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

**Trustees’ Report and Accounts Year ended 31 March 2022** 

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

Company number 402748 Charity number 230750 



Gingerbread, the charity for single parent families 

## **Contents** 

|**Contents**||
|---|---|
|**Trustees’ report**|3|
|Objectives|3|
|Activities and achievements|4|
|Structure, governance and management|11|
|Financial review|12|
|Acknowledgements|13|
|Auditor’s report|16|
|Statement of Financial Activities|19|
|Balance sheet|20|
|Statement of cashflows|21|
|Notes to the financial statements|22|



2 



Gingerbread, the charity for single parent families 

The Trustees present their report and the audited financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2022. 

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. 

3 



Gingerbread, the charity for single parent families 

## **Activities and achievements** 

## **Delivering our strategy** 

2021-22 has been a busy year for Gingerbread. Over the last 12 months, our work has again been dominated by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the emergence of a cost-of-living crisis. These have both had a disproportionate impact on single parents and their families and placed even greater demand on Gingerbread’s services. 

Due to the challenges brought by the pandemic, Gingerbread extended the delivery period of our threeyear strategy, which was developed in 2017-18 in consultation with single parents and other stakeholders, for an additional year. 

The strategy sets out our key objectives in supporting the 1.8 million single parents with dependent children in the UK (Office for National Statistics, 2020): 

**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. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the decision was taken to continue to deliver our strategy under the guidance of the Change Framework in 2021-22. 

## **Our response to the COVID-19 and the cost-of-living crisis** 

Just as we were starting to come out of the COVID-19 crisis, single parents are now being battered by a cost-of-living crisis – the challenges they face are relentless and we are seeing increasingly desperate single parents contacting us, worried about their finances and with worsening mental health issues such as stress and anxiety. 

## One single parent recently told us **“I feel stuck living in a world I can’t afford to be in.”** 

Fuel and food prices are soaring with inflation at its highest level for thirty years (Office for National Statistics, 2022). Things are already difficult for single parent families and with more price hikes coming, things can only get worse. In October 2021 the Government took away the £20 Universal Credit (UC) uplift, leaving many people on low incomes struggling to make ends meet. Budgets have already been cut back as much as possible and the stark reality is there is nowhere else to go other than into debt or poverty. It’s widely predicted that the ‘worst is yet to come’ with more people pushed into poverty and out of their homes. The impact will be even greater when fuel prices increase again in October, just as winter starts. 

4 



Gingerbread, the charity for single parent families 

As is often the case, those on the lowest incomes are being hit the hardest, with single parent families among the worst affected. 

One single parent told us: 

**“My children don’t ever go without, but I will. This week I have only eaten one cheese sandwich in three days…. I don’t eat regularly, I use free sites for clothes/shoes/to replace furniture, don’t use heating in my bedroom, don’t smoke or drink, don’t have a social life but this way, my kids have everything that they need, and they don’t go without.”** 

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. 

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

## **Advice and Information service** 

## **Helpline:** 

We are seeing more calls than ever to our national single parent helpline from people who are worried about making ends meet for them and their children. 

Between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022, our helpline responded to **7,943 calls** and our **call answer rate grew** from an average of 43% in the first quarter to **53%** in the last quarter. 

Thanks to support from the Volant Charitable Trust and other funders we were able to add capacity to the helpline, which helped grow our call answer rate. 

In April 2021 we had six members of staff on the helpline. We **almost doubled the headcount** to 11 during 2021-2022. We spent time in the first half of the year training and inducting the new Helpline Advisors, which impacted on the number of responses they could make as they settled in but they were soon operating at full capacity and this is reflected in the call answer rates. 

A range of topics were covered, with high volumes of calls around Universal Credit and other welfare benefits, tax credits, family law, child maintenance, house, students and also the impact of the pandemic. 

We were delighted to receive the **Advice Quality Standard (AQS)** accreditation in August 2021 for both our general advice and our telephone Helpline. AQS accredited services must be client focused and give all necessary information and options for the client to decide their course of action. This is a significant achievement for Gingerbread. 

Our most recent **evaluation** of the Advice and Information service was conducted in February 2021. Key findings included: 

- **98%%** of callers would **use the service again** 

- **97%** of callers said their call helped them **feel supported through their period of crisis** 

- **94%** of callers felt **more knowledgeable about their rights** 

**“The advisor I spoke to was amazing, they were so compassionate and understanding when I was upset and listened to everything I needed to talk about. I now feel I have the confidence to do what is needed to help my situation and the helpline is just wonderful!!”** 

5 



Gingerbread, the charity for single parent families 

## **Webchat:** 

Our webchat service was relaunched in October 2020, following a successful pilot in 2019, and it’s proving to be a very popular way for people to seek our advice. It’s 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. 

To meet demand, we have gradually increased the number of weekly sessions since September. Since March 2021, we have hosted five sessions per week. Last year we held **802 webchats** 

## **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 nearly 3 million unique page views of our website, 1.3 million users, of which over 800,000 were to our information pages. 

An evaluation of our information service in September 2021 revealed 89% of website information viewers would use the service again, with 80% of website visitors saying they felt more knowledgeable about their rights. 

