Food Roots 2

Greater London Authority
May 2023  

Published by 
Greater London Authority
City Hall
Kamal Chunchie Way
London
E16 1ZE
www.london.gov.uk 

 
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Copies of this guidance are available from www.london.gov.uk 

The aim of the Food Roots programme is to help food partnerships across London to develop and embed more sustainable and resilient ways of working to better support food insecure Londoners, especially those who are forced to rely on emergency food aid.

This prospectus relates to the grant-giving element of the Food Roots 2 programme. Grantees can represent new or existing partnerships and must have a proposal to use partnership working to respond effectively to food insecurity in their local communities.

Food Roots 2 is being launched to build on the work of previous iterations of the Food Roots programme, and has the following four objectives:

1. an increase in the number of food aid providers within partnerships that offer support beyond food – including cash-first and wraparound approaches, and referrals to advice services 

2. increased awareness and visibility of Healthy Start across food partnerships and the Londoners who use their services, including newly trained staff and volunteers who can signpost and support applications and better links between statutory and voluntary sector work on Healthy Start 

3. new and strengthened relationships across the VCS within an area, and between local authorities and local community food providers, helping to develop and embed strategic solutions to shorter-term delivery challenges arising from spikes in demand for emergency food aid 

4. improved ability of food partnerships to access sustainable external funding 

There are two levels of grant award available, to cover 12 months of delivery. Level One grants will have a value of up to £25,000, and Level Two grants will be awarded at a maximum £45,000. More details about the difference between the two grant awards are available in the ‘The project’ and ‘Deliverables’ sections of the prospectus.

To apply, applicants should respond to all questions for the grant level their applying for in the ‘Application Form’ and send their responses to [email protected]. Applicants are requested to stay within the stated word limit. Applicants may complete this document and submit it as an attachment or copy the questions into a new document and submit this separately. More details about how to apply can be found in the ‘Application process’ and ‘Application guidance’ sections of this document.

The lead applicant should complete the application form on behalf of a partnership. The lead applicant (or their stated designee) may be contacted by GLA officers to answer clarification questions if needed.

The first Food Roots Incubator programme was designed to respond to the increase in new food partnerships and cross-organisational working that emerged in response to lockdowns and other restrictions during the Covid-19 pandemic. The Incubator ran from May 2021 to August 2022 and invested in ten local food partnerships to help them strengthen new relationships formed during the pandemic; and to encourage them to develop in ways that did not embed emergency food aid as the solution to food insecurity.

In 2023, with the cost-of-living crisis causing greater financial hardship for more Londoners, the need for services such as emergency food aid and income maximisation support has risen dramatically. Without the extraordinary resourcing of the pandemic period, crisis services struggled to meet need.

In response, crisis grants were awarded to food partnerships in 30 London boroughs in early 2023, to help maintain and expand partnership working during a period of very high need for food banks and help new partnerships to trial new approaches to addressing food insecurity locally.

The Food Roots 2 programme is now looking to expand on the successful foundations of this work, and aims to further improve the resilience and sustainability of communities’ responses to food insecurity. Although there are major interventions needed by national government to properly address this issue, local action can make a significant difference to Londoners’ experiences of food insecurity. 

As a result, Food Roots 2 has a specific focus on addressing financial hardship as the primary cause of food insecurity, to support the move away from emergency food aid to more sustainable solutions.

This invitation is for partnerships to respond to the local needs of their communities – to ensure that residents experiencing food insecurity or requiring emergency food aid receive the best possible support, including by looking beyond in-kind provision and expanding, or improving access to, cash-first and wrap-around support. 

The aim of the Food Roots programme is to help food partnerships across London to develop and embed more sustainable and resilient ways of working to better support food insecure Londoners, especially those who are forced to rely on emergency food aid. Within Food Roots 2, this aim will be realised with four objectives:

1. an increase in the number of food aid providers within partnerships that offer support beyond food – including cash-first and wraparound approaches, and referrals to advice services 

2. increased awareness and visibility of Healthy Start across food partnerships and the Londoners who use their services, including newly trained staff and volunteers who can signpost and support applications and better links between statutory and voluntary sector work on Healthy Start 

3. new and strengthened relationships across the VCS within an area, and between local authorities and local community food providers, helping to develop and embed strategic solutions to shorter-term delivery challenges arising from spikes in demand for emergency food aid 

4. improved ability of food partnerships to access sustainable external funding 

The project will consist of three parts:  

1. A grant giving programme for new or existing food partnerships to improve the resilience and sustainability of their local response to food insecurity;  

2. An accompanying learning and support programme, including a dedicated training and campaign support offer for partnerships to help them to increase awareness in and take up of Healthy Start in their area; 

3. An independent evaluation, to demonstrate the value of best practice and equip partnerships to obtain longer-term funding from sustainable sources

This prospectus regards part one – the grant giving programme – only. 

