Any child in England whose parents receive Universal Credit will be able to claim free school meals from September 2026, the government has said.
Parents on the credit will be eligible regardless of their income. Currently, their household must earn less than £7,400 a year to qualify.
The government says the change will make 500,000 more pupils eligible, which the prime minister said would “help families who need it most”.
Labour has faced scrutiny over plans to tackle child poverty, and is yet to decide whether to scrap the two-child benefit cap.
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson told the BBC ministers were “working as quickly as we can” on next year’s plans to extend free school meals.
Ministers said the changes to free school meals would save parents £500 a year and “lift 100,000 children out of poverty”.
On the two-child benefit cap, which prevents most families from claiming means-tested benefits for any third or additional children born after April 2017, Phillipson was asked if there were plans to change this policy.
The education secretary told BBC Breakfast it was not a “silver bullet” but “it was on the table.”
She has previously said the government is looking at scrapping it but that it would cost a lot of money.
On free school meals, the Department for Education has set aside £1bn to fund the change up to 2029.
They have also pledged £13m to a dozen food charities across England to “fight food poverty”, by redistributing food from farms.
Sir Keir Starmer said: “Feeding more children every day, for free, is one of the biggest interventions we can make to put more money in parents’ pockets, tackle the stain of poverty, and set children up to learn.”
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) think tank said that while the rule change would cut child poverty to a degree and would be cheaper than making free school meals universal, “other measures – such as lifting the two-child limit – would have a lower cost per child lifted out of poverty”.
Christine Farquharson, associate director of the IFS, said in a statement that today’s announcement would “not see anything like 100,000 children lifted out of poverty next year”.
She said protections put in place in 2018 have already increased the number of children receiving free school meals. They ensure children don’t lose eligibility for free school meals when their family circumstances change.
The changes are due to come into effect at the start of the 2026 academic year.
The announcement has been largely welcomed by the education sector and organisations campaigning against child poverty.
Nick Harrison, chief executive of the Sutton Trust charity, said it was a “significant step towards taking hunger out of the classroom”.
Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders union, said it was “great news”.
“There is much more to be done – but this is a welcome step forward,” he added.
Kate Anstey, head of education policy at the Child Poverty Action Group, said the extension would cover “all children in poverty and those at risk of poverty”, with the current criteria only accounting for around two-thirds of those children.
She called it a “game-changer for children and families”, but called on the government to go further.
“We hope this is a sign of what’s to come in the autumn’s child poverty strategy, with government taking more action to meet its manifesto commitment to reduce child poverty in the UK,” she said.
Liberal Democrat spokesperson Munira Wilson said: “This can only be a first step. To end the cost of learning crisis, the government needs to commit to auto-enrolling eligible children for free school meals, lifting the two-child benefit cap, and capping uniform costs to truly change the lives of children in poverty.”
Charities have called for the two-child benefit cap to be abolished in next week’s spending review.
The government is expected to announce its decision in the autumn, when it publishes its child poverty strategy.
Sir Keir said he was “absolutely determined that we will drive down child poverty” during Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday.
But Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch accused him of “causing confusion” over the policy.
Who can claim free school meals?
The total number of children registered for free school meals in England is about 2.1 million, or 24.6% of the total pupil population, according to the latest data.
Families in England need to meet certain criteria for their children to be eligible.
That can include receiving Universal Credit but, until the changes are implemented next September, parents also must have a household income of less than £7,400 a year, after tax.
Parents have to apply for their children to receive them and eligible children are not automatically enrolled.
In February, MPs on the cross-party education committee called for that to change.
They said tens of thousands of eligible children were missing out on free school meals because their parents were not claiming them – often because of language barriers or difficulty with the administrative process.
Children’s eligibility for free school meals varies across the UK.
All primary school children in London and in Wales can access free meals.
In Scotland, all children in the first five years of primary school are eligible, as well as all children from families receiving the Scottish Child Payment benefit.
Parents in Northern Ireland can apply if they receive certain benefits and are below an income threshold which is approximately double the current England level, at £15,000.
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