Changes effective academic year 2026 onwards:

Since 1 April 2018 the Department for Education (DfE) have protected families’ free school meal status during the rollout of the Universal Tax Credit programme. This meant that even if your financial circumstances changed during the rollout your eligibility remained. This protection is now formally ending on 31 August 2026.

What does this mean for you?

With the protection coming to an end you now may no longer qualify under the new criteria. If that is the case free school meals will end for your child at the end of this academic year. Families who feel they still qualify under the new free school meal criteria are required to make a new application to confirm ongoing eligibility. The DfE define eligibility from 1 September 2026 as either being:

• Targeted support which covers families who are in households in receipt of Universal Credit with annual household earnings of £7,400 or less; or

• Expanded support (new category) which covers families who do not qualify for targeted support, but who are in households receiving Universal Credit.

Who is eligible for benefits based free school meals?

From the start of the 2026 to 2027 academic year, the DfE are expanding FSM eligibility to all children from households who receive Universal Credit regardless of household earnings.

Free school meals are available to students 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 student 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 to be enrolled. Where eligibility has not been verified FSM will cease.

Households may also be entitled if they:

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

• receive the guarantee element of Pension Credit

• meet criteria set out in separate guidance for families with no recourse to public funds

Next steps

Families can start to make a free school meal application to determine their ongoing eligibility in advance of the new academic year starting. This is both for existing Furze Platt Senior School students and those joining us in September.

Please use our link to our free school meal eligibility checker below.

https://apply.cloudforedu.org.uk/ofsm/mwschools 

which takes just a couple of minutes to complete. Your eligibility status will appear on screen within minutes, but can take up to 48 hours to validate, and the school is also notified of the outcome. There is no need to bring any documentation into school.  The current daily allowance is £2.95.

To make an application you will need to have to hand the following:

• your date of birth

• your National Insurance number

• asylum support reference number (previously NASS), if applicable

• contact telephone number

• contact email address – please ensure this matches the email we hold on record for your child

The eligibility checker will confirm if you qualify under the revised criteria. For those families whose eligibility has ceased, the free school meal allowance will stop at the end of this academic year.

If you have any queries because of these changes by the DfE, please contact us using our email address office@furzeplatt.com. Within the email please state your child’s name and year group they are in, and that your query relates to Free School Meals, and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

 All applications are treated in the strictest confidence.

Please note: The school receives additional funding if your child is eligible for Free School Meals, so we strongly encourage you to take up this entitlement.