Feeding Britain

We welcome this latest update, given to Parliament by Catherine McKinnell MP, on the progress being made by the UK Government toward automatically enrolling eligible children for their free school meal entitlement. In particular, the joint approach between the Department for Education and the Department for Work and Pensions, involving Universal Credit, is consistent with our recent blueprint for auto-enrolment: https://bit.ly/4baESjF

We were thrilled to be at Pit Stop 2 today in Jamie Laing's Ultra Marathon Challenge for Comic Relief. It was a chance for colleagues from Feeding Leicester and Feeding Britain to express our gratitude to Jamie and his supporters for their generosity, and it was wonderful to also meet Leanne and Jake from The Traitors who were running in support. Our partnership with Comic Relief enables us to develop our affordable food provision and wraparound support, as well as programmes such as Healthy Holidays that help ensure no child goes hungry in the school holidays. Thank you to everyone who has donated so far!

A statement from Andrew Forsey OBE, National Director of Feeding Britain, in light of the government's announcement on sickness and disability benefits today.

This International School Meals Day, we’re explaining why automatic enrolment for free school meals is so important to tackling hunger in the UK.

To tackle food insecurity, we need a three-pronged approach to creating safety nets that keep people out of poverty and provide sustainable solutions. We need: - A Social Safety Net - A Nutritional Safety Net - A Local Safety Net For more information, see our Feeding Hope Report 2024 here: https://bit.ly/4i10VMq

Last week's half term saw many children and young people taking part in Healthy Holiday programmes across our network to ensure they had continued access to nutritious food and enriching activities during the school holidays. As this comment from a parent of a participant in our Bradford programme notes, holiday clubs are a source of joy, inspiration and new experiences for the children taking part. They provide so much more than access to nutritious food. #HAF2025 #HAFProgram #SupportForFamilies #FreeMealsForKids #HealthyHolidays

📢 Calling all runners! 📢 Feeding Britain has teamed up with realbuzz to offer our supporters exclusive places in some of the world's leading long-distance races! Sign up for an upcoming race at https://lnkd.in/e6ruAKNw and help fundraise for us. Whether you're a seasoned marathoner or just starting out, every step you take supports our mission to eliminate hunger in the UK. Event highlights include: - Superhalf Series - Dublin Marathon - Berlin Marathon - Chicago Marathon Thank you for your support! #RunForACause #Fundraising #FeedingBritain #FoodSecurity #Runner #Charityrunner #Realbuzz #Halfmarathon #Marathon

Feeding Britain welcomes this latest news of cross-government talks to improve data sharing arrangements, in pursuit of higher registration rates for free school meals, as reported to Parliament by Stephen Morgan MP. We very much hope this will pave the way for an auto-enrolment system to ensure all eligible children are registered for free school meals, as outlined by our National Director Andrew Forsey: https://bit.ly/3EL9UTb Over the past 18 months, Feeding Britain has convened a working group to devise a detailed and workable means of implementing auto-enrolment for free school meals. You can read a copy of the report here: https://bit.ly/4baESjF

Our National Director, Andrew Forsey OBE, writes in The Guardian about one big reform we need to see in the Government’s child poverty strategy: the use of data and technology to prevent children missing out on free school meals and Healthy Start cards.

We are enormously grateful to Ofgem for visiting our Number Seven social supermarket, in Birkenhead, to discuss standing charges, energy debt, and prepay meters, as well as the wider pressures on household budgets.