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For the 2026/27 academic year the free school meals rate in England will rise by just 2% - from £2.61 to £2.66 per meal - a figure that must cover both food and labour costs. This compares with £3.40 in Wales, £3.30 in Scotland and £3.00 in London.

Pearce, who appeared on GB News, said: “The free school meal is a statutory responsibility. Schools cant avoid feeding children, they have to provide a meal that meets the school food standards. Food and labour costs have risen astronomically over the last five years so schools are telling us their funding the shortfall from teaching budgets.”

He highlighted that he received an email from a head teacher from a London school who is funding the universal infant free school meals funding shortfall for the next year to the tune of £40,000, which he pointed out could pay a teacher.

Pearce added: “September [2026] is when the Government want to role out universal credit entitlement to extend free school meals to potentially another 500,000 children but we are still being funded at 80-90p below the real cost.

“Schools are having to make really difficult decisions about where that shortfall comes from. They are doing it because they recognise that children and young people deserve a freshly prepared hot nutritious meal. It might be their only meal they get that day.

“The Government in their own words want to turn out the healthiest generation of children ever and we all want to do that. The funding certainly needs to be increased. It has to be index linked year-on-year, for too long we get an uplift of some sort and then nothing happens for a period of time.

“We can’t keep getting into this cycle of funding shortfalls being created. The most important thing is let’s feed children properly, let’s fund it properly and let’s get that next generation to be the healthiest ever.”