Agenda item

[Report of the Director for Customers, Transformation and Resources. To be introduced by the Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Children, Education and Families]

This report seeks approval from Cabinet to initiate an expansion of eligibility for free school meals to defined groups of primary school pupils who are not currently eligible for free school meals from Summer Term 2021. 

The Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Children, Education and Families was pleased to introduce the report which sought approval to an expansion of eligibility for free school meals to defined groups of primary school pupils who were not currently eligible for free school meals from Summer Term 2021.

The Deputy Leader spoke about the underlying principle of creating fair access to food and how this new policy would help 800 children per day have a free school meal. The Deputy Leader emphasised that this provision was even more important at this time with the pandemic and families impacted by loss of employment and having to make unfair choices between paying bills and buying food.

The importance of healthy nutrition for supporting learning was highlighted as well as the importance of making an investment in children’s future, in the borough, whilst tackling poverty and inequality.

In response to a question from Cllr Ogiehor, it was noted that the composition of food parcels was created by the government and schools were asked to follow this guidance. The Council were very clear on having provision of free school meal vouchers to provide families with a choice of foods. Therefore, the type of issues expected recently with the oddly assembled parcels would not be encountered.

RESOLVED

To agree:

1.The implementation of an expanded Free School Meals (FSM) offer for the following priority groups of children:

(i)            Children aged 7-10 in families who live in temporary accommodation, Council housing, or social housing and claim Universal Credit or legacy benefits but who are not currently eligible for FSM.

(ii)          Children aged 7-10 in families who claim Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP) to help cover housing costs while experiencing financial hardship who are not currently eligible for FSM.

(iii)         Children aged 7-10 in families with no recourse to public funds.

(iv)         Children whose parent(s) may temporarily find themselves in financial need.

2. The expanded FSM provision for the period April 2021 to April 2023 in accordance with MTFS 2021/2026.
3. The discretionary FSM fund for schools, as set out at para.6.15.
4. That the above recommendations are subject to Full Council approval of the annual budget for 2021/2022 and MTFS 2021/2026.
5. The period of the expanded FSM provision be subject to review and evaluation, the findings of which will be brought back to Cabinet for a further decision prior to budget setting in April 2023.

Reasons for decision

This proposal expands free school meal eligibility to approximately an additional 650 children between the ages of 7 and 10. These children live in families who are structurally disadvantaged as a result of high housing costs, low incomes, and gaps in the benefits system. They are:

·         Children aged 7-10 in families who live in temporary accommodation, Council housing, or social housing and claim Universal Credit or legacy benefits but who are not currently eligible for FSM.

·         Children aged 7-10 in families who claim Discretionary Housing Payments (DHP) to help cover housing costs while experiencing financial hardship who are not currently eligible for FSM.

·         Children aged 7-10 in families with no recourse to public funds.

The discretionary element will fund an additional 25,000 meals over the course of the school year which would be over and above those benefiting from the expanded eligibility criteria described above. This would be sufficient for an average of 140 pupils per day. It is likely that these will be hot meals in school rather than vouchers.

Taken together, the expanded eligibility and the discretionary fund can be expected to support 790 children per day.

The additional FSM support approach recommended in this report has been built into the 2021/26 MTFS plans for the next two financial years. The financial section below describes the budget provision made. The Council’s position in future years will be reviewed before the end of the two-year period as part of the Council’s business planning and budget/MTFS setting. This will take account of the Council’s financial position; the experience gained and learnings from the review and evaluation of the impact of the policy; and any changes to the national policy landscape in relation to the level of support for an expanded national provision of free school meals.

Alternative options considered.

Do Nothing

The Council would not take steps to expand free school meal eligibility for children in Haringey primary schools. This would curtail the possibility of achieving the policy objective. It would mean that the Council would not meet the Borough Plan commitment referenced at para.6.7.

Universal Free School Meals at Key Stage 2

The national arrangement is that government provides funding to schools for them to provide free school meals based on an eligibility criteria. While there has been some exceptional additional funding for local authorities via the Winter Grants scheme grant, which has allowed this Council to fund some additional meals support in school holidays during this covid affected period, local authorities are not specifically funded to support free school meals, but expanded free school meals are important for our borough because of the disadvantages we face. Because of this and despite the funding pressure on the Council, it is putting in more money for the expansion of the free school meals provision.