New analysis indicates 10,000 children in the North East are living in poverty but are ineligible for free school meals according to a regional charity.

The Child Poverty Action Group is calling on the Government to overhaul the system and eliminate means-testing from school meal provision.

They also suggest an immediate auto-enrolment system to ensure no child entitled to free meals is overlooked due to paperwork.

Currently, only infants are guaranteed free school meals in England. CPAG attributes this to the "restrictive and outdated" eligibility criteria.

For children in Year 3 and above, eligibility is limited to those from households on universal credit with an income below £7,400 per year, this has remained unchanged since 2018, despite inflation.

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Kate Anstey, head of education at CPAG, said: "It’s hard to focus on your times tables when you’re hungry at school.

"But in every corner of the North East kids are going without the food they need because the qualifying threshold for free school meals is out of date and much too restrictive.

"In line with its mission to tackle child poverty and improve children’s well-being, the Government must urgently make free school meals available to every child that needs them and work towards removing means-testing entirely from the dining hall.

"This would take some financial pressure off struggling families and give them peace of mind, while helping to ensure that every child has what they need to make the most of school.

"We should be giving children the nourishment they need to succeed, not settling for what they can get by on."

Some areas of England, including London, York, and Stockport, have expanded provision, creating what CPAG describes as a "postcode lottery" that exacerbates regional inequalities, but the government says that it provides an Eligibility Checking System to make claiming free school meals as easy as possible.

The charity is urging local leaders to expand access to free school meals and to support national efforts to make them available to every child in need.

A government spokesperson said: “This government has a clear mission to break down barriers to opportunity and remove the stain of child poverty from our country.

"As part of this, one of our first priorities is on delivering free breakfast clubs in every primary school to make sure children start the day ready to learn.

“We have launched a child poverty taskforce co-chaired by the Education Secretary and Work and Pensions Secretary, looking at longer-term actions to increase household income, bring down essential costs, and tackle the challenges felt by those living in poverty.

“We will leave no stone unturned in our work to ensure no child is left hungry, cold or has their future held back.”