Central England Co-op with stores in Dersingham and Terrington St Clement backs Manchester United star Marcus Rashford's Child Food Poverty Task Force

A retailer with stores in Dersingham and Terrington St Clement is backing Manchester United and England footballer Marcus Rashford’s Child Food Poverty Task Force.

Central England Co-op is standing together with the player and other major retailers and charities in an effort to encourage the government to find and deliver a long-term permanent solution to child food poverty.

The Co-op has long campaigned for more to be done to ensure that no child goes hungry and over the past three years has worked with more than 65 food banks and FareShare Midlands to help create hundreds of thousands of meals for those at risk of holiday hunger.

Debbie Robinson, Central England Co-operative chief executive, said: “We have now been working with our food bank partners to try to combat holiday hunger for many years, yet we continue to see demand for food bank support spike as what they now offer has sadly become a permanent solution rather than an emergency response.

“We all want to get to a point where we do not have to rely on the generosity of our members and customers to ensure children do not go hungry every single summer and this is why are delighted to join the Marcus Rashford Child Food Poverty Task Force and back calls for the Government to urgently address this problem and put an end to holiday hunger. Free school meals and vouchers are great but not enough.”

The task force will seek to encourage the expansion of free school meals to every child from a household on universal credit or equivalent, reaching an additional 1.5million seven to 16 year olds; extend holiday provision of food and activities to support children on free school meals; and increase the value of the Healthy Start vouchers to £4.25 per week, from £3.10.

Joining this task force comes on the back of a summer that has seen Central England Co-op continue its annual link-up with over 65 food bank partners to collect vital items to ensure children do not go hungry.

The retailer also donated £100,000 to its long-standing partner FareShare Midlands to help with its work to combat the issue among youngsters and their families.