The Feeding Trust’s position statement in response to the government’s 2026 School Food Standards consultation, co-signed by Dr Melissa Bujtor (Board Member). A summary is below; the full statement is available to read on the Trust’s letterhead.
Summary
We welcome the government’s proposed overhaul of the School Food Standards — the most substantial update in over a decade. For most children, the reforms will make lunchtime healthier and more equitable, and the expansion of Free School Meals to all children on Universal Credit is a public-health decision of real consequence.
For a significant minority of children, however, whether the reforms work will depend on something the consultation does not yet address: whether they can eat the food at all. A significant proportion of children experience feeding and eating difficulties — including paediatric feeding disorders and ARFID, sensory-based and oral-motor feeding differences, medical and gastrointestinal complexities, and the barriers many neurodivergent pupils meet at a busy mealtime — that affect their ability to access, consume, or participate in school meals.
The Trust is calling for the new Standards to adopt a feeding-development focused approach, and for implementation guidance that makes the duty to provide “reasonable adjustments” meaningful in practice, so that children with feeding difficulties are no longer absent from national school-food policy.
The four asks
- Name these children explicitly in the Standards and statutory guidance — paediatric feeding disorders, ARFID, and developmental and sensory feeding differences.
- Give the “reasonable efforts” duty real implementation guidance — worked examples, and a clear role for clinicians, SENCOs, parents and pupils.
- Include adaptive provision in the 2027–28 compliance framework, so access to food is accounted for alongside quality of food.
- Join the reforms up with the parallel SEND reforms, so children at the intersection of SEND and feeding difficulty don’t fall through the gap.
Read the full position statement (PDF) →
Signed on behalf of the Trustees, The Feeding Trust: Natalie Raven Morris (Founder & CEO) and Dr Melissa Bujtor (Board Member). The Feeding Trust is transitioning to The Children’s F.E.D. Foundation in October 2026.
Read Dr Bujtor’s commentary on these reforms: Better school food is welcome. But what about the children who can’t eat it?
