This is an edited version of an article that appeared in The Yorkshire Post on 25 July 2025 in which Matt Bromley argues that the recent spending review didn’t go far enough…
In her spending review on 11 June, the chancellor Rachel Reeves announced that free school meals (FSM) would be extended to all children in households receiving Universal Credit, starting from the 2026 school year. This affects approximately 500,000 children initially, with a longer-term impact on around 1.7 million.
The policy will make a tangible, daily difference to thousands of children living in poverty. No teacher, parent, or child would deny the immediate benefit of a hot, nutritious lunch. But while this is certainly a welcome step, if the government is truly committed to tackling the root causes of educational disadvantage, then they must go further and address the issue of Pupil Premium funding.
The Pupil Premium, introduced in 2011, was designed to direct additional funding to schools to support disadvantaged pupils. Its purpose was clear: to reduce the attainment gap between those from low-income households and their more affluent, advantaged peers. At its best, it empowered schools to put in place interventions that met the unique needs of their pupils: better quality teaching, in-class adaptations and additional interventions, support staff, tutoring, enrichment, pastoral care, and so on.
But over the past decade, its impact has been steadily diluted. In real terms, the funding has been eroded, with some schools subsuming it into their overall budgets to plug growing gaps, and accountability pressures have sometimes limited schools’ ability to use the money in ways that reflect their local context.
Free school meals matter. Hunger is undoubtedly a barrier to learning. Children who arrive at school without food in their stomachs are less able to focus and more vulnerable to physical and emotional ill health. That’s if they make it to school at all: hungry children are more likely to be absent.
Yes, a hot meal at lunchtime can make a real difference. But we must not fall into the trap of thinking that it’s sufficient. A meal helps today. What children need is sustained investment for tomorrow.
And herein lies the key issue with the chancellor’s announcement: while free school meals eligibility has been widened, the government has said the change will not be backdated. That means newly eligible children will not automatically count towards the Pupil Premium allocations schools receive. In other words, the link between meals and money – the mechanism designed to direct extra support to schools with rising levels of disadvantage – has been broken.
This is more than a technical detail. It means schools experiencing an increase in pupil poverty will not receive the funding they need. Hungry children may now eat – but will they get the specialist academic support and pastoral care that helps level the playing field and ensures a child’s birth does not also become their life’s destiny?
The real danger is that we treat the symptom, not the cause. Poverty in education is not just about empty stomachs; it’s about access to knowledge, to opportunity, to hope. And it is here that Pupil Premium funding remains vital. But it must reflect actual need. It must be sufficient in scale, flexible in use, and sensitive to the realities schools are facing.
If the chancellor wants this spending review to be remembered as the moment that we began to truly level the playing field and reverse over a decade of declining living standards and the widening of the divide between rich and poor, then she must take the next step. She must commit to reviewing and restoring Pupil Premium funding, including reconsidering the decision not to backdate eligibility. Otherwise, we risk letting a well-intentioned policy become a missed opportunity.
Let us celebrate the hot meal; but let us also demand the tools needed to feed young minds as well as stomachs.
About the author
Matt Bromley is CEO of bee and Chair of the Building Equity in Education Campaign. He is an education journalist, author, and advisor with over twenty-five years’ experience in teaching and leadership including as a headteacher. He is now a public speaker, trainer, initial teacher training lecturer, and school improvement advisor, and remains a practising teacher. Matt writes for various magazines, is the author of numerous best-selling books on education, and co-hosts an award-winning podcast. Find out more at bee-online.uk
Matt’s latest book, which is published by Routledge, is called Why School Doesn’t Work for Every Child and explores ways of creating more inclusive schools.
Read more of Matt’s columns for The Yorkshire Post newspaper
bee | Bromley Education Enterprises Limited 