The organisations, including The Trussell Trust, Barnado’s and Child Poverty Action Group, have come together to launch Family Friendly London.
Ade from 4in10, a London child poverty campaign group, wrote in a blog post: “Many people have argued that universal free school meals cannot fix the issue of child hunger in London and I agree: we need a multiplicity of responses to tackle child hunger. However, the really interesting thing about universal free school meals for primary school children is the range of other benefits it offers to children and to parents.
“Universal Free School Meals have direct benefits for all children including boosting educational attainment across the board, ending the stigma of poverty and helping to encourage healthy eating.”
Currently three London local authorities offer universal free school meals to every primary school children in a local authority run school.
Ade added: “Alongside Henry Dimbleby and John Vincent who wrote the School Food Plan for the last coalition government, we believe the time has come for London to implement a phased roll out of universal free school meals. That is why we are calling on Mayoral candidates to support families in London by providing a free school meal to all primary school pupils.”
The 2016 London mayoral elections will take place on 5th May 2016 and the elected candidate will succeed current mayor Boris Johnson.