Free School Meals
If you are a parent/carer of children at school and you are on a low income your children could be entitled to receive free school meals.
Young people who are still at school but receive income support in their own right can also receive free school meals.
Are you eligible?
You may be entitled to Free school meals if you receive one of the following:
- Universal Credit (provided you have an annual net earned income of no more than £7,400, as assessed by earnings from up to three of your most recent assessment periods)
- Income Support
- Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
- Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
- Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
- The guarantee element of Pension Credit
- Child Tax Credit (provided you’re not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190)
- Working Tax Credit run-on – paid for four weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit
- If your child is currently receiving free school meals they will continue to receive them until the end of the 2025/26 school year, regardless of any change in household circumstances, under the government’s protected status arrangements.
How does it work?
Families that qualify receive a daily credit of £3.60 to their child’s meal account for them to spend. At the end of each day any unused credit is taken back by HGS and a new amount of £3.60 will be added to their account the following day.
We operate a cashless thumbprint catering system for our food provision so purchases under the free school meals system are completely discrete.
