IFAN's letter to our new Prime Minister
As the UK poverty crisis has escalated, the charitable food aid sector has been pushed past breaking point. Our new Government has a once in a generation opportunity to reverse the tide of poverty that has swept across the country over the last fourteen years.
This letter to our new Prime Minister, signed by IFAN's membership, calls for immediate actions to reduce food insecurity and poverty
through a cash first approach.
Millions of people across the UK cannot wait any longer.
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5th of July 2024
Dear Prime Minister
No one should have to turn to charity to be able to eat. Yet, over more than a decade, increasing numbers of people have been pushed to the doors of independent food banks and other food aid providers because they haven’t got enough money to afford food.
As the UK poverty crisis has escalated, the charitable food aid sector has been pushed past breaking point. Recent data from the Independent Food Aid Network (IFAN) has consistently found that food bank teams are being overstretched and overwhelmed by rising demand.
Food banks and other food aid services are being asked to do the impossible as they do their utmost to support growing numbers of people unable to afford food. These include both people in work whose wages are not enough to cover the cost of living as well as people who are already receiving all their social security entitlements but are still not able to make ends meet.
In the past decade, the provision of charitable food aid in the UK has proved to be an ineffective and unsustainable response to deepening destitution and poverty. Food banks and other food aid groups can only ever provide a temporary sticking plaster to the problem of hunger. What’s more, according to data from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), most households reporting severe food insecurity do not access a food bank.
IFAN advocates for a ‘cash first’ (income-focused) approach to food insecurity and campaigns to see a country without the need for charitable food aid. Not only do cash first interventions provide more dignity and choice to people facing financial hardship but they are effective at reducing food insecurity. DWP data tells us that the temporary £20 uplift to Universal Credit reduced moderate to severe food insecurity in households on Universal Credit by 16%.
Your new government now has a once in a generation opportunity to reverse the tide of poverty that has swept the country over the past fourteen years. Its impact has been felt across generations as people’s physical and mental health have been thwarted. We urge you to take much needed actions as swiftly as possible.
IFAN is calling for immediate actions to reduce food insecurity through a cash first or income-focused approach including:
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adopting an Essentials Guarantee as a first step towards ensuring a Living Income for all
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the removal of the two-child limit as well as the benefit cap
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abolishing sanctions
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ending the five-week wait for Universal Credit alongside removing benefit deductions
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removing No Recourse to Public Funds status
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the permanent provision of funding for local crisis support schemes to enable every UK local authority to distribute help via cash payments
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ensuring employers pay a real Living Wage and provide job security
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investment in local advice services
These are actions which both in the short and long term will reduce and have the potential to eliminate severe food insecurity. For millions of people across the UK, not a minute longer can be wasted.
Yours sincerely,
The Independent Food Aid Network (IFAN)including:
Legendary Community Club - Lewisham West and East Dulwich
The Coachhouse Food Hub - North Cornwall
Dad’s House - Kensington and Bayswater
Eggcup - Lancaster and Wyre, Morecambe and Lunesdale
Reverse the Trend Foundation - Queen’s Park and Maida Vale, Hackney North and Stoke Newington, Lewisham North, West Ham and Beckton, Stratford and Bow, Bethnal Green and Stepney
The Besom in Camberely - Surrey Heath
PANTRY Cwmtawe - Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe
Sacred Heart Foodbank - Islington South and Finsbury
Moray Food Plus - Moray West, Nairn and Strathspey, Aberdeenshire North, Moray East
Craven Vale Food Bank - Brighton Kemptown and Peacehaven
The Zink Project - High Peak
Darkwood Crew - Paisley and Renfrewshire North
Sufra NW London - Brent East
Heaven’s Kitchen Mini Market - North Durham
Clydesdale Food Bank - Motherwell, Wishaw and Carluke
Wyre Forest Food Bank - Wyre Forest
Eyres Monsell Club for Young People - South Leicester
Canterbury Food Bank - Canterbury
Leominster Food Bank - North Herefordshire
Govan Community Project - Glasgow South West
Telford Crisis Support - Telford
S20 Food Bank - Sheffield South East
Preen CIC - North Bedfordshire
Kintyre Foodbank - Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber
Old Lodge Lane Baptist Church - Croydon South
Uist and Barra Foodbank - Na h-Eileanan an Iar
West Dunbartonshire Community Foodshare - West Dunbartonshire
Spring Community Hub - Peckham, Vauxhall and Camberwell Green
South Norwood Baptist Foodbank - Croydon West
Wallingford Emergency Food Bank - Didcot and Wantage
Cradley Heath Community Link
Pan Together - Isle of Wight West
Quaker Social Action - Islington South and Finsbury, Poplar and Limehouse
Hope for Belper - Mid Derbyshire
St Paul’s Centre, Crewe - Crewe and Nantwich
West Northumberland Food Bank - Hexham
Rackets Cubed - Putney
STAR Project - Paisley and Renfrewshire North
Asylum Link Merseyside - Liverpool Wavertree
Food Aid Blidworth - Sherwood Forest
Sandback Food Bank - Congleton
Pontarddulais Partnership (Pontarddulais Area Food Bank) - Gower
Bassetlaw Food Bank - Bassetlaw
Faithworks Wessex - North Dorset, Christchurch, Poole, Mid Dorset and North Poole, Bournemouth East
Hambleton Foodshare - Richmond and Northallerton
Firth Park Cultural Centre - Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough
The Easter Team - Crawley
Govan Community Project - Glasgow South West
Duns Fair Share - Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk
Shoreline Church Food Bank - Southport
Cwmtawe Action to Combat Hardship (CATCH) - Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe
Millfield Community Fridge - Peterborough
Friends of the Homeless in Fareham and Gosport - Fareham and Waterlooville, Gosport
Banc Bwyd Llanbed/Lampeter Food Bank - Ceredigion Preseli
Single Parents Support and Advice Services - Barnsley North
One Can Trust - Wycombe
Warming Up the Homeless - Eastbourne, Hastings and Rye, Bexhill and Battle
Food, Facts, Friends Wellbeing Hub - Midlothian
Verso Care at Verso Church - St Albans
Fusion Housing - Dewsbury and Batley
Southampton City Mission Basics Bank - Southampton Test, Southampton Itchen
Shop and Donate - Cities of London and Westminster
Cleckheaton Foodbank - Spen Valley
Glastonbury and Street Bridging the Gap Foodbank - Glastonbury and Somerton
Swindon Food Collective - Swindon North, Swindon South, Chippenham
Street Treats - Manchester Central, Staylbridge and Hyde
The Collective Sharehouse - York Central
Purley Food Hub - Croydon South
Southgate Mosque Food Bank - Southgate and Wood Green
Pollokshields Community Food Point - Glasgow South West
Diamond Hampers - Huntingdon
Machars Churches Basics Food Bank - Dumfries and Galloway
Helensburgh and Lomond Foodbank - Argyll, Bute and South Lochaber
Pendle Food For All - Pendle and Clitheroe
Bromley Homeless Charity - Bromley and Biggin Hall
New Life Church - The Storehouse Food Bank - Congleton
Touch of Live Outreach - Aberdeen South
Happy Days UK - Halifax
Dunbar FoodShare - Lothian East
Comfort Memorial Food for All Foodbank - Milton Keynes Central
Community of Helping Hands - Glasgow East
Meon Valley Food Bank - Fareham and Waterlooville
Bishops Stortford Food Bank - Hertford and Stortford
Glossopdale Foodbank - High Peak
Black Country Food Bank - Stourbridge
Woodside Community Foodbank - Stourbridge
Lifecentral Church - Halesown
Ablewell Advice Centre - Walsall and Bloxwich
ReadiFood - Reading Central
Living Well Bromley - Beckenham and Penge