FSM Expansion Grant

In June 2025, it was announced that from the 2026 to 2027 academic year, the eligibility criteria for free school meals (FSM) in England will be expanded to all children in households receiving Universal Credit.

The Department for Education (DfE) announced over £1 billion over the multi-year spending review period from 2026 to 2029 to fund this expansion of FSM. The additional funding will be allocated through the free school meals expansion grant for the period from September 2026 to March 2027.

The grant funding will be paid for maintained mainstream schools to local authorities who will then be required to pay it to their individual maintained schools.  For academies, the funding will be paid directly to mainstream academy trusts at the published rates.

For the 2026 to 2027 financial year, the allocations will be determined by the difference between the number of pupils eligible for FSM in a school as recorded in the October census and the number recorded in the October 2026 census. Decreases in FSM eligibility will not be counted. This means that there will be no negative adjustments to funding for schools seeing a decrease in FSM eligibility.