London UK - The research and innovation foundation Nesta has renewed calls on the government to implement the healthy food standard, after new figures from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities show that in England in 2025/26 almost a quarter (22.8%) of children in Year 6 were living with obesity. The healthy food standard policy was announced by ministers as part of the government’s 10 Year Plan for Health in June 2025, and will require food retailers to work to targets for the healthiness of their sales. These health targets could lead to 400,000 fewer children living with obesity.

Lauren Bowes Byatt, director of healthy life at Nesta, said: “Today’s figures show a worsening picture - childhood obesity is still rising. One in 10 children in England now start school living with obesity, the highest number since measurement began 20 years ago (excluding the peak during the pandemic). By the time they leave primary school that rises to 22.8%, an increase on last year and higher than pre-pandemic levels. Rising rates are also hitting our poorest communities hardest, as children in the most deprived areas are more than twice as likely to be living with obesity as those in the least deprived, a gap that has continued to widen this year. At this rate, the UK will continue to be the country with one of the highest childhood obesity rates in Europe.

“This isn’t about blaming parents. It’s about environments that make the unhealthy option the cheapest and easiest. Education or weight loss drugs can’t change that. Targets for supermarkets, where households get over 80% of their daily food calories, could make the weekly shop healthier for every family, whatever their postcode. If the government is serious about ending the obesity epidemic, it must implement the healthy food standard so those targets can change diets for the better.”

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Notes to editors

1. For more information on the analysis or to speak to one of the experts involved, please contact Anja McLoughlin, Group Media Manager, on 020 7438 2576 or [email protected]. Spokespeople are available for broadcast interviews.