Cbair's Re rt Moreeambe Ba Foodbank: AGM 17th A ril 2026 I have been involved with Morecambe Bay Foodbank for over 13 years now, and some of you have been involved even longer, right back to the founding in one room at the back of the Gym Church. Foodbanks were set up to provide food for those who Couldn't manage in the lean years after the fmancial Cras and intended to be a short tem) project. They expanded rapidly during the many years of austerity. then the shock of covi& followed by the ¢ost of living crisis started by the effects of the war in Ukraine. Now we are about to enter yet another cost of living crisis caused by another war, this time in Iran. Remember the initial purpose of Trussell,'to end the need for foodbanks" Sadly we are further away from that than ever. To meet these challenges we have had to adapt and grow. From that initial one room we are now on a ten year lease in this very large space. From being run solely by volunteers under the auspices of the Methodist Church we now have paid staff (but still also a magnificent set of volunteers) and an active Trustee Board. From being just a supplier of emergency food we now do huge amounts of work to provide wider support to help clients t2ckle the underlying caus&q of fiK)d poverty in the their lives. We cannot do much ourselves to Change the causes of poverty in our society today, such &8 the pernicious effect of ever rising rents whilst the Loeal Housing Allowance fails to keep pace. Many families receive Universal Credit because theiT income is thought to be inadequate to live on. Approximately half of these famklies have one or even ttvo adults in work. Universal Credit in itself is not enough to live on pr(>perly as th¢"essentials campaign" run by Trussell 2nd the Joesph Rowntree Trust has shown. Despite this they are expected to find what be hundreds of pounds a month to top up their rent because eveJ) if they are on maximum Housing Benefit this does not cover their rent. Trussell nationally however do lobby Government and we should celebrate the occasional improvement such as the recent abolition of the 'knvo child benefit limit" and the uprating of the minimum wage. Our primary purpose has always been to provide emergency f)d for those in need. Last year we distributed approximately £250,000 worth of food to almost 3000 households. Each household receives enough food to provkde three meals a day for tl)ree days for everyone in that household as a minimum. Within those households we supported almost 4000 adults and almost 2500 childre including over 600 aged 04. W¢ mainly rely on donations of fo(xl through our donhtion bins in sup¢rtnarkets, organised collections at Sch(lS and churches, and collections through other events organised locally such as at Mor¢cambe FC. These donations can vary from a shopper putting a tin in the supermarket bin to a club organising a colledion and delivering a car load of food. Every tin is appreciated. The ever increasing price of food has made it difficult foT our donors to keep pace with dellthnd. Up to three vears ago we rarely had to buy food in. now we spend on average £IOOO a week topping up our supplies. We are very grateful to those who donate money to enable us to continue, from those who donate monthly through standing orders, those who put money in our tins when we are collecting at a supernarket or the football, and those organisations and individuals that regularly send us money. More on this in the finance report lateT. Over many years now it has become clear that for many of our clients their need for emergeney food is not short term but an ongoing part of their lives. To this end we have developed a model of providing wider support to clients through partnership with Citizens Advice North Lancashire to attempt to solve the underlying issues causing the need for emergency fo(Kl. With the help of Tsell nationally we set up the Schools Project in April 2023. This initially involved using nding provided by Trussell through the Pathfmder programm¢ to commission one full time CANL advisor to deal with referrals from schools and give intense support to Glient4 many of whom had multiple issues causing financial hardship. This project was so successful that we used our own
