Food prices are going up, and we know who will feel it most. One in ten UK households is already food insecure. Among households with children the figure is closer to one in seven. These are families with no room to absorb a predicted 9% rise in food prices – households that have long lived with the consequences of a food system designed around cheapness and ‘convenience’.

The impact is showing up this week in the health data. New analysis from the Health Foundation finds that healthy life expectancy in Britain has fallen by more than two years over the past decade, placing the UK among only five wealthy nations to record any decline, with the second steepest fall among them. There is now a 20-year gap between the most and least deprived areas of England: a woman in Hartlepool can expect around 51 years of good health, a woman in Richmond-upon-Thames can expect 70.

At FFCC, we work with citizens across the UK and know that when people see this evidence, they reach broadly the same conclusions, across all ages, backgrounds and political leanings. They believe those most in need money, not food parcels, and that every child deserves good food. They want support to reach the people that need it. For most citizens, such policies are uncontroversial.

When rising food prices bite, people will want to know that government has been preparing for this. They have - and this deserves acknowledgement.

• The new Crisis and Resilience Fund (replacing the Household Support Fund this April) gives local authorities the means to deliver cash-first support, putting money in people’s hands so they can meet their own needs

• Free school meals in England will be extended to all children in households receiving Universal Credit from September. Both Wales and Scotland offer free school meals to primary school children, regardless of income, a move citizens see as the right investment

• Healthy Start has been uprated from this month, increasing payments for fruit, vegetables, milk and vitamins to low-income pregnant women and young families, though the value of payments will still remain below inflation and the scheme reaches only two thirds of eligible families

• Five councils are piloting local food procurement, testing how the sector’s £5 billion annual budget can support local producers, sustainable farming and better food

These kinds of policies reflect well on a government that wants to protect the most vulnerable, invest in different ways of doing things, and target support where it is most needed. Tackling food insecurity now will cost a fraction of treating the chronic disease, mental health impact and lost productivity that would otherwise follow.

Our work in The Food Conversation showed that citizens overwhelmingly want the most vulnerable protected — and this is the floor, not the ceiling. When shown the evidence and asked to weigh trade-offs, the public will back measures that politicians often assume are too difficult. Proposals from their Citizen Manifesto, launched with (then) Ministers Zeichner and McCarthy in Parliament last year, set the tone.

1. Use fiscal levers to put good food within everyone’s reach. Citizens support a “polluter pays” principle, taxing the businesses that profit from harm, provided the link between what is raised and what it funds is visible and direct. Revenues should be ring-fenced to cap the cost of healthy foods, so price is no longer a barrier, and invested into food affordability measures such as Healthy Start and expanding free school meals.

2. Rebalance power and influence in the food system. Citizens recognise that ‘individual choice’ is shaped by what corporations produce, market and sell, and by their influence over policymaking. Government must put statutory limits on corporate influence over food and health policymaking, mandate front of pack labels with clear, honest standards across all food products, and shift all marketing – especially to children – toward fresh, nutritious and sustainably produced food.

3. Focus on supply chain fairness. The Groceries Code Adjudicator’s move to Defra is the moment to give the role real teeth. A statutory fair-dealing framework covering retailers, intermediaries and farmers, backed by proactive enforcement and full supply-chain transparency, would prevent a handful of corporations from dominating pricing, and ensure farmers and growers receive contracts that reflect the true cost of producing good food.

Voters reward governments that deliver on what they value, and as cost of living tightens its grip on household finances, the window to demonstrate real and tangible impact is narrowing – a disconnect that some will be all too ready to exploit. While the measures being taken show the direction of travel is right, the task now is to accelerate the pace to match the urgency of the moment.