THOUSANDS more children are to benefit from free meals at school through a scheme that already costs more than £40 million a year.
The Department of Education has launched a public consultation on proposed changes to eligibility criteria for free school meals (FSM) and uniform grants.
The changes are necessary due to the roll out of Universal Credit for those who are on a low income or out of work. It will be introduced in Northern Ireland on a phased geographical basis from September 2017.
The department said forecasting suggested that this should have an overall effect of increasing the numbers of pupils eligible by around 2,000.
In 2015/16, 101,000 pupils were entitled to FSM. The department provided funding of approximately £43.6m to cover the costs of school meals.
Around 98,000 pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds were entitled to uniform grants in 2015/16 and the department provided funding of approximately £5.3m.
The department said the primary aim of the proposed changes was "to ensure that those most in need can continue to access free school meals and uniform grants following the introduction of Universal Credit".
"The objectives are that the new criteria should: enable children from those families most in need to benefit; have due regard for equality of opportunity; be clear and easily understood by the public; be affordable within the available resources and likely to be sustainable in future years; and be cost-effective to administer and should facilitate the collection/use of data," teh department said.
