Government warned it may face legal action over summer free school meals

The Government has been warned it will face legal proceedings if it fails to provide free school meals over the summer holidays, in a letter issued by lawyers acting on behalf of Sustain and Good Law Project.

The letter from lawyers acting on behalf of Sustain and Good Law Project to the Secretary of State for Education seeks urgent clarification about what action the Government will take to address holiday hunger throughout the summer months. The letter gives the Government seven days to respond before the formal litigation process will commence.

The Government's national food voucher scheme provided free school meals for when schools closed for the coronavirus lockdown, worth £15 per child per week to be used at supermarkets.

The scheme was extended to cover the Easter holidays and the Summer half-term due to public pressure. But on 3 June 2020, the Government announced the national food voucher scheme would not cover the summer period, instead, referring to a much smaller programme of holiday activities and food for 50,000 children from low-income families.

Kath Dalmeny, Chief Executive of the Sustain alliance, said: “Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, we have heard more and more stories of families with children struggling to put food on the table due to having too little money. The situation has got worse as parents lose jobs and income. Hundreds of thousands of children have gone without food and many food banks and local authorities have told us they cannot keep up with the avalanche of demand for emergency food aid.

“Hunger has no respect for term-time dates. Throughout lockdown, Sustain and many others have repeatedly called on the Government to guarantee that vulnerable children get the food they need, including over the long summer holiday. We have tried everything we can think of to secure every child’s right to food, yet this week the Government said it has no plans to help the majority of vulnerable children over the summer. Taking legal action is a last resort, but the time has come. Hungry children in lockdown cannot march to Parliament to demand their rights, so this is why we’re speaking up - with and for them."