The cost of school meal debt

This short report looks at the challenges facing schools when implementing a means-tested school meal system, and the debt families are incurring for school meals in primary schools across England (excluding London where all children are offered a free school meal through the Mayor of London’s universal primary policy). 

Summary of findings 

• Managing a means-tested school meal system is complex and time consuming for schools. From registering pupils for free school meals (FSMs), to monitoring lunchtime payments and managing debt by calling families or moving children onto packed lunches, the system requires extensive coordination from school staff. 
• On average, primary schools in England (maintained and academised) and SEND schools had around £1,000 of dinner money debt at the end of the academic year 2023/24. While not all schools reported debt, in schools that did, debt ranged from £3 to as much as £22,000.
• Overall, debt has risen by around 50 per cent over the past two academic years (2021/22 compared to 2023/24), but there is great variation at school level. Some schools (12 per cent) saw a decrease in debt, while others (39 per cent) saw it increase by up to 100 per cent. The remainder (49 per cent) saw no change over this period.
• Increases in school meal debt are likely driven by a combination of more families being indebted than before (33 per cent of schools said more families are affected by dinner money debt than in previous years) and the average level of debt per household increasing. 
• Schools also employ different approaches to managing debt and this affects debt levels. For example, some schools do not allow any debt to be incurred, others cap debt at a set amount, and some encourage children to move to packed lunches if families are indebted. 
• Schools report that challenges around paying for school meals particularly affect those just above the FSM eligibility threshold, which in England is set at £7,400 annual earned income for those in receipt of universal credit. 
• Schools are working hard to support families and have put approaches in place to try to limit dinner money debt and mitigate its impact. However, managing school meal payments and dinner money debt is affecting school budgets, relationships with parents and children’s experiences in the dining hall.