Families urged to access free school meals to help with cost-of-living crisis
Families are being urged to sign up for free school meal entitlements, as a pioneering auto-enrolment scheme operating across Gateshead doubles take up.
Child poverty action groups estimate hundreds of thousands of children may be missing out on free school meals across the country, simply because they have not been registered.
Gateshead has some of the highest numbers of children living in poverty in England, prompting the local authority to look at different ways to tackle this.
Now it has been revealed that Gateshead Council has been blazing a trail with its work to increase take-up of free school meals, with numbers rising from 4,500 to over 8,000. This comes as councils across the country now look to implement similar schemes for their residents, with auto-enrolment becoming far more common place.
In 2014, as part of its anti-poverty work, the council reviewed its administration of free school meals within its benefit service. They set about identifying those who could be eligible from council tax support and housing benefit claims and then worked with families to encourage them to take up the offer. This led to increased sign-ups year on year and has meant schools being able to access millions more pounds of pupil premium funding, a subsidy directly linked to free school meal numbers.
Since the project began, the council has been automatically enrolling eligible families, with parents and carers given the choice to opt out, should they so wish.
Now the council is exploring options to make further improvements to increase take up, including linking benefits and schools census data.
The council has also worked with the Department for Work and Pensions to unlock details around those claiming universal credit so even more families can be reached.
Cllr Catherine Donovan, Gateshead Council's Deputy Leader whose portfolio includes tackling poverty, said:
"Gateshead families are some of the hardest hit in the country due to high rates of poverty and deprivation. The cost-of-living crisis has exacerbated this for some of our most vulnerable families, so it is imperative we make sure people are claiming everything to which they are entitled. Every child should be able to access at least one good meal a day, which is why this project has been so vital.
"A lot of hard work has been done by our officers to get this pioneering project underway, and we are confident that Gateshead has been ahead of the curve for some time. I am very pleased to see that not only is it working, but it is now being picked up by other local authorities too."
She added "for those families where the council already holds benefit information, the numbers not claiming free school meals are relatively small, but staff continue to work to engage all families to ensure they access all support that is available."
The council is now working with schools, parents, and carers groups locally to help identify more families who could benefit.
Councillor Gary Haley, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People said:
"Auto-enrolment will only ever pick up the people we are aware of, like residents who have already applied for council administered benefits.
"But we know that there are still eligible families out there who are not claiming for free school meals, despite this project. That is why we are campaigning to get more families to sign up to free school meals, and not let their children miss out on what they are entitled to. We will be driving home this call to action by tackling barriers which may be stopping some families from taking up this offer.
"We know that in some of our communities, for example, there are concerns that children on free school meals may be stigmatised by being singled out. I want to reassure parents and carers this is just not the case. We have been working with all our schools, and will continue to work with them, to make sure this is an inclusive process, where privacy is maintained, and high standards are adhered to."
Government figures for the number of eligible children not receiving free school meals were last centrally collected in 2013, leading to concerns that thousands of children could be missing out because they have not been registered.
A sharp rise in the number of children receiving free school meals in areas where auto-enrolment has more recently been introduced suggests that the current system is failing to reach everyone.
This comes as national statistics estimate there could also be as many as 900,000 more children living in poverty nationally, but who are not classed as eligible.
To be eligible for free school meals, a household on universal credit in England must earn less than £7,400 a year (after tax and not including benefits), regardless of the number of children in the family.
This low threshold means that many children from working families in poverty are not entitled to free school meals, despite being unable to meet the costs.
Under national schemes in England, universal free school meals are only provided to children in reception, Year 1, and Year 2. They are means-tested from Year 3 onwards. The Child Poverty Action Group is now calling on the government to widen the eligibility criteria.
For more information on how to sign up for free school meals in Gateshead please visit Free school meals - Gateshead Council
Families are being urged to sign up for free school meal entitlements, as a pioneering auto-enrolment scheme operating across Gateshead doubles take up.
Child poverty action groups estimate hundreds of thousands of children may be missing out on free school meals across the country, simply because they have not been registered.
Gateshead has some of the highest numbers of children living in poverty in England, prompting the local authority to look at different ways to tackle this.
Now it has been revealed that Gateshead Council has been blazing a trail with its work to increase take-up of free school meals, with numbers rising from 4,500 to over 8,000. This comes as councils across the country now look to implement similar schemes for their residents, with auto-enrolment becoming far more common place.
In 2014, as part of its anti-poverty work, the council reviewed its administration of free school meals within its benefit service. They set about identifying those who could be eligible from council tax support and housing benefit claims and then worked with families to encourage them to take up the offer. This led to increased sign-ups year on year and has meant schools being able to access millions more pounds of pupil premium funding, a subsidy directly linked to free school meal numbers.
Since the project began, the council has been automatically enrolling eligible families, with parents and carers given the choice to opt out, should they so wish.
Now the council is exploring options to make further improvements to increase take up, including linking benefits and schools census data.
The council has also worked with the Department for Work and Pensions to unlock details around those claiming universal credit so even more families can be reached.
Cllr Catherine Donovan, Gateshead Council's Deputy Leader whose portfolio includes tackling poverty, said:
"Gateshead families are some of the hardest hit in the country due to high rates of poverty and deprivation. The cost-of-living crisis has exacerbated this for some of our most vulnerable families, so it is imperative we make sure people are claiming everything to which they are entitled. Every child should be able to access at least one good meal a day, which is why this project has been so vital.
"A lot of hard work has been done by our officers to get this pioneering project underway, and we are confident that Gateshead has been ahead of the curve for some time. I am very pleased to see that not only is it working, but it is now being picked up by other local authorities too."
She added "for those families where the council already holds benefit information, the numbers not claiming free school meals are relatively small, but staff continue to work to engage all families to ensure they access all support that is available."
The council is now working with schools, parents, and carers groups locally to help identify more families who could benefit.
Councillor Gary Haley, Cabinet Member for Children and Young People said:
"Auto-enrolment will only ever pick up the people we are aware of, like residents who have already applied for council administered benefits.
"But we know that there are still eligible families out there who are not claiming for free school meals, despite this project. That is why we are campaigning to get more families to sign up to free school meals, and not let their children miss out on what they are entitled to. We will be driving home this call to action by tackling barriers which may be stopping some families from taking up this offer.
"We know that in some of our communities, for example, there are concerns that children on free school meals may be stigmatised by being singled out. I want to reassure parents and carers this is just not the case. We have been working with all our schools, and will continue to work with them, to make sure this is an inclusive process, where privacy is maintained, and high standards are adhered to."
Government figures for the number of eligible children not receiving free school meals were last centrally collected in 2013, leading to concerns that thousands of children could be missing out because they have not been registered.
A sharp rise in the number of children receiving free school meals in areas where auto-enrolment has more recently been introduced suggests that the current system is failing to reach everyone.
This comes as national statistics estimate there could also be as many as 900,000 more children living in poverty nationally, but who are not classed as eligible.
To be eligible for free school meals, a household on universal credit in England must earn less than £7,400 a year (after tax and not including benefits), regardless of the number of children in the family.
This low threshold means that many children from working families in poverty are not entitled to free school meals, despite being unable to meet the costs.
Under national schemes in England, universal free school meals are only provided to children in reception, Year 1, and Year 2. They are means-tested from Year 3 onwards. The Child Poverty Action Group is now calling on the government to widen the eligibility criteria.
For more information on how to sign up for free school meals in Gateshead please visit Free school meals - Gateshead Council
