Expanding universal free school meals to all primary school children

Commenting on the Labour Party proposal to expand universal free school meals to all primary school children, Simon Shaw, Food Poverty Campaign Coordinator at Sustain, said: 

“Providing universal free school meals would be a huge step in alleviating food poverty as many of the poorest children in the UK aren’t accessing the free meals that they are entitled to. Rates of free school meal uptake vary greatly across schools and local authority areas, and reasons for low uptake range from lack of school resources in ensuring that families register for their entitlement to stigma associated with receiving  free school meals. This means that, in the current system, thousands of the poorest children are missing out on a meal they are entitled to each day. Universal free meal would create a major step change”