Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford’s campaign to extend free schools meals to more of Britain’s poorest children has been backed by a government review.
The National Food Strategy say that another 1.5 million pupils should be entitled to free school meals.
The review, led by Leon restaurant founder Henry Dimbleby, says free school meals should be extended to every child from a household claiming Universal Credit.
The report states: “One of the miserable legacies of COVID-19 is likely to be a dramatic increase in unemployment and poverty, and therefore hunger.” As an immediate intervention the review calls for more children to be eligible for a free school meals, as “only 1 percent of packed lunches meet the nutritional standards of a school meal.”
