HSF7 Community Food Support Grants

The purpose of the Community Food Support Grants is to enable VCSE organisations to provide support to Hull residents to manage their household expenditure and cope with the cost of living, with a particular focus on reducing food insecurity and a reduction in household’s reliance on emergency food support.

Research shows that there are 50+ community food providers across the city covering a range of support such as food banks, food pantries, community fridges, etc. These food providers vary in scale, some serving residents with a direct connection to their organisation such as faith groups, others serving hundreds of households across a broad spectrum of household types. This funding programme is part of a wider initiative to embed sustainable VCSE community food distribution within a comprehensive response to all community groups, and maintain food distribution that supports the health and wellbeing needs of all VCSE beneficiaries.

Guidance from the Department for Work and Pensions for the distribution of the Household Support Fund includes encouragement for local authorities to facilitate preventative approaches, such as the co-location of advice services with food to maximise household incomes, and the development of affordable food clubs such as pantries and social supermarkets. From April 2026, the Government will replace the Household Support Fund with a new Crisis and Resilience Fund, which has a stated objective of ‘helping to end mass dependence on emergency food parcels’.

With the above guidance and objective in mind, we are seeking applications from organisations who are proactive in moving their beneficiaries away from emergency food support and incorporating innovative and empowering approaches to community food resilience.

Voluntary and community organisations working directly with local people in Hull may apply. This includes:

• Registered charities.
• Small groups with a committee, a constitution and their own bank account in the group’s name (e.g. resident/tenants’ groups, self-help groups, small unincorporated charities not required to register).
• Churches, Mosques, temples and other religious establishments may apply for funding to provide practical support to congregations/communities. Faith organisations can apply providing the activities for which they are seeking funding does not promote religion.
• Not for profit (limited by guarantee) companies (including Community Interest Companies that are limited by guarantee).

Organisations working in partnership are strongly encouraged to apply. This would not prevent each partner from making their own application (although each organisation may only apply once in their own right). Each partner organisation will be required to sign up to Alliance for Dignified Food Support’s Charter. Note that this includes use of venues belonging to others.

For example, Organisation A may wish to run food related activities in its own venue for certain hours.  

Organisation B might lack a suitable venue, but could propose to work with Organisation A (with their agreement) to use their venue to open at different hours.  They could claim the venue costs and pass these on to Organisation A, but use the remainder of the grant for their own activities.

Both Organisation A and Organisation B must sign the Alliance for Dignified Food Support’s Charter (see Appendix A).  

Each partner organisation will be required to sign up to the Alliance for Dignified Food Support Charter.

• Individuals
• Statutory bodies
• Commercial/for profit entities (including small businesses and sole traders)
• Community Interest Companies limited by shares
• Groups cannot apply for anything that is about the promotion of religion in return for food support.
• Groups whose main object is to benefit animals, or that run activities that are war‐like or for anything political.

If in doubt about your organisation’s eligibility to apply, please contact Kersty Smith via ksmith@hull-cvs.co.uk

• You will need to submit a bank statement that covers your organisation’s activity within the last three months (May-July 2025).
• You will need to submit a copy of your public liability insurance.
• You will need to submit a copy of your safeguarding policy.
• You will need to submit a copy of your governing document or Constitution.
• The names and contact details of two referees to confirm your eligibility to receive and make use of the grant – referees will be only be contacted if your application is successful.
• Confirmation of Identify – to comply with the Money Laundering Regulations 2007 you must provide one item confirming your name and one confirming your address. These must be two separate documents. This information will only be used if your application is successful. It will be held securely and only used with reference to grant applications in relation to your organisation / group.

If your group has not adopted a Constitution (or similar document) and it does not have a set of rules don’t worry, you may still be able to apply. We recognise that small self‐help groups are often very informal and do not always have a Constitution. We also understand that this often means that it can be very difficult to access other grant funding. Hull CVS can also help you with writing your Constitution or set of rules.

