Tēnā koutou kātoa
This special issue of the Healthy School Lunches pānui is to share positive budget-related news about the programme announced by the Minister earlier today.
In October 2025, Cabinet confirmed that the key objective of the Healthy School Lunches programme is to mitigate the impact of food insecurity in school by providing free and nutritious lunches to students who need the most support.
Since the cost-efficient model was introduced in 2025, over 48 million meals have been delivered to over 200,000 students at over 1000 schools and kura across the country, with more students in eligible schools added to the programme each year.
I hope today’s announcement that budget for school lunches has been secured for another 12 months is good news for you, your students, and school community.
Nāku noa, nā
Andrew Gibson
General Manager– Strategic Programmes
Te Tāhuhu o te Mātauranga | Ministry of Education
Pre-budget announcement#
Associate Education Minister David Seymour today announced Budget 2026 will provide $212.4m (plus capital costs) of funding for the Healthy School Lunches and ECE Food programmes to continue in 2027.
Funding will also go towards finding how to best understand who should get a taxpayer-funded lunch, and pilot various ways to get lunches to children and young persons in need, no matter what school they attend.
Healthy School Lunches funding update#
Extension of agreements for 2027#
With budget funding confirmed, we will shortly begin discussions to offer extensions to current agreements with all suppliers and meal providers in the Healthy School Lunches programme. This includes external suppliers, iwi/hapū partners, internal model schools, and providers to specialist schools.
This will include strengthening service levels and aligning requirements in agreements to recent updates across the programme. The Ministry plans to contact all current suppliers and meal providers over the next month and is aiming to have 2027 agreements finalised by the end of August 2026.
Schools will remain under their current delivery model to support sustainability and avoid disruption across the programme.
Future years of the programme#
We are aware that there are students experiencing food insecurity who attend schools that are currently not eligible for the programme. Budget 2026 includes funding to find students experiencing material hardship and explore innovative model options able to deliver a free lunch, no matter what school they attend around New Zealand.
We will shortly release a Request for Innovation (RFI) to seek market involvement as well as continue discussion with providers that have already presented relevant proposals. Selected approaches may be piloted to test them with students and in the school environment.
Mōhiohio anō
