Claims by a charity that thousands of children will be denied free school meals across Cheshire are untrue, Esther McVey said.

The Tatton MP and Work and Pensions Secretary said numbers of children receiving free school meals will actually increase under the government changes.

Charities and campaigners are claiming welfare reforms means that up to a million children nationwide will be denied eligibility for free lunches, including 16,500 in Cheshire.

Ms McVey said: “No child that currently receives meals will have them stopped. This is nothing more than scaremongering. Under the changes we will have a fairly targeted system to ensure more children benefit from free school meals. 

“Claims by the Children’s Society’s campaign are misinformed.  Nobody currently receiving free school meals will lose their entitlement when moving onto Universal Credit. Rather, the Government estimates that by 2022, around 50,000 more children will benefit from free school meals compared to the previous benefits system.”

During the start of Universal Credit rollout any family in receipt of any payment was eligible for free school meals. Subsequent changes to the scheme will see children qualify if their parents earn less than £7,400, which with Universal Credit benefit means their household income is £18- 24,000. 

Ms McVey said: “We have exempted all children who are currently in an area where Universal Credit has been rolled out and gets a meal. They will not be subjected to changes and therefore no child will lose meals due to the change.”

The Labour Party has been putting out this misinformation, which has been rebuked by C4 News Factcheck. Scan the QR Code with your SmartPhone to find the link to the channel 4 factcheck website.

https://www.channel4.com/news/factcheck/factcheck-labour-arent-telling-…​​​​​​​