Join our call for fair free school meals in Wales

To mark the start of Challenge Poverty Week, the Bevan Foundation and partners have written to the First Minister to protect children’s rights

In primary schools in Wales, the universal roll-out of free school meals tackles child poverty and makes sure no child goes hungry at lunchtime. This Challenge Poverty Week, the Bevan Foundation and others are calling for a fair free school meals policy to be extended to all children in Wales, including those of secondary school age who are currently denied entitlements to free school meals.

Alongside the No Recourse to Public Funds Coalition Wales, the Children’s Commissioner and Future Generations Commissioner, we’re highlighting the need to end discrimination against children whose parents have migrated to the UK and have temporary visas. With signatories from 35 organisations, we’ve written to the First Minister, Eluned Morgan, asking the Welsh Government to extend entitlement for Free School Meals to children whose parents have no recourse to public funds.

Future Generations Commissioner, Derek Walker, said:

We all want a fair future for our children and grandchildren and Wales is the only country in the world with a Well-being of Future Generations Act, protecting people today and those who’ll be born tomorrow, with a goal for a more equal Wales.  

Wales is the first nation in the UK to provide free school meals for primary school children. However, free school meals should be universal – for all children, regardless of their caregivers’ immigration status.

 The Children’s Commissioner for Wales, Rocio Cifuentes, said of the policy,

All children have a right to nutritious food under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. It’s unacceptable that some pupils in Wales are missing out on that right in school purely because of their parents’ immigration status. This undermines the spirit of a nation of sanctuary and means that some of the most vulnerable young people go without the food they would otherwise be entitled to. This also affects their ability to engage in education; children who are hungry cannot concentrate all day in class. Along with the Bevan Foundation and the Future Generations Commissioner, I’m calling on the Welsh Government to urgently change this: parental immigration status should not be a barrier between a child and their right to a meal.

Join us in our calls for fair free school meals in Wales this Challenge Poverty Week.

Here are some ways you can help:

1. Spread the word: Please talk to as many people as organisations as you can about this injustice and encourage them to join the campaign. There are some key facts about free school meals and No Recourse to Public Funds on our fact sheet to help you.
2. Share and support our joint letter to the First Minister.
3. Join the social media campaign: During Challenge Poverty Week, post, tweet, and share using our hashtag #FairFreeSchoolMeals. Call on Welsh Government to extend eligibility to children in poverty affected by no recourse to public funds. The key message is that all children deserve the right to eat.
4. Write your own letter: While the issue is in focus, write your own letters to whoever you think will help to make a change: e.g. your MS, the First Minister, or Welsh Government Cabinet Ministers. Your local authority, councillor, MP, or your child’s school, might need to know more, or may want to help.