Free school meals
Few can have missed the phenomenal campaigning from footballer Marcus Rashford to tackle hunger during the school holidays. Although the Westminster government has not extended the free school meals programme this half term, child poverty is now well and truly in the spotlight and there is a lot of pressure on politicians to act. It’s good to see some local councils stepping in to help provide for children over half term but this is only a temporary solution - and a patchy one. Meanwhile, the Welsh and Scottish governments have committed to funding free school meals throughout the holidays up to and including the Easter break in 2021, and in Northern Ireland this half term is covered. It’s heart-warming that so many people have been moved to take action and to do whatever they can, as individuals and businesses, to stop children going hungry. However, we believe that support for children in the lowest income families should be in the form of cash, paid directly to families, so they can have the dignity of making their own choices about how to meet their children’s needs.
We want to see this government addressing the root causes of child poverty: insufficient incomes and high costs (see our priorities below). We want parents to be able to buy food for their families, but also ensure they can heat their homes and buy clothing, toys and other things their children need. Our social security system needs to support families better, so the government should keep the £20 ‘Covid bonus’ to universal credit rather than end it next April (as well as extending it to other benefits like employment and support allowance), but also invest more in benefits for children. Increasing child benefit would mean more money to cover all children's needs - from food to clothes to school trips - throughout the year.
As for free school meals, they should be available to all schoolchildren. As a starting point, like Marcus Rashford we're pushing for free school meals to be available to all in children in families on universal credit. Our research showed that over 70,000 children in Wales live below the poverty line but are not eligible for free school meals because the eligibility threshold is currently very low. But we know that the best way forward is universal free school meals - they reduce stigma and boost learning and attainment.
