Project Context:

During the pandemic voluntary and community organisations across the country worked tirelessly to make sure residents, particularly those with high vulnerability, were fed.

In Kensington and Chelsea, there remains a cohort of not-for-profit emergency food providers who continue to fulfil a valuable function of offering hot meals, takeaway parcels and/or food deliveries to local people struggling with a number of issues and unable to make ends meet. In addition, there are a variety of information, advice and guidance agencies and specialist support services locally who engage with users of emergency food aid - mostly through established referral routes and increasingly in integrated community settings.

Our work over the last 12 months has led us to believe that the greatest impact this Council can make to tackling local food insecurity and the cost of living crisis, is to ensure that users of emergency food provision are supported to access relevant services that can support them to improve their situation and address their household's drivers of food insecurity.

Since the start of 2021, Kensington and Chelsea Council have been compiling a more detailed local evidence-base on the causes of income inequality and the impacts of the rise in the cost of living. This is aiding our understanding of where we can best support local partnership efforts, with an increasing focus on what can be achieved through our commissioned spend and our local convening power. These insights are also helping us identify where gaps in provision exist and support services can be made more accessible and effective at providing routes out of food insecurity, as well as looking at what works with the use of hardship funds, debt relief and other ways of helping residents maximise their incomes, working in conjunction with different national and local funders.

Project concept:

As part of the Council's commitment to narrowing the gap, the Council is exploring a new 'Partnership approach to Food Insecurity in Kensington and Chelsea' from April 2022 onwards.

Please note, the start date associated with this procurement is an estimate only and subject to agreement with the council.

This will be through a new grant agreement, structured as a 1 year pilot with potential to extend for another year ending March 2024.

Our overall objective: is to support users of emergency food provision to access the services that will reduce or eliminate their need to use them.

Kensington and Chelsea Council is seeking to commission a third sector provider to take the lead, working in partnership with the Council, to maintain the momentum ensuring services are in place which will enable residents to support themselves, thereby minimising the need for emergency food aid.