Posted:
Thursday - August 31, 2023
11:50 am
1 in 4 Teachers Bring Food to School to Support Hungry Children as UK's Edible Food Waste Soars
With the new school year just around the corner, new research has revealed that more teachers than ever are being forced to personally provide food to students due to welfare concerns. Yet a staggering 3 million tonnes of good-to-eat food is still going to waste on UK farms every year.
- A survey of 9,000 teachers in England has found that one in four brought food into school out of concern for hungry pupils
- Over a third said their school regularly provides food support to children and their families, with nearly half doing so in the most deprived areas of the country
- The survey was conducted by food waste charity FareShare, which provides food to 2,000 charity and community breakfast, after school, and holiday clubs to children and young people
- FareShare is struggling to keep up with skyrocketing demand to support their charities, yet 3 million tonnes of edible food goes to waste on UK farms every year
- FareShare is calling on the Government to fund food surplus redistribution to get good food to people, not waste here
The survey for FareShare by TeacherTapp asked, "In the past term, how many pupils have you personally provided with food because you were worried about their welfare?"
The survey also found:
- There is a nine percentage point increase in teachers bringing in their own food for children in more deprived areas compared to affluent areas
- The South West region had the highest percentage, with 29.4% of teachers bringing in food for children
- 35% of teachers said their school already provides food in this situation, with this figure rising to nearly 50% in the most deprived areas of the country
These statistics will likely be higher in the next term, as the costs incurred from soaring childcare costs over the summer holidays and rising energy bills in the winter months will create an added burden for families already struggling to make ends meet.
Buzzee Beez is a small preschool in Harlow, Essex, working with young children and families. Kelly Stallwood, Deputy Manager at Buzzee Beez, said:
“We are in a deprived area so we see the struggles some of our families are going through. The staff have been known to give up their food, or purchase food for a child, when they have come into the setting hungry or they have little to no lunch in their lunch bag. We also support our families by signposting to a charity we work closely with, who open a food pantry every weekend, as well as being able to issue foodbank vouchers.“We are extremely fortunate to be part of FareShare, and other similar programmes, where we collect surplus food to give out to our families. Since the cost of living crisis began, this has become more of a need for some families, rather than an extra top up to their shopping. We are seeing more and more people needing that little bit more help.”
FareShare works with the food industry to get food good to eat food, that would otherwise go to waste, to a network of 8,500 charities across the UK.
This includes 2,000 charity and community groups that provide after school, holiday, and breakfast clubs to children and young people. Many families have become reliant on these over the summer holidays.
The cost of living crisis has forced many of these schools to move from catering breakfast clubs during termtime to passing on food to parents via food banks, pantries, and other support services.
Yet FareShare cannot meet the skyrocketing demand for its food, and has over 1,500 charities on its waiting list, 600 of which support school-aged children on its waiting list.
FareShare has calculated that by committing £25 million per year, the Government could deliver 42,500 tonnes of surplus food – the equivalent of 100 million meals – to those experiencing food insecurity. The majority of this funding would make it cost-neutral for farmers and food businesses to redistribute their surplus food by paying for labour, packaging and transport. Without access to more food, the majority of charities FareShare supports say they may have to reduce their services, impacting families across the UK.
George Wright, CEO at FareShare says:
"Over the summer, staff and volunteers at FareShare have been working tirelessly to get more edible surplus food out to people who need it, as parents have faced the added burden of childcare costs and soaring food bills while their children are out of school. But despite these efforts, we still do not have enough food to meet skyrocketing demand, and teachers across the country feel they have no choice but to step in to help hungry children. Our teachers should be teaching, not forced to fill the gap because the Government stands by and allows this to happen all the while food goes to waste on farms. Food that could be going to the millions of children and families facing food insecurity. A new school term will undoubtedly bring huge demand for our services. We need to see the Government act urgently and show that it takes tackling hunger seriously."
Notes to editors
For interview requests, images and more information please contact kitty.langton@fareshare.org.uk
About FareShare
FareShare is the UK's biggest charity fighting hunger and food waste. We take good-to-eat surplus food from across the food industry, sort it in our regional warehouses across the UK, and pass it onto a network of nearly 8,500 charities and community groups. These include food banks and pantries, hostels, refuges, community centres, older people's lunch clubs, school clubs and hospices. Three quarters of the organisations we provide food to support children and families. During the last financial year, 2022-23, FareShare redistributed the equivalent of nearly 128 million meals - that's 4 meals every second.
Government funding
FareShare received a government grant of £1.9m in 2019, as part of a government trial to tackle food waste. The scheme helps to cover the extra costs to small-scale farmers, growers and producers of redistributing their good-to-eat waste food, rather than let it go to waste. The trial resulted in 85% more fruit and vegetables reaching frontline charities and community groups. But government funding ended in 2020, and despite widespread calls, is not currently funding food redistribution in the UK. FareShare is asking for a new grant of £25m, which would allow it to redistribute an additional 100 million meals to vulnerable families – nutritious food that otherwise goes to waste.
Full information about FareShare's ask from Government can be found at the following link:
About Teacher Tapp
Teacher Tapp is a daily survey app that asks over 9,000 teachers questions each day and reweights the results to reflect teacher and school demographics.
