Unicef will feed hungry children in the UK this year for the first time in the charity’s history.
The United Nations Children’s Fund is the UN agency responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to children worldwide.
It will step in to provide assistance to school pupils across the two-week Christmas holiday, sending food parcels to children in London who risk going hungry amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The charity told Sky News the move was “significant” and likened the effects of the coronavirus outbreak on the UK’s children to the impact of the Second World War.
Increase in food insecurity
The charity will provide a grant of £25,000 to the School Food Matters charity. This money will be used to supply thousands of breakfast boxes over the two-week Christmas school holidays to vulnerable children and families in Southwark, south London. Each Box will provide enough food for ten breakfasts across the Christmas holiday, including 1.2 tonnes of fruit and veg donated by organic food company Abel & Cole.
The borough has been hard hit by an increase in food poverty, with one in four Southwark residents said to experience food insecurity.
The south London boroughs experience is said to be shared across the UK, with data showing a significant increase in food insecurity since the pandemic began.
A survey conducted by YouGov on behalf of the Food Foundation estimated 17 percent of 8-17 year-olds reported experiences of food insecurity over the summer holiday when a food voucher system was in place for eligible families, totalling 2.4 million children. By October, these findings indicated an extra 900,000 children had been registered for free school meals.
Charity founder Stephanie Slater described it as “significant” as this is “the first time in the 70 year history of Unicef that they have supported a UK project”.
“Covid has absolutely clobbered low income families and they are really struggling,” she said. “That just shows us that we are all acknowledging there is a real issue here with food insecurity and it is not going to go away anytime soon.
‘It’s critical to come together at this time’
However, she added that the support is “just nibbling around the edges of this problem.”
“Many of the families we supported over the 18 week programme, in fact one in five of the families were not eligible for free school meals,” she told LBC. “So we know that this level of need goes far beyond the Government’s measure of food insecurity and disadvantage.”
A move to provide free school meals outside of the holidays has also been brought to light this year by Manchester United footballer Marcus Rashford. Mr Rashford, once a free school meals recipient, has been a vocal campaigner for free school meals inside and outside of the school holidays as the pandemic continues to take its toll.
“We feel it’s critical to come together at this time,” Anna Kettley, of Unicef UK told Sky News.
“It’s the first time which we’re recognising that this is an unprecedented situation which requires everyone to roll their sleeves up, step in and support children and families that need it most at this time.”
i has contacted the Department for Education for comment.