Council extends free school meal entitlement

17 September 2020

Aberdeen City Councillors today (Thursday 17 September) agreed to extending their free school meal entitlement to additional families in receipt of Universal Credit.

Members of the Education Operational; Delivery Committee agreed to extend the provision, effective as of Monday 26 October to include:

Single claimants working less than 16 hours per week with a gross annual income of less than £16,105; Joint claimants working less than 24 hours per week with a gross annual income of less than £16,105.

Currently, around 8,385 children receive free school meals each day in Aberdeen based on the national entitlement criteria but anomalies in the new national system meant that some low-income families lose entitlement if they move onto Universal Credit.

Committee Convener, Councillor John Wheeler, said: “We fully recognise that free school meals are vital to the health and development of children in low-income families. By extending the provision to families whose eligibility would otherwise be affected we are strengthening our commitment further to eradicating poverty-related attainment gaps, improving outcomes and wellbeing of our children and young people”.