## **SEVENOAKS LARDER**
**TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS FOR THE 12 MONTHS ENDED 31.12.24**
1
## **Annual Report and Accounts for the 12 months ended 31.12.24**
Contents
1. Title page
2. Contents
3. Statutory details
4. Objective & Activities.
- Client demographics.
5. Main achievements during the period.
6. Donations & grant/fund income.
- Public benefit.
7. Financial accounts
8. Notes to accounts.
9. Independent Examiner’s Report
2
## **Statutory and administratve details**
**Registered Charity name:** Sevenoaks Larder **Registered Charity number:** 1192371 **Registered address:** Hope Church, Mill Lane Centre, Mill Lane, Sevenoaks, Kent, TN14 5BX **Trustees:** Claire Ritchie(Chair) (resigned 31.12.24) Gordon Lee (Chair from 01.01.25) Hannah Bodek (appointed 28.01.25) Nicci Chandler Goretti Efthimiou Shelly Goldring (resigned 31.12.24) David Hacon (appointed 26.02.2025) Trudie McGowan (resigned 17.11.24) Phil Smith (resigned 5.8.24) Fay Warne (resigned 12.05.2025) Andrea Watson
Trustees are appointed by a resolution at a properly convened meeting of charity trustees.
**Governing document:** Constitution as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation, first registered 17 November 2020.
**Bank account:** Metro Bank Calverley Rd, Tunbridge Wells TN1 2TB
3
## **Objectves & Actvites of the charity:**
The objects of the charity are the relief and assistance of those persons in Sevenoaks District that are in need by reason of financial hardship by providing emergency food supply, essential toiletries and other household items. Also the provision of support or signposting to relevant advisory services or information as the trustees think fit.
The main activities of Sevenoaks Larder include purchasing food and collecting donated items (food and hygiene products) and distributing them to those who are struggling to afford to buy their own food in our community. Sevenoaks Larder also collects supermarket excess food from Waitrose, Marks & Spencer, Lidl, Aldi and Tesco which is also distributed to our clients.
Sevenoaks Larder works closely with other local food banks. We also work with some local schools to help stock their emergency food cupboards for students and their families (those in receipt of Pupil Premium), as well as for their breakfast and after school clubs.
## **Public beneft :**
The trustees declare that they have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit.
## **Client demographics & details:**
Our client base is comprised as follows:
|||**31.12.24**||**31.12.23**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|Number of households registered||**87**||97|
|Total number of clients registered
Comprising : Adults
Children||**222**
**131**
**91**||249
132
117|
|Numberof householdswithchildren||**44**||57|
|Adult only households||**43**||40|
|Single adulthouseholds||**33**||34|
At 31.12.24, our client base was made up as follows, from within our coverage area of Sevenoaks & surrounding villages:
4
Each household is entitled to claim one food order per week. The size of the food parcel depends on the size of the family. The sliding scale is as follows:
||**Allowance given **|**Allowance given **|**Allowance given **|
|---|---|---|---|
||Fresh protein
(number of
portons)|Fresh fruit &
vegetables
(number of packs)|Store cupboard ‘dry’
foods’ (number of
items)|
|Households of 1-2|1|4|8|
|Households of 3-4|2|6|12|
|Households of 5+|3|8|16|
In addition to the above the clients will receive a share of the excess food collected from the supermarkets that day.
Approximately 58% (2023: **55** %) of our clients visit the Larder on their allocated day each week to collect their food and to choose bonus items from the shelves.
The remaining42%(2023: **45** %) are unable to get to the Larder due to transport, mobility, or other issues and have their food delivered by a volunteer.
## **Main achievements of the charity during the period:**
- a) Approximately 3044 (2023: 3760) weekly distributions to clients have been made, i.e. an average of 60 (2023: 74) clients are given food every week.
- b) 21,794kg (2023: 27,520kg) of food has been donated to us during the year. At the current average retail value of food provided by Fareshare each year, this equates to approximately £70,830 (2023: £82,560) worth of food donated.
- c) In the week up to Christmas, in addition to their normal allowances, we were able to give the clients Aldi Orange shopping vouchers, allowing them to buy food at Aldi (but no alcohol or lottery tickets).
## **Contributon of volunteers**
Sevenoaks Larder relies heavily on the support of its volunteers. More than 604 (2023: 450) volunteers have registered to help at Sevenoaks Larder. Approximately 100 of these volunteers help on a weekly basis with many others supporting at other times.
