Legal work can be a marathon. I’m a solicitor at CPAG, and we take on legal action to protect and defend families’ rights. Last week, nearly two years after the first judgment in one of our cases, we had confirmation that it won’t go any further – we have definitively won!
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.
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.
This briefing draws on our research with schools and families in London and makes suggestions for how schools can remove some of the barriers faced by secondary pupils in receipt of free shcool meals, and those in low-income families who do not currently qualify.
Researchers have found that going to school in the UK costs families of primary school children at least £864.87 a year, or £18.69 a week. This is before childcare costs are accounted for. For families of secondary school children, the cost of sending a child to school is at least £1,755.97 a year.
Schools work really hard to provide enriching experiences for their pupils, from trips and clubs to leavers’ celebrations. However, parents and children have told us through our UK Cost of the School Day project that fun activities at school often have hidden and unrecognised costs. This can mean children from low-income families miss out.
A family’s ability to get universal credit is often based not on their actual circumstances, but on a fictional version of their circumstances. Welfare rights worker Carri Swann explains.
At a time of sharply increasing costs and stretched family budgets, ensuring that children have all they need to take part in school is another worry for families. The guide will help schools consider how they’re already supporting families and how they can make small changes to policies, practices and communications to help families through times of economic difficulty.