An additional half of the children will benefit from a Free meal every school day After the government announced a great expansion of politics, which they said they would Raise 100,000 students from poverty and put an extra £ 500 in your parents pockets.
From the beginning of the school year 2026, every child whose household is Universal Credit He will be entitled to free school food, the government announced the government on Thursday.
Since 2018. Years are children only for them Free school meal If their household income is less than 7,400 pounds per year, which means hundreds of thousands Children living in poverty were unable to access them.
From January last year, almost 2.1 million children in England had the right to free school meals. The Department of Education argued that the expansion will raise 100,000 children throughout England from poverty.
Comes two years afterIndependent‘S Feed the future campaignIn which we are Called to free school meals To extend all school children in England – and primary and medium – who lived in households on the universal loan, but they missed free school meals.
The latest move will be looked at as the main concession for work to work concerned about the direction of the Government, and the rebellion collapsed over the upcoming sections of well-being and calls for the cheese Keir Starmer.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced in Wednesday that more people would get the payment of fuel “this winter” while committed to raising the level of tests.
Announcing the expansion of free school meals Bridget Phillipson said, “adding the fate”, adding: “Today’s historical step will help us deliver excellence everywhere, for each child and give more young people in life.”
She continued, “It is a moral mission of this government to deal with the spots of child poverty, and today this government takes a giant step towards the end of targeted support in parents’ pockets.”
The move was greeted by campaigns and unions, and the children’s action of poverty says that it will be a “gaming game for children and families”.
Kate Anstey, educational policy, campaign campaign, said: “The last children will receive foods that they need to learn and thrive and millions of parents fighting to meet the encounter.
“We hope this is a sign of what will come to the autumn strategy of poverty for children, and the government has taken over more shares to fulfill their manifestation commitment to the UK poverty.”
Daniel Kebede, Secretary-General of the National Education Alliance, said that the eligibility of free school meals was “needed and delayed the first step” that would help address children’s hunger in schools.
He said that the current threshold, which was unchanged since 2018., meant “hundreds of thousands of children in poverty disappeared on the diet they need to progress.”
Mr. Kebede added: “As teachers, our members know the positive impact of children who eat and learn together – how to terminate the stigma and inequality and ensures greater cohesion in the community.”
Meanwhile, Paul Whiteman, the Secretary General of the National Association, greeted the move to expand the free school meal to all families in the universal loan, saying “No child should go hungry for the financial circumstances of parents.”
But he also called on auto-enrollment and broader support for solving the wider impact of poverty on the education of children.
Children’s Commissioner ladies Rachel de Souz echoed by calling, calling the government to ensure that every child “automatically enrolls for free school meals, not to set up.
“When children talk to me about their family life, I hit how acute-aware they are concerned with their parents and influences that have their daily lives – and their education,” she said.
“That is why we need solutions that reflect children’s experiences, reduce the shame too much, they told me to feel that they feel in their circumstances and violated links to their communities, providing them with communities that are safe, supportive and aspirational.”
Last week, Independent found that the demand for help Babies for babies from parents struggling to eat their children aligned for more than one-third of the year, In the middle of record-Eigh level of baby poverty.
The new data showed that in 2024. Dedicated more than 3.5 million essential items, including diapers, clothing and cribs – an increase of 143 percent in the previous year.
The announcement came only with hours after Sir Keir established questions within the cap for two children, in the middle of growing call for him to raise the border.
Policy critics say it will remove the most effective way to solve child poverty in the middle of warning that as many as 100 children withdraw into poverty every day every day.
However, the cap is considered to be raised until the Government announces the child poverty strategy, which is now postponed to autumn.
Grill on politics on the Prime Minister’s issues, Mr. Keir said “absolutely determined” to “drive” child poverty, but refused to give further details before the public strategy.