The Manifesto for a child poverty free London

Hunger

As a direct consequence of high levels of child poverty, hundreds of thousands of children in our city are denied their right to adequate food and regularly experience hunger. Before the pandemic 400,000 children in London were living in households with low food security. In London, 32% of families are registered for Free School Meals, which is higher than the UK average of 29%.

UK wide figures show that some groups are particularly at risk of food insecurity; people identifying as Black or Black British were significantly overrepresented in those that need to use Trussell Trust food banks (9% vs. 3% of the UK population) and half of families with the immigration status ‘no recourse to public funds’ in the UK say they have had at least one day when their children went without a hot meal because they could not afford it.

Manifesto Asks: Action on Hunger

ASK 1: Actively support a local food poverty alliance, with resources and a clear, refreshed food poverty action plan that focuses on building more resilient local food systems. This should include providing tailored support to specific groups known to be at particular risk of food insecurity including Black, Asian and minority ethnic people and those with no recourse to public funds.

Ask 2: Promote a cash-first approach to tackling food poverty, prioritising Local Welfare Assistance and Council Tax Reduction schemes as ways to maximise household incomes for families living in poverty

ASK 3: Ensure a good start in life and support for children and families through:

• supporting breastfeeding through the UNICEF UK Baby Friendly Initiative;

• setting a target to increase Healthy Start uptake; and

• supporting free school meals and holiday provision with food for all potentially eligible families; working to ensure that these are healthy and sustainably sourced