Free School Meals application
City of Wolverhampton Council can check your FSM application, if your child is at a school that uses our FSM Eligibility Checking Service.
If your child has a protected FSM claim in place, you do not need to apply again.
If you aren’t sure if your child has an FSM claim in place, please ask your child’s school.
If your child does not already have an FSM claim in place, the easiest way to apply is through your child’s school.
Updated Government guidance as of 5 June 2025
Transitional protections have been extended until the end of the 2025/26 school year. All pupils becoming eligible for free school meals under the benefits-based criteria, should continue to receive this entitlement, regardless of any change in household circumstances or phase of education until the end of the 2025/26 school year.
From the start of the 2026/27 school year, the Department for Education will introduce new eligibility criteria meaning that all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit will be entitled to receive a free meal. It is our intention to end transitional protections alongside this change in threshold, with eligibility for all pupils reverting to whether they meet the eligibility criteria regardless of whether they were previously protected. We will issue further guidance ahead of September 2026.
This does not apply to families that are eligible for free school meals under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 or the guarantee element of the Pension Credit, nor to those with no recourse to public funds (NRPF).
If you have any questions about school meals, please contact your child/ren’s school/s. Menus, prices and arrangements vary from school to school.
There is more information about “Other help and support +” available below.