11 June 2025
Justice is finally on the menu for school children
"This is a long overdue victory for young people and for everyone who believes in no child going hungry at school. After seven years of our campaign, the government’s decision to extend Free School Meals to all young people on Universal Credit feels powerful and emotional. But it is more than a policy change, it’s a lifeline."
This is the reaction of Dev Sharma, a young Food Ambassador who has been tirelessly campaigning for an expansion to Free School Meals, to the Government’s announcement that all school children in England from households receiving Universal Credit will have access to a free school meal from September 2026.
This change to free school meal provision is a bold and brilliant step forward, one which has the potential to improve children’s health and wellbeing, support families’ finances, and help children to learn and enjoy school.
The Food Foundation, along with many other organisations, has been highlighting the superpowers of Free School Meals for years, and calling for access to be expanded across the UK, but especially in England, which has lagged behind the other nations, with hundreds of thousands of children living in poverty missing out on a free lunch under current provision.
Young Food Ambassador and Sixth Form student, Mirzan, London:
"As someone who’s campaigned for Free School Meals, I know just how much this will mean to families struggling with the cost of living. Children cannot learn on empty stomachs - and this decision will give every child on Universal Credit the dignity, nutrition and support they deserve. It’s not just a policy win, it’s a statement of compassion. I’m proud to have played a small part in a huge step forward."
Expanding Free School Meals is an important measure in addressing child poverty. Access to a free lunch at school can save a household around £500 per child each year.
Too many teachers have noticed pupils arriving at school too hungry to learn, and many have had to personally purchase food for hungry children. With nearly one in five households with children facing food insecurity, expanding free school meals, especially to the lowest income families, is urgently needed.
But the benefits are not just to family finances. Free School Meals are safety net for children’s health.
Research shows that free school meals improve children’s health and save the NHS the cost of treating food-related ill-health in the long-term.
They can support the mental wellbeing of students too. Over the years, the Food Ambassadors have told us of peers being hungry but not having enough money for lunch, and the embarrassment they have gone through.
The school lunch queue should never be a place of fear or shame.
Young Food Ambassador and student, Aliza, Halifax:
“The government enrolling Free School Meals to students from low income is absolutely brilliant and a great success! This shows that together as a team, we are able to make changes for the better. Free School Meals not only nourish the bodies of children from low-income families but also empower them with the focus and energy they need to thrive academically, helping to pave the way for a more equitable future."
The benefits of Free School Meals extend beyond the school years too – improving educational attainment, lifetime earnings and benefiting the wider economy.
Research by PwC found that expanding free school meal provision to all children from households receiving Universal Credit would inject £8.9 billion in core benefits to the UK economy over the next 20 years.
Food Ambassador and school food development professional, Rebecca Sly, Glossop:
"As someone who’s dedicated my career to school food and the fight for universal Free School Meals, this announcement fills me with hope. Extending meals to all children of families receiving Universal Credit means fewer barriers, less stigma, and brighter futures. It’s a long-overdue step toward true food justice – justice that must begin in our schools. I still believe in universal provision for every child, but this is a powerful and necessary move forward."
Ultimately, every child, no matter where they live or how much their family earns, should have the same opportunity to access nutritious school food.
Ensuring families on Universal Credit benefit is an important step towards a school food environment which is fairer, where stigma is removed and teachers and pupils are sitting down to enjoy a meal together.
Last week's announcement also opens up new opportunities for improving school meals. Some of these will be critical to ensuring the full benefits of school meals are realised:
- Ensuring school meals are nutritious, delicious and sustainable. Alongside expanding entitlement, the Government have also announced that they will be reviewing the school food standards. This review is long overdue and needs to be combined with a national process for monitoring compliance with the standard.
- Automatically registering all families, unless they opt-out. new entitlement criteria offers the opportunity for reviewing how pupils register for free school meals. Currently, many entitled families miss out due to an onerous overly-complicated application process. National auto-enrolment would take this burden off families, so no child misses out on their entitlement.
This Government should be congratulated for taking this meaningful step to improve the lives of thousands of children.
Going forward, as this change is implemented, we hope they will continue to listen to the advice of the activists and campaigners who have fought so hard for this change, so that free school meals can fully achieve their potential.
- Picture: © 2023. Provided by Impact on Urban Health licensed via a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license.
