Do I have to pay for the supervision lunch charge if my son (4y.o.) is eligible for free school meals?

[reablaz]

Hello,

Do I have to pay for the supervision lunch charge if my son (4y.o.) is eligible for free school meals?

I have applied for free school meals recently, and received an email saying my child is eligible for free school meals.

The school charges parents £382 per academic year for the supervision at lunch time between 11:30 and 12:15 every day (45min), which is £2 per day (£10 a week, £382 per year in total); doesn't not matter if a child eats school meals (free or not), or bring their own lunch boxes with home food (schools still have to supervise and charge for it).

Google AI says if a child is eligible for free school meals, parents do not have to pay for supervision charge. We also receive 30 free hours.

Google/AI:
"Yes, if your child is eligible for free school meals, the supervision charge during lunchtime is typically covered, as the school is required to provide proper facilities and supervision for all pupils to eat their meals safely, regardless of whether they pay for lunch or not; this includes children receiving free school meals."

Government website:
"Facilities to eat the food that they bring to school must be provided free of charge for pupils not taking school meals. As a minimum these facilities should include accommodation, furniture and supervision so that pupils can eat food they have brought from home in a safe and social environment."

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/standards-for-school-food-in-england/school-food-in-england#:~:text=Facilities%20to%20eat%20the%20food,a%20safe%20and%20social%20environment.

I am confused, do we have to pay for the supervision or not?

Is it allowed by law for the school to charge for the supervision?

I am looking for calm and relevant answers with no criticism, arrogance, sarcasm or irony. If it is not the right place, please let me know, if there are any communities, forums, groups where I can ask these questions; or possibly, should I call to my district council, school itself or citizens advice?

Thank you.

None of this makes sense. You don’t get funded hours for reception kids and all KS1 students get free school meals regardless of income.

If your son only turned 4 in December then he’s not in reception, he’s in nursery/preschool. He will start reception (not year 1) in September 2025.

Your child is in the school nursery, based on the age you’ve given. When you emailed they probably didn’t realise this.

If the school has morning and afternoon sessions, and children only attend one of these (as was the case with my DC - there was no option to do both sessions), then they wouldn’t eat lunch at nursery. There might be a snack though? We had to pay the school for our DC to have fruit each day. I’ve no idea if they stay all day though, as that wasn’t an option here, DC had to transfer between the school nursery and a private one if they wanted 30hrs, and lunch wouldn’t have been included.

I imagine they’ll get the free school meals when they start in September.

Your child is in pre-school he doesn’t start school until September. Have you applied for his place? He doesn’t automatically get one just being in the pre-school. So in answer to your questions yes they can charge for lunch time supervision because nursery/pre-school works different to actual school which he doesn’t start until this year presuming you have applied for his place

He must be in pre school, therefore not eligible for FSM but eligible for 30 funded hours. My understanding is you DO have to pay for the lunch hour as it’s outside of the session times covered by the 30 funded hours….and £2 for childcare is a bloody bargain! Most nurseries are charging a £15 a day top up when using funded hours.

Yes, I confused everyone, because I was born in a different country, and didn't get used to the academic system in England. I assume, it is my son's 2nd year in the nursery, and then Reception starts in reception. In nursery we get 30 free hours and free meals, but, unfortunately, as a foreigner, I am just learning on the go (when it comes) how the educational system works. I assume, it is my and my wife's mistake not knowing my son could already have tried school meals for free 1,5 years ago. From Sep 2025 the school is free in Reception. And there will be no supervision lunch charge. In nursery we have to pay for the supervision lunch charge (if I understood it correctly) even if we receive free infant meals. The government website (link) I provided is not relevant (and AI message), because it relates to schools (am I right?) not to nurseries (public schools starting from reception do not charge supervision lunch charge).

Why then I did receive an email my son can get free school meals while in nursery?

Go into school next week and talk to them. They should be able to explain everything to you and support as needed

Because you won’t have been. Free school meals is for primary school not nursery.

Strange, but they said we are eligible for free school meals in 2nd year nursery.

8:30-11:30 morning session (3h) then 45 min NOT funded by the government lunch time supervision (11:45-12:15), then afternoon session (3h) 12:15-15:15...

They had to charge, because the lunch time is not withing the 6h per day funded by the government...

Couldn't they make hours 8:30-14:30 and include the lunch between learning sessions?

You don’t get FSM in Notts in nursery

I think you can.

I think someone on the FSM team might have made a mistake. It's unlikely your child will get a free school meal in a nursery class.

Go and speak to the administrator in the school on Monday and they can look in to it for you - but it is likely your child will not get a free lunch until September.

www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/education/school-meals/free-school-meals-and-milk#:~:text=Children%20attending%20maintained%20nurseries%20also,do%20not%20need%20to%20reapply.

It says

Children attending maintained nurseries also qualify for a free school meal as long as they are receiving funded early years education before and after lunch.

Some children will only do mornings or only do afternoons which is why there is a break between sessions. It also gives staff a chance to have lunch.

If you don't want to pay the supervision charge, could you take your child home for lunch?

You are eligible for FSM if you are EYPP and 30 hour funding. This is a very small amount of families but we have families using this as it’s new this academic year. The supervision charge is additional to bridge the gap between sessions so you can either pay this or collect your child for this time, it’s up to you but you must be able to collect otherwise this is an unnatural break between sessions.

Nobody explains how the educational system works in the UK, and you can ask every foreigner, and most of them will say to you they do not understand it. So don't blame, because you never been in foreigner's shoes. It doesn't matter if the person has to pay for something or not.

Free school meals are for school.
I am not sure what you would have emailed the council but at nursery you don’t get free meals. Even if it’s in a school building.

So you either pay the charge or pick your child up, give them lunch at home and take them back. Or just do a morning or afternoon session. They don’t have to stay all day.

Why? It's for staff salaries, which is not funded. But it is confusing. Some people say we have to pay for supervision lunch charge, some people say it is against the rules. Some people say you don't get free meals in nursery, some people say we get free meals in nursery.

Just checked the website and it looks like it changed from 2 years ago and they might give school nurseries FSM. I would guess that you might get the food element free but would still need to pay for the supervision as your 30 hours won’t cover lunchtime. Best to ask the school.

But you do.

I have friends who aren't English and my DH and I have helped them with school applications etc as they didn't know their way round the system.
All countries are different!

That's right, applied by January, actually, I have applied straight away when the application period started at the beginning.

Right so....

Your son is currently in nursery. You will have to pay the supervision charge because those 45 mins are not part of the funded 30 hours.

In September they'll go into reception and lunchtime is covered and included.

After reception it's Y1/2/3 etc etc

Whether anyone has explained it or not google is readily available and you need to show some imitative and get to grips with the school system. My kids go to school in a different country and system from where I grew up. I just worked it out.

This xx