New era for Free School Meals in England

We've been campaigning, alongside youth activists and a coalition of other charities, for Free School Meals to be extended for seven years.

Reacting to today's landmark policy change, Food Foundation Executive Director Anna Taylor said: “It is great to see the extension of Free School Meals to all families in England receiving Universal Credit is finally here!

"It's something we have been campaigning for, for seven years. This will relieve struggling families and will mean 500,000 extra children will be protected from going hungry.

"If done right Free School Meals can protect children’s health and fuel their learning. In order to make the most of this huge opportunity, government needs to deliver on its commitment to publish the updated school food standards and compliance package by the end of September, and must introduce robust monitoring.

"The Food Foundation is a partner on The School Food Project, which will be offering support to schools in order to achieve those standards.”

Food Ambassador Yusuf, from London, added: "This is such a brilliant achievement, and I'm really proud to have been a part of the campaigning that helped make it happen.

"Expanding Free School Meals will make a real difference to families who have been facing difficult choices, helping ensure that more children can have a nutritious meal at school without their family having to worry about the cost.

"It is a huge step towards making sure that where a child grows up or what their family earns does not determine whether they can access good food."

Food Ambassador Deborah, also from London, said: "This is a huge moment for children and families across the uk. Expanding Free School Meals to every child living in a household receiving Universal Credit means that more than 500,000 additional children are now expected to benefit from a free, nutritious meal at school.

"This is an amazing achievement and something we at The Food Foundation have been longing for and working towards for a long time.

"Every child deserves the chance to sit down at school, enjoy a healthy meal and focus on learning without worrying about whether their family can afford it.

"I am part of the 500,000+ students this has helped. I am grateful. This expansion is a really exciting step towards a fairer food system, and we’re incredibly proud to see such a long-awaited change finally happening."

Food Ambassador Nausheen, from Belfast, said: "Expanding Free School Meals truly matters to young students who just want to study on a full stomach without having to worry about their weekly lunch expenses.

"All our campaigning and shouting has finally made a change in the lives of many other students like me. I wish that Northern Ireland will soon see changes like this one day."

What about school food standards?

Expanding access to Free School Meals will make a meaningful difference to children’s health, wellbeing and ability to learn. But to deliver the full benefit, children must also receive nutritious, high-quality food, backed by effective monitoring and enforcement of school food standards.

The government’s recent consultation proposed welcome reforms to bring standards in line with current nutritional knowledge, including serving vegetables or salad with every main meal, increasing fibre-rich proteins such as lentils and chickpeas and wholegrains, and reducing reliance on deep-frying.

It also proposed limiting children’s exposure to processed meat and foods high in fat, sugar and salt, including by restricting how often processed meat and batter-coated foods can be served. We now need to see these proposals translated into strong, well-enforced standards so every child receiving Free School Meals has access to nutritious food every day.