Aspen's - Your School's Meal Provider

Free School Meals

There are two schemes for free school meals:

• Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM) for all children in Reception year, Year 1 and Year 2 – you don’t need to apply to receive these as they’re automatically given at the school (But please do read the bold message below.)
• Free School Meals (FSM) for people on qualifying benefits – you’ll need to apply for these.

If you claim qualifying benefits and your child is entitled to Universal Infant Free School Meals (UIFSM), you should still apply for Free School Meals because:

• you’re eligible for other financial assistance for items such as school trips etc...

• the school can receive funding for the free school meals.
• the school could receive additional funding that can benefit your child and the support they receive within school.

We would urge all parents in both the infants and juniors to apply - the positives to you as a family are huge!

Qualifying benefits for Free School Meals

Your child will be entitled to free school meals if you get any of these benefits:

• income support
• income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA)
• income-related Employment and Support Allowance (ESA)
• support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• the guaranteed element of Pension Credit
• Child Tax Credit (provided you’re not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190)
• Working Tax Credit run-on, paid for four weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit
• Universal Credit with annual take home pay/met earnings below £7,400 (which equals £616.67 per month) benefits not included

How to apply

• Free school meals entitlement is for the child, not the family, so you will need to apply for each child.
• If your child is starting primary school in September, the earliest you should apply is August because North Somerset cannot process your application earlier. Applying too early could result in your application being removed.

• Further Information and Online Application Form

• All you need is your National Insurance number, email address and residential address - it just takes 5 minutes but could save you £££'s.