fair and square campaign report

8/2/2019 Fair and Square Campaign Report

1/8A better childhood. For every child. www.childrenssociety.org.uk

Free school mealsfor all childrenin poverty


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Introduction

In England, 1.2 million school children in poverty do not getfree school meals. 700,000 of them often from poor,working families arent even entitled to this key support.The remaining 500,000 are put off claiming both by systemsthat clearly single out those receiving free meals, which can

lead to teasing and bullying, and by the poor quality of someof the food on offer.

This is simply unfair. With the introduction of the new benetsystem, Universal Credit, in October 2013, the government has aonce in a generation opportunity to make sure that all childrenin poverty can get these meals.

As our report will show, giving children in poverty a free schoolmeal makes sense on every level. They can help children stayhealthy and learn. And they can help families escape the

poverty trap faced by parents trying to move into employmentby making sure that work always pays.

The Fair and Square campaign wants every one of the hundredsof thousands of children living on or below the poverty line tobe able to get a free and nutritious meal every day.


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What needs to change?

We want the governmentto grasp the unique

opportunity oered by

the introduction o a new

benefts system and make

sure every child in poverty

can get a ree school meal

by extending entitlement

to all children in amilies

receiving Universal Credit.

All schools should have

systems in place so that the

children who receive ree

school meals are not singledout. This would help tackle

the issues around teasing

and bullying, which stop

some children rom taking

up their meals.

The government should

review the extent to which

schools are adhering to the

nutritional standards or

school ood.

Fair and square 3

Child liked the meals when he was entitled to them.

Now he just has a bread roll if I dont have the full money.

Parent

What is the problem?

We know that half of all schoolaged children living in povertyin England thats 1.2 million miss out on a nutritious andhealthy meal every day.

700,000 children arounda third of the 2.2 millionschool-aged children livingin poverty in England arenteven entitled to them. This isbecause their parents are inpaid work. Children of parentsworking 16 or more hours perweek1 are not entitled to a freeschool meal regardless ofhow little the parents earn.

Another 500,000 dont takeup their entitlement. This oftenis because of the quality of

meals and issues of teasingand bullying.

The current situation couldbecome even worse underthe Universal Credit benetsystem. Some families couldnd that they are worse off ifthey take on more hours, orget a pay rise, as a result ofthe loss of free school meals.

Our analysis indicates that thiscould indeed affect 120,000families with 350,000 schoolaged children.2

How do free school

meals work?

Free school meals are

available to children

rom the lowest incomeamilies.

They are worth on

average about 10

every week, or around

370 per year, per child.

Eating a school meal

helps children to stay

healthy and improves

behaviour and learning.

Getting ree schoolmeals oten means

children can also

get help with school

clothing allowances,

school trips, music

lessons and access to

leisure centres.


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The cost of not getting

free school meals

Free school meals on averageare worth nearly 10 perschool week/child, or about370 over a year. The prospectof losing this benet creates amassive barrier for parents if

they want to move into workor take on additional hours,particularly if they have morethan one child in school. Oneparent surveyed said:

When I move into paid

work my income will be

lower - school lunches are

yet another thing to worry

about. Parent

Nearly half of the parents wespoke to are worried aboutthe nancial implications ofmoving back into work ortaking on additional hours. Sixout of 10 parents say that freeschool meal eligibility has animpact on their decision tomove back into work, or workmore hours.

For many children, gettingfree school meals also meansthat they can get help withschool clothing allowances,school trips, music lessonsand access to leisure centres,which also helps familiesstruggling with rising costsand reduced incomes.

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Jennifer

Jennier is a single mother with our children, three o

them in primary school and she receives ree school meals

or these children.

The children get a healthy cooked meal at school every

day and that is their main meal o the day. During school

holidays, Jennier fnds it very expensive to pay or three

extra lunches per day and her weekly shopping bill goes

up by around 3040.

The stigma around getting free school meals

Nancy and Mark

Nancy and her partner have three children and are both

out o work. For their children the school lunch is the

main meal o the day.

