Children face a hunger crisis – the government needs to act by providing more free school meals

Feed the Future: The Independent partners with the Food Foundation to call on the government to give meals to all schoolchildren living in poverty but who are not currently eligible

The prime minister must extend free school meals to all children in poverty and end the hunger crisis that is damaging their life chances, The Independent demands today.

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We have partnered with a coalition of campaigning organisations coordinated by the Food Foundation, the charity that combined with footballer Marcus Rashford to successfully force the government to feed hungry pupils in school holidays during the pandemic.

Our joint campaign, Feed the Future, calls on Liz Truss to extend free school meals to the 800,000 children in England who live in households on universal credit – but are ineligible because their household income, excluding benefits, is over £7,400 a year. This risibly low threshold applies irrespective of the number of children in the family and is causing real hardship among families struggling with the cost of living crisis.

We have previously reported how this was leading to increasingly desperate behaviour from some children and mothers who have been stealing to stave off hunger.

Today we can exclusively reveal that:

• A new study by accounting firm PwC shows that the cost of extending free school meals to all school children in poverty is far outweighed by the benefits, with PwC reporting a net benefit of £2.4bn over 20 years

• 72 per cent of the public in England back the expansion of free school meals to all children on universal credit, according to a poll by You Gov.

The PwC analysis, commissioned by Impact on Urban Health, shows that the cost of providing free school lunches for all children in poverty in England would be an additional £477m in the first year and would then decline to £210m over 20 years. But this total cost of £6.4bn over two decades would lead to benefits of £8.9bn – resulting in a net benefit of £2.4bn. PwC has aggregated the positive impacts that flow from educational attainment, mental and physical health effects and productivity improvements and reported that for every £1 invested by the government, £1.38 would be returned.

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Kieron Boyle, CEO of Impact on Urban Health, said: “This analysis more than provides the evidence required for a transformational policy shift in school food.”

Anna Taylor, executive director of the Food Foundation, said: “The government can deliver on its levelling up promise by committing long-term to free school meals for all schoolchildren, but for this winter the focus should be on safeguarding low-income children facing extreme cost of living pressures by ensuring they receive a hot, nutritious meal at lunch. The government should immediately prioritise the introduction of free school meals for the 800,000 children living in poverty who don’t currently qualify.”

Other organisations signed up to the Feed the Future campaign include School Food Matters, Chefs in Schools, Bite Back 2030, Sustain, Child Poverty Action Group, Impact on Urban Health, National Education Union and Jamie Oliver Ltd.

The 800,000 children who miss out on free school meals amounts to 30 per cent of all school-aged children living in poverty. Currently, 1.9 million children in England are entitled to free school meals (costing the government £2.47 per meal), including all pupils from reception to year 2, but beyond that the restrictive threshold applies.

England lags behind the rest of the United Kingdom. Wales and Scotland have announced plans to give universal free school lunches to all primary school children, while Northern Ireland has almost doubled the income threshold after which families are no longer eligible – to £14,000. London’s children face a postcode lottery with four boroughs, Islington, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Southwark, offering universal free school meals to all primary school children, but key stage two pupils in the other 28 boroughs are exposed.

Marc Thompson, associate headteacher at Mandeville Primary School, London, with students during lunch break (Daniel Hambury/Stella Pictures Ltd)

Headteachers have told us of their heartbreak and alarm over this vulnerable group of pupils for whom the cost of living has meant a depleted lunch box, or no lunch box at all. Here three headteachers from across the country talk about what they see in their schools and why they are backing our call to extend free school meals to all children in poverty.

