Newham’s pioneering Eat for Free programme which provides free school meals to all primary school-aged pupils, regardless of their family income, will continue says the Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz after a plan to force parents to pay announced last month was abandoned. The scheme guarantees that all children in the Borough, including those not eligible for the government’s free school meals programme, get a healthy daily meal and saves Newham families around £500 per child in annual food costs.

The Council’s U-turn on plans to charge for the scheme comes after a Borough-wide consultation launched in December. Over the past two years Newham has invested £33 million in children and youth services and the Council has designated 2021 Newham’s first ever ‘Year of Young People’ – a 12-month celebration of the children and young people in the Borough.

In December Newham Council had said the scheme, which costs around £6 million a year and sees every primary school-aged child in the Borough offered a free school meal, was unaffordable as a result of government cuts.

Around 12,500 pupils in years 3-6 (90 per cent of those eligible) take up the offer, helping local families to make ends meet and ensuring thousands of children can enjoy a healthy school lunch.

The Council proposed asking parents of children not entitled to free school meals to pay a contribution of between 60p and £1.42 towards the £2.42 daily cost of a school lunch, with the Council meeting the remaining cost and children from outside the Borough being excluded from the scheme.

Announcing the plan to keep the scheme, the Mayor said: “We have listened to local families and know how important Eat for Free is. Despite central government cuts and the economic costs of Covid-19, I am delighted to confirm that Eat for Free will remain and Newham Council will continue to put people at the heart of everything we do as we celebrate the first ever Newham Year of Young People.”

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