It has been reported that free school meals for children in infant schools could be scrapped as a result of George Osborne's November spending review.
The Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM) policy provides all children in the first three years of primary school with free lunches, saving parents £400 a year.
Scrapping the policy would put children’s health and education at risk. School meals are there for a reason. In a lot of cases, it might be their only main meal of the day.
John Coe of the National Association for Primary Education said the Government could not be trusted to put the money they might save back into education. He said that the policy is "a very good measure … largely for the health and the well-being and the ability to learn on the part of the children."
The Department for Education claims no decisions have yet been made, but Government departments were ordered by the Chancellor to cut their budgets by up to 40 per cent in July, under his spending review due in November. The Department for Education has the majority of its spending budget protected. However, £14 billion of spending within early years education is subject to cuts and the UIFSM programme, which is estimated to cost between £600m and £800m per year, falls under this category.
Join us in calling for George Osborne and the Department for Education to pledge to protect free school meals for all infant children. 