Dear Parents/Carers
We are writing to let you know about the changes regarding free school meals entitlement. This follows updates to the national free school meals rules set by the Department for Education.
Since 2018, some children have continued receiving free school meals even when their family’s circumstances have changed and they have no longer met the standard eligibility rules. This temporary protection was introduced to provide stability during wider changes to the benefits system. The temporary protection ended nationally at the end of the 2025/26 academic year.
Going forward, eligibility for free school meals will instead be based on a household’s current circumstances.
What this means for your child
There will now be 2 categories of benefits-based free school meals:
- Targeted FSM – which continues to be based on the existing threshold, covering pupils in households in receipt of universal credit with annual household earnings of £7,400 or less.
- Expanded FSM – a new category covering pupils who do not qualify for targeted FSM, but who are in households receiving Universal Credit
The school has now informed all eligible parents of their free school meals category and eligibility via SMS. If you have any queries regarding this, please contact the school office.
What should you do next?
The schools last free school meals check was run on 01/09/2026. If you think your circumstances may have changed since then, please contact us so that we can review your entitlement.
If you have not provided your information to the school in order for us to run a check, or you think the information we hold about your circumstances is incorrect or out of date, please let us know as soon as possible.
We know that circumstances can change over time. If your household starts receiving universal credit in the future, you can contact the school to reapply for support.
Please note, this does not affect your entitlement to the mayor’s universal free school meals initiative in which all primary school children in state-funded schools currently receive a free school meal.
Yours sincerely
Tina Georgiades
Headteacher
