‘I could do more with £30’: Growing anger over free-school meal replacement parcels
An angry parent shared a photo via Twitter of what she says is an inadequate food hamper to replace free school meals for her children.
The image has been doing the rounds on social media, being shared more than 18,000 times and even seen by footballer/ national hero Marcus Rashford. The Manchester United star has campaigned heavily to ensure families were supplied with food during lockdown, Rashford said the hamper was “unacceptable.”
It shows a loaf of bread, a bag of pasta, one can of baked beans, some cheese, three apples, two carrots, one tomato, two baked potatoes, two bananas, two malt loaf snacks and three snack-size tubes of fromage frais.
The unnamed mother said she was sent just a few pounds worth of food to feed her children for 10 days.
For families eligible for free school meals, they now have the option of food parcels or vouchers while schools are shut due to a third national lockdown in England.
The mother said the parcel had been issued by Chartwells, a private company contracted by the Department for Education, instead of £30 worth of vouchers.
“I could do more with £30 to be honest,” she wrote, adding that she estimated the total value of the goods to be £5.22.
Children deserve better than this…
— Marcus Rashford (@MarcusRashford) January 11, 2021
Where is this being rolled out?
If families are entitled to £30 worth of food, why is there delivery only equating to just over £5?! 1 child or 3, this what they are receiving? Unacceptable https://t.co/SNblZ1wl5P— Marcus Rashford (@MarcusRashford) January 11, 2021
Responding to suggestions that the loaf of bread in the picture was out of date, the mother said the best before date was November 2021 – not November 2020.
“It is in date and it does seem fine. To be fair it’s quite nice,” she added.
Chartwells messaged the parent directly on Twitter and said it was investigating.
The company tweeted: “Thank you for bringing this to our attention, this does not reflect the specification of one of our hampers.
“Please can you DM us the details of the school that your child attends and we will investigate immediately.”
And another one…😔 pic.twitter.com/hCCFCxC5HL
— Marcus Rashford (@MarcusRashford) January 11, 2021
What is going on here? If you are in a similar situation and being given insufficient #FreeSchoolMeals please email me. If the government is allowing companies to make money by providing cut price meals for hungry children we will fight for change. No child should be going hungry https://t.co/gaEeGoSnup
— Angela Rayner 🌹 (@AngelaRayner) January 11, 2021
Labour’s deputy leader retweeted the original post.
She said: “If the government is allowing companies to make money by providing cut-price meals for hungry children we will fight for change, No child should be going hungry.”
She urged anyone in a similar situation to get in touch. And several other parents have now come forward and tweeted images of their parcels.
Labour leader Keir Starmer tweeted: “The images appearing online of woefully inadequate free school meal parcels are a disgrace.
“Where is the money going? This needs sorting immediately so families don’t go hungry through lockdown.”
A spokesperson for Chartwells told Sky News: “We take our responsibility to provide children with access to nutritious food very seriously, We have worked hard to produce food hampers at incredibly short notice during these challenging times. Our hampers follow the DFE specifications and contain a variety of ingredients to support families in providing meals throughout the week, In the majority of instances, we have received positive feedback.
“In this instance, the image on Twitter falls short of our hamper specification and we are keen to investigate with the relevant school so we can address any operational issues that may have arisen.”
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