The free school meal (FSM) system in England is blighted by flaws in its design that mean children in poverty are missing out, a think-tank has warned. Failures include the family income threshold of £7,400 for eligibility being set too low, according to the Education Policy Institute (EPI). Also, “factors such as housing costs and family size, which are heavily associated with poverty” are not being considered.

The systems opt in arrangements are also called into question by the EPI, which agrees with a report by the Education Select Committee last month, which called for auto-enrolment.  EPI also found that “under-registration for FSM is especially high among younger primary children and seems to be higher in more deprived local authorities, meaning support is not always reaching the children who need it most”.

National Education Union general secretary Daniel Kebede said that the current family income eligibility threshold of £7,400 “is a disgrace” and backs FSM auto-enrolment.