It’s time to start planning for changes to FSM eligibility

This article was first published in Schools Week on Friday 17 July 2026

By Jenna Julius, Research Director

Free school meal (FSM) eligibility is central to both supporting disadvantaged pupils and impacting the amount of funding schools receive.

The government has announced significant changes to FSM eligibility from September onwards.

But what do these changes mean for schools, and what are the wider implications for understanding how the attainment of disadvantaged pupils is changing?

How has free school meal eligibility been changing? 

As of January 2026, 2.21 million pupils were eligible for FSM, which is equivalent to 26.5 per cent of all pupils.

This is an increase of 43,000 pupils since January 2025, continuing the increasing trend that began in 2018-19 when 1.27 million pupils were eligible for FSM (15.4 per cent).

This increasing trend has largely been driven by transitional arrangements introduced to smooth out the introduction of universal credit (UC). 

These arrangements have meant that any pupil who becomes eligible for FSM retains that eligibility until they finish their schooling. 

While pupils would have previously moved in and out of FSM eligibility prior to these transitional arrangements, this has not been the case since April 2018.

How will the FSM eligibility criteria change in September?

In September, UC transitional arrangements will end, and there will be two categories of benefits-based FSM:

• Targeted FSM, which continues to be based on the existing threshold, covering pupils who are in households in receipt of UC with annual household earnings of £7,400 or less. As well as receiving FSM, eligible pupils will attract pupil premium funding for their schools. 
• Expanded FSM, a new category covering pupils who do not qualify for targeted FSM, but who are in households receiving UC. 

These pupils will receive FSM but their school will not be eligible for pupil premium funding. 

Implications for measuring the attainment of disadvantaged pupils

Alongside impacting FSM eligibility, the UC transitional arrangements have also led to large year-on-year changes in the group of pupils considered to be disadvantaged. The impact of these changes will continue until 2032-33, six years after the transitional arrangements are set to be removed. 

These changes matter as it has become increasingly difficult to assess the government’s progress in reducing the disadvantaged pupils’ attainment gap  because disadvantaged cohorts vary significantly from year to year.

This has implications for school leaders and teachers as they also need be mindful that these arrangements are affecting the comparability of their disadvantaged pupils from one cohort to another. 

Implications for school funding

All else being equal, FSM eligibility changes will also impact on school funding. The UC arrangements have meant that schools have attracted disadvantage funding for their pupils for longer, even when they might no longer meet the underlying eligibility criteria. 

The impact of these changes is, however, likely to be eclipsed by the government’s plans to consult on a new model for targeting disadvantage funding to better help schools narrow the disadvantaged attainment gap. 

How can schools prepare for these changes?

While this change will mean pupils who had not previously been eligible for FSM will newly qualify, this change represents a significant shift – and additional workload - for schools who have not had to monitor ongoing changes in FSM eligibility among their pupils for the last eight years. 

The Department for Education is directing all schools to begin checking eligibility before the start of the term to ensure all pupils are ready to receive FSM from September, and that schools can claim funding. 

In future years, this check is expected to happen annually before the start of the autumn term. To support schools and local authorities with this change, it has recently launched a new eligibility checking service.

For any schools who have yet to start this process, it is imperative that this is a priority in the new school year to ensure eligible pupils continue to receive FSM and that schools are funded to provide this.