Free School Meals and Pupil Premium Checker
The LGfL Free School Meals Eligibility Checker has identified £161 Million since 2014 in funding for schools
Pupil Premium funding
Our free eligibility checking service makes it simpler and more efficient for any school in England to check entitlement to FSM and claim additional income.
Free to use (enhanced features included with LGfL Broadband subscription)
In 2021/22 the LGfL Free School Meals Eligibility Checker identified nearly £41.5 Million of potential Pupil Premium funding for schools and Multi Academy Trusts
How it works
Help obtain government funding for your child's school in England!
Did you know the government gives additional funding to schools for those children entitled to free school meals (pupil premium)?
Schools use this money to obtain additional staff and resources that help improve the quality of education.
To find out whether your child qualifies for pupil premium, and hence whether their school would receive additional funding, please fill in the details requested on this site.
In addition, the following pupils will be protected against losing their free school meals (pupil premium) as follows:
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Pupils who were eligible on 1 April 2018, or who became eligible since then, continue to receive free meals, even if their household is no longer eligible under the benefits/low-earnings criteria, up until March 2025 and then until the end of their phase of education
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New applicants for free school meals on or after 1 April 2018, who are in receipt of Universal Credit and have earnings above the earned income threshold, will not be eligible for free school meals
The Universal Credit rollout is currently expected to complete in March 2025
We have made a couple of enhancements to the website, for further information please see the FAQ 's, the enhancements are:
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An LGfL school can check eligibility on behalf of a parent, the parent will need to contact your child's school, as they can run a check on your behalf.
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A parent of a child attending any LGfL school can now use this website to check their eligibility.
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A Certificate of Eligibility is available through our website for any child eligible for a free school meal that is attending a school in England. The Certificate of Eligibility should be taken to your child's school.
Quickstart guide for schools
Schools Connected to LGfL Broadband
What you need to do:
- Have a USO username and USO password.
- Ask your Head teacher to Login using their USO username and password to the Administrator section of the website fsm.lgfl.net and nominate staff members to be administrators.
- Be running ‘AutoUpdate’ on your school’s MIS system – visit autoupdate.lgfl.net to enable this service.
Benefits of this service:
- Direct feed from the DWP/HMRC
- Any parent at any school will be able to use the website.
- A school can apply on behalf of a parent.
- Reports available for schools and Local Authorities.
- Minimise paperwork, form filling.
- Rechecking facility
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Immediate result once correct data is submitted.
For further information, please contact the FSM team on 0208 408 4483 or email fsm@lgfl.net
Schools not connected to LGfL Broadband
What you need to do:
- A Certificate of Eligibility is available through our website for any child eligible for a free school meal that is attending your school.
- The parent will need to use the website to gain a Certificate of Eligibility which they can show to your school as proof of Eligibility.
Benefits of this service:
- Direct feed from the DWP/HMRC
- Any parent at your school will be able to use the website.
- Minimise paperwork, form filling.
- Rechecking facility
- Immediate result once correct data is submitted.
For further information, please contact the FSM team on 0208 408 4483 or email fsm@lgfl.net
Administrator Access to FSM
AutoUpdate is a pre-requisite to use the FSM website. More information can be found here
Administrator access to the FSM website can only be granted to members of staff by the Headteacher, by clicking on the Administrator button on the FSM home page
