2024-03-31-accounts

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Bridging TheUGap Annual Report 2023- 2024

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A message from our Chair

The state of hunger in the UK continues to rise unacceptably, with the North West identified as one of the worst impacted regions. Research suggests that Greater Manchester has a 37% child poverty rate, but in Manchester itself rates are even higher at 44.7%. We know from our partnerships with schools that teachers are worried about the impact hunger has on children's educational attainment and their future life prospects.

Alongside this there has been a downturn in food donations as many look to tighten their own purse strings in order to survive the cost-of-living crisis. This has had a financial impact on our charity, with 23.98% of stock having to be purchased in 2023/24, at an estimated cost of £35,349, a sum up 17% from the previous year.

In response to both the growing demands on our service and our clients’ financial insecurity, Bridging the Gap has sought a greater understanding of what forces and keeps people in poverty. Clients themselves highlight benefit issues and rising living costs as significant factors, such that they struggle to afford life’s essentials. It is therefore with great satisfaction that I can report that Bridging the Gap was successful in securing multiyear funding from the Trussell Trust, which enabled us to employ a session lead/volunteer coordinator in November 2023. Furthermore this gave us the capacity to look beyond just providing emergency food parcels and to establish a financial inclusion project at each of our three community hubs. Working alongside welfare rights advisers from Manchester Mind and Manchester Citizens Advice, we are proud to report that, in its first year this project has made a staggering £225,914.08 of financial gains for our clients.

As various government support schemes come to an end, it is envisaged that there will be a greater dependence on food banks now more than ever. We therefore urge the government going forward to take action to ‘guarantee life’s essentials’.

Finally, on behalf of Bridging the Gap (Manchester), I want to express our heartfelt appreciation to all our funders and donors, as well as our staff and volunteers. Your belief in our mission and your generosity and hard work makes a real difference to the lives of those we support, and we are profoundly grateful.

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Signed:

Michelle McHale, BEM

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Message from Our Chair
Administrative Details
Governance Structure
Management of Risk
Our Vision & Mission
Our Strategic Priorities
Our Trustee Board
Our Staff
Our Volunteers
Our Supporters
Our Services
FOOD BANK OPERATION
Foodbank Statistics
MORE THAN FOOD
Financial Inclusion Services
12-13. Winter and Christmas Support
Family Support Projects
Holiday Hunger
15-16. School Uniform Services
Digital Inclusion
18-19. Strategic Partnerships
20-24. Community and Partnership Working
Finance & Accounting

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Administration Details

Charity Name: Bridging the Gap (Manchester) Charity Number: 1170952

Principal Address: Wesley Enterprise Centre, Unit 3, Royce Road, Manchester, M15 5BP

Telephone: 0161 226 3143

Email: info@manchestersouthcentral.foodbank.org.uk

Governance Structure

Bridging the Gap (Manchester) was constituted as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation, on 3 January 2017. Previous to this the assets and activities came under Bridging the Gap (Manchester) as an unregistered charity, established on 17th March 2014.

Management of Risk

The responsibility for the governance and management of Bridging the Gap (Manchester) rests with its Trustee Board. We have identified and measured those risks that could have an impact on the on-going operation of the Charity. Bridging the Gap’s trustees have given careful consideration to the major risks, which the organisation could be exposed to, and have satisfied themselves that systems and procedures are in place in order to manage those risks.

An annual risk audit is conducted to identify potential risks, and their likelihood. Using the audit results we draw up a new action plan each year to mitigate and reduce risks, where necessary, and to enable us to improve on our management of all risks. Progress with the action plan is then monitored at each Board meeting.

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Our Vision

Working towards ending poverty and social exclusion within the Greater Manchester communities of Hulme, Moss Side, Whalley Range and Old Trafford.

Our Mission

To support people in immediate crisis by providing emergency food provisions and to seek longer term solutions to address the underlying causes of financial hardships, enabling communities to build resilience and a life free from poverty.

Our Strategic Priorities

To respond to the cost of living crisis

To alleviate poverty
To reduce social isolation
To build greater partnerships
To be active leaders and influencers for positive change
To raise awareness of the underlying causes of poverty
To develop resilient communities, with the community as active partners

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Our Trustee Board

Our Board of Trustees is made up of people with a range of knowledge, experience and understanding of the local community and voluntary sectors. Their breadth of expertise includes health, social housing, community development, children and young people, financial administration and positive activism.

During the year we said goodbye to four of our trustees due to other commitments: Katy Bourne, Tallia Atti, Caroline Wickens and Jilly McKiernan-Bruce. We would like to thank them all for their time and input over the years.

