## **Gingerbread The charity for single parent families** 

**Trustees’ Report and Accounts Year ended 31 March 2021** 

## **Gingerbread, the charity for single parent families** 

Company number 402748 Charity number 230750 



Gingerbread, the charity for single parent families 

## **Contents** 

|**Trustees’ report**|3|
|---|---|
|Objectives|3|
|Activities and achievements|4|
|Structure, governance and management|11|
|Financial review|12|
|Acknowledgements|13|
|Auditor’s report|15|
|Statement of Financial Activities|18|
|Balance sheet|19|
|Statement of cashflows|20|
|Notes to the financial statements|21|
|Reference and administration information|34|



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Gingerbread, the charity for single parent families 

The Trustees present their report and the audited financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2021. 

Reference and administrative information set out on page 1 forms part of this report. The financial statements comply with current statutory requirements, the memorandum and articles of association, the requirements of a directors’ report as required under company law, and the Statement of Recommended Practice - Accounting and Reporting by Charities: SORP applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with FRS 102. 

## **Objectives** 

Gingerbread is the national charity working with single parent families. We provide expert information and advice; facilitate peer-to-peer support; and campaign for fair and equal treatment and opportunity for single parent families.  In May 2007 the National Council for One Parent Families (founded in 1918 as the National Council for the Unmarried Mother and her Child) merged with the charity Gingerbread. In June 2013, we changed our registered name from ‘National Council for One Parent Families’ to ‘Gingerbread, the charity for single parent families’, retaining the working name ‘Gingerbread’. 

## **Objects** 

The objects of the charity as stated in the Articles of Association are: 

To prevent or relieve poverty and disadvantage and to promote fair and equal treatment and opportunity among single parents and their children, and to promote and protect their wellbeing through the provision of information, advice, education, training and other services; the conducting, commissioning and publication of research; and the raising of awareness through publications, use of the media, public advocacy and other means of communication.  For these purposes a single parent means an adult who is the main carer for one or more dependent children without a partner in the same household. 

## **Vision** 

Our vision is of a world where diverse families can thrive. 

## **Mission** 

Our mission is to champion and enable single parent families to live secure, happy and fulfilling lives. 

## **Values** 

We value the diversity of family life. 

**Trusted:** we can be relied upon to deliver expert, relevant, and influential work that is evidence-based. Single parent families can rely on us for support. 

**Resourceful:** we work practically, flexibly, and creatively to improve the lives of single parent families. 

**Enabling:** we provide single parents with the knowledge, skills, and confidence they need to lead the lives they want. 

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Gingerbread, the charity for single parent families 

## **Activities and achievements** 

## **Delivering our strategy** 

2020-21 has been a busy year for Gingerbread.  Over the last 12 months, our work has been dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic which has had a disproportionate impact on single parents and their families, placing even greater demand on Gingerbread’s services.  In response we have adapted our services and activities to meet the needs of single parents and respond to new ways of working.  Despite the challenges brought by the pandemic, Gingerbread continued to focus on delivering the final year of our three-year strategy, which was developed in 2017-18 in consultation with single parents and other stakeholders. 

The strategy sets out our key objectives in supporting the 1.8 million single parents in the UK: 

**Objective 1:** Stability through transition – to minimise any negative impact of life changes on wellbeing and poverty of single parents and their children. 

**Objective 2:** Families can flourish – to maximise the choices and opportunities for single parents and their children to thrive. 

**Objective 3:** Families are valued – to build acceptance and celebration of diverse families in wider society. 

**Objective 4:** Fit for the future – to ensure Gingerbread as an organisation is sustainable and equipped to deliver what single parent families want. 

Gingerbread delivers our strategic objectives through our core services of advice, information, peer support, campaigning, research, policy and advocacy. The achievements we have made towards our strategic objectives this year are outlined below. 

## **Implementing our Change Framework** 

In 2018-19, Gingerbread undertook an extensive piece of work to develop a clear theory of change that would guide the organisation’s strategic planning and decision-making in the years ahead.  The resulting report and Change Framework form an integral part of Gingerbread’s journey to becoming a learning organisation, ensuring our services continue to meet the needs of single parents across England and Wales and that Gingerbread remains fit for the future.  Implementation of the Change Framework began in 2019-20, informing operational objectives for the year and underpinning the core impact we aimed to achieve for single parent families into the future.  We continue to deliver the third year of our strategy under the guidance of the Change Framework in 2020-21. 

## **Our response to the COVID-19 pandemic** 

The last twelve months have seen the world change beyond all expectations. We’ve had to find new ways of living and working as we’ve coped with a global pandemic the likes of which most of us have never seen or could ever imagine. It has been a long, hard year for all, not least single parent families, who have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. Single parent families have faced multiple challenges.  The effects of lockdown, economic challenges, unemployment, loss of childcare and informal support networks, challenges of home-schooling and the ongoing uncertainty of the situation will have a long-lasting impact on single parents’ finances, employment, housing, security and wellbeing for a long time to come. 

Gingerbread’s vital advice, peer-to-peer support and information services have never been more in need. And Gingerbread’s role in platforming the systemic barriers, discrimination and disadvantage that single parents and their families face is more important than ever. 

The support needs of our single parent beneficiaries as well as the safety and wellbeing of our staff team have been at the forefront of Gingerbread’s response to the pandemic.  Like many organisations, our staff 

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Gingerbread, the charity for single parent families 

team have adapted to remote working and moving many of our services and activities to digital delivery. In addition, Gingerbread’s policy development, research and campaigning activities have aimed to address the challenges single parent families are facing due to the impacts of the pandemic. 

## **Objective 1: Stability through transition** 

## **Advice and Information service** 

## **Helpline:** 

In the early stages of the pandemic, our free national single parent helpline was inundated with calls, with call rates increasing by 130% at one point.  Our advisers provided up to date information following government announcements ensuring single parents impacted by the pandemic could thrive.  Throughout the year, our advisers continued to provide expert, professional advice with the team moving seamlessly to remote working at the start of the first lockdown.  Over the course of the year our advisers answered 8,312 calls from single parents, with an average of 693 calls per month.  A range of topics were covered with high volumes of calls around Universal Credit and other welfare benefits, tax credits, family law, child maintenance, housing, students, and also the impacts of the pandemic. 

Evaluation of our advice service was conducted in September 2020 and again in February 2021.  The most recent survey revealed that 98% of helpline callers were either satisfied or extremely satisfied with the services, and 98% stated they would use the service again in the future.  The evaluation also highlighted the impact of the service, with single parent users reporting the highest rated outcomes as: feeling as though they have an action plan to move forward with; feeling supported through periods of crises; feeling more knowledgeable about their rights; and feeling as though they have increased confidence. 

_"I wish I had found Gingerbread sooner. They have literally changed my life for the better and I am enormously grateful; already recommended to friends”_ 

   - Single parent helpline user (Family Advice Support Evaluation Report – Sept 2020) 

- _“when you're in difficult position, it's really important to have somebody knowledgeable and helpful to be there for you - Gingerbread was that person; very valuable service for anyone”_ Single parent helpline user (Family Advice Support Evaluation Report – Sept 2020) 

## **Webchat:** 

Our webchat service was relaunched, following a successful pilot in 2019-20. This is now a core part of our advice service offer, delivered by expert helpline Advice Workers, and enables us to use digital technology to increase service reach. The webchat service currently operates for two hours a week and we plan to increase this in the coming year as we secure funds. 

- _“Everything I needed to know was answered quickly and in details. Amazing service.”_ Webchat User (Webchat Pilot Evaluation Report – Sept 2020) 

_“Great service for those who can't get out and are palliative.”_ Webchat User (Webchat Pilot Evaluation Report – Sept 2020) 

## **Online Information:** 

We continue to provide a wealth of information via our website on topics such as benefits, tax credits and Universal Credit, childcare, contact arrangements, managing money and debt, education and much more. Our information content continues to be the most popular content on our website - during the year we received circa 3.3 million unique page views of our website, of which circa 1.6 million  were on our information pages. Our new Coronavirus information page brought together all the information that single parents might need about topics such as lockdowns, childcare arrangements, support bubbles, home schooling, discussing furlough with employers etc. This is frequently updated to reflect the latest 

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government announcements on COVID-19 guidance. 

An evaluation of our information service in February 2021 revealed 91% of website information viewers were either satisfied or very satisfied with the service, with 96% stating that they would use the service again in the future. 

_“Really helpful advice for single parents who are struggling to find the right information”_ Single parent online information user (Online Information Service Evaluation Survey – Feb 2021) 

_“The information on the site was very good and found it easy to understand”_ Single parent online information user (Online Information Service Evaluation Survey – Feb 2021) 

## **Objective 2: Families can flourish** 

## **Peer Support Services** 

## **Peer Support** 

Our peer support service has also experienced an increase in demand due to the impacts of the pandemic.  Our online forums saw a 65% increase in posts compared to the same time in the previous year, with parents talking about being worried about contact arrangements, concerns around who will look after their children if they became unwell and how to manage working without school or childcare in place.  Our volunteer coordinators were inundated with requests for support from scared and fearful parents.  Faced with questions they had no answers to, Gingerbread set up weekly Zoom meetings, allowing coordinators to share their experiences and tips on where to signpost members to along with individual support sessions. 

Throughout the year Gingerbread continued to support and facilitate an active community of peer-topeer support through our Local Single Parent Friendship Groups and Online Forum.  At the end of March 2021, our groups network included 46 active local friendship groups across England and Wales; 11 new groups were opened during the year and, sadly, 19 groups closed, showing the impact of Covid-19 on friendship groups who have borne the brunt of the pandemic  To ensure we can support our volunteer group coordinators as best as possible, we have set up a new staffing infrastructure as part of an expanded service that has been co-produced with single parents. This new team will help scale up the service and grow into new areas such as the North East as well as support existing groups and grow the network in the North, the Central region, the South West, and London & the South East. 

