Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of the uptake of free school meals amongst eligible children.

The Department wants to make sure as many eligible pupils as possible are claiming free school meals (FSM).

The latest published statistics show that around 1.9 million pupils are claiming benefits related FSM. This equates to 22.5% of all pupils, up from 20.8% in 2021. Together, with a further 1.25 million infants supported through the Universal Infant Free School Meal policy, over one third of pupils receive a FSM in school.

The Department’s last estimate is that uptake is around 89% of those who are eligible.

The Department provides an Eligibility Checking System to make the checking process as quick and straightforward as possible for schools and Local Authorities. The Department has also developed a model registration form to help schools encourage parents to sign up for FSM and provided guidance to Jobcentre Plus advisers so that they can make Universal Credit recipients aware that they may also be entitled to wider benefits, including FSM.