Decision details

The Mayor and Executive Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health and the Executive Member for Governance and Finance submitted a report for Executive’s consideration.

The report sought approval for the Council to undertake the Free School Meal and Pupil Premium Optimisation pilot. The pilot was time sensitive with an enrolment completion date of September 2024 in readiness for the October 2024 census which was the deadline for pupil premium data to drive school funding.

The Council needed to engage with Middlesbrough schools to seek approval to progress with the auto-enrolment of Free School Meals and Pupil Premium optimisation pilot.

The purpose of the pilot was to ensure that schools were receiving the maximum benefit of Pupil Premium funding to address the attainment gap as well as contribute towards the Council’s plan to reduce poverty and create a healthy place by enabling children who are entitled to free school meals to access them.

Nationally 1 in 10 children were not receiving the Free School Meals to which they were entitled. The Child Poverty Action Group in 2021 in the North East of England estimated a regional Free School Meals under-registration rate of 11%. Schools were also not receiving Pupil Premium funding and other associated funding dependent on Free School Meal registration.

The scheme would ensure that all eligible households received Free School Meals and that schools were maximising the Pupil Premium. There were several reasons, including burdensome and complex administration, language or low levels of literacy and a feeling of stigma or embarrassment from families that prevented some households from claiming Free School Meals.

The scheme also contributed towards reducing poverty, as children would have access to a Free School Meal, which could be funded by the parent (a saving to the household of c£400.00 per child per year).

Access to a healthy meal for every eligible child would contribute towards the Council’s Plan 2024-2027, creating a healthy place, helping our residents to live longer, healthier lives. It would ensure that the most vulnerable children and families in poverty had access to Free School Meals and would ensure children were receiving a healthy balanced diet and would contribute to wider health priorities such as reducing childhood obesity. In addition, this process would have the potential to support closing the attainment gap through the allocation of Pupil Premium funding to schools.

The Mayor commented that this was an exciting initiative and related the benefits of the scheme to his personal experiences. Similar schemes had seen success in Sheffield. It was clarified that in Middlesbrough 1 in 6 eligible families were not claiming free school meals.

A discussion took place that expressed the benefits the scheme would bring to residents and how it would have knock-on benefits to other initiatives.

ORDERED that Executive approve progression of a pilot initiative with schools, between officers across Revenues and Benefits Service and Public Health, to support the implementation of auto-enrolment of Free School Meals, with the aim of increasing the number of children registered for Free School Meals and Pupil Premium, subject to the agreement of Middlesbrough schools.