Group
a Altarnun & Stoke Climsland 2 4 7 11 Adults (17 - 24 yrs) 127
a Budshead 7 12 10 22 Adults (25 - 34 yrs) 209
a Callington & St. Dominic 2 3 6 9 Adults (35 - 44 yrs) 232
a Devonport 1 1 0 1 Adults (45 - 54 yrs) 135
a Drake 1 2 0 2 Adults (55 - 64 yrs) 65
a Eggbuckland 2 2 1 3 Adults (65 - 74 yrs) 9
a Ham 7 19 7 26 Adults (75+ yrs) 3
a Honicknowle 25 34 17 51 Adults (not specified) 16
a Liskeard South & Dobwalls 1 1 0 1 Children (0 - 4 yrs) 178
a Looe East & Deviock 1 1 0 1 Children (12 - 16 yrs) 146
a Looe West, Pelynt, Lansallos & Lanteglos 1 2 2 4 Children (5 - 11 yrs) 196
Lynher 5 10 6 16 Children (not specified) 20
a
NFA 43 51 10 61
Rame Peninsula & St. Germans 15 27 7 34
Saltash Essa 210 299 213 512
Saltash Tamar 118 169 155 324
a Saltash Trematon & Landrake 35 56 26 82
Southway 6 12 5 17 ry
St. Budeaux 48 78 64 142
St. Peter and the Waterfront 2 2 0 2
Stoke 1 2 1 3
Sutton and Mount Gould 1 2 3 5
Torpoint 5 6 0 6
rr Unknown 0 0 0
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Age Group of Referred People	Age Group of Referred People
Age Group	People
Adults (17 - 24 yrs)	127
Adults (25 - 34 yrs)	209
Adults (35 - 44 yrs)	232
Adults (45 - 54 yrs)	135
Adults (55 - 64 yrs)	65
Adults (65 - 74 yrs)	9
Adults (75+ yrs)	3
Adults (not specified)	16
Adults (not specified) Children (0 - 4 yrs)	178
Children (12 - 16 yrs)	146
Children (5 - 11 yrs) Children (not specified)	196
Children (not specified)	20

How Saltash Foodbank tries to help

Donation from Ben Harris from Motion Training

Agencies (housing officers, health visitors, etc.) refer clients to us through an e-voucher system. On receiving the referral on the Trussell Trust database, I phone the client, so they get the most appropriate food support, but also to find out if they need additional items. At the same time, we also discuss their situation to see what caused their crisis, and whether we can signpost them to other support such as Citizens Advice or Christians Against Poverty (CAP).

Agencies making ten or more referrals	Agencies making ten or more referrals
Help through Hardship	75
Job Centre	52
Plymouth City Council	41
CAP	33
Citizen's Advice - Liskeard and Saltash	32
We Are With You (formerly Addaction)	30
Cornwall Housing	25
Together for Families	20
Saltash Foodbank	18
Health Visiting Team	12
Citizens Advice in other areas	12
Devon and Cornwall Probation Trust	11
Adult Care and Support	11
Together for Families - Cornwall Council	10

Supporting the Trussell Trust ‘Guarantee Our Essentials’ campaign

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In some cases, if the client has no gas or electricity to cook the food we have given them, we may be able to provide energy support as well, perhaps through the Fuelbank Foundation, perhaps directly into their energy account, but never as cash. Fuelbank rules have become stricter this year, but as energy costs have reduced, less support has been needed, apart from during particularly cold spells.

Through grant funding we have been able to help with some household items, such as a slow cooker, a work surface hob, or blankets.

Occasionally we encounter people who are struggling to pay their phone bills. In some cases, we are able to offer a free 6-month SIM (provided by the Good Things Foundation) so they can keep in contact with essential services, especially if homeless or in temporary accommodation. In a few cases grant funding has enabled us to provide a basic mobile phone when the client’s phone is broken.

Through our ‘Financial Inclusion’ initiative, we are now also able to refer clients, if they wish, to specialised support from a dedicated Citizen’s Advice counsellor.

The size and content of our food parcels depends on the size of the family we are serving. Volunteers pre-pack and label different sizes of food parcel. Drop-In volunteers then add further items e.g. tea, coffee, sugar, pet food, nappies, cleaning items and toiletries. Some clients have special dietary requirements, and then the food parcel will be adjusted to their needs. Occasionally, we may need to buy items to add to the food parcel, especially items such as baby formula.

Additionally, the client gets an envelope with local help information and a chocolate bar in their food parcel. In the envelope are details of the Community Fridge and Kitchen at 8 Fore Street and the support available there (e.g. the mental health support groups, social prescriber sessions and extra free food). There is also the number for ‘Help Through Hardship’, a national advice line from Citizens Advice funded by the Trussell Trust, that provides generalist advice to someone calling for help, or a means to get a referral for a further food parcel. Help Through Hardship is linked up with local Citizens Advice who can follow up on any other issues or actions. A ‘Worrying About Money?’ leaflet is also included, with many more support agency details.

