Inside the UK's First Cash-First Food Bank: Giving Money Instead of Meals
The cost of living crisis has forced millions across the UK to rely on food banks for emergency support. However, one innovative London organisation is challenging this model by providing cash instead of food parcels. As this pioneering scheme expands across Westminster, we visit the North Paddington Food Bank to explore its unique approach.
A Food Bank That Doesn't Look Like a Food Bank
Walking into The Exchange community centre in Paddington, visitors might mistake the space for a chic hotel lobby rather than a food bank. With its dusky-pink colour scheme, mid-century furniture, and comfortable seating areas where people chat over coffee or work on laptops, the atmosphere feels more like a creative hub than a crisis service. This is the home of the North Paddington Food Bank, which has operated as the UK's first cash-first food bank for three years.
"In 2021, we decided to stop giving out food and start giving people cash," explains Tom Delap, the organisation's chief executive. "We were the first food bank to make that transition." The initiative began with supermarket vouchers, allowing recipients to choose their own groceries, before evolving into direct cash payments starting in 2022.
How the Cash-First Model Works
The North Paddington Food Bank operates with a half-million-pound budget spread over three years, supporting approximately 150 households. Unlike traditional food banks that serve anyone in need, this cash-first approach requires careful assessment. Most recipients are referred through social services, housing associations, or the NHS, and all must undergo an affordability assessment.
"There are still a lot of myths around giving people cash," says Delap. "How can we give people cash? Can we trust them? Will they use it on essentials? But we don't just give cash to anyone. It's for those in crisis."
Recipients must be Westminster residents and provide proof of income. Those deemed eligible can receive cash within 24 hours, accompanied by an "income maximisation" plan addressing employment, mental health, welfare, or housing issues. "It's to find out what are the root causes driving people's poverty and why people are struggling with the cost of living, to try and fix it," Delap explains.
Transforming Lives Through Cash Support
Frances Ikemefuna, a 44-year-old university graduate, experienced this transformation firsthand. Previously working as an executive assistant earning £40,000 annually, her life changed dramatically following a marriage breakdown. Unsustainable childcare costs and deteriorating parental health forced her to leave her job to care for her three children and parents full-time.
"Everything was very confusing and I was so thrown into trying to manage day-to-day life that I didn't have the time or capacity to do research to find out about what help I could access," Ikemefuna recalls. A friend recommended the North Paddington Food Bank, where she discovered she qualified for £2,200 over six months, paid in weekly £90 instalments.
"That completely changed the trajectory of our life at the time," she says. "Not only did they help me with cash that I could use to resolve problems in the household but they looked at me as an individual, as a person." She used the money for school uniforms, bills, and food while receiving help accessing carer's allowance and disability support for her mother.
The combination of financial assistance and practical support enabled Ikemefuna to complete social media and entrepreneurship courses at the food bank. She now works part-time for the organisation as a content creator and advocate. "It's important for people to realise that anyone could find themselves in a similar situation," she emphasises.
Proven Results and National Expansion
A recent report from the North Paddington Food Bank reveals significant outcomes from their cash-first approach. After six months of cash aid, more than half of families no longer needed food bank support, with a 79% reduction in dependency on food aid. These results come against a backdrop of growing food bank usage nationally.
Back in 2010, only 35 food banks operated within the Trussell Trust network. Today, that number exceeds 1,400, with an additional 1,000 independent food banks. Last year alone, Trussell Trust food banks distributed 2.6 million emergency food parcels across the UK.
The Labour Party has pledged £1 billion to a Crisis and Resilience Fund to address what they call "mass dependence on emergency food parcels." The North Paddington Food Bank serves as a model for this initiative, now leading a Westminster scheme allocating £5.5 million over three years to support between 10,000 and 20,000 households annually with cash payments.
"It's time for food banks to start thinking about how they transition to a cash-first approach," argues Delap. "Something like the Crisis and Resilience Fund shouldn't be needed. But it is. So whilst we're in this position, it's about how to best deliver crisis response."
Beyond Crisis Support: Building Community Resilience
The Exchange community space represents the food bank's broader vision. Beyond cash distribution, the centre offers volunteer-run training courses, language classes, spoken word nights, film screenings, and weekly community dinners. Many volunteers are former cash aid recipients who no longer require financial support.
Kaz, a domestic abuse survivor in her fifties who came to London after her sons were murdered, exemplifies this transition. Cash assistance helped her pay service charge arrears temporarily, while the food bank's advice ensured she received entitled government benefits. Now financially independent, she helps cook community dinners and actively participates in the centre's activities.
"We've worked in other community spaces and food banks and they're just set for distribution," says Delap. "They're full of food crates, and they might distribute food once a week. Whereas we think there's a better way where those spaces can be spaces where people can thrive, learn, connect, and you can give people cash and support instead."
The organisation provides comprehensive support including mental health services available 365 days a year, emergency supplies like nappies and baby food, and follow-up appointments to discuss eligibility and ongoing needs.
A Holistic Approach to Poverty
Delap believes the current cost of living crisis stems from deeper issues: "It's hard to tell whether it's just a cost of living today, or whether it's 10 years of austerity and lack of investment, and then Covid obviously has had an impact. General benefits aren't enough. Bills are too high, which is why people need to access food banks."
His ultimate goal is a future where food banks become unnecessary. "This is what a cash-first food bank looks like, and then when we don't need to exist as a food bank, this will still be a really important community resource," he explains. "It's very much a holistic space that at the moment includes crisis and resilience because it's needed, but then when it's not needed, we can transition from being a crisis service into just a really lovely community space."
For Frances Ikemefuna, the impact extends beyond financial stability. "I wasn't sleeping well because I was constantly thinking how I was going to get us out of this situation," she recalls. "It had a huge impact on my mental health. Fortunately, I was able to hold on and keep going, but I felt in myself that my confidence kept getting knocked with each challenge."
"For people dealing with these kinds of crises, you're trying to preserve your mental health as well as keep going," she adds. "So this support does so much. It's the importance of getting the cash and the resilience that means that you can go back to the life that you're used to, as opposed to being dependent."
