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Labour MP Peter Lamb is tabling legislation to introduce automatic enrolment for kids who are eligible for free lunches as he hit out at ‘obscene’ levels of child poverty
Almost half a million extra children could receive free school meals under a Labour MP’s bid to change the law.
Crawley MP Peter Lamb is tabling legislation to introduce automatic enrolment for kids who are eligible for free lunches as he hit out at “obscene” levels of child poverty. Around 470,000 kids are estimated to qualify for free school meals under the current rules but are not signed up.
Mr Lamb’s free school meals bill, which is expected to be debated in the Commons on Friday, will require the Department for Education, along with local authorities, to ensure that every child who is eligible under existing legislation is automatically enrolled for access to free lunches.
“We have to do everything we possibly can to try and turn around child poverty,” he told the Mirror. “It is obscene that in the 21st century, in one of the wealthiest countries on the planet, that we have a situation where over a third of children are growing up in poverty. There’s absolutely no reason that has to be the case.”
Only families earning less than £7,400 after tax and excluding benefits are eligible for free school meals. The Mirror is campaigning for free lunches for all primary school kids. Auto-enrolment would mean anyone eligible would automatically get access to free school meals. In the meantime, you can find a list of eligibility rules and/or apply for free school meals here.
Mr Lamb said he would go further if he could – and voiced his support for scrapping the Toy inherited two-child benefit cap – but said he was limited by a private members’ bill being unable to commit to new spending. But he said auto-enrolment is one measure that could be implemented “very quickly” and could have a “potentially significant” impact for the poorest households in Britain.
“The stories around this when you hear them, and when you read them, are some of the most harrowing stories to try and engage with – of kids going without,” he said. ”There’s a reason why free school meals became a thing in the first place. We were dealing with Victorian levels of poverty. It was a way the state could ensure kids were getting at least one good meal a day. And it’s a travesty that we are back to that.”
Munira Wilson, the Lib Dems’ education spokeswoman, said: “Hundreds of thousands of young people across the country are missing out on the food they need because of our broken free school meals system. No child should go hungry in twenty-first century Britain. Our young people deserve urgent change – which must start with our long-held call to automatically enrol those eligible for free school meals.
“There’s a cross-party caucus behind auto-enrolment. I hope MPs of all stripes can rally together and commit to transforming vulnerable children’s lives for the better.” On Tuesday, the Lib Dems are expected to force a vote on auto-enrolment with an amendment to the government’s Children’s Wellbeing and School Bill.