What the Mayor is doing on the cost of living
The rising cost of living in recent years has had an impact on the price of energy, food and bills. This continues to put considerable pressure on Londoners.
The Mayor is working to help Londoners’ incomes meet their everyday needs.
Universal Free School Meals for primary school children
In 2023, the Mayor introduced Universal Free School Meals for all state primary school children in London for the 2023-24 academic year.
The Mayor has announced he will extend universal free school meals for primary school children to include the 2024-25 academic year, and for the rest of the Mayoral term.
This means that all primary school children in London will continue to enjoy a free school lunch. It could provide families with a potential saving of up to £1000 per pupil over the two years.
The Mayor committed in his 2024 manifesto to work with London’s boroughs and other partners to make the provision of universal free school meals permanent.
The Mayor is funding Holiday Hope investing £6 million to provide free holiday activities for children and young people across the capital. The programme provides access to safe youth spaces, connections children and young people and creates opportunities to explore interests and talents. Most activities will include food making it more affordable for families.
Advice and support
The Mayor is investing over £4m in the provision of financial and welfare advice, helping to support Londoners who are struggling financially, helping Londoners to increase their incomes, reduce costs, and avoid debt.
The Mayor is also providing funding to boroughs to help raise awareness of underclaimed benefits, such as Pension Credit.
This includes:
- Citizen's Advice and London Legal Support Trust advice programme
- Advice in Community Settings grant programme
- Benefit uptake campaigns.
Since 2021, the Mayor’s funded advice programmes have reached 90,000 Londoners and generated just under £40 million in financial gains by helping Londoners claim their entitlements and other forms of support.
London Living Wage
The Mayor continues to encourage employers to pay their staff the London Living Wage through the Good Work Standard, and has joined with other partners calling for London to become a Living Wage City.
Since 2016 the number of Living Wage accredited employers has increased sevenfold to over 4,200.
Affordable housing
The Mayor is committed to building the social and affordable homes which low income Londoners need.
Our 2016-2023 Affordable Homes Programme delivered over 116,000 starts across London in the most difficult of circumstances.
Since taking office in 2016, over 23,000 new City Hall funded council homes have been started across London, numbers not seen since the 1970s. In, 2024/25, 73 per cent of new City Hall funded affordable homes started in London were at social rent levels.
TfL fares frozen
In March 2025 The Mayor announced a freeze to bus and tram fares. This is the sixth time he has frozen these fares meaning Londoners continue to pay the same fares as they did in March 2023, keeping them one of the lowest in the UK, and helping to boost ridership on the bus network.
The freeze on bus and tram fares will support lower-income and disabled Londoners, who are more likely to use bus and tram services, the most accessible way to get around London.
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