Foodbank Processes

To ensure the workload for volunteer drivers is manageable we are now a ‘collection only’ Foodbank and deliver only when medically necessary in Saltash, PL12 area. Due to client expectation of delivery, many local foodbanks now have to offer ‘collection only’, as the demand was too great for the volunteer drivers. When we do deliver to Saltash clients, it happens at the end of drop-in days: Mondays and Wednesdays 2pm to 4pm and Fridays 11am to 1pm.

We have teams of 3 or 4 volunteers at each session, preparing the food parcels for collection, welcoming clients and ensuring they have all they need to last for at least 3 days. The client can select additional fresh vegetables that volunteer drivers collect weekly from Tremaine Carew Pole at Hay Farm, Antony Estate. This extra fresh produce allows a 3-day food parcel to be stretched to nearly a week, especially if extra items are taken from our ‘help yourself’ area. Here there are the unusual items that get donated to us that are not on our list for a regular food parcel, items getting close to their ‘best before’ date and items we receive from the supermarkets direct, that are slightly damaged on the outside, but where the inner packaging is still OK.

Saltash Foodbank operates on a referral system and we do not allow people to come directly to us when they need food. If a client arrives, without time to get a referral, they are provided with an ‘emergency parcel’ (of items we have lots of such as pasta) and a few items from the ‘Help Yourself’ area, to tide them over. They are provided with information on how to get a speedy referral and a full food parcel at another time.

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The Trussell Trust System collects detailed data about the reason the client needs support. You will see from the table below, how the data is categorised. As an example, the Trussell Trust database shows whether the client is earning a wage, earning and receiving benefits, is on benefits alone or has no income at all. Across the country, this gives them a highly accurate picture of the causes of poverty in the UK.

Reasons for referral	Reasons for referral	Reasons for referral	Reasons for referral	Reasons for referral	Reasons for referral
Category	Reasons	**Vouchers **	**Adults **	Children	Total
Earnings related	Change in work hours	13	19	19	38
Earnings related	Unemployment following permanent work	15	21	10	31
Earnings related	Unemployment following temporary work	3	3	2	5
Earnings related	Delay in or awaiting other income	30	45	49	94
Earnings related	Beneft delay	36	53	41	94
Benefts related	Beneft deduction (overpayment or advance)	12	17	11	28
Benefts related	Beneft reduction due to change in eligibility	21	34	29	63
Benefts related	Beneft reduction due to sanction	10	11	10	21
Benefts related	Awaiting frst beneft payment for less than a month	9	16	9	25
Benefts related	Awaiting frst beneft payment for more than a month	3	4	0	4
Debts / costs / expenses	Priority debt	133	202	133	335
Debts / costs / expenses	Non-priority debt	61	97	40	137
Debts / costs / expenses	Cost of dependents has increased	57	98	95	193
Debts / costs / expenses	Rising costs of essentials	240	361	267	628
Debts / costs / expenses	Other unexpected expense	67	96	73	169
Personal circumstances	Insecurely housed	49	64	17	81
Personal circumstances	No fnancial support due to immigration status	1	1	0	1
Personal circumstances	Loss of support from friends or family	17	24	28	52
Personal circumstances	Change in relationship status	13	14	14	28
Personal circumstances	Domestic abuse	19	26	23	49
Personal circumstances	Change in dependents	17	28	40	68
Health	New physical or mental health condition	12	19	18	37
Health	Ongoing impact of physical or mental health	138	196	78	274
No answer	None applicable	12	14	14	28
No answer	Declined to answer	1	1	1	2
No answer	Unable to ask	31	46	29	75
Health	Change in physical or mental health	9	12	6	18
Issued before 4/4/23	Reason for referral not in this format	7	8	3	11

Reason for support (3 food parceis in 6 months)	Reason for support (3 food parceis in 6 months)	Reason for support (3 food parceis in 6 months)	Reason for support (3 food parceis in 6 months)	Reason for support (3 food parceis in 6 months)
Reason	**Vouchers **	**Adults **	**Children **	Total
Awaiting 1st beneft payment	1	1	0	1
Beneft delay or sanction	9	10	12	22
Debt	16	22	12	34
Domestic abuse	4	4	2	6
Drug or alcohol dependency	1	2	0	2
Homelessness	5	5	1	6
Long term health condition	10	13	6	19
Long term unemployment	3	4	1	5
Other - low income	39	61	44	105
Other	13	19	16	35
Totals	101	141	94	235

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Due to the Cost-of-Living crisis the main reason for referral is the cost of essentials. When we see this, we try to find out if other agencies are supporting the client. Some clients can apply for a grant from the ‘Household Support Fund’ to help them with their cost-of-living expenses. If no other support is available, I direct clients to Citizen’s Advice or Christians Against Poverty, where they can provide budgeting support or request support for some of their bills. Some clients can apply for another benefit e.g. Personal Independence Payment (PIP) if they have a physical and/or mental disability, or Attendance Allowance (AA) for those of pensionable age needing extra help.

