21st March
First, the UK Government set out to the House of Commons last night a series of options that it is now exploring toward the automatic registration of all eligible children for their free school meal entitlement. Crucially, those options reflect the ones we submitted to the UK Government several months ago, in this paper, based on intensive work undertaken by Feeding Britain's working group on automatic registration. We look forward to supporting continued progress along these lines. If you wish to signal your support for this work, please do email childpoverty.secretariat@cabinetoffice.gov.uk and recommend that this policy features in the forthcoming UK Government's Child Poverty Strategy.
Second, we have been engaging for some time with the UK Government on the potential for some local welfare funding, especially parts of the Household Support Fund (HSF), to support place-based and community-led approaches which are proven to prevent either the initial or ongoing need for emergency food parcels. You may have seen today that new guidance has been issued to local authorities, for HSF in 2025-26, and includes for the first time a clear note of encouragement for local authorities to facilitate these preventative approaches, such as the co-location of services with food to maximise household incomes, and the development of affordable food clubs such as pantries and social supermarkets.
Third, you may have seen that the UK Government published its green paper yesterday with a series of proposals relating to sickness and disability benefits. Feeding Britain welcomes several of the proposals, particularly the policy of recording benefit assessments as standard. We have long recommended this policy, and will now push for it to be introduced as quickly as possible, as it links directly to hunger and hardship among disabled people.
However, we would like to seek views from across the network over the next two months, before the green paper consultation closes at the end of June, on whether/which other proposals may risk increasing the need for emergency food parcels in our country, and how they link with the UK Government's manifesto commitment to 'end the mass dependence on emergency food parcels'. This will help to shape our response to that consultation and we would really welcome feedback, evidence, and case studies from you by early June at the latest please.
Finally, we continue to engage with the UK Government around the future of the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme in England. To help inform this ongoing engagement, I would be grateful for any research, studies, or analysis from your area around the impact of HAF provision on children, families, and communities, as well as any direct feedback or testimony you have received from children and families themselves on what the programme means to them.