For many organisations ‘monitoring’ is a scary word. We have designed some simple tools which I hope can help take some of this stress away, enabling you to focus on what you do best. Knowing how many people you support, who they are and what your food activities means to those who attend can enable you to communicate clearly with funders about the difference your work is making

Dr Naomi Maynard

Food activity monitoring tools

The food activity monitoring tools are designed to be completed each week by a volunteer or a member of staff immediately after your session. They provide space for you to capture the number of people you have supported and their age groups as well as note any feedback or reflections you or your team have after the session.

We have provided them in two formats: a set of one-page paper versions for each type of food activity, and an excel spreadsheet which encapsulates all four types of food activity.  Use the method that bests suits your organisation.

1. For emergency food parcels
2. For community food spaces, including food pantries, food clubs, food unions, social supermarkets, community shops and community markets
3. For community meals, including food provided alongside activities, and for community cafes
4. For other food support activities or one-off activities

The following spreadsheet contains a separate tab to record for each type of food activity. Please download and save your own version of this spreadsheet:

Excel spreadsheet

There may be other details about who you support which you’d like to capture (e.g. gender, ethnicity) or about the activities you run, do get in touch with Dr Naomi Maynard ([email protected]) if you need support to adapt this form to include this.

We will be adding further tools to support with storytelling later in 2022.

Monitoring tools support drop-in sessions

• 11^th October 3:30pm-5pm Feeding Liverpool Office 16 Lady Chapel Close, L1 7BZ
• 13^th October 9am–10:30am St George’s Church, Everton, L5 3QG

These drop-in support sessions are particularly relevant if your organisation received an allocation from Feeding Liverpool for the Household Support Fund

We will run a storytelling support session in November/early December.

Unfortunately our train the trainer sessions are currently fully booked.

To join the waiting list for future sessions please email Colin Pryor on [email protected] 

Feeding Liverpool, Alchemic Kitchen and chef Adam Franklin are partnering to launch the Fed-Up Slow Cooker Training Programme, teaching practical, communal cooking courses that bring together and equip community members to make delicious, nutritious, low-maintenance meals on a budget, in a friendly atmosphere to help combat loneliness and social isolation. 

We are looking to support and equip up to 20 people to become community Fed-Up slow cooker trainers, supporting them to host slow cooking courses in their local communities this Winter.

Slow cookers are simple to use and typically use over 60% less energy than ovens.

The Fed-Up course, led by chef Adam Franklin, started in 2014 as a course designed to help supplement foodbank parcels to maximise the amount of meals that could be prepared by adding fresh food, a slow cooker and the training to effect change. It has developed into a network of people from community settings connected together to use their new practical skills, support each other and connected into other community projects.

Our half day train the trainer courses

We are offering half day train-the-trainer sessions on Tuesday 4^th October and Monday 10^th October, with new trainers required to attend one of the two sessions on offer. These will be led by Adam at the Horse and Jockey, an award-winning community pub in Melling.

Free transportation is available from Feeding Liverpool’s offices (outside Liverpool Cathedral) to and from Melling.

Course timings:

• 9:20am pick up from Feeding Liverpool offices at Liverpool Cathedral to the Horse and Jockey, Melling
• 10:00am – 2.30pm Fed-Up Slow Cooker train-the-trainer Course
• approx 3:10pm return to Feeding Liverpool offices at Liverpool Cathedral

Refreshments including a light breakfast on arrival and lunch will be provided.

After the course, the new trainers will receive on-going support including:

• Training resources to deliver your course
• 10 recipe packs to handout to your course participants
• Up to 10 slow cookers for your course participants
• Ongoing communication with Feeding Liverpool, Alchemic Kitchen, and chef Adam Franklin to support the establishment of your courses

Who should get involved?

We are looking for friendly, enthusiastic people who are already involved in their local communities. This could be through volunteering or being an active member of a community group or community food space or through working in an organisation who connects with communities in Liverpool.

No previous cooking experience is required, just a passion to share what you learn with others and a willingness to lead a community cooking course after completing the training.

On completion of attending Fed-Up Slow Cooker Trainer Course, a commitment is required to disseminate information and share experience through practical cooking demonstrations in your own community establishment.

How do I get involved?

To get involved please express your interest using the form below. If all the questions on the form are completed, we will then use a first-come-first-served basis to select participants.

Unfortunately, we anticipate interest may exceed the number of places available, in which case we will create a waiting list for any future train-the-trainer courses.

Due to our funding requirements, participants will need to be primarily based in and willing to deliver courses within the Liverpool City Council geographical area. Participants who would like to deliver courses both within Liverpool and the wider City Region are encouraged to register their interest and note this on the form.

Complete form here

 

Everyone should be able to afford the essentials.

People at food banks need support every day, not just during national crises.

Food bank staff and volunteers are in our communities, helping people who are struggling to make ends meet.

While food banks are there to help people when they need it most, charities cannot, and should not, be our long-term solution to hunger. If people are to have enough money to live with dignity, we need a strong social security system that lifts us out of hardship rather than plunging us deeper into poverty.

