Children and Families Act: Charities laud expansion of free school meals

The scheme, announced by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg last September, was originally designed for the provision of free hot meals for disadvantaged children in reception and years 1 and 2 from September 2014 until July 2016.

But a government amendment to the bill, laid in January in the House of Lords, removed the cut-off point and opened up the offer to all infant-aged primary school children.

Linda Cregan, chief executive of the Children’s Food Trust, said the move will improve children’s wellbeing.

“We know that when all children are offered good quality school meals for free, more families opt for these meals because they become the norm.

“This also has a knock-on effect with children, not just showing big improvements in their diet and eating habits, but also displaying real improvements in their school results.

“These benefits are particularly important for those children living in underprivileged families – we know many of these children aren’t reaching their full potential and their lunch can be their only proper meal of the day.”

Matthew Reed, chief executive of the Children’s Society, added: “This is a really welcome step from the government.

“We think this legal duty is a great foundation for the government to build on its achievement and extend free school meals to the 500,000 older children living in poverty who won’t get a free meal.”