The risks of digitalisation: Implications for access to food in England

Since 2010, and accelerated by the COVID pandemic, successive governments have pursued a digital strategy across welfare, food assistance, and local government services. In addition, supermarket vouchers and apps are increasingly common as part of food assistance schemes. While aiming to bring benefits and efficiencies, digitalisation also risks excluding some of the most vulnerable populations and exacerbating food insecurity and intensifying pressure on food charities and community spaces across the UK. The post-2010 period has also been associated with an increase in food insecurity.
 

As the Government progresses a food strategy that seeks to ensure access for all to safe, affordable and healthy foods and to end mass dependency on emergency food parcels, this research is timely and critical for informing inclusive policy design. In partnership with The Food Foundation, this event shares findings of an ESRC-funded research project on the effects of digitalising food assistance on marginalised populations and on political and economic processes. It will explore the opportunities for ensuring future food policies are inclusive and fair that put people, especially the most marginalised, at their heart.

To Attend

Please follow the link at the top of this page to register. If you wish to attend online the link will be shared following registration.

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Image credit: Iris Lim.