Who attends Foodbank in the UK and why are they there? The impact of food poverty on health and wellbeing

The rising demand for emergency food-aid from Foodbanks and a doubling of malnutrition-related hospitalisations since 2008/09 suggest that food poverty in the UK is increasing. Foodbanks provide 3-days of non-perishable emergency foods for individuals in crisis. Nearly half of those are children, and 1 in 5 are parents who report difficulty feeding their children. In 2014/15, over a million people in the UK had to rely on the food parcels from Foodbank to feed themselves.

There is little data on who uses Foodbank and the quality of their diet, health and wellbeing and both DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) and the Faculty of Public Health have highlighted the urgency to investigate this matter.

This event will present findings supported by a UCL Grand Challenges grant to investigate who uses Foodbank and the impact on the users health and well-being. Additionally attendees will hear from the Chairman of The Trussel Trust, the largest charity behind the ‘Foodbank’ movement in the UK, and from both Foodbank managers and clients.

We hope that this meeting will engender an evidence-based debate between academic researchers, policy makers and NGOs. We all wish to improve the nutritional quality of Foodbank provision. The question is how best this can be achieved, and a good starting point is some solid data.

Chair: Dr George Grimble (UCL)

17.30 – 17.40 Introduction (Dr Angel Chater - UCL): Foodbank, health and wellbeing

17.40 – 17.50 Foodbank – the setting (Mr Chris Mould – Chairman of The Trussel Trust UK)

17.50 – 18.00 Foodbank experience: Manager Perspective and Findings from Wandsworth Foodbank Hunger and Poverty research (Sarah Chapman – Wandsworth Foodbank Manager)

18.00 – 18.15 Foodbank experience: from client perspective

18.15 – 18.30 Who uses UK Foodbank? Investigation of client’s experiences, dietary quality and well-being (Miss Edwina Prayogo - UCL)

18.30 – 19.20 Strategic discussion to improve fresh fruit and vegetables through Foodbank and Q&A (Dr Angel Chater, Dr George Grimble, Edwina Prayogo, and Dr Mary Barker)

19.20 – 19.25 Concluding remarks and possible future actions. (Dr George Grimble)

19:30 –20.30 Networking: Wine reception

Event Queries: Miss Edwina Prayogo e.prayogo.12@ucl.ac.uk

This workshop is supported by UCL Grand Challenge Human Wellbeing Grant