The move will lift 50,000 children out of relative poverty, the Chancellor Alistair Darling has announced in his Pre-Budget Report.
Free school meals will be extended to primary school pupils in working families with a household income below £16,190.
The extension will start in September 2010 when 50 per cent of eligible children will get free meals.
The government is aiming that all pupils from low-income families will receive free meals by September 2011.
The current pilot of universal free school meals is also to be extended so there is a pilot in each English region.
The government will also move to allow parents to divide a period of paid leave between them in the second six months of their child's life, helping them to better balance work and life.
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