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2024-03-31-accounts

Newark Foodbank (Charity number 1160698) Financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2024

Page Contents
2 - 19 Trustees’ annual report
20 Independent examiner’s report
21 Receipts & payments account
21 Statement of assets & liabilities
22 - 23 Notes to the accounts

Newark Foodbank Trustees’ annual report for the year ended 31 March 2024

Full name Newark Foodbank

Organisation type Charitable incorporated organisation

Registered charity number 1160698

Principal address

Newark Community Support 21 Cartergate Newark, NG24 1UA

Trustees

Stephen Charnock, Chair Lesley Marshall, Manager Andrew Ayre, Agency Coordinator Dee Fretwell, Treasurer Sue Stott, Volunteer Management James Kirkland, Projects Manager, resigned 14/10/2022

Cheska Asman, Volunteer Management Malcolm Jowett, Web & IT Manager Chris Charnley, Business Development

Independent examiner

John O’Brien, employee of Community Accounting Plus, Units 1 & 2 North West, 41 Talbot Street, Nottingham, NG1 5GL

Governance and management

The charity is operated under the rules of its constitution adopted 27 February 2015.

A selection process is adopted for the recruitment and appointment of new trustees and appointment at AGM.

Objectives and activities

To relieve persons in Newark and the surrounding area that are in financial hardship in such ways as the trustees from time to time think fit, in particular, but not exclusively by:

a) Providing emergency food, essential toiletries and household items to individuals and families in need and/or for distribution by charities other organisations working to prevent or relieve poverty.

b) Such other means, including (but not limited to) the provision of support or signposting to relevant information and other advisory services.

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Summary of the main activities undertaken for the public benefit

Provision of a Foodbank and Social Supermarket.

Public benefit statement

The Trustees confirm that they have complied with the duty in section 17 of the Charities Act 2011 to have due regard to the Charity Commission's general guidance on public benefit, 'Charities and Public Benefit'.

Summary of the main achievements during the period

Key Points

The following summarise the key points raised in the report. Figures in brackets relate to 2023-2024.

Foodbank Operations

Social Supermarket

This was the first year of operation of our Social Supermarket (The Market).

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Summary

Newark and Tuxford Foodbank functions as a franchised operation under the Trussell Trust and aims to provide emergency food relief to those in need. We are not governed by the Trussell Trust but act as an independent organisation that agrees to follow an approved operating model. The Foodbank was set up under the auspices of Churches Together in Newark and the surrounding area and is part of a national foodbank network seeded by the Trussell Trust. Newark and Tuxford Foodbank is registered (under the name of Newark Foodbank) with the Charity Commission and operates as a separate charitable entity. In 2022, the Foodbank expanded its operations to include a Social Supermarket (The Market) which provides clients with longer term support. This is via a membership system. The Foodbank and Social Supermarket operate under the joint name of Newark Community Support. This report covers both Foodbank and Social Supermarket operations between the period 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024.

The National Situation

The following information summarises data taken from the Trussell Trust website and paints a picture of the state of food poverty at a national level. As the reader will appreciate in this report, the overall scale of food poverty may not be exactly replicated locally but the trends highlighted by the Trussell Trust are apparent in the locality.

The Trussell Trust runs a network of over 428 foodbanks operating 1,300 food bank centres. In the year 2023-2024 it provided 3.12 million three-day emergency food supplies to people in crisis of which over a million were to children. This is the highest number of parcels that the network has ever distributed in a single year and represents a 4% increase on 2022/23. These figures represent an almost doubling in the number of parcels distributed five years ago and they are far above the levels seen before the rapid increases in the cost of living in 2021/22.

Overall, nearly two thirds of the support provided by foodbanks in the previous year was for families with children. Families with three of more children are especially likely to face severe hardship with 30% of parcels provide by foodbanks in the last year being distributed to families with three or more children. The prevalence of poverty among pensioners across the UK is far lower than the working age population and just 6% of the support provided by foodbanks in the last year was for pension age households. This reflects one of the UK’s most striking success stories in recent decades which has been the enormous reduction in pensioner poverty, from a high of 29% in 1998, falling to 13% in 2012. However, this has started to go into reverse with poverty rates rising to 18% most recently.

People most commonly need support from a foodbank because their income is insufficient to meet the cost of essentials. The national picture highlights that different types of families need to turn to foodbanks for different reasons. In the last year people living without children were far more likely to be referred due to health reasons (26% vs 16% for households with children), or because they were insecurely housed (9% vs 4%). People living with children were more likely to be referred due to issues with their income or their level of debt (76% vs 68% of people not living with children). The experiences of pensioner households are

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somewhat distinct. They are more likely to be referred due to issues with their health (28% vs 22% of non-pensioner households) and for issues with their income or debt levels (77% vs 71%).