In November 2023 we welcomed one new trustee (Martin Pilkington) who brought new skills to the Board in the form of transformational change, financial administration, risk and issue management.

In January 2024 we conducted a review of our Board membership, by carrying out a skills audit to identify what additional areas of expertise and knowledge the Board might benefit from. As a result we actively advertised for additional Board members and were pleased to make four new appointments who are due to take up their roles in the new financial year, following due diligence checks having been completed.

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Michelle McHale, BEM Marie Hawkins Chris Copestake Lynda Mason Martin Pilkington Chair of Trustees Treasurer Secretary Trustee Trustee

"I'm delighted to have been recently welcomed to the BTG Board of Trustees. I wanted to volunteer as I was inspired by the range of services provided to the community, the foodbank being at the centre, and the huge impacts these have on the community we serve. I'm looking forward to sharing some of the experience built from my professional career to support the continued success of the charity into the future."

Martin, Trustee

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Our Staff

Over the course of the year we said goodbye to one of our warehouse assistants, Sean Connors. As this warehouse assistant role was implemented as a result of moving to a delivery only model during Covid-19 which has since been replaced with the implementation of our hub model, no new employee was recruited. As a result of this departure we successfully trialled using volunteer drivers to carry out warehouse assistant duties, which enabled us to increase our volunteer offer and provide support for the warehouse team. Our remaining staff team continued to work with dedication whilst growing in both experience and confidence.

In November 2023 we were pleased to welcome to the team an additional part-time member of staff, Emily Jeremy, as Session Lead & Volunteer Coordinator. The post was generously funded by the Trussell Trust through their Strategic Resources programme for a 2-year period. This has not only given us the opportunity to improve our volunteer coordination and training programme but has released other staff to take on additional duties, more appropriate to their roles.

The year-end saw Bridging the Gap employing a total of one full-time and four part-time members of staff who between them ensured that the Charity continued to move forward positively and to expand our ‘More Than Food’ services further. We can’t praise the staff team enough and are so grateful to them all for their hard work, flexibility and initiative shown in developing and providing professional services.

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Heidi Exell Project Manager

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Helena Canavan Emily Jeremy Corinne Davenport Project Manager Session Lead & Warehouse Volunteer Coordinator Coordinator

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Mark Styles Warehouse Assistant

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Our Volunteers

Our volunteers remain at the heart of our organisation and the generosity and commitment of our team is a constant source of inspiration to us. Each person freely gives their time, expertise and compassion to support people in their community, without which we simply could not deliver our emergency food and additional support services.

Some 50 volunteers actively engaged in supporting our services and provided 6,183 hours of free labour during the year. As a ‘real living wage’ employer these volunteer hours amounted to a staggering £74,196 of in-kind donation of time.

Our volunteers fulfil an array of pivotal roles, including packing food parcels, sorting and shelving food donations and supporting the running of foodbank sessions. During the year our volunteer roles expanded to include ‘signposting’ volunteers who worked with food bank clients to explore any issues they might have and to support them as appropriate.

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“Volunteering at a food bank reminds us of our connection with a wider community. Coming and volunteering here has given me a sense of purpose: I feel privileged to be able to share my time and make a difference -however small- with such an amazing group of people.”

Bridging the Gap volunteer

Bridging the Gap Volunteer

Through our corporate volunteer programme, teams from local businesses helped us make up ‘Holiday Hunger’ food parcels and assisted with supermarket food donation collections, as well as Christmas events. Alongside volunteering their time, we had fantastic support through fundraising events and office food collections.

“It was a pleasure for MSV Housing, Neighbourhood Central Team to support this essential cause. We found the day to be a valuable and heartwarming experience while engaging with all Asda’s customers on the day. Supporting Manchester South Central Foodbank enables us to give back to the communities within which MSV Housing works very closely with”

MSV Housing volunteer

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MSV Housing Volunteers

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Our Supporters

We are grateful for every penny and item of food that we receive, from our supporters - the general public, corporate businesses, trusts and foundations. Permanent collection points and monthly collections at our partner supermarkets provide a continuous stream of food donations from the local community who have continued to be incredibly generous even when faced with their own increased food costs.

Here we highlight just a few other examples of the amazing support we have had this year and apologise to those we just haven’t had the space to name individually.

CO-OP Fundraising Walks

The Manchester CO-OP Property Team walked an incredible 40 miles from Manchester to Sheffield raising £2,850 AND walked the equivalent of two marathons in 48 hours, raising a further £1,500. The team continues to support us via their employer’s corporate social responsibility volunteering days by assisting us in packing our winter hampers.

