One in seven young people currently receiving free school meals (FSM) have said that the allowance they receive to buy a meal does not allow them to buy a full meal, a report has found.
The British Youth Council and Child Poverty Action Group’s new joint report, Going Hungry?, also found that young people felt strongly that FSM should be made available to all young people growing up in low income households, and not just those whose parents were on out-of-work benefits.
Other highlights include; One in four young people complained about their school's delivery system and young people were concerned about confidentiality and wanted to access their lunch without the embarrassment of peers knowing that they were receiving FSM.
Dara Farrell, vice chair of the British Youth Council, said: "This report has revealed an unacceptable postcode lottery - costs are different all over the country meaning that many young people are unable to buy a full meal with their Free School Meal allowance. For many of these young people, this will be the only decent meal they'll have all day - making it even more important to ensure that it's nutritional and filling. How can we expect young people to sit in a classroom, concentrate and contribute to lessons if they have not had a balanced meal?
"Lots of the young people also said that confidentiality was a big issue for them, and as someone who received Free School Meals myself when I was at school, I know only too well that it can be a stigmatising experience. Young people should be able to access healthy and filling Free School Meals without the embarrassment of their peers finding out, but the current systems in place at many schools makes this impossible."
Alison Garnham, chief executive of Child Poverty Action Group, added: "It's just not right that half the children growing up below the poverty line are refused free school meals. We cannot have children sitting hungry in lessons, or their learning will suffer. It would be a big step forward if all children getting Universal Credit in future and living below the poverty line could be guaranteed a full and healthy free school lunch.
"If children entitled to free school lunches cannot get a full meal then the system of cashless credit and the menus used by many schools are failing. This may even be in breach of the School Admissions Code as it is harder for poorer children to attend a particular school if they do not provide genuinely free meals like they are supposed to."