Nadine Osman
The London Assembly Member (AM) for Brent and Harrow has welcomed City Hall’s proposed extension of the universal free school meal policy.
11,502 children in Brent will get free school meals for another academic year, owing to the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, who has continued funding for the free school meals scheme, saving London families up to £1,000 over two years.
Brent will be paid £3 per meal under the proposed extra funding to help continue to supply meals beginning in September, 18.5 percent more than what they receive from the government.
The Mayor’s proposed extension would allow hundreds of thousands of children who do not qualify for government aid to get meals for an additional year.
The move would expand Khans’ extraordinary £135 million project, which already assists in delivering meals to up to 287,000 children per day and funded more than 17 million meals between September and Christmas.
As a result of the Mayor’s current budget, free school meals are now provided to all primary-aged students in the capital’s mainstream schools, special schools, and pupil referral units for the first time.
Children in primary school years 3 to 6 were previously only eligible for free school meals if they lived in a home on Universal Credit earning less than £7,400 per year, after tax and before benefits, regardless of the number of children in the family.
Krupesh Hirani AM has been campaigning for universal free school meals for several years since the cost-of-living crisis crippled London’s families. Brent alone will be able to feed up to 11,502 children this academic year.
Free school meal funding is a crucial way to support Londoners with the cost-of-living crisis. Since April 2023, City Hall has also provided an emergency funding package of more than £3.5 million that has helped to provide more than 10 million free meals during school holidays and at weekends to low-income Londoners struggling with the spiralling cost of living.
Labour London Assembly Member for Brent, Krupesh Hirani said: “I am delighted that the Mayor has been able to commit further funding to City Hall’s ground-breaking universal free school meals policy.” This £140 million investment means that families across London will save up to £1000 per child over two years.
“With the brutal effects of the cost-of-living crisis, I am so pleased that City Hall is stepping up to feed 11,502 children in Brent. I have long campaigned on the issue of childhood hunger, with reports coming out over several years showing unacceptable levels of food poverty in the capital.”
Children who do not have enough to eat are at risk of poor physical and mental health and will struggle to concentrate in lessons. “I am thrilled that this genuinely life-changing policy will continue, and that London’s children and families get the support they need.”
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