LONDON – The food parcel, spread out on a carpet, contains a can of beans, a variety of fruits, vegetables, snacks and sliced bread and cheese provisions from a government program that provides low-income students with free lunches.
But when photos of the packages, which were delivered to students at home as locks, closed schools across Britain, were circulated on social media this week, they were condemned by parents and anti-hunger activists such as football star Marcus Rashford.
Critics said the portions were meager, raising concerns about whether children are getting enough nutrition during the coronavirus pandemic.
‘Parent, who posted a widely shared photo on Twitter of one package that she said would last ten days, charged £ 30, or more than $ 40. Compared to items at her local supermarket, she said: “I would have bought it for £ 5.22.”
Chartwells, a contractor responsible for providing the lunch package distributed on Twitter, said Tuesday the photo contains enough for five days of school lunch, not ten, and that the cost, including distribution costs, is about $ 14 amounts.
But that was not enough to curb the outcry, and the government said on Wednesday that it would reintroduce gift vouchers next week that would give parents the option to buy meals themselves.
Under the program, schools that receive funding to provide lunch to lower-income students have been encouraged to send lunch to their homes. According to the website of the Department of Education, the food items should be used to prepare ‘healthy lunches’ and provide students with ‘special diets’.
The mother whose photo went viral said she welcomed the news of the turnaround. “Most people can get far more miles out of vouchers than anything stored in their bags and boxes,” the woman, identified only as Lisa, told Leading Britain’s Conversation radio station.
Chartwells said on Monday it would reimburse the cost “where our food parcels did not meet our usual high standards” and would apologize to anyone affected. “A free breakfast would be included with packages shipped from January 25,” they added.
Mr. Rashford, who plays for Manchester United and was a driving force behind free meal programs during the pandemic, called the packages “unacceptable” and said Prime Minister Boris Johnson had promised him a “complete review of the supply chain.”
“These food parcels do not meet the standards we have set out, and we have made it clear to the company concerned that this is shameful,” Johnson said on Twitter.
“The photos shared on social media last night and today are completely unacceptable and do not reflect the high standard of free school meals we will send to children,” said Children and Families Minister Vicky Ford.
But some critics have accused the government of passing the blame on to contractors, saying it was a sign of greater struggle facing people facing Britain deep in another exclusion.
“It’s really shocking that profiteering is taking place in this crisis,” said Kath Dalmeny, CEO of Sustain, a charity for food and farming. She added that there is a lack of transparency about how large companies get contracts and that the government has not adequately acknowledged that low-income families would struggle to get food during the closure.
The free meals program was offered to students from households receiving government benefits, including those earning less than £ 7,400 a year after tax.
But families earning above the threshold also struggle to put food on the table, Ms. Dalmeny said.
“There is a political bias under our government to give people money – even in a pandemic,” she added. “Unfortunately, it’s the children who end up suffering.”
According to The Good Law Project, a watchdog for the government, the incident was part of a pattern of private companies getting government contracts to increase quality to maximize profits. The Johnson government has awarded billions of dollars worth of pandemic-related contracts to companies with political connections, no relevant experience and histories of controversy.
“There is a culture of central government that is just not interested in providing high quality services to the population,” said Jolyon Maugham, the group’s director, adding that the country needs more ways of accountability and to seek transparency.
About 1.4 million children, according to government figures, demanded free school meals in the 2019-2020 school year.
From the photos, Ms. Dalmeny said they went viral because they spoke to people’s hearts. “If you imagine feeding a child to it week after week.”