financial resources to employ another full tim¢ advisor, and then to continue the project for another year beyond the initial two year Trussell funding. The impact has been astonishing. Over the last three years we have invested £IOO,000 from Trussell and £135000 of our Tesources in this project. The financial benefits for clkents in our local community have b¢¢n almost £2.5 million. This is £10 of benefit to the local community for every £1 invested. I 11 be circulating a full report on the three years of this project separately. I would like at this time to pay tribute to the pioneering work of Jeni Meadows on this proje¢L and the brilliant work of Charlotte Harvey from CANL. Sadly however this Project is now at an end, &s we cannot continue to fid it ourselves at the level of cost indicated. I do know however that CANL have nde successful bids for resouTces to continue a similar project themselves. Our partnership with CANL was recognised by Truss¢ll and National Citizens Advice ID April 2025 when we were chosen to be one of only five partnerships in the County to be awarded funding for a similar project targeted at those with children aged 04. This project was also hugely successful, with an investment of £IOO,000 leading to community gains of over £800,000, £8 for every £1 spent. Sa(lly once again funding for this project has dri¢d up after just one year. We ar¢ virtl1Y unique within the well over 400 Trussell Foodbank Network in being a delivery only senrice. Thi8 means that unlike before the pandemic we do not meet Clients so have no opportwlity to signpost them to filltheT SUPPOrt. For the l&st three years therefore we have funded from our resources the "Foodbank Project". where another commissioned CANL advisor contacts clients to offer advice and support to ta¢kle tbeir underlying problems in a similar way to the other projects. This has resulted in gains of over £300.000 in the last year for ¢lients, a return of £6 for every £1 invest¢d. l am pleased to say that Trustees have agreed to meet the cost of this project from our own budgel and it will continue. I have moTe detailed rq)orts on each of thes¢ projects and will be circulating them at a later dafr. Our final preventative project is our magnificent Unifornl Project. The cost of unifom] is a considerable burden on parents and there is precious little support available. Despite recent Government legislation in this area a number of our local schools continue to make unreasonable demands on parents through changes in unifonn, requirements for blazers and PE kit with logos, even at14imary School. I have spoken about this on local radio more than once in recent years, and Citizens Advice North Lancashire produced an excellent report on this two years ago. but the excessive demands of a minolity of schools continue to cause problems. Last year we gave out almost l 000 sets of school unifomi, saving parents upwards of £200,000. Our volunteer unifomi teanL led by Angela, are just magnificent. Our primary purpose is to prowde emergency food to people in need. Sadly, however, this is frequently just a sticking plaster that tackles the effects rather than the causes. l am pleased therefore to say that the combined effect of all the preventative measures I have described here has been to enable financial gains in our local community in the last year of over £2 million. This has led to us being one of th¢ very few foodbanks in the Trussell network to have reduced demand for food, although I suspect demand will stsrt to go back up again in the next 12 months &8 we ent¢r anoth¢r cost of living ls1S. At this point I would like to say that none of this would have be¢n possible wkthout the magnificent efforts of our staff, our Trustees and especially our wonderful volunteers. Let's give everyone a well deserved round of applause. Finally I will turn to the elephant in the room. You will notice that I have covered things in this report that would no ly be in the Managels reporL and that Briony is not with us today. Despit¢ orrrtiQ- I 1,,7¥
a number of personal and health issues over the lasl year she has kept going and done a wonderful job. Sadly however she has reach¢d the stage where for her own personal h¢alth she has decided to go back to Ireland. I regret to infomi you that Briony is ¢urrently off sick and will finish her employment with us on May8th. Most of us have known Brtony for many years and cannot fail to have b¢en impressed by her devotion to improving the live5 of pe4)ple in our local community. She started at Morecambe Bay Foodbank as a volunteer at Westminster Road and took over as Manager at a very di£ficult time in 2021. Over the last five years through her hard work and vision she has helped transfoTm the fo(Idbank into the succes5 It is today. Whilst Briony is irreplaceable as a person she would want us to make sure that the fi)odbank ontinues to thrive and support those most in need in our local community. To this end I will be woyking with Trustees to ensure that the post is filled by the best candidate available. This process will take time, so I will be supporting staff and volunteers by being at the foodbank myself every Tuesday and Thursday from early May. I know you will all continue the wonderful work that you are doing. Thanks to you all, staff, trustees, donors, and especially volunteers. It is your dedication that enables us to be so supportive of our local community. Roger Gittins Chair of Trustees Morecambe Bay Foo
