More than half a million additional pupils will become eligible for free school meals from the start of the 2026-2027 academic year as transitional protections for universal credit households come to an end.
The expansion, enacted through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, removes the previous earnings threshold. All children from universal credit households attending maintained schools, academies, free schools, school-based nurseries or maintained nursery schools will qualify regardless of household income. The Department for Education issued updated guidance for local authorities on 30 June 2026 confirming the new legal duty.
Eligibility will now fall into two distinct categories. Targeted free school meals remain for households on universal credit with earnings of £7,400 or less per year. These continue to attract pupil premium and other disadvantage funding. The expanded category covers other universal credit households and provides meals only. Pupil premium funding itself stays tied to the narrower targeted criteria and the associated Ever 6 FSM cohort.
End of transitional arrangements
Protections in place since April 2018, which allowed children eligible at any point in that period to retain free school meals until the end of the 2025-2026 academic year, will conclude this summer. From September 2026 eligibility will be reassessed annually on current circumstances.
Schools and local authorities must verify claims through the digital eligibility checking service available from 1 June 2026. The Act places a clear legal duty on maintained schools, academies and free schools to provide the meals and enables information sharing to confirm eligibility. A dedicated FSM expansion grant will cover the additional costs, calculated on the difference between the October 2025 and October 2026 school censuses.
The Department for Education projects the change will save families up to £495 per child per year. Yet the scale of the expansion raises familiar questions about the balance between practical support and long-term incentives.