‘He is taking big risks with his future just to get food’

SPECIAL INVESTIGATION: As the cost of living crisis worsens, some families are being pushed to the limit. David Cohen hears about pupils stealing from school canteens and a mother of three caught with a loaf under her coat

JOSH was going hungry but he did not want to worry his mother by asking for lunch money. The 15-year-old from south London had seen the eviction notice from their landlord and overheard anxious telephone conversations about mounting debts.

His mother worked part-time as a school dinner lady but had become increasingly fretful as the rising cost of living overwhelmed her. It had meant no money for breakfast for Josh and his younger sister, Eva, but also, nothing for lunch — his single mother’s low earnings meant they lived in poverty but exceeded the narrow eligibility criteria for free school meals. Out of desperation, Josh did something he had never done before. He began to shoplift from his local supermarket. Sandwiches, crisps, snacks. He never stole high value items and always just enough to stem the pangs. He got away with it at first but then the supermarket got wise and banned him. Again, he faced being hungry every day until dinner and, again, he did not want to burden his mother.

He started to steal from the school canteen instead. That was when his plight became known to Jack Price, lead youth worker from Lives Not Knives, a charity engaged by Josh’s school and several others in Croydon to give support to around 70 disadvantaged pupils.