EYE SUPPLEMENT Research: Growing up hungry

Since the pandemic and cost-of-living crisis there has rightly been increasing concern about the problem of food poverty. But despite families with the youngest children being more likely to be in income poverty, food poverty in the early years has largely been overlooked in government policy and public debate. Instead, the focus has been on school-age children and the importance of free school meals and breakfast clubs.

To redress this imbalance and understand more about the problem of food poverty for under-fives and what can be done to reduce it, we conducted a series of evidence reviews, alongside expert interviews with key organisations whose work focuses on food poverty and/or early years. We additionally held a roundtable event early this year, focused on policy solutions, with a mix of stakeholders including charities with a focus on poverty or food poverty, early years organisations, charities with a focus on young children's nutrition and health outcomes, and civil servants from multiple departments, including the Department for Work and Pensions, the Department for Health and Social Care, the Cabinet Office and local government.