Half of children living in poverty are not entitled to free school meals, research by the Liberal Democrats has revealed. Parliamentary answers have shown that free meals are available to children whose parents are on a variety of benefits, but not to those who claim working tax credits.

The information shows that:

• Families are paying over £300 on average per child, per year, for school meals
• 1.2m children living in poverty are not entitled to free meals
• The criteria for eligibility was changed by the Conservatives in the 1980s to exclude working families

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Children, Schools and Families Secretary, David Laws said:

“It is outrageous that half of our poorest children are missing out on free school meals.

“For the most disadvantaged children, a school dinner can be the only hot meal they get.

“As times get tough, paying for school lunches is going to be a real struggle for more and more families.

“The Tories caused this problem in the 1980s when they changed the rules to deny free school meals to half a million children living in families who were working but on low incomes.

“The Government must now look at restoring the entitlement to free school meals to this group – including to families on working tax credits.

Walsall’s Lib Dem Group Leader Cllr Ian Shires expressed his concern at the revelation. “We are receiving some disturbing facts about just how many children in Walsall schools come from low income families.”

“Qualifying for free school meals can help school budgets which in turn helps to improve the quality of education for the most disadvantaged children. Depriving those on working tax credits with children of free school meals is a double whammy” concluded Ian.