UK Youth Parliament and the Child Poverty Action Group are calling for all young people aged 18 and under to receive free school meals.
Over 40 years, progress has been hard won to improve and extend the Free School Meals entitlement. Free School Meals have superpowers: the evidence shows that access to a hot, nutritious lunchtime meal can help improve young people’s mental health and help them do better in school. They can also help alleviate worries around food, and save families around £450 per year per child in food costs; something that shouldn’t be understated as the Cost of Living crisis continues.
We’re working with Child Poverty Action Group to call on political parties to include Free Schools Meals for all school-age children in their General Election Manifestos. We will then create a youth-led Food for Learning Bill to put that into action.
How did we get here?
- Make Your Mark 2022 – 434,000 young people voted in the 2022 ballot, with Health and Wellbeing coming out as the top issue (Feb 2022)
- Focus Groups led by Members of Youth Parliament – Members of Youth Parliament supported 2,800 young people nationwide to add depth and further understanding to the issue (July-Sept 2022)
- House of Commons Sitting 2022 – Members of Youth Parliament voted to shortlist the 5 Health & Wellbeing subtopics for debate at the House of Commons Sitting. At the sitting, MYPs voted for the Health/Cost of Living subtopic to be the focus of the 2023 campaign (Oct-Nov 2022)
- Social Action Group elected – Members of Youth Parliament elected a Social Action Group (formed of 1 MYP per region/nation) to co-design this campaign, with the support of our campaign partner Child Poverty Action Group. (Nov-Jan 2023)
How to take action
As well as lobbying political parties to help us achieve our campaign goals, we want to increase public support for free school meals. There are lots of ways you can help us to do this, and you can do as much or as little as you’d like. To make the actions as manageable as possible, the youth-led Social Action Group have designed time specific activities over 3 different levels:
- Individual
- Groups i.e. schools, youth groups
- As a UK Youth Parliament and beyond
Child Poverty Action Group has designed a Campaign Pack for Members of Youth Parliament which contains all the tips, tricks and templates you’ll need to ensure our campaign message gets heard within your community and beyond. Please note, this pack will be updated regularly:
Campaign Timeline
This campaign is expected to run until the end of 2023, and we’ve a jam-packed schedule of events and activities for you to sink your teeth into.
Annual Conference: Building a Food for Learning Bill
MYP’s debated and voted for the Food for Learning Bill’s 5 chapters
(Holiday Hunger, Quality of Food, Standardisation, Financing/Funding
and Additional Pricing).
Bill development, based on Annual Conference debate and vote
Using the debate and vote at Annual Conference, the elected Social
Action Group & Steering Group will shape a draft Bill and seek additional
research eg. House of Commons Library. Ensuring MYPs are kept
informed and able to contribute as part of a new advocacy plan ahead of
the Commons Sitting.
Share Free School Meal lesson resources & secure a BBC Local Radio interview
Action: Encourage schools/youth groups to run a Free School Meals
lesson plan including a vote on the topic. The results will be used ahead
of the Commons Sitting. Presentation created by VotesForSchools.com
Action: Use the Media Pack to work with the council’s press office to
secure an October interview on BBC Local Radio about your local work
and the Food for Learning Bill.
YouthCon 2: Meet, Debate, Learn, Share
Young people who are involved in local decision making, over 400 young people and 100
workers at one of 8 events across the UK; meet with decision makers/other young
campaigners, MYPs prepare for the Commons Sitting
House of Commons Sitting (subject to agreement with UK Parliament) & UK Government Roundtable
For the first time, MYPs will debate & vote on a Bill at the Commons Sitting (date subject to UK Parliament); its contents will be created by MYPs. Elected Debate Leads will steer the debates. Also, in this month:
6-10th Schools Meal Week
YouthCon 3: Reflect & Celebrate
Young people who are involved in local decision making, over 400 young people and 100
workers at one of 8 events across the UK.
We want your views! Don’t forget to keep the discussion going about the campaign throughout this process. We would encourage you to use TikTok and Instagram to engage other young people in the campaign, and Facebook and Twitter to target MPs, Councillors and other adults.
Be sure to check out the Campaign Pack for graphics and template supporting copy.