There will be two levels of grant award, supplying funding for a full-time and a part-time staff role respectively, and the grants will cover 12 months of delivery.  

The accompanying support programme will provide learning sessions and mentoring, to help grantees to shift their partnership and/or delivery approaches to embed or expand financial or wraparound support, find other ways of strengthening their resilience and sustainability. As a part of this, there will be training and campaigns support for a partnership-run Healthy Start uptake project in each grantee partnership area. Grantees will also be required to engage with the learning and support offer and the independent programme evaluation. The level of engagement expected will scale with the level of grant awarded.

Grants can be applied for, or awarded, as a ‘’Level One’ or ‘’Level Two’’ award. In the event that organisations apply for a Level Two grant but the threshold for a Level Two award is not reached, an offer of Level One may be made following a discussion between GLA officers and the applicant organisation/s.  

Grantees of the Food Roots 2 programme will be expected to support their partnership to deliver: 

• Improved access of financial hardship support and other wrap-around services beyond food to service users who are food insecure. This could include an increase in cash-first and wraparound approaches delivered in emergency food aid and other crisis settings; referrals to advice services; the development of peer support networks and other ways the partnership identifies of addressing food in their communities. 

• The development of local partnership working to address food insecurity. This may include some or all of: adding new members to the partnership; the partnership engaging with new external stakeholders such as businesses; closer working relationships and new ways of working, such as referrals, between existing partnership members 

• Engagement with the Healthy Start uptake training offer, including supporting frontline service organisations within the partnership to access volunteer training at some stage within the 12-month programme. Partnerships will also be supported to develop an uptake campaign across the partnership members and, where possible, in partnership with related statutory services (such as the local authority, and health or education settings). 

• Partnership representation at a minimum of half of learning support sessions delivered as part of the programme 

• Good-faith engagement with the independent programme evaluation process 

• Two project reports: a brief summary report at mid-year and a more detailed report at project end. Templates for these will be provided by GLA officers

In addition to the above, Level Two grantees will be expected to support their partnership to deliver:  

• A more developed local Healthy Start uptake campaign delivered at some stage within the 12-month programme, across partnership members and in partnership with related statutory services (such as the local authority, and health or education settings) where possible. This may include working with partners to fund publicity materials. 

• Partnership representation at a minimum of two thirds of learning support sessions delivered as part of the programme, and willingness to build relationships with other grantee representatives outside of structured sessions 

• Consistent engagement in the mentoring offer

The learning and support programme and, for Level Two grantees, a mentor, will be on hand throughout the programme to help partnerships to achieve these things. Peer support and learning between partnerships is also strongly encouraged. Where there are issues, GLA officers will be available to provide resolution or support.

Grantees can be applying on behalf of new or existing partnerships and have a proposal to use partnership working to respond effectively to food insecurity in their local communities.

We are looking for a commitment to partnership working from a variety of public, private and voluntary organisations, including with local government where possible; an understanding of food insecurity in your community; and a genuine engagement with the opportunities and challenges of integrating, or expanding access to, cash-first and wrap-around approaches to support in your local context.

Eligible grantee organisations include community and voluntary organisations such as food banks, Local Authorities and civil society organisations (such as community centres or pantries)Reference:1 Organisations must be delivering support to Londoners who are experiencing food insecurity, and must demonstrate in their application the value of the grant for the wider partnership, rather than just for their organisation.

There is no requirement for partnerships to consist of a minimum or maximum number of organisations, and we welcome applications from any partnership structure. We recognise that lead partners may have a specialist user group (geographic within a wider area, age, faith, or from any other protected characteristic), but would expect them to be in partnership with more generalist organisations and/or organisations with different specialist focuses, unless there is enough specific data to be more targeted, (this must be supplied). This is because the Food Roots 2 programme is focused on supporting all food insecure Londoners.

