How do I get free school meals for my child?
From September 2024, most families will no longer need to apply for a free school meal for their child(ren). Instead, we will operate a free school meals auto enrolment scheme.
Which children will be auto-enrolled to free school meals?
Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 children
All children in the above year groups are automatically entitled to a free school meal in line with government guidelines for Universal Free School Meal entitlement.
However, we will still undertake automatic eligibility checks on children in these year groups, to determine any children who may still be eligible due to meeting the income related eligibility criteria for when they reach Year 3.
Year 3 + children
Children in year 3 upwards who we hold the relevant data for that we need to run our checks, will have their eligibility status automatically checked in order to determine whether they are eligible or not. These children will then be made eligible if found to be entitled.
What does ‘auto-enrolment’ mean?
We know some children in Bedford Borough who are eligible for free school meals are not getting them. This new auto-enrolment scheme means more of our children will get free school meals, along with the many benefits they offer and a better start in life.
From September 2024, we will attempt to determine which children are eligible for free school meals based on the information the Council already holds about Housing Benefit, Council Tax Support and National Insurance number information.
However, we may not currently hold the data we need to check eligibility for all children in the Borough, so there may still be some occasions where we would encourage parents to still apply.
If we find your child is eligible, we will write to you to let you know before the start of the academic year.
- If you want to accept the free school meals, you will not need to do anything, and you will be automatically enrolled on to the free school meals scheme.
- If we do not make contact with you, this will mean that we have not found your child to be eligible as part of our checks on the data we hold. However, if you think that your child might be eligible and our checks may not have found this, you will still need to complete an application (further details on how to do this are below).
- If you want to opt out of the free school meal for your child, you can.
How do I opt out of the auto enrolment checks being completed on my child?
In the letter we send to let you know your child is eligible, we will explain how you can opt out if you decide you don’t want us to undertake automatic eligibility checks in the future.
If you have received a letter from us offering you free school meals for your child, but you have decided to opt out of future eligibility checks, please use the form below to let us know.
Please only use this online form to tell us if you do not wish for us to carry out auto enrolment checks.
Opt out of free school meals auto enrolment checks
Find out how we process your personal data.
Transactional protection
Transitional protections (children who were made eligible 1 April 2018 – 31 March 2025) have been extended until the end of the 2025/26 school year. All pupils becoming eligible for free school meals under the benefits-based criteria, should continue to receive this entitlement, regardless of any change in household circumstances or phase of education until the end of the 2025/26 school year.
The Department for Education’s intention is to discontinue transitional protections from the start of the 2026/27 school year. From this point, households will need to meet the eligibility criteria in order to be entitled to a free meal. This means ALL parents will be checked again every summer to ascertain eligibility.
Universal Credit
From September 2026 (the 2026/27 school year), all children in England whose parents receive Universal Credit (UC) will be eligible for free school meals (FSM), regardless of their household's income.
I just moved to Bedford Borough / my circumstances have changed / I think my child might be eligible, but I have not heard anything as part of the auto checks
Although we will carry out regular auto-enrolment eligibility checks, there may be occasions where some families need to apply for free school meals between checks, for example:
- if your circumstances change unexpectedly
- if you move into Bedford Borough
- if you think your child might be eligible but you have not heard from us
Please use the form below to request a free school meal eligibility check.
Request a free school meal eligibility check
If you do not hear from us or your school within three weeks of your application, it means your child is not eligible for free school meals.
Tell us about a change in your contact details
Please email FSMcensus@bedford.gov.uk if you change your home address, email address or if you have any questions.
