Almost one in five parents have to buy unhealthy food for their children because they can’t afford healthier options – as campaigners call for free school meals expansion
Almost one in five parents (19%) have to buy unhealthy food for their children because they can’t afford healthier options, research shows today.
The majority (60%) of those who had to buy unhealthy food for their kids in the last year said they were worried about what they were feeding their children, according to the survey by children’s charity Barnardo’s. The research comes as part of a charity campaign backed by celebrity chefs Jamie Oliver and Tom Kerridge calling for an urgent extension of free school meals to help hungry kids. Kerridge branded the free school meal system “broken”, while Oliver said he hopes politicians “can step up to the plate”.
The School Food Review, which has released a report on free school meals alongside Barnardo’s survey, called for the expansion of free lunches to all children from families in receipt of Universal Credit or equivalent benefits – as a first step to universal free school meals. It emphasised that the benefits of free school meals include not only better health and wellbeing, but improved attendance, better pupil outcomes and wider social benefits including reduced inequalities.
Barnardo’s also backed the call for free school lunches for all primary school children “with an immediate extension to all families receiving Universal Credit”. The charity also recommended increasing the value of healthy shopping vouchers given to the poorest families with young children, strengthening the rules on the quality of school meals and using the proceeds of any future taxes on sugar or salt to reduce food insecurity.
Barnardo’s described current access to free school meals for most children in England as “extremely restrictive”, applying to families earning less than £7,400 after tax and excluding benefits. The threshold is half that of Northern Ireland where families on Universal Credit with up to £15,000 in earnings after tax are eligible.
Wales and London have universal free school meals in primary education. Children in years one to five in primary schools run by local councils or funded by the Scottish Government are entitled to free school lunches during term-time. The Mirror is campaigning for free school meals for all primary school children.
Kerridge said: “Clearly something is broken within that free school meal system. Trying to get something more robust and solid in place is desperately needed.”
Long-standing food campaigner Oliver said: “When we feed kids well, when we act with kindness and integrity in our politics, the benefits are profound. It truly is a superpower – setting them up to get better grades, better jobs, and so putting £8.9billion back into the economy over 20 years. Let’s hope our politicians can step up to the plate.”
Barnardo’s chief executive Lynn Perry said: “The food we eat as children has a huge impact. Sadly here in the UK, far too many children and young people are missing out on nutritious food – with huge knock-on effects for their health both now and in the future. We know that parents are making big sacrifices so their children have the best food they can afford.
“But with the price of basic items staying stubbornly high, healthy food is out of reach for too many families – with people living in poverty find it harder to buy, cook and eat good food.”
A Government spokeswoman said: “We are determined to tackle the scourge of child poverty and break the unfair link between background and opportunity – and have already taken wide-ranging action despite this government’s incredibly challenging fiscal inheritance, including setting up the Child Poverty Taskforce.
“The first 750 schools will begin offering free breakfast clubs from April, backed by over £30million investment, to boost attainment, attendance, behaviour and wellbeing. We are keeping our approach to free school meals under review. As with all government programmes, all future spending is subject to the Spending Review.”
::: YouGov surveyed 2,239 parents of children aged 18 or under in the UK between January 23 and 28 for Barnardos.