The Childhood Trust has released a 27-page report revealing the stark impact of hunger and food poverty that children are experiencing, caused by the cost-of-living crisis and rising food costs. A survey of school aged children aged between 7 and 16 found that 40% reported being food insecure over the last month.
Of these (112 children out of 280 sampled at random in state schools) nearly 10% sadly revealed that they have had ‘many experiences’ of food poverty and 12.5% have had ‘several experiences’ over the last month. The charity is warning that government measures intended to help address the cost-of-living crisis do not go far enough and that this winter, thousands of children are at risk of malnutrition or worse as it launches its Christmas Challenge campaign aiming to raise £4million in 7 days.
Food prices are currently at their highest level in decades and rising rapidly, with necessities such as milk costing as much as 40% more than they did the previous year. All of thefamilies interviewed for the report emphasised the struggle they are having in covering these higher costs, with food budgets no longer sufficient to buy what they would have previously. The crucial role that food banks played in helping families struggling with food insecurity was a recurrent theme in the interviews with families.
