New group to spearhead next phase in tackling local food poverty

At Lewisham’s Food Poverty Summit, residents, councillors, officers and local partners came together to consider opportunities to develop a new food poverty action plan for the borough. A working group will be established to develop this plan that will mark the next phase of Lewisham’s work to tackle food poverty.

Whilst London is the wealthiest city in Europe, many boroughs – including Lewisham – have children going hungry and families reliant on food banks, with COVD-19 exacerbating the problem.

We know that food poverty has a detrimental impact on mental and physical health. Anxious and depressed, residents come in for support and often experience weight loss through malnutrition.

Whilst the government has continually failed to act on this issue, the community in Lewisham has come together to help families experiencing food insecurity.

Lewisham is sixth out of London’s 33 Boroughs in leading the way in tackling food poverty, according to the London Food Poverty Profile 2019 report. Our provision of free school meal vouchers when the Government withdrew them and our introduction of the Holiday Activities and Food programme are examples of our commitment to addressing food poverty.

I’m very proud of how the community in Lewisham has worked to help families experiencing food insecurity in many ways.

Six food projects in Lewisham have transitioned from food bank to the ‘social supermarket’ model, where residents can shop for their weekly basket of food for a small membership fee. At the summit, we got to hear about how volunteers in local food supermarkets get to know the residents coming in. They provide emotional support and waive the small payment when appropriate. The most heart-breaking story for me was about a mother who came in with 5p coins from her children’s money box buy some food.

The majority of our food banks and food projects are increasing other forms of support for residents, for example access to financial assistance and support schemes to help people move away from dependence on emergency food aid – this includes debt advice, emotional support and employment advice.

The Covid Food Network – involving the council and our local partners - supports 35 food projects to create more sustainable models of support through shared learning, asset sharing and access to training. Lewisham Local has been monitoring six larger projects, which distributed 20,353 food parcels supporting 47,934 beneficiaries in the period from September to May 2021. The number of households accessing support increased by 19% during this time, and has remained at this level.

At the Council specifically, we’ve taken concrete steps to ensure tackling food poverty is a policy priority:

• Lewisham’s Food Transition Plan – setting out ongoing arrangements for food support during the transition from lockdown to recovery. This was identified as best practice by the Greater London Authority.
• Food access for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic groups – in London, income inequality and lack of access to fresh, affordable food are both disproportionately experienced by Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Londoners. In response, the council has funded the sourcing of culturally appropriate foods including fresh fruit and vegetables for food projects supporting Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic residents. Cultural foods are now provided to 11 groups supporting over 300 households per week.
• Funding to purchase additional shelf-stable food – the council has stepped up to provide 20 food projects weekly when Government funding ceased, ensuring food projects able to offer a range of essential food items.
• Emergency grant – the council launched this to help residents facing immediate financial hardship during the pandemic to cover costs of food and fuel.
• Food drop-off points at the Town Hall and Lewisham Council libraries – introduced to make it easier to donate to food banks.
• Appointment of three Mayoresses from the Evelyn Community Store – Dawn Atkinson, Natasha Rickets and Christina Norman have been able to help residents access cheaper foods, supporting around 70 households a week through the creation of the borough’s first social supermarket in Lewisham. They have also launched the Lewisham Packed Lunch Appeal to provide food over half term.

Going forward, the Summit raised many issues that the working group will take on. One issue included digital exclusion being a barrier to making claims for Free School Meals – so we’re going to be working with schools so parents can come in at the end of the day to use their IT services to make claims. We’re also going to be promoting the help with heating government scheme in our libraries and advice centres.

We have a long way to go as a country to resolve food poverty but forming this working group to create a food poverty action plan will ensure our borough continues to lead the way on this issue.