The next most frequent reason for referral is ongoing poor physical and mental health, at times in addition to other needs. We are increasingly seeing those who have severe anxiety to the point they do not go out at all and rely on others to support them, if they have people they can call on. Some people are very isolated. We will ask if they have support from anyone with their mental health and most have, but the wait for appointments can be long. Local support for mental health is through their local doctor’s surgeries, Pentreath Ltd and MIND.

The next highest cause of crisis is ‘Priority Debt’. This is debt such as rent arrears or Council Tax arrears (where there is risk of escalating the debt due to bailiffs, court costs or risk of eviction). We always recommend that clients talk to the organisations to whom they owe money, to explain their situation. Clients are also advised to seek help from the many free debt advice organisations such as CAP and Citizens Advice locally, or national organisations such as Step Change.

We are especially grateful for CAP’s work in Saltash and the support they give to those with debts. They have provided group budgeting sessions and individual debt sessions.

Along with Callington Foodbank we have started a ‘Financial Inclusion’ initiative. This provides us with a dedicated Citizen’s Advice counsellor for one day per week. This allows us to refer clients with complex needs, for more detailed personal advice. This could be help filling in a PIP benefit claim form, help with signing onto ‘Cornwall Homechoice’ if they are homeless, any issues with bills or housing that they are struggling with, or any other issue that they need help with.

One of the members of our Signposting Team calls as many clients as possible, shortly after they have received food. This allows us to invite clients to tell us about the underlying problems they are experiencing. The Signposter will then provide details (by email or text) of organisations that can provide the client with further assistance. We use dedicated mobile phones, laptops and a secure online database to support this work. In accordance with GDPR rules, we keep notes for a limited period only. This allows us to ensure that clients cannot become over-reliant on our services, and helps us to provide consistent, accurate and up-to-date support.

Saltash Foodbank is run by over 50 unpaid volunteers. I would like to thank my fellow team members for all they do. They collect, sort and date-check the food donations, organising them in the Foodbank warehouse. We have pre-packers for the basic food parcels, and those who add to the parcels on a collection day. The drivers deliver the food parcels, when necessary, never knowing from one day to the next where they need to go or how long the journey will take. We have Volunteers that help with our technology, support the monthly Trustees and Signposting meetings, look after our finances, and occasionally buy extra food in if our stock gets very low.

As volunteers we all work around our own family commitments and provide cover when others are not available. “Thank You!” to all that support us in any way. Your contribution to the running of the Foodbank is priceless!

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Referral Agencies

Our main 6 referring organisations (in decreasing order) for the year 2023-2024, were Help Through Hardship, Plymouth Job Centres, Plymouth City Council, CAP, local Citizens Advice and finally We Are With You (formally Addaction). These 6 referral agencies account for nearly half of our referrals over the year.

Agencies making ten or more referrals	Agencies making ten or more referrals
Help through Hardship	75
Job Centre	52
Plymouth City Council	41
CAP	33
Citizen's Advice - Liskeard and Saltash	32
We Are With You (formerly Addaction)	30
Cornwall Housing	25
Together for Families	20
Saltash Foodbank	18
Health Visiting Team	12
Citizens Advice in other areas	12
Devon and Cornwall Probation Trust	11
Adult Care and Support	11
Together for Families - Cornwall Council	10

All Job Centres, nationally, have now stopped issuing their own printed referral forms to clients as they deem it a ‘data protection issue’. Similarly, DWP have always refused to use the Trussell Trust database, that other agencies are using, as a secure way to refer clients. This has left us with a situation that added another hurdle for our clients to jump through. Plymouth and Saltash Foodbanks have therefore had to produce guidance information for clients, who are asking for help at job centres, on how they can access support. People attending Plymouth Job Centres are given details on how to contact Plymouth City Council, Help Through Hardship or local Citizens Advice, if they need food support.

A large number of people are facing increasingly severe hardship. Sanctions are still happening to people who are on Universal Credit (UC). For many it is for missing an appointment at the Job Centre, leaving them £250 or more, worse off per month. If it happens a second time, the sanction could be longer than a few weeks, it could be a few months or with more money taken away by DWP. This is a cruel form of punishment, allowing people to get further into arrears, adding extra stress and at times leaving children with less than they need.

Our link with Wesley Church

The ‘Warm Spaces’ scheme ran during the colder winter months at Saltash Wesley Methodist Church, Community Kitchen, Saltash Library and at the Baptist Church. These provided a place for people to go, to get warm during the day, at different times of the week.

