Lockdown doesn’t mean that school children stop needing free school meals. After an image of a government funded food parcel appeared on social media, outrage about the inadequacy of the UK government’s free school meal parcels during lockdown overcame the British public. The anger has since encouraged many companies and foundations to do their bit in feeding the UK’s hungry children during lockdown and pressured the government into reinstating the option of free school meal vouchers.
The government announcement to temporarily close schools in the UK as part of a national lockdown brings obvious worries to parents. Is my child learning enough? Is my child interacting enough? But for many parents, the closure of schools also brings with it the absence of free school meals. In England, around 1.4 million children claimed for free school meals in January 2020 – that is 17.3% of state-educated pupils.
Where the outrage began
“schools may now offer vouchers to struggling families to replace the lunch meals they would normally receive at school.”
Recently, social media has seen a storm of outrage after an image of a food parcel received by a struggling parent began circulating the internet. This image shows a parcel intended to feed a child lunch for 10 days. However, the contents of the parcel is meagre. Many criticised the government for providing inadequate and insulting food parcels. Footballer MBE Marcus Rashford, who received free school meals as a child and regularly campaigns for better school meals for children in the UK, posted a tweet stating “children deserve better than this.”
Amid the anger, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that the free school meal voucher scheme would be reinstated on 18th January 2021, offering a £15 weekly voucher per eligible child. Although the government still encourages the parcel scheme, schools may now offer vouchers to struggling families to replace the lunch meals they would normally receive at school.
Whilst children can receive either vouchers or food parcels, the government has strongly advised that UK schools opt for the latter, going as far as granting an extra £3.50 per child for schools that choose to give parcels.
The government states that these parcels should:
- Contain food items rather than pre-prepared meals due to food safety considerations;
- Minimise the fridge and freezer space that schools and families will need to store foods;
- Contain items which parents can use to prepare healthy lunches for their child/children across the week;
- Not rely on parents having additional ingredients at home to prepare meals;
- Not contain items restricted under the school food standards;
- Cater for pupils who require special diets, e.g. allergies, vegetarians or religious diets;
- Contain appropriate packaging sizes for household use, rather than wholesale sizes.
Despite the rocky start, however, things seem to be looking up. Among the outrage, many companies have stepped forward vowing to aid in the feeding of the UK’s hungry children. Many have called on the government to conduct an urgent review of their free school meals policy. The aim of the review is to establish a fairer, more adequate approach to free school meals.
The Food Foundation
The Food Foundation, an independent organisation aiming to present solutions to government and the private sector to address the growing challenges facing the UK’s food system, called on the Government to conduct an urgent comprehensive review of free school meal policies across the United Kingdom. Within this call, The Food Foundation stressed that the Government must explore how schools can be supported in providing “the best quality school meals which adhere to school food standards and which ensure the poorest children receive the best possible offer,” and should review “the current eligibility thresholds for Free School Meals across all four nations to eliminate disparities and to explore whether disadvantaged children are being excluded in line with National Food Strategy recommendation.”
Marks and Spencers
From Monday 18th January, Marks and Spencers has pledged to make the £15 government voucher a £20 voucher in stores in England, meaning that parents are able to get more money to spend on food for their child(ren). Marks and Spencers’ senior food nutritionist Laura Street also developed a nutrition planner for meal inspiration, which outlines easy and healthy meal ideas for parents and includes a shopping list.
Morrisons
Supermarket Morrisons has announced it will be supporting eligible families by scrapping delivery fees for their free school meal boxes. Their food parcels are created with the help of Morrisons nutritionist Dr Hayley Marson. Morrisons has partnered with DHL to ensure that families who opt for Morrisons’ meal box will receive free home delivery, which should guarantee that eligible children will receive their school dinners during lockdown.
Local Councils
Many local councils, such as Kirklees Council, have pledged to fund free school meal vouchers throughout February half-term, although current government policy states that it is not necessary for schools to provide food parcels or lunch vouchers over this period. Kirklees council is planning to spend around £700,000 on keeping children in Kirklees fed over the holidays.
Aldi
Supermarket Aldi has created a ‘10 Million meal pledge’ through which it will aim to provide 10 million meals to those affected by child food poverty in the UK. The supermarket stated that it aims to help in combating “hunger’s devastating effects”. Aldi has partnered with footballer Marcus Rashford to create a short film called ‘Hunger’. The film demonstrates the tragic reality of being a child in food poverty and the detrimental impact this has.
The outtake
“Social media outrage has definitely improved the situation”
The government has failed to meet needs and expectations when it comes to free school meals during lockdown. However, companies and foundations are stepping in to aid in the feeding of the UK’s hungry children and to spread awareness.
Social media outrage has definitely improved the situation, successfully pushing the government into reinstating the free school meal voucher scheme. We can hope that the calls for change, such as that from The Food Foundation, will urge the government to reconsider its current free school meal policies.
Jessamie Rattray
Featured image courtesy of Katerina Holmes from Pexels. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
