It is our pleasure to publish the accounts below for our last financial year which ended on the 2nd of August 2023.

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This year has simply been exceptional for Helping Homeless Veterans UK and unfortunately our caseloads have seemed like they are never ending at times. With the cost of living crisis really taking a hold on our veterans’ finances, as well as many private landlords using no fault eviction section 21 to legally evict veterans who are tenants in their properties, we have really seen a very worrying escalation of veterans needing our help.

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Over the past financial year, we have helped to house in some way exactly 89 veterans at the cost of nearly £40,000 which has been extremely difficult due to trying to find affordable accommodation. However, working with over 80 local authorities has certainly helped our cause and we have proven on many occasions that our knowledge of legislation is second to none and has helped house many veterans into social housing when it has been available.

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We have also seen a very large rise in prevention duties for our charity and due to the cost of living, we have had many veterans contacting us due to the fact that they have to make the choice of paying their rent or feeding themselves and sometimes their families.

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We have been very fortunate to have Tesco's supporting us this year through their Community Grants as well as allowing us to collect in their store at Tower Park in Poole, Dorset. However, having to spend over £18,000 feeding veterans is great cause for alarm and unfortunately, we cannot see things improving in the near future.

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We have also seen an increase in veterans requiring help to pay for gas or electric or sometimes both and we have spent nearly £3,400 this financial year helping veterans with this.

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In April 2023, we had six veterans who had been homeless move into the completed Talbot Mews which was previously called ‘The Veterans Build Project’. This project has proven to be a great success for our charity, and we have always said that when you bring veterans together with veterans they will look after themselves as they understand each other’s needs. 

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The Talbot Mews was completed thanks to donations from several corporate sponsors as well as a substantial grant from The Talbot Village Trust as well as The Veterans Lottery. We are extremely grateful to all our corporate sponsors and grant suppliers, as without this, we would not be able to carry out the work that we have achieved this year.

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The Talbot Mews is now giving us a small income on a monthly basis for each veteran which means we are not just relying on the generosity of the general public for our charity to carry out the work that we do in the veterans’ community.

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In August this year, we were proud to add a new vehicle to our charity which was desperately needed due to the age of our Ford Transit Van as well as the running costs. The new Ford Ranger is more economical to run on fuel as well as having all mechanical costs covered as we have a repair warranty in place. At the same time, it has already proved its worth by being loaded up recently to take furniture and white goods to an elderly veteran in Basingstoke and it also has room for four passengers. 

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We were given a very large discount for this vehicle from the dealership and also, we received support from our corporate sponsors. However, we will categorically state that no public donations will be used to pay for this vehicle. Our charity no longer only has one source of income and that is why the trustees made this decision to purchase this vehicle and due to the lucrative offer, we were presented with. This vehicle will be sign written near the end of August 2023 and is a welcome addition as our charity grows so rapidly.

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Finally, as trustees we would like to state that without the support of the general public and the generosity of so many people, we simply would not have been able to help so many veterans. As you can see from our accounts, we have raised nearly £100,000 from online fundraising using our JustGiving Platform as well as Facebook Fundraising as well as from the many events we have either organised ourselves or attended throughout the year. This is simply awe-inspiring that throughout these difficult times, we can raise this huge amount of money. 

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A huge ‘thank you’ must go to all those who have raised funds for our charity and the one that stands out this year is Terry and his team from Sharp Skips in Essex who carried out a cycling challenge in March this year and raised nearly £15,000. They currently hold the record for the most money raised from one event. 

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We must also thank our Volunteer Fundraisers for all of their efforts this year and for giving up so much of their own time to raise funds to help our country's veterans. A special mention must also go to the Cadets from the Detachment in Poole who have helped us at so many events. 

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We have a team of dedicated Volunteers and Fundraisers as well as our Ambassadors and Patrons who work closely together and who are passionate about the work that we carry out. Even more important is we are proud to state that 100% of all the donations that we receive is spent on helping veterans. Nobody will ever take a single penny from our charity in wages or expenses, and we are ‘100% Volunteer Powered’.

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We know that our next financial year will be a challenging one, but we hope to move into our new self-contained property for our Head Office, and we will continue to try and obtain government grants. 

We will continue to look for further properties that we can convert into accommodation for our veterans, and we will soon be releasing our monthly newsletter which the public can sign up to. 

Here is to another successful year ahead.

The Board of Trustees

Helping Homeless Veterans UK

If you have any questions about our accounts or any of the above topics, then feel free to email us at hq@hhvuk.org where we will answer them. Thank you.

 

You can download a PDF of this statement here.