As we celebrate our 150^th year, our focus is on helping even more children and families across Scotland, with a key aim to ensure that no child should go hungry at school. The very idea of school meal debt is offensive. Children should never be burdened with debt or denied meals due to financial hardship, yet the rise in school meal debt reflects the growing struggles many families face.

At Aberlour, we see first-hand how families are turning to foodbanks because they can’t afford food, how parents go without meals to feed their children, and how many children arrive at school without having had breakfast. This is unacceptable in a country as wealthy as Scotland.

With the continued rise in cost-of-living squeezing budgets, many families are wondering how they will survive. Over the last two years we, alongside The Scottish Sun, have campaigned successfully for the Scottish Government to write off school meal debt for around 30,000 children. While we welcomed a one-off commitment, many families are already seeing their debts build again, as their circumstances remain unchanged.

Thousands of low-income families still do not qualify for free school meals, leaving children to go hungry or accumulate debt when they need a school meal. For some, this debt reaches hundreds of pounds, adding to the already overwhelming financial burden they face.

The rights of children to be fed and not go hungry are now protected by law, and the Scottish Government's recent commitment to write off school meal debt through a national fund is a positive step. However, we need to prevent school meal debt from occurring in the first place. Increasing eligibility for free school meals to all low-income families is essential to ending school meal debt and eradicating hidden hunger.

We urge you to help by writing to your MSP, asking for-

• The School Meal Debt Fund to be made permanent (until it is no longer needed)
• Increasing free school meal eligibility to all low-income families receiving the Scottish Child Payment to prevent school meal debt in the first place