We Organise.
We Fight.
We Win.

The two-child benefit cap was abolished in the Autumn 2025 Budget. Food & Solidarity's No More Growing Up Poor campaign, launched at a members' meeting in Autumn 2024, contributed directly. Members built a photo petition signed by 60% of 300+ members, staged creative direct actions including a Fun Run outside Kim McGuinness's office, coordinated with Edinburgh Coalition Against Poverty, and worked with Green and Independent councillors to pass a motion at Newcastle City Council demanding the cap's abolition. The council wrote to Rachel Reeves ahead of the Budget. The cap, which took £3,250 yearly from families for every child after the second, is gone.

In February 2023, all major energy firms were ordered to suspend the force-fitting of prepayment metersa victory Food & Solidarity celebrated alongside Don't Pay UK after months of community organising, PPM workshops, and bailiff resistance training across Newcastle. The PPM premium (which charged vulnerable customers more for being on a prepayment meter) was also abolished. Earlier, Food & Solidarity helped a member get an illegally fitted meter removed after British Gas broke into his home while he was at work, and secured hundreds of pounds in compensation despite the fact the debt belonged to a previous tenant and he was on the vulnerable customers register.

In late 2023, the UK government cut the move-on period for refugees from 28 to just 7 days after their asylum claims were granted, pushing newly-recognised refugees into homelessness. Food & Solidarity organised protests outside Mears' offices in Darlington and campaigned alongside allied organisations. The Home Office reversed this policy, restoring the 28-day move-on period.

No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) is an immigration condition that prevents many migrants, including families with children, from accessing most state support, leaving some to survive on as little as £6.43 per day. Many Food & Solidarity members in Elswick, Benwell, and Arthur's Hill are directly affected. The No More Growing Up Poor campaign made NRPF central to its demands because it was missing from most national child poverty conversations. Newcastle City Council now formally supports NRPF's abolition, though it remains in place nationally.

The Homes for Us Alliance is a national housing justice coalition facilitated by the New Economics Foundation, including organisations such as Acorn, Generation Rent, London Renters Union, Greater Manchester Tenants Union, and Disability Rights UK. Food & Solidarity joined in February 2025, electing two representatives, one to the national steering group. The Alliance's five demands are: 3 million new social homes, public buy-back of substandard private rentals, an end to the sell-off of affordable homes, regulation of rents and service charges, and fair taxation of landlords. In June 2025, the Alliance disrupted the Manchester Housing Leadership Symposium, securing a meeting with Mayor Andy Burnham to discuss rent control devolution.

Food & Solidarity is a democratic, membership-based organisationnot a charity. Members pay a sliding-scale fee (£3–£70/month) and vote on campaigns. Alongside delivering 50+ food parcels a week, members fight evictions, challenge housing disrepair, campaign for policy change, and build collective power. The organisation models its approach on the tradition of "survival programs pending systemic change"meeting immediate needs while organising to make those needs unnecessary. Solidarity, not charity.

You can join Food & Solidarity here. Membership is on a sliding scale: £3/month for those without regular work, £4/month for part-time workers, and £10+ for those with stable income. Members receive food parcels if needed, take part in campaigns, support neighbours facing eviction and disrepair, and help plan direct actions. Membership is open to people anywhere, not just in Newcastle. You can also volunteer at food distributions or call 07393 101018 if you need support.