**“Sometimes when accessing sites such as this, a person may be at a very low point with a low ability to understand things clearly. For this it is important that all information is very clear and the site is easy to navigate. I think this site does this.”** 

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

## **Peer Support Services** 

Currently the main way we support single parents’ wellbeing is through our **Peer Support service** and our new **Wellbeing workshops** . 

Peer support is when people provide knowledge, experience, emotional, social or practical support to each other. In 2019 Gingerbread received funding from the Big Lottery Fund to re-design and co-produce our Peer Support service to maximise its impact on single parent wellbeing, confidence and connectedness. 

This was based on insight from single parents that: 

- having a good peer support network was one of the most important factors in helping 

- them to thrive 

- they need more support with their emotional wellbeing 

- • they see Gingerbread as being able to play a crucial role in supporting their emotional wellbeing 

The peer support service also experienced an increase in demand due to the impacts of the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis. 

Our Peer Support service consists of: 

1. **Local peer support groups led by single parent volunteers (Group Coordinators** ) – there were 58 groups with 2,492 members at the end of March 2022. This is an increase of 11 on the previous year; 25 new groups were opened during the year and, sadly, 14 groups closed, showing the impact of COVID-19 on friendship groups who have borne the brunt of the pandemic. 

6 



Gingerbread, the charity for single parent families 

2. An active **online discussion forum** where single parents can get support from their peers. Our online forums saw a 65% increase in posts compared to the same time in the previous year, with parents talking about being worried who would look after their children if they became unwell, how to manage working without school or childcare in place (with some having to give up their jobs to do so), financial worries and feeling isolated. Today, financial concerns due to the cost of living crisis and associated stress and anxiety are prominent fears. Work has continued on forum segmentation based on themes, and strengthening of moderation and safeguarding controls, including updating forum community guidelines. There were 38,439 registered members by the end of March 2022, an increase of almost 6,000 on the previous year. There were 2,781 new threads on the forum during the year - an average of 232 per month, plus a similar number of comments and responses each month, indicating a thriving online community of single parents. 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. 

3. **Digital groups for different communities** , to enable single parents to offer each other peer support wherever they are. These are currently being piloted with single fathers and single parents with children with special needs. A significant amount of research into digital platforms and subsequent building and testing of the new digital group model took place, using Mighty Networks as the preferred platform because of its flexibility and accessibility. Digital groups will follow the core group model and will be led by single parent coordinators who will facilitate the group, working to the same standards as all Gingerbread groups, including how members behave, what information is captured, events and activities, sharing of resources etc. 

We also developed a new **peer guidance programme called Money Mentors.** Through our testing, single parents have confirmed our belief that there is nobody currently providing this kind of intervention around preventing crisis debt escalation and that they all would have accessed this programme had it been available to them. Working with external partners, Renaisi, experts in debt advice and debt training, we have built a high-quality toolkit and training programme to equip volunteers to take on this role confidently in a safe and robust support structure. This has been piloted and we aim to roll out next year. 

We have also developed a **Wellbeing programme** specifically designed for single parents. Following initial testing, we are currently running the next stage of pilots and further iterations. We are also drawing on insights to expand the programme offer. We are developing a wellbeing hub on our website and produce further digital products to support the overarching programme (e.g. tailored around exercising with children, or healthy eating on a budget). 

Co-production is at the heart of our approach, and everything we do has full and ongoing engagement from single parents – either in terms of seeking further insights as we refine product design, piloting, iterating, reviewing, measuring and further refining from a service design perspective, or in evaluation and impact measurement and gauging the distance travelled by beneficiaries. 

**“I didn't really know any other single parents in my social network before, and now I have met lots and feel less like the odd one out.”** 

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

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

As well as our direct support work for single parents, 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 

7 



Gingerbread, the charity for single parent families 

parent herself. 

## **Highlights of our policy and campaign work include:** 

- **#FixTheCMS Campaign** 

We are continuing to support a prospective claim against the DWP in the High Court, brought by four single parents and their children, challenging the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) on its failings to enforce action and chase down debts against parents who do not pay their maintenance. We are working with our solicitors and counsel to confirm our role as an Intervenor in the case, once the claimants and their solicitors are ready to proceed with an application to the High Court. 

In the meantime, we continue to engage with the DWP to push for change, and have regular meetings with the minister, Baroness Stedman Scott, as well as senior officials within the CMS. There have also been two key reviews into the CMS, which we have engaged with: 

- A National Audit Office review into the value for money of the CMS 

- An independent review into how the CMS supports survivors of domestic abuse, led by 

- Dr Samantha Callan 

We are also working with the Work and Pensions Select Committee and the APPG on single parents to ensure further examination of these reviews in Parliament, with the aim to keep pressure up on Government and for our recommendations to be included in any changes in policy or legislation. 

## • **Single Parent Employment Challenge** 

As part of the second tranche of funding we received from the Standard Life Foundation (now known as abrdn Financial Fairness Trust), we published an interim report into single parents’ experience of unemployment and searching for work during the second phase of the pandemic, in March 2022 with the final report scheduled for October. Our aim is to use findings and recommendations from the interim report as part of our response to the Government’s Levelling Up White Paper, particularly the need for specialised support and training for single parents looking to re-enter the workforce. 

We submitted written evidence to the Work and Pensions Committee’s ongoing inquiry into the issue of upfront childcare costs and Universal Credit. Our Head of Policy and Campaigns also gave oral evidence alongside Save the Children and CPAG at an inquiry session at the end of January. We also supported one of our single parent research participants to give evidence to the inquiry. 

