The government has announced all children of parents on Universal Credit will be eligible for free school meals from next year.
From September 2026, parents on Universal Credit will be eligible regardless of their income. The government has said this will extend free school meals to an extra 500,000 pupils.
Currently, a household must earn less than £7,400 a year, after tax, to qualify.
Ministers have said the plans will save parents £500 a year and “lift 100,000 children out of poverty.”
The Department of Education has set aside £1bn to fund the change up to 2029.
Sir Keir Starmer said: “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.”
The move has been welcomed by charities, with Kate Anstey, head of education policy at the Child Poverty Action Group, telling the BBC the policy was a “game-changer for children and families.”
Meanwhile, the Lib Dems have welcomed the move but have called on the government to do more to address child poverty.
In particular, the government is facing pressure to scrap the two-child benefit cap. The cap prevents most families from claiming means-tested benefits for any third or additional children born after April 2017.
Education secretary Bridget Phillipson has previously said the government is looking at scrapping the policy. Speaking to the BBC on Thursday morning, the minister said scrapping the cap “was on the table.”
Earlier this year, the government faced widespread criticism for its welfare cuts, which its own analysis predicted would drive 50,000 children into poverty.
It is expected that a number of Labour MPs will rebel against the government when it comes to voting on the cuts.
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