Extending Free School Meals: our evidence on the positive impact on children’s health and educational outcomes

school dinners

The Government’s announcement today to extend Free School Meals provision to all children from families receiving Universal Credit will mean more children will benefit from the positive impact on their health and educational outcomes, according to the latest ISER research.

Our studies into the impact of universal free school meals for infants in England, and the subsequent London boroughs programme for universal free school meals for primary school children, have found that children receiving food in schools see improved educational outcomes and healthier bodyweights – reducing obesity by a significant margin – more than other public health initiatives.

Our most recent study by Professor Birgitta Rabe and Dr Angus Holford, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, found that receiving free school meals in primary school causes children to make approximately two weeks additional progress in Reading by the end of primary school.

The impact on their health was signicant. The study found that the scheme reduces the proportion of Reception children living with obesity by approximately 1-1.5 percentage points on average (from a base of 14% in the four London local authorities). This represents a 7-11% reduction in obesity rates.

Having free school meals reduces the proportion of Year 6 children with obesity by about 0.6-1.2 percentage points on average (from a base of 25%). This represents a 2-5% reduction
in obesity rates

The effects of receiving free school meals on Year 6 children are biggest (1.2-2.1 percentage point reduction in obesity) for those who received them throughout primary school, from
Reception onwards. This group experiences a 5-8% reduction in obesity rates.

Read our Explainer on our research on Free School Meals here

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