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Doc ID.. 783d0979d4a747bcdcff86279973fdb4cda33158
**Contents**
## contents
**The Trustees present their annual report and the audited financial statements for the year ended 31 December 2025.**
Reference and administrative information set out on page 72 forms part of this report. The financial
statements comply with current statutory requirements, and the Statement of Recommended Practice – Accounting and Reporting by Charities: SORP applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with FRS 102 (‘Charities SORP’).
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Welcome 4
About Little Village 6
Achievements of the year 12
Financial review 23
Structure, governance 30
and management
Statement of Trustees’ 38
responsibilities
Auditor’s report and 41
Financial Statements
Reference and administrative 72
information
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**Little Village** Annual Report and Accounts, 2025
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**Little Village** Annual Report and Accounts, 2025
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**Welcome**
**Welcome**
Olivia Gillan
## **Welcome from our Chair**
I am very proud to share Little Village’s Trustees’ Annual Report and accounts for the year ended 31 December 2025.
Every week, families come to Little Village at a point when money is tight, stress is high, and providing the everyday basics for a baby seems out of reach. They arrive needing practical essentials, but also needing to feel seen. Again and again, families tell us that kindness matters: being welcomed, listened to, and treated with dignity is often just as important as the essentials they’re receiving.
2025 was the second year of our 2024–2026 strategic plan. At its heart is a simple belief: when more people join ‘our Little
Village’, more families can get what they need - and together we can speak more loudly about the changes that are needed to tackle child poverty.
Because of the extraordinary commitment of our staff, volunteers, donors and partners, we supported children 11,808 times in 2025 and reached families in every London borough. We kept growing the wraparound support that helps families take their next step; supporting families with signposting 3,005 times and helping to unlock an estimated £55,137 in financial benefit. We also redistributed 147 tonnes of children’s items, avoiding an estimated 203 tonnes of CO2 emissions.
All of these figures are substantial increases on 2024,
thanks to the creativity and innovation of the Little Village team. So it’s no surprise that they were recognised with a number of awards during the year. We were shortlisted for Charity of the Year at the Charity Times Awards (£1m – £10m category), winning Social Value within a Community at the Awards for Excellence in Recycling and Waste Management and our CEO being named on the Resource Hot 100 List, which recognises individuals making a significant impact in the circular economy.
Alongside meeting immediate need, we remain committed to raising our voice for change. In 2025, as a co-founder of the Baby Bank Alliance, we continued to help build a national movement so baby banks can learn from one another and speak with strength together. Over 250 baby banks are now part of the Alliance. Through this work and our wider partnerships, we are shining a light on what families are facing, and on what becomes possible when essentials are provided with dignity and love.
Thank you to everyone who makes Little Village’s work possible: our volunteers, donors, partners and staff - and the families who trust us with their stories.
Little Village exists because people choose solidarity: passing on what they no longer need, giving time, sharing expertise, and showing up with care. It is a privilege to be part of that work.
Sophie Livingstone MBE
## **Welcome from our CEO**
In 2025, we saw the very best of what a community like Little Village can do — and we also saw with painful clarity how many families are being pushed to the edge by the cost of living crisis. Too many are having to make impossible choices, at the very moment they are trying to give their babies the best start in life.
This year, Little Village supported children 11,808 times (up from 9,269 in 2024) and reached families in every London borough. Those numbers represent thousands of small moments: a cot arriving before bedtime; a warm coat found just in time for the school run; books and toys that bring a bit of joy back into the day.
In 2026, we will stay focused on our strategic priorities — supporting families, inspiring more people to join our village, raising awareness and driving change, and strengthening our organisational resilience. We will deepen and further test partnership working so more essentials can be provided through NHS, local authority and community settings; continue to develop the targeted signposting offer; grow flexible volunteering opportunities; and invest in the digital, data and technology foundations that will help us serve families well as we scale.
Thank you to every volunteer who sorted, packed and delivered; every donor who passed on essentials with generosity; every We also delivered 684 emergency partner who helped us reach newborn packs, available at every families; and every professional London hospital with a maternity who referred a family and walked ward — practical reassurance alongside them. Because of you, for families who welcomed a more babies and children had baby with little or nothing. And what they needed this year, and as families shared other worries at the start of their young lives. with us, we expanded how we help: our signposting grew to 3,005 instances and generated an estimated £55,137 in financial benefit for families.
Families come to us carrying the burden and anxieties of insecure housing, high living costs, and a safety net full of holes. No single charity can meet that demand alone — which is why we keep doing two things at once: responding with high-quality, pre-loved essentials right now, and working with partners and alongside families to change the conditions that make poverty feel inevitable for so many families.
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**Little Village** Annual Report and Accounts, 2025
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**About Little Village**
## about little village
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Little Village Annual Report and Accounts, 2025
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## **Our vision**
For every child to have the essentials they need to thrive.
## **Our mission**
To bring about change for children and families through the power of sharing, reusing and connecting.
## **What we do**
Our pan-London baby bank network passes pre-loved baby goods from one family to another, sharing essential, highquality items that are gifted with love and kindness.
We do this in one of three ways:
1. A dedicated appointment at one of our high-street hubs, providing a “shopping experience” for families;
2. A box, packed to order by our volunteers and delivered directly to a family’s door; or
3. A bundle, delivered via a trusted partner to families they’re working with.
We also continue to deliver “big kit”, such as cots, buggies and toddler beds, to families via our volunteer drivers.
In addition, we connect over 3,000 families with a wider network of support. Starting with a referral to our specialist signposting and guidance service, we help families find
extra support – such as food bank referrals, access to Healthy Start vouchers, or help with housing issues.
We are powered by an incredible group of volunteers, including regular volunteers, ‘one-off’ sessions and corporate teams, with over 3,000 interactions last year. We’ve grown to be one of the largest baby banks in the UK, supporting over 36,000 children since we launched in 2016.
The families who come to Little Village are referred to us by a network of over 1,700 professionals such as midwives, health visitors, social workers and children’s centres.
- Little Village’s founding purpose is to relieve the effects of poverty or to prevent it in the first place. To achieve that purpose, we support families who are struggling by offering practical help, whether in the form of baby goods or the other services we have outlined above; and we strive to act as a force for change when it comes to the existence of child poverty. We are committed to playing our part in ending child poverty and we believe that every child deserves the best possible start in life.
## **How we work**
We believe in the power of **solidarity** , bringing people together to support each other. We create spaces where everyone can **thrive** – families and their children, our volunteers, our team. We have a passion
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**About Little Village**
**About Little Village**
for **sustainability** and at the heart of everything is the belief that love is a force for change in a world where so many of us have to fight for the basics.
## **The need we respond to**
**Families living in poverty in the UK and London: Who is most affected, and why does it matter?**
Poverty in the UK remains persistently high and is becoming deeper for many families. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) estimates that 21% of the UK population – that’s 14.2 million people, of whom 4.5 million are children – were living in poverty in 2023/24. Of that, the foundation reports that around half, totalling a record 6.8 million people, are in “very deep poverty”.[1]
The JRF’s latest report estimates that **26% of Londoners live in poverty** . This is driven heavily by rising housing costs in the capital, and the high proportion of families who rent – in fact, when the cost of housing is taken into account, the number of Londoners in poverty climbs significantly.[2]
London’s child poverty rates vary sharply by borough, with areas in Inner and East London (including Tower Hamlets, Hackney, Islington, and Newham) tending to bear the highest burden.
And for some families, the risk of hardship is even higher because of the combined pressures of other factors alongside low
income and rising costs. This is evidenced by the particularly high rates of poverty among certain groups, with the JRF report highlighting that in 2023/24:
- 43% of children in **lone-parent families** were living in poverty;
- 44% of **large families** (three or more children) were living in poverty;
- 36% of **families with very young** children (youngest child under 5) were living in poverty; and
- 28% of **disabled people** and families including a disabled person were living in poverty – a higher rate than that for non-disabled people.
These risks are often compounded by insecure or low-paid work, high childcare costs, and reliance on a social security system that the JRF describes as inadequate.
The early years of a child’s life are particularly sensitive, because income shortfalls shape daily life in ways that affect their health and development: nutrition, warmth, stable housing, access to services, and parents’ stress levels. Evidence summarised by the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) shows that poverty affects children even from before birth, and is linked to worse physical and mental health outcomes across childhood and later life.[3]
Recent UK policy evidence reviews highlight strong associations between low income and early outcomes such as school readiness – and emphasise that these early gaps can widen over time.[4] Research and practice-focused reviews of early childhood services similarly note how poverty shapes development and life chances, and that families facing hardship can struggle to access support that would buffer those risks.[5]
## **Families cannot afford the essentials their babies and young children need**
We know that too many families cannot afford the everyday essentials their babies and young children need to grow, learn and thrive. Hardship is often made visible through the absence of ordinary items: a safe place to sleep, warm clothing, shoes that fit, or equipment that allows families to leave the house. These are not small gaps. For example, in September 2023, Barnardo’s estimated that around 894,000 children in the UK had needed to share beds or sleep on floors or sofas within the previous 12 months,[6] while in 2025, Little Village’s own surveys revealed that this is an issue for 69% of the families we support. And the impact of furniture poverty is profound, with evidence that children without appropriate beds experience poorer sleep, wellbeing and ability to learn.
In London, financial hardship is frequently compounded by overcrowded housing, temporary accommodation and poor living conditions.[7] At Little Village, we hear about the lived reality of this from the families we work with – desperate parents, who describe how these pressures affect their sleep, health and parenting confidence, as well as their children’s development.
For parents and carers in this position, not being able to provide essential items carries a profound emotional cost. When we asked families about how they had felt before receiving support from Little Village, they remembered feeling:
- anxious about how they would provide for their children (40%);
- sad because they did not have everything needed (39%);
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- very low or hopeless (27%); and
- struggling with their mental health (24%).
Many families also described feelings of isolation. For example, 42% of families we surveyed said they did not know where to turn for help, and 40% said they had no nearby friends or family able to support them.
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**Little Village** Annual Report and Accounts, 2025
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**About Little Village**
**About Little Village**
shaping long-term health, learning and wellbeing. Yet nationally, around one in four children do not reach a good level of development by the end of their reception year. And without access to essential equipment, safe sleep spaces, appropriate clothing and developmental resources, inequalities begin early and widen quickly, with children growing up in poverty significantly more likely to fall behind before they even begin school.
## One parent shared:
_“I feel guilty for my child that I’m unable to provide him basic normality of family living.”_ [Family Survey]
## Another reflected:
_“My self-confidence was destroyed … When I found Little Village I felt very happy and found them very helpful.”_ [Family interview]
## **Why early years support matters**
Little Village exists to help close that gap, by ensuring babies and young children have what they need during this critical stage of development.
