Schools are being forced to dip into their budgets to stop children going hungry, research shows today.
Four in 10 (38%) teachers said their pupils were showing up to class too hungry to learn, rising to 63% in the most deprived areas, according to a new poll by Teacher Tapp. More than a fifth of teachers (22%) said this issue has become worse since September.
Around one million children living in poverty miss out on free school meals due to strict eligibility criteria. Under current rules, children in state schools in England can claim free school meals up to the end of Year 2.
After that, they are eligible only if their parent or carer receives certain benefits. Households on Universal Credit only qualify if their income is less than just £7,400 from work. The Mirror has been campaigning for free school meals for all primary school pupils to ensure no child is left behind.
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Andrew Teebay Liverpool Echo)
Teachers report being forced to step in, with four in 10 (38%) saying their school is offering free dinners to children who don’t qualify to stop them going hungry. This rose to half (51%) in the poorest areas. More than half (58%) of senior leaders said demand for this support has increased since September.
A quarter (24%) said their school has written off school meals debt this year or opened a food bank to support struggling families, more than a third (36%) are offering food parcels.
Stephanie Slater, Chief Executive at School Food Matters, said: “Schools cannot continue to plug gaps in provision with these drastic measures. The Government must expand free school meals so that every child has the good nutrition they need to thrive.”
Children are facing a postcode lottery on whether they can access free school dinners across the UK. Scotland and Wales are rolling out universal provision in primary schools, while London Mayor Sadiq Khan started an emergency scheme in the Capital in September.
Why every child deserves a free school meal
The country’s children should not be the victims of the cost of living crisis.
They should not have to pay the price because their parents cannot afford to put food on the table or heat the family home.
But at the moment there are nearly four million children living in poverty. Many of them are being brought up in homes where there is not enough money to pay for a hot meal. Some are having to skip meals entirely.
That is why the Mirror is calling on the government to provide free school meals for every primary pupil in England.
The Scottish and Welsh governments are introducing universal free school meals. It’s time England did the same.
If a child is hungry they cannot learn. It makes it harder for them to concentrate in class and harder for them to reach their potential.
Free school meals for all primary-age children would save parents vital pennies – money which could be used to pay for warm clothes, school activities or heating.
It would reduce the bureaucracy attached with deciding which pupils are eligible. Most importantly, it would mean every child have the chance to flourish.
You can find out more about our Free School Meals for All campaign here
But schools in other areas are being forced to step in to meet the needs of the pupils. In the North West, 47% of teachers said children were regularly too hungry to learn compared to 35% in the South East.
Nikita Sinclair, Director of Children’s Health and Food at Impact on Urban Health, a partner of School Food Matters, said: “It’s not right that one in three children living in poverty in England are missing out on a hot, nutritious meal each day. Because they fall outside the current threshold, these children are more likely to experience poor health outcomes and fall behind their peers.”
She urged ministers to consider the long term benefits to kids and the wider economy. Research for Impact on Urban Health in 2022 found expanding the free school meals scheme could inject up to £41.3billion into the economy over 20 years.
Over 70% of teachers surveyed backed making free school dinners universal, while 97% said it helped kids in the classroom, including improving behaviour, attainment, and attendance.
A Department for Education spokeswoman said: “We have extended eligibility for free school meals to more groups of children than any other government over the past half a century with the number of children receiving free school meals having more than doubled since 2010.
“We are also investing up to £40 million in our National School Breakfast Programme (NSBP) until the end of the summer term in 2025 and this funding is supporting up to 2,700 schools in disadvantaged areas. School funding is increasing to £60.7 billion next year, the highest level ever in real terms per pupil.”
‘It’s difficult when you see children looking at hot dinners’
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Liverpool Echo)
Headteacher Terri Cheung said her school has been providing free breakfasts, snacks and writing off school dinner debt to help struggling families. A high proportion of her pupils at Phoenix Primary School, in Edge Hill, Liverpool, live in poverty.
“The concern for us is not just the children who are on free school meals but the families who are just above the very low threshold,” she said. “We have a lot of families who are really struggling.
“They can’t afford to pay for school dinners so the children have a packed lunch and many of the children’s packed lunches are of a standard that’s not ideal for their health and wellbeing. It’s difficult when you see the children looking at the hot dinners.”
Children are struggling to concentrate and acting up because they’re hungry, with some falling asleep in class. Ms Cheung said: “We’ve even got a number of children who are really suffering physically because they’ve got iron deficiencies because their diet is so poor.
“They’ve fallen asleep and have got no energy, and then that affects their mood. It’s not only lack of attention, they can become quite irritable and dysregulated.”
Pupils are also worrying about their parents finances, she said. “I’ve got one child who worries constantly about her mother and how her mother wakes up stressed every day because of money and just trying to manage.
“It’s heartbreaking really. We have a lot of families where the parents are struggling mentally and the added worry of money, costs and having to afford the dinners, the embarrassment when they can’t pay.”
The school is footing the bill for school dinner debt as many parents simply can’t pay – which then comes out of school budgets. Staff run a free breakfast club and provide snacks at breaktime as so many children are hungry. But budget pressures mean the school will struggle to afford to do this next year.
Ms Cheung said free school meals for all children would make a huge difference to the school. She added: “The majority of the families are on the poverty line so that would take away so much worry for the parents and the children would be happy knowing they had a hot meal to have every day.”