Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many and what proportion of pupils who are entitled for free school meals on the grounds of low household income but are not registered to receive them, by local authority.

The provision of free school meals to children from out of work families or those on low incomes is of the utmost importance to this government. There are currently 1.3 million pupils eligible for and claiming a free nutritious school meal, saving families around £400 per year.

We do not routinely collect information on the proportion of pupils that would be entitled to a free school meal but do not make a claim. Our most recent estimate is that take-up is around 89% of those who are entitled.

Whilst take-up of free school meals is strong, we want to make sure as many eligible pupils as possible are claiming their free school meals and to make it as simple as possible for schools and local authorities to determine eligibility. To support this, we provide an Eligibility Checking System to make the checking process as quick and straightforward as possible for schools and local authorities. We have also developed a model registration form to help schools encourage parents to sign up for free school meals and we provide guidance to Jobcentre Plus advisers so that they can make Universal Credit recipients aware that they may also be entitled to wider benefits, including free school meals.