What are the main findings to come out of the study?
I looked at ways to increase take-up of free school meals (FSMs). I was surprised to see that when school dinners were made available free to all children aged five to eight in five areas of Scotland in 2007, the biggest drop in non-participation was among the group already registered for FSMs, who weren't being targeted by this scheme.
I thought this could be because these children no longer needed to reveal their low-income status. However, I also found this rise in take-up for schools with anonymised or cashless payment for school meals, where this concern shouldn't matter. I show that take-up of FSMs rose because take-up rose among the unregistered group. This applies throughout Scotland. In a typical school a 10 percentage point rise in peer group take-up would reduce non-participation by almost a quarter.
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