Dignified access to food

Four pillars of action to achieve household food security while helping to end mass dependence on emergency food parcels

The aims of this co-authored statement are to demonstrate collaboration across the sector towards a shared vision of a future where people are no longer prevented from choosing healthy, nutritious and culturally appropriate food due to lack of income.

Everyone has the right to food security. This means ubiquitous availability of – and adequate income to afford and reliably access – nutritious and culturally appropriate food that is good for all people, livelihoods and the planet. Achieving this will move towards ending reliance on emergency food parcels and wider charitable food aid. This will require concerted action by Governments at national and local levels, and intervention by a range of food system actors, as part of a coherent, joined-up approach to food system strategy, policy and governance. 

The action required centres around four pillars, which are interlinked as follows:

1. Prioritise a cash-first or income-focused approach to food insecurity: Ensuring everyone has enough money to afford adequate and nutritious food through social security payments and/or wages. This should be part of a well-functioning, dignified ecosystem integrating local authority crisis support via cash payments and wraparound advice and support, helping people to maximise their incomes, minimise financial precarity and prevent financial crisis. 
2. Provide nutrition security and address diet-related health inequalities: National policy and resourcing that enables better access to healthy and sustainable food via public procurement and nutritional security schemes, which also supports farmers and growers, promotes horticulture and more plant-rich foods. This includes free and nutritious school meals and breakfast clubs; meals in other public services (e.g. hospitals, military, prisons, work canteens); and through schemes including Holiday Activities with Food (HAF), School Fruit and Veg, and meals at home for people who need them. This also includes schemes such as Healthy Start and fruit and vegetables on prescription or similar, to support people to access healthy food. Also, effective action for better health by reducing the pressure of unhealthy food marketing and promotion and making food environments healthier, especially to support children and young people.
3. Support community food assets and infrastructure while working to end the need for charitable food aid: Enabling access to facilities, land, food supplies and resources, giving food power to people at local level to improve access to affordable, healthy and sustainable food. This should cultivate positive community-owned food spaces and activities that people want to participate in; food partnerships prioritising sustainable solutions including ending reliance on redistribution of surplus food and helping to build financial resilience through co-located advice and support services to maximise income where appropriate; community food assets – e.g. retail, catering, food growing, community kitchens and cafés, public diners, focused on sustainability, inclusion, community power and innovation, while enabling communities to respond to shocks to food supply due to e.g. extreme weather, supply chain disruption and pandemics. 
4. Implement good food governance: The policy and legislation that puts accountable duties on government, local authorities and other public services to provide, facilitate or secure nutritious, fairly and sustainably produced food that is affordable, available and accessible to everybody, fostering wellbeing, enjoyment and inclusive and connected communities.  

Statement published November 2025, coordinated by Sustain: The alliance for better food and farming, contact: Sustain’s Food Poverty Campaign Coordinator, Isabel Rice: isabel@sustainweb.org 

This statement was produced following a roundtable discussion during October 2025 and a period of feedback to reach a consensus position with the following organisations and academics, coordinated by Sustain:

• Alexandra Rose Charity
• Feeding Britain
• Food Ethics Council
• Food Foundation
• Food Matters (also representing the Sustainable Food Places network)
• Food Sense Wales
• Housing Association Charitable Trust (HACT)
• Independent Food Aid Network (IFAN)
• Nourish Scotland 
• Peabody Housing Association
• Sustain: the alliance for better food and farming 
• The Alliance for Dignified Food Support
• The Felix Project
• Trussell
• Dr Megan Blake – University of Sheffield
• Dr Kelly Parsons – University of Cambridge