The Local Situation

This report provides an overview of the performance of the Foodbank and the Social Supermarket – The Market which is now in its second year of operation. The Market was one of the initiatives we took forward from the lessons we learnt during the pandemic and was one of our strategic goals for the year. Unlike the Foodbank which is focused on providing support to those in emergency food crisis, the Market assists in providing support to those with longer term issues. As such it provides those who we invite to become members, access to a range of food and household produce once a fortnight at a significantly subsidised cost. Membership initially lasts 6 months but can be extended if it is deemed necessary or appropriate up to a maximum of 18 months.

The Foodbank commenced operations in late 2012. In this its eleventh year of full operations the Foodbank has collected donations of 50.0 tonnes of food. This is fractionally up on last year (49.0 tonnes) but last year saw an increase of 44% on the amount of donations we received in 2021/22. To continue to be able to access this quantity of food principally through donations is truly amazing. At the same time we distributed 53.2 tonnes. This is slightly down on last year (56.0 tonnes) but once again last year saw a 55% increase over the previous year. As a result, over the last year we have provided 3 days of emergency food relief to 4352 clients (2919 adults and 1433 children). This represents a small decrease of 4.7% over last year (4569). However, these figures do not take into account the number of clients who have migrated from the Foodbank to the use of The Market.

The number of household visits made to The Market in 2023/24 was 1190. This was a 71% increase in the number of visits made the previous year (693). These visits supported a total of 1810 adults and 637 children. This represents an increase of 47% in Market usage over 2022/23. The total number of households that have registered with The Market since its introduction is 200 with the current membership standing at 117. Of the 83 households that are no longer members, 62 held their membership for 6 months, 8 had a membership length of 12 months and 13 had a membership lasting 18 months. 18 months is the longest period that currently we can support clients for and in conjunction with our Financial Inclusion Initiative with CA we aim to make sure that every client is accessing all the financial support available to them.

Combining both Market and Foodbank usage, Newark Community Support has provided assistance to a total of 6,799 clients consisting of 4729 adults and 2070 children with The Market providing assistance to approximately 36% of the total. This level of demand continues to put considerable pressure on the resources of both the Foodbank and The Market and means that we have had to increase the number of Food Drives we make at supermarkets as well as having to purchase significant levels of stock. Whereas in previous years we have been in a position to support a number of other food relief charities across the district, this no longer is the case, with almost all our donations and purchases being used to support the activities of Newark Community Support.

Since 2020/2021, the number of times a client has visited the Foodbank more than 3 times has slowly decreased from 21% in 2021 to 15% in 2022/23. Unfortunately, this year we have

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seen a reversal in this trend with the number of times a household has visited the foodbank over 3 times in the year increasing to 17%. However, it is still encouraging to see that by far the majority of households, 82%, attended the Foodbank less than four times within the year. With the number of unique households in 2023/2024 being 977 and the total number of referrals being 2106, the average number of times a household visited the Foodbank was 2.11 which is only marginally up on last year. The number of first-time referrals also dropped from a peak last year of 655 to 529 this year, a reduction of 19%.

Over the last year, the Trussell Trust has made significant adjustments to how the reasons for referral are recorded. This now enables referrers to record multiple (maximum of 4) reasons for referral across a number of different areas including Financial (earnings, benefit and debt related), Personal Circumstances and Health. As a consequence, making direct comparisons to previous years is no longer possible. The revised data for this year, suggests that the primary reason for referral to the Foodbank was rising cost of essentials. This was recorded as a factor in 62% of all referrals made, followed by the ongoing impact of health at 25% and priority debt at 14%.

We presently have 94 agencies registered with the Foodbank with 64 of these issuing at least one Foodbank voucher over the last year.

We are always looking at ways of expanding the services we provide to clients by operating alongside other referral and support agencies and continue to seek support from a number of business partners. The pandemic forced the Foodbank to suspend the old red voucher referral system. In its place we reverted to e-referrals giving agencies direct access to the client referral database, or more commonly emails and telephone support. In order to be compliant with GDPR we were keen to migrate referral agencies to more secure referral options. To that end we introduced a new web-referral system that not only provides referral agencies with an easy-to-use web-based solution but also facilitates front of house staff with providing better signposting support. Although the roll out of this system has been a great success with an ever increasing number of agencies using it to make referrals securely we are keen to move the majority of our referral agencies onto the Trussell Trust’s own e-referral system as this would significantly reduce the admin burden we are experiencing using our own web-referral system. We have reduced the number of referral agencies using our system considerably over the last year and we will continue to push referral agencies onto using the Trussell Trusts own e-referral system over the coming year.

