Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg's announcement that all children in reception and years 1 and 2 would be offered a free hot lunch from September 2014 was a huge step towards overcoming the stigma surrounding free school meals and improving take-up.
Initially, children were only eligible for free school meals if their parents received state-funded benefits such as Income Support or Jobseeker's Allowance, linking free school meals with being from a low-income family.
This association could account for the scheme's 11 per cent under-registration rate in September last year, which was revealed in a government analysis of the initiative in December.
That analysis showed that 161,400 children eligible for free school meals failed to take up the offer, with high under-registration rates in some councils including Bracknell Forest (38 per cent), North East Lincolnshire (32 per cent) and Wokingham (31 per cent).
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