Our Online Forum continued to be a popular resource for single parents with c. 32,000 members. There were 3,838 new threads on the forum during the year - an average of 319 per month, plus a similar number of comments and responses each month, indicating a thriving online community of single parents   A Forum Support Officer was recruited this year to help maintain and develop the forum, as well as support the growing community of forum users. Trained volunteer moderators from Gingerbread’s staff team continue to monitor the forum, ensuring it is a safe and supportive space where single parents can share their experiences, knowledge and coping strategies. 

## **Peer Support Development Project** 

We continued to develop a peer support service that is responsive to single parents’ needs and is fit for the future.  We have engaged with over 1100 single parents to shape the activities and outcomes and throughout the year we have piloted a range of new and redeveloped services, these include: 

- an expansion of our digital offer with improvements to our online forum and digital ‘micro’ groups for different communities with two digital groups piloted targeted at single fathers and parents of children with SEND. 

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Gingerbread, the charity for single parent families 

- a volunteer programme comprising a range of support roles or ‘buddies’ which will target different stages of the single parent journey. These have helped groups define different volunteer roles and utilise a broad range of skills and experiences. We  have worked to create a more specialised support role called a  Money Buddy  which will help single parents avoid the escalation into crisis debt, with more roles to follow. 

- a Wellbeing Programme, currently being piloted and refined. This is specifically tailored for single parents, who are notoriously time poor. We know that single parents need to prioritise self-care and look after their own wellbeing so they can care for their families. 

- regional newsletters featuring positive stories from single parents and develop, pilot and roll out more products from the ideas generated by the research over the course of the next few years. 

Feedback of our peer support services include: 

_“I wish I had had something like the Money Buddies project before.”_ 

- _“I have huge connection to the area and lots of contacts - I have helped six people get laptops for their children (they are all struggling single parents)”_ 

   - _“I love Gingerbread_ ❤ _I’ve made lots of friends through the group, more so during lockdown”_ 

## **Objective 3: Families are valued** 

## **Policy, research, campaigns and communications** 

This year we also worked hard to gather insight, create awareness and influence around the challenges single parents face. We have achieved this through our policy, research and campaigns work and through media appearances from our single parent spokespeople and our Chief Executive Victoria Benson, a single parent herself. 

- **Single Parents’ experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic** Gingerbread gave evidence to the Women and Equalities Select Committee in July 2020 for their inquiry into the gendered economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic. The inquiry  report published in January 2021 reflected a number of our recommendations to Government, for example, around rights to flexible working, , maintaining the £20 uplift for Universal Credit, and a review of how childcare provision can best support working parents and those looking to get back into work or retrain. We also launched a research project, funded by the Standard Life Foundation, into single parents’ journeys through the pandemic and their experience of working and caring with no support.  The interim research report ‘Caring without Sharing’ was released in November 2020 and received a positive response from civil servants, stakeholders, and MPs. The final report was released in mid-May. One of our key recommendations was for an extension of the Track and Trace grant for parents who needed to care for their children if they were sent home from school to self-isolate. This was adopted  in line with our recommendations in both England and Wales.  This was a positive policy win for many single parents who are on a low income and have been unable to work from home. The research project findings are informing the policy debate about the impact of the pandemic on single parents and women in particular, and calls for government policy change. The interim report’s key findings were included in the Women’s Budget Group report ‘Lessons Learned: Where Women Stand at the Start of 2021’. Gingerbread also met with representatives from the Labour Force Directorate at the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to discuss the need for single parents to have better access to flexible working particularly at job advertising. Gingerbread are also part of the think tank Bright Blue’s expert steering group on their ‘Inequalities of Home Working’ Project. From our research findings we are able to share the experience of single parents home working 

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during the pandemic and the development of hybrid working. 

## **Tackling Single Parent Poverty** 

Our report ‘Tackling Single Parent Poverty after the Coronavirus’ conducted with the Learning and Work Institute and funded by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, was published in December 2020. The research involved interviews and workshops with single parents who lost their job or hours during the pandemic and the parents shaped the policy calls to government.  In addition, the analysis of the statistics showed how single parents were disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. 

The figures showed that by the summer of 2020: 

- Single parents were more likely to have lost their jobs, with nearly one in ten (9%) falling out of employment. One in three (34%) single parents were furloughed, compared to just one in four (25%) coupled parents 

- Single parents who remained in work saw the biggest decline in hours, with working hours shrinking by an average of 7.6 hours 

- Single parents were more likely to say they were finding it difficult to manage their finances (11%) and were behind with their bills (13%) than couples with children 

- Single parent families were over three times as likely to have relied on food banks compared to coupled families (7% compared to 2%) 

- Single parents were more pessimistic about their future, with one in five (18%) expecting their financial situation to get worse. 

Evidence from the research was provided to the Lords’ Economic Affairs Committee in the autumn 2020 was included in their report ‘Employment and Covid-19 – the time for a new deal’, published in December. The Committee called for a number of changes in line with Gingerbread recommendations, including for the government to permanently extend the £20 uplift to Universal Credit and extend the uplift to legacy benefits, review the level of the benefit cap, and increase the levels of social security for struggling families and improve back to work support for single parents. 

## **Single Parents and Childcare** 

High childcare costs are a constant theme through our research reports and from calls to the helpline.  In particular single parents tell us of the difficulties of childcare costs being paid in arrears under Universal Credit.  So single parents need to pay for childcare in advance and wait around a month before they can recoup the childcare cost under Universal Credit.  This is a barrier for many single parents when they start a job or when they are increasing their hours of work.  Gingerbread has long called for single parents to be supported effectively with the upfront costs of childcare.  In particular we have  supported the legal challenge led by Save the Children by a single parent Nichola Salvato on the payment of childcare costs under Universal Credit rules providing  written evidence to the High Court including evidence gained from our research and helpline. We have provided ongoing media support throughout the course of the case The case against the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions was won at the High Court in January 2021.  Whilst the government have subsequently taken the case to appeal the win at the High Court was an important first step in challenging the way childcare costs are met under Universal Credit and showing how this is a barrier for many single parents moving into or progressing in work. 

## **Single Parents and Debt** 

Our latest report ‘The single parent debt trap’ delivered in partnership with StepChange was launched in February 2021. The report shows single parents are more than twice as likely to be in severe problem debt than any other household type in the UK, with some of the main drivers being the  design of Universal Credit, , economic abuse by former partners including the failure to pay child maintenance , high childcare costs negating earnings from increased working hours and, owing to lower household incomes a greater reliance on  short-term, high cost forms of borrowing  (the “poverty premium”).  We are now making use of these research findings in our campaigning on child maintenance, debt and poverty, 

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## **Child Maintenance campaign** 

28 per cent of Paying Parents do not pay any of the maintenance they owe under the Child Maintenance Service’s Collect and Pay service leaving some 100,000 children without any maintenance and at risk of poverty at any one time. In June 2020, Gingerbread, with support from  our partners including The Good Law Project and Mumsnet, launched our #FixTheCMS campaign.   In January 2021 we supported Marion Fellows MP (SNP) in her backbench debate on the functioning of the Child Maintenance Service during COVID-19. We engaged more than 200 of our members in writing to their MPs to urge them to participate in the debate and  Gingerbread was mentioned numerous times by MPs from across the parties  The campaign has also gained a high volume of coverage in the media, helping to raise awareness and support from influencers and the public. 

## **Awareness raising communications campaigns** 

## **My Family Moves Campaign** 

Our My Family Moves campaign, which is supported by Sport England, has seen significant disruption due to the pandemic as our leisure trust delivery partners faced great uncertainty due to closure during periods of national and local lockdowns and ongoing social distancing restrictions.  The project team have since redesigned the programme towards a digital campaign.  The redesigned project seeks to support single parents and their children to engage in physical activities that will work around the barriers that they have previously identified alongside ongoing restrictions due to the pandemic. 

## **Single Parents Day – March 21[st]** 

Despite restrictions from the pandemic, we successfully delivered a vibrant awareness raising campaign around Single Parents Day on March 21[st] to highlight the issues single parents face.  The campaign focussed on single parent strength and a ‘year of resilience’ to highlight the challenges single parents have faced since the first lockdown began. In the lead up to Single Parents Day we delivered a number of celebratory online events including the ‘Stand Up For Single Parents’ Comedy Night and Single Parents Quiz Night.  The profile of Single Parents Day was raised through coverage in national regional and trade media outlets.  With support from new Gingerbread Ambassador, single parent Ferne McCann, Single Parents Day was also discussed on the Channel 4 Sunday Brunch show. 

## **Growing our reach and engagement** 

Gingerbread’s reach has grown across multiple channels. Over the course of the year our website reached 1.5million visitors who viewed 4.2million total page views (c. 3.3 million unique page views). Across our social media channels (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn) we have reached more than 49,000 followers.  We continue to improve and increase the volume and quality of our social content in order to help us reach and engage with wider audiences.  We have grown the reach of our digital membership newsletter with over 25,394 single parents registered. 

## **Objective 4: Fit for the future** 

## **Transitioning through change** 

The challenges of working effectively through a pandemic have not only been met by Gingerbread but have opened new opportunities for collaborative and innovative styles of work that had previously not been explored. Gingerbread did not take advantage of the Government’s furlough scheme, but rather allowed all staff to work remotely, making the necessary investment in IT development to facilitate this successfully. Going forward, it seems likely that Gingerbread will adopt a hybrid style of work where staff combine working from home with attending the office as required. 

