CSAN and our network member Nugent Care, a Liverpool based charity offering care services, responded to ‘Feeding Britain’ report, a food poverty inquiry carried out by the All-Party Parliamentary Inquiry into Hunger in the United Kingdom.

Nugent Care

This submission was prepared in partnership with CSAN member, Nugent Care. Nugent Care offers a diverse range of support to adults and children across Liverpool and throughout the North West of England. As a social care provider, Nugent Care works at the heart of some of the most vulnerable and disadvantaged communities, many of whom suffer hunger and food poverty. Ensuring people’s rights, independence, interdependence, choice and inclusion is integrated into all of Nugent Care’s work. The submission also received contributions from the Cardinal Hume Centre, Catholic Care Leeds, Catholic Children’s Society (Westminster), the Passage, St Vincent de Paul and Good Shepherd Ministry, a religious order of the Brothers of St John of God.

Summary of submission

• The decline of support services, especially those traditionally funded by statutory bodies, has led to a gap in support provided for vulnerable clients. Rather than this decline being driven by a reduced demand for services, it is instead caused by reduced funding available for services. As a consequence, vulnerable people are being left without vital support services.
• CSAN charities have had to diversify their services to respond to the needs of clients who have struggled to meet the cost of food, utilities and household essentials. Charities are increasingly providing material goods, such as furniture, white goods and funds for electricity and gas key meters alongside emergency food provision.
• Asylum seekers and migrants have been acutely affected by food poverty, which is often exacerbated by significantly longer delays in benefit related issues.
• Benefit sanctions have remained a consistent cause of clients needing to access emergency food assistance.
• The growth in the private rental sector is putting a greater strain on families and individuals due to rental costs and the lack of security prevalent in the tenure.
• Child hunger, in particular during school holidays, remains a significant concern for CSAN charities. Although the issue appears to be widespread, there is a fear the problem is much deeper than currently understood due to parents being afraid to disclose their difficulties.

Read the rest in CSAN response to Feeding Britain