An investigation will be launched into the impact of giving free school meals to every primary school child in London.
Experts will evaluate whether the Mayor of London’s decision to pay for universal free school meals makes a difference to pupils’ well-being, attendance and results, and the evidence could be used to roll the policy out nationally.
Sadiq Khan announced the £130 million scheme to give all primary school children in London free lunches for a year from September in a bid to help families with the soaring cost of living.
The Education Endowment Fund will now analyse whether it has a broader impact on children than just the financial benefit. The charity said: “Primarily intended as a cost of living support measure, projected to save families about £440 per child, the initiative could also have important impacts on children’s learning, well-being and health.”
The EEF, which has commissioned an independent evaluation of the universal free school meals provision in London, will use the results to inform future national and regional policy. The study will focus on pupils’ attainment, and also measure the impact of the free food on pupils’ attendance, wellbeing, engagement, concentration and behaviour.
It comes amid growing calls for more children across the country to be given access to free school meals. A spokeswoman for the EEF said: “The roll-out gives us an important opportunity to generate evidence around the provision of universal free school meals.”
The EEF, which works to break the link between family income and educational achievement, is inviting proposals from research teams to lead the evaluation. Professor Becky Francis, chief executive of the EEF, said: “The initiative... presents an exciting opportunity for us to explore the wider benefits of universal free school meal provision.”
The Greater London Authority will also run an impact assessment to identify the potential impacts of the policy, alongside the EEF commission.
Currently children are prevented from getting free school meals if their families earn more than £7,400 a year, excluding benefits.
The Evening Standard’s School Hunger Special Investigation highlighted the plight of the 210,000 primary and secondary pupils in London who live in households on universal credit but missed out on free school meals because their household income was over this threshold.
From September, all London primary school children will be given free school meals regardless of their family income, but the policy does not extend outside the capital. Research by the Food Foundation found that eight in 10 Londoners in almost every parliamentary constituency in the capital want to see the Government take action for children outside London.
