Uniform Exchange Annual Report 2022 For the Charity Commission
**Kate France – Founder & Operations Trustee**
**September 2023**
Uniform Exchange Annual Report 2022
## Introduction
The trustees are pleased to present their annual report together with the financial statements of the charity for the period ended 31 December 2022.
The financial statements comply with the Charities Act 2011, the Memorandum and Articles of Association, and 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) (effective 1 January 2015)
## Reference and Administrative Details of the Charity, its Trustees and Advisors
As of 31st December 2021
|Charity name:|Uniform Exchange|
|---|---|
|Charity number:|1177750|
|Principal address:|Railway Sawmills - Unit 18|
||Burbeary Road|
||Lockwood|
||Huddersfield|
||HD1 3UN|
|Trustees:|Mrs Helen Haddon|
||Mrs Karen Hobson|
||Mrs Kate France|
||Mrs Clodagh Page|
||Ms Leathea Donaldson|
||Mr Alasdair Brown|
||Mrs Margaret Cameron|
|Bankers:|HSBC|
||2 Cloth Hall Street|
||Huddersfield|
||HD1 2ES|
|Bookkeeper:|Amanda Eaton|
||Fidem Business Services|
|Independent Reviewer:|Ian A Richards|
||Financial Consultant|
||Beech House, Church Hill|
||Thorner, Leeds|
||LS14 3EG|
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Uniform Exchange Annual Report 2022
## Messa e from the Chair of Trustees g
Uniform Exchange (UE) exists so that every child in Kirklees, West Yorkshire, regardless of background can access a school uniform so they can progress into becoming confident young people and adults. More than 20,840 (1 in 5) children live in poverty in Kirklees. Almost two thirds of these children live in lone parent households. More than 41,000 Adults (1 in 6) of the working age population in Kirklees claim one or more of the benefits linked to poverty.
In the UK, an estimated 14.5 million people are living in poverty, which represents 22% of the population. Of these, 4.3 million are children. According to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (2022), for the last 25 years, children have been the demographic most affected by poverty.
A recent study published by The Children’s Society, involving 2,000 parents and carers found that on average primary school uniforms averaged £287 per year and secondary school uniforms were costing families £422 per-student, per-year. It also highlighted that uniform policies are demanding an average of three branded items. However, 29% of the respondents in the research said they are expected to buy four or five branded items – while 13% report having to pay-out as many as for six or seven.
Statutory guidance introduced in September 2021 ordered schools to keep branded uniform items “to a minimum”, limiting their use to “low-cost or long-lasting items” (DfE, 2021). They noted that Second-hand uniform items must also be made available and high street items must be allowed, while schools should avoid single supplier contracts.
This is where UE comes in. Uniform Exchange understands that for families in Kirklees, paying £422 per student per, pear year is almost impossible, further compounded by the cost-of-Living crisis.
In 2022, we acknowledged that as a charity our work was needed more than ever, but no longer at the grassroots level but also at policy level to ensure that the whole of the UK can benefit from initiatives like ours. Uniform Exchange has begun to raise its profile, and this was certainly by Uniform Exchange being featured on Channel 4’s Steph’s packed Lunch and BBC Breakfast.
This year, we saw change amongst our Trusteeship with Mrs Clodagh (Chloe) Page one of our founding Trustees, stepping down due to ill health and the gain of two new trustees Alasdair Brown, CEO of Kirklees Active Leisure and Margaret Cameron a HR specialist. Chloe has been a staunch supporter of Uniform Exchange since its inception, and she will be greatly missed. Alasdair and Margaret have also been supportive of the charity for a long time, and we are so pleased to have their expertise on board, to help us steer the charity into the next segment of its journey.
As we seek to improve the lives of families across Kirklees through one school uniform at a time, we hope that we can continue to be a beacon of hope to other organisations and groups offering similar initiatives to UE.
An immense amount of gratitude goes to all our magnificent volunteers, who outdid themselves this year, as we recycled and re-distributed a record number of school unform items. You all responded to the cost-of-living crisis head on, and I am so proud of your efforts. Without your contribution, our organisation would not exist.
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A huge thank you to Kate France our Founder, my fellow trustee and friend, who is the anchor that holds everything together. Despite the numerous personal challenges, she faced during 2022. She maintained her resolve and continued to be the beautiful face of our charity, alongside being its backbone.
We are so grateful to our funders during 2022, that enabled to reach so many more children and families.
