2025-08-31-accounts

FUSS (Free UniformS for School)

Annual Report and Accounts

For the period 1st September 2024 to 31st August 2025

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FUSS (Free UniformS for School)

Annual Report and Accounts

For the period 1st September 2024 to 31st August 2025

Contents Page

Legal & Administrative Information	3
Trustees’ Report	4 - 8
Independent Examiner’s Report	9-10
Statement of Accounts	11-12

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FUSS (Free UniformS for School)

LEGAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION

Registered Charity Number 1199396

Principal office St Luke’s Methodist Church 19 Market Street Hoylake Wirral CH47 2BF Email [e-mail] (email address for official charity business only) Website www.wirralfuss.co.uk Trustees Rev Helen Jobling Chair [until 21/06/2024] Mrs Rachel Colburn Chair [from 16/05/2025] Dr John Huthnance Secretary Mrs Pamela Simms Treasurer [until 21/06/2024] Mrs Charlotte Laing Treasurer [from 13/03/2025] Mr Andrew Kemp Development Manager Mrs Christine Conway Mrs Margaret Allen Mrs Sheila Fowler Mr Jack Watson [from 13/09/2024] Bankers Lloyds Bank plc 137 Telegraph Rd, Heswall, Merseyside CH60 0AN

Independent Examiner Mr Andrew Lovelady

Gorsedene, 50 Tollemache Road, Prenton, Merseyside CH43 8SZ

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FUSS (Free UniformS for School)

Trustees’ Annual Report

For the period 1st September 2024 to 31st August 2025

This is the third annual report of FUSS (Free UniformS for School).

The Objects of FUSS , as stated in the Constitution, are:

The relief of financial hardship among families in the Wirral and surrounding area by the recycling and provision or funding of clothing and equipment, in particular but not limited to school uniform, which they could not otherwise afford.

FUSS furthers its charitable purposes for the public benefit, by responding to requests to provide good quality, preused and new school uniform to families in need; and, through its wider activities, encouraging families, schools and those involved with child welfare in the environmentally positive practice ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ in respect of school uniform, without regard to social or economic circumstances.

FUSS and its principles

In FUSS’s first annual report, covering the period from June 2022 to August 2023, the Trustees gave a detailed account of the story of the charity, its principles, background, context, earlier funding, methods and operations: via its website, online services and its eight volunteer-led local Hubs. It is not proposed to rehearse these matters in such detail in this or future reports, and the Trustees refer those interested to consult that earlier report, a copy of which is available via the Wirral FUSS website which also contains subsequent annual reports and current operational information.

FUSS’s principles remain the same. Known locally as Wirral FUSS, the charity encourages and enables the free distribution of school uniform, for re-use by families, without judgement of circumstances. There is no means-test: ‘if you need it, and we’ve got it, you can have it’. We aim to follow the Christian principles of compassion, integrity, kindness and care – for families and for the environment – demonstrating faith-in-action: God’s love for all. We also aim to reduce the quantity of textiles entering landfill, by ensuring that any surplus uniform or unusable items are sent for textile reclamation or recycling. For every one tonne of clothing waste-prevented from landfill, seven tonnes of carbon emissions (mainly from replacement textile manufacture) are saved.

Achievements and Performance – 2024-25

During the 12-month period to the end of September 2025, FUSS:

• responded to 5,874 requests from families, schools and children’s workers

• gave away 30,057 items of school uniform and equipment

• prevented nearly 9.9 Tonnes of clothing entering landfill, either by its reuse, or by recycling it

The figures above represent a 5.8% increase in requests, a 3.2% increase in uniform items given away to families, and approximately a 20% decrease* (see ‘Plans for the Future’ below) in the amount of clothing waste-prevented, compared with the previous year. During the year FUSS has grown its commitment to pass on good quality surplus clothing to charities working in countries affected by war and disasters, via Teams4U based in Wrexham.

