Key information
Request reference number: MGLA191023-8784
Date of response:
Summary of request
Your request
In a number of letters and interviews, the mayor's office said “the average take-up of universal infant free school meals was between 80 and 85 per cent in London”
I would like so know how this 80-85 pre cent figure was arrived at.
So details of the datasets and the figures used in the Take-up calculations.
Our response
Both regional and national data on free school meal uptake was used to inform our decision to fund boroughs based on a 90% uptake. This included the Department for Education’s datasets and an evaluation of the Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM) programme by the Institute for Social and Economic Research, University of Essex.
The data on uptake of UIFSM in London aligns with our assumed rate of 90%. If a school can evidence uptake higher than 90 per cent, then the extra funding to cover this cost will be paid.