MPs to vote on large adjustments to maintain youngsters protected and make dad and mom higher off

MPs are set to vote through a landmark series of measures to keep children safe and make life less costly for parents.

The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools bill, which returns to the Commons on Thursday, includes several major reforms – including giving parents the legal right to school breakfast clubs, which could save families as much as £450 a year.

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson told the Sunday Mirror the bill “puts money back into the pockets of hard working parents and drives through the change this government was elected to deliver.”

The bill also includes measures to cap the number of branded school uniform items pupils are required to own.

The new cap of three items will give parents the freedom to shop around for uniforms and save money on their kids’ clothes.

And the bill will kickstart a major reform of the children’s social care system – which Labour say has been “neglected” for years.

The Government say its new plan will “help keep families together wherever possible, and crack down on profiteering by unscrupulous private providers.”

Ms Phillipson said: “My driving force is our mission to break the link between a child’s background and the chances they have to get on in life.

“The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill is a truly landmark moment that delivers on our Plan for Change.

“It protects our most vulnerable children, shines a light on those who would otherwise be hidden away, puts high and rising standards front and centre and cements every child’s chance of going to a good, local school.”

Some MPs have been pressuring ministers to overhaul free school meals provision in the bill.

Liberal Democrat MP Munira Wilson said she would seek to amend the bill change the rules to cover the estimated 900,000 children living in poverty who miss out on a free lunch.

She also wants MPs to look at auto-enrolment for the scheme, so eligible families don’t lose out.

There is support among Labour MPs for widening free school meals provision, which has been piloted in London by Sadiq Khan and rolled out in Labour-run Wales.

But the Government has resisted changing the rules and instead put its focus on rolling out free breakfast clubs in all primary schools.