The government is set to announce an expansion of the free school meals programme starting in 2026.
The plans will make every child from a household receiving Universal Credit eligible for free school meals in all settings where free school meals are currently delivered, including schools, school-based nurseries and Further Education.
Labour claims the reform will help to “lift 100,000 children completely out of poverty” by widening eligibility criteria from the earning threshold of less than £7,400 per year that has been in place since 2018 to encompass all households claiming Universal Credit.
The government will also provide a £13 million investment to 12 food charities across England in a drive to reduce food waste and ensure that fresh produce can be redistributed to those who require it as part of the Tackling Food Surplus at the Farm Gate scheme.
The School Food Standards will also be updated in line with guidance from nutrition experts to improve the quality of school meals available.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer said: “Working parents across the country are working tirelessly to provide for their families but are being held back by cost-of-living pressures.
“My government is taking action to ease those pressures. Feeding more children every day, for free, is one of the biggest interventions we can make to put more money in parents’ pockets, tackle the stain of poverty, and set children up to learn.”
The plans to expand the free school meals scheme come ahead the Child Poverty Taskforce publishing its ten-year strategy to drive sustainable change later this year.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said: “It is the moral mission of this government to tackle the stain of child poverty, and today this government takes a giant step towards ending it with targeted support that puts money back in parents’ pockets.
She reiterated that schemes like providing free school meals and the creation free breakfast clubs are central to the government’s aim to break “the cycle of child poverty”
She continued: “We believe that background shouldn’t mean destiny. Today’s historic step will help us to deliver excellence everywhere, for every child and give more young people the chance to get on in life.”
Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall emphasised this point, saying: “Poverty robs children of opportunities and damages their future prospects. This is a moral scar on our society we are committed to tackling.”
The government has unveiled various schemes aimed at reducing child poverty and easing pressure on the child care system, including the introduction of free breakfast clubs, expanding government-funded childcare to 30 hours a week for working parents and capping the number of branded school uniform items families need to buy.
The plans to cap school uniform purchases have been subject to criticism by the Lib Dems who have claimed the “policy is a halfway house, tying school heads’ hands while still leaving families subject to huge price hikes for fewer school clothes”, with the party instead campaigning for an overall cap on uniform prices, rather than a cap on the quantity of required items.
The party has called the planned expansion of the free school meals programme a “victory” for struggling families, but has called on the government to “commit to auto-enrolling eligible children for free school meals, lifting the two child benefit cap, and capping uniform costs to truly change the lives of children in poverty.
Munira Wilson MP, the Lib Dem Education spokesperson, said: “We’ll hold their feet to the fire to make sure today’s change is just a start.”
Last week the government announced a £1.2 billion in schools and hospitals, aiming to improve the safety of students and create better environments for learning by repairing damaged or aged infrastructure and removing asbestos from schools and sixth forms in England.
Featured image via No 10 / Shutterstock.
Author: Jamie Calder
