ASCL comment on EPI report on free school meals and pupil premium

Responding to a report by the Education Policy Institute (EPI), which finds significant differences between the number of children estimated to be living in poverty and those who are receiving free school meals,Pepe Di'Iasio, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said:

“Child poverty is a blight on our society – damaging the wellbeing of huge numbers of children and meaning that many arrive at school cold, hungry and in no fit state to learn.

“We have long argued that free school meals should be extended to all families in receipt of universal credit rather than only those below a very low income threshold, that all eligible children should be automatically enrolled so that no child misses out, and that schools should be paid a higher rate of pupil premium to support children who are in persistent poverty.

“We hope that the government's child poverty taskforce will report soon, come to these conclusions and recommend further steps to reduce the appallingly high level of child poverty in the UK.”