The Trustees present their annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2026.
The financial statements have been prepared in accordance with the accounting policies set out in note 1 to the financial statements and comply with the charity's Memorandum and Articles of Association, the Companies Act 2006 and "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)" (effective 1 January 2019).
We are an independent registered charity and we are here for everyone. We provide, free confidential and independent advice to help people overcome their problems. We work to fix the underlying causes of these problems and are a voice for people on the issues that matter to them. We value diversity, champion equality and challenge discrimination.
We aim to
provide the advice people need for the problems they face.
Improve the policies and practices that affect people’s lives
Vision
To be a local charity that promotes a fairer Lewes District, where its people have access to free, impartial and accredited advice and support to enable our community to thrive and flourish.
Values
Confidential: We adhere to the highest standards of client confidentiality at all times.
High Quality: Our quality assurance checks ensure we deliver consistently high standards.
Professional: We are professionally trained giving our clients peace of mind.
Impactful: We transform the lives of local people and build resilience in our community
Empowering: We give our clients the confidence to make an informed decision that is right for them.
How we work
Since 1997, Lewes District Citizens Advice (LDCA) has been providing advice and support for residents of Lewes District who need help solving their problems.
We also advocate for people on local and national issues that matter to them. We are a local, independent charity that is a paid member of the separate national charity, Citizens Advice (CA). Being a paid member of a national organisation allows us to access high-quality training materials, data management tools, the CA brand and accredited advice.
Our funding comes from a range of sources, and we must generate all our own income independently. We are not funded by or part of central government. We apply for grants and have been greatly supported by our district, county, town and parish councils. We also continuously seek to access funding from other sources such as trusts and foundations and local donations to ensure we can be sustainable as an organisation, and both maintain and diversify the range of support we offer.
The Trustees have paid due regard to guidance issued by the Charity Commission in deciding what activities the charity should undertake.
Our service, as at March 2026, is run by 6 trustees, 15 part-time paid staff (9 FTE), around 36 volunteer advisors (6.25 FTE) and one community and events volunteer. We heavily rely on support from our fantastic volunteers to provide LDCA services and could not deliver the level of support that we do without their dedication and professionalism.
We are now AQS accredited for delivering four areas of work: advice, welfare benefits casework, disability casework and housing casework. Our latest accreditation is from April 2026-March 2028. We are registered with the FCA and the Fundraising Regulator.
Recruiting volunteers is on-going and we have been undertaking a recruitment drive with the ambition of increasing and diversifying our volunteer demographic. In 2024 we secured Big Lottery funding from Reaching Communities, with part of this income enabling us to employ a dedicated Volunteer Coordinator for three years.
In 2023 we changed our operational model by ceasing our participation in the national CA collective phone call handling system due to poor response times and client experience and began to deliver our own Advice Line internally. Based in our Newhaven office this operates between 10-3pm Tuesday – Thursday. Since leaving Single Queue we have been able to increase our ability to meet demand, averaging 48% of calls answered in 25-26. Our team answered 1,374 calls in total, and in our top performing month we answered 64% of calls (this is down from our peak of 70% in the previous reporting year). Pre-booked appointments (in person and on the phone) and email support is also provided outside of these times. Our Seaford office is operational on Mondays and our Lewes office is accessible on Fridays for pre booked appointments. We provide a weekly outreach service in Peacehaven which is a drop in.
Since 2024 we have been conducting a continuous programme of IT improvements including working systems and processes, and equipment upgrades to support service delivery. There is ongoing fundraising to upgrade all equipment for optimum functionality and to ensure we can be fully operational with the new Windows 11 upgrade (which made many of our older devices unfit for purpose from October 2025). We met our target to upgrade all required devices for this deadline. We do still require additional upgraded devices and new processes to be implemented, including getting Intune embedded across the organisation. This programme of IT development will continue in 2026-27 as we work towards attaining Cyber Essentials.
We continue with our process of improving our digital visibility and accessibility, with ongoing development of our website, social media channels and our YouTube channel. We are also committed to developing our marketing, brand and reach. In 2024 we launched a TikTok channel and hope to continue our work to grow this platform in 26-27.
