Bishop campaigns for free school meals for all amid ‘heartbreaking’ child poverty

Research showed over 300,000 children in Greater Manchester and Lancashire are living in poverty.

Bishop of Salford John Arnold is backing a campaign to provide free school meals for all primary school children in England.

Bishop Arnold, who is chair of trustees at Caritas Salford, said on the No Child Left Behind website, “Ensuring that children are properly nourished during the school day is not simply an act of compassion; it is a matter of justice.

“Extending free school meals to all primary school children would be a clear and hopeful decision – one that reflects both sound public policy and our deepest moral values.”

The National Education Union launched the Free School Meals for All campaign in September 2022, calling for the UK Government to “extend Free School Meals to every child in primary school in England”.

Bishop Arnold’s call comes after Caritas Salford, a Catholic charity which supports people experiencing poverty in Greater Manchester and Lancashire, found that 80 per cent of leaders in Catholic schools regularly encounter children arriving with little or no food.

Bishop Arnold commended the Free School Meals campaign as “a practical and compassionate step”, and said, “A civilised society should never place children in the position of trying to learn while hungry.

“Catholic social teaching speaks clearly of human dignity and the common good, insisting that economic and social decisions must always place the wellbeing of people first.”

The director of Caritas Salford, Patrick O’Dowd, backed Bishop Arnold’s call and commented that he hears “regularly of parents skipping their own meals so that their children have enough to eat”.

O’Dowd told The Tablet the child poverty statistics were “truly heartbreaking”: “In 2026, this should not be happening, and the campaign to ensure no children are left behind is so important. That’s not just a statistic; it’s real young people who often don’t know where their next meal is coming from.

“We know from our research that poverty, including food poverty, impacts children in so many ways. Children should be given a chance to thrive, not just survive.”

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