Free school meals, breakfast clubs and wraparound care: what families in England can get in 2026/27

Since the start of the 2026 to 2027 school year, every child in England whose family gets Universal Credit can have free school meals at a state-funded school, however much the family earns. It is not automatic: you still need to apply through your child's school or your council. Children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 continue to get a free lunch whatever your income, but you should still register if you get Universal Credit, because it brings the school extra funding and can open up free holiday clubs.

Alongside the meals, more than 2,700 schools now run a free breakfast club for every primary pupil, the free holiday activities and food programme continues for lower-income families, and schools are expected to offer, or point you to, childcare from 8am to 6pm. This guide covers what each scheme gives you, who qualifies, how to apply and what to ask a school about its day.

At a glance: what is free in 2026/27

Free school meals from September 2026

Who qualifies now

According to the DfE guidance for schools and councils, updated on 16 September 2026, your child can get free school meals at a state-funded school, including academies, free schools and special schools, if you or they get the following (independent schools are not covered):

• Universal Credit, whatever your household earns
• support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999 (asylum support)
• income-related Employment and Support Allowance
• the guarantee element of Pension Credit

Families with no recourse to public funds may also qualify under separate rules; ask the school or council. Children who get a qualifying benefit in their own right can claim too, as GOV.UK explains.

Before September 2026, a family on Universal Credit only qualified if its earnings were £7,400 a year or less, after tax and not counting benefits. That limit has gone for the meals themselves. The DfE made the change a legal requirement through the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, whose section on free school lunches came into force on 17 August 2026. The DfE says over half a million more pupils became eligible and that families could save up to £495 a year per child on school lunches.

Targeted and expanded: why the £7,400 figure still matters

The DfE now splits free school meals into two groups:

• Targeted free school meals: Universal Credit with household earnings of £7,400 a year or less, asylum support, and in most cases the other qualifying benefits. These children get the meals, count for the school's pupil premium funding, and can get free holiday club places through the HAF programme. They can also qualify for the extra free school transport for low-income families, known as "extended rights".
• Expanded free school meals: Universal Credit with earnings above £7,400. These children get the meals only.

You do not choose a group. The school or council's check works it out from your Universal Credit record. Either way, your child gets the same lunch as everyone else.

How to apply

Apply through your child's school or your council. GOV.UK's apply page takes your postcode and sends you to your council's application. Schools can also take applications directly, on paper or online. You will usually need:

• the claimant's full name and date of birth
• their National Insurance number, or asylum support reference number
• your child's name, date of birth and school

The school or council runs a check against government records, which confirms whether you get Universal Credit and which group your child falls into. If the result looks wrong, or you are self-employed, you can give paper evidence instead, such as your Universal Credit statements or a Home Office letter confirming asylum support, as set out in Annex B of the guidance.

Free meals start once your claim is confirmed, so apply as soon as you can, including if your child is starting school mid-year or you have just started claiming Universal Credit. Once confirmed, a check is valid for the whole school year. Schools recheck every pupil's eligibility each year, so keep your details up to date with the school.

Transitional protection has ended

Since April 2018, children who got free school meals kept them even if their family's circumstances changed, while Universal Credit was rolled out. That transitional protection ended at the end of the 2025 to 2026 school year.

What it means now:

• If you still get Universal Credit, your child is entitled under the new rules anyway.
• If you no longer get Universal Credit or another qualifying benefit, your child's free meals have stopped, although children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 still get the universal infant lunch.
• Children who lose free meals this way still count for the school's disadvantage funding, because pupil premium follows any child recorded as eligible in the past six years.

School nurseries

Children in a school's nursery class can get free school meals under the same rules if they attend full time, or attend both before and after lunch. For children at a separate maintained nursery school, the DfE says it intends to extend the Universal Credit rule by further regulations, so ask the nursery school what applies. Private and voluntary nurseries are outside free school meals; our guides to funded childcare hours and nursery costs cover what they can charge for meals.

