We want to make sure that every child eats well when they’re at school. If your family finds it difficult to afford lunch for your children, you can apply for free school meals.

Transitional protection

Transitional protections will end on 31 August 2026. If your child currently gets free school meals, you must reapply to continue receiving them.

Who is eligible for free school meals

From September 2026, all children living within a household in receipt of Universal Credit will be eligible for free school meals.

There will be 2 tiers of eligibility, targeted free school meals and expanded free school meals.

Targeted free school meals criteria

Your child will be eligible for targeted free school meals if you get one or more of the following benefits:

• Universal Credit (and earn less than £7,400 per year)
• support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• the guarantee element of Pension Credit

Children eligible under the targeted tier will attract pupil premium and other disadvantage funding for their schools. Children may also have access to other education entitlements, such as the holiday activities and food programme (HAF) and the 'extended rights' element of school transport assistance.

Expanded free school meals criteria

Expanded free school meals are available to children in households receiving Universal Credit with annual household earnings over £7,400. They are entitled to free school meals only.

For all other schools, apply online

If your school is not listed above, you can apply for free school meals online by clicking the button below.

Once your application has been processed, we’ll send you a letter by email to confirm the outcome. Due to the government changes to free school meals, we are expecting a much higher application rate than usual for the 2026 to 2027 school year.

Children in households with no recourse to public funds

Most categories of temporary immigration permission fall under ‘No Recourse to Public Funds’ (NRPF).

From the academic year from 2026 to 2027, eligible children in households with NRPF will continue to be eligible for free school meals.

There are 2 categories for free school meals, each with their own set of income thresholds:

• targeted free school meals with NRPF thresholds
• expanded free school meals with NRPF thresholds

Targeted free school meals income thresholds 

Targeted free school meals with NRPF thresholds are linked to the existing £7,400 income threshold. The thresholds have increased in line with Universal Credit rates.

As well as free meals, pupils eligible under the targeted free school meals NRPF thresholds will:

• attract pupil premium and other disadvantage funding for their schools
• have eligibility for the Holiday Activities and Food programme (HAF)
• have eligibility for the ‘extended rights’ element of school travel assistance

Expanded free school meals income thresholds 

Expanded free school meals covers pupils who do not qualify under the ‘targeted’ free school meals with NRPF thresholds, but who are in households that meet the new expanded income thresholds. These thresholds are based on the average income of Universal Credit households that are eligible for expanded free school meals. These pupils will qualify for meals only.

Eligible groups for free school meals

These groups include, but may not be limited to children of:

• Zambrano carers
• families who have no recourse to public funds with a right to remain in the UK on grounds of private and family life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights
• families receiving support under Section 17 of the Children Act 1989 who are also subject to a no recourse to public funds restriction
• individuals supported under Section 4 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• Chen carers - primary carers of certain EEA citizen children who have a derivative right to reside in the UK because the child would be unable to remain in the UK without them
• BN(O) passport holder
• spousal visa holders
• work visa holders
• student visa holders
• those with no immigration status

The maximum income threshold differs based on location and the number of children that the family has.

Income thresholds for free school meals

If a child has parents who have NRPF, the child will be eligible for free school meals if their parents or carers total household income is less than the annual household net income threshold.

Children can only be eligible under the targeted or expanded FSM NRPF thresholds.

Targeted free school meal NRPF thresholds

The annual household income thresholds are:

• £28,500 for families outside of London with 1 child
• £29,400 for families outside of London with 2 or more children

 Expanded free school meals NRPF thresholds

The annual household income thresholds are:

• £29,400 for families outside of London with 1 child
• £37,300 for families outside of London with 2 or more children

The 'Outside of London' amounts apply to the whole of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole.

If a child’s parent gets support provided under Part 6 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, then the child is already eligible for targeted free school meals. More guidance is available on GOV.UK.

Capital thresholds

As well as meeting one of the above set of income thresholds, the child’s parents or carers must hold no more than £16,000 in capital and savings.

Contact

If you have any questions or need help, please contact our Free School Meals team by:

• phone on 01202 123 222
• email on fsm@bcpcouncil.gov.uk