Cash-first approaches to addressing food poverty

How can local authorities address increased financial hardship and food insecurity in an efficient and just way? What work are local authorities and others doing to ensure that money gets directly to those who need it the most?  

Join Sustain for a webinar exploring the ‘cash first’ approach to tackling food poverty, focusing on why maximising income is effective in aiding lower-income residents facing food insecurity. We will hear examples of how local authorities have utilised a cash first principle during the Covid-19 crisis.  

Speakers will include: 

• Robert Nellist, Barking and Dagenham’s Benefit Manager

• Speakers from the Independent Food Aid Network (IFAN), who will discuss IFAN's Cash First Project:

  • Sabine Goodwin, IFAN Coordinator 

  • Alexandra McMillan of Legendary Community Club in Lewisham, London

  • Mary McGinley of Helensburgh and Lomond Foodbank in Argyll and Bute, Scotland

• Tiffanie Cummings, a part-time care worker, university student, and single mother of three. Tiffanie has made a transition from long term benefits to work, and this has been quite the journey! She now uses her life experiences to help others in similar situations. 

In November 2020, Sustain published the Response Resilience and Recovery report that replaced and combined our existing and established Good Food for London and Beyond the Food Bank reports that assess London borough council's action on food and food poverty. In this webinar we take a closer look at one of the themes within that report: 'cash-first' approaches to tackling food poverty.