National Education Union responds to Education Policy Institute report on free school meals

Commenting on the report from EPI Evaluation of Universal Infant Free School Meals, Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union said: 

“This report clearly shows the benefits that free school meals bring to children and their families when schools are properly funded and supported to deliver them. As the report sets out: the universal FSM pilots in England have had a significant impact on both Key Stage 1 and 2 attainment scores.

‘The NEU believes that this programme should remain in place with sufficient funding to ensure that no child has to go through the whole day without a proper meal. No one can dispute the benefits and no one can suggest that hunger is not a problem in schools for children who might slip through the FSM net. The Government should also go further and extend universal free school meal provision to all primary-age children.”