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Social Security Advisory Committee: Free school meals entitlement under Universal Credit - a joint response

31 August 2011

Introduction

SSAC joint response to free school meals (Adobe Acrobat Document 170kb)

Free School Meals (FSM) are an important financial benefit for families on low incomes as well as improving children's health and educational outcomes.

In the current system parents in work over 16 hours and therefore entitled to Working Tax Credit, do not get FSM. This considerably reduces the gains from working, but currently most families are still better off in work because of the working tax credits that become available at this point.

The introduction of the Universal Credit will replace the out of work benefits and tax credits from which entitlement to FSM is based, therefore requiring new criteria to be set for working age families. This creates both risks and opportunities.

This briefing overviews what the key problems could be with FSM under the Universal Credit, and outlines a number of potential models for how support could be delivered, for discussion.

We believe fundamentally that increased investment in FSM is required to deliver a fair system of support that works for low income families. The paper suggests a number of ways in which such a system could be delivered.

The arguments in this paper show that there is no satisfactory alternative to extending support for FSM in this way. The "reduced budget" options presented in this paper either create a severe benefit cliff edge for low income families, or present a reduced earnings disregard for these households. Neither of these are satisfactory.

As such we recommend ensuring all Universal Credit recipients receive FSM. Such extended entitlement could be provided either through a passporting arrangement or a FSM element within the Universal Credit. Extending entitlement in this way will be crucial to ensuring the Government's intention to make work pay is met, whilst also ensuring that children in low income families have access to healthy lunch time meals.