Free School Meals
Free School Meals
Free School Meals can lead to a large saving each year, parents of primary school children can potentially save £361 and parents of secondary pupils can potentially save £370. You will also be helping your child’s school if you qualify for Free School Meals. Some Scottish Government funding provided directly to schools is linked to the numbers of pupils who are registered as entitled to free school meals.
In addition to this you will receive extra payments linked to Free School Meal entitlement including Family Bridging Payments and Holiday Food Payments, for more information on support available, please visit our SupportDG site.
More Information on these payments can also be found on the Scottish Government website.
Qualifying Criteria
Your child will receive free school meals if you are in receipt of the following:
- Universal Credit with a monthly earned income of not more than £726
- Income Support
- Income-based Job Seeker’s Allowance
- Any income related element of Employment and Support Allowance
- Child Tax Credit, but not Working Tax Credit, with an income of less than £18,725
- Both Child Tax Credit and Working Tax Credit with an income of up to £8,717
- Support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
- Coordinated Support Plan (CSP)
Process
Families in Receipt of Council Tax Reduction
Existing Families in receipt of Free School Meals/Clothing Grant
Families receiving Free School Meals/School Clothing Grant that are currently in receipt of Council Tax Reduction, can be assessed using your information we already hold, if you give us permission to do so. This means when you make a claim, you may not need to provide additional information.
This assessment of Free School Meals will also include School Clothing Grant for all eligible children, £134 for Primary aged children and £150 for Secondary aged children. If you are still eligible the following year, your award may automatically roll over, depending on your circumstances. You must tell us if there are any changes to your circumstances, you can do this by completing a change in circumstances form, which can be found below.
- Change of parent/carer to be awarded the Clothing Grant
- Change of bank details
- Change of address
- Additional Children
Families not currently in receipt of Free School Meals/Clothing Grant.
If you are in receipt of Council Tax Reduction and do not currently have Free School Meals, we may contact you if you meet the qualifying criteria above. This contact may be via the post, or via email or telephone, if we have your contact information.
This assessment of Free School Meals will also include School Clothing Grant for all eligible children, £134 for Primary aged children and £150 for Secondary aged children.
Families not in receipt of Council Tax Reduction
Families that are not in receipt of Council Tax Reduction, will need to submit an application form and also provide proof of benefit each school year as we will be unable to check if you meet the qualifying criteria listed above.
You will also need to submit an application form in the below circumstances
- live out with the region and your child (ren) attends a school within Dumfries and Galloway.
- you are an asylum seeker receiving support under part VI of the Immigration & Asylum Act 1999
You must tell us if there are any changes to your circumstances, listed below, you can do this by completing a change in circumstances form, which can be found below.
- Change of parent/carer to be awarded the Clothing Grant
- Change of bank details
- Change of address
- Additional Children
Exceptional Circumstances
In addition to the criteria above, Councils are now able to use their discretion in order to provide free school meals to pupils who may be under hardship due to exceptional circumstances. An application form should be completed and you can contact us if you wish to discuss 030 33 33 3000.
If you need to complete an application form, please see below.
Apply
- Apply online here
- Download an application form [PDF – 46.17KB]
- Download a Change of Circumstances notification form [PDF – 166.75KB]
- Call 030 33 33 3000
- Visit one of our Customer Service Centres
Change to payment details
To advise of a change to payment details for Free School Meals/Pandemic Payments please do so here.