The academic year of 2023/24 will be testing, but our work as trusteeship over 2022 and early 2023; to help bolster the charity, will certainly enable us to keep fighting the fight, concerning equity surrounding school unform.
Chair
## Karen Hobson
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## Back round g
Uniform Exchange has been providing school uniform support to families in Kirklees, West Yorkshire for eleven years. The idea for the charity was born after founder Kate France watched a BBC documentary called "Poor Kids," which featured a young boy wearing his sister's hand-me-down uniform to school. Kate realised then there was a need for assistance in her community and sought to make a difference.
Uniform Exchange now works with 95% of the 182 schools across the locality and is dedicated to helping families and communities in need. The charity has developed connections with community groups, local agencies, and schools in deprived areas throughout Kirklees, which has made it a valuable resource for social workers, teachers, key support workers, family workers, charities, school hubs, and community centres.
When the charity first established itself, there were significant barriers to overcome, with stigma and parents being reluctant to ask for help. However, as Uniform Exchange built stronger relationships in deprived and marginalised communities, more families began reaching out for support directly.
The charity has evolved over the years, and its approach has changed as a result of working with parents and schools. Uniform Exchange is committed to providing a service that meets the changing needs of the community and continually seeks new ideas and feedback. For example, in response to a suggestion from a parent, the charity launched an online form to make it easier for parents to access their services via their phones.
Uniform Exchange is also committed to sustainability and operates as a zero waste, circular economy charity. All donations are reused, recycled, or repurposed, with nothing going to landfill. The charity received 50 tonnes of donations in 2022 and continues to grow year on year.
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To increase their impact Uniform Exchange has expanded their service, over 6,700 children were support in the 2022/23 school year. The charity has developed several schemes to improve parent engagement and an up-lift in reuse over buying new, such as community exchange events, local Uniform Exchange hubs, and pop-up shops offering sustainable school uniforms.
Expanding their network has allowed Uniform Exchange to provide even more support to local schools and families, promoting equality of access to education and improving educational opportunities for children in need and those who want to positively impact the environment.
## The Uniform Exchan e Priorities g
## Our Vision: Making Second-hand First Choice
Every child in Kirklees can access affordable school uniform, displacing uniform poverty and promoting a culture of reuse and sustainability, fostering confident young people and adults.
## Our Mission: Providing School Uniforms - Supporting Our Community
At Uniform Exchange, we strongly believe in the power of community support and environmental responsibility. That's why we offer free school uniforms to any child who needs them, whilst encouraging families to donate their old uniforms, instead of throwing them away.
Our dedicated team works hard to repair, reuse and recycle these donations to make good quality school uniforms accessible to all Kirklees children, particularly those facing financial hardship.
By providing free school uniforms, we both
- Strive to reduce social isolation and poverty-related bullying in local schools, ensuring that every child can focus on learning; and
- Demonstrate our commitment to minimising the environmental impact of school uniform and preserving the planet for future generations.
## Our Key Aims
1. **Social Impact** - Identify and help those in greatest need
2. **Sustainability** - Actively promote the reuse of school uniform to every child
3. **Stability** - Generate a sustainable income to support the charity
## Our Objectives
Our Charity’s strategic objectives are designed to guide and structure our future activities. By focusing on these five key objectives, we'll be able to develop and execute our strategy with clarity and purpose.
- **R** aising Awareness and Promoting Access for All (Related Aims: SOCIAL IMPACT/ SUSTAINABILITY)
- **E** nvironmental Change and Waste Reduction (Related aim: SUSTAINABILITY)
- **U** niform Requests and Donations (Related Aims: SOCIAL IMPACT/ SUSTAINABILITY)
- **S** tability and Financial Growth (Related Aim: STABILITY)
- **E** ducate School Children to Make Second Hand First Choice (Related Aim: SUSTAINABILITY)
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## Our Values
Our strong values drive every step of our journey, when it comes to our work, we make sure that our values are at the forefront of everything we do. We asked our stakeholders on multiple occasions what they valued about Uniform Exchange and what they believed our core values are. The feedback was clear and consistent:
“We are child focused, **community** driven, and act with **compassion** , **integrity** , with an **environmentally sustainable** ethos at the core.”
## How we delivered on our values and priorities in 2022
- provided free school uniform to anyone who found themselves in financial hardship.
- sought out and found children and families who needed help.
- went out into the community and delivered uniform to the families.
- received tonnes of donations from families who took on board our values.
- stopped families putting school uniform into landfill.
