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HUNGER: THE INCONVENIENT TRUTH

Matthew Patten, CEO Mayor’s Fund for London:

This short report brings together just a handful of the shocking statistics

around “holiday hunger” – the problem of increasing numbers of children not

having regular, nutritious meals during school holidays.

In October 2015, the London Food

Poverty Profile report by Sustain,

Beyond the Food Bank, underlined

the stark reality for many children

during the school holidays. It

showed that some 220,000 London

pupils from families living below the

poverty line are enrolled in free

school meals , while more than half

a million of the capital’s children

will struggle for food during the school holidays. The report also estimated

that there are some 1.5m London children living in poverty but not eligible

for free school meals.

The Mayor’s Fund for London has already worked with 14 clubs, delivering

4,000 meals to more than 600 children and young people in London as part of

a pilot project and it’s now time to expand our work to ensure no child or

young person in London has to go without nutritious meals during the school

holidays and the social interaction that go with them.

We hope the details on the following pages will give you a greater

understanding of what many children face for many weeks of the year

outside of term time and will move you to get involved.

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THE PROBLEM OF HUNGER

The information contained in this section of this report pulls together key insight from

three major studies:

Qualitative Evaluation of Holiday Breakfast Clubs in the UK

School Holiday Food Provision in the UK: A Qualitative Investigation of Needs,

Benefits and Potential for Development

Britain’s not-so-hidden Hunger: A progress report from the All-Party Parliamentary

Group on Hunger

Food poverty has been defined as ‘the inability to

afford or to have access to food to make up a healthy

diet1. And while 98% of people affected by food

poverty live in developing countries2, there is an

increasing number of UK families relying on food aid.

Statistics from the Trussell Trust, Fareshare and Food

Cycle suggest there was a 54% increase in the number

of families accessing food banks between 2012/2013

and 2013/2014.

And a progress report from the All-Party

Parliamentary Group on Hunger: Britain’s not-so-

hidden hunger, cited that in an age of “rampant child

obesity” there had been a shock increase in the

number of children starting their first and final years

of school who are under weight. According to the

National Child Measurement Programme, in 2015

(CHECK) some 6,367 children started reception class underweight – an increase of 16% since

2012 and 7,663 children started their first year of primary school underweight – an increase

of 15% since 2012.

Rising fuel and rent costs and changes to benefits payments are all cited as major influences

on the amount of money families have left to spend on food. However, research also

underlines that food poverty is not unique to families living on very low incomes3: 62% of

children living in poverty live in households with at least one working parent4. Moreover, it

1 Department of Health, Choosing a Better Diet: A Food and Health Action Plan. London: Department of Health

Crown (2005) 2Poverty and Social Exclusion: UK. The Improvement of the UK: PSE UK First Results: Living Standards (2013)

Available from www.poverty.ac.uk 3 Downing E, Kennady S, Fell M. Food Banks and Food Poverty. Commons Briefing Paper [Internet] (2014)

http://researchbriefings.parliament.uk/ResearchBriefing/Summary/SN06657 4 Cooper N, Dumbleton S. Walking the Breadline: The Scandal of Food Poverty in 21

st Century Britain (2013)

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also stresses that food aid figures might not reflect the true extent of the problem as not

every family experiencing food poverty will access food aid5.

Across the UK, 1.3m children have access to

free school meals. The importance of

nutritious food, particularly for young

children, is acknowledged by the

Government’s introduction of the universal

infant free school meals in September 2014

for all children in Key Stage 1 (aged four to

seven years) in primary schools.

However, school meals under most school

policies across the UK are generally only

provided during term time – approximately

38 weeks of the year, with no additional provision in place during school holidays. This

causes considerable challenges for parents and carers, especially during the long summer

break when they need to provide extra meals for their children for six to seven weeks. While

there is no official, uniform data on holiday hunger, anecdotal evidence from teachers and

school cooks suggests that during school holidays children may go for several days without a

proper meal.

A report written for children’s charity Barnados - Food Poverty in School Holidays6, as far

back 2004 highlighted that the summer break can be a fraught time for parents and carers

who already have financial difficulties. Parents discussed how they made efforts to stretch

their food budgets by purchasing food that was cheap but generally unhealthy, with cost

having to take priority over nutritional adequacy.

According to the Food Research and

Action Centre (FRAC) children’s meal

intakes during the summer break

from school can be sporadic, often

consisting of foods lower in

nutritional value that they would

receive at school during term time.

And it’s not only children’s diets that

suffer during holiday time. The lack

of food also means that many

5Lambie-Mumford H, Dowler E. Rising use of ‘food aid’ in the United Kingdom. Br Food J (2014)

6 Gill O, Sharma N. Food Poverty in School Holidays (2004) www.barnados.org.uk/foodpovertyreportv3.qxd.pdf

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children are limited socially as they are unable to invite friends over to their houses to play

as their parents are unable to extend their household food provisions to feed additional

children.

