A research study to help achieve food secure communities

Food insecurity affects us all.

1 in 5 households with children in the UK cannot afford regular access to food.

This has a negative impact on physical and mental health.

Many organisations offer food support in the community

Some organisations host food banks, others run social markets or community kitchens. We call these organisations community food assets. In addition to providing food, they often provide support with benefits, bills or job advice.

Photo credit: Susan Jane Golding

Fair Food Futures UK is a research project 

We aim to understand the role of community food assets in the UK. We will start from two cities: Bradford and London (Tower Hamlets). We want to find out what types of support families find most helpful. We are interested in the ways organisations offering help with food also provide other types of support beyond food, for instance with benefits and bills. We want to understand how this wider support can help families to be in a better place, where food from food banks and similar organisations is no longer needed. This project is funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research.  

Fair Food Futures UK is a partnership

Our team includes researchers from University of York, University College London (UCL) and the Bradford Institute for Health Research, people who have experienced food insecurity and staff from Bradford and Tower Hamlets Councils. 

This research is linked with the UKRI Food systems transformation project “Fix our food” and UKPRP project Act Early, which aims to improve the health and opportunities for children living in areas with high levels of child poverty.

We want to build a future where all communities can get easy and fair access to the healthy food they need.