UK children in postcode lottery for free school meals

England has a much higher proportion of children in poverty who are ineligible for free school meals compared to Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland but all nations can do more, new analysis from Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) reveals. 

The nations each have different free school meals eligibility criteria, with England’s by far the most restrictive. One third (33%) of children in poverty in England (900,000 children) don’t qualify for free school meals under the English national schemes (universal infant free school meals and income-related free school meals). In Wales 15% of children in poverty aren’t eligible under its national scheme (20,000 children). In both Scotland and Northern Ireland the figure is 20%, (25,000 children and 15,000 respectively).* 

In Wales universal provision of free lunch has now been fully rolled out across primary schools. In Scotland every child in in P1-P5 receives free lunch but the government has halted plans to expand provision to every child in P6 and P7 and hasn’t put a date on expansion to P6 and P7 children receiving the Scottish Child Payment. In Northern Ireland the income threshold for qualifying is considerably higher than in England (at, before benefits and tax, £15,000 in Northern Ireland and £7,400 in England for families on universal credit). 

Research shows children’s health,1 attainment2 and social experiences in the dining hall improve when free school meals are available to all children. Universal provision also supports home-school relations through the elimination of school dinner debt.3

CPAG is calling on all UK governments to get free school meals to more children and work towards removing means-testing entirely from the dining hall. 

Head of education policy at Child Poverty Action Group Kate Anstey said: 

The provision of free school meals greatly depends on where you live in the UK but none of the nations are managing to get a free meal in the middle of the day to every child in poverty. That fails some of the children who would benefit the most. The UK Government and devolved governments must change the qualifying criteria so that every child that needs a school lunch has one, while working towards removing means-testing entirely from the lunch hall. School food and its benefits must be available to children in a way that’s reliable, not random. 

Note to editors:

*CPAG’s new analysis relates to the four nations’ national schemes and does not take account of local initiatives which aim to plug the gaps in national provision. We have, however, included figures to show the impact of the Mayor’s universal primary free school meals policy in London. [Amended 18.09.24]

Methodology:

The free school meals data is the latest available and comes from devolved government statistics (see links below). 

The estimated number of children in poverty who missed out on free school meals was calculated using Households Below Average Income 2022/23. The data is used as the input for UKMOD (tax-benefit microsimulation software), which is used to estimate a more up to date household income distribution, accounting for factors such as the migration of households on to universal credit, the roll-out of the two-child limit and the full impact of the Scottish Child Payment. From that updated survey data, entitlement can be calculated based on the earnings of the household and the various eligibility criteria for different means-tested benefits. 

There will be some households who currently earn above the eligibility criteria but because of transitional protection on universal credit, they are still eligible for free school meals. The number of these households was calculated using data on the share of free school meal-eligible pupils in Wales who are covered by transitional protection (similar data does not exist publicly in England). Understanding Society was then used to estimate the number of these households who are above and below the poverty line.  

The data is not of high enough quality to capture numbers of children with No Recourse to Public Funds receiving free school meals.  

HBAI data: Household Below Average Income 2021/22, 2022/23. This can be accessed through the UK Data service 

FSM data: 

England - Academic year 2023/24 Schools, pupils and their characteristics 

Scotland - School Healthy Living Survey: school meal uptake and PE provision statistics 2023 

Northern Ireland - School meals – 2022/23 statistical bulletin - 27 April 2023 

Wales - Pupils eligible for free school meals by local authority, region and year 

CPAG media contact Jane Ahrends 07816 909302