Funding for college students’ free meals will be frozen next year, while schools will see a 5p boost.
In an update today, the Department for Education said the current £2.61 per student FE free meal rate will remain the same in the 2026-27 academic year “as a minimum”.
In contrast, the per-meal funding rate for school children will increase by 5p to £2.66 in September.
The news, which follows revelations of a below-inflation 0.5 per cent increase to the 16 to 19 funding base rate, has been described as “frustrating” and “insulting”.
Darren Hankey, principal at Hartlepool College of Further Education, said: “As someone who was in receipt of and benefited from free-school meals through primary and secondary education; I find this decision deeply disappointing.
“Once again, post-16 students miss out as colleges up and down the country work tirelessly to support many students from some of the least-resourced backgrounds.
“To offer £2.61 a day, a real terms cut, to help try and feed an older teenager is quite insulting and the government’s key mission of breaking down barriers to opportunity rings hollow.”
Qasim Hussain, vice president (further education) at the National Union of Students, added: “The decision is particularly frustrating following yesterday’s wider 16 to 19 funding announcements, which were already a significant disappointment for the sector.
“Free college meals are a vital support for disadvantaged students in FE, and freezing the rate while costs remain high will make provision increasingly challenging for colleges.”
In its update, the DfE said the rate will remain at £2.61 as a minimum “to support planning” but added that funding is kept under review.
Operational guidance will be issued “in due course”, the department added.
It is unclear why the DfE has chosen to increase meals funding for schools but frozen the rate for FE settings.
A Department for Education spokesperson said: “Through our Plan for Change, this government has taken a historic step to tackle the stain of child poverty – offering free school meals to every single child from a household that claims Universal Credit.
“The new entitlement will see over half a million more children able to benefit from a free meal from next school year and lift 100,000 children out of poverty.
“The significant expansion of free meals to an additional 500,000 children is fully funded, backed by £1 billion.”
How the dinner tables have turned
Colleges, independent training providers and sixth-form colleges have had access to free meals in FE funding for disadvantaged students aged between 16 and 19 since it was extended from schools to FE in 2014-15.
The 2026-27 rate freeze will be the first year since at least 2020-21 that FE providers have received a lower per-meal rate than schools.
The FE per meal rate was frozen at £2.41 between 2014-15 and 2022-23. The schools rate was set at £2.34 before being matched with FE at £2.41 in 2022-23 and rose at the same rate until this year, when it reached £2.61.
Diana Martin, CEO of Dudley College of Technology, said the DfE’s announcement on a free meals freeze for next year “is disappointing, given that the degree of disadvantage a learner has does not change when they reach 16”.
Hussain added: “At a time when the cost-of-living crisis continues to affect many families, and some students are struggling to afford food during the college day, this is not the direction we should be taking, even recognising the current fiscal constraints.”
Universal credit expansion
About one quarter of school pupils, 2.2 million, received free school meals in 2024-25.
In the same year, about 90,000 low-income students in 377 FE settings benefitted from free meals allocations, at a cost of £37 million.
But these figures are likely to rise next academic year as free meal eligibility is widened from students or families with an income below £7,400 to anyone from a household receiving universal credit.
This will give 500,000 more pupils and students access to the scheme for the first time, the DfE estimates.
It’s also important to note that, because this funding is calculated on a lagged basis, like all Study Programme funding, the widening in eligibility has not been reflected in the amount included in the Allocation Calculation Toolkits released yesterday, so colleges will have more learners to support on the “same” money…