Free School Meals

The benefits of Free School Meals include:

• you could save more than £500 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
• your child's school gets extra funding to help children in their education (known as a pupil premium - up to
  £1550 a year per child)

Changes to Free School Meals from September 2026

Since April 2018, once a child became eligible for Free School Meals, they continued to receive them even if their family’s circumstances changed. This was called Transitional Protection. The Government have announced that this protection will finish on 31 August 2026, at the end of the 2025 to 2026 school year.  

From the start of the 2026 to 2027 school year, Free School Meals will be extended to include all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit. 

We will be checking Free School Meals eligibility for all pupils between the summer and autumn term 2026, and on a regular basis. This applies to:

• pupils who received Free School Meals in the 2025 to 2026 school year
• families who wish to apply for free school meals for the first time

Targeted free school meals with additional Pupil Premium funding for schools

Families may be eligible if they receive:

• Universal Credit with a household income of £7,400 a year or less
• income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• the guaranteed element of Pension Credit
• support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• support as a family with no recourse to public funds (NRPF)

Expanded free school meals - meals only

Families may also be eligible if they receive Universal Credit with a household income above £7,400.

Types of eligibility:

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

Universal Free School Meals - Reception, Year 1 and 2

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:

• any amount of Universal Credit 
• income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• the guarantee credit element of Pension Credit
• support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999

A child becomes eligible for Free School Meals once their claim has been verified and approved. Verification can either be from using the Department for Education’s Eligibility Checking Engine (ECE), or via the HB/CTS claim. Eligibility starts from the date the claim is approved, not from the date the application was submitted

Free School Meals for families with 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.