The GLA does not routinely collect data on the take-up of meals offered through the London UFSM scheme. This is due to the complex and variable nature of measuring meal take-up across schools, and the burden that a monitoring requirement could put on schools. Instead, take-up is understood using alternative sources – including data from Arbor, a management information system (MIS) provider.
Arbor provides its MIS to over 12,500 schools nationally, including nearly 10,000 primary schools. Arbor offered to provide data in kind from the schools it supports in London. This gives a picture of the uptake of the Mayor's Universal Free School Meals (UFSM) programme across London and how it may differ between areas, and groups of pupils.
The documents below outline the GLA City Intelligence Unit's analysis of the Arbor data sample. The latest publication covers the 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years, while the earlier publication covers 2023/24 only. They present uptake and trends by:
- Year group
- Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) status
- Ethnicity
- Religion
Licence