If you need support with any of the above, please contact Kersty Smith via ksmith@hull-cvs.co.uk

Applications for resources and equipment to enable provision of any or all of the following will be considered:

• Food provision that moves people away from emergency food support including cooking on a budget sessions, food clubs, community fridges.
• Embedding sustainable food provision through partnership working with other organisations to identify mutually beneficial areas of work as well as gaps in provision that can be supported by one another.
• Offering trained support as part of a food offer for residents to advise them on dealing with the cost of living, including any or all of the following: feeding a household on a limited budget, managing money, dealing with debt, energy savings, or similar.
• Providing suitable spaces that are welcoming where Hull residents can access food related support in a safe environment.
• Distribution/installation of targeted support to encourage low-cost food preparation, for example energy-saving small appliances such as slow cookers, air fryers, microwave ovens. (Note: if this is part of your proposal, please clearly identify the items and the volumes anticipated and how much you have budgeted for this.)

The grants may be used to cover the costs of provision of this support, including for example:

• Food* that supports health and wellbeing, this includes:
  
  1. Tinned, dried, fresh and frozen fruit and vegetables, store cupboard staples including pasta, rice, noodles, legumes, lentils, peas and beans, tinned fish, oils, herbs and spices, condiments, bread, flour, yeast, nuts and seeds, dairy and eggs.
  2. Unprocessed fresh and frozen meat and fish (filleted and/or boned is fine).
  3. Food that supports specific medical needs such as gluten free, dairy free, nut free.
  4. Food that meets cultural needs such as Halal, Kosher, vegan, and food from other countries not usually available on the high street.
• Salary costs related to the project.
• Volunteer expenses related to the project.
• Travel costs related to the project.
• Venue hire related to the project.
• Training costs related to the project, e.g. delivery of cooking on a budget sessions, Level 2 food hygiene training etc.
• Items of equipment needed to deliver the project, e.g. fridges/cupboards to hygienically store food, catering equipment to facilitate production and preparation of food/meals.
• Resources and consumables for activities, e.g. recipe cards / healthy eating / cooking on a budget booklets, translated materials, bags and containers for households to take food home.
• Items for distribution to aid in keeping people’s household costs low, e.g. slow cookers, air fryers, microwave ovens.
• IT to support your project such as a tablet to help households use online tools that help them check their benefits eligibility and manage their budget, and which can also be used to help monitor grant delivery.
• Costs of marketing and communication activities to promote key messages.
• Contribution to the additional costs of overheads, insurance, licencing, etc required for the provision of this support.
• Utilities costs such as energy, water and fuel for transport of food. The amount for this is capped at 15% of your total application e.g. maximum £225 for Option 1, and maximum £450 for Option 2.

• Food* that contributes to ill health. This includes:
  • Processed foods that are high in fat, sugar and salt, such as sugary drinks, energy drinks, slushies containing glycerol, baby food sachets and pouches, crisps, snacks, biscuits, cakes, chocolate and sweets, breaded/coated foods, processed, dried and cured meats including sausages.
• General organisational costs.
• Direct financial support to households and individuals, for example, direct payments made to households from the grant funding.
• Activities supporting residents outside the city of Hull.
• Work that is commissioned elsewhere such as social prescribing.

*Your total food budget MUST NOT exceed 65% of the total amount you are applying for. Checks will be made to ensure food purchased through this grants programme meets health and wellbeing objectives as outlined in the eligible costs above.

Projects are actively encouraged to use existing resources available nationally and locally to add value to their grant application. Below is a list of some things you may find useful:

• Hull CVS offers training across a number of subjects, including Level 2 Food Safety, and how to write funding applications – https://hullcvs.org.uk/training/
• Hull City Council’s Healthy Lifestyles Team offer FREE Eat Well for Less training aimed at families with young children which can be delivered in your setting, for more information, email healthylifestylesteam@hullcc.gov.uk
• The Healthy Lifestyles Team have also created a page with lots of resources on how to prepare tasty affordable meals for families – https://www.healthyholidayshull.org/food
• Food Standards Agency, Food safety and hygiene guidance for food banks and charities – https://www.food.gov.uk/node/12361
• Hull City Council, Food Hygiene licensing – https://www.hull.gov.uk/licences-permits-registrations/food-hygiene-inspections
• Age UK have produced guides on healthy eating for older people – https://www.ageuk.org.uk/information-advice/health-wellbeing/healthy-eating/
• Mencap have produced guides on healthy eating for people with a learning disability – https://www.mencap.org.uk/sites/default/files/2021-07/Healthy%20Eating%20Resources%20%281%29.pdf
• Enfield Council have adapted the NHS Eatwell Guide to meet the needs of different ethnic groups – https://www.manchesterfoodboard.co.uk/blogs-new/the-eatwell-guide-a-discussion-on-culturally-appropriate-food
• Love Food, Hate Waste have recipes and resources to help reduce food waste in the home – https://www.lovefoodhatewaste.com/
• Guardians of Grub have resources to help organisations reduce food waste in their settings – https://guardiansofgrub.com/
• Bags of Taste offer a Mentored Home Cooking programme, find out more – https://bagsoftaste.org/students/ email Alicia Weston alicia@bagsoftaste.org for prices
• Cooperation Town helps groups set up community food co-ops, which source food in bulk and share it amongst members – https://cooperation.town / email Shiri Shalmy on info@cooperation.town for information
• Feeding Britain has information on setting up food clubs – https://feedingbritain.org
• HEY Credit Union offer safe ways to save and affordable credit options – https://hullandeycu.co.uk  email Matthew Stevens for info mstevens@hullandeycu.co.uk
• Stop Loan Sharks offer advice and training for groups – https://www.stoploansharks.co.uk/for-partner-agencies
• The Independent Food Aid Network offers Money Counts training – https://www.foodaidnetwork.org.uk/money-counts
• National Energy Action offers courses for assisting households with fuel poverty, energy efficiency, decarbonisation and more – https://www.nea.org.uk/training/
• Your Local Pantry runs on a membership basis, members from a local community pay a small weekly membership fee to get a selection of items- https://www.yourlocalpantry.co.uk/
• Family Action offer LifeSkills courses including cooking on a budget – https://family-action.org.uk/services/lifeskills-open/ email Emily Phelps for more info phelps-jones@family-action.org.uk
• Barclay’s Digital Wings aims to make learning digital skills and financial literacy easy, accessible, and empowering – https://digital.wings.uk.barclays/
• Free / low cost software packages available to VCSE groups – https://charitydigital.org.uk/topics/the-best-free-or-discounted-software-packages-for-charities-11513

The above list does not imply recommendation by the funders. It is not exhaustive and is only a snapshot of what is available.

The maximum amount you can apply for depends on what will be included in your project. See the table below:

The decision-making panel will consider:

• Highest impact: for example, greater opening hours, increased number of attendees, or very in-depth work with particularly hard-to-reach groups.
• Extent of the offering: for example, offering advice services alongside an activity to encourage attendance, timetabling activities adjacent to other services that could be complementary, such as a food pantry.
• Operating schedules that complement as opposed to compete with other offers – this could mean opening weekends or evenings, or consulting with other organisations locally to propose a timetable.
• Positive longer term impact beyond the funding end (end of March 2026)
• Targeting of a need specifically identified by the local community: for example, particular demographics that may be in acute need during the cost-of-living crisis such as informal carers, single person households, care leavers, larger families, an offering to overcome barriers experienced by your local community such as a language or educational barrier to accessing other forms of food and cost of living support.
• Your suitability as an organisation to deliver the proposal you put forward. For example, if you anticipate offering a hot meal, you should be able to demonstrate you have suitable kitchen facilities that meet environmental health standards, and your staff/volunteers have undertaken food hygiene training as well as public liability insurance.
• How your project will move households away from needing emergency food support and towards community food resilience.
• Fair distribution of funding around the city (thus, even high-scoring projects may not receive funding if there is a cluster of high-scoring applications covering a single area).

Grant Agreements

Grants will be paid as follows:

• 50% of total amount in October 2025 on receipt of signed grant agreement and claim form which will be issued to successful applicants.
• Remaining 50% of total amount on receipt of satisfactory verification of reports and food purchased in January 2026.

