Free School Meal Eligibility
All families who believe they are entitled to Free School Meals must complete an eligibility check, even if their child currently receives Free School Meals. The check is straightforward to complete and should only take a few minutes. This check will need to be repeated for each July for the following academic year.
If a check is not completed, Lancaster High School will not be able to provide Free School Meals for your child from.
Complete the check here – Check | LGfL FSM
Changes for the 2026 to 2027 academic year
From the start of the 2026 to 2027 academic year, all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit attending these schools will be entitled to receive a free meal.
We have made this a legal requirement through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026 and intend to lay additional regulations extending this duty to maintained nursery schools.
Going forward, there will be 2 categories of benefits-based free school meals:
- Targeted FSM, which continues to be based on the existing threshold, covering pupils who are in households in receipt of Universal Credit with annual household earnings of £7,400 or less
- Expanded FSM, a new category covering pupils who do not qualify for targeted FSM, but who are in households receiving Universal Credit