Rummage in the Range

As the chosen charity for this monthly car boot event in Whalley Range, Bridging the Gap runs a regular stall selling pre-loved items, holds a monthly raffle and collects food donations. Last year the stall raised just under £800. This brilliant community event provides the perfect opportunity to talk about and raise awareness about our work with the local community.

Evoke Mind Plus

The Manchester Branch of Evoke Mind Plus supported our work with a fantastic donation of 31 generously packed and beautifully hand designed wash bags, as well as a crate of essential hygiene products for our clients.

Sal’s Shoes

Sal’s shoes collect and distribute shoes to frontline charities, this year they generously donated boxes of brand new shoes to redistribute through our school uniform projects.

Rotary Club of Manchester Breakfast

As one of the club’s chosen charities we have been supported with grant funding towards the purchase of our own van, regular cash donations towards our operational costs and volunteer time from its members.

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Our Services

Bridging the Gap (Manchester) provides a number of services to the community. These include both our emergency foodbank provision and our ‘More Than Food’ projects.

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Following on from the 71% increase in emergency food provision in 2022/23, the high demand continued throughout the 2023/24 financial year and rose by a further 9%.

This increased need was accompanied by challenges around food stock. Whilst our donors continued to be extremely generous, due to the extra food needed to meet demand, Bridging the Gap was left with no alternative but to purchase food to cover the shortfall.

The cost of living crisis continued to have a devastating impact on people on the lowest incomes in our communities, leaving more people simply unable to afford the essentials that we all need to live comfortably. Our three food bank hubs and our team responded with unwavering compassion and commitment by providing a welcoming and trusted space for our clients to receive food support and access a range of extra services that can provide long term support to our clients. The development of our More Than Projects through the hubs allowed us to respond to our clients needs and help them through this very difficult year.

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“The food parcel makes a big difference and if I didn’t get it I wouldn’t have the money to feed myself”

Food bank client

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Foodbank Statistics 2023/2024

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*63495.3 Kg of food distributed

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9% increase in the number of individuals supported compared with our 2022-23 figures

“l have worked with Manchester South Central Foodbank for several years now. This is an invaluable service to our families and the community they go above and beyond to meet the individual needs. Central district couldn't be without this service.” Central Cluster Team Leader, MCC

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Our ‘More Than Food’ projects provided support to our clients beyond our standard emergency food provision. Many of our ‘More Than’ projects are delivered in partnership with other organisations.

Financial Inclusion Services

In March 2023 we launched our Financial Inclusion project, which placed an advisor at each of our weekly foodbank sessions, ensuring our clients were able to speak to a professional about the underlying cause of their crisis, at the same time as accessing food support. Our advice workers delivered advice and support around income maximisation, specifically in respect of the benefits system, as well as offering debt and housing advice.

This project was delivered in partnership with the six Trussell Trust affiliated foodbanks across Manchester City Council. It used grant funding to employ Citizens Advice and Manchester Mind advisers who work across our foodbank sessions.

This new service was vital to support our clients to find a way out of poverty. We are so grateful to our amazing advisors and all the work they did during the year.

Our end of year reporting showed a whopping £225,914.08 of financial gains for our clients through the first year of this project’s operation

Because of these amazing results we are delighted to have confirmed grant funding for a further 2 years for this important project.

“Client X now receives £416 extra per month. The family now no longer need to use the food bank and told us they used some of the money to buy their son a bike. Something that had never been possible before” Manchester Mind Advice worker

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Manchester Mind Advice worker

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Winter and Christmas support

From November 2023 to March 2024 we provided support and advice to our clients to help combat energy costs during the winter months.

We distributed ‘Staying Warm Through Winter’ advice leaflets. 816 hot water bottles and 284 blankets

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563 Christmas Toy Sacks Delivered

Families identified by schools and local (Trafford Early Help Team) community centres as living in poverty were provided with a toy sack. Each sack was tailored to the child's age and gender to ensure that all local children were able to wake up to a present from Father Christmas.

MCC Energy team Volunteers

99 Christmas Meals-in-a-Box Delivered

Our Meal-in-a-Box, with all the fresh ingredients, festive trimmings and a £10 gift card, ensured that local families were able to celebrate Christmas. We were incredibly grateful to our supporters, including Unicorn Grocery and Fareshare, who donated fresh produce and vouchers for this project.

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140 Seasonal Care Hampers Delivered

Christmas can be particularly isolating for older people. As a way of offering support and spreading some festive happiness, we distributed seasonal care hampers to older residents in our community. These hampers included baked treats, toiletries and winter essentials. Our special thanks goes to our partners in this initiative, including Manchester Metropolitan University, Big Life, One Manchester and People First.

