Introduction

What do we mean by cash first?

Ultimately a cash first or income-focused approach to food insecurity would result in everyone in our society being in a position to access a Living Income and a Healthy Standard of Living for All through a well-functioning social security system and sufficient wages. Social security payments would be adequate and easy to access while local crisis support via cash payments would be available in every UK local authority.

At UK-wide level, taking a cash first approach to food insecurity means increasing social security payments to match the cost of living while ensuring fair work and adequate wages become the norm. UK Government data tells us the £20 uplift to households on Universal Credit during the pandemic reduced severe and moderate food insecurity reduced by 16%.

Meanwhile, it's fundamental within a well-functioning social security system that there are easy-to-access, adequate, and well-promoted crisis support payments in cash distributed via local authorities alongside advice and support to maximise income.

Taking a cash first approach to food insecurity at a local level in the current context of inadequate social security payments, absent or sparse local authority-run cash first crisis support, and insufficient wages means prioritising cash first or income-focused interventions whenever possible alongside advice and support to maximise income and build financial resilience.

Cash first support delivered by charitable food aid providers can make a real difference and build momentum for systemic change but it’s clear that, in the long run, providing an effective social security safety net and ensuring the adequacy of wages is the purview of UK-wide, national, and local governments. However, the role of both third sector advice providers and local authority teams in providing help and support to maximise income will remain critical in the long term.

The effectiveness of a cash first or income-focused approach to tackling growing food insecurity was first highlighted in Scotland through the work of the A Menu for Change project (2017-2020). The term cash first was first coined by the project and epitomises the notion that the answer to food poverty is increasing incomes rather than distributing 'sticking plaster' emergency food parcels - so cash first not food first.

The resources on this page link to the development of the concept of a cash first approach to food insecurity, the reasons why this approach works to reduce food insecurity and is needed to end the need for charitable food aid in the UK, how people facing financial insecurity prefer this more appropriate form of support, the benefits of a cash first approach in terms of local economies and value for money, and how local cash first interventions can make a difference.

Cash first

In Scotland

The Scottish Government committed to a cash first approach to food insecurity in 2022 and published their plan towards ending the need for food banks in Scotland in 2023. As part of this plan, eight cash-first partnerships have been delivering cash first interventions locally in Scotland. The 'Worrying About Money' resources project, which promotes a cash first approach at local level, was expanded from Scotland into England in the Autumn of 2020 and now covers over 130 UK local authorities. Meanwhile, cash first pilots run by both local authorities and third sector groups have become commonplace across English local authorities demonstrating that most people prefer to be supported via cash payments rather than through food or vouchers. A broad coalition of anti-poverty charities now champion a cash first approach in their calls for the systemic policy changes needed to reduce and eliminate food insecurity.

The effectiveness of a 'cash first' or income-focused approach to tackling growing food insecurity was first highlighted in Scotland through the work of the 'A Menu for Change' project (2017-2020). The Scottish Government committed to a cash first approach to food insecurity in 2022 and published their plan towards ending the need for food banks in Scotland in 2023. As part of this plan, eight cash-first partnerships have been delivering cash first interventions locally in Scotland. The Worrying About Money resources project has been running in Scotland for five years thanks to funding from the Scottish Government. Since 2023, IFAN and Trussell have run a series of Cash First Communities conferences in Glasgow focused on local cash first practices in Scotland (see Cash First Communities section). Trussell in Scotland has also produced a podcast on cash first approaches.

Cash First

Local government responses to food insecurity in England

Easily accessible, well-promoted, and adequate crisis support delivered via cash payments have proved to be effective in reducing food insecurity at a local authority level. Twinned with help and advice to maximise income cash payments made at a time of crisis can be transformative in helping to build financial resilience. Many local authorities in England have used various iterations of the Household Support Fund to distribute cash payments directly to people facing financial insecurity sometimes in addition existing local welfare assistance schemes. The new Crisis and Resilience Fund in England has to potential to transform how people in crisis are supported in England from April 2026 through the prioritisation of a cash first approach.

Cash First

Local third sector interventions

Developing local cash first approaches helps to build momentum for policy changes upstream while providing more dignity and choice for people struggling to afford food and simultaneously reducing the burden on overstretched food aid teams. Cash first approaches delivered by third sector charitable food aid partners can make a real difference in the here and now but, in the long run, providing an effective social security safety net and ensuring the adequacy of wages is the purview of UK-wide, national, and local governments.

Cash First

Building financial resilience and the role of local advice services

Local advice and support to help people maximise their incomes and access any existing entitlements is vital both in the here and now as well as the long term. Latest data from Policy in Practice finds that £23 billion in social security payments and social tariffs goes unclaimed. Helping people to build financial resilience while avoiding building debt and falling into crisis is fundamental and epitomises a cash first approach to food insecurity. Finding ways to share easily accessible information on local advice and support, promoting resources as far as wide as possible into communities, and investing in existing local advice services help to prevent people from needing food banks and other charitable food aid aid providers in the first place.

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Disentangling the food waste and food poverty problems

As many of us wrote in a letter to The Observer in March 2023: ‘While the expansion of organised surplus food redistribution might seem like a win-win solution, this practice fails to reduce food waste levels while undermining policies designed to address food insecurity.’ It’s clear that a charitable food aid response to poverty cannot provide more than a sticking plaster on the problem of poverty while the redistribution food waste to food banks and food pantries entrenches that modus operandi.

Keeping the food poverty and food waste problems distinct is the first critical step in tackling the root causes of both and taking a cash first approach to food insecurity epitomises this differentiation.

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Outside of the UK

Cash transfers have long proved to be the most effective form of support when delivering humanitarian aid overseas as well as within other international contexts.

"Cash transfers are an effective way of directly helping some of the poorest and most vulnerable people in the world, and are good value for money...They empower the poorest and most vulnerable people to make their own decisions, and enable them to spend it in their own communities." The Department for International Development, 2017

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Blogs and articles

The concept of cash first or income-focused solutions to food insecurity have been explored in numerous blogs and articles.

Events

Cash First Communities conferences

IFAN has collaborated with Trussell to co-run Cash First Communities conference focused on local cash first practices in Scotland and South West England.

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Infant food insecurity

Parents/carers struggling to feed their infants need cash first support.

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FAQs

Questions frequently asked taking a cash first approach to food insecurity:

IFAN's vision is of a country without the need for charitable food aid where adequate and nutritious food is affordable to all. IFAN calls on governments, cross-sector partnerships, and frontline agencies to prioritise a cash first approach to food insecurity putting income-focused policies at the heart of their responses to food insecurity.

Please do get in touch with us at admin@foodaidnetwork.org.uk if you'd like to share resources or evidence linked to taking a cash first approach to food insecurity and if you have any questions.