The UK government’s Best Start for Life vision highlights the importance of the first years of a child’s life in
## **–** 2024 2026 strategic plan
_The full strategy is available on our website. And more detail on what we achieved in 2025 can be found in our Impact Report._
2025 was the second year of this strategic plan which focuses on four key ambitions:
## **Supporting families**
Continuing to share both essential items and understanding, so that babies and children in London can thrive.
## **Inspiring**
Growing the “village” of support and inspiring more people to join us.
## **Raising awareness**
Raising our voice for change, to raise awareness of family poverty and baby banks, and build the Baby Bank Alliance.
## **Resilience**
Ensuring the sustainability of this work by developing a strong and resilient organisation.
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**Little Village** Annual Report and Accounts, 2025
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**Achievements of the year**
## achievements of the year
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We are proud of our achievements in 2025, the second year of this strategy period.
fun in the park. Items we provided this year included 1,247 buggies, as well as scooters, slings and buggy boards for big brothers and sisters **.**
## **1. Supporting families**
- **8,449 coats** , protecting children from cold and rainy weather.
_**Continuing to share both essential items and understanding, so that babies and children in London can thrive.**_
- **15,407 pairs of well-fitting shoes and wellies** , fit for all purposes from preschool to puddle-splashing.
In 2025, Little Village supported children 11,808 times (up from 9,269 in 2024) and reached families in every London borough.
- **978 baths and bath supports** , for safe, fun bathtimes for even the smallest of babies.
- **588 highchairs** , so parents can feed their children safely.
Whether supporting families face-toface in our baby bank hubs, packing beautiful parcels ready for delivery, or driving bigger items directly to families, our incredible volunteers help turn donated items into lovingly selected practical support for families who need it most.
- **21,384 books** – feeding children’s imaginations and expanding their horizons, one story at a time.
- **22,850 toys** – providing hours of fun to stimulate children’s learning and development.
Across nearly all of the categories below, Little Village distributed more essential items in 2025 than in the previous year.
As well as the items we distributed directly from our baby banks, we also reached hundreds of newborn babies, born in hospitals to families who had nothing. A total of 684 emergency newborn packs were delivered in 2025 and were available at every London hospital with a maternity ward.
Together with our volunteers, donors, and partners, we provided:
- **1,659 beds** , so babies and young children have a safe place to sleep.
- **2,335 ways for families to get out and about** – whether on essential trips to the shops or the doctor, or just to have
Families often come to Little Village for practical essentials, but many are also navigating complex challenges affecting
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**Achievements of the year**
**Achievements of the year**
housing, food security, immigration status, health or benefits. Our trained volunteers provide tailored signposting ranging from local community support to energy advice, food provision and specialist services. In total, we provided individualised signposting support in 1,036 cases, consistent with last year.
In 2025, we piloted a new approach to share opportunities with families more proactively. We offered this targeted signposting 1,969 times, sharing information by email or text about local offers families were eligible for — from fresh food pop-ups to free book schemes.
This meant that the total number of signposting cases increased nearly threefold, from 1,037 in 2024 to 3,005 in 2025. The estimated financial benefit for families also grew significantly, rising from £22,714 in 2024 to £55,137 in 2025.
In 2025, Little Village redistributed 147 tonnes of children’s items — including clothing, bedding, cots, buggies, toys and books — ensuring good-quality essentials reached families who needed them most. This avoided 203 tonnes of CO2 emissions, equivalent to removing approximately 137 cars from UK roads for a year (up from 124 in 2024).
## **2. Inspiring**
_**Growing the “village” of support and inspiring more people to join us.**_
Across the UK, volunteering patterns are shifting. Nationally, regular volunteering levels are under pressure, with many people wanting to find flexible ways to contribute alongside the increasing demands of everyday life.
At Little Village, we are seeing this change – but also an opportunity within it. While interest in flexible and one-off volunteering continues to grow, with 70% of new applications now for oneoff opportunities, we also still see strong commitment from those who choose to volunteer regularly.
In 2025, 699 regular volunteers contributed weekly across our hubs, warehouse, and remote roles. Weekly commitments increased by almost 10%, demonstrating that although flexibility is increasingly important, there is still a place for longterm and traditional volunteering.
Alongside this, participation in our oneoff volunteering opportunities has grown significantly, rising from 146 engagements to more than 1,100 within a year. Our corporate volunteering scheme also expanded, growing by 49% to a total of 1,343 volunteers across 154 sessions.
noted: “ _I love how flexible the volunteering is – I can do as little or as much as I can without pressure or judgement_ .”
Together, one-off and corporate opportunities now account for 78% of all volunteering at Little Village, reflecting wider national trends towards episodic and employer-supported participation.
Importantly, 25% of our regular volunteers have experienced poverty, either as adults or from their childhoods. This blend of lived experience, professional skills and generational perspectives adds insight, empathy and energy to our volunteering community.
In total, more than 3,100 volunteer interactions supported Little Village’s work this year, increasing operational capacity while opening more accessible pathways for people to volunteer in ways that fit their lives.
In 2025, we expanded opportunities to donate beyond our hubs and warehouse, hosting 179 donation locations and one-off sessions across London via our supporter network.
Introducing a more flexible model has had a direct impact of the type of people we see volunteering with us. The largest group of active volunteers is now those aged 25–34, with 69% of regular volunteers aged under 44. Half of our volunteers are balancing their hours with us alongside employment or study. As one volunteer
Through public donations and community collection points, we received more than 176 tonnes of items into our warehouse.
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**Little Village** Annual Report and Accounts, 2025
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**Achievements of the year**
**Achievements of the year**
## **3. Raising awareness**
_**Raising our voice for change, to raise awareness of family poverty and baby banks, and build the Baby Bank Alliance.**_
In 2025, we took both a big-picture and a very specific approach – playing our part in the national campaign to end the harmful two-child benefit cap, while drawing attention to the individual circumstances families are facing, including through our highly impactful Nappy Appeal.
## **Campaigning for political action**
As a member of the End Child Poverty Coalition, we were proud to work alongside our fellow UK members to call for the end of the two-child benefit limit.
We were delighted when the government launched its Child Poverty Strategy and finally announced that the two-child limit would be abolished in April 2026 – celebrating the record 450,000 children this will lift out of poverty by the end of this parliament. And we were pleased to host The Rt Hon Pat McFadden MP, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, to our hub in Camden to mark the launch of the strategy. This visit, held in partnership with the Baby Bank Alliance and Save the Children UK, was an opportunity to talk to the Secretary of State about the power
of providing essential items for families with dignity and love and the potential for baby banks to play a more central role in community support for families.
## **Creating systemic change**
We have also turned our attention to exploring how Little Village’s work can be delivered further upstream, to enable longer-term change and reduce the need for a crisis intervention to support families.
For example, we have been considering how the provision of essentials can support the achievement of outcomes set out in the Child Poverty Strategy – in particular ensuring that all children achieve a good level of development (GLD) by the time they are at school.
In 2025, we worked with several local authority areas:
- We took part in discussions with the London Borough of Camden on tackling child poverty and presented to a full council meeting on this topic. The borough’s strategy, Raise Camden, names Little Village as a key local partner in this work.
- We worked with the London Borough of Brent to input into their EYFS strategy, looking specifically at how this aligns with the government’s Best Start strategy. As part of this we explored how we can offer development
packs to help engage families at the borough’s Best Start Family Hubs, building on the success of the “splash packs” we provided there over the summer period.
In February, a report from the Competition and Markets Authority confirmed what parents had been telling us for years: the cost of infant formula is simply too high. We teamed up with families to raise awareness of the issue across the media, including the shocking fact that just under 10% of the families we support were having to water down formula to make each box go further.
- In the run-up to Christmas, we supported the London Borough of Wandsworth’s Climate and Sustainability Team to pass on preloved seasonal outfits and toys to families on the Winstanley and York Gardens estates in Battersea.
Our annual Winter Warmers campaign was enhanced by the donation of £200,000 worth of advertising from Global, which meant large-scale billboards ran our “New Lease of Love” adverts across London for three weeks during September and October. This fantastic opportunity helped us to broaden awareness of our
Our campaigns during 2025 helped to raise awareness of the challenges faced by families needing Little Village’s support and helped us galvanise support for our work from new and existing ‘villagers’.
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**Little Village** Annual Report and Accounts, 2025
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**Achievements of the year**
**Achievements of the year**
## 2025 in numbers
15,407 _**pairs of wellfitting shoes and wellies**_
**This year across nearly every category, Little Village increased the number of essential items we were able to pass on to families.**
11,808 978 _**times Little Village baths and supported children bath supports**_
1,659 588 _**beds, cots and moses highchairs baskets, and more**_ 21,384 _**books**_
2,335 _**ways for families to get out and about**_
8,449 22,850 _**coats toys**_
with _HuffPost_ , _The Independent_ , Reuters, CNN, _The Washington Post_ , Yahoo News, _The Sun_ , _The Standard_ , _The Times_ , _Metro_ and _The Big Issue_ ; as well as millions of people reached through broadcast media, with appearances on BBC Breakfast, BBC London, ITV London and BBC Radio London.
work and secure the cosy coats and blankets needed during the winter months.
We continued to build relationships with families, developing opportunities for them to use their voices to share their experiences of poverty – and help us to help more families like them. Eight families were involved in sharing their stories during 2025, both through our own channels and across more than 70 pieces of national, regional and international media coverage spanning broadcast, print and online outlets. This included partnership appeals
On a national level, we have continued our work as co-founder of the Baby Bank Alliance (alongside Save the Children UK, Purposeful Ventures and Baby Bank Network Bristol), and over 250 UK baby banks have now joined.
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**Little Village** Annual Report and Accounts, 2025
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**Achievements of the year**
**Achievements of the year**
## **4. Resilience**
closure of Zip Van at the end of December 2025 had a significant impact as they were a convenient option for volunteer drivers delivering cots and buggies to families.
_**Ensuring the sustainability of this work by developing a strong and resilient organisation.**_
The most significant development was continuing to test and evolve ways in which we could support more families through innovation in our model. As set out in the Supporting Families section, this included working with partners in local authority, NHS and community settings to ensure that families were receiving essential items as part of broader provision. This requires us to continue to iterate our own model of delivery, but also helps to make use of the growing amount of stock in our warehouse that we’re keen to distribute as quickly as possible to families that need it. It lays the groundwork for providing more flexible service provision at a lower cost to serve.
2025 was the first time in a number of years that we haven’t needed to undertake a property move. However, we spent a lot of time focused on replacing our warehouse space, exploring commercial lease options that would have significantly impacted our expenditure. Instead we were able to secure a new lease with our current landlord in Wandsworth at a very favourable rental. This outcome was beneficial from both a financial and an operational perspective.
