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The billboard used in their campaign represents the ‘queue’ of 900,000 children in poverty being denied free school meals. If this was a real queue of children, it would stretch 342 miles equating to the distance from London to Edinburgh.

Whilst all London primary schoolchildren are now eligible for a free school meal, this latest campaign warns that a lack of action at a national level is unfair and will only serve to exacerbate regional inequalities, with schoolchildren in other areas not having access to the same benefits and life chances.

Outside of London, only children from households with an income below £7,400 a year (after tax, before benefits) are eligible; a threshold that has not increased since 2018. 

The campaign calls on politicians from both sides to extend access to free school meals to all schoolchildren, with the first step being to immediately target children from families receiving Universal Credit.

Zoe McIntyre, advocacy manager on Children’s Food at The Food Foundation, said: “We mustn’t forget the hundreds of thousands of children outside the capital who are living below the poverty line but don’t qualify [for free school meals].

“The Food Foundation’s Young Food Ambassadors have joined the #FeedtheFuture campaign to ask MPs for an end to the unjust postcode lottery and are calling on both the Conservative and Labour parties to commit to nationally expanding the eligibility to all children as a priority for the next election.”

According to an Impact on Urban Health report, if free school meals were extended to all children, for every £1 invested, £1.71 would be generated in core benefits driven by improved health, education and employment outcomes. If the policy was expanded to all children from households on Universal Credit, for every £1 invested, £1.38 would be returned.

Chef and campaigner Tom Kerridge added: “I’m saddened that in this country, in 2023 myself and hundreds, if not thousands, of others are calling on the Government to feed our children at school.

“As a nation we need to look at our moral compass and make decisions that will hugely benefit future generations, it shouldn’t be a case of where you live dictating if you get a hot meal that day. The facts presented are difficult to swallow and should be a massive wake up call to those in power to make changes.”