More than three million children from families receiving Universal Credit are now eligible for free school meals as a major expansion of the scheme takes effect at the start of the new school year.
The Department for Education says the change forms part of a wider package aimed at reducing the cost of sending children to school, alongside an expansion of free breakfast clubs, government-funded childcare and action to reduce the cost of branded school uniform.
Ministers say families benefiting from free school meals, breakfast clubs and cheaper uniforms could save up to £1,200 a year, while eligible working parents using government-funded childcare could save as much as £8,000 annually.
Universal Credit families brought into free school meal system
From the start of the 2026/27 academic year, pupils in households receiving Universal Credit are eligible for free school meals under the expanded criteria.
The change removes the previous income threshold from the expanded entitlement and significantly increases the number of children able to receive a meal at school.
Department for Education modelling previously estimated that more than 500,000 additional children would benefit from the wider eligibility criteria.
The Government's latest announcement says more than three million children from Universal Credit families will now benefit from free school meals.
Government makes major child-poverty claim
Ministers say the policy will make a major contribution towards lifting more than half a million children out of poverty and claim this would amount to the largest reduction in a single Parliament since records began.
That is a Government projection rather than a measured outcome of the policy at this stage.
The expansion was originally announced in June 2025 and comes into practical effect with the beginning of the 2026/27 school year.
1,400 new free breakfast clubs
The free school meals expansion is being introduced alongside 1,400 new free breakfast clubs opening from September.
The Government says the clubs are intended both to ensure children start the school day with a healthy meal and to reduce before-school childcare costs for parents.
They build on an early-adopter programme involving 750 schools, which the Department for Education has used to test the scheme ahead of a wider rollout.
School-cost package could save families £1,200
The Department for Education says households able to benefit from the combination of free school meals, breakfast clubs and cheaper uniforms could save up to £1,200 a year.
The wider package also includes government-funded childcare. Eligible working parents making full use of that support could save up to £8,000 a year, according to the Government.
Ministers are also introducing limits intended to reduce the amount schools can require families to spend on expensive branded uniform items.
9,000 childcare places being delivered
The Government says around 9,000 childcare places are also being delivered from September through approximately 450 new or expanded school-based nurseries.
The package is being presented as an attempt to reduce pressure on household budgets at a time when families face the annual cost of uniforms, lunches and childcare at the start of the school year.
Lucy Powell says families will feel benefit this term
Education Secretary Lucy Powell said families would begin to feel the benefit of the measures as the new term gets under way.
She said the combination of expanded free school meals, breakfast clubs, childcare support and action on uniform costs was designed to ease the financial pressure associated with children returning to school.
Important distinction over pupil premium
The expansion creates two categories of free school meal eligibility: targeted free school meals under the existing income-based rules and expanded free school meals for other pupils in households receiving Universal Credit.
Department for Education guidance confirms that pupils qualifying only through the new expanded category will receive free meals but will not automatically attract pupil premium funding.
Only pupils who meet the targeted free school meals criteria will continue to form part of the Ever 6 free school meals cohort used for pupil premium purposes.
New entitlement begins with 2026/27 school year
The expansion represents one of the most substantial changes to free school meal eligibility in England in recent years.
Schools and local authorities have been given additional grant funding to cover the costs created by the new entitlement between September 2026 and March 2027, with the expanded eligibility funded separately from the normal schools funding formula during 2026/27.
With the new academic year beginning, the policy has now moved from a previously announced commitment into operation.
Sources
- Department for Education: Breathing space for families as government eases school costs — 1 September 2026
- Department for Education: Over half a million more children to get free school meals
- Department for Education: Free school meals expansion grant 2026 to 2027
- Department for Education: Estimate of additional children claiming free school meals