The £470 allocated by the Government to cover the cost of each child’s free school meals (FSM) per year could be extended to ‘thousands of children in need’ if the application process was ‘simplified and made automatic’, the Local Government Association (LGA), which represents councils, says.
Automatic enrolment, instead of parents having to formally apply to their local authority or via their child’s academy school could benefit an estimated 11 per cent of eligible school children – equivalent to 215,000 pupils - who have not yet taken up the offer, according to the LGA.
The free school meals scheme is different to Universal Infant Free School Meals, under which all children from Reception to Year 2, inclusive, receive a school dinner automatically at no cost.
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