Information for schools
On 30 June 2026, the Department for Education (DfE) produced guidance regarding the national expansion of Free School Meals (FSM) from September 2026. This page includes information to support schools relating to the Free School Meals (FSM) expansion.
From September 2026 important changes will take effect relating to Free Schools Meals (FSM) eligibility.
These changes will impact FSM eligibility, pupil premium identification, School Census reporting and annual eligibility checking requirements.
What is changing?
From the start of the 2026/27 academic year, all children from households receiving Universal Credit (UC) will be entitled to Free School Meals.
There will be two FSM categories:
Targeted FSM - Children in households receiving Universal Credit with annual household earnings of £7,400 or less will qualify for:
Expanded FSM - Children in households receiving Universal Credit with annual household earnings above £7,400 will qualify for:
These pupils will not attract Pupil Premium funding and will not form part of the Ever 6 FSM cohort.
End of Transitional Protection:
FSM transitional protection arrangements will end at the close of the 2025/26 academic year. This means families must continue to meet the relevant eligibility criteria from September 2026 to retain FSM entitlement.
As a result, schools and local authorities must ensure FSM eligibility is rechecked annually. A new "last verified" date will form part of the school census requirements.
Action being taken by Waltham Forest:
We will be conducting eligibility checks for all current FSM claimants and awarding FSM to all eligible children. We anticipate completing this process in time for our usual end-of-year FSM rollover in mid-August, although we aim to complete it sooner where possible.
Where possible, we will also automatically award FSM to families already known to our systems who are receiving Universal Credit and will become newly eligible under the expanded entitlement criteria.
FSM awards will apply for the full academic year regardless of any subsequent changes in household income. Where a child moves school or relocates to another local authority area, their FSM entitlement will transfer with them. We are currently updating our claim processes to support these arrangements.
What schools need to do:
By 1 September 2026:
Schools should:
Please note that only children awarded Targeted FSM will be eligible for Pupil Premium funding.
At present, our system does not distinguish between Targeted and Expanded FSM awards within the school portal. Therefore, all pupils awarded FSM will appear on the portal, including those who are not eligible for Pupil Premium.
To support schools, pupils who qualify under the Targeted FSM category will be identified in a separate report issued following completion of the award process.
We have been advised that future system enhancements are expected to allow this information to be displayed directly within the portal. Further updates will be shared when available.
To ensure pupils are correctly counted in the Autumn 2026 School Census and schools receive the appropriate funding, schools should review and update FSM records before the census submission.
Schools must:
Date
| Activity
|
1 June 2026
| FSM eligibility rechecking period begins
|
Summer 2026
| Local authority eligibility review and award process
|
September 2026
| New FSM entitlement rules come into effect
|
By Autumn 2026 School Census
| Every pupil with a live Targeted FSM or Expanded FSM eligibility period must have a valid FSM eligibility verification date recorded
|
1 October 2026 | Autumn 2026 School Census Date |
We are currently updating our online application forms, systems and website to reflect these changes.
We appreciate your patience while these updates are implemented and further guidance is finalised. Additional information will be shared as it becomes available.
If you have any questions, please contact revenue.services@walthamforest.gov.uk.
Under our “Auto-enrolment” policy, any families that are in receipt of Council Tax Support and / or Housing Benefit from LBWF and their details are present on our systems will automatically be awarded Free School Meals for any eligible children attending schools that have subscribed to our FSM Checking Service.
LBWF will only conduct FSM eligibility checks and award FSM via our systems for children that attend schools which have subscribed to our paid FSM Checking Service. Where a school has not subscribed to this service, they will need to engage directly with the DfE themselves in relation to submitting the School Census data and claiming any Pupil Premium funding.
Where a family is not present on our systems, an application for FSM will need to be submitted to us.
2. The Application form says 'we are asking parents and carers of children in reception, year 1 and year 2 whose children attend school in Waltham Forest to complete this form online. We will then be able to confirm throughout the year whether the school is entitled to additional pupil premium funding for your child'. Presumably, this is only if we buy into the UIFSM Checking Service? And not relevant to other year groups?
