The number of households with children experiencing food insecurity has doubled in just a year prompting increased support for the expansion of free school meals, new research finds.
In January this year, 22 per cent of households with children had experienced food insecurity in the past month, new data from charity The Food Foundation has found, compared with last January’s rate of 12 per cent.
Using this data, The Food Foundation estimated that 3.7 million children were unable to access nutritious food throughout January this year.
The charity reported “overwhelming” support for expanding free school meals, with eight out of 10 people in England now in favour of the government providing free school meals to children in households in receipt of Universal Credit.
