‘Unacceptable’ food packages for poorer children prompt outcry in UK

The food package included a can of beans, a mix of fruit, vegetables, snacks, and sliced bread and cheese — provisions from a government programme giving low-income students free lunches.

But when pictures of the packages — sent to students at home as lockdowns have shut schools across Britain — circulated on social media this week, they were roundly condemned by parents and antihunger activists such as football star Marcus Rashford.

The portions were meagre, raising concerns that children were not getting enough nutrition during the coronavirus pandemic, and the Government had overpaid for them, the critics said.

“Public funds were charged £30 [$56.88],” said one parent, who posted a widely shared photo on Twitter of a package she said was meant to last 10 days. At her local supermarket, she said, “I’d have bought this for £5.22.”

Chartwells, a contractor responsible for providing the lunch package, said on Wednesday that the photo showed enough for five days of school lunches, not 10, and the charge for it, including distribution costs, totalled about $19.50.

But that was not enough to subdue the outcry, and yesterday the Government said it would reinstate voucher programmes next week that would give parents the option to buy meals themselves.

Under the scheme, schools funded to provide lunch for lower-income students gained incentives if they sent lunch packages to their homes. The food, according to the Department of Education’s website, should be used to prepare “healthy lunches” and cater to students with “special diets”.

The mother whose photo went viral said she welcomed the news of the turnaround. “Most people can get a lot more mileage out of the vouchers than anything that’s been put out in the bags and boxes,” the woman, identified only as Lisa, said on the Leading Britain’s Conversation radio station.

This week, Chartwells said it would refund costs “where our food parcels had not met our usual high standards” and “apologise to anyone affected”. A free breakfast would be included in packages sent out from January 25, they added.

Rashford, who plays for Manchester United and has been a driving force for free meal schemes during the pandemic, called the packages “unacceptable” and said Prime Minister Boris Johnson had promised him a “full review of the supply chain.”

“These food parcels do not meet the standards we set out and we have made it clear to the company involved that this is disgraceful,” Johnson said on Twitter.

But some critics accused the Government of shifting blame on to contractors and said it was a sign of wider struggles that marginalised people faced under lockdown.

“It’s really shocking that profiteering is happening in this crisis,” said Kath Dalmeny, chief executive of Sustain, a food and farming charity.