Agenda item

ORDERED that Executive:

1.    Approve the proposed amendment to the report.

2.    Approve the continuation of the Free School Meals auto enrolment programme for Schools who ‘opt in’. A 10% fee will be applied for any new pupil premium identified. The fee was intended to cover the Councils costs in administering the auto enrolment business process. The Council would write to Schools each year seeking approval from the School to participate in the auto enrolment initiative.

The Executive Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health submitted a report for Executive consideration, the purpose of which was to seek approval for the Council to undertake the Free School Meal and Pupil Premium initiative on a longer-term basis.

The Council had engaged with Middlesbrough schools in a meeting held on 13 December 2024, seeking thoughts/appetite on whether schools would wish for this work to continue on a longer-term basis. The schools were advised that the Council would write to schools ahead of extending the Free School Meal and Pupil Premium initiative to inform them that the schools who already had their Free School Meals administered by the Local Authority would receive the auto enrolment service as part of the existing administration fee.

For Schools who were not in receipt of the Free School Meal service administered by Middlesbrough Council the opinion of the Schools was sought along with their preference. An administration fee of 10% would be applied to any new pupil premium identified. In advance, the Council would write to all schools seeking approval to progress with the auto enrolment approach, at this time the School would confirm if it would wish to ‘opt in/opt out’. The administration fee would apply to any new Pupil Premium funding secured through the auto enrolment initiative and this would be a one-off fee to cover the cost of the administrative effort by the Local Authority.

The purpose of the initiative was to ensure that schools were receiving the maximum benefit of Pupil Premium funding as well as contributing towards the Council’s Plan to reduce poverty and create a healthy place by enabling children who were entitled to Free School Meals to access them.

An initial report was presented to Executive on 26 June seeking approval to progress with a pilot initiative to implement the auto enrolment of Free School Meals, with the aim of increasing the number of children registered for Free School Meals and Pupil Premium funding, subject to the agreement of Middlesbrough Schools.

The Mayor proposed an amendment to the report which proposed any money generated above baseline costs would be reinvested into holiday activity and food programmes or into pupil premium services.

OPTIONS

Do nothing and continue with the current application process whereby the responsibility rests with households to apply for Free School Meals. Whilst this was still an option for parents, the proposed approach by the Council would ensure applications were maximised as was the Pupil Premium for Schools. The results from the pilot would suggest ‘doing nothing’ should be avoided.

ORDERED that Executive:

1.    Approve the proposed amendment to the report.

2.    Approve the continuation of the Free School Meals auto enrolment programme for Schools who ‘opt in’. A 10% fee will be applied for any new pupil premium identified. The fee was intended to cover the Councils costs in administering the auto enrolment business process. The Council would write to Schools each year seeking approval from the School to participate in the auto enrolment initiative.

REASONS

The continuation with the auto enrolment on to Free School Meals (including

agreement from the Schools) meant those children who were eligible, did not miss out on a healthy nutritious meal at school.

In addition to ensuring children were not missing out, the continuation of this initiative would also result in Schools receiving the maximum amount of funding from Central Government through the Pupil Premium grant which would allow a number of initiatives, defined by the individual School to be funded.

Some children automatically received Free School Meals through the Universal Infant Free School Meals (if they were in Reception, Year 1, and Year 2), and as such may not have been registered formerly for Free School Meals, which meant the School would be missing out on Pupil Premium. The auto enrolment take up would ensure that the Schools were maximising Pupil Premium and not missing out.

The data captured from the pilot was included at Appendix 1 of the report.

The pilot initiative had supported families across Middlesbrough and would contribute towards reducing poverty, as children would have access to a Free School Meal, which may have been funded by the parent/carer at a cost of c£400 per pupil. The outcome would likely save Middlesbrough Households a combined saving of approximately £218,400 per year.

The initiative had also directly benefitted from The Holiday and Activities Food Programme (HAF). The increased number of children in receipt of Free School Meals meant more children had access to this programme. Following more recent announcements it would suggest that the Holiday and Activities Food Fund (HAF) would continue for a further 12 months.

In December 2024, Middlesbrough Council united with 100 other organisations in an open letter to Government calling for pupils who met the eligibility criteria but were not yet signed up to Free School Meals, to be automatically enrolled. Middlesbrough Council was one of 24 local authorities to add their signature to the letter, which implored Government to use the upcoming Children’s Wellbeing Bill to enable all children who were entitled to a Free School Meal to be automatically enrolled.