Hertfordshire MPs hail ‘transformational’ expansion of free school meals

The government announced yesterday that, from September 2026, any child whose parents receive Universal Credit will be able to get free school meals.

Under the existing policy, households must earn less than £7,400 a year after Year Two to qualify for free school meals.

According to the government, 500,000 more pupils will be eligible for free school meals after the change takes effect.

In Hertfordshire, more than 30,000 children in years three to eleven are in families that are claiming Universal Credit.

Kevin Bonavia, Labour MP for Stevenage, said: “A critical barrier to opportunity, attainment and wellbeing for 4,570 children in my constituency has just been broken.

“When I knock on doors at the weekend, as I do every week … I look forward to looking these parents in the eyes and saying – I promised to make the cost of living better for your family, and this policy does just that.

“When Labour gets into power, child poverty goes down, because we are the party of the working class, of families, of opportunity and, crucially, of aspiration.”

Matt Turmaine, Labour MP for Watford, said the extension is a “big boost that is only happening thanks to this Labour government, so credit where it is due”.

Up to 4,540 children in his constituency will be eligible for the free meals.

“Labour is lifting children out of poverty and parents will get £500 back in their pockets by not having to fork out to fill lunchboxes,” he said.

Chris Hinchliff, Labour MP for North East Hertfordshire, where 3,470 children are in families claiming Universal Credit, said: “Every child deserves to eat well, no matter what their family’s income is.

“Lifting thousands of children across Hertfordshire out of poverty will be transformative and shows what a government with Labour values can do.”

David Taylor, Labour MP for Hemel Hempstead, said child poverty is “one of the greatest challenges we face as a country” and added that the expansion of free school meals was a “bold, compassionate step that will make a real difference to thousands of families here in Hemel Hempstead.”

In Hemel Hempstead, 4,870 children are in families claiming Universal Credit, and the government said the move will lift 100,000 children out of poverty across the country.

However, Conservative MP Neil O’Brien, shadow education minister, said the expansion would mean schools would have less money in their budgets.

Schools currently receive pupil premium funding for children claiming free school meals, but that funding will not be received for the extra children who receive free meals following the expansion.

Mr O’Brien said it amounted to a “stealth cut” that would be a “very nasty sting in the tail for school funding”.

Munira Wilson, Liberal Democrat education spokesperson, said the government should go further by scrapping the two-child benefit cap.