Volunteer food waste surplus food

COVID-19 Emergency Surplus Food Grant: phase 3

*** For medium-to-large-scale operations ***

Closing date for applications: Friday 25 September 2020 at 13:00

The aim of this emergency grant support package is to provide vital financial support to not-for-profit (NFP) organisations who can redistribute surplus food from food businesses (retailers, wholesalers, food manufacturers) to people in need or those considered vulnerable.

Defra and WRAP appreciate the challenges that continue to be faced by UK food businesses and redistribution organisations due to the COVID-19  pandemic. We are aware that the need to get more surplus food to vulnerable people is urgent, and there are immediate opportunities to help facilitate this process.

Aim of the grant

The primary focus of the grant is to overcome barriers to the use of surplus food by supporting key redistribution activities, such as:

  1. Access to and distribution of surplus food through logistical collections;
  2. Storage, sorting, labelling and repackaging of food; and
  3. Onward distribution activities to charities or end beneficiaries.  

How much funding is available?  

Under this second tranche of funding, applicants may apply for a grant of up to £50,000, which comprises of two advanced payments of up to £25,000. We understand there is an urgent need for financial support, so the aim of this fund is to provide a quick and simple process that will enable WRAP to evaluate and analyse the genuine needs across the redistribution networks. Where all application requirements have been satisfactorily met, we can release the advanced payment grants to those eligible applicants as soon as possible.  

Who can apply?

To be eligible to apply, the following criteria will need to be met:

  • You are an existing NFP surplus food redistributor currently operating within England. 
  • You have a genuine need for public funding support to assist you in overcoming any additional challenges as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • You are not paying for the food, or selling it to onward end beneficiaries.
  • Food is being sourced from food businesses, not existing food redistributors. 
  • You are not already in receipt of funding for your proposed  activity (duplicate funding). 

To find out more and apply

We are asking all applicants to complete a short questionnaire as the first stage in the application process. This should only take a few minutes to complete. Upon completion of the questionnaire, the WRAP grants team will contact you about progressing you to the next stage.

If you have any questions please contact the grants team by email.

*Important: Funding will be awarded on a first come first served basis. WRAP reserves the right to close the scheme early should the funding allocation be fully awarded before the date shown. We will notify all registered applicants of any changes in advance by email. 

Grant recipients

The following recipients have been awarded grants under the Large Emergency Surplus Food Grant Scheme – which was set up to support not for profit surplus food redistributors in overcoming some of the challenges and barriers that impacted their operations as result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The support ensures surplus food is not wasted or sent to landfill, and reaches those that need in more in our communities.

COVID Emergency Food large grant recipients