Free school meal uptake

The uptake rate of free school meals represents the average proportion of free school meal registered pupils in attendance at school that take a school meal over the financial year. The uptake rate of free school meals across all sectors was 70.7% in 2024-25, meaning an average of 70.7% of the pupils that were registered for free school meals took a meal each school day over the course of the financial year. The uptake rate of free meals was up from 67.7% in 2023-24 and 64.3% in 2022-23. The largest increase between 2023-24 and 2024-25 was in secondary schools (51.9% to 55.5%), with a slightly smaller increase in primary schools (70.4% to 73.5%). The uptake rate in special schools increased from 63.8% in 2023-24 to 64.8% in 2024-25.

Statistics on free school meal uptake using the current methodology haven’t been produced for the period prior to 2021-22 as the necessary attendance data for free school meal pupils is not available. However, statistics from the Healthy Living Survey series show that prior to the COVID-19 pandemic there was a long-term general decline in uptake of free school meals in primary and secondary schools. Furthermore, there was a pronounced decrease in meal uptake in all sectors in the 2022 Healthy Living Survey which likely reflected changes in habits because of the pandemic. However, the statistics presented here for recent years shown signs of a reversal of this decline in primary and secondary.

Figure 1 Free school meal uptake increased in primary, secondary and special schools

Percentage uptake of free school meals, Scotland, 2021-22 to 2024-25

Figure 2 Free school meal uptake increased in primary, secondary and special schools

Percentage uptake of free school meals, Scotland, 2021-22 to 2024-25 (as used in Figure 1)