Automatic Award for Free School Meals - Frequently Asked Questions

What is the Automatic Award For Free School Meals?

Why have I received a letter?

What does 'auto-enrolment' mean?

Who is eligible for free school meals?

Does my child have to have a free school meal?

My child already receives a free school meal

How long will my child get free school meals for?

How will an automatic award for free school meals help my school?

Will my personal information be handled securely?

What do I have to do next?

When will I hear whether my child will receive a free school meal?

How do I opt out?

Can I check my own entitlement?

What is the Automatic Award For Free School Meals?

Based on the information we hold about Housing Benefit and Council Tax Support, we have found that a significant number of households may meet the criteria for benefit-related free school meals but have not yet made an application. We want to increase the number of pupils in Kingston claiming free school meals, which will increase funding available to schools in the borough, as well as benefitting pupils directly who are entitled but not currently receiving a free meal.  

We will be using existing benefits data to automatically award free school meals between November 2024 and March 2025.

When pupils receive a free school meal award, schools will benefit by receiving the right level of funding from the government to support children who qualify for benefit-related free school meals. This funding is called Pupil Premium. For each child in primary school this means £1,480 and for each child in secondary school it is £1,050. We want to make sure that we do everything we can to help schools receive the funding they are entitled to.

Why have I received a letter?

You have received a letter because we believe that you are a parent/carer with a child/children who may be at nursery or school. You do not appear to have a current free school meal award for your dependents and we think you may be entitled to one. 

What does 'auto-enrolment' mean?

We use pupil records and benefits data to identify the children who might be entitled to a free school meal.

We will use your surname, National Insurance number and your date of birth so that we can check if you qualify for free school meals. When we use your information, the government’s electronic free school meals checking service gives us a simple reply – YES or NO. This is how we check to see if you qualify for free school meals. If you are found to qualify for a free school meal we will write to you to confirm this and will pass a confidential list of children who qualify to schools.

The data matching exercise does involve the processing of your personal data. This will mean we can ensure more children recieve the free school meals they are entitled to.

Who is eligible for free school meals?

Eligibility criteria for free school meals is on the council’s web pages (http://www.kingston.gov.uk/free-school-meals-kingston) 

Does my child have to have a free school meal?

Your child does not have to have a school meal, although one will be available free of charge at any time until your circumstances change and you no longer qualify. The value of the meal is worth around £500 per year to you.

My child already receives a free school meal

All children in key stage 1 are entitled to a free meal. Additionally, the Greater London Authority has provided funding to local authorities to extend this entitlement to year groups 3 to 6, from September 2023 to July 2024. This has now been extended for another year until July 2025. Children receive these entitlements automatically, however, if your child is enrolled for free school meals as a result of receiving certain benefits, this will generate additional funding for your child's school.

If your child/children is already receiving a benefit-related free school meal, as a result of a previous application, and you have been contacted in error, you do not need to take any further action and your child/children will continue to receive their free school meal.

How will an automatic award for free school meals help my school?

Where children are enrolled for free school meals, schools and early years providers receive additional Pupil Premium funding. Schools are required to allocate the funding to support high-quality teaching, targeted academic support such as tutoring, and tackling non-acaemic barriers to academic success, such as difficulties with attendance, behaviour, and social and emotional wellbeing.

How long will my child get free school meals for?

If entitled your child will get free school meals until March 2025, and then until the end of their current phase of education, i.e. primary or secondary, regardless of any changes to you or your partner's income.

Will my personal information be handled securely?

The information is kept securely and we follow very strict procedures about how we look after your personal information under UK data protection law.

Your child’s school will not single out any child as having free meals – your child will not be treated any differently to any other child in school.

More information is available in the privacy notice.

What do I have to do next?

You don’t have to do anything now – we will organise everything by sending schools a secure and confidential list of children who qualify for free school meals.

When will I hear whether my child will receive a free school meal?

If you are found to qualify for a free school meal we will write to you between January and March 2025 to confirm this, and will pass a confidential list of children who qualify to schools.

How do I opt out?

If you do not want us to carry out the data matching exercise to check your child’s eligibility, or to enrol your child onto the free school meals scheme please let us know as soon as you can. If you do not contact us within three weeks of the date of the letter, we may have already begun the process of checking eligibility. You can opt out by emailing rbkfreeschoolmeals@kingston.gov.uk or by calling 0208 547 5000. Once we have received your contact we won’t carry out any further processing of your personal data during this year’s free school meals auto-enrolment, but we may contact you in future years if you are still eligible and not claiming free school meals.

Can I check my own entitlement?

If you wish to check your entitlement for free school meals at any time you can use the following website: pps.lgfl.org.uk. You can also access more information about free school meals on our website at http://www.kingston.gov.uk/free-school-meals-kingston.