Wesley Church found that extra support was needed for those that are street-homeless or sleeping in inappropriate places. The church provided breakfasts, lunches, snacks such as pasties, bread collected at the end of the day from the Saltash Co-op store and fruit and veg that are just at the end of their ‘best before’ date. Additionally, Wesley Church has provided showers and the use of a washing machine, available at the church, during weekday mornings. Saltash Foodbank supported these projects by offering fresh produce and canned items for soups and potato lunches. We also helped with tents or sleeping bags and occasionally phones or SIM cards if the client had nowhere else to turn. Wesley Church itself, worked alongside the St. Petroc’s homeless charity. This provided a place for the homeless person to meet a St. Petroc’s outreach worker face-to-face, exploring their problems and their options. Many clients have been helped into more secure accommodation.

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Secretary’s Report - Corina Clement

The Trustees have continued to hold regular monthly meetings on Zoom over the year, including reports from the treasurer, and on the warehouse, drop-in centre, collections, agencies and projects. We were able to hold our AGM in SSNF Church Rooms which was well attended by Trustees and volunteers. We again had a faith lunch where volunteers could socialise and get to know each other.

The Virtual Signposting initiative continues to provide a great benefit and the Trustees are very grateful to Jackie O’Melia and all the volunteers making the calls.

Our Chair attends Plymouth Food Area Network (PFAN) meetings. The Trussell Trust initiative on financial inclusion, run with Callington Foodbank, whereby clients have access to a CAB adviser is proving successful.

The Trustees thank our volunteers for their continuing support, particularly the drivers, willing to collect from supermarkets (and doing the occasional food parcel delivery), and the volunteers checking in the stock and preparing food parcels.

We are particularly grateful to those organisations and businesses that have supported Saltash Foodbank: Barratt Homes, Saltash Rock Choir, the supermarkets Waitrose, Lidl, Coop and Tesco Transit Way; the smaller local shops which host collection baskets; and the local schools, the Core, Community Enterprises PL12, and the Community Fridge and Larder.

The Hot Meal Voucher scheme has continued to enable homeless Saltash Foodbank clients to have a hot meal and we are grateful to Cod Fathers, Rowes and The Fresh Fox for their support.

We are also very grateful to the Antony Estate for providing weekly donations of fresh vegetables.

Supermarket Collections Report - Jackie O’Melia

The last year has proved successful for supermarket collections with seven face-to-face collections being held across the last 12 months in Co-op Saltash, Waitrose Saltash and Tesco (Transit Way). All collections have proved very successful with positive feedback from store customers and, on occasion, from previous clients who have spoken of how much the food parcel that they received helped them through a difficult time.

The collections, and the fixed collection points held in local stores, churches and offices, have provided the much needed volume of stock to support those in need in our local community. The collection weights are displayed in the warehouse report.

It is extremely important to make sure the community is aware that Foodbanks are still working in the local area. Face-to-face collections are one of the most visible ways to remind people that we are there to support. The volunteer team are also willing to answer any questions.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the stores and our volunteers for their support with the face-to-face collections with a special mention for Jackie, Community Champion at Tesco, who manned the collection alone as we were unable to provide a volunteer team for the collection day. Tesco have now been reassigned to support Trussell Trust's Plymouth Foodbank. Many thanks to Jackie and the team for their generous support over the years.

Finally, thank you to the local businesses, churches, our volunteers and the wider community for their donations and support. I will be handing the supermarket collection baton to Julie Tuffnell in the near future and wish Julie every success with this. Julie has a great deal to offer to this role and I know, with the strong team of volunteers we have, Julie will be supported on this journey.

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Agencies Report - Sara Walker

Since taking on the task of managing the referral agency data I have contacted all the agencies on our database. In the last 12 months, only a third have referred to us. Therefore it is timely to contact the other agencies again to check that they wish to remain on our list and to ensure that, if they do, they are able to refer electronically.

Of the 32 that have referred clients, 21 did so only once. Our highest referral agency was the Job Centre but this will of course change in the next year as they have opted out of referring their clients who are in need of a food parcel, because of concerns about data protection. It has also been reported that the Job Centre didn’t feel that their staff were qualified to assess need and make a referral. It is understood that from now on, clients will just be given a slip with the Foodbank name, address and opening times. We are in contact with Plymouth Foodbank who are liaising with the Job Centre on the wording of the slip, and would like it to include other referral agencies. One of our health service providers who no longer felt able to make referrals due to staff shortages agreed to publicise the Help Through Hardship contact number.

Other agencies making a substantial number of referrals include We Are With You, The Harbour Centre, and Together for Families. Of the schools in our local area Burraton Primary is the most frequent referrer.

The majority of referrals are now done electronically.

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Foodbank Volunteers: Jenny, Mary, Rosemary,Anne and Sheila A generous donation from Alan Lemin of RAOB
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Virtual Signposting Report - Jackie O’Melia

The Virtual Signposting project is now nearing its second anniversary and is no longer a project, but part of the integrated support mechanism that we offer to our clients. Once a client has received their food parcel they may receive a follow up call to check that the food parcel was OK and to ask if any information is required on Agencies who may be able to help with the issues that brought the client to Foodbank. This information is forwarded by text or email following the call.