Nancy is concerned about stigma. The children at her

oldest sons school who receive ree school meals get

a token to hand in so they are clearly identifable. The

school was even thinking o introducing staggeredlunches with children getting ree school meals going

into the canteen frst.

She believes all children should get ree school meals as

it would guarantee all children get a good meal and:

If every child had a free school meal then there would

be no stigma because everyone would be the same

the children see the dierences.

We know that many childrenwho are entitled to free schoolmeals do not eat them everyday, often because of teasing,bullying and fear of stigma.This is a major concern formany parents:

My older children have

had free meals in the past

and have been bullied as a

result. Parent

How much parents worryabout teasing and bullyingvaries. Parents of primaryschool children were less

worried than those ofsecondary school children.This is because fewer primaryschools use cash basedsystems and so youngerchildren are less likely to beaware of who does and doesnot receive free school meals.

My child enjoys most of

his school meals. Hes

becoming aware that not

everyone gets them free

though, and this is a cause

for embarrassment - if the

school could come up with

a system where everyone

had a lunch ticket, paid for inadvance, that would save a

lot of heartache. Parent

What is clear is that bothparents and children prefercashless systems wherechildren who get free schoolmeals cannot be identied such as a card based orbiometric system.


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One parent said:

As we have a cashless

system other kids need

never know my kids have

free school meals. They are

a godsend and I would really

struggle without them.

Today, only about half of allsecondary schools use thesesystems.

Are free school meals

good enough?

The nutritional value andrange of meal optionsavailable to children in schoolsvaries. Some of the parents wespoke to said:

I dont think the school is

providing enough healthy

options.

The school meals are high

in fat and less likely to be

healthy for my children.

Some parents were alsoconcerned that there is verylimited choice for thosereceiving free school meals:

In secondary schools there

is often a large choice of

meals available - but only

one choice for free schoolmeals (the meal-deal). Not

very fair for the child.

Jo

Jo is a single mother with two children. Her daughter is six

and receives a ree school meal. Her son is our and begins

school in September.

Jo desperately wants to get back to work.

I used to work in the City. I want to work again but

its really dicult at the moment my (job centre)

case worker tells me Im better of staying on benetsright now, that Id be worse o working. He said that

if I earn 80 a week, Ill only see 20 of it because

Ill lose other benets.

She says shell have to earn ar more than school meals

cost to make up or losing them. Her children would also

lose the main meal o their day.

If I return to work, I wont get home until half past six.

The children go to bed at seven oclock. Im just not

going to have time to cook for them and make suretheyve got something to eat.


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As weve shown, making surethat all children in povertycan get a free school mealmakes sense for both childrenand parents as well as the

government.

Under the new benet system,unless all children living inpoverty can get a free schoolmeal, many families will losemoney when taking up workor working more hours. Justlike child benet eligibility,families would be better offearning less.

Free school meals are aneffective way to both helpstruggling working familiesand help guarantee that workalways pays, so that moreparents are encouraged togo back to work and to useemployment as a route outof poverty.

Giving free school meals to allchildren in families in receiptof Universal Credit would costabout 500 million per year.

In order to reduce the costof this proposal, low income,working parents, who are notentitled to free school meals,could be asked to contributeto some of the cost.3 Thiswould mean receiving aheavily subsidised meal, ratherthan a free meal, and wouldbring the bill down to 290m.

How much would this cost?

The public recognises that thecurrent system is unfair and

there is overwhelming supportfor giving children in lowincome, working familiesfree school meals.

Latest statistics4 reveal that91% of people believe that

free school meals should beavailable to all children inpoverty, including those inworking families.

What does the public think?

How can we calculate this?

The fgures in this briefng are based on our report Fair

and Square: The uture o ree school meals which can be

ound at www.childrenssociety.org.uk/fairandsquare

The fndings o this report are based on data rom the

Department or Education, HM Revenue and Customs and

the Department or Work and Pensions.

