Your child, or children, may qualify for Free School Meals if you meet the following criteria:
- you or your partner (if you have one) have a child for whom you receive Child Benefit and who is attending a school or college in Telford and Wrekin,
and you get any of the following:
- Universal Credit and your household income is less than £7,400 a year (after tax and not including any benefits you get)*,
- Income Support,
- Income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance,
- Income-related Employment and Support Allowance,
- 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),
- Pension Credit (Guarantee Credit),
- Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999.
Each school receives a weekly list showing the names of all children who are entitled to Free School Meals.
* Extended Eligibility Criteria from September 2026
From the start of the 2026/27 school year (September 2026), the Department for Education are extending the entitlement to free school meals to include all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit. The £7,400 a year limit will no longer apply. Applications can be made in advance of the new school year and we will check and notify parents / carers of entitlement.
Transitional Protection
Since 1 April 2018, all existing free school meals claimants have continued to receive free school meals whilst Universal Credit is rolled out. This applies regardless of any change in household circumstances, including if their earnings rise above the threshold during that time or if entitlement to one of the qualifying benefits ends. This is called Transitional Protection. Protections will remain in place until the end of the 2025/26 school year. At the end of the 2025/26 school year, all free school meal claims will be checked for eligibility, and those who do not meet the criteria will not be entitled to free school meals. From September 2026 when these protections end any entitlement will be based on income prior to September 2026 with income checked annually. If during the year a household becomes entitled to one of the qualifying benefits then a new application can be made.
APPLICATIONS CAN BE MADE HERE: https://www.telford.gov.uk/schools-and-learning/school-meals/free-school-meals/