During the first year, 206 new clients were contacted for the first time with many more follow up calls. There have been around 150 calls to new clients this year, as we approach our second anniversary in early June.

In the last year a joint enterprise with Callington Foodbank has been put in place allowing the Virtual Signposting team to offer our clients direct referrals to our main contact at Citizens Advice in Saltash. Once engaged in the process, Citizen's Advice support the client to resolve their highest priority problems. This is proving highly successful, with very positive feedback from clients and the team.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Virtual Signposting team for their continued hard work and support, also thank you to the other Trustees linked to the Virtual Signposting team, for their big contributions in keeping Virtual Signposting running smoothly.

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Volunteering Report - Kathryn Caves

The past year has been another busy one for Saltash Foodbank and we are again indebted to those who give generously of their time to make our work possible. Without our team of dedicated volunteers, the Foodbank could not give the support to our community which is so badly needed.

When members of the community come forward to become volunteers, they are often surprised by the number of different roles that are required. These include, collecting food from supermarkets (sometimes in the evenings), pre-packing food parcels in between opening sessions, stocktaking in the warehouse, weighing in donations and storing on shelves, and following up food parcel deliveries with phone calls to see if clients need further support. These are in addition to the numerous administrative tasks the Trustees carry out.

We now have some recent recruits who are able to step in to cover when regular team members are ill, on holiday, or have other commitments. This is really helpful and I would like to recruit some more individuals who might not want a regular commitment, but could help out on occasions.

Christmas was, again, one of our busiest times and I was extremely grateful to those volunteers who came forward to do extra shifts and indeed some who came just to support us to pack and deliver Christmas hampers. We hope these brought a little festive cheer and made life a little easier for families experiencing difficulties. We were delighted to be able to distribute 136 hampers. A great team effort!

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A generous donation from Barratt Homes
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Projects Report - Charles Worth

Communication

Technology is a recurrent theme in the Projects report this year, but this is not surprising as technology is now such an integral part of everything we do.

We get many requests for help either through the enquiries form on our website or on [e-mail]. When we call our clients after they have received food to offer additional help, we provide our ‘Signpost’ information via email or text message (using Webex Interact). This year we have started to use Google Translate along with email so that we can support clients with other first languages e.g. mothers who had to flee from Ukraine. Email has also been vital to keep our Agencies (the doctors, health visitors, etc. who refer people to us) updated about the services we provide.

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We create Posters for our many Collection Points in local stores, and to support our Christmas collection. This year we created a PowerPoint presentation to provide information about the work we do.

We keep our website updated with the items we most need, but also use the BankTheFood App, so that people are reminded of those needs when they go into a store. You can use the QR code to download the BankTheFood App.

Technology is also central to our internal Foodbank communication. Corina, our secretary, does a sterling job, creating the Minutes of our meetings, keeping all our developments ontrack.

Zoom has become an integral part of our work, enabling us to meet virtually, so that we all know what is going on, and feel that we are all part of a mutually supportive Team.

The Technology we use

Phones and laptops are, inevitably, an important part of our technology toolkit. These bring with them the need to update licenses and software, all of which can be quite timeconsuming. Whenever possible we negotiate preferential rates or take advantage of special deals offered to charities, to keep our costs for this to a minimum.

Core to our operation is a secure online database called ‘Coda’. This has allowed us to adapt our processes ‘organically’ as the scope of our service has grown. It has proved to be an excellent tool. It enables us, for example, to assign volunteers to Virtual Signposting clients and record the advice we have provided, so that our advice remains consistent. It enables us to ensure that when grants are provided, we can account accurately for the funds that have been given. As well as ensuring data security, we also ensure that we delete data when it is no longer needed, so that we meet our GDPR responsibilities. An enormous “Thank You’ to Jackie, for all she does in this area.

It is unfortunate but necessary to pay great attention to our online security. All our email communications remain within a secure ‘domain’ and each of our laptops has up-to-date antivirus protection.

Members of 2nd Waterside Explorer Scouts visiting Saltash Foodbank as part of their journey to the Global Issues Activity Badge

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Training

Particularly because so much of our work is ‘virtual’ we place great emphasis on training, so that we learn together, and continually update our skills. We have a well-developed system for training new volunteers, and a rapid-response process for when a volunteer needs support with an issue – whether technical, or in finding the best way to support a client.

Citizen’s Advice provided an excellent ‘Advice First-Aid’ training session, which extended our skills, especially concerning ‘red flag’ issues that clients might encounter – and how we can respond to their needs most effectively.

Initiatives

One of our most important initiatives this year has been the ‘Financial Inclusion’ collaboration between The Trussell Trust, Citizen’s Advice, Callington Foodbank and ourselves. Our ‘Virtual Signposting’ volunteers are trained simply to guide clients to additional support organisations. The ‘Financial Inclusion’ initiative allows us to refer clients – if they wish – to a dedicated Citizen’s Advice counsellor for more individualised support.