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This represents a continuing growth in activity compared with the previous year, though the pace of that growth has slowed considerably, perhaps reflecting a time of succession and consolidation for the charity after the rapid expansion of previous years. However, the ongoing cost-of-living crisis remains a major issue. We still hear many saddening stories of worry, hardship and distress; we try to do our bit to help. Many families express their gratitude for the help they receive. We also recognise that many families are becoming more inclined to engage with FUSS as they seek to be more environmentally conscious. We continue to provide considerable quantities of uniform for asylum seeking families, though with the change in occupancy at the hotel in Hoylake in the summer of 2025, this may reduce a little in future.

FUSS functions as well as it does due to the dedication and hard work of its Coordinator – Petra Dye-Davies – and its volunteers. Our Coordinator continues to work tirelessly in servicing the hubs, maintaining contacts, supporting the volunteers and spreading the word about FUSS. Once again, several of our hub teams have been strengthened by new volunteers during the year, which has been an immense help; and some volunteers have also swapped roles. There are now 42 FUSS volunteers in addition to the Trustees.

At the end of summer 2024 it was recognised by Petra and the FUSS Management Group, that the sheer growth of the project had begun to produce some major pressure points. In particular, trying to cope with the vast number of online requests in the summer, for 10 secondary schools, was becoming an impossible task for the hard-working team at the Hoylake Hub in the limited space available to them. Within hours of the meeting where this was decided, Petra had found a new hub location and some volunteers to run it! The excellent group at Egremont Community Centre in Wallasey, has since taken on the work supplying uniform to parents whose children attend the 4 Wallasey secondary schools; thus, bringing the uniforms closer to those who need them, and leaving Hoylake Hub to deal more effectively with supplying clothes for the other 6 schools. Lisa and her small team, in the first nine months of 2025, responded to 309 requests from families, gave away 1,163 uniform items, and processed 235Kg of donated clothing.

Our other hubs at Hoylake, Moreton, Lower Bebington, Heswall, Wallasey St Hilary’s, Bromborough Village Centre, Neston, and the FUSS Shop in the Grange Precinct, Birkenhead, have all contributed to another significant year in the work of Wirral FUSS. But FUSS is also happening beyond the Wirral. In 2024/25 our daughter project in Skelmersdale – Skem FUSS – ‘grew up’ and achieved independent status. They now run their own affairs and have plans for the future, aided by the significant remainder of the West Lancashire Council grant, passed onto them by Wirral FUSS. Our secondary hub serving Ellesmere Port is slowly taking shape, and in 2026 we are also looking to supply clothing for those attending the 6 primary schools in the Neston area.

The FUSS websites also evolved further in 2024-25, including the bespoke websites developed for Skem FUSS and the new Ellesmere Port FUSS hub. These provide more up-to-date information on Hub opening, improved features for selecting items on the online request forms, and more information on pick-up points. Donation drums were placed in several new school locations, signage and banners updated or replaced, and other links with supportive community groups and venues were developed. The innovation introduced in 2023, to select from which Hub the family would prefer to pick up their items, has been further developed.

As reported last year, hitherto the Birkenhead hub has been used under a Tenancy at Will between Wirral Methodist Circuit and the Pyramids Shopping Centre (owned by the Mars Pension Fund). In 2023 Wirral Borough Council took over the ownership of the Pyramids as part of a redevelopment plan and a new contract between Wirral BC and FUSS was under negotiation for a conventional 3-year lease. These negotiations have been frustratingly protracted, and at the time of reporting the lease has not yet been signed. It is hoped this process will be concluded shortly. In the meantime, the tenancy has operated according to the existing arrangement.

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At the end of 2024, the FUSS Management Group said very grateful thanks and ‘goodbye’ to Trustees Pam Simms and Rev Helen Jobling, who had served their terms as Treasurer and Chair respectively, both playing vital roles in finding funding streams for the work, and in easing FUSS from being a Circuit project to a fully-fledged charity. Later in the year, new Trustees joined the team. First Jack Watson, who has been instrumental in developing and putting in place a new Safeguarding policy and structure, designed for the very different settings in which FUSS operates. Later, Rachel Colburn, one of our Hoylake volunteers, took on the role of Chair of Trustees; and in the summer, Charlotte Laing became our new Treasurer.