Gingerbread has made great progress towards being fit for the future this year across several areas including Finance and Resources, HR and Recruitment, Safeguarding, and Fundraising. 

## **HR and recruitment: supporting the Gingerbread team** 

With the departure of the HR Manager in July 2020, the decision was made to recruit a new role at a more senior level – Head of HR. This role operates as a member of the Senior Management Team and 

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Gingerbread, the charity for single parent families 

as such has significant input to the strategic development of Gingerbread as well as the day-to-day management of HR function. 

Staff training remains a key pillar of Gingerbread’s HR strategy, with further development around EDI awareness featuring heavily within that strategy. 

As Gingerbread continues to build on the strong foundations created through business reengineering following the shift away from employability contracts, we have successfully recruited to several key posts including Head of Policy, Head of Comms and Digital, and Head of Fundraising. Furthermore, we have moved away from employing sessional staff to assist with maintaining our advice service and have instead made a number of permanent appointments in that area, including the new role of Advice Service Manager. The Peer Support service has also seen significant recruitment, as has Comms and Digital and Fundraising. 

## **Fundraising** 

Gingerbread’s funding is derived from a mix of income streams comprising statutory, lottery and charitable funders, individual donors, corporate supporters and community fundraising efforts. 

Our main sources of income over the year included grants from the Department of Education and HMRC, to support the provision of advice and information, a grant from the National Lottery Community Fund to develop our peer support service and a grant towards core costs from the Volant Charitable Trust.  The Volant Charitable Trust is one of the charities established by J K Rowling who is Gingerbread’s President. This is an honorary position and J K Rowling plays no part in the governance of Gingerbread or its strategic management. 

We are extremely grateful to those funders who provided emergency funding during the COVID-19 crisis to allow us to continue to be there for single parents throughout the pandemic These included The National Lottery Community Fund, Trust for London (London Community Response Fund), The Dulverton Trust and CAF Resilience Fund. In addition, many funders were flexible in how we could use their funding, including the Sport England Families Fund and City Bridge Trust. 

We also received a grant from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation towards our policy and campaigning work, the Smallwood Trust towards our advice and information service, the Postcode Community Trust and the players of People’s Postcode Lottery towards the development of Money Buddy roles in our peer support service and grants towards our research work from Step Change, Trust for London, and the Standard Life Foundation. We are enormously grateful to all our funders and the many individuals who have supported our work over the year through donations, fundraising and volunteering. The list of funders on Page 13 highlights some of our key funders during the year. 

## **Safeguarding** 

To continually improve our safeguarding response, we have delivered introductory safeguarding training to new staff, regional development officers and we developed a new training programme and handbook for local friendship group leads, which will be rolled out on a regular basis. We also delivered refresher safeguarding training to advice workers, and delivered tailored training to safeguarding managers (head of teams) to ensure they are aware of, and confident in their responsibilities around safeguarding decision-making and escalation. 

We responded to 22 safeguarding concerns and one incident and made two external referrals. We have introduced more streamlined reporting and recording processes for monitoring safeguarding cases. We updated our Safeguarding Policy which was approved by the board in December 2020, and we signed off on a new Managing Allegations Policy regional development. 

## **Public benefit** 

The Trustees have referred to the guidance contained in the Charity Commission’s general guidance on public benefit when reviewing the charity’s aims and objectives and in planning its activities.  In 

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Gingerbread, the charity for single parent families 

particular, the trustees consider how planned activities will contribute to the aims and objectives that have been set. 

## **Structure, governance and management** 

Gingerbread The Charity For Single Parent Families is a company limited by guarantee (registered number 00402748) and a registered charity (number 230750). 

Gingerbread’s governing document, the Articles of Association, was revised in 2013.  The Board of Trustees is responsible for the overall strategy and direction of the charity. 

The Trustees delegate the day-to-day management of the organisation to a Chief Executive Officer.  For the reporting period this was Victoria Benson. Victoria was previously a trustee of Gingerbread but had resigned from the board before her appointment in February 2019.  The Board of Trustees sought and obtained the permission of the Charity Commission to make the appointment. 

Board members give their time on a voluntary basis and receive no remuneration. 

There are a maximum of 15 Trustees, including up to three co-opted trustees, recruited through an open process, informed by a skills and diversity audit.  Trustees are appointed for a maximum of two three-year terms.  Trustees take part in an induction day to familiarise them with the activities and operations of the charity.  They are also provided with a role description and guidance on their duties as trustees. 

The Board has a Finance Committee and a Nominations Committee.  The Trustees also appoint a Safeguarding lead from among their number.  The scheme of delegation details which powers the Board of Trustees retains and which powers are delegated to the Chief Executive. 

The charity is grateful for the contribution of the 54 volunteers who coordinated local friendship groups either singly or jointly through the year across England and Wales and support the charity in a number of other ways. 

The charity benefits from the support of its President. 

## **Remuneration** 

Gingerbread is committed to salaries that are fair, transparent, based on market rates within the sector and enable us to recruit and retain expert staff.  Gingerbread salaries are benchmarked and set at the median market rate (maximum variance of five per cent above or below) for charity sector salaries for all roles including key management personnel.  Gingerbread is accredited by the Living Wage Foundation. The ratio between the highest and lowest salary is 3.73:1 

## **Risk Management** 

The trustees have reviewed the principal risks faced by the charity as well as the controls, procedures and actions established to mitigate and manage those risks.  Risks are reviewed regularly with input from managers across the organisation and are documented in a Risk Register which is reviewed by the Finance Committee and Board of Trustees quarterly. 

The main risks facing the organisation at the time of writing (July 2021) are: 

1. Inability to generate income. Increasing the quantity and diversity of income we can generate to deliver our new strategy remains a risk for the charity. The Chief Executive and Senior Management are focused on this, and are spending a significant amount of time building relationships and working on bids supported by major investment in recruitment of new roles to the Fundraising Team including a Trust and Statutory Fundraiser, a Small Trusts Fundraiser and a Corporate and Major Donor Fundraiser. 

2. Failure to raise unrestricted income.  The Fundraising team are focusing on increasing individual giving, major donor income and smaller general trust income, whilst development of an 

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improved budget tool to support funding applications and a full cost recovery model are both contributing to a significant improvement in unrestricted funding levels. 

3. National Economic Downturn. As the Country and indeed the World recover from the effects of the Pandemic, Gingerbread faces the double challenge of an increasingly sparse field of funding opportunities along with an exponential increase in demand for our services. We address this risk by continuing to strive to diversify our income streams, being very clear in our messaging to funders about increased demand, and continually seeking new and innovative ways to support single parents to find their way out of financial hardship. 

## **Financial review** 

The ongoing rationalisation and reengineering of Gingerbread’s funding streams has seen a reduction in both income for the year (£2,133,717 for 2021 against £2,334,413 for 2020) and expenditure (£1,723,244 for 2021 against £2,401,365 for 2020). Savings relating to home working have also contributed to the reduction in costs. 

Overall, there was a surplus on the year of £446,556 (loss of £91,164 - 2020) after accounting for a gain on investments of £36,084.  At the year end, Gingerbread was carrying forward a balance of £1,036,503 (£589,948 - 2020) of which £148,502 (£136,919 - 2020) was restricted. 

It is worth noting that the this is the first time Gingerbread has reported a surplus after gain on investment since 2014. The year ending March 2022 is budgeted to return a small surplus, with continued growth forecast for subsequent years. 

The financial statements, including the notes to the accounts, have been prepared in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard 102. As a Charity, the accounts are also prepared in accordance with the Statement of Recommended Practice. 

## **Reserves policy** 

The aim of the reserves policy is to ensure that the charity’s reserves are sufficient to provide continuity of service to our beneficiaries, investment capital and ongoing financial security.  The trustees have adopted a policy that aims to have sufficient unrestricted funds set aside to cover three months’ close-down operating costs if needed.  At 31[st] March 2021 this totalled £362,600. Unrestricted funds at the end of the reporting period stood at £888,001 (2020 £453,028) which included tangible fixed assets of £21,961 (2020: £14,598), more than sufficient to cover the requirement. 

No funds were designated for future use at the end of the year. (2020: nil). 

It is our intention to review and adapt our Reserves Policy in the year ending March 2022. 

## **Going concern** 

The Trustees consider that there are no material uncertainties about Gingerbread’s ability to continue as a going concern. Gingerbread’s strong reserve position provides an adequate “cushion” against any potential shortfall in income. There are no material uncertainties affecting the current year’s accounts. 

## **Investment policy** 

The charity’s policy is to seek to maximise its investment income whilst not incurring a level of risk that is inconsistent with its charitable status.  Investments held directly by the charity are: 

- A common investment fund divided between a deposit account and a mixed investment fund 

- A portfolio of shareholdings acquired as the result of a legacy. 

During the reporting period, the charity reviewed its investment policy and worked with an investment manager to develop a longer-term investment plan and manage the portfolio.  The charity’s investments are managed by Seven Investment Management. 

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## **Acknowledgements** 

## **Principal funders 2020-21** 

**Charitable trusts and foundations** The 29[th] May 1961 Charity C H Harrison Will Trust Cecil Pilkington Charitable Trust The Charles and Elsie Sykes Trust Christadelphian Samaritan Fund City Bridge Trust Diana de Yong Charitable Trust The Dulverton Trust Esmée Fairbairn Foundation The Florence Turner Trust G M Morrison Charitable Trust The Ione Vassiliou Trust The Jeannine Vassiliou Trust Joseph Rowntree Foundation The Maud Elkington Charitable Trust The Nicka Vassiliou Trust Postcode Community Trust (People’s Postcode Lottery)Sir Jeremiah Colman Gift Trust Smallwood Trust The Souter Charitable Trust Standard Life Foundation Trust for London The Wyseliot Rose Charitable Trust The Volant Charitable Trust 

## **Statutory and lottery funders** 

CAF Resilience Fund Department for Education Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs Big Lottery Fund (The National Lottery Community Fund) Sport England 

## **Corporate supporters** 

Beechbrook Capital Bibado Noodoll The Single Parents’ Business Network Union Car Parks 

## **Voluntary sector partners** 

StepChange 

We are immensely grateful to the many individuals who have supported our work throughout the year with donations of all sizes, fundraising activities and taking part in our challenge events. 

