I am a university student studying Children in Society. While gathering research about Food Poverty, I discovered the extent of this issue within the United Kingdom. Almost 2.7 million children in the UK do not have sufficient access to enough healthy nutritional food (The Food Foundation, 2024). I am saddened by the scale of this issue and I am on a mission to force the government to act by providing  free school meals for all children in primary schools and early years settings. The purpose of my website is to raise awareness and educate the public on the severity of this issue and the effect it is having on children. By raising awareness I hope to build up a following and together we can force the government to take action! (please sign my petition)

As an Early Years Practitioner I have a duty of care towards all children, knowing that children in the UK are not entitled to a nutritional meal causes great upset to me, especially when the learning and development of a child and their future is severely affected. The UK Government confidently shares the importance of every child having their rights met however, the policies that are put in place to prevent child food poverty fall way short of remediating the issue. Cabinet Office statistics show that children living in poverty has increased from 2.2 million in 2010 to 4.3 million in 2023 (Cabinet Office, 2024),  this demonstrates that the measures put in place are not effective.

References

Cabinet Office (2024) Tackling Child Poverty: Developing Our Strategy. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/tackling-child-poverty-developing-our-strategy/tackling-child-poverty-developing-our-strategy-html (Accessed: 11 April 2025)

Department for Works and Pensions (2024) Child Poverty Taskforce kicks off urgent work to publish strategy in spring. Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/child-poverty-taskforce-kicks-off-urgent-work-to-publish-strategy-in-spring [Figure 1]

The Food Foundation (2024) Latest food insecurity tracker shows millions struggling to feed themselves. Available at: https://foodfoundation.org.uk/news/latest-food-insecurity-tracker-shows-millions-struggling-feed-themselves#:~:text=Latest%20food%20insecurity%20tracker%20shows%20millions%20struggling%20to%20feed%20themselves,-%EF%82%9A%20%EF%82%99%20%EF%83%A0&text=Nearly%2010%20million%20adults%20and,with%20four%20or%20more%20children [Accessed: 28 April 2025]