![Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, in a school canteen with canteen staff and students.](/sites/default/files/styles/page_header_sm/public/2023-05/Large_Web_Image-Free-School-Meals-Press-Media-Only_0.jpg?h=6c3b2582&itok=5IcN3_k2)
Guidance and support for schools
Primary school children in state-funded schools in London will continue to get free school meals for the next four years.
The Mayor recognises that families are in urgent need of support. The meals will help families with the spiralling cost of living by making sure that children in state-funded London schools will receive free school meals.
The extension of universal free school meals could save families over £500 per child per year.
This is vital support for families facing a cost of living crisis, and will ensure that state primary school children get at least one nutritious meal a day. In 2023-24, the Mayor has funded more than 43 million meals, providing families with a much needed safety net.
The following information, guidance and resources have been developed to support schools to expand the delivery of free school meals to all their pupils.
How is the Mayor working with schools?
Schools are vital to the successful delivery of the scheme. Both in our formal governance structure and in wider conversations, we are listening to schools about the challenges they are facing. We meet regularly with headteachers and are working closely with organisations like Reconnect London. We are facilitating shared learning from schools and boroughs who have developed mechanisms for addressing a range of challenges through a series of webinars. These sessions have been focused on the practicalities of delivery, pupil premium registrations, financial pressures and catering procurement. Attendees have heard how schools and boroughs have overcome barriers to increasing capacity through practical interventions.
How will the scheme work in practice?
Funding is issued at the borough level, and it is the responsibility of each borough to administer the funding to their schools including:
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Local Authority maintained schools (including state funded Special education and alternative provision) and
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Non-Local Authorities maintained schools i.e. payment to Academy Trusts would be made by each Local Authority for Multi Academy Trusts in their area.
The Mayor’s programme is consistent with the Government’s existing funding of meals. It covers state-funded primary schools in London, special schools and pupil referral units, including faith schools, but not private or independent schools.
The funding for 2024/25 will see boroughs offered £3 per meal to help to continue to deliver the meals from September, a 13% increase on funding for 2023/24 to reflect feedback on implementation from schools and boroughs in year one.
The funding allocations have been made with an assumed 90 per cent uptake. Boroughs will have the opportunity to secure additional funding if they are able to evidence that uptake of the scheme has been higher.
We have allocated funding to boroughs who already provided universal free school meals (USFM) to their primary pupils as if they were not currently providing this function. These boroughs have been encouraged to spend their freed-up funding on supporting families through the cost-of-living crisis.
With the introduction of the Mayor of London’s expansion of universal free school meals, it is important to ensure that families continue to register for the Government funded Free School Meals to maintain pupil premium funding. To maintain or increase registrations, the GLA has produced best practice guidance which includes advice on communications messages to promote the benefits of registration for the schools, and how to adopt models where all parents are required to complete registration.
How a borough or school chooses to promote registration is for agreement locally. The following is available to support local activities:
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Learning on effective approaches shared through webinars and online.
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Examples of messaging that have been used to good effect by schools and boroughs.
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We will continue to encourage families to register in our pan-London communications.
Resources
Please find below resources to help you and your colleagues with the expansion.. This webpage will continue to be updated with further resources to support schools with increasing capacity and communicating with the school community.
Free School Meals resources for schools and boroughs
View all resourcesGet in touch
If you have any queries, you can reach us at [email protected]
How the Mayor is supporting Londoners with the cost of living
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