Business
Devon to see 1,300 more children get free school meals
Miles DavisDevon political reporter
PA MediaAbout 1,300 children in Devon are now getting free school meals who were not previously entitled to them.
Devon County Council and Torbay Council have changed the rules so families who are entitled to free school meals automatically get them without having to apply.
The increase in the number of children who are eligible also brings with it extra “pupil premium” funding that can be used to provide additional support for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Cornwall Council agreed to introduce the same scheme from September 2026 and said it believed it could affect about 1,800 children, while Plymouth City Council said it was also looking into the possibility of making the change.

The percentage of children receiving free school meals in the Devon County Council area has risen steadily from 9.6% in 2016/17 to just under 20% by 2023/24.
At the moment, a household must earn less than £7,400 a year to qualify for free school meals.
Devon County Council said it was the first county council in the country to introduce auto-enrolment for pupils whose family income made them entitled.
The council said there were now about 21,065 pupils receiving free school meals, with an increase of about 1,065 due to auto-enrolment.
‘Unfair link’
The leader of Devon County Council, Liberal Democrat Julian Brazil, said the application process for free school meals had been “a barrier” to some families.
He said: “This is one of those initiatives that makes absolute sense – it’s good for pupils and it’s good for schools.”
The changes have also meant that schools in the Devon County Council area will receive an additional £1.5m, with an extra £1,515 per primary pupil and £1,075 per secondary pupil on free school meals.
Moira Marder is chief executive of the Ted Wragg Trust, which has 18 schools across Devon.
She said: “The additional pupil premium funding unlocked by this policy will enable us to offer more targeted interventions and extra support to these students, moving one step closer to breaking the unfair link between disadvantage, opportunity and outcomes.”
According to research carried out by the charity End Child Poverty in conjunction with Loughborough University, 27% of children in the south-west of England were living in poverty in 2023/24.
That figure was highest in the Plymouth Sutton and Devonport area – at 35% of children – and at 32% in Torbay.

Sonia Duggan, who works for the charity Action for Children in Paignton, welcomed more childen getting free school meals but said many families were still struggling to feed themselves.
She said: “The auto-enrolment is great. However, it’s not going to touch the surface for some of our families.
“Our families are living in poverty. Everything has increased – all their bills, fuel costs, their food, everything.
“We have families that are working, that cannot afford to feed their children.”
Business
Without Rera data, real estate reform risks losing credibility: Homebuyers’ body – The Times of India
New Delhi: More than 75% of state real estate regulators, Reras, have either never published annual reports, discontinued their publication or not updated them despite statutory obligation and directions from the housing and urban affairs ministry, claimed homebuyers’ body FPCE on Friday. It released status report of 21 Reras as of Feb 13.The availability of updated annual reports is crucial as these contain details of data on performance of Reras, including project completion status categorised by timely completion, completion with extensions, and incomplete projects. The ministry’s format for publishing these reports also specifies providing details such as actual execution status of refund, possession and compensation orders as well as recovery warrant execution details with values and list of defaulting builders.FPCE said annual report data is not only vital for homebuyers to assess system credibility, but is equally necessary for both state and central govts to frame effective policies, design incentivisation schemes, and develop tax policy frameworks.“Unless we have credible data proving that after Rera the real estate sector has improved in terms of delivery, fairness, and keeping its promises, we are merely firing in the air,” said FPCE president Abhay Upadhyay, who is also a member of the govt’s Central Advisory Council on Rera.As per details shared by the entity, seven states — Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Goa — have never published a single annual report since Rera’s implementation, and nine states, including Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Telangana, which initially published reports, have discontinued the practice.Upadhyay said when regulators themselves don’t follow the law, they lose the legal right to demand compliance from other stakeholders. “Their failure emboldens builders and weakens the very system they are meant to safeguard,” he said.
Business
Infosys Rolls Out 85% Average Performance Bonus In Q3FY26, Best In Over 3 Years
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Over recent quarters, payouts had gradually improved from roughly 65 percent to 80 percent and now to an average of about 85 percent in Q3FY26.

Infosys logo is seen.
IT major Infosys rolled out performance bonus payouts averaging around 85 percent for the quarter ended December 31, 2025 (Q3FY26), marking the strongest variable pay outcome for eligible employees in at least the past three-and-a-half years, Moneycontrol reported citing people in the know.
The bonus payout for mid- to junior-level employees ranges between 75 percent and 100 percent, with most employees clustering around the organisation-wide average of 85 percent, the report said. The development signals a steady recovery in variable compensation at the Bengaluru-headquartered IT services firm. Over recent quarters, payouts had gradually improved from roughly 65 percent to 80 percent and now to an average of about 85 percent in Q3FY26.
Employees are expected to receive their bonus letters over the next few days, with the payout scheduled to be credited along with their February salary.
One employee told the outlet that it is the strongest bonus outcome seen in recent years. The payout is also among the rare instances since the Covid-19 period when variable pay has approached the upper end of the eligible range.
Infosys last paid out 100 percent variable compensation during the pandemic. In the quarters that followed, payouts were lower amid macroeconomic uncertainty and a broader slowdown in client spending across global markets.
The higher payout comes at a time when global IT stocks have faced renewed pressure, driven by concerns over rapid advances in artificial intelligence and their potential impact on traditional IT services models.
Shares of global IT firms have seen sharp sell-offs in recent weeks amid heightened investor focus on AI leaders such as Anthropic. Investors fear that generative AI tools could compress pricing, automate routine services work and reduce demand for legacy outsourcing models.
Against that backdrop, the improved bonus payout at Infosys is being viewed as a signal of operational resilience and near-term performance strength, even as sentiment around the broader IT sector remains cautious.
February 13, 2026, 21:44 IST
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