Over the next year, we need to ensure that we have a sustainable base from which to conduct both warehousing and front of house operations. We re-located front of house operations to our current location two and half years ago which enabled us to enhance the services we provided by including the creation of a social supermarket. However, the lease on our current property is up for renewal in 6 months and over the next couple of months the Trustees will have to consider whether the increasing size of the operation requires us to look at larger premises again. Some preliminary discussions are taking place to investigate the options open to us which will enable us to increase the services we provide while also making some efficiencies in the way we operate.

The steering group wishes to thank all the volunteers, donors and all supporting organisations and businesses for their support over the last year. Without their support we would not be able to continue to carry out this work.

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Newark Foodbank

Charity Status

Newark Foodbank originally operated as an organisation under the umbrella of Barnbygate Methodist Church. After considerable discussion it was decided that the Foodbank should register as an independent charity. An application was submitted to the Charity Commission to register Newark Foodbank as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO) operating under the Association Model. This application was approved and Newark Foodbank became a charity on 27 February 2015 (Charity Nos 1160698). The Charity has a steering group consisting of the trustees and a wider voting membership consisting of all volunteers who are formally registered with the Foodbank. Any volunteer who does not want to be a member can simply inform the Steering Group accordingly. By registering as a CIO, the Foodbank is able to conduct a number of operations which it was previously restricted from doing. These include employing personnel and entering into contracts or lease arrangements for vehicles or property.

In accordance with the constitution of the Charity two trustees offer their position for election/re-election at each Annual General Meeting. The trustees are presently: Sue Stott, Lesley Marshall (Foodbank Manager), Dee Fretwell, Andrew Ayre, Malcolm Jowett, Chris Charnley and Stephen Charnock. The AGM took place on 22 September 2023 at Holy Trinity Community Partnership Centre. Cheska Asman stepped down at the AGM. We wish to thank her for her support of the Foodbank over the last few years. Sue Stott put herself forward for re-election which was unopposed.

Foodbank Donations

Our weekly collections from collection points at supermarkets, churches and other organisations in Newark, Tuxford & Southwell accounted for 70% of our total donations. A number of organisations and individuals held their own foodbank collection initiatives which account for another 10%. The remaining 20% comes from purchases that we have to make to sustain our stocks. This is second year that we have had to resort to purchasing stock despite retaining a high level of donations. The total quantity of donations and purchases amounted to 50 tonnes. If we exclude purchases and corporate donations from this figure then the level of donations provided through public sources was 34.6 tonnes compared to 42.75 tonnes last year – a reduction of 19%. This reduction was partially offset by Corporate donations which increased from 1.8 tonnes last year to 5.58 tonnes this year – a three-fold increase. We are investigating a number of options to try and increase our donations especially with the significant increase in demand we have experienced since Apr 2023. Over the last year we have held a Food Drive at each of the three main supermarket. However, we are now looking at trying to hold a Food Drive at each of these supermarkets twice a year. At the end of March 2024 the warehouse held approximately 4.24 tonnes of stock. This is approximately one month’s worth of stock.

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==> picture [480 x 219] intentionally omitted <==

----- Start of picture text -----
Where our Donations Come From
60000
50000
40000
30000
20000
10000
0
Kg Kg Kg Kg Kg Kg Kg
2023-2024 2022-2023 2021-2022 2020-2021 2019-2020 2018-2019 2012-2013
a Others a Churches | Community Groups
7 Corporates Ln Educations | Individual
| Supermarkets a Purchased — Totals
----- End of picture text -----

All donations are taken to our warehouse for stocktaking and for preparation for onward distribution. The food needed by the Foodbank is varied but has to be non-perishable to enable us to store the food appropriately prior to distribution. We try and highlight through our website (https://newark.foodbank.org.uk) what products are in short supply and it is important that our supporting organisations use this list to target the food required otherwise there is a danger that excess stock of certain food types may go to waste. While we do not incorporate any out of date or beyond best before date produce in the food parcels themselves, we do provide clients with the option of choosing beyond best before date produce from additional racking which is clearly marked at our Front of House location.

Foodbank Donation Distribution

Since opening in 2012, the Foodbank has received and distributed donations of just under 331 and 329 tonnes respectively.

Over 59% of our donations are distributed through our Foodbank Front of House operations at Cartergate. Another 35% is used in support of The Market. However, we also distribute supplies, in accordance with the Charity’s articles, to other support agencies including the Women’s Refuge, Help the Aged as well as to Social, Housing and Hospital agencies and other Foodbanks in need within the East Midlands area. We have continued to support these organisations although the amount we re-distributed has decreased to 6%.

