To claim free school dinners?

[Eileen101]

The free school dinners expansion is coming in September 2026 and will mean that anyone receiving universal credit will get free school dinners for their children.

I've been looking forward to this as it will be helpful for my oldest who has aged out of the universal scheme for KS1 and my youngest who will age out of the universal scheme in Sept 27. It will save me a minimum of £30 per month, moving to approx £60 when they're both out of KS1 which is a real help in my budget. As a single parent there's not a lot of wiggle room and I was quite looking forward to it coming in in Sept 26.

However the school trust has announced financial difficulty and the teachers are striking over the the financial management and the central charges going to the trust.
I'm feeling guilty about the fact that my children will be eligible for FSM. Should I not claim them after all despite eligibility?

All funding is collected in the autumn one now. Saves me one job to do now, although I had more than enough to keep me busy at the start of the year anyhow.

Same here. It's been in the weekly newsletter for months. School are DESPERATE for people to claim.

I read the documents released about it and it said that those children captured in the expansion wouldn't be eligible for pupil premium?
We don't fall into the means tested version of FSM, just the extra roll out for UC claimants generally.

If you're eligible, you claim, end of. Don't feel bad.

What is FSM funding?

FSM funding isn’t a separate pot of money given directly to schools for meals. Instead, it’s a measure of deprivation used by the government to allocate additional educational funding.

If a pupil is eligible for Free School Meals (FSM), the school receives extra funding to support that child’s education.

Pupil Premium (England)

This is the main funding linked to FSM.

How it works

Schools receive money for pupils who:

• Are currently eligible for FSM, or
• Have been eligible for FSM at any point in the last 6 years (called Ever 6 FSM)

Current funding rates (approx.)

• Primary pupils: ~£1,455 per pupil per year
• Secondary pupils: ~£1,035 per pupil per year

(Rates can change slightly each year.)

What can schools use FSM/Pupil Premium funding for?

Schools must use the funding to:

• Reduce the attainment gap
• Improve academic outcomes
• Support wellbeing, attendance, and behaviour

Common uses include:

• Extra teaching or tutoring
• Small group interventions
• Pastoral and mental health support
• Attendance initiatives
• Learning resources or enrichment activities

Yes that's true that it won't affect PP but you should still definitely claim what you are eligible for. Schools will get an additional grant next academic year to cover the additional meals

Yes I thought the more kids on school meals the more funding the school gets.

It's good for schools if you are FSM (ratehr than the infant universal) as they receive extra funding. Although the cost of the school meals (both free and universal) exceeds the funding that the government provides so there is a cost to your school for them. Another thing marketed by the government as free or funded that actually isnt fully and comes out of your schools budget.

That's the catering company's decision, though, not the schools'. Frankly, if the government increased FSM funding to a fiver a day, the catering companies would charge £7.

The more kids on school meals, the more funding school recieves so yes claim it.

Teachers are always striking, take the free school meals

Whether that's true or not it's still coming out your schools budget. Unless the government funded local authorities to provide a school meals service and took the schools own budget out of the equation...

It wouldn't achieve that, unfortunately - even if FSM provision were to be returned to the LA, the funding is still calculated upon the number of eligible students. It would just become another aspect in the top slicing from the GAG.

Salaries and other school expenses are all separately ring fenced. Claim.it.

You should claim it! The number of children on FSM can also entitle the school to other things that will benefit your children indirectly.

Edit: more to the point, striking teachers want your children fed. They want this to be fully costed not non-existent!