You voted for change, and we are delivering it. From September 2026, we will be expanding access to free school meals across the country, which is set to ๐ฅ๐ข๐๐ญ ๐๐๐,๐๐๐ ๐๐ก๐ข๐ฅ๐๐ซ๐๐ง ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐จ๐ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ญ๐ฒ. With Labour, over half a million more children will get free school meals because any child in England whose parents are on Universal Credit will be eligible.
This will mean the 9800 children between years 3-11 who are in families currently claiming universal credit will benefit from the extension. In this way, the government is ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ง๐๐๐ซ๐ฅ๐ฒ ยฃ๐๐๐ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐จ ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐ญ’๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐จ๐๐ค๐๐ญ๐ฌ. We’re giving every child, no matter their background, the nutrition they need to learn, grow and thrive from an early age.
This builds on the work we have already done to put up to ยฃ450 a year back into parentsโ pockets with the beginning of our Free Breakfast Clubs programme roll-out. Starting in April at Whitegate End, Richmond Academy, Northmoor Academy – which I visited early this year – and Westwood Academy, we will roll them out to every primary school in the country so every child can start their day with a healthy breakfast and and at least 30 minutes of free childcare.
We are proud that the last Labour government took almost 1 million children out of poverty. However, 14 years of Tory chaos and decline led to us reaching record levels of child poverty in the months before they left office. However, this new government is acting to tackle child poverty head on through our recently launched Child Poverty Taskforce, our free breakfast club programme, our cap on uniform prices, enhanced government funded childcare and now our expansion of free school meals.
Jim McMahon OBE MP 