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PATRICK Hurley MP for Southport on:- 5 June 2025, come out in support of the Labour Government's plans to deliver a free nutritious meal every School day for over half a million more children, as Labour puts £500 back into parents' pockets every year by expanding eligibility for free School Meals.

From the start of the 2026 School year, every pupil in Southport whose household is on Universal Credit will have a new entitlement to free School Meals. This will make life easier and more affordable for parents who struggle the most, delivering on Labour's Plan for Change to break down barriers to opportunity and give children the best start in life.
The unprecedented expansion will lift 100,000 children across England completely out of poverty. Giving children access to a nutritious meal during the School day also leads to higher attainment, improved behaviour and better outcomes, meaning they get the best possible education and chance to succeed in work and life.

Since 2018, children have only been eligible for free School Meals if their household income is less than £7,400 per year, meaning hundreds of thousands of children living in poverty have been unable to access free School Meals.

Labour's historic new expansion to those on Universal Credit will change this and comes ahead of the Child Poverty Taskforce publishing its 10 year strategy to drive sustainable change later this year.

It comes on top of targeted support for families being hit the hardest by the cost-of-living crisis, with urgent action including raising the national minimum wage, uprating benefits and supporting 700,000 families through the Fair Repayment Rate on Universal Credit deductions.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said:- "Working parents across the country are working tirelessly to provide for their families, but are being held back by cost of living pressures. My Government is taking action to ease those pressures. Feeding more children every day, for free, is one of the biggest interventions we can make to put more money in parents' pockets, tackle the stain of poverty, and set children up to learn. This expansion is a truly historic moment for our country, helping families who need it most and delivering our Plan for Change to give every child, no matter their background, the same chance to succeed."

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said:- "It is the moral mission of this Government to tackle the stain of child poverty, and today this Government takes a giant step towards ending it with targeted support that puts money back in parents' pockets. From free School Meals to free breakfast clubs, breaking the cycle of child poverty is at the heart of our Plan for Change to cut the unfair link between background and success. We believe that background shouldn't mean destiny. Today's historic step will help us to deliver excellence everywhere, for every child and give more young people the chance to get on in life."

Labour is also offering more than £13 million in funding to 12 food charities across England to redistribute thousands of tonnes of fresh produce directly from farms to fight food poverty in communities.

The Tackling Food Surplus at the Farm Gate scheme is helping farms and organisations to work collaboratively to ensure edible food that might have been left in fields instead ends up on the plates of those who need it, including Schoolchildren. This initiative forms part of Labour's broader Food Strategy, aiming to drive change and support a healthier, more sustainable, and resilient food system.

Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall said:- "Poverty robs children of opportunities and damages their future prospects. This is a moral scar on our society, we are committed to tackling it. By expanding Free School Meals to all families on Universal Credit, we're ending the impossible choice thousands of our hardest grafting families must make between paying bills and feeding their children. This is just the latest step of our Plan for Change to put extra pounds in people's pockets; a downpayment on our Child Poverty Strategy, building on our expansion of free breakfast clubs, our national minimum wage boost and our cap on Universal Credit deductions through the Fair Repayment Rate."

Patrick Hurley MP for Southport, said:- "I know from talking to people on the doorstep how deeply child poverty can affect families in Southport. That's why I fully support this decisive and much needed action to expand entitlement for free School Meals, lifting children across Southport out of poverty and putting money back in parents' pockets. Children across Southport deserve the best start in life, and I'm proud that Labour is delivering this through the Plan for Change."

To ensure the quality and nutrition of meals for the future, Labour is also acting quickly with experts across the sector to revise the School Food Standards, so that every School is supported with the latest nutrition guidance.

This new entitlement will apply to children in all settings where free School Meals are currently delivered, including Schools, School-based nurseries and Further Education settings. We expect the majority of Schools will allow parents to apply before the start of the School year 2026, by providing their National Insurance Number to check their eligibility. Schools and local authorities will continue to receive pupil premium and home to School transport extended rights funding based on the existing free School Meals threshold.

This is just the latest step in Labour's Plan for Change to break the unfair link between background and opportunity, including rolling out free breakfast clubs, expanding Government; funded childcare to 30 hours a week for working parents and a commitment to cap the number of branded School uniform items.

From April 2026 until the end of Parliament, millions of households are set to receive a permanent yearly boost above inflation to Universal Credit. The increase, a key element of the Government's welfare reforms to be laid before Parliament, will tackle the destitution caused by years of inaction that have left the value of the standard allowance at a 40 year low by the early 2020s.

Also responding to the UK Government announcement of an expansion of 'Free School Meals' to include children in households on Universal Credit, from September 2026, Cllr Arooj Shah, Chair of the Local Government Association's Children and Young People Board, said:- "No child should go hungry and expanding free School Meals to all those in receipt of Universal Credit has been a longstanding ask of the LGA and Councils. This move will certainly have a positive impact. Making it easier for more children to have a healthy, nutritious meal will make a real difference to their health, wellbeing and attainment. Council still face data sharing and resource challenges in ensuring as many eligible children as possible receive what they are entitled to. Introducing automatic enrolment, using existing Government data to capture all those who are entitled to:- Free School Meals,' would also streamline the process and ensure as many children as possible can benefit, at a time when many families are still under financial pressure."