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Newark Foodbank

Voucher/Referral Distribution

Prior to the pandemic, clients needed to be in possession of a voucher issued by one of our referral agencies in order to receive support from the Foodbank. At the beginning of the pandemic, when accessing referral agencies was almost impossible face to face, we suspended the existing red voucher system and reverted to primarily telephone or email support. Some agencies also signed up to the Trussell Trust e-voucher system.

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----- Start of picture text -----
The Number of People Using the Foodbank
6000
4000
2000
0 ill. alt. all. alt. olan as.
2023-2024 2022-2023 2021-2022 2020-2021 2019-2020 2018-2019 2012-2013
Vouchers Redeemed Total Clients Adults Children
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We have now withdrawn the red voucher system altogether but have put in place alternative more secure referral methods. In essence, there will be no more paper vouchers, with clients instead being referred electronically. We are however, migrating agencies from our own webreferral system to that managed by the Trussell Trust. This is significantly reducing the admin burden of maintaining and managing our own system. A total of 2106 referrals were fulfilled in 2023/24 issued from a total of 64 different agencies. This represents a small decrease of 4% over the figure of 2190 vouchers fulfilled in 2022/23.

While the number of vouchers or referrals redeemed provides a good measure of the demand being placed on the Foodbank, the number of referrals on its own does not show how that demand is presented. A better indication of this is through the number of unique households referred and how many of these are associated with first time referrals. The table below show that the number of unique households at 977 has slightly reduced compared to last year at 1036. However, this needs to be put into context in that last year we saw a 58% increase from the year before. Hence, the number of unique households utilising the Foodbank remains at an historical high level. The same trend is visible in how many of these unique households are first time referrals, with the number reducing to 529 from 655 the year before. But again this remains at an historical high level. Based on the total number of referrals made, the average number of visits made per unique household over the year remains fairly static at around 2.15. This is relatively encouraging at it demonstrates that while households may need to call on a foodbank in an emergency they are not necessarily becoming dependent on it.

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Unique Households & First Time Referrals
1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
2023-2024 2022-2023 2021-2022 2020-2021 2019-2020 2018-2019
Unique Households First Time Referrals
----- End of picture text -----

With the redemption of 2106 referrals made last year, 3 day’s emergency food relief was provided to 2919 adults and 1433 children (total of 4352) or putting it more basically a total of 39,168 meals were distributed. The number of clients supported in each referral has remained the same as last year at 2.1. This should not be confused with the previous statistics of the number of times a unique household has visited the Food Bank in the last year.

The Trussell Trust has amended the way it records the composition of households so comparisons with previous years is difficult. However, the table below does show that the biggest category of user of the Foodbank is a single adult with over 52% of vouchers redeemed being in this category.

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No. of vouchers
Household Structure fulfilled %
Single adulthousehold (withor without dependents)
Single adultwith no children 52.35%
Single adultwith 1or 2children(0- 16 years old) 13.54%
Single adultwith3 or more children(0- 16 years old) 4.61%
Sub-total 70.50%
One couplehousehold (withor without dependents)
One couplehouseholdwith no children(0- 16 years old) 5.42%
One couplehouseholdwith 1or 2children(0- 16 years old) 4.94%
One couple household with 3 or more children (0 - 16 years
old) 3.37%
Sub-total 13.73%
Couple and additionaladult(s)
Couple and additional adult(s) with no children (0 - 16 years
old) 1.81%
Couple and additional adult(s) with 1 or 2 children (0 - 16
years old) 1.33%
Couple and additional adult(s) with 3 or more children (0 - 16
years old) 0.48%
Sub-total 3.61%
Multi-adulthousehold
Multi-adulthouseholdwith no children 6.94%
Multi-adulthouseholdwith 1or 2children(0- 16 years old) 3.85%
Multi-adult household with 3 or more children (0 - 16 years
old) 1.38%
Sub-total 12.16%
Total 100%

The tables below show the change in age demographic over the last 5 years in additional to the change over the last year. While the tables clearly show the increase in use of the Foodbank across all age groups over the last 5 years, the increase in use by clients over 65 years old is particularly noteworthy although the numbers concerned are still relatively low. The apportionment of Foodbank usage between age groups over the last 5 years, however, has remained relatively constant.

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Newark Foodbank

The Trussell Trust have made significant changes to the way the reasons for referral to a foodbank are recorded. These are now much more comprehensive. Referrals can list up to four different reasons why a referral is being made with the reasons being grouped into categories covering: Financial – Earnings Related; Financial – Benefit Related; Financial – Debts, Costs and Expenses; Personal Circumstance; and Health.

