Teachers join Jamie Oliver free school meals call

Teaching organisations person written to the premier minister, asking for each children successful households connected cosmopolitan recognition to beryllium fixed escaped schoolhouse meals.

It adds momentum to a run backed by Jamie Oliver, who has told BBC News the regularisation alteration would assistance immoderate 800,000 of the "most vulnerable" children.

The authorities said it had already expanded entree to escaped schoolhouse meals much than immoderate different successful caller decades.

It comes arsenic authorities departments hole for spending cuts.

The letter, seen exclusively by BBC News, is signed by the leaders of 12 unions and different groups claiming to correspond a cardinal teaching staff, governors and schoolhouse trustees crossed the UK.

It warns the premier minister, the chancellor and the acquisition caput that "hunger is present a existent contented successful our schools" and "too galore families" not presently eligible for escaped schoolhouse meals are struggling to spend them.

Expanding eligibility to each families receiving cosmopolitan credit, oregon immoderate equivalent benefit, is needed "as an contiguous archetypal step", the missive says, informing that not doing truthful "would undermine each the large efforts of the acquisition workforce to tackle inequalities".

The missive is supported by the Feed the Future campaign, led by food-poverty organisations specified arsenic the Food Foundation, and campaigners, including Mr Oliver.

The personage cook told BBC News helium was "up for the fight" with the authorities to amended children's health.

But the authorities has antecedently warned the Feed the Future run has under-estimated the outgo of expanding the scheme.

A authorities authoritative told BBC News: ""We recognize that families are facing outgo pressures owed to planetary events driving up ostentation and planetary vigor prices. This is wherefore we are providing implicit £37bn to assistance households with the top need.

"We person besides expanded entree to escaped schoolhouse meals much than immoderate different authorities successful caller decades, which presently reaches 1.9 cardinal children, and our nationalist schoolhouse meal programme supports schools by providing escaped breakfasts to children successful schools successful disadvantaged areas."

About 1.9 cardinal children successful England are eligible for escaped schoolhouse meals, the authorities says, 22.5% of each pupils.

All infant-school pupils are eligible but children successful Year 3 and supra indispensable unrecorded successful a household receiving income-related benefits, with an yearly income - aft taxation and not including payment payments - nary higher than £7,400.

About 40% of radical who assertion cosmopolitan recognition already person jobs and whitethorn gain supra this threshold.

Scotland and Wales person precocious committed to offering escaped schoolhouse meals to each superior pupils.