Nine hundred thousand children in poverty are not eligible for free school meals (FSM) because the qualifying criteria is so restrictive, Child Poverty Action Group analysis of DfE FSM data, published today, shows.
Children and young people from the Cost of the School Day Voice network call for Universal Free School Meals (USFM) at a Scottish Parliament roundtable.
The Prime Minister must know he can’t scare people into good health, but his words this morning will be chilling for low-income families up and down the country who rely on our social security system for help.
South Lanarkshire Council’s Cost of the School Day Conference took place this week, where the local authority further cemented its commitment to equity by launching its Cost of the School Day guidance, and ten proposals.
It was great to gather so many Cost of the School Day Voice network members together at one time, with more than 500 young people from across Scotland joining the first Big Meet Up online sessions.
Universal credit (UC) claimants are not always getting extra amounts of UC they’re entitled to when they become eligible for some other benefits because of poor data-sharing within the DWP.
Every North West local authority has at least 1,500 school-age children in poverty who are not eligible for free school meals because the qualifying criteria is so restrictive, new analysis shows.
Child Poverty Action Group applauds the Mayor of London’s decision to provide free school meals to all London’s primary school children for another year if he wins a third term.
It’s right that benefits are uprated as usual but this should never have been in doubt and legislation mandating inflationary increases is needed as a basic protection for living standards. Struggling families have been worrying themselves sick for months about whether an unmanageable income cut was coming in order to provide the government with a rabbit-out-of-the-hat moment.