The Board of Trustees also thanks all of the staff, volunteers and supporters whose commitment, energy and hard work enables Gingerbread to improve the lives of single parent families. 

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Gingerbread, the charity for single parent families 

## **Statement of responsibilities of the trustees** 

The trustees (who are also directors of Gingerbread, the Charity for Single Parent Families for the purposes of company law) are responsible for preparing the trustees’ annual report and the financial statements in accordance with applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice). 

Company law requires the trustees to prepare financial statements for each financial year which give a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the charitable company and of the incoming resources and application of resources, including the income and expenditure, of the charitable company for that period. In preparing these financial statements, the trustees are required to: 

- Select suitable accounting policies and then apply them consistently 

- Observe the methods and principles in the Charities SORP 

- Make judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent 

- State whether applicable UK Accounting Standards and statements of recommended practice 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 charitable company and enable them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies Act 2006. They are also responsible for safeguarding the assets of the charitable company and hence for taking reasonable steps for the prevention and detection of fraud and other irregularities. 

In so far as the trustees are aware: 

There is no relevant audit information of which the charitable company’s auditor is unaware. The trustees have taken all steps that they ought to have taken to make themselves aware of any relevant audit information and to establish that the auditor is aware of that information 

The trustees are responsible for the maintenance and integrity of the corporate and financial information included on the charitable company's website. Legislation in the United Kingdom governing the preparation and dissemination of financial statements may differ from legislation in other jurisdictions. 

## **Auditors** 

Sayer Vincent LLP, our auditors in the year have expressed their willingness to continue in that capacity. 

Approved by the trustees on 27 October 2021 and signed on their behalf by 

Evangelos Raptis Treasurer 

14 



**Independent auditor’s report** 

## **To the members of** 

## **Gingerbread** 

## **Opinion** 

We have audited the financial statements of Gingerbread (the ‘charitable company’) for the year ended 31 March 2021 which comprise the statement of financial activities, balance sheet, statement of cash flows and notes to the financial statements, including significant accounting policies. The financial reporting framework that has been applied in their preparation is applicable law and United Kingdom Accounting Standards, including FRS 102 The Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice). 

In our opinion, the financial statements: 

- Give a true and fair view of the state of the charitable company’s affairs as at 31 March 2021 and of its incoming resources and application of resources, including its income and expenditure for the year then ended 

- Have been properly prepared in accordance with United Kingdom Generally Accepted Accounting Practice 

- Have been prepared in accordance with the requirements of the Companies Act 2006 

## **Basis for opinion** 

We conducted our audit in accordance with International Standards on Auditing (UK) (ISAs (UK)) and applicable law. Our responsibilities under those standards are further described in the Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements section of our report. We are independent of the charitable company in accordance with the ethical requirements that are relevant to our audit of the financial statements in the UK, including the FRC’s Ethical Standard and we have fulfilled our other ethical responsibilities in accordance with these requirements. We believe that the audit evidence we have obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide a basis for our opinion. 

## **Conclusions relating to going concern** 

In auditing the financial statements, we have concluded that the trustees' use of the going concern basis of accounting in the preparation of the financial statements is appropriate. 

Based on the work we have performed, we have not identified any material uncertainties relating to events or conditions that, individually or collectively, may cast significant doubt on Gingerbread's ability to continue as a going concern for a period of at least twelve months from when the financial statements are authorised for issue. 

Our responsibilities and the responsibilities of the trustees with respect to going concern are described in the relevant sections of this report. 

## **Other Information** 

The other information comprises the information included in the trustees’ annual report, other than the financial statements and our auditor’s report thereon. The trustees are responsible for the other information contained within the annual report. Our opinion on the financial statements does not cover the other information and, except to the extent otherwise explicitly stated in our report, we do not express any form of assurance conclusion thereon. Our responsibility is to read the other information and, in doing so, consider whether the other information is materially inconsistent with the financial statements or our knowledge obtained in the course of the audit, or otherwise appears to be materially misstated. If we identify such material inconsistencies or apparent material misstatements, we are required to determine whether this gives rise to a material misstatement in the financial statements themselves. If, based on the work we have performed, we conclude that there is a material misstatement of this other information, we are required to report that fact. 

We have nothing to report in this regard. 

15 



**Independent auditor’s report** 

## **To the members of** 

## **Gingerbread** 

## **Opinions on other matters prescribed by the Companies Act 2006** 

In our opinion, based on the work undertaken in the course of the audit: 

- The information given in the trustees’ annual report, for the financial year for which the financial statements are prepared is consistent with the financial statements; and 

- The trustees’ annual report has been prepared in accordance with applicable legal requirements. 

## **Matters on which we are required to report by exception** 

In the light of the knowledge and understanding of the charitable company and its environment obtained in the course of the audit, we have not identified material misstatements in the trustees’ annual report. We have nothing to report in respect of the following matters in relation to which the Companies Act 2006 requires us to report to you if, in our opinion: 

- Adequate accounting records have not been kept, or returns adequate for our audit have not been received from branches not visited by us; or 

- The financial statements are not in agreement with the accounting records and returns; or 

- Certain disclosures of trustees’ remuneration specified by law are not made; or 

- We have not received all the information and explanations we require for our audit; or 

- The directors were not entitled to prepare the financial statements in accordance with the small companies regime and take advantage of the small companies’ exemptions in preparing the trustees’ annual report and from the requirement to prepare a strategic report. 

## **Responsibilities of trustees** 

As explained more fully in the statement of trustees’ responsibilities set out in the trustees’ annual report, the trustees (who are also the directors of the charitable company for the purposes of company law) 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 misstatement, whether due to fraud or error. 

In preparing the financial statements, the trustees are responsible for assessing the charitable company’s ability 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 either intend to liquidate the charitable company or to cease operations, or have no realistic alternative but to do so. 

## **Auditor’s responsibilities for the audit of the financial statements** 

Our objectives are to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements as a whole are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error, and to issue an auditor’s report that includes our opinion. Reasonable assurance is a high level of assurance but is not a guarantee that an audit conducted in accordance with ISAs (UK) will always detect a material misstatement when it exists. Misstatements can arise from fraud or error and are considered material if, individually or in the aggregate, they could reasonably be expected to influence the economic decisions of users taken on the basis of these financial statements. 

Irregularities, including fraud, are instances of non-compliance with laws and regulations. We design procedures in line with our responsibilities, outlined above, to detect material misstatements in respect of irregularities, including fraud. The extent to which our procedures are capable of detecting irregularities, including fraud are set out below. 

## **Capability of the audit in detecting irregularities** 

In identifying and assessing risks of material misstatement in respect of irregularities, including fraud and non-compliance with laws and regulations, our procedures included the following: 

- We enquired of management and the finance committee, which included obtaining and reviewing supporting documentation, concerning the charity’s policies and procedures relating to: 

16 



**Independent auditor’s report** 

## **To the members of** 

## **Gingerbread** 

   - Identifying, evaluating, and complying with laws and regulations and whether they were aware of any instances of non-compliance; 

   - Detecting and responding to the risks of fraud and whether they have knowledge of any actual, suspected, or alleged fraud; 

   - The internal controls established to mitigate risks related to fraud or non-compliance with laws and regulations. 

- 

   - We inspected the minutes of meetings of those charged with governance. 

- We obtained an understanding of the legal and regulatory framework that the charity operates in, focusing on those laws and regulations that had a material effect on the financial statements or that had a fundamental effect on the operations of the charity from our professional and sector experience. 

- We communicated applicable laws and regulations throughout the audit team and remained alert to any indications of non-compliance throughout the audit. 

- 

   - We reviewed any reports made to regulators. 

- We reviewed the financial statement disclosures and tested these to supporting documentation to assess compliance with applicable laws and regulations. 

- We performed analytical procedures to identify any unusual or unexpected relationships that may indicate risks of material misstatement due to fraud. 

- In addressing the risk of fraud through management override of controls, we tested the appropriateness of journal entries and other adjustments, assessed whether the judgements made in making accounting estimates are indicative of a potential bias and tested significant transactions that are unusual or those outside the normal course of business. 

Because of the inherent limitations of an audit, there is a risk that we will not detect all irregularities, including those leading to a material misstatement in the financial statements or non-compliance with regulation.  This risk increases the more that compliance with a law or regulation is removed from the events and transactions reflected in the financial statements, as we will be less likely to become aware of instances of non-compliance. The risk is also greater regarding irregularities occurring due to fraud rather than error, as fraud involves intentional concealment, forgery, collusion, omission or misrepresentation. 

A further description of our responsibilities is available on the Financial Reporting Council’s website at: www.frc.org.uk/auditorsresponsibilities. This description forms part of our auditor’s report. 

## **Use of our report** 

This report is made solely to the charitable company's members as a body, in accordance with Chapter 3 of Part 16 of the Companies Act 2006. Our audit work has been undertaken so that we might state to the charitable company's members those matters we are required to state to them in an auditor’s report and for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the charitable company and the charitable company's members as a body, for our audit work, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed. 

