Free school meal eligibility continues to increase

According to the latest DfE data, 22.5% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, up from 20.8% in 2021. This represents just under 1.9 million pupils.

1.6 million infant pupils were recorded as taking a free school meal on census day

Of those, almost 1.3 million are not normally eligible for FSM through the criteria above and received them under the Universal Infant FSM policy.

Commenting, Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders' union NAHT, said: “Our members have described the rise in poverty in their schools’ communities over the past year as ‘shocking and stark’. It is clear that the combined pressures of Covid-19 and the cost-of-living crisis have driven more families and children into poverty.
 
“The children who have newly become eligible for free school meals are disproportionately drawn from more disadvantaged areas and are largely those pupils who already needed more support, which schools are increasingly struggling to give with over stretched budgets and the erosion of the value of pupil premium funding since 2015.
 
“Additional funding is urgently needed for both educational and pastoral support. Children who are hungry are not ready to learn. Teachers and school leaders are increasingly having to tackle the impact of poverty before they can even start teaching.
 
“Free school meals eligibility should be extended to every child from a family in receipt of universal credit, with auto-enrolment.
 
“These children are already the victims of a decade of austerity and the government urgently needs to act to avoid these children becoming an entirely lost generation.”