Opinion pieces
IFAN's Sabine Goodwin regularly writes opinion pieces and blogs.
The Big Issue: Keir Starmer promised to end food bank Britain. What happened?
16.05.25 Labour’s election manifesto committed to ending mass reliance on emergency food parcels. Ten months since Sir Keir Starmer’s party came to power, food bank volunteers are having to face facts.
The Grocer: Food banks are just a sticking plaster on poverty
02.04.25 Discussions on whether supermarkets are the good guys or the bad guys misses the point: redistributing food waste through the charitable food aid sector cannot prevent poverty or stop hunger happening in the first place
The Big Issue: Scotland's move to abolish poverty by ending two-child benefit cap must inspire Westminster
11.12.24 Scotland's groundbreaking commitments to tackle poverty should inspire Westminster – but the Scottish government must aim higher
The Big Issue: DWP extending hardship fund is welcome – but we need concrete, rapid actions to end poverty crisis
04.09.24 The Labour government’s positive steps to reverse the tide of poverty will hopefully turn into giant strides by the time the next household support fund comes to an end in six short months.
The Big Issue: Labour is yet to give much hope it will reduce poverty. We need more from the new government
05.07.24 The Labour party manifesto showed such caution that it gave us little hope it will end poverty – but there is still plenty of time for change.
The Big Issue: Time is running out – the next government needs a proper plan to end reliance on food banks
18.06.24 Latest Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) data reveals that 7.1 million people reported food insecurity in 2022/23.
The Big Issue: Jeremy Hunt's last-minute household support fund reprieve is too little, too late
08.03.24 The Chancellor gave in to pressure to extend the Household Support Fund to September at the Spring Budget. It's a drop in the ocean when it comes to the UK's poverty crisis.
The Big Issue: Food banks dread the inevitable consequences of abandoning the household support fund
29.02.24 Just as destitution levels soar, anti-poverty campaigners are having to focus their efforts on persuading the government to preserve a last bastion of hope for households in crisis – the Household Support Fund.
Blog: Appealing for change
20.12.23 Glossing over the causes of poverty might elicit donations but there’s a harsh reality to be faced.
The Big Issue: UK’s food poverty crisis is spiralling out of control – and there’s only one way to fix it
29.11.23 No amount of food surplus redistribution is going to stop hunger from happening and pretending otherwise risks covering up the actual cause of food poverty: lack of income.
The BMJ: Food banks are running out of resources—there’s no time to lose
14.11.23 The latest figures from the Trussell Trust showing the number of emergency food supplies given by its food banks to people in the UK are devastating.
The Big Issue: Food banks are being forced to ration supplies. We can’t sustain this level of poverty for much longer
24.10.23 The Trussell Trust is warning today that their network’s food banks alone will need to support more than 600,000 people during the “worst winter yet”. We need to tackle poverty at the source.
The Big Issue: Could food banks be relegated to the history books?
08.06.23 The Scottish Government has finally published its much-anticipated ‘cash first’ plan to end the need for food banks in Scotland.
The Big Issue: ‘We’re facing a policy-driven public health calamity’: Trussell Trust’s devastating report
26.04.23 Today’s devastating food bank data from the Trussell Trust must serve as a wake-up call to elected representatives both in government and in waiting.
IFAN: A cash first approach to food insecurity isn’t simply a dream, it’s becoming a reality
with Polly Jones
02.04.23 As food insecurity soars in Scotland, the First Minister’s anti-poverty summit must lead to immediate, comprehensive Scottish Government actions to reduce the need for charitable food aid across the UK.
IFAN: Turning the tide:
Cash First and the Right to Food
with Maria Marshall
25.04.23 A cash first approach can work to reverse the UK's institutional reliance on food aid. But to survive the test of time, a cash first approach needs a functioning legal framework that is justiciable.
The BMJ: Ending the food bank paradox
2.12.22 Britain’s food insecurity crisis was worsening before we’d heard of covid-19. In the year up to March 2020, Trussell Trust food banks had distributed 1,909,156 emergency food parcels across the UK.
The Big Issue: Food banks are at breaking point. We need to change the script.
30.11.22 Over the last decade, calls at Christmas for food bank donations have become par for the course. Supporters have been encouraged to donate food and money in the spirit of the season.
The Big Issue: National Food Bank Day: ‘Our greatest wish is for our help not to be needed’
2.09.22 When I heard about plans for this week’s National Food Bank Day, happening just as our country’s poverty crisis reaches new depths, my immediate thought was one of despair. Food bank teams.
The BMJ: A cursory National Food Strategy lacks substance and joined up thinking on food insecurity
21.06.22 In early April 2022, members of the Independent Food Aid Network (IFAN) wrote to Rishi Sunak, the chancellor, and Boris Johnson, the prime minister, to express.
Woman and Home: 'We're becoming desensitized to donation bins in supermarkets'
13.04.22 I’ve been campaigning to end the need for food banks in the UK for over five years and this is the bleakest moment I’ve witnessed.
Sustain: Finding hope in cash first approaches at the bleakest of times
24.02.22 Cash first referral leaflets co-produced by Sustain member the Independent Food Aid Network and its partners are examples of practical responses to supporting people during difficult times and reducing the need for emergency food aid.
The BMJ: Food aid charities fear the worst as the cost of living crisis takes hold
16.02.22 At an Independent Food Aid Network member meeting last week, it was clear that things were getting worse, much worse.
The Living Wage Foundation: Over two fifths of all supermarket workers earn below a real Living Wage
with Emily Roe
14.12.21 New research by the Living Wage Foundation demonstrates the scale of low pay in UK supermarkets, with almost half of all supermarket workers earning below the real Living Wage. This equates to 366,000 workers.
IFAN: Good Food is Good Medicine
with Proffessor Flora Douglas (IFAN)
12.12.21 Reflections on our recent Creative Conversation with Laura Chalmers of Robert Gordon University By Dr Flora Douglas, Robert Gordon University and Sabine Goodwin, Independent Food Aid Network.
The Big Issue: Food banks face a hard winter – give people cash instead
18.11.21 Food will never be the solution to poverty. Sabine Goodwin, coordinator for the Independent Food Aid Network, explains why cash is key.
The BMJ: Food poverty set to worsen as September’s Universal Credit cliff edge approaches
26.08.21 Independent food banks have come to expect a busy August as the UK’s social security safety net continues to be eroded. As parents try to find ways of scraping together the cost of new school uniforms and taking care of their children.
IFAN: Disentangling the food surplus and food poverty problems
11.06.21 IFAN has joined the Plenty To Share campaign. Our Coordinator, Sabine Goodwin, recently spoke at a webinar focussed on ending both food waste and food poverty. Here she tells us more.
Child food poverty debate: What MPs should know
24.5.21 MPs debate Marcus Rashford's petition to end child food poverty. IFAN explains what must be done to stop kids going hungry
IFAN: Food insecurity data finally published
29.03.21 However alarming, data on the use of food banks represents the ‘tip of the iceberg’ when it comes to food insecurity as only a fraction of people who need help seek out emergency food aid.
The Big Issue: Rashford's fight must not become 'missed opportunity' to end poverty for good
03.11.20 Thanks to Marcus Rashford’s inspirational campaign, well over 1 million people have signed a parliamentary petition to end child poverty in the UK.