More children have access to free school lunches following a city’s push to reach struggling families.
Newcastle City Council announced last December that all eligible children in the city would be automatically enrolled for free meals instead of parents having to sign up.
It follows similar moves in other north-east England council areas, including in across County Durham where a pilot scheme last year saw an extra 2,500 pupils enrolled.
Newcastle’s push has resulted in a more modest 153 extra children being approved for free school meals, but the council was told it has resulted in city schools receiving an extra £195,250 per year in pupil premium funding.
Last month, Durham County Council announced its pilot scheme had been made permanent and all eligible recipients would be contacted in the summer about the next academic year.
About 40% of children in Newcastle are currently eligible for free meals, compared with an average 24.6% across England, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.
But it is estimated that about one in 10 eligible pupils in England are not registered.
That lack of take-up has been blamed on a variety of factors including the paperwork and bureaucracy of having to apply, barriers presented by language or literacy issues and feelings of stigma or embarrassment.
A Newcastle City Council report stated: “For some children, their school meal will be the only hot meal they get that day, maybe even their only meal.
“For families of primary school aged children their free school meals can save them as much as £450 a year – that’s almost £40 a month – with the figures even higher for those in secondary school.”
Announcing the results of auto-enrolment, the council claimed the relatively low increase compared with areas like Durham was due to the authority already having a “robust” system.
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