The report, Priced out of School, found about one in six young people aged 11 to 18 said they’ve missed school at least once because they didn’t have something they needed to attend, such as the right uniform or money for transport or a school meal. Among children from the lowest-income families, one in four said they were absent for this reason.
The report revealed that 23% of students who had missed school said it was because they didn’t have the money for school meals. This is particularly worrying given that almost a million children living in poverty are not eligible for free school meals due to the draconian eligibility criteria. One in five surveyed said they stayed at home at least once because even bringing a packed lunch to school was too expensive.
Money worries are getting in the way of learning too with 16% of students reporting it was a factor in which subjects they chose to study. This primarily affects PE and Food Technology, which both require kit or ingredients to be brought in from home.
The report recommends that as part of the upcoming Child Poverty Strategy, the UK government must expand free school meals to more families in England as a step towards universal free school meal provision. It also recommends that the government commit to automatically enrolling eligible children so that complex paperwork isn’t a barrier to accessing a free school meal.
If we’re serious about breaking down barriers to opportunity, we need to address these issues, and that includes making sure no child or young person is too hungry to learn. We at School Food Matters are also calling on the government to introduce school food for all. But we need your help: ask your MP to back free school meals for every child using our template letter.
Read CPAG’s full report here.
