Campaigners urge Holyrood Ministers to match English free school meal extension

Responding to the UK government announcement that all children on universal credit in England will be entitled to free school meals from the start of the 2026 school year,  John Dickie, Director of Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) in Scotland said:

“It’s great news that the UK government has committed to extending free school meals to all children in England in receipt of universal credit. Scotland has been ahead of the game for many years on free school meals in the UK with Scottish primary pupils in P6 and P7 already benefiting from equivalent entitlement and in P1 to P5 provision is rightly universal. It’s now time for Holyrood Ministers to build on the progress made north of the border and roll out extended provision in all Scotland‘s secondary schools as well.

 

Children, young people, parents and carers have all made clear that the current means test is unfair, and our analysis is clear that thousands of children are living in poverty but are still not entitled to a free school lunch. Extending entitlement to all those in receipt of Scottish child payment, as is currently happening in P6 and P7 and being piloted in some secondary schools, must now be the priority.”

Mr Dickie continued;

“We hope this announcement is a sign of what’s to come from autumn’s UK child poverty strategy, with the Westminster government taking more action to meet its manifesto commitment to reduce child poverty across the UK.”

ENDS

Notes for editors:

• CPAG analysis suggests at least 20 000 school aged children living in poverty in Scotland are not currently entitled to free school meals.
• Young people views on school meals entitlement can be found here https://cpag.org.uk/sites/default/files/2024-06/The%20Cost%20of%20the%20School%20Day%20Big%20Question%20report.pdf
• Current free school meal entitlement in Scotland can be found here https://www.mygov.scot/primary-school-meals
• All children in P1-5 are entitled to Free School Meals (FSM). P6 and P7 children in families receiving Scottish Child Payment are entitled to FSMs (with all children in families in receipt of universal credit entitled to Scottish child payment). This falls short of the Scottish Government’s previous commitment to universal FSMs for all Primary children
• FSMs are means tested in Secondary schools for pupils in families on Universal Credit where monthly earned income is not more than £850. The Scottish Government is piloting an expansion for pupils in eight local authority areas whose families qualify for Scottish Child Payment