Ian Byrne: he’s campaigning to ensure that children with special educational needs and disabilities get the free school meals to which they are entitled.

It isn’t so long since Ian Byrne was MP of the year – and Keir Starmer’s Labour Party was trying to get rid of him.

Now he’s on a new campaign – and once again he’s on the right side of history:

Thousands of children with special educational needs and disabilities are missing out on the free  school meals they are eligible for due to their disability or sensory needs. This is despite the law  being clear that most should be offered an alternative such as a supermarket food voucher.

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Disabled children and their families are already more likely to be living in poverty due to the  difficulties of juggling care and work. Research shows they have also been disproportionately affected  by cost-of-living pressures and the pandemic. Contact found that 85% of families missing out on the  free school meals entitlement reported that this has increased pressure on their weekly budgets. The  families of children with conditions such as diabetes, epilepsy and autism are all too often missing out  on the equivalent of £570 a year worth of financial help. This is causing many to fall into debt and  needing to turn to foodbanks, which is completely unacceptable and unnecessary.

Contact calculates that more than 164,000 disabled children are unable to access their free school  meals, despite meeting the Government’s eligibility requirements. This is truly shocking. Access to  food is a basic human right. I am campaigning for universal free school meals as part of the Right To  Food campaign but in the meantime we must ensure the current system is fair and equal and that it  actually delivers in practise what it claims to.

Research carried out by Contact in March 2023 with 1500 families found that there are different  reasons that disabled children cannot currently access their free lunch. These include:

– 60% can’t eat school meals due to their health condition, dietary requirements or sensory  processing difficulties

– 22% are off school due to a long-term medical condition or illness

– 18% are not in school as they have an education package provided by the council or are  waiting for a suitable school place

– 6% attend a school without a canteen

Many parents are incorrectly being refused a food voucher as a reasonable adjustment. Others are  being asked to travel miles to pick up a food parcel that doesn’t include food their child can eat. Families should never have to face this battle.

It must be made clear that schools and councils need to provide an  alternative, ideally a supermarket voucher, to disabled children who cannot access a free school meal  in the regular way.

Source: Ian Byrne MP: More than 100,000 eligible disabled children are unable to access the free school meals. The government must act. – Left Foot Forward: Leading the UK’s progressive debate

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