Gov may be extending free school meals

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In the Times today..plans to extend school meals and healthy start vouchers etc.

"He wants to expand eligibility for free school meals, available at present to those with household incomes of less than £7,400 a year, to all households in receipt of Universal Credit. The approach would lead to an additional 1.5 million children receiving free school meals at an extra cost of £670 million a year."

www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/news/food-tsar-henry-dimbleby-serves-up-1bn-meal-plan-to-boris-johnson-w0hdbfjb9

On tax credits, families qualify up to 16K don't they. So there is a difference with UC. This would mean more working families would qualify.

Mr Dimbleby’s plans go far further than the £20 million weekly cost of extending free school meals over the school holidays. He said that the cost of his £1.2 billion package paled in comparison with the £210 billion the government had spent on responding to the Covid crisis. The furloughing scheme alone is expected to cost £47 billion. However, his plans would cost twice as much as the government’s £522 million Eat Out to Help Out scheme.

Mr Dimbleby is calling for a nationwide expansion of the Holiday Activities and Food programme, which was tested in 17 local authorities over the summer. The programme provides children with daily activities and a nutritious lunch and is run by local authorities with funding from central government. He has suggested that its remit could be extended to include maths and English tuition.

Mr Dimbleby is also calling for wider availabilty of Healthy Start vouchers, which enable pregnant women on benefits and parents with young children to buy nutritious food. He said that the value of the vouchers should rise from £3.10 to £4.25 and that the eligibility of the scheme should be extended.

(that is as well as the first part)