Jamie Oliver says politicians must ‘step up to the plate’ over free school meals

Oliver, alongside fellow celebrity chef Tom Kerridge, has backed a charity campaign of which research revealed good meals are “out of reach for too many families”.

The TV chef from Essex is a long-standing food campaigner, having previously called for free school meals to be extended in England.

He has also strongly campaigned over various child food and nutrition issues.

Jamie Oliver continues campaign for more free school meals

According to a survey of 2,239 UK parents of children aged 18 and under by YouGov for Barnardo’s in January, 19% said they had had to buy unhealthy food options at least weekly for their offspring because they could not afford healthy ingredients or meals.

Of these, around six in 10 parents said they were worried about what they were feeding their children.

Barnardo’s described current access to free school meals for most children in England as “extremely restrictive”, applying to families earning less than £7,400 after tax and excluding benefits.

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The threshold is half that of Northern Ireland where families on Universal Credit with up to £15,000 in earnings after tax are eligible.

Wales and London have universal free school meals in primary education.

Children in years one to five in primary schools run by local councils or funded by the Scottish Government are entitled to free school lunches during term time.

Oliver has called for politicians to “step up to the plate” over the issue.

He said: “When we feed kids well, when we act with kindness and integrity in our politics, the benefits are profound.

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“It truly is a superpower – setting them up to get better grades, better jobs, and so putting £8.9 billion back into the economy over 20 years.”

Kerridge added: “Clearly something is broken within that free school meal system. Trying to get something more robust and solid in place is desperately needed.”

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The Government reiterated it is “determined” to tackle the “scourge of child poverty and break the unfair link between background and opportunity”.

It highlighted that the first 750 schools will begin offering free breakfast clubs from April.

A spokesperson added: “We are keeping our approach to free school meals under review. As with all government programmes, all future spending is subject to the Spending Review.”