Manchester United star, Marcus Rashford has announced an alliance with the food industry to tackle child food poverty.
The England football international has brought together the Child Food Poverty Task Force with Aldi, Asda, Co-op, Deliveroo, FareShare, Food Foundation, Iceland, Kellogg’s, Lidl, Sainsbury’s, Tesco, and Waitrose.
The 22-year-old Manchester United forward also successfully campaigned to extend free school meals this summer.
Ministers had been planning to scrap the £15-a-week voucher scheme, which was launched during the coronavirus lockdown to make up for free meals pupils would normally get at school.
He spoke about his own experiences of using a food voucher scheme as a child and was praised for pressing the government into a U-turn on the issue
Rashford said in a letter to MPs that the businesses would be “standing side by side to shed light on the issue of child food poverty in the UK,” adding that he was “confident” the group could help change lives “for the better”.
He and the businesses will spend the next six weeks using their platforms to share the stories of those most affected by child food insecurity.
The England forward said the move to extend free school meals over the summer had been a “short-term solution” to stopping children from going hungry, but it “wasn’t going to work in the long run”.
“We had to think about the best way to do it, to think about how these families can eat long term and not have any issues,” he said.
Rashford is hoping that, with a bigger team of experts around him, he might be able to help more children.
“We wanted to do it the best way we could, introduce the best people into our group, and see if using them can push it even more.
“As a sportsman, I have always found such power in unity and teamwork, and I’m thrilled that such influential voices have put any allegiance aside to join me on my mission to move the conversation of child food poverty forward.”
He also disclosed 4.2 million children were living in poverty in the UK prior to COVID-19 and that this was expected to have risen, adding: “The time for action is now.
“I’m proud and I’m humbled to see such a reaction and commitment from the food industry, and I am confident that together we can help change the lives of those most vulnerable for the better,” he added.
The taskforce is also endorsing three policy recommendations from the National Food Strategy including:
The expansion of free school meals to every child from a household on universal credit or equivalent, reaching an additional 1.5 million children aged between seven and 16,
Expansion of holiday provision (food and activities) to support all children on free school meals, reaching an additional 1.1 million children
Increasing the value of the Healthy Start vouchers to £4.25 per week (from £3.10) and expanding into all those on universal credit or equivalent, reaching an additional 290,000 pregnant women and children under the age of four
The taskforce says implementing the three recommendations would mark a “unifying step to identifying a long-term solution to child poverty in the UK”.
