Food network bids for charitable status as council funding expires
West Lothian’s Food Network hopes to secure full charitable status four years after its launch on the cusp of the Covid pandemic.
While the hardships brought on by the lockdown have ebbed, demand for access to food is still high because of the cost-of-living crisis.
This week the SNP group questioned whether the council was doing enough to help the network provide food as it prepares for full charitable status.
The Food Network is a range of voluntary groups which provides cooked meals and fresh food through community fridge/pantry set-ups. It has been funded by council grants since 2020 and provided thousands of meals and food parcels across the county.
SNP group leader Councillor Janet Campbell said the extra funding provided by the council ends in March. She told a meeting of the Executive that the £150,000 provided to support the transition to become a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO) “doesn’t appear [it] will be used for securing and or to actually purchase and distribute food to those in need in West Lothian”.
And she asked: “It would appear the funding ends in March so where is the money for actually purchasing food going to come from?”
Nahid Hanif, the council’s Anti-Poverty Manager, told the meeting that the funding from the Shared Prosperity Fund had also been secured by the council, and money would be available for the purchase of food. Additional funding of around £50,000 has also been secured through another programme, the Whole Family Well-Being Fund.
She told the meeting: “The Network is providing a valuable service in reducing food waste and with the ongoing cost-of-living crisis it is supporting low income households to be able to access good quality nutritious food on an ongoing basis.”
In her report to the Executive, Ms Hanif said there was a total budget for the Food Network between April 2023 and March 2025 of £450,000.
Councillor Campbell suggested that the funding “does not seem like a huge amount of money to carry out the actual work required given that part of that money is to transfer to a SCIO”.
A decision on the network’s application for SCIO is expected within six months. Gaining charitable status will open the door to much wider funding potential.