Feeding futures: why free school meals are a smart investment in our future workforce

Blog posts

7 Jul 2025

Daniel Mason, Research Officer
Jade Talbot, Research Officer

As we mark National Employability Week, an opportunity to reflect on unlocking young people’s future potential, it’s worth highlighting a policy measure that’s already laying vital foundations long before children enter the workplace. Last month, as part of the 2025 Spending Review, the UK government announced the expansion of free school meals (FSM) for all primary-age children with parents claiming Universal Credit – a move set to benefit roughly 500,000 additional pupils from the 2026-27 academic year and potentially a further 1.7 million in the long run.

Campaigners have celebrated this expansion as a landmark day in the fight against child poverty, and they are right to do so, the positive nutritional and economic impact of FSM policy can benefit some of the poorest households in the country. Multiple studies have shown how poverty at home is the strongest statistical predictor of how well a child will achieve in school, as well as showing that there is an association between child food insecurity and other factors which impact children’s ability to learn, such as their behaviour. However, the current provision still has gaps for children and families to fall through, there is evidence that there are fewer children registered for FSM than those who are in poverty, indicating that there is possible under-registration for FSM, and limiting its impact.

Discussions around FSM are usually framed around these terms – seeing it as a way to fight against poverty, support child nutrition, and improve pupil attainment. However, there is one aspect of the impact of FSM that is missing from the debate: seeing FSM as a workforce investment. That needs to change as the long-term effects go far beyond childhood. Providing nutritious meals in schools isn’t just a welfare win – it’s a strategy for improving educational outcomes, boosting productivity, and supporting labour market participation.

Laying the foundations: FSM as a catalyst for children's learning and the link to employability

Nutrition fuels focus and attendance – both essential for learning, and in the long run, employability. Studies have long linked food insecurity to poor concentration, classroom behaviour, and long-term attainment gaps. The EEF trial of Magic Breakfast, for example, demonstrated that providing healthy breakfasts to children resulted in additional progress in Key Stage 1 maths, reading and writing. Put simply, if a child is hungry during lessons, they don’t learn as much.

More recently, London’s universal FSM pilot, launched in 2023, has offered a clear model for future pilots in this space. Funded with £130 million, the initiative guaranteed a hot lunch to every primary pupil. An independent evaluation found pupils were calmer, more focussed, and more likely to attend – results known to underpin better future outcomes. Similarly, research by the University of Essex in 2024 found that FSM increased reading scores, as well as resulting in better nutrition, improved concentration and reduced childhood obesity, which are known to improve children’s attainment more broadly.

The Sutton Trust has consistently shown that early disadvantage progresses from missed learning to restricted access to employment. Universal meals are one of the earliest points where that slide can be stopped. In this way, better outcomes in childhood could in turn support broader economic and workforce readiness goals. FSM supports educational progress, but it also strengthens families, and it’s here that the economic case deepens.

Supporting working parents: reducing the juggle and raising participation

Free school meals do more than nourish children: they also ease the pressure on working parents, especially those managing tight finances and complex caregiving responsibilities. When families no longer budget for school lunches, they can redirect spending to other essentials like energy or childcare. Government estimates suggest a saving of £500 per child per year; in London’s pilot, households saved over £1,000 – with a third reporting lower household debt. Outside the household, modelling forecasts a £16 billion economic boost over two decades through job creation in school food supply chains.

But FSM also eases the daily domestic load. Packed lunches may seem minor, but they’re another unpaid care task, often falling to mothers and often invisible to policymakers. Nobel laureate Claudia Goldin’s research, as highlighted by our colleague Meenakshi, shows caregiving responsibilities contribute to persistent gender inequalities in employment.

Interventions to support parents into work tend to focus on the parent, such as parental leave and tax-free childcare and both have their limitations. Research from IES finds financial strain and lack of employer confidence are key barriers to parental leave take-up, while tax-free childcare can support working hours, but only where finances and job flexibility allow. Both, therefore, can have more limited impacts for parents already disadvantaged in the labour market. FSM can offer an alternative approach to supporting disadvantaged parents into work: through a reliable, child-centred intervention.

Household stability supports stronger workforce participation and job retention. We know that working parents are significantly impacted by burnout, debt or stress – all of which affect employment, especially for low-income parents. At its core, when parents are less burdened at home, they’re better able to thrive at work.

Wrapping it all up for National Employability Week

As National Employability Week focuses on readiness and opportunity, we should be ready to look earlier in the pipeline, to where stability and success begin. FSM may not look like a workforce policy, but its impact ripples outward: children learn better, parents work more securely, and communities benefit.

Feeding children during the school day isn’t just a moral imperative then, it’s an economic strategy. Let’s stop treating free school meals as a welfare bolt-on and let’s view them instead as a pragmatic, cost-effective way to support families and future life chances.

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Any views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Institute as a whole.