Doctors and nurses have called for a major expansion of free school meals to combat the growing risk of malnutrition, obesity and other health conditions affecting children from low-income families hit by the cost-of-living crisis.
A letter signed by dozens of doctors and health experts said NHS professionals were seeing the impact of hunger and poor nutrition in their work every day following a recent doubling in food insecurity across the UK.
Extending free school meals would help address growing evidence of clinical problems among a cohort of children living in poverty who were hungry, missing out on healthy foods and not eating regularly, the letter said.
Nearly 10 million adults and 4 million children in the UK experienced food insecurity in September as the cost-of-living crisis deepened, according to the Food Foundation. Millions reported skipping meals or going an entire day without eating, and half said they had cut back on fruit and vegetables.
One signatory, Martin Godfrey, a GP in south London, said he was seeing more and more malnourished children. “We are seeing thin, pale children who lack the energy of a normal child. Clinically, there isn’t much we can do to help other than point parents to people and places that can. We all need to do more right now. Expanding access to free school meals would make a big difference.”
Another signatory, Jonathan Tomlinson, a GP in Hoxton, east London, said inadequate nutrition manifested itself as fatigue, recurrent infections and behavioral problems in young people. “One thing I notice is that most of the kids seem to be deficient in iron, folic acid and vitamin D and when I ask them, they don’t eat anything green.”
Dr Helen Stewart, Paediatrician, said: “We are seeing the impacts of poor nutrition every day, with poor growth in disadvantaged infants and children on one hand, and rising childhood obesity on the other. Teachers tell us about seeing hungry children at school and the impact on their well-being and learning.”
The letter urges ministers to extend free school meals to an additional 800,000 children on universal credit whose families are in poverty and unable to cover the cost of an adequate lunch, but are not considered vulnerable enough by current criteria to be eligible. qualify for the free meal provision.
Separately, Richard Walker, managing director of the Iceland supermarket chain, said on Wednesday that he wanted see extended offer of free school meals “as a critical priority” to help combat rising food insecurity.
Walker, who sits on the prime minister’s business council and has ambitions of becoming a Tory MP, told BBC Radio 4 Today that families with children are at greater risk of going hungry and skipping meals.
“If our country wants to be successful in the long run, we have to make sure we have a healthy, focused, happy, engaged school population that has decent prospects, and that has to include vulnerable children,” he said.
In England, all school-age children are entitled to free school meals from reception to year 2, but beyond that, only children whose parents earn less than £7,400 a year are eligible. Both the Welsh and Scottish governments have committed to providing free school meals to all primary school children.
Some schools have described the hunger of students as the biggest solo challenge face this winter, and some have dipped into emergency cash reserves to feed students who aren’t eligible for free school meals. teachers have spoke of desperate children who steal food from fellow students, eating gummies, and even “pretending to eat from an empty lunch box.”
A Department of Education spokesman said: “We have expanded access to free school meals more than any other government in decades, currently reaching 1.9 million children. We are also investing up to £24m in our National School Breakfast Programme, which provides free breakfasts to children in schools in disadvantaged areas.”
