By Donna Gardiner

While free school meals (FSM) have been available in England on a means-tested basis since 1944, recent years have seen a renewed focus upon the potential benefits of providing free school meals to all school-aged children.

Currently, Scotland are in the process of rolling out a programme of universal free school meals (UFSM) to primary school children on a phased basis: at present, all children in P1-P5 are eligible; this will be expanded to include P6 and P7 pupils later this year. In England, all children in their first three years of primary school are eligible for UFSM.  Some individual councils have also chosen to expand this UFSM offering to older age groups.

Last year, London mayor Sadiq Khan expanded UFSM provision to all primary school-aged children in London, in direct response to the cost-of-living crisis. This move was well received and will continue for the academic year 2024/25.

Latest research

The expansion of the free school meals programme is based on the premise that it will positively benefit both children and young people, and their wider families.

Two projects run by researchers at the Institute for Social and Economic Research (ISER) have sought to quantify these benefits: the first looking at the impact of the 2014 rollout of Universal Infant Free School Meals; and a follow-up project looking at the impact of Free School Meals up to age 11.

At a recent event hosted by ISER, Dr Angus Holford and Professor Birgitta Rabe (University of Essex) discussed the findings of their newly published research, which focused on the impacts of the expansion of the UFSM programme in Newham, Islington, Southwark and Tower Hamlets since 2009.

The researchers explored several potential impacts of UFSM provision, including:

Take up of free school meals

The research found that the provision of UFSMs led to increased take up among those who were not currently eligible (1 in 3 newly eligible children took up the FSM offer). They also found a small increase in take up among those who had already been FSM eligible (means-tested), which they suggest may be due to UFSM provision making school meals more attractive to this group.

Educational attainment

They also found evidence that the provision of UFSM has a positive impact on reading attainment – in this case, equivalent to an additional two weeks’ progress by the end of primary school.

Interestingly however, the improvement in reading attainment was noted across both newly eligible and previously eligible FSM groups. The researchers therefore hypothesise that the provision of UFSM has wider whole-school advantages, although the specific nature of these is yet unknown.

Obesity levels

The research also found that the provision of UFSM helped to reduce levels of obesity overall.  This effect was strongest among Reception aged children (7-11% reduction in obesity rates), although older children (Year 6) also benefited (2-5% reduction in obesity rates).

For older children, the effect was strongest among those children for whom UFSM had been provided since the start of primary school, suggesting that the earlier free school meals are provided, the better.

Among schools with higher starting rates of obesity, UFSM provision had less of an obesity-reducing effect.  This suggests that for these more challenging environments, additional support would be necessary.

Household finances

Across all children, the research found that UFSM saved families £20.98 per four weeks – comprised of a £11.53 reduction in expenditure on supermarket food, and £9.46 reduction in expenditure on eating out. This was based on 2020 prices.

The research indicates that there are also likely to be time saving for households no longer shopping for, and assembling, packed lunches.

School absence

This study found that the provision of UFSM had no notable impact upon school attendance levels – either in terms of days missed or levels of persistent absence.

Future investment required

In summary, the research has found that

“…universal provision of FSM throughout primary school helps ensure that all children have access to a meal of high nutritional standards, yielding health and educational benefits for these children, while also providing cost-of-living support to families with school-age children.”

Reducing childhood obesity is also likely to have wider impacts, including improved individual health, increased productivity, and reduced healthcare spending.

Dr Holford and Professor Rabe concluded that longer-term benefits of UFSM will rely on the continued take-up of high quality school lunches in an attractive and social school setting. This in turn will require funding for school food to be maintained at levels which meet nutritional standards, and cover utility and staff costs.

School food study

The event also featured a presentation by Dr Jennie Parnham (Imperial College London) and Dr Marie Murphy (University of Birmingham) on what is known about children’s nutritional intake in school hours.

The Enhancing Policy In sChool food (EPIC) study is working with people connected to secondary schools to understand what improvements can be made to school food policy and systems in England. This is important because of existing diet-related issues concerning young people:

• Nearly a third of adolescents have excess weight
• Almost half of 15-year-olds have dental caries
• Excess sugar consumption is a major contributor to increased energy intake, obesity, and poor dental health
• Adolescents aged 11-18 years in the UK consume three times the recommended amount of their total energy intake from free sugars

Pupils consume a large proportion of their daily dietary intake within the school day. However, secondary schools find it challenging to put some of these school food standards in place.

The EPIC study has found that schools are struggling to adhere to school food standards – only 65% of schools studied were compliant. Some standards also appear to be easier for schools to comply with than others: while over 80% of schools were compliant with school food standards around making healthier options available, only around 40% were successfully complying with guidance around restricting ‘unhealthy’ foods high in salt, sugar and fat.

Panel discussion

Following the presentation, participants took part in a discussion which raised several other issues pertinent to the UFSM debate.

The panel was largely in agreement that the provision of FSM is both desirable and beneficial from an equality perspective – universal access to nutritious food for all children was accepted as a laudable aim.

However, several challenges were identified. Questions were raised around whether UFSM is the most cost-effective method of achieving the stated health and educational outcomes.  

The discussion also considered issues of food wastage – were children eating the new, ‘healthy’ food provided, or putting it in the bin?  Concern about increased levels of food waste had been raised by some school canteen staff during the research.

The need to increase the capacity of schools to provide more school meals was also raised. As well as additional staff, some schools may need investment to create larger canteens and dining rooms to cope with the additional demand.

Providing greater numbers of school meals may result in increased noise levels and queueing times withing school dining rooms, which may negatively impact some pupils, and reduce the time available to eat and play. Staggering lunchtimes was put forward as one way to potentially address these issues.

The impact of introducing UFSMs on the number of parents registering as eligible for means-tested FSM was also raised. Means-tested FSM status is used to determine schools’ pupil premium payments – if eligible families choose not to register as they will receive a free meal regardless, then it may result in schools missing out on their ‘pupil premium’ for that child. It may also have implications for data collection and research – means-tested FSM eligibility has commonly been used as a proxy for poverty/disadvantage.

In this context, a recently published report reviews and discusses the existing evidence on the evolution of the Free School Meals (FSM) measure, over the past two decades, and on its uses, including in Pupil Premium (PP).

Final thoughts

The event provided a helpful snapshot of the impacts of UFSM policy. It also highlighted some of the challenges of putting UFSM into practice – including the need to support schools to comply with current school food standards, and assess the capacity of schools to provide increased numbers of school meals.

The recent expansion of UFSM schemes is an opportunity to further assess its benefits. To do this, more and better data on the take up of free school meals is required. The ISER have called upon the Department for Education to increase data collection and publication regarding the take up of free school meals, as at present, this only covers infants, and does not differentiate between those who are eligible for means-tested FSM and those who are not. This lack of data makes the true impact of UFSM provision more difficult to assess.

Photo by Jonathan Borba on Unsplash

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