Only schools that have subscribed to our Checking Service will have their children checked to identify if any additional Pupil Premium funding can be claimed. Under the Mayor’s current pledge of FSM for all primary school aged children, other year groups would be included in this.
3. Is this the Application Form for all year groups?
Yes.
4. Will the Application Form be updated to reflect the two tiers of FSM eligibility from September? We couldn't see anywhere for the parent to state that they were in receipt of Universal Credit but earning over the threshold?
Yes, the online application form is currently being updated to reflect the changes from the end of this month.
5. Will the outcome of the Application Form process result in the parent and the school being notified of the FSM eligibility tier, as we will be required to stipulate in SIMS/MIS?
Yes, each FSM award will show under which tier criteria it has been made.
6. Will this information be shared with schools via ECitizen?
Correct, the data will be visible under the schools connect access.
7. Regarding families already in receipt of benefits-related FSM, are you advising SBMs to ask all these families to fill in the LBWF Application Form again and, if not, what is the process?
No, where FSM has previously been awarded, we will conduct the eligibility checks annually to confirm continued entitlement. Only children who have not claimed before need to apply.
8. It seems that some London Boroughs and County Councils are able and planning to utilise bulk-checking systems over the summer holidays to transition students into the new Targeted and Expanded tiers. Is this something that LBWF is planning?
Yes, we’re currently in the process of preparing our bulk-checking requests.
9. Regarding families not in receipt of benefits-related FSM but who may be eligible for Extended FSM (potentially any of the rest of the families in the school), how are you advising SBMs to check eligibility?
Our advice is to run an awareness campaign to inform families in receipt of UC that if they’re not already getting FSM for their children then they should apply immediately.
10. The new LGFL FSM Eligibility Checker will tell the parent to which tier of FSM they are entitled. Could SBMs send the link to all parents and ask them to check?
I don’t see any reason not to.
11. If parents use the LGFL FSM Eligibility Checker, and learn they are eligible for FMS (targeted or extended), what should be the next step in the process? Fill in the LBWF Application Form?
It should be made clear that being shown as eligible on the checker will not automatically create an FSM award and that an application will need to be submitted for newly qualifying children.
12. Could we get some clarification on this from WF Traded Services: "Please note, in Waltham Forest, Pu pilPremium funding is based on FSM eligibility that has been verified and confirmed by the Local Authority. Even where schools use ECS or a third-party provider to check eligibility, only those FSM awards issued and shared via the Local Authority portal will count towards your Pupil Premium in the census". Is the Local Authority Portal the same thing as the LBWF Free School Meals Application Form? If not, what does this mean?
The portal relates to the eCitizen access that schools subscribed to the LBWF paid FSM Checking Service have access to. FSM Application Forms are required to update our system with the required data needed to perform an eligibility check and award FSM, once done the school will be able to view the result via the portal.
School MIS procedural guidance about the FSM changes:
FSM eligibility start date on or before the current census day is required for all pupils eligible for either Targeted or Expanded FSM. Pupils who are eligible for Expanded FSM should have a start date no earlier than 1st August.
FSM eligibility verification date [new data item], also referred to as the “last verified date”, will be required for any ‘live’ periods of eligibility. From September 2026, eligibility needs to be rechecked for each pupil at least annually. For the 2026-27 academic year, all pupils need to have been rechecked on or after 1 June 2026. Without a valid verification date, pupils will not be counted as eligible, which will result in a loss of funding for schools.
FSM eligibility end date, where applicable, will be required for any pupil who has had a period of FSM eligibility since the previous census, but where that eligibility has ended by the time of the current census. If an end date is entered it must be between the first day after the previous census and on or before the current census day.
Pupils who previously qualified for FSM prior to the autumn 2026 term and are re-confirmed as eligible under the targeted category will retain their original FSM start date.
Pupils whose eligibility changes from the targeted category to the expanded category will have their targeted FSM period closed with an end date, followed by a new FSM period recorded under the expanded category.
FSM periods should only be completed for pupils who are entitled to either targeted or expanded FSM. Where pupils receive a free school lunch due to the universal infant free school meal entitlement only (UiFSM), FSM periods should not be returned.