Free School Meals: Eligibility

Lynne Jones
To ask the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families if he will make it his policy to extend the provision of free school meals to families on working tax credit; and if he will make a statement.

Ms Diana R. Johnson
We have no plans to extend free school meals to families on working tax credit.

However, we are currently running a two-year pilot in three local authorities in deprived areas to test different approaches to free school meals. Wolverhampton is extending the free school meal eligibility rules to include pupils whose parents receive working tax credit and have an annual income of up to £16,040. Durham and Newham are piloting free school lunches to all primary pupils. We want to learn the lessons of those pilots before making decisions on any national extension.