In brief
Improving the take-up of free school meals

‘People just think that if you’re on free school meals you’re going to be a one sock person, they think that you’re not very nice and that your parents just can’t be bothered to get a job or something.’ [Pupil]

School meals play an important role in promoting healthy eating and tackling disadvantage, but of the 1.8 million children in the UK who are eligible for free school meals, on average one child in five fails to take it up. Currently, only those children whose parents are in receipt of income support or income-based jobseeker’s allowance are eligible for free meals.

The recent introduction of nutritional standards for school meals is intended to ensure that a balanced meal is provided – making it even more important that children who have the right to a free meal actually take it.

Research carried out by the Thomas Coram Research Unit at the Institute of Education [footnote 1] shows that the quality and choice of food is an important factor in discouraging take-up. But a third of pupils and over two-fifths of parents also identified embarrassment or fear of being teased as factors which put them off taking their free meal.[footnote 2]

Key findings:

• Parents and children are concerned that those having free meals are marked out as ‘different’.
• Many schools identify pupils having free meals by using tickets, tokens or lists at cafeteria tills. Pupils having free packed lunches, where schools do not provide a cooked meal service, are easily identifiable.
• Pupils who said there was teasing said that the teachers were not told, which may explain why adults in schools tend to believe that there is little stigma associated with free meals.
• The ticket for a free school meal often does not meet the cost of a filling or healthy meal. Children have to pay extra, chose unhealthy but cheaper options, or simply go hungry. In one school, prices were not clearly marked causing embarrassment at the till.
• A quarter of the parents whose children are receiving free school meals supplement the meal with additional money or food.
• Pupils who are vegetarian or require special diets for cultural or medical reasons have additional problems with restricted choices.
• The unattractiveness of school meals is an important factor in take-up. Often the choices available in schools, particularly in secondary school cafeterias, are unsuitable, with unhealthy options and a repetitive range of food.
• Overcrowded dining rooms and long queues deter pupils from taking their meal in school, especially if their friends bring a packed lunch.
• Schools and local benefits agencies do not always inform parents about their entitlement to free school meals. Parents who do know they are eligible are put off applying because they do not know how the system works or how free school meals are provided.
• There is currently little incentive for schools to increase the take-up of school meals, both for pupils who pay and those who receive free meals.

Recommendations:

• The study identified a number of good practice strategies to encourage parents and children to take up free meals. The recommendations include:
• Action should be taken by schools, local education authorities and benefits offices to ensure that parents are aware of their eligibility for free meals.
• Schools with cafeteria systems should, where possible, introduce cashless systems, such as smart cards, to help eliminate identification at the tills. Parents should be reassured that their children will not be identified as different.
• Schools should check regularly that free meal tickets keep pace with prices and permit pupils to make healthy choices.
• Schools could improve take-up by providing meals that children and parents value. If the outside caterer’s meal is unsatisfactory, a school should explore producing cooked meals or packed lunches itself.

Copies of the full report (RR270), priced £4.95, are available from DfEE Publications, PO Box 5050, Sherwood Park, Annesley, Nottingham NG15 0DJ. Cheques should be made payable to ‘DfEE Priced Publications’. Copies of a summary of the report (Research Brief RB270) are available from the same address or from www.dfee.gov.uk/research/

Martin Barnes, CPAG

Footnotes
1. Pamela Storey and Rosemary Chamberlain (Thomas Coram Research Unit, Institute of Education, commissioned by CPAG), Improving the Take-up of Free School Meals, Department of Education and Employment, 2001 [back to text]
2. Thirteen schools were selected for the case studies in seven local education authorities (LEAs) in England (seven secondary , two middle and four primary). Over 250 pupils took part in group or individual interviews. LEA officials and school and catering staff were interviewed and over 50 parents took part in telephone interviews. [back to text]

Poverty 109, Summer 2001