As referred to elsewhere in this Annual Report, the ‘Fuelbank Foundation’ has been a transformational influence on our ability to support clients through short periods of fuel crisis, often affecting children as well as adults. We offer our sincere thanks to the Fuelbank Team.

The Cornwall Community Foundation continues to be a critical underpinning for our ability to support those in the greatest need, providing, for example, the funding for our 0800 freephone service. This allows those with no phone credit to call us and request support. Our sincere thanks to the Cornwall Community Foundation.

Support from ‘The Good Things Foundation’ has, similarly, been vital to our work. They organise free SIMs from major telecommunications providers, so that we can ensure our clients can stay in touch with essential health and support services, particularly when they are homeless.

We have been very pleased to continue and extend our ‘winter support’ initiative. This has enabled us to provide weatherproof tents and sleeping bags to the newly homeless, items to enable clients to cook the food we have provided, and other things.

We are very proud of the support we have provided through our ‘Christmas Hamper’ project, providing 136 hampers last Christmas. Thank you for your help in enabling this, and particular thanks to Kathryn, for her enormous amount of hard work.

We are very aware that the support we provide is only part of a larger picture of support throughout the Saltash and Plymouth area. Where we are unable to help, we try to Signpost clients to other help.

We have collected information about this support here: http://tinyurl.com/y7cuy2vz. Please feel free to use this map yourself.

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Grace and Lauren Allen - donating for the 4th year
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Ruth Wunderle receiving her volunteering award
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Harvest Collection - Burraton primary School
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Warehouse Report - Rika Chanter

Community donations via our various collection points (Co-op, Waitrose, Lidl, Food Warehouse, Pascoe’s Pantry, St. Stephens Spar Shop and Tesco Transit Way in Plymouth) have been very generous. On top of this we have received donations from many businesses, through their charitable giving, or from their customers or events and donations from churches, community groups and individuals. We are enormously grateful for this wonderful community support, without which we would not be able to help the people we do, particularly at Christmas time.

Our amazing warehouse volunteers now operate a 4-shift pattern, with 2 or 3 volunteers per shift, during the week. They sort the donations and the shelves carefully, to allow good stock rotation. Our warehouse is divided into a ‘drop-off area’ in our kitchen/store area, the main warehouse and a section for our picking shelves, where items with the nearest dates can be chosen first, for our food parcels. We have occasionally needed to buy items essential for our 3-day balanced-nutrition food parcels. This has been possible due to the charitable grants we have received.

During 2023 we ended collections from Mote Park Spar store and Plympton Aldi for operational reasons. We also transferred Tesco Transit Way to Plymouth Foodbank as they had no links with a Tesco store, and as this store is in Plymouth it seemed most appropriate.

We communicate our stock needs in a number of ways. We regularly update our website and share links to this on our Facebook page, and advertise our list of needed items on the BankTheFood app. This alerts users to our needs when they enter a supermarket.

We continue to collect end-of-day items from Waitrose, twice a week. We collect from the Coop depot in Plympton once a week. From Lidl we collect mainly damaged items or items getting close to date - 3 times a week from the Saltash Store and once a week from Plympton Lidl. This can occasionally include lots of eggs, which we can then share with Saltash Community Kitchen/Fridge.

Items that are not suitable to be stored in our warehouse (as they are too damaged or getting close-to-date) we place in our ‘help yourself’ area. If this area is full, we pass items to the community kitchen, so nothing gets wasted. In addition to this we also receive fresh vegetables from Hay Farm on the Antony Estate. This is a personal donation from Tremaine Carew Pole to our Foodbank every week. We have also had a one-off donation of apples, yoghurt and other fruit and vegetables from Tamar Fresh. This was well received and lasted a few weeks as it was fresh. In total, we were able to distribute 18.3 tons of extra food to our clients, those at the Community Fridge and other smaller groups such as Saltash Wesley Church Warm space and The Core.

We have extra bins at the Foodbank for out-of-date dried or tinned food. This is food that is up to a year past its ‘best before’ date, which we can pass on to the Community Fridge in Saltash. This food was donated to us when it had already passed its best before date, so we could not give to our clients. During the year we passed on over a ton of food in this category. Some bread, salad, fruit and vegetables are distributed after their ‘best before’ date. Some of this bread is frozen for up to a month. We do not distribute any items with a use by date. We have one more bin for seriously out-of-date items, between 2 to 5 years past their best before date. This food goes to an independent Foodbank in Plymouth that is willing to take canned foods up to 5 years passed their best before date. Unfortunately, a few items have to go to landfill if the bags or tins are leaking.

We are continuing to support our local schools with the great work from Ruth Wunderle, our warehouse coordinator. The contacts she has developed among the local school dinner ladies allows us to support the breakfast and afterschool clubs in the PL12 postcode, especially with cereal, baked beans and pasta which we seem to have rather too much of! We have also supported other charities, such as Shekinah Mission, a local Macmillan fundraiser event and Ukraine, through to links with these organisations through our volunteer pool.

