Khan sets out plan to provide universal free primary school meals next year

Sadiq Khan has announced a £130m emergency scheme to provide every primary school child in London with free school meals during the next academic year, saving families in the capital around £440 per child.

The London mayor today set out plans for a one-off proposal to fund free school meals for around 270,000 primary school children in London for a year from September amid the ongoing cost-of-living crisis.

Announcing the plan, Khan said: “The cost-of-living crisis means families and children across our city are in desperate need of additional support. I have repeatedly urged the government to provide free school meals to help already stretched families, but they have simply failed to act.

“This is why I’m stepping forward with an emergency £130m scheme that will ensure every single primary pupil in the capital receives free school meals. This will save families hundreds of pounds over the year, ensuring parents aren’t worrying about how they’re going to feed their children.

“It will also guarantee every primary school student a healthy, nutritious meal, meaning they don’t go hungry in the classroom and can better concentrate on their studies.”

The mayor’s office said making free school meals universal “helps reduce the stigma that can be associated with being singled out as low income, therefore boosting take-up among families who need them most”.

A household on Universal Credit must earn less than £7,400 a year to qualify for free school meals, after tax and not including benefits, regardless of the number of children in the family. The mayor’s office said its scheme would save families around £440 per child across the year.

The funding for the scheme comes from additional business rates income. The mayor’s office said Khan is “clear that he is only able to provide help that should be coming from the government for one year”.

Khan – who received free school meals as a child – called in June last year for universal free school meals for primary schoolchildren to be introduced for the current school year, highlighting the work of London councils including Islington and Southwark that already offer such provision.

The London mayor said today: “I know from personal experience that free school meals are a lifeline. My siblings and I depended on them to eat while at school and my parents relied on them to give our family a little extra breathing room financially.

“The difference they can make to children who are at risk of going hungry – and to families who are struggling to make ends meet – is truly game-changing.”

Ian Byrne – who leads the right to food campaign in parliament to make access to food a legal right for all – said Khan’s announcement was a “massively positive political choice” that will “transform lives for children [and] parents in London”.

The Labour backbencher added: “Universal free school meals is a policy whose time has come. A huge step forward for our [right to food] campaign.”

Child Poverty Action Group chief executive Alison Garnham described the announcement as “fantastic news” and said the move “highlighted the government’s failure to act for children”.

Garnham added: “It really is for ministers now to respond to public support for free school meals and ensure that every child in the UK has a free, balanced meal in the middle of the day.”

A Department for Education spokesperson said more than two million schoolchildren have received a free meal since 2010, “thanks to the introduction of universal infant free school meals plus generous protections put in place as benefit recipients move across to Universal Credit”.

They added: “Over a third of pupils in England now receive free school meals in education settings, compared with 1.1 million in 2009, and we have made a further investment in the national school breakfast programme to extend the programme for another year, backed by up to £30m.”