## • **The Invisible Family** 

With funding from Trusts for London, we successfully recruited a new Policy and Research Lead to deliver a report into the impact of COVID-19 on single parents living in London, to track the impact of policy change and to gain a better understanding of how single parent experiences evolved throughout the pandemic, Gingerbread interviewed 42 single parents across London in November 2020 and in February 2022. We particularly wanted to explore the impact that the pandemic would have on single parent employment in London, building on previous research we conducted into the pre-pandemic experiences of single parents. 

As uncovered through Gingerbread’s nationally focussed research over the same time period, single parents collectively feel that they are an afterthought in policy making and government decisions. Or, as one of our interviewees succinctly put it, “we are the invisible family.” 

To try to make the challenges of single parenthood more ‘visible’, and to better protect single parents who live in London following the COVID-19 pandemic, we will use this research to identify a number of policy recommendations at a local and national level and a report was published in October 2022. 

8 



Gingerbread, the charity for single parent families 

## • **Cost of living crisis** 

We continue to engage with the #KeepTheLifeline campaign and End Child Poverty Coalition and supporting our external communications on the cost of living crisis and how it is affecting single parents. Our Policy and Research Lead is establishing connections with potential academic partners to support a potential funding bid for us to develop economic modelling about the cost pressures facing single parent families. 

We also presented at a session of the APPG on Financial Resilience about the pressures on single parents on 2[nd ] March. 

## **Awareness raising communications campaigns** 

## **Single Parents Day 2022** 

Gingerbread once again successfully delivered a vibrant awareness raising campaign to highlight the issues single parents face. We ran a Radio 4 fundraising appeal, which was presented by actor and comedian Arabella Weir, and raised over £16,000. We hosted an evening reception at the House of Commons, which was attended by food poverty activist and single parent, Jack Monroe, along with the Mayor of Camden, Sabrina Francis, and a host of MPs including Mims Davies, Rupa Huq, Annaliese Dodds and Rosie Duffield. Our activity across digital channels, including a new microsite launched in partnership with One Parent Families Scotland, Frolo and other organisations in the UK and Ireland, saw us reach almost 350,000 people. 

## **Growing our reach and engagement** 

Gingerbread’s reach has grown across multiple channels. Over the course of the year our website reached 1,420,775 visitors who viewed 2,952,213 unique page views. Across our social media channels (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn) we have reached more than 55k followers, an increase of over 6k. 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 29k single parents registered. 

## **Celebrating the strength of single parents** 

In January a fabulous photography exhibition was launched to celebrate single parent strength, love and resilience. Situated on the outdoor art benches across Pancras Square and Lewis Cubitt Square in King's Cross, the photos were on display until April. The exhibition was put together by photographer Jonathan Donovan (who is also a single dad), the Mayor of Camden and our amazing single parent community. It features the portraits and stories of 16 London-based single parents and their children and is part of the Outside Art Project, which turns King’s Cross into one of the largest outdoor gallery spaces in London. 

We received very positive feedback about this exhibition and fantastic levels of exposure of the work we do with single parent families. 

## **My Family Moves Campaign** 

Our My Family Moves campaign, funded by Sport England, which was redesigned as a digital campaign following the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, has supported single parents and their children to engage in physical activities that worked around the barriers that they have previously identified alongside ongoing restrictions due to the pandemic. We delivered 10 fitness classes to over 300 single parents over Zoom, followed by a further 73 classes over Instagram live to over 1,000 single parents – delivering the classes in this way allowed us to reach parents from across the UK. 

9 



Gingerbread, the charity for single parent families 

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

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

Our Head of HR began maternity leave in August 2021. An interim was appointed to cover the first 4 months of that leave, and was then replaced by a consultant, Sarah Smith of SSHR Consulting. Concurrent with this, our HR Administrator commenced CIPD qualification, and this is ongoing 

In June of 2022, the decision was taken to reduce staff costs in light of an unanticipated reduction in revenue. A consultation period was entered into, the result of which saw 4 posts being made redundant. These posts included the Head of HR. Gingerbread’s relationship with SSHR consulting continues albeit in a significantly reduced capacity, with the Head of Finance and Resources taking overall responsibility for HR at SMT level. 

Further rationalisation of staff costs has seen the responsibilities of the Head of Policy being transferred to the Chief Executive following the resignation of the previous incumbent in June 2022. 

Staff training remains a key pillar of Gingerbread’s HR strategy, with significant investment made in an online training platform available to all staff and covering a wide range of business relevant topics. Some of these courses have been made mandatory for all staff, whilst others are optional or service specific. 

## **Fundraising** 

We continue to work towards a more sustainable future, although the global challenges of the last few years continue to place a huge demand on our resources. 

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. While a significant part of our income comes from grant funding, we continue to make progress on our income diversification plans. We added capacity to our team to lead on corporate partnerships and worked with a specialist corporate partnerships agency to develop our proposition and identify our key prospects. We held a reception in the House of Commons to engage with supporters and started testing various digital acquisition methods for our individual giving and community fundraising. We also undertook legacy marketing during Free Wills Month in March. While some of these are longer term investments, we continue to build our supporter base to help generate the sustainable income we need to extend our reach and have a bigger impact. 

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 towards 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. 

