100 million free school meals delivered to primary school children

Admin

November 27, 2025
3 min read

100 million free school meals delivered to primary school children

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has celebrated the “historic milestone” of delivering 100 million free school meals to state primary school children in the capital, thanks to City Hall funding.

All state primary school children in the capital have been offered free school meals since September 2023 after the Mayor “stepped in with unprecedented funding to support the capital’s families.” The funding has ensured that hundreds of thousands of children in London receive “a free healthy meal at school every single day,” saving families around £1,500 per child over three years.

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A total of 100 million meals have been provided in just over two school years, with every child being offered 435 free lunches over the time period. This has ensured that every child in state primary schools in London is offered a free healthy meal every day, something that has been shown to have a positive impact on the lives of children and their families, by “alleviating financial pressures on households,” and also by “positively influencing the health and wellbeing of children and strengthening school communities,” according to a press release from City Hall.

New analysis has found that schools are also benefitting from more than £11.5 million in additional funding from the government every year to support the education of disadvantaged pupils. In the past, schools missed out on the government’s pupil premium funding, which is based on eligibility for free school meals. Not all eligible families were “identified and supported to fill in the necessary forms.”

Through the free school meals and income maximisation programmes, City Hall says it has “helped boroughs simplify the process,” with councils now required to have a system in place to “ensure all eligible pupils are registered, securing many millions more funding across the capital.”

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