Free School Meals – motion from Bristol Lib Dem Group

Council notes that:

  1. Nationally, children in Reception, Year 1 or Year 2 in government-funded schools are universally entitled to receive free school meals. For years above Year 3, children may be eligible to receive free school meals, but they must apply for them manually.
  2. The LGA supports national auto-enrolment of eligible children for free school meals and have been campaigning to enable it.
  3. Around 11% of children eligible for free school meals aren’t in receipt of them, according to Government estimates. This equates to 215,000 children in England as per analysis by the LGA and the Child Poverty Action Group.
  4. Local pilots run by councils across the country have demonstrated that auto-enrolment can be achieved at the local level, and that this can be used to improve outcomes.
  5. The Free School Meals (Automatic Registration of Eligible Children) Bill is a Private Members’ Bill currently in its second reading in Parliament, with the debate due to resume on the 11th of July.
  6. As of January 2025, 19,185 children were eligible for free school meals in Bristol, representing 30.2% of the school population.
  7. The Government recently announced plans to extend free school meals to all children who have a parent on Universal Credit regardless of household income, set to benefit up to 35,889 children in Bristol.

Council believes that:

  1. Free school meals ensure that children receive a nutritious meal at lunchtime and uptake of them by eligible children should be encouraged.
  2. Proper nutrition at lunchtime can improve the educational outcomes of children, particularly for those from low-income and disadvantaged backgrounds.

Council resolves to request that the Children and Young People Policy Committee explores:

  1. Extending the automatic enrolment of eligible children in free school meals to all school years in Bristol by working with the LGA and other partners to launch a pilot project.
  2. Reviewing how data is shared and used to maximise the uptake of free school meals, Pupil Premium, and other benefits by eligible children and their families.
  3. Supporting the LGA campaign for automatic registration of eligible children for free school meals.

Council calls upon the Government to:

  1. Ensure automatic enrolment in free school meals for all eligible school children across the country by getting the Department for Work and Pensions to work with the Department for Education to share data.
  2. Extend free school meals to all children in poverty, with an ambition to extend them to all primary school children.
  3. Support the Free School Meals (Automatic Registration of Eligible Children) Bill and allocate Parliamentary time to hearing it.

Council further resolves to write to the relevant Government ministers outlining the views expressed in this motion and the calls for above.