We have again been successful in securing funding from outside of District and Town council grants and in this reporting period have raised additional income to support with increased operational running costs, increased training team and supervisor hours and funds towards enabling our IT equipment.
We continue to deliver our Autism Advice Service, providing our accredited advice, whilst having an autism specialism. This work is delivered in partnership with Brighton LCA and we deliver support within Lewes District and Brighton and Hove. This service won a national Citizens Advice award under their EDI category at the annual conference in this reporting period.
In this reporting period we secured funding from the Cabinet Office’s ‘Digital Innovation Fund’ to develop, run and evaluate a pilot project that combined digital inclusion support, access to free devices and Advice First Aid (AFA) This was an innovative new project that exceeded expected KPI’s, enabled us to develop a new tailored training programme for AFA volunteers and deliver weekly drop in sessions in both Seaford and Newhaven. The new volunteer role, with less training and long-term commitment requirement, also enabled us to attract a new diversity of volunteers. The project provided insight and learning into understanding people's priority needs in accessing support and good practice in delivering this mode of support. National Citizens Advice took a keen interest in the project; the Cabinet Office chose us an in-depth case study, and our evaluation report will serve as a tool for sharing our learning and in seeking to secure additional funding. Towards the end of the reporting Lewes Town Council funded a small amount of continuation funding to enable us to deliver across Lewes town from April-October 2026.
We secured funding to launch our new Housing Advice Service, with a specialist housing advisor providing dedicated support to people with their housing issues. This service was developed as a direct response to housing becoming an ever-growing area of need and our second largest support area.
We successfully applied to the Social Impact Framework and have become an approved NHS provider and can apply for future suitable opportunities within the funding portal.
Due to funding constraints, some of the team were consulted with regarding a restructure that would deliver essential cost savings, while safeguarding as much delivery as possible. Changes in working hours were agreed and cost savings found at the start of this reporting period.
Hybrid service delivery
Staff and volunteers continue to work flexibly and can operate at home and in the office. We are continuing to welcome clients back into our offices for face-to-face pre-booked appointments and at drop-in sessions at our outreach venues in the wider community. These drop-in sessions (delivered in a range of community venues) have proved to be popular and we will endeavour to maintain this flexible way to access support in the future. There will always remain a need for in person support for many people and for those who are digitally excluded and for some clients who have a disability. We are committed to equality of access for everyone.
In this reporting period we have supported:
17.3% people in person (up from 16.4% in the previous reporting year)
52.3% on the phone (down from 57.4% in the previous reporting year)
20.5% via email (down from 22.9% in the previous reporting year)
9.9% via other mechanisms - such as video call, letter (up from 3.3%)
How we have helped - 1st April 2025 - 31st March 2026
Demand remains high, partly because of the consequences of the cost-of-living crisis. The complexities of people's problems are challenging, and people are coming to us now with an average of almost 3 differing issues per client.
Number of clients: 1,997 (1,994 previous year)
Number of issues: 5,669 (5,878 previous year)
Financial gains and debts written off: £682,492
Largest benefit requiring support: Personal Independence Payment
Largest debt issue: Council tax arrears
Biggest areas of need: benefits and housing.
61% of people accessing support have a long-term health condition or disability (81.2% of residents were identified as non-disabled in the 2021 census)
Ethnicity stats: 8% of our clients identified as being Asian, Black, mixed or other (94.2% of residents identified their ethnic group within the white category in the 2021 census)
Client feedback and complaints
There were two client complaints in 2025-26, one relating to a miscommunication about face-to-face appointment availability and the other relating to a delayed food bank referral. Both were investigated and responded to.
The accounts have been prepared on an accrual's basis by TC Group of One Bell Lane, Lewes and submitted to the Charity Commission and Companies House to meet the requirements of limited company status.
