Free school meals: Poorer pupils miss out in funding change, say unions
A "worrying" number of เกม slotxo poorer school pupils will miss out on extra funding because of a change in the way support is allocated, unions say.
New figures show more than one in five children in England are now eligible for free school meals - an increase of 420,000 children since March 2020.
But extra funding for schools will be based on data from last October rather than the latest figures for January.
The government says the date change will help with budget planning.
The issue of child poverty during the pandemic has been highlighted by Manchester United and England footballer Marcus Rashford, who successfully campaigned for the government to allow about 1.3 million children in England to claim free school meal vouchers in the summer holidays.
The January figures show 20.8% of pupils in England now qualify for free school meals, up from 17.3% in January 2020.
It means a total of 1.74 million children are eligible for the support.
Children are entitled to free school meals if a parent or carer receives one of a number of benefits.
Pupil premium funding for schools is based partly on the number of children who are currently, or have been in the last six years, eligible for free school meals.
It is targeted to help disadvantaged children and provides schools with an extra £1,345 per pupil in primary and £955 per pupil in secondary settings.
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