I collaborated The Bread and Butter Thing and The Food Foundation on a survey with households with who have children in year three and above who do not receive free school meals. Respondents are parents who are members of TBBT food club. The results show that children are missing out on lunch because they fall through the cracks in Free School Meals provision or their parents are just above the (extremely) low earnings threshold. What is more, the number of parents within this group who are missing out on meals is even higher. The results are below. 

Households where at least one child is in year 3+ and is not registered for free school meals.

Households with a child in year 3 or above not registered for FSM (n=734)	Yes	No, but worried	Either skipping or worried
I would like my child to have FSM
Child goes without lunch at school some days	15.5%	42%	57.5%
Child eats a smaller lunch at school some days	31.5%	30.6%	62.1%
Child eats a less healthy lunch at school some days	30.5%	21.9%	52.4%

Household with a child in year 3 or above not registered for FSM	Yes
Parent struggles to feed children at the weekend (n=734)	36.9%
Parent skips at the weekend to make sure children have food (n=734)	62.5%
I would like my child/children to receive FSM (n=529)	85.3%

Comments from parents who say they are skipping meals include:

• My child is home-schooling at the moment, and yes, we do skip some meals daily due to being short on food, but unfortunately, your child has to be in school to receive free school meals I’m working to get him back I to school but will be a bit of a wait due to him having some problems that need diagnosed so he can receive help he needs in school. 
• I have 5 children and my husband lost his job in Feb 2023. We have been unable to access Universal Credits as the system is too complicated as I cannot attend all the appointments because I am self-employed childminder and always have children with me. TBBT had been a lifesaver in helping me to provide healthy food for the children but by Monday packed lunches are bare minimum of whatever I can find leftover for them. Some of my children are on school meals as they prefer this and they are always paid as I prioritise food for them they don’t have many luxuries other children have but TBBT has helped me ensure they have a good diet. I have been able to make huge panfuls of vegetable soup with the quantity of vegetables and banana bread which had become a staple in our home but free school meals would be such a blessing. I often skip meals if there isn’t enough of one meal or I’m bogged down with work and juggling everything to make sure the children have their needs met. 
• The threshold for getting free school meals is so low that even though I do not have much money after bills, I don’t qualify. I am on a low wage due to disability and struggle to make ends meet a lot of months. 
• I am just over the income threshold so don’t qualify for free school meals. This is financially difficult as when you work, there is very little help. I am so grateful to the bread and butter thing as this makes all the difference. My kids would never go without food as I would never allow that to happen but it would be such a help to receive free school hot meals. Usually, we do 2 days pack lunch and the rest we pay for hot dinners, this keeps the cost down a little. 
• Because I claim legacy benefits, I’m not entitled to free school meals even though my income, according to universal credit, would qualify me. No matter how much I plead with the council, they don’t help.
• I work part-time and receive universal credit top-up. I wish my child was eligible for free school meals. I make sure she has fresh fruit and a sandwich every day, but I can’t afford much else. 
• Because I receive working tax credit, I do not get any help with rent or meals. It would be better not to receive it (working tax credit) because it’s costing over £100 a week for school dinners for my 2 teenagers.
• Both parents work, although one is a part-time worker, to avoid nursery costs. We don’t receive any benefits as over the wage limit but pay a mortgage, 1 car which is needed for work, and every other household bill we pay. All bills are covered, so no debts but little left from 2 wages for food. 

Who gets Free School Meals?

All children in key stage 1 (reception, year 1 or year 2) in England who attend school (e.g. are not home-schooled) receive free school meals (FSM) regardless of household income.  Those in year 3 or above do not automatically receive free school meals; instead, they must qualify and register to receive them. Children who are home-schooled also do not receive them.  Qualification is based on household income, benefits receipt, and registration in a government-funded school.  For those on Universal Credit who have applied for FSM after April 2018, the household income must be less than £7,400 a year (after tax and not including any benefits received).  If the household income increases above the threshold in the future, but the household income still includes some Universal Credit contribution, children remain eligible until they move to the next phase of education (e.g. from primary to secondary school).  Before 2018, there was not an income threshold for Universal Credit claimants.  Importantly, having a sibling receive free school meals does not automatically qualify a second child’s (often younger) eligibility. 

A claim for FSM is made through local authorities and is typically instigated by parents.  However, some local authorities, such as Sheffield, have introduced automatic enrolment[1].  Furthermore, the national food strategy recommendations call for automatic enrolment in FSM.  In March 2023, Harriet Harman asked the Secretary of State for Education (Nick Gibb) what discussions the DoE has had with the Department for Work and Pensions on introducing automatic enrolment for free school meals to eligible children.  The secretary of state responded that there are no formal assessments concerning the number of pupils that would become eligible for FSM through automatic enrolment and no plans for automatic enrolment. He did indicate that FSM take-up was estimated to be 89% according to benefits data[2]. 

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[1] See this webinar discussing Sheffield’s autoenrollment scheme.  https://youtu.be/MVRs7Qw_9a0?si=KRpC8907S-S1CrS8

[2] https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2023-03-14/165185/

What is The Bread and Butter Thing?

The Bread and Butter Thing (TBBT) is an affordable food club.  It is not a food bank.  It works with volunteers from 115 local community organisations across 23 local authorities located in the North of England to provide low cost, healthy food to people who are not in food crisis but are vulnerable to it.  These are people who may be skipping meals or who are just about making ends meet.  They may be struggling and stretched, but usually not destitute.  Alongside the food, TBBT works with other organisations to help build people’s capability to live their best life by reducing barriers and improving their access to and utilisation of the resources they need.  Unlike food banks, the food is not free, and the local volunteers come from the community of people who use the services. 

According to the Food Standards Agency Food and You 2 survey (wave 6) conducted in the autumn of 2022, the number of people who use food clubs, sometimes also known as a food pantry or social supermarket in the UK, is larger than the number who use foodbanks.  In England, about 4.8% of the total adult population, or about 2.23 million adults, used a pantry or food club between Autumn 2021 and Autumn 2022 (compared to 4.6% or 2.14 million foodbank users).  These services operate in all regions of the UK.  The largest single provider of such services is TBBT.  In addition, there are at least 100 franchise branches within the Your Local Pantry network started by Stockport Homes and Church Action for Poverty, and Feeding Britain identifies 348 affordable food clubs within their network (although it is unclear what overlap there may be tween Feeding Britain and Your Local Pantry). It is likely that there are additional food clubs operating independently of these organisations. However, there is no clear data available for finding them.  Only TBBT can directly communicate with service members because they work in partnership with local organisations rather than the franchise model used by other networks. 

Despite the uptake of these services, relatively little is known about those who use them.  The analysis presented is based on data from a survey conducted by TBBT, which has a membership of more than 72,000 households using their service. Survey details are as follows.  

• Total who opened survey text= 21,886
• Total who answered survey =2917
• Total who responded with a child or children in year 3 or above = 2671
• Survey dates:  16-17 Jan 2024.  Method text survey
• Survey Population:  Members of TBBT food club.
• Confidence interval:  +/- 2%