- brought in new volunteers to deliver our service.
- forged new partnerships with support networks and businesses.
- established new streams of funding and received continued support from others.
## Achievements 2022
The cost-of-living crisis has meant our services have been required more than ever before. We have increased our level of support to children and families in our community by 87%. In the previous 12 months (2021) we supported 3,592 children with uniform, coats or shoes. In this last 12 months we have supported 5,663 children. We are very proud to have made such a significant difference.
Our main achievements:
- Provided over 5,500 children in Kirklees with free school uniform inc. school coats and shoes
- Received approx. 40 tonnes of donations from families and schools
- Provided free school uniform with an estimated retail value of £607,000
- Gave out over 2,200 winter coats and 2,500 pairs of shoes
- Reused over 60,000 items of good uniform to families
- Stopped over 15 tonnes of unusable uniform going into landfill
- Washed 2.5 tonnes of good, but dirty, school uniform
- We amassed over 10,000 hours in volunteer time
- Our contribution to the community equates to £7.00 for every £1 invested into Uniform Exchange
- 94% of all schools in Kirklees used our service that’s 171 of 182
An increase in the need for our service has meant finding more volunteers, we are pleased to have more than doubled the number of regular volunteers we have on a weekly basis. Our charity was recently given The TSL ‘open to all award’ for our support to volunteers. We have people from all backgrounds with different stories, one of the stories is outlined in this press release https://huddersfieldhub.co.uk/why-mum-helped-by-uniform-exchange-is-now-a-volunteer-for-the- charity herself/
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We’ve had two opportunities to go on national TV, promoting the charity and sharing the impact the cost-of-living crisis is having on families. We featured on Channel 4’s ‘Steph’s Packed Lunch in June, Luke Kemper came to our site and did a live feed to the studio. In September BBC breakfast sent one of their roving reporters and myself and the volunteers had the chance to ‘go live’ and talk about the charity.
In July 2022 we employed a new operations administrator, and they were able to significantly impact and improve our efficiency immediately. This meant we were able to continue to grow and provide support to our community.
In July 2022, we also launched our on-site charity shop .The shop has become well known locally for being affordable and helpful for those in need. We offer a monthly £5 grab a bag so families can afford clothing and don’t fall into clothing poverty. Over the last few months, the Charity Shop has seen it profits grow, so it can significantly contribute to the Charity’s sustainability.
This year, we also launched a new Sustainable Uniform Exchange project and seen an overwhelming uptake from local schools. We set out to establish eight schools in the first year to give us a soft start however, word of mouth has driven this number up. Since we launched in September an extra 200 children have been supported who wouldn’t have normally accepted help. The press release outlines the work we’ve been doing https://huddersfieldhub.co.uk/pupils-save-their-parents-a-fortune-byholding-school-uniform-giveaway-days/
Our winter coat campaign, had a bigger and wider impact than ever before in 2022 as we were able to distribute over 2,200 warm coats, hats, gloves, scarves, snoodies and fresh underwear items. We want to make sure the children are warm in the cold months, we will continue to do this year on year. https://huddersfieldhub.co.uk/uniform-exchange-makes-urgent-plea-for-childrens-coats-ascost-of-living-crisis-plunges-more-families-into-poverty/
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## Feedback
Testimonies received from our families and other service users helps us to gauge if our charity is fulfilling its purpose. They enable us to shape the service and to continually monitor and improve our provision for those that access the service, either directly or on the behalf of others. In 2022, we received many positive comments, which has reinforced what we do and deliver.
## Uniform Exchan e Services g
## Our main activities include:
1. Encouraging all families and schools across Kirklees to donate surplus school uniform items
2. Prepare the donated school uniform items ready for reuse
3. Deliver the school uniform items to families and family support teams who require them
We have gained an excellent local reputation for providing good uniform and reusing what we are given, almost all 182 schools are now donating and taking school uniform. In 2022 we saw the need for second-hand uniform rise again significantly as families struggled to find the finances to buy new and the cost-of-living crisis hit.
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## Uniform Exchange Processes
Uniform Exchange is built exclusively around a reuse ethos as most school uniform items children grow out of have life left in them. We rely on the generosity of Kirklees families passing on outgrown uniform items and Kirklees schools passing on lost property to make this service work.
## Donations
We promote Uniform Exchange 12 months of the year, mainly through PR, social media, emails and communications through schools, businesses and other charities. We ask the parents to donate items into our many collection boxes across Kirklees.