Joanna Pittman (Senior statutory auditor) 18 November 2021 

for and on behalf of Sayer Vincent LLP, Statutory Auditor Invicta House, 108-114 Golden Lane, LONDON, EC1Y 0TL 

17 



**Gingerbread** 

**Statement of financial activities** (incorporating an income and expenditure account) 

## **For the year ended 31 March 2021** 

|Unrestricted<br>Note<br>£<br>**Income from:**<br>2<br>785,800<br>3<br>187,440<br>4<br>-<br>5<br>11,050<br>6<br>2<br>984,292<br>7a<br>179,347<br>7a<br>335,162<br>-<br>70,893<br>585,402<br>36,083<br>434,973<br>**Reconciliation of funds:**<br>453,028<br>888,001<br>Total funds brought forward<br>**Total funds carried forward**<br>Net gains / (losses) on investments<br>**Net income / (expenditure) for the year and Net**<br>**Movement in Funds**<br>**Net income / (expenditure) before net gains /**<br>**(losses) on investments**<br>398,890<br>**Total expenditure**<br>Research and policy activities<br>Investments<br>**Total income**<br>**Expenditure on:**<br>Raising funds<br>Charitable activities<br>Information and advice services<br>Training, consultancy and projects<br>Research and policy activities<br>Training, consultancy and projects<br>2<br>Donations and legacies<br>Charitable activities<br>Information and advice services|Unrestricted<br>Note<br>£<br>**Income from:**<br>2<br>785,800<br>3<br>187,440<br>4<br>-<br>5<br>11,050<br>6<br>2<br>984,292<br>7a<br>179,347<br>7a<br>335,162<br>-<br>70,893<br>585,402<br>36,083<br>434,973<br>**Reconciliation of funds:**<br>453,028<br>888,001<br>Total funds brought forward<br>**Total funds carried forward**<br>Net gains / (losses) on investments<br>**Net income / (expenditure) for the year and Net**<br>**Movement in Funds**<br>**Net income / (expenditure) before net gains /**<br>**(losses) on investments**<br>398,890<br>**Total expenditure**<br>Research and policy activities<br>Investments<br>**Total income**<br>**Expenditure on:**<br>Raising funds<br>Charitable activities<br>Information and advice services<br>Training, consultancy and projects<br>Research and policy activities<br>Training, consultancy and projects<br>2<br>Donations and legacies<br>Charitable activities<br>Information and advice services|Restricted<br>£<br>-<br>1,071,804<br>-<br>77,621<br>-|**2021**<br>**Total**<br>**£**<br>**785,800**<br>**1,259,244**<br>**-**<br>**88,671**<br>**2**<br>**2,133,717**<br>**179,347**<br>**1,350,447**<br>**-**<br>**193,450**<br>**1,723,244**<br>**36,083**<br>**446,556**<br>**589,947**<br>**1,036,503**<br>**410,473**|Unrestricted<br>£<br>587,236<br>36,884<br>48,135<br>59,385<br>7,042|Restricted<br>£<br>-<br>752,203<br>692,950<br>150,577<br>-|2020<br>Total<br>£<br>587,236<br>-<br>789,087<br>741,085<br>209,962<br>7,042|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||984,292|1,149,425||738,682|1,595,730|2,334,412|
||179,347<br>335,162<br>-<br>70,893|-<br>1,015,285<br>-<br>122,557||171,995<br>245,807<br>222,873<br>45,126|-<br>763,123<br>702,909<br>249,531|171,994<br>1,008,932<br>925,782<br>294,657|
||585,402|1,137,842||685,802|1,715,563|2,401,365|
||36,083<br>398,890|**-**<br>11,583||(24,211)<br>52,880|-<br>(119,833)|(24,211)<br>(66,953)|
||434,973|11,583||28,669|(119,833)|(91,164)|
||453,028|136,919||424,359|256,752|681,111|
||888,001|148,502||453,028|136,919|589,947|



All of the above results are derived from continuing activities. There were no other recognised gains or losses other than those stated above. Movements in funds are disclosed in Note 21a to the financial statements. 

18 



**Gingerbread** 

## **Balance sheet** 

|**Balance sheet**|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|**As at 31 March 2021**|||Company no. 402748||
|Note<br>**Fixed assets:**<br>13<br>14<br>**Current assets:**<br>15<br>**Liabilities:**<br>16<br>18<br>19a<br>Total unrestricted funds<br>**Total charity funds**<br>**Total net assets/ (liabilities)**<br>**The funds of the charity:**<br>Restricted income funds<br>Unrestricted income funds:<br>Designated funds<br>General funds<br>**Net current assets**<br>**Total assets less current liabilities**<br>Creditors: amounts falling due after one year<br>Creditors: amounts falling due after more than one year<br>Tangible assets<br>Investments<br>Debtors<br>Cash at bank and in hand<br>Creditors: amounts falling due within one year|**£**<br>**85,891**<br>**1,049,168**|**2021**<br>**£**<br>**21,961**<br>**309,249**|£<br>144,306<br>293,141|2020<br>£<br>14,598<br>273,170|
|||**331,210**<br>**945,403**||287,768<br>302,179|
||**1,135,059**<br>**(189,656)**||437,447<br>(135,268)||
||**-**<br>**888,001**||-<br>453,028||
|||**1,276,613**<br>**-**||589,947<br>-|
|||**(240,110)**||-|
|||**1,036,503**||589,947|
|||**148,502**<br>**888,001**||136,919<br>453,028|
||||||
|||**1,036,503**||589,947|



Approved by the trustees on 27 October 2021 and signed on their behalf by 

**Simon Bentley Chair** 

**Evangelos Raptis Trustee** 

19 



**Gingerbread** 

## **Statement of cash flows** 

## **For the year ended 31 March 2021** 

|Note<br>**Net cash provided (used in) financing activities**<br>**Change in cash and cash equivalents in the year**<br>Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year<br>**Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year**<br>Proceeds from sale of investments<br>Change in cash held in investment<br>Purchase of investments<br>**Net cash provided by / (used in) investing activities**<br>**Cash flows from financing activities:**<br>Cash inflows from new borrowing<br>Purchase of fixed assets<br>**Net income / (expenditure)**<br>**Adjustments for:**<br>Depreciation charges<br>Net losses/ (gains) on investments<br>Investment income<br>(Increase) / decrease in debtors<br>Increase / (decrease) in creditors<br>**Net cash provided (used in)/provided by operating activities**<br>**Cash flows from investing activities:**<br>Investment income<br>**Cash flows from operating activities**|**£**<br>**£**<br>**446,556**<br>**13,745**<br>**(36,083)**<br>**(2)**<br>**58,414**<br>**44,498**<br>**527,128**<br>**2**<br>**(21,108)**<br>**-**<br>**5**<br>**-**<br>**(21,101)**<br>**250,000**<br>**250,000**<br>**756,027**<br>**293,141**<br>**1,049,168**<br>**2021**|**£**<br>**£**<br>**446,556**<br>**13,745**<br>**(36,083)**<br>**(2)**<br>**58,414**<br>**44,498**<br>**527,128**<br>**2**<br>**(21,108)**<br>**-**<br>**5**<br>**-**<br>**(21,101)**<br>**250,000**<br>**250,000**<br>**756,027**<br>**293,141**<br>**1,049,168**<br>**2021**|£<br>£<br>(91,164)<br>23,455<br>24,211<br>(7,042)<br>312,217<br>(208,791)<br>52,886<br>7,042<br>(2,700)<br>-<br>49,997<br>-<br>54,339<br>-<br>-<br>107,225<br>185,916<br>293,141<br>2020|£<br>£<br>(91,164)<br>23,455<br>24,211<br>(7,042)<br>312,217<br>(208,791)<br>52,886<br>7,042<br>(2,700)<br>-<br>49,997<br>-<br>54,339<br>-<br>-<br>107,225<br>185,916<br>293,141<br>2020|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|||**527,128**||52,886|
|||**(21,101)**||54,339<br>-|
||**250,000**||-||
|||**250,000**|||
||||||
|||**756,027**<br>**293,141**||107,225<br>185,916|
|||**1,049,168**||293,141|



20 



**Gingerbread** 

**Notes to the financial statements** 

## **For the year ended 31 March 2021** 

## **1 Accounting policies** 

## **a) Statutory information** 

Gingerbread is a charitable company limited by guarantee and is incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office address is Unit B, Mary Brancker House, 54-74 Holmes Rd, London, NW5 3AQ. 

## **b) Basis of preparation** 

The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with 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) - (Charities SORP FRS 102), the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102) and the Companies Act 2006. 

Assets and liabilities are initially recognised at historical cost or transaction value unless otherwise stated in the relevant accounting policy or note. 

## **c) Going concern** 

The trustees consider that there are no material uncertainties about the charitable company's ability to continue as a going concern. At that the time of writing, all required income for the year ending March 2021, has been secured and Gingerbread anticipates returning a moderate surplus for the year.  Our current cashflow shows a positive balance through to September 2021, and our funding pipeline is strong. 

## **d) Donations** 

Donations are recognised in the accounting period in which they are receivable. 

## **e) Legacies** 

Entitlement is taken as the earlier of the date on which either: Gingerbread is aware that probate has been granted, the estate has been finalised and notification has been made by the executor(s) to the charity that a distribution will be made, or when a distribution is received from the estate. Receipt of a legacy, in whole or in part, is only considered probable when the amount can be measured reliably and the charity has been notified of the executor’s intention to make a distribution. Where legacies have been notified to the charity, or the charity is aware of the granting of probate, and the criteria for income recognition have not been met, then the legacy is a treated as a contingent asset and disclosed if material. 

## **f) Fundraising income** 

Fundraising income is shown gross of related expenditure. 

## **g) Investment income** 

Investment income is included gross or at the amounts receivable plus the attributable tax credit. 

