Footballer and activist Marcus Rashford is calling on the government to widen the eligibility criteria for food schemes to prevent thousands of children from going hungry.
Ahead of Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s autumn Spending Review, Rashford is backing recommendations to make food schemes available to more households on low incomes.
The Manchester United and England player has successfully campaigned for the government to extend provision of free school meals (FSM) in the school holidays during the Covid-19 pandemic.
He is now warning that the childhood hunger problem is set to get worse as welfare payments through the Universal Credit drop by £20 a week, back to pre-pandemic levels, at the end of this month – while food prices are higher than at the end of 2020.
Some 15 per cent of households with children have experienced food insecurity in the past six months during the ongoing pandemic, according to a new report published today by the Food Foundation.
Mr Rashford is urging people to ask their MPs to pressure ministers ahead of the Spending Review, expected to take place next month, to make funds available to widen the eligibility for schemes such FSM.
Mr Rashford said: “What is it going to take for these children to be prioritised? Instead of removing support through social security, we should be focusing efforts on developing a sustainable long-term roadmap out of this child hunger pandemic.
“I am, today, pledging my support for three recommendations from Part 2 of the National Food Strategy. I hope that we see the required investment pledged during the Autumn Spending Review.
“I will be writing to my MP about it, and I would encourage you all to do the same.
“It will take many of us to stand together on this, and show we care about reaching those most in need in our communities.”
The first recommendation is to extend FSM eligibility to all children between the ages of seven and 18 in all households with an income of £20,000 a year or less, including benefits, and to children who are undocumented or living in households with the “no recourse to public funds” (NRPF) immigration status.
The second recommendation is to provide long-term funding for the government’s Holiday Activities and Food Programme, and expand eligibility criteria in the same way as the FSM scheme.
The third recommendation is to widen Healthy Start eligibility to all households – with pregnant women and/or children under five – that have an annual income of £20,000 or less, including benefits.
The scheme, which provides vouchers for healthy food, milk, and vitamins, is currently open to women who are at least 10 weeks pregnant and to households with children under four.
In addition, Mr Rashford has also voiced concern around plans to digitise the Healthy Start scheme. He is urging the government to ensure that existing issues – such as the need for recipients to re-apply and activate their benefits by calling an NHS line charging up to 55p a minute – be fixed before the newly-revamped scheme goes live in autumn.
The current FSM system is also affected by a “postcode lottery”, the Food Foundation’s new report suggests.
In England, only children in Year 3 and above from households earning less than £7,400 (before benefits and after tax), qualify for FSM.
The very low income threshold in England means that half of children who are from food insecure households are excluded from FSM because their families earn just above £7,400. About 350,000 children are excluded, according to the foundation.
In Scotland, all primary school pupils will soon be getting FSM but the eligibility threshold in secondary schools is the same as in England.
In Northern Ireland all children in households earning less than £14,000 (before benefits and after tax) get FSM.
In Wales, the threshold is the same as for England but there is no universal FSM for those below Year 3.
Seventeen per cent of parents whose children are not eligible for FSM and don’t regularly eat from the school canteens say this is because school meals are unaffordable, according to a YouGov survey of 1,723 parents.
This means that the children could be skipping lunch or resorting to packed lunches.
But, the Food Foundation pointed out, less than 2 per cent of packed lunches meet government guidelines for a healthy and balanced school meal, according to research published in the British Medical Journal.
