BAPEN welcomes the work of the Right to Food UK Commission, which is gathering evidence on food insecurity in the UK and its impact on health, nutrition and wellbeing. The Commission, launched in Parliament in November 2025, is exploring the scale and causes of food insecurity, its links to malnutrition, and the policy changes needed to ensure everyone can access adequate, nutritious food.
From BAPEN’s perspective, this work is highly relevant. Food insecurity and malnutrition are closely linked, particularly for people living with long term conditions, frailty, illness or social disadvantage. In both hospital and community settings, barriers to accessing or affording food can undermine nutritional intake, delay recovery, increase complications and contribute to avoidable health inequalities.
The Right to Food UK Commission provides an important opportunity to bring together evidence from across disciplines to inform these wider policy discussions.
The Commission is currently inviting submissions of written evidence from professionals and individuals with lived experience, covering issues such as food insecurity, access to support, public policy, and the health impacts of inadequate nutrition. We recognise the value of a multidisciplinary approach. Dietitians, nurses, doctors, allied health professionals, researchers, carers and people with lived experience all have insights into how food insecurity affects nutritional status across the life course.
By contributing evidence and professional perspectives, nutrition and healthcare professionals can help ensure that future policy reflects the realities seen in practice – particularly for individuals at greatest risk of malnutrition.
Further information about the Commission can be found here, and the evidence submission portal can be found here.
The deadline for submissions is 5pm on 30 May 2026.
