08/07/2025: Children living in ‘Dickensian’ poverty, says commissioner
Some children are living in “Dickensian” levels of poverty, England’s children’s commissioner has said.
12/06/2025: Report calls for further free school meal reform to tackle regional differences
A think tank is calling for the government to bring in further reform of the free school meal system and bring in national auto-enrolment to tackle regional differences.
05/06/2025: Free school meals to be extended to 500,000 more children
Any child in England whose parents receive Universal Credit will be able to claim free school meals from September 2026, the government has said.
23/05/2025: ‘I’ve applied for hundreds of jobs’: One in eight youths not in work or education
“I’ve applied for factories, care work, hospital work – anything to just get a job to support me and my son,” says 20-year-old mum Libby.
17/04/2025: Almost nine in 10 teachers seeing poverty related fatigue in pupils
Teachers are reporting high levels of tiredness, hunger, physical under-development and poor hygiene in the classroom among pupils impacted by poverty.
27/03/2025: Number of children in poverty rises by 200,000 to record level
The number of children living in poverty has increased by 200,000 to a record high of 4.5 million, government figures have revealed.
20/03/2025: Breakfast club trials in some South West schools
More than 40 schools across the South West have been selected to trial new free breakfast clubs.
17/03/2025: Soaring school absence behind growing attainment gap, report finds
Disadvantaged pupils are falling behind their peers at “disturbing” rates due to accelerating school absence since the Covid-19 pandemic, according to analysis published today.
08/03/2025: Concern over use of school funding for disadvantaged children
There is a risk that disadvantaged children may not be benefitting from billions of pounds of Department for Education funding given to schools to narrow the attainment gap, an influential group of MPs have said.
27/02/2025: Number of young people not in work or education hits 11-year high
More young people were not in work, education or training at the end of 2024 than at any point in the past 11 years, new data suggests.