The right not to go hungry

Health, learning and the ‘educational divide’

The costs and benefits of school meals

The need for change

Policy options for free school meals

Added benefits

Recommendation

Free school meals make good moral, educational and financial sense. Morally, children have the right not to go hungry, and in a wealthy country like the UK this should not happen. Educationally, being hungry and undernourished undermines learning. And financially, the provision of free school meals improves family incomes and promotes work, both of which take children and their families out of poverty.

The right not to go hungry

Article 27 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child states that every child has the right ’to a standard of living adequate for the child's physical, mental, spiritual, moral and social development‘. The Government is under a duty to provide ’material assistance and support programmes, particularly with regard to nutrition‘. No child in the UK should go hungry.

Health, learning and the ‘educational divide’

School meals, health and learning are inextricably connected. Research has shown that school meals are far healthier than packed lunches; only 1% of packed lunches meet the nutritional standards set for school lunches [note 1]. Research has also shown a significant and immediate effect of diet on behaviour, concentration and cognitive ability [note 2]. We also know that increasing the provision of quality, health school meals in Britain can increase student achievement, by up to 8% in Key Stage 2 in Science, and reduce absenteeism by 15% [note 3] in all children.

Poor children stand to benefit most from free school meals. Children from low income families eat fewer vegetables and wholemeal breads, and eat more fat spreads and oils, pizza, processed meats and table sugar than children from higher income groups [note 4]. They consume on average half the daily recommended fruit and vegetable intake, exceed recommended daily sugars and fatty acids intakes and often eat inadequate levels of iron, folate and vitamin D [note 5]. Healthy school meals can decrease these dietary inequalities.

We also know that children from low income families have substantially poorer educational outcomes than their richer peers [note 6]. Providing free school meals to all children provides an easy and efficient way to reduce the gap in educational outcomes. For all children, securing a decent education is critical to avoiding poverty later in life – school meals can help break the vicious cycle of intergenerational poverty.

The costs and benefits of school meals

School meals are cost effective. Universal school meals would cost additional £1.5 billion per annum. This would see an estimated 7.4 million students benefiting from the entitlement to healthy, hot meals, [note 7] and would lift an estimated 55,000 [note 8] children out of poverty. Providing free school meals to students from families who are in receipt of either housing benefit or council tax benefit would cost an extra £58 million per year, and would ensure that an extra 220,000 students from the poorest working households can also eat well.

There would be long term financial benefits from this investment. We know that childhood poverty has its own costs, beyond the childhoods it ruins. Research by the respected Joseph Rowntree Foundation puts the cost of child poverty at £25 billion a year, with £17 billion a year that would accrue to the Exchequer directly if child poverty were eradicated [note 9].

Free school meals would have two significant long term financial impacts. Firstly, we know that child poverty ‘costs’ the health care system £2 billion a year [note 10]. Healthy eating can reduce the cost of health related diseases. According to the World Health Organisation, nutrition is related to five of the ten biggest causes of disease in developed countries [note 11]. While increased nutrition would not ameliorate all of these costs, given how much of these are associated with malnourishment, obesity and poor nutrition; school meals would have a substantive impact on these significant expenses.

Secondly, the increase in educational attainment would increase workplace productivity. An estimate of the impact of breakfast clubs on economic productivity, for example, places the overall lifetime benefit to the country of free breakfasts at £1,330 per pupil [note 12]. Given the added value of a hot lunch, we could expect these economic benefits to be at least on par, if not greater for lunches than breakfasts. These are big wins for the economy from free school meals over the long term.

The need for change

There has been a growing investment in the quality of school meals since 2005, with the establishment of the School Food Trust and the roll out of nutritional guidelines across the UK. However this has been a missed opportunity for a lot of children.

The cost of school meals can be prohibitive for too many students. Currently, school meals cost on average £1.80 – £2 a school day, or around £9 – £10 a week. These costs are increasing, and in some schools they have crossed the £2 threshold [note 13]. For many families, this expense can be very hard to meet.

