Bremner & Co’s CEO Myles Bremner joined a powerful panel on this week’s Food Foundation podcast to discuss the case for auto-enrolment for free school meals (FSM). He was joined by Professor Maria Bryant, of Fix Our Food, the University of York’s five-year research programme; Labour MP Peter Lamb, Liberal Democrat councillor; Gerald Vernon-Jackson, Deputy Chair of the Children and Young People’s board at the Local Government Association; and Rhett, a single father who reports from the frontline of food poverty. The episode is presented by The Food Foundation’s 16-year-old Food Ambassador Keira, who has lived experience of food poverty and knows the importance of a hot, nutritious meal at school.
Listen to the full episode here, and read on for an overview of our position on this important issue.
What is FSM auto-enrolment, and why does it matter?
Currently, around 11% of children entitled to free school meals—those from households earning under £7,400 per year before benefits—are missing out because they are not registered in the system.
This means that across England, approximately a quarter of a million children are unable to access a hot, nutritious school lunch. Schools also miss out on important funding through the pupil premium, worth nearly £1,500 per eligible primary school pupil.
Auto-enrolment removes the administrative barriers preventing children from receiving their entitlement by ensuring they are automatically registered.
Where is FSM auto-enrolment happening across the UK?
Councils from Devon to Durham have been working to improve their registration processes, ensuring that all eligible children are identified. However, this is a complex and resource-intensive task, requiring coordination between benefits and education databases, often hindered by data-sharing challenges.
To tackle this, some councils have implemented an ‘opt-out / auto-award’ system. They identify entitled children and notify parents that their child will be automatically registered unless they choose to opt out. So far, over 30 councils have introduced this approach, leading to an average of 1,000 new free school meal registrations per council and an additional £1 million in school funding.
While this is a step in the right direction, relying on local initiatives is not a sustainable solution. These localised solutions remain inconsistent, are burdensome, time-intensive, and many children still miss out due to challenges of brining inconsistent data sets together. A national approach is needed.
What is the government’s position on FSM auto-enrolment?
The government has recognised the issue, and FSM auto-enrolment has been discussed as part of the Child Poverty Taskforce. Many MPs have voiced their support for making registration easier.
During the children’s wellbeing debate on 18th March, education minister Catherine McKinnell confirmed that:
- The eligibility checking service is being improved to make it easier for parents to determine their child’s entitlement.
- The government is reviewing data-sharing regulations to help councils access the necessary benefits data while addressing legal and GDPR concerns.
- The Department for Education and the Department for Work and Pensions are exploring options to integrate free school meal enrolment into the Universal Credit process, potentially making registration fully automated.
What does government need to do?
Government needs to make sure there is a long-term solution, that is administratively simple and removes the tiresome red tape. Currently it’s just not fair for schools, it’s not fair for Councils, and most of all it’s not fair for the hundreds of thousands of children missing out on their entitlement to a free school meal.