Jonny Rogers explores how the pandemic is aggravating food insecurity in the UK, and how charities are stepping in to support low-income families.
Photo by Lee Culkin
In December 1946, the United Nations established the International Children’s Emergency Fund to provide short-term relief for malnourished children in post-War Europe.
Continuing to this day, UNICEF has provided invaluable nutrition, water, clothing, vaccinations, shelter and education to hundreds of millions of children across the world. This December, however, for the first time in its 74-year history, they launched a campaign to support children in the UK.
Coronavirus and Food Insecurity
A poll commissioned by The Food Foundation in May showed that 2.4 million children in the UK (17% of all children) were living in ‘food insecure’ households, though this has likely risen since; by October, nearly one million additional children registered for free school meals. The food bank charity the Trussell Trust said that they gave out an average of 2600 food parcels to children every day between April and September.
To assuage the impact of ‘urgent crisis’, over £700,000 of UNICEF UK’s funds will be given to community groups around the country. This includes a £25,000 grant to School Food Matters which will supply 18,000 breakfasts to 25 schools in Southwark, London, an area severely impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. As part of a joint initiative with the ‘Food Power’ programme (led by Sustain and Church Action on Poverty), School Food Matters will use this grant to support 1800 families over the Christmas holidays and February half-term, while the food delivery firm Abel & Cole will also provide £4500 worth of fruit and vegetables.
"The response to our summer breakfast boxes programme has shown us that families are really struggling and many were facing the grim reality of a two-week winter break without access to free school meals and the indignity of having to rely on food banks to feed their children." – Stephanie Slater, founder and CEO of School Food Matters
Another recipient is a partnership of charities in Devon, who will also be given £24,000 to support families in Plymouth by providing fresh produce in addition to the parcels they have already been distributing. Chris Forster from Transforming Plymouth Together said that, while pleased by the additional support from UNICEF, he never thought that this would be required.
Response from UK Politicians
In response to UNICEF’s campaign, Labour’s deputy leader Angela Rayner tweeted that Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak “should be ashamed” by their failure to secure food for the most vulnerable in the country, while Labour MP Richard Burgon declared that “poverty is a political choice” which could be solved by taxing the ‘super-rich’.
On the other hand, the Leader of the House of Commons and Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg accused UNICEF of “playing politics” by supporting the UK instead of children facing poverty, famine and civil wars across the world. A spokesperson for the UK government claimed that they have already raised the living wage, boosted welfare support and introduced a £170 million grant scheme in an effort to help children and families impacted by coronavirus during winter, including £16m of support for food distribution charities.
Nevertheless, UNICEF said that their UK emergency campaign was not politically-motivated, reaffirming that they will continue to support children around the world wherever there is the greatest need:
"UNICEF UK is responding to this unprecedented crisis and building on our 25 years' experience of working on children's rights in the UK with a one-off domestic response, launched in August, to provide support to vulnerable children and families around the country during this crisis period." – Anna Kettley, UNICEF UK’s director of programmes
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