Free School Meals
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of introducing a national system of auto-enrolment for free school and college meals.
Answered by Department for Education
This government is committed to breaking down barriers to opportunity and tackling child poverty. We want to make sure that every family that needs support can access it.
Introducing a new eligibility threshold for free school meals (FSM) so that all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit are eligible from the start of academic year 2026 to 2027 will make it much easier for parents to know whether their children are entitled to FSM. This new entitlement will mean over 500,000 of the most disadvantaged children will begin to access free meals, pulling 100,000 children out of poverty.
We are also rolling out improvements to the Eligibility Checking System, making it easier for local authorities and schools to check whether children are eligible for FSM.
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