Food poverty in Torbay takes many forms:  it can affect children who would normally receive free school meals having little food during the school holidays, families in and out of work who struggle to make ends meet and are forced to buy less healthy food or isolated older people who are unable to prepare healthy meals without support.  Food poverty can be triggered by a crisis in finance or personal circumstance but may also be a long-term grinding experience of not being able to afford to eat well. The willingness to combat food poverty is one aspect of social justice - a wider movement to combat low wages, poor housing, uncertain incomes, mental health challenges and social isolation. Our society creates loneliness and a lack of well-being as people often have insufficient resource and confidence to live well.

There was was previous activity within Torbay to combat food poverty, through schemes such as Fun, Family and Fit (a partnership of local schools, Torbay Council and the voluntary sector providing holiday term meals and activities to a limited number of families identified as being food poverty), but as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic further momentum has been added to address the situation. This momentum comes in the form of the Torbay Food Alliance (including a Hub for shielded residents) where a much wider partnership of the Council, CCG and voluntary sector have been providing many hundreds of meals, both delivery and collection, for Torbay residents both shielded or in food poverty.

The aim is to continue the good work of this partnership to make further inroads against food poverty/insecurity, bolstered by the national momentum provided by Marcus Rashford and forthcoming Government guidance and support