2021-03-31-accounts

Swansea East Side Food Bank A charity registered in England and Wales, number 1163300

Trustees Report 2020 -2021

Section A Reference and administration details

The name of the charity is SWANSEA EAST SIDE FOOD BANK

Registered number 1163300

The charity is based at Mount Zion Baptist Chapel 94 Mansel Road Bonymaen Swansea SA1 7JR

Section A Trustees at April 2020 – March 2021

Rev Christopher Lewis

Paul Lloyd Mandy Evans

David Preedy – term completed, retiring

Susan Dixey

Melanie Nicholas

Adrian Nicholas

Kath Parry

Joanne Stephenson

Geoffrey Roberts Rachana Patel

Helen McLaughlan

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Section B Structure, governance and management

As the charity is small and local, no formal training has been required for trustees as those who come forward have so far, been familiar with the role and induction takes place by working alongside those already in office.

Trustees meetings that would normally have been face to face have been replaced by electronic communications because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The charity receives referrals from about seventy agencies across Swansea and Neath Port Talbot (on which the council ward of Bonymaen borders). These include other charities, local authority departments, workers in primary healthcare, housing associations, schools and churches. We are also making our service available to managers in businesses where they become aware of employees in crisis. The charity is supported by donations of cash and goods from the local community, businesses and churches.

The charity has one trustee in common with Mount Zion Chapel

Risks Identified:

Heath and Safety: procedures require:

• that anybody entering the building alone informs an appropriate person of their whereabouts;

• that a minimum of three trustees / volunteers must be on hand before applicants are served; when a support worker collects parcels, this can be relaxed

• working in conjunction with the chapel, general health and safety matters are monitored;

• insurance - the charity has enacted its own public liability insurance for operations and product.

COVID-19 Arrangements

• At the beginning of the COVID-!9 we developed an emergency plan for operations which continued with local authority authorisation through lockdown. Volunteers were advised to carry their badges and a letter of authorisation signed by the Leader of Swansea Council and the Chief executive.

• We discontinued face-to-face services and replaced them with a ‘though the door’ system of distribution. Appointment times are given for collection of packages and queuing markings were painted on the approach path. We improved screening using Perspex and timber We also designated and briefed queuing marshals should the need arise.

• We obtained PPE and hygiene supplies; the latter included the means to disinfect surfaces and hand sanitiser. We gave appropriate briefing was regarding the wearing of masks, non-attendance should symptoms be experienced etc. We also gave this advice to service users

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• We instituted a system of teams for sorting and packing goods and another for their distribution, this remains in force. The teams consisting of up to three people (always 3 for distribution) operate on different days, if extra sorting or other work is needed volunteers do this at other times , this keeps us well within the Welsh Government rule for regulated buildings.

• Test and trace – since our teams are small it easy to account for attendances. Service users do not enter the building.

• Lateral flow testing – our volunteers have done this unbidden in the case of any concern. They have also voluntarily self-isolated when necessary.

• We believe all of our volunteers are doubly vaccinated and some will be receiving boosters during the autumn of 2021

Data Protection

• No computerized records are kept and such minimal paper records as are maintained for the currency of an applicant’s need are handled with care in use and kept under lock and key, so the risk of a data breach is low.

• Any published statistics are anonymised.

Food Allergies

• This is still a potential concern but as we are no longer distributing surplus ambient bakery goods the risk is reduced. Allergy risks are normally indicated on packaging. All clients are asked about food allergies and advised to check themselves.

Food Handling

• Our principal food handlers have food safety qualifications. Because of COVID-19 our volunteers may need to renew their qualifications.

Reputation

• We depend on the good will of our donors, for this reason we exercise care in giving assistance to discourage the abuse of our service or over dependence. Applicants referred frequently by a single or by more than one referee are reviewed and the referees contacted.

Covid -19

• We have made periodic risk assessments based on the guidance from the Welsh Council of Churches (CYTUN) erred on the side of caution. The level of the continuing risk is not clear and we are aware of the possibility of new variants and strains.

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Section C

Objectives and Activities

The object of the charity is to operate a food bank in the eastern part of Swansea.

The objective is achieved by gathering donations of foodstuffs and donations of cash. Foodstuffs are sorted, rotated and distributed to applicants referred by agencies (as above). Appropriate action is taken to dispose of any unfit or out of date foodstuffs to prevent their consumption.

Donations of cash are applied to running expenses (heat & light), food storage equipment (freezer, refrigerator and hygienic storage boxes), cleaning materials, stationery and printing and ‘topping up’ stock shortages.

We consider that these activities are conducted with regard to the guidance of the Charity Commission on public benefit.

Additional Information on Objectives and Activities

The strength of the East Side Food Bank is its volunteer body. Though based at a Baptist Chapel, it is essentially a community activity and has harnessed by its open policy, skills, talents and expertise, experience of working in public office, common sense and good will.

