In England, children are eligible to receive free school meals (FSM) if their parents are in receipt of any of the following benefits:

  • Income Support
  • Income-based Job Seekers' Allowance
  • Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
  • Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
  • the Guaranteed element of State Pension Credit
  • Child Tax Credit, provided they are not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190, as assessed by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs.1

In January 2011 about 1.2 million pupils were known to be eligible for FSM. The Government recognises the benefits of healthy school meals and is committed to continuing to provide free school meals to families who need them. Healthy school meals can help to improve children's readiness to learn and their behaviour at school, and can also help to establish healthy eating habits for life.

The Department for Work and Pensions' Welfare Reform Act plans to bring in a Universal Credit (UC), to be phased in between 2013 and 2017, to replace many current in-work and out-of-work benefits with a single payment. This will result in the removal of current income thresholds.

Universal Credit is intended to be a simpler and fairer way of determining entitlement to benefit. It will mean that the current criteria for identifying children's entitlement for free school meals will no longer exist.

The Department for Education aims to ensure that, as Universal Credit is introduced in 2013, the FSM eligibility criteria are fair, simple and easily integrated into the existing FSM administrative and delivery systems, and that the changes, as far as realistically possible, are cost neutral.

The Department is currently considering proposals for new eligibility criteria and is working closely with Government departments, local authorities and other interested parties. We aim to launch a public consultation on our proposals in the spring to meet the Government's overall timetable to introduce Universal Credit by October 2013.

The Social Security Advisory Committee(SSAC) has published its report on passported benefits which includes free school meals. The Government's response is contained within the report.

We welcome SSAC's recognition in its report that FSM entitlement is a key issue for Government and the policy objective of providing a FSM to eligible children should not be undermined.

The Department will look carefully at any longer term options to explore further welfare reform, including whether FSM would be included in any future generic approach to passported benefits.

A link to the FSM eligibility criteria consultation will be provided on this page shortly.

 


1 Where a parent is entitled to Working Tax Credit during the four-week period immediately after their employment ceases, or after they start to work less than 16 hours per week, their children are entitled to free school lunches. Children who receive a qualifying benefit in their own right are also eligible to receive free school meals