Free school meal eligibility expanded in England

Free school meal eligibility in England has been expanded from September 2026 to include all children whose families receive Universal Credit, after the previous £7,400 net income cap was removed¹. The change was announced by Andy Burnham in August¹. Around 500,000 additional pupils are estimated to become eligible², with the policy reported as saving families approximately £500 per child annually¹.

Under the expanded rules, a child qualifies if their household receives Universal Credit, regardless of earnings or the amount of Universal Credit awarded². The expansion covers the meal only. Linked entitlements, including school clothing and uniform grants, holiday activities and food provision, school travel assistance and other discretionary support, continue to be based on the £7,400 earnings threshold². Households receiving Universal Credit with annual earnings of £7,400 or less qualify for targeted free school meals and those linked entitlements². The £7,400 figure is measured through earnings in the last monthly assessment period, which must be under £617 per month, averaged over three months where earnings vary³.

Eligibility is checked every year from the 2026/27 school year, ahead of the October school census, and the result is valid for the full academic year². Applications opened on 1 June 2026 for the autumn term². Free school meals are administered by local authorities but normally claimed through the child's school². Some local authorities re-enrol children automatically; where they do not, a claim must be made each year². Scope advises parents not to assume it will happen automatically and to check with the school that an existing claim still qualifies, noting that the rules that protected some children's eligibility ended in August 2026⁴. Contact reports that transitional protections have ended and that eligibility now rests on receipt of a qualifying benefit⁵.

Wales is also expanding free school meals from September 2026: secondary pupils in years 7 and 8 qualify if their household receives Universal Credit, regardless of household income, with older year groups expected to follow in later phases². Scotland and Northern Ireland operate their own schemes with different rules². In Scotland the Universal Credit household income limit is £11,940 a year, or £995 a month, from 1 April 2026³. In Northern Ireland the Universal Credit earnings threshold is £15,390 a year³.

Why it matters for households

The change affects families in England with children in year 3 and above whose earnings previously took them above the £7,400 threshold but who receive Universal Credit. For those households the daily meal becomes free from the start of the 2026/27 school year, with the reported value put at about £500 per child a year¹. Families earning £7,400 or less keep both the meal and the linked support, such as uniform grants, which are typically around £100 a year, and holiday food provision³. Families above that threshold gain the meal only, so their access to those other forms of help is unchanged². Because eligibility is now checked annually, a household that becomes eligible for Universal Credit during the school year can claim at that point and remains eligible for the rest of the year².

What happens next

Further cost of living measures are expected to be announced in the Autumn Budget on 28 October¹.