What would it mean to truly realise the right to food in the UK?
For too many people, access to adequate, nutritious food is not something they can rely on. Food banks are multiplying cross the country, families are skipping meals, and many are forced to choose between putting food on the table or other essentials, like buying their children’s shoes. This is often treated as an unfortunate reality. It shouldn’t be.
At Just Fair, we believe access to food is not a luxury or a matter of charity. It is a human right.
That’s why we’ve submitted evidence to the Right to Food UK Commission, calling for the right to food to be fully incorporated into UK law. This is about moving from short-term responses to long-term, structural change.
Why a legal right matters
Human rights provide a clear, shared foundation for how society should work. They are based on dignity, fairness and the idea that each one of us should be able to live well. A legal right to food would apply to everyone in the UK, without discrimination.
Crucially, it would also change how decisions are made.
Right now, too much of the response to food insecurity is reactive. A legal right would shift the focus towards prevention and accountability. It would place clear duties on government and public bodies, and ensure people have routes to challenge decisions when their rights are not met.
Food insecurity does not exist in isolation. It is closely linked to income, housing, work, health and social security. Strengthening the right to food would have wider benefits, helping to improve people’s health, support children’s education, and reduce inequality.
What the right to food really means
The right to food is about more than simply having enough to eat.
International human rights law sets out four key elements: availability, accessibility, adequacy and sustainability.
This means food must be available in sufficient quantity, affordable and physically accessible, be suitable, nutritious and culturally appropriate, and produced in ways that respect both people and the environment.
Taken together, this paints a much fuller picture. The right to food is about the wellbeing of those who eat the food, the conditions of those who produce it, and the impact of our food systems on future generations.
Turning rights into reality
In our submission, we set out how a Right to Food Act could work in practice.
This includes placing clear duties on public bodies, starting with a requirement to consider the right to food in decision-making, and moving towards a stronger duty to comply over time. It also means embedding non-discrimination at the heart of the law, recognising that some groups are more likely to experience food insecurity.
But legislation alone is not enough. To make the right to food real, it must be built into everyday decision-making.
That means requiring human rights impact assessments, ensuring new laws are compatible with the right to food, and strengthening parliamentary scrutiny. It also means improving how progress is monitored, focusing on real outcomes in people’s lives, not just processes on paper.
Centring lived experience
A key message from our submission is that change must be shaped by those most affected.
People with lived experience of food insecurity, as well as those working across the food system, must be meaningfully involved in designing solutions. This participation must be genuine, properly resourced, and ongoing.
Without it, there is a risk that policies will miss the mark.
A moment for change
The Right to Food Commission represents an important opportunity.
By embedding the right to food in UK law, we can move beyond crisis responses and build a system that ensures everyone can access food with dignity and security.
This is about more than food. It is about the kind of society we want to be: one where everyone can rely on the foundations they need to live well.
Read the report
Read the summary
Read more about the right to food
Background image by Bárbara Fonseca
