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The Association of Colleges (AoC) has launched a new campaign in a bid to ensure that 16 to 18-year-olds from a disadvantaged background at colleges have a free lunch.

The campaign focuses on the fact that if a disadvantaged student attends a maintained school sixth form, free school, university technical college, city technology college, or an academy, they are provided with a free school meal.

But if the same student chooses to study at a college they lose that entitlement - due to a funding anomaly.

The campaign is being backed by Labour MP Angela Smith, who is calling for a Westminster Hall Debate on the subject which calls on the Government to end the disparity and change the way students are funded based on their education choices.

She said: "Many parts of the country, like my constituency in South Yorkshire, face serious economic pressures, especially when compared with wealthier areas such as the south east.

“This economic disparity is a problem particularly felt in areas of greater disadvantage. This is a very real issue that will affect many young people and their families in my region.

"There are three times the number of students who are entitled to this provision studying in colleges compared to those in school sixth forms.

“For them to be denied access to free school meals merely due to their decision to study in a college is patently unfair. I hope to bring this issue to the attention of my fellow MPs and rally their support in overturning such a discrepancy."

The AoC estimates that every year more than 100,000 students in English colleges miss out on a free lunch - unlike their counterparts in school.

It has now launched a national campaign to end this what it calls an ‘unfair and discriminatory practice which is a bar to social mobility’.

The impact of the disparity is keenly felt in Greater London, the north of England and the West Midlands.

Former principal of John Leggott College in North Lincolnshire, Nic Dakin MP, (Scunthorpe), said: "I know from my experience as a sixth form college principal that students who miss lunch find it difficult to focus and concentrate properly. This affects their studies.

"For them to have to skip lunch because they simply can't afford a decent meal makes a travesty of this Government's commitment to social mobility.

"This is why I have repeatedly raised the unfair treatment of students attending colleges compared to those attending schools. Students should be able to get free meals wherever they choose to study post-16."

The AoC estimates that removing this inequality and extending the provision of free lunches to eligible college students will cost the Government £38 million - just 1p in every £14 spent by the Department.