Families can save up to £1,200 a year in push to end back-to-school squeeze on budgets

Families can save up to £1,200 a year in push to end back-to-school squeeze on budgets Education Secretary Lucy Powell said 'no parent should be lying awake at night worrying about uniform costs or breakfast when help is available' as she touted new measures Parents are being urged to check if they qualify for hundreds of pounds of cost-saving help to ease the back-to-school squeeze on family budgets. From Tuesday, some 3 million children will be eligible for free school meals as all families receiving Universal Credit will now qualify. The landmark shift, announced last year, came as a victory for The Mirror's campaign to ensure no child is too hungry to learn. New rules are also coming into force which set a maximum of three branded uniform items per child to stop parents being forced to shell out for vast amounts of pricey kit. Some 1,400 new free Breakfast Clubs will open their doors this month, to help children start the school day with a healthy meal, while saving parents money on childcare before school. There will be 9,000 more childcare places delivered, with around 450 new or expanded school-based nurseries. The measures can save families up to £1,200 a year, according to the Department for Education. This includes up to £654 per child per year from free breakfast clubs, £500 per child per year for free school meals and up to £50 savings for some families for the branded uniform cap. Writing for The Mirror, Education Secretary Lucy Powell said: "As a parent, I know that our focus is on seeing our children happy, confident and thriving at school. But too often, the pressure of household bills can distract us from that." She added: “No parent should be lying awake at night worrying about uniform costs or breakfast when help is available. I urge every family, as we head back to school and nursery, to check whether they are eligible for support.” It comes as research by Deltapoll found nearly two thirds (63%) of parents said the cost of living is the biggest pressure they face with when children go back to school. Nick Harrison, Chief Executive of social mobility charity the Sutton Trust, said: “These measures are a significant step towards taking hunger out of the classroom. Children can’t learn effectively when hungry, so these efforts will help tackle the effects of child poverty, as well as improving education outcomes for disadvantaged young people. “Giving free school meals to all families who are eligible for Universal Credit is also easier for parents to understand, so has the potential to increase take up rates. It’s not ‘job done’ on ending child poverty of course, but these collective initiatives mean a genuine improvement in the cost of living for many families around the UK.” The Mirror has been campaigning for free school meal eligibility to be extended, a move that can save parents money, improve children's health, drive up school attendance, and improve behaviour and concentration. All children in England can get free school meals until the end of Year 2 but after that they only qualify if their family gets certain benefits. Keir Starmer announced plans last year to extend the lifeline benefit to all youngsters whose families claim Universal Credit from September 2026, scrapping the-then earnings threshold of less than £7,400 per year.