Free School Meals Eligibility
Is my child eligible?
Children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 automatically get free school meals if they go to school. This is called universal infant free school meals. This is different to benefit-related free school meals and you do not have to apply, but if you receive one of the benefits listed below, please still apply for free school meals as this helps the school raise extra funds (known as Pupil Premium). These funds can help the school pay for staffing, extra tuition and extra-curricular activities. If your child is in Y3 or above, they can only get free school meals if you receive one of the benefits below.
The qualifying benefits are:
- Universal Credit - with an annual earned income of no more than £7,400 after tax
- Income Support
- Income-based Jobseeker's Allowance
- Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
- Support under Part 6 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
- The guaranteed element of Pension Credit
- Working Tax Credit run-on (paid for the four weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit)
- Child Tax Credit (with no Working Tax Credit) with an annual gross income of no more than £16,190
Additional qualifying criteria:
- Children previously looked after by a local authority or other state care, including children adopted from state care or equivalent from outside England and Wales
- Children currently looked after by the local authority
- Children with one or more parent serving in the regular armed forces (including pupils with a parent who is on full commitment as part of the full-time reserve service) or is in the armed forces of another nation and is stationed in England and they have been registered as a ‘service child’ in the most recent autumn DfE school census
- Children who do not currently have ‘service child’ status but they have been registered as a ‘service child’ on any DfE school census in the past 6 years
- Children who have experienced the death of one or more parent whilst serving in the armed forces and the pupil receives a pension under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme or the War Pensions Scheme
Where to apply?
We recommend all families apply for free school meals by follow this link Free school meals - Norfolk County Council.
You will need your Norfolk Education Online (NEO) account. You can use the same account for 2-year-old childcare funding and school admissions.
Children of foreign nationals
Families with British National (Overseas) status and families with No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) are entitled to apply for free school meals by completing the NRPF free school meals application. This can be found here: https://www.norfolk.gov.uk/media/19786/Nrpf-Application-For-Free-School-Meals/doc/2jnrpf-application-for-free-school-meals.docx?m=1711472810377
Need support?
We encourage all families to complete a free school meal application form when starting at Lakenham. This is because the funding makes such a huge difference to Lakenham's school budget. The pastoral and office teams are on hand to help complete the forms and can even submit the forms on your behalf.
FAQs
What if my child moves schools - the free school meals move with them, you don't need to do anything.
What if I choose to home school - home schooled children are not eligible for free school meals but there are hardship funds you can access.
Do I need to apply for all of my children - yes! You must apply separately for every child to receive free school meals for each child.