A robust tender process for new transport and logistics providers has led to more cost effective provision, but the sudden
We are proud that our work was recognised with a number of awards during 2025, including:
- shortlisted for Charity of the Year at the Charity Times Awards (£1m — £10m category);
- winning Social Value within a Community at the Awards for Excellence in Recycling and Waste Management; and
- our CEO being named on the Resource Hot 100 List, which recognises individuals making a significant impact in the circular economy.
## **Other areas of focus**
## _**Fundraising**_
Fundraising continued to be challenging in 2025, and for the first time we did not meet our income target. However, we had already budgeted for a deficit to make use of our reserves surplus and our income shortfall was matched by lower expenditure than anticipated.
We appointed an Interim Director of Fundraising who is charged with reviewing our proposition, systems and processes and who will develop a new strategy for growth in 2026.
During the year, we continued to test a more integrated approach to mass
campaigns and enjoyed particular success from the nappy appeal during the summer, and our Christmas campaign. These outcomes are being used to deliver campaigns in 2026.
We embedded our new team members and initiated a corporate partnerships strategy that is being implemented in 2026. We also added a Supporter Experience Officer to the team to focus on retaining and growing support from our existing donors. And in the last quarter of the year we restructured the team to adopt a Supporter Experience Centric model across the whole team to maximise the return from all of our relationships.
Many of our long-standing supporters continued to provide generous support during 2025 and we met new members of our Village. Sincere thanks to everyone who so generously donated pre-loved baby items or funds in 2025.
## _**Family Participation**_
Having appointed a Family Participation Manager for the first time in 2024, this work has evolved in 2025 and is strengthening how we raise our voice for change by ensuring our influencing and advocacy work is grounded in real family experience.
We created supportive ways for parents and carers to share insight through monthly group sessions, four in-person participation sessions, focus groups,
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**Little Village** Annual Report and Accounts, 2025
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**Achievements of the year**
**X**
regular virtual coffee mornings and an active WhatsApp community.
In 2025, 26 parents and carers took part, contributing over 100 hours of lived experience insight. Families informed our work across the areas of communications, services and volunteering, helping shape organisational learning and future planning, with events including a lunch and learn session with our senior leadership team and a play therapy workshop.
Participation is also creating impact for families themselves. Parents told us that being involved increased their confidence, strengthened community connection, and helped them feel that their experiences matter. Several participants have since gone on to volunteer with Little Village, demonstrating how lived experience can move from receiving support to shaping change. As the programme grows, families are not only influencing Little Village’s work but contributing to a wider movement that values individuals’ lived experience in shaping the systems and services designed to support them.
safe experimentation. This work will continue in 2026.
We successfully implemented a new Volunteer Management System, Volunteero, enhancing both operational oversight and volunteer experience. The platform enables volunteers to self-manage their activities, while providing staff with improved visibility of volunteer engagement and more robust data collection.
Volunteero introduces integrated AI functionality, including resource support and automated responses to volunteer queries, improving efficiency and accessibility. In addition, it provides realtime insight and feedback, strengthens risk management, and enhances our ability to effectively support and engage our volunteer community
Our work to customise the Appian platform continued during 2025. Our timelines have been extended into 2026 due to changes in key personnel and learnings about the platform’s capability.
## Financial review
## _**Governance**_
## _**Processes and technology**_
We have continued to improve our processes and have been testing AI as a tool to increase our efficiency in several areas. This included the introduction of an AI policy and framework to provide guardrails and to encourage
We launched recruitment for a Finance Trustee during the autumn of 2025, in order to replace Geraldine Wright when her term ends in June 2026. After a broad search and very strong applications, we appointed Simon Langford as the new Finance Trustee to the Board in March 2026.
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**Financial review**
**Financial review**
## **Income and expenditure**
The charity’s total expenditure for the year was £4.5m (2024: £4.1m). This figure includes the value of donated goods given out to families, which was £1.2m (2024: £1m). It also includes £3k for the value of certain services which were donated to the charity (2024: £71k).
The charity’s total revenue for 2025 was £4m (2024: £4.3m). This includes £1.2m for the value of goods donated to Little Village for distribution to families during the year (2024: £1m) and £3k for the value of donated services that we received to support our operations (2024: £71k).
Staff costs continued to be our most significant expense at £2.2m (2024: £1.8m), increasing as we added to our staff count to keep pace with the needs of our operations (an increase from 44 to 52 on a fulltime equivalent basis). The
Monetary income amounted to £2.9m (2024: £3.2m). This figure comprises mainly donations and grants but also includes bank interest and sundry income. The diagram below illustrates the types of donor whose generosity contributed to this total.
four-year trend shown in the table on page 26 summarises total income and expenditure including restricted and unrestricted funds.
## **Donations in kind**
balance sheet, there is a corresponding adjustment to income, meaning that the reported income and expenditure figures for donated goods may not be the same.
In line with best practice according to the Charities SORP, the value of donated goods given out during the year is also included in these accounts. Specifically, donated goods given to beneficiary families are recognised in both income and expenditure, at the same amount, when they are distributed to families rather than when they are received by Little Village. No balance sheet value is assigned to any second-hand donated items that are held at the year-end. Where goods have been donated to Little Village as brand new, or where Little Village has purchased brand new goods (such as mattresses), items held at the year-end are reflected as stock on the balance sheet to the extent that the value is material. Where brand new donated stock is recognised on the
The total value of donated goods given out by Little Village in 2025 was £1,192k (2024: £1,035k). This value is reflected in expenditure and is also included in income (along with an adjustment to take account of the stock of brand new donations reflected on the balance sheet). To value second-hand donated goods for the purposes of the income and expenditure disclosures, we take a second-hand market value estimate of each type of item. Baby clothing is valued based on bundles, reflecting both how clothing would typically be sold second hand, and the way in which we distribute bundled clothing to families. Brand new items donated to Little Village
**----- Start of picture text -----**
2025 monetary income
Other: 4% Statutory: 1%
Community: 4%
Corporate
Trusts and
Foundations
Individual
14%
55%
23%
**----- End of picture text -----**
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**Financial review**
**Financial review**
|**£’000**|**2022**|**2023**|**2024**|**2025**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|**Total income**|**3,545**|**4,487**|**4,303**|**4,038**|
|Of which:|||||
|Monetary income – donations and grants|2,128|2,974|3,065|2,693|
|Donated goods|743|1,249|1,028|1,182|
|Donated services|645|152|71|3|
|**Total expenditure**|**3,418**|**3,949**|**4,105**|**4,469**|
|Of which:|||||
|Staff costs|1,180|1,468|1,819|2,237|
|Donated goods|729|1,244|1,035|1,192|
|Donated services|645|152|71|3|
|**Surplus/(deficit) for the year**|**131**|**538**|**198**|**(431)**|
are reflected in income and expenditure based on the ‘as new’ value.
Donated services reported in 2025 comprise only payroll services which are provided to the charity free of charge; prior periods have also included costs relating to the site we occupied in Hounslow until May 2024, where the rent was covered by a donor. The billboard advertising that was gifted to the charity to support our 2025 Winter Warmers campaign, mentioned elsewhere in this report, has not been recognised as income from a donated service because we would not have procured this form of advertising on a paid-for basis.
Donated services are recognised in our accounts as income and expenditure where they are services we would have procured anyway because they are considered essential and affordable for the charity.
Where donated services are of a higher quality (and therefore higher value) than we would have ordinarily paid for, we have accounted for them at the value we would have been willing to pay.
## **Significant events affecting financial performance and financial position during the year**
We have continued to invest in our IT infrastructure, to ensure that it keeps pace with our growth and the increasing complexity of the services that we offer to families. Towards the end of 2023, we launched a major project to upgrade most components of our back-office systems and this work continues. Expenditure on IT consultancy and development was £67k in 2025 (2024: £124k).
2025 was the first time in five years that we have not needed to fund and execute a property move. We signed a new lease agreement with our landlords for the Wandsworth warehouse and this makes a significant difference to our ability to plan. However, property will continue to be a critical factor in our operational and financial planning and a source of uncertainty in coming years.
Staff numbers have continued to increase, with 52 employees in 2025 (measured on a full-time equivalent basis). This compares with 44 employees in 2024 and 40 in 2023. These were roles to increase our capacity at the warehouse, in the volunteering team, to increase our fundraising and marcomms capacity and to add a much needed Safeguarding Manager to the team. Staff costs represent around 68% of our monetary expenditure (ie total expenditure other than the value of donated goods and services).
We had a change in leadership of the Fundraising team, with the departure of our Director of Fundraising at the end of August 2025. The CEO led fundraising activities until the interim Director joined in mid November. Her contract runs until August 2026 giving us an opportunity to recruit a successor with a good handover period.
|**£’000**|**Unrestricted funds**|**Unrestricted funds**|**Restricted**|**Total**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||||**funds**||
||General Designated||||
|Brought forward 1 January 2025|1,581|1,105|52|2,738|
|Net income/(expenditure) for the year|(469)||38|(431)|
|Utilisation of Designated Fund|469|(469)|-|-|
|brought forward|||||
|**Carried forward 31 December 2025**|**1,581**|**636**|**90**|**2,307**|
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**Financial review**
**Financial review**
## **Reserves**
The Trustees continually monitor the charity’s financial position and specifically review its required level of reserves each year. This review takes into account the types of income and the risks and uncertainties associated with each; the level of fixed costs including salaries and property rent; variable costs associated with providing our services; the needs of the families whom we support; the funds required to achieve our strategic goals; and any one-off expenditure planned in the foreseeable future.
As the charity seeks to meet the significant and increasing demand for support from families, it is critical that our capacity to provide this support continues to grow whilst remaining resilient. At the end of 2023, a designated fund of £870k was approved by the Trustees to support capacity-building, based on the charity’s three-year forecast of investment. A portion of this designated fund (£550k) was utilised during 2024 as planned, and at the end of the year, an increase of £785k was approved by the Trustees to underpin the charity’s revised plans for 2025 and 2026. At the beginning of 2025, the designated fund therefore stood at £1,105k.
The Trustees have approved the utilisation of the designated fund in the amount of £469k in 2025. At 31 December 2025, £636k remains of the designated fund, available to support the charity’s plans as provided in the forecast for 2026. The movement on the designated fund is set out in note 22 to the financial statements.
The Trustees have agreed that the minimum level of general unrestricted reserves should be sufficient to cover our budgeted fixed and variable costs for a period of between three and six months (amounting to between £990k and £1,980k). As at 31 December 2025, general unrestricted reserves, excluding the designated funds, stood at £1.5m. This represents approximately 4.8 months’ budgeted fixed and variable costs.
Movements on unrestricted and restricted reserves for the financial year are summarised in the table on page 27.