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Christmas Support Feedback

We love to get feedback from the users of our services because it informs us what we are doing right and where we might improve.

“I can just about buy the basic dinner for us this year, the little treats are so precious and extra food will help me save on shopping so it's going to help me put a bit extra money in the gas to keep us warm.”

“Things have been bad for a few years now but this year has to be our worst by far, the dinner in a box and the food hamper is going help us feel part of Christmas, thank you”

“I live alone, no family close by, Christmas can feel sad for me and a bit lonely. This is a lovely pick me up thank you.”

“I have lived in this country for 45 years. This is the first time I ever got a gift, truly my heart is touched, it's beautiful.”

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COOP Volunteers

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Family Support Projects

A shocking 29% (Joseph Rowntree Foundation UK Poverty Report 2024) of children were living in poverty nationwide in 2023/24, with Manchester having one of the highest levels of child deprivation in the country.

Bridging the Gap continued to operate multiple projects that supported families, through partnerships with schools and other community projects, to ensure that we reached the families most in need.

Holiday Hunger

For many households the school holidays are a time of anxiety and stress, budgeting to cover extra food costs, increased energy bills and providing entertainment for the family. To help alleviate some of the financial pressure Bridging the Gap continued to operate its ‘Holiday Hunger’ programme, which distributes holiday food parcels containing breakfast and lunch items for each member of a family for 5 days.

In addition to essential food items, we provided essential hygiene items, such as washing powder, and play resources including reading books and science and art packs to engage children during their time away from school.

1033 ‘Holiday Hunger’ parcels distributed to families in our communities. 4,271 individuals were supported.

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Capco volunteers

“The support provided is invaluable. The foodbank really is a beacon of hope for many families that feel completely alone and lost, with nowhere else to turn. It's a safety net, that despite many hurdles risking the financial certainty of the organisation, is always there to support families in their time of need. We really would be lost without the support, and there are huge concerns from everyone that works with families and communities struggling at the moment, if this support will be able to continue in the same capacity.”

Safeguarding Officer, Claremont Primary School

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School Uniform Services

New School Uniform

2023/24 saw the second year, and expansion, of our enormously successful school uniform project, which we ran in collaboration with One Manchester, Moss Care St. Vincent's (MSV) and the Open Philanthropy Fund who provided the grant funding.

Through this project Bridging the Gap purchased uniform items for children living in poverty who were referred to us by schools, the early help/social care service, housing associations or community organisations. School uniform items were then bought that were specific to each child’s needs.

324 children supported with new school clothing

Average £98 per child

“I just wanted to say a massive thank you to [Bridging the Gap]...I'm a qualified social worker, but I'm currently not working. Like most people, I'm struggling financially, emotionally, and mentally. I felt so worried about how I would be able to provide my son with his new school uniform. I was so grateful for the help from this service.”

Parent

Pre-loved School Uniform Provision

This add-on service became necessary to supplement the high demand for our school uniform grant programme and has been running for two years. It helps to ensure our work is as cost effective and sustainable as possible, as well as assisting additional families finding it hard to buy school uniforms for their children.

Through our pre-loved provision we were able to provide additional items to other families, some of whom self-referred to us for school uniform support.

78 children supported with preloved uniform

“I would just like to express my thanks on behalf of our parents as they were delighted with the uniforms/coats/shoes that you were able to provide for our pupils this year, our parents were very grateful. Thank you for providing such an outstanding service to our parents who are struggling with the cost of living crisis, this has made such a difference to them.” (Seymour Park Community Primary School, Old Trafford) Wilbraham Primary School

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Refugee School Uniform Provision

Through our partnership with the Education Migrant Lead in Manchester City Council, Bridging the Gap continued for a second year to deliver its school uniform provision specifically for newly arrived refugee and asylum seeking children living in hotels within the City of Manchester.

Access to timely school uniform support was a vital lifeline to ensure that children were able to attend school as soon as possible after arrival in the area. Similar to our standard uniform grant scheme, we purchased new school uniform items, including school coats, bags and underwear tailored specifically for the child.

105 refugee children supported with new school clothing

Average £130 per child

“Bridging the Gap has been instrumental in ensuring our asylum and refugee families are supported and integrated into mainstream education as quickly as possible. The team has worked with great care, dignity and respect to cultural boundaries at all times, building positive working relationships and inspiring faith and hope in humanity.”

