Calls to expand free school meals after child food insecurity rate doubles

In January this year, 22 per cent of households with children had experienced food insecurity in the past month, new data from charity The Food Foundation has found, compared with last January’s rate of 12 per cent.

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Using this data, The Food Foundation estimated that 3.7 million children were unable to access nutritious food throughout January this year.

The charity reported “overwhelming” support for expanding free school meals, with eight out of 10 people in England now in favour of the government providing free school meals to children in households in receipt of Universal Credit.

Similarly, a public survey, carried out in October last year, found that 72 per cent of people supported the expansion of free school meals.

Current guidance means that a child is only eligible for free school meals if their household income is less than £7,400 per year, and receives Universal Credit payments.

The Food Foundation’s survey, which received 8,000 responses, also revealed strong support for free school meals expansion in constituencies represented by prominent Conservative MPs, including Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s constituency of Richmond in North Yorkshire, where 76 per cent of local voters were in favour of expanding the policy.

Similarly, there was an 82 per cent support rate in the Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt’s constituency of South West Surrey.

Anna Taylor, executive director of The Food Foundation, said: “These latest findings now show the public is overwhelmingly in favour of greater government support for the millions of families suffering the worst effects of the cost-of-living crisis.

"By extending free school meals to more children in England in the next budget, the government could deliver a policy change that is popular with voters, targeted and timely, and truly deliver on levelling up.”

The statistics were published after Mayor of London Sadiq Khan pledged to fund free school meals for all primary school children in the capital for the coming year from September 2023, with Khan saying he acted because the government failed to change the “restrictive” criteria of the national scheme.