The most prominent reason given for needing a referral to the Foodbank was the Rising Cost of Essentials which was cited in 62% of referrals made and redeemed. Under the old system this would have been captured under the low-income category which last year stood at 54%. While inflation has undoubtedly been a big factor it will be interesting to see, if the grading of Rising Cost of Essentials remains at this high level when inflation reduces or whether other factors within the same category i.e., Financial – Debts, Costs and Expenses account for a greater proportion of referrals. After Rising Cost of Essentials the next two most significant reasons for referral were Ongoing Impact of Existing Mental or Physical Health Condition at 25% and Priority Debt at 21%.

While the principal purpose of the Foodbank is to provide emergency food relief, many of the reasons for referral would suggest that the crisis that the client is in, is likely to be much more that simply a short-term event. Inevitably, issues with health and debt take some considerable time to resolve and this possibly explains why both these factor significantly in the reasons for why some clients have found the need to be referred to the Foodbank more than three times in a six month period. However, other significant factors attributed to the

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need to attend the Foodbank more than three times in a six month period were Benefit Delay at 13% and Homelessness at 7%.

Reason for Referral
% of
vouchers
fulfilled
Count
Financial -earnings related
Changein work hours 85 4%
Unemploymentfollowing permanentwork 111 5%
Unemploymentfollowing temporarywork 14 1%
Delayinorawaiting other income 139 7%
Financial -benefits related
Benefit delay 286 14%
Benefit deduction due to overpayment or benefit
advance		 45 2%
Benefitreductiondue to changeineligibility 62 3%
Benefitreductiondue to sanction 50 2%
Awaiting first benefit payment for less than a month 52 3%
Awaitingfirst benefit paymentfor more thanamonth 34 2%
Financial- debts, costs and expenses
Priority debt 438 21%
Non-priority debt 182 9%
Cost ofdependentshasincreased 144 7%
Rising cost ofessentials 1278 62%
Otherunexpected expense 285 14%
Personal circumstances
Insecurelyhoused 226 11%
No access to financial support due to immigration
status		 8 0%
Loss ofsupportfrom friends or family 80 4%
Changein relationship status 45 2%
Domestic abuse 34 2%
Changeindependents 27 1%
**Health **
Newphysicalor mental healthconditionor issue 81 4%
Ongoing impact of existing mental or physical health
condition		 506 25%
Changeinexistingmentalorphysical healthcondition 34 2%
**Other **
None applicable 19 1%
**No answer **
Data not captured 55 3%

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Reason for needing more than 3 vouchers in the last 6 months

Count
~~a~~		 %
~~a~~
Awaitingfirst benefit payment 8 1%
Benefit delay orsanction 69 13%
Debt 88 16%
Domestic abuse 4 1%
Drug oralcoholdependency 16 3%
Homelessness 38 7%
Long term healthcondition 32 6%
Long termunemployment 8 1%
No access to financial support due to immigration
status		 0 0%
Other 57 10%
Other - low income 229 42%

The Foodbank recognises that its primary function is to provide emergency food relief to clients and must not been seen by both the public, who generously donate to it, as well as by clients, as a subsidised grocery service. As a Trussell Trust foodbank we follow their general guidance that we should seek reassurance from any client, who arrives at the Foodbank more than 3 times in a six-month period, that they are actively seeking to address their problems from appropriate support agencies. We do recognise that on occasions it may take a considerable amount of time to overcome the particular crisis that a client is experiencing and therefore provided we are confident that they have an action plan in place, we will support those who need assistance over a longer period.

The following table expands on the three times in a six month period and shows the number of times unique households have visited the Foodbank over the last year. It is encouraging to see that the majority of households only visited the Food Bank once in the year, while only 17% needed to visit the Food Bank more than three times.

At the very beginning of the pandemic, all Front of House Operations were suspended and all referrals were satisfied through a delivery system. We were very fortunate to receive funding from Nottinghamshire District Council to help purchase a van to assist with this operation in addition to facilitate collections and distributions. As restrictions have been relaxed, we have re-established Front of House operations for the majority of our clients. Although we continue to move away from a delivery system to primarily a collection operation we do still carry out deliveries to the “out-of-town” villages. We have a dedicated set of volunteers who conduct these deliveries once a week although we also cater for emergencies when necessary. We also conduct “in-town” deliveries if the circumstances are appropriate. While we witnessed a significant reduction in the number of deliveries that we needed to

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make following the pandemic, it is likely that we have now reached a steady state in the level of deliveries needed. This year 16% of referrals redeemed resulted in a delivery. This is only fractionally lower than last year (17%).

