VULNERABLE children in Cheshire West and East are more likely to receive free school meals than five years ago, new figures show.

Data from the Department of Education shows that by the end of the 2020-21 school year, 69 per cent of Cheshire West and Chester's children in need were eligible for free school meals – up from 47 per cent at the same point in 2016-17.

Meanwhile 60 per cent of Cheshire East's children in need were eligible for free school meals by the end of the 2020-21 school year – up from 45 per cent at the same point in 2016-17.

A child in need is defined by the Government as a child who needs support from their local authority to maintain a decent standard of development and education.

This includes children with disabilities and special educational needs, young carers, children who have committed crimes, and those with parents in prison.

Free school meals are available to children who have parents receiving benefits or are on incomes of less than £7,400 – so an increase in the number of children on free school meals can be an indicator of declining living standards.

The pandemic coincided with a large year-on-year increase in pupils needing free school meals in Cheshire West and Chester – between the end of the 2019-20 and 2020-21 academic years, eight per cent more children became eligible for them in Cheshire West, and 16 per cent in Cheshire East.

The figures cover children in need who are not in receipt of a children protection plan and are not in foster homes or adoption.

Last school year England saw the largest increase in eligibility among children in need since 2016-17.

In Cheshire West and Chester, 18 per cent of all pupils were on free school meals, compared to 11 per cent in 2017.

In Cheshire East, 14 per cent of all pupils were on free school meals, compared to eight per cent in 2017.

Some of the rise could be explained by protections on access to free school meals: since 2018, pupils eligible remain so for several years, even if their circumstances change, for instance if their parents no longer receive benefits.

Last year a report from the Child Poverty Action Group, a charity tackling child poverty, estimated that across the UK around one million children in poverty did not have access to free school meals due to high eligibility criteria.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We want to ensure every eligible child has access to free school meals, which is why we have expanded access to them more than any other Government in recent decades.”