We collaborated with several businesses to hold donation boxes this includes Kirklees libraries, KAL sports centre, Council offices, Sainsbury’s, schools and community hubs. We have extended our partnerships with local businesses these include, Forget Me Not Charity shops, Local Co-op’s, packhorse Shopping Centre, Foodbanks, Tesco, Morrison’s, Asda, Independent shops, Nursery’s, Café’s, Pubs, and Churches.
We ask for donations of any item used for school no matter what the condition. This includes poloshirts, trousers, coats, skirts, shirts, jumpers, tights, cardigans, blazers, shoes, socks, vests, underwear, trainers, pumps, sports kits, dresses, footballs boots, bags and swimwear.
We collect from many sites on a regular basis, asking them to contact us when their box is full. We have a dedicated team of volunteers that collect for us on a weekly basis plus we have our own van, which goes out collecting and delivering.
Our team has been working tirelessly to increase donations through various publicity channels in Kirklees. Our efforts have included articles in local newspapers (print and online), an appeal for help on BBC Radio Leeds, and a feature in the Kirklees residence newsletter. We're pleased to say that these efforts have produced positive results.
## Stock Management
Last year, we collected approximately 50 tonnes of school uniform donations through our collection boxes. Once the items arrive at our warehouse, we meticulously sort and check them to ensure that only good acceptable items are selected for our stock shelves. Any unacceptable items are recycled through Oxfam's sustainable and trackable recycling process. We also mend any items that are still in good condition to prolong their useful life.
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Due to the large volume of donations, we expanded our sorting process into a larger space and made modifications to improve efficiency. Any items deemed reusable are washed and folded before being placed on our shelves. In 2022, we washed over 2.5 tonnes of school uniform items.
Our stock control system is efficient and organised, with items sorted by size and type. The stock consists of approximately 40,000 clothing items, including logo items specific to each school.
## Request Processing
Since the introduction of our app-based form in 2021, accessing school uniforms has become simpler for parents, with 99% of referrals now being submitted through the app. Only a few schools still send us request forms via email. This year, parent/guardian referrals were the most prevalent, followed by schools, education safeguarding, and charities.
To reach families in need, we maintain close relationships with local agencies that support and assist children and families, and being part the Poverty Partnership, the Children's & Young People Partnership led by Kirklees Council, and the Families Together Partnership led by the third sector. These connections provide us with access to social workers, teachers, support workers, family workers, charities, school hubs, children's and community centres, school admissions, school nurses, foodbanks and policing teams, among others.
We aim to complete and deliver requests within seven days, which extends to three weeks during the summer holiday peak season. Urgent requests receive priority processing. The number of items provided is determined by the child's age, and we always strive to provide as many items as possible and the best quality items available.
A note is included with each delivery, informing parents that they can directly request more uniform when their child outgrows the current items.
## Delivery
Once the request is completed the bag is stickered with the requesters identification number then dropped off at the requested point. As we have seen a year-on-year growth this has forced us to make alternative arrangements, as the libraries can’t take them all. We have a team of delivery drivers who now deliver to a mix of locations, libraries, the requesters home address, community spaces or schools.
## Uniform Exchange Key Projects
Our team at Uniform Exchange, recognises the significance of removing obstacles to education. We believe that appropriate school uniforms can eliminate these barriers, so the child is ready to learn. In addition, we provide undergarments and warm coats to promote dignity and warmth in the learning environment.
## Summer Holiday
We strive to meet the needs of our community, and with the support of donations and funding, our aim is to provide as many fully stocked request bags as possible over the summer holiday. Last summer July-Sept we supported 1,982 children with a bag of uniform, this was an increase of 40% on the year before. Our stock levels of logo donations are limited, as parents tend to purchase items
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larger, to last for multiple years. Despite this, we are committed to providing the right items to those in need.
During the summer we top-up our inventory of key items such as shirts and shoes and supplement the stock of more expensive items like Blazers, PE tops, and ties. Our aim is to assist families in their purchases, so they can obtain any additional missing items they may need. We also ensure that we have an adequate supply of underwear items available, which can be a costly expense, amounting up to £25 per child for the most essential items.
## Uniform Exchange works closely with the schools and children’s support services to identify the
most vulnerable children and families across Kirklees. With their help we supported 8% of children in education in Kirklees in the last school year 22/23.
