Bremner & Co ‘s role in a new trial scheme that is enabling thousands more children from England’s most disadvantaged households to access free school meals.
The Yorkshire-based pilot project, run by the Fix Our Food research programme and anchored at the University of York, has already yielded hugely positive results. Bremner & Co has been involved as a partner of the programme, alongside other sector leaders including The Food Foundation. The focus is automatically enrolling eligible children for free school meals, as opposed to the current process which requires opt-in registration by parents; and has so far helped over 20,000 additional children access free school meals.
The project, which has involved 20 local councils, helps break down barriers to free school meal access such as language, awareness, and stigma, and has resulted in millions of pounds in extra pupil premium funding for schools whilst saving families £500 per year in meal costs. With over 40 more councils considering the scheme and increasing attention from national policymakers, the project is now gaining traction on a national level. Bremner & Co are proud to be part of this transformative initiative, which is supporting children and driving important discussions on national food policy reform.
Bremner & Co were delighted to have our Founder & CEO Myles Bremner featured within radio, online news and BBC Breakfast coverage on the 22nd of October 2024, discussing the key barriers associated with free school meal enrollment and the opportunity that the Fix Our Food autoenrollment pilot presents to remove these barriers and help children access the food they need and deserve.
Read the BBC article here and listen to Myles on Breakfast with Georgey Spanswick on BBC Radio York here.
Excerpts from BBC Radio 5 Live segment with Naga Munchetty.
Naga: Are you saying to me that if the government let these two data sets speak to each other in computer land, more of the children who are eligible for school meals, which aren’t getting them at the moment would automatically get them?
Myles: Or, to paraphrase, is paperwork getting in the way of entitled children receiving a free school meal? Yes, and the Department for Work and Pensions has all of the benefits data sets, the Department for Education has all the school information, so Government can make an announcement and a commitment to bring the information that national government holds to make automatic registration for free school meals part of the benefit system.
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Myles: The Department for Education and the Department for Work and Pensions have said that it’s administratively difficult to do, and I don’t doubt this. But what government can do is say if we have this mission which is about breaking down barriers to opportunity, then automatic registration for free school meals is an obvious and a clear policy that could be tacked on to the child wellbeing bill that is going through government over the next couple of months to make a real clear indication that this government cares and wants to ensure that it’s giving opportunities to all children to be able to thrive.
Listen in Myles’ own words: