A healthy income is key to ensuring no one in the country goes hungry - Niall Cooper

These people live all across the UK, but their lives have been improved by one common factor: they are all members of a Your Local Pantry in their own neighbourhood.

Pantries are community hubs that bring people together around food in ways that enhance every person’s dignity, choice and hope, and today, the biggest research yet into the impact of the Pantry network is published. The report is entitled So Much More, because it recognises and celebrates that Pantries are doing so much more than any of us ever imagined.

The report’s headline figures are that more than 35,000 people now benefit from Pantry membership. In the past two years, more than 2,000 people in 728 households in Yorkshire have benefited. Members pay a few pounds each week, and in return can choose ten items worth far more. Each visit typically saves members £21 a week on groceries, meaning regular members can save more than £1,000 a year. Last year, members collectively saved £4.75m.

But there’s so much more to it than that. Food and savings are integral to every Pantry, but they are only part of the story. In a survey of members, 83 per cent said membership had been good for their mental health, and 68 per cent said it had been good for their physical health. Two thirds of members are enjoying access to more fresh fruit and vegetables, and to new foods, and more than half are eating less processed food.

There has also been a remarkable impact on community and isolation, an issue this newspaper has shone a vital light on in recent years.

In fact, when we surveyed Pantries, we found that every single one was offering something beyond simply food, whether that’s the knowledge and ability to refer to other local services, or the provision of other activities on site, such as children’s cookery schools, autism support groups, housing advice or social interaction.

That’s the second reason why our report today is called So Much More: because it reminds us that communities can do - and be - so much more when they come together around a common cause.

The first Pantry opened ten years ago in Stockport, and growth has been rapid. Two years ago, I wrote in these pages about plans for the first Pantry in Yorkshire, and there are now three: in Pudsey, and Meanwood and Headingley in Leeds. All are doing fantastic work, although Yorkshire as a whole is under-represented in our network, and we are keen for new partners. We’d love to see Pantries across the region - from Bradford to Bridlington, Rotherham to Ryedale.

As we all strive for a brighter, more just future, Pantries are a massive step in the right direction, helping people and whole communities to pursue ambitious goals. But I’d be doing a disservice to all the people I mentioned earlier, if I didn’t acknowledge that they exist within a very difficult context. Indeed, the third reason why we called our report So Much More is to challenge the country.

When we spoke to Pantry members, managers and volunteers, many told of the acute damage caused by soaring living costs, and the chasm that has opened between costs and incomes. For the first time, we have heard of many Pantries having to regularly spend money topping up their stocks, as the FareShare distribution network struggles to meet growing needs. This should be a loud wake up call to all our politicians, or aspiring politicians.

None of us is comfortable with our neighbours going hungry. The huge public outpouring of kindness during the pandemic, and the support for Marcus Rashford’s campaign on free school meals reminded us of that. But the charity sector has warned for many years that the long term answer to household food insecurity is more cash, not just more food. We are delighted that Pantries are helping many, but we know millions more face being swept into poverty and hunger, unless the Government steps up to the plate too.

Everyone should have access to affordable good food. The way to safeguard that in the long-term is to ensure that everyone’s income - whether from benefits or wages (or a combination of both), enables people to afford the essentials. The country has ignored this truth for too long but it’s time for the Government - or anyone who wants to be in Government - to take it seriously.

Niall Cooper is chief executive of Church Action on Poverty, which coordinates the Your Local Pantry network.