## **Safeguarding** 

We responded to 28 safeguarding cases (incidents and concerns) and made five external referrals to statutory agencies, which is slightly higher than the previous year. 

Safeguarding incidents primarily relate to child protection cases, or domestic abuse. We have seen a similar level of domestic abuse cases where there has been a risk to the parent, including domestic violence/ abuse and coercive control. 

Safeguarding concerns primarily relate to mental health concerns with regards to adults who are presenting as a potential suicide risk (11 cases). 

We have seen an increase in cases involving risk to both child and adult (9 cases). This is an indication of 

10 



Gingerbread, the charity for single parent families 

the severity of concern, where there may be a child protection concern relating to a child, as well as domestic abuse concern and/ or adult mental health concern relating to the parent. The majority of concerns presented either through the online forum or the helpline. 

Social media channels, the peer support and information inboxes, local groups and the main office number saw a lower volume of low-medium level safeguarding concerns. 

We updated and delivered safeguarding induction training to the new Advice Workers who joined us between July and September 2021. 

We also updated and delivered basic safeguarding training to new starters or staff who had not been trained within the last 12 months, training a total of 13 staff. 

We delivered a total of 12 training sessions to friendship group leads, training a total of 38 Group Coordinators. 

## **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 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 

11 



Gingerbread, the charity for single parent families 

roles including key management personnel. Gingerbread is accredited by the Living Wage Foundation. The ratio between the highest and lowest salary is 3.6:1 

## **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 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 Trust Fundraising Officer and a Corporate Partnerships Officer to support our income diversification, along with other activities noted above. 

2. Failure to raise unrestricted income. The Fundraising team are focusing on increasing individual giving, corporate and major donor income and smaller general trust income, whilst development of an 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 continues to recover from the effects of the Pandemic, a new cost of living crisis is emerging. 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 income for the year (£1,831,010 for 2022 against £2,133,717 for 2021) whilst expenditure has increased (£2,090,993 for 2022 against £1,723,244 for 2021). Increased costs are largely attributable to the increased charitable activities required by Gingerbread’s response to the both COVID and the cost-of-living crisis. 

Overall, there was a deficit on the year of £254,247 (surplus of £446,556 - 2021) after accounting for a gain on investments of £5,736. At the year end, Gingerbread was carrying forward a balance of £782,256 (£1,036,503 - 2021) of which £99,572 (£148,502 - 2021) was restricted. 

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 2022 this totalled £410,400. Unrestricted funds at the end of the reporting period stood at £682,684 (2021 £888,001) which included tangible fixed assets of £22,013 (2021: £21,961), more than sufficient to cover the requirement. 

No funds were designated for future use at the end of the year. (2021: nil). 

12 



Gingerbread, the charity for single parent families 

It is our intention to review and adapt our Reserves Policy in the year ending March 2023. 

## **Going concern** 

Whilst the Trustees acknowledge that the financial position at March 2022 is less strong than that of 2021, they consider that there are no material uncertainties about Gingerbread’s ability to continue as a going concern. Gingerbread’s reserve position provides an adequate “cushion” against any potential shortfall in income. There are no material uncertainties affecting the current year’s accounts. 

At the time of writing, the 2022/23 year is forecast to finish on a small surplus of £50,000 – a significant improvement on the 2021/22 deficit. 

## **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. 

## **Acknowledgements** 

## **Principal funders 2021-22** 

## **Charitable trusts and foundations** 

abrdn Financial Fairness Trust (formerly Standard Life Foundation) C H Harrison Trust Cecil Pilkington Charitable Trust Children England City Bridge Trust Davis-Rubens Charitable Trust Doris Field Charitable Trust Drapers' Charitable Fund Englefield Charitable Trust Esmée Fairbairn Foundation Eva Reckitt Trust Fund Garfield Weston Foundation Gowling WLG Charitable Trust Hampstead Wells and Campden Trust Linbury Trust Mr and Mrs J A Pye's Charitable Settlement R G Hills Charitable Trust Richard Cadbury Charitable Trust ShareGift (The Orr Mackintosh Foundation) Sir Jeremiah Colman Gift Trust Sir John Eastwood Smallwood Trust The 29[th] May 1961 Charity The Charles and Elsie Sykes Trust The Charles S French Charitable Trust The Desmond Foundation The DMF Ellis Charitable Trust The Florence Turner Trust 

13 



Gingerbread, the charity for single parent families 

The G M Morriison Charitable Trust The Hanley Trust The Michael and Anna Wix Charitable Trust The Mr and Mrs Sargeants Charitable Trust The Mulberry Trust The Paul Bassham Charitable Trust The Prudence Trust The Rest-Harrow Trust The Souter Charitable Trust The Stanton Ballard Charitable Trust The Summerfield Charitable Trust The Violet Melchett Children's Trust The Volant Charitable Trust The Wixamtree Trust The Wyseliot Rose Charitable Trust Tregelles Trust Trust for London 

## **Statutory and lottery funders** 

Department for Education His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs The National Lottery Community Fund Sport England 

## **Corporate supporters** 

Buyagift Harris and Sheldon Invesco Levison Meltzer Pigott Noodoll Studio.co.uk Waitrose 

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. 

14 



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. 

