More than 90,000 children living in poverty in the South West will miss out on free school meals under universal credit proposals, new estimates from The Children’s Society claim.

As universal credit has been rolling out, all families in receipt of the new benefit have been automatically entitled to free school meals.

However, the government is planning to introduce means testing for free school meals under universal credit, which The Children’s Society warns will fail to reach around 90,000 children in poverty in the South West and will create a ‘cliff-edge’ where many families would be better off taking a pay cut.?Figures from The Children’s Society show that once a family with one child passes the £7,400 threshold, they would need to earn £1,124 a year more, the equivalent of working 2.4 hours more each week at national living wage, to make up for the loss in free school meals.A Department for Education spokesperson said: “The fact is over 50,000 more children will be entitled to Free School Meals through our eligibility proposals following the rollout of Universal Credit. It’s right that we make sure this support reaches children from the most disadvantaged families and we’re consulting on this issue to make sure that’s the case.”