Free School Meal Changes

Important changes to the Government’s Free School Meal (FSM) eligibility rules will be coming into effect from 1st September 2026.

These changes may affect you, regardless of whether your child currently has Free School Meals or not.

The first change – More children will qualify

All children living in households receiving Universal Credit will become eligible for Free School Meals. This means many more children will qualify than they do currently.

At the moment, some parents receive Universal Credit but don’t qualify for Free School Meals because of the current earnings threshold. From 1st September 2026, that threshold is being removed.

Free school meals are available to pupils in receipt of, or whose parents are in receipt of, one or more of the following benefits:

• Universal Credit

• support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999

A pupil is only eligible to receive a free school meal where both:

• a claim for this support has been made

• their eligibility has been verified by the school where they are enrolled or by the local authority

Households may also be entitled to a meal if they:

• are in receipt of income-related Employment and Support Allowance

• receive the guarantee element of Pension Credit

• meet criteria for families with no recourse to public funds

The second change – Some families may lose support

Since 2018, many children who qualified for Free School Meals kept that entitlement even if family circumstances later changed. This protected families from suddenly losing support.

From 1st September 2026, this protection will end.

So whilst many more children are expected to become eligible, some families who currently receive Free School Meals may need to be reassessed under the new rules.

What does this mean for you?

As part of our admissions process, we check your eligibility for Free School Meals. This means your details are already on our eligibility checker if you provided them to us.

Select your child's year group below to see how these changes affect you:

If your child will be in Reception, Year 1 or Year 2 in September 2026

Your child will still receive free meals under the Governments Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM) scheme, the upcoming changes do not affect you.
This is a scheme run by the Government where every child in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 is able to get free school meals. There is nothing you need to do for your child to be eligible, they will be entered automatically.

If your child will be in Years 3 to 6 in September 2026

The new Free School Meal eligibility rules may affect some families. However, if there are no changes to your circumstances, your child(ren)'s entitlement to Free School Meals will continue as usual, and no action is required from you.
If, after the changes take effect, the eligibility checker shows that your family is no longer eligible for Free School Meals, we will contact you directly.
If your circumstances change in the future (for example, your household receives universal credit or another qualifying benefit), or if you believe we should not be checking your records, please contact us as soon as possible.

What happens next?

No action is needed if your circumstances remain the same.
We will notify you if there is any change to your child's eligibility for Free School Meals after the new rules come into effect.
Please contact us if you have any concerns or require assistance.

Need help or have questions?

If you have any questions, need support with the process, please get in touch, we are here to support you with any queries and can help guide you through any changes.

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