Barmy rule that means parents on Universal Credit better off if they cut hours
Seven in ten children from families on universal credit are not eligible for free school meals, a report warns today.
Tight-fisted ministers have rejected calls to extend provision to more pupils.
In England, children whose families claim universal credit are only entitled to free school meals if their earnings are less than £7,400 a year after tax.
This threshold has been frozen at the same level since it was introduced in 2018.
According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, this means 1.7million pupils in England whose families are entitled to universal credit are not eligible for free lunches, worth about £460 per pupil per year.
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The report found that the salary cut-off means that parents earning near the £7,400 income cap are being discouraged from earning a little more as it would mean losing their access to free meals.
The Mirror is campaigning for more children to get free school mealsFor a single parent with two school-aged children, this “cliff edge” means that earning £7,399 a year and keeping free school meals would be financially preferable to earning anything up to £9,400.
That is equivalent to turning down an extra four hours of work each week at the National Living Wage.
The IFS also warned that the funding for individual meals has not increased in line with inflation.
It currently stands at £2.41 per meal, whereas it would now be £2.87 if it had tracked prices.
Ministers would need to put an extra £250million into the system to restore funding to the same level as it was in 2014.
The IFS found it would cost around £1billion to extend free school meals to all children in primary school.
Alternatively it would cost the same amount to offer them to all primary and secondary school pupils whose families are on universal credit.
Sadiq Khan has announced that all primary pupils in London will get free school meals (PA)London Mayor Sadiq Khan has announced he will provide funding for all primary pupils to get free school meals for one year from September.
Christine Farquharson, an economist at the IFS who wrote the report, said: “High levels of food insecurity among families on universal credit mean that policymakers such as the Mayor of London are once again consulting the policy menu for options to expand free school meals.
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“The current system of means-tested free school meals is tightly targeted at the most disadvantaged families – so making existing provision more generous by, for example, reversing the real-terms cuts to the funding rate would directly benefit the very poorest.”
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said: "It is shameful that so many children continue to miss out on a scheme with such proven benefits.
"As this report states, there is clear evidence that increasing the take-up of school lunches has a positive impact on living standards, nutrition and attainment that persists into adulthood.
"Providing free school meals alleviates some of the pressure on struggling families and gives children the guarantee of a healthy meal every day."
The Mirror is calling for politicians in England to follow Scotland and Wales by providing free school meals for all primary school pupils.
Our Free School Meals For All campaign has been backed by the teaching unions, charities and leading chefs.
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