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Donor	Stock (kg)	Donations - Notes
Waitrose Saltash	11998.8	6054.45 Customer donations, 216.9 special collection events, 5727.45 store donations
Lidl supermarkets	7138.7	3952.72 Customer donations, 3185.98 Store donations
Antony Estate	5850	Fresh veg donations
Co-op Depot Plympton	2854.95	Store donations only
Tesco Transit Way	2635.76	Customer donations only
Co-op Saltash	1448.65	Customer donations only
Unknown	644.93
Aldi Plympton	639	Store donations only
Purchased	347.7
Liskeard Foodbank	257.35
Ainger Family	235.95
Saltash Community School	183.75
Saltash Wesley	177.5
Food Warehouse Saltash	174.5	Customer donations only
St Stephens School	169.3
Bishop Cornish	161.65
Saltash Rock Choir	157.65	Choir members donations
Baptist Church	128.35
Our Lady Catholic Church	107.75
Burraton School	93.55
Saltash Fire Station	89	Community donations
Pentillie Castle	82.85	Community donations
Nicholls & Sainsbury Solicitors	73.65
Jade Allen, friends & family	67
Tamar Fresh	54.4	Fresh veg donations
Landulph School	54.2
Landulph Church	53.3
Motion PT Company	53.05
St Germans School	49.55
Barrett Homes - Treledan	42.5
Sir Thomas Moore Church	37.7
McLean family	34
Blunts Methodist Church	33.4
St Mellion School	32.6
Liskeard Young Farmers	32.45
Mabbott Trust	32.2
Volunteer donations	32.15
Brunel School	30.75
Gracenotes Choir	28.65	Choir members donations
Royal Mail	28.35
Burraton Chapel	24.8
St Stephens Church	21
Saltash Adventure Scouts	20.35
Pascoe's Pantry	18.55	Customer donations
Saltash CAB	18.2
St Germans Methodist	15.9
Plymouth University	15.75
Beauty Bank	13.7
Cadbury	13.5
St Petroc's	10.5
Shekinah	9.3
Age Concern Club	8.15
Trematon W I	6.1
The Core	4.75
St Nick's and St Faith's	3.45
CEPL12	2.15
Spar St Stephens	2.1	Customer donations
Totals	36,555.79

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Stock Out	Stock Out
‘Help yourself’ items	17,796.49
Christmas hampers	1191.6
Non-Trussell Trust food bank	151.65
Bishop Cornish School	26.65
Brunel Primary School	315.05
Burraton Primary School	161.95
Community Kitchen/Fridge	1089.95
Fountainhead School	46.0
Garage Cafe	44.7
Landrake Primary School	85.75
Landulph Primary	95.80
Monday Gang	56.8
Mother and Child unit	5.3
Saltash Baptist Church Christmas meal	19.95
Saltash Community School	587.75
Saltash Guides	45.5
Saltash Wesley	31.7
Shekinah Mission	507.5
St Budeaux Baptist Church foodbank	10.2
St Stephens School	430.4
Tamar Community Complex Foodbank	45.45
The Core	159.55
Trevi House	5.55
Ukranian Craft Club	3.95
Wesley Holiday Club	5.6
Wesley Warm Space	37.8
Emergency food boxes	676.45
For disposal (OOD/damaged)	269.2
Other (food swap)	1.2
Landrake McMillan Coffee Morning	11.5
Ukraine appeal	130.1
Stock adjust	1,496.23
'Saltash Foodbank' for food parcels	10,460.71
Liskeard & Looe Foodbank	116.95
Plymouth Foodbank	487.2
Total	36,603kg

A number of national companies helped us with our stock in the last year. EarthBreeze donated laundry sheets. Beauty Box collected surplus toiletries from manufacturers and the community and redistributed them to charities like us. Cadbury’s donated chocolate bars for Easter.

A number of local organisations have generously organised collections in aid of Saltash Foodbank. Local churches, schools, community groups and choirs arrange annual Harvest or Christmas collections for us. The Saltash Fire Station team opened up the Fire station on a Saturday for Foodbank donations. They had a Father Christmas visit them and tours on the fire engines for the children. The following day they brought six massive boxes full of items we needed, including gifts for clients, to the Foodbank in the fire engine. A memorable event for the Foodbank team there that morning! Pentilie Castle held a well-attended Carol Service at the castle courtyard. They invited people to bring items to donate, or to make a financial donation. A great event again benefitting our cause.

In the last few years, we have had several repeat donations from families. Jade Allen’s daughters, Lauren and Grace, have been donating to us for at least 4 years. The girls ask us what we need, then encourage family, friends, parents and parents work colleagues to donate generously when Christmas time approaches. The Ainger Family are also becoming regular donors. This year was their second donation from their family and business combined. The McLeans also donate to us regularly at Christmas time. Their husband and father, Bob McLean, our late Trustee and much missed volunteer, passed away a few years ago. We are very grateful to the families for their continued regular support.

