The government is to increase the funding rate for universal infant free school meals (UIFSM) by just 7p a pupil, it was announced on Tuesday, a move immediately branded “inadequate” by the sector.
Following an outcry over the government’s new food strategy, which did not include the hoped-for expansion of free school meals, the education secretary, Nadhim Zahawi, announced that funding for free school meals for all pupils in reception, year 1 and year 2 would go up from £2.34 to £2.41 a meal.
The uplift, which marks an £18m investment by the government, will be backdated to 1 April and full allocations will be published later this month. It is only the second increase since the policy was first introduced in 2014, and exceeds the first which was just 4p.
Read the full article in the Guardian here.
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