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2025-03-31-accounts

LETCHWORTH FOODBANK

RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNTS

AND TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

LETCHWORTH FOODBANK

RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNTS AND TRUSTEES’ ANNUAL REPORT

CONTENTS YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

Page
Trustees’ Annual Report 1 - 7
Independent Examiner’s Report 8
Receipts and Payments Account 9
Statement of Assets and Liabilities 10
Notes to the Accounts 11

LETCHWORTH FOODBANK ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR TO 31 MARCH 2025

Summary

We are delighted to share with you the outputs and impact delivered for the period covering 1st April 2024 through to 31 March 2025 for Letchworth Foodbank (Charity number: 1197672). Across Letchworth, Hitchin and Baldock and surrounding areas we:

Introduction

Letchworth Foodbank has a remit to support people facing hunger across the SG postcode area. To enable this, we have a warehouse located in Letchworth and three Distribution Centres (to be named Welcome Centres), in Letchworth, Baldock and Hitchin. We open our centres on Tuesday and Friday mornings from 10 - 12:00.

We provide emergency food parcels to those who are struggling to afford the essentials. The parcel provides the household with enough food for 3 days. In addition to this we provide supermarket vouchers to enable the purchase of fresh food, provide fresh produce through our partnership with Best Before cafe and local allotment holders, provide extra support to families at Christmas and offer debt and benefits advice through a partnership with Citizens Advice.

The majority of our service delivery takes place in Letchworth, and it is important to note that clients from Letchworth will on occasion choose to collect food from our Hitchin or Baldock Centres to keep their foodbank use anonymous or to fit with their other local activities (school run, visiting family, accessing services etc.). The offer of several collection points offers choice and dignity to those that use the Foodbank.

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LETCHWORTH FOODBANK ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR TO 31 MARCH 2025

Who we have helped

In the period of 1 April 2024 to 31 March 2025, 1238, referral vouchers were redeemed by clients (as compared with 1293 in the previous year). Each voucher is for the number of people living in that household.

Overall, we provided 3570 emergency food parcels, of which 1992 were to adults and 1578 to children (compared with a total of 3921 and 2332 and 1589, respectively, in the previous year).

The number of parcels distributed is down in comparison to last year but is beginning to stabilise. The significant reduction in distribution is likely to be the result of the Department for Work and Pensions decision taken in March 2024 to stop referring their clients to food banks.

Letchworth Welcome Centre was our main distribution point. In 2024/25 of the total (1238) vouchers fulfilled, 60% (745) were fulfilled by Letchworth Welcome Centre, 30% (374) from Hitchin and 10% (119) from Baldock.

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LETCHWORTH FOODBANK ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR TO 31 MARCH 2025

Who is using Letchworth Foodbank? Of the 3570 emergency parcels provided:

As Letchworth South East ward has the highest population and levels of need shown by the Indices of Multiple Deprivation, it is right we should see a significant number of clients from that ward. In Hitchin, we continue to see a drop in those using the food bank following the move to Westmill Community Centre, the transport links make it challenging for some to reach us.

We will seek to work with referral partners to increase awareness and further understand needs in these locations. We will also explore how access to transport and our opening hours factor into the accessibility of the foodbank.

Why are people needing to access Letchworth Foodbank?

Along with Trussell, we believe that there should not be a need for food banks in the UK, but sadly the need does not look to be going away. Of the vouchers fulfilled in this period, the top three reasons for referral were:

Where previously being in receipt of benefits would be enough to cover the essentials this is no longer the case.

Of the vouchers fulfilled with the household source of income listed (total 1181), the majority of those accessing our support are in receipt of benefits and not earning 854 (72%). However, 204 (17%) were earning and receiving benefits and 50 (4%) were earning and not in receipt of benefits.

Going forward we plan to explore the rates of those experiencing in-work poverty across our geographic locations and determine if there is a need to offer evening or weekend distribution hours.

1 Priority Debts are those that can cause an individual particularly serious harm if not addressed. These include rent or mortgage arrears, council tax arrears, gas or electricity bills, phone or internet bills etc.

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LETCHWORTH FOODBANK ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR TO 31 MARCH 2025

How we help

Emergency Food Parcels

Letchworth Foodbank has distributed 37 tonnes of food to those who are facing hunger across the SG postcode. This includes food distributed from our three centres and food we provide to community groups.

Our food parcels are nutritionally balanced containing non-perishable goods designed to last three days. Specific packages for those with no access to cooking facilities and/or hot water can be provided. The total value of the emergency food parcels provided to those accessing the foodbank is £79,111. This figure is calculated by using the Trussell figure of £2.77 per KG of food provided and based on each food parcel being approximately 8kgs. This figure is very conservative, and the true value is likely to be much higher.

Supermarket Vouchers

In addition to providing food we give supermarket vouchers to enable clients to buy fresh produce such as vegetables, meat and fish. During the reporting period we provided approximately £30,000 worth of supermarket vouchers.

