12,435 children in Hillingdon to receive free school meals thanks to £135m City Hall scheme

Dr Onkar Sahota AM has welcomed the Mayor’s free school meals scheme that will feed 12,435 children in Hillingdon from the new school year.

New figures from City Hall show that more than 12,500 children will be able to learn on a full stomach as a result of the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan’s £135m free school meals funding in the upcoming school year.

The scheme will help save families more than £440 a year the during the cost-of-living crisis by providing nutritious and filling lunches to primary school children.

As Londoners struggle during this crisis, City Hall has stepped up to provide emergency funding to help up to 287,000 primary school children across the capital receive the meals in state-funded schools for the next academic year.

This unprecedented scheme will support Londoners, giving funding to all London boroughs to deliver universal free schools meals to pupils in Years 3-6 of state-funded schools from the start of the new school year in September.

Children had previously only received free meals during those school years if they lived in households on universal credit earning less than £7,400 a year - after tax and not including benefits, and regardless of the number of children in the family.

Latest Polling from YouGov Plc shows that close to half (48 per cent) of parents or guardians with children aged between five and 11 are buying less food and essentials. City Hall’s one-year funding is designed to help families struggling with the cost of living, and will save households upwards of £440 per child across the year.

The free school meals funding is the latest programme from City Hall to support Londoners with the cost-of-living crisis. That includes an emergency funding package of more than £3.5m to help provide around 10m free meals during school holidays and at weekends to low-income Londoners struggling with the spiralling cost of living over the next year, as well as more than £80m to help those struggling with the rising cost of living to tackle fuel poverty, supporting private renters, connecting Londoners to welfare advice and tackling food insecurity.

Dr Onkar Sahota AM said:

“Kids with empty stomachs struggle to pay attention, affecting their ability to learn and do their best at school. Free school meals will help all children get through the school day with the nutrition they need to learn and thrive.

“Families across Ealing and Hillingdon have been telling me that they’re struggling with the current cost of living crisis. Thanks to City Hall’s free school meals scheme, even those families who are struggling to make ends meet can know that their children will eat a healthy, filling meal at lunchtime.”