The Food Bank’s operating area is extensive covering all of Newark and the surrounding villages and extending SW to Bingham, NE to Swinderby and North to Southwell, Clipstone, Ollerton, Edwinstowe and Tuxford. Some of these areas are also covered by other foodbanks supporting Mansfield and Ollerton and therefore clients may be redirected to other foodbanks nearer to them to satisfy their requirements. Since the pandemic, we have extended our operating area considerably as other foodbanks have not offered a delivery service. Over the last year referrals have been redeemed from a total of 46 wards within Nottinghamshire. This would not have been possible without creating a dedicated volunteer group and the purchase of a van. Just under 64% of the foodbank clients this year reside within the 4 wards of Devon, Bridge, Beacon and Castle. This is very similar to last year.

The chart below provides a breakdown of client usage by wards.

Agencies

The number of agencies that are registered to issue Foodbank vouchers stands at 94. Of the registered agencies, 64 have issued at least one voucher in the last year. Obviously, personnel changes at these organisations require us to constantly engage with them to ensure that they are comfortable with the procedures in place to manage the issuing of

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Newark Foodbank

vouchers. Inevitably some agencies issue more referrals than others due to the nature of their work, but we are keen to support any agency regardless of the size of their client base if they feel that the Foodbank has a place to play within their support structure. Any agency which is presently not on our registered list but would like to be is asked to contact Andrew Ayre through the Foodbank e-mail address (agency@newark.foodbank.org.uk) to discuss their requirements.

We would like to thank most sincerely all the agencies that issue Foodbank referrals and encourage any that have any issues to contact us to discuss their concerns. Without their assessment of a client’s needs or otherwise the effectiveness of the Foodbank would be significantly decreased.

Operating Days

Newark Foodbank operates on Tuesday between 1500 and 1700 hrs and again on Friday between 1300 and 1500 hrs. We continue to support clients at Tuxford and the neighbouring villages through the warehouse at Newark and make deliveries accordingly. Warehouse operations now operate throughout the week with both donations, shelving and bagging operations taking place on multiple days with dedicated teams.

Market Operations

Market operations run on top of the Foodbank operations utilising as much as possible the same infrastructure including warehousing and Front of House locations. In doing so we reduce the cost of running Market Operations. We have a team of volunteers who manage Market Front of House Operations and a purchasing and logistic team that help keep Cartergate, the location for both The Market and Foodbank stocked. The Market operates on Monday and Thursday afternoons.

Market operations started in March 2022 and up to 31 March 2023 we have had a total of 200 households sign up as members. The current membership stands at 117 households. Of the 83 households that are no longer members, 62 held their membership for 6 months, 8 had a membership length of 12 months and 13 had a membership lasting 18 months. 18 months is the longest period that currently we can support clients for and in conjunction with our Financial Inclusion Initiative with CA we aim to make sure that every client is accessing all the financial support available to them.

The number of household visits made to The Market in 2023/24 was 1190. This was a 71% increase in the number of visits made the previous year (693). These visits supported a total of 1810 adults and 637 children. This represents an increase of 47% in Market usage over 2022/23. The existing household membership is made up of 49% singles, 20% couples and 31% families.

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Membership of The Market is at the discretion of the Food Bank manager and Market Team but is limited to those who have had a need to call upon the services of the Food Bank in the past. Once a household becomes a registered member of The Market, they are not expected to seek a referral to use the Food Bank except in exceptional circumstances. Members pay a small fee every visit to offset some of our costs. Over the last year these visit fees have raised £5,708. This money is used to purchase additional stock for use by Market clients. Over the year, the amount of stock we have had to purchase to support the Market in addition to the Foodbank has increased steadily. As of April 2024, the Trustees had authorised stock purchases to the sum of £2500 per month. This is constantly under review.

Financial Inclusion Initiative, Cadent Winter Support Fund & Tesco SIM Card Project.

We are into the second year of our Financial Inclusion Initiative with Citizens Advice (CA). This has just been extended to a four-year initiative, mainly funded by the Trussell Trust which aims to maximise the income of some of our clients and thereby reduce the future use of the Foodbank. An advisor from Sherwood & Newark Citizens Advice attends sessions of the Foodbank and The Market and clients can make an appointment with the advisor there and then if they need help. Over the last year, 266 clients have been helped with a total financial benefit of £172,792. Additionally, in conjunction with the Trussell Trust we signed up to be a partner with the Cadent Foundation in their Winter Support Fund. The fund provided £570,000 of support to Trussell Trust Foodbanks through the provision of food and energy vouchers. Newark Foodbank supported 88 households with foodbank and energy vouchers totalling £7,050 or approximately £80 per household.

Over the year we have also provided clients with over 100 smart phone SIM cards. Each card which is valid for 6 months provides unlimited text and phone calls along with a 20Gb data allowance per month.

