London charity calls for urgent child food poverty review

A review into the scale and severity of child food poverty should be launched urgently, a charity has said, as it claimed measures aimed at tackling the cost-of-living crisis do not go far enough.

The Childhood Trust, London's child poverty charity, is hoping to raise £4 million in seven days through its Christmas Challenge campaign.

The campaign, launched on Tuesday, comes against a backdrop of rising food and energy prices, and the charity said it believes many children are at risk of malnutrition or worse this winter.

A small survey commissioned by the trust polled a random sample of 280 children aged between 7-16 living in the capital and found that 40% reported being food insecure over the past month.

Food insecurity is defined by the United Nations as when a person lacks regular access to enough safe and nutritious food for normal growth and development and an active and healthy life.

Of those who reported being food insecure, almost 10% said they had "many experiences" of food poverty in that time period while 12.5% reported having had "several experiences".

The charity said that its research, which was carried out between September and November, saw a recurrent theme that food banks were playing a crucial role in helping families struggling with food insecurity.

Its results also showed that 21% of the children surveyed reported not being able to get food they wanted in the past month because there was not enough money available while 15% experienced hunger in the past month.

Some 8% of children reported feeling embarrassed or ashamed about the methods they or their family used to get food, the charity said.

Almost a quarter (24%) of children who reported being worried that food would run out at home were in receipt of Free School Meals (FSM) - a finding the charity said suggested that this measure, which is intended to help struggling families, is not providing sufficient support against food insecurity.

Laurence Guinness, the trust's chief executive, said: "It is shocking and appalling that food insecurity is now widespread and normalised for a very large minority of children living in London, many of whom were already badly impacted by, and struggling to recover from, the Covid-19 pandemic.

"This is an urgent public health crisis and the Government should initiate a rapid review into the scale and severity of child food poverty in order to implement measures to prevent children's health from rapidly deteriorating."

Professor Monica Lakhanpaul, honorary consultant paediatrician at Whittington NHS Trust, said the impact of food insecurity on children "cannot be underestimated", as it directly affects their brain development, emotional well-being and physical growth.

She said: "Poor diets are linked to increased risk of problems such as rickets, obesity, anaemia, and stunting, and the negative impacts of these nutritional deficits will extend across children's lifespan and into adulthood.

"As a society in a high-income country, we should be ashamed that so many children are not only suffering from such preventable issues, but also having to deal with the stress of not knowing where their next meal is coming from and yet accepting this as the norm.

"We need action now if we are to prevent child inequalities increasing and if we are to have any hope in halting the chronic physical and mental health problems these children may encounter in the years to come."

A Government spokesperson outlined financial support it has already pledged to help people it said it recognises are "struggling with rising prices", including direct payments, the energy price guarantee, and the household support fund.

They added: "This Government has expanded access to free school meals more than any other in recent decades, with 1.9 million pupils currently receiving a nutritious free school meal through the benefits-related criteria.

"We will continue to keep all eligibility under review, to ensure that these meals are supporting those who most need them."