No child should face hunger this summer

The summer holidays are almost here. Closed schools mean no breakfast clubs and no free school meals, and so parents and carers must cover the extra costs of having children at home. For those already on tight budgets, the additional financial burdens can be unmanageable.

Today, The Felix Project, London’s largest food redistribution charity, releases shocking findings that 67% of teachers in England expect at least one child in their class to experience hunger during the summer holidays because their parents or carers cannot afford to feed them.

We had over 9,100 teachers answer the survey. In total 50% worry that up to three children in their class will go hungry, 13% worry that between four and six children would be affected; 2% said up to 10 children and what was really alarming was that 2% said more than 11 children in their class will go hungry in the next six weeks.

We all know that the cost-of-living crisis is leaving too many people struggling to afford enough food on the table. Parents are skipping meals. But these results bring home the reality of what is happening to children in our classrooms across the country. We believe this could mean around 675,000 schoolchildren are at risk of experiencing hunger.

The results revealed that the numbers are higher in primary schools, where 73% of the 3,373 teachers who responded worried that at least one child would go hungry due to the extra costs of food during the summer break. That could equate to 390,000 children aged between just 4 and 11.

As a charity, we rescue food that cannot be sold and would otherwise go to waste, and distribute it to organisations across the capital that are feeding those in need. In term time, we deliver to 170 schools; during the holidays, we redirect that food to other organisations. This summer, Felix will be putting on over 500 extra deliveries to a range of community organisations to ensure children and families have access to healthy and nutritious food.

We also see a lot more food available over the summer months. Last August, during harvest season, we had an additional 300 tonnes of fresh produce, which we distributed directly to people experiencing food insecurity.

Evidence shows that when children are hungry, they cannot play, grow, and thrive as they should. The summer holidays are the longest hunger gap, and teachers notice the effect on attainment. These results reveal areas where 10 children in a classroom will be going hungry. If this happens every summer, these children do not stand a chance; it’s unlikely they will ever catch up.

More must be done to help. We want the government to do more to support low-income families, but as a charity also concerned about the high levels of food waste, we think more can be done to stop edible food that could feed people from being thrown away.

The Felix Project, FareShare, and other redistribution charities are currently calling for the introduction of a sustainable farming incentive that would reward farmers for donating their edible, but out-of-specification crops, to charities like Felix. We believe there could be an additional 350 million meals worth of food available. This healthy produce could be used to feed children and their families, ensuring holidays are filled with happiness and not hunger.

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Charlotte Hill OBE is CEO of The Felix Project.

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