Question to the Department for Education:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many children were eligible for free school meals under transitional protections in the 2025–26 academic year; and, of those children, how many are now eligible for (1) targeted, and (2) expanded free school meals, and how many are no longer eligible for means-tested free school meals.

The department has published estimates showing around three million children becoming eligible for benefits-based free school meals (FSM) under our expanded criteria. These estimates account for the ending of transitional protections.

Families must claim FSM as a condition of eligibility, which is then recorded through the school census as either targeted or expanded free school meals. The department publishes data on recorded levels of FSM eligibility annually. The next published data, which will include the expanded FSM breakdown, will be available in summer 2027.