School food facts

Free school meals criteria

Children in England whose parents receive the following benefits are entitled to free school meals (FSM):

• Income Support
• Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
• Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• The guaranteed element of Pension Credit
• Child Tax Credit (provided parents are not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190)
• Working Tax Credit run-on - paid for 4 weeks after parents stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit
• Universal Credit - household income must be less than £7,400 a year after tax (excluding any benefits)

From September 2026, all children and young people from households receiving Universal Credit will be eligible for FSM.

In April 2022, the government permanently extended FSM eligibility in England to children from families with no recourse to public funds (NRPF), subject to maximum income thresholds.

The criteria differ slightly in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Universal free school meals

In England, all children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 attending a government-funded school are entitled to free school meals (FSM), regardless of household income, under universal infant free school meals (UIFSM). A 2020 study found the scheme has delivered several major benefits for children and families.

Free breakfast clubs will be rolled out to all schools with primary aged children in England in 2026 following a pilot programme.

In London, all primary children in state-funded schools have had access to FSM since 2023, and the Mayor announced this will continue throughout his term following his re-election in 2024.

A handful of London councils, which were already providing FSM for all key stage 2 children, have decided to use additional funding to extend FSM to further cohorts. Westminster will fund meals for those in early years settings and in key stage 3, and Tower Hamlets became the first local authority in the country to provide truly universal FSM in 2023.

Wales began rolling out universal primary free school meals (UPFSM) in 2022. In Scotland, all children in Primary 1 to 5 receive FSM, and children in P6 and P7 receive FSM if their family is in receipt of the Scottish Child Payment.

Case for expanding free school meals eligibility

As part of the School Food Review, Impact on Urban Health commissioned PwC to undertake a cost-benefit analysis of extending free school meals. The analysis showed positive returns on investment, over a 20-year period.

The majority of people (68%) support initially extending free school meals to all families receiving Universal Credit, and then to all children in primary and secondary education (polling by Public First).

A study by the University of Essex found evidence that providing free school meals for all primary school children reduces obesity prevalence and helps to improve reading skills.

A pilot study in Hammersmith and Fulham found that providing free school meals for all secondary school pupils is a ‘feasible’ intervention for increasing access to healthy food, reducing food insecurity, and improving nutrition.

Just 1.6% of packed lunches meet the same nutritional standards set for school food, research from University of Leeds has found. Less than a fifth (17%) of packed lunches contain any vegetables or salad, while more than half (52%) contain too many sweet snacks.

A School Food Matters report revealed that cash-strapped schools are using their budgets to feed hungry children. Four in 10 (38%) senior leaders said their school has been providing free school meals to pupils who are not eligible. A quarter said their school has written off school meals debt this year, and 24% said they had opened a food bank.

Children on free school meals: statistics

Number of pupils eligible for free school meals (latest available figures):

• England: 2,200,000 (25.7%) 
• Wales: 76,636 (20.3%)
• Scotland: Figure not available (only publishes FSM registration statistics) 
• Northern Ireland: 90,935 (26.2%)

Funding for free school meals in England

Per meal rates for the 25/26 academic year:

• £2.66 for universal infant free school meals and further education free school meals
• £2.61 for means-tested free school meals (until further education)
• £3 per meal for Mayor of London funded meals (all KS2)

This report from January 2021 shows the complexity of school food funding and policy.

Our Cost of a School Meal report revealed a critical shortfall between government funding and what schools need to guarantee nutritious and sustainable school food. It highlighted how investing just 63p more per school meal can have huge benefits for children and provide stability across the sector.

The Adapt-Ed study found that one in four FSM eligible children in special schools are not taking up their entitlement, prompting urgent calls to make school food more inclusive for them.

School food standards

Since 2015, the school food standards have been mandatory in all schools, with the aim of ensuring that children don’t get offered junk food and can eat well at school.

These standards, for example, place limits on serving deep-fried food, snacks and sugary drinks and ensure children are offered at least one portion of vegetables or salad and at least one portion of fruit each day.

In June 2025, the government announced plans to update the school food standards, bringing them in line with the latest nutritional guidelines.

In 2019, the Department for Education (DfE) launched its voluntary Healthy Schools Rating Scheme, which is used to evaluate how schools are supporting children’s health and wellbeing. In a 2019 SFM survey of parents, school staff and governors, 85% of respondents agreed the Healthy Schools Rating Scheme should be made mandatory and 72% said Ofsted should monitor it.

Access to food

In 2024, 4.3 million UK children were estimated to be growing up in poverty, according to government figures. That’s about one-third of children.

‘Food insecurity’ describes a lack of regular access to enough nutritious food. In 2022/23, 11% of UK households were food insecure, an increase from 7% in 2021/22.

Impact of Covid:

During the Covid pandemic, reliance on food banks reached ‘record’ high levels, with the Trussell Trust’s UK-wide network distributing 2.5 million emergency food parcels to people in crisis in 2020/21 - a 33% increase on the previous year. Of that number, 980,000 went to children.

In light of the Marcus Rashford campaign, the government expanded the Holiday Activity and Food (HAF) programme to all local authorities across England in 2021. In October 2021, the government announced £200m a year for the scheme to continue for three years. The final year for the funding is the 2024 –2025 financial year.

During Covid, School Food Matters also switched focus from educating children and schools about nutritious food to distributing food parcels in response to the crisis, delivering more than one million breakfasts to vulnerable families across London.

Fruit and veg consumption

Only 9% of 11–18-year-olds consume five fruit and veg a day, as recommended, while for adults that figure is 17%, according to government figures.

The School Fruit and Vegetable Scheme (SFVS) provides a free piece of fruit or veg to every 4–6-year-old who attends a fully state-funded primary, infant or special school.

A Peas Please report shows affordability remains a ‘key barrier’ to people buying veg, with the wealthiest 20% accessing one portion of veg more a day than the poorest 20%, who are also much more likely to not get any veg.

Food education

In England, food education forms part of the national curriculum, which applies to local-authority-maintained schools.

The curriculum states that ‘pupils should be taught how to cook and apply the principles of nutrition and healthy eating’. By the end of key stage 3, students are expected to learn how to cook a repertoire of dishes ‘so that they are able to feed themselves and others a healthy and varied diet’.

Food education similarly falls within the national curriculum for Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The Food Education Network (FEN) is a coalition of organisations committed to championing food education. The Network has responded to the 2025 Curriculum and Assessment Review, and is continuing to advocate for increased food education within the national curriculum.

Food used to be offered as an A-level subject in England, but it was axed by the Department for Education (DfE) following extensive reforms in 2016.

Henry Dimbleby’s National Food Strategy called for A-level food to be reinstated and for ‘sensory food education’ to be added to the curriculum for nursery and reception classes. Neither has been incorporated into the government’s Food Strategy.

A 2020 British Nutrition Foundation (BNF) survey of food teachers revealed:

• Most secondary school food teachers believe removing A-level food has taken away a clear route of progression for GCSE students with a passion for food. 
• There is considerable student interest in A-level food.
• Removing A-level food has led to a reduction in food and nutrition education at KS3 level and funding for teaching food in many schools.

A 2014 BNF survey of school children revealed great confusion around where food comes from. For example, it found:

• A quarter (25%) of 5–8-year-olds think bread comes from animals
• Over a quarter (26%) of 5–8-year-olds and 22% of 8–11-year-olds think cheese comes from plants

School Food Matters delivers a range of fully-funded food education programmes in schools. Discover our cooking, growing and school food transformation projects here.