'I have two primary school age children and would love them to have a school dinner every day – however – at £1.90 per child per day (£19.00 per week) I can't afford to.’ (A mother from Mumsnet.com [note 14]).

Currently, only some students from low income households are entitled to free school meals. While eligibility criteria varies in a few local authorities, at a secondary school level, free school meals are usually available only to children from workless households. This is a surprising and serious gap in support – with in work poverty reaching an all time high, nearly 60 percent of children living in poverty are from households where at least one adult is employed. This means the majority of secondary students living in poverty are not eligible for free school meals. This initiative is simply missing many children it should help.

Despite the very welcome expansion of free school meals eligibility announced in the last Pre-Budget Report, [note 15] this will not help children from poor working households in secondary schools. A number of free school meals pilots and schemes are being run in local authorities across Scotland and England and the evidence demonstrates a range of health and educational benefits that many children are simply missing.

We believe that free school meals should be made available to all children.

Who is eligible for free school meals currently?

• Children whose parents are on:
• income support
• income-based jobseeker's allowance
• income-related employment and support allowance
• support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• the guarantee element of state pension credit
• children whose parents are workless, with an annual income that does not exceed £16,190
• primary school children from working households with an income below £16,190 (rolling out from September 2010)

Who is not eligible for free school meals currently?

• secondary school children from working households, who are still on low incomes
• primary school children whose parents have a household income over £16,190.

Policy options for free school meals

Added benefits

School meals are a good way of ensuring that schools can work towards their 2020 sustainability targets. School meals can use locally sourced, freshly prepared and organic produce, which can reduce our carbon footprint. They can also provide local, part time employment for parents, and work towards tackling an emerging fast food culture.

Recommendation

Free school meals should be available to all children to ensure they can benefit from a hot, healthy meal – because it is a straightforward and effective intervention to tackle child poverty. This would lead to substantive educational and health benefits, and help all children realise their right to not go hungry.

1. BBC News, 2010 Healthy Lunch Boxes a Rarity (online) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8451828.stm (Accessed Feb 10, 2010)
2. Sorhaindo, A. & Feinstein, L. 2006 ‘What is the relationship between child nutrition and school outcomes?’ Wider Benefits of Learning Research Report No 18. Centre for Research of Wider Benefits of Learning
3. Belot, M. & James, J. 2009 Healthy School Meals and Educational Outcomes Institute for Social and Economic Research, London
4. Nelson, M., Erens, B., Bates, B., Church, S., and Boshier, T. 2007 Low Income Diet and Nutrition Survey Food Standards Agency, London.
5. Nelson, M., Erens, B., Bates, B., Church, S., and Boshier, T. 2007 Low Income Diet and Nutrition Survey Food Standards Agency, London.
6. Preston, G. 2008 Chicken and Egg CPAG, London
7. London Economics, 2008 Assessing Current and Potential Provision of Free School Meals Schools Food Trust, London.
8. CPAG calculations.
9. Hirsch, D. 2008 Estimating the Costs of Child Poverty Joseph Rowntree Foundation, London.
10. Bramley, G. & Watkins, D. 2008 The Public Service Costs of Child Poverty Joseph Rowntree Foundation, London
11. World Health Organisation 2002, Global Burden of Disease, WHO, Geneva
12. London Economics 2008 Estimating the Impact of Healthy Eating Schools Food Trust, London
13. http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/may/18/schoolmeals.schools
14. http://www.netmums.com/coffeehouse/food-feeding-555/improving-school-meals-481/328413-dispelling-school-meal-myths.html
15. HM Treasury Pre-Budget Report 2009: Securing the recovery: growth and opportunity (online) http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/prebud_pbr09_repindex.htm (accessed 10 Dec, 2009)
16. London Economics, 2008 Assessing Current and Potential Provision of Free School Meals Schools Food Trust, London.
17. These options would need considerable analysis  to ensure the 'cliff edge' of losing free school meals didn't face those with high marginal tax rates which would then made them worse off for working more hours.