## Winter Coat Campaign
In the winter months 2022/23 we delivered 2,360 coats (an increase of 48% on the previous year) plus extras to the 72 Schools who participated in requesting help for families, finding themselves in financial hardship. We also had five foodbanks to help distribute extra coats to families not accessing via the schools.
Each year we look to expand the coat project to include other items that will benefit children during this colder season. As well as the normal coats, hat, gloves, scarves, sock, tights, vests and underwear. This year we will add in the fluffy hoodie to the order form, the same as last year.
To ensure the winter coat exchange project meets the needs of the most vulnerable children and families across Kirklees we work closely with the schools to identify recipients. The request forms go directly to the schools and only the schools can place an order. We work closely with the headship teams and the designated safeguarding leads to identify those children that are in most need. Much of the time this will be pupil premium children and those families the schools know are struggling financially.
Additional funding means that we can offer our services across the area buying in some stock and extras to make sure each child gets access to a full winter pack. The pack can include a coat, a hat gloves & scarf set, underwear and a snoodie.
## Sustainable Exchange
The Sustainable Exchange is a pilot project and was new for 2022 and forms part of Uniform Exchange. Over the past decade we’ve worked with schools to reuse and recycle school uniforms. Last year we provided 40,000 items of uniform to families in Kirklees, saving more than 50 tonnes of clothing from landfill.
Sustainable Exchange expands our recycling offer of reusable uniforms, the idea is to encourage parents to use more second-hand uniforms and meets the Governments 2021 statutory guidance for schools on the 'cost of school uniforms'. This guidance means that schools need to offer alternative means of obtaining school uniform which are both affordable and second-hand. Many schools lack the capacity to provide this support, so Uniform Exchange can help provide the solution.
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Our Sustainable Exchange approach to schools and parents is to help remove the stigma of ‘secondhand’ uniform. We hope to do this by encouraging everyone to reuse and recycle, which makes financial and environmental sense for all.
Our Sustainable Exchange offer is to work with the eco ambassadors in each school and support them in promoting the Sustainable Exchange to their peers and parents. Our dedicated school coordinator helps create a sustainable ethos throughout the school. Plus deliver our ‘Sustainable Assemblies’ these are child led, educating children about recycling and reusing clothing.
We help create and support pop-up uniform shops in school. We deliver the uniform, and the signage and the school eco ambassadors run the shop and promote it to parents. Using this approach, we aim to get eight schools on board during the first year, to see if the concept works and can be rolled out across Kirklees.
## Mirfield Hub
The Uniform Exchange Hub run by the Salvation Army Community Church in Mirfield has grown from 10 children supported in 2021 to 109 in 2022. With minimal financial support this year they have grown the project across their six schools. They increased the awareness of the project through pastoral work in the schools and doing assemblies. We hope to replicate this hub model across Kirklees to increase the impact of Uniform Exchange.
## Communications
To increase requests for the summer we promote the charity through schools, social media and press releases as we have done in previous years. This year we have also been able to email all parents who placed an order last year to remind them to place an order early this year to avoid disappointment. This was a very successful way to spread the workload for the summer.
We try to raise the profile of winter coat project every year, we promote it in the local media and ask local businesses to do collections. To make sure as many children as possible can access the service we have a two-fold approach. We will be sending out communications to all Kirklees schools plus we will also use the foodbanks to help us recognise families with children who need coats. Using the foodbank service last year meant we were able to target families that have already been identified as needing extra help.
We send emails out based on the deprivation index around the school, those in the less the 30% getting the first choice. By early November all schools will be notified of the project and have access to the form to complete. We do this to manage orders coming in and meeting the expectations of the schools.
## Governance
Our team is governed by our Board of Trustees. Our governing document provides for a minimum of three trustees but to ensure we have all areas covered we have six serving members.
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To ensure that Uniform Exchange is effectively governed as the Charity seeks to grow and develop its activities. We have allocated roles to each of the Trustees to provide effective oversight and support to the Charity, alongside providing clarity to the Trustees. These roles also provide the Operations and Strategy Lead who is currently acting in an unpaid capacity as CEO.
The roles include but is not limited to, People and Wellbeing Lead , Business planning & Business Development Lead, Fundraising Lead, Business Contracts and Premises Lead, Safeguarding Lead, Strategy and Operations Lead, Finance and Strategy Lead.
## Income Streams
This year we secured the assistant of a fundraiser to enable us to tap into more grant funds. Their involvement has been pivotal in helping us to not only identify new grant funders but also in helping us to recognise that our work has trading potential and as such, this is something that we certainly need to pursue.
