Free School Meals

New County Council Network report on free school meals is published 

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The County Councils Network has published a new Dialogues report on free school meals, developed in partnership with Basis and Bremner & Co.  We are pleased to have supported this work alongside colleagues across the sector. It reflects a growing focus among councils on how to ensure that children who are entitled to free school meals are actually receiving them, and […]

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Still Too Young To Count? Reflecting six months on 

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This month, I was pleased to author an article on our free early years meals (FEYM) research for Nursery World’s EYE Early Years Educator (EYE) supplement. Writing it several months on from when the research was originally published provided an opportunity to reflect on how much has moved on even in that short time, and how the findings continue to shape our conversations across

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New research: Improving access to free school meals – evaluating the implementation of free school meal auto-enrolment processes 

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We are pleased to co-author the latest paper from the FixOurFood research consortium. This paper evaluates the implementation of free school meal auto-enrolment, highlighting the potential benefits, conditions for success and support needed to scale this approach.  The free school meal registration problem – project context  An estimated 220,000 entitled children miss out on free school meals because they are not registered, with schools missing out on vital, associated Pupil Premium funding. One of the main reasons families

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Our January in events: early years nutrition in Parliament, justice in the food system, and fresh fruit dolphins

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January started at pace. Through conversations on school food funding, farming systems, racial justice, early years nutrition and infant feeding, the team were excited to kick start 2026 with a variety of events. We’ve taken a moment to reflect on where we have spent our time, and what it could mean for the months to come.   8th Jan School Food Funding – Caterer Roundtable  Myles joined a School

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Working with councils to improve child health and tackle inequalities 

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Across the country, councils are working hard to make sure every child has access to good food, whether through early years support, free school meals or wider healthy weight or anti-poverty strategies. But we know how complex this can be. Food provision across childhood often sits across multiple teams, services and settings, making it hard

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New report: 290,000 disadvantaged young children will miss out on free meals  

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Press release A new report – ‘Too young to count’ – reveals that, despite rising hunger and poverty, most children in childcare are excluded from free meal support. Read exclusive coverage in The Independent here. Nearly 300,000 young children in poverty will miss out on free meals in nurseries and childcare settings, according to a

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Follow the Carrot on The Food Foundation’s ‘Pod Bites’

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Click on the link below to tune in to the latest podcast episode of The Food Foundation’s ‘Pod Bites’ featuring Sustain’s Barbara Crowther, Children’s Food Campaign Manager. In the episode, Barbara discusses new evidence from our ‘Follow the Carrot’ report, showing that expanding free school meals could generate a £600 million boost for British farmers.

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Follow the Carrot: can free school meal expansion boost the UK food and farming economy? 

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Today we’re publishing Follow the Carrot, the final report for our research that asked a simple question: could expanding free school meals also strengthen the UK food and farming economy?  Our analysis suggests the answer is yes, if expansion is matched with the right conditions for success.  Commissioned by Sustain and with support from the

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Our July in events: nutrition, equity, and local food systems

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From farmer’s fields to Westminster corridors, July’s events gave us space to connect, share ideas, and push forward conversations on food, education, and early years. We’ve gathered the highlights from a month that showed, once again, how change is built in meetings, in kitchens, in fields, and in communities.  Groundswell  2 July Lannock Farm, Hertfordshire 

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