## **h) Fees and sales** 

Fees for the supply of services and publications are recognised when earned. Income received in advance for services to be delivered in the following year is treated as deferred income and included in creditors. Deferred income in these financial statements is shown in Note 17. 

## **i) Donated Services** 

On receipt, donated gifts, professional services and donated facilities are recognised on the basis of the value of the gift to the charity which is the amount the charity would have been willing to pay to obtain services or facilities of equivalent economic benefit on the open market; a corresponding amount is then recognised in expenditure in the period of receipt. 

## **j) Fund accounting** 

- Restricted funds are subject to restrictions imposed by the donor or by the specific terms of the charity appeal.  These are accounted for separately from unrestricted funds. Details of restricted funds are shown at Note 21. 

Unrestricted funds are those which are not subject to restrictions. Any surpluses are available for use at the discretion of the Trustees in furtherance of the objectives of the charity. Designated funds form part of the unrestricted funds and represent amounts earmarked by the Trustees for particular purposes. 

21 



**Gingerbread** 

**Notes to the financial statements** 

## **For the year ended 31 March 2021** 

## **1 Accounting policies (continued)** 

## **k) Expenditure** 

Costs apportioned to activities include costs of staff time spent on each area of activity, costs directly incurred in order to deliver the activity, and support costs apportioned according to the ratio of staff time on the area of activity to total staff time. 

## **l) Pension costs** 

The charity operates a group personal pension scheme. The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the charity in independently administered funds. Payments in respect of current service contributions are charged in the accounts as they fall due. 

## **m) Operating leases** 

Rentals payable under operating leases are charged to the income and expenditure account as incurred. 

## **n) VAT** 

Expenditure is recorded net of VAT and any VAT not recovered from HM Revenue and Customs is recorded as irrecoverable VAT. 

## **o) Fixed assets** 

Tangible fixed assets costing more than £500 are capitalised and depreciated over their useful lives and shown in the balance sheet at cost less accumulated depreciation. Depreciation is provided at the following rate: Computers and other equipment - 25% per annum, Furniture & Fittings - 25% per annum. 

At the end of each reporting period, the residual values and useful lives of assets are reviewed and adjusted if necessary. In addition, if events or change in circumstances indicate that the carrying value may not be recoverable then the carrying values of tangible fixed assets are reviewed for impairment. 

## **p) Liabilities** 

The accruals concept is applied. Liabilities are recognised as soon as a legal or constructive obligation arises.  Creditors and provisions are recognised where the charity has a present obligation resulting from a past event that will probably result in the transfer of funds to a third party and the amount due to settle the obligation can be measured or estimated reliably. Creditors and provisions are normally recognised at their settlement amount after allowing for any trade discounts due. 

## **q) Tax status** 

The company is a registered charity and is not liable to Corporation Tax on its current activities. 

## **r) Financial instruments** 

The charity has elected to apply the provisions of Section 11 ‘Basic Financial Instruments’ of FRS 102 to all of its financial instruments. Financial instruments are recognised in the charity's balance sheet when the charity becomes party to the contractual provisions of the instrument. Financial assets and liabilities are offset, with the net amounts presented in the financial statements, when there is a legally enforceable right to set off the recognised amounts and there is an intention to settle on a net basis or to realise the asset and settle the liability simultaneously. 

With the exceptions of prepayments and deferred income all other debtor and creditor balances are considered to be basic financial instruments under FRS 102. See notes 15 and 16 for the debtor and creditor notes. 

## **s) Cash and cash equivalents** 

Cash at bank and cash in hand includes cash and short term highly liquid investments with a short maturity of three months or less from the date of acquisition or opening of the deposit or similar accounts. 

## **t) Employee benefits** 

The costs of short-term employee benefits are recognised as a liability and an expense. 

22 



**Gingerbread** 

**Notes to the financial statements** 

## **For the year ended 31 March 2021** 

## **1 Accounting policies (continued)** 

## **u) Critical accounting estimates and areas of judgement** 

In preparing financial statements it is necessary to make certain judgements, estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts recognised in the financial statements. 

In the view of the Trustees in applying the accounting policies adopted, no judgements were required that have a significant effect on the amounts recognised in the financial statements nor do any estimates made. 

## **2 Income from donations and legacies** 

|The Volant Charitable Trust<br>Donations|Unrestricted<br>£<br>350,000<br>435,800<br>785,800|£<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>Restricted|**2021**<br>**Total**<br>**£**<br>**350,000**<br>**435,800**<br>**785,800**|2020<br>Total<br>£<br>400,000<br>187,236|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||587,236|



At 31st March 2021, the charity was the sole Trustee of the John Bruce's Will Trust, a charity registered in the UK, whose purpose is to hold and distribute monies to Gingerbread. All assets were transferred from the Trust to Gingerbread in 2014 so it is now dormant. 

## **3 Information and advice services** 

|Single parent helpline and advice line<br>Communications|Fees<br>£<br>187,440<br>-<br>187,440|£<br>1,009,708<br>62,096<br>1,071,804<br>Grants|**2021**<br>**Total**<br>**£**<br>**1,197,148**<br>**62,096**<br>**1,259,244**|2020<br>Total<br>£<br>598,364<br>190,723|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||789,087|



Information and advice services income included restricted grants of £1,055,985 (2020: £752,203). 

23 



**Gingerbread** 

## **Notes to the financial statements** 

## **For the year ended 31 March 2021** 

## **4 Training, consultancy and projects** 

|**Training, consultancy and projects**|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|Single parent Employability Training<br>Single parent Community Learning|Fees<br>£<br>-<br>-<br>-|£<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>Grants|**2021**<br>**Total**<br>**£**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**-**|2020<br>Total<br>£<br>-<br>741,085|
|||||741,085|



Training consultancy and projects income includes restricted grants of £Nil (2020: £692,950). 

## **5 Research and policy activities** 

|Research and policy|Fees<br>£<br>11,050<br>11,050|£<br>77,621<br>77,621<br>Grants|**2021**<br>**Total**<br>**£**<br>**88,671**<br>**88,671**|2020<br>Total<br>£<br>209,962|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||209,962|



Research and policy income includes restricted grants of £69,000 (2020: £150,577). 

## **6 Income from investments** 

|John Bruce Will Trust<br>Common investment fund deposit interest<br>Bank deposit and other interest|Unrestricted<br>£<br>-<br>-<br>2<br>2|£<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>**-**<br>Restricted|**2021**<br>**Total**<br>**£**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**2**<br>**2**|2020<br>Total<br>£<br>6,938<br>72<br>32|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||7,042|



Total income from Government in the year was £388,812 (2020: £395,681). 

24 



**Gingerbread** 

**Notes to the financial statements** 

## **For the year ended 31 March 2021** 

## **7a Analysis of expenditure (Current year)** 

|Staff costs (Note 9)<br>Direct costs<br>Management<br>Finance<br>Premises<br>IT<br>Trustee meetings<br>Audit<br>Office administration costs<br>Depreciation<br>Irrecoverable VAT<br>Support costs<br>Governance costs<br>**Total expenditure 2021**<br>Total expenditure 2020|Raising funds<br>£<br>68,944<br>58,072<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>127,016<br>40,117<br>12,214<br>**179,347**<br>**171,995**|Charitable activities|Charitable activities|Charitable activities|Governance<br>costs<br>£<br>59,041<br>-<br>41,829<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>14,801<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>115,671<br>-<br>(115,671)<br>**-**<br>**-**|Support costs<br>£<br>124,622<br>-<br>1,240<br>1,584<br>83,334<br>68,583<br>-<br>-<br>20,855<br>13,745<br>43,630<br>357,593<br>(357,593)<br>-<br>**-**<br>**-**|**2021 Total**<br>**£**<br>**1,159,134**<br>**274,509**<br>**43,069**<br>**1,584**<br>**83,334**<br>**68,583**<br>**-**<br>**14,801**<br>**20,855**<br>**13,745**<br>**43,630**<br>1,723,244<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**1,723,244**<br>**-**|2020 Total<br>£<br>1,522,705<br>437,748<br>19,754<br>1,885<br>187,499<br>86,183<br>3,320<br>15,500<br>41,613<br>23,455<br>61,703|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||Information<br>and advice<br>services<br>£<br>804,441<br>192,016<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>996,457<br>267,195<br>86,795<br>**1,350,447**<br>**1,008,930**|Training<br>Consultancy &<br>Projects<br>£<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>**-**<br>**925,783**|Research and<br>policy<br>£<br>102,086<br>24,421<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>126,507<br>50,281<br>16,662<br>**193,450**<br>**294,657**|||||
|||||||||2,401,365<br>-<br>-|
|||||||||**2,401,365**|
||||||||||



25 



**Gingerbread** 

## **Notes to the financial statements** 

## **For the year ended 31 March 2021** 

## **7b Analysis of expenditure (Prior year)** 

|Staff costs (Note 9)<br>Direct costs<br>Management<br>Finance<br>Premises<br>IT<br>Trustee meetings<br>Audit<br>Office administration costs<br>Depreciation<br>Irrecoverable VAT<br>Support costs<br>Governance costs<br>**Total expenditure 2020**|Raising funds<br>£<br>116,165<br>4,176<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>120,341<br>44,283<br>7,371<br>**171,995**|Charitable activities|Charitable activities|Charitable activities|Governance<br>costs<br>£<br>47,365<br>-<br>17,615<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>3,320<br>15,500<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>83,800<br>-<br>(83,800)<br>**-**|Support costs<br>**2020 Total**<br>£<br>**£**<br>135,386<br>**1,522,705**<br>-<br>**437,748**<br>2,139<br>**19,754**<br>1,885<br>**1,885**<br>187,499<br>**187,499**<br>86,183<br>**86,183**<br>-<br>**3,320**<br>-<br>**15,500**<br>41,613<br>**41,613**<br>23,455<br>**23,455**<br>61,703<br>**61,703**<br>539,863<br>2,401,365<br>(539,863)<br>-<br>**-**<br>**2,401,365**|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||Information<br>and advice<br>services<br>£<br>566,959<br>174,792<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>741,751<br>231,108<br>36,071<br>**1,008,930**|Training<br>Consultancy &<br>Projects<br>£<br>464,647<br>189,976<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>654,623<br>234,720<br>36,440<br>**925,783**|Research and<br>policy<br>£<br>192,183<br>68,804<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>260,987<br>29,752<br>3,918<br>**294,657**|||