Towards the end of 2022, we recognised that the with the cost of living crisis in toe, we certainly needed to review our financial model.
As in previous years, our income has predominantly derived from funding provided by Kirklees Council. We are grateful to the Kirklees Council, for their investment in our work over the 2022 period, and that this has provided a level of stability, in light of the cost-of-living crisis.
However, going forward we aim to maximise income through a variety of means in order to ensure continuity of service as well and maintaining our impact upon families and communities.
## Marketin g
Our marketing strategy aims to ensure that our activities help underpin our strategic objectives particularly around raising awareness. Therefore, we target parents, children, businesses, local council, and the general public to elevate our profile.
We focus on digital media as our main source of communication through most of 2022. Facebook has been our most prominent opportunity to offer our services and e-form and to boost our profile.
We have been very fortunate to receive some positive press coverage through our local in-press and online newspapers. We featured on Channel 4’s ‘Steph Packed Lunch in June and BBC breakfast in September, we discussed the work of our charity and shared the impact cost-of-living crisis is having on families.
We also did many face to face table top community and school events, however these weren’t always well attended. We found emails to schools and key partnerships through Kirklees Council helped pass on information more efficiently to those families in need plus we also continued to use the local community anchor groups.
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## Future Plans
Due to the cost-of-living crisis we have seen a significant year on year increase and continue to need additional funding and space for activity and growth. Our future plans focus around increasing activity and having access to regular addition income.
## **Key priorities will include:**
## Kirklees Hubs
There is a definite need to increase our visibility, critically outside the school setting so Uniform Exchange becomes the first place you think of when thinking what to do with your old uniform. We are keen to look at more community-based working, expanding our local hubs offer so parents have greater access. We also want to expand our offer directly with schools and give them more of the responsibility to collect and redistribute the uniform. This will reduce the impact on our resources but increase the number of families impacted annually. In 2023/24 we are looking to establish 2 hubs in Dewsbury and Batley.
## Sustainable Income
We have made some strides in developing income models to support the charity’s sustainability going forward. In 2021, we developed an online shop (eBay) reselling good quality unwanted items, that were being donated to UE alongside uniform. As such this has grown, and we have now launched a charity shop at our existing site which has proven to be very popular. We hope to expand this site so we can continue to build our circular economy work. In 2023, we plan to explore other revenue streams to aid our sustainability, including individual giving and fundraising events to provide additional unrestricted funds.
We are hoping that contractual work with the Kirklees Council will continue, having built a strong relationship with the council. Nevertheless, we recognise that there are many financial challenges facing local authorities across the UK.
## Social franchising
As a charity Uniform Exchanges hopes to operate as a social franchise and be successful in community transformation. We want to replicate UE through a network of outlets in council areas, who will operate under central values, training and resources. Our founder, coming from an entrepreneurial background and with the ambitions to become a social franchiser wants to drive this social action programme forward. This had to be put on hold and will be reviewed and picked up again in 2024.
## Staffin and Volunteerin g g
Uniform Exchange is run day to day by two members of staff and an enthusiastic and dedicated workforce of 20 part-time volunteers, that support the charity on a weekly basis, this can vary from 3 hours to 4 days during the week. We are very grateful to our team and all the time that they give. We are continually advertising for new volunteers as we realise that without them, we would not have such a formidable offer to our community. Additional volunteer support for specific projects has been
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provided by business partner volunteers without whom we would not have been able to achieve much of our work.
During 2022 we took on another part-time paid role to assist in the operations of the charity, we realise that unless we had this support we would struggle to grow. Having paid positions in the key roles ensures our capacity and skill level does not suffer, and we can continue to serve our community, currently the roles are parttime. We believe that investing in these plans will assist the charity in moving forward and strengthen key relationships to achieve our objectives.
We have also taken on three part-time contractors to assist in other key areas of the charity. One covers finances and bookkeeping, another funding and PR and finally we have taken on an exteacher to pilot the Sustainable Exchange project. All providing monthly support to the charity.
## Financial Review
During 2022 the charity raised £94,878. £32,756 of this income was given for specific activity related to poverty proofing families through the school summer holidays and cold winter period, with uniform and warm coats. £48,000 was granted by Key Fund via the Social Enterprise Support Fund to assist with operating costs, prepare a new business plan and launch of the Sustainable Exchange project. Charitable donations and the efforts of the new charity shop have increase unrestricted giving through 2022. Expenditure for the period totalled £149,019 as a result of increased activity in response to the cost of living crisis and the collateral damage caused by the pandemic.