Toiletries and fresh produce

Clients attending our centres are also offered toiletries, fresh food (via our Best Before Café and allotments partnerships), pet food and access to advice from Citizens Advice on site. Supporting the wider community

In addition to providing food via our Foodbank Welcome Centres we provide food to local community organisations to distribute, increasing access to food for those in need. Partners provided to in 2024/25 include:

Christmas Giving

During Christmas 2024, we provided a total of £50,000 of supermarket vouchers for families nominated by schools and faith groups across Letchworth and Baldock. We supported those in Hitchin through the Hitchin Schools Partnership with Tilehouse Rotary Club and Hitchin Youth Trust.

Money Advice

Our Financial Inclusion project with Citizens Advice North Herts, funded by Trussell, enables clients to engage with Citizens Advice on site at our centres, reducing barriers to access budgeting, debt and benefit services.

This funding covers 8 hours of Citizens Advice Link Worker time which is used to provide on-site support at the food bank sessions and two Specialist Advisers each providing 22.5 hours’ worth of support each week to our clients. This enables more in-depth support and debt and benefits work to be undertaken. Citizens Advice supported 248 people on site at our Hitchin and Letchworth Foodbank Welcome Centres. Citizens Advice estimate this enabled £365,862 in financial gains for clients and £164,022 worth of their debt to be written off, greatly improving the financial outlook for those living in our community and supporting them to achieve a position where they will not need to access the food bank again.

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LETCHWORTH FOODBANK ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR TO 31 MARCH 2025

How it happens

Food Supply

Most of the food we provide to clients is generously provided by the community. We have permanent food collection points in supermarkets, local offices and churches. At Harvest and Christmas local schools, churches and businesses often do additional collections for us.

This year, similarly, to last year we have seen a reduction in food donations with a total of 27 tonnes being donated compared to 32 tonnes in the same period last year. This is likely to be the impact of everyone experiencing the increase in essentials and finding it harder to give.

As a result of reducing food donations, we are purchasing food to ensure we keep up with demand.

Picture: Donation from local business, HFX.

Going forward we are seeking to further build our partnerships with food donors. For example, donations from corporations only made up less than 2% of our total food donations, we believe there is scope to increase this in the coming years.

Referrals

Our clients are referred to us via community-facing organisations who can assess their needs and signpost them to us. The chart below shows the top 10 referral partners based on vouchers fulfilled.

Our strong partnerships with Citizens Advice North Herts and Settle have continued this year. In the year ending 31 March 2025, 506 of the vouchers we fulfilled were referred by Citizens Advice. It is important to note that external factors impact the ability for agencies to refer. Staff changes, reduction in services due to funding cuts and changes to online services all impact on whether an agency can refer to us. For example, local schools’ partnerships have disbanded in some locations, so we need to build stronger relationships with schools to ensure they are confident to refer families to us. Considering this, our plans for 2025/26 include building stronger relationships with existing referral partners and extending our network of referrers to ensure all those in need of our support have an easy point of access.

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LETCHWORTH FOODBANK ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR TO 31 MARCH 2025

Maintaining the partnership with Settle as it undergoes a merger is of particular importance.

Our Team

We are fortunate to have a team of 60 active volunteers who run our distribution centres supporting and serving clients, sort and pack food at our warehouse, deliver food between locations and collect food from our donation points. We estimate the financial benefit to the community is around £60,000 per annum.

In June 2025, we appointed our new Director, Charlie Hayter. Charlie comes from a charity sector background and is keen to build on the Foodbank’s great community connections and support and ensure we reach those who need us most in a sustainable way.

How we are funded and what we spend our money on Our income

For the financial year ending March 2025 our income was: £228,047.

Our expenditure

To deliver our services and

support to the community during the financial year 24/25 it cost £184,286.

We are seeking grant funding to continue our Citizens Advice partnership beyond the funding period. The current funding for this partnership ends in April 2026 with delivery of 22.5 hours of Specialist Adviser support running through to the end of July 2026.

Looking Ahead

Over the coming year we will develop our strategic roadmap in collaboration with clients, partners (funders, referral partners, statutory services, charities etc.) and volunteers. The following objectives outline our current trajectory, and this will be refined and further developed with our stakeholders.

Objective 1: Increase access to foodbank support

Success Indicators: Number of active referral agents, number of vouchers fulfilled, number of parcels provided.

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LETCHWORTH FOODBANK ANNUAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR TO 31 MARCH 2025

Objective 2: Deliver greater impact to our clients through partnerships that service immediate needs and/or prevent the need for emergency food

Success Indicators: Number of clients signposted to other support, number of partnerships established, client feedback.

Objective 3: Increase awareness and engagement to enable sustainable delivery

Success indicators: Tonnes of food donated, sources of donations, number of followers (socials) and engagement levels, number of email subscribers.

Objective 4: Improve our ways of working

Success indicators: client satisfaction and impact, volunteer feedback, implemented governance review suggestions, policy review complete.

