Fair and square

Over two million UK school children live in poverty, yet more than half of them are missing out on free school meals - and 700,000 are not entitled to free school meals at all

We know from our work on neglect that a healthy lunch improves children's concentration and can have a positive impact on classroom behaviour. And that for many children, school lunch is the one square meal they get a day.

Free school meals provide vital financial support for low-income families, but the planned introduction of Universal Credit means that many of the current benefits used to assess who is entitled to free school meals will be scrapped.

That's why we're supporting The Children's Society's Fair and Square campaign, calling on the Government to make sure that all children living in poverty can get a free school meal.

Take your action: click here to sign the petition

Action for Children believes that children living in poverty should be entitled to a free school meal. With your help, we can make a difference