An additional half million children will benefit Free food every school day After the government announced a major expansion of the policy, which they said Raise 100,000 students from poverty And put an additional £ 500 in the parents’ pockets.
2026 from the beginning of school year, every child whose house is home Universal loan The government announced on Thursday, will be entitled to free school food.
Since 2018, children are only eligible Free school food If their domestic income is less than £ 7,400 per year, then hundreds of thousands mean Poverty children Unable to access them.
As of January last year, around 2.1 million children in England were eligible for free school food. The Education Department claimed that the expansion would exclude 100,000 children in England from poverty.
It comes after two yearsIndependent‘S Feed the future campaignIn which we Free school is called for food To be extended for all school children in England – both primary and secondary – who lived in homes on universal credit, but missed free school food.
The latest steps will be seen as a major concession for Labor MPs, concerned about the direction of the government, calling to scrap the two-child profit cap for Sir Kire Stoam, with the rebellion on the party’s upcoming welfare deduction.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves also announced on Wednesday that more people would get fuel payment from “this winter” as he promised to increase the level of instrument testing.
Announcing the expansion of free school food, Education Secretary Bridget Philipson said “background should not mean destiny”, saying: “Today’s historical move will help us excel everywhere for every child, and more youth will be given a chance to come to life.”
He continued: “This is the moral mission of this government to deal with the stain of child poverty, and today the government takes a huge step towards ending it with targeted support that returns money in the parents’ pockets.”
The move was welcomed by campaigners and unions, saying with the Child Putty Action Group that it would be “game-changes for children and families”.
The campaign group, the head of the education policy, said: “In the end, children will get food that they would need to learn and flourish and have struggled to end millions of parents, which would give a place to breathe.
“We hope that this autumn’s child poverty strategy is going to come, the government has taken more action to fulfill its manifesto commitment to reduce child poverty in Britain.”
National Education Union General Secretary Daniel Cede said that the expansion of free school food eligibility was a “essential and overdue first step” that would help in addressing the child’s hunger in schools.
He said that the current threshold, which was unchanged since 2018, meant that “hundreds of thousands of children in poverty were missing the nutrition they need to flourish”.
Mr. Cabed said: “As teachers, our members know the positive effects of eating and learning to children – how it breaks stigma and inequality, and ensures more and more community harmony. To ensure that a free school food is available for all children, the next necessary step is that it should be taken.”
Meanwhile, General Secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers Paul Whitman welcomed the move to all families to expand free school food on universal credit, saying that “No child should never be hungry due to his parents’ financial conditions”.
But he also called for auto-enrollment and comprehensive support to deal with the widespread impact of poverty on children’s education.
Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Suja echoed his call, urged the government to ensure that each eligible child is “automatically nominated for free school food, instead to sign up to sign up to parents”.
He said, “When children talk to me about their family’s life, I know how clearly I know about my parents’ concerns and affect their daily life – and their education”, he said.
“Therefore we need solutions that reflect children’s experiences, reduce shame, many people have told me that they feel about their circumstances, and break the link between their background and their opportunities, giving them to communities that are safe, accessory and aspiring.”
Last week, Independent It turned out that the demand for the help of children banks has increased from the parents struggling to feed their children. More than one third in a year, Between recordsLevel level child poverty,
New data has shown that in 2024 more than 3.5 million essential commodities were handed over, including diapers, clothes and cot – an increase of 143 percent in the last year.
Sir Keir announced this only hours after answering questions on the two-child profit hat, amid growing calls for him to increase the boundary.
Critics of the policy say that it will be the most effective way to tackle hair poverty amid the warning by removing that more than 100 children are pulled into poverty every day according to the limit.
However, it is believed that the cap will not be picked up until the government publishes its child poverty strategy, which is now delayed by autumn.
Grilled on policy on the Prime Minister’s questions, Sir Kir said that he is “absolutely determined” to “drive down” child poverty, but refused to give more details before publication of the government’s strategy.