Narinder Harvey, MCC

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Digital Inclusion

In 2023 our partners One Manchester asked if we would consider extending our school uniform provision to include digital access for children aged 4-18 years who were in education but were digitally excluded.

As a result, we established a pilot project to ensure children had the appropriate equipment required to complete their homework, including access to information regarding social tariffs ensuring families are able to access affordable broadband.

35 children supported with recycled laptops through our partners Community Computers

“Thank you so much for the effort and the brilliant service, we appreciate it. I received the parcel this morning.”

Total cost £4136

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Parent
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Strategic Partnerships

Through a shared vision to end the need for food banks we have partnered with a number of companies to provide additional support for our food bank clients.

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The Fuelbank Foundation is the only UK charity to focus on the challenges of people living in fuel crisis.

Through this partnership clients facing fuel poverty can be issued a voucher which provides ten days of energy. The voucher amount varying between £30-£89, depending on the price of energy and average consumption projections for each month.

340 vouchers issued

providing a critical lifeline to many of our clients, more and more of whom were reporting being unable to afford to keep themselves warm during the winter months.

The Cadent Foundation aims to help households find sustainable solutions to fuel poverty and to help households improve their financial wellbeing. Cadent winter support fund provided supermarket vouchers to clients accessing our food services.

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A cash initiative of this type enabled our clients to have the freedom of choice to purchase whatever essentials they needed during the extremely difficult winter months and was invaluable, additional income .

207 vouchers issued

vouchers ranged from £50 for individuals, £70 for families of up to 4 and £100 for families of 5+

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We continued to be a ‘community partner’ for The Hygiene Bank, a national charity that collects and distributes hygiene products to front line organisations.

831 kg toiletries and cleaning products donated and distributed to our clients.

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Our partnership with Vodafone & Tesco Mobile allowed us to distribute pre-loaded Sim cards to our clients. Each card provides six months of free text messaging, calling credit and mobile data.

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These Data Sims act as a lifeline for digital inclusivity for many of our clients who would otherwise be unable to stay connected to services, family and friends. Digital inclusion is vital to avoid social isolation.

Over 100 sim cards donated and distributed to our clients.

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Community and Partnership Work

Bridging the Gap understands the need to engage with our wider community partners to highlight the work that we are doing. Our community work in 2023/24 continued to focus on helping to build empathy and an understanding of why people were still struggling to afford the daily essentials of life and their need to access emergency food. During the year we had the pleasure of hosting both workshops and work experience placements.

William Hulme Grammar Workshop

It was an honour to work alongside a group of year 6 students from one of our partner schools - William Hulme Grammar School. The two-part workshop involved the group spending an afternoon with Bridging the Gap staff to learn about how a food bank works and, more importantly, why people are left with no choice other than to turn to a food bank for support.

After a brilliant session playing the Trussell Trust’s ‘Play Your Path’ game, the students went away and developed a week-long campaign that focused on raising awareness about the national ‘Guarantee our Essentials’ campaign, as well as collecting food donations. During their second visit the group helped to process the 167kg of food their school community had donated and also packed parcels ready for the next food distribution session. Their project culminated in a trip to Oxford University to present their project as part of their ‘Student Leadership Celebration Day’. What an amazing group of young people!

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Thank you so much! The children have loved coming to see how it all works and they've gained a huge understanding of the need for foodbanks/the need for better support for families.

Teacher, William Hulme’s Grammar

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Work Experience Opportunities

Following the success of the previous year, Bridging the Gap offered placements to local high school and university students. We were delighted that young people from our community attending Trinity High School, Manchester University and also Jame'ah Masjid E Noor Mosque took up opportunities to work alongside us. Such placements give us a way to begin to change minds and narratives around the causes and impact of poverty and financial hardship.

Hulme Winter Festival

Each year Bridging the Gap assists in coordinating the Hulme Winter Festival, working alongside our local partners Z-Arts, Big Life Centres, Ascension Church and Biffa. This year we were joined by our Civic Lord Mayor Yasmin Dar, local council members and Hulme Neighbourhood Officers. We even had a special visit from Santa himself. Children from our local primary schools and the children’s centre sang beautiful carols around the Christmas tree.

Families were provided with opportunities to participate in cost-free seasonal arts & craft sessions, including community recycling crafts, storytelling, a family photoshoot with Santa, and to boogie-on-down at the family disco.

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Hulme Winter Festival

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Community Lunches

Over the course of the year we have supported a number of community lunches at events such as Family Active Streets Events, the King Charles III’s Coronation Event, the Ascension Church Festival, Big Life Centre’s’ Blackpool trip and Hulme Park Green Space event. These activities all provided opportunities for our community to engage as active partners with Bridging the Gap and other organisations.

