Jamie Oliver

The chef Jamie Oliver wants the government to extend free school meals to all Children living in households on Universal Credit.

The government said it would keep eligibility criteria under review.

But how many pupils currently qualify?

In England and Wales, Children aged 4 to 16 are eligible for free school meals if They Live in a household which gets Income -related benefits (such as ) and has an annual Income of Less than £7,400 after tax, not including welfare payments.

But about 40% of universal credit claimants have jobs. So you can receive the benefit, but earn More Than the threshold, meaning Your Children don't qualify for free school meals.

The Income cap is £7,920 in Scotland, and £14,000 in Northern Ireland .

In England, all infant State School pupils (Reception to Y2) can have free school meals during term Time - regardless of household Income .

Scotland's free school meal programme.

The Welsh Government by 2024, beginning with Reception pupils this September

In June 2022, - 22. 5% of The Student population.

That represents a 9% increase from 2021, when 1. 74 million pupils were eligible.

But the vast majority (1. 3 million) qualified under the universal free school meal provision for younger pupils.

In Scotland, Another 100,000 primary school pupils get the universal free meals given to younger Children .

Under the benefit and household Income criteria, 100,000 pupils qualify, and.

Follow these links to apply for free school meals in:

The Proportion of eligible Children varies considerably across the country, but generally matches regional data about deprivation and wealth.

For example, More Than a quarter of pupils living in the north-east of England qualify, compared with about 17% of pupils in the south-east.

The highest Proportion of eligible students - More Than a Third - in England is in:

Meanwhile, the lowest Proportion - fewer than one in 10 - is in:

Some groups are More likely to be eligible than others,

For example, More Than 60% of Irish Traveller pupils are eligible for free school meals.

Roma/Gypsy, Bangladeshi and black pupils also have disproportionately high eligibility.

According to poverty charity The Joseph Rowntree Foundation, across the UK, But only 2. 3 million Children currently get free school meals.

Relative poverty is calculated by taking the median Income - That 's the Income where half of all households earn More and half earn Less - And Then looking at how many Children live in households earning Less than 60% of this.

A household could earn below this threshold, but still not qualify for benefits which would equal free school meals.

In June 2022, the Child Poverty Action group.

Both relative poverty and free school meal eligibility are measurements of Income rather than food Insecurity - although the two are closely linked.

In the UK, there is no single measure for hunger.

However, in 2019, the considered different assessments in a report on food Insecurity . This included which estimated 2. 2 million people in the UK were " severely food insecure".

Another indicator of hunger is food bank use.

In the year to March 2022, food banks in the Trussell Trust network.

This Was an increase of 14% compared to the previous year. Almost 40% of these parcels went to households with Children .

Source of news: bbc.com