PR and Fundraising

Our PR and Fundraising team have been very active over the year and maintain a good relationship and presence with those organisations who kindly allow us to set up collection points in their establishments. The PR team has also been active in encouraging a number of other organisations in town to act as collection points as well as maintaining our presence on the internet and other social media outlets such as Facebook.

A number of individuals and companies have created their own fundraising efforts over the year and these have been particularly successful. We would like to thank all those who have both created these fundraising efforts and those who have supported them. Many of these efforts have made use of our JustGiving Fundraising page which has also been a great success.

We must however also thank the people of Newark and surrounding area whose generosity has been truly outstanding. Whether this has been through donating food at our collection points, resulting in the collection of 50 tonnes of food, or through personal cash donations, all these donations help make the Foodbank sustainable.

Quality Audit Inspection – Trussell Trust

The Trussell Trust conducted its last formal annual quality audit inspection of Newark Foodbank in Feb 2024. We have worked closely with the Trussell Trust to ensure that we

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remain compliant with any new procedures and methods which they have rolled out over the year including changes to the way client referrals are processed.

Treasurer’s Report

The treasurer’s report for 2023-24 is attached. As of 31 Mar 2024 the Foodbank has funds of £150,133. We have a three-year lease on the property at Cartergate for £12,000 per year. This lease will expire in November 2024. The Trustees will need to make a decision shortly on whether or not to negotiate an extension to the lease or seek new premises. We also continue to operate out of two warehouses at Cressey Farm for which we pay a total of £3,052 per year. In order to be able to claim back some of our costs we are also registered for VAT. As a registered Charity we claim back Gift Aid on any declared donations we receive. Our income and expenditure are broadly in balance leading to small surplus this year of just over £2,000. It is noticeable that compared to last year overall donations are down but cash donations remain strong at nearly £29,000 compared to £31,000 last year. The most noticeable difference in expenditure over the last year has been the substantial increase in expenditure on stock purchases. This year’s stock purchases amounted to £28,447 compared to only £8,262 last year. This level of stock purchases is expected to continue over the next year. Over the next year, it is hoped that the funds we have available plus any future income generated can be used to take forward some of the strategic goals identified below.

Cost of Operation

The total cost of Foodbank & Market Operations in 2023-2024 was £72,897. During the year we issued 39.168 meals through the Foodbank. This means that each meal provided by Newark Foodbank costs £ 1.85. This is 115% increase on the year before and reflects a large increase in operating costs including £28,447 on stock purchases. In reality the vast majority of these stock purchases were in support of the Market. If stock purchases are excluded then the cost of providing each meal is £1.13, a 31% increase in cost from the previous year. Assessing the contents of each of the food parcels provided to clients we estimate the value of each parcel, which provides three days of emergency food relief to be:

We also provide clients with a range of “extra” products which do not form part of the standard food parcel and include for instance toiletries, sweets, sanitary products and pet food. For insurance cover purposes we also need to make an assessment of the value of stock held in the warehouse unit. As of 31 March 2024 the average value of each kilogram of stock

18

Newark Foodbank

held in the warehouse was approximately £3.16. This suggests that with a stock level at the end of March 2024 of 4.24 tonnes, the value of stock at that time was £13,398 (£15,939).

Strategic Goals

We have updated our Strategic Goals for the year: Ongoing

2024-2025

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees:

Signed ______ Date _ - 11.12.2024 Stephen Charnock, Trustee

19

Independent examiner’s report to the trustees of Newark Foodbank for the year ended 31 March 2024

I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of Newark Foodbank for the year ended 31 March 2024.

Responsibilities and basis of report

As the trustees of the charity you are responsible for the preparation of the accounts in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011 (‘the Act’).

I report in respect of my examination of the charity’s accounts carried out under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.

Independent examiner’s statement

I have completed my examination. I confirm that no matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:

  1. accounting records were not kept in respect of the charity as required by section 130 of the Act; or

  2. the accounts do not accord with those records.

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.