We have also benefitted from the support of students who wish to complete their volunteering hours for their Duke of Edinburgh Awards.
## **Financial Review**
During the period, £38,742 (2023: £45,791) was raised from donations and from funds and grants.
During the same period approximately £38,000 (2023: £51,000) has been spent on purchasing food for our clients, £3,200 (2023: £3,660) on vouchers for clients at Christmas
5
and £4,391 (2023: £3,122) on administration and running costs. Food and voucher costs have reduced because of a reduction in the number of clients we supported and changes to the food we purchased. Administration costs increased because of one off repair costs to the freezer during the year and because we paid the 2025 annual insurance premium on the last day of 2024, meaning two premiums were paid in the one financial year.
Overall, we had a planned deficit of £6,571 (2023: £12,159), drawing on our excess unrestricted funds (see reserves policy below).
## **Donatons & grant/fund income received:**
The Trustees are incredibly grateful to all of those above, and to the whole Sevenoaks Community for their generosity & support.
## **Reserves policy**
At any one time, and in line with the Charity Commission’s guidance, the trustees aim to hold between 3 and 9 months’ worth of expenditure in unrestricted funds in order to protect the activities of the charity, and to ensure that our work can continue into the foreseeable future.
At our current operating levels, this would represent reserves of between about £13,000 and £39,000. At present, our reserves exceed this level (representing about 16 months’ funding) due to two very large donations in 2022 from a London investment bank’s charity fund, but we do not expect these donations to be repeated. The trustees are committed to using these excess reserves to fund the ongoing operations of the charity, and have agreed to temporarily pause any pro-active fundraising efforts until our future plans and forecasts make it necessary when considering our reserve levels.
Our reserves policy will be under constant review, in response to the fluctuating needs of the charity.
6
## **Receipts & Payments Accounts for the 12 months ended 31.12.24**
|**Receipts**
Income received from grants
Income received from donatons
**Total receipts**
**Payments**
Purchases of food
Admin costs
Purchase of fxed assets
Purchase of Christmas food vouchers
**Total Payments**
**Net receipts/(payments)**
Cash funds last period end
**Cash funds this year end**||**12 months to 31.12.24**
Unrestricted
funds
£
Restricted
funds
£
**Total**
**£**
12,274
-
12,274
26,468
-
26,468|**12 months to 31.12.24**
Unrestricted
funds
£
Restricted
funds
£
**Total**
**£**
12,274
-
12,274
26,468
-
26,468|**12 months to 31.12.24**
Unrestricted
funds
£
Restricted
funds
£
**Total**
**£**
12,274
-
12,274
26,468
-
26,468|**12 months to 31.12.24**
Unrestricted
funds
£
Restricted
funds
£
**Total**
**£**
12,274
-
12,274
26,468
-
26,468|**12 months to 31.12.24**
Unrestricted
funds
£
Restricted
funds
£
**Total**
**£**
12,274
-
12,274
26,468
-
26,468||**12 months to 31.12.23**
Unrestricted
funds
£
Restricted
funds
£
**Total**
**£**
10,208
-
10,208
35,583
-
35,583|**12 months to 31.12.23**
Unrestricted
funds
£
Restricted
funds
£
**Total**
**£**
10,208
-
10,208
35,583
-
35,583|**12 months to 31.12.23**
Unrestricted
funds
£
Restricted
funds
£
**Total**
**£**
10,208
-
10,208
35,583
-
35,583|**12 months to 31.12.23**
Unrestricted
funds
£
Restricted
funds
£
**Total**
**£**
10,208
-
10,208
35,583
-
35,583|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||||||||||
||||**38,742**||**-**
**38,742**||||**45,791**||**-**
**45,791**|
|||(37,722)
(4,391)
-
(3,200)|||**-**
**(37,722)**
**-**
**(4,391)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**(3,200)**|||(51,168)
(3,122)
-
(3,660)|||-
(51,168)
-
(3,122)
-
-
-
(3,660)|
|||**(45,313)**|||**-**|**(45,313)**||**(57,950)**|||**-**
**(57,950)**|
|||||||||||||
|||**(6,571)**|||**-**|**(6,571)**||**(12,159)**|||**(12,159)**|
|||**78,209**||||**78,209**||**90,368**|||**-**
**90,368**|
|||**71,638**|||**-**|**71,638**||**78,209**|||**-**
**78,209**|
The trustees acknowledge their responsibilities for complying with the requirements with respect to accounting records and the preparation of the accounts and these accounts have been prepared accordingly. The accounts were approved by the Trustees on 2 July 2025 and are signed on their behalf:
Gordon Lee - Trustee (Chair)
7
## **Notes to the accounts**
1. **Accounts:** The accounts have been prepared as receipt and payment accounts, in line with Charity Commission regulations for a CIO, having income between £25,000 and £250,000. This level of income requires the accounts to have an independent examination.