The lack of a formal set-up for holiday food programmes has led to growing concern that

many children are experiencing “holiday hunger”7. Indeed in a survey commissioned by

breakfast cereal manufacturer Kelloggs, 39% of teachers surveyed in the UK believed that

their pupils do not get enough to each during the school holidays8.

In a bid to combat holiday hunger, there are now a number of different schemes operating

around the UK offering families meals, social engagement and activities and the most recent

research points to it making a very real difference to many children and their carers.

Qualitative research with

staff working on holiday

food programmes found

that while the nutritious

food offered by the

holiday clubs was the key

ingredient of their

success, other factors such

as the sociability of the

clubs, activities and the

family support on offer,

were also welcomed by

those accessing the

services. The activities on

offer were valued as they were deemed to be more accessible than other activities in the

local area. They were also believed to alleviate boredom and reduce the likelihood that

children would engage in anti-social behaviour. Moreover, children and adults learnt new

skills and knowledge through the various activities – particularly in relation to food,

nutrition and sports skills.

Holiday clubs were also seen as valuable sources of support, providing an environment

where parents and children could go for various kinds of help beyond the provision of food.

7 Graham L. 170 Days. Innovation in community projects that address school holiday child hunger

8 Kelloggs. Isolation and Hunger: The reality of the school holidays for struggling families (2015)

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HUNGRY LONDON

220,000 London pupils from families living below the poverty line are enrolled in

Free School Meals

18% or one in five London pupils are at risk of hunger every day during the school

day

More than half a million London children struggle for food during school holidays

There are an estimated 1.5m London children living in poverty but not eligible for

Free School Meals. These children would greatly benefit both physically and

socially from access to holiday meal programmes

Social isolation, in addition to poor nutrition, can undermine a child’s school

readiness, cognitive function, well-being and social integration

[London Food Poverty Profile report by Sustain, Beyond the Food Bank. Oct 2015]

OUR MISSION

The Mayor’s Fund for London is now working to raise the

profile of holiday hunger and the negative impact it has on

young Londoners.

We are looking to support community groups, boroughs,

businesses, foundations, charities and individuals to help

supply healthy holiday meals and positive activities to some

50,000 young Londoners in some of the capital’s most

disadvantaged areas – and report back on the positive effects

this has.

We’ll also be campaigning for statutory support in a bid to achieve the educational, social

and health benefits that holiday food provision would bring for all young Londoners.

Kitchen Social will build on the pilot projects we

ran last year. Over the next three years our aim is to

identify and help 330 community organisations across

London, to develop a healthy food and social

development offer during school holidays. And while

tackling hunger is at the heart of Kitchen Social, we

strong believe that it’s also important to consider the mental and physical and social well-being of

London children. These other benefits include learning about healthy eating, skills

developments, social inclusion and identification of children and young people in need, plus

the development of staff, volunteers and local capacity.

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WE KNOW IT WORKS

In the summer 2016 the Mayor’s Fund for London created

and delivered a Holiday Food Provision pilot scheme,

working with 14 clubs in five London boroughs.

The pilot saw more than 4,000 healthy balanced meals

delivered to more than 600 children and young people. In

addition the children and young people benefited from social integration, access to group

and physical activities, plus they learned about cooking and healthy eating.

Similarly the Mayor’s Fund For London Breakfast Club project, delivering pre-school

breakfast to all pupils in Year’s 2 and 6 in 106 London schools between September2014 and

July 2015 saw positive outcomes: For instance, Year 2 children in breakfast club schools

experienced around two-months’ additional progress compared to Year 2 children in other

schools. Year 6 children also experienced around two months’ progress compared to similar

aged children in other schools. Neither of these results were likely to have occurred by

chance.

Teachers at Breakfast Club schools also noted general pupil behaviour improvements,

possibly even with positive outcomes for children not attending before-school breakfast

because of improved classroom environments.

Breakfast Club schools also recorded an improvement in Key Stage 1 outcomes of around

two months’ progress.

GET INVOLVED

Be a delivery partner: Are you an organisation that already works with young people or one

that provides healthy food? Do you have a safe space and catering facilities? Are you a local

authority that would like to develop Kitchen Social projects?

Offer us your experience and influence: Help us to develop Kitchen Social with other

London institutions, charities, businesses and individuals.

Help us to raise £1m: The Innocent Foundation, the Hillingdon Trust and the Greater London

Authority are already on board…we now need businesses, public funders, foundations and individual

donors to help up reach our target.

Find out more and get involved. Contact us on 020 7983 4051 or visit mayorsfundforlondon.org.uk

Mayors Fund for London is a registered charity. No 1124833