Signed ____ Date _______ 11.12.2024 John O’Brien MSc, FCCA, FCIE

Employee of Community Accounting Plus

20

Newark Foodbank

Receipts & Payments Accounts for the year ending 31st March 2024

2023
Total Funds
£
86899
6161
197		 2024
Unrestricted
Funds
Restricted
Funds
Total Funds
Note
£
£
£
Receipts
Donations
2
50223
17971
68194
Gift Aid/VAT
5846
0
5846
Bank Interest
874
0
874
56943
17971
74914
Payments
Rent
15100
0
15100
Equipment
263
0
263
Crisis support
20
0
20
Printing, Stationery & Promotion
1117
0
1117
Trussell Trust
0
0
0
Van, Petrol & Repairs
1805
0
1805
Insurance & Legal
1535
0
1535
Events
286
0
286
Just Givivng
216
0
216
Warehouse costs (ex rent)
240
0
240
Other
2755
17706
20461
Cartergate
288
0
288
Utilities
2031
0
2031
Volunteer Expenses
191
0
191
Stock Purchases
28447
0
28447
Cash
17
0
17
Professional Fees (Bank, Accountant, Legal etc)
880
0
880
55191
17706
72897
Net Receipts/Payments
1752
266
2017
Cash Funds at the start of this period
148116
0
148116
149868
266
150133
Statement of Assets and Liabilities as at 31st
March 2024
2024
Cash Assets
£
Bank Accounts
150133		 2024
Unrestricted
Funds
Restricted
Funds
Total Funds
Note
£
£
£
Receipts
Donations
2
50223
17971
68194
Gift Aid/VAT
5846
0
5846
Bank Interest
874
0
874
56943
17971
74914
Payments
Rent
15100
0
15100
Equipment
263
0
263
Crisis support
20
0
20
Printing, Stationery & Promotion
1117
0
1117
Trussell Trust
0
0
0
Van, Petrol & Repairs
1805
0
1805
Insurance & Legal
1535
0
1535
Events
286
0
286
Just Givivng
216
0
216
Warehouse costs (ex rent)
240
0
240
Other
2755
17706
20461
Cartergate
288
0
288
Utilities
2031
0
2031
Volunteer Expenses
191
0
191
Stock Purchases
28447
0
28447
Cash
17
0
17
Professional Fees (Bank, Accountant, Legal etc)
880
0
880
55191
17706
72897
Net Receipts/Payments
1752
266
2017
Cash Funds at the start of this period
148116
0
148116
149868
266
150133
Statement of Assets and Liabilities as at 31st
March 2024
2024
Cash Assets
£
Bank Accounts
150133
93257 56943
17971
74914
8881
93
159
1011
0
830
1592
642
216
1480
8950
68
2244
347
8262
0
882		 15100
0
15100
263
0
263
20
0
20
1117
0
1117
0
0
0
1805
0
1805
1535
0
1535
286
0
286
216
0
216
240
0
240
2755
17706
20461
288
0
288
2031
0
2031
191
0
191
28447
0
28447
17
0
17
880
0
880
35658 55191
17706
72897
57599
90517		 1752
266
2017
148116
0
148116
148116 149868
266
150133
2023
£
148116		 2024
£
150133

Assets retained for charities own use

Van, £10800, purchased Nov 2020 Racking, £1147, purchased May 20 Handwash Station, £723, purchased July 20 Shelving, £2836, purchased Dec 21 Shelving, £3121, purchased Jan 22 Stack Nest Container, £685, purchased Jan 22

Liabilities

(816) Creditors 3

==> picture [20 x 9] intentionally omitted <==

These Financial statements are accepted on behalf of the charity by:

Signed: Date: Stephen Charnock, Trustee

21

Newark Foodbank

Notes to the accounts for the year ended 31 March 2023

1. Receipts & payments accounts

Receipts and payments accounts contain a summary of money received and money spent during the period and a list of assets and liabilities at the end of the period. Usually, cash received and cash spent will include transactions through bank accounts and cash in hand.

2. Grants & Donations

Total
£
31309 Individuals
7702 Just Giving
911 Churches
11771 Corporate
32147 Other donations
3058 Supermarket
86899
3. Creditors
Independent Examination Fee		 Unrestricted
Restricted
Total
£
£
£
28865
0
28865
2438
0
2438
409
0
409
7591
0
7591
5517
17971
23488
5404
0
5404
50223
17971
68194
£
900
900

4. Trustees Remuneration

Trustees received no expenses, remuneration or benefits in this period.

5. Related party transactions

There were no related party transactions in this period.

6. Funds analysis

Restricted Funds
Advice & Casework service
Unrestricted Funds
General Fund
Total		 Opening
Balance Receipts
Payments
Closing
Balance
0
17971
(17706)
266
148116
56943
(55191)
149868
148116
74914
(72897)
150133

Explanation of restricted funds:

Advice & Casework service - To support those accessing Newark Foodbank to tackle and resolve the issues that have led to their financial crisis.

The transfer from the Crisis support restricted fund to the unrestricted fund, respresents the lifting of any restrictions on the remaining funds.

22

Newark Foodbank

7. Glossary of terms

Creditors: These are amounts owed by the charity, but not paid during the accounting period.

Restricted funds: These are funds given to the charity, subject to specific restrictions set by the donor, but still within the general objects of the charity.

23