Up to 287,000 state primary school children across London are now benefitting from free school meals thanks to unprecedented £135m emergency funding from the Mayor

of London Sadiq Khan.

Families in every borough in the capital could save upwards of £440 per child across the next year, after the Mayor introduced the historic one-off funding to help Londoners struggling with the cost of living.

It means that for the first time ever free school meals are available to all pupils in every year of state-funded primary schools, special schools and pupil referral units for this academic year. Children in years 3 to 6 in primary school years had previously only received free school meals if they lived in households on universal credit earning less than £7,400 a year - after tax and not including benefits, and regardless of the number of children in the family.

Sadiq – who received means tested free school meals as a child – has taken the action to support families as he is determined to do all he can to help Londoners hit by the cost-of-living crisis.

It comes as latest City Hall polling from YouGov Plc reveals that around a third (32 per cent) of parents and guardians of children between five and 11 years say they are ‘financially struggling’, including around one in six (16 per cent) going without basic needs or relying on debt to pay for them. In a separate question, around a third (31 per cent) say they are buying less food and essentials.

Every borough in the capital has received £2.65 per meal in funding to enable schools to deliver the meals over the next year. This is higher than the amount they receive from Government, who recently increased its funding from £2.41 to £2.53 per meal following the Mayor’s unprecedented intervention.

To further support schools, boroughs have been provided with a wide range of advice on best practice including how to encourage all parents to continue to register for the Government Free School Meal scheme – this ensures schools continue to receive the maximum additional Pupil Premium funding from Government, which is linked to Government Free School Meal take up.

Sadiq’s free school meals funding is the latest programme from the Mayor to support Londoners with the cost-of-living crisis. That includes investing £3.46bn into building the genuinely affordable homes Londoners need and £400m on skills and employment programmes to support Londoners to find more secure work, as well as more than £80m to help those struggling with the rising cost of living to tackle fuel poverty, supporting private renters, connecting Londoners to welfare advice and tackling food insecurity. The Mayor has also provided an emergency funding package of more than £3.5m to help provide around 10m free meals during school holidays and at weekends to low-income Londoners struggling with the spiralling cost of living over the next year.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “I know from personal experience what a lifeline free school meals can be and I’m immensely proud that our unprecedented funding means that hundreds of thousands of children across London’s primary schools are now benefitting from them. As the new academic year begins, for the first time ever all children at state primary schools in every borough will be enjoying a free lunch at school every day – helping families struggling with the cost-of-living and ensuring children don’t go hungry. It is shocking that families across the capital are struggling to feed themselves as they try to deal with the cost-of-living crisis, and I will continue to do all I can to support Londoners as we build a better and more prosperous city for all.”

Chef Jamie Oliver MBE said: “Nourishing our kids with nutritious and delicious food at lunch time is an investment in their future, boosts our economy and sets them up for a healthier and more productive life. Sadiq Khan has recognised this by giving all primary school children a free school meal and now we need politicians across all parties to put child health above politics and act now.”

Chef Tom Kerridge said: “I'm pleased that the Mayor of London has introduced free school meals for primary school children in London. So many families are struggling to get by and particularly worry about how to feed their children in the current climate, so the Mayor's expansion of free school meals will make a huge difference to them.”

Author and chef Melissa Hemsley said: “I’m pleased to lend my support to the Mayor’s programme to ensure primary school child in London have access to free school meals. All children deserve access to a free school lunch at a particularly difficult time for many households and families.”

Barbara Crowther, Children’s Food Campaign Manager, Sustain, said: “This is a truly historic moment for London. It’s brilliant that every primary schoolchild in a London state school is now on an equal footing at lunchtime, with healthy, hot meals available to all, regardless of background or family income and means testing. This is how it should be, not just in London but across the whole of our education system – good nutritious meals are the building blocks of more better energy levels and concentration, improved educational outcomes and a healthier future for children. We applaud the Mayor of London for saying yes to school food for all primary children, plus all the school staff and caterers working incredibly hard and creatively to turn that vision into healthy food on the table. Now we need all political parties to agree that this is the right and fair thing to do across the whole nation, to end the school meal postcode lottery and instead feed the future.”