However, this P&L deficit was negated by reserves from the previous year.
We must note that an error was made and in the filing of the 2021 accounts. Not all funds were carried forward into the start of 2022. The balance amount that was not brought forward equated to £14,017. This is now reflected in the 2022 accounts, with all the necessary accounting adjustments made.
## Reserves Policy
The charity’s unrestricted reserves as of 31st Dec 2022 were £46,789. This represents four and a half months unrestricted fund expenditure on charitable activities. Restricted funds are held by the charity for only as long as is necessary to organise the relevant activities. Normally, these funds are spent within twelve months of receipt. The charity is seeks to hold at least six months running costs, however with the cost of living crisis the ability to maintain six month reserves is becoming more of a challenge. Nevertheless, The trustees impetus to raise additional unrestricted funds will be a priority over the next 12-18 months.
## Post balance sheet events
No matters or circumstances have arisen since the end of the financial period which significantly affected or may significantly affect the operations of the charity, the results of these operations or the state of affairs of the charity in the financial year subsequent to the financial period ended 31st December 2022.
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## Statement of Trustees’ responsibilities
The charity trustees are responsible for preparing a trustees’ annual report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice).
The charity trustees are required to prepare financial statements for each year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of incoming resources and application of resources. In preparing financial statements, the trustees are required to:
- _Select suitable accounting policies and apply them consistently._
- _Observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP._
- _Make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent._
- _State whether applicable accounting standards have been followed, subject to any material departures disclosed and explained in the financial statements._
- _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. 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.
## Si ned on behalf of Trustees g
Mrs Karen Hobson, Trustee….…………………………………. Date 26 0ct 2023
Mrs Kate France, Trustee …………………………………….. Date 26 0ct 2023
## Payments & Receipts
## **See the CC16a below**
**16 |** P a g e
||**UNIFORM EXCHANGE**|**UNIFORM EXCHANGE**|**UNIFORM EXCHANGE**|**UNIFORM EXCHANGE**|**UNIFORM EXCHANGE**|**1177750**|**1177750**|**1177750**|**CC16a**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||**For the period**
**from**||**01/01/2022**||**31/12/2022**||**Dec-22**
**Period end date**|||
|||||||||||
|**Section A Receipts and payments**||||||||||
|**A1 Receipts**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**32,756**
**3,731**
**200**
**5,047**
**545**
**42,278**
**-**
**-**
**42,278**||**Restricted**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**4,500**
**100**
**48,000**
**52,600**
**-**
**-**
**52,600**
**13,453**
**91**
**53,279**
**4,103**
**4,140**
**60**
**16,037**
**30**
**364**
**9,492**
**376**
**1,555**
**118**
**4,321**
**107,419**
**-**
**-**
**107,419**
**- 54,819**
**74,653**
**19,834**||**Endowment**
**funds**
**to the nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**||**Total funds**
**to the nearest £**
**32,756**
**4,500**
**-**
**100**
**48,000**
**3,731**
**-**
**200**
**5,047**
**-**
**-**
**545**
**94,878**||**Last year**
**to the nearest £**|
|Kirklees|**32,756**||||||||**135,947**|
|One CommunityGrants|||||||||**8,500**|
|TNLCF Grants|||||||||**10,000**|
|Third Sector Leaders||||||||||
|KeyFund||||||||||
|Charitable Donations|**3,731**||||||||**5,581**|
|General Donations|||||||||**2,484**|
|Fundraising|**200**||||||||**2,079**|
|Sale of Goods|**5,047**||||||||**2,070**|
|Gift Aid|||||||||**500**|
|Refunds|||||||||**239**|
|Other|**545**||||||||**745**|
|**_Sub total_**_(Gross income for_
_AR)_|
**42,278**||||||||**168,145**|
|||||||||||
|**A2 Asset and investment sales,**
**(see table).**||||||||||
||**-**
||||||**-**||**-**|
|~~**_Sub total_**~~|**-**||||||**-**||**-**|
|**_Total receipts_ **
**A3 Payments**||||||||||
||||||||||**168,145**|
|||||||||||
|
