The Trustees present their annual report and financial statements for the year ended 31 March 2025.
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 is currently run by 7 trustees, 17 part-time paid staff (9 FTE) and around 35 volunteer advisors (6.2FTE), one community and events volunteer and 1 marketing volunteer. We rely heavily on support from our fantastic volunteers to run LDCA and could not deliver the level of support that we do without their dedication and professionalism.
We are AQS accredited for delivering three areas of work: advice, welfare rights casework and disability casework. Our latest accreditation is from April 24 - March 28. We are registered with the FCA and 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 24-25. 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.
In 2024 we completed an IT review and as a result have improved working systems and processes to support service delivery. We are continuing to upgrade all equipment for optimum functionality and to ensure we can be fully operational with the new Windows 11 upgrade making many of our older devices unfit for purpose from October 2025. We are on track to ensure upgrades are complete in this time frame.
We continue with our process of a digital transformation, 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 25-26.
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 were successful in securing some funding over two years to develop and deliver a new 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.
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
16.4% people in person
57.4% on the phone
22.9% via email
3.3% via other mechanisms (such as video call, letter)
How we have helped - 1st April 2024 - 31st March 2025
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 1,994
Number of issues 5,878
Financial gains of over £603,412
Largest benefit requiring support- Personal Independence Payment
Largest debt issue- Council tax arrears
64% of people accessing support have a long-term health condition or disability (81.2% of residents were identified as nondisabled 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
We have had no complaints this year.
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 £521k compared to prior year of £310k.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 increased from £280k to £468k helped by a Big Lottery grant for Rural Outreach Advice and a Volunteer Co-ordinator, funding for a new Autism Advice Service and increased donations resulting from our fundraising activities. The increase is also significantly impacted by the timing of receipt of funds. As detailed in note 15, £91k of the funding we received during the year relates to future years and has been carried forward at 31 March 2025. However, we started last year with £59k of reserves carried forward for core activities taking place during the year but carried forward zero at 31 March 2024.
Our core costs for the year have increased from £376k to £419k driven by wage inflation and additional staff to fill the new Big Lottery roles.
Consequently, we have a net reported surplus in the year of £49k from our core activities. However, once adjusted for the £91k income designated for future years, this results in a deficit of £42k which has been funded from our reserves. This was foreseen with the creation of a designated reserve at 31 March 2023 of which £40k was retained at 31 March 2024 to fund the budgeted deficit.
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 to retain the minimum level of reserves being held at 4 months.
For every £1 donated in LDCA, there is a return in public value of £19.70
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 an 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 2025 we will be launching our Housing Advice Service, having a specialist housing advisor that can help us meet the ever-growing demand for support in this area (now the second highest area of need). We have an ambition to develop a Youth Advice Service and are seeking 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.
2. Funding – Continue to work closely with District and County councils 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. We will harness the power of online giving platforms in 25-26 to increase our income from individual giving and events sponsorship activities.
3. Citizens Advice - Maintain standards, learn from our Leadership Self-Assessment (LSA), ensure we have active dialogue with and follow CA advice. 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. We have been taking an active role in the national consultation process for renewing what the CitA membership offer will be for LCA’s from April 2026. Details of the new membership offer will be decided and communicated towards the end of 2025.
4. Finance - Minimise financial risk and maintain services. Diversification of income.
5. Trustee Board – Ensure appropriate skills and diversity and update trustee documentation. Effective communications with staff/volunteers. We are seeking to recruit both a marketing/digital trustee and a fundraising trustee.
6. Staff – A valued staff team that reflects our operational needs. Support and 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.
7. Volunteer recruitment - we must increase numbers of our volunteers and diversify the demographic of our volunteers. Our new Volunteer Coordinator will extend our ability to achieve these aims.
8. IT - Provide effective, secure systems and equipment for staff. Build on recent work and ensure all are fully trained. Continued fundraising to purchase replacement laptops in preparation for Windows 11 transition in late 2025.
9. Partnership working – maintain effective partnerships with our regional CA’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 keeping abreast of upcoming changes with devolution and unitary authorities, with changes happening in 2026 and 2027 respectively. As a result, we are working more closely with our LCA’s across Sussex and the Southeast to ready ourselves for new regional opportunities.
10. Research & Campaigns (R&C) - Advisers are now collecting feedback on direct experiences of poor policies from clients to provide relevant evidence. We will campaign to relevant authorities. Maintain an enthusiastic R&C team.
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 2025 is a high priority and we have secured the support of a marketing intern again for the summer of 2025.
We are still seeking to increase the numbers of younger people that we work with, both as clients and volunteers. In 2023/24 we undertook a research project with Sussex University students to examine why younger people did not access LDCA for advice services. This project contributed to a piece of research completed by our lead youth R&C volunteer and a report was produced that contains a number of key recommendations. This learning will help us to address this missed demographic and support with our fundraising efforts to target a younger client group. We are seeking funding to develop a specific youth advice project to progress this work.
In 2024 we secured funding for a rural outreach support service and have been going to people in their rural communities. This funding is helping to 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 have begun to 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.
Information Assurance
Our trustee board oversees the information security of all personal information that is processed on behalf of our clients, staff, funders and strategic partners. Our local offices hold joint responsibility for client data that is held in our case management system, with the national Citizens Advice Service. An information assurance management team exists to ensure the confidentiality, integrity and availability of all personal and sensitive data is maintained to a level which is compliant with the requirements of the General Data Protection Regulation and Data Protection Act 2018.
Lewes District CAB is a company limited by guarantee governed by its Memorandum and Articles of Association dated 23 December 1997. 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 February 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.
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
Lewes Town Council
Peacehaven Town Council
Seaford Town Council
Telscombe Town Council
Sussex Community Foundation
Lewes Rotary Club
Seaford Rotary Club
Cliffe Feoffees
The Lawson Trust
The Big Lottery
The Next Foundation
Ampa Foundation
Sharmila Bayliss for her Everest Base Camp challenge in support of LDCA
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 and at monthly meetings of the executive Cabinet, a small number of Trustees with principal roles within the organisation.
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 2025 which are set out on pages 10 to 25.
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.
Core Cost support
Funding received to cover IT support, promotional costs and core costs of the organisation.
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.
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 (2024 - none).