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An additional 500,000 children are to get free school meals in a move that will save parents £500 and ensure more pupils enjoy a hot meal. announced that entitlement to a free dinner will be extended to in every family receiving Universal Credit.

At the moment, free meals are only available to children from families with a total household income of less than £7,400 per year. But the new and more generous rules will extend eligibility to 500,000 more youngsters. Families that benefit from the change are expected to save £500 every year on average.

Ms Phillipson said: "It is the moral mission of this government to tackle the stain of child poverty, and today this government takes a giant step towards ending it with targeted support that puts money back in parents' pockets.

"From free school meals to free breakfast clubs, breaking the cycle of child poverty is at the heart of our Plan for Change to cut the unfair link between background and success.

"We believe that background shouldn't mean destiny. Today's historic step will help us to deliver excellence everywhere, for every child and give more young people the chance to get on in life."

The Government is also offering more than £13million in funding to 12 food charities across England to redistribute thousands of tonnes of fresh produce that would otherwise go to waste directly from farms to people in need.

The Tackling Food Surplus at the Farm Gate scheme is helping farms and organisations ensure edible food that might have been left in fields instead ends up on the plates of those who need it, including schoolchildren.

Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall said: "By expanding free school meals to all families on Universal Credit, we're ending the impossible choice thousands of our hardest-grafting families must make between paying bills and feeding their children."

The Government is also working with experts to draw up new school food standards in an effort to ensure every school offers healthy food.

This new entitlement will apply to children in all settings where free school meals are currently delivered, including schools, school-based nurseries and further education settings.

Schools and local authorities will continue to receive pupil premium and home-to-school transport extended rights funding based on the existing free school meals threshold.