800,000 children in poverty are being denied a free school meal – the Government must fix this injustice immediately

[NicolaDMumsnet]

Zoe McIntyre, Project Manager at the Food Foundation, explains why extending free school meals to more children is urgently needed and what you can do to help.

We all know what happens when we feel hungry. Depleted energy levels, wavering concentration, our mood takes a turn. It’s certainly not a state we’d wished on anyone, least of all our nation’s children.

Yet child hunger in Britain is rising at an alarming rate. Soaring food inflation, compounded by steep energy price hikes, is gravely affecting families – most severely those on low incomes who face unprecedented financial pressure. The latest data tells us that one in four households with children have experienced food insecurity, affecting an estimated four million children in the UK. We know parents go to extraordinary lengths to shield their children from the impact of food insecurity, but sadly this isn’t always possible.

In these challenging times, more must be done to protect children from the ravages of hunger and poor diet. Our Free School Meal programme, which has been a cornerstone of state education since 1906, is a targeted and effective way to provide such a safety net. For many children, it can be their main source of hot, nutritious food – particularly when the cost of putting on the cooker at home is so unaffordable. But provision is currently falling short; in England there are a staggering 800,000 children living below the poverty line who don’t qualify for a free school meal.

This is because the threshold for qualifying for free school meals in England is far too low. While from reception to year two children benefit from a universal school meal offer, afterwards free school meal eligibility is means-tested and to qualify a family’s household earnings must be less than £7,400 per year (not including benefits and after taxes). There is great inequality across UK nations; in Wales and Scotland universal school meals are being rolled out across all primary schools while in Northern Ireland, eligibility is set at double the level of England (£14,000). To fix this shortcoming, the Government should urgently raise the eligibility threshold in England in line with Universal Credit, so no child in poverty misses out. This should be a first step towards a fairer school food system, where all children have equal access to a school meal, no matter their background.

There has been mounting pressure on the Government to increase eligibility from various groups and individuals. The National Food Strategy (an independent review commissioned by the Government) made Free School Meal eligibility extension a key recommendation in its report, which was ignored in the Government’s response. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Marcus Rashford campaigned for more free school meals and recently the Feed the Future campaign, fronted by a coalition of civil society organisations, has renewed calls for the Government to extend eligibility. Teachers, health professionals, school caterers, businesses, chef campaigners, politicians and parents and children themselves, have all backed the campaign.

So far, such calls have been ignored by the Government. This is despite compelling evidence of the many benefits of free school meals. There’s the obvious cost-saving for parents, who would save hundreds of pounds a year by not paying for a meal at school or a packed lunch. Research shows that school meals improve a child’s health and counter obesity, can improve behaviour, concentration in the classroom and contribute to better academic attainment. Recently, the accountancy firm PWC undertook the most ambitious analysis to date of the societal and economic benefits of expanding free school meal provision in England which showed that for every £1 invested there is a return of £1.38.

The lack of action from central Government has led to several local authorities in London using their own budgets to expand free school meals - in Islington, Newham, Tower Hamlets, Southwark and most recently Westminster. But not all councils can afford to do this, creating a postcode lottery of provision. Clearly, the current system undermines attempts to level up education for the most vulnerable children. Harrowing instances of children going hungry at school are recounted with increased frequency – in a recent survey, 80% of teachers said hunger was an issue and almost four out of five teachers saw children with insufficient amounts of food in their packed lunches.

It’s time to recognise school lunches as an integral part of the school day, crucial for children to thrive both now and in the future. To support the call for a better investment in school food, please write to your MP and tell them this is an issue they should care about. You can do this easily via the Feed the Future campaign website.

Twitter: @Food_Foundation Website: foodfoundation.org.uk/

A representative from the Food Foundation will be returning to the post on the 6th of March to answer any questions

Something really needs to change.
the government agrees that those on UC are struggling so they’ve introduced cost of living payments but don’t recognise that some children go hungry because their parents dare to work but earn more than pittance?

MPs get subsidised meals. Why can’t our children? If they refuse to raise the threshold our future generation will be the ones to suffer.

Why does a child in year 2 get a free school meal but then 6 weeks later “sorry kid not for you, you’re in year 3 now”

We have been calling on Government as a first step to increase eligibility to all those on universal credit, thereby prioritising children from low-income households. However, evidence on the impact on universal infant free school meals has been extremely positive - see page 13 of this evidence pack: foodfoundation.org.uk/sites/default/files/2022-11/FSM%20Evidence%20Pack_0.pdf

Findings from the Department for Education
Universal FSM pilot showed increased attainment. Importantly, attainment was most improved for pupils in less affluent families.

We don't means-test for other areas of the school day, so why would we for meal times? We need to reframe how we think about school food as an essential part of education. A universal offer also reduces stigma.