## **Going concern**
The fragile economy and ongoing cost of living crisis mean that Little Village is operating in a generally uncertain environment. The principal risk that Little Village faces is our ability to sustain the level of income needed to support the ever-increasing number of families who seek our help, and to meet our own
growing level of costs. Taking these factors into account, the Trustees have reviewed the level of reserves currently held, along with the budgeted income and expenditure, and have concluded that the charity’s funds will be sufficient to sustain its activities for a period of at least twelve months from the date of finalising these accounts. Accordingly, the accounts have been prepared on a going concern basis.
A broader discussion on the risks and uncertainties that Little Village faces, and the management of those risks, is set out below in the next section ‘Structure, governance and management’.
## **Investment policy**
In addition to the balance held in the charity’s current accounts, cash is placed in short-term and mediumterm interest-bearing deposits with UK-incorporated banks, to maximise the charity’s interest income while at the same time diversifying its exposure to individual institutions.
The maturity of deposits is determined having regard to the charity’s predicted level and timing of outgoings.
The Trustees currently do not consider other forms of investment to be appropriate.
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**Structure, governance and management**
## Structure, governance and management
## **Governance**
The organisation is a charitable incorporated organisation (CIO), registered as a charity on 18 October 2016.
The charity was established under a constitution based on the ‘foundation CIO’ model. The constitution establishes the objects and powers of the CIO and sets out the way in which it is governed.
The Trustees are the only members of the charity and are entitled only to voting rights. The Trustees have no beneficial interest in the charity and, in the event of winding-up, they have no liability to contribute to its assets and no personal responsibility for settling its debts and liabilities.
## **Appointment and induction of Trustees**
Roles are openly advertised and Trustees are recruited through an interview process led by nominated members of the Board of Trustees. New Trustees receive an induction programme which includes meetings with key members of the Senior Leadership Team, a briefing pack and a site visit. All Trustees commit to volunteering and engaging with Little Village regularly so that they have a good understanding of the work that the charity does.
All Board members participate in an annual review and objective setting
process, led by the Chair of Trustees. Trustees are appointed for a three-year term with the option to renew for one further three-year term. In exceptional circumstances, a Trustee may be appointed beyond a second three-year term by a resolution of the Trustees.
## **Organisational structure and decision making**
The Board of Trustees has collective responsibility for everything that the charity does, including the legal responsibility to ensure it is controlled and properly managed. The Board delegates responsibility for operational management to the Chief Executive.
The Chief Executive leads the senior team to develop plans, policies and processes following the Board’s advice and approval. As at 31 December 2025, the rest of the team comprised a Director of Operations, a Director of People, a Director of Finance, a Director of Marketing and Communications, a Director of Volunteering and an interim Director of Fundraising. This group were promoted to Directors at the start of 2025, and given a new collective title of Senior Leadership Team to reflect the increased responsibility of their roles as Little Village has evolved. During the first quarter of 2026 we undertook a consultation process which resulted in merging the roles of Director of Fundraising with the Director of Marketing
**Little Village** Annual Report and Accounts, 2025
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**Structure, governance and management**
**Structure, governance and management**
and Communications. The Director of Marketing and Communications departed on 17 March 2026 and we will be recruiting for the merged permanent role during 2026. The interim Director of Fundraising has taken on the broader role in the meantime.
The Board of Trustees is responsible for the strategic direction of the charity and meets quarterly together with the Chief Executive and Senior Leadership Team to review progress and to ensure the charity is on track to meet its objectives. The Board has two sub-committees: a Finance and Risk Committee and a People Committee (these meet quarterly and at least bi-annually, respectively).
## **Remuneration policy**
All Trustees give their time voluntarily and receive no benefits from the charity. Any expenses reclaimed from the charity are set out in note 12 to the accounts.
In setting salaries, Little Village strives to pay at a competitive level within the sector and considers changes in the cost of living/inflation and changes to roles and responsibilities.
The charity also takes into account the need to remain prudent so that salary costs are sustainable both at the current time and in the future. All employees are paid at least the London living wage as defined by the Living Wage Foundation.
The Board of Trustees reviews and agrees the annual remuneration of the Chief Executive and agrees the remuneration level of senior staff, in conjunction with the Chief Executive.
Little Village is committed to creating roles that enable people to balance purposedriven work with other priorities in life.
## **Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging**
Our work on DEIB has continued to be supported by our Deputy Chair of Trustees, Marcia Holmes.
During 2025 we added Belonging to our list of priorities and added a relevant measure to our employee survey. 76% of staff agreed or strongly agreed with the statement: “I feel like I belong at Little Village” with 78% agreeing that they “feel comfortable sharing ideas and opinions even if they differ from others’.”
The internal DEIB working group has acted as a positive space for staff reflection and support on external events that particularly affect minoritised people as well as advising and providing input on particular internal initiatives.
During 2025 we also:
- Reviewed and analysed our progress against the Meyer DEI Spectrum tool to identify areas of best practice and focus for future DEIB initiatives.
- Signed up to the Halo Code, the UK’s first Black hair code to protect employees with natural hair or protective hairstyles associated with their racial, ethnic, and cultural identities. It ensures workplaces formally commit to celebrating Afro-textured hair without fear of discrimination.
- Achieved the Autistica Bronze Award. Part of the Neurodiversity Employers Index, this award level recognises organisations that have begun their journey toward neuroinclusion.
- Worked with 2020 Levels to recruit young people from their network to participate in a holiday working scheme, providing employment to young people interested in the charity sector, and bringing more capacity to Little Village’s frontline operations during key periods of the year when staff take annual leave, such as the school holidays.
- Continued to develop the Family Participation programme, involving a group of families previously supported by Little Village in the design and evolution of a range of areas of activity.
- Supported our Mental Health First Aiders to develop their practice and support staff and volunteers within Little Village with the skills they’ve learned.
- Used an external facilitator to deliver all-staff menopause awareness training as part of our continued commitment to developing policies and procedures supporting women at work.
We continue to prioritise work on DEIB and in 2026 we will be:
- Exploring further training and development on neurodiversity, building on the recommendations in the Autistica report.
- Further developing the Family Advisory Group’s work, led by the Family Participation Manager, in particular providing opportunities for the group to feed into Little Village’s organisational strategy development.
- Reviewing our overall progress on DEIB and considering further strategic priorities for the next few years in line with our broader strategic planning.
## **Volunteers**
The Trustees are extremely grateful for the enormous contribution made by the 699 regular and 1100 ‘one off’ volunteers giving their time across a variety of roles (typically collecting donations, sorting and packing them, making deliveries, liaising with families) in 2025. The charity is truly powered by them and they are one of Little Village’s most critical and valuable assets.
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**Structure, governance and management**
**Structure, governance and management**
## **Fundraising**
Fundraising was led by the Director of Fundraising and interim Director of Fundraising with significant involvement from the Chief Executive. We did not receive any complaints about our fundraising.
We keep up to date with changing regulation and ensure we comply with it by changing our processes if needed. We are a member of the Fundraising Regulator and have an Ethical Fundraising Policy in place. We understand our duty to protect vulnerable people and to protect people’s privacy and do not engage in any intrusive methods of raising funds.
## **Principal risks and uncertainties**
The charity has a risk register in place which sets out key risks (covering governance, financial, operational, external and reputational, legal and compliance risk) and how they are managed. The risk register is formally reviewed annually by the Board but noted on a quarterly basis at each Board meeting.
The Trustees and Chief Executive have identified the following as key strategic risks facing Little Village:
- A breach of the charity’s safeguarding policy. In 2025 we appointed a dedicated Safeguarding Manager
which has increased our rigour in this area. This is of particular importance given the increasing number of safeguarding issues we observe during the course of our work with families. In addition, all staff, volunteers and Trustees receive safeguarding training and a safeguarding briefing is given at the beginning of each volunteering session.
- A shortfall in income leading to a breach of the reserves policy. This risk is managed by having forward planning around fundraising and diversifying fundraising streams. In addition, there is regular monitoring of financial performance throughout the year, including cashflow forecasting, so that mitigating measures can be put in place, if needed.
- Loss of key staff or Trustees. This is mitigated by having objectives and development plans in place for staff and by developing a People Strategy which includes performance management and development. A Trustee review programme is also in place.
- The impact of any adverse external events that would affect our ability to deliver services to families. This is mitigated by ongoing work on business continuity which is led by the Director of Operations.
- The loss of one of the key sites that Little Village operates from. This is mitigated by ensuring that the charity has capacity and flexibility at other sites and at our warehouse space to provide temporary cover if needed. In addition, our work with partners means that we are increasingly supporting families with essential items at community or public sector sites rather than at Little Village.
- An increase in waste/excess product that has an impact on resourcing and storage. This is mitigated by a waste management strategy that includes diverting excess product to alternative partners.
- A data breach or cyber-attack that causes reputational risk and/ or impacts our ability to operate. Centralised management of technology, anti-virus software and data back-ups act in mitigation.
## **Policies**
Policies for all relevant areas are maintained, including safeguarding (adult and child), health and safety, data protection, conflicts of interest, finance and fraud. Policies are reviewed regularly and approved by the Board.
## **Public benefit**
The Trustees have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity
Commission’s general guidance on
public benefit when reviewing the charity’s aims and objectives and in planning its future activities. In particular, the Trustees consider how planned activities will contribute to the aims and objectives that have been set.
## **Related parties**
We work in partnership with a wide range of organisations, such as Citizen’s Advice, Home-Start and statutory services such as maternity units, midwifery teams, health visitors and local authorities.
Little Village is a co-founder of the Baby Bank Alliance, which launched in July 2024. A membership organisation for baby banks across the UK, it is currently being co-incubated by Save the Children UK and Purposeful Ventures.
The Little Village CEO currently serves as the Chair of the Baby Bank Alliance incubation Board.
Little Village is a member of the End Child Poverty Coalition and the Little Village CEO was appointed as Chair of the Coalition in March 2026. The Coalition is not a legal entity and is hosted by the Child Poverty Action Group.
There are no other entities or charities we work with which are related parties.
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**Structure, governance and management**
**Structure, governance and management**
## Our plans for the future
We will continue to focus on the agreed strategic priorities for the period between 2024 and 2026.
Particular priorities in 2026 will include:
- Continued support for families through a range of partnerships and engagement methods to ensure as many babies and children as possible receive the essential items they need;
- A pilot programme to test how we can further develop our work with partners to increase the number of essentials we can provide to children and families, with a particular focus on working ‘upstream’ to support the Best Start strategy focused on children achieving a Good Level of Development at the age of five;
- Continuing to expand the ‘targeted’ Signposting offer for families, to ensure that they are aware of specific opportunities in their local community to access support, income and essentials;
- Continued testing of one-off and other volunteering opportunities to ensure as wide a range of people as possible are able to contribute to Little Village’s activities;
- Work to develop the activities and profile of the Baby Bank Alliance and the impact of baby banks, as well as exploring the path towards the BBA’s independence as the initial incubation period, co-hosted by Save the Children UK and Purposeful Ventures, comes to an end in 2027; and
- Continued development of our technology stack and recruitment of a Head of Digital, Data and Technology to lead on work in this area, including a new website build, evolving the use of our Beacon platform, reviewing the operating system for referrals and maximising the use of AI to increase efficiencies.
