Who gets free school meals?

To qualify for free school meals a child must:

• live in the area covered by Manchester City Council (they may go to school in another area)
• be aged up to 16, or over 16 if they are still at a school full-time (they do not qualify if they go to sixth form college)
• if they go to nursery part-time, their session must go from before lunch to after lunch
• Children who live outside Manchester are considered by the council where they live.

The child’s parent must be:

• primarily responsible for that child, receiving the Child Benefit for example; and
• be getting a qualifying benefit or credit.
• If you think a child should be getting free school meals, but you haven’t heard from us, contact Manchester City Council for advice.
• Foster children, and children of asylum seekers
• Foster children can’t have free school meals. Foster parents receive an allowance to cover costs like this.

Asylum seekers can’t apply to us for free school meals. It’s up to your school to arrange meals. You can accept one of these documents as evidence:

• an IS96 document
• a standard acknowledgement letter (SAL) 1 or 2
• a letter from the Home Office
• a letter from a solicitor
• an application registration card (ARC)