WITH nearly 8,500 children in Warrington living in poverty, the borough council has backed a Liberal Democrat Motion calling on the government to provide new money for Free School Meals for all primary children, including vouchers for holidays.
Forty-five councillors voted in favour with two Conservatives against and one abstaining.
Cllr Ian Marks said, “Liberal Democrats are proud that it was their initiative when in Coalition to introduce Free School Meals for children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2. The time has arrived when more needs to be done.
“Headteachers say they have never seen anything like the perfect storm of rising poverty, higher prices and shrinking school budgets resulting in more hungry children in classrooms but fewer resources to help them. The proportion of children eligible for Free School Meals has jumped from 15% in 2019 to 22% this year with 1.9 million now eligible. The problem is the increase in the ‘invisible hungry’, which are families in poverty but not poor enough to qualify. The Child Poverty Action Group estimates there are 800,000 families below the poverty line on Universal Credit or other benefits who are missing out.
This topic hit the headlines when Marcus Rashford got involved during the COVID pandemic. His actions resulted in a Government announcement in June 2020 that Free School Meals would be provided to disadvantaged children over the school holidays. The other high-profile campaigner is Jamie Oliver who has warned that children are going to school with empty lunchboxes and no money for food.
The Food Foundation has also said that the Government would be condemning thousands of children to a very difficult start in life with lifelong impacts, if the scheme was not expanded during the cost-of-living crisis.
According to figures from the National Education Union, 4338 children in Warrington North, 24% of the total, and 4096 in Warrington South, 19% of the total, are in poverty.
Giving a Free School Meal to all our children will enable them to learn properly and so reach their potential. It would also put money back into parents’ pockets which can be used to pay for other essentials like heating at home or hobbies and after-school clubs. The Chancellor has said that his government was committed to Education. But this comes after a decade of real-terms cuts and frightening figures about schools with huge budget challenges.
Cllr Mark Browne added. “Nearly 8500 children in Warrington living in poverty is a shocking statistic which is more like an extract from an 1880s Dickensian novel than Warrington in 2022. It is another demonstration of the most vulnerable bearing the brunt of years of Tory mismanagement.”
The motion brought forward by the Liberal Democrats follows on from the last full council meeting where Labour councillor Nathan Sudworth asked leader of the council Russ Bowden, to sign the open letter from the National Education Union to the Prime Minister asking the Prime Minister to commit to funding universal free school meals.
Cllr Sarah Hall, the borough council’s cabinet member for children and schools said: “There has been a staggering 50% increase in pupils eligible for free school meals since 2019.
“Four million children are now living in poverty – two thirds of them from working households, that’s 27% of our children.
“I would love to be able to give every child in Warrington a free school meal, however, the cost cannot be met by local authorities.
“Our budgets have been cut to the bone over the past 12 years by the Tories.
“Sadly, we know for some children a school meal is the only hot meal of the day they will have.
“The question is, how far is the government willing to go to stop our children starving”
Warrington South MP Andy Carter said: “I know this is an issue which many people care greatly about and I agree it’s incredibly important that we make sure our children have access to healthy food at school.
“I am very pleased the Government introduced not just an expansion of free school meals but also the holiday activities and food programme which supports children through the holidays too.
“I’m always interested in more ideas where we can extend this further and would welcome a conversation with Councillors on how they might fund this”.
