Free meals increase

MORE than one in five pupils in England are now eligible for free school meals following a surge during the pandemic, Government data shows.

An additional 300,000 children became eligible for free school meals over a year, according to figures from the Department for Education.

In total, 20.8% of pupils in England were eligible for free school meals in January 2021, up from 17.3% in January 2020. This amounts to 1.74 million children, up from 1.44 million in January 2020.