Publication type
Journal Article
Series Number
Authors
- Emma Alving-Jessep
- Miranda Pallan
- Ellie Ansell
- Lesley Hamill
- Cara McConnell
- Desiree McIlwee
- Michelle C. McKinley
- Sarah E. Moore
- Marie Murphy
- Charlotte Neville
- Christina O’Neill
- Estera Sevel
- Peymane Adab
- Maria Bryant
- Stephanie Chambers
- Christopher R. Cardwell
- Hannah Ensaff
- Charlotte Evans
- Stephen Reid
- Angus Holford
- Jennifer Bradley
- Suzanne Spence
- Jayne Woodside
Publication date
October 20, 2025
Summary:
Introduction: Food insecurity is increasing in the UK, impacting choice and diet quality. The current means-tested free school meals (FSM) policy was put in place to address dietary inequalities and food insecurity in school children. In secondary schools, approximately 20% of students who are eligible and registered do not take their FSM. Working across a range of schools that have variable levels of FSM uptake, this study aims to evaluate the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the current means-tested FSM policy in UK secondary schools on diet and food insecurity outcomes, understand what factors are associated with uptake and test the potential impact of any proposed policy change.
Secondary schools (n=32) in both Northern Ireland and the Midlands region of the UK are being recruited into the study. Data will be collected from school staff, governors, students and parents via questionnaires, as well as observational data of school eating environments. Qualitative data will be collected in selected case study schools (n=6–8). Multilevel modelling will be undertaken to evaluate the association between FSM uptake and fruit and vegetable intake, overall diet quality and food insecurity in all students. Economic evaluation will be conducted using a cost–utility approach. The effect of policy change will be modelled and school factors associated with FSM uptake explored using multiple methods.
Published in
BMJ Open
Volume
Volume: 15
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2025-101428
ISSN
20446055
Subjects
Notes
Open Access
© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2025. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ Group.
This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to copy, redistribute, remix, transform and build upon this work for any purpose, provided the original work is properly cited, a link to the licence is given, and indication of whether changes were made. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
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