Calls for action as teachers reveal scale of pupil hunger

Exclusive 100,000 miss out on free school meals after eligibility is frozen

- Sally Weale, Richard Adams, Patrick Butler

Children not eligible for free school meals are coming to school with mouldy bread, dry cereal and in some cases nothing at all, according to teachers who told the Guardian they had never seen such desperation in the communities they serve.

The harrowing accounts of widespread hunger in classrooms come as analysis by the Lib Dem s found more than 100,000 children in England may be missing out on free school meals (FSM) because the income ceiling for eligibility has been frozen for four years, while costs have soared.

“The government is snatching school lunches away from children by stealth,” said Munira Wilson, the Lib Dems’ education spokesperson , who argued that had the £7,400 limit on household earnings increased in line with inflation, it would now be set at £8,575, rendering up to 110,000 more children eligible.

School leaders say they are shocked by the pitiful packed lunches they are seeing in classrooms as desperate parents struggle to feed their children. One pupil brought in a cupful of left-over plain rice, and another had just a small tub of dry cereal.

Others come to school with a single chocolate bar, after parents give them a pound for lunch, while many from low-income families arrive in class tired and listless because their stomachs are empty.

“I’ve been in education since 2006 and I’ve never known anything like it,” said Sarah Livesey, head at Oasis Academy Leesbrook in Oldham, Greater Manchester. “We are in the worst situation we have ever been. Even with Covid, this is our most challenging time.”