Number of children eligible for free school meals in England 2015-2023
Over two million pupils were eligible for free school meals in England in the 2022/23 academic year, compared with 1.89 million pupils in 2021/22. The issue of free school meals came to the fore during the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, when free school meals were replaced by a voucher scheme in the lockdown and Easter holidays. Although the voucher system was initially not supposed to extend to the summer holidays, a pressure campaign by English footballer, Marcus Rashford resulted in a government U-turn, on the issue, resulting in the voucher scheme covering the summer.