2. **Receipts:** All income is recognised by Sevenoaks Larder when received into the bank account.
3. **Payments:** payments are accounted for when they have left the bank account.
4. **Funds:** two different types of funding are received by the charity, and are accounted
for separately:
- 1) Restricted funds – funds which have been designated for a specific purpose and must be used as such.
- 2) Unrestricted Funds – funds which are available for general use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of the objectives of the charity and which have not been designated for any specific purpose.
5. **Stock:** Donated and distributed stocks are detailed in the written report and are not
included in the financial reports.
6. **Assets retained for the charity’s own use:**
|**Item**
Storage racking
Commercial fridge
Commercial freezer|**Fund to which asset belongs**
Bought from restricted funds
Bought from restricted funds
Bought from restricted funds|**Cost in 2021**|
|---|---|---|
|||**£**
1,458
911
1,026|
8
## **SEVENOAKS LARDER**
**TRUSTEES ANNUAL REPORT AND ACCOUNTS FOR THE 12 MONTHS ENDED 31.12.24**
1
## **Annual Report and Accounts for the 12 months ended 31.12.24**
Contents
1. Title page
2. Contents
3. Statutory details
4. Objective & Activities.
- Client demographics.
5. Main achievements during the period.
6. Donations & grant/fund income.
- Public benefit.
7. Financial accounts
8. Notes to accounts.
9. Independent Examiner’s Report
2
## **Statutory and administratve details**
**Registered Charity name:** Sevenoaks Larder **Registered Charity number:** 1192371 **Registered address:** Hope Church, Mill Lane Centre, Mill Lane, Sevenoaks, Kent, TN14 5BX **Trustees:** Claire Ritchie(Chair) (resigned 31.12.24) Gordon Lee (Chair from 01.01.25) Hannah Bodek (appointed 28.01.25) Nicci Chandler Goretti Efthimiou Shelly Goldring (resigned 31.12.24) David Hacon (appointed 26.02.2025) Trudie McGowan (resigned 17.11.24) Phil Smith (resigned 5.8.24) Fay Warne (resigned 12.05.2025) Andrea Watson
Trustees are appointed by a resolution at a properly convened meeting of charity trustees.
**Governing document:** Constitution as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation, first registered 17 November 2020.
**Bank account:** Metro Bank Calverley Rd, Tunbridge Wells TN1 2TB
3
## **Objectves & Actvites of the charity:**
The objects of the charity are the relief and assistance of those persons in Sevenoaks District that are in need by reason of financial hardship by providing emergency food supply, essential toiletries and other household items. Also the provision of support or signposting to relevant advisory services or information as the trustees think fit.
The main activities of Sevenoaks Larder include purchasing food and collecting donated items (food and hygiene products) and distributing them to those who are struggling to afford to buy their own food in our community. Sevenoaks Larder also collects supermarket excess food from Waitrose, Marks & Spencer, Lidl, Aldi and Tesco which is also distributed to our clients.
Sevenoaks Larder works closely with other local food banks. We also work with some local schools to help stock their emergency food cupboards for students and their families (those in receipt of Pupil Premium), as well as for their breakfast and after school clubs.
## **Public beneft :**
The trustees declare that they have had regard to the guidance issued by the Charity Commission on public benefit.
## **Client demographics & details:**
Our client base is comprised as follows:
|||**31.12.24**||**31.12.23**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|Number of households registered||**87**||97|
|Total number of clients registered
Comprising : Adults
Children||**222**
**131**
**91**||249
132
117|
|Numberof householdswithchildren||**44**||57|
|Adult only households||**43**||40|
|Single adulthouseholds||**33**||34|
At 31.12.24, our client base was made up as follows, from within our coverage area of Sevenoaks & surrounding villages:
4
Each household is entitled to claim one food order per week. The size of the food parcel depends on the size of the family. The sliding scale is as follows:
||**Allowance given **|**Allowance given **|**Allowance given **|
|---|---|---|---|
||Fresh protein
(number of
portons)|Fresh fruit &
vegetables
(number of packs)|Store cupboard ‘dry’
foods’ (number of
items)|
|Households of 1-2|1|4|8|
|Households of 3-4|2|6|12|
|Households of 5+|3|8|16|
In addition to the above the clients will receive a share of the excess food collected from the supermarkets that day.
