Research shows that around 215,000 children in England are not receiving the free school meals they are entitled to, missing out on the nutritional, educational, and financial benefits these meals provide. Families face multiple barriers, including stigma, shame, and the administrative burden of applying, which prevents many eligible children from accessing their entitlement.
To address this, some local authorities have introduced free school meal auto-enrolment, a system that automatically registers entitled families while allowing them to opt out. This approach ensures more children receive a hot meal without requiring parents to navigate complex application processes. Research by the Fix Our Food consortium, in partnership with the University of York, Bremner and Co., and The Food Foundation, highlights how auto-enrolment has successfully increased uptake, particularly among families from ethnic minority backgrounds, non-native English speakers, and lone-parent households.
Despite its benefits, many local authorities face barriers to implementing auto-enrolment, resulting in inconsistent access to free school meals across the country. These challenges include differences in local systems, resource limitations, and variations in how authorities interpret eligibility data.
Experts argue that statutory benefits like free school meals should be simple and straightforward to access. The planned expansion of free school meals to all families receiving Universal Credit from September 2026 presents a key opportunity to establish a national auto-enrolment system. Such a centralized process would overcome the current patchwork of local authority provision and ensure that every eligible child receives this vital nutritional support.
