If we close schools to prevent coronavirus, thousands of children will go hungry

For too many, schools provide their one hot meal of the day, writes James Moore

1.3m children in the UK are eligible for free school meals (Peter Cade)

We need to talk about food poverty.

One of the “social distancing” measures being discussed as part of the UK’s coronavirus response is closing schools.

According to UNESCO, some twenty-two countries have implemented nationwide closure plans, impacting almost 372.3m children and young people; today, Ireland joined them. There have been localised closures in a further 17 countries, of which the UK is one.

Pressure is inevitably going to grow for ministers to implement more drastic measures, and to move from the second group to the first. The BBC’s Newsnight recently saw a visibly angry Professor John Ashton attack the government for not putting in place social distancing measures such as those that have been used in South Korea and China.

The editor of the Lancet, a medical journal, has also weighed in, tweeting: “As one UK expert epidemiologist put it to me last night, their decision is very disappointing—the UK should have moved to more aggressive social distancing measures immediately.”

But there will be a social cost from doing that, and it needs to be considered too.

One obvious issue school closures present is childcare. This is obviously a big problem for children with working parents, particularly those who can’twork from home.

Another issue is that some pupils rely on schools for food. For thousands of children, schools provide their only hot meal of the day.

Hunger is also a disease, and one with which too many of British children are familiar. The Trussell Trust says there was a 23 per cent increase in food parcels given out by its food banks (which comprise some two-thirds of those in the UK) in April-September 2019, compared to the same period the previous year. Over a third of these (301,653) went to children.

If schools are closed, food banks must stay open. But that may not be possible in all cases, for a variety of reasons, including, yep, social distancing.

They’re run by volunteers. I’ve met some of them. They are committed and dedicated. Still, you can see the invidious position they might find themselves put in, although some have the capacity make deliveries which would help.

There is also the fear that the pandemic may hit donations.

Emma Revie, chief executive of the Trust, is concerned, and with good reason.

“It is possible that food banks will face increased demand as people lose income, at the same time as food donations drop or staff and volunteers are unavailable, due to measures rightly put in place to slow the spread of infection. All of this comes when food banks are already dealing with a record level of need for emergency food,” she says.

Food poverty is a problem that some Tories don’t really like to admit exists, particularly as much of it is a consequence of the austerity policies the party pursued for ten years. But it does exist.

Chancellor Rishi Sunak did some sensible things with his coronavirus Budget package, such as making it easier for people to access Universal Credit and statutory sick pay (even though the payments are fairly miserable).

Yet Reeves thinks the government should go further to ensure people have enough money to cope with the developing health crisis. Ending the five-week wait for the first Universal Credit payment would be one such measure that she says could help significantly. And she’s right.

Covid-19 is going to have a social impact as well as an economic and medical one. The government needs to ensure it has in place measures to alleviate all three.