Free School Meals
If your children are under 20 and in full-time education, you may be able to get free school meals for them. You can get free school meals for your children if:
- You or your partner get Income Support or income-based Jobseeker's Allowance or income-related Employment & Support Allowance;
- You or your partner get the Guarantee part of State Pension Credit;
- You or your partner get Child Tax Credit but do not get Working Tax Credit, (except if it is Working Tax Credit for a 4 week 'run on' period only) and HM Revenues & Customs have worked out your income is less than £16,040 a year*.
- You or your partner receive support under part 6 of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999.
*This is the April 2009 amount, the figure is increased every April, the amount from April 2008 to March 2009 was £15,575.
If you think you may be entitled to free school meals you should fill an application form in and send it to us straight away. You should carry on paying for your children's school meals until you hear from us.
When you claim we need to see proof of the income you receive:
Your award letter for Income Support or Income Based Jobseekers Allowance or Income Related Employment & Support Allowance, if you are not in receipt of Housing Benefit or Council Tax Benefit, or
Your latest Child Tax Credit award letter (TC602) from HM Revenues & Customs, or
Your HC2 certificate from the Home Office.
If you are entitled to free school meals, we write and tell you the date your entitlement begins. If you have paid for any meals after this date, we will send you a refund form to claim the money back.
If your child goes to a school in another authority's area, please contact that authority about claiming free school meals.
You can download an Adobe Acrobat version of our form below. You must print the form and send it to us by post. You can also get a form by phoning us, or calling into our office (details are at the top of the page), or at any Customer Service Centre. The Fact Sheet below also gives you more information about free school meals.
Housing & Council Tax Benefits - Frequently Asked Questions
