Campaigning for a new fiscal incentive towards healthier food and drink

Key partnership information 

• Partners: Sustain, Obesity Health Alliance and The Food Foundation 
• Funding amount: £558,900 
• Duration: March 2022 – September 2024 
• Programme: Children’s health and food

What we’re doing together

We have joined forces with Sustain, Obesity Health Alliance and The Food Foundation to build political and public support for a new fiscal measure – a financial charge collected by the Government – on the food industry, with the aim of making healthy, affordable food more available for everyone.  

Over the course of the partnership, we will bring together the existing and emerging evidence demonstrating the impact of previous measures, for example the Soft Drinks Industry Levy (SDIL). We will commission research to explore the potential impact of a fiscal measure on the cost of living for families. 

The evidence will inform the creation of a campaign to make the case for incentivising manufacturers to improve their recipes and disincentivising the manufacture, marketing, sale and consumption of food and drink high in fat, salt and/or sugar (HFSS). 

Any new measure should be progressive and make healthier diets accessible to all families, including those currently worst affected by dietary inequalities. We will also recommend that the revenue from any levy is used to support low income families to access healthier food and invested to tackle food inequalities and ultimately improve children’s health. 

Aims of the partnership

Over the next two and half years, we aim to: 

• Build further evidence and research insight to inform further fiscal interventions for healthier food and drink 
• Advocate for Government commitment to exploring future fiscal measures as part of strategies to tackle obesity and dietary inequalities. 
• Work with parliamentary and political bodies to include fiscal business incentives in their policies on obesity and health disparities.  
• Establish a clear platform of public support for healthier food fiscal interventions. 

Connection to our strategy

All children should be able to access healthy food, no matter where they live. We know that families want affordable, tasty, convenient and healthier food, but the current market is dominated by cheap unhealthy options.  

We have an opportunity to change food environments for our children and build on the impact of measures like the SDIL. Since its introduction in 2018, this levy has reduced overall sugar in soft drinks by 44%, and household intake of sugar in soft drinks by an average of 10%, with higher reduction amongst more people from disadvantaged communities and households.

More about Sustain

Sustain is an alliance of over 100 non-profit organisations together with local networks and communities working together for a better system of food, farming and fishing. Together, we advocate food and agriculture policies and practices that enhance the health and welfare of people and animals, improve the working and living environment, enrich society and culture, and promote equity.