London’s mayor launches £130m free-school meal scheme for primary pupils

As reported by the BBC, London’s mayor Sadiq Khan has announced he is launching a £130m scheme to give every primary school pupil free school meals for the next academic year

The mayor’s office said it is estimated the one-off funding could help more than 270,000 children in the capital during the 2023-24 academic year. A spokesperson added that the plans were also expected to save families about £440 per child over the year.

Charities and unions have welcomed the news, but say more action is needed.

The mayor’s office said the scheme, which will be implemented in September and run during term-time only for the length of the academic year, is ‘one-off funding from additional business rates income’.

A spokesperson said funding for the project was made possible because council tax and business rates returns from the capital’s local authorities are higher than originally forecast in the mayor’s draft budget proposals.

Mr Khan is due to officially announce the plans during a visit to his old school, Fircroft Primary in Tooting, south-west London, later.

Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary at the National Education Union (NEU), said the scheme would be “a much-needed lifeline” that could also help “attainment and educational outcomes”.

“Children who have access to a healthy hot meal every day are better able to focus, connect with their peers and build bright futures”, he said.

“The government must now end its inaction and commit to funding free school meals for all in primary schools across the rest of the country, and long term.”

A Department for Education spokesman said more than 2m schoolchildren had received a free meal since 2010, “thanks to the introduction of universal infant free school meals plus generous protections put in place as benefit recipients move across to universal credit”.

“Over a third of pupils in England now receive free school meals in education settings, compared with 1.1m in 2009, and we have made a further investment in the national school breakfast programme to extend the programme for another year, backed by up to £30m,” he continued.