The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has today confirmed that all primary school children in state-funded schools in the capital will continue to get free school meals for the next academic year, providing £140million extra funding as the cost-of-living crisis continues to hit families.
Mayor Khan said that he recognises that families are in urgent need of support. The meals will help with the spiralling cost of living by making sure that children in state-funded London schools will receive free school meals through and into 2024-2025.
The extension of universal free school meals could save families up to £1,000 per child across two years, City Hall claimed in the announcement this morning.
“This is vital support for families facing a cost of living crisis, and will ensure that primary school children get at least one nutritious meal a day. Essentially, providing them with a much-needed safety net,” the announcement said.
When they are hungry, children struggle to concentrate and learn in the classroom. A free school meal will help children to reach their potential.
Children will receive their free school meal under the Mayor’s scheme automatically, but it is really important that parents and guardians continue to complete their school or borough’s registration form, because a child may be eligible for extra funding for their school from the government, which is worth £1,300 per year.
In some boroughs and schools there are also extra entitlements parents and guardians might be eligible for, such as support for food in the school holidays.
More information about how to register for government free school meals should be available on Croydon Council’s website.
“We are working closely with boroughs, schools and others to make sure that there is a straightforward process as this initiative is implemented,” City Hall said.
Delighted: Marina Ahmad AM
Assembly Member Marina Ahmad, Labour’s economy spokesperson at City Hall, said, “I am delighted that the Mayor has been able to commit further funding to City Hall’s ground-breaking universal free school meals policy.
“This £140million investment means that families across London will save up to £1,000 per child over two years.
“With the cost of living crisis still biting, I am so pleased that City Hall is stepping up to support Londoners. The current scheme has already given out more than 17million meals between September and Christmas.
“I have long campaigned on the issue of childhood hunger, with my 2022 report into this showing unacceptable levels of food insecurity in the capital.
“I am thrilled that this genuinely life-changing policy will continue and that London’s children and families get the support they need.”
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ROTTEN BOROUGH AWARDS: In January 2024, Croydon was named among the country’s rottenest boroughs for a SEVENTH successive year in the annual round-up of civic cock-ups in Private Eye magazine
It wouldn’t be an election year by any chance, would it?
So you don’t think feeding hungry children is a good thing, then?
There’s a great flowchart available for this:
1. A child is hungry > is it the parents’ fault? > no > feed them.
2. A child is hungry > is it the parents’ fault? > yes > feed them.
If I were in charge, one of the first things I would do – after banning soccer and reinstating archery on the village green on Sunday mornings – is implement free school meals (breakfast, dinner and tea) for all children in the state sector, whether their parents can afford it or not.
We have masses of broken and/ or feral children in our society. Every day loads of them turn up for school hungry, and leave school hungrier.
Some of these are the product of criminally and wilfully ignorant, selfish and neglectful parents.
Many are not: their parents may be incompetent, stupid or, through no fault of their own, have been dealt a shite hand.
The educational and health – thus social – outcomes of many of these children will be terrible as a direct result of being poorly fed; and this is a cycle which will begat more of the same, and the same kind of parenting.
Free school meals would help break that cycle as the health, and behavourial and academic performance of well-nourished, full children is stellar compared to hungry ones. I’d venture that half the ADD cases in our schools would disappear overnight – you can’t concentrate if you’re Hank Marvin.
It’s not a wishy-washy measure.
The cost may be great, yet the benefits – in terms of healthcare, crime and anti-social behaviour, productivity etc etc – would be the greater.
Research greatly supports this.
You’ve omitted that other Mayoral candidates (eg Tories’ Susan Hall) has also promised to keep that funding.
This makes you appear partisan.
Yes, we’re partisan. For the truth and what is right. And we also don’t like to waste our time on fools.
Hall is an irrelevance. She won’t ever be Mayor of London, so any “promises” she makes are just hot air. And irrelevant.
Has she remembered where she left her handbag this week?
The Mayor of London made an announcement which is being reported here. That’s not partisan. It’s called “news”.
For your information, the demon hairdresser of Harrow has only promised to extend Mr Khan’s free school meal programme “for as long as the cost of living situation requires it”.
This conveniently ignores which party in government created the “cost of living situation”, which is effectively the austerity economic warfare on us plebs that has seen prices skyrocket and public services cut while handing our tax money to party hacks and donors.
She could withdraw the scheme at a stroke if she decided that “the cost of living situation” had ended. You don’t need to be Marcus Rashford to realise that the Conservatives prefer kids to go hungry than admit there is such a thing as society
In theory, this is great news. In practice, since the scheme was introduced school meal portions have shrunk. Now, this could of course be linked to an increase in food prices and utility prices but what is being offered often isn’t filling children up.
Have you raised this with the school? Or with Jamie Oliver?
Not mentioned in this article, but the announcement also said “We’re uplifting the cost per meal to £3, enabling schools in every borough in the capital to serve meals that will be more nutritious and filling for children.”
I have also heard portion sizes have been affected in recent years so hopefully this goes some way to restoring that. Unless the private providers decide to pocket the profits of course!