Majority of children in poverty miss out on free school meals

The study estimates that 500,000 children who qualify for free school meals are not taking them up, while a further 700,000 living in poverty are not actually eligible for meals, because of the hours that their parents work.

Overall, 1.2m of the total 2.2m children living in poverty in England are not receiving free school meals.

At the moment, children of lone parents working more than 16 hours a week, and children of couples working more than 24 hours a week, lose their entitlement to free school meals.

According to a survey of parents conducted as part of The Children’s Society research, 45 per cent of parents are worried about the financial implications of working, and 60 per cent say that free school meal eligibility has a direct impact on their decision to move back into work or work more hours.

One parent surveyed said: “When I move into paid work my income will be lower – school lunches are yet another thing to worry about.”

Due to the planned introduction of universal credit, many of the current benefits used to assess eligibility to free school meals are being scrapped.

A completely new system of entitlement will be developed over the next year, so the Children’s Society is calling on government to review the way in which it decides who is given free school meals.

The charity’s Fair and Square campaign, which is being backed by organisations including the Trades Union Congress, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers and 4Children, urges government to extend free school meals to all children living in poverty, including low-income working families by October.

The campaign is also calling on local authorities and schools to introduce cashless or other non-stigmatising systems for claiming free school meals by March next year.

Elaine Hindal, The Children’s Society’s campaign for childhood director, said: “We have shown that there are literally hundreds of thousands of children living below the poverty line who aren’t getting a free school meal. There is no reasonable defence for this policy failure.”

She added: “The government has an unique opportunity to extend free school meals to all low-income working families, so that no child living in poverty misses out.

“This would be in line with the government’s aim to make work pay by paving the way for many families to return to employment and help lift them out of poverty.”