An extra half a million children will benefit from a free meal every school day after the government announced a major expansion of the policy, which they said would lift 100,000 pupils out of poverty and put an extra £500 in parents’ pockets.
From the start of the 2026 school year, every child whose household is on universal credit will be entitled to free school meals, the government announced on Thursday.
Since 2018, children have only been eligible for free school meals if their household income is less than £7,400 per year, meaning hundreds of thousands of children living in poverty have been unable to access them.
As of January last year, nearly 2.1 million children in England were eligible for free school meals. The Department for Education claimed that the expansion will lift 100,000 children across England out of poverty.
It comes two years afterThe Independent’s Feed the Future campaign, in which we called for free school meals to be extended to all schoolchildren in England – both primary and secondary – who lived in households on universal credit but missed out on free school meals.
The latest move will be seen as a major concession to Labour MPs who are concerned about the direction of the government, with rebellion brewing over the party’s upcoming welfare cuts and calls for Sir Keir Starmer to scrap the two-child benefit cap.
The chancellor Rachel Reeves also announced on Wednesday that more people will get fuel payments “this winter” as she pledged to raise the level of the means test.
Announcing the expansion of free school meals, education secretary Bridget Phillipson said “background shouldn’t mean destiny”, adding: “Today’s historic step will help us to deliver excellence everywhere, for every child and give more young people the chance to get on in life.”
She continued: “It is the moral mission of this government to tackle the stain of child poverty, and today this government takes a giant step towards ending it with targeted support that puts money back in parents’ pockets.”
The move was welcomed by campaigners and unions, with the Child Poverty Action Group saying it will be a “game-changer for children and families”.
Kate Anstey, head of education policy the campaign group, said: “At last more kids will get the food they need to learn and thrive and millions of parents struggling to make ends meet will get a bit of breathing space.
“We hope this is a sign of what’s to come in autumn’s child poverty strategy, with the government taking more action to meet its manifesto commitment to reduce child poverty in the UK.”
Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said the expansion of free school meals eligibility was a “necessary and overdue first step” that would help address child hunger in schools.
He said the current threshold, which had been unchanged since 2018, meant “hundreds of thousands of children in poverty were missing out on the nutrition they need to thrive”.
Mr Kebede added: “As teachers, our members know the positive impact of children eating and learning together – how it breaks down stigma and inequality, and ensures greater community cohesion. Ensuring that a free school meal is available to all children is the next urgent step that must be taken.”
Meanwhile, Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, welcomed the move to expand free school meals to all families on universal credit, saying “no child should ever have to go hungry due to their parents’ financial circumstances”.
But he also called for auto-enrolment and wider support to tackle the broader impact of poverty on children’s education.
Children’s commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza echoed his call, urging the government to make sure every eligible child is “automatically enrolled for free school meals, rather than putting the onus on parents to sign up”.
“When children talk to me about their family lives, I am struck by how acutely aware they are of their parents’ worries and of the impact these have on their daily lives – and their education”, she said.
“That’s why we need solutions that reflect children’s experiences, reduce the shame too many have told me they feel about their circumstances, and break the link between their backgrounds and their opportunities, by giving them communities that are safe, supportive and aspirational.”
Last week, The Independent revealed that demand for help from baby banks from parents struggling to feed their children has surged by more than one-third in a year, amid record-high levels of child poverty.
New data showed that more than 3.5 million essential items were handed out in 2024, including nappies, clothes and cots – an increase of 143 per cent on the previous year.
The announcement came just hours after Sir Keir sidestepped questions over the two-child benefit cap, amid growing calls for him to lift the limit.
Critics of the policy say removing it would be the most effective way of tackling child poverty amid warnings that as many as 100 children are pulled into poverty every day by the limit.
However, it is thought the cap will not be lifted until the government publishes its child poverty strategy, which has now been delayed until the autumn.
Grilled on the policy at Prime Minister’s Questions, Sir Keir said he is “absolutely determined” to “drive down” child poverty but declined to give further details ahead of the publication of the government’s strategy.
