Issue - meetings

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It was moved by Councillor Doyle, seconded by Councillor Roscoe:

This Council notes the latest data released by the Government on the 31 March 2022, shows that 9501 of the children in the borough of Sefton live in relative low-income families. The highest density of families living in relative poverty live in the south of the borough, but there are also areas in the north where many families face the same issues.

At Sefton Council, we are well placed to see the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on our residents and their children and families. As an authority, we are focused on ensuring that our most disadvantaged children are not left behind, in line with our anti-poverty strategy.

To help us do that, we must make sure that every child has the nutrition they need to be able to learn and work to their potential during the school day. Not doing so would undermine all the great efforts of the education and healthcare workforce to tackle inequalities. We understand the benefits free school meals provide to those currently entitled. For many, it is the only hot, nutritious meal they have in a day. A quality school meal helps improve children’s concentration and behaviour during lessons. We understand the effect they can have on improving school attendance, on children’s health, and academic performance.

We know that, prior to the current cost of living crisis:

One in three school-age children in England living in poverty (800,000) missed out on free school meals despite cost-of-living struggles of families. In large part, this is because of the restrictive eligibility criteria and lack of universal provision for all ages.

Government action in England lags far behind Scotland and Wales, where government funding means primary schools are moving towards free school meals for all children.

The intensifying cost-of-living crisis means many more are now struggling to afford school lunches. Children are falling into school meal debt, and there is a serious threat to take-up of school meals and the viability of the catering service, not to mention risking the health and wellbeing of our pupils.

We hear from school leaders about the devastating reality of children coming to school unable to afford to buy lunch, because their family circumstances mean they fall outside the restrictive free school meal eligibility criteria. The Food Foundation’s latest data indicates an estimated 2.6 million children live in households that missed meals or struggled to access healthy food during April 2022. Additionally, the Institute of Health Equity has estimated that by January 2023, 66% or 18 million households, in the UK will be in fuel poverty, thus adding to the crisis.

Excluding so many vulnerable children is a real barrier to learning and must be urgently addressed. Now is the right moment for the government to commit to an expansion of free school meals, providing a nutritional safety net that supports all children to learn and achieve.

The clear solution to ensuring fairness and equity across our schools is to extend  ...  view the full minutes text for item 75