{"id":1049,"date":"2025-06-04T22:03:34","date_gmt":"2025-06-04T22:03:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/?p=1049"},"modified":"2025-06-10T00:13:02","modified_gmt":"2025-06-10T00:13:02","slug":"free-school-meals-to-be-extended-to-500000-chilldren-across-the-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/04\/free-school-meals-to-be-extended-to-500000-chilldren-across-the-country\/","title":{"rendered":"Free school meals to be extended to 500,000 chilldren across the country"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\"A\t<\/div>
The number of pupils in England on free school meals has been increasing over recent years (Picture: AFP via Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

All pupils in England<\/a> whose families are on Universal Credit<\/a> will be eligible for free school<\/a> meals from the 2026\/27 academic year.<\/p>\n

Currently households on Universal Credit must earn below \u00a37,400 a year (after tax and not including benefits) to qualify.<\/p>\n

But following pressure from campaigners and education leaders, the Department for Education<\/a> (DfE) has announced the change which is set to benefit more than half a million pupils.<\/p>\n

It has suggested this will lift 100,000 children out of poverty.<\/p>\n

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson said: ‘It is the moral mission of this government to tackle the stain of child poverty.<\/p>\n

‘Today this government takes a giant step towards ending it with targeted support that puts money back in parents’ pockets.<\/p>\n

‘From free school meals to free breakfast clubs, breaking the cycle of child poverty is at the heart of our Plan for Change to cut the unfair link between background and success.<\/p>\n

‘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.’<\/p>\n

Phillipson, who grew up on free school meals, described the move as a ‘gamechanger’ on the BBC’s Today programme.<\/p>\n

She added: ‘It’s my moral mission to make sure that fewer children in our country grow up in poverty – I experienced it myself growing up, it is personal to me.’<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"Sir\t<\/div>
The government has been under pressure to ease the cost of living crisis for those most vulnerable (Picture: PA Wire)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer hailed the expansion as a ‘truly historic moment for our country’.<\/p>\n

Writing for the Mirror<\/a>, he said: ‘It will put \u00a3500 in parents\u2019 pockets, help children achieve at school, and ease cost-of-living pressures.’<\/p>\n

Around 1 in 4 of all pupils (24.6%) – 2.1 million – were eligible for free school meals in January 2024.<\/p>\n

This is an increase of 75,000 pupils from January 2022, when 2 million (23.8%) were eligible.<\/p>\n

The number of pupils who are on free school meals has been on the increase since 2017\/18.<\/p>\n

Factors like the Covid pandemic in 2020 resulted in a notable increase.<\/p>\n

Some regions have shown higher increases over the years, including the West Midlands and London.<\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\t\t\tNumber of pupils on free school meals in England\t\t\t<\/h2>\n
\n

2022\/23: 2,019,509 pupils<\/p>\n

2021\/22: 1,897,449 pupils<\/p>\n

2020\/21: 1,737,598 pupils<\/p>\n

2019\/20: 1,440,788 pupils<\/p>\n

2018\/19: 1,270,941 pupils<\/p>\n

2017\/18: 1,106,633 pupils<\/p>\n

2016\/17: 1,128,403 pupils<\/p>\n

2015\/16: 1,142,043 pupils<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Liberal Democrat Education spokesperson Munira Wilson said the move was a ‘victory for thousands of passionate campaigners’ but added: ‘This can only be a first step.<\/p>\n

‘To end the cost of learning crisis, the government needs to commit to auto-enrolling eligible children for free school meals, lifting the two-child benefit cap, and capping uniform costs to truly change to lives of children in poverty.’<\/p>\n

The government’s child poverty strategy had been due for publication in the spring but has been delayed until autumn in time for the budget.<\/p>\n

Kate Anstey, head of education policy at the Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) charity, said she hopes this announcement is ‘a sign of what’s to come in autumn’s child poverty strategy’.<\/p>\n

Nick Harrison, chief executive of the Sutton Trust social mobility charity, said: ‘This is a significant step towards taking hunger out of the classroom.<\/p>\n

‘Children can’t learn effectively when hungry, so this announcement not only helps to tackle the effects of child poverty, but will also likely help improve education outcomes for disadvantaged young people.<\/p>\n

‘Giving free school meals to all families who are eligible for universal credit is also easier for parents to understand, so has the potential to increase take-up rates.’<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\"BURNLEY,\t<\/div>
Other parties like the Liberal Democrats have pushed the government and said this is the ‘first step’ (Picture: Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), said that many children in families who just miss out on being eligible for universal credit will also ‘miss out on a hot, healthy school meal’.<\/p>\n

Mr Kebede added: ‘Ensuring that a free school meal is available to all children is the next urgent step that must be taken.’<\/p>\n

The Liberal Democrats said this is ‘only a first step’ towards helping children in poverty but welcomed the change as a ‘victory for thousands of passionate campaigners’.<\/p>\n

The party has called for the lifting of the two-child benefit cap, and capping uniform costs to help ease further poverty.<\/p>\n

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk<\/a>.<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

For more stories like this, <\/strong>check our news page<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The number of pupils in England on free school meals has been increasing over recent years (Picture: AFP via Getty Images) All pupils in England whose families are on Universal Credit will be eligible for free school meals from the 2026\/27 academic year. Currently households on Universal Credit must earn below \u00a37,400 a year (after […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1051,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1049"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1049"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1049\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1055,"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1049\/revisions\/1055"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1049"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1049"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.vecimasupport.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1049"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}