Schools and food charity in England

Abstract

This article critically examines the development of food charity in schools in England. Growing numbers of schools, often in partnership with charities and businesses, are directly providing food to parents who are struggling to feed their families. This article analyses how and why this is happening and its broader significance. The growth of food charity in schools is explained through a mixture of a retreating welfare state, an on-going cost of living crisis, the continued diffusion of charitable food aid as a socially accepted response to poverty and hunger in the UK, and schools having to adopt increasing responsibilities for making sure children’s basic needs are being met. Drawing on semi-structured interview data gathered from school staff, this article highlights how schools are becoming a new frontier for charitable food aid.