The announcement by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer that all children in families who get Universal Credit in England will receive free school meals is a monumental step forward – and it deserves recognition as a policy response that begins to match the scale of the issue. For those of us in education and procurement who’ve witnessed the effects of food insecurity firsthand, it’s a relief.
But there’s still a long way to go, says Seb Godwin of Procure Education, and more needs to be done to improve awareness, build upon improving the infrastructure, and remove the stigma associated with free school meals.
As a company which has worked with schools navigating the daily challenge of feeding children under immense financial and logistical constraints, we welcome this move. But we also know that delivering on it, and expanding beyond it, is where the real work begins.
Nearly a million children were left behind
As recently as March 2025, the Child Poverty Action Group reported that 900,000 children living in poverty did not qualify for free school meals. That number should never have existed, not in one of the world’s largest economies.
The criteria used to determine eligibility were rooted in outdated income thresholds (unchanged since 2018) and legacy benefits that didn’t reflect the reality of modern working families – many of whom fell through the cracks by earning just above the £7,400 threshold. These were children from homes that were working, contributing, and struggling. And they were going hungry.
Today’s policy change finally acknowledges this failure but it also raises a new question: how do we build a system that doesn’t just react to crisis, but anticipates need?
Schools absorbed the shock but at a cost
In the absence of policy reform, schools and staff stepped in. We’ve seen teachers using their own money to buy snacks, headteachers quietly running informal food programmes, and kitchen staff performing miracles on unworkable budgets. The pressure valve was never in Westminster – it was always in school kitchens and classrooms.
This new policy will bring relief, but it must also bring resources. Schools need clear guidance, better infrastructure, and procurement support to implement this expansion in a sustainable way. Because when schools are asked to do more without the tools to do it well, the system falls down.
We must also tackle the stigma
There are wider issues at play, too, in that receiving free school meals still carries a stigma which can undermine the impact of even the best-intentioned reforms. We’ve seen uptake as low as 50% among those entitled to free school meals, which this broader eligibility will hopefully help to reduce.
Children know when they’re seen as different and it affects families too. Many parents eligible for support simply don’t apply, fearing the judgement that may come with it.
Universal free meals for primary schools will help address this, but if we want real cultural change, we need to go further. Meal provision must be fully normalised as part of the school day, just like attending class or joining assembly. Procurement partners, school leadership, and policymakers should work together to design systems that are inclusive by default so no child ever feels stigmatised by something as basic as eating lunch.
The government’s ambition is laudable but turning it into daily reality requires more than budget allocation. It requires smart procurement, robust logistics, and real partnership between public sector and providers.
At Procure Education, we’ve seen what happens when procurement becomes a race to the bottom. Schools win contracts based on price alone rather than on quality, sustainability, or service delivery. It’s short-term thinking that costs more in the long run, both in financial and human terms.
Instead, we need procurement frameworks that reward nutritional impact, prioritise local sourcing where possible, balance value for money with long-term outcomes, and support school leaders with models that are transparent, fair, and fully compliant.
Hungry children don’t learn well, and learning isn’t just about books and exams, just ask any teacher who’s tried to deliver a lesson to a class where focus is fading by 10 a.m.
This policy shift proves we can listen to schools, that we can respond to need, and that we can act decisively. But if we really want to address child poverty and educational inequality, we must go further. We need to work to extend support to secondary schools, make school meal quality a national conversation, not just a line in a budget, and build procurement models that align with real-life pressures.
The cross-government child poverty strategy, due to be published in spring 2025 but now more likely August, presents a rare chance to make coordinated, structural change to bring schools, suppliers, government, and communities together to redesign school food from the ground up with quality and outcomes at the core.
