Burger King branches in Norfolk and Suffolk are offering free meals to school-age children during half term.

The new scheme has been rolled out by the fast food chain’s restaurants at Thickthorn, in Norwich, Barton Mills and Beacon Hill, in Ipswich.

All are run by franchisee Euro Garages UK, which will hand out meals between 11.30am and 1.30pm until Friday (October 30).

Children must be accompanied by an adult but no purchase is necessary.

Jason Doe, Burger King area manager for Euro Garages, said: “Clearly this has been a big issue and one of our managers asked if there was anything we could do to help.

“This is for all children and we are not just limiting it to people in need. The only requirement is that you need to have an adult with you.

“In terms of checking ages we are doing this on a trust basis for schoolchildren - we understand poverty doesn’t stop at a certain age.”