We have been calling on Government as a first step to increase eligibility to all those on universal credit, thereby prioritising children from low-income households.

However, evidence on the impact on universal infant free school meals has been extremely positive - see page 13 of this evidence pack: foodfoundation.org.uk/sites/default/files/2022-11/FSM%20Evidence%20Pack_0.pdf

Findings from the Department for Education Universal FSM pilot showed increased attainment. Importantly, attainment was most improved for pupils in less affluent families.

We don't means-test for other areas of the school day, so why would we for meal times? We need to reframe how we think about school food as an essential part of education. A universal offer also reduces stigma.

What are parents prioritising above feeding their kids?

The FSMs in primary schools are the same as the paid ones. However, I agree that the portions are small because 10 year olds are given the same portion as the 5 year olds. Adequate amount of food for a child in Infants, but not Juniors. The food isn’t nutritious.

I agree with this. During lockdown my child got the free school meal which was a packed lunch and he lost so much weight as he barely ate it. Didn't fare that well with a cooked meal either. I ended up giving him a packed lunch in year two and for half of year one, so didnt really benefit much from the FSM. It's sad that this might be the only option for some kids.

I find that generally we provide terrible food in all services. I've worked in a MH unit and the food was worse than a general hospital and tiny portions because we had to give the patients 'healthy postion sizes' apparently. This was people who had been put on meds that made them starving. They just ended up buying unhealthy snacks instead as that was what was availble to them, so doesn't have the desired effect! Dementia home was similar too. We are happy to pay ridiculous money to procure materials for the job, yet are feeding people using these services utter crap, which in turn leads to poor health outcomes and costs us more money. We are a short sighted nation.

That’s so sad. Vulnerable people are an easy target for the government cutbacks.

We've had them in Scotland all school year, previously was just to P3 but now all P kid get them, to be rolled out across a academy too

Hello everyone, thanks for your questions so far - I'm looking forward to answering them today.

Zoe McIntyre - from The Food Foundation.

@Danikm151 yes, we agree that it isn't clear why it's only up to year two that universal free school meals are in place, and then means-testing kicks in. Scotland and Wales have recognised this, and are rolling out universal entitlement to all primary school children. As now has the Mayor of London in England.

Although we welcome this progress, this is creating a postcode lottery across not just the UK but England itself - and that's why we are calling for this issue to be addressed by national government nationwide - see endchildfoodpoverty.org/feedthefuture

@CrazyLadie yes brilliant this is happening in Scotland who led the way in this policy change. Wales also in the process of rolling this out in primary school too. :)

@BigMandysBookClub and @WGACA - I'm really sorry to hear that you've had bad experiences of school food.

It's right that children should, every school day, have access to freshly prepared, nutritious hot meals to help them grow up healthy.

There are quite robust school food standards in place that are mandatory for school caterers to follow in order to ensure consistency in school food. However, currently, there is no monitoring or accountability and so the Government has no firm grasp on whether the standards its met have been met.

This means that, while many schools and caterers are doing a brilliant job in delivering nourishing school food, this isn't the case everywhere, and more needs to be done to improve the quality of school food. Particularly in the context of cost of living, when food prices are putting pressure on catering teams, but children need even more support to ensure they are eating well.

We've been pushing for this to change and we have made some progress - the Food Standards Agency (FSA) and Department for Education are working with 18 local authorities on a school food standards compliance pilot which - if successful, should be rolled out nationally.

Standards

@MadamArcati99 the sad reality is that many parents do all that they can to protect their children from hunger and food shortages. We know from our data collection that parents themselves will skip meals, even go without eating for a full day in order to make sure there is something for their children to eat.

Often, our food bill one of the few costs that is reducible compared to other fixed costs - there's a set cost for energy bills, paying council taxes, rent etc. So often food is the thing that gets squeezed. And now, with surging food prices - it makes it much more expensive to buy nutritious food. Even before the cost of living hit, more healthy foods were nearly three times as expensive per calorie as less healthy foods. This means for struggling families, many are forced to rely on cheaper, less nutritious foods but are calorie dense.

With nearly 4 million children living in households in the UK experiencing food insecurity, it's clear that this is a systemic issue, and we need to move away from blaming the individual and look to how we can tackle the root cause, and make our food system more equitable.

@noblegiraffe thanks for your support! Please do sign our MP petition to support the cause and share it with your networks: endchildfoodpoverty.org/feedthefuture

@Danikm151 please do help us put pressure on Gov to do something about this. You can send a letter to your MP in 2 seconds endchildfoodpoverty.org/feedthefuture - please share on your social networks and with friends. The more MPs hear this is an issue, the more likely they are to act.