Candidates and parties must do more to prevent school lunch debt and hidden school hunger

Aberlour’s SallyAnn Kelly on what advisers can do to help make Scotland a country where no child goes hungry

In a country as wealthy as Scotland, no child should go hungry.

Everyone can agree on that.

Sadly, we know that’s not true for tens of thousands of families across Scotland struggling to feed their children.

Skyrocketing energy bills, rising food prices and rising inflation have all led to a crisis in the cost of living for those on the lowest incomes.

For the families we work with in Aberlour, it has already become a cost of living disaster.

A very worrying picture has emerged of families trapped in poverty due to a cycle of indebtedness to public bodies, such as councils, housing associations, the DWP – and even schools.

Research commissioned by Aberlour has highlighted a growing number of families who cannot afford to feed their children at school.

This is increasingly a problem for many struggling families who are currently not eligible for free school meals.

Our research has shown that income thresholds for eligibility for free school meals have barely increased over the past 20 years.

In 2002, low-income working families with an income of just over £13,000 were eligible for free school meals, but today that income threshold is just over £16,000.

However, adjusted for inflation, the income threshold from two decades ago would be the equivalent of around £22,000 in 2021.

This means that far fewer children are entitled to free school meals today than 20 years ago.

During this period, we have seen child poverty steadily increase.

Our research has shown that there is currently over £1million in school meals debt owed by families across Scotland.

There is also a worrying and inconsistent picture of how schools and councils are responding to families in debt for school meals.

These debts are usually chased by local debt collection practices, which can take councils years to try and recover.

Cashless payment systems are now used in most schools to pay for school meals, requiring parents to pay in advance.

These systems can allow debt to accumulate when a primary school child who is not eligible for free school meals receives a school meal and the debt is then added to their cashless account.

For secondary school students, they face the stigmatizing experience of identifying as having no money only to then receive a voucher which they must redeem for a meal.

Our research also revealed that some councils treat the provision of school meals in such circumstances as discretionary, suggesting that some pupils may be denied a meal.

This is a flagrant violation of children’s human rights and a shocking admission as we consider the incorporation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).

However, most alarming is the likelihood that secondary school students who have no money in their school lunch account will avoid stigma, shame and debt, and instead go hungry.

What is clear is that families are in debt because they cannot afford school meals.

We need to think differently and with compassion about how we respond to these families.

Councils must be true to their stated commitments to achieve the UNCRC and #KeepThePromise to better support families struggling to feed their children.

So ahead of the local elections, Aberlour is calling on all candidates and parties to commit to doing more to prevent school meal debt and hidden school hunger.

We want CoSLA and councils to work together to ensure:

• A consistent, non-stigmatising and rights-based school meals debt policy for all schools, with the guarantee that no child will go hungry;

• Any school meals debt accrued by a family that becomes eligible or registers late for free school meals will be automatically cancelled;

• A debt amnesty for all outstanding school meals debts as children transition from primary to secondary and universal provision of free school meals in primary schools is in place by the end of this legislature .

But we know this isn’t just a problem for councils.

And so Aberlour is urging the Scottish Government to take nationwide action to increase eligibility for free school meals.

We call on the Scottish Government to maximize eligibility for free school meals for low-income working families, reduce financial hardship, help end school meals debt and reduce the likelihood of hunger in schools.

At local and national level, these measures can help achieve Scotland’s ambition to end child poverty.

We can and must make Scotland a country where no child will ever go hungry.

SallyAnn Kelly is CEO of Aberlour