Financial Review

The day-to-day accounting is carried out by the Treasurer and is reviewed quarterly by the Trustees as part of the Management Group's business. Online transactions are approved in each case by the Treasurer and one other officer. Payroll is currently sub-contracted to the Wirral Methodist Circuit (see below), and all expenses and expenditure on resources made by the coordinator are checked and authorised by the Treasurer and the Development Manager. The Trustees continue to encourage donations and to seek funding from a variety of sources: to maintain the solvency of the charity, its commitments with regard to salary etc. and mindful of its Reserves Policy. Maintaining and expanding the work of the charity will require reliable income going forward and the Trustees are actively engaged in putting this in place.

In 2024/25 our grant from the Liverpool Methodist District ended, just as the district was absorbed into the new North West England District. At the very end of the 2023/24 accounting period, FUSS was successful in applying for match-funding to cover most of the charity’s running costs: from the Steve Morgan Foundation for 24 months (£25,000); and then – part way through 2024/25 – from the National Lottery Community Fund for 18 months (£20,000). This funding will cover most of our current salary and day-to-day running expenses until July 2026.

However, at the end of August 2025, the long-term support provided by the Wirral Methodist Circuit since 2018, bearing the cost of running the FUSS Shop in Birkenhead (rent/service charge and utilities), ended. FUSS is immensely grateful for this committed contribution to its work. Small funding streams have been developed from public donations online and in the hubs, and from the sale of waste clothing for textile reclamation, but substantial additional funding will be required to replace the Circuit’s contribution and to cover salary, etc. after the Lottery and SMF funding ends. The Trustees have successfully applied to The Cupalt Foundation, initially to make up the small projected shortfall for salary in 2025/26, to cover the cost of the FUSS Shop from September 2025, and to rebuild its reserves – a grant of £28,704 will be paid to FUSS in early September 2025. It is hoped that a further grant from The Cupalt Foundation will cover similar costs in 2026/27, but if the Trustees wish to pursue their long-term intention of employing a Part-Time Assistant Coordinator, then funding for this will have to be sought from elsewhere during 2025/26.

Wirral Methodist Circuit Meeting has also signalled that from 1[st] April 2026 they wish to pass the FUSS Coordinator’s employment contract to the FUSS Trustees and Management Group. Preparation for this TUPE will commence in the autumn of 2025 to ensure that all Petra’s rights and interests are protected. Her Contract/Terms and Conditions of Employment and Job Description will be reviewed in consultation with her. The Trustees aim to request that the Methodist Church Payroll Bureau continue to provide their service to FUSS regarding Petra, and that her workplace pension with The Pensions Trust will continue to be paid via the Bureau. This process will be completed during 2025/26 and reported in FUSS’s next annual report.

Reserves Policy

The charity’s Reserves Policy is reviewed annually by the Trustees in order that the agreed policy may be reported in the Annual Report and Accounts. Particular regard is made to uncertainties in relation to future levels of grant funding, and the charity’s liabilities in terms of its responsibilities as an employer. The trustees’ policy is to maintain

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the free reserve in unrestricted funds at a level which equates to approximately three months of unrestricted expenditure.

Policy Development

From 2022-23, since becoming a registered charity, the FUSS Trustees have been actively developing a set of Policy documents tailored to the specific operating context of FUSS. Specifically:

• 1 Governance

• 2 Reserves (see above)

• 3 Risk Management

• 4 Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

• 5 Safeguarding

• 6 Health & Safety at Work and 6a Lone Working

• 7 Staff Conditions of Employment and 7a Job Description

• 8 Disciplinary and Grievance Procedures

• 9 Volunteer Agreements

• 10 Data Privacy (and data mapping)

All of these have now been completed, are in operation, and are subject to annual review. In particular, working with FUSS’s new Trustee, Jack Watson – a specialist in the field of safeguarding – FUSS has established a bespoke Safeguarding Policy and Procedure model to operate throughout FUSS, including in hub settings where other existing safeguarding regimes are in place (e.g. Churches). All Hubs have the policy and procedure notices displayed, all volunteers have received copies of these, and all volunteers have been familiarised with the guidelines by the coordinator. The Staff Condition of Employment Policy will be updated to reflect any changes to the Coordinator’s employment contract during the TUPE process described above.

