Another 500,000 children eligible for free school meals

9th December 2009, 3:55pm

Free school dinners entitlement will be extended to another 500,000 primary school children with lower-income working parents, Alistair Darling has announced in his pre-Budget report today.

Families with a household income below £16,190 will be affected. The move is expected to cost £140 million a year.

The government has also announced plans to extend the current pilots of free school lunches from just two areas, making a pilot available in each English region.

In the 2009 school census in England, over 600,000 children in nursery and primary education qualified for free meals and over 400,000 in secondary schools, said The BBC.

Meanwhile in Scotland, all children in the first three years of primary school are to be entitled to free meals from August 2010, following pilots in five areas.

The Chancellor said spending on schools in the UK will continue to rise above inflation over the next couple of years.

Related Articles:

• 27 Aug 2010 - Pupils who get free school meals miss out on best schools, say Barnardo's
• 09 Jun 2010 - Free school dinners 'bombshell'
• 05 Feb 2010 - More kids to benefit from free school meals
• 19 Jan 2010 - Primary kids in North Yorkshire are still missing out on free school meals
• 08 Jan 2010 - Campaigners show concerns over plans to cut back free school dinners
• 11 Dec 2009 - School Food Trust welcomes free school meals plan
• 11 Aug 2009 - More pupils now eligible for free school meals
• 15 Jul 2009 - Free school meals requests are increasing
• 29 Jun 2009 - Inverclyde Council extends free school meals
• 24 Jun 2009 - School meal uptake in Scotland falls

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