Food Charities Unite to Treble Surplus Redistribution

Britain’s leading food redistribution organisations have agreed a new shared framework designed to treble the amount of surplus food reaching communities over the next decade.

The initiative brings together charities and social enterprises including the newly merged FareShare and The Felix Project, City Harvest, The Bread and Butter Thing, Community Shop, Feeding Britain, His Church, Neighbourly, Trussell and the Xcess Network.

According to Fresh Produce Journal, the organisations have signed a redistribution covenant setting out how the sector will collaborate to rescue more edible food and direct it towards communities across the UK.

The covenant contains 18 principles covering areas including governance, programme management, food sourcing, logistics and allocation. The shared approach is intended to improve co-ordination between redistribution organisations while helping the sector work more effectively with food businesses, government, philanthropists and community groups.

The agreement supports the National Programme to Redistribute Surplus Food, which was announced by Prime Minister Keir Starmer following the King’s Speech in May.

Developed over several months by sector leaders and co-authored by IGD, FareShare and The Felix Project, the national programme aims to triple the volume of surplus food made available for redistribution.

The initiative was developed with the leadership and convening support of Number 10 and was inspired by His Majesty the King’s Coronation Food Project.

Announcing the programme in Parliament, Starmer said: “Faced with challenges, we don’t retreat from our Labour values. Strength through fairness. So, we will keep supporting those who need it the most, including by creating a new national programme to redistribute surplus food.”

The organisations behind the programme have stressed that food redistribution is not a replacement for the structural reforms required to address the underlying causes of poverty.

However, they believe rescuing and redistributing more edible surplus can reduce waste, strengthen communities and allow voluntary organisations to provide wider support to people experiencing financial hardship.

As well as supplying food, many community organisations provide services including financial and housing advice, social activities and support for young people and families.

The agreement comes amid continued pressure on household budgets and growing demand for support from charities and community organisations.

It also follows government investment aimed at recovering more surplus produce directly from farms. In June 2025, grants totalling £13.6 million were offered to 12 charities through the Tackling Food Surplus at the Farm Gate scheme. The funding was expected to help redistribute more than 19,000 tonnes of food that might otherwise have been wasted. Government figures indicate that an estimated 330,000 tonnes of food potentially suitable for redistribution is lost from UK farms each year.

The new covenant represents the sector’s latest step towards turning the national ambition into a co-ordinated, long-term programme capable of getting substantially more good food to the people and communities that need it.