Nine hundred thousand children in poverty are not eligible for free school meals (FSM) because the qualifying criteria is so restrictive, Child Poverty Action Group analysis of DfE FSM data, published today, shows.
Our pre-Budget briefing details how best to invest financial support in children to reduce child poverty and give every child the chance to fulfil their potential.
Universal credit (UC) claimants are not always getting extra amounts of UC they’re entitled to when they become eligible for some other benefits because of poor data-sharing within the DWP.
Every North West local authority has at least 1,500 school-age children in poverty who are not eligible for free school meals because the qualifying criteria is so restrictive, new analysis shows.
Child Poverty Action Group applauds the Mayor of London’s decision to provide free school meals to all London’s primary school children for another year if he wins a third term.
Last week, the House of Commons’ Education Committee published a report on persistent absence and support for disadvantaged pupils. There is growing concern about rising levels of pupil absence following the pandemic. Attendance data highlights that children from lower-income households have lower attendance rates than their peers. Children eligible for free school meals are more than twice as likely as their peers to be persistently absent from school.
Tackling child poverty in Scotland is a priority for the Scottish government, and the government's policies are working to reduce child poverty. However more needs to be done to ensure Scotland meets its legally binding child poverty targets. We have set out what the Scottish government's spending priorities should be to ensure child poverty targets are met.
There is only one part of the school day that is means-tested – lunchtime. We believe that all school children should be offered a balanced and filling school meal each day without cost. But a third of school-age children in England (900,000) living in poverty miss out on free school meals.