Free school meals in Kent: who qualifies and how to apply

• Reception, Year 1 and Year 2: every child gets a free school lunch automatically. You don't need to apply for this part.
• Year 3 and above: free meals depend on your household receiving certain benefits.
• From September 2026, the rules are expanding. Any household getting Universal Credit now qualifies for a free meal, whatever their earnings. Previously, there was a £7,400 household earnings cap.
• It's worth applying even for a child who already gets a free infant lunch automatically, because a successful application can bring extra funding into their school.
• You apply online, separately for each child, through Kent's application system.

It helps to know there are actually two separate schemes, because parents sometimes assume they're the same thing.

The first is Universal Infant Free School Meals. This applies to every child in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 at a state-funded school, regardless of what their household earns or which benefits they receive. You don't need to apply, and it isn't means-tested at all.

The second is means-tested free school meals, sometimes just called free school meals or FSM, which is the one that depends on your household's income and benefits. This is the scheme most people mean when they ask "are we eligible for free school meals," and it's the main focus of this guide.

If your child is in Reception, Year 1 or Year 2 at a state school in Kent, they already get a free lunch every school day. There's nothing to apply for and no income test. This has been the case for a number of years and isn't changing.

That said, it's still genuinely worth registering for means-tested free school meals separately if your household qualifies on income grounds, even while your child is still getting the automatic infant meal. The reason is explained below, because it isn't really about the meal itself.

Once your child moves into Year 3, the automatic infant meal stops, and free meals become means-tested. Your child can get free school meals if your household receives one of a specific list of benefits, set out in full further down this guide.

This is the big update, and it lands right at the start of the school year that's about to begin. Historically, households receiving Universal Credit only qualified for free school meals if their annual net earned income was £7,400 or less. From the start of the 2026 to 2027 school year, that income cap is being removed for eligibility to the meal itself. Any household receiving Universal Credit now qualifies for free school meals, regardless of how much they earn.

This has become a legal requirement under the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, not just guidance, so it isn't optional for schools or councils to apply. Going forward, there are two categories:

• Targeted free school meals: households on Universal Credit with net earned income of £7,400 or less. As before, these pupils also attract Pupil Premium funding for their school.
• Expanded free school meals: households on Universal Credit with earnings above £7,400. These pupils are newly entitled to a free meal, though they don't attract Pupil Premium funding in the way targeted pupils do.

The Department for Education estimates this change could save an eligible family up to £495 per child, per year, in school lunch costs. If your household is on Universal Credit and you weren't eligible before because of your income, it's genuinely worth checking again now, since you're very likely to be newly eligible.

If your child was already receiving free school meals under the old rules, the protections that carried families through the original Universal Credit rollout come to an end at the close of the 2025 to 2026 school year. In practice, most families in that position should qualify comfortably under the new, wider rules anyway, but it's still sensible to check your award is up to date going into the new school year rather than assuming it will simply continue.

Your child may be entitled to free school meals if your household receives any of the following:

• Universal Credit. From September 2026, any level of earnings qualifies. Before that date, or under the older targeted category, your household's annual net earned income needs to be £7,400 or less.
• Income Support
• Income-based Jobseeker's Allowance
• Income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• 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 getting Working Tax Credit and your annual income is no more than £16,190
• Working Tax Credit run-on, paid for 4 weeks after you stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit

If your child receives one of these benefits directly in their own right, rather than through a parent or guardian, they can also qualify. If your family has no recourse to public funds, your child may still be eligible depending on your circumstances, so it's worth asking the school or Kent County Council directly rather than assuming you don't qualify.

Two reasons. First, if your circumstances currently sit close to a threshold, or you're newly on Universal Credit, it costs nothing to apply and find out, and the criteria have just become noticeably wider. Second, and this is the part parents of younger children often miss: even if your child already gets a free lunch automatically because they're in Reception, Year 1 or Year 2, registering them for means-tested free school meals on top of that can bring Pupil Premium funding into their school. That funding follows the child and supports things like extra academic support, so there's a real reason to apply even when the free lunch itself is already guaranteed.

You apply online through Kent County Council's free school meals system, and you'll need to make a separate application for each child, though your household details are saved so it's quicker for additional children. You'll generally need details of the qualifying benefit your household receives.

A few situations worth knowing about:

• If your child moves from primary to secondary school within Kent, you don't need to reapply. Their existing entitlement carries over.
• If your child already receives free school meals and you move into Kent from another area, you don't need to reapply either. Their previous school passes confirmation on to their new school.
• If your circumstances change and your child is no longer entitled, you can let Kent know directly.

If your family needs food support urgently, for instance while a benefit application is still being processed, contact the Kent Support and Assistance Service directly rather than waiting for your free school meals application to be fully approved.