Poor children missing out on free school meals (From Daily Echo)
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Poor children in Hampshire missing out on free school meals
4:00am Thursday 7th March 2013 in News
By Sian Davies, Senior News Reporter
School meal.
MORE than 20,000 children who are living in poverty in Hampshire are missing out on free school meals, figures released today show.
Youngsters are entitled to free school meals if their parents claim income support.
But according to the new figures more families with working parents are being pushed into poverty because of the rising cost of living.
It means that despite being in poverty they do not qualify for the free meals leaving thousands of children in the county without a daily hot meal.
The figures have been published by The Children's Society, through its Fair and Square campaign, and is now calling on the Government to make free school meals available to all children in poverty.
Across Hampshire and the Isle of Wight the charity has calculated that 21,500 youngsters who are in poverty are missing out.
The Children's Society chief executive Matthew Reed said: “We know from the families we work with up and down the country that parents are struggling to make ends meet. Right now, the Government is reconsidering which children will be entitled to get free school meals. We urge the government to take this opportunity to make sure all children in poverty can get a free school meal.”
The call is being backed by hardship and children's charities across the south, who say they are seeing a huge increase in the number of people access their services.
The BASICS food bank which gives out emergency parcels to the public says they are being inundated with requests.
Last year saw 5,000 people receive food parcels and in the last three months volunteers have seen a 31 per cent increase in service users compared with the same period last year.
Co-ordinator Cheryl Ricketts said: “On Monday 83 people were served which would have been the number in a week just a few years ago.
“We are definitely seeing more people coming to us, particularly those who are in fuel poverty and having to make choices between heating or eating.”
Mike Smith, general manager at the SCRATCH hardship charity based in Southampton said they too were also seeing a rise in demand.
“By the end of this financial year I would say we are busier by up to 15 per cent. Pay rises simply aren't keeping up with the cost of living and families are feeling that.”
The Honeypot charity in the New Forest supports vulnerable children and provides respite care for young carers. Children's services manager Clare Holloway said they were seeing more referrals from schools.
“I do think there are many more families in need and I can see the problem getting worse before it gets better. I think that there is a huge need for children who are in poverty but do not qualify and so are potentially not getting a hot meal at all.”
Number of children in poverty missing out on free school meals by constituency:
Southampton Test 3,100
Romsey and Southampton North 1,000
Winchester 600Gosport 1,900
Fareham 1,000
Meon Valley 1,300
Isle of Wight 3,100
Hampshire North West 1,300
Hampshire North East 900
Hampshire East 1,300
Comments(4)
Outside of the Box
says...
8:43am Thu 7 Mar 13
FoysCornerBoy wrote:Great idea I think SCC could lead the way, take the leaders innovative business fund away to this would allow £550,000 to kick your plan.
These figures are worrying and come on top of recent child poverty and obesity data.
I can't help but think that part of the solution here would be to provide free school meals to all primary school children where the authorities (schools, academies, councils etc.) ensured the highest possible nutritional standards.
Whilst there would be n initial cost that will need to be borne by the taxpayer in some form the long term health and related benefits will save money.
Children are amongst the vulnerable in our society and should be feed, before people start saying irresponsible parents should have children they can't afford to feed, that attitude doesn't solve anything these children are here and we need to do everything we can to ensure the best possible start in life, let's be honest they didn't ask to be and shouldn't be punished.
debzy82
says...
9:18am Thu 7 Mar 13
sotonboy84
says...
12:47pm Thu 7 Mar 13
Society has got used to living in comfort so in times of economic difficulty such as recent years, those on low incomes are hit harder so people need to adapt to this and not just think that a lower income means the same lifestyle they led before but with a smaller income. People need to adapt, make changes and make cut backs. I don't even see that the reference in the article to making a choice between heating or eating is even relevant as eating is a necessity and heating is still a luxury. Nobody lives in Victorian slum houses with broken windows and one toilet per street anymore so learn to economise.
FoysCornerBoy says...
7:54am Thu 7 Mar 13
I can't help but think that part of the solution here would be to provide free school meals to all primary school children where the authorities (schools, academies, councils etc.) ensured the highest possible nutritional standards.
Whilst there would be n initial cost that will need to be borne by the taxpayer in some form the long term health and related benefits will save money.