‘Free school meals should be a human right, not a benefit’

Louise Nichols, executive headteacher of a federation of primary schools in Hackney, east London

Mandeville Primary and Kingsmead Primary, Hackney

Pupils: 370 and 240

Free school meals: 62 per cent / 58 per cent

Pupils in poverty but not on free school meals: 38 per cent / 42 per cent

“We have two schools within a few miles of each other, both with a similar poverty profile, but in the one, Mandeville Primary, we provide universal free school meals, while in the other, Kingsmead Primary, we do not. This is because Mandeville sits on the border with Islington, one of four London boroughs that offers universal free school meals to all primary school children, and we need to make a similar offer to them in order to compete for students. It costs us £15,000 a year to provide free school meals for the other 38 per cent at Mandeville, and this is overseen by our associate head Marc Thompson, but at Kingsmead, with the financial pressures we’re under, we can’t afford it.

"So I have to acknowledge that things are deeply unfair because if you’re a Mandeville child, you are decently fed, but if you’re a Kingsmead child, some of you are going hungry and your education is suffering. These are children whose parents mostly work hard in low-income jobs, such as hospital porters, cleaners, kitchen staff and security guards - a lot of them on zero hours contracts. Many of these children start the day without a proper breakfast and then it’s a long stretch to lunch and if they don’t have lunch or have just a meagre lunch, they absolutely cannot cope.

"Your campaign to extend free school meals to all children in poverty is desperately needed. In this country, we give free education to all children and yet they somehow think food is different. Free school meals should be seen as a human right, not a benefit.”

‘We have children breaking down and crying because of hunger’

Nicholas Capstick, headteacher

Drove Primary School, Swindon

Pupils: 800

Free school meals: 29 per cent

Pupils in poverty but not on free school meals: 54 per cent

“Just over half our pupils do not get free school meals but would be defined as living in poverty. Many arrive at school hungry and as the day progresses, become distracted and unable to concentrate because they think only of food. These children typically bring in a lunch box, but what’s inside is wholly inadequate. We see packed lunches with stale potato chips from the night before covered in congealed ketchup or leftover cold pasta. We’ve got children who turn their face to the wall at lunchtime to hide their mouths because they are so ashamed and don’t want their peers to see what’s in their packed lunch.

"We run a tuckshop at break twice a week and some children come and empty their coppers on the counter to cobble together 20p for a piece of fruit. They get distressed because they can’t afford more. We have children breaking down and crying because of hunger. Birthdays are another flash point with pupils embarrassed and upset because they can’t afford treats for their friends. The impacts are deep. It’s hard to perform academically or do physical exercise when you are hungry. We have also seen an increase in poor teeth and a decline in dental hygiene and a major rise in obesity.

"I support your call to extend free school meals to all children whose parents are on universal credit. Children get free stationery and textbooks, those are not means-tested, so why not food? The government talks about levelling up, but what can be more important than making sure our children are fed?”

‘Government ministers should ask themselves: what would you want for your child?’

Sarah Beveridge, headteacher

Leyburn Primary, North Yorkshire

Pupils: 200

Free school meals: 11 per cent

Pupils in poverty but not on free school meals: 15 per cent

“We don’t have a lot of children on free school meals but we do have a high number of parents who are struggling with their household bills and don’t want to admit they’re not fine because of pride - but being unable to fund school trips or update school uniforms are tell-tale signs. I have concerns for about 30 of our pupils who don’t get free school meals but whose parents are buckling under the cost of living crisis.

"These children come in with very skimpy packed lunches that may consist of a biscuit and a bruised banana that are completely inadequate. They get very tired in the afternoon. Occasionally, children will even take food out of other children’s lunch boxes when they’re not looking. Actual stealing. We don’t have a breakfast club anymore and teachers regularly tell me there are children who don’t have enough to eat. For parents in urban areas, cheap food is easier to access, but we are in the rural Yorkshire Dales – Rishi Sunak’s constituency – and where the cost of produce is higher because of transport costs.

"Children face high expectations academically but cannot do it on empty stomachs. That is why I support the call to extend free school meals to all children in families on universal credit. Government ministers should ask themselves: what would you want for your child? It’s shocking that at this point in history we are having to campaign to end hunger in schools. We live in one of the most privileged countries in the world. I can’t get my head around it.”