Free School meals Information

What is the Free School meals benefit?

Free School Meal (FSM) is a statutory benefit available to school- aged children from families who receive other qualifying benefits and who have been through the relevant registration process. This is not the same as the Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM) that provides free school meals for all infant school pupils (pupils in reception and years 1 and 2). On UIFSM, the government has advised that free meals will only be provided for Infant age pupils who meet the FSM eligibility criteria or are attending school under current government guidelines (vulnerable or key worker criteria). This does not include the universal entitlement. 

Do I qualify and How do I apply?

Family circumstances change and with the current situation, you might experience significant changes to your financial situation.

Your child may be able to get free school meals if you get any of the following:

• 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 guaranteed 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 4 weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit
  Universal Credit - if you apply on or after 1 April 2018 your household income must be less than £7,400 a year (after tax and not including any benefits you get)
• Children who get paid these benefits directly, instead of through a parent or guardian, can also get free school meals.

Application Form

Have your circumstances changed? Do you think your child might be eligible for a free school meal (voucher during school closure)? Click here to download an application form if you think you might be eligible. Return the form to the school who will send off your application for processing.

Free School Meals During School Closure

The government has announced that low-income families whose children are eligible for free school meals (FSM) will be offered vouchers to make sure they continue receiving this support, even if they are no longer attending school due to the coronavirus outbreak. The vouchers will be paid at a rate of £15 per qualifying child per week during term time; a voucher will also be issued to cover the period of the Easter break (6th April - 17th April).

Read the revised government guidance:  Tuesday 7th April 2020 Free School Meals Guidance

The Government has developed a national scheme to provide supermarket vouchers via the Edenred online portal. Schools will not have to pay for these vouchers as the costs for this scheme will be picked up centrally by DfE. The vouchers can be spent on food at a range of shops including Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Asda, Morrisons, Waitrose and M&S, with the Department working to get more shops to join the scheme as soon as possible.

Temporary FSM Extension

During the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, the Government are temporarily extending free school meal eligibility to include some children of groups who have no recourse to public funds (NRPF).

• A Zambrano carer
• Have the right to remain in the UK under Article 8 of the ECHR
• Receiving support under Section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• Receiving support under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 AND are subject to a NRPF condition

With exception of those receiving support under Section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, you must also be earning less than £7,400 per year after tax.

To fill in an application, all applicants should complete the following part of this form:

-        part 1 and 2;

-        the relevant section for your category in parts 3-6; and

-        part 7, apart from those receiving support under section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999.

Claiming Your FSM Voucher

Booker Hill School has registered with the Edenred portal and have begun ordering vouchers for qualifying families. Each week, families will receive an ‘eCode’ directly to the parent or carers of the pupils(s) eligible for free school meals - via email.

When the email arrives, it will contain a 16 digit code. Families will need to visit www.freeschoolmeals.co.uk to redeem this code and choose their supermarket eGift Card. Please note, you cannot use the eCode directly with the supermarket. It must be exchanged for an eGift Card. This card will be then emailed to families and can then be shown on a phone and scanned in the supermarket.

Read this attached set of instructions to redeem your vouchers.

For more information, please visit: https://www.edenred.co.uk/ reward-recipients/Free-School- Meal-Vouchers/

For issues with your vouchers, please see the message from Edenred below and then contact the email address to send them your queries. For anyone having problems accessing the Free School Meals Parent and Carer FAQ guide, you can also get advice from the following document, issued by the Department for Education:  Parent Factsheet