AgencyStaff|||**13,453**||||||**-**|
|CharityShop|**567**||||||||**-**|
|Cleaning|||**91**||||||**-**|
|Clothes & Shoes|**13,840**||**53,279**||||||**24,123**|
|Computer Equipment|**1,584**||||||||**318**|
|Fundraising|||||||||**40**|
|Insurance|**890**||||||||**917**|
|Laundry|||**4,103**||||||**4,813**|
|Marketing|||**4,140**||||||**515**|
|Miscellaneous|**42**||**60**||||||**146**|
|Office & General Admin|**2,165**||||||||**580**|
|Payroll & Pension|||**16,037**||||||**4,982**|
|Printing|**1,854**||**30**||||||**21**|
|Professional Services|**827**||**364**||||||**244**|
|Property|**17,049**||**9,492**||||||**17,539**|
|Stationery& Postage|||**376**||||||**350**|
|Storage Equipment|||**1,555**||||||**-**|
|Subscriptions|**294**||||||||**-**|
|Telephone|**552**||**118**||||||**261**|
|Van & Transport|**1,934**||||||||**2,821**|
|Volunteer Expenses|||**4,321**||||||**4,855**|
|**_Sub total_ **|**41,600**||**107,419**||||||**62,525**|
||**-**
**-**
**41,600**
**679**
**-**
**46,110**
**46,789**|||||||||
|**A4 Asset and investment**
**purchases, (see table)**||||||||||
||**-**||||||**-**|||
|**_Sub total_ **|**-**||||||**-**||**-**|
|**_Total payments_ **
**_Net of receipts/(payments)_**
**A5 Transfers between funds**
**A6 Cash funds last year end**
**_Cash funds this year end_**||||||||||
||||||||||**62,525**|
|||||||||||
||**679**||**- 54,819**||**-**||
**- 54,140**||**105,620**|
||**-**||||**-**||**-**||**-**|
||**46,110**||**74,653**||||**120,763**||**15,143**|
||**46,789**||**19,834**||**-**||**66,623**||**120,763**|
CCXX R1 accounts (SS)
30/10/2023
1
|**Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period**|**Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period**|**Section B Statement of assets and liabilities at the end of the period**||
|---|---|---|---|
|**Categories**
Signed by one or two trustees on
behalf of all the trustees
**B1 Cash funds**
**B2 Other monetary assets**
**B4 Assets retained for the**
**charity’s own use**
**B5 Liabilities**
**B3 Investment assets**|Signature
**Details**
**Details**
HSBC Bank Account
Petty Cash
**Details**
**Details**
**_Total cash funds_**
(agree balances with receipts and payments
account(s))
**Details**|**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Restricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**to nearest £**
**46,269**
**19,834**
**520**
**-**
**46,789**
**19,834**
OK
OK
**Unrestricted**
**funds**
**Restricted**
**funds**
**to nearest £**
**to nearest £**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Cost (optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Fund to which**
**asset belongs**
**Cost (optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**Fund to which**
**liability relates**
**Amount due**
**(optional)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**-**
Print Name
KAREN HOSBSON
KATE FRANCE|**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||OK|
||||**Endowment**
**funds**
**to nearest £**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**Current value**
**(optional)**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**Current value**
**(optional)**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**-**|
||||**When due**
**(optional)**|
|||||
|||||
|||||
|||||
|||||
|||||
||||Date of
approval|
|||KAREN HOSBSON|26/10/2023|
|||KATE FRANCE|26/10/2023|
CCXX R2 accounts (SS)
30/10/2023
2
CHARITY COMMISSION
FOR ENGLAND AND WALES
Ind8pendent examinerfs
report on the accounts
Section A
Independent EMaminer'5 Report
R•port to th• trust• '
On accounts for th• yur
•nd•d
314)EC-2022
Charlty no
Irf •nyl
1177750
S•t on p•g••
I ieF*rft to the Iwslees on my exaMinatn of the ants of abwg
¢harty (Ihe Tn{.) for th• yr ended 311121x122
R•BpM•lbllltSe* •nd As the Charity trustees of the Tfust. you ar• re8F*SIT)le for the yeparatic
b•*h of rnport oflh8 ac£ounts in acc¢)rdance with the requirements of the Chantw Act
2011 Acr).
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Lwk1er 8e¢tion 145 of thg 2011 Ad and in out my examinatvi. I
follty¥ed the apFlutAe Direct given by tho Chaity CcYnmtMw
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examinati)n which me Cau to b•li•v• that In. •ny rnltsri
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the Acl or
)th the examinab.on lo whith ottention 8houkl drawn in order to enab
oper underslanding of tho aGcount81o be
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Octob•r 2018