Free school meals automatic award
Many households who are eligible for free school meals have not applied yet based on our Housing Benefit and Council Tax Support records.
We want to increase the number of pupils in the borough receiving free school meals. This will provide more funding to schools and directly benefit eligible pupils who are not currently getting a free meal.
We will be using existing benefits data to automatically award free school meals from March 2025.
What does 'auto-enrolment' mean?
We use pupil records and benefits data to identify the children who might be entitled to a free school meal.
We will use your last name, National Insurance number and your date of birth so that we can check if you qualify for free school meals. When we use your information, the government’s electronic free school meals checking service gives us a simple reply – YES or NO. This is how we check to see if you qualify for free school meals. If you are found to qualify for a free school meal, we will write to you to confirm this, and your child school will be able to view their entitlement online.
The data matching exercise does involve the processing of your personal information. This will mean we can ensure more children receive the free school meals they are entitled to.
Will my personal information be handled securely?
The information is kept securely, and we follow very strict procedures about how we look after your personal information under UK data protection law.
Your child’s school will not single out any child as having free meals – your child will not be treated any differently to any other child in school.
More information is available in the privacy notice
An automatic award for free school meals will help your school
Where children are enrolled for free school meals, schools and early years providers receive additional Pupil Premium funding. Schools are required to allocate the funding to support high-quality teaching, targeted academic support such as tutoring, and tackling non-academic barriers to academic success, such as difficulties with attendance, behaviour, and social and emotional wellbeing.
When pupils receive a free school meal award, schools will benefit by receiving the right level of funding from the government to support children who qualify for benefit-related free school meals. This funding is called Pupil Premium. For each child in primary school this means £1,480 and for each child in secondary school it is £1,050. We want to make sure that we do everything we can to help schools receive the funding they are entitled to.
Notification letter
You will receive a letter if we believe that:
- you are a parent or carer with a child or children who may be at a nursery or school in the borough, and
- you do not appear to have a current free school meal award for one or more of your dependents and we think you may be entitled to one
Questions
My child already receives a free school meal
All children in key stage 1 are entitled to a free meal. Additionally, the Greater London Authority has provided funding to local authorities to extend this entitlement to year groups 3 to 6, from September 2023 to July 2024. This has now been extended for another year until July 2025. Children receive these entitlements automatically, however, if your child is enrolled for free school meals because of receiving certain benefits, this will generate additional funding for your child's school.
If your child or children are already receiving a benefit-related free school meal, due to a previous application, and you have been contacted in error, you do not need to take any further action, and your child or children will continue to receive their free school meal.
Does my child have to have a free school meal?
Your child does not have to have a school meal, although one will be available free of charge at any time until your circumstances change, and you no longer qualify. The value of the meal is worth around £500 per year to you.
How do I opt out?
If you do not want us to enrol your child onto the free school meals scheme please let us know as soon as you can. If you do not contact us within 3 weeks of the date of the letter, we may have already begun the automatic award process.
You can opt out by emailing PupilSupport@ealing.gov.uk or by calling 020 8825 5566. Once we have received your contact, we will not carry out any further processing of your personal data during this year’s free school meals auto-enrolment, but we may contact you in future years if you are still eligible and not claiming free school meals.
Can I check my own entitlement?
You can check your own entitlement for free school meals at any time.
You can also find more information on the support available to help residents with the cost of living
What happens next
You do not have to do anything now – we will organise everything and notify you and your school if you are found to qualify for a free meal. .