Marketing and promotion

Successful projects will be required to engage with promotional activities with any or all of the funding organisations.

Note that promotional materials for successful projects should reference the fact that the funding comes from the Department of Work and Pensions (which is the source of Household Support Fund monies), Hull City Council and is supported by Hull CVS / Hull Food Partnership. Approved logos for funders can be provided.

Monitoring and reporting

All funded projects will be required to comply with monitoring and reporting arrangements. This will include submission of a project report with numbers of households participating over each quarter (broken down to reflect whether the household had any children/pensioners/disabled people or other) within eight days of the quarter ending (i.e. by 8th January 2026 and 8th April 2026).

It will also include supplying two detailed case studies demonstrating impact of grant by 8th April 2026, as well as liaising with Hull Food Partnership to undertake a Community Food Support Healthcheck for your project.

For clarity, you are required to count households benefitting as follows:

Count each household only once, even if they benefit many times over the quarter. Count the household not the individuals in it, so if a household has five people still only count one. Put the household only once even if they fall into more than one category – for example if a household has a disabled child, choose to count them in either disabled or with children, but not both.

Hull Food Partnership will also contact you to arrange a Community Food Support Healthcheck to understand the needs of your organisation and the communities you support.

Alliance for Dignified Food Support Charter

All organisations who are successful in obtaining funding will be required to sign up to, display and adhere to the principles of the ‘Dignity Charter for users of Community Food Support’.

This has been created by the Alliance for Dignified Food Support of which Hull Food Partnership is a member.

All signatories will be automatically added as members of the Hull Food Inequality Alliance. See Appendix 1. 

Applications must be submitted using the Hull CVS Grants portal at the link here: https://hullcvs.org.uk/grants/

Applications must be submitted no later than:

Midnight on Sunday 31^st August 2025

For further information or assistance to apply, contact Kersty Smith via ksmith@hull-cvs.co.uk

The panel will meet week commencing 8^th September 2025 and decisions will be communicated to applicants the week after.

The Alliance for Dignified Food Support is a coalition of community food organisers, local food partnerships, academics, and activists interested in promoting dignified food support. Their aims are to raise awareness of the ethical contradictions of community food support and to support community food support projects to embed dignity within their provision. Community Food Support refers to any food provision delivered by voluntary, charitable or community groups that exists outside of the traditional marketplace.

Community food support, no matter how dignified, is not the solution to food insecurity. Instead, this lies in ensuring access to a living income for all, together with adequate social security provision. However, at the moment, thousands of community food support organisations are in operation across the UK.  Whilst recognising the need to move beyond food banks and emergency food provision, the Alliance recognises the vital role these organisations currently play in providing a safety net for vulnerable individuals and families.  Their aim is to support organisations to make their practice as dignified as possible, whilst also championing other anti-poverty strategies including support for a living income through social security payments, increased wages and a cash first approach.

Acknowledging the immense strain and moral injury faced by staff and volunteers, as well as the often limited resources at their disposal, the Alliance remains committed to supporting and empowering these frontline workers. By advocating for systemic change and fostering collaboration among stakeholders, they aspire to create a more dignified and equitable food system for all.

Together, the Alliance have embarked on a collaborative journey, focusing on developing core principles aimed at embedding dignity into community food provision. Through extensive consultation and evidence-based research, they have developed a set of Principles and Recommendations designed to promote good practice. These recommendations, while not prescriptive, offer a flexible framework for organisations to adopt, adapt, and evaluate according to their unique circumstances and community strengths and needs. Community Food Aid has become a de facto public support service almost entirely delivered by volunteers and without regulation. 

By signing up to the Dignity Food Support Charter, your services users can expect from you:

1) To be treated with dignity and respect

2) A welcoming and inclusive space

3) Clarity about rules, procedures and capacity

4) A choice of food

5) To be kept safe

6) Not to be judged for using other services

7) The ability to ask questions or make suggestions

8) To be able contribute where possible

You can download and print the Dignity Charter here: https://www.alliancefordignifiedfoodsupport.org.uk/dignity-charter