Approximately 58% (2023: **55** %) of our clients visit the Larder on their allocated day each week to collect their food and to choose bonus items from the shelves.
The remaining42%(2023: **45** %) are unable to get to the Larder due to transport, mobility, or other issues and have their food delivered by a volunteer.
## **Main achievements of the charity during the period:**
- a) Approximately 3044 (2023: 3760) weekly distributions to clients have been made, i.e. an average of 60 (2023: 74) clients are given food every week.
- b) 21,794kg (2023: 27,520kg) of food has been donated to us during the year. At the current average retail value of food provided by Fareshare each year, this equates to approximately £70,830 (2023: £82,560) worth of food donated.
- c) In the week up to Christmas, in addition to their normal allowances, we were able to give the clients Aldi Orange shopping vouchers, allowing them to buy food at Aldi (but no alcohol or lottery tickets).
## **Contributon of volunteers**
Sevenoaks Larder relies heavily on the support of its volunteers. More than 604 (2023: 450) volunteers have registered to help at Sevenoaks Larder. Approximately 100 of these volunteers help on a weekly basis with many others supporting at other times.
We have also benefitted from the support of students who wish to complete their volunteering hours for their Duke of Edinburgh Awards.
## **Financial Review**
During the period, £38,742 (2023: £45,791) was raised from donations and from funds and grants.
During the same period approximately £38,000 (2023: £51,000) has been spent on purchasing food for our clients, £3,200 (2023: £3,660) on vouchers for clients at Christmas
5
and £4,391 (2023: £3,122) on administration and running costs. Food and voucher costs have reduced because of a reduction in the number of clients we supported and changes to the food we purchased. Administration costs increased because of one off repair costs to the freezer during the year and because we paid the 2025 annual insurance premium on the last day of 2024, meaning two premiums were paid in the one financial year.
Overall, we had a planned deficit of £6,571 (2023: £12,159), drawing on our excess unrestricted funds (see reserves policy below).
## **Donatons & grant/fund income received:**
The Trustees are incredibly grateful to all of those above, and to the whole Sevenoaks Community for their generosity & support.
## **Reserves policy**
At any one time, and in line with the Charity Commission’s guidance, the trustees aim to hold between 3 and 9 months’ worth of expenditure in unrestricted funds in order to protect the activities of the charity, and to ensure that our work can continue into the foreseeable future.
At our current operating levels, this would represent reserves of between about £13,000 and £39,000. At present, our reserves exceed this level (representing about 16 months’ funding) due to two very large donations in 2022 from a London investment bank’s charity fund, but we do not expect these donations to be repeated. The trustees are committed to using these excess reserves to fund the ongoing operations of the charity, and have agreed to temporarily pause any pro-active fundraising efforts until our future plans and forecasts make it necessary when considering our reserve levels.
Our reserves policy will be under constant review, in response to the fluctuating needs of the charity.
