The government is redesigning its system for checking free school meals eligibility to allow parents and schools to use it independently of local councils. Early education minister Stephen Morgan made the announcement at a committee hearing on Tuesday where the government鈥檚 children鈥檚 wellbeing and schools bill was debated. Backbench MPs had tried to amend the bill to introduce automatic enrolment across the country, amid fears the opt-in system currently used is excluding around 250,000 eligible children. At present, the government鈥檚 鈥渁pply for free school meals鈥� service simply points users to their local council鈥檚 website. Councils then have access to a digital portal to check their eligibility based on the benefits their families claim. But Morgan said 鈥渢hat checking system is being redesigned to allow parents and schools to check eligibility independently of their local authorities. 鈥淭he system will make it quicker and easier to check eligibility for free school meals, and has the potential to further boost take-up by families who meet the eligibility criteria.鈥� Some councils have already introduced auto-enrolment, whereby eligible children are offered meals unless their families specifically opt out. Schools Week聽revealed in 2023 that in Lewisham, south-east London, this led to increased pupil premium funding of 拢1.2 million. Implementing the system had cost just 拢800. Morgan told the committee he was 鈥渁ware of a range of measures being implemented by local authorities to boost the take-up of free lunches, as we heard earlier. 鈥淟ocally-led efforts are more likely to meet the particular needs of the community, and we welcome local authorities taking action to ensure that families access the support for which they are eligible, subject to those activities meeting legal requirements, including those on data protection.鈥� But he said the Department for Education was 鈥渨orking with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology to explore legal gateways that could enable better data sharing鈥�. And the government was 鈥渃onsidering further work to improve auto-enrolment鈥�. He added: 鈥淚mproved enrolment for meals is needed in the context of the spending review and through the work of the child poverty taskforce.鈥� The DfE was approached for more information on what this would entail, but did not respond.