Jamie Oliver urges politicians to ‘step up to the plate’ on free school meals

Almost one in five UK parents said they had to buy their children unhealthy food at least once a week as they could not afford healthier options, according to a survey said to show good meals are “out of reach for too many families”.

The research comes as part of a charity campaign backed by celebrity chefs Jamie Oliver and Tom Kerridge – with the latter branding the free school meal system “broken”.

Barnardo’s, alongside other organisations including The Food Foundation and School Food Matters, are urging the Government to extend access to free school meals.

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 while 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.

According to a survey of 2,239 UK parents of children aged 18 and under by YouGov for Barnardo’s in January, 19% said they had had to buy unhealthy food options at least weekly for their offspring because they could not afford healthy ingredients or meals.

Of these, around six in 10 parents said they were worried about what they were feeding their 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.”

He 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 £8.9 billion back into the economy over 20 years.”

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.”

Separately, polling of 10,000 teachers across England last month for School Food Matters suggested a quarter reported using their own money to feed children while two thirds said they supported introducing free school meals for all children.

A Government spokesperson 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 £30 million 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.”