It also draws on fndings rom an online survey, carried

out by The Childrens Society, o 140 parents who were or

recently had been entitled to ree school meals.


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What is Universal Credit?

The government is changing the beneft system.

Many benefts will be replaced by a new beneft called the

Universal Credit starting to be introduced rom 2013.

As a result, the criteria under which children qualiy or

ree school meals will also have to change.

How healthy free school meals can improve

childrens health

Children rom poorer backgrounds are more likely to have

a bad diet eating ewer vegetables and more processed

meats and sugar than children rom higher income

groups.5

This can have serious health implications. I children do

not have a healthy, balanced diet they are more likely to

suer rom obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer

and heart disease. For some children their ree school lunch may be the only

healthy cooked ood they get. And, or a third o children

whose parents we spoke to, lunch was their main meal

o the day.

How healthy school

meals can help

children do better

in school

Eating a healthy school

meal can improve

childrens concentration

during aternoonlessons and improve

classroom behaviour.6

An evaluation o

Jamie Olivers Feed Me

Better campaign, which

ocused on improving

the quality o school

meals served in the

London Borough o

Greenwich, ound that

it had a positive eecton two results in both

English and science.7

How you can help

We want the government to change the criteria for free school meals so all childrenin poverty can get them. The government is much more likely to listen if theyunderstand how many people think the situation is unfair and should change.

Taking part is easy it can take as little as ve minutes. If thousands of us all dosomething small, that could add up to a big change for our poorest school children.

Sign up to support the campaign and fnd materials and ideas by visiting

www.childrenssociety.org.uk/fairandsquare

Join our acebook group www.facebook.com/childrenssocietyThen share inormation about the campaign with riends and amily on

acebook, asking them to sign up too.

Spread the word on twitter. Use #FairandSquareand ask your ollowers

to sign up and ollow us @childrensociety

I you are a company, organisation or society and would like to support the

campaign contact us on [email protected]

Every action counts. Thank you.


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The Childrens Society, Edward Rudolf House, Margery Street, London WC1X 0JLEmail: [email protected] Registration No. 221124 | Photographs modelled for The Childrens Society | Laurence Dutton | Larry Bray | Nick David | Shutterstock

The Childrens Society

The Childrens Society wants to create a society wherechildren and young people are valued, respected andhappy. We are committed to helping vulnerable anddisadvantaged young people, including children in careand young runaways. We give a voice to disabled children,help young refugees to rebuild their lives and provide relieffor young carers. Through our campaigns and research,we seek to inuence policy and perceptions so that youngpeople have a better chance in life.

The difference we make to childrens lives would nothappen without your support. Help us build a betterchildhood for every child.

We hope youve been inspired to support our campaignas shown on page 7. For more information on how youcan help us to make sure that all children in, or on theedge of poverty can receive free school meals, pleasevisit us at: www.childrenssociety.org.uk/fairandsquare You can also nd the full policy report and this campaignreport on our website.

Notes1. 16 hours per week for single parents and 24 hours for couples.

2. FRS analysis, gures based on a 7500 earnings threshold for free school mealsentitlement.

3. Parents would contribute approximately 3.25 every week from their Universal Creditentitlement in return for about 10 worth of free school meals for their child.

4. GK NOP poll for The Childrens Society. UK, all adults 16+, 1000 respondents, Feb 6 2012

5. Nelson, M., Erens, B., Bates, B., Church, S., Boshier, T. (2007) Low Income Diet andNutrition SurveyLondon: Food Standards Agency)

6. School Food Trust (2007) School lunch and behaviour: systematic observation ofclassroom behaviour following a school dining room intervention; School Food Trust(2009) School lunch and learning behaviour in primary schools: an intervention study;School Food Trust (2009) School lunch and learning behaviour in secondary schools: anintervention study

7. Belot and James (2011) Healthy school meals and Educational Outcomes, Journal ofHealth Economics 30(3), 489-504

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