Mark Drakeford told by campaigners that decision will create more child hunger over summer holidays
Welsh Labour MP demands re-think from party colleagues in Senedd
“Hunger March” called to fight growing poverty and soaring inflation.
News. Cover image by Ka Long Tung
The Welsh Government has faced a wave of criticism from charities, campaign groups and politicians over its decision to stop providing free school meals outside of term time.
One of the groups which campaigned for the roll-out of free school meals for all primary pupils has said the move will “leave countless children exposed to the pangs of hunger and threatens to deepen the divide between the haves and the have-nots.”
People’s Assembly Wales, who along with charities and anti-poverty groups pushed the issue onto the political agenda, said that, “for many children, free school meals are a lifeline that ensures they receive at least one hot nutritious meal a day. The Welsh Government is denying these children their basic right to sustenance.”
News broke on Friday that the provision would be axed, with Welsh Government Ministers saying that “following a number of extensions” to the scheme, they had “confirmed in March” it would not be in place for this year’s school summer holidays.
Ministers claimed it had been only a “time-limited crisis intervention in response to the pandemic,” with Mark Drakeford saying that there was no budget left to fund it.
But Plaid Cymru’s spokesperson for social justice, Sioned Williams MS, said that despite the Welsh Government’s claims, the decision was made “without prior notice.”
Plaid, who forced a number of Senedd votes on the universal rollout of the provision before it was adopted into the cooperation deal with Labour, said the money must be found for meals during the holidays.
With the summer break beginning on 22 July for most schools, parents and carers whose children rely on free school meals during the holidays will struggle to find alternative arrangements.
In 2020, Wales became the first UK nation to guarantee free school meals for eligible families during the school holidays, even winning praise from footballer Marcus Rashford.
Ms Williams said that nine children’s charities had written to the Welsh Government to express “profound concerns about the impact this will have on families.” She added that it was “unbelievable” that the news came as the Welsh Government were consulting on their Child Poverty Strategy.
Meanwhile, the MP for Cynon Valley, Beth Winter was one of the only Welsh Labour politicians to criticise the move.
“Hunger does not have holidays,” she wrote on Twitter. “Welsh Govt were praised when they provided holiday Free School Meals. I am shocked by the sudden decision to cut them. Today I have written to Jeremy Miles and asked that Welsh Govt reverse the decision to cut holiday FSMs and uniform grants.”
According to a recent report on child poverty published last month, 27.9% of children in Wales were living in poverty in 2021/22. Blaenau Gwent and Ceredigion saw the worst child poverty in Wales, with rates of 30.3% and 30.0% respectively.
“The picture of child poverty in Wales now is as bleak as it’s been for a long, long time, really,” Dr Steffan Evans from Bevan Foundation, who jointly commissioned the report, told voice.wales in June.
“We’re looking at the areas where child poverty rates are highest, there are areas like Blaenau Gwent and Ceredigion, two very different areas where three in 10 children are living in poverty, which shows that child poverty is a problem in all our communities,” he said.
Some local councils, such as Caerphilly, have announced they will use their own reserves to carry on delivering free meals to the poorest children during the holidays. But not all councils will do this, meaning some children will miss out simply because of where they live in Wales.
People’s Assembly Wales said that Welsh Government had a duty to reject budget cuts which could force more children into hunger.
“Our communities have suffered at the hands of callous decision-makers who place profit above people,” the group said. “The time has come for Welsh politicians to draw a line in the sand, to find courage, and firmly refuse to make any further sacrifices at the altar of austerity.”
The group has called a ‘Hunger March’ in Cardiff on 22nd July outside Cardiff City Hall at 2pm. Encouraging people to bring pots and pans, protesters will call for immediate price caps on food, bills and rent, as well as publicly funded “community canteens.”
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