Free school meals rolling out to some Scottish students in S1-3

The Scottish Greens secured the secondary free lunches pilot in exchange for backing the Scottish Budget
29th January 2025, 1:35pm

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Free school meals rolling out to some Scottish students in S1-3

https://www.tes.com/magazine/news/secondary/free-school-meals-scottish-students-s1-s3
Free school meals

The Scottish government has announced plans to expand free school meals to students in the first three years of secondary school who receive the Scottish Child Payment.

The pilot will take place in eight local authority areas from August after the Scottish Greens struck a deal with the government to secure their backing for the Budget.

The government said the new entitlement would cost around £3 million and it would “work closely with local authorities in the coming months to establish the test of change in eight local authority areas”.

With the backing of the Scottish Greens and Scottish Lib Dems in place, it is now near certain that the Scottish Budget will pass when the final vote takes place next month.

‘Lifting more children out of poverty’

Ross Greer, the Scottish Greens’ finance spokesperson, said the changes to the Budget secured by his party would “lift more children out of poverty, reduce the cost of public transport, create good quality jobs, tackle the climate crisis and protect local services”.

He added: “No young person should be sitting in school hungry. As a result of our work, thousands more pupils in S1-S3 will now receive a free school meal. This will build on the success of expanding free school meals in primary schools, a policy delivered by the Scottish Greens a few years ago.”

As a result of the deal with the Scottish Greens, there will also be a regional pilot for a £2 cap on bus fares.

The Scottish Lib Dems secured increased investment for drugs services and hospices.

The deals will cost £16.7 million, the government said.


More on free school meals in Scotland:


In its 2021 Scottish Parliament election manifesto, the SNP promised to “provide free school breakfasts and lunches to every primary school pupil in Scotland, all year round”.

However, the rollout stalled and, while children up to P5 all now receive free meals, the government failed to expand the entitlement to P6 and P7 pupils in August 2022 as planned.

There is no plan for expanding universal free school meals to all primary pupils; the government confirmed last year that “the current financial situation means that universality will now not be delivered by 2026”, when the five-year parliamentary term is due to end.

‘Positive and constructive’

The finance secretary Shona Robison praised the Greens and the Lib Dems for their “positive and constructive” engagement.

She added: “Through seeking compromise I believe we are delivering a Budget that will strengthen services and support our communities.

“With the agreements with these two parties now in place, this will secure a majority in Parliament in support of the Budget Bill.”

The uptake of free school meals in primary in 2024 was 72.1 per cent; in secondary, the figure was 62.7 per cent. Before the pandemic, in 2019, uptake of free school meals in primary was 79.2 per cent; in secondary, the figure was 70.9 per cent.

Child poverty campaigners have called on secondary schools in the past to improve overall uptake of school meals so that young people who are entitled to free meals take advantage of that support.

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