International Women’s Day - Hulme’s ‘Unsung Hero’s’

This was the first year that Bridging the Gap had been involved in this activity, with Hulme's ‘Unsung Heroes’ being launched as part of marking International Women’s Day 2024. Its aim was to recognise women who have had a lasting impact in the community. Through community nominations, along with much deliberation from the Unsung Heroes’ panel, nine women were selected as finalists to be recognised for their selfless dedication and impact on the Hulme community.

The panel consisted of representatives from the Neighbourhood team, Big Life Group, Bridging the Gap and local Councillors in partnership with Manchester Metropolitan University, Brookes Building. Sally Casey, MBE presented the nine women with their awards.

Later in the summer a plaque with the names of some deceased heroes nominated will be installed in Hulme Park to honour their dedication and lasting legacy.

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Hulme’s unsung hero event

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Partnership Work

Partnership work is vital to ensure a holistic and strategic local support system. We work closely with partners in delivering our services across our many projects. Importantly, we also actively network through local partnership meetings and work as active community leaders that advocate for our clients.

Our staff and Trustees participated in the following during 2023/24:

Anti-Poverty Strategy Taskforce Old Trafford Community Collective Cost of Living Network Meetings GM Food Security Action Network Trussell Trust Regional Forum Manchester Foodbank Consortium GM Participation Group
Neighbourhood Partnership meetings
Our Manchester Food Partnership Rafiki Network
Manchester Co-Production Working Group Trafford North Neighbourhood Network
Challenge Poverty Week England and Wales GMCA Food Security Action Network Financial Inclusion Working Group

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Supporting National & Local Campaigns

During 2023/24 Bridging the Gap was active in its support of various campaigns that highlighted some of the inequalities in our society that in turn increased the demand for our services. These included: -

Guarantee Our Essentials

Bridging the Gap supported the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and the Trussell Trust’s ‘Guarantee Our Essentials’ national campaign that believes that a Universal Credit system should guarantee a basic rate of income that covers household essentials. This seems like the best way to protect people from falling into poverty and having to make difficult decisions between essentials like food, fuel, utility bills or transport. Whilst people continue to go without enough money to pay for the basic essentials, demand on services like ours will continue year on year.

It's time for change and to guarantee the essentials of life for everyone.

No Child Left Behind

Shockingly 29% of children, some 4.2 million, across Britain are trapped in poverty.

Bridging the Gap supported the National Education Union of teachers in their call upon the government to take urgent action to break down the barriers to education that poverty creates

We believe that no child should be left behind and every child should have an equal chance to succeed in education, free from the barriers of poverty.

Manchester School Uniform Campaign

Our ever increasing work around school uniform provision highlighted the need for an educational change around the cost of school uniforms.

We know that the required amount of school clothing items, especially with a school’s logo on it, drives up uniform prices and impacts heavily on family incomes. Bridging the Gap therefore joined with its local uniform partners to call for local councils and the government to review the ‘Schools’ Guidance on School Uniform Costs’.

Ensure the affordability of school clothing for all parents.

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Finance and Accounting

We ensured our sustainability by using a diverse range of income streams, these included trust funding, partnerships with local supermarkets, schools, churches, individual and corporate donations.

The Charity’s accounts were prepared under the receipts and payment method and were examined by an independent examiner in line with Charity Commission requirements.

Principle sources of funding

Notable sources of funding (£5,000 and above) for year ending 2023/24: -

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Account Overview

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Reserves Policy

The Charity continued to operate restricted reserves whereby funds are raised for a specific activity/service or at the request of a donor. The trustees continued to build unrestricted reserves to enable the Charity to ring-fence a dedicated pot of reserves from unrestricted monies. This will ensure sustainability and assist with operational costs in the event of another pandemic, disaster or reduction of monetary income. It is envisaged that Bridging the Gap will continue to build restricted monies in the future to ensure we have 12-18 months of reserves at any given time.

Food and Hygiene Assets

The charity continues to substantially rely on donations of food and hygiene products from the general public, including local business and corporate partners. Donated items for 2023/2024 amounted to 47,270.74kg , at a nominal value of £112,031.65 .

A further 14,915.24kg (23.98%) of stock was purchased at a value of £35,349.12 .

These figures demonstrate a reduction of 9,159.32kg in donations this year, which we attribute to the cost of living crisis. We needed to purchase almost 7% more stock to meet the demands for emergency food support in 2023/24 compared to 2022/23. Throughout the year a staggering 53,650.17kg of food and hygiene products were distributed through our projects.

