All pupils in primary one to five in Scotland, and all children in special schools, currently receive free school meals. However, for older pupils many families are struggling to pay for school meals and debts with local authorities have mounted.

The Scottish Government has released £1.5million funding to councils to relieve them of the impact of the debt. It also plans to extend free school meals to all pupils in primary 6 and 7 whose families receive the Scottish Child Payment in 24/25 as the next step towards universal provision in primary schools.

First Minister of Scotland John Swinney said:

“School meal debt can have a real impact on the wellbeing of families and can serve to stigmatise children whose families are going through challenging times.  Local authorities can now bid to receive funding from a one-off Scottish Government fund which will support them to remove the impact of school meal debt.

“As a result of a decade and a half of austerity and a cost of living crisis caused by the UK Government, too many families are struggling to make ends meet – and my government will take all the action we can to support them.

“I am determined that we support our children to have the best start in life – that is why we are expanding free school meal provision to ensure every pupil can have a nutritious meal at school and ensuring no child is penalised simply because their family is struggling.”

COSLA the organisation which represents Local Authorities in Scotland has highlighted the underfunding of local government by the Scottish Government. The Accounts Commission report on the budgets set by councils for 2024/25 shows that Scotland’s councils faced a collective gap of over half a billion pounds (£585 million) between the money needed to deliver services and the money available when setting their budgets this year.

 COSLA’s Resources Spokesperson Councillor Katie Hagmann said:  

“The Accounts Commission’s report on the budgets set by councils for 2024/25 reinforces what we have been saying about Council finances and the severe challenges Scotland’s Councils face in trying to balance the books and deliver essential front-line services.

“It is vitally important that these concerns, which have been consistently raised by COSLA Leaders and are now backed up by evidence presented by the Accounts Commission, are acted upon for the sake of Scotland’s public services and our communities who rely upon them.

“Now is the time to take real action.

“The reality right now for Councils has never been more challenging.  The effect of years of real-terms cuts to core budgets have been compounded by additional policy commitments and less flexibility in how we allocate increasingly directed budgets. This makes the ability to take local decisions on most of our budget, almost impossible.

“We must seek a sustainable solution to these long-term issues in order to protect the essential front-line service of our communities before it is too late.”

Local authorities who apply for support from the Scottish Government will receive funding to clear school meal debt accrued to 31 March 2024. It is for local authorities to determine whether to apply for subsidy and only those who do apply will receive support.