In most instances, we are looking to support partnerships that support, or are working towards supporting, food aid providers and their partners, on broadly a local authority wide level. However, we are also open to bids from partnerships that cover more than one borough area or are focused on a particular local area which crosses borough boundaries. Where a partnership only covers a small geographic area or primarily supports a small specific community group, applicants are encouraged to reflect on how expanding the partnership could help them to meet the programme objectives. We recognise that many borough areas have an uneven distribution of food insecurity, but believe that good partnership working can help to provide support to people in smaller geographic pockets of food insecurity, and those in communities where food insecurity is more hidden.

Partnerships will also be expected to demonstrate how they will maximise the reach of the services delivered through the programme (in terms of either the number of community settings involved, or the number of Londoners reached) whilst balancing this with the appropriate depth of support needed to achieve long-lasting positive outcomes for food insecure Londoners.

If you represent an organisation that is not able to be the lead grantee in a partnership at this time but is interested in getting involved, we may be able to introduce you to potential lead partners or co-bidders in your area (see ‘More information’ section below for details).

We'd particularly like to hear from you if you represent a community food setting, advice provider, or another relevant community setting that provides support on a specific issue or to a specific group.

Successful applicants will be selected following a competitive application process.

Applicants should respond to all questions in the ‘Application Form’ within the stated word limit and send their responses to [email protected].

Applicants may complete this document and submit it as an attachment or copy the questions into a new document and submit this separately.

The deadline for applications is 22 June 2023 at 1pm.

The lead applicant should complete the application form. The lead applicant (or their stated designee) may be contacted to answer clarification questions if needed.

Organisations that are interested in taking part but are unable to act as a lead grantee are encouraged to get in touch via [email protected]. We may be able to match you with a lead partner or other organisations in your community that have expressed an interest.

Applications will be assessed by a panel of three officers from the GLA Communities and Social Policy Unit, including at least two officers from the Financial Hardship team. Successful applicants will be notified from the week commencing 3rd July 2023.

Officers may also be in touch with applicants to ask for clarification, discuss working with another applicant, or suggest amendments to a proposal, including the level of the grant. For example, where we feel that bids for a Level Two grant may be strengthened by working in partnership with another local bidder, we may get in touch to explore options for merging the proposals.

Because we wish to achieve a wide geographic coverage with the Food Roots 2 programme, there will be a geographic weighting in assessment. This will decrease the chance of more than one grant being awarded within the same London borough area and increase the chance of a grant award for applicants who are the sole applicant in a borough area – although there will be flexibility for applications from partnerships which cross borough boundaries or cover more than one borough area.

Organisations are encouraged to work together on a single application and nominate a single lead grantee within your partnership, community or borough area.

Please see ‘Application form guidance’ section below for more information on how bids will be assessed.

Successful applicants will be required to sign a grant funding letter with the GLA for the delivery of the project. Grant funding letters will be signed in the week commencing 10 July 2023.

Please provide the following documentation with your application:

• A copy of your organisation’s most recent audited Financial Statements / Accounts

• A statement of your organisation’s cash flow forecast for the current year

• Evidence of public liability and employer's liability insurance

• Submission of your organisation’s financial regulations or procedures

• The organisation’s budget for the current year

• Name and contact details of bank

Due diligence checks will only be completed on shortlisted applicants, but documentation is requested from all applicants to save time. If a check is required and there are issues with the documentation supplied with the application, officers will be in touch to discuss.

Successful applicants will be selected following a competitive application process (details below). Key dates are highlighted below:

Below is the application form and the format in which answers should be completed by a lead grantee for each partnership applying to the Food Roots 2 programme.

• Please be as specific as possible and clear where you’re referring to your organisation as the lead grantee in the partnership, and where you’re referring to your partnership 

• Please be explicit about how the grant funding will support partnership working and voluntary and community organisations across the partnership, not just the grantee organisation 

• If your partnership has funding already for coordination or a similar function, please explain how the Food Roots grant will supplement or expand this work 

• Level One and Two grants will both provide funding over 12 months, and your project is expected to be delivered within that timeframe. Where possible or relevant when outlining your project plans, please make reference to approximate, high-level timelines within those 12 months

What is your understanding of the drivers of food insecurity in your community(s), and what are the barriers supporting them to achieve food security? 

Outline how, with the funding from a Level One or Two grant award, you and your partner organisations – individually and as a partnership – would work to address food insecurity by delivering on the first programme objective 

650 words max

• Please answer this question with reference to how your project will meet objective 1: an increase in the number of food-aid providers within partnerships that offer support beyond food – including cash-first and wraparound approaches, and referrals to advice services 

• Based on your current work and experiences (as an organisation and / or as a partnership), outline the approaches that are likely to work in your context and with your communities, the barriers you face, and the possible ways of addressing those barriers 

• Describe how you think that your existing or proposed partnership is or can be well placed to meet those needs (e.g., skills, experience, expertise, resources of the lead partner and potential partners).