## Thank you
It really does take a village to make our work happen and ensure children and their families have what they need to thrive.
Our village includes:
- The 699 regular volunteers giving time on a weekly or fortnightly basis, alongside over 1, 100 one-off interactions and over 1, 300 corporate volunteers in 2025 alone;
- The 1,744 referral partners who work tirelessly to make sure families get the support they need and take the time to complete our referral form;
- The hosts of pop-up and regular donation sessions, enabling us to get a steady flow of pre-loved kit and clothing through to our hubs and out to families;
- The many consultants and companies who volunteer their expertise pro bono or at a very friendly charity rate;
- The companies that have supported with donations from their own profits or donated and/or gifted us beautiful stock, volunteered, run donation drives, chosen us as their charity of the year and supported our online appeals;
- All the existing and new trust, foundations and statutory partnerships who have supported us with core and project funding and made introductions to new organisations;
- The children and their parents at the schools that support us with amazing fundraising events and donation collections;
- The people and organisations who have helped us share the story of the families we’ve supported with dignity, helping to change the narrative around poverty; and
- The wide range of individuals who have donated funds or given their pre-loved items to us, and those
who have raised funds on our behalf. We heavily rely on your regular and one-off donations and we know that often you are also someone who has volunteered or donated kit as well.
- Although we aren’t able to name everyone, every single one of you has made a difference.
Thank you.
_“Little Village helped me through hard times which made me feel so loved.”_
— Family supported
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**Statement of Trustees’ responsibilities**
Statement of Trustees’ responsibilities
## **Statement of Trustees’ responsibilities**
The Trustees are responsible for preparing the Trustees’ Annual Report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
Charity law requires the Trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charity and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charity for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the Trustees are required to:
- Select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently;
- Observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP;
- Make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
- State whether applicable UK Accounting Standards and statements of recommended practice have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements; and
- Prepare the financial statements on the going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to presume that the charity will continue in operation.
The Trustees are responsible for keeping proper accounting records that disclose with reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charity and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities.
## In so far as the Trustees are aware:
- There is no relevant audit information of which the charity’s auditors are unaware.
- The Trustees have taken all steps that they ought to have taken to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the auditors are aware of that information.
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**Statement of Trustees’ responsibilities**
**Statement of Trustees’ responsibilities**
The Trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the charity’s website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions.
## **Auditors**
Third Sector Accountancy Limited were re-appointed as the charity’s auditors during the year and have expressed their willingness to continue in that capacity.
The Trustees’ Annual Report has been approved by the Trustees and signed on their behalf by
## Auditor’s Report and Financial Statements
**Year ended:** 31 December 2025 **Little Village** Charity number 1169735
## **Olivia Gillan**
Chair
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**Independent auditor’s report**
**Independent auditor’s report**
## Independent auditor’s report to the Trustees of Little Village
## **Opinion**
We have audited the financial statements of Little Village (the ‘charity’) for the year ended 31 December 2025 which comprise the Statement of Financial Activities, the Balance Sheet, the Statement of Cash Flows and notes to the financial statements, including a summary of significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including Financial Reporting Standard 102 _The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland_ (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
## **Conclusions relating to going concern**
In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees’ use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate.
Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on the charity’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue.
Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report.
## **Other information**
In our opinion, the financial statements:
- give a true and fair view of the state of the charity’s affairs as at 31 December 2025 and of its incoming resources and application of resources for the year then ended;
- have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice; and
- have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Charities Act 2011.
## **Basis for opinion**
We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charity in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard, and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion.
The other information comprises the information included in the trustees’ annual report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. The trustees are responsible for the other information. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon.
In connection with our audit of the financial statements, our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the audit or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether there is a material misstatement in the financial statements or a material misstatement of the other information. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact.
We have nothing to report in this regard.
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**Independent auditor’s report**
**Independent auditor’s report**
## **Matters on which we are required to report by exception**
We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion:
- the information given in the financial statements is inconsistent in any material respect with the trustees’ report; or
- the charity has not kept adequate accounting records; or
- the financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or
- we have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit.
## **Responsibilities of Trustees**
As explained more fully in the trustees’ responsibilities statement set out on page 38, the trustees are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.
In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the charity’s ability to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting unless the trustees either intend to liquidate the charity or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so.
## **Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements**
We have been appointed as auditor under section 144 of the Charities Act 2011 and report in accordance with regulations made under Section 154 of that Act .
Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance, but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements.
Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud is detailed below.
## **Capability of the audit in detecting irregularities, including fraud**
Based on our understanding of the charity and environment in which it operates, we identified the principal risks of non-compliance with laws and regulations related to pension legislation, tax legislation, employment legislation, and other legislation specific to the industry in which the charity operates, and we considered the extent to which non-compliance might have a material effect on the financial statements. We also considered those laws and regulations that have a direct impact on the preparation of the financial statements such as the reporting requirements under the Charities SORP and FRS102, and the Charities Act 2011.
We evaluated management’s incentives and opportunities for fraudulent manipulation of the financial statements (including the risk of override of controls), and determined that the principal risks were related to the pressure
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**Independent auditor’s report**
**Independent auditor’s report**
on management to achieve particular results. Audit procedures performed by the engagement team included:
- Review of policies;
- Discussions with management and trustees including consideration of known or suspected instances of non-compliance;
- Evaluating management’s controls designed to prevent and detect irregularities;
## **Use of the audit report**
This report is made solely to the charity’s trustees, as a body, in accordance with Part 4 of the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charity’s trustees those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charity and the charity’s trustees as a body for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed.
- Identifying and testing journal entries; and
- Challenging assumptions and judgments made by management.
There are inherent limitations in the audit procedures described above and the further removed non-compliance with laws and regulations is from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, the less likely we would become aware of it. Also, the risk of not detecting a material misstatement due to fraud is higher than the risk of not detecting one resulting from error, as fraud may involve deliberate concealment by, for example, forgery or intentional misrepresentations, or through collusion.
A further description of our responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements is located on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report.
## 18 / 06 / 2026
Third Sector Accountancy Limited, Statutory Auditor Holyoake House Hanover Street Manchester M60 0AS
Third Sector Accountancy Limited is eligible to act as an auditor in terms of section 1212 of the Companies Act 2006.
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**Statement of financial activities**
**Balance sheet**
## Financial statements
**Statement of Financial Activities (including Income and Expenditure account) for the year ended 31 December 2025**
|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Note**
**£**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Note**
**£**|**Restricted**
**funds**
**Total funds**
**2025**
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**£**
**£**
**£**|**Restricted**
**funds**
**Total funds**
**2025**
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**£**
**£**
**£**|**Restricted**
**funds**
**Total funds**
**2025**
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**£**
**£**
**£**|**Restricted**
**funds**
**£**|**Total funds**
**2024**
**£**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|**Income from:**
Donations and
legacies
3
Donated goods
for beneficiaries
3
Donated services
3
Charitable activities
4
Other trading
activities
5
Investments
6
**Total income**
**Expenditure on:**
Raising funds
7
Charitable activities
8
**Total expenditure**
**Net income/**
**(expenditure) for**
**the year**
10
Transfer between
funds
21
**Net movement in**
**funds for the year**
**Reconciliation of**
**funds**
Total funds brought
forward
**Total funds carried**
**forward**|2,509,727
1,181,584
2,727
63,704
3,742
93,812
3,855,296
422,883
3,901,033
4,323,916
(468,620)
-
(468,620)
2,685,571
2,216,951|182,909
-
-
-
-
-
182,909
11,888
132,853
144,741
38,168
-
38,168
51,718
89,886|2,692,636
1,181,584
2,727
63,704
3,742
93,812
4,038,205
434,771
4,033,886
4,468,657
(430,452)
-
(430,452)
2,737,289
2,306,837|2,577,875
1,028,366
70,853
-
10,983
128,186
3,816,263
291,030
3,234,140
3,525,170
291,093
-
291,093
2,394,478
2,685,571|486,808
-
-
-
-
-
486,808
47,648
531,777
579,425
(92,617)
-
(92,617)
144,335
51,718|3,064,683
1,028,366
70,853
-
10,983
128,186
4,303,071
338,678
3,765,917
4,104,595
198,476
-
198,476
2,538,813
2,737,289|
The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year. All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.
## **Balance sheet as at 31 December 2025**
|**Note**|**2025**
**£**|**2025**
**£**|**2024**
**£**|**2024**
**£**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||||||
|**Fixed assets**
Tangible assets
15
**Total fixed assets**
**Current assets**
Stock
16
Debtors
17
Cash at bank and in hand
18
**Total current assets**
**Liabilities**
Creditors: amounts falling due in less
than one year
19
**Net current assets**
**Total assets less current liabilities**
**Net assets**
**The funds of the charity:**
Restricted income funds
21
Unrestricted income funds
22
**Total charity funds**|46,285
176,397
2,282,020|41,383|61,718
173,407
2,716,760|70,871
70,871
2,666,418
2,737,289
2,737,289
51,718
2,685,571
2,737,289|
|||41,383
2,265,454|||
||2,504,702
(239,248)||2,951,885
(285,467)||
||||||
|||2,306,837|||
|||2,306,837|||
|||89,886
2,216,951|||
|||2,306,837|||
||||||
The notes on pages 51 to 71 form part of these accounts.
Approved by the Trustees and signed on their behalf by:
**Olivia Gillan (Chair)** 18 / 06 / 2026
**Geraldine Wright (Treasurer)**
**Little Village** Annual Report and Accounts, 2025
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**Statement of Cash Flows**
**Notes to the accounts**
## **Statement of Cash Flows for the year ending 31 December 2025**
|**Note**|**2025**
**£**|**2024**
**£**|
|---|---|---|
|**Cash provided by/(used in) operating activities**
25
Cash flows from investing activities:
Dividends, interest, and rents from investments
Purchase of tangible fixed assets
**Cash provided by/(used in) investing activities**
Increase/(decrease) in cash and cash equivalents in the year
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year
**Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year**|(528,552)|158,274
128,186
(55,310)
72,876
231,150
2,485,610
2,716,760|
||93,812
-||
||93,812||
||(434,740)
2,716,760||
||2,282,020||
||||
||||
## **Notes to the accounts for the year ended 31 December 2025**
## **1. Accounting policies**
The principal accounting policies adopted, judgments and key sources of estimation uncertainty in the preparation of the financial statements are as follows:
## **a. Basis of preparation**
The accounts (financial statements) have been prepared in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice: Accounting and Reporting by Charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) issued in October 2019 and the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Charities Act 2011 and UK Generally Accepted Practice.
