At the moment, all children in all households that have been switched to universal credit also qualify for free school meals.
But that’s all set to change after Tory and DUP MPs voted for controversial cuts to free school meals in England – although Northern Ireland is protected from the changes.
This means that English families on universal credit with an income of more than £7,400 will no longer be able to claim free school meals for their children, with charities claiming that up to a million children will lose out. In Northern Ireland, the threshold will remain at almost double that (£14,000).
The Children’s Society and the Resolution Foundation think tank have both warned that because of the way that universal credit is calculated, parents will face a ‘cliff edge’ where they lose out if they earn a penny over the £7,400 threshold – those with one child will have to earn an extra £1,100 a year to cover the cost of school meals.
The Children’s Society said the “huge step backwards” means that “one million children in poverty who could benefit now won’t”.
Shadow education secretary Angela Rayner accused the government of “pulling the rug” from under poor families.
What do you think? Tell us in the comments below…
This is disgusting those families on the bread line are going to face more poverty the poor children will end up not having a warm meal at least once a day. How can you do this? Whoever decided this you should be stripped of everything & live on universal credit & have to scrimp for everything you need including your food. But not just for a week or 2 try a whole year & see where you end up.
This is disgusting. We should stop all our money going out the country on foreigners pathetic kids need food
Bren, foreigners are not the problem here it is the Tories making these cuts. They don’t care about anyone but the rich.
It says England! What’s happening in wales?