MORECAMBE BAY FOODBANK STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACTIVITIES DATEPREPARED.. 06.11.25 Relating to: 01.09.24- 31.08.25 Unrestricted Funds £ Restricted Fund5 £ Endowment Funds £ Totsl Funds Preou$ Year £ INCOME & ENDOWMENTS DonationslLegacies By Standing Orders DonationslLegacies GIFTS Bank Interest Income from Activtties Total Income & Endowments 95424.13 95424.13 97866.12 129852.69 43809.62 173662.31 252144.91 18451.65 18451.65 0.00 287538.09 19994.60 0.00 370005.63 243728.47 43809.62 0.00 EXPENDITURE Raising Funds Charitable Activities TOTAL EXPENOITURE 0.00 485521.64 485521.64 0.00 269243.06 269243.06 420796.64 420796.64 64725.) 64725.00 Net Gainslllossesl on investments Net Income/ {Expenditurel -177068.17 -20915.38 -197983.55 11)0762.57 Transfers between funds Other recognised gainslllossesl Gainslllosses) on revaluation of fixed assets Actuarlal gainsl Ilossesl Other 0.00 0.00 ainslllossesl Net movement in tuftds -177068.17 -20915.38 -197983.55 100762.57 Reconciliatlon of funds Total Funds brought forward 626084.45 64402.48 690486.93 589724.36 Total Funds carrled forward 449016.28 43487.10 492503.38 690486.93 i J t( i f Zsl411
MORECAMBE BAY FOODBANK DATE: 31st August 2025 BALANCE SHEEr TOTAL FUNDS PREVIOUS YEAR'S TOTALS FIXED ASSErs: Intangible Assets Tangible Assets: 0.00 0.00 Computers Vehicles Equipment Fixtures & Fittings £4787.79 £227.26 £1593.66 £4113.44 10.722.15 0.00 12.859.33 Heritage Assets Investments TOTAL FIXED ASSErs: 0.00 12.859.33 10,722.15 CURRENT ASSETS: Stocks Debtors and Prepayments Investments Cash at Bank and in Hand: Main Account Community Account Savings Account Flagstone Paypal Cash Vouchers 29,253.40 85,082.06 0.00 66,427.86 97,588.96 118.25 £308.67 £28.17 £22347.71 £349304.14 £1.00 £188.62 £229.70 372,408.01 515.901.29 TOTAL CURRENT ASSErs 486.743.47 680.036.36 LIABILITIES: Creditors: amounts falling due within one year Net Current assets or Liabilities Total Assets less Current Liabilities Creditors: Amounts falling due after more than one Provision for Liabilities Net Assets or Liabilities excluding pension assets or liabilities Defined benefit pension scheme asset or liability TOTAL NET ASSEfs OR UABIUTIES 4.962.24 481,781.23 492,503.38 0.00 0.00 492,503.38 2.408.76 677,627.60 690,486.93 0.00 ear 690,486.93 492,503.38 690,486.93 THE FUNDS OF THE CHARITY: Endowment Funds Restricted Funds Unrestricted Funds Revaluation Reserve Pension Reserve Total Unrestrirted Funds TOTAL CHARITY FUNDS 0.00 43,487.10 9,016.28 0.00 0.00 449,016.28 492.503.38 0.00 64,402.48 626,084.45 0.00 0.00 626,084.45 690.486.93 sk
l) Debtors & Pre ments The amount of £85082.06 in prepayments Is made up of the following- Prepayments Accrued Income £89,145.86 £4,063.80 21 Creditors The amount of £3035.23 in the creditors is made up of the following: Big Dug Castle Security Services Chris Dalby Fire Protection Services Ford Lease Infinity Print Solutions dated 29.08.25 dated 31.08.25 dated 15.08.25 dated 30.07.25 dated 29.08.25 dated 14.04.25 dated 04.08.25 dated 31.08.25 dated 31.08.25 £133.55 £14.40 £102.00 £1,015.00 £39.11 £1.284.60 -£229.50 £103.49 £72.00 Lancaster City Council Right Fuel Card Verve Accountancy Webfleet Solutions 11 dated 26.08.25 £500.58 Pension Contributions for August 2025 (paid in September 2025} £751.01 Accruals Accountancy Accrual Other accruals £432.00 £744.00 -crtft,/L
3) EXPENDITURE ANALYSIS Type Amount Client Purchases Outreach Work Local Projects Closing Stock Wages & salaries Employers National Insurance Pension Contributions Rent Rates,Heat & Light Phone & Internet Equipment Hire Insurance Subscriptions Advert Printing, Postage & stationery Cleaning & Waste Disposal Motor Travel Office Costs Repairs Legal & Professional fees Accountancy Miscellaneous expenses Bank Charges Depreciation of Assets 57,897.1 172,523.29 39.34 -£315.00 110,678.70 -1422.35 6,238.37 24,999.96 15,131.11 9,097.41 378.50 7,788.31 157.20 1,563.53 115.59 1,827.14 18,737.01 2.767.60 227.27 2.197.73 952.70 708.QO 1,274.58, 1,240.45 3,350.52 Total 438,154.12 HA/l 212 ¢/
VERVE ACCOUNTANCY A Fresh Approach In ndent eMIne$ re rttothet Morecambe B Foodbank Cha No 1176579 esof he accounts for the ear Ènded 31° A ust 2025 We port to the tmstees on our examinatlon of the accounts of the above charrty 1.the Trusw) for the year ended 31° August 2025. As the chariws trustees, you are responsible forthe preparation of the accounts in accordan wtth the requirements of the Charities Art 20111-the Act"). We report in respect of the examination of the Trust's accounts tarried out undersection 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying out my examination. we have followed all the applitable Direttions glven by the Charity Commission under section 14515llbl of the ACL Indepèndent eyamlnerfs 5tstÈment We have no concems and have tome across no other matters In connectlon with the examination to whlch attention should be dtBwn in this report in orderto enable a proper undersvdnding of the accounts to be reached. Slgned Gillian Telford FMAAT Date 2f November 2025 Se6)¥J In Q17F29¥9es contsCEuS@ver%*accountarityLO.uk
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