LONDON – The food package, spread out on a rug, included a can of beans, a variety of fruits, vegetables, snacks, sliced bread and cheese – provisions of a government program that offers free lunch for low-income students.
But when photos of the packages, delivered to students at home as school blocks across Britain, circulated on social media this week, they were harshly condemned by parents and hunger activists like football star Marcus Rashford.
Portions were scarce, raising concerns about whether children were receiving sufficient nutrition during the coronavirus pandemic, and whether the government paid dearly for them, critics said.
“Public funds were charged at £ 30” or more than $ 40, said a mother, who posted a widely shared photo on Twitter of a package she said was supposed to last 10 days. In comparison to the items at her local supermarket, she said, “I would have bought this for £ 5.22”.
Chartwells, the contractor responsible for providing the lunch package that circulated on Twitter, said on Tuesday that the photo contained enough for five school lunches, not ten, and that billing for it, including distribution costs, totaled about $ 14.
But that was not enough to contain the protests, and on Wednesday the government said it would restore voucher programs next week that would give parents the option to buy meals themselves.
Under the program, schools that receive funding to provide meals for low-income students receive incentives if they send lunch packages to their homes. Food, according to the website of the Department of Education, should be used to prepare “healthy lunches” and serve students with “special diets”.
The mother whose photo went viral said she liked the news of the turnaround. “Most people can get a lot more mileage with vouchers than anything that was put in bags and boxes,” said the woman, identified only as Lisa, on Leading Britain’s Conversation radio station.
On Monday, Chartwells said it would reimburse costs “when our food baskets do not meet our usual high standards” and “would apologize to everyone affected”. A free breakfast would be included in packages shipped from January 25, they added.
Rashford, who plays for Manchester United and has been a driving force for 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 packages do not meet the standards we have established and we have made it clear to the company involved that this is shameful,” said Johnson on Twitter.
“The photos that are being shared on social media last night and today are completely unacceptable and do not reflect the high standard of free school lunches that we hope to send to children,” said Vicky Ford, Minister of Children and Family.
But some critics have accused the government of blaming the contractors and said this is a sign of broader struggles that marginalized people are facing with the UK in another blockade.
“It is really shocking that profitability is happening in this crisis,” said Kath Dalmeny, chief executive of Sustain, an agricultural and food charity. She added that there was a lack of transparency about how big companies won contracts and that the government had not adequately recognized that low-income families would struggle to get food during the blockade.
The free meal program was offered to students from families receiving government benefits, including those earning less than £ 7,400 a year after tax.
But families who earn above that limit also struggle to put food on the table, said Dalmeny.
“There is deep political prejudice among our government against giving people money – even in a pandemic,” she added. “Unfortunately, it is children who end up suffering.”
The incident was part of a pattern of private companies receiving government contracts that save on quality to maximize profits, according to The Good Law Project, a governance oversight body. The Johnson administration has awarded billions of dollars in pandemic-related contracts to companies with political connections, with no relevant experience and stories of controversy, often speeding them ahead of competitors.
“There is a central government culture of not being interested in providing high quality services to the population,” said Jolyon Maugham, the group’s director, adding that the country needed more ways to seek accountability and transparency.
About 1.4 million children claimed free school lunches in the 2019-2020 school year, according to government data.
About the photos, Dalmeny said they went viral because they spoke to people’s hearts. “If you imagine feeding a child this, week after week.”