Leader of Lincolnshire County Council Councillor Martin Hill talks about free school meals

It’s important children have healthy meals while they’re at school, writes leader of Lincolnshire County Council councillor Martin Hill.

Recently South Kesteven District Council asked if we, at the county council, would provide the money for free school meals for every primary school child, regardless of their household income in their district.

It’s clearly important that children have healthy, nutritious food for their development and that schools offer a range of support to help instil good eating habits.

However, it would clearly not be possible to offer free school meals to additional pupils only in South Kesteven, meaning any extension of the scheme would need to be introduced countywide.

Currently, around 30,000 primary school pupils in Lincolnshire receive free school meals. This support is targeted towards our youngest children and those whose families are most in need.

Many of these families also receive support through the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme and the Household Support Fund, which comes from central government.

This programme, funded until March 2025, is designed to provide school aged children, whose family’s are in receipt of benefits, access to free healthy meals and activities during summer, Christmas and Easter holidays.

To offer school meals to all primary-aged children would cost £28m per year, and money would have to be taken from other budgets, particularly maintaining roads, which is the major source of funding which the council has some flexibility over.

The funding for free school meals, and the eligibility criteria, are set by national government, and we are not aware of any plans for the new Labour government to extend the scheme.

Given that the council currently projects an overall budget shortfall of more than £20m over the next three years, it’s not realistic for us to step in and offer free school meals to all, which would of course include many better-off families.

Instead, we will continue to use our available funding to maintain those services our residents rely on, including maintain and enhancing our road network and other vital infrastructure.