Universal infant free school meals: Reception to Year 2

Every child in Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 at a state-funded school gets a free school lunch, regardless of family income. You do not need to apply for that lunch.

The DfE still asks families with infants to apply for benefits-based free school meals if they qualify. It is worth doing, for two reasons:

• Funding for the school. If your child falls in the targeted group, the school gets pupil premium funding for them, which pays for extra support for disadvantaged pupils. That funding can follow your child for six years after they were last recorded as eligible.
• Holiday clubs. The HAF guidance says infants who only get the universal infant meal must also meet the free school meals criteria to get a HAF place.

Free meals in sixth form and college

From the 2026 to 2027 school year, students in families on Universal Credit are entitled to a free meal in school sixth forms as well as in colleges funded by the DfE. Under the further education free meals guide, a student qualifies if they:

• were aged 16 to 18 on 31 August 2026, or are aged 19 or over and either continuing a course they started before they turned 19 or have an EHC plan
• get, or have a parent who gets, Universal Credit, asylum support, income-related Employment and Support Allowance or the guarantee element of Pension Credit

Apprentices are not included. The student, or a parent, applies directly to the school or college, which decides how the meal is given, for example as credit on a card. Our guide to choosing a sixth form covers bursaries and travel help too.

Free breakfast clubs

What a free breakfast club includes

The government has committed to a free breakfast club in every state-funded school with primary-aged pupils. Under the DfE guidance, a school on the programme must run a club that is:

• open to every pupil on roll from Reception to Year 6
• at least 30 minutes long, ending immediately before the start of each school day
• free, with a breakfast that meets the school food standards
• on the school site or nearby, so you are not asked to drop your child somewhere far from school

The school must offer a place to every pupil who wants one and cannot cap numbers. Special schools and alternative provision can be on the programme too. The requirement runs from Reception, so a school does not have to include children in its nursery class.

Many schools already run paid care from earlier in the morning. Where that happens, the guidance expects the paid session to cost less than it did before the free club started, because the last 30 minutes are now free. Your child cannot be required to attend the paid session to use the free club, and the school must not add charges that put families off.

Which schools have one

The rollout started with about 750 early adopter schools in April 2025. Phase 1 of the national rollout began in April 2026, and around 1,400 more clubs opened in September 2026, taking the total to more than 2,700 schools. The list of schools on the programme, last updated on 6 July 2026, names 2,797 schools. The DfE has prioritised schools with the highest proportion of pupils on free school meals, and the Education Hub says more schools will join in 2027 and 2028.

If your child's school is on the list, it should contact you about how to sign up. If it is not on the list, the school may still run its own breakfast club, free or paid, so ask.

Is it a legal right yet?

Not yet. The Children's Wellbeing and Schools Act 2026, which became law on 29 April 2026, includes a duty on state-funded schools with primary pupils to provide a free breakfast club. As of 24 September 2026, only the parts of that section that define a breakfast club and the schools it covers are in force: the commencement regulations state that the duty itself has not started. Until it does, free clubs run through the funded DfE programme. When the duty starts, a school will be able to apply to the government for an exemption, but only after consulting parents and the council.

Holiday activities and food (HAF)

The HAF programme funds councils to run free holiday clubs with activities and at least one healthy meal a day. The government has funded it for three years, to March 2029.

• Who it is for: children eligible for benefits-based free school meals, from Reception to Year 11. From September 2026 that means the targeted group only. Children who became eligible through the Universal Credit expansion, with earnings above £7,400, are not eligible for a funded HAF place, although the council may offer one through its discretionary funding, and some children who had free meals under transitional protection may no longer qualify.
• When it runs: mainly the Easter, summer and Christmas holidays. The DfE expects the equivalent of at least six weeks a year, most of it in the summer, and asks councils to aim for 4 hours a day, 4 days a week in those weeks. Councils can also run some sessions at half term.
• Other children: councils can use up to 15% of their funding for free or cheaper places for other children they think would benefit, and some clubs sell paid places alongside funded ones.

