Community Food Policy and Programmes

 The Family Resources Survey (FRS) and the Food Standards Agency (FSA) Food and You 2 surveys measure household food insecurity. However, the size of these surveys means that whilst these data are good to inform governments of overall picture across nations, they do not provide meaningful data at the local authority level. 

Across multiple studies, there is clear evidence that changes to the welfare state have resulted in many individuals who are in receipt of Universal Credit or equivalents not having enough household income to live (JRF, 2023), and a number of organisations, including the Trussell Trust and the Independent Food Aid Network (IFAN) support a ‘cash first’ approach to poverty, suggesting that the UK Government should introduce the Essentials Guarantee.

In parallel there has been an increase in the implementation of so called, multi-banks (e.g. bed banks, food banks, baby bank, clothes banks); an approach supported by Gordon Brown. Alongside this development, the UK has also seen a dramatic increase in the number of food pantries, social supermarkets, community kitchens etc. to alleviate household food insecurity and reduce stigma.

Conducting rigorous and robust research to measure the spread, implementation and impact of these approaches is vital to inform local authorities and governments about the efficacy of individual and combined approaches and whether such approaches merely act as so called, ‘sticking plasters’.

• Working in partnership with academics, local authorities, national and local charities our research on this topic addresses the following:
• Measuring household food insecurity at a local authority level
• National survey to evaluate the impact of food hubs (e.g. social supermarkets, food pantries etc.) on household food insecurity, wellbeing, diet, and financial security
• The implementation and impact of a Cash First Plus approach at the local authority
• Community network analysis
• New approaches to community growing