There are two types of Free School Meals:

  • Income based free school meals
  • Universal free school meals

To qualify for free school meals a parent must:

  • Have a child attending a Sheffield school or maintained nursery, accessing education.
  • Have a school aged child or nursery age child, attending before and after lunch sessions at a nursery school or Local Authority maintained nursery.
  • receive any of the following qualifying benefits:

Qualifying Benefits

  • Universal Credit (provided they have an annual net earned income of no more than £7,400, as assessed by earnings from up to three of their most recent assessment periods)
  • Income Support
  • Income based Jobseekers Allowance
  • Income related Employment Support Allowance
  • Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
  • The guaranteed element of State Pension Credit
  • Child Tax Credit – with a yearly household income of less than £16,190 (as assessed by HM Revenue and Customs) and do not get Tax Credit
  • Working Tax Credit run on (paid for 4 weeks after someone stops qualifying for Working Tax Credit)

Children who get any of the above benefits in their own right (i.e. they get benefits paid directly, instead of through a parent or guardian) can also get free school meals.

Universal Free School Meals

If a child attends a state funded infant school and is in Reception/Key Stage 1, they are entitled to ‘universal infant free school meals’ regardless of their parent/carer’s income.

 

Please click on the link below for more information.

https://www.sheffield.gov.uk/schools-childcare/school-meals#:~:text=If%20you%20have%20a%20child,your%20most%20recent%20assessment%20periods)