Free school meals for all to begin in March
FREE school meals will be offered to all under-12s in Islington - a year after the controversial scheme was voted in.
Islington Council's Liberal Democrat chiefs have agreed that all nursery and primary pupils will get a free hot dinner from March 8 next year.
There were fears the scheme might never go ahead after it was forced through by opposition Labour councillors in a knife-edge vote in February.
But the Lib-Dems have now conceded that it will. Councillor Terry Stacy, council leader, said: "I have reservations about paying for the meals of children whose families can afford to pay."
A pilot has been running in Ambler, Chris the King, Clerkenwell, Laycock, New North Community and Yerbury schools since September. Across these schools, meal take-up has increased by 20 per cent to 82 per cent.
Labour wanted the roll-out to begin in September, but the Lib-Dems refused saying that there was not enough money.
Councillor Catherine West, leader of the opposition Labour group, has accused the Lib-Dems of dragging their feet.
She said: "I am pleased we have a date but it would have helped if it were introduced in January. School dinners cost £62 a term per child."
Councillor Stacy said the delay was to help schools deal with the new arrangements.
He said: "We have discussed the roll-out with the schools and the schools know best."
Schools have historically used free school meal eligibility to identify low-income families. They will now have to collect data on every child who wants a meal to collect the data. The number of low-income families influences the amount of Government money a school can get.
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