Headteachers call for automatic free school meals for families on Universal Credit

School leaders today called for children to automatically get free school meals if their families are eligible for Universal Credit.

The National Association of Headteachers (NAHT) sent the message to Rishi Sunak from their annual conference, taking place this weekend in Newport, South Wales.

“Children learn better when they’re properly fed, when they’re healthy,” James Bowen, the union’s assistant general secretary, told the Mirror. “Let's make sure that every child in the country has healthy meals, are fed and are able to learn and engage in schoolwork. I think it's an absolute no brainer. I can see no reason why I wouldn't do it.”

Children of families in receipt of Universal Credit with a household income of less than £7,400 are entitled to free school meals - but have to be registered in order to get them. A small number of councils have already moved to an ‘opt-out’ model - which led to more than 2,500 children being registered, according to research by the School Food Review Group. And the research found worrying trends in families who receive benefits, but not free school meals.

In Lambeth in London 89% of newly identified pupils came from lone-parent households, 59% came from households with English as an additional language, and 79% came from Black, Asian and multi-ethnic backgrounds. The group said this suggested the registration process was acting as a barrier to minority groups.

Mr Bowen said: “We already know that there's quite a chunk of families who don't do it for all sorts of reasons. It could be language barriers. It could be that they're just not aware of it, or they find it difficult to get through the whole thing.”

He added: “It’s really about saying, let's make this easy for people. Let's reduce the stigma, let's reduce the barriers. Let's just say that any family with universal Credit, those children automatically get free school meals.”

The conference motion noted children registered for free school meals also make their school eligible for extra ‘pupil premium’ cash.

The Mirror is campaigning for all primary age children to be given a free meal every day - regardless of their income or circumstances. The NAHT motion also agreed to analyse the system in London, where Mayor Sadiq Khan implemented universal primary free school meals last year. Mr Bowen said: “Of course, we're interested in what's, what's going on in London, where they have got the sort of free school meal scheme, sort of learning from that and seeing how those that could be so expanded and applied.”