Seven In Ten School Children On Universal Credit Are Not Eligible For Free School Meals

7th April 2023

The expansion of free school meals has been frequently discussed. IFS researchers consider the costs and benefits of different options.

In England, state school pupils whose families claim universal credit are only eligible for free school meals if their family's post-tax earnings are less than £7,400 a year. This threshold - which has been frozen in cash terms since it was introduced in 2018-19 - means that 1.7 million pupils in England whose families are entitled to universal credit are not eligible for free lunches, worth about £460 per pupil per year.

Families on universal credit are also much more likely to be food insecure than other households; overall, 30% of families with school children claiming universal credit were classified as having ‘low' or ‘very low' food security in 2021-22, six times the rate among families not claiming universal credit. Even amongst universal credit claimants, though, food insecurity was highest among the lowest-income families: more than half of families claiming universal credit and earning £200 a week or less (before tax) were food insecure, compared with a third of families earning between £200 and £400 a week.

With Scotland, Wales and London committed to more universal provision - and a bill to offer free school meals to all primary pupils in England currently before Parliament - new IFS research published today, and funded by the Economic and Social Research Council, explores the options and trade-offs for potential expansions of free school meals in England. The research finds that:

Expanding eligibility to all state school pupils (primary and secondary) whose families claim universal credit could cost about £1 billion a year in the longer term, a 70% increase in spending on free school meals.

Instead offering free school meals to all state primary school pupils (as the London mayor will pilot from September) would also cost around £1 billion a year. This would benefit children in Years 3 through 6 (free school meals are already universal in Reception through Year 2). Offering free school meals to all state school pupils (Reception through Year 11) would cost about £2.5 billion a year, nearly trebling current spending. Neither of these reforms would directly impact the very poorest children, who are already eligible for means-tested free school meals.

Since 2014, the per-meal funding rate has lost 16% of its value in real terms. The funding rate currently stands at £2.41 per meal; if it had increased in line with inflation (as measured by the Consumer Prices Index), it would now be £2.87. Restoring the funding rate to its 2014 level would cost an extra £250 million a year in current prices.

These costs do not include any additional capital funding that would be needed to expand school kitchens and dining areas. As a rough guide, when universal infant free school meals were introduced in 2014, the government provided about £150 million in capital funding - roughly £100 per additional pupil brought into eligibility.

Just under a quarter of pupils in England are eligible for means-tested free school meals this year, compared with a long-run average of about one in six. The recent rise in eligibility is mainly the result of ‘transitional protections' brought in to ease the transition from legacy benefits to universal credit. (These transitional protections are not taken into account in our costings, which focus on the long-run cost to government.)

Under the current system, free school meals are not ‘tapered away' gradually. Parents who are earning near the £7,400 income cap therefore have a financial incentive to avoid earning a little more if it would mean losing access to free meals. For 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.
Christine Farquharson, Senior Research Economist at IFS and an author of 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. 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.'

Andrew McKendrick, Research Economist at IFS and another author of the report, said: ‘Universalising free school meals would affect children across the income distribution and might have wider benefits for health and educational outcomes, but it would also significantly increase existing spending. Expanding eligibility - for example, to include more families on universal credit - would focus more of the additional spending on low-income families, but still would not directly benefit the very poorest children, who are already entitled to free lunches.'

Source - https://ifs.org.uk/news/seven-ten-school-children-universal-credit-are-not-eligible-free-school-meals

Read more
The policy menu for school lunches options and trade-offs in expanding free school meals in England

Scotland
Do all kids get free school meals in Scotland?
From January 2022 all children in primary 1 to primary 5 can get free school meals in local authority schools in Scotland. This is sometimes called 'universal free school meals'. This is because all children in these years can get free school meals, their family's financial situation doesn't matter.

More than 90,000 primary school pupils in Scotland get free school meals.

With regards to funding being allocated to meet increased demand, the Scottish Government's draft budget in 2022-23 has included £42.2 million for local authorities to provide universal free school lunches during school term-time for all children in primaries 4 and 5.