Total Income for the year was £447k compared to prior year of £521k. This includes monies from the Household Support Fund and other funders, which is intended for onwards distribution to our clients according to the terms of the grants. To show the impact of this, we have analysed our results further in note 5. This shows that our total income from our core activity of Advising Clients has decreased from £468k to £409k driven by the £76k fund, covering multiple years, transferred from ASSERT in 2024-25 for our Autism Advice Service. Funding from East Sussex County Council for Additional Measures general casework ceased at the end of March 2025 but was partly offset by an increase in Household Support Fund preventative measures funding. We also won new grants from Lottery Awards for All for housing casework and the Cabinet Office’s Digital Innovation Fund for digital inclusion and advice first aid. The change in income is also impacted by the timing of receipt of restricted funds. As detailed in note 15, £70k of the restricted funding received during the year relates to future years and has been carried forward at 31 March 2026. However, we brought forward only £180 of restricted reserves at 1 April 2024 for activities taking place last year but carried forward £91k at 31 March 2025.
The costs for our core activity of advising clients for the year have decreased slightly from £419k to £408k - salaries were reduced as a result of the restructuring implemented in early 2025-26 to manage core costs and Lewes District Council granted us a year’s free rent on our Newhaven site partly offset by additional expenditure on laptops and mobiles for both our upgrade and for clients of our Digital Inclusion project. We have a net reported income in the year of £1k, which after adjusting for income designated for other years, results in a surplus of £22k (versus a £41k deficit last year).Part of this surplus was used to create a designated reserve of £45k at 31 March 2026 to fund the budgeted total fundraising amount for 2026-27.
It is the policy of our Charity to maintain unrestricted funds which are the free reserves of the Charity at a level that can meet its financial commitments. It seeks to minimise risks by regularly reviewing the reserves policy which takes into account the need to maintain sufficient funds to cover costs and to continue the provision of services at the start of the new financial year, to cover any liabilities that arise in relation to staff and to allocate limited funds to attract additional project income. During the year the Board has decided that the minimum level of reserves to be held is 4 months.
As at 31 March 2026 we held £137,166 of unrestricted reserves, equivalent to 5.3 months of budgeted core costs. In addition, we held £45,000 of designated reserves and £70,192 of restricted reserves.
In 2025-26, for every £1 donated in LDCA, there was a return in public value of £26.43.
Future Plans
Our objectives are
1. Overall Service – To meet local needs, to ensure the availability of our services and to take account of the cost-of-living crisis and its ongoing impact on our society. We need to extend our offer of support and have a long-standing ambition to open our Advice Line an evening a week and on all days of the week. We must ensure we are accessible and visible to people both in person and digitally.
In the spring of 2026, we applied to the Governments, ‘Ending Homelessness in Communities Fund’. This project proposal would work in partnership with Eastbourne LCA and deliver a suite of preventative housing advice and case work across both districts. This project proposal was developed as a direct response to understanding our local client needs. However, we heard at the beginning of July that our bid was not successful and that specific feedback cannot be provided due to over 700 applications.
We have an ambition to develop a Youth Advice Service and continue to seek funding for this. We also want to extend the remit of our Autism Advice Service and secure funding to deliver this across East Sussex and to a wider neurodivergent community. We are actively seeking funding to continue to deliver our AFA and digital inclusion project and can scale this with ease, if resourced.
2. Funding – Continue to work closely with LDC, ESCC and our Town and Parish Councils. We must also diversify our funding sources and ensure a broad range of income sources to support organisational sustainability and growth for the future. This includes securing increased funding from trusts and foundations, individual giving, corporate support and events.
Our Reaching Communities funding ends in May 2027 and we will review current project delivery and demand and develop a new proposal, aligned to their new priorities and that addresses our learning from delivery and community needs.
We have secured funding to deliver new services under the Crisis and Resilience Fund (from central Government and managed by ESCC) We will launch a service in the summer of 2026 and hope to secure additional funding for wider tailored support and delivery.
3. Citizens Advice membership - Maintain standards, learn from our Leadership Self-Assessment (LSA) and embed best practice. In 2025, our LSA year 3 was described as ‘gold standard’. We scored green for all 54 assessed categories, with very limited recommendations. EDI and our research on reaching young people was noted as being of high value and good practice. In this reporting period a new membership agreement has been agreed, which includes a Core plus More package of support from national. The LSA requirements have also changed as a result. We completed our very limited year 1 recommendations and in 2026-27 will be reviewing and addressing the new LSA requirements. Attaining Cyber essentials is a new membership requirement that we must succeed with in 2026-27.
