Free School Meals

(asked on 20th November 2023) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an estimate of the proportion of eligible school children who do not receive free school meals.


Answered by
Damian Hinds Portrait
Damian Hinds
Minister of State (Education)
This question was answered on 28th November 2023

The department wants to make sure as many eligible pupils as possible are claiming free school meals (FSM). FSM eligibility has been extended several times and to more groups of children than any other government over the past half a century. Over a third of pupils in England now receive FSM in schools, compared with one in six in 2010.

The department wants to make it simple for schools and local authorities to determine eligibility. To support this, the department is providing 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.

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