Please include details of the current working relationships between statutory and voluntary and community organisations in the area, and lessons that you have learnt from previous partnership work. Please specify if this is a new or existing partnership, and provide brief details of the nature of your partnership and how you would use this funding to build or strengthen it. 

(If there is an existing partnership, please explain the role of your organisation within it and why you are the lead for this application. Applications can use up to an additional 150 words to expand on this point.) 

500/650 words

• Please answer this question with reference to how your project will meet objective 3: new and strengthened relationships across the VCS within an area, and between local authorities and local community food providers, helping to develop and embed strategic solutions to shorter-term delivery challenges arising from spikes in demand for emergency food aid.

• Describe your approach to partnership development and partnership working / strengthening and provide information on how your approach aligns with the third programme objective.

• Provide an example of a partnership that you are or have been part of reflecting on what is / has worked well and where improvements can / could be made. We are looking for a strong understanding of partnership working, the barriers and opportunities for organisations to work together to help address the drivers of food insecurity for their local communities.

• Explain the possible opportunities you see for growing or strengthening your partnership, including new ways of working with existing partners and organisations who could become valuable partnership members. Consider organisations in the voluntary & community sector, statutory organisations and private organisations.

• If an existing partnership, also include existing governance arrangements and details of existing funding where possible. Be explicit about how a Food Roots 2 grant award would add value to existing funding and why your project proposal cannot be delivered without the Food Roots grant.

Outline how, with the funding from a Level One or Two grant award, you would work towards the fourth objective. 

Please identify 2 - 3 challenges that you and your partnership face in improving your resilience and sustainability.  

Outline how, with the funding from a Level One or Two grant award, you would work towards the fourth objective, as well as how you would work towards strategic solutions to the other resilience and sustainability challenges your partnership faces. This may include shorter-term delivery challenges arising from spikes in demand for emergency food aid, but should not only include these.

500 words

• Please answer this question with reference to how your project will meet objective 4: improved ability of food partnerships to access sustainable external funding 

• Briefly describe the most pressing challenges your partnership and its members face in continuing to provide support to members of your communities experiencing food insecurity 

• Is there a reliance on unsustainable delivery models, or threats to organisations operating consistently? 

• Consider whether these challenges are experienced similarly or equally across the partnership, and how partnership working might help address them. 

• Please outline how your partnership working will be sustained after the Food Roots 2 fund finishes, or the options or avenues you will explore to work towards financial sustainability 

• Where a partnership only covers a small geographic area or primarily supports a small specific community group, applicants are encouraged to reflect on how expanding the partnership could help them to meet the programme objectives

• All costs should be based on a grant award of Level One (up to £25,000) or Level Two, (up to £45,000). 

• Group items together under headings such as ‘staff costs,’ ‘training,’ ‘research’ etc.   

• Outline underneath the budget any match funding you can provide (please note that monetary match funding is not a requirement). This may include funding for an existing partnership or initiative.

It is not expected that applicants have a full outline of how their partnership would use this. However, building on your answers to Q2, outline how, with the funding from a Level Two grant award and training for volunteers, you and your partner organisations would expect to work together to help achieve second programme objective. 

350 words

• Your answer to this question should demonstrate how your project will meet objective 2: increased awareness and visibility of Healthy Start across food partnerships and the Londoners who use their services, including newly trained staff and volunteers who can signpost and support applications and better links between statutory and voluntary sector work on Healthy Start 

• You may find it useful to refer to your answer to Q2 in this response, and discuss how your existing partnership working approaches could be used or adapted to deliver a Healthy Start uptake campaign. 

• Think about organisations outside of your existing partnership that you could work with to maximise the impact of the campaign 

• You are not expected to have a full outline of how your partnership would use this training support or what the campaign would look like, and this is reflected in the word limit. 

It is not expected that applicants have a full outline of how their partnership would use this. However, building on your answers to Q1 & Q3, please provide your current understanding of the kinds of tailored mentoring support that your partnership and organisations within the partnership would value and the impact it would have 

350 words

• You can answer this question with reference to how you hope to meet any of the four programme objectives, and/or with reference to the challenge you foresee in delivering the project proposal detailed in your grant application 

• Building on your answers to Q1 & Q3, consider the challenges that your partnership faces in becoming more resilient and sustainable. 

