The North East Child Poverty Commission (NECPC) and Schools North East have release information on free school meals and ‘auto-enrolment’ in the North East which has been published online and sent to all MPs in the region.
The briefing outlines the impact of local free school meal auto-enrolment pilots in the region this year – undertaken to date in Northumberland, County Durham, Middlesbrough and Redcar & Cleveland. Stockton council are in the process of implementing a trial and several other councils in the region, including Newcastle and Darlington, are planning to follow imminently.
Across Northumberland, County Durham, Middlesbrough and Redcar & Cleveland, an additional 4,000 eligible pupils have been identified and registered for means-tested free school meals as a result of this work, securing an estimated £5.37million in additional annual pupil premium funding for local schools.
The organisations state almost one in three school-aged pupils in the North East are eligible and registered for means-tested free school meals, the highest proportion of anywhere in England.
The briefing states: “Whilst all English regions have seen a significant increase in the number and share of children registered for free school meals over the last nine years, the North East has experienced the steepest rise during that period, going from just under one in five of all school-aged pupils (18.4% or 71,358) in 2015/16, to close to one third (31.2% or 124,294) in 2023/24. These figures – which are markedly higher in several North East local authority areas – do not include college students (aged 16-19) entitled to receive free meals in Further Education.”
They also argue that the threshold for means-tested free school meals is too low indicating that “900,000 children in poverty across England are not eligible for means-tested free school meals under the current narrow criteria.”
Another concern outlined in the briefing was pupils who are eligible for free school meals not being registered. “Non-registration means that hundreds of thousands of eligible children and young people maybe missing out on the ‘nutritional safety net’ that free school meals provide – as well as the additional support to which FSM eligibility can act as a ‘gateway’.
“Non-registration for means-tested free school meals also means schools are not receiving the pupil premium funding to which they are entitled, currently worth £1,480 per year for each free school meal-registered primary pupil and £1,050 per year for secondary students.”
The briefing states that every pupil who is eligible for free school meals should be automatically registered for the support, unless they opt out.
“NECPC and Schools North East have repeatedly called on the Government to address this issue by using the data it already holds across different departments to identify and ensure that all families eligible for means-tested free school meals are automatically registered for this support, unless they opt-out/object to this happening.”
You can read the full briefing here.
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View news Source: https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/free-school-meals-north-east-30557293
