Westminster City Council has announced it will extend free school meals to all pupils aged three to 14 in the borough, covering nursery and secondary school children. The move, which comes into force in September and will run for at least a year, aims to ease the financial burden on families amid the rising cost of living.
Currently, all children in reception, year one, and year two in England receive free school meals. London Mayor Sadiq Khan has pledged to offer this to all primary school pupils in the capital for one year from September. Westminster's plan goes further by including three- and four-year-olds in nurseries and pupils in the first three years of secondary school.
Adam Hug, leader of Westminster City Council, said: 'We want to take some pressure away from families at a time when we know they are already struggling. Some parents go without to fill a lunchbox with whatever is left in the cupboard - however meagre - to ensure their child has something to eat at school. It cannot be right that children in one of the richest cities on earth are being left to make do with scraps.'
The expansion will provide nutritious lunches to around 14,000 children. Hug added: 'I want Westminster to be a place where children can sit down together in the canteen without the anxiety and stigma of who can afford to eat.'
The announcement follows Labour's historic takeover of Westminster City Council in last May's local elections. A new campaign, 'Say Yes to School Food for All', launched yesterday, calls for an end to means testing for school meals. Barbara Crowther from the Children's Food Campaign said: 'We don't means test children for pencils or desks, so why for food? Many other countries around the world have already realised this and now seeing huge benefits of healthy meals for all.'
