Free school meals (FSM) - and how pupils are enrolled for them - are rising up the policy agenda.
Last week, the Commons Education Select Committee told the government it should ””. Complementing this, a private members’ bill is currently .
So, what’s the issue? Proponents of auto-enrolment show that a significant number of children entitled to FSM are not registered. They argue that sign-up should not rely on families negotiating bureaucracy that presents barriers to support.
FSM registration enables a child to access not only free school lunches, but also substantial additional provisions. These include a place in the and various local resources, including discounted uniforms, trips and extra-curricular activities.
Being registered for FSM also means a child is flagged for the pupil premium, which results not only in prioritisation for educational support, but in targeted additional funding for their school.
Non-registration when eligible has numerous implications for children, families and schools. FSM is widely used as a marker for disadvantage in research and policymaking, and much hinges upon its accuracy and completeness.
If it does not identify, or only selectively identifies, all the children it is meant to represent, this makes it a less useful - and potentially misleading - measure.
Inequalities in registration for FSM
Our study, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, delves deeper into patterns of registration for FSM and implications for policy and practice.
, we find numerous inequalities both in terms of the groups of pupils who tend to be under-registered and the extent to which registration for FSM maps poverty levels. There are disparities among different groups of children, in different areas, and at different ages and stages of education.
For example, registration is much lower among children in early primary school - though poverty levels and the need for support are not lower at this age.
Under-registration here is likely to be because families have been in the system for less time and are not yet familiar with the processes. Additionally, all children in Reception and key stage 1 receive free lunchtime meals regardless of sign-up.
If families are not aware of the other provisions that come with registration, the incentive to register is unclear. This supports the argument for auto-enrolment that does not rely on family knowledge or negotiation of the system.
We also find that rates of FSM registration map poverty levels less well for children of some ethnicities, in some regions, and in local authorities with higher average levels of deprivation.
For example, according to estimates from the government’s Households Below Average Income dataset, Pakistani and Bangladeshi pupils are more likely to live in poverty than children of many other ethnicities.
But they are proportionally much less likely to be signed up for FSM. This is problematic because it means that, in practice, the provisions that are intended to be targeted through FSM registration may not be reaching the children who are most under-resourced.
Beyond auto-enrolment
While auto-enrolment should ensure many more eligible pupils are signed up for intended support and provisions, our research also suggests that it is only the first step in improving resourcing.
FSM eligibility is based for most families on receipt of qualifying welfare benefits and an extremely low income threshold of £7,400 per year. Not all low-income families sign up for the welfare benefits to which they are entitled, , so some will still not be registered for FSM.
As the threshold is extremely low and does not vary with factors related to poverty - like family size and housing costs - many children in poverty will remain ineligible and unregistered .
Adding complexity to the picture, since 2018, under the roll-out of Universal Credit, pupils who were ever signed up for FSM continue to be registered, : while peers who are equally low-income do not meet qualifying criteria.
Our research provides support for the case for automatic registration, but it also highlights numerous problems that auto-enrolment will not - in itself - solve.
After this first step, the government should continue to investigate the ways that FSM registration is used; who it represents, includes and excludes; the workings of policies and practices relying on FSM; and how pupils and families can more effectively be supported and provided for within the education system.
Dr Tammy Campbell is the director for early years, inequalities and wellbeing at the Education Policy Institute
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