Campaign to keep low-income migrant pupils receiving free school meals

The Children's Society has started a campaign calling on the DfE to permanently extend free school meals to pupils from low-income migrant families with no recourse to public funds (NRPF).

A letter to education secretary Gavin Williamson has been signed by 60 organisations including the Children's Society, Unison and Action for Children.

The Children's Society says that thousands of children face going hungry at school when the Government stops providing free school meals to children from migrant families.

The campaign says that "Following the COVID-19 outbreak the Government extended free school meals to include some low-income migrant families who would usually be excluded because of their immigration status. But currently this is only temporary. We know that for some children a free school meal is their only healthy meal of the day – but these children will lose this lifeline unless the Government makes this change permanent."

The campaign is calling for more people to ask the Education Secretary to permanently extend free school meals to low-income migrant families by adding their contact details here.