Victoria Benson, CEO, Gingerbread, said: “The relentless increase of prices for basic essentials is stretching the household budgets of single parents to beyond breaking point and tragically we regularly hear of families that are having to go without food as a result. As the new term starts, it will be a massive relief to many parents that their child will now be fed at school. We welcome the Universal Free School Meals programme and hope it will mean fewer children in London will experience hunger.”

Charlotte Hill OBE, CEO The Felix Project, said: “Every day at The Felix Project we hear of the struggles families are facing to feed themselves and their children due to the increasing costs of food, rent and household bills. We have helped to feed thousands of those children and families this summer when many would have been faced with stark choices due to schools being closed and the lifeline of free school meals not being available. We know many families were afraid of how they would feed their children this winter. The Mayor's funding for free school meals for all primary school children will be a vital lifeline to those with young children.”

Lynn Perry MBE, Chief Executive of Barnardo’s, said: “More than 800,000 children are currently living in poverty in England but do not qualify for free school meals. Yet we know from our frontline work that growing up in poverty means children are at risk of being cold and hungry; they miss out on opportunities; and their physical and mental health suffers - all of which can affect them long into adulthood. We welcome the expansion of free school meals to all primary school children in London to help support families who are struggling, and we are calling on the Government to extend this right across England, alongside action to tackle ‘holiday hunger’.”

Anna Taylor, Executive Director, The Food Foundation, said: “Every child should have an equal opportunity to thrive, no matter where they grow up. The evidence is clear: nutritious Free School Meals make children healthier, happier and perform better in school and for many of our children it may be their main source of hot, nutritious food. The Mayor has recognised this with his game-changing policy for London. While his one-year intervention is cause for celebration, this should be more than just an emergency measure; we need Free School Meal extension to be made permanent and to allow children elsewhere in the country to benefit. The Mayor has done what is right for the children in our capital – now we need national Government to step up and extend Free School Meals across the country.”

Raheem Morgan, Chartwells chef at Torridon Primary School, Lewisham, – and the current LACA School Chef of the Year – said: “I’m super excited to be able to serve every child a healthy, nutritious and delicious lunch for free this Academic Year. The initiative will have a real impact on our ability to fuel children’s learning in Lewisham. The taste, nutrition and choice of school meals for all children, irrespective of their allergens or dietary requirements, has improved greatly over recent years. I’m incredibly proud to be part of the amazing team of frontline colleagues who proudly serve pupils every day, and I can’t wait for term to start.”

Grace Williams, Leader of Waltham Forest Council, said: “We are delighted to welcome the Mayor of London to Waltham Forest today to launch his free school meal programme.  As an ex-teacher I’ve seen first hand children being hungry at school. Not only is this completely unacceptable in a wealthy country like the UK but it has a terrible impact on children’s overall health and learning, particularly around concentration in the classroom.
 
“By funding free meals for all primary pupils at state schools, the Mayor is ensuring children in Waltham Forest and across London will enjoy good quality food every school day, saving families hundreds of pounds every year in the process, money that is much needed in the cost-of-living crisis.
 
“The Mayor’s free school meals programme will also compliment Waltham Forest’s own Breakfast for Learning initiative, where we are spending £600,000 from the Household Support Fund to support primary aged children who have been identified as needing breakfasts before school - including Newport Primary School where the Mayor is visiting today.”
 
Headteacher of Newport Primary School Ashley Perridge said: “It has been very exciting for everyone at the school to have the Mayor of London visit us today. The free school meals programme will be a huge help for so many of our families who have children at the school and I know it will make a big difference to our pupil’s wellbeing and overall education.” Photo by U.S. Embassy London, Wikimedia commons.