4. Finance - Minimise financial risk and maintain services. Diversification of income.
5.Trustee Board – Ensure appropriate skills & diversity. Effective communications with staff/volunteers. We continue to recruit both a marketing/digital trustee and a fundraising trustee.
6.Staff – A valued staff team that reflects our operational needs. Support & train advisors and develop a succession plan for senior staff. Continued staff and volunteer social activities and events. We will seek to continue our successful career pathway for many advisors, from volunteers to paid staff.
We were awarded the ESCC ‘Wellbeing at Work’ Bronze award in this reporting period, have an EAP programme for staff and offer both staff and volunteers a variety of social activities and to register to receive a Blue Light card.
7. Volunteer recruitment - we must increase numbers of our volunteers and diversify the demographic of our volunteers. Our new Volunteer Coordinator continues to extend our ability to achieve these aims.
8. IT- Provide effective, secure systems & equipment for staff. Build on recent work and ensure all are fully trained. Continued fundraising to purchase replacement laptops and mobiles. Ensure we achieve Cyber Essentials by the deadline of April 2027.
9. Partnership working – maintain effective partnerships with our regional LCA’s and the wider community and voluntary sector and explore and develop new opportunities. We have an active partnership with Brighton LCA and have a formal status as Citizens Advice East Sussex (which includes Eastbourne, Wealden and Hastings and Rother) We are a member of the Autism Partnership Board for East Sussex and the VCSE rep for the Integrated Community Team for Lewes District and will continue to champion the needs of our clients across both of these working partnerships.
10. Research & Campaigns - Advisers collect feedback on direct experiences from clients to provide relevant evidence in relation to poor policy and its impacts on clients. We will continue to campaign to relevant authorities to improve policy and root causes of hardships. We will maintain an enthusiastic R&C team and produce local R&C reports, our annual Needs Analysis and an annual Impact Report.
11. Marketing and reach- We must have a hybrid approach in how we market and reach our clients. This must include digital and non-digital means of communicating with our stakeholders. Development of our TikTok platform in 2026-27 is a high priority and we have secured the support of a marketing intern again for the summer of 2026. We are still seeking to increase the numbers of younger people that we work with, both as clients and volunteers.
In 2024 we secured funding for a rural outreach support service and have been going to people in their rural communities. This funding continues to help ensure that we are addressing issues of rural deprivation and inequalities of access to support to many vulnerable people who are often overlooked and at risk of facing additional hardships.
We are passionate about equity of access to our services and deliver a dedicated and specialist advice service for autistic adults and want to extend this offer to all neurodivergent people in the coming years. We know this is a huge area of need, and we have included people with lived experience in the project developed from the initiation; tailoring services and ensuring we reach people in a way that meets their needs.
12. Local Government Reorganisation (LGR) and Devolution - we are keeping abreast of upcoming changes with both devolution and unitary authorities (UA). Vesting day for the new Unitary Authority is the 1st of April 2028 and the new strategic Mayor Authority will also come into effect on the same date. A decision on LGR and the geographical area for the new UA was announced late July 2026 and includes changes towards that currently sit within Lewes District which would be split between Brighton and Hove UA and One East Sussex UA. The changes that are proposed for LGR pose real challenges for LDCA, with Lewes District Council no longer being in existence, with new currently unknown funders and decision makers and possible new boundaries.
We are working closely with our LCA’s across East Sussex, pan Sussex and more widely across the Southeast, to ready ourselves for new local governing structures, funders and regional opportunities that will bring about change in the coming years.
Lewes District LCA is a company limited by guarantee governed by its Memorandum and Articles of Association dated 23 December 1999. The Memorandum and Articles were amended following the merger of Lewes Area CAB and Seaford CAB to become the Lewes and Seaford CAB in July 2002. They were further amended in April 2013 when the Charity's name became the Lewes District CAB and was registered as such at Companies House and the Charity Commission. In 2025 they were amended, again, to clarify who the members of the charity are. Following Citizens Advice rebranding guidelines issued in 2015 the name for general use is Lewes District Citizens Advice.
Following Citizens Advice rebranding guidelines issued in 2015 the name for general use is Lewes District Citizens Advice.