Trussell Trust’s new campaign wants you to take action by asking your MP to call for a stronger social security system.

Last week, Liverpool foodbanks took action by inviting service users to fill in postcards to send to parliament, calling for change.

At Feeding Liverpool, we asked Liverpool MPs and the Mayor of Liverpool to join us in calling for a stronger social security system. This needs to be a top priority for our new Prime Minister, Liz Truss.

Joanne Anderson, Mayor of Liverpool says:

“As Mayor of Liverpool I am deeply concerned about the detrimental impact the cost of living crisis is having on the people of this city. The spiralling cost of living is hitting harder every day, people don’t have the money to afford life’s essentials and to live with dignity.

With no signs of slowing down, I urge the government to act now and invest in our social security system to protect people from debt and destitution, reduce the burden of benefit deductions to ease pressures both now and in the long-term, and commit that the benefit rates in our social security system will always be enough to protect people from destitution. We need this not just in a national crisis, but every day. “

Dan Carden MP for Liverpool Walton says:

“Every day I speak with constituents being pushed to the brink by a perfect storm of financial pressures. Low wages and welfare cuts, combined with soaring rent, food and energy costs, are plunging more and more people into destitution.  Enough is enough. We need a social security system worthy of the name, which supports and enables those who are struggling instead of punishing them.”

Kim Johnson MP for Liverpool Riverside says:

“Inflation, energy costs and food costs are rising to levels that will push over 50% of the population into fuel poverty, leaving many families having to choose between eating and heating.   All while shareholders and bosses post record profits: a political choice by this Government.  The hardest hit will be those on benefits and pensioners and the one-off £650 payment over six months won’t touch the sides.  I want to see a rise in benefits that matches the inflation rate, an end to sanctions and a rethink of a system that needs to be the safety net it was originally designed to be.”

Maria Eagle MP for Garston and Halewood says:

“The cost of living crisis and rising energy costs have been disastrous for many of my constituents who are struggling to pay bills, put food on the table and heat their homes. The energy cap rise alone will be catastrophic. Many constituents simply do not have enough money to live on and when people have to turn to food banks to feed their families they now find them struggling to cope with demand as people cannot afford to make donations anymore. I support the Trussell Trust’s Cost of Living Campaign to ensure people have support every day to afford essentials necessary just to get by.”

 

If you agree everyone should be able to afford life’s essentials, join Trussell Trust in calling for a stronger social security system that provides security every day, not just in times of national crisis.

Share a message with your MP that urges them to go further to help people on the lowest incomes in their community.

Feeding Liverpool have been asked to support Liverpool City Council’s distribution of the Household Support Fund to support people age 65 and over during the cost of living crisis. To be eligible to receive an allocation of this funding you must complete the survey below by the deadline of 5pm on Monday 5th September 2022

Liverpool’s network of emergency food providers and community food spaces support thousands of households experiencing food insecurity. This includes households with people aged 65 and over, whose access to good food has been affected due to the cost of living crisis.

A proportion of the Household Support Fund will therefore be allocated to emergency food providers and community food spaces. This funding is to be spent on food stock for their organisation and used within their existing services that support this age group.

To receive a proportion of this allocation, emergency food providers and community food spaces must (i) fulfill all the eligibility criteria below, (ii) complete the following survey in full and (iii) agree to provide monitoring data on how this resource has been spent. The full terms will be set out in a partnership agreement with Feeding Liverpool.

To be eligible to receive a proportion of the Household Support Fund your organisation must be:

• Directly providing food support for households which include people of aged 65 and over
• Running either :
  • Regular, emergency food provision (e.g. a weekly foodbank or emergency meal provision)
  • A community food space which distributes or serves food and usually relies on public donations or funding to provide food (e.g. a food pantry, community market, food union, community shop, regular community meal provider)
• A registered Charity, Charitable Incorporated Organisation, Community Interest Company or have charitable aims as part of your governing document, and meet the governance conditions stated on the survey
• Operating within Liverpool city council boundary

Unfortunately, without exception, any organisation whose survey response is received after the deadline of 5pm on Monday 5th September 2022 will not be eligible to participate.

Complete the survey

Between 18^th July and 2^nd September children and young people aged 5-16 receiving free school meals will be able to access hundreds of free activities and a daily meal through the Summer 2022 Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme.

Liverpool City Council has been allocated funding by the Department of Education to provide holiday activities and healthy food for children.

The focus of the programme is on children eligible for benefits-related free school meals.  Local authorities are asked to ensure that the offer of free holiday club provision is available for all children eligible for free school meals although it is accepted that not all eligible children will choose to participate. The programme will cover the Summer and Christmas holidays in 2022.

Merseyside Play Action Council have been awarded the contract to deliver the HAF programme in Liverpool. They will be building on the success of the Play Partnership and Positive About Play to deliver the HAF programme.

The aim of the programme is to make free places available to children eligible for free school meals for the equivalent of at least four hours a day, four days a week and for six weeks a year and would help children and young people:

• To eat more healthily over the school holidays (programmes will be expected to work towards the school food standards as part of the programme)
• To be more active during the school holidays
• To take part in engaging and enriching activities which support the development of resilience, character, and well-being along with their wider education attainment
• To be safe and not to be socially isolated
• To have greater knowledge of health nutrition; and
• To be more engaged with school and other local services.