6
## **Receipts & Payments Accounts for the 12 months ended 31.12.24**
|**Receipts**
Income received from grants
Income received from donatons
**Total receipts**
**Payments**
Purchases of food
Admin costs
Purchase of fxed assets
Purchase of Christmas food vouchers
**Total Payments**
**Net receipts/(payments)**
Cash funds last period end
**Cash funds this year end**||**12 months to 31.12.24**
Unrestricted
funds
£
Restricted
funds
£
**Total**
**£**
12,274
-
12,274
26,468
-
26,468|**12 months to 31.12.24**
Unrestricted
funds
£
Restricted
funds
£
**Total**
**£**
12,274
-
12,274
26,468
-
26,468|**12 months to 31.12.24**
Unrestricted
funds
£
Restricted
funds
£
**Total**
**£**
12,274
-
12,274
26,468
-
26,468|**12 months to 31.12.24**
Unrestricted
funds
£
Restricted
funds
£
**Total**
**£**
12,274
-
12,274
26,468
-
26,468|**12 months to 31.12.24**
Unrestricted
funds
£
Restricted
funds
£
**Total**
**£**
12,274
-
12,274
26,468
-
26,468||**12 months to 31.12.23**
Unrestricted
funds
£
Restricted
funds
£
**Total**
**£**
10,208
-
10,208
35,583
-
35,583|**12 months to 31.12.23**
Unrestricted
funds
£
Restricted
funds
£
**Total**
**£**
10,208
-
10,208
35,583
-
35,583|**12 months to 31.12.23**
Unrestricted
funds
£
Restricted
funds
£
**Total**
**£**
10,208
-
10,208
35,583
-
35,583|**12 months to 31.12.23**
Unrestricted
funds
£
Restricted
funds
£
**Total**
**£**
10,208
-
10,208
35,583
-
35,583|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||||||||||
||||**38,742**||**-**
**38,742**||||**45,791**||**-**
**45,791**|
|||(37,722)
(4,391)
-
(3,200)|||**-**
**(37,722)**
**-**
**(4,391)**
**-**
**-**
**-**
**(3,200)**|||(51,168)
(3,122)
-
(3,660)|||-
(51,168)
-
(3,122)
-
-
-
(3,660)|
|||**(45,313)**|||**-**|**(45,313)**||**(57,950)**|||**-**
**(57,950)**|
|||||||||||||
|||**(6,571)**|||**-**|**(6,571)**||**(12,159)**|||**(12,159)**|
|||**78,209**||||**78,209**||**90,368**|||**-**
**90,368**|
|||**71,638**|||**-**|**71,638**||**78,209**|||**-**
**78,209**|
The trustees acknowledge their responsibilities for complying with the requirements with respect to accounting records and the preparation of the accounts and these accounts have been prepared accordingly. The accounts were approved by the Trustees on 2 July 2025 and are signed on their behalf:
Gordon Lee - Trustee (Chair)
7
## **Notes to the accounts**
1. **Accounts:** The accounts have been prepared as receipt and payment accounts, in line with Charity Commission regulations for a CIO, having income between £25,000 and £250,000. This level of income requires the accounts to have an independent examination.
2. **Receipts:** All income is recognised by Sevenoaks Larder when received into the bank account.
3. **Payments:** payments are accounted for when they have left the bank account.
4. **Funds:** two different types of funding are received by the charity, and are accounted
for separately:
- 1) Restricted funds – funds which have been designated for a specific purpose and must be used as such.
- 2) Unrestricted Funds – funds which are available for general use at the discretion of the trustees in furtherance of the objectives of the charity and which have not been designated for any specific purpose.
5. **Stock:** Donated and distributed stocks are detailed in the written report and are not
included in the financial reports.
6. **Assets retained for the charity’s own use:**
|**Item**
Storage racking
Commercial fridge
Commercial freezer|**Fund to which asset belongs**
Bought from restricted funds
Bought from restricted funds
Bought from restricted funds|**Cost in 2021**|
|---|---|---|
|||**£**
1,458
911
1,026|
8
CHARITY COMMISSION
FOR ENGLAND AND WALES
Independent examiner's
report on the accounts
Section A
Independent Examiner's Report
Report to the trusteesl
members of
Sevenoaks Larder
On accounts for the year
ended
31 t)mber 2024
Charity no
(rfany)
1192371
Set out on pages
I report to the trustees on my examination of the accounts of the al)ov&
charity (Ihe Trusf) for the year ended 3111212024.
Responsibilities and As the chanty trustees of the Ttust. you are responsible for the preparation
basis of report of the accounts in accordan wth the requirements of the Charth"es Act
2011 (Ihe Acr).
I report in respect of my examination of the Trust's accounts carried out
under section 145 of the 2011 Act and in carrying oui my examination, I
have followed the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission
under section 145(5)(b) of the Act.
I have completed my examination. I confinn that no material matters have
come to my attention (other than that disclosed below ") in connection with
the examinakn.on which gives rne cause to believe that in, any matertal
respect.
accounting records were not kept in accordan wrth section 130 of
the Act or
the accounts do not accord with the accounting records
Independent
examiner's statement
I have no conM$ and have come across no other matters in connection
with the examination to which attention should be drawn in order to enable a
proper understanding of the accourrts to be reached.
. Please delete the words in the brackets rf they do not apply.
Signed:
Name:
ALLY
Relevant professional
qualification(s) or body
lif any):
QOALI FicAriol
Address:
¢5ffo(Lb .
Section B
Disclosure
Only complete if the examiner needs to highlight matters of concem (see CC32,
Independerrt examination of charity accounts: directions and guidance for
examiners).
Give here brief details of
any items that the
examiner wishes to
disclose.