The Trustees, who are also the directors for the purpose of company law, and who served during the year and up to the date of signature of the financial statements were:
In addition, we have five non-voting observers representing the district and town councils [note: observers are not trustees in Charity law].
Sarah Archer remains as CEO and Sophie Hoffman as our Advice Services Manager/Deputy CEO.
Our Financial Supporters
Donations from grateful clients and local residents
Lewes District Council
East Sussex County Council
Peacehaven Town Council
Newhaven Town Council
Lewes Town Council
Seaford Town Council
Telscombe Town Council
The Big Lottery, Reaching Communities
Sussex Community Foundation
Cabinet Office- Digital Innovation Fund
Awards For All- Lottery
Lewes Rotary Club
Seaford Rotary Club
Cliffe Feoffees
Individuals who have donated
The Chair of the Trustees is elected from the members of the Trustee Board.
Citizens Advice provides for the induction of new Trustees to brief them on their obligations as Trustees. Trustees are encouraged to attend appropriate external training events where these will facilitate the understanding of their role. Day to day management of the charity is devolved to our Chief Executive Officer. The Board of Trustees can have between 4 and 15 elected members.
The Trustees shall endeavour to ensure that the Board is broadly representative of appropriate local organisations, interest groups and interested local people. The Trustees keep under regular review the strategic, business and operational risks which the Charity faces and monitor these risks at each quarterly meeting.
The trustees' report has been prepared in accordance with the provisions applicable to companies subject to the small companies' regime and was approved by the Board of Trustees.
I report to the Trustees on my examination of the financial statements of Lewes District Citizens Advice Bureau (the charity) for the year ended 31 March 2026 which are set out on pages 11 to 26.
Having satisfied myself that the financial statements of the charity are not required to be audited under Part 16 of the 2006 Act and are eligible for independent examination, I report in respect of my examination of the charity’s financial statements as carried out under section 145 of the Charities Act 2011 (the 2011 Act). In carrying out my examination I have followed all the applicable Directions given by the Charity Commission under section 145(5)(b) of the 2011 Act.
I have completed my examination. I confirm that no matters have come to my attention in connection with the examination giving me cause to believe that in any material respect:
accounting records were not kept in respect of the charity as required by section 386 of the 2006 Act; or
the financial statements do not accord with those records; or
the financial statements do not comply with the accounting requirements of section 396 of the 2006 Act other than any requirement that the accounts give a true and fair view which is not a matter considered as part of an independent examination; or
the financial statements have not been prepared in accordance with the methods and principles of the Statement of Recommended Practice for accounting and reporting by charities applicable to charities preparing their accounts in accordance with the Financial Reporting Standard applicable in the UK and Republic of Ireland (FRS 102).
I have no concerns and have come across no other matters in connection with the examination to which attention should be drawn in this report in order to enable a proper understanding of the financial statements to be reached.
The statement of financial activities includes all gains and losses recognised in the year. All income and expenditure derive from continuing activities.
The statement of financial activities also complies with the requirements for an income and expenditure account under the Companies Act 2006.
Lewes District Citizens Advice Bureau is a private company limited by guarantee incorporated in England and Wales. The registered office is 15-19 Chapel Street, Newhaven, East Sussex, BN9 9PN.
The accounts have been prepared in accordance with the charity's Memorandum and Articles of Association, the Companies Act 2006 and “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)” (effective 1 January 2019). The charity is a Public Benefit Entity as defined by FRS 102.
The charity has taken advantage of the provisions in the SORP for charities applying FRS 102 Update Bulletin 1 not to prepare a Statement of Cash Flows.
The financial statements are prepared in sterling, which is the functional currency of the charity. Monetary amounts in these financial statements are rounded to the nearest £.
The financial statements have been prepared under the historical cost convention. The principal accounting policies adopted are set out below.
At the time of approving the financial statements, the Trustees have a reasonable expectation that the charity has adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future. Thus the Trustees continue to adopt the going concern basis of accounting in preparing the financial statements.
Unrestricted funds are available for use at the discretion of the committee of management in furtherance of their charitable objectives unless the funds have been designated for other purposes.
