UK Urban Food Forum 2026 events

We’re excited to launch the latest series of the UK Urban Food Forum (UK-UFF) – a knowledge exchange network for local authority officers working to transform urban food environments.

Following successful series in 2024, 2025 and 2026 we’re building momentum and expanding our collaborative efforts with new sessions for 2026/2027. You can find more information and sign up links below - please note these sessions are only open to people working in local authorities. 

 Session 1: School Food Contracting
 Date: Thursday 19th November 2026
 Time: 1:00 – 2:30 PM 
 Location: Online (link will be shared upon registration) 
 Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/uk-urban-food-forum-school-food-procurement-contracting-tickets-2002949802778?aff=oddtdtcreator 
     
About this session
With the updated School Food Standards now in place for 2027, this session will explore how local authorities can better use procurement contracting to create the conditions for school food standards to achieve their intended outcomes, as well as support local sustainability and health goals.
    
Speakers and attendees will share practical advice on school food procurement, contract management and tendering to discuss what is difficult, what has been learned, and how authorities can support one another to achieve change.

This session will explore:

• Practical implications of updated School Food Standards for local authorities and school catering contracts
• Contract management and tendering

Who should attend: 
Local authority procurement teams responsible for food and catering contracts, public health leads and officers working on nutrition, food environments and health inequalities. Please note this session is only open to people working in local authorities. 

2027 Session dates for your diary

Sessions next year will be held on the following dates:

Thursday 25th February 2026, 1:00 – 2:30 PM,
Thursday 13th May 2026, 1:00 – 2:30 PM,

Topics are TBD - we want sessions to be shaped by attendees and their needs, so do get in touch if there are topics you would find useful.
  

What is the UK Urban Food Forum?

The UK-UFF is a peer-to-peer learning network convened by The Food Foundation and funded initially by Birmingham City Council. It provides a space for local authority officers to share best practices, explore challenges, and develop solutions across urban food policy – from procurement to advertising, growing to governance.

Inspired by the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact, UK-UFF uniquely supports local authority officers navigating political, financial, and structural challenges in delivering healthy, sustainable, and equitable food systems.

What have we done so far?

In 2024, we piloted the Forum through three Knowledge Exchange (KX) sessions attended by 12 local authorities. Each session featured a mix of policy deep-dives, case studies, and facilitated discussions: 

• Session 1 (July 2024): Healthy and Sustainable Procurement – exploring how councils are reforming procurement to prioritise sustainability, SMEs, and healthy diets, including key legislative changes like the Procurement Act 2023.
• Session 2 (August 2024): Healthier Food Advertising – focusing on cross-departmental collaboration, real-world implementation of advertising restrictions, and public health outcomes from policies like those adopted in London.
• Session 3 (September 2024): Urban and Peri-Urban Growing – sharing practical approaches to unlocking council-owned land for community food growing, with insights from Bury and strategies around “Right to Grow” initiatives.

In 2025, we hosted a four part series tackling key issues and sharing practical tools that local authorities can apply immediately. 

• Session 1 (May 2025): Devolution and opportunities for strengthening local food resilience.
• Session 2 (June 2025): Public health collaboration on developing culturally diverse eating guidance that is adapted for the needs of different communities, health conditions and settings.
• Session 3 (June 2025): Roadmap to more sustainable and healthy school food procurement.
• Session 4 (July 2025): Public health policies to improve children's eating habits in schools and childcare settings.

Earlier in 2026 we held 3 sessions:

• Session 1 (April 2026): Crisis and Resilience Fund – Opportunities for Local Authorities to strengthen food resilience in their communities
• Session 2 (May 2026): Developing Local Food Plans – How to build a case for embedding food into local decision making
• Session 3 (June 2026): How can Government Buying Standards & School Food Standards work together to support local authorities in achieving better procurement outcomes? 

Who is it for?

The Forum is open to local authority officers and policy officials across departments – from public health and procurement to planning, regeneration, and environmental sustainability – who are working to deliver local food strategies or are keen to start.

Places will be limited to 30 to ensure a productive and participatory discussion – register early to secure your place.

Accessing Past Resources and Sharing Your Own 

Previous session recordings and slides are stored in our closed-access Google Folder. If you’d like to access them or upload documentation from your local authority to support others, you can: 

• Request access to the Google Folder
• Upload directly to your designated LA folder, or use this upload form 

Sharing resources helps us collectively accelerate food system change across UK cities and towns.

Stay Connected

• Mailing list: Sign up to the UK-UFF mailing list to receive the latest updates on Forum activities.
• Community comms: Join the UK-UFF Rise up group to communicate directly with other members. Email uk-uff-subscribe@lists.riseup.net to be added.
• Spread the word: Promote the Forum across your networks and share these invites with colleagues in your LA who may benefit from attending.