Warrington councillors clash on extending free school meals

A motion was brought forward at the latest full council meeting - Monday, December 5 - by the Liberal Democrats, regarding an extension to the free school meals initiative.

Parents on Universal Credit must have an income of less than £7,400 a year to qualify for free school meals which means many families struggle to pay in England when their child hits Year 3. You can still be living in poverty and not get FSM for your child.

— Kate Proctor (@Kate_M_Proctor) December 4, 2022

The motion followed from the last council meeting, when a Labour councillor called on council leader Russ Bowden to sign a letter to the Prime Minister asking for free school meals to be extended to every schoolchild.

This letter was an open letter from the National Education Union, calling for the Government to extend the programme.

According to the National Education Union, almost one-quarter of children in Warrington North are living in poverty, and nearly one-in-five children are in poverty in Warrington South.

The motion raised in Monday's cabinet meeting was not voted upon unanimously, with two Conservative councillors - Cllr Mark Jervis, and Cllr Ken Critchley - voting against the motion.

Cllr Sarah Hall, cabinet member for children and schools - and Labour's candidate as MP for Warrington South in the next election - said: “There has been a staggering 50 per cent increase in pupils eligible for free school meals since 2019.

“Four million children are now living in poverty – two-thirds of them from working households, that’s 27 per cent of our children.

“I would love to be able to give every child in Warrington a free school meal, however, the cost cannot be met by local authorities."

Cllr Hall has joined the calls to extend free school meals (Image: Cllr Sarah Hall)

Cllr Hall added: “Our budgets have been cut to the bone over the past 12 years by the Tories.

“Sadly, we know for some children a school meal is the only hot meal of the day they will have.

“The question is, how far is the government willing to go to stop our children starving?”

Amid calls to extend the programme in July, Children’s Minister Will Quince said: “Under the current criteria, there are around 1.9million pupils who are eligible for and claiming a free school meal at lunchtime, which saves families hundreds of pounds per year per child.

“This number equates to approximately 22.5 per cent of all pupils and is up from around 15 per cent of pupils in 2015.”