Shadow Education Secretary will announce today
(Thursday) that Labour will invest hundreds of millions of pounds
in “poverty proofing” schools.
The Party’s announcements come as recent research from the
Resolution Foundation think tank found that if the Conservative
manifesto were implemented, child poverty would rise to a sixty
year high.
To tackle growing child poverty, and ensure that it has no
impact on schools, is announcing:
Expanding the provision of free, healthy breakfasts to all
primary schools, and a pilot of the same policy in secondary
schools. Investing in healthy, free school breakfasts for primary
school children is a proven way to improve educational outcomes,
child health, and save money for families.
Extending free school meals at secondary school to every
child whose family is in receipt of Universal Credit. Expanding
free school meal eligibility to all children in receipt of
Universal Credit will help tens of thousands of children in
families with low incomes to get a hot meal at school every
day.
Capping the cost of school uniforms and restoring grants to
help disadvantaged families with costs of uniform and equipment.
The Children’s Society have said that a million children have
parents who were pushed in to debt due to school uniform costs.
The Conservatives first pledged to regulate costs in November
2015 but have failed to bring forward legislation to do
so.
Introducing a new programme of extended schools, both in
the evenings and the summer holidays, ensuring all children have
access to extra sport and healthy meals even outside
schools.
Not just restoring but increasing the Education Maintenance
Allowance to £35 a week for disadvantaged teenagers in further
education.
The Party has also announced it will reverse cuts to the
Pupil Premium, and immediately uplift it to provide a cash boost
to schools with the most disadvantaged intakes. Labour has
previously committed to the introduction of universal free school
meals in primary schools.
Commenting, , Labour’s Shadow Secretary
of State for Education, said:
“Rising child poverty under the Tories is an absolute
scandal, and it is a disgrace that their plans will push it to a
60 year high if they win this election.
“Labour will tackle child poverty while driving up
standards in schools by providing extra support to the children
who need it most.
“Labour will invest in both our schools and the children in
them, to transform the life chances of a generation being failed
by the Tories.”
Notes to Editors
-
Since the Conservatives came to office the number of
children living in poverty has increased to 4.1 million, from
3.6 million in 2010/11, an increase of 500,000, or
14%.
Department for Work and
Pensions, Households below average income: 1994/5 to
2017/18
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/households-below-average-income-199495-to-201718,
Main Tables, Table 4b.
-
The independent Institute for Fiscal Studies has
previously forecast that child poverty would rise to
2020.
Given that the most recent
government data is for 2017/18, actual child poverty is likely
to be higher.
Institute for Fiscal
Studies, Child and Working-Age Poverty from 2010 to
2020
https://www.ifs.org.uk/comms/comm121.pdf
-
The independent Resolution Foundation has found that if
the Conservative manifesto were implemented child poverty would
rise to a sixty year high.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/nov/26/fears-child-poverty-may-rise-to-record-60-year-high-under-conservatives
-
The Children’s Society have found that there are a
million children with parents who were pushed in to debt by the
cost of school uniforms.
The
Children’s Society, School uniform costs force
families into debt, https://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/news-and-blogs/press-releases/school-uniform-costs-force-families-into-debt
https://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/sites/default/files/the-wrong-blazer_-_time-for-action-on-school-uniform-costs_-_the-childrens-commission-on-poverty_the-childrens-society.pdf,
p6
-
Analysis by the independent Institute for Fiscal Studies
has found that there are significant benefits to providing a
free school breakfast in primary
schools.
“Year 2 children whose
schools were offered support to open a breakfast club made the
equivalent of two months’ additional progress in reading,
writing, and maths over the course of a yea compared with
students in the control group of schools.”
https://www.ifs.org.uk/publications/8714
-
Analysis of a free school breakfast programme being run
in Blackpool found that children who attended school breakfasts
consumed significantly more healthy items, and that the
breakfast club could reduce inequalities in child
nutrition.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-lancashire-22810432
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The independent Education Policy Institute have
previously found that the Conservatives’ plans to “level up”
school funding will disproportionately benefit affluent
pupils
“Overall, the average pupil
eligible for free school meals would attract an additional £56
under this proposal, while the average pupil not eligible for
free school meals would attract an additional
£116.”
“All but 12 of England’s
163 grammar schools would benefit under this proposal, at an
average of over £130,000 each to their total
budgets.”
https://epi.org.uk/publications-and-research/analysis-the-prime-ministers-promise-to-level-up-school-funding/
-
Schools in previous pilots of extended schools have said
that offering the additional services were effective in raising
educational outcomes.
https://www.basw.co.uk/system/files/resources/basw_52853-10_0.pdf,
p14
-
Research by UCL found that attending out of school
activities, which would be offered by extended schools, has a
positive impact on academic
attainment.
“Disadvantaged
children who take part in after school clubs during primary
school have higher KS2 results than those who do not, and
higher KS2 results than predicted based on their KS1 results
and other background characteristics and
circumstances.”
https://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/sites/default/files/files/CLS%20WP%202016%20(1)%20-%20Out%20of%20school%20activities%20during%20primary%20school%20and%20KS2%20attainment.pdf
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Being eligible for and claiming free school meals will
save a family £437 per
child.
House of Commons
Library, School meals and nutritional
standards (England)
https://dera.ioe.ac.uk/30596/1/SN04195__Redacted.pdf
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The Government’s changes to free school meal eligibility
for children in families receiving Universal Credit, which
introduces an income threshold of £7,400, creates a cliff edge
that could make around 125,000 families, with over 290,000
children, worse off.
https://www.childrenssociety.org.uk/sites/default/files/fsm-poverty-trap-tcs-cpag-20180312_0.pdf
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Labour previously attempted to block these changes, which
would leave some children in families receiving Universal
Credit ineligible for free school meals in the longer
term.
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/free-school-meal-eligibility-cuts-go-ahead-after-tory-mps-vote-for-universal-credit-changes-dup-childcare-vouchers-six-month-delay_uk_5aa816a4e4b0a09afeae9d85?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAACFeA5LZSelK9LE7xpRFObmdCxViWvBRsD9r53zVobI1S-fHyzNoOIdVK_6YZv8pR2gtm2DuPe-pDVpziN894y1nBGhS5jkG_efZFUigwhie50nbAWvXAnM8_BGl01BzlsCXg3iHjI6r51WMQzHYmDLDAZbnrlHkU5jAl5CCNJq-
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A previous analysis has found that a pilot of universal
free school meals has a “significant positive impact on
attainment for primary school pupils at Key Stages 1 and 2,
with pupils in the pilot areas making between four and eight
weeks’ more progress than similar pupils in comparison
areas.”
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/184047/DFE-RR227.pdf
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Research by Labour’s earlier this year found that
the 'school uniform grant', though technically a national
scheme, is now entirely unavailable in over 80% of local
authority areas, and has been drastically cut back even where
it is still provided.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/oct/13/families-in-england-hit-by-70-cut-in-school-uniform-grant
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These commitments are funded out of the £5.5 billion
increase to schools funding above baseline outlined in Labour’s
fully costed manifesto, and the accompanying
document Funding Real
Change
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Funding-Real-Change-2019.pdf
