Free school meals eligibility (England)
What is the Free school meals eligibility (England) right now?
The current figure is £7,400/year net earned income threshold · ABOLISHED from Sept 2026: all Universal Credit households eligible (per year), effective from 2018-04-01 to 2026-08-31, according to DfE / gov.uk. Last checked against the official source on 2026-08-11.
From September 2026 eligibility expands to all children in UC families, a major change.
Cite this figure
The Free school meals eligibility (England) is £7,400/year net earned income threshold · ABOLISHED from Sept 2026: all Universal Credit households eligible (per year), effective 2018-04-01 to 2026-08-31. Source: DfE / gov.uk (https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/free-school-meals-expansion-impact-on-poverty-levels/free-school-meals-expansion-to-all-children-on-universal-credit-impact-on-individual-and-child-poverty-levels-and-number-of-children-in-households-r), via UK Rates & Thresholds (rates.trycashpilot.com), checked 2026-08-11.
| Official source | DfE / gov.uk |
|---|---|
| Valid from | 2018-04-01 |
| Valid to | 2026-08-31 |
| Last checked | 2026-08-11 |
| Machine-readable | JSON for this figure |
History
| Previous values |
|---|
| £7,400 threshold from 2018-04-01 |