Free school meals data

Courtesy of London Councils, data on eligibility and take-up of free school meals in London:

London borough - % taking free school meals - % eligible for free meals
Tower Hamlets - 43% - 52%
Hammersmith and Fulham - 38% - 43%
Islington - 35% - 42%
Camden - 33% - 43%
Hackney - 33% - 39%
Westminster - 33% - 36%
Kensington and Chelsea - 32% - 39%
Lambeth - 32% - 37%
Southwark - 28% - 34%
Haringey - 28% - 33%
Newham - 28% - 33%
Greenwich - 26% - 33%
Wandsworth - 24% - 27%
Brent - 24% - 27%
City of London - 21% - 24%
London average - 21% - 26%
Enfield - 21% - 25%
Lewisham - 21% - 28%
Barking and Dagenham - 20% - 24%
Waltham Forest - 20% - 24%
Ealing - 19% - 24%
Hounslow - 19% - 22%
Croydon - 17% - 21%
Barnet - 16% - 20%
Harrow - 15% - 17%
Redbridge - 14% - 18%
Hillingdon - 13% - 18%
Sutton - 10% - 13%
Bromley - 10% - 12%
Merton - 10% - 12%
Havering - 8% - 11%
Bexley - 8% - 10%
Richmond upon Thames - 7% - 9%
Kingston upon Thames - 6% - 7%

To qualify for free school meals if their parents receive the following support payments:
Income Support (IS);
Income Based Jobseekers Allowance (IBJSA);
Support under part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999; or
Child Tax Credit, provided they do not also receive Working Tax Credit and have an annual income, as assessed by the Inland Revenue that does not exceed £14,155.

Some reactions to the raw numbers:

- Levels of poverty in London are unacceptable - yet elsewhere in the country many people think of London as a wealthy city. The average entitlement to free school meals in England is 16%. In London it's 26%. In Inner London 37%.
- The distribution illustrates some really grossly socially and economically polarised boroughs - Camden, Islington, Kensington & Chelsea, Hammersmith & Fulham, Westminister all have high numbers of the poorest parents living alongside considerable affluence.
- There's a disturbing gap between eligibility and take-up - particularly in the poorest boroughs.