Important information about changes to Free School Meals for academic year 2026/2027
As you are aware transitional protections, which have been in place for pupils eligible to Free School Meals since 2018 will end at the end of the 2025/2026 academic year.
These means all children currently in receipt of free school meals will have their entitlement reviewed for the academic year 2026/2027. Entitlement will then be reviewed on annual basis.
However, from the start of 2026 to 2027 academic year FSM eligibility is being expanded to all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit regardless of household earnings.
This means households in receipt of Universal credit with an annual household income above £7400 will now qualify for free school meals.
There is no change to the application process however, based on the change in eligibility, we would urge you to encourage parents in receipt of Universal Credit to make a claim for Free school meals using the online application on the Hartlepool Borough Council website confirming they wish to claim from September 2026.
Alternatively, they could scan the QR code on the attached poster which will take them directly to our application form.
We expect to begin checking eligibility for all children currently in receipt of free school meals over the summer period to ensure you receive full details of all children entitled to a free school meal prior to the start of the academic year in September.
We also hope to carry out another take up exercise of auto-enrolment prior to the October census but would still advise you to encourage parents to make a claim prior to this.
Regards,
Sue Luckett
Principal benefits Officer
