Families across the country are struggling to make ends meet. Many workers have lost their jobs or been furloughed, earnings have been slashed, and the price of the weekly shop has gone up. More and more are being forced to choose between paying their bills or putting food on the table. The Office for National Statistics reports that 2.6 million households are struggling to cover expenses such as energy and food. And we know that hundreds of thousands of children have had to skip meals because their families could not afford food. Many of us have seen this happen in our own communities.

The Government recognised the enormous scale of the problem when it introduced a food voucher scheme for children in England who are eligible for free school meals back in March. The scheme provided families with a voucher that could be spent at supermarkets to cover the costs of a child's lunch. It meant children could continue to receive at least one decent meal a day when schools closed during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Since then things have got much, much worse. One in eight workers expect to lose their job in the next three months and nearly a quarter think their hours will be reduced. Job losses and reductions in hours are much more common among lower-earning employees. This can be seen most clearly in demand on foodbanks: the Trussell Trust has reported an 89% rise in provision of food parcels and a 107% rise in provision of such parcels to children. This follows years of astronomical growth in demand. We know already that demand increases during the holidays because children aren't getting free school meals. Providers are worried they will not be able to cope this year. 

Despite this, the Government has specifically ruled out continuing the food voucher scheme over the summer holidays, and it has not otherwise committed to any meaningful or comprehensive way of providing free school meals over this period. Unless that changes, children across the country will go hungry.

Along with the food charity Sustain, we are taking urgent action to address this and we have written to the Secretary of State for Education Secretary Gavin Williamson MP to ask what action he will take to address the issue over the summer holidays. If he allows the nation’s poorest children to go hungry we will issue proceedings - urgently. You can read our letter to Secretary of State for Education here.

The outcomes of litigation are never certain. But we believe the case, and the issue it tackles, is compelling. With your support, we want to ensure that every child has food to eat - even when schools are closed. 

The details:
The Good Law Project and Sustain have instructed Jamie Burton of Doughty Street Chambers and Simpson Millar to act in this case, who are acting at reduced rates. 10% of the sums raised will go to the Good Law Project to help it develop and support further litigation in the public interest. It is our policy only to raise sums that we reasonably anticipate could be spent on this litigation. However, if there is a surplus it will go to support and enable other litigation we bring. Our founder, Jo Maugham QC, continues to work unpaid.