At year end the total assets holding amounted to 4,830.5kg at a value of £11,448.29.

The trustees are extremely grateful to all our funders, donors, fundraisers and members of the public. It is because of their generosity and trust in our Charity that we were able to support those in need during 2023/24.

Declaration

The Board of Trustees declare that this is a true reflection on services provided and have approved the report.

Signature

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Name: Michelle McHale

Position: Chair of Trustees

Dated: 27/11/24

Bridging the Gap (Manchester) 31 March 2024

CICM Level 3

Section A Receipts and payments

			Unrestricted funds	Unrestricted funds	Restricted funds	Designated funds	Total funds	Last year
			to the nearest	£	to the nearest £	to the nearest £	to the nearest £	to the nearest £
A1 Receipts
AMAZON				-	151	-	151	-
ANS GROUP LIMITED				-	1,242	-	1,242	-
ARAWAK W'TON HA LTA RAWAK WTON HA LTD BG C				-	500	-	500	-
ASDA				-	377	-	377	-
Banking				-	-	-	-	3,555
BEEVER & STRUTHERS				-	280	-	280	328
BENEVITY BGC				-	462	-	462	380
CAFGYE				-	815	-	815	-
CHARITABLE GIVING				-	2,739	-	2,739	20
CHARITIES TRUST				-	218	-	218	-
CROWDFUNDER LTD				-	-	-	-	1,120
COURTESY SHOES/WYNSORS				-	222	-	222	-
FEED - Baby Milk				-	250	-	250	-
FRONTLINE NW WATES				-	1,000	-	1,000	-
General fundraising				-	1,025	-	1,025	-
I-MUST LIMITED				-	4,710	-	4,710	-
Just Sharepoint Co				-	1,100	-	1,100	300
LEVENSHULME METHODIST				-	9 2	-	92	-
LOCALG IVIN G				-	41,484	-	41,484	67,183
MADL - MAKING A DIFFERENCE LOCALLY				-	-	-	-	650
MAIN GRANTS				-	10,000	-	10,000	-
MAKING A LOCALLY				-	80	-	80	-
MANCHESTER BME NETWORK				-	-	-	-	1,000
MANCHESTER CENTRAL				-	538	-	538	4,362
MANCHESTER CITY				-	-	-	-	17,750
MANCHESTER CITY - LEVELLING UP FUND				-	-	-	-	3,500
MANCHESTER CITY CO				-	44,860	-	44,860	-
MANCHESTER CITY CO -		FISGS		-	1,094	-	1,094	-
MANCHESTER CITY CO -		Cost of Living		-	8,500	-	8,500	-
MANLEY PARK METHOD Manley Park				-	130	-	130	-
MAZARS CHARITABLE				-	1,000	-	1,000	-
MCDA NO. 2				-	-	-	-	750
MCFC - CITY IN THE COMMUNITY				-	2,500	-	2,500	1,250
MSV HOUSING				-	1,536	-	1,536	1,000
MUST				-	-	-	-	2,533
NEU MANCHESTER DIS				-	-	-	-	3,000
NEW PHILANTHROPY NPC GRANT				-	-	-	-	10,000
NORTHERN MARKING				-	1,000	-	1,000	-
OCADO				-	3	-	3	-
ONE MANCHESTER HOUSING ONE MANCHESTER HOUSING - WELLNESS FUND ONE Manchester Thrive Fund Other Grants				- - -	16,700 - -	- - - -	16,700 - -	5 00 9,937 8,750
PAYPAL				-	-	-	-	-
PENNY APPEAL				-	105	-	105	-
PEOPLE FIRST HOUSING				-	-	-	-	7,500
PLACES FOR PEOPLE				-	595	-	595	400
POST OFFICE				-	2,000	-	2,000	1,500
PROSPERE LEARNING				-	7,207		7,207	-
REHOBOTH	1 112405099 BGC			-	94	- -	94	-
ROTARY CLUB OF MCR				-	-	-	-	409
SOUTH MANCHESTER AOS				-	450	-	450	150
THE CHARITY SERVICE				-	680	-	680	-
THE EQUILIBRIUM FO Community Scheme				-	2,940	-	2,940	3,000
THE GARDEN PROD LT				-	-	-	-	500
THE MANCHESTER GUA				-	1,000	-	1,000	-
THE NEIGHBOURLY				-	2,000	-	2,000	-
THE TRUSSELL TRUST				-	1,055	-	1,055	4,200
THT - Trafford Housing Trust				-	73,051		73,051	59,844
				-	-	- -	-	29,249
UNISON NORTH WEST		U NISON WOMENS BGC		-	125	-	125	-
UNIV OF MANCHESTER				-	680	-	680	-
WATES PROPERTY SER				-	857		857	-
WE LOVE MCR CHARIT				-	1,000	-	1,000	-
ZION ARTS CENTRE				-	-	-	-	120

