There are “significant differences” between the number of children living in poverty and those who are receiving the Pupil Premium or free school meals.
Discrepancy: While official figures tell us that 4.3 million children and young people are living in poverty, only 2.1 million are receiving free school meals due to a low income threshold amogn other factors - Adobe Stock

The Education Policy Institute think-tank has become the latest body to call for automatic enrolment for FSMs after publishing a report spelling out key problems with the current approach.

The study (Campbell et al, 2025) is clear: “Overall, across all years, fewer children are registered for FSM than are estimated to be in poverty. This is partly by design: because the family income threshold for registration is so low (£7,400 per annum). It is also because there is under-registration among eligible children.

“Additionally, FSM eligibility criteria do not account for factors such as housing costs and family size, which are heavily associated with poverty.”

The report is also urging an increase to the FSMs income threshold – which has been frozen at £7,400 for years.

In particular, the researchers found that under-registration for FSM is “especially high” among younger primary children and “seems to be higher in more deprived local authorities” meaning the system is not always supporting the children who need it most.

The report states: “The youngest primary children in particular are less likely to be registered, and this is problematic because investment in the earliest years lays important foundations. FSM registration confers funding through Pupil Premium as well as other substantial entitlements including to the Holiday Activities and Food Programme.

“Children in more deprived local areas also appear, on average, at a higher risk of under-registration: again, this leads to a sub-optimal distribution of resources.”

Indeed, the report finds “vast differences” between schools and local authorities in how often children signed up for Pupil Premium are registered as FSM-eligible. It states: “In some schools, only 1% of Pupil Premium children have been registered for FSM at every January of the phase, in others, virtually all (99%).”

Children are entitled to be registered for FSMs if their family earns a very low income and is in receipt of certain social security benefits. FSM registration at any point over a six-year period also means that a pupil is flagged for Pupil Premium (attracting funding of £1,480 per primary and £1,050 per secondary child).

Overall, the latest Department for Education figures show that 24.6% of nine million students in all schools in England were eligible for FSMs in 2024. This is roughly 2.1 million children and young people (DfE, 2024).

However, the most recent poverty statistics show that in 2022/23, 4.3 million children and young people (30%) were living in relative poverty (defined as 60% of median income after housing costs). Of these, 3.6 million (25%) were living in absolute poverty – an income 60% below the 2011 median (see DWP, 2024; Francis-Devine, 2024).

The EPI is urging the government to “expand the coverage of FSM eligibility, remove the current restrictions on FSM eligibility for pre-school children, increase the salary threshold for families, and provide sufficient funding”.

The report adds: “The government should consider centrally automatically enrolling eligible children for FSM to ensure better coverage, especially for younger children.”

It comes just days after MPs on the House of Commons Education Select Committee (2025) recommended that the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill should be used to implement automatic enrolment.

This itself came after MPs in the House of Commons tabled an amendment to the Bill also calling for auto-enrolment – MP Munira Wilson called the policy a “no-brainer”.

Education unions have also long called for automatic enrolment. Speaking this week, Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: “Too many pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds are currently missing out because of how the system works. This includes children who are eligible but whose parents do not register, possibly due to a perceived social stigma, and we would urge ministers to ensure all children entitled to FSMs are automatically registered. Crucially, this would also unlock the Pupil Premium funding.”

Campaigners on this issue point to Durham where the introduction of auto-enrolment has led to 2,500 more eligible children receiving FSMs – which in turn led to a £3m boost in Pupil Premium for local schools. Only 15 families opted out.

A report from Durham County Council in October confirms that the 2,500 children were automatically enrolled for FSM following a data-matching exercise on their family's eligibility. It stated: “This means that 1,727 households eligible for FSMs were automatically signed up to the scheme, saving the families an average of £400 per-child, per-year on food costs.” (See Durham CC, 2024)

Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary at the Association of School and College Leaders, is hopeful that the government’s Child Poverty Taskforce, which is due to report later this year, will address the issues raised in the EPI’s report.

He added: “We have long argued that FSMs should be extended to all families in receipt of universal credit rather than only those below a very low income threshold, that all eligible children should be automatically enrolled, and that schools should be paid a higher rate of Pupil Premium to support children who are in persistent poverty.”

The EPI report also finds that the gap between children in poverty and those getting FSMs is “especially noticeable” for children from Pakistani, Bangladeshi, and Indian backgrounds. Furthermore, children who miss periods of school are less likely to access FSMs. The report states: “Children who are regularly enrolled in state school at each January census are more likely to get FSMs, while those who have less stable access to schooling might miss out on the support they need.
“Taken together, these findings raise concerns about the ability of disadvantaged families to access FSM and other benefits to which they might be entitled as well as the ability of schools to draw-down government funding to support disadvantaged pupils.”

The report also recommends that the government conducts updated studies using “cross-government data” to find out how many eligible children are not claiming FSM or registered for Pupil Premium.
Co-author of the study, Dr Tammy Campbell, director for early years, inequalities and wellbeing at the EPI, said: “FSM has long been used as a key measure for multiple purposes within research and policy-making. Now it is time to review and improve its uses, and to look at alternatives, to better support economically disadvantaged children within the education system. Accurately and comprehensively identifying children living in poverty is the first step to serving these pupils.”
Commenting on the findings, Chris Paterson, co-CEO at the Education Endowment Foundation, said: “The Pupil Premium and FSMs are among the most powerful tools we have to level the education playing field. Yet this new report is a stark reminder that so many eligible pupils are currently missing out on this crucial support.

“While there will never be a perfect measure of poverty, policy-makers must address the low enrolment levels for FSMs. For the sector to effectively target resources towards the schools and areas that need them most, we need accurate, comparable, and timely data.”

The EPI study is based on data from the National Pupil Database (covering all children in pre-school, primary, and secondary state schools from 2003 to 2023 in England) as well as the Households Below Average Income data. The report is part of a larger project funded by the Nuffield Foundation investigating who is registered for FSMs and how this changes by age, time, and location.

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