Every year we encourage parents to check whether they are eligible for free school meals as this brings in additional funding for the school and allows your child to receive a free school meal.

In order to do this, we work with Wigan Council by using their free school meals application service.

Parents who are not already receiving Free School Meals access the application via a link on our school website and complete a form online. Those already in receipt of FSM do not need to reapply.

The form is used to check eligibility with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and should be accessed via the link on our website (see below).

• One of the first steps is selecting the school your child attends. To help avoid incorrect selections, each school’s full name and address is included for you to select the correct one.
• Parents can include multiple children on the same application, provided all listed children have the same parental responsibility arrangements. This is explained at the start of the application.
• The form asks for a few details about each child (year group, date of birth, and home postcode). These are used to help match the child to their UPN. In some cases, we may not be able to confirm the UPN and may need to contact the school to verify.
• At the end of the application, parents are informed of the expected timescales. Checks are completed weekly on Tuesdays, except during census weeks when checks are carried out daily.
• If a parent requires a quicker decision, one-off checks can be carried out by Wigan Council. School staff can contact the Council directly with the parent’s details (NI or NASS number, surname, and date of birth).
• Once the check is complete, the council will notify schools of the outcome. The school will inform parents of the result, and the Council will do monthly rechecks.

You can apply for free school meals if you or your child receives any of the following:

• 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 Guarantee element of State Pension Credit
• Child Tax Credit, provided they are not entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual income of £16,190 or less
• Working Tax Credit ‘run-on’ – the payment someone may receive for a further four weeks after they stop qualifying for Working Tax Credit

There are also other benefits to receiving a free school meal. For every child who is eligible, the school will receive additional Pupil Premium funding which can be used to provide further support for your child.

By completing the online form, you will allow DWP to check and then subsequently advise us if your child is eligible to receive a free school meal. The school will then be able to claim for Pupil Premium funding.

Important: If you do not wish to claim a free school meal Wigan Council will still share the eligibility status with us to enable us to claim Pupil Premium funding.

Please note that by completing the form, the School or Wigan Council will NOT be able to access information about your benefits or financial circumstances. The checks are completed by DWP and they will only share whether you are eligible or not.

We would be really grateful if you could complete the details within the online form in full.

Yours sincerely,

Mr P Davies

Headteacher