POVERTY campaigners in Wales wrote to First Minister Eluned Morgan today calling for the children of migrants to have the same right to free school meals as other pupils.

Children’s Commissioner for Wales Rocio Cifuentes and Future Generations’ Commissioner Derek Walker joined with the Bevan Foundation and 35 organisations in signing the letter to Ms Morgan.

Their appeal marked the start of Challenge Poverty Week, which highlights the need to end discrimination against migrant children whose parents are in Britain on temporary visas.

The letter welcomes the rollout of universal free school meals to primary pupils in Wales, while noting that some children in secondary schools are not entitled to free meals, no matter how little money their families have to live on.

Children whose parents have no recourse to public funds under immigration law only receive free school meals if their local authority decides to grant them this right.

The Bevan Foundation’s Isata Kanneh said: “The free school meals policy is unfair and discriminatory.

“We found that lots of children in this situation were going hungry when the Welsh government could simply make a policy change and give them the right to a free school meal, instead of placing barriers in their way.”

Ms Cifuentes said: “All children have a right to nutritious food under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

“It’s unacceptable that some pupils in Wales are missing out on that right in school purely because of their parents’ immigration status.

“This means that some of the most vulnerable young people go without the food they would otherwise be entitled to.”

The British government attaches a no recourse to public funds (NRPF) condition to the visas of most people who do not yet have settled status, which restricts access to many benefits.

In England, the government gives children affected by NRPF full entitlement to free school meals, subject to an income threshold, while in Wales entitlement depends on the parents’ status.

A Welsh government spokesperson said: “Local authorities are able to provide meals without charging. 

“Our no recourse to public funds (NRPF) guidance encourages local authorities to provide free school meals to any child whose parents’ immigration status means that there is no automatic entitlement.”

Meanwhile, in England, Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza warned that council cuts to services are putting the wellbeing of children and young people at risk.