There are fears children who receive free school meals could lose them because of changes to benefits.

Concerns have been raised that the way the Welsh government will decide who is eligible for the support will mean some will miss out.

Previously children were entitled to free school meals if they came from households that received certain benefits.

However Universal Credit aims to combine all benefits into one payment.

Last week Education Minister Kirsty Williams announced that the amount of money a family earns will decide whether a child can get the meals.

Cllr Rhys Thomas, Plaid Cymru councillor for Denbigh Lower, fears some families who do not qualify will find themselves behind on their payments and will have the council chasing them for payment.

Last month Cllr Thomas raised concerns that the draft of a new letter the council had drawn up was too harsh with officers agreeing to write another version to change the tone of their arrears letters.

He said: “We’re concerned that families who are hit by the new Universal Credit system won’t be able to afford to pay for school meals for their children.

“It will take time to work out the eligibility criteria to enable some children to receive free school meals and it’s vital that those pupils are not refused school meals in the meantime.”

But the Welsh government has argued that it will actually bring more children into the scheme.

A spokesman for the Welsh government, said: “Our most up-to-date analysis suggests around 3,000 more children will benefit from a free school meal by the time Universal Credit is fully rolled out in 2023-24 because of the threshold we are introducing.

“Alongside this, we are introducing transitional protection funding, which will mean that no child will lose their free school meals during the rollout of Universal Credit, and then until the end of their school phase.

“We have allocated an additional £12 million to support local authorities to meet the costs associated with the changes.”