Free School Meal Opt-Out
Last week’s child poverty strategy points to more system-wide and data-enabled approaches. But as many have noted, beyond the lifting of the 2-child limit there are few interventions that can immediately shift outcomes for children. Over the last three years, we helped one London borough identify 1,500 children who were entitled to Free School Meals but not enrolled, unlocking a path to more than £4.5 million in deprivation funding for their schools.
But the numbers that stayed with me weren’t financial. They were these:
81% of the eligible-but-not-claiming children were from Black, Asian or Multi-Ethnic backgrounds
50% spoke English as an additional language at home
68% were in single-parent households (mostly women)
Missing out not because of parental choice, but because the system still requires families to apply for something they’re already entitled to.
Working with early innovators in Sheffield, the Fix Our Food programme, some brilliant colleagues across London and subsequently LOTI, we implemented an opt-out FSM enrolment approach, ethically matching benefits and school roll data so families are registered automatically unless they decline.
It’s low-cost.
It’s high-impact.
And early signs suggest regions can get close to 100% of the funding that should already be flowing into their schools ,rather than missing out on around 11% of what they are due.
This, to me, is what public service reform looks like in practice: values-led, data-enabled and focused on redesigning systems so they work with people, not against them.
Building on this work, we created Lathom Solutions to help other places tackle poverty and inequality, including through the ethical use of data and practical system design.
If your area hasn’t explored opt-out FSM yet, now is the time.
