The Importance of Free School Meals
With children returning to school, many will be grateful to know they will receive a nutritious lunch every day. With thousands of children living in poverty in the UK, many families struggle to provide their children with three full meals a day (1). Fortunately, schoolchildren who meet the relevant criteria are eligible to receive free school meals. Since a balanced diet is crucial for a child's growth and development, school meals play a vital role in keeping young children healthy.
In England, free school meals are available to all public school children in Reception, as well as Year 1 and 2. From Year 3 upwards, children may be eligible for free school meals if they or their parents receive any of the selected benefits (2). In Scotland, any child between Reception and Year 4 can receive free school meals, which is due to increase to Year 5 in 2022 (3). The more children with access to universally available school meals, the fewer children will miss out due to stigma.
The stigma attached to free school meals
The stigma surrounding free school meals is an issue that must be addressed. This stigma suggests many children are missing out on a nutritious lunch because of their fear of embarrassment. As a result, some children will choose to go hungry rather than risk the possibility of being teased or bullied by their peers. Some schools choose to allocate vouchers to students who are eligible for free school meals, which are then used to redeem their free school lunch. The stigma currently attached to free school meals revolves around the voucher system still used in many schools across the UK. However, a cashless payments system is helping tackle this issue (4, 5). Cashless payment systems allow parents of children who do not receive free school meals to pay online. This means that all children receive their school lunch in the same way.
Why do we need free school meals?
A 2020 study revealed that food insecurity impacts 8% of families in the UK, with an extra 6% only marginally food secure (6). This statistic indicates there are thousands of children who don't know when their next meal will be. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has worsened this situation, with an additional 120,000 children plunged into poverty (7). The £20 increase to Universal Credit payments, which was introduced in response to the pandemic, is set to end on the 6th of October. This reduction is estimated to push a further 200,000 children into poverty (8). Currently, with over 420,000 pupils becoming eligible for free school meals since the beginning of the first lockdown, they are now more vital for our future generation's health than ever.
How beneficial are free school meals for school children?
Free school meals have a positive impact on the lives of 20.8% of schoolchildren, representing 1.74 million pupils (9). Therefore, roughly one-fifth of school children are now receiving a nutritious lunch as a result of the free school meals scheme. Additionally, given that most home-packed lunches rarely meet the nutritional standards of school meals, children receiving free school meals may be consuming a more balanced lunch (10).
A nutritious lunch has been proven to help children focus and improve their learning (11). Healthy lunches also have a positive effect on children's mental health and emotional development. However, since food insecurity can contribute to low self-control levels and poor interpersonal skills, supporting children with the nutritious lunches needed to develop these skills is extremely important (12).
Furthermore, the availability of free school meals positively impacts parents and careers. They can avoid the added stress of being unable to feed their children and be comforted knowing their kids are receiving a nutritious school meal every day (13). In turn, this reassurance positively impacts parental mental health, as they can worry less about providing lunch for their children and instead focus on maintaining an uplifting family home life.
Our Advice
- Check your eligibility for free school meals using this link: https://www.gov.uk/apply-free-school-meals.
- If you are struggling to provide school lunches for your children, speak to their school regarding any helpful resources.
- If the stigma around free school lunches prevents your children from opting in, raise your concerns to their school.
- If you are not eligible for free school meals and are looking to provide nutritious meals on a budget, check out our Instagram post called "Healthy Meals on a Budget for Children" for additional advice.
Written by: Ayse Hincal, Jade Thorne, and Amy Masser
References
(1) https://foodfoundation.org.uk/new-food-foundation-data-sept-2020/
(2) https://www.gov.uk/apply-free-school-meals
(3) https://www.entitledto.co.uk/help/free-school-meals
(4) https://www.iris.co.uk/blog/children-reject-free-school-meals-because-of-stigma/
(5) https://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/research/publications/working-papers/iser/2012-12.pdf
(6) https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/family-resources-survey-financial-year-2019-to-2020/family-resources-survey-financial-year-2019-to-2020#household-food-security-1 (10. Household Food Security)
(8) https://www.bigissue.com/latest/universal-credit-what-is-it-and-why-does-the-20-increase-matter/
(10) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20089755/
(11) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20808337/
(12) https://frac.org/wp-content/uploads/breakfast-for-behavior.pdf
(13)https://www.schoolhomesupport.org.uk/news/shs-in-the-media-the-importance-of-free-school-meals/