Trussell and the Independent Food Aid Network (IFAN) ran their fourth Cash First Communities conference in Glasgow on Monday the 22nd of June 2026. Following Cash First Communities conferences in 2023, 2024, and 2025 , conference attendees including cash-first pioneers, experts by experience, frontline practitioners, and local authority representatives convened at The Studio in Glasgow for an all-day, in-person event.

Please find the agenda below as well as slides shared by contributors:

• Introductory words: Dr Sinead Furey, Ulster University (IFAN trustee)
• Keynote Speakers: Cllr Maureen Chalmers, COSLA and Jayne Jones, Scottish Food Commission
• Cash-first partnerships with Pete Ritchie of Nourish Scotland and focused on Aberdeen and Edinburgh
  • Amy Duncan, Aberdeen Council of Voluntary Organisations (ACVO)
  • Becky Whittaker, City of Edinburgh Council
• Cash First and No Recourse to Public Funds: Cash-first support for people with no recourse to public funds:
  • Rebecca Kay, Migration Policy Scotland
  • Gareth Evans, The Financial Inclusion Centre
  • Beth Watts-Cobbe, Institute for Social Policy, Housing, Equalities Research (I-SPHERE)
• Debt, Destitution and Cash First: Rethinking Public Debt:
  • Martin Canavan and Robyn Moffat-Wall, Aberlour Children's Charity
• Routes Out of Crisis: Making the case for casework
  • Emma Jackson, Citizens Advice Scotland
  • Grace Deighan, East Renfrewshire Citizens Advice Bureau
  • Jennifer Trevis, South West Aberdeenshire Citizens Advice Bureau
• Scottish Welfare Fund: Making Cash First Count
  • Kirsty McKechnie and Liam Casey, Child Poverty Action Group

• Busting the myths: How to explain and deliver cash first in practice
  • Sinéad Furey, Ulster University
  • Gareth Evans, The Financial Inclusion Centre
  • Paddy McKenna, Glasgow Community Food Network (GCFN) & Alvina Tamara Chibhamu and Hina Ghafoor, GCFN Lived Experience
• Funding Cash First: A dialogue between funders and beneficiaries
  • Pete Ritchie and Irina Martin, Nourish Scotland
  • Stephen Riddell and Zahida Purves
• After the Plan: Cash-first lessons from Aberdeenshire and Glasgow with Graeme McKerracher, Trussell as Chair
  • Jennifer Macrae, Aberdeenshire Council
  • Nick Hopkins, Glasgow Fair Food For All Partnership and Siobhan Boyle, Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP)
• Beyond Crises: Building financial foundations
  • Brenda Black, Edinburgh Community Food and Benjamin Napier, Citizens Advice Edinburgh with David Brownlee, Trussell as Chair
• Plenary session: Cash First and England's Crisis and Resilience Fund
  • Sabine Goodwin, IFAN and Kate Hughes, Trussell with David Brownlee, Trussell as Chair
• Final panel session with Polly Jones, Trussell as Chair with:
  • Zahada, Maddy Power, Safety Nets, Pete Ritchie, Nourish Scotland, Emma Jackson, Citizens Advice Scotland
• Final remarks: Cara Hilton, Trussell

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