• How might mentoring help your partnership address the most pressing 1-2 of these issues? What is the practical or specialist support you need? 

• You are not expected to have a detailed knowledge of which organisations in your partnership would be mentored or the exact issues, and the word limit reflects that 

The primary consideration in assessing applications is addressing food insecurity within communities, and the way in which you and partner organisations will work together to help address the drivers of food insecurity and secure the resilience and sustainability of your approach. 

Each of the questions above will be scored in accordance with the following criteria: 

In addition, the Food Roots 2 programme is keen to support a range of partnerships across London: 

• feedback from previous iterations of the Food Roots programme indicate that good engagement with statutory organisations, including local authorities, is important for partnerships to work effectively and sustainably. However, we do welcome applications from partnerships where this has been difficult for partnerships to achieve, or where relationships are still to be developed, and encourage applicants in this circumstance to explain the context and demonstrate willingness to (re)start these conversations. 

• the funding is looking to support existing partnerships to strengthen and potentially looking to grow, and new partnerships that may be a response to an existing or new ‘cold spot’ of support 

• we wish to achieve a wide geographic coverage with the Food Roots 2 programme. Given the disparities in existing food partnership working across London, we are keen to ensure that partnerships in both inner and outer London boroughs are funded 

• we are also open to bids from partnerships that cover more than one borough area, or are focused on a particular local area which crosses borough boundary lines 

• different partnerships are likely to vary in reach. We would expect existing partnerships to have more developed existing work and higher ambitions for the grant programme compared to new partnerships at this stage, and would anticipate that successful Level Two grantees will be existing partnerships although there may be exceptions 

Achieving the above will depend on the number and type of applications we receive.  

For more information about the grant programme or the application process, or to receive the grant prospectus and application documents by email, please get in touch via [email protected].

Alternatively, you can contact Emily Spoor [email protected] or Phillip Vaughan [email protected] directly.

We will compile and publish FAQs - so please check the website regularly.  

Applicants are advised to review the guidance and read Appendices 1 & 2 and the following before completing the application form: 

• Food Insecurity in London report (2023) – London Assembly Economy Committee 

• Healthy Start map: Estimated loss to families in 2023 (2023) – Sustain 

• Survey of Londoners 2021-22 headline findings report (2022) – GLA (especially chapter 2, Financial Hardship) 

• The Survey of Londoners 2021-22 found that 1.2m adults, and the children of one in seven parents, have low or very low food security.

• Since then, the sharp rise in inflation has meant that nearly 80 per cent of Londoners have seen an increase in their living costs. With inflation on the cost of food and soft drinks reaching 19% in March 2023 and food prices continuing to drive inflation, essentials are increasingly unaffordable for many Londoners.

• GLA polling from March 2023 shows that half of Londoners are now either financially struggling or just about managing; and 60 per cent of those on the lowest incomes are buying less food and other essentials to make ends meet.

• In London only 57 per cent of eligible households are claiming Healthy Start vouchers, compared to 64 per cent across the whole of England. Sustain estimates that, in April 2023, the value of unclaimed Healthy Start benefits in London totalled £9.3 millionReference:2.

Food security

The Survey of Londoners defines food security as having access at all times to enough food for an active, healthy life, while being food-insecure means that, at times, a person’s food intake was reduced and their eating patterns were disrupted because of a lack of money and other resources for obtaining foodReference:3

Food partnerships

‘Food partnerships,’ as referred to in this document, are typically local groups or networks of organisations that work separately and collectively to provide support to Londoners experiencing food insecurity. They typically involve voluntary and community sector (VCS) organisations, local authorities and/or other statutory services, and businesses. Many of them were formed at the height of the pandemic but some are older, and some have been developed more recently, in response to the cost of living crisis.

Cash first

‘Cash-first’ approaches are interventions or measures that focus on providing monetary support to service users (e.g., supermarket vouchers, cash payments, or help to increase income through new benefit claims) rather than emergency food parcels or other in-kind support. These approaches help to tackle the underlying causes of food insecurity; offer greater choice and dignity to those who benefit from them; and are often more sustainable to provide in the longer term.

Healthy Start

The Healthy Start scheme is open to pregnant people and those responsible for a child under four, who are also on a low income. The vouchers, worth between £4.25 and £8.50 a week, can be used anywhere that accepts debit cards to purchase fruit and vegetables, pulses, milk, and infant formula. The scheme also provides vitamins for babies and young children, and for adults during and after pregnancy. 

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