Please contact us if your circumstances change. For example, if you no longer receive benefits, move house or change school, as this may affect your right to claim. 
  

Changes to free school meals from September 2026 

There are some upcoming changes to free school meals, which may affect pupils from 1 September 2026. 

What is changing 

On 8 May 2026, the Department for Education announced changes to how free school meals eligibility will work in future, linked to Universal Credit. 

These changes will affect: 

• families who currently receive free school meals 

• families who may be eligible but are not currently claiming 

Change to current protections 

Since April 2018, once a child became eligible for free school meals, they continued to receive them even if their family’s circumstances changed. This protection will finish on 31 August 2026, at the end of the 2025 to 2026 school year. 

Checking eligibility 

We will be checking free school meal eligibility for all pupils between the summer and autumn term 2026, and on a regular basis. This applies to: 

• pupils who currently receive free school meals 

• families who wish to apply for free school meals for the first time 

Who may be eligible 

If your child is attending a school or maintained nursery, you may be entitled to free school meals. 

Targeted free school meals with additional Pupil Premium funding for schools 

Families may be eligible if they receive: 

• Universal Credit with a household income of £7,400 a year or less 

• income-related Employment and Support Allowance 

• the guaranteed element of Pension Credit 

• support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 

• support as a family with no recourse to public funds (NRPF) 

Expanded free school meals - meals only 

Families may also be eligible if they receive Universal Credit with a household income above £7,400. 

Funding to support your child's education 

If you are eligible for targeted free school meals: 

• your child’s school will receive up to £1550 additional funding (Pupil Premium) 

• your child’s early years education provider will receive additional funding (Early Years Pupil Premium) 

This funding is to support your child's education and can help to buy new equipment and resources. 

Apply for free school meals 

You do not need to apply if you are already receiving income-based free school meals in a Stoke on Trent school. We will be in touch if anything has changed. 

Infant free school meals 

If your child attends a state-funded infant school and is in Key Stage 1 (reception, year 1 or year 2), they are entitled to ‘universal infant free school meals’ regardless of your income. You can request this by contacting your child’s school.