Several new groups have donated to us this year. We had Landrake Young Farmers, Gracenotes Choir, Motion Personal Training Company, Saltash Adventure Scouts, who also visited us as part of one of their evening meetings, and Trematon WI. We have ongoing support from the Saltash Rock Choir who have been very generous with their donations over the last few years, as have the Royal Mail Distribution Centre in Saltash and the Housing developers at Treledan Estate, along with many schools in the PL12 postcode. We are very fortunate to get such great support from our local community.

During December 2023 we managed to distribute 136 Christmas food hampers, containing items such as Christmas puddings, custard, chocolates, sweet and savoury biscuits, pickles, sauces, gravy, ham, crisps, and a gift for each adult and child. These gifts were items donated through several supermarkets or donated by the community. Our Christmas hampers supported 199 adults and 200 children. The people that received these Christmas hampers were suggested by support workers from agencies such as CAP, Citizens Advice, Family Workers, Schools, and other agencies that support people in the PL12 area. As the Foodbank is very busy in November and December, we had extra volunteers help us out to

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cover this task at our overflow store. Our Christmas initiative was organised by our volunteer coordinator Kathryn Caves and the teams of amazing volunteers who managed to do all the packing and delivering of the hampers during the month of December.

During March 2023, we did our annual stock take with many volunteers helping out. We record the full weight of stock we hold and then compare this with our database record. As usual, any error in the weight needs to be corrected on the system as a stock adjustment. This was done and the percentage error was within Trussell Trust guidelines. Thank you to all the volunteers that helped out with this demanding task.

Stock Distributions Summary	Stock Distributions Summary
Total Food Distributed	34,837.6 kg
Damaged/Out of Date	269.2 kg
Stock Adjust	1,496.23 kg

Finance Report - Jill Morton

Due to the very generous donations and grants that we have received, the Foodbank had a net income of £7,832 in the year 2023/24.

With the help of the food donations, money donations and grants that we have received, we have been able to help clients, not only with emergency food, but also with their energy costs and other items, when in crisis.

Financially in the year we have helped:

Energy/Phone Top Ups - 47 Clients at a cost of £1,904

Crisis Payments – circa 90 Clients at a cost of £3,609

Mobile Phones for clients - £2,000 - 27 purchased of which 25 are still to be allocated

Being a member of Fuelbank we are able to help clients that are on pre-payment meters. We are very fortunate not to have to fund this service as Fuelbank receive grants to cover these costs; however, this may not be the case in the future, with more clients being in fuel poverty.

Fuelbank have topped up 116 of our clients at a cost of £4,846. We are very grateful to Fuelbank for their support and look forward to working with them in the future.

This year we have purchased items such as slow cookers, throws, thermal underwear, thermal socks, etc. to help clients in crisis.

We are very lucky that food donations continue to come in regularly to the Foodbank and would like to thank the people of Saltash and the surrounding area for being so very generous. However, the demand for our service is ever increasing and this year we have found that we have had to purchase over £1,400’s worth of food. We would not be able to do this without the generosity of the cash donations that we receive.

Received Donations	Received Donations
Name	Amount
Regular monthly donors	£5.8k
CAF	£2.1k
Other donations	£ 8.5k
Total	£16.4k

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Donations were received from our very generous regular donors, RAOB East Cornwall Province, TPT Lions Charity, St. Stephens Church, Making a Difference Locally, Barratt Charitable Giving, St. Thomas Moore Church, Pentillie Collection, Pengelly Funeral Directors, Rotary, Charities Trust, Wesley Church, Saltash Scottish Country Dance, St. Germans Methodist Church, Smile Together, and many donations from individuals. We are very grateful for all donations, regardless of size, that help us to continue our work to help relieve poverty in Saltash and the surrounding area.

This year we have received the following grants	This year we have received the following grants
Name	Amount
Cornwall Community Foundation	£2,000
Headley Trust	£5,000
John Lewis	£1,500
Neighbourly	£250
Trussell Trust – Tesco	£1,727
Total	£10,477

The Trustees have agreed that our reserve fund should enable the Foodbank to operate for a 12 month period. This reserve fund has been calculated at £30k. This reserve fund will give us the comfort of knowing that we are able to continue our vital work, even in these challenging times.

The Trustees would like to thank Stephen Richards for examining our books and records and for his Report thereon. The Income and Expenditure Account for the year ended 31 March 2024, the Balance Sheet as at 31 March 2024 and the notes to the accounts are set out below.

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Saltash Foodbank Trustees

Richard Margetts – Chair of Trustees Jill Morton – Treasurer Corina Clement – Secretary Charles Worth – Projects Rika Chanter – Manager Jackie O’Melia – Collections

Rev Di Burrows - Link with Saltash Churches Kathryn Caves - Volunteers Sara Walker – Agencies Elizabeth Pearson Katherine Willis Darren Chapple

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