A young homeless man from Bury has shared his food struggles with Labour MPs as he seeks to bring about change.

Kyson has been homeless since the age of 18 and on Monday he represented national organisations Co-op and Barnardo’s at the Labour conference in Liverpool.

He presented a report highlighting the difficulties young people face in finding and affording nutritious food outside of home or school.

Kyson has helped to co-produce the first major publication from Co-op and Barnardo’s, titled "A Recipe for Success: How Children and Young People Want to Access Food in Their Communities".

The report presents urgent recommendations for policymakers, local authorities, and retailers to ensure that young people get the food they need, when they need it.

More than 45,000 young people aged nine to25 were consulted for the report, which reveals that almost one in four secondary and college-aged students find it hard to access healthy food choices in their community, as cost of living challenges impact their traditional routes to food such as home or school.

Kyson said: "Listening to young people in the focus groups was heartbreaking.

"I've struggled with access to food since becoming homeless aged 18, but to hear people as young as 13 talking about it was eye-opening."

The report outlines six key recommendations for policymakers, local authorities, and retailers to help overcome these challenges – including establishing local food partnerships, expanding retail discount schemes to young people, and addressing holiday hunger when the Government’s HAF scheme ends in March 2025.

Kyson said: "When you’re young, you can feel very helpless.

"Young people don’t just worry about themselves, either – they worry about their friends, their families.

"I haven’t spoken to any young person who thinks that their future will be comfortable.

"Young people think they will have to sacrifice a lot in their lives, just to survive."

Kyson is a member of the Youth Advisory Group for an ambitious partnership between Co-op and Barnardo’s, which was established in 2023 after research found that just 62 per cent of young people feel positive about their future.

He attended the conference alongside representatives from Co-op and Barnardo’s, including CEOs Lynn Perry and Shirine Khoury-Haq.

Rebecca Birkbeck, director of community and membership participation at Co-op, said: "At Co-op, we believe that young people’s voices must be at the heart of shaping the solutions to the challenges they face.

"This is something our Co-op member-owners care about and co-operating to fix it is crucial.

"Together with Barnardo’s, we’re committed to raising £5m to support positive futures for 750,000 young people across the UK and securing access to food and learning how to cook it is a key issue which has come up again and again."

Although Kyson hopes that MPs will take the report’s recommendations for change seriously, he added that "everyone has a responsibility".

He said: "The government has a responsibility to support young people, but so do young people themselves

"We need to write to our MPs, put pressure on our representatives, and speak out on the issues that affect us.

"It’s up to us to get out there and make our voices heard."

To learn more about the partnership, visit coop.co.uk/SupportYoungPeople.