Marcus Rashford urges government to act on 'child hunger pandemic' and keep universal credit top-up
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Updated 06/09/2021 at 08:06 GMT
Rashford has encouraged people to write to their MP after new figures show the situation may be getting worse and not better. The Manchester United and England forward is supporting three recommendations, including an expansion of free school meals eligibility. 1.1 million people signed a petition after a previous campaign from Rashford.
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Marcus Rashford has again called on the government to act on the "child hunger pandemic".
The Manchester United and England forward has urged people to write to their MP as the government threatens to remove the £20 universal credit top-up
Rashford's latest campaign comes as new figures suggest the situation may be getting worse rather than better.
More than 1.1 million people signed a petition last year after Rashford started a first campaign to implement three recommendations to fight child foot poverty.
The footballer forced the government to reverse policy and provide free school meals to those eligible last summer.
Among the three recommendations that Rashford is supporting is an expansion of the programme.
"Whilst we've come a long way in the last 20 months, placing the issue of child food poverty at the forefront, devastatingly the issue is getting worse not better," said Rashford.
"You can fill 27 Wembley stadiums with the 2.5 million children that are struggling to know where their next meal might be coming from today.
"What is it going to take for these children to be prioritised?"
"Instead of removing support through social security, we should be focusing efforts on developing a sustainable long-term road map out of this child hunger pandemic."
New figures from The Food Foundation show more households with children aged 17 or below are experiencing food insecurity than during the first wave of the pandemic.
15% of 6,490 households surveyed have experienced insecurity in the last six months, an approximate rise of 27% from before the pandemic.
Rashford is supporting the three recommendations of Henry Dimbleby's National Food Strategy.
The first of these is the expansion of the free school meal eligibility to children in all households earning £20,000 or less after benefits, as well as to children that are undocumented or living in households with "no recourse to public funds".
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A similar expansion of eligibility is recommended for the Holiday Activities and Food Programme.
The National Food Strategy also recommends expanding Healthy Start eligibility to all households with pregnant women or children under five earning £20,000 or less after benefits, and investing in a communications campaign to increase uptake of the scheme which provides free vouchers to buy milk, fruit and vegetables.
The £20 top-up to Universal Credit is set to be removed from 6 October.
A hundred organisations, including a number of charities and a Conservative thinktank, wrote to the government last week in support of maintaining the uplift.
The letter outlined that the cut could pile more financial pressure on 5.5 million families.
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