Free School Meals

From 1 April 2018, transitional protections were implemented by the Department for Education (DfE) in partnership with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). This was to minimise the impact of the rollout of Universal Credit and the introduction of the net earned threshold to determine eligibility for free school meals and to ensure no pupil loses a meal as result of these changes.

Government change: from 1 April 2025, transitional protections will no longer be applied to any claims for newly entitled pupils. This could relate to a new free school meal claim made by a parent or an existing claim in our system that has been reviewed in our weekly checks and is newly entitled. 

Note: Entitled means the parent/carer who made the claim is in a household that meets one or more of the qualifying criteria.

Who has transitional protection?

School pupils who were eligible for free school meals on 1 April 2018, or who became eligible from 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2025, are eligible for free school meals, and will continue to be eligible up until the end of their phase of education even if their household no longer meets any of the benefits/low-earnings criteria.

New starters who have sibling with transitional protection

Transitional protections are put in place on an individual child basis, not on a family basis. This means that children will not become automatically entitled to free school meals simply because their sibling receives transitional protections.

Extending transitional protections to families would lead be unfair for children without siblings.

The new child must meet the eligibility criteria at the time the application for free school meals is made in order to be entitled to free school meals. So for reception children we will need a fresh free school meals form as the family’s entitlement can’t be applied.