You do not have to provide evidence of your benefits to apply for Free School Meals, unless you are applying for Free School Meals because you have become unemployed or reduced your hours (under 16 hours per week) and are still in receipt of Working Families Tax Credit.

If you are applying for Free School Meals and are still in receipt of Working Families Tax Credit you will need to send in evidence of your benefit, and also include information to show that you are now unemployed or have reduced your hours to under 16 hours per week.  You need to make sure this information shows the date you became unemployed or the date you reduced your hours.

For all other eligible benefits we use an online checking system provided by the Department for Children, Schools and Families, which enables us to decide whether you are eligible or not. The online system connects with your benefits providers and tells us whether your are eligible for Free School Meals.

It does not provide us with any other information.

We will use this system to check your eligibility on a regular basis, but you must tell us if you stop receiving your benefit.