Food insecurity, Food Clubs and Children's Centres.

Approximately 10 million adults in the UK experience food insecurity – defined as the those who have limited or unreliable access to food due to a lack money of financial resources (Power et al 2020) In addition, families with young children are particularly likely to experience food insecurity with current data suggesting 10% of all children in the UK experience varying degrees of food insecurity and the situation has worsened
significantly during the Covid pandemic (Parnham et al 2000; Loopstra 2020). Children’s lack of access to adequate food has come to prominence following Marcus Rashford’s campaign to child food poverty and extending Free School Meal coverage. Food insecurity – which reflects severe poverty and disadvantage – is therefore a major social and political issue.

Drawing on qualitative data from a broader piece of BERA funded research exploring the impact of COVID-19 on Children's Centres, this paper will analyse the development and use of Food Clubs as a response to food insecurity in families with young children and which are located in Children's Centres. The paper will provide important new evidence on how parents can struggle to feed their children, how Food Clubs are a distinctive response to food insecurity, and how they are connected to Children’s Centres broader aim of supporting disadvantaged families.