In light of cost-of-living pressures, it is important we do all we can to support each other and our communities across Mid Sussex. This is especially true when it comes to supporting the most vulnerable in our society.
To this end, I have been in close communication with my colleagues in the Department for Education on the subject of free school meals and I am pleased to provide you with the latest update.
Over two million pupils are currently eligible for benefits based free school meals. Close to 1.3 million additional infants receive free and nutritious meals under the Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM) policy.
The Department spends over £1 billion each year on free school meals, including through the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme and school breakfast clubs. This includes around £600 million on UIFSM.
Furthermore, the Government funds over £200 million a year on HAF, which provides healthy meals and holiday club places to children from low-income families. In the summer of 2022, the HAF programme reached around 600,000 children across England, including over 475,000 children eligible for free school meals.
The Government is allocating £30 million over two years for the National School Breakfast Programme (NSBP) until the end of the summer term in 2024, which benefits over 2,000 schools across the country. Family Action estimates that 270,000 children are currently receiving breakfast from the NSBP on an average school day.
In 2023/24, the Free School Meal factor of the National Funding Formula designates £480 per eligible pupil. This is increasing to £490 in 2024/25. Schools are allocated un-ringfenced funding through their core budgets to provide these free meals for disadvantaged pupils. This system recognises that schools are best placed to make decisions about how they use their funding and gives them considerable freedom in how they best deliver educational provision to their pupils.
Additional funding for schools announced since Spending Review 2021 totalled more than £2.4 billion in 2023-24 and will be more than £2.8 billion in 2024-25. This will bring per pupil funding for 5–16-year-olds to its highest ever level in real terms in 2024-25 – and represents a cash increase in average funding per pupil from £5,920 in 2019-20 to £7,690 in 2024-25.
Ultimately, I believe it is imperative that our children have regular, healthy and balanced meals throughout the day to ensure they are able to thrive in the classroom and the Government is taking the necessary steps to ensure that children who are in need of school meals are able to access them.
