Ribbleton Avenue Methodist Junior School

Free School Meals (information from LCC webpage)

Overview

If your child is already receiving free school meals due to your eligibility to a qualifying benefit, there is no need to apply again. We will already have your child on our list. Please contact the office if you are unsure.

Year 3 and above and secondary

Your child may be able to get free school meals if you get any of the qualifying benefits. To check whether you are eligible in section 2 and register in section 3 to apply.

If you have siblings that are Nursery and Infant school age:-

Nursery (pre-school)

If your child is at a maintained nursery school or class you can also apply to claim free school meals if they attend for a full day and you get one of the qualifying benefits.

Infants 

Your child will be able to get free school meals if they’re in reception class, year 1 or year 2.  If you get any of the qualifying benefits your child’s school can get extra funding, called pupil premium, you will need to register with LCC. 

Menus

You can get information about the meals available.

• For more information on our menus please click the "Menu" star.

Free milk

If you get benefits, your child could also get free milk. Contact school to find out what arrangements we can make for school milk.

Your child may be able to get free school meals if you get any of the following:

• Universal Credit with a household income of less than £7,400 a year (after tax and not including any benefits you get)
• Income-Based Jobseekers' Allowance
• Income-Related Employment and Support Allowance
• Child Tax Credit, not entitled to Working Tax Credit and household income less than £16,190
• Support under part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
• Guarantee element of State Pension Credit
• Income Support
• Working Tax Credit 'run on' – the payment you receive for a further four weeks after you finish work

If your child is currently eligible for free school meals, that eligibility will be protected until Universal Credit is introduced (expected March 2022) even if your circumstances change. If your child is still in education on this date, they will be eligible until they finish the phase of schooling (primary or secondary) they are in.

If you have a younger child starting school in September and you are no longer eligible, they will not be protected because this would be a new claim.

Free school meals: guidance for schools and local authorities - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

How do I apply:-

Check your eligibility and apply for free school meals by visiting Free school meals and pupil premium - Section 1 - Online Forms (achieveservice.com)  or ring 01772 532109 (LCC)

What happens next

LCC will confirm whether you are eligible by email. If you do not get an email within 5 working days, contact your area education office. Remember to also check your spam or junk email folder.

If you are eligible, LCC will let the us know that your child can have free school meals. School will have a record of all children entitled to free school meals.

Please contact school if you have any questions.

Apply by phone

You can ring your local area education office. It must be the person claiming the benefit that rings.

You will need to provide your:

• Name
• Date of birth
• National insurance number

They will confirm whether you are entitled over the telephone.

Apply by post

Download the application form and return it to:-

South Area Education Office

Level 2
Room 37
County Hall
Preston
PR1 0LD

• Free school meals and pupil premium form (PDF 939 KB)

If you apply by post LCC will notify you by email, or post if you do not provide an email address.

Contact LEA

You should contact your area education office if:

• any of your personal details change
• you have changed address
• your child has changed schools

If your child is moving to another school in Lancashire, you do not need to reapply for free school meals. Just contact your area education office to let them know. LCC will tell the school if your child is eligible for free school meals.

If you are moving to Lancashire from another area you’ll need to make a new application. If your eligibility is protected but your circumstances have changed your application may be refused. If this happens contact your area education office to let them know and LCC will tell the new school and ensure your eligibility is protected.

Proof of benefit

LCC use the government benefits database to check entitlement for free school meals.

If it shows that you are not entitled, you may need to provide further proof of your entitlement so that they can check your claim again.

You can do this by providing LCC with a copy of one of the following documents:

• Your most recent Universal Credit award notice (paper award notice or screenshot of last month's online statement). 
• The letter showing the breakdown of income support payment.
• The letter showing the breakdown of jobseekers allowance or Employment Support Allowance.
• Your complete TC602 Inland Revenue tax credit award notice for the current tax year.
• Your Pension Credit M1000 award notice.
• NASS support notice or IS96 document. You must include your NASS reference number, Port reference number and the name of authority providing support under part VI of the Immigration and Asylum act 1999.