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Khan, who received free school meals as a child, has stepped forward with an emergency £135m to help 270,000 primary schoolchildren in London receive free school meals from September 2023. The scheme is expected to save families an average of £440 per child across the year.

The latest polling from YouGov Plc shows that around one in six parents (16%) of children between five and 11-years-old are going without essentials, including food, electricity or gas, with more than one in three (36%) buying less food and essentials.

Currently children in years three to six only receive free school meals if they live in households on universal credit earning less than £7,400 a year - after tax and not including benefits, and regardless of the number of children in the family.

Boroughs are set to receive £2.65 per meal in funding, which is higher than the amount they currently receive from Government. The Government has recently increased its funding to £2.53 per meal following the Mayor’s unprecedented intervention.

Following his announcement earlier this year, the Mayor has set aside an additional £5m of funding to act as a contingency for any extraordinary costs associated with the delivery of the meals.

Khan said: “It is truly shocking that so many families across the capital are struggling to feed themselves as they deal with the escalating cost of living crisis. It simply cannot be right that in a city as prosperous as ours around one in six parents are going without essentials to get by. I’m determined to do all I can to help and know from personal experience what a lifeline free school meals can be.

“That is why I stepped forward with this unprecedented funding to provide hundreds of thousands of primary schoolchildren with free schools meals. By ensuring children don’t go hungry in the classroom and helping their families, we can build a better and more prosperous city for all Londoners.”

Khan visited Stroud Green Primary on Thursday 13th July to see the preparations taking place ahead of the free school meals starting after the summer holidays.

Lucy Walker-Collins, headteacher at Stroud Green Primary School, added: “We are delighted that we’re able to provide free school meals to all children in our school for the next academic year. It will make a big difference to the children to receive these meals each day and be a huge support to their parents and guardians.”