Food Foundation calls for action on children’s food insecurity

The Food Foundation is calling on the new government to reduce children’s food insecurity in the UK.

According to its research, 7.2 million adults (14 per cent of UK households), and 2.7m children (18 per cent of households with children), experienced food insecurity in June.

It is now raising awareness to the government’s new Child Poverty Taskforce and Children’s Wellbeing Bill as part of its efforts to ensure that everyone can afford and access nutritious food.

The food charity is now aiming to provide free school meals to everyone aged under 18. It will start by increasing the eligibility criteria to families on Universal Credit, which would auto-enrol all eligible children.

Research also found that among the poorest fifth of the population, households with children would have to spend 70 per cent of their disposable income on food to afford the government-recommended healthy diet.

Additionally, the impact of the two-child limit shows that 23 per cent of families with three children experienced higher food insecurity last month.

In comparison, 17 per cent of households with one or two children and 12 per cent of households without children experienced food insecurity in June.

There are now further calls from citizens and industry experts for the government to take action to reduce children’s food insecurity in the next 100 days.

Policy and advocacy manager at The Food Foundation, Shona Goudie, said: “Last week’s announcement that the government are convening a Child Poverty Taskforce is a positive step; however, the immediate action that is so desperately needed to relieve the families across the UK who are going hungry was sorely lacking in the King’s Speech.”

Goudie added: “Food insecurity has been persistently far too high over the last few years with the previous government failing to take decisive action for too long.

“We are calling on the new government to ensure that everyone can afford and access a nutritious diet that will keep them healthy, and in doing so achieve their ambitions to make our children healthier, relieve pressure on the NHS and grow the economy.”

She concluded: “We urge the government to set reducing children’s food insecurity as a goal for the child poverty task force and Children’s Wellbeing Bill, and to take critical next steps to achieve this.

“This includes ensuring that the national minimum/living wage and benefit levels cover the cost of basic essentials, including food; extending eligibility for nutritional safety nets including free school meals at lunchtime and Healthy Start; and abolishing the two-child benefit limit.”

Director of the UCL Institute of Health Equity and professor of epidemiology and public health, Michael Marmot commented: “There are few things more basic than having enough food to eat.

He added: “These people are not ignorant, lazy, or bad planners. They are poor. The challenge for the new government is to ensure that every child has the conditions for the best start in life.”