What we eat has one of the strongest influences on our health. This is especially true for children – their diets not only impact their daily lives but also their development well into the future.
Our report, Nourishing the Future, found that too many children aren’t eating the food they need to thrive. The high price of nutritious food, a lack of consistent support and relevant advice, and a food system that prioritises unhealthy food means that access to healthy food is unfair and unequal – with devastating consequences for children’s health.
Our Senior Policy Adviser, Ben Lejac, explains why it’s become harder for families to have healthy diets and what needs to change so that all children get the nutrition they need.
What support is already out there?
Government support is available in the form of shopping vouchers to families with young children on very low incomes that help to buy items including fruit, vegetables, and vitamins. Examples of this are Healthy Start in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and Best Start Foods in Scotland.
Free school meals are also available to some children, with different eligibility across the four nations. In England, there are universal free school meals for children in reception to Year 2 (children who are about 4-7-years-old). Beyond this period, free school meals are only available to families who earn less than £7,400 per year, however, the Mayor of London has expanded free school meals to all primary school pupils.
Many families and young people also get food support within their communities. This might be a food bank but could also be a food pantry or community kitchen, which are community spaces that support people to buy and cook healthy food. Family hubs and family centres also often provide important spaces for offering support with food, both by sharing advice about food and nutrition and hosting community groups – like cooking groups – that help families improve their diet.
The main issue is money mostly. Food is so expensive, especially healthy food. Healthy food goes for a fiver, but then going down the unhealthy aisle is like 99p.
Young person
Why is this support not enough?
The parents and young people we spoke with told us that they wanted better diets, but they’re still struggling to buy and eat healthier food, even with the support that’s available.
One of the reasons for this is the high cost of healthier food and ingredients. Healthy Start vouchers are worth just £4.25 a week – not even close to the estimated £63 a week needed for one person to eat the minimum recommended diet advised by the Government’s Eatwell Guide to nutrition. In addition, narrow eligibility criteria, a difficult application process, and a lack of awareness of the vouchers mean that many families don’t apply for them – take-up of Healthy Start is 69% in Wales, 66% in England, and just 55% in Northern Ireland.
Families who most need Healthy Start are often the least likely to apply. It’s a horrendous process to claim for and is often different in different local authorities.
Samantha Murray
Strategic Lead for Health Visiting at Barnardo’s
In much of the country, free school meals are only available for the very poorest children. That means many families who are still struggling financially don’t qualify and may have to send their children to school with a less-nutritious packed lunch, or worse – face their children skipping lunch altogether.
In these circumstances, community support can make a big difference to families, but it isn’t always available or accessible to everyone. Not all communities have community kitchens, food pantries or a family centre, creating a ‘postcode lottery’ of what food support is available. Food available from food banks, whilst welcome, is only supposed to be a temporary measure and often doesn’t include the fresh, nutritious food children need, given that it's more expensive and difficult to store.
What needs to change?
The approach taken by governments to improve children and young people’s diets has not done enough. Blaming families, parents and young people for failing to battle against things beyond their control – such as high food and cooking costs, confusing and irrelevant advice, and a food system that actively works against healthy options – is unfair and counterproductive.
Instead, we need to see a change in approach that supports families and young people to overcome the barriers that they face. Our report, Nourishing the Future, lays out a series of actions that governments across the UK should take to achieve this.
This includes improving the food support that’s already available to make it more accessible and useful to the families who need it most. For example, we call for an annual increase in the value of shopping vouchers – as happens with other benefits – as well as an expansion of the eligibility criteria, to make sure they can support as many families as possible with the cost of nutritious food. We also want all children to have access to free school meals, with an immediate rollout to those most in need.
We also call for more government support for organisations that work in communities and directly with families that do a huge amount of work to provide local food support in often very challenging circumstances. These organisations and community resources need sustainable, long-term funding so that communities can always rely them.
Above all, if the Government wants to fulfil its promise of making this generation of children the healthiest ever, it must sit down at the table with children, young people, and families to understand the challenges they face and offer the right support to meet their needs.
Nourishing the Future: making healthy food accessible for every child
The food we eat as children – and the nutrients we receive even before we are born – has a huge impact on our health and wellbeing. Unfortunately, there is growing evidence that here in the UK, far too many children and young people are missing out on the nutritious food they need to thrive.
“The support in place at the moment just isn’t fitting with the degree of poverty people are experiencing.”
Sonia, a mum of two boys, who we’ve supported through our Cumbria LINK service, shares her experience of poverty and explains why she thinks the government should do more to support families who are struggling to make ends meet.
Why involving young people in decisions about their lives is a recipe for success
Our joint report with Co-op, "A Recipe for Success: How Children and Young People Want to Access Food in Their Communities", reflects on young people’s views and experiences of accessing food.