There are 1.3 million children registered for free school meals in the UK who rely on these daily nutritional meals supplied by their schools. Whilst this provision supports many children UNICEF reported in 2017 that one in three children in the UK are in multi-dimensional poverty, with one in five children suffering from food insecurity.
Whilst these statistics show that there are so many vulnerable children in need in the UK, the recent school closures and lock down procedures for Covid-19 have meant that these free school meals have not been as accessible. The Food Foundation estimates that 200,000 UK children are skipping meals due to families not being able to access food and that an estimated 325,000 of the 1.3 million children registered for free school meals have had no support since school closures were announced.
Around 4 million UK children now live in families that cannot afford to follow the government guidelines for a healthy diet.
The first public report of this data