GOV.UK's apply page still says any child eligible for free school meals qualifies for HAF, but the DfE's 2026 to 2027 HAF guidance limits funded places to the targeted group, so ask your council if you are unsure. To book, check your local council's HAF page. Councils use their own booking systems, which may send eligible families a code or take referrals from schools. Our guide to school holidays and term dates for 2026/27 explains how holiday dates vary by area.

Wraparound childcare before and after school

What schools are expected to offer

Wraparound childcare is care before and after the school day, typically running from around 8am to 6pm in term time. The national wraparound childcare programme, which funded new places from September 2024 to March 2026, has ended; Best Start in Life says it created over 121,000 places. Councils now have separate funding for 2026 to 2027 to support school-age childcare.

The DfE's school-age childcare guidance expects every school with primary-aged pupils to make wraparound childcare available from 8am to 6pm, or equivalent hours, on or near the school site. The school can run it, or a nursery, club or childminder can run it for them. If a school cannot host it and has a good reason, it should tell you about other local options. This is guidance, not a legal duty, and unlike the breakfast club it is usually paid for.

If your school does not offer it

You have a right to ask. Under the DfE's guidance on responding to requests for wraparound childcare, parents can ask the school their child attends, or is due to attend, to consider setting up wraparound or holiday childcare for children from Reception to Year 9, or up to 18 for disabled children.

• Put your request in writing, saying what care you need, for which ages and on which days and times.
• The school should contact the council's wraparound lead, who may look at whether suitable care already exists nearby.
• The school may survey other parents, then should tell you its decision and the reasons within a term.
• If it says no, it should point you to other local care and to your council's Family Information Service.

The right covers childcare, not occasional activities such as after-school sports clubs.

Paying for it

Two government schemes can help with breakfast clubs, after-school clubs and holiday clubs, but you cannot use both at once:

• Tax-Free Childcare. For every £8 you pay into a childcare account, the government adds £2, up to £2,000 a year per child, or £4,000 if your child is disabled. You usually need to be working, and your child can be included until the September after they turn 11, or 16 if disabled. The club must be signed up to the scheme. The DfE says a club run by the school itself can be used with Tax-Free Childcare even where it does not need to register with Ofsted.
• Universal Credit childcare costs. If you work and get Universal Credit, you can claim back up to 85% of your childcare costs, up to £1,071.09 a month for one child or £1,836.16 for two or more. This covers breakfast, after-school and holiday clubs, until 31 August after your child's 16th birthday.

Funded early education hours, including the 30 hours of Free Childcare for Working Parents, stop once your child takes up a full-time Reception place at a state-funded school, so they do not pay for wraparound care. Our funded childcare hours guide explains when the hours end.

What to ask a primary school about the school day

Take these questions to open days, or ask the school office once your child has a place:

• Do you have a free breakfast club? What time does it start, and do I need to book?
• Do you run paid care before the free breakfast club, and how much does it cost?
• Is there after-school care until 6pm? Who runs it, what does it cost and is there a waiting list?
• Can I pay with Tax-Free Childcare or claim it through Universal Credit?
• What holiday clubs run on site or nearby, and do you share HAF codes?
• How do I register for free school meals, and will you remind me to recheck?
• How do you support children with SEND or allergies at breakfast club and lunch?

If you are still choosing a school, start with primary schools near you or the ranked lists such as best primary schools in London, and use compare to put your shortlist side by side. Our guide to choosing the right primary school covers the wider decision. School Match suggests schools based on your priorities and location; you need a free account to see the results, and your top match on your first search is free. Care before and after school varies from school to school, so check it directly with each school on your list.

What to do now

1. If you get Universal Credit, apply for free school meals through the school or council today, even if your child is in Reception, Year 1 or Year 2.
2. Ask your child's school whether it runs a free breakfast club, and sign up if you want a place.
3. If your child gets targeted free school meals, check your council's HAF page a few weeks before each school holiday.
4. If you need care until 6pm, ask the school what it offers, and make a written request if it offers nothing.
5. Set up Tax-Free Childcare, or claim childcare costs through Universal Credit, before you start paying for clubs.