Free School Meals Expanded to All Universal Credit Households

Thousands more children across England are set to benefit from free school meals following a major expansion of eligibility introduced for the 2026/27 academic year.

Under new government rules, all children from households receiving Universal Credit are now entitled to a free school meal, regardless of household earnings. Previously, eligibility was generally restricted to Universal Credit households with annual earnings of £7,400 or less.

The new system creates two categories. Targeted free school meals will continue to cover children in Universal Credit households earning £7,400 or less, while expanded free school meals will cover children in Universal Credit households earning above this threshold.

Schools and local authorities are being encouraged to raise awareness of the changes and ensure newly eligible families apply. A claim must be made and eligibility verified before a child can receive the support.

The Government expects most schools to see an increase in the number of pupils receiving free meals and is providing additional funding to meet the costs. Mainstream schools will receive an expansion grant during 2026/27, worth £505 annually per additional eligible pupil.

The changes are designed to ensure more children from lower-income households have access to healthy, nutritious meals during the school day.

Responding to the new rules, Debt Advice Foundation CEO David Rodger said “We welcome the expansion of the free school meals programme as we believe it will help protect many more vulnerable children across the UK. We’ve seen a consistent fall in service-user disposable incomes over a number of years as high levels of inflation has eroded household purchasing power. This has typically resulted in households compromising on basic health and welfare needs, which is why the expanded free school meals is so crucial”.