The trustees' annual report has been prepared in accordance with the special provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies' regime and was approved by the trustees on 2 November 2022 and signed on their behalf by 

Evangelos Raptis Treasurer 

15 



**Independent auditor’s report** 

## **To the members of** 

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

## **Opinion** 

We have audited the financial statements of Gingerbread, the charity for single parent families (the ‘charitable company’) for the year ended 31 March 2022 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 2022 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. 

16 



**Independent auditor’s report** 

## **To the members of** 

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

## **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: 

17 



**Independent auditor’s report** 

## **To the members of** 

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

   - 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) 

## 28 November 2022 

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

18 



## Gingerbread, The charity for single parent families 

Statement of financial activities (incorporating an income and expenditure account) For the year ended 31 March 2022 

|For theyear ended 31 March 2022||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||||2022|||2021|
|1||Unrestricted|Restricted|Total|Unrestricted|Restricted|Total|
||Note|£|£|£|£|£|£|
|Income from:||||||||
|Donations and legacies|2|833,122|-|833,122|785,800|-|785,800|
|Charitable activities|||||||-|
|Information and advice services|3|1,930|895,283|897,213|187,440|1,071,804|1,259,244|
|Training, consultancy and projects|4|16,174|-|16,174|-|-|-|
|Research and policy activities|5|-|84,500|84,500|11,050|77,621|88,671|
|Investments|6|1|-|1|2|-|2|
|Total income||851,227|979,783|1,831,010|984,292|1,149,425|2,133,717|
|Expenditure on:||||||||
|Raising funds|7a|284,994|-|284,994|179,347|-|179,347|
|Charitable activities|7a|||||||
|Information and advice services||536,728|943,997|1,480,725|335,162|1,015,285|1,350,447|
|Training, consultancy and projects||-|-|-|-|-|-|
|Research and policy activities||240,558|84,716|325,274|70,893|122,557|193,450|
|Total expenditure||1,062,280|1,028,713|2,090,993|585,402|1,137,842|1,723,244|
|Net income / (expenditure) before net||||||||
|gains / (losses) on investments||(211,053)|(48,930)|(259,983)|398,890|11,583|410,473|
|Net gains / (losses) on investments||5,736|-|5,736|36,083|-|36,083|
|Net income / (expenditure) for the year||||||||
|and Net Movement in Funds||(205,317)|(48,930)|(254,247)|434,973|11,583|446,556|
|Reconciliation of funds:||||||||
|Total funds brought forward||888,001|148,502|1,036,503|453,028|136,919|589,947|
|Total funds carried forward||682,684|99,572|782,256|888,001|148,502|1,036,503|



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. 

19 



Gingerbread, The charity for single parent families Balance sheet 

Company no. 402748 

## As at 31 March 2022 

|As at 31 March 2022|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|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>Investments<br>Cash at bank and in hand<br>Tangible assets<br>Debtors<br>Creditors: amounts falling due within one year<br>Net current assets<br>Total assets less current liabilities<br>Restricted income funds<br>Unrestricted income funds:<br>Designated funds<br>The funds of the charity:<br>Creditors: amounts falling due after more than one<br>Total net assets/ (liabilities)<br>General funds<br>Total charity funds|£<br>202,362<br>634,571|2022<br>£<br>22,014<br>314,983|£<br>85,891<br>1,049,168|2021<br>£<br>21,961<br>309,249|
|||336,997<br>563,022||331,210<br>945,403|
||836,933<br>(273,911)||1,135,059<br>(189,656)||
||-<br>682,684||-<br>888,001||
|||900,019<br>(117,763)||1,276,613<br>(240,110)|
|||782,256||1,036,503|
|||99,572<br>682,684||148,502<br>888,001|
||||||
|||782,256||1,036,503|



Approved by the trustees on 2 November 2022 and signed on their behalf by 

Simon Bentley Chair 

Evangelos Raptis Trustee 

20 



Gingerbread, The charity for single parent families Statement of cash flows 

## For the year ended 31 March 2022 

|For the year ended 31 March 2022|For the year ended 31 March 2022|For the year ended 31 March 2022|||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|Note<br>£<br>£<br>(254,247)<br>9,214<br>(5,736)<br>(1)<br>(116,471)<br>(27,491)<br>(394,732)<br>1<br>(9,266)<br>-<br>2<br>-<br>(9,263)<br>-<br>(10,602)<br>(10,602)<br>(414,597)<br>1,049,168<br>634,571<br>Analysis of cash and cash equivalents and of net debt<br>At 1 April<br>2021<br>Cash flows<br>£<br>£<br>Cash at bank and in hand<br>1,049,168<br>(414,597)<br>Total cash and cash equivalents<br>1,049,168<br>(414,597)<br>Loan falling due within one year<br>9,890<br>(9,890)<br>Loan falling due after more than one year<br>240,110<br>(712)<br>Total borrowings<br>250,000<br>(10,602)<br>Total<br>1,299,168<br>(425,199)<br>Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the<br>year<br>Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year<br>Change in cash and cash equivalents in the year<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 financing activities:<br>Cash inflows from new borrowing<br>Net cash provided (used in) financing activities<br>Repayments of borrowings<br>2022<br>Cash flows from operating activities<br>Net cash provided by / (used in) investing activities<br>Cash flows from investing activities:<br>Investment income<br>Purchase of fixed assets<br>Proceeds from sale of investments<br>Purchase of investments<br>Change in cash held in investment|||£<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>-<br>250,000<br>756,027<br>293,141<br>1,049,168<br>Other non-<br>cash changes<br>At 31 March<br>2022<br>£<br>£<br>-<br>634,571<br>-<br>634,571<br>121,634<br>121,634<br>(121,634)<br>117,763<br>-<br>239,398<br>-<br>873,969<br>2021||
|||(394,732)||527,128|
|||(9,263)||(21,101)<br>250,000|
||-<br>(10,602)||250,000<br>-||
|||(10,602)|||
||At 1 April<br>2021<br>£<br>1,049,168||Other non-<br>cash changes<br>£<br>-||
|||(414,597)<br>1,049,168||756,027<br>293,141|
|||634,571||1,049,168|
|||Cash flows<br>£<br>(414,597)||At 31 March<br>2022<br>£<br>634,571|
||1,049,168|(414,597)|-|634,571|
||9,890<br>240,110|(9,890)<br>(712)|121,634<br>(121,634)|121,634<br>117,763|
||250,000|(10,602)|-|239,398|
||1,299,168|(425,199)|-|873,969|