The effect on operations of the food bank has been outlined above. Regrettably COVID-19 restrictions have had an adverse effect on the social aspect of volunteering, the sense of common purpose and our ability to offer people volunteering opportunities.

We hope that it will be possible to engage new volunteers and generally to develop the quality and integrity of our operations, also to strengthen our networks. As a step in this direction we have participated in the Swansea Poverty Forum and the Coordinated Communities Project run by the Children’s Society. Maintaining contacts in this way has of course become difficult due to circumstances and some of our volunteers as key workers or having other responsibilities. Our level of engagement with other agencies is perforce less than before the pandemic.

In the academic year we worked with a team of students from the Swansea University Business School and to give them a project to refine our communications with referees and service users. For the current academic year we suspended this activity. Our connection with the Swansea University Law Clinic remains, we can advise people of the services they offer but like us, they have had to suspend face-to-face advice services.

Building networks mean that we are able to signpost clients to help beyond their immediate need of food. We hope that we will be able to resume signposting service users to help with debt, mental health and legal advice. How we do this

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and our core activity of providing balanced packages of food in need will need to be worked out carefully in the light of events.

Section D

Achievements and Performance

• Demand on our food bank has reduced. Contributory factors could be that in the lock down period food parcels were delivered direct to people who were shielding and that two more food banks are now operating in the area of Swansea east of the River Tawe. Other new food banks have opened in west Swansea some of which are more geographically convenient for certain agencies, which were previously heavy users. We are however, prepared to step up distribution.

• In the lock down period, we became the food hub for our council ward and an adjoining ward and distributed food aid channeled through Swansea Council

• We have loyal donors both of goods and cash and with emergency supplies through statutory agencies, our stock has held up well in general. We have the financial strength to top-up by purchase.

• Our volunteers have a fund of skills and experience. They have continued to offer these in the operation and governance of the charity through this difficult period.

• The team’s established reputation for receiving service users in a nonjudgmental way and empathetic way remains, though face to face contact has not been possible, even so, we received appreciative feedback on how in a brief conversation, a team member gave helpful advice drawing on their own experience of stress.

• Statistics are compiled monthly. We continue to feed into the citywide intelligence on how poverty is being tackled, though demands on our volunteers have made it impractical to provide the detail in anonymised analytics that we had previously provided.

• The achievement in this past year has been to adapt and keep going in response to demands that sometimes changed rapidly. As Chair I cannot praise our volunteer body and our wider circle of supporters too highly.

Section E Financial Review

See Treasurer’ s Report.

Section F

Optional Information

Exactly how our charity will go forward is hard to determine at present. This report is being written at the end the universal credit uplift, of the furlough scheme and against a background of the unprecedented energy price that will be impact our service users, volunteers and donors alike. We are well placed to meet additional demand for a period, at least and could subject to the availability

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of volunteers and the needs of service users via support agencies, run extra distribution session..

Longer-term policy and operations will also have to be determined bearing in mind that COVID-19 is endemic and we will have to be prepared for the possibility of future shocks from this and possibly other causes such as economic factors.

Section G

Declaration

The trustees declare that they have approved the trustees report above

Signed on behalf of the charity’s trustees

Trustee 1 Trustee 2

Signature

Full name

Position

Date

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Swansea Eastside Foodbank

Final Annual Accounts 1st April 2020 - 31 March 2021

Income

Cash at 1st April 2020

Bank b/f	22,347.59
Pety Cash A/c	130.11
In hand	0.00
		22,477.70

Donations

Corporate Cash/Cheque	£10,700.08
Personal Cash/Cheque	£7,427.93
Group Personal Collectons	£820.00
In Memorium- Sybil Crouch	£1,570.00
Covid 19 income	£400.00
Capital Funding	£0.00
Fundraising	£0.00
Other	£130.00
Total Income		£21,048.01
Expenditure
Ofce Equipment	£765.40
Repairs/Renewals	£0.00
Contributon to Chapel	£653.22
Expenditure re S Couch	£1,097.27
Other	£779.40
Grants to other organisatons	£14.95
Covid 19	£1,399.77
Sundries	£122.26
Total Expenditure		£4,832.27
Net Infow/(outlow) of funds			16,215.74
Less cash in hand
Pety Cash A/c			41.15
In Hand			0.00
Subtotal				16,174.59
Total in Bank 31 March 2021 (per cash rec)					38,652.29
Total in Bank 31 March 2021 (actual c/f)					38,652.29

Difference

0.00

Notes to the accounts:

Trustees have agreed to operate a reserve of £5000.00 on the bank account. The bank account balance cannot drop below this level without the agreement of Trustees. This will ensure the foodbank will have sufficient funds to continue to operate in the event of a reduction in donations and operate whilst trustees seek a solution to the funding issue.

I confirm the above acounts provide an accurate record of Eastside Foodbank's financial transactions for the year 1st April 2020 to 31st March 2021

Adrian Nicholas - Treasurer

04/07/2021

Personal Donations Commercial Donations