Changes to Free School Meals from September 2026

Children from Reception to Year 2 will continue to receive a free school lunch every day if they wish to, under the Universal Free School Meals legislation.

Going forward there will be two categories of means tested eligibility: Targeted and Expanded.

Parents in receipt of the following benefits will be entitled to FSM for their children under the Targeted category -

• Universal Credit and the household income is below £7400 per year as assessed by HMRC
• Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• Income Based Employment and Support Allowance
• Guarantee Element of State Pension Credit
• Families eligible under the No Recourse to Public Funds criteria (NRPF)

Children eligible through the Targeted category will be entitled to Free School Meals, be included in funding provided to schools for the Deprivation Pupil Premium and will be eligible for Holiday Access Fund vouchers (while the scheme is provided). This may also help with eligibility for Free School Transport. The additional support would also be available for children who would receive a free school meal due to being taught in the Reception, 1 and 2 year groups if their parents were receiving one of the qualifying benefits and made a claim.

Parents in receipt of the following benefits will be entitled to FSM under the Expanded category -

• Universal Credit and the household income is above £7400 per year as assessed by HMRC

Children eligible through the Expanded category will be entitled to Free School Meals only. No other additional support is available through this category of eligibility.

Claims need to be made at the school(s) your child(ren) attend, so if you have children at more than one school, please make sure that you apply for each child at their relevant school.

Children on roll in our school nursery class might also be eligible if they are in school for at least one full day per week (attending both before and after lunch). Please contact us to discuss this if you think it applies for your child as it will mean we can claim additional funding for the school.

For both types of eligibility, we will need to recheck your claim(s) once per school year as children will only be eligible for the support explained above while their parents are in receipt of one of the qualifying benefits. If you find that your circumstances change over the course of the school year and you feel that your children’s eligibility needs to be re-checked, please let us know.

Free School Meals Application Form