21 



Gingerbread, The charity for single parent families Notes to the financial statements 

For the year ended 31 March 2022 

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 only 8% of our income for the current year has yet to be identified and Gingerbread anticipates returning a moderate surplus for the year.  Our projected cashflow shows a positive balance through to October 2023, 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. 

## 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. 

22 



Gingerbread, The charity for single parent families Notes to the financial statements 

## For the year ended 31 March 2022 

## 1. Accounting policies (continued) 

## 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. 

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. 

23 



Gingerbread, The charity for single parent families Notes to the financial statements 

## For the year ended 31 March 2022 

- 2 Income from donations and legacies 

|Income from donations and legacies|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|Donations<br>The Volant Charitable Trust|Unrestricted<br>£<br>600,000<br>233,122|£<br>-<br>-<br>Restricted|2022<br>Total<br>£<br>600,000<br>233,122|2021<br>Total<br>£<br>350,000<br>435,800|
||833,122|-|833,122|785,800|



At 31st March 2022, 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 

|Information and advice services|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|Single parent helpline and advice line<br>Communications|Fees<br>£<br>180<br>1,750|£<br>768,157<br>127,126<br>Grants|2022<br>Total<br>£<br>768,337<br>128,876|2021<br>Total<br>£<br>1,197,148<br>62,096|
||1,930|895,283|897,213|1,259,244|



Information and advice services income included restricted grants of £866,855 (2021: £1,055,985) 

## 4 Training, consultancy and projects 

|Training, consultancy and projects|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|Single parent Employability Training<br>Single parent Community Learning|Fees<br>£<br>10,000<br>6,174|£<br>-<br>-<br>Grants|2022<br>Total<br>£<br>10,000<br>6,174|2021<br>Total<br>£<br>-<br>-|
||16,174|-|16,174|-|



Training consultancy and projects income includes restricted grants of £Nil (2021: £Nil) 

## 5 Research and policy activities 

|Research and policy activities|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|Research and policy|Fees<br>£<br>-|£<br>84,500<br>Grants|2022<br>Total<br>£<br>84,500|2021<br>Total<br>£<br>88,671|
||-|84,500|84,500|88,671|



Research and policy income includes restricted grants of £84,500 (2021: £69,000) 

Total income from Government in the year was £382,012 (2021: £388,812) 

## 6 Income from investments 

|Income from investments|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|Bank deposit and other interest<br>Common investment fund deposit interest<br>John Bruce Will Trust|Unrestricted<br>£<br>-<br>-<br>1|£<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>Restricted|2022<br>Total<br>£<br>-<br>-<br>1|2021<br>Total<br>£<br>-<br>-<br>2|
||1||1|2|



24 



Gingerbread, The charity for single parent families 

## Notes to the financial statements 

## For the year ended 31 March 2022 

## 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>Support costs<br>Governance costs<br>Total expenditure 2022<br>Total expenditure 2021|Raising<br>funds<br>£<br>164,782<br>51,116<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-|Charitable activities|Charitable activities|Charitable activities|Governance<br>costs<br>£<br>123,687<br>-<br>67,358<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>12,769<br>-<br>-|Support<br>costs<br>£<br>163,129<br>-<br>9,375<br>1,917<br>83,998<br>93,143<br>-<br>-<br>26,569<br>9,214|2022 Total<br>£<br>1,523,729<br>262,922<br>76,733<br>1,917<br>83,998<br>93,143<br>-<br>12,769<br>26,569<br>9,214|2021<br>Total<br>£<br>1,159,134<br>274,509<br>43,069<br>1,949<br>102,555<br>84,402<br>-<br>18,214<br>25,665<br>13,745|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||Information<br>and advice<br>services<br>£<br>893,851<br>198,576<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-|Training<br>Consultancy<br>& Projects<br>£<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-|Research<br>and policy<br>£<br>178,280<br>13,230<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-|||||
||215,898<br>45,274<br>23,822|1,092,427<br>254,425<br>133,874|-<br>-<br>-|191,510<br>87,646<br>46,118|203,814<br>-<br>(203,814)|387,345<br>(387,345)<br>-|2,090,994<br>-<br>-|1,723,244<br>-<br>-|
||284,994|1,480,726|-|325,274|-|-|2,090,994|1,723,244|
||179,347|1,350,447|-|193,450|-|-|||



