More than two million children in England are eligible for free school meals with need surging by 40% since before the pandemic.
Figures from the Department for Education show nearly one in four (23.8%) state school pupils qualified for school dinners in January - up from 1.9 million (22.5%) in 2022 and 1.4 million (17.3%) before the pandemic began in 2020.
The figure has increased every year since January 2018, when it stood at 13.6% or 1.1 million.
