Thousands of disadvantaged children in Durham, Peterlee and Seaham access free school meals thanks to new automatic system

This academic year (2024/25) Durham County Council, which has jurisdiction over schools in Durham City, Peterlee and Seaham switched to an automatic enrolment system.

This has removed the burden on families to access and complete the necessary paperwork enabling more eligible children to access free school meals.

The new system has enabled the Liberal Democrat run council to secure an additional £3m of funding to provide additional free school meals to pupil premium children including at Belmont Community School in Durham City.

The Liberal Democrats education spokesperson Munira Wilson was visiting the school to promote her party’s national campaign to ensure the automatic enrolment system is adopted throughout the country.

The party have tabled an amendment to the Children’s Wellbeing Bill to require all eligible children to be enrolled for free school meals.

Ms Wilson said: “No child should go hungry in our country. I will be using the success of County Durham's free school meals enrolment to make the Liberal Democrats' case for this system to be implemented in every part of England.

"I’ve heard from parents in my constituency who are giving up prescriptions so that they can afford to feed their children - with hundreds of thousands of families in poverty struggling to scrape together enough to send their children to school with a meal.

"Across all of England, every vote for a Liberal Democrat in the local elections is a vote to make sure children from low-income families aren't denied a free school meal because their parents haven't filled out a council form."