Right to Food UK Commission Call for Evidence
The Right to Food UK Commission is collecting evidence and lived experiences regarding feeding families and communities in the UK. They are inviting written evidence in the following areas:
- Food insecurity in the UK, challenges and solutions that are having a positive impact
- Experiences of seeking support for food in the UK (food banks, food pantries, soup kitchens)
- Experiences of the impact of free school meals
- Experiences of the impact of community kitchens
- Experiences of the impact of social protection safety nets such as income support
- Evidence on the importance of a living wage for all on the ability to feed individuals and families
- The impact of policies that affect families’ abilities to feed themselves and their communities (both positive and negative)
- Evidence on solutions that reach those most marginalised including homeless, unemployed and those living with ill health or disability
- How a right to food law could work in the UK, including evidence from right to food cities on lessons learned
- What should the right to food law include regarding government duties?
- How could we monitor the impact and progress of a right to food law?
- What type of accountability mechanism would ensure the voices of those most impacted are collected and acted upon?
The Commission also wants to hear from Community (Individual) Voices – people with lived experience of food insecurity.
Siobhán will be making a response to this Call for Evidence and using the lived experienced input from the Holiday Hunger submission. You can read details of the call for evidence here (deadline 30th June):
https://www.ianbyrne.org/rtfcommission-call-for-evidence
Warm Healthy Homes Fund
The Department for Communities is consulting on the Warm Healthy Homes Fund. This is an energy efficiency scheme to improve warmth, health and energy affordability of low-income households in the owner-occupier and private rented sectors. This Fund will replace the Affordable Warmth Scheme which has been in place since 2014.
The proposals include:
- Eligibility qualification criteria including income thresholds and the use of certain benefits to determine entitlement to the Warm Healthy Homes Fund
- Impact of householder personal savings
- Increased grant limits per household
- Support offered to those living in the Private Rented Sector
- Quality Standards and Redress for consumers.
Siobhán will be arranging a focus group to discuss this consultation in partnership with the Department for Communities. If you would be interested in hosting a focus group please get in touch with Siobhán as soon as possible.
The consultation is open until 19th August 2026 and is available to read on the Department for Communities website here:
https://www.communities-ni.gov.uk/consultations/consultation-warm-healthy-homes-fund
