The data comes from the Department for Education’s latest school census, school level annual school census, general hospital school census and alternative provision census.
It reveals that there was an increase of 18,200 in pupils across all school types from last year alongside a rise in children living with vulnerabilities.
In 2023/24, 24.6% of pupils were eligible for free school meals, up from 23.8% in 2022. This represents 2.1mn pupils.
The Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) has said 900,000 people are not eligible for FSM because the qualifying criteria is so restrictive. It has called for all political parties to make universal free school meals a priority pledge in their election manifestos.
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