26 



**Gingerbread** 

**For the year ended 31 March 2021** 

## **Notes to the financial statements** 

## **8 Net income / (expenditure) for the year** 

This is stated after charging / (crediting): 

|This is stated after charging / (crediting):|||
|---|---|---|
||**2021**|2020|
||**£**|£|
|Depreciation|**13,745**|23,455|
|Operating lease rentals:|||
|Property|**56,651**|-|
|Other|**-**|-|
|Auditor's remuneration (excluding VAT):|||
|Audit|**13,000**|11,500|
|Under accrual from previous year|**1,800**|4,000|
|Other services|**-**|-|



**9 Analysis of staff costs, trustee remuneration and expenses, and the cost of key management personnel** 

Staff costs were as follows: 

|Redundancy and termination costs<br>National insurance contributions<br>Pension costs<br>Temporary staff<br>Staff recruitment<br>Salaries and wages|**2021**<br>**£**<br>**956,691**<br>**-**<br>**99,519**<br>**41,997**<br>**46,613**<br>**14,313**|2020<br>£<br>1,227,917<br>8,817<br>120,605<br>56,743<br>98,769<br>9,854|
|---|---|---|
||**1,159,133**|1,522,705|



No redundancy costs were paid as at year-end (2020: £8,817). 

The following number of employees received employee benefits (excluding employer pension costs and employer's national insurance) during the year between: 

|the year|between:|||
|---|---|---|---|
|||**2021**|2020|
|||**No.**|No.|
|£60,000|- £69,999|**-**|1|
|£80,000|- £89,999|**-**|1|
|£90,000|- £99,999|**1**|1|



The total employee benefits (including pension contributions and employer's national insurance) of the key management personnel were £412,766 (2020: £282,160). 

The charity trustees were neither paid nor received any other benefits from employment with the charity in the year (2020: £nil).  No charity trustee received payment for professional or other services supplied to the charity (2020: £nil). 

Trustees' expenses represents the payment or reimbursement of travel and subsistence costs totalling £Nil (2020: £2,358) incurred by members relating to attendance at meetings of the trustees). 

27 



**Gingerbread** 

**Notes to the financial statements** 

## **For the year ended 31 March 2021** 

## **10 Staff numbers** 

The average number of employees (head count based on number of staff employed) during the year was 26 (2020: 37.3). 

Staff are split across the activities of the charitable company as follows: 

|Raising funds<br>Information and advice services<br>Training, consultancy and projects<br>Research and policy activities<br>Support|**2021**<br>**No.**<br>**2.1**<br>**15.9**<br>**0.7**<br>**2.9**<br>**5.0**|2020<br>No.<br>2.7<br>15.6<br>12.5<br>2.9<br>3.6|
|---|---|---|
||**26.6**|37.3|



## **11 Related party transactions** 

As at 31 March 2021, the charity was the sole Trustee of the John Bruce's Will Trust, a charity registered in the UK whose sole purpose is to hold and distribute monies to Gingerbread in 2014. All funds were transferred to Gingerbread from the Trust. Therefore it is now dormant. 

There are no donations from related parties which are outside the normal course of business and no restricted donations from related parties. 

## **12 Taxation** 

The charitable company is exempt from corporation tax as all its income is charitable and is applied for charitable purposes. 

## **13 Tangible fixed assets** 

|**Net book value**<br>**At the end of the year**<br>At the start of the year<br>**Depreciation**<br>At the start of the year<br>Charge for the year<br>At the end of the year<br>**Cost**<br>At the start of the year<br>Additions in year<br>At the end of the year|Fixtures and<br>fittings<br>£<br>44,896<br>-|Computer<br>equipment<br>£<br>101,222<br>21,108|**Total**<br>**£**<br>**146,118**<br>**21,108**|
|---|---|---|---|
||44,896|122,330|**167,226**|
||41,663<br>1,629|89,857<br>12,116|**131,520**<br>**13,745**|
||43,292|101,973|**145,265**|
||**1,604**|**20,357**|**21,961**|
||3,232|11,366|14,598|



All of the above assets are used for charitable purposes. 

28 



**Gingerbread** 

## **Notes to the financial statements** 

## **For the year ended 31 March 2021** 

## **14 Listed investments** 

|**Listed investments**|||
|---|---|---|
|Shares listed on the London Stock Exchange<br>Cash<br>Fair value at the end of the year<br>Investments comprise:<br>UK Common investment funds<br>Dividends and fees<br>Net gain / (loss) on change in fair value<br>Cash held by investment broker pending reinvestment<br>Fair value at the start of the year<br>Additions at cost<br>Disposal proceeds|**2021**<br>**£**<br>**271,452**<br>**-**<br>**-**<br>**(66)**<br>**36,149**|2020<br>£<br>295,663<br>-<br>-<br>4<br>(24,215)|
||**307,535**<br>**1,714**|271,452<br>1,718|
||**309,249**|273,170|
||**2021**<br>**£**<br>**265,305**<br>**42,230**<br>**1,714**|2020<br>£<br>231,163<br>40,289<br>1,718|
||**309,249**|273,170|



The listed investments were last valued on 31 March 2021 by Seven Investment Management (7IM). 

## **15 Debtors** 

|**Debtors**|||
|---|---|---|
|Other debtors<br>Prepayments and accrued income<br>Trade debtors|**2021**<br>**£**<br>**2,825**<br>**-**<br>**83,066**|2020<br>£<br>25,865<br>2,634<br>115,807|
||**85,891**|144,306|



With the exception of listed investments, all of the charity’s financial instruments, both assets and liabilities, are measured at amortised cost. 

## **16 Creditors: amounts falling due within one year** 

|Loan capital repayment<br>Accruals<br>Deferred income<br>Other creditors<br>Trade creditors<br>Taxation and social security|**2021**<br>**£**<br>**108,894**<br>**36,215**<br>**29,017**<br>**-**<br>**9,890**<br>**5,640**|2020<br>£<br>39,534<br>30,193<br>40,728<br>19,000<br>-<br>5,813|
|---|---|---|
||**189,656**|135,268|



Included within other creditors is £5,509.67 in respect of pension contributions outstanding at 31 March 2021 (2020: £5,765). 

29 



**Gingerbread** 

**Notes to the financial statements** 

**For the year ended 31 March 2021** 

## **17 Deferred income** 

Deferred income comprises of income received in the year ending 31st March 2021 that relates to the next financial year.  There were no deferred income as at 31st March 2021. 

|Trust for London<br>Balance at the end of the year<br>**Creditors: amounts falling due after one year**<br>Bank loans due in 1-2 years<br>Bank loans due in 2-5 years|**2021**<br>**£**<br>**-**|2020<br>£<br>19,000|
|---|---|---|
||**-**|19,000|
||**2021**<br>**£**<br>**121,587**<br>**118,523**|2020<br>£<br>-<br>-|
||**240,110**|-|



## **18 Creditors: amounts falling due after one year** 

The above loan is Government funded through the Resilience and Recovery programme. 

The total loan given was £250,000. The first capital payment totalling £9,889.98 is due in March 2022. The loan is for a period of 3 years from March 2021. 

Interest at 9% pa for the first year is paid by the Government, as is the initial set up fee. Thereafter interest is charged at 6.5% pa. Total amount repayable is £267,207.35 

## **19 Pension scheme** 

The charity operates a group personal pension scheme ( Aegon). The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the charity in independently administered funds. Payments in respect of current service contributions are charged in the accounts as they fall due. Amounts owed to the pension scheme at 31 March 2021 was £5,509.67 and 21 employees were on the scheme. 

## **20a Analysis of net assets between funds (current year)** 

|**Analysis of net assets between funds (current year)**|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|**Net assets at 31 March 2021**<br>Tangible fixed assets<br>Investments<br>Net current assets<br>Long term liabilities|General<br>unrestricted<br>£<br>21,961<br>309,249<br>986,557<br>(429,766)|Designated<br>£<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-|Restricted<br>£<br>-<br>-<br>148,502<br>-|**Total funds**<br>**£**<br>**21,961**<br>**309,249**<br>**1,135,059**<br>**(429,766)**|
||**888,001**|**-**|**148,502**|**1,036,503**|



## **20b Analysis of net assets between funds (prior year)** 

|**Net assets at 31 March 2020**<br>Tangible fixed assets<br>Investments<br>Net current assets<br>Long term liabilities|General<br>unrestricted<br>£<br>14,598<br>273,170<br>300,528<br>(135,268)|Designated<br>£<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-|Restricted<br>£<br>-<br>-<br>136,919<br>-|**Total funds**<br>**£**<br>**14,598**<br>**273,170**<br>**437,447**<br>**(135,268)**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||**453,028**|**-**|**136,919**|**589,947**|



