Free School Meals: Costs

(asked on 25th June 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the annual cost to the public purse is of free school meals.


Answered by
Vicky Ford Portrait
Vicky Ford
This question was answered on 30th June 2020

Schools pay for benefits-related free school meals from their core funding. The department includes a factor value in the national funding formula (£450 per pupil), but both local authorities and schools have the freedom and flexibility to apply their own local formulae. Last year, around 1.4 million children benefitted from this important provision.

For universal infant free school meals, schools receive funding through a separate grant. We spend around £600 million each year ensuring 1.4 million infants receive a free meal through this programme. Universal infant free school meals allocations can be found here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-infant-free-school-meals-uifsm-2019-to-2020.

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