A legal bid brought on behalf of Charedi children in Stamford Hill to get London Mayor Sadiq Khan to extend his school meals’ subsidy to independent schools has failed.

The claimants, described as members of the Yiddish-speaking, Chasidic community, had sought a judicial review to challenge the mayor’s policy.

But Mr Justice Macdonald ruled in the High Court that there was no prospect of success in the courts.

The Mayor is currently subsidising free school meals for state-aided schools in the capital from years 3 to 6 - reception to year 2 meals are already supported by the government - and has provided a top-up for Jewish state schools to allow for additional kosher costs. Jewish schools receive a contribution of £3.50 per meal.

Lawyers for the children had argued that the policy indirectly discriminated against Charedi families, since the only option for most Charedi families was to send their children to independent religious schools.

While the claimants’ schools charged fees that ranged from £2,080 to £4,056 a year, families were not required to pay fees “if they are unable to afford them” and none of the claimants’ families paid school fees, the court was told.

Lawyers argued that the Stamford Hill community was likely to “experience poverty at a greater level than families in London generally and that the community is likely to experience a higher-than-average risk of food insecurity,” the judge wrote in his summary of the case.

However, he noted that the Mayor’s scheme followed Parliament, which had decided it was “appropriate to limit state-funded free school meals to state-funded schools”.

The claimants had suggested extending the scheme to independent schools that charge fees of less than £5,000 or discretionary fees.

At the end of last year, the Mayor approved a grant of £450,000 to alleviate food insecurity within the Charedi community, the Mayor’s counsel pointed out.

The judge’s decision was published last month and revealed in the satirical Jewish publication Private Oy!