		Sub total	Sub total	(Gross income for AR)		-	238,447	-	238,447	244,739
A2	Asset and investment			sales, (see table).
						-	-	-	-	-
						-	-	-	-	-
				Sub total		-	-	-	-	-
				Total receipts		-	238,447	-	238,447	244,739
A3	Payments
Salaries Partnership/Financial						-	75,032	-	75,032	56,220
Inclusion Transport Core Costs						-	21,657	-	21,657	126
Foodbank (Food/Costs) Other						9,098	-	-	9,098	9,335
FB	Costs Holiday		Hunger			9,614	-	-	9,614	14,659
School Uniform		Winter Xmas				-	18,086	-	18,086	12,152
Other costs Trustee Costs						-	-	-	-	1,009
Other Levelling		Up	Volunteer			-	11,879	-	11,879	5,457
Costs Petty cash		withdrawral				-	49,388	-	49,388	39,792
						-	14,759	-	14,759	17,091
						994	-	-	994	130
						218	1,050	-	1,268	287
						935	-	-	935	-
						-	1,665		1,665	-
						-	-	-	-	205
						-	-	-	-	300
				Sub total		20,859	193,516	-	214,375	156,762
A4	Asset and investment			purchases, (see table)
						-	-	-	-
						-	-	-	-
				Sub total		-	-	-	-	-
				Total payments		20,859	193,516	-	214,375	156,762
			Net of receipts/(payments)		-	20,859	44,931	-	24,072	87,977
A5	Transfers	between funds				-	-	-	-	-
A6	Cash funds last year end					74,097	157,077	-	231,174	143,197
			Cash funds this year end			53,238	202,008	-	255,246	231,174
Section B Statement of assets and					liabilities at the end of the period
			Categories		Details			Unrestricted funds	Restricted	Designated
								to nearest £	to nearest £	to nearest £
B1	Cash funds				Barclays Bank plc			53,238	202,008	-
					Petty	cash		-	-	-
								-	-	-
							Total cash funds	53,238	202,008	-
						(agree balances with receipts and payments account(s))		OK	OK	OK
								Unrestricted funds	Restricted	Endowment
					Details			to nearest £	to nearest £	to nearest £
B2	Other monetary assets							-	-	-
								-	-	-
					Details			Fund to which asset	Cost (optional)	Current value
B3	Investment assets								-	-
									-	-
									-	-
									-	-
									-	-
					Details			Fund to which asset	Cost (optional)	Current value
B4	Assets retained for the charity’s own use								-	-
									-	-

B5 Liabilities

Signed by one or two trustees on behalf of all the trustees

			-	-
			-	-
			-	-
			-	-
			-	-
			-	-
			-	-
Details	Fund to which liability	Amount due		When due
			-
			-
			-
			-
			-
	Michelle McHale			27-Nov-24
	Sandra King			15-Oct-24

A message from our Chair

Table of contents

Administration Details

Governance Structure

Management of Risk

Our Vision

Our Mission

Our Strategic Priorities

Our Trustee Board

Our Staff

Our Volunteers

Our Supporters

CO-OP Fundraising Walks

Rummage in the Range

Evoke Mind Plus

Sal’s Shoes

Rotary Club of Manchester Breakfast

Our Services

Foodbank Statistics 2023/2024

Financial Inclusion Services

Winter and Christmas support

563 Christmas Toy Sacks Delivered

99 Christmas Meals-in-a-Box Delivered

140 Seasonal Care Hampers Delivered

Christmas Support Feedback

Family Support Projects

Holiday Hunger

School Uniform Services

New School Uniform

Pre-loved School Uniform Provision

Refugee School Uniform Provision

Digital Inclusion

Strategic Partnerships

340 vouchers issued

207 vouchers issued

Community and Partnership Work

William Hulme Grammar Workshop

Work Experience Opportunities

Hulme Winter Festival

Community Lunches

International Women’s Day - Hulme’s ‘Unsung Hero’s’

Partnership Work

Supporting National & Local Campaigns

Guarantee Our Essentials

No Child Left Behind

Manchester School Uniform Campaign

Finance and Accounting

Principle sources of funding

Account Overview

Reserves Policy

Food and Hygiene Assets

Declaration

Section A Receipts and payments