A new report titled 'Hungry for Change' highlights urgent regional inequalities in children's food security and obesity levels across the North of England, calling for immediate policy action.

The report details a significant North-South divide, with the North experiencing higher rates of food insecurity and childhood obesity, especially in deprived areas.

First-hand accounts, such as Penny Walters, reveal ongoing struggles with food insecurity driven by inadequate welfare policies and rising living costs, impacting families' access to healthy food.

The report stresses that tackling these issues requires comprehensive measures, including expanding access to nutritious food, universal free school meals, improved social welfare, and targeted policies from conception through adulthood.

Obesity at reception age is more than twice as prevalent in the most deprived areas of the North (12.9%) compared to the least deprived (6%), with severe obesity at 4.1% versus 1.1%.

Communities in the North are increasingly exposed to fast food outlets, with nearly 70% living within 1 km of one, and an 84% rise in such proximity from 2016 to 2024.

There is a stark regional disparity, with Hartlepool having the highest childhood obesity rate at 13.9%, while Wokingham in the South reports only 5.7%.

Children registered for free school meals are more common in the North, with rates exceeding 25% in the North East and North West, indicating higher poverty levels.

Food insecurity in the North increased by 5.5% between 2019/20 and 2022/23, outpacing the 3.8% rise seen in the South, according to York-based academics including Professor Maria Bryant.

Childhood obesity rates in the North are consistently higher than the national average at all examined ages, with 10.8% at reception age and 24.5% at Year 6 in the North East.