School Food Trust welcomes free school meals plan

11th December 2009, 2:38pm

The School Food Trust has welcomed plans in this week's pre-Budget report that more children will be eligible to receive Free School Meals.

The plans see the pilots extended to at least one per English region, as well amending the general qualifying criteria for working families.

The School Food Trust has welcomed plans announced in today's pre-budget report that more children will be eligible to receive Free School Meals.  The plans will see the universal free school meals pilots extended to at least one in each English region, as well amending the general qualifying criteria for working families.

The Trust's chief executive, Judy Hargadon, said: "Free School Meals ensure that thousands of children receive a nutritious hot meal every day, and we strongly support any move to increase the number of families who can benefit.  

"We're working very closely with the Government's existing pilots and we are delighted to hear that this work will be extended so that all English regions have at least one pilot. We know that what children eat within school makes a real difference to their health, well being and ultimately performance and we hope as many families as possible will take up this opportunity.

"Alongside this, the challenge for us all is to continue making more families aware of their entitlement to free school meals so that they can start claiming what's theirs as quickly as possible."

Related Articles:

• 27 Aug 2010 - Pupils who get free school meals miss out on best schools, say Barnardo's
• 09 Dec 2009 - Another 500,000 children eligible for free school meals

Click here to submit a comment!

Have your say!

To comment on this article, simply enter your name and email and send us your views. Please note that your comment will appear publicly below this article once it has been processed. For enquiries please email info@costsectorcatering.co.uk.