Objective 5: Ensure financial sustainability

Success Indicators: Income level, restricted vs. unrestricted, mix and source of funders, secured continuation funding for the Financial Inclusion project, new funders on board, number of bids in the pipeline.

Approved by order of the board of trustees on 22 January 2026 and signed on its behalf by:

D Nasmyth-Miller - Trustee

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LETCHWORTH FOODBANK INDEPENDENT EXAMINER’S REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

I report on the accounts of Letchworth Foodbank (Charity number: 1197672) for the year ended 31 March 2025 set out on pages 9 to 11.

Respective responsibilities of trustees and examiner

The Charity's trustees are responsible for the preparation of the accounts. The Charity's trustees consider that an audit is not required for this year (under Section 144(2) of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act)) and that an independent examination is required.

It is my responsibility to:

Basis of the independent examiner's report

My examination was carried out in accordance with the General Directions given by the Charity Commission. An examination includes a review of the accounting records kept by the Charity and a comparison of the accounts presented with those records. It also includes consideration of any unusual items or disclosures in the accounts and seeking explanations from you as trustees concerning any such matters.

The accounts comprise a receipts and payments account and a statement of assets and liabilities prepared on a cash basis.

I have considered whether the information contained in the Trustees’ Report is consistent with the accounts.

The procedures undertaken do not provide all the evidence that would be required in an audit, and consequently no opinion is given as to whether the accounts present a 'true and fair view ' and the report is limited to those matters set out in the statements below.

Independent examiner's statement

In connection with my examination, no matter has come to my attention:

have not been met; or

R S Harris FCCA Nagler Simmons Chartered Accountants 5 Beaumont Gate Radlett WD7 7AR

Date:

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LETCHWORTH FOODBANK (CHARITY NUMBER: 1197672) RECEIPTS AND PAYMENTS ACCOUNT FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

Unrestricted
Funds
£
RECEIPTS
Donations
People's Fundraising
57,118
Individual donations
14,487
Institutional and corporate donations
21,104
Grants
6,699
Gift Aid
11,530
110,938
Other Income
Interest received
9,682
TOTAL RECEIPTS
120,620
PAYMENTS:
Direct Charitable Expenditure
Food and goods
6,966
Food vouchers
77,308
Subcontractors
-
84,274
Other Expenditure
Staff cost
6,000
Rent and service charge
5,434
Light and heat
720
Insurance
885
Telephone
159
Computer expenses
228
Postage, packaging and stationery
208
Repairs and renewals
901
Donations
1,000
Sundry
185
Legal and professional fees
1,814
Accountancy
1,170
Bank charges
60
Sub total
18,764
TOTAL PAYMENTS
103,038
NET RECEIPTS
17,582
Funds at beginning of the year
331,871
Funds at end of the year
349,453		 Restricted
Funds
£
-
-
-
107,427
-
107,427
-
107,427
-
-
49,417
49,417
-
31,831
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
31,831
81,248
26,179
50,644
76,823		 2025
Total
Funds
£
57,118
14,487
21,104
114,126
11,530
218,365
9,682
228,047
6,966
77,308
49,417
133,691
6,000
37,265
720
885
159
228
208
901
1,000
185
1,814
1,170
60
50,595
184,286
43,761
382,515
426,276		 2024
Total
Funds
£
61,672
19,308
33,513
74,518
13,025
202,036
7,411
209,447
-
59,955
56,956
116,911
-
37,183
300
747
424
-
1,417
11,124
1,000
40
-
-
60
52,295
169,206
40,241
342,274
382,515

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LETCHWORTH FOODBANK STATEMENT OF ASSETS AND LIABILITIES AT 31 MARCH 2025

CASH FUNDS
CAF Cash bank account
CAF Gold bank account
MONETARY LIABILITES
Creditors
REPRESENTED BY : FUNDS
Unrestricted General Funds
Trussell Trust and Lottery Fund		 2025
2024
Total
Total
Funds
Funds
£
£
14,532
9,068
411,744
410,000
426,276
419,068
-
36,553
426,276
382,515
349,453
331,871
76,823
50,644
426,276
382,515

Approved by the Trustees and Management Committee on 22 January 2026.

………………………………………..

P M Hobson - Trustee

………………………………………..

D Nasmyth-Miller - Trustee

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LETCHWORTH FOODBANK NOTES TO THE ACCOUNTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 MARCH 2025

1. Designated and restricted funds

The Trussell Trust Fund

The Trussell Trust provides substantial grant support to the Foodbank, including the amounts the Charity paid to the Citizens Advice Bureau to attend the Charity’s distribution sessions.

Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation

To support the ongoing operations of the Foodbank and the Foodbank’s rental expenses.

2. Accounting convention

The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention, and in accordance with Charities Act 2011 and the requirements of the Statement of Recommended Practice, Accounting and Reporting by Charities.

3. Taxation

The Charity is exempt from tax on its charitable activities.

4. Trustees’ remuneration and benefits

There were no Trustees’ remuneration or other benefits for the year ended 31 March 2025 nor for the year ended 31 March 2024.

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