Using systems mapping to understand and tackle food insecurity

The Government statistics on poverty in the UK make for grim reading. Levels of absolute poverty increased in 2023 for the second year running, and the proportion of people struggling to put food on the table rose from 7% to 11% in just one year. This data also shows that food insecurity is, at its core, an issue of poverty – almost a quarter of people on low incomes are unable to afford enough food after paying for housing costs.

In 2023, we worked with Sainsbury’s’ Sustainability team to gain a clearer understanding of the causes and effects of food insecurity in the UK. What we found echoes the statistics above – food insecurity is fundamentally a financial issue. However, there is a complex interplay of other social and environmental factors that influence the systems surrounding the ability to afford enough good quality food.

To help us better understand these dynamics, we turned to a tool called systems mapping. What did this technique tell us? That foodbank use is driven by a lack of money. That means solving food insecurity means tackling root causes, not just providing emergency food. The underlying factors included physical access to nutritional food, national supply and price, and limited understanding of the issue causing stigma.

What did we learn about food insecurity by mapping the system?

Our systems map shows a cycle of poverty at the centre of the many factors influencing people’s ability to eat well.

Contrary to some damaging narratives, our research shows that people are not going hungry because they don’t know how to budget or cook: the primary driver of foodbank use is lack of money. That’s why it’s not surprising that rates of use have continued to rise through the ongoing cost of living crisis.

People on lower incomes are also forced to pay a disproportionate amount to eat an adequately nutritious diet.  If you split people in the UK into five equal groups based on their income, people in the lowest income group have to spend 40% of their disposable income to eat in line with NHS guidance. That’s compared to just 7% for people in the top fifth.

Influencing factors surrounding this include high living costs coupled with inadequate social security support, low wages, and unemployment. We won’t see levels of food insecurity – or poverty – fall dramatically until these underlying systemic drivers are addressed.

Surrounding this is a complicated web of cause-and-effect relationships that make things worse for households across the UK. (Crucially, this includes many people who are not officially in poverty, i.e. who live above the poverty line). For example:

• Limited awareness and understanding of the causes and effects of food insecurity among politicians, the public, and individuals. This drives feelings of isolation, stigma, and shame which prevent people from seeking help. The lack of understanding of the root causes of food insecurity and the best ways to tackle it among policymakers also means policies are not well designed to address the underlying causes of food insecurity.
• The role of physical access to affordable, nutritionally adequate, and culturally appropriate food. Features of the built environment can significantly affect people’s food options. For example, 31% of fast food outlets are in the most-deprived areas in the UK (the bottom fifth by measures of deprivation). In these areas, local branches of supermarkets may be less likely to stock budget ranges.
• National factors relating to food supply and demand. This impacts the variety, quality, and volume of food available. It also affects the price of products. National factors are in turn affected by changes in the global landscape, such as climate change. Climate change poses a significant medium- to long-term risk to the UK’s food production.

How can we use this information to tackle food insecurity?

Food banks and other crisis support services are essential in providing immediate relief to those who can’t afford to eat. However, our research shows that we need to invest in interventions that provide wraparound support to individuals, such as benefits advice and mental health support.

The experts who participated in our research process agreed that to tackle the root causes of food insecurity, interventions need to go beyond simply providing emergency food.

We also need to rethink the underlying policies, practices, and assumptions that uphold the current system. This includes:

• improving public and political understanding about the causes of food insecurity to reduce stigma and misunderstanding about food insecurity
• reforming relevant policies to prevent people from falling into food insecurity in the first place (for example, uplifting Universal Credit payments).

Ultimately, tackling food insecurity requires many people and organisations across the system to deliver different interventions – including crisis support, wraparound support, and policy and advocacy work – to achieve change.

We hope this systems map can provide a useful starting point for organisations looking to collaborate on this issue and better understand their own role in creating change.