free school meals | Schools Week

Schools face new checks to ensure pupil premium spending ‘backed by evidence’

Schools will have to show their pupil premium spending is “backed by evidence” under new requirements announced by the Department for Education. The DfE confirmed schools face new conditions attached to the £2.5bn expected in funding to support disadvantaged pupils for the next academic year. Grants now depend on pupil premium spending strategies being published […]

Free school meals: 300k more pupils became eligible in first 7 months of Covid

The number of children eligible for free school meals surged in the first seven months of the Covid-19 pandemic, official figures show. Census data published by the Department for Education shows an additional 302,397 pupils became eligible for free school meals between the first nationwide lockdown in March and the October school census. During the […]

Labour calls on DfE to ‘guarantee’ free school meals support over Easter

Labour is calling on the government to provide free school meals vouchers or cash payments over the Easter holidays, warning extensions to a Covid grant for councils and the holiday activities and food programme don’t go far enough. The government has said free school meals vouchers won’t be offered over Easter, although some councils are […]

£24m committed to extend breakfast clubs programme for two more years

The Department for Education will spend £24 million extending its breakfast clubs programme for a further two years. The government initially launched the programme in 2018 with £26 million in funding. A further £11.8 million was allocated in 2020 to extend the scheme to this year. Now the DfE has confirmed it is looking for […]

Edenred won third free school meals voucher contract without open tender

The Department for Education failed to run an open tender for the most recent free school meals voucher contract, rolling it over to supplier Edenred for the third time. Ministers were criticised for not running an open tender for the first two contracts handed to Edenred last year which rose from £78 million to £425 […]

‘His record is shambolic’: Labour demands Williamson’s resignation

Labour is calling on education secretary Gavin Williamson to resign over a “series of failures” during the Covid-19 pandemic. Shadow education secretary Kate Green said it was “time for Gavin Williamson to go”, following a debate in Parliament on the government’s work to provide free school meals and remote education support. He has bounced from […]

Williamson repeats ‘unhelpful myth’ live lessons claim, and 4 more edu Qs findings

Gavin Williamson and his ministers faced questions in Parliament about the government’s response to Covid-19, including issues relating to live lessons, free school meals and mass testing. Here’s what we learned. 1. Williamson repeats live learning claim branded ‘unhelpful myth’ by Ofsted Ministers were asked several questions about the provision of live teaching by […]

No conditions on local FSM vouchers – but schools need ‘decent audit trail’

The government has loosened restrictions to make it easier for schools to use local free school meal voucher schemes if they don’t want to use the national scheme or provide food parcels. The Department for Education confirmed last week that schools could choose between food parcels, local vouchers or the national Edenred voucher scheme, which […]

Food parcels fiasco: How the pandemic exposed free school meals failures…again

The government is facing questions over its handling of the free school meals fiasco after it emerged that ministers pushed schools to prioritise food parcels following lobbying by the catering industry. Making sure children get proper, healthy meals should be the top priority for ministers, not listening to lobbyists from the catering industry Department for […]