21 Oct Government expands Free School Meals income thresholds for families with no recourse to public funds
Following a threat of judicial review proceedings by Gold Jennings, the Department for Education (‘DfE’) has expanded Free School Meals income thresholds for families with no recourse to public funds (‘NRPF’). This was following a review which concluded after pre-action correspondence between Gold Jennings, on behalf of our clients, and the DfE.
Background
The Free School Meals scheme aims to give economically disadvantaged children a free healthy lunch when they are at school. Successive Parliaments and governments have recognised that economically deprived children are more likely to go hungry while they are at school than their more affluent peers, and that this can have a detrimental impact on their education.
Before April 2020, children from families with NRPF were previously ineligible for Free School Meals. Through persistent litigation from Gold Jennings, the DfE has gradually extended eligibility for Free School Meals to children from families with NRPF over the past six years.
However, unlike inflation linked benefits such as Universal Credit which were increased year on year, the threshold for Free School Meals was not increased for families with NRPF since eligibility was first permanently extended to include this group over four years ago. This means that a significant number of children from families with NRPF who are on a low income continue to be ineligible for Free School Meals.
Earlier this year, our clients challenged this lack of uprating of the income thresholds in line with inflation.
Outcome and updated guidance
On 5 October 2026, we were informed that updated guidance was finally published with the uprated annual income thresholds which can be found here:
We hope that the Government continue to review the income thresholds for families with NRPF and consider linking the thresholds to inflation, as they have done so for other benefits such as Universal Credit.
We encourage any organisations supporting families with NRPF who were previously not eligible for Free School Meals under the income thresholds to reassess eligibility now under the new expanded thresholds. Newly eligible families with NRPF can apply to their schools for Free School Meals via the updated application form here:
For further queries or information
Rachel Etheridge and Helen Wang worked on this case.
For further information about this claim or any queries, please do not hesitate to contact them at info@goldjennings.co.uk.