The proposed extension will help hundreds of thousands of children who don’t qualify for Government help receive the meals for another year – saving families up to £1,000 over the two years per child as they struggle with the cost-of-living crisis.
Brown commented: “LACA the school food people welcome the roll-out and acknowledge the benefits of a hot, healthy school lunch for pupils and families during cost-of-living challenge along with the re-assurance to schools, local authorities and, importantly, caterers about the extension into year two for consistency and planning of logistics and investment in staffing and infrastructure and supply chain.
“This, once again, highlights the disparity, unfairness and postcode lottery of pupils in London schools being funded at £3.00 (2024/25) whilst the rest of England is funded at £2.53.”