Mayor’s free school meals set to help hundreds of thousands of primary schoolchildren as alarming new figures show extent of the cost-of-living crisis

• Sadiq is providing an emergency £135m for free school meals for state primary school children across the capital for the next academic year
• Unprecedented funding is to help families during the cost of living crisis, with up to 270,000 children to benefit and families saving an average of £440 per child
• Latest figures shows around one in six parents or guardians of children aged between five and 11 years are going without essentials, including food, electricity or gas

Hundreds of thousands of primary schoolchildren are set to benefit from the Mayor of London’s funding for free school meals next year, as alarming figures show parents, guardians and carers across the capital struggling with the cost-of-living crisis.

Sadiq – who received free school meals as a child – has stepped forward with an emergency £135m to help up to 270,000 primary school children receive the meals in state funded schools in the capital from September and save families an average of £440 per child across the year.

The one-off funding is designed to help families struggling with the cost of living, as latest stats show the extent of the crisis hitting parents, guardians and carers across the capital.

Latest Polling from YouGov Plc shows that around one in six parents (16 per cent) of children between five and 11 years are going without essentials, including food, electricity or gas, with more than one in three (36 per cent) buying less food and essentials.

More than one in three (36 per cent) parents and guardians of children between five and 11 years say they are ‘financially struggling’, with around one in six (15 per cent) going without basic needs or relying on debt to pay for them.

The Mayor is determined to do all he can to help Londoners struggling with the cost of living crisis, and City Hall has offered every borough across the capital funding to deliver free schools meals to pupils in Years 3-6 of state-funded schools for a year from September.

Currently children in those school years only receive free school meals if they live in households on universal credit earning less than £7,400 a year - after tax and not including benefits, and regardless of the number of children in the family.

Boroughs are set to receive £2.65 per meal in funding, which is higher than the amount they currently receive from Government. The Government has recently increased its funding to £2.53 per meal following the Mayor’s unprecedented intervention.

Following his announcement earlier this year, the Mayor has set aside an additional £5m of funding to act as a contingency for any extraordinary costs associated with the delivery of the meals.

To further support schools, boroughs have been provided with advice on best practice to encourage all parents to complete a pupil premium registration – this ensures that schools continue to receive additional funding from Government based on the number of pupils who currently qualify for free school meals. 

The free school meals funding is the latest programme from the Mayor to support Londoners with the cost of living crisis. That includes investing £3.46bn into building the genuinely affordable homes Londoners and £400m on skills and employment programmes to support Londoners to find more secure work, as well as more than £80m to help those struggling with the rising cost of living to tackle fuel poverty, supporting private renters, connecting Londoners to welfare advice and tackling food insecurity. The Mayor has also provided an emergency funding package of more than £3.5m to help provide around 10m free meals during school holidays and at weekends to low-income Londoners struggling with the spiralling cost of living over the next year.

Today, the Mayor visited Stroud Green Primary in Haringey to see the preparations taking place ahead of the free school meals starting after the summer holidays.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “It is truly shocking that so many families across the capital are struggling to feed themselves as they deal with the escalating cost-of-living crisis. It simply cannot be right that in a city as prosperous as ours around one in six parents are going without essentials to get by. I’m determined to do all I can to help and know from personal experience what a lifeline free school meals can be. That is why I stepped forward with this unprecedented funding to provide hundreds of thousands of primary school children with free schools meals. By ensuring children don’t go hungry in the classroom and helping their families, we can build a better and more prosperous city for all Londoners.”

Lucy Walker-Collins, Headteacher at Stroud Green Primary School, said: “We are delighted that we’re able to provide free school meals to all children in our school for the next academic year. It will make a big difference to the children to receive these meals each day and be a huge support to their parents and guardians.”

The Leader of Haringey Council, Cllr Peray Ahmet, said: “The cost of living crisis and the rising price of food means many parents and carers are finding it difficult to feed their families and lots are struggling who are not eligible for any free school meals at present. That’s why we welcome the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan’s visit to Haringey and his emergency intervention to provide all London primary schoolchildren free school meals throughout the next academic year. This invaluable support will ensure that our children are provided for, and no child will go without. We already have an extended free school meals programme in Haringey and take other strong measure to help our families with our Here to Help scheme and the Holiday Activities & Food (HAF) programme. I’m sure the Mayor’s Free School Meals pledge will go down really well with families across Haringey and the rest of the capital, and I hope this popular measure can continue in the years to come.”

Naomi Duncan, Chief Executive of Chefs in Schools, said: “We welcome providing primary school children in London with free school meals. We’ve seen and heard first hand of children hiding their hunger out of shame, of schools having to fund extra meals from teaching budgets. This scheme will make sure every primary school child in London gets a hot meal at lunchtime. Beyond hunger, we see every day the benefits of children eating a hot nutritious meal, with teachers reporting children are more engaged, alert and able to learn in the afternoon.  We would urge the Government to be inspired by London and to put up funding to ensure firstly that every child at risk of hunger receives a school meal, and, ultimately, to move towards a future where we stop means testing this part of the school day entirely.” 

Barbara Crowther of the Children’s Food Campaign said: “This is a truly groundbreaking moment for London’s primary schools to ensure every child, regardless of their family background, has equal access to a healthy, tasty meal. We know that when all children eat well, it leads to happier, healthier classrooms with more concentration and better learning. We applaud all the hardworking local government staff, school leaders and catering partners who will be working around the clock to turn this funding into good food on the plate when kids come back in September. However, it still leaves a school food postcode lottery in the rest of the country, and we also need to find solutions for secondary school children whose families are living in poverty but are still not eligible for free school meals. We hope this move by the Mayor of London will lead to a serious rethink of national Government policy because every child in every place deserves the same nutritional support to learn and achieve whilst in school.”

ENDS

Notes to editors:

Funding is being allocated to the five London boroughs that currently provide universal free school meals to their primary pupils as if they were not currently providing this function. The intention is to encourage them to use these funds to support families in financial hardship as a result of the cost-of-living crisis.

Funding allocations for all boroughs are based on the number of pupils at KS2 (Years 3-6) on census day in January 2022. They will receive £2.65 per meal, assuming a 90 per cent uptake.

‘Financially struggling’ comprises of those answering ‘I am having to go without my basic needs and/or rely on debt to pay for my basic needs’ or ‘I'm struggling to make ends meet’. All figures, unless otherwise stated, are from YouGov Plc. Total sample size was 1,227 adults, with 126 adults with children aged between 5 and 11 years. Fieldwork was undertaken between 23rd to 29th June 2023. The survey was carried out online. The figures have been weighted and are representative of all adults in London (aged 18+). https://data.london.gov.uk/gla-cost-of-living-polling/2/.