Free School Meals

The benefits of Free School Meals include:

• You could save more than £450 a year per child
• You save time making packed lunches
• Your child gets a healthy tasty, cooked meal
• Children achieve more when they’ve had a cooked lunch
• School gets extra funding to help children in their education (pupil premium- up to
  £1480 a year per child)

Free School Meals eligibility

Types of eligibility:

• Universal Free School Meals - Reception, Year 1 & 2
• Free School Meals – Year 3 +
• Free School Meals – No recourse to public funds

Universal Free School Meals - Reception, Year 1 & 2

The government provides funding to government-funded schools to offer free school meals to pupils in reception, year 1, and year 2 (roughly aged 4-7 years)

You can apply as soon as your child's school place in Reception has been confirmed.

Free School Meals – Year 3 +

Your child will be able to get Free School Meals if you receive any of the following:

• Universal Credit (you are eligible after you have received your first payment) Your household earnings must be less than £7,400 a year (after tax and not including any benefits you get))
• Income Support
• Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
• Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• The guaranteed element of Pension Credit
• Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• Child Tax Credit (provided you’re not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190)

A child becomes eligible for a free school meal (FSM) once their claim has been verified and approved. Verification can either be from using the Department for Education’s Eligibility Checking System (ECS), or via the HB/CTS claim. Eligibility starts from the date the claim is approved, not from the date the application was submitted

Pupils protected from losing Free School Meals

Government guidance was updated in June 2025, and the Government's transitional protection arrangement for income-based free school meals will be extended to the end of the school year 2025 to 2026. 

Transitional protections has applied since 1 April 2018 and protection will remain until the end of the 2025 to 2026 school year. Pupils becoming eligible for free school meals under the benefits-based criteria in this time, will continue to receive free meals until the end of the 2025 to 2026 school year. This applies, regardless of any change in household circumstances, including an increase in earnings above the eligibility threshold.

It is the Governments intention to end transitional protection at the end of the school year 2025 to 2026. The Department of Education will issue further guidance ahead of September 2026.

The Department of Education also announced from the start of the 2026 to 2027 school year FSM’s will be extended to include all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit.

This guidance was updated in June 2025.

Free School Meals – No recourse to public funds

Your child will be able to get Free School Meals if you fall into one of the following eligible groups

• Zambrano carers
• families who have no recourse to public funds with a right to remain in the UK on grounds of private and family life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights
• families receiving support under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 who are also subject to a no recourse to public funds restriction
• a subset of failed asylum seekers supported under Section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• Chen carers
• families holding a BN(O) passport
• spousal visa holders
• work visa holders
• student visa holders
• those with no immigration status

You will also need to evidence that your annual household income is below

• £22,700 for families with 1 child
• £26,300 for families with 2 or more children

In addition to these thresholds, families must hold no more than £16,000 in capital and savings.