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Free school meals are available for children if their parent or carer receives certain benefits.
In addition, the school receives Pupil Premium funding each year of £935 per student who is entitled to free school meals; this funding continues for up to six years after the free school meals claim ends.  This means that even if you only expect to claim for a short period of time, the Pupil Premium funding will continue to support your child’s education for the long term.    

If you don’t apply, our school will miss out on funding which could go towards providing additional support for your child.  If your child prefers to bring a packed lunch, you will still need to register for free school meals for our School to receive the Pupil Premium funding.

Do you qualify?

Your child will be eligible for Free School Meals if you get any of these benefits:

• Income Support
• Income-based Jobseeker's Allowance
• Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• The Guarantee element of State Pension Credit
• Child Tax Credit, provided they are not entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual income (as assessed by HM Revenue & Customs) that does not exceed £16,190
• Working Tax Credit 'run-on' - the payment someone may receive for a further four weeks after they stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit
• Pupils can qualify for Free School Meals if they get any of these benefits themselves

Come and talk to us if you’re not sure.

How does it work?

1. Checking whether you qualify and registering is really quick and easy – do it online at: https://www.cloudforedu.org.uk/ofsm/sims-wirral/

2. If you want your child to have a free, healthy meal at lunchtime that’s great – they will get the free meal (saving you more than £350 a year) and the school gets extra money to help your child and others in their class.

3. If you don’t want your child to have a free school meal they can continue as normal – as long as you qualify, and are registered, the school still gets the extra money

 Email: datateam@mosslands.wirral.sch.uk

 Tel: 0151 638 8131 

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Important Update:

The Government is changing the Free School Meal rules from the start of the 2026/27 academic year. At the same time, the current national transitional protections for Free School Meals are ending. This means that all existing Free School Meal eligibility must be checked again before September 2026.

This applies even if your child already receives Free School Meals.

To ensure that Free School Meals can continue from the start of September 2026 without interruption, applications should be completed before 31 August 2026. If an application is completed after this date, and your child is found to be eligible, Free School Meals can still be put in place, but there may be a gap before the entitlement starts.

From September 2026, there will be two categories of benefits-related Free School Meals.

Targeted Free School Meals
This applies to students from households receiving Universal Credit where annual household earnings are £7,400 or less, and to some other eligible benefit categories. Students in this category are entitled to receive a free school meal. This category also continues to be linked to Pupil Premium and some other forms of targeted support.

Expanded Free School Meals
This is a new category for students from households receiving Universal Credit who do not meet the Targeted Free School Meal threshold. Students in this category will be entitled to receive a free school meal, but this does not automatically provide eligibility for Pupil Premium or other support that is linked specifically to Targeted Free School Meals.

We strongly encourage families to complete the online application if:

your child already receives Free School Meals and you wish this to continue from September 2026; or
your household receives Universal Credit and you would like your child to receive Free School Meals under the new expanded eligibility rules; or
you think your child may be eligible and would like this to be checked.
Some families who have not previously qualified for Free School Meals may become eligible under the new arrangements, so we would encourage you to complete the application if you think your household may meet the criteria.

Please complete the online application using the link below:

https://apply.cloudforedu.org.uk/ofsm/sims-wirral

If your child is found to be eligible before 1 September 2026 under the new rules, the entitlement will start from 1 September 2026. Any existing Free School Meal entitlement will continue until the end of the current academic year.

Under the new national arrangements, Free School Meal eligibility will need to be checked every year. The school will remind families when annual checks are required, but parents and carers will need to ensure that an application or eligibility check is completed when requested.

We would strongly encourage families to complete the application if they think they may be eligible, even if their child usually brings a packed lunch. Eligibility can provide direct support for your child and, in the case of Targeted Free School Meals, may also help the school to secure additional funding to support eligible students.