English Councils Report £25m Shortfall On Free School Meals Programme

The government’s free school meals initiative is in chaos according to a recent study which reports that councils and schools have not received sufficient funding to ensure the necessary measures are in place in time for the start of the new school year in September. The Local Government Association (LGA) has reported that government funding allocated to improve school kitchens has failed to meet the necessary financial demands for nearly half of authority areas. The large number of respondents who lacked funding saw an overall shortfall of £25.8m. It is also suspected that the national total of funding inaccuracy is likely to surpass that figure. The scheme aims to provide all pupils in the first years of primary education in England with free school meals but skeptics have questioned the ambitious timetable for some time. Liberal Democrat Schools Minister David Laws admitted some schools will initially only be able to offer cold meals until new kitchens can be built due to the shortfall of funding. The government has now allocated an additional £150m to fund new kitchens and dining rooms but according to the LGA, 47% of councils claim they have not received enough money to cover the full costs of this work. Some schools are in buildings where a new kitchen cannot be added on, whilst others face space shortages. In addition to funding problems, the LGA estimates that many schools have underestimated the costs. Earlier this year, outgoing adviser to the then Education Secretary Michael Gove, Dominic Cummings denounced free school meals as a gimmick and said that the plan had been drawn up, "on the back of a fag packet".