Yesterday morning our COO, Adam, was on  @BBCRadio4 Broadcasting House to discuss the underlying issues with the school meal replacement.  
We didn’t have much time to go fully into detail, so here are our key points:

We ought to look at why a child needs free school meals. It’s because there’s no food for the household, probably hasn’t been for a long time.
Why is that? Because there is no money.

We can help people with no money and no food get their lives back on track.  

The goal is not to do it by handouts with no long-term solution. Though when people are stuck, handouts are important (we do give out food!) we’re interested in people never needing us again!

Many people can build their own independent life where they don’t ever have to ask for money or food. Most want to work. Some people can’t work. Either way they deserve the dignity of an independent life. To do more than just survive, to thrive.

How we achieve that needs to be rooted in the reality of what life is like for people. Some will be able to get back into work, for example, once their initial crisis has been overcome. For others the walk is longer, rebuilding mental wellbeing, building skills, confidence.

So, yes, give people money to replace free school meals. But look further into Universal Credit, and beyond. Which brings us to...

Universal Credit can be part of the solution: if it pays enough for people to cover their basic needs, at least. 
In many cases UC isn’t doing that.

So: fix UC so people aren’t constantly in desperation mode. Then have a joined up approach to enabling them to get out of needing UC (if they can, we accept it’s not always possible).

So what we’re saying is: tackle why the child, and indeed the whole household, has no food. Then construct the system so they get to the point of providing for themselves. This is the way we have been working for the past 10 years.  #bbcbh #bbcradio4