Update regarding changes to free school meals following new DfE guidance
Posted on: 14 May 2026
From: Fiona Coldwell, Senior Officer, Education Transport and Free School Meals Entitlement Policy.
Action: For school that buy in to the Staffordshire CC free school meals service, please review the changes, keep checking the school bag for future updates and complete your purchase of the service for the coming year if you still wish to use it.
For schools which do not buy in to the Staffordshire CC service should contact their own service provider for further details and support.
On 8 May 2026, the Department for Education (DfE) issued new guidance on income‑assessed free school meals (FSM). The guidance introduces changes to eligibility criteria, ends transitional protection so requiring regular entitlement checks and requires new information in your census return. The major changes are -
Types of income‑assessed FSM (from September 2026)
There will be two types of income‑assessed FSM:
- Targeted FSM – for pupils who meet the existing eligibility criteria, which includes a household income threshold.
- Expanded FSM – for pupils from households receiving Universal Credit, regardless of the household income level or the amount of Universal Credit received.
Rechecking of entitlement and new census requirements
- All FSM claims must now be rechecked annually. If a pupil is no longer eligible, FSM must end at the end of the relevant academic year.
- Under new census guidance, schools must record:
- the FSM entitlement type, i.e. targeted or expanded and
- the ‘last verified’ date (the date entitlement was last checked).
- If a valid verification date is missing from the census return, the pupil will not be counted as eligible, leading to a loss of funding.
Schools using the Staffordshire County Council free school meals entitlement checking service please see the attached document for an update the changes and what the service and the school will need to do to meet them. We would also request that you complete your purchase of the service for the coming academic year via the Entrust portal as soon as possible for the service to continue in September.
Schools not using our service (please see our website for confirmation of those schools) should contact their chosen provider for advice on the new guidance and confirmation of how changes and ongoing entitlement checks will be managed.
