The government is planning a series of “hyper-local” interventions, backed by supermarkets and other industry sectors, to tackle UK poverty hotspots, in a long-awaited first step for its food strategy.
Defra minister Angela Eagle, who is spearheading the strategy, said she wanted to “seize opportunities” to provide support for the poorest families.
It comes as fears rise that the poorest families suffering from food insecurity will be hardest hit by the looming inflation crisis caused by the war in the Middle East.
There was expected to be a major announcement this spring about the first major policies of the food strategy, which was announced late in 2024 and set a sweeping set of objectives on health and sustainability in July last year.
The Middle East conflict is understood to have delayed any announcements, while other resources have been sucked up by the government’s SPS EU alignment programme.
However, Defra has discussed with the Food Strategy Advisory Panel, made up of industry leaders, NGOs and health experts, plans for interventions under the government’s Pride in Place Programme, which was announced in November and will see up to £5bn given to nearly 250 areas across the UK.
Ministers have promised that each area will receive up to £20m funding and support over the next 10 years to make long-term improvements to communities.
The proposed interventions would support ways to improve access to nutritious food to those facing cost of living pressures and target areas of highest deprivation and child obesity.
However, it has been revealed that members of the panel stressed that any intervention must “shift the system” and make a major impact on families, or risk being seen as merely a “sticking plaster”.
Supermarkets and other food businesses in the areas being looked at are being asked to consider a range of interventions including help for schools, food charities and the government’s Healthy Start scheme.
In February, The Grocer revealed supermarkets were in talks under the strategy aimed at bringing back Covid-style top-up vouchers under the scheme to help struggling parents cope with the cost of living crisis.
The government has also vowed that the food strategy will take action to try to prevent so-called “food deserts”.
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