On the face of it, Brian and his teenage daughter are textbook survivors of poverty and food insecurity. He is a single parent with a long-term health condition; he cannot work and claims a health-related unemployment benefit. His income is pitifully low, and the family food budget a constant, intense struggle. But he has been told they cannot claim free school meals.
Mel, 44, is in full-time work and six months ago earned enough to come off universal credit, the first time in her adult life she hasn’t relied on benefits. But only once during that time was her household income temporarily low enough for her children to claim free school meals. It’s nice to be off benefits, she says; but with things as they are it doesn’t really make the problem of affording school lunches easier.
