A London council has agreed to provide free school meals for one year to secondary pupils whose parents live on Universal Credit but do not receive them, in another victory for the Standard’s special investigation into the issue.
Southwark’s initiative will provide relief to thousands of families struggling with the spiralling cost of living.
It follows the announcement by Mayor Sadiq Khan, first revealed by the Evening Standard this week, of his £130million emergency package to extend free school meals to every primary school child in London for one year.
Southwark, one of four London boroughs that already provides universal free school meals to all state primary school children along with Newham, Islington and Tower Hamlets, has agreed to divert funds from the £3.2million it will save as a result of the Mayor’s scheme to bankroll a one-year pilot to support struggling families with older children.
The pilot will run alongside the Mr Khan’s programme for the 2023/24 academic year.
Councillor Kieron Williams, leader of Southwark Council, said: “The money saved from the Mayor’s new proposal is approximately £3.2m. It is too early to say whether this will be enough to fund all secondary school children in families whose parents receive Universal Credit but miss out on free school meals because they earn above the threshold, but the intention is to do so as part of a major pilot programme to tackle hunger in secondary schools and make sure that secondary school pupils do not go hungry.”
The move by the Labour-controlled council was unanimously agreed at a meeting on Wednesday night and will now put the spotlight on Newham, Islington and Tower Hamlets to do the same. It will also heap further raise pressure on the Government, which was heavily criticised by Sadiq Khan for their “failure to act”.
Southwark Council said it welcomed the Mayor’s announcement this week as well as our School Hunger Special Investigation last October in which we highlighted the plight of 800,000 pupils in England – including 210,000 children in London - who live in households on universal credit but miss out on free school meals because their annual household income, excluding benefits, is over the threshold of £7,400.
This threshold applies irrespective of the number of children in the family and is causing deep hardship among families struggling with the spiralling cost of living.
Southwark called on the Government to both follow the Mayor’s lead and raise the threshold to £20,000.
Cllr Williams said: “What the Government needs to do is extend free school meals to all primary school children, like we have done in Southwark and the Mayor plans to do across London.
“We know that the current household income threshold for Government-funded free school meals excludes many children in the borough whose families are struggling financially. We believe the threshold for eligibility of primary and secondary school students should be raised to those with a household income of £20,000 or under.”
He added: “We will be using the opportunity of this investment from the Mayor of London to tackle hunger in our secondary schools. As one of the first councils to guarantee a hot, nutritious meal at lunchtime for all primary school children, we know how life-changing they are.
“We introduced them in Southwark a decade ago because we saw children were falling through the gaps and the toll it was having on their learning and health. It’s been a huge success, reducing obesity levels among young people, helping them engage in learning and boosting academic performance.”