5 June 2021
The Scottish Government and local authority partners have reached agreement to introduce universal free school lunches for primary 4 and 5 children and targeted support during school holidays for all eligible primary and secondary children and young people.

The £28 million commitment will deliver free school lunches during term time for P4 children by August 2021 and to P5 children by January 2022

A further £21.75 million will provide targeted free school meal support during school holidays in 2021-22. This will start in July for around 145,000 primary and secondary children and young people from low income households.

Councils will determine what approach in school holidays meets local needs and circumstances, which may include the provision of direct payments, vouchers or food parcels.

Education Secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville said, "Free school meals are a vital support to thousands of children and young people across the country - ensuring that children have access to a free, healthy and nutritious meal every day they are in school and are ready to engage in learning.

"The provision of £49.75 million in new funding to local authorities demonstrates our support for the health and wellbeing of children and young people and our commitment to reduce the impact of poverty on thousands of families across the country."

Councillor Stephen McCabe of COSLA said:

"Councils across Scotland have long been committed to delivering healthy free school meals - to eligible children and young people. We are pleased that, in partnership with Scottish Government, this commitment can be further expanded upon by providing free school meals to all Primary 4s in August 2021 and Primary 5s in the later part of the academic year.

"Local authorities will continue to work hard to ensure that children and young people have access to healthy and nourishing meals so that they are fully able to learn, play, and engage with their peers and communities."

Highland School Meals
All Highland Council schools follow the new school food guidelines set by the Scottish Government which came into effect from 8 April 2021. A summary of these can be viewed in the school menus section.

Our catering service is proud to provide good value meals using quality ingredients carefully sourced.

The following regularly appear on our menus:

Beef, pork, lamb from farm assured sources within Scotland
Processed pork products from farm assured sources within the UK
UK Red Tractor Chicken products in all our primary schools
Highland free range eggs
Local fruit and vegetables from Swansons Fruit Company, Inverness. Swansons source locally produced fruit and vegetables from the Highland region when it is available and in season.
Schools growing their own fruit and vegetables are encouraged to include this as part of their lunch provision.
We currently serve 18,000 lunches per day in 173 primary schools and 29 secondary schools. We update our menus every 12 months in January and consult with pupils and staff to improve the food choices and recipes. The menus offer a choice of freshly cooked, nutritionally balanced meals and include favourites such as macaroni cheese, fish and chips, chicken korma and healthy home baking.

School meals for Primary 6 and 7 are £2.30 and Secondary meals are £2.55. School meals for children in Early Years and Primary 1 to 5 are free.

We offer seasonal meals where over 75 percent of the menu is freshly prepared with ingredients that are GM free, with no undesirable E-numbers or hydrogenated fats.

All our primary schools and early years & childcare settings have been awarded the bronze Food for Life Served Here award (FFLSH from the Soil Association.

It is predicted around 20,000 additional children around Scotland will benefit from getting the meals.

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: "Universal free school meals are available for all pupils in primaries one to five, and in special schools - the best universal provision anywhere in the UK, and saving parents around £400 per eligible child per year.

"Our additional investment announced in the 2023 to 2024 Budget will continue to fund the expansion of free school meals for all Primary 6 and 7 pupils in receipt of the Scottish Child Payment. This will be the next step in fulfilling our commitment to universal provision in primary schools.

From the IFS report
https://ifs.org.uk/publications/policy-menu-school-lunches-options-and-trade-offs-expanding-free-school-meals-england

In Scotland, free meals are universal in Primary 1 through 5 (ages 5-10). While the Scottish Government had planned to extend universal provision to all primary school pupils by August 2022, the roll-out has been delayed. The Scottish Government has instead committed to offer free school meals to all primary pupils by the end of this parliamentary term, which runs until May 2026. Scotland also has a slightly higher income cap than England; families on universal credit must earn (net of tax) no more than £7,920 a year, compared with £7,400 in England.