New figures show that children in Bury are more likely to receive free school meals than five years ago.

The Children’s Society warned that the Covid-19 pandemic has caused "long-term, devastating consequences" for low-income families as more children are relying on free school meals nationally.

Data from the Department of Education shows that by the end of the 2020-21 school year, 57 per cent of Bury's children in need were eligible for free school meals, up from 47 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.

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

The pandemic coincided with a small increase in children needing free school meals in Bury as between the end of 2019-20 and 2020-21 academic years, two per cent more children became eligible for them.

Free school meals are available for children whose parents are on benefits or who earn less than £7,400.

An increase of children on free school meals can be an indicator of declining living standards.

In the last school year, England saw the largest increase in eligibility among children in need since 2016-17, when the figures were first recorded, of six per cent.

Across the country, 57 per cent of children in this category were eligible for free school meals at the end of 2020-21, up from 45 per cent in 2016-17.

This compares to 21 per cent among the overall pupil population, up from 14 per cent in 2017. In Bury, 21 per cent of all pupils were on free school meals, compared to 15 per cent in 2017.

Azmina Siddique, policy and impact Manager at charity The Children's Society, said that the pandemic has been devastating for low-income families.

She added: “While some year-on-year increase in the numbers of people qualifying can be put down to certain protections in the system as Universal Credit is fully rolled out, it is also likely the increase in free school meal uptake is due to growing need.

“Free school meals provide vital help to families – saving them over £400 per child each year – but too many families simply don’t qualify, meaning hundreds of thousands of children are missing out.”

A report from the Child Poverty Action Group charity published a report last year that 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.”