This is a great opportunity to get children and young people involved in local activities.

View a map and list of Summer 2022 HAF providers here.

Last summer the National Food Strategy, led by Henry Dimbleby, was published. An extensive report which set out a series of recommendations for developing and improving the food system, it was described as a “wake up call to this country and government to do something about our food system and the epidemic of obesity and ill health destroying our country”

On Monday 13^th June 2022 the Government published its response to this report in the Government Food Strategy Policy Paper.

With many expressing disappointment and frustration at the lack of detail and concrete actions set out in the government’s responses, Good Food Plan partners issued the following comments:

Food Active

“This strategy was supposed to position the UK as a world leader in food and environmental issues and address important public health challenges such as food insecurity, obesity and climate change.

Today’s response is just another missed opportunity by the Government to show their commitment to prioritising population health.

We can only hope that the upcoming Health Disparities White Paper includes the bold action that is needed to support communities across the country to access healthy food.” Nicola Calder, Food Active Programme Lead

Read Food’s Active’s full response: Food Active | Food Strategy White Paper: Food Active Response

Feedback

“Rather than committing to doing something about the fact we now have 31% of all children living in poverty, this paper fails to support an additional 1.5 million children with free school meals as recommended by Henry Dimbleby. Very little is offered beyond the already existing Holidays Activities and Food (HAF) programme, which is itself underfunded, and the Healthy Start scheme, which, following digitalisation, is now failing to reach eligible families. Instead, the status quo of eligibility based on households earning less than £7,400 a year remains.

The opportunity to create those much vaunted Levelling Up options is missed. The consultation emphasised the importance of giving all the public equal access to affordable healthy food. That’s been pushed off to the Health Disparities paper due who knows when? Moreover, the onus is once again placed on individual choice and education, rather than addressing the issues of availability. Perhaps the concept of living in a food desert (as some 77% of residents of one area of Merseyside do) is an alien one. But it is a real problem for too many.

There’s one mention of hunger in this paper and that’s in relation to food aid overseas. It may be unpalatable to those in government to think about hunger in relation to their own citizens, but with an increase of 81% in people regularly accessing food aid in five years and over 7.1 million admitting to skipping a meal because they cannot afford to eat, the stark reality is, our citizens are hungry and those numbers will only increase as the cost of living (or surviving) continues to grow.” Lucy Antal, Feedback Food Justice Expert

Read Feedback’s full response: Government Food Strategy – Feedback’s response. – Feedback (feedbackglobal.org)

Sustain

“In the face of multiple crises in the cost of living, rocketing obesity, climate change and nature loss, the government food strategy looks shamefully weak. Government was given crystal clear analysis and a set of recommendations by the Dimbleby food strategy, and has chosen to take forward only a handful of them. This isn’t a strategy, it’s a feeble to do list, that may or may not get ticked.

The commitment to a land use strategy is welcome, which could better balance our food production and responsibility to our natural environment. Support for sustainable UK horticulture could improve affordable access to healthy fruit, veg and pulses. The push to include more local and sustainable food in public sector food, if implemented, could have a powerful impact. And a move to introduce mandatory reporting for food businesses on health would be a step forward. But none of this is underpinned by legislation.

In this document, the Government acknowledges the National Food Strategy analysis that a junk food cycle exists, and that people on lower incomes find it harder to access an affordable healthy diet. However, the recent government U-turn on child obesity measures has shown that even measures introduced in statute are vulnerable to pressure from vested interests. And where is the support for people struggling to eat in this cost of living crisis? We need decent wages and adequate social security benefits to weather the current storm. The Government will need to take much more and stronger action soon if it is to drive the changes in our food system needed to protect people and the planet.” Kath Dalmeny, Chief Executive of Sustain

Read Sustain’s full response: Our response to food white paper- “A feeble to do list, that may or may not get ticked’ | Sustain (sustainweb.org)

Sustainable Food Places

“We’re pleased with the recognition of the value of food partnerships, but without support, funding or a statutory requirement for local areas to set up food partnerships and forge ahead with food plans, there will be little difference on the ground for local authorities struggling with budget cuts to public health and dealing with rising food insecurity.” Leon Ballin, Sustainable Food Places Programme Manager

Read Sustainable Food Places full response: Government Food Strategy: Much ado about nothing, an empty plate at a time of hunger and uncertainty | Sustainable Food Places

Feeding Britain

“At first glance this looks like a bowl of thin gruel being served up to families who are struggling to put food on the table.

“While it is noteworthy that the free school meals threshold is to be kept under review, this strategy should have been the Prime Minister’s moment to ride to the rescue of those families – often working for low wages – who are in desperate need of that help now.” Andrew Forsey, Director of Feeding Britain

Read Feeding Britain’s response:  Boris Johnson’s food expert hits out at PM for ditching new wave of free school meals – Mirror Online