Plans from the Department of Education (DE) could see all Northern Irish pupils given free school meals. Providing a free meal for all school children could cost over £200 million a year, the BBC reported.
Providing a free meal to primary school children only, or just for younger children however would cost less. The Northern Irish department has published a consultation on free meals as well as grants for uniforms.
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has recently announced a free lunch for every pupil in the capital’s state primary schools. In Wales, primary school children automatically get a free school meal. Eligible secondary pupils have to apply. Finally, in Scotland, the government abandoned a commitment to expand free meals to all primary pupils.
The Northern Irish Department of Education had previously ditched a grant that would help parents pay for food costs over the holidays.
Education Minister Paul Givan will review the eligibility criteria for free school meals and uniform grants. The grants are currently £42.60 for primary pupils and a maximum of £93.60 post-primary.
Givan’s department is looking into a price cap for school uniforms in Northern Ireland. A Northern Irish family is eligible for free school meals and a uniform grant if they are receiving universal credit and their household income is below £15,000 annually after tax. If a family is receiving other benefits, they should also be eligible. These include income support, jobseeker’s allowance, or employment and support allowance.
94,000 pupils, over a quarter of the school population, are eligible for free school meals. Givan is planning to explore if more children are entitled to both free meals and uniform grants, and the cost to his department.
A plan to give free meals to every child up to and including primary three, primary seven, or even every child in primary and post-primary school, is being examined.
Free school meals have the potential to help improve a child’s “ability to concentrate and learn in school based on them having a nutritionally balanced lunch and establishing positive eating habits,” Givan’s department has said.
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