The Chancellor of the Exchequer Alistair Darling has announced plans to extend free school meals to half a million school children of low-income working parents as part of his pre-budget report.

"Alistair Darling's 'meal deal' promise of free school meals for more children from low-income families is good news for the 50,000 children that the Chancellor says will be lifted out of poverty by this measure,” said Fergus Drake, Save the Children's director of UK programmes. The children will be lifted out of poverty as their families will no longer have to pay for school meals.

Child benefit rises still leave 1.4 million in severe poverty

The Chancellor also announced that child benefit will rise by 1.5% in 2010. "This still leaves 1.4 million children living in severe poverty, whose parents struggle on a daily basis to put food on the table. We should be clear that Mr Darling today did little to help those families. The announced increase in child benefit amounts to just 30 pence extra per week for every eldest child. The overall government target of lifting 650,000 children out of poverty next year is nowhere near being met.”

"We want all the political parties in the run-up to, and after next year's election, to prioritise these forgotten children. Free school meals are welcome — but so much more needs to be done to ensure the very poorest children are not left behind."

Free school milk and dinners

Save the Children has long advocated for free school meals. In 1933, a report published by Save the Children confirmed the importance of school meals to children’s nutrition and development. We used this to campaign for free school meals and milk. In 1944, this became mandatory and, now more than 60 years on, some of the most vulnerable children in the UK are still receiving the nutritional benefits of this work.

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