How a Small NGO, The Trussell Trust, Mobilized a Nation

Every year hundreds of thousands of UK citizens face going to bed hungry. The UK social welfare safety net fails to respond fast enough when citizens seek its help in a crisis. The Trussell Trust designed and implemented throughout the UK a voluntary run local system where a range of food items sufficient to provide three days’ nutritionally balanced meals is collected in advanced, stored at accessible locations and distributed through a voucher system operated by a wide range of local frontline workers whose jobs mean they encounter people when in crisis. Annually, over 1 million UK citizens in financial crisis get immediate access to three days’ food sufficient to provide full meals for them and family members via the Trussell Trust’s franchisees. They get advice and signposting to longer term solutions and support through a coordinated approach which the Trussell Trust drives. Over 4 million citizens support the cause every year. Serious social problems like crime, housing loss, family breakdown, physical and mental ill-health and children being taken into state care are prevented or mitigated as a result. The Trussell Trust’s system highlights public service failure and points at policy improvements that would improve the ability of the welfare system to achieve better outcomes.