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The UK government has announced that 500,000 additional children will receive a free school lunch following a major expansion in the program that provides it.

Previously, the free meal was available only to students who come from the lowest of low-income households. Following the expansion, most low and middle-class citizens will be able to qualify, and the government says it will lift 100,000 students out of poverty from the cost savings which will amount to around £500 per month, corresponding to nearly $700.

Despite having a ceiling of £7,400-per year for eligibility, last year an estimated 2.1 million students received a free school meal.

A rather arbitrary cut-off point, someone making £8,000 per year hardly possesses greater means to pay for the school meal than someone making below the cutoff point.

Under the new plan, any students from households on the UK’s universal credit will be eligible to receive one free meal a day. The universal credit replaced a number of British welfare programs, and provides a monthly cost of living assistance handout to people living in a variety of situations with a net worth of less than $20,000.

Set to begin at the outset of the 2026 scholastic year, the new expansion will also address food quality, and will be fully, rather than partially funded, to ensure there’s no delay in getting the expansion moving.

“Today’s historic step will help us to deliver excellence everywhere, for every child and give more young people the chance to get on in life,” the UK’s education secretary Bridget Phillipson said, adding “background shouldn’t mean destiny.”

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The decision comes amid a record-high level of childhood poverty in one of Europe’s largest economies. The new Labor government under Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has vowed to drive down poverty levels in the UK, and the expansion of the student meal program was a part of that.

Free school lunches became a hot topic during the administration of Boris Johnson, when the young black Manchester United star Marcus Rashford decided to criticize Johnson for reducing the size of the free school lunch program.

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While some sport pundits believed Rashford’s aim was noble, they also felt he should focus on his soccer. But he persevered and the government relented. Through this and his work with hunger charities in the city of Manchester, he was presented with an MBE, the British order of merit below a knighthood, for his advocacy work on behalf of England’s poorest students.

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