Free school meals ‘auto-enrolment’ scheme has fed 20,000 more children

For years, children from some of the poorest households across England have been missing out on free school meals because their parents or carers have not enrolled them. Photograph: Adrian Sherratt/Alamy

A new scheme enabling families to sign up to free school meals has enabled 20,000 more children to be fed.

As well as preventing those children from going hungry, the “auto-enrolment” pilot project is saving households hundreds of pounds a year.