NEARLY nine in 10 parents support free school meals for all primary school pupils as almost a third have had to cut their food bills due to cost-of-living pressures.

More than half the parents surveyed said extending free school meals (FSM) to all primary-age children would have a positive impact on their family finances, findings from the National Education Union (NEU) revealed today.

About 31 per cent of the 2,106 parents of primary school-aged children surveyed said that since the start of the school year, they have had to cut the quantity or variety of their food shop.

Of those, 64 per cent said they had had to reduce buying red meat, nearly 40 per cent cut white meat and more than one in three reduced fresh fruit or fish.

Even among parents not on universal credit, who will not be eligible for a government expansion in free school meal eligibility, more than one in four said they were having to cut back their food variety or quantity.

NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede said a full stomach makes for a more engaged learner, saying: “But with the cost-of-living crisis showing no sign of ending, more families are struggling to make ends meet and putting food on the table is one of the biggest challenges of all.

“If this government is committed to giving ‘every child the education they deserve,’ it must build on the progress it has already made in dismantling the two-child limit and expanding FSM to half a million children in families in receipt of universal credit from September.”

The Department for Education said the government is “determined to break down barriers to opportunity.”