30 



**Gingerbread** 

**Notes to the financial statements** 

## **For the year ended 31 March 2021** 

## **21a Movements in funds (current year)** 

|**Information and advice services**<br>Big Lottery Advice and Support<br>DfE Family Support Services<br>Dulverton Trust<br>HMRC Advice and support<br>Linbury<br>London Community Response Fund<br>Lottery Reaching Communities<br>People's Postcode Lottery<br>Smallwood Trust<br>Sports England<br>**Research and policy activities**<br>Standard Life Foundation<br>StepChange<br>Trust for London 3<br>**Total restricted funds**<br>**General funds**<br>**Total funds**<br>**Restricted funds:**<br>**Unrestricted funds:**<br>**Total unrestricted funds**|At 1 April<br>2020<br>£<br>16,904<br>-<br>-<br>16,563<br>7,323<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>39,782<br>-<br>17,042<br>39,305|Income & gains<br>£<br>119,898<br>214,476<br>40,000<br>174,336<br>-<br>45,000<br>350,998<br>20,000<br>45,000<br>62,096<br>48,621<br>10,000<br>19,000|Expenditure & losses<br>£<br>(35,943)<br>(214,476)<br>(40,000)<br>(190,899)<br>(7,323)<br>(45,000)<br>(350,998)<br>(20,000)<br>(45,000)<br>(65,646)<br>(40,882)<br>(23,370)<br>(58,305)|Transfers and<br>gains/losses<br>£<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-|**At 31 March 2021**<br>**£**<br>100,859<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>36,232<br>7,739<br>3,673<br>-|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||136,919|1,149,425|(1,137,842)|-|148,502|
||453,028|984,292|(585,402)|36,083|**888,001**|
||453,028|984,292|(585,402)|36,083|**888,001**|
||589,947|2,133,717|(1,723,244)|36,083|**1,036,503**|



The narrative to explain the purpose of each fund is given at the foot of the note below. 

31 



**Gingerbread** 

## **Notes to the financial statements** 

## **For the year ended 31 March 2021** 

## **21b Movements in funds (prior year)** 

|**Information and advice services**<br>DfE Family Support Services<br>Dulverton Trust<br>HMRC Advice and support<br>Linbury<br>Big Lottery Advice and Support<br>Sports England<br>Trust for London<br>**Training, consultancy and projects**<br>Big Lottery<br>Make It Work<br>**Research and policy activities**<br>Barclays<br>StepChange<br>DfE Policy (Recharge)<br>HMRC Policy (Recharge)<br>Scraping and Saving<br>Trust for London 3<br>**Total restricted funds**<br>**General funds**<br>**Total funds**<br>**Restricted funds:**<br>Better Building Opportunities Working Forward:<br>North & South<br>**Unrestricted funds:**<br>**Total unrestricted funds**|At 1 April<br>2019<br>£<br>-<br>30,000<br>-<br>25,000<br>-<br>36,492<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>9,959<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>155,301<br>-|Income & gains<br>£<br>226,211<br>-<br>155,849<br>-<br>234,455<br>126,405<br>9,284<br>617,006<br>4,232<br>71,712<br>25,000<br>50,000<br>1,590<br>1,271<br>-<br>72,716|Expenditure & losses<br>£<br>(226,211)<br>(30,000)<br>(139,286)<br>(17,677)<br>(217,550)<br>(123,115)<br>(9,284)<br>(617,006)<br>(4,232)<br>(81,671)<br>(25,000)<br>(32,958)<br>(1,590)<br>(1,271)<br>(155,301)<br>(33,411)|Transfers and<br>gains/losses<br>£<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-|**At 31 March 2020**<br>**£**<br>-<br>-<br>16,563<br>7,323<br>16,904<br>39,782<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>17,042<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>39,305|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
||256,752|1,595,730|(1,715,563)|-|136,919|
||424,359|738,682|(685,802)|(24,211)|**453,028**|
||424,359|738,682|(685,802)|(24,211)|**453,028**|
||681,111|2,334,412|(2,401,365)|(24,211)|**589,947**|



32 



**Gingerbread** 

**Notes to the financial statements** 

**For the year ended 31 March 2021** 

## **21c Purposes of restricted funds** 

Restricted funds are funds that have restrictions imposed by donors and can only be used for the particular purposes specified by the donors. 

## **1) Information and Advice services** 

[A] HMRC: Providing tailored support to hard-to-reach single parents facing significant life events that require engagement with HMRC. 

[B] DfE: Providing information and advice to single parents as part of the DfE's Family Support Services. 

[C] The National Lottery Community Fund - Coronavirus Community Support Fund: Providing advice, information and support to single parent families during the Covid-19 crisis. 

[D] The National Lottery Community Fund: Strategic development of a single parent peer support service. 

[E] Smallwood Trust: Providing advice and information to single parents. 

[F] Sport England: Working with leisure trusts to overcome barriers to single parent families' participation. 

[G] Dulverton Trust: Providing advice, information and support to single parent families outside Greater London during the Covid-19 crisis. 

[H] Trust for London - London Community Response Fund: Providing advice, information and support to single parent families in London during the Covid-19 crisis. 

[I] City Bridge Trust: Supporting our work in London during the Covid-19 crisis. 

[J] CAF Resilience Fund: Providing advice, information and support to single parent families during the Covid-19 crisis and consulting with single parents about their needs. 

[K] Postcode Community Trust and the players of People's Postcode Lottery: Developing Money Buddy roles within our peer support service. 

## **2) Research and Policy activities** 

[L] Trust for London: Research into increased work conditionality for single parents with pre-school aged children in London. 

[M] Standard Life Foundation: Research into experiences and outcomes for single parents who were in work at the onset of the Covid-19 crisis. 

[N] Step Change: Research into single parent debt . 

[O] Jospeh Rowntree Foundation: Research into tackling single parent poverty after the Covid-19 crisis. 

## **22 Operating lease commitments** 

The charity's total future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases is as follows for each of the following periods: 

|Less than one year<br>One to five years|**2021**<br>2020<br>**£**<br>£<br>**63,955**<br>91,164<br>**319,776**<br>455,822<br>**383,731**<br>546,986<br>Property|**2021**<br>2020<br>**£**<br>£<br>**63,955**<br>91,164<br>**319,776**<br>455,822<br>**383,731**<br>546,986<br>Property|**2021**<br>2020<br>**£**<br>£<br>**5,139**<br>6,901<br>**-**<br>6,313<br>**5,139**<br>13,214<br>Equipment|**2021**<br>2020<br>**£**<br>£<br>**5,139**<br>6,901<br>**-**<br>6,313<br>**5,139**<br>13,214<br>Equipment|
|---|---|---|---|---|
||**383,731**|546,986|**5,139**|13,214|



## **23 Capital commitments** 

There were no capital commitments at 31 March 2021. 

## **24 Contingent assets or liabilities** 

There were no contingent assets or liabilities at 31 March 2021. 

## **25 Legal status of the charity** 

The charity is a company limited by guarantee and has no share capital.  The liability of each member in the event of winding up is limited to £1. 

33 



**Gingerbread** 

## **Reference and administrative information** 

## **For the year ended 31 March 2021** 

|**Company number**|00402748|
|---|---|
|**Country of incorporation**|United Kingdom|
|**Charity number**|0230750|
|**Country of registration**|England & Wales|
|**Registered office and**|Unit B, Mary Brancker House|
|**operational address**|57-74 Holmes Road|
||London NW5 3AQ|
|**Email:**|info@gingerbread.org.uk|
|**Website:**|www.gingerbread.org.uk|
|**Trustees**||
|Fran Parry|Interim Chair from 1 April 2020 (resigned 9 December 2020)|
|Charlotte Thorne|Vice-Chair from 28 November 2018 (resigned 9 December 2020)|
|Alison Taylor|resigned 21 July 2021|
|George Coleman|resigned 9 December 2020|
|Joyce Materego|resigned 9 December 2020|
|Jasmin Choudhury|from 10 June 2019 (resigned 28 July 2021)|
|Jake Dyer|from 10 June 2019|
|Evangelos Raptis|Treasurer, from 5 February 2020|
|Simon Bentley|Chair from 9 December 2020|
|Diane Gault|from 29 April 2020|
|Tina Hamilton|from 1 July 2020 (resigned 21 July 2021)|
|Lynette Eastman|appointed 17 February 2021|
|Dr Jo Caseborne|appointed 21 July 2021|
|Henry Gregg|appointed 21 July 2021|
|Mariam Kemple-Hardy|appointed 21 July 2021|
|Tom Madders|appointed 21 July 2021|
|Sanaz Nowroozi|co-opted 27 October 2021|
|Ema Howling|co-opted 27 October 2021|
|Tayyaba Siddiqui|co-opted 27 October 2021|
|Lucy Morgan|appointed 27 October 2021|



## **Key management personnel** 

Victoria Benson CEO from May 2019 Doug Ridley Head of Finance and Resources from July 2020 Ceri Smith Head of Policy and Research from January 2021 Steve Hawe Head of Fundraising and Marketing from August 2020 Jo Hardy Head of Services from July 2019 Farah Baldock Head of Communications and Digital from November 2020 Nicola Yudaken Head of Human Resources  from October 2020 Rhian Beynon Interim Head of Policy and Campaigns from May 2021 Jayne Charlton Interim Head of Human Resources from August 2021 

## **Company secretary** 

Victoria Benson from 01 April 2019 

34 



**Gingerbread** 

## **Reference and administrative information** 

## **For the year ended 31 March 2021** 

## **Bankers** 

Coutts & Co Lloyds Bank Plc St Martin’s Office Burnley Branch 440 Strand PO Box 1000 London Andover WC2R 0QS BX1 1LT 

## **Solicitors** 

Bates Wells Braithwaite 10 Queen St Place EC4R 1BE 

## **Auditor** 

Sayer Vincent LLP Chartered Accountants and Statutory Auditor Invicta House 108-114 Golden Lane London EC1Y 0TL 

## **President** 

JK Rowling OBE 

35