For a variety of reasons, children do not always live and go to school in the same local authority area. However, where pupils attend school out of borough, the information required to assess their Free School Meals (FSM) eligibility is not automatically transferred between boroughs.

LOTI has therefore facilitated a pilot data sharing project working with four neighbouring boroughs (Lambeth, Lewisham, Southwark, Wandsworth) to address this challenge.

Purpose

Local authorities have begun to adopt auto-enrolment approaches to free school meal uptake. However, currently, the only households boroughs can identify as eligible through this process are children who live AND go to school in their local authority area. This is because the school borough maintains the school census data, but the home borough has the relevant household data.

This project was designed to address the cohort of potentially eligible households that may be slipping through the cracks.

Impact to-date and Next Steps

During the pilot, across the four participating boroughs, upwards of 300 additional pupils who attend out-of-borough schools have been identified through this approach.

There is a clear use case for expanding this approach across more London boroughs. LOTI is currently exploring plans to roll this out more widely. For any London boroughs interested in taking part, please get in contact via email at contact@loti.london.