Nourishing Communities vouchers

The Nourishing Communities fresh food voucher scheme provides individuals and families experiencing food insecurity with vouchers that can be redeemed for fresh, nutritious food at Darley Street Market and other participating locations. This cash-first approach promotes dignity, choice, and autonomy while supporting local food retailers.

Details of how to access the vouchers are currently being finalised, and will appear here as soon as they have been agreed: these details will be available by the end of October 2025.

About the vouchers

The Nourishing Communities vouchers are aimed at supporting households to access fresh, nutritious food. They can be used to purchase:

• Fresh fruit and vegetables.
• Fresh meat and fish.
• Dairy products.
• Selected other nutritious food options.

Vouchers cannot be used to purchase:

• Chocolate, sweets and crisps.
• Pre-prepared food or ready-meals.
• Drinks.
• Alcohol or tobacco.
• Non-food items.

Following a successful referral, vouchers will be issued in the value of £10 per week for an individual, plus £5 for each additional household member, to a maximum of £30 for five or more people in a household.

Household size	1	2	3	4	5+
Value of vouchers	£10	£15	£20	£25	£30

Vouchers are physical items, in denominations of £5. Note that change will not normally be given by retailers. They can be redeemed at a number of stalls on the middle floor of Darley Street Market, as well as one stall (currently) at Keighley Market. Additional retailers should be added in due course.

Vouchers can be collected weekly, either from the FoodSavers Wellnest in Darley Street Market (middle floor), or from Keighley Healthy Living.

• FoodSavers Wellnest, Darley Street Market (middle floor), BD1 3HH.
  Monday / Wednesday / Friday, 9-11am.
• Keighley Healthy Living, 13 Scott Street, Keighley, BD21 2JH.
  Times TBC

Alongside the vouchers will be monthly wellbeing support sessions. Attendance at these sessions is a condition of receiving the vouchers.

Initial referrals will be for up to three months. At the end of three months recipients will complete a short questionnaire, and based on that may be re-referred for a further three months. The scheme is designed as a temporary intervention, rather than a long-term ongoing one, and the maximum period of support will be six months.

Eligibility Criteria

To ensure that we reach those most in need, the following eligibility criteria apply to individuals or families being referred for voucher support:

Essential criteria:

• Live in Bradford Metropolitan District.
• Have not received food vouchers from this scheme in the past six months.
• At least one of:
  • Households or individuals experiencing food insecurity due to low income.
  • Families with children living in absolute or relative poverty (as defined by Public Health Outcome Framework indicators B01b)
  • Individuals with no recourse to public funds.

Prioritisation criteria (the more that apply, the higher the priority):

Priority focus on underserved communities experiencing inequalities, including:

• Asylum seekers or refugees.
• People who experience severe mental health issues where food insecurity is a real risk.
• Families with children under 16 years old.
• Residents of high-deprivation areas (based on the Index of Multiple Deprivation):

Bradford Moor	Bowling and Barkerend	City	Eccleshill	Great Horton
Keighley Central	Little Horton	Manningham	Toller	Tong

• Individuals requiring culturally appropriate food options to align with dietary preferences or restrictions.

Locations accepting vouchers

This list will be updated as new locations are added.

Darley Street Market

• Dale Farm Foods
• Priestley’s Fishmongers
• Roswitha’s Deli
• Tropikal food
• Solly’s Fruit & Vegetables
• Taplins Butchers
• Ikhlas Halal Meat
• The Middle Eastern Pantry
• Fruit World
• Spice World

Keighley Market

• Barnes of Keighley (Butchers)