Plans for the Future

We continue to raise awareness amongst families and schools about reducing, reusing and recycling in relation to school uniform. Towards the end of the year there has been some early evidence of schools and uniform retailers responding to the impending legislation relating to school uniform; full compliance will be required by September 2026. This change aims to bring about the following changes:

• The limiting of branded items of uniform to 3 items for Primary Schools and 4 for Secondary Schools (if one of these is a tie)

• For ALL other items (including shirts, trousers, skirts, etc.) schools should permit families to purchase generic alternatives (e.g. from supermarkets, etc.)

• Schools must ensure second-hand uniforms are easily available or must publish details of such schemes on their websites.

• Schools should avoid exclusive single-supplier contracts, allowing for best value, and for variations in religious dress.

• Many schools are considering gender-neutral policies, ensuring girls have the option to wear trousers.

These changes will undoubtedly have an impact on the way FUSS works, and we are already observing changes in the amounts of clothing donated via schools* and adjustments to their attitudes to ‘lost property’. It is intended that in the coming year our Coordinator will do further work in schools, raising awareness and helping schoolteachers to work with children in focusing on ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ in relation to uniform.

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Plans for developing our Secondary uniform hub in Ellesmere Port, aided by a small grant from the Cheshire West & Chester Council, will continue; along with serving the primary schools around Neston, also in that council area.

The Trustees and the Coordinator are aware of the age profiles and multiple commitments of some of our volunteer teams, and that there is a need going forward to continue to identify and train new volunteers.

Structure, Governance and Management

The Trustees meet regularly as a Management Group which also includes the FUSS Co-ordinator (the one part-time employee) and a volunteer at the Birkenhead shop. The Management group met in person four times in the reporting period. Regular items are: Report from the FUSS Co-ordinator, matters raised by volunteers, Documents and Policies, Finance (Present balance and near-term commitments, Raising funds for the future, Grant Applications), Other planning for the future. Minutes are kept by the Secretary.

There is considerable e-mail correspondence between meetings, especially between the Trustees with named roles (see below) who are also the signatories to the bank account; two signatures are required for any payment. The Development Manager is also the Line Manager for the FUSS Co-ordinator. The four officers – Chair, Secretary, Treasurer and Development Manager – also meet occasionally when required between the Management Group meetings.

No Trustees received any remuneration, payments or benefits from FUSS other than refunds of legitimate Trustee expenses.

Reference and Administrative Information

FUSS (Free UniformS for School): Registered Charity Number 1199396

Principal office: St Luke’s Methodist Church, 19 Market Street, Hoylake, Wirral, CH47 2BF

Trustees:		(appointed until)
•	Rev Helen Jobling, Chair	2024 (stood down 21/06/2024)
•	Mrs Rachel Colburn, Chair	2028
•	Dr John Huthnance, Secretary	2028
•	Mrs Pamela Simms, Treasurer	2024 (stood down 21/06/2024)
•	Mrs Charlotte Laing, Treasurer	2028
•	Mr Andrew Kemp, Development Manager	2026
•	Mrs Christine Conway	2026
•	Mrs Margaret Allen	2028
•	Mrs Sheila Fowler	2028
•	Mr Jack Watson	2027

Trustees’ Responsibilities in relation to the Accounts

The Trustees are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements and for being satisfied that they give a true and fair view, and for such internal control as the Trustees determine is necessary to enable the preparation of financial statements that are free from material mis-statement, whether due to fraud or error. In preparing the financial statements, the Trustees are responsible for assessing the ability of FUSS to continue as a going concern, disclosing, as applicable, matters related to going concern and using the going concern basis of accounting, unless the Trustees intend to cease operations or have no realistic alternative but to do so.

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Section B Staternent of assets and liabilities at the end of the period kndb lyr ndB Totyi e**h 21.1V iu ch8rfty• own u•• IUo&ll4 e. eDKe> 12