Learning how to respond to Covid-19 induced food insecurity

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Even before the coronavirus struck in early 2020, food insecurity was rising steadily and attracting growing concern across the UK. The Covid-19 crisis has caused food insecurity to worsen significantly. It has disproportionately impacted young people under the age of 25, whose overrepresentation in precarious, poorly paid jobs in volatile labour market sectors and lower rates of social security protections have left them particularly exposed to the many economic penalties of Covid-19, including food insecurity.

Housing and Homelessness Programme’s intern Charlotte McPherson conducted interviews with young people living in Edinburgh and London about their experiences of food insecurity before and during the pandemic. This research makes recommendations to policy and practice that would mitigate against youth food insecurity at what is a critically challenging time for young people across the UK. We believe that learning from reports like these will help us create better policy and support.

You can read the full report here: Young people, food insecurity and Covid19

The summary report is here:  Young people, food insecurity and Covid 19 Summary pdf