In England, a child can only receive a free school meal (FSM) if their family is in receipt of universal credit and has a total household income of less than £7,400 in a year. This crippling low-income threshold is leaving food insecure children without a meal at school.
In June 2022, Food Programmes Manager, Cara Nightingale, at One Can food bank and trust read a news article about the 800,000 children missing out on a school meal because of this draconian policy and decided to take action in her own community. This work has become ever more important in 2024, with the numbers heading towards a million children missing out.
We spoke with Cara to find out more about how the One Can food bank and trust has been able to help schools:
“The One Can Trust started as a foodbank charity, but we work on food security more widely in Buckinghamshire. Last year, we sent out a survey to 10 schools in our local area, asking teachers to estimate how many students weren’t receiving FSMs because of this income threshold and the numbers were alarming. So, we made a plan to change things.
“We developed a list of the highest need schools in our area and decided to focus on the schools with the highest number of children who were eligible for universal credit but were unable to receive a FSM. When we asked the schools if they would like to participate in our school meals programme, the answer was a resounding yes.”
One Can is starting by working with four schools this year – three primary schools and one secondary school, but they already have six more in the pipeline for the next two years. Cara explained how their school meal programme works:
“Each month schools report the number of children they provided meals to and One Can sponsors the meals. We can fund up to 40 places for a breakfast club and up to 30 places for lunch, but if a school has more students who need assistance, we’ll do everything we can to make it work.”
As a mechanism of monitoring the school meals programme, One Can sends out a survey to children and families who are now receiving a FSM. So far, the feedback has been positive, especially the feedback from parents:
“This funding has been so helpful. I am a full-time, working single mother. I was spending £2.78 a day on my little girl’s lunch and although this may not sound like a lot of money to most, it really racks up especially as my rent has gone up.” - Parent
Cara also tells us she notices there is a huge stigma around food poverty in her community: “We want families to feel welcome and supported through our charity. They should be able to access food without shame and with ease.”
Founder and Chief Executive of School Food Matters, Stephanie Slater comments:
We are seeing several charities and organisations stepping in to pick up the pieces of a policy that isn’t working. It is up to the government to extend free school meals to all children, so that every child, no matter where they grow up, can access a hot, healthy lunch at school.
Learn more about One Can here.