Designated funds comprise funds which have been set aside at the discretion of the committee of management for specific purposes. The purposes and uses of the designated funds are set out in the notes to the accounts.
Restricted funds are subject to specific conditions by donors or grantors as to how they may be used. The purposes and uses of the restricted funds are set out in the notes to the financial statements.
Cash donations are recognised on receipt. Other donations are recognised once the charity has been notified of the donation, unless performance conditions require deferral of the amount. Income tax recoverable in relation to donations received under Gift Aid or deeds of covenant is recognised at the time of the donation.
Liabilities are recognised as resources expended as soon as there is a legal or constructive obligation committing the charity to the expenditure. All expenditure is accounted for on an accruals basis.
Tangible fixed assets are initially measured at cost and subsequently measured at cost or valuation, net of depreciation and any impairment losses.
Depreciation is recognised so as to write off the cost or valuation of assets less their residual values over their useful lives on the following bases:
Cash and cash equivalents include cash in hand, deposits held at call with banks, other short-term liquid investments with original maturities of three months or less, and bank overdrafts. Bank overdrafts are shown within borrowings in current liabilities.
The Company has elected to apply the provisions of Section 11 ‘Basic Financial Instruments’ and Section 12 ‘Other Financial Instruments Issues’ of FRS 102 to all of its financial instruments.
Financial instruments are recognised when the charity becomes party to the contractual provisions of the instrument.
Basic financial assets, which include debtors and cash and bank balances, are initially measured at transaction price including transaction costs and are subsequently carried at amortised cost using the effective interest method unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the transaction is measured at the present value of the future receipts discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial assets classified as receivable within one year are not amortised.
Basic financial liabilities, including creditors and bank loans are initially recognised at transaction price unless the arrangement constitutes a financing transaction, where the debt instrument is measured at the present value of the future payments discounted at a market rate of interest. Financial liabilities classified as payable within one year are not amortised.
Debt instruments are subsequently carried at amortised cost, using the effective interest rate method.
Trade creditors are obligations to pay for goods or services that have been acquired in the ordinary course of operations from suppliers. Amounts payable are classified as current liabilities if payment is due within one year or less. If not, they are presented as non-current liabilities. Trade creditors are recognised initially at transaction price and subsequently measured at amortised cost using the effective interest method.
Financial liabilities are derecognised when the charity’s contractual obligations expire or are discharged or cancelled.
The cost of any unused holiday entitlement is recognised in the period in which the employee’s services are received.
Termination benefits are recognised immediately as an expense when the charity is demonstrably committed to terminate the employment of an employee or to provide termination benefits.
Payments to defined contribution retirement benefit schemes are charged as an expense as they fall due.
Debtors
Short term debtors are measured at transaction price, less any impairment. Loans receivable are measured initially at fair value, net of transaction costs, and are measured subsequently at amortised cost using the effective interest method, less any impairment.
The average monthly number of employees during the year was:
The charity operates a defined contribution pension scheme for all qualifying employees. The assets of the scheme are held separately from those of the charity in an independently administered fund.
These are unrestricted funds which are material to the charity's activities.
The restricted funds of the charity comprise the unexpended balances of donations and grants held on trust subject to specific conditions by donors as to how they may be used.
Generalist Advisors
Funding received from East Sussex County Council to support Generalist Advisors in specific areas for defined period of time.
Lions Clubs
To cover specific legal costs of local clients.
Household Support Fund and Cliffe Foeffees
To be distributed through small payments to support vulnerable households, in specific areas, to meet daily needs such as food, clothing, and utilities.
IT support
Funding received to cover IT equipment and support.
Marketing Intern
Funding received from the University of Sussex to cover the wages of a Marketing Intern.
Big Lottery
Big Lottery grant to cover the costs of a Rural Outreach Advice service and a Volunteer Co-ordinator.
Digital Inclusion and Advice First Aid
Funding received from the Department of Science Innovation and Technology to develop, run and evaluate a pilot project.
At the reporting end date the charity had outstanding commitments for future minimum lease payments under non-cancellable operating leases, which fall due as follows:
There were no disclosable related party transactions during the year (2025 - none).