Addressing Food Insecurity in Southampton

This week, the Holiday Provision Steering Group met for their quarterly meeting; and the first opportunity this term to regroup and understand the current need in regards to family food insecurity in general, and specifically, in the school holidays for Southampton. The topic certainly has captured the nation lately, and its important for the local community for those supporting families to continue to do so with partnership. You can read more about the Holiday Provision Steering Group, which we launched thanks to funding from Vivid, here.

We were joined by schools, academies, health visitors, school nurses, housing associations, charities, public health, the University of Southampton, and councillors and Council representatives. The overarching consensus was that this period of national restrictions is less stark and creating less urgency in need than in Spring; and that those supporting people are far more prepared and ready. Whilst some services are still offering adapted or limited support, there has been more of a ‘business as (almost) usual’ approach.

However, services are still experiencing an increased need across Southampton in regards to food insecurity; and that this increased need is regularly coming from families and households that have never before accessed support services prior to Covid. Those ‘newly disadvantaged’ have found themselves recently challenged in response to job losses, Universal Credit application delays and the impact of furlough. For families who have never accessed support, it is crucial that adequate signposting happens to ensure that people are able to find the support that suits them best.

Alongside this, there are still challenges with ensuring support is accessed by those harder to reach communities, and it is key that people who may need support not only know where it is, but feel empowered and able to access it and benefit from it.

We have also seen a local rise of those eligible for Free School Meals, and with some pupils in-and-out-of-school due to self-isolation requirements, there is still an ongoing pressure in term time and holiday weeks for families experiencing or at risk of food insecurity. At City Catering we are working with our schools to support self-isolating families via the delivery of groceries whilst pupils are at home, as well as working with our partners to increase our holiday provision support. There continues to be a significant community effort to increase support, and find unique ways to adapt to the restrictions in place.

There has also been a local rise in community support in response to recent media coverage; with restaurants, charities and organisations all stepping up to create more options for families over the October half term.

We know that the full level of need is challenging to ascertain; and that there will be long term implications for many. We are encouraged by the wave of local and national support, and as a Steering Group will continue to develop partnership, initiatives and support to limit the support families.

We are always keen to increase the diversity of voices into the Holiday Provision Steering Group. Should you work in this area, supporting families, and would like to get involved - please do contact jessica.clasby-monk@citycateringsouthampton.co.uk