25 



Gingerbread, The charity for single parent families 

## Notes to the financial statements 

## For the year ended 31 March 2022 

## 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 2021|Raising<br>funds<br>£<br>68,944<br>58,072<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-|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>-|Support<br>costs<br>£<br>124,622<br>-<br>1,240<br>1,950<br>102,555<br>84,402<br>-<br>3,414<br>25,665<br>13,745<br>-|2021 Total<br>£<br>1,159,134<br>274,509<br>43,069<br>1,949<br>102,555<br>84,402<br>-<br>18,214<br>25,665<br>13,745<br>-|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|||Information<br>and advice<br>services<br>£<br>804,441<br>192,016<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-|Training<br>Consultancy<br>& Projects<br>£<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-|Research<br>and policy<br>£<br>102,086<br>24,421<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-||||
||127,016<br>40,117<br>12,214|996,457<br>267,194<br>86,795|-<br>-<br>-|126,507<br>50,281<br>16,662|115,671<br>-<br>(115,671)|357,593<br>(357,593)<br>-|1,723,244<br>-<br>-|
||179,347|1,350,447|-|193,450|-|-|1,723,244|



26 



Gingerbread, The charity for single parent families Notes to the financial statements 

## For the year ended 31 March 2022 

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

This is stated after charging / (crediting): 

|This is stated after charging / (crediting):|||
|---|---|---|
||2022|2021|
||£|£|
|Depreciation|9,214|13,745|
|Operating lease rentals:|||
|Property|58,910|56,651|
|Other|-|-|
|Auditor's remuneration (excluding VAT):|||
|Audit|11,900|13,000|
|Under accrual from previous year|366|1,800|
|Other services|-|-|



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

Staff costs were as follows: 

|Staff costs were as follows:|||
|---|---|---|
|Temporary staff<br>Staff recruitment<br>Salaries and wages<br>National insurance contributions<br>Pension costs|2022<br>£<br>1,324,052<br>130,895<br>57,950<br>-<br>10,832|2021<br>£<br>956,691<br>99,519<br>41,997<br>46,613<br>14,313|
||1,523,729|1,159,133|



No redundancy costs were paid as at year-end (2021: £Nil) 

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

|||2022|2021|
|---|---|---|---|
|||No.|No.|
|£60,000|- £69,999|-|-|
|£80,000|- £89,999|-|-|
|£90,000|- £99,999|1|1|



The total employee benefits (including pension contributions and employer's national insurance) of the key management personnel were £452,211 (2021: £412,766) 

The charity trustees were neither paid nor received any other benefits from employment with the charity in the year (2021: £nil).  No charity trustee received payment for professional or other services supplied to the charity (2021: £nil). 

Trustees' expenses represents the payment or reimbursement of travel and subsistence costs totalling £Nil (2021: Nil) incurred by members relating to attendance at meetings of the trustees). 

## 10 Staff numbers 

The average number of employees (head count based on number of staff employed) during the year was 40.0 FTE (2021: 26.6 FTE). 

Staff are split across the activities of the charitable company as follows (full time equivalent basis): 

|Staff are split across the activities of the charitable company as follows (full time|||
|---|---|---|
|equivalent basis):<br>Raising funds<br>Information and advice services<br>Training, consultancy and projects<br>Research and policy activities<br>Support|2022<br>No.<br>4.5<br>24.6<br>-<br>4.9<br>6.0|2021<br>No.<br>2.1<br>15.9<br>0.7<br>2.9<br>5.0|
||40.0|26.6|



27 



Gingerbread, The charity for single parent families Notes to the financial statements 

## For the year ended 31 March 2022 

## 11 Related party transactions 

As at 31 March 2022, 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 

|Tangible fixed assets||||
|---|---|---|---|
|Additions in year<br>At the end of the year<br>Depreciation<br>Cost<br>At the start of the year<br>At the end of the year<br>At the start of the year<br>At the start of the year<br>Charge for the year<br>At the end of the year<br>Net book value|Fixtures and<br>fittings<br>£<br>44,896<br>-|Computer<br>equipment<br>£<br>122,330<br>9,266|Total<br>£<br>167,226<br>9,266|
||44,896|131,596|176,492|
||43,292<br>1,431|101,972<br>7,783|145,264<br>9,214|
||44,723|109,755|154,478|
||173|21,841|22,014|
||1,604|20,357|21,961|



All of the above assets are used for charitable purposes. 

## 14 Listed investments 

|Listed investments|||
|---|---|---|
|Fair value at the start of the year<br>Additions at cost<br>Disposal proceeds<br>Dividends and fees<br>Investments comprise:<br>UK Common investment funds<br>Shares listed on the London Stock Exchange<br>Net gain / (loss) on change in fair value<br>Cash held by investment broker pending reinvestment<br>Fair value at the end of the year<br>Cash|2022<br>£<br>307,535<br>-<br>-<br>238<br>5,498|2021<br>£<br>271,452<br>-<br>-<br>(66)<br>36,149|
||313,271<br>1,712|307,535<br>1,714|
||314,983|309,249|
||2022<br>£<br>264,094<br>49,177<br>1,712|2021<br>£<br>265,305<br>42,230<br>1,714|
||314,983|309,249|



The listed investments were last valued on 31 March 2022 by Seven Investment Management (7IM). 

28 



Gingerbread, The charity for single parent families Notes to the financial statements 

## For the year ended 31 March 2022 

## 15 Debtors 

|Debtors|||
|---|---|---|
|Trade debtors<br>Other debtors<br>Prepayments and accrued income|2022<br>£<br>3,575<br>2,611<br>196,176|2021<br>£<br>2,825<br>-<br>83,066|
||202,362|85,891|



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 

|Creditors: amounts falling due within one year|||
|---|---|---|
|Loan capital repayment<br>Trade creditors<br>Taxation and social security<br>Accruals<br>Deferred income<br>Other creditors|2022<br>£<br>32,440<br>53,401<br>57,303<br>-<br>121,634<br>9,133|2021<br>£<br>108,894<br>36,215<br>29,017<br>-<br>9,890<br>5,640|
||273,911|189,656|



Included within other creditors is £9,085.04 in respect of pension contributions outstanding at 31 March 2022 (2021: £5,509.67). 

## 17 Deferred income 

Deferred income comprises of income received in the year ending 31st March 2022 that relates to the next financial year.  There were no deferred income as at 31st March 2022. 

## 18 Creditors: amounts falling due after one year 

|Creditors: amounts falling due after one year|||
|---|---|---|
|Bank loans due in 1-2 years<br>Bank loans due in 2-5 years|2022<br>£<br>117,763<br>-|2021<br>£<br>121,587<br>118,523|
||117,763|240,110|



The above loan is Government funded through the Resilience and Recovery 

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 2022 was £9,085 and 38 employees were on the scheme. 

29 



Gingerbread, The charity for single parent families Notes to the financial statements 

## For the year ended 31 March 2022 

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

|Analysis of net assets between funds (current year)|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|Tangible fixed assets<br>Long term liabilities<br>Net assets at 31 March 2022<br>Investments<br>Net assets|General<br>unrestricted<br>£<br>22,014<br>314,983<br>737,361<br>(391,674)|Designated<br>£<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-|Restricted<br>£<br>-<br>-<br>99,572<br>-|Total funds<br>£<br>22,014<br>314,983<br>836,933<br>(391,674)|
||682,684|-|99,572|782,256|



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

|Analysis of net assets between funds (prior year)|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|Long term liabilities<br>Net assets at 31 March 2021<br>Tangible fixed assets<br>Investments<br>Net assets|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|



30 



Gingerbread, The charity for single parent families Notes to the financial statements 

## For the year ended 31 March 2022 

- 21a Movements in funds (current year) 

|e year ended 31 March 2022<br>Movements in funds (current year)||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|Information and advice services<br>Big Lottery & Trusts  Advice and Support<br>City Bridge Trust<br>DfE Family Support Services<br>Garfield Weston<br>HMRC Advice and support<br>Linbury<br>Smallwood Trust<br>Sports England<br>Research and policy activities<br>Standard Life Foundation<br>Step Change<br>Trust for London 3<br>Total restricted funds<br>General funds<br>Unrestricted funds:<br>Total funds<br>Total unrestricted funds<br>Restricted funds:|At 1 April<br>2021<br>£<br>100,859<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>36,232<br>7,739<br>3,672<br>-|Income &<br>gains<br>£<br>166,845<br>64,300<br>228,012<br>60,000<br>154,000<br>50,000<br>45,000<br>127,126<br>44,000<br>-<br>40,500|Expenditure<br>& losses<br>£<br>(179,327)<br>(64,300)<br>(228,012)<br>(60,000)<br>(154,000)<br>(50,000)<br>(45,000)<br>(163,358)<br>(40,544)<br>(3,672)<br>(40,500)|Transfers<br>and<br>gains/losses<br>£<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-|At 31 March<br>2022<br>£<br>88,377<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>11,195<br>-<br>-|
||148,502|979,783|(1,028,713)|-|99,572|
||888,001|851,227|(1,062,280)|5,736|682,684|
||888,001|851,227|(1,062,280)|5,736|682,684|
||1,036,503|1,831,010|(2,090,993)|5,736|782,256|



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

21b Movements in funds (prior year) 

|Movements in funds (prior 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>Restricted funds:<br>Unrestricted funds:<br>Total 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 &<br>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<br>& 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<br>and<br>gains/losses<br>£<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-|At 31 March<br>2021<br>£<br>100,859<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>-<br>36,232<br>7,739<br>3,672<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|



31 



Gingerbread, The charity for single parent families Notes to the financial statements 

For the year ended 31 March 2022 

## 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] Garfield Weston: To support our newly accredited advice and information service 

[K] Linbury: To support our free, expert advice and information services to single parents 

## 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] Joseph 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 

|<br>the following periods|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|Less than one year<br>One to five years|2022<br>2021<br>£<br>£<br>63,753<br>63,955<br>318,764<br>319,776<br>382,517<br>383,731<br>Property||2022<br>2021<br>£<br>£<br>3,797<br>5,139<br>6,644<br>-<br>10,441<br>5,139<br>Equipment||
||382,517|383,731|10,441|5,139|



## 23 Capital commitments 

There were no capital commitments at 31 March 2022. 

## 24 Contingent assets or liabilities 

There were no contingent assets or liabilities at 31 March 2022. 

## 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. 

32