So, like, apparently primary schools in England are gonna have to fork out their own cash to cover the cost of free school meals for infants, all because the government only increased funding by a measly 3p. The Department for Education decided to bump up the funding for these meals from £2.58 to £2.61 per child starting in September, but honestly, who even asked for that?
Joseph Howes from the End Child Poverty coalition and Buttle UK was like, “Um, excuse me, but a 3p increase is not gonna cut it, especially when not all primary-aged kids can even get these meals, let alone those from poorer families.” And then Paul Whiteman from the National Association of Head Teachers chimed in, saying that schools are already struggling to provide a hot meal at £3.16 a day, so this tiny increase is just adding insult to injury.
Like, seriously, suppliers are hiking up their prices, and schools are the ones left to foot the bill. It’s like a lose-lose situation. The government needs to wake up and smell the overpriced lunch they’re serving up to these kids.
In case you didn’t know, these free meals are handed out to kids in reception, year 1, and year 2 in state primary schools. So, a school with 90 kids across these year groups will only get an extra £2.70 a day. Talk about peanuts! And to top it off, while food prices are going up by 3%, the funding for these meals is only increasing by 1.2%. What a joke.
The government introduced these free meals back in 2014, but since then, the funding has been lagging behind inflation. Like, by 2023, the value of the funding had dropped by 16%. Munira Wilson, from the Liberal Democrats, was like, “Come on, Labour, you call this an increase? It’s barely enough to cover the cost of a pack of gum, let alone a proper meal for these kids.”
But, hey, the Child Poverty Action Group did say that the policy has helped out a lot of kids, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds. So, I guess it’s not all bad.
The Department for Education tried to defend themselves, saying they’ve poured a ton of money into free breakfast clubs and are still funding free lunches for over 3 million kids. But like, maybe they should focus on fixing the real issues instead of just putting a band-aid on the problem. Just a thought.
