An Open Letter to all Party Leaders
It is shameful that children in Scotland are burdened with school meal debt and many are going hungry at school.
Aberlour has campaigned alongside the Scottish Sun to see an end to school meal debt and hidden school hunger.
Our campaign successfully influenced the Scottish Government to write off school meal debt for around 70,000 children and their families.
We welcomed the introduction of the National School Meal Debt Fund by the Scottish Government to cancel school meal debt for struggling families.
Alongside this we also welcomed the extension of free school meals to all primary school aged children whose families receive the Scottish Child Payment.
However, despite the introduction of the fund, which cleared outstanding school meal debt of nearly £3 million up to March 2024, many families are already seeing their debts build up again as their circumstances remain unchanged.
The Scottish Government’s own recent reporting on delivery of the National School Meal Debt Fund concluded that school meal debt is reported to be rising again.
School meal debt continues to be a financial strain on low-income families across Scotland and is a symptom of many not having enough money to provide for their children.
Tackling child poverty must include ending school meal debt and hidden school hunger.
At Aberlour, we see first-hand how families are turning to foodbanks because they can’t afford food.
We see parents go without meals to feed their children.
We see children arrive at school without having had breakfast.
This is unacceptable in a country as wealthy as Scotland.
Government has a legal duty to uphold children’s rights, including realising children’s right to food by making sure all children have access to healthy and nutritious food, whether this is at home or at school.
With never-ending cost-of-living pressures squeezing families’ budgets – which will only get worse due to ongoing political and economic crises - many are wondering how they will survive.
Thousands of struggling families still do not qualify for free school meals, leaving children to either go hungry or accumulate debt when they receive a school meal their families cannot afford.
For some, this debt reaches hundreds of pounds per child, adding to the already overwhelming financial burden so many families are facing.
Despite previous efforts to tackle this issue, what is clear is we need to prevent school meal debt from occurring in the first place.
We cannot accept living in a country where families are unable to feed their children and children regularly go hungry at school.
That is why, ahead of the upcoming Scottish Parliament elections, we are calling on all party leaders to end school meal debt and hidden school hunger for good by:
• Continuing the National School Meal Debt Fund until it is no longer needed
• Increasing free school meal eligibility to all low-income families receiving the Scottish Child Payment.
Signed Aberlour and The Scottish Sun
Published in The Scottish Sun on 29 April 2026