Pupil
and Student Finance
Free School Meals Information
Overview
Midday meals are provided at all schools in Bexley Borough for
pupils who wish to have them. In addition, arrangements are made
for pupils who bring their own food to eat at midday.
Free School Meals are available to children attending a Bexley
Borough local authority maintained school, whose families are in
receipt of either:
- Income Support; or,
- Income-based Job Seekers Allowance; or,
- Child Tax Credit, but not Working Tax Credit, and have an annual income
(as assessed by the Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs) of £15,575 or
below from 6 April 2008. With regard to Tax Credits please refer to Her Majesty's
Revenue and Customs guidelines for qualification and definition of household
income; or,
- Guarantee Element of State Pension Credit.
Families in receipt of Working Tax Credit or other benefits are not entitled to Free School Meals.
Children who receive "education suitable for children who have not attained
compulsory school age" need to satisfy the additional requirement of
"receiving education both before and after the lunch period", in order to be
eligible to receive free school meals.
If you are an asylum seeker and are not in receipt of
any of the above support payments, and wish to apply for Free School Meals,
please complete the 'Free School Meals
Application Form for Asylum Seekers'.
Applying for assistance
The Pupil and Student Finance Team administer the application process for the provision of Free School Meals. However, there are some primary and secondary schools in Bexley Borough that administer their own Free School Meals. Please contact the Pupil and Student Finance Team for further details.
A form is available by post from the Pupil and Student Finance Team. Alternatively, you can download a form using the following link:
If you have a query about the quality or content of school meals please contact the school or London Borough of Bexley's Client Unit on 020 8294 6204.
Providing evidence to support your claim
Support payments: The local authority is using a new process to confirm whether a household is in receipt of one of
the qualifying support payments. Unless requested, you will not need to provide proof of your support payment.
Child Benefit: You will still be required to confirm entitlement
to Child Benefit. Acceptable forms of Child Benefit
evidence are:
- Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs/Child Benefit Office letter: a copy of the whole letter, which is less
than 1 year old, and which states your name, address and child/children’s name(s); or
- Child Tax Credit Award Letter: a copy of the whole letter, which is less than 1 year old, and which states
your name, address and child/children’s name(s); or
- Other evidence (e.g. court order): a copy of the whole letter proving that you are the legal parent/carer
responsible for the child/children.
Fully completed application forms will be processed within 28 working days.
However, if the necessary evidence is not included with your application, this will
delay the processing of your application, the form may be returned to you and no
Free School Meal award will be made. You will then be liable
to pay for all meals that your child/children have at school. Therefore, please assist us by enclosing the correct documentation.
You must inform the Pupil and Student Finance Team immediately if you change address, stop receiving any of the
qualifying support payment/benefits or any other circumstance that might affect entitlement to Free School Meals.
If your child/children receive Free School Meals that they are not entitled to, you will be liable to pay for all meals that they
have at school.
If you have any queries regarding these guidelines please contact the Pupil and Student Finance Team using
the contact details on the left of this page.
The information provided to the local authority will be used to process the application for Free School Meals and the local
authority will contact other sources as allowed by the law to verify initial and ongoing entitlement which will be undertaken
on a termly basis. The results of any Free School Meal eligibility check may also be used to assess entitlement to other
support by the London Borough of Bexley.
Applicants are advised that it is a criminal offence knowingly
to make an untrue statement or other false representation to obtain a grant,
contribution or other financial benefit from the Borough. This Borough
is under a duty to protect the public funds it administers and to this
end may use the information you have provided within the authority for
the prevention and detection of fraud. It may also share this information
with other bodies administering public funds solely for these purposes. |
