UK children in postcode lottery for free school meals
One in five children in poverty in Scotland still not eligible for a free school lunch
Analysis a “stark reminder” of why Scottish government decision to halt universal free school meal roll out must be reversed
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 Scotland, until recently leading the UK nations in expanding provision, now falling behind Wales. England’s policy is 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 P1-P5 receives free lunch but the government has halted plans to expand universal provision to every child in P6 and P7. 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], attainment[2] 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]
Among over 5000 pupils responding to CPAG in Scotland’s Cost of the School Day Big Question 89% of primary school children said that the Scottish government’s promise to make sure all primary school children receive free school meals was very important (71%) or quite important (18%). One primary pupil commented:
“We can't help what age or class we’re in. Just because were in primary 6 or 7 does not mean that we have money. It should be equal”
Another pupil added “It’s not our fault if our grown-ups can’t afford a lunch”.
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.
The analysis comes a week after the Scottish Parliament voted in favour of expanding universal free school meals to all primary school pupils in a non-binding vote rejecting the Scottish government’s decision to abandon delivery of the policy in the current parliamentary session. The latest official Scottish government statistics published yesterday (17th September) found uptake for all school meals (free and paid for) is highest among pupils with universal entitlement to free school meals (P1-P5 72.4%; Special schools 78.0%) and lowest among pupils where access to free meals is means-tested (P6-P7 43.7%; Secondary schools 42.1%).[i]
The Director of Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) in Scotland, John Dickie, said:
“This new analysis from CPAG is a stark reminder of just how important John Swinney’s promise of free school meals for all primary school pupils in Scotland was. With so many children in poverty missing out, young people themselves telling us what a priority free school meals are, and the Scottish Parliament unanimous in its support the First Minister must surely now reinstate the delivery of free school meals for all primary school pupils.”
Kate Anstey, head of UK education policy at Child Poverty Action Group, 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 analysis relates to the four nations’ national schemes and does not take account of local and regional initiatives which aim to plug the gaps in national provision. It can be found here https://cpag.org.uk/sites/default/files/2024-09/Free_school_meals_nation_region.pdf
Methodology:
FSM 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
CPAG in Scotland contact John Dickie 07795 340 618