Children in blue school uniforms eating lunch

Child poverty

The NEU’s No Child Left Behind campaign is fighting to break down the barriers poverty puts up around education.

Join the campaign

In the UK today, 31 per cent of our children – 4.5 million – are trapped in poverty. That means nine pupils in an average class of 30 have been let down.

Wealth is a significant predictor of how well children get on in school. By GCSE level, poorer pupils attain on average 19 months behind their wealthier peers. We also know that some children are more likely to be affected by poverty than others, such as Black children and those with SEND.

This cannot be right, which is why we are campaigning for an education system where every child can thrive, and no child is left behind.

Free School Meals for All

Campaign win!

Thank you to all our members who have been tirelessly calling for #FreeSchoolMealsForAll!

The government’s recent announcement that free school meal (FSM) eligibility will be expanded to include all children growing up in families who receive Universal Credit will ensure more than half a million children no longer go hungry in schools.

This historic expansion wouldn’t have been possible without the dedication of teachers, school leaders and support staff who continue to fight to ensure no child is left behind.

The existing threshold had been unchanged since 2018, meaning hundreds of thousands of children in poverty were missing out on the nutrition they need to thrive. This positive move, along with the government’s breakfast programme, will ensure far fewer empty bellies in classrooms. 

NEU members have long called for government to take direct action to ensure that no child is left behind – and their voices have been heard.

Join our Free School Meals for All campaign and add your voice to the growing call that no child is left behind. 

NCLB 10 Downing street thank you

Every child should have the basics to thrive. Pupils took that message to 10 DowningStreet

The government’s Child Poverty Strategy

The government has established a Child Poverty Taskforce to write a cross-government Child Poverty Strategy to reduce and alleviate child poverty in the UK. The NEU welcomes the government’s commitment and has worked with Child Poverty Action Group to develop a set of recommendations for the Taskforce to implement. 

Our recommendations are organised into three categories: increasing family incomes, alleviating income-related inequalities in education, and removing barriers to education and reducing the cost of the school day.

  1. The Child Poverty Strategy’s priority must be to increase families’ incomes. To make any headway in reducing child poverty, the Government must scrap the two-child limit and benefit cap. This will lift hundreds of thousands of children out of poverty overnight.
  2. To support children in school, the Government needs to alleviate income-related inequalities, starting by investing in free school meals for all. Primary school staff in London and Wales already see the many benefits of providing every child with a delicious and nutritious school meal – why should children in England miss out? Universal free school meals boost health, learning, behaviour, lifetime incomes and the economy.
  3. To ensure all children can get the most out of school, the Government must remove barriers to education and reduce the cost of the school day. Uniforms are parents’ biggest school cost worry, with families forking out hundreds of pounds per year. The Government must tighten the uniform guidance to limit the costs of uniforms, and grants should be available for families who are struggling to buy uniforms.
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Turning the page on poverty

A practical guide for members to develop individual practice and tackle the impact of poverty on pupil learning throughout the school day.

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