Gut-Wrenching Video Of Dinner Lady Pushes Charity To Shame Government

A charity has hit out at the government for its inaction over the cost of living, after a clip highlighting the reality of the crisis went viral.

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) – which focuses on research and fundraising around poverty – was responding to a harrowing account from a school dinner lady when it hit out at the government.

Outlet PoliticsJOE had interviewed a dinner lady on the street when she had admitted she has to deny children food because they can’t afford it, prompting the charity to reply: “It’s absolutely appalling that in our compassionate society, children are going hungry.

“When the new prime minister is announced, they need to take significant and immediate action to right this moral wrong.”

The original clip, which accumulated 3.8 million views in just over 24 hours, begins with the woman introducing herself as “a dinner lady” from Lancashire.

She continued: “I spend as much time taking food away from children as I do serving it.”

Speaking at the Enough is Enough rally in Manchester, she said: “And to be honest, it’s not what I took the job for. You know, I never dreamt that I’d be having to tell children, ‘You can’t have that, you have no money on your account’.”

She said it used to be a once-a-month anomaly when a child was not able to pay for their lunch, usually because a parent forgot to top up an account.

 “But now you’re talking 10 to 15 children a shift, every day, every single day,” she explained.

The school worker said it was “breaking my heart” to see this “humiliating” experience happen to so many children.

“I’m just dreading going back to work. I’m dreading October, and to be honest, it’s just getting to the point where I don’t even think I can do this job anymore.

“I didn’t take on the job to starve children.”

She started to well up while on camera, and said: “Something has to give and I just don’t think it should be children’s spirits.”

By referring to October, the dinner lady was alluding to the energy price cap which is set to climb again to £3,549 for the average household.

This means that budgets are going to get even tighter – and even more children might struggle to pay for their school meals.

JRF wasn’t the only Twitter account to notice the harrowing clip either. Both left-wing commentator Ash Sarkar and outspoken presenter Piers Morgan  condemned No.10 over its inaction after seeing the video, along with thousands of other Twitter users.