FREE school meals for all was one of the key promises of Mayor Lutfur Rahman’s Administration when it took office in May 2022. The policy has paid off, with 38,000 school pupils benefitting from the scheme in the last four years.

The scheme began with primary school pupils, but it was soon expanded to cover secondary schools too. The Council’s £4.4 million investment has helped families in the borough manage the rising cost of living: on average, a family with three school-aged children saves £1,650 a year.

The scheme has other benefits too.
•“You can’t teach a hungry child” is a phrase used throughout the school system. A free school lunch re-fuels the student in the middle of the day, so they are prepared to go back to the classroom ready to learn.
•Lunches offer not just hot food, but hot food that has good nutritional values. Giving children good food keeps them healthy for now and teaches them good food behaviour for later in life.

Some Authorities have followed in Mayor Lutfur Rahman’s footsteps. The UK Government introduced universal Free School Meals as long ago as 2014 – but only for children in the first three years of primary school (that is, up to age seven). In September 2023 Labour Mayor of London Sadiq Khan began covering the cost of Free School Meals for all primary school children in London. He continued this after he was re-elected in 2024.

There is no sign of the Government or London Mayor extending the scheme to students in secondary school. In Tower Hamlets, this scheme is part of a systematic approach to help families cope with the increase in the cost of living. It looks like Free School Meals will remain unique to Tower Hamlets for some time to come.

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