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School food and free school meals

Apply for free school meals

Find out if your child is eligible for free school meals and apply online. Learn about our healthy menus and how we cater for special dietary requirements.

Free school meals

This information about free school meals applies to children who attend schools in North Lincolnshire. Students who attend colleges should contact their college for more information.Who is eligible for benefits based free school meals

From the start of the 2026 to 2027 academic year

FSM eligibility to all children from households in receipt of Universal Credit regardless of household earnings. Free school meals are available to pupils in receipt of, or whose parents are in receipt of, one or more of the following benefits:

  • Universal Credit
  • support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999

A pupil is only eligible to receive a free school meal where both:

  • a claim for this support has been made
  • their eligibility has been verified by the school where they are enrolled or by the local authority

Households may also be entitled to a meal if they:

  • are in receipt of income-related Employment and Support Allowance
  • receive the guarantee element of Pension Credit

If your child qualifies for free school meals you may also receive a school clothing grant. We will assess this at the same time as your free school meals claim, using the same application.

How to apply

Please list all of your children who attend a school (other than Broughton and Oasis Academies) in North Lincolnshire on the form.

Alternatively, you can use this form Free School Meals Registration Form [DOC, 33Kb], or get a paper version of the form sent to you if you contact us at fsm@northlincs.gov.uk or 01724 297000

We will let you and your child’s school know when your claim has been processed.

ALL children in Reception, Year 1, and Year 2 are entitled to a free school meal. However, it is still really important that if you get one of the above benefits you complete this form. It may also enable us to pay you a clothing grant and the school will receive up to an extra £1,515 per year from the Government for each of your children.

Paid school meals

We provide over 10,000 freshly cooked meals each day in 27 schools across North Lincolnshire.

The quality of the food we supply is extremely important to us:

  • Many of our products are quality assured, carrying the Red Tractor mark, MsC mark or quality beef or pork mark.
  • Our eggs are sourced from East Riding of Yorkshire and are all free range.
  • We only purchase class 1 fruit and vegetables and all suppliers are rigorously checked before they can supply.
  • We use local suppliers for more than a third of our food buying, contributing around £500,000 per year to the local economy.

Cost of school meals

  • Nursery meal – £2.90
  • Infant school meals (Key Stage 1 pupils) – Free
  • Junior school meals (Key Stage 2 pupils) – £2.90 per day

Further information

Paying for school meals

Payment methods for school meals can vary depending on which school – please check with your school first.

Many schools now use ParentPay to pay for school meals and other school items, please check with your school if they use this service.

The following schools can use North Lincolnshire Council’s online payment system to pay for school meals:

  • St Martin’s Primary School
  • West Butterwick C of E Primary School
  • Haxey C of E Primary School

Healthy menus

We understand that a healthy school lunch can help children to achieve more.

  • We serve healthy nutritionally balanced meals, which are freshly prepared daily by our locally employed, well-trained staff.
  • By listening to our customers’ likes and dislikes we can serve meals that are not just healthy, but food they will enjoy.
  • New recipes don’t make it onto menus unless customers give their seal of approval.
  • We work closely with head teachers to help schools achieve their objectives and transform their pupils’ lunchtimes.
  • Menus offer a combination of both traditional and international meals, which are served with fresh vegetables, salads, fruit and home baked products.
  • Our meals meet the Government’s standards on school food and are tailored to each school.

We have rigorous standards with regard to food and ingredients. Our food rules include:

  • a no nut policy
  • we do not knowingly make use of any products containing GM ingredients and seek assurances from our suppliers that the products they provide to us do not contain GM ingredients
  • restriction on food additives
  • minimal use of processed products
  • no added salt to cooking
  • steaming of vegetables

Special diets

If your child has a special dietary requirement, we can still provide them with a meal. We have a formal process for providing meals for children requiring medical diets such as celiac, diabetic or food intolerance.

If this is the case, your first point of contact would be the school’s headteacher, who will inform the school’s catering team.

Primary school menus

Please contact your child’s school for a copy of the latest menu.

Other support

Fuelled – holiday activities and food programme

Eligible primary and secondary age pupils can access Fuelled activities during the school holidays.

Contact

Free school meals

fsm@northlincs.gov.uk

01724 297000