Universal infant free school meals funding increase

The Department for Education (DfE) has increased the meal rate for universal infant free school meals (UIFSM) from £2.58 to £2.61 for the academic year 2025 to 2026.

This increase of just 3p or 1.2 per cent next year does not reflect the fact that food prices rose by 3.3 per cent in the year to February and could reach 5 per cent by the end of this year.

The rate rose by 5p last year and 12p in 2023. Free school meals funding has also failed to keep pace with inflation, in 2023 the Institute for Fiscal Studies found it had lost 16 per cent of its value in real terms since 2014.