The UK’s food redistribution sector has reached an historic agreement to collaborate and share resources in a bid to treble the amount of surplus going to tackle food poverty.
The seven main redistribution organisations have signed the “covenant”, which will look to turn their separate organisations into a joined-up network, sharing data, resources and strategy.
It follows the landmark announcement by former prime minister Keir Starmer in May of plans to triple the volume of surplus food made available for redistribution, under a new national programme to tackle food waste and food poverty.
Today Felix, The Bread and Butter Thing, City Harvest, Community Shop, Feeding Britain, His Church, Neighbourly and Xcess Network announced they had reached an agreement to work together to create a shared supply chain tackling food poverty across the UK.
The charities are also supported by anti-poverty charity Trussell and its community of food banks.
Under the covenant, the charities said they had agreed to work together to source more food and create a network that was reactive to the changing and unpredictable nature of surplus food.
They will create regional infrastructure, using shared data, resources and volunteers, and build co-ordinated last-mile delivery.
Among major initiatives being brought forward include innovation and financial investment in cooking, canning, freezing, juicing and baking resources to create a consistent supply of food in usable, longer life and convenient formats.
The shared supply chain will look to reduce duplication or differing technologies across the UK, so suppliers have the same experiences.
The move follows a summit between industry leaders, NGOs and government at 10 Downing Street in February.
The Grocer revealed in 2024 that what was then the UK’s biggest redistribution charity FareShare was calling for talks to bring better co-operation in the battle against food poverty, after warning competition in the food charity sector is harming efforts to help families.
The merger of The Felix Project and FareShare last year, together supporting more than 8,000 community organisations across the UK, has since kickstarted a wave of activity as organisations look to give food poverty the same sort of prominence it has in countries such as the US.
The covenant sets out a shared approach to governance, food sourcing, logistics and allocation, enabling charities and community food redistributors to collaborate to secure and redistribute more surplus food.
Crucially, when it comes to policy, the charities and community food redistributors have agreed to lobby and influence on behalf of the sector with “one voice”.
“We know food has the power to do so much good. For the organisations we support food is a catalyst that creates change,” said Felix CEO Charlotte Hill.
“Surplus food saves charities money and brings people in; from there they can access further support, advice, training or activities. Shared meals can combat loneliness, can reduce stress on tight budgets, build stronger communities and help children concentrate at school.
“Our joint hope is by coming together we really will see a future where good food is no longer wasted and instead fuels fuller lives.”
Community Shop executive chairman Gary Stott said: “This is the first time the charitable and community food redistribution organisations have come together on this scale, and it is a clear demonstration of our collective belief and commitment to finding new and sustainable ways to increase the amount of perfectly good surplus food that is being redistributed and used to support people and communities.”
The Bread and Butter Thing CEO Vic Harper added: “We recognise that in any complex food system, there will always be large volumes of unavoidable high-quality, nutritious, surplus food. While progress has been made on how much of that is being redistributed, clearly more can be done. Everyone involved wants to see that food being used to deliver not only a social impact but an environmental one.”
It is estimated there is over a billion meals worth of easily accessible, edible food currently going to waste in the sector every year.
However, Matthew van Duyvenbode, co-CEO of Trussell, said that while the groups had pledged to treble the amount of surplus food reaching organisations like food banks, one of its agreements was that food redistribution was not seen as a way to solve food insecurity.
“We believe this work must be accompanied by policies that tackle the root causes of poverty, hunger and hardship, and there is real power in this group collectively supporting those efforts,” he said.
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