The accounts (financial statements) have been prepared to give a ‘true and fair’ view and have departed from the Charities (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2008 only to the extent required to provide a ‘true and fair view’. This departure has involved following Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) issued in October 2019 rather than the Accounting and Reporting by Charities: Statement of Recommended Practice effective from 1 April 2005 which has since been withdrawn.
Little Village meets the definition of a public benefit entity under FRS102. Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy note.
The financial statements are presented in sterling which is the functional currency of the charity and rounded to the nearest £ sterling.
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**Little Village** Annual Report and Accounts, 2025
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**Notes to the accounts**
**Notes to the accounts**
## **b Judgements and estimates**
Key judgements which the Trustees have made which have a significant effect on the accounts include accounting estimates for the valuation of donated services (for example, property and payroll services) and donated goods. More detail is given in note 1e Donated services and facilities.
The Trustees do not consider that there are any sources of estimation uncertainty at the reporting date that have a significant risk of causing a material adjustment to the carrying amount of assets and liabilities within the next reporting period.
## **c Preparation of the accounts on a going concern basis**
The Trustees consider that there are no material uncertainties about the charity’s ability to continue as a going concern.
The Trustees have considered the level of funds held and the expected level of income and expenditure for 12 months from authorising these financial statements. The budgeted income and expenditure is sufficient with the level of reserves of the charity to be able to continue as a going concern. Please refer to further comments in the Trustees’ Annual Report.
donated item have been met, the receipt of economic benefit from the use by the charity of the item is probable and that economic benefit can be measured reliably. In accordance with the Charities SORP (FRS 102), general volunteer time is not recognised; refer to the Trustees’ Annual Report for more information about their contribution.
On receipt, donated professional services and donated facilities are recognised on the basis of the value of the gift to the charity which is the amount the charity would have been willing to pay to obtain services or facilities of equivalent economic benefit on the open market; a corresponding amount is then recognised in expenditure in the period of receipt.
The charity received a wide range of donations from the general public of second hand baby and children’s clothing, cots, buggies and various other types of goods needed for babies and young children. All these donations are passed on to families in need free of charge. These donations were valued at an estimated second hand value recorded both as income (£1,181,584) and expenditure (£1,191,993) in the accounts. The second hand value of these gifts is recognised in the accounts when they are distributed to the beneficiary. The stock of second hand goods is not recognised in the accounts because it would be impractical to record this information, and the costs of attempting to do so would outweigh any benefit to the users of the accounts or the charity.
## **d Income**
## **f. Interest receivable**
Income is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the item(s) of income have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably.
Income from government and other grants, whether ‘capital’ grants or ‘revenue’ grants, is recognised when the charity has entitlement to the funds, any performance conditions attached to the grants have been met, it is probable that the income will be received and the amount can be measured reliably and is not deferred.
Income received in advance of a provision of a specified service is deferred until the criteria for income recognition are met.
## **e Donated services and facilities**
Interest on funds held on deposit is included when receivable and the amount can be measured reliably by the charity; this is normally upon notification of the interest paid or payable by the bank.
## **g. Fund accounting**
Unrestricted funds are available to spend on activities that further any of the purposes of charity.
Designated funds are unrestricted funds of the charity which the Trustees have decided at their discretion to set aside to use for a specific purpose.
Restricted funds are donations which the donor has specified are to be solely used for particular areas of the charity’s work or for specific projects being undertaken by the charity.
Donated professional services and donated facilities are recognised as income when the charity has control over the item, any conditions associated with the
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**Little Village** Annual Report and Accounts, 2025
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**Notes to the accounts**
**Notes to the accounts**
## **h. Expenditure and irrecoverable VAT**
Expenditure is recognised once there is a legal or constructive obligation to make a payment to a third party, it is probable that settlement will be required and the amount of the obligation can be measured reliably. Expenditure is classified under the following activity headings:
- Costs of raising funds comprise the costs of a fundraiser, fundraising events, marketing, merchandise and website costs, and their associated support costs.
- Expenditure on charitable activities includes the costs of operating baby and young children’s clothing banks undertaken to further the purposes of the charity and their associated support costs.
- Other expenditure represents those items not falling into any other heading.
Irrecoverable VAT is charged as a cost against the activity for which the expenditure was incurred.
## **i. Allocation of support costs**
Support costs are those functions that assist the work of the charity but do not directly undertake charitable activities. Support costs include back office costs, finance, personnel, payroll and governance costs which support the charity’s programmes and activities. These costs have been allocated between cost of raising funds and expenditure on charitable activities. The bases on which support costs have been allocated are set out in note 9.
## **j. Operating leases**
Operating leases are leases in which the title to the assets, and the risks and rewards of ownership, remain with the lessor. Rental charges are charged on a straight line basis over the term of the lease.
## **k. Tangible fixed assets**
Individual fixed assets costing £1,000 or more are capitalised at cost and are depreciated over their estimated useful economic lives on a straight line basis as follows:
Leasehold improvements The shorter of the life of the lease or 10 years. 20% - 33% Furniture, fixtures and fittings Computer equipment 33%
## **l. Stock**
Stock is included at cost. In general, cost is determined on a first in, first out basis. Provision is made where necessary for obsolete, slow moving, and defective stocks. Items donated as brand new are recognised on the balance sheet as stock, recorded at fair value which is the amount the charity would have been willing to pay for the items on the open market. Stock of donated second hand goods is not recognised in the accounts - see note 1e for explanation.
## **m. Debtors**
Trade and other debtors are recognised at the settlement amount due after any trade discount offered. Prepayments are valued at the amount prepaid net of any trade discounts due.
## **n. Cash at bank and in hand**
Cash at bank and cash in hand includes cash and short term highly liquid investments comprising a range of fixed term deposits up to two years.
## **o. Creditors and provisions**
Creditors and provisions are recognised where the charity has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts due.
## **p. Financial instruments**
The charity only has financial assets and financial liabilities of a kind that qualify as basic financial instruments. Basic financial instruments are initially recognised at transaction value and subsequently measured at their settlement value with the exception of bank loans which are subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.
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**Little Village** Annual Report and Accounts, 2025
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**Notes to the accounts**
**Notes to the accounts**
## **q. Pensions**
Employees of the charity are entitled to join a defined contribution ‘money purchase’ scheme. The charity’s contribution is restricted to the contributions disclosed in note 11. Outstanding contributions at the year end were £11,672 which were paid in full by 14 January 2026. The costs of the defined contribution scheme are included within support and governance costs and allocated to the funds of the charity using the methodology set out in note 9.
## **4. Income from charitable activities**
|**Unrestricted**
**£**|**Unrestricted**
**£**|**Restricted**
**£**|**Total 2025**
**£**|**Unrestricted**
**£**|**Restricted**
**£**|**Total 2024**
**£**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|Corporate volunteering fees
**Total**|63,704|-|63,704|_-_|_-_|_-_
_-_|
||63,704|-|63,704|_-_|_-_||
||||||||
## **2. Legal status of the charity**
The charity is a charitable incorporated organisation registered with the Charity Commission and has no share capital. The registered office address is disclosed on page 73.
## **3. Income from donations and legacies**
|**Unrestricted**
**£**
**Restricted**
**£**
**Total 2025**
**£**
**Unrestricted**
**£**|**Unrestricted**
**£**
**Restricted**
**£**
**Total 2025**
**£**
**Unrestricted**
**£**|**Unrestricted**
**£**
**Restricted**
**£**
**Total 2025**
**£**
**Unrestricted**
**£**|**Unrestricted**
**£**
**Restricted**
**£**
**Total 2025**
**£**
**Unrestricted**
**£**|**Unrestricted**
**£**
**Restricted**
**£**
**Total 2025**
**£**
**Unrestricted**
**£**|**Restricted**
**£**|**Total 2024**
**£**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|Donations and grants
Donated goods for
beneficiaries
Donated services
**Total**|2,509,727
1,181,584
2,727|182,909
-
-|2,692,636
1,181,584
2,727|_2,577,875_
_1,028,366_
_70,853_|_486,808_
_-_
_-_|_3,064,683_
_1,028,366_
_70,853_
_4,163,902_|
||3,694,038|182,909|3,876,947|_3,677,094_|_486,808_||
||||||||
Please see the Trustees’ Annual Report for detail on the donated services. Refer also to note 24 (Operating lease commitments)
## **5. Income from other trading activities**
|**Unrestricted**
**£**|**Unrestricted**
**£**|**Restricted**
**£**|**Total 2025**
**£**
**Unrestricted**
**£**|**Total 2025**
**£**
**Unrestricted**
**£**|**Restricted**
**£**|**Total 2024**
**£**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|Clothes recycling
Other
**Total**|3,632
110|-
-|3,632
110|_10,930_
_53_|_-_
_-_|_10,930_
_53_
_10,983_|
||3,742|-|3,742|_10,983_|_-_||
||||||||
## **6. Investment income**
||**Unrestricted**
**£**|**Restricted**
**£**|**Total 2025**
**£**|**Unrestricted**
**£**|**Restricted**
**£**|**Total 2024**
**£**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|Income from bank deposits|93,812|-|93,812|128,186|-|128,186
128,186|
||93,812|-|93,812|128,186|-||
||||||||
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**Little Village** Annual Report and Accounts, 2025
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**Notes to the accounts**
**Notes to the accounts**
## **7. Cost of raising funds**
||**Unrestricted**
**£**|**Restricted**
**£**|**Total 2025**
**£**|**Unrestricted**
**£**
**Restricted**
**£**|**Unrestricted**
**£**
**Restricted**
**£**|**Total 2024**
**£**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||||||||
|Staff costs
Fundraiser's fees
Donation/online fees
Sponsored event costs
Marketing and Communications
Website costs
Governance costs (note 9)
Support costs (note 9)|264,379
7,070
17,975
26,506
55,467
4,000
5,661
41,825|-
-
-
4,246
4,288
-
333
3,021|264,379
7,070
17,975
30,752
59,755
4,000
5,994
44,846|170,751
38,351
32,617
-
12,269
-
16,278
-
30,707
-
4,440
-
2,668
1,299
21,300
7,998
291,030
47,648||209,102
32,617
12,269
16,278
30,707
4,440
3,967
29,298
338,678|
||422,883|11,888|434,771||||
||||||||
## **8. Analysis of expenditure on charitable activities**
||**2025**
**£**|**2024**
**£**|
|---|---|---|
|Staff costs
Other staff costs
Volunteer costs
Property costs
Donated services - property
Donated goods for beneficiaries
Bought goods for beneficiaries
Consumables
Consulting and freelance
Insurance
Legal expenses
IT support
IT licences and equipment
IT consultancy
Delivery and collection costs
Travel
Depreciation
Sundry costs
Advertising and marketing
Governance costs (see note 9)
Support costs (see note 9)
Restricted expenditure
Unrestricted expenditure|1,641,452
86,027
3,043
177,332
-
1,191,993
43,118
51,885
107,616
15,718
480
12,346
124,014
66,722
124,383
4,248
28,375
14,991
27,842
36,820
275,481|1,346,076
125,230
5,482
320,236
68,500
1,034,618
53,590
30,948
65,351
15,049
-
12,725
94,889
124,461
138,951
4,052
22,104
11,125
30,297
31,266
230,967
3,765,917
531,777
3,234,140
3,765,917|
||4,033,886||
||132,853
3,901,033||
||4,033,886||
||||
Donated services are mostly comprised of rental property donated for the use of the charity. This is shown as income and expenditure in the accounts. The income is shown in note 3.
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**Little Village** Annual Report and Accounts, 2025
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**Notes to the accounts**
**Notes to the accounts**
## **9. Analysis of governance and support costs**
||**Support**|**Governance**|**Total 2025**|**Support**|**Governance**|**Total 2024**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|**£**|
|Staff costs|299,598|31,414|331,012|238,802|25,153|263,955|
|Subscriptions|20,729|-|20,729|18,870|-|18,870|
|Audit fees|-|8,400|8,400|-|7,440|7,440|
|Accountancy services|-|3,000|3,000|2,593|2,640|5,233|
||320,327|42,814|363,141|260,265|35,233|295,498|
Support and governance costs are allocated to Cost of Generating Funds and Charitable Activities in proportion to the staff time spent on those activities.
|Fundraising
Charitable activities|44,846
275,481|5,994
36,820|50,840
312,301|29,298
230,967|3,967
31,266
35,233|33,265
262,233
295,498|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||320,327|42,814|363,141|260,265|||
## **10. Net income/(expenditure) for the year**
|**This is stated after charging/(crediting):**|**2025**
**£**|**2024**
**£**|
|---|---|---|
||||
|Depreciation
Operating lease rentals:
Property
Machinery
Auditor's remuneration - audit fees
Auditor's remuneration - accountancy fees|28,375
105,000
4,778
8,400
3,000|22,104
105,000
_4,778_
7,440
2,640|
||||
## **11. Staff costs**
|**Staff costs during the year were as follows:**|**2025**
**£**|**2024**
**£**|
|---|---|---|
||||
|Wages and salaries
Social security costs
Pension costs
**Allocated as follows:**
Cost of raising funds
Charitable activities
Support costs
Governance costs|1,961,329
231,688
43,826|1,630,256
152,624
36,253
1,819,133
209,102
1,346,076
238,802
25,153
1,819,133|
||2,236,843||
||264,379
1,641,452
299,598
31,414||
||2,236,843||
||||
||||
|**Employees receiving employment**
**benefits > £60,000**|**2025**|**2024**|
||||
|In the band of £60,000 - £70,000
In the band of £70,000 - £80,000|2
1|1
1|
The average number of staff employed during the period was 69 (2024: 59).
The average full time equivalent number of staff employed during the period was
52 (2024: 44).
A termination payment of £3,500 was made to an employee as part of a settlement agreement during the year.
The key management personnel of the charity comprise the Trustees, the Chief Executive Officer and the Senior Leadership Team. The total employee benefits of the key management personnel of the charity were£474,225 (2024: £412,844).
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**Notes to the accounts**
**Notes to the accounts**
## **12. Trustee remuneration and expenses, and related party transactions**
Neither the Board of Trustees nor any persons connected with them received any remuneration during the year (2024: Nil). No Trustees received reimbursed expenses during the year (2024: £211).
Aggregate donations from related parties were £5,808 (2024: £1,750).
There are no donations from related parties which are outside the normal course of business and no restricted donations from related parties.
The charity received an unrestricted grant of £32,558 from The Baby Bank Alliance in 2025. Sophie Livingstone, CEO of Little Village, is also the Chair of the Baby Bank Alliance.
No Trustee or other person related to the charity had any personal interest in any contract or transaction entered into by the charity, including guarantees, during the year (2024: Nil).
## **13. Government grants**
|**The government grants recognised in the**
**accounts were as follows:**|**2025**
**£**|**2024**
**£**|
|---|---|---|
|The National Lottery Community Fund
Greater London Authority - Advice In Community Settings
GLA Multibank - session leads
GLA Multibank - transport
TNL Cost of Living|-
-
21,500
-
-|_200,000_
_73,440_
_21,500_
_50,000_
_61,316_
_406,256_|
||21,500||
||||
There were no unfulfilled conditions and contingencies attaching to the grants.
## **14. Corporation tax**
The charity is exempt from tax on income and gains falling within Chapter 3 of Part 11 of the Corporation Tax Act 2010 or Section 256 of the Taxation of Chargeable Gains Act 1992 to the extent that these are applied to its charitable objects. No tax charges have arisen in the charity.
## **15. Fixed assets: tangible assets**
|**Cost**
**Leasehold improvements**
**£**|**Cost**
**Leasehold improvements**
**£**|**Fixtures and fittings**
**£**|**Computer equipment**
**£**|**Total**
**£**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||||||
|At 1 January 2025
Disposals
At 31 December 2025
**Depreciation**
At 1 January 2025
Charge for the year
Disposals
At 31 December 2025
**Net book value**
At 31 December 2025
At 31 December 2024|56,457
-|54,038
(8,347)|2,684
-|113,179
(8,347)
104,832
42,308
28,375
(7,234)
63,449
41,383
_70,871_|
||56,457|45,691|2,684||
||20,373
8,840
-|19,251
19,535
(7,234)|2,684
-
-||
||29,213|31,552|2,684||
||27,244|14,139|-||
||36,084|_34,787_|-||
||||||
## **16. Stock**
||**2025**
**£**|**2024**
**£**|
|---|---|---|
||||
|New items donated
New items purchased|29,839
16,446|40,248
21,470
61,718|
||46,285||
||||
Stock items comprise mattresses, bottle teats, nappies and packaging.
**Little Village** Annual Report and Accounts, 2025
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**Notes to the accounts**
**Notes to the accounts**
## **17. Debtors**
||**2025**
**£**|**2024**
**£**|
|---|---|---|
|Grants receivable
Trade debtors
Other debtors
Prepayments and accrued income|-
5,770
13,750
156,877|71,500
1,940
13,750
86,217
173,407|
||176,397||
||||
## **18. Cash at bank and in hand**
## **20. Deferred income**
||**2025**
**£**|**2024**
**£**|
|---|---|---|
|Deferred grant brought forward
Grant received
Released to income from charitable activities
Deferred grant carried forward|100,000
100,000
(100,000)|-
100,000
-
100,000|
||100,000||
||||
The deferred grant income relates to one grant with conditions for use in the subsequent year.
||**2025**
**£**|**2024**
**£**|
|---|---|---|
||||
|Short term deposits
Cash at bank and in hand|831,089
1,450,931|631,082
2,085,678
2,716,760|
||2,282,020||
||||
## **19. Creditors: amounts falling due within one year**
||**2025**
**£**|**2024**
**£**|
|---|---|---|
||||
|Trade creditors
Other creditors, accruals and deferred income
Taxation and social security costs|32,842
156,305
50,101|42,411
207,890
35,166
285,467|
||239,248||
||||
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**Little Village** Annual Report and Accounts, 2025
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**Notes to the accounts**
**Notes to the accounts**
## **21. Analysis of movements in restricted funds**
||**Balance at**
**1 January**
||||**Balance at**
**31 December**
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**2025**
**£**|**Income**
**£**|**Expenditure**
**£**|**Transfers**
**£**|**2025**
**£**|
|||||||
|**All sites**||||||
|Anonymous trust 1
Greater London Authority - Advice In
Community Settings
Natixis packaging
Peter Stormonth Darling grant
Quintessentially development grant
Quintessentially video grant
Tides Foundation/BlackRock
Barratt Foundation
First Give Brent
Fusion 21 hospital packs grant
Charles Gassiot Charitable Trust
Anonymous trust 2
GLA Multibank - session leads
Ian MacTaggart Trust (Camden)
Mizuho Mothers Day
Mizuho nappies
Mizuho urgent supplies
Nappy Appeal
Natixis COTY
Sefe
**Total**|17,825
11,098
5,000
5,000
5,934
2,600
4,261
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-|-
-
-
-
-
-
7,309
3,000
1,000
35,000
300
60,000
21,500
2,500
1,000
2,000
500|(17,825)
(11,098)
(5,000)
(5,000)
(5,934)
(2,600)
(4,261)
(3,000)
(1,000)
(33,657)
-
(22,000)
(21,500)
(2,500)
(1,000)
(2,000)
(500)
(2,653)
(1,500)
(1,713)|-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-|-
-
-
-
-
-
7,309
-
-
1,343
300
38,000
-
-
-
-
-
42,934
-
-
**89,886**|
|||45,587||||
|||1,500
1,713||||
||**51,718**|**182,909**|**(144,741)**|**-**||
|||||||
## **Comparative period**
||**_Balance at_**
**_1 January_**
||||**_Balance at_**
**_31 December_**
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**_2024_**
**_£_**|**_Income_**
**_£_**|**_Expenditure_**
**_£_**|**_Transfers_**
**_£_**|**_2024_**
**_£_**|
|||||||
|**All sites**||||||
|Anonymous trust 1
Greater London Authority - Advice In
Community Settings
The Liberal Jewish Synagogue High Holy
Day Appeal
Anonymous donor 3
Skipton Building Society Charitable
Foundation
The Julia and Hans Rausing Trust
GLA Multibank - session leads
GLA Multibank - transport
Harrow Care Plus
Ian MacTaggart Trust
IKEA via Save the Children
Mizuho - Nappies
Natixis COTY
Natixis packaging
Peter Stormonth Darling grant
Quintessentially development grant
Quintessentially video grant
The National Lottery Community Fund
Tides Foundation/BlackRock
Wimbledon Foundation
**Total**|_4,987_
_11,376_
_2,999_
_90,000_
_1,545_
_33,428_
_-_
_-_
_-_
_-_
_-_
_-_
_-_
_-_
_-_
_-_
_-_
_-_
_-_
_-_|_17,825_
_73,440_
_-_
_-_
_-_
_-_
_21,500_
_50,000_
_500_
_2,500_
_50,000_
_500_
_4,295_
_5,000_
_5,000_
_24,960_
_2,600_|_(4,987)_
_(73,718)_
_(2,999)_
_(90,000)_
_(1,545)_
_(33,428)_
_(21,500)_
_(50,000)_
_(500)_
_(2,500)_
_(50,000)_
_(500)_
_(4,295)_
_-_
_-_
_(19,026)_
_-_
_(200,000)_
_(14,427)_
_(10,000)_|_-_
_-_
_-_
_-_
_-_
_-_
_-_
_-_
_-_
_-_
_-_
_-_
_-_
_-_
_-_
_-_
_-_
_-_|_17,825_
_11,098_
_-_
_-_
_-_
_-_
_-_
_-_
_-_
_-_
_-_
_-_
_-_
_5,000_
_5,000_
_5,934_
_2,600_
_-_
_4,261_
_-_
**_51,718_**|
|||_200,000_||||
|||_18,688_
_10,000_||||
||**_144,335_**|**_486,808_**|**_(579,425)_**|**_-_**||
|||||||
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**Little Village** Annual Report and Accounts, 2025
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**Notes to the accounts**
**Notes to the accounts**
## **Name of restricted fund**
## **Description, nature and purposes of the fund**
## **All sites**
grant for baby bedding, wipes and nappies
Anonymous trust 1
to support Little Village’s work over the winter period
Anonymous trust 2 Anonymous donor 3 Barratt Foundation
for signposting and family connections work
to support Little Village’s work in the local area
to support Little Village’s work in the local area
First Give Brent
funding for staff involved in fulfilling our provision of hospital packs to maternity units in London
Fusion 21 hospital packs grant
funding for the Tooting hub
## Charles Gassiot Charitable Trust
funding for signposting programme “Advice in Community Settings”
Greater London Authority - Advice In Community Setting GLA Multibank - session leads
funding for session leads to facilitate volunteer sessions including evenings and weekends
funding for transpost costs of collecting donations, moving stock between hubs and getting items to supported families
GLA Multibank - transport
toiletries and nappies for the Brent hub
Harrow Care Plus
for use in Camden hub
Ian MacTaggart Trust IKEA via Save the Children Mizuho Mothers Day Mizuho - Nappies Mizuho urgent supplies Nappy Appeal
cost supporting delivery of big kit to families
for the purchase of toiletries
funding for nappies
for any urgently needed supplies (eg nappies, wipes, toiletries etc)
for the purchase of nappies when donated stock is low and the cost of transporting nappies to get them into the hands of families
for purchasing bought items for families
## Natixis COTY
packaging costs
Natixis packaging Peter Stormonth Darling grant
staff costs for running hubs
to update the branding in Little Village’s three baby bank hubs in Tooting, Brent and Camden through bespoke window designs, and for new fundraising materials for these sites
Quintessentially development grant
for the creation of a video for Little Village to showcase their work
Quintessentially video grant
for toiletries, nappies, wipes, etc
Skipton Building Society Charitable Foundation
for the purchase of toiletries and sleeping solutions
Sefe
purchasing goods for beneficiaries and covering cost of collecting items over the winter period
The Julia and Hans Rausing Trust
grant for staff costs at all sites and specific other costs at HQ
The National Lottery Community Fund
The Liberal Jewish Synagogue High donation for a year’s salary for three staff members who manage the family Holy Day Appeal liaison volunteer team Tides Foundation/BlackRock supporting volunteering at Little Village Wimbledon Foundation supporting Wandsworth families
## **22. Analysis of movements in unrestricted funds**
||**Balance at**
**1 January**
||||**Balance at**
**31 December**
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**2025**
**£**|**Income**
**£**|**Expenditure**
**£**|**Transfers**
**£**|**2025**
**£**|
|General fund
Designated fund (described below)|1,580,571
1,105,000|3,855,296
-|(3,855,296)
(468,620)|-
-|1,580,571
636,380
2,216,951|
||2,685,571|3,855,296|(4,323,916)|-||
|||||||
## Comparative period
||**_Balance at_**
**_1 January_**
||||**_Balance at_**
**_31 December_**
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**_2024_**
**_£_**|**_Income_**
**_£_**|**_Expenditure_**
**_£_**|**_Transfers_**
**_£_**|**_2024_**
**_£_**|
|General fund
Designated fund (described below)|_1,524,478_
_870,000_|_3,810,263_
_-_|_(2,969,170)_
_(550,000)_|_(785,000)_
_785,000_|_1,580,571_
_1,105,000_
_2,685,571_|
||_2,394,478_|_3,810,263_|_(3,519,170)_|_-_||
|||||||
**Name of unrestricted fund** General fund
**Description, nature and purposes of the fund** The free reserves after allowing for all designated funds
Designated fund
A three-year capacity-building fund totalling £870,000 was set aside at the end of 2023 to support the charity’s development plans. At the end of 2024, the fund was increased to £1,105,000 in line with revised expenditure plans for 2025 and 2026.
A portion of this designated fund has been used in 2025, as anticipated. The balance of the fund, whose purpose is unchanged, now stands at £636,380.
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**Little Village** Annual Report and Accounts, 2025
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**Notes to the accounts**
**Notes to the accounts**
## **23. Analysis of net assets between funds**
||**General fund**
**£**
**Designated funds**
**£**|**General fund**
**£**
**Designated funds**
**£**|**Restricted funds**
**£**|**Total 2025**
**£**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|Tangible fixed assets
Net current assets/(liabilities)
Total|41,383
1,539,188
1,580,571|-
636,380|-
89,886
89,886|41,383
2,265,454
2,306,837|
|||636,380|||
||||||
The charity’s total future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases are as follows for each of the following periods:
||**Property 2025**
**£**|**_Property 2024_**
**_£_**|**Equipment 2025**
**£**|**_Equipment 2024_**
**_£_**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|Less than one year
One to five years|106,667
195,000
301,667|_105,000_
_96,667_
_201,667_|-
-
-|_3,510_
_-_
_3,510_|
## Comparative period
||**_General fund_**
**_£_**
**_Designated funds_**
**_£_**|**_General fund_**
**_£_**
**_Designated funds_**
**_£_**|**_Restricted funds_**
**_£_**|**_Total 2024_**
**_£_**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|Tangible fixed assets
Net current assets/(liabilities)
Total|_70,871_
_1,509,700_
_1,580,571_|_-_
_1,105,000_|_-_
_51,718_
_51,718_|_70,871_
_2,666,418_
_2,737,289_|
|||_1,105,000_|||
||||||
## **24. Operating lease commitments**
In 2025, the charity held two leases at a peppercorn rent of £1 each. These were:
- A ten-year lease for its Brent site entered into in 2021;
- A five-year lease for its Camden site, entered into in 2023.
The peppercorn leases for Brent and Camden are provided to the charity under s106 community impact agreements and as such, these specific sites do not have an open market rental value. Neither lease is recognised as income from donated services on the basis that the charity would not have been in a position to establish a presence in the location at a normal commercial rent.
## **25. Reconciliation of net movement in funds to net cash flow from operating activities**
||**2025**
**£**|**2024**
**£**|
|---|---|---|
|**Net income/(expenditure) for the year**
**Adjustments for:**
Depreciation charge
Loss/(profit) on disposal of fixed assets
Dividends, interest and rents from investments
Decrease/(increase) in stock
Decrease/(increase) in debtors
Increase/(decrease) in creditors
**Net cash provided by/(used in) operating activities**|(430,452)
28,375
1,113
(93,812)
15,433
(2,990)
(46,219)
(528,552)|198,476
22,104
-
(128,186)
(1,162)
(36,650)
103,692
158,274|
## **26. Contingent liability**
The charity also has the following leases:
- A five-year lease for its Tooting site, entered into in 2022 at an annual cost of £55,000.
- A lease for a warehouse site in Wandsworth entered into in 2024 at an annual cost of £50,000. This has been extended to 2030. The warehouse lease is accounted for at cost to the charity, with no donated service adjustment to impute a market rental value. The charity does not believe it would be able to pay for an equivalent space on a normal commercial basis.
The charity recognised a contingent liability of £90,000 in the accounts in 2024. This related to a restricted grant of £90,000 with potential clawback conditions that were outside the charity’s control. The likelihood of clawback was remote but the charity nevertheless considered it prudent to recognise a contingent liability in the 2024 accounts. The clawback period expired on 31 December 2025 without a clawback claim having been made.
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**Little Village** Annual Report and Accounts, 2025
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**Reference and administrative information**
# **Financial review** Reference and administrative information
## **Charity number**
## **Registered office and operational address**
## **Trustees**
## 1169735
## 144-146 Tooting High Street, London SW17 0RT
The Trustees who served during the year and up to the date of this report were as follows:
Olivia Gillan, Chair
Geraldine Wright, Treasurer
Matthew Chisambi
Caley Eldred (retired 30 April 2025)
Marcia Holmes
Kate Husselbee
Simon Langford (appointed 19 March 2026)
Jacqui Penalver
Clare Phillips
Rachel Polnay
Katharine Sacks-Jones (resigned 3 July 2025)
Lily Shaw
Helena Simpson (resigned 17 June 2026)
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**Little Village** Annual Report and Accounts, 2025
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**Reference and administrative information**
**Endnotes**
## **Key Management**
## **Bankers**
## **Statutory Auditors**
Sophie Livingstone, Chief Executive
Andreya Ashwell, Director of People
Angela Basso, Director of Fundraising (resigned 31 August 2025)
Liz Alleston, interim Director of Fundraising and Communications (appointed 10 November 2025)
Emily Compston, Director of Operations
Hattie Foxwell-Corden, Director of Marketing and Communications (resigned 17 March 2026)
Calleigh-Marie Lawrence, Director of Volunteering
Aniq Read, Director of Finance
Santander UK plc, Bridle Road, Bootle, Merseyside L30 4GB
HSBC UK Bank plc, 1 Centenary Square, Birmingham B1 1HQ
Third Sector Accountancy Limited, Holyoake House, Hanover Street, Manchester M60 0AS.
## **Endnotes**
|1
2
3
4
5
6
7|www.jrf.org.uk/uk-poverty-2026-the-
essential-guide-to-understanding-
poverty-in-the-uk
www.jrf.org.uk/uk-poverty-2026-the-
essential-guide-to-understanding-
poverty-in-the-uk
https://cpag.org.uk/child-poverty/
effects-poverty
www.gov.uk/government/publications/
costs-of-child-poverty-a-rapid-
evidence-review-of-the-effect-
of-income-on-child-outcomes/
costs-of-child-poverty-a-rapid-
evidence-review-of-the-effect-of-
income-on-child-outcomes
https://learning.nspcc.org.uk/research-
resources/2024/opening-doors-access-
to-early-childhood-services-for-families-|
|---|---|
||impacted-by-poverty-in-the-uk
www.barnardos.org.uk/research/no-crib-
impact-cost-living-crisis-bed-poverty
https://england.shelter.org.uk/
professional_resources/policy_and_
research/policy_library/full_house_how_
overcrowded_housing_affects_families|
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**Little Village** Annual Report and Accounts, 2025
Doc ID: 783d0979d4a747bcdcffe6279973fdb4cda3315e
**Financial review**
**Little Village** Annual Report and Accounts, 2025
> **Design and typesetting:** 76 Tom Hampson, hampson.studio
Doc ID: 783d0979d4a747bcdcffe6279973fdb4cda3315e