What Are the Qualifying Benefits for Free School Meals Now?
What are the main changes that have come into force on the 1st April?
➢ The government have introduced a new eligibility benefit which is the Universal Credit. Applicants need to be in receipt of this benefit as well as having their net income assessed below the £7,400 threshold. This is assessed on the last 3-month payment periods of this benefit. It is anticipated that the UC benefit will replace all other benefits by the end of the UC rollout in March 2022.
➢ In addition to the new UC benefit, the government are also introducing Transitional Protection (TP) to ensure that children who would lose eligibility during this rollout phase are protected and can continue to claim their free school meal.
What are the qualifying benefits for free school meals now?
➢ This information has been updated on our Free School Meals Website
How will Local Authorities and Schools check eligibility?
➢ As we did before these changes, the Local Authority will still have access to the Department for Educations Eligibility Checking System (ECS) and if you are a school that subscribe to this service, we will carry out these checks still.
➢ The ECS is currently undergoing changes which will now be able to check all the qualifying benefits including Universal Credit. Please note there are some circumstances where applicants may need to provide us with their UC statements for us to carry out a manual assessment.
Universal Credit
How does the process of applying for Universal Credit work?
➢ Information about applying for Universal Credit can be found here:
Are children eligible for free school meals during the Initial Assessment Period for Universal Credit?
➢ When an individual first makes a claim for Universal Credit, they will undergo an initial assessment period, during which time their eligibility for Universal Credit is determined. A child is not eligible for free school meals during this period as their parents’ receipt of Universal Credit (and their net earnings) has not yet been confirmed.
Who is being transferred to Universal Credit?
➢ Universal Credit is simplifying the benefits system by replacing six benefits with one – these include Job Seeker’s Allowance, ESA, Income Support and Child Tax Credits which are qualifying benefits for FSM.
Transitional Protections
How long does transitional protection last for?
➢ All pupils who are eligible and claiming a free school meal prior to 1 April 2018 will be protected until 31 March 2022. At this point, pupils who are still in the school system will continue to be protected until the end of their current phase of education.
➢ Any pupil who becomes eligible for a free school meal in the period between 1 April 2018 and 31 March 2022 will also be protected until 31 March 2022. At this point, pupils who are still in the school system will continue to be protected until the end of their current phase of education.
Do the transitional protections apply to claimants who are receiving legacybenefits?
➢ Yes, the transitional protections apply to claimants who receive free school meals through legacy benefits. This is true even if they become eligible for free school meals through legacy benefits in the period from 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2022.
Are re-checks of eligibility required?
➢ No, there is no requirement to re-check a pupil’s eligibility during the UC rollout period.
Are children still protected if their parents stop receiving benefits entirely?
➢ Yes, pupils remain protected until 31 March 2022 and then to the end of their current phase of education, regardless of whether their circumstances change.
What happens if the child moves to live with another family member, who does not meet the eligibility criteria?
➢ The protection is awarded to the individual child. If they move to live with another family member, they will keep their protection, even if their family member does not meet the eligibility criteria.
What happens if the child is fostered or taken into care?
➢ The protection is awarded to the individual child. If they are fostered or taken into care, they will keep their protection.
➢ Foster allowance is not a qualifying benefit for free school meals if a new claim for free school meals is being made.
If the child leaves the country during the protection period, then returns later, will they keep the protection?
➢ Yes, the child will remain protected until 31 March 2022, and then until the end of their current phase of education.
How should schools record protected pupils on the school census?
➢ Schools should continue to complete the termly school census as they do now. Protected pupils should be marked as ‘FSM eligible’ in the census.
How do we remove a pupil’s protected status if they have been recorded as eligible for FSM in error?
➢ The school should remove them and the pupil should not be recorded as eligible in the next termly census.
What happens if the child is protected but they do not want to take up the meal?
➢ Parents or their child can choose not to take up the meal. They will still remain protected and can choose to take up the meals at a later point during the rollout period if they wish. Therefore, it is important to keep good records of FSM eligibility even if children do not take up the meals.
Moving Schools
What happens if a protected child moves to a different school or local authority during the rollout period – are they still protected?
➢ Yes, the protection is for the child and follows them. They will keep their protected status even if they move school or local authority.
Eligibility Criteria
Can claims for free school meals be backdated?
➢ No, a child is only eligible for free school meals from the date on which their eligibility was confirmed. There is no provision to backdate free school meals.
How will the eligibility criteria for extended rights to transport be affected?
➢ Eligibility for free school meals is currently the primary means of determining eligibility for extended rights, and will continue to be so. The introduction of the new threshold and the protections will mean that more pupils are eligible for free school meals. It is therefore likely that more pupils will be eligible for extended rights. We are currently considering whether this will necessitate the allocation of additional funds to LAs for the 2018-19 financial year. This information will be available in due course. Statutory guidance is also issued separately for home to school transport.
What happens to the entitlement of a child who was eligible for free school meals on the 1st April 2018 where their parent/carer becomes no longer eligible?
➢ The child has transitional protection and remains eligible for free school meals until the end of the Universal Credit rollout (31 March 2022). This child should remain as eligible on the LA and the school’s system and be returned on your census as eligible for free school meals.
What happens to a new applicant after the 1st April 2018?
➢ They will have their application checked against the new eligibility criteria (including the newly added Universal Credit benefit). If the result of the eligibility check is that they are eligible for free school meals, a claim is added to the system and these children are also given transitional protection until the end of the UC roll out in March 2022.
➢ If the eligibility is not confirmed, their claim is rejected in the same way it has always been.
What happens if a child arrives at our school and the parent/carer states that they have received Transitional Protection (TP) in a previous Authority?
➢ It is going to be difficult for the Local Authority to confirm the entitlement of these children. It could be possible that these children were eligible on the 1st April 2018 and then at some point in the future their applicant has had a change in circumstances which means they are not eligible. The Eligibility Checking System would show these families as not eligible, however, if they were eligible in their previous Local Authority on the 1st April 2018, they are eligible under the TP status until March 2022.
➢ The Department for Education has informed Local Authorities that it does intend to make a dataset available to assist us in identifying these students. If you subscribe to our service, please refer any of these cases to the Free School Meals Team by emailing with all the children’s details and the previous Local Authority. We will then seek to manually confirm that the child does have TP status and then email you confirming that they can be entered onto your system as eligible for FSM until the end of the UC rollout in March 2022.
We have a child on roll with us who is eligible and has Transitional Protection, what happens if the sibling joins the school?
➢ Transitional Protection is only applicable to the individual child and is not family specific. Therefore, there is an expectation that a brand-new application would have to be submitted for the younger sibling. We can no longer automatically assume that because one sibling is eligible, the other sibling would be as well.
Will we receive lists of students that are eligible still?
➢ Yes, we will continue to send these, however, children that would usually have dropped off if their circumstances had changed will continue to remain on your list and are eligible for a free school meal.
➢ The only time a child would drop off your free school meal list now is if they move schools.
Do I need to notify you if a family’s circumstances change?
➢ No, if you have a child who was eligible on or after the 1st April 2018 and the family tell you they are no longer eligible, we do not need to know. The claim stays active on your database and on ours until the end of the UC rollout.
How do families apply for Free School Meals?
➢ They should still apply online through the Citizen Portal or should contact the Customer Service Centre to request a hard copy form. No forms must be given out directly to families now and if any of these are still being held by the schools then these should all be disposed of as they are out of date.
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