More children in Wales start receiving free school meals

The expansion of free school meals to primary school children in Wales has begun, with whole classes of children in primary schools enjoying free school meals together for the first time from the start of the new school year.

It has also been announced that free school meals will now be expanded to more than 6,000 nursery-age children in schools.

Nursery-age pupils attending a maintained school for at least two full sessions, on any one day per week, will be eligible for a free school meal.

£35m of new capital funding will support the roll-out of the scheme. The funding will be provided to local authorities to invest in improvements to school catering facilities, including purchasing equipment, upgrading existing kitchen facilities and updating digital systems.

The funding is in addition to £25m of capital funding provided to local authorities in 2021-22. £200m of revenue funding has also been committed for the day-to-day provision over the next three years.

Extending free school meals to all primary school children is a key commitment in the three-year Co-operation Agreement between the Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru. The first year will focus on building schools’ capacity and aims to ensure that, by the start of the summer term in 2023, most pupils from Reception to Year 2 will be receiving free school meals. Most children in Reception classes will start receiving school meals from this week.