The government is to increase the funding rate for universal infant free school meals (UIFSM) by just 7p a pupil, it was announced on Tuesday, a move immediately branded “inadequate” by the sector.
Following an outcry over the government’s new food strategy, which did not include the hoped-for expansion of free school meals, the education secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, announced that funding for free school meals for all pupils in reception, year 1 and year 2 would go up from £2.34 to £2.41 a meal.
