Thousands of South Yorkshire kids in poverty 'to miss out on free school meals'
A consultation on changes to the system ends today
It's claimed thousands of kids in poverty across South Yorkshire won’t get free school meals under new government plans.
A charity says 21 thousand children from families struggling to make ends meet in our county will miss out on them - as a consultation ends on changes to the system today.
But the government say 50,000 more kids will get free school meals under their proposals and no child who's currently receiving a school meal will lose out.
Every family on Universal Credit qualifies for free school meals now while it's being rolled out - but that could change to just those on the lowest incomes.
Sean Gibbons runs Food Aware in South Yorkshire - he says every family on the new benefit should be eligible:
“When it comes to school and education, especially in deprived areas like ours in South Yorkshire, they should actually be getting more of the free school meals to give them more nutrition so they can actually learn and actually get on in life because we know that we can’t operate on an empty stomach.
“If families are already struggling at home, why should the kids have to suffer when they’re at school?”
Under the government’s proposals free school meals would only be eligible to families with a net earnings threshold under £7,400 a year - a typical family earning £7,400 a year would have a total income of between £18,000 and £24,000.
But the Children's Society say all parents on the new benefit should qualify and that some families would be better off taking a pay cut.
Gibbons says local food banks have been facing greater demands on their resources since the roll-out of Universal Credit:
“More and more people coming with new claims, with young children and they’re not getting any money for four, five, six weeks so we’re doing our best to help them with food parcels because you need money to survive.
“These families have got to feed themselves at home and also they’re reliant on things like free schools meals to feed their kids while they’re trying to get an education.”
A Department for Education spokesperson said:
“No child who is currently receiving a free school meal should lose out as a result of our proposals and it is misleading to suggest otherwise. The fact is over 50,000 more children than now will be entitled to Free School Meals as a result our eligibility proposals following the rollout of Universal Credit. It’s right that we make sure this support reaches children from the most disadvantaged families and we’re consulting on this issue to make sure that’s the case."