Health experts are calling on the government to expand significantly the criteria for eligibility for free school meals (FSM), in order to tackle the rising risk of malnutrition among children from low-income families.
Households in England receiving universal credit must earn below £7,400 a year before benefits and after tax to qualify, excluding one in three school-age children living in poverty, according to the Child Poverty Action Group. The governments in Scotland and Wales have said they will expand FSM to all primary schoolchildren.
