It is widely recognised that childhood obesity is among the biggest public health concerns of our time. This article will summarise current childhood obesity rates in the UK and will go on to discuss the potential role of Universal Free School Meals (UFSM) in helping to address this crisis.

Let’s start with the statistics…

According to the House of Commons Library Obesity Statistics, published in 2023, childhood obesity rates have fallen slightly since their peak during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, rates generally remain higher than they were pre-pandemic across the devolved nations. In England, monitoring carried out as part of the National Child Measurement Programme indicates that 10.1% of Reception-age children (aged 4-5) were obese in 2021 /22 and a further 12.1% were overweight. At aged 10-11, 23.4% were obese and a further 14.3% overweight.