2.6 Million Children With Parent on Benefits Could Miss Out On School Meals

Up to 2.6 million children whose parents are on benefits could be missing out on free school meals by 2022, the shadow education minister will warn today.

Angela Rayner will tell a GMB union conference that the government's claims on school meals are "falling apart" after changes to eligibility under Universal Credit (UC).

When the system was first introduced in 2013, all children of recipients – who were all unemployed – were eligible for free school meals (FSM), as they would have been under the old system.

But in April, the criteria was tightened based on income. In England, the net earnings threshold will be £7,400, whereas in Northern Ireland it will be £14,000.

A government technical note published in May said that if the change had not been made, "around half of all (state school) children would become eligible for FSM and the meals would no longer be targeted at those who need them the most".

It said that in 2017, around 1.1 million disadvantaged children were eligible and received a free school meal, some 14 per cent of all state-school pupils.

Image: Angela Rayner MP

But if the change had not been made, the DfE said, the number of children who would have been eligible would have risen to between 2.3 million and 2.6 million by 2022 – nearly a third of the projected pupil population.

In a speech to the GMB's Public Services Conference in Brighton today, Ms Rayner will urge the government to adopt Labour's plan for free school meals for all primary school children.

She will say: "Ministers said time and time again that no one would lose a meal, only for the IFS to reveal that one in eight children who were eligible will be stripped of their entitlement under the Universal Credit.

"Now it appears that there would be millions more who could have had a meal but will be denied.

"Even now, the government refuses to release their own calculations in full.

"Their claims on school funding have collapsed and now their story on school meals is falling apart."

The technical note was published on the government's website after a freedom of information request for it by the GMB, the union said.

Ministers have said it was never their intention for the temporary arrangements to remain in place and that an estimated 50,000 more children will receive free school meals by 2022, compared with the old benefits system.

It comes after the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) warned in April that it expected there to be "losers" under changes introduced via UC – which sees six benefits rolled into one payment – despite 50,000 more children becoming eligible.

Image: GMB general secretary Tim Roache

GMB general secretary Tim Roache said the policy was "cruel, heartless and needless".

He said: "I can't believe there's even a debate about whether kids should go hungry or not.

"In blunt and stark terms, this policy is taking food from the mouths of millions of children from poorer backgrounds.

"Our members working in schools already encounter children with no food at home, they see packed lunches of no more than crisps or chocolate and buy snacks for their pupils out of their own pockets because too many parents are struggling to make ends meet."

Children and families minister Nadhim Zahawi said: "It's right that we continue to support the most disadvantaged children.

"Contrary to misleading statements, every child who currently receives a free school meal will continue to do so and as we have repeatedly made clear our data – which is publicly available – clearly shows that around 50,000 more children will benefit from free school meals by 2022."