A councillor said he has ‘immense concern’ over the rising number of children needing free school meals in Nottinghamshire.
Previously Nottinghamshire County Council figures showed 23,649 children received school meals in April 2021.
But new figures reveal that in October 2021, 25,511 children were claiming free school meals in the county.
Councillor Daniel Williamson (Ind) told a Children and Young People’s Committee meeting: “There has been a significant rise in free school meal claimants across the county. It is a cause for immense concern.
“The figures show the number of children claiming in April 2020 was 19,783 compared with 23,649 in April 2021, showing a 19.5% increase. I can confirm this morning to committee that I have the latest figures.
“As of October 2021, this figure is 25,511 claimants – a rise of 1862 more claimants in just six months.
“Areas like Ashfield, with 5346 free school claimants and Mansfield 4755 new claimants remain the highest and have both seen the highest percentage increases.”
Cllr Williamson criticised a line in the report which said it was “unclear” why families had not chosen to claim previously.
He said it was “a lazy, generalistic and assumptive sentence”.
He added: “No parents chose to leave their children hungry. A simple look at Universal Credit rates could have answered that question. What is this Council doing to identify whether these are new claimants and the reasons why they are applying for this lifeline now?”
Chair of the meeting Tracy Taylor (Con) responded: “I share your frustration and confusion about the stats that come through.
“Have the numbers gone up simply because it wasn’t just vulnerable children and key worker children who were at schools, it was the universal reopening of schools.
“Was it down to the reopening, was it previously unclaimed or new eligibilities?
“My understanding is mechanisms for reporting don’t allow us to work out what the reasons are in some cases.”
Irene Kakoullis, Group Manager, early childhood services, said: “Schools have struggled for years to get families to claim free school meals, sometimes stigma and sometimes lack of awareness.
“We have seen an increase and it’s positive people are claiming if they are eligible.”
But Cllr Williamson responded: “I think any indication that kids applying for free school meals is a good thing is probably a rather damning indictment of the state of the rest of society.”
Arnold councillor Michelle Welsh (Lab) said: “I am slightly disappointed in this report.
“If we take the pandemic out of the situation, child poverty in Nottinghamshire has been rising significantly since 2010 and before.
“The families now accessing food banks, in Gedling borough alone, have risen dramatically.
“I don’t think this report is doing any justice to children in Nottinghamshire.
“We need to take it a little bit more seriously.”
Councillors voted in favour of setting aside £2.3 million to provide free school meals for school holidays until February 2022.
After the meeting, Councillor Welsh told Gedling Eye: “Whilst I welcome this report, and in particular the allocation of this additional funding for those children and young people eligible for Free School Meals, I am disappointed in the conclusion that the current picture does not demonstrate rising child poverty.
“Contained within the report is clear evidence of rising numbers of children now having Free School Meals, rising numbers of Early Years Pupil Premium, rising levels of young people who are Not in Education, Training and Employment (NEET), rising unemployment and increased numbers of residents claiming Universal Credit.
“Also, Food Banks all over the County are reporting increased numbers of young families accessing their service.
“How much more evidence do we need to be clear that child poverty has worsened since the Covid -19 pandemic? More importantly, what are we going to do about it? It’s not simply a case of providing food vouchers, our families, children and young people now need much more targeted support.
“To be able to identify the right types of support however, we do need to have a full and frank recognition that we have had an increase in child poverty, which was already plainly felt in many of our communities’ pre-pandemic.
“I’d like for this committee to prioritise this as a key issue moving forward, our children and young people in Nottinghamshire surely should be at the top of any agenda which promises to reduce inequality. In short, I’d like to see far more action”
