Recently the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan extended free school meals to every child in London for the 2023/24 academic year to help families who are struggling with the cost of living crisis. The ‘unprecedented move’ will help around 270,000 primary schoolchildren and save families around £440 per child across the year.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain, Collins said: “At the moment there are free school meals up to year 2 and then you have to pay for it. So Sadiq Khan has rolled out free school meals. Some of London Boroughs have [already] been doing it.
“We want the Government to do is to make it nationwide. I have friends who are teachers and the one in primary school say they can really notice it. When these children don’t get a hot nutritious meal for lunch their concentration levels are low, they don’t learn and they are falling asleep. It’s really affecting children.”
Currently a household on universal credit must earn less than £7,400 a year (after tax and not including benefits), regardless of the number of children in the family, to be eligible.
Making free school meals available to all helps reduce the stigma that can be associated with being singled out as low income, therefore boosting take-up among families who need them most.