HUNDREDS of children in York are not taking free school meals despite being entitled to them – triggering the launch of a new study to find out why.

Issues such as what those children are eating instead, whether schools can be more creative in the food they offer and removing any stigma attached to free lunches are all expected to come under the remit of the study, which has been agreed by City of York Council.

It will also look into whether free school meal take-up is consistent at schools across the city. A suggestion has also been made that pupils may feel less self-conscious if teachers and staff were to eat with them in school canteens.

The latest Government figures have shown only 75.7 per cent of York’s 1,819 schoolchildren who were registered for free meals in primary, secondary and special schools have been eating them, meaning 583 were not having meals they were entitled to. The figure is below national averages, and addressing the issue has been included as one of the aims of York’s new poverty strategy, backed by The Press through its Stamp Out Poverty campaign.

The cross-party task group, which will include councillors Ruth Potter, Fiona Fitzpatrick and Jenny Brooks, could look at whether schools could offer free packed lunches instead of hot meals, and how cashless payment systems have worked at some schools. It will also study how popular York’s school meals are in general.

Mark Ellis, the council’s head of school services, said school meal prices in York were high compared with those in neighbouring local authorities and an extra 400 pupils could be eligible for free school dinners, but their parents had not registered for them.

It said: “This not only means these pupils are missing out on a free meal, but York schools are not receiving the additional funding free school meal pupils attract, currently £653 per pupil per year.

“Further research is required to determine the reasons for non take-up, but early indications suggest stigma of being on free school meals, the quality, type and variety of food being served, many parents preferring to provide a packed lunch, as well as pupils being absent from school and not taking a meal.”

The report said cashless systems meant all pupils were dealt with the same way and removed some of the stigma, but some schools were dissuaded from using them because of their cost.