Most children living in poverty in England are not entitled to free school meals, a study has found.
The Education Policy Institute (EPI) report warns that free school meals (FSM) eligibility has become an increasingly unreliable measure for deprivation and family circumstances.
FSM eligibility has long been used to guide school funding, research and school accountability, but the EPI is calling for a change in how disadvantage is defined and measured in education.
Researchers Dr Tammy Campbell and Dr Kerris Cooper warn that problems around this definition will worsen in 2026, when all children in families receiving universal credit become eligible for FSM and current “legacy” eligibility criteria end.
Changes to free school meals eligibility
In June the Labour government announced that all children living in households in receipt of universal credit will be eligible for free school meals from the start of the 2026 school year.
Previously, households that received universal credit but had an income of more than £7,400 (after tax and deductions) were not eligible for FSM.
The report describes this new policy as a “sharp cliff edge” because the switchover, with the loss of the current legacy eligibility criteria, could produce sudden differences in eligibility, with some families losing entitlement while others gain it.
The EPI says this discontinuity will further blur the distinction between who is and is not classed as disadvantaged, disrupting comparisons over time and risking confusion in funding and pupil premium data.
Dr Campbell said: “For many years, free school meal eligibility has been central to how we understand and respond to disadvantage in education. But the government now needs to build on this measure to ensure funding is better targeted at the children who need it most.”
Drawing on new analysis of the Millennium Cohort Study, the researchers found that at most points between the ages 5 and 14, the majority of pupils in poverty were not entitled to FSM, largely as a result of low income thresholds and complex eligibility rules.
Even among those who met the criteria, many were not registered for FSM. One in five children in very disadvantaged families were not consistently registered during both primary and secondary school, leaving them without free meals and additional support such as the pupil premium, the report says.
The study also finds that children who were registered for FSM consistently experienced worse academic outcomes than their peers. By the time they take their GCSEs, 73 per cent fail to achieve a grade 4 or above in English and maths, compared with 57 per cent of other children in poverty. The figure for students not in poverty is 32 per cent.
The authors describe this as evidence of an “FSM penalty”, suggesting that these students face lower expectations and stigma.
Rethinking the definition of poverty
The report, Registration for Free School Meals: issues and implications for research, policymaking, practice and access, combines several years of EPI research and data from the National Pupil Database, local authorities and multi-academy trusts.
It highlights a wide variation in registration rates across regions and ethnic groups, with London showing particularly low levels of FSM registration despite high child poverty. In some schools almost all eligible pupils were registered, while in others virtually none were.
The researchers say the FSM measure’s growing inconsistencies threaten the fairness of pupil premium funding and comparisons between schools. They argue that FSM no longer provides an accurate picture of disadvantage, but remains useful as a broad indicator.
The report calls for a national system of centralised auto-enrolment for FSM to tackle what the EPI says is “persistent under-registration rates that the DfE has known about for over a decade”. Some local authorities have already trialled this policy, according to the report.
It concludes that the shift to universal credit eligibility in 2026 offers an opportunity to redesign how children in need are identified and supported.
Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the NAHT school leaders’ union, said: “We would urge the government to use the opportunity afforded by its welcome move to roll out free school meals for children in all households in receipt of universal credit next year to also introduce auto-enrolment and ensure more families benefit.
“Poverty harms not only children’s health and wellbeing, but also their ability to focus and flourish at school, and this would be a small but important step towards the government’s stated mission of tackling the issue as we await the recommendations of its child poverty taskforce.”
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