A new research report maps national-level responses to food insecurity during the Covid-19 pandemic. The report bring's together information from across the UK.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, governments, local authorities, charities and local communities have been working to ensure access to food for those facing new risks of food insecurity. New schemes have been developed, such as governments replacing incomes of people at risk of unemployment on account of the lockdown, providing food parcels for people asked to shield, referrals for people to receive voluntary help with grocery shopping, and free school meals replacement vouchers or cash transfers.
These have been operating alongside existing provision for those unable to afford food, such as food banks and community food projects, which have also seen a dramatic rise in demand. The result has been a complex set of support structures which have been developing and changing as the Covid-19 outbreak, and its impacts, evolve.
A new research project aims to provide collaborative, real time monitoring and analysis of food support systems to inform food access policy and practice as the UK emerges from the Covid-19 lockdown and as the longer-term socio-economic impacts of the crisis become clearer. The research team is led by the University of Sheffield and King’s College London, alongside Sustain and Church Action on Poverty. The research team will work with people working in national and local government, the civil service, third sector and NGOs, as well as people who accessed food and financial assistance during the pandemic.
The first project report Mapping responses to the risk of rising food insecurity during the COVID-19 crisis across the UK sets out findings from a scoping of national policies and programmes that were made available during the crisis. The mapping involved systematically searching and analysing publicly available information on responses to food insecurity during March to July 2020.
Find out more about the research project, the report and how you can feed into the reasearch.
Published Thursday 13 August 2020
Sustain: Sustain The alliance for better food and farming advocates food and agriculture policies and practices that enhance the health and welfare of people and animals, improve the working and living environment, enrich society and culture and promote equity.
