Zayn Malik urges Rishi Sunak to expand free school meals

Zayn Malik has called on Rishi Sunak to “give all children living in poverty” free school meals to alleviate food insecurity during the cost of living crisis.

The 29-year-old singer relied on free school lunches when he was a child growing up in Bradford.

He recently became an ambassador for the Food Foundation, a UK food charity, and is backing the organisation’s Feed the Future campaign. As part of this, he’s written to the newly-appointed prime minister to ask him to use the November budget to extend the threshold for free school meals to include young people from families on Universal Credit.

At present, in England and Wales, children aged four to 16 are eligible for free school meals if they live in a household which gets income-related benefits like universal credit, and has an annual income of less than £7,400 after tax (excluding welfare payments).

Around 1.9 million children are entitled to free school meals in England, nearly a quarter of the entire student population. But according to the Food Foundation, four million children experienced food insecurity in September 2022.

This is because about 40 per cent of universal credit claimants have jobs, meaning that they earn more than the £7,400 threshold which then bars them from accessing free school meals. The income cap is higher elsewhere in Britain: it’s £7,920 in Scotland, and £14,000 in Northern Ireland.

“These children are suffering from lack of concentration, some even resorting to stealing food from school canteens because they are so hungry but can’t afford to buy lunch,” the singer wrote in the letter addressed to Sunak. “They are also feeling shame, which is directly impacting their physical and mental health.”

He went on to mention his own personal experience of growing up in poverty. “I know what that shame feels like, I have seen it first-hand, as growing up in Bradford I relied on free school meals. I personally experienced the stigma surrounding food insecurity.”

“My hope is that in writing this letter we can all ensure that no child ever has to experience this hunger and stigma again as my experience is not unique; it is a struggle that many children in England are sadly going through right now,” he continued, adding that many parents are “already doing everything they can” and that government support is “desperately needed”.

“As prime minister, you have the power to change this. Please act in good conscience and commit in